Anti-Biden coalitions plan national convention to find presidential alternatives

the #AbandonBiden movement will partner with the other anti-Biden coalitions to consider “all of the candidates” before making a final endorsement for the November elections. (@Abandonbiden24)
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Updated 08 March 2024
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Anti-Biden coalitions plan national convention to find presidential alternatives

  • Activists seek candidates to run against Biden and Trump in Nov. 5 presidential elections
  • Biden is ‘beyond redemption’ for failure to stop Gaza ‘genocide,’ says #AbandonBiden leader

CHICAGO: Leaders of the #AbandonBiden movement said Thursday they are planning their own convention — in August or September — to find candidates who would run against Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Launched on Oct. 31, 2023, the #AbandonBiden campaign has grown and partnered with coalitions in several states including “Listen to Georgia” and “Listen to Minnesota,” said Farah Khan a co-leader of the #AbandonBiden movement.

Khan said a date for the anti-Biden convention has not yet been set but will be held sometime in August or September after the Democratic and Republican parties conclude their conventions.

She said the #AbandonBiden movement will partner with the other anti-Biden coalitions to consider “all of the candidates” before making a final endorsement for the November elections.

Khan said the movement’s voters will not accept Biden’s “repeated gratuitous promises,” calling them a “desperate effort” to “save his presidency.”

“Biden won Michigan and several other states on the back of Arab and Muslim votes and he turned his back on us. He was deaf to our cries and our concerns. We gave him a deadline of October 31 to stop the genocide and he did not.

“He crossed that red line. Killing our brothers and sisters in Gaza is a red line. He is beyond redemption. He is not coming back. We are not supporting him now and we are not going to support him in November,” Khan told Arab News Thursday evening as Biden delivered his annual State of the Union speech.

“We are done choosing the lesser of the two evils. Why do they, the Democrats, have to bring in bad candidates? Why can’t the Democratic Party be the Democratic Party for all of the people? You take our votes and then you turn a deaf ear to us? And there is no concern for us? They are not listening to us. How can they continue to support the killing of civilians? How does killing civilians align with anyone’s principles?”

Khan rejected Biden’s promises of support for Palestinians in Gaza calling them “empty words” and “desperate efforts” intended to derail the #AbandonBiden movement and shore up his reelection chances.

During his State of the Union speech, Biden condemned the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 and accused the militant organization of hiding behind civilians. Biden said Israel has a “fundamental responsibility to protect civilians in Gaza,” and reaffirmed his commitment to the two-state solution. Biden said the US will build a “temporary pier in the Mediterranean” to facilitate the delivery of “large shipments of aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Khan said that Arab and Muslim voters, and their supporters, will not be moved by “belated promises” to assist Gaza’s displaced civilian population.

“We are very happy with the turnout so far and it keeps growing. More than 100,000 voters voted uncommitted in Michigan. That speaks volumes. And not every voter comes out to vote in the primary elections as they do in the general election. Just imagine that almost 1.5 million Muslims and over 300,000 Muslims with lineage from the Middle East will vote. That is significant,” Khan said of the #AbandonBiden voter turnout over the past two weeks in more than 20 state primary elections.
“We’re not just talking about Arab and Muslim voters. We are also talking about a movement that is growing with support from others who share our opposition to the violence in Gaza. It is not just Arab and Muslim concerns. We’re working with Christian leaders and activists, Jewish leaders and activists.”

Khan added: “If Biden thinks it is just Muslims, he is gravely mistaken. People have woken up. They know what our president is doing. It is shameful for us. We feel he has made us complicit in the genocide because our tax dollars are being used.”

Leaders of the “Listen to Georgia” coalition released voter data from Tuesday’s elections that showed at least 253,000 people voted “uncommitted” or “no preference” in the eight states with an option to do so.

Republican and Democratic voters went to the polls in 16 US states Tuesday to nominate their respective candidates for the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Trump swept 15 of the 16 states in the Republican primaries forcing his last remaining major challenger, Nikki Haley, who edged him out in Vermont, to formally withdraw as a candidate. Biden faced no major rival and won easily in all 16 states.

Although Biden is seen as winning the Democratic Party nomination, Khan and #AbandonBiden leaders said their movement will undermine Biden if he faces-off with Trump “or any other candidate” in the presidential election.

In the Minnesota Democratic presidential primary, over 45,000 voters (20 percent) chose the “uncommitted” option, seen as the results of a last-minute organizing campaign. In North Carolina, over 88,000 people voted “no preference” (13 percent) and over 54,000 (Massachusetts) also selected “no preference,” according to the #AbandonBiden coalition. More than 19 percent of voters in Minnesota cast “uncommitted” votes, they said.

Only some states allow voters to cast an “uncommitted” or “no preference” vote in their election primaries. In other states, the only option is to cast a vote for other minor alternative candidates to Biden or Trump.

