• Egypt to create a gated high-security area in the reception of Palestinian refugees from #Gaza

    The Sinai Foundation obtained information through a relevant source that indicates that the construction work currently taking place in eastern Sinai, is intended to create a high-security gated and isolated area near the borders with Gaza strip, in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees in the case of the mass exodus of the citizens of Gaza Strip.

    The foundation interviewed two local contractors who said that local construction companies had been commissioned this construction work by Ibrahim Al-Arjani - A close businessman to the authorities - Abnaa Sinai For Construction & Building, who had been directly assigned the commission through the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority. The construction work is intended to build a gated area, surrounded by 7-meter-high walls. After the removal of the rubble of the houses of the indigenous people of Rafah, who were displaced forcibly and their houses demolished during the war against terrorism against ISIS.

    The area is expected to be levelled and ready in no more than 10 days. They said this information is being circulated in closed circuits to avoid publication, noting that the work is being done under the supervision of the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority under heavy security presence.

    Sinai Foundation published a report (https://sinaifhr.org/show/333) two days ago with exclusive images showing the Egyptian authorities starting rapid construction on the border area of eastern Sinai. Additionally, this morning the Institution’s team observed the building of a cement wall of 7 meters in height starting at a point in Qoz Abo Raad village south of Rafah city, directed towards the Mediterranean Sea north, parallel to the border with Gaza Strip.

    In an interview with Mr Mohannad Sabry, a researcher specialising in Sinai and Egyptian security, he said:

    The construction works that started early Monday, February 12 have its eastern borders lying between a point southern of the Rafah border crossing and another southern of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, while its western borders lie between Qoz Abo Raad village and El-Masora village. Military intelligence officers are present as well as the ‘Fursan Al-Haitham’ militia that stems from the Sinai Tribal coalition headed by businessman Ibrahim Al-Arjani, near the Qoz Abo Raad area south of the city of Rafah, along with construction tools, bulldozers and local contractors.

    https://sinaifhr.org//show/334

    #Palestine #réfugiés #Egypte #Sinai #Sinaï #réfugiés_palestiniens #Ibrahim_Al-Arjani #Abnaa_Sinai_For_Construction #infrastructure #Egyptian_Armed_Forces_Engineering_Authority #murs #camps_de_réfugiés #camp_fermé #Rafah #Qoz_Abo_Raad #El-Masora #Fursan_Al-Haitham

    voir aussi ce fil de discussion :
    #Israël serait déjà en contact avec plusieurs pays pour y expulser les Gazaouis
    https://seenthis.net/messages/1034297

    • Egypt building walled enclosure in Sinai for Rafah refugees, photos suggest

      Monitoring group releases evidence of work that appears intended to house Palestinians in event of Israeli assault on city

      Egypt has begun building an enclosed area ringed with high concrete walls along its border with Gaza that appears intended to house Palestinians fleeing a threatened Israeli assault on the southern city of Rafah.

      Photos and videos released by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR), a monitoring group, show workers using heavy machinery erecting concrete barriers and security towers around a strip of land on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

      The videos, dated 15 February, gave little indication of authorities installing water or other infrastructure. Satellite imagery released by Planet Labs on the same day shows cleared strips of land adjacent to the Gaza border.

      SFHR said on social media that the videos showed efforts to “establish an isolated area surrounded by walls on the border with the Gaza Strip, with the aim of receiving refugees in the event of a mass exodus”.

      Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza since Hamas’s 7 October attacks have displaced an estimated 1.7 million people internally, according to the UN, most of them pushed south in recent weeks, with more than a million in Rafah, vastly swelling its prewar population of 280,000.

      Egyptian officials have repeatedly expressed alarm that Israel’s actions could force millions of Palestinians to attempt to flee across the border and into the Sinai, amid concern that those displaced may never be able to return. Egypt has pushed back against any suggestion, including from Israeli ministers, that Palestinians could flee into northern Sinai. The president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and the foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, rejected what they called “the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land”.

      In a call late on Thursday, the US president, Joe Biden, again cautioned the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, against moving forward with a military operation in Rafah without a “credible and executable plan” to protect civilians. However, Netanyahu vowed early on Friday to reject “international dictates” on a long-term resolution of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.

      Speaking at the Munich security conference, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said there were no plans to deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and Israel would coordinate its plans for hundreds of thousands of refugees in the city of Rafah with Egypt.

      When asked where the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the city would go, Katz suggested that once Gaza’s second city, Khan Younis, had been cleared of Hamas fighters, they could return there or to the west of the enclave.

      Katz said: “We will deal [with] Rafah after we speak with Egypt about it. We’ll coordinate it, we have a peace accord with them and we will find a place which will not harm the Egyptians. We will coordinate everything and not harm their interests.”

      Egyptian officials have threatened to withdraw from Egypt’s landmark 1978 peace treaty with Israel in the event of an Israeli ground assault on Rafah. Airstrikes launched on Rafah on Monday in an Israeli operation to free two hostages killed at least 67 Palestinians, health authorities said.

      Egypt has extensively reinforced its border with Gaza using barbed wire and deployed 40 tanks and armoured personnel carriers to northern Sinai.

      Mohannad Sabry, an expert and author on the Sinai peninsula, said: “Egypt wants to portray this construction as a contingency, ready for an influx of Palestinians if that happens, but they have also reinforced the border fence over the past month making it unbreachable unless it is blown up or opened deliberately. If we look at how every refugee or prison camp has been built in the world, it’s exactly like this. If it looks like a prison [or] refugee camp then it probably is.”

      The north Sinai governor, Mohamed Abdel-Fadil Shousha, told the Saudi-owned TV news channel Al Arabiya that the border construction was intended to catalogue homes destroyed as part of the Egyptian military’s fight against jihadist militants and the decade-long operation in northern Sinai.

      He added: “Egypt is prepared for all scenarios in the event that Israel carries out military operations in the Palestinian border governorate.”

      Meanwhile, those with ties to the Egyptian state have profited from Palestinians desperately looking to flee. Palestinians have described paying $10,000 (£7,941) each to a network connected to the Egyptian authorities in order to leave Gaza by the Rafah crossing.

      Elsewhere, a gunman killed two people on Friday at a bus stop in southern Israel, authorities said, prompting Netanyahu to warn that the entire country was a frontline in the war.

      Four others were wounded in the shooting near the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi, Israeli police said.

      “We have raised a national level alert,” Israel’s police chief, Kobi Shabtai, told reporters at the site. He did not provide details on the attacker.

      Netanyahu said in a statement: “The murderers, who come not only from Gaza, want to kill us all. We will continue to fight until total victory, with all our might, on every front, everywhere, until we restore the security and quiet for all citizens of Israel.”

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/egypt-building-walled-enclosure-in-sinai-for-rafah-refugees-videos-sugg

  • „Ich halte diese Bahn für nicht mehr reparabel.“
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=110219

    Les système des chemins de fer allemand est kaputt au point où personne ne peut le réparer. Les raisons principales de la catastrophe sont la privatisation et la gestion par des managers incapables.

    Les conséquence de cette situation sont l’impossibilité de remplacer le transport en camion par le train et la nécessité de prendre la voiture pour se déplacer.

    29.1.2024 von Ralf Wurzbacher - Mit einem fast sechs Tage dauernden Arbeitskampf haben die Lokführer den Zugverkehr in Deutschland weitestgehend lahmgelegt. Politik und Medien sehen in der Gewerkschaft GDL den Hauptschuldigen in der Auseinandersetzung, beklagen Maßlosigkeit und mangelnde Rücksichtnahme auf die Kunden. „Vollstes Verständnis“ für die Streikenden hat dagegen Arno Luik. Im Interview mit den NachDenkDeiten lässt der Journalist und Bestsellerautor kein gutes Haar am Staatskonzern mit einer Führungsriege aus „Azubis“, die sich „durchgeknallte“ Boni dafür genehmigten, einen einst „perfekt funktionierenden“ Betrieb vor die Wand gefahren zu haben. Sein Verdikt: „Diese Bahn ist eine Zumutung.“ Mit ihm sprach Ralf Wurzbacher.

    Ralf Wurzbacher: Seit Dienstag vorangegangener Woche wurde die Deutsche Bahn (DB) in einem Arbeitskampf historischer Dimension bestreikt und alle motzten – bevorzugt gegen die „starrköpfigen“ Lokführer. Gegen wen motzen Sie?

    Arno Luik: Ich motze nicht, ich staune. Ich staune über das, was in diesem Land alles möglich ist in Sachen Bahn. Da klebt diese Bahn als Zeichen ihrer angeblichen Umweltliebe grüne Streifen auf ihre ICE-Züge und verkündet: „Wir sind eine Öko-Bahn. Wir tun was fürs Klima.“ Doch gleichzeitig beteiligt sich dieser Staatskonzern über eine Bahn-Tochter in Mexiko an dem so gigantischen wie verwerflichen Bahnprojekt „Tren Maya“, ein Touristenzug, der auf über 1.500 Kilometern Länge durch malerische Landschaften führt – auch quer durch Regenwälder. Massenweise müssen für diesen Zug, von dem die Einheimischen nichts haben, diese für das Ökosystem so wichtigen Regenwälder abgeholzt werden. Dort lebende Nachfahren der Maya kämpfen gegen diesen Bau, indigene Völker fürchten, dass der Zug das sensible Ökosystem gefährdet, ihre Lebensgrundlagen zerstört und sie dazu zwingt, ihre Heimat zu verlassen. Geht’s noch?

    Diese Bahn, die hierzulande nicht in der Lage ist, ihre Strecken zeitgemäß zu elektrifizieren, vermeldet voller Stolz, dass sie „das größte Bahnprojekt in der Geschichte Ägyptens und mit 2.000 Streckenkilometern sechstgrößte Hochgeschwindigkeitsnetz der Welt übernehmen“ wird. Was soll dieser Auslandseinsatz? Angesichts des erbärmlichen Zustands der Bahn hierzulande? Hier sind gerade mal 61 Prozent der Strecken elektrifiziert – eine Schande für dieses Industrieland. Diese Bahn ist eine Zumutung. Und ich staune, mit welch buddhistischer Geduld die Bürger das alles hinnehmen: diese Verspätungen, diese Zugausfälle, diese strukturelle Unzuverlässigkeit, den offensichtlichen Zerfall eines so wichtigen Verkehrsmittels, diese Unfreundlichkeit gegenüber den Kunden. Und so unfreundlich benimmt sich die Bahnspitze auch nach innen, man sieht es nun beim aktuellen Lokführerstreik. Ziemlich ungehobelt agiert da die Staatsbahn.

    Ungehobelt?

    Es ist ein Unding, einen Tarifvertrag mit einer Laufzeit von 32 Monaten durchsetzen zu wollen. Die Bahn ist zu 100 Prozent im Staatsbesitz. Ich finde, ein Staatsbetrieb sollte ein Vorbild sein, was sein Verhalten gegenüber seinen Mitarbeitern betrifft. Doch das Bahn-Management agiert frech: Die Zeiten sind überaus unsicher, ökonomische Verwerfungen jederzeit möglich, ein Anhalten der Rekordinflation nicht unwahrscheinlich. Und in einer solchen Situation den Beschäftigten einen Tarifvertrag über zweieinhalb Jahre anzubieten – das ist eine Provokation.

    Lange Laufzeiten liegen im Trend …

    Das mag sein. Aber ist dieser Trend gut für die abhängig Beschäftigten? Nochmals: Die Bahn ist ein hundertprozentiges Staatsunternehmen, daraus erwächst eine besondere Verantwortung. Nun möchte die GDL den Einstieg in die 35-Stunden-Woche. Die gibt es bei der IG-Metall schon seit drei Jahrzehnten, für viele Betriebe ist dieses Modell längst das Normalste der Welt. Und genauso müsste es für einen Staatskonzern sein, der von uns Bürgern jedes Jahr viele Milliarden Euro an Steuergeldern bekommt. Wer zufrieden ist, streikt nicht. Streik ist Notwehr.

    Dabei geht es bei dem Konflikt gar nicht um eine flächendeckende, sondern um eine Arbeitszeitverkürzung für Schichtarbeiter. Trotzdem wollte die Bahn-Führung – bis zur am Wochenende signalisierten Verhandlungsbereitschaft – über zwei Monate lang gar nicht über die GDL-Forderung reden.

    So haben damals auch die Metallarbeitgeber geblockt, um dann nach sieben Wochen Streik einzulenken. Diese Bahn könnte natürlich die GDL-Forderung erfüllen. Wenn man ins Ausland schaut, nach Österreich, Luxemburg, in die Schweiz, zeigt sich, dass das Verhältnis zwischen der jeweiligen Bahnführung und den Angestellten gut funktioniert. Die dortigen Bahnmitarbeiter werden auch besser entlohnt, sie haben ordentliche Arbeitszeiten, nach Schichtdiensten geregelte Ruhezeiten. Warum geht das nicht in Deutschland?

    Ja, warum eigentlich nicht?

    Ich kenne Lokomotivführer, die im Jahr 400 bis 600 Überstunden anhäufen. Unfassbar. Ein normales Familienleben ist da kaum mehr möglich. Der Krankenstand bei der Bahn ist sehr hoch, der Schichtdienst sehr anstrengend. Mein vollstes Verständnis dafür, dass die Lokführer um bessere Bedingungen kämpfen. Es gibt ja auch noch einen Grund, weshalb die Streikbereitschaft so groß ist. Das speist sich aus einem tief sitzenden Gefühl der Ungerechtigkeit. Die Bahn-Mitarbeiter sehen die absurd hohen Gehälter ihrer Vorstände, die völlig durchgeknallten und nicht zu rechtfertigenden Boni – allein neun Millionen Euro für die neun DB-Vorstandsmitglieder. Boni für was? Und warum?

    Diese Bahn-Chefs haben aus einer mal hervorragend funktionierenden Bahn ein marodes Unternehmen geschaffen. Ein Unternehmen, das – kein Witz, die Wahrheit – die Finanzen des Staatshaushalts gefährdet. Diese Bahn ist mit 35 Milliarden Euro in den Miesen! Faktisch pleite. Und in einer solchen Situation Bahnchef Richard Lutz zu seinem überaus üppigen Grundgehalt, dreimal so hoch wie das des Bundeskanzlers, einen Bonus von zwei Millionen Euro zu spendieren – das lässt sich niemandem vermitteln.

    Dieses Absahnen schafft Staatsverdrossenheit, eine gefährliche Stimmung gegen „die da oben“. Es schafft Frust und Empörung bei den Bahn-Mitarbeitern, die diesen zerfallenden Laden am Laufen halten. Gestresste Mitarbeiter, die wegen Verspätungen, Zugausfällen die Aggressionen der Kunden ertragen müssen – und das zu Löhnen, für die ihre Chefs sich nicht aus ihren Sesseln erheben würden.

    Dabei geht es auch anders. Die Bahntarifrunde betrifft neben der DB rund 60 weitere öffentliche und private Eisenbahnunternehmen und in knapp 20 Fällen wurde bereits ein Abschluss erzielt.

    Und jedes Mal hat die Gegenseite einem schrittweisen Einstieg in die 35-Stunden-Woche zugestimmt. GDL-Chef Claus Weselsky wird ja jetzt häufig als der böse Bube dargestellt. Er ist aber – zumal CDU-Mitglied – kein Klassenkämpfer. Das sieht man auch daran, dass er diese Verträge mit vielen privaten Bahnunternehmern ratzfatz abgeschlossen hat. Da gab es faire Angebote, ordentliche Lohnerhöhungen und Erholungszeiten wurden vereinbart. Aber die Deutsche Bahn sperrt sich gegenüber diesen Selbstverständlichkeiten. Warum? Will sie einer etwas aufmüpfigen Gewerkschaft eine Lektion zu erteilen? Will die Bahn-Spitze bloß noch mit der kuschelzahmen Gewerkschaft EVG verhandeln?

    Allmählich schleift sich so ein Tenor in die Debatte ein: Streikrecht und Tarifautonomie sind ja schön und gut. Aber irgendwo muss auch mal Schluss sein. Wie klingt das in Ihren Ohren?

    Das ist bei jedem größeren Streik so. Friedrich Merz, Chef der BlackRock-CDU, spricht von einem „Streik-Exzess“ und will Gesetzesänderungen. Seine MdB-Kollegin Gitta Connemann fordert Verschärfungen, um solche Tarifkämpfe prinzipiell zu verhindern – alles Anschläge auf das Streikrecht, die Tarifautonomie. Ich habe die Sorge, dass gerade in den Zeiten der sogenannten „Zeitenwende“ bis vor Kurzem Undenkbares nun möglich wird: eben die Einschränkung des Streikrechts. Wobei, das muss gesagt werden, das deutsche Streikrecht ohnehin ein ziemlich schwächliches ist im internationalen Vergleich.

    Sie sagen es: Politische Streiks, das vielleicht schärfste Schwert gegen die Obrigkeit, sind verboten. Anderswo, etwa in Frankreich, gibt es Generalstreiks in Serie, auch und gerade seit der „Zeitenwende“.

    Ich will jetzt nicht zu düster werden und vielleicht gehe ich etwas zu weit, aber ich setze meine Gedanken mal in einen größeren Kontext: Bisher lautete die Prämisse unseres Staates nach der Erfahrung zweier Weltkriege: „Nie wieder Krieg!“ Dieses Glaubensbekenntnis ist entsorgt. Plötzlich spricht der deutsche Verteidigungsminister davon, kriegstüchtig zu werden. Plötzlich sagt der EU-Industriekommissar Thierry Breton, ein wichtiger Stratege: „Wir müssen in den Modus der Kriegswirtschaft wechseln.“ Kriegsertüchtigung. Kriegswirtschaft. Gedanken und Sätze, die es vor Kurzem nicht gab. Man müsse sich gegen einen Angriff Russlands gegen die EU wappnen, heißt es. Wer solche Gedankenspiele anstellt, der denkt sicherlich auch darüber nach, ob Streiks bei der kritischen Infrastruktur noch sein dürfen.

    Weil das die Kriegsertüchtigung hemmen könnte?

    Ja. Vielleicht werden die Bahn-Mitarbeiter plötzlich wieder zu Beamten, die dürfen ja nicht streiken. Bei dem Tempo, wie diese sogenannte Zeitenwende ehedem eherne Grundsätze über den Haufen wirft, kann einem schummerig werden.

    Zurück zum Bahntarifkonflikt …

    Es heißt ja, der Streik dauert zu lang und richtet großen volkswirtschaftlichen Schaden an. Da muss ich ein wenig lachen. Wenn es heute mal, was im Winter passieren kann, ein wenig schneit, dann stellt die Bahn häufig den Verkehr ein, hängt ganze Bundesländer vom Verkehr ab. Neulich gab es Schnee in Bayern, in München, fast ganz Bayern fuhren zwei Tage lang keine Züge mehr – ein teurer Witz für die Volkswirtschaft.

