Amendment of the 1978 Constitution

Thursday, May 16, 2019

No constitution tries to put down all the relevant rules relating to constitutional law. The draftsmen of written constitutions are faced with the problem of how much to include. The draftsmen must ensure that they include fundamental principles and place some restrictions on an amendment so that the Constitution will have some degree of permanence and will not be manipulated to suit the purposes of the party in power. The Constitution should not also make amendments to it too difficult because it will not be possible to adapt and mould the Constitution to suit changing circumstances or to apply to it circumstances not foreseen by the draftsmen.

Chapter XII of the 1978 Constitution - Amendment of the Constitution – by Articles 82, 83 and 84 makes provisions for the amendment of the Constitution. Article 82(7) states that in Chapter XII of the Constitution, the amendment includes the repeal, alteration or addition. Article 80(3) is also important here that upon the Bill becoming law upon the certificate of the President or the Speaker as the case may be, no Court, Tribunal can inquire into, pronounce upon the validity of such action on any ground whatsoever.

Article 82

Article 82 of the Constitution specifically requires any amendment or the repeal of the Constitution to be express. Accordingly, in terms of Article 82(1) no Bill for the amendment of any provision of the Constitution shall be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament, unless the provisions to be repealed, altered or added and consequential amendments, if any, are expressly specified in the Bill and is described in the long title thereof as being an Act for the amendment of the Constitution.

As provided in Article 82(2) of the Constitution, in the case of a Bill for the repeal of the Constitution, it is essential that such a Bill must contain provisions replacing the constitution too and such Bill should be described in the long title thereof as being an Act for repeal and replacement of the Constitution. Article 82(3) provides that in the opinion of the Speaker if the Bill does not comply with the aforesaid requirement – Articles 82(1) and 82(2) – the Speaker shall direct that such Bill should not be proceeded with unless it is amended so as to comply with those requirements.

As provided in Article 82(4) of the Constitution, notwithstanding anything in the preceding provisions of this Article it shall be lawful for a Bill which complies with the aforesaid requirements of 82(1) and 82(2), to be amended by Parliament provided that the Bill as so amended shall comply with those requirements.

How does the Bill become law is provided for in Article 82(5) of the Constitution. Accordingly, a Bill for the amendment of any provision of the Constitution or for the repeal and replacement of the Constitution becomes law, if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amends to not less than two thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not present), and upon a certificate by the President or the Speaker as the case may be, being endorsed thereon in accordance with the provisions of Article 79 or 80.

Articles 79 and 80 are found in Chapter XI – the Legislature – Procedures and powers- of the Constitution. In terms of Article 79 which is titled certificate of the Speaker, the Speaker shall endorse on every Bill passed by Parliament a certificate. Such certificate may state the majority by which such Bill was passed. However, such certificate of the Speaker is subject to two provisos as found in the same Article as given below.

•  Where by virtue of provisions of Articles 82 or 83 or 84 or 123(2), a special majority is required for the passing of a Bill, the Speaker shall certify such Bill only if such Bill has been passed with such special majority. Article 82, 83 and 84 have been explained earlier. Article 123 which is found in Chapter XVI – the Superior Courts- the Supreme Court – relates to the determination of the Supreme Court in respect of Bills.
•  Article 123 (1) states that the determination of the Supreme Court needs be accompanied by the reasons therefore, and shall state whether the Bill or provision thereof is inconsistent with the Constitution and if so which provision or provisions of the Constitution. Article 123 (2) provides for the following in summary form:

(a) Whether such Bill is required to comply with the provisions of Article 82(1) and (2) or
(b) Whether such Bill or any provision thereof may be passed by special majority required under Article 84(2) or

(c) Whether such bill or provision thereof requires for its passing special majority under Article 84(2) and approval by people at a Referendum under Article 83.

As also provided in Article 123 (2) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court may specify the nature of the amendments which would make the Bill or such provision cease to be inconsistent.
Article 80: When Bill becomes law

•  Article 80(1) provides that a Bill passed by Parliament becomes law when the certificate of the Speaker is endorsed thereon. However, 80(1) is subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article. This Article 80(2) lays down three instances in which case the approval of the people at a Referendum and the certificate of the President are also required.
• Where the Cabinet of Ministers has certified that any Bill or any provision thereof is intended to be submitted for approval by the people at a Referendum or
•  Where the Supreme Court has determined that the Bill or any provision thereof requires the approval of the people at a Referendum or
•  Where any Bill is submitted to the people by referendum under Article 85(2).

Article 85(2) found in Chapter XIII – the Referendum – provides that the President in his discretion shall submit to the people by referendum any Bill (Not being a Bill for the repeal or amendment or any provision of the Constitution or for the addition of any provision to the Constitution or for the repeal and replacement of the Constitution or which is inconsistent with any provision of the Constitution which has been rejected by Parliament.

Then such Bill or such provision shall become law upon being approved by the people at a Referendum in accordance with Article 85(3) of the Constitution when the President certifies that the Bill or provision thereof has been so approved. Article 85(3) of the Constitution found in Chapter XIII- the Referendum – reads as follows: ‘any Bill or any provision in any Bill submitted to the people by referendum shall be deemed to be approved by the people if approved by an absolute majority of the valid votes cast at such Referendum.

