Myriam Miller and Freddy Vargas stand next to one of the three greenhouses on their farm, where tomatoes are growing, anticipating an optimal harvest this year. The couple uses no chemical fertilizers to ensure the healthy development of thousands of plants on their farm in Mostazal, a municipality in central Chile. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS
MOSTAZAL, Chile , Feb 2 2024 (IPS) – The installation of photovoltaic panels to use solar energy to irrigate small farms is expanding quickly in Chile because it lowers costs and optimizes the use of scarce water resources.
This long, narrow South American country that stretches from the northern Atacama Desert to the southern Patagonia region and from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean is extremely rich in renewable energies, especially solar and wind power.
“Solar panels have made an immensely important contribution to our energy expenditure. Without them we would consume a lot of electricity.” — Myriam Miller
Last year, 36.6 percent of Chile’s electricity mix was made up of Non-Conventional Renewable Energies (NCREs), whose generation in May 2023 totaled 2392 gigawatt hours (GWh), including 1190 GWh of solar power.
This boom in the development of alternative energies has been mainly led by large companies that have installed solar panels throughout the country, including the desert. The phenomenon has also reached small farmers throughout this South American country who use solar energy.
In family farming, solar energy converted into electricity is installed with the help of resources from the government’s Agricultural Development Institute (Indap), which promotes sustainable production of healthy food among small farmers, incorporating new irrigation techniques.
In 2020 alone, the last year for which the institute provides data, Indap promoted 206 new irrigation projects that incorporated NCREs with an investment of more than 2.1 million dollars.
That year, of the projects financed and implemented, 182 formed part of the Intra-predial Irrigation Program, 17 of the Minor Works Irrigation Program and seven of the Associative Irrigation Program. The investment includes solar panels for irrigation systems.
Within this framework, 2025 photovoltaic panels with an installed capacity of 668 kilowatts were installed, producing 1002 megawatt hours and preventing the emission of 234 tons of carbon dioxide.
The six solar panels installed on the small farm of Myriam Miller and Freddy Vargas, in the municipality of Mostazal, south of Santiago, Chile, allow them to pump water to their three greenhouses with thousands of tomato plants and to their vegetable garden. They also drastically reduced their electric energy expenditure. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS
An experience in Mostazal
“Solar panels have made an immensely important contribution to our energy expenditure. Without them we would consume a lot of electricity,” 50-year-old farmer Myriam Miller told IPS at her farm in the municipality of Mostazal, 66 km south of Santiago, where some 54,000 people live in different communities.
Miller has half a hectare of land, with a small portion set aside for three greenhouses with nearly 1,500 tomato plants. Other tomato plants grow in rows outdoors, including heirloom varieties whose seeds she works to preserve, such as oxheart and pink tomatoes.
Indap provided 7780 dollars in financing to install the solar panels on her land. Meanwhile, she and her husband, Freddy Vargas, 51, who run their farm together, contributed 10 percent of the total cost.
In 2023, Miller and Vargas built a third greenhouse to increase their production, which they sell on their own land.
“We’re producing around 8,000 kilos of tomatoes per season. This year we will exceed that goal. We’re happy because we’re moving ahead little by little and improving our production year,” Miller said as she picked tomatoes.
On the land next to the tomato plants, the couple grows vegetables, mainly lettuce, some 7,000 heads a year. They also have fruit trees.
Vargas told IPS that they needed electricity to irrigate the greenhouses because “it’s not easy to do it by hand.”
Freddy Vargas turns the soil on his farm in the municipality of Mostazal, south of Santiago, Chile. Lettuce is his star vegetable, with thousands of heads sold on the farm. The farmer plans to buy a mini-tractor to alleviate the work of plowing the land. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS
The farm has two wells that hold about 30,000 liters of water that arrives once a week from a dam located two kilometers away. This is the water they use to power the pumps to irrigate the greenhouses.
“We have water rights and Indap provided us with solar panels and tools to automate irrigation. They gave us four panels and we made an additional investment, with our own funds, and installed six,” Vargas explained.
The couple consumes between 250 and 300 kilowatts per month and the surplus energy they generate is injected into the household grid.
“We don’t have storage batteries, which are more expensive. Every month the electric company sends us a bill detailing the total we have injected into the grid and what we have consumed. They calculate it and we pay the difference,” Vargas said.
The average savings in the cost of consumption is 80 percent.
“I haven’t paid anything in the (southern hemisphere) summer for years. In the winter I spend 30,000 to 40,000 pesos (between 33 and 44 dollars) but I only pay between 5,000 and 10,000 pesos a month (5.5 to 11 dollars) thanks to the energy I generate,” the farmer said.
Above and beyond the savings, Miller stressed the “personal growth and social contribution we make with our products that go to households that need healthier food. We feel good about contributing to the environment.”
“We have a network, still small, of agroecological producers. There is a lack of information among the public about what people eat,” she added.
Their tomatoes are highly prized. “People come to buy them because of their flavor and because they are very juicy. Once people taste them, they come back and recommend them by word of mouth,” Miller said.
She is optimistic and believes that in the municipalities of Mostazal and nearby Codegua, young people are more and more interested in contributing to the planet, producing their own food and selling the surplus.
“We just need a little support and more interest in youth projects in agriculture to raise awareness that just as we take care of the land, it also gives to us,” she said.
Valentina Martínez stands on her father’s small plot of land in the municipality of María Pinto, north of Santiago, Chile. The fruit trees provide the shade needed to keep the planted vegetables from being scorched by the strong southern hemisphere summer sun in central Chile. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS
A pesticide-free new generation
Valentina Martínez, 32, is an environmental engineer. Together with her father, Simón, 75, they work as small farmers in the municipality of María Pinto, 60 kilometers north of Santiago. She has a 0.45 hectare plot and her father has a 0.35 hectare plot.
Both have just obtained funding from the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture (TAS) project, which operates within Indap, and they are excited about production without chemical fertilizers and are trying to meet the goal of securing another larger loan that would enable them to build a greenhouse and expand fruit and vegetable production on the two farms.
“It’s a two-year program. In the first year you apply and they give you an incentive of 450,000 pesos (500 dollars) focused on buying technology. I’ve invested in plants, fruit trees, worms, and containers for making preserves,” Valentina told IPS.
In the second year, depending on the results of the first year, they will apply for a fund of 3900 dollars for each plot, to invest in their production.
“This year my father and I will apply for solar panels to improve irrigation,” said Valentina, who is currently dedicated to producing seedlings.
“My father liked the idea of producing without agrochemicals to combat pests,” she said about Simón, who has a fruit tree orchard and also grows vegetables.
In María Pinto there are 380 small farmers on the census, but the real number is estimated at about 500. Another 300 are medium-sized farmers.
