Racism, xenophobia and discrimination are “fundamental influences” on health globally but have been overlooked by health researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the Lancet suggests. Racism is a “profound” and “insidious” driver of health inequalities worldwide and poses a public health threat to millions of people.

Inaccurate and unfounded assumptions about genetic differences between races also continue to shape health outcomes through research, policy and practice, the review of evidence and studies found.

“Racism and xenophobia exist in every modern society and have profound effects on the health of disadvantaged people,” said the lead author, Prof Delan Devakumar of University College London. “Until racism and xenophobia are universally recognised as significant drivers of determinants of health, the root causes of discrimination will remain in the shadows and continue to cause and exacerbate health inequities.”

The reasons why ethnic minorities are at greater risk have received “inadequate scrutiny” from health professionals and researchers, and there is a tendency to assume these inequities are genetically determined and unchangeable, said the Lancet. Its review challenges this notion and the argument that disparities can be explained by patterns of socioeconomic deprivation among racial and ethnic groups.

“Racism is a health issue,” said Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of the Lancet. “Our structurally racist societies are unsafe for too many communities, families and individuals.”

In August, it was revealed that black and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks. 

The analysis of NHS waiting times and the world’s largest primary care database by the University of Exeter and the Guardian discovered minority ethnic patients wait longer than white patients in six of seven cancers studied. The results were described as “deeply concerning” and “absolutely unacceptable”.

Racism poses public health threat to millions worldwide, finds report | Medical research | The Guardian

  It is a fact that close to 4 billion people –or about half of the world’s total population of 8 billion– still live without access to a safe toilet and other sanitation facilities.

Nearly a full decade ago, the international community, represented in the United Nations General Assembly, decided to declare 19 November every single year, as a world day to address such a staggering problem.

And year after year, the UN continues to behave ‘politically correct’ by saying that progress and achievements were anyway made, however much would still be to do.

Despite such ‘correctness,’ the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated on the Day that the world is “seriously off track to keep our promise of safe toilets for all by 2030 – a crucial indicator in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Investment in sanitation systems is too low and progress remains too slow.”

 Every day, over 800 children under age five years old die from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water, sanitation and poor hygiene.

Poor sanitation is linked to the transmission of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera and dysentery, as well as typhoid, intestinal worm infections and polio. It exacerbates stunting and contributes to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Globally, 1 in 3 schools do not have adequate toilets, and 23% of schools have no toilets at all. Schools without toilets can cause girls to miss out on their education. Without proper sanitation facilities, many are forced to miss school when they are on their period.

Open defecation: about 900 million people worldwide practice open defecation, meaning they go outside – on the side of the road, in bushes or rubbish heaps. It’s often a matter of where they live: 90% of people who practice open defecation live in rural areas. Of these, 494 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water.

Moreover, the lack of sanitation services, just in the year 2020, stood behind the fact that 45% of the household wastewater generated globally was discharged without safe treatment. Consequently, at least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.

Inadequate sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes and soil, polluting underground water resources. However, this problem seems to be invisible. Invisible because it happens underground. Invisible because it happens in the poorest and most marginalised communities. Groundwater is the world’s most abundant source of freshwater. It supports drinking water supplies, sanitation systems, farming, industry and ecosystems. As climate change worsens and populations grow, groundwater is vital for human survival. Safe sanitation protects groundwater. Toilets that are properly located and connected to safely managed sanitation systems, collect, treat and dispose of human waste, and help prevent human waste from spreading into groundwater.

Sanitation must withstand climate change. Toilets and sanitation systems must be built or adapted to cope with extreme weather events, so that services always function and groundwater is protected.

World Toilet Day – In Praise of Toilets | Inter Press Service (ipsnews.net)

Via RobertS

Pat Cullen the general secretary of Britain’s nurses’ union ,has accused the health secretary, Steve Barclay, of being a “bullyboy” who is unwilling to negotiate with her because she is a woman representing a largely female workforce. She said the government was displaying “particularly macho” behaviour towards the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) because she believes it sees nursing as “female work” that it does not value properly. She criticised ministers for portraying nurses as “greedy”.

“The more I think about it … I’m a woman negotiating for a 90% female profession that is trying to operate with a government that’s particularly macho and tends to operate with a bullyboy tactic. Perhaps that’s the reason why we can’t get moving forward. By refusing to negotiate Steve Barclay is ignoring nurses and ignoring me. I think there’s an issue here with us being female. I ask myself, would that [refusal to negotiate] be different if it was a 90% male profession and I was a male? I truly believe it would be. I think we’d be treated differently,” said Cullen, whose union represents 500,000 nurses across the UK.

