title: Joe Pichler

text: According to the Associated Press, Pichler's family stated that a note found within the car expressed a wish to be a "stronger brother" and asked that personal effects of Pichler's be given to a younger brother, but the family did not characterize this finding as a suicide note. Robbie Davis, the lead detective on the case, told the Associated Press that "There's a good indication that it might have been a suicide, but we don’t know that," adding that there was no reason to suspect foul play. His body has never been found.


title: Banditry

text: Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an individual or in groups. Banditry is a vague concept of criminality and in modern usage can be synonymous for gangsterism, brigandage, marauding, and thievery.


title: Banditry

text: The term "bandit" (introduced to English via Italian around 1590) originates with the early Germanic legal practice of outlawing criminals, termed "*bannan" (English ban). The legal term in the Holy Roman Empire was "Acht" or "Reichsacht", translated as "Imperial ban". In modern Italian, the equivalent word "bandito" literally means banned or a banned person.


title: Banditry

text: The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED) defined "bandit" in 1885 as "one who is proscribed or outlawed; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand: usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest the mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, Iran, and Turkey".


title: Banditry

text: In modern usage the word has become a synonym for "thief", hence the term "one-armed bandit" for gambling machines that can leave the gambler with no money.


title: Banditry

text: "Social banditry" is a term invented by the historian Eric Hobsbawm in his 1959 book "Primitive Rebels", a study of popular forms of resistance that also incorporate behaviour characterized as illegal. He further expanded the field in the 1969 study "Bandits". Social banditry is a widespread phenomenon that has occurred in many societies throughout recorded history, and forms of social banditry still exist, as evidenced by piracy and organized crime syndicates. Later social scientists have also discussed the term's applicability to more modern forms of crime, like street gangs and the economy associated with the trade in illegal drugs.


title: Banditry

text: About 5,000 bandits were executed by Pope Sixtus V in the five years before his death in 1590, but there were reputedly 27,000 more at liberty throughout Central Italy.


title: Banditry

text: In Nazi Germany, the doctrine of Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit fighting") meant that opponents of the Nazi party were portrayed as "bandits"—dangerous criminals who did not deserve any consideration as human beings. Any opposition was suppressed with maximum force and, usually, the mass murder of civilians living in partisan-controlled areas.


title: Banditry

text: Banditry (Dao, qiangdao) in Ming China (1368–1644) was defined by the Ming government as “‘robbery by force’ punishable by death.” But throughout the dynasty, people had entered into the occupation of banditry for various reasons and the occupation of banditry was fluid and temporary.


title: Banditry

text: Ming China was largely an agricultural society and contemporary observers remarked that famine and subsequent hardship often gave rise to banditry. In his 1991 book "Disorder under Heaven: Collective Violence in the Ming Dynasty", James W. Tong uses data from provincial and prefectural gazetteers of the Ming and the Qing Dynasties to analyze patterns of violence during the Ming Dynasty. Tong analyzes that the peasants had to make a "rational choice" between surviving harsh conditions and surviving through illegal activities of banditry. He identifies multiple important factors in peasants' calculation of whether to become bandits or not, such as the government's ability to punish bandits. Tong concludes that his "rational choice model predicts that there would be more rebellions and banditry where the likelihood of surviving hardship is minimal but the likelihood of surviving as an outlaw is maximal." As a result, Tong finds that banditry, like other types of collective violence, had a spatial and temporal pattern. Banditry was especially pervasive in the southern provinces (most notably Guangdong and Fujian) and the second half of the dynasty (1506-1644).


title: Banditry

text: However, the Northern China and the middle Ming period (1450–1525) had their fair share of banditry. Mounted banditry was the major and pervasive type of banditry plaguing roads around the capital Beijing and its surrounding areas, administrated and named as the Capital Region. Xiangmazei (whistling arrow bandits) was a category of mounted bandits named after their practice of firing whistling arrows to alert their victims. Whistling arrow bandits had troubled the Capital Region throughout the first three decades of the sixteenth century. They had posed such serious threat that special police attention was given to them and failure to arrest them on time incurred severer punishment (further information on Ming justice system can be found in History of criminal justice).


title: Banditry

text: Ming historian David M. Robinson identifies some prominent causes of banditry in the Capital Region. The Region was agriculturally disadvantaged due to constant flood, and thus the peasants often lived in poverty. Furthermore, the Region's economy provided plentiful opportunities for highway robbery. In addition to the highly developed economy of Beijing, the Region also contained numerous commercial cities; these cities not only attracted merchants but also bandits. Robinson also points out that many eunuchs in Beijing resorted to banditry. As Shih-Shan Henry Tsai explained, self-castration was just another way to escape impoverishment; and when a group of eunuchs failed to find employment in the palace, they often turned to mob violence.


title: Banditry

text: The Capital Region also housed a huge number of soldiers with Ming's system of hereditary military and a major portion of bandits were actually soldiers stationed in the region. In 1449, Mongolian soldiers in the service of Ming attacked and plundered Beijing area. Another report of 1489 attested that soldiers had raided in Henan province. Robinson points out that "dire economic straits" forced soldiers to use illegal means to make a living. Also, policies and conditions in the Capital Region provided opportunities for soldiers/bandits to dodge governmental punishment. During the Ming Dynasty, military and civil jurisdictions were separated. This was especially troubling when soldiers lived physically far from their superiors: when soldiers committed robbery, civil officials had no jurisdiction nor power to apprehend them. Policy of transporting nearby garrisons to Beijing for annual training also created opportunities for banditry. One official reported that soldiers travelling by the Grand Canal from adjacent garrisons to the capital committed robbery and murder against civilian travelers and merchants; on the land, these soldiers had fallen into mounted banditry as well.


title: Banditry

text: Bandits’ technique involved the martial skills to use various weapons, ranging from bows and arrows to swords. Another important skill was horsemanship, especially in the Northern Capital Region, where mounted banditry concentrated. As shown above, a large number of bandits were actually garrison soldiers and had access to and able usage of weapons and armors. Another skill was the ability to deploy road blocks to stop and prey on travelers.


title: Banditry

text: Once they forcefully acquired goods and commodities, bandits had to sell them. One 1485 official report revealed that local people, some probably working as fences (see Fences in Ming China), purchased stolen animals and goods from highway bandits at lower prices. Robinson further points out that "[a] widespread network to dispose of the stolen livestock linked" towns in the Capital Region to nearby provinces.


title: Banditry

text: The career nor the identity of a bandit was permanent. Some bandits actually had a settled life and were even married. "Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty" relates that the great bandit Zhang Mao lived in a big mansion in his hometown Wenan. Similarly, Zhang's comrades Liu Brothers and Tiger Yang had wives and children.


title: Banditry

text: Bandits often operated in groups under one or more leaders. These charismatic leaders were not only skilled in fighting and riding but also possessed material and social capital. One exemplary leader was Zhang Mao of Wenan. He had assembled a massive following and by using his connection and wealth, he managed to bribe and befriend important eunuchs in the court.


title: Banditry

text: Of course, the Ming government used a heavy hand to crack down on banditry. Local commanders and constables were responsible for apprehending bandits, but the emperors often dispatched special censors to cope with rampant banditry. Ning Gao was one of the censors of 1509, and he employed gruesome means such as display of severed heads and body parts to kill off existing bandits and to intimidate potential ones. Other than escaping to difficult terrains, powerful bandits used their connections with high-standing figures in the capital to negotiate safety. In one occasion, the influential eunuch Zhang Zhong helped his sworn brother Zhang Mao to negotiate with a commander sent to hunt down local bandits. However, such patronage did not guarantee immunity. An effective and determined official, empowered by influential superiors or eunuchs, could pose a severe threat to bandits’ survival. Through a well-planned raid, Ning Gao, a client of another powerful eunuch Liu Jin, successfully wounded and captured Zhang Mao, who was then transported to Beijing and executed.


title: Banditry

text: Even though bandits were subject to capital punishment, they could still be incorporated into the regime, serving as local police forces and personal soldiers employed by officials to secure order and suppress bandits. Such transition was not permanent and could often be reversed. Tiger Yang once served as a personal military retainer of the aforementioned Ning Gao before turning to banditry; similarly, when facing unemployment, some of Ning's former "bandit catchers" simply joined the bandit leaders Liu Brothers.


title: Banditry

text: The career of banditry often led leaders to assemble more bandits and army deserters and organize predatory gangs into active rebel groups. One example was Gao Yingxiang, who started as a mounted bandit in Shaanxi and later became an important rebel leader in late Ming. Another example would be Deng Maoqi, a bandit in Fujian who perpetrated robbery on roads and in villages in the late 1440s. His gang of bandits eventually grew into a rebel army and Deng conducted attacks on the government in Fujian. Bandit-rebels were not only common in late Ming. In 1510 and 1511, several bandit gangs under the leadership of Liu Brothers, Tiger Yang raided and plundered Shandong and Henan. Their illegal actions eventually evolved into open rebellion against the Ming Dynasty as they blatantly besieged cities, seized imperial weaponry, extended area of operation southward, and even assumed rhetoric and attire of an imperial dynasty. The rebellion took the Ming almost two years to crush.


title: Banditry

text: Similarly, small groups of local bandits could also end up joining larger groups of rebels. Robinson points out that bandits obviously perceived the benefits of supporting rebel cause but they also could be repelled to join; as a result, the 1510s rebels attracted a lot of local bandits and outlaws as they moved from one place to another.


