Monthly Archives: March 2021

Public Commenters Push the Council To Adopt Nine Recommendations on Police Reform – The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

Posted: March 18, 2021 at 12:36 am

By David M. Greenwald

Last fall, a joint subcommittee comprised of members of the Police Accountability, Human Relation and Social Services commissions put forth a report on Reimagining Davis Policing that contained nine recommendations.

Council at that time asked staff to come back with specific proposals. They are scheduled to return to council with those recommendations for the April 6 meeting. In advance of that meeting, community activists are ramping up a social media campaign Time for the Nine to raise awareness about Re-imagining Public Safety in Davis.

On Tuesday night, during public comment, a number of commenters called in to express their support for the nine recommendations of the Temporary Joint Subcommittee.

Im asking the city to place a three year moratorium on new police hires, one call requested hoping that a shift in resources will decrease the need for new police officers.

Another caller noted that it has been one year since Breonna Taylor was killed by police in Louisville and ten months since the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

I commend the council for creating the temporary joint subcommittee, he said. However, I ask why you havent committed to any real change in policing or public safety.

He noted that since that report was delivered, we havent heard any sort of consensus on a vision. And now without any consensus the buck has been passed to staff who are not elected to come up with a plan.

He called for a public safety department that can handle non-violent service calls. The TJS recommended that 24 percent could be diverted from the Davis Police Department but he believes that as much as 44 percent of the calls can be diverted from the Davis Police Department.

That, he said, would require a new structure to process these calls. He called for an independent department of public safety and a three year moratorium on the hiring of new police officers.

Julea Shaw called to voice her support for all nine recommendations. She pushed to implement the crisis now model as well as an independent public safety department.

She noted that staff was working on a plan, and she said, I look forward to seeing their plan and the implementation of these commonsense reforms because everyone in Davis deserves safety and support.

A student called in also for support of a public safety department that would take the place of some of the responsibilities of the Davis Police Department.

A researcher at UC Davis and a three year resident of Davis. She explained that she grew up in Eugene, Oregon where they have the CAHOOTS program.

CAHOOTS works hand in hand with the Eugene Police Department, they both answer 911-dispatch calls and CAHOOTS deals with a wide range of mental health crises including conflict resolution, welfare checks, substance abuse and suicide threats. This division of labor allows the police to focus on crimes and other pressing public safety.

She continued, Its estimated that the program saves the city of Eugene about $8.5 million a year.

In my experience, Eugene and Davis are pretty similar, she said. They are both college towns on the West Coast and they are both great places to live and raise a family and I strongly advocate that Davis invests in this kind of public safety program that has served Eugene for so many decades.

Another caller, Nusrat Molla, called in asking for an independent public safety department. She explained that her brother has an intellectual disability.

My family has interacted with the police a lot, she said. But she said, What we really needed was a behavioral specialist and help navigating social services for him.

Supporting real public safety means reallocating resources and things that are not making us safer or helping people like my brother towards the services that are in desperate need of resources, she said.

Morganne Blairs-McPherson made suggests that could help the city divert 44 percent of calls to a public safety department and away from the police.

These include: welfare checks, code enforcement, city code violations, disturbances, trespass complaints, animal related incidents, school truancy, vandalism, noise complaints for loud music, drunk in public, mental health evaluation, child abuse reporting and much more.

Francisco Lopez-Montanyo said he currently works at a convenience store and noticed over the last year the mental health crisis affecting our community, it doesnt really seem to me that the police are able to handle a response appropriately to these problems.

He noted even with domestic violence complaints, I noticed the police unable to address the problem at its root cause.

He also noted the history of policing, starting out as a slave patrol, and has quickly become a system of cheap labor for the prison industrial complex. He also noted that the January 6 event exposed the infiltration of white supremacy groups into police. This is beyond policy change or institutional reform, we need to begin to transition to a truly safe society for all.

Robert Henderson a lifelong resident of Davis, urged the council to be real leaders and work towards real public safety in Davis. We have seen time and time again throughout this country that police do not make the community safer.

Another caller noted that he has continually heard from other community members about the mistreatment they have faced at the hands of the police.

Additionally the police budget in Davis is much too big for a city that does not need police patrolling all over the streets Davis is a very low crime area, he said.

A graduate student at UC Davis argued that the current system Fails to keep all of the people in Davis safe. She added, Our current system operates in such a way so that Black people, indigenous people, people of color, Queer people, homeless people and other minorities are not only unprotected by the police, but are often victims of unfair, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and ultimately violent policing practices.

This caller went further than others calling for the complete abolition of policing in Davis.

The major move has been for the nine recommendations by the Temporary Joint Subcommittee.

The 9 recommendations are:

David M. Greenwald reporting

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Public Commenters Push the Council To Adopt Nine Recommendations on Police Reform - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

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The March Action and the Tragedy of German Communism – Jacobin magazine

Posted: at 12:36 am

In December 1920, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) merged with the left wing of the Independent Social Democrats (USPD) under the leadership of Paul Levi. The unified party had a membership in excess of four hundred thousand. Its members had recently helped defeat an attempted far-right coup, the Kapp putsch, and had great confidence about the future. Within months, however, the KPD launched an ill-fated uprising on March 17, 1921 that became known as the March Action. The insurrection was a complete failure; in its aftermath, the KPD lost more than half of its membership.

Paul Frlich (18841953) is best remembered today for his classic biography of Rosa Luxemburg, which is still in print. Frlich was a member of the KPD leadership in the 1920s and witnessed events firsthand. In this extract from a recently discovered memoir, lost until 2007 and now translated into English, Frlich explains why the KPD came to launch the March Action and how it unfolded. He also gives his impressions of influential Communist leaders like Paul Levi and the Hungarian Bla Kun, and recalls a discussion with Lenin in Moscow after the failure of the March Action.

The following is an abridged extract from Paul Frlichs memoir In the Radical Camp: A Political Autobiography 18901921, translated by David Fernbach as part of the Historical Materialism Book Series.

It was both objective political events and psychological preconditions that led to the so-called March Action, both in the KPD and in the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI). There was a general will in the party for a more energetic policy, and the unification with the left USPD also seemed to have created the preconditions for a stronger activity. We all overestimated at this time the growth of the party.

