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History of Washington D.C. YMCA
Imagine Washington, DC in 1852. The city was brimming with saloons, gambling dens and crime. Apart from the Library of Congress, there were no public libraries or reading rooms. Thomas Duncan, a Treasury Department employee, had read with keen interest an article on the growth and activities of the London YMCA (founded in 1844). He and his two closest friends, William Langdon and William Rhees, saw a dire need for such wholesome social and recreational activities in the nation’s capital.
With the help of 60 young men, they opened the YMCA of the City of Washington – just one year after the first YMCA was established in the U.S. Their mission was to elevate the “spiritual and moral condition” of their fellows in a “crude, raw and highly transient city of 40,000…where vice, alcoholism, delinquency and crime defied imagination.” One year later, Rev. Anthony Bowen made an unprecedented impact in civil rights by organizing the first-ever “Colored YMCA.” YMCA Anthony Bowen was a social and cultural center for Washington’s African-American community throughout the 1900s.
Today, the Y engages more than 10,000 neighborhoods across the U.S. As the nation’s leading nonprofit committed to helping people and communities to learn, grow and thrive, our contributions are both far-reaching and intimate—from influencing our nation’s culture during times of profound social change to the individual support we provide an adult learning to read.
By nurturing the potential of every child and teen, improving the nation’s health and well-being, and supporting and serving our neighbors, the Y ensures that everyone has the opportunity to become healthier, more confident, connected and secure.
A GLANCE AT OUR RICH HISTORY OVER THE LAST 160 YEARS
In 1852, the YMCA of the City of Washington was formed at 10th and E Streets, NW.
The first Y for African Americans was founded in Washington, DC in 1853 by Anthony Bowen, a slave who purchased his freedom from a plantation owner.
The Y has been known as a place of shelter and support during wartime. In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the official charter for the YMCA of the City of Washington.
The Y began incorporating wellness and physical fitness as a core focus in the 1860s. In 1869, a YMCA in Washington, DC was one of the first to build a gymnasium.
Camping became a cornerstone of the Y’s programming in 1885. Today, there are more than a dozen camp programs in the national capital area, with countless themes and activities.
Can you imagine sports without basketball? Thanks to James Naismith, basketball was invented in 1891 at the International YMCA Training School.
Volleyball was created in 1896 at the Y by blending elements of basketball, tennis and handball.
YMCA Camp Letts was founded in 1906 with 17 boys on five acres of land.
In 1909, the radical idea of group swimming lessons was first thought of in answer to a YMCA campaign to “teach every man and boy in North America” to swim.
Father’s Day was invented by the Y in 1910 to recognize the significant role that male role models play in our communities.
In 1936, the YMCA Youth & Government program was founded to help high school students understand and participate in the legislative process. Our local chapter formed in 2001.
During World War II, the Y and five other national organizations founded the United Service Organizations for National Defense, today known as the USO.
Many African American Ys became meeting places and rallying points for the Civil Rights movement. In 1967, racial discrimination was banned in all YMCAs.
Let’s get physical! Dance exercise classes started at the Y in 1970, leading to a boom in aerobics offerings across the U.S.
To emphasize the importance of play in keeping kids healthy and happy, the Y organized the first nationwide Healthy Kids Day in 1992, the nation’s largest health day for kids and families.
In 1994, celebrating a rich history of character development, the Y defined character as demonstration of four core values: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.
In 2004, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington created the PHD (Physical, Healthy & Driven) program to combat the staggering rise in childhood obesity and inactivity.
First Lady Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity at the Alexandria YMCA in 2010.
In 2010, two new Y programs were launched to respond to our community’s needs: Fit & Well Seniors, a wellness program that is unique to the needs of DC’s senior residents, and YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program, which helps people with prediabetes take control of their health.
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Wildlife conservation, community and environmental volunteer projects and internships worldwide
India – Wildlife and Biodiversity
The symbol of Indian wildlife is most definitely the Indian elephant, but did you know there are approximately 410 species of mammals located in the country. And that’s just mammals. In fact, India is one of the 17 mega-biodiverse countries in the world accounting for around 7-8% of the world’s recorded species despite making up only 2.4% of the earth’s land area. The country is also home to some incredibly rare and exotic species which include the greater one-horned rhino, the nilgiri tahr, the Bengal tiger, the Asiatic lion, the black buck, the lion-tailed macaque and the snow leopard.
The country has 10 distinct geographical zones which accommodate its impressive levels of species diversity and endemism. European and Asian influences meet across much of the terrain creating not only an interesting mix of habitat, but a similarly unique medley of animals.
Three of the largest current threats to the countries wildlife and biodiversity are large-scale development projects (including dam and road construction, and mining), the conversion of various landscapes, often rich ecosystems, into farmland, industrial sites or residential areas, the poaching of animals, and the over-harvesting of forest products. There are many national parks scattered across the varying landscapes that are working to preserve and rehabilitate the wildlife and biodiversity of the country. A few of these include Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh (famed for inspiring the setting of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’) and Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Unfortunately, there is still incredibly threat to both wildlife and biodiversity that looms menacingly on the horizon. The country has already seen immense depletion of diversity and various species due to both human interference and certain climatic conditions. Urgent attention is required to ensure the stabilise the future of many animal and plant species. Find out more about how you can help at our wildlife volunteering project in India.
Ethical and Responsible Conservation and Community Volunteer and Internship Projects Worldwide
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Email: info@workingabroad.com
Turtles & Reptiles
Big Cats & Predators
Reserves & Wilderness
Community & Medical
Find a project now
Under 18’s Volunteering
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Pellet association helping develop the Clean Fuel Standard
By: Wood Pellet Association of Canada
REVELSTOKE, B.C. – Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECC) has invited Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), along with other potentially affected trade associations, to participate on a stakeholder committee and a technical committee to give input toward developing the federal Clean Fuel Standard.
The Government of Canada’s intent is for the Clean Fuel Standard to be a performance-based regulation that will incent the use of a broad range of low carbon fuels, energy sources and technologies, such as electricity, hydrogen, and renewable fuels. It will establish lifecycle carbon intensity requirements separately for liquid, gaseous and solid fuels, and will go beyond transportation fuels to include those used in industry and buildings. The Clean Fuel Standard will complement the pan-Canadian approach to pricing carbon pollution.
WPAC sees this as an opportunity to influence a national regulation that will incent fossil fuel producers to use wood pellets within the fossil fuel supply chain as a way to reduce the carbon intensity of fossil fuels. For example, a fossil fuel producer could use wood pellets to provide process heat as part of its production process.
ECC has formed a stakeholder committee that will meet every few months to review progress as the Clean Fuel Standard is developed. ECC has also formed a technical committee that will meet approximately monthly until the draft regulation is completed in June 2018. The technical committee includes such groups as the Forest Products Association of Canada, the Mining Association of Canada, The Canadian Electricity Association, Advanced Biofuels Canada, Canadian Fuels Association, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Clean Energy Canada, Canadian Gas Association and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.
