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USA. The Space Force.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

China and Russia’s advances have prompted the United States to bolster its own efforts in the quest for space and maintain the supremacy, which represents a key aspect of its global pretences.

In this perspective, President Donald Trump announced on December 20 that the United States would equip itself with a Space Force to defend its interests in space. In fact, The United States, under pressure from China and Russia, which are developing increasingly effective anti-satellite weapons, has decided to shift momentum, planning to deploy a force to defend its 870 US satellites in orbit.

These have strategic importance for the armed forces and inestimable commercial value for world trading companies. In fact, civilian organizations, businesses and the armed forces alike rely on space-based systems such as those deriving from the Global Positioning System (GPS), as well as the satellite network that gathers the intelligence that sustains US navy, air force and ground forces during combat operations. And then there are the activities related to the collection of functional data, the calculation of trajectories and the exact landing spot of any missiles that the United States’ enemies might deploy. The satellite inter-dependence between US armed forces and its economic structure, in fact, presents a major vulnerability, which might compromise the entire system’ effectiveness.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.

Such a hypothesis is hardly outlandish in view of what the other actors have accomplished. Already in 2007, China launched a missile from its base at Xicang, that was able to strike and bring down an old and out-of-order satellite that orbited at 800 Km above the Earth’s atmosphere. And in 2013, the Pentagon expressed concern about a Chinese missile Mwas alarmed by a new missile that always departed from the base of Xicang and that after reaching 10,000 Km altitude orbited Earth only to burn up during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, sinking into the Indian Ocean. Chinese authorities stated that it was a small Probe rocket to study the magnetosphere. Yet, some US scientists performed calculations, which refuted this explanation. They said that the rocket in question had been a space rocket that, with precise ballistic trajectory had reached the geostationary altitude. Washington, was forced to admit that China had carried out an anti-satellite test in an orbital range, until then considered inaccessible. From that moment, therefore, control of the orbital range became of crucial interest to the United States. Washington deployed the GSSAP (Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program) equipped with sensors capable of monitoring both missile launches coming from the surface (SAM), as well as orbital manoeuvring – now, one of the most frequent threats in space.
In fact, these manoeuvres make it possible to approach satellites to either destroy or ‘disturb’ them.

President Donald Trump with Space Force Gen. John Raymond, second from left, and Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman.

And the threat is not only Chinese. Russia is also equipping itself with weapons capable of neutralizing orbiting American satellites. “Anti-satellite” tests along with other orbital activities produce difficult-to-remove space debris that pose a further threat to space infrastructure and, in this case, especially American ones, whose protection is entrusted to new GSSAP satellites. In line with Trump’s ‘America First’, the US space sector is also benefiting from higher defence spending.
Indeed, in addition to the Space Force, the United States is planning to deploy an orbiting anti-ballistic system, capable of intercepting and neutralizing ballistic missiles during the launch phase from space. It is obvious that, in accordance with the document of National Space Strategy (adopted in 2018), the US wants to bolster its space positioning vis-à-vis its competitors, with the ultimate goal of deterring enemy attacks and – should deterrence fail – have the capability to counter these effectively.

In the opinion of some analysts, the National Space Strategy’s document marks a significant turning point in the international context. It implies that the United States, while remaining the world’s top ‘superpower’, has been forced into adopting a defensive posture, given the side effects and consequences, which a war in orbit might bring for the economy. Hence, Washington has decided to boost its ‘orbiting’ military capability as a deterrent to thwart its enemies’ strategies. Space as a “domain of war” has therefore upset the United States’ biggest military advantage: its geographical position between two distant oceans, which has until now allowed it the luxury of perceiving external threats with unparalleled detachment compared to any other power.

Filippo Romeo

Russia. An Ambitious Space Program.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Russia, which in Soviet times pioneered space exploration in 1957 with the launch of the first artificial satellite (Sputnik 1), continues to pursue an ambitious space program (also through significant investments in the technology sector).

Having 146 operational infrastructures at its disposal, Moscow ranks third in launching satellites in orbit, after the United States and China – but surpassing the latter in the number of active military satellites. The Kremlin, in fact, considers outer space as a strategic domain of fundamental importance for the country’s security. Space allows Russia to boost its ‘earth based’ military capabilities, improving intelligence gathering and communications. And space exploration also gives the Russian Federation the tools to enhance its international and scientific prestige. In that regard, Moscow fears that the advance of US space military activities could jeopardize and neutralize its nuclear arsenal by deploying anti-ballistic systems (so-called ‘Star Wars’).

The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space that is also commonly known as Roscosmos is the coordination hub for all space activates in Russia and is responsible for general aerospace research and also for the space science program of the Russian Federation.

President Putin is trying to remedy this development through a rearmament process with a more effective nuclear deterrent as its main goal. The Russian space program has also suffered because of the many challenges facing the country, including international sanctions that have forced Moscow to cut back aerospace research, as well as blocking the import of technologies and components from European states, which are necessary for Russia to run its activities in orbit. Because of these impediments, some experts suggest that as China and the US embark on an unprecedented space race, Russia has adopted a more cautious approach, mostly aimed at containing its rivals’ space colonization.

However, Russia is also trying to reorganize the space sector. In this respect, it has designed its own global navigation system, the GLONASS (‘Global Navigation Systems) – the equivalent of the American GPS or the Chinese Beidou – and reorganized the armed forces to adapt to the United States’ space challenge. And as for the latter, Russia incorporated space focused units within the Air Force, taking the opposite course of the United States, which developed its own specially dedicated Space Force. The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS -Vozdushno-kosmicheskie sily), formerly known as the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA), has also undergone a drastic reform (following the loss of credibility and authority due to numerous launch failures). It has become a State Corporation controlled directly by the Prime Minister. The purpose of this renewed impulse is essentially to reinvigorate its fleet of satellites, considered essential in supporting the geopolitical strategies of a superpower of the Russian Federation’s calibre.

After many years of collaboration, the Russian Space Agency has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with its Chinese counterpart to bolster lunar exploration. Russia and China will respectively work on each other’s Luna 26 orbiting probe and the Chang’e-7 mission. The effort could be a response to the United States’ ‘Artemis’ program, which has been opened to Washington’s European allies for participation. Hence the Russians have linked up to the Chinese train, which appears to be set to reach the Moon. The mission aims to collect lunar surface samples and subsequently establish a research base on the south pole of the moon, which is where the United States intends to use as a landing point for its ‘Artemis’ program.
Meanwhile, the war in Syria gave Russia an ideal opportunity to test its modern space fleet and show its progress to the world.

Russia’s outer space network helped Russian forces on the ground thanks to the detailed images that its high-resolution telescopes made possible and to the fact they were transmitted in real time to command and control centres on the ground. In addition, all-weather ‘Kondor’ satellites, in cases when the telescopes were obscured by darkness or adverse meteorological conditions, were able to continue supplying valuable data. The ELINT spy satellites, meanwhile, intercepted enemy conversations. Such equipment will eventually be integrated with powerful anti-missile rocket defensive systems, capable of intercepting nuclear warheads and by highly manoeuvrable hypersonic cruise missiles. These new weapons represent the challenge of the future geopolitical space game. (F.R.)

