Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Hezbollah's 3-stage Ambush Kills Invading Israeli Force, Rescue Forces

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Military Media

Late on Tuesday night, invading Israeli soldiers on the Eastern Axis where dealt heavy casualties in a well-worked Hezbollah ambush.

On the eastern outskirts of the border town of Markaba, in South Lebanon, Hezbollah fighters ambushed an invading Israeli infantry force, dealing confirmed casualties. 

The attack was conducted at exactly 10:00 pm on Tuesday night when Resistance fighters fired an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) at Israeli troops. 

The Israeli military command dispatched a rescue force to pull out the killed and wounded from the ambush point half an hour after the incident. Then, Hezbollah fighters fired another ATGM targeting the rescue force, which was also dealt casualties. 

At 11:10 pm, a second rescue force was dispatched to the area. Again, Resistance fighters fired a third ATGM, killing and injuring members of the rescue force. 

In continuation of the ongoing confrontations near the town of Markaba, Hezbollah said that its fighters fired a salvo of rocket artillery shells at Israeli occupation forces to the east of the town. 

The rocket attack was launched at 12:15 and targeted an assembly point of Israeli occupation forces in the al-Marj military site, in the Hunin Valley, in occupied Palestine. 

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon continues to defend against the intense Israeli ground aggression on southern Lebanon, defending their positions in multiple towns, such as Khiam, Markava, and Chamaa.

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Somaliland Opposition Leader Defeats Incumbent to Win Presidential Election

By OMAR FARUK

10:16 AM EST, November 19, 2024

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The opposition leader in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland was declared winner on Tuesday in last week’s election that gave a boost for the region’s push for international recognition.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 amid a descent into conflict and has since sustained its own government, currency and security structures despite not being recognized by any country in the world.

Over the years, it built a stable political environment, contrasting sharply with Somalia’s ongoing struggles with insecurity.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi of the main opposition Waddani Party received more than 50% of the votes, defeating President Muse Bihi Abdi who sought a second term after seven years in office, the electoral commission said.

Abdullahi, 69, had served as Somaliland’s parliament speaker in 2005 and hinged his campaign on democratic and economic reforms in the region whose development has been stifled by the lack of global recognition.

The election was delayed twice since 2022 for lack of funding.

“This result and especially the credible electoral process resulting in a peaceful transfer of power will consolidate Somaliland’s reputation as one of the more stable democracies in the Horn of Africa,” said Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group.

Abdullahi’s win will see to the end of the tenure of Abdi, who pushed for Somaliland to be recognized by countries around the world but secured just over 30% of the votes cast.

Somaliland’s “impressive record of elections and peaceful transfers of power is a model for the region and beyond,” the United States Embassy in Somalia said Tuesday on X, lauding the election.

Somaliland’s latest agreement with neighboring Ethiopia — granting Addis Ababa access to the Indian Ocean in exchange for recognition — has caused political tension with Somalia, which accuses Ethiopia of undermining its territorial integrity.

The opposition has been urging more economic benefits to Somaliland from the agreement and criticized how it was hurriedly and secretly negotiated.

The main opposition party has raised concerns about how much benefit the controversial agreement with Ethiopia holds for Somaliland, Mohamed Husein Gaas, the director of the Raad Peace Research Institute in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, told The Associated Press.

Leaders in Somalia expressed hope for better relations between the country and the breakaway region, including former Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, who hoped the president-elect would “take a leading role in strengthening the brotherhood and unity of the Somali people.”

The president of neighboring Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, also congratulated Abdullahi on his election victory.

DR Congo Says Mausoleum Holding Independence Hero Lumumba’s Gold-capped Tooth is Vandalized

FILE - Workers stand by a memorial for Democratic Republic of the Congo independence hero Patrice Lumumba, in Kinshasa, Congo, June 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi, File)

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE and MARK BANCHEREAU

11:00 AM EST, November 19, 2024

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s government says the mausoleum of assassinated independence leader Patrice Lumumba in the capital, Kinshasa, has been vandalized. It’s not immediately clear whether Lumumba’s remains — a single gold-capped tooth — were damaged or stolen.

A mausoleum curator told the national press agency that the coffin containing the tooth was broken Monday.

The glass doors were smashed and four suspects were arrested, the deputy mayor of the neighborhood where the mausoleum is located told the country’s main radio channel. He added that he couldn’t confirm whether the tooth was stolen or not.

It’s not clear who was responsible for the act of vandalism, Congo’s ministry of culture said in a statement Tuesday.

The return of Lumumba’s tooth from former colonizer Belgium in 2022 had been celebrated around Congo, with the tooth taken around the vast country so people could pay their respects.

Lumumba is widely hailed as the nationalist activist who helped to end colonial rule. He became Congo’s first prime minister and was seen as one of Africa’s most promising new leaders, but he was assassinated within a year in 1961. His body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site.

For many in Congo, Lumumba is a symbol of the positive developments the country could have achieved after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches.

Historians say Lumumba was a victim of the Cold War. He promoted leftist policies, and when he reached out to the Soviet Union for help in putting down a secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region, he fell out of favor with Belgium and the United States.

A military coup toppled Lumumba, and he was arrested, jailed and later killed. His assassination, blamed on separatists, cleared the way for the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country he later renamed Zaire for decades with support from Western powers until his death in 1997.

Even though Lumumba’s killers were Congolese, questions have persisted over the complicity of Belgium and the United States because of his perceived Communist ties.

His one remaining tooth was kept by the Belgian police commissioner who oversaw the destruction of his body. In 2016, the tooth was seized by Belgian officials from the police commissioner’s daughter.

The tooth was returned to Congo after the visit of Belgium’s King Philippe, who expressed regrets for his nation’s abuses in Congo when it was a Belgian colony.

Biden’s Crazed Gambit Allowing Ukraine to Strike Russian Territory Brings World Closer to Superpower Conflict

IT SCARCELY gets more dangerous than this. The semi-senile President of the United States has determined to use his remaining months in office to dramatically ratchet up the war in Ukraine.

Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to fire US-supplied missiles deep into Russia, permission it has hitherto withheld, is a major step towards extending the conflict into an actual face-off between the world’s two major nuclear-armed powers.

Since the missiles concerned cannot easily be operated without full US logistical, intelligence and targeting support, this takes the prolonged proxy war much closer to a direct clash.

Biden’s move looks likely to be echoed, as ever, by Keir Starmer, who has been prevented by Washington from allowing Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets inside Russia. Those restrictions may now be cast aside.

Starmer is talking of “doubling down” on the war at the precise moment when hopes for an end to a bloody and unnecessary conflict should be rising.

It has been clear to every sober observer that, since the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 summer offensive, the chances of Nato achieving its maximum war aims of forcing the Russian army back to the borders of 2022, let alone 2014, were evaporating.

Since then, Russia has moved onto the front foot across most of the battlefront and is gradually gaining territory. To set against this, there has only been Zelensky’s Kursk offensive, which more than ever looks like a futile diversion.

President-elect Donald Trump represents those sections of the Washington elite who, with considerable mass support, accept the military realities, resent the vast sums US taxpayers are spending on the conflict and prefer to focus on the “Chinese threat” in any case.

He has pledged to end the conflict “within a day” once in office. Given that, Biden’s move looks more than usually cynical.

This should be a moment when every effort is focused on securing a peace that meets both Ukrainian and Russian security concerns and addresses borders and the status of minorities in Ukraine.

Of course, this is a war with two sides. Russia continues to launch massive attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and kill civilians on a daily basis.

Nor is it clear that it would accept a peace based on existing military dispositions since its territorial claims are more ambitious and made without much reference to the populations concerned.

But it is the Nato powers which appear bent on escalation to try and tip the military scales back in Kiev’s favour before Trump enters the White House.

However, few believe that extended missile strikes within Russia will be sufficient to turn the tables, at least in proportion to the dangers involved, which include provoking asymmetric Russian attacks across Europe.

Starmer appears oblivious to all this and even intoxicated by his warrior posturing. No-one on the left will take his protestations of principle seriously.

