Today

12 December/January April/May 2011 2015/16 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk 020 7738 2348
December/January 2015/16
Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today
13
International
International
online: www.KCWToday.co.uk
Boris goes abroad
By Jade Parker
Boris Johnson’s recent high profile
trip to Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian territories aimed to
strengthen trade ties with the capital.
However, the Mayor of London’s time in
Palestine was cut short after he angered
Palestinian groups by making comments
deemed to be pro-Israeli.
The Mayor’s bumbling way with
words once again landed him in an
awkward situation, after saying that
a trade boycott of Israel would be
“completely crazy” at an event in Tel
Aviv, just days before he was due to visit
the Occupied Palestinian territories.
Describing supporters of the trade
boycott as “snaggle-toothed, corduroywearing
lefty academics” and Israel
as the only democracy in the region,
Boris’s comments were well received in
Israel, but resulted in the cancellation of
several of his scheduled engagements in
Palestine.
The Sharek Youth Forum, who
were due to meet Mr. Johnson,
said in a statement: “Following
Johnson’s inaccurate, misinformed
and disrespectful statement, it is our
conclusion that he consciously denies the
reality of the occupation that continues
to oppress them and all Palestinians.”
They went further to say: "As
Palestinians and supporters of boycott,
divestment and sanctions (BDS),
we cannot in good conscience host
Johnson, as a person who denounces
the international BDS movement
and prioritises the feelings of wearers
of 'corduroy jackets' over an entire
nation under occupation. In Johnson’s
own words, the “only democracy
in the region” is one that oppresses
citizens, confiscates land, demolished
homes, detains children and violates
international humanitarian and human
rights on a daily basis.”
Speaking to local reporters in
Ramallah, Boris said it was a shame that
he could not go ahead with the majority
of scheduled meetings and acknowledged
that his comments had caused offence
to some people but said they had been
“whipped up on social media”.
One of the few meetings that did go
ahead was with the prime minister of
the Palestinian Authority. Speaking to
reporters after the meeting, Boris refused
to retract his comments saying that what
he had said was a: “simple repetition of
what is not only British government
policy but is a policy supported by
the prime minister of the Palestinian
Authority.” He also said: “It is very clear
from the conversation I have just had
with the prime minister that he does not
support a boycott and does think that is
the way forward.”
The Mayor’s official spokesperson
said that the comments had been taken
out of context and citied by organisers
of events as a reason for cancellation. In
recent years, several councils throughout
the UK have boycotted goods from
Israeli settlements. Supporters of the
boycott claim that a boycott exerts
pressure on the Israeli government which
may in turn help hinder the construction
of settlements in occupied Palestinian
territories, which have been condemned
by the UN.
Brazil dam bursts
leading to toxic mud slide
By Jade Parker
On the 5th of November, a wave of
toxic mud released from a burst dam in
southern Brazil resulted in the death
of 17 people and has been dubbed as
Brazil’s worst ever natural disaster.
The collapse of the dam, belonging to
mining companies Vale and BHP Biliton
(Samarco Mining S.A), involved the
leakage of 50 million tons of iron ore
waste into the Atlantic Ocean.
Owners of the mining companies
claim that the sludge is simply a mix
of mud and water. However United
Nations (UN) Human Rights experts on
the environment and toxic waste, John
Knox and Baskut Tuncak, have found
new evidence that shows that the waste
does contain high levels of toxic heavy
metals and other toxic chemicals.
In a statement released by the UN
Human Rights Office of the High
Commissioner, Special Rapporteur
Knox, said: “The scale of the
environmental damage is the equivalent
of 20,000 Olympic swimming pools
of toxic mud waste contaminating the
soil, rivers, and water system of an area
covering over 850 kilometres.”
Mr. Knox went further to warn that
the Doce River, one of Brazil’s greatest
water sheds is “now considered by
scientists to be dead and the toxic sludge
is slowly working its way downstream
towards the Abrolhos National Marine
Park, where it threatens protected forest
and habitat. Sadly the mud has already
entered the sea at Regencia beach, a
sanctuary for endangered turtles and a
rich source of nutrients that the local
fishing community relies upon”.
Experts have said that the saturation
of waterways with the dense orange
sediment will not only wreck the
ecosystem for years but has already
killed thousands of fish and has cut off
drinking water supplies to a quarter of a
million people.
The Brazilian government is fining
the two mining companies with a
preliminary £43.6 million, as Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff put the blame
for the rupture of the dam on them.
John Knox and Baskut Tuncak spoke
about the lack of action taken in the
midst of the disaster: “The steps taken
by the Brazilian government, Vale, and
BHP Billiton to prevent harm were
clearly insufficient. It is not acceptable
that it has taken three weeks for
information about the toxic risks of the
mining disaster to surface”.
They went further to say: “There
may never be an effective remedy for
victims whose loved ones and livelihoods
may now lie beneath the remains of a
tidal wave of toxic tailing waste, nor
for the environment which has suffered
irreparable harm”.
