#rapport

faut avoir l’œil du pro pour la repérer, bravo !

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/nr42a0fl4usu0dn/20210416_Bertin.png

n’empêche, ça assure grave.

►https://visionscarto.net/projection-bertin-1953

Downing Street rewrote ‘independent’ report on race, experts claim

Commissioners allege No 10 distorted their work on inequality, after conclusions played down institutional racism.

Officials at Downing Street have been accused of rewriting much of its controversial report into racial and ethnic disparities, despite appointing an independent commission to conduct an honest investigation into inequality in the UK.

The Observer has been told that significant sections of the report published on 31 March, which were criticised and debunked by health professionals, academics, business chiefs and crime experts, were not written by the 12 commissioners who were appointed last July.

The 258-page document was not made available to be read in full or signed off by the group, which included scientist and BBC broadcaster Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Samir Shah, former chair of the Runnymede Trust, nor were they made aware of its 24 final recommendations. Instead, the finished report, it is alleged, was produced by No 10.

Kunle Olulode, an anti-racism activist and director of the charity Voice4Change, is the first commissioner to condemn the government publicly for its lack of transparency. In a statement to the Observer, Olulode’s charity was scathing of the way evidence was cherrypicked, distorted and denied in the final document.

“The report does not give enough to show its understanding of institutional or structural discrimination … evidence in sections, that assertive conclusions are based on, is selective,” it said. “The report gives no clear direction on what expectations of the role of public institutions and political leadership should be in tackling race and ethnic disparities. What is the role of the state in this?”

One commissioner, who spoke out on condition of anonymity, accused the government of “bending” the work of its commission to fit “a more palatable” political narrative and denying the working group the autonomy it was promised.

“We did not read Tony’s [Sewell] foreword,” they claimed. “We did not deny institutional racism or play that down as the final document did. The idea that this report was all our own work is full of holes. You can see that in the inconsistency of the ideas and data it presents and the conclusions it makes. That end product is the work of very different views.”

The commissioner revealed that they had been privy only to the section of the report they were assigned, and that it had soon become apparent the exercise was not being taken sufficiently seriously by No 10.

“Something of this magnitude takes proper time – we were only given five months to do this work, on a voluntary basis,” they said. In contrast to the landmark 1999 #Macpherson_report (▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/22/macpherson-report-what-was-it-and-what-impact-did-it-have), an inquiry into the death of #Stephen_Lawrence, or the 2017 #Lammy_Review, both of which took 18 months to conclude, the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Cred) was not peer reviewed and was published just seven months after the group first met on a videocall.

The group, led by Sewell, was set up by #Samuel_Kasumu, No 10’s most senior black special adviser, who resigned from his post on the day the report was published, aghast at its final findings. Accusations that #Munira_Mirza, director of No 10’s policy unit, was heavily involved in steering the direction of the supposedly independent report were not directly addressed by a No 10 spokesperson, who said: “I would reiterate the report is independent and that the government is committed to tackling inequality.”

A source involved in the commission told the Observer that “basic fundamentals in putting a document like this together were ignored. When you’re producing something so historic, you have to avoid unnecessary controversy, you don’t court it like this report did. And the comms was just shocking.”

While the prime minister sought to distance himself from the criticism a day after its publication, unusually it was his office rather than the Cred secretariat which initially released the report to the press.

A spokesperson for the race commission said: “We reject these allegations. They are deliberately seeking to divert attention from the recommendations made in the report.

“The commission’s view is that, if implemented, these 24 recommendations can change for the better the lives of millions across the UK, whatever their ethnic or social background. That is the goal they continue to remain focused on.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/11/downing-street-rewrote-independent-report-on-race-experts-claim

#récriture #modification #indépendance #contreverse

La réponse de #Ash_Sarkar, en une vidéo :

https://i.imgur.com/DEzY8iN.png

▻https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1380451648083013632

#culture #nationalisme #classes_sociales #classe #histoire #colonialisme #luttes_de_classe #esclavage #histoire_populaire #récit_national #identité #racisme_institutionnel #Munira_Mirza #Tony_Sewell #biais #Mercy_Muroki #Centre_for_Social_Justice #minorités_ethniques #mémoire #victimisation #Britishness #domination #exploitation #guerre_des_cultures #cultural_war

sur le rapport, à partir de la minute 3’20

ping @isskein @cede @karine4 :
la vidéo est très intéressante —> à voir en lien avec la polémique du rapport UK sur le racisme (qui, lui, apparemment est très problématique)

voir aussi les critiques dans la page wiki dédiée au rapport :
Reactions

Political:

Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, said that he was “disappointed” by the Commission’s report.[10][11]

Isabelle Parasram, vice president of the Liberal Democrats, issued a statement that the Commission had “missed the opportunity to make a clear, bold statement on the state of race equality in this country”. Parasram said that the “evidence and impact of racism in the UK is overwhelming” and that “whilst some of recommendations made in the report are helpful, they fall far short of what could have been achieved”.[12]

The Green Party of England and Wales issued a statement condemning the summary of the report as “a deliberate attempt to whitewash institutional racism” and that “Institutional racism in the UK does exist”.[13]

Other:

David Goodhart welcomed the report as “a game-changer for how Britain talks about race”.[14]

Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, described the report as “deeply disturbing”; she said the “lived experience” of the people “tells a different story to that being shared by this report”.[15]

The historian David Olusoga accused the report’s authors of appearing to prefer “history to be swept under the carpet”.[16]

A Guardian editorial quoted Boris Johnson’s intent to “change the narrative so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination”[17] when setting up the commission, and as evidence of the reality of racial inequality listed five recent government reports on different aspects:[18]

- the criminal justice system (the David Lammy review of 2017[19][20]);
- schools, courts, and the workplace (the Theresa May race audit of 2017[21]);
- pay (the Ruby McGregor-Smith review of 2017[22][23]);
- deaths in police custody (the Elish Angiolini report of 2017[24]);
- the Windrush scandal (the Wendy Williams review of 2020[25][26]).

▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Race_and_Ethnic_Disparities

« La face positive des énergies vertes »

Le documentaire « La face cachée des énergies vertes » est passé fin novembre sur Arte. Truffé d’erreurs et d’arguments partisans, allant jusqu’à comparer le problème des pales d’éoliennes, soit disant non recyclables, à celui posé par les déchets nucléaires !

Autre exemple : ce documentaire assène que les énergies vertes et que les batteries nécessitent obligatoirement l’utilisation de terres rares. Ce n’est pourtant pas du tout l’avis de l’Ademe. D’autre part, le photovoltaïque n’utilise jamais de terres rares. Et pour l’éolien et les voitures électriques, leur utilisation dans les moteurs à aimants permanents permet de gagner en performances, mais cet usage n’est ni systématique, ni indispensable.

Cet article présente :

– La quinzaine d’erreurs grossières parmi les très nombreuses qui émaillent ce documentaire.
– Le cercle vertueux du photovoltaïque et de l’éolien : plus on en installe, plus on réduit les émissions de gaz carbonique.
– Que nos voitures contiennent davantage de terres rares que les voitures électriques sans moteurs à aimants permanents.
– Pour qui roule le journaliste Guillaume Pitron, à l’origine de ce documentaire.

En se fondant sur les avis qui se colportent, principalement sur la production des terres rares utilisées dans les énergies vertes, Guillaume Pitron, qui a enquêté dans une douzaine de pays, nous fait visiter quelques sites d’exploitation qui portent atteinte à l’environnement et à la santé des travailleurs.

Hélas ce documentaire est gâché autant par sa partialité, que par de très nombreuses erreurs grossières.

►https://www.passerelleco.info/article.php?id_article=2390
►https://seenthis.net/messages/894307

Geologic and anthropogenic sources of contamination in settled dust of a historic mining port city in northern Chile: health risk implications

Chile is the leading producer of copper worldwide and its richest mineral deposits are found in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. Mining activities have significantly increased income and employment in the region; however, there has been little assessment of the resulting environmental impacts to residents. The port of Antofagasta, located 1,430 km north of Santiago, the capital of Chile, functioned as mineral stockpile until 1998 and has served as a copper concentrate stockpile since 2014. Samples were collected in 2014 and 2016 that show elevated concentrations of As, Cu, Pb, and Zn in street dust and in residents’ blood (Pb) and urine (As) samples. To interpret and analyze the spatial variability and likely sources of contamination, existent data of basement rocks and soil geochemistry in the city as well as public-domain airborne dust were studied. Additionally, a bioaccessibility assay of airborne dust was conducted and the chemical daily intake and hazard index were calculated to provide a preliminary health risk assessment in the vicinity of the port. The main conclusions indicate that the concentrations of Ba, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, and V recorded from Antofagasta dust likely originate from intrusive, volcanic, metamorphic rocks, dikes, or soil within the city. However, the elevated concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Mo, Pb, and Zn do not originate from these geologic outcrops, and are thus considered anthropogenic contaminants. The average concentrations of As, Cu, and Zn are possibly the highest in recorded street dust worldwide at 239, 10,821, and 11,869 mg kg−1, respectively. Furthermore, the contaminants As, Pb, and Cu exhibit the highest bioaccessibilities and preliminary health risk indices show that As and Cu contribute to elevated health risks in exposed children and adults chronically exposed to dust in Antofagasta, whereas Pb is considered harmful at any concentration. Therefore, an increased environmental awareness and greater protective measures are necessary in Antofagasta and possibly other similar mining port cities in developing countries.

▻https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5922233

#santé #mines

L’association #Vernunftkraft

https://www.vernunftkraft.de/de/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/vkb-logo-ohne-strich.png

Aufgeklärte und deshalb zu Recht besorgte Bürger dieses Landes (▻https://www.vernunftkraft.de/bundesinitiative) erkennen hinsichtlich der Rationalität energiepolitischer Entscheidungen nicht hinnehmbare Defizite.

Die Zerstörung von Wäldern zwecks Ansiedlung von volkswirtschaftlich sinnlosen Windindustrieanlagen ist dabei die Spitze des Eisbergs.

Zentrale Elemente der gegenwärtigen Energiepolitik sind extrem unvernünftig.

Daher möchten wir der Vernunft Kraft geben.
▻https://www.vernunftkraft.de

La guerre des métaux rares. La face cachée de la transition énergétique et numérique

http://www.editionslesliensquiliberent.fr/images/livre_affiche_531.png

En nous émancipant des énergies fossiles, nous sombrons en réalité dans une nouvelle dépendance : celle aux métaux rares. Graphite, cobalt, indium, platinoïdes, tungstène, terres rares… ces ressources sont devenues indispensables à notre nouvelle société écologique (voitures électriques, éoliennes, panneaux solaires) et numérique (elles se nichent dans nos smartphones, nos ordinateurs, tablettes et autre objets connectés de notre quotidien). Or les coûts environnementaux, économiques et géopolitiques de cette dépendance pourraient se révéler encore plus dramatiques que ceux qui nous lient au pétrole.

Dès lors, c’est une contre-histoire de la transition énergétique que ce livre raconte – le récit clandestin d’une odyssée technologique qui a tant promis, et les coulisses d’une quête généreuse, ambitieuse, qui a jusqu’à maintenant charrié des périls aussi colossaux que ceux qu’elle s’était donné pour mission de résoudre.

▻http://www.editionslesliensquiliberent.fr/livre-La_guerre_des_m%C3%A9taux_rares-9791020905741-1-1-

#livre #Guillaume_Pitron

Rapport ADEME 2012 :

Énergie et patrimoine communal : enquête 2012

L’enquête « Énergie et patrimoine communal » est menée tous les cinq ans depuis 1990. Elle porte sur les consommations d’énergie et les dépenses payées directement par les communes sur trois cibles principales : le patrimoine bâti, l’éclairage public et les carburants des véhicules.