Labour’s continuing political and practical support for Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon and insultingly bland denial that this amounts to a genocide against the Palestinians reveals that the only principle he adheres to is fealty to Washington.

It is vital that the peace and labour movements make their voices heard more forcefully in Ukraine now. Whatever may happen once Trump takes over, the next two months are a time of maximum danger while the imbecilic “Genocide Joe” sees out his term of office.

The people must press for peace in Ukraine as a matter of urgency, on the basis of stable security for all. That is already the demand of most of the world’s nations, and it must be imposed on Labour’s warlords.

Reprinted from the Morning Star, UK

UK Women Will Effectively Work for Free for the Rest of the Year from Today

Models of men and women on a pile of coins and bank notes

WOMEN will effectively work for free for the rest of the year from today.

The calculation, based on mean full-time pay, was published in a report by the Fawcett Society to mark Equal Pay Day.

It estimates that the current full-time pay gap stands at 11.3 per cent — up by 0.6 per cent on last year.

Researchers suggest that the increase could be attributed to changes in the government’s methodology for recording hours and earnings, which now includes data from the highest earners.

According to the latest numbers, women take home on average £7,572 a year less than men, compared with £6,888 in 2023.

Fawcett Society chief executive Jemima Olchawski said that this Equal Pay Day marks a reminder that gender pay inequality is “not only persistent, but risks deepening” and that the government’s new methodology indicates that the situation “could be worse than previously understood.”

One key contributor to the pay gap is that women are more likely to take on part-time, low-paid or insecure work to balance caregiving responsibilities.

In 2023’s report, the charity found that women were almost twice as likely to be working part-time (27 per cent) than men (14 per cent).

This year’s data also showed a significant “motherhood penalty,” with differences in occupation and industry accounting for 45 per cent of the gap.

Pay gaps for women of Bangladeshi (28.4 per cent), Pakistani (25.9 per cent), and mixed white and black Caribbean (25 per cent) heritage were also larger than those for white British men, exacerbating the financial inequalities they already experience.

Overall, a large portion of the gap remains unexplained, with data finding that nearly two-thirds of the gender pay gap would still exist even if men and women worked the same hours, in the same jobs, and were of the same age, ethnicity, and background.

Rachel Reeves has vowed to use her position as the first female Chancellor to close the pay gap and “improve life for women,” strengthening workers’ rights, investing in childcare, and encouraging “female-powered” businesses.

Ms Olchawski said: “To truly achieve equality, we need a comprehensive, cross-departmental strategy that tackles the root causes of the gap, including the undervaluing of women’s work, a lack of affordable childcare and the systemic barriers that prevent women, particularly mothers, from reaching their full potential in the workforce.

“If we are to see meaningful change, flexible work must be the default across all sectors, and discrimination in pay must be eradicated.”

The Fawcett Society has created a gender pay gap calculator where users can compare wage discrepancies in different industries.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said that Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in October, is “vital” for women’s pay and equality, as it will require large employers to set out clear action plans on how they will close gender pay gaps.

“And we know women still take on the lion share of caring responsibilities — a key driver of the gender pay gap — so fixing care is critical to raising their pay.”

He highlighted that it will also introduce a fair agreement in social care to “stop the race to the bottom” on pay and conditions.

“This will help recruit and retain staff,” he added.

According to a TUC analysis, women aged between 50 and 59 have the highest pay gap at 19.7 per cent and work the equivalent of 72 days for free.

Equality Trust co-executive director Jo Wittams said: “A report in 2020 estimated that, at the then rate of progress, it could take almost 200 years to eliminate the gender pay gap.

“Today, with the gender pay gap wider than it was last year, even that could be optimistic.

“We can’t even estimate when ethnicity or disability pay gaps will be closed because employers are not required to report them; one report found it could be 50 years before we even find out what the ethnicity pay gap is.”

UNISON head of equality Josie Irwin said: “It’s not enough for organisations simply to report their gender pay gaps. The government must change the law so that every UK organisation and company is required to take action to do something about them.

“But until society stops seeing caring roles, which tend to be done by women, as of less value than other jobs, any pay progress will continue to be slow.”

Angry Farmers Challenge Labour on Tax

Farmers protest in central London over the changes to inheritance tax (IHT) rules in the recent budget which introduce new taxes on farms worth more than £1 million, November 19, 2024

ANGRY farmers laid siege to Westminster today as they protested against the Budget’s introduction of inheritance tax on farms.

Shouts of “kick Starmer out” resonated across Parliament Square and outside Downing Street as more than 10,000 farmers rallied to hear speeches demanding a Labour U-turn on the tax.

Celebrity farmer and right-wing TV personality Jeremy Clarkson, unabashed by an admission earlier in his rustic career that he had bought a farm to avoid inheritance tax, said: “I beg the government to accept that this was rushed through.

“It wasn’t thought out, and it’s a mistake. That’s the big thing to do — admit it and back down.”

There was little sign of that happening, although some Labour MPs from rural seats are becoming anxious at what looks like another political blunder by a government all too prone to them.

Andy MacNae, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, told lobbying farmers that he would take their concerns back to the Treasury and hoped that the policy could be tweaked to protect family farms.

Montgomery MP Steve Witherden said the Treasury needed to reveal its modelling on the impact on family farms.

The protest, organised by the National Farmers Union (NFU), was backed by a range of other groups.

Greenpeace UK head of politics Ami McCarthy said: “Whilst it is right that the richest landowners pay their fair share of tax, the government must look again at their wider offer to support UK farmers.

“Supermarkets and industrial farming corporations have been making huge profits, while driving down standards.”

The Greens’ agricultural spokesperson Emily O’Brien said that while “it is right to clamp down on those who buy farmland to avoid tax ... we also need the government to take action to ensure that hard working farmers can earn a decent income.”

Speaking from Rio PM Sir Keir Starmer pledged that he was not waging a “class war” on landowners and added that only farmers with assets over £3 million would pay the new tax, leaving most unaffected.

One of the farmers at the rally, Philip Greenhill from North Wiltshire, pointed out that “you could have £5 million of assets, but make £50,000 a year profit. You are looking at maybe £600,000 inheritance tax off a £50,000 income.”

The 1660 Restoration and the Lessons of Defeat

KEITH FLETT considers how the return of the monarchy after Cromwell offers lessons for a left facing the return of Donald Trump, showing that radical traditions endure despite reactionary victories

HISTORIC DEFEAT: Charles II landing in Dover in 1660 Photo: Wellcome Images/Creative Commons

ROSA LUXEMBURG saw the future as a choice between socialism and barbarism.

In that respect, the presidential landslide for Donald Trump is not good news for the left. Of course, Trump does not lead directly to barbarism, but there is a clear direction of travel, although whether he or his Democratic opponent would be the more likely to start a world war is a moot point.

In the US, abortion rights, civil liberties and much else may be under question and threat. No doubt, organisations from the community and from the labour movement will fight to defend them.

It is an experience of defeat — but on a historical scale much worse has happened.

Perhaps the original one in the modern era was the restoration of the monarchy in England and Wales in 1660 after the Commonwealth period from 1649.

The restoration saw numbers of those who had signed the death warrant for Charles I — regicides — executed. Oliver Cromwell, who had died in 1658, was dug up and executed in his absence, as it were. Censorship of radical ideas was reinstated and those who held such ideas were persecuted.

After the death of Cromwell, those disparate factions who did not want the return of the monarchy were unable to find a way forward. Well-off urban and landed interests saw the return of King Charles II.

The events of 1649 and 1660 remain a touchstone in English history, not least for the current King and Queen.

The Marxist historian Christopher Hill noted in his book The Experience of Defeat: “We know something of the practical consequences of defeat. After 1660, nearly one in five of the beneficed ministers lost their livings without even the meagre compensation which the ejected of the 1640s and 1650s had received. Lay dissenters had to endure nearly 30 years (until 1688) of sporadic but often very damaging persecution.”

Hill was interested in the radicals that had supported the revolution and how they came to terms with events after 1660, in particular the poet and radical activist and thinker John Milton.

