UPDATED

Sri Lanka blocks social media sites amid protests against economic crisis

The country’s defence ministry has issued the order to ban the platforms.

Scroll Staff

Image for representation. | STR/ AFP

The Sri Lankan government on Saturday blocked social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter amid protests in response to a major economic crisis, the BBC reported.

Several mobile phone users received messages stating that WhatsApp was down “as directed by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission”.

The commission stated that it restricted access to social media platforms in response to a request by the country’s defence ministry, according to Daily Mirror.

Several people in Sri Lanka said that social media platforms had been blocked, and that many people were accessing them through virtual private networks, or VPNs.

NetBlocks, a global internet watchdog that tracks shutdowns, also cited real-time network data to show that the country had restricted access to Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram, among other platforms, after midnight on April 3.

On Saturday, Sri Lanka declared a 36-hour nationwide curfew from Saturday 6 pm to Monday 6 am amid a series of protests over the island country’s worst economic meltdown since its independence. During the curfew, Sri Lankans are not allowed to step out of homes, except for essential services.

Earlier, some people on social media had urged people to take part in protests on Sunday.

On Friday, citizens had staged protests in Colombo as well as different parts of the country demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation over the government’s handling of the country’s economic crisis.

Economic crisis in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is facing the economic crisis as its foreign reserves have hit rock bottom. The country had declared an economic emergency in August. Sri Lankans are now facing shortages of petrol, diesel, milk powder, cooking gas, kerosene and other essential items.

Authorities have imposed 13-hour daily power cuts from Thursday due to shortage of fuel. The state electricity regulator extended Wednesday’s 10-hour power cut by another three hours.

Government-run hospitals are running out of life-saving medicines due to a shortage of foreign exchange needed for imports. Several state-run hospitals have stopped conducting surgeries too.

On March 30, the Sri Lankan government imposed 10-hour daily power cuts across the country. Since the beginning of March, there had already been seven-hour power cuts in the island country. The duration was subsequently increased by three hours.

No gas, no medicine, no food: What life's like in crisis-hit Sri Lanka | Exclusive

Speaking to India Today, 69-year-old Thomos from Colombo said citizens are finding it difficult to get petrol, medicines and even food in crisis-hit Sri Lanka.


Ashutosh Mishra 

Colombo

April 2, 2022


Residents wait in long lines to buy kerosene oil in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo: AP)

As the economic crisis in Sri Lanka spirals out of control, 69-year-old Thomos from Colombo told India Today that petrol is unavailable, medicines are difficult to find and essential food items are being sold at extremely high prices in the country.

"At the moment, we don't have any gas, petrol or kerosene oil. There are no medicines. I am 69 but this is the first time in my life that I have seen something like this happening," Thomos said.

He added, "We are not able to manage. There is no money and salaries. If we have money, there are no goods. When we go to some shops in Colombo, they say there's no dal, no rice, no bread. Or one pound of bread costs 100 Sri Lankan rupees. One cup of tea costs 100 Sri Lankan rupees. The prices of important things have gone up."

Further, long power cuts in Sri Lanka have affected the communication networks in the country.

ECONOMIC CRISIS IN SRI LANKA

With huge debt obligations and dwindling foreign reserves, Sri Lanka has found itself unable to pay for imports, leading to shortages of several goods including fuel.
Sri Lanka's economic woes are blamed on successive governments not diversifying exports and relying on traditional cash sources like tea, garments and tourism, and on a culture of consuming imported goods.
The Covid-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Sri Lanka's economy, with the government estimating a loss of $14 billion in the last two years.

PROTESTS
To protest against the economic crisis, Sri Lankans have taken to the streets.
On Friday, angry protesters demonstrated near President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home and demanded he resign. The protests turned violent - two army buses were stoned and one was set on fire. The police fired tear gas and a water cannon and arrested 54 people.
He declared a state of emergency in the island nation on Saturday.

Sri Lanka Declares Public Emergency After Inflation Protests

Protesters hold banners and placards during a demonstration against the surge in prices and shortage of fuel and other essential commodities in Colombo on April 1, 2022. 

© Ishara S. Kodikara, AFP

Jeanette Rodrigues, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a public emergency late on Friday after citizens protesting spiraling inflation and widespread power cuts clashed with police outside the Sri Lankan leader’s private residence.

The declaration gives Rajapaksa sweeping powers to suspend laws, detain people and seize property. The step was essential for the protection of public order and maintenance of supplies and services, he said in an extraordinary gazette. 

The move comes after police fired tear gas and water cannons at hundreds of protesters who surged past barricades screaming “Go home Gota” near Rajapaksa’s home on Thursday, after data showed inflation accelerated to almost 19%, the highest in Asia. Sri Lankans subsequently took to social media to call people to gather in Colombo and surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon to peacefully protest against the economic crisis. The island nation is undergoing a severe shortage of food and fuel as it runs out of dollars to pay for imports. 

Shock Waves From War in Ukraine Threaten to Swamp Sri Lanka (2)

Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda serves as prime minister while Basil, the youngest, holds the finance portfolio. The eldest Rajapaksa brother Chamal controls the agriculture ministry while nephew Namal is the sports minister. These family members enjoy two-thirds majority support in parliament while the opposition remains divided. National elections will be held in 2023 at the earliest. 

Sri Lanka, whose trade deficit doubled to $1.1 billion in December, had about $2.3 billion of foreign-exchange reserves in February and faces a $1 billion dollar bond repayment in July. 

Rajapaksa’s administration in recent weeks has devalued the rupee, raised interest rates, placed curbs on non-essential imports, and reduced stock-trading hours to preserve electricity and foreign currency. He has also dropped resistance to seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and is simultaneously in talks with nations including India and China for bilateral aid. 

The IMF last month said Sri Lanka faces a “clear solvency problem” due to unsustainable debt levels, as well as persistent fiscal and balance-of-payments shortages.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Sri Lanka president declares public 

emergency after protests against economic

crisis

Declaration comes after hundreds of protesters clashed

 with police and the military

A man shouts anti-government slogans during a protest outside the president's private residence on the outskirts of Colombo. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP


Reuters
Sat 2 Apr 2022

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared a nationwide public emergency, following violent protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa said in a government gazette notification late on Friday that he took the decision in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and essential services.


Hundreds of protesters clashed with police and military on Thursday outside Rajapaksa’s residence in a suburb of the capital, Colombo.

Police arrested 53 people and imposed a curfew in and around Colombo on Friday to contain sporadic protests that have broken out over shortages of essential items, including fuel and other goods.