But we made a further error of judgement. During the Kapp putsch we had been able to note almost everywhere in the provinces that a weak party such as ours could nonetheless exert a very great influence on the movement, so that large masses followed the party in action. Now we simply extended the partys radius of action by the organizational growth that the merger with the left USPD had brought.

This, however, was wrong. The party cadre was substantially strengthened, and in many districts, it was only now that a party was really formed. But the direct influence on the masses did not for a long while follow in the expected degree. Besides, it needed really major circumstances, immediately understood clearly by the masses, to bring them into a general movement.

The impatient pressure for action was still greater among the former USPD functionaries and members than in the old KPD. They felt liberated from the impediment of the right-wing leaders and experienced something like a moral obligation to prove that they had now become genuine revolutionaries.

The mood in leading Russian circles was very depressed, among many people desperate. The civil war had left in its wake scarcely anything but ruins. The war with Poland had led to defeat. The Kronstadt uprising had been a glaring alarm signal. The New Economic Policy (NEP) had been introduced, with the abolition of requisitions, the encouragement of private capitalist initiative, and the concessions policy.

It was in no way predictable where the NEP would lead. There was a very strong fear among the Bolsheviks that after the October Revolution, they might now be the pioneers of a capitalist Russia. They yearned for relief from the proletariat of the West. It is certain and understandable that the Russian comrades wanted an action that would relieve them. But this in no way means that they wanted one in the form that the March Action then took.

What was the situation with Bla Kun? He has gone down in this story as a real devil, always conjured up when the reactionary side needs a scarecrow. Truth and falsehood are also mixed together in the depictions drawn of him by his opponents in the workers movement.

He was certainly not the noblest figure in the Comintern. The first impression that he gave was that of an unusually energetic person, ruthless to the point of brutality. He was not selective in his choice of means: Ern Bettelheims revelations after the Hungarian defeat of 1919 have brought proof of this. But after these revelations, it is necessary to emphasize right away that he was entirely disinterested and gave everything without hesitation to those who were close to him.

Despite the ugliness of his facial features, he emanated a strong charm. He understood how to inspire people and carry them along. He had made great efforts to school himself theoretically and politically, but he had too unrestrained a temperament to assess situations calmly. He was attracted by adventure, and always ready for action.

Naturally, Grigory Zinoviev and Nikolai Bukharin, who sent him to Germany, were aware of these qualities of Bla Kun. But they counted on German caution and knew very well that even the left wing of the party displayed a strong resistance towards artificial actions. Still more so could people like August Thalheimer and Heinrich Brandler be relied on to apply the necessary brakes.

If Bla Kun was easily able to win the majority of the party leadership for a risky policy of offensive, the reasons lay essentially in the general situation. Germanys foreign policy position was as perilous as hardly ever before. The international conference in London had led to open conflict between the Allies and Germany. On March 8, Dsseldorf, Duisburg, and Ruhrort were occupied militarily by the Entente. In Upper Silesia, there was fighting between Germans and Poles. People counted on the possibility of a German-Polish war.

There was strong discontent among the working class, particularly the miners and even the agricultural workers. The devaluation of the mark, which had come to a halt for a while after the Kapp putsch, had once again rapidly accelerated, and inflation fuelled discontent among the whole population. In this situation, even Paul Levi turned sharply against the policy of pure propaganda and pressed for action.

The governments behavior also showed that it saw conflict with the working class as unavoidable. It took the necessary measures even before the will for action had taken concrete form in the party. All the same, we overestimated the tensions, did not see the inhibiting factors, and particularly failed to recognize the possibility of a compromise in German foreign policy.

It was as a result of this overestimation that Bla Kun very rapidly managed to win the majority of the party leadership for an offensive policy. I myself favoured an offensive policy from the start. I believed at that time and this had long been the basic point of contention with Paul Levi that it was our duty to make use of every possibility for a revolutionary advance.

I failed to recognize as a general strategic lesson the necessity of a retreat or escape in a dangerous situation; this would only be brought home to me under the pressure of very harsh facts in the particular case. The fact that on this occasion the party leadership shared my view naturally gave my temperament a strong impulse.

It is certain that without the work of Bla Kun, without his influence on the most prominent members of the leadership, the readiness for action would not have been aroused. But we should guard against the conclusion that the March Action was undertaken either directly or indirectly at the command of the ECCI. At this time, the ECCI had a great moral authority, and the Russians were seen as almost infallible on tactical questions. But they did not yet have in their hands the means of pressure to enforce their directives.

We would not have acted or failed to act because of a command from them. It is true that we lacked the necessary critical equipment with which to confront proposals or ideas from the Russians. At all events, no one of the then party leadership is entitled to hide behind the Russians or Bla Kun. We all bore full responsibility for the action.

On the other hand, none of us wanted a March Action. The intention was, as soon as the expected open conflict erupted in one place, to bring to a head the festering conflicts where we had the possibility of doing so in other words, on the field of social struggle. If this succeeded, then the further development would show what possibilities for action had arisen. The action should be conducted with the aim of the overthrow of the government.

What was immediately at issue was to create the readiness for action in the party by means of both propaganda and organizational methods. When the central committee of the party was convened for the middle of March, no one believed in an immediate outbreak of armed struggle. We certainly did not yet know the point where we would engage. That depended on objective conditions.

News then reached the session of the central committee that the Social Democrat interior minister Carl Severing had ordered the occupation of the Mansfeld industrial district and its factories by the police. The party found itself like an athlete poised ready to leap who suddenly receives a blow in the back: he stumbles, manages with difficulty to regain his balance, but remains confused and spoils his jump.

It is extremely important for the historical record to take due account of Severings police action. It is generally left out of consideration, thus ignoring one of the most important preconditions for the March Action, so that this seems just complete madness. In fact, Severings action had been prepared for weeks in conjunction with the big industrialists of central Germany.

It arose precisely from the general situation that led us to envisage an offensive approach. Its object, admitted by Severing himself, was to impose on the adversary a battle that would intimidate, weaken and surprise them on a particular territory, before the material for conflict had generally matured. The action was organized in such a way that it was designed to provoke armed struggle.

We found ourselves in a psychological state that did not allow calm consideration of the situation. We were just preparing to put our forces into marching order when the enemy attacked. We were mentally disposed to an offensive and saw ourselves suddenly surrounded. We were incapable of switching from the offensive idea to defence, since we generally overestimated greatly our influence over the masses.

