Racism: The Fight for Liberty, Justice and Equality
‘Racism’ is on the World Stage :
And has been from the moment of George Floyd’s tragic death. (2020)
Racism is still present within the UK, England, EU, and USA and many other Countries.
The Black Man George Floyd was “restrained” around the neck with the police officers leg and died as a result.
All whilst struggling to breathe and saying “I can’t breathe”.
This Tragedy took place In Minneapolis a city in USA state Minnesota in mid May 2020.
Anti-Racism groups have been protesting furiously ever since the tragedy, and there have been new movements, left in the wake of Floyd’s death, battling to fight against racism and social injustice in remembrance of George Floyd.
Since then, there has been a unified movement for REAL CHANGE and the Black Lives Matter movement has taken off with real speed given the shocking video of George Floyd’s death in the USA.
The unbearable to watch video almost immediately went Viral across the World.
And in the World of Sports most players and teams take a knee before playing, as a sign to remember George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and The Fight Against Racism.
The debates have been ongoing in the UK about whether or not we should use the acronyms of BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnicities) to refer to ethnic minorities.
Zamila Bunglawala, Deputy Head of Unit & Deputy Director Policy and Strategy, Race Disparity Unit, Cabinet Office said about the BAME debate in July 2019 that:
“Personally, I have never referred to my ethnicity using BAME or BME, and I don’t like it when they are used to describe me. Like many ethnic minorities, I proudly refer to my specific ethnic identity – my background is Indian. That’s obviously my personal preference, but the fact that the acceptability of BAME and BME has been called into question by The BBC, The Times and The Guardian, suggests I am not alone.”
The USA was left angry and protests in reaction to the death of Mr George Floyd shook many states within the USA with many weeks and nights of witnessing fires and burning of vehicles, businesses and a police station in Minneapolis where Mr George Floyd was residing.
140 cities in USA saw protests in the name of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, many of these protests ended similar to the nights in Minneapolis. The National Guard was brought into 21 states to try and get the protesters to calm down and go home.
President Trump did absolutely nothing to help the situation and even drove back protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally which then officially led to the street (leading up to the White House) being renamed to ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’. And the street was also painted on with big yellow letters, reading: ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Society faces a problem in eradicating Racism.
There is a real demand for Social Change, Justice and Equality; to fight against social injustice and to move away from ‘White Privilege’ and ‘White Supremacy’.
Ethnic and Black people are all tired of being treated unfairly simply due to the diversity of nature. All over the World.
There are many factors that have yet to be overcome as Racism is prevalent everywhere and on a big scale; Racism has become and has been Institutionalised for a very long time now.
People have also become more racist with figures like Trump and Nigel Farage boosting racism and sending the wrong messages to the public.
Donald Trump was elected President, due to his promises on building a wall on the border of Mexico and the USA.
Trump also promised on cutting down on immigration and even tried to controversially ban Muslims from travelling into the USA.
The Politics, of fear, of the other, is the message, that has been used, to spread fear, so far; And has seen a rise in support due to a focus on the difference between Race, Origin and Religion;
Institutional Racism / Systemic Racism is a huge Problem:
Police stop and search keeps happening to more Black and Ethnic Minorities, compared to White people, who are less likely to be stopped and searched, in the UK and USA. Police brutality keeps happening and George Floyd’s death has awoken many to the social injustice in the World.
In Sports; Black Footballers have been targeted in racist attacks and for decades there have been no changes, rather an increase in incidents.
Names such as Raheem Sterling and Anton Ferdinand have been racially discriminated against and yet football and racism are still seen as the norms especially amongst so called fans who bring the beautiful game into disrepute with racist chants and behaviours. Also the lack of Black and Asian players in Football is underrepresented.
Schools and Education need to include factual history and incorporate new Black and Minority Ethnic curriculums to educate generations fairly and correctly about the realities of the World.
And the change that is required, whilst teaching children about others and their lost heritage and culture. And a realistic history of slavery, should feature, on the curriculum. And Children should be taught who is responsible for the slave trade and the racism that exists, still, today.
Even the Governments around the World and the rise of Political Racist parties and many similar institutions such as the BNP and National Front in the UK, and the KKK in the USA, are big and longtime operators in Big Institutional Racism.
The systems in place within these institutions are racist and need to change.
Due to ones differences in colour and creed, ‘Racism’ is being legitimised and the divisive far right hate groups are making a mockery of Human Rights, Equality, Liberty and Justice by trying to make Racism acceptable and continue with today’s norm.
The list of racist organisations in the USA are extensive; White nationalist hate groups in the US have increased 55% throughout the Trump era, according to a 2020 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and a “surging” racist movement continues to be driven by “a deep fear of demographic change”. (the Guardian)
In the USA, there were 155 such groups counted last year, and they were present in most states. These groups were counted separately from Ku Klux Klan groups, racist skinheads, Christian Identity groups, and neo-Confederate groups, all of which also express some version of white supremacist beliefs. (the Guardian)
Racism has got to the boiling point and is overflowing with Protests taking place all over the World.
The KKK has been around since 1865 and still has members in groups around the USA and is still active to date.
In England influential Protests have occurred at Hyde Park (June 2020) with Black Actor from Star Wars, John Boyega, voicing his concerns on the rise of racism and his disappointment in Institutions.
Racist groups in the UK have been dated back to as early as the 1940’s. The list of racist groups/organisations in the UK are too many to mention here.
On 3rd June 2020: Boyega made a rallying speech through his megaphone at a Black Lives Matter Protest which was held recently after George Floyd’s death.
John Boyega said at the rally : “Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting.” The Star Wars actor went on to say “We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd. We are a physical representation of our support for Sandra Bland. We are a physical representation of our support for Trayvon Martin. We are a physical representation of our support for Stephen Lawrence.”
John Boyega concluded by saying: “Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process. We don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones. “I need you to understand how painful this s*** is. I need you to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing and that isn’t the case any more, that was never the case. And Racism should not be acceptable any more.”
Many large and influential Racist institutions are still being racist and are preventing progress on a cultural shift/change towards fairness and equality.
Society has entangled itself so long in notions of white supremacy and their racist views towards colour/race/gender/religion and sexuality that we are only now starting to try and untangle and break these remnant invisible shackles of slavery/colonialism/and racism. There is still much to do in the fight against racism. And of course no one should be in shackles of any sort or ever kept from their right to freedom.
Samuel L Jackson stars in a documentary called ‘Enslaved’ and he recalls the lives of slaves on ships from Bristol, USA, and other European ships where approximately 12 million slaves were brought and sold within the Trans-Atlantic slave trade which went on for several centuries.
In this documentary they mention Edward Colston who was a slave merchant and his statue was toppled and thrown into the Bristol Harbour, by anti racism protesters who only recognised him for his involvement in the slave trade whilst others argued he had been a very rich and charitable man for Bristol and England.
Monuments all over the world have been targeted due to the racists connections they hold and governments across the World are confused as to what to do about this particular issue of statues and monuments that are offensive due to their racist contexts.
Edward Colston’s riches’ came from the slave trade and there is still a lot of controversy in the UK about monuments like Edward Colston (his statue was recovered from the Harbour) and Winston Churchill’s statue who is seen as another figure who had racist views and involvement in racism through comments he has made has been targeted next with anti racist protesters graffitiying his statue.
Hate in the form of Racism has sadly been a reality for everyone all around the world for a very long time and people want a Change to happen Now! REAL CHANGE! No more Racism! No more social injustice!
Countries like the UK and USA have a role in bringing about this change;
As before the abolition of slavery;
There were lucrative fortunes made from the slavery business. Countries were robbed of their riches and citizens’ their freedoms and human rights whilst often being taken from their homeland Africa/West-Indies/Jamaica and for example Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Gambia, Senegal, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon to name a few, of course there were other countries/islands too which have not been mentioned. (As the list would be exhaustive.)
History shows that the UK/USA/Europe, all exploited mass amounts of Black people throughout a 400 year span that slavery lasted, possibly even longer and was abolished in the UK in 1807 and 1865 in the USA.
