Of Nika and Basmati Rice: another twocents worth on the London riots

“Cameron aims to ‘address a broken society’ with more CCTV, less social media, battering rams, water cannons and maybe the army” @abcnewsintern
(Photo: Photoshoplooter)

In 532 Constantinople was besieged by what remains the worst riots in history. Known as the Nika riots, they resulted in the destruction of half the city and 30,000 deaths. It started when a member of a popular elite sporting group was arrested for murder and quickly got out of hand from there. But there were wider issues. Emperor Justinian was negotiating peace over an expensive war in Persia and there was simmering resentment in the city over high taxes. Three days after the murderers sought refuge in a church, the angry mob turned its resentment on Justinian at the Hippodrome races. Just when it looked like he would be chased out of the city, he bought out half his opposition and his army slaughtered the other half.

I was thinking of Justinian as this quaint notion takes hold the British riots exist in a thuggish vacuum. As the papers would tell you, lowly scum have risen up in some mysterious “now” that seems to pay no attention to everything that has gone before it. It seems the chavish untermensch are incapable of collective memory or nor is it possible to admit the notion they might have grievances. Thugs are thugs only because “they have nothing better to do”.

Whatever the motivation to cause mayhem and smash other people’s property, the idea the government, the media or the police are trusted institutions to deal with the problem had well and truly been smashed long before the first pane of glass. The suspicious death of a black man was a proximate cause, a spark, but the tinder was bone-dry and sooner or later there would have been another excuse for a conflagration. The materialism at the heart of British society takes no prisoners and even an army of brooms sweeping Kristallnacht 2011 under the carpet won’t change the reality the disenfranchised will be back for more.

The British media cares not to dwell on this fact. As the Murdoch scandal showed they are now part of the problem. The BBC’s contemptuous treatment of an old black man speaking truth to power or the wall-to-wall newspaper coverage of thugs and scum reveals a frightened press desperate only to hang on to their privileges in the old order. Politicians too, needing to speak reassuring words of toughness to scared constituents, retreat behind paeans to law and order. There is a magical belief this will keep the disaffected off the streets.

Who is there to trust? The glue that holds communities together is losing its stickiness. Family bonds are harder to keep. Education works only for the wealthy. Religion is irrelevant. Culture is complicated and foreign. International capitalism is a stinking corpse bloated by greed and selfishness. Big business is venal, politicians are corrupt and police are inept. The cult of individualism is rampant, neighbours don’t talk to each other and everyone is suspicious of "the other". Racism is endemic, the climate is going to hell in a hand basket and no one seems to care. A Norwegian goes berserk and tries to wipe out a political generation. But rather than examine all that, the media is besotted only by the daily minutiae of two useless wealthy royals.

30 years after the riots of her own making, Thatcher has been proved right: There is no such thing as society. Why should the rioters behave? What’s in it for them? A fat pile of nothing, and there is no deterrent. If people are willing to commit a crime for $2 of basmati rice then clearly the slim prospect of jail time or a criminal record is not going to stop them. The criminals at the other end of the scale seem to be getting away with their crimes, so why shouldn’t the small fry try too? Their looting is caught on camera but the liars that run the business world put their hands in the back pockets of millions without youtube evidence.

My sympathies go out to the small businesses that suffered greatly across Britain in the last few days – no doubt Constantinople’s unfortunate merchants paid an equally high price in the Nika Riots. They are on the frontline of a civil war that has a long way to go and must expect, like any soft target, to be picked on again and again. Cameron is no Justinian, nor is the equally ineffectual Ed Miliband. Britain must wait for the reliable rain to relieve the riots, not its robotic politicians.

Thai Government set for final showdown with Red Shirts

The city of Bangkok remains in a state of civil war as the three-day street riots that have killed 25 people continue. Authorities have declared a 4km radius of the Thai capital around Lumpini Park as a “live firing zone”. The Pattaya Daily News reports the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation is considering ordering a curfew for residents of the affected areas “allegedly so that the military are able to isolate ‘terrorists’ from the innocent civilians”. Around 10,000 United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (Red Shirt) protesters are out on the streets demanding the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva step down. They claim Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the help of the army and have called for parliament to be dissolved. (photo by thethaireport)

The roads in and around the main Ratchaprasong rally site have been barricaded by the military, with water and food trucks being prevented from entering the site in an attempt to force the protesters to disband. Police have also set up checkpoints on Sukhumvit road at Soi Udomsuk to prevent more red shirts from coming in from rural areas. Transport services have been suspended for two days and protesters have barricaded MRT exits with tuk tuks delivering tyres to barricade points across the city. The latest round of fighting in the two month stand-off began late on Thursday as the army moved to isolate a fortified protest camp. Over the next two days 25 people were killed and another 215 injured as the two sides clashed on the streets with reports of army snipers picking off protesters.

Both sides have heightened the rhetoric as more blood has been spilt. This morning an army spokesman announced that some areas of the city would be subject to a curfew. Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said the curfew would be needed “so that police and soldiers can differentiate people from terrorists.” The army has not yet carried out its threat to move against the demonstrators' main rally site unless they dispersed but the curfew is likely to a precursor to a full-scale assault. But as Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan said the threat has not fazed the defenders. "Some of the red shirts I have spoken to have said they're not willing to leave," he said. "They're really hunked in there, they've set up their homes.”

More than 50 people have been killed and 1,600 wounded since the protests began in March. Tensions rose dramatically last week after the Red Shirts rejected Prime Minister Abhisit’s “roadmap” to an election on 14 November. Abhisit wanted anti-government protesters to accept his reconciliation plan and restore peace and stability. Not only did they reject that plan but Red Shirts demanded the prime minister and deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban hand themselves over to the Department of Special Investigations for their involvement in the deaths of 20 civilians following the April 10 clashes. On Thursday Abhisit ran out of patience and sent in the military.

