11 May 2017
Motherboard: China Is on Track to Fully Phase Out Cash
The apps fuelling this cashless trend are Tencent's WeChat and Alibaba's Alipay. Launched in 2011, WeChat is a multi-function app based around a messaging system that incorporates WhatsApp and Twitter-like elements. The app is phenomenally popular in China—the majority of WeChat's roughly 889 million monthly-active users worldwide are based in the People's Republic. Chinese users of apps like WeChat tend to not be put off by the personal data storing and sharing that goes on in them. Snooping by authorities is pretty much accepted. [...]
Tencent says that over 600 million users use its mobile payment services, which include WeChat Pay; Reuters estimated that $556 billion worth of transactions were made via the app in 2016. Alipay, which functions in a similar way to WeChat Pay, has around 270 million monthly active users, with around 175 million transactions going through the service every day. [...]
Last month China Tech Insights released a report after polling Chinese WeChat users, that again underlined the rise of mobile payments. It found that in 2015, 65 percent of users spent less than 500 yuan ($73) a month through WeChat Pay, but in 2016 the figure had dropped to under 40 percent. Forty-five percent of users said they used WeChat Pay because they didn't carry cash, with around 60 and 55 percent saying they used it because it was "fast" and "easy" respectively.
Al Jazeera: Life in Slovakia's Roma slums: Poverty and segregation
According to a November 2014 policy paper by the Institute for Financial Policy, nearly 40 percent of the adult Roma population existed entirely outside the labour market, as compared with 24 percent of non-Roma. Those who can work often do so in the black market. Citing widespread discrimination and low education levels, the paper found that the employment rate of Roma aged 15 to 64 sat at 17 percent. [...]
According to the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Roma in Slovakia endure racism in the job market, housing and education fields and are often subjected to forced evictions, vigilante intimidation, disproportionate levels of police brutality and more subtle forms of discrimination. [...]
Although comprehensive statistics are unavailable, he says that there has been a general increase in anti-Roma hate crimes since 2008 and that segregation has continually worsened, alluding to at least eight segregation walls dividing Roma and non-Roma communities in the eastern city of Kosice alone. [...]
In a recent report, the ERRC and Amnesty International found that Roma children are sometimes segregated, bullied by teachers and incorrectly diagnosed as intellectually disabled due to the pervasive anti-Roma racism in Slovakia. The rights groups accused Slovakia of systematically denying Roma pupils their rights and thus trapping them "in a cycle of poverty and marginalisation". [...]
Despite access to water being enshrined in law as a human right by the United Nations, the European Union and the Council of Europe, Roma in both EU and non-EU states often struggle to obtain running, potable water, according to another recent report by the ERRC. That report - Thirsting for Justice - found that Roma are "often treated differently and discriminated against by local authorities when it comes to the provision of" safe and secure access to water and sanitation.
Political Critique: No end in sight for German exceptionalism
The open question concerning Schulz is whether his leftist rhetoric is an elaborate campaign act or if there is real substance to it. Schulz claims, with some irony, that he wants to push back the ‘neoliberalisation’ of the welfare state even though it was the Social Democratic Party under Gerhard Schröder which introduced the Agenda2010 reforms, cutting back the welfare state and increasing flexibility in the labour market. Schulz’s political role during this period can indeed be seen as rather ambivalent. On the one hand he has always been known as a fierce critic of neoliberal policy. On the other, he has argued in favor of Agenda2010, calling the reforms a necessary sacrifice for the sake of future generations. Not only this, Schulz is a member of Seeheimer Kreis, a conservative group within the SPD, which has supported various processes of marketisation. As a result he has been continuously accused of populism and political opportunism.
Today, Schulz’s agenda comprises free daycare for children, extensions of unemployment benefits and the introduction of a universal citizen health insurance plan. At a European level however, there is justifiable doubt as to whether a social democratic legislation would put an end to German austerity politics in particular. When it comes to EU policy there is little to no difference between the SPD and CDU and it is highly unlikely that Germany would deviate from its exceptionalist, “Pro German Europism.” More probably, Schulz would continue to reject any substantial changes to the EU, such as a communitarisation of European public debt, moderate inflation, let alone a permanent fiscal transfer. In the midst of the Greek debt crisis in 2015, Schulz even called for the elected Syriza government to be replaced by technocrat rule until stability was restored. [...]
For while Merkel is being called “Volksverräter” (a traitor of the people) by the far-right, she is also seen as “the leader of the free world” by many more. This is especially true following UK’s Brexit vote, Trump’s election as president of the US and in a climate of ascendency for fascist oriented groups. For her supporters, Merkel stands for rational and pragmatic political decisions, presented in a soothing manner, almost a German manifestation of Margaret Thatcher’s TINA principle, ‘There is no Alternative.’ Confronted with shifting baselines in international politics, many people prefer to stick to the status quo, fearing that things can only get worse.
Vintage Everyday: 30 Incredible Photos Capture Everyday Life of Germany in the Early 1880s
Carl Curman (1833 – 1913) was a Swedish physician and a scientist - as well as a prominent amateur photographer. He did a lot of travelling abroad in Europe, mainly to study health resorts, but also to study art and architecture.
These photos from Swedish National Heritage Board were taken in Germany in the early 1880s when he traveled there.
Al Jazeera: Iran's presidential election puts populism to the test
As with the first time he ran, in 2013, Rouhani, a "moderate", is battling "hardline conservatives", Judge Ebrahim Raisi (protegee of the Supreme Leader), and military heavyweight Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the current mayor of Tehran. [...]
Today, another label has slipped in quietly to describe Rouhani's rivals: Populists. However, unlike in the West, where populism has been used in relation to US President Donald Trump, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen or Italian Beppe Grillo, in Iran the populists aren't overturning the establishment; they are the establishment. It's Rouhani, the reformist, the liberal internationalist, who represents the opposition. [...]
Despite Rouhani's record of raising GDP growth to 7 percent, and rescuing the economy from falling into hyperinflation as a result of Ahmadinejad's ill-managed statist policies (today, according to the IMF, inflation is around 9.2 percent), Qalibaf and Raisi accuse him of failing to deliver the promised rewards of sanctions relief. [...]
Although touted at the time as a "win-win", the nuclear deal with its accompanying sanctions relief has lost its lustre in Iran. Rouhani's rivals accuse him of signing away Iran's sovereign rights and appeasing the West. It is time, say both Raisi and Qalibaf, to stop compromising and to start pursuing a foreign policy that protects Iran's interests and prestige. Neither has officially rejected the JCPOA, but they condemn Rouhani for succumbing to US and European duplicity. International banks, they point out, still fear US fines if they offer Iran financing, the US Congress is plotting further sanctions in response to Iran's missile tests - even though they're not precluded by the JCPOA, and Trump's administration is cozying up to Iran's biggest rival, Saudi Arabia, as Washington has put "Iran on notice" while it reviews US policy towards Tehran.
Politico: ‘Women in black’ fight latest Polish health rights bill
The Polish parliament, in which the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has a ruling majority, begins a three-day sitting Wednesday. Under scrutiny is a draft bill to halt the availability of emergency contraceptives, such as the morning-after pill, as an over-the-counter purchase. [...]
It also puts the country at odds with EU advice: The European Medicines Agency recommends that the drug ellaOne, used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, should be available without prescription across EU countries. [...]
Groups were also enraged by a statement by conservative Health Minister Konstanty Radziwiłł in April that he would not advocate use even if his daughter were to “became pregnant as a result of rape,” because he does “not see anything to justify the murder of a child.” [...]
Faced with rhetoric that suggests a ban on elective Caesarean sections could be next on the government’s agenda, Polish women have little choice but to protest, said Gocha Adamczyk, an employee of an advertising agency in Warsaw and an activist for the left-wing Razem party, who came up with the campaign’s “black protest” slogan.
Quartz: The incredible taste of umami was proven in 1907 in Japan—but ignored by the West for a century
Imperial University of Tokyo scientist Kikunae Ikeda discovered the flavor in 1907, after studying the compounds in kelp that his wife used when making stock from the sea-bound stalk, according to The Economist magazine. Ikeda called it umami (which literally translates to “delicious taste”) and developed it just a year later into the now well-known crystals we call “MSG” (monosodium L-glutamate). Just a tiny bit will transform nearly any basic dish into a savory spectacle (paywall).
Ikeda published his paper in Japanese shortly after making his discovery, but umami didn’t make any impact in Western culture. In fact, scientists for decades declined to accept the presence of umami receptors on the human tongue—little areas that notice glutamate. Even still, that didn’t stop others from adopting Ikeda’s creation. Within 20 years, MSG became a go-to in Japanese kitchens, spread further into Asia, and even into the rations of US soldiers during the Second World War—a nifty way to make otherwise bland rations more palatable. It found its way into potato chip for companies as big as Pringles. [...]
Fast-forward to today and umami is comparatively huge. It’s become a trend, even, as its reach has transcended Japanese home cooking and has found its way onto grocery store shelves in Western countries—witness the rise of instant noodles. The flavor has even inspired restaurant chefs like Momofuku guru David Chang, who used it as a base for a kind of “unified theory of deliciousness.” Umami Burger is a Los Angeles-based chain that’s made a name for itself by seasoning its meat with umami.
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