title: Banditry

text: Marauding was one of the most common peasant reactions to oppression and hardship. In early Republican China, the growth of warlord armies during the Warlord era was also accompanied by a dramatic increase in bandit activity exploiting the lawlessness. By 1930, the total bandit population was estimated to be 20 million.


title: Prey 2

text: Prey 2 was a cancelled first-person shooter video game to be published by Bethesda Softworks and planned as a sequel to the 2006 video game "Prey".


title: Prey 2

text: Though "Prey 2" was announced by 3D Realms in 2006, a few months after release of the first game, development work at Human Head Studios did not begin in earnest until 2009, after the rights for "Prey" had transferred from 3D Realms ultimately to ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda. Bethesda formally announced their title in early 2011, which revealed a change of the player's main character and of gameplay to a more open world game. Human Head quietly ceased development on the game in late 2011 for unstated reasons despite having progressed to a near alpha release state. Subsequently, several industrial rumors circulated that "Prey 2" had been cancelled or changed developers, including evidence that Arkane Studios had taken over development. Bethesda formally cancelled the game in 2014, stating it was not meeting their expectations. Later in 2016, Bethesda announced that a reboot of the franchise, "Prey", was set for release in 2017 and was under development by Arkane, who had taken the concepts and thematic elements of "Prey" but scrapped any previous work that had been done by Human Head.


title: Prey 2

text: The story of "Prey 2" had been narratively tied to the first game. In "Prey", an alien spacecraft called the Sphere appears over the southwestern portion of the United States and starts abducting humans and other objects as part of its cycle to sustain its resource supply and its organic crew. One of those abducted is Domasi "Tommy" Tawodi who, in part due his spirit guide from his Native American background, is able to navigate the Sphere, defeat hostile alien forces, and succeed in freeing captive humans and other lifeforms from the intelligence that controls it, before returning to earth.


title: Prey 2

text: "Prey 2" was to focus on U.S. Marshal Killian Samuels, who starts the game on a passenger flight which suddenly crashes onto the Sphere, shown during the events of "Prey". At the end of a short battle with some aliens he is knocked unconscious, after which the plot jumps forward several years. Samuels is now a bounty hunter on the alien world Exodus. Though he is aware of his profession and has retained his skills, he has no memory of what happened in the time that passed since his abduction. He initially believes himself to be the only human on Exodus until he runs into Tommy, whom he has apparently met in the period he no longer remembers. Killian then resumes his bounty hunter activities while recovering his memory. Some of the game's audio logs, published by the Museum of Play, suggested that Tommy and Killian team up to fight common foes, some which are enemies that Tommy had made from within the first "Prey".


title: Prey 2

text: The first "Prey" game was released in July 2006; it had been developed by Human Head Studios, under contract with 3D Realms, and published by 2K Games. The game was considered successful; it had received Metacritic aggregate scores of 83 and 79 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows versions, respectively, and by October 2006, over one million units had been sold according to 3D Realms' Scott Miller. Miller announced as early as August 2006 that development on a sequel, "Prey 2", had started.


title: Prey 2

text: In June 2007, Miller co-founded a brand-management organization Radar Group, which was designed to help fledgling development studios bring their games to publishers and distributors. "Prey 2" was one of three titles that Radar Group announced it was backing in March 2008, along with "Earth No More" and "Incarnate". At this point, "Prey 2" was described to be a narrative sequel to "Prey". In the game, Tommy abandons Earth as he is accused of the disappearance of his family and his girlfriend. At this point in development, "Prey 2" would have continued to be a first-person shooter using the portal/gravity-based gameplay as from the original game.


title: Prey 2

text: During 2009, the rights to the "Prey" trademark changed hands; in June, 3D Realms transferred the trademark to Radar Group, who subsequently transferred it to ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, by July. "GameSpot" noted that these events occurred shortly after ZeniMax's acquisition of id Software in June 2009. That September, ZeniMax filed several additional trademark applications for the "Prey" name associated with video games, including clothing and merchandise.


title: Prey 2

text: According to Human Head's associate producer Matt Bisenius, all the previous work on the game up to its acquisition by ZeniMax/Bethesda was "bouncing ideas around" rather than any detailed development, believing 3D Realms/Radar Group had announced this sequel too early. As they started more in-depth planning and development for the game, the team came to an idea of a bounty hunter, and decided to take the core ideas from "Prey" while providing a game with more activities for the player do, partially inspired by the then-recent release of "Red Dead Redemption". Bisenius noted that "We didn't look at "Prey 1" and pick out mistakes as much as look at it and pick out the core themes of "Prey"."


title: Prey 2

text: Bethesda re-announced "Prey 2" in March 2011 for a planned 2012 release. Human Head Studios would continue to be the developer of this game. The announced game had several major changes from what had been described before while it was under development at 3D Realms/Radar Group, including the game in gameplay style as an open world game, and the shift of narrative from Tommy to Killian. Though the team had access to the newer id Tech 5 engine, they had been working since 2009 on a modified id Tech 4 engine that they opted to retain that engine. Project lead Chris Rhinehart said ""Prey 2" will provide gamers the opportunity to explore a new facet of the "Prey" universe, one that offers fast-paced action in an open, alien world. We're excited to show gamers the title we have been working on and hope they will be as excited by this title as we are." According to Pete Hines, the vice president of public relations and marketing at Bethesda, the current version of the game is what the developers wanted to make and not what has been announced before by the Radar Group. Human Head shared footage of their version of "Prey 2" with the Strong National Museum of Play in March 2018.


title: Prey 2

text: For unstated reasons, Human Head had quietly stopped development of "Prey 2" near the end of 2011, after having spent about two years of development on the title. Rhinehart said that at this point, "It was very close to an alpha state, with all major content pieces represented," and that they were at the point where they as developer would start working more closely with the publisher to determine what elements to keep or trim to progress further. Norm Nazaroff of Human Head believed they had added much more content and technical innovations to the title, as to make it "one of the best looking games of the [then-current] console generation". Another Human Head employee, Jason Blair, who had worked on narrative elements for "Prey 2", said that reasons for ending development were "political" and "petty".


title: Prey 2

text: Issues regarding the development were not reported to the public at large, and due to a lack of direct information from either Bethesda or Human Head, many considered "Prey 2" to have entered development hell and creating speculation at its fate. In March 2012, rumors of "Prey 2"s cancellation began to circle; neither ZeniMax or Bethesda commented on this rumor. Instead, in the following month, they stated the game would be delayed, and fail to make the 2012 release, though no new release window was given. Bethesda stated "the game's development [had] not progressed satisfactorily", and "the game [did] not currently meet [their] quality standards". Further concerns were raised when Bethesda removed "Prey 2" from their website in August 2012, stating to "Eurogamer" that for the present they need to focus the site on upcoming titles.


title: Prey 2

text: "Kotaku" reported in May 2013 that development of "Prey 2" had moved to the Austin, Texas division of Arkane Studios, who at the time were completing their work on "Dishonored". "Kotaku"s report claimed that because of the rumored split between Human Head and Bethesda, Bethesda had been "shopping around" for a developer to pick up the title. Among those that had been rumored to be considered included Obsidian Entertainment, who were said to have worked on the title for a few months, and Rebellion Developments, who refused the offer. From this report, additional rumors surfaced including that the work that Human Head had completed by this point was only for a demonstration version and far from a completed game, a claim denied by Human Head developers. Arkane, Bethesda or ZeniMax did not comment on this information at this time, but Hines denied rumors of Arkane's involvement in early August 2013. However, a week after this, several internal emails from Arkane revealed that they had been approved to work on "Prey 2", which they wanted to mold as a spiritual successor to "System Shock". To this end, Arkane scrapped all of the previous work by Human Head for their vision of the game. Neither Arkane or Bethesda have commented on these reports.


title: Prey 2

text: Reasoning on Human Head's departure from the project by 2011 are not fully known, though "IGN", based on reports from those involved with Bethesda and Human Head, stated in 2013 that a rift had developed between the companies. As claimed by "IGN", Bethesda had been pleased by progress up through the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 showing in June, and agreed to give Human Head an additional six months or more on the project to complete the game and still make the planned 2012 release; however, this extension was not written into their contract. As Bethesda had expressed interest in buying out Human Head, one of the few studios capable of working atop the id Tech engines, the publisher started "to play hardball" with Human Head. Bethesda pushed harder on milestones and requesting additional features for "Prey 2" that would normally have been given appropriate time and monetized in payment to Human Head in the extension contract language if it were in writing. As Human Head was contractually only allowed to work on "Prey 2", they had to quietly support other games like "BioShock Infinite" and "Defiance" as to pay their mounting bills. At this point, around November 2011, Bethesda pushed on its offer to buy the studio, but Human Head denied the offer, and they stopped work on "Prey 2", which they considered like a strike. Though the companies attempted some negotiations, no progress was made, and once Human Head's contract with Bethesda ran out in 2012, "Prey 2" fell back into Bethesda's hands while Human Head proceeded onto other projects. In a 2016 interview, Bethesda's Hines denied the rumors that Bethesda wanted to acquire Human Head at that point, stating that they work well with third-party developers. Hines further expressed that it would be "nonsense" for the idea that they invested millions into "Prey 2" only to stop the game without recouping their expenses for arbitrary reasons, and affirmed that "the game didn’t turn out like we wanted. It didn't work, and it didn't happen."


