Category: World

China vows crackdown on ‘hostile forces’ as public tests Xi

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China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades staged by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions.

The statement from the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission released late Tuesday comes amid a massive show of force by security services to deter a recurrence of the protests that broke out over the weekend in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and several other cities.

While it did not directly address the protests, the statement serves as a reminder of the party’s determination to enforce its rule.

Hundreds of SUVs, vans and armored vehicles with flashing lights were parked along city streets Wednesday while police and paramilitary forces conducted random ID checks and searched people’s mobile phones for photos, banned apps or other potential evidence that they had taken part in the demonstrations.

The number of people who have been detained at the demonstrations and in follow-up police actions is not known.

Also read | The signals from China’s anti-COVID lockdown protests | In Focus podcast

The commission’s statement, issued after an expanded session Monday presided over by its head Chen Wenqing, a member of the party’s 24-member Politburo, said the meeting aimed to review the outcomes of October’s 20th party congress.

At that event, President Xi Jinping granted himself a third five-year term as secretary general, potentially making him China’s leader for life, while stacking key bodies with loyalists and eliminating opposing voices.

“The meeting emphasized that political and legal organs must take effective measures to … resolutely safeguard national security and social stability,” the statement said.

“We must resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces in accordance with the law, resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order and effectively maintain overall social stability,” it said.

Yet, less than a month after seemingly ensuring his political future and unrivaled dominance, Mr. Xi, who has signaled he favors regime stability above all, is facing his biggest public challenge yet.

He and the party have yet to directly address the unrest, which spread to college campuses and the semi-autonomous southern city of Hong Kong, as well as sparking sympathy protests abroad.

Most protesters focused their ire on the “zero-COVID” policy that has placed millions under lockdown and quarantine, limiting their access to food and medicine while ravaging the economy and severely restricting travel. Many mocked the government’s ever-changing line of reasoning, as well as claims that “hostile outside foreign forces” were stirring the wave of anger.

Yet bolder voices called for greater freedom and democracy and for Mr. Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, as well as the party he leads, to step down — speech considered subversive and punishable with lengthy prison terms. Some held up blank pieces of white paper to demonstrate their lack of free speech rights.

The weekend protests were sparked by anger over the deaths of at least 10 people in a fire on Nov. 24 in China’s far west that prompted angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by anti-virus controls.

Authorities eased some controls and announced a new push to vaccinate vulnerable groups after the demonstrations, but maintained they would stick to the “zero-COVID” strategy.

The party had already promised last month to reduce disruptions, but a spike in infections swiftly prompted party cadres under intense pressure to tighten controls in an effort to prevent outbreaks. The National Health Commission on Wednesday reported 37,612 cases detected over the previous 24 hours, while the death toll remained unchanged at 5,233.

Beijing’s Tsinghua University, where students protested over the weekend, and other schools in the capital and the southern province of Guangdong sent students home in an apparent attempt to defuse tensions. Chinese leaders are wary of universities, which have been hotbeds of activism including the Tiananmen protests.

Police appeared to be trying to keep their crackdown out of sight, possibly to avoid encouraging others by drawing attention to the scale of the protests. Videos and posts on Chinese social media about protests were deleted by the party’s vast online censorship apparatus.

“Zero COVID” has helped keep case numbers lower than those of the United States and other major countries, but global health experts including the head of the World Health Organization increasingly say it is unsustainable. China dismissed the remarks as irresponsible.

Beijing needs to make its approach “very targeted” to reduce economic disruption, the head of the International Monetary Fund told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.

Economists and health experts, however, warn that Beijing can’t relax controls that keep most travelers out of China until tens of millions of older people are vaccinated. They say that means “zero COVID” might not end for as much as another year.

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said restrictions were, among other things, making it impossible for U.S. diplomats to meet with American prisoners being held in China, as is mandated by international treaty. Because of a lack of commercial airline routes into the country, the embassy has to use monthly charter flights to move its personnel in and out.

“COVID is really dominating every aspect of life” in China, he said in an online discussion with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

On the protests, Mr. Burns said the embassy was observing their progress and the government’s response, but said, “We believe the Chinese people have a right to protest peacefully.”

“They have a right to make their views known. They have a right to be heard. That’s a fundamental right around the world. It should be. And that right should not be hindered with, and it shouldn’t be interfered with,” he said.

Mr. Burns also referenced instances of Chinese police harassing and detaining foreign reporters covering the protests.

Also read | Time for change: On ending the zero-COVID policy

“We support freedom of the press as well as freedom of speech,” he said.

Asked about foreign expressions of support for the protesters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian defended China’s approach to handling COVID-19 and said other nations should mind their own business.

“We hope they will first heed their own peoples’ voices and interests instead of pointing fingers at others,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing.

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On This Day: Irish satirist Jonathan Swift born in Dublin in 1667

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Jonathan Swift, the Irish writer behind “Gulliver’s Travels,” was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667. Here is a look at his life.