If we were reluctant to order a complete retreat immediately after the outbreak of armed conflict in the Mansfeld region (and such an order would have meant the demoralization of the party and the resignation of its leadership), all that remained was to widen the struggle. In our already overheated mood, we committed the following mistakes:

On the central committee, we received information on March 22 of a planned action in Hamburg, which struck us as too general and dangerous. I was dispatched there immediately, in order to intervene if possible. I arrived in the night.

On the way to the headquarters of the action executive I learned the following details. This executive had issued a leaflet on March 22 calling for a general strike. On the 23rd, the day that was just dawning, the unemployed were to surround the dockyards and force the workers there to abandon work. From all the information that I received, it was clear that the dockworkers were not prepared to strike, and that force would have to be used in order to enforce a shutdown.

I was horrified by the light-hearted way in which this undertaking was approached and tried to make clear to the comrades that they were simply preparing a putsch, that the idea of forcing the workers into struggle by force was ludicrous, that an enterprise of this kind was morally condemnable, doomed to failure from the start, and bound to bring the party fearful repercussions.

I demanded in the name of the central committee that the enterprise should be immediately broken off, and the preparations made reversed. I spent a long time arguing with them, but to no avail. In the early hours of March 23, the action was carried out as planned.

The dockyards were indeed cleared out. The workers left half convinced and half unwillingly. There were demonstrations, shooting, and a number of dead. In the afternoon it was clear that the enterprise had failed.

On the central committee the decision for offensive action was not carried without the heated opposition of a minority. One part of this minority then kept its distance completely during the action. Another part kept discipline while seeking at the same time to prevent the worst.

Paul Levi seems to have been travelling at the time of the March Action. Neither he nor Ernst Dumig made any kind of attempt to influence events. They then organized a comprehensive report, the result of which was published by Paul Levi in his booklet Unser Weg (Our Way).

Levi completely misconstrued the situation in the party at this time. There was indeed a certain unease among the members about the tactic embarked on. But apart from a small group of functionaries, the members supported the action and took upon themselves the defeat. And then Levi appeared, who had neither warned nor advised during the action, with a text that was not a critique of particular party comrades, but a hostile blow against the party.

It was only this blow that was felt, and all the more strongly, as the party was subject to heavy persecution. In these circumstances, Levi found no reception for his arguments and criticism. At the beginning of April, he was expelled from the party for this text, and the party stood behind this measure.

After the end of the March Action, the party leadership felt the understandable need to justify its policy. In particular, it had to argue against Levis critique and was naturally driven to an extreme position, the so-called offensive theory.

Bla Kun, Thalheimer, Brandler, and myself were particularly involved in conceiving these ideas. They more or less corresponded to my pre-existing views. I summarised these ideas in an article in the booklet Taktik und Organisation der revolutionre Offensive (Tactics and Organization of the Revolutionary Offensive).

The offensive theory had a very short life, which was ended at the Third Congress of the Communist International in Moscow. We went to Moscow with the feeling of being completely on the right path, and we were enthusiastically welcomed by Russian functionaries. They were completely in accord with us. But this changed after a few days.

Their attitude towards us remained the same. But they explained that Lenin was against us; they could not understand this, but it had always turned out in the past that Lenins view was correct, even when he had everyone else against him. Karl Radek had told me that Lenin was extremely annoyed about the March Action and our pamphlet. He was unable to sleep, and afraid that we might commit new Blanquist stupidities again in future.

The discussion with Lenin made an extraordinary impression on me. But since I have no notes, I can only reliably recall parts of the conversation that had personal importance for me. We first had to give a report, the detailed themes of which we had rehearsed among ourselves.

After I spoke, something surprising and disturbing happened. Radek handed me a piece of paper on which he had reproached me with very crude words. Why had I said such unnecessary things? All that mattered was to win over Lenin, but I had pushed him over to the other side. I was tremendously disturbed by this note. Were things such that diplomacy was the game and we had to try and dupe one another?

I believed that we had to go over the facts together and seek the correct policy. This meant being completely open and speaking things objectively and unvarnished. I was not prepared to accede to Radeks demand. But his note was like the blow of a dagger, which never completely healed. A large part of my trust in the ECCI and the Russians went out of the window.

After the reports, Lenin spoke. He failed to convince me, speaking in too imprecise terms for my expectations. I finally asked him clearly the one question that had been for me that most important problem of the March Action. We had been attacked by Severing. The Mansfeld workers had taken up the struggle. Should we have left them in the lurch, rather than doing everything to support them? Should we not stand in the lead and widen the field of struggle if a section of the working class is struggling against reaction?

Lenin replied that it was not necessary to fight in all conditions. This seemed to me an evasion. I wanted to have a clear answer, a kind of formula, in what conditions one should engage in such a struggle and in what conditions abstain. There was nothing more to be got out of Lenin.

It was only much later that I understood that it was wrong to conduct a vanguard struggle in a bad position and with an unfavourable balance of forces for a decisive battle. Further, that it is impossible to apply suitable tactical formulas for all cases; one must rather depend in each situation on a correct view, instinct and intuition.

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Zleyxa Izmailova: Families with children must not be overlooked in crisis – ERR News

Posted: at 12:35 am

I will admit that the idea to abolish kindergarten fees came off as populist and more akin to throwing money out of an airplane than a serious election promise leading up to Riigikogu elections.

Populist because most families were not struggling with the fees at the time and because such a measure could backfire in the regional dimension if not carefully considered. It could negatively manifest in the competition between poorer and wealthier local governments, favoring urbanization and speeding up peripherization.

But also because the fee is decided by the local government, while the proposal was made in the context of Riigikogu elections.

While I was still very much skeptical last year, the promise suddenly shines in a whole new light after a year spent in the coronavirus crisis.

Figures first

The cost of the instrument was not mentioned at the time. The finance ministry analysis of parties' election promises brought no more clarity. The ministry said the cost could not be calculated because of the vague phrasing of the proposal. It is to be believed that ministry officials put together such overviews voluntarily and the day simply does not have enough hours for a more thorough analysis.

Whatever the case, there is one party that has provided an indication of some sort. The Social Democrats say that abolishing kindergarten place fees would cost Estonia 65 million a year.

Now, that the Reform Party has returned to power after a short break, the exact cost of the measure could be calculated and the promise fulfilled. More so as all relevant portfolios are held by the prime minister's party.

