Online Retailer Shein Was Selling A "Metal Swastika Pendant" Necklace Until People Noticed

Earlier this week, the clothing company apologized for selling Muslim prayer mats as decorative carpets.Ikran Dahir BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on July 9, 2020

THE SWASTIKA IS OLDER THEN THE NAZI'S, AND IS USED IN ALL CULTURES AS A SYMBOL OF THE SUN AND RENEWAL.

AS MY OLD PAL MANWOMAN CAMPAIGNED FOR

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Shein / Screenshot / Via shein.co.uk

Online fashion retailer Shein has removed a necklace it described online as a "swastika pendant necklace" after a huge backlash.

The necklace was on sale for $2.50. The website doesn't appear to have any further products for sale with that description.

Stop Antisemitism, an advocacy organization, posted a screenshot of the necklace on its Instagram page and wrote, "we demand that #shein IMMEDIATELY remove this item from their website as it represents the mass murder of millions." Less than an hour after the post was uploaded to Instagram, the necklace was removed.

Instagram: @stop_antisemitism

In the comments for Shein's latest Instagram post, people are asking for an explanation.


Screenshot / SHEIN




A spokesperson for Shein told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the necklace did not feature a Nazi swastika pendant, but instead "a Buddhist swastika which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years."

People said they are disgusted, especially as it surfaced after the brand gave an apology earlier this week for selling Muslim prayer rugs as decorative mats.

In its apology, Shein said it had formed a product review committee consisting of staffers from different cultures and religions to prevent future incidents.



Amyleigh ☕️ Black Lives Matter@AmyleighCraigg

People correcting people on the origin on the swastika and yo, that’s not the point. The point is that @SHEIN_official is ONCE AGAIN NOT EVEN A WEEK AFTER THEIR LAST NONSENSE profiting off religious symbols. https://t.co/YKNNlJTVeA06:04 PM - 09 Jul 2020
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ghostwavesco.com is open@killerkingggg

So what was said about SHEIN again????? This is fucking disgusting04:14 PM - 09 Jul 2020
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Some Twitter users wondered why a retailer would sell a swastika.



Zoey@zoeyy227

.......who in their right mind would sell a damn swastika?! 😐 https://t.co/vgPEjYtGdQ04:33 PM - 09 Jul 2020
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Others pointed out that before the swastika was used by Nazis, it had been used as a symbol of good fortune for thousands of years by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.




lau 🕊@lauren_eileen99

Y’all need to educate yourselves instead of jumping on the drama bandwagon after 0.23592 seconds. This isn’t the nazi symbol this is a religious symbol of spirituality for south asian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. The nazis stole it and flipped it anti-clockwise. https://t.co/XpNhDm0orB05:29 PM - 09 Jul 2020
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However, many people pointed out the symbol is primarily associated with Nazism and anti-Semitism in the Western world.



goblin girl@sarahmhawkinson

to y’all defending @SHEIN_official yes the symbol has many meanings, but what’s the FIRST thing that comes to mind... https://t.co/kO8d3jiI3D05:20 PM - 09 Jul 2020
Reply Retweet Favorite


In the statement to BuzzFeed News, the spokesperson said that the Nazi swastika has a different design, that it's pointed clockwise, and titled at an angle.

"However, because we understand the two symbols can be confused, and one is highly offensive, we have removed the product from our site," the spokesperson said.

They added: "As a multicultural and global brand, we want to apologize profusely to those who are offended, we are sensitive to these issues and want to be very clear that we in no way support or condone racial, cultural and religious prejudice or hostility.

"We are actively working through our internal structure and processes to resolve these issues, including a product review committee to ensure that we respect our diverse community.

"We are a global and all-inclusive brand and we are taking extreme measures to ensure that all items are cleared through a rigorous vetting process before we retail them."

The National Obsession Around Ilhan Omar Is Fueling Her Primary Opponent

Antone Melton-Meaux was virtually unknown. But he's now raising millions in his challenge to Ilhan Omar.

Molly Hensley-Clancy BuzzFeed News Reporter


Olivier Douliery / Getty Images

lhan Omar’s primary opponent is a virtually unknown Minneapolis lawyer. But Antone Melton-Meaux has raised millions from big-dollar donors in recent months fueled by intense animosity toward Omar, one of the first Muslim women in Congress.

“I found out about him because I hate his opponent,” said Stan Weinstein, a retired real estate executive from Miami Beach who gave Melton-Meaux $2,800, the maximum amount allowable by law.

“She does not represent the United States, she doesn’t represent our values, and she doesn’t represent our history,” Weinstein said.

Michael, a donor from Scarsdale, New York, who also gave $2,800 to Melton-Meaux, put it this way: "If Mickey Mouse ran against her, I’d donate to him."