▻https://www.ademe.fr/energie-patrimoine-communal-enquete-2012

–—

Rapport ADEME 2015 :

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/h1vdhwydt0oczrmhxatq-signature-997d0ad28f4a9b138c82957911cab5b8ebc61ff3df61d8daa359c806ef3f1226-poli-140911082736-phpapp01/95/ademe-vision-energtique-2030-2050-synthse-1-638.jpg?cb=1410424300#.jpg

Quel mix énergétique pour les années 2030-2050 ? L’ADEME actualise son scénario Énergie Climat et propose des mesures pour contribuer à la déclinaison du plan CLIMAT.

Les objectifs ambitieux du Plan Climat lancé par Nicolas Hulot, ministre de la Transition écologique et solidaire, confirment la stratégie volontariste de la France pour la transition énergétique. Dans le contexte actuel de mise à jour de la Stratégie nationale bas carbone (SNBC) et de la Programmation pluriannuelle de l’énergie (PPE), l’actualisation du scénario énergie-climat de l’ADEME vient contribuer aux réflexions pour mettre en oeuvre ces objectifs.

Cette contribution est double : d’une part, l’actualisation des « Visions énergétiques » de l’ADEME, qui souligne l’enjeu que représente l’atteinte des objectifs ambitieux inscrits dans la loi, et d’autre part, l’étude « Propositions de mesures de politiques publiques pour un scénario bas carbone », qui propose une liste de mesures concrètes à mettre en oeuvre.

▻https://www.ademe.fr/recherche-innovation/construire-visions-prospectives/scenarios-2030-2050-vision-energetique-volontariste

#racisme #Suisse #rapport

ping @cede

#censure #Blanquer #covid-19 #coronavirus #données #rapport_d'activité #écoles #éducation_nationale #Jean-Michel_Blanquer #France

Ça doit être dur d’en trouver déjà 7 qui ne disent pas qu’il ne fait que de la merde depuis qu’il est là.

Et le chapitre 6
Pushbacks and expulsions from Cyprus and Lebanon: The dangers of (chain) refoulement to Syria

▻https://euromedrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/EN_Chapter-6-Cyprus-and-Lebanon_Report_Migration-1.pdf

#refoulements #push-backs #refoulements_en_chaîne
#Chypre #Liban

Biden’s Border. The industry, the Democrats and the 2020 elections

https://www.tni.org/files/styles/cover_image/public/cover-images/bidens-border-briefing-tni-feb14_cover.png?itok=cmlDq6cw#.jpg

This briefing profiles the leading US border security contractors, their related financial campaign contributions during the 2020 elections, and how they have shaped a bipartisan approach in favor of border militarization for more than three decades. It suggests that a real change in border and immigration policies will require the Democrats to break with the industry that helps finance them.

Key findings:

– Early into his presidency, Joe Biden has already indicated through 10 executive orders that he wants to end the brutality associated with Trump’s border and immigration policies. However undoing all the harmful dimensions of the US border regime will require substantial structural change and an end to the close ties between the Democrats and the border industry.

- The border security and immigration detention industry has boomed in the last decades thanks to constant increases in government spending by both parties—Democrats and Republicans. Between 2008 and 2020, CBP and ICE issued 105,997 contracts worth $55.1 billion to private corporations.The industry is now deeply embedded in US government bodies and decision-making, with close financial ties to strategic politicians.

– 13 companies play a pivotal role in the US border industry: #CoreCivic, #Deloitte, #Elbit_Systems, #GEO_Group, #General_Atomics, #General_Dynamics, #G4S, #IBM, #Leidos, #Lockheed_Martin, #L3Harris, #Northrop_Grumman, and #Palantir. Some of the firms also provide other services and products to the US government, but border and detention contracts have been a consistently growing part of all of their portfolios.

- These top border contractors through individual donations and their #Political_Action_Committees (PACs) gave more than $40 million during the 2020 electoral cycle to the two parties ($40,333,427). Democrats overall received more contributions from the big border contractors than the Republicans (55 percent versus 45 percent). This is a swing back to the Democrats, as over the last 10 years contributions from 11 of the 13 companies have favored Republicans. It suggests an intention by the border industry to hedge their political bets and ensure that border security policies are not rolled back to the detriment of future profits.

– The 13 border security companies’ executives and top employees contributed three times more to Joe Biden ($5,364,994) than to Donald Trump ($1,730,435).

- A few border security companies show preferences towards one political party. Detention-related companies, in particular CoreCivic, G4S and GEO Group, strongly favor Republicans along with military contractors Elbit Systems and General Atomics, while auditing and IT companies Deloitte, IBM and Palantir overwhelmingly favor the Democrats.

– The 13 companies have contributed $10 million ($9,674,911) in the 2020 electoral cycle to members of strategic legislative committees that design and fund border security policies: the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the House Homeland Security Committee. The biggest contributors are Deloitte, General Dynamics, L3Harris, Leidos, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and nearly all donate substantially to both parties, with a preference for Republican candidates. Democrat Senator Jack Reed ($426,413), Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger ($442,406) and Republican Senator Richard Shelby ($430,150) all received more than $400,000 in 2020.

– Biden is opposed to the wall-building of Trump, but has along with many Democrats voiced public support for a more hidden ‘virtual wall’ and ‘smart borders’, deploying surveillance technologies that will be both more lucrative for the industry and more hidden in terms of the abuses they perpetrate.

- Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas developed and implemented DACA under Obama’s administration, but also as a lawyer with the firm WilmerHale between 2018 and 2020 earned $3.3 million representing companies including border contractors Northrop Grumman and Leidos.

- Over the last 40 years, Biden has a mixed voting record on border policy, showing some support for immigrant rights on several occasions but also approving legislation (the 1996 Illegal Immigration and Immigration Reform Act) that enabled the mass deportations under Obama, and the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which extended the wall long before Trump’s election.

– The Democrat Party as a whole also has a mixed record. Under President Bill Clinton, the Democrats approved the 1994 Prevention through Deterrence national border strategy and implemented the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act that dramatically increased the pace of border militarization as well as deportations. Later Obama became the first president to deport nearly 3 million people during his eight-year term.

– Nearly 8,000 bodies have been recovered in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands between 1998 and 2019 as a result of policies by both parties. The organization No More Deaths has estimated that three to ten times as many people may have died or disappeared since today’s border-enforcement strategy was implemented. The border industrial complex’s profits are based on border and immmigration policies that have deadly consequences.

▻https://www.tni.org/en/bidensborder

#rapport #TNI #murs #barrières_frontalières #démocrates #républicains #industrie_frontalière #smart_borders #murs_virtuels #technologie #morts #décès #mortalité

LEVEL BEST: Diversity, Cohesion and the Drive to Level Up

https://i.imgur.com/3vg3JgR.png https://i.imgur.com/rcpFwH3.png

#Levelling_up has become a core part of the political vocabulary in Britain, although it can still mean very different things to different people. Its central thrust, however, is tackling regional inequality by creating economic growth and investing in infrastructure in “left behind” areas – primarily towns.

This matters in the fight against the far right for a number of reasons – most obviously because, as our previous work has consistently shown, there’s a strong link between hopelessness and decline at the local level and vulnerability to far right narratives. We should welcome investment in communities. Spending on infrastructure and sustainable economic activity in those towns at the sharp end of regional inequality is a big step in the right direction.

However, our previous research has also shown that hostility towards migration and multiculturalism is often more pronounced in places with majority white populations, which may be diversifying for the first time. In our new report, Level Best, we show that areas that have seen the biggest rises in prosperity over the last decade also tend to have also seen the biggest increases in diversity.

​

In rebuffing the typical far right narrative of immigration being a drag on employment and prosperity, these findings are also a challenge to anti-racists and anti-fascists: how do we “level up” in a way that drives resilience and optimism rather than waiting for the growing pains?

▻https://www.hopefultowns.co.uk/level-best

pour télécharger le #rapport:
▻https://c38b684e-8f15-4ff8-b290-3b8ce6267869.filesusr.com/ugd/078118_8a8f1baf858b48178f1c35f2f12bc38b.pdf

–->

In our new report, #Level_Best, we show that areas that have seen the biggest rises in prosperity over the last decade also tend to have also seen the biggest increases in diversity.

#inégalités_territoriales #inégalités_régionales #croissance_économique #multiculturalisme #opportunité #fardeau #travail #emploi #prospérité #salaire

Ajouté à ce fil de discussion autour de l’économie et les migrations :
Migrants : l’irrationnel au pouvoir ?
►https://seenthis.net/messages/705790

voir aussi le fil de discussion :
Why Migration Will Not Destroy the #Welfare_State
►https://seenthis.net/messages/603794

ajouté au fil de discussion sur le #séparatisme et autre dérives...
►https://seenthis.net/messages/884291

La grenouille qui voulait se faire aussi grosse que le boeuf

Pendant ces dernières heures, j’ai pris le temps de tenter une approche purement « comptable » (urgh) concernant la fameuse et néanmoins ridicule polémique à propos de la supposée « gangrène islamogauchiste » qui serait à l’œuvre au sein de nos respectables universités. Ce billet de recherche sera simple, et je vais d’abord dire ce qu’il n’est pas, suite aux quelques échanges bienveillants que j’ai pu avoir avec certain.e.s collègues qui auront le plaisir de se reconnaître – et je les remercie d’ailleurs sincèrement pour leurs remarques.

Disclaimer, donc (comme on dit en bon français) : cette mini-étude n’a pas pour vocation à consolider les arguments des pourfendeurs de l’islamogauchisme. Il part simplement de l’expression « gangrène » et tend à leur montrer, chiffres à l’appui, qu’on est très très loin d’une explosion de ces concepts qu’ils ne maîtrisent pas (comme « intersectionnalité » ou « décolonial », qui renvoient par exemple tous deux à des positionnements épistémologiques et des fondements théoriques bien précis, n’en déplaisent à ceux qui sont trop fainéants pour n’y voir qu’une bouillasse méprisable, là où se trouve un champ d’intérêt extrêmement fécond et inspirant). En gros, l’idée n’est pas de dire « ne vous alarmez pas, confrères conservateurs, c’est en fait une idéologie marginale« , mais plutôt de dire « 1. il n’y a pas d’idéologie, mais de la recherche et 2. si on s’amusait à la compter, on obtient des résultats ridicules qui n’autorisent ni vos invectives, ni votre inculture sur ces sujets ».

Et au passage, la grenouille dans le titre (pour être clair), ce sont bien ceux qui accusent l’université de dérives idéologiques. Spoiler : tout est idéologie de toute manière puisque tout peut être politique, et tous les corps de métier sont d’ailleurs traversés par des expériences militantes – et heureusement, c’est ça la démocratie ! Il y a autant de militantisme possible à l’université que dans la culture, le milieu associatif, le journalisme et même (mais si si si) le monde de l’entreprise. Donc cessons d’agiter des fantômes pour nous faire peur, et surtout cessons les chasses aux sorcières qui visent précisément les universitaires – les régimes qui organisent cela n’ont rien de démocratique, et ma crainte principale se loge bien là, d’ailleurs. Ma démarche est donc la suivante : vous voulez du sérieux ? On va faire la base de la démarche scientifique : regarder les faits et compter. Cela ne devrait pas être si compliqué que cela, tout le monde peut suivre.

Je l’exprime ici, en tant que chercheur : ce que des esprits mal intentionnés et peu curieux nomment « islamogauchisme » constitue un ensemble d’études interdisciplinaires que je vous encourage à aller explorer, au moins par pure curiosité intellectuelle – comme je m’évertue, autant que faire ce peut, à lire un maximum d’approches variées. C’est tout le principe de la recherche. Pour pouvoir effectuer mon étude arithmétique, j’ai choisi d’utiliser quelques mots-clé souvent réexploités pour accuser les universitaires d’islamogauchisme : « décolonial », « intersectionnel », « intersectionnalité », « racisé », « racialisé » – puis, pour la blague, « islamogauchisme » et « islamogauchiste ». Je suis donc allé voir ce que nous donnaient 4 des moteurs de recherche scientifiques les plus utilisés : theses.fr et HAL pour la partie générale, puis CAIRN et Open Edition pour la partie plus directement dédiée aux sciences humaines.