He noted, and here one must suspect a parallel with Trump 450 years on, that the problem for radicals after 1660 was, of course, the suppression of ideas and publication and the possibility of arrest, but even more so the unpredictability of the matter. Some were able to protect themselves in local communities; others were not so fortunate.

Two groups were able to survive. The Quakers adapted to a degree to the new royalist regime, while the Muggletonians — a far more radical grouping — disappeared from public view and carried on privately.

Their ideas influenced William Blake, and there were a few surviving adherents even in recent times. The socialist historian EP Thompson described himself as a Muggletonian Marxist.

The survival of the radical ideas and traditions, which became easier after the “glorious revolution” of 1688, which constrained the authority of absolute monarchy, was important.

In the 1790s, the London Corresponding Society declared that it would have “members unlimited” — that is, that political activity and representation would not be tied to property. It was exactly the same principle that had been central to the debate at Putney in 1647 between Cromwell’s supporters and army agitators.

It’s a reminder that defeats, often very serious ones, happen, but ideas and radical organisations can and do survive even in the most difficult of times.

Beyond the defeat of 1660 and that in the US in 2024, we can look at the experience of the 1930s, a much more serious matter still, but one that still saw resistance and eventually the defeat of reaction. Socialism or barbarism is a perpetual process of struggle.

Keith Flett is a socialist historian. Follow him on X @kmflett.

Vicious Attempt to Silence Musicians

BEN LUNN draws attention to the way cultural expressions of solidarity with Palestinians in the UK are being censored by Israeli-sponsored lawfare

INSPIRATIONAL: (L) Musicians take part in a Nakba 76 pro-Palestine demonstration and march in London, May 2024, to mark the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, referred to as the Nakba; (R) Composer Cornelius Cardew in People's Liberation Music supporting the Grunwick march, July 1977 Photo: AndyScott/CC

ON NOVEMBER 15 the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust (CCCT), an organisation dedicated to the music and ethos of Cornelius Cardew, a communist and experimental music composer, were due to host a solidarity concert in Morley College’s Holst Room. However, on the 14th one of the organisers announced on their personal Facebook that their event The World Stands with Palestine had been cancelled.

The organiser in question emphasised that the Trust had not chosen to cancel the concert. However, it came to light the organisation UK Lawyers for Israel (who offer services like “basic training for lawyers on international law and Israel” or “to contribute generally as lawyers to creating a supportive climate of opinion in the United Kingdom towards Israel”) had contacted both the CCCT and Morley College alleging that “holding the concert would be in breach of the law”. This led Morley College to cancel the concert. The CCCT have stated that “this is an outrageous allegation” and that the CCCT were determined not to be “intimidated by the browbeating of UK Lawyers for Israel.”

UKLFI was founded initially by Jonathan Turner and others as a counter to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in 2011.

This manoeuvring is extremely troubling. However it does demonstrate how important cultural, and ideological, battles are. As was witnessed shortly after invasion of Russia into Ukraine in 2022, culture became a battleground of ideas where the very question of the performing Russian music came to the forefront. But what makes this development more concerning is it is being pushed predominantly from above, through organisations which we cannot verify as legitimate organisations, and not just PR fronts to divert from the atrocities committed by the Netanyahu government and his stooges.

Thankfully organisations like PalMusic UK have managed to host events promoting Palestinian culture, but other big institutions like the Barbican have been threatened by UKLFI suggesting they are in breach of 1986 Public Order Act.

One question readers may be asking is: if this organisation and supporters are so against the concert, why do they not just picket/protest against the performance? What is cannily done by UKLFI is exploit the fact that many venues are often charitable organisations.

This means that part of the duty of being a charitable organisation is to be “apolitical,” in addition to many other conditions which organisations need to follow to be eligible for funding. A statement released by UKFLI on November 18 argued that “Morley College, a registered charity, could also be in danger of breaching its charitable objectives.”

What can be seen from this development is artists, and organisations who support them or hire them in Britain, are not free to speak their minds. Though many have been aware of this for a long period of time, given the previous history of blacklisting suspected communist artists, it has not been this naked and clear to see.

The UKFLI statement on this issue details their accusations against the concert, which suggest: “The CCCT concert and its publicity appears to be a political campaign for the government of Gaza, Hamas.” Similarly, Caroline Turner, the director of UKFLI, included in her statement the words: “It is a shame that the Cornelius Cardew Concert Trust appears to have been hijacked by anti-Israel activists.” The Cornelius Cardew Concert Trust, have yet to make a public statement, though they are seeking legal advice on how to proceed.

The conflation between solidarity with Palestinians and sympathies with terrorism has been a longstanding argument of many critics of the pro-Palestinian movement in Britain (and internationally) and, as already mentioned, the precarious circumstances venues find themselves in makes it very easy to silence any art that is made in solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinians.

Much as with artists supporting Vietnam in the ’60s, fighting apartheid in South Africa in the ’80s and earlier, or artists condemning the atrocities of the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s, artists need the freedom to speak on such issues. Ultimately, artists should be free to speak on any issue they desire – as at the end of the day, the quality of the art and the strength of the idea will give it the longevity it deserves. Good art challenges.

Similarly, the simple act of performing works by Palestinians or performers dedicating a concert to victims of war in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, or any people in conflict is not criminal.

We should send our solidarity to the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust, and other organisations fighting the good fight. And to quote the great Leonard Bernstein:

“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

Ban the Polls: UK Election Strategists Slam ‘Inaccurate’ Voter Surveys

Tory Isaac Levido and Labour’s Morgan McSweeney both see the case for a black-out on publishing polls ahead of election day, according to a new book. 

Lagging more than 20 points behind in most polls demoralized Tory troops and made it harder for the party bosses to enforce discipline among elected politicians. | Leon Neal/Getty Images

November 20, 2024 4:01 am CET

By Tim Ross

LONDON — Opinion polls are inaccurate, distort political debate and should be banned during the final weeks of an election campaign. That’s the view of the strategist who led the British Conservative Party’s operations in 2024 and 2019.  

In an interview for a new book on this year’s U.K. general election, Tory campaign director Isaac Levido slammed the “unhealthy” dominance of polling in the media coverage of the campaign, which his side lost to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in July.

Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who directed Labour’s successful election bid, also sees the argument for a moratorium on publishing polls in the run-up to voting, according to Landslide: The Inside Story of the 2024 Election. 

Some industry professionals agree that political polling is broken, and needs to be given a reality check. In this month’s U.S. presidential election, for example, pollsters underestimated the pro-Donald Trump vote — as they did in both 2016 and 2020. 

The forthcoming book describes widespread unease and deep anger within former Tory Leader Rishi Sunak’s inner circle at the way polling dominated the national debate before the U.K. election. 

Getting it wrong

For one thing, the polls got the headline vote-share result significantly wrong, an error masked by the fact that the overall result — a Labour victory — was clear. Instead of a 20-point lead for Labour over the Tories, as the polls had consistently suggested, the election delivered a winning margin of half that size, with Labour securing 34 percent of the vote to the Tories’ 24 percent. 

Levido, the Australian strategist who ran the Conservatives’ campaign this year and Boris Johnson’s successful run in 2019, said it was time for reform. 

“I’m not arguing that we would not have lost,” Levido said in an interview published in the book. “But the inaccuracy of the polls and the reporting of them by the media increasingly play an outsized role in election campaigns. The polls are frankly given far too much attention relative to a proper policy debate, and it significantly influences how voters behave. 

“I’m not sure it’s realistic to ban polls for the whole campaign period, but I certainly think some sort of blackout in the final couple of weeks, as some other countries have, would be healthy. Other countries have blackouts on TV advertising in the final two or three days of the campaign, too.”

Some senior Tories said they believed their own party colleagues would have behaved better if the polls had not given Labour a lead which turned out to be twice as big as the reality, which then dominated coverage in newspapers and on broadcasts, according to the book. 

Lagging more than 20 points behind in most polls demoralized Tory troops and made it harder for the party bosses to enforce discipline among elected politicians who were fighting for their own skins, party officials told the authors. 

Time for a ban?