China’s Mars Mission

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

2020 is an optimal year for Mars missions, given the close distance between Earth and Mars. This opportunity occurs every 26 months, enabling us to send probes to the Red Planet with less time
and less fuel.

Consequently, there were three Mars missions planned for mid-July through August: the U.S. Perseverance Mars rover mission, the UAE’s Al-Amal (Hope Mars orbiter probe), and China’s Tianwen1 (Heavenly Questions) orbiter, lander, and rover Mars mission.

China’s first Mars orbiter mission, Yinghou-1, launched on the Russian rocket Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft in 2011, failed to leave Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and fell back onto the Pacific Ocean. Thereafter, China officially launched its independent Mars mission in 2016, named Tianwen-1 after one of China’s ancient poems. China National Space Administration (CNSA) Director Zhang Kejian indicated that Chinese space scientists have overcome difficult technical problems, steadfastly solving them by independent innovation and self-reliance for its upcoming Mars mission.

In November 2019, China successfully carried out a simulated test of its Mars mission at its trial site for testing extraterrestrial missions in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei province. That trial run replicated the Martian gravity and tested hovering and landing on the planet’s surface. The chief designer of China’s Mars exploration mission, Zhang Rongqiao, highlighted the difficulty of a Martian landing: “The natural environment of Mars is very different from that of Earth in many aspects, among which the Martian gravitational acceleration is only about one-third of that of Earth. In order to simulate the landing procedure under the gravitational acceleration of Mars, we have constructed this whole facility [at Hebei].”

Why is China investing in a Mars mission, and how does it relate to its long-term space strategy and goals?

First, for China, getting to Mars is one of the global space benchmarks to be checked off for any space power. A successful Mars mission immediately uplifts a country and society to the elite space faring club, which several countries have dreamed of, but few have achieved. While Chinese space policymakers are clear that their long-term space ambition is to continuously develop capacity for a cislunar presence (in space between Earth and the moon), they keenly realize that for global prestige and reputation purposes, a Mars landing is a coveted
prize to capture.
For the space enthusiast community, a Mars mission signals serious commitment to discovery and development of the human capacity to reach, understand, and perhaps one day settle on distant planets.

Chinese space scientists have expressed settlement goals and perceive a successful Mars mission as enhancing that indigenous space capacity. In 2019, China opened its first 53,330 square meters Mars simulation base (at a cost of $22.3 million) in Mangai city, located in the arid desert region of Qaidam Basin in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, aimed at introducing people to life in a Mars-like environment.
This region’s barren, rocky landscape closely resembles the topographical conditions found on Mars.

Second, Mars is the most Earthlike planet in the solar system. To be able to land on and develop a Martian strategy of space development augments China’s space infrastructure. This infrastructure encompasses the development of cislunar capacity, comprising development of satellite presence in the Lagrange points, and robotic presence on the lunar surface. China has located its Queqiao relay satellite on L2 to help communicate between the lunar Chang’e 4 and mission control on Earth. Similar powerful relay communications technology will have to be advanced for China’s Mars mission.

By the end of this year, China is launching the Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission. Critically, the Chinese Mars strategy is not compartmentalized, but forms an integral part of its larger space logistical infrastructure. In April 2020, the China National Development and Reform Commission added space infrastructure to its list of “new infrastructure” directing government prioritization and investment. China is building a truly independent space infrastructure that includes its independent BeiDou Satellite Constellation, its lunar presence capacity, an independent space station, and now its Mars mission.

Once all is completed and demonstrated, China will work to offer an alternate credible space infrastructure to the world, thereby competing for global leadership in space. China will then not have to suffer NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine claiming, as he did in a May 2020 speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the superiority of U.S. Mars landings vis-à-vis China’s tiny robotic landing on the lunar far side. A Mars mission will enhance the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) legitimacy, both internally and externally, and add credibility to its Space Information Corridor, offered to members of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Third, a Martian landing will enhance China’s automated deep space capacities. Because Mars has an atmosphere, the Mars lander will require a heat shield as well as a parachute and thrusters to slow down while descending into the surface navigating Mars’ thin air, all functions automated. Moreover, communications between Earth and Mars takes about 40 minutes, which implies that the rover will have to perform advanced automation, meaning it will have to be fitted with a capability to take autonomous decisions.

The deputy chief designer of the Chang’e 3 probes, Jia Yang, specified that “the Mars rover should be able to sense the environment, plan its route, conduct scientific exploration and detect faults autonomously. It should be a mobile intelligence.” The head of China’s Mars mission, Cui Xiaofeng, specified that the challenges of seven months of travel to Mars (July 2020-February 2021) plus the seven minutes of landing time will prove to be a test of China’s space capacity.

Once the Mars landing is accomplished successfully and the lander releases the 240 kg solar-powered Martian rover with its communication system intact and functioning for its planned period (90 Martian days), China will become the only country, besides the United States, to have accomplished that feat. Several former Soviet Union Mars missions, while succeeding in reaching Martian orbit, suffered from their landers either crashing during descent or losing communication seconds into landing.

Fourth, China believes a Mars mission that realizes all three feats (success in the orbiter, lander and rover stages), in its very first independent attempt will dazzle humankind and establish the maturing of its space science community. In an interview in 2016, Ye Peijian, the father of China’s lunar probes, stated that “although we are not the first Asian nation to send a probe to Mars [India was the first Asian nation to send an orbiter to Mars in 2014], we want to start at a higher level.” According to the CNSA, “to complete orbiting, landing, and roving in one mission” will be an unprecedented achievement.

China cares deeply about how others perceive its achievements in space. That much was obvious when China.org.cn published a video message from the Russian crew members of the International Space Station, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner, sent to China in celebration of China’s space day on April 24. The message from the two Russian astronauts specified: “The achievements of China over the 50 years of the establishment of the national space program deserve to be recognized and respected [emphasis added]. Although humankind is now facing a severe crisis related to the epidemiological threat, such important anniversaries should not be overshadowed.”

Fifth, China aims to become a serious contender for generating deep space knowledge. China’s Mars rover will carry a total of six scientific instruments, to include a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) that will be the “first of its kind,” along with NASA’s Perseverance rover, to map the subsurface of Mars, including a search for signs of permafrost. Similar lunar subsurface investigations are being conducted by Chang’e 4, which has now entered its 19th lunar day.

China’s Mars mission is part of its larger space infrastructure development geared toward achieving space dominance by 2049. It both augments China’s technical space capacity and enhances the prestige, reputation, and credibility of its space program.
Of note is the fact that China’s investments in its lunar and deep space capacity are ongoing simultaneously.
Once we have a successful Chinese Mars mission, we expect China to then concentrate on developing technologies like Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) and invest in building nuclear-propelled spacecraft, given it has ambitions for deep space probes.