It just so happens that I live around 10 miles from a place called Lilliput. This brings to mind a fantasy of four parts regarding one Lemuel Gulliver, written by perhaps the greatest Irish writer of them all, published in 1726. “Gulliver’s Travels” is the most famous work of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) and is a satire on both human nature and the “traveler’s tales” that were then in vogue. 

Born in Dublin on 30 November 1667, Swift was the son of English parents. His father, a lawyer, died before Jonathan’s birth and his childhood was partly spent in the care of a nurse, his paternal uncles, and, most likely, in the absence of both parents. Some parts of his life appeared like satire, which is entirely appropriate for a man who became a leading satirist himself, forever poking fun with the tools of irony, humor, exaggeration, and ridicule. Swift admitted himself that he’d written his most famous work to “vex the world”, which it probably did.

This article was originally published in Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. Subscribe now!

Swift started his education at Kilkenny Grammar before entering what was then Ireland’s only university, Trinity College Dublin, continuing his studies in Latin and Greek and adding Hebrew, and deepening his knowledge of Aristotelian philosophy.

After four years, he graduated with the degree of BA ex speciali gratia – a term that Swift later glossed to imply that he had been a poor student, but which most likely did not have the negative connotations Swift would later mischievously suggest. It is certain, though, that Swift was not an outstanding undergraduate, and having left Trinity College in 1686 he was perplexed as to a choice of career. Despite the help of his uncles, Swift had no easy entry into a profession such as would enable him to retain the status of gentleman, so important in his age.

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Protestants William and Mary took the throne off the Catholic-leaning James II, and the subsequent disorder in Ireland, Swift headed for England and relative safety.

Family connections assisted him in starting a career as secretary to the esteemed diplomat and essayist Sir William Temple, who was resident in Farnham, Surrey. Now aged 22, Swift quickly set about acquainting himself with the big, wide world and it was here that he first met Esther Johnson, then aged just eight years old. Johnson was the daughter of Temple’s housekeeper and went on to become a mix of pupil, friend, and possible lover to Swift. 

While sources vary over the status of their relationship, Esther was eventually immortalized in verse tributes, most notably “Journal to Stella,” and was undoubtedly important to Swift. Debates about the nature of their relationship continue to rage with some scholars believing the two were secretly married as early as 1716 and others denying all possibility of a romantic relationship between the two.

In 1694, Swift switched careers and trained to become a protestant clergyman, serving in parishes in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. After Temple’s death, Swift was given the vicarage of Laracor, a town in Co Meath. Swift hoped to eventually rise through the ranks of the church to become a bishop or even an archbishop. However, his outspoken nature had earned him enemies which stunted promotion. The scandal over his private life did him no favors either when during a 1708 visit to London he first met Esther Vanhomrigh. This second Esther was seven years younger than Esther Johnson and after returning with him to Ireland became Swift’s lover and correspondent for over ten years. She was eventually cast aside for Johnson and went on to die a broken-hearted woman later that same year. Despite the scandal, Swift did indeed climb the ranks and in 1713 he was appointed Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

This article was originally published in Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. Subscribe now!

In 1704, the publication of his satires “Battle of the Books” and “A Tale of a Tub” saw Swift back his late patron in the quarrel between Ancients and Modern. The quarrel was a fervent literary dispute raging in both England and France as to whether classical literature (ancient Greece and Rome) was impeccable or whether it could be challenged by modern works. The debate had been started by Temple years before after he argued against the modern position in his essay “On Ancient and Modern Learning” and was subsequently picked up by Swift and his circle of writer friends, often called the Scriblerus Club.

Swift’s visits to London were mostly political but he also took advantage of the opportunities afforded to him through travel and explored many friendships, both literary and noble. Swift supported the Whigs (today’s Liberals) initially but switched to the Tories because of his loyalty to the English Church. 

His friendship with Robert Harley was pivotal in this switch, which was confirmed in 1710 when Harley returned to power, firstly as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Lord High Treasurer. Swift was recruited as Editor of The Examiner, the official mouthpiece of the Tories. 

Swift’s “Four Last Years of the Queen” set out the intrigue and campaigning of that period. At the time, the Tories wanted to keep the establishment secure and bring war with France to an end and so Swift’s “On the Conduct of the Allies” supported this aim, whilst also lambasting the Whigs. 

The death of Queen Anne, in 1714, disappointed Swift and the members of the Scriblerus Club, presumably because they’d lost patronage and favor. Swift returned to the Deanery of St Patrick’s Cathedral, in Dublin, and largely remained there until his death, where he fought strongly for Irish liberties, which were being denied by the then Whig government. Swift’s “The Drapier’s Letters” formed the most famous part of this pro-Irish activity. Swift focused on the English government’s restrictions on Irish trade, e.g. in respect of wool and cattle. His vigorous campaigning on Irish issues, plus his charitable efforts for the poor of Dublin, revived his reputation and he became something of a modern-day celebrity.

It was during his 1726 visit to London that Swift published “Gulliver’s Travels,” his best and most famous satirical work which is split over four parts. The book was an immediate success and has remained so ever since. Although published in London, much of the book was written at Woodbrook House in Co Laois. 

Completing “Gulliver’s Travels” seemed to release Swift’s energies for the light verse that followed, having previously only employed this particular talent for the amusement of the ladies. Poetry of this genre included “The Grand Question Debated” (1729) and “Verses on His Own Death. “Swift particularly liked “On Poetry; a Rhapsody,” which he rated his best verse satire. 

Swift died on 19 October 1745, aged 77. He was buried at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, where he’s oft referred to as “Dean Swift” due to his having been Dean between 1713 and his death.

Taken from the July / August 2020 issue of Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. Subscribe today!



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China to tighten supervision of Covid testing firms amid public outcry over illegal activities

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Staff members register for residents before nucleic acid test at a testing site in Chaoyang District, Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022.(Photo/Xinhua)

Special: Battle Against Novel Coronavirus

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) vowed on Tuesday to continue stepping up supervision of nucleic acid testing firms and will severely punish illegal activities like giving false results, following some individual nucleic acid testing fraud cases that have attracted nationwide attention.

“We have always been strict in supervising nucleic acid testing firms’ qualification entry and their testing quality, constantly optimizing technical norms and strengthening supervision of testing facilities, including private labs,” Guo Yanhong, a senior official from the NHC, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The comment came after local health bureaus in cities including Beijing, Hefei in East China’s Anhui Province, Shijiazhuang in North China’s Hebei Province found some cases of illegal activities by some testing firms, including Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Technology Co.

Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Technology Co has found itself in hot water over the past few days after an on-site inspection by local authorities in Lanzhou, Northwest China’s Gansu Province revealed inconsistencies in the nucleic acid test results provided by the firm’s testing subsidiary.

The Health Commission of Lanzhou said that staffers at the company’s local testing laboratory wrongfully counted certain abnormal test results in a tally of negative results and uploaded them into the working system, and as a result the health codes of some people waiting to be transferred showed negative results.

In August, a medical testing unit in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province linked to the Shenzhen firm’s testing subsidiary was fined 20,000 yuan ($2,781.22) by the Changsha Health Commission for failing to obtain relevant medical qualifications, among other irregularities.

Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Technology Co was founded in April 2012. It has 46 subsidiaries and 31 laboratories nationwide. It has been granted 11 medical testing facility licenses and 20 forensic institute licenses, the STAR Market Daily reported on Monday, citing the company’s introduction on display at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen.

Claiming to be the country’s largest gene testing firm in terms of laboratory size and license numbers, Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Technology has already begun IPO plans, the report said.

The company couldn’t be reached by the Global Times on Tuesday.

Experts and industry insiders said this is only an individual case, and the majority of the nucleic acid testing agencies across the country are working to their maximum capacity to cope with the latest COVID-19 resurgence.

“The incident ruined the credibility of many nucleic acid testing agencies. As far as I know, many labs are required to have samples for quality control, and local health authorities conduct selective examinations,” an industry insider surnamed Chang told the Global Times.

According to official data released in April, China had 13,100 qualified nucleic acid testing institutions by then, and nearly 150,000 people working for them.

Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based medical expert who closely follows public health issues, told the Global Times that nucleic acid testing is by far the most accurate method for spotting new virus strains, but it has a series of collection procedures and specifications, and even some professionally trained medical staff can’t always meet the requirements, which may result in false negative results.

He said that rapid antigen tests should also be deployed for mass testing.

Chang suggested that local authorities could step up re-checking of testing agencies’ results and put their names on a black list if there is illegal behavior and suspend their qualifications.

Tightening regulation

In fact, the authorities have been continuously stepping up supervision of nucleic acid testing firms, with local rounds of inspections conducted to guide companies ensure testing quality.

The health bureau of Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality has set up five inspection teams to carry out checks on 16 third-party nucleic acid testing firms, and it vowed to strictly punish illegal behavior, it said at a press conference on Monday.

It stressed that only medical institutions with biosafety level-II-plus qualification and a Medical Institution Practicing License can apply to conduct nucleic acid testing, and there will also be an on-the-spot review before relevant certificates are granted.

More importantly, local health bureaus conduct random sample testing to check the accuracy of third-party testing firms’ results and those who fail the tests are suspended.

In May, three COVID-19 testing facilities in Beijing – Zhongtong Lambo Medical Testing Laboratory, Jinzhun Medical Testing Laboratory and Pushi Medical Laboratory – were charged over fraud that led to inaccurate results, with over 30 suspects put under criminal compulsory measures.

“Any illegal activity may increase the risk of spreading the epidemic. We have zero tolerance for that behavior and will severely punish it according to the law,” the Beijing police said.

