title: Sustainable fashion

text: Other than cotton, the most common plant-based fiber, cellulose fibers include: jute, flax, hemp, ramie, abaca, bamboo (used for viscose), soy, corn, banana, pineapple, beechwood (used for rayon). Alternative fibers such as bamboo (in yarn) and hemp (of a variety that produces only a tiny amount of the psychoactive component found in cannabis) are coming into greater use in so-called eco-fashions. Bacterial cellulose is currently being tested and better developed as a new fiber alternative. These are the type of fibers that are made out of bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms that spins cellulose during the fermentation process. This material is easy for fashion designers to use because it compresses while drying, knits itself while evaporating, and take little to no effort to color.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Cotton, also known as vegetable wool, is a major source of apparel fiber. Celebrated for its excellent absorbency, durability, and intrinsic softness, cotton accounts for over 50% of all clothing produced worldwide. This makes cotton the most widely used clothing fiber. Up to 1 billion people worldwide depend on the cotton industry for their livelihoods, including 100 million smallholder farmers.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Cotton is one of the most chemical-intensive crops in the world. Conventionally grown cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the world's pesticides. However, growing and processing this particular fiber crop is largely unsustainable. For every pound of cotton harvested, a farmer uses up 1/3 lb of chemical, synthetic fertilizer. As a whole, the US cotton production makes up 25% of all pesticides deployed in the United States. Worldwide, cotton takes up 2.4% of all arable lands yet requires 16% of the world's pesticides. The cotton hulls contain the most potent insecticide residues. They are often used as cattle feed, which means that consumers are purchasing meat containing a concentration of pesticides. The processing of cotton into usable fibers also adds to the burden on the environment. Manufacturers prefer cotton to be white so that cotton can easily be synthetically dyed to any shade of color. Natural cotton is actually beige-brown, and so during processing, manufacturers would add bleach and various other chemicals and heavy metal dyes to make cotton pure white. Formaldehyde resins would be added in as well to form "easy care" cotton fabric.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: To reduce the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, companies have produced genetically modified (GMO) cotton plants that are resistant to pest infestations. Among the GMO are cotton crops inserted with the Bt ("Bacillus thuringiensis") gene. Bt cotton crops do not require insecticide applications. Insects that consume cotton containing Bt will stop feeding after a few hours, and die, leaving the cotton plants unharmed.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: As a result of the use of Bt cotton, the cost of pesticide applications decreased between $25 and $65 per acre. Bt cotton crops yield 5% more cotton on average compared to traditional cotton crops. Bt crops also lower the price of cotton by 0.8 cents per pound.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: However, there are concerns regarding Bt technology, mainly that insects will eventually develop resistance to the Bt strain. According to an article published in Science Daily, researchers have found that members from a cotton bollworm species, "Helicoverpa zea", were Bt-resistant in some crop areas of Mississippi and Arkansas during 2003 and 2006. Fortunately, the vast majority of other agricultural pests remain susceptible to Bt.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Micha Peled's documentary exposé Bitter seeds on BT farming in India claimed to reveal the true impact of genetically modified cotton on India's farmers, with a suicide rate of over a quarter-million Bt cotton farmers since 1995 due to financial stress resulting from massive crop failure and the exorbitantly high price of Monsanto's proprietary BT seed, although the evidence doesn't support this claim as the suicide rate of Indian famers has decreased since the introduction of Bt cotton. The film also refutes false claims purported by the biotech industry that Bt cotton requires less pesticide and empty promises of higher yields, as farmers discover the bitter truth that in reality, Bt cotton in fact requires a great deal more pesticide than organic cotton, and often suffer higher levels of infestation by Mealybug resulting in devastating crop losses, and extreme financial and psychological stress on cotton farmers. Due to the biotech seed monopoly in India, where Bt cotton seed has become the ubiquitous standard, and the organic seed has become absolutely unobtainable, thus coercing all cotton farmers into signing Bt cotton seed purchase agreements which enforce the intellectual property interests of the biotech multinational corporation Monsanto.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Organic cotton is grown without the use of any genetic modification to the crops, without the use of any fertilizers, pesticides, and other synthetic agro-chemicals harmful to the land. All cotton marketed as organic in the United States is required to fulfill strict federal regulations regarding how the cotton is grown. This is done with a combination of innovation, science, and tradition in order to encourage a good quality of life and environment for all involved. Organic cotton uses 88% less water and 62% less energy than conventional cotton.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Cotton is naturally grown in a variety of colors. Typically, cotton color can come as mauve, red, yellow, and orange hues. The use of naturally colored cotton has long been historically suppressed, mainly due to the industrial revolution. Back then, it was much cheaper to have uniformly white cotton as a raw source for mass-producing cloth and fabric items. Currently, modern markets have revived a trend in using naturally colored cotton for its noted relevance in reducing harmful environmental impacts. One such example of markets opening to these cotton types would be Sally Fox and her Foxfiber business—naturally colored cotton that Fox has bred and marketed. On an additional note, naturally colored cotton is already colored, and thus do not require synthetic dyes during process. Furthermore, the color of fabrics made from naturally colored cotton does not become worn and fade away compared to synthetically dyed cotton fabrics.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Soy fabrics are derived from the hulls of soybeans—a manufacturing byproduct. Soy fabrics can be blended (i.e. 30%) or made entirely out of soy fibers. Soy clothing is largely biodegradable, so it has a minimal impact on environment and landfills. Although not as durable as cotton or hemp fabrics, soy clothing has a soft, elastic feel. Soy clothing is known as the vegetable cashmere for its light and silky sensation. Soy fabrics are moisture absorbent, anti-bacterial, and UV resistant. However, soy fabrics fell out of public knowledge during World War II, when rayon, nylon, and cotton sales rose sharply.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Hemp, like bamboo, is considered a sustainable crop. It requires little water to grow, and it is resistant to most pests and diseases. The hemp plant's broad leaves shade out weeds and other plant competitors, and its deep taproot system allows it to draw moisture deep in the soil. Unlike cotton, many parts of the hemp plant have a use. Hemp seeds, for example, are processed into oil or food. Hemp fiber comes in two types: primary and secondary bast fibers. Hemp fibers are durable and are considered strong enough for construction uses. Compared to cotton fiber, hemp fiber is approximately 8 times the tensile strength and 4 times the durability.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Hemp fibers are traditionally coarse and have been historically used for ropes rather than for clothing. However, modern technology and breeding practices have made hemp fiber more pliable, softer, and finer.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Bamboo fabrics are made from heavily pulped bamboo grass. Making clothing and textile from bamboo is considered sustainable due to the lack of need for pesticides and agrochemicals. Naturally disease and pest resistant, bamboo is also fast growing. Compared to trees, certain varieties of bamboo can grow 1–4 inches long per day, and can even branch and expand outward because of its underground rhizomes. Like cotton fibers, bamboo fibers are naturally yellowish in color and are bleached white with chemicals during processing.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Furnished by a grant from the US. Environmental Protection Agency, associate professor Young-A Lee and her team are growing vats of gel-like film composed of cellulose fiber, a byproduct of the same symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeast (abbreviated SCOBY) found in another of the world's popular "live culture" foods: kombucha. Once harvested and dried, the resulting material has a look and feel much like leather. The fibers are 100 percent biodegradable, they also foster a cradle-to-cradle cycle of reuse and regeneration that leaves behind virtually zero waste. However, this material takes a long time to grow about three to four weeks under lab-controlled conditions. Hence mass production is an issue. In addition, tests revealed that moisture absorption from the air softens this material makes it less durable. Researchers also discovered that cold conditions make it brittle.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Protein fibers originate from animal sources and are made up of protein molecules. The basic elements in these protein molecules being carbon, hydrogen oxygen and nitrogen. Natural protein fibers include: wool, silk, angora, camel, alpaca, llama, vicuna, cashmere, and mohair.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Just as in cotton production, pesticides are conventionally used in the cultivation of wool, although quantities are considerably smaller, and it is thought that good practices can significantly limit negative environmental impacts. Sheep are treated either with injectable insecticides, a pour-on preparation or dipped in a pesticide bath to control parasite infections, which if left untreated can have serious health implications for the flock. When managed badly, these pesticides can cause harm to human health and aquatic ecosystems both on the farm and in subsequent downstream processing.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Most commercially produced silk is of the cultivated variety and involves feeding the worms a carefully controlled diet of mulberry leaves grown under special conditions. Selected mulberry trees are grown to act as homes for the silkworms. The fibers are extracted by steaming to kill the silk moth chrysalis and then washed in hot water to degum the silk. The silk fiber is known for its strength and is considered a prestigious fiber. Its use in textiles is limited due to its high cost. Most silkworms used to produce silk are not harmed in the process and are grown in their natural habitat, essentially "free range". The silk industry also employs millions of people in rural China.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Cashmere is obtained from the fine, soft hairs of a cashmere goat's underbelly coat. This specific breed of goat is found throughout Asia. Due to the rarity of the breed, four goats are needed to produce enough cashmere for one sweater. Initially, cashmere was relatively expensive, but due to increased demand, the industry is beginning to take a toll on animals and the land. More and more goats are needed which results in more mouths to feed. Overpopulation of the goats degrades the land due to increased grazing. The cashmere industry is becoming more and more controversial with the questioning of the working conditions of goat herders and the underpaying of farmers. Oxfam reported in Spring 2021 on a project in Afghanistan being undertaken jointly with the Burberry Foundation and PUR Projet, working with goat farmers to improve their business operations and make the Afghan cashmere industry more sustainable.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Italian company Zero Grado Espace has developed MuSkin, an alternative to leather made from the cap of the phellinus ellipsoideus mushroom, a parasitic fungus that grows in subtropical forests. It is water repellent and contains natural penicillin substances which limit bacteria proliferation.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Wild Rubber, developed by Flavia Amadeu and Professor Floriano Pastore at the University of Brazil, is an initiative that promotes wild rubber material which comes from the sap or latex of the pará rubber tree that grows within a biodiverse ecosystem in the Amazon Rainforest, Acre, Brazil. It is tapped by local communities who typically have a close relationship the forest and will gather medicinal plants or wild food during their tapping rounds.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Qmilch GmbH, a German company has innovated a process to produce a textile fiber from casein in milk but it cannot be used for consumption. Qmilk fiber is made from 100% renewable resources. In addition, for the production of 1 kg of fiber Qmilch GmbH needs only 5 minutes and max. 2 liters of water. This implies a particular level of cost efficiency and ensures a minimum of emissions. Qmilk fiber is biodegradable and leaves no traces. In addition, it is naturally antibacterial, especially against the bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and is ideal for people that suffer from textile allergies.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Fabrics made from Qmilk fiber provide high wearing comfort and a silky feel. The organic fiber is tested for harmful substances and dermatologically tested for the wearer's skin and body compatibility 0% chemical additives.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Manufactured fibers sit within three categories: Manufactured cellulosic fibers, manufactured synthetic fibers and manufactured protein fiber (azlon). Manufactured cellulosic fibers include modal, Lyocell (also known under the brand name Tencel), rayon/viscose made from bamboo, rayon/viscose made from wood and polylactic acid (PLA). Manufactured synthetic fibers include polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic fiber, polyethylene and polypropylene (PP). Azlon is a manufactured protein fiber. Rayon/ viscose is a fiber out of pulp highly used in fast fashion as it is cheaply manufactured. To extract rayon/viscose, plantations cut down 30% of endangered and ancient forests threatening the life of ecosystems.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: PET plastics are also known as Polyethylene terephthalate(PETE). PET's recycling code, the number within the three chasing arrows, is one. These plastics are usually beverage bottles (i.e. water, soda, and fruit juice bottles). According to the EPA, plastic accounts for 12% of the total amount of waste we produce. Recycling plastic reduces air, water, and ground pollution. Recycling is only the first step; investing and purchasing products manufactured from recycled materials is the next of many steps to living sustainably.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Clothing can be made from plastics. Seventy percent of plastic-derived fabrics come from polyester, and the type of polyester most used in fabrics is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET plastic clothing come from reused plastics, often recycled plastic bottles. The Coca-Cola Company, for example, created a "Drink2Wear" line of T-shirts made from recycled bottles. Generally, PET plastic clothing are made from recycled bottles as follows: plastic bottles are collected, compressed, baled, and shipped into processing facilities where they will be chopped into flakes, and melted into small white pellets. Then, the pellets are processed again, and spun into yarn-like fiber where it can be made into clothing. One main benefit of making clothes from recycled bottles is that it keep the bottles and other plastics from occupying landfill space. Another benefit is that it takes 30% less energy to make clothes from recycled plastics than from virgin polyesters.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Alexander Bismarck and Mitchell Jones from the University of Vienna have conducted research on the possibility of using fungal species to create sustainable leather alternatives. Leather alternatives can be produced by using byproducts of agricultural products such as sawdust. The sawdust acts as a feedstock for the growth of fungal mycelium. After a few weeks, the fungal bacteria can be processed and chemically treated into a leather-like material. The researchers state that these fungal biomasses exhibit similar material and tactile properties as authentic leather. Using fungal biomass to create a leather alternative is sustainable as the entire process is carbon neutral and all the materials are completely biodegradable when they are done being used.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Whereas many producers have since the turn of the century been striving for a cradle-to-cradle model of production, or a circular economy, there has so far been no successful example of fully sustainable production, as there is environmental impact from all extractive production practices (in processes of material production, dying, assembly, accessorizing, shipping, retail, washing, recycling etc.) There are many small initiatives towards change, yet so far, all these incremental improvements have been drowned by the explosive popularity of "fast" fashion and its economy of extraction, consumption, waste.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: The global political economy and legal system supports a fashion system that enables fashion that has devastating environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts to be priced at a lower price than fashion which involves efforts to minimize harm in the growth, manufacturing, and shipping of the products. This results in higher prices for fashion made from reduced impact materials than clothing produced in a socially and environmentally damaging way (sometimes referred to as conventional methods).