The objective of the Clean Fuel Standard is to achieve 30 megatonnes of annual reductions in GHG emissions by 2030, contributing to Canada’s effort to achieve its overall GHG mitigation target of 30 per cent emission reduction below 2005 levels by 2030.
On Dec. 13, 2017, ECC published a regulatory framework on the Clean Fuel Standard. The framework outlines the key elements of the design of the clean fuel standard regulation, including its scope, regulated parties, carbon intensity approach, timing, and potential compliance options such as credit trading.
ECC is planning to publish the proposed regulation in the Canada Gazette by late 2018 and to publish the final regulation by mid-2019.
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Key races come to a head in August primaries
Updated: 8:28 AM EDT Aug 3, 2018
By Dylan Hyman
A potential breach of a mobile voting app is being reported in West Virginia.
SOURCE: File photo
With less than 100 days to go until November’s midterm elections, candidates across the political spectrum are kicking their campaigns into high gear.Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma and Florida are among the states where voters will decide who will represent the major parties at the ballot box this November. In Tennessee, Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Marsha Blackburn, both running for U.S. Senate, were widely expected to win the nomination from their respective parties. The race is slated to be one of the most hotly contested of the 2018 midterms, pitting a moderate Democrat with a record of winning in Tennessee against a firebrand conservative looking to ride on President Donald Trump's support. Democrats had never expected they would be competing for a Senate seat in ruby-red Tennessee, but Bredesen's cross-party appeal and Trump's sagging popularity have made the race competitive. With political analysts saying the state currently leans Republican, Blackburn could be the first woman from Tennessee to serve in the U.S. Senate. In Minnesota, a rare double Senate election is set to happen in November, though it is not expected to swing the pendulum in a new direction. Incumbent Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith appear to be shoo-ins to maintain their seats through primary season. Smith is looking to maintain the seat previously held by Al Franken until his resignation in January following allegations of sexual misconduct. Smith, who formerly served as the state’s lieutenant governor, was appointed to the seat by Gov. Mark Dayton following Franken’s resignation. Wisconsin Congressional District 3 is one that would be a top GOP target if the political landscape looked different. Democratic Rep. Ron Kind ran unopposed in 2016, when the district went for Trump 49 percent to 44 percent, four years after giving Obama a 55 percent to 44 percent victory. Kind, who is seeking a 12th term, has $3.1 million in the bank. He's set to face retired Army Col. Steve Toft, who started July with $107,000 cash on hand. Kind's financial advantage, combined with the president's sagging approval ratings in the Badger State, should be enough to keep the seat comfortably in Democratic hands.Speaking of Wisconsin, for the first time since 1998, Paul Ryan's name will not be on the ballot. The District 1 representative and current Speaker of the House announced earlier this year he would retire at the end of his current term. Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers are running as Democrats in the Aug. 14 primary, though neither are expected to win the traditionally Republican seat in November.Among the GOP hopefuls include businessman Nick Polce and activist Jeremy Ryan, but neither of them have been the brunt of controversy like Paul Nehlen. Nehlan is a white nationalist whose reported comments on everyone from Jewish people, to Markle Markle, have gotten him banned from Twitter.But perhaps the biggest race both Democrats and Republicans are keeping their eyes on will be Missouri's Senate race with a vulnerable Claire McCaskill.McCaskill is one of several high-profile Democrats fighting to maintain their congressional seats. The two-term senator is currently neck and neck with her presumptive Republican opponent, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley.
With less than 100 days to go until November’s midterm elections, candidates across the political spectrum are kicking their campaigns into high gear.
Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma and Florida are among the states where voters will decide who will represent the major parties at the ballot box this November.
This Vermont executive could be the nation's first openly transgender governor
In Tennessee, Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Marsha Blackburn, both running for U.S. Senate, were widely expected to win the nomination from their respective parties.
The race is slated to be one of the most hotly contested of the 2018 midterms, pitting a moderate Democrat with a record of winning in Tennessee against a firebrand conservative looking to ride on President Donald Trump's support. Democrats had never expected they would be competing for a Senate seat in ruby-red Tennessee, but Bredesen's cross-party appeal and Trump's sagging popularity have made the race competitive.
With political analysts saying the state currently leans Republican, Blackburn could be the first woman from Tennessee to serve in the U.S. Senate.
In Minnesota, a rare double Senate election is set to happen in November, though it is not expected to swing the pendulum in a new direction. Incumbent Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith appear to be shoo-ins to maintain their seats through primary season. Smith is looking to maintain the seat previously held by Al Franken until his resignation in January following allegations of sexual misconduct. Smith, who formerly served as the state’s lieutenant governor, was appointed to the seat by Gov. Mark Dayton following Franken’s resignation.
Wisconsin Congressional District 3 is one that would be a top GOP target if the political landscape looked different. Democratic Rep. Ron Kind ran unopposed in 2016, when the district went for Trump 49 percent to 44 percent, four years after giving Obama a 55 percent to 44 percent victory.
Kind, who is seeking a 12th term, has $3.1 million in the bank. He's set to face retired Army Col. Steve Toft, who started July with $107,000 cash on hand. Kind's financial advantage, combined with the president's sagging approval ratings in the Badger State, should be enough to keep the seat comfortably in Democratic hands.
Speaking of Wisconsin, for the first time since 1998, Paul Ryan's name will not be on the ballot. The District 1 representative and current Speaker of the House announced earlier this year he would retire at the end of his current term.
Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers are running as Democrats in the Aug. 14 primary, though neither are expected to win the traditionally Republican seat in November.
Among the GOP hopefuls include businessman Nick Polce and activist Jeremy Ryan, but neither of them have been the brunt of controversy like Paul Nehlen. Nehlan is a white nationalist whose reported comments on everyone from Jewish people, to Markle Markle, have gotten him banned from Twitter.
But perhaps the biggest race both Democrats and Republicans are keeping their eyes on will be Missouri's Senate race with a vulnerable Claire McCaskill.
McCaskill is one of several high-profile Democrats fighting to maintain their congressional seats.
The two-term senator is currently neck and neck with her presumptive Republican opponent, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley.
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What kind of safari are you interested in? -- Please select -- A custom, tailor-made, private safari A set-date, set-itinerary, group safari
Estimated date of arrival? - Day - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 - Month - January February March April May June July August September October November December - Year - 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030
How many people in your party? -- Please select -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 - 15 15+
How long do you want to visit for (days)? -- Please select -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30+
What's this request regarding
Where do you want to visit? Tanzania
Additional information (Are there any parks you want to see or do you have special requirements?)
