Monthly Archives: February 2022

Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

By Luke Kyaw and Mathew Seibert

SACRAMENTO, CA The Golden State has had a long, conflicted history of heated political battles over the existence of the death penalty. Now legislation is being introduced to end or mitigate death row.

Alexei Koseff, author of the report Is This Another Way to End Californias Death Penalty? reveals these ongoing disputes about capital punishment in his writings.

Koseff argues that despite having housed the first ever court in the nation to rule the penalty as unconstitutional, California today has the largest death row among all the other states, at 694 inmates according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Koseff then explains that on Feb. 18, 1972, the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional. However, it was short-lived when voters voted later in the same year to add a constitutional amendment that overturned the ruling.

When initiatives to abolish the death penalty appeared on the ballot in 2012 and 2016, voters rejected them and once again upheld the death penaltyalbeit by a narrow margin.

Prosecutors praised this turnout, claiming that it is imperative to maintain the death penalty as the ultimate punishment as well as an effective bargaining tool for plea deals.

Opponents of the death penalty argue that it is too painful and cruel to the victims and their families, unfair, and just doesnt work as a deterrent to the crime. And, increasingly, groups like the Innocence Project are finding and exonerating, people on death row.

And despite the death penalty being maintained, Koseff emphasizes the fact that no one has been executed in the state since 2006 after a Death Row inmate challenged the constitutionality of lethal injection on the primary basis of excessive pain.

However, after 15 years of court appeals, the new lethal injection protocol is about to be finalized.

In light of this, Gov. Gavin Newsoma staunch believer in repealing the death penaltyissued an executive order in 2019 closing down the death chamber at San Quentin and urged voters to reconsider their stance on the death penalty.

As a result, death row opponents are now considering another path: reducing the size of death row.

A report by the state Committee on Revision of the Penal Codewhich unanimously recommended the steps to reduce the size of death rowhas already introduced a pair of bills which are currently moving through legislation.

Assembly Bill 256 by Assemblymember Ash Kalra will extend a law that was implemented in 2020 that allowed for easier opportunities to challenge racially biased convictions and sentences. This allows inmates that experienced capital punishment injustice through racial bias to be able to overturn their conviction.

Senate Bill 300 by Sen. Dave Cortese (SB 300) will limit the punishments for people convicted for being an accomplice in a homicide. This would help protect individuals who were deemed a major proponent of the crime but did not actually kill someone.

Koseff explained that SB 300 barely made it through the Senate last session and now faces an assembly where bills regarding the reducing of criminal sentences typically face overwhelming resistance.

California voters have increasingly supported initiatives that aim to ease the states history of harsh criminal sentencing, Cortese said.

Koseff then questions the Golden States capital punishment policies with, The end of Californias Death Row?

With rehabilitation as the backbone, Gov. Newsom alongside advocates for abolition plan on completely disbanding the death row facility at San Quentin, Koseff said. The prison officials plan on moving condemned inmates around to free up this space and allow prisoners easier access to work and pay restitution.

Legal Director and General Counsel for Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Kent Scheidegger explained how the death row facilities drive up costs substantially. However, advocates for the death penalty in California said Newsoms actions are essentially a slap in the face for the families of murder victims.

During an appearance in Los Angeles, Newsom said he looks forward to advancing more leadership on reforming the death penalty. We talk justice, we preach justice. But as a nation we dont practice it on death row.

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CA Opponents of Death Penalty Look to Alternatives, from Abolition to Reducing Size of Death Row New Laws to Ban Executions Introduced - The Peoples...

The Hong Kong Government published the Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022 (Amendment Bill) on 11 February 2022 to implement the proposal to abolish the use of the accrued benefits of employers mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) system to offset statutory severance payment and long service payment (SP/LSP) commonly known as the MPF Offsetting Arrangement.