Last night the Prime Minister made a public broadcast from the safety of an army barracks where he defended his decision to use force in the dispersal of the Red Shirts protesters. He argued that it was the only resort after peace negotiations broke down with the key opposition leader Jatuporn Prompan promising to “fight to the end”. The end may well be near for Prompan’s forces but the enmity Abhisit’s actions have caused are likely to have long-term repercussions that may leave Thailand fatally split for years to come.

Uganda calm after a weekend of riots

Uganda appears to be calm again after weekend riots that killed at least 21 people, injured 100 and saw 560 people arrested. The riots broke out after a row between the central government in Kampala and Buganda, one of Uganda’s four traditional kingdoms. The clashes took place mainly in and near the capital Kampala. While unexpected, they were spurred by long-simmering rows over land, power and corruption. Human rights groups said the Ugandan military response was heavy-handed. They used live ammunition on crowds, beat and arrested journalists and shut down five radio stations (photo credit: AFP/Getty Images).

According to London-based media writer Roy Greenslade, a photographer with Kampala’s Observer newspaper named Edward Echwalu was detained and beaten yesterday by security forces for taking pictures during a riot. Echwalu said he was arrested after he "took pictures of military men passing near a dead boy". He then suffered beatings after he rang his boss to complain. Greenslade also said that a Buganda radio station, CBS, went off the air.

Uganda’s four kingdoms, (Buganda, Busoga, Bunyoro and Toro) enjoyed a level of autonomy under British colonial rule but were abolished in 1966 by then-national leader Milton Obote. However, in a move to gain popular support, current President Yoweri Museveni restored the cultural and ceremonial powers of the traditional leaders, who were still revered by their subjects. The kings are constitutional barred from playing an active role in national politics but the law remains vague on many points. Government officials and the Buganda kingdom remain at odds over land, sovereignty and political power.

The latest trouble erupted after the Bugandan monarch, known as the Kabaka was banned from visiting a disputed part of his kingdom to celebrate National Youth Day. The Kabaka had attempted to visit the flashpoint town of Kayunga north-east of the capital on territory claimed by his kingdom. Kayunga is an area where a small tribe called the Banyala has for years agitated to be recognised separately from Buganda. However the central government has been keen to keep a lid on the problem as other tribal areas might follow suit and the system of kingdoms could unravel and with them, Museveni’s support base. Museveni could not guarantee the Kabaka’s security in Kayunga and banned the visit.

But when the Kabaka announced that the trip had been cancelled it triggered angry riots in Kampala and several central towns among Baganda youths, which are Uganda’s largest ethnic group. The riots escalated after local radio stations announced rumours that Buganda leaders were arrested. Rioters burned tyres and cars, set buildings afire and looted stores. They then strewed the streets with the debris of torched cars and burned tyres. Police reacted by firing tear gas and live ammunition. Human Rights Watch’s Africa director Georgette Gagnon said the available evidence raised serious concerns that police used excessive force in confronting demonstrators. "A thorough investigation is needed to find out who is responsible for yesterday's violence,” she said.

Museveni blamed former ally and now opposition leader Kizza Besigye for inciting the riots. The president claimed Besigye, head of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) wanted to see more bloodshed. Besigye rejected the accusation and said the protests were triggered by the government's actions. The opposition said major reforms were essential if the next election in 2011 was to be free and fair. While multi-party elections have only been in place since 2005, Uganda has made a remarkable transition to political and macroeconomic stability after years of civil war during the 1970s and 80s.

Uganda’s economic prospects received another boost last month when the US-based Tullow Oil company announced a major oil find. Tullow said its drilling site in the Congolese border town of Ngassa may contain significant oil resources. It and partner Heritage Oil have so far discovered 700 million barrels of oil in the Lake Albert region of Uganda with estimates that Ngassa could contain three times as much. The oil lies within the boundaries of Bunyoro which could become the epicentre of economic power further fuelling tensions between Kampala and the kingdoms.

Yet Uganda has been relatively stable since Museveni grabbed power in 1986. He won an election in 1996 and two more in 2001 and 2006. He faces re-election again in 2011. Analysts say the president is trying to build tribal alliances and weaken rivals through divide-and-rule ahead of that election. But he is risking a growing underclass of angry, unemployed youth in Buganda or Bunyoro will be alienated. As the country’s Daily Monitor said, "nothing unites them more than poverty and a sense of disenfranchisement -- and that is one war that cannot be fought with bullets.”

Bangladesh mutiny is test of Sheikh Hasina's government

Long running complaints between branches of Bangladesh’s military has broken out into full scale mutiny in the last two days that claimed at least 50 lives. What began as a shootout in the capital Dhaka has spread to towns across the country. While the main reason for the mutiny is a pay dispute, it is also likely be a test of power for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has only been in the job a month. Ranjit Bhaskar says the fact that the army had to be called out to quell the uprising just weeks after December's election is “an important reminder that the country's political situation remains complex and fragile despite the restoration of democratic rule”.

Nevertheless the most proximate cause is a pay dispute involving the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). The standoff at the BDR headquarters began yesterday when troops took dozens of high-ranking officers and military brass hostage after a gun battle erupted between rebels and loyal police and troops that killed 50 people. The dead included passers-by who were caught in mortar fire when the violence spread to the nearby streets. Afterwards, the BDR had reportedly accepted an offer of amnesty from the prime minister and agreed to lay down arms earlier on Thursday. But the fighting resumed later in the day.

The BDR is the country’s border security and anti-smuggling force. Known by the grandiose nickname of “The Vigilant Sentinels of Our National Frontier”, the force was set up after partition in 1947 as a descendent of the British East Pakistani Rifles. In 1971 it fought for the liberation of Bangladesh from West Pakistan and emerged as the new country’s leading paramilitary force. There is confusion over exactly how big the force is. The BBC thinks it is 40,000. The Guardian today was reporting 42,000 posted across 64 camps whereas Al Jazeera claim there are “50,000 paramilitary soldiers”. Meanwhile, BDR’s own website says they have a total manpower of 65,000 troops.