title: Prey 2

text: In October 2014, during PAX Australia, Bethesda officially cancelled "Prey 2". Hines stated, "It was a game we believed in, but we never felt that it got to where it needed to be –– we never saw a path to success if we finished it. It wasn't up to our quality standard, and we decided to cancel it. It’s no longer in development. That wasn't an easy decision, but it’s one that won’t surprise many folks given that we hadn't been talking about it. Human Head Studios is no longer working on it. It's a franchise we still believe we can do something with — we just need to see what that something is." Tim Gerritsen, business development director at Human Head Studios, said, "While we are disappointed that we won’t be able to deliver our vision of the game, we remain proud of our work on the franchise, which we feel speaks for itself, including the award-winning presentation of the game at E3 2011. We enjoyed working with the many talented people at Bethesda, and we wish them all the best of luck with any future plans they may have for the franchise."


title: Prey 2

text: Bethesda announced at their press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 in June that they would be publishing a reboot of "Prey", also titled "Prey" to be developed by Arkane Studios. This game will not use any of the materials developed for "Prey 2", outside of the IP and the franchise concepts. Arkane Studios CEO and director Raphaël Colantonio said that at the time of completing "Dishonored", they sought to do a second project alongside "Dishonored 2", one that was "in first-person, with depth and simulation and narration", and that they opted to use the "Prey" narrative as it matched these thematic concepts well, but otherwise greatly different in gameplay. Hines added that when considering the core concept of the original 2006 "Prey" was about aliens chasing after the player-character, they felt the name worked well for the game that Arkane had pitched, and claimed they did not have to be beholden to retaining anything else about the original game. This gave Arkane's team the freedom to complete their game without considering the franchise's past history.


title: Prey 2

text: In addition to reporting on the "Prey" property being transferred to Arkane in May 2015, the website "Kotaku" had some other incidents in which they had reported on projects from Bethesda through inside information well before they were to be announced publicly. As a result, Bethesda indefinitely blacklisted "Kotaku" in October 2015, denying the site any pre-release review copies or access to their spokesmen or developers at game conference events or via interview. The 2017 "Prey" game includes an achievement "Press Sneak", based on reading all the emails within computer terminals in the game, based on this incident.


title: Prey 2

text: The team would come full circle after the 2019 closure of Human Head Studios shortly after the release of "Rune II" with most of the staff moving on to Bethesda-managed Roundhouse Studios.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Sanjaya Joseph Malakar (born September 10, 1989) is an American singer, who was a finalist on the sixth season of "American Idol". He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon Cowell, as well as through Howard Stern, who asked his listeners to vote to keep Sanjaya on the show.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: After "Idol", Malakar made many television guest appearances and has been commonly parodied in popular culture. He placed fifth in second season of the reality television show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!".


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar was born in Seattle, Washington the son of Vasudeva Malakar, a Bengali Indian immigrant born in Vrindavan, India and Jillian (Recchi) Blyth, an American of Italian descent on one side and Dutch, English, and Irish ancestry on the other. He later lived in the nearby suburb of Federal Way. His parents filed for divorce when he was three years old and they had already been separated for a year. He and his mother and siblings then lived on welfare in a Seattle apartment. . His mother remarried, but his stepfather died soon afterwards. Although Malakar spent the majority of his formative years in the Seattle area, he has also lived in both California and Kauai, Hawaii, where he performed with the Hawaii Children's Theater group. While in Seattle, he spent three years with the Total Experience Gospel Choir.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar attended Martha Lake Elementary School in Lynnwood, Washington for elementary school, and the Seattle Waldorf School and Northshore Junior High School for middle school in Bothell, Washington. He attended Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington during freshman year, and Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Washington during sophomore year. After his sophomore year, Malakar passed the General Educational Development test, in order to leave high school early and focus on a music career and on his participation in "American Idol".


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On September 19, 2006, Malakar, a shy teen, entered the open audition for "American Idol" at the Seattle Center in Seattle, with his sister Shyamali. Simon Cowell commented that Sanjaya had a better voice than his sister. Both were advanced to the Hollywood round by the judges. Malakar cited Stevie Wonder as his idol, and sang one of Wonder's signature songs, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" at his Seattle audition.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: For his next performance, in Hollywood, Malakar sang "Some Kind of Wonderful". He was shown tearfully embracing his sister when she was cut, though he progressed to the Top 40. Next, Malakar sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". The judges were largely critical of his performance, though Simon Cowell admitted that Malakar is popular with the voters while Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul gave a more positive appraisal of his "You Really Got Me" performance in the Top 11. A 13-year-old girl named Ashley Ferl was highlighted repeatedly during Malakar's performance in the Top 11 episode, crying tears of joy, although Ferl also cried for Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks, and many other contestants.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On March 27, 2007, Malakar sang No Doubt's "Bathwater" wearing a fauxhawk made from multiple ponytails. The style was called the "ponyhawk" by host Ryan Seacrest. While singing, Malakar hesitated with some of the words to the song. Simon Cowell remarked, "Sanjaya, I don't think it matters anymore what we say ... I think you are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck." The following night, host Seacrest walked out on stage wearing a wig with the same hairstyle, parodying Malakar.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On April 3, Malakar sang "Cheek to Cheek", wearing a white suit, donning a slick hairstyle (with a recent cut), and dancing with judge Paula Abdul. Abdul commented, "I get it. I get why people love you. You are charming." On the following April 4 results show, it was revealed that Malakar had finished in the "middle three," among nine contestants.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar's performance of "Bésame Mucho" in the Top 8 on April 10 was his first unanimously well-received performance by the judges in the finals of the competition. During rehearsals Jennifer Lopez remarked, "I like this kid. I love Sanjaya!" after hearing him sing in Spanish, the only one of the remaining eight contestants to do so on the Latin-theme night. Randy Jackson commented, "You're one of the smartest contestants I've ever met. That was actually really good. It was," while Simon Cowell offered the halting, "I'm going to hate myself for this. It wasn't horrible." Malakar continued on, entering the Top 7, following that performance on the April 11 results show.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: After performing "Something to Talk About" on the previous night, Malakar was placed in the bottom three and was subsequently eliminated in 7th place on April 18, 2007. Singing his farewell performance, after the line "let's give them something to talk about", he ad libbed "other than hair" in place of "how about love".


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: "American Idol"'s ratings dropped 9% in the episode following Malakar's elimination, which was "Idol Gives Back", a charity episode featuring many celebrity guests. The music news website Moldolva.org reported that this was due to Malakar's departure.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On the May 23 "American Idol" finale, he performed with the top six males, introduced Smokey Robinson in the medley. Malakar performed "You Really Got Me" with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry on guitar.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar was the season's most talked about "American Idol" contestant, based on articles and searches conducted on the Internet. One "American Idol" fan on MySpace claimed to be on a hunger strike until Malakar was voted off; she later admitted that she was canceling her strike, after his stay was longer than expected. In her YouTube video, an advertisement for a dating site was prominently displayed, causing speculation her hunger strike was really for profit. Other members of the MySpace online community created a page entitled Team Sanjaya in support for him. However, members of the online community have contributed semi-fictional web sites, appearing to portray Malakar in a more satirical but supportive way. Websites parodying Malakar's success had also appeared.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: An official fansite for Malakar was created with approval of and contributions by the entertainer and his mother Jillian Blyth, and archives include in-person reports for each 2007 American Idol Concert Tour event.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Simon Cowell told "Extra" that had Malakar won, he would not have returned as a judge to the show, even though he was contractually obligated to return. The show's executive producer predicted that Malakar would not win. Some commentators have remarked that the judges seemed to have stopped giving thoughtful critiques of Malakar's performances. The judges seemed stunned by his large following of voters. Randy Jackson went as far to remark that "I cannot even say anything on the vocals anymore", in his critique of Malakar after his performance during the top nine. Chris Ayres of "The Times" speculated that it would have been a turning point leading toward decline and eventual cancellation for "American Idol" if Malakar had won. Others, however, believe that the franchise benefited from the publicity, which was more popular than previous seasons of "Idol". On the April 17 broadcast of "American Idol", Cowell further said of the controversy, "I know this has been funny for a while, but based on the fact that we are supposed to be finding the next American Idol [Malakar's performance] was hideous."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: The weblog Vote for the Worst had Malakar as its current "pick" for the sixth season top 12 until he was eliminated. On March 19, 2007, Howard Stern campaigned for his radio show listeners to join the weblog in voting for Malakar "to corrupt the No.1 show on television". Some Stern regulars claimed to have voted for Malakar over 300 times—largely in hopes of tormenting "American Idol" traditionalists on the show. Later, when asked for a reaction, Malakar told Jimmy Kimmel that his aunt had voted 1,100 times.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: The fan reaction of Ashley Ferl was satirized on the March 24, 2007 broadcast of "Saturday Night Live", during the "Weekend Update" segment. Malakar was portrayed by Andy Samberg, and the crying girl was portrayed by Kristen Wiig. Also feigning tears in the audience were Fred Armisen and Dan Aykroyd. Samberg portrayed Malakar again during the monologue of the April 21, 2007 episode, singing the song "Something To Talk About" as a duet with host Scarlett Johansson. The controversy spawned colloquialisms associated with Malakar's name, such as "Sanjayamania" and "Fanjaya" to denote a Sanjaya fan.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: After receiving over 200 e-mails from around the country asking the city to honor Malakar, especially in light of the city of Bothell declaring a Blake Lewis day for his fellow "Idol" contestant, the Federal Way City Council claimed it was unable to find any information about him, or any ties to the city.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: City Manager Neal Beets dismissed the calls, saying the city "had more important things to deal with" and derided Malakar as an "'Idol' wannabe."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: In response to the city's dismissiveness, the local mall, The Commons at Federal Way, independently tracked down Malakar and arranged an appearance at the mall. Malakar was greeted by screaming fans at the event,


