Monthly Archives: April 2017

The collapse of a iron ore tailing dam in Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, resulted in 18 deaths and considerable environmental and social damage. In a bid to restore the region back to pre-disaster conditions, the Renova Foundation was established. To audit and monitor the delivery of programmes aimed at restoring the region run by the Foundation, the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil has hired Ramboll.

Followng the breach of an iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, a deluge of toxic waste, around 60 million cubic meters of iron waste, flowed along the Doce River to the Atlantic ocean. The catastrophic failure of the dam resulted in the 18 deaths, as well as doing considerable damage to the regional socio-economic environment and the natural environment more generally. The disaster, which has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazils history, left deep scares on the environment and the livelihoods of regional people. The owner of the mine, and dam, Samarco, has so far agreed to pay a fine of more than $4.8 billion, although this does not include compensation to people affected by the disaster, nor the environmental cleanup process.

Damages to the regions socio-economic and environment have been reported as extensive. To support local communities and the wider environment affected by the disaster, the Renova Foundation was established. The not-for-profit organisation is dedicated to its mission of implementing and managing the repair, restoration and reconstruction programmes within the region, which aim to, among others, restore the regions social-economic and environment thereby re-establishing communities and resources affected by the collapse. The programmes run by the foundation are subject to constant monitoring audits and broad dissemination.

The announcement from the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil will see Rambolltasked with ensuring that the remediation programmes achieve the promised outcomes, stepping in to propose additional measures required to restore the region in full, if required, within the shortest practical timeframe. As it stands there are 41 propose programmes, 18 that address socio-environmental factors and 23 that address socio-economic factors. For the task the consulting firmwill send 30 of its specialists to the region, including expertise in disaster remediation, ecology, geology, biology, and environmental and civil engineering.

Regarding the appointment, Eugenio Singer, Managing Director Rambolls Environment & Health practice in Brazil, remarks, "Because we have all the relevant disciplines in-house. we are uniquely positioned to conduct a detailed and critical analysis to determine not only whether the promised results can be achieved, but also whether they will meet the expectations of regulators, affected communities and the Brazilian people."

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Ramboll hired to monitor cleanup of Bento Rodrigues dam disaster - Consultancy.uk

Rafa Wo talked about Law and Justice's social reforms at Krytyka Polityczna's "Poland for Beginners", a series of lectures on current political, social, and cultural issues in Poland and the international sphere. The event took place last Thursday (6th of April) in English and a full recording of the discussion can be found below.

Rafa Wo was invited by Krytyka Polityczna in order to present and reflect on Law and Justices (PiS) social policies. PiS had already governed Poland between 2005 and 2007. At that time they won the elections with a socially oriented solidaristic agenda, but nevertheless when being in power led quite liberal policies. After being re-elected in 2015, experts expected that the situation would be the same, but unexpectedly there were several social programs introduced by the government. Rafa Wo, who is a journalist and writer, confronted specific aspects of these programs and presented through a socio-economic and political lens.

The discussion started with a brief presentation on the situation in Poland during the years following the collapse of communism. This was a huge economic and political transformation. In some areas, Poland made a huge step forward, but in some areas it did not, sometimes it even made a step back, Wo said. There was a rather mediocre development of the community housing and labour. The economy was not developing in a fair, solidaristic way and that was obvious to the people. Moreover, after communism, the Polish dream to be an industrialised country slowly collapsed and the country underwent enormous austerity. The politicians decided that the state had to shrink massively and fast, Wo informed us. And the last part of the problem is that during the last 20 years there has been no public debate over the economy in Poland: The neoliberal paradigm wants to take economics from politics and give it to some technocrats, he says.

Some political reforms bring different results that politicians wanted or anticipated.

Given that background, it is surprising that some change has taken place after 2015. It was the first time after many years that political parties started considering economics as a part of politics again. PiS introduced two new reforms that had a rather positive aspect, especially as regards the law for supporting people with children. This law awards PLN 500 for each child to every family. The goal of the government was to increase the fertility rate but one year after the reform, the demographic problem didnt seem to differ. There was a huge effect on poverty and social exclusion, though, which wasnt anticipated by the government. Some political reforms bring different results that politicians wanted or anticipated, comments Wo.

Additionally, PiS introduced a huge plan for developing Polands economy and establishing an innovative modern economy in the future. The plan is very ambitious but has been strongly criticised by other political and intellectual groups. Rafa Wo, on one hand, explained the positive aspects of the plan and, on the other, his doubts. I only hope that the failures of PiS government in other fields, like when it comes to personal politics in the media or taking over public media in a very shameful way, wouldnt destroy the feeling that the state should play a far more important role in the economy of a country like Poland.

