#Australia India Institute

[indizombie]

Attempts have also been made by Indian authorities in Australia to silence critics of Modi and his Hindu nationalist policies. Thirteen academic fellows resigned from the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne citing interference from the Indian High Commission and attempts to censor research and writing that presented an “unflattering” image of India.

Somdeep Sen, ‘Hindu nationalists now pose a global problem’, Al Jazeera

[jamboreeindia12]

Pursuing a Master’s in Australia for Indian Students

Australia has become a popular destination for Indian students looking to pursue a master’s degree. With its world-class universities, vibrant multicultural environment, and strong post-graduation opportunities, Master’s in Australia for Indian Students offers a compelling choice for students seeking high-quality education.

The University of Melbourne is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious universities. It offers a wide range of master’s programs in fields such as Business Administration, Engineering, and Information Technology.

[empowerittrainings]

Sap Sf Employee Central Integration Center Online Training In Australia

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[metamatar]

Since the early days of British involvement with Zionism, Churchill sanctioned the dispossession of non-Jewish Palestinians by assuring that they have no voice in the affairs of their own land. “In the interests of the Zionist policy,” he stated in August 1921 as the government minister in charge of Britain’s colonies, “all elective institutions have so far been refused to the Arabs.”

A snapshot of Churchill’s stances on Palestine and race is found in the records of the 1937 Peel Commission hearings, convened to address a major revolt in Palestine. [...]

Horace Rumbold [...] asked whether Zionist policy is worth “the lives of our men, and so on.” And did it follow, he asked Churchill, that having “conquered Palestine we can dispose of it as we like?”

Churchill replied to that and similar questions by invoking commitments given when Britain captured Palestine toward the end of 1917. “We decided in the process of conquest of [Palestine] to make certain pledges to the Jews,” Churchill said.

Apparently skeptical, the head of the commission, William Peel, asked Churchill if it is not “a very odd self-government” when “it is only when the Jews are a majority that we can have it.”

Churchill responded with a blunt argument of might: “We have every right to strike hard in support of our authority.”

The historian Reginald Coupland nonetheless told the hearings that the “average Englishman” would wonder why the Arabs were being denied self-government, and why we had “to go on shooting the Arabs down because of keeping his promise to the Jews.”

Peel, similarly, asked Churchill if the British public “might get rather tired and rather inquisitive if every two or three years there was a sort of campaign against the Arabs and we sent out troops and shot them down? They would begin to enquire, ‘Why is it done? What is the fault of these people?… Why are you doing it? In order to get a home for the Jews?’”

“And it would mean rather brutal methods,” added Laurie Hammond, who had worked with the British colonial administration in India. “I do not say the methods of the Italians at Addis Ababa,” referring to Benito Mussolini’s Ethiopian massacre of February 1937, “but it would mean the blowing up of villages and that sort of thing?” The British, he recalled, had blown up part of the Palestinian port city of Jaffa.

Peel agreed, and added that “they blew up a lot of [Palestinian] houses all over the place in order to awe the population. I have seen photographs of these things going up in the air.”

But when Peel questioned whether “it is not only a question of being strong enough,” but of “downing” the Arabs who simply wanted to remain in their own country, Churchill lost patience.

“I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger,” he countered, “even though he may have lain there for a very long time.” He denied that “a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the Black people of Australia,” by their replacement with “a higher grade race.”

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

As flu season nears, so do new COVID-19 variants.

A newly discovered COVID strain known as XEC continues to spread rapidly across multiple countries, including the United States and California.

First appearing in late June in Berlin, the XEC COVID-19 strain has spread across Europe, North America, and Asia, totaling around 550 samples, according to Australia-based data integration specialist Mike Honey.

The variant has been recorded in 27 countries, including China, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland.

COVID in California XEC is spreading rapidly worldwide, but there have been only 23 cases in the United States, including three in California.

“We are still in early days, so it could be a dominant strain, or it could fizzle out and die. It’s very difficult to predict. It does have some advantages in the lab over currently circulating strains, predominantly the KP strains," Chief Dr. Dean Blumberg of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health told ABC Sacramento.

Omicron variant KP.3.1.1, also known as deFLuQE, made up over half (52.7%) of COVID-19 cases between Sept. 1 and Sept. 14. However, XEC and a variant known as MV.1 seem poised to become the next dominant strains, scientists say.

"At this juncture, the XEC variant appears to be the most likely one to get legs next," Scripps Research Translational Institute Director Eric Topol wrote on X.

California has seen a slowdown in COVID-19 infections and deaths since late August, the California Department of Public Health reported.

"While COVID-19 levels had increased over the summer to levels comparable to last summer, they are now decreasing as seen in both decreasing SARS-CoV-2 test positivity and detections in wastewater," officials told KCRA 3 Sacramento in a statement.

COVID XEC symptoms The CDC has not confirmed whether the XEC variant has any unique symptoms. USA TODAY has contacted CDC officials for comment.

The agency continues to outline the primary COVID-19 symptoms, which can appear between two to 14 days after exposure to the virus and can range from mild to severe.

These are some of the symptoms of COVID-19:

Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Loss of taste or smell Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea

The CDC said you should seek medical attention if you have the following symptoms:

Trouble breathing Persistent pain or pressure in the chest New confusion Inability to wake or stay awake Pale, gray or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds

What is variant MV. 1? First documented in Maharashtra, India, in late June, COVID-19 variant MV.1 has been recorded in nine countries, including the United States, Honey reported.

It's spread across four continents in countries including Portugal, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands. In the United States, it's mainly been seen in the northeast, according to Honey.

How can we protect ourselves from XEC and other variants? The CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older, with some exceptions, receive an updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the virus, regardless of whether you have previously been vaccinated or infected.

[hussyknee]

If y'all want to feel sympathy for the Israelis, you better have it for every single genocider. Slavers and settlers that scalped Natives and Nazis and Imperial Japan and Stalinists and Serbs and the British East India company and white nationalists and Islamic fundamentalists and Hindutvas and Assad's forces and and and.