Reform's coalition partners are almost sure to support the initiative. The program of the Center Party includes free preschool education and kindergarten catering.

Then Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps (Center Party ed.) promised to include these ambitions in the planned preschool education reform bill. Unfortunately, the reform that recently passed its first reading after doing the rounds in the parliament for years makes no mention of abolishing kindergarten place fees. The document would also still have parents pay for kindergarten catering, despite the Center Party's promise of free kindergarten and school meals for everyone.

Free organic food for kindergartens

Free meals is an idea worth pursuing. As an unexpected but pleasant surprise, PM Kaja Kallas tabled an item from the Estonian Greens' program at a coalition talks press conference on January 20 offering organic food in schools and kindergartens. The Greens welcome this initiative. It is the only way to go as all children deserve healthy food that is free of dangerous pesticides.

That is why the Greens launched the organic food project in Tallinn kindergartens. While food that is grown organically or without spraying it with toxins is still somewhat more expensive than food grown with the help of pesticides in shops, its price is entirely competitive when one buys wholesale and direct from growers.

However, the economic crisis has made organic food even more expensive for the ordinary consumer. The government deciding in favor of organic food in schools and kindergartens would constitute an investment in the health of our children and one fewer problem for families.

Despite the PM clearly raising the issue of organic food for educational institutions at the press conference, it is not mentioned in the coalition agreement. That said, not everything the PM does needs to be included there and the Greens stand ready to share their experience from the Tallinn organic food project and lend a hand.

Families with children need help overcoming the crisis

Latvia has a one-off benefit of 200 for people taking care of children and adults with disabilities and pensioners. Families hit by the crisis are eligible for a benefit of 500 per child.

These kinds of crisis measures would also help Estonian families because times are tough. People need to cope in a situation where they have lost in income as a result of being out of work while utility costs are mounting.

People forced to spend more time at home has added to water and electricity bills, not to mention the time parents have spent becoming teachers, IT specialists, caterers, cleaners and correctional officers. Especially in large families.

The government must start thinking about crisis and recovery measures for families and the plan to abolishing kindergarten place fees should be on the table today in terms of the next academic year.

It is safe to say I am speaking on behalf of a lot of voters in this. At least three parties included abolishing kindergarten place fees in their platforms for the previous Riigikogu elections.

Several local governments have stopped charging the place fee at least temporarily, while parents need greater support considering the economic situation. The measure would greatly help households with several preschool children as well as single parents.

Therefore, carefully considered execution where the abolition does not happen at the expense of teachers' salaries and quality of preschool education would make this plan worthwhile in the perspective of the 2021 supplementary state budget as next fall is just around the corner. The state budget strategy could plot a wider course for free preschool education.

--

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Now is the time for Ireland to consider a fair-work agenda – The Irish Times

Posted: at 12:34 am

At the end of January, almost half a million Irish workers were on the pandemic unemployment payment. The rollout of vaccination programmes has shifted mindsets to asking if people when, if ever, will return to offices and workplaces?

And while the pandemic has brought some (long overdue) appreciation for frontline and essential workers, it is uncertain how much will really change post-Covid.

Nonetheless, there are forces afoot that may encourage progressive change. The European Commission is proposing a new minimum wage floor and ways to tackle in-work poverty. The Irish Government (with others across Europe) have objected to it. They argue that a recommendation would be preferable to a legally binding directive.

The opposition is an important signal. It appears to look for something more palatable while inferring support for the general overall idea. Yet this is where political rhetoric comes into play. The questions or alternatives never seem to translate to anything specific or actionable.

The general thrust from Ireland stands in stark contrast to developments elsewhere; for example, policies to embed fair-work principles by the Scottish and Welsh governments. Indeed, while the UK supreme court issued a new and potentially landmark decision to end sham and bogus self-employment in the gig economy ruling that Uber driver should be entitled to minimum rights worries about the safety of gig workers in Ireland have reached public concern.

Ireland seems to lag behind in other trends advocating sustainable decent work from groups such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations.

Fairer work arrangements can contribute to improved long-term inclusive growth and to tackling persistently low productivity. The EUs proposed directive aims to boost workers rights by embedding standards such as minimum wages and the right to bargain, if so desired.

We suggest four policy goals to open up dialogue about a fairer work agenda, especially as government, corporations, managers and families consider long-term pathways beyond lockdown: the future of digitalisation work; minimum floor of standards; voice opportunity; and pay.

Covid-19 has accelerated the growth of remote working at an unprecedented pace. But while many of us enjoy the lack of commute or working from home comforts that digitalisation brings, for others digitalisation has been starkly different.

Work in the gig economy, at the behest of digital labour platforms, is not a new utopia. Take as an example Deliveroo, which has made significant gains since Covid, increasing its number of restaurant partners in Ireland by 50 per cent. These workers face many risks, including health safety hazards along with unstable earnings.

In Dublin workers have been protesting to highlight insecurity and violence encountered in the course of their work. They also argue that reductions in rates of pay mean they now have to pedal more, to earn less. Deliveroo has steadfastly rejected the view that its riders are employees, which means they are denied access to the same rights as other citizens.

The gig economy model that is often believed to be the new utopia of opportunity is not so enlightening. The system requires workers to invest in the capital necessary to gain a job, such as transportation and a smart phone. It is thus the individual who encounters new financial risks, without the floor of minimum standards that other citizens take for granted, such as a minimum wage, maternity leave, or protection against excessive hours.

In emerging sectors of the economy, a consequence is the normalisation of zero-hours type work. Gig workers, labelled as independent contractors for instance, may spend hours of unpaid time waiting around for the next job.

The business model is riddled with loopholes that deny basic standards of treatment in such jobs, many of them young and migrants.

To contribute to a fairer future people need a voice. Many corporations now brand their own form of communication as dialogue but, as union membership has declined, many people lack the opportunity to have a real say about their own future.

Technology has changed the agenda considerably. Take, for example, Amazon, which used its monitoring capabilities to identify workers who were union supporters and exclude them from work. Amazon recently withdrew a recruitment advert for an analyst to research labour organising threats against the company only because of public scrutiny.

It is perhaps no coincidence that a lack of voice and low pay link to working conditions associated with Covid outbreaks; for example in garment manufacturing and meat processing sectors.