Simón Martínez, 75, proudly shows some of the citrus fruits harvested on his farm where he practices agroecology and does not use agrochemicals. He and his daughter Valentina won a contest to continue improving the sustainability of their farming practices on their adjoining plots, located outside the Chilean town of María Pinto. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS
The rest of the area is monopolized by large agricultural companies dedicated to monocultures for export. Most of them have citrus, avocado, cherry and peach trees, as well as some walnut trees, and they all make intensive use of chemical fertilizers.
Chile exports mainly copper, followed by iron. But it also stands out for its sales of fish, cellulose pulp and fruit. In 2023, it exported 2.3 million tons of fruit, produced by large farms and bringing in 5.04 billion dollars. Agriculture represents 4.3 percent of the country’s GDP.
Family farms produce 40 percent of annual crops and 22 percent of total agricultural production, which is key to feeding the country’s 19.7 million people.
Valentina is excited about TAS and the meetings she has had with other young farmers.
“It’s fun. We’re all on the same page and interested in what each other is doing. We start in December and January and it lasts all year. The young people are learning about sustainable agriculture and that there are more projects to apply for,” she explained.
She said that 15 young people in María Pinto have projects with pistachio trees, fruit trees, greenhouse gardens, outdoor gardens, animal husbandry and orchards. They are all different and receive group and individual training.
The training is provided by Indap and the Local Development Program (Prodesal), its regional representatives and the Foundation for the Promotion and Development of Women (Prodemu).
“The idea is that more people can learn about and realize the benefits of sustainable agriculture for their own health and for their land, which in a few years will be impossible due to the spraying of monocultures,” Valentina said.
It targets large entrepreneurs who produce avocado and broccoli in up to four harvests a year, both water-intensive crops, even on high hillsides.
“We need to come together, do things properly and recruit more people to create a legal group to reach other places and be able to organize projects. When you exist as an organization, you can also reach other places and say I am no longer one person, we are 15, we are 20, 100 and we need this,” she said.
LONDON, Feb 1 2024 (IPS) – The military must have expected an easier ride. Three years ago, it ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government. But the coup has been met with fierce resistance, unleashing a bloody conflict with no end in sight.
Civil society has scrambled to respond to humanitarian needs, defend human rights and seek a path to peace. Last year, civil society organisations in Myanmar and the region developed and endorsed a five-point agenda that calls for an international response to end military violence, including through sanctions, an arms embargo and a referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court – a call the UN Security Council hasn’t so far heeded.
Civil society is also demanding that the key regional body, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), takes the conflict more seriously and engages beyond the junta, particularly with democratic forces and civil society.
So far civil society’s calls haven’t been heard. But intensifying violence proves that the approaches tried to far have failed. Staying on the same path is a recipe for further carnage.
Violence and repression
Three years on from the coup, the military doesn’t control significant sections of the ethnically diverse country. People’s defence forces are fighting an armed campaign in support of the ousted National Unity Government, often in alliance with long-established ethnic militia groups.
In October 2023, three armed groups in Myanmar’s north joined the conflict against the junta, forming the Brotherhood Alliance. The resulting offensive in Shan state saw the rebels capture the border town of Laukkai and cut off key trading routes with China. The UN stated that this was the biggest escalation in fighting since the coup. A ceasefire in the region was supposedly agreed in January following China-brokered talks, but fighting resumed.
It seems clear the junta won’t win this conflict any time soon. Morale among armed forces is collapsing and soldiers defecting, deserting or surrendering in growing numbers. Even pro-junta voices on social media have begun to criticise military leaders.
Pushed into a corner, the military is lashing out, committing mass killings, burning villages and unleashing indiscriminate airstrikes to compensate for its struggles on the ground. The deadliest strike so far came in April 2023, when 168 people, including 40 children, were reported killed in the village of Pa Zi Gyi.
This was no one-off. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has reported that the junta continues to bomb hospitals, schools, villages and camps for displaced people. Attacks on civilians include mass killings, torture, sexual violence and forced labour, and the junta also obstructs essential humanitarian aid supplies.
In September 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned this violence as ‘inhumanity in its vilest form’. Research suggests that most of the military’s senior commanders are responsible for war crimes.
The humanitarian impacts are deep. By the end of 2023, over 2.6 million people had been displaced, 628,000 of them since the Brotherhood Alliance launched its campaign. The UN assesses that 18.6 million need humanitarian help and 5.3 million need it urgently. But aid workers are being targeted: at least 142 were arrested or detained last year.
The restriction of humanitarian work is part of wider repression. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights organisation, reports that since the coup 4,468 people have been killed by the junta and pro-military groups. Almost 20,000 people are in detention, among them many activists and protesters charged with offences such as treason and sedition. Torture in prison is widespread, and 34 political prisoners died in detention in 2023.
The junta is doing everything it can to try to control the narrative. It’s believed that 64 journalists are currently detained. Internet shutdowns, website blocking and arrests for social media comments are routine occurrences. Last November, the junta took control of the Broadcasting Council, which oversees TV and radio outlets.
In August 2023, the junta extended the state of emergency, in effect since the coup, for a further six months. The elections that it promised on seizing power are nowhere in sight, and even if they eventually come, they won’t serve any purpose other than trying to legitimise military power.
International action needed
The junta faces strong domestic opposition and has no real international legitimacy but crucially, pressure from the regional body is weak.
ASEAN claims to be following a long-discredited plan, the Five-Point Consensus, which dates back to April 2021. The violence unleashed by the junta against civilians shows it can’t be trusted to act in good faith, but ASEAN still claims to believe it’s possible to involve it in an ‘inclusive dialogue’. At its annual summit in May 2023, ASEAN members reiterated their support for the failed plan, despite civil society’s calls.
ASEAN members are mostly repressive states, and some, including Cambodia and Thailand, have shown signs of seeking to normalise relations with the junta. ASEAN continues to allow junta representatives to attend some of its meetings. This year’s chair, Laos, is an authoritarian state that will have no interest in restoring democracy in Myanmar.
Elsewhere, however, the junta may be running out of friends. China was untroubled by military rule, but it doesn’t want unrest on its border. A potential breakthrough came from the US government in October 2023, when it imposed sanctions on the previously untouchable Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the state-owned corporation that’s the regime’s main source of foreign income. The European Union also stepped up its sanctions in December 2023, including against two companies providing arms and generating income for the junta.
It remains essential to keep the junta diplomatically isolated and to cut economic relations with the many companies it depends on, including MOGE. It’s vital to stop supplying arms to the junta and, above all, to stop selling it the jet fuel it needs to carry out airstrikes.
A UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted in April 2023 condemned the junta’s violence but failed to call for responses such as bans on the sale of weapons or aviation fuel. Events since then have made it sadly clear that decisive action can no longer wait.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb 1 2024 (IPS) – Karl Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party begins with the now worn-out phrase: “A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre”. Nowadays the word “communism” could easily be substituted by “migration”. All over Europe, politicians claim that Europe is being destroyed by migrants. In country after country, ghosts of yesterday are awakened. Parliaments include xenophobic politicians who might be considered as inheritors of demagogs who once dragged Europeans into hate and bloodbaths.
Populists have successfully convinced voters that the greatest threat to their nations is neither inequality, nor climate change, but immigration. Politicized storytellers have found that fear of “the other” can be a means to gain power. Nevertheless, such a fear does not concern any “other” – respected professionals who move to another country are usually not labelled as “migrants”, neither are wealthy businessmen who acquire new passports as easily as they move their money around the world.
To obtain some insights to the often all overshadowing phenomenon of international migration, Jan Lundius recently met with Dr Omar Hammoud Gallego, a fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Omar Hammoud Gallego
IPS: Your research deals with migration, as well as civil society’s connection with international organisations. How did this interest develop?
Hammoud Gallego: Like many of my colleagues and friends, I am the son of migrants. My parents came from different parts of the world and met, married and established themselves in a third country. However, this was not the main reason for me to focus on migration in my research. In 2015, while working for UNHCR in Colombia, where I was engaged in supporting internally displaced Colombians, I soon found out that there was a lack of serious, in-depth research about migration within Latin America. I began to read about regional migration and decided eventually to pursue a PhD on this topic.
IPS: Was it the specific situation in Colombia that made you shift your main interest from internal to regional migration?
Hammoud Gallego: Yes, over the last few years Colombia has received a huge influx of migrants and refugees from Venezuela (although they are recognised as refugees only in a handful of countries). A phenomenon that has not abided. More than 7,7 million migrants and refugees have left Venezuela as a result of political turmoil, socio-economic instability and an ongoing humanitarian crisis, roughly a quarter of the country’s population. While democratic backsliding in the country began with Hugo Chávez, the situation worsened considerably during the presidency of his successor since 2013, Nicolás Maduro. Most refugees, more than 6,5 million, are hosted in Latin American and Caribbean countries; close to three million in Colombia, one and a half million in Peru, and close to half a million in both Chile and Ecuador.
IPS: And the cause of this exodus is mainly political?
Hammoud Gallego: To a certain degree – yes. The Venezuelan government inept and corrupt handling of the economy and plummeting oil prices caused the output of PDVSA (the national oil company) to decrease substantially, leading to lower revenues for the government. As it happens with many countries with vast oil reserves, Venezuela developed into a rentier state, receiving most of its income through the export of oil. Since 2013, the country’s economy has suffered greatly. In 2018, the inflation was more than 63,000 percent compared with the previous year, while nearly 90 percent of the population lives in poverty. Furthermore, estimates by the UN and Human Rights Watch indicate that under Maduro’s administration close to 20,000 people have been subject to alleged extrajudicial killings.
IPS: Is the current situation in Venezuela still excruciating?
Hammoud Gallego: Yes, and the current geopolitical landscape seems to have favoured Maduro’s regime rather than debilitated him. The country is Russia’s most important trading and military ally in South America. Due to the energy crisis linked to Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, the US government in October last year lifted sanctions on the Venezuelan oil and mining sector, which had been in place since early 2019. In spite of this influx of money and support, the situation continues to be severe and so far, few Venezuelans are returning to their country of origin. Many are instead making their way to the Darien Gap, through Panama and from there continue north until they reach the United States. Elections in Venezuela are scheduled for this year, but it is hard to know if Maduro will allow them to take place fairly and transparently.
IPS: How is UNHCR handling the Venezuelan refugee crisis?
Hammoud Gallego: The UNHCR is one of the few UN agencies which depends almost entirely on voluntary contributions. Every year UNHCR funding shifts depending on the outcome of its Global Appeal, the process in which it asks governments and some private donors to contribute to the support of refugees. In 2023, about 74 percent of these funds came from 10 donors only, with much of the funding earmarked for specific crises and only 15% of it consisted of multi-year funds. Commitments are constantly shifting and crises around the world compete for limited resources. For example, when a refugee crisis erupted due to war in Ukraine it meant that less funding was dedicated to Latin American countries hosting Venezuelan refugees, as well as UNHCR commitments in other parts of the world. However, there are many NGOs across the region that also make a concrete difference in the lives of many refugees. For instance, the NGO VeneActiva, which was founded and is led by Venezuelan migrant women and operates in Peru, is one of the best examples in the Latin American region of how civil society can step in and provide the support refugees need. Its digital platform contains key information that helps Venezuelan nationals to restart their lives in Peru. The NGO provides a variety of services, including psychological support and advice on how to regularise one’s migratory status.
IPS: You are currently living in the UK, a country where migration, like in other European nations, is high up on the political agenda. Can you provide us with some insights about how the migration issue is dealt with in the UK?
Hammoud Gallego: Over the last few years, the Conservative government in the UK has been facing a dilemma of its own making. The Brexit decision was supposed to lead to a decrease in immigration, and instead the opposite seems now to have been the case. Still, the lack of enough immigrants to fill in positions in the public sector, particularly in education, and health, and to take on seasonal work in agriculture and construction, has limited economic growth in the country. The health sector was exceptionally hard hit by both Covid and Brexit.
IPS: How is the governing political party affected by the migration issue?
Hammoud Gallego: Since 2010 the UK has had a Conservative-led government, with Conservative party leaders making migration a prime electoral issue. However, according to the latest polling data, it is estimated that 46 percent of voters would vote for the Labour Party in a general election, compared with 22 percent voting for the Conservative Party. Understandably, conservative politicians are worried about losing votes to the far right, and specifically to the Reform Party, and are trying to out-do the far-right by adopting absurd measures to deter the arrival of asylum seekers. One such scheme is the recent Rwanda asylum plan.
IPS: Could you elaborate on whether the Rwanda plan is a feasible project, or not, and why some Conservative politicians actually proposed such a solution for asylum seekers.
Hammoud Gallego: It is a proposal that foresees that some of the asylum seekers who arrive to the UK irregularly will be relocated to Rwanda for processing. Those successful in claiming asylum would remain in Rwanda. It is an absurd proposal based on two wrong assumptions. The first, is that most asylum seekers will know about the scheme. The reality is that the information most of them get, comes from unofficial sources, oftentimes from the smugglers that organise their journeys. Second, even if they knew about the scheme, it is unlikely that it will deter them. For most of them, the choice of a country depends on several factors: the language they speak, the network they have, etc… Also, on their way to the UK asylum seekers have often taken several risks, and suffered greatly, so the minimal risk of being sent to Rwanda will be seen as an acceptable risk for most of them. The reality is that what this plan will only push individuals not to apply for asylum once in the UK, and in many cases simply live in the country with an irregular status, akin to the reality of many Mexican and Central Americans in the US.
IPS: How do you view the future for asylum seekers and so called “economic” migrants?
Hammoud Gallego: It looks bad. I believe that climate change will exacerbate conflicts in many regions of the world, thus forcing people to move. Such challenge needs urgently to be dealt with, both internationally and locally, and it might already be too late. Investments in green energy are far too limited, viable resettlement programs are not in place, leaving asylum seekers no option but to embark on dangerous journeys. Also, one of the main myths surrounding economic migration is that as countries become wealthier, people will have less incentives to leave. The reality is that the poorest individuals in the Global South have always been the ones least likely to travel, as they lack the means to do that. The poor cannot afford to move. As countries become wealthier, the middle classes will seek to travel and migrate more.
IPS: What can be done for migrants who are already in place in Europe, and elsewhere?
Hammoud Gallego: Well thought-through integration policies forcefully implemented and sensible migration policies would be a good place to start. There are many examples of how integration can be conducted successfully. Nations like the UK are to a certain degree proof of this, with a prime minister of Indian origin, and the Mayor of London and First Minister of Scotland both sons of Pakistani immigrants. Considering sudden refugee crises, the way European countries responded to the Ukrainian crisis shows the way forward: let refugees move wherever best suits them, and you will avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. However, politics in Europe seems to be going in the opposite direction. In Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and many other European nations anti-migration and nationalistic forces are gaining strength, not the least among young people who mistrust ageing and unrepresentative traditional parties. If everyone who voted in the election had been aged under 35, Geert Wilders’ Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) might have won even more votes. In last year’s French presidential runoff, Marine le Pen won 39 percent of votes from people aged 18-24 and 49 percent of those aged 25-34, le Pen’s deputy is the 28 years old Jordan Bardella. Giorgia Meloni’s ruling Brothers of Italy was the preferred party among people under 35 years of age. I assume that the likely win of Donald Trump in the next US elections will boost European anti-migration politics.
IPS: What can immediately be done to address the issue of migrants and asylum seekers already in Europe, and maybe elsewhere as well?
Hammoud Gallego: If governments across Europe were to pursue sensible and evidence-based migration policies instead of replicating far-right talking points, it would be a start. Principled opposition politicians could, instead of focusing exclusively on migration to attract votes, focus more on those aspects of migration policies that might be improved, without resorting to a xenophobic rhetoric that normalises a polarising political discourse. Integration and inclusion are key for people coming to Europe. Integration is both a right and a duty, meaning that every member of a society has to adapt to and respect fundamental human rights, including democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion, as well as the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Considering that migration has become a highly politicised issue it has been proposed that long-term immigrants ought to be given the right to vote, thus making their support more appealing to politicians and decision makers. A few countries, such as Chile and New Zealand, are allowing all residents to vote, hoping this would decrease polarisation and marginalisation, whether this will happen remains to be seen. Under all circumstances it would be desirable if we could live in a world where migrants were considered as fellow human beings, rather than as scapegoats for governments’ ineptitudes.
This week, as the NWSL teams start pre-season training for the 2024 season, we begin a multi-part look at some new signings—both domestic and international—on both the playing and coaching side, as well as other interesting news.
We examine Angel City FC, Chicago Red Stars, Houston Dash, Kansas City Current and North Carolina Courage. Over the next few weeks, we will look at other teams in the league, particularly the two expansion teams: the Utah Royals and Bay FC in the San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland, California area, as well as the 2024 draft.
2024 NWSL Team Updates and News
Angel City FC
On January 14, Angel City FC signed U-18 forward and South Korea 2023 Women’s National Team player Casey Phair (16) through the 2026 season, who comes to the club via the NWSL’s U-18 Entry mechanism. She is an inspired signing by the club and the league; she was the youngest player to ever in a WWC Finals. She will also be the youngest player on the Angel City side. She also was the first Korean-American (and first diaspora) to receive a call up to the senior South Korea Women’s National Team. Prior to joining the senior team, Phair competed with the U-17 team, compiling five goals in two games, including a hat trick against Hong Kong in a Women’s Asian Cup Qualifier. Phair was born in Korea Republic but grew up in New Hampshire and New Jersey in the Northeast U.S.
Sixteen-year-old Casey Phair grew up in the States and played for Korea Republic in the 2023 Women’s World Cup Finals.
Phair now has signed to play with the NWSL’s City FC in Los Angeles.
(Photo courtesy Angel City FC).
Phair talked about her professional signing: “It feels like a dream come true. The first time I came to Los Angeles was last September. I trained with Angel City and fell in love with the culture and LA. All of the players were super welcoming and I really enjoyed everything about the city.”
On January 24, the club signed another AFC international player in Japanese goalkeeper Hannah Stambaugh (25) from Omiya Ardija Ventus of the WE League for a $10,000 transfer fee. Stambaugh spent the past three seasons with Omiya Ardija Ventus, appearing in eight matches for the club and earning one clean sheet. Before that, she spent four seasons with INAC Kobe Leonessa in the then top tier (now second division) Nadeshiko League, where she made 28 match appearances. She had played internationally for Japan at the U-20 level.
On January 12, Angel City acquired midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard (28) from the San Diego Wave FC in exchange for $40,000 in allocation money. Dougherty Howard played 17 games in all competitions with the San Diego Wave in 2023 for the NWSL Shield (regular season) winner, after signing with the club during the 2023 free agency window. Dougherty Howard spent two seasons with the Orlando Pride, appearing in 43 total matches for the Pride. Dougherty Howard, was drafted in the 2017 NWSL Draft out of the University of Florida by the Washington Spirit. Prior to being drafted, she competed on the Spirit Reserves 2015 and 2016 summer teams. With the University of Florida, she scored 14 goals and added 25 assists in 94 appearances.
Midfielder Madison Hammond has re-signed with the club through the 2025 season. Hammond was originally acquired via a trade with OL [now Seattle] Reign ahead of the club’s inaugural 2022 season. Last season, she scored 2 goals and had an 83% success rate on her passes, completing 567. Hammond spent two previous seasons with OL Reign, appearing in 20 games. Hammond, who is Navajo, San Felipe, and African American, is the first and only Native American woman to play in the NWSL and played collegiately at Wake Forest University.
French midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan has also signed a new contract with the club through 2024, with a mutual option for 2025. Le Bihan was acquired via transfer from Montpellier HSC of Division 1 Féminine in June 2022. In the past two seasons with ACFC, Le Bihan scored three goals and four assists in 41 total matches. Le Bihan spent six seasons with Montpellier, appearing in 109 total matches and scoring 29 goals. She has 16 caps with the French Women’s National Team, scoring four times. She also won a European Championship with the U-19 French Women’s National Team in 2013, was a member of the 2016 Olympic French Women’s National Team as a substitute, and played in the 2017 Euro Championships in the Netherlands.
Angel City acquired the rights to Costa Rican international Rachel ‘Rocky’ Rodriguez in exchange for $275,000 in allocation money from the Portland Thorns. Rodriguez appeared in 72 matches, across all competitions during her four seasons with the Thorns with seven goals and three assists. She was part of the 2022 NWSL Championship team, as well as winning the 2021 NWSL Shield, 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, 2021 Women’s International Champions Cup and 2020 NWSL Community Shield. She also played with Sky Blue FC, where she was selected No. 2 overall in the 2016 NWSL Draft and ended up as the 2016 NWSL Rookie of the Year. She has 45 goals in 85 caps with Costa Rica and was on their 2023 WWC Finals side and played at Penn State University.
On the coaching side, Angel City named Lee Nguyen as assistant coach and promoted Eleri Earnshaw from assistant coach to first assistant to head coach Becki Tweed. Nguyen was an assistant with the Washington Spirit in 2022 but quit the team after six months to resume his professional playing career in Vietnam. He spent last season as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Current under then interim head coach Caroline Sjoblom of Finland, who coached for years in Sweden. He played for years in Major League Soccer with over 250 games, and in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Vietnam. He also was capped by the U.S. Men’s National Team across eight seasons.
Earnshaw has been with the club since its inaugural season in 2022, when she began as a performance analyst before being promoted to assistant coach in 2023. Before joining ACFC, Earnshaw, a native of Wales, coached collegiately at Fordham University, LIU Brooklyn, and Yale University. She led the NJ/NY Gotham FC Reserves team to an undefeated season and WPSL Conference Championship in 2022. Earnshaw is currently pursuing a PhD in performance at Grand Canyon University in Arizona. She played at Iona College where she was a three-year captain under then-head coach and now Chelsea/U.S. WNT head coach Emma Hayes. She played professionally for Arsenal and represented the Welsh Women’s National Team at the senior and youth levels.
Chicago Red Stars
The Chicago Red Stars have signed U.S. international forward Mallory Swanson (25) to a historic long-term contract, as she will earn more than any player ever has in the league—she signed through the 2028 season. Swanson, who was a free agent, will earn about $2 million over the term of the agreement, according to CBS Sports. Swanson joined the Red Stars in 2021 from Sky Blue FC (now New Jersey/New York Gotham FC) and scored 18 goals with 10 assists in 51 games across all competitions with the Illinois-based club. She played for new head coach Lorne Donaldson as a youth with Real Colorado. For the U.S. WNT, Swanson has been in the senior pool since she was 17-years-old.
A Women’s World Cup Champion with the 2019 USWNT, Swanson has made 88 appearances and scored 32 goals with 27 assists with the nats. Despite suffering an injury in April that sidelined the forward for the rest of the year and kept her out of the 2023 WWC Finals, Swanson was the United States’ top goal scorer with seven goals in six appearances. Swanson is married to Chicago Cubs baseball player Dansby Swanson.
The Chicago Red Stars have acquired defender Maximiliane Rall from FC Bayern München in the German Frauen-Bundesliga for an undisclosed transfer fee. Rall joins the Red Stars on a one-year contract through 2024, with a mutual option for 2025. Over three seasons, she made 40 appearances with Bayern, with 15 goals with four assists. She has been capped four times by Germany.
The Red Stars signed midfielder Chardonnay Curran to a two-year contract running through the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season after acquiring her off of waivers. Curran spent two seasons (30 games) with the Kansas City Current after being drafted 17th overall in the 2022 NWSL Draft by from the University of Oregon.
The team boosted their defense by trading for former Washington Spirit defender Sam Staab (26) in exchange for their third overall pick in the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Draft. Staab was a finalist for the NWSL’s 2023 Defender of Year award. Staab is also a three-time NWSL Ironwoman having played every available regular-season minute for the third time in her career.
The club also signed Shea Groom to a two-year contract. Groom is an experienced midfielder who spent four years with the Houston Dash. She played 61 matches with nine goals with seven assists across all competitions. She won the 2020 Challenge Cup and scored a goal in the championship match to give Houston a 2-0 win over Chicago to win the MVP honors. She won a NWSL title as a rookie in 2015 with Kansas City after playing at Texas A&M University. Over Groom’s nine years in the NWSL, the veteran has played for four teams, in 159 matches with 134 starts and scored 33 goals with 20 assists across all competitions.
The Chicago Red Stars have signed Finland international defender, Natalia Kuikka, to a three-year contract. Kuikka joins the club from Portland Thorns FC, where she played in 78 games in all competitions. She won a 2022 NWSL league title for the Thorns and helped the club win the 2021 Challenge Cup and the 2021 NWSL Shield. She has 84 caps for Finland and played in the EURO 2022 Finals. She is a four-time National Player of the Year for Finland (2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022). She played collegiately at Florida State University and with the Seattle Sounders Women of the WPSL in 2016. She won a Damallsvenskan title in 2020 with Kopparbergs/Goteborg FC (now BK Hacken).
On the coaching side, Chicago Red Stars have added Masaki Hemmi as assistant coach for the 2024 season. Hemmi joins from the United Soccer League club, New Mexico United, where he served as director of player personnel and first assistant coach. Hemmi also served as recruiting coordinator and assistant coach at the University of Denver. In 2021, Hemmi joined Japanese side, INAC Kobe of the WE League, as associate head coach to help players prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.
Houston Dash
NWSL veteran Japanese international Yuki Nagasato (36) signed a two year contract through the 2025 season with the Houston Dash. Nagasato has 104 NWSL regular season starts in 118 games, scoring 22 goals and tallying 25 assists. Nagasato joins the Dash after five combined seasons with the Chicago Red Stars from 2017-2020 and 2022-2023. Chicago made the playoffs in four of the five seasons she played for Chicago, reaching the NWSL Championship in 2019. She spent the 2021 NWSL regular season with Racing Louisville.
Nagasato said: “I am super excited to join this ambitious club and being part of the Space City community. As a veteran player I want to bring harmony, calmness and a winning mindset to the team, as well as bringing a trophy to Houston. I can’t wait to get started to work with all the talented players and coaching staff and play in front of the fans at Shell Energy Stadium!”
Nagasato has played around the world including a season with Brisbane Roar FC during the 2018-2019 offseason, scoring 5 goals in 10 matches in Australia. Prior to joining the NWSL in 2017, the striker played for FFC Frankfurt in the Frauen-Bundesliga, from 2015-2017 and scored eight goals in 35 appearances. Nagasato won the DFB-Pokal [German Cup], with Wolfsburg in 2015, where she scored four goals and made her Frauen-Bundesliga debut in 2010 for FFC Turbine Potsdam where she scored 48 goals in 71 appearances from 2010 to 2013 and the UEFA Champions League title in 2010. At Potsdam, the team won the Frauen-Bundesliga title in three consecutive campaigns from 2010-2012. From 2013 to 2014, Nagasato played for Chelsea in the Women’s Premier League in England, scoring 5 goals in 18 games. Nagasato made her professional debut for Nippon TV Beleza in Japan in 2002 and played with the team through the 2009 season, where she won six league championships and was one of the league’s leading scorers for the 2006 season.
She played for Japan from 2004 to 2016 before stepping away from the team following the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Nagasato made 132 appearances for the Japanese Women’s National Team and scored 58 goals. She won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany and were runners-up in 2015 in Canada. She made her national team debut leading up to the 2004 Olympics. She also participated in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2008 Olympics.
The Dash acquired forward Cece Kizer plus a 2024 international roster spot in a trade with the Kansas City Current; the Dash sent Canadian international forward Nichelle Prince to the Current (see more below). Kizer previously played for the Dash from 2019-2020 and was a member of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup winning team. Over a season and a half with the Current, she appeared in 35 matches and scored 13 goals and added three assists.
On the coaching side, the Dash hired well-respected European men’s and women’s coach Fran Alonso as their new head coach. Alonso joins from Celtic FC Women in Scotland, who he guided to two Scottish Cup titles in 2022 and 2023 plus a Scottish Premier League Cup in 2021. Celtic finished second in the league to long-time powerhouse Glasgow City twice during the past three seasons.
During his time at Celtic, Alonso led the team to a 76-9-11 (W-D-L) record in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. He joined Celtic in 2020 as the first head coach of the women as they turned professional. Under Alonso, 12 Celtic players were named to their respective national team for the first time and nine players earned their first senior appearance.
He told the media: “I am very excited for the opportunity to join the Houston Dash and coach in the NWSL, one of the best leagues in the world. Houston is the perfect place for me. It will be a great honor and a huge responsibility for me, and I can’t wait to meet the players, technical staff and management and work with such a talented group of professionals. I am very confident that we will be able to implement a brave, exciting, dynamic and dominant style of play that can help the Dash build an identity on-and-off the field. I also look forward to connecting with the fans, our community in Houston, and creating something very special. We want to build a team that the city of Houston can be proud of.”
Alonso has also coached Lewes FC Women in England for one season and on the men’s side, was an assistant coach with Everton FC under Dutch coach Ronald Koeman in his first year with the club and then English coach Sam Allardyce as the team competed in the men’s English Premier League, while also assisting the Everton Ladies. Alonso was the first team technical coach under Maurico Pochettino with Southampton Football Club in the English Premier League from 2012-2014 and under Ronald Koeman from 2014-2016, while also serving as the technical director for Southampton Women FC.
As we went to press, we learned from the Swedish media that Pablo Pinones-Arce (42) has left Hammarby of Stockholm, Sweden, after leading their women’s side to the league and cup double in 2023 (joining the side in 2020), to join the Houston Dash at their technical director. He was capped by Sweden at the U-21 level and played for many years for Swedish sides, as well as spells in Denmark and India. One media source who follows the league feels that he is very good in working with players and a better role for him might ultimately be on the field. With the Dash’s constant turnover of coaches in recent years, that may be a possibility if Fran Alonso doesn’t work out or leaves for another position at some point.
Kansas City Current
The Kansas City Current have signed Brazilian international Beatriz Zaneratto João, better known as Bia, to a contract through the 2024 season with a club option for 2025. General manager Camille Ashton said: “Bia is an extraordinary talent that will impact our team immediately.” New head coach and former U.S. international head coach Vlatko Andonovski said: “Bia’s goal scoring ability, creativity in and around the box are extraordinary. She is a world-class forward, proven in club and country.”
Bia signed as a professional as a 13-year-old with Ferroviária in Brazil before transferring to Santos in 2010. She moved to Asia, first to Korea Republic powerhouse Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels, playing in 103 games and scoring 76 goals; she helped the side to seven consecutive WK League titles from 2013 to 2019. In 2020 she played nine games alongside new Current teammate and Malawian international Temwa Chawinga (25) at Wuhan Jianghan University in the Chinese Women’s Super League and scored seven goals before going back to Brazil, first on loan with Palmeiras and then permanently. Chawinga’s sister Tabitha (27) is still contracted to Wuhan but has spent the last two seasons in Europe, on loan first to Inter Milan and is now with Paris St. Germann.
Bia first started playing for Brazil’s youth international side at the age of 14, and was on the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup side in New Zealand. In 2011, she was capped at the senior level and currently has 103 appearances for Brazil, scoring 36 goals. She is a veteran of four FIFA World Cups (2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) and two Olympic games (2016, 2020).
The Kansas City Current acquired Canadian Olympic Gold Medal winning forward Nichelle Prince from the Houston Dash in exchange for forward Cece Kizer and an international slot for 2024. Prince was originally drafted by the Dash with the 28th overall pick in the 2017 NWSL College Draft; she played in 88 games and scored 12 times. For Canada she started playing internationally with their U-17 side in 2010. She was first capped at the senior level in 2013 and has 96 caps for her country with 16 goals and 12 assists. She has been part of the two World Cup teams (2019, 2023) and helped her country to a Bronze medal in the 2016 London Olympics and a Gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sad news is that U.S. international and Current midfielder Samantha Mewis has retired from the game. She won the 2012 U-20 in Japan and 2019 Senior WWC in France. Mewis explained her decision to the media: “Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires. Though this isn’t what I wanted, this is the only path forward for me. I want to thank everyone who has been on my team throughout this journey. Soccer has put so many wonderful things in my life, but the most wonderful thing has been the people. To all my family, friends, teammates, and fans, I truly feel that we did this together and I’m extremely grateful.”
She is joining the media as editor-in-chief of the new women’s vertical, The Women’s Game, on the Men in Blazers Media Network.
She was a huge star at the domestic and international level. In 2021, while playing with Manchester City in the WSL, she was named #1 on ESPN FC’s list of the world’s best women’s soccer players. She won the FA Cup with City in 2020. Mewis won three NWSL titles, one with the Western New York Flash and two with the North Carolina Courage. In 2013, Mewis helped lead the UCLA Bruins to their first NCAA Championship.
In 2021, she had arthroscopic surgery after the Olympics and has had to stop playing as she then underwent major knee surgery in January of 2023. She has not played in the NWSL since two Challenge Cup games early in 2022 after being acquired by the club in a trade with the North Carolina Courage in late 2021, missing two full regular seasons. Sam Mewis would have been a shoe-in for the 2023 WWC Finals in New Zealand and Australia if she were healthy. In total, she made 83 appearances for the USA, scoring 24 goals and her final appearance for the national team was against Uzbekistan in April 2022.
North Carolina Courage end
In arguably the surprise internal move in the league during the off-season, the Courage sent the fifth overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft and $250,000 allocation money to the Washington Spirit for Ashley Sanchez. She has 25 full WNT caps for the U.S., with three goals and four assists, and was on the team that made the Round of 16 last summer at the Women’s World Cup.
Sanchez had 17 goals and eight assists across all competitions with the Spirit since joining the club in 2020. She helped the club to the 2021 NWSL Championship and a runner-up finish in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup.
The Courage made a major international signing with German Women’s National Team defender Felicitas ‘Feli’ Rauch (27) after the club paid a transfer fee to Frauen Bundesliga power Vfl Wolfsburg. She signed a two-year, guaranteed contract through the 2025 NWSL season. She has 36 caps with 4 goals for Germany’s full national team, including playing at the 2022 Women’s EUROS, where Germany finished runners-up to host side England, and 2023 Women’s World Cup Finals.
In Australia, she started in Germany’s opening match, a 6-0 win over Morocco before a training injury sidelined her for the remainder of the tournament as Germany crashed out of the tournament at the group stage. She’s played at the club level for the Frauen-Bundesliga superpower Wolfsburg since 2019, playing in 80 league games and scoring 8 times; this season she had a pair of assists in five matches played thus far. She’s helped the European giant to two Frauen-Bundesliga championships, four straight DFB Pokal Frauen titles, and a pair of runners-up finishes in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2019-20 and 2022-23. She started her career in 2010 at FFC Turbine Potsdam’s Academy (who were relegated last season), moved up to the second team in 2012 and then to the first team in 2014, playing in 89 games and scoring 22 times across five seasons.
The North Carolina Courage signed Canadian international and free agent forward Bianca St-Georges to a two-year, guaranteed contract through the 2025 NWSL season. The deal also includes a mutual option for 2026. The former West Virginia Mountaineer has spent her entire professional career in Chicago, drafted by the Red Stars in the third round of the 2019 NWSL Draft; she scored six goals and three assists in 44 games with the Red Stars.
In the 2023 regular season in Chicago, she had four goals and one assist in 21 regular season matches and one goal and one assist in Challenge Cup games. She has nine national team caps at the senior level for Canada and represented Canada at two FIFA youth tournaments.
The North Carolina Courage and free agent midfielder Dani Weatherholt have agreed to terms on a two-year, guaranteed contract through the 2025 NWSL season.. Weatherholt was originally drafted by the Orlando Pride in 2016 and has nearly 10,000 minutes of NWSL regular season experience across seven seasons. Weatherholt spent the last two seasons with her hometown Angel City FC after a selection in the 2022 expansion draft.
Weatherholt was selected in the fourth round of the 2016 draft and made 74 appearances in four seasons with the Pride. Orlando then traded Weatherholt to Seattle Reign FC ahead of the 2021 season. With Angel City, she made 41 appearances across two seasons in Los Angeles. Weatherholt went on loan to Australian club Melbourne Victory during the 2018-19 offseason and made 12 appearances to help the club win the Premiership [regular season] title. She played collegiately at Santa Clara University in Northern California.
Emily Fox (25), who made the 2023 WWC last summer, joined Arsenal of the WSL in the off-season; she played three seasons in the league and has 39 caps since her debut in 2018. She left the Courage after one season, following two years with Racing Louisville and played collegiately at North Carolina State University. Her new club Arsenal is averaging 26,640 fans per match this season after 5 WSL matches and is on course to set world record for average attendance for women’s league sides.
Arsenal is well ahead of either of her past teams’ gates, with Racing averaging 5,999 last season while the Courage drew on average 5,384—both clubs were in the bottom third of NWSL teams on the attendance table. In the WSL, Arsenal‘s gates are almost double second place Manchester United (13,506), with the other 10 teams are averaging under 10,000 a game, with five clubs averaging less than 4,000 a game: Manchester City (3,617), Brighton and Hove Albion (3,408), Leicester City (2,219), Everton (1,415) and West Ham United (1,217).
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today.
Racism is an adult disease and parents should stop spreading it through their children. – US civil rights advocate Ruby Bridges who was the first African American to attend an all-white school in segregated education system in southern USA
Children are the spitting image of who we (parents and other adults) demonstrate. We must take care of how we play life out in front or even behind them. Put on the best presentation of your life for them. Their future depends on the drama you parade in front of them. Janet Karim, 01.23.2034: theme for forthcoming book entitled Dear God, are You still there?
Let us face facts, let us get real, and let us properly recollect our history when we consider the third national resolution: one of the many prized jewels, former President H.Kamuzu Banda, left the country was the love for education. What to do about education was part of the famous three Gweru dreams of jailed nationalist Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Through the dream, Kamuzu recounted (as was his nature – if you forgot anything, he was always quick to remind you through his “as I have said many times before…..”) the dreams, among them University in Zomba (also recounted through Mbumba music “University kuZomba chifukwa cha aNgwazi, cheKamuzu!” Translation: University in Zomba because of the Ngwazi, Ngwazi!). Somewhere along the route to 2024 (our 60th anniversary of Independence, the country took a left turn, and many of the established items in the education bucket got thrown out, altered, or replaced. Oh Malawi! My Malawi!
During the 39 years that I knew Kamuzu, looking at his varied degrees (history, medicine, he may even have done some law, classical studies), I saw him as a Jack of all trades and Master of all trades. One had to learn how to fry an egg (sunny side up please!) and make coffee at the same time. Thus during his administration, some have called it the reign of terror (the European Reign of Terror was few thousand degrees higher than the Malawian one – another day), systems were established among them a heavily well-planned education system: primary education (later added the segment M’mela M’poyamba, equivalent of Nursery/Pre-School School), secondary school, and the tertiary school. Then there came the Kamuzu Academy with Latin, Classics, and music.
Outside the formal schooling, through population growth (2 million t0 current 21m), the government set up other schooling opportunities. Among these were the Government upgrading school in Mpemba, augmented by the Malawi Institute of Management, Women’s Magomero Training Centre, and the Malawi Young Pioneer Leadership Training Bases. There were also agricultural training activities, through links with the Republic of Taiwan.
A major boon to the learning process was the presence of the Malawi Book Service that secured books for learning on the international and local markets, making them easily accessible to learners country wide. Thanks to the Malawi Privatization Programme, the World Bank, and its cousin IMF) the MBS died at the dawn of democratic governance in 1995.
The 2024 tertiary education resolution is a plea for the country to introduce the Malawi Diplomatic Academy (MDA) to be coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MIM, Mpemba Staff Training College, Ministry of Education, and the Human Resource Department. These departments will coordinate who the resource persons are, and provide space for the training of diplomats.
Before moving further into the deep pockets of the MDA, it must be borne in every person’s mind reading this article that every person who goes outside the country, speaks on behalf of Malawi or in a capacity to work with someone who is the representative, IS A DIPLOMAT.
It goes without saying, this fold of the diplomatic corps also envelopes the private sector. Although training for this group will not be as intense or lengthy as the frontline diplomats those people known as ambassadors, first secretaries, and attaches, the brief training in diplomacy is vital because whether sent by the government or a private company, immediately a delegate introduces himself or herself as a Malawian, his or her post as a diplomat is automated. All and anything you do or say will be thrown into the bag labeled “The Malawian delegate Did/Said This or That).
The Academy for diplomacy is self-sustaining and in fact could earn some income for the MOFA and the facilitators. Malawi has been sending diplomats since 1964; while the diplomats from then are not around, the ones that went abroad afterwards are here and can provide helpful facilitations for the MDA. Courses can be from three weeks (persons on the VIP or VVIP entourage), three months, six months, one year, and up to a two-year Masters Course. The MA is for the people that want to secure positions as career diplomats. These in between for various sessions and specializations like trade negotiations, health considerations. Malawians traveling outside the country on behalf of government or private companies or NGOs are all prospective clients of the MDA.
Can all the parliamentary drifters please get into Draft Mode and start drafting such a school into being please?
I am a product of the Banda Administration and his education for national development policy. I soaked in rain, heat and everything in between, listening to the voice of Malawi’s lone Mentor-in-Chief, who also was our President. I once listened to him drone and wax lyrical about Cicero (an Ancient Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer) during one of his Chichewa Public Lectures. I don’t remember anything being said by Kamuzu in Chichewa; everything he said was in English (with Tembo translating in Chichewa). I went to my dormitory at Chancellor College (current University of Malawi), did a little research (three books), wrote a paper for history, and got a distinction.
I told my friends I was going to pay more attention to Kamuzu. Before he was just a dictator who got rid of his challengers (they were not his enemies; they challenged him, THEN they became enemies), made harsh rules, caused me to almost make my children miss the thrill of holding a baby crocodile art Vic Falls (Kamuzu’s “I’ll make you meat for crocodiles” statement on my mind), and other Kamuzu things. When he flew into the past to dig up Chewa, Ngoni, ancient West African, global histories, he always helped me excel in writing my university courses.
Various changes to our tertiary education are mind boggling:
1. Make primary school students learn in their vernacular. NO
2. Bring Malawi Book Service back. YES
3. CHANGE OF Polytechnic to Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. NO because of the acronym MUBAS.
4. Change MUBAS at Malawi Polytechnics and Business University MAPOBU. YES
5. Introduce the MOFA Malawi Diplomatic Academy. YES
Malawi at 60 years of independence and 30 of democratic governance, must leap into the next levels of development. The foundations were laid. If you did not know, now you know!
LONDON, Jan 26 2024 (IPS) – Serbia’s December 2023 elections saw the ruling party retain power – but amid a great deal of controversy.
Civil society has cried foul about irregularities in the parliamentary election, but particularly the municipal election in the capital, Belgrade. In recent times Belgrade has been a hotbed of anti-government protests. That’s one of the reasons it’s suspicious that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came first in the city election.
Allegations are that the SNS had ruling party supporters from outside Belgrade temporarily register as city residents so they could cast votes. On election day, civil society observers documented large-scale movements of people into Belgrade, from regions where municipal elections weren’t being held and from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Civil society documented irregularities at 14 per cent of Belgrade voting stations. Many in civil society believe this made the crucial difference in stopping the opposition winning.
The main opposition coalition, Serbia Against Violence (SPN), which made gains but finished second, has rejected the results. It’s calling for a rerun, with proper safeguards to prevent any repeat of irregularities.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Belgrade to protest about electoral manipulation, rejecting the violation of the most basic principle of democracy – that the people being governed have the right to elect their representatives.
Facts that can’t be ignored: Serbian NGO @CRTArs has just published its latest findings on the election in #Serbia & #Belgrade. According to CRTA, there was an “organised migration of voters”, which had a decisive influence on the close result of the election in Belgrade. https://t.co/a8POlE5VTy
The SNS has held power since 2012. It blends economic neoliberalism with social conservatism and populism, and has presided over declining respect for civic space and media freedoms. In recent years, Serbian environmental activists have been subjected to physical attacks. President Aleksandar Vučić attempted to ban the 2022 EuroPride LGBTQI+ rights march. Journalists have faced public vilification, intimidation and harassment. Far-right nationalist and anti-rights groups have flourished and also target LGBTQI+ people, civil society and journalists.
The SNS has a history of electoral irregularities. The December 2023 vote was a snap election, called just over a year and a half since the previous vote in April 2022, which re-elected Vučić as president. In 2022, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) pointed to an ‘uneven playing field’, characterised by close ties between major media outlets and the government, misuse of public resources, irregularities in campaign financing and pressure on public sector staff to support the SNS.
These same problems were seen in December 2023. Again, the OSCE concluded there’d been systemic SNS advantages. Civil society observers found evidence of vote buying, political pressure on voters, breaches of voting security and pressure on election observers. During the campaign, civil society groups were vilified, opposition officials were subjected to physical and verbal attacks and opposition rallies were prevented.
But the ruling party has denied everything. It’s slurred civil society for calling out irregularities, accusing activists of trying to destabilise Serbia.
Backdrop of protests
The latest vote was called following months of protests against the government. These were sparked by anger at two mass shootings in May 2023 in which 17 people were killed.
The shootings focused attention on the high number of weapons still in circulation after the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia and the growing normalisation of violence, including by the government and its supporters.
Protesters accused state media of promoting violence and called for leadership changes. They also demanded political resignations, including of education minister Branko Ružić, who disgracefully tried to blame the killings on ‘western values’ before being forced to quit. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić blamed foreign intelligence services for fuelling protests. State media poured abuse on protesters.
These might have seemed odd circumstances for the SNS to call elections. But election campaigns have historically played to Vučić’s strengths as a campaigner and give him some powerful levers, with normal government activities on hold and the machinery of the state and associated media at his disposal.
Only this time it seems the SNS didn’t think all its advantages would be quite enough and, in Belgrade at least, upped its electoral manipulation to the point where it became hard to ignore.
East and west
There’s little pressure from Serbia’s partners to both east and west. Its far-right and socially conservative forces are staunchly pro-Russia, drawing on ideas of a greater Slavic identity. Russian connections run deep. In the last census, 85 per cent of people identified themselves as affiliated with the Serbian Orthodox Church, strongly in the sway of its Russian counterpart, in turn closely integrated with Russia’s repressive machinery.
The Serbian government relies on Russian support to prevent international recognition of Kosovo. Russian officials were only too happy to characterise post-election protests as western attempts at unrest, while Prime Minister Brnabić thanked Russian intelligence services for providing information on planned opposition activities.
But states that sit between the EU and Russia are being lured on both sides. Serbia is an EU membership candidate. The EU wants to keep it onside and stop it drifting closer to Russia, so EU states have offered little criticism.
Serbia keeps performing its balancing act, gravitating towards Russia while doing just enough to keep in with the EU. In the 2022 UN resolution on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it voted to condemn Russia’s aggression and suspend it from the Human Rights Council. But it’s resisted calls to impose sanctions on Russia and in 2022 signed a deal with Russia to consult on foreign policy issues.
The European Parliament is at least prepared to voice concerns. In a recent debate, many of its members pointed to irregularities and its observation mission noted problems including media bias, phantom voters and vilification of election observers.
Other EU institutions should acknowledge what happened in Belgrade. They should raise concerns about electoral manipulation and defend democracy in Serbia. To do so, they need to support and work with civil society. An independent and enabled civil society will bring much-needed scrutiny and accountability. This must be non-negotiable for the EU.