Pourquoi les sciences humaines et pas la sociologie, arguera l’esprit pingre ? Parce que les études dites intersectionnelles ou décoloniales occupent en fait un champ interdisciplinaire très vaste : on y retrouve les études anglophones, la sociologie, la géographie, la démographie, le droit, les sciences du langage, la philosophie, l’anthropologie, les sciences de l’information et de la communication, l’économie, la psychologie, les études littéraires ou encore les arts. Bref, inutile de taper comme un sourd sur cette pauvre sociologie qui se donne pourtant beaucoup de mal (avec des moyens dérisoires) pour comprendre la société qui nous entoure. Nous autres, scientifiques des SHS, sommes donc toutes et tous coupables, rassurez-vous. Et pourquoi, comme on me l’a demandé, ne pas inclure les expressions « gender studies » ou « écriture inclusive » ? Parce que faut pas non plus exagérer : faites donc une liste de toutes les notions de sciences humaines que vous ne comprenez pas et que donc, par définition, il faudrait arrêter d’étudier, et ça sera plus simple. Et si vous ne comprenez pas pourquoi « race », « postcolonial » ou « islam » n’y figurent pas, j’ai des réponses, mais elles ne sont pas dignes d’un carnet de recherche.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/1-500x500.png

Voici donc la première partie de cette rapide étude : elle est assez simple, puisqu’elle donne des données plutôt brutes. Pour chaque portail dédié à l’archivage des publications scientifiques, il s’est agi de rentrer simplement les mots-clé pour une simple recherche, puis de les transformer en pourcentage par rapport au total de publications répertoriées. De ce point de vue, on est loin du calcul statistique complexe (je rappelle à mon lectorat que je suis linguiste, que j’ai fait un Bac L à l’époque, et que je fais ce que je peux pour ne pas sombrer). Mais comme les pourfendeurs de l’islamogauchisme brandissent souvent la neutralité de la raison face à des chercheur.e.s qui, selon eux, auraient succombé à l’idéologie et à l’émotion, alors chiche : voici des chiffres, soit les représentants les plus aboutis du mythe de la prétendue neutralité scientifique et de l’objectivité rationnelle. Mieux : des données, de la data. Et le tout dans une infographie avec des couleurs et des dessins.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/2-500x500.png

Premier à passer sur le grill d’un simple comptage, le portail HAL répertorie un ensemble plutôt impressionnant de références scientifiques déposées. Toutes disciplines confondues, on arrive à un pourcentage excessivement faible concernant les mots-clés proposés. Ironie du sort : la seule publication qui sort lorsqu’on rentre le terme « islamogauchiste » est celle de Pierre-André Taguieff, à qui l’on attribue souvent à tort la naissance de cette expression bien connue des milieux d’extrême-droite (il n’en reste pas moins qu’il a largement participé à sa popularisation et à sa normalisation médiatique, sans être lui-même d’ailleurs sympathisant des milieux d’extrême-droite – je tiens ici à le préciser, avant qu’on ne m’accuse de manœuvre diffamatoire). Il convient également de signaler qu’on retrouve également dans ces publications des travaux qui critiquent justement les études décoloniales et intersectionnelles, ce qui fait monter artificiellement les chiffres – sans compter le fait que certaines publications cumulent plusieurs de ces mots-clés. Bref, pour le dire vite : ce pourcentage de 0,038 % est donc probablement surévalué.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/3-500x500.png

Sur Theses.fr, on remarque une légère augmentation des résultats en terme de pourcentages. Il faut dire ici, de surcroît, que le portail doctoral en question répertorie à la fois les thèses soutenues et les thèses démarrées, ce qui fait que là aussi, on se retrouve avec un cumul de travaux qui n’en sont pas tous au même stade – ce qui est à la fois heureux et bien normal, quand on connaît le processus doctoral, ses exigences et ses coups du sort. Quoiqu’il arrive, vous me direz (et vous aurez raison) que c’est bien gentil de mélanger des concepts de sciences humaines à des thèses de médecine ou de biologie moléculaire, mais qu’il faut être un peu sérieux – et que si pluridisciplinarité il y a, il faut donc aller regarder plus précisément du côté des domaines de recherche concernés. Je suis entièrement d’accord, donc allons-y.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/4-500x500.png

Et là, pas de surprise : sur CAIRN comme sur Open Edition, qui totalisent tous deux une masse non négligeable de publications répertoriées et accessibles pour les adeptes des sciences dites « molles » ou « subtiles », évidemment, le pourcentage augmente. Mais vous l’aurez remarqué : le pourcentage sur le total de publications répertoriées est très très loin d’être significatif, tout au contraire : on reste aux alentours des 2%, ce qui montre la faible représentativité des études décoloniales ou intersectionnelles. Et là, autre contre-argument : mais c’est facile de prendre le nombre de publications sur le total ! Evidemment, en 1992, on n’utilisait probablement pas ces notions en France ! Tout juste : attardons-nous donc sur l’évolution de ces mots-clé depuis 2011, histoire d’avoir une représentativité plus fine sur le total de publications. Mais même là, il faut se rendre à l’évidence : on est loin d’une écrasante hégémonie des études intersectionnelles, par exemple.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-1.png https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-2.png https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-3.png

CAIRN ne figure pas dans les résultats, tout simplement parce que son moteur de recherche ne permet pas de faire émerger des résultats annuels – sinon je l’aurais fait. Mais déjà, avec HAL, Theses.fr et Open Edition, on remarque les mots-clé incriminés sont bel et bien en augmentation depuis 2011, mais qu’ils rencontrent aussi un certain tassement depuis deux ans – ce qui est à vrai dire plutôt inquiétant, car cela souligne le retard de la France sur des questions de recherche qui sont assez largement investies ailleurs dans le monde (et pas qu’aux Etats-Unis, le grand Satan des néoréacs français) – sans pour autant que cela soit d’ailleurs associé à des postures militantes. Cela étant, le tassement de ces mots-clés depuis 2011 n’a de sens que si on regarde leur pourcentage total par rapport à l’évolution de l’ensemble des publications sur les portails en question. Regardons un peu.

https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-4.png https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-5.png https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/files/2021/03/image-7.png

Les accusateurs d’islamogauchisme pourront se réjouir et pointer du doigt une tendance à la hausse ; cela dit, on remarque une dynamique différente en fonction du portail. Là où le nombre de thèses marque une augmentation qui reste régulière, par exemple, on ne peut que constater la faiblesse des pourcentages par an. C’est sur Open Edition que ce type de courbe reste le plus intéressant à analyser : on voit une évolution croissante, bien que timide, de l’intérêt pour les sujets que permettent d’analyser les études intersectionnelles et décoloniales, quelle que soit la discipline d’ancrage. Mais attention aussi : sur Open Edition, on se bat à coups de revues scientifiques notamment, et en regardant sur ce portail, vous trouverez une évolution nette des publications scientifiques qui critiquent en fait les études décoloniales et intersectionnelles – en d’autres termes, l’augmentation de publication n’est pas tant dû à l’ancrage épistémologique dans ces champs, mais aux débats interdisciplinaires qui surgissent en raison de leurs méthodes ou de leurs concepts. En bref, cette évolution montre plus une vitalité des débats (tiens tiens) qu’une homogénéisation des épistémologies et des méthodologies.

Que dire après tout cela ? Qu’avant de juger un terme sur de simples rumeurs colportées sur une chaîne de télé trop racoleuse ou un réseau social trop électrique, il suffit d’aller lire. Parce que lire reste encore la meilleure réponse à apporter à l’ignorance, aux idées reçues, aux raccourcis commodes, aux paresses intellectuelles ou aux ignorances légitimes. Ne pas savoir, ce n’est pas grave : nous sommes toutes et tous ignares sur bien des sujets. Ne pas savoir et prétendre que l’on a pas besoin de savoir pour se faire une idée, c’est non seulement bête à manger du foin et dommage en général, mais c’est surtout dangereux pour nos fragiles régimes démocratiques – et surtout pour l’indépendance de la recherche. Au final, on a le droit de questionner, de débattre et de discuter autour de ces questions (et encore heureux) : mais faisons-le dignement.

PS : Au passage, ce n’est plus la peine de commander une étude au CNRS concernant l’islamogauchisme, du coup.

PS bis : Vous avez le droit de ne pas être d’accord avec ma démarche, bien entendu. Depuis la première publication de cette mini-étude sur Twitter, j’ai eu quelques messages un peu vifs : ceux qui disent que l’islamogauchisme n’aiment pas mes chiffres et m’accusent de ne pas mesurer « l’impact » par exemple, ou encore de ne pas vouloir voir la réalité derrière les chiffres (???). Et celles et ceux qui pensent qu’il ne faut pas donner du grain à moudre avec des chiffres. J’ai envie de répondre que dans ce genre de situation, il peut y avoir une pluralité de méthodes et de démarches, et que rien ne leur empêche de concorder à des moments opportuns. En tout cas, c’est ma modeste contribution, et ma modeste démarche.

►https://sysdiscours.hypotheses.org/352

déjà signalé par @marielle ici :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/904269

Une tribune de l’#Obervatoire_du_décolonialisme publiée dans le Figaro le 26.03.2021 :
« #Décolonialisme et #idéologies_identitaires représentent un quart de la #recherche en #sciences_humaines aujourd’hui »
►https://seenthis.net/messages/908716

Projet de #loi sur les #principes_républicains : le niveau des eaux continue de monter

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/908798

Lobbying Fortress Europe. The making of a border-industrial complex

The massive expansion of the budget, personnel, and powers of the EU’s border agency Frontex has also seen increasingly privileged access for industry. This perpetuates a vision of border control based on more and more firearms and biometric surveillance that has major human rights implications.
Executive Summary

The massive expansion of EU border agency Frontex in recent years has not been matched by a corresponding increase in transparency, accountability, nor scrutiny.

Access to document requests reveal a disturbing trend by which arms, surveillance, and biometrics companies are being given an outsized role – unmatched by other voices – in shaping EU’s border control regime.

This report gives the first comprehensive overview of this phenomenon, finding that:

- Frontex holds special events for security industry lobbyists where they work hand in hand to promote ’solutions’ based on techno-fixes, from biometric surveillance to firepower.
- These corporate interests are not neutral parties but de facto seek to shape Frontex’s approach to border control in their interests, and benefit from procurement contracts.
- Meanwhile the agency has no real transparency or lobbying accountability mechanisms in place, and indeed denies that it is a target for lobbyists at all.
– At the same time as the agency has open doors for corporate lobbyists selling defence and surveillance solutions which have major human rights implications, groups working to defend human rights are left on the sidelines.

The European Union’s response to travellers, migrants, and refugees should be guided by the protection of human rights. This is too important an issue to be shaped by the interests of defence companies instrumentalising migration for profit.

►https://corporateeurope.org/en/lobbying-fortress-europe

#surveillance #biométrie

ping @etraces

Die geheimen Dates von Frontex und der Rüstungsindustrie
▻https://www.zdf.de/comedy/zdf-magazin-royale/zdf-magazin-royale-vom-5-februar-2021-100.html

avec sous-titres en anglais:
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uk0w8SvUMw&feature=emb_logo

#satire

voir aussi #Rapports de #Statewatch relativement récents sur #Frontex :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/870167

+ d’autres documents avec le mot clé #complexe_militaro-industriel

Pour info, la vidéo a été traduite en français (choisir les sous-titres en français) :
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uk0w8SvUMw&t=1s

The lobbyists behind Europe’s response to migration

https://voxeurop.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Frontex.jpg

Last year wasn’t a happy one for Frontex, in the news for illegal pushbacks and abuses against migrants and refugees (see below). Now it is under investigation by the EU anti-fraud watchdog OLAF.

“But the scandal of Frontex’s cozy relationship with the weapons and surveillance industry, brewing behind closed doors over the past few years, has received less attention,” Myriam Douo, Luisa Izuzquiza and Margarida Silva wrote in a recent Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) report (►https://corporateeurope.org/en/lobbying-fortress-europe).