She added: “And that links back to the value of caring and it being female work. Nurses showed the importance of care during the pandemic, the importance of being with a patient at their real hour of need, the importance of being there to hold their hand and see them leave this world and say: ‘It’s OK, we’ll be here.’ That’s all perceived by those people, by those men, as female jobs, female work, and that they can treat us like that.”

Barclay was treating nurses “with contempt and disrespect”, she said.

Tens of thousands of nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to stop work on 15 and 20 December in the profession’s first-ever NHS-wide strike action. Ambulance staff, teachers, university lecturers and Border Force officials are among the many groups of workers who intend to strike over the coming weeks.

Cullin warned nurses could keep staging stoppages at hospitals and other places of NHS care for the next six months in their pursuit of a “fair and decent” pay rise. However, she also suggested the RCN would ditch its demand for a 5% above-inflation increase if the health secretary abandoned his refusal to begin meaningful talks.

Unnamed senior NHS managers have told the Health Service Journal that they regard the health secretary as “a real nightmare, vindictive, arrogant, a bully and hostile to the NHS”.

More than 1.3 million workers intend to strike sometime in December. Royal Mail postal workers  have begun strikes as have the long on-going rail workers strikes.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has been condemned for using “disingenuous” figures after he repeated a claim that meeting union demands for public sector pay awards would cost every household £1,000 extra a year. The £1,000 figure, used by several ministers in recent days, is based on a government estimate that meeting an 11% pay rise for all public sector staff would cost a total of £28bn, spread around 28 million UK households.

The calculation has been called into question, however, given that not every part of the public sector is striking, and that awards recommended by pay review bodies and accepted by ministers average about 5% anyway.

Nurses’ union leader accuses Steve Barclay of ‘bullyboy’ tactics | Steve Barclay | The Guardian

A US House of Representatives committee has found some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies have internally dismissed the need to swiftly move to renewable energy and cut planet-heating emissions, despite publicly portraying themselves as concerned about the climate crisis.

Documents obtained from companies including Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron show that the fossil fuel industry “has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come”, said Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House oversight committee. Documents obtained from companies including Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron show that the fossil fuel industry “has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come”, said Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House oversight committee.

In reality, executives, the documents show, were derisive of the need to cut emissions, disparaged climate activists and worked to secure US government tax credits for carbon capture projects that would allow them to continue business as usual. 

Maloney said that “these companies know their climate pledges are inadequate, but are prioritizing big oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change.”

Ro Khanna, who sits on the committee, said that the industry’s approach was one of “intimidation” towards critics, as part of a “cynical strategy” to avoid acting on the climate emergency. He added that the committee will pass on the documents to “other entities”, raising the possibility of charges laid by the US Department of Justice.

Khanna rejected allegations that the committee had engaged in a sort of corporate witch-hunt. “The industry was the one out there continuing to make false statements about climate change and climate legislation,” he said. “Our goal is to get them to stop engaging in climate misinformation.”

Climate campaigners said the committee’s work showed that the fossil fuel industry was continuing to lie over global heating by pretending to act on the issue.

“The key revelation in this report is that big oil has no intention of actually following through on its climate commitments,” said Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media. “It isn’t transitioning to clean energy, it’s doubling down on methane gas, and it’s actively lobbying against renewable energy solutions. This is the big tobacco playbook all over again: pretend you care about a problem, but continue your deadly business as usual.”

Oil firms have internally dismissed swift climate action, House panel says | Oil and gas companies | The Guardian

 While some people there are forced to huddle in shelters, the army incurs heavy losses on the frontlines, and tens of millions have been displaced in and outside of Ukraine, according to media reports, certain Ukrainian oligarchs and billionaires fled Ukraine with their families before the Russian invasion of February 24.

Some 1,800 kilometers away on the French Riviera, locals say that there are more luxury cars with Ukrainian license plates than before. 

One Ukrainian blogger has posted a picture of several suitcases full of cash — reportedly amounting to over $17 million (€16.1 million) and €1 million, which were found by Hungarian customs officials. 

Ihor Abramovych lives in the seaside resort of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, which is particularly popular with the super-rich. Russians and Ukrainians have long had luxury properties there. 

