Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

After losing family, prosperity and careers in the Shoah, why would a Jewish survivor choose to return home to Vienna after the war?

After returning, Jews discovered that Austrians, as a whole and individually, did not welcome them back. In fact, the Austrian government excluded the vast majority of Austrian Jews from qualifying for benefits as victims of fascism.

Why then did Jews choose to stay? How did survivors confront the challenges of re-launching a life in a place where, a decade earlier, most Austrians eagerly welcomed Anschluss, the union of Austria into Nazi Germany?

Historian Elizabeth Anthony tells the story of those Jews who returned to Vienna in The Compromise of Return (Wayne State University Press). Anthony is director of the Visiting Scholar Program at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

To be clear: the majority of Austrian Jews who survived the Shoah remained abroad after the war. Around 5% of the prewar Jewish community chose to return.

Anthony describes four distinct cohorts and four distinct patterns of return. The first returnees were some 5,500 Jews who survived underground in Vienna. This cohort, known as u-boote (submarines), concealed their identity during the war with forged papers. They were protected by friends and relatives.

The second group of returnees were some 1,700 internment camp survivors. Both the u-bootes and the camp survivors arrived soon after the wars end. They imagined reclaiming their familiar homes. They arrived in a Vienna a city that lacked infrastructure, resources, skilled labor, energy sources and food.

The third group of returnees were political activists, survivors who were active Social Democrats and Communists. This cohort survived abroad with the assistance of their political organizations. They arrived a year or two after the wars end. They imagined helping to build a democratic, autonomous Austria.

The fourth group of returnees were survivors who lived abroad during the war years. This group included doctors and lawyers. (Some 62% of all lawyers in Vienna in 1936 were Jewish). They imagined rebuilding their professional careers in postwar Vienna.

The Austrian Provisional Government, under Karl Renner, sidestepped culpability for Nazi war crimes by placing total blame on the Germans. Renner ignored the reality that the majority of Austrians supported union with Germany and enthusiastically welcomed German troops into the country.

Renner recast Anchluss as the occupation of a foreign power forced on innocent Austria. According to this logic, Austria ceased to exist after 1938 and was not responsible for Nazi crimes. Occupied Austria was liberated by Austrian resistance fighters and the Red Army.

In that version of history, all Austrians were victims. No particular group of Austrians could be singled out as victims. As Anthony documents, the Renner government passed a Victims Welfare Act in July 1945 that included assistance to those who were persecuted on political grounds and for resistance fighters.

It made no provision, however, for those who were oppressed on the basis of race, religion and nationality, writes Anthony. Renners concerns about the nations pain, suffering and damages never included the loss of nearly two-hundred thousand Austrian Jews to emigration and murder.

Non-Jewish Austrians generally showed no sympathy for Jewish ordeals under the Nazis. Some displayed outright hostility. Many had been, and still were, enthusiastic Nazis and participants in aryanization policies. Some 60,000 apartments in Vienna had been aryanized. But, no Austrian political party took up the recovery of real estate and businesses stolen under Nazi laws. Quite the opposite:

Austrian politicians castigated Jews for having abandoned their country during crisis and having enjoyed comfort and safety abroad, while Austrian soldiers were forced to fight and die in the Wehrmacht. Some politicians even blamed World Jewry for not coming to Austrias aid at the time of the Anshluss.

As a result, few Jews regained their residences and businesses.

Most Viennese Jews who returned stayed. They felt they had no reason to engage in deep philosophical discussions. Vienna was home and they wanted to go home.

The writer Jean Amery (born Hans Chaim Mayer in Vienna) argued that Austrian Jews had not lost their homeland. It had never belonged to them.

The majority of Austrian Jews who fled the Nazis remained in their adopted countries or immigrated to other nations. Those who returned to Vienna met with an antisemitism that characterized home since the election of Karl Lueger as mayor in 1895. They accepted that antisemitism as something to which they were accustomed to navigating. And, they accepted the Austrian victim mythology.

In contrast, Amery experienced an immense sense of betrayal and loneliness as a result of Austrias shift from autocratic rule to democratic governance. Amery felt that during this transformation, many unspeakable wrongs were left unpunished.