    In der Schweiz, in Österreich, in Norwegen, Finnland und Schweden schneit es viel mehr und da brausen die Züge ohne Probleme durch den Schnee. So war das auch mal in Deutschland. „Alle reden vom Wetter. Wir nicht“, hieß es bei der Bahn. Aber inzwischen ist die Bahn so runtergekommen, so runtergerockt, dass sie nicht in der Lage ist, ein bisschen Schnee wegzuräumen. Früher wurde geschippt, wurden die Weichen freigeschaufelt. Die Züge fuhren. Auf jedem Bahnhof, und es gab sehr viele, war man auf den Winter vorbereitet. Bahn-interner Spott heute: „Die einzigen Schneebesen, die es bei der Bahn noch gibt, sind die Schneebesen in den ICE-Bistros.“

    Die Bistros sind auch nicht selten „out of order“, wie die Toiletten, die Anschlussanzeigen und und und …

    Noch ein Wort zu diesem ideologischen Kampfsatz: „Die GDL verursacht volkswirtschaftlichen Schaden in Milliardenhöhe.“ Was macht die Bahn-Spitze? Sie sperrt monatelang die wichtigsten Bahnstrecken im Land. Vollsperrung. Etwa die Hauptverkehrsachse in Europa zwischen Frankfurt und Mannheim, fünf Monate lang, um die nicht instandgehaltene Strecke zu sanieren. Die Strecke zwischen Berlin und Hamburg wird ebenfalls monatelang gesperrt. Überdies fallen bei der Bahn jährlich Zehntausende von Zügen komplett aus, 2018 waren es 140.000 – ein immenser ökonomischer Schaden. Bahnalltag in Deutschland. Dagegen ist ein Sechs-Tage-Streik fast ein Witz.

    Das Sperren von Strecken – ist das in anderen Ländern nicht undenkbar?

    Was die Deutsche Bahn da anstellt, ist weltweit einmalig. Seit Züge fahren, repariert man „unterm laufenden Rad“. Der Kunde merkt meist nichts davon. Aber heute agiert die Bahn völlig unfähig und rücksichtslos. Was die Bahn mit ihrer sogenannten Generalsanierung treibt, ist der größte anzunehmende Unfug, schlimmer noch: Dieser GAU ist ein Umerziehungsprogramm. Er macht frustrierte Bahnkunden zu Autofahrern.

    Warum eigentlich freut sich die Bahn-Führung nicht über den GDL-Streik? Schließlich kann sie den üblichen Stillstand eine ganze Woche lang anderen in die Schuhe schieben …

    Der Notfahrplan, der für die Streiktage gilt, funktioniert wahrscheinlich besser als der Regelfahrplan. Warum? Jetzt ist das kaputtgesparte Bahnnetz mal für ein paar Tage nicht überlastet. Man muss sich vorstellen: 1994 betrug die Netzlänge über 40.000 Kilometer, heute sind es noch 33.000 Kilometer – ein Rückbau von rund 20 Prozent. Wären die Autobahnen um 20 Prozent zurückgebaut worden, es würde das totale Chaos herrschen. Und dieses Chaos haben wir nun bei der Bahn.

    Im Titel Ihres Bestsellers „Schaden in der Oberleitung“ schreiben Sie vom „geplanten Desaster der Deutschen Bahn“. Das klingt nach Verschwörungstheorie. Wer sind die Planer und wozu der Plan?

    Wir leben in einem absolut verrückten Autoland. In Österreich, der Schweiz, Italien funktionieren die Bahnen. Warum nicht in Deutschland? Ist eine schlechte Bahn ein Zufall, ein Betriebsunfall? Ich glaube nicht. Seit den frühen 1990er-Jahren kamen an die DB-Spitze Manager, die bei Amtsantritt keine Ahnung vom hochkomplexen System Bahn hatten: Heinz Dürr – Autoindustrie; Hartmut Mehdorn – Auto- und Luftfahrtindustrie; Rüdiger Grube – Autoindustrie. Das waren Bahn-Azubis, alles überbezahlte Azubis.

    Sie haben Volksvermögen verschleudert, sie haben das fast Nichtmachbare geschafft: Aus einer perfekt funktionierenden Bahn einen maroden Laden zu schaffen, der Milliarden verschlingt, aber seinen Kunden immer weniger bietet. Die Deutsche Bahn war mal ein weltweites Vorbild in Sachen Zugfahren, selbst die Schweizer staunten, was für eine tolle Bahn die Deutschen hatten. Zu Recht hieß es: „Pünktlich wie die Eisenbahn.“ Heute heißt es: „Schaden in der Oberleitung“, „Störung im Betriebsablauf“ – Worte, die früher kein Bundesbürger kannte.

    Und jetzt haben die Eidgenossen Züge aus Deutschland quasi ausgesperrt, weil sie die eng getakteten Fahrpläne durcheinanderbringen …

    Die Schweizer haben keine Lust, sich ihre perfekten Fahrpläne durch die notorisch unfähige Deutsche Bahn kaputtmachen zu lassen. Es ist wirklich tragisch: Die Bahn wurde in rund 30 Jahren, seit der Bahn-Reform, als das Unternehmen sexy für die Börse gemacht werden sollte und zur Aktiengesellschaft wurde, nachhaltig ruiniert. Ich halte diese Bahn für nicht mehr reparabel. Es ist sehr einfach, etwas zu zerstören, aber viel schwerer ist es, das Zerstörte zu reparieren.

    Es fehlt heute an allem: an Gleisen, an Land für Gleise, an Loks, an Personal, aber vor allem fehlt es an Know-how. Beispielhaft dafür der Vorstand der Deutschen Bahn. Keiner der Damen und Herren dort hat das Bahnhandwerk von der Pike auf gelernt. Es heißt ja nun oft: Lutz sei ein Bahner, er sei lange bei der Bahn. Das stimmt. Aber er war Finanzkontrolleur. Und er hat all die zerstörerischen Sparprogramme seiner Chefs mitgetragen und exekutiert.

    Aber wird jetzt nicht endlich alles besser? Seit Jahresanfang wirkt unter dem DB-Dach die neue Netzgesellschaft InfraGO, die per Kraftakt und mit viel öffentlichem Geld unter dem Label Gemeinwohlorientierung das marode Schienennetz in Schuss bringen will. Wie weit reicht Ihre Zuversicht, dass das hinhaut?

    Augenwischerei. Es geht weiter wie bisher. „Gemeinwohlorientiert“ besagt gar nichts, der juristisch belastbare Begriff wäre „gemeinnützig“. Ich fürchte, diese InfraGO wird ein Einstieg in die Zerschlagung und Privatisierung der Bahn sein. Vor einiger Zeit, nach dem gescheiterten Börsengang, sagte Bahn-Chef Lutz, der Börsengang sei nur verschoben, nicht aufgehoben. Das lässt nichts Gutes ahnen.

    Nun wurden der Bahn von der Politik ja viele Milliarden Euro versprochen. Nur: Es gibt eine unsägliche Geschichte der Versprechungen in Sachen Bahn. Aber nichts davon wurde je eingelöst, im Gegenteil. Und noch etwas: Im Koalitionsvertrag umfasst das Thema Bahn gerade mal eine Seite – angefüllt mit den üblichen Versprechungen, den lästigen Plattitüden. So richtig wichtig scheint den Regierenden die Bahn, diese angeblich so wichtige Waffe für die ökologische Verkehrswende, nicht zu sein.

    Das neueste Versprechen, auf kurze Sicht 43 Milliarden Euro zu investieren, ist auch schon wieder hin, weil in Teilen vom Haushaltsloch der Ampel geschluckt. Ihr Urteil?

    Selbst wenn es das Geld gäbe, würde es doch nur in wahnwitzigen Betonprojekten wie Stuttgart 21, Untertunnelung von Frankfurt oder ICE-Rennstrecken verbaut. Alles, was über 230 Kilometer schnell fährt, ist unökologisch. Viele der Neubaustrecken führen durch unglaublich lange Tunnel mit einer desaströsen Ökobilanz. Ein gebauter Tunnelkilometer setzt so viel CO2 frei wie 26.000 Pkw mit einer Jahresleistung von 13.000 Kilometern.

    Gibt es überhaupt etwas, was Ihnen in puncto Bahn noch Hoffnung macht?

    Wenig. Besserung wäre nur möglich, würde man die komplette DB-Führung entlassen und durch Bahnfachleute ersetzen, die das Handwerk gelernt haben und es beherrschen. Wird Bahn-Chef Lutz entlassen? Man kann nicht davon ausgehen, dass jene, die das Desaster angerichtet haben, die Retter sein können. Man macht ja einen Brandstifter nicht zum Feuerwehrkommandanten. Nochmals: Von den neun Bahn-Vorständen ist kein Einziger ein gelernter Eisenbahner. Wenn der FC Bayern München einen Mittelstürmer sucht, würde er einen Basketballspieler holen? Ich glaube nicht. Aber so agiert die Politik bei der Bahn – seit viel zu vielen Jahren.

    Zur Person: Der Journalist und Autor Arno Luik, Jahrgang 1955, gilt als einer der profiliertesten Kritiker der Deutschen Bahn (DB) und der bahnpolitisch Verantwortlichen. Sein 2019 erschienenes und 2021 aktualisiertes Buch „Schaden in der Oberleitung. Das geplante Desaster der Deutschen Bahn“ stand wochenlang auf den Bestsellerlisten. Für seine Enthüllungen zum Bahnprojekt Stuttgart 21 hatte er 2010 den „Leuchtturm für besondere publizistische Leistungen“ des Netzwerks Recherche erhalten. Geschätzt ist Luik für seine geistreichen Interviews mit Prominenten aus Politik und Gesellschaft. Eine Sammlung der besten Gespräche mit dem Titel „Als die Mauer fiel, war ich in der Sauna.“ war 2022 im Westend Verlag erschienen.

    #Allemagne #trains #chemins_de_fer #privatisation #infrastructure

  • Quand on entend un #présentateur_tv / une #présentatrice_tv, sourire niais, complètement déconnecté(e)s parler... (...) Les lignes #primaires, c’est la #banlieue_parisienne ? Apparemment, ça vaut pas mieux...

     :-D :-D :-D

    #médias #information #piège_à_cons #intox #politique #neuneu #communication #transports #lignes_secondaires #France #circulation #c'est_possible #médias #seenthis #vangauguin

    " « On a l’impression d’être la France de seconde zone ! » : dans l’enfer des usagers de la ligne Clermont-Paris /

    #Retards quotidiens, #suppressions de #trains, #vétusté des #infrastructures ferroviaires… La ligne Clermont-Paris a encore une fois fait parler d’elle ce samedi puisque 700 passagers ont été contraints de la nuit dans le train à cause d’une panne. Depuis plusieurs années, les usagers alertent sur la dégradation du service. (...)"

    https://www.marianne.net/societe/on-a-l-impression-d-etre-la-france-de-seconde-zone-dans-lenfer-des-usagers

  • The invisible price of water

    During communism, extensive irrigation systems turned the regions along the Romanian Plain into major producers of fruit and vegetables. But when the irrigation infrastructure collapsed, so did the ecosystems built around it. Today, farmers are digging wells to deal with desertification: a risky strategy.

    From the 1970s until 2000, the Sadova-Corabia irrigation system watered over 70,000 hectares of land in Romania’s Dolj and Olt counties. A set of pipelines that brought water from the Danube, the system turned the area from a sandy region predominantly used for vineyards into a fruit and vegetable paradise. Little by little, however, the system was abandoned; now only segments of it are still working.

    Agriculture in the area has changed, as has the environment. Today the Sadova-Corabia region is known not just as the homeland of Romania’s famous Dăbuleni watermelons, but also as the ‘Romanian Sahara’. Together with the south of Moldavia, Dobrogea and the Danubian Plain, it is one of the regions in Romania most affected by desertification.

    Anthropologist Bogdan Iancu has been researching the irrigation system in southern Romania for several years. Scena9 sat down with him to talk about drought, Romania’s communist-era irrigation systems, and the local reconstruction of agriculture after their decline. The interview has been edited for clarity.

    Oana Filip: How did your interest in drought arise?

    Bogdan Iancu: Rather by accident. Around seven years ago I was in the Danube port of Corabia for another research project, and at one point I heard a student talking at a table with a local, who was telling him about the 2005 floods and the irrigation systems in the area. The man also wanted to talk to me and show me the systems. It was an extremely hot summer and I thought it was very interesting to talk about irrigation and drought.

    I myself come from the area of Corabia-Dăbuleni. My grandparents lived in a village a bit north of the Danube floodplains, where there was an irrigation system with canals. This was where I learned to swim. The encounter somehow reactivated a personal story about the frequent droughts of that time and the summers I spent there. A lot of people in the area told us that the emergence of irrigation systems in the ’60s and ’70s led to more employment in agriculture. For them it was a kind of local miracle. As I realized that droughts were becoming more frequent and widespread, I became certain that this could be a research topic.

    The following year I started my own project. In the first two or three years, I was more interested in the infrastructure and its decline, the meanings it held for the locals and the people employed in the irrigation system, and how this involved their perceptions of changes in the local microclimate. Later, I became interested in the fact that people began to migrate out of the area because of the dismantling and privatization of the former collective or state-owned farms.

    I then started looking at how seasonal workers who had left for Italy, Spain, Germany or Great Britain had begun to come back to work in agriculture and start their own small vegetable farms. I was interested in how they started to develop the area, this time thanks to a few wells that have been drilled deep into the ground. So, somehow, the formerly horizontal water supply has now become vertical. This could have some rather unfortunate environmental implications in the future, because too many drilled wells that are not systematically planned can cause substances used in agriculture to spill into the ground water.

    How has the locals’ relationship with water changed with the disappearance of the irrigation system and the increasing frequency of droughts?

    The irrigation system had a hydro-social dimension. Water was primarily linked to agriculture and the planned socialist system. For a long time, the locals saw the system as the reason for the appearance and cultivation of fruits and vegetables they had never known before. For ten years after 1990, the irrigation network still worked and helped people farm on small plots of land, in subsistence agriculture, so that they could still sell vegetables in nearby towns. But after 2000 the state increased the price of water and cut subsidies. When the system collapsed, the ecosystem built around it collapsed along with it.

    At that time, something else was going on as well. The system was being fragmented through a form of – let’s say partial – privatization of the water pumping stations. The irrigators’ associations received loans via the World Bank. These associations did not work very well, especially since the people there had just emerged from the collective farming system, and political elites deliberately caused all forms of collective action to lose credibility after the ’90s.

    Because the irrigation system was no longer being used, or being used at much lower parameters than before, it no longer seemed functional. Bereft of resources, the local population saw the remaining infrastructure as a resource and sold it for scrap. It became even more difficult to use the irrigation system. This caused people to migrate abroad. The first waves of ‘strawberry pickers’ have only recently started coming back, perhaps in the past six or seven years, bringing in the money they have made in Italy or Spain.

    People have to be empowered in relation to the water they need. So these seasonal workers began digging their own wells. They have lost all hope that the state can still provide this water for them. They saw that in the Romanian Danubian Plain, thousands, tens of thousands of hectares of land were sold off cheaply to foreign companies that receive water for free, because they take it from the drainage canals. This caused even greater frustration for the locals, who not only look down on the new technologies that these companies use, but also resent their privilege of receiving free water from the Romanian state.

    How do you see the future of the area?

    It’s difficult to say. In the short term, I think the area will partially develop. But, at the same time, I think problems could arise from too many exploitations.

    The number of private wells will probably increase. Some very large companies in Romania are lobbying Brussels to accept the inclusion of wells drilled into underground aquifers (geological formations that store groundwater) into the irrigation strategy being developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This would mean ten years of semi-subsistence, or slightly above semi-subsistence agriculture, where the former ‘strawberry pickers’ turn into successful small farmers. We’ve already seen this in the villages on the Sadova-Corabia system. But we have no way of knowing how long this will last, and how much pressure these aquifers would be subjected to. There is a risk that they might get contaminated, because they function like pores, and the water resulting from agricultural activities, which contains nitrites and nitrates, could get in there and cause problems.

    In Spain, for instance, they are very cautious about drilling wells. Arrests have been made. It’s a political issue that contributed to the defeat of Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist party in the last elections. Many farmers in Spain privileged to have access to water could dig a well wherever they wanted, but now found themselves faced with this rather drastic law. And the People’s Party promised them that they would be able to continue digging wells.

    At the Dăbuleni Agricultural Research Station, for example, they are experimenting with exotic crops better adapted to desertification, such as dates, kiwis and a certain type of banana. Do you think people could adopt new cultures in Sadova-Corabia too?

    This already happened decades ago. With the advent of the irrigation system, people were forced to be open to cultivating vegetables and fruits they had never seen before. Someone told me how, when they ate the first eggplants, they didn’t know what to do with them, they seemed bitter. Even tomatoes, which to us seem always to have been eaten there, were only introduced in the ’60s. One person told me that when he first tried a tomato he thought it tasted like soap. But if their grandparents or parents could adapt, so will people today. Besides, most have worked in agriculture abroad with this kind of fruit.

    Have you seen any irrigation best practices that you think would be suitable for the situation in the Sadova-Corabia area?

    I think one such example is micro-agriculture, which is employed on smaller plots in Italy, for instance. There are also micro farms in Sadova-Corabia that produce organic, ecological, sustainable products and so on. And there are a few cooperatives that work quite well, some of them supply tomatoes for the Belgian-owned supermarket chain Mega Image, for example.

    Spain, on the other hand, is not a best practice model. Spain is a devourer of water resources in an absolutely unsustainable way. We’re already seeing that the Tagus (the longest river in the Iberian peninsula and an important source for irrigation) is endangered by large-scale agriculture. In the 1990s, there was small and medium-sized farming there, and I think there should be a return to that. Obviously, the economists say it’s not profitable, but it’s time to think about a decrease and not an increase, which is always cannibalistic. This kind of farming, on a medium or small scale, should also bring this irrigation system back into focus.

    Unfortunately, it’s unclear for how much longer the Sadova-Corabia system will be able to function. It has an outlet in the Danube, which dries up in the summer and is not permanently supplied with water, as it was during the socialist period. Last year, for example, irrigation electricians and mechanics working on the Danube encountered problems, because the main canal poured water into the Danube, instead of collecting from it. If the Danube is no longer a sustainable source for irrigation canals (and not just in Romania), the alternative lies in the different management of water resources.

    In the multimedia exhibition based on the project that you organized last year, there was a notion of how grand socialist projects obfuscated life narratives, and how human stories were lost to anonymity. What life narratives are being lost or hidden now, in this larger discussion of drought and desertification in the area?

    I met a woman who during communism had managed a farm where they grew peaches that were then exported to Germany and Czechoslovakia. She told me that local vegetables were exported to Great Britain; and that this export was even stipulated by the two countries. Over 200 British technicians and experts lived in Sadova-Corabia for about four years. The story of these people, these British experts, not just the Romanian ones, and how they collaborated is completely lost to history.

    In the ’70s, these people were a sort of agricultural vanguard. They were trying to propose a productive model of agriculture, a break from the post-feudal, post-war past. There were people who worked at the pipe factory and built those gigantic pipes through which water was collected from the Danube. Today, there are still people who continue to make enormous efforts to do what needs to be done. The mayor of Urzica, for example, encourages locals to sell or give away plots of land for afforestation, and the town hall is even trying to deploy its own afforestation projects.

    I have seen journalists travel to the area for two days, come back and report that socialism destroyed everything. Obviously, lakes were drained and the environmental toll was very high. At the same time, that era brought unlimited water to many areas where it was previously lacking. Acacia forests were planted. Biologists say they’re no good, as they actually consume water from the soil; but foresters everywhere defend them and say they provide moisture.

    One way or another, all these stories should be told. As should the stories of the people who went abroad for work and are coming back. These so-called ‘strawberry pickers’ or ‘seasonals’, whose lives we know nothing about, because the Romanian state doesn’t believe that five million Romanians who went to work abroad deserve the attention.

