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Late, but It Is Early
Morning If We Insist a
Little: <font size="-2"><br>
The Thirty-Third
Newsletter (2020) -
August 13, 2020</font></span></span></span></strong>
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<div id="attachment_25957"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25957"
class="size-full
wp-image-25957
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jamil-Molaeb-Lebanon-Untitled-October-2019-3.jpg"
alt="Jamil Molaeb
(Lebanon), Untitled,
October 2019."
srcset="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jamil-Molaeb-Lebanon-Untitled-October-2019-3.jpg
950w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jamil-Molaeb-Lebanon-Untitled-October-2019-3-300x226.jpg
300w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jamil-Molaeb-Lebanon-Untitled-October-2019-3-768x578.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
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<p
id="caption-attachment-25957"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #e06d02;">Jamil
Molaeb (Lebanon), <i>Untitled</i>,
October 2019.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Dear
friends,</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Greetings
from the desk of the <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=b85ffd19ee&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true"><b>Tricontinental:
Institute for Social
Research</b></a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Nothing
happens in Beirut and
Lebanon that is transparent;
plots of all kinds unravel
against the ordinary hopes
of the population. After the
deadly explosion, it was
impossible to imagine that
the most reasonable
explanation would be
accepted. Rumours flew
around, except the rumours
did not have their impact.
It was clear to the people
that this time – unlike so
many times previously – it
was their own political
system that had to be held
accountable for the enormous
explosion, which came in the
midst of a pandemic, a
currency and economic
crisis, and a long-standing
and unresolved political
quagmire.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">From
Tricontinental: Institute
for Social Research comes <span
style="color: #ba2025;"><a
style="color:
#ba2025;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=994ec53b3f&e=d206d0a40d"
moz-do-not-send="true">Red
Alert no. 8: The
Explosion in Beirut.</a></span>
This red alert has been put
together by organisations
and people from Lebanon, for
whose input we are grateful.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><img
class="aligncenter
size-full wp-image-25892
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200122_Red-Alert-Cards_EN_TT.jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200122_Red-Alert-Cards_EN_TT.jpg
1200w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200122_Red-Alert-Cards_EN_TT-300x158.jpg
300w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200122_Red-Alert-Cards_EN_TT-1024x538.jpg
1024w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200122_Red-Alert-Cards_EN_TT-768x403.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
1200px) 100vw, 1200px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="1200" border="0"></p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<h2 style="text-align:
center;display:
block;margin: 0;padding:
0;color:
#202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
22px;font-style:
normal;font-weight:
bold;line-height:
125%;letter-spacing:
normal;"><span style="color:
#ba2025;"><strong>Red
Alert: The Explosion in
Beirut</strong></span></h2>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">In
the early evening of August
4, a fire broke out in
Warehouse 12 at the Port of
Beirut, the capital of
Lebanon (population 6.8
million, including over a
million refugees). An
enormous plume of smoke rose
from the fire, which was
then overshadowed by an
explosion whose powerful
force tore outwards and
shattered parts of Beirut.
The port was immediately
levelled; the pressure wave
reached around 15 kilometres
in all directions. At least
70,000 homes have been
damaged, some no longer
inhabitable; at least 160
people were killed; 5,000
people were injured; unknown
numbers still missing; two
hospitals were destroyed.
This is the largest
explosion ever experienced
in Lebanon, despite its
history of French
colonialization, US
interventions, Israeli
attacks and occupations, and
its 15-year civil war.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<h3 style="display:
block;margin: 0;padding:
0;color:
#202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
20px;font-style:
normal;font-weight:
bold;line-height:
125%;letter-spacing:
normal;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;"><strong>What
happened?</strong></span></h3>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
did not take long for the
evidence to appear that what
had exploded was not a ship
with weapons or fireworks or
a missile, but a building
that housed 2,750 tonnes of
ammonium nitrate, which had
been stored negligently in a
port warehouse since
November 2013.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Ammonium
nitrate is a flammable
chemical that is used in
fertiliser, explosives, and
rocket fuel. In 2013, the MV
Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged
cargo ship, arrived in
Beirut with this cargo; the
ship was headed to Beira
(Mozambique). Port officials
impounded the ship, which
was not seaworthy, and
impounded what they called
the ‘dangerous cargo’. Six
times between 2014 and 2017,
the customs officials asked
the judge of urgent matters
in Beirut for guidance on
how to sell or dispose of
the cargo. It is likely that
the ammonium nitrate had
arrived in the form of
Nitroprill, which is a
blasting agent used in coal
mines. Even a small fire can
cause the ammonium nitrate
to explode catastrophically.
Fireworks were also stored
in the same warehouse. More
than 19 officials have been
arrested, including the
director of the Port of
Beirut and the customs
director. An investigation
is underway.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_25967"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25967"
class="size-full
wp-image-25967
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Paul-Guiragossian-Lebanon-La-Grande-Marche-1987.-2.jpg"
alt="Paul Guiragossian
(Lebanon), La Grande
Marche (1987)."
srcset="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Paul-Guiragossian-Lebanon-La-Grande-Marche-1987.-2.jpg
950w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Paul-Guiragossian-Lebanon-La-Grande-Marche-1987.-2-300x198.jpg
300w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Paul-Guiragossian-Lebanon-La-Grande-Marche-1987.-2-768x508.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-25967"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #e06d02;">Paul
Guiragossian (Lebanon),
<i>La Grande Marche</i>
(1987).</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<h3 style="display:
block;margin: 0;padding:
0;color:
#202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
20px;font-style:
normal;font-weight:
bold;line-height:
125%;letter-spacing:
normal;text-align: left;"><strong><span
style="color: #ba2025;">What
is an accident?</span></strong></h3>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">An
accident is something that
cannot be foreseen, where
there is no human agency
responsible for what has
taken place. The explosion
in Beirut on 4 August was
not an accident. The highly
flammable cargo was held in
a warehouse for over six
years; this warehouse, in
Beirut’s port, abuts the
residential neighbourhoods
of Gemmayze and Karantina.
Over the past six years,
customs officials – with
clear political affiliations
– leaked reports about the
danger. The authorities were
aware of the possibility of
an explosion. They did
nothing.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
explosion is the cherry on
top of the horrors of a
thirty-year post-civil war
political structure that saw
civil war militia leaders
turn in their fatigues for
business suits. The 1990
Taif Accords meeting to end
the civil war did not hold
anyone accountable. It did
exactly the opposite and
legitimised the sectarian
leadership in the country’s
government; sectarian
warlords of the civil war
became the custodians of the
state they destroyed. A
corrupt political class has
enriched itself while
defunding schools,
hospitals, and all public
services; they turned these
services into clientelist
vehicles. Furthermore, the
neoliberal order and
reconstruction that was put
in place by former
billionaire prime minister
Rafik Hariri entrenched a
resilient crony capitalist
system which already had its
roots in Lebanon before the
civil war. Hariri’s
reconstruction focused
strictly on attracting and
benefiting from foreign
investments from Gulf
countries to replenish the
lucrative banking sector (in
which most politicians have
direct stakes), rebuild an
exclusive downtown owned by
his corporation, Solidere,
and other corruption-riddled
and non-productive sectors.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
deeply rooted clientelist
nature of the Lebanese
sectarian system and its
organic links to foreign
interests further allowed
leaders of sectarian groups
to maintain power. Their
ability to provide basic
services to their followers
using state apparatuses and
resources dwindled as their
greed grew and their
practices went unchecked.
Most importantly, their
ability to protect the
population from disasters
diminished as did their
interest in doing so. The
details of how this ammonium
nitrate ended up in the port
for six years are not as
important as the callous,
dysfunctional, and archaic
Lebanese sectarian system
which has never been able to
hold anyone in power
accountable.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<h3 style="display:
block;margin: 0;padding:
0;color:
#202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
20px;font-style:
normal;font-weight:
bold;line-height:
125%;letter-spacing:
normal;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;"><strong>What
will be the economic
consequence?</strong></span></h3>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Although
designated as an
upper-middle-income country,
Lebanon’s previously
existing inequalities and
poverty have been
exacerbated by the Syrian
crisis; the after-effects of
thirty years of political
infighting and related
unsustainable economic
policies; an uprising
against the political class
in October 2019; multiple
Israeli invasions; and now
the pandemic. The Lebanese
lira has lost 80% of its
value since September 2019,
with little hope of any
solution to the liquidity
and credit crisis as well as
the collapse of consumer
demand and the rise of
hyper-inflation. Ironically,
the cash that is expected to
flow into the country as aid
in response to the disaster
would extend the lifeline of
the ruling class and
postpone its inevitable
collapse.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Globally,
Lebanon hosts the highest
number of refugees in
relation to its population
with an estimated 1.5
million refugees from
neighbouring Syria joining
the 200,000 Palestinian
refugees who have been
denied the right to return
to their homeland for
generations. Even prior to
Lebanon’s currently
accelerating financial
disintegration, in 2019
youth unemployment was
estimated at nearly 40%,
while 73% of Syrian
refugees, 65% of
Palestinians, and 27% of the
Lebanese population were
living in poverty. In June
2020, it was estimated that
nearly half of the country’s
population has been pushed
into poverty. Migrant
domestic workers – of whom
there are hundreds of
thousands in the country
living under a legal <i>kafala</i>
system that has been equated
to modern-day slavery – are
suffering even more as their
employers refuse to pay
them; they have no way to
return to their home
countries. The colossal
damage wreaked by the
explosion to homes,
hospitals, organisations,
and businesses – especially
the port through which 80%
of Lebanon’s needed goods
are imported – has pushed
the country over the edge.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Lebanon
used to have one of the most
advanced healthcare systems
in the Arab world. However,
the neoliberal policies of
the Lebanese ruling class
have destroyed the health
system, which has collapsed
in the face of the COVID-19
pandemic. The country has 26
public hospitals and 138
private hospitals; 90% of
its basic medicines and 100%
of its medical equipment are
imported. Medical workers
have protested the lack of
pay; patients cannot be
accommodated in the
hospitals.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
destruction of this key port
leaves the country virtually
unable to resupply itself
with food and medicine (the
port at Tripoli can – at
best – accommodate only 40%
of the capacity that used to
come through Beirut); silos
near the explosion which
housed months of supplies of
grain have been destroyed;
government subsidies for
medicine, bread, and gas are
slated to be revoked. The
overall economic damage to
the country is significant –
upwards of $5 billion for a
country with an optimistic
GDP of $56 billion.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_25977"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25977"
class="size-full
wp-image-25977
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Zena-Assi-Lebanon-Beirut-My-City-2010.-1.jpg"
alt="Zena Assi (Lebanon),
Beirut, My City, 2010."