Provided that when the total number of valid votes cast does not exceed two-thirds of the whole number of electors entered in the Register of Election, such Bill shall be deemed to be approved only if approved by not less than one – third of the whole number of such electors.

Article 83 of the Constitution

Article 83 of the Constitution found in Chapter XII – The Legislature – Amendment of the Constitution - makes provision for approval of under mentioned Bills at a Referendum.

•  A Bill for the amendment or for the repeal and replacement of or which is inconsistent with any of the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 or of this Article and
•  A Bill for the amendment or for the repeal and replacement of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2) of the Constitution which would extend the term of office of the President or duration of Parliament as the case may be to over six years (with the 19th Amendment durations/ terms has been reduced to five year each.

Accordingly, aforesaid Bills become law if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amounts to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members, (including those not present), is approved by the people at a Referendum and a certificate is endorsed thereon by the President in accordance with Article 80.

Article 84 of the Constitution

Article 84 of the Constitution deals with the passing of Bills inconsistent with the Constitution. As provided in Article 84(1), Bill which is not for the amendment of any provision of the Constitution or for the repeal and replacement of the Constitution, but which is inconsistent with any provision of the Constitution may be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament without complying with the requirements of Article 82(1) of the Constitution. Article 84(2) provides two grounds on which the aforesaid Bills can be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament without complying with Article 82(1) and (2).

•  Where the Cabinet of Members has certified that a Bill is intended to be passed by the special majority by this Article.
• Where the Supreme Court has determined that a Bill requires to be passed by such a special majority.

The aforesaid Bills become law only if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amounts to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not presented) and a certificate by the President or the Speaker as the case may be is endorsed thereon in accordance with the provisions of Articles 80 or 79.

Article 84(3) states that when such a Bill is enacted into law, such law shall not and shall not be deemed to amend, repeal or replace the Constitution or any provision thereof and shall not be so interpreted. Article 84(3) further provides that thereafter such law made under Article 84 as discussed above may be repealed by a majority of the votes of the Members present and voting. This Article arguably dilutes the supremacy of the Constitution and is therefore undesirable. Article 84 – which had its equivalent under the 1972 Constitution as well – may be described as an attempt to replicate the supremacy of the Westminster Parliament, but that is something unique to Britan’s ‘unwritten’ Constitution that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

(The writer is a Retired Professor of Law of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is an Attorney-at-Law with PhD in Law as well).

To be continued tomorrow

Our debt to China

 Chinese labour is bringing significant efficiency to our construction sector

– Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Thursday, 16 May 2019 

“The available statistics appear to show that, whether the phenomena are connected or not, the rise of prices has nearly been proportional to the increase of currency”

“Apart from the fluctuations of the seasons the Indian level of prices is most influenced at the present time by the extent to which Europe makes investments there” – J.M. Keynes on India
Why China invests
Keynes wrote an economic journal article studying significant price rises in India in 1909. He statistically looked to see what figures best explain the rise in prices. His paper is difficult to summarise but easy to find online and read for oneself. It puts forth the argument that the ‘rapid influx of foreign capital’ is what caused the inflation of the studied time period.

China by running considerable trade surpluses has built up considerable foreign assets. If China was to repatriate its foreign-held assets it would face severe inflation. It is widely agreed that these trade surpluses accrue due to a large working population being subject to slave-like conditions. This is a fact widely ignored by those Sri Lankans who purport to be considered with the welfare of labour but happily align themselves with China’s foreign interests.
The notion of debt
If history shows anything, it is that there’s no better way to justify relations founded on violence, to make such relations seem moral than by reframing them in the language of debt – above all, because it immediately makes it seem that it’s the victim who’s doing something wrong.” – David Graeber

Whether or not someone owes something to someone else is a judgment steeped in various cultural considerations. This is because debt is more than just a monetary transaction and can take forms that are non-monetary. People, for instance, can lend time or moral support to each other with an expectation that the other party returns the favour.

It is also impacted by role. A parent, for instance, may never be indebted to their child. This is because the nature of the relationship within our culture does not allow for such accounting. Odd situations in terms of economics arise when sometimes people are offered things for free with no explicit strings attached and still refuse them. This can be explained culturally by the fact that accepting such a gift would result in changing the nature of the relationship.

There are also implications with regards to the terms of the debt. If for instance there are stipulations attached to the debt does it still conjure up feelings of indebtedness beyond the monetary value? If China gives money contingent on us using a Chinese contractor and paying back a rate of interest is it really a favour?

The terms that can be enforced also speak a lot to the power balances within society. For instance, our incredibly unequal society manifests itself quite explicitly in the treatment of microfinance borrowers. Monetary debts historically could be passed generationally and also result in indentured servitude.
China supporting our military
During our civil conflict, the Chinese government provided the nation with considerable military equipment, support within international bodies, and financial support to the Government. This all had an undeniable impact in allowing for our military victory. The Chinese government stood with us wherein Western governments that we are currently pivoting to did not.

This friendship was given at a time much needed. The US, on the other hand, attacked Sri Lanka on human rights and the war effort. This is a country which had previously gone as far as to give citizenship to a current presidential hopeful who was involved in the brutal UNP led crackdowns on JVP supporters. The US-UNP relationship probably helped secure citizenship.