They obtained over 130 documents (►https://fragdenstaat.de/dokumente/sammlung/49-fx-files) through freedom of information requests and the review opened “a window onto at least 17 industry meetings convened by Frontex from 2017 to 2019”. It all started with a lot of money.

In fact, in 2020 Frontex was granted a €5.6 billion budget – the largest among all EU agencies – for the 2021-2027 timeframe. Then 10,000 border guards came along, together with an extension of its mandate and the ability to acquire and lease its own equipment like vessels, drones and radars.

https://i.imgur.com/JSujZYX.png

“This is a dream come true not just for Frontex, but for the security industry. Spying the opportunity for a new and major customer, it has been advocating since 2010 for an EU-level border force with precisely those capabilities.”

In previous years, the agency had met with 138 private bodies: 108 companies, 10 research centres or think tanks, 15 universities and just one NGO (ID4Africa). European defence companies Airbus and Leonardo were awarded the most access, followed by tech companies (Japanese NEC, Atos, IDEMIA, Jenetric, secunet, and Vision-Box).

Even the consultative forum on human rights, established by Frontex itself, has never been heard. It was the security industry lobbyists who eventually shaped the agency’s approach.

They mostly discussed weapons, biometrics, maritime and aerial surveillance, heartbeat detectors and document inspection systems. Besides, migration was “portrayed as a threat, often linked to terrorism and crime”.

Yet, transparency remains very little. When CEO asked Frontex to explain how it was handling lobbying, a press office told them that “Frontex does not meet with lobbyists” and that it “does not attract the interest of lobbyists.” When they asked again, Frontex denied meeting with lobbyists except on “Industry Days”.

https://i.imgur.com/Qd1RXdq.png

Migrants are the real elephant in the room. “A noticeable omission from almost every one of these discussions is the potential impact on human rights of these technologies and products, including undermining people’s fundamental right to privacy, presumption of innocence and liberty.”

Human rights organisations had almost no access to the agency, which is particularly worrying in the context of the future EU border and migration policy. “Considering the growing power and budget”, CEO predicts that Frontex’ relationship with industry will intensify. “Scrutiny over it should, too,” they add.
MEPs to probe Frontex over unlawful pushbacks

The European Parliament has set up a probe over harassment, misconduct and unlawful operations run by Frontex and aimed at stopping migrants from reaching EU shores via Greek waters.

On 24 February, MEPs have formed a new working group (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210222IPR98303/frontex-meps-to-investigate-alleged-violations-of-fundamental-rights), chaided by Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta) officially called #Frontex_Scrutiny_Working_Group (#FSWG) (https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/news/new-frontex-scrutiny-working-group-quote-from-tineke-strik-mep), to “monitor all aspects of the functioning of the border agency, including its compliance with fundamental rights.” The legislators will personally conduct a fact-finding investigation over the next four months in order to collect evidence to determine if the violations took place and if the agency was involved in them.

https://voxeurop.eu/en/the-lobbyists-behind-eu-response-to-migration

Plein de choses intéressantes dans cet article, mais entre autres à rajouter au dossier sur les #statistiques sur les assassinats policiers, principalement en #France mais aussi dans d’autres pays :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/601177

#Violence_policière #Violences_policières #brutalité_policière #Assassinats_policiers #racisme #racisme_d_Etat #justice #impunité
–------------------------------
Aussi sur le racisme à l’ #Université

Cette mise en abyme, je l’ai vécue lors de ma soutenance de thèse : mon directeur de thèse et le président du jury m’ont expliqué que j’étais « hors-sujet ». D’après eux, le fait que je sois moi-même d’origine algérienne m’aurait empêchée de prendre de la distance avec le sujet. Car, si j’y étais parvenue, j’aurais compris que toute ces histoires de crimes n’étaient qu’une affaire de classe… Ce qu’on me demandait, en somme, c’était de nier les données d’archives, la parole des enquêtés et ma propre pensée pour demeurer, comme eux, aveugle à la race. Nous serions pourtant un certain nombre à être sincèrement ravis d’apprendre que c’en est vraiment fini de la race… Mais c’est intéressant, parce que ça confirme ce que Bourdieu, Passeron ou Foucault ont démontré il y a bien 50 ans maintenant, à savoir que l’Université, c’est l’École. Et c’est d’abord une institution étatique au même titre que la Police ou la Justice. Elle fait ce que l’État attend d’elle. Son but n’est pas de produire du savoir pour améliorer radicalement la société mais de maintenir une pensée dominante qui profite à l’ordre établi. Ce que l’Université évalue, ce n’est pas votre capacité à penser depuis votre propre densité mais votre capacité à vous soumettre.

Puisqu’elle en parle, son directeur de thèse était #Laurent_Mucchielli et son jury de thèse en 2017 était composé de #Stéphane_Beaud (président du jury, qui refuse de croire au racisme et pense que ce ne sont que des histoires de classe...), #Françoise_Lorcerie, #Patrick_Simon, #Christian_Rinaudo, #Nacira_Guénif_Souilamas
▻https://www.theses.fr/2017AIXM0163

En France, entre les années 70 et fin 90, alors que la notion de crime raciste occupait fréquemment la sphère militante et médiatique, elle ne constituait pas une catégorie juridique dans la sphère judiciaire. La mésentente concernant le traitement des crimes racistes semble trouver son origine dans le fait que deux conceptions d’une même réalité ont pu coexister pendant une trentaine d’années : la réalité du groupe concerné par ces violences d’une part et celle émanant du droit étatique d’autre part. Alors que pour les premiers, le caractère raciste des violences ne faisait aucun doute, pour les parlementaires l’idée même d’un mobile raciste a régulièrement été rejetée. D’un point de vue législatif, il a fallu attendre l’année 2003 pour que la France adopte une loi permettant de prendre en compte l’intention raciste d’un crime. Depuis cette date, sous certaines conditions, le mobile raciste peut constituer une circonstance aggravante dans les infractions de type criminel. Cette thèse s’intéresse à ces deux vérités et aux circonstances qui ont déterminé leur existence. Elle vise notamment à interroger le rôle joué par le droit étatique dans la production et le maintien des catégories ethnoraciales par delà la politisation des violences qui en résultent. D’un point de vue empirique, l’enquête a consisté à confronter la parole des militants ayant dénoncé une double violence, celle provoquée par les agressions d’une part et celle induite par leur traitement pénal d’autre part, à un ensemble de sources archivistiques émanant des services du ministère de l’Intérieur et du Parlement. D’un point de vue théorique, les apports de la sociologie et de l’histoire de l’immigration ont été complétés en intégrant les réflexions des théories de l’ethnicité et de la Critical Race Theory. En définitive, cette recherche met en évidence le fait que l’universalisme républicain fait partie intégrante du processus de racialisation. En revenant sur les dispositions majeures de la politique d’immigration et sur la figure stigmatique de l’homme arabe, un premier axe s’intéresse à la manière dont le droit étatique a particularisé une catégorie d’individus en participant à la production des catégories ethnoraciales. Un deuxième axe vise à caractériser les crimes racistes qui ont été dénoncés entre les années 70 et fin 90. Un dernier axe enfin étudie la carrière juridique du mobile raciste durant cette même période. Il expose la manière dont la législation antiraciste a invisibilisé la question des crimes racistes et maintenu les catégories ethnoraciales en appliquant des règles universelles à des groupes qui ont auparavant été différenciés.

sur le racisme à l’ #Université, la source :
▻https://twitter.com/KaoutarHarchi/status/1357696854146826244

#Rachida_Brahim #inégalités #discriminations #thèse #facs #objectivité #distance #classes #classes_sociales #intersectionnalité #ordre_social #logiques_raciales

ping @karine4

La race tue deux fois

https://www.syllepse.net/syllepse_images/produits/la-race-tue-deux-fois.jpg?2#.jpg

« De telles listes sont dressées depuis les années 1970. Compilées par plusieurs générations de militants, elles sont enfouies dans les caves des archives associatives et présentent toutes le même format, à la fois sec et funeste. On y trouve la date du crime, le nom de la victime, suivis d’une ou deux phrases laconiques. Elles frappent par leur rudesse, leur longueur et leur nombre. Poser une liste conduit inexorablement à en trouver une autre quelques jours plus tard. Ces listes expriment l’idée d’une #injustice. Elles dénoncent le racisme et l’#impunité du racisme. Elles pointent du doigt les crimes, mais également la grande majorité des #procès qui ont fini par des peines légères avec sursis ou des acquittements, quand ce n’est pas un non-lieu qui est venu clore l’affaire.

Elles disent en substance que la #racialisation, autrement dit le fait de placer des personnes dans une catégorie raciale afin d’asseoir un #rapport_de_pouvoir et d’en tirer profit, tue deux fois. La première #violence touche à l’#intégrité_physique de la personne. La seconde violence a lieu à l’échelle institutionnelle. Elle est une conséquence du #traitement_pénal qui ignore la nature raciste des crimes jugés. »

De la grande vague de violence de #1973 dans le sud de la #France aux #crimes_policiers des années 1990 en passant par les crimes racistes jalonnant les années 1980, cet ouvrage, issu d’une #base_de_données de plus de 700 cas, nous invite à prendre la mesure de cette histoire à l’heure où le #racisme_institutionnel et l’action de la #police continuent chaque année à être à l’origine de nombreux #morts.

▻https://www.syllepse.net/la-race-tue-deux-fois-_r_65_i_821.html
#livre #histoire

@cdb_77 la source est celle de l’article de Ballast !

Et, par là même, elle se grille toute chance d’être embauchée à la fac ou au CNRS...

Refugee camp on toxic land, potentially life threatening for small children!

The new “temporary” camp in Kara Tepe, Lesvos, is as we all know built partially on an old military firing range. For the government this already restricted area was perfect, it was already fenced in. As all military areas there is a lot of restrictions, the most important ones are the restrictions of movement and the restrictions on taking pictures.
The camp area has been criticized by many, because it’s just not suited to house people, in flimsy tents when the winter is approaching. It’s at the sea, without any protection from heavy winds that usually pounds this area. The area also floods frequently, the tents are built straight on the ground, there is no drainage system. When it’s really starts to rain, and it will, there will be mud everywhere, outside and inside the tents. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s a high possibility, that the very land the camp is built on is toxic.
As previously mentioned, it’s an old military firing range, that has been used by the military for decades. We can assume that the military has used a variety of weapons, that over the years, have packed the ground with hazardous materials. The main concern is the possibility of lead contamination. The presence of lead and lead dust is well documented on such sites as are the extreme danger to health if lead is absorbed by children. Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.
As we all know, UNHCR are assisting the Greek authorities in resettling displaced families, many of them children, on this new site. They have a special responsibility, due to their involvement, to assure that the area used is suitable and safe to live on. UNHCR have rehoused displaced families on highly toxic land in the past, and should have learned by their previous mistakes.
Following the war in Kosovo in 1999, UNHCR rehoused displaced families on highly toxic land. This is also well documented, particularly so on a website that followed the situation over a number of years. www.toxicwastekills.com
It resulted in childrens’ blood lead levels higher than instruments could measure. There is no level of lead so low that children’s health will not be damaged. Very young children often absorb it through licking lead paint etc as they find it pleasant. This is also well documented. Pregnant women can transfer absorbed lead to foetuses through the placenta. It attacks all organs of the body but also causes irreversible brain damage. Now UNHCR is helping to place men, women and children on an old military firing range near Kara Tepe on Lesvos. This could be yet another deadly mistake in the making.
Due to the fact that it took only 5 days to put up this camp, after the fire in Moria, it’s highly unlikely that any proper survey has been taken. This new site requires urgent toxicity checking by independent experts to reveal whether lead is present on the new site, which could indicate an evacuation might be necessary to protect the lives of vulnerable children. The concern has already been addressed by email to Astrid Castelein, head of the UNHCR sub office on Lesvos, and the main UNHCR office in Greece, so far without any reply.
Some areas in the camp has been leveled out by bulldozers, in other areas soil from the leveled areas has been reused as landfill. By doing so, things that has been buried in the ground for decades has resurfaced, possibly making the situation even worse. Residents in the camp have found remains of ammunition casings and grenades around the tents, and military personnel have been observed using metal detectors in the outskirts of the camp. To see small children who have fled war, play with used ammunition in a European refugee camp, should raise some questions.
If this isn’t enough, a proposal to create a new “reception and identification centre” structure with a capacity of 2,500 people, and a planned 500 employees overall, in the area of the former shooting range of Kamenos Dasos (Camlik) in central Lesvos seems to have been passed, as the majority of Mytilene municipal authority confirmed. These areas would never have been approved to build houses, schools or kindergartens, but seems to be more than good enough for these children..
▻https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20354717

▻https://www.facebook.com/AegeanBoatReport

Greece : Migrant Camp Lead Contamination

Inadequate Government Response; Lack of Transparency Put Health at Risk

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/styles/embed_medium/public/media_2021/01/202101ccd_Greece_lead_main.jpg?itok=BW1m4MW5#.jpg

The Greek government should release test results and other vital information about lead contamination in a migrant camp on Lesbos island to protect the health of residents and workers, Human Rights Watch said today.