Sri Lanka: 50 injured as protesters try to storm president’s house amid economic crisis

The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people faces rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.

The country’s lucrative tourism industry and foreign workers’ remittances have been sapped by the pandemic, and public finances were hit further by deep tax cuts promised by Rajapaksa during his 2019 election campaign.

Ordinary Sri Lankans are also dealing with shortages and soaring inflation, after the country steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.

An alliance of 11 political parties has urged Rajapaksa to dissolve the cabinet and form a government with all parties to deal with the crisis, local media said, in a nation where both India and China are competing to build influence.

Police used teargas and water cannon to disperse crowds near Rajapaksa’s residence on Thursday, after they torched several police and army vehicles.

At least two dozen police personnel were injured in the clashes, an official said, declining to comment on the number of protesters hurt.

Tourism minister Prasanna Ranatunge warned such protests would harm economic prospects. “The main issue Sri Lanka is facing is a forex shortage, and protests of this nature will hurt tourism and have economic consequences,” Ranatunge said.

The United Nations representative in the country, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, called for restraint from all groups involved in the clashes. “We are monitoring developments and are concerned by reports of violence,” she said on Twitter.

India starts supplying rice to Sri Lanka in

first major food aid

The island nation is struggling to pay for essential imports

 after a 70 percent drop in foreign exchange reserves.

Indian traders are sending 40,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades

 [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]

Published On 2 Apr 2022

Indian traders have started loading 40,000 tonnes of rice for prompt shipment to Sri Lanka in the first major food aid since Colombo secured a credit line from New Delhi, two officials told Reuters news agency on Saturday.

The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people is struggling to pay for essential imports after a 70 percent drop in foreign exchange reserves in two years led to a currency devaluation and efforts to seek help from global lenders.

The shipment of the staple comes before a key festival in Sri Lanka.

Fuel is in short supply, food prices are rocketing and protests have broken out as Sri Lanka’s government prepares for talks with the International Monetary Fund amid concerns over the country’s ability to pay back foreign debt.

India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, last month agreed to provide the $1bn credit line to help ease crippling shortages of essential items, including fuel, food and medicine.

The rice shipments could help Colombo bring down rice prices, which have doubled in a year, adding fuel to the unrest.

“Rice loading has started in southern ports,” said BV Krishna Rao, managing director of Pattabhi Agro Foods, which is supplying rice to Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corp under the Indian Credit Facility Agreement.

“We are first loading containers for prompt shipments and vessel loading will start in a few days.”

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a nationwide public emergency late on Friday following violent protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

SOURCE: REUTERS

 

SRI LANKA: Asian Human Rights Commission Writes To The UN Secretary-General About The Situation In Sri Lanka

Saturday, 2 April 2022, 7:46 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

Mr. António Guterres
Secretary General of the United Nations
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-233
New York
NY 10017
USA

A letter to inform about the possible catastrophic economic and social crises emerging in Sri Lanka and to seek the intervention of your office to bring about a solution to avoid the country falling into anarchy.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is a regional human rights organization associated with the UN human rights mechanisms for over 40 years and one which has worked very closely for the protection and promotion of human rights in Sri Lanka for the same period of time, we have the spirit and obligation to inform you and the relevant UN agencies about the rapidly developing, extremely critical situation, which if unaddressed, could lead to a serious collapse of the State and also the development of anarchy within the society at large.

As your good office will already know, Sri Lanka is now faced with the payment of debt related crisis may be the worst that it has ever experienced in its entire history. Many economists, bankers and people involved in businesses and enterprises as well as social organizations such as trade unions and other organizations associated with farmers and also all civil society organizations have been expressing their deepest fears about the developing situation in the country. As we write this, almost every day, massive demonstrations are taking place in Colombo, as well as in all other areas in the country, demanding an early solution to some of the pressing problems such as the problem of ever-increasing prices of essential goods, and the cutting down of the availability of power supplies, gas and almost every other basic essential of life. The acuteness of the problem could be reflected in the fact that the exams which were due to be held for school children were recently cancelled due to the inability of the authorities to provide papers for the students to write on during the exam. In every area of life, there is the reflection of a breakdown as the Government is unable to pay the prices for imports due to the scarcity of United States Dollars. All the predictions are that this crisis is going to continue unless there is some genuine and credible intervention to get support from the international community, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other agencies, for the rescheduling of the payment of debts and at the same time, working out an extensive plan for bringing back stability to the country and to ensure a non-recurrence of the situation which caused this problem in the first place.

The present crisis comes as a result of a considerable period of neglect of the principles of good governance, as the result of which, the overview and supervision of financial institutions have also suffered very severely. In fact, the entirety of the State bureaucracy has been brought into an unprecedented crisis over several decades due to the centralization of power in the Presidential system, as the result of which, much of the governance related bureaucracy has been disempowered. Direct deregulation of almost every area of life has made it difficult to conduct any kind of rational management of the society. Among other things, this has also affected the administration of justice, the institutions of policing, prosecutorial institutions as well as the Judiciary itself. It is indeed a crisis of such magnitude already. The question that is commonly discussed by the Government, as well as the Opposition parties and also economists, all intellectual layers of society, as well as ordinary people is: what is the way out of this terrible debt trap?

Discussions are now focused on the way to seek the assistance of the IMF and also possibly other international agencies. However, the major problem that is thwarting the move towards this goal is the complete breakdown of the people’s faith in the political system as a whole. And this too is not just the product of a single act but is the result of a process that has developed over a long period of time. This loss of credibility in the political establishment as a whole has created a distrust on the one hand between the Government and all the Opposition parties, and on the other hand, the political establishment and the people as a whole.
It is at this juncture that an intervention by your Office and other UN agencies would help, for by playing a mediating role you could assist Sri Lanka to develop short-term and long-term plans for the recovery of the stability of the country and also to prevent the country falling into a situation of anarchy. If this opportunity is lost, what might happen in the immediate future is difficult to project.

A huge amount of information made available by many persons including persons who have played key roles in the past in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, as well as in other financial institutions and the State bureaucracy and many others in the media and civil society are freely available now for anyone who would undertake a serious study into this tragic situation now faced by Sri Lanka. Under these circumstances, we urge you as the Head of the UN, which has played many good roles on behalf of Sri Lanka over a long period, to negotiate with the Sri Lankan Government as well as the Opposition parties and others to work out a sustainable plan to overcome this present situation and to ensure stability for this country.