The US globally is not a real supporter of democracy. This is true of any superpower. There is no dichotomy between China and the United States. Both nations must be balanced in their influence if Sri Lanka is to prosper.
Responding to propaganda
Recently a very subtle PR campaign is being run pushing the idea that Sri Lankan debt to China is not significant. The argument put forth hinges on the rate of interest and the total holding of debt. Both of which would not place China as a predatory lender. This is in contrast to the deafening silence and lack of gratefulness to India which recently offered Sri Lanka a much-needed line of credit.

An actual think tank should look at the marginal growth in debt as there has been little historical down payment of debt. It is likely that within the Rajapaksa administration Chinese debt and investment would show exponential growth. People trying to politicise a front running scandal in a country wherein that has never been considered a crime must be ignored by the general public.
Providing a sensible view
It is difficult to place a binary distinction between Chinese debt and investment being either good or bad. It, however, is dishonest to absolve China of the negative impacts some of its projects have had on Sri Lanka. The likening of China to a bank and its impact only modulating good or bad policy is overly simplistic and morally repulsive. As put forth in the bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hitman there is a massive role the lender plays in the success or failure of a project.

One only has to look at Norochcholai Power Station or the Hambantota port to see the negative impacts of Chinese investment. More on the Belt and Road initiative can be found on the American Enterprise Institute website. Their China Investment tracker documents broad corruption.

There have been positives of Chinese investment and China invariably has to be a source of finance to the Government. China as mentioned before played a pivotal role in the war victory. Chinese labour is bringing significant efficiency to our construction sector. Every effort should be made to keep them in the country after the completion of the Shangri-La project.
The lie on concessional debt
The narrative put forth by these PR agencies is that Sri Lanka loses its concessional debt privileges around 2004. They suggest this is because Sri Lanka gains middle-income status during this period. Therefore after 2004, Sri Lanka has to go to international markets to finance its development.

This narrative is maliciously untrue and is rarely contested. Sri Lanka on PPP terms might be middle income but is not so in terms of actual dollar income. This is why basic electronics seem so expensive even though we are defined as middle income. Electronics are imported and priced in actual dollar terms.

Further concessionary debt or military aid is not driven by actual need but rather by foreign policy considerations. Israel, for instance, is a major recipient of US defence aid. As we near an election Sri Lanka is also receiving considerable US/NATO linked aid. This aid is not tied to any specific project and can be spent in conjunction with the upcoming monetary stimulus to boost the economy.

The north and east of the country are also the focus of many good Samaritans. The international community needs to promote projects in the area to seem sincere in their views at the UN. These projects, however, need to be free from corruption so as to meet the internal policy requirements of the funding agency and this was not possible in the previous regime.
The executive presidency in all of this
It is a poorly kept secret that the leaders of the two major political parties are going to support the abolishment of the executive presidency. It is only the gullible and the news cycle hungry journalists that are pushing a narrative that sees the two gentlemen passing political power either to their former leadership rivals or their siblings. The conspiracy theories have gone so far as to involve the recent defeat of expenditure heads.

The political manoeuvring required to bring the constitutional amendment to pass still requires finesse but is the most likely outcome given the current balance of interests and power.

The executive presidency is important in this as it is an office that can unilaterally change the foreign policy of the country. JRJ notably pivoted Sri Lanka’s foreign policy to the US and placed the nation on the global map. The President’s office under Rajapaksa pivoted heavily towards China and greatly diminished our global standing.

This President’s actions allow for the acceptance of debt and obligation to other nation states. As foreign policy can be dictated by the executive it also has a military implication with regards to allegiance. Allegiance pays a huge role in debt as it has a huge trust element built into it. It’s the same reason that Catholic banks so readily lend to Catholics. They fear the same God.

Sri Lanka’s small size but the important maritime location will always mean that it will be of interest to global powers. If the acceptance of debt or international military corporation is moved closer to Parliament it is more likely that these arrangements benefit the general populace.

The reason Sri Lanka as a nation does not feel indebted to China is because they feel such debt was negotiated by the former strongman in benefit of his extended family. This is why one must analyse the growth in debt and implications on debt of Chinese projects to have a broader understanding of the large mistrust of Chinese influence amongst our people.
Conclusion
We as civil society must look at things like grace periods and benchmark costs against international standards when assessing projects. Construction companies should also be able to make a profit. The Hambantota port, for instance, put the ports authority into a significant cash flow problem. The local partnership model put forth in the recent budget is an economic policy that is agreeable to the majority of the voting population.

Most Sri Lankans do not feel a major debt to China. The Chinese only help as they need to reinvest their foreign proceeds and gain regional influence in line with the interests of an emerging superpower. 

We, however, do have an obligation to wherever possible offer refuge to those who are politically persecuted. Sri Lanka is in a net debt position to the world who accepted its citizens when they were facing persecution domestically following two incredibly destructive changes to its constitution. We owe it to the world to give the Chinese freedom from communism. Port City can be their refuge.