After testing soil samples in November, the government confirmed publicly on January 23, 2021 the presence of dangerous levels of lead in the soil in the administrative area of the Lesbos camp. It says that samples from residential areas showed lead levels below relevant standards but did not release the locations where samples were collected or the actual test results. The government has yet to indicate that it will take the necessary steps to adequately assess and mitigate the risk, including comprehensive testing and measures to remove people from areas that could be contaminated.

“The Greek government knowingly built a migrant camp on a firing range and then turned a blind eye to the potential health risks for residents and workers there,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch. “After weeks of prodding, it took soil samples to test for lead contamination while denying that a risk of lead exposure existed. It did not make the results public for over seven weeks, and has yet to allow independent experts to analyze them or vow to take the necessary steps to protect residents and workers and inform them about the potential health risks.”

Human Rights Watch published a report in December documenting that thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers, and United Nations, Greek, and European Union employees may be at risk of lead poisoning in the Lesbos camp. Greek authorities built the new camp, Mavrovouni (also known as new Kara Tepe), on a repurposed military firing range. It now houses 6,500 people. According to a government announcement on January 23, one out of 12 soil samples taken in November came back on December 8 with lead levels that “exceeded the acceptable limit.” The announcement also mentions some steps to mitigate the risk.

Human Rights Watch has requested the Greek government and the European Commission, which financially supports the camp and with which the government shared the results, to release the testing plan and the test results, which should include such information as the levels of lead for each sample, the sample depths and exact locations, a complete history of the site with location specifity, the expertise of those conducting the testing, the sampling methodology, and information on chain of custody. To date, neither the Greek government nor the European Commission has made this information available.

This lack of transparency means that it is impossible to assess the adequacy of the testing, evaluate what the results represent, or recommend specific strategies to address the identified risks. As a result, it is impossible to determine whether the measures laid out in the January 23 statement, such as adding new soil, gravel, and a cement base in some areas, are adequate to protect people who live and work in the camp.

In early September, large fires broke out inside the Moria camp, the Reception and Identification Center on Lesbos, which was housing 12,767 migrants, mostly women and children. Within days, the authorities constructed Mavrovouni and said they would construct a new permanent camp. Young children and women of reproductive age are most at risk for negative effects from lead exposure.

In a meeting with Human Rights Watch on January 20, Minister for Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi said that he hoped that the residents of Mavrovouni would not spend another winter there, but did not specify when the new camp would be ready. Construction has yet to begin.

Mavrovouni functioned as a military firing range from 1926 to mid-2020. Firing ranges are well recognized as sites with lead contamination because of bullets, shot, and casings that contain lead and end up in the ground. Lead in the soil from bullet residue can readily become airborne, especially under dry and windy conditions, which are often present on Lesbos. Lead is highly toxic when ingested or inhaled, particularly to children and anyone who is pregnant or lactating. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that there is no known safe level of blood lead concentration. Lead degrades very slowly, so sites can remain dangerous for decades.

After multiple representations by Human Rights Watch to various Greek authorities, the European Commission, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the WHO, the Greek government and the EU Commission commissioned the Hellenic Authority of Geology and Mineral Exploration to take 12 soil samples on November 24. According to the government, 11 soil samples showed lead levels “below the acceptable limits for lead in soil,” based on Dutch standards.

The 12th sample, taken from what authorities described as an “administrative area” on the Mavrovouni hill, “at the end of the firing range,” showed elevated levels of lead above acceptable limits, but authorities did not reveal the concentration of lead in the soil. Mitarachi told Human Rights Watch that the area that showed lead levels above acceptable limits was fenced off, but residents and two aid workers said there were no fences inside the camp in that area or signs warning of a contaminated area. At least five aid organizations have offices in that area. An aid worker said residents, sometimes as many as 200 and including children, line up there for support and information. Younger children risk ingesting lead as they play or sit on contaminated ground.

Human Rights Watch was unable to determine whether the government shared any information with humanitarian agencies about the testing results, but calls with agencies including UNHCR and the WHO indicated that they were not aware of them prior to the January 23 release. A staff member from one aid organization there said that at least one aid worker in the camp is currently pregnant, and 118 camp residents are pregnant, based on November government data.

An environmental expert whom Human Rights Watch consulted said that, given the potential size of the affected area and the likelihood that elevated levels are the result of historic activity, the fact that one out of 12 samples in an area came back positive should trigger further testing.

International law obligates countries to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment’s Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment, which interpret the right to a healthy environment, emphasize the need for “public access to environmental information by collecting and disseminating information and by providing affordable, effective and timely access to information to any person upon request.” The Aarhus Convention, to which Greece is a party, provides a right to receive environmental information held by public authorities.

Greek authorities should immediately release the results and testing plan to the public, and take measures to mitigate the risk to the health of camp residents and workers, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should ensure that residents and workers are informed about the results and measures to protect their health in languages they can understand. The authorities should also urgently undertake further testing and allow independent experts to comment on investigative work plans, audit the soil testing process, and collect split samples (a sample that is separated into at least two parts so that testing can be carried out at two or more seperate laboraties in order to confirm results) or carry out independent testing.

The European Commission, which financially supports Greece to manage the camp and has staff stationed there, EU agencies, Frontex, and the European Asylum Support office, as well as United Nations agencies, UNHCR, UNICEF, the IOM and the WHO, should urge Greek authorities to make the detailed results and testing plan public, and push authorities to find alternative and safe housing solutions for those affected, including the option of moving them to the mainland. The European Commission, which was given the results and testing plan by the Greek government, should also make public the detailed information it received on the results and the methodology of the testing, to allow independent experts to comment on the risk to residents and workers in the camps.

“Greece and its EU partners have a duty to make sure that people who live and work in the Mavrovouni camp are safe,” Wille said. “That requires transparency about the risks as well as urgent steps to mitigate them.”

Additional Information

In its January 23 statement and in its meeting with Human Rights Watch on January 20, the Greek government made several inaccurate claims regarding remediation and protection of residents. In its statement, the government claimed that after soil samples were taken on November 24, “while awaiting the results” it removed the tents directly on the firing range strip. But satellite imagery and residents’ and workers’ statements indicate that no tents were removed until between December 11 and 16, after the test results were received.

Satellite imagery and aid organization mapping of the camp shows that by January 10, 79 tents remained on the firing range, with 58 more at the base of the hill. The residents in those tents may be at increased risk of coming into contact with contaminated soil, particularly when it rains. In addition, after some tents were removed, three migrants and two aid workers told Human Rights Watch that residents have been using the area for football and other recreation. Authorities have not fenced off the area or notified residents of the health risks.

Since the site was tested, major construction work and heavy rains in the area mean that potentially contaminated soil from the hill and firing range area may have moved to other parts of the camp, which warrants further testing.

Human Rights Watch received information from multiple sources that on January 18, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which runs two assistance programs in the camp, suspended its operations at its tent on the hill. In response to a Human Rights Watch query, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Greece confirmed that, “Following the announcements regarding lead detection outside the accommodation areas and while waiting for more information from the authorities, IOM staff has been advised to remain inside the residential area.”

In an aid briefing on January 19, the sources said it was revealed that the decision was made because of elevated levels of lead found in the “blue zone” of the camp, an area that includes the firing range and the base of the hill where the IOM Helios tent is located, as well as other aid tents including that of Médecins du Monde (MdM), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). IOM staff have yet to return to the camp, but aid workers still in the camp said there is still no fencing or signage around that area. According to the camp residents and two aid workers, and 24 photos and videos taken from inside Mavrovouni by the DunyaCollective, a media collective, since December, authorities have been moving large quantities of soil, including removing some from the hill behind the IOM Helios tent.

On January 23, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders or MSF) issued a statement raising its concerns at the lack of appropriate government and EU action in the face of the testing results. On January 26, a group of 20 nongovernmental groups issued a joint statement calling on the Greek authorities to immediately evacuate camp residents and transfer them to appropriate structures on the mainland and elsewhere, such as hotel units.

Aerial footage from January 14 shows tents still present in the part of the camp built on the former firing range at that date starting at around 02:00.

▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/27/greece-migrant-camp-lead-contamination

Greece: Lead Poisoning Concerns in New Migrant Camp

Thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers, United Nations, and Greek and European Union employees may be at risk of lead poisoning in a new migrant camp that Greek authorities have built on a repurposed military firing range on the island of Lesbos, Human Rights Watch said today.

Firing ranges are commonly contaminated with lead from munitions, nevertheless the authorities did not conduct comprehensive lead testing or soil remediation before moving migrants to the site in September 2020. Evidence collected by migrants moved to the site also indicated that authorities have also failed to clear all unexploded mortar projectiles and live small arms ammunition, which could injure or kill if disturbed or handled.

“Putting thousands of migrant adults and children, along with aid workers, on top of a former firing range without taking the necessary steps to guarantee they would not be exposed to toxic lead is unconscionable,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Greek authorities should promptly conduct a comprehensive site assessment of soil lead levels and release the results.”

In November and early December, Human Rights Watch interviewed four people living in the camp, two aid workers, one Greek migration ministry employee working in the camp, and four medical and environmental experts, and reviewed academic research on the risk of soil lead contamination at shooting ranges and medical research on the health risks of lead poisoning. Human Rights Watch did not have access to conduct on-site research, but analyzed photos and videos of the site and satellite imagery to confirm the firing range location.

The Asylum and Migration Ministry began major construction work at the end of November at the site, called Mavrovouni camp, that could disturb any lead contaminated soil, further exposing residents and workers. The work to improve access to electricity and water and reduce the risk of flooding began despite warnings from Human Rights Watch of the potential of increased risk of lead poisoning.

In early September, large fires broke out inside the Moria camp, the Reception and Identification Center on Lesbos that was housing 12,767 migrants, mostly women and child migrants. Within days, authorities constructed Mavrovouni (also known as new Kara Tepe) as a temporary camp and told people that they would begin construction of a new permanent camp for use by June 2021. According to the media, Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi, has recently indicated the new camp will only be ready by Autumn 2021. Currently 7,517 people, mostly from Afghanistan and Syria, are staying at Mavrovouni, which started functioning as a military firing range in 1926 and was in use until the camp was constructed in September 2020, Mitarachi said.

In response to letters from Human Rights Watch, Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi stated in a November 19 letter that the camp had “no lead contamination,” but provided no evidence for the basis of that assertion. He said the government has agreed to conduct soil testing with the European Commission within one month, but has not revealed the nature of the testing, the areas to be tested, or the methodology. A Hellenic army representative called Human Rights Watch on December 1, stating his intention to respond to a letter received on November 4 from Human Rights Watch, raising urgent concerns. But no response has been received. On December 6, General Secretary for Asylum Seekers’ Reception Manos Logothetis, called Human Rights Watch to dispute the risk of lead contamination at the camp. He confirmed that no soil testing for lead had taken place prior to moving people to the camp, but said that authorities are awaiting the results of soil testing conducted recently in collaboration with the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME).

