Another servant of the poor, one who “burned his life with the poor”. Having lived 30 years in Brazil, Father Julio Renato Lancellotti is the missionary the Pope referred to during his Sunday Angelus. Pope Francis said he was able to speak to him on the phone after having received his letter at the end of September.
The short letter brings to light the daily misery that Father Julio shares with the people who live on the streets of São Paulo. A scene which has been harshly complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic which, thrown in with the endemic poverty that afflicts these people, creates an unimaginable and even unprecedented violation of human dignity. Father Julio has seen so much of this, and yet he tells the Pope how surprised he is to see how a serious health crisis has become the proscenium of an even greater number of attacks on the value of life in Brazil.
Unequal Struggle
The letter that arrived on Pope Francis’ table is accompanied by photos that show the truth of the missionary’s words. The challenge of a small parish against a great global virus, the struggle of an island with the poor that tries to offer the bare minumum in order to protect health, even in situations where social distancing is practically impossible, and where there is a lack of food, showers and sinks. And yet, Father Julio assures us, these are people we would not and will not abandon.
“This is the messenger of God”
The letter sent to Pope Francis concluded with a request for a blessing that the missionary would have liked to receive in person, though he admits himself that this would be impossible as he would be unable to physically undertake the journey to Rome. The story of an old man who, the Pope told the faithful gathered for his Sunday Angelus, lives “old age in peace. This is our Mother Church, this is the messenger of God who goes to the crossroads.”
The Joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs – European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and European Securities and Markets Authority) published today its decision in the appeal case brought by Mr Howerton against the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The Board of Appeal’s decision considered as inadmissable the Appellant’s claim that six national financial supervisory authorities and ESMA should have taken supervisory steps in relation to an alleged non-application of Union law.
The Board of Appeal dismissed the appeal brought forward by Mr Howerton as inadmissible as the facts described by the Appellant do not relate in any way to aspects under the supervision of the relevant six national authorities nor of ESMA. The Board of Appeal does not see, therefore, how the six national financial supervisory authorities and ESMA could investigate and take supervisory steps with regard to the facts described by the Appellant in his complaints and in the appeal.
Background
Between 5 and 6 July 2020 Mr Howerton sent several requests to investigate six national competent authorities under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010. ESMA assessed the content of the requests to investigate and concluded that the facts described in the requests were outside its remit as they did not fall under any of the Union acts referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010. The Appellant filed an appeal against this conclusion on 3 August 2020.
#WithBelarus: Young Parliamentarians call for Tsikhanouskaya to address European Council
Brussels. Young parliamentarians and youth-political organizations from across Europe have today published an open letter to European Council President Charles Michel urging him to invite the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, to address this week’s meeting of the European Council. The initiative is being spearheaded by the President of the Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP) Lidia Pereira MEP.
WithBelarus is the campaign being run by YEPP parliamentarians from across Europe in support of the people of Belarus. YEPP is the youth organization of the European People’s Party that brings together 63 center-right youth political organizations from 39 countries across Europe
Dear President Charles Michel,
In August of this year, following the Belarusian Presidential election, the Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP) launched a campaign called #WithBelarus to show our support for the people of Belarus and send them a clear message of European solidarity. This campaign has drawn support from our member organizations and young parliamentarians from across Europe. As you are aware, the situation in Belarus has continued to escalate and protestors continue to risk their own safety by taking to the streets to make their voices heard.
Each day protestors are being arrested and tortured for opposing the Lukashenko regime and this fight will not end until their demand for democratic change is met. In light of this, we see it as imperative to invite the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, to address the upcoming meeting of the European Council. As Belarusian issues are European issues, it is crucial that the true voice of the Belarusian people is heard at the highest level of European politics. Inviting Ms. Tsikhanouskaya to address the meeting would be a clear statement showing that the European Union stands with the people of Belarus in their fight for a future that is democratic and free.