But those “uncommitted,” “no preference” or alternative candidate votes will have a direct impact on the expected Biden-Trump contest and could deny Biden the edge he held in 2020, activists argue.

Hassan Abdel Salam, a co-leader with Khan of the #AbandonBiden campaign, called growing opposition to Biden’s Gaza policies “a pivotal moment for the campaign, which has been advocating for voters to remain uncommitted in response to President Biden’s handling of the ongoing crisis in Gaza. The campaign emphasizes the need for leadership that prioritizes a permanent ceasefire and the safeguarding of innocent lives.”

The election nomination process, called primary elections, will continue with Trump and Biden leading the Republican and Democrat primary contests on March 12 in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state, March 19 in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio, and in 21 remaining states through June 4.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties will hold their conventions this summer in Chicago and Milwaukee to formalize their likely nominations of Trump and Biden for the November elections.

Activists of the #AbandonBiden movement have been buoyed by the results of a telephone exit polling of 568 Muslim voters conducted in a March 5 survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The CAIR survey found that 37 percent of Muslim voters prefer a third-party candidate over incumbent Biden (36 percent) or Republican presidential nominee frontrunner Donald Trump (27 percent).

The CAIR survey also showed 72 percent of Muslim Super Tuesday voters reported “disapproving” of Biden’s handling of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza.

Robert S. McCaw, the CAIR’s government affairs director, cited a “notable surge” in the number of registered Muslim-American voters, totaling 2.5 million people.

“This primary season marks the continued rise of American-Muslim voters, who have asserted their presence in our nation’s democratic process and ensured their voices are being heard,” said McCaw. 


‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk

Updated 48 min 44 sec ago
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‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk

  • Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting ‘Elon Musk has got to go’ and ‘No kings on Presidents Day!’
  • One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, ‘Deport Musk Dethrone Trump’

BOSTON: Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures to demonstrate Monday at rallies corresponding with the Presidents Day holiday.
Dubbed “No Kings on Presidents Day” by the 50501 Movement, the latest protests came less than two weeks after a similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both protests denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, an outside-government organization designed to slash federal spending.
Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and “No kings on Presidents Day!” The temperature was below freezing with wind chills in the teens.
Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing from the 1700s, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”
“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”
Organizers of Monday’s protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”
Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.
The rallies followed a series of Trump executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.


What do people want from a leader in a rapidly changing world?

Updated 18 February 2025
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What do people want from a leader in a rapidly changing world?

  • Gallup poll spanning 52 countries reveals “hope” as the top need from leaders, followed closely by “trust”
  • In low-income countries, hope becomes crucial for reducing suffering and giving people a sense of a better future

LONDON: What are leaders for? It sounds like an obvious question, with equally obvious answers.

But a new survey, conducted across 52 countries and territories and accounting for 76 percent of the world’s adult population, has refined those answers down to just four words: hope, trust, compassion and stability.

And of these “four needs of followers,” one emerges head and shoulders above the rest – hope, followed closely by trust.

These were the headline findings of an international survey released by international polling company Gallup at last week’s three-day World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The summit, which has been held annually in the city since 2013, brings together heads of government, officials and thought leaders “to address universal challenges and set the agenda for next-generation governments.”

Topics tackled at this year’s summit included the impact of artificial intelligence and how governments can maintain the trust of their citizens in the face of the maelstrom of misinformation and conspiracy theorizing generated in this digital age.

The World Governments Summit in Dubai, which has been held annually since 2013, brings together heads of government, officials and thought leaders “to address universal challenges and set the agenda for next-generation governments.” (AFP)

And trust and hope, the survey found, are what people want most from their leaders, whether in government or at the head of the companies for which they work.

“Today’s leaders face profound and complex challenges, such as climate change, conflict and artificial intelligence, and must make decisions that affect the lives of their followers,” said Jon Clifton, Gallup’s CEO, who spoke at the launch of the report at the summit on Feb. 11.

“In this changing world, it is crucial for leaders to understand the reasons people follow them.”

To better understand how people around the world perceive leaders and their impact, Gallup first asked participants to name a leader who has had the most positive influence on their daily lives. They then asked them to list three words describing what that leader contributes to their lives.

The survey found that “hope is the primary need of followers around the world” — a finding that would have come as no surprise to the 19th-century French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who defined a leader as “a dealer in hope.”

When asked to list three words that best describe what leaders contribute to their lives, 56 percent said “Hope,” followed by 33 percent who named “Trust.”

It is, said Clifton, essential for leaders to recognize that “hope is a powerful motivator. It stands out as the dominant need across followers, with 56 percent of all attributes tied to positive leaders grouping into this theme — particularly the attributes of inspiration, vision and personal integrity.

The Gallup survey found that “hope is the primary need of followers around the world.” (Getty Images)

“Hope gives followers something better to look forward to, enabling them to navigate challenges and work toward a brighter future. Without hope, people can disengage, lose confidence and become less resilient.”

The survey found that hope is the primary need across all 52 countries surveyed, ranging from just over four in 10 people in Bulgaria, Jordan and Lebanon to at least two in three in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Egypt.

In fact, hope as a need fulfilled by leaders was above the global average of 56 percent in Egypt (72 percent), Saudi Arabia (66 percent), the UAE (64 percent). By contrast, hope was found most wanting in Palestine (49 percent), Jordan (44 percent) and Lebanon (41 percent).

And the survey makes clear that, while government leaders obviously play a significant role in the lives of their citizens, other types of leaders understandably have a more direct, day-to-day impact on people’s lives and happiness.

Overall, asked what leader had the most positive influence on their lives, an overwhelming and perhaps unsurprising majority of those surveyed (57 percent) named a family leader.

Next, with 11 percent, came work managers, followed by political and religious leaders, both named by 7 percent of respondents.

Celebrities, the survey reveals, are rarely considered to exert the most positive influence in people’s daily lives — just 2 percent of adults name a celebrity.

Which type of leader has the most positive influence varies enormously from country to country – for example, workplace leadership is important to 70 percent of people in China and 52 percent in the UAE, while political leadership is cited by 38 percent in Tanzania (the highest rating), 33 percent in Israel and 22 percent in Turkiye.

While Gallup’s research into followers’ needs offers valuable insight, the answer to what makes a good leader lies in a holistic understanding of themselves, their role, and the needs of their followers. Without first understanding what followers expect and need, a leader’s ability to lead successfully is in question.

“Great leadership is defined not by authority alone, but by how much the people who follow leaders trust and support them,” said Gallup’s Jon Clifton.

“The best leaders — of countries, organizations or other groups — keep their followers in mind when making decisions, because without them, even the most capable leader lacks true influence.”

IN NUMBERS

  • 60% of survey respondents say they look for hope in political leaders.
  • 54% look for it in family members.
  • 59% in religious leaders.
  • 59% in managers.

The survey also found a direct connection between wellbeing and life satisfaction and the extent to which the basic expectations of leadership — hope, trust, compassion and stability — are met.

Gallup measures life satisfaction by asking respondents to imagine a ladder with ten rungs, with the lowest rung representing the worst possible life and the highest the best.

Those who rated their current life a “7” or higher and their anticipated life in five years an “8” or higher are categorized as thriving. Those on “4” or lower are considered to be suffering.

By this metric the survey reveals a subtle but significant association between hope and life satisfaction. Among those who do not associate hope with the leader they mention, only 33 percent are classed as thriving and 9 percent as suffering, whereas thriving rises to 38 percent and suffering dips to 6 percent among those for whom the need for hope is met.

Although suffering is relatively rare, the survey results show it decreases as more needs are met. This is especially important in low-income countries, where higher levels of suffering make hope for a better future crucial in reducing pain.

While Gallup’s research into followers’ needs offers valuable insight, the answer to what makes a good leader lies in a holistic understanding of themselves, their role, and the needs of their followers. (Pexels)

Trust is the second most important need identified by the survey (33 percent), and this has “an additive role” when combined with hope and either stability or compassion, in which case rates of thriving increase to 43 percent and 39 percent respectively.

Followers need to trust that their leaders will keep their word and act with integrity, Gallup explains. “Trust is the foundation of human relationships,” enabling people to collaborate toward shared goals more effectively.

Gallup says its research into the needs of followers “offers a blueprint for current and future leaders.”

“As we navigate an era marked by rapid technological advancements and global interconnectedness, the ability to pivot and respond to new challenges is more important than ever,” said CEO Clifton.

“Leaders who keep the four needs of followers at the forefront when making decisions will likely be most destined to make a positive impact on the world.”

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup. (Supplied)

Gallup highlights that leaders “must ultimately know three things to succeed” — they must understand the needs of their followers and fulfil the four needs of hope, trust, compassion and stability; they must know themselves, and lead with their strengths; and “the most successful leaders also have a deep understanding of the demands of their specific role and the expectations attached to it.”

However, Gallup leaders cannot meet their followers’ needs without first knowing themselves, Gallup highlights. Effective leaders develop their innate strengths, refining natural talents through knowledge and skill to unlock unique leadership approaches and maximize their impact.

The best leaders, the report concludes, “achieve success — despite varied roles, organizations and industries — by bringing multiple teams together and making great decisions, driving the purpose and performance of their organization.

“The more leaders can provide their followers with hope, trust, compassion and stability by leaning on their unique strengths and applying them to the specifics of their role, the more successful they will be.”