Melton-Meaux took in $1.5 million in May, with an average donation of more than $650, according to ActBlue data. The bulk of that money came from donors who gave more than $2,000, and a substantial chunk of it was bundled by pro-Israel groups. His campaign confirmed those numbers but would not provide any figures to BuzzFeed News, including any fundraising in June.

Omar is still the heavy favorite in the four-way August primary in her district in the heart of deep-blue Minneapolis, which has been the epicenter of nationwide protests over racism and police brutality this summer. But the campaign of Melton-Meaux, a Black lawyer and mediator who has never before run for office, has picked up steam in recent months by fundraising on the back of dislike of Omar.

One out-of-state donor gave $2,800 to Melton-Meaux after asking if there was any way he could “vote against that lady,” said his son, who asked that their name not be used. The donor’s son found Melton-Meaux after searching for Omar’s primary opponents.

“It’s not any kind of appreciation for the other candidate,” the donor’s son said.

In Minneapolis itself, Melton-Meaux has also picked up endorsements that could show signs of weakness for the incumbent. He is backed by a number of local politicians and civil rights activists, as well as Jewish leaders who have condemned Omar’s history of anti-Semitic comments, which she has apologized for.

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the so-called “Squad” of Democratic women of color who were elected to the House in 2018, faced a well-funded primary challenge last month that accused her of abandoning her district, she crushed her opponent by a margin of some 50 percentage points.

But Minnesota’s fifth district is substantially different from the districts represented by the rest of the Squad: It’s 63% white, with a substantial population of high-income voters, and a Jewish community that has been unhappy with Omar’s brief tenure.

The district is 18% Black, including the large Somali immigrant community of which Omar is a part. Some of Omar’s opponents see an opportunity to splinter off the district’s other Black voters, as well as wealthier, white voters in different parts of the segregated city.

“I think she’ll win, but I think it’ll be closer than people think,” one top Minnesota Democrat said of Omar.

"It isn’t surprising that billionaire corporate donors are targeting Rep. Omar, just like they targeted Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman," Isaiah Kirshner-Breen, Omar's deputy communications director, told BuzzFeed News in a statement. "But what is surprising is the degree to which this money is fueled by Islamophobia, xenophobia and misogyny. It is clear that Republican donors will do anything in their power to silence and discredit a black Muslim immigrant service in Congress—even supporting a self-described Democrat. This money isn't just about politics; it's about hate."
Omar’s campaign has raised $3.3 million, mostly, like Melton-Meaux, from out of state donors, and said its average donation was $18.

Melton-Meaux describes himself as a progressive, and he has run to the center of Omar on policy issues. But at the core of his campaign is a portrait of Omar as a “divider” who has left behind her district, and her attempts to legislate, in a quest for international fame.

Melton-Meaux said he voted for Omar in 2018 before becoming disillusioned by her brief tenure in the House, especially the number of votes she missed in 2019, which was significantly higher than the state’s other representatives.

“We don’t want someone who’s looking out for themselves — who’s interested in launching a memoir, who’s focused on her celebrity,” he told BuzzFeed News. “People need someone who is going to show up.”

Part of Omar’s divisiveness nationally — she has become the face of many Republican and far-right media attacks on the Democratic far left — is rooted in her identity. As a Black woman and Muslim immigrant, she has been subject to racist attacks, including from President Donald Trump, who said Omar and the other members of the Squad should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Melton-Meaux said his campaign’s portrait of Omar as a “divider” is about her actions.

“I’m speaking about facts, about things she has said or done herself. These are not attacks or assumptions or subjective narratives. These are missed votes, votes she’s cast, things she’s said herself,” Melton-Meaux said.

Some of Omar’s allies, however, have pointed to what they have called anti-immigrant dog whistles in mailings sent out by Melton-Meaux.

In glossy mailers that have papered the district in recent weeks, Melton-Meaux’s campaign criticized Omar for having “been to Africa three times” while being absent from other parts of her district. Other mailers and advertisements have highlighted Melton-Meaux’s “American story” and his family’s long history in America, including as the descendants of enslaved people.

Melton-Meaux said the focus on his family history is not meant as a contrast to Omar, but a way for voters to understand him, especially his history as a Black man in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. “My telling of my story is an honoring of my past,” he told BuzzFeed News. “It’s not all good. It’s a lot of heartbreak, a lot of sadness, a lot of joy and overcoming.”

“I honor that, and I understand that I am a point in a continuum of time,” Melton-Meaux said. “I didn’t show up out of nowhere — there are people that sacrificed for me.”



MORE ON ILHAN OMAR
Trump Says Minnesota Can't Stand Ilhan Omar. His Attacks Have Made Her More Popular Than Ever Back Home.Molly Hensley-Clancy · July 25, 2019



Molly Hensley-Clancy is a politics reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Contact Molly Hensley-Clancy at molly.hensley-clancy@buzzfeed.com.

Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.




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Full coronavirus vaccine unlikely by next year: expert
AND DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE WHO SAYS IT WILL BE EARLIER

Issued on: 12/07/2020 -

Don't hold your breath Douglas MAGNO AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

There is little chance of a 100-percent effective coronavirus vaccine by 2021, a French expert warned Sunday, urging people to take social distancing measures more seriously.

"A vaccine is several years in development," said epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, a member of the team of scientists advising the government on the crisis, speaking on BFMTV television."Of course, there is an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine, but I would be very surprised if we had that was effective in 2021," he added.

While we would probably have one that worked partially, we were very far from the end of the crisis, he said.

That being the case, "we have to live with this virus" he said. And since another lockdown was out of the question, people had to go back to "more serious habits".

"This summer, let's respect physical distance, at least!" he said, stressing that large gatherings were the main threat.

On Saturday, a DJ's set on a beach in the Mediterranean resort of Nice drew thousands of people together, sparking a furious reaction on social media.

Also Saturday, a group of well-known doctors called for the government to make the wearing of masks inside public buildings compulsory in a bid to head off a second wave of the coronavirus.

Fontanet said the main risks for the appearance of new virus clusters were in confined spaces, such as on cruise ships, warships, sports halls, discos, slaughterhouses, accommodation housing migrant workers and places of worship.

On Wednesday, the French government said it was preparing for a second wave of COVID-19, but rather than imposing another nationwide lockdown, they would use "targeted" measures such as stay-at-home orders or business closures.

© 2020 AFP

Fury in France as protesters slam Macron’s choice of interior minister accused of rape


Issued on: 11/07/2020 -

Protesters demonstrate against the appointments of French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti in Paris, July 10, 2020. © Benoit Tessier, Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Video by:FRANCE 24


Chanting “Impunity is Over!” or dancing against sexual violence, women’s rights activists protested Friday in multiple cities in France and abroad against President Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of a new interior minister who is accused of rape and a justice minister who has minimized the #MeToo movement.

The actions started Friday morning in Dijon, where new Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Prime Minister Jean Castex were meeting with police. A dozen feminists held out banners and signs condemning Darmanin and rape culture.

Later Friday, in front of Paris City Hall, women staged a flash mob and performed the song and dance “ A Rapist in Your Path " started by feminists in Chile, which has become an international rallying cry against sexual violence and victim shaming.

#LaHonte pic.twitter.com/Jtf6SUwGkH— #NousToutes (@NousToutesOrg) July 10, 2020

The young, diverse crowd - most in masks - demanded Darmanin’s resignation and exuded anger at Macron, who had promised to make fighting sexual violence a grand cause of his term. Signs read “Darmanin named, Victims disdained” or “Victims, We See You”.

One of the speakers, who identified herself only as Margaux, said: “Without questioning the fundamental right to the presumption of innocence, the nomination of a man accused of rape reminds us how sexual and sexist violence is normalized and minimized, including at the highest levels of the state.”

“The message sent is very clear: Aggressors, don’t be afraid,” she told the crowd of about 1,000 people.

Feminist group Nous Toutes and others announced other actions Friday in other French cities as well as at French embassies or consulates in London, Sydney, Montreal, Berlin, Brussels, Barcelona and Tel Aviv.

#noustoutes pic.twitter.com/WEPM5IijmT— #NousToutes (@NousToutesOrg) July 10, 2020

The French government said it remains committed to gender equality and defended the new ministers, stressing the presumption of innocence.

Darmanin firmly denies the rape accusation, and an investigation is underway. New Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti is a lawyer who has defended a government member accused of rape and sexual assault, and has ridiculed women speaking out as a result of the #MeToo movement.

Activists also expressed concern about LGBTQ rights with Darmanin in charge of French police, because he opposed gay marriage before France legalized it in 2013.“We have the impression we’re being treated like idiots,” said Paris protester Alix Joly, a 25-year-old graduate student. When she heard about the latest government nominations, she said, “I laughed, but bitterly.”

The protest came amid a growing investigation into accusations by at least 26 women that a Paris street artist well known in the historic Montmartre neighborhood raped or sexually assaulted them. The artist-photographer says he never raped anyone. Lawyers for the accusers say he systematically preyed upon teen girls or young women, plied them with alcohol or drugs and took compromising photos so they would be too ashamed to report what happened.

(AP)

LGBT rights at heart of Poland presidential-election fight

Issued on: 11/07/2020 -

People protest against Polish President Andrzej Duda's comments relating to the LGBT community during his election rally in Lublin, Poland on June 15, 2020. © Jakub Orzechowski, Agencja Gazeta via Reuters

Text by:Philippe THEISE

While campaigning for re-election ahead of Sunday’s final-round vote, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has used harmful rhetoric and called for policies that deny human rights to LGBT people. But longtime activists see Polish attitudes changing, and are pushing back.