References:

Recent Economic Events in India pg. 57 Author(s): J.M. Keynes Source: The Economic Journal, Vol. 19, No. 73 (Mar., 1909), pp. 51-67

Recent Economic Events in India pg67 Author(s): J.M. Keynes Source: The Economic Journal, Vol. 19, No. 73 (Mar., 1909), pp. 51-67

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/04/07/chinas-foreign-assets-more-than-half-its-gdp/#6c5b34d731ea

https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/chinas-forced-labor-problem/

Debt: The First 5,000 Years

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/how-beijing-won-sri-lankas-civil-war-1980492.html

https://www.veriteresearch.org/2019/01/16/chinese-debt-is-not-sri-lankas-biggest-problem-verite-research/

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_19A/Jan09_1547042503CH.php

http://www.aei.org/china-global-investment-tracker/

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/03/04/commentary/china-fuels-sri-lankan-war/#.XIZ7z9JS82w

http://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2019/01/22/managing-sri-lanka-china-economic-relations-bri-debt-and-diplomacy/

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/united-states-israel-memorandum-of-understanding-military-aid/500192/

http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/03/18/business/180538/world-bank-provide-usd-70-mn-rural-development

https://reliefweb.int/report/sri-lanka/human-rights-must-be-top-priority-economic-reforms-says-un-expert

http://www.dailymirror.lk/political-gossip/A-mystery-shrouded-dialogue-/261-164949

https://twitter.com/sunandadesh/status/1111526682710691841

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110213/Timestwo/t2_14.html

http://www.island.lk/2009/09/07/features2.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gL5stPqdHo

A bloody weekend in Gaza

A man carries the body of a child killed during Israel’s attack on Sheikh Zayed City, a residential building in Gaza, earlier this month.  

 Ramez HabboubAPA images

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh-13 May 2019

In the early evening of 4 May, Mazouza Abu Arar was kept busy trying to make her grandchildren less afraid. They had heard the sound of explosions at various times that day.

Mazouza went into the courtyard of her home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood. She organized a small celebration for Ramadan, which would begin the following day. Joined by members of her extended family, she distributed lanterns and sweets among her grandchildren.

Suddenly, the family’s home was hit by a projectile.

A toddler Saba Abu Arar and her aunt Filastin Abu Shihma were killed. Filastin was pregnant with a boy. She had planned to call her son Abdallah.

“Saba was very close to me,” said her grandmother Mazouza. “I wanted to hug her. But suddenly I felt like I was being pulled downwards and I lost consciousness.”

Adnan Abu Arar, husband of Filastin, rushed to the scene as soon as he heard the explosion.

“When I saw my wife lying on the ground and my children screaming I wasn’t able to do anything,” he said. “I put my hand on my head and started screaming until our neighbors came and started to drive members of my family to al-Shifa hospital.”

After investigating the incident, Defense for Children International Palestine concluded that the explosion was caused by a weapon fired within Gaza.

Other organizations are continuing their inquiries about the incident.

Witnesses say that resistance fighters had been active in area approximately 500 meters from the family’s home. After the fighters fired a number of rockets, Israel responded by firing missiles.

Nothing to do with Israel?

Yamin al-Madhoun, a researcher with the Gaza-based human rights group Al Mezan said: “Until now, nothing is certain. We have not reached a conclusion about whether the missile [fired at the family] was from the Israeli or Palestinian side. Investigations are ongoing.”

Israel has blamed Hamas for the incident. In a tweet, the Israeli military claimed that the deaths at the family’s home had “nothing to do” with its air strikes on Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces

✔@IDF

Yesterday, Palestinian weapons caused the tragic death of a mother in Gaza and her baby. Hamas blamed Israel. Journalists amplified the lie. Our assessment indicates that the incident had nothing to do with IDF strikes.

5,064

7:38 AM - May 5, 2019

Israel has behaved similarly in the past.

In November 2012, Israel subjected Gaza to eight days of air strikes. More than 100 Palestinian civilians were killed in that offensive.

One of the victims – a baby named Omar Masharawi – may have been killed when a rocket launched by Palestinian resistance fighters misfired, according to evidence gathered at the scene by human rights monitors. Israel seized on that evidence to distract from the numerous other atrocities it carried out at that time.

Then, as now, Israel bore ultimate responsibility for the situation in Gaza. And the bloodshed that occurred during the first weekend of May 2019 should be examined in the correct context.

Contrary to what the Western media has widely reported, the latest violence was not simply a response to the activities of Hamas.

Such coverage negates how Gaza has been subject to a siege – in flagrant violation of international law – for 12 years. It negates, too, how Israel has recently refused to honor commitments to ease the blockade by, for example, allowing Qatar to aid Gaza financially.

It also ignores how Israel has continuously attacked unarmed participants in the Great March of Return since those weekly protests began more than a year ago.

Furthermore, the explosion at the Abu Arar home was by no means the only incident which occurred in Gaza during the first weekend of May.

In other incidents, the Israeli military was directly responsible for killing civilians.

“Their mother will never return”

On 5 May, Israeli warplanes attacked a family’s home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Amani al-Madhoun, a woman who worked in the administration of Gaza’s al-Aqsa University, was killed. She was nine months pregnant and had planned to call her baby boy Ayman.

Her husband Muhammad al-Madhoun spoke of how he was standing at the door of the home, drinking coffee, when he fell downwards from the blast’s impact.

“I was barely able to stand up again,” he said. “There was smoke and dust everywhere. The first thing I thought about was how my wife was in our bedroom, with our son Mahmoud.”

As soon as Muhammad arrived in the bedroom, he found that it had been reduced to rubble. “I started searching under the rubble to find my wife and son,” he said. “First I found Mahmoud, he was unconscious. Then I saw my wife’s leg. I tried to pull her from the rubble – and with the help of one of the neighbors – we managed to take her out. But she was already dead by then.”

Mahmoud and the couple’s two other children were severely injured by the explosion. They remain in intensive care.