People do not become genociders because of victimhood. The majority of the worst colonial empires were people who hadn't been oppressed themselves in centuries. Groups become genocidal because they have power and want to take their trauma or paranoia out on someone weaker than they are. Even the ones who aren't gleefully enthusiastic go along with it because the benefits and risks of dissent outweigh your moral conscience. You're not forced to make those choices. That's not what indoctination is. Indoctrination helps dehumanization. It's making it easy to silence every doubt and qualm and instinct for empathy and compassion. But you still choose. You make a conscious decision to see a human being as a vermin to be eradicated. It's easy to do that when you have no incentive to see them as human and no consequences for treating them accordingly.

For fuck's sake, stop using the Holocaust as an excuse for Zionists. Half of them are converts or the children of converts who never lived the Jewish generational legacy of persecution. Most of their families migrated from places where they had a perfectly comfortable lives, and the other half was born in Israel and never knew what being a marginalized minority was like. Israelis are literally the least oppressed Jews in the known world. They victimize Palestinians because colonizers and oppressors live in mortal fear of the people they colonize and oppress, because they KNOW that they're crushing them and have to manufacture all sorts of narratives to rationalize and justify that they're actually the good guys.

Colonization and genocide is a result of power. I and a lot of other BIPOC have been traumatized by Zionists before we ever knew the word for them, because they keep taking out their paranoia of Jewish hate on Black people, Natives, immigrants, Muslims and Arabs and every kind of racial minority that have no systemic power to hurt them. They have such a foothold in the Jewish communities of Europe and its settler colonies (Australia, the Americas), because white Jews have assimilated into whiteness. However conditional their acceptance among white Christians, they have the same racial and institutional power over Black and brown colonized people. Which makes it easy for them to choose Zionism— the legitimizing of white colonial anxiety in place of fear of their oppressor. Antisemitism is their ready and convenient way to rationalize the racism and Islamphobia and racial superiority they already have.

Do you think Jews are the only people who have ever been genocided? The Holocaust was not exceptional, it was exceptionalized by the Western powers to launder their own atrocities that far outstripped Nazi Germany. Look at what they're doing with Ukraine. They're being genocided and colonized and they deserve empathy and help against Russia. But the West isn't concerned about Armenia the same way even though it's also an Eastern European country. They definitely weren't concerned about any of the other countries Russia has attacked or helped genocide (like Syria). Including Ukraine itself before all this. Putin has been attacking Donbas since 2014.

So why now? They care about who's genociding Ukraine, not about Ukrainians. Russia under Putin is very much a threat to NATO and Ukraine is bordered by NATO countries. The Western PR machine still had to make Ukrainians white, because Slavs are ethnically marginalized in Western Europe, and even North America to a lesser degree. They have white privilege over all Asians and Africans and Indigenous people because the colour system of race is based on European colonization, but they have only conditional whiteness in the imperial sphere of both the US and Russia. But because they're ethnically European, the US and Western Europe was able to launch a PR "Look They're Just Like Us!" campaign to elevate them to full whiteness, so that their own citizens would actually give a shit about this country they'd barely heard of before. That's why we're all more concerned about Ukraine than any other Eastern Europeans (we're all conditioned into white supremacy). After that, the US went around thumping its own chest for a full year and half, trying to launder its military image after the twenty year Muslim genocide that was the War on Terror (still ongoing).

This is exactly what they did with European Jews. High-ho, somebody victimized by the Enemy! Dust them off and lookie! They're European! People will give a shit that we liberated them if we make them all white! But uh, do we really want five million Jewish refugees in here? Oh I know, we'll thrown in with those crazy Jewish terrorists that were giving the Brits so much trouble, and give them a state! They're also from Europe after all, and Civilized™, unlike the savages!

And then the liberated Jews accepted doing exactly what the Nazis did to them. Not because they had to! They could have just lived in Palestine, that whole region of the Levant was pretty secular and multicultural. But they didn't see Arabs as human beings! Because Europeans are taught to see Black and brown people as servants and savages! They massacred Palestinians and took the place over because they could and then called it the War of Independence. The first people they victimized after that? Were Arab Jews. They colluded with Arab nationalists to have them ethnically cleansed entirely out of their countries and scooped them up to create a labouring underclass! Put them up in such squalid conditions that scores died!

And did those people look around and realize white Jews were their oppressors and they had far more in common with Palestinians? No. They threw in with their oppressors to help make Palestinians lives a generational nightmare. Because power and assimilation! This is the exact same reason why Zionists has been trying to cosy up to Nazis since before Hitler.

(Oh and by the way? Germans never regretted the Nazis or the Holocaust. The Americans "denazification" was a dead fail. They just used Israel to make a whole dog and pony show of how very sorry they were and how it was a Dark Moment in Their History™ (because nothing they've ever done to colonized people counts). They paid reparations because the West made them, but they never got over the massive post-war genocide the Allies subjected their people to, or the way they carved up the country like a Christmas turkey. But again, did they hold Britain, France, US and Russia responsible for it? Did they acknowledge that the most severe cases of post-war violence came from American GIs? Of course not. Obviously the biggest threat was...the Poles.)

If you really see all those TikTok videos of families dancing to their genocide songs, taunting starving and dehydrated Palestinians and teens lampooning Palestinian mothers grieving their dead children and think "they're also victims because Western imperialists exploited their fear and made them into monsters" then I don't even know what to say to you. That level of infantilization, wilful ignorance and need to turn sadism into victimhood is breathtakingly racist and paternalistic. Even if you believe #Not All Israelis, the point is there's enough Israelis. Also what is even there to feel sorry for?? Are Israelis about to be turned out and shot in the streets? Starve to death? Have their limbs amputated without anesthetic and still die of sepsis? Literally what??

Emotions are signifiers of your own internal biases and perspectives. They aren't indicative of justice or morality. We can't move through a deeply unequal world and believe that compassion is having the same responses, judgements and feelings for everyone. It's not empathy you're feeling for Israelis, it's conditioned philosemitism and casual racism against Palestinians. If you actually followed the videos and images and news coming out of Palestine, you would feel about as sympathetic towards them as Nazis. You would understand that this kind of atrocity doesn't come from trauma or having been victims. It comes from having zero consequences for doing them. It comes from unchecked, gleeful, sadistic power.

[mariacallous]

The Kosovo government on June 28 banned use of the social media network TikTok in state institutions amid growing global concerns over its potential vulnerability to cyber threats.