During his re-election campaign, Duda has compared what he calls “LGBT ideology” to Communism. He does not support the right of same-sex couples in Poland to marry or form civil unions, and believes that schools should not teach classes on gay rights.

His anti-LGBT rhetoric echoes the comments of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, who in September 2019 said that “the family as we know it is under attack”. In the same month, Marek Jedraszewski, the archbishop of Krakow, linked totalitarian regimes and their “systems for destroying people” with “gender ideology and LGBT ideology”.

Duda’s opponent in Sunday’s vote, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, signed a resolution in February 2019 declaring his city a welcoming place for LGBT people, and attended Warsaw’s Pride parade later that year. He supports same-sex civil unions and has also promised to prevent Law and Justice, which controls Poland’s parliament, from further restricting abortion rights.

The stakes for LGBT people in Poland in the election are high. As of late June, approximately 100 Polish municipalities had adopted resolutions declaring themselves “LGBT-free zones”, a movement that began after Trzaskowski committed to support LGBT rights in Warsaw. At Pride marches in Poland in 2019, participants suffered verbal abuse and physical attacks, and two people were sentenced to a year in jail for bringing explosives to an event in Lublin.


There has also been plenty of evidence that Poles are rejecting discrimination and violence. After an Equality march in Bialystok last July that suffered violent attacks from anti-LGBT demonstrators, event organisers told FRANCE 24 that they received donations that allowed them to rent office space for the first time. When counter-protesters shouted a homophobic slur at a September parade in Katowice, a middle-aged woman who identified as a straight ally shared a message with FRANCE 24 at the scene: “I’d like to apologise to the whole of Europe for the fact that scenes like this are happening here.”

This past February, after Saint-Jean-de-Braye, a small town in the centre of France, cut its sister-city relationship with Tuchow, a Polish town that adopted an anti-LGBT resolution, AP reported that Tuchow’s mayor regretted the move and said that numerous locals didn’t feel that the town’s council spoke for them.

Duda prevailed in the 2020 election’s first round with 43.5 percent of the vote, with Tzsaskowski finishing second with 30.46 percent, setting the two up for Sunday’s run-off. A recent poll released by Kantar and cited by Euronews shows the two candidates in almost a dead heat.

As Poland votes, Europe is watching. In a June 29 interview with FRANCE 24, Helena Dalli, the European Commissioner for Equality – a new EU position – said that if Polish towns use EU funds in accordance with anti-LBGT policy, the allocations “will have to be revisited”. Dalli also said labour discrimination based on sexual or gender identity in so-called “LBGT-free zones” would be “unacceptable”.

While some Polish LBGT activists told FRANCE24 they aren’t happy with parts of Trzaskowski’s platform – for instance, his support for civil unions falls short of marriage equality – they support him nonetheless, and their work has brought them into the street and onto the campaign trail.

Fighting hate, and fatigue

On Thursday, LGBT activist Magdalena Dropek, 37, travelled from her home in Krakow to a rally for Duda in the nearby town of Olkusz. She and fellow protesters shouted “Enough!” and waved rainbow and EU flags as the president’s supporters held red-and-white “Duda 2020” signs.

Dropek, who has co-organised Krakow’s annual Equality March since 2012 and sits on the board of the Equality.org.pl Foundation, said she heard calls of “traitor” and "pervert” at the rally. But she also told FRANCE 24 that she was surprised that “so many young, diverse people came … to show their disagreement for Duda’s actions and words”.

Speaking the night before the event, Dropek said that LGBT activists in Poland have had to “constantly defend” themselves since early 2019, when Law and Justice, which holds a parliamentary majority, began casting them as a threat to traditional Polish values. It has made it difficult for activists to focus on developing their organisations, she said.

“We’re burned out,” Dropek said, although she planned to attend a protest of a recent beating that occurred outside an LGBT club in Krakow on Friday.

She has seen three prominent activist organisations mount online efforts to discourage Polish voters from supporting Duda. One, the Stonewall Project, has exhorted visitors to its Facebook page to vote for Trzaskowski, whereas the Campaign Against Homophobia and Love Does Not Exclude have stated the need for “an open, tolerant Poland” rather than naming a preferred candidate, she said.

One of the victims of the beating in Krakow identifies as straight, Dropek said, which for her reflects a truth she thinks more Poles have come to understand: LGBT phobia and hate crimes affect all of society. She has noticed a shift in the five years since Law and Justice came to power.

“[At] many protests and rallies, there were also LGBT people, the rainbow flags,” she said. “At the beginning, it was a problem. There were cities where this rainbow flag was not welcome. But … for many people, it’s obvious now, you can’t defend democracy without defending minority rights.”