“I have no idea what I’m going to tell them after they leave the hospital,” said Muhammad. “How can I convince them that their mother will never return? I thought this can only happen in a movie, to lose your family within a moment. But in Gaza, everything seems to be possible.”

Muhammad’s father Abd al-Rahim was also killed in the attack. So were Muhammad’s brother Abdallah and his brother-in-law Fadi Badran.

Abdallah was a fighter with Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.

Human rights organizations have previously condemned as illegal Israel’s bomb attacks on family homes – regardless of who lives in them – when it cannot show that they were being used for military purposes, or when civilians were likely to be killed.

“I wish that I had been killed”

Later that day, Israel attacked another two families in Beit Lahiya.

The attacks were focused on Sheikh Zayed City; that residential building was designed to house people displaced by Israel’s offensives against Gaza.

Six civilians were killed in those attacks.

In one apartment, an 11-year-old child Abd al-Rahman Abu al-Jadyan was killed, along with his parents Talal and Raghda. Abd al-Rahman went through the building with the force of the blast.

Muhammad, a 25-year-old brother to Abd al-Rahman, survived the attack because he was out of the apartment at the time.

“I was in the supermarket buying some stuff mom requested for Ramadan,” Muhammad said. “Now I am alone without a family or a home. I wish that I had been killed with them.”

According to Muhammad, none of his family had political affiliations or was involved in armed activitiy.

Sami Urouq, a neighbor, witnessed the attack. “The explosion was very strong,” he said. “I fell on my knees and after a few minutes – when the dust had gone – I saw fire coming out from the fifth floor. And a body of a child was at the entrance of the building.”

In a nearby apartment, Ahmad al-Ghazali, his wife Iman and their 3-month-old infant Maria were killed.

Iman’s friend Suheir Lubbad spoke to her about an hour before the attack.

“Iman was very happy,” Lubbad said. “This was her first Ramadan with Maria. She was planning to buy Maria new clothes for Eid and she promised to send me photos. Unfortunately, the next photos I saw of Maria – on social media – were of her dead body.”

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.

Music in the rubble: Palestinians stage defiant concert in Gaza ahead of Eurovision

'We want to send a message to the Israeli occupation that Gaza will not surrender,' event organiser says
Members of a collective called Jusour organised a concert amid the ruins of a Gaza building (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

By Motasem A Dalloul in Gaza City, Gaza- 14 May 2019

As Israel rolls out red carpets for the Eurovision music contest it's hosting this week, Palestinian musicians in Gaza have taken to a much different stage.

In the rubble of an eight-storey residential building destroyed in recent Israeli air strikes, the performers on Tuesday inaugurated Gazavision, an event they say aims to present a defiant and peaceful critique of Israeli policies - through song.

The venue was not chosen by accident.

For the event's organisers - a group called Jusour (Arabic for "bridges") - the decision to hold the performance where the Abu Qamar building once stood was symbolic.

"We want to send a message to the Israeli occupation that Gaza will not surrender. Like the phoenix when it is turned to ashes, Gaza will rise again," 22-year-old Salem Harara, one of the organisers, told Middle East Eye.

A young Palestinian plays the oud in the rubble on Tuesday in Gaza City (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

"Music is an internationally recognised language of peace and love. We chose music because we wanted our peaceful message, laden with love, to reach all the people around the world," he added.

"We want to send a message to the world, which might have a negative image about Gaza and its people, that we love life."

'Art-washing'

Kamel Musallam, another coordinator for the event, told MEE that the concert was part of a global campaign calling for the boycott of this year's Eurovision contest.

Israel won the 2018 Eurovision competition, granting it hosting rights for this year's show - despite outrage from Palestinians and their supporters.

According to the members of Jusour, Eurovision is "art-washing ... Israeli crimes".

"Local and international efforts have been exerted to stop [Israel from] holding this contest on Palestinian blood, but it seems it is still going on," Musallam said.

Still, he added that hundreds of international artists have boycotted the event, including Pink Floyd musician and prominent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement supporter, Roger Waters, who has also been a vocal critic of Israel hosting Eurovision this year.

Waters is not the only major musician to voice opposition to Eurovision taking place in Israel.

Guitarist Joff Oddie from the band Wolf Alice told Sky News on Tuesday that Israeli leaders were "us[ing] culture to… whitewash over their human rights abuses".

Musallam said that high-profile support for BDS - a movement that aims to pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses against Palestinians - was encouraging.

"We are not alone in this anti-Eurovision campaign," he said.

Another Gazavision event organiser, Sumayya al-Katari, 21, told MEE that Israel is using Eurovision to try "to tell the world that it is a stable country full of tourist attractions like any European country".

It is also "using famous international musicians by paying them tens of millions [of dollars]", she said, referring to Madonna's controversial and costly planned performance later this week.

But, Sumayya said, "Israel is telling lies about itself".

"Israel would not be seen as a stable or attractive state by fans if the truth about its creation, its disrespect of human rights, international law and its inhumane treatment of Palestinians was disclosed."

She said she hoped the Gazavision event would, through music and song, help Palestinians share their own message.

"Although we do not have their capacity ... we are able to share our truthful message about the Israeli occupying state, which is neither stable nor peaceful, but a brutal human rights abuser."

Lost dreams

While attendees at the event on Tuesday were supportive of the general message, the location of the concert hit some members of the public hard.