Even the winners see the problem, according to the book. McSweeney, who is now Starmer’s chief of staff, ran the Labour election campaign which delivered a devastatingly efficient result. According to one Labour official, also granted anonymity, privately McSweeney agrees that polling dominated the campaign and distorted the debate. 

Instead of focusing on the competing policy offers from rival parties or assessing which candidate would make the better prime minister, media reporting obsessed with the size of Labour’s likely majority. The Labour government is not likely to change the law on polling, however, the official said.

European countries including Cyprus and Spain have rules banning the publication of polls in the final days before voting, while in Italy, publishing poll results is banned for two weeks before election day.

Martin Boon, from the British polling company Deltapoll, warned well before the U.S. results came in that the polls were at risk of underplaying support for the Republicans.

As for the British election, he said the polling industry’s predictions were the worst for a generation. “This is either the very worst or the second worst polling performance since 1979,” Boon said in an interview for the book. “There is something fundamentally wrong with the data we collect.”  

For Levido, one answer would be to beef up the regulator by giving the British Polling Council genuine teeth and the power to impose sanctions on polling companies that fail or break the rules. “If some of these polling organizations are sanctioned by a governing body, that would help,” he said.

“Landslide: The Inside Story of the 2024 Election,” by Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth, is published by Biteback Thursday.

Government Workers Who Want a New Job Amid Elon Musk's Efficiency Plans May Have to Tap the 'Hidden Job Market'

Tim Paradis Nov 19, 2024, 1:55 PM EST

With the threat of cutbacks, some government workers might look to shift to the private sector.

Career coaches told BI they're hearing from federal workers who want to beef up their résumés.

Experts advise networking and making résumé adjustments for transitioning to private sector roles.

When Donald Trump won the White House for a second time, Ayanna Jackson texted a colleague who revamps résumés to prepare for a possible surge in demand from government workers.

Jackson, who founded and runs AEJ Consulting, an executive coaching and career-development firm in metro Washington, DC, wasn't overprepared. She said she's already seen an uptick in inquiries from federal workers looking to beef up their résumés and explore life in the private sector.

"That rush is definitely coming," she told Business Insider.

Jackson said the increased demand is, at least in part, because some government workers are concerned about the Department of Government Efficiency. That's the quasi-government entity Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are setting up to slash public spending. That, with a cooperative Congress, could augur poorly for entire agencies.

For government workers trying to dodge the DOGE — or who might just have philosophical differences with the incoming administration — landing a job in the private sector might require a different tack than getting ahead in government, career experts told BI.

Laura Labovich, CEO of The Career Strategy Group, an outplacement firm in the Washington, DC, area, told BI that she has been hearing from workers ready to leave the government.

She said that, unlike in the past, these employees aren't saying they're frustrated by difficulties in getting a promotion or pay.

"They just say, 'I want to leave,'" Labovich said.

The 'hidden job market'

To get started, Labovich said, workers should try to talk to people at employers where they might want to work and put the focus on finding people and companies — instead of open jobs. So, for someone who wants to work in a marketing department, making contact through LinkedIn or being introduced by professional contacts with people who work in that unit might help someone stand out. Job seekers might ask to set up a brief call to learn more about the department, she said.

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Labovich said that's important because of what's referred to as the "hidden job market." Unlike in government, where the race for a job often starts once a role is posted, it's better to be on a hiring manager's radar before a posting goes up in the private sector, she said.

Beyond going big on networking, Labovich said, one of the biggest changes in looking for a private sector job will be the length of the résumé. She said that, unlike federal résumés that might run four to six pages, someone looking for a private sector job should typically keep the document to two pages unless it's for a C-suite position.

Jackson offered similar advice about what corporate recruiters want: "They're going to give you six to nine seconds, tops, to scroll two pages max," she said.

Don't just rely on AI

Jackson advised against solely relying on artificial intelligence tools to compress a résumé that was a half-dozen pages long into two. AI, she said, can introduce errors and leave a résumé bloated with empty phrases and inaccurate metrics.

"You've got to articulate your specific results," Jackson said.

For those remaking résumés for work outside the government, Jackson said, it's important to avoid relying on acronyms or namechecking obscure agencies that hiring managers and recruiters might not know.

She recommended that those looking for work focus on soft skills that many employers say they want. This includes the ability to influence, communicate ideas, and solve problems.

Jackson also said getting coaching before an interview is a good idea, especially for candidates who haven't gone through the interview process in a long time. She said workers must be ready to tell their stories without rambling and be able to demonstrate how they achieved goals and overcame obstacles.

Both Jackson and Labovich recommended that job seekers use the STAR method for answering questions. This involves describing the situation or task the worker faced, the action they took, and the results of that effort.

Consider other factors

Richard Poulson, a partner at the law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson in Philadelphia, told BI there could be unique factors that government workers might have to consider.

Poulson, who specializes in issues involving public safety workers, said that when public sector workers move to the private sector — in effect from being a regulator to the one being regulated — it might not be possible to work in the same field, with the same client, or on the same projects for some time.

"There may be restrictions in effect there," he said. "People need to make sure that they've got their eyes wide open before they make those decisions."

A strong private sector can be a draw

Lisa Simon, chief economist at Revelio Labs, which examines employment data, told BI that demand for public-sector jobs tends to wane as hiring heats up in the private sector.

However, she said she expects private sector hiring to recover "fairly well" over the next six months or so, which could attract workers from the government willing to give up what can be attractive benefits.

Simon said it's too soon to say how many public sector workers might choose to leave under the new administration — or be forced to — though she noted that there wasn't a major exodus of workers during the first Trump term.

Stepped-up job growth in the private sector could worsen problems that some government agencies have had in attracting people, according to Poulson, the attorney.

He said he would advise public sector workers who have a choice to consider how careers in government often span many power shifts in politics. Poulson also suggested that government workers focus on the importance of what they do.

The Curious Case of ‘Naughty Little Nora,’ a Jazz Age Shape Shifter

Nora Holt was a pioneer of Chicago’s Black classical music scene. A friend of Josephine Baker, she later became a blues singer in Parisian nightclubs.

A 1934 portrait of Nora Holt by Carl Van Vechten.

By Samantha Ege, New York Times

Nov. 12, 2024

“Fabulous is the word for Mrs. Nora Douglas Holt,” read the 1974 obituary in The Amsterdam News.

And fabulous she was: A pioneer of the Black classical music scene in Chicago, Holt also became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age in Paris. Born into the middle-class, she moved back and forth between worlds: concert artist and blues singer, newspaper columnist and club hostess, erudite scholar and scandalous socialite.

This fluidity led to friendships with two women who represented distinct versions of fame for Black women in the early 20th century: Josephine Baker, the working-class dancer from St. Louis, who became the toast of Paris; and the composer Florence Price, who transformed Chicago’s classical music scene, rising to national fame with her symphonies.

Holt’s life didn’t follow familiar narratives. Hers was not a rags-to-riches story, like Baker’s; nor was it, like Price’s, a cathartic breakthrough for Black musicians in the white world of classical music. Instead, she had a kind of mutability, frequently changing her name and her place in culture, collapsing ideas about respectability and sexual liberation.

Music was the through line in Holt’s life. She first made her name in classical music. For young, middle-class Black women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, classical music could open doors to salon culture, church leadership, jobs teaching music and civic engagement.

In 1918, Holt, a pianist, became the first Black person in the United States, female or male, to earn a master’s degree in music, from Chicago Musical College. She also worked in the male-dominated fields of music criticism, scholarship and composition. Her music journalism, public lectures, recitals and community organizing became a blueprint for other Black women seeking to become leaders in Chicago’s classical musical scene.

“Of course, men are supposed to have better business minds than women,” she wrote to a male colleague after founding a magazine, Music and Poetry, in 1921. “But I have made this thing go and the opportunities are yet unlimited.”

Holt’s musical work was documented in Black newspapers. But the historical record of her beginnings is fuzzier. She was born either Lena Douglas or Nora Douglas, in Missouri, although she would say that she was born in Kansas City, Kan. Her obituaries give her birth year as 1885, but other sources say 1890.