Katavi National Park
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Arizona cowboy to receive Working Cowboy Award in Lubbock
For A-J Media
Ed Ashurst, an Arizona cowboy who has gathered cattle and horses on more than 7,000 square miles of the American West, will receive the 2019 Working Cowboy Award at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 during the 42nd Annual National Golden Spur Award dinner at the Overton Hotel in Lubbock.
“This award is designed to recognize an outstanding individual who makes his living primarily horseback caring for livestock on a daily basis,” said Jim Bret Campbell, director of the National Ranching Heritage Center (NRHC) in Lubbock.
The Ranching Heritage Association (RHA), a non-profit membership organization supporting the work and mission of the NRHC, sponsors the annual award to honor a working cowboy skilled in all aspects of ranch work and respected by the ranch crew and ranching community.
Ashurst started working on a 300-section Arizona ranch the morning after his high school graduation in Wickenburg, Ariz.
“Every cowboy but me was from Chihuahua, Mexico,” he said. “They taught me Spanish, how to cook Mexican food and how to cowboy.”
Since then Ashurst has accumulated 50 years of experience working on 20 different ranches in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. He has spent the last 22 years running the 86-section Ten X Ranch about 35 miles northeast of Douglas, Ariz. He worked 15 years for Babbitt Ranches and if he were to stop long enough to compile a resume, his ranch list would read like the A-list of great Southwestern ranches.
Ashurst credits a legendary old-timer named Whistle Mills on the O RO Ranch as being a major mentor in his life. Located in northern Arizona 50 miles from Prescott, the ranch has no power lines or telephone poles and unmarked dirt roads connect the remote cow camps to headquarters. To some people, the O RO is the crown jewel of Arizona ranches.
“That was a real rough-country ranch,” Ashurst said, noting he was only 20 when he worked with Whistle at the tail end of the old-timer’s career. “If you didn’t gather the cattle right, they would be wild. He was a master at that. He knew how to gather rough-country wild cows better or as good as anybody.”
As a result, it should be no surprise that the award nominating committee describes Ashurst as “outstanding at gathering wild cattle in rough country.”
In addition, he’s considered a superb bronc-rider and excellent roper. Like many cowboys, he also has a rodeo history and is one of the main participants and backers of the Arizona Cowpunchers Rodeo held annually in Williams. He has served numerous times as president of the organization and also been a rodeo contestant.
Ashurst may be unique among cowboys in regard to how he spends his time when he comes in at night after a day on the ranch. Instead of turning on the television, which he doesn’t have, he takes his ballpoint pen and a yellow legal pad and writes for an hour. Then he gives his writing to his wife, Jean Ann, to type and edit. He writes consistently enough that the two of them crank out one book a year, and all the books can be found on amazon.com.
Ashurst has published eight books and will debut his ninth book shortly before he receives the Working Cowboy Award. His fourth book, Stealin’ From the Neighbors, was his first work of fiction and was awarded the Hillerman Award for Fiction at the 2018 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in Albuquerque.
The first RHA Working Cowboy Award was presented in 2018 to Boots O’Neal of the Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie.
To register for the National Golden Spur Award dinner, call Vicki Quinn-Williams at (806) 834-0469 or register online at www.ranchingheritage.org/spur. Reservations are required by Thursday, Sept. 19.
Tickets are $95 for RHA members and $125 for non-members.
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Guards Were Sleeping During Epstein's Alleged Suicide, Then Falsified Records To Cover It Up
In the latest blockbuster report about how the chronic understaffing and mandatory overtime at MCC helped contribute to Jeffrey Epstein's "suicide" (or at least that's the official narrative that certain parties are trying to push), the New York Times reported on Wednesday that the two guards tasked with monitoring Epstein's unit were asleep when the pedophile-financier tied a bedsheet around his neck and the other end to a top bunk, before pitching himself forward.
When the guards awakened after not checking on Epstein for three hours to discover, to their horror, that Epstein had apparently committed suicide, they decided to falsify records to cover their tracks, something that could draw criminal charges, per the NYT.
Ladies and gentlemen, have we found our patsies?
The two staff members in the special housing unit where Mr. Epstein was held - 9 South - falsely recorded in a log that they had checked on the financier, who was facing sex trafficking charges, every 30 minutes, as was required, the officials said. Such false entries in an official log could constitute a federal crime.
In fact, the two people guarding Mr. Epstein had been asleep for some or all of the three hours, three of the officials said.
The two employees were placed on administrative leave on Tuesday, while Warden of the jail was temporarily reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation, while the Warden of the federal prison in Otisville has been named acting warden of the Manhattan jail.
Those disclosures came on Tuesday as the two employees were placed on administrative leave and the warden of the jail, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, was temporarily reassigned, pending the outcome of the investigation into Mr. Epstein’s death, the Justice Department announced.
One of the staff members who was working to guard Epstein that night was a former corrections officer who had recently taken a desk job inside the prison. But he had recently volunteered to cover some shifts as a corrections officer once again for the extra overtime pay. The second officer, a woman who was assigned to that wing, had been forced to work overtime because of staffing shortages.
Prison staff found Epstein, 66, dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, officials said. Earlier reports said staff heard shrieking coming from his cell around the time of his death. He was awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. Just days before, thousands of pages of documents were released by the US Attorney of the Southern District of New York's office revealing at least half a dozen new names who had never been associated with Epstein and his sex ring before, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Marvin Minsky, to name a few.
It's this particularly curious timing that has prompted some to speculate that conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered or switched with a body double might be real, since without Epstein, there won't be a trial (though AG William Barr has vowed to bring his co-conspirators to justice, his most prominent associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is nowhere to be found).
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DDG: Boy Opens Lemonade Stand To Raise Money For “A Date” With His Mom
Before Brady Campbell recently lost his dad to colon cancer, the Colorado six-year-old promised his father he would keep an eye on his mom after his death. They came up with the idea for the boy to have a lemonade stand to raise money to take his mom on “a date” and he recently set up shop outside their Denver home to fulfill their deal.
Brady charged 25-cents a cup or “best offer” for the lemonade and he did pretty well selling to family and friends. But business really picked up after a visit from local police officer, who put out a call on his radio and firetrucks and police cars started stopping by. He raised $244 selling lemonade and plans to use it to take his mom, Amanda, on a date and do something to honor his dad, according to the family.
They’ve set up a GoFundMe page as a “virtual lemonade stand” to continue raising money in honor of Brady’s father, Brandon. Some of those donations will be used for “adventures and dates” for the boy and his mom and the rest will go to the Palliative Care Team and Cancer Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz.
Source:New York Daily News
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All These Worlds Are Yours The Scientific Search for Alien Life Jon Willis
Mathematics & Science »
Astronomy Space & Time »
Where would you look for alien life? An astronomer and science popularizer explains the basics of astrobiology to outline five plausible scenarios for finding extraterrestrials
Long before space travel was possible, the idea of life beyond Earth transfixed humans. In this fascinating book, astronomer Jon Willis explores the science of astrobiology and the possibility of locating other life in our own galaxy.