One of them was Marwa Issa, 48, who sat listlessly by the side of the stage with two of her daughters.

Issa and her nine children were one of more than 30 Palestinian families who lived in the Abu Qamar building before it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on 5 May.

"We didn't just lose a house, clothes or items of furniture, but our past, our memories, our future and our dreams," Issa told MEE.

'We didn’t just lose a house, clothes or items of furniture, but our past, our memories, our future and our dreams,' said Marwa Issa, sitting here with two of her daughters (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

"Now, we are living in a makeshift home nearby. In light of high unemployment and the increasing cost of living, making rent is a big challenge," she added, explaining that her two sons are in university, while her seven daughters are also still in school.

About half an hour before the beginning of Gazavision, a bystander took to the stage to express his anger and frustration that the concert was taking place so soon after a bout of violence that left at least 23 Palestinians dead.

"Who told you to come here?" shouted the man, who didn't give his name. "What are you doing, singing on the rubble of our homes? We are homeless and you are singing here!"

Reacting to the man's outburst, Issa said: "He might be right."

"Israel has been pursuing the same brutal policies with Palestinians for 71 years and all Palestinians have are band-aid solutions. Even if they have their homes rebuilt, it is still nothing," she said.

"But ... we insist on sending our message to Israel and the world," Issa added.

"We will stay here. We will not surrender and we will continue living here, even in tents. There will be no second exodus. It is enough."

Warships and wives: debate in Indian election turns increasingly ugly

FILE PHOTO: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves towards his supporters during a roadshow in Varanasi, India, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

Alasdair Pal-MAY 14, 2019 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - From jibes over the prime minister’s wife to criticism of the main opposition leader’s family holiday three decades ago, one trend stands out in this year’s general election campaign in India: this time, it’s personal.

The world’s largest democracy, with around 900 million eligible voters, wraps up polling held over six weeks on Sunday. Results will be known on May 23.

Election observers say this has been an unusually hostile campaign even by Indian standards, devoid of real policy debate to the expected benefit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The last few elections were about corruption or inflation,” said Harsh Pant, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in New Delhi. “This time, there are no real issues being discussed.”

Modi won a surprise majority in 2014, riding a wave of anger over perceived graft by the Congress party, which has governed India for the majority of the seven decades after the end of British rule in 1947.

He entered this election cycle under pressure, losing three state polls in December amid rising anger over weak farm incomes and unemployment.

But the early phase of campaigning was dominated by national security after a suicide car bomb attack by a Pakistan-based militant group killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in the disputed region of Kashmir.

“The opposition were caught off guard by the national security narrative and after that it became very difficult to contest on that,” Pant said. “Then it became all about Modi, to the advantage of the BJP.”

On Monday, the leader of a powerful regional party urged women not to vote for Modi because he had abandoned his wife as a teenager.

“How can he (Modi) respect others’ sisters and wives when he has left his own innocent wife for political gains,” said Mayawati, head of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The BJP has previously said that Modi’s marriage was arranged by his family and existed in name only.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, has frequently ended rallies by leading chants calling Modi a “thief”.

“With elections dragging on, a noticeable fatigue has set in among voters, even as politicians appear to be running out of relevant issues, instead upping the venom to capture public attention,” said an editorial in the Times of India, one of the country’s most popular papers, on Tuesday.

Others see Modi as equally at fault.

This month Modi said Gandhi’s deceased father Rajiv, himself a former prime minister, ended his life as “India’s most corrupt man” who used a warship during a 1987 holiday as his family’s own “personal taxi”.

Congress denies this.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“The agenda is always set by the sitting prime minister and everybody has to reply in kind,” said Mohan Guruswamy, founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank.

Modi has denied he has coarsened political debate in the country, blaming social media for amplifying negative statements.

“Now, from a 50-minute speech, a 10-second statement is taken and played on loop 24 hours,” he said in an interview with Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times on May 9, days after his jibe about Gandhi’s father. “That said, there should definitely be courtesy.”

UN warns that Gaza food aid about to run out

A Palestinian family breaks the Ramadan fast on the rubble of their home in Rafah, southern Gaza, recently destroyed in Israeli strikes, 14 May.Ashraf AmraAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy-14 May 2019

Every one in two Palestinians in Gaza is food aid dependent, and the largest provider of humanitarian assistance in the territory is warning that it may soon be unable to provide that aid.

UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, stated on Monday that it must secure $60 million by June to be able to provide food aid to one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza – half of the territory’s population.

Some 620,000 Palestinians in Gaza survive on $1.60 per day. An additional 390,000 survive on around $3.50 per day, according to the agency.

It is the latest plea by a UN body for increased international assistance to Gaza, where, as UNRWA puts it, “financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs.”

Israeli siege increases need

Those needs are a direct consequence of Israel’s land, sea and air blockade on the territory, now in its 12th year, and successive Israeli military offensives that have wrought widespread destruction and greatly diminished Gaza’s productive sector.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that Israel’s blockade of Gaza violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel’s use of force in the territory has been the subject of multiple UN commissions of inquiry.

“From fewer than 80,000 Palestine refugees receiving UNRWA social assistance in Gaza in the year 2000, there are today over one million people who need emergency food assistance without which they cannot get through their day,” the agency stated.

