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Ken Loach at Cannes: ’working class is undefeated’
▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/people-and-entertainment/20230526-ken-loach-at-cannes-working-class-is-undefeated

Cannes (France) (AFP) – At 86, British director Ken Loach showed he still had fighting spirit at Cannes, presenting his latest moving homage to working class solidarity and saying: “we’re still in the game”.

Ken Loach’s new film ’The Old Oak’ shows there is still solidarity in working class communities

Loach has had no fewer than 15 films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival — and won the top prize Palme d’Or twice.

His dedication to left-wing causes and showing the often harsh reality of working class Britain remains undimmed in his 16th entry, “The Old Oak”, which premiered on Friday.

It tells the story of a struggling pub in a depressed ex-mining town in northern England, whose landlord helps Syrian refugees despite his own problems.

Deadline called it a “vital, moving social parable” and The Guardian a “fierce final call for compassion”.

Despite widespread anti-immigrant feeling in Britain, Loach said there are still many working class communities who have shown solidarity with refugees.

“We have a tradition of solidarity born out of industrial struggle,” Loach told AFP at the festival. “There are whole sections of people who campaign for refugees.”

He said “The Old Oak” was a necessary blast of positivity after more downbeat recent films, “I, Daniel Blake” (which won the Palme in 2016) and “Sorry We Missed You”.

“Without hope there’s despair, and then you’re open to the far right and that destroys us,” Loach said.

“The working class is not defeated, we’re still in the game.”

Asked about still directing in his mid-80s, Loach joked: “If you get up and read the obituary columns and you’re not in them, it’s a good day. But I’ve been lucky to keep some health.”

Hard graft

His long-time writing partner Paul Laverty was full of praise for Loach’s dedication, saying the director still worked late for months on end to cast the film from local communities.

“That was like six months hard graft,” Laverty said, before having a friendly dig: “That’s fine when you’re 30 but when you’re 105...”

Solidarity used to mean “joining together and sharing,” Loach said.

“Today, it means charity... giving a small amount to the poor provided they are grateful and deserving and don’t cause a fuss and look like victims.”

Speaking about the deterioration of the National Health Service, Loach said “the extent of the crisis is catastrophic”.

“We have the most sophisticated political class in the world controlling the image of Britain, but you look inside and it’s rotten to the core.”

#cinéma #film #lutte_des_classes #Royaume_Uni

Europe heading for huge excess LNG import capacity, experts warn – POLITICO
▻https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-huge-excess-lng-liquefied-natural-gas-import-capacity-expert-warn

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European countries risk wasting huge sums of money on gas import infrastructure they won’t need after “panicking” in response to Russia’s pipeline shutoffs, expert analysts warned.

In a rush to find alternative sources of gas after Russia’s Gazprom began limiting Europe’s vital pipeline imports, many European countries — and Germany in particular — fast-tracked plans for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure to bring in supplies by sea from the United States, Qatar and elsewhere.

But according to a new analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), shared with POLITICO, European countries may have hugely overshot the mark, with current planned import capacity far exceeding likely LNG demand by 2030.

If current infrastructure plans are carried out, LNG terminal capacity across Europe — including in the U.K., Norway and Turkey, which are closely connected to the EU’s gas market — could exceed 400 billion cubic meters (bcm), the analysis shows.

But with EU-wide gas demand already falling and renewable sources of electricity projected to make up a larger and larger share of Europe’s energy mix, actual LNG demand in 2030 could be as low as 150 bcm, IEEFA predicts.

That would leave a gap of 250 bcm of unused LNG import capacity, equivalent to more than half of Europe’s overall gas demand, which stood at 413 bcm in 2021.

Such a situation could see terminals across Europe sitting idle and becoming “stranded assets,” warned Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, energy analyst at IEEFA and author of the new analysis. 

“This is the world’s most expensive and unnecessary insurance policy,” she said, adding that Europe should consider dropping some planned projects.

Anti-colonialist #sculpture unveiled in London’s #Trafalgar_Square

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Samson Kambalu’s post-colonial sculpture “#Antelope” was unveiled on Wednesday as the new sculpture on the empty Fourth Plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square.

The bronze resin sculpture features Baptist preacher and educator #John_Chilembwe, who led an uprising in 1915 against British colonial rule in #Nyasaland — now #Malawi.

He was later killed by colonial police and is commemorated in Malawi on John Chilembwe Day, which marks the beginning of the Malawi independence struggle.

The sculpture is the latest in a rolling programme overseen by the mayor of London that began in 1998 to showcase contemporary art on the empty plinth.

Previous installations have included a giant ship in a bottle and a swirl of replica whipped cream, topped with a sculpted cherry, fly and drone.

At Chilembwe’s side in Kambalu’s sculpture is his friend and supporter, the European missionary John Chorley.

The artist said it was designed to shed light on Britain’s colonial legacy in southern Africa.

“People present colonialism as a kind of conqueror and victim (story),” Kambalu told AFP at the unveiling.

“But actually, it’s more complex than that. There are heroes on both sides. There is dignity on both sides.”

Chorley is life-sized, while Chilembwe is “larger than life” — elevating the pastor’s story and Britain’s colonial past into the public eye.

“There’s a lot to be addressed,” said Kambalu.