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Innovative fashion is being developed and made available to consumers at different levels of the fashion spectrum, from casual clothing to haute couture which has a reduced social and environmental impact at the materials and manufacture stages of production and celebrities, models, and designers have recently drawn attention to socially conscious and environmentally friendly fashion.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: 3D seamless knitting is a technology that allows an entire garment to be knit with no seams. This production method is considered a sustainable practice due to its reduction in waste and labor. By only using the necessary materials, the producers will be more efficient in their manufacturing process. This production method is similar to seamless knitting, although traditional seamless knitting requires stitching to complete the garment while 3D seamless knitting creates the entire garment, eliminating additional work. The garments are designed using 3D software unlike traditional flat patterns. Shima Seiki and Stoll are currently the two primary manufacturers of the technology. The technology is produced through the use of solar energy, and they are selling to brands like Max Mara.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Zero waste design in fashion is a concept that aims to reduce material waste throughout the textile and fashion production process. Although the concept has existed for a number of years on the grounds of reducing costs through reducing waste, zero waste design is increasingly being integrated into fashion production for environmental reasons. Zero-waste pattern making designs patterns for a garment so that when the pattern pieces are cut, no fabric is wasted.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Traditional methods of dyeing textiles are incredibly harmful towards the earth's water supply, creating toxic chemicals that affect entire communities. An alternative to traditional water dyeing is sc dyeing (super critical carbon dioxide). This process creates no waste by using 100% of the dyes, reducing energy by 60% with no auxiliary chemicals, and leaving a quarter of the physical footprint of traditional dyeing. Different names for this process are Drydye and Colordry. Another company called Colorep has patented Airdye, a similar process that they claim uses 95% less water and up to 86% less energy than traditional dyeing methods.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: No brand is considered by environmental experts to be fully sustainable, and controversy exists over exactly how the concept of sustainability can be applied in relation to fashion, if it can be used at all, or if labels such as "slow" and "sustainable" fashion are inherently an oxymoron. Brands that sell themselves as sustainable often lack systems to deal with oversupply, take back used clothes, fully recycle fibers, offer repair services, or even support the life of the garment during use (such as instructions on washing, care and repair). Almost no brands offer replacement parts, such as buttons, straps or pockets, for their garments.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Some comparison websites exist which compare fashion brands on their sustainability record, which give some indication to consumers about the sustainability of their products.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: There is no certain stable model among the designers for how to be sustainable in practice, and the understanding of sustainability is always a process or a work-in-progress, and varies by who defines what is "sustainable;" farmers or animals, producers or consumers, managers or workers, local businesses or neighborhoods. Thus critical scholars would label much of the business-driven discourse on sustainability as "greenwashing" as under the current economic paradigm, "sustainability" is primarily defined as keeping the wheels of perpetual production and consumption turning; to keep the "perpetuum mobile" of fashion running and in perpetual motion.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: There are some designers that experiment in making fashion more sustainable, with various degrees of impact;


title: Sustainable fashion

text: A question at the foundation of sustainable fashion concerns exactly what is to be "sustained" of the current model of fashion. Controversies thus emerge what stakeholder agendas should be prioritized over others. There is also the associated concern of how to curb the practice of greenwashing on one hand, ad also ensure that firms that promote such practices are subject to increased scrutiny and criticism on the other.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: The increase in western consumers' environmental interest is motivating companies to use sustainable and environmental arguments solely to increase sales. Because environmental and sustainability issues are complex, it is also easy to mislead consumers. Companies can use sustainability as a “marketing ploy” something that can be seen as greenwashing. Greenwashing is the deceptive use of an eco-agenda in marketing strategies. It refers mostly to corporations that make efforts to clean up their reputation because of social pressure or for the purpose of financial gain. Companies continuing to using greenwashing in turn hurts companies that are true to their environmental goals, losing their competitive edge to bigger corporations.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: A major controversy on sustainable fashion concerns how the "green" imperative is used as a cover-up for systemic labor exploitation, social exclusion and environmental degradation, what is generally labelled as greenwashing. Market-driven sustainability can only address sustainability to a certain degree as brands still need to sell more products in order to be profitable. Thus almost any initiative towards addressing ecological and social issues still contributes to the damage. In a 2017 report, the industry projects that the overall apparel consumption will rise by 63%, from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons in 2030, thus effectively erasing any environmental gains made by current initiatives. As long as the business models of fashion brands are based on growth as well as production and sales of high quantities of garment, almost all initiatives from the industry remain labelled as greenwashing.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Though organic cotton is considered a more sustainable choice for fabric, as it uses fewer pesticides and chemical fertilizers, it remains less than 1% global cotton production. Hurdles to growth include cost of hand labor for hand weeding, reduced yields in comparison to conventional cotton and absence of fiber commitments from brands to farmers before planting seed. The up front financial risks and costs are therefore shouldered by the farmers, many of whom struggle to compete with economies of scale of corporate farms.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Though some designers have marketed bamboo fiber, as an alternative to conventional cotton, citing that it absorbs greenhouse gases during its life cycle and grows quickly and plentifully without pesticides, the conversion of bamboo fiber to fabric is the same as rayon and is highly toxic. The FTC ruled that labeling of bamboo fiber should read "rayon from bamboo". Bamboo fabric can cause environmental harm in production due to the chemicals used to create a soft viscose from hard bamboo. Impacts regarding production of new materials make recycled, reclaimed, surplus, and vintage fabric arguably the most sustainable choice, as the raw material requires no agriculture and no manufacturing to produce. However, these are indicative of a system of production and consumption that creates excessive volumes of waste.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: There are "charities" that are actually for-profit organizations. These organizations are often multibillion-dollar firms that keep profits accrued from selling donated clothing. Monetary donations are given for public goodwill, but only at relatively few percentages. Such organizations often use drop-off boxes to collect clothes. These drop-off boxes look similar to their non-profit counterparts, which mislead the public into donating their clothes to them. Such public deception prompted backlash, such as when the mayor of Sedro-Woolley called for the city's removal of for-profit clothing donation bins. Organisations such as Charity Navigator aim to provide people with a way of discerning how trustworthy a charity's activities are before they donate time, money or goods.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Used clothing is sold in more than 100 countries. In Tanzania, used clothing is sold at the (Swahili for "secondhand") markets. Most of the clothing is imported from the United States. However, there are concerns that trade in secondhand clothing in African countries decreases development of local industries even as it creates employment in these countries. While the reuse of materials brings resource savings, there are some concerns that the influx of cheap, second-hand clothing, particularly in Africa, has undermined indigenous textile industries, with the result that clothing collected in the West under the guise of 'charitable donations' could actually create more poverty. The authors of "Recycling of Low Grade Clothing Waste" warn that in the long run, as prices and quality of new clothing continue to decline, the demand for used clothing will also diminish.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: In the European Union, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations required in 2007 that clothing manufacturers and importers identified and quantified the chemicals used in their products.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: On May 3, 2012, the world's largest summit on fashion sustainability was held in Copenhagen, gathering more than 1,000 key stakeholders in the industry to discuss the importance of making the fashion industry sustainable. Copenhagen Fashion Summit has since then gathered thousands of people from the fashion industry in their effort to create a movement within the industry.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: In July 2012, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition launched the Higg Index, a self-assessment standard designed to measure and promote sustainable supply chains in the apparel and footwear industries. Founded in 2011, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition is a nonprofit organisation whose members include brands producing apparel or footwear, retailers, industry affiliates and trade associations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, academic institutions and environmental nonprofits. The Global Change Award, is an innovation challenge created by the H&M foundation. It created a trend report in 2017 to look at the future of sustainable fashion.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: In 2019, the UK Parliament's Environment Audit Committee published a report and recommendations on the future of fashion sustainability, suggesting wide-ranging systemic change, not least government regulation and tax-incentives for sustainable practices, such as lowered VAT for repair services. The report highlights the need for wide political and social changes to push the fashion industry towards more sustainable practices and levels of consumption, with the goal of "less harm" being too low to be of any helpful consequence. The report finishes:


title: Sustainable fashion

text: Retailers must take responsibility for the social and environmental cost of clothes. They should use their market power to demand higher environmental and labour standards from suppliers. Offering rental schemes, lifetime repair and providing the consumer with more information about the sourcing and true cost of clothing are all measures that can be more widely adopted. Shifting business practice in this way can not only improve a business' environmental and social impact but also offer market advantage as they respond to the growing consumer demand for responsible, sustainable clothing.


title: Sustainable fashion

text: This study investigates the challenges associated with implementing sustainability in fashion design by identifying the perceptions, attitudes, and involvement of fashion design practitioners in sustainability. Both design and designer roles are key to inspiring sustainable design practices; their role can contribute to sustainability by shaping design production practices and influencing consumption processes.


title: Paiyaa

text: Paiyaa () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action-adventure film written, produced and directed by N. Linguswamy. It stars Karthi and Tamannaah, with Sonia Deepti, Milind Soman and Jagan appearing in supporting roles. The film, produced by N. Subash Chandra Bose under the banner of Thirupathi Brothers and distributed by Dhayanidhi Alagiri's Cloud Nine Movies, features a film score and soundtrack composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematography by Madhi and editing by Anthony Gonsalves.


title: Paiyaa

text: In the film, a young woman is driven from Bangalore to Mumbai by a jobless young man who must evade gangsters chasing after them, as well as confront his own violent past in the city. Following a lengthy pre-production phase, during which the film underwent major changes in its main cast and its technical crew, it began shooting in December 2008 at various locations throughout South India, most notably in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.


title: Paiyaa

text: "Paiyaa" was released on 2 April 2010 to positive reviews and was commercially successful. The Telugu dubbed version of the film titled "Awara" was released on 21 May 2010 in Andhra Pradesh and received positive response. The film was remade in Bengali in 2012 as "Jaaneman", starring Soham Chakraborty and Koel Mallick, and in Kannada in 2014 as "Ajith", with Chiranjeevi Sarja playing the male lead.


title: Paiyaa

text: Shivamanikandan aka Shiva is a young, carefree, unemployed man staying in Bangalore. He has a loyal group of friends, including his best friend, Priya, with whom he shares his feelings. His friends are determined to get him a job. One day he sees a young, beautiful woman named Charulatha, who is also looking for a job. Shiva is immediately attracted to her. He subsequently spots Charulatha on various occasions and follows her, but loses sight of her each time. He even misses a job interview Priya has arranged for him.


title: Paiyaa

text: Later, as Shivamanikandan waits at the railway station to pick up a friend and owner of the Mitsubishi Lancer Shivamanikandan and his friends use, he is confronted by a tense Charulatha, accompanied by her uncle. They assume that Shivamanikandan is a cab driver and ask him to take them to Chennai. An excited Shivamanikandan accepts the offer and takes them. While stopping to refuel the car, Charulatha suddenly requests Shivamanikandan to drive on, leaving her uncle behind; Shivamanikandan does as she wishes and takes off. She first asks Shivamanikandan to drop her at the airport, but she misses the flight and later, at railway station, she is unable to go by train. So, she asks Shivamanikandan if he will take her to Mumbai by car.


title: Paiyaa

text: Shivamanikandan instantly agrees and drives her to Mumbai. Shivamanikandan tries to get into a conversation with Charulatha. She initially refuses to talk, but eventually gives in and tells him about her background. It comes to light that Charulatha's mother, who had always supported her daughter, died after a violent altercation with her father; since then, her father has tried to force Charulatha to marry an unknown man of his choice. Not willing to bow to her father's wishes, she had escaped from home, but was later found by her father's business partner, Jayaraman, her supposed uncle. He was about to take her to register the marriage arranged by her father when Charulatha tried to escape, leaving him behind at the filling station. Now she wants to head to Mumbai to stay at her grandmother's home.


title: Paiyaa

text: However, Charulatha is being followed by a gang, led by a furious Telugu-speaking lady. Shivamanikandan manages to lose the pursuers and decides to change the route to avoid the gang, but encounters a second gang. He realises that this gang is not following Charulatha, but himself, as they are the henchmen of a Mumbai-based gangster Baali. He recalls an incident that happened some years ago in Mumbai, when he stayed there at his friend Poochi's house. He had beaten one of Baali's men, who had attacked him, and later Baali himself, not knowing about him and his reputation in the city, and returned to Bangalore. Both gangs are following the couple to achieve their own ends. After reaching Mumbai and experiencing a series of events, they end up at Poochi's house. Poochi finds out where the grandmother lives, and Shivamanikandan brings Charulatha there. Shivamanikandan , unable to bear the thought that the journey is complete, leaves silently only to find Charulatha on the road. After hesitating, she reveals that her relatives had spoken ill about her parents, which prompted her to leave, not wanting to push the matter further. While in a state of doubt, they are attacked by Baali's gang, who have teamed up with Jayaraman.


title: Paiyaa

text: Shivamanikandan saves Charulatha from the clutches of the goons by single-handedly overpowering them. While on their way back to Bangalore, his friends arrive. Priya, whom Shivamanikandan has called often, tells Charulatha of his feelings for her. Charulatha reciprocates Shivamanikandan's love, as she too has fallen for him during the journey, thus both unite.


title: Paiyaa

text: In September 2007, while working on "Bheema", a film starring Vikram, Linguswamy announced that Karthi would star in his next venture to be launched in January 2008. He said that he had written a story "suitable for Karthi", further adding that it would be "an action oriented film". The following month, sources suggested that he was planning a bilingual project, filming simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu with Karthi and Ram Charan Teja, respectively. However, in early November, reports claimed that Vishal would portray the protagonist after Linguswamy had considered Jayam Ravi for the lead character. The reports proved to be false and Karthi was confirmed as the lead actor of the film.


title: Paiyaa

text: The film failed to begin production in January 2008, with sources reporting in March that Linguswamy was still working on the script. The film was yet to be titled. It was to feature the main crew members of "Bheema", including music director Harris Jayaraj, cinematographer R. D. Rajasekhar and editor Anthony. Linguswamy later announced the film with an entirely new crew; Yuvan Shankar Raja replaced Jayaraj as the film's music composer, and Madhi was selected as the cinematographer, after Rajasekhar had opted out of the project as he was busy working on "Jaggubhai". Linguswamy chose Priya Manikandan, wife of cinematographer Manikandan, as the chief costume designer, for whom "Paiyaa" would be her first film project. Linguswamy further revealed that the film would be produced by his home production studio Thirupathi Brothers and denied that it was a remake of a Telugu film. Lingusamy disclosed later that he had written two scripts, out of which Karthi eventually chose "Paiyaa", because he wanted to do an "urban love story" after two successive roles as a ruffian. Initially titled as "Kuthirai", it was later renamed as "Paiyaa", which was considered a tentative, working title only. Karthi said he was " ... dying to start shooting for Paiyaa " and to " ... wear good clothes ... and he accepted the film because he " ... desperately wanted to play a cool dude on screen.


