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Helping one village at a time

With solar panels, Innovation: Africa – founded by Sivan Ya’ari, centre – is helping bring light and water to African villages. (photo from Sivan Ya’ari)

“Growing up in Israel, we were a poor family,” recalled Sivan Ya’ari, founder of Innovation: Africa. “But the poverty I saw in Africa was true poverty. We can’t compare.”

Ya’ari spent part of her childhood in France, which later helped her land a job with Jordache, a jeans manufacturing company based in the United States that had some factories in French-speaking African countries.

“After spending time in villages and traveling to other countries, I realized that the main challenge in Africa, the main reason why Africa is still in poverty, is the lack of energy,” she told the Independent. “Because there is no energy, they can’t get access to medicine, vaccines – because there is no refrigeration. Because there is no energy, people don’t get access to good education. But, most importantly, people don’t have access to water.”

Ya’ari had imagined Africa to be a continent with little water, but she discovered there is actually plenty of water in Africa. However, the water is located in aquifers and, to get to it, you need to pump it – and to do that, you need energy.

“Growing up in Israel, I remember seeing solar panels on every building,” she said. “So, when I came and learned a bit more about energy, I thought, maybe we just need to transfer some of the knowledge and some of the technology to remote villages to give them a chance to access water and education.”

Ya’ari enrolled in Columbia University’s master’s in energy program and began fundraising to bring energy solutions to Africa.

As a student, Ya’ari started in one village, and then another, continuing to the point that, today, she has brought the technology – a large pump run by solar panels – to about 140 villages, and counting. The water is pumped into a large holding tank and then, with the help of gravity, flows to different taps that are installed throughout a village.

“Usually, we’re putting one tap two kilometres from the water pump system, another tap four kilometres from it and another … in all directions,” said Ya’ari. “So, with one water pump system, we’re able to reach many villages and people.”

Once the concept proved successful, Ya’ari founded Innovation: Africa, which operates in seven African countries. “In every country, we have an office with a local manager,” she said. “In Uganda, for example, we have seven full-time local people working who have all been trained. They are managing and doing the work on the ground.

“We first hire a company that does geological surveys. This provides information about how deep the aquifers are, how much water we can find and where would be best to drill. Then we hire a drilling machine company and have local contractors do the rest – installing the pump, the water tank, involving the community (meaning, the villagers) who decide where to instal the different taps.

“Once this is all installed, sometimes, in some villages, we instal an extra tank – only for irrigation technology (Netafim) that we bring from Israel – and then we provide irrigation pipes to the village.”

Each pump provides 30,000 litres on average per day per system.

Innovation: Africa recently received an award from the United Nations for their remote monitoring system – another technology that came from Israel.

“It’s off-grid, remote monitoring, so, at any point, we are able to remotely know how much water we’re pumping into every village,” explained Ya’ari. “If something breaks, meaning a pump hasn’t pumped water in 24 hours, we are notified about it by the system; not only us, but the local contractors and the local managers.”

Most of the funding has come from individuals and foundations, often with one individual or family sponsoring a village. On Innovation: Africa’s website (innoafrica.org), there is information about how to become a sponsor.

“We have a bar or bat mitzvah … choosing an orphanage to adopt and then they are traveling with their parents to be there when the kids get light for the first time,” said

Ya’ari. “We have families adopting villages. It’s very transparent, personal and concrete. The donors appreciate that they also have access to the remote monitoring. At any point on their phone, they are able to see how much energy was produced or consumed and how much water was pumped. They also know if something breaks. They are connected to the villagers. They go back and visit.”

According to Ya’ari, many children, especially girls, are kept out of schools in Africa so that they can walk the great distances necessary to get water.

“I believe that the best return on the investment is when we bring water to a village,” said Ya’ari. “What we found is that people are spending hours a day looking for water. Most of the time, the water they find is dirty and is not good for drinking. Once we bring clean water, the people are healthier. The changes we see … the children are going to school. We see a lot more girls going and getting an education. We see that they are growing food.

“What inspires me is the number of businesses villagers are able to grow with access to water. They are able to grow food and sell it in the market. They are making bricks and making their homes, no longer made with mud. We see livestock…. They are making more money.

“And, for the medical centres, it’s tremendous,” she said. “Once we provide a little energy and we buy a small fridge, then people come in from the capital to the village to help. The doctor, with energy, she can actually work.”

When it comes to the cost to make this happen, it is about $5,000 to light a classroom and $18,000 to light a whole school, including the homes of the teachers. To bring water to a entire village, it costs around $50,000.

No governments are involved in these projects. It is all about people on one end of the world helping out people on another end.

“Unfortunately, there is no shortage of villages waiting,” said Ya’ari. “In the seven countries that we operate, we have a long list of schools needing light and water centres. It has a lot to do with funding and people to adopt the villages. We have the people on the ground and the technology.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Saint-Paul transforms

Paul Shore gets a little help from his daughter at a recent book signing. (photo from Paul Shore)

Cultural pastimes, like pétanque, “recharge our joie de vivre, our delight in being alive; they free our minds; and they fuel our chutzpah for adventure. We must protect these beautiful little gifts, tie a bow around them, love and keep them safe,” writes Paul Shore in Uncorked: My Year in Provence Studying Pétanque, Discovering Chagall, Drinking Pastis and Mangling French (Sea to Sky Books, 2016).

book cover - UncorkedThe title pretty much describes the basic content of this delightful 164-page book, and gives a hint of the light touch with which Shore writes. His story will make readers reflect on their own pivotal life journeys, if they have been lucky enough to have them. Perhaps it will also make us recommit to what we’ve learned from such experiences – the need to stop and smell the proverbial roses, for example, and the joy and fulfilment that can come from opening ourselves up to new places, people, cultures – the list goes on.

It was his job that took Shore to Saint-Paul in 1999. When the Vancouver-based software company with which he worked opened an “outpost in the Nice area” of France – with him “as its sole initial employee” – he leapt at the opportunity. Telling his firm he wanted to live in a “cute small town,” he found himself in Saint-Paul de Vence.

“Little did I realize,” he writes, “that I was about to take up residence in a village that could be best described in summer as ‘gaudy tourist central’ because it was so famous and magical…. Nor did I know that the brilliant modernist painter Marc Chagall had lived, worked and was buried in my soon-to-be-surrogate hometown. Nor did I have a clue that Saint-Paul was tantamount to a holy site for an odd game called pétanque.”

“I lived in Saint-Paul for almost exactly one year – from January 1999 to late December 1999,” Shore told the Independent. “I had visited Nice the year before on a short business trip and dreamed about the possibility of someday spending a longer stint in the region. And I had been in the south of France years earlier, in 1990, as a Euro-Railing new university grad.”

Shore grew up in Ottawa, but has called Vancouver and its environs home for many years. He, his wife, Talya, and their two children have lived in Whistler since 2003.

“We are longtime members of Temple Sholom,” he said. “In Whistler, we get together with Jewish friends for major holidays and we visit Temple Sholom and family in Vancouver from time to time, too.”

There are a few Jewish terms and references in Uncorked and a pivotal exchange between Shore and a woman named Adele, the manager of an art gallery in Saint-Paul – she is the one who informs Shore that Chagall had lived and painted in the village. She also shares with him that Chagall was a Russian Jew and that she, too, is Jewish and her family came from Russia. “Comme ma famille [Like my family],” writes Shore, who explores his heritage further in the latter half of the book.

While there are various entertaining and touching tangents, the focus of Uncorked is Shore’s quest to learn the mysteries of pétanque, which he describes “for the uninitiated,” as looking “a little like the Italian game of bocce, or the British game of lawn bowling, or even the winter sport of curling that is popular in Canada,” though, he advises readers “not to suggest such similarities out loud while standing on French soil, unless you have no desire to try to play the game, no desire to be welcomed into a café, no desire to gain the friendship of a local, and you desire to have the nickname Monsieur Con – the polite translation of which is ‘village idiot.’”

photo - Paul Shore in action on the pétanque field
Paul Shore in action on the pétanque field. (photo from Paul Shore)

Shore was determined to “gain entry into the arcane world of this ancient game with its half-understood rituals and ancient codes.” With help from a friend (Hubert) and a lot of practise, he works his way up from spectator to furtive nighttime learner to solid daylight player to confident owner-of-his-own-ball-set player. He knows he has been accepted fully into Saint-Paul life when he is invited into Le Cercle (The Circle), “the private bar that was off limits to everybody except registered pétanque players of Saint-Paul,” and receives his member card.

Unfortunately, by that time, his work was going to need him back in Vancouver. In talking with one of his friends in France a couple of weeks before his return to Canada, Shore vows, “I’ll swim in the fast lane awhile longer … but not forever … France has taught me it’s not worth the personal sacrifice.”

“When I returned to accept a new role with Broadcom in Vancouver, I unfortunately couldn’t swim in a slower lane for the seven years I stayed with the company,” Shore admitted to the Independent. “I worked ridiculously hard, traveled too much for business, while being within the core of the high-tech industry and spending a lot of time in Silicon Valley during those years. It was exciting and I learned a lot, but it troubled me that I wasn’t able to apply what I had absorbed during my year in France about living a well-balanced lifestyle…. Since I departed Broadcom in 2007, I have lived differently – working hard in intense environments at times, though not for long periods of time and with far more varied interests and time off to vacation and to help raise a young family.”

For the past year, he said, “I’ve been doing a little business consulting, while focusing on marketing my book and pursuing new interests in the renewable energy world. I also manage a vacation rental property that we own on the northern Sunshine Coast in the town of Lund – we call it ‘The Shores at Lund.’”

He has returned to Saint-Paul with his wife a couple of times. “And we plan to visit again next June – the first time with kids, ours are 9 and 5,” he said. “I will definitely bring my pétanque balls back to play there again. I have always stayed in regular contact with Hubert, even though I haven’t seen him in person since 2006. I have a couple other French friends who I speak to less often, though we also stay in touch – one now lives in Montreal and we have seen her a few times over the years.”

Shore has played pétanque in Whistler on Bastille Day, though not lately. “I will definitely teach my kids,” he said, “once they can safely handle the heavy metal projectiles.”

As for his motivation to write this book almost 20 years after his stint in Saint-Paul, Shore said, “I have wanted to try my hand at writing for ages, though I never seemed to make the time. On the flight home in 2003, I made some notes about my year in France four years earlier, just so I wouldn’t forget all the humorous and fond memories. Those notes sat in my desk drawer at home until the spring of 2015 when I had a surgery that caused me to be immobile for several weeks. My wife brought me the notes to my lawn chair in the middle of the living room and told me that now was the time to write – and so it began.

“I wrote a lot for about two months and then set it aside until the next spring, when I departed a job and had a health scare around the same time. I then picked up the writing again, determined to finish. I didn’t know if I’d ever publish it, until I was with a friend named Joel Solomon at a workshop at Hollyhock (on Cortes Island) and he encouraged me to get it out there one way or another. Joel introduced me to a small firm, named Page Two Strategies (co-founder is Jesse Finkelstein), who I hired to assist me with the pursuit of a self-publishing path.”

Shore is obviously tenacious.

“I encourage people to pursue challenges and not to accept ‘no’ for answer,” he said. “‘Why not try?’ is a philosophy that I have attempted to live by for my entire adult life.”

Israeli food evolution

Chef David Polivoda (photo from David Polivoda)

When people reflect on Israel’s transformation since the establishment of the state in 1948, they often focus on geographic, political, economic and social changes. Slightly less tumultuous, but no less dramatic, has been Israel’s culinary development. In a country where people like to eat, and to eat a lot, the past 69 years has witnessed an amazing transition in Israeli food habits.

In the first years of statehood, for example, salad fixings were hard to come by, largely due to Israel’s tzena, or austerity program (1949-1959). Yet, even well after the lifting of the tzena, a salad meant finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, maybe with some onion and parsley, with a little lemon juice and olive oil. And this remains a classic Israeli salad. However, the days of such limited ingredients have come and gone.

While certain fruits and vegetables are, of course, seasonal – when you see ample supplies of strawberries and artichokes, you know Pesach is on the way – there is no end to the variety now available. Israeli farmers seem to have mastered the ability to grow just about everything. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as former chef David “Poli” Polivoda explained about the evolution of Israeli food and palates.

First, a bit about Polivoda’s professional background. He began cooking shortly after his army service. Back then, he lived on a kibbutz by the Dead Sea, where he was part of a soldiers’ group that settled in the area. After his discharge, he studied carpentry and animation, but discovered – to the chagrin of the animation studio director – that his true vocation was cooking. He began his career in the Kibbutz Ein Gedi kitchen and, afterward, in its guesthouse.

Since then, Polivoda has worked in Jerusalem corridor guesthouses, on Magic One cruise ships, at the Osem food conglomerate, at various elite Jerusalem hotels, including the King David, and has done chef stints in Europe and in the United States. He also has been a restaurant inspector and now gives culinary tours of Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda.

photo - Chef David Polivoda’s sculpted fruit bowl
Chef David Polivoda’s sculpted fruit bowl. (photo from David Polivoda)

When he first started out, cooking as a profession was not highly regarded. Nowadays, there are countless cookbooks, culinary websites and workshops, televised cooking shows and chef competitions – his chosen profession has earned a “wow” rating. In Israel, Polivoda said there are several places to learn to be a professional chef and there are certificates and national (government) achievement-based licences, as well as more than one association of Israeli chefs.

When he was starting out, a typical meal in a nice hotel meant a steak dinner. Meat was, and still is, relatively expensive, and much of it is imported. Back then, there were few restaurants and the average Israeli’s financial situation did not permit dining out. At home, Israelis typically ate an evening meal of bread, salad, eggs, cheese and plain yogurt (pretty close to what people ate for breakfast).

Polivoda said kashrut limitations have resulted in a lot of creativity as far as food preparation is concerned. For example, Italian cooking has become very popular with Israelis, despite the prohibition against mixing milk and meat – in downtown Jerusalem alone there are at least six kosher Italian dairy restaurants. Israeli chefs have learned to successfully produce tasty meatless Italian dishes.

With respect to hotel meals, Polivoda said the meals are generally much larger than those most Israelis would eat at home. He said in a hotel restaurant, people eat at least a third more. In hotels, buffets are set up for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the focus is on a display of abundance, he explained. Salads were, and remain, an important part of the buffet, but, according to Polivoda, an economic reason lies behind the plentiful spread – a buffet means less wait staff is needed.

He explained that, while hotel management seeks a high level of prepared food, it wants to have it made as cheaply as possible. Thus, restaurants might lower their costs by using cheaper raw ingredients. Two examples of this are Israeli mock chopped liver made from eggplant, rather than from liver, and “Ben-Gurion rice” or ptitim, which are really tiny pieces of hard wheat, that is, pasta.

Still, Polivoda said it is the chef who makes the lasting impression on guests, not the eatery’s manager. And, he said, when people eat out today, they expect more than they did in the past.

Eating habits in Israel have changed for a variety of reasons.

First, Israel is economically better off overall. Many Israelis can afford to travel abroad and those who do come back want to re-experience the tastes they enjoyed during their travels.

As well, Israel now imports a wide range of food products, so people are exposed to more variety. Additionally, the Israeli food industry not only services the increasingly cosmopolitan local population, but has made major inroads in exporting agricultural products.

Finally, Polivoda noted that, on the one hand, Israelis are proud of their cultural background while, on the other hand, they try to turn everything into a business. One result is a broader diversity of choices, with more ethnic restaurants trying to cater to an increasingly diverse population.

However, it’s a tough industry, and Polivoda predicted that many restaurants would come and go, as there are people who go into the business without understanding how hard it is to stay afloat. Meals will become somewhat less plentiful, he said, also noting that there is much waste in the industry.

He presented two optimistic points: prices for dining out will decrease and, as the in-gathering of exiles continues, with newcomers wanting to enjoy something from their roots, ethnic food will continue to have a place in Israeli cuisine.

Deborah Rubin Fields is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

Stay safe on the move

(photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Araos)

More than 200 B.C. children were admitted to hospital last year with pedestrian, cycling or skateboard-related injuries and, of these, almost one-third had major injuries. With summer on the horizon, kids are back outside walking, biking, skating and having fun and it’s important to teach them to make good decisions that keep them safe and sound.

“This is the time of year where we begin to see more and more children in our emergency department with injuries related to bike, skateboard and scooter incidents – many of which are preventable,” said Lisa Romein, manager of B.C. Children’s Hospital trauma program. “As parents, we must educate ourselves and our children to be cautious but to have fun at the same time. We have the ability to prevent many of these injuries from ever happening and to help ensure the warmer months are memorable for all the right reasons.”

The B.C. Trauma Registry reports the following data for transport injuries in the province for kids ages 0-14 during 2015/16:

  • Biking: 117 hospitalizations, 23 of them had major injuries
  • Pedestrian: 57 hospitalizations, 33 of them had major injuries
  • Skateboard: 28 hospitalizations, 3 of them had major injuries

“Sometimes, the fear of injuries can make it hard for parents to let their children get outside and be active,” said Dr. Mariana Brussoni, investigator with the B.C. injury research and prevention unit at B.C. Children’s Hospital, and associate professor with the University of British Columbia department of pediatrics. “But the benefits of active transportation far outweigh the risks. Our research has shown that children with opportunities for active transport are physically active, gain independence and self-confidence, and build the skills they need to stay safe.”

Safe Kids Week, an annual public awareness campaign aimed at reducing preventable injuries in children, was marked across Canada June 5 to 11. This year’s focus was active transportation safety. According to Parachute Canada, a national charitable organization dedicated to preventing injuries and saving lives and the organizer of Safe Kids Week, preventable injuries are the number one killer of Canadian children; one child dies every nine hours in Canada from a preventable injury; and, each year, approximately 4,700 children in Canada are injured due to non-motorized wheeled activities, and another 2,400 children are injured as pedestrians.

To keep kids safe on their travels, here are some tips from Parachute Canada:

  • Teach kids at an early age to look left, right and left again when crossing the road.
  • Always cross the street at corners. Use traffic signals and crosswalks.
  • Walk on sidewalks or paths. No sidewalks? Then walk facing traffic as far away from vehicles as possible.
  • Phones down, heads up when walking. Teach kids to put phones, headphones and other devices down when crossing the street.
  • Be seen. Teach kids to be especially alert and visible to drivers when walking after dark. Brightly coloured clothing and reflective gear help increase visibility.
  • Wear the right helmet for the activity. Bike helmets can be used for in-line skating and scootering, but skateboarding helmets should be used for skateboarding and longboarding; they cover the back of the head better and can protect against more than one crash.
  • Be prepared. Bike safety training and knowing the rules of the road are important for the safety of riders.
  • Always bike ride on the right side of the road in the same direction as traffic to be more visible to drivers.
  • Teach kids on bikes to make sure drivers can see them at all times. Bright, reflective clothing and flashing lights and reflectors help increase visibility.
  • When skateboarding, scootering or in-line skating, wear wrist guards to help prevent broken bones, sprains and wrist and arm fractures.

Elbow pads and kneepads should also be worn for in-line skating.

For more safety information, visit parachutecanada.org/skw-resources.

Urban farming in Vancouver

This photo of Sole Food Street Farms in Downtown Vancouver was almost the cover of our Summer Celebration issue, but the more colourful Gastown scene won out. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

image - Jewish Independent Summer Celebration issue cover 2017Co-founded by Seann Dory and Michael Ableman, Sole Food Street Farms transforms “vacant and contaminated urban land into street farms that grow artisan-quality fruits and vegetables. By providing jobs, agricultural training and inclusion in a community of farmers and food lovers, the Sole Food project has empowered dozens of individuals with limited resources who are managing addiction and chronic mental health problems.” For more information, visit solefoodfarms.com.

Capester reports violations

Capester offers a platform that allows users to report parking violations by filming and submitting legally admissible videos anonymously. (screenshot)

A great idea for an app was born out of a maddening experience for Ohad Maislish, an Israeli who walked with crutches for years following a skydiving accident. When he arrived for Shabbat dinner at his brother’s house, the sole handicap spot was occupied by a car without the proper permit. Since parking inspectors don’t work on Friday nights, he had to go to a police station and file a report, wait for the case to be processed and face the possibility of testifying in court in front of the offender.

Why couldn’t he simply use his smartphone to document the incident? The police explained that because videos can be doctored, such evidence wouldn’t stand up in court. So, Maislish, who started work at Microsoft’s Haifa research and development centre at age 17, called upon his background in computer science – and some friends with digital security and legal expertise – to create Capester, a platform enabling users to report parking violations by filming and submitting legally admissible videos anonymously.

In October 2014, with seed investment from BRM Capital and OurCrowd First, the founders spent 18 months perfecting a mobile app that would meet the court’s standards, assuring that the videos cannot be fabricated or altered. They worked closely with lawyers, including digital evidence expert Haim Ravia, chair of the internet, cyber and copyright group of the Pearl Cohen law firm in Herzliya.

Capester authenticates the video and sends it to the relevant local authority, which then determines whether to ticket the vehicle owner.

“We approached municipalities and each one had its own general counsel examine our legal opinion before approving Capester,” Maislish told Israel21c.

The app is available for Android and iOS from Google Play and the App Store. For each properly documented violation video, Capester – which is based in Petah Tikva – makes a donation to Access Israel, a nonprofit organization promoting accessibility and improved quality of life for people with disabilities in Israel.

“As a private company, we can’t issue tickets but only provide a platform for supplying evidence,” Maislish stressed. “If you record a violation in India, for example, it has to be in a place where we have an agreement with the relevant authority.”

He is not ready to reveal details of future marketing plans. “We are constantly looking to expand our services,” he said.

Moving violations

In related news, two new apps also help Israeli motorists stay safer on the roads.

The National Road Safety Authority, the Israel Police Traffic Department and the nonprofit Nativ Batuach (Safe Lane) organization have partnered to create the Guardians of the Road program. Using an app developed for the project at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, approved volunteers continuously photograph the road and vehicles visible through their windshield. When they see a traffic violation, they prompt the system by voice to deliver a video report to a control centre in the National Road Safety Authority for further evaluation and possible action by the police.

As well, a private startup, Nexar, has launched what it calls the world’s first AI (artificial intelligence) dashcam app. Nexar employs machine vision and sensor fusion algorithms to leverage a smartphone’s sensors to analyze and understand the car’s surroundings and provide documentation in case of accidents. Using this vehicle-to-vehicle network, Nexar also can warn users in real time of dangerous situations beyond their line of sight, effectively giving drivers more time to react. Founded by Eran Shir and Bruno Fernandez-Ruiz in early 2015, the company raised $10 million from Aleph, Mosaic Ventures, True Ventures and Slow Ventures. It has offices in Tel Aviv, New York and San Francisco.

Israel21c is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.

Automakers in Israel

The 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series, Porsche Museum, Stuttgart, 2017. (photo from newsroom.porsche.com)

Porsche is establishing an innovation office in Tel Aviv, investing an eight-figure sum in the Magma and Grove venture capital funds. Further investments in start-ups and funds are planned. “Israel is a key market for IT experts and engineers. It has more start-ups per capita than any other country in the world. This talent and technological know-how coupled with the great expertise offered by our employees creates the ideal breeding ground for future business models,” said Porsche’s Lutz Meschke. He added that close collaboration with Israeli experts is necessary so that the company can quickly assess new technologies, develop good relationships and pilot appropriate solutions.

The Magma Venture (MV) fund is focused on artificial intelligence and automotive: with investments in numerous start-ups, like Waze, MV is one of the major venture capital (VC) funds in Israel and has $600 million US under management. Grove Ventures is a VC company with a volume of $100 million US; its primary early-stage investment areas are the internet of things (IoT), Cloud technologies and artificial intelligence.

– porsche.com

***

Mercedes Benz, General Motors, BMW, Ford, Honda, Uber, Volkswagen, Renault and Volvo also have opened R&D centres in Israel and/or invested in Israeli technology since 2016. The Honda Silicon Valley Lab, Volvo, Hertz International and Israel’s Ituran are sponsoring DRIVE, a new smart-mobility accelerator, co-working space and prototyping lab in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem-headquartered Mobileye, prominent in the engineering of self-driving cars, was acquired by Intel in March for $15.3 billion US. Mobileye is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and corporations including Microsoft to establish an international transportation lab in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

– Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21c

***

Prof. Yoram Shiftan, head of transportation research at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, said Israel “is one of the major contributors to driverless automated car technology.”

– JNS.org

 

 

אובמה דיבר במונטריאול

שלום חבר: אלפים באו לשמוע את ברק אובמה כדי להיזכר בימים טובים יותר של הבית הלבן. (צילום: twitter.com/@chambremontreal)

ברק אובמה, נשיא ארה”ב לשעבר, בפני קהל אלפים אוהד במונטריאול בשבוע שעבר, העביר את המסרים המרכזיים שלו על כל דבר, החל משינויי האקלים ועד למצב הדמוקרטיה. זאת באירוע שאורגן על ידי מועצת המסחר של מטרופולין מונטריאול. כל ששת אלפים הכרטיסים לאירוע החם נמכרו בתוך חמש עשרה דקות. כרטיסים בקדמת האולם עלו 300 דולר ליחיד וגם הם נחטפו במהירות.

אובמה אמר לקהל שהעולם עומד בפני אתגרים קשים כמו נטל הטרור, אי-שוויון גדול יותר מול גלובליזציה ותגובת פופוליסטית גוברת. הסיכוי הטוב ביותר לשגשוג בעתיד הוא עדיין הסדר הבינלאומי שהיה במקום מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה. לדבריו זה כולל סחר חופשי, כלכלת שוק ומדינת הרווחה החברתית שעניקה לאנשים הזדמנות שווה, יחד עם שלטון החוק, ההגירה וכמובן שיתוף הפעולה הבינלאומי. “ארה”ב וכן קנדה עזרו להוביל את המאמץ הזה, שיתפו פעולה יחדיו כדי להפוך את העולם למקום בטוח יותר, צודק ומשגשג”, אמר והוסיף: “ההיסטוריה שלנו, המאמצים המשותפים שלנו, מדברים על מערכת ערכים משותפת שנמשכת שנים על גבי שנים”.

באירוע אובמה לא הזכיר ולו פעם אחת במישרין את את נשיא ארה”ב הנוכחי, דונלד טראמפ, אבל המילים שלו שנבחרו בקפידה בכל זאת כללו ביקורת על הכיוון שאליו נקלע יורשו בחודשים ספורים מאז הוא בתפקיד. אובמה: “אנחנו נמצאים בסביבה שבה אנו מקבלים מידע רק על סמך מהן דעותינו, במקום לבסס את דעותנו על מידע של עובדות שאנו מקבלים, סיבות והגיון”.

אובמה הביע דאגה כי ארה”ב זנחה עכשיו את הסכם האקלים בפריז שהוא עזר רבות להשיגו, ולחתום עליו ביחד עם מדינות משמעותיות ברמת הזיהום שלהן, בהן סין והודו. “ברור שאני מאוכזב”, אמר אובמה. הוא ציין כי חלק גדול מהיסוד שהוטל בהבאת העסקה ההיסטורית הזו בפריז, יבטיח את קיומה. מדינות אחרות ומנהיגי התעשייה תופסים עתה את הלפיד וממשיכים בדרך. הוא אמר כי ההשקעות המשמעותיות שהממשל שלו עשה בתחום החשוב הזה, גורמות לכך שהאנרגיות הירוקות הן בחירות כלכליות נבונות ומתחדשות, שמבוססות על שימוש בשמש והרוח. “אנו פשוט נצטרך לפעול בדחיפות רבה יותר”, אמר אובמה בנוגע לשינוי האקלים. “אני מצפה שארה”ב תהיה המנהיגה ותלך קדימה ולא תעמוד מהצד”.

הנאום של הנשיא לשעבר במונטריאול היה אחד הנאומים הבינלאומיים הראשונים שלו, מאז עזב את המשרד בינואר. העיתוי של האירוע במונטריאול העלה את העניין לגבי מה שהוא אמר, בעקבות החלטת טראמפ לפרוש מהסכם האקלים.

שעות ספורות לפני שאובמה דיבר במונטריאול, יצאה שרת החוץ הקנדית, כריסטיה פרילנד, ואמרה כי קנדה אינה יכולה להסתמך עוד על ארה”ב להגנתה, ולכן עליה להשקיע בצבא שלה. דבריה היווו שינוי משמעותי במדיניות החוץ הקנדית.

לדברי אובמה אמנם יש חוק לא כתוב כי פוליטיקאים לשעבר לא מגיבים על עניינים הנוכחיים, אך הוא הצהיר כי לאחר שיעזוב הבית הלבן, ידבר אם זה יהיה הכרחי. “חשבתי שזה הולך להיות יותר שקט בשבילי במהלך השנה הראשונה”, הוא אמר.

אובמה הוסיף עוד כי זה מסוכן לפקפק בקמוקרטיה, למרות שיש לה פגמים. “אלה שמאמינים בערכים אלה ומאמינים בדמוקרטיה, צריכים לדבר עם שכנוע עמוק. זו הבחירה היחידה שלנו וזה מה שמביא אותנו עד כה”.

האירוע במקור היה אמור להיות סגור לתקשורת, אך שבוע לפני שנערך, קיבלו המארגנים בקשה מאובמה לפתוח אותו למדיה. ולפיכך הנאום הועבר בשידור ישיר ברשת הסי.אן. אן וברשתות השידור הקנדיות.