More than half of Gaza’s population is unemployed, one of the highest rates in the world. International aid and remittances from abroad “have held Gaza back from the brink of total collapse,” according to UNRWA.

Last year the US, formerly UNRWA’s single largest donor, said that it would stop funding the agency. In addition to freezing $300 million in funding to UNRWA, the US cut $200 million in bilateral aid to the West Bank and Gaza.

The aid cuts are at once a punishment against the Palestinian leadership for protesting Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and an attempt to bludgeon Palestinians into submitting to the White House’s “peace” process and erase Palestinian refugees out of existence.

“The American administration’s actions are part of a wider campaign that aims at imposing a one-sided solution on Palestinian refugees – contrary to international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the principle of justice,” the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council stated on Tuesday.

The council called on the UN General Assembly “to establish a mandatory financing mechanism, rather than voluntary state contributions, in order to secure consistent and sustainable funding of UNRWA,” with an expanded mandate “to fulfill the legal protection standards that refugees are entitled to.”

UNRWA – in contrast to the UN High Commission for Refugees, which looks after refugees from the rest of the world – has no mandate to facilitate the exercise the right of return home for refugees.

8.7 million Palestinian refugees worldwide

Today there are 8.7 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons worldwide, constituting two-thirds of the Palestinian people.

“Israel’s failure to respect the right to return for Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes in 1948 is a flagrant violation of international law that has fuelled decades of suffering on a mass scale for Palestinian refugees across the region,” Amnesty International stated on Tuesday.

Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from towns and villages now inside Israel. For more than a year Palestinians in the territory have protested against the blockade and to demand their right to return to the lands from which their families were expelled before, during and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed during the protests, dubbed the Great March of Return.

Around 60 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military during protests in Gaza this day last year, and a further 1,300 were injured by live ammunition, making it the bloodiest day yet during the Great March of Return.

The staggering number of casualties during the protests has overwhelmed Gaza’s healthcare system.

Some 1,700 Palestinians injured during the Gaza demonstrations may require amputations because specialized treatment for what medical groups have described as war injuries resulting from Israeli army sniper fire is unavailable.

The UN is seeking $20 million for Gaza’s medical facilities which are “under very serious stress,” Jamie McGoldrick, a humanitarian official with the world body, stated last week.

Two thousand Gaza families still displaced

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as of the end of April, there was no funding to cover the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza still displaced from Israel’s 51-day military offensive on the territory five years ago.

More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed during that offensive, and 17,800 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in the summer of 2014 resulted in the largest internal displacement of Palestinians since 1967, when Israel occupied the territory, along with the West Bank, the Syrian Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (from which Israel later withdrew).

As of February this year, more than 2,200 Palestinian families – or 12,300 people – were still displaced as a result of the 2014 offensive.

Nearly $130 million is needed to address needs resulting from the offensive, according to OCHA, “including for shelter repair ($75 million), reconstruction of houses ($47 million) and cash assistance ($6.5 million).”

Israel habitually destroys Palestinian infrastructure in Gaza and third states pay for its reconstruction, with no cost to Israel, which controls what raw materials for reconstruction are brought into the territory.

Gaza’s population is repeatedly brought to the brink before a stop-gap aid contribution prevents total catastrophe.

Last year, OCHA warned that following Israel’s 2014 military assault – after which third-party states pledged $3.5 billion to rebuild the devastated territory – “humanitarian financing to the occupied Palestinian territory has been gradually, but definitively, decreasing year on year.”

Duterte drug war ally and Marcos daughter set for Philippines seats

Loyalists’ victories in midterm elections will hand populist president more power
Supporters of Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa at a rally before Monday’s vote. The former police chief was the architect of the the Philippines’ war on drugs. Photograph: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images     

   Carmela Fonbuena in Manila-Tue 14 May 2019 
           
The architect of Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs in the Philippines has almost certainly won a senate seat in the country’s midterm elections, prompting concerns among victims’ groups.
           
Former police chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is among Duterte’s allies who were on track to take nine of 12 open seats in the upper house, with 95% of ballots counted. The senate has previously been a bulwark against some of the president’s most controversial proposals.

“[Dela Rosa] now has his own influence and clout, independent of the president,” said Kristina Conti, a lawyer for the victims’ group Rise Up for Life and for Rights, which filed criminal and civil cases against police in relation to Duterte’s drug war. “He might use his political clout to whitewash investigations into the human rights violations of the police.”

Before the elections, families who lost loved ones in the drug war agreed not to vote for Dela Rosa. “Now that he’s going to be a senator, two mothers who filed cases against police told me they’re afraid for their security,” said Rubilyn Litao, a church worker helping those affected pursue cases against the police.

More than 18,000 positions were at stake in the vote, primarily local posts, but also half the senate and nearly 300 seats in the lower house of representatives.

Duterte’s deadly crackdown has drawn international censure, but is central to the populist appeal that has buoyed his remarkable standing among Filipinos since taking the presidency in 2016.

Administration loyalist candidates for the senate were heading for a resounding win after Monday’s vote.

Another of Duterte’s hand-picked candidates on course for a senate seat is Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

 Imee Marcos (centre in checked shirt) in Manila last year with her mother, the former first lady Imelda Marcos. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA

She is poised to beat scions of political families who fought her father’s dictatorship, including Senator Paolo “Bam” Benigno Aquino IV. He is the nephew and namesake of Benigno Aquino Jr, whose assassination in 1983 invigorated opposition to the Marcos regime.