Whatever the size, it is a significant security organisation that the government needs to control. According to police reports, BDR members had revolted in 12 border districts which represents a quarter of the zones where they are stationed. The initial revolt started in the capital Dhaka and then fanned outwards. One local police chief reported heavy fighting at a BDR training centre in the southeastern town of Satkania. Another talked of indiscriminate gunfire in the northeastern Moulivibazar district where the commanding officer fled the camp. Violence was also reported in Chittagong and Naikhongchari in the south, Sylhet in the north-east, and Rajshahi and Naogaon in the north-west.

Back in the capital, the soldiers initially agreed to surrender after the government said it would grant amnesty and discuss their grievances. But it was little surprise to hear that fighting had resumed later in the day. The mood was full of resentment about army entitlements as one rebel soldier told television reporters. Unlike the army, the BDR is under the Home Ministry and has a different pay scale. "Army troops are sent abroad to work in UN peacekeeping missions and they get fat salaries,” he said. “But they don't take border guard personnel for peacekeeping. That's discrimination."

A government spokesman said mutinous soldiers would be treated harshly. Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Cabinet members met in an emergency session today as the Dhaka standoff entered a second day. Some diplomats in the capital speculate that an ulterior motive of the violence is to test Hasina. She succeeded a military-backed administration last month and is the daughter of Mujibur Rahman, who is considered the father of Bangladesh. He won an election in 1970 and led the country to independence one year later which earned him the nickname of Bangabandhu "friend of Bangladesh". However in 1975 his own army officers assassinated him and 23 family members. Hasana and her sister were away in Germany at the time, and were the only ones left to carry on his line.

Since Bangabandhu’s death, Bangladesh has been dominated by military dictatorships, either overtly or disguised by stooge leaders. Hasina inherited the leadership of her father’s party and suffered imprisonment at the hands of several Bangladesh rulers. She was elected Prime Minister in 1996 after two disputed elections and ruled for five years. She was defeated in a landslide in 2001 but continued to lead the party despite criminal charges of extortion and murder. The High Court dismissed all the charges last year and she returned from exile in November to fight the election which she won in a landslide. But defeated Premier Khaleda Zia rejected the result saying the poll was ‘stage-managed'.

Pranab Dhal Samanta writing in Indianexpress.com noted that the BDR is heavily penetrated at the lower and middle ranks by affiliates of Zia’s party. There are also links between Zia’s brother and a disaffected BDR general. It doesn’t take much to join the dots. Samanta believes the force is now being controlled by disgruntled military officers who are known affiliates of Zia’s party. “A spectre of instability coupled with suspicious battles within the Army…and a new government wanting to try 1971 war criminals could rapidly trigger an unexpected crisis in Dhaka,” he writes.

General strike escalates in Guadeloupe and Martinique

A four week old general strike has escalated into riots on the French-controlled islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Today a union representative was shot dead as he drove up to a barricade in Guadeloupe's largest city Pointe-à-Pitre, though it is not known who shot him. The Caribbean island had been brought to a standstill for nearly a month by strikes and demonstrations over high prices for food and other necessities. Yesterday protesters ransacked shops and torched cars in several towns across the island. The violence has also spread to the nearby island of Martinique. France has deployed over one hundred riot police to both islands and last night police used tear gas to disperse protesters. The president of the local regional council admitted Guadeloupe was "on the verge of revolt."

That island's mostly peaceful demonstrations were coordinated by an alliance of about 50 unions and associations. The collective goes by the name of "Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon" (LKP) which is local dialect for "Stand Up Against Exploitation." The LKP demanded aid and pay rises for workers struggling to survive on an island with a high cost of living. On 30 January they organised a protest of 60,000 people in Pointe-à-Pitre, which represents 15 percent of the island’s total population. LKP have shut down petrol stations, ports, supermarkets, banks and government offices and the strike has caused power blackouts and food and water shortages. The island’s main airport was also closed down yesterday after many employees failed to turn up for work.

With Martinique also now joining the strike action and riots, France sent its minister for overseas territories to the region yesterday for a second round of emergency talks. Yves Jégo left the Caribbean last week after promising €180m in aid to the poor. But France steadfastly refuses to meet the main demand for a monthly €200 increase in base salaries. Patrick Lozès, the head of France's umbrella group of black associations Cran, blamed racial discrimination for the government’s refusal to accede to Guadeloupe’s demands. "Is it normal,” he asked, “that, 160 years after the abolition of slavery, the descendants of colonists possess 90 per cent of Guadeloupe's riches, but represent only 1 per cent of the population?”

The racial theme is also important in Martinique where the mainly black demonstrators chanted "Martinique is ours, not theirs!" Whites dominate the economy of both islands despite representing only around one percent of the population. Both Guadeloupe and Martinique are French overseas regions in the euro zone. France acquired Guadeloupe in the 1630s and was developed for sugar plantations worked by African slaves who still form the vast majority of the population. The islands were disputed by Britain but awarded to France in petty recompense for the loss of Canada in 1763. Today Guadeloupe still depends on sugar and rum production as well as tourism. But both islands’ economy is topped up with support from France. Both Guadeloupe and Martinique were formally assimilated into the metropole in 1946 when they became two of the four departments d’outre mer (along with Guyane and Reunion) with elected departmental and regional councils as well as representation in the French parliament.

While none of the departments d’outre mer have their own currency, postage stamps or official flags, they are still considered second class French citizens in many respects. Unemployment is double that of the mainland and Guadeloupe is considered one of the poorest areas of the EU. France outlawed one major pro-independence group in Guadeloupe in the 1980s. But despite the implied racism of the colonial system, there is no great nationalistic passion in either island. Only a tiny percentage of people in either Guadeloupe or Martinique have ever voted for independence movements. No party in either department has been able to articulate how it would manage economic and social development without French assistance. Even today, the demonstrators on the islands want Paris to do more, not less.

Madagascar’s political stand-off turns nasty

(photo by avylavitra).

The death toll is rising on the African Indian Ocean island of Madagascar after clashes between government and opposition supporters went into a third day. Yesterday the BBC reported 34 deaths after two days of rioting and looting in the capital Antananarivo. However this morning French website Liberation.fr reported there have been between 68 to 80 deaths since Monday. 37 of them, all suspected looters, were found dead in a shopping centre after they were trapped inside when it burnt down.

The Government and opposition factions have blamed each other for the growing violence. Opposition leader and Antananarivo Mayor Andry Rajoelina accuses President Marc Ravalomanana's government of misspending funds and threatening democracy. Meanwhile the president accuses the mayor of trying to stir up a revolt. The worst of the violence occurred on Monday and Tuesday when rioters targeted state owned media and shops owned by President Ravalomanana after the president shut down the Mayor’s independent radio station. The President visited his own damaged state radio station where he called Rajoelina "the initiator of these disturbances.” The trigger for the violence was Rajoelina’s address to a crowd of 20,000 in the capital in Saturday where he called for a “dead city” to "reclaim democracy." Yesterday, another 40,000 protesters answered Rajoelina’s general strike call.

Rajoelina has been adept at using his radio and television stations to foment unrest. His TV station Viva was temporarily closed down by the government in December after it broadcast an interview with former president Didier Ratsiraka. Ratsiraka ruled Madagascar for 25 years but lost a disputed election to Ravalomanana in 2001. The two forces fought a short and brutal war before Ratsiraka was forced to flee to France where he still remains. The Viva interview (in Malagasy) shows Ratsiraka harshly criticizing Ravalomanana.

The 60 year old Ravalomanana has been president for seven years and has won two terms of office. He is also one of the richest men in Madagascar as the owner of Tiko. Tiko is the country's leading dairy firm, as well as a food, construction and media conglomerate. Many in the country see this as disproportionate power in the hands of one man. However he remains popular and was comfortably re-elected in 2006. Ravalomanana’s political and financial pre-eminence seemed assured until Rajoelina arrived on the scene.

The 34 year old Andry Rajoelina is a youthful contrast to the president but shares many of his entrepreneurial qualities. He was given the nickname TGV for his quick fire personality and he turned the initials into his movement’s name: Tanora Gasy Vonona, or Young Dynamic Madagascan. He ran for the Antananarivo mayoralty in the 2007 municipal elections against Ravalomanana's party as an independent candidate. Rajoelina easily won with 63 percent of the vote. The Antananarivo mayoral seat has always been a politically defining post and it is where Ravalomanana rose to become president. Since taking office Rajoelina has fitted the mould and grown into the regime's most vocal opponent. He condemned what he says are shrinking freedoms in Madagascar and called for a transitional government. He has also fiercely criticised a massive project to lease vast swathes of farmland to South Korean industrial giant Daewoo.

In November the president announced he had leased 1.3 million hectares to Daewoo for 99 years for an undisclosed price. Daewoo will grow palm oil and maize on the island in an effort to sharply reduce Korean reliance on US imports. The leased property is half the size of Belgium and represents about half of Madagascar’s arable land. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation warned this year that the race by Madagascar and other African countries to lease farmland to overseas investors risked creating a “neo-colonial” system. And while Madagascar becomes a breadbasket for Korea, 70 percent of the island nation’s population suffer from food shortages and malnutrition. As Glenn Ashton observed at allafrica.com, the benefits of Daewoo’s land grab to the Malagasy people “appear chimeral at best”.

Riots mar Mongolian election result

Mongolia’s president has declared a four-day state of emergency after deadly riots in the capital to protest election results. Nambaryn Enkhbayar ordered the state of emergency yesterday after the ruling party headquarters of the ruling party was torched. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to beat back violent protesters who smashed their way into the building. Others pushed their way into the General Election Commission offices to demand that officials resign over voting irregularities. At least five people have been killed since the weekend and another 300 injured. The capital Ulan Bator was sealed off today and police have set up roadblocks to enforce a blockade.

The crowd thinned slightly this morning after the emergency declaration, though some protesters had begun looting paintings from an art gallery while others vandalised parked cars. The country’s Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Munkhorgil said Ulan Bator was now under a 10pm to 8am curfew. "Police will use necessary force to crack down on criminals who are looting private and government property," he warned.

The riot occurred when several thousand people gathered on to the streets of the capital after results emerged from Sunday’s election. Preliminary returns showed the ruling ex-Communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) has claimed victory with at least 45 seats in the 76-seat parliament (known as the State Great Khural http://www.parl.gov.mn/) but the opposition Democrats, who took 26 seat, allege fraud. Their Party leader Tsakhia Elbegdorj said his party was robbed of victory but the MPRP and international election monitors say the vote was free and fair.

This is the fifth election since Mongolia adopted wide-ranging economic and politic reform after the collapse of Communism. The MPRP ruled the country in a Soviet-style one party government for seven decades between 1921 and 1990. Their superior organisation helped them win the first two free elections in 1990 and 1992 until their 75 year was ended in 1996 when the opposition parties united to form the Democrats. They ruled until 2004 when a close vote in that year’s election forced the two major parties into an uneasy coalition which lasted just two years. The transition to democracy in the last 18 years has been remarkably peaceful until the events of this week.

Mongolia is struggling to modernise its nomadic, agriculture-based economy. Annual income averages just $1,500 a year in the sparse country of about 3 million people spread across an area three times the size of Spain. However recently, Mongolia has discovered a rich lode of copper, gold and coal and the country is hoping to tap into neighbouring China’s resources boom. In the election, the MPRP and Democrats both campaigned on how to tap these huge mineral deposits but disagreed over whether they should be managed by the government or private sector. The disagreement meant the outgoing parliament could not pass an amendment to the Minerals Law to allow the government seal investment agreements with international mining giants to develop mineral deposits in the Gobi Desert.

The current law gives the government 50 percent of the deposit and the MPRP proposed to increase that by one percent to give it outright control. But the Democrats say that control should stay in private hands. Large multinational mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Ivanhoe and Antofagasta actively awaited the result and although will be disappointed by the MPRP victory, they will hope the result will allow their deals to conclude. While the protests may add to the air of uncertainty, it is likely the simplest reason MPRP won the election is by promising a bribe of $1,300 in cash to each citizen once mining production starts.

food riots escalate in Haiti

Rioters in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince attempted to storm the presidential palace yesterday demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval. UN peacekeepers drove them off the palace grounds using rubber bullets and tear gas. The palace attack was the latest escalation in violence that has been growing across Haiti for over a week with rioters are angry over rising food prices. In Port-au-Prince, they left a trail of destruction across the city smashing windows, setting fire to buildings and blocking streets with concrete barricades and burnt out cars.

The protesters tried to break into the presidential palace by charging its chain gates with a rolling dumpster truck. They were foiled by Brazilian UN troops arriving in jeeps and assault vehicles. Preval was in the palace at the time of the attack but has made no public statement as yet. Preval is a former ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and took over from him as president in 1994. He was replaced by Aristide again in 2001 until the 2004 coup that brought an end to that regime. Preval was elected leader again in 20006 but has been helpless to end Haiti’s unending crisis.

As well as the removal of the Washington-backed Preval, the protesters also want to the end the 9,000 strong UN mission MINUSTAH (UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti). The force has been in place since the 2004 rebellion that led to the downfall of Aristide. It has a mandate not only to stabilise the environment but also to assist with instituting a political process and promote human rights. The force was initially popular as it aimed to curb the power of Haiti’s armed gangs. However many Haitians want the force removed after incidents where children were caught in the crossfire.

The current series of riots started in the southern port city of Les Cayes last week where 5,000 protesters shut down the city and tried to burn down a UN compound. Five people died in the violence there. Demonstrations against the high cost of living quickly spread to other cities. Hundreds protested on 3 April in Haiti’s fourth largest city Gonaives on the northwest coast. Protests there were largely peaceful, but UN workers were evacuated to a police base, and five people were injured with rocks as protesters tired to force a school's administration to let the students join the demonstrations.

The violence finally reached the capital on Monday. UN envoy to Haiti, Hedi Annabi, said international efforts to stabilise Haiti was becoming “extremely fragile” due to the country’s soaring food prices and declining living standards. He called for urgent food aid, and said 80 percent of Haiti's 8.5 million people live on less than $2 a day. These people, he said, were seriously affected by the global increase in prices for basic food items. "I think there is a need for urgent assistance to alleviate the suffering of the population," he added. "At the same time, we need to remain vigilant and respond robustly so that we do not allow these demonstrations to be exploited by people with political motivations.”

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. 80 per cent of the country’s adults are unemployed. Barely one in five Haitians over 15 can read and write. There are few paved roads, an inadequate supply of drinkable water, minimal utilities, and depleted forests. Almost all its food is imported and the price of beans, fruit, rice, and condensed milk has gone up 50 percent in the past year, while the price of pasta has doubled. Many Haitians have taken to eating cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt.

In stark contrast to the country’s widespread abject poverty is Haiti’s small elite. This consists of no more than several thousand families who are extremely wealthy, including many millionaires among their number. The country's wealthy are clustered around the cooler mountainside suburb of Pétionville, where French restaurants and luxury car concessions cater to expensive tastes. Education and medical services are entirely private, and the children of the elite tend to be educated abroad, either in Paris or the US.

This is very conspicuous consumption in one of the three countries of the world with the highest daily caloric deficit per person (460 kcal/day below the daily requirement of 2100 kcal/day). To address this deficiency the World Food Programme (WFP) are appealing to the international community for urgent funds to support its operations in Haiti. Last month, WFP appealed to donors for an additional US$500 million to respond to dramatic increases in global food and fuel prices. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said what is happening in Haiti is repeated across the world “Rising prices that mean less food for the hungry,” she said. “A new face of hunger is emerging: even where food is available on the shelves, there are now more and more people who simply cannot afford it.”

Tibet braces for Chinese crackdown

In an announcement that has the sinister ring of Orwellian Newspeak, China claims it has shown “great restraint” in its attempt to crush the riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. But while the Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet asserted no guns were used against protesters in the capital, troops flooded into neighbouring areas to enforce control after violent protests. And Lhasa itself faces a midnight ultimatum for protesters to give themselves up or face tougher punishment.

Tibet’s governor Champa Phuntsok promised leniency to those who turned themselves in before the day’s end while threatening harsh consequences for those who don't. He also claimed that the total death toll was 16 so far, a figure greatly disputed by Tibetans exile groups who say over a hundred have died. The governor blamed supporters of the Dalai Lama for the protests. Meanwhile the Dalai Lama himself has condemned what he called "cultural genocide" in his homeland and called for an international investigation.

Tibet’s Prime Minister in exile Samdhong Rinpoche said that hundreds have died since violence broke out a week ago. He told reporters in the Indian hillside home of the government in exile, Dharamshala, that they had requested the international community and the UN send a delegation to Tibet to investigate the claims. China rejects these charges, saying today that 13 "innocent civilians" were killed by “Tibetan rioters” during violent protests in Lhasa, and that it did not use lethal force to quell the rioting.

With western media banned from Tibet, it has been difficult to verify competing claims. The only outside journalist still in Lhasa is The Times’ James Miles. He says that all is quiet at the moment after two days of deadly riots and arson attacks, with the people of Lhasa lying low ahead of the midnight deadline. Rubble and burnt-out vehicles littered the streets, with just an occasional gunshot. Miles said armed troops entered the city on Saturday to quell Tibetan rioters who targeted both Han Chinese and Hui Muslims.

Today, army units drove through the streets parading dozens of Tibetan prisoners in handcuffs with their heads bowed. Soldiers stood behind each prisoner, a hand on the back of their neck to ensure their heads were bowed. Other troops stepped up their hunt for the rioters in house-to-house searches, checking all identification papers. Anyone unable to show an identity card and a household registration permitting residence in Lhasa was arrested. Loudspeakers on the trucks broadcast calls to anyone who had taken part in the violent riots on Friday to turn themselves in.

China is especially sensitive to media reports of the riots as the Beijing Olympics looms on the horizon. Steven Spielberg was the first to use the Olympics card when he resigned as the Games “artistic adviser" in protest over China not using its links with Sudan to help bring an end to violence in Darfur. Now it faces the possibility that a major crackdown in Tibet could unleash calls for a boycott of the Olympics. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband hinted at this recently when he said diplomats should no longer fear that raising human rights with China meant that economic relations would be damaged.

Despite worldwide protests, so far all leades including the Dalai Lama, have stopped short of calling for a boycott of the Games. But International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge is worried. Yesterday he said he was “concerned” about the Chinese crackdown and hoped “there can be an appeasement as soon as possible.” There is little doubt that Rogge’s real concern is the possibility that Western nations might skip his showpiece event in Beijing in August. Saying that the IOC was "in favour of the respect of human rights", Rogge rejected the idea of a boycott saying it would only penalise athletes and would not solve anything. What Rogge know is that the Games offers Tibet its best chance to squeeze compromise from Beijing.

Kenyan violence affects aid programs

Up to 100,000 people are facing starvation in western Kenya due to election-related violence. While the leaders continue to be in stalemate in Nairobi, the World Food Program (WFP) has warned that 100,000 people in the Northern Rift Valley are in “critical need of food”. This part of Kenya has seen some of the worst violence including the burning of the church in Eldoret that killed 35 people seeking refuge. Trucks carrying WFP food remain stranded have been prevented for days from entering western Kenya because of insecurity. The violence is also affecting shipment of WFP food to Uganda, southern Sudan, Somalia and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vigilantes have set up checkpoints and transporters in Mombasa refuse to move trucks out of the port without escorts. Fuel shortages have meant that UN humanitarian flights to Somalia carrying aid workers and cargo such as medicine have also been cancelled. Meanwhile in western Kenya the UN estimates 180,000 people have been displaced by the unrest which has officially killed 360 people so far. The violence flared up after the disputed election result which saw incumbent president Mwai Kibaki re-elected at the expense of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Raila's party has demanded fresh presidential elections but may accept a coalition arrangement. "This is about a democracy and justice," said Anyang Nyongo, secretary-general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement. "We shall continue to defend and promote the right of Kenyans so that the democratic process should be fulfilled.” Kibaki has now said he will accept calls for a rerun of a disputed election but only if a court orders it. Kenya’s High Court could annul the vote as illegal, which would force a new vote. South African bishop Desmond Tutu held talks with both men last week and said they were both “open to the possibilities of negotiations."

For that to happen, however, the violence needs to stop. There are signs things are slowly coming back to normal. The overnight death toll on Friday was fewer than 10, compared with the more than 300 people killed in a few days earlier this week. The security ring around Nairobi was relaxed overnight allowing free movement of commuter buses, private vehicles and pedestrians for the first time since Sunday. Hundreds of Odinga’s supporters attempted to protest in the capital yesterday but were forced to disperse by paramilitary police using tear gas.

Many media accounts have focussed on the ethnic dimension in the violence. Kibeki and his hardcore supporters belong to the Kikuyu group while Odinga draws his support from the Luo group. The majority of the victims so far are Kikuyus who make up 22 per cent of the population and are Kenya’s largest ethnic group. However the Foreign Policy Watch blog warns that this aspect should not be exaggerated. They point out that Kikuyus and Luos (as well as other groups) cooperated in the National Rainbow Coalition that brought Kibaki to power in the first place. It places stronger blame on the endemic corruption at the heart of Kenyan society.

When Kibaki was elected in 2002, there were great hopes that Kenya had turned the corner and that he would be the man to reform the nation. But they proved to be false hopes. The opposition to Kibaki this time was especially intense among the poor jobless youths who had voted overwhelmingly for change. In their view, a ruling clique that had stolen billions of dollars in a period of five years had stolen the elections. According to Horace Campbell, this verdict was obscured by ethnic alienation and the constant refrain “that the crisis and killings emanated from deep 'tribal' hostilities.” Campbell argues this won’t change until there is a break from “looting, extra judicial killings, rape and violation of women, and general low respect for African lives.”

The poor state of Kenya’s prison system is symptomatic of wider ranging social, political, judicial and economic stagnation in the country. Prisoners are subject to dehumanising conditions and the remand system can leave the accused waiting for years for a trial. At Kamiti maximum security prison space is so tight that if one prisoner turns while sleeping, all must turn. Prison officer David Mwania said the situation was common in all Kenya jails. Mwania said the problems were due to lack of funds to provide for basic essentials for inmates. “Simply, the system cannot cope anymore,” he said.

Kenya media blackout greets disputed election result

The Kenyan government has ordered a broadcast media blackout in the wake of the riots that greeted the disputed election win of President Mwai Kibaki. The security ministry ordered the blackout “in the interest of public safety and tranquillity”. Journalists were also warned to stop broadcasting “inciting or alarming material” as supporters of defeated candidate Raila Odinga took to the streets in protest at the result. Plumes of smoke rose over the Kibari area of Nairobi, a stronghold of Odinga support for the opposition, where pitched battles occurred between rioters and police on Saturday.

Kibaki was controversially re-elected in Kenya’s fourth election since pluralism was introduced in 1992. Kibaki was sworn in less than an hour after the electoral commission declared he had defeated Odinga by a quarter of a million votes. The official commission result was that Kibaki won with 4,584,721 votes against Odinga's 4,352,993 votes. Odinga had led Kibaki in pre-election opinion polls and in early poll tallies released to the media. Odinga walked out of the press conference during which the results were announced, and claimed that Kibaki was stealing victory.

In his acceptance speech yesterday Kibaki said he was “humbled and grateful” to be offered a second five-year term of office. He acknowledged the closeness of the contest and said now should be a time for “healing and reconciliation among all Kenyans”. He pledged to serve for everyone and called for tolerance, peace and harmony. “I will shortly form a clean hands Government that represents the face of Kenya,” he said. “The new PNU Government will incorporate the affiliate parties as well as other friendly parties”.

However not everyone agrees with Kibaki that the elections were free and fair. British foreign minister David Miliband said he had real concerns about reported irregularities and promised to discuss the matter with international partners. He quoted EU observers who said they had not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates. Miliband stopped short of declaring the result invalid. “Britain looked forward to working with a legitimately elected government of Kenya,” he said. But, he added ambiguously, “its outcome had to be seen by Kenyans to be fair.”

Despite 30,000 monitors on the ground, chief EU observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff expressed regret that they had not able to address “irregularities”. Lambsdorff said presidential tallies announced in polling stations on the election were inflated by the time they were released by the electoral commission in Nairobi. “'Because of this and other observed irregularities, some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today,” he said.

The 76 year old Kibaki has been in power since 2002 and is only Kenya’s third president since in the 43 years since independence. Jomo Kenyatta led the nation out of colonialism in 1964 and he ruled until his death in 1978. His vice-president Daniel arap Moi took the reins for the next 24 years. Initially popular, Moi won two elections in 1992 and 1997 but he was eventually viewed as a despot. Towards the end of his reign, allegations of electoral fraud and corruption took their toll. Moi was implicated in the Goldenberg scandal which saw Kenya lose $600 million in “fictitious” mineral exports in the 1990s.

Moi was forced to step down in 2002 as the constitution barred him from contesting a third election. In the election, Moi supported Jomo Kenyatta’s son Uhuru but he was defeated 2:1 by Kibaki. EU and UN observers declared the election free and fair. Like Moi, Mwai Kibaki had also served as vice president but he fell out of favour with Moi in 1988 and unsuccessfully contested the 1990s elections against him. He formed a rainbow alliance of opposition parties to combat the entrenched power of the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) party founded by Kenyatta and Moi.

Moi’s legacy to Kibaki was a nation racked by corruption. According to Human Rights Watch, Kenya’s system of governance is based on highly centralised and personalised executive power. The average Kenyan was poorer in 2002 than two decades earlier. Kibaki claimed his goal was reconciliation and rebuilding of the economy. The Kenyan economy grew strongly during his five year tenure. However his 2005 attempt to redraw the constitution to give stronger powers to the presidency was rejected by a plebiscite.

His opponent, the 62 year old Raila Odinga (pictured right) was a former cabinet colleague of Kibaki (pictured left). During the campaign he argued that few Kenyans have reaped the benefits of the country's economic successes. After unilaterally declaring he was the winner on Saturday, Odinga now claims he was robbed of victory. Police have warned Odinga that he faces arrest if he goes ahead with a protest tomorrow against the result. Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement planned to meet in Nairobi to present “the People's President” to the nation. The Police Commissioner has declared the meeting illegal “in view of the prevailing security situation” and cautioned that anyone who attends “will face the full force of the law.” It appears unlikely Odinga’s angry supporters will heed the warning.

Reflections on Cronulla

Earlier this week, the NSW Police taskforce set up to investigate last December’s riots in the Sydney beach suburb of Cronulla was officially wound down. The few remaining riot-related investigations will now be handed to the NSW Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad. The taskforce known as “Strike Force Enoggera” arrested 51 people in connection with the riot and another 53 were charged over their alleged involvement in the reprisal attacks that followed.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully pointed out that the roughly equal number of arrests showed that the police force did not just concentrate on the riot itself rather than the retaliatory attacks. He also blamed a mix of "sun, alcohol and rising tension" for the riot. Scully takes a rather simplistic approach to problem. Certainly, sun and alcohol may be contributing factors but they do not explain the large-scale nature of the violence. But perhaps the answer may be in his throwaway “rising tension” rationale. Tensions did rise. And there were many eager to fan the flames of the wildfire that resulted. Racism was at its heart. September 11, the Bali bombing, the Tampa affair all added to the fuel.

Cronulla is about 26km south of Sydney on a peninsula framed by Botany Bay to the north, Bate Bay to the east, Port Hacking to the south, and Gunnamatta Bay to the west. It is on a suburban train line and is a popular tourist attraction especially for its beautiful beaches. The name Cronulla is derived from kurranulla, meaning ‘‘place of pink seashells’’ in the dialect of the original inhabitants, the Dharawal people.

The riot occurred seven months ago, Sunday December 11, 2005. On that day, a group of approximately 5,000 people gathered in the place of the pink seashells for an ad hoc protest to "reclaim the beach". The protest was organised in response to a spate of reports of assaults and intimidatory behaviour on and around the beach over a number years. Matters came to a head the previous weekend when two volunteer lifeguards were assaulted on North Cronulla Beach. Surf lifesavers said the attack was carried out by a gang of youths who regularly visited Cronulla to harass locals and beachgoers. The item led the Sydney news that night on the commercial stations seven, nine and ten.

The culprits were deemed to be of Lebanese extraction from Sydney’s western suburbs. As a result an SMS text circulated in the week leading up to the 11th calling on a vigilante action that amount to a racial war. The text message read “This Sunday every Fucking Aussie in the shire, get down to North Cronulla to help support Leb and wog bashing day ...Bring your mates down and let’s show them this is our beach and they’re never welcome back.” The SMS was picked up by radio, TV and newspapers and received wide coverage during the days leading up to the Sunday. The demagogue-in-chief Alan Jones stoked up the fires on Monday when he agreed with a caller to his radio show that people will “take the law into their own hands. There'll be an escalation”. On Wednesday the 7th “tensions were rising” to the point where a brawl erupted at the beach when a gang of youths clashed with a media crew. NSW Premier Morris Iemma issued a warning asking people not to take the law into their own hands. He also promised those responsible for the surf lifesavers attack would be brought to justice.

The Sunday itself started overcast but the sun soon broke through. By 10am over a thousand people had answered the SMS call and were gathering on the beach. Many of these had started already consuming alcohol. Many wore flags and displayed Australian paraphernalia. It was a big event, a show. But it also attracted extremists neo-Nazi groups such as Australia First, the Patriotic Youth League and “Blood and Honour”. Blood and Honour’s goal according to their website is to “provide White Youth with an alternative to the hip-hop culture so eagerly promoted by the Zionist media”.
Some of the demonstrators wore tee-shirts with racially-divisive slogans such as "We Grew Here, You Flew Here", "Wog Free Zone", "Aussie Pride", "Fuck Allah - Save 'Nulla", and "Ethnic Cleansing Unit". There were chants of "Lebs out", "Lebs go home" continuously shouted out by some demonstrators. Despite this, the first few hours passed without direct confrontation but the atmosphere soon turned to violence.
As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area, one man on the back of a Ute began to shout "No more Lebs" - a chant picked up by the group around him. Others in the crowd, carrying Australian flags and dressed in Australian shirts, yelled "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... Oi, Oi, Oi".

When some people of Middle Eastern appearance were spotted, the mob went rampant. One of this group was chased into a hotel bistro. Within a minute the hotel was surrounded by several thousand people screaming and chanting. About a half an hour later a fight broke out across the road and police led away a man with a shirt over his head as the crowd lobbed beer cans at him. As the day progressed anyone of "Middle Eastern appearance" was fair game and several were assaulted including a Jewish boy and a Greek girl. Police leading away the injured were then attack as was an ambulance which was treating six injured people. One ambulance officer was hit over the head with a glass bottle and another on board received lacerations.

At this point the police finally got serious and intervened in riot gear with capsicum spray. Police reinforcements arrived from Maroubra and local roads were closed to traffic. At the end of the day seven people were arrested and four charged. Broken beer bottles scattered Elouera Road, which runs along the foreshore. Dozens were treated for minor injuries. Tensions remained high throughout the evening. There were reports of vandalised cars and windows in the nearby suburbs of Maroubra and Rockdale. By 1:00 a.m., reports of violence had also spread to Brighton Le Sands, where police wearing riot gear sectioned off Bay Street in a confrontation with a crowd of people of Middle Eastern appearance.

On Monday Sydney’s Islamic community hit back. Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said the violence was "bound to happen" because of racist rhetoric on Sydney talkback radio throughout the week. "Sections of the media took this issue far too far and one can only surmise that the way this issue was dealt with on talkback radio amounts to incitement," Mr Trad said. He went on to say the media had turned a common youth issue into an issue of ethnicity. NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, with delicious unintentional irony called the behaviour "un-Australian". Premier Mr Iemma weighed in and said lawlessness would not be tolerated and there would be no compromises in upholding the law. PM Howard also pontificated, calling the riots “sickening”. However his statement that he did not believe racism to be widespread in Australia shows that he too did not understand the extent of the problem.

That evening a new SMS flash made a group of a thousand people gather outside Sydney's Lakemba mosque. They claimed they were there to defend the Mosque against attacks from gangs, as had been threatened by the Cronulla rioters. Though they dispersed without violence, residents of Cronulla started to report that cars full of Middle Eastern men had driven into the area and were on the rampage. The local shopping centre was targeted, with several vehicles vandalised. Further carloads made their way to Maroubra for another revenge attack, organised again by SMS. They were armed with baseball bats, crowbars and bricks, and vandalised private property. Many residents took refuge in their homes, while others who tried to confront the gangs were attacked.

The premier announced on Tuesday that police will be given "lockdown" powers which would allow them to prohibit entry into specified areas. On this day the frenzy had spread nationally. Local media in Victoria and Queensland reported that SMS text messages, inciting further riots, were being sent to mobile users. NSW opposition leader Peter Debnam cynically used the riot to attempt wedge politics. He promised that if elected he would “round up the 200 Middle Eastern thugs still on the streets of Sydney” "At dawn on the 25th of March” he theatrically continued “my instruction to the police commissioner will be to take as many police as you need and charge them with anything to get them off the streets."

He was hosed down by the president of the Police Association, Bob Pritchard, who said: "politicians should not be involved in operational policing."
But the problem has not gone away. The question remains what caused the violence: Was it racism, revenge or simply alcohol-induced aggression? There has been years of brooding disagreements and hatred between the two main ethnic groups involved in these incidents: Anglo-Celtic Australians, on the one hand, and Middle Eastern Australians on the other. Tensions have simmered since 9/11 and fears of Islamic based terrorism. The Islamic community has had to deal with racism and has become defensive in return. There are no easy answers and plenty out there ready to light the match again.

One of the many SMS messages that was doing the rounds in the week following is chilling: "We'll show them! It's on again sunday... send this to everyone in your phone book... this is a straight up WAR! We must continue to come together to help the innocet an family's (sic) so every one can enjoy our beach's!" Though the rest of the season passed without incident, the worry is that the problem is just hibernating and will explode again in the coming Summer.