The introduction of mandatory publishing of gender pay gaps is itself a reporting exercise, rather than a policy goal to correct known pay inequalities. There also remains a lack of transparency between average worker pay and executive remuneration in most organisations.

According to the Economic Policy Institute in the US, chief executive compensation has grown 940 per cent since 1978, while average worker compensation has risen only 12 per cent during that time.

In Ireland, the Low Pay Commission recently recommended a 1 per cent increase in the minimum wage. Union representatives withdrew from the commission and criticised the decision not to recommend a 2 per cent pay increase for those on the minimum wage.

Is it now time for a new fair-work agenda in Ireland? Covid-19 has amplified the differences between good jobs and bad jobs. Government regulation in Ireland to limit this expanding divide remains painfully slow. It certainly lags other progressive initiatives witnessed elsewhere in competitive open markets.

If we use Covid as a dividing line, will be able to see differences in the before and after when it comes to decent work standards for future generations in Ireland?

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130 years on, the Utopia tragedy remembered – Gibraltar Chronicle

Posted: at 12:34 am

The 130th anniversary of the shipwreck of the SS Utopia in the Bay of Gibraltar will be marked today with an online seminar that seeks to ensure the memory of this tragic incident is kept alive.

The seminar will bring together public authorities, academics, journalists, researchers and students in Italy and Gibraltar to mark the anniversary and remember those who were lost in the disaster.

It will also reflect on the efforts of rescuers who plucked survivors from the sea, and of a community that offered them shelter and warmth during the aftermath.

The SS Utopia, a 2,371-tonne transatlantic steamship, sank in the Bay of Gibraltar after colliding with the Royal Navy warship HMS Anson during a south westerly gale at around 7pm on March 17, 1891.

The steamship was sailing from Naples to New York carrying 880 people, most of them Italians who were emigrating to the US.

Out of those passengers, there were just 318 survivors. The remaining 562 passengers and crew of the Utopia were dead or missing.

The tragic story of the sinking of the Utopia will forever be tied to our own story, said Patrick Canessa, the Honorary Consul of Italy in Gibraltar.

Not just because it sank in our waters but also because it was our people, our fathers and our grandfathers, who went out into the bay that treacherous evening, putting their own lives at risk, to help save lives.

On that tragic night 130 years ago, the Utopia sailed into the bay in rough weather and was unable to avoid a collision with the Royal Navy warship, which was anchored off the port.

An investigation later put the collision down to a grave error of judgement by the Utopias captain, John McKeague, exacerbated by the strong wind and rough seas.

The collision pierced the Utopias hull, tearing a five-metre hole below the waterline.

As the vessel sank in the bay, efforts were focused on rescuing those on board and boats were deployed from ships in the bay and from shore.

But weather conditions were bad and the stern of the Utopia rapidly filled with water.

Within 30 minutes, the ships bow was also beneath the waves, sweeping men, women and children into the sea.

A vivid account of the disaster was carried in the Gibraltar Chronicle the following day and filled almost an entire page of text.

During this half hour all those on board who had succeeded in reaching the deck crowded into the bows, where they could be plainly seen from the Rock clinging to the bulwarks, the sides of the ship, the rigging, anywhere and everywhere, until at last this portion of the vessel also sank, carrying with it many who had there taken a last refuge, the report in the Chronicle said.

The scene was truly appalling.

Even from the Line Wall, where the cries of distress from the panic stricken passengers could be distinctly heard, the horrors of the situation could in some measure be realised.

The electric lights of Her Majestys ships Anson and Rodney cast a vivid light on the sinking vessel and on the numerous launches and boats on her lee side which were plainly visible.

The passengers, &c., were huddled together in hundreds, and in many places entirely hid from view portions of the bows upon which they crowded; they were all in motion, striving every man to save himself or his family, and it was evident that the most intense excitement and awful struggle for life prevailed.

The report in the newspaper praised the efforts of rescuers both from the Royal Navy fleet, from other ships in the bay and from the Port of Gibraltar, whose personnel braved the stormy conditions to save life. Two of them lost their lives.

They seem one and all to have vied with each other in the work of rescue, and if today we deplore and mourn the fearful loss of life which last night occurred in our bay, we have at any rate the satisfaction of knowing that all that could be done by our fleet and by those on shore was done to minimise this fearful catastrophe, the report said.

The tragedy scarred Gibraltars community.

The proximity of the vessel to shore meant many people watched it unfold, an indelible image on this communitys collective memory.

In the days that followed, one eyewitness told this newspaper: The shrieks and cries were heartrending and the awful sight of eight or nine hundred panic stricken people struggling for their lives was one which can never be forgotten by those who had the misfortune to witness it.

The shipwreck also brought the community together in a spirit of charity that remains immediately recognisable today.The very next day after the Utopia sank, the Chronicle carried an appeal for clothing for the survivors.

It was the start of a community-wide response that would continue in the days and weeks following the collision, including a special fund that was set up to collect donations for the survivors.

There were charitable events too, the proceeds of which were also donated to the fund.

On March 24, the Chronicle carried a report on a well-attended performance in the Benatar Theatre by the Caracciolo Company held for the benefit of survivors of the Utopia.

The report notes that the disaster had cast a gloom over Gibraltar and that no one was in the mood for the opera. But the community rallied round in a collective show of support.

The reports in this newspaper almost daily through to August of that year reflected that shared grief at this terrible disaster and Gibraltars desire to help in whatever way possible.

Later, the Italian Government awarded decorations for bravery to servicemen and civilians who were involved in the rescue operations.

In Gibraltar this week, the 130th anniversary of the loss of the Utopia has been marked by buglers of the Gibraltar Band and Drums Association, who played Il Silenzio at the memorial in North Front cemetery.

Members of the association have also volunteered to refurbish the memorial in the months to come.

The online seminar today has been organised by Pina Mafodda, an Italian researcher and author of historical texts, who will present her research: March 17, 1891, the shipwreck of Utopia between news and stories. Giving voice and dignity to those who have left their roots, their land to seek a better life in search of a dream.

The research will be published by Volturnia Edizioni in the Molisani Studies Series, starting from summer 2021.

The seminar starts at 1.30pm and can be viewed on Zona Rossa WebTVs YouTube channel.

