Trump’s top supporters are in a full-blown panic. They’re right to be afraid.

(Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

By Greg Sargent September 15 at 10:48 AM

THE MORNING PLUM:

With the chatter intensifying about the possibility of President Trump cutting a deal to protect the “dreamers,” The Post reports today that his loudest supporters are in a fury. They are warning that “the base” will desert him if he commits such a massive betrayal.

But the Post report also tells us something else: His top supporters are letting the mask slip and revealing doubts about whether this will actually end up happening. And this underscores why this moment is so important. Hopefully, it will shed much-needed light on the true nature of Trump’s nationalist appeal to a large swath of the American public — and how deep the ugly side of that appeal really runs.

The most vocal immigration hard-liners who backed Trump in the media and Congress — people such as Ann Coulter, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), and Stephen K. Bannon and his merry Breitbart warriors — are warning Trump that his voters won’t tolerate it if he agrees to legislative protections for hundreds of thousands of people brought here illegally as children, as part of a deal with Dems. But the Post report shows appropriate skepticism toward this notion, and tells us this:

Yet the lasting political cost of Trump’s engagement with top Democrats on immigration remained ambiguous. While Coulter and others vented, several conservative leaders Thursday remained hesitant about breaking with the president publicly given his continued grass-roots support and their desire to focus Republican ire on the leadership in Congress. 

“The jury is still out on whether the base starts to leave him. And I’m not sure what the truth is,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said in an interview. “If this stands and we end up with amnesty, the base that was pulled together because of immigration will start to peel off in significant ways.”
But, King added, “No one is quite sure about how this will play out and whether it’s truly what we worry it’ll be.”

That is a striking admission: Trump’s top supporters — and, heck, the rest of us — simply don’t know whether Trump voters will be alienated by a deal protecting the dreamers. They might stick with him if he blesses such a deal, particularly (as I’ve suggested) if it’s packaged with increased border security.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) spoke on Sept. 14 about President Trump’s discussion with Democrats on DACA and border security. (Reuters)

It is often pointed out that the press is overly obsessed with what Trump voters think. That’s true. But in this case, it’s worth some attention. If it turns out to be true that Trump voters will accept a deal protecting the dreamers, that would suggest that Trump’s nationalism — as defined by the likes of Bannon, Breitbart, White House adviser Stephen Miller and the rest of the “populist economic nationalist” contingent around Trump — might not have quite the pull with his voters that we thought. This is clearly what King and others fear — and for good reason.

Remember, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that Trump would rescind protections for the dreamers, he conspicuously claimed these “illegal aliens” steal jobs from American workers. Bannon has come out for getting them to “self deport.” Miller is privately scheming to undercut any deal to protect them. The “populist economic nationalist” contingent constantly pushes the line that undocumented immigrants are a destructive, invasive, criminal presence — the dreamers included.

But Trump yesterday undercut this narrative by tweeting that the dreamers are blameless for their plight and are making positive contributions to American life. What if a lot of Trump voters end up agreeing with him? That’s bad news for the populist-economic-nationalist-snake-oil purveyors.
Will Wilkinson argues that protecting the dreamers shouldn’t actually be at odds with populist nationalism, because the dreamers are culturally American, and keeping them here does not undermine the nationalist contingent’s vision of cultural nationality. Wilkinson theorizes that those screaming about this deal are really trying to induce Trump to insist on other draconian measures as part of it. That is true: The motive here is also to get poison pills inserted into any deal, driving away Dems and killing it.

But if Trump were to agree to a deal that is not loaded up with a lot of hateful nonsense, and many of his voters supported it, that would not be insignificant. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes argues that, even if you accept Trump’s victory as fundamentally an assertion of white nationalism, if he, the white guy who is in charge, makes the deals protecting the dreamers, his voters might be fine with it. This would still have horrible implications. But at least it would mean there is not widespread support for carrying out this nationalist agenda by inflicting a humanitarian disaster on this particular vulnerable group, i.e., the dreamers.

That is not what Bannon and his fellow travelers want you to believe. They want you to believe the country is cheering on the enactment of that nationalist agenda and that the only ones objecting are squeamish “elites.” Put it this way: If Bannon is correct and there is widespread support for a nationalism that includes inducing hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought here through no fault of their own to return to countries they don’t even know, then surely all of the primary challengers to GOP Senate incumbents he intends to back will run on that, right?
To be sure, even if there is a deal on the dreamers that Trump voters accept, all of his other horrors would still be proceeding apace: The veiled Muslim ban, the mass deportations, the refusal to unambiguously condemn white supremacy and so forth. And it’s true that this could end up buttressing little more than a dangerous notion of the dreamers being “different” from the rest of the otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants. But if Trump ends up talking his voters out of inflicting this one cruel, disastrous outcome on this one large population, at least we know such a thing is possible.

* McCONNELL WANTS TRUMP TO TAKE LEAD ON DREAMERS:The New York Times reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is privately happy that Trump is out front proposing a deal with Democrats to protect the dreamers:

Leaving the issue in Mr. Trump’s hands could prove beneficial for Republicans, ridding them of a difficult job. A person familiar with the discussions said Mr. McConnell welcomed Mr. Trump being the Republicans’ point man on immigration.

The theory appears to be that if Trump blesses a deal, Republicans might take less heat from Trump voters for “selling out” on immigration. That seems plausible: Trump voters may well follow his lead.
* MANY STICKING POINTS REMAIN ON DREAMERS: CNN’s Tal Kopan has a good overview of the many difficult issues that must be resolved in creating a legislative solution for the dreamers.  Among them: Do they get legalization or merely continued work permits and protection from deportation? Can Republicans agree to a deal that includes border security money but not more interior enforcement and removals, something Dems would reject?
On that last one, as I noted yesterday, the key dividing line might be this: Dems can accept more spending on border security but not a deal that results in increased deportations or self-deportations.
* WHY THE DREAMERS COULD SPLIT THE GOP: The Washington Examiner reports that many Republicans privately worry that Trump’s push to protect the dreamers could split the party. Here’s why:

Battleground senators and House members who represent ethnically and politically diverse communities stand to benefit in the midterm from Trump’s DACA deal. They could also suffer at the ballot box if the negotiations collapse and participants in the program are threatened with deportation. [But] in safe Republican districts, voters tend to be more homogenous, and more circumspect, on immigration matters.

Wait, some Republicans might politically benefit from doing the right thing on this issue? Impossible!
* STEPHEN MILLER IS VERY UPSET ABOUT TRUMP AND DREAMERS: Politico reports that top adviser Miller is very unhappy indeed:

Miller, an architect of Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, expressed displeasure about the development to other White House and legislative aides and strategized about what to do next, according to people familiar with the calls.

Hmm. What will they do now? Here’s a guess. They will try to put poison pills into any emerging deal that make it impossible for Dems to support it, possibly killing it.

* JOHN KELLY SAYS MEXICO IS ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE: During the private meeting between Trump and Dem leaders at which a tentative deal on the dreamers was struck, Chief of Staff John Kelly weighed in, saying we need much more robust border security:

He likened Mexico, one of the United States’ most important trading and law enforcement partners, to Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chávez, the former leader, suggesting it was on the verge of a collapse that would have repercussions in the United States, according to two people who attended the meeting.

That should help in getting Mexico to pay for Trump’s wall.
* SOMETIMES LIES ACTUALLY DO MATTER: Paul Krugman points outthat Trump lied his way into the White House and Republicans won Congress in part by lying about Obamacare, but as repeal’s failure shows, lies can only get you so far:

The story of tax reform … is starting to look a bit similar. During the campaign Trump could get away with posing as an economic populist while offering a tax plan that would add $6 trillion to the deficit, with half the benefit going to the richest 1 percent of the population. But this kind of bait-and-switch may not work once an actual bill is on the table.

One can only hope. And you’d think it might matter that the American people have already been exposed for decades to the lies used to sell tax cuts for the rich.

UN expert calls for democratization of the media

International Day of Democracy – Friday 15 September 2017

( September 15, 2017, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) Democracy and self-determination are crucial in preventing national, regional and international conflict, but are under attack from ‘fake news’, incomplete news and political correctness, says Alfred de Zayas, United Nations Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, in a statement to mark International Day of Democracy on 15 September:

“Democracy is essential to achieving a more just world order. Only by genuinely reflecting the interests of the people can governments stem the tide of disillusionment, exploitation and conflict that plague today’s world.

True democracy requires education, access to multiple, reliable sources of information and opinion, consultation in good faith with all those affected by decisions, and open debate free of intimidation, ostracism and the constraints of ‘political correctness’.

It means combining majority rule with respect for minority opinions and the human dignity of all.

True democracy cannot function properly without a pluralistic and free press, but ‘fake news’, ‘spin’ and campaigns focused narrowly on trendy issues confuse and corrupt the democratic process.

It is not only governments that engage in the dissemination of fake news – false or deliberately skewed information – but also the private sector, corporate media, and other conglomerates that try to create what Noam Chomsky called ‘manufactured consent’.

While freedom of opinion and expression are indispensable to democratic society, such freedoms must serve – not manipulate – democracy. What is needed is free access to pluralistic information and opinion – rather than homologated news services that echo each other and try to impose a ‘politically correct’ version of reality. The media has a responsibility to disseminate information, without selectively suppressing pertinent facts, or forcing the facts into a single possible interpretation. Democracy needs alternative news services and a general democratization of the media.

Democracy exists when there is a direct correlation between the will of the people and the policies that affect them. This requires more than pro forma periodic voting, especially given that such exercises demonstrate a lack of genuine choice in terms of candidates and rarely result in policy change.

Direct, participatory and responsive democracy, in all its forms, is of critical importance, and must be used to enable people to give genuine, free, prior and informed consent before governments enact legislative and other decisions that impact on their lives.

UN Member States affirmed at the ground-breaking 2005 World Summit that democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms were interdependent and mutually reinforcing.

They also noted the significant fact that, while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy. All peoples and nations have the right to find their own formula for democracy. Indeed, democracy is an expression of self-determination.”

Caste Is Stunting All of India’s Children

Fears of impurity continue to steer Indians away from toilets — and towards deadly fecal germs.

BY DIANE COFFEY, DEAN SPEARS-SEPTEMBER 15, 2017

Growth in India has always been puzzling. For the first decades of democratic India, economists lamented slow economic progress. Some observers worried that India was condemned to permanently sluggish GDP growth. Luckily, things changed. Rapid growth in the last few decades has taken many Indians out of poverty: According to the World Bank, the fraction of Indians living in poverty was cut in half between 1993 and 2011.

But slow growth of another sort remains a puzzle. These days, what grows too slowly is not India’s economy but its children. When a country gets richer, its children usually get taller. Indian kids remain unhealthily short, even compared with their peers in poorer developing countries. According to the latest figures, a child in India is more likely to be stunted than a child in much poorer areas of sub-Saharan Africa. They’re also dying in greater numbers than India’s level of development should suggest; infant mortality is higher in India than it is in poorer neighbors like Bangladesh and Nepal.

This presents a challenge for health economists, who are used to cases where richer societies are healthier societies. When we dug into the causes for our new book, Where India Goes, though, we found that the answer was unique to India.

The damage being done to India’s children was caused by the grip of the caste system and the impact that it has on our most everyday human experience: defecation.

One of the most telling interviews we did was with Ritesh, a higher-caste man from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Like most people in rural India, he, his wife, and their children defecate in the open: Instead of using a toilet or latrine, they go outside, squat, and leave their feces behind. The family was offered a free latrine by the village leader, but Ritesh refused to accept it because he thought it would be unseemly to have in front of his house and that it would defile the small temple that he had set up to honor Lord Shiva and other gods. The view that a latrine, which people in other societies would see as leading to a cleaner home, could be defiling has its roots in ideas of purity and pollution that govern many aspects of daily life in rural India and that are used to justify caste-based discrimination.

The result of widespread open defecation in rural India is an environment full of fecal germs that get into food and water and onto children’s hands and feet. This leads to diarrhea, infections, and chronic intestinal diseases, which kill some children and prevent many of those who survive from absorbing and putting to good use the nutrients in the food that they eat. Children who live near more neighbors who defecate in the open are less likely to survive and are more likely to be stunted. In contrast, when a village’s sanitation improves, its children grow taller.

No children in the world face a density of open defecation as threatening as India’s, where, in many places, population growth has increased more quickly than the adoption of toilets and latrines. Open defecation has been essentially eliminated from Latin America and Bangladesh, is falling quickly in Nepal and elsewhere in Asia, and is much less common in sub-Saharan Africa than it is in India. Every year, Indians make up a greater and greater share of the remaining people who defecate in the open.

In open defecation, we found an important explanation for some of India’s health puzzles — but another question immediately arises. Why have Indians stuck to the fields, when people elsewhere, such as in neighboring Bangladesh, have rushed to adopt latrines? Our research team spent several years interviewing people in thousands of households across rural India. It became clear that the explanation was not that latrines were unaffordable. In a sense, we already knew this: After all, people in poorer countries make or buy latrines. The most basic form of rural sanitation, a covered hole in the ground, is not expensive.

Nor is the problem governance or lack of water. Governance in India is imperfect, but it is no worse than in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Myanmar, Pakistan, or Sierra Leone, all of which have less open defecation. And, in most places, water sources are closer and more reliable in rural India than they are in rural sub-Saharan Africa, which has lower rates of open defecation.

As we and the survey team visited village after village, unambiguous evidence came from a massive, uncontrolled experiment that successive governments have been unintentionally conducting for decades: giving away free latrines. We found many households where nobody uses the latrine that they were given; where a government latrine has been disassembled for parts; or where only older or disabled people use the latrine while others continue to defecate in the fields or on village paths.

Again and again, we and our team asked people in rural India why they defecate in the open and why they reject the latrines that the government gives away. We found that open defecation persists because of the ideas of purity and pollution that frame the caste system and because of the continuing legacy of untouchability.

Elsewhere around the developing world, when a latrine pit fills up after a few years of use, it gets emptied — either by its owners or by someone they hire. It is not the best job in the economy, but it is a job. But in rural India, emptying a latrine pit is much more than a job. Such work is wrapped up with the stigma of the lowest ranks of the caste system. People whose grandparents and parents used to clean up human feces, haul away animal carcasses, and do other types of dirty work belong to castes that were traditionally not allowed to use public wells or enter temples and who were forced to endure daily public humiliation.

Although social change is happening far too slowly in rural India, ever more people from oppressed castes now refuse to empty latrine pits or would charge very high prices to do so. As a result, rural Indians of higher caste rank worry that the latrines that the government gives away will quickly fill up and become unusable. Further, because accumulating feces in a latrine pit is a threat to the purity of the home, and because defecating in the open is seen as wholesome and healthy, most people see little reason to risk ever having to deal with a full latrine pit.

Once we pieced together this story from observations and interviews, we found it in quantitative data, too. It is not in the poorest, least educated, or worst governed villages or states of India where open defecation remains most common. It is in the places where most people are willing to tell a surveyor that they enforce the casteist rules of untouchability in their interactions with lower caste people. Indian Muslims, who have different ideas about purity, pollution, and propriety than Hindus, are more likely to use latrines. Open defecation in Muslim neighborhoods is so much lower than it is in Hindu neighborhoods that Muslim children are more likely to survive infancy, despite being poorer.

This explanation for rural India’s widespread open defecation can make people uncomfortable — especially development professionals. Of course, local rural development bureaucrats and politicians are rarely surprised by it; anyone who spends time in India’s villages knows that casteism too often remains alive and well. One time, a state official thanked us for putting into words an explanation that he, intuitively, already knew.

But in the distant offices and conference rooms of Delhi and among international development agencies, casteism and untouchability can feel as remote and foreign as the idea that a person with a working latrine would choose to defecate in the open. Casteism here is more subtle than the open discrimination of the villages — and not talked about by polite people. Invoking cultural ideas of caste as the internationally unusual explanation for an internationally unusual problem smells of the sort of social insensitivity that is unbecoming of a development career.

The current government’s sanitation drive, which began in 2014 and set the ambitious but impossible goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019, unfortunately does little to address the root causes of open defecation.Indeed, it is the same sort of latrine construction program that prior governments have tried for decades. At a minimum, improving on prior programs would have required collecting careful data that tracks latrine use. Yet, more than halfway to the five-year deadline, the Indian government is not seriously measuring open defecation behavior; it mainly measures spending on latrine construction as money passes through local bureaucratic and political hands.

Sadly, there is every reason to expect that babies born in India in 2019 will keep dying because of the fecal germs spread by their neighbors. Even many of those who survive will suffer severe cognitive and physical damage from childhood diseases that could be stopped by the adoption of latrines The caste system was built for the benefit of those on top — but the children of brahmins are as vulnerable to germs as the children of the lowest-ranking castes.

Photo credit: SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images

'Alarm bells we cannot ignore': world hunger rising for first time this century

UN agencies warn conflict and climate change are undermining food security, causing chronic undernourishment and threatening to reverse years of progress

Why do people still go hungry? – video

Karen McVeigh-Friday 15 September 2017

The number of hungry people in the world has increased for the first time since the turn of the century, sparking concern that conflict and climate change could be reversing years of progress.

In 2016, the number of chronically undernourished people reached 815 million, up 38 million from the previous year. The increase is due largely to the proliferation of violence and climate-related shocks, according to the state of food insecurity and nutrition in 2017, a report produced by five UN agencies.

The study also noted a rise in the number of people globally who are chronically hungry, from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% in 2016.

Cindy Holleman, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said it was hard to know whether the increase was a blip or marked the reversal of a long-term trend. However, she said the rise in conflict and climate change – factors that rank alongside economic slowdown, which makes food hard to access for poor people, as key drivers of food insecurity – was cause for concern.
“Whether it has been a blip and it’s going to go back down again, we’re not sure,” said Holleman. “But we’re sending warning signals. We are sending a message that something is going on.

“If you look at the 815 million [chronically undernourished] people, 489 million or 60% of them are located in countries affected by conflict. Over the last decade we’re seen a significant increase in conflict. We also see that conflict combined with climatic effects is having a significant effect.”

A foreword to the report, written jointly by the heads of the five UN agencies, said: “Over the past decade, conflicts have risen dramatically in number and become more complex and intractable in nature.

“This has set off alarm bells we cannot afford to ignore: we will not end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 unless we address all the factors that undermine food security and nutrition. Securing peaceful and inclusive societies is a necessary condition to that end.”

Oxfam’s head of food and climate change, Robin Willoughby, said:

“This must act as a wake-up call for international leaders and institutions to do more to resolve the catastrophic cocktail of climate change and conflict around the world. Global failure to tackle these issues affects us all, but it’s the world’s poorest who will suffer most.”

The report is the first UN global assessment of food security and nutrition following the adoption of the sustainable development goals, which aim to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
Progress has been made on reducing global hunger, which affected more than 900 million people at the turn of the century. Over the past year, however, hunger has reached an “extreme level” in many parts of the world, with famine declared in South Sudan in February, and Yemen, north-east Nigeria and Somalia considered on the brink.

People living in countries affected by protracted crisis are nearly two and a half times more likely to be undernourished than those living elsewhere, the report said.

Fuelled partly by extreme weather patterns resulting from El Niño, food security “deteriorated sharply” in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and in south-east and western Asia, said the report.

Chronic child malnutrition continues to fall, but at a slower rate in some regions, the report found. Wasting remains a threat to the lives of 52 million children.

Overweight and obesity rates in children are rising in most regions, and in all regions for adults. Such “multiple burdens” for malnutrition is a “cause for serious concern”, said the report.


Africa has the highest levels of severe food insecurity, affecting 27.4% of the population – almost four times that of any other region. Higher food insecurity was also observed in Latin America, rising from 4.7% to 6.4%.

Every childhood vaccine may go into a single jab

By James Gallagher-15 September 2017

A technology that could eventually see every childhood vaccine delivered in a single injection has been developed by US researchers.

Their one-shot solution stores the vaccine in microscopic capsules that release the initial dose and then boosters at specific times.

The approach has been shown to work in mouse studies, described in the journal Science.

The researchers say the technology could help patients around the world.

Childhood immunisations come with tears and screams. And there are a lot of them.

• Diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Hib and hepatitis B at eight, 12 and 16 weeks.
• Pneumococcal jab at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year
• Men B vaccine at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year
• Hib/Men C vaccine at one year
• Measles, mumps and rubella at one year and three years and four months

Source: NHS Choices

A team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has designed a new type of micro-particle that could combine everything into a single jab.

The particles look like miniature coffee cups that are filled with vaccine and then sealed with a lid.

Crucially, the design of the cups can be altered so they break down and spill their contents at just the right time.

One set of tests showed the contents could be released at exactly nine, 20 and 41 days after they were injected into mice.

Other particles that last for hundreds of days have also been developed, the researchers say.

The approach has not yet been tested on patients.

'Significant impact'

Prof Robert Langer, from MIT, said: "We are very excited about this work.

"For the first time, we can create a library of tiny, encased vaccine particles, each programmed to release at a precise, predictable time, so that people could potentially receive a single injection that, in effect, would have multiple boosters already built into it.

"This could have a significant impact on patients everywhere, especially in the developing world."

• Drug-delivery pioneer wins £1m engineering prize

The work differs from previous attempts, which slowly released medicines over a long period of time.

The idea is the short, sharp bursts of vaccine more closely mimic routine immunisation programmes.

Fellow researcher Dr Kevin McHugh said: "In the developing world, that might be the difference between not getting vaccinated and receiving all of your vaccines in one shot."

Follow James on Twitter.

IMADR CALLS ON THE SRI LANKA GOVT. TO ADOPT THE ROME STATUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Image: a half built memorial to war dead in Mullivaikal, Mulathiv, Sri Lanka. (c)s.deshapriya. 

14/09/2017

In is written statement submitted  to the  on going 36 session of  the united Nations Human Rights Council, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), has called upon the Sri Lankan government to adopt The Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court.
Read as a PDF which includes  foot notes:2821_A_HRC_36_NGO_Sub_En_IMADR_Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

IMADR CALLS ON THE SRI LANKA GOVT. TO ADOPT THE ROME STATUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

2821_A_HRC_36_NGO_Sub_En_IMADR_Enforced-Disappearances-in-Sri-Lanka (3).docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Proletarians must exert pressure on capitalist Yahapalanaya

DR.Vickramabahu Karunaratne-2017-09-14

Liberal bourgeoisie cannot be pressurized by arguments alone. In history it has not been so. On the other hand, there may not be the threat to them of a possible takeover by the proletariat, either. No need to keep hopes so high, it could still end in a flop, but there is a need to keep relentless pressure and criticism on the government in the language they could stomach.

On the other hand, criticisms of the opposition may be the best way to expose the mistakes of liberalism. It is by solidly exposing the fascistic menace that one could show the gentlemen of how to keep friendship with the proletarian masses. On that basis one must keep vigilance of the Yahapalana Government. Vigilance must be real and should come from the side of the organized proletariat. We workers must show clearly that fight against racism and fascistic actions are already in the streets, in actions voiced by many ways. Proletarian leaders must be seen in the streets with banners and placards.

There were not only debates, but a number of actions including 'Sixty two' sathyagraha; these were powerful enough to galvanize, at least to a certain extent the government into taking a purposeful approach to dealing with the gross malfeasance of the previous regime and curbing corruption in its own ranks. I have seen the impression made in liberal intellectuals by the sensible, but unrepentant anti-fascistic actions by proletarian and plebian masses against the thuggery of pro-Mahinda union and student actions. It is better to not have hopes that during the tenure of this government there will be successful prosecution of the corrupt big fish of the Rajapaksa era, because that is not what we hope from liberal capitalists. Capitalists are always inclined towards accumulation of capital legally or otherwise; nor should we be hopeful that corruption in UNP-SLFP ranks will be curtailed.

What we should be eagerly interested in is exposing fascistic murders, cruel war crimes and the enactment of a democratic Constitution with power sharing. We must keep pressing for a solution based on equality, autonomy and the right of self-determination. We must press for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights within the new Constitution approved by a national referendum.

Ravi resigned to clear the path for investigators to work without any disturbances; but he is doing important political work behind the scene. On the contrary firing Wijeyadasa is a victory to the anti-racists and a moral disaster for the fascistic Mahinda gang. As 2020 approaches most certainly pressure will mount against fascistic forces and more mass actions are likely. Also there will be desperado attacks from the side of Mahinda and Gotabaya. The attack with guns and bombs on the house of Nandimal cannot be taken lightly. Men who committed crimes against humanity are frightened of their own shadows. Though this is true, some people expect much progress on corruption related matters and live in a dream of a country without corruption. As the battle grows they will lower their expectations. Because fight against murder and barbaric actions will gain the ground. However, all these will be connected to the battle for a new Constitution.