 


US wants to please Putin, says Ukraine’s Zelensky

Updated 17 February 2025
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US wants to please Putin, says Ukraine’s Zelensky

  • US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine

BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Monday that the United States was trying to “please” Moscow in talks on Ukraine and warned of Europe’s military “weakness.”
Reacting to conciliatory comments toward Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: “The US is now saying things that are very favorable to Putin... because they want to please him.”
“They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want — ‘just a ceasefire’ — is not a win,” Zelensky said, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded Saturday in Munich.
US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
US defense chief Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking the territory lost since 2014.
On the contours of any future deal, Zelensky said “we will not sign just anything in order to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory that Russia has seized, saying: “We will reclaim it all.”
As European leaders held crisis talks in Paris on the way forward, ARD broadcast the interview which Zelensky recorded during the three-day Munich Security Conference that ended on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president warned that Europe was in a weak position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella.
While “readiness has increased” in recent years, “in terms of troop strength, the number of combat troops, the fleet, the air force, the drones... I honestly think that Europe is weak today,” he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine had grown more resilient over the past three years and that “Putin wouldn’t be able to occupy us the way he wanted to.”
Even so, he warned that “there will definitely not be a Ukrainian victory without US support.”
Zelensky said he and Trump had spoken about deploying foreign troops to police a future ceasefire.
“I told him the Americans should be a part of this, because otherwise we might lose our unity,” he said.
At a meeting of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels last week, Hegseth flatly rejected the possibility of a US troop deployment to Ukraine.
When asked whether he would give up the presidency if necessary for an agreement, Zelensky said that “for peace I am prepared to do anything.”
“If tomorrow Ukraine were accepted into the EU and NATO, if Russian troops were to withdraw and we got security guarantees, I wouldn’t be needed anymore,” he said.
 

 


End of the road for Kolkata’s beloved yellow taxis

Updated 17 February 2025
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End of the road for Kolkata’s beloved yellow taxis

KOLKATA: Kolkata locals cherish their city’s past, which is why many in the one-time Indian capital are mourning a vanishing emblem of its faded grandeur: a hulking and noisy fleet of stately yellow taxis.

The snub-nosed Hindustan Ambassador, first rolling off the assembly line in the 1950s with a design that barely changed in the decades since, once ruled India’s potholed streets.

Nowadays it is rarely spotted outside Kolkata, where it serves as the backbone of the metropolitan cab fleet and a readily recognizable symbol of the eastern city’s identity.

But numbers are dwindling fast, and a court ruling means those that remain — lumbering but still sturdy — will be forced off the roads entirely in the next three years.

“I love my car like my son,” Kailash Sahani, who has sat behind the wheel of an Ambassador cab for the past four decades, told AFP.

“It’s a simple car — no electronics, no frills,” the 70-year-old added. “It’s unbelievable how much things have changed ... The end of these taxi cars also marks our end.”

Sahani is among thousands of Kolkata cabbies relinquishing their vehicles in line with tough emissions standards introduced in 2009 to ease the city’s endemic smog problem.

Only around 2,500 Ambassador taxis were still working at the start of this year, down from 7,000 a year earlier, according to Bengal Taxi Association figures.

Another 1,000 will be retired this year, and West Bengal state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty told AFP that the remainder will be gone by the end of 2027.

“The car is strong. Parts and maintenance are cheap and if it breaks down, it’s easy to find a mechanic,” said Bengal Taxi Association spokesman Sanjeeb Roy.

Their disappearance, he added, “represents all that’s wrong with India’s changing economy.” 

The Hindustan Ambassador was the cornerstone of India’s automotive industry for decades from its 1957 debut at a factory on Kolkata’s northern outskirts. Modeled on a similarly regal sedan car from Britain’s now long-defunct Morris Motors, the car was a triumphant achievement of industry in the first years of India’s history as an independent nation.


Detained Ugandan opposition veteran briefly hospitalized

Updated 17 February 2025
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Detained Ugandan opposition veteran briefly hospitalized

  • Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of President Yoweri Museveni — in power for nearly 40 years — whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections

NAIROBI: Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye was briefly hospitalized after his health deteriorated following a hunger strike but was back in prison on Monday, his lawyer said.

Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of President Yoweri Museveni — in power for nearly 40 years — whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections.

He was abducted in Kenya in November and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial that his wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, has called a “sham.”

Besigye’s lawyer Erias Lukwago said he “was brought under heavy security deployment to a private medical facility in Bugolobi (Kampala) last night and taken back to Luzira prison.”

Besigye was last seen in public on Friday during a court appearance where he appeared frail — a day after Lukwago said he was “critically ill.”

Lukwago and opposition lawmaker Francis Twijukye said they were unclear about his current situation as they have “limited access to him.”

His wife said on Sunday she was “very worried” about Besigye’s health.

On trial for “threatening national security,” Besigye went on hunger strike on Feb. 10 to protest his detention.