    When I went to the Dăbuleni research station, many of the researchers had grown up there and had a personal connection to the area and a notion that they were working for the place where they grew up. How does the connection between the locals and the environment change, when so many choose to work abroad?

    This is where things intersect. These people have parents who tell us that for them the emergence of the irrigation system was similar to what happened in Israel, a country that has problems with its soil and that managed to make it better with the aid of water improvement systems. They saw that desert repopulated, greened, diversified, and they saw a greater complexity in the kinds of crops they can grow. They got predictability, i.e. permanent jobs at state agricultural enterprises, or jobs that allowed them to work at home, at the agricultural production cooperative (CAP).

    One thing I didn’t know before this research was that peasants who met their agricultural production quota were given 22 acres of land that they could work within the CAPs, with fertilizer from the CAPs, and irrigated with water from CAPs. One person I talked to even drove a truck contracted by the state and sold watermelons in Cluj, Sibiu, Râmnicu Vâlcea, and Bucharest in the 1980s and 1990s. And he wasn’t the only one.

    For them, the irrigation system was not only associated with farms, but also the related industries – pipeline factories, factories making tiles that lined the irrigation channels. It was a flourishing new ecosystem. But once this system collapsed, they also came to associate it with the degradation of the environment. I spoke to a local who said that when the system worked, he didn’t feel the summer heat, even though the temperatures were just as high, because of the water in the canal network.

    The absence of water is like the absence of blood – without it, an organism can no longer metabolize. And then, naturally, the young people decided to leave. But this was not a permanent departure. They went to Spain, for example, they saw vertical water there, and they said, ‘Look, we can make our own wells, we don’t need to wait around for horizontal water.’

    Why, as a state, have we failed to come up with an irrigation project today as ambitious as Sadova-Corabia in its time?

    There’s more to it than just this one system. There are about a hundred or so chain irrigation systems that start in this area, from south of Resita all the way to Dobrogea. The problem is that these irrigation systems were in full boom before the 1990s. Now, don’t think I believe that only irrigation systems can ensure good crops. I think they should be seen as part of a mixed bag of solutions. The problem is not that no more irrigation systems have been built, but that the old ones have not been preserved, optimized or modernized. Private interests were prioritized, especially those of a very large class of landowners, and land-grabbing was prioritized to the detriment of working on smaller plots of land. And so, such infrastructures were abandoned, because the big players can afford super-performant extractive technologies.

    How do you see urban dwellers relate to droughts and irrigation?

    I have seen many of them ridiculing people in the countryside and finding it unacceptable that they use municipal water handed to them for irrigation; but, at the same time, none of them disclose the amount of water they use on their lawns, which are worthless grass. Obviously, it’s easier to laugh from inside an office and to think that people are being irrational than to understand that they’re selling tomatoes that they would have otherwise been unable to grow.

    As climate change intensifies, droughts will become more frequent. Will we see better cooperation in the face of this new reality, or more division?

    In the next five to six years I think we will see more competition for water and the criminalization of our fellow water-users. But I think that this is where the role of the media comes in. It should abandon the logic of only showing us the big, scary monster called climate change. Rather, it should detail how these climate changes are occurring at the grassroots level. I think both the press and the state should work on research and popularization, on disseminating information that talks about these effects.

    I don’t think that anything can be done without pedagogies. Yes, during the socialist period these pedagogies were abused, sometimes enforced with actual machine guns, and that was tragic. But today we don’t see any kind of pedagogy, any kind of relating. None of the measures that need to be implemented are socialized. People are not being called to their village cultural center to be told: ‘Here’s what we want to do.’ The cultural center is now only used for weddings. Some radical forms of pedagogy should be devised and disseminated locally, so that people understand the invisible price of water.

    https://www.eurozine.com/the-invisible-price-of-water
    #eau #histoire #communisme #Roumanie #irrigation #infrastructure #agriculture #puits #Dolj #Olt #acqueduc #Danube #maraîchage #vignobles #fruits #Sadova-Corabia #melons #Dăbuleni #désert #désertification #sécheresse #privatisation #banque_mondiale #émigration #saisonniers #fraises #micro-agriculture #Urzica #Bogdan_Iancu
    via @freakonometrics

  • The most important issue about water is not supply, but how it is used

    The world faces a series of deep and worsening crises that demand radical changes in how we understand, manage and use fresh water.

    Floods, droughts, pollution, water scarcity and conflict — humanity’s relationship with water is deteriorating, and it is threatening our health and well-being, as well as that of the environment that sustains us. The good news is that a transition from the water policies and technologies of past centuries to more effective and equitable ways of using and preserving this vital resource is not only possible, but under way. The challenge is to accelerate and broaden the transition.

    Water policies have typically fostered a reliance on centralized, often massive infrastructure, such as big dams for flood and drought protection, and aqueducts and pipelines to move water long distances. Governments have also created narrow institutions focused on water, to the detriment of the interconnected issues of food security, climate, energy and ecosystem health. The key assumption of these ‘hard path’ strategies is that society must find more and more supply to meet what was assumed to be never-ending increases in demand.

    That focus on supply has brought great benefits to many people, but it has also had unintended and increasingly negative consequences. Among these are the failure to provide safe water and sanitation to all; unsustainable overdraft of ground water to produce the food and fibre that the world’s 8 billion people need; inadequate regulation of water pollutants; massive ecological disruption of aquatic ecosystems; political and violent conflict over water resources; and now, accelerating climate disruption to water systems1.

    A shift away from the supply-oriented hard path is possible — and necessary. Central to this change will be a transition to a focus on demand, efficiency and reuse, and on protecting and restoring ecosystems harmed by centuries of abuse. Society must move away from thinking about how to take more water from already over-tapped rivers, lakes and aquifers, and instead find ways to do the things we want with less water. These include, water technologies to transform industries and allow people to grow more food; appliances to reduce the amount of water used to flush toilets, and wash clothes and dishes; finding and plugging leaks in water-distribution systems and homes; and collecting, treating and reusing waste water.

    Remarkably, and unbeknown to most people, the transition to a more efficient and sustainable future is already under way.

    Singapore and Israel, two highly water-stressed regions, use much less water per person than do other high-income countries, and they recycle, treat and reuse more than 80% of their waste water2. New technologies, including precision irrigation, real-time soil-moisture monitoring and highly localized weather-forecasting models, allow farmers to boost yields and crop quality while cutting water use. Damaging, costly and dangerous dams are being removed, helping to restore rivers and fisheries.

    In the United States, total water use is decreasing even though the population and the economy are expanding. Water withdrawals are much less today than they were 50 years ago (see ‘A dip in use’) — evidence that an efficiency revolution is under way. And the United States is indeed doing more with less, because during this time, there has been a marked increase in the economic productivity of water use, measured as units of gross domestic product per unit of water used (see ‘Doing more with less’). Similar trends are evident in many other countries.

    Overcoming barriers

    The challenge is how to accelerate this transition and overcome barriers to more sustainable and equitable water systems. One important obstacle is the lack of adequate financing and investment in expanding, upgrading and maintaining water systems. Others are institutional resistance in the form of weak or misdirected regulations, antiquated water-rights laws, and inadequate training of water managers with outdated ideas and tools. Another is blind adherence by authorities to old-fashioned ideas or simple ignorance about both the risks of the hard path and the potential of alternatives.

    Funding for the modernization of water systems must be increased. In the United States, President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides US$82.5 billion for water-related programmes, including removing toxic lead pipes and providing water services to long-neglected front-line communities. These communities include those dependent on unregulated rural water systems, farm-worker communities in California’s Central Valley, Indigenous populations and those in low-income urban centres with deteriorating infrastructure. That’s a good start. But more public- and private-investments are needed, especially to provide modern water and sanitation systems globally for those who still lack them, and to improve efficiency and reuse.

    Regulations have been helpful in setting standards to cut waste and improve water quality, but further standards — and stronger enforcement — are needed to protect against new pollutants. Providing information on how to cut food waste on farms and in food processing, and how to shift diets to less water-intensive food choices can help producers and consumers to reduce their water footprints3. Corporations must expand water stewardship efforts in their operations and supply chains. Water institutions must be reformed and integrated with those that deal with energy and climate challenges. And we must return water to the environment to restore ecological systems that, in turn, protect human health and well-being.

    In short, the status quo is not acceptable. Efforts must be made at all levels to accelerate the shift from simply supplying more water to meeting human and ecological water needs as carefully and efficiently as possible. No new technologies need to be invented for this to happen, and the economic costs of the transition are much less than the costs of failing to do so. Individuals, communities, corporations and governments all have a part to play. A sustainable water future is possible if we choose the right path.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03899-2
    #eau #disponibilité #efficacité #transition #infrastructure #sécheresse #inondations #barrages #acqueduc #réusage #technologie #pertes #Israël #Singapour #recyclage #agriculture

  • Project : Roman roads diagrams

    The Roman roads diagram project is a series of maps driven by an unconventional idea: what if we represented Ancient Rome’s famed road network in the style of a modern transit map?

    So far I’ve made five diagrams (below). Click for more information.

    You can see how my style has evolved since I made the first map back in 2017. My ultimate goal is to make a book out of these. I’ll probably have to redesign a few of them.


    https://sashamaps.net/docs/maps/roman-roads-index

    #histoire #Romains #visualisation #cartographie #empire_romain #Europe #transports #infrastructure

    ping @visionscarto

  • #José_Vieira : « La #mémoire des résistances face à l’accaparement des terres a été peu transmise »

    Dans « #Territórios_ocupados », José Vieira revient sur l’#expropriation en #1941 des paysans portugais de leurs #terres_communales pour y planter des #forêts. Cet épisode explique les #mégafeux qui ravagent le pays et résonne avec les #luttes pour la défense des #biens_communs.

    Né au Portugal en 1957 et arrivé enfant en France à l’âge de 7 ans, José Vieira réalise depuis plus de trente ans des documentaires qui racontent une histoire populaire de l’immigration portugaise.

    Bien loin du mythe des Portugais·es qui se seraient « intégré·es » sans le moindre problème en France a contrario d’autres populations, José Vieira s’est attaché à démontrer comment l’#immigration_portugaise a été un #exode violent – voir notamment La Photo déchirée (2001) ou Souvenirs d’un futur radieux (2014) –, synonyme d’un impossible retour.

    Dans son nouveau documentaire, Territórios ocupados, diffusé sur Mediapart, José Vieira a posé sa caméra dans les #montagnes du #Caramulo, au centre du #Portugal, afin de déterrer une histoire oubliée de la #mémoire_collective rurale du pays. Celle de l’expropriation en 1941, par l’État salazariste, de milliers de paysans et de paysannes de leurs terres communales – #baldios en portugais.

    Cette #violence étatique a été opérée au nom d’un vaste #projet_industriel : planter des forêts pour développer économiquement ces #territoires_ruraux et, par le même geste, « civiliser » les villageois et villageoises des #montagnes, encore rétifs au #salariat et à l’ordre social réactionnaire de #Salazar. Un épisode qui résonne aujourd’hui avec les politiques libérales des États qui aident les intérêts privés à accaparer les biens communs.

    Mediapart : Comment avez-vous découvert cette histoire oubliée de l’expropriation des terres communales ou « baldios » au Portugal ?

    José Vieira : Complètement par hasard. J’étais en train de filmer Le pain que le diable a pétri (2012, Zeugma Films) sur les habitants des montagnes au Portugal qui sont partis après-guerre travailler dans les usines à Lisbonne.

    Je demandais à un vieux qui est resté au village, António, quelle était la définition d’un baldio – on voit cet extrait dans le documentaire, où il parle d’un lieu où tout le monde peut aller pour récolter du bois, faire pâturer ses bêtes, etc. Puis il me sort soudain : « Sauf que l’État a occupé tous les baldios, c’était juste avant que je parte au service militaire. »

    J’étais estomaqué, je voulais en savoir plus mais impossible, car dans la foulée, il m’a envoyé baladé en râlant : « De toute façon, je ne te supporte pas aujourd’hui. »

    Qu’avez-vous fait alors ?

    J’ai commencé à fouiller sur Internet et j’ai eu la chance de tomber sur une étude parue dans la revue de sociologie portugaise Análise Social, qui raconte comment dans les années 1940 l’État salazariste avait pour projet initial de boiser 500 000 hectares de biens communaux en expropriant les usagers de ces terres.

    Je devais ensuite trouver des éléments d’histoire locale, dans la Serra do Caramulo, dont je suis originaire. J’ai passé un temps fou le nez dans les archives du journal local, qui était bien sûr à l’époque entièrement dévoué au régime.

    Après la publication de l’avis à la population que les baldios seront expropriés au profit de la plantation de forêts, plus aucune mention des communaux n’apparaît dans la presse. Mais rapidement, des correspondants locaux et des éditorialistes vont s’apercevoir qu’il existe dans ce territoire un malaise, qu’Untel abandonne sa ferme faute de pâturage ou que d’autres partent en ville. En somme, que sans les baldios, les gens ne s’en sortent plus.

    Comment sont perçus les communaux par les tenants du salazarisme ?

    Les ingénieurs forestiers décrivent les paysans de ces territoires comme des « primitifs » qu’il faut « civiliser ». Ils se voient comme des missionnaires du progrès et dénoncent l’oisiveté de ces montagnards peu enclins au salariat.

    À Lisbonne, j’ai trouvé aussi une archive qui parle des baldios comme étant une source de perversion, de mœurs légères qui conduisent à des enfants illégitimes dans des coins où « les familles vivent presque sans travailler ». Un crime dans un régime où le travail est élevé au rang de valeur suprême.

    On retrouve tous ces différents motifs dans le fameux Portrait du colonisé d’Albert Memmi (1957). Car il y a de la part du régime un vrai discours de colonisateur vis-à-vis de ces régions montagneuses où l’État et la religion ont encore peu de prise sur les habitants.

    En somme, l’État salazariste veut faire entrer ces Portugais reculés dans la modernité.

    Il y a eu des résistances face à ces expropriations ?

    Les villageois vont être embauchés pour boiser les baldios. Sauf qu’après avoir semé les pins, il faut attendre vingt ans pour que la forêt pousse.

    Il y a eu alors quelques histoires d’arrachage clandestin d’arbres. Et je raconte dans le film comment une incartade avec un garde forestier a failli virer au drame à cause d’une balle perdue – je rappelle qu’on est alors sous la chape de plomb du salazarisme. D’autres habitants ont aussi tabassé deux gardes forestiers à la sortie d’un bar et leur ont piqué leurs flingues.

    Mais la mémoire de ces résistances a peu été transmise. Aujourd’hui, avec l’émigration, il ne reste plus rien de cette mémoire collective, la plupart des vieux et vieilles que j’ai filmés dans ce documentaire sont déjà morts.

    Comment justement avez-vous travaillé pour ce documentaire ?

    Quand António me raconte cette histoire d’expropriation des baldios par l’État, c’était en 2010 et je tournais un documentaire, Souvenirs d’un futur radieux. Puis lorsqu’en 2014 un premier incendie a calciné le paysage forestier, je me suis dit qu’il fallait que je m’y mette.

    J’ai travaillé doucement, pendant trois ans, sans savoir où j’allais réellement. J’ai filmé un village situé à 15 kilomètres de là où je suis né. J’ai fait le choix d’y suivre des gens qui subsistent encore en pratiquant une agriculture traditionnelle, avec des outils de travail séculaires, comme la roue celte. Ils ont les mêmes pratiques que dans les années 1940, et qui sont respectueuses de l’écosystème, de la ressource en eau, de la terre.

    Vous vous êtes aussi attaché à retracer tel un historien cet épisode de boisement à marche forcée...

    Cette utopie industrialiste date du XIXe siècle, des ingénieurs forestiers parlant déjà de vouloir récupérer ces « terres de personne ». Puis sous Salazar, dans les années 1930, il y a eu un débat intense au sein du régime entre agrairistes et industrialistes. Pour les premiers, boiser ne va pas être rentable et les baldios sont vitaux aux paysans. Pour les seconds, le pays a besoin de l’industrie du bois pour décoller économiquement, et il manque de bras dans les villes pour travailler dans les usines.

    Le pouvoir central a alors même créé un organisme étatique, la Junte de colonisation interne, qui va recenser les baldios et proposer d’installer des personnes en leur donnant à cultiver des terres communales – des colonies de repeuplement pour résumer.

    Finalement, l’industrie du bois et de la cellulose l’a emporté. La loi de boisement des baldios est votée en 1938 et c’est en novembre 1941 que ça va commencer à se mettre en place sur le terrain.

    Une enquête publique a été réalisée, où tout le monde localement s’est prononcé contre. Et comme pour les enquêtes aujourd’hui en France, ils se sont arrangés pour dire que les habitants étaient d’accord.

    Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui de ces forêts ? Subsiste-t-il encore des « baldios » ?

    Les pinèdes sont exploitées par des boîtes privées qui font travailler des prolos qui galèrent en bossant dur. Mais beaucoup de ces forêts ont brûlé ces dernière décennies, notamment lors de la grande vague d’incendies au Portugal de 2017, où des gens du village où je filmais ont failli périr.

    Les feux ont dévoilé les paysages de pierre qu’on voyait auparavant sur les photos d’archives du territoire, avant que des pins de 30 mètres de haut ne bouchent le paysage.

    Quant aux baldios restants, ils sont loués à des entreprises de cellulose qui y plantent de l’eucalyptus. D’autres servent à faire des parcs d’éoliennes. Toutes les lois promues par les différents gouvernements à travers l’histoire du Portugal vont dans le même sens : privatiser les baldios alors que ces gens ont géré pendant des siècles ces espaces de façon collective et très intelligente.

    J’ai fait ce film avec en tête les forêts au Brésil gérées par les peuples autochtones depuis des siècles, TotalEnergies en Ouganda qui déplace 100 000 personnes de leurs terres pour du pétrole ou encore Sainte-Soline, où l’État aide les intérêts privés à accaparer un autre bien commun : l’eau.

    https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/culture-et-idees/021223/jose-vieira-la-memoire-des-resistances-face-l-accaparement-des-terres-ete-

    #accaparement_de_terres #terre #terres #dictature #histoire #paysannerie #Serra_do_Caramulo #communaux #salazarisme #progrès #colonisation #colonialisme #rural #modernité #résistance #incendie #boisement #utopie_industrialiste #ingénieurs #ingénieurs_forestiers #propriété #industrie_du_bois #Junte_de_colonisation_interne #colonies_de_repeuplement #cellulose #pinèdes #feux #paysage #privatisation #eucalyptus #éoliennes #loi #foncier

  • Ferroviaire : la gestion absurde de la ligne Saintes-Niort, symbole d’une maintenance erratique du réseau


    L’équipe voie de la SNCF Réseau, à Surgères (Charente-Maritime), le 24 octobre 2023. SOPHIE FAY / LE MONDE

    En attendant de refaire cette voie ferrée vétuste, la SNCF doit remettre à niveau les rails au moins deux fois par an. Pendant ce temps, la première ministre refuse de faire payer la régénération ferroviaire par le budget de l’Etat, malgré son annonce en février d’un plan de 100 milliards d’euros. Par Sophie Fay (Villeneuve-la-Comtesse (Charente-Maritime), envoyée spéciale)

    Sous le regard de ses quatre collègues, Mario Bouchet, responsable de l’équipe voie de Surgères (Charente-Maritime), s’agenouille, l’oreille presque collée au rail. D’un coup d’œil aguerri par trente-deux années d’expérience, il vérifie la courbure avant d’intervenir au « Jackson » sur le ballast. Le « Jackson », c’est une sorte de marteau-piqueur qui remue le ballast en vibrant, que la #SNCF utilise depuis les années 1980, quand on découvrait les chorégraphies de Michael Jackson. Le nom est resté.