“What does it mean to be a Filipino, and what is a meaningful basis for taking pride in the nation,” asks Gideon Lasco in the introduction to his new book, “The Philippines Is Not a Small Country” (Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, 2020, 234 pages). “What is our place in the world—and how should we envision a future we can all share?”
Lasco, 34, has demonstrated a gifted writing style, proven not only by a Palanca Award in the Essay in English but in his outspoken, highly opinionated column in the Inquirer, the pithily titled “Second Opinion.” But Lasco is also a medical doctor (Intarmed at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine), research fellow (Ateneo) and an anthropologist (PhD from the University of Amsterdam).
“The Philippines Is Not a Small Country” contains parts of essays Lasco wrote for the Inquirer over five years but he has built a narrative around those essays that is divided into seven digestible chapters.
In “Country,” Lasco deconstructs the Philippines to show how it “is as vast as it is beautiful.” In “Nation,” he talks about how the Philippines is “a young country” and how Filipinos need more empathy to deal with life. “Culture” talks about the social constructs that make up our unique worldview.
In “People,” he explores the spectrum of marginalized individuals who make up the population. “Technology” and “Modernity,” wired together, essentially comment on how both have changed Filipino society for good or ill. And the final chapter, “World,” literally discusses our place in the world, how the country is not apart but a part of the larger community.
Lasco’s writing is polished and impressive but “The Philippines Is Not a Small Country” is no rah-rah jingoist volume. It is a reflection of a flawed and complex people, how we became that way, and that, pointed in the right direction, the country has much to look forward to.
It’s good that he knows how to do it in such an accessible fashion. Lasco cuts up the narrative into interesting, often funny but also insightful bite-sized pieces. Take the sections where he discusses “Bawal Umihi Dito,” our obsession with height, Instagramming food, why nobody tells bedtime stories anymore.
In the final chapter, he has a beautiful essay that ends: “We begin to overcome the feeling of smallness that sets back our geopolitical imagination. What our past should give us is not an enmity for those who oppressed us but an empathy for those who experienced oppression. What our past should give us is neither a feeling of victimization nor entitlement but a dignity of a people that has suffered much—but has overcome more.”
But he’s been writing throughout all that intense studying. “I’ve been scribbling essays since high school as part of school papers; I managed to publish in the much-sought-after Young Blood column on both ends of my medical training.”
Lasco started contributing regularly to the Opinion section in 2015. In fact, he is already an author. “In 2016, I published a hiking guidebook titled ‘Dayhikes and Nature Walks from Manila,’ but this is my first book as a writer of national affairs.”
Additionally, his unique combination of disciplines (writer/medical doctor/anthropologist) gives him an advantage: “Being a doctor I think makes me sensitive to health issues, while being an anthropologist makes me conscious of the need to bring out not just my perspective, but those of the people I encounter.”
But to get to those seven chapters, Lasco didn’t sit in his room and reflect on the nature of nationhood—he went out there and traveled from province to province to experience what his fellow Filipinos are experiencing. It has not been all thrills and discoveries.
“I guess the saddest—if not the most shocking—thing is that some of the things I wrote in 2016 or 2017 could have been written today, almost word for word, especially as regards political issues like the drug war, corruption and our divisive politics. I hope that 10 years from now, when we look back, we would have made some progress, and that we need not defend fundamental matters like human rights.”
Insights
He wanted to compile his columns but also make a book agile enough to still be relevant. He broached the idea of Karina Bolasco, Ateneo Press director, at a 2018 conference in Hiroshima. He worked hard on the book and Ateneo Press continued to work on it through the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were insights that he came to possess from writing the book. “Acknowledging the complexity of the Filipino should always be the starting point for thinking, and writing, about them,” he said.
In his recent columns, Lasco has been outspoken about his criticism of how the government has been handling the different crises the Filipinos have faced. How then to solve those problems?