srcset="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Zena-Assi-Lebanon-Beirut-My-City-2010.-1.jpg
950w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Zena-Assi-Lebanon-Beirut-My-City-2010.-1-300x241.jpg
300w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Zena-Assi-Lebanon-Beirut-My-City-2010.-1-768x616.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-25977"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #e06d02;"><a
style="color:
#e06d02;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=14f69454fb&e=d206d0a40d"
moz-do-not-send="true">Zena
Assi</a> (Lebanon), <i>Beirut,
My City</i>, 2010.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<h3 style="display:
block;margin: 0;padding:
0;color:
#202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
20px;font-style:
normal;font-weight:
bold;line-height:
125%;letter-spacing:
normal;text-align: left;"><strong><span
style="color: #ba2025;">What
will be the political
outcome?</span></strong></h3>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Since
17 October 2019, Lebanon has
witnessed continuous
protests due to corruption
and the deterioration of the
social situation, as well as
economic, environmental, and
political crises. Protests
have taken place over the
past nine months for regular
electricity and water,
accountable institutions
free of corruption, a
reliable judiciary, a secure
currency, as well as a
non-sectarian political and
economic system.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Emanuel
Macron, the President of
France, came to Beirut,
summoned and scolded
political leaders, lectured
them about statesmanship,
and made promises for money
and reform. Meanwhile, not
far away, young people
demanded freedom for
political prisoner George
Ibrahim Abdallah, held in a
French prison; political
considerations have prompted
French authorities to
decline a court ruling for
his release. The French-led
donor’s conference raised
€250 million of emergency
aid for Lebanon, which comes
with strings attached to
deepen dependence on the
International Monetary Fund
and its socio-economic
conditions.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Since
the bombing, it has been
groups of mostly young
people, not government
officials or workers, who
have been cleaning up the
streets and helping people
affected by the bombing from
the working-class
neighbourhoods in Karantina
to the café neighbourhood of
Gemmayze. The political
class lost no time in trying
to capitalise on the
‘opportunities’ arising from
the explosion, even as
bodies and even survivors
were still being dug out
from the rubble.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">On 8
August, massive street
protests called for
immediate accountability,
including an immediate
investigation with swift
results and the arrest of
senior government officials
responsible for this
catastrophe. Protestors
stormed ministries and other
institutions in a symbolic
act of reclaiming the
country. The state crackdown
has been severe, but it has
not dampened the mood of the
population.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><img
class="aligncenter
size-full wp-image-25937
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200813_Dom-Pedro-Casaldáliga-1.jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200813_Dom-Pedro-Casaldáliga-1.jpg
600w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200813_Dom-Pedro-Casaldáliga-1-300x300.jpg
300w,
https://www.thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200813_Dom-Pedro-Casaldáliga-1-150x150.jpg
150w" sizes="(max-width:
600px) 100vw, 600px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="600" border="0"></p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">On 8
August 2020, Bishop Pedro
Casaldáliga Plá <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=342da822a8&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">died</a>
at Santa Casa de Batatais
Hospital in the state of São
Paulo. A Catholic priest
born in Spain, Casaldáliga
was a major force in
liberation theology and a
crucial ally of Brazil’s
indigenous communities. In
1971, he wrote a pastoral
letter, ‘The Church of the
Amazon in conflict with
large landowners and social
marginalisation’, which
attacked the inhumane system
that expressed itself as
genocide against the
indigenous communities in
the Amazon. His great
feeling for humanity was
expressed in his poetry. In
his memory, we share his
poem <i>Nuestra hora</i>,
‘It is our time’.</p>
<blockquote
style="mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
is late<br>
but it is our time.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
is late<br>
but it is all the time<br>
that we have on hand<br>
to make the future.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
is late<br>
but it is us<br>
this late hour</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
is late<br>
but it is early morning<br>
if we insist a little.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Casaldáliga’s
Brazil is currently in deep
distress, with over 100,000
people killed by COVID-19
and over three million
people infected with the
disease. Trade unions that
represent Brazilian health
workers, as well as
organisations of
Afro-Brazilians and
indigenous communities, have
delivered a lawsuit to the
International Criminal
Court; they charge President
Jair Bolsonaro with crimes
against humanity. Please
read my <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=77ed33a18e&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">report</a>
on this crucial court case.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">As
part of the report, I asked
Jhuliana Rodrigues, a nurse
technician at the Hospital
São Vicente in Jundiaí,
about her courage to go to
work in such negligent
conditions. ‘If I don’t
continue working now’,
Jhuliana told me, ‘what
would I do? Health
professionals are chosen and
do their jobs with love,
dedication, care of human
beings. Just as we already
live with multi-resistant
bacteria, COVID-19 will be
with us for a long time’.
Jhuliana and essential
workers across the world
carry forward the courage of
Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Warmly,
Vijay.</p>
</span> </td>
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