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: and was praised by the city's Mayor Michael Park and King County Council member Pete von Reichbauer for serving as a great role model,


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Since Malakar placed in the top 10, he qualified to perform as part of the 2007 American Idol Concert Tour, which, over three months, visited over 50 cities in Canada and U.S. He performed Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" during the tour.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Shortly after his run on "American Idol" ended, Malakar attended the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner as a "People" magazine guest, where he saw then-President George W Bush. Malakar was popular among the press and fans at the dinner, and was even prompted for an autograph by then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Several magazines honored the singer, including "Us Weekly", "People", "TIME", and "Teen". He was featured in "Us Magazine"s April 20, 2007, issue in an article entitled "Sanjaya Speaks", where he was asked about his reactions to the parodies, Simon Cowell, Howard Stern and to his new celebrity status. He was featured in the May 7, 2007, issue of "People", where he talked about his "American Idol" run, his younger years, and future aspirations. The article mentions that he was raised vegetarian, a diet he no longer follows. In "TIME"s 2007 "TIME 100 POLL for The Most Influential People of the Year", based on online public votes, he ranked third. He was nominated for "Teen"'s 2007 "Top Ten Most Cutest".


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Award shows acknowledged Malakar, as well. He won two of TV.com's Fashion Awards, in the categories of "ON AIR: Best Hair – Male", and "OFF AIR: Best Trendsetter – Male", by public votes. He was nominated for "Best Reality Show Star" in AZN Television's annual Asian Excellence Awards and was a presenter at the awards ceremony aired May 24, 2007 on E! and May 28, 2007 on AZN-TV. At the 2007 Teen Choice Awards on August 26, he was named "Best TV Reality Star". He grabbed a nomination and a win for Fox's 2007 Golden Realitini Awards. At the October 13, 2007 show, he was nominated for "Most Memorable Reality Personality of the Year", and he won the "Favorite Reality Game Loser" award at the awards ceremony, where he was a presenter. Malakar won Fox's 2007 Golden Realitini Award for Favorite Reality Game Loser aired. "Sanjaya's Ponyhawk" was ranked as No. 3 in the 2007 "Top TV Moment" video searches by AOL.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: In the months following "Idol", Malakar appeared as a guest on multiple television shows, including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Access Hollywood", "The Today Show", "Good Morning America", "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader", "Live with Regis and Kelly", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", the "Late Show with David Letterman", "The Morning Show", "Extra", "The Early Show", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Rachel Ray Show". Additionally, he got "slimed" on Nickelodeon. He also appeared with the rest of the top 10 on "Larry King Live", "Access Hollywood", and "Good Day L.A."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Upon meeting Billy Ray Cyrus, Malakar reported discussing a guest spot on Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" in an April 20, 2007 interview with Access Hollywood. His name was mentioned in a 2007 episode, but no physical appearance was made.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On May 22, 2007, a one-minute short "I Am Art", co-produced with Will Ferrell, was released online with Malakar playing Bill Vendall, a 25-year-old graduate student of the arts, who created the character "Sanjaya Malakar" to appear on "American Idol", as an installment of his thesis. Malakar released a follow-up video explaining it was a joke, since some believed Bill Vendall was real.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar also hosted an "American Idol" show on the "TV Guide" channel called "Idol Stars: Where Are They Now?", talking about what past "Idol" stars are currently doing. Malakar also mentioned that he was continuing music and he helped write the book, "Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul". Malakar also wrote an autobiography entitled "Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People's Idol" in 2009. He reported that he received a $100,000 advance for the book. In India, Malakar received his first acting role, where he starred in a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company commercial, where he seeks help from a guru.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: In May–June 2009, he starred in the reality show second season of the reality television show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" along with Torrie Wilson, Holly Montag, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Stephen Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Janice Dickinson, Lou Diamond Phillips, John Salley, Frangela, and Patti Blagojevich. On the show he earned the nickname "Jungle Boy" in recognition of how comfortable he appeared in the jungle. He developed a close friendship with the older Holly Montag, as such, her sister Heidi had dubbed them "SanJolly". They have stated that they are not in a relationship, but do spend considerable time together.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: In May 2010, "Seattle Weekly" reported that Malakar was working as a singer for Pagliacci Pizza, a Seattle-based pizzeria chain.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On February 23, 2011, Malakar joined the off-Broadway musical "Freckleface Strawberry" at New World Stages.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On February 26, 2011, Malakar was a guest judge for the finals of local Seattle talent competition, "Seattle Superstar Search."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: As of May 2012, Malakar was a bartender living in Queens, New York. Of the money he made, Malakar admitted most has been lost: "I was young. I didn't know anything. Some people took advantage. Some skimmed a little off the top, financially."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: As of April 2014, Malakar quit working at an East Village bar to have more time and energy to focus on his music, including his work-in-progress, "Life ~ Love ~ Music", and his focus on studio covers.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: On July 14, 2016 he performed at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort in Suquamish, Washington as part of their Free Summer Lawn Concert series.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar sings seven jazz standards on the album "Good Merlin" by The Chaz Lipp Groove Tripp. The album was released on June 23, 2017 and Malakar has received positive reviews for his performance. Writing for The Morton Report, Bill Bentley (record producer) says Malakar's voice "goes directly for the core of these American songbook standards." Bill Buckley of the U.K.-based SoulandFunkandJazz describes Malakar's "remarkable voice" as "different, unusual, unexpected." Blogcritics writer Rhetta Akamatsu rated the album 96/100 largely due to Malakar's "incredible, flexible voice." Ronald Jackson of The Smooth Jazz Ride website says "Sanjaya Malakar is truly a singer with brilliant pipes... His passion is clear and bold on each track he engages. Great range and control."


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: Malakar's American Idol CD album "Sanjaya Malakar", and some singles were offered on iTunes starting June 10, 2007. The Sanjaya Malakar album has reached Top 100 Pop Albums in sales. Malakar's EP "Dancing to the Music in my Head" was released on January 20, 2009. Songs from the EP include the singles "A Guy Like Me" and "A Quintessential Lullaby". The EP was released the same day as Malakar's book, titled the same as the EP. In 2011, he is also releasing his album "Life ~ Love ~ Music" with the pre-release debut single from the album being a cover of "Tempted", a 1981 hit from Squeeze.


title: Sanjaya Malakar

text: In a 2022 interview, Malakar revealed that he was working as a pastry chef in Montana after walking away from the entertainment industry. He also mentioned that he identified as bisexual.


title: Effects of nuclear explosions on human health

text: The medical effects of the atomic bomb upon humans can be put into the four categories below, with the effects of larger thermonuclear weapons producing blast and thermal effects so large that there would be a negligible number of survivors close enough to the center of the blast who would experience prompt/acute radiation effects, which were observed after the 16 kiloton yield Hiroshima bomb, due to its relatively low yield:


text: Depending on whether individuals further afield shelter in place or evacuate perpendicular to the direction of the wind, and therefore avoid contact with the fallout plume, and stay there for the days and weeks after the nuclear explosion, their exposure to fallout, and therefore their total dose, will vary. With those who do shelter in place, and or evacuate, experiencing a total dose that would be negligible in comparison to someone who just went about their life as normal.


text: Staying indoors until after the most hazardous fallout isotope, I-131 decays away to 0.1% of its initial quantity after ten half-lives – which is represented by 80 days in the care of I-131 cases, would make the difference between likely contracting thyroid cancer or escaping completely from this substance depending on the actions of the individual.


text: Some scientists estimate that if there were a nuclear war resulting in 100 Hiroshima-size nuclear explosions on cities, it could cause significant loss of life in the tens of millions from long term climatic effects alone. The climatology hypothesis is that "if" each city firestorms, a great deal of soot could be thrown up into the atmosphere which could blanket the earth, cutting out sunlight for years on end, causing the disruption of food chains, in what is termed a nuclear winter scenario.


text: The main causes of death and disablement in this state are thermal burns and the failure of structures resulting from the blast effect. Injury from the pressure wave is minimal in contrast because the human body can survive up to 2 bar (30 psi) while most buildings can withstand only a 0.8 bar (12 psi) blast. Therefore, the fate of humans is closely related to the survival of the buildings around them.


text: In a nuclear explosion, the human body can be irradiated by at least three processes. The first, and most significant, cause of burns is thermal radiation and not caused by ionizing radiation.


text: In the picture above, the normal clothing (a kimono) that the woman was wearing attenuated the far reaching thermal radiation; the kimono, however, would naturally have been unable to attenuate any gamma radiation, if she were close enough to the weapon to have experienced any, and it would be likely that any such penetrating radiation effect would be evenly applied to her entire body. Beta burns would likely be all over the body if there was contact with fallout after the explosion, unlike thermal burns, which are only ever on one side of the body, as heat radiation infrared naturally does not penetrate the human body. In addition, the pattern on her clothing has been burnt into the skin by the thermal radiation. This is because white fabric reflects more visible and infrared light than dark fabric. As a result, the skin underneath dark fabric is burned more than the skin covered by white clothing.