Indonesia’s
forest fires:
Damaging the planet and the
lungs of its people
By May Bulman
Forest fires in Indonesia have reached
unprecedented levels, causing the country's
CO2 emissions to soar and affecting the
livelihoods of millions of people.
The fires, created annually to clear the
land for palm oil production, have been
exacerbated this year due to the unusually
warm temperatures brought on by the El
Nino effect, causing the country's largest
blazes in nearly 20 years.
This has resulted in a thick blanket
of haze covering many towns and cities,
which has caused respiratory infections
affecting over 500,000 people and led to
nineteen recorded deaths.
Rahmi Carolina, a university student
from Riau, has suffered from the annual
haze since she was a child, and is now
taking action. She said: "Each year I am
affected by the fires - they give me a tight
chest and dizziness. I've had to be rushed
to hospital before.
"A year ago the president promised
us that the smoke would be drastically
reduced in 2015, but it's even worse this
year. We're really angry.
"I've started campaigning for more
action. I'm writing a personal blog and
using social media to spread the word.”
As well as affecting Indonesia's people,
this year’s forest fires pose a severe threat to
global warming, with the country emitting
10 times more CO2 than normal, and the
daily emission rate exceeding that of the
entire U.S economy.
Annisa Rahmawati, forest campaigner
for Greenpeace, said: "As a globe, we
cannot tackle climate change if we don't
tackle deforestation in Indonesia.
“The problem must be solved from the
root. It is happening due to deforestation
and peatland damage.”
With the Climate Change Conference,
which took place in December 2015,
in Paris, Annisa explained that the
Indonesian government and more
developed countries must act together to
solve the issue.
“There needs to be law enforcement
put in place by our government; the
companies illegally burning the forest must
be stopped.
"But developed countries also have a
power- they are consumers of palm oil.
Unless there is a global, industry-wide
rejection of the brands using palm oil, this
problem will be very difficult to solve."
Photograph © UN Photograph © Ardiles Rante. Greenpeace
World’s biggest
animal cloning
centre in China
By Jade Parker
Whilst the rest of the world
makes up its mind on the
ethics of cloning, China
is steaming ahead with its plans to
construct the largest animal cloning
factory. Set to open in 2016, the £20.5
million centre will commercially recreate
dogs, horses, and cattle.
The centre is a joint venture between
Chinese biotechnology firm Boyalife and
Sooam Biotech, a South Korean research
company, and is being constructed in a
bid to meet the country's ever increasing
demand for meat.
Xu Xiaochun, board chairman of
Boyalife, explained: “Chinese farmers are
struggling to produce enough beef cattle
to meet market demand. We will produce
100,000 cattle embryos a year initially,
eventually increasing to 1 million.” By
churning out cloned embryos on such an
epic scale the factory plans to provide 5
percent of the meat eaten in China.
In addition to the thousands of
animals which will be recreated for
consumption, the plant plans to clone
champion racehorses, police sniffer dogs,
and critically endangered species. The
centre, which will be located in the same
area where at least 165 people were killed
in a chemical explosion last year, will also
contain a museum and a gene bank.
The companies backing the factory
are attempting to ease worries about the
safety and quality of meat. However, the
reputation of the Sooam Biotech founder
Hwang Woo-suk precedes him. In 2009
he was convicted of illegally buying
human embryos for his research, which
many considered to be a gross ethical
lapse.
China’s sketchy food safety record
has included fake rice made of plastic
pellets and on a more serious level infant
formula tarnished with melamine, an
industrial chemical which killed six
infants and hospitalised 300,000 others.
If plans go ahead, the plant will be
fully operational by next year.
In the UK, cloned meats and milk
products are classified as ‘novel foods’
and therefore vendors have to obtain a
special permission to be sell them.
#SueMeSaudi
takes off
as SA Justice Ministry says it
will sue Twitter user for ‘ISISlike’
death sentence
By Fergus Coltsmann
The Saudi Arabian (SA) Justice Ministry
will sue an unidentified Twitter user for
comparing the sentencing of a poet to
death as ‘ISIS-like’, the SA government
aligned Al-Riyadh newspaper has
reported.
Palestinian poet and refugee Ashraf
Fayadh, whom The Guardian reported
was born in SA, was sentenced to death
for blasphemy and apostasy on the 17th
November.
This prompted an outcry from senior
cultural figures, including the director
of Tate Modern Chris Dercon, British
poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, historian
Simon Schama, playwright David Hare,
and Egyptian novelist and commentator
Ahdaf Soueif. The Justice Ministry’s
latest action has seen the twitter hostage
‘Sue Me Saudi’ trend on the social media
platform, as users criticise the Kingdom.
Fayadh denied the charges in court,
and stated that the poetry book in which
some of the alleged comments were
made, Instruction Within, was published
a decade ago and consists of love poems,
as opposed to any political or religious
content. He was originally sentenced
on 26th May 2014 to four years in
prison and 800 lashes. This sentence
was reversed following an appeal by the
prosecutor.