Krytyka Politycznas series Poland for Beginners will have its next event on April, 27th, Thursday, at 18.00. This time Elbieta Korolczuk, a sociologist, activist, and commentator, will discuss the Black Protests against the abortion ban in Poland. On May 11th at 18.00 Jan piewak, a city activist and Councillor at Srodmiecie District Council, will host a discussion on how to become an owner of an inhabited building, schoolyard, public park or city square (Aaaa We Buy Compensation Claim). And last but not least, on May 25th at 18.00, Mamaliga de Varsovia and others will talk about migrants making media in Poland.

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Poland For Beginners: 'Some political reforms bring different results ... - PoliticalCritique.org

THE current crisis arresting the country revolves around the leadership question especially the failure to respond to problems including those of the states making, it is a clear sign of the broken politics of Jongwe and Munhumutapa buildings.

by Jacob Mafume

For close to four decades, Zimbabwe has been dominated by mediocrity, false and corrupt personalities, huge egos, hubris, arrogance, individualism, selfishness and crony capitalism.

It is the Peoples Democratic Partys view that the way we do politics must change; only proper leadership can solve the problems we are facing.

Our state is engulfed in a serious socio-economic crisis causing unpalatable suffering to the Zimbabwean people.

The fact of the matter is that Zimbabwe is in the fourth year of a structural economic recession which the authorities do not understand and are incapable of offering sustainable solutions to stem the same.

The economy is continuously shrinking, predatory fiscal policies have created a huge budget deficit, there is weak export performance, corruption and leakages, lack of competitiveness, lack of meaningful FDI, shrinking diaspora remittances and low levels of capital formation, persistent levels of disserving, have contributed to the crisis.

Our independent calculations reflect that actual GDP for 2015 was -1.8%, -3.8% for 2016 and a projection of -4.8 in 2017.

The state has so far issued out toxic treasury bills to finance the budget deficit which is over 42%.Government has also raided RTGS and NOSTRO accounts at the RBZ as a result a crippling cash crisis has hit the economy.

Long bank queues are now the order of the day, the only attempt by government to deal with the matter was through dubious measures pronounced by the RBZ including a low ceiling on maximum withdrawals and the insanity of introducing the bond note.

In the midst of an amalgamated crisis in Zimbabwe, the situation is compounded by sterile leadership with no ability to provide solutions; the balance sheet of failure is there for everyone to see.

The incompetence of ZANUPF is coupled with the legitimacy question which is born out of ZANUPFs record of electoral fraud including in 2013.The people of Zimbabwe do not trust the ZANUPF government at the same time state officials do not feel compelled to account since they do not draw the mandate from the people but from the rigging machinery.

We also note that the ZANUPF government is further crippled by age which is catching up with most senior individuals in the regime.

Mugabe who is still the President at 93 he recently got a wheel chair as a present from his party members who seem to admit that he is too old to walk around his office space.

The rest of his friends are also very old including the ones who are dying to succeed him. A quick look at their ages of a few examples tells the story; Phelekezela Mpoko 77, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa 75, Simon Khaya Moyo 72, Mahofa Mahofa 76, Sydney Sekeramayi 73, Simbarashe Mbengegwi 72, Patrick Chinamasa 70, David Parirenyatwa 67, Ignatious Chombo 65, Kembo Mohadi 68.

Most of these have been in government since 1980, they no longer have anything new to offer. We therefore call for a rebirth of Zimbabwean politics to save the nation from a total collapse. There must be a significant generational change in leadership; even judges are required to retire at the age 70 the same principle must be applied to the executive.

We state in the Agenda for Restoration and Rehabilitation of Electoral Sustainability that there must be a generational coalition in which components from the old movement coalesce with the younger post liberation generations.

Equally important is the fact that the generational equation should be based on the terms and aspirations of the younger generation.

The aim is not to create a modern refined liberation movement but rather a modern democratic entity that will finish the unfinished business of the liberation struggle.

We therefore encourage mobilisation of social movements which as seen in 2016 were driven by young people, networking and collaboration of progressive political and social movements against dictatorship.

There must be national dialogue of stakeholders and the consummation of the social contract, social movements must be involved in resolving the political challenges the country is facing through sustainable policy formulation.

Jacob Mafume is national spokesman of the oppostion PDP party

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Time for a rebirth of Zimbabwean politics The Zimbabwe Mail - The Zimbabwe Mail