Abolition of the MPF Offsetting Arrangement

Employers are currently entitled to make use of the MPF Offsetting Arrangement to reduce the SP/LSP payable to their employees upon termination of employment. After the proposed amendments come into effect on a date to be appointed by after the enactment of the Amendment Bill (Transition Date), the MPF Offsetting Arrangement will be abolished and employers could no longer use its MPF mandatory contributions to offset the SP/LSP entitlements in respect of their employees employment period starting from the Transition Date (but not before). In essence, under the Amendment Bill, the SP/LSP payable to an employee whose employment ends on or after the Transition Date will be divided into two components:-

Despite the above, voluntary contributions which employers make in excess of the mandatory requirement (and the returns derived therefrom) can continue to be used to offset both Pre- and Post-Transition SP/LSP. Offsetting by using gratuities based on length of service is also likewise not affected by the Amendment Bill.

As for MPF-exempted occupational retirement schemes under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance, the offsetting arrangement will also be abolished with respect to non-offsettable benefits.

The calculation of SP/LSP will also be updated following the enactment of the Amendment Bill. Whilst the payment rate (i.e. 2/3 x monthly wages x years of service) and payment cap (i.e. HK$390,000) for monthly rated employees will remain unchanged, the monthly wages used to determine the Pre-Transition SP/LSP will generally be the monthly wages immediately preceding the Transition Date, whereas the monthly wages for calculating the Post-Transition SP/LSP will generally be the last monthly wages before the relevant date of termination. Where an employee has work for a long period such that his/her aggregate SP/LSP exceeds HK$390,000, the Post-Transition SP/LSP will be the remainder of HK$390,000 after first deducting the Pre-Transition SP/LSP.

Government subsidisation

Bearing in mind that the new regime would lead to additional financial burden being incurred by employers, the Government will put in place supporting measures to facilitate the transition. Based on the Legislative Council Brief issued on 8 October 2021, the current plan of the Government is to set up a 25-year subsidy scheme details of which are summarised as follows:

The Government subsidy scheme will likely be implemented through a reimbursement approach whereby employers will have to first settle any SP/LSP that arises and the Government will calculate and disburse the subsidy upon subsequent application.

Employers obligations

The Amendment Bill also seeks to amend the record-keeping provisions of the Employment Ordinance to require employers to keep wage and employment records of their employees covering the 12 months of the employees employment (or a shorter period for an employee who has worked for less than 12 months) immediately preceding the Transition Date.

In addition, and in connection with the Government subsidy scheme, the Government intends to introduce a Designated Saving Accounts (DSA) Scheme under which employers will be required to make mandatory contributions to designated accounts for meeting their future SP/LSP liabilities. Separate legislative amendments will be made.

What should employers do?

As evident from the above, the Amendment Bill contains technical amendments which may not be easy to follow in practice. As such, although it is expected that the amendments will not be implemented until at least 2025, it is advisable for employers to familiarise themselves with this new regime and seek professional advice where necessary to facilitate compliance.

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Government Published Amendment Bill to Abolish MPF Offsetting Arrangement after Years of Consultation - Lexology

What would inspire you to use your body to block traffic or go on a hunger strike? Some profound, personal injustice that was being overlooked by seemingly everyone around you?

The driving force behind many of historys greatest social movements whether for the abolition of slavery, womens rights, or racial justice is the energy generated in the space between an injustice not being acknowledged and the recourse that it demands.

For a growing movement of young people around the world, the most salient injustice is the climate and biodiversity crisis. And the gap between people in power acknowledging its severity and taking appropriate action is enormous.

So these young people are doing everything they can to disrupt the status quo with the means available to them.

But its not easy to keep protests going for weeks and months at a time. Often, protesters and organizers face arrest and harassment, lose their jobs, and have to pay for everyday expenses out of dwindling bank accounts. This additional burden of having to afford survival leads to high attrition rates in social movements.

Now, the Climate Emergency Fund is working to ease this financial burden by giving organizers and climate groups timely grants, resource support, and networking capabilities. Insulated from money concerns, organizers can focus on carrying out actions, building the movement, and making sure their message is heard loud and clear.

Movements are how societies make important changes, Margaret Klein Salamon, executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund, told Global Citizen. And in this case, in this absurd situation, as the movie Dont Look Up portrays, we are at this point of horrible existential risk, a truly catastrophic situation, and the vast majority of Americans and people in other countries are still in normal mode, acting like things are basically fine and we should continue as is."

