Facts, and Opinions, that matter this week

Komagatu Maru monument near Vancouver's convention centre, overlooking Coal Harbour.
Komagatu Maru monument near Vancouver’s convention centre, overlooking Coal Harbour. © Deborah Jones 2014

The Story of the Komagatu Maru, by Rod Mickleburgh, report

At long last, a formal apology was delivered in the House of Commons for Canada’s racist behaviour in its shameful treatment of Sikh passengers aboard the Komagata Maru who had the effrontery to seek immigration to the West Coast more than a hundred years ago. Not only were they denied entry, they were subjected to two months of exceptionally inhumane treatment by unflinching immigration officers. While many now know the basics of the ill-fated voyage, the story has many elements that are less well known.

Sarta Kalara feeds her 15-month-old Shivani as one end of a barrier tape is tied to Shivani's foot and the other end to a stone to prevent Shivani from running away, when she works at a construction site nearby, in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2016. Kalara says she has no option but to tether her daughter Shivani to a stone despite her crying, while she and her husband work for 250 rupees ($3.8) each a shift digging holes for electricity cables in the city of Ahmedabad. There are about 40 million construction workers in India, at least one in five of them women, and the majority poor migrants who shift from site to site, building infrastructure for India's booming cities. Across the country it is not uncommon to see young children rolling in the sand and mud as their parents carry bricks or dig for new roads or luxury houses. REUTERS/Amit Dave SEARCH "TIED TODDLER" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES
Sarta Kalara feeds her 15-month-old Shivani as one end of a barrier tape is tied to Shivani’s foot and the other end to a stone to prevent Shivani from running away REUTERS/Amit Dave 

The toddler tied to a rock while parents work, by Amit Dave, report

There are about 40 million construction workers in India, at least one in five of them women, and the majority poor migrants who shift from site to site, building infrastructure for India’s booming cities. Across the country it is not uncommon to see young children rolling in the sand and mud as their parents carry bricks or dig for new roads or luxury houses.

Yemen yearns for peace, by Mohamed al-Sayaghi  Photo-essay

Anxiety reigns in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, where ordinary people await the outcome of almost a month of peace talks they hope can end a devastating war.

Wafaa Mansour, a mathematics teacher, poses for a photograph in Sanaa, Yemen, April 29, 2016. Mansour shared a view held by many - that the conflict has been infiltrated by so many foreign powers that only diplomatic intervention from the outside can help. "If all sides do not make concessions, I do not think that there would be a proper solution without the intervention from one of the big states sponsoring the dialogue," Mansour said. Anxiety reigns in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, where ordinary people await the outcome of almost a month of peace talks they hope can end a devastating war. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi
Yemen yearns for peace: Wafaa Mansour, a mathematics teacher,  Sanaa, Yemen shared a view held by many – that the conflict has been infiltrated by so many foreign powers that only diplomatic intervention from the outside can help.REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

Commentary

Venezuela’s drawn-out agony nears crisis, by Jonathan Manthorpe, International Affairs column

A non-operative water tank is seen in a neighbourhood called "The Tank" in the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, April 3, 2016. Although their nation has one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams and vast rivers like the fabled Orinoco, Venezuelans are still suffering water and power cuts most days. The problems with stuttering services have escalated in the last few weeks: yet another headache for the OPEC nation's 30 million people already reeling from recession, the world's highest inflation rate, and scarcities of basic goods. President Nicolas Maduro blames a drought, while the opposition blames government incompetence. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins This weekend’s largest military exercises ever by Venezuela may reveal whether the country is heading merely for an accelerated political and economic melt-down, or a full-blown civil war.

The triumph of fear in America, by Tom Regan, Summoning Orenda column

Photo by Ren Rebadomia, Creative Commons

There isn’t a fear that Americans won’t embrace. Fear controls almost every aspect of America society, seeps into every part of our lives. And that fear is used to manipulate us.

European data suggests the gig economy helped create Trump, Sanders. By Jonathan J.B. Mijs  Expert Witness

Politicians and pundits in America wonder where the rip-roaring popularity of protest candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders originated. The answer may lie in Europe. My coauthors and I link the success of Trump’s kind of politics to the worldwide adoption of neoliberal economic policies, government measures that shift control from the state to the market.

In case you missed it –a selection of our most recent stories:

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