“No one just shows up without a plan,” Dr. Gordon Binkhorst, vice president of global programs at Pure Earth, told Human Rights Watch. “Sharing of a well-founded work plan beforehand is key to transparency and ensuring confidence in the findings.” Greek authorities should allow independent experts to comment on investigative work plans, audit the soil testing process and collect split samples for independent testing.

“The authorities should share documentation of work completed and a comprehensive site investigation work plan based on a review of the site history, contaminants of concern, a conceptual site model of how such contaminants are released to and migrated in the environment, and a comprehensive testing plan that evaluates the degree and extent of contamination in the environment, and potential exposure routes,” Dr. Binkhorst said.

Firing ranges are well-recognized as sites with lead contamination because of bullets, shot, and casings that contain lead and end up in the ground. Lead in the soil from bullet residue can readily become airborne, especially under dry and windy conditions, which often exist on Lesbos. Lead is a heavy metal that is highly toxic to humans when ingested or inhaled, particularly by children and during pregnancy. It degrades very slowly, so sites can remain dangerous for decades.

The World Health Organization maintains that there is no known safe level of lead exposure. Elevated levels can impair the body’s neurological, biological, and cognitive functions, leading to learning barriers or disabilities; behavioral problems; impaired growth; anemia; brain, liver, kidney, nerve, and stomach damage; coma and convulsions; and even death. Lead also increases the risk of miscarriage and can be transmitted through both the placenta and breast milk.

Small children and women of reproductive age are at particular risk. According to Greek authorities, on November 19, 2,552 out of 7,517 people in the camp were children, 997 of them under age 5, and 1,668 were women – 118 of whom have said they are five or more months pregnant.Camp residents shared 17 photographs of items they said they had found in the ground around their tents, including an intact 60mm mortar projectile and a tail fin assembly for another 60mm mortar projectile, cartridge casings for rifle bullets, fired 12-gauge shotgun cartridges, and live pistol, rifle, machine gun, and shotgun ammunition. Intact munitions, such as 60mm mortar projectiles and small arms ammunition, pose an immediate explosive hazard and should be removed urgently from the area.

“We try to stop our children from going to play up the hill because we know there might be bullets and other things the army didn’t clear that could be dangerous,” one camp resident said. Munitions containing lead can be extremely dangerous when swallowed by children or contaminate the soil, a medical expert told Human Rights Watch.

The authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent assessment of lead levels in the soil and dust, as well as other possible pathways to exposure, and make the results publicly available. Any work that might increase exposure should be paused until after the soil has been tested or until people have been removed from the camp and housed in adequate facilities, Human Rights Watch said. If lead is present in the soil, authorities should provide free blood testing and treatment for camp residents, aid workers, police, and others who might have been exposed, prioritizing young children and women of reproductive age, and immediately move exposed residents to a safe location and remediate the contaminated areas.

“The Greek government could be putting at risk families with young children, aid workers, and its own employees because it’s determined to hold asylum seekers on the island,” Wille said. “If this is where the government is trying to force asylum seekers to live on Lesbos, then all the more reason to transfer people to the mainland.”

Tents on a Firing Range

The Mavrovouni site sits on a large plot of military-owned land, some of which was used as a military firing range since 1926. The Asylum and Migration Ministry said that it covered the site with “new levels of soil” before the camp was opened.

Human Rights Watch reviewed satellite imagery from before and after construction began on the camp on September 11, 2020. Imagery from before shows a firing range on part of the site next to Mavrovouni Hill. By September 28, more than 200 tents had been set up directly on the former firing range itself, with more tents on adjacent areas.

Satellite imagery from June, before Moria camp was destroyed by fire, shows some basic clearance of vegetation cover within a rectangular strip that included the firing range, as well as a small section at the base of Mavrovouni Hill. From the imagery, it is impossible to determine the depth of the soil removal and whether the remediation of lead impacted soil was completed in accordance with prevailing standards and guidelines, or if it was just a superficial scraping of topsoil.

Human Rights Watch was unable to determine what soil removal activities took place between June and September, when the camp opened, or of other activities to decontaminate the ground or where soil removed was disposed of. Given the speed of camp construction, it is very unlikely that authorities could have carried out remediation of lead-impacted soil before setting up the tents. Greek authorities have indicated that new soil was placed prior to construction of the camp, with no location indicated.

Satellite imagery analysis, combined with a review of photos and videos of the firing range that were posted online in the spring, shows that the military was shooting from the southwest toward targets in the northeast, at the foot of Mavrovouni Hill. This suggests that soil on the hillside might also be contaminated by lead.

Imagery recorded between September 14 and 16, shows at least 300 tents just south of the hill without any prior signs of soil clearance, with another at least 170 added in the following days. Imagery from late November shows further ground preparation southeast of the hill, and the construction of four large structures.

Medical and environmental experts interviewed said it was risky to conduct further work in the camp without first conducting soil samples. “Disturbing this area will mobilize the lead in the soil and make it more vulnerable to dispersion from periodic rainfall, flooding, and wind erosion,” said Jack Caravanos, professor of global environmental health at New York University. Dr. Caravanos has visited and assessed dozens of lead-contaminated sites throughout the world and expressed dismay over how this site was chosen without proper environmental investigation.

A European Commission official who is involved in migration policy with Greece said that the Greek Defense Ministry claimed that “no pieces of lead were observed on the ground” during construction or other work. Because lead dust is usually not visible, this claim raises concerns about the seriousness of the Greek government’s assessment.

A source close to the police said that the government had considered turning the firing range into a camp site as early as 2015. At the time, authorities rejected the proposal for several reasons, the source said, including because it had been a firing range. It is unclear why the government ignored these concerns in 2020. A migration ministry employee working on the camp who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that in September, before Mavrovouni was selected, the government met with a few larger nongovernmental organizations, and discussed at least two or three alternative locations.

Lead Contamination

In his letter to Human Rights Watch, Minister Mitarachi said that the range had only been used for “small arms (straight trajectory), commonly only bullets, and not for other types of ammunition.” This ammunition, he said, “according to the Greek Army, contains no lead.” He added that the army had searched the camp for munitions prior to opening, and again 20 days later, and “reported no findings.”In contrast to these claims, bullets used for rifles, pistols, and machine guns as well as shot used by shotguns usually contain lead, which is used in bullets for its density and penetrating ability. Research at firing ranges has found that the discharge of lead dust from shooting results in soil contamination. Research has shown that elevated blood lead levels are commonly found in users of these sites, even among those who use them for limited amounts of time for recreational purposes.

The large amount of fired small arms casings and cartridges found at the camp indicates an equally large number of bullets and shot might be buried beneath the ground where they landed. Other areas near the firing range may have been affected, including from relocation of soil associated with the construction of the camp or historic clearing of soils and munitions from the firing range. Thus, it is likely that any soil contamination extends beyond the firing range. Greek authorities provided no documentation for their claim that all the munitions used at the firing range were lead-free. This claim is highly questionable, given that lead-free bullets are expensive and very rare, particularly prior to the 1980s. Some bullets have an external metal-alloy coating that may make them appear to be lead-free, but the coating disintegrates relatively quickly when the bullet enters the soil, and the lead core becomes exposed. In addition, the photographic evidence from camp residents does not appear to support this contention.

Camp residents shared with Human Rights Watch five photographs, one dated September 20, and two videos of the Hellenic Army’s Land Mine Clearance Squad carrying out clearance activities without any protective equipment and disregarding distancing between them and camp residents needed for safe ammunition clearance activities.

The migration ministry employee working in the camp who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she remembered clearance operations taking place around that date: “There were soldiers who had this machine to detect metal walking amongst us. They were so close that we had to pick up our feet from the ground so they could check right under us.” A government employee’s union made a formal complaint about general working conditions at the camp, including their concerns around these clearance activities.

In addition to camp residents, anyone working inside the camp could also face potential lead exposure from spending time in the camp if the soil is contaminated. Residents, aid workers, and the migration ministry employee said that these include staff from the Hellenic police, Hellenic army, municipality, First Reception Service, Asylum Service, National Public Health Organization (EODY), European Commission, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Europol, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Red Cross, and at least eight other medical and aid groups.

Risks of Lead Poisoning for At-risk Groups

Symptoms of lead poisoning are often not diagnosed as such but its adverse health effects can be irreversible. The severity of symptoms increases with prolonged exposure. Globally, lead exposure is estimated to account for up to one million deaths annually, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries. Poor and disadvantaged populations are more vulnerable because undernourishment increases the amount of ingested lead the body absorbs.

Children are especially at risk because they absorb four to five times as much lead as adults, and their brains and bodies are still developing. In addition, small children often put their hands in their mouths or play on the ground, which increases their likelihood of ingesting or inhaling lead in dust and dirt. Exposure during pregnancy can result in stillbirth, miscarriage, and low birth weight, and can negatively affect fetal brain development. At least 118 pregnant women and 2,552 children are at the site, according to government data.

Mohammed Hafida, a camp resident with three young children whose wife is pregnant, said that when they first moved to the camp it was particularly dusty. “When cars drove past the tents there was dust everywhere,” he said. “That only went away once the rain set in two weeks later. But the camp is on a hill, and so when it rained for several hours, many of the tents collapsed. This isn’t a camp, it’s a hell.”

People living in the camp said that for the first few weeks, they had been sleeping on blankets and mattresses on the dusty ground, but more recently aid workers had added flooring to the tents. Even as rainfall increased, residents reported that dust would still enter the tents including in the cooking areas. Camp residents said they have to clean dust out of their tents multiple times a day because cars are driving on adjacent gravel roads. Children often play in the dusty area by the roads. A medical expert said that small children at the camp are at very serious risk for as long as they are exposed to dust that could be contaminated.

Camp authorities did not inform residents that there could be a risk of lead exposure at the site. Medical and environmental experts said that given the known risks of lead exposure at firing ranges, comprehensive soil testing should have been carried out before even considering it as a possible location for the camp. They warned of specific risks of lead poisoning for small children who are most at risk. “Remediation can be very difficult,” said Caravanos, the NYU professor of global environmental health. “I can’t imagine that you could make it safe without removing everyone if lead was found in the soil.”

On November 17, Human Rights Watch was notified about significant planned construction work, which the Asylum and Migration Ministry confirmed in a letter dated November 19. On November 26, Human Rights Watch sent a letter with detailed findings to the Greek Ministries of Asylum and Migration and Defense, which it also shared with EU officials and representatives from UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, and the World Health Organization, saying that these actions risk further exposing residents and construction workers to any potentially lead-contaminated dust and soil. Despite these warnings, on November 30, residents of the camp informed researchers that large construction was underway, including on top of Mavrovouni hill.

The authorities should have been aware of the amount of dust construction causes at the site. During the construction of the camp in September, the migration ministry employee said, workers had been moving around lots of soil to make room for the camp structure and “There was a lot of dust everywhere for days. I kept finding dust and even little pebbles in my ears at that time.”

Unsatisfactory Clearance Operation

Three people interviewed in November said that the authorities forced them to move to the camp after the fires in Moria camp by threatening that the government would stop their asylum claims if they refused. All three have found and provided Human Rights Watch with photographs of munition remnants since moving to Mavrovouni in September. They all said that after moving to the site, they saw the Greek military conduct clearance operations without protective gear, and they shared videos of those operations with Human Rights Watch.

In the videos and photographs, the camp tents and migrants are clearly visible, confirming that some clearance activities took place after people were already living there. A Syrian man whose wife is nine-months pregnant with their first child said that, after they had moved into the camp, he saw the military find and remove at least one cartridge casing. Another camp resident said that since arriving, he has found many bullets on the ground but the “authorities haven’t told us what to do if we find them, or other kinds of munitions.”