    Il permet de bourrer des cailloux sous le rail pour le surélever de quelques dizaines de millimètres. On mesure le résultat au niveau. Puis l’équipe renouvelle l’opération une dizaine de mètres plus loin, là où un « train mesure » a signalé une anomalie. « Si une différence de deux centimètres ou plus s’installe entre la hauteur des deux rails en ligne droite, on coupe la circulation », explique Sébastien de Camaret, directeur sécurité zone Atlantique de SNCF Réseau. Si l’écart se compte en dizaines de millimètres, on ralentit la vitesse à 40 kilomètres heure au lieu de 120.
    Cette petite ligne où circulent six allers-retours de #TER entre Niort et Saintes et quelques trains de fret est si vieille qu’il faut sans cesse surveiller et « bourrer » du #ballast toutes les deux à quatre semaines sur certaines portions. Certaines traverses datent des années 1960, les rails des années 1970. Le soubassement sur lequel ils reposent doit être renforcé. Plus au sud, entre Saintes et Bordeaux, on trouve des éléments de voies de 1927, bientôt centenaires. Il y a bien longtemps qu’ils auraient dû être changés. Surtout si cette ligne doit servir de plan B en cas de problème sur l’autoroute ferroviaire Cherbourg-Mouguerre (allant de la Manche aux Pyrénées-Atlantiques) pour le fret.

    Des équipes prudentes

    L’opération de régénération complète de la voie est programmée au deuxième trimestre 2024. Mais tant que les travaux n’ont pas commencé, les équipes sur le terrain sont prudentes : sur le bas-côté des voies, à hauteur de Villeneuve-la-Comtesse (Charente-Maritime), deux rails traînent dans le fossé depuis 2016, inutilisables. Ils devaient déjà remplacer les anciens, mais « cette année-là les travaux se sont multipliés, notamment ceux de la #ligne_à_grande_vitesse Tours-Bordeaux et l’opération a finalement été déprogrammée », expliquent les agents.

    Il y a sept ans, on manquait déjà d’effectifs pour l’entretien des petites lignes et cela a encore empiré. « Les difficultés que nous avons connues dans le groupe du fait du manque de conducteurs de train, nous les aurons bientôt du fait du manque d’#agents_de_maintenance », prévient un cadre régional, qui craint de ne pas avoir les effectifs à mettre en face des projets et redoute que le #Grand_projet ferroviaire du Sud-Ouest − le prolongement de la ligne à grande vitesse jusqu’à Toulouse − ne se fasse au détriment des lignes dites de dessertes fines du territoire, peu fréquentées. Fer de France, l’association qui structure la filière du ferroviaire, rappelle aussi que la bonne organisation des travaux nécessite d’avoir de la visibilité à cinq ans sur les financements.

    C’est pourtant bien à cela que doivent servir les 100 milliards d’euros du plan de « nouvelle donne ferroviaire » promis par la première ministre, Elisabeth Borne, en février, après le rapport du Conseil d’orientation des infrastructures (COI). Mais Fer de France ne les voit guère venir.

    Dans le projet de #budget en cours de discussion au Parlement, il n’y en a pour l’instant qu’une petite trace : les 600 millions d’euros prélevés sur les autoroutes et les aéroports par le biais d’une nouvelle taxe, affectés au budget de l’Agence française de financement des infrastructures de transport de France et déjà fléchés pour financer, notamment, les études préalables aux futurs #RER_métropolitains.

    Revoir sa copie

    Pour ce qui est de la régénération du réseau existant et de sa modernisation, Elisabeth Borne n’a pas prévu de rallonge budgétaire et demande pour l’instant à la SNCF de faire plus de bénéfices pour trouver les 1,5 milliard d’euros supplémentaires dont elle a besoin chaque année pour rajeunir son réseau , un chiffre confirmé par le COI.
    Cette injonction de Matignon a obligé le PDG du groupe, Jean-Pierre Farandou, à retirer le plan stratégique qu’il avait préparé et mis à l’ordre du jour de son dernier conseil d’administration le 12 octobre. Il doit revoir sa copie, alors même qu’il s’était déjà engagé à trouver 500 millions d’euros supplémentaires chaque année. Le ministre chargé des #transports, Clément Beaune, avait validé cette trajectoire. De même que l’Agence des participations de l’Etat, l’actionnaire de la SNCF.

    Après avoir promis 100 milliards d’euros d’ici à 2040, la première ministre, elle, revient à la lettre de la réforme qu’elle a pilotée en 2018 et qui exige de la SNCF qu’elle autofinance ses travaux. Sous l’œil désappointé des cheminots et des élus et experts membres du COI, tous d’accord sur le fait que le rajeunissement du réseau ferré ne peut pas se faire au bon rythme sans une rallonge d’argent public.
    https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2023/10/31/ferroviaire-la-gestion-absurde-de-la-ligne-saintes-niort-symbole-d-une-maint

    #bousilleurs #infrastructures #Train #transports_collectifs #métropolisation #territoires_foutus_par_la_République #France_à_fric

  • La #destruction de #Gaza vue du ciel

    La CNN a publié une série d’images satellites (https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/25/middleeast/satellite-images-gaza-destruction/index.html) avant et après les bombardements sur Gaza. Les images post-destructions, très choquantes, montrent l’#anéantissement presque complet de nombreux quartiers d’habitations de Gaza. Des milliers de tonnes d’explosifs se sont abattus sur des immeubles et des lotissements, détruisant tout et tuant des habitants par milliers. Et les #photos_satellites datent déjà du 21 octobre. Depuis, #Israël a encore intensifié ses frappes. À cette date, 11.000 #bâtiments à Gaza avaient déjà été détruits. Selon l’ONU, environ 45% des habitations de la bande de Gaza ont été endommagées depuis le 7 octobre !

    Cela n’a rien évidemment à voir avec une prétendue « opération anti-terroriste » comme le répètent tous les médias occidentaux pour manipuler l’opinion. Et les frappes n’ont rien de ciblées, elles ne cherchent même pas à l’être. C’est une opération d’#élimination d’une #population_civile, de ses #infrastructures et de ses lieux de vie, par un régime fasciste. Certains dirigeants d’extrême droite israéliens l’assument ouvertement, il s’agit de #raser_Gaza.

    Un tel niveau de #destruction_urbaine comporte aussi d’importants risques de #contaminations, de #pollutions, de nouvelles explosions. Les millions de tonnes de #décombres comportent des matériaux dangereux pour la santé, des restes de munitions défectueuses… Et la population de Gaza n’a rien pour y faire face.

    Regardez bien ces photos. Voilà à quoi servent les armes que nous vendons à Israël. Voilà à quoi le gouvernement français apporte son « soutien inconditionnel ». Voilà ce qui est fait au nom de la France, de l’Europe, des USA.


    https://contre-attaque.net/2023/10/27/la-destruction-de-gaza-vue-du-ciel
    #bombardements #images #visualisation #images_satellites #images_satellitaires #imagerie #Palestine

    voir aussi :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/1023504

  • « Les #gestionnaires_d'actifs ont pris possession d’#infrastructures fondamentales de notre vie quotidienne » | Alternatives Economiques
    https://www.alternatives-economiques.fr/gestionnaires-dactifs-ont-pris-possession-dinfrastructures-fondament/00108262

    Géographe à l’université Uppsala en Suède, Brett Christophers a étudié ces poids lourds de la #finance dans son dernier livre Our Lives in Their Portfolios. Why Asset Managers Own the World (Verso, 2023, non traduit). Il a constaté notamment leur intérêt croissant pour l’acquisition de logements, de routes, d’antennes-relais, de parcs éoliens ou de réseaux d’eau, en somme pour toutes ces infrastructures dont dépendent les populations, au point que nous vivons, selon le chercheur, dans « une #société de gestionnaires d’actifs ».

    […]

    Cette société, est-elle une utopie ou une #dystopie ?

    B. C :
    En effet, on peut se demander : qu’est-ce que ça peut faire que les propriétaires de ces #infrastructures soient des #gestionnaires_d’actifs ? Ces dernières affirment que c’est mieux pour tout le monde quand les infrastructures sont entre leurs mains plutôt qu’entre celles d’autres propriétaires, notamment les #pouvoirs_publics : les usagers bénéficieraient de meilleurs services, les clients de meilleurs rendements et l’#Etat pourrait se focaliser sur ses missions. En réalité, aucun de ces arguments ne tient. Le livre consiste justement à les déconstruire.

    Concernant les usagers, des reportages ont documenté les dérives des gestionnaires d’actifs. Mais on pourrait se dire que ces histoires sont anecdotiques ou qu’ils ne font pas pire que les autres. Après tout, ce n’est pas parce que ces #infrastructures sont publiques qu’elles sont forcément bien gérées. Je viens du #Royaume-Uni et on ne peut pas dire que quand le gouvernement détient ces infrastructures ce soit un modèle à suivre…

    Mais, en réalité, plusieurs études ont montré que ce n’est pas anecdotique. Par exemple, les taux d’expulsion sont plus élevés pour les logements possédés par des gestionnaires d’actifs que pour ceux appartenant à d’autres propriétaires. De même, les maisons de retraite sont plus chères, alors que le nombre d’heures par patient des infirmières y est plus bas, ce qui explique probablement pourquoi la mortalité y est plus élevée.

    #rentabilité #profits

  • Mann stirbt bei Brückensturz : Familie verklagt Google Maps wegen falscher Navigation
    https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/mann-stuerzt-von-bruecke-familie-verklagt-google-wegen-navigation-l

    Voilà ce qui t’arrive si tu fais confiance à la cartographie élaborée par les monopoles. Tu meurs. D’une manière ou d’une autre. C’est aussi simple que ça.

    Peut-être c’est moins grave dans un monde meilleur où les représentations cartographiques ne sont pas faussées par les cartographes sous contrat chez les maîtres du monde. Là où l’état s’occupe bien des infrastructures.

    Dans le monde fabuleux de l’entreprise libre style USA il ne faut faire confiance qu’à ses amis et alliés - mais pas trop quand même, sachant qu’eux aussi sont victimes des faussaires.

    Eine Familie in North Carolina in den USA hat Google verklagt. Ein Familienmitglied sei der Navigation von Google Maps gefolgt und mit dem Auto über eine eingestürzte Brücke gefahren, wie das Nachrichtenmagazin Spiegel berichtet. Die Familie wirft Google vor, von der Baufälligkeit der Brücke gewusst zu haben und fahrlässig gehandelt zu haben. Google habe es versäumt, sein Navigationssystem zu aktualisieren, heißt es.

    Die Brücke sei demnach bereits vor neun Jahren eingestürzt. Trotzdem fehlten laut der North Carolina State Patrol Warnhinweise an der Straße. Die Brücke sei weder von lokalen noch von staatlichen Stellen gewartet worden.
    Mann folgt Google Maps und stürzt mit dem Auto von einer Brücke

    Wie aus der Klageschrift hervorgeht, war der Vater von zwei Kindern am 30. September 2022 auf der Strecke unterwegs gewesen und stürzte sechs Meter tief von der Brücke in einen Fluss, wo er ertrank.

    Beklagt wird demnach, dass Google zuvor bereits mehrere Male von Personen über den maroden Zustand der Brücke informiert worden war. Dennoch seien die Routeninformationen nicht aktualisiert worden. Google hat zu dem Vorfall bislang noch keine Stellung bezogen.

    #cartographie_fatale #USA #Google #Alphabet_Inc #droit #infrastructure_publiqe

  • NYC infrastructure is ancient, crumbling and literally broken | Fortune
    https://fortune.com/2023/08/29/times-square-127-year-old-water-main-breaks-subway-delays-infrastructure

    127-year-old water main breaks […]

    […]

    The rushing water was only a few inches deep on the street, but videos posted on social media showed the flood cascading into the Times Square subway station down stairwells and through ventilation grates. The water turned the trenches that carry the subway tracks into mini rivers and soaked train platforms.

    #milliers_de_milliards #états-unis #infrastructures

  • Transports pendant les #JO de #Paris_2024 : mensonge et mépris, ou : le grand #désastre annoncé

    Pendant qu’une large partie des Franciliens, ceux qui ne sont pas en congé, continueront d’aller travailler, sept millions de #passagers supplémentaires sont attendus sur le réseau du 26 juillet au 11 août, sans compter les 250.000 organisateurs, les officiels ou volontaires.

    Or :

    Les #infrastructures lourdes de transport promises dans le dossier de candidature ne seront pas au rendez-vous [de juillet 2024] […]

    À de rares exceptions près, comme le prolongement nord et sud du #métro de la ligne 14 qui fonctionnait déjà au préalable, ou celle de la ligne 12 à Aubervilliers, aucun des grands programmes de « mass transit » (les modes lourds de #transport) promis dans le dossier de candidature de Paris 2024, élaboré de 2015 à 2017, ne sera au rendez-vous. […]

    Pas une des quatre lignes nouvelles (15, 16, 17 et 18), dont certaines devaient desservir le village des athlètes, pas un seul des 200 km de voies nouvelles ne seront au rendez-vous olympique. […]

    Aucun parking nouveau ne sera ajouté aux abords des stades franciliens. Pas même pour des voitures électriques ou hybrides, alors que Toyota est « partenaire mobilité officiel » des JO, un label qu’aurait d’ailleurs aimé lui ravir la RATP. […]

    En face, l’offre sera augmentée avec des expédients. Au total, un renfort de 15 % de l’offre de #transports en commun par rapport à un été classique, ce qui peut sembler un peu chiche au regard de la demande prévue.

    (Les Échos)

  • #Lyon-Turin : retour sur l’opposition française au projet de nouvelle ligne ferroviaire

    En Savoie, des militants écologistes des Soulèvements de la Terre se sont introduits le 29 mai 2023 sur l’un des chantiers de la nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin. Une banderole « La montagne se soulève » a été déployée pour appeler au week-end de mobilisation franco-italienne contre ce projet, organisé les 17 et 18 juin 2023 en Maurienne.

    Imaginé dans les années 1980, le projet de nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin a connu depuis de nombreux atermoiements, notamment en ce qui concerne le tracé entre l’agglomération lyonnaise et Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Dix ans après la déclaration d’utilité publique (DUP) de 2013, les décisions concernant les 140 km de nouvelles voies d’accès français au tunnel transfrontalier de 57,5 km n’ont toujours pas été prises : ni programmation, ni financement, ni acquisition foncière.

    Les premiers travaux préparatoires du tunnel ont pourtant débuté dès 2002 et sa mise en service est prévue pour 2032. Ce dernier est pris en charge par un consortium d’entreprises franco-italiennes nommé Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin (TELT), un promoteur public appartenant à 50 % à l’État français et à 50 % aux chemins de fer italiens. D’une longueur totale de 271 km, le coût de cette nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin est désormais estimé à 26 milliards d’euros au lieu des 8,6 initialement prévus.
    Projet clivant et avenir incertain

    Pour ses promoteurs, elle est présentée comme une infrastructure de transport utile à la transition écologique. Selon eux, elle permettrait à terme de désengorger les vallées alpines du trafic des poids lourds en favorisant le report modal de la route vers le rail. À l’inverse, ce projet est exposé par ses opposants comme pharaonique, inutile et destructeur de l’environnement. Ils argumentent que la ligne ferroviaire existante entre Lyon et Turin et actuellement sous-utilisée permettrait, une fois rénovée, de réduire le transport de fret par camion.

    Ils défendent la nécessité de privilégier l’existant et ne pas attendre des années pour le report modal des marchandises vers le rail. Les défenseurs du nouveau projet jugent quant à eux la ligne existante comme obsolète et inadaptée. En toile de fond de ce débat, les prévisions de trafic autour des flux de marchandises transitant par la Savoie : sous-estimés pour les uns, sur-estimés pour les autres.

    Le 24 février dernier, le rapport du Comité d’orientation des infrastructures (COI) a rebattu les cartes. Il propose en effet de repousser la construction de nouvelles voies d’accès au tunnel transfrontalier à 2045 et donner la première place à la modernisation de la ligne existante.

    Le scénario choisi par la Première ministre prévoit alors le calendrier suivant : études pour de nouveaux accès au tunnel au quinquennat 2028-2032, début de réalisation à partir de 2038, et une livraison au plus tôt vers 2045… soit, en cas de respect du calendrier annoncé par TELT, 13 ans après la mise en service du tunnel. Se profile donc la perspective d’un nouveau tunnel sans nouvelles voies d’accès : un scénario qui ne satisfait ni les défenseurs ni les opposants au projet.

    [Plus de 85 000 lecteurs font confiance aux newsletters de The Conversation pour mieux comprendre les grands enjeux du monde. Abonnez-vous aujourd’hui]

    Le 12 juin, nouveau rebondissement. Le ministre des Transports annonce 3 milliards d’euros de crédits pour les voies d’accès du tunnel transfrontalier dès les projets de loi de finances 2023 et 2024. Le gouvernement valide également le financement de l’avant-projet détaillé qui doit fixer le tracé, soit environ 150 millions d’euros.
    L’affirmation d’une opposition française

    C’est dans ce contexte que va se dérouler la mobilisation des Soulèvements de la Terre, les 17 et 18 juin 2023. Elle a pour objectif de donner un écho national aux revendications portées par les opposants : l’arrêt immédiat du chantier du tunnel transfrontalier et l’abandon du projet de nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin.

    Outre les collectifs d’habitants, cette opposition coalise désormais des syndicats agricoles (Confédération paysanne) et ferroviaires (Sud Rail), des associations locales (Vivre et agir en Maurienne, Grésivaudan nord environnement) et écologistes (Attac, Extinction Rébellion, Les Amis de la Terre, Alternatiba, Cipra), des organisations politiques (La France Insoumise – LFI, Europe Ecologie Les Verts – EELV, Nouveau parti anticaptialiste – NPA) et le collectif No TAV Savoie.

    Cela n’a pas toujours été le cas : le projet est longtemps apparu consensuel en France, malgré une forte opposition en Italie depuis le début des années 1990 via le mouvement No TAV.

    2012 marque une étape importante dans l’opposition française alors disparate et peu médiatisée. Une enquête publique organisée cette année-là dans le cadre de la procédure de DUP permet une résurgence des oppositions, leurs affirmations et leur coalition au sein d’un nouvel agencement organisationnel. Ce dernier gagne rapidement en efficacité, occupe le champ médiatique et se connecte avec d’autres contestations en France en rejoignant le réseau des Grands projets inutiles et imposés (GP2I), dans le sillage de Notre-Dame-des-Landes.
    Basculement des ex-promoteurs du projet

    Cette publicisation nouvelle participe à une reproblématisation et politisation autour de la nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin. Des défenseurs du projet basculent alors dans le camp des opposants, provoquant un élargissement de la mobilisation.

    EELV, pendant 20 ans favorable au projet, est un exemple saillant de cette évolution. Alors qu’il le jugeait incontournable et sans alternative, quand bien même la contestation gagnait en intensité en Italie, la « Convention des écologistes sur les traversées alpines » en 2012 signe son changement de positionnement.