text: There is also the risk of internal radiation poisoning by ingestion of fallout particles, if one is in a fallout zone.


text: Radiation poisoning, also called "radiation sickness" or a "creeping dose", is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period, though this also has occurred with long-term exposure to low-level radiation. Many of the symptoms of radiation poisoning occur as ionizing radiation interferes with cell division. There are numerous lethal radiation syndromes, including prodromal syndrome, bone marrow death, central nervous system death and gastrointestinal death.


text: The "prodromal syndrome" is not a diagnosis, but the technical term used by health professionals to describe a specific group of symptoms that may precede the onset of an illness. For example, a fever is "prodromal" to measles, which means that a fever may be a risk factor for developing this illness.


text: Bone marrow death is caused by a dose of radiation between 2 and 10 Gray and is characterized by the part of the bone marrow that makes the blood being broken down. Therefore, production of red and white blood cells and platelets is stopped due to loss of the blood-making stem cells (4.5 Gray kills 95% of stem cells). The loss of platelets greatly increases the chance of fatal hemorrhage, while the lack of white blood cells causes infections; the fall in red blood cells is minimal, and only causes mild anemia.


text: The peak incidence of acute BM death corresponds to the 30-day nadir in blood cell numbers. The number of deaths then falls progressively until it reaches 0 at 60 days after irradiation. The amount of radiation greatly affects the probability of death. For example, over the range of 2 to 6 Gray the probability of death in untreated adults goes from about 1% to 99%, but these figures are for healthy adults. Therefore, results may differ, because of the thermal and mechanical injuries and infectious conditions.


text: Gastrointestinal death is caused by a dose of radiation between 10 and 50 Gray. Whole body doses cause damage to epithelial cells lining the gastrointestinal tract and this combined with the bone marrow damage is fatal. All symptoms become increasingly severe, causing exhaustion and emaciation in a few days and death within 7–14 days from loss of water and electrolytes.


text: Central nervous system death is the main cause of death in 24–48 hours among those exposed to 50 Gray.


text: The skin is susceptible to beta-emitting radioactive fallout. The principal site of damage is the germinal layer, and often the initial response is erythema (reddening) due to blood vessels congestion and edema. Erythema lasting more than 10 days occurs in 50% of people exposed to 5-6 Gray.


text: The lungs are the most radiosensitive organ, and radiation pneumonitis can occur leading to pulmonary insufficiency and death (100% after exposure to 50 Gray of radiation), in a few months.


text: A single dose of 1–2 Gray will cause temporary damage and suppress menstruation for periods up to 3 years; a dose of 4 Gray will cause permanent sterility.


text: A dose of 0.1 Gray will cause low sperm counts for up to a year; 2.5 Gray will cause sterility for 2 to 3 years or more. 4 Gray will cause permanent sterility.


text: The timespan for developing this symptom ranges from 6 months to 30 years to develop but the median time for developing them is 2–3 years.


text: Cancer induction is the most significant long-term risk of exposure to a nuclear bomb. Approximately 1 out of every 80 people exposed to 1 Gray will die from cancer, in addition to the normal rate of 20 out of 80. About 1 in 40 people will get cancer, in addition to the typical rates of 16-20 out of 40. Different types of cancer take different times for them to appear:


text: A 1 Gy dose of radiation will cause between 0 and 20 extra cases of perinatal mortality, per 1,000 births and 0-20 cases per 1000 births of severe mental sub-normality. A 0.05 Gy dose will increase death due to cancer 10 fold, from the normal 0.5 per 1000 birth rate to a rate of 5 per 1,000. An antenatal dose of 1 Gy in the first trimester causes the lifetime risk of fatal cancer sometime in the child's life to increase from c. 25% in non-exposed humans to 100% in the first trimester after exposure.


text: Exposure to even relatively low doses of radiation generates genetic damage in the progeny of irradiated rodents. This damage can accumulate over several generations.


text: No statistically demonstrable increase of congenital malformations was found among the "later conceived children born" to survivors of the Nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


text: The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that could conceive, who were exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, went on and had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities than the Japanese average.


text: It was assumed in the 1983 book "Medical Consequences of Radiation Following a Global Nuclear War" that, although not caused by radiation, one of the long-term effects of a nuclear war would be a massive increase in infectious diseases caused by fecal matter contaminated water from untreated sewage, crowded living conditions, poor standard of living, and lack of vaccines in the aftermath of a nuclear war, with the following list of diseases being cited:


text: However although what the authors describe are conditions already prevalent in many of the world's city slums, it is inconceivable why people would try to remain living in crowded conditions by reverting to slum lifestyles, during or after a nuclear war. As many cities would already be destroyed, with urban life, slum or otherwise, this would serve no benefit to inhabitants.


text: There would be billions of disease carrying vectors, in the form of city residents, lying deceased in cities caused by the direct nuclear weapons effects alone, with the surviving few billion people spread out in rural communities living agrarian lifestyles, with the survivors therefore posing a way of living far less prone to creating the crowded slum living conditions required for infectious diseases to spread. Moreover, as reported in a paper published in the journal Public Health Reports, it is also one of a number of prevalent myths that infectious diseases always occur after a disaster in cities.


title: Union busting

text: Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace.


title: Union busting

text: Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range anywhere from subtle to violent.


title: Union busting

text: Labor laws differ greatly from country to country in both level and type of regulations in respect to their protection of unions, their organizing activities, as well as other aspects. These laws can affect topics such as posting notices, organizing on or off employer property, solicitations, card signing, union dues, picketing, work stoppages, striking and strikebreaking, lockouts, termination of employment, permanent replacements, automatic recognition, derecognition, ballot elections, and employer-controlled trade unions.


title: Union busting

text: Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declares that everyone has a right to form and/or join a trade union. The provision is, however, not legally binding and has, in most jurisdictions, no horizontal effect in the legal relation between employer and employees or unions.


title: Union busting

text: There are many labor relations consultancies in the United States and worldwide. They specialize in industries such as entertainment (radio, television and motion picture), hospitality (culinary and food service), communications, manufacturing, aerospace, utilities, and healthcare. Although many operate only in the United States, trade union organizing takes place multi-nationally. According to the AFL-CIO, "one of the largest U.S. firms, Labor Relations Institute (LRI), offers a “Guaranteed Winner Package”: if the corporation does not "win", it does not pay. In both the US and Europe, organizing campaigns increasingly involve immigrant non-English speaking workers. Internationally, compliance with labor laws within developed countries can be vastly different from emerging countries. Both trade union organizers and management must know the law and avoid unfair labor practice (ULP) charges.


title: Union busting

text: Application and adherence to labor laws may differ worldwide, but labor laws continue to expand into new countries such as the Labour Law of the People's Republic of China and the Indian labour law. Trade union organizing often starts with workers who are untrained or unaware of labour law. Due to the changing global and multinational employment environment and labor relations/employment laws, the modern labor movement turns more and more to professional guidance. Internationally, laws differ in how a bargaining unit is defined for workers with job descriptions involving supervision or management. Because the operative word is “law”, trade unions and workplaces may retain legal counsel to navigate the complexities of local and/or international labor laws in order to avoid unfair labor practice charges.


title: Union busting

text: Following the repeal of the Combination Laws in 1824, workers were no longer prohibited from forming labor organizations or collective bargaining, although significant restrictions remained. In 1832 the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers was formed in Dorset to challenge declining wages. The members of the organization agreed to only work for wages greater than a certain amount. In 1834 a landlord complained, and key members were charged and convicted under laws prohibiting the swearing of secret oaths. The sentence of seven years penal transportation to Australia prompted a movement to defend the members, known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs (referring to the village where the organization originated), who were eventually released in 1836 and 1837.


title: Union busting

text: Presently, UK labor laws are defined within the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and give workers no right to strike.


title: Union busting

text: In the UK and EU, trade union opposition may occur during automatic recognition campaigns and ballot elections. Workers in the UK may have union memberships that they retain job to job, potentially resulting in workers for the same employer having different union memberships. When a union is seeking to gain control of the collective bargaining at a place of employment without a ballot, workers with either individual and/or different union memberships working for that same employer may oppose that union.


title: Union busting

text: Consultation is the process by which management and employees (or their representatives) jointly examine and discuss issues of mutual concern. It involves seeking acceptable solutions to problems through an exchange of views and information. Consultation does not remove the right of managers to manage, but it does impose an obligation that the views of employees be sought and considered before decisions are taken. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), is the UK government's independent agency for advice and conciliation. Although the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their member unions oppose the use of consultancies during recognition campaigns, calling it a union busting tactic, ACAS takes a different stance, "Employee communications and consultation are the lifeblood of any business. which "aims to improve organizations and working life through better employment relations".


title: Union busting

text: Derecognition of a trade union, while legal, may be referred to as union busting by trade unions. Derecognition must be accomplished according to statutory guidelines. Workers may derecognize a union which either no longer has support from its members, or if union membership falls below 50%. Employers may derecognize a union if they no longer employ 21 or more workers. If the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) accepts an application, and the union in question has either lost support or the membership level falls below 50% of the workers, the CAC can declare that a derecognition ballot be held."


title: Union busting

text: One of the most significant cases of mass dismissals in the UK occurred in 2005, involving the termination of over 600 Gate Gourmet workers at Heathrow Airport. Gate Gourmet provides in-flight meals and had been owned by Texas Pacific since 2002. The company had been in talks with the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) over redundancies and changes to overtime pay to try and stem losses when it hired 130 seasonal staff on lower wages than the permanent workers. Seeing this as a threat to their jobs, one shift refused to go back to work. Because this was seen as unofficial strike action, the workers were sacked, reportedly with only three minutes notice. The TUC later reported that the dispute had been engineered by the company to allow it to replace staff with workers on worse contracts.


title: Union busting

text: This mass dismissal was viewed by some as a union busting tactic, and caused a great deal of media scrutiny. The terminations prompted a walkout by British Airways ground staff that paralysed flights and stranded thousands of travellers in the UK. The BBC reported that Andy Cook, Gate Gourmet's director of human resources at the time, said "the company had not been looking to cut the size of the protests, only stop the minority engaged in harassment." Cooke continues to direct labor relations activities from his UK labor relations consultancy.


title: Union busting

text: Union busting in the United States dates at least to the 19th century, when a rapid expansion in factories and manufacturing capabilities caused a migration of workers from agricultural work to the mining, manufacturing and transportation industries. Conditions were often unsafe, women worked for lower wages than men, and child labor was rampant. Because employers and governments did little to address these issues, labor movements in the industrialized world were formed to seek better wages, hours, and working conditions. The clashes between labor and management were often adversarial and were deeply affected by wars, economic conditions, government policies, and court proceedings.


title: Union busting

text: Companies may influence unions through bargaining, labor relations, and by other means, but employer-controlled unions in the United States have been outlawed since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The act prohibits supervisors from joining unions as well as prohibiting employers from assisting (as in the event of unions competing in the organization of a company), or dominating any labor organization. Additionally, the two laws, passed in 1947 and 1959, respectively, were the Taft–Hartley Act and the Landrum–Griffin Act. These statutes guarantee the rights of private employees to form and join unions in order to bargain collectively. The vast majority of states have extended union rights to public employees. The Chamber of Commerce has a long history of anti-union lobbying and union-busting in the United States at the local and federal level.


title: Union busting

text: In 1962 US President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order #10988 which established the right for public sector employees to form unions with certain limitations regarding collective bargaining and a special caveat making it illegal to strike (United States Code: Title 5,7311, U.S.). In 1981 the public sector union PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) went on strike in violation of Kennedy's executive order. President Reagan exercised his power and fired all the striking members, causing the dissolution of the union. Although the firing was legal, he was criticized by labor organizations for union busting. PATCO reformed to become the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.


title: Union busting

text: In the US, unlike the UK and several other countries, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides a legally protected right for private sector employees to strike in order to gain better wages, benefits, or working conditions without the threat of termination. However, striking for economic reasons (i.e., protesting workplace conditions or supporting a union's bargaining demands) allows an employer to hire permanent replacements. If hired, the replacement worker can continue in the job, while the striking worker must wait for a vacancy. However, if the strike is due to unfair labor practices, the strikers replaced can demand immediate reinstatement at the end of the strike. If a collective bargaining agreement is in effect, and it contains a "no-strike clause", a strike during the life of the contract could result in the firing of all striking employees, and the dissolution of that union. Although legal, it is viewed by labor organizations as union busting.


title: Union busting

text: The first German union of restaurant and food workers, NGG in 1999 used the notion of union busting to characterize the practices of McDonald's in Germany to kick out employees' representative bodies (Betriebsrat) and to prevent the voting of such representative bodies. However, only the study "Union Busting in Deutschland" (Union Busting in Germany) by Werner Rügemer and Elmar Wigand introduced the notion and presented an analysis of union busting. The study was commissioned by the largest German union, the metal workers union "IG Metall" and has been published in 2014.


title: Union busting

text: Rügemer and Wigand also referred in their study to US authors such as John Logan, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Martin Jay Levitt, and Joseph McCain. Subsequently, the authors published a much expanded and updated version in form of a book with the title "Die Fertigmacher. Arbeitsunrecht und die professionelle Bekämpfung der Gewerkschaften" (Union Busting, Labor Injustice and The Professional Fight Against Trade Unions). After this, the notion union busting is used routinely in the media and by all German unions.


title: Union busting

text: Rügemer and Wigand defined union busting in the following sentences: "Union Busting is the purposeful application and modular combination of practices to prevent employer-independent organization and advocacy in a company. Another point is to prevent (sabotage) the industry. Union Busting is operated both to attack the achieved status quo of collectivity, participation and labor protection. As well as to end organizing efforts of employees already in the initial stage."


title: Union busting

text: Later, Rügemer and Wigand founded the non-profit association Action Against Labour Injustice. The organization works for dependent employees and in particular works-councils. The target group are the people affected by union busting and other forms of work inequalities. The association helps the victims with public actions and by legal. Prominent examples for union busting in Germany are Amazon.com, Birkenstock, Legoland, Haticon, Nora Systems, United Parcel Systems, Charité/Vivantes, Neupack, Edeka, DURA Automotive Systems, Median, Maredo, H&M and OBI.


title: Union busting

text: Derecognition (UK) or decertification (US) of a union may be done lawfully, though these may be referred to as union busting by trade unions, even when it is initiated by members of the union.


title: Union busting

text: Workers in the UK may derecognize a union that no longer has support from members or if union membership falls below 50%. Employers may derecognize a union if they no longer employ 21 or more workers. Generally, in the UK, an application for derecognition must be made to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which declares that a derecognition/decertification ballot election will be held. However a company may decide to unilaterally derecognize, as long as it has a non-CAC recognition agreement in force.


title: Union busting

text: In the US, the process is overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Employees may file a petition seeking a decertification election to determine whether or not the employees wish to retain the union. Like an election petition, a petition for decertification can only be filed during certain timeframes, specifically when a contract has expired or is about to expire.


title: Union busting

text: In Canada all provinces have laws setting out provisions for employees to decertify unions. In most cases the governments have made it mandatory that employers post information for its employees on how to decertify the union.


title: Union busting

text: Organizations retain labor/employment attorneys and consultancies based on experience, track record, language skills, and reputation. Additionally, since labor laws differ from one nation to another, an organization might also consider experience with international labor laws within multinational corporations.


title: Union busting

text: When trade union organizing occurs, labor attorneys are generally contacted for advice and often turn to consultants with whom they work on a regular basis who can do supervisory training on site. Some companies keep labor relations consultants and attorneys on retainer while others use external labor/employment lawyers and/or consultancies on an hourly per diem basis.


title: Union busting

text: Many labor lawyers and consultants find clients by monitoring government offices such as the NLRB regional offices, where US trade unions are required to file RC (Representation Certification) or RD (Representation Decertification) petitions which are public record. These petitions reveal the names of organizations undergoing concerted activity and the name of the union seeking recognition or an election. These petitions are also used by organizations to conduct demographic studies of concerted activity regionally in order to prepare supervisory training in anticipation of organizing. Some companies maintain libraries and offer petition logs online as a courtesy for companies which cannot conduct the research themselves.


title: Union busting

text: Similarly, UK trade unions are required by the ERA 1999 to adhere to specific procedures regarding trade union recognition, such as filing a "Letter of Intent" to the CAC, which simultaneously notifies not only the CAC but the employer as well. The filing then becomes public record which labor lawyers and consultancies can access in order to market their services.


title: Union busting

text: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), as an employer, refused to negotiate in 2011 with a group of its own union organizer employees who voted to form a union called the Federation of Agents and International Representatives (FAIR). On 29 August 2012, after being found guilty of unlawfully union busting their own employees' union, the IBT posted a notice that, according to an agreement approved by a regional director of the Obama administration's NLRB, that they would stop union busting. The notice assures Teamster employees that they will no longer be prevented from exercising their rights.


title: Union busting

text: In an action involving the Retail Clerks International Association (RCIA, a part of the AFL-CIO), they lost their case when the NRLB found that the RCIA violated the NLRA by refusing to bargain with the representative of certain of its employees and by threatening employees with loss of their jobs unless they resigned from the union. The Board further found that the RCIA had violated Section 8(a) (1) by engaging in coercive conduct with respect to certain of its own employees.


title: Union busting

text: In the book "Labor Organizations as Employers: Unions Within Unions", the author explored three different unions and the struggle of their workforces to organize. Prompted largely by the same concerns which motivate employees of private and public employers to seek union protection, employees within several unions, the United Transportation Union (UTU), the Garment Workers (ILGWU), and the Textile Workers (TWUA) were thwarted in their attempts to organize.


title: Union busting

text: Another recent example of union busting tactics used by one union against the other is the SEIU vs CNA conflict, where each union was battling for the others' members. In a press release dated March 10, 2008 Andy Stern of the SEIU accused the CNA of union busting: "The California Nurses Association has launched an anti-union campaign against nurses and other healthcare employees in Ohio, seeking to derail a three-year effort by the workers to unite in District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union." Central to the SEIU-CNA dispute were accusations by both organizations of raiding each other's members and campaigns, as well as disagreements about the direction of the labor movement. The SEIU is focused in its mission to organize workers at any cost, provoking criticism for its consolidation of smaller locals into mega unions.


title: Union busting

text: Some corporations have sought to learn of union activities by employing informants, the same way that unions employ salts to infiltrate a non union organization to gather propaganda and sow discord to gain union support. A "plant" or salt can be used to disrupt meetings, question the legitimacy and motives of either the union or management, and report the results of the meetings to their superiors. Disruption or reporting on union meetings is illegal, but can be difficult to prove in ULP hearings.


title: Union busting

text: In 1980, the author of "Confessions of a Union Buster", Martin J. Levitt, reported that he conducted a counter-organizing drive at a nursing home in Sebring, Ohio. He assigned confederates to scratch up cars, then blamed it on the union. Similar activities have not been reported by others, yet Levitt said that creating and exploiting a prolonged climate of fear was key for him destroying the union's credibility.


title: Union busting

text: In the United States, the US Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the National Labor Relations Board that employer espionage or an employer's use of spies or agents within labor unions is an unfair labor practice under the Wagner Act.


title: Union busting

text: Labor consultants, union organizers, and attorneys use rules and regulations to gain control of organizing drives. Most employers oppose union plans for card check elections and employ tactics to insure secret ballot elections instead. If the union focuses on one division of the company, employment lawyers may disrupt such plans and dilute the vote by petitioning the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to include other divisions. If the union seeks to include foreman or "junior supervisor" positions in a bargaining unit to increase membership, the definition of what constitutes a supervisor under the NLRA will often be challenged by employment. Even the jurisdiction of the NLRB to oversee an organizing drive may be challenged. Delays can turn an organizing campaign into a protracted struggle, and according to Martin J. Levitt such battles are almost always won by management.


title: Union busting

text: Many of the methods for defeating unions have been practiced for a very long time. Harry Wellington Laidler wrote a book in 1913 which reported the use of delaying tactics and provocation by an undercover operative of one of the largest known agencies of the time called Corporations Auxiliary Company. They would tell prospective employers,


title: Union busting

text: Once the union is in the field its members can keep it from growing if they know how, and our man knows how. Meetings can be set far apart. A contract can at once be entered into with the employer, covering a long period, and made very easy in its terms. However, these tactics may not be good, and the union spirit may be so strong that a big organization cannot be prevented. In this case our man turns extremely radical. He asks for unreasonable things and keeps the union embroiled in trouble. If a strike comes, he will be the loudest man in the bunch, and will counsel violence and get somebody in trouble. The result will be that the union will be broken up.


title: Union busting

text: Employers may put pressure on a union by declaring a lockout, a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working until certain conditions are met. A lockout changes the psychological impact of a work stoppage and, if the company possesses information about an impending strike, can be enacted prior to the strike's implementation.


title: Union busting

text: Although nonprofit hospital workers were covered by the original Wagner Act of 1935, they were excluded in 1947 with the Taft–Hartley amendments. However, during the 1960s, hospital workers at nonprofit hospitals wanted to form unions in order to demand better pay and working conditions. Major American cities were also experiencing hospital strikes which raised awareness of both labor leaders and the government regarding how to continue life-sustaining patient care delivery during work stoppages. Hospital workers and labor leaders petitioned the government to amend the NLRA. In 1974, under President Richard Nixon, the NLRA was amended to extend coverage and protection to employees of non-profit hospitals. According to the Obama administration NLRB, “When the new legislation was considered by the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, it was recognized that labor relations in the health care industry required special considerations. The Senate Labor Committee sought to fashion a mechanism which would insure that the needs of the patient would be met during contingencies arising out of labor disputes. The new law represented a sound and equitable reconciliation of these competing interests.”


title: Union busting

text: Taxpayer funds provide state treasuries the monies for public employee salaries from which public employees pay union dues. At one time state laws did not allow government contracts to provide public money to labor relations consultancies. One such law, passed in Wisconsin in 1979, was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in the decision "Wisconsin Dept. of Industry v. Gould". In effect, the 1986 Supreme Court decision meant that federal punishments are the maximum allowed, regardless of their limitations. Critics charged that, in effect, "federal labor law forces states to hire unionbusters."


title: Union busting

text: In 1998, Catholic Healthcare West, the largest private hospital chain in California and a major recipient of state Medicaid funds, conducted a campaign against the SEIU in Sacramento and Los Angeles at a cost of more than $2.6 million. After the Catholic Healthcare West campaign, the California state legislature passed a law prohibiting employers receiving more than $10,000 in state funds from engaging in anti-union activities. However, the 2007 US Supreme Court decision in "Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America et al. vs. Brown, Attorney General of California et al.", the court ruled 7–2 that federal labor law pre-empted a California law that limited many employers from speaking to their employees about union-related issues. Justice John Paul Stevens stated that Federal labor law had embraced "wide-open debate" about labor issues, as long as the employer did not try to coerce employees into accepting its point of view. Consequently, the state law is incompatible with federal labor law.


title: Union busting

text: Other efforts to restrict anti-union activities by recipients of state funds have also been struck down. A major recipient of state Medicaid funds, the Center for Cerebral Palsy in Albany, New York, hired a law firm to fight a UNITE organizing drive. In 2002 the State of New York passed a labor neutrality act prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for union busting. The law was passed as a direct result of the campaign against UNITE. In May 2005, a district court judge struck down the labor neutrality law in a ruling that the legal representatives of the Center for Cerebral Palsy described as "an enormous victory for employers".


title: Union busting

text: Nathan Shefferman introduced some basic psychological techniques into the union avoidance industry and the complementary service of union prevention. Building upon his work, professionally trained psychologists in the 1960s began using sophisticated psychological techniques to "screen out potential union supporters, identify hotspots vulnerable to unionization, and structure the workplace to facilitate the maintenance of a non-union environment." These psychologists provided companies with psychological profiles and conducted audits concerning a firm's susceptibility to unionization.


title: Union busting

text: Between 1974 and 1984, one firm trained over 27,000 managers and supervisors to "make unions unnecessary" and surveyed almost one million employees in 4,000 organizations.


title: Union busting

text: In the United States shortly after 1900, there were few effective employers' organizations that opposed the union movement. By 1903, these organizations started to coalesce, and a national employers' movement began to exert a powerful influence on industrial relations and public affairs.


title: Union busting

text: For nearly a decade prior to 1903, an industrial union called the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) had been increasing in power, militancy, and radicalism in response to dangerous working conditions, the imposition of long hours of work, and what members perceived as an imperious attitude on the part of employers. In particular, members of the WFM had been outraged by employers' use of labor spies in organizing efforts such as Coeur d'Alene. The miners' frustrations had occasionally exploded in anger and violence, although they had also tried peaceful change. For example, after winning a referendum vote for the eight-hour day with support from 72 percent of Colorado's electorate, the WFM's goal of an eight-hour law was still defeated by employers and politicians.


title: Union busting

text: In 1901, angry WFM members passed a convention proclamation that a "complete revolution of social and economic conditions" was "the only salvation of the working classes". Colorado employers and their supporters reacted to growing union restlessness and power in a confrontation that came to be called the Colorado Labor Wars. But fear and apprehension on the part of employers, who felt unions were threatening to their businesses, were by no means limited to Colorado. Across the nation, the first elements of a network of employers' organizations that would span the coming century were just beginning to arise.


title: Union busting

text: Anti-union organizations played increasingly prominent roles in American politics. In April 1903, David M. Parry spoke to the annual convention of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), delivering a speech critical of organized labor, asserting that trade unionism and socialism differ only in method, with both aiming to deny "individual and property rights". Parry asserted the natural laws which governed the nation's economy, and he decried any interference with those laws, whether by legislative or other means. Parry asserted that the goals of the unions would inevitably lead to "despotism, tyranny, and slavery", and the "ruin of civilization".


title: Union busting

text: To control this threat to the status quo, Parry advised that the NAM begin organizing employers and manufacturers' associations into a great national anti-union federation. The NAM convention agreed to the recommendation, and created an employers' organizing committee with Parry in charge. Parry began the organizing effort at once. The prospect of a federal eight-hour law was particularly objectionable to the NAM, which declared it a "vicious, needless, and in every way preposterous proposition."


title: Union busting

text: The NAM has fought against organized labor for more than a century through affiliated organizations. However, the organization once sought to moderate its image. After the 1937 La Follette Committee investigated employers and their anti-union allies, uncovering widespread abuses, the NAM denounced "the use of espionage, strikebreaking agencies, professional strikebreakers, armed guards, or munitions for the purpose of interfering with or destroying the legitimate rights of labor to self organization and collective bargaining." The brief nod to union rights did not last.


title: Union busting

text: Other anti-union organizations have also made vocal contributions to anti-union discourse and union busting activities. The Citizens' Alliance was an employers' organization formed early in the 1900s specifically to fight trade unions. It worked with the NAM to strengthen anti-union movements in the early 20th century in the United States. The Council on Union Free Environment (CUE) had the specific mission of defeating President Carter's labor law reform bill that was designed to make union-organizing efforts more successful by, among other provisions, allowing for elections to occur within 15 days of filing a petition. The Labor Law Study Group, later called the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable, introduced dozens of labor law reform bills in the US Congress, but their primary focus was repealing state and federal laws that established minimum wage standards on publicly funded projects. Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is the construction industry's voice and is funded chiefly by non-union builders and related businesses and promoted the "merit shop" which sought to pay each employee according to his qualification and performance. While the group insisted it was not anti-union, the system would preclude workers from exercising many of the worker-related benefits of a union.