Slavery was so lucrative that it made the UK and USA rich and the economies came to be based mainly around slavery; And countries like the UK/USA were subsequently built by slavery and its unfortunate victims.
Therefore primarily they should take responsible action against tackling racism and racists who spread hate in the name of White Supremacy and often glorify figures like Hitler and the Nazi Flag.
In the UK political scene the BNP has been gaining more support, evident from vote results. There are also a lot of members of groups such as the National Front who are notorious for Racism.
BR-EXIT was also a major dividing point with most of the ethnic groups within London voting to remain in the EU which exemplifies the need for multiculturalism and diversity within society.
Instead the UK left the EU at a loss and plans to halt and stop immigration into the UK.
Over 80% of the UK population is White. Racism has been on the rise since the BREXIT vote to leave the EU and this has been happening since the decision to have an EU Referendum, each year the rise in racist crime goes up and a recent report shows that racial discrimination has gone up even further since the EU exit.
Pro racist groups and Far right groups’ demonstrators protested against the Black Lives Matter movement and many other hate groups. A sad but true reality. Making the Black Lives Matter, an even more important, voice, to keep, on the agenda.
In the USA President Trump has been popular amongst those with Nationalist and Racist views – usually the two go hand in hand – and during his presidency he has caused a divide between Hispanic, Black, Asian and Oriental people by alienating them through comments and policy against them.
President Trump has caused his supporters to become dangerously confident and has referred to the Corona Virus as a Chinese virus and went about the handling of George Floyd’s death all wrong sending in the wrong signals to the World and the USA.
Racism is on the rise in America and this is evident with the distancing of the US Administration of the Confederate flags.
In stark contrast to those who have ‘confederate flags’ a symbol from the days of civil war and unrest in the fight for freedom and abolishment of slavery, where many lives were lost in battles on both sides, Black and White.
The White Confederates eventually lost the Civil War and the once enslaved people gained freedom, a human right, on June 19th 1865 when USA President Abraham Lincoln used the Emancipation Act and ratified the 13th Amendment of the USA constitution.
Much of the USA are trying to ban and remove the flags although some are still visible as people are claiming to have the flags as part of their heritage.
Coronavirus has effected many people around the World and is Racist for many reasons. Chinese people all over the World have been subjected to Racism and Discrimination and even President Trump referred to the virus as The China Virus.
Also Black and ethnic minorities have been subjected to the virus which is intrinsically linked to the World of racism we live in:
The Corona virus has bulldozed its way into our lives and has drastically changed the way we live; The number of deaths has just surpassed two – million at the time of writing.
Current graphs show that Black and Ethnic Minorities in the UK and USA are dying more than White people. (This has been the situation since the beginning of the Pandemic.)
The main contributor to the virus link with racism is the factor of inequality due to the way the system was, is, and has been designed, to keep the Black and Minority Ethnics poor and the White rich.
Many Black and ethnic minorities do not have the standards of living that they would need in order to fight off a challenge from the Corona virus.
The significantly poorer Black and Minority Ethnic communities are often in a poor housing situation, and this makes it easier to contract the virus in closely housed accommodation.
The system that is at fault is the system that has slowly and carefully been put together over time with a clear divide in wealth and opportunities and senior positions.
In the UK and the USA, Black and Minority Ethnic are still in considerably lower wealth and lower income and lower positions than the White demographic. The virus is thus inadvertently intertwined and linked with Racism.
The Black and Minority ethnics are dying as a result of less income and less wealth than the White people who can afford proper care and well spaced out accommodation, many others can’t and end up dying from the virus, due to, being unable to manage, especially with lockdowns and job losses. The current climate of racism along with the virus is unhelpful at the least.
Conclusion:
We’ve seen examples of explicit racism above, also to mention is unconscious bias this is when people have underlying attitudes and unconscious stereotyping going in their mind about others and is a pre-conceived way of thinking or pre-conceived attitude to others.
These are pre-formulated ideas in the mind and can be corrected by being aware and self conscious of your unconscious stereotyping and learning through practice to remove these thoughts.
This article also discussed Institutional Racism/Systemic racism which is present in Prisons, Education, Policing, Politics, History, Sports and other fields/departments/categories.
The racism is wrong and is coming in from every angle in many ways subtle and discreet and overt and extreme at times as well as intrinsically patterned into society through racist agendas. Structural racism.
This article also discussed the Racist statues/monuments around the UK. And instead of remove statues that are offensive and have their past in racism the UK government is looking to find further ways to protect these statues / monuments through law in parliament.
Racism is still here, which is the sad truth, hopefully and through being educated and aware and anti-racist we can unite to see the end of this disease called racism. Let’s stand against social injustice and racism!
Global Pandemic 2020! – CORONA – Analysis, Concerns, Lockdown and Chaos without a CURE!
CORONA VIRUS: The New GLOBAL contagious PANDEMIC
(Please find all information is correct as of 24/4/2020 when this article was written and numbers of death tolls are from the 24th April 2020).
Introduction:
Two million people have come into contact with the Virus and over 196,000 people have died Internationally to date.
The Deadly virus originated from China – Wuhan – where the first case of Corona Virus also referred to as (CO-Vid19) was identified between late November and early December 2019 and was a global pandemic within the first few months of 2020.
Initial emergence of Corona, brief Analysis:
When the CO-VID19 hit the Chinese New Year celebrations were about to begin on January 25th (2020), it is in Chinese culture the year of the RAT which is meant to bring about Success, Peace and Intelligence to the year. Unfortunately Corona ensured the Chinese New Year 2020 was cancelled.
The Virus continues to be a global ongoing pandemic with more people sadly losing their lives day by day.
As the rate of deaths increases, so do concerns from people all around the world and the people it has impacted upon; if not everyone.
The virus that has originated from Bats/ or the Pangolin family has proved to be a dangerous and deadly virus which has evolved and transmitted to humans and evolved; with the ability to transmit from human to human a dangerous mix which has meant that the World has been on lockdown with containment of whole Countries whilst citizens are asked to practice self-isolation, social distancing in a containment effort to control the outbreak of CO-VID19; with many people having to adjust to daily life, the loss of many jobs, with economies having halted to a stop too.
Although Corona shrouds itself in death there are still glimmers of hope; businesses from all over the world have been adapting, changing their production output, to serve the purpose of fighting Corona.
An example of this is Italy; where companies like Armani are now making protective clothing instead of luxurious designer wear. Ferrari have been manufacturing respirators instead of sports cars, Gucci is making face masks, and Bvlgari are making hand sanitizers. It has been amazing to see how every business in the world is trying to adapt in the battle to send Corona away for good.
LOCKDOWN
Today the Norm is for people to wear masks and to only go out for essentials, whilst cutting their own hair at home, and doing work from home. For those unable to work from home, life is still boring at home in the Lockdown with nothing to really do, especially since all sports events have been cancelled. Also many of our daily dietary routines have changed with many people choosing to cook at home and many resteraunts like Nando’s and McDonalds providing some of their recipes, enabling citizens to cook at home rather than risk going to places where there are still gatherings.
Mr President Donald Trump refers to the “All out War on CORONA” whilst many from the British Government have referred to Corona as the main enemy and this as World War 3 from members of the public commenting on the outbreak of Corona.
All International efforts of Unity are focusing on the battle to defeat the Virus in the form of lockdowns with most Countries still in containment mode.
A point of interest is that many Countries in lockdown have interpreted the WHO guidance differently:
A liberal approach from Coutnries like Sweden which kept their schools open throughout the pandemic. Whilst in the UK we took a slightly more moderate approach with Schools only being open for the children of key workers.
Whether it be the UK the USA or Third World Countries; COVID has caused chaos, panic, uncertainty and death everywhere; it seems the World was caught off guard by this Pandemic even though a Global Pandemic had soon been expected.
Many Scientists sent warnings to Governments around the World before the outbreak; it is only now that it is too late, that we realise these warnings should have been heeded earlier.
It is unusual that the many governments were thrown aback by the outbreak and spread of the virus, and were unable to effectively organise Nationally as well as externally with the rest of the world in order to combat the spread and death toll.