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STOKR Raises 3.9 Million in Total Investments from iFinex Inc., Borderless Capital, Utopia Genesis Foundation, and G1 Ventures to Meet Surging…

Posted: at 12:33 am

LUXEMBOURG (PRWEB) March 16, 2021

STOKR, the EUs pioneering digital marketplace for alternative assets, today announced the conclusion of its pre-series A funding round with strategic investments from Borderless Capital, Utopia Genesis Foundation, and G1 Ventures. With over 3.9 million (over US$4.6 million) raised in total, STOKR plans to scale up its investment platform to meet the surging demand for EU-compliant security token offerings (STOs).

Despite the pandemic, STOKR received massive interest from ventures throughout 2020 as a turn-key solution to efficient fundraising in Europe.

We bootstrapped STOKR in 2017, when we founders pooled together over 1 million of our own funds, STOKR co-founder Tobias Seidl shared, it has been great to see the company grow as we have been able to welcome more ventures and investors to our platform, and the support from our own early investors will help scale up our operations even further.

The successful pre-series A round follows a seed round In 2018, in which STOKR received a strategic investment from iFinex Inc. doing business as Bitfinex.

The strategic investments will add to STOKRs suite of tools for ventures looking to raise funds: by integrating with Borderless Capital, STOKR now offers Algorand as an issuance platform for security tokens, in addition to its already available issuance options on Ethereum and the Liquid Network. G1 Ventures, a venture capital firm with a primary focus on blockchain innovation on the European market, brings its valuable network from the blockchain space for STOKR to better service its venture partners.

The tokenization of securities enables a whole new wave of surrounding financial services such as fractional ownership of securities, integrated dividends payments with stablecoins such as Tether (USDt), lending, and capital markets, to name just a few, said David Garcia, CEO and Managing Partner of Borderless Capital. The innovation that STOKR platform has developed, combined with the power of the Algorand blockchain, will allow these new financial instruments to grow at an exponential level; we are very excited and proud to back the plans and vision of the STOKR team.

STOKR hosts investment opportunities from a diverse range of industries, including sci-fi strategy MMO title Infinite Fleet, Italian luxury car manufacturer Mazzanti, and an upcoming partnership with the Utopia Genesis Foundation to issue tokenized music rights.

In the first quarter of 2021, STOKR will facilitate the tokenization of over 100 million (US$ 120 million) worth of assets.

About STOKR

STOKR is the EUs pioneering digital investment marketplace for alternative assets, where smart investors connect with and fund innovative businesses.

STOKR is the all-in-one solution for young and growing ventures looking to raise capital in the EU. Operating out of Luxembourg, STOKR provides founders with the full suite of technical deployment, investment structuring, and compliance support for the issuance of EU-compliant security token offerings (STOs).

Through carefully selected high-profile offerings, STOKR fosters a risk-reduced environment, liberates investment opportunities from traditional venture capital, and directly connects visionary ventures to a network of professional and retail investors. STOKR allows investors to participate in the future success of a diverse range of ventures through profit- or revenue-sharing rights, without middlemen such as custodians or brokers.

About Borderless Capital

Borderless Capital is a modern financial institution investing capital and co-building financial products that accelerate access, bootstrap adoption, and create value globally through the Algorand Borderless Economy. We do not stop with just investment. We also provide guidance and mentorship to grow our portfolio companies into successful and category leading businesses. As a thought leader in blockchain with deep expertise in the Algorand ecosystem, we advise our portfolio companies on go-to-market strategies to effectively build their network effect. In short, we leverage the synergy of our portfolio, partners network, and domain expertise to create value for everyone.

For more info: http://www.borderlesscapital.io

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The State of the Race: How the Winners Will Be Decided – Awards Daily

Posted: at 12:33 am

The Oscar race, like much of Hollywood and the entertainment industry and the political Left of this country are caught up in an existential crisis that is causing mass firings, abject fear, forced statements, institutional disruptions all designed to dismantle the greatest fear that has been named: systemic racism. Whatever your feelings are about that term, what you think it means there is no doubt that it has become not unlike a fundamentalist religion. You must be on board or youll be ejected.

The richer and whiter you are the more likely you are to see it as giving you a sense of purpose, like Born Again Christians felt back in the 1970s their faces awash in bliss now that theyve discovered lifes true meaning. And you dont get richer and whiter than the people in power in the film industry. Nothing matters quite as much as maintaining their image through this ongoing storm. That means theyll dump anyone to salvage their brand.

Most people in the press on the Left wont talk about what is plainly obvious to everyone who covers it. They cant, really. They have to write in support of all of it. They have to be good white allies because they cant risk their reputation on Twitter, or in some cases, their livelihood. The fear is real. Its so real that there isnt anything any kind of opinion, any kind of feeling that can override it.

We arent living through a time where voters are going to decide on the best. It isnt going to be about the best. The truth is that it never has been. It has always been about what resonates emotionally with the greatest number of people.

How do we usually measure that? Prior to COVID shutting down theaters, we had the free market that decided. When you look at films put out by movie studios that are clearly aimed at the international market to make those insane billions theyre making now you can see how the last thing they need to worry about is how woke the movies are. In general, audience, especially International ones, dont care. Theyll pretty much watch anything and they arent as caught up in this sense of purity that Americans perpetually are. There is a reason we had a witch hunt in Salem in 1692. And a reason we had another one in Hollywood in the 1940s. We are a new country trying to build mini utopias. Older countries kind of been there, done that like centuries ago.

The wave of the born again wokeness religion isnt limited to the US it has spilled over to France and England, much to their own horror. Yes, theyre trying to dismantle the memory of Charles Darwin and Winston Churchill for offensive things they believed back when, you know, everyone believed those offensive things? But the wokeness religion isnt really about forgiveness. Hey, at least Christianity is down with forgiveness, ideally. But America learned back in 1692 that an event like the Salem hysteria was easier at a time when the only education was the Bible and no one had any lawyers, or due process. Spectral evidence was good enough. If an 11-year-old girl thought the woman who delivered her milk every Sunday was a witch because she came to her in a dream? Who was anyone to say differently. She would have to hang. Oh, she could confess to being a witch and be allowed to live as a witch but you must swap your life, one way or the other. To George Orwell, in 1984, his greatest novel ever written, he makes the statement that if you take away free thought, love, art, books, music, history you might as well be dead.

Oscar voters, and industry voters overall, still want to be seen as good in our newest rendition of an American utopia (which is destined to collapse like a house of cards because they all do eventually). They will be voting that way. Maybe one or two wins will be based on what they REALLY think but overall they will want to be sending a message that they are aware and on board with upending systemic racism in the Academy and Hollywood.