As a victim of the Nazis, he made a powerful argument against forgiveness and forgetting in a book of essays, Beyond Guilt and Atonement.

Amery, it seems to me, provides the perfect response to the sense of compromise that pervades the returning community portrayed in Elizabeth Anthonys excellent history.

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Compromise: Returning to Vienna after the war - Jewish Herald-Voice

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

A Radiant Girl (Une jeune fille qui va bien) takes place in occupied France during 1942 but the film takes a unique approach to the Shoah.

There are so many stories about the Shoah. When it comes to young women, Anne Franks story is a big one. But for Jews living in France, The Journal of Hlne Berr is also of prominence. This book is also listed in the credits and regrettably, this week is the first Ive heard of it. Anyway, these books help set the tone for what life was life for teenagers during the era. When it comes to the film itself, filmmaker Sandrine Kiberlain imagines what life was like for her grandparents in 1942. Her parents wanted to be actors and of course, Kiberlain is also an actress. This film marks her feature debut and ultimately, its about a young woman wanting to become an actress. The Nazi occupation of France just happens to be used as the backdrop. More on this in a few.

Irene (Rebecca Marder) is a 19-year-old young Jewish woman living in Paris. Her family has a close watch on her especially with everything going on around. Things might not appear serious at first. Knowing what we know about France in 1942, you cant help but feel for her father, Andr (Andr Marcon). Andr has a different sensibility than either of Irenes grandmothers, one of whom is Marceline (Franoise Widhoff). This is especially true when we see Andrs anger on display when Irene comes home late one night. Its an era without cell phones, yes, but because of the Nazis, Jews couldnt own any phones. No contact with the outside world. The other thing is Irenes frequent fainting. Is this because of anxiety over what is going on? Possibly.

Irene puts a lot of her effort into landing an audition. At the same time, shes also falling in love with Jacques (Cyril Metzger) after they meet at a doctors office. It might end up being a doomed relationship but we do not know. Time will tell what happens but for now, Irene just wants to live her life without any fear. Fear may be lurking around the corner but this film takes a unique approach in that regard. Her brother, Igor (Anthony Bajon), doesnt get as much screen time but theres one musical scene here that offers some liveliness during an era of pending doom. Kiberlain makes sure to honor the Righteous Among the Nations. This tribute comes by way of a neighbor, Josiane (Florence Viala).

Sandrine Kiberlain takes an approach to Shoah era films that we rarely see on screen. While we dont see the Shoah in all of its horror and atrocities, Kiberlain offers audiences just a mere glimpse into Jewish life. Obviously, its looming in the background but the antisemitism is especially prominent in some scenes. Nothing like people giving Irene stares or turning her away because shes Jewish! Even though we dont see the SS, Nazi flags, or raids, audiences will still be able to feel the tension coming through the screen. This is certainly a choice that other filmmakers might not make. Because of this, the focus is allowed to remain on Irene, her family, and friends. Theres rarely a moment where the camera isnt following Irene around.

Rebecca Marder is marvelous in the leading role of Irene and delivers a star-making performance in A Radiant Girl. I imagine its only a matter of time before Marder becomes the next European actress to breakthrough into American cinema. This isnt a matter of if but when.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Sandrine KiberlainCAST: Rebecca Marder,Andr Marcon,Anthony Bajon,Franoise Widhoff, India Hair,Florence Viala,Ben Attal,Cyril Metzger,Jean Chevalier

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A Radiant Girl - International Critics' Week 2021 - Solzy at the Movies

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

NEW YORK Anne Frank Bridge. Anne Frank School. Anne Frank Theater. This is a mantra said by Anne Franks imaginary friend Kitty once she is summoned to life and escapes the confines of her surroundings, the Anne Frank House. The repeated, rhythmic phrase speaks to the larger story one of the larger stories in Ari Folmans brilliant and essential new film Where is Anne Frank. When you spend so much time turning someone into a symbol, you can forget that they were also once a human being.