    Ce nouveau positionnement peut se résumer ainsi : la réduction du transport routier ne dépend pas de la création de nouvelles infrastructures ferroviaires mais de la transition vers un modèle de développement moins générateur de flux de marchandises, la rénovation et l’amélioration des infrastructures ferroviaires existantes étant prioritaires pour gérer les flux restants.

    Une position aujourd’hui défendue par les maires de Grenoble et de Lyon, mais aussi par des députés européens et nationaux EEV et LFI. Pour autant, la mobilisation française reste jusqu’à aujourd’hui éloignée des répertoires d’action employés dans la vallée de Suse.
    Effacement de la montagne

    Ce projet de nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin révèle aussi et avant tout une lecture ancienne du territoire européen à travers les enjeux de mobilité. Au même titre que les percements des tunnels ferroviaires, routiers puis autoroutiers depuis la fin du XIXe siècle à travers les Alpes, il contribue à une forme d’aplanissement de la montagne pour en rendre les passages plus aisés et ainsi permettre des flux massifs et rapides.

    Cette norme de circulation des humains et des marchandises est révélatrice d’une vision du monde particulière. L’historienne Anne-Marie Granet-Abisset la résume ainsi :

    « Elle correspond aux modèles édictés par les aménageurs (politiques et techniques) qui travaillent dans les capitales européennes, désirant imposer leur vision aux territoires qu’ils gèrent, en dépit des sommes considérables mobilisées pour ce faire. Toute opposition ne peut être entendue, présentée alors comme de la désinformation ou de la mauvaise foi . »

    Ces enjeux informationnels et communicationnels demeurent omniprésents dans le débat public entre promoteurs et opposants au projet. Ils donnent lieu à de nombreuses passes d’armes, chacun s’accusant mutuellement de désinformation ; sans oublier les journalistes et leur travail d’enquête.
    Ressource en eau

    Depuis l’été 2022, c’est la question de la ressource en eau et des impacts du chantier du tunnel transfrontalier sur celle-ci qui cristallise les tensions. Elle sera d’ailleurs au cœur de la mobilisation des 17 et 18 juin 2023 en Maurienne, permettant ainsi une articulation avec les autres mobilisations impulsées ces derniers mois par les Soulèvements de la Terre. Une controverse sur le tarissement des sources qui existe depuis vingt ans en Maurienne.

    Plus largement, le débat sur l’utilité et la pertinence de la nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin révèle le paradoxe auquel sont soumises les hautes vallées alpines. Dans un contexte d’injonction à la transition écologique, ce paradoxe fait figure d’une contrainte double et opposée comme le résume l’historienne Anne-Marie Granet-Abisset :

    « Des territoires qui doivent être traversés aisément et rapidement en fonction des critères de l’économie des transports, un lobby puissant à l’échelle européenne ; des territoires qui puissent apparaître comme préservés, inscrits dans une autre conception du temps, celle de la lenteur des cols et des refuges, en même temps qu’ils doivent être facilement accessibles à partir des métropoles . »

    https://theconversation.com/lyon-turin-retour-sur-lopposition-francaise-au-projet-de-nouvelle-l
    #no-tav #no_tav #val_de_Suse #Italie #France #Alpes #transports #transports_ferroviaires #résistance #Soulèvements_de_la_Terre #ligne_ferroviaire #mobilisation #Maurienne #Tunnel_Euralpin_Lyon_Turin (#TELT) #coût #infrastructure_de_transport #poids_lourds #Savoie #Comité_d’orientation_des_infrastructures (#COI) #chantier #Grands_projets_inutiles_et_imposés (#GP2I) #vallée_de_suse #mobilité #eau #transition_écologique

  • « Pays-Bas, un empire logistique au coeur de l’Europe » : https://cairn.info/revue-du-crieur-2023-1-page-60.htm
    Excellent papier du dernier numéro de la Revue du Crieur qui montre comment le hub logistique néerlandais a construit des espaces dérogatoires aux droits pour exploiter des milliers de migrants provenant de toute l’Europe. Ces zones franches optimisent la déréglementation et l’exploitation, générant une zone de non-droit, où, des horaires de travail aux logements, toute l’existence des petites mains de la logistique mondiale dépend d’une poignée d’employeurs et de logiciels. L’article évoque notamment Isabel, le logiciel de l’entreprise bol.com qui assure la mise à disposition de la main d’oeuvre, en intégrant statut d’emploi, productivité, gérant plannings et menaces... optimisant les RH à « l’affaiblissement de la capacité de négociation du flexworker ». Une technique qui n’est pas sans rappeler Orion, le logiciel qui optimise les primes pour les faire disparaitre... https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2022/12/DERKAOUI/65381

    Les boucles de rétroaction de l’injustice sont déjà en place. Demain, attendez-vous à ce qui est testé et mis en place à l’encontre des migrants qui font tourner nos usines logistiques s’élargisse à tous les autres travailleurs. #travail #RH #migrants

  • The Unfortunate, Unintended Consequence of the Inflation Reduction Act | Brett Christophers
    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/opinion/inflation-reduction-act-global-asset-managers.html

    A common belief about both the I.R.A. and 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, President Biden’s other key legislation for infrastructure investment, is that they represent a renewal of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal infrastructure programs of the 1930s. This is wrong. The signature feature of the New Deal was public ownership: Even as private firms carried out many of the tens of thousands of construction projects, almost all of the new infrastructure was funded and owned publicly. These were public works. Public ownership of major infrastructure has been an American mainstay ever since.

    Mr. Biden’s laws will radically overhaul this culture. Informed by what Brian Alexander, a writer for The Atlantic, in 2017 described as a profound recent change in philosophy among U.S. policymakers about “how to build and maintain America’s stuff,” the modus operandi of both statutes is principally to subsidize and catalyze private-sector infrastructure investment. Such a subsidy was explicitly factored into the aforementioned Brookfield investment in solar and wind power.

    So it would be truer to say that in political-economic terms, Mr. Biden, far from assuming Roosevelt’s mantle, has actually been dismantling the Rooseveltian legacy. The upshot will be a wholesale transformation of the national landscape of infrastructure ownership and associated service delivery.

    #Inflation_Reduction_Act #infrastructure #asset_management

  • UK signs contract with US startup to identify migrants in small-boat crossings

    The UK government has turned a US-based startup specialized in artificial intelligence as part of its pledge to stop small-boat crossings. Experts have already pointed out the legal and logistical challenges of the plan.

    In a new effort to address the high number of Channel crossings, the UK Home Office is working with the US defense startup #Anduril, specialized in the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

    A surveillance tower has already been installed at Dover, and other technologies might be rolled out with the onset of warmer temperatures and renewed attempts by migrants to reach the UK. Some experts already point out the risks and practical loopholes involved in using AI to identify migrants.

    “This is obviously the next step of the illegal migration bill,” said Olivier Cahn, a researcher specialized in penal law.

    “The goal is to retrieve images that were taken at sea and use AI to show they entered UK territory illegally even if people vanish into thin air upon arrival in the UK.”

    The “illegal migration bill” was passed by the UK last month barring anyone from entering the country irregularly from filing an asylum claim and imposing a “legal duty” to remove them to a third country.
    Who is behind Anduril?

    Founded in 2017 by its CEO #Palmer_Luckey, Anduril is backed by #Peter_Thiel, a Silicon Valley investor and supporter of Donald Trump. The company has supplied autonomous surveillance technology to the US Department of Defense (DOD) to detect and track migrants trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

    In 2021, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded Anduril with a £3.8-million contract to trial an advanced base defence system. Anduril eventually opened a branch in London where it states its mission: “combining the latest in artificial intelligence with commercial-of-the-shelf sensor technology (EO, IR, Radar, Lidar, UGS, sUAS) to enhance national security through automated detection, identification and tracking of objects of interest.”

    According to Cahn, the advantage of Brexit is that the UK government is no longer required to submit to the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPDP), a component of data protection that also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.

    “Even so, the UK has data protection laws of its own which the government cannot breach. Where will the servers with the incoming data be kept? What are the rights of appeal for UK citizens whose data is being processed by the servers?”, he asked.

    ’Smugglers will provide migrants with balaclavas for an extra 15 euros’

    Cahn also pointed out the technical difficulties of identifying migrants at sea. “The weather conditions are often not ideal, and many small-boat crossings happen at night. How will facial recognition technology operate in this context?”

    The ability of migrants and smugglers to adapt is yet another factor. “People are going to cover their faces, and anyone would think the smugglers will respond by providing migrants with balaclavas for an extra 15 euros.”

    If the UK has solicited the services of a US startup to detect and identify migrants, the reason may lie in AI’s principle of self-learning. “A machine accumulates data and recognizes what it has already seen. The US is a country with a significantly more racially and ethnically diverse population than the UK. Its artificial intelligence might contain data from populations which are more ethnically comparable to the populations that are crossing the Channel, like Somalia for example, thus facilitating the process of facial recognition.”

    For Cahn, it is not capturing the images which will be the most difficult but the legal challenges that will arise out of their usage. “People are going to be identified and there are going to be errors. If a file exists, there needs to be the possibility for individuals to appear before justice and have access to a judge.”

    A societal uproar

    In a research paper titled “Refugee protection in the artificial intelligence Era”, Chatham House notes “the most common ethical and legal challenges associated with the use of AI in asylum and related border and immigration systems involve issues of opacity and unpredictability, the potential for bias and unlawful discrimination, and how such factors affect the ability of individuals to obtain a remedy in the event of erroneous or unfair decisions.”

    For Cahn, the UK government’s usage of AI can only be used to justify and reinforce its hardline position against migrants. “For a government that doesn’t respect the Geneva Convention [whose core principle is non-refoulement, editor’s note] and which passed an illegal migration law, it is out of the question that migrants have entered the territory legally.”

    Identifying migrants crossing the Channel is not going to be the hardest part for the UK government. Cahn imagines a societal backlash with, “the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom being solicited, refugees seeking remedies to legal decisions through lawyers and associations attacking”.

    He added there would be due process concerning the storage of the data, with judges issuing disclosure orders. “There is going to be a whole series of questions which the government will have to elucidate. The rights of refugees are often used as a laboratory. If these technologies are ’successful’, they will soon be applied to the rest of the population."

    https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/48326/uk-signs-contract-with-us-startup-to-identify-migrants-in-smallboat-cr

    #UK #Angleterre #migrations #asile #réfugiés #militarisation_des_frontières #frontières #start-up #complexe_militaro-industriel #IA #intelligence_artificielle #surveillance #technologie #channel #Manche

    –—

    ajouté à la métaliste sur la Bibby Stockholm:
    https://seenthis.net/messages/1016683

    • Huge barge set to house 500 asylum seekers arrives in the UK

      The #Bibby_Stockholm is being refitted in #Falmouth to increase its capacity from 222 to 506 people.

      A barge set to house 500 asylum seekers has arrived in the UK as the government struggles with efforts to move migrants out of hotels.

      The Independent understands that people will not be transferred onto the Bibby Stockholm until July, following refurbishment to increase its capacity and safety checks.

      The barge has been towed from its former berth in Italy to the port of Falmouth, in Cornwall.

      It will remain there while works are carried out, before being moved onto its final destination in #Portland, Dorset.

      The private operators of the port struck an agreement to host the barge with the Home Office without formal public consultation, angering the local council and residents.

      Conservative MP Richard Drax previously told The Independent legal action was still being considered to stop the government’s plans for what he labelled a “quasi-prison”.

      He accused ministers and Home Office officials of being “unable to answer” practical questions on how the barge will operate, such as how asylum seekers will be able to come and go safely through the port, what activities they will be provided with and how sufficient healthcare will be ensured.

      “The question is how do we cope?” Mr Drax said. “Every organisation has its own raft of questions: ‘Where’s the money coming from? Who’s going to do what if this all happens?’ There are not sufficient answers, which is very worrying.”

      The Independent previously revealed that asylum seekers will have less living space than an average parking bay on the Bibby Stockholm, which saw at least one person die and reports of rape and abuse on board when it was used by the Dutch government to detain migrants in the 2000s.

      An official brochure released by owner Bibby Marine shows there are only 222 “single en-suite bedrooms” on board, meaning that at least two people must be crammed into every cabin for the government to achieve its aim of holding 500 people.

      Dorset Council has said it still had “serious reservations about the appropriateness of Portland Port in this scenario and remains opposed to the proposals”.

      The Conservative police and crime commissioner for Dorset is demanding extra government funding for the local force to “meet the extra policing needs that this project will entail”.

      A multi-agency forum including representatives from national, regional and local public sector agencies has been looking at plans for the provision of health services, the safety and security of both asylum seekers and local residents and charity involvement.

      Portland Port said it had been working with the Home Office and local agencies to ensure the safe arrival and operation of the Bibby Stockholm, and to minimise its impact locally.

      The barge is part of a wider government push to move migrants out of hotels, which are currently housing more than 47,000 asylum seekers at a cost of £6m a day.

      But the use of ships as accommodation was previously ruled out on cost grounds by the Treasury, when Rishi Sunak was chancellor, and the government has not confirmed how much it will be spending on the scheme.

      Ministers have also identified several former military and government sites, including two defunct airbases and an empty prison, that they want to transform into asylum accommodation.

      But a court battle with Braintree District Council over former RAF Wethersfield is ongoing, and legal action has also been threatened over similar plans for RAF Scampton in Lancashire.

      Last month, a barrister representing home secretary Suella Braverman told the High Court that 56,000 people were expected to arrive on small boats in 2023 and that some could be made homeless if hotel places are not found.

      A record backlog of asylum applications, driven by the increase in Channel crossings and a collapse in Home Office decision-making, mean the government is having to provide accommodation for longer while claims are considered.

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/barge-falmouth-cornwall-migrants-bibby-b2333313.html
      #barge #bateau

    • ‘Performative cruelty’ : the hostile architecture of the UK government’s migrant barge

      The arrival of the Bibby Stockholm barge at Portland Port, in Dorset, on July 18 2023, marks a new low in the UK government’s hostile immigration environment. The vessel is set to accommodate over 500 asylum seekers. This, the Home Office argues, will benefit British taxpayers and local residents.

      The barge, however, was immediately rejected by the local population and Dorset council. Several British charities and church groups have condemned the barge, and the illegal migration bill it accompanies, as “an affront to human dignity”.

      Anti-immigration groups have also protested against the barge, with some adopting offensive language, referring to the asylum seekers who will be hosted there as “bargies”. Conservative MP for South Dorset Richard Drax has claimed that hosting migrants at sea would exacerbate tenfold the issues that have arisen in hotels to date, namely sexual assaults, children disappearing and local residents protesting.

      My research shows that facilities built to house irregular migrants in Europe and beyond create a temporary infrastructure designed to be hostile. Governments thereby effectively make asylum seekers more displaceable while ignoring their everyday spatial and social needs.
      Precarious space

      The official brochure plans for the Bibby Stockholm show 222 single bedrooms over three stories, built around two small internal courtyards. It has now been retrofitted with bunk beds to host more than 500 single men – more than double the number it was designed to host.

      Journalists Lizzie Dearden and Martha McHardy have shown this means the asylum seekers housed there – for up to nine months – will have “less living space than an average parking bay”. This stands in contravention of international standards of a minimum 4.5m² of covered living space per person in cold climates, where more time is spent indoors.

      In an open letter, dated June 15 2023 and addressed to home secretary Suella Braverman, over 700 people and nearly 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) voiced concerns that this will only add to the trauma migrants have already experienced:

      Housing people on a sea barge – which we argue is equal to a floating prison – is morally indefensible, and threatens to retraumatise a group of already vulnerable people.

      Locals are concerned already overstretched services in Portland, including GP practices, will not be able to cope with further pressure. West Dorset MP Chris Lode has questioned whether the barge itself is safe “to cope with double the weight that it was designed to bear”. A caller to the LBC radio station, meanwhile, has voiced concerns over the vessel’s very narrow and low fire escape routes, saying: “What they [the government] are effectively doing here is creating a potential Grenfell on water, a floating coffin.”

      Such fears are not unfounded. There have been several cases of fires destroying migrant camps in Europe, from the Grand-Synthe camp near Dunkirk in France, in 2017, to the 2020 fire at the Moria camp in Greece. The difficulty of escaping a vessel at sea could turn it into a death trap.

      Performative hostility

      Research on migrant accommodation shows that being able to inhabit a place – even temporarily – and develop feelings of attachment and belonging, is crucial to a person’s wellbeing. Even amid ever tighter border controls, migrants in Europe, who can be described as “stuck on the move”, nonetheless still attempt to inhabit their temporary spaces and form such connections.

      However, designs can hamper such efforts when they concentrate asylum seekers in inhospitable, cut-off spaces. In 2015, Berlin officials began temporarily housing refugees in the former Tempelhof airport, a noisy, alienating industrial space, lacking in privacy and disconnected from the city. Many people ended up staying there for the better part of a year.

      French authorities, meanwhile, opened the Centre Humanitaire Paris-Nord in Paris in 2016, temporary migrant housing in a disused train depot. Nicknamed la Bulle (the bubble) for its bulbous inflatable covering, this facility was noisy and claustrophobic, lacking in basic comforts.

      Like the barge in Portland Port, these facilities, placed in industrial sites, sit uncomfortably between hospitality and hostility. The barge will be fenced off, since the port is a secured zone, and access will be heavily restricted and controlled. The Home Office insists that the barge is not a floating prison, yet it is an unmistakably hostile space.

      Infrastructure for water and electricity will physically link the barge to shore. However, Dorset council has no jurisdiction at sea.

      The commercial agreement on the barge was signed between the Home Office and Portland Port, not the council. Since the vessel is positioned below the mean low water mark, it did not require planning permission.

      This makes the barge an island of sorts, where other rules apply, much like those islands in the Aegean sea and in the Pacific, on which Greece and Australia have respectively housed migrants.

      I have shown how facilities are often designed in this way not to give displaced people any agency, but, on the contrary, to objectify them. They heighten the instability migrants face, keeping them detached from local communities and constantly on the move.

      The government has presented the barge as a cheaper solution than the £6.8 million it is currently spending, daily, on housing asylum seekers in hotels. A recent report by two NGOs, Reclaim the Seas and One Life to Live, concludes, however, that it will save less than £10 a person a day. It could even prove more expensive than the hotel model.

      Sarah Teather, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service UK charity, has described the illegal migration bill as “performative cruelty”. Images of the barge which have flooded the news certainly meet that description too.