Bao Weimin, head of the Science and Technology Committee at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), specified that once the two critical space missions scheduled for 2020 are successful (the Tianwen 1 Mars mission and the Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission), China will then move on to a Mars sample return mission (2028) and a lunar south pole landing (2030).

China’s intention for its Mars mission was articulated in 2012, right after the failure of its first Mars orbiter mission. In 2016, the CNSA set a deadline of 2020 for its independent Mars mission. Subsequently, we have another Chinese space mission that is about to meet its stated deadline, a feat that offers some level of patterned predictability for future space missions: China’s 2021 launch of its permanent space station, its private sector reusable rocket (2021), its space-based solar powered satellite (2025), and its second independent Mars mission (2028). By 2040, China hopes to crack one of the game-changing technologies for space: nuclear-powered spacecraft.
If successful, nuclear-powered spacecraft will offer enhanced “deep space access” technology to China, something that the nation has been working on for decades now. Given its pattern of success in space, we need to keep close watch of China’s fast evolving space competence as it launches for Mars.

Namrata Goswami
Senior Analyst and Author specializing in space policy,
geopolitics and Great Powers

Africa. Masks that protect and heal.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Wearing a mask is essential when faced with a virus like Covid-19. The notion of human protection from disease by the use of masks is a practice that goes back thousands of years in the traditions of great civilisations all over the world. A glance at African cultures.

In Africa, various traditions have used masks for healing, protection and prevention. But African genius went beyond prevention and healing. It also pictured both diagnosis and diseases. Within the group of mask representations that heal or protect against disease in Africa, the method and usage vary according to the cultural group. The specific meaning of some African masks is expressed through the representation, itself, of the disease and the method used to eradicate pathologies. The physical deformities depicted in masks are clearly seen and constitute a notable series of visual culture.
Images of deformation represent the negative forces or evil spirits that intervene when moral values are transgressed. These representations show debilitating symptoms such as facial paralysis or the destruction of the nose or face caused by such diseases as leprosy, syphilis, cancer, and framboesia.

DR.Congo. Mbangu mask.

One example of a disease-representing mask is that of the Kwilu and Lwange ethnic groups (D.R. of Congo) called Mbangu. This shows a facial deformity. It is bi-coloured and asymmetric. The mask has one good side that is white and another that is black and deformed with a crooked nose and mouth and signs of smallpox near the eyebrows. The facial burn scar of this mask identifies it with the symptoms of epilepsy and describes a person who has had an attack of epilepsy. Symbolically, the remedy for this sickness comes from the opposition represented by the black and white colours of the mask. The pure white of kaolin powder is used during the healing ritual and the black colour symbolises witchcraft and the sickness the ritual is meant to heal.
This is also the case with the mask of the hunter who has been suddenly struck by facial paralysis, probably caused by the evil eye cast by a witch doctor. It may also be the evil eye of a rival who, out of envy, inflicts sickness on his enemy.

DR Congo. Kifwebe mask.

The one who wears the Mbangu mask dances with an arrow in his hump. At the same time both prey and hunter, the dance arouses the desire to hunt down the witch doctors and those who have done him harm. The words of his song invite the listeners to practise tolerance since nobody is safe and the sickness can strike at any time. The dance of the Mbangu incites the individuals to reconsider their attitudes towards their own misfortunes as well as towards the sicknesses of others.
Two masks of the Songye ethnic group (better known as Basonge), who also live in the D.R. of Congo, are identified as Kifwebe. These masks have supernatural healing powers. During the healing ritual, the diviner keeps the mask turned towards the patient while he struggles with the sickness, forcing it into the fire.

Burkina Faso. Bwa mask.

Among the southern Bwa peoples in Burkina Faso, large wooden plank masks are carved to represent various flying spirits that inhabit the natural world. These spirits, though largely invisible, are associated with water and can take physical form as insects that gather around a pool after a heavy rain or as a large waterfowl, like an ibis. Some Bwa describe a mythological encounter in which a flying spirit appeared before a human, offering protection and service. The Bwa mask is believed to possess supernatural forces, which act to benefit the community.
In Nigeria in 1975, in the village of the Izzi, an oracle had ordered a woman to wear a helmet-mask called Ogbodo Enyi. The woman had to wear it several times a year to ward off an epidemic that would have caused hundreds of deaths of children. The spirits of the ancestors, incarnate in the mask, see to the welfare of the people.

Nigeria. Ibibio mask.

In the Ibibio ethnic group (South-East Nigeria), there is a vast corpus of representations of masks related to sickness. These masks picture some diseases such as deforming rhinopharynitis (known as gangosa), as well as facial paralysis (gangrenous stomatitis), tumours and leporine lip.
The patients take the name of the pathological deformity. They are called “No nose”. The secret society called Ekpo which holds political, judiciary and religious power, is the depository of these repugnant masks known as sidiokekpo. Each year, these masks commemorate the ancestors.
The pleasant-looking masks represent the good ancestors, who can help their descendants, while the sidiokekpo symbolise the reincarnation of the immoral ancestors. Dressed in black raffia costumes, the masked men carry weapons and dance irregularly and aggressively. They cause much destruction.

Nigeria. Idoma mask.

The moral obscurity of some ancestors is reflected in the voluntary deformities of the masks which illustrate the devastation caused by diseases such as leprosy. Their purpose is to reflect these anti-social behaviours. The masks are not used to frighten away demons but to remind the public of what can happen if they do not keep the rules. The masks that are black and grotesque, ugly and distorted represent people who died violent deaths (the socially undesirable: those who were murdered or committed suicide, people who stole sacrificial objects, people who were executed for a crime, or those who died without relatives). These rebel spirits are destined to wander endlessly, with no shelter for the night. They are known as Idok Ekpo or souls of the damned since they may inflict disease or misfortune on those who depart from the right way.These masks belong to a category of rare and most ancient masks: the Aribo masks are the product of refined artistry. They show a face adorned with two lumps carved under the chin. These masks are proper to the Idoma ethnic group and are said to have originally had a curative role for women suffering from this disease before they more recently assumed a rather playful character.

Jean-Paul Kpatcha

The Chimpanzee and the Crocodile.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

0nce upon a time the chimpanzee and the crocodile were good friends. At midday, the chimpanzee would always go to the riverbank and call the crocodile: “Crocodile come! Let us chat together.”

The crocodile would hear him and go to his friend to have some pleasant time together. One day the chief of all the crocodiles was severely ill.
Several doctors tried to help him but could not find a cure. They all said that it would be worthy to try an ancient tradition: he should eat the heart of a monkey to get better. And so they told the crocodiles to be on the alert and hunt a chimpanzee for their chief.

The following day the crocodile met with the chimpanzee at the river bank. He told the chimpanzee “I wish we could go together to visit a friend of mine across the river.”
The chimpanzee replied that he couldn’t swim. The crocodile offered the chimpanzee his back to carry him across the river. The crocodile took his friend in the middle of the river to the place of his chief.

He told the chimpanzee: “My friend, it is good that we came to visit my chief, he is severely ill and the doctors said he would need a heart of a chimpanzee for getting better. I wish, in name of our friendship, that you could give your heart.”
The chimpanzee was clever and answered considerately: “I will help you with my heart as you asked. However I left it on the tree at home. You should take me back so that I can give it to you.”