SA’s justice system is based upon
the Wahhabi ultra-conservative
interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law,
which allows for corporal and capital
punishments for certain crimes,
including religious crimes. Many of the
punishments and executions are carried
out in public by the religious police,
known as the Mutaween.
Commenting on the suit, Al-
Riyadh’s justice ministry source said:
“Questioning the fairness of the courts
is to question the justice of the Kingdom
and its judicial system based on Islamic
law, which guarantees rights and ensures
human dignity”, and went on to add that
the ministry would not hesitate to put
on trial “any media that slandered the
religious judiciary of the Kingdom”.
Erdogan gets
Precious
over Gollum comparison
By Max Feldman
Fantasy fiction has turned into a nightmare
for Turkish doctor, Bilgin Ciftci, who lost
his job with the Public Health Institute
of Turkey and might be sent to prison for
allegedly posting pictures illustrating the
uncanny resemblance of Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Gollum, the
emaciated, ring obsessed ghoul who plays
a major part in both The Hobbit and The
Lord Of The Rings. Considering that we
live in a society where jokes about our
illustrious leader’s rumoured dalliances
with pork products are fair game, it’s hard
to see what the fuss is about, but Turkish
law makes it illegal to insult their president,
with sentences of up to four years possible
for those convicted.
Cifci legal team has taken the
unusual tactic of trying to prove in court
that Gollum, played by a computer
generated Andy Serkis in the films, isn’t
an evil character, thus meaning that the
comparison is not necessarily insulting.
In what amounts to the most high stakes
nerdy debate in legal history, the courts
have assembled a “panel of psychologists
and film experts” to once and for all
conclude if one of literature’s most
famous cases of split personality is truly
a bad guy or not. Even Peter Jackson,
director of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy,
has weighed in on the case. In a joint
statement with his co-writers Fran Walsh
and Philippa Boyens, Jackson claimed that
the Turkish Courts have made an error
as the character in Ciftci’s pictures isn’t
Gollum at all, via one of the few positive
cases of obsessive pedantry in history:
“If the images shown are in fact the ones
forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit,
we can state categorically: None of them
feature the character known as Gollum.
All of them are images of the character
called Smeagol.” Smeagol is the child-like
and friendly original personality which is
twisted by the malign powers of the One
Ring into the malicious Gollum persona,
only to resurface during The Two Towers.
Jackson describes Smeagol as “joyful
and sweet”, which admittedly are rarely
adjectives used to describe Erdogan, and
says he should never be confused as the
same as the vicious Gollum, even if they
share the same body.
Jackson’s argument does actually
seem to have some weight behind it
considering that the pictures Cifci used
show the character smiling, and largeeyed,
which was used in Jackson’s films
to distinguish Smeagol from the darker
Gollum persona. Tolkien also distinguished
the two characters as separate with
significant changes in his speech patterns
and mannerisms when his good self was
in control. It is not known yet whether
Cifci’s legal team intends to use Jackson’s
clarification in court, but considering
the severity of the sentence hanging over
Cifici it seems that they’ll take any help
they can get. Perhaps this is a good way to
settle long standing schisms in fan culture,
perhaps placing a picture of Erdogan next
to pictures of Kirk and Picard could finally
establish which is the defining version of
Star Trek.
Japan continues
lethal whaling
By Emily Eaton
Japan has defended its plans to carry
out lethal whaling research, despite
international opposition which has been
largely spearheaded by the Australian
government. The plans will see up to 330
Minke whales harvested in coming months
to “find out how the marine ecosystem of
the Antarctic Ocean is actually shifting
or changing”, according to Japan’s
representative to the International Whaling
Commission (IWC), Joji Morishita.
Morishita added that the research will not
just examine the whale population but also,
“krill and the oceanographic situation.”
In response the Australian Liberal
government, led by Malcolm Turnbull,
publicly criticised the plans and is now
exploring the possibility of sending
surveillance aircraft to monitor Japan’s
whaling fleet, which set sail in early
December 2015. The New Zealand
government also released a statement,
with the backing of 33 other countries,
including the USA and Australia, saying;
“We consider that there is no scientific
basis for the slaughter of whales and
strongly urge the government of Japan not
to allow it to go ahead.”
It is not the first time the Japanese
and Australian governments have butted
heads over the issue. The International
Court of Justice (ICJ) last year ruled that
Japan’s ‘scientific’ whaling programme was
illegal, after Australia brought the case.
Japan’s government has since attempted
to circumvent the ruling, drawing up new
rationale for the hunting.
Japan also announced in a shock
declaration to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary
General of the United Nations, that it was
removing itself from the jurisdiction of
the ICJ in dispute over “living resources of
the sea”, making further legal challenges
difficult to pursue.
©Bilgin Ciftci