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okay I
welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me gri the
former peace Envoy Tony Blair once told
me Mano Mano that if he could he would
invade Burma and Zimbabwe too for that
matter now he's working for the very
same Burmese Jun he was ready in 2003 to
invade and topple a gig with Robert
mugabi cannot be far behind Mr Blair
just appointed to head the campaign in
Europe Against Racism and anti-Semitism
has had nothing to say about the
murderous racist Rampage being conducted
by his new friends in Burma and neither
has on sansuk Ki the darling of liberals
throughout the world as a result of her
persecution by the Junta and not a
single Muslim government busy killing
each other in other parts of the world
has lifted a finger to stop the genocide
side against the rohinga Muslims Ramadan
this month for them will be spent trying
to avoid the knives of murderers or in
the hold of listing ships threatening to
take them to a watery grave joining us
now to discuss the crisis is Mr tun King
president of the Burmese rohinga
organization in the UK tun tell us just
how bad is the situation for the rohinga
now well it's very shocking is very
tragic Movement we are facing in our own
country you can see
8,000 uh people rohinga people are
floating in high sea without food and
water they were floating at high sea
more than 6 days and Medias is looking
at only 8,000 people floating at high
sea but International Community like US
Government UK EU governments they have
to look at behind the scene more than
1.3 million ringas are facing genocide
in their own land that's why these
people are fleeing this is what the
situation they are facing that's why
current crisis rohinga refugees are
fleeing uh from BMA that's what these
rohinga refugees are you know in that's
why they're on the high seas yes and the
focus mustn't be on those countries that
will or will not let them in because the
reason they're on the high seas in the
first place is because their own
countrymen are murdering them and the
government of that country is tacitly
encouraging it surely yes they are
encouraging they are investing there and
they are looking at you know Tor like
Norway uh you know Telephone Company
like us you know governments investors
there they are they are not looking at
Human Rights they are investing there
and only they just talking about human
rights but there is no such you know uh
taking action practical action for I
don't know if you were in Britain at the
time but there used to be a lot of Human
Rights stories about BMA when onang
suuki was the victim of Human Rights
abuses she became such a personality she
won the Nobel Prize why are they
ignoring the plight of more than a
million ringas does it have anything to
do with the fact that they're
Muslim yes particularly if you look at
the rohinga issue ringas are facing
ethnic religious and political
persecution and this is manate tragedy
the government designed it to eliminate
to wipe our to eliminate or to wipe out
the rohinga from Arana State this is the
government policy you can see the
situation how International legal
experts are saying facing genocide in
this issue and d s which is she's just
silent she's not speaking up last week
we had a conference in Oso
seven Nobel Prize
winners speaking up about the situation
of rohinga and calling to end systematic
persecution of the rohinga which are
amounts to genocide but until today
she's not as speaking at all now I know
why she's not speaking up because she's
a hypocrite and I always knew that she
was I knew she was a wrong one even when
all the other liberals were faing over
her but
what can you say about those Western
governments that were once upon a time
part of a block against the Jun Mr Blair
even told me as I said in my
introduction that he would if he could
invade and topple them in Burma now
they're working for them and doing
business with them that must make your
blood boil this unbelievable this is
very shocking and Mr B been two three
times in BMA as far as we seen in medias
but we didn't see uh any you know public
statement from his office why he was
there and what he raised about uh human
rights issue particularly rohinga
genocide whether he raised or not we
never know you know I don't think he
rais anything at all and he was there
and we have seen you know nepo with the
top level government's people he was
speaking up there so no he what we can
see is he been meeting all the top
people in the regime and I can assure
you he would not have been concerned
about the rohinga although he's the head
of a faith foundation and now he's the
European Envoy Against Racism and
anti-Semitism and xenophobia now
xenophobia is the real reason for the
barese persecution of the rohinga
because they want to be ethnically pure
Burmese they don't want to accept the
rohinga as being Burmese on racial
grounds am I right yes definitely that's
right and what's the I mean many people
are puzzled people in the west think of
Buddhists as peaceful people who
meditate and chant and uh are kind to
animals and so on but they're not kind
to their own compatriots the rohinga is
this a Buddhist thing or is it a Burmese
nationalist thing or is it
both I should say uh is
uh nationalist first
and that's the way the government
applied the government have been using
many decades brainwash to the bomis
people that ringas are not exist in this
country they are illegal immigrant you
can see how they manipulate the top
level top level what I mean is president
thaning with his own words he mentioned
that these ringas are not citizen of
Bama they are illegal legal immigrant
the only solution is keeping them in
camps and sending them to the third
countries that is what he mentioned in
11 July 2012 to UNR High Commissioner so
as a top level they are spreading up the
words as a anti- ringa campaigning is