      However threatening these images might be, though, they will not stop desperate people from attempting to come to the UK to seek safety. Rather than deterring asylum seekers, the Bibby Stockholm is potentially creating another hazard to them and to their hosting communities.

      https://theconversation.com/performative-cruelty-the-hostile-architecture-of-the-uk-governments

      –---

      Point intéressant, lié à l’aménagement du territoire :

      “Since the vessel is positioned below the mean low water mark, it did not require planning permission”

      C’est un peu comme les #zones_frontalières qui ont été créées un peu partout en Europe (et pas que) pour que les Etats se débarassent des règles en vigueur (notamment le principe du non-refoulement). Voir cette métaliste, à laquelle j’ajoute aussi cet exemple :
      https://seenthis.net/messages/795053

      voir aussi :

      The circumstances at Portland Port are very different because where the barge is to be positioned is below the mean low water mark. This means that the barge is outside of our planning control and there is no requirement for planning permission from the council.

      https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/2023/07/18/leaders-comments-on-the-home-office-barge

      #hostile_architecture #architecture_hostile #dignité #espace #Portland #hostilité #hostilité_performative #île #infrastructure #extraterritorialité #extra-territorialité #prix #coût

    • Sur l’#histoire (notamment liées au commerce d’ #esclaves) de la Bibby Stockholm :

      Bibby Line, shipowners

      Information
      From Guide to the Records of Merseyside Maritime Museum, volume 1: Bibby Line. In 1807 John Bibby and John Highfield, Liverpool shipbrokers, began taking shares in ships, mainly Parkgate Dublin packets. By 1821 (the end of the partnership) they had vessels sailing to the Mediterranean and South America. In 1850 they expanded their Mediterranean and Black Sea interests by buying two steamers and by 1865 their fleet had increased to twenty three. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 severely affected their business and Frederick Leyland, their general manager, failed to persuade the family partners to diversify onto the Atlantic. Eventually, he bought them out in 1873. In 1889 the Bibby family revived its shipowning interests with a successful passenger cargo service to Burma. From 1893 it also began to carry British troops to overseas postings which remained a Bibby staple until 1962. The Burma service ended in 1971 and the company moved to new areas of shipowning including bulkers, gas tankers and accommodation barges. It still has its head office in Liverpool where most management records are held. The museum holds models of the Staffordshire (1929) and Oxfordshire (1955). For further details see the attached catalogue or contact The Archives Centre for a copy of the catalogue.

      The earliest records within the collection, the ships’ logs at B/BIBBY/1/1/1 - 1/1/3 show company vessels travelling between Europe and South America carrying cargoes that would have been produced on plantations using the labour of enslaved peoples or used within plantation and slave based economies. For example the vessel Thomas (B/BIBBY/1/1/1) carries a cargo of iron hoops for barrels to Brazil in 1812. The Mary Bibby on a voyage in 1825-1826 loads a cargo of sugar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to carry to Rotterdam. The log (B/BIBBY/1/1/3) records the use of ’negroes’ to work with the ship’s carpenter while the vessel is in port.

      In September 1980 the latest Bibby vessel to hold the name Derbyshire was lost with all hands in the South China Sea. This collection does not include records relating to that vessel or its sinking, apart from a copy ’Motor vessel ’Derbyshire’, 1976-80: in memoriam’ at reference B/BIBBY/3/2/1 (a copy is also available in The Archives Centre library collection at 340.DER). Information about the sinking and subsequent campaigning by the victims’ family can be found on the NML website and in the Life On Board gallery. The Archives Centre holds papers of Captain David Ramwell who assisted the Derbyshire Family Association at D/RAM and other smaller collections of related documents within the DX collection.

      https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/bibby-line-shipowners

      –—
      An Open Letter to #Bibby_Marine

      Links between your parent company #Bibby_Line_Group (#BLG) and the slave trade have repeatedly been made. If true, we appeal to you to consider what actions you might take in recompense.

      Bibby Marine’s modern slavery statement says that one of the company’s values is to “do the right thing”, and that you “strongly support the eradication of slavery, as well as the eradication of servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking”. These are admirable words.

      Meanwhile, your parent company’s website says that it is “family owned with a rich history”. Please will you clarify whether this rich history includes slaving voyages where ships were owned, and cargoes transported, by BLG’s founder John Bibby, six generations ago. The BLG website says that in 1807 (which is when slavery was abolished in Britain), “John Bibby began trading as a shipowner in Liverpool with his partner John Highfield”. John Bibby is listed as co-owner of three slaving ships, of which John Highfield co-owned two:

      In 1805, the Harmonie (co-owned by #John_Bibby and three others, including John Highfield) left Liverpool for a voyage which carried 250 captives purchased in West Central Africa and St Helena, delivering them to Cumingsberg in 1806 (see the SlaveVoyages database using Voyage ID 81732).
      In 1806, the Sally (co-owned by John Bibby and two others) left Liverpool for a voyage which transported 250 captives purchased in Bassa and delivered them to Barbados (see the SlaveVoyages database using Voyage ID 83481).
      In 1806, the Eagle (co-owned by John Bibby and four others, including John Highfield) left Liverpool for a voyage which transported 237 captives purchased in Cameroon and delivered them to Kingston in 1807 (see the SlaveVoyages database using Voyage ID 81106).

      The same and related claims were recently mentioned by Private Eye. They also appear in the story of Liverpool’s Calderstones Park [PDF] and on the website of National Museums Liverpool and in this blog post “Shenanigans in Shipping” (a detailed history of the BLG). They are also mentioned by Laurence Westgaph, a TV presenter specialising in Black British history and slavery and the author of Read The Signs: Street Names with a Connection to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Abolition in Liverpool [PDF], published with the support of English Heritage, The City of Liverpool, Northwest Regional Development Agency, National Museums Liverpool and Liverpool Vision.

      While of course your public pledges on slavery underline that there is no possibility of there being any link between the activities of John Bibby and John Highfield in the early 1800s and your activities in 2023, we do believe that it is in the public interest to raise this connection, and to ask for a public expression of your categorical renunciation of the reported slave trade activities of Mr Bibby and Mr Highfield.

      https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/an-open-letter-to-bibby-marine

      –-

      Très peu d’info sur John Bibby sur wikipedia :

      John Bibby (19 February 1775 – 17 July 1840) was the founder of the British Bibby Line shipping company. He was born in Eccleston, near Ormskirk, Lancashire. He was murdered on 17 July 1840 on his way home from dinner at a friend’s house in Kirkdale.[1]


      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bibby_(businessman)

    • ‘Floating Prisons’: The 200-year-old family #business behind the Bibby Stockholm

      #Bibby_Line_Group_Limited is a UK company offering financial, marine and construction services to clients in at least 16 countries around the world. It recently made headlines after the government announced one of the firm’s vessels, Bibby Stockholm, would be used to accommodate asylum seekers on the Dorset coast.

      In tandem with plans to house migrants at surplus military sites, the move was heralded by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman as a way of mitigating the £6m-a-day cost of hotel accommodation amid the massive ongoing backlog of asylum claims, as well as deterring refugees from making the dangerous channel crossing to the UK. Several protests have been organised against the project already, while over ninety migrants’ rights groups and hundreds of individual campaigners have signed an open letter to the Home Secretary calling for the plans to be scrapped, describing the barge as a “floating prison.”

      Corporate Watch has researched into the Bibby Line Group’s operations and financial interests. We found that:

      - The Bibby Stockholm vessel was previously used as a floating detention centre in the Netherlands, where undercover reporting revealed violence, sexual exploitation and poor sanitation.

      – Bibby Line Group is more than 90% owned by members of the Bibby family, primarily through trusts. Its pre-tax profits for 2021 stood at almost £31m, which they upped to £35.5m by claiming generous tax credits and deferring a fair amount to the following year.

      - Management aboard the vessel will be overseen by an Australian business travel services company, Corporate Travel Management, who have previously had aspersions cast over the financial health of their operations and the integrity of their business practices.

      - Another beneficiary of the initiative is Langham Industries, a maritime and engineering company whose owners, the Langham family, have longstanding ties to right wing parties.

      Key Issues

      According to the Home Office, the Bibby Stockholm barge will be operational for at least 18 months, housing approximately 500 single adult men while their claims are processed, with “24/7 security in place on board, to minimise the disruption to local communities.” These measures appear to have been to dissuade opposition from the local Conservative council, who pushed for background checks on detainees and were reportedly even weighing legal action out of concern for a perceived threat of physical attacks from those housed onboard, as well as potential attacks from the far right against migrants held there.

      Local campaigners have taken aim at the initiative, noting in the open letter:

      “For many people seeking asylum arriving in the UK, the sea represents a site of significant trauma as they have been forced to cross it on one or more occasions. Housing people on a sea barge – which we argue is equal to a floating prison – is morally indefensible, and threatens to re-traumatise a group of already vulnerable people.”

      Technically, migrants on the barge will be able to leave the site. However, in reality they will be under significant levels of surveillance and cordoned off behind fences in the high security port area.

      If they leave, there is an expectation they will return by 11pm, and departure will be controlled by the authorities. According to the Home Office:

      “In order to ensure that migrants come and go in an orderly manner with as little impact as possible, buses will be provided to take those accommodated on the vessel from the port to local drop off points”.

      These drop off points are to be determined by the government, while being sited off the coast of Dorset means they will be isolated from centres of support and solidarity.

      Meanwhile, the government’s new Illegal Migration Bill is designed to provide a legal justification for the automatic detention of refugees crossing the Channel. If it passes, there’s a chance this might set the stage for a change in regime on the Bibby Stockholm – from that of an “accommodation centre” to a full-blown migrant prison.

      An initial release from the Home Office suggested the local voluntary sector would be engaged “to organise activities that keep occupied those being accommodated, potentially involved in local volunteering activity,” though they seemed to have changed the wording after critics said this would mean detainees could be effectively exploited for unpaid labour. It’s also been reported the vessel required modifications in order to increase capacity to the needed level, raising further concerns over cramped living conditions and a lack of privacy.

      Bibby Line Group has prior form in border profiteering. From 1994 to 1998, the Bibby Stockholm was used to house the homeless, some of whom were asylum seekers, in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, it was used to detain asylum seekers in the Netherlands, which proved a cause of controversy at the time. Undercover reporting revealed a number of cases abuse on board, such as beatings and sexual exploitation, as well suicide attempts, routine strip searches, scabies and the death of an Algerian man who failed to receive timely medical care for a deteriorating heart condition. As the undercover security guard wrote:

      “The longer I work on the Bibby Stockholm, the more I worry about safety on the boat. Between exclusion and containment I encounter so many defects and feel so much tension among the prisoners that it no longer seems to be a question of whether things will get completely out of hand here, but when.”

      He went on:

      “I couldn’t stand the way prisoners were treated […] The staff become like that, because the whole culture there is like that. Inhuman. They do not see the residents as people with a history, but as numbers.”

      Discussions were also held in August 2017 over the possibility of using the vessel as accommodation for some 400 students in Galway, Ireland, amid the country’s housing crisis. Though the idea was eventually dropped for lack of mooring space and planning permission requirements, local students had voiced safety concerns over the “bizarre” and “unconventional” solution to a lack of rental opportunities.
      Corporate Travel Management & Langham Industries

      Although leased from Bibby Line Group, management aboard the Bibby Stockholm itself will be handled by #Corporate_Travel_Management (#CTM), a global travel company specialising in business travel services. The Australian-headquartered company also recently received a £100m contract for the provision of accommodation, travel, venue and ancillary booking services for the housing of Ukrainian refugees at local hotels and aboard cruise ships M/S Victoria and M/S Ambition. The British Red Cross warned earlier in May against continuing to house refugees on ships with “isolated” and “windowless” cabins, and said the scheme had left many “living in limbo.”

      Founded by CEO #Jamie_Pherous, CTM was targeted in 2018 by #VGI_Partners, a group of short-sellers, who identified more than 20 red flags concerning the company’s business interests. Most strikingly, the short-sellers said they’d attended CTM’s offices in Glasgow, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Switzerland. Finding no signs of business activity there, they said it was possible the firm had significantly overstated the scale of its operations. VGI Partners also claimed CTM’s cash flows didn’t seem to add up when set against the company’s reported growth, and that CTM hadn’t fully disclosed revisions they’d made to their annual revenue figures.

      Two years later, the short-sellers released a follow-up report, questioning how CTM had managed to report a drop in rewards granted for high sales numbers to travel agencies, when in fact their transaction turnover had grown during the same period. They also accused CTM of dressing up their debt balance to make their accounts look healthier.

      CTM denied VGI Partners’ allegations. In their response, they paraphrased a report by auditors EY, supposedly confirming there were no question marks over their business practices, though the report itself was never actually made public. They further claim VGI Partners, as short-sellers, had only released the reports in the hope of benefitting from uncertainty over CTM’s operations.

      Despite these troubles, CTM’s market standing improved drastically earlier this year, when it was announced the firm had secured contracts for the provision of travel services to the UK Home Office worth in excess of $3bn AUD (£1.6bn). These have been accompanied by further tenders with, among others, the National Audit Office, HS2, Cafcass, Serious Fraud Office, Office of National Statistics, HM Revenue & Customs, National Health Service, Ministry of Justice, Department of Education, Foreign Office, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

      The Home Office has not released any figures on the cost of either leasing or management services aboard Bibby Stockholm, though press reports have put the estimated price tag at more than £20,000 a day for charter and berthing alone. If accurate, this would put the overall expenditure for the 18-month period in which the vessel will operate as a detention centre at almost £11m, exclusive of actual detention centre management costs such as security, food and healthcare.

      Another beneficiary of the project are Portland Port’s owners, #Langham_Industries, a maritime and engineering company owned by the #Langham family. The family has long-running ties to right-wing parties. Langham Industries donated over £70,000 to the UK Independence Party from 2003 up until the 2016 Brexit referendum. In 2014, Langham Industries donated money to support the re-election campaign of former Clacton MP for UKIP Douglas Carswell, shortly after his defection from the Conservatives. #Catherine_Langham, a Tory parish councillor for Hilton in Dorset, has described herself as a Langham Industries director (although she is not listed on Companies House). In 2016 she was actively involved in local efforts to support the campaign to leave the European Union. The family holds a large estate in Dorset which it uses for its other line of business, winemaking.

      At present, there is no publicly available information on who will be providing security services aboard the Bibby Stockholm.

      Business Basics

      Bibby Line Group describes itself as “one of the UK’s oldest family owned businesses,” operating in “multiple countries, employing around 1,300 colleagues, and managing over £1 billion of funds.” Its head office is registered in Liverpool, with other headquarters in Scotland, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Slovakia, Czechia, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Nigeria (see the appendix for more). The company’s primary sectors correspond to its three main UK subsidiaries:

      #Bibby_Financial_Services. A global provider of financial services. The firm provides loans to small- and medium-sized businesses engaged in business services, construction, manufacturing, transportation, export, recruitment and wholesale markets. This includes invoice financing, export and trade finance, and foreign exchanges. Overall, the subsidiary manages more than £6bn each year on behalf of some 9,000 clients across 300 different industry sectors, and in 2021 it brought in more than 50% of the group’s annual turnover.

      - #Bibby_Marine_Limited. Owner and operator of the Bibby WaveMaster fleet, a group of vessels specialising in the transport and accommodation of workers employed at remote locations, such as offshore oil and gas sites in the North Sea. Sometimes, as in the case of Chevron’s Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project in Nigeria, the vessels are used as an alternative to hotels owing to a “a volatile project environment.” The fleet consists of 40 accommodation vessels similar in size to the Bibby Stockholm and a smaller number of service vessels, though the share of annual turnover pales compared to the group’s financial services operations, standing at just under 10% for 2021.

      - #Garic Ltd. Confined to construction, quarrying, airport, agriculture and transport sectors in the UK, the firm designs, manufactures and purchases plant equipment and machinery for sale or hire. Garic brought in around 14% of Bibby Line Group’s turnover in 2021.

      Prior to February 2021, Bibby Line Group also owned #Costcutter_Supermarkets_Group, before it was sold to #Bestway_Wholesale to maintain liquidity amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In their report for that year, the company’s directors also suggested grant funding from #MarRI-UK, an organisation facilitating innovation in maritime technologies and systems, had been important in preserving the firm’s position during the crisis.
      History

      The Bibby Line Group’s story begins in 1807, when Lancashire-born shipowner John Bibby began trading out of Liverpool with partner John Highfield. By the time of his death in 1840, murdered while returning home from dinner with a friend in Kirkdale, Bibby had struck out on his own and come to manage a fleet of more than 18 ships. The mysterious case of his death has never been solved, and the business was left to his sons John and James.

      Between 1891 and 1989, the company operated under the name #Bibby_Line_Limited. Its ships served as hospital and transport vessels during the First World War, as well as merchant cruisers, and the company’s entire fleet of 11 ships was requisitioned by the state in 1939.

      By 1970, the company had tripled its overseas earnings, branching into ‘factoring’, or invoice financing (converting unpaid invoices into cash for immediate use via short-term loans) in the early 1980s, before this aspect of the business was eventually spun off into Bibby Financial Services. The group acquired Garic Ltd in 2008, which currently operates four sites across the UK.

      People

      #Jonathan_Lewis has served as Bibby Line Group’s Managing and Executive Director since January 2021, prior to which he acted as the company’s Chief Financial and Strategy Officer since joining in 2019. Previously, Lewis worked as CFO for Imagination Technologies, a tech company specialising in semiconductors, and as head of supermarket Tesco’s mergers and acquisitions team. He was also a member of McKinsey’s European corporate finance practice, as well as an investment banker at Lazard. During his first year at the helm of Bibby’s operations, he was paid £748,000. Assuming his role at the head of the group’s operations, he replaced Paul Drescher, CBE, then a board member of the UK International Chamber of Commerce and a former president of the Confederation of British Industry.

      Bibby Line Group’s board also includes two immediate members of the Bibby family, Sir #Michael_James_Bibby, 3rd Bt. and his younger brother #Geoffrey_Bibby. Michael has acted as company chairman since 2020, before which he had occupied senior management roles in the company for 20 years. He also has external experience, including time at Unilever’s acquisitions, disposals and joint venture divisions, and now acts as president of the UK Chamber of Shipping, chairman of the Charities Trust, and chairman of the Institute of Family Business Research Foundation.

      Geoffrey has served as a non-executive director of the company since 2015, having previously worked as a managing director of Vast Visibility Ltd, a digital marketing and technology company. In 2021, the Bibby brothers received salaries of £125,000 and £56,000 respectively.

      The final member of the firm’s board is #David_Anderson, who has acted as non-executive director since 2012. A financier with 35 years experience in investment banking, he’s founder and CEO of EPL Advisory – which advises company boards on requirements and disclosure obligations of public markets – and chair of Creative Education Trust, a multi-academy trust comprising 17 schools. Anderson is also chairman at multinational ship broker Howe Robinson Partners, which recently auctioned off a superyacht seized from Dmitry Pumpyansky, after the sanctioned Russian businessman reneged on a €20.5m loan from JP Morgan. In 2021, Anderson’s salary stood at £55,000.

      Ownership

      Bibby Line Group’s annual report and accounts for 2021 state that more than 90% of the company is owned by members of the Bibby family, primarily through family trusts. These ownership structures, effectively entities allowing people to benefit from assets without being their registered legal owners, have long attracted staunch criticism from transparency advocates given the obscurity they afford means they often feature extensively in corruption, money laundering and tax abuse schemes.

      According to Companies House, the UK corporate registry, between 50% and 75% of Bibby Line Group’s shares and voting rights are owned by #Bibby_Family_Company_Limited, which also retains the right to appoint and remove members of the board. Directors of Bibby Family Company Limited include both the Bibby brothers, as well as a third sibling, #Peter_John_Bibby, who’s formally listed as the firm’s ‘ultimate beneficial owner’ (i.e. the person who ultimately profits from the company’s assets).

      Other people with comparable shares in Bibby Family Company Limited are #Mark_Rupert_Feeny, #Philip_Charles_Okell, and Lady #Christine_Maud_Bibby. Feeny’s occupation is listed as solicitor, with other interests in real estate management and a position on the board of the University of Liverpool Pension Fund Trustees Limited. Okell meanwhile appears as director of Okell Money Management Limited, a wealth management firm, while Lady Bibby, Michael and Geoffrey’s mother, appears as “retired playground supervisor.”