As an important country situated in the Indian Ocean from the point of view of geopolitics, instability in Sri Lanka is also a matter of concern in international politics which gives further reasons as to justify a proactive role that could be played by the UN under these circumstances.
The AHRC is a nonpartisan organization not affiliated to any political body and has no other agenda except the protection and promotion of the rights of the people.

Thank you
Yours sincerely

Basil Fernando
Director for Policy and Programmes
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

© Scoop Media

 

Robert Reich: Amazon Workers’ Astounding Win, And How Corporate America Is Trying To Take Back Power – OpEd

 April 3, 2022  

By Robert Reich

On Friday, Amazon – America’s wealthiest, most powerful, and fiercest anti-union corporation, with the second-largest workforce in the nation (union-busting Walmart being the largest), lost out to a group of warehouse workers in New York who voted to form a union.

If anyone had any doubts about Amazon’s determination to prevent this from ever happening, its scorched-earth anti-union campaign last fall in its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse should have put those doubts to rest.

In New York, Amazon used every tool it had used in Alabama. Many of them are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act but Amazon couldn’t care less. It’s rich enough to pay any fine or bear any public relations hit.

The company has repeatedly fired workers who speak out about unsafe working conditions or who even suggest that workers need a voice.

As its corporate coffers bulge with profits — and its founder and executive chairman practices conspicuous consumption on the scale not seen since the robber barons of the late 19th century — Amazon has become the poster child for 21st-century corporate capitalism run amok.

Much of the credit for Friday’s victory over Amazon goes to Christian Smalls, whom Amazon fired in the spring of 2020 for speaking out about the firm’s failure to protect its warehouse workers from COVID. Smalls refused to back down. He went back and organized a union, with extraordinary skill and tenacity.

Smalls had something else working in his favor, which brings me to Friday’s superb jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report showed that the economy continues to roar back to life from the COVID recession.

With consumer demand soaring, employers are desperate to hire. This has given American workers more bargaining clout than they’ve had in decades. Wages have climbed 5.6 percent over the past year.

The acute demand for workers has bolstered the courage of workers to demand better pay and working conditions from even the most virulently anti-union corporations in America, such as Amazon and Starbucks.

Is this something to worry about? Not at all. American workers haven’t had much of a raise in over four decades. Most of the economy’s gains have gone to the top.

Besides, inflation is running so high that even the 5.6 percent wage gain over the past year is minimal in terms of real purchasing power.

But corporate America believes these wage gains are contributing to inflation. As the New York Times solemnlyreported, the wage gains “could heat up price increases.“

This is pure rubbish. But unfortunately, the chair of the Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell, believes it. He worries that “the labor market is extremely tight,” and to “an unhealthy level.”

As a result, the Fed is on the way to raising interest rates repeatedly in order to slow the economy and reduce the bargaining leverage of American workers.

Pause here to consider this: The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that corporate profits are at a 70-year high. You read that right. Not since 1952 have corporations done as well as they are now doing.

Across the board, American corporations are flush with cash. Although they are paying higher costs (including higher wages), they’ve still managed to increase their profits. How? They have enough pricing power to pass on those higher costs to consumers, and even add some more for themselves.

When American corporations are overflowing with money like this, why should anyone think that wage gains will heat up price increases, as the Times reports? In a healthy economy, corporations would not be passing on higher costs — including higher wages — to their consumers. They’d be paying the higher wages out of their profits.

But that’s not happening. Corporations are using their record profits to buy back enormous amounts of their own stock to keep their share prices high, instead.

The labor market isn’t “unhealthily” tight, as Jerome Powell asserts; corporations are unhealthily fat. Workers don’t have too much power; corporations do.

The extraordinary win of the workers of Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse is cause for celebration. Let’s hope it marks the beginning of a renewal of worker power in America.

Yet the reality is that corporate America doesn’t want to give up any of its record profits to its workers. If it can’t fight off unions directly, it will do so indirectly by blaming inflation on wage increases, and then cheer on the Fed as it slows the economy just enough to eliminate American workers’ new bargaining clout.

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and writes at robertreich.substack.com. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.

Gallup: 76% of Americans disapprove of Congress' performance

LOWER THAN BIDEN'S

April 1 (UPI) -- The job approval rating for the U.S. Congress remained low in March with 21% of Americans approving of lawmakers' performance and 76% of Americans disapproving, according to the latest Gallup poll.

Those figures have remained relatively constant since October amid falling Democratic support for Democrats in Congress, Gallup noted. The overall congressional approval rating had reached a 12-year high of 36% in March 2021 after the party took control of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

The approval rating among Democrats alone had surged to 61% between December 2020 and February 2021 but fell to 26% by January and has since increased to 35%.

Five percent of Republicans approve of the congressional job performance while 93% disapprove.

The poll was conducted before the tumultuous Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

President Joe Biden's approval rating has also fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency over concern for his handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and rising inflation, an NBC poll found Sunday.

Forty percent of those who responded to the survey said they approved of Biden's job performance overall, the poll results show. His job approval rating has gradually fallen since April 2021 when 53% of Americans said they approved of his performance.

However, that poll was conducted between March 18-22 before Biden criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he "cannot remain in power" during a speech in Poland last weekend amid the war in Ukraine.

Experts warn Black Sea mines pose serious maritime threat

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of laying naval mines recently found in the Black Sea. Global shipping has been disrupted — and prices are rising.

'Mines are and remain big balls full of explosives' that can easily disrupt international shipping at bottlenecks like the Bosporus, creating supply shortages and driving up consumer prices

Since last weekend, the Turkish navy has detected and defused several drifting naval or sea mines. It said one had been neutralized near the crucial Bosporus channel, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and ultimately the Mediterranean. The strait was briefly closed to traffic. The Romanian military also said that it had destroyed a sea mine detected by fishermen at the beginning of the week.

The mines are reported to be sea anchor mines that do not float on the surface of the water but rather just below it. A steel cable connects the buoyant mine to an anchor, which keeps the device below the water to conceal it. The explosive detonates when it comes into contact with the hull of a ship.

Russian-Ukrainian blame game

Early last week, Russia's defense ministry and its state security agency, the FSB, warned against floating Ukrainian mines off the coast of Odesa, which had reportedly come adrift after a storm. The first reports spoke of several hundred mines. Later, the Russian defense ministry said that the anchors of an estimated 10 mines out of 370 had broken off.

Ukraine rejected the allegations, calling them "disinformation." It said that the mines were from Ukrainian stockpiles and had been used in Sevastopol off the coast of Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of deliberately allowing the mines to float in the Black Sea to damage Ukraine's international reputation.