‘This feeling of empathy’

Marek Szolc, 28, won election to the Warsaw city council in 2018 and is a member of a party in coalition with Trzaskowski’s centrist Civic Platform. He told FRANCE 24 that he planned to spend Friday passing out campaign leaflets in his city, which he described as relatively “friendly” territory for such an activity.

But he said that anti-LGBT violence is “visible on the streets” of Poland – even in Warsaw. Szolc said a child who recently put a rainbow flag in her window found vulgar graffiti on the outer wall of her building the next morning.

“When I saw this, what I immediately associated it with was the graffiti that were drawn in Berlin in (the) 1930s just before the Kristallnacht … when Jewish flats were attacked this way,” Szolc said.

“This is the level of violence we (have) right now, this is the level of emotion,” he said.

The openly gay councilman, who began helping to organise Warsaw’s Pride parade before entering local politics, said that much of the LGBT campaign-related activism he’s seen has been online, but he’s also noticed “active involvement” in help centres, clubs and bars.

He also appreciates the work that activist groups have been doing to educate Poles on the danger that LGBT people face in the country.

“They’ve managed to create this feeling that is extremely important in this context: this feeling of empathy,” Szolc said. “I think it’s largely thanks to them that many people realised that using hate language … is simply unacceptable.”

Sudan allows non-Muslims to drink alcohol and bans female genital mutilation

Issued on: 12/07/2020 -

Civilians walk past graffiti reading in Arabic "Freedom, Peace, Justice and Civilian" in the Burri district of Khartoum, Sudan, July 10, 2019. 

REUTERS - Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Text by:NEWS WIRES


Sudan will permit non-Muslims to consume alcohol and the country will strengthen women's rights, including banning female genital mutilation (FGM), its justice minister said late on Saturday. This marks a reversal of almost four decades of hardline Islamist policies.

About 3% of Sudan's population is non-Muslim, according to the United Nations.

Alcoholic drinks have been banned since former President Jaafar Nimeiri introduced Islamic law in 1983, throwing bottles of whisky into the Nile in the capital Khartoum.

The transition government which took over after autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled last year has vowed to lead Sudan to democracy, end discrimination and make peace with rebels.

Non-Muslims will no longer be criminalised for drinking alcohol in private, Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari told state television. For Muslims, the ban will remain. Offenders are typically flogged under Islamic law.


Sudan will also decriminalise apostasy and ban FGM, a practice which typically involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia of girls and women, he said.

Women do not need permit to travel

Women will also no longer need a permit from male members of their families to travel with their children.

Nimeiri's introduction of Islamic law was major catalyst for a 22-year-long war between Sudan's Muslim north and the mainly Christian south that led in 2011 to South Sudan's secession.

Bashir extended Islamic law after he took power in 1989.

Sudanese Christians live mainly in Khartoum and in the Nuba mountains near the South Sudan border. Some Sudanese also follow traditional African beliefs.

The transition government led by Abdalla Hamdok runs the country in an uneasy coalition with the military which helped remove Bashir after months of mass protests.

(REUTERS)

Mali protest leader calls for calm after demonstrations turn deadly


Issued on: 13/07/2020 -

Smoke rises as supporters of Imam Mahmoud Dicko and other opposition political parties protest after President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita rejected concessions, aimed at resolving a months-long political stand-off, in Bamako, Mali July 10, 2020. © REUTERS/Matthiew Rosier

Text by:NEWS WIRES

A Malian protest leader called for calm Sunday after four more people were killed during demonstrations calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's resignation, the West African country's worst civil unrest in years.

Bloody demonstrations rocked the capital Bamako on Friday and Saturday, with witnesses saying that security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters.

The atmosphere remained tense on the streets of Bamako on Sunday, as hundreds of people converged on the Badalabougou district for the funerals of four people killed in the violence.

In the face of the heightened tensions, Keita had announced he would dissolve the poor Sahel country's constitutional court, the focus of anger since it overturned provisional results for parliamentary elections earlier this year.

Protests in several cities on Friday descended into violence in which at least three people were killed.


Fresh clashes broke out on Saturday as protesters took to the streets of Bamako, angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption.

Four civilians -- including a 15-year-old and 17-year-old -- were killed overnight Saturday, a hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An emergency official at a large hospital in Bamako, however, told AFP the actual death toll since Friday stood at 11 not seven.

Six opposition figures have been detained in recent days, of whom one was released late Saturday, as the government cracked down on the June 5 Movement, an opposition alliance tapping into the deep-seated nationwide frustration.

But lawyer Alfifa Habib Kone said around 20 opposition members had been arrested since Friday.

'Calm down!' Keita

The movement's leading figure, influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, tried to tamp down the tensions on Sunday.

