NEW DELHI, India – Today, the body of Bal Thackeray, a controversial Hindu nationalist and politician, was cremated in Mumbai. Prior to the cremation, hundreds of thousands filled the streets to pay their respects.
Bal Thackeray’s son by his bedside at the funeral in Mumbai. (Photo Courtesy of Hindustantimes)
According to Indian Express, political leaders, celebrities, allies and rivals attended the funeral, which took place at Shivaji Park. This event marked as Mumbai’s first public funeral since 1920.
“As far as I know, this is the first time since independence that a person has been cremated at a public platform in the city,” shared former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro.
Suffering from respiratory and pancreatic difficulties, Mr. Thackeray passed away on Saturday.
Mr. Thackeray founded the right-wing Shiv Sena party in 1966 and possessed a hefty following before his death. He was also influential in the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai in order to separate itself from its colonial past.
According to BBC, Mr. Thackeray is one of the “most divisive figures in Indian politics” and has allegedly used the Shiv Sena party as vehicle to keep South Indian migrants out of Maharashtra and thwart the spread of Islam.
“Only Marathis [residents of Maharashtra] have the first right over Mumbai,” Mr. Thackeray wrote last year in the Shiv Sena newspaper.
In 2002 and 2008, Mr. Thackeray urged Hindus to create suicide squads to combat Muslims. Furthermore, in 1992 and 1993, the Indian government launched an inquiry into the riots in Mumbai and subsequently attributed Shiv Sena members for administering attacks on Muslims.
Thus, Mr. Thackeray is accused of inciting and exacerbating tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
When accused of harboring anti-Muslim sentiment, Mr. Thackeray denied such allegations. Moreover, authorities never convicted Mr. Thackeray of any offence.
For further information, please see:
BBC News – Bal Thackeray funeral: Thousands mourn right wing leader – 18 November 2012
IBNlive – Bal Thackeray’s funeral the first on public ground since 1947 – 18 November 2012
Indian Express – State funeral for Bal Thackeray, calm city lines – 18 November 2012
By Madeline Schiesser Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, acknowledged in a press release on Friday that political prisoners were used as forced labor in the manufacturing of IKEA parts some 25 to 30 years ago in communist Eastern Germany. Jeanette Skjelmose, Head of Sustainability says, “We regret deeply that this could happen. Using political prisoners in production has never been accepted within IKEA.”
IKEA “deeply regrets” the use of political prisoners as forced labor. Embarrassingly, IKEA’s corporate responsibility motto is “low price but not at any price”. (Photo Courtesy of The Telegraph)
The announcement was prompted by the findings of an internal audit conducted by accountants Ernst & Young, which poured over 20,000 pages of IKEA’s internal records documents and 80,000 archived German items. Also, about 90 people were interviewed.
The Ernst & Young study found that IKEA had given contracts to the East German (GDR) government. It further found that political and criminal prisoners were involved in manufacturing for IKEA suppliers there, and it was likely that at the time some IKEA representatives were aware of this likelihood. The use of forced labor in East German state-owned companies continued until the fall of Communism in 1989.
However, the study has already been denounced as “unscientific” by Roland Schulz, VP of an association representing East German Communist regime victims. Calling for historians and political scientists to carry out a more thorough investigation, he explains that, “IKEA as the guilty party is itself conducting the investigation rather than leaving it to unbiased sources. Therefore we strongly doubt the validity of the results.”
IKEA commissioned the study after a 2011 German documentary from and 2012 Swedish Television reports claimed that, based on documents from the Stasi archives and statements from former political prisoners of the Stasi, IKEA’s suppliers used political prisoners as inexpensive labor. The Stasi were the much feared secret police of the former GDR.
According to Stasi records, in one case political prisoners were used as unpaid labor to build sofas at a factory in Waldheim. The factory and prison stood side by side. Hans Klare, a former inmate at Waldheim who worked on sofa production there, described conditions as “slave labor.” He remembers sleeping above the factory floor and working long hours with little rest and in dangerous conditions.
Initially, IKEA denied the accusations in April, claiming that it had conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence at political prisoners were used in production.