Bardhyl Dobra, Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs, said that the decision “aims to protect the state institutions of Kosovo against cyber threats, and actions which could be exploited for cyber attacks against the information and communication technology infrastructure of Kosovo’s institutions”.

Under the decision, all public institutions that own and manage state communication networks must “implement necessary technical restrictions to prohibit the operation of TikTok services in official work environments”. 

Public officials are required to remove the Tik Tok application and its installation files from their official devices.

The government said the ban on the use of TikTok in state institutions follows the example set by allied countries. Currently, this app has also been banned by European Union institutions and by those in Australia, Estonia, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, the US, Canada, Taiwan, India, and Afghanistan.

However, Kosovo is the first country in the region to ban the use of TikTok in public institutions.

In mid-April 2024, the Ministry of Interior sent an email with inaccurate information to 7,000 public officials as a test. The results, showing that some officials believed the email, showed how easily they could fall prey to simple cyber fraud. 

[notwiselybuttoowell]

In the past two years Glasgow has become the first UK museum to repatriate objects to India. Newcastle and the Horniman in south London followed an example set by Aberdeen and Cambridge by returning looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria. Exeter handed sacred regalia to the Siksika Nation in Canada. Oxford returned the remains of 18 indigenous people to Australia.

Earlier this month Manchester completed a landmark return of 174 objects to the to the Anindilyakwa community, who live on an archipelago in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern coast of Australia.

The scale of repatriation – or rematriation as it was proudly labelled by a Scottish national museum returning a totem pole to Canada – is unprecedented but missing from all this, campaigners say, are the nation’s London-based national museums who look increasingly isolated.

“Regional museums are so far ahead of national institutions,” said Lewis McNaught, who runs the not-for-profit Returning Heritage project.

“It has been led by Glasgow and it really just remains for national collections to wake up to the trend which is, actually, now global. The UK is really falling behind quite dramatically.”

Dan Hicks, a professor of contemporary archaeology at Oxford University as well as curator at the city’s Pitt Rivers Museum, said repatriation has become part of the “fake culture wars” with some on the right seeing it as “wokery”.

“What that means, sadly, for our national institutions is that they are being forced into a position of inertia and making themselves increasingly irrelevant with every week that goes by and every restitution that we see from the regions and elsewhere around the world.

“Everyone else is getting on with it.”

The big reasons for the two different narratives is that the London-based national museums are hamstrung by legislation.

The British Museum Act 1963 specifically forbids the museum from disposing of its holdings. The National Heritage Act of 1983 prevents trustees of institutions, including the V&A, Science Museum and others, from deaccessioning objects unless they are duplicates or beyond repair.

Regional museums, whether they are run by local authorities, universities or are regimental museums or private, don’t have the same issue.

But the picture is more complicated, said Hicks, and repatriation is also not a new issue or debate.

“There is a deep and long history to restitution in this country. Edinburgh university was returning human remains two generations ago, never mind one generation … there are scores if not hundreds of stories over the past 40 to 50 years.

“It should be part of what museums do. It’s a part of the job.”

Glasgow is seen as a leader in the repatriation conversation since an agreement in 1998 to return a Sioux warrior shirt acquired at the end of the 19th century from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

The return of the Lakota Sacred Ghost Dance Shirt to the Wounded Knee Survivors’ Association established criteria that have been widely adopted in the museum sector.

Duncan Dornan, the head of museums and collections at Glasgow Life, said repatriation should be seen as a two way process and recalled the joy at the signing ceremony last year for the repatriation of artefacts to India.

“It was a very emotional event and Glaswegians of Indian heritage were very emotional. Their response was that they were very proud of their city.

“We see repatriation as establishing a relationship of equals and emphasising Glasgow as an outward-looking modern city.

“This is about a 21st-century relationship rather than a historic relationship.”

The recent Manchester Museum return of objects was seen as important because they were not giving back things that had been looted. They were everyday objects, including dolls made from shells, baskets and boomerangs.

“We believe this is the future of museums,” said Esme Ward, the director of Manchester Museum. “This is how we should be.”

Unesco hopes that Manchester will be a model for other museums to follow. Krista Pikkat, Unesco’s director for culture and emergencies, said: “It is a truly historic and moving moment. This is a case we have shared with our member states because we felt it was exemplary in many ways.”

The UK government has no plans to change the law that could then lead to movement in some of the most high-profile repatriation debates such as the Parthenon marbles and the Benin bronzes.

Campaigners say the UK is looking increasingly isolated and there is a growing movement for a change in the law.

Lord Vaizey, a former long-serving Conservative arts minister, has said the 1983 act “makes it almost impossible for UK museums to establish themselves as outward-looking, modern institutions fit for purpose in the 21st century”.

There are ways of getting around it. The V&A announced last year that it was returning the Head of Eros, a life-sized marble carving dating back to the 3rd century AD, to Turkey to be reattached to the famous Sidamara sarcophagus.

It made good a promise made by the British government in 1934 but the return is essentially a long-term loan, not an unconditional return.

Across the world, from the US to France to Germany and the Vatican, countries are repatriating objects. “Almost everywhere you look, items are being returned,” said McNaught.

In July, for example, the Netherlands repatriated nearly 500 looted objects to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The objects going to Sri Lanka include the famous and fabulous ruby-inlaid Cannon of Kandy dating from 1745, one of six objects from the Rijkmuseum that represented the very first return of colonial items from the museum’s collection.

The Vatican has also voiced willingness to return indigenous artefacts. “The seventh commandment comes to mind: If you steal something you have to give it back,” Pope Francis said in April.

The London-based national museums are undoubtedly hamstrung by law but that does not stop the regular calls for the return of objects.

Some cases are indisputable, say campaigners.

McNaught pointed to Ethiopian tabots that have been in the British Museum’s stores for more than 150 years.

The wood and stone tabots are altar tablets, considered by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the dwelling place of God on Earth and the representation of the Ark of the Covenant.

“They have never been exhibited and they never will,” said McNaught. “They have never been studied. They have never been photographed. The only people who can release these items are trustees and they can’t see them either.

“So if you are a trustee and you say, ‘Let me see what all the fuss is about,’ then you can’t.”