Holt’s father was a presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And her mother was a matron at Western University in Quindaro, Kan., where Holt would graduate as class valedictorian. Holt’s mother was also her first music teacher, instructing her in classical piano. (Price was also taught by her mother, a common music-making dynamic in Black middle-class households.)

Holt thrived in the bourgeois enclave of Quindaro, where her family was well known and respected. According to social expectations of the era, she should have “settled down” and become a teacher, as Price did when she returned to the South after studying at the New England Conservatory.

And maybe Holt tried — she had been married three times before she was 30. But, in the end, she left Kansas in 1915 and moved to Chicago. There, she stepped confidently into a new role, using the name Lena Douglas and becoming a musical “race woman.”

Race women were Black intellectuals and artists committed to the entwined goals of gender equality and racial uplift. Race women were seen as stateswomen for the Black community, and their reputations had to be spotless. Their private pleasures and sexual liberation were to be neither seen nor heard in public.

In 1917, Holt became the first music critic for The Chicago Defender, a pioneering Black newspaper. She filled her columns with stories of Black classical musicians, chronicling the brilliance of women like Hazel Harrison (the first Black instrumentalist to play with the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Philadelphia contralto Marian Anderson, whose singing so captivated Holt that she established a scholarship for Anderson’s studies.

Holt enrolled in the master’s program at the Chicago Musical College, where she earned a degree in piano performance, music theory and composition. She astutely used her Chicago Defender connections to make sure her accomplishments were publicized. Her master’s portfolio, submitted in 1918, included a monumental 42-page work for a 100-piece orchestra titled “Rhapsody on Negro Themes.”

In 1918 Lena began calling herself Nora and acquired the surname Holt after marrying her second-to-last husband, George W. Holt, a much-older businessman. He gave her a gorgeous brownstone at 4405 South Prairie Avenue, where she founded the National Association of Negro Musicians, the longest standing association of Black classical musicians in the United States.

The years just after World War I were an exciting time for Nora Douglas Holt. And she felt the electricity of a new era, one that she called a “Chicago renaissance” decades before historians rightfully, if retrospectively, named this period the Black Chicago Renaissance.

But when Holt’s husband died in 1921, she withdrew from her musical activities in Chicago.

Holt’s successor at The Chicago Defender, Maude Roberts George, was one of the many female presidents of the National Association of Negro Musicians during the interwar years.

It was George who paid $250 to underwrite a contract with the Chicago Symphony that led to Price making history as the first Black woman to have a symphony performed by a major national orchestra. On June 15, 1933 — nearly 15 years after Holt wrote her symphonic “Rhapsody on Negro Themes” — the all white, all male Chicago Symphony premiered Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor.

These events are arguably part of Holt’s legacy, but she was not there to witness them.

Holt left Chicago in 1922. What made her abandon the successful life she had built for herself there? This question represents a gap in her narrative, with only speculation to fill it. For whatever reasons, Holt was not content to stay solely within the classical world — nor within the respectable parameters of race womanhood.

In 1923, she married her fifth and final husband in Pittsburgh: Joseph L. Ray, a Black businessman who was a secretary to the steel magnate Charles M. Schwab. Over the next few years, Holt also spent a good deal of time in Harlem’s vibrant cultural scene — a bone of contention for Ray who wanted her in Pittsburg. Defiant, Holt went even farther afield, leaving for Europe in 1926.

The photographer Carl Van Vechten in Harlem wrote to Gertrude Stein in Paris alerting her that Holt, now Nora Ray, was coming. “I am sending you several people, all of whom matter more or less, but the most is Nora Ray, who is slightly mulatto, terribly amusing, adorable, rich, chic, et autres choses aussi. Get her to sing for you if you can.”

Negrophilia — a craving for all things Black — had swept across Europe. That summer of 1926, Baker was making waves in Paris at the Folies Bergère and Holt was there to witness it.

“She made her debut clad in bananas and bathed in myriad lights,” Holt later wrote in a column for The Amsterdam News, “as a flower-laden basket descended from the ceiling to reveal a new star dancing the Charleston.” A friendship formed between the two, and more connections would be made.

In Paris, Holt soon embraced a flamboyant new persona as a vocalist and sexually liberated woman. She teasingly called this new self “naughty little Nora” in interviews with the Black press.

While living in France, she studied composition by day (at the Sorbonne in the 1920s, with the renowned teacher and composer Nadia Boulanger in the 1930s). By night, she sang sultry blues in the clubs with an “astonishing” voice and seductive charm that evoked, as one London critic said, “Napoleon’s Josephine.”

An old, sepia-toned photo shows a woman in a white suit holding a drink. She wears a trimmed hat and has her arm through that of a slightly portly man in a light-colored suit, wearing a carnation in his lapel.

Maybe Holt found this form of self-expression freeing as her highly publicized divorce from Ray, which was finalized in 1930 after a four-year court battle, made her a scandalous figure in the Black press. She went back to being Nora Holt to detach herself from the drama, but taunting comic strips that used all three names — “Nora Holt Ray” — and depicted her in the bed of another man wouldn’t let her forget.

“As a woman,” she said to The Chicago Defender, she could only ask the public “to consider the motives underlying the series of attacks and they will see that I have been unjustly framed.”

By whatever name, this Jazz Age Nora looked a little different. Gone were her darker tresses in favor of a blond look that allowed her to (falsely) brand herself as Creole and play up her exoticism as she sang the blues to European audiences who couldn’t understand the lyrics but worshiped her all the same. “These French are too excitable to be stable,” she said in a letter to Van Vechten, signed “Nora Holt” with the name “Ray” struck through and punctuated with “Ha Ha!”

Holt had blossomed into a darling of the international club scene. At a London appearance in 1929, a smitten Prince Edward of Wales raced to shake her hand after a performance.

“Hello Harlem, your naughty little Nora will be seein’ ya!” Holt teased her followers who soaked up her escapades in the Black press.

And yet, naughty little Nora never lost her identity as a classical musician. She continued to write criticism and later championed Black composers (including Margaret Bonds) as a radio host on WNYC.

Sadly her classical compositions are mostly lost, leaving us to wonder about her symphonic palette and pianistic colors. Along with her “Rhapsody on Negro Themes,” 200 or so works were stolen while she was studying in Paris with Boulanger. All that remain are two works from 1921: a jaunty piano rag called “Negro Dance” and a gentle art song called “The Sand-Man.” If not quite representative of a woman who wrote for 100-piece orchestras, they are at least representative of her musical duality.

How did Holt see her life? Though she was a prolific writer of music reviews and letters, she didn’t leave a record of her more personal thoughts. Contemporary accounts, especially in the Black press, were intrigued with both sides of her persona — the classical musician and the Jazz Age “naughty” Nora — even if they couldn’t reconcile them: Her scholarly accomplishments were celebrated as much as her more salacious adventures were sensationalized. The dissonance and defiance were, no doubt, what made her story so captivating to the wider public.

Much of Holt’s story unfolds in fragments, scattered across newspapers, magazines, letters and the archives of others. But despite the gaps in her narrative, it is clear that Holt helped expand what was possible for Black women of her time. Telling this story means not tying her contradictory strands into a neat bow, but embracing the multiple textures and tensions that shaped her fabulous life.

Samantha Ege is a music historian who teaches at the University of Southampton in England. Her book “South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene” comes out this week from the University of Illinois Press.

Monday, November 18, 2024

Emergency in Central Israel – Hezbollah Strikes Israel with 170 Missiles

November 18, 2024

Hezbollah strikes Tel Aviv with a large number of rockets and missiles. (Photo: video grab)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israeli media reported on Monday that a missile attack targeted Greater Tel Aviv, including an area near a shopping mall in eastern Tel Aviv.

Medical sources confirmed several injuries from the incident, with one person in serious condition.

Reports indicated that four explosions were heard in the area, and the Israeli ambulance service confirmed that at least five individuals were injured, including one critically.

The attack prompted the sounding of sirens and power outages in parts of Tel Aviv, with Ben Gurion Airport reportedly closing as a precaution.

The Israeli military claimed that its air defenses intercepted a missile launched from Lebanon, though shrapnel from the interception caused injuries in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Ambulance services confirmed treating four individuals in the area.