"I once again call on the youth of Mali to show restraint and calm," Dicko told AFP shortly before speaking at a funeral.

"We can truly find and obtain what we want (through) patience (and) good behaviour," he said.

"But the struggle continues," Dicko said, adding that Mali's "endemic corruption (is also) bringing our country to its knees."

In a video broadcast earlier on social media, Dicko said: "Do not set fire to petrol stations or this district. Calm down, please! Calm down!"

He had recorded the video at his mosque, the scene of especially violent clashes at the weekend.

While the known death toll is currently seven, Dicko's supporters, echoing the emergency official, have said the total is higher, posting videos resembling scenes of war.

In the videos, at least two dead men can be seen lying in pools of blood, while others have bullet wounds. Shots can be heard at regular intervals in the distance.

"You are killing Malians in the mosque with live ammunition. The mosque is on fire," said a man in one the videos, which could not be independently verified.

On Sunday, hundreds crowded around the mosque, walking over spent bullet shells, rubble and the remains of torched tires.

Opposition leaders who have not yet been arrested now appear to be in hiding.

Fearing that Dicko might be arrested like other leaders of the movement, his supporters erected barricades on Sunday "in case the police return," one of them said.

Clashes have also been reported outside the home of the constitutional court's president Manassa Danioko, a focus of public anger.

Civil disobedience

Following a long-delayed parliamentary poll in March -- which Keita's party won -- the court overturned the provisional results for about 30 seats, which meant several members of Keita's party were elected.

This ruling is widely believed to have ignited the crisis.

The 75-year-old president, in power since 2013, said Saturday he had revoked the nominations of all remaining members of the constitutional court so that new judges could be appointed from next week.

Since the outrage that followed the parliamentary election, a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members have joined forces to ramp up pressure on Keita.

Its leaders have called for "civil disobedience", including the non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings.

It blames those in power for the violence, a rarity in Bamako.


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The former French colony has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Sunday that a joint EU special ops force formed to back Mali's fight against jihadist groups would begin to deploy on Wednesday.

A first batch of around 100 French and Estonian troops will be joined later by contingents from the Czech Republic and Sweden, Parly told the French daily La Croix, adding that Italy may also take part.

(AFP)

With Trump in charge, America is going back to more hostile times

In this photo from March 29, 1968, striking sanitation workers march to Memphis City Hall, past Tennessee National Guard troops with bayonets. (AP Photo/Charlie Kelly)

June 7, 2020

In the face of mass protests against anti-Black policing and racism in the United States, President Donald Trump first dialed the country back to 1967 by tweeting an old quote from the surly police chief of Miami, who made it known to the activists of that era that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Now, Trump looks to a much older way to threaten the protesters — the Insurrection Act of 1807, which empowers the president to use U.S. military forces on U.S. soil.

Where did this law come from? What can America’s situation in 1807 tell us about its crisis today?
The mysterious Mr. Burr  

Aside from their racism, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump have little in common. Official portrait of Jefferson (cropped). (Rembrandt Peale), CC BY

As he began his second term in office in 1805, President Thomas Jefferson had to cope with a secessionist plot led by his former vice-president, Aaron Burr. After killing Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel, Burr — now the amoral villain in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical — moved west down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, looking for recruits with whom he could take over New Orleans and become Emperor of Mexico.

Or something like that. Burr was never very forthcoming about his plans.

Jefferson got wind of the scheme in late 1806 and wondered how to shut it down. The Constitution gave the president clear permission to call up state militias in cases of imminent threat, but there was no reliable militia along the western frontiers.

So Jefferson’s majority party, the Democratic-Republicans or simply “Republicans,” passed the Insurrection Act in March 1807.

That’s the short story. To understand this law, however, we must look beyond Burr’s malfeasance and think about the extreme insecurity of the United States in 1807.
Uncertain Union

The early United States did not have effective control of anything west of the Appalachian Mountains, even though the Treaty of Paris of 1783 had given the new country paper title all the way to the Mississippi River. Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana in 1803 made this insecurity worse.

In those vast western regions, Indigenous nations such as the Cherokees, Creeks and Sioux competed for power and resources, avoiding white Americans when possible and fighting them when necessary.

Those white settlers had little regard for the government in Washington; many of them preferred Spanish territory west of the Mississippi, where the laws were more forgiving of debtors. A good number were wanted for crimes back east, just like Burr.

Boarding and taking the American ship Chesapeake by the officers and crew of the H.M. Shannon commanded by Capt. Broke, June 1813. (William Dubourg Heath/National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London), CC BY-NC-SAWhile dealing with the former vice-president’s scheming, Jefferson also had to worry about the mighty British. Fully expecting the United States to split up or collapse, the British government kept troops and ships along the Great Lakes to the north and the Gulf Coast to the south.

