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Young Migrants Makes Waves with New Magazine

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Young Generations’ Note members at the Best Friends Library, Mae Sot. From left, Thu Tha San, Kharomi and Nay Satkyar Naing. (Photo: Brennan O'Connor / The Irrawaddy)

 

CHIANGRAI TIMES – Nay Satkyar Naing, 19, is like many of the Burmese youth in the Thai border town of Mae Sot who came for a chance to get a better education in the dozens of migrant schools offering free classes.

When he first arrived in 2010, he started volunteering as an English teacher at the Best Friends Library. It was around that time that he discovered a book titled “Bar Le He Lu Nga Ye” (“Human Hell? What is Human Hell?”) by National League for Democracy (NLD) co-founder Win Tin.

In 1989, Win Tin was sentenced to 21 years in Rangoon’s Insein Prison for his writing and involvement with the NLD. He was released in September 2008 after serving nearly 20 years. While in prison, the World Association of Newspapers awarded him the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and the Golden Pen of Freedom.

Naing was inspired by Win Tin’s resilience during his lengthy prison sentence, keeping himself sane by writing mathematical equations and poetry on the walls of his cell with a broken bottle.

“Win Tin had no pen or paper yet he found a way to write. I have all the tools I need, so I asked myself, why can’t I write for my people,” says Naing.

He discussed his ideas with a few of his classmates at the migrant school he attended. The plan was hatched. They would start their own magazine. The small group of friends started with a Facebook group, encouraging other youth to submit their own writing and ideas to their project.

During that time, Naing saved most of the pocket money required for the magazine’s start-up costs.
After six months and many late nights huddled over borrowed computers at the Best Friends Library or the Knowledge Zone migrant school, they launched The Young Generations’ Note.

The first issue was 22 pages long.

Now, half a year  and six issues later, The Young Generations’ Note has grown to 48 pages. The topics that grace the pages of the journal have also expanded. There are seven pages dedicated to Burmese and international news, one long story, three short stories, several articles, a book review and even an astrology section. In the last issue of the journal’s letter section, migrant workers shared their feelings and knowledge about the often difficult task of obtaining a Thai work permit.

Initially distributed in Mae Sot’s teashops, factories and migrant schools, it now has readers much farther afield. It has a regular home in Chiang Mai’s Best Friends Library and Aung San’s Jarmoon Library in Pegu, and there are even a few overseas subscribers in countries such as Switzerland and Germany.

From the beginning, The Young Generations’ Note was going to be a literary journal, says Naing.

“There are so many political publications in Mae Sot, but people who live here have to struggle to survive, so we wanted to make something that would elevate their minds, making them feel good about themselves.”

The Young Generations’ Note encourages youth and community members to find their own voice within the pages of the magazine.

“They read it and then they want to submit their own writing to our journal,” says Naing.

It’s very important for the younger generation to formulate their own ideas, he adds.

“Burmese youth need to change the way we think. We have to learn to not be so afraid to criticize and be analytical. But in order to achieve this, we need to believe in ourselves,” says Naing.

Thu Tha San, 23, has been part of The Young Generations’ Note since it started. Before she came to Mae Sot in 2010, she didn’t read a lot of books, although she wanted to. There was library in her small village in Mon State, she says, but most of the books were destroyed by termites and it was always closed.

She had a dream to open her own library in her village “so young people wouldn’t always have to go to another country to learn.”

“It’s very important to create education opportunities for our people,” says San.

Her involvement with The Young Generations’ Note has given her the confidence and support to make that dream a reality. By the time the first issue of the journal hit the streets of Mae Sot, she opened a small library in her aunt’s home in her village.

“I started with 20 books. Now we have 350,” says San with a proud smile.

She has even designed library cards.

San’s library serves a unique role in rural areas, giving people the chance to “open their eyes” in places  where the Internet is too slow to use and televisions and even radios are too expensive for many people.

Kharomi, 20, who has also been part of The Young Generations’ Note since its inception, echoes San’s concerns regarding the lack of information and education available to rural people.

In her Ta’ang (Palaung ) village in northern Shan State, people don’t know anything about NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s activities, she says.

It’s like they are “living in darkness,” says Kharomi.

“We can’t just think about our farms and rice. What if the government just confiscates our land? It’s important that rural people learn to start thinking critically about what is happening around them,” she says.

This lack of critical thinking is a direct result of the absence of media, says Kharomi.

Before she joined The Young Generations’ Note she had never written an article. Now, with new skills and an increased confidence from playing a leading role in the journal, Kharomi says she is ready to “take on the responsibility” of creating media in her homeland, where “no one is doing this.”

“Young people are responsible for the next generation. We need to create change; otherwise everything will stay the same. But for the change to happen, we have to start thinking differently. It all starts with quality education. This is not available in Burma and is the main problem,” says Kharomi.

Recently, The Young Generation’s Note has started expanding its activities, offering free media training for migrants and refugees in creative writing, photography and video production.

And to reach an even wider audience—and potential sources of support—the group has also set up a website and created a fundraising campaign on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo.com, through which they hope to raise US $8,800 to rent an office, buy a color photocopier and increase their distribution from 170 to 500 copies.

Inspired by a leader from another generation, they hope to spark an intellectual revolution among members of their own—one issue at a time. – By BRENNAN O’CONNOR / THE IRRAWADDY

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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

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Trudeau's Gun Grab
Trudeau plans to purchase 2,063 firearm from legal gun owners in Canada - Rebel News Image

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.

The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.

This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.

The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.

In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.

Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened

“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.

Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.

Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.

In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.

An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.

Enforcement efforts Questioned

By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.

“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.

The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.

“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.

Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem

Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.

“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.

Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.

Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.

“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.

“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

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(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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