      Key Relationships

      Bibby Line Group runs an internal ‘Donate a Day’ volunteer program, enabling employees to take paid leave in order to “help causes they care about.” Specific charities colleagues have volunteered with, listed in the company’s Annual Review for 2021 to 2022, include:

      - The Hive Youth Zone. An award-winning charity for young people with disabilities, based in the Wirral.

      – The Whitechapel Centre. A leading homeless and housing charity in the Liverpool region, working with people sleeping rough, living in hostels, or struggling with their accommodation.

      - Let’s Play Project. Another charity specialising in after-school and holiday activities for young people with additional needs in the Banbury area.

      - Whitdale House. A care home for the elderly, based in Whitburn, West Lothian and run by the local council.

      – DEBRA. An Irish charity set up in 1988 for individuals living with a rare, painful skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa, as well as their families.

      – Reaching Out Homeless Outreach. A non-profit providing resources and support to the homeless in Ireland.

      Various senior executives and associated actors at Bibby Line Group and its subsidiaries also have current and former ties to the following organisations:

      - UK Chamber of Shipping

      - Charities Trust

      - Institute of Family Business Research Foundation

      - Indefatigable Old Boys Association

      - Howe Robinson Partners

      - hibu Ltd

      - EPL Advisory

      - Creative Education Trust

      - Capita Health and Wellbeing Limited

      - The Ambassador Theatre Group Limited

      – Pilkington Plc

      – UK International Chamber of Commerce

      – Confederation of British Industry

      – Arkley Finance Limited (Weatherby’s Banking Group)

      – FastMarkets Ltd, Multiple Sclerosis Society

      – Early Music as Education

      – Liverpool Pension Fund Trustees Limited

      – Okell Money Management Limited

      Finances

      For the period ending 2021, Bibby Line Group’s total turnover stood at just under £260m, with a pre-tax profit of almost £31m – fairly healthy for a company providing maritime services during a global pandemic. Their post-tax profits in fact stood at £35.5m, an increase they would appear to have secured by claiming generous tax credits (£4.6m) and deferring a fair amount (£8.4m) to the following year.

      Judging by their last available statement on the firm’s profitability, Bibby’s directors seem fairly confident the company has adequate financing and resources to continue operations for the foreseeable future. They stress their February 2021 sale of Costcutter was an important step in securing this, given it provided additional liquidity during the pandemic, as well as the funding secured for R&D on fuel consumption by Bibby Marine’s fleet.
      Scandal Sheet

      Bibby Line Group and its subsidiaries have featured in a number of UK legal proceedings over the years, sometimes as defendants. One notable case is Godfrey v Bibby Line, a lawsuit brought against the company in 2019 after one of their former employees died as the result of an asbestos-related disease.

      In their claim, the executors of Alan Peter Godfrey’s estate maintained that between 1965 and 1972, he was repeatedly exposed to large amounts of asbestos while working on board various Bibby vessels. Although the link between the material and fatal lung conditions was established as early as 1930, they claimed that Bibby Line, among other things:

      “Failed to warn the deceased of the risk of contracting asbestos related disease or of the precautions to be taken in relation thereto;

      “Failed to heed or act upon the expert evidence available to them as to the best means of protecting their workers from danger from asbestos dust; [and]

      “Failed to take all reasonably practicable measures, either by securing adequate ventilation or by the provision and use of suitable respirators or otherwise, to prevent inhalation of dust.”

      The lawsuit, which claimed “unlimited damage”’ against the group, also stated that Mr Godfrey’s “condition deteriorated rapidly with worsening pain and debility,” and that he was “completely dependent upon others for his needs by the last weeks of his life.” There is no publicly available information on how the matter was concluded.

      In 2017, Bibby Line Limited also featured in a leak of more than 13.4 million financial records known as the Paradise Papers, specifically as a client of Appleby, which provided “offshore corporate services” such as legal and accountancy work. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global network of investigative media outlets, leaked Appleby documents revealed, among other things, “the ties between Russia and [Trump’s] billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief fundraiser and the offshore interests of the Queen of England and more than 120 politicians around the world.”

      This would not appear to be the Bibby group’s only link to the shady world of offshore finance. Michael Bibby pops up as a treasurer for two shell companies registered in Panama, Minimar Transport S.A. and Vista Equities Inc.
      Looking Forward

      Much about the Bibby Stockholm saga remains to be seen. The exact cost of the initiative and who will be providing security services on board, are open questions. What’s clear however is that activists will continue to oppose the plans, with efforts to prevent the vessel sailing from Falmouth to its final docking in Portland scheduled to take place on 30th June.

      Appendix: Company Addresses

      HQ and general inquiries: 3rd Floor Walker House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool, United Kingdom, L2 3YL

      Tel: +44 (0) 151 708 8000

      Other offices, as of 2021:

      6, Shenton Way, #18-08A Oue Downtown 068809, Singapore

      1/1, The Exchange Building, 142 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5LA, United Kingdom

      4th Floor Heather House, Heather Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18, Ireland

      Unit 2302, 23/F Jubilee Centre, 18 Fenwick Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong

      Unit 508, Fifth Floor, Metropolis Mall, MG Road, Gurugram, Haryana, 122002 India

      Suite 7E, Level 7, Menara Ansar, 65 Jalan Trus, 8000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

      160 Avenue Jean Jaures, CS 90404, 69364 Lyon Cedex, France

      Prievozská 4D, Block E, 13th Floor, Bratislava 821 09, Slovak Republic

      Hlinky 118, Brno, 603 00, Czech Republic

      Laan Van Diepenvoorde 5, 5582 LA, Waalre, Netherlands

      Hansaallee 249, 40549 Düsseldorf, Germany

      Poland Eurocentrum, Al. Jerozolimskie 134, 02-305 Warsaw, Poland

      1/2 Atarbekova str, 350062, Krasnodar, Krasnodar

      1 St Peter’s Square, Manchester, M2 3AE, United Kingdom

      25 Adeyemo Alakija Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria

      10 Anson Road, #09-17 International Plaza, 079903 Singapore

      https://corporatewatch.org/floating-prisons-the-200-year-old-family-business-behind-the-bibby-s

      signalé ici aussi par @rezo:
      https://seenthis.net/messages/1010504

    • The Langham family seem quite happy to support right-wing political parties that are against immigration, while at the same time profiting handsomely from the misery of refugees who are forced to claim sanctuary here.


      https://twitter.com/PositiveActionH/status/1687817910364884992

      –---

      Family firm ’profiteering from misery’ by providing migrant barges donated £70k to #UKIP

      The Langham family, owners of Langham Industries, is now set to profit from an 18-month contract with the Home Office to let the Bibby Stockholm berth at Portland, Dorset

      A family firm that donated more than £70,000 to UKIP is “profiteering from misery” by hosting the Government’s controversial migrant barge. Langham Industries owns Portland Port, where the Bibby Stockholm is docked in a deal reported to be worth some £2.5million.

      The Langham family owns luxurious properties and has links to high-profile politicians, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden. And we can reveal that their business made 19 donations to pro-Brexit party UKIP between 2003 and 2016.

      Late founder John Langham was described as an “avid supporter” of UKIP in an obituary in 2017. Now his children, John, Jill and Justin – all directors of the family firm – are set to profit from an 18-month contract with the Home Office to let the Bibby Stockholm berth at Portland, Dorset.

      While Portland Port refuses to reveal how much the Home Office is paying, its website cites berthing fees for a ship the size of the Bibby Stockholm at more than £4,000 a day. In 2011, Portland Port chairman John, 71, invested £3.7million in Grade II* listed country pile Steeple Manor at Wareham, Dorset. Dating to around 1600, it has a pond, tennis court and extensive gardens designed by the landscape architect Brenda Colvin.

      The arrangement to host the “prison-like” barge for housing migrants has led some locals to blast the Langhams, who have owned the port since 1997. Portland mayor Carralyn Parkes, 61, said: “I don’t know how John Langham will sleep at night in his luxurious home, with his tennis court and his fluffy bed, when asylum seekers are sleeping in tiny beds on the barge.

      “I went on the boat and measured the rooms with a tape measure. On average they are about 10ft by 12ft. The bunk bed mattresses are about 6ft long. If you’re taller than 6ft you’re stuffed. The Langham family need to have more humanity. They are only interested in making money. It’s shocking.”

      (#paywall)
      https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/family-firm-profiteering-misery-providing-30584405.amp

      #UK_Independence_Party

    • ‘This is a prison’: men tell of distressing conditions on Bibby Stockholm

      Asylum seekers share fears about Dorset barge becoming even more crowded, saying they already ‘despair and wish for death’

      Asylum seekers brought back to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, have said they are being treated in such a way that “we despair and wish for death”.

      The Guardian spoke to two men in their first interview since their return to the barge on 19 October after the vessel lay empty for more than two months. The presence of deadly legionella bacteria was confirmed on board on 7 August, the same day the first group of asylum seekers arrived. The barge was evacuated four days later.

      The new warning comes after it emerged that one asylum seeker attempted to kill himself and is in hospital after finding out he is due to be taken to the barge on Tuesday.

      A man currently on the barge told the Guardian: “Government decisions are turning healthy and normal refugees into mental patients whom they then hand over to society. Here, many people were healthy and coping with OK spirits, but as a result of the dysfunctional strategies of the government, they have suffered – and continue to suffer – from various forms of serious mental distress. We are treated in such a way that we despair and wish for death.”

      He said that although the asylum seekers were not detained on the barge and could leave to visit the nearby town, in practice, doing so was not easy.

      He added: “In the barge, we have exactly the feeling of being in prison. It is true that they say that this is not a prison and you can go outside at any time, but you can only go to specific stops at certain times by bus, and this does not give me a good feeling.

      “Even to use the fresh air, you have to go through the inspection every time and go to the small yard with high fences and go through the X-ray machine again. And this is not good for our health.

      “In short, this is a prison whose prisoners are not criminals, they are people who have fled their country just to save their lives and have taken shelter here to live.”

      The asylum seekers raised concerns about what conditions on the barge would be like if the Home Office did fill it with about 500 asylum seekers, as officials say is the plan. Those on board said it already felt quite full with about 70 people living there.

      The second asylum seeker said: “The space inside the barge is very small. It feels crowded in the dining hall and the small entertainment room. It is absolutely clear to me that there will be chaos here soon.

      “According to my estimate, as I look at the spaces around us, the capacity of this barge is maximum 120 people, including personnel and crew. The strategy of ​​transferring refugees from hotels to barges or ships or military installations is bound to fail.

      “The situation here on the barge is getting worse. Does the government have a plan for shipwrecked residents? Everyone here is going mad with anxiety. It is not just the barge that floats on the water, but the plans of the government that are radically adrift.”

      Maddie Harris of the NGO Humans For Rights Network, which supports asylum seekers in hotels, said: “Home Office policies directly contribute to the significant deterioration of the wellbeing and mental health of so many asylum seekers in their ‘care’, with a dehumanising environment, violent anti-migrant rhetoric and isolated accommodations away from community and lacking in support.”

      A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Bibby Stockholm is part of the government’s pledge to reduce the use of expensive hotels and bring forward alternative accommodation options which provide a more cost-effective, sustainable and manageable system for the UK taxpayer and local communities.

      “The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains the utmost priority. We work continually to ensure the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma.”

      Nadia Whittome and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Labour MPs for Nottingham East and Brighton Kemptown respectively, will travel to Portland on Monday to meet asylum seekers accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm barge and local community members.

      The visit follows the home secretary, Suella Braverman, not approving a visit from the MPs to assess living conditions as they requested through parliamentary channels.

      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/29/this-is-a-prison-men-tell-of-distressing-conditions-on-bibby-stockholm
      #prison #conditions_de_vie

  • Daniel Moser : « 🚗 The Vicious Cycle of Autom… » - Framapiaf
    https://framapiaf.org/@dmoser@mastodon.social/109748469612404899

    The Vicious Cycle of Automobile Dependency 👇👇

    Unsustainable planning practices reinforce a cycle of increased automobile use, more automobile-oriented community redevelopment, and reduced mobility options.

  • Ouvriers sans-papiers, sécurité déplorable, l’organisation des Jeux Olympiques de Paris pointée du doigt Par Jérôme Jordens - RTBF
    https://www.rtbf.be/article/ouvriers-sans-papiers-securite-deplorable-lorganisation-des-jeux-olympiques-de-

    Les voix s’étaient élevées, à juste titre, pour dénoncer les conditions de travail sur les chantiers qataris pour construire les stades de la Coupe du monde 2022. Problèmes de sécurité, ouvriers sans papiers, les problèmes dénoncés ne sont cependant pas seulement visibles au Qatar.


    Le quotidien français Libération révélait ce mardi que les chantiers des Jeux Olympiques de Paris, qui se dérouleront en 2024, ne sont pas exempts de ces reproches. Le quotidien français a rencontré dix sans-papiers maliens qui ont travaillé sur différents chantiers pour différentes sociétés sous-traitantes, dont des grands noms de la construction comme de Vinci GCC Construction ou Spie Batignoles.

    « Les Français ne veulent pas faire ce travail. Sur le chantier, il n’y a presque que des étrangers. Des Pakistanais pour l’électricité, des Arabes pour la plomberie, des Afghans pour la maçonnerie… Les blancs, ce sont ceux qui sont dans les bureaux », explique à Libération Moussa (prénom d’emprunt), porte-parole d’un groupe d’une dizaine de sans papiers maliens qui travaillent sur les chantiers des JO 2024. Pour être embauchés, la plupart utilise les papiers d’amis ou d’un membre de la famille en règle.

    Une problématique dont sont conscients les organisateurs qui précisent cependant avoir pris des mesures pour tenter de mettre fin à ce travail illégal. « On retrouve sur les chantiers des JO des pratiques qu’on retrouve par ailleurs dans le secteur du bâtiment, mais on a un dispositif de surveillance un peu plus développé, avec un comité présent sur les chantiers, doté d’une permanence. Ça nous permet de repérer des cas », indique Bernard Thibault, membre du comité d’organisation au quo. Il admet cependant que certaines pratiques permettent à « des entreprises de passer entre les mailles du filet ».

    Le problème, c’est que le nombre d’entreprises présentent sur les chantiers est énorme et que les sous-traitants sont nombreux. Il peut dès lors être compliqué de refaire tout le trajet des paiements. « Celle qui paye n’est pas forcément celle qui est sur le chantier. A tel point qu’il est impossible de s’assurer de quelle est la boîte qui les embauche » , explique Jean-Albert Guidou, secrétaire général de l’union locale de CGT de Bobigny

    Le bâtiment, c’est une façon pour ces sans-papiers de gagner un peu d’argent pour pouvoir vivre. « Pour vivre ici quand tu n’as pas de papiers, ce n’est pas du tout facile alors on préfère travailler dans le bâtiment plutôt que de faire des choses pas bien », explique Moussa.

    Le village olympique, à l’Ile-Saint-Denis, la piscine Marville, ils étaient présents sur ces chantiers et ont travaillé pour un peu plus de 80 euros non déclarés par jour, dans des conditions déplorables : « On n’a aucun droit. On n’a pas de tenue de chantier, pas de chaussures de sécurité fournies, on ne nous paye pas le pass Navigo, o n’a pas de visite médicale et même pas de contrat » , regrette Moussa.

    Abdou, un autre travailleur sans papier, met, lui, le problème sur les éventuelles indisponibilités ou accidents : « Si tu tombes malade ou que tu te blesses, le patron te remplace le lendemain » . Une situation intenable qui pose question sur l’entièreté du système. Un débat s’est d’ailleurs ouvert ce mardi à l’Assemblée nationale et porte sur un nouveau projet de loi immigration qui pourrait, peut-être, permettre à Moussa et ses collègues de régulariser leur situation.

    L’article de libération, payant : https://www.liberation.fr/societe/sans-papiers-sur-les-chantiers-les-jeux-olympiques-ne-pourraient-pas-se-f

    #jo #jeux_olympiques #Paris #vinci #infrastructures #btp #conditions_de_travail #spie-batignolles #sous-traitance #sans-papiers Merci à madame #anne_hidalgo du #ps #ville_de_paris

  • Se brancher à l’eau autrement
    https://metropolitiques.eu/Se-brancher-a-l-eau-autrement.html

    Face à un réseau conventionnel défaillant, les habitants des villes éthiopiennes ont recours à des systèmes alternatifs pour se procurer de l’eau potable. Cet article met en lumière la multiplicité des stratégies déployées, individuelles ou collectives suivant les contextes urbains. Un accès inéquitable au réseau conventionnel L’Éthiopie est l’un des pays au monde avec le plus grand nombre d’habitants n’ayant pas accès à l’eau potable (UN-Habitat 2017). L’accès aux #services_urbains de base y est encore #Terrains

    / #Éthiopie, accessibilité, #eau, #infrastructure, services urbains, #alternatives, #urbanisation, pays du (...)

    #accessibilité #pays_du_Sud
    https://metropolitiques.eu/IMG/pdf/met_pinet_et-al.pdf

    • Alors que la sécheresse fait rage en France, c’est loin de la métropole que la question de l’accès à l’eau potable est la plus préoccupante. La situation socioéconomique en #Outre-mer est critique mais le système est figé et la question de la #responsabilité éclatée.

      En savoir plus

      En Outre-mer, l’accès à l’eau potable n’a rien d’évident. Les problèmes s’accumulent : #coupures_d’eau à répétition, #infrastructures vieillissantes responsables de fuites et d’une qualité de l’eau souvent médiocre etc. Malgré tout, le système reste bloqué. De l’Etat aux collectivités en passant par les entreprises privées, quels degrés de #responsabilités établir face à cette #inégalité d’#accès_à_l’eau ? La #fracture_territoriale observée est-elle synonyme d’un abandon des Outre-mer par la métropole ?

      Pour évoquer ces questions, François Saltiel reçoit Nicolas Metzdorf, député de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Marc Laimé , consultant en eau et assainissement auprès des collectivités locales et co-auteur de #Guadeloupe, L’île sans eau, Massot Editions et Michèle Chay, membre de la Commission du Groupe Outre-Mer du CESE et co-autrice d’un rapport à paraître sur l’eau dans les territoires ultra-marins.

      Pour commencer, nos trois invités rappellent les spécificités de chaque territoire ultra-marin sur la question de l’accès à l’eau potable. Michèle Chay commence : "s’il n’y a pas de problèmes de ressources avérés dans les départements et les collectivités d’Outre-mer, il y a des problématiques concernant l’accès et l’assainissement de l’eau. Elles sont différentes d’un territoire à l’autre pour des raisons de démographie, de découpage territorial etc." Nicolas Metzdorf complète : "l’accès à l’eau est plutôt de qualité en #Nouvelle-Calédonie ; seul 7% de la population n’a pas accès à l’eau potable. Mais on observe des épisodes de sécheresses récurrentes et l’émergence de nouveaux problèmes liés à la gestion de l’eau." Marc Laimé ajoute : "depuis une quinzaine d’années, un quart des guadeloupéen.ne.s n’a pas accès à l’eau potable. La responsabilité est partagée entre l’Etat qui n’a pas assuré sa mission régalienne, les élus locaux (accusés notamment de clientélisme) et les acteurs privés."