“It is indeed an impossible question but part of the answer is justice: We have not really held our leaders and their enablers accountable, allowing them to escape, lie low and then resurface to do more mischief. In my essay ‘Memory as resistance,’ I stress the importance of fine-grained memory because tyranny is not built by one man alone; it takes a village.”
He also emphasizes that we must not lose hope. “Some of our leaders’ actions and inaction can drive us to despair but we have Filipinos from all walks of life trying their best to do good in this difficult time: from entrepreneurs to medical front-liners.”
He has new books lined up: “a more academic book about the meanings of human stature, as well as an edited volume on drug use, the drug war and drug policy in the country. And I really hope I can write about my hikes.”
“The Philippines Is Not a Small Country” is an intelligent, accessible and actually funny book about what it means to be Filipino—even though it’s a complicated answer. Gideon Lasco makes it easy for you—but you still have to answer the question, as he did in the introduction: “I was especially mindful of young Filipinos, many of whom are unsure as to what the future brings, uncertain as to what to make of their national identity, and unclear as to how to critically engage with our nation’s problems. Ultimately, my earnest wish is that these essays will convey the fact that, indeed, the Philippines is not a small country, and despite the many challenges we face, our nation and its promise are larger than many of us imagine them to be.”
Available in paperback from the Ateneo de Manila University Press, Lazada and Shopee.
Nagorno-Karabakh: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union
The EU welcomes the agreement reached on 10 October on a humanitarian ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The EU urges the sides to strictly abide by this agreement and calls on all actors, including external parties, to refrain from any actions that may lead to further casualties. In this respect, we note with extreme concern the reports of continued military activities, including against civilian targets, as well as civilian casualties and urge the sides to ensure full respect of the agreement on the ground.
The EU calls upon the sides to engage in substantive negotiations without delay under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, without preconditions and on the basis of the agreed upon principles.
The EU continues to support the work of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in seeking a negotiated political solution to the conflict and will remain engaged in efforts towards lasting peace in the region.
Image Source : PTI Saanvi M Prajit, daughter of Wing Commander of Indian Air Force Prajit Babu and Manjma hailing from Ernakulam, who has been recognised by the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records, poses for a photograph, in Kochi.
Saanvi M. Prajit, a 10-year-old girl dished out 30 plus delicious food items including corn fritters, fried rice, uttapam, and chicken roast in less than one hour, earning her a place in record books.
The amazing feat by Saanvi, daughter of Wing Commander of Indian Air Force Prajit Babu and Manjma hailing from Ernakulam, has been recognised by the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records, her family said.
Her records have been established for the maximum number of dishes prepared by a child, they said.
Saanvi has cooked 33 food items in an hour which include idli, waffle, corn fritters, mushroom tikka, uttapam, paneer tikka, egg bulls eye, sandwich, papdi chaat, fried rice, chicken roast, pancake, appam, and many more.
The girl created the record on August 29 at the age of 10 years 06 months and 12 days.
“The Asia Book of Records authorities watched online the cookery event organised at her Visakhapatnam residence.
Besides, two gazetted officers were witness to the cooking of 33 items in an hour by Saanvi,” her mother Manjima told PTI.
Saanvi said she was able to achieve the feat with the support of her family, friends and well wishers.
The girl said she was inspired by her mother, a star chef and a Reality cookery show finalist.
Manjima said as a child, Saanvi has always been fascinated by the kitchen and took to cooking at a very early age alongside her mother and grandparents.
Saanvi also has participated in Children’s Cookery shows and has won recognition for her effort in the culinary field.
She also has a YouTube channel showcasing her attempts in cooking simple and tasty dishes.
The equality bills by their very name give one the impression that they are a step in the right direction.
Who doesn’t want equality? We all want to eliminate discrimination. Pointing out the bills’ shortcomings, therefore, should be looked at positively.
We have to admit that our society is not different to other western democracies. We live in a pluralistic and secular society where different voices and opinions want to be heard.