Kambalu said that by highlighting what he said was Britain’s failure to address its colonial legacy in southern Africa, such as Malawi, he hoped his work would shed light on this “hidden history”.

Both figures in the sculpture wear hats — a banal feature at a first glance but evoking the colonial prohibition which barred African men from wearing hats in front of a white person.

“Antelope” is the 14th commission in the programme.

“It sparks conversation with the general public. Everyone loves to have an opinion about the Fourth Plinth. It generates debate,” said Justine Simons, deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries.

The sculpture will be succeeded in 2024 by Teresa Margolles’ “850 Improntas” (850 Imprints), which features casts of the faces of 850 transgender people from around the world.

Recent calls by MPs and others have urged the Mayor of London to feature a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the Fourth Plinth.

“That will be a decision for His Majesty the King, at the appropriate moment,” said Simons.

"It’s a programme that’s been going for 20 years, and we’ve got at least another four years of sculptures already commissioned.”

▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/people-and-entertainment/20220928-anti-colonialist-sculpture-unveiled-in-london-s-trafalgar-square
#monument #Londres #colonialisme #anti-colonialisme #UK #Angleterre #Samson_Kambalu #histoire #historicisation #mémoire #passé_colonial #villes

ping @cede @reka

Ferrero rappelle 3000 de tonnes de chocolat kinder après une infection à la salmonellose. 3000 tonnes. ▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20220527-ferrero-recalls-3-000-tonnes-of-kinder-chocolate-after-salmonella-conta

Iraq’s communist poet Muzaffar al-Nawab dies aged 88
▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/middle-east/20220520-iraq-s-communist-poet-muzaffar-al-nawab-dies-aged-88

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Iraq’s renowned communist poet Muzaffar al-Nawab, who faced jail time and exile in the 1960s, died Friday in an Emirati hospital aged 88, Iraqi authorities announced.

Erdogan opponents allege Greek border pushbacks

For years #Greece has been accused of illegally pushing asylum-seekers back to #Turkey, a practice it strenuously denies.
But according to witnesses and rights groups, the summary #deportations are also hitting vulnerable opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip #Erdogan.
Kurdish writer Meral Simsek, 42, is one of several people who told AFP they were sent back to Turkey to face imprisonment and possible torture after already making a perilous crossing of the border on the River #Evros.

Athens has always denied that its security forces engage in illegal #pushbacks.

In March, Greece’s national transparency authority said a four-month investigation found no evidence of such practices.

EU border agency Frontex has also repeatedly been accused by rights groups of illegally returning migrants across EU borders.

Its chief Fabrice Leggeri quit last month amid an investigation by the European anti-fraud office OLAF, reportedly into alleged mismanagement.

Alkistis Agrafioti, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees, said the time has come for the EU to mount a “serious” inquiry into pushbacks.

“Pushbacks not only run contrary to international law, but they are also accompanied by criminal acts — stealing, violence, abuse” and lives being put in danger, she added.

Marina Rafenberg / AFP

▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/erdogan-opponents-allege-greek-border-pushbacks

France asks Frontex to guard Europe’s northern coastline too

French Interior Minister Gerald #Darmanin said he has asked the European Union border agency Frontex not to neglect Europe’s northern coastline in the fight against illegal immigration.

“I myself have contacted Frontex, which is predominantly taking care of southern Europe, and asked them to deal with northern Europe, too, particularly the coastline of Nord-Pas-de-Calais,” he told reporters on Saturday during a visit to the port of Calais in northern France, a point from which many migrants try to cross the Channel to reach Britain.

“Sixty percent of migrants who come here, come via Belgium. So, our spectrum must be very wide. We need European air surveillance,” Darmanin said.

Since the end of 2018, an increasing number of migrants have tried to cross the Channel to Britain, defying warnings from the authorities of the dangers of such a journey, given the high density of traffic, the strong sea currents and the cold temperatures.

Darmanin welcomed a deal reached last week by France and Britain, under which London has pledged just under 63 million euros in 2021-2022 to help France stem the flow of illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

France has promised to beef up security forces along the coast.

“We already have more than 5,000 police officers and gendarmes in Pas-de-Calais, a large number of whom are involved in the fight again immigration. We will increase these numbers,” Darmanin said.

On Sunday, eighty migrants, including 20 children, were rescued as they tried to reach England in two separate boats, French authorities said.

▻https://twitter.com/premarmanche/status/1419295052535324674

Rescue services were first contacted “by a boat of migrants reporting difficulties”, then by a merchant ship which informed them “of another boat of migrants adrift to the north of Calais”, the Channel maritime prefecture said in a statement.

A patrol boat was then sent to the scene which rescued 80 people from the two boats.

In total, “80 shipwrecked people (42 men, 18 women, including one pregnant woman, and 20 children) were brought to the port of Calais. They are all safe and sound”.

French gendarmes also discovered 52 migrants early Sunday morning on a beach in Dannes, also in the north of the country. They had returned to land after an “engine failure” of their boat, the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais told the news agency AFP.

Last year, more than 9,500 crossings or attempted crossings were recorded, four times as many as in 2019, according to the French authorities.

Out of these, six people died and three were reported missing last year, compared with four deaths in 2019.

▻https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20210726-france-asks-frontex-to-guard-europe-s-northern-coastline-too

#France #Calais #Frontex #frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #militarisation_des_frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #UK #Angleterre