Corruption expert Zaliskhenko said that Abramovych and other lawmakers continued to try to exert influence from abroad. “Some of them are also involved with legislation from a distance,” he said, adding that they had even tried to introduce bills digitally. The fact that they were not physically present in Ukraine was not grounds for losing a mandate, however, deputies working remotely did not receive a salary, he said.

The French-Ukrainian Association of the Cote d’Azur president , Iryna Bourdelles, said, “These people were not only part of a corrupt elite, but these people — and we are sure of this — are also responsible for this war in Ukraine because they called on Russia to come to Ukraine.”

Ukraine: Pro-Russian oligarchs flee to French Riviera – DW – 12/08/2022

 The World Trade Organization (WTO) has found that tariffs on steel and aluminium imports that were imposed by the US under Trump violate global trade rules. The WTO said the US should bring its trade policy into compliance. If the country does not abide by the decision, the countries who brought the complaints are entitled, under WTO rules, to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US.

 The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is an influential group that helps shape US food policy and steers consumers toward nutritional products. The Academy says it as an independent voice and “trusted educational resource for consumers”. It lobbies Congress and represents and provides information to over 110,000 US dietitians who help people make decisions about which foods to eat. Newly released documents show it has financial ties to the world’s largest processed food companies and has been controlled by former industry employees who have worked for companies like Monsanto.

 A recently published peer-reviewed study that examined a trove of financial documents and internal communications reveal it has a record of quid pro quos with a range of food giants, owns stock in ultra-processed food companies and has received millions in contributions from producers of sugar-heavy soft drinks, candy, and processed foods linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other health problems.

The study for the first time reveals the depth of its financial ties. The Academy accepted at least $15m from corporate and organizational contributors from 2011-2017, and over $4.5m in additional funding went to the Academy’s foundation. Among the highest contributions came from companies like Nestle, PepsiCo, Hershey, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Conagra, the National Dairy Council, and baby formula producer Abbott Nutrition. The Academy and its foundation also received food industry fundings via sponsorships, which are effectively quid pro quos.

“It’s incredibly influential so if the Academy is corrupt then nutritional policy in the US is going to be corrupt,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of US Right to Know, and a co-author of the study. “If we’re ever going to solve the problems of obesity and diabetes in the US and elsewhere, then we’re going to have to tackle the corruption in our health institutions.”

An email reveals the Academy in 2015 was in a sponsorship deal with Abbott and was discussing how the Academy could use its dietitians’ influence in pediatricians’ offices to push Pediasure, one of the pharmaceutical giant’s infant nutritional products. Abbott at the time had in place a two year, $300,000 sponsorship deal. The Academy also owned Abbott stock at the time of the deal and plan, records show. It also owned stock in companies with which it had a sponsorship deal, PepsiCo, as well as financial contributors, like Nestle.

 A 2015 email was also in discussion with Subway about how the Academy could “endorse” the fast food chain’s “healthier products”, the email shows, and discussed a partnership with the Mars candy bar company.

“That is astounding,” Ruskin said. “That belongs in the conflict of interest hall of fame – it is off the charts.”

The study also highlights the revolving door between the Academy and industry. Among its staff and board members are current and former public relations staff for companies that represent big food, as well as consultants or employees for large food entities like Monsanto, Sodexo, the Sugar Association, Bayer and the International Food Information Council, and industry front group.

Marion Nestle, a nutritionist and public health advocate who wrote about the ties in her 2002 book, Food Politics said the financial ties raise “fundamental questions about credibility”.

“How can the Academy advise the public to avoid ultra-processed foods, for example, if it is funded by the makers of those foods?” she asked. “The issue of trust is critical to nutrition advising. The Academy looks like it represents the food industry, not the public interest.”

Revealed: group shaping US nutrition receives millions from big food industry | Nutrition | The Guardian

The European Union as of 2021 has 447.2 million inhabitants, out of which 23.7 million, that’s 5 percent of EU’s total population are non-EU citizens and 37.5 million, almost 8.5% of all EU inhabitants were people born outside the EU.