Channel 12 reported that a ballistic missile launched from Lebanon evaded interception and landed in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. The Israeli army also tracked the launch of 170 missiles from Lebanon toward Israel on the same day.

In addition, the Israeli Home Front Command reported widespread sirens across Greater Tel Aviv and more than 100 other locations, including Haifa Bay, north of Tel Aviv.

Citing Israeli sources, Al-Jazeera reported that six firefighting teams were trying to put out a fire that broke out in a high-voltage power line that was directly hit by a missile east of Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for bombing the Shraga military base and the Krayot area, both located north of Haifa, for a second time.

(PC, AJA)

From Beit Lahia to Rafah – Resistance Roundup – Day 409

November 19, 2024

Palestinian fighters confront Israeli soldiers in Gaza. (Photo: video grab)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

​​Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that it had targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a Yassin 105 shell in the center of the city of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam fighters were reportedly able to target an Israeli infantry force, consisting of 12 soldiers, with an anti-personnel missile.

Additionally, the Brigades said that their fighters managed to snipe five Israeli soldiers in the area of Al-Jawani, also in Beit Lahia.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades said that it had shelled Israeli occupation vehicles and soldiers in the center of Beit Lahia with 60-caliber mortar shells.

The group announced that it had destroyed an Israeli military vehicle penetrating the Atatra area, west of Beit Lahiya, by detonating a high-explosive barrel bomb that had been planted in advance.

The Al-Quds Brigades, according to a statement, shelled a gathering of Israeli occupation soldiers stationed at the Palestinian-Egyptian border, south of Rafah.

Below are the latest statements by the two main Resistance forces in Gaza, and the Lebanese Resistance Movement Hezbollah. 

The statements were communicated via their Telegram channels and are published here in their original form. 

Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas)

“Our fighters sniped 5 zionist soldiers in the Al-Jawani area in the center of Beit Lahia city, northern Gaza Strip.

“Our fighters were able to target a zionist infantry force of 12 soldiers with an anti-personnel shell in the Islamic Association area in the center of Beit Lahia city, northern Gaza Strip.

“We targeted a zionist Merkava tank with a Yassin 105 shell in the Islamic Association area in the center of Beit Lahia city, north of the Gaza Strip.”

Al-Quds Brigades (Islamic Jihad)

“We bombed, with regular 60 mm caliber mortar shells, a gathering of zionist enemy soldiers stationed at the Palestinian-Egyptian border south of Rafah city.”

Hezbollah

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 12:30 midnight on Sunday – Monday 18-11-2024, targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy forces in the Kiryat Shmona settlement with a rocket barrage.

“The Islamic Resistance announces in four separate statements the targeting of IOF gatherings south of Khiam with rocket barrages.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 10:00 AM on Monday 18-11-2024, targeted the settlement of Gornot Hagalil with a rocket barrage.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 11:10 AM on Monday 18-11-2024, targeted the Shraga base, the administrative headquarters of the Golani Brigade command, northern occupied Akka, with a rocket barrage.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 10:45 am on Monday 18-11-2024 launched an air attack with a squadron of attack drones on a gathering of Israeli enemy army forces at the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade Command in the Ya’ra Barracks, and hit their targets accurately.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 10:45 am on Monday 18-11-2024 launched an air attack with a squadron of attack drones on a gathering of Israeli enemy army forces at the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade Command in the Yaa’ra Barracks, and hit their targets accurately. 

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 12:45 pm on Monday 18-11-2024 targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy army forces east of the town of Khiam, with a rocket barrage. 

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 2:50 pm on Monday 18-11-2024 targeted Maalot-Tarshiha settlement with a rocket barrage.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 2:50 pm on Monday 18-11-2024 targeted, for the first time, Hosen settlement with a rocket barrage.

“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance at 11:30 am on Monday 18-11-2024 targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy army forces in the settlement of Kiryat Shmona with a rocket barrage for the second time.”

(The Palestine Chronicle)

‘From Chancay to Shanghai’: New China-Peru BRI Project to Become Hub, Gateway Port of Latin America

By Global Times

Nov 15, 2024 11:22 PM

A view of the Chancay Port, Lima, Peru, on October 29, 2024 Photo: VCG

China and Peru are located on opposite sides of the world, separated by the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. In the past, this distance seemed unimaginable.

However, a new port project is making such a distant journey less difficult.

The Chancay Port project is a collaborative project between China and Peru under the Belt and Road Initiative. Located in the Chancay district of the province of Huaral, Peru, the port is approximately 80 kilometers from the capital, Lima.

Chancay Port is positioned as Peru’s gateway port and regional hub, connected by a tunnel to the Pan-American Highway, directly linking it to the capital Lima. This enables goods to conveniently reach Peru and other Latin American countries, significantly enhancing trade efficiency, according to the People’s Daily.

On Thursday, this significant project, symbolizing the friendship between China and Peru, finally opened for operations.

The first phase of the Chancay Port project began in 2021 and includes four dock berths. The port’s maximum depth is 17.8 meters, allowing it to accommodate ultra-large container ships with a capacity of up to 18,000 TEUs.

The design throughput capacity is 1 million TEUs annually in the short term, and 1.5 million TEUs in the long term. With over 80 percent of the project completed, the main structures of the docks were finished earlier this year, according to the People’s Daily.

He Bo, deputy general manager at COSCO SHIPPING Ports Chancay Peru, has witnessed the significant progress of the port over the past three years.

“Hills have been leveled, beaches turned into storage yards, breakwaters and docks stand tall in the water, port cranes are on land, and buildings for production and office purposes have sprung up,” He told the People’s Daily.

“From Chancay to Shanghai” is a phrase well-known among locals. He Bo explained that the Spanish pronunciations of these two important port cities, Chancay and Shanghai, are very similar. Initially, locals would confuse them, but now they are familiar with both names.

Before Chancay, most of Peru’s cargo shipments to Asia and Oceania had to be transshipped through Central or North America, and port capacity could not meet the demands of growing foreign trade.

Today, the phrase “From Chancay to Shanghai” will become a reality. With the opening of the new land-sea corridor between China and Latin America, the shipping time between Peru and China will be shortened by about 10 days.

As the construction of Chancay Port progresses, jobs related to the project have become highly sought after locally. Sun Yan, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Ricardo Palma University, told the Xinhua News Agency that many Peruvian students from the institute are eager to use their language skills to apply at the port for positions such as translators, technical staff, and operators.

Moreover, thanks to China’s advanced technology and the environmental awareness of Chinese companies, Chancay Port is being developed as a green, low-carbon, and modern smart port. Dock workers demonstrated electric container trucks with autonomous driving technology, which travel quietly and precisely, Xinhua reported.

Near the entrance to the project site, there is a wetland. In the evening, birds come and go, bringing life to the area.

He Bo mentioned that Chinese companies constructing the port have paid attention to controlling noise, lighting, and dust during construction, minimizing the impact on the wetland “residents,” and have actively participated in rescuing seals, penguins, pelicans, and other animals to help improve local biodiversity.

With Chancay Port, the distance between China and Peru is no longer as far as it once seemed.

China and Latin America Forge Stronger Connections as Bridge Builders

By Global Times

Nov 18, 2024 12:06 AM

Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT

With the inauguration of the Chancay Port, a key Belt and Road Initiative project jointly built by China and Peru, we witness a significant moment in history. This project marks a new phase in China-Latin America connectivity, creating a modern Asia-Latin America land-sea corridor.

World economic history is characterized by the continuous connection of materials, people and capital across human societies. Since ancient times, connectivity has been a fundamental pursuit of human culture. One of the challenges facing developing countries' economic growth today is the need to build and join a more robust and convenient connectivity network. Even in today's world, transformed by the internet, highways and container shipping, network building and "bridge construction" remain bottlenecks for many emerging economies.

The joint construction of the Chancay Port by China and Peru represents a significant effort to overcome these obstacles. While certain major powers attempt to build "small yard, high fence" based on "strategic competition," trying to sever or reconstruct trade, supply and industrial chains under their dominance, the China-Peru effort becomes even more valuable. It sends a clear signal to those resisting this trend: No hegemonic power can stop the pursuit of developing countries.