Folman, the Israeli director whose previous animated films include Waltz With Bashir, which investigated repressed memories and Israels 1982 Lebanon War, and The Congress, a near-indescribable hallucinogenic inquiry into the nature of identity, was approached by the Anne Frank Fund to make this film eight years ago.

This new project debuting at this years Cannes Film Festival is not, simply, the diary as a cartoon, but an imaginative story firmly rooted in the work of the celebrated author who died at 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It is appropriate, even designed for, early teens to watch, and while the subject matter is certainly upsetting, Folman pulls his punches on the explicit horrors and violence. This is more of a break than Anne ever got.

We begin on a stormy day in modern Amsterdam, outside the Anne Frank House, when a lightning strike causes the ink of the famous red-checked diary, Annes 13th birthday present, to come to life. Soon, a fair-skinned, red-headed girl is wandering around the museum.

This is Kitty, the imaginary girl to whom Annes diary entries have been addressed, and, with a Peter Pan or Pinocchio-like wonder, shes on a mission to find her friend. As Kitty explores the world of today she encounters tourists, police, street punks, and migrants at risk for deportation. She also nicks the diary (giving the films title a second meaning) and reads from it, offering us flashbacks.

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But the scenes from the past are immersed in the imagination weve come to expect from Ari Folman. Images toggle between strict naturalism to exaggerated expressionism, sometimes in the same frame. An advertisement for Opekta, the fruit preserve company Otto Frank ran, is rendered in classic Walt Disney form. Nazis marching through Amsterdam look like Chas Adams drawings, and the Frank familys eventual train deportations are imbued with Hellenistic motifs, as per Annes fascination with Greek myths.

Ari Folman (left) and David Polonsky, who illustrated Anne Franks diary. (courtesy: Anne Frank Fonds)

Scenes from the diary become more realistic as they play out with Kitty, our eyes and ears in this film, present for the action.

Indeed, a trip to the Anne Frank Theater to watch scenes from the 2014 play ANNE just the type of official version of Annes story weve grown accustomed to for all these decades seems silly by comparison. (Folman visualizes the dramatic retelling for a school group as literally cartoonish and flat.)

A still from director Ari Folmans Where is Anne Frank. (Purple Whale Films)

A bumbling police officer, voiced by Folman himself, puffs his chest out and calls Anne Frank the biggest spiritual treasure in Holland since Rembrandt. And certainly the country has done its part to memorialize her. (Anne Frank Bridge. Anne Frank School. Anne Frank Theater.)

But this is not what makes her diary entries which were written (and certainly published) with readers in mind so mesmerizing. Before becoming a symbol for the largest, most systematic atrocity committed against a single group of people, she was just a regular (though talented) kid.

A still from director Ari Folmans Where is Anne Frank. (Purple Whale Films)

Anne Frank loved movie stars, flirted with boys in her class, and argued with her mother. She was annoyed by Mme. van Dann, who shared the secret annex with the Franks, and if maybe she never imagined a sequence of her cabbage-borne flatulence as Luftwaffe bombing, shed likely have chuckled at Folmans extrapolation.

As Kitty reads through the diary, her own story works not quite in parallel, but in a kind of rhyme. As Anne tiptoed toward a relationship with a boy named Peter, Kitty also meets someone with the same name. As Anne hears rumors about the horrors of the East, Kitty is made aware of the struggles of African and Middle Eastern migrants in Western Europe.

Folman threads a fine needle to show comparisons between Anne and the plight of a Malian girl named Awa, who woke up one day with her village in flames, but he does not reductively conclude that this treatment is precisely the same as the Shoah. Importantly, though, children, and especially Jewish children, can always use a reminder that the past is never as far away as we might hope.

A still from director Ari Folmans Where is Anne Frank. (Purple Whale Films)

As a Diaspora Jew who cant really remember a time without knowledge of the Holocaust, Ill admit that I, too, can sometimes forget that Anne Frank was not always a statue. (This is, I would imagine, part of what Philip Roth was getting at in his 1979 novel The Ghost Writer, in which he convinces himself that a woman he meets is actually Anne Frank living under a different name.)