Here is the statement put out by publicists to the HFPA to make sure they make necessary changes to their membership, etc.

In the last decade our industry has faced a seismic reckoning and begun to address its failure to reflect and honor the diversity of our community, yet we have witnessed no acceptance of responsibility, accountability or action from the HFPA, even as systemic inequity and egregious behavior are allowed to continue. We collectively and unequivocally agree that transformative change in your organization and its historical practices is essential and entirely achievable. We want to be part of the solution.

To reflect how urgent and necessary we feel this work is, we cannot advocate for our clients to participate in HFPA events or interviews as we await your explicit plans and timeline for transformational change.

I thought about how the HFPA nominated Ava DuVernay for Best Director for Selma and how they nominated Regina King for Best Director for One Night in Miami and how neither the DGA nor the Oscars has ever nominated a black female director and I find all of this a little ironic, but okay. In response, the HFPA has committed because everyone knows how badly the HFPA needs access to clients as opposed to, you know, the clients needing access to them and their votes to inviting enough members so that black voters comprise 13% of their membership. Theyre going to have find new members who can be down with the unorthodox practices of the group and that is going to be no easy task.

What they are hoping for, however, out of this is really just good press they, like the publicists, like the industry just want to be seen as good.

Without the free market box office doesnt talk. This has made almost everyone who covers film on Twitter giddy with delight, as Neil Minnow said, because, Were seeing a lot more diversity partly because the normative white male blockbusters had to step aside last year.

Box still drives power in Hollywood both in front of and behind the camera. Everyone knows that releasing a film that made $100 million is a pretty decent calling card, at least it always has been in the past. Before the Oscars became an extremely insular bubble, box office used to drive Best Picture contenders. But my readers know because I have been writing about the evolution for the last 20 years, two things have happened at once: film studios gave themselves over to franchises and tentpoles, and the Oscar race pinched itself off from that and evolved into its own species where films are made and catered to a mostly elite group of critics and bloggers and people who live in New York and LA. The public no longer mattered and so box office no longer mattered.

What Big Corporate has now realized is that what the Left cares about isnt the class differences. They know that if they virtue signal that they are woke they can sell anything. They can destroy any rain forest. They can torture any animal. They can put out any junk. They can put out junk food but as long as they put a woke message on it as it sails through American culture, they will be mostly left alone. This is true in all aspects of American life where money is involved. Big money. Fuck you money. Some might call this pandering but you can call it whatever you want. The bottom line is that this is what defines the Oscars now. They are still part of the massive money making of Hollywood but they are still dressed up to signify what Hollywood stands for. And what that will stand for this year, without exception, will be how on board they are with firsts.

First female of color to win Best Director and Best PictureFirst Asian male nominated for Best ActorFirst time since the 1970s two Black Actresses were nominated for Best Actress (and both times one of the two nominees played Billie Holiday.)First time two women are up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay.

And on it will go. That is about as good of branding as Hollywood could hope for. They can still do whatever they want, make whatever movies they want to make and the market wont determine the success or failure of their movies. They do not care about the market where the Oscars are concerned. They used to, of course, but they dont.

That makes the Oscars, then, really not a process that is about a competition to find the best. First off, you have to define best and you cant. It is a matter of what people feel about what they are watching.

The surreal part of it, along with so much that has happened in the past year, the Oscars and the industries that feed into them are singularly aimed at the American Left. They simply do not even consider anyone else out there exists nor would they care if they did. Thus, they are inviting millions of Americans not to watch their show already, even before you get to the kinds of movies on offer or the virtual ceremony. We are going into this knowing there is a good chance they will see their worst ratings ever. But it does not appear that the Academy cares about ratings, just as they dont appear to care about movies that would appeal to a wider array of tastes.

Im not going to tell you its going to be a fun next few weeks. Or that whatever changes made this year arent going to be cosmetic and self-serving maybe they will be, maybe they wont be. If the job of the Oscars and the film awards community is going to be righting the wrongs of society or political activism I think they can say theyve succeeded there. This year will show what an Oscars without free market considerations looks like. Maybe that is what they ultimately want from these awards as they edge ever so closely to their centennial.

I can say that the films and contenders nominated are all really good and really deserving. There isnt a weak film in the bunch. Will there be mounting controversies? Maybe. Im preparing my shit storm raincoat just in case.

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The Road to Autonomous Security – Infosecurity Magazine

Posted: at 12:33 am

Theres a lot of noise around autonomous security. For years, analysts and security operations teams have been promised a utopia where they leave monotonous tasks behind, and yet the burnout rate for these professions continues to be high. Clearly there is much work to be done, but it helps to understand where we are today and theres no better place to look than the automobile industry.

The auto industry may not always be considered the most innovative, but its put a lot of thought into what it means to create self-driving cars. This includes a standardized framework that provides a good roadmap to whats ahead for cybersecurity.

Lessons from the Road

Automobiles are more fuel-efficient, fancier and safer than they have ever been. But one thing has arguably gotten worse: the driver. An analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSA) shows that human error is responsible for 94% of serious automobile crashes.

To improve safety and driver experience automakers are introducing innovations such as rain sensing wipers, automated headlights and blind-spot detection systems that allow drivers to focus more of their attention on the road. But thats not always the result.

Cruise control, for instance, was designed to eliminate the cumbersome act of keeping your foot on the accelerator. The problem is, it reduces cognition in other areas. Putting your foot on the accelerator forces you to pay more attention; without it, going too fast into a curve is just one of the many potential consequences. Now, adaptive cruise control (ACC) is becoming standard because it solves some of the challenges in Cruise Control 1.0.

This is a great example of something that evolved from being automated to being autonomous. In fact, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) developed a standard for describing the level of automation in cars thats been adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the United Nations. On this scale, traditional cruise control is a Level 0 and ACC a Level 1. Teslas Autopilot or Cadillac Super Cruise are considered Level 2.