While the Church preaches absolute truths to safeguard the dignity of the human person and promote the common good, in a secular society truth becomes relative and subjective. Secular voices insist on privileging no religion – on silencing the voice of religion. Secularisation is unconsciously pervading our culture and dictating the way forward.
It is in the context of such an environment that we need to seriously debate the equality bills. By insisting that everyone is equal we seem to be emphasising the value of equality and giving less importance to the value of diversity.
In the book by George Carey and Andrew Carey, We Don’t Do God, it is stated: “By insisting on compliance on matters that are morally questionable in the eyes of some citizens, the state is moving beyond democracy to authoritarianism, thus creating an unhealthy culture”.
To tolerate does in no way mean to submit or deny one’s point of view. In order not to offend, very often, we feel refrained from speaking out about our views – from practising our religion in public.
Quoting from the editorial of the Daily Telegraph, the Careys point out that, in Britain, “The right to hold religious beliefs, and to act in keeping with one’s faith, is being set against the right not to offend – and is losing. This is a dispiriting trend in a free society”.
Our faith and Catholic doctrine enrich our society
Shall the equality bills, therefore, when they become law, bring about conflict between equality and diversity? Is the ‘supremacy clause’ going to be in conflict with one’s conscience?
Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights gives prominence to the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It also gives one the right to manifest one’s religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
Due to the rapid transformation of our society, which is becoming more cosmopolitan and multicultural, we tend to downgrade our Christian tradition. Rather than looking with pride at our Christian roots and being grateful for all that the Church has been doing throughout the years, we try to belittle her impact.
The predominance of our Catholic religion on other faiths is not a question of privilege as some seem to think. It is a fact that our Catholic faith is part and parcel of our Maltese identity. Our Christian roots have grown and spread because of the strong faith of our forefathers. Why denounce or downplay our Christian foundation? Why curtail the Christian ethos of Church schools?
Unless we stand up and vehemently defend the right to publicly practise our religion, we shall one day find ourselves struggling to practise what we believe in. Religion is not a private affair. Quoting once more from the Careys: “For Christians, the whole life is indivisible. We cannot retreat to a privatised ghetto because the Gospel concerns the whole of life. There is no ‘privatised’ morality because the whole life is based on morality. Faith is necessarily public”.
Let not those in power fall into the trap of secularism. Let not politicians be shy to publicly proclaim their beliefs for, no, religion is not a private matter. We have churches in every town and village not as museum pieces or to dominate but as a witness and a reminder of our dependence on the Supernatural.
Our faith and Catholic doctrine enrich our society and they will continue doing so if we only allow them. Our Catholic schools with their religious character have been in the forefront to promote justice, inclusion and the common good.
Let us not in the name of equality and tolerance divest ourselves of our diversity and religious identity. Promoting Christian values and inculcating in our young ones a Christian ethos is not a privilege but a mission entrusted to those of us who profess the Catholic faith.
Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.
The equality bills by their very name give one the impression that they are a step in the right direction.
Who doesn’t want equality? We all want to eliminate discrimination. Pointing out the bills’ shortcomings, therefore, should be looked at positively.
We have to admit that our society is not different from other western democracies. We live in a pluralistic and secular society where different voices and opinions want to be heard.
While the Church preaches absolute truths to safeguard the dignity of the human person and promote the common good, in a secular society truth becomes relative and subjective. Secular voices insist on privileging no religion – on silencing the voice of religion. Secularisation is unconsciously pervading our culture and dictating the way forward.
It is in the context of such an environment that we need to seriously debate the equality bills. By insisting that everyone is equal we seem to be emphasising the value of equality and giving less importance to the value of diversity.
In the book by George Carey and Andrew Carey, We Don’t Do God, it is stated: “By insisting on compliance on matters that are morally questionable in the eyes of some citizens, the state is moving beyond democracy to authoritarianism, thus creating an unhealthy culture”.