In addition, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges said on November 21 that they will closely review domestic nucleic acid testing firms’ IPO applications and strictly vet their application materials, including their operational sustainability.

Following the announcement, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said on November 23 that it has decided to cancel the IPO review for Yeasen Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co because further inspection is needed.

As a supplier of testing raw materials, COVID-19-related revenue has swiftly increased to nearly 40 percent of the company’s total, according to media reports.




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How plant-based athlete Brooke Donoghue fuels her mind and body

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Olympic rowing silver medallist, new mother and recently minted author Brooke Donoghue is a proudly plant-based elite athlete, whose recent book Sustain: Plant-based food for active people (written with fellow athlete and silver medallist Luuka Jones and nutritionist Christel Dunshea-Mooij) aims to educate and inspire people wanting to eat more plant-based foods.

“We’re not looking to convert anyone to be plant based.” Brooke explains. “We’re just trying to show people yummy recipes you can whip up without feeling like you’re missing out not eating meat.”

The decision to go fully plant-based can’t have been an easy one for a professional athlete, who has a literal team of people invested in her performance. “That definitely played on my mind,” Brooke admits. “I got to the point though where it was more important to follow my values; it just put pressure on me to do it well.”

READ MORE:
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Brooke describes it as being no different to any other performance preparation. “If anything it made me more conscious of what I was eating. I was more aware and more informed of what I needed to be eating and doing.”

She’s applied many of the learnings to the book, with information around vitamin intakes and recommendations alongside the plant-based recipes. She hopes the book can be used as somewhat of a ‘sporting bible’, the kind of resource she’d had as a young athlete. “Hopefully people pick it up, learn a lot and improve their performances from it.”

As an elite athlete competing at the very top level, Brooke has unique insight into her health and mental health, making her a great subject to tap into on the subject of wellbeing. Herewith she imparts her wisdom.

What do you do for a living?

For the past 10 years I’ve been a member of the New Zealand Rowing team. This year, post the Tokyo Olympics, has been a little different. I worked at Rabobank in the sustainability team and am now on maternity leave. ​

What hours do you work each day?

​Rowing is intensive, we do 3-4 hours of training each day usually over 2-3 sessions, six days a week, plus time spent in meetings with nutritionists, sports physiologist, sport psychologists, physios, coaches etc. and then recovery time to rest and eat.

Working for the bank I would do seven hours of work a day, plus training morning and afternoon.

Sustain “breaks down the vitamins and minerals we need daily and the food sources to get these from.”

Supplied

Sustain “breaks down the vitamins and minerals we need daily and the food sources to get these from.”

Do you have set work/life boundaries or do they merge?

Rowing has never felt like work. Over the past year I’ve juggled transitioning from being an elite athlete with a very strict routine, to filling up my cup with all the things I was unable to give my full attention to while rowing.

These include working full time in an office job, training, pregnancy, writing Sustain, renovating a house and finishing my masters. It’s a tricky balancing act.

For me personally, exercise makes me feel good, so I’m always going to prioritise that in my day. From there it’s about doing things that make me happy and are important. Things that are less important just have to go to the back.

What time do you wake up?

​Usually sometime around 6am or 7.30am if I get a sleep in.

What do you have for breakfast? ​

My go-to is two pieces of toast with butter and peanut butter.

Do you have an exercise routine, if so what is it?

​Being an elite athlete meant exercise was my life. Doing the amount of training we did meant that I often felt more exhausted than fit. But I enjoyed seeing the rewards from this discipline when racing internationally.

The past year I’ve found that it is really important to exercise every day – no matter what it looks like. I’ll often go for a run in the morning or go to the gym and sit on the stationary bike or do weights. I always feel better from doing something rather than nothing. I find exercise clears my head.

Do you use supplements?

I believe it’s possible to get all you need from food. However, being a plant-based athlete I’m conscious not to let my iron get too low. We [training team] put more effort into doing blood tests and food diaries to make sure that we’re filling all those gaps and not leaving any stone unturned.

I supplement with iron tablets when I need to. Sustain breaks down the vitamins and minerals we need daily and the food sources to get these from.

What time do you go to bed at night? Do you sleep soundly?

​I am usually in bed and asleep by 10pm. Currently, not sleeping soundly with a newborn!

What do you do in the final hour before bed? ​

Blob on the couch. It’s probably the only time of the day I allow myself to not be productive. I’m pretty bad at mindlessly scrolling Instagram, which I know isn’t the best thing to do, but it definitely makes me switch off.

Tell me about your poop.

All I will say is one benefit of a plant-based diet is the extra fibre which is definitely beneficial for your gut, probiotics and stools.

How do you deal with the stress of failure?

If I feel stressed or upset about ‘failing’ it shows how much that thing must mean to me. I try to use this as fuel to the fire to make me better going forward – definitely easier said than done. In rowing, the big times where I’ve felt that huge sense of failure and like I’ve let other people and myself down, those were the times I feel like it makes you better. Because you’re so motivated after feeling those emotions.