In 1805, the British also began to stop American ships along the East Coast and then, to “impress” any Irish-born sailors they found on board, compelling those sailors to serve in the Royal Navy for the great war with Napoleon. In the summer of 1807, a British warship even took sailors off a U.S. navy ship near the Virginia coast.

In short, Jefferson’s America was vulnerable to attack from all directions. Even worse were the enemies within.

Read more: Trump's threat to use the Insurrection Act against protesters is an abuse of power

The rival Federalists, once the party of Founding Fathers like Washington and Hamilton, were increasingly pro-British. Based in New England, they tried to block Jefferson and the Republicans at every turn, all but paralyzing the fragile Union.

In his first inaugural address in 1801, Jefferson had famously said, “we are all republicans: we are all federalists.” But 10 years later, as war with Britain approached, he could only conclude: “the republicans are the nation,” whereas the Federalists were something else — an alien group whose ideas of America threatened its survival.
From 1807 to 2020

Aside from their racism, Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump have little in common. Jefferson’s “republicans” were the forerunners of today’s Democratic Party, not the GOP. For all his hypocrisy about slavery, Jefferson’s instincts were more democratic than authoritarian.

And he was a serious student of the Constitution and the wider world, whereas Trump couldn’t care less.

Health-care workers at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, June 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

And yet, there is a troubling parallel between the state of the union in 1807 and 2020: due to the extreme partisanship of the past 50 years, America’s national concept is again fractured, its body politic broken and bleeding.

Once more, Americans feel dangerously insecure, besieged not by the hostile designs of other nations but rather by their incompatible views of each other.

This time, Americans are led not by a president who reluctantly faced the profound divisions of his day, but rather by one who relishes any chance to injure and insult the clear majority of people who don’t share his sense of greatness.

In Jefferson’s time, the crisis passed because the Federalists disappeared after the War of 1812. Having opposed America’s second war of independence, they quickly faded. Their ideas of the country were discredited and rejected. Today, we can only hope that a bigger, more generous view of American nationhood can emerge peacefully and decisively.

Author

J.M. Opal
Associate Professor of History and Chair, History and Classical Studies, McGill University
Disclosure statement
J.M. Opal receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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QAnon conspiracy theory followers step out of the shadows and may be headed to Congress

July 8, 2020 12.55pm EDT

Until recently, many people didn’t take conspiracy movements seriously, even though violent acts have been perpetrated by those on the fringe. People who believe in false conspiracy theories are often just considered silly or weird.

Below the surface, however, there are movements from these communities that have negatively affected our societies, and will continue to do so. The most prominent of these conspiracy communities is the QAnon movement.

QAnon adherents are not your caricature conspiracy theorists wearing tin foil hats and living in their parents’ basement. Some may soon be elected officials.

QAnon has an interesting place in the fringe. Though birthed from the same “chan culture” as other fringe internet conspiracy communities, QAnon is still in full evolution.

This October will mark three years since the inception of the QAnon movement after someone known only as Q posted a series of conspiracy theories on the internet forum 4chan.
From online fringes to mainstream politics

What started as a conspiracy theory — about a deep state satanic cabal of global elites involved in pedophilia, sex trafficking and supposedly responsible for all the evil in the world — has moved from the world of online into mainstream popular culture.

In his book American Conspiracy Theories, political scientist Joseph Uscinski writes:


“ … conspiracy theories are essentially alarm systems and coping mechanisms to help deal with threats. Consequently, they tend to resonate when groups are suffering from loss, weakness or disunity. But nothing fails like success, and ascending groups trigger dynamics that check and eventually reverse the advance of conspiracy theories.”

Though academic research would suggest that conspiracy theories are for “losers,” QAnon has thrived. After all, the community propagating the QAnon conspiracies was on the winning side of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Recent reports also suggest the pandemic has been beneficial to QAnon, a boon for the movement in terms of new members and an increase in social media content.
Increase in Q content on Facebook

I have been researching the QAnon movement since 2018. Based on my most recent social media analysis, QAnon has seen a 71 per cent increase in Twitter content and a 651 per cent increase on Facebook since March 2020.

Facebook has seen a veritable QAnon boom. Currently in my data set there are 179 QAnon groups with more than 1.4 million members, and 120 QAnon pages with a total of 911,000 page likes. The most interesting element of this Facebook boom is that most of the new pages are international, providing QAnon content in many different languages.

Read more: QAnon conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic are a public health threat

QAnon has used its increased visibility to spread medical disinformation, raising public health concerns. They have also been the source of wild sex trafficking claims, forcing some celebrities to respond to their allegations.

One of the more important signs of QAnon moving into the mainstream is the growing number of QAnon supporters running campaigns for the U.S. Congress.
Most Q candidates are Republicans

Researcher Alex Kaplan of the U.S. not-for-profit publication Media Matters has found 62 QAnon believers ran in congressional primaries in 27 different states. Almost all of them ran as Republicans, although a few were independents.