The crocodile was pleased and helped the chimpanzee to get back. Once they reached the river bank, the chimpanzee jumped swiftly and climbed his tree. Once on top of the tree he yelled to the crocodile: “You are a stupid crocodile, so go and look for a stupid chimpanzee that will give you his heart. Personally I want to keep my heart for it is precious.” Hence the chimpanzee saved his life and feels safe staying in the trees.

Folktale from Nuer People,
South Sudan

Music: Hope Masike, ‘The Princess of the Mbira’.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Evocative music, blending ancestral melodies and pop rhythms. “I hear our ancestors encouraging us to find our Promised Land and
challenge injustice.”

The Shona People of Zimbabwe love the mbira, a Sub-Saharan musical instrument. The mbira is a small wooden tablet (often about the width of two hands beside each other) on top of which is a series of metal slats positioned alongside one another, almost looking like a compact xylophone. Indeed, the sound the slats (keys) produce when thumbs (with suitably long fingernails) pluck the keys resembles, even if vaguely, that of a xylophone – or something halfway between a harp and bells. The mbira does come in different shapes, sizes and materials.
It is an ancient instrument with a history of usage in the traditional animist rituals. The most recent version of the instrument is known
as the mbira array.

The mbira is the essential instrument of popular music in Zimbabwe. One of its most talented and famous performers and teachers is Hope Masike, a 35-year-old woman from Harare, the country’s capital. Born into a large family of eight children, Hope devoted herself to studying the culture of her people, diving into a wide range of subjects from anthropology and ethnology to jurisprudence, never losing the love for her roots and the dream of an emancipated and peaceful Africa.

Hope has gained a worldwide following over the past 12 years. She has made three albums and won prestigious awards such as the Kora (a sort of Pan-African Grammy Awards), alternating between a solo career and leading the Manoswezi band. Her latest album, released a few months ago, entitled ‘The Exorcism of a Spinster’ brings together a variety of sounds, ancestral melodies and folk pop rhythms in all of the 12 that make up the album, rich with depth and meaning as well: “It’s an album full of desire and hope – said Hope – with songs like Dreams of Dande, where I pray to God and I entrust him with everything that is mine to illuminate my path. In Tona-naira I express all my trust and optimism for the future of Africa. I sense our ancestors inviting us to find our Promised Land, and to rebel against injustice. As an artist and a voice for my people, I create music that makes you think, but I am also happy that there are those who listen to it simply to have fun”.

Indeed, Masike’s songs grab the listener from the first beats with their intriguing rhythms, choruses, and unmistakably Afro vocals. And the same can be said about the colorful videos that feature the songs, which often depict the millenary sufferings of her people. Watch the videos for ‘Ndinewe’ and ‘MbiraGospel’ on the internet, and you will discover the perfect synthesis of Hope’s dual approach and of her vision of Africa: one where yearning and joie de vivre constantly intersect.

Franz Coriasco

Sudan. An incubator for young entrepreneurs.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

The Comboni Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (CIEC) is an incubator for business that seeks to bring together the original ideas of young entrepreneurs and the world of business. A model capable of contributing to the development of Sudan. We visited the establishment.

A study conducted in 2018 by the Sudanese Association for Social Entrepreneurship has shown that 80% of young Sudanese wanted to leave the country. Their frustration was motivated by a disastrous political and economic situation that offered them no opportunities. Two years later, there are still doubts but many also hope that the present Sudanese revolution and the changes it may bring may change things for the better. In this context, initiatives like the Comboni Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (CIEC), gives the youth the opportunity to realise their entrepreneurial dreams without leaving Sudan.

Ali Musa, former CIEC director, remarks: “Once they have finished university, most of them are lost and do not know what to do because there is nobody to support them, so a centre like this may give them the energy and motivation to find their way in life and, at the same time, enrich society at large”. The notion is simple: “If you have an idea, the Centre will help you to realise it. In this way you find a job but you also create jobs and so contribute to development”.

First University Incubator
The roots of the CIEC go back to 2017 when the Institute of Research for Innovation and Development of the Italian National Council for research, the Aldo Moro University of Bari in Italy and the Comboni College of Science and Technology (CCST) of Khartoum began a project called INSO. Among its objectives was that of providing the students of advanced information technology the means to create their own activities.

A hundred and forty students from fifteen Sudanese universities participated and the project was supported by the Sudanese Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
In November 2018, a congress evaluated the experience positively and concluded that best way to give it continuity was to create incubators (hubs) of business in each university. However, not one institution decided to begin the initiative. The first to make a start was the Comboni College of Science and Technology (CCST) by promoting the first university activity of its kind in Sudan.
Part of the funds allocated by the INSO project was used to upgrade the CIEC lecture halls and provide them with suitable computers and furniture, while a Sudanese company, Tobacco International (JTI), promised to finance activities and to pay the salaries until the new hub became self-sufficient.

Ali Musa, former CIEC director.

According to former director Ali Musa, this may be achieved in four or five years, when the companies set up by the work of the CIEC start to contribute a small portion of their profits, initially set at 5%. For now, the students contribute a small sum of money because, as Comboni Missionary Fr. Jorge Naranjo, General Director of the CCST and principal promoter of the CIEC emphasises, “Experience teaches us that, if something is free, it is not appreciated; if you pay for it, you take it more seriously”.
The project was also set in motion with the collaboration of Valencia Polytechnic (Spain), which sent two experts who laid the foundations for the training scheme for the incubator system. Lastly, the first twenty young people began their training as entrepreneurs in June of 2019. No gender equality quota was laid down for candidate selection, but the majority of them were women. They were expected to have a good knowledge of English since many lecturers and leaders of seminars come from abroad and do not speak Arabic, the official language of Sudan.

Three phases
There are three phases in the training course. Father Naranjo sets great store by the first stage or ‘pre-incubation’, since, as he has seen, “The students come with good intentions and big ideas after finishing their studies but they do not know how to run a business or a marketing plan or business model and they have to acquire the theoretical knowledge every entrepreneur must have”. On his part, Ali Musa recognises that “In the first phase, the students do not interact much; it is only later that they discover the importance of teamwork since nobody can set up a business model without the support of others “.

The second phase, or ‘incubation’, consists in developing a product or a service, trying to see if it works, if it is profitable and suitable for society or whether to modify it and adapt it to the situation. When this part is completed, the third phase is begun, the ‘acceleration’ phase which consists in financing and setting up at least five of the best business models presented; and even more, depending upon the quality of the proposals and the ability of the CIEC to obtain funds.
The selection is made on the basis of social entrepreneurship criteria, with priority being given to the companies that create jobs in marginalised areas in the outskirts of Khartoum or Omdurman, to those that take a social need into account, respect the environment or promote a model with rotational financing. In seeking funds, the CIEC has, among others, the support of the Haggar Group, one of the most important entrepreneurial groups in Sudan.
During our visit to the CIEC we had an opportunity to speak with some students who were already looking into the question of how to make concrete their business model proposal. Rogaia Ibrahim, 24, dreams of opening a software problem-solving business in the information technology sector. Husna Musa, also 24, wants to create an interior design and decoration business: “I know it will be very difficult, especially due to the competition in this sector, but I will present original designs; it will be unique and I am sure I will succeed”.