“The European way of life, for many it’s about being Christian and about being white. So anyone who doesn’t fall into those categories is seen as not belonging to Europe,” says Shada Islam, Brussels-based specialist on European Union affairs. “There are about 50 million people of colour, European of colour across the European Union, that’s a huge number of people, not just a small minority, and that means, migrants are part of that & refugees are part of that. The narrative of Europe is so out of date and out of touch with the reality of the diverse and multicultural Europe that there is today,” 

Islam says while Europe has opened its arms, homes, schools and hospitals to millions of Ukrainian refugees, migration policies continue to remain hardened by European leaders against refugees, especially from the Middle East and Africa. “It’s a sense of compassion, empathy and solidarity that we see towards refugees from Ukraine, but why can’t we show that to people fleeing wars, hunger and climate change from other parts of the world? Why are they kept in camps, why are they pushed back from Frontex, our border control. Why can’t they be welcomed with the same sense of compassion and empathy,”

In response to the Ukrainian crisis, the government of Bulgaria took the first steps to welcome Ukrainian refugees. At a time of one of the worst humanitarian catastrophe, this move by Bulgaria was most welcomed by all, however many human rights activists raised questions of discrimination and double standards when Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said, “these are not the refugees we are used to. This is not the usual refugee wave of people with an unclear past. None of the European countries are worried about them,”.

In February 2022, the refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border had worsened with reports of migrants staying in a camp being forced out, pushed back by security forces with water cannons and tear gas

Thousands of people fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and other areas tried to enter the European Union through Lithuania, Latvia and Poland from neighbouring Belarus. The situation at the borders had become critical during the winter months, with hundreds of people stranded for weeks in freezing conditions. According to Polish border guards, 977 attempts to cross the border were recorded in April 2022 and nearly 4280 since the beginning of 2022, far fewer than November 2021 when between 3000 – 4000 migrants had gathered along the border in just a few days. All at a time when the European Union had promised to accept everyone coming from Ukraine.

In Italy, life was tough for asylum seekers, as most were denied refugee status, barred from legal employment and regularly faced discrimination. In the lead-up to the recent elections, there were reports of several violent attacks against asylum seekers and migrants, including the killing of Alika Ogorchukwu, a Nigerian man living in Italy who had sent shockwaves across the country and sparked a set of debates on racism. Earlier in November, the Italian government refused to allow about 250 people to disembark from two non-governmental rescue ships docked in Catania. Human Rights organisations called out the move by the Italian government that gave the directive to the rescue ships to take them back to international waters stating it put people at risk and violated Italy’s human rights obligations.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been vocal about his anti-refugee views and stance when he refused to take in refugees in 2018 and called them “Muslim invaders”. His most recent comments said that countries “are no longer nations” if different races mix.

Despite international laws and obligations, or the very concept of political asylum, “Europe has displayed the arbitrariness of its borders, both internal and external”. Creating a system that other individuals based on colour, race, and religious background, it continues to reinforce the bias towards human lives.

People who flee their country of origin, flee for a reason, either due to armed conflicts, economic distress, war or political instability, and International law guarantees each person fleeing persecution the right to request asylum in a safe country. Asylum laws differ in each European state because the EU considers immigration law a matter of national sovereignty. What we see being used for people fleeing and reaching out to European countries are terms like “invasion”, “flooding” and “besieging”.

“Europe needs foreign labour, Europe needs the talents of all its citizens, we are going into a recession, an economic slowdown, and we need all hands on the deck. If you are going showing so much discrimination at home, you are hardly in a position as the EU to stand on the global stage and talk about human rights, and the rights of women and ethnic minorities. You are losing your geopolitical influence and edge that you could have in this very complicated world,” says Islam.

Europe and the Refugee Crisis: It’s all About Tackling Racism & Discrimination | Inter Press Service (ipsnews.net)

The figures from the 2021 census show that 37 percent declared that they had no religion

We’ve all heard  Jesus was a  socialist and even of Mohammed, the socialist. In truth, religion has slavishly adapted itself to the needs of the hour. The need of the hour for us is to put before the workers the knowledge which will enable them to recognise the class nature of society and its government as the true explanation of social chaos. As socialists, indeed, our main attack must be against the entrenched political power of capitalism, and to this, all else must be subordinated; but the war on religion, which is the power of inertia of human development, is part of the work that must be done in that great struggle. Furthermore, we assert that it has been consciously used as a bulwark to discourage active thought by the workers on the why and wherefore of capitalist supremacy and privilege. We do not dispute the fact that socialism cannot be achieved by a working class that believes in the supernatural. Socialism is based on the scientific interpretation of history. Religion is part of that history and is the result of man’s ignorance of natural forces. With their progress in the knowledge of socialism, the workers must, therefore, shed their superstitions and become materialistic in their outlook.