However, this week IKEA announced plans to make a donation to support the research of UOKG, a German charity for victims of the former Communist regime. UOKG has campaigned for compensation for many former prisoners, on the grounds that they remain psychological and physical burdened by their time doing forced labor.
UOKG chairman Rainer Wagner praised IKEA for “tak[ing] the lead on this, for which we are very grateful,” and acknowledged that IKEA was one of many companies that benefited from forced prison labor during the Communist era.
However, former prisoners may still yet demand compensation from IKEA.
In the press release, IKEA states that while it tried to take steps to ensure that prisoners were not used in production, “it is now clear that these measures were not effective enough.”
Skjelmose also added that IKEA has reduced the risk of something similar being able to happen again. IKEA presently has rigorous codes of conduct for suppliers, and works closely with suppliers and external inspections. Furthermore, they carry out more than 1,000 audits each year to ensure compliance with this code.
However, some argue that IKEA should not have worked with the former GDR initially. “They didn’t ask who were producing their furniture and under what kind of conditions,” Dr Hubertus Knabe, director of the Stasi Prison Memorial said, prior to the publishing of the Ernst & Young report.
“In each case you are responsible [for] with whom you are dealing and if you are dealing with dictatorship, if you don’t have a look under what kind of conditions your furniture is produced, then you are responsible for that.”
By Alexandra Sandacz Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
LONDON, United Kingdom – Adrian Smith, a Christian man, was demoted from his job for a Facebook comment that denounced gay marriages as “equally too far.” After facing a 40% salary cut, Smith won a breach of contract action against his employer.
Adrian Smith demoted after leaving anti-gay marriage message on Facebook. (Photo Courtesy of The Huffington Post)
Smith faced disciplinary action after he wrote an opposition to gay marriage comment on Facebook in February of 2011. In addition to his religious comments, Smith also listed his place of work on his Facebook page. His employer, Trafford Housing Trust, feared Smith’s comments could be viewed as representative of his employer.
Trafford Housing Trust alleged Smith breached the code of conduct for its employees, and acted “contrary to the Trust’s equal opportunities policy.”
In his breach of contract action, Smith claimed that Trafford Housing Trust acted unlawfully in demoting him. Furthermore, he also claimed that the trust breached his human rights.
Judge Michael Briggs determined that although Adrian Smith opposes gay marriage for religious reasons, his comment on Facebook ultimately did not demonstrate misconduct in relation to his contract with Trafford Housing Trust. Judge Briggs continued to explain that Smith was demoted because of his “long record of loyal service” and “was taken to task for doing nothing wrong.”
In response to Judge Briggs decision, Smith stated, “Britain is a free country where people have freedom of speech, and I am pleased that the judge’s ruling underlines that important principle. Something has poisoned the atmosphere in Britain, where an honest man like me can be punished for making perfectly polite remarks.”
Matthew Gardiner, chief executive at Trafford Housing Trust, responded, “We fully accept the court’s decision and I have made a full and sincere apology to Adrian. At the time we believed we were taking the appropriate action following discussions with our employment solicitors and taking into account his previous disciplinary record.”
Gardiner continued, “We have always vigorously denied allegations that the Trust had breached an employee’s rights to freedom of religious expression under Human Rights and Equalities legislation.”
Sarah Henchoz, an employment lawyer at Allen & Overy LLP in London, advised that British lawmakers should create brighter guidelines on the relationship between employers and employees when it comes to personal comments on social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Henchoz believes social media has “grown and the law around it hasn’t grown as quickly. Employers are regulating that themselves internally, but there’s not going to be consistency.”
This Revolution has opened up our eyes and minds. We can SEE clearly now: the hypocrisy of East, West, North and South has been totally exposed. Ideological interests and sectarian belongings trump humanitarian considerations any given time – we suspected as much, but now we KNOW. Resistance ideology and its global sympathizers, the responsibility to protect and its advocates: lies and liars all. But we still have few more illusions to shed before we are completely free. Long Live the Revolution. Goodbye long-cherished illusions.