To tolerate does in no way mean to submit or deny one’s point of view. In order not to offend, very often, we feel refrained from speaking out about our views – from practising our religion in public.
Quoting from the editorial of the Daily Telegraph, the Careys point out that, in Britain, “The right to hold religious beliefs, and to act in keeping with one’s faith, is being set against the right not to offend – and is losing. This is a dispiriting trend in a free society”.
Our faith and Catholic doctrine enrich our society
Shall the equality bills, therefore, when they become law, bring about conflict between equality and diversity? Is the ‘supremacy clause’ going to be in conflict with one’s conscience?
Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights gives prominence to the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It also gives one the right to manifest one’s religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
Due to the rapid transformation of our society, which is becoming more cosmopolitan and multicultural, we tend to downgrade our Christian tradition. Rather than looking with pride at our Christian roots and being grateful for all that the Church has been doing throughout the years, we try to belittle her impact.
The predominance of our Catholic religion on other faiths is not a question of privilege as some seem to think. It is a fact that our Catholic faith is part and parcel of our Maltese identity. Our Christian roots have grown and spread because of the strong faith of our forefathers. Why denounce or downplay our Christian foundation? Why curtail the Christian ethos of Church schools?
Unless we stand up and vehemently defend the right to publicly practise our religion, we shall one day find ourselves struggling to practise what we believe in. Religion is not a private affair. Quoting once more from the Careys: “For Christians, the whole life is indivisible. We cannot retreat to a privatised ghetto because the Gospel concerns the whole of life. There is no ‘privatised’ morality because the whole life is based on morality. Faith is necessarily public”.
Let not those in power fall into the trap of secularism. Let not politicians be shy to publicly proclaim their beliefs for, no, religion is not a private matter. We have churches in every town and village not as museum pieces or to dominate but as a witness and a reminder of our dependence on the Supernatural.
Our faith and Catholic doctrine enrich our society and they will continue doing so if we only allow them. Our Catholic schools with their religious character have been in the forefront to promote justice, inclusion and the common good.
Let us not in the name of equality and tolerance divest ourselves of our diversity and religious identity. Promoting Christian values and inculcating in our young ones a Christian ethos is not a privilege but a mission entrusted to those of us who profess the Catholic faith.
Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.
The most quietly damning line of all in Labours of Love, Madeleine Bunting’s new book on Britain’s collapsing care system, is probably the following. After interviewing Danish students who had just taken a module of a social work degree in the UK, Bunting writes: “They admitted they were puzzled by their UK studies, which had been dominated by bureaucratic procedures and risk management. They had returned to Denmark with relief.”
Not outrage, but bafflement. Numbed as we are by headlines about over-stretched nurses and overwhelming paperwork, it takes an outside eye to make us realise that our current set-up is strange but not inevitable. Those Nordic students were skipping back to a degree in “social pedagogy,” a qualification that has no direct UK equivalent but spans training in the arts and humanities in order to better look after young children, the sick and the elderly.
It’s a creative, nurturing approach that stands in contrast to Britain’s emaciated care system, according to Bunting’s book. Labours of Love weaves together her experience shadowing employees across the care sector – nurses, doctors, social workers, in-home carers, care home workers – with context on the funding of public services.
The picture that emerges is enough to make you want to cryogenically freeze yourself at the age of 65. It also illustrates the heartless way our society exploits the workers we paradoxically expect to be compassionate. This is a world where nurses are too busy to take a sip of water for six hours; where staffing on a hospital ward is routinely on dangerous “red levels”; where a form needed to prove a child’s disability is so complicated it reduces an A&E consultant to tears; and where carers are given just 15 minutes to visit an elderly person with dementia – often not enough time to get them dressed, let alone make a cup of tea.