If this standard was adapted to cybersecurity, heres what it might look like:

The Self-Driving Security Journey Has Just Begun

In cybersecurity, one basic form of automation considered to be standard today is the correlation performed by SIEMs and network security tools. For example, collating all the alerts associated with an IP address together onto one screen or identifying an attack campaign by grouping alerts that share a source or a destination. Some tools are smarter and use additional sources of context such as active directory (AD) or threat intelligence, or filter out the known good. But much like cruise control, there are a lot of unintended consequences that manifest in the security world primarily through false positives and negatives. For instance, as devices become more mobile, they tend to roam inside and outside of corporate networks. With a new IP address at each location, the same device could have several addresses over a short period. The average IP address could have several devices associated with it too, making any analysis based on an IP address flawed from the get-go.

If cruise control is considered Level 0 on SAEs scale of automation, its safe to say IP correlation would be the same on the security scale. Looking more broadly at cybersecurity automation, most of the industry is probably only at a Level 1.

The Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) category could have the best claim to Level 2 Partial Automation. These technologies automate several low impact response and remediation tasks like creating support tickets for the IT helpdesk, automatically correlating between multiple security tools, or grabbing evidence into an incident data store.

Getting to Level 4 and 5 will require the entire cybersecurity industry to substantially raise its game. For now, the focus should be on getting to Level 3 Conditional Automation.

To bring back the automobile analogy, Tesla Autopilot understands the vehicle (speed, travel lanes, braking, acceleration, etc.) in the context of other vehicles sharing the road and surfaces data the driver needs to make a decision.

We need similar levels of automation to bring cybersecurity to Level 3, and based on what weve learned from cars, there are three basic requirements to get there. We need to reduce the cognitive load on humans so security teams can focus on whats important, eliminate stressors like monotonous tasks, and focus on user experience in a way that documents decision paths so humans can dig deeper if and when they want to.

Human analysts continue to play a significant role in the security operations process and likely will for years to come. With that said, human skills can be elevated to a higher level by eliminating both the tribal knowledge and the rigor needed to surface the information they need to make optimal security decisions. That is what will put organizations firmly on the path towards autonomous security.

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The internet and what it has become – Helsinki Times

Posted: at 12:33 am

When the concept of the internet first began making its way into public conversation, it felt as if it would change the world in an instant, creating a technology-driven utopia on the way. And while, thanks to exponential growth, the internet drastically changed things, the initial torture of having to use dial-up internet on, what now appear to be a comically sized, desktop computers did remove some of the magic.

However, since the time of clunky desktop computers and dial-up connections, we have come a long way. The vast majority of us now have broadband in our homes and smartphones in our pockets as we make our way through the world. There were 5.11 billion unique mobile users worldwide in 2019, and 2.71 billion of them use smartphones.

Despite living in a time in which we all carry super computers with us almost everywhere we go, many of us still feel as if we could be getting more from the modern age. There are a multitude of reasons why you may not be using the internet to its full potential. It could be that you are unaware of some of the possibilities or, it could be because that after reaching a certain level of tech-savviness, i.e. being able to do all that you think you need to do, you simply stopped exploring. Here are a few tips for everyday internet usage in a productive way.

Free Wi-Fi networks

You are probably fully aware of the fact that a large number of cities around the world are home to what are referred to as Wi-Fi hotspots, mainly aimed at visitors and tourists. You have probably even used one of these if you need to quickly google the opening hours for a museum or get some basic directions. But if you want to do anything more than quickly find the location of something, these so-called hot-spots can be infuriatingly slow.

A number of cities, including the city of Helsinki, actually offers free, unrestricted, high-speed Wi-Fi that is fast enough to allow you to video call and stream HD videos on the go. It is so good that it might be your high-speed broadband at home that starts to infuriate you. There is often no need to sign up or log in, just simply access the city network and start surfing. WLAN services are available around the clock. You can see their locations on the map here.

Online comparison and review sites

Again, this is likely something that you are aware of, yet so many people fail to see just how useful online comparison and review sites can prove to be. While we can all read the description of a product on its official website, it is difficult to gain an understanding of how people who actually use the product feel about it. There are a number of websites that do just this for specific products and/or services. Some sites and apps that were built specifically for reviews, such as Yelp, did not make it in the long run, while peer reviews in sites such as Reddit and Facebook are often taken into account by users.While a site like Suomenkielisetnettikasinot tests and reviews online gaming sites from the perspective of an ordinary Finnish player, in order to ease the stress of social distancing and staying at home, the city of Tualatin in Oregon has compiled a list of best board game review sites.

At its core, the internet is supposed to bring people and information together by sharing resources in one easily accessible place. In reality, the internet has become much bigger than the sum of its users. It has changed the human society forever and in ways we never thought it would. Here is what David Bowie said in 1999: I dont think we have even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable, Bowie told BBC Newsnight at the time. I think were actually on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying. Its an alien life-form! The clip went viral in 2016 after Bowie died at the age of 69, and has received new attention recently on mediums such as Tik Tok.

HT

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Chevy’s Express Concept Was a Rad 80s Take on Future Transportation – Motor Trend

Posted: at 12:31 am

Almost a decade before Chevrolet pinned the Express moniker to its full-size van, the American brand showed off the Express concept car. Designed specificallyfor use on a proposed government high-speed highway network, the bar-shaped gas-turbine-powered Express could theoretically cruise from point-to-point at 150 mph, at roughly 25 miles per gallon (of kerosene). Despite packing as little as 120 hp, the limited mass and aerodynamic shape of the Express (its coefficient of drag wasless than 0.20), not to mention the powertrain's healthy 350 lb-ft of torque, allowed the vehicle to reach and maintain triple-digit speeds with relative ease.

Although neither the highway network nor the powertrain of the four-seat Express would ever materialize, the concept still proved prescient in some respects. Credit features such as electro-hydraulic power steering assist, a drive-by-wire accelerator pedal, camera-fed rear-view displays in place of mirrors, and a proximity keyfob that allowed the car to automatically open and close its canopy in relation to its user's whereaboutsvehicular technologies we arguably now take for granted.

Even better, the Express was a fully functioning concept car. Its gas-turbine engine and 21st-century technologies weren't theoretical features, but operable items capable of performing their intended functions out of the gate. No surprise, then, the Express made a cameo in 1989's Back to the Future Part II as a vehicle scooting about in the year 2015. After all, the Express seemingly previewed the future of automotive transportation with its slick design and trick tech, all the while it was capable of driving on its ownno Hollywood magic needed!

Like the 2015 portrayed in Back to the Future Part II, the Chevy Express concept's vision of the future mostly fell short of realityfor now, at least.

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