title: Union busting

text: Other groups, such as the National Right to Work Committee, has lobbied for laws prohibiting the union shop. Similarly, the US Chamber of Commerce's core purpose is to fight for free enterprise before Congress, the White House, regulatory agencies, the courts, the court of public opinion, and governments around the world and has actively lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. The NLPC makes a case for the end of the use of union dues for political purposes. The Center for Union Facts maintains an anti-union website that provides financial and other records about unions.


title: Union busting

text: Nathan Shefferman published "The Man in the Middle", a 292-page account of his union busting activities, in 1961. Shefferman described a long list of practices which he viewed as tangential to union avoidance activities but which his detractors have labeled as support operations for these activities. Among these were the administration of opinion surveys, supervisor training, employee roundtables, incentive pay procedures, wage surveys, employee complaint procedures, personnel records, application procedures, job evaluations, and legal services. As part of his union busting strategies, all of these activities were performed with the goal of maintaining complete control of the work force by top management. Shefferman's book not only provided the concepts that animated all future union busting techniques, he also provided language that pro-labor supporters believe mask the intent of the policies.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei (; born 8 September 1969) is a son of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. He served in the Iran–Iraq War from 1987 to 1988. He also reportedly took control of the Basij militia that was used to suppress the protests over the 2009 election.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: He is considered by European sources as one of the possible candidates to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran for over three decades.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Mojtaba was born in Mashhad in 1969, and is the second son of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme leader of Iran. After graduating from high school, he studied theology. His early teachers included his own father and Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. In 1999, he continued his studies in Qom to become a cleric. Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani and Mohammad Bagher Kharazi were his teachers there.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Mojtaba teaches theology in the Qom seminary. He was affiliated with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and supported Ahmadinejad in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Journalists stated that he may "have played a leading role in orchestrating" Ahmadinejad's electoral victory, and that he may be "a key figure in orchestrating the crackdown against anti-government protesters" in June 2009, and directly in charge of the paramilitary Basij, a blackout of his name in the regime press notwithstanding. In an open letter, Mehdi Karroubi, ex-chairman of the Majlis (parliament) and a reformist candidate in the 2009 presidential vote, explicitly accused Mojtaba Khamenei of participating in a conspiracy to rig the election, referring to illegal interference of "a network".


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Mojtaba is reported to have a strong influence over his father and is talked about as his possible successor. This is thought by some to present a problem, for the Supreme Leader needs to be elected by the Assembly of Experts from among senior Shia Islamic scholars, but it has been noted that the previous incumbent, Ruhollah Khomeini, exerted a strong influence in favor of the choice of Khameini's father. "The Guardian" argues that "The strength of Mojtaba's personal following has not been demonstrated", and while he wears clerical robes he "by no means has the theological status" to rise to Supreme Leader, although it notes that. According to the "Los Angeles Times", Mojtaba's religious and political stature may still not be enough for Ali Khamenei to one day just unveil his son as his successor. However, the Assembly of Experts is considered by many to be a ceremonial body without any real power. According to "The Guardian" and French newspaper "Libération", among other sources, he is widely believed to control huge financial assets. This allegation was rejected by Assembly of the Forces of Imam's Line, an Iranian political group led by his uncle Hadi Khamenei. Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his former ally, accused Mojtaba Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury.


title: Mojtaba Khamenei

text: Mojtaba Khamenei married Zahra Haddad-Adel in 2004. Their first child, a son named Mohammad Bagher, was born in 2007. The couple's second child, a daughter named Fatemeh Sadaat, was born in 2013. A second son, Mohammad Amin, was born in 2017.


title: Popular front

text: A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".


title: Popular front

text: More generally, it is "a coalition especially of leftist political parties against a common opponent".


title: Popular front

text: The term was first used in the mid-1930s in Europe by communists concerned over the ascent of the ideology of Fascism in Italy and Germany which they sought to combat by coalescing with non-communist political groupings they had previously attacked as enemies. Temporarily successful popular front governments were formed in France, Spain, and Chile in 1936.


title: Popular front

text: Not all political organizations who use the term "popular front" are leftist or coalitions formed to defend democratic norms (for example Popular Front of India), and not all leftist or anti-fascist coalitions use the term "popular front" in their name.


title: Popular front

text: When communist parties came to power after World War II in the People's Republic of China, and the countries of Central, and Eastern Europe, it was common to do so at the head of a "front" (such as the United Front and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in China, the National Front in Czechoslovakia, the Front of National Unity in Poland, the Democratic Bloc in the German Democratic Republic, etc.) containing several ostensibly-noncommunist parties. While it was the communist party—not the fronts—that held power in these countries, the alleged coalitions gave the Party the ability to maintain that it did not have a monopoly on power in that country.


title: Popular front

text: Another use of the word "front" in connection with communist activity was "Communist front". This phrase used "front" not in the sense of a political movement "linking divergent elements to achieve common objectives", but as a "facade" "used to mask" the identity/true character/activity of "the actual controlling agent", (examples being the World Federation of Democratic Youth, International Union of Students, World Federation of Trade Unions, Women's International Democratic Federation, and the World Peace Council). Communist front was a label frequently applied to political organizations opposed by anti-communists during the Cold War.


title: Popular front

text: The strategy of creating or taking over organizations that would then claim to be expressions of popular will, and not manipulation by the Soviet Union or communist movement, was first suggested by Vladimir Lenin. These would not be political coalitions seeking power in opposition to fascist movements, but groups designed to spread the Marxist-Leninist message in places where the Communist party was either illegal or distrusted by many of the people the party wanted to reach. It was used from the 1920s through the 1950s, and accelerated during the popular front period of the 1930s. Eventually there were large numbers of front organizations.


title: Popular front

text: The international communism, in the form of the Communist International (Comintern), the international communist organization created by the Russian Communist Party in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, went through a number of ideological strategies to advance proletarian revolution. Its 1922 congress called for a "United Front" (the “Second Period”) after it became clear proletarian revolution would not sweep aside capitalism in the rest of the world, whereby the minority of workers who supported communist revolution would join forces against the bourgeoisie with workers outside the communist parties. This was followed by the "Third Period" starting in mid-1928, which posited that capitalism was collapsing and militant policies should by rigidly maintained, As the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 in Germany, and annihilated one of the more successful communist movements in that country, it became clear fascism was both on the rise and saw Communism as an enemy to be destroyed, and that opposition to fascism was disorganized and divided. A new, less extreme policy was called for whereby Communists would form political coalitions with non-Communist socialists and even democratic non-socialists – "liberals, moderates, and even conservatives" – in "popular fronts" against fascism.


title: Popular front

text: Until early 1933, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was regarded as the world's most successful communist party in terms of membership and electoral results. As a result, the Communist International, or Comintern, expected national communist parties to base their political style on the German example. That approach, known as the "class against class" strategy, or the ultra-left "Third Period", expected that the economic crisis and the trauma of war would increasingly radicalise public opinion and that if the communists remained aloof from mainstream democratic politics, they would benefit from the populist mood and be swept to power. As such, non-communist socialist parties were denounced as "social fascist".


title: Popular front

text: After a series of financial crises in 1926, 1929 and 1931, public opinion in Europe was certainly radicalising but not to the benefit of left-wing anticapitalist parties. In the weeks that followed Hitler's rise to power in February 1933, the German Communist Party and the Comintern clung rigidly to their view that the Nazi triumph would be brief and that it would be a case of "after Hitler our turn". However, as the brutality of the Nazi government became clear and there was no sign of its collapse, communists began to sense that there was a need for a radical alteration of their stance, especially as Adolf Hitler had made it clear that he regarded the Soviet Union as an enemy state.


title: Popular front

text: In several countries over the previous years, a sense had grown within elements of the Communist Parties that the German model of "class against class" was not the most appropriate way to succeed in their national political contexts and that it was necessary to build some alliance to prevent the greater threat of autocratic nationalist governments. However, figures such as Henri Barbé and Pierre Célor in France and José Bullejos and Adama in Spain, who advocated greater flexibility by co-operating loyally with social-democratic parties and possibly even left-wing capitalist parties, were removed from positions of power. Predecessors to the Popular Front had existed, such as in the (later-renamed) World Committee Against War and Imperialism, but they sought not to co-operate with other parties as equals but instead to draw potential sympathisers into the orbit of the communist movement, which caused them to be denounced by the leaders of other left-wing associations.


title: Popular front

text: It was thus not until 1934 when Georgi Dimitrov, who had humiliated the Nazis with his defence against charges of involvement in the Reichstag Fire became the general secretary of the Comintern, and its officials became more receptive to the approach. Official acceptance of the new policy was first signalled in a "Pravda" article of May 1934, which commented favourably on socialist-communist collaboration. The reorientation was formalised at the Comintern's Seventh Congress in July 1935 and reached its apotheosis with the proclamation of a new policy: "The People's Front Against Fascism and War". Communist parties were now instructed to form broad alliances with all antifascist parties with the aim of securing social advance at home as well as a military alliance with the Soviet Union to isolate the fascist dictatorships. The "popular fronts" thus formed proved to be successful politically in forming governments in France, Spain and China but not elsewhere.