Old Soviet models

"Both versions are plausible," said Johannes Peters, an expert for maritime strategy at the University of Kiel. He said that from the images released it was clear that the mines in question were old models that could be identified as being Ukrainian but that they probably dated back to the Soviet era. Turkish authorities have also hinted at this. What is certain is that "since the annexation of Crimea, the Russian navy has had access to such mines, too," he said.

There is no international agreement banning sea mines, as there is for land mines. However, the Hague Convention on submarine mines, which is part of international humanitarian law, binds states to follow certain rules. Among them is the law that mines must not be allowed to drift in international waters.

On the other hand, states are allowed to lay sea mines in their own waters to protect themselves from attack. According to the German Defense Ministry manual on the Law of Armed Conflict, "any form of mine laying, […] is subject to the principles of effective monitoring, risk control and warning." Ukraine did warn ships accordingly when it mined large parts of the waters in the northeast of the Black Sea. According to the Hague Convention, the Ukrainian government should also have warned of any mines that had broken loose.

Bosporus blocked

After the Turkish navy defused the mine and closed the Bosporus, authorities also banned fishing activities at night until further notice. Since it links the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, the strait is an essential trade route for all the states neighboring the Black Sea. But it also creates a bottleneck for wheat exports from Russia and — usually — Ukraine. If blocked, it could drive wheat prices even higher.

Many shipping companies are already under pressure because of the war in Ukraine: The German Shipowners' Association (VDR) estimates that at least 60 cargo ships belonging to international merchant fleets are currently stuck in Ukrainian ports. Now, the drifting mines are making an already critical situation worse.

"We are very worried," as Gokhan Ozcan of the Turkish shipowners' association KOSDER told the Turkish daily newspaper Dünya. Ozcan said he had received several phone calls from partners, particularly in Mediterranean countries, who wanted to know whether they could take the risk of sending their container ships via the Bosporus.

On top of this, insurance companies are currently effectively refusing to cover damages caused by war. Shipping companies thus take a substantial financial risk if they decide to send ships to Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Russia or Georgia.

States are allowed to lay sea mines off their coast to protect from attack

Naval mines: 'Big balls full of explosives'

The threat of the sea mines may be less significant than originally believed last week because only a small fraction of the mines laid are actually drifting. There is also doubt as to whether the devices are operational. "From the pictures, it seems that they are in a poor state of maintenance and some of them do not even seem to be activated," said naval expert Johannes Peters.

However, Peters pointed out that this "does not mean that they are not dangerous." On the contrary, their age and the salty waters in which they are adrift could lead to their being detonated even by light contact, even just an air mattress. The danger must not be underestimated: "Mines are and remain big balls full of explosives."

This article was translated from German.

Serbian elections: Aleksandar Vucic's media dominance aids bid for another term

Serbs head to the polls on Sunday to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections. President Aleksandar Vucic, who is likely to stay in power, has benefitted from the media limelight amid the war in Ukraine.


Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dominates the media


Wherever Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic takes the stage to campaign for his reelection, he is greeted with roars of applause as supporters wave Serbian flags.

It is difficult to say whether these are authentic or staged displays of affection. In any case, Vucic's reelection campaign is a highly organized affair — and nothing is left to chance — with thousands of supporters arriving in buses to take part in the rallies. Independent Serbian media outlets report that municipal employees are required to attend.

"We want to achieve an even clearer victory this time, with Serbia voting for the future, liberty and stability," Vucic said at a recent rally.


Aleksandar Vucic has held key Serbian posts for a decade

Serbia will see a spate of key elections this Sunday: Voters will cast ballots in the presidential, snap parliamentary, and Belgrade regional elations. Many expect Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to emerge victorious.

A major Belgrade betting company is offering just €2 in winnings on a €100 ($110) bet placed on Vucic's win. Polls, too, suggest the incumbent could maintain the presidency in the first round of voting — and his party is expected to win an absolute majority.

Serbia's fractured opposition parties could, however, make gains in Belgrade's regional elections.

Provider of stability amid war?

Amid Russia's war on Ukraine, Vucic has reiterated in television interviews that his victory would deliver "peace" and "stability." While Serbia — an EU candidate country — condemns Russia for violating Ukraine's territorial integrity, it did not join in Western sanctions targeting Moscow.

One reason is that many Serbs feel culturally and historically connected to Russia. Another is that Serbia's leadership knows the country is heavily dependent on Russia for energy. And when it comes to the Kosovo issue, Russia takes Serbia's side. Neither Moscow nor Belgrade recognize the independence of the former south Serbian province.

Russian President Putin and his Serbian counterpart in Belgrade in January 2019

With the war in Ukraine dominating the headlines, Vucic has benefited. He tallies how many tons of wheat, maize and sardines the country has stockpiled for emergencies. He presents himself as the guarantor of peace safeguarding the precarious Balkans.

"This propaganda aims to instill fear in people," philosopher Vladimir Milutinovic, author of a book on Vucic's rhetoric, tells DW.

"The tabloids write that economic collapse is imminent elsewhere, that famine is even looming in Germany. Such statements are intended to cast Serbia as an oasis of stability."

Golden ticket: Party membership card?

For 10 years, Aleksandar Vucic has held leadership posts in Serbia. His Serbian Progressive Party controls most major television stations and tabloid papers, in addition to state-run companies and municipal administrations.

On television chat shows, opposition lawmakers are regularly vilified as thieves and traitors. Vucic has referred to his political party as a catch-all movement for everyone, regardless of ideology. The party has some 700,000 members — that's one-tenth of Serbia's entire population. The reason, however, is that it's almost impossible to get a job in the civil service, government, or state-owned companies without a party membership card.

"The Serbian Progressive Party dominates public opinion," says Dejan Bursac of the Belgrade-based Institute for Political Studies.

"This allows Vucic to take contradictory positions and appeal to voters on all sides. He makes agreements with Kosovo, yet also spouts fiery nationalist rhetoric — or he boasts of how Serbia was one of the first countries to secure enough coronavirus vaccines, then quickly lifts all measures against the pandemic."

Opposition parties struggling to get heard

That leaves Serbia's opposition with limited options for winning over voters. Their main campaign issues are addressing corruption, environmental degradation, and drawing attention to the government's alleged ties to the mafia — none of these issues garnered much attention since war broke out in Ukraine.

Environmental demonstrators block a Belgrade highway in January 2022

Just a few months back, opposition figures were finally beginning to get their message across. Environmental activists had blocked several highways to protest against a large lithium mine planned to open in western Serbia. Critics feared the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto would cause serious environmental damage and shift profits out of the country.