The idea of Tasneen Tariq, 25, is to create a consultancy business to evaluate products. “I don’t know where to start. I need a sound starting point and the benefit of the experience of others who have already started to work, in order to take the right steps”.
In Sudan there are two other business incubators: 249 -Startups and Impact Hub Khartoum. Both were established shortly before the CIEC but in the private sector, with no ties to any university. All three keep in touch, exchanging experiences and sharing a database of quality instructors. They are deeply motivated by their desire to influence the universities and the government itself, so as to make possible the creation of incubators as a model for work that can become an important pillar for the socio-economic development of Sudan.

Enrique Bayo

Cyberspace in the New Geopolitical Balance.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Space has witnessed an intensifying level of economic-strategic activity as related to defense, protecting territory and other vital assets, which make it an arena for geopolitical competition.

In fact, today, Space has created a new paradigm, aside from the more familiar contexts of land and sea, against the backdrop of which major global actors compete. And it is in this very arena that China, Russia, India and Japan are trying to secure a dominant position, bolstering positions and skills and gaining ground over the United States, which had been the undisputed leader for years. The gap that opened after the end of the Russo-American space race, after a period of stagnation, has allowed new global players to develop space programs, resulting in technological advancement for the sector.

Increasingly frequent launches of satellites aim to allow both governments and corporations to control ever larger amounts of data, perhaps the most precious commodity of the third millennium. This is because the contest for extra-terrestrial space has become an essential priority due to new geo-strategic and military reasons as well as well as civilian concerns. This is especially true, considering that, today, defense systems, share ever more technology with civilian counterparts. Sectors such as telecommunications, terrestrial observation and navigation show that there is an obvious and valuable strategic value for space exploration in the context of new military developments.Undoubtedly, the space race is also justified by the fact that it represents a guaranteed development opportunity. For instance, countries like the United States (to mention one) whose investments in the sector have had almost entirely favourable effects in the medium-long term. Therefore, space exploration is returning to the spotlight, as established and emerging powers alike have unveiled ever more ambitious related goals and programs. It is in such a context that US Space policy has directed its efforts to deploy a manned mission to Mars as well as to capture asteroids in order to study their characteristics and assess their collateral risks. Meanwhile, the Russians want to establish a permanent Lunar base by 2030, even as China is preparing its own manned
mission to the Moon.

The determination that has characterized the space exploration sector’s emergence on the global scene has led some scholars to assert that we have reached the moment of great expansion in the space race as a reflection of the logic that “whomever shall control the space around the Earth, controls the planet, and whomever controls the Planet Earth determines the fate of humanity”. This is especially true, if we consider that the new powers – and China in particular – have become fully equipped to take on this new frontier, which now constitutes one of the essential factors of most advanced Nations’ economies: as demonstrated by rising financial investment flowing into the sector.
The first space exploration efforts, mainly in the second half of the 20th century through military satellites, were made to achieve intelligence objectives, increasingly refined, such as to develop observation techniques, espionage and strategic projection. Of course, the satellites of that era, in addition to having a shorter life cycle than current ones, were also less sophisticated, limiting their potential. They were most useful in photographing environments where it would otherwise been impossible to reach.Over time, in addition to rising military activity, there has also been an increase in civilian enterprise, thus transforming space exploration into an essential economic asset to support television and telecommunications through an ever-increasing number of specialized satellites.

Indeed, a number of concomitant factors have raised the perception that economic services are increasing. In this regard, consider the effects from satellite-based navigation (GPS) which has become an indispensable asset for superpowers that aim to deploy a ‘galaxy’ of dozens, or hundreds, of satellites to systematically survey every corner of the Earth. Such clusters of satellites ensure the provision of global telematics and countless related services in exchange for substantial profit – even from least developed populations. Not surprisingly, this has triggered a series of activities, some of which are already in progress and partially planned, which will become operational in the next few years. This has given rise to a veritable economy characterized by ever growing revenues and an expectation of a substantial increase – some economists predict tenfold growth – over the next few years.
As a direct result of this activity, data will increase exponentially. New applications will capable of generating unprecedented benefit. For example, agriculture alone will experience significant changes with implications for both farmers and consumers. (F.R.)

The Philippines. The Land of Natural Disasters.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Located in the rim around the Pacific Ocean dubbed “The Ring of Fire,” the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth. It is hard hit all year round by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tropical cyclones and landslides.

“The Ring of Fire” – that is how scientists call that thin region of dynamic volcanic and seismic activities around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. “The activity is the result of the movement of the tectonic plates, the surface crust on which our world is formed, which slowly grow and butt against one another causing cracks that allow deeper molten rock to rise to the surface through what we call volcanoes. Any movement of the plates creates seismic activity we know as earthquakes,” wrote Lindsay Bennet in her travel book entitled Philippines.

Unfortunately, the Philippines – a country with more than 7,600 islands – is located in this rim of what is sometimes called the circum-Pacific seismic belt. Disasters are not waiting to happen; they happen every now and then. As Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Centre at the University of Colorado, puts it: “The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone places on Earth. They’ve got it all. They’ve got earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides.”

Volcanoes
According to scientists, the Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. The Philippines, for instance, has around 200 volcanoes scattered all over the archipelago. Fortunately, only 21 are considered active.
A volcano is considered active if it has erupted sometime within the last 600 years. If a volcano has not erupted in 600 years, it is regarded as inactive (dormant). There are also volcanoes which are considered extinct.The active volcanoes in the country, according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), are Pinatubo in Zambales; Mayon in Legazpi City; Taal in Talisay, Batangas; Canlaon in Negros Oriental; Bulusan in Sorsogon; Smith, Didicas, Babuyan Claro and Camiguin de Babuyanes, all in Babuyan Island Group; Cagua in Cagayan; Banahaw in Laguna/Quezon; Iriga in Camarines Sur; Biliran in Biliran;
and Iraya in Batanes.

In Mindanao, the active volcanoes are: Ragang and Matutum, both in Cotabato; Hibok-Hibok in Mambajao, Camiguin; Calayo in Valencia, Bukidnon; Bud Dajo on Jolo Island; Musuan in Bukidnon; and Makaturing in Lanao.“Like ghosts and monsters, volcanoes can be scary when they erupt. They rumble, shake and spit out fire, steam, ashes, and rocks. But unlike ghosts and monsters, volcanoes are of this world. As such, they can be studied and understood,” commented the late Raymundo S. Punongbayan, who was heading Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) when he said those words.