No candidate from the opposition senatorial ticket made it into the top 12 in the current tally. A number of the candidates have conceded defeat. Historically, the nation’s 24 senators – who serve six-year terms – have had a reputation for being more independently minded than the lower house.

“My fear is there will be no genuine opposition,” said Samira Gutoc, from Marawi City, an opposition candidate who has criticised the imposition of martial law in Mindanao region.

Gutoc has conceded defeat but vowed to continue her opposition to Duterte and push for the rehabilitation of Marawi, which was devastated by a five-month battle between government forces and Islamic State-affiliated militants in 2017.

“This election just gave Duterte carte blanche to push his brand of governance to its logical conclusion: complete transformation of the nation’s political system,” the analyst Richard Heydarian told AFP.

Senator Francis Pangilinan, the president of the opposition Liberal party, said: “We need to strengthen our ranks as well as our resolve to face the coming challenges.”

As part of his drug crackdown that has killed more than 5,000 people, Duterte has pledged to bring back the death penalty and lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 12.

The Philippines outlawed capital punishment in 1987, reinstated it six years later and then abolished it again in 2006.

He also promised to rewrite the nation’s constitution to create a federal republic in which regions would be given more power to tackle deep-rooted poverty.

However, opponents see those plans as an effort to extend his hold on power or weaken the nation’s democratic institutions.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

North Korea says weapons test involved ‘long-range’ capability

This May 9, 2019 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 10, 2019 shows rocket launchers firing during the strike drill of defence units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in the forefront area and on the western front of North Korea. Source: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP

@ascorrespondent-May 9 at 11:26 PM 

NORTH Korea said Friday it had tested a long-range weapon, a claim that was likely to raise tensions on the peninsula and contradicted accounts from the South and in the US that Pyongyang had fired short-range missiles.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un had overseen Thursday’s weapons test, the second in less than a week amid tensions with the US over their fitful drive to reach an agreement under which North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.

“At the command post, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un learned about a plan of the strike drill of various long-range strike means and gave an order of start of the drill,” KCNA said, adding that the drill was successful.

SEE ALSO: North Korea should meaningfully respond to engagement before it’s too late

KCNA did not say what kind of weapon was fired. It avoided using the words missile, rocket or projectile.

The update came amid increasingly strained ties with the US as President Donald Trump said Thursday he thought Kim was not ready to negotiate denuclearisation.

In New York, federal authorities said a North Korean freighter had been seized on grounds of violating UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.

The officials said Wise Honest — an 18,000-ton, single hull bulk carrier — had exported high-grade coal and brought back machinery to the impoverished and reclusive country.

This May 9, 2019 picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 10, 2019 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un attending the strike drill of defence units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) in the forefront area and on the western front of North Korea. Source: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP

During an event at the White House, Trump said US authorities were looking at the latest projectile launches “very seriously.”

“They were smaller missiles, short-range missiles. Nobody’s happy about it,” Trump told reporters.

“The relationship continues. But we’ll see what happens. I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they are ready to negotiate.”

Two Trump-Kim summits, the most recent in Vietnam in February, have produced no tangible progress toward persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Thursday’s missile firing came after North Korea carried out a military drill and fired multiple projectiles on Saturday, with at least one believed to be a short-range missile.

SEE ALSO: North Korea’s Kim oversees test of new weapon with ‘powerful warhead’

‘An element of protest’

The North had not previously fired a missile since November 2017, shortly before a rapid diplomatic thaw eased high tensions on the peninsula and paved the way for a historic first meeting between Kim and Trump.

But the summit in Vietnam broke up without an agreement rolling back Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief or even a joint statement, leaving the North frustrated.

Thursday’s launch came hours after the US Special Representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in Seoul for talks with South Korean officials, in his first visit since the Hanoi summit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Pyongyang’s latest move had “an element of protest and is a pressuring action to steer the nuclear talks in a direction it desires”.

“It appears the North is highly displeased that the Hanoi summit ended without agreement,” he said in an interview marking his first two years in office.

But he added: “Whatever North Korea’s intentions might have been, we warn that it could make negotiations more difficult.”

People watch a television news programme showing file footage of North Korea’s projectile weapons, at a railway station in Seoul on May 9, 2019. Source: Jung Yeon-je / AFP

The North “fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles” from Kusong in North Pyongan province, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement, updating its earlier assessment that the launch was from Sino-ri in the same province.

The JCS added the missiles flew eastwards for 270 and 420 kilometres (170 and 260 miles) and the South Korean and US militaries were jointly analysing them.

Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington had all refrained from explicitly calling Saturday’s launch a missile — the South used the term “projectile” — which could jeopardise the ongoing diplomacy if it violated UN Security Council resolutions against ballistic technology as well as Kim’s announcement of an end to long-range missile tests.

Experts said at least one short-range ballistic missile was involved on Saturday, with a report on the respected 38 North website saying debris left by the launch suggested it was a “direct import” of a Russian-produced Iskander.

If North Korea had imported Iskanders from Russia, the report added, “it has an existing capacity to deliver warheads to targets in South Korea with great precision”.

A summit between Moon and Kim a year ago was instrumental in lowering the temperature, but since the Hanoi summit the North has blamed Seoul for siding with Washington, leaving inter-Korean relations in limbo. © Agence France-Presse