Its fitting, I suppose, that it takes a film with one foot so planted in fantasy in which Clark Gable and a unicorn battle the Wehrmacht in bright, bold colors to splash cold water on my face, to remind me that behind the myth, at the other end of the pen, there always was, and will be, a person.

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Piercing animated Anne Frank film focuses on the little girl behind the symbol - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

There will be celebrations on the streets of New York, he said, stressing that Mr. Mose had won the 2016 elections with just under 600,000 votes in a country of 11 million people.

We believe it is a good thing for the Haitian people that Jovenel Mose is dead, he said. He was a criminal, who never had any legitimacy and under his leadership, there have been massacres, and corruption, and the arming and financing of street gangs. The only people mourning will be those who were helping him to steal.

Anthonine Pierre, a community organizer in Brooklyn who works for a group developing Black social justice leadership, said the assassination was her generations moment to grapple with upheaval in Haiti. I think that every Haitian person alive has lived through a lot of instability in the Haitian government and this is just a different moment, she said This is our generations moment.

The opposition in Haiti said that Mr. Moses five-year term should have ended in February. Mr. Mose insisted he had one more year to serve, because his term did not begin until a year after the presidential election, amid accusations of voting fraud.

Garry Pierre-Pierre, publisher of The Haitian Times in New York, said the assassination had seemed a step too far, even for Haiti. I didnt see this coming, because this is something I thought we had put behind us, he said. Despite the shakiness of our democracy, assassination was not a stage wed go.

In South Florida, so many Haitians have flocked to the region over the past decades a neighborhood in Miami is known as Little Haiti. In recent years, a thriving middle class has emerged and is gaining political influence.

Leonie Hermantin, a Haitian community leader in Miami, said Mr. Mose took on many projects in the northwest of Haiti, where he is from, and enjoyed support there, particularly from the working class. He also received some support in South Florida, she said.

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The Haitian Diaspora Responds to the Killing of Haiti's President - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

AFRICA-GLOBAL

Speaking on 6 July at the Association of African Universities 15th general conference themed, The Future of Higher Education in Africa, Chihombori-Quao said no amount of money injected into Africa will help the continent to develop until the brain drain is completely reversed.

In a plenary address on one of the meetings segments, Contributions of the diaspora to African Higher Education, Chihombori-Quao advised African countries to start tapping the talent and skills from all peoples of African descent globally.

Doing this or that, without the help of the diaspora, will not work, said Chihombori-Quao.

She stated it appears that African leaders and other elites on the continent have forgotten that the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 that led to the colonial partition of the continent is still alive and well and continues with its original mission of dividing the continent.

The former diplomat, social activist and entrepreneur urged African countries to stop exporting labour of all sorts to the rest of the world only to rely heavily on loans for development.

African countries are saddled with loans that they cannot repay, which is a secret weapon to facilitate the exploitation of African resources and its people, said Chihombori-Quao.

On economic development, Chihombori-Quao wondered how Africa would develop when its resources and economies are still controlled by those who had partitioned and colonised the continent.

The real issues that face the continent are ignored and fingers are pointed at corrupt African leaders when it is well known that corrupt leaders exist in all parts of the world, said Chihombori-Quao.

Higher education

On higher education, Chihombori-Quao challenged African academia to start rewriting African history, as the bulk of history books on the continent were written by the colonisers and have never been revised.

She argued there is a fair share of miseducation in Africa and it is the duty of African universities to correct falsehoods about the continent and help to fight exploitation, racism, economic exclusion and marginalisation that is directed to people of African descent.

Contributing to discussion on the role that the diaspora should play in higher education in Africa, Dr Nkem Khumbah, a lecturer of mathematics and a member of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM-Africa Initiative at the University of Michigan in the US, said that, what Africa now needs is human capital for its development agenda.

Khumbah said the African diaspora is now the only vanguard for African progress as it has the capacity in terms of expertise and skills that could be used to rejuvenate African higher education.

But, according to Khumbah, there are external forces that are sidelining the diaspora into the affairs of the African development agenda, especially in higher education.