One of the most famous volcanic eruptions happened in 1991 when Mount Pinatubo woke up from its deep slumber. “Small explosions began the process on April 2 when a fissure broke at the summit and rumbling earthquakes were felt around the lower slopes,” Bennet wrote. “On June 7, a dome was noted in the crater.”
“The first eruption started on June 12 but the volcano blew its cork, literally, on June 14, with two days of violent explosions that flung debris high into the atmosphere,” Bennet continued. “The mountain lost 300 meters in height.”

Earthquakes
About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. “The Philippines suffers around 20 earthquakes a day but most are too weak to be felt,” Bennet wrote.
The Philippine Archipelago lies between two major tectonic plates: the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, PHIVOLCS says. “Philippine Sea Plate is moving towards the Philippine Archipelago at the rate of about 7 centimetres every year,” they explain. “The Eurasian Plate is being subducted along western side of Luzon and Mindoro at the rate of 3 centimetres per year except in Mindoro and northwest of Zamboanga where collision is taking place.”

At the intersection of the two aforementioned plates is the Philippine Fault Zone, “which decouples the north-westward motion of the Pacific with the south-westward motion of the Eurasian Plate.” Movements along other active faults are reportedly responsible for the present-day high seismicity of the Philippine archipelago.
The worst earthquake to hit the country happened on July 16, 1990. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the densely populated island of Luzon, which killed an estimated 1,621 people with most of the fatalities from Central Luzon and the Cordillera region.
Baguio City, one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, was among the hardest hit areas. It caused 28 buildings to collapse, including hotels, factories, government and university buildings, as well as many private homes and establishments. Kennon Road, the main vehicular route to Baguio, as well as other access routes to the mountain city were shut down due to landslides. It took three days before enough landslide debris was cleared to allow access by road to the stricken city.

Typhoons
“The Philippines is considered to be one of the most storm-exposed countries on Earth,” said the website of the US Embassy in Manila. “On average, 18-20 tropical storms enter Philippine waters each year, with 8 or 9 of those storms making landfall.”
The Philippines is located in the region which, according to the US National Hurricane Centre, is referred to as the northwest Pacific basin. Wikipedia shares this bit of information: “The majority of storms form between June and November whilst tropical cyclone formation is at a minimum between December and May. On average, the north-western Pacific features the most numerous and intense tropical cyclones globally. The Philippines receive a brunt of the landfalls, with China and Japan being impacted slightly less.”

The deadliest typhoon on record happened in 1881, when Haiphong hit the country killing about 20,000 people. Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) left 6,241 people dead. Uring (Thelma) in 1991 killed 5,956 people while Pablo (Bopha) snatched 1,901 people.
There is no month in the country that is free from typhoons. “About 95 percent of the tropical cyclones affecting the Philippines originate in the Pacific Ocean while the rest come from the South China Sea,” says the state-owned Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).A government report said that from 2010 to 2012, “the Philippines faced 46 typhoons and 1,019 non-typhoon-related disasters that affected more than 5.6 million families and caused around P93.13 billion in damages.”

Mitigating Natural Disasters
Despite being known as a disaster-prone country, most Filipino households are not prepared for such calamities and natural hazards. That was the findings of a survey conducted by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Disaster Net.
“Only 36% of respondents felt fully prepared in the face of disasters, while 33% reported that they were somewhat prepared when calamities strike,” wrote Inquirer reporter Jhesset O. Enano. “The remaining third claimed that they were only slightly or not at all ready for natural hazards.”Disaster often recur in the same place – annually or with a gap of some years, according to Bob Hansford, disaster risk management advisor at Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency.

In his article, “Managing disaster and building safer communities,” Hansford talk about the four things that happen when a disaster strikes: emergency response, rehabilitation, mitigation, and preparation.
“In the first few days and weeks after a disaster, there is a need for search and rescue, medical care, food, water, sanitation and shelter, as well as emotional support,” explains Hansford on what an emergency response is.Rehabilitation comes next. “As the weeks pass, houses need to be repaired, water supplies restored, and livelihoods re-instated,” Hansford says. “Rehabilitation is often called recovery.”Mitigation is closely linked to rehabilitation.
Examples include: stronger or raised houses, water pumps on raised platforms, alternative crops to cope better with flood or drought. “Mitigation activities help to ‘build back better,’ making the community more resistant to future hazards,” he says.
Preparation is getting ready for the next disaster that comes.
For a storm or flood, it means establishing a warning system, setting aside food or water stocks, making ready an evacuation center or training volunteers.

Henrylito D. Tacio

Mali. A country in turmoil.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

On 18th August 2020, a group of military officers took power in Mali, arrested President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita and other leading figures and created the Comité National pour le Salut du Peuple (National Committee for the Salvation of the People, CNSP) to rule the country.

The CNSP is led by Colonel Assimi Goita, head of Malian Special Forces. The borders were closed, and a curfew was imposed throughout the country. As in 2012, the military (or at least some parts of it) subverted the democracy with the declared goal of saving the country, a country that was indeed in turmoil. But is a coup the solution? The instability in Mali was particularly evident in the south. Instead of inaugurating a new political phase, the April 2020 legislative elections brought insecurity. A political dispute on the attribution of some parliamentary seats led to massive protests in the capital Bamako and other cities. The protests were organized by a coalition of different groups, the Mouvement du 5 Juin-Rassemblement des Forces Patriotiques (5th June Movement-Rally of Patriotic Forces, M5-RFP), led by an influential but controversial Muslim cleric, Mahmoud Dicko.

Mahmoud Dicko, the influential Muslim leader.

M5-RFP asked for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, and the dissolution of the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court. Dozens of people (the estimates vary according to the sources) died in the clashes between protesters and security forces. The international community mediated between government and opposition, with mixed results. In July, a new government was created, and the contested Constitutional Court was de facto dissolved. But the opposition was not satisfied and kept on asking for the resignation of Keita.
Therefore, after a period of calm, protests recommenced.
During these weeks of turmoil, Mahmoud Dicko took a sort of conciliatory stance toward the president. He repeatedly criticized Keita but never closed the door to him, so to speak. This was quite remarkable in comparison with the attitude of some of his allies in M5-RFP. But Dicko has been accused for years of promoting the Islamization of Mali at the expenses of its secular institutions.
Some members of M5-RFP are secular movements and are uncomfortable with the idea of paving the way to religious fundamentalism, as happened with the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
M5-RFP expressed support for the military coup and its supporters took to the streets to celebrate the change of regime. After a meeting with CNSP on 20th August, Mahmoud Dicko said he would withdraw from politics. But only time will tell which kind of relationship M5-RFP will have with CNSP. And a Dicko comeback cannot be excluded.

Hate-provoking in the centre
Before the coup, in central Mali the security situation was alarming, especially due to clashes between different ethnic groups, such as the Peuls and the Dogons.
The instability in recent years also damaged relations between ethnic groups in different areas of the country.