President Vucic was forced to switch into crisis-management mode. Sensing the issue could harm his reelection campaign, Vucic revoked Rio Tinto's mining permit. And with that, public interest in the issue vanished almost overnight.

Game of cat and mouse

Such political dominance would be almost unthinkable without the party's sway in Serbian media and the practically limitless financial means, writes independent weekly Vreme.

Investigative reporters recently revealed that the party had spent some €23 million ($25 million) on election campaigns between 2015 and 2021 — three times more than all opposition parties combined. This means the regime is in control of everything and "can play a game of cat and mouse with its political opponents," according to Vreme.

Opposition parties largely boycotted the 2020 parliamentary elections, citing unfair conditions. This year, several opposition coalitions are expected to win seats in the legislature. The United Serbia coalition, a broad alliance of centrist parties, is projected to take between 15% and 20% of the vote. Their presidential candidate, Zdravko Ponos, a retired chief of staff in the Serbian armed forces, could fare even better.

The green alliance Moramo, meaning "We Must," could also pass the 3% threshold and enter parliament. Unimaginable in Serbia until recently, the environmental parties gained momentum from their fight against the Rio Tinto mine.

Social and economic issues key

The country's nationalists and right-wing camp, in contrast, appears more fractured, fielding five presidential candidates and just as many electoral lists. Their positions and nationalist slogans. do resonate with many voters. More than 80% of Serbians say they reject joining NATO, and two-thirds say Russia is Serbia's most important partner. Even so, Serbia's right-wing and nationalists don't have a good chance of securing any seats.

Serbian ultra-nationalist and convicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj is also in the race

Political analyst Bursac says the reason for this is that many in Serbia are more concerned with social and economic issues, rather than the Kosovo question and related topics. Today, he says, nationalism is not the basis for Serbian populism, but merely an additive.

Massive debt

"Vucic's main voters since 2012 have been those who have lost out to the economic crisis: pensioners, housewives and low- to middle-income workers," says Bursac. "In the election campaign, the president promises new factories, highways and hospitals. The message is clear: There is hope for Serbia and for everyone."

Some observers, however, warn that this approach will entail massive public debt. The price of food and energy could climb even further after the election. Analysts are also convinced that Brussels will increase its pressure on Serbia to join the EU in targeting Russia with sanctions.

Radmilo Markovic contributed to this report

This article was originally written in German

NAZI OMA

Germany: 93-year-old Holocaust denier sent back to jail

The so-called "Nazi Grandma," Ursula Haverbeck has been handed another prison sentence. The notorious Holocaust denier will serve a one-year sentence.


The judge said that there was no alternative to prison to Ursula Haverbeck after her repeated intances of Holocaust denial

The notorious neo-Nazi Ursula Haverbeck was sentenced to a 12-month prison sentence in Berlin on Friday for denying the murder of over a million Jews at the Auschwitz death camp.

The court rejected an appeal by the 93-year-old for convictions in 2017 and 2020 handed to her for repeated instances of Holocaust denial.

"You're not a Holocaust researcher, you're a Holocaust denier," the presiding judge said in the courtroom, adding "it's not knowledge you're spreading, it's poison."

PORTRAITS OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AT BERLIN'S JEWISH MUSEUM
Rachel Oschitzki
Rachel Oschitzki survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and a death march. In 1947, she boarded the Palestine-bound refugee ship, Exodus, which was involved in a scuffle with the British the military. After Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, she was one of the first to be allowed to emigrate to the newly established state. She returned to Germany in 1956.
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Serial Holocaust denier

Haverbeck was sentenced to six months in prison in 2017 after repeatedly denying the historic facts of the Holocaust during an event in Berlin.

She then received a further 12-month-long prison sentence in 2020 for publishing an interview online in which she again made statements that denied the Holocaust.

The judge said Haverbeck's actions came from her own beliefs and that the decision to jail the 93-year-old had been necessary as there was no alternative.

"There's nothing that will stop you," the judge told Haverbeck. "We won't have any impact on you with words."
'Nazi Grandma'

Haverbeck repeatedly claimed that Auschwitz was "not historically proven" to be a death camp, claiming it was a labor camp instead. An estimated 1.1 million people were murdered at the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; 90% of the victims were Jewish.

Dubbed "Nazi Grandma" by the German media, had also been convicted in other parts of Germany. She served two and a half years in prison in the western German city of Bielefeld in 2018.

She has also been handed numerous fines for her comments. Her lawyers in Friday's case had asked for her sentence to be lowered to fines or for her to be released.

This plea was rejected and future changes to the sentence are no longer possible.

Mali: Hundreds of militants killed in large-scale operation, army says

The West African nation has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks as European troops drawdown their operations. The country remains a stronghold of both al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) affiliated terrorist groups.



Several international military missions remain in Mali

Mali's armed forces on Friday said they killed more than 200 militants during an operation in March.

In a statement, the army said that a military operation between 23 and 31 March in the area around Moura, a village in central Mali, killed 203 combatants. They arrested 51 people and seized large quantities of weapons as well.

News outlets have not been able to independently verify the information because of a lack of access.

Malians suffer under strain of economic sanctions

African leaders have sought help from the international community for years to fight jihadi terrorism in the western Sahel, an area that stretches across Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Senegal's President Macky Sall, currently the chairman of the African Union, told DW in February that Africa has been "pleading with the [UN] Security Council for the last 10 or 12 years to take greater responsibility" but they have not been able to rally support.
Situation deteriorates in Mali

Mali has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning the UN Security Council that Mali's counter-terrorism efforts had "disastrous consequences for the civilian population," AFP news agency reported.

The UN also said Friday that thousands fleeing fighting in Mali had arrived in Niger.

Mali cutting off ties with France

Mali's army said it was guided by human rights and international law in its statement on Friday, and called for "restraint against defamatory speculations."

A day earlier, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known by the acronym MINUSMA, said security had "deteriorated considerably" in the border area with Burkina Faso and Niger.

French and European troops withdraw

France and its European partners announced on February 17 that it would pull most of its troops from Mali by summer as political and security situation continued to deteriorate with repeated coups in the country.

French forces fought Islamic insurgents in Mali for nearly a decade, as the country remains a stronghold of both al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) affiliated terrorist groups.

The announcement ended France's Barkhane counter-terrorism mission, which includes Canada, and the Takuba mission, where European special forces support Barkhane.

France said it would move operations to Niger instead.