An experienced journalist, Bunting has an unerring knack for finding the details and human faces that make up the bigger story. She introduces us to John, a healthcare assistant who leaves home at 6.15am every day to work a 7am to 7.30pm shift. A deeply caring man, he gets patients with terminal cancer to smile and he washes the hair of the dead. For this, market forces value him at £19k a year, a wage so miserably low that he’s forced to put in a Sunday shift stacking shelves at a supermarket on top of his exhausting week. You can kick a ball around for £250,000 a week, package up poor people’s mortgages to sell like casino chips and then retire on your bonuses, but do the most important work in humanity and your life is one long slog.
The artwork for ‘Labours of Love’(Granta Books)
As Bunting explains, part of the knotty problem we’re facing today is the decade of austerity that followed the financial crisis of 2008. The recruitment and retention of nurses has been damaged by below inflation pay increases from 2010 to 2018, with a shortfall of 108,000 nurses predicted by 2029. GPs are also struggling, with practice closures accelerating from 2013 despite government pledges to help. Outside the NHS, the picture is even worse: while healthcare funding has at least been ring-fenced, social care has not – and the pressures are ballooning along with our ageing population.
Bunting’s book reveals a grim pattern: inadequate funding means inadequate staffing means inadequate care, sparking scandals such as the neglect that killed hundreds at a Mid Staffordshire hospital in the 2000s – which in turn ushers in well-meaning but burdensome bureaucracy. Many nurses now spend more time on paperwork than they do with patients.
Bunting encapsulates the problem as the “marginalisation of relationships,” writing that: “The paperwork has become a way to avoid blame and manage risk. Sometimes, it is the main criteria by which care work is assessed and inspected, creating a cycle of behaviour which prioritises bureaucracy over people.” This reflects Bunting’s interview with Tom, a GP working at a practice in a poor area that still prioritises building relationships with patients. “We are very proud and committed to our model of care,” he says, “and feel it is not well understood. The focus is on what can be measured, such as data collection and targets. No one has found a way to measure continuity of care or its value, but we know it reduces hospital admissions.”
How could things be done differently? It’s a question that is touched on but not explored in depth. Bunting puts several benchmarks into comparison with other European countries, noting for example that the average hospital stay in France is 10 days, compared with seven in the UK; and that the ratio of nurses per 100,000 of the population is now almost half the level it is in Sweden, Germany and France. While understandably not within the scope of this book, it would be interesting to read more about how those health systems – which are a mix of public and private provision – balance market forces, tight government budgets and the humane, intangible side of care.
My own experience living in Switzerland – where everyone has to buy private insurance, but healthcare is heavily regulated by the government to ensure universal access – has been eye-opening. Used to the NHS, I found the process of browsing for a healthcare provider as if it was car insurance unsettling when I first moved here. Since then, I’ve got used to a level of care which feels slightly decadent. Even on the most basic healthcare insurance, after the birth of my child I spent five days in hospital recovering from an emergency C-section, which is considered normal here but contrasts to three to four days in the UK. Afterwards, the same midwife called on me at home every day while I needed it. My daughter has a designated paediatrician, which means the same doctor who advised me on my newborn’s sleep was there for every toddler bug and scrape, and chatted to my daughter about what she wanted to be when she grew up at her five-year health check. The Swiss system isn’t perfect and it’s easy to write this as someone who can afford the premiums, but for me this regulated, market-based approach has been the reverse of cold and impersonal; it has paid for an environment where professionals have the time to care.
The timing of Labours of Love is striking, as the pandemic prompts a wave of appreciation for nurses and doctors, while reminding us “of our physical vulnerability,” as Bunting writes in an author’s note. The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence, a series of essays written in the context of Covid-19, also calls for a fundamental overhaul of our attitude to care. Whether any of this translates into meaningful investment and reform to lift standards of care, and the living standards of caring professionals, is another question. But Labours of Love is an important and unsettling reminder that we can’t afford to wait for the next crisis, because the health system on which we all depend is itself in intensive care.
Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care by Madeleine Bunting is out now
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