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

Stats 2: Electric Boogaloo

Our 256 works are comprised of.... 132 paintings, 36 drawings / digital artworks / comics, 26 installation pieces, 20 sculptures, 11 buildings, 11 public artworks, 10 photographs, 4 prints, 3 cave arts, 2 textile arts, and 1 thing I classified as a collage instead of anything else!

More stats below!

Most popular city: New York, with 13 pieces, followed by Paris with 8, and Chicago is third with 7! Washington DC has 6, Florence, Madrid, and London all have 5, Philadelphia has 4, Dublin, Edinburgh, Mexico City each have three, and all the following cities have two: Boston, Cairo, Calgary, Cordoba, Helsinki, Houston, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Munich, Ottawa, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw

Most popular museum: somehow the Art Institute of Chicago has the most with 6 pieces! Followed by the Museum of Modern Art with 5 pieces! The Museo del Prado has 4, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has 3, and the Ateneum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museo Dolores Olmedo, National Gallery of Canada, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate Britain, Tretyakov Gallery, and the Uffizi Gallery each have 2! In addition, the single works are spread out amongst 16 city level galleries (ie the Phoenix Art Museum), 5 state/provincial (ie Queensland Art Gallery), 25 national (ie National Gallery Prague), 8 museums named after benefactors (ie the Hirshhorn Museum), 7 museums dedicated to a specific artist (ie the Van Gogh Museum) and numerous other institutions! Churches, palaces, increasingly specific museums, museums that are named after their location rather than their governmental level... and of course a whole lot of private collections and pieces we were unable to find the location of!

Countries! 50 pieces are in the US! 13 in France! 12 in Spain! 7 in England, 6 in Canada and Italy, 5 in Russia, 4 in Ireland, Mexico, and Australia, 3 each in Germany, Austria, and Scotland, and 2 each in China, the Netherlands, Israel, Finland, Wales, Poland, Japan, Egypt, and India, and 1 each in Portugal, Ecuador, Thailand, Singapore, Belgium, Argentina, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican!

Demographics! I revoked John Singer Sargents American status for these because he was born in Europe, and spent most of his life travelling around Europe. I tried my best to track down the correct numbers but honestly some of these are likely to be slightly off. I went with easily publicly available information like Wikipedia and where that failed the author's website. I also tracked people's birth countries in addition to where they lived / worked for most of their lives. Anyway! We have 74 pieces by American artists! 27 French, 22 English, 14 Russian, 13 Spanish, 11 Canadian, 9 Italian, 8 Chinese, 8 German, 6 Irish, 6 Polish, 6 Mexican, 5 Greek (four of those are Ancient Greece), 5 Ukrainian, 5 Japanese, 4 Australian, 4 Belgian, 4 Indian, 3 Serbian, 3 Armenian, 3 Dutch, 3 Austria, 3 Latvian, 3 Swedish, 2 each from Finland, Scotland, Malaysia, Cuba, the Czech Republic, and Norway, and one each from Israel (specifically), Portugal, Ecuador, Thailand, Switzerland, Denmark, Iran, Colombia, Chile, Estonia, and Egypt (albeit Ancient Egypt)

Including the one Israeli artist, we have 7 Jewish artists represented, as well as 4 Black, 6 Indigenous (one is half Kichwa, one is Sami, one is Haida, one is Ojibwe, and two are Australian Aboriginals. One of those is Kokatha and Nukunu, and the other one was a group project with eight artists who did the majority of the work, and 6 of those are from Erub Island but the articles did not specify further except that at least one of the eight is non-Indigenous), 1 Chicana, and 1 Asian-American (which I am specifying because I felt very stupid adding tallies to an Asian column when I already said there are 8 Chinese artists and 5 Japanese and 2 Malaysians and....). We also do have 16 artists that publicly identify as queer in some fashion! I have listed 9 works by gay men, 2 works by lesbians, and 5 that have chosen to use "queer" instead of other labels.

And on that note.... we have 155 works by men, 51 by women, and 2 by nonbinary artists!

Most represented artists! Frida Kahlo and René Magritte tied with four works each! Félix González-Torres, Francisco Goya, John Singer Sargent each have three! And the artists that have 2 artworks each are... Claude Monet, Dragan Bibin, Edmund Blair Leighton, Francisco de Zurbarán, Gustav Klimt, Holly Warburton, Hugo Simberg, Ilya Repin, Ivan Aivazovsky, Jacques-Louis David, Jenny Holzer, Louis Wain, Pablo Picasso, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Victo Ngai, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Leonardo da Vinci (although the second is debated attribution)! That means that 205 of the works are not by any of the above! Some have unknown artists (we've got THREE CAVE ARTS) but most are just... really varied!

And lastly, years painted (as sorted by year finished and not year started). Who else loves when something is listed as "13th century"?? Not me, that's who. This is going to be a lot of numbers, and there's no real way to make it more readable. so..... feel free to skip!

The oldest two submissions are from circa 40,000 years before present, and 30 to 32 thousand years before present! Six more artworks came to exist before 0 (CE or AD depending on who you're talking to), and 7 before 1000! 2 from the 1200s, 6 from the 1400s, 8 from the 1500s, 3 from the 1600s, and 5 from the 1700s! Several of those already listed were started in a previous ....age category (for instance, one has no specified date other than 7300 BC to 700 AD) but once we hit 1600, everything is usually finished in a relatively short timespan. 6 are from 1800-1850, 9 from 1850-1880, and the 1880s are extremely busy. 1 from 1881, 3 from 1882, 1 from 1883-1885, 5 from 1886, and two each from the next four years (1887-1890)! 6 from 1891-1895, and 5 from 1896-1900!

We've got 3 from 1901 or 1902, 4 from 1903, two each from 1906 and 1907, and one each from 1908 and 1909! 3 from 1910-1915, 3 from 1917, 2 from 1918 and one from 1919! 6 are from the Roaring Twenties, three of them specifically from 1928! 4 from 1931-1935, and only 3 from the latter half of the 30s! There's 3 from WWII, and 4 from 1946-1949, 5 from 1951-1954 but only 3 from '55-'59. 5 from the sixties, 7 spread out through the 70s, and 10 from the 80s, two each from 81, 82 and 84. The 90s have a lot of duplicate and triplicate years, totaling 20 overall! 11 are from 90-95, the other 9 are 96-99. 7 from 2001-2005, and 8 from 2006-2009. 9 from 2010-2014, 3 from 2015, 6 from 2016, 5 from 2017, 1 from 2018, 3 from 2019, 5 from 2020, 1 from 2021, 4 from 2022, 11 from 2023, and 3 ongoing projects! Whew! If anyone wants it listed By Year instead of in groups like this, that'll be most readable in like... list form and that's way too long for a stats post.