What do you do for fun? ​

I love being outdoors and enjoy hikes, surfing or diving with my husband, Jeff.

Favourite free stress-buster?

​Cleaning the house. Jeff might also say that this is what I do for fun.

What’s been the biggest change you’ve made when it comes to looking after your health, mental health and wellbeing?

​Four years ago I made the decision to go plant-based. I’ve never really enjoyed the taste of meat (I’d been vegetarian since high school) and through my masters’ studies in sustainability I wanted to do more for the planet which led me to giving up meat. I put more focus on what I was eating and how much I was eating which helped improve my sporting performance and general health.

Learning more about sustainability I also became more conscious of what I was consuming and made an effort to reduce my waste and think about what I was purchasing and consuming. I believe that living with less, and being conscious of the people and planet around us is a way to improve wellbeing. I feel less stressed having less ‘stuff’ around me which makes me more intentional about what I do own and consume.

Sustain: Plant-based food for active people by Brooke Donoghue, Luuka Jones and Christel Dunshea-Mooij, published by Bateman Books, is available now, $45.

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Top Qatari official puts worker deaths for World Cup ‘between 400 and 500’

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Issued on:

A top Qatari official involved in the country’s World Cup organization has put the number of worker deaths for the tournament “between 400 and 500” for the first time, a drastically higher number than any other previously offered by Doha.

The comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar‘s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared to come off the cuff during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.

It also threatened to reinvigorate criticism by human rights groups over the toll of hosting the Middle East’s first World Cup for the migrant labor that built over $200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament.

In the interview, portions of which Morgan posted online, the British journalist asks al-Thawadi: “What is the honest, realistic total do you think of migrant workers who died from – as a result of work they’re doing for the World Cup in totality?”

“The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500,” al-Thawadi responds. “I don’t have the exact number. That’s something that’s been discussed.”

But that figure hasn’t been discussed publicly by Qatari officials previously. Reports from the Supreme Committee dating from 2014 through the end of 2021 only include the number of deaths of workers involved in building and refurbishing the stadiums now hosting the World Cup.

Those released figures put the total number of deaths at 40. They include 37 from what the Qataris describe as nonwork incidents such as heart attacks and three from workplace incidents. One report also separately lists a worker death from the coronavirus amid the pandemic.

Al-Thawadi pointed to those figures when discussing work just on stadiums in the interview, right before offering the “between 400 to 500” death toll for all the infrastructure for the tournament.

In a later statement, the Supreme Committee said al-Thawadi was referring to “national statistics covering the period of 2014-2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities.”

Since FIFA awarded the tournament to Qatar in 2010, the country has taken some steps to overhaul the country’s employment practices. That includes eliminating its so-called kafala employment system, which tied workers to their employers, who had say over whether they could leave their jobs or even the country.

Qatar also has adopted a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals ($275) for workers and required food and housing allowances for employees not receiving those benefits directly from their employers. It also has updated its worker safety rules to prevent deaths.

“One death is a death too many. Plain and simple,” al-Thawadi adds in the interview.

Activists have called on Doha to do more, particularly when it comes to ensuring workers receive their salaries on time and are protected from abusive employers.

Al-Thawadi’s comment also renews questions on the veracity of both government and private business reporting on worker injuries and deaths across the Gulf Arab states, whose skyscrapers have been built by laborers from South Asia nations like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

“This is just the latest example of Qatar’s inexcusable lack of transparency on the issues of workers’ deaths,” said Nicholas McGeehan of Fairsquare, a London-based group which advocates for migrant workers in the Middle East. “We need proper data and thorough investigations, not vague figures announced through media interviews.

“FIFA and Qatar still have a lot of questions to answer, not least where, when, and how did these men die and did their families receive compensation.”

Mustafa Qadri, the executive director of Equidem Research, a labor consultancy that has published reports on the toll of the construction on migrant laborers, also said he was surprised by al-Thawadi’s remark.

“For him now to come and say there is hundreds, it’s shocking,” he told The Associated Press. “They have no idea what’s going on.”

(AP)



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In this prison in Portugal, inmates dance to escape

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Forgetting, even just for a moment, the difficult condition of being a prisoner. That’s the goal of this dance workshop organised by Catarina Câmara.

Twice a week, the Linhó prison’s chapel near Lisbon becomes a space where inmates are encouraged to express their emotions through dance.

Inside this high-security prison, six inmates are moving gracefully around in a series of improvised dance moves, clutching props and following the rhythm of the music.

Outside, the high walls are lined with barbed wire and a loudspeaker barks instructions for prisoners.

Changing the mindset

“Dancing in prison is a subversive act. It is a gesture of rebellion, but constructive rebellion. It is not making a lot of noise,” explains Catarina Câmara, dancer and choreographer of the workshop. 

She hopes the classes — part of a social dance project that began in April 2019 — can help change the mindset of some of the young prisoners.