It now remains to be seen whether the Governments around the World can pull their Countries back together and ultimately stop the virus without contributing to too many deaths as the numbers continue to rise steadily in favour of the invisible virus killer.
Chaos
With the Virus, came the panic buying and stockpiling of foods, drinks, and surprisingly toilet roll, however this soon calmed down when people realised that it was silly to be over-buying and of course was not fair on others.
The UK saw the release of prisoners early due to COVID 19 and a need for the prisons to be safe enough to contain prisoners and the virus; of course their may also be anxiety to keeping the death rates down within the country.
The UK and the US have both received flack from the media and public – with criticism being based on issues of ordering the lockdowns too late and not preparing enough for this new virus. Especially when the number of care home deaths was not reported at all, when there were a significant number of deaths happening at care homes around the UK.
Mayor Siddique Khan came under fire too when he claimed to be making an effort to obtain masks for TFL (Transport for London) staff, like bus drivers and underground workers.
There has been plenty of controversy surrounding Corona; the main controversies have been to do initially with Government handling of the Virus from the outset, also there has been a massive delay in the UK for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). With Dr’s, Nurses, Care workers and key workers all in dire need; And the worry now is that they are being asked to re-use their equipment by the UK Government, however the PPE has a short re-use expectancy.
There has been much controversy shrouded around the Virus such as when and where the virus originated and why it was allowed to spread internationally.
People have been speculating on the COVID VIRUS too with a number of conspiracy theories growing daily; such as Bill Gates being the reason for the Pandemic (as strange as it sounds) and owning the patent for Corona.
There are worrying theories too, that this may be a human made virus and that the virus originates from not only bats but snakes too. It is not surprising that theories like this exist as the Chinese Government have been very hush on the specifics of who the first person was to contract the virus, how they contracted it and where they contracted it from with; an example of this is that the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, yet this claim is still unsubstantiated.
Wet markets are where fish, meat, and live animals are sold, all in one place, quite a cauldron of mixture for this virus to form, especially when you add humans to this mixture.
International Concern and Celebrity Influence vs Corona Influenza:
Bollywood actors/actresses such as Anushka Sharma and her Cricketer Husband Virat Kohli are pleading their nations’ and worlds’ citizens’ to stay at home rather than risk the danger of contracting the virus by going out unecessarily.
As for Hollywoo,d Tom Hanks had everyone worried when he contracted the virus; there was also a film which predicted this outbreak aptly named “PANDEMIC” filmed in early 2019 and released amongst the Corona chaos in January 2020.
Embarassing and dangerous, the British Prime-Minister Boris Johnson himself contracted the Virus whilst trying to ensure the success of a lockdown and promoting a message to everyone to social distance and stay at home.
When the Prime-minister of the UK went into intensive care it was a scary moment for the country as it could have been worse for the country if PM Johnson hadn’t made it out; similarly Prince Charles contracted the virus but was not taken into intensive care but made to self-isolate. Recently Prince William has been promoting the lockdown, reassuring the government message that it is for the safety of everyone.
However in America there is more support gaining for the easing of the lockdown with many wealthy business people losing out; with the temporary closure of business due to Lockdowns. The economy has been suffering in the US as a result, many people have lost out in their investments within the stock markets with stocks falling or losing their value sharply.
Edris Elba after recovering from Corona with his wife have started a campaign to raise $200 million and are seeking the help of governments and the private sector to do this. They are particularly concerned about the third world countries and the effect Corona is having on the poor people; and they mentioned that over half a million people around the world could end up living in poverty due to Corona.
The Rise of Corona Charity Work
It is not just celebrities who have been working towards the fight against Corona but also general members of the public doing challenges like climbing the height of Everest by going up and down their staircases to raise money.
Captain Tom Moore from the UK served in the Second World War and came up with an ingenius way to raise money for the NHS corona staff by walking 100 laps of his garden and completed this at 99 years old going on a hundred years; the target total was half a million pounds and Captain Tom Moore managed to raise in total £28,515,322 with the help of 1,342,589 supporters.
POLLUTION:
We are seeing that our air quality has improved in many places around the world as a result of fewer cars on roads; And now the Himalayas is once again visible in India, due to a stop to daily traffic and as with other parts of the World a stop to all business; has meant globally the environment is doing its best, to recover, from the suffocating toxic atmosphere it has been subjected to the past century by humankind.
Nature is flourishing due to the Lockdown
As a result of less pollution and cleaner air, water, and of course a major lack of interference from humans, not only has the environment benefited; however nature too, animals have been found wondering the city spaces whether in broad daylight or night, for them there is extra territory free from humans for them to wonder into and explore.
Economy
The Economy of every Country has been effected by this contagious virus and all have halted to a stop very quickly. The price of oil is valued now in the negative numbers and oil production is slowly grinding to a stop as there is simply no demand and the oil is being over-produced now and oil companies have had to pay for disposing the over produced barrels of oil.
The Governments are now trying to strike a balance between Lockdown and the economy, especially President Trump of the USA, he has in his country decided to start an easing of the lockdown in some States already and this could be because he needs the economy up and running again.
In America unemployment benefit claims have within the last week jumped to 6.6 million citizens and 26 million have lost their jobs to Corona Virus in the US.
The UK government has seen an increase in those claiming benefits due to lack of employment, and of course CO-VID19 has had a dramatic effect on job losses with businesses going bust and airlines like Virgin in possible collapse.
The UK has also seen Debenhams close down as it cannot survive in this current economic climate.
140,000 small businesses in the UK alone have applied for help from the British Government.
We are seeing big business giants helping in the fight against Corona, although we are still awaiting the emergence of small entrepeneurs who are only starting to trickle through now.
Many countries may be looking at facing recession in the near future due to the effect of Corona Virus on the World.
US – China economic relations may be strained further in the future too and Corona will most likely be the reason.
Disinformation
All around the world people are sharing disinformation on apps like facebook and watsapp; In the form of fake medical tips and advice, and theories like the new 5G speeds are the cause of the virus and 5G towers have been attacked as well as company employees for the new 5G networks. Of course there are always reminders from President Trump that there is a lot of fake news out there too, hopefully not from the mainstream media.
Notable Previous Pandemics:
Ebola – 2014 – linked to Bats/Primates – has no cure as yet and has killed 11,000 to date.
H5N1 – Also known as Bird Flu – linked to birds and poultry – does not have a high death rate as yet but could be dangerous if nothing is done to tackle a bird flu pandemic. Bird flu seems to trigger on and off like a switch and has a high mortality rate with no vaccine as yet.
H1N1 – 2009/2010 – linked to Pigs/Farms – has killed 600,000 to date and is referred to as Swine Flu – there are now annual vaccines in use.
SARS – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003– linked to wet markets with a death toll of 1,000 – there is currently no cure.
AIDS – linked to Primates – 32million havde died to date – no cure.
HUMANS too close in proximity to ANIMALS
Is it time to reconsider our safety before animal viruses wipe us out?
60% of known infectious diseases in humans are transmitted from virus of animals!
Many people have started to change their diet and turn vegan or vegetarian, due to the dangers posed of eating meat, especially with all the viruses so prevalently making their way into our lives.
If Human kind were able to stop their relations with Animals the world would be safer as there is no risk of a virus being transmitted to humans. Eating meat and farming meat are not going to help the fight against Corona but could stop a future pandemic like this happening again.
Religion
Many people have been told to worship from home and Ramadan for Muslims just recently started and London Mayor – has asked the Muslim community to avoid social gatherings; until the virus pandemic passes. This means that Holy places of worship will be seeing no worshippers at all due to the guidance on gatherings; many holy institutions are doing their bit to raise money to fight Corona too.
DEATH TOTALS WORLDWIDE
The US has suffered a total of 911,000 total cases and the total number of deaths in the US is 51,516 at the time of writing. (24/04/2020)
The UK have a total of 19,506 deaths and the total number of cases are 143,000. These figures do not take into account deaths in care homes. (24/4/2020).
It is worth mentioning that there has been a huge uproar over lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for NHS Staff and Dr’s and Nurses have either had to re-use PPE over and over or go without due to the disorganisation and lack of preparedness for a Pandemic on this scale.