Congrats on making it to the end! If you got this far, uh, let me know if you want to see the spreadsheet after the tournament, I guess. I'm very proud of it.

[fatehbaz]

Oz Rock bands were big in Brazil in the 1990s. Australian surfers know its breaks. [...] [I]n the past decade [2005-2015] Brazil has had the second fastest rate of migration to Australia [...].

Australia’s connection with Brazil began in 1787 with the First Fleet voyage. This was thanks to the port of Rio’s location in the South Atlantic and a centuries-long British-Portuguese alliance – unique among European powers in the Age of Empires. The First Fleet had three layovers on its relatively cautious eight month voyage from Britain: a week in the Spanish colony of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a month at Rio in the Portuguese colony of Brazil and a month at the Dutch East India Company’s Cape colony in South Africa. Fleet commander Arthur Phillip had not intended to rest and resupply at Rio but sailing conditions made it prudent to do so. And Phillip’s former service in the Portuguese navy ensured a cordial welcome from Rio’s colonial authorities.  

At this time, as Bruno Carvalho writes in Porous City: A Cultural History of Rio de Janeiro (2013), Rio enjoyed rising status within the Portuguese Empire. In 1763 it had been named the new capital of Brazil. In 1808 Portuguese royals fled to Rio to escape Napoleon and remained there at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. As a consequence, Rio could boast of being the only American city to serve as a centre of European power.

One First Fleet official lamented how little the British knew of Rio. This came to be addressed, as Luciana Martins notes in A Bay to be Dreamed Of: British Visions of Rio de Janeiro (2006), as increasing numbers of British visitors ventured there during the 19th century. Visitors included New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and later Charles Darwin – along with thousands of convict and free migrants on board ships calling at the port of Rio.

Writing in Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective (2005), Emma Christopher observed that in Australian history books, travel from Britain to Australia seemed to have been “covered as if in the blink of an eye”.

This inspired her to write of the “watery non-places” of the journey not as voids, but rather as places where much transnational history was lived [...].

[J]ournals by intending Australian colonists such as Macquarie’s wife Elizabeth allow glimpses of colonial Rio through colonial Australian eyes. Elizabeth Macquarie assessed Rio with keen intelligence and, more challengingly – as Jane McDermid has argued in recent research on histories of the British abroad – a callously casual racism.

First Fleet journals tell us that, in 1787, convicts confined to ship at Rio witnessed enslaved West Africans rowing Portuguese fruit sellers around the anchored Fleet transports in decoratively festooned boats.

Convicts overheard and exchanged stories from officials permitted shore leave: stories of the songs of captive West Africans awaiting sale at the port marketplace; of colourful Portuguese Catholic institutions and festivities that were exotic to straight-laced British Protestants. Stories of being forbidden, on pain of death, to venture to hinterland jewel mines. Onshore at Rio, colonial migrants bound for Australia befriended Portuguese colonists, despite the language barrier. They purchased curios. They passed judgement – glowing and harsh – on the people of the Portuguese colony, its natural and built environment, just as Brazilians in turn scrutinised them.

---

Text by: Julie McIntyre. “I Go to Rio: Australia’s forgotten history with Brazil.” The Conversation. 16 September 2015. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[mybeingthere]

Judith Wright lives and works in Brisbane. She came to her work as an installation artist with a background in dance having performed with the Australian Ballet. Recipient of a fellowship from Arts Queensland in 1993 and awarded a professional development grant from the Queensland Government in 1998, Judith has taught at the Queensland University of Technology and the College of Art, Griffith University.

She was appointed to the board of the Queensland Art Gallery from 1999-2002,and received a Master of Fine Arts from Queensland University of Technology in 2002. Judith participated in the India/Australia collaborative exchange project Fire and Life in Calcutta in 1996; the Fire and Life residency at the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane; and Celebrate Australia in Tokyo in 1993. She collaborated with composer Lisa Lim on Sonorous Bodies for Elision contemporary music at the Third Asia Pacific Triennial, and the Hebbel Theatre Berlin. Judith was also commissioned by Elision to produce a video work for Inferno with composer John Rodgers in 2002. In 2005, Wright completed a residency at the Australia Council’s Greene St. studio in New York. In 2009 she was awarded a Fellowship from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Most recently, works by Judith Wright will be included in Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now Part Two. Know My Name showcases art made by women. Drawn from the National Gallery of Australia's collection and loans from across Australia, it is one of the most comprehensive presentations of art by women assembled in this country to date. The exhibition will be on display until 26 January 2022. ⁠

[yourhealthrescue]

Discover the Best Hospital for Kidney Surgery in India

When facing a critical health issue like kidney surgery, the importance of choosing the right hospital cannot be overstated. India has emerged as a global hub for medical tourism, particularly in the field of nephrology and urology. The country boasts some of the best hospitals for kidney surgery, offering state-of-the-art facilities, highly experienced surgeons, and personalized care that rivals the finest medical institutions worldwide.

Why India?

India's healthcare system has advanced significantly over the past few decades, making it a preferred destination for complex medical procedures, including kidney surgery. The combination of world-class infrastructure, cutting-edge technology, and skilled medical professionals has positioned India as a leader in this domain. For patients, this means access to top-tier care at a fraction of the cost compared to Western countries.

What Makes a Hospital the Best for Kidney Surgery?

The best hospital for kidney surgery in India typically excels in several key areas:

Experienced Surgeons: The expertise of the medical team is paramount. India is home to many renowned nephrologists and urologists with extensive experience in performing kidney surgeries, including transplants and minimally invasive procedures.

Advanced Technology: The best hospitals are equipped with the latest technology, such as robotic surgery systems, which allow for greater precision and faster recovery times.

Comprehensive Care: Top hospitals offer a multidisciplinary approach, with teams of specialists who work together to provide comprehensive care from diagnosis through recovery. This includes not only surgeons but also nephrologists, anesthesiologists, and nursing staff who are experts in their fields.

Patient-Centric Approach: Hospitals that are patient-focused provide personalized treatment plans and ensure that patients and their families are well-informed throughout the process. They offer post-operative care and follow-up services that contribute to successful long-term outcomes.

Accreditations and Certifications: Look for hospitals that are accredited by national and international healthcare organizations, as these certifications reflect a commitment to maintaining high standards of medical care.

Leading Hospitals for Kidney Surgery in India

Several hospitals in India stand out for their exceptional care in kidney surgery:

Medanta – The Medicity: Located in Gurgaon, Medanta is renowned for its world-class kidney transplant program. The hospital is equipped with advanced robotic surgery systems and a team of highly skilled surgeons who specialize in complex kidney surgeries.

Apollo Hospitals: With locations across India, Apollo Hospitals is a leader in healthcare. Their nephrology and urology departments are known for pioneering minimally invasive surgical techniques and providing comprehensive care for kidney-related conditions.

Fortis Healthcare: Fortis is a well-established name in Indian healthcare, with a network of hospitals that offer cutting-edge treatment for kidney diseases. Their multidisciplinary teams provide personalized care and have a high success rate in kidney surgeries.

Max Super Specialty Hospital: Located in Delhi, Max Hospital is another top choice for kidney surgery in India. Their advanced technology, coupled with a team of experienced surgeons, makes them a preferred destination for both Indian and international patients.

Why Choose India for Kidney Surgery?

Patients from around the globe choose India not only for the quality of care but also for the affordability of treatment. The cost of kidney surgery in India is significantly lower than in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia, without compromising on the quality of care. This affordability, combined with the expertise of Indian medical professionals, makes India a compelling choice for those seeking the best hospital for kidney surgery.

Moreover, India’s healthcare system is designed to accommodate international patients, with many hospitals offering dedicated international patient services. These services include assistance with travel arrangements, language interpretation, and personalized care plans to ensure a smooth and comfortable experience.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the best hospital for kidney surgery in India is a decision that can significantly impact your health and quality of life. With world-class hospitals, experienced surgeons, and a patient-centric approach, India offers unparalleled opportunities for successful kidney surgery outcomes. Whether you need a kidney transplant or other specialized procedures, India's leading hospitals are equipped to provide the highest standards of care.

For those in search of top-quality kidney surgery, India stands out as a beacon of hope and healing, offering a combination of excellence, affordability, and compassionate care that is second to none.

[brookston]

Holidays 8.21

Holidays

Actuaries Day (India)

Appreciation Day (Elder Scrolls)

Aquino Day (Philippines)

Argonian Day

Ask Questions Day

Bitcoin Infinity Day

Black Indie Authors Day

Buhe (Ethiopia)

Bunny Day (Japan)

Cadillac Day

Crazy Day

Eagle Scout Day

821 Day (Texas)

Festival of Goliath, Parade of Giants begins (Ath, Belgium)

Fête de la Jeunesse (a.k.a. Youth Day; Morocco, Western Sahara)

Good Roads Day

Gospel Day (Micronesia)

Grandfather and Grandson’s Day (Argentina)

ICBM Day

International Day of Mosques

International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism (UN)

Internet Self-Care Day

Kosrae (Gospel Day; Micronesia)

National Brazilian Blowout Day

National Dreams Are Possible Day

National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day

National Meme Day

National Report Upcoding Fraud Day

National Senior Citizens Day

Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)

Officer’s Day (Russia)

Order of the Lone Star Day

Our Lady of Knock

Poet's Day

San Martin Day (Argentina)

Senior Citizens' Day

Six-Row Barley Day (French Republic)

Thiruonam (Parts of India)

World Entrepreneurs’ Day

World Fashion Day

World Goat Day

Youth Day (Morocco)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Beer Institute Day

Grog Day

National Shiraz Day (Australia)

National Spumoni Day

National Sweet Tea Day

Independence & Related Days

Hawaii Statehood Day (Original Date; 1959)

Latituda (Declared; 2006) [unrecognized]

Latvia (Passing of the Constitutional Law on the Status of the Republic of Latvia as a State and Actual Restoration of the Republic of Latvia; 1991)

3rd Wednesday in August

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

JUVEDERM Day [3rd Wednesday]

Miss Crustacean Hermit Crab Beauty Pageant and Hermit Crab Races (Ocean City, NJ) [3rd Wednesday]

National Medical Dosimetrist Day [3rd Wednesday]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Festivals Beginning August 21, 2024

Corn Palace Festival (Mitchell, South Dakota) [thru 8.25]

gamescom (Cologne, Germany) [thru 8.25]

The Great New York State Fair (Syracuse, New York) [thru 9.2]

Hythe Venetian Fete (Hythe, United Kingdom) [thru 8.21]

Idaho County Fair (Cottonwood, Idaho) [thru 8.24]

Pluk de Nacht Film Festival (Amsterdam, Netherlands) [thru 8.31]

Ransom County Fair (Lisbon, North Dakota) [thru 8.25]

Reading and Leeds Festivals (Leeds and Reading, United Kingdom) [thru 8.25]

Tønder Festival (Tønder, Denmark) [thru 8.24]

Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) [thru 9.1]

Feast Days

Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Albert Irvin (Artology)

Amontons (Positivist; Saint)

Apologise Day (Pastafarian)

Asher Brown Durand (Artology)

Aubrey Beardsley (Artology)

Bernard Ptolemy, Founder of the Olivetans (Christian; Saint)

Blessing Against Jealousy Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Bonosus and Maximilian (Christian; Martyrs)

Broderick Crawford Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Christian Schad (Artology)

Consualia (Ancient Roman festival to the god of the harvest and stored grain)

Euprepius of Verona (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Consus (God of Good Council; Ancient Rome)

Heraclia (Celebration of Hercules; Ancient Rome; Everyday Wicca)

Jane Francis de Chantal (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (Artology)

Joseph (Muppetism)

Jules Michelet (Writerism)

Luxorius, Cisellus and Camerinus (Christian; Martyrs)