According to Câmara, the feedback has been very positive: “The inmates, while dancing, feel something special in them. And it is this that allows us to understand what is ingrained in them. This is what I call creative disorganisation,” she says. 

A sort of escape

The workshop not only prepares inmates for social reintegration, but it also allows them to take their minds off their problems, a sort of escape.

“When you come here, it’s like you’re not in prison anymore. You feel like you are with people on the street, you feel free, and when you start dancing you forget that you are a prisoner,” says Manuel Antunes, a Linhó prison inmate. 

Fábio Tavares, another inmate and participant also praised the initiative: “With dance, we give more value to life, we give more value to the other. You learn to respect others, to protect yourself from negative emotions and to get rid of them because it is these negative emotions that hurt me and those around me. You learn a lot, believe me!” 

The project involves about a dozen of the 500 inmates at the Linhó prison, where mainly young men with heavy sentences are imprisoned.



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Lights are often out at this remote First Nation. It must import costly U.S. power, but wants the Ontario grid | CBC News

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Despite the approaching dusk, there aren’t many lights turned on in Harvey Powassin’s home on Windigo Island, a remote community of about 50 people that is part of Animakee Wa Zhing 37 in northwestern Ontario. 

As the mercury continues to drop, Powassin is getting ready for the return of winter and the high electricity bills.

He pulls out his hydro bills from last year. In January, it was $664 US. In February, it was $987.

“I try to be conscious about it,” Powassin said, “but not really a whole lot you can do in the winter time because you gotta keep the house warm for the pipes.”

In many ways, the community of Windigo Island, along with the neighbouring First Nation community of Angle Inlet — both located on Lake of the Woods and accessible only by boat or ice road — have fallen through the cracks when it comes to electricity and affordability.

They live on waters that generate cheap power for Ontario and Manitoba, but have to import electricity from the United States, meaning they pay some of the highest electricity prices in Ontario, once the currency exchange rate is factored in. 

The Ontario government hands out a lot of money to help residents and businesses with electricity costs — about $6.9 billion this year alone, estimates the Financial Accountability Office. But Windigo Island residents don’t see any of that cash. The on-bill subsidies are only for people connected to local electricity distribution systems, a spokesperson with the Ontario Ministry of Energy confirmed.

Manitoba has also taken steps to reduce the cost of electricity to residents, building a transmission line through the traditional lands of Animakee Wa Zhing 37 and other First Nations to export more power to Minnesota — a project that has been in service since June 2020. 

But Windigo Island still likely won’t get any help for its bills, after the province issued a directive to Manitoba Hydro that prevents the corporation from entering into agreements with Indigenous communities.

It’s a unique situation among Indigenous communities in Canada, several experts told CBC News, one they say has been created by historical and ongoing injustices, and that demands action.

‘We don’t want to see people leave’

Leading up to winter, Powassin said he starts putting money aside to ensure he has enough to cover electricity bills.

“What choice do I have? It’s the only company that services the community, so it’s just something you gotta live with right now until they find something else.”

Powassin said he can afford to pay his own electricity bills because he has a well-paying job as the island’s water treatment plant operator. But if that were to stop, Powassin said, he might have to move off the island his family has inhabited for generations.

He’s also among the island’s few residents who pay their own bills. 

The First Nation covers the cost of electricity for most buildings, including 17 residential houses, in part because of the financial burden and also because the hydro meters are split in a way that makes it difficult to divide, said the First Nation’s chief, Linda McVicar.

Linda McVicar, chief of Animakee Wa Zhing 37, says the cost of electricity on Windigo Island is becoming too much, and worries one day it won’t be affordable for residents to live on the island their families have inhabited for generations. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

But the cost is becoming too much, McVicar added.

“Every month, we’re losing money, money that we could use for [economic development] or we could use for housing or infrastructure.”

The First Nation has already paid $120,571.30 US in electricity bills from 2022 for fewer than two dozen buildings. That amounts to more than $154,600 Cdn.

The Minnesotan electricity supplier charges them a flat rate of $0.138 US per kilowatt hour, which is equivalent to about $0.185 Cdn per kilowatt hour, based on the average currency exchange rate in November.

While it is difficult to compare electricity prices across Canada because of different power sources and billing methods, that is above the current peak pricing rate at $0.151 Cdn per kilowatt hour and higher than the top-tier electricity cost of $0.103 per kilowatt hour, which are set by the Ontario Energy Board.

The rate is also much higher than what’s seen in major cities in the neighbouring hydro-dependent provinces of Manitoba and Quebec, where the average electricity rates are $0.102 and $0.076 per kilowatt hour, respectively.

“We have a [20-year] plan for growth. It’s just that how are we gonna be able to do that with the costs,” McVicar said.

“Now is the critical point, where I think it’s going to be very difficult to be able to stay here. We don’t want to see people leave.”