While experts have expressed concerns about the uptick in violence as a result of the withdrawal, Germany has been under pressure to end its Mali operations too.

rm/jcg (Reuters, AFP)

Artists hail revolutionary Joni Mitchell at pre-Grammy gala


Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock performs 'Hejira' during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell

 (AFP/ANGELA WEISS)

Joni Mitchell was all smiles at the MusiCares pre-Grammy gala in her honor (AFP/VALERIE MACON)



US singer-actor Billy Porter performs "Both Sides Now" during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell 


Mickey Guyton (R) and Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell (L) perform "For Free" in tribute to Joni Mitchell

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell speaks after accepting the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year award 

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (4th L) stands on stage with performers honoring her, performing a medley of "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Circle Game" 




Brandi Carlile and Stephen Stills perform "Woodstock" on stage during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell 





Maggy DONALDSON

Sat, 2 April 2022

Music's legends and hitmakers turned out Friday to honor Joni Mitchell -- the Canadian-born folk icon behind classics including "A Case Of You" -- at a charity gala ahead of the Grammys that featured moving tributes and glassy eyes.

The 78-year-old Mitchell donned a sequined kimono-style robe, bejeweled black beret and bright red nails at the MusiCares show where artists including Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Angelique Kidjo and Stephen Stills, along with this year's leading Grammy nominee Jon Batiste, paid homage to her vast oeuvre.

"It's been quite a year," the artist known for her distinct contralto and open-tuned guitar told journalists on the red carpet.

In December she was among the inductees at the Kennedy Center Honors gala, one of America's most prestigious arts awards.

The evening marked a rare public appearance for the trailblazing Mitchell, who in 2015 suffered a brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to speak, the aftermath of which has involved extensive physical therapy.

But on Friday she was glowing, telling reporters she's been having artistic "ideas" even as she continues to focus on improving her health.

The influential artist who inspired everyone from Neil Diamond to Prince is perhaps best known for the intensely personal 1971 album "Blue," a deep dive into emotional heartache.

Last summer "Blue" charted number one on iTunes as it hit its fiftieth anniversary -- outperforming even pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo's "Sour."

Voicing her own astonishment over the milestone, Mitchell explained her album's enduring popularity and recent resurgence: "Maybe people want to get a little bit deeper."

And asked by reporters how she was feeling health-wise, she said "pretty good," adding she'd been "making improvements."

- 'Touches the world' -

Jazz great Hancock -- who in 2007 released a tribute album to Mitchell entitled "River: The Joni Letters" -- hailed his longtime friend's artistic "courage."

"She bares her soul, but she does it in such a poetic way," Hancock told AFP on the red carpet, in the hours before he delivered a performance of Mitchell's song "Hejira" onstage.

He credited Mitchell, who is widely considered among the 20th century's greatest songwriters -- with teaching him "how to listen to lyrics."

"Some people -- and I'm one of 'em -- when we listen to music, we hear the harmonies and the musical textures, and the lyrics sound like gibberish," he continued.

Yet Mitchell's "poetry" still strikes him, Hancock said: "Nobody writes lyrics like Joni."

"She's given all of us the courage to tell the truth," said performer Billy Porter, who paid tribute to Mitchell singing her beloved "Both Sides Now" onstage. "To use our art to grow; to use our art to heal."

"To set some other people free -- she's powerful that way."

The star-studded gala is an annual tradition from MusiCares, the charitable wing of the Recording Academy that raises money to help musicians in need prior to the Grammy Awards.

This year's celebration also featured an affecting remote performance of "A Case Of You" from Graham Nash, of the folk supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, a band Mitchell both deeply influenced and shared a rich working relationship with.

She also dated both David Crosby and Nash, and mined the latter break-up for inspiration on a number of the songs comprising the seminal "Blue," including the touching "A Case of You."

Neil Young appeared in a video message sending Mitchell "lots of love," while Stephen Stills attended the ceremony in Las Vegas and praised Mitchell as "one of the great artists of this world."

"Back when we were kids we had a good time trying to figure out the tunings that she used. Crosby happened to be the most adept at it," he told AFP. Crosby produced her debut album, "Song to a Seagull."

Stills played guitar as Brandi Carlile belted out a rollicking rendition of "Woodstock" on an evening flush with performances, that left many in the room, especially Mitchell, with tears welling.

"I could retire now, and just let other people do it," she joked when she accepted her award. "Everybody was splendid."

"Did you enjoy it?" she asked the audience to rounds of applause, before joining the night's performers to sing "The Circle Game" and "Big Yellow Taxi."

Stills summed up the mood: "God bless you Joni Mitchell, for being in our lives."

mdo/ssy

 

Generations sing to Joni Mitchell in pre-Grammys tribute

By ANDREW DALTON

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Joni Mitchell accepts the Person of the Year award at the 31st annual MusiCares benefit gala on Friday, April 1, 2022, at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)


LAS VEGAS (AP) — An 81-year-old jazz giant and a 15-year-old rock singer were the first to perform tributes to Joni Mitchell on Friday night.

Such was the diversity of artists honoring a most diverse artist, Mitchell, a Canadian-turned-Californian, folkie-turned-rocker-turned-jazz explorer who was honored as the 2022 MusiCares Person of the year by the Recording Academy two days before the Grammy Awards.

Herbie Hancock played a jazz piano rendition of music from Mitchell’s 1976 album “Hejira” that was followed by a rocking version of 1974′s “Help Me” from Violet Grohl, the teenage daughter of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, to open the tribute concert in a ballroom at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

Mitchell, sitting at the front table, brought out the teenager in many of the older entertainers.

“When I first heard Joni Mitchell it was 1968 and I was 15 years old,” Cyndi Lauper, now 68, said. “I had never heard anyone sing so intimately about what it was like to be a young woman navigating this world.”

Lauper recited several of Mitchell’s lines that moved her most, before launching into “Magdalene Laundry” while playing mountain dulcimer.

“I don’t know how you do what you do, I just know I need it like food,” Meryl Streep said in a video message played for Mitchell and the crowd. “Ever since we were both young girls. We didn’t know each other, but you sang me into being. You sang my life.”

Seven years after a brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to walk or speak, Mitchell, 78, was delighted to be in Las Vegas and out at a major public event for the first time since the pandemic began.

“I had the best margarita that I’ve ever had at our hotel,” she told The Associated Press as she walked into the gala.

Mitchell is a presenter and a nominee for best historical album at Sunday’s Grammys. She says she’s always found herself in the genres and categories that don’t make the Grammy telecast.

“I usually win the behind-the-curtain awards,” she said with a laugh.

Inside, sitting a table with Hancock and director Cameron Crowe, Mitchell often appeared near tears as a parade of artists praised her before giving their takes on her songs.

“Not unlike people who lived in the time of Shakespeare, and of Beethoven, we are living in the time of Joni Mitchell, and it shows tonight,” said Brandi Carlile, who sang a version of “Woodstock” that began as a quiet ballad before the house band kicked in and Stephen Stills — who played on the most famous version of the 1970 song with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — joined her for an electric guitar solo.

In a new approach to this year’s MusiCares tribute, organizers appointed Carlile, who is up for five Grammys on Sunday, and Jon Batiste, who is up for 11, as music directors to coordinate the artists and their approaches to the difficult, genre-bending songs of Mitchell’s five-decade career.

“We helped shepherd artists to their Joni songs, the ones that their souls connected to,” Carlile told the AP. “This isn’t easy music. This is complicated, brilliant music that is really hard to interpret.”

Before singing one of those esoteric songs, “The Jungle Line” from 1975′s “The Hissing of the Summer Lawns,” Beck said “preparing for this event I feel like I’ve been in Joni school.”

John Legend gave a surprise performance, singing and playing solo piano on Mitchell’s “River” on a spinning stage in the middle of the room as the crowd of 2,400 was finishing their spinning dessert, an edible Grammy trophy on a turntable.

“Everybody was splendid, it just kept getting better and better and better,” Mitchell said in a brief acceptance speech near the concert’s end. “I can retire now and just let other people do it.”

But she showed she’s not quite done yet.

Carlile and Batiste brought most of the night’s performers back to the stage for a sing-along of “The Circle Game” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Mitchell eventually made her way to the mic to join them, delivering the famous baritone ending of the latter song.

“Put up a parking lot,” she sang, to laughs and whoops from the crowd.

The MusiCares Person of the Year is a career achievement award handed out for a combination of inspiring artistic accomplishments and philanthropy. The gala handing it out raises funds for the programs of MusiCares, the Recording Academy charity that provides health and welfare services to musicians in need.

Past honorees include Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and Aerosmith.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

Tribes seek more inclusion, action from US officials

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and FELICIA FONSECA

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FILE - Interior Secretary Deb Haaland waves after speaking to a crowd during a totem pole delivery ceremony by Native American tribal leaders and Indigenous activists, on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 29, 2021. Secretary Haaland vowed on her first day on the job to ensure Native American tribes have opportunities to speak with her and the agencies she oversees. Native American and Alaska Native groups are seeing change under Haaland but some remain frustrated with the pace of action. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was a quick trip for U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland with stops to hike through desert scrub near the U.S.-Mexico border and to marvel at the jagged Organ Mountains before soaking in what life was like in one of the oldest settlements along a historic trade route.

For Haaland, the time spent in West Texas and New Mexico over recent days helped to highlight the work being done to conserve parts of the borderlands.

But it also marked an opportunity for Haaland — as head of the agency that has broad oversight of tribal affairs — to deliver on promises to meet with Native American tribes that have grown increasingly frustrated about the federal government’s failure to include them when making decisions about land management, energy development or the protection of sacred sites.

Haaland’s selection as the first Native American to serve in the position opened a door for tribes who pointed to a history fraught with broken promises.

“I want the era where tribes have been on the back burner to be over, and I want to make sure that they have real opportunities to have a seat at the table,” Haaland said on March 17, 2021, her first day on the job.

Haaland has since met with nearly 130 of the nation’s 574 federally recognized tribes as she seeks to overhaul a federal system that has limited Native American relations to a check-the-box exercise.

And while some tribes say her aspirations are admirable, others remain skeptical they will see real change and say they have yet to experience meaningful dialogue with the federal government or key decision makers.

Haaland’s department has developed a plan for improving formal consultations with tribes and established an advisory committee that will aid with communication once it’s up and running. In an effort to make consultation a hallmark of her tenure, Haaland has said she wants integration of tribal input to become second nature for her employees.

There has been some success as tribes felt heard when the Biden administration restored the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and when the U.S. Department of Agriculture pulled back an environmental impact statement that paved the way for an Arizona copper mining operation to consult further with tribes.

But frustrations persist among tribal leaders who say their conversations with the federal government have not resulted in action on the ground.

For the Ute Indian Tribe in Utah, those frustrations lie in management of the Colorado River basin as western states grapple with less water amid a megadrought and climate change. Tribes were not included in a century-old compact that divvied up the water, and the Ute tribe says it’s seeing the same exclusion now.

The tribe’s Business Committee has spent hours in meetings and preparing formal comments and says it’s tired of having to reiterate its position that the federal government must protect the tribe’s water rights or support development of water infrastructure to serve the reservation.

Committee Chairman Shaun Chapoose said he’s seen proposals, but “actual where-the-rubber-meets-the-road stuff hasn’t occurred yet, and the drought gets worse.”

There are similar sentiments among Navajo Nation lawmakers who are concerned about Haaland’s plans to make oil and gas development off-limits on federal land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.

Advocacy groups sent a letter to Haaland on Thursday, saying more needs to be done to include tribes as her department charts a path forward for protecting culturally significant areas in northwestern New Mexico.

The Interior Department said more meetings with the Navajo Nation and other tribes are planned in April and that Navajo-language translators will be present.

In Nevada, several tribes and the National Congress of American Indians have asked the Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to uphold a duty to engage in “robust and adequate” tribal consultation regarding plans for a massive lithium mine at Thacker Pass. So far, the tribes say that hasn’t happened.

Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties and statutes, the federal government must consult meaningfully and in good faith with Native American and Alaska Native tribes when making decisions or taking action that is expected to impact them.

However, a 2019 report from a government watchdog found some federal agencies lacked respect for tribal sovereignty, didn’t have enough resources for consultation or couldn’t always reach tribes.

Another top complaint from tribes is that they are brought in when a course of action already has been set, instead of including them in the earliest phases of planning.

“The federal government says all the right words, but their mentality is one in which they are not really doing this in a way that reflects the proper government-to-government relationship that I think tribes are orienting to when they enter into these conversations,” said Justin Richland, a professor at the University of California-Irvine School of Social Sciences who specializes in Native American law and politics.

Consultation doesn’t always lead to action or create any substantive rights on the part of the tribes, making it somewhat of a “toothless tiger,” said Dylan Hedden-Nicely, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who directs the Native American Law Program at the University of Idaho.

He said it’s reasonable, although incorrect, to think things would move quickly with Haaland — a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico — because she had a base of knowledge about Indian Country when she took the office. But the groundwork is still being laid to effectuate real change, Hedden-Nicely said.

“It’s not immediate, but it’s going to be worth the wait, I’m hoping,” he said.

During Haaland’s confirmation hearings, Interior staff consulted with tribes on how to improve the process.

“Secretary Haaland and the entire department take our commitment to strengthening tribal sovereignty and self-governance seriously, and we have affirmed that robust consultations are the cornerstones of federal Indian policy,” department spokesman Tyler Cherry said in a statement to The Associated Press.

President Joe Biden issued a memo during his first month in office, reaffirming previous executive orders on tribal consultation and directing federal agencies to spell out how they’ll comply. That set in motion Haaland’s efforts to give tribal leaders a direct line of communication to the Interior Department.

A congressional committee is scheduled next week to consider a bill by Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona that would codify a framework for tribal consultation that supporters say would insulate the process from changes in administration.

The legislation faces an uphill battle, and some tribes want to ensure that it includes a pathway not only for the federal government to initiate consultation, but for tribal leaders to start conversations, too. Similar legislation introduced in the past has failed.

For Amber Torres, chair of the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Nevada, consultation should be more than a generic letter or email.

“I want true, meaningful, face-to-face dialogue with a timeline, intent and follow-up and next steps agreed by both parties,” she said. “Making the tribal consultation process a law is long overdue, and it would be a step in the right direction to ensure tribal nation sovereignty is protected.”

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Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Missouri regulates boarding schools after abuse allegations

By JIM SALTER


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This undated photo shows Maggie Drew. Drew, now 29, is among several former students of Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch who have alleged abuse at the Christian boarding school in southwestern Missouri. The husband-and-wife operators of the school have been charged with around 100 crimes combined. Religious boarding schools like Circle of Hope and a nearby facility for boys, Agape, have come under scrutiny amid tales of abuse, prompting a new state law providing greater oversight. 

(photo by Maggie Drew via AP)


Maggie Drew’s dad sent her to Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch in Missouri in 2007, hoping strict Christian teachings would stop his 14-year-old daughter’s teenage rebellion.

Instead, Drew said, she found herself in a nightmare, sexually abused by one of the boarding school’s founders and left with permanent spinal injuries after a fall from a hay barn for which she received no medical attention.

Just 25 miles away at another Christian boarding school, Brett Harper says he endured abuse that included staff members stomping on his back.

They are among dozens of people who say they were abused at either Circle of Hope or Agape Boarding School — allegations that helped prompt a new Missouri law aimed at reining in religious boarding schools that for decades went without any oversight by the state.

“I still have nightmares about these people and the things they did to us,” Drew said.

The founders of Circle of Hope face around 100 charges, some alleging sexual abuse. Agape’s doctor is charged with child sex crimes and five employees are accused of assault, though Missouri’s attorney general thinks many more workers should have been charged.

The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. But both opened in southwest Missouri under a 1982 state law that gave religious boarding schools free rein and the state no way to monitor how kids were educated. Even the health department had no oversight, including for schools that claimed to address mental health, behavioral and addiction issues.

The new law approved last year followed extensive reporting from The Kansas City Star that found that several faith-based boarding schools, including Agape, relocated to Missouri after being investigated or shut down for abuse or neglect elsewhere.

Legislators heard testimony from former students such as Chanel Mare, who told of girls at Circle of Hope being forced to eat their own vomit; and James Matthew Lawson, who said he was raped at Agape and called “seizure boy” because of his epilepsy.

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Larson and Drew both came forward publicly to discuss the allegations.

Supporters of religious boarding schools say they provide structure to troubled young people. Megan Stokes, executive director of National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, said the wrongdoing alleged at Agape and Circle of Hope is exceedingly uncommon.

Yet unlike Missouri and many other states, her trade association requires state licensing for all of its 150 member schools, including the religious ones. Agape is not a member, nor was Circle of Hope.

Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope in 2006 in the remote town of Humansville. “We use the BIBLE to teach (girls) that they are to obey their Parents and the authority over them,” the school’s website, which has been taken down, stated.

The school closed amid a 2020 investigation; 25 girls were removed. In March 2021, Boyd Householder, 72, was charged with 79 crimes and Stephanie, 56, was charged with 22.

Sixteen former residents alleged they were restrained with handcuffs, whipped with belts, and punched. Nearly two dozen counts against Boyd Householder accuse him of sexual contact with girls.

Messages left with the Householders’ attorney were not returned. In an August interview with the Star, the couple said the accusers made up their stories.

Drew, now 29, said her life was upended when her brother died in a car wreck in 2007. Her grieving father joined a church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Drew said that when she refused to wear a skirt and her grades dropped, church leaders persuaded her dad to send her to Circle of Hope.

“It was absolute torture,” said Drew, who also accused the Householders of stealing a $25,000 inheritance from her.

James Clemensen, a retired California trooper, and his wife, Kathy, started Agape in Stockton, Missouri, in 1990. He told a reporter in 2002 that he picked Missouri because of its lack of regulation. He died in October.

Agape serves 120-150 boys ages 12-17. Its website says it’s a nonprofit school “designed to show God’s love to teen boys struggling with behavior issues that can threaten their future.”

The school remains open. Five staffers were charged in September with abusing students. In December, Dr. David Smock was charged with sexual abuse. He pleaded not guilty in March.

Phone messages left with Agape’s director and Smock’s attorney were not returned.

Harper was 14 when he was sent there from his rural Oregon home in 1999. Now 36, he recalled long hours moving large rocks from one pile to another, toting lumber by hand and clearing land. Harper said his injuries have left him unable to keep a job.

“What I went through at Agape primed me for abusive relationships with people, it primed for being an ignorant young man not knowing the way the world worked, it destroyed my family relationship,” Harper said.

Missouri’s new law sets minimum health and safety requirements for boarding schools, which still don’t have to be licensed. The law mandates background checks for employees; requires adequate food, clothing and medical care for students; and says parents must be allowed access to their children at any time without prior notice.

After a state investigation last year, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt recommended charges against 22 Agape employees. But in Missouri, only the local prosecutor can file charges, and Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither does not plan to file more.

“The attorney general has his agenda,” Gaither said. “I’m an experienced prosecutor and I filed what I believe are the appropriate charges.”

James Clidence, who taught math at Agape from 2012 to 2015, said he left after witnessing abuses so concerning that his wife contacted federal, state and local authorities. None would investigate, he said.

“I’m for religious liberty. I’m a pastor. But at this point we’re talking about children’s well-being,” Clidence, who now leads a Baptist church in Maryland, said.

Harper is among those who question whether religious boarding schools will get real scrutiny in Missouri.

“How many things have to happen before they act?” he asked.