The Magic of Lemon Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Maximilian of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Menashe Kadishman (Artology)

Narcisse-Virgile Díaz de la Peña (Artology)

Nathaniel Everett Green (Artology)

Our Lady of Knock (Christian; Saint)

Pius X, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Radish Tordia (Artology)

Richard, Bishop of Andria (Christian; Saint)

Robert Stone (Writerism)

Sidonius Apollinaris (Christian; Saint)

Stephen Hillenburg (Artology)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 233 [51 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [29 of 37]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 39 of 60)

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [22 of 30]

Premieres

Ain’t Misbehaving’, recorded by Fats Waller (Song; 1938)

American Ultra (Film; 2015)

An American Werewolf in London (Film; 1981)

Axe Me Another (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1934)

Bambi (Animated Disney Film; 1942)

Be Here Now, by Oasis (Album; 1997)

Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, by A.J. Liebling (Memoir; 1959)

Blade (Film; 1998)

A Brief History of Time (Documentary Film; 1992)

Crazy, recorded by Patsy Cline (Song; 1961)

Diesel and Dust, by Midnight Oil (Album; 1987)

Dirty Dancing (Film; 1987)

Dynamite, by BTS (Song; 2020)

Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart (Novel; 1949)

Eve of Destruction, by Barry McGuire (Song; 1965)

Facelift, by Alice In Chains (Album; 1990)

Fireman’s Brawl (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1953)

First Monday in October (Film; 1981)

House of the Dragon (TV Series; 2022)

How You Remind Me, by Nickelback (Song; 2001)

Inglorious Basterds (Film; 2009)

Kiko and the Honey Bears (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Life with Fido (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (Animated Film; 1992)

Motörhead, by Motörhead (Album; 1977)

Next Stoop Wonderland (Film; 1998)

Ready or Not (Film; 2019)

Ritual de lo Habitual, by Jane’s Addiction (Album; 1990)

Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner (WB MM Cartoon; 1965)

Sherman Was Right (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

A Sunbonnet Blue (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James (Novel; 1902)

Wrongfully Accused (Film; 1998)

Today’s Name Days

Pius (Austria)

Agaton, Pio, Sidonija (Croatia)

Johana (Czech Republic)

Salomon (Denmark)

Sven, Sveno (Estonia)

Soini, Veini (Finland)

Christophe, Grâce, Ombeline (France)

Pia, Oius, Maximilian (Germany)

Hajna, Sémuel (Hungary)

Cristoforo, Pio (Italy)

Janīna, Linda, Sidnejs (Latvia)

Gaudvydas, Joana, Kazė, Kazimiera, Medeinė (Lithuania)

Ragni, Ragnvald (Norway)

Adolf, Adolfa, Adolfina, Alf, Bernard, Emilian, Filipina, Franciszek, Joanna, Kazimiera, Męcimir (Poland)

Jana (Slovakia)

Pío (Spain)

Jon, Jonna (Sweden)

Gianna, Jane, Janelle, Janessa, Janet, Janette, Janice, Janie, Janine, Janiya, Jayne, Shanice, Sheena (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 234 of 2024; 132 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 34 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 19 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 18 (Ding-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 17 Av 5784

Islamic: 15 Safar 1446

J Cal: 24 Purple; Threesday [24 of 30]

Julian: 8 August 2024

Moon: 94%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Amontons]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 63 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 31 of 31)

[oh2e]

I just watched Suffragette (2015) which was a alright film about an ordinary woman’s deepening involvement with the suffragettes in 1912.

At the end of the film there was a little list of when some countries gave women the vote. Women acquired the right to vote in 1918 in the UK and Ireland, provided they were over 30 and owned land. 1928 for all women. New Zealand, 1893. Australia, 1902. Norway, 1913. Russia, 1917. Austria, Germany and Poland, 1918. USA, 1920. Brazil, 1932. Turkey, 1934. France, 1944. Italy, 1945. China and India, 1949. Mexico, 1953. Switzerland, 1971. Jordan, 1974. Nigeria, 1976. Qatar, 2003. Saudi Arabia, 2015.

It got me thinking. When did Irish women get the right to vote? 1918 obviously, same as the UK. But all Irish women got to vote from 1922 - six years before the UK. The Saorstát Éireann was remarkably progressive for its time. The Easter Rising was full of women fighting for their country - Cumann na mBan were an integral part of the plans. Ireland was one of the first countries to directly address women in the constitution. Things took a major dip after that thanks to the increased hold the Catholic Church had on the country, and Éamon de Valera’s anti-feminism stance but we’re moving forward now. Women can hold jobs after marriage and get divorced and use birth control and marry other women and get abortions. Religion is good and kind, but corrupt religious institutions with too much power are not. How many other countries are currently going through their oppressive power structure phase? Why is equality for women still something people are fighting about, over a century later? We’ve come so far but yet still have so far to go.

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

Washington Post:

How Trump is already damaging U.S. national interests

Assuming they do end up facing each other in November, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump will offer voters a stark choice between the former’s support for the network of alliances and international institutions the United States helped create after World War II and the latter’s “America First” approach. In that sense, U.S. voters will not be choosing a direction for their country alone but for the world as a whole.

The assumption underlying such institutions as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the mutual defense agreements that bind the United States with Japan and South Korea is that security is not a zero-sum proposition. By committing resources over extended periods and combining them, taking mutual advantage of differing capabilities, countries can make themselves far safer than would have been possible if they acted unilaterally or in temporary concert. Mr. Biden believes this is still a workable model, which is why he is trying to apply and expand it to deter the challenge to NATO posed by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Mr. Trump, by contrast, has repeatedly depicted security alliances not as prudent long-term investments but as free rides for allies who get U.S. protection but do not shoulder their fair share of the defense burden. This is why Mr. Trump is pushing to end America’s support for Ukraine and hinting at a separate peace of some kind with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. His campaign website promises “fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.”