Those on the frontline are very much heroes because they’ve put their personal safety before others going without masks and sometimes even appropriate clothing i.e.- aprons.
Europe still seems to be the centre of Corona and has been referred to as the new hub of the Virus and countries like Spain / Italy / France are where most cases and deaths have occured with the UK following in fifth and the US in top position for most deaths.
India has 23,452* active cases and 723* deaths, and suffered horrid controversy when an immediate and decisive lockdown was implented with only a days notice for everyone; leaving many nationals travelling within India stuck. This mixed with the high poverty levels in India has also meant that people were left hungry and fighting over food rations, with nowhere to go. The Government were slow to react and will be criticised for their treatment of the public and the poor. (24/4/2020).*
Africa is the latest country to be fighting Corona cases, and it is feared that Africa will not be able to cope due to its poor infrastructure all around the country; people are unable to work and earn money and therefore are left without the ability to purchase food; the food aid packages from the Government is not enough to sustain the entire populations of the countries within Africa. Currently the amount of total cases in Africa are 27,385 and the number of deaths at the time of writing are 1,297. (24/4/2020)
As for China, when they went on immediate lockdown, there was much censorship excercised by the government to mute talk about the virus. The Chinese government also used this lockdown to gather further information on their citizens via mobile phone apps linked to information about their citizens health. China currently has a total of 84,311 total cases and the number of deaths total is at 4,642. (24/4/2020.)
Iran was one of the countries to first be hit by the Pandemic and chaos entailed with the country put on lockdown. Although there have been conspiracy theories that there has been a cover up in the number of corona related deaths and China is also accused of doing the same. Iran racked up a total of 88,194 total cases with a total death of 5,574. (As of 24/4/2020)
There is much controversy within South Africa regarding the lockdown and detention centres where homeless people and drug addicts have been sent to until the lockdown is over.
CURE :
National Geographic says there are more viruses than stars; yet why do only some viruses effect us; perhaps this could be a discussion to have with friends, family, colleagues whilst on your next video group conferencing as this is the latest trend to socialise whilst maintaining the lockdown, containment and self-isolation.
As for a CURE there are urgent clinical trials happening all over the World and within the UK to find one; although to no avail as yet, it comes as a surprise to many that Human trials are taking place in Oxford -England so soon. So far the total number of people to recover from Corona is 781,754. As of (24/4/2020)
Corona virus testing has been a concern for all Governemnts around the World and the scrutiny and criticism received from the awful figures of testing has been put under the spot light by the media and the public. In the UK they are looking at ways to speed up the testing process to make it simpler more efficient and less time consuming as well as less sampling needed.
As for the Lockdown in the UK, the toll on citizens mental health is not taken into account and many people will be struggling with staying indoors for much longer; this Lockdown solution has seen the number of domestic abuse cases on the rise; as everyone has been urged to “Stay home and Stay Safe and Save Lives”.
There has also been a finding that many ethnic minorites have died in the UK from Corona although no one knows what to make of this finding as yet, this trend has caused a stir in the concerns for the more likely to be vulnerable; people such as the senior citizens and the young children and those with underlying health conditions from the ethnic minority backgrounnds.
Lastly it is important to mention that from the World Health Organisation (WHO) investigation into Wuhan, China and the emergence of the Virus; their findings were: That this virus was not human made and that the virus was not manipulated in the lab.
However with all the censorship in China and lack of information it is not a surprise that many people still blame China – including President Trump. It is however scary to think that lab made viruses could be a very dangerous venture, and something to stay well away from in the future.
Conclusion :
Time to Heal the World – Fight against Corona; And make a decision to save the Climate before it is too late. We can make a difference!
The time to make up minds on what kind of world we really want to leave behind for future generations is now!
Theresa May’s Urgency for an ‘Emergency Brexit’
Hasty and feisty :
This article looks at the Brexit and how Article 50 will be triggered now it has been made possible by the Supreme Court ruling which indicated the correct process, and looking at the timeframe of the deadlines and how they’ve been kept on track to meet these through haste on the UK governments part.
Theresa Brexit and Trump:
The process for Brexit seems to have been an emergency Brexit with the Government going about the process with so much urgency that it’s as if the panic button had been pressed, so much for remaining calm whilst under pressure.
Or is this rather an Emergence Brexit – an emergence of Brexit and Trump on their new found relationship. Or has Theresa May chose to ignore the large amount of people who voted to remain, do they no longer mean anything? Given that they almost nicked it to the finish line too. Why the early deadlines then? Similar to Trump and his crazy ban on Muslims he has not shown any concern and shown a lack of liberty for many; social inclusion is important and for a leader of an international country and being an international man how can he make such a devastating call. He too seems to have ignored the vast swathes of the public. Protests, Protests, and more Protests is what he got in return.
Damage:
Brexit has caused much chaos financially with the estimated EU bill between €40bn and €60bn; big companies leaving the UK, but also the economy is suffering and the evidence is in the weakened Pound. Triggering Article 50 after putting a bill together within days even before the Brexit Plan had been announced is unexpected and shocking.
The Brexit bill was voted for in a landslide majority, but there were a lot of resignations and the debate prior to the vote, was heated with many MP’s scrutinising the bill for being put together poorly in order to meet Prime-Minister May’s deadline for triggering Article 50.
Deadlines:
The date set out by the PM is March 31, 2017 and by then she will have requested that Article 50 should be triggered; by notifying the European Council of Britain’s intention to leave the EU. She is on-course to meet the deadline given and this just goes to show the intent for setting things in motion and with haste, a Brash and Bold Brexit no time for Brexit Banter.
So what has all this urgency been about by the Conservative Government and the Prime-Minister Theresa May on pressing for an early BREXIT.
We are sure to find out soon when trade negotiations will take place and President Trump is sure to play a role with the UK the USA’s closest ally.
History:
The UK joined the EU in 1973 and are now set to leave it via the Emergency exit via an ill thought out bill. Is the UK trying to keep pace with President Trump and follow his quick succession of executive orders and enforcement of a new beginning by being bullish about the Brexit and do things fast like Trump.
It certainly seems like Theresa May was out to fight when she presented her speech on her terms for Brexit which was in direct contrast to her message of a new partnership with the EU, she said she would walk away with no deal if the EU tried to impose a poor deal and not co-operate further with the EU.
Philip Hammond, the UK chancellor, told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag this week that he wanted the UK to remain “a recognisably European-style economy with European-style taxation systems and European-style regulation systems”, trading freely with the EU on something close to current terms.
Public opinion:
The public are key and more far right views are taking to the stage – with the UK its been a close call on public opinion on remaining or leaving the EU and in the US its been close too on whether to vote for Hillary or Trump.
Now we have ongoing protests against Trump and ongoing protests again Theresa May, and also Trump’s divisive policy on Muslims entering the US. What will be Theresa May’s move after Brexit?
Conclusion:
The Government were stalled in triggering Article 50 although it was short-lived. The difficulty initially began when the Supreme Court ruled on Article 50, on 24 January 2017.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on whether Theresa May has the power to trigger Article 50 using a royal prerogative would not get the go ahead.
This was a major ruling and has set a precedent for future rulings in similar situations.
Instead the Supreme Court ruling ensured that Parliament had a vote as to when Britain will begin the formal process of exit negotiation and trigger Article 50.
The Government’s efforts in trying to secure an exit without needing a vote from Parliament proved to be a temporary problem. The Government went about producing a bill which was passed through in Parliament by a majority vote.
This bill could have proved much more problematic if it had been contested and lots of amendments requested; however Theresa May managed to get the bill through although it has been called a mockery and simplistic and there may be a few more legal requirements for the Governments involved in the Brexit from the UK to take into consideration.
Many now want the Government to work with Parliament more closely and obtain votes on key negotiations.
The UK was divided on leaving or remaining in the EU and in London the majority voted to remain. Also because it was a close call there should have been more sense about the Government’s attempts to try and execute the exit as soon as possible.
The vote in parliament over triggering article 50 happened very quickly and was a slick move by Theresa May to further keep the breeze in the Brexit going.