      Mais qui est responsable ? Pour Nicolas Metzdorf : "On a un mauvais réflexe dans les Outre-mer, on est toujours critique envers l’Etat mais on se regarde peu nous-même. Nous, les élus locaux, nous avons la première des responsabilités. L’adduction en eau potable est une compétence des communes, pas de l’Etat. La question est de savoir si la problématique de l’eau, problème du siècle, peut être laissée à des syndicats intercommunaux et des collectivités locales." Michèle Chay est d’accord avec Nicolas Metzdorf sur la responsabilité des collectivités locales : "l’Etat a d’ailleurs mis des #fonds pour améliorer la situation (avec le plan « #Eau_DOM » et des contrats de progrès, ou bien avec le plan "#France_Relance" qui a débloqué 50 millions d’euros sur la question de l’eau." Concernant l’inaction des collectivités locales, Marc Laimé ajoute : "La Cour des Comptes a publié un rapport il y a deux mois, chaque année la France vote un budget de 26 milliards d’euros pour les #DOM-TOM or la moitié seulement est saisie. La raison est simple : les collectivités locales n’ont pas l’ingénierie technique, financière et humaine pour monter des dossiers."

      Quand on aborde les inégalités de traitement et de considération des habitants d’Outre-mer par la métropole, les avis divergent. Pour Marc Laimé : "chaque DROM à des particularités mais tous sont touchés par une très grande précarité et pauvreté. Toutes ces problématiques doivent être prises en compte vis-à-vis des défaillances du service public qui n’est pas assuré dans les territoires ultra-marins comme il l’est dans un département de métropole. Le sentiment d’inégalité sur place est légitime." Michèle Chay ajoute qu’il "n’y a pas d’égalité réelle dans les Outre-mer, c’est une évidence (à cause de la précarité, du manque de travail chez les jeunes etc.). Pourtant, c’est des territoires de la République, il faudrait mettre les moyens financiers et techniques."

      Nicolas Metzdorf s’exclame : "j’ai vraiment du mal avec ce qui est dit. Si je prends l’exemple de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, l’Etat est intervenu à chaque fois que nous avions un problème. A un moment, il faut reconnaître que la responsabilité vient de nous-même avant de chercher à tout prix un coupable ailleurs. Parce que l’on est insulaire, on a l’impression que tout ce qui ne se passe pas bien est dû au fait que nous sommes loin. Je ne crois pas, je pense que nous sommes tous traités de la même manière et que nous avons notre part de responsabilité."

      Enfin, contrairement aux deux autres invités, Nicolas Metzdorf considère que l’intégration du ministère des Outre-mer dans celui de l’Intérieur est une "excellente chose. Le ministère des Outre-mer est aujourd’hui géré par un ministère régalien, ce qui lui donne un vrai poids politique. Quand le ministère des Outre-mer était seul, il fallait beaucoup de lobbying de la part des parlementaires et du ministre pour se faire entendre. C’est paradoxal, on critique beaucoup la différence de traitement des Outre-mer mais on veut en faire un ministère à part entière."

      #eau #eau_potable

      #podcast #audio

      voir aussi les reportages de @wereport sur l’eau potable en Guadeloupe :
      https://www.wereport.fr/tag/guadeloupe

  • #Zoe_Leonard
    Al río / To the River

    Over three decades Zoe Leonard (b. 1961, Liberty, New York) has gained critical acclaim for her work. Rooted in photography, Leonard’s practice extends to spatial installation and sculpture. Her art is above all the result of a finely honed observation, in which the documentary approach of photography combines with the physical and bodily act of looking. Migration and displacement, gender and sexuality, mourning and loss, cultural history and the tensions between the natural world and human-built environments are recurring themes in her work.

    This exhibition premieres Al río / To the River, a large-scale photographic work begun in 2016 which takes the Rio Grande, as it is named in the United States, or Río Bravo, as it is named in Mexico, as its subject. Leonard photographed along the 2,000 kilometres where the river is used to demarcate the boundary between the United Mexican States and the United States of America, following the river from the border cities of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico.

    Epic in scale, Al río / To the River results from close observation of both the natural and built environments shaped by and surrounding the river; from desert and mountains to cities, towns and small villages where daily life unfolds in tandem with agriculture, commerce, industry, policing, and surveillance. Leonard’s photographs focus on the accumulation of infrastructure and other constructions built into and alongside the river to control the flow of water, the passage of goods, and the movement of people: dams, levees, roads, irrigation canals, bridges, pipelines, fences and checkpoints. ‘The shifting nature of a river – which floods periodically, changes course and carves new channels – is at odds with the political task it is asked to perform,’ says Leonard.

    Al río / To the River is structured in three parts, including a Prologue and a Coda. Each part engages with photographic language, moving fluidly from abstraction to documentary to digital surveillance imagery.

    Working with a hand-held analogue camera, Leonard takes an embodied position in relation to the river. While always subjective, her view onto the river is not fixed. Crossing frequently back and forth from one side of the river to another (and thus, from one country to another), Leonard refuses a one-sided point of view and instead engages a series of shifting, changing vantage points.

    The work takes shape in passages, sequences of photographs that impart a sense of movement and emphasise actions as they unfold through time. Rather than pointing to one ‘decisive moment’ or one fixed meaning, these arrangements allow the viewer to create meaning through their own close looking.

    The materiality of photographic process is foregrounded in Leonard’s prints. Each photograph is presented as a constructed image, taken from a certain point of view, and made material through processes of selection and printing.

    In Al río / To the River, Leonard pushes back against reductive depictions of the border in mass media, and instead considers a multiplicity of powers and influences. These include commercial and industrial interests, cultural histories and familial connections that span the river, as well as the animals and plants of the region, increasingly under pressure from drought and climate change or the often contradictory human, constructions of the river itself, designated as a ‘wild and scenic’ waterway, a resource for water, and a political borderline.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=qsQz-Yj7qO8&feature=emb_logo


    https://www.mudam.com/exhibitions/al-rio-to-the-river

    #art #exposition #rivière #photographie #infrastructure #pouvoir #frontières #USA #Etats-Unis #USA
    via @isskein

    • Symposium | Riverine Borders: On rivers and other border materialities

      Waterways are essential components of the living and non-living world. They shape landscapes and serve as demarcation lines – as ‘natural borders’ – between states in many parts of the world. In addition to being lines that separate, rivers and streams are also lines that connect, and borderland territories are often particularly rich places of life, interaction, passage, porosity, cross-pollination and exchange.

      Organised in the context of Zoe Leonard’s exhibition Al río / To the River, a series of lectures and the study day Riverine Borders: On rivers and other border materialities will focus on the materiality of these river borders from a territorial, geographical, and political point of view, and also from a metaphorical perspective, as arbitrary places where interests and ideologies overlap and clash.

      A number of scholars and researchers in the fields of visual arts, cultural studies, history and geography will consider the riverine border in the North American and European contexts. Their interventions are both part and a continuation of contemporary debates on the status and the (symbolic) meanings of borders. These questions of borders have gained particular momentum in recent decades. The significance of borders as a response to the rise of burgeoning nationalisms or the ongoing migration management crisis in particular, has led to a forced digitalisation of border regimes, an increase in physical and digital surveillance and the multiplication of border installations worldwide.

      This programme has been developed in conjunction with Zoe Leonard’s exhibition Al río / To the River (26.02–06.06.2022, Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) in collaboration with partners of the UniGR-Center for Border Studies: University of Luxembourg (Geography and Spatial Planning), Universität des Saarlandes (North American Literary and Cultural Studies) and Universität Trier (Trier Center for American Studies).

      Schedule of the study day (20.05.2022):

      09h00: Possibility to visit the exhibition, to discover the student project Borderland stories at Mudam Studio, and small breakfast at Mudam Café
      09h45: Welcoming and small introduction
      10h00: First section on the materiality of the river: #Rebekka_Kanesu, Dr. #Ifor_Duncan, Dr. C. J. Alvarez (30 minutes each + discussion)
      12h30: Lunch break, possibility to visit the exhibition, and to discover the student project Borderland stories at Mudam Studio
      14h00–16h30: Second section on the river as a metaphor: #Elisabeth_Lebovici & #Catherine_Facerias, Dr. #Daniela_Johannes, Prof. Dr. #Astrid_Fellner (30 minutes each + discussion)
      17h00: Closing and final discussion

      Rebekka Kanesu
      Liquid lines – an exploration of hydrosocial borders
      In this talk, I question when and how a river is made into a ‘marker of division’, ‘an engine of connectivity’ or no border at all. Rivers as borders challenge common understandings of seemingly static (political) borders. Rather than building simple cartographic lines for territorial separation, rivers are constantly in motion and shift their shape according to seasonal changes and their hydromorphology. In addition to their role as visible demarcation, they simultaneously serve multiple functions, such as infrastructure for navigation and energy production, as source of fresh water, recreational space, wastewater discharge or aquatic ecosystem. Rivers are hydrological and social entities, which complicates their use as border. By analysing the hydrosociality of the Mosel River, the border river that crosses and builds the borders between France, Luxembourg, and Germany, I argue for a more dynamic and complex perspective on borders. The discussion of different examples of material-discursive practices that shape(d) the Mosel as border will show the tensions, connections, attempts of control and forms of resistance that are negotiated between different human and non-human actors in the process of border making. By looking at the Mosel as a three-dimensional liquid space and by considering its directionality and materiality, I will explore the contingent forms of hydrosocial border making that may open up new understandings of border spaces.

      Rebekka Kanesu is a PhD candidate in human geography at the Department of Spatial and Environmental Sciences at Trier University. She has a background in social and cultural anthropology and is interested in topics that encompass human-environment relations, political ecology, and more-than-human geographies in connection to border studies. In her PhD project ‘Liquid Lines – on rivers and borders in the Anthropocene’ she studies the relation between people, fish and the transboundary Mosel river as infrastructure from a political ecology perspective.

      Dr. Ifor Duncan
      Weaponising a River
      This talk investigates the production of the Evros, Meriç, Martisa river – ‘land’ border between Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria – as a border technology. From its main course to its delta, this fluvial frontier is weighted with the crossings of asylum seekers and systematic pushbacks. I conceive of this technology as incorporating the entire hydrology of the river ecosystem, from the deadly velocities of the central course, through its muds, fogs, and flood defense walls that mark the military buffer zone that surrounds it (Zoni Asfaleias Prokalypsis (ZAP)). State impunity is in part produced by the ZAP’s enfolding of the excess of floodwaters into the excesses of sovereign territorial power. After a century of fluvio-geomorphological change since demarcation in 1926 the borderised river simultaneously riverises the border. In this way the river border is a dynamic archive of the military calculations and geopolitical decisions that make its properties treacherous in the production of increasingly perilous migration routes. Here beatings are customary, mobile phones and official documentation are thrown into the river, and, after seasonal floods, bodies wash up in the delta. In its waters and in its sediments the river border is both a weapon and an archive of the reproduction of deadly exclusionary policies enacted at the watery edges of the EU. This talk includes hydrophone recordings, interviews with asylum seekers, legal scholars, environmental scientists, and uses other time-based media.

      Ifor Duncan is a writer, artist and inter-disciplinary researcher who focuses on the overlaps between political violence and water ecosystems. He is postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice. Ifor holds a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, entitled Hydrology of the Powerless and is developing a book project Necro-Hydrology, a concept which exists where the knowledge and corresponding management of water – in its multiple forms – is produced as adversarial to life and positions human and environmental justice as intrinsically connected. Ifor is also a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art.

      Dr. C. J. Alvarez
      Three Ways to Think about River History with Examples from the Rio Grande
      The #Rio_Grande is a very long river without much water in it. Yet even though sections of it often run dry, it nonetheless plays an important role in multiple kinds of historical narratives because of the great distance it travels from the high, snow-covered Rocky Mountains, through the arid desert, and down to the subtropical Gulf of Mexico. Over more than 3,000 km it moves through radically different environments and cultures and this complexity is compounded by the fact that part of the river has been converted into a political border. During my years of research about the United States-Mexico divide and the Chihuahuan Desert I have spent a lot of time on the banks of the Rio Grande all along its length. From those experiences I developed three largely distinct ways of looking at the river. Each point of view has led to different research questions about it. Here are the three questions: What is the river’s nature? How have people interacted with it? How have politics been superimposed upon it? Sometimes there is overlap between the answers to these questions, but in general they produce different kinds of narratives and help us develop different ways of seeing the nonhuman world. This talk is designed to familiarise you with a particularly fascinating North American river, but it is also intended to pass along a set of intellectual frameworks that can be applied to any other waterway on the planet.

      C. J. Alvarez grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He studied art history at Stanford and Harvard and received his doctorate in history from the University of Chicago. He is currently an associate professor in the department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas at Austin where he writes and teaches about the history of the U.S.-Mexico border and environmental history. He is the author of the book Border Land, Border Water: A History of Construction on the U.S.-Mexico Divide, the first broad-sweeping history of building projects on the border. He is currently writing a book about the history of the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest and least known desert in North America.

      Catherine Facerias & Elisabeth Lebovici
      Crossing over with Borderlands/La Frontera
      ‘What if I take this space that I’ve been pushed to as a lesbian, as a Mexican, as a woman, as a short person, whatever, and make this my territory... What if I start pushing to enlarge that crack so that other people can also be in it?’ (Gloria Anzaldúa, in BackTalk, Women Writers Speak Out, 1993). Thirty-five years after the publication of Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldúa’s legacy is still vibrantly meaningful. Borderlands has become a landmark in various disciplinary fields, from literature to border studies, from Chicanx and Latinx anthropology to ecocriticism theory. A native of the Rio Grande Valley, Anzaldúa formulated the land of the border as a formative space in terms of language and identity, as well as the site of/for political and cultural resistance. Our talk will focus on the frontier as a living, shifting, ‘bridging’ and ultimately productive space for minorities cultures and subjectivities.

      Catherine Facerias is an independent researcher and writer, trained as an urban anthropologist at École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Her work focuses on the modes of production of public space in a built-up environment, on the terms of access to the public space and to the city in general, and on the conditions of existence in the interstices of the urban space.

      Elisabeth Lebovici is an art historian and critic living in Paris. She has been a culture editor for the daily newspaper Libération (1991–2006) and produces for her blog le-beau-vice. Formerly a HIV/AIDS activist, she is, with Catherine Facerias, a founding member of the LIG/ ‘Lesbians of General Interest’ fund. Since the 1990s, she has been involved in writing on feminism, activism, queer politics and contemporary arts. She is the author, with Catherine Gonnard, of a history of women artists in France between 1880 and the 2000’s Femmes artistes/Artistes femmes: Paris de 1880 à nos jours (Paris: Hazan, 2007). Her latest book Ce que le sida m’a fait. Art et Activisme à la fin du 20e siècle. (Zurich: JRP Ringier, ‘lectures Maison Rouge’, 2017 and 2021) (What AIDS Has Done To Me. Art and Activism at the End of the 20th century.) has received the Prix Pierre Daix 2017 in art history. Elisabeth co-curates (with Patricia Falguières and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez) an ongoing seminar at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris titled ‘Something You Should Know: Artists and Producers’.

      Dr. Daniela Johannes
      Cry me a River: Water Affects and Womanhood in Borderlands Chicanx Literature
      The central archetype of the cautionary tale of La Llorona – the weeping mother-ghost of the Mexico-US border folklore – is the woman who failed at role-modeling motherhood and is thereafter condemned to cry for her lost children at the riverbanks. The image of the flowing river, once a symbolism of the never-ending flow of life, is here a symbolism of death, drowning and depth, in a confluent relation with the woman’s tears that flow in an out-of-control manner. This way, the archetype serves not only to instill the urge of motherhood, but to talk women out of the unwanted womanhood, associated with the stereotypes of being overtly emotional, irritable and irrational. In contemporary borderlands literature, archetypes of womanhood such as La Llorona are re-envisioned, as Simerka asserts, ‘to re-define and expand the role of women beyond the traditional focus of motherhood and marriage’. Moreover, this presentation deals with how this literature re-defines the emotional responses of women in relation with the affective agencies of water, which symbolically and materially retro-permeates womankind. The affective interchanges between territorial landscape and women’s bodies reignite what Cherrie Moraga called a ‘theory in the flesh’, now inscribing borderlands geo-imaginations in women’s bodies as well as in bodies of water. While rivers serve as a tool of bordering to establish political boundaries nationhood and gender, bordering as an affective act in literature has the potential to dismantle them within the intimate territory of the body.

      Dr. Daniela Johannes is an Associate Professor of Latinx Studies at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the significance of the Sonoran Desert environment as a crucial aspect of US southern border securitisation, which propels a politics of nature as means to control life and death within the space of the nation. At West Chester, Dr. Johannes is currently the director of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program and the Chair of Multicultural Faculty Commission within the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office. At the regional level, she recently assumed the direction of the Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium.

      Prof. Dr. #Astrid_Fellner
      Bridging Rivers/Undoing Borders: Queer Border Practices on the US-Mexican Border
      How can borders be undone? How can the watery surface of riverine borders shift solid demarcations and contribute to an undoing of borders? In which ways can cultural practices that bridge rivers constitute powerful counter-formations to the view of borders and #border_regimes as infrastructural events or technological operation, that is assemblages of various human actors, technology, and surveillance apparatuses? Taking into account the importance of border processes in the 21st century, this talk highlights new border epistemologies that draw on the creative potential of riverine borders to undo fixed lines. Focusing on the subversive potential of artistic border practices which queer and destabilise borders, this contribution zooms in on instances of overlapping, crisscrossing, merging, layering, and clashing of riverine borders.

      Astrid M. Fellner is Chair of North American Literary and Cultural Studies at Saarland University, Germany. She is Co-Speaker at the German Research foundation and Canadian Social Science Foundation-funded interdisciplinary International Graduate Research Training Program ‘Diversity: Mediating Difference in Transcultural Space’ that Saarland University and University of Trier are conducting with the Université de Montréal. She is also Project Leader at Saarland University of the EU-funded INTERREG Großregion VA-Project ‘University of the Greater Region Centre for Border Studies’ and is Action Coordinator of a trilingual Border Glossary, a handbook of 40 key terms in Border Studies. She has been involved in a DAAD-Eastpartnership project with Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University in Mykolaiv on the topic of ‘Bridging Borders’ since 2014. Since April 2021 she has also been a member of the interdisciplinary BMBF-project ‘Linking Borderlands,’ in which she studies border films and industrial culture of the Greater Region in comparison with the German/Polish border. Her publications include Articulating Selves: Contemporary Chicana Self-Representation (2002), Bodily Sensations: The Female Body in Late-Eighteenth-Century American Culture (forthcoming) and several edited volumes and articles in the fields of Border Studies, US Latino/a literature, Post-Revolutionary American Literature, Canadian literature, Indigenous Studies, Gender/Queer Studies, and Cultural Studies.

      Schedule of the online series of lectures:

      13.05.2022 | 18h30–20h00: Carlos Morton (University of California at Santa Barbara), The tao of Mestizaje: multiple borders, multiple bridges
      (More information and subscription: Universität des Saarlandes)
      22.03.2022: Fabio Santos (Aarhus University) | Bridging Fluid Borders: Entanglements in the French-Brazilian Borderland
      12.04.2022: Ana Gomez Laris (Universität Duisburg-Essen), on the symbolic meaning of borders and their effects on identity, considering phenomena of passing by (undocumented) migrants to the United States.

      https://www.mudam.com/events/symposium-riverine-borders-on-rivers-and-other-border-materialities

      Le #symposium a été enregistré:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ_2Yiuvn7I


      (8h d’enregistrement)

      #Evros #Grèce #conférence