Describing the most recent discoveries by space exploration missions, including the Kepler space telescope, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the New Horizons probe, Willis asks readers to imagine—and choose among—five scenarios for finding life. He encourages us to wonder whether life might exist within Mars’s subsoil ice. He reveals the vital possibilities on the water-ice moons Europa and Enceladus. He views Saturn’s moon Titan through the lens of our own planet’s ancient past. And, he even looks beyond our solar system, investigating the top candidates for a “second Earth” in a myriad of exoplanets and imagining the case of a radio signal arriving from deep space. Covering the most up-to-date research, this accessibly written book provides readers with the basic knowledge necessary to decide where they would look for alien life.
An active researcher in the fields of cosmology and the evolution of galaxies, Jon Willis is associate professor of astronomy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where he teaches a popular course on astrobiology.
"[Jon Willis] conveys great enthusiasm alongside necessary scientific skepticism."—Wall Street Journal
"Energizing. . . . Through humorous, concise, accessible writing, Willis eloquently presents the growing—though still circumstantial—evidence that we are not alone."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Expert, measured and drily humorous, Willis is an excellent guide to the lunar environments that may, just conceivably, be harbouring microscopic life. . . ."—Tom Holland, Spectator
"Each chapter is authoritative, accessible and fun, and together they form a skillfully executed and entertaining book."—Alastair Gunn, BBC Sky at Night
"All These Worlds Are Yours is unashamedly popular, but tells a coherent story. . . . Willis provides an impressively concise and reasonably accurate account of the place of the Earth and solar system in the universe, then concentrates on the chances of finding extra-terrestrial life among the Sun’s family of planets."—John Gribbin, Literary Review
"All These Worlds Are Yours is a serious but accessible examination of the prospects for finding life elsewhere in the universe. From the solar system to planets around other stars, this is a lively guidebook for where life could be and how we can go about looking for it."—Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
"Jon Willis has written an engaging primer on astrobiology that is both comprehensive and conversational. All These Worlds Are Yours covers everything under the sun—and far beyond—about the hunt for alien life."—Lee Billings, author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars
"A brilliantly written summary of the classical work on the chemistry of life, and the latest results in the exploration of moons and planets within, and the search for planets without, our Solar System."—Steven Benner, author of Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method
Celestial Mirror
Barry Perlus
Dispatches from Planet 3
Marcia Bartusiak
Anthony Aveni
Reaching for the Moon
Roger D Launius
Dante and the Early Astronomer
Tracy Daugherty
The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less)
David Bercovici
Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony
Mapping the Heavens
Priyamvada Natarajan
The Realm of the Nebulae
Edwin Hubble
Bernd Brunner
Douglas A. MacDonald
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SEP in Sri Lanka holds powerful 50th anniversary meeting
By our correspondents
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka held a successful public meeting to mark its 50th anniversary at the Public Library auditorium in Colombo on June 22. About 150 party members, supporters, workers, youth and housewives attended the event.
The meeting was streamed live on Facebook and seen online by 500 viewers worldwide. It was the first in a series of meetings and lectures to be held in several Sri Lankan cities over the next two months.
K. Ratnayake
SEP Political Committee member K. Ratnayake chaired the meeting and welcomed all in attendance. He explained that the founding congress of the SEP’s predecessor, the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL), was held in Colombo on June 16–17, 1968. The party was established as the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).
The speaker paid tribute to the RCL’s founding general secretary Keerthi Balasuriya, who led the party until his untimely death in December 1987, to Wilfred Pereira (Spike), who played a leading role in the establishment of the party and during its initial development, and to all those who gave their lives in building the party.
Ratnayake said that the RCL was established to provide revolutionary leadership to the working class in Sri Lanka and the South Asian region as part of the struggle for world socialist revolution.
He reviewed the central role played by the ICFI in providing essential political and theoretical guidance to all those who had founded the RCL and reviewed two important milestones: the 1985–86 split with British Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) and the transformation of the ICFI’s sections from leagues into parties in 1995–96.
The ICFI’s split with the WRP represented the decisive defeat of Pabloite opportunism by the genuine Trotskyists. The second milestone signaled the ICFI’s decision to take direct responsibility for the revolutionary leadership of the international working class.
Vilani Peiris
Greetings from David North, the chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board, were then read to the meeting by SEP assistant national secretary Deepal Jayasekera, and are published here.
SEP Political Committee member Vilani Peiris pointed out that the 50th anniversary of the RCL/SEP was being held amid an acute crisis of world capitalism. “From its very inception,” she said, “the RCL based its work on a firm internationalist basis.”
Quoting from an SEP statement published by the WSWS on June 17, Peiris said that the initiative to establish the RCL was taken by a group of young people wanting to fight for Trotskyism. The resolutions passed at the congress included a resolution denouncing the Stalinist betrayal of the 1968 French general strike and another supporting the struggle of the Vietnamese workers and peasant masses against US imperialism.
Kapila Fernando
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) convenor Kapila Fernando, also referred to the crucial role of the youth in the establishment of the RCL and in the struggle to build parties in the region fighting for the Trotskyist program of Permanent Revolution.
“The LSSP [Lanka Sama Samaja Party] and bourgeois nationalist and petty-bourgeois movements, such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna [JVP], which politically dominated the working class, youth and oppressed masses when the RCL was founded, have all proven to be politically bankrupt.
“Within 50 years all these outfits have become appendages of imperialism,” he explained.
SEP General Secretary and WSWS International Editorial Board member Wije Dias delivered the main report. He began by quoting from a section of Trotsky’s address to the third congress of the Third International in 1921: “The task of the working class—in Europe and throughout the world—consists in counterposing to the thoroughly thought out counter-revolutionary strategy of the bourgeoisie its own revolutionary strategy, likewise thought out to the end.”
Trotsky’s speech, Dias said, “is the guideline we adhered to when we founded the RCL in 1968 and it is the granite foundation from which the remaining founders of the party have never wavered, since then.
“As previous speakers have explained, the bitter political experience we encountered at that time was the 1964 betrayal of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which offered itself as a prop for the crumbling capitalist government of Sirima Bandaranaike.
“It is generally accepted,” he continued, “that the most grotesque result of this betrayal was the dissolution of the 21 demands movement of the working class that was building up and challenging the Sri Lankan government. But this was only the immediate effect of the betrayal.
“The greatest disaster was the loss of confidence among workers and the millions of oppressed masses in Sri Lanka, and throughout South Asia, in the struggle of the Trotskyists, who alone could resolve the persistent social problems in the aftermath of the fake independence granted to the South Asian bourgeoisie in the post-WWII period.
“The Shakthi and later Virodaya formations, through which the group that founded the RCL had passed, were not the only centrist and petty-bourgeois political outfits that emerged as a result of the LSSP betrayal.
“About a dozen youth groups sprang up across the island and in other parts of the Indian sub-continent following the LSSP betrayal. Numerous petty-bourgeois radical groups came onto the scene, with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in Sri Lanka and the Naxalite movement in India the most prominent,” Dias said.
A section of the meeting
The speaker explained that because the Moscow Stalinist bureaucracy and their local counterparts were thoroughly discredited many of these new youth groups turned to the Beijing Stalinists or to Castro’s Cuba.
Referring to the origins of the RCL, Dias explained: “Our orientation was completely different. Without acting impressionistically we wanted to find out what happened to the LSSP. We could not have done this, it must be emphasised, without the guidance of the ICFI.
The speaker explained the role played by the ICFI and the British Socialist Labor League (SLL). “After [SLL general secretary] Gerry Healy’s intervention during the LSSP congress of June 1964, we had the benefit of the visits by the Banda brothers, Mike and Tony, as representatives of the ICFI.
“Under their guidance we turned to a study of the history of the Trotskyist movement, particularly the documents of the split of 1961–63, where the Socialist Workers Party of the US broke from the ICFI to re-unite with the Pabloite revisionists, who were the architects of the LSSP betrayal. The documents provided us with political gems that illuminated our way forward.
Dias referred to the ICFI’s 1963 perspective document and its restatement of the fundamental postulates of the theory of Permanent Revolution.
This document, he said, “cut across the reactionary fairytales uttered by the LSSP about the progressive potentials of the bourgeois SLFP as well as the petty-bourgeois ‘socialist perspectives’ of all the radical groups. It was these theoretical foundations that strengthened our fight to build the RCL in the working class in Sri Lanka and India.
“Keerthi Balasuriya, who led the RCL until his untimely death in 1987, stridently exposed the treacheries of the LSSP and the Stalinists who became partners of the bourgeois coalition government of 1970, and also the bankrupt program of the JVP and the Naxalites in India.
“The stature of the RCL increased rapidly during the party’s first decade and in the midst of the wave of revolutionary struggles of the working class in the advanced countries and the masses in the semi-colonial countries in 1968–75.”
Wije Dias
Dias told the meeting it was not possible to review the entire 50-year history of the RCL/SEP but briefly explained the development of the political work of the ICFI after the break from the renegades of the British Workers Revolutionary Party, in 1985–86.
He referred to the November 1987 ICFI statement on Sri Lanka and the subsequent analysis of the Indian government’s military intervention in Sri Lanka to crush the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] and to stabilise the Colombo government. The perspective developed at that time by the ICFI, with the participation of comrade Keerthi, was a clear program for a socialist republic of Sri Lanka and Eelam through a unified struggle of the working class of the Indian sub-continent.
The transformation of the RCL into the SEP in 1996 and the establishment of the WSWS in 1998, had seen the political, theoretical and practical work of every section of the ICFI, including the SEP in Sri Lanka, reach a new high, Diaz said.
“These are conscious preparations of the world party to bring a homogeneous revolutionary socialist strategy to the working class. This intersects with the protracted breakdown of the world economic order and the new wave of class struggles that is developing around the globe.”
The speaker concluded by referring to the internationally coordinated campaigns of the ICFI and WSWS against Internet censorship and to free WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. “These are powerful pledges for the future victories of the Trotskyist movement as the political head of the world working class,” Dias said.
The meeting ended by unanimously passing a resolution supporting the ICFI’s campaign against the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants.
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Future of Northern Ireland Agreement uncertain
By Chris Marsden
This is the first of a series of articles on the referendums to be held simultaneously in both northern and southern Ireland on Friday, May 22. Journalists from the World Socialist Web Site will be travelling to Ireland to report on the referendums and bring views from both parts of the island.
With two days remaining before Friday's referendums in the North and South of Ireland, the fate of the Northern Ireland Agreement looks increasingly uncertain. Despite most political parties calling for a "yes" vote, and a massive media campaign backing the agreement, opinion polls in the Irish Times and the Daily Telegraph show a fall in support amongst Unionists.
The Irish Times records those in favour in the North falling from 73 percent on April 14 to 56 percent on May 12-13. Those against rose from 14 to 25 percent. The Daily Telegraph records 61 percent in favour with 16 percent against.
Amongst supporters of Unionist parties, 35 percent intend to vote "yes." Forty-five percent said they would vote "no" with 20 percent undecided. Conversely, the Irish Times recorded support for the agreement in the South rising from 61 to 72 percent. The Daily Telegraph poll shows that support amongst Catholics in the North now totals 89 percent.
The agreement is likely to pass on both sides of the border, but a possible outcome, described in the Guardian as "a nightmare," is that a majority of Unionist supporters vote "no." If this were then reflected in the elections to the Assembly next month, "those opposed to the agreement will have 40 of the 108 seats--a perfect wrecking number," as the Sunday Business Post commented on May 17.
The Labour government in Britain, the coalition led by Bertie Ahern in the Irish Republic and the Clinton administration in the United States have thrown everything into winning Unionist backing for the agreement. Blair has made two trips to the province, pledging that the release of prisoners
and even the right of Sinn Fein representatives to take seats in the assembly will be conditional on their decommissioning arms. British Chancellor Gordon Brown announced a £315 million investment package. He said this was "not conditional" on a "yes" vote but needed one in order to succeed.
At every stage, they have run into major problems. To enable Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to swing his party behind the agreement, the Balcombe Street gang were released on parole to attend the organisation's congress, or Ard Feis. The four IRA members carried out the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings in England during the early 1970s. The rapturous welcome they received helped Adams win a massive majority, but alienated broad sections of Unionist voters. Similar revulsion met the release of Micheal Stone, the loyalist paramilitary who shot down nationalist mourners in a cemetery, so he could attend a rally by the pro-agreement Ulster Democratic Party.
Another inducement offered by Labour was the establishing of a Minister for Victims of the Troubles, with a pledge of £5 million to the injured or bereaved. This also became embroiled in controversy when it was announced that Adam Ingram, the province's security minister, would fill the post.
Sinn Fein spokesman Martin McGuinness complained "This is the same minister who is in charge of the British Crown Forces who have been responsible for the murders of over 450 civilians in the course of the conflict."
Clinton's role in pushing for the agreement has been crucial. He has held private meetings with Sinn Fein. At the G8 summit he gave a joint press conference with Blair, calling on the North to vote for "hope." He threatened, "anybody who returns to violence is never going to be a friend of the United States. We won't tolerate it, we won't support it, we will do everything we can to affirmatively oppose it." Later he went so far as to stress his Protestant Irish background in asserting that the agreement would safeguard the future.
Yet unionist opposition continues to grow. The Ulster Unionist Party, whose leader David Trimble signed the agreement, is divided. Seven of the ten unionist MPs are calling for a "no" vote, the latest being Trimble's predecessor Lord Molyneaux. This has enabled them to increasingly dictate the political agenda with Blair's speeches sounding more and more like Trimble's.
Only the complete subservience of the Sinn Fein leadership has enabled this to take place. Supporters of the agreement have urged its opponents to recognise this new political reality. Writing in the Sunday Times, Paul Bew, professor of Irish history at Queen's University, Belfast explained:
"There is no reason for the present scale of unionist pessimism about the future. The republican movement has junked almost its entire belief system."
In exchange for ministerial posts and patronage from the American ruling class, Sinn Fein have signed up to a deal which accepts British rule so long as a majority in the North want it. They have endorsed changing the Republic's constitution to give up any claim over the six counties. They have also abandoned their long-standing opposition to taking their seats in a British parliament. In a masterful example of understatement, Sinn Fein's chairman Mitchel McLauglin admitted, "The negative from the republican perspective is that it does, to an extent, legitimise the British State in Ireland."
When the agreement was signed less than a month ago it was hailed as the best chance ever for bringing an end to 30 years of conflict. The signatories believed that hastily organised referendums and the overwhelming desire to end sectarian conflicts would mean that no one would examine the agreement too carefully. Government spokesmen have stressed again and again that there is no other way to bring peace, and a "no" vote would mean endorsing the status quo or something even worse.
Whether this succeeds in securing a large enough mandate, the agreement cannot resolve a social and political crisis that is the product of centuries of imperialist oppression. Religious bigotry and sectarian hatred have been deliberately cultivated by the British ruling class in order to divide the working class and so preserve its rule. This will continue. The passing of legislation in the proposed Assembly is made conditional on majority support in the so-called nationalist and unionist "communities."
To this end, members of the Assembly will have to register a designation of identity--nationalist, unionist or other. This provision does two things. First, it shores up the political organizations which are based on sectarian divisions. Second, it seeks to marginalize all those who seek an alternative by calling for the unity of Catholic and Protestant workers against both British imperialism and the Irish bourgeoisie.
Essential to any lasting resolution of Ireland's problems is the need to provide secure jobs, decent living standards and democratic rights for everyone. But the essence of the agreement is an attempt to create new mechanisms of rule through which big business can continue to exploit
the working class on both sides of the border. The hope is that an end to hostilities, coupled with the development of cross-border co-operation between Britain and the Republic, will enable the North to emulate the success of its southern neighbour in attracting international investment.
Far from raising living standards for the majority, this will only produce low-paid, temporary and even part-time jobs as it has in the Republic. Further cuts in state spending, breaking up the large public sector in the North, will be demanded, in order to provide the tax breaks for investors.
Chancellor Gordon Brown's £315m financial package, for example, is less than 10 percent of the annual sum at present paid by the British government to sustain the public sector in the North. None of it will go to health, education or social welfare. Apart from £65m to fund workfare programmes, the remainder are investment handouts to business. It is significant that Labour announced the Port of Belfast as its first major privatisation since taking power. Expected to yield £100 million, it will be followed by the privatisation of whole swathes of the public sector that will lead to thousands of job losses and the destruction of social services.
Regardless of the outcome of Friday's referendums, genuine and lasting peace can only result from the independent political action of working people. Against the pro-business and sectarian agenda of the agreement, a social movement must be developed which defends the common class interests of Protestant, Catholic, Irish and British workers.
Nurses and health workers strike in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland: Harland and Wolff shipyard workers continue occupation
Ryanair faces industrial unrest across Europe
Brexit threatens to destabilise Ireland on both sides of the border
Irish unions sabotage health workers’ strikes
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Home›Commentary›Chris Cornell.... It's Not What You Think... (by guest author Rich Larson)
Chris Cornell.... It's Not What You Think... (by guest author Rich Larson)
by Admin Cyrinda St. John
Christopher John Boyle- Known to the world as Chris Cornell - was born in Seattle on July 20, 1964
Chris left us in the very early morning of May 18, 2017 after a performance in Detroit. He was 52.
Chris Cornell died early Thursday morning. His band Soundgarden played a show on Wednesday night at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Two hours after the show ended, he was gone.
For two days, I’ve been working on a piece to pay tribute to him, and it’s been a struggle. Usually when I have a problem like this it’s because I’m staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what I want to say. That’s not the problem this time. The problem is I have way too much to say.
I’m not going to sit here and claim to have been a huge fan of Soundgarden. I didn’t dislike them, I just had to take them in small doses. I was a fan of Cornell. I love “Seasons,” the solo song he had on Cameron Crowe’s movie, Singles. It’s a droning acoustic song about isolation and the meaningless passing of time. Your basic nihilistic statement written at what was probably the peak of rock’s most nihilistic period.
I was a fan of Cornell as a person. Of all the great musicians that were packed into Seattle in the late 80’s and early 90’s, from Mark Arm of Mudhoney to Jeff Ament of Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam to the Great Tortured Genius himself, Kurt Cobain, Cornell seemed like he rose a little bit above the others. He was the unofficial communicator of the Seattle scene. Like a Pacific Northwest Sinatra, he had a charisma and a calm grace about him. He was thoughtful, even charming, in interviews, unlike his compatriots who disdained fame and accolades (or at least pretended to). Cornell was the guy who seemed most like he could handle all the attention without turning it into an existential crisis.
Chris circa 1990
Now he’s dead because, as it turns out, he had been dealing with an existential crisis most of his life. I was a fan, and I had a ton of respect for him. But it’s taken me a little while to understand why his death has affected me as strongly as it has.
At first I thought it might have something to do with the fact that I was mostly a bystander while the music of my generation was taking over. Just as Nirvana and Pearl Jam were making that gigantic breakthrough in 1992, my fiancé and I discovered we were pregnant. So instead of investigating mosh pits at the 7th Street Entry, or watching Soundgarden and Pearl Jam rule the stage at Lollapalooza (it was a traveling festival in those days), I was hastily throwing together a wedding and then changing diapers. My wife and I got an early jump on things, so we’ve always told ourselves that we’d make up for lost time in our forties and fifties.
Well here we are, and something like this just makes it feel like we’ve arrived too late. But while that’s a legitimate thing, I don’t really think that’s exactly what is bothering me.
Then I thought maybe it’s a generational thing. Grunge is the gift that Generation X gave to the world of music. We took all that slacker cynicism, mixed it up with our older siblings’ sneering punk attitude, Zeppelin’s low end and, if we’re being honest, a little heroin. The result was the musical version of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. It was gorgeous art that was absolutely sure that nothing really matters, making it feel immediate and important. It was the sound of a generation telling everybody, including ourselves, to fuck off.
Chris Cornell with close friend and roommate Andrew Wood whom he wrote Hello 2 Heaven for. Andy was the vocalist for Seattle's legendary Malfunkshun and later for Mother Love Bone
And while we were wallowing in our splendid alienation, our spokespeople, predictably, started dying. First it was Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. A lot of us didn’t know about him until Cornell, along with Wood’s erstwhile bandmates (who were about to form Pearl Jam) memorialized him with a one off tribute called Temple of the Dog. Somehow, Wood’s story made death part our music’s romantic foundation.
A couple years later, Cobain killed himself with a shotgun. He was 27. Our Bob Dylan, the voice of our generation, threw it all away because he was afraid he was becoming a cliché. At least, that’s what we told ourselves at the time.
Shortly thereafter, Kristen Pfaff of Hole overdosed and died in a bathtub. And then Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon overdosed and died on a tour bus. It felt like people like D’arcy Wretzky of Smashing Pumpkins, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, and, perhaps especially, Courtney Love – Pfaff’s bandmate and Cobain’s widow – were all headed in the same direction.
Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley died of a gruesome overdose. The fact that his body was not discovered for more than a week after felt somehow fitting. He was a emblematic of a generation that just wanted to be left alone.
And just when it felt like our music, and maybe our entire generation, would never live to see 30, things turned around. Love and Weiland cleaned their acts up (at least for a while). Bands like Pearl Jam thrived long after the term “Heroin Chic” disappeared. Before we knew it, we were a decade into a new century and a lot of the Poets of Grunge were still standing. Some of them were even in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It felt like our heroes were out of the woods.
When Weiland died of an overdose of cocaine, alcohol and MDA at the end of 2015, it felt like an echo, and not something rooted in the present. He had become the most notorious addict of them all over the years; in and out of rehab so many times we had all lost hope for him. His death was something that had been predicted so often for so long that it might as well have happened in 1997.
Soundgarden circa Badmotofinger era
But Chris Cornell committed suicide on May 18, 2017, at the age of 52. He was a dad. He was a philanthropist. He was becoming an elder statesman of rock. He was a grown up. Cornell was aging gracefully, even doing that thing where some guys get better looking as they get older. He got Soundgarden back together, and they made a great new album a couple years ago. His voice still had all the power and strength it had displayed in his youth. Much like the rest of us, the world had kicked his ass a couple times, and he survived.
But now he’s gone, and goddammit, his is the death that bothers me the most. As I’ve been thinking about this, I’m realizing that it’s both a personal and a generational thing. Cornell had a long struggle with depression. As have I. As have many of you.
It’s possible that, along with grunge, Generation X’s other great gift to society is depression. I mean, of course it was here long before the Baby Boomers started re-producing, but we talk about it more than those who came before us. We talk about it as a demon or a monster. It’s a dark shadow that shows itself at any point in time without warning. It surrounds us, isolates us, and quiets us. Depression likes to blame things. We feel like shit because of mistakes we have made in life or because of the state of the world or because we aren’t perfect. Without a lot of help and a lot of work, it’s impossible to know that it really is a chemical imbalance in our brains. After twenty-plus years of trying to de-stigmatize depression, some of us still have a hard time recognizing it for what it is. And even then, it doesn’t always matter.
Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell on stage- Temple Of The Dog era circa 1991-92
You might think grunge is about anger, but that’s not completely true. Yes, it can sound that way, but it’s really about depression and cynicism. Those two go hand-in-hand, along with their nasty little sister, anxiety. When the three of them get going, they just eat hope as quickly as it can be summoned. That leaves despair and despair is exhausting, not just for those who experience it, but for the people around it as well. So we keep it to ourselves because we don’t want to be a burden. And then it gets to be too much. Doesn’t matter if you’re a student, a mom, an accountant or a rock star. It doesn’t matter if you’ve written about it your entire life as a means of keeping it at bay. It doesn’t matter if the music you made about it brought in fame, respect and millions of dollars. It doesn’t matter if your entire generation has suffered from it. Depression makes you feel totally alone. You hit the breaking point, and then, like Chris Cornell, you hang yourself in the bathroom.
This wasn’t a young adult taking the easy way out because life got too hard. This wasn’t a spoiled, petulant rock star who thought that this was the best way to ensure his legend. This was a well-respected member of his community; a beloved musical hero who seemed to have it all together.
This could have been any of us. And brothers and sisters, if it’s you, don’t mess around with it. Please find some help.
Cornell is speaking to us all one last time. This isn’t something we left behind with our twenties. This isn’t something cured by age or financial security. This isn’t something you “outgrow.” If it’s allowed to fester, depression is stronger than wisdom. Depression is insidious and tenacious. Depression can get to anybody. It can make you feel like an old man at 27. It can make you feel lost as a child at 52.
Call it a senseless tragedy. Call it a second-act cautionary tale. Call it whatever you want. Just don’t blow it off as meaningless.
Rest in peace, Chris.
Chris Cornell 1964 - 2017
PLEASE, If you, or someone you know, are in need of someone to talk to, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
You are not alone. Please, call them if you need them. Please share this information widely.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rich Larson is a freelance writer and editor with extensive experience covering arts, entertainment and lifestyle topics in Southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities. He can be contacted at [email protected]
ABOUT THE ARTICLE: This article originally appeared on the blog site The First Ten Words By Rich Larson (click link to read more from Rich on a variety of subjects) and is re-posted here on ZRockR with the kind permission of the author with our most sincere and deepest gratitude. Rich has summed up what so many of of have tried to put into words.
PHOTO CREDITS: Photos used in this article belong to the various labels ( SST, Sub-Pop, A&M, Epic, Suretone, Interscope, and Mosley ) and PR firms that have promoted Chris Cornell's music through out the years. All rights reserved by them and the people who took the photos.
Article ©2017 by Rich Larson- Used with written permission- All Rights Reserved.
ZRockR Supports the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation. From Chris's website: " The Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation is currently raising funds and partnering with charitable organizations to mobilize support for children facing tough challenges, including homelessness, poverty, abuse and neglect. " You can also support the effort in Chris' memory by getting a digital badge of your own. The cost is only 1 US Dollar and can be purchased at If Only who will get those funds to the foundation to help kids in need towards having a better life.
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Admin Cyrinda St. John
Cyrinda St John is the Admin of the ZRock'R Magazine Facebook page and ZRock'R Magazine LIVE! Facebook page and the twitter accounts as well. When we have guest writers, she posts their stuff on the website too, though she will occasionally write as well now and then. That is why you are probably seeing this right now.
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Leslie Montgomery 27 May, 2017 at 23:08 Reply
From one Gen X’er to another…absolutely the best article I’ve ever read about one of our spokespeople. Thank you so much. This article truly touched me. Just as they did in their music, you found a way to put into words exactly what I was feeling. Rest in peace, Chris.
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Grade 9 pass rate drops
February 1, 2013 News
By CHILA NAMAIKO –
GOVERNMENT has released Grade Nine results showing a drop in the pass rate from the previous year’s examination results.
Out of the 291,018 who sat for the examinations in 2012, only 100,824 candidates have passed, compared to 124,331 who made it in 2011.
There were 276,840 pupils who sat for the examinations in 2011.
Education Minister John Phiri announced the results at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
The Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) has attributed the poor results to, among other factors, the low teacher-pupil ratio.
Dr Phiri said 20,507 candidates failed while 54,547 candidates were absent from the examination compared to 29,568 in 2011.
He said Grade 10 classes would open on February 11, while the grace period would end on February 25, 2013.
The minister said 345,565 candidates (18, 484 boys and 165, 081 girls) entered for the 2012 examinations compared to 306,408 candidates in 2011, representing a percentage increase of 11.
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User Habits
IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts
课程 5（共 5 门，Google IT 支持 专项课程）
This course covers a wide variety of IT security concepts, tools, and best practices. It introduces threats and attacks and the many ways they can show up. We’ll give you some background of encryption algorithms and how they’re used to safeguard data. Then, we’ll dive into the three As of information security: authentication, authorization, and accounting. We’ll also cover network security solutions, ranging from firewalls to Wifi encryption options. Finally, we’ll go through a case study, where we examine the security model of Chrome OS. The course is rounded out by putting all these elements together into a multi-layered, in-depth security architecture, followed by recommendations on how to integrate a culture of security into your organization or team. At the end of this course, you’ll understand: ● how various encryption algorithms and techniques work as well as their benefits and limitations. ● various authentication systems and types. ● the difference between authentication and authorization. ● how to evaluate potential risks and recommend ways to reduce risk. ● best practices for securing a network. ● how to help others to grasp security concepts and protect themselves.
Cybersecurity, Wireless Security, Cryptography, Network Security
Thank you to all the instructors. I learned concrete and useful IT skills from the courses and especially from the projects. After completing this course, I feel I want to learn more and more.
Course 1 and 5 are probably my favorite of the courses because i feel i learned a lot in these two the most, all are great i just really wanted to learn more about security which was course 5
Creating a Company Culture for Security
Congratulations, you've made it to the final week in the course! In the last week of this course, we'll explore ways to create a company culture for security. It's important for any tech role to determine appropriate measures to meet the three goals of security. By the end of this module, you will develop a security plan for an organization to demonstrate the skills you've learned in this course. You're almost done, keep up the great work!
User Habits6:01
Third-Party Security4:09
Security Training3:33
Alex Grit Story1:51
选择语言巴西葡萄牙语英语（English）西班牙语（Spanish）阿拉伯语（Arabic）
You've got to involve your users when it comes to security. It's super important and might seem obvious, but it's usually overlooked. You can build the world's best security systems, but they won't protect you if the users are going to be practicing unsafe security. If a user writes their password on a post-it note, sticks it to their laptop, then leaves the laptop unlocked and unattended at a cafe, you could have a disaster on your hands. But making sure that your users take reasonable security precautions takes effort and can be really tricky. You have to make sure your users habits and actions involve having clear and reasonable security policies. But there's more that you can do to help ensure that your users are diligent about maintaining security. Let's assume that your employees are acting with good intent, and that leaks and disclosures are unintentional, and mostly due to improper handling of sensitive data. Leaks and disclosures can be avoided by understanding what employees need to do to accomplish their jobs. You also need to make sure that they have the right tools to get their work done without compromising security. If an employee needs to share a confidential file with an external partner and it's too big to e-mail, they may want to upload it to a third-party file sharing website that they have a personal account with. This is risky business. You should never upload confidential information onto a third-party service that hasn't been evaluated by your company. If sharing big files with external parties is common behavior for your employees, it's best to find a solution that meets the needs of your users and the security guidelines. By providing a sanctioned and approved mechanism for this file sharing activity, users are less likely to expose the organization to unnecessary risk. We covered password security when we discussed password authentication earlier, but there's more to talk about when it comes to users and passwords. I hate to say it, but generally speaking, users can be lazy about security stuff. They don't like to memorize long complicated passwords, but this is super important to keeping your company safe. So how do we resolve this conflict. If we require 20 character passwords that have to be changed every three months, our users will almost definitely write them down. This compromises the security that our complex password policy is supposed to provide. It's important to understand what threats password policies are supposed to protect against, that way, you can try to find a better balance between security and usability. A long and complex password requirement is designed to protect against brute force attacks, either against authentication systems or if a hashed password database is stolen. Since direct brute force attacks against authentication infrastructure should be easily detected and blocked by intrusion prevention systems, they can be considered pretty low risk. But the theft of a password database would be a super serious breach. We do have lots of additional layers of security in place to prevent a critical compromise like that from happening in the first place. So the two attacks that complex passwords are primarily designed to protect against, are fairly low risk. Now, we can relax the password requirements a bit and not ask for overly long passwords. We can even adjust the mandatory password rotation time period. Password reuse is another common user behavior. People don't want a bunch of passwords to memorize, lots of users find it easier to use the same password, for both their personal email account and their work account. But this undermines the security of their work password. If an online service is compromised and the password database is leaked, they're in trouble. The passwords in that database will find their way into password files used for cracking passwords and brute force attacks. Once a password isn't a secret, it shouldn't be used anymore. The chances of a bad actor being able to use the password are too high. That's why it's important to make sure employees use new and unique passwords, and don't reuse them from other services. It's also important to have a password change system check against old passwords. This will prevent users from changing their password back to a previously used potentially compromised password. A much greater risk in the workplace that users should be educated on is credential theft from phishing emails. Phishing emails are pretty effective. They take advantage of people's inclination to open emails without looking at them too closely. If an e-mail that seems authentic actually leads to a fake login page, users can blindly enter their credentials into the fake site and disclose their credentials to an attacker. While having two factor authentication helps protect against this type of attack, OTP-based two factor solutions would still provide usable credentials to an attacker, plus the attacker still has a password which is really not good even in a two factor environment. If someone entered their password into a phishing site or even suspects they did, it's important to change their password as soon as possible. If you can, your organization should try to detect these types of password disclosures using tools like password alert, which I've linked to in the next reading. This is a Chrome extension from Google that can detect when you enter your password into a site that's not a Google page. Being able to detect when a password is entered into a potentially untrustworthy site, lets an organization detect potential phishing compromises. But you can also combat phishing attacks with good spam filtering combined with good user education. You can help influence good user behavior by offering security training, which we'll discuss in another video. Next up, we'll do a quick rundown of the benefits and tradeoffs of third-party security. I'll see you there.
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