Scotland’s stance in this process will be interesting to keep an eye on, as they had shown on many occasions a want to remain in the EU.
Northern Ireland and Wales along with Scotland had been firm on their position that they wanted more of a role in the Brexit negotiations which could have lasted up to two years, yet it was resolved within a short amount of time.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has put forward his time framework to have terms finalised for the exit from the EU by the end of September 2018.
Perhaps there is no hidden agenda and the urgency is because the PM wants to get this crisis of Brexit out of the way as soon as possible. More is bound to be revealed during the next couple of weeks as there is still outstanding controversy over why this bill has been bulldozed through in such a short amount of time and seemingly a lack of preparation of the bill and lack of time for all sides.
Syria Air Strikes – Are Bombs the Way…
I would like to begin with mention and introduction to the most important factors surrounding the complicated topic of Air Bombing Campaigns. It seems that too often the way is always The Bombing way – Bombs away, bombs away, bombs away!
Air Strikes
The Governments across the World have been doing this for too long; when will this mad and crazy envisaged and implemented notion stop where so many innocent civilians die and often lives are destroyed for many years if not completely. I can write about this with confidence as I have spoken to people who wish to remain anonymous who have lived in fear of bombs and have had to rebuild homes as well as see family members and friends die from the carnage caused by air strikes.
Terrorism
Air Strikes have not stopped Terrorism instead fueled it, and it was argued by many that it is an effective approach in combating Terrorism, an argument which now holds less strength, in a World where we’ve seen more Terrorism since 9/11.
Nuclear weapons / Chemical Attacks
Instead Governments should say away with bombs, away with Nuclear weapons, however I would like to focus for now on how The World should say no to these horrific air bombing campaigns.
The war in Syria is the worst exodus since the Rwandan genocide 20 years ago. Especially with Assad’s use of chemical gas/weapons and most recently with a chemical chlorine attack.
Human Rights
England and many other Western and non-Western countries talk of human rights and being countries integral to Religion with Peace and Harmony at its centrality. Surely causing destruction in other countries caused by these campaigns are far from Peaceful and with ones’ Human Rights on point.
There needs to be some perspective in these situations and the public have shown there concern on many occasions with protests too. Many people signed the petitions to stop the action of bombing in Syria. Which has also been a catalyst to more refugees fleeing the country.
Public Awareness/Division
The UK public seemed divided on Bombing on Syria as were the MP’s who voted whether to launch air strikes in Syria; significantly this division was seen in the BR-EXIT where those wanting to remain in the EU were closely matched to the numbers to exit, whose main rhetoric was about the influx of immigrants many of whom would obviously be refugees to the UK fleeing Syria. Anti-war demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street and other locations across the UK to make their voice heard, after so many setbacks from the previous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq surely many felt that this war in Syria would have the same outcome.
The UK government’s case is built on the argument that bombing would disrupt the ability of Isis to organize attacks in Europe, while containing the extremist group by denying it territory and access to finance, primarily through oil exports.
Russian Controversy
Russia has been poor in setting an example, by going all out and bombing everywhere across Syria. The UK and US did not waste much time in bombing Syria either and they were quick to push ahead with their campaigns. President Assad is still in charge in Syria and his cruel regime is still using chemical weapons on the innocent civilians. With President Assad still in power the US and the UK will have seen this as a failure although they may say it is still too soon to title this war as such.
Russia’s President Putin has been backing Assad to stay as President and this has become a confusing combination in the war in Syria with air strikes happening from every direction, targeting US and Turkish fighters as well as anyone seen to oppose the regime currently in place with Bashr Al Assad at the top; the civilians on the ground would obviously find it difficult to differentiate between US, UK, French and Russian planes, and as a result are living with death all around them whilst trying to survive being bombed on a regular basis.
Russian air strikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, striking homes, mosques and a busy markets, as well as medical facilities, in a pattern of attacks that show evidence of violations of international humanitarian law, says ‘Amnesty International’.
“The number of civilian casualties from Russian bombardment is far higher than the number caused by American and French airstrikes,” said Wael Aleji, spokesman for the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Destruction
There needs to be a leading nation for promoting Peace and instead of engaging in War there has to be further interest in investing against Terrorism. The UK has been bombed in the bygone past when Germany used aerial bombing strikes.
It seems as if those memories need to be related to now, even more so now. How can the insensitivity of bombs which nowadays with all the modern technology available are even more dangerous not be banned all together.
Power in the missiles launched cause mass damage and have huge radius, despite claims that they are precision based strikes there are many innocent civilian casualties in every strike. The destruction happening is reminiscent of the past whether it be Pearl Harbour, Germany bombing the UK, or Iraq and Afghanistan and other middle east countries like Iran and Lebanon.
Financial Interests
Behind this facade of helping the innocent civilians through bombing campaigns there is the sinister situation where the rich nations are profiting from the sales in modern weaponry and aerial bombs, the arms industry is worth billions and the Governments around the World benefit from this lucrative business trading and buying and selling; once the destructive damage has been done by dropping bombs, the Governments award contracts to rebuild, the UK and US did this in Iraq making money from contracts given to corporations within the UK and US who are often donors to Governments in Power.
The economies of the countries conducting the rebuilding on such a mass scale has a rewarding effect on their economy.
New airports are re-built, buildings, military bases, etc all bring in business; not to mention oil from these countries exported at extortionate prices. These war torn countries economies suffer as a result of this exploitation and this effects its citizens directly.
The Guardian News titled one of their articles in 2013 : “Syria intervention plan fueled by oil interests, not chemical weapon concern.” The article went on to say that “Massacres of civilians are being exploited for narrow geopolitical competition to control Mideast oil, gas pipelines.” It also mentioned the reliance on Middle East oil :
“The geographic area of proven oil reserves coincides with the power base of much of the Salafi-jihadist network. This creates a linkage between oil supplies and the long war that is not easily broken or simply characterized… For the foreseeable future, world oil production growth and total output will be dominated by Persian Gulf resources… The region will therefore remain a strategic priority, and this priority will interact strongly with that of prosecuting the long war.”
Syria’s People – Refugee Crisis
Moving away from financial aspects, I would like to focus on the people aspect however; a recent statistic from Syria provided by Mercy Corps is :
“Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population — more than 11 million people — have been killed or forced to flee their homes.”
And the UN says millions of Syrians need our help, According to the U.N., it will take £5 billion to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable Syrians in 2016. The U.N. estimates that 6.6 million people are internally displaced. When you also consider refugees, well over half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, whether they still remain in the country or have escaped across the borders.
Conflict and Children
Mercy Corps also says of the conflict and bombing that:
“More than five years after it began, the full-blown civil war has killed over 250,000 people, half of whom are believed to be civilians. Bombings are destroying crowded cities and horrific human rights violations are widespread. In October 2015, Russia began launching airstrikes at ISIS targets in Syria. The bombings have continued, so far killing at least 2,000 civilians and forcing even more Syrians to flee for safety.”
Syrians are now the largest refugee population in the world. Almost 5 million Syrians have registered or are awaiting registration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is leading the regional emergency response. According to the UN, more than half of all Syrian refugees are under the age of 18. Most have been out of school for months, if not years.
Twitter Controversy
Anti-Isis activist group ‘Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently’ warned on Twitter that airstrikes which kill civilians undermine the fight against Isis and they said of the bombings – “Congratulations to the Coalition u have a new 160 #ISIS new fighters who will join the fight against u after u kill 160 civilian ##Manbij”
Population decline
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution (2011), there have been more than 115 thousand civilian casualties and 5 percent of all deaths in Syria are caused by terrorist attacks. Due to the high number of casualties, millions of people have fled Syria and in 2014, Syria had one of the the highest population decline rates in the world.
Al-Tukhar & Manbij strikes
Most recently was the bombing of Al-Tukhar and Manbij which has resulted in the largest loss of civilian life by coalition operations in Syria.
“There must be a prompt, independent and transparent investigation to determine what happened, who was responsible, and how to avoid further needless loss of civilian life,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, interim deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.
Terrorist Trouble
Bombing hinders the innocent Syrian civilians and at publishing the bombing still continues; Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said of the bombings that “In Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Mosul, Isis is living almost totally among civilians, so you can’t hit them.”
He pointed out that thousands of foreign jihadi had managed to travel to and from Syria for the past few years through Turkey and questioned the wisdom of now trying to stop militants with bombs when they could have been stopped with tighter border controls. The Paris conspirators, including the presumed ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, were able to travel between Belgium, France and Syria while the US-led airstrikes targeting Isis command and control were in full swing.
Legality & War Crimes
The legality of the War in Syria has also been questioned after the world has witnessed foreign intervention, as to who wanted President Assad removed and whether the international bombings in Syria have contributed to human rights violations.
“Some Russian air strikes appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians. Such attacks may amount to war crimes,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.
Syria’s Economy after Foreign Intervention
“The medium-term macroeconomic prospects hinge on containing the war and finding a political resolution to the conflict, and rebuilding the damaged infrastructure and social capital. Violence continues to disrupt the production and distribution of goods and services, and impedes economic activity. Barring a cessation of the conflict, the country’s human and physical capital stock is expected to continue to shrink.” (worldbank.org)
The conflict has significantly damaged the country’s public and private assets including health, education, energy, water and sanitation, agriculture, transportation, housing and other infrastructure. The Syria Center for Policy Research estimated that, for the whole country, the destruction of physical infrastructure amounted to $75 billion. The UN estimated that it would need an investment of $180 billion to bring Syrian GDP back to pre-conflict levels.
Conclusion
After having spoken to a Syrian gentlemen who lived 19 years in Syria and then moved to the UK; he told me he was upset and saddened to see what was happening in Syria he said that the political complexities are so vast that everyone seems confused about the situation, and the foreign intervention has not helped anything; “I am angered by the amount of civilians dying in Foreign Air Strikes, this war is about more than Assad, if the West wanted him out it would have happened by now. Instead he still lives in the comfort of Syria and is still using chemical weapons.”
I would like to conclude with a part of the conversation which really summed up my concern for Syrians being bombed in these horrific air strikes;
“You don’t think about these air strikes till it happens to you or your family or friends, before you accept these bombings from all sides you should really think about the devastation, what if this happened to you, that’s when you really feel it, before it happens to you give some thought to those being bombed and try and make a difference, stand up for the Syrians.”
Fracking a Catalyst to Earthquakes…
This article ‘Fracking a ‘Catalyst to Earthquakes’ looks at the link between fracking and earthquakes:
I also have an article which looks at the basics of Fracking and tells you more about what Fracking is and how its done.
The other article is titled ‘Lords’ Pro-Fracking Report published yet poll shows Fracking not in Favour!’ (in the link below):
Lords’ Pro-Fracking Report published yet Poll shows Fracking not in Favour!
Fracking a Catalyst to Earthquakes
Fracking is a catalyst to Earthquakes and this is evident in a rise in seismic activity in places like USA’s – Oklahoma where earthquakes have been occurring on a much larger scale; than before Fracking had begun for oil and gas, so much so that Oklahoma now sees more Earthquakes than anywhere else in the world. The most recent happening on the 30 December 2015 with a magnitude of 4.3, followed the next five days by aftershock/tremors with a further threat of more to follow. As a result 4,400 residents were left with no electricity and caused damage to the properties.
The United States Geological Survey says that more Earthquakes are to be expected as a major fault may have been re-activated by the Earthquake and that as a result this may result in further 4.0 and more magnitude earthquakes.
Oklahoma went from two earthquakes a year before 2009 to two a day. This year, roughly 700 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher has shook the state, compared to 20 in 2009.
In August 2015, Oklahoma Governor – Mary Fallin admitted there was a “direct correlation between the increase of earthquakes that we’ve seen in Oklahoma [and] disposal wells.”
The latest 2015 figures for Oklahoma, show that fracking has become common, state authorities issued a report saying that the state has experienced 585 (magnitude 3+) earthquakes in 2014 compared to 109 events recorded in 2013. Oklahoma has more earthquakes in 2015 than all of continental U.S. combined. Earthquakes are hitting in swarms, and it has been reported in America that in Oklahoma no one apart from concerned residents is taking this seriously.
The disposal wells are a particular problem as the waste fluids pumped underground seems to be causing the ground to form faults and displace the stable earth to an unstable state leading to these Earthquakes.
Honn Kao, a research scientist with Geological Survey of Canada said of this pumping of fluid, “In theory, a bigger injection of fracking fluid can certainly trigger a bigger quake.”
At the moment there is not much concern about the Earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or under it is only when it reaches 3.5 magnitude that regulators have suggested shutting down the fracking operations and re-locating to a new location. There should be some serious concern for these smaller magnitude quakes too.
A lady from Oklahoma said of the multiple Earthquakes – “I live in Medford and my husband is a handy-man and we can tell you that these little quakes do cause damage. Doorways are askew, cracks are appearing and growing, and parts of houses are sinking!” she also said “The Oklahoma Corporate Commission refuses to fine these wells that are injecting too much waste fluid too deep.” Frustrated by the media she says that “they are not even reporting all of the quakes we’ve felt.”
In the UK test drilling for Shale gas, twice caused magnitude 2.0 earthquakes, and this in the testing stage in Lancashire, after two earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.2 magnitude hit the area a subsequent study found it was “highly probable” that shale gas test drilling triggered the tremors.
The UK government-appointed panel said there could be more tremors as a result of fracking, but they will be too small to do structural damage above ground. This is what was said in Oklahoma and they are reporting currently Earthquakes at 4.3 magnitude.
Does the UK not need to take all this into consideration rather than speeding up the process as they are currently doing. In most recent Earthquake News Ohio has been linked to Fracking where a new study links nearly 80 earthquakes ranging between 1.0 magnitude to 3.0 magnitude that occurred in Ohio’s Mahoning County in March 2014 to nearby fracking operations.
The British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission released a report in August 2015 stating that a 4.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked northeast British Columbia in August was caused by fracking and may be the largest earthquake on record to be attributed to the controversial energy extraction process.
These human related earthquakes are human made with the number of earthquakes rising in many areas, with this in mind should Fracking continue in the US, UK, or anywhere in the World?
The National Parks are under threat to with David Cameron confirming that the UK is to go “all out” for shale gas. The Parks could be in danger from Earthquakes too, yet the plans to do this fracking under national parks has already been approved.
Many residents from all around the country have opposed fracking by protesting in places like Chester, Balcombe, Greater Manchester and Blackpool and Fylde Coast. Yet the government seem to be pushing for fracking.
In an insight from former Environment Agency chairman Chris Smith, The UK is going into reverse on renewable energy while trying to hasten the beginning of the fracking process. The emphasis should be on working on developing green energy and not putting the UK/US/EU/World land at risk of earthquakes. Asia will be watching with keen eyes as to what kind of approach the richer nations take on this risky road of Fracking before making a stake for their own Fracking Revolution or Fracking Revolt, as for the Indian strategy they seem to be moving cautiously a smart approach and small scale explorations/operations are occurring.
In conclusion:
We are learning more every day about this linking of Fracking to Earthquakes and it is becoming more evident by the day.
Renewable energy is the future that needs to be worked further towards and invested in much more, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris 2015 the world agreed to officially work towards a greener future and work to keep global warming down, fracking for shale gas is injurious to the planets Earth if it triggers quakes especially a large one.
And these quakes are a first of their kind they are Human made; is Human kind really sizing up Seismic activity and are they ready to take on the consequences and why are countries not exploring green energy alternatives to the dangers of Fracking as outlined in this article and its link to earthquakes.
On an interesting note:
Did you know many animals may be able to sense Earthquakes days before they happen, there is ongoing scientific studies, mainly in Asia with animals like dogs, snakes, bees, as Scientists try to understand how prior to an earthquake animals can go into hiding like when this happened in Peru in 2011 when magnitude 7.0 struck.
I also have an article which looks at the basics of Fracking and tells you more about what Fracking is and how its done.
The other article is titled ‘Lords’ Pro-Fracking Report published yet poll shows Fracking not in Favour!‘ (in the link below):
Lords’ Pro-Fracking Report published yet Poll shows Fracking not in Favour!
Mahindra Picks up Pininfarina in Purchase! Another Mahindra Magic Move!
Mahindra the Indian car giant has gone after the amazingly stylish Pininfarina which many know as the stylish Italian car designer which has designed almost 1,000 cars across brands over the years.
Pininfarina were operating with a debt of approximately 47.4 million euros and Mahindra have now picked up the company for 25.3 million euros and will help enhance Pininfarina in the future.
Mahindra will also inject 20 million euros into the designer through a rights issue of new stock, and will provide a guarantee worth up to 114.5 million euros to its lenders, creditors and lessors.
Mahindra now own 76.6% of Pininfarina, the remaining percentage to be left open to be purchased in the future.
Sergio Pininfarina 
Pininfarina will continue to remain an independent company, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, with Mr Paolo Pininfarina continuing as the Chairman of its board, Paolo is the son of Sergio (above) who is son of the original founder Battista (image 2).
1- Paolo Pininfarina 
2-Founder Battista Pininfarina 
Battista Pininfarina the founder is where the Pininfarina brand came about; he began working in his older brothers car body workshop at the age of 12, in Turin, Italy, he worked here for decades and it was here where he learnt about body work and he even began designing his own cars.
Interestingly Battista incorporated his nick name Pinin meaning the youngest/little one in the family, so the logo read as Pininfarina and also in 2013 Mahindra the Indian company hired Hubert Tassin, a former Pininfarina designer.
The Pininfarina features their logo on many Ferraris and have collaborated with Alfa Romeo for over 70 years too. Other collaborations include Maserati and Lancia and General Motors and BMW, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar to mention the most prominent.
The logo is world renowned and a car featuring the logo is known to be an exclusive model. The Pininfarina site sums up their history from 1930 to date by saying:
“Starting from its roots and from the solid reputation achieved during 85 years of glorious history, Pininfarina has confirmed its role as standard-bearer of the aesthetic values of Italian design in the world. Today’s activities are focused on design (automotive and non-automotive), engineering services (product development, testing, prototype construction) and production of very small series or exclusive high quality cars.”
“In its genes, Pininfarina today is the same as it was in the Thirties: the central role of design, aesthetic sensitivity capable of creating timeless beauty, constant striving for innovation, the strength of a tradition that brings together industry, technology and stylistic research, the capacity to interpret the client’s requirements thus maintaining its brand identity, and a propensity for long-term collaborations. These values, together with the commitment of the entire Group, will enable us to build a bridge towards the future” – Paolo Pininfarina grandson of Battista Pininfarina.
Battista’s son was Sergio who managed the Pininfarina brand until 2012 when he passed away.
The Pininfarina brand is 85 years old and has worked with a variety of Car manufacturers, many of which are exotic. Paolo is currently chairman of the board. “The firm will remain in Italy, as will the workforce and management, the style and the brand are linked to our history.” Said Paolo Pininfarina.
The Pininfarina cars sell at Auction for millions especially the Ferrari models. Mahindra the Indian car manufacturer have purchased the Italian car designer at a discounted price as they were in financial trouble and needed the help of a bigger company to help them recover and continue their excellent work in the future. The Pininfarina website stated recently that they have become the latest jewel in the Mahindra crown.
Mahindra will be able to feature more now internationally not just India, but also in Germany, Italy, China and the US. Pininfarina said of the acquisition “For Pininfarina, the acquisition will mean an ability to leverage Tech Mahindra’s presence across 90 countries and access to about 780 customers. Tech Mahindra’s global delivery model will lend Pininfarina a newly heightened scale to its operations.”
It looks like we are soon set to see Mahindra continuing the work alongside Pininfarina to create super styled model cars and with the wealth of Mahindra these cars will be set to take the future by storm and allow Pininfarina to grow and produce more of these exquisite future models and set a new platform for the future of stylized cars.
You can find out more about Pininfarina at : “Pininfarina.com” and more about Mahindra Tech / Mahindra and Mahindra at “TechMahindra.com”.
India’s submergence in Water, Poverty, Smog and the list goes on …
India’s Submergence and future emergence is the topic of this post, however I would first like to draw to attention the monsoon rains which are economically important to India when they fall in fair amounts is good for Agriculture with 17% of the population relying on the rains as a means for profit and survival within the agriculture industry.
Unfortunately I mentioned the monsoon early on with the natural flooding disaster which is a sad state to see happening right now in Chennai; where floods have taken hundreds of lives and where two-thousand residents have been evacuated. Many poor people living in wood built homes have been left homeless and many have lost everything including their lives. The Indian Government have come in for criticism for building to close to the rivers which are seen as a reason for the substantial levels of water, with bad drainage and architectural planning taking criticism.
Prime-minister Narendra Modi fresh from his visits to Britain and France (which I will mention more about later) has gone to see for himself the devastation that has been caused in Chennai.
India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh informed India’s fourth largest city (Chennai) that the government had released 9.4 billion rupees ($141 million) for flood relief and restoration. Mr. Modi went on to announce an additional 10 billion rupees for relief operations, he said:
“The Government of India stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Tamil Nadu in this hour of need.” Chennai formerly known as Madras is said to have been impacted by the effects of climate change, Mr Modi claims, however this could be an attempt to shy away from ongoing criticism of his Governments handling of the situation and the lack of taking onboard that much of the flooded land is low in level and that this should have been flagged as a danger to Chennai early on to prevent the crisis coming to people wading through the depths of muddy water amongst snakes and debris.
As Modi was leaving Britain onto his next stop in France for the Climate Conference, rain was beginning to fall continuously across Scotland, David Cameron spoke a week later about the mass floods’ in Scotland (which are still ongoing) and attributed the floods to Climate Change too, although he too came under criticism for the same reasons as Prime-Minister Modi in India.
In France there have been many events occurring such as the awful terrorist incidents, immediately followed by the UN Climate Change Conference held in France near Paris.
The conclusions after these events were a declared war by France on the terrorist organisation responsible (Daesh).
Also a new 1.5 to a Max of 2.0 warming limit has been drafted by the countries involved in the UN Climate Change Conference, the Coalition of about 100 developed and developing countries could have some influence over nations less willing to sign up to a truly ambitious deal due to be finalised soon.
The US have set out an aim for the 1.5 warming limit for the climate, however countries like Africa and India have said that it is not fair that they take the burden of the developed countries who have for the most part developed at the cost of polluting the skies, whilst expecting the undeveloped countries to put their poor people aside and take the burden to clear the airs.
Although the developing countries want to work with greener energy they are still set on the route of fossil fuels like coal to continue burning and stressing that the onus is on the developed countries to cut their emissions and assist in greener development in the undeveloped world.
The UN Climate Change conference has seen most countries asked to answer to the call for a legally binding, fair, durable agreement in Paris that must set a long-term goal, be reviewed every five years and include a system for tracking progress.
India receive aid from the UK and on the back of this Conference taking place many of the British Tabloid and broadsheet papers had eye catching headlines highlighting that the UK gives hundreds of millions in Pounds of Aid to India. Britain gave India nearly £300million in financial aid last year despite pledges by ministers to end the handouts.
India became the second highest recipient of Britain’s aid spending after its funding rose by £10million to nearly £279million, more than Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria. Conservative MPs said the amount of taxpayer’s money being given to one of the World’s fastest growing economies is “ridiculous”. India has its own space programme and recently unveiled plans to spend more than £10billion on a fleet of new warships and submarines. “A country with its own space programme does not need aid from us” said Sir Gerald Howarth, Conservative Party Member of Parliament.
Japan gives more in Aid to India than the UK and Germany and the US are said to be giving more in the future which will outdwarf that of the UK.
It sounds unfair that although the developed world have brought about their ease of development through fossil fuels that they can then turn around and expect the opposite from the undeveloped nations. Although India is being helped in aid it is to promote greener cleaner use and implementation of green energy.
It was reported recently that Uruguay now have a solely green energy for the country with 100% renewable energy being used to provide electricity.
The leaders of 30 of the world’s poorest countries said they wanted the world to be 100 per cent renewable by 2050 at the UN Climate Conference.
Renewable energy and climate targets will be a key theme of these talks in the future. There is a major push by poorer nations for their – and the world’s – energy needs to be supplied by renewable energy, as part of their insistence that the climate target be tightened to prevent average warming of more than 1.5C.
India is focusing on strong solar power generated energy, yet it is being said that India may cause an upset in Paris at the UN Climate Conference, with a possibility that they may not play ball in the talks or come to agreement with other countries.
When will India eradicate poverty and be a key developed country and emerge to be a real Superpower who talks the talk and walks the walk. Prime-Minister Modi before being elected campaigned on the reforms he would bring in and ensure that India will continue to develop at a leading economic rate which they are continuing to do, despite China’s slight slow-down. Modi has made it clear that he will continue as China and Africa will be doing to continue relying on fossil fuels whilst slowly working towards greener and renewable energy.
With PM – Modi it seems his nationalism is what is driving him and he is intent on driving the country to the best possible rise in economy, not a graceful rise but a rise by any means for Modi; India has recently seen pollution that is worse than China’s smog in places like Delhi. Is it right that India are saying that fossil fuels are essential in bringing the poor out of poverty or is it a case that to fund the green projects is less profitable even though green renewable is the right thing for the long-term as it is sustainable and clean.
Government official was quoted as saying “We’ve taken more care for nature than the earlier regime.” The introduction of an air pollution monitoring system, a revision of emission norms and a bill to plant trees in degraded forest areas.
India is not doing enough and have made the talks in Paris seemingly look like it is all about money, and in this world it is always about money to every Country around the globe. The British empire were selfish when they raided India and left it in a worse position economically before they arrived. It will be interesting to see how India reduce its carbon footprint and poverty by 2020, it is a choice that they will decide whether to act on the aforementioned or not.
David Cameron went all out for PM Modi’s arrival to the UK and this was because he wants to promote more investment and trade between the two nations, can the former colonial empire/power work well with India, already TATA’s success in the UK with Jaguar and Land Rover is a symbol of success between the two. India may choose to invest more in the UK and also vice-versa although the Indian market is still seen as difficult to break into for UK companies wanting to expand into the lucrative Indian market.
Before I conclude on some positives about India, I would like to note that there are many upsetting things in relation with India – (the list as mentioned in the title) :
- Natural Disasters
- Smog/Pollution/Emissions
- Poverty still not eliminated although being considered as a superpower
- Corruption in all areas of governance and black money
- Banning of NGO’s like Greenpeace India amongst 5,000 other banned NGO’s
- Forest cutting bad for the environment bad for the Tigers and projects like WWF Tiger
- Human Rights Abuse not just in India but also in Nepal
- Internet over-regulated and censored
I hope to have given you all an insight into India as it is leading into 2016 on some of the most important aspects, what Incentives will India choose to act upon and how they go about it will be a point of focus by many nations as India is clearly a key player in the future, it is a leader in its region already, whether it remains in the future depends on Modi for now and his successors; Technology company IBM has said India needs better governance too if it is to be a real leader in the 21st Century.
Will India make it to a Developed nation and be a real superpower, will India set a stable platform on which to lead on, before rushing into a super pose, as Modi seems to be doing a lot of. When will India re-emerge and emerge as a real force for the future, only time will tell, although going by India’s economic performance it can be done and substance will be key, alongside key alliances for economic trade and progress.
India will be a focus and how it emerges in 2016 will be interesting to see.
MC DUCK RAP FREESTYLES 2016 – Explicit Lyrics – Parental Advisory
Superstar Seasonal Quack 2015-2016
Track List:
No1 – Duck on Dre
No2 – Duck Fire
No3 – Ducks Touchdown
No4 – Superstar Seasonal Quack
No5 – MC Duck the Drake Mix
No6 – The Selfish Saviour
No7 – MC Ducks Mighty Duck
No8 – MC Ducks NEW DORK
No9 – Ducks – M.E.N. – BLK
No10- DucksIN2
Tyson Fury’s fierce talk : Knock Out
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BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY 2015 went to Andy Murray, as for Tyson Fury he was slated by the media and many for his outrageous and infuriating comments, however the debate over freedom of speech was brought up by many such as the media and supporters of Tyson.
A headline from the daily mail read: Tyson Fury backed over right to free speech but warned of ‘responsibilities’. Tyson Fury was investigated by the boxing commission and not punished yet reminded he is a role model and has a responsibility to the fans.
“It is very disappointing that the BBC have ignored public opinion and refused to remove Tyson Fury from the shortlist, even though his late addition came after his disgraceful and inflammatory comments about women and gay people.
John O’Doherty, director of The Rainbow Project, an LBGT support group, said about Tyson and went on to say:
“An excellent boxer Tyson Fury may be, however his extremely callous and erroneous remarks about our community make him an unworthy candidate to be recognised among the UK’s excellent sporting personalities and ambassador.”
Andy West who was suspended by the BBC where he worked as a Journalist left his post due to his views that Tyson Fury should not be on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominees list, he was one of many people outraged by Fury’s comments.
He posted and signed the petition in support against Tyson’s comments. Andy West said of his job at the BBC “My employer is hurting me and other gay people by celebrating someone who considers me no better than a paedophile and who believes homosexual people are helping to bring about the end of the world.”
Although Tyson fury apologised about his sexist comments and rant towards homosexuals he was not punished whilst claiming freedom of speech and that he did not want to hurt anyone.
Tyson Fury is meant to be a role model, yet his comments let him down, many people focused on the other side of the argument; that this was a hate speech, he was actually investigated by the authorities in Manchester although no further action was taken.
He was stripped of his world heavy weight title for not agreeing to fight the title contender instead choosing to fight a re-match with Klitschko who had a clause in the previous contract that if he lost he could have a re-match with Tyson Fury.
Almost 140,000 people signed a petition calling for Fury, 27, to be removed from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist after comments he made about women and gay people.
Around 40 people protested outside BBC’s SPOTY awards ceremony.
At the ceremony, the British fighter said: “If I’ve said anything in the past that’s hurt anybody, I apologise.” yet he still tried to explain his comments later that his views are shaped by his faith, but he got a hard time from BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine who couldn’t make out the details in Tyson’ comments about the end of the world due to abortion, paedophilia and homosexuality.
Some of the 7,500 audience at the SSE Arena booed Fury’s name as it was read out as one of the 12 in contention for the Sports Personality award.
So neither the police or boxing authorities punished Tyson Fury. The way Tyson Fury aimed his speech at targets certainly victimised many of society, yet he has not been punished for his hate speech, was this not seen as an example of inciting hatred and abuse or even violence?
Surely the Journalist from the BBC was right to flag it up and walk out of the company; the BBC is meant to be a public service broadcaster and should take more responsibility in embracing the views of its community not just the outspoken sports celebrity who is out of sync with his views on equality and freedom to be whatever you choose to be.
Tyson’s fury has cost him, so soon after beating Wladimir Klitschko he got a knock – out by the viewers of the BBC who titled him as ‘vile’. He is a human like everyone and makes mistakes, I would hope to see a British role model like Tyson Fury do well and not make another crazy outrageous rant or continue being negative.
Tyson Fury’s comments also include talk about the devil, and how the devil is coming and how he sees homosexuality and abortion being legalised as something that shouldn’t have been done; he has also talked about women in a sexist way; whether he gets into more trouble if he continues expressing these types of views in an inciting or hateful way then he should be punished.
As for the rematch its on British TYSON FURY vs Wladimir Klitschko.
Vitali who is Wladimir’s brother said of the Ukranian Boxer that he will come back to beat Fury.
Tyson will want to cause another upset, let’s hope not of the wrong kind this time.
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Written by Raj
February 3, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Posted in News and Politics
Tagged with bbc radio 2, BBC SPOTY, BOXING, comments, Controversy, News, Raj Mehta Broadcaster UK, RajMehtaNews.com, sports, tyson fury, wladimir klitschko