Self-absorbed and easily swayed by honeyed words and calculated attention from autocrats such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, he inconsistently directs venom at China’s predatory trade practices and admiration for that country’s leader, Xi Jinping. This sows uncertainty not just in Taiwan but also the wider range of allies and partners that includes Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and India. The Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, has warned that a Trump return would raise foundational questions about America’s trustworthiness as well as “the credibility of its commitments to foreign partners, and the durability of its role as the [linchpin] of the global security order.” We wish it were exaggerating.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/05/trump-world-global-reaction-tariffs/

[beardedmrbean]

French farming unions are taking aim at the European Union’s free-trade agreements, which they say open the door to unfair competition from products arriving from overseas. At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable – and sometimes more costly – agricultural practices, unions say these trade deals are making it hard for them to stay solvent.

French farmers say that one of their biggest fears is that Chilean apples, Brazilian grains and Canadian beef will flood the European market, thereby undermining their livelihoods. France’s farmers continued to demonstrate on the country’s motorways on Wednesday, protesting against rising costs, over-regulation and free-trade agreements –partnerships between the EU and exporting nations that the farming unions say leads to unfair competition. 

The EU has signed several free-trade agreements in recent years, all with the objective of facilitating the movement of goods and services. But farmers say the deals bring with them insurmountable challenges.

"These agreements aim to reduce customs duties, with maximum quotas for certain agricultural products and non-tariff barriers," said Elvire Fabry, senior researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, a French think-tank dedicated to European affairs. "They also have an increasingly broad regulatory scope to promote European standards for investment, protection of intellectual property, geographical indications and sustainable development standards."

South American trade deal in the crosshairs

Some non-EU countries – such as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland – maintain comprehensive free-trade agreements with the EU because they are part of the European Economic Area. This allows them to benefit from the free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

Other nations farther afield have signed more variable agreements with the EU, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and Ukraine. The EU also recently signed an accord with Kenya and a deal with New Zealand that will come into force this year; negotiations are also under way with India and Australia.    

However, a draft agreement between the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur is creating the most concern. Under discussion since the 1990s, this trade partnership between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay would create the world's largest free-trade area, a market encompassing 780 million people. 

French farmers are particularly concerned about the deal’s possible effect on agriculture. The most recent version of the text introduces quotas for Mercosur countries to export 99,000 tonnes of beef, 100,000 tonnes of poultry and 180,000 tonnes of sugar per year, with little or no customs duties imposed. In exchange, duties would also be lowered on exports from the EU on many “protected designation of origin” (PDO) products. 

At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices, French unions say these agreements would open the door to massive imports – at more competitive prices – of products that do not meet the same environmental standards as those originating in Europe. French farmers are calling out what they say is unfair competition from farmers in South America who can grow GMO crops and use growth-promoting antibiotics on livestock, which is banned in the EU. 

Trade unions from various sectors went into action after the European Commission informed them on January 24 that negotiations with Mercosur could be concluded "before the end of this mandate", i.e., before the European Parliament elections in June.      

The FNSEA, France’s biggest farming union, immediately called for a "clear rejection of free-trade agreements" while the pro-environmental farming group Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Confederation) called for an "immediate end to negotiations" on this type of agreement.   

A mixed record

"In reality, the impact of these free-trade agreements varies from sector to sector," said Fabry. "Negotiations prior to agreements aim to calibrate the opening up of trade to limit the negative impact on the most exposed sectors. And, at the same time, these sectors can benefit from other agreements. In the end, it's a question of finding an overall balance."

This disparity is glaringly obvious in the agricultural sector. "The wine and spirits industry as well as the dairy industry stand to gain more than livestock farmers, for example," said Fabry. These sectors are the main beneficiaries of free-trade agreements, according to a 2023 report by the French National Assembly.

"The existence of trade agreements that allow customs duty differentials to be eliminated is an 'over-determining factor' in the competitiveness of French wines," wrote FranceAgriMer, a national establishment for agriculture and maritime products under the authority of the French ministry of agriculture in a 2021 report. The majority of free-trade agreements lower or abolish customs duties to allow the export of many PDO products, a category to which many wines belong.

However, the impact on meat is less clear-cut. While FranceAgriMer says the balance between imports and exports appears to be in the EU's favour for pork, poultry exports seem to be declining as a result of the agreements. Hence the fears over the planned treaty with New Zealand, which provides for 36,000 tonnes of mutton to be imported into the EU, equivalent to 45% of French production in 2022. France,however, still has a large surplus of grains except for soya. 

‘A bargaining chip’

Beyond the impact on agriculture, "this debate on free-trade agreements must take into account other issues", said Fabry. "We are in a situation where the EU is seeking to secure its supplies and in particular its supplies of strategic minerals. Brazil's lithium, cobalt, graphite and other resource reserves should not be overlooked."

The agreement with Chile should enable strategic minerals to be exported in exchange for agricultural products. Germany strongly supports the agreement with Mercosur, as it sees it as an outlet for its industrial sectors, according to Fabry.

"In virtually all free-trade agreements, agriculture is always used as a bargaining chip in exchange for selling cars or Airbus planes," Véronique Marchesseau, general-secretary of the Confédération Paysanne, told AFP.

Michèle Boudoin, president of the French National Sheep Federation, told AFP that the agreement with New Zealand will "destabilise the lamb market in France".  

"We know that Germany needs to export its cars, that France needs to sell its wheat, and we're told that we need an ally in the Pacific tocounter China and Russia. But if that is the case, then we need help to be able to produce top-of-the-line lamb, for example," she said.

Finally, "there is a question of influence", said Fabry. "These agreements also remain a way for the EU to promote its environmental standards to lead its partners along the path of ecological transition, even if this has to be negotiated," said Fabry. 

Marc Fesneau, the French minister of agriculture, made the same argument. "In most cases, the agreements have been beneficial, including to French agriculture," Fesneau wrote on X last week, adding: "They will be even more so if we ensure that our standards are respected."

Mercosur negotiations suspended? 

As the farmers’ promised “siege” of Paris and other major locations across France continues, the French government has been trying to reassure agricultural workers about Mercosur, even though President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva relaunched negotiations in December. "France is clearly opposed to the signing of the Mercosur treaty," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged last week.

The Élysée Palace even said on Monday evening that EU negotiations with the South American bloc had been suspended because of France's opposition to the treaty. The conditions are "not ripe" for concluding the negotiations, said Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission. "However, discussions are ongoing." 

Before being adopted, the agreement would have to be passed unanimously by the European Parliament, then ratified individually by the 27 EU member states.