Ovi magazine; Wednesday March 22nd, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday March 22nd, 2023

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Trashing Asylum: The UK’s Illegal Migration Bill by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

He was standing before a lectern at Downing Street.  The words on the support looked eerily similar to those used by the politicians of another country.  According to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Stop the Boats was the way to go.  It harked back to the same approach used by Australia’s Tony Abbott, who won the 2013 election on precisely that platform.

The UK Illegal Migration Bill is fabulously own-goaled, bankrupt and unprincipled.  For one thing, it certainly is a labour of love in terms of the illegal, as the title suggests.  In time, the courts may well also find fault with this ghastly bit of proposed legislation, which has already sailed through two readings in the Commons and resting in the Committee stage.

On Good Morning Britain, Home Secretary Suella Braverman had to concede she was running “novel arguments” about dealing with such irregular migration, not making mention of Australia’s own novel experiment which did, and still continues, to besmirch and taint international refugee law.

In her statement on whether the bill would be consistent with the European Convention of Human Rights, enshrined by the UK Human Rights Act, Braverman was brazen to the point of being quixotic: “I am unable to make a statement that, in my view, the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill are compatible with the Convention rights, but the Government nevertheless wishes the House to proceed with the Bill.”

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Classic 70’s Chick (V2) #poem by Michael Lee Johnson

“Classic 70’s chick
scent of these times
gold digger want to be.
Poet & scholar stuck on
T.S. Eliot “The Waste Land.”
She tracks down a few stray men,
prospect hunks, & greenback dreams.”

Continue reading HERE!

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AntySaurus Prick #62 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Tuesday November 8th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday November 8th, 2022

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The Bond Vigilantes Get Busy by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

While the levels of schadenfreude will be going through the roof given the unfolding farce in British politics, the resignation of Liz Truss as UK Prime Minister was troubling in one vital respect.  True, her juvenile salad understanding of economics, which involved spending billions on tax cuts and energy subsidies, was lamentable.  To cope with the beast of aggressive inflation, she was advocating a policy that would feed it.

Then came the not-very-invisible hand of the market, which decided to throttle her government and its policies with petulance. While the vigilantes of the market have, depending on the occasion, burst into song at the announcement of tax cuts, thereby stimulating growth, the reaction was far different this time.  Trussonomics had the effect of sending a spike in bond yields so serious it threatened the British pension system.  The pound also received a mighty battering.

In one vital respect, this was yet another savaging blow for democratic, or at least representative control vis-à-vis the market.  Never mind what those silly politicians do, the buccaneers in London City and Wall Street and other such engine rooms of finance know better.They, not the world’s treasuries, can dictate policy for the commonweal by driving up borrowing costs.  Central banks the world over are also complying, implementing monetary policy aligned with the bond market.

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Viscosity #poem by Jan Sand

“The drip and drop of honey, of oil,
Has a velocity determined by
Viscosity.
A kind of stickiness to control the flow
Of how quickly something should go.”

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A fistful of cactus #40 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Saturday October 29th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday October 29th, 2022

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Sunak’s plenty of great expectations and nil hope by Thanos Kalamidas

Rishi Sunak; the first person of colour, the first practising Hindu and one of the richest persons in Britain to become the youngest prime minister in modern UK history. These words are a repeated reference in all UK media and most of the world’s news agencies the last few days creating a strange momentum of hope, we have unfortunately seen before.

Without moving far away, crossing oceans or anything like that, wasn’t Margaret Thatcher the first woman to become UK prime minister a few decades before? Wasn’t she the wind of change for women’s equality rights in an era where women’s liberations movement was reaching a peak? Wasn’t she the hope to restore financial stability for the middle class UK and security for the working class in Great Britain?

It took less than a year for everybody, not only in UK but all around the world, to realize that Margaret Thatcher was the worst enemy of women’s equality rights and the strongest provider of unemployment for the working class. The woman made the oppression of the working class and the establishment of the systematic inequality dogma and her legacy in history books.  

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The Burial of the Dead #poem by Dr. Lawrence Nannery

“The cenotes led The Fathers of Us All to it:
at the bottom of the waters there is a cave,
with land one can walk on, and breathe.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Berserk Alert! #197 #cartoon by Tony Zuvela

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Ovi magazine; Tuesday October 18th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday October 18th, 2022

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The Implosion of Liz Truss by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Liz Truss is proving to be the architect of her own spectacular demise.  She laid the mines in a fit of drunken ecstasy and decided to skip across them with an almost childish arrogance that has stunned her own party members.  Along the way, a few have gone off, doing her what can only be regarded as terminal political damage.

The effort to shift sole responsibility for the abysmal economic plan on tax cuts outlined in the “mini-Budget” to her Chancellor suggested a lack of awareness and authority.  It further suggested a profound lack of competence, if only because the Chancellor had simply done what he was supposed to do. 

While Truss supporters suggested replacing Kwasi Kwarteng, pollical reality yielded something quite different.  They had been seen as a duo, immune to policy U-turns, keen to promote the “growth” agenda in the face of bizarrely named anti-growth sceptics.  Now, everything was for turning. “This,” came the message from Tory backbencher Craig Mackinlay to his colleagues, was “a double U-turn with the handbrake on.  Never U-turn.  Others will smell blood in the water knowing they can take bites out of your backside & dictate the agenda.”

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Nimble Leap #poem by Jan Sand

“The Jack-be-nimble, with his trick,
Leaped above the candlestick,
Occupied a time and space
Not far from that ancient place
Where Alley Oop, on dinosaur,
Mastered the before before.”

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Screws & Chips #44 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Friday September 30th, 2022 – International Translation Day

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday September 30th, 2022 – International Translation Day

International Translation Day is meant as an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security.

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The Rise of Trussonomics by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

It’s impossible to know whether the new British Prime Minister is genuinely serious about constructive policy or not.  She is certainly interested in greasing palms and calming the storms, if only to delay the inevitable.  Having proven herself the shallowest of candidates to succeed her disgraced, not wholly banished predecessor, Liz Truss has leapt into economic policy as her starting point.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the newly minted Chancellor of the Exchequer, has given us a sense of what Trussonomics looks like in his “mini budget” announced on September 23.  In line with this new policy, undertaken at a time of stroppily rising inflation (currently 9.9%), more fiscal stimulus is promised: £30 billion per year (or 1.2% of GDP), and mammoth subsidies to soften energy bills with costs that could rise to £150 billion.

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Mobius Strip #poem by George Cassidy Payne

“To forgive is to release.
To let go. To be held.
To arrive at where we want to end,
we grasp for it. Without knowing”

Continue reading HERE!

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Jalal al-Din Rumi (30 Sept 1207 – 17 Dec 1273) by Rene Wadlow

Rumi, a poet and mystic of Persian culture, was born in what is today Afghanistan and died in what is now Turkey.  He used the image of a person as the flute of the Spirit.  Man is a flute for the breath of God — the instrument that the Spirit uses to express itself.  The Spirit can use the flute of any quality.  What is important is not the merit of the flute, but the strength of the wind of the Spirit.  Thus, Rumi develops the idea of “grace” — the Divine can come to fill the lowest of vessels. The coming of the Spirit, the blending of the individual soul with the Universal Spirit, does not depend on the good actions or piety of the individual.  Here Rumi echoes an earlier Sufi writer al Bistani who called upon the aspirant to “Be in the domain where neither good nor evil exists: both of them belong to the world of created things: in the presence of Unity, there is neither command nor prohibition.”

Continue reading HERE!

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AntySaurus Prick #47 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Saturday September 10th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday September 10th, 2022

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Zombifying legacies and a King by Thanos Kalamidas

The Queen is dead, long live king Charles III, Liz Truss-es Britannia and Margaret Thatcher is long gone. This somehow summarizes the soul of events the last few days in Britain.

Doesn’t matter what you believe, a pro-monarchy or a raving anti-monarch, Elisabeth II was a major figure in the history of the 20th century for good or bad and her passing is like the end of a book -not just a chapter, in global history. And she will be remembered as that.

However, there is a lot to remember from her, from her stand during the difficult times for Britain after WWII and her constant unifying spirit to her vicious opposition to Cyprus independence, her opposition to enforce any kind of restrictions against the South African apartheid, witnessing India’s and Pakistan’s independence to her lack of empathy on Diana’s death. Yet, there she was. She was there with Winston Churchill, with Margaret Thatcher, with Tony Blair, even with Boris Johnson. She was there when UK entered the European Economic Community and she was there when Theresa May sighed Brexit.

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Who hates Sierra Leone? #poem by Dr Saidu Bangura

“When people 
in a democracy 
are hungry
and angry about
how they are 
governed  
and lament 
how difficult 
life has become 
how hard life is 
and leaders 
become silent “

Continue reading HERE!

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Insert Brain Here 2.0 #019 #cartoon by Paul Woods

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Ovi magazine; Wednesday September 7th, 2022 – International Day of Clean Air for blue skies

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday September 7th, 2022 – International Day of Clean Air for blue skies

UN Member States recognize the need to substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination by 2030, as well as to reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management.Clean air is important for the health and day-to-day lives of people, while air pollution is the single greatest environmental risk to human health and one of the main avoidable causes of death and disease globally. Air pollution disproportionately affects women, children and older persons, and also has a negative impact on ecosystems.

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Casting Malevolent Shadows: Liz Truss Wins the Tory Leadership by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

10 Downing Street is set to be bathed in social media guff with the victory of Liz Truss.   Confirmed as Boris Johnson’s successor, the new British Prime Minister won by a slimmer margin over rival contender Rishi Sunak than anticipated.  Nonetheless, 81,326 votes to 60,399 was sufficient to guarantee her a secure margin – for the moment.  (The turnout had been 83 per cent.)

There is little doubt that the Tory selectorate – a good deal of it – seem to adore her.  That hardly makes them, or her, representative of a broader constituency, and certainly the same constituency that voted for Johnson in 2019.  Certain conservative voices have even warned that the Tory party now resembles, in part, the Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn.  Corbyn stormed through the ranks with an adoring base of party supporters and ideological brio.  The broader electorate were not quite so enamoured.

The challenges the new prime minister faces are biting.  The country is facing energy bills Truss has herself described as “eye-watering”.  But despite this, she is willing to deliver £30 billion in tax cuts via an emergency budget and a reversal of April’s rise in National Insurance.  Betraying a characteristically woolly understanding of economics, notably on progressive taxation, she sees no problem about the accrued benefits to higher-income earners.

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Trauma #poem by David Sparenberg

“House:
house made of wood
is on fire.
Fiery winds
blow our ashes away.
Burning forests
and the grasslands.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Always something; the family edition #42 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Thursday July 28th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday July 28th, 2022

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Korean Peace Treaty Awaits: NGO Efforts Needed by Rene Wadlow

27 July marked the anniversary of the 1953 Armistice ending the fighting in Korea.  A peace treaty was to follow, but such a formal peace agreement has never been signed.  Since 1953, there have been ups and downs of the degree of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.  Currently, tensions are toward the high end of the scale.

On 14 March 2013, the Association of World Citizens had sent a message to the then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging a U.N.-sponsored Korean Peace Settlement Conference now that all the States which had  participated in the 1950-1953 Korean War were members of the United Nations.  The 60th anniversary of the 1953 Armistice would be an appropriate occasion.

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We Rise #poem by Jan Sand

“We rise like rockets in the night.
Some of us explode in fiery glory
And some of us reach secret height
To see the wonder of the Sun.”

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Chaff Candidates: The Race for the UK Tory Leadership by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the scene in spectacular fashion.  All who sought to confine him to history, perished.  He was the only one who seemed to survive, and reject, one diabolical scandal after the next – till now. 

No leader with such a destructive sense of presence could do anything but impair those who followed him.  But that impairment lingers in the contenders who areseeking to replace him, and it shows.

In a system that is admirably daft, the governing party, namely the Conservatives, have given themselves a remarkable span of time to pick Johnson’s successor.  A number of candidates initially put their name forth, a chaff-wheat separation exercise that eventually led to the selection of chaff.

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Insert Brain Here 2.0 #017 #cartoon by Paul Woods

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Ovi magazine; Thursday June 16th, 2022 – International Day of the African Child

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday June 16th, 2022 – International Day of the African Child

The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the OAU Organisation of African Unity. It honors those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day. It also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children. In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, about ten thousand black school children marched in a column more than half a mile long, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young students were shot, the most famous of which being Hector Pieterson. More than a hundred people were killed in the protests of the following two weeks, and more than a thousand were injured.

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Fighting the First UK-Rwandan Refugee Flight by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

June 10 bore witness to a valiant effort on the part of refugee groups and a trade union to stop what promises to be the first journey of many as part of the UK-Rwanda plan.  Their attempt to seek an injunction failed to convince the High Court.  Next Tuesday, the first flight from the UK to Rwanda filled with asylum seekers will, unless the Court of Appeal rules otherwise, take off.  Some 31 people of Iraqi and Syrian background have been told they will be on board with one-way tickets.

The UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, hammered out by the Home Secretary Priti Patel and her counterparts in Kigali, has one central purpose: to deter the arrival of asylum seekers by boat across the English Channel.  Its genesis lies in a range of sources, none more insidious than the Australian model of offshore processing.  At its core is a rejection of international refugee law and its obligations.  In its place is the sentiment of convenience, callousness and cruel stinginess.

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Sorrows #poem & #painting by Nikos Laios

“I became an eagle,
And I carried bundles
Of sorrows on my wings,
And I soared into the sky”

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Worming #38 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Wednesday February 23rd, 2022 – Inconvenience Yourself Day

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday February 23rd, 2022 – Inconvenience Yourself Day

Inconvenience Yourself Day concept may have originated from Ms. Julie Thompson and it was meant to serve as an incentive for others to acknowledge their appreciation for acquaintances or strangers and to promote a respectful attitude and an attentive demeanor.

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President Biden: Afghan lives matter; why not pay $2.65 trillion to the #Afghan victims? by Dr. Habib Siddiqui

On May 12, 1996, Madeleine Albright, the U.S. Secretary of State, appeared in the TV program, 60 Minutes. Lesley Stahl asked her on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: “We have heard that a half million children (actually, 567,000 Iraqi children under the age of five) have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?” Albright coolly replied, “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.” Never mind that she later regretted for her “cold-blooded and cruel” reply, she would always be remembered in history as a mass murderer.

Over the past forty years, the United States has abused its supremacy in global capital markets to advance its foreign policy interests. This has led to the financial sanctions placed on some twenty countries. Since 1979, Iran has been one of the worst sufferers of U.S. sanctions. Iranian frozen assets in international accounts are calculated to be worth between $100 and 120 billion. Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in July 2015, the US agreed to cancel most US sanctions against Iran, with some safeguard provisions, in return for limitations on Iran’s nuclear program. When Donald Trump came to power, the U.S. reimposed the Iran sanctions in 2018, and was able to block Iran’s access to Western financial markets, to the protestations of every other great power.

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“Tesseract” #poem by Jan Sand

“This tangled net of vertices and lines
Conveys an occult message to require
A realignment into new confines
Within which time and space perform their gyre.”

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Failure in Moscow: Liz Truss loses Britannia’s Way by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Incompetent politicians and diplomats are on the level with ill-prepared generals fighting current wars with dated methods. They err, they stumble, and they may well be responsible for the next idiotic slander, misfire or misunderstanding. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is synonymous with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s idea of groping diplomacy. Graceless, all confusion, and much ignorance besides, she has been given the task of howling in the Kremlin’s direction, warning that no invasion of Ukraine will be tolerated by Global Britain.

Truss, former international trade secretary known for her “goofy public persona”, took over from the less goofy and somewhat severe Dominic Raab as foreign secretary in Johnson’s ministerial shake-up last year. Her time at the Department of International Trade had been dubbed the “Department for Instagramming Truss”, given her insatiable appetite for social media platforms.

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Sceptic feathers #029 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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