very stronger and also as if you look at
a background of in BMA you know uh
nationalism is long time there but the
government is the uh place in a key role
currently they are after president
government came to power anti- rohinga
campaign become a stronger as a result
of that you can see 2012 a state
organized ethnic cleansing or genocide
happened in Arana State and thousands of
rohinga were killed and hundreds of
women were raped new epte system
introduced and
pushing 140,000 rohinga idps internally
displaced persons in IDP camps and and
blocking eight and he's telling that
whether you want to stay in camps
without food or you want to leave the
country he given us two option to the
ringas that's why they are leaving from
what about um the asan community the
Southeast Asian communities I understand
that uh only Malaysia and Indonesia have
received some of the migrants who fled
but only for one year how have the rest
of the regional um governments responded
well is very disturbing is very
disappointing they are talking you know
uh we they giv shelter for one year and
and so on these things but it's not the
issue the issue is why these people are
fleeing from the country why these
people are how are the asan government
towards the bures they put pressure on
the Burmese government they we've been
seeing many times they talk about it a
lot uh but they never go as a practical
action sometimes we have seen that they
used to say it's a internal problem
their internal problem we can't
interfere it but it's become as a
regional problem now uh you can see 29th
of May they had a meeting the meeting
was ended up like you know very
surprisingly ended up they want to
tackle human traffickers and this issues
it's not the point they have to tell the
bomes government you have to treat your
own ethnic rohinga people as a human
way you know you have to get on to
restore their ethnic rights and
citizenship rights otherwise you will
face serious consequences this is the
message they have to them 1.3 million
people are facing this genocide and no
one is speaking up at all and it's been
declared as you say the bares jont has
declared it that we will starve you in
camps or we will Stampede you out of the
country you can die one way or the other
yes it's coming up to Ramadan what do
the Muslim governments of the world have
to say about this can't they lift a
finger to help their co-religionists in
Burma well uh we haven't seen that much
action from them also um or organization
of Islamic cooperation they raising the
issue uh all the time and the point here
is we need to see Collective action
organization of Islamic cooperation US
Government aan European Union have to
come together to find a solution legal
experts are already mentioned this is
genocide denying the right to have
citizenship denying the right to have
medical treatment denying the right to
have food denying the right to have
education denying the right to have
child creating a state sponsored
violence against rohinga and pushing
them to the camps and more than 140,000
rohinga become idps and the blocking of
eight and then they uh they are asking
you whether you want to live as staving
to death in this camps or you live from
the country this is the clearly genocide
that you can see what's happening clear
as any example in recent times we appeal
International Community they need to act
before too late yeah it's the devil or
the deep blue sea T thanks for coming on
board thank you
sock coming up after the break the
Mortal threat to the most London of
institutions the black cap we'll be
right
back welcome back to Sputnik we've lost
our red telephone boxes and our red
pillar boxes may still say Royal Male
but they're owned by the King of Kuwait
rather than the Queen of England not
much of a 62nd anniversary of your
coronation there ma'am now our black
cabs like our starlings and SP arrows
before them may begin to disappear from
London streets the Predator is Uber the
$40 billion US Corporation banned in
many places around the world but on
course at least at present to choke the
life out of any and all competition and
establish the mother of all monopolies
joining us now is Steve McNamara General
Secretary of the licensed taxi drivers
Association Steve welcome on the Sputnik
just for those who don't yet know what
does Uber do and why is it a threat Uber
is a glorified mini Cab Company um
anyone who's lived in the UK would would
know there's two types of service
there's the taxi service the black cab
service that you hail on the street or
you get at an airport or a station Rank
and there's a mini cab which is a a
traditional sort of saloon car that you
can call up and and hire Uber is a
glorified mini cab service but instead
of being able to call it or book it on
the internet you use it rather by an app
on your smartphone so the mini cab
didn't put the Black Cab out of business
though many predicted that it might
because black cabs offer something
special and we'll come to that in a
minute why is Uber such a mortal threat
the the the big difference is that the
taxi service in London is the most
regulated and controlled taxi industry
anywhere in the world um the drivers
we're told what vehicles to drive we're
told what to charge we are licensed uh
very very strictly indeed we have to
jump through so many Hoops you have to
spend three or four years learning your
way around lots and lots of controls on
the taxi industry what's happened is
we're now competing with somebody who is
is is virtually unregulated Uber are
being allowed to do what they want when
they want um they're acting as taxi cabs
in London they're driving a horse and
cart through the rules and regulations
that govern us and govern the mini cab
industry and incidentally it's just not
us that say this the established mini
cab industry are saying the same thing
um and what's happening they're being
allowed to drive a horse and cart for
the rules and regulations they're doing
it exactly what they want completely
unhindered by transport for London who
regulate taxes and private hir in London
under the mayor of Boris Johnson the
mayor was here of Boris Johnson and as a
result we we're struggling um we the
unskilled labor driving uninsured cheap
cars um being held on the street using
an app using a mea to charge fairs all
of these things they're not allowed to
do all of them they're being allowed to
do and uh The Regulators say to us when
we say why are they being allow allowed
to do this it's oh it's a competition
well that's the their Mantra of course
uh competition but it's not fair
competition because my son-in-law is
doing the knowledge at the moment hopes
to be one of your members uh before very
long if the trade still exists by the
time he's finished uh these hoops that
you talk about are necessary Hoops
because they are character Hoops they
are uh criminal record and other
personality and behavior
checks the standard of the vehicle has
to be just so the cleanliness of it has
to be just so and of course the
knowledge of where you're actually going
uh and and you can be held to account if
you go the wrong way uh in a black cab
but you can't in an Uber no Uber are
allowed to do exactly what they want all
of the things that you've said with as I
say you transport for land set Affairs
they make they make it they test me and
and and your son-in-law will be tested
that he knows every single Street within
six miles of Charing without a SAT n he
just knows all the names of the streets
public buildings theaters restaurants
anything that a passenger could want to
know you have to know all of these
things we're made to do they then tell
us what to charge they make us drive one
of the most expensive vehicles on the
road a black cab um the cheapest one at
the moment is about £40,000 to buy cost
a fortune to run they do probably 18 20
miles to the gallon and we constantly
check for safety of the vehicle all of
which is great you know the vehicle's
checked on Street the Vehicles checked
every 3 months to make sure it's safe on
Street compliance officers turning up on
ranks opening a bonnet checking
everything all of which is great ures
Public Safety unfortunately we're now
competing with somebody and many of the
vehicles are not even insured many of
the people driving them and not even on
the The Uber platform what's happening
at the moment is you sign up for Uber
and then during at the weekend you just
give the phone to your brother or your
neighbor and he goes out in the car he
hasn't even been checked let alone that
you've been checked he hasn't been
checked they don't even know who's
driving the car and the regulators and
the police are telling us it's
competition hardly a Level Playing Field
all we're asking for is enforce the
existing laws you wrote the laws you
made them just enforce them we're happy
to follow them why can't everybody else
and you say competition but there are
obviously places who successfully have
banned Uber yeah Uber's been banned in
various places around the world and the
difference being that they weren't
licensed or regulated there the idea of
a license Market is that you have to
comply with the licensing regulations
before you can you can operate um I let
me just give you some of the the the
stories that we get from tfl now to be a
licensed operator a mini cab operator
there's various requirements you have to
go through but one of them is you got to
have a landline a fixed landline and
that that ensures that the public can
ring you and contact you so Uber haven't
got a landline so when we say to tfl you
a simple one there's lots of others
haven't got a landline they say ah they
only need a landline on the day they
apply
uh only on the day they apply why would
anyone write legislation where you only
needed a landline on the day you
obviously Parliament intended them to
have a landline there's no two ways
about it now I introduced them as a 40
billion US Corporation how on Earth did
they amass that level of capital and
what's the purpose of it if not to drive
out all competition well firstly you're
wrong it's probably approaching $50
billion I'm now informed this week uh
the the week before it was 48 billion
I'm now told this morning it's
approaching 50 billion Uber's business
model is the complete mystery to many
people what happens at the moment they
get money in from various um Venture
capitalists and various funding options
and they pump it out the door in the
form of free rides what they do at the
moment if you sign up to Uber you'll get
A10 pound voucher you then text George
your code he gets A10 voucher he texts
me I get A10 pound voucher once I get
one you then get another one because
they trace it back to you they're
pumping money out the door um they're
bringing it in and they're spending it
quite what the business model is I
really don't see cuz at the moment
they're not making any money they're
just spending it yeah um but that's what
you do if you want to create a monopoly
um you you basically undercut everyone
else free giveaways two for the price of
one and all of that in this case three
four five for the price of one and once
you've got the Monopoly of course the
market is yours to exploit as you will
uh whereas your fairs are regulated
theirs will not be and the only way will
be up so how seriously are the cab trade
taking this what do you plan to do as
the leader of uh of the association
right well what we did George the first
thing we did we we approached the bar
and transport for London and we laid out
very specific and clear breaches of the
rules and regulations by Uber and we
said these are the offenses they're
committing is is is the they they're
using a meter they're not allowed to
they're accepting automatic house in the
street they're not allowed to the driver
takes the booking in the car they're not
allowed to it's meant to be done an
operation Center um that they're they're
taking a booking in London and
processing it in Holland in order to
avoid paying tax I'll come to that in a
moment they're supposed to be taken to
so we lay this big long list of
complaints in front of the regulator and
we say this is what they're doing
they've then come back it took them
months to come back they've come back
with various reasons why they don't
think it's quite illegal and why perhaps
they should be doing this lots and lots
of very lame excuses to why they're not
operating as a result of that and
they're refusal to act uh we' have taken
out private prosecutions against Uber
and the first one we've taken out is for
the use of meter they very clearly using
a meter to price fairs um that's
currently going before the high court
we're very shortly to issue private
prosecutions for applying for hire
taking bookings in a car and operating
without a license once again our members
having to fund this because the
regulator won't do it questions need to
be asked as to why the regulator won't
do it it's very clear what's going on um
and and all the time it's an uphill
struggle we get to the magistrates court
and the first thing the magistrates want
to know is well why the why are the
authorities not doing this why are you
doing it why is if it's a the issue you
say the the regulator should act we're
we're on the back foot all the time but
we are in the courts we are pursuing
Uber but we're fighting on two fronts
not only are we fighting in the courts
but Uber have got
250,000 p a month PR budget which
they're spending with the media across
the media try and find many articles
criticizing Uber just recently there's
been a few but prior to that it was all
good news with Uber because of the money
they're spending with journalists
because of the money they're spending
with PR and marketing
companies we're fighting an uphill
battle
but we've taken to the streets on
several occasions to raise our profile
we're shortly to raise our the whole
profile of the matter let me tell you
what Uber do they're very very careful
who they employ they pay big money and
they very select who they employ they've
just employed Rachel wetstone she used
to be the head of PR and marketing at
Google her husband is Steve Hilton the
famous Downing Street Guru personal
friend of David Cameron in fact I
believe she was the god parent to one of
his children he's now David Cameron when
we did a demonstration last week has
popped up Suddenly in favor of choice
and he's in favor of the consumer quite
why he's in favor of the consumer being
put a RIS by an unregulated an
unlicensed firm is is a questions that
need to be
asked all of this is to keep exerting
Uber's influence their tentacles are
getting deep into politics I mean you
know more than most the the lobbying and
stuff that goes on there are not trouble
Cameron that they don't pay tax because
of all these devices doesn't seem to
trouble Cameron at all it certainly
doesn't seem to trouble George I'm right
about that they don't pay tax Uber don't
pay any tax in the UK this $50 billion
US Corporation of Dom inside their self
in Holland in Holland they've got
special vat exemptions of only 6% for
transport companies so they take
advantage of that by diling theel in
Holland in the UK they'll tell you
they're not a Transport company they're
a technology provider yet they doil
theel in Holland and tell the Dutch
authorities they're a Transport company
to take advantage of that they're not
paying a penny tax in the UK and the
irony of it is Uber sell their to um as
as potential earning income to to um to
unskilled people they tell them you can
become a mini C driver come on to Uber
and you'll earn £40,000 a year and
understandably with the economy the way
it is and unemployment the way it is
many people sign up to that that
lifestyle and that commitment why
wouldn't you they get theirself a car
they they they get theirself a a mini
cab license and very quickly they
realize that in order to earn minimum
wage uh they've got to be working 12 or
14 hours a day if they want to earn
anything above minimum wage they got to
be working 8 18 hours a day as a result
many of the mini Uber drivers are
claiming tax credits and other
department of work and pensions benefits
which they're entitled to for not
earning enough money so they're not Uber
ain't paying us tax and the taxpayer is
paying Uber's drivers sounds like a
David Cameron scheme to me Steve we've
got to leave it there but we're going to
talk about this again good luck with
your
campaign and now it's your time to tell
us what you think through the portals of
social media what's rattling gatri well
a lot of outrage obviously on the
situation of the rohinga Muslims sayat
says lack of unity will always cause
Muslims to suffer humiliation no matter
what # OIC and a surprising response on
the Uber matter there seems to be a lot
of uber fans out there Adam Tudor says
consumer demand and the free market win
adapt and overcome or become obsolete
yes well that's the law of the Jungle uh
some of us don't want to live in the
jungle loric adds the public seems to
favor Uber cheap and convenient black
caps have to adapt or face Extinction
well uh depends uh how convenient it is
if you get into an uninsured lousy
saloon car sleepy uh with a driver who's
been working 18 hours and whose
background has not been checked and who
might just be well dodgy won't seem so
cheap and convenient then well that's
all that we've got for this week which
alas means that's the end of the show
you can stay in touch with us on Twitter
at rtor Sputnik and on Facebook Sputnik
on Russia today it's goodbye from me
gatri and from me George Gall it's been
marvelous
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