But more and more people are waking up from that, through organizations like Extinction Rebellion and others who engage in civil disobedience and high stakes actions to fight public complacency, she added.

Demonstrators hold up posters outside the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon during a climate strike of school students as part of the Fridays for Future movements Friday, May 24, 2019.Image: Armando Franca/AP

Protest movements, while guided by big-picture concerns, often need to act swiftly in response to current events, especially when it comes to local chapters who depend on teams of volunteers.

Receiving a grant can be key, but the process of actually getting one can be lengthy and complicated, with applicants having to fill out various forms, undergo rounds of interviews, and then wait to be vetted before a final decision comes through.

By the time money clears, objectives may have changed, teams may have fragmented, and momentum may have stalled.

The Climate Emergency Fund operates in this space, trying to get money to action-oriented groups as fast as possible to ensure momentum accelerates.

Formed in 2019 by three millionaires Aileen Getty, Rory Kennedy, and Trevor Neilson the organization seeks to turbocharge protests as theyre happening now in order to bolster the larger movement and secure decisive grassroots victories.

The smartest place for philanthropists to invest is in this new generation of activists who refuse to accept the excuses of the adults whose lazy approach to climate is leading us off a cliff, Neilson told the New York Times. The era of gradualism in environmental activism is over.

The founders perform advisory roles nowadays, alongside a host of environmental advocates, while the day-to-day work of supporting climate organizations and identifying grantees falls to a small team of four women Salamon, Development Director Rowena Koenig, Operations Manager Sophie Tong-Try, and Grants Manager Ananda Ambrose.

The teams nimbleness means that they can maximize the amount of money that goes to frontline activism and organizing.

Taking cues from groups like Extinction Rebellion and the Sunrise Movement, the Climate Emergency Fund perceives the climate crisis as a siren going off, demanding immediate intervention.

We need to enter into emergency mode collectively, Salamon said. Its not a choice. Its transform or collapse time.

If we want to continue on with the human experiment and work toward a better future, theres just no alternative to getting to zero emissions as quickly as possible and I think we can do it, she said. The other option is just genocidal, catastrophic collapse.

Since 2019, the nonprofit has supported 71 organizations, trained 12,495 activists, and mobilized 1 million more. Last year alone, 35 grantees received $1.5 million in funds.

Current grantees are grouped among five categories: building pressure on policymakers; strategic action at COP26; confronting deadly climate science on TV news; building movement infrastructure; climate emergency campaigning; and bringing the movement back to the streets.

The overarching theme, however, is growing the global movement so that it can fully meet the challenges ahead.

Image: Kirsty O'Connor/PA/AP

Before joining the Climate Emergency Fund, Salamon was a Climate Emergency Fund grantee working at The Climate Mobilization, an organization that helped to get more than 2,000 municipalities to declare a climate emergency.

Declaring an emergency is step one. The next step is taking action.

Social movements at their heart are about spreading an uncomfortable truth to the public, she said. Its a factual truth and also a moral truth. Like the abolitionists, we say look at what this system actually is. So its an anti-denial campaign. Atrocities are being justified in the name of silence and normalcy, but if we really shine a light on it and make people confront these things then we can get the political motivation for transformative change.

Its fundamentally democratic, she said. People are taking back power, and in terms of tactics and high stakes organizing, definitely one thing that distinguishes the Climate Emergency Fund is our willingness to fund the vanguard, the hunger strikers and roadblocks, and the Extinction Rebellion and so forth.

Roadblocks, hunger strikes, digging tunnels underground, kayaking out to deepwater oil rigs, shutting down coal plants these are some of the tactics of the vanguard of the movement, the people who are standing in the way of heavy industries stripping the Earth bare for fossil fuels and then burning them to turn the atmosphere into a gauze of smoggy heat.

Salamon argues that these actions gain their power as a kind of symbolic rupture of norms. As onlookers get awoken from a state of complacency, they might recognize the gravity of the situation for what it is.

Theyre nonviolent in character, but theyre frequently subjected to violence. What a horrible thing who would want to go sit in the road to face down angry drivers and then get arrested and sit in jail? This is such an extreme act that it sends a clear message to the public.

In recent years, climate protest movements have proliferated around the world, driven mostly by young people. Millions of students have participated in Fridays for Future school strikes, following the example of Greta Thunberg.

Government and corporate leaders have increasingly adopted the language of climate activists and the movement for zero emissions has gained pledges, but in the words of Thunberg, all of this amounts to blah, blah, blah, or empty signaling, without an immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. On the contrary, emissions are rising and show no signs of slowing down.

What would it take to actually transform the status quo?

The political scientist Erica Chenoweth reviewed hundreds of social movements over the past century to find markers of success. She found, for example, that nonviolent protests are twice as likely as violent protests to achieve their goals. In that same vein, size seems to matter. Once a protest movement gets to 3.5% of a given population, the odds of success are greatly amplified.

The 3.5 rule guides a lot of Salamons thinking. She has a PhD in clinical psychology and is keenly interested in understanding what it takes to nudge people from indifference or avoidance about the climate crisis into active embrace of the movement.

Im basically coming at it from the question of, What is wrong with us psychologically that we are letting this happen and how do we wake up and treat this like the emergency that this is? she said. Social movement is the answer to that question.

Think about it like this: All of these actions stopping cars in rush hour traffic, halting industrial construction projects, subjecting your body to extreme deprivation carry the same fundamental message: stop!

There are different objectives, of course, but theyre all calling for the state of environmental decline to stop.

And the more onlookers stop, the more likely theyll take a look around and see the situation for what it is. And the more they do that, the more likely theyll join the movement.

Then, if and when that 3.5% target is reached, the transformative change Salamon spoke of might actually be possible.

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Meet the Team Turbocharging the Global Climate Movement - Global Citizen

Made of a red shweshwe dress, reminiscent of a family heirloom, the deconstruction and reconstruction of the fabric allows a new design to emerge from the mass of dots. (The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize)

Norval Foundation and The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) declared Bonolo Kavula as the winner of The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize for their work Tswelopele. The artists work is focused on abstraction, repetition and design, to create layered and multidimensional installations. Made of a red shweshwe dress, reminiscent of a family heirloom, the deconstruction and reconstruction of the fabric allows a new design to emerge from the mass of dots, leaving space for the viewer to interpret the work as they choose.

Kavula, represented by SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, is the first ever winner of this annual Prize for contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. They were selected from a shortlist of 30 artists hailing from 18 countries of which South Africa has the strongest representation, followed by Zimbabwe, Angola, Morocco, and Nigeria.

In addition to the title and cash award of R500 000, Kavula will be offered the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at Norval Foundation, in which the winning work will feature. In addition, aer capturing the attention of the public who placed votes at the exhibition and online, Ren Tavares, of This Is Not A White Cube, Luanda and Lisbon, and Galeire Alex Serra, Cologne is awarded the Public Vote Prize and R25,000 for their piece 'Sia dona um, 2021, retratos pra Ingls ver sries.' A work in which the plantations in So Tom and the period aer the abolition of slavery remind us of a historical past that is important to recover and reckon with.

A board of 53 independent arts professionals, comprising curators and academics who work closely with artists in their respective regions, nominated 158 artists for the Prize.The 30 finalists were shortlisted by a Judging Panel of five world-class art specialists, namely: writer, curator, and museum director David Ellio; Exhibitions Director, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Janine Galle Dieudji; Curator, Norval Foundation, Khanya Mashabela; exhibition curator and contemporary art consultant, Marie-AnnYemsi; and Chief Executive and Director, Design Museum, London,Tim Marlow.

The awards were given at a private event in the presence of the Judging Panel at the Finalists Exhibition at Norval Foundation, Cape Town on 15 February 2022. The public are invited to view the shortlisted artworks at the exhibition which is open 9am-5pm (daily except Tuesdays) until 28 February 2022 inclusive.

The Prize aims to raise significant funds for the shortlisted artists and for Norval Foundations Educational Programme as proceeds from the sale will be split equally between the Foundation and the artists.

Anna Lejerskar, President of the Learn for Life Foundation, the non-profit arm of EON Reality, commented on the partnership:

Creativity is viewed as the driving force behind innovation, as a fuel to inspire and enrich. For EON Reality, the parallels between art and technology are evident, both provide the means to learn about ourselves and the world in new and different ways, and an invitation to rethink and reinvent.

The EON Reality, through its not-for-profit arm Learn for Life Foundation is proud to be sponsoring The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize in a cause that is closely aligned with the organizations commitment to education, arts and the community.

The cooperation between Learn for Life Foundation and the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize marks our shared vision to harness the power of creativity and empower the dreams of the generations to come.

Hannah OLeary, Head of Modern & Contemporary African Art, Sothebys commented:

The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize not only provides a wonderful opportunity for the artists involved, but it also brings to the fore the vibrant, boundary-pushing artistic communities across Africa and the diaspora for the benefit of an audience worldwide. Just off the back of the exhibition in Cape Town, it is with great excitement that we are presenting the shortlisted works in an auction at Sothebys.

All shortlisted works, except for The Grand Prize Winner, are available to acquire via an auction hosted by Sothebys, open for bidding from 17h00 GMT yesterday (15 February 2022) until 22 February 2022. Please go to Sothebys auction pagefor further information and to view the works. Registration is required to place a bid.

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Tswelopele by Bonolo Kavula earns the The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize - News24

On Feb. 5, members of several progressive organizations based in the Los Angeles area joined with over 50 cities in a nationwide day of action. Demonstrators and speakers were united around a singular message: No war on Russia! The demonstration took place outside of the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, which sits across the street from the Los Angeles National Cemetery. The bodies of thousands of veterans of Americas imperial wars are buried here, with undoubtedly more joining their ranks if the U.S. march to war against Russia continues.

Those at the rally were able to come and enjoy solidarity with other activists calling for peace. Liberation News spoke with Ia Martinez, an organizer with the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee, who said that it was necessary to stand against a war because a full-scale war with a nuclear power is potentially suicidal. While the prospect of such a war is appalling to her, Martinez also said it was inspiring to be surrounded by other like-minded activists fighting for peace.

Speakers at the demonstration highlighted the many struggles that are inextricably linked to the struggle against U.S. imperialism. Juan Jose Gutierrez of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition shared the history of NATO in the context of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He described the pattern of Western imperial powers breaking promises to the Soviet Union by admitting former nations of the Warsaw Pact to NATO, a strategic alliance whose sole purpose is to militarily encircle and threaten the Soviet. He also stated the immigrant community of Los Angeles is united in calling for a de-escalation of tensions. Gutierrez also explained that just as workers living in the U.S. desire peace and financial security, so too do the people of Eastern Europe who would undoubtedly suffer the consequences of the war that the U.S. is pushing for.

Additionally, Kourosh Karimi-Cherkandi, an organizer with ANSWER Coalition Los Angeles, explained that contrary to the coverage by Western media, NATO is not on a defensive mission. He connected NATOs involvement in the continued destabilization of Afghanistan and Libya both countries now suffering from the aftermath of NATO intervention. Karimi-Cherkandi called for a united working class opposition to NATO interference and the abolition of this hostile organization to protect innocent civilians across the world.

Even now, the U.S. government, with the support of other Western powers such as the UK and Canada, is continuing to make baseless claims that a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent. Unlike the U.S., Russia is continuing to show its willingness to work through a diplomatic process to de-escalate tensions, and continuing negotiations mediated by the French prime minister Emmanuel Macron. While the U.S. government and major defense contractors in the U.S. are pushing for war because they know it will be profitable for them and their shareholders, the working class in places like Los Angeles, and throughout the world, are united in calls for peace. This struggle against imperialist war will continue until the working class wins the peace it deserves. The rallying cry remains the same: No war on Russia!

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Los Angeles activists join national day of action to say No war... - Liberation