Access to Health Care

Two medical staff from a team providing health care in Mavrovouni camp said on November 10 that, since arriving at the camp in October, they had not heard anything about possible lead exposure. Both said that the camp had “decent” health care services considering that it was a temporary camp, but that the laboratory inside the camp does not have the capacity to perform blood tests for lead levels. Both said that because of the nature of the symptoms of lead poisoning, which are also symptoms of other illnesses, it would be extremely difficult to diagnose potential cases without blood tests.

Both medical staff and a doctor who had worked previously at the camp said it was very difficult for camp residents to visit the hospital due to movement restrictions related to Covid-19.

Parallels to Kosovo Incident

This is not the first time that people living in a camp are put at risk of lead poisoning. For more than a decade following the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999, about 600 Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptian minority members lived in camps for displaced people operated by the UN. The camps sat on land contaminated by lead from a nearby industrial mine. In 2016, a United Nations human rights advisory panel found that the UN mission in Kosovo (the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK) had violated the affected people’s rights to life and health. Human Rights Watch documented that camp residents experienced lasting health impacts and are still awaiting compensation and health and educational support for themselves and their families, seven years after the last camp was closed in 2013.

International Legal Obligations

International law obligates states to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which monitors governments’ compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its General Comment 14 on the right to health, has interpreted the covenant to include:

[T]he requirement to […] the prevention and reduction of the population’s exposure to harmful substances such as radiation and harmful chemicals or other detrimental environmental conditions that directly or indirectly impact upon human health.

The right to health encompasses the right to healthy natural environments. The right to a healthy environment, which is also enshrined in the Greek constitution, involves the obligation to “prevent threats to health from unsafe and toxic water conditions.”

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and the environment’s Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment, which interpret the right to a healthy environment, emphasize the need for “public access to environmental information by collecting and disseminating information and by providing affordable, effective and timely access to information to any person upon request.” The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the treaty body that monitors compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Greece is a party, when describing the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, calls on states to take appropriate measures “to combat disease and malnutrition … taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution.”

Responsibilities of the Greek Parliament and European Union

Members of the Greek parliament should pay attention to the concerns that there may be lead contamination at Mavrovouni camp and assess the Greek government’s compliance with its obligations under national, European, and international law to realize the rights to health and healthy environment. They could hold a hearing or establish an inquiry to establish which government employees were involved in approving the site, the extent to which they knew or should have known about the risk of lead contamination, why they decided to move people to the site without first conducting comprehensive soil testing, and why, despite multiple concerns about lead contamination raised after the camp was opened, the authorities greenlighted construction work without first conducting comprehensive soil testing. They should take appropriate action to ensure accountability if merited.

The European Commission, which financially supports Greece to manage the camp and has staff stationed there, as well as EU agencies, Frontex, and EASO, should urge Greek authorities to comprehensively test for lead and make the testing plan and results public.

Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental groups have long warned European leaders about the dire conditions in island camps, also known as hotspots. These have been exacerbated by Greek authorities’ containment policy, which has blocked transfers to the mainland. For years, residents were crammed into overcrowded, inadequate tents, with limited access to food, water, sanitation, and health care, including during the pandemic and despite the risk of Covid-19. The EU and Greece should fundamentally reconsider their hotspot approach on the Greek Islands and end policies that lead to the containment of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers in unsuitable, and in this case potentially hazardous, facilities.

▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/08/greece-lead-poisoning-concerns-new-migrant-camp

#pollution #contamination #plomb #Saturnisme #HRW #rapport

HRW calls for transparency over lead contamination at Lesvos migrant camp

https://www.ekathimerini.com/resources/2021-01/kara_tepe_web-thumb-large.jpg

Greek authorities should release test results and other vital information about lead contamination at the Kara Tepe migrant camp on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos to protect the health of residents and workers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.

After testing soil samples in November, authorities earlier this month confirmed dangerous levels of lead in the soil in the administrative area of the facility, also known as Mavrovouni, which was built on a repurposed military firing range. They said that samples from residential areas showed lead levels below relevant standards but did not release the locations where samples were collected or the actual test results, the New York-based organization said.

HRW said that officials have yet to indicate that they will take the necessary steps to adequately assess and mitigate the risk, including comprehensive testing and measures to remove people from areas that could be contaminated.

“The Greek government knowingly built a migrant camp on a firing range and then turned a blind eye to the potential health risks for residents and workers there,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW.

“After weeks of prodding, it took soil samples to test for lead contamination while denying that a risk of lead exposure existed. It did not make the results public for over seven weeks, and has yet to allow independent experts to analyze them or vow to take the necessary steps to protect residents and workers and inform them about the potential health risks,” she said.

According to a report published by HRW in December, thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers, and United Nations, Greek, and European Union employees may be at risk of lead poisoning.

The Kara Tepe facility currently houses 6,500 people.

“Greece and its EU partners have a duty to make sure that people who live and work in the Mavrovouni camp are safe,” Wille said.

“That requires transparency about the risks as well as urgent steps to mitigate them,” she said.

▻https://www.ekathimerini.com/261695/article/ekathimerini/news/hrw-calls-for-transparency-over-lead-contamination-at-lesvos-migrant-c

A mettre en lien avec l’interview de #Yann_Manzi :

►https://seenthis.net/messages/896642

sur la capacité d’accueil et les flux migratoires :

(2’46)

« y a qu’à voir les chiffres, c’est vraiment pas un problème, y a très peu de réfugiés, on accueille très peu de réfugiés sur notre continent européen, mais on en parle toujours comme un problème, comme quelque-chose de lourd [...] en face duquel on ne sait pas quoi faire ; or on a des solutions, on peut les accueillir aisément sur notre continent et dans notre pays ».

en comparaison : 20k morts en Méditerranée en depuis 2014.

@olaf sur les morts dans la « Forteresse Europe », un travail minutieux de l’association UNITED :

In the period 1993-2020 at least 40.555 documented refugee deaths can be attributed to the ‘Fatal Policies of Fortress Europe’.

►http://unitedagainstrefugeedeaths.eu/about-the-campaign/about-the-united-list-of-deaths

Tout dépend quelle tradition du municipalisme : liberal, libertaire, socialiste, communalisme ou inter-municipalisme ? cf ▻https://m.uneseuleplanete.org/Qu-est-ce-que-le-municipalisme. D’un point de vue historique "Municipalités de tous pays, unissez vous ! L’Union Internationale des Villes ou l’Internationale municipale(1913-1940),
Renaud Payre, Pierre-Yves Saunier : ▻https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00002762/document

Merci @davidgabriel : l’idée est que les étudiant·es puissent, justement, aussi explorer ces différentes traditions...

Ok ! Je me suis permis de le préciser car comme le municipalisme a eu tendance à devenir un nouveau buzzword, on oublie parfois que ces stratégies politiques ont eu longues histoires qui ne se résume pas à la pensée de Murray Bookchin (même si sa pensée continue de beaucoup nous inspirer) !

Je pense en effet que Murray Bookchin est un incontournable dans le domaine...

#Murray_Bookchin

On peut suivre en loucedé ?

@monolecte ça sera sous forme d’atelier, et pas de cours... mais il devrait y avoir un temps fort de présentation/discussion organisé par les étudiant·es lors de la Biennale des villes en transition (premier weekend d’avril, à Grenoble et distanciel) :-)

😇

Du coup, en train de lire...

Guide du municipalisme. Pour une ville citoyenne, apaisée, ouverte

https://www.eclm.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/couverture-411-260x379.jpg

De plus en plus, nos villes sont devenues le lieu où sévissent la spéculation, les exclusions de toutes sortes et la ségrégation sociale. Pourtant, de l’Espagne aux États-Unis et à l’Afrique du Sud, en passant par le Chili, le Rojava syrien, la Serbie, la Pologne ou la France, des groupes renversent cette logique et inventent une nouvelle manière de vivre ensemble. Ce mouvement de démocratie radicale, qui s’ancre au niveau local mais se connecte au monde, place les citoyens au centre des décisions publiques et de la sauvegarde de l’intérêt général. Il réintroduit la démocratie directe en s’appuyant sur des valeurs sociales, féministes, écologiques et solidaires pour ouvrir le champ politique et en faire un espace d’émancipation et de transformation.

Le municipalisme s’impose comme une alternative politique aux traditionnelles formes d’organisation et de pouvoir fondées sur la verticalité, la centralisation et le patriarcat. Ce guide est le fruit de la collaboration de plus de 140 maires, conseillers municipaux et militants du monde entier, tous investis dans le mouvement municipaliste mondial.

Coordonné par la Commission internationale de Barcelona En Comú, il présente :

– les bases théoriques du municipalisme et le rôle qu’il peut jouer, notamment dans la féminisation de la politique et la lutte contre l’extrême droite  ;

– les outils pour préparer une candidature municipaliste, développer un programme participatif, rédiger un code éthique ou financer une campagne politique  ;

– des exemples de politiques de transformation mises en œuvre dans des municipalités du monde entier en matière de logement, d’espace public ou de démocratie participative  ;

– un répertoire des 50 principales plateformes municipales dans le monde.

▻https://www.eclm.fr/livre/guide-du-municipalisme

Quelques ressources sur ce fil de discussion :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/899359

Et notamment :
– #Observatoire International de la #Démocratie_Participative (#OIDP)
– #Cités_et_Gouvernements_Locaux_Unis

POLICY ROUNDTABLE 17 RADICAL DEMOCRACY IN THE CITY COUNCIL

Debate on the challenges, limits and opportunities of participatory procedures to develop real democracy at the local level.

Speakers

Elvira Vallés, Zaragoza City Council
Bernardo Gutiérrez, MediaLab Prado, Madrid
Gala Pin, Councilor for Participation and Districts, Barcelona City Council
Brad Lander, Deputy Leader for Policy, New York City Council
Áurea Carolina de Freitas, Councilor, Belo Horizonte City Council

▻http://2017.fearlesscities.com/radical-democracy-in-the-city-council

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7xOTsKpK8&feature=youtu.be

#démocratie_radicale

La question de la #remunicipalisation des #services_publics :

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/899734

Atlas del cambio

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH542/pNQFkcWpng-ee5c3-f16fa.png

Initiative citée dans l’article :
L’expérience municipaliste. Un autre possible politique depuis les villes et les villages
►https://www.cairn.info/revue-du-mauss-2019-2-page-69.htm

Un #MOOC sur le municipalisme
▻https://nos-communes.fr/actualites/mooc-sur-le-municipalisme

Quelques captures d’écran :

https://i.imgur.com/vsLPnuE.png https://i.imgur.com/YemN8Gn.png

#Jonathan_Durand_Folco :

« Dans [le] contexte [actuel] de crises et de revendications, c’est comme si il y avait une intuition qui est le fait que pour reconstruire la démocratie, on devait commencer à se réapproprier l’#espace_public comme tel et par la suite non seulement occuper des #places mais aussi à occuper les institutions. On pourrait dire que le relai organique de ces mouvements par la suite sera d’aller voir au plus près des conseils municipaux pour essayer de transformer les institutions de l’intérieur. Pour essayer de non seulement gouverner autrement, mais de pouvoir s’auto-gouverner et avec un certain relai revendications pour essayer de changer les choses par la suite »

#Corinne_Morel_Darleux sur les limites du niveau local :

« La #proximité dans un village ou dans une petite ville notamment est aussi source de #conflits, de #promiscuité, elle est aussi source de blocages politiques. Il faut les prendre en compte et ne pas sacraliser le local »

#Magali_Fricaudet : Municipalisme et droit à la ville

Les 4 caractéristiques du municipalisme :
– la #radicalité_démocratique —> « comment est-ce qu’on gouverne en obéissant », comment est-ce qu’on applique la #démocratie_directe des #assemblées, mais aussi des mécanismes de contrôle de l’exercice du pouvoir, soutenir l’#expertise_citoyenne, travailler sur un #code_éthique des élus pour contrôler leur mandat
– la #féminisation de la politique —> féminiser la politique c’est aussi changer l’approche de la politique et remettre en cause, par la pratique, le #patriarcat et ses valeurs (#compétitivité, exercice d’un #pouvoir basé sur le culture du chef et l’#autorité), c’est faire de la politique en écoutant
– la #transition_écologique (#relocalisation_de_l'économie, les #remunicipalisations), comment changer le #paradigme_économique à partir du #local, contribution à la relocalisation, encourager l’#agriculture_urbaine et la gestion des #biens_communs
– les #droits et les droits dans leur #universalité —> c’est la question des #migrants, quand on parle de #droits_universels on parle de #droits_pour_tous. Référence au #document_local_d'identité qui donne droit à toustes aux #droits_essentiels, aux équipements publics
#universalité_des_droits —> « on gouverne pour les gens et par les droits ». Il s’agit de partir des droits et pas de la « machine qui prend en charge les gens »

"Collectivités locales, reprendre la main, c’est possible !"

https://i.imgur.com/ulsOVS4.png

Le nouveau rapport de l’AITEC « Collectivités locales, reprendre la main, c’est possible ! Politiques publiques de #transition démocratique et écologique : #résistances et #alternatives locales à la libéralisation » se fonde sur une enquête approfondie menée en 2017 auprès d’élu-e-s, d’agents territoriaux, et d’acteur-trice-s du monde associatif. Il met en avant des politiques publiques locales alternatives, plus démocratiques, plus justes et plus durables, à rebours de la libéralisation des marchés, du tout-privé et d’une économie hors-sol.

L’aspiration modeste est de dresser un paysage non exhaustif des contraintes réglementaires que rencontrent les collectivités locales progressistes pour porter des politiques publiques locales de transition démocratique et écologique. Ce rapport propose des pistes pour saisir les opportunités permettant de créer un “écosystème” d’alternatives afin de renouveler ou inventer des formes de gouvernance locale plus démocratiques, justes et durables.

Les politiques néolibérales d’austérité et de libéralisation des échanges commerciaux et financiers ont poussé dans le sens d’une transposition des règles du marché dans la sphère publique. Elles placent les grandes entreprises, souvent transnationales et fortes de moyens techniques et financiers importants, en partenaires idéaux des pouvoirs publics. Ces politiques participent de l’assèchement des systèmes de solidarités publics et de l’asphyxie de l’économie de proximité : remise en cause de l’universalité des services publics, difficultés de relocalisation de l’économie, gestion comptable déshumanisée des politiques publiques, etc. Elles étouffent les possibilités de développer les politiques nécessaires pour répondre aux défis sociaux et environnementaux auxquels nous faisons face localement et globalement.

Pour autant, ces contraintes n’éliment pas la motivation de certaines collectivités à faire émerger tout un panel de solutions pour contre-carrer les ambitions de lucrativité et d’accaparement portées par les tenants de la doxa néolibérale. Trois entrées d’alternatives ont pu être identifiées :

1. Premièrement, il s’agit de (re)démocratiser des services publics : remunicipaliser les services publics, investir dans des sociétés coopératives d’intérêt général (SCIC), ne pas s’enfermer dans des contrats de partenariats publics-privés etc. Cela permet de pouvoir garder la main publique sur les services et donc le contrôle des dépenses et des orientations, d’inclure les citoyen-ne-s dans les processus de contrôle et de décision, et d’orienter les (ré)investissements pour l’amélioration et l’accessibilité du service ;

2. Deuxièmement, il s’agit d’aller vers une commande publique responsable : privilégier les achats publics locaux en prenant en compte les notions de cycle de vie ou de circuit-court, bien connaître l’offre territoriale pour adapter la demande publique aux capacités des TPE/PME et entreprises de l’économie sociale et solidaire (ESS), etc. Cela permet de prendre en compte l’impact social et environnemental de l’achat public tout en relocalisant l’économie et en soutenant les acteurs socio-économiques locaux ;

3. Troisièmement, il s’agit de travailler avec et pour le tissu socio-économique du territoire : structurer l’offre des acteur-trice-s économiques locaux (familiaux, artisanaux, agricoles ou éthiques), faciliter l’accès au foncier et aux équipements publics pour les acteur-trice-s de l’ESS, soutenir des initiatives de coopératives citoyennes (d’habitant-e-s, d’énergies renouvelables, etc.), etc. Cela renforce l’offre locale face aux grands groupes, tout en allant vers une (re)démocratisation des rapports socio-économiques locaux.

▻https://aitec.reseau-ipam.org/spip.php?article1663

#rapport #AITEC

#Ecologistas_en_Acción
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/900676

Le « municipalisme libertaire » de Bookchin : un chemin vers la reconquête démocratique ?

Débat entre #Pinar_Selek, sociologue et militante féministe, et #Aurélien_Bernier, essayiste et défenseur de la démondialisation. Tous deux discutent des thèses de Murray Bookchin concernant le « #communalisme », et des expériences qu’elle nourrissent.

Citation de Bookchin pour commencer le débat :

https://i.imgur.com/fcp7pdX.png

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejksnPBJVtU

Agir ici et maintenant. Penser l’#écologie_sociale de Murray Bookchin

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0079/3313/2881/products/9791095630272.png?v=1578326174#.jpg

L’effondrement qui vient n’est pas seulement celui des humains et de leur milieu, mais bien celui du capitalisme par nature prédateur et sans limites. Historiquement désencastré du social et nourri par l’exploitation et la marchandisation des personnes, il étend désormais son emprise sur toute la planète et sur tous les domaines du vivant. C’est en se désengageant d’un constat fataliste et culpabilisant que nous retrouverons une puissance d’agir ici et maintenant. Quoi de mieux, pour cela, que de relire Murray Bookchin et d’appréhender toutes les expérimentations et pratiques qui se développent après lui, aujourd’hui, autour de nous ?

Floréal M. Romero dresse ici le portrait du fondateur de l’écologie sociale et du municipalisme libertaire. Il retrace son histoire, son cheminement critique et politique. De l’Espagne au Rojava, en passant par le Chiapas, l’auteur propose, à partir d’exemples concrets, des manières d’élaborer la convergence des luttes et des alternatives pour faire germer un nouvel imaginaire comme puissance anonyme et collective.

Essai autant que manifeste, ce livre est une analyse personnelle et singulière de la pensée de Bookchin qui trouve une résonance bien au-delà de l’expérience de l’auteur. Il apporte des conseils pratiques pour sortir du capitalisme et ne pas se résigner face à l’effondrement qui vient.

►https://www.editionsducommun.org/products/agir-ici-et-maintenant-floreal-m-romero

L’illusion localiste. L’arnaque de la décentralisation dans un monde globalisé

http://www.editions-utopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/COUV_Lillusion-localiste-183x300.jpg

Rapprocher le pouvoir du citoyen , instaurer la « démocratie participative, soutenir le développement territorial et l’économie « de proximité…

A l’approche des élections municipales, on assiste à une surenchère des mots d’ordre localistes et décentralisateurs. On les retrouve dans tous les discours politiques, de la gauche à l’extrème-droite en passant par la droite et les socio-démocrates.

La participation des habitants et les promesses de changement « par en bas » sont dans tous les programmes. Les démarches et les listes « citoyennes », plus ou moins instrumentalisées par les partis traditionnels, se multiplient. Même le président de la République s’affiche localiste : en réponse à la crise de « Gilets jaunes », il promet une nouvelle phase de décentralisation pour la deuxième moitié de son mandat. A en croire nos élites, c’est donc par l’action municipale ou régionale que les problèmes économiques, sociaux, environnementaux ou démocratiques pourraient être résolus...

Ce livre s’attache à déconstruire ce mensonge. Car la mondialisation, elle, ne rapproche pas le pouvoir du citoyen, mais l’éloigne considérablement. Les décisions économiques sont concentrées aux mains des grandes firmes et de leurs actionnaires, et s’imposent aux peuples par delà les principes démocratiques. Les droits sociaux sont en régression permanente à cause de la concurrence internationale. Et la classe politique n’en finit plus de se discréditer en obéissant aux injonctions des marchés.

La « mondialisation heureuse » ayant fait long feu, c’est le « localisme heureux » qu’à présent on cherche à nous vendre. Le terroir et les circuits courts pour compenser les ravages de la mondialisation. Le régionalisme pour masquer le désengagement de l’État, la destruction ou la privatisation des services publics.

Cette « illusion localiste » doit être dénoncée. Non pas que l’action de proximité soit négligeable, car s’engager dans la vie locale est tout à fait nécessaire. Mais pour sortir du piège de la mondialisation, cela ne suffit pas. Plutôt que d’opposer l’action locale et celle de l’État, mieux vaudrait les articuler.

▻http://www.editions-utopia.org/2019/11/04/lillusion-localiste

#Institute_for_Social_Ecology

https://social-ecology.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ISE-banner.jpg

For 45 years, the Institute for Social Ecology has provided community-based educational programs, popular education and organizing assistance to social and political movements, informed by a community-centered vision of positive, ecologically-oriented social change.

▻https://social-ecology.org

Un séminaire en ligne (et en italien) avec #Iolanda_Bianchi, qui a écrit une thèse de doctorat sur Barcelone:

Città, beni comuni, partecipazione: Esiste il modello Barcellona? Seminario online di formazione con Iolanda Bianchi

https://i.imgur.com/16qosnT.png

PRESENTAZIONE
Barcellona è stata al centro delle mobilitazioni popolari contro le politiche di austerità che si svilupparono in Spagna a partire dal 2011 (il cosiddetto movimento degli indignados - M-15). Nel 2015 fu eletta al governo della città una coalizione civica «Barcelona en comú» guidata da Ada Colau, un’attivista per il diritto all’abitare. Da allora il governo locale si è impegnato a mettere in campo politiche volte a correggere le distorsioni dello sviluppo urbano di segno neoliberale, sui temi della regolamentazione degli alloggi turistici (a partire dal piano PEUAT del 2017), della vivibilità dello spazio pubblico (la pedonalizzazione di isolati urbani, i cosiddetti «superblocchi» o «supermanzanas»), della gestione dei beni comuni. Queste iniziative sono state segnate da successi come da fallimenti. Alla luce di questa esperienza, in questo seminario discutiamo del cosiddetto «modello Barcellona» di neo-municipalismo, in connessione con le esperienze italiane di campagne per il diritto alla città e all’abitare in cui noi in prima persona siamo stati coinvolti in questi anni.

IOLANDA BIANCHI è una studiosa di processi politici in una dimensione urbana. Ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in urbanistica e politiche pubbliche presso l’Università Autonoma di Barcellona e l’Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. La sua ricerca si focalizza sulle forme alternative di soddisfacimento dei bisogni e dei diritti primari alla scala urbana, osservate dal punto di vista delle collaborazioni tra società civile e istituzioni pubbliche. Attualmente è ricercatrice post-dottorato «Juan de la Cierva» presso l’IGOP, l’Istituto di Governo e Politica Pubblica dell’Università Autonoma di Barcellona. E’ autrice di numerosi articoli scientifici in riviste internazionali e italiane.

▻https://www.facebook.com/events/409241853637821

Hello,

La Fondation Roi Baudouin a initié pas mal de travaux, réflexions, projets visant à développer au niveau communal des analyses et/ou des projets qu’on pourrait qualifier « d’inspiré.e.s par un certain humanisme ». Je discerne un lien avec les études en urbanisme et je trouve (un peu « vite fait »...) par exemple 2 documents qui me semble potentiellement inscrits dans la liaison entre les thématiques Commune/Humanisme/Urbanisme (mais les « ismes », dont le municipal, sont sous-jacents, non spécifiquement étudiés). Cela pourrait être utile par exemple comme fond documentaire pour un tel atelier ? ;-)

– La pauvreté des enfants au niveau local : cartographie communale
►https://www.kbs-frb.be/fr/cartographie_pauvreteinfantile
– Communes Alzheimer Admis – Un guide pour vous inspirer
►https://www.kbs-frb.be/fr/Virtual-Library/2011/295136

#merci @suske.
Je vais faire un billet à part avec des mots-clé ad hoc pour archiver

La république de #Saillans
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/907813
#film #film_documentaire