After CBC News reached out to Indigenous Services Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, they initiated meetings with McVicar and said they are committed to helping Animakee Wa Zhing, but did not offer solutions, funding or a timeline to address the First Nation’s concerns.

Neither government said it would provide subsidies to temporarily support the First Nation with electricity costs. The two governments also did not say if it would ultimately pay for new hydro connections to the island, although the federal government recently put forward millions for other major electricity projects to connect First Nations to the Ontario grid.

High prices for unreliable electricity

Vanessa Powassin, Harvey’s niece and a former chief of the First Nation, can’t imagine ever leaving Windigo Island.

“I’m gonna be a ‘windy bug’ for life … that’s what we call ourselves from Windigo,” she laughed.

The area around Windigo carries great historical and cultural significance, and was one of the locations where Treaty 3 was signed in 1873.

“Especially the Powassin-Major [families], we’ve been here since the Treaty was signed, so it’s our home,” Vanessa said.

Her family will always be here, she said. One of Vanessa’s daughters died in 2002 and is buried on the island.

“I have to take care of her too. I’m not gonna leave her,” Vanessa said. “My kids are the most important thing in my world. That’s why I keep fighting to stay here.”

But she’s in for a tough battle. While the First Nation covers the cost of her electricity, the problem isn’t just the price. It’s also the reliability — a key problem for Vanessa, who just started life-saving dialysis treatment.

A woman stands in front of her dialysis machine in a room on Windigo Island.
Vanessa Powassin, a resident of Windigo Island, says she relies heavily on electricity because she uses dialysis three times a week. But reliable power is a problem on the island, she adds. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

Vanessa has to get the 3½-hour dialysis treatment three times per week. If the power shuts off, she has just 20 minutes to disconnect before the battery on the dialysis machine runs out.

“Everything goes black … this light [on the machine] will turn red and it flashes [a countdown], and it makes a lot of alarms,” said Powassin, describing what happens when there’s a power outage.

“It only takes about five to 10 minutes, but sometimes I need help. As soon as the power goes out, [my husband] runs from the school to get over here.”

In the first three weeks of her dialysis treatment, Vanessa said, there were two full outages. During one particularly windy period this fall, the power was flickering so frequently that Vanessa said her nurse advised her to wait until the electricity stopped doing that — which ended up taking four days.

“It gives me anxiety a lot, like when there are power outages. I worry I’m not going to get my treatment done that week,” she said.

A photo of a woman standing in a kitchen.
Vanessa Powassin, a former chief of Animakee Wa Zhing, says she probably wouldn’t be able to continue living on Windigo Island if she had to pay her own electricity bills, because of the cost. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

With the cost of electricity — heightened by all-electric heating in her house and the dialysis machine — and the lack of Ontario subsidies available, Vanessa said she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to stay on the island.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to live here. It would be a choice between food and travel to get all your food, and electricity.”

‘Who should pay?’

While the electricity bills keep piling up for Animakee Wa Zhing 37, McVicar said they are trying to make improvements for residents of Windigo Island — including a new water treatment plant, a cultural and wellness centre and new housing units — but those all come with increased energy costs.

Some people who live off reserve are also asking to move back, McVicar added.

“That’s a good thing for people to have that ability to come home. But the [bills] are going up, we see that, and so we’re kind of at a critical mass.”

The First Nation has recently explored different options to bring cheaper power to the island, including several conversations with Hydro One, the largest electricity transmission and distribution provider in Ontario.

Two people look at a map of northwestern Ontario.
McVicar, chief of Animakee Wa Zhing 37, shows CBC reporter Logan Turner some of the options shared by Hydro One to connect Windigo Island to the Ontario electricity grid. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

Hydro One made some suggestions, including connecting the island to the Ontario grid by submerging transmission lines, at a quoted cost of between $5 million and $10 million, the chief said.

“The conversation kind of just ended, because it’s a large cost and who should pay for it?” McVicar said.

“Quite honestly, our capacity for all of this talk and jibber jabber about something to me, that’s a basic right … it takes too much of my time.”

A unique situation, with many possible solutions

Animakee Wa Zhing is one of two First Nations in the same proverbial boat.

Angle Inlet, a community of about 85 residents, is part of Northwest Angle 33 First Nation. It neighbours Windigo Island and must also import power from Minnesota.

Darlene Comegan, chief of Northwest Angle 33, said they too are looking to bring down their electricity costs, especially high because of the weaker Canadian currency compared to the U.S. dollar.

“I don’t think it’s fair at all,” Comegan said.

“We’re just two small communities that don’t get looked at … it just feels like we’re not worth it to even spend money on.”

A drone photo of an island surrounded by water.
Windigo Island, part of Animakee Wa Zhing 37, is accessible only by boat or ice road on Lake of the Woods. The island is situated at the site where Ontario meets the Manitoba-Minnesota border. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

CBC News spoke to three experts on electricity and renewable energy in First Nations.