QAnon follower Marjorie Greene is expected to win the Republican nomination for a safe GOP seat in Georgia. Her candidacy has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. (Marjorie Greene campaign)At least 12 of these candidates will be on the ballot in November — five in California, two in Illinois and one each in Oregon, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and Colorado, with two more candidates in runoff races in Georgia and Texas. Results from primaries showed nearly 600,000 people voted for candidates who support QAnon.

Marjorie Greene is the star QAnon candidate and is expected to win the runoff for a safe Republican seat in Georgia. Trump congratulated Greene after she came in first in the party’s primary and called her a “big winner.”
Five-term incumbent defeated

On June 30, five-term GOP incumbent Scott Tipton from Colorado was upset by Lauren Boebert, who stated in an interview with the conservative website Steel Truth that she was “very familiar” with QAnon.

“Everything I have heard of this movement is only motivating, and encouraging and bringing people together, stronger and if this is real than it can be really great for our country,” said Boebert, who is now on the ballot for November’s election.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (centre) of Colorado was defeated by challenger and QAnon conspiracy believer Lauren Boebert in a primary held June 30. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)When the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called upon the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to disavow Boebert for her QAnon beliefs, the NRCC told the Huffington Post:

“We’ll get back to you when … the DCCC disavow(s) dangerous conspiracy theorists like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff who have pushed without evidence their wild-eyed claims that the president of the United States of America is actually a secret Russian double agent under control of the Kremlin.”
Q supporter running for Senate

QAnon candidates are not limited to the House of Representatives. Oregon recently selected Jo Rae Perkins, a QAnon follower, as the GOP Senate candidate.

QAnon is no longer the simple fringe conspiracy movement it was at its inception three years ago. It now resembles a mainstream religious and political ideology. Some candidates perceive QAnon as an ideological platform they can campaign on, while others view QAnon adherents as an electoral base from which they can gain votes.

Read more: The Church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement? 

Eric Trump tweeted (and later deleted) a QAnon-themed message on the day of President Donald Trump’s controversial campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla. (Twitter)

Trump has amplified tweets from supporters of the QAnon conspiracy movement at least 185 times, including more than 90 times since the start of the pandemic.

Trump associates such as his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, campaign manager Brad Pascale, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Donald Trump Jr. have all amplified QAnon content as well. Most recently, Eric Trump promoted QAnon on Instagram when plugging the president’s controversial rally that was held Tulsa, Okla.

Writer and conspiracy researcher Travis View notes: “QAnon conspiracy theories are promoted at the highest levels of power, when it wasn’t that long ago conspiracy theories were the pastime of the powerless.”

If QAnon believers make their way to the halls of Congress, those once considered powerless will have achieved real power. As journalists and researchers raise awareness about QAnon candidates, American voters will need to determine if they’re ready to to entrust the responsibility of their democratic institutions to QAnon adherents.

Author

Marc-André Argentino
PhD candidate Individualized Program, 2020-2021 Public Scholar, Concordia University
Disclosure statement
Marc-André Argentino receives funding from Concordia University. Marc-André Argentino is affiliated with the Global Network on Extremism & Technology Marc-André Argentino is affiliated with the Centre d'Expertise et de Formation sur les Intégrismes Religieux, les Idéologies Politiques et la Radicalisation.
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How British Columbia and Washington state are stopping the spread of Asian giant hornets

REMEMBER THOSE KILLER HORNETS

This spring, three mated queen giant hornets were found in B.C. and Washington tate. (Washington State Department of Agriculture/flickr)

 July 8, 2020

Panic-stricken headlines about “murder hornets” are thankfully mostly behind us. The nickname may have staying power, but it is certainly unearned.

First spotted in British Columbia in August 2019, the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) poses little threat to humans. In its native range in East Asia, the giant hornet is chiefly a menace to the livelihoods of beekeepers, provoking concern that it could cause similar problems in North America.

Read more: Our fear of giant hornets is oversized — and threatens native insects

As a result, giant hornets are still very much top-of-mind for agricultural authorities in Washington state and British Columbia: this spring, the species has turned up again in both places.
Introduced but not established

At least two of the three hornets found this spring were mated queens, which means at least one colony successfully reproduced last year. Despite that fact, giant hornets are not considered established in North America, which would require successful reproduction over multiple generations.

The species may have yet to complete its entire life cycle here; entomologists with the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the B.C. government are working together to keep it that way.


Through a program of trapping, tracking and removal of giant hornet nests, there is a real chance of reversing this introduction. This is thanks in large part to basic natural history research.

To get out ahead of the giant hornet’s introduction, entomologists are leaning heavily on extensive literature about this species in Japan, where its biology has been studied in exhