Month: July 2022

London Saturday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first Pride parade, marking half a century of progress in the fight for equality and tolerance but with warnings that more still needs to be done.

Several hundred people took part in the first march July 1, 1972, just five years after homosexuality was decriminalized in the U.K.

Fifty years on, more than 600 LGBTQ+ groups danced, sang and rode floats along a similar route to the original protest, in the first Pride since the coronavirus pandemic, watched by huge cheering crowds.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told reporters the event, which organizers said was the “biggest and most inclusive” in its history, was a celebration of community, unity and progress.

But he said it was also a reminder of the need to “campaign and never be complacent” and the need for “an open, inclusive, accepting world.”

“We saw this time last week an attack in Oslo just hours before that parade, where two people lost their lives and more than 20 were injured,” he said.

“So, we’ve got to be conscious of the fact that there’s still a danger to this community of discrimination, bias and violence.”

Khan’s predecessor as mayor, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said it gave him “the greatest pride to lead a country where you can love whomever you choose to love and where you can be free to be whoever you want to be.”

The 50th anniversary was a “milestone,” he said, paying tribute to the bravery of those who did it first.

Peter Tatchell, a veteran gay rights campaigner who took part in the 1972 march, said some from the original event have boycotted the modern-day sponsored version as “depoliticized and commercialized.”

Campaigning

In 1972, “Gay Pride,” as it was then known, was a demand for visibility and equality against a backdrop of lingering prejudice, discrimination and fear among many gay men and women about coming out.

In the 1980s, Pride became a focal point for campaigning against legislation by prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government against the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools.

It also helped to raise awareness and support for people with HIV/Aids.

Now, with the rainbow flag of inclusion and tolerance spread ever more widely over the spectrum of human sexuality and gender, Pride in London is more celebration than protest.

Tatchell said that despite victories such as same-sex marriage, “we are still fighting to ban LGBT+ conversion practices which seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“We’re still fighting to secure trans people’s right to change their legal documents with ease by a simple statutory declaration. And of course, we are standing in solidarity with a global LGBT+ movement,” he told AFP.

Julian Hows, now 67, was at the first march. He said, “progress is always incremental,” criticizing curbs on LGBTQ+ rights around the world.

“We have to be vigilant. The price of liberation and to keeping people’s human rights intact is vigilance,” he added.

Visibility

Padraigin Ni Raghillig, president of Dykes on Bikes London, a motorcycle club for gay women, said the event retained part of its original campaigning spirit.

“It’s still important, I think, to at least once a year to be out and about, and to say, ‘we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going shopping,'” said Ni Raghillig, astride a Harley Davidson.

Among those marching was a contingent from Ukraine, who criticized homophobia in Russia.

This year’s Pride saw warnings for people with monkeypox symptoms to stay away, after public health officials said many cases in the U.K. were reported among gay and bisexual men.

LGBTQ+ campaign group Stonewall said everyone had a part to play to stop the spread of monkeypox, which is passed through close contact regardless of sexual orientation.

Source: Voice of America

Thursday afternoon in Kolkata, India, fruit seller Tanvir Alam sat behind a basket of mangos on the sidewalk of a busy street, saying the nationwide ban on single-use plastic bags that goes into effect Friday, would hurt business.

“I do not know now what I will use to pack my fruits when there is a ban on thin plastic bags from tomorrow [July 1],” Alam told VOA Thursday.

India last year banned the use of bags made of plastic less than 75 microns thick. Market vendors and shopkeepers, though, are still using such bags.

“If we cannot use plastic bags, paper bags are the next available option for us. In the market, there are stronger paper bags, which are used by big shops. But I cannot afford to use those costly bags for my business on the footpath,” Alam said.

“One stronger paper bag that can carry 2 kilograms of mango will cost at least 8 rupees. But paying 8 rupees [$ 0.10] I can buy at least 25 plastic bags.”

Some market customers said plastic bags are convenient and useful.

“Every time carrying cloth bag from home is no more our culture for a long time. We prefer that the sellers provide bags for us. Plastic bags are cheap, they come almost free with the goods,” said a 65-year-old carpenter.

Officially announcing the single-use plastic ban last week, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests released a list of the single-use plastic items to be banned.

The list of the banned single-use plastic items includes plastic cups, plates, cutlery, ice cream sticks, candy sticks, straws, wrapping and polystyrene (thermocol/Styrofoam).

In a recent statement, India’s Central Pollution Control Board asked people to switch to cotton and jute bags, clay cups, bamboo or wooden cutlery and other items made of biodegradable materials. People criticizing the latest ban say that the alternatives are either not abundantly available or very expensive.

The Indian government said in April the country was generating 3.5 million metric tons of plastic waste annually. However, the New Delhi-based nonprofit research group Centre for Science and Environment estimates the figure should be higher.

In May 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address that India will eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by the end of 2022.

“The choices that we make today will define our collective future. The choices may not be easy. But through awareness, technology and a genuine global partnership, I am sure we can make the right choices. Let us all join together to beat plastic pollution and make this planet a better place to live,” Modi said.

In an article in The Guardian newspaper, Erik Solheim, former head of U.N. Environment Program, wrote in June 2018, “Let there be no doubt: we are on edge of a plastic calamity.”

Praising India’s initiative, though, he wrote again in 2018, “They have shown that political motivation, turned into practical action, can inspire the world and ignite real change.”

Welcoming the ban, Anoop Kumar Srivastava, founder of the Foundation for Campaign Against Plastic Pollution, told VOA the ban by the Indian government will pave the way for a reduction in plastic pollution in the country and eventually eliminate it.

“However, enforcement of the ban on single-use plastics will be challenging in India and will need to be coupled with a campaign to bring about behavioral change among the people. Awareness needs to be created about how single-use plastics harm human health and also the impact on the environment, which will adversely affect the future generations,” Srivastava said.

“This would reduce the demand for single-use plastics and help in the enforcement of the ban. At the same time, strict action would need to be taken against those who continue to produce banned items,” he said.

Anyone found violating the single-use plastic ban will be jailed for five years or fined more than 100,000 rupees ($1,265). Special control rooms will be set up to monitor and ensure enforcement of the ban at national and state levels, a statement from the environmental ministry read.

Yet, a vegetable seller on a sidewalk market said it is difficult for the government to enforce the ban completely.

“The thin and cheap plastic bags that we have used so far will still somehow be available in the underground market, the way cannabis or illicit liquor is sold. And many vendors will secretly buy and use the plastic bags,” Afroza Begum said.

Another fruit-seller, Begum’s neighbor who requested anonymity, said: “People running businesses on footpath know how to grease the palms of the police and others. The use of banned plastic bags will now perhaps reduce to some extent but will not stop completely. …This is India.”

Source: Voice of America

The number of new coronavirus cases across Britain has surged by more than 30% in the last week, new data showed Friday, with cases largely driven by the super infectious omicron variants.

Data released by Britain’s Office for National Statistics showed that more than 3 million people in the U.K. had COVID-19 last week, although there has not been an equivalent spike in hospitalizations. The number of COVID-19 deaths also fell slightly in the last week.

“COVID-19 has not gone away,” said Dr. Mary Ramsay, of the Health Security Agency. “It is also sensible to wear a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces,” she said.

Britain dropped nearly all its coronavirus measures, including mask-wearing and social distancing months ago and masks are rarely seen on public transport.

The latest jump in coronavirus cases comes after an earlier increase of about 40% last month, following the large street parties, concerts and festivities held to mark the platinum jubilee celebrations marking 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

British officials said the latest wave of COVID-19 infections were likely caused by omicron subvariants BA.4. and BA.5. Omicron has tended to cause a milder disease than previous variants like alpha or delta, but scientists warn its ability to evade the immune system means that people may be more susceptible to being reinfected, including after vaccination.

“The constant bombardment of waves we are seeing does cause clinical impact that is not to be underestimated,” said Dr. Stephen Griffin, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Leeds, explaining that any infection can lead to long COVID.

Despite widespread immunization across Britain, the protection from vaccines is likely fading and omicron and its subvariants have evolved to become more infectious. Britain’s Health Security Agency said they were seeing more outbreaks in care homes for older people and a rise in admissions to intensive care units of people older than 65.

Dr. Jonathan Van-Tam, a former deputy chief medical officer for the U.K., told the BBC that COVID-19 is now “much, much, much closer to seasonal flu” than when it first emerged. Still, he said experts should be vigilant for any signs the virus was causing more severe illness.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute also reported a similar rise in the coronavirus, with cases increasing especially among older people, children and teenagers. France has seen a jump in the COVID-19 hospitalization rate and officials recently recommended that people begin wearing masks again on public transport.

Globally, the World Health Organization said this week that COVID-19 is increasing in more than 100 countries worldwide. The U.N. health agency warned that relaxed testing and surveillance measures mean it may be more difficult to catch emerging variants before they spread more widely.

Source: Voice of America