They all said there are several options to bring down electricity costs, from creating micro-grids using solar or wind power and electricity storage systems on the island, to reducing energy consumption by renovating their buildings to be more energy efficient with the use of high-efficiency wood stoves and heat pumps. There are several provincial and federal programs, as well as non-profits like Indigenous Clean Energy, that could support that transition, the experts agreed.

“It’s really up to the community as to how they envision their energy future,” said Dave Lovekin, director of the renewables in remote communities program with Pembina Institute, a Canadian energy think-tank.

Paul Parker, director of the University of Waterloo’s economic development, said the First Nation should also receive compensation from Ontario and Manitoba hydro corporations.

“The waters that are generating the low-cost hydro that are benefiting others were obtained by flooding traditional areas, and what is the recognition of Indigenous rights that’s associated with that?” Parker said to CBC News.

At the end of the day, access to affordable electricity should be a basic right, McVicar said, and governments need to step up to help out.

“We’re at a cusp with reconciliation and the recognition that First Nations people deserve all of the opportunities that settlers have had over generations to create economic development,” McVicar said.

“For us to be able to grow and sustain, we have to have [affordable hydro] or we will just stay status quo and stagnate.”



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Vietnamese Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong-Backed VinFast Ships First Batch Of Electric SUVs To U.S.

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VinFast—an electric carmaker backed by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong—is shipping its first batch of electric sports utility vehicles to the U.S., challenging billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla in his home market.

The 999 VF 8 SUVs were loaded to the Silver Queen—a Panamanian charter ship—in Vietnam’s northern port city of Haiphong on Friday and expected to arrive in California by mid-December, in time for delivery to U.S. customers by year end, VinFast said in a statement. The EVs are part of the 65,000 global orders that the company aims to deliver to customers around the world, with shipments to Canada and Europe expected to arrive in early 2023, it added.

“The export of the first VF 8s is a significant event for VinFast and VinGroup and a proud historical milestone for the Vietnamese automotive industry,” Nguyen Viet Quang, vice chairman and CEO of Vingroup, said. “It affirms that Vietnam has successfully produced high quality electric vehicles that are ready to compete in the international market.”

VinFast has been working on producing EVs to compete in the global market in recent years, beefing up its management by recruiting senior executives from major car manufacturers such as Tesla, BMW, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan. The company has set up branches across the U.S., Canada, and Europe in preparation for the global launch of its smart electric cars.

Besides car manufacturing, VinFast’s controlling shareholder Vuong has interests in real estate, retail, consumer electronics and healthcare through VinGroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate by market value. He is the country’s richest person with a net worth of $4.3 billion, according to the Forbes real-time ranking of billionaires.



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Anti-lockdown protests intensify in China as COVID cases hit record high

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Angry crowds took to the streets in Shanghai in the early hours of November 27.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Rare public protests opposing China’s stringent Covid lockdowns intensified in the country, while coronavirus cases continue to rise sharply with close to 40,000 infections reported on Sunday.

Chinese social media and Twitter have many videos of public protests, including a mass demonstration in Shanghai where people in a rare display of anger shouted slogans against the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and President Xi Jinping.

Many protesters were reportedly being arrested.

There are also videos of protests from various university campuses where students came out in the open to oppose the lockdowns.

On Saturday, the government stepped back from enforcing lockdowns in Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, where 10 people were killed and nine others injured on Thursday in a fire at an apartment block which was under COVID lockdown.

During the weekend, Urumqi witnessed a huge demonstration in which many Han Chinese nationals took part along with Uygur Muslims.

Urumqi authorities on Saturday said the city would lift coronavirus restrictions “in phases” after footage surfaced online showing rare protests against a three-month lockdown, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

The footage of protests, which was later censored, showed hundreds of residents in a public square outside a government office, chanting slogans “serve the people” and “end the lockdown”, and singing the national anthem.

Other clips showed scuffles between residents and people in hazmat suits in the street.

In Beijing, people from several compounds, under lockdowns for days, also staged protests, leading to officials withdrawing the curbs.

Meanwhile, the National Health Commission on Sunday said 39,501 coronavirus cases, including 35,858 asymptomatic cases, were reported in the country by the end of Saturday as mass COVID tests were carried out across China to identify new clusters of infection.

It is for the fourth consecutive day that China reported an increase in cases, the highest since it recorded a sharp spike in cases in top cities like Shanghai in April.

The capital Beijing has been reporting a sharp escalation of cases, which on Sunday climbed to over 4,700, amid growing protests and unease in the city over lockdowns of dozens of apartment buildings.

As of Sunday, the city has 9,694 cumulative confirmed cases.

The State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, meanwhile, has reiterated its commitment to cracking down on COVID-19 control malpractices and urged localities to rectify improper implementation of the guidelines.

The mechanism said that some local governments have been found to either roll out overt measures such as ordering widespread lockdowns or take a lax attitude toward the disease, and both tendencies are wrong, state-run China Daily reported on Sunday.



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