The development of China-Latin America's economic and trade relations is not just a trend, but an inevitable outcome. This certainty paves the way for a future of increased connectivity and prosperity.

More than 500 years ago, the Age of Discovery, initiated by the Portuguese and Spanish, changed the course of world history. In subsequent Western textbooks, we were all "discovered." After 500 years, the rise of Western powers left Latin America with painful experiences, and the great Latin American civilization became a victim of European powers. Colonizers brutally plundered gold, silver, copper, tin, oil, sugar, rubber, cotton and coffee, leaving behind pathogens, poverty and turmoil on this scarred continent.

China is the world's largest developing country and Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions. Both Chinese and Latin American peoples have experienced the humiliation of Western colonial exploitation and have a profound understanding and urgent expectation for joint development and prosperity. The "Chinese Dream" and the "Latin American Dream" are closely linked.

Today, flying from Beijing to Latin America takes about 20 hours or more. This is ultra-high speed compared to the Manila Galleon's first journey from Asia to Latin America 500 years ago. Historical records show that the ship, loaded with "Made in China" goods, took half a year to reach its destination - more accurately, it didn't sail, it drifted. Now we fly.

Five hundred years later, we are witnessing the rapid and comprehensive development of China-Latin America relations. The Pacific routes are now among the world's busiest trade routes, signaling a future of exciting possibilities.

In 2023, China's trade with Latin America reached 3.44 trillion yuan ($475 billion), up 6.8 percent year-on-year, maintaining growth for several consecutive years. The deepening China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has provided significant support for Latin American countries to expand their export trade and promote sustainable economic growth. In this new era, China and Latin American countries are bridge builders. The bridges we build together connect people living on opposite ends of the Earth more closely than ever before.

Address by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Session II of 19th G20 Summit

By Xinhua

Nov 19, 2024 07:43 AM

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday delivered an important speech at the Session II of the 19th G20 Summit under the title "Working Together for a Fair and Equitable Global Governance System."

Following is the English version of the full text of the speech:

Working Together for a Fair and Equitable Global Governance System

Remarks by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

On Reform of the Institutions of Global Governance

At Session II of the 19th G20 Summit

Rio de Janeiro, November 18, 2024

Your Excellency President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,

Colleagues,

It has been 16 years since the G20 Summit was launched. Over the years, we have worked in solidarity to tackle the global financial crisis, promoted cooperation on global economy, finance and trade, and steered the world economy onto the track of recovery. We have worked in concert to face global challenges head-on, be it climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic, spearheaded technological transformation, and kept renewing the G20's responsibilities and missions. We have worked in unison to improve global governance, strengthened macroeconomic policy coordination, pressed ahead with reforming the international financial institutions, and championed international cooperation in the spirit of equal consultation and mutual benefit.

Proceeding from a new starting point, the G20 needs to build on its past achievements and continue to act as a force to improve global governance and move history forward. We should keep in mind that mankind lives in a community with a shared future, see each other's development as opportunities rather than challenges, and view each other as partners rather than rivals. We should observe the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and defend the international order based on international law. In light of the G20's mandate, we could build greater international consensus in the economic, financial, trade, digital and eco-environmental fields, among others, to improve global governance and promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

First, we need to improve global economic governance and build a world economy characterized by cooperation. We have developed the G20 comprehensive growth strategies and established a framework for strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. We should stay committed to strengthening global economic partnerships, reinforcing macro policy coordination in fiscal, financial, monetary and structural reform policies, cultivating new quality productive forces, and raising total factor productivity, in a bid to open up more possibilities for the global economy. It is important to make good use of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings, let them serve as a ballast for macro policy coordination, and foster an open, inclusive, and nondiscriminatory environment for international economic cooperation. As main creditors, international financial institutions and commercial creditors need to take part in debt reduction and suspension for developing countries. It is also important to create a clean business environment by upholding a zero-tolerance stance against corruption, stepping up international cooperation on fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, and denying safe haven to corrupt officials and their assets.

Second, we need to improve global financial governance and build a world economy characterized by stability. To increase the voice and representation of developing countries, the World Bank should carry out shareholding review and the International Monetary Fund should carry out quota share realignment in line with the agreed timeframe and roadmap. Joint efforts are needed to keep the international financial market stable and prevent negative spillover of domestic monetary policy adjustments. Developed countries should fulfill their responsibilities in this regard. It is important to enhance the systems for financial risks monitoring, early warning and handling, reinforce cooperation in such areas as digital currency and taxation, and strengthen the global financial safety net. The G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap should be implemented at a faster pace to better meet the green financing needs of developing countries.

Third, we need to improve global trade governance and build a world economy characterized by openness. We should place development at the center of the international economic and trade agenda, and steadily advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. We should press ahead with reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), oppose unilateralism and protectionism, restore the normal functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism as soon as possible, include the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement into the WTO legal framework, and reach early consensus on the e-commerce agreement. We should work actively to keep the WTO rules relevant, both addressing long-pending issues and exploring the formulation of new, future-oriented rules, to enhance the authority, efficacy and relevance of the multilateral trading system. It is important to avoid politicizing economic issues, avoid fragmenting the global market, and avoid taking protectionist moves in the name of green and low-carbon development. Two years ago, China and Indonesia, together with some other countries, launched the Initiative of International Cooperation on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains, calling for industrial and supply chain partnerships that are more equal, inclusive and constructive. We stand ready for closer cooperation with all sides on this initiative.

Fourth, we need to improve global digital governance and build a world economy characterized by innovation. We should strengthen the function of the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting, and let it play a leading role in digital transition, the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and rules-making in emerging areas. We should step up international governance and cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI), to make sure that AI is for good and for all, not a game of the rich countries and the wealthy. China hosted the 2024 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, and issued the Shanghai Declaration on Global AI Governance. Together with other parties, China promoted the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on enhancing international cooperation on AI capacity-building. China will hold another world AI conference in 2025 and welcomes the participation of fellow G20 members.

Fifth, we need to improve global ecological governance and build a world economy characterized by eco-friendliness. We should honor the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and fully and effectively implement the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework for the sake of man's harmonious coexistence with nature. Developed countries should provide developing countries with the necessary funding, technology and capacity-building support. The recently concluded UN Biodiversity Conference produced important consensus. We should jointly support the ongoing and upcoming UN conferences on climate change and desertification in achieving positive outcomes. Energy transition and energy security is a major issue. We should follow the approach of "establishing the new before abolishing the old," and replace traditional energy with clean energy in a stable and well-ordered way, as we expedite the green and low-carbon transition of the world economy. China stands ready to continue to deepen international cooperation with all sides on green infrastructure, green energy, green mining and green transport, and will provide support to developing countries to the best of its ability.

Global security governance is part and parcel of global governance. The G20 should support the UN and its Security Council in playing a greater role, and support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises. To deescalate the Ukraine crisis and seek a political settlement, we should follow the principles of no expansion of the battlefields, no escalation of hostilities and no fanning flames. China and Brazil, together with some other Global South countries, launched the group of "friends for peace" on the Ukraine crisis, with the goal of bringing together more voices for peace. The fighting in Gaza has inflicted deep suffering on the people. It is urgent for all sides to stop fighting, end the war, and provide support for easing the humanitarian crisis in the region and for postwar reconstruction. The fundamental way out of the cycle of Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in the implementation of the two-State solution, the restoration of Palestine's legitimate national rights, and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

Colleagues,

Let us renew our commitment to the founding mission of the G20, and make a fresh start from Rio de Janeiro. Let us carry forward partnership, practice true multilateralism, and usher in a better future of common development and prosperity.

Thank you.

Xi Calls for Building Just World of Common Development, Outlines China's Actions for Global Development

By Xinhua

Nov 19, 2024 07:30 AM

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers an important speech entitled Building a Just World of Common Development at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit on Fight Against Hunger and Poverty in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 18, 2024. Xi attended the G20 Summit here on Monday. (Photo:Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers an important speech entitled "Building a Just World of Common Development" at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit on Fight Against Hunger and Poverty in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 18, 2024. Xi attended the G20 Summit here on Monday. (Photo:Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said that China is ready to work with all parties to build a just world of common development, and outlined China's eight actions for global development.