Today’s Death Toll:122 (including 4 women and 3 children)
35 in Damascus and Suburbs
32 in Aleppo (most in Bustan Qasr)
15 in Idlib, 8 in Daraa
8 in Hama
6 in Raqqa
6 in Deir Ezzor
5 in Homs
3 in Banyas
3 in Lattakia
1 in Quneitra
Points of Random Shelling:186
76 by artillery
99 by mortars
26 by missiles
8 areas in Syria were targeted by the regime’s warplanes
Clashes: 87
Developments: Rebels shot down 2 warplanes in Damascus Suburbs (in Hammouria and Deir Assafeer), and attacked a tank convoy heading to Bowaida. Rebels also prevented several attempts to storm, Rastan in Homs Province, as well as few suburbs in Eastern Ghoutah Region (LCC).
News
UK: European Nations to Debate Syria Arms EmbargoFrance has already raised the possibility of sending “defensive weapons” to Syria’s rebels. “We must not militarize the conflict … but it’s obviously unacceptable that there are liberated zones and they’re bombed” by Assad’s regime, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday in an interview with RTL radio. However, a senior EU official said if an arms embargo against Syria was restructured to allow arms to go to rebels but not to the regime, it would be very difficult to police. For that reason, the EU is unlikely to change the embargo, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of standing EU rules.
SYRIA: Turkey opens up to international aid in campsFor months, Turkey insisted to the outside world that it could handle the refugee influx on its own. Initially, it was not alone in thinking the Syrian crisis would be a short-lived event, with refugees staying a few weeks, or months at the most, before returning home. But 20 months, 115,000 refugees and US$235 million of Turkish government spending later, observers say Turkey is realizing its approach is unsustainable.
Surgery in Syria, Part 1: Building An Operating Theater In A Cave
British surgeon Paul McMaster recently returned from Syria, where he treated the wounded first in an operating theater set up in a cave and then on a farm. Though McMaster has experience working in war zones, in Syria he found a “more oppressive type of danger.” Here, he reflects on his experiences.
MANILA, The Philippines – Pregnant mothers endure poor medical care in crowded hospitals in Manila as the debate over a new reproductive health care bill rages on in the Philippine legislature.
Filipino Mothers and their newborns. (Photo Courtesy of ABC Radio Australia)
At the Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, 171 pregnant mothers share less than 100 beds in the overflowing maternity ward. Many more expecting mothers wait in lines outside on the street, some sleeping on the sidewalk.
The hospital staff will not grant these expecting mothers admission until the absolute last moment, when they are ready to give birth. After they give birth, the mothers are allowed to spend a maximum of 48 hours in the maternity ward for recovery; most of them sleep two to a bed due to the overcrowding.
Most of the women who seek the services at Fabella Memorial Hospital are working class or destitute and cannot afford the luxury of giving birth at a private hospital. Fabella accepts the pregnant women which other hospitals reject and charge 3,000 pesos (roughly $70 USD) for a regular birth.
However, most women who come to Fabella cannot afford to pay the 3,000 pesos, so the hospital renders their services for as little as 100 pesos (roughly $2.40 USD) in some extreme cases. The hospital averages about 60 deliveries per day, and during peak seasons, will see as many as 80 deliveries in one day.
Due to Catholicism being the predominate religion in the Philippines, many of the women have never had any sex or reproductive health education. Contraception is also rarely utilized because many of the women cannot afford it or are morally opposed to it because of religious beliefs.
The proposed reproductive health bill is slated to address the lack of sex and reproductive health education and inaccessibility of contraceptives. The legislation has been backed by President Benigno S. Aquino III, but has been met with serious opposition from the Roman Catholic Church.
The Philippines has one of the fattest growing populations in the entire world with an estimated birth rate of roughly 25 out of 1000 people, compared to roughly 14 out of 1000 people in the U.S. The new reproductive health care legislation will implement family planning services in hopes of bringing the out of control birth rate down.
Government proponents of the reproductive health care bill hope to distribute reproductive health care services throughout the country and offer better access to contraceptives. The Bill also hopes to spread, more importantly, knowledge regarding sex and reproductive health, against the wishes of the Roman Catholic Church, in hopes that the education will lead to more informed decisions about family planning.