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The Tuareg militia’s attempt to create an independent state in the north in 2012 brought the Tuaregs into opposition with other ethnicities. And it opened up the way to the claims of some groups, like the Peuls, living in central Mali. Within this community, some took up arms allegedly to defend their people from the abuses of Malian security forces, armed groups, and Jihadists. Some Peuls joined Amadou Koufa, an Islamic preacher who created the Katiba Macina (KM, known also as Macina Liberation Front), a Jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda. KM took its name from the Peul Empire in Macina, founded in the Nineteenth century. In West Africa, the Peuls are increasingly accused by parts of the population of being linked to Jihadist groups. The fact that some of them are Jihadists (and the existence of KM is proof of this) does not imply that all Peuls are Jihadists. But the populations increasingly see their long-time neighbours as a threat.
This is true in particular in the case of Dogons, who live in central Mali and have a rich cultural heritage (like the Peuls).

Colonel-Major Ismael Wague, centre, spokesman for the soldiers identifying themselves as National Committee for the Salvation of the People.

Tensions between nomadic Peul herders and sedentary Dogon farmers deteriorated in recent years, and the religious element brought violence to another level. Jihadists like Koufa preached among the Peuls to spread a radical vision of Islam that led to clashes with the Dogons, who are animists. According to an UN report leaked to the press in mid-August 2020, in their actions against the Peuls, the Dogon armed groups are supported by the Malian armed forces.
In the clashes in northern and central Mali many soldiers have died but, according to the UN, also the soldiers also killed many people.

Apparent calm in the north
In the north of Mali, the situation seems more stable. Undoubtedly, Jihadist groups still compete for power and the state is not able to enforce law and order there. In some towns public officers simply disappeared to escape violence. Armed groups (and among them Tuareg separatist militias) are the de facto rulers of the land. However, clashes have decreased in recent months. At the moment, separatists are not really putting pressure on the government on a military plane, because they are exploiting the tensions in the south to consolidate their power. Their goal is an independent state ruled by Tuaregs in the north. The more the turmoil in Bamako continues, the nearer that goal seems to be.

Mali. Security forces in the capital Bamako.

At this time, Jihadists in the area seem more involved in conflict between themselves than in war against the institutions. On one side, there are the groups linked to Al Qaeda; on the other, those who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. According to some analysts, the members of Al Qaeda in Mali have started some sort of dialogue with Bamako. It is difficult to say if this initiative will bear fruit, but at least for now, it has produced a significant consequence. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (the Islamic State branch in the area) is attacking Qaedists.
The Algiers Peace Agreement (APA, signed in June 2015), reached with the support of the international community, was supposed to bring peace to northern Mali. but it basically remained on paper.
The past government and the groups that signed it accused each other of the stalemate.

The West African regional bloc (ECOWAS), led by Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Ebere Jonathan, met with the junta in a bid to restore constitutional order in the country.

The problem is that, with all its faults (due to the lack of will in its implementation), the Algiers Peace Agreement is still the main chance to pacify this part of Mali. One key problem is that the APA is not known in its parts by most of the population. So, different political parties, especially in the south, exploit this lack of knowledge to denounce it as a first step towards the division of the country. Some members of the M5-RFP want to renegotiate it or refuse it as a whole. On the other hand, the CNSP claimed to respect the APA and to implement it.
The international community condemned the coup. In particular, some chiefs of state of the region were quite clear on this issue. But at least in the short term the world will have to deal with the CNSP. One of the key issues is that the CNSP promised free elections in a “reasonable” time and must be held accountable for that.
Even if the situation was deteriorating on multiple levels in Mali, at the moment the military coup does not seems the best solution to the problems of the country. It risks bringing more instability and more violence. And in the recent past the Malian military did not show particular ability in ruling the country.

Andrea Carbonari

Displaced Children. The Right to Education.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

An entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted due to the pandemic. Children who have been forced to flee their homes are at most risk. Ten reasons why we should support displaced children’s right to education:

1 – This emergency comes on top of an existing learning crisis.
Even before the Covid-19 school closures, more than 75 million children across the world’s crisis and conflict-affected countries urgently required support to access a good quality education.
Refugee children were twice as likely to be out of school as other children. Despite improvements in refugee enrollment rates, only 63 per cent of refugees were enrolled in primary school and 24 per cent in secondary education.

2 – Displaced children risk falling behind even further.
Children and young people who have been forced to flee their homes have often missed out on years of education already, due to war and conflict. Recent school closures due to Covid-19 will make them fall behind even further unless they get help. The pandemic risks creating a backslide in the small gains previously made, and creating a disaster for displaced children.

3 – Girls risk never returning to school.
Girls in displaced settings are particularly affected. UNHCR estimates that two out of ten refugee girls who are in secondary school are at significant risk of never returning to school following the Covid-19 school closures. We must act now to address the inequality and dire situation facing refugee learners.

4 – Child poverty will increase.
Alongside school closures, the physical distancing measures being implemented are having a significant impact on employment, putting a strain on family finances and the economy. This is likely to increase child poverty among the millions of children living in vulnerable communities all over the world. Save the Children suggests that up to 9.7 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to rising levels of child poverty. Displaced children are at most risk.

5 – Early marriage is more likely.
As a result of the economic strain faced by vulnerable families, there is a risk that many children will not return to school because they have been forced into an early marriage. With increased pressure on household budgets and ongoing school closures, parents may decide their young daughters should marry. This may be more likely in contexts where marriage results in dowry payments or where girls are at risk of sexual exploitation, including in exchange for food, money, or shelter.

6 – Children will be forced to work.
There is also a risk that children will be forced into child labour to help their families make ends meet. Some of those at most risk are displaced children. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) the economic and social crisis will hit children particularly hard. An estimated 42–66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year, adding to the estimated 386 million children already in extreme poverty in 2019.

7 – Health services and support systems will be lost.
The impact of school closures extends beyond disruption to children’s learning and carries other major risks to the most marginalised children, including refugees and those displaced within their own country. These children and young people rely on schools to access services such as health services (including deworming and malaria treatment), menstrual hygiene kits, child protection services; specialist support for children with disabilities, and mental health support.

8 – Children will be traumatised.
The Covid-19 virus is not only attacking our physical health, it is also increasing stress and suffering. Among the most vulnerable are refugees and internally displaced people, asylum-seekers and stateless people. Many of them do not know if they can feed their children and pay the rent. They may have been worried about their uncertain legal status, and may already have been through traumatic experiences during their flight. Schools offer a support network for many students and NRC even offers special programmes to help children deal with their traumas.

9 – Children are going hungry.
The meals and snacks provided at school are often a lifeline for the most vulnerable children, keeping them free from hunger, as well as ensuring they have the energy to fulfil their potential at school. The World Food Programme estimates that 352 million children globally are missing out on school meals because of Covid-19 school closures.

10 – Discrimination is a growing threat and global aid is declining.
In recent years significant efforts have been made towards the inclusion of refugee learners in national education systems. However, barriers to education persist and could potentially worsen due to the pandemic. There is also the worrying possibility that discrimination and xenophobia directed at refugee populations will increases, negatively affecting school enrolment and retention.

Roald Høvring
Norwegian Refugee Council

The economics of Pope Francis. The beauty of sharing.