Xi made the remarks at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit on Fight Against Hunger and Poverty.

In his speech entitled "Building a Just World of Common Development," Xi pointed out that transformation of a scale not seen in a century is accelerating across the world today, and humanity faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges.

As leaders of major countries, G20 leaders should not let their vision be blocked by fleeting clouds. Rather, they must see the world as one community with a shared future, and shoulder their responsibility for history, take historical initiative and move history forward, Xi said.

Xi noted that at the Hangzhou Summit, China placed development at the center of the G20's macroeconomic policy coordination for the first time, and the Rio Summit this year has chosen the theme "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet," and decides to establish a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

From Hangzhou to Rio, G20 leaders have been working for one and the same goal, that is, to build a just world of common development, he added.

To build such a world, Xi said, it is important to channel more resources to such fields as trade, investment and development cooperation, and strengthen development institutions, and there should be more bridges of cooperation, and less "small yard, high fences," so that more and more developing countries will be better off and achieve modernization.

He said that it is important to support developing countries in adopting sustainable production and lifestyle, properly responding to challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, enhancing ecological conservation, and achieving harmony between man and nature.

It is important to foster an open, inclusive and nondiscriminatory environment for international economic cooperation, promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, energize sustainable development with new technologies, new industries and new business forms, and support developing countries in better integrating in digital, smart and green development to bridge the North-South gap, he said.

It is also important to stay committed to multilateralism, and uphold the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Xi added.

Xi underscored that China's development is an important part of the common development of the world.

China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, and met the poverty reduction target of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule, he said, adding that these achievements are the fruit of the strenuous, unified efforts of the Chinese government and people.

Noting that China always places the people front and center, and solemnly declares that "not a single poor region or person should be left behind," Xi said China tackles poverty by making targeted policies, facilitating growth, fostering industries with distinctive features in various localities, and promoting common prosperity.

China's story is proof that developing countries can eliminate poverty, that a weaker bird can start early and fly high, when there is the endurance, perseverance, and striving spirit that enables water drops to penetrate rocks over time and turns blueprints into reality, he said.

If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too, and this is what China's battle against poverty says to the world, he added.

Xi stressed that China will always be a member of the Global South, a reliable long-term partner of fellow developing countries, and a doer and go-getter working for the cause of global development. China will go hand in hand with fellow developing countries toward modernization, he said.

Xi presented eight actions by China to support global development.

First, pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. China is moving ahead with the development of the multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network, one that is led by the building of a green Silk Road and will empower a digital Silk Road.

Second, implementing the Global Development Initiative. China will make sure the Global South research center that is being built is fit for purpose, continue to support developing countries, and deepen practical cooperation in areas such as poverty reduction, food security and the digital economy.

Third, supporting development in Africa. At the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, China unveiled ten partnership actions on joining hands with Africa to advance modernization over the next three years and committed financial support in this connection.

Fourth, supporting international cooperation on poverty reduction and food security. China has decided to join the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. China supports the G20 in continuing to convene the Development Ministerial Meeting, and will stay a committed host of the International Conference on Food Loss and Waste.

Fifth, China, alongside Brazil, South Africa and the African Union, is proposing an Initiative on International Cooperation in Open Science to help the Global South gain better access to global advances in science, technology and innovation.

Sixth, supporting the G20 in carrying out practical cooperation for the benefit of the Global South. China supports the work of the Entrepreneurship Research Center on G20 Economies based in Beijing, and supports cooperation on digital education and the digitization of museums and ancient archives.

Seventh, implementing the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan. China is strengthening cooperation with fellow developing countries in fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, denial of safe haven, and anti-corruption capacity building.

Eighth, China is pursuing high-standard opening up, and unilaterally opening its doors wider to the least developed countries (LDCs). China has announced the decision to give all LDCs having diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines.

In conclusion, Xi stated that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. China is ready to take steps together with all parties to build a just world of common development, leave poverty in the past, and turn vision into reality.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva chaired the meeting.

Before the start of the summit, Xi, together with other participating leaders, attended the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty initiated by Brazil.

G20's Focus on Development Highlights the Contributions of the 'Global South': Global Times Editorial

By Global Times

Nov 19, 2024 12:24 AM

This photo taken on Nov. 16, 2024 shows a G20 logo displayed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 19th G20 summit is scheduled from Nov. 18 to 19 in Rio de Janeiro. (Xinhua/Wang Tiancong)

This photo taken on Nov. 16, 2024 shows a G20 logo displayed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 19th G20 summit is scheduled from Nov. 18 to 19 in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Xinhua

The 19th G20 Summit is being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from November 18 to 19. Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the summit that China has announced the decision to give all the least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines. President Xi previously stated that development must be placed at the center of G20 cooperation. This echoes this year's G20 theme, "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet," established by Brazil, the G20 presidency. This allows the world to see that this G20 Summit will continue to focus on development issues, leading to more positive expectations from the global community.

The summit has three central topics: combating hunger, poverty, and inequality; addressing climate change with a just transition; and reforming global governance. Two of the three topics are directly related to development, highlighting an important change in the G20 in recent years, that is, it has gradually transformed from an emergency consultation platform for crisis response into a long-term and effective governance mechanism dedicated to promoting a more just, inclusive, and equitable global economic system. Another more important historical change is that the voices of "Global South" countries have become louder, with more demands from developing countries being reflected in G20 agendas. Many in the Western public have also taken note of this shift.

Achieving such a transformation is not an easy task. Especially in recent years, with the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, frictions among various parties have increased, and geopolitical issues have frequently taken the spotlight, squeezing the space for pragmatic cooperation within multilateral platforms. However, the G20 did not go into this direction. As early as the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit, China, as the host country, placed development at the core for the first time, effectively promoting the G20's shift from focusing on economic issues to addressing a diverse range of topics, including development. This trend continues to this day. Then United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon commended China for taking the G20 Summit to another level of inclusiveness.

In recent years, China has been promoting such a transformation. For example, it has proposed and advanced cutting-edge agendas such as the digital economy and artificial intelligence, while also introducing topics like green finance. China has consistently upheld true multilateralism, advocating for mutual respect, equal cooperation, and win-win outcomes, effectively countering the interference of unilateralism and protectionism within the G20. 

Today, the G20, while focusing on economic and development issues, has further increased its attention to building a more equitable and reasonable global governance system. This has earned the G20 greater credibility and support, making it more vibrant and dynamic. The G20 was born out of crisis, but it has not diminished with the passing of that crisis; instead, it has gradually grown into a cooperative platform dedicated to fundamentally addressing crises. The reason for this evolution is evident: It aligns with the expectations of the vast majority of countries around the world, which is to promote a bright future of peace, security, prosperity, and progress for the world.

The G20's focus on development issues not only helps countries in the "Global South" achieve greater development, but it is also beneficial for Western developed countries. The total economic output of G20 members accounts for approximately 85 percent of global GDP, and their trade volume represents 80 percent of the world's total. This group includes both affluent developed nations and emerging economies that are rising rapidly. We have observed that even some voices in the West, which are often biased, have had to acknowledge the important role of the G20, emphasizing that dialogue on the G20 platform must be prioritized. This is why China has repeatedly emphasized at G20 summits the need to continue prioritizing development and to consistently support and strive to bring development issues back to the core of the international agenda.

From Hangzhou to Rio, development remains the most central topic that garners the most attention at the G20 summits. Achieving greater consensus and tangible results on development within the G20, an important platform for international economic cooperation today, is what all parties expect and what the public desires. 

Whether addressing the tensions in global industrial and supply chains, the negative impacts of unilateralism and protectionism, or tackling the effects of the lag in global governance reform on the development of the "Global South," the G20 summit provides a precious opportunity for discussion. All parties should cherish this opportunity, put forward more pragmatic measures, and continuously strive for tangible results.