The revival of authoritarian churches is a growing problem. Socialists oppose religion for its anachronistic premises, and for the barrier, it presents to scientifically examining and controlling our own lives and destinies. We refute religion because the working class cannot move forward to a better society while their minds are in the chains of religion. The claim has sometimes been made that religion in the modern world is a unifying force rising above national barriers. The war in Ukraine has shown again how little truth there is in this with the  Orthodox church now divided between pro-Russian and pro-Ukraine churchmen.

Socialism arouses the workers’ will to struggle, it appeals to their understanding; it demands their knowledge and confidence. Religion blunts their faculties and turns their minds to celestial happiness. In common with other religions, Christianity makes virtues of meekness and poverty. This degrading teaching has served well in keeping the workers docile and submissive. We have never underestimated the power of religion when used by an unscrupulous ruling class to mystify the minds of those they ruled

Sen. Rick Scott (R – Florida)

The former governor of Florida was elected to the Senate in 2019.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida started his career in business, which is where he made the bulk of his wealth. He created one of the largest hospital networks, the Columbia Hospital Corporation.

Scott has an estimated net worth of more than $300 million as of 2022.3

Sen. Mark Warner (D – Virginia)

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is one of the wealthiest members of the U.S. Senate and in fact of the entire Congress. As of the latest information, from 2018, his net worth is approximately $215 million.4

Born in 1954, Warner grew up in a middle-class family. From as early as his college years, Sen. Warner had political aspirations. At one point during his time as a political science student, he even suggested to his parents that he would one day become president.

The bulk of Warner’s wealth came from Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm he founded shortly after graduating from law school. Under his direction, the firm made several successful early investments in companies in the telecommunication industry, including XM Satellite Radio and Nextel Communications.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R – Utah )

Sen. Romney needs no introduction, having been the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the presidency in 2012. The U.S. senator for Utah is the third-wealthiest senator, with a net worth estimated at $175 million.5

Like most of the wealthiest senators, Romney made his fortune in business before he got started in politics. He co-founded and ran the private investment firm, Bain Capital.

Mike Braun (R – Indiana)

A former Indiana representative in the House, Mike Braun is now the state’s junior senator. Worth an estimated $137 million,5 Braun earned his millions as the CEO of Meyer Distributing, a maker of truck parts and equipment.

Today, he is one of the wealthiest, and also most politically conservative senators.

Sen. John Hoeven (R – North Dakota)

Sen. John Hoeven has served as the senior U.S. senator from North Dakota since 2011. Before that, he was the state’s governor for 10 years. Hoeven’s net worth has been estimated at $47 million.6

Sen. Hoeven worked in banking before he started his political career, and served as the CEO of First Western Bank and the Bank of North Dakota. Sen. Hoeven remains an owner of First Western Bank and sits on its board of directors.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D – California)

California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s estimated net worth was estimated at $88 million.5

Blum Capital, a private equity firm founded in 1975 by her husband, Richard Blum, is the source for most of that wealth.7

Sen. Ron Johnson (R – Wisconsin)

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson started out in the late ’70s as an accountant at PACUR, a Wisconsin-based polyester and plastics manufacturing company owned by his brother-in-law. He moved up through the ranks, and became the company’s CEO by the mid-’80s.

Sen. Johnson has an estimated net worth of $78 million.8

Sen. James E. Risch (R – Idaho)

James Risch has been the junior senator from Idaho since 2009. He was previously the state’s governor.

He has an estimated net worth of $42 million, much of it in farm and ranch land in Idaho.9

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R – Kentucky)

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, currently the minority leader of the U.S. Senate, has an estimated net worth of $34 million as of 2018.10

McConnell has been a senator since 1984. The bulk of his wealth comes from a gift his father bestowed on him in 2008. He and his wife, Elaine Chao, also reported a gift of between $5 million and $25 million from her family in his 2008 disclosure.11 Chao, who is an economist, was a cabinet secretary in the administrations of George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump.

Most of McConnell’s wealth is reported to be held in a Vanguard 500 Index fund.

Steve Daines (R – Montana)

Steve Daines of Montana is estimated to be worth $33 million, rounding out the top 10 wealthiest senators of the 116th Congress. Before becoming a politician, Daines was an executive at Proctor & Gamble, before becoming an executive vice president at cloud services startup RightNow Technologies in 2000. That company went public in 2004, and was acquired by Oracle in 2012, a windfall for Daines.12 That year, Daines first ran for office.