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 8:00

Social themes, in general, and those economic, in particular, are at the centre of the pontificate of Pope Francis. There are three stages in his reflection on economics. The first is programmatic and contained in his first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG – The Joy of the Gospel), the second is his choice of accompanying some innovative practices and the third is the courageous proposal contained in Pope Francis’ second Encyclical Laudato si’ (LS). He openly launches a challenge to rethink economics.

“This sort of economics kills”: the affirmation of Pope Francis in the encyclical Evangelii Gaudium (N.53), has caused various economists to start debating. For Pope Francis, it is not about economics as such which is a basic human activity, but about “these economics” that bring about social exclusion. An iniquitous social and economic system leads to the use of violence in uncontrollable spirals. Impoverishment and exclusion are the dramatic result of a consumer model of development, where the object of consumption is not only resources and things but people as well. We are faced, Pope Francis says, with “faceless economics” (EG 55).

The human being is seen just as an instrument. He is reduced to a consumer good, according to fierce throwaway logic. In this regard, Pope Francis takes the opportunity to explicitly contest the theory of the “favourable outcome”, according to which, in the free market, growth by itself would provide the answer to inequality. The riches produced should filter down into the whole of society and improve the lives of all. In reality, this opinion is not borne out by the facts and “expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system” (EG 54). The result is that the excluded remain excluded. And, above all, a “globalisation of indifference” is brought into action which leads to the inability to weep for the pain of others and to feel compassion towards the cry of the poor.
It is clear that the problem lies in the situation where money, instead of serving humanity, dominates and governs it according to its own interests. How can we fail to realise what is taking place in the field of work? Nothing is being done about youth unemployment, the uncertainty of contracts, repayment forms of assistentialism, violent blackmail that forces people to forfeit part of their salaries, corruption and the delocalisation of companies followed by social dumping.

This is a clear sign of the divorce between ethics and economics. They have become separated into two stages: the production of wealth and its distribution. The sad conclusion is the praise of philanthropy while justice leaves the scene. The extremely rich are lauded in turn, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who create philanthropic foundations when it would be better to foster the independence of the two stages from the very start. Ethics must also calculate the productive stage, treasuring the value of the person as the protagonist in the economic sphere. They cannot content themselves with taking the field in the second half of the match, to distribute wealth already produced, even using doubtful methods. An adequate response must consist of a new mentality which starts from a different view of humanity and begins to dialogue with the poorest. Inclusion is possible only when we start to talk in terms of community, “the priority of the life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few” (EG 188). Solidarity is the ethical attitude capable of ransoming our humanity before doing so for that of the poor and the impoverished.

Second Stage, the social poets
It is the poor, the rejected and the marginalised who demand our attention. The Church of Pope Francis listens to their demands and organises their rebirth. It is a variegated world with such varied groups like Sem terra Brazilians and Argentinian Cartoneros, native Asian communities and those that are Latin American (e.g.: the Lenca of Honduras) or Africans (e.g., the Mufis: Union for Informal Sector-Malawi), women’s committees and popular soup kitchens, groups for water rights and of people who defend the environment and others that protect child workers, small artisans and hawkers, the workers of occupied factories and businesses turned into social centres, small farmers who incarnate family agriculture and members of cooperatives, the inhabitants of shanty towns and domestic carers.

These are movements that create work where there seems to be nothing but the “leftovers of idolatrous economics”.
In Santa Cruz in Bolivia, the Pope defined them as “social poets: creators of work, housebuilders, and food producers, especially for those on the rubbish heap of the world market”.
These movements emerge from a state of social marginalisation through the protagonism of work. They contest an assistential vision of their condition and assume in depth the ecclesial principle of the universal destination of goods.
They oppose transitory and occasional responses with dignified labour, constructive commitment, participated creativity and solidarity. Faced with the temptation to impose uniform models of consumption, the offspring of the throwaway culture, the poor are able to get organised. They feel they are part of the workings but as free people.

Third stage. Towards integral ecology
In Evangelii Gaudium we read: “In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenceless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule” (EG 56). This is the third stage in Pope Francis’ economics: to give a voice to creation, that gift of God in danger of being trodden down in the name of the idolatrous materialism of money, ready to marketise everything.

To have renewed economics, the encyclical Laudato si’ becomes fundamental as it is placed in the furrow of the social doctrine of the Church, taking up once more the theme of the universal ownership of good (cf. LS 93-95): “Whether believers or not, we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone. For believers, this becomes a question of fidelity to the Creator, since God created the world for everyone. Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged” (LS 93).
This implies that the goods of the earth cannot be left to the advantage of just a few and it contests the form of injustice that support structures which tread upon the dignity of people. Hunger in the world is one of these. Waste, too, is a flagrant contradiction: there is sufficient food for all but there is no prudent method of distribution that enables everyone to have a place at the table of humanity. Waste calls for a double revenge in the eyes of the poor: it excludes them from what belongs to them and consumes multiple resources (such as water, energy, etc.) to produce what is thrown in the dustbin, to the detriment of all.

In this perspective, the evangelical and Christian view cannot but embrace the liberation of ideology from the privacy or absolute individual freedom that has dominated in the recent past. Today we gather the fragments of materialistic ideologies which offered a reductive view of the relationship between humanity and goods. Invoking a just insertion of the principle of the participation of all in the good of the earth is the work of justice in our time.
It is a matter of agreeing with the statement: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care” (EG 200). Here there comes into play the dignity of believers who are called to render credible their passage through the world.
The encyclical Laudato Sì is not afraid to consider the primacy of politics over economics. Not in the name of a net separation but of a common service to life. Referring to a statement from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (CSDC), Pope Francis notes that, “The environment is one of those goods that cannot be adequately safeguarded or promoted by market forces” (n. 470). Politics and economics must go arm in arm together. The Pope calls for the courage to change the model of global development: this requires thinking of the meaning of economics and its purpose.

Pope Francis observes that “It is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with progress. Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable disaster. Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world, and an integrally higher quality of life, cannot be considered progress” (LS 194).
The search for a better quality of life does not necessarily correspond to the growth of the economy in terms of GDP: the signs of poor development are to be seen in the deterioration of the environment, in fragile relationships between people, in the depletion of resources and in the poor quality of food. Because of this, Laudato Sì warns against making sustainability into a version and a means to bring the ecological question within finance and technocracy.
In that way, the social and environmental responsibility of companies reduced us to publicity spots or image operations just as long as they continue making money. In reality, ecological conversion strives for economics that does not crush the person but values them for what they can contribute to the common good.

The three stages demonstrate a well-defined journey: an analysis of the situation with its contradictions; a glance at good practices; and the proposal for an economy that is in close connection with ecology. It is fundamental to examine the models of development that are incapable of justice. It is not easy but the Church of Pope Francis has set in motion an unstoppable process. An economy that is an alternative to that which is materialistic and consumeristic which must be redesigned with courage. Social innovators are required who are creative and able to make us dream. The mere glance of justice makes us see reality in a different light. However it may be, it is easier to understand it than to live it. To implement it, we need to encounter the beauty of sharing. The ‘perfect happiness’ of the Third Millennium.

Bruno Bignami/MO

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