He stressed the urgency of cooperation between the Association of African Universities and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States, as one way of reshaping Africas relationship with its diaspora of all peoples of black descent.

The Association of African Universities should recruit HBCUs as members and should include them in its conferences and even allow the diaspora academics and researchers to hold leadership positions in the association, said Khumbah.

He said the two sides should come together in partnerships, training and innovation programmes, resource mobilisation and research activities, as a lot of resources and energy are being wasted.

Khumbah highlighted the opening of the North American regional office by the AAU as a step in the right direction as it could serve as a reaching out and recruitment point for the diaspora in the US and Canada.

Synergies

According to Professor Margaret King, the president of the Chicago-based Global Institute of Sustainable Development, African countries should use synergies of the diaspora to provide training to people in the continent and even encourage the diaspora to come back home (to Africa) permanently.

Africa should break the cycle of dependency and global exclusion that had been there since the slaves left the shores of the continent, said King, who is also the coordinator of international studies at the University of Chicago.

She advised African countries not just to rely only on the diaspora segment that had been born in Africa but tap the talent and skills of the diaspora of black descent everywhere.

King said many African higher education institutions that have now gone into decline could benefit from the diaspora in terms of quality of teaching, research, innovations and research output.

Despite limitations to recruit diaspora academics on a large scale, Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, the vice-chancellor at the Nairobi-based United States International University-Africa, gave an update on how the Carnegie Corporation of New York had implemented several programmes on strengthening education and training systems in African universities.

According to Zeleza, such programmes as the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme have been focusing on projects in research collaboration, doctoral graduate student teaching and mentoring and curriculum development. The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme specifically targeted African-born diaspora scholars and benefited various universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

He said academics from the diaspora bring a wealth of experience and skill sets to African institutions and plans are under way to increase their number under the Carnegie funding.

The value of having diaspora scholars in African universities is increasing as African countries try to train the next generation of workers in artificial intelligence and [the] green economy, said Zeleza.

But he stated that diaspora scholars will continue to need support from receiving universities as well as from government officials in the processing of documents such as visas and work permits.

Contributing to the dialogue about the role of diaspora academics in higher education, research and innovations in African universities, Damtew Teferra, a professor of higher education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said there is an urgent need to mobilise African intellectuals in the diaspora to promote the development agenda in Africa.

It is time to bring intellectual capital from the diaspora to the continent, as one way of increasing brain-circulation in Africa, said Teferra.

As argued by Professor Pauline Rankin, a political scientist at Carleton University in Canada, the gist and the spirit of the dialogue at the AAU conference is the need for African governments to look beyond remittances that could be derived from diaspora academics but start engaging on how they can get skill sets from diaspora intellectuals.

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'Bring intellectual capital from the diaspora to Africa' - University World News

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

Getty Images; iStock; Skye Gould/Insider

Donald Trump remains a powerful presence in American politics despite being deplatformed and defenestrated. The same goes for the people who worked for his administration.

That's why Insider embarked over the past several months on a project to track down as many members as possible from Team Trump who served in an official capacity between January 2017 and January 2021.

Some of them you'll surely remember, like ex-White House senior advisors Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon. Others made it through the last few years without becoming household names.

Ultimately, we identified 327 Trump alumni for our comprehensive database. There, we break down who are now the big-shot lawyers, high-powered lobbyists, aspiring authors, and political consultants already busy trying to win elections for MAGA-minded candidates in 2022 and beyond.

Our project also highlights who from the Trump orbit ended up building new political entities aimed at sinking President Joe Biden's agenda and enacting controversial changes to election laws that favor Republicans.

We pinpoint the location of a couple of the biggest names from the Trump Cabinet who were mired in scandals during their time in the administration but now are trying to move on to new jobs. And we've identified the ex-Trump staffers now serving as aides to members of Congress, plus a couple of former administration officials who have become elected officials themselves.

Of course, many Trump aides also are acting as if they don't want to be found at all. At least not yet.

Check out the full Trump alumni database and our additional stories here:

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MAGA diaspora: We're tracking the 327 most important lobbyists, authors, and consultants in Trump's post-White House influence network - Yahoo News

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

MUMBAI, India, July 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Within justafew years of its launch, ShemarooMe, the OTT platform from the house of Shemaroo Entertainment, has established itself as one of the leading players in India and after careful due diligence and research feels that it could best serve the Indian diaspora by expanding their global footprint. ShemarooMe is therefore all set to entrench into the US market with its robust and diverse content offering spread across Bollywood, regional (Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, and Bengali), and devotional.

ShemarooMe has gained a huge fan following among Bollywood fans by releasing one Bollywood film every week, a commitment it has delivered on consistently. The brand recently conducted detailed research and found gaps in the Gujarati content space. To bridge these and take Gujarati entertainment a notch higher, the brand recently expanded its Gujarati content offering with the promise of new content every week. This initiative has met with a remarkable response from Gujarati audiences all over the world.

Keeping up with its promise, ShemarooMe lately released its Gujarati movie, 'Swagatam', which made it the first OTT platform to offer the digital-first Gujarati movie to be released before it hit the theatres. This was followed by two original web series, 'Vaat Vaat Ma', a romantic tragedy and a high drama political thriller, 'Kshadyantra', that are entertaining Gujarati audiences across all age groups. With many more such releases in the pipeline, ShemarooMe has opened up newer avenues not only for its audiences but also for its advertisers and partners.

Commenting on this, Mr. Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., explained, "Within just a couple of years, ShemarooMe has expanded beyond geographies and has been winning hearts of the Indian diaspora living in the US and other countries through its robust content offering. The overwhelming response and the love along with the customer feedback we have received over the years, has helped us design our offering accordingly. With our recent expansion of the category in Gujarati, we have beefed up our content line-up even further and are sure to satiate the content craving of every Gujarati living in the US."

Mr. Gada, added, "This will also enable our advertisers and partners to have a wider and more targeted reach. As a next step and a natural progression of our strategy, we will be expanding our broadcasting channels in the US."

The OTT platform has lined up a plethora of new content and is all set to woo the American Gujarati audiences with an entertaining mix of originals, nataks, Blockbuster movies, along with 500+ Gujarati titles, and popular shows offering a daily dose of entertainment to the entire family.

About ShemarooMe:

ShemarooMe is the over-the-top (OTT) video streaming app of Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, India's leading content powerhouse. Consumers can download the ShemarooMe OTT app from Google Play, iOS App store and http://shemaroome.com/

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ShemarooMe is all set to revolutionize the way Indian Diaspora is being entertained in the US - PRNewswire

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

Following the success of last year's event that hosted millions of viewers from five continents and 177 countries, the event will be broadcast live in an extended three-day summit where Iranians and resistance supporters from 50,000 locations across 105 countries and throughout Iran will join members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK/PMOI) in Ashraf 3.

Simultaneously, thousands of Iranians will gather at Brandenburger Tor in Berlin and hold assemblies in 16 capitols and major cities around the world, including Paris, Washington, D.C., London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo, Vienna, Rome, Budapest and Geneva.

In attendance at the summit will be 1,029 political dignitaries and over 250 lawmakers from Europe, Canada and the Middle East and North Africa region, along with 30 members of the U.S. Congress, 11 prime ministers and presidents, 70 former ministers from Europe and the Middle East, and 30 senior U.S. officials.

Event attendees and speakers will unite to call for equality, justice and human rights in Iran. Some are also expected to publicly call for the prosecution of heads of the mullahs' regime, Ali Khamenei and recently appointed Ebrahim Raisi following Iran's controversial election.

"Installing as president a mass murderer and a criminal against humanity reflects the regime's desperation [and] foreshadows the overthrow of the ruling theocracy. Raisi must face justice in an international tribunal," said NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi in response to the election's results.

The livestreamed experience will begin at 9 a.m. EDT and is free and open to a global audience at any of the following online locations:

About Free Iran World Summit 2021 The Free Iran World Summit is an annual event organized by Iran Freedom, a global grassroots network of Iranian expatriates, human rights defenders and more than 300 allied organizations supporting freedom, equality and human rights in Iran. For more information, visit https://iranfreedom.org/en/freeiran.

Contact: Sarah Rahimi Tel: +1 (571) 281-7167Iran Freedom [emailprotected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1560372/Free_Iran_World_Summit_2021.jpg

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Iranian Diaspora Organizes Historic Online Event in Support of Democracy and Justice in Iran - PRNewswire

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

Members of the Not In My Name SA Movement protest in solidarity with Zimbabweans at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Pretoria on 7 August 2020. They were reportedly protesting against alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe. (Photo by Gallo Images/Lefty Shivambu)

Anotida Chikumbuis a historian and political economist. He is a PhD candidate and assistant lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.David AnodiwanasheChikwazais a researcher and scholar of political science and international development studies.

There are several theories about the Zimbabwean governments failure to implement the diaspora vote. The one closest to the truth is that there is no political will to push for more widespread implementation because of the uncertainty about the number of Zimbabwean emigrants and their political preferences.

Calls for the extension of voting rights to Zimbabweans living and working in the diaspora are generating a highly competitive political atmosphere ahead of the 2023 general elections, making politicians paranoid about the potential impact of diaspora votes.

In 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged to extend voting rights to millions of Zimbabweans abroad a move that, if implemented, would answer a decades-long plea by the countrys citizens in the diaspora, who have consistently asked for the unconditional removal of restrictions to their right to vote.

However, it has become apparent that the promise was mere political grandstanding. The prospect of implementing the diaspora vote in Zimbabwe was recently rescinded in a statement by Zanu-PFs acting political commissar, Patrick Chinamasa, in a press conference administered by 263Chat on 24 June.

Behind the times

This retrogressive stance by Zanu-PF is not only a drawback on democratic advancement in Zimbabwe, but also in Africa at large. A growing number of countries on the continent now recognise diaspora voting rights, notably Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa, Senegal and Kenya.

Zimbabwe continues to lag behind on the ladder of democratic advancement. Although section 67 of the constitution gives voting rights to every Zimbabwean, the Electoral Act of 2008 and the Electoral Regulations Act of 2005 restrict voting rights to Zimbabweans on official government assignments only. Any other Zimbabwean living abroad is required to physically present him- or herself at their registered polling station to cast their vote.

What explains the failure of the Zimbabwean government to implement diaspora voting?

There are basically three arguments put forward by the state to justify disenfranchising millions of Zimbabweans. First, it is argued that they are misinformed about the situation back home and are highly likely to vote naively. According to this view, the positive or negative consequences of their vote do not have a direct bearing on them.

Two critical questions are asked to this effect: whose future do citizens in the diaspora want to determine? Do they have a lived experience of Zimbabwe?

Too costly

Second, it is argued that enfranchising the diaspora would unfairly outcompete Zanu-PF, whose capacity to campaign abroad is infringed by travel bans imposed on some of its party officials through sanctions.

Third, it is argued that the costs of operationalising the diaspora vote are huge, given how widely scattered the more than five million Zimbabweans living and working abroad are. Footing the bill for all the resources and logistics could exhaust budgets.

Are the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials and the governments perspectives on or responses to the call for the diaspora vote justified?

Although there is some truth to these claims, the substance of the arguments disintegrates when subjected to critical analysis. The view that Zimbabweans living abroad are misinformed about the situation back home is overwhelmingly false.

Many people in the diaspora were forced into migration. The grim realities of widespread poverty and unemployment brought about by economic hardship, bankruptcy and corruption forced them to look for better opportunities abroad so that they could take care of their families.

Keeping the home fires burning

Some of these people may or may not want to return home, but most contribute to developments back home through remittances, skills and knowledge transfer, establishing connections and networks, and investing in business ventures or technology transfer. Some also have companies back home that employ thousands of people. Others support philanthropic causes in education and health.

According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, as of 2020 Zimbabweans in the diaspora sent home a total of $1-billion, the highest contribution made to the local economy yet, one which accounted for 5% of GDP.

The view that Zanu-PF is unable to campaign abroad because many of its leaders are under travel sanctions fails the test of logic. As of 5 February 2019, US targeted sanctions applied to only 84 Zimbabwean individuals, some of whom are not Zanu-PF officials or bigwigs. That is right just 84 from a party of millions of supporters and thousands of officials.

Most importantly, these people are banned from travelling to the US and specific countries in Europe, not all the countries in the world. They are not prevented by anything from campaigning for Zanu-PF abroad. Moreover, these politicians were not put under sanction by accident. They are implicated in serious corruption and human rights abuse cases that have undermined democracy in Zimbabwe.

Tech to the rescue

Furthermore, the use of web technologies and social media platforms has gone a long way towards bridging distances between people the world over. Voting and campaigning are possible with appropriate technology widely available to people in the diaspora.

The view that operationalising diaspora voting is costly is limited in scope. It fails to consider the feasibility of electronic and postal voting. Recent studies have shown that the diaspora has access to digital technologies such as social networking sites. Therefore a technology-based election will be more advantageous for the diasporas than the people in the country. Although some researchers believe a hi-tech-based election can be expensive, the diaspora can subsidise and sustain a technology-based election.

Zimbabwes diaspora organisations, such as the Zimbabwe Diaspora Network North America, have over the years confirmed their support of this idea. Electronic voting can enhance citizen participation. Although others fear the possibility of hacking votes, it is important to note that electronic technology has been proven to be secure in several pilot projects and should provide a channel for diaspora-based Zimbabweans to vote. Electronic technology also can integrate biometric systems.

Elephant in the room

The Zimbabwean government remains doubtful of any feasible and effective model of diaspora voting in the sense that implementing such is tantamount to Zanu-PF reforming itself out of power. Even though the diaspora vote is critical, the bigger elephant in the room is that the ZEC cannot be trusted. Over the years it has failed to demonstrate its ability to administer a free, fair and credible election.

Even without the inclusion of the diaspora vote, Zimbabwe has had a series of troubled internal elections and this casts doubt on the proper management of the diaspora and positive political will. For instance, the Electoral Act has not been amended yet.

Although the implementation of the diaspora vote might take some time, increasing external or international pressure for inclusion would pose a significant challenge to despotic governments to extend voting rights. DM/MC

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Zimbabweans in the diaspora must be allowed to vote and politicians paranoia is preventing it - Daily Maverick

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2021

Two Greek officials one from the government and the other from the main opposition party addressed the diaspora on Wednesday afternoon.

We want you back, Greeces Deputy Minister for Greeks Abroad Konstantinos Vlasis said, echoing the sentiment of other government officials, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself during an event organised as part of the Open Dialogue Series. And, in another virtual conference, it was main opposition Radical Coalition of the Left (SYRIZA) deputy Theodora Tzakri, shadow for the diaspora, who addressed the community at an event organised by the Department of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies of the University of Sydney.

Despite the opposite political angles, both Ms Tzakri and Dr Vlasis considered the importance of Greek language learning in the Antipodes. he SYRIZA deputy made numerous suggestions for keeping language alive in the Antipodes, such as training up Greek Australians and the creation of a teaching academy for Greek language rather than sending out Greek educators on secondment.

READ MORE:Konstantinos Vlasis, the man responsible for the diaspora, celebrates his birthday with Greek Australians and says, “We want you back”

Dr Vlasis spoke of digitisation of programs, such as the staellinika platform and the books and educators made available for the diaspora.

Regarding the constitutional right of the diaspora to vote, Dr Vlasis admitted that the conservatives failed to achieve the primary goal of Greeks voting from their place of residence without restrictions due to the opposition of political parties, but Ms Tzakri said SYRIZA supported Greeks abroad having a voice. Her party supports the creation of four representatives for the diaspora, permanently based abroad, one in Europe, another in North and South America, Oceania and another representing other countries.

This proposal would give Greeks abroad voting rights without distinctions and limitations, she said.

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Antithesis for the Antipodes: Two political viewpoints showcased in meeting with diaspora - Neos Kosmos

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