title: Paiyaa

text: The filming was supposed to begin in August 2008. However, due to the slow progress of Karthi's ongoing project, "Aayirathil Oruvan", "Paiyaa" was postponed several times, since Karthi needed to maintain the continuity of his looks for his role in "Aayirathil Oruvan". Its producer Ravindran complained at the Tamil Film Producers Council that Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to "Paiyaa" before finishing his commitments, which forced Linguswamy to readjust the schedules. The shooting finally began in December 2008. The film's music was released in November 2009 along with the trailer. In late 2009, after finishing the filming of "Paiyaa", Lingusamy disclosed his plans of remaking the film in Telugu and Hindi as well. Later, as "Yuganikki Okkadu", the Telugu dubbed version of Karthi's "Aayirathil Oruvan", emerged as successful in Andhra Pradesh, the team instead decided to dub and release the film in Telugu to cash in on Karthi's new-found popularity in the state. The Telugu version was titled "Awara" and its audio was released in March 2010; "Awara" was released simultaneously with the Tamil version. In March 2010, the film's distribution rights were acquired by Dhayanidhi Alagiri's Cloud Nine Movies.


title: Paiyaa

text: In July 2008, actress Nayantara was signed for the female lead role in "Paiyaa" for a record salary of 1 crore. Speaking about the issue, the director admitted that she was one of his favourite actress and he liked her performance in "Yaaradi Nee Mohini". He also quoted: "The way her career graph shot up is intriguing. Unlike others her career progressed in reverse gear. She paired up with the superstar during the early years of her career and started accepting roles with heroes of next generation." She also expressed her interest to work in the project. However, plans were made to trim the film's budget due to the economic recession, and discussions were held with Nayantara to reduce her salary. The talks resulted in failure and Nayantara left the project in December 2008. Later, she was accused of cheating the director by refusing to return an advance of 15 lakh she had taken before commencement, after walking out of the film. The director filed a complaint with the Tamil Film Producers Council, which decided to ban the actress. Subsequently, Trisha was reported to have won the role, before Tamannaah was finalised as the female lead, who was signed for 80 lakh. Later in December 2008, Milind Soman, who had last appeared in "Pachaikili Muthucharam", was signed up for the main antagonist's role, a Mumbai-based don, with other minor antagonists numbering up to 18.


title: Paiyaa

text: After Karthi had completed his film "Aayirathil Oruvan", the principal photography for "Paiyaa" began on 24 December 2008 at a highway near Bangalore. Shooting carried on in and around Bangalore in the following weeks. The film's main portions were extensively shot across some major highways, where the story plays, whilst the climax was filmed in Mumbai, where the journey would also end. The filming also took place in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.


title: Paiyaa

text: In May 2009, a street fight was filmed near the Chembarambakkam Lake in Chennai. Later that month, a song ("Suthudhe Suthudhe Boomi"), choreographed by Sabeena Khan, was shot at Prasad Studios in Chennai, where a set had been erected by art director Rajeevan. The song was said to have featured computer graphics and visual effects with which forests and mountain ranges were created. In June 2009, after nearly six months of shooting, more than sixty-five percent of the project was completed, with a song and the climax sequences being the remaining parts to be filmed. A twenty-five-day schedule was to be held in Mumbai and Pune, but the shooting got halted in July due to heavy rains. In October 2009, the final action scenes of the climax involving Karthi and Milind Soman were filmed in Mumbai and its suburbs in a ten-day schedule, following which a rain song ("Adada Mazhaida"), featuring Karthi and Tamannaah, was shot at the Athirappilly waterfalls in Kerala.


title: Paiyaa

text: The soundtrack for "Paiyaa" was scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja, collaborating with Linguswamy again after "Sandakozhi" (2005). The audio launch function was held on 12 February 2010 at the Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai which was attended by many prominent film personalities; director Shankar released the soundtrack. The album originally features five songs with vocals by singers Karthik, Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Rahul Nambiar and composer Yuvan Shankar Raja himself. Three songs were reportedly composed and recorded in Singapore. The lyrics were provided by Na. Muthukumar. The album received highly positive reviews and responses from critics and audiences alike and the songs were considered to have played an important role for the film's success.


title: Paiyaa

text: "Paiyaa" was initially scheduled for a late 2009 release, but was pushed to 14 January 2010 coinciding with the Tamil harvest festival Thai Pongal. Karthi's second film "Aayirathil Oruvan", which was in production for nearly three years, was also planned to release on the same day. According to the Tamil Film Producers Council, two films starring the same actor could not be released on the same day, so "Aayirathil Oruvan" was given priority, whilst "Paiyaa" was postponed for 30 days. The release was postponed again for some reasons, before finally hitting the screens on 2 April 2010. The film had its premiere at the Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai. A Telugu dubbed version of the film titled "Awara" was released on 21 May 2010 in Andhra Pradesh and also received positive response. The film was also dubbed into Hindi as "Aakhri Baazi" in 2013 for direct telecast on Zee Cinema.


title: Paiyaa

text: "Paiyaa" got a solo release on 2 April 2010, coinciding with Good Friday. It earned 71 lakh in the opening weekend across Chennai with an average occupancy of 90%. The film grossed 3 crore in the first three days and was declared a commercial success within a few days. In the United Kingdom the film was distributed by B4U and was released across six screens, grossing £21,021 in the opening weekend, opening at the 23rd place. Furthermore, in Malaysia, the film opened across 34 screens and collected $349,368 after the second week. In Tamil Nadu, it netted 13 crore from 300 screens in two weeks.


title: Paiyaa

text: Upon release, the film generally received positive reviews, with most critics calling the film "summer entertainer" and lauding its technical aspects. "Sify" described the film as a "road movie laced with mass elements and extraordinary songs", adding that it is a "jolly good ride". The reviewer praised the "loveable lead pair" for their "credible performance, which makes up for the plot holes". He said that technically the film was Linguswamy's his best, with Mathi's "eye-catching camera work", Antony's "crisp editing", Rajeevan's "exotic set designs", and praised composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, whose "foot-tapping" songs "scorch just like the desert sun" and were all "rocking", while his background score was a "perfect co-ordination with the narration". A reviewer from the "Times of India", Bhama Devi Ravi, gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that "the story is not earth-shatteringly new, but what pulls you into the movie is the different spin that Lingusamy gives to the familiar story". She praised the lead pair's performance, particularly Karthi, who "comes up with an enjoyable performance", as well as the film's technical values, describing the camera work as "mind-blowing", Brinda Sarathy's dialogues as "thoroughly enjoyable" and Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs as "a real treat". Indiaglitz described the film as a "racy action-adventure" and "undeniably an entertainer this summer", writing that Linguswamy has brought out "a classy entertainer" and Karthi and Tamannaah's performances are "absolutely great". Regarding the technical crew, the reviewer cited that the camera work was "immaculate", while editor Anthony and stunt coordinator Kanal Kannan had done "an incredible and marvellous job". The music, in particular, was described as "the greatest strength of the movie" and his background score as "excellent".


title: Paiyaa

text: Behindwoods gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, describing the film as "a stylish, light-hearted family entertainer for the summer" and a "Pacy road show with a few humps on a straight run". It too, like the other reviewers, cited that Karthi had brought out an "enjoyable performance", whilst describing Yuvan Shankar Raja as "the major backbone of "Paiya"". Moreover, he cited that Brinda Sarathy's dialogues "evoke laughter", the car chasing sequence is "absolutely brilliant", the cinematographer "needs plaudits" and the "crisp editing" by Anthony as a "major plus point." In contrast, Rediff's Pavithra Srinivasan cited that there was "[n]othing entertaining about "Paiyya"" and that film was worth a watch only for Karthi's screen presence, "pretty" Tamannaah and Yuvan's songs, despite giving 2.5 out of 5 stars. She criticised Linguswamy's script as the film's "biggest minus", adding that the film "starts out so very promisingly", describing the first half was "racy, peppy and enthusiastic, only to fizzle out with no appreciable sequences in the second half."