What we do in this country is important, but as or more important is the struggle of the proletariat in the outside world: Because the theory of permanent revolution is applicable globally, as the revolution has become a subject in the international arena today, more than any time before. The rise of Donald Trump is globally answered by the giants of the left such as Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. There are many in the horizon; the power of the proletariat should be estimated locally as wells internationally. In that sense, the pressure on Yahapalanaya has to be exerted both locally and internationally.

Human Rights Council Should Seek Timeline for Action

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights gives his opening remarks at the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland September 11, 2017. 

 © 2017 Reuters

September 13, 2017 6:55PM EDT

(Geneva, September 14, 2017) – United Nations member countries at the Human Rights Council in Geneva should press Sri Lanka to promptly meet the targets of the council’s October 2015 resolution for transitional justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Sri Lanka should put forward a time-bound and specific implementation plan on the four transitional justice mechanisms it agreed to establish as pledged in the resolution.  

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid al Ra’ad Hussein, in his opening remarks at the council on September 11, 2017, highlighted Sri Lanka’s lack of progress, and called on the government to realize that its obligations are not a mere “box-ticking exercise to placate the council but as an essential undertaking to address the rights of all its people.”

“Governments at the Human Rights Council should be clear with Sri Lanka that setting up various reconciliation offices and talking of progress is not the same as implementing the 2015 resolution,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Long-suffering Sri Lankans need to see the resolution fully carried out, and they need to see evidence that justice is being achieved.”

Sri Lanka has largely failed to implement the consensus UN resolution, Human Rights Watch said. The government dismissed the report submitted by the Consultation Task Force, a broad-based civil society effort established by the government to put the resolution into effect. And it took Sri Lanka’s president 18 months to formally create an Office of Missing Persons, as set out in the resolution and enacted by parliament. The gazette notification took place on September 12, just as the Human Rights Council session got underway and a few weeks before Sri Lanka is to present an oral update on steps it has taken to carry out the resolution.

Sri Lanka’s nearly three-decade-long civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended with the LTTE’s decisive defeat in May 2009. Both sides committed many grave human rights abuses, including summary killings, abductions and enforced disappearances, torture, and sexual violence. There are well-documented allegations of laws-of-war violations, particularly during the final months of the war.

The government’s lack of progress in investigating and prosecuting these many crimes spurred the Human Rights Council to adopt the consensus resolution. The Sri Lankan government agreed to carry it out and to report back periodically on its progress.

Sri Lanka has invited several UN human rights experts to visit over the past two years and has given them free and unfettered access. However, the government has largely disregarded their recommendations. One of the key undertakings in the resolution was security sector reform, including repealing and replacing the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with new legislation that meets international standards. Instead, the government has floated various drafts that in some cases are worse than the existing law, which remains in effect.

The UN special rapporteur on transitional justice, Pablo de Grieff, will make his first official trip to Sri Lanka from October 10 to 23.

“The special rapporteur has been engaged in transitional justice issues in Sri Lanka for a long time, and it is crucial for him to use his first official trip to call out Sri Lanka on its hesitant steps toward justice for victims,” Ganguly said. “Sri Lankan officials need to show that they can do more than just talk the language of human rights and instead put those words into action.” 

Oh! This crazy Sri Lanka

 

2017-09-15

The big question remains as to when will urban intellectuals who still want this chaos of a Yahapalana Government, come back to intellectual sanity

The urban middle class “sanity” accepts such political insanity with applause for “corrective measures”  

 This Government is certainly more “transparent” than the Rajapaksa regime even on mega deals   

Mega corruption is as high as or even higher with this Yahapalana Government than during the Rajapaksa regime   

It is not just mega corruption that makes this hybrid Government another Rajapaksa regime sans Mahinda, but also its Sinhala Buddhist politics   

The first few days of this week saw a political comedy unfolding hardly taken note of by the Sri Lankan Society. Not on the small screens in households, but on the larger political canvas that’s rolled around in Colombo.   

Deputy Minister Arundhika Fernando -dubbed “rock star” for allegedly trying to rock the “Yahapalana” boat-was announced sacked from his post of Deputy Minister of Tourism Promotion and Christian Affairs.

  
No reasons given to the public. A news website said Arundhika Fernando demanded a pound of flesh and lost even the bones. The website claimed with much authority, that he demanded millions and contracts for his company to be with the Government. Following afternoon, the more credible DM Online said he was likely to be re-appointed a Deputy Minister once again.  

trafficker, during the previous regime hovered around with former President Rajapaksa’s patronage, was appointed Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, by President Sirisena.   

There is now the possibility that he would be further upgraded by President Sirisena as successor to deposed Arundhika Fernando.  

The first episode of this political comedy was with Yahapalana cheer-leaders demanding the removal of Thilak Marapana from his post of Minister of Law and Order almost two years ago.   

That was for his role as legal counsel for Avant Garde before he was nominated to Parliament.   
The Yahapalana apologists pretended they meant business with this hybrid Government.   

Marapana tendered his resignation on pressure in November 2015. But none protested when he was made Foreign Minister once again.   

Instead they wanted Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe removed. Not for his very racial politics aligning with Buddhist extremism, but for his alleged violation of Cabinet responsibility. For his critical remarks over the Hambantota Port agreement this Government entered into with a Chinese company. That deal anyway is called dubious, heavy with many allegations and criticism against it. He thus leaves his ministry after a few days of tantrums.  

Next came the removal of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake over the Penthouse fiasco related to the mega bond scam under investigations.   

The bond scam was for well over two years kept under wraps.

Now Karunanayake is appointed to an equally powerful position under the PM, working from Temple Trees. For Yahapalana apologists and all other anti corruption brigades including the JVP living on media presence, that is no serious issue.  

Next, facing the firing squad of Yahapalana racists is Minister Field Marshal Fonseka. That, for saying war crimes need to be investigated as there were a few who tarnished the image of war heroes; for saying he was willing to testify even in front of an international investigating panel. That, under this Government is anathema and unpatriotic.  

The fact is, even if those who are held as unpatriotic and non co-operative are removed from their positions, they can still be accommodated with equal or more power in another capacity.   
The urban middle class “sanity” accepts such political insanity with applause for “corrective measures”.  

How stable and how far can a Government with no seriousness in what it does go with such sackings and censures against its leading Ministers and allies?   

Far more serious is the question, can these arbitrary decisions of sacking Ministers and Deputy Ministers clean up the mess this Government is in, the very decisions to sack prove it is in?   
In fact, as Arundhika said after he was deposed, sackings would not deter dissent within the SLFP, President Sirisena for the past two years and eight months struggle to take control of.   
The crisis is screwing in and down the SLFP from Parliament to the Provincial Councils and to Local Government bodies too.   

The Southern Province had one of its Ministers removed after he opposed the 20th Amendment. Western Province CM removed two over the same 20th Amendment.  
This Government is certainly more “transparent” than the Rajapaksa regime even on mega deals.   
An investigation into the Perpetual Treasuries’ hand in the bond scam still has not gone deep into the actual bond deal.   

And this is only the first. The second that came around a year later is almost forgotten.   
But figures on profits and losses are being calculated by different independent public interest activists.   
The Central Expressway construction deal has most documents out in public domain, showing the PM’s explanation in Parliament quite poor. Documents say the cost of constructing a kilometre distance would now cost Rs.4.1 billion and no easy money. That cost in terms of 39 inches that make 01 metre distance is 4.1 million rupees as calculated by Anura Kumara Dissanayake.   
Sadly the PM can only make fun of  such allegations by saying if the expressway is too costly, the option of flying to Kandy with an airport constructed can be thought of.  

Mega corruption is as high as or even higher with this Yahapalana Government than during the Rajapaksa regime.   

It is not just mega corruption that makes this hybrid Government another Rajapaksa regime sans Mahinda, but also its Sinhala Buddhist politics.   

All things promised during the Presidential Election remain in cold storage with a label Mahinda may return stuck on them, if done.   

This was aptly said by Northern Province CM, former Justice Wigneswaran at the book launch of the book titled Rajapaksa the Sinhala Selfie on September 12 at the SLFI in Colombo.   He said, it was the minority vote, the Tamil and Muslim vote that brought the change the South wanted. But when it comes to the issues of North-East Tamils, the answer often is Mahinda may come back.  
So to keep away Mahinda by placating the Sinhala Buddhists, the Tamil problems are not addressed.  
This crazy run of things would only accelerate with the Elections Commissioner saying the LG elections could be held in January 2018.   

That’s just three months and a little more from today. LGs in the Sinhala South were controlled by those ruffian type elements Rajapaksa brought into local politics.