title: Paiyaa

text: "Paiyaa" was remade in Bengali in 2012 as "Jaaneman", starring Soham Chakraborty and Koel Mallick, and in Kannada in 2014 as "Ajith", with Chiranjeevi Sarja playing the male lead.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin (; 7 January 1895 – 3 February 1955) was a Soviet and Russian major general who served as the chief executioner of the NKVD under the administrations of Genrikh Yagoda, Nikolay Yezhov, and Lavrentiy Beria.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Hand-picked for the position by Joseph Stalin in 1926, Blokhin led a company of executioners that performed and supervised numerous mass killings during Stalin's reign, mostly during the Great Purge and World War II. He is recorded as having executed tens of thousands of prisoners by his own hand, including his killing of about 7,000 Polish prisoners of war during the Katyn massacre in spring 1940, making him the most prolific official executioner in recorded world history. Blokhin was forced into retirement following the death of Stalin, and he died in 1955 under unclear circumstances.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin, born into a peasant family on 7 January 1895, served in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, and joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Soviet state security agency Cheka in March 1921. Though records are scant, he was evidently noted for both his pugnaciousness and his mastery of what Joseph Stalin termed "chernaya rabota" ("wetwork", or literally, "black work"): assassinations, torture, intimidation, and executions conducted clandestinely. Once he gained Stalin's attention, he was quickly promoted and within six years was appointed the head of the purposefully created Kommandatura Branch of the Administrative Executive Department of the NKVD. This branch was a company-sized element created by Stalin specifically for wetwork. Headquartered at the Lubyanka in Moscow, its members were all approved by Stalin and took their orders directly from him, which ensured the unit's longevity despite three bloody purges of the NKVD.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: As senior executioner, Blokhin had the official title of commandant of the internal prison at the Lubyanka, which allowed him to carry out his duties with a minimum of scrutiny and no official paperwork. Although most of the estimated 828,000 NKVD executions conducted in Stalin's lifetime were performed by local Chekists in concert with NKVD troikas, mass executions were overseen by specialist executioners from the "Kommandantura". In addition to overseeing the mass executions, Blokhin personally pulled the trigger in all of the individual high-profile executions conducted in the Soviet Union during his tenure, including those of the Old Bolsheviks convicted at the Moscow Trials; Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky (convicted at a secret trial); and two of the three killed NKVD Chiefs (Genrikh Yagoda in 1938 and Nikolay Yezhov in 1940) he had once served. He was awarded the Badge of Honour for his service in 1937.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin's most infamous act was the April 1940 execution by shooting of about 7,000 Polish prisoners interned in the Ostashkov prisoner of war camp in the Katyn forest. The majority were military and police officers who had been captured following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. The event's infamy also stems from the Stalin regime's orchestration of the murders, and the subsequent Allied propaganda campaign which blamed Nazi Germany for the massacres, aided by the Western Allies in order to preserve morale.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: In 1990, as part of Glasnost, Mikhail Gorbachev gave the Polish government the files on the massacres at Katyn, Starobilsk and Kalinin (now Tver), revealing Stalin's involvement. Based on the 4 April secret order from Stalin to NKVD Chief Lavrentiy Beria as well as NKVD Order No. 00485, which still applied, the executions were carried out over 28 consecutive nights at the specially constructed basement execution chamber at the NKVD headquarters in Kalinin, and were assigned, by name, directly to Blokhin, making him the official executioner of the NKVD.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin initially decided on an ambitious quota of 300 executions per night, and engineered an efficient system in which the prisoners were individually led to a small antechamber—which had been painted red and was known as the "Leninist room"—for a brief and cursory positive identification, before being handcuffed and led into the execution room next door. The room was specially designed with padded walls for soundproofing, a sloping concrete floor with a drain and hose, and a log wall for the prisoners to stand against. Blokhin would stand waiting behind the door in his executioner garb: a leather butcher's apron, leather hat, and shoulder-length leather gloves. Then, without a hearing, the reading of a sentence or any other formalities, each prisoner was brought in and restrained by guards while Blokhin shot him once in the base of the skull with a German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol. He had brought a briefcase full of his own Walther pistols, since he did not trust the reliability of the standard-issue Soviet TT-30 for the frequent, heavy use he intended. The use of a German pocket pistol, which was commonly carried by German police and intelligence agents, also provided plausible deniability of the executions if the bodies were discovered later.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: An estimated 30 local NKVD agents, guards and drivers were pressed into service to escort prisoners to the basement, confirm identification, then remove the bodies and hose down the blood after each execution. Although some of the executions were carried out by Senior Lieutenant of State Security Andrei Rubanov, Blokhin was the primary executioner and, true to his reputation, liked to work continuously and rapidly without interruption. In keeping with NKVD policy and the overall "wet" nature of the operation, the executions were conducted at night, starting at dark and continuing until just prior to dawn. The bodies were continuously loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks through a back door in the execution chamber and trucked, twice a night, to Mednoye, where Blokhin had arranged for a bulldozer and two NKVD drivers to dispose of bodies at an unfenced site. Each night, 24–25 trenches were dug, measuring in length, to hold that night's corpses, and each trench was covered over before dawn.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin and his team worked without pause for 10 hours each night, with Blokhin executing an average of one prisoner every three minutes. At the end of the night, Blokhin provided vodka to all his men. On 27 April 1940, Blokhin secretly received the Order of the Red Banner and a modest monthly pay premium as a reward from Joseph Stalin for his "skill and organization in the effective carrying out of special tasks". His tally of 7,000 shot in 28 days remains the most organized and protracted mass murder by a single individual on record, and caused him being named the Guinness World Record holder for 'Most Prolific Executioner' in 2010.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin was married to Natalia Aleksandrovna Blokhina (1901–1967), and had a son, Nikolai Vasilievich Baranov (1916–1998).


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Blokhin was forcibly retired following Stalin's death in March 1953. However, his "irreproachable service" was publicly noted by Beria at the time of his departure. When Beria himself was removed in June, Blokhin's rank was stripped from him in the de-Stalinization campaigns of Nikita Khrushchev.


title: Vasily Blokhin

text: Already an alcoholic, Blokhin died on 3 February 1955, aged 60. The official cause of death was listed as suicide; however, his personnel files recorded that he died due to a heart attack.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The M88 Recovery Vehicle is one of the largest armored recovery vehicles (ARV) in use by United States Armed Forces. There are three variants, the "M88", "M88A1" and "M88A2" HERCULES (Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lifting Extraction System). The M88 series has seen action in the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent during the Kosovo War, where they were deployed to help recover heavy armored vehicles of the Allied ground units. As of 2000, the M88A2 replacement cost was around .


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The design of this vehicle was based on the chassis and parts of the automotive component of the M48 Patton and M60 tanks. The original M88 was introduced in 1961, M88A1 in 1977, with the current M88A2 introduced in 1997.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: Originally manufactured by Bowen McLaughlin York (later the BMY division of Harsco Corporation) in 1961, the company would later merge with FMC Corp. to form the United Defense Industries in 1994, which was in turn acquired by BAE Systems in 2005 to become BAE Systems Land and Armaments. In February 2008 the company was awarded a $185 million contract modification from the U.S. Army to manufacture 90 Army-configured M88A2s, four United States Marine Corps-configured M88A2s and authorized spares list parts.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The M88's primary role is to repair or replace damaged parts in fighting vehicles while under fire, as well as extricate vehicles that have become bogged down or entangled. The main winch on the M88A2 is capable of a 70-ton, single line recovery, and a 140-ton 2:1 recovery when used with the 140 ton pulley. The A-frame boom of the A2 can lift 35 tons when used in conjunction with the spade down. The spade can be used for light earth moving, and can be used to anchor the vehicle when using the main winch. The M88 employs an Auxiliary power unit (APU) to provide auxiliary electrical and hydraulic power when the main engine is not in operation. It can also be used to slave start other vehicles, provide power for the hydraulic impact wrench, as well as the means to refuel or de-fuel vehicles as required. The M88 series of vehicles can refuel M1 tanks from its own fuel tanks, but this is a last resort due to the possibility of clogging the AGT-1500s fuel filters. The fuel pump draws fuel from the bottom of the fuel cell, and with it, all of the sediment that has accumulated with time.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The original M88 produced from 1960 to 1964 used the Continental AVSI-1790-6A diesel engine rated at 980 HP at 2800 rpm, as well as a 10 HP gasoline auxiliary power unit. The M88A1 was powered by the Continental AVDS-1790-2DR Diesel engine and had a 10 HP Diesel auxiliary power unit. While the original M88 and M88A1 are designated as a "Medium Recovery Vehicle", the M88A2 (original designation being M88A1E1) is designated as "Heavy Recovery Vehicle". They are all similar in many fundamental ways however, the later version is distinctly heavier (70 tons, compared to the original 56 tons) and uses a different engine (AVDS 1790-8CR with 1050 hp, compared to a Continental AVDS-1790-2DR, with 750 hp).


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The M88A2 is slightly larger than its predecessors (8.6 × 3.7 × 3.2 m compared to 8.3 × 3.4 × 3.2 m) thus retains a lower top speed (40 km/h) and a significantly lower road range (322 km compared to 450 km). There have also been improvements in braking and steering. Additionally, the M88A2 has upgraded armor protection including armored track skirts and applique armor panels, which both previous models lack. The M88 is also lacking in Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) defenses and a smoke screen generator, which the later M88A1 and M88A2 models are equipped with. Furthermore, the crew number has decreased from 5, to 3–4, to 3 through the series.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: The M88A3 configuration features an upgraded powertrain, suspension and tracks, increasing the vehicle’s speed, survivability and reliability. The M88A3 also features a seventh road wheel to reduce ground pressure and new hydropneumatic suspension units that enable the track to be locked out for greater control when recovering vehicles, BAE said in a release.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: “The contract is being awarded under an Other Transactional Authority (OTA) acquisition model for upgrading the M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (HERCULES) to the next generation M88A3 HERCULES. BAE Systems’ M88 family of recovery vehicles has provided the Army with unprecedented capability for recovering stranded or disabled combat vehicles since the 1960s.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: Due to incremental weight increases of the army’s main battle tank over the years, the M88A3’s predecessor, the M88A2, is currently unable to safely perform single-vehicle recovery of the Abrams. BAE Systems has invested Independent Research and Development to develop the M88A3 for three years in an effort to identify, understand, and provide solutions to return to single-vehicle recovery of the tank.”


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: All variants have a 12.7 mm M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, 432 mm ground clearance, 2.6 m fording depth, 1.1 m wall climb and 2.6 m trench crossing capabilities. There has been no major deviation in battlefield role through the M88 series, the later models are merely able to lift heavier loads. The M88A1 was designed around the now obsolete M60 Patton tanks, so it was in light of the fact that two M88A1s were required to tow the new M1 Abrams tank that the decision was made to upgrade to the M88A2 in 1991.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: On February 20, 2017, it was announced that the army had contracted BAE Systems Land and Armaments a $28 million contract modification for the procurement of 11 M88A2 recovery vehicles.


title: M88 Recovery Vehicle

text: One of the main issues afflicting the M88A2 is a high rate of winch failures. The leading cause of these failures is operation of the winch without tension on the cable. This leads to "birdnesting" loose wrapping and bunching up of the cable. There is also concern with loss of tractive force when an M88A2 tows a heavy M1 Abrams on a slope in wet, muddy conditions. The M88A2 was extensively tested at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and on August 10, 1998, was officially approved for the towing of 70-ton combat vehicles such as the M1 Abrams.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Charles David Todd (born April 8, 1972) is an American television journalist who is the 12th and current moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press". He also hosts "Meet the Press Now", its daily edition on NBC News Now and is the Political Director for NBC News. Before taking the helm of "Meet the Press", Todd was Chief White House correspondent for NBC as well as host of "The Daily Rundown" on MSNBC. He also serves as NBC News' on-air political analyst for "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" and "Today".


title: Chuck Todd

text: Todd was born on April 8, 1972, in Miami, Florida, the son of Lois Cheri ("née" Bernstein) and Stephen Randolph Todd. He is Jewish on his mother's side, and was raised Jewish. He graduated from Miami Killian Senior High School in Kendall, an unincorporated suburban community in greater Miami. Todd attended George Washington University from 1990 to 1994. He declared a major in political science and a minor in music, but did not earn a degree.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Before entering the world of political reporting and analysis, Todd earned practical political experience on initiative campaigns in Florida and various national campaigns based in Washington, D.C. While in college, Todd worked for the 1992 presidential campaign of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and later started working part-time at "National Journal"'s The Hotline.


title: Chuck Todd

text: From 1992 until March 12, 2007, Todd worked for National Journal's The Hotline, where he was editor-in-chief for six years. As part of his position, Todd also co-hosted, with John Mercurio, the webcast series "Hotline TV", consisting of a daily show lasting between three and seven minutes and a weekly show ranging between 20 and 30 minutes. He became a frequent guest on political discussion shows, such as "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "Inside Politics" with Judy Woodruff.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Tim Russert brought Todd to NBC from "The Hotline" in March 2007. He became the NBC News political director at that time. In this role, Todd often provided on-air political analysis on political discussion shows, including "Morning Joe", "Hardball with Chris Matthews", "Meet the Press", "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt", and "The Rachel Maddow Show" and blogged for MSNBC.com at "First Read". He also did a weekly Question and Answer ("Q&A") session with users at Newsvine.


title: Chuck Todd

text: After Tim Russert's death in June 2008, Todd was a candidate to replace him as the host of NBC's "Meet the Press", but David Gregory was ultimately selected for the job. On December 18, 2008, NBC announced that Todd would succeed Gregory as NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, partnering with Savannah Guthrie on the news beat. He retained his title as NBC News Political Director and was also named Contributing Editor to "Meet the Press". Todd was a focus of an August 2008 "Los Angeles Times" article paralleling Todd's rise to the rise of cable news networks in coverage of U.S. politics. The article noted the emergence of Todd's fans, deemed "Chuckolytes".


title: Chuck Todd

text: On July 6, 2009, former MSNBC television personality Dan Abrams launched a website service, Mediaite, reporting on media figures. The site ranks all TV-based journalists in America by influence. Todd ranked, as of October 2009, right before Mike Wallace as number five. Todd rose to number two as of December 21, 2011, but fell to 90 as of January 9, 2013. On January 11, 2010, Todd became co-host, with Savannah Guthrie, of "The Daily Rundown" on MSNBC, airing weekday mornings from 09:00 to 10:00 ET.


title: Chuck Todd

text: On August 14, 2014, NBC announced that Todd would take over as the host of "Meet the Press" beginning September 7, 2014. While remaining as NBC News political director, Todd left his role as chief White House correspondent as well as anchor of "The Daily Rundown".


title: Chuck Todd

text: On July 23, 2015, MSNBC announced Todd would return to the network with a daily political show called "MTP Daily", which was airing weekdays at 17:00 ET. The show was an extension of "Meet the Press". Todd continued moderating "Meet the Press" on NBC.


title: Chuck Todd

text: On January 22, 2017, Todd interviewed Kellyanne Conway on "Meet the Press", the day after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer accused the media of deliberately under-reporting the crowd size at President Trump's inaugural ceremony. In a response to Todd's question about the claims, Conway said: "Our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts to that [i.e., Donald Trump's inaugural crowd size], but the point remains that..." Todd interrupted her, saying: "Wait a minute. Alternative facts? ... Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."


title: Chuck Todd

text: On June 26 and 27, 2019, Todd, along with Jose Diaz-Balart, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, and Rachel Maddow, moderated the first pair of 2020 Democratic Party presidential debates. Todd's performance as a moderator, in which he ended up speaking more than all but four of the presidential candidates on the first night of the debates, was widely panned. Todd was also criticized for asking candidates lengthy questions and then requesting them to respond "in one or two words".


title: Chuck Todd

text: In a December 2019 interview with "Rolling Stone", Todd discussed his belief about how disinformation overtook the media during the Trump administration. However, although Todd had addressed "alternative facts" being lies in January 2017, PressThink—a project of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University—took Todd to task for failing to address the issues as they unfolded.


title: Chuck Todd

text: On February 11, 2020, Todd came under fire after quoting a conservative columnist on air during his show about 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders that compared Sanders and his supporters to Nazi Brownshirts: "No other candidate has anything like this sort of digital brownshirt brigade. I mean, except for Donald Trump. The question no one is asking is this: What if you can’t win the presidency without an online mob?" The comments were met with instant backlash with #FireChuckTodd trending on Twitter. Sanders, who is Jewish, lost many family members during the Nazi Holocaust. Neither Sanders campaign nor MSNBC commented on the incident.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Todd is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of "The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House". Published in 2014, the "Chicago Tribune" described the book as "richly sourced and deeply informed," while "Publishers Weekly" called it "an even-handed, concise, and thorough account." Todd is also co-author, with Sheldon Gawiser, of "How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election", published in 2009. Todd picks NFL football games for Tony Kornheiser on his podcast "The Tony Kornheiser Show". Each week, Todd is pitted against Reginald, a monkey, who also picks NFL games.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Todd resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Kristian Denny Todd, and their two children. She is a communications professional and co-founder of Maverick Strategies and Mail, which provides direct mail and consulting services for Democratic candidates and progressive causes. She was the spokesperson for the successful U.S. Senate campaign of Senator Jim Webb in 2006. Although his wife is Christian, they are raising their two children Jewish.


title: Chuck Todd

text: Todd received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Marymount University in recognition of his work in journalism. Todd is a congregant in the Reform congregation of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia.


title: Salome (play)

text: Salome (French: Salomé, ) is a one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde. The original 1891 version of the play was in French; an English translation was published three years later. The play depicts the attempted seduction of Jokanaan (John the Baptist) by Salome, step-daughter of Herod Antipas; her dance of the seven veils; the execution of Jokanaan at Salome's instigation; and her death on Herod's orders.


title: Salome (play)

text: The first production was in Paris in 1896. Because the play depicted biblical characters it was banned in Britain and was not performed publicly there until 1931. The play became popular in Germany, and Wilde's text was taken by the composer Richard Strauss as the basis of his 1905 opera "Salome", the international success of which has tended to overshadow Wilde's original play. Film and other adaptations have been made of the play.


title: Salome (play)

text: When Wilde began writing "Salome" in late 1891 he was known as an author and critic, but was not yet established as a playwright. "Lady Windermere's Fan" was completed but not yet staged, and his other West End successes, "A Woman of No Importance", "An Ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being Earnest", were yet to come. He had been considering the subject of Salome since his undergraduate days at Oxford when Walter Pater introduced him to Flaubert's story "Hérodias" in 1877. The biographer Peter Raby comments that Wilde's interest had been further stimulated by descriptions of Gustave Moreau's paintings of Salome in Joris-Karl Huysmans's "À rebours" and by Heinrich Heine's "Atta Troll", Jules Laforgue's "Salomé" in "Moralités Légendaires" and Stéphane Mallarmé's "Hérodiade".


title: Salome (play)

text: Wilde wrote the play while staying in Paris and explained to an interviewer the following year why he had written it in French:


title: Salome (play)

text: He submitted the play to the leading French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who accepted it for production in her 1892 season at the Royal English Opera House, in London. The play went into rehearsals in June, but at that time all plays presented in Britain had to be approved by the official censor, the Lord Chamberlain. Approval was withheld because of a rule prohibiting the depiction of biblical characters on stage. Wilde expressed outrage and said he would leave England and take French citizenship. Bernhardt too condemned the ban and said she would present the play in Paris at some time, although she could not say when.


title: Salome (play)

text: The play was published in French in 1893 in Paris by the Librarie de l'Art Independent and in London by Elkin Mathews and John Lane. It is dedicated "À mon ami Pierre Louÿs". The author was pleased by the favourable reception given to the published play by leading Francophone writers, in particular Pierre Loti, Maurice Maeterlinck and Mallarmé.


title: Salome (play)

text: Wilde never saw the play produced. The only performances given in his lifetime were in 1896, by which time he was serving a prison sentence for illegal homosexual activity. The play was first given, in the original French, in a one-off performance on 11 February 1896 by the Théâtre de l'Œuvre company at the Théâtre de la Comédie-Parisienne, as the second part of a double bill with Romain Coolus's comedy "Raphaël". The main roles were played as follows:


title: Salome (play)

text: The play was given again in October 1896 in a Wilde double bill at the Nouveau-Théâtre, with a French adaptation of "Lady Windermere's Fan". Charles Daumerie played Herod and Munte again played Salome.


title: Salome (play)

text: A biographer of Wilde, Owen Dudley Edwards, comments that the play "is apparently untranslatable into English", citing attempts made by Lord Alfred Douglas, Aubrey Beardsley, Wilde himself revising Douglas's botched effort, Wilde's son Vyvyan Holland, Jon Pope, Steven Berkoff and others, and concluding "it demands reading and performance in French to make its impact". The most familiar English version is by Douglas, extensively revised by Wilde, originally published in 1894. Wilde dedicated the first edition "To my friend Lord Alfred Douglas, the translator of my play". It was lavishly produced, with illustrations by Beardsley that Wilde thought over-sophisticated. An American edition, with the Beardsley illustrations, was published in San Francisco in 1896. In the 1890s and 1900s translations were published in at least eleven other languages, from Dutch in 1893 to Yiddish in 1909.


title: Salome (play)

text: Jokanaan (John the Baptist, Iokanaan in the original French text) has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas in a cistern below the terrace of Herod's palace, for his hostile comments about Herodias, Herod's second wife. A young captain of the guard admires the beautiful princess Salome, Herod's stepdaughter. A page warns the captain that something terrible may happen if he continues to stare at the princess. Salome is fascinated by Jokanaan's voice. She persuades the captain to open the cistern so that the prophet can emerge, and she can see him and touch him. Jokanaan appears, denouncing Herodias and her husband. At first frightened by the sight of the holy man, Salome becomes fascinated by him, begging him to let her touch his hair, his skin and his lips. When she tells him she is Herodias's daughter, he calls her a "daughter of Sodom" and bids her keep away from him. All Salome's attempts to attract him fail, and he swears she will never kiss his mouth, cursing her as the daughter of an adulteress and advising her to seek the Lord. He returns to his underground confinement. The young captain of the guard, unable to bear Salome's desire for another man, fatally stabs himself.


title: Salome (play)

text: Herod appears from the palace, looking for the princess and commenting on the strange look of the moon. When he slips in the captain's blood, he suddenly panics. Herodias dismisses his fears and asks him to go back inside with her, but Herod's attention has turned libidinously towards Salome, who rejects his advances. From the cistern, Jokanaan resumes his denunciation of Herodias; she demands that Herod hand the prophet over to the Jews. Herod refuses, maintaining that Jokanaan is a holy man and has seen God. His words spark an argument among the Jews concerning the true nature of God, and two Nazarenes talk about the miracles of Jesus. As Jokanaan continues to accuse her, Herodias demands that he is silenced.


title: Salome (play)

text: Herod asks Salome to dance for him. She refuses, but when he promises to give her anything she wants, she agrees. Ignoring her mother's pleas – "Ne dansez pas, ma fille" – "Do not dance, my daughter" – Salome performs the dance of the seven veils. Delighted, Herod asks what reward she would like, and she asks for the head of Jokanaan on a silver platter. Horrified, Herod refuses, while Herodias rejoices at Salome's choice. Herod offers other rewards, but Salome insists and reminds Herod of his promise. He finally yields. The executioner descends into the cistern, and Salome impatiently awaits her reward. When the prophet's head is brought to her, she passionately addresses Jokanaan as if he were still alive and finally kisses his lips:


title: Salome (play)

text: Herod, frightened and appalled at Salome's behaviour, orders the soldiers, "Tuez cette femme!" – "Kill that woman!", and they crush her to death under their shields.


title: Salome (play)

text: In 1901, within a year of Wilde's death, "Salome" was produced in Berlin by Max Reinhardt in Hedwig Lachmann's German translation, and ran, according to Robbie Ross, for "a longer consecutive period in Germany than any play by any Englishman, not excepting Shakespeare". The play was not revived in Paris until 1973 (although Richard Strauss's operatic version was frequently seen there from 1910 onwards). Les Archives du spectacle record 13 productions of Wilde's play in France between 1973 and 2020.


title: Salome (play)

text: The American premiere was given in New York in 1905 by the Progressive Stage Society, an amateur group. A professional production was presented at the Astor Theatre the following year, with Mercedes Leigh in the title role. The Internet Broadway Database records five New York productions between 1917 and 2003. The Salomes included Evelyn Preer (1923), Sheryl Lee (1992) and Marisa Tomei (2003), and among the actors playing Herod was Al Pacino in 1992 and 2003.


title: Salome (play)

text: The play was given in Czech in Brno in 1924, and in English at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1928 (directed by Hilton Edwards, with Micheál Mac Liammóir as Jokanaan). In Tokyo in 1960 Yukio Mishima directed a Japanese version in a translation by Kōnosuke Hinatsu which, "The Times" reported, "rendered Wilde's rhetoric into the measured cadences of fifteenth-century Japanese". A later Japanese production was seen in Tokyo and subsequently in France in 1996.


title: Salome (play)

text: In Britain, the Lord Chamberlain's consent to public performance still being withheld, the first production there was given in May 1905 in a private performance in London by the New Stage Club, in which the performance of Robert Farquharson as Herod was reportedly of remarkable power. Millicent Murby played Salome, and Florence Farr directed. A second private performance followed in 1906 by the Literary Theatre Society, with Farquharson again as Herod. The costumes and scenery by Charles Ricketts were much admired, but the rest of the cast and the direction were poor, according to Ross. A 1911 production at the Court Theatre by Harcourt Williams, with Adeline Bourne as Salome, received disparaging notices.


title: Salome (play)

text: The ban on public performance of Salome was not lifted until 1931. The last "private" production, earlier that year, featuring a dance of the seven veils choreographed by Ninette de Valois, was judged "creepily impressive" by "The Daily Telegraph". For the first sanctioned public production, at the Savoy Theatre, Farquharson reprised his Herod, with real-life mother and daughter casting, Nancy Price and Joan Maude as Herodias and Salome. The production was deemed tame and unthrilling, and the play – "gone modest and middle class" as one critic put it – was not seen again in the West End for more than twenty years.


title: Salome (play)

text: A 1954 London revival, a vehicle for the Australian actor Frank Thring, made little impact, and it was not until Lindsay Kemp's 1977 production at the Roundhouse that "Salome" was established as a critical and box-office success, running for six months in repertory with Kemp's adaptation of "Our Lady of the Flowers". That version was a free adaptation of the original, with an all-male cast, switching between French and English texts and using only about a third of Wilde's dialogue. A 1988 production by Steven Berkoff in which he played Herod, was seen at the Gate Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival and at the National Theatre, London. It focused on Wilde's words, relying on the skills of the actors and the imagination of audiences to evoke the setting and action. A 2017 production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, described as "gender fluid", featured a male actor, Matthew Tennyson, as Salome.


title: Salome (play)

text: In "Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique", Edouard Stoullig reported that press reviews had been generally benevolent out of protest at the harsh treatment received by Wilde in Britain. In Stoullig's view the play was a good piece of rhetoric marred by too many "ridiculous repetitions" of lines by minor characters. In "Le Figaro" Henry Fouquier shared Stoullig's view that the piece owed something to Flaubert, and thought it "an exercise in romantic literature, not badly done, a little boring". The reviewer in "Le Temps" said, "M. Wilde has certainly read Flaubert, and cannot forget it. The most interesting thing about "Salome" is the style. The work was written in French by M. Wilde. It is full of very elaborate and ornate verses. The colours, the stars, the birds, the rare gems, everything that adorns nature, has provided M. Wilde with points of comparison and ingenious themes for the stanzas and antistrophes that "Salome's" characters utter". "La Plume" said, ""Salomé" has almost all the qualities of a poem, the prose is as musical and fluid as verse, full of images and metaphors".


title: Salome (play)

text: When banning the original 1892 production of "Salome", the responsible official in the Lord Chamberlain's office commented privately, "The piece is written in French – half Biblical, half pornographic – by Oscar Wilde himself. Imagine the average British public's reception of it". In Britain the critics in general either ignored or disparaged the play. "The Times" described it as "an arrangement in blood and ferocity, morbid, bizarre, repulsive, and very offensive in its adaptation of scriptural phraseology to situations the reverse of sacred". "The Pall Mall Gazette" suggested that the play was far from original: "the reader of "Salome" seems to stand in the Island of Voices, and to hear around him and about the utterances of friends, the whisperings of demigods" – particularly Gautier, Maeterlinck and above all Flaubert – "There is no freshness in Mr Wilde's ideas; there is no freshness in his method of presenting those ideas". New York reviewers were not impressed when the play was first professionally produced there in 1906: "The Sun" called it "bloodily degenerate"; "The New-York Tribune" thought it "decadent stuff, not worthy of notice".


title: Salome (play)

text: Raby comments that later criticism of the play "has tended to treat it either as a literary text or as a theatrical aberration". The historian John Stokes writes that "Salome" is a rare instance in British theatrical history of an authentically Symbolist drama. Symbolist authors rejected naturalism and used "poetic language and pictorial settings to invoke the inner lives of characters", expressing without the constraints of naturalism all kinds of emotions "both spiritual and sensual".


title: Salome (play)

text: Critics have analysed Wilde's use of images favoured by Israel's kingly poets and references to the moon, his depiction of power-play between the sexes, his filling in of gaps in the biblical narrative and his invention of the "dance of the seven veils".


title: Salome (play)

text: Wilde's version of the story spawned several other artistic works, the most famous of which is Richard Strauss's opera of the same name. Strauss saw Wilde's play in Berlin in November 1902 at Reinhardt's Little Theatre, with Gertrud Eysoldt in the title role. He began to compose his opera in summer 1903, completing it in 1905 and premiering it later the same year. Critics including Horst Schroeder have argued that the international success of Strauss's adaptation "virtually drove Wilde's drama in its original form off the stage".


title: Salome (play)

text: There have been numerous adaptations and interpretations of Wilde's "Salome", on stage and screen and in the visual arts. In St Petersburg in 1908 Mikhail Fokine created a ballet based on the play, with music by Glazunov and décor by Léon Bakst. Ida Rubinstein played Salome. For the cinema, "Salome" was first filmed in an American silent version directed by J. Stuart Blackton in 1908, with Florence Lawrence as Salome and Maurice Costello as Herod, followed by an Italian version in 1910. Later adaptations include a 1918 silent film starring Theda Bara, a 1923 silent version directed by Charles Bryant starring Alla Nazimova as Salome and Mitchell Lewis as Herod, and a 2013 sound adaptation directed by and starring Al Pacino, with Jessica Chastain as Salome. Excerpts from the play featured prominently in Ken Russell's 1988 film "Salome's Last Dance".


title: Cabinda Province

text: Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, ) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locally as "Tchiowa", "Tsiowa" or "Kiowa". The province is divided into four municipalities—Belize, Buco-Zau, Cabinda and Cacongo.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Modern Cabinda is the result of a fusion of three kingdoms: N'Goyo, Loango and Kakongo. It has an area of and a population of 716,076 at the 2014 census; the latest official estimate (as at mid 2019) is 824,143. According to 1988 United States government statistics, the total population of the province was 147,200, with a near even split between rural and urban populations. At one point an estimated one third of Cabindans were refugees living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; however, after the 2007 peace agreement, refugees started returning to their homes.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Cabinda is separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip of territory belonging to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which bounds the province on the south and the east. Cabinda is bounded on the north by the Republic of the Congo, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Adjacent to the coast are some of the largest offshore oil fields in the world. Petroleum exploration began in 1954 with the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, when the territory was under Portuguese rule.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Cabinda also produces hardwoods, coffee, cacao, rubber, and palm oil products; however, petroleum production accounts for most of Cabinda's domestic product. Cabinda produces of crude oil per day. Cabinda Oil is associated with Sonangol, Agip Angola Lda (41%), Chevron (39.2%), TotalEnergies (10%) and Eni (9.8%).


title: Cabinda Province

text: In 1885, the Treaty of Simulambuco established Cabinda as a protectorate of the Portuguese Empire, and Cabindan independence movements consider the occupation of the territory by Angola illegal. While the Angolan Civil War largely ended in 2002, an armed struggle persists in the exclave of Cabinda. Some of the factions have proclaimed an independent Republic of Cabinda, with offices in Paris.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Portuguese explorers, missionaries, and traders arrived at the mouth of the Congo River in the mid-15th century, making contact with the Manikongo, the powerful King of the Bakongo tribe. The Manikongo controlled much of the region through affiliation with smaller kingdoms, such as the Kingdoms of Ngoyo, Loango, and Kakongo in present-day Cabinda.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Over the years, the Portuguese, Dutch, and English established trading posts, logging camps, and small palm oil processing factories in Cabinda. Trade continued and the European presence grew, resulting in conflicts between the rival colonial powers. Between 1827 and 1830, the Imperial Brazilian Navy maintained a naval base in the western part of Cabinda, making it the only Brazilian colony outside of South America.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Portugal first claimed sovereignty over Cabinda in the February 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, which gave Cabinda the status of a protectorate of the Portuguese Crown under the request of "the princes and governors of Cabinda". This is often the basis upon which the legal and historical arguments in defense of the self-determination of modern-day Cabinda are constructed. Article 1, for example, states, "the princes and chiefs and their successors declare, voluntarily, their recognition of Portuguese sovereignty, placing under the protectorate of this nation all the territories by them governed" . Article 2, which is often used in separatist arguments, goes even further: "Portugal is obliged to maintain the integrity of the territories placed under its protection". The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC-R) argues that the above-mentioned treaty was signed between the emissaries of the Portuguese Crown and the princes and notables of Cabinda, then called Portuguese Congo, giving rise to not one, but three protectorates: Cacongo, Loango, and Ngoio.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Through the Treaty of Simulambuco in 1885 between the kings of Portugal and the princes of Cabinda, a Portuguese protectorate was decreed, reserving rights to the local princes and independent of Angola. Cabinda once had the Congo River as the only natural boundary with Angola, but in 1885, the Berlin Conference extended the territory of the Congo Free State along the Congo River to the river's mouth at the sea.


title: Cabinda Province

text: By the mid-1920s, the borders of Angola had been finally established in negotiations with the neighboring colonial powers. From then on, Cabinda was treated as part of this colony.


title: Cabinda Province

text: The Portuguese constitution of 1933 distinguished between the colony of Angola and the protectorate of Cabinda, but in 1956, the administration of Cabinda was transferred to the governor-general of Angola. The legal distinction of Cabinda's status from that of Angola was also expressed in the Portuguese constitution of 1971. Yet, when Angola was declared an "overseas province" (Província Ultramarina) within the empire of Portugal in 1951, Cabinda was treated as an ordinary district of Angola. In 1972, the name of Angola was changed to "State of Angola".


title: Cabinda Province

text: Under Portuguese rule, Cabinda was an important agricultural and forestry center, and in 1967, it discovered huge offshore oil fields. Oil, timber, and cocoa had been its main exports until then. The town of Cabinda, the capital of the territory, was a Portuguese administrative and services center with a port and airfield. The beaches of Cabinda were popular with Portuguese Angolans.


title: Cabinda Province

text: A 1974 military coup in Lisbon abolished the authoritarian regime established by António de Oliveira Salazar that had prevailed in Portugal for decades. The new government decided immediately to grant all Portuguese colonies the independence for which nationalist guerilla movements had been striving. In Angola, the decolonization process took the form of a violent conflict between the different guerilla movements and their allies. In 1975, the Treaty of Alvor between Portugal and National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) reconfirmed Cabinda's status as part of Angola. The treaty was rejected by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda and other local political organizations which advocated for separate independence. Since then, Cabinda has been, on the one hand, a normal Angolan province, but on the other hand, there has been persistent political protest against this status; the "Kabinda Free State" says the exclave was a Portuguese protectorate until Angola invaded in 1974. They also say they control 85% of Kabinda territory and invite proposals for joint ventures. A number of guerrilla actions have also occurred in Cabinda.


title: Cabinda Province

text: The arguments for self-determination are based on Cabindans' cultural and ethnic background. Prior to the Treaty of Simulambuco, three kingdoms existed in what is now referred to as Cabinda: Cacongo, Ngoyo, and Loango. The Cabindans belong to the Bakongo ethnic group whose language is Kikongo. The Bakongo also comprise the majority of the population in Uíge and Zaire provinces of Angola. However, despite this shared ancestry, the Cabindans developed a very different culture and distinct variants of the Kikongo language.


title: Cabinda Province

text: In the early 1960s, several movements advocating a separate status for Cabinda came into being. The Movement for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (MLEC) was formed in 1960 under the leadership of Luis Ranque Franque. Resulting from the merger of various émigré associations in Brazzaville, the MLEC rapidly became the most prominent of the separatist movements. A further group was the Alliama (Alliance of the Mayombe), representing the Mayombe, a small minority of the population. In an important development, these movements united in August 1963 to form a united front. They called themselves the FLEC, and the leadership role was taken by the MLEC’s Ranque Franque.


title: Cabinda Province

text: In marked contrast with the FNLA, the FLEC’s efforts to mobilize international support for its government in exile met with little success. In fact, the majority of Organization of African Unity (OAU) members, concerned that this could encourage separatism elsewhere on the continent, committed to the sanctity of state borders and firmly rejected recognition of the FLEC’s government in exile.


title: Cabinda Province

text: In January 1975, Angola’s MPLA, FNLA and UNITA liberation movements signed the Alvor Agreement with Portugal, to establish the modalities of the transition to independence. FLEC was not invited.


title: Cabinda Province

text: On 1 August 1975, at an OAU summit in Kampala which was discussing Angola in the midst of its turbulent decolonization process, Ranque Franque proclaimed the independence of the "Republic of Cabinda", . Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko called for a referendum on the future of Cabinda.


title: Cabinda Province

text: FLEC formed a provisional government, led by Henriques Tiago. Luiz Branque Franque was elected president. Following the declaration of Angolan independence in November 1975, Cabinda was invaded by forces of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), with the support of Cuban troops. The MPLA overthrew the provisional FLEC government and incorporated Cabinda into Angola.


title: Cabinda Province

text: For much of the 1970s and 1980s, FLEC operated a low intensity guerrilla war, attacking Angolan government troops and economic targets, or creating havoc by kidnapping foreign employees working in the province’s oil and construction businesses.


title: Cabinda Province

text: The National Union for the Liberation of Cabinda (; UNLC), a militant separatist group, emerged in the 1990s under the leadership of Lumingu Luis Gimby.


title: Cabinda Province

text: In April 1997, Cabinda joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, a democratic and international organization whose members are indigenous peoples, occupied nations, minorities and independent states or territories. In 2010, Cabinda became a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS).


title: Cabinda Province

text: An ad-hoc United Nations commission for human rights in Cabinda reported in 2003 that many atrocities had been perpetrated by the MPLA. In 2004, according to Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Human Rights Watch mission for Africa, the Angolan army continued to commit crimes against civilians in Cabinda.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Although the Angolan government says FLEC is no longer operative, this is disputed by the Republic of Cabinda and its Premier, Joel Batila.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Earlier increases in the price of oil have made Cabinda's untapped onshore oil reserves a valuable commodity.


title: Cabinda Province

text: In July 2006, after ceasefire negotiations in the Republic of Congo, António Bento Bembe - as a president of Cabindan Forum for Dialogue and Peace, and vice-president and executive secretary of FLEC - announced that the Cabindan separatist forces were ready to declare a ceasefire. Bembe is the leader of the "Cabindan Forum for Dialogue", an organization which represents most Cabindan groups. The peace was recognized by the United States, France, Portugal, Russia, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Japan, South Korea, the European Union and the African Union.


title: Cabinda Province

text: From Paris, FLEC-FAC contended Bembe has no authority or mandate to negotiate with the Angolans, and that the only acceptable solution is total independence.


title: Cabinda Province

text: On 8 January 2010, the bus carrying the Togo national football team traveling through Cabinda en route to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournament was attacked by gunmen, even though it had an escort of Angolan forces. The ensuing gunfight resulted in the deaths of the assistant coach, team spokesman and bus driver, and caused injuries to several others as well.


title: Cabinda Province

text: An offshoot of the FLEC claimed responsibility. Rodrigues Mingas, secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Military Position (Flec-PM), said his fighters had meant to attack security guards as the convoy passed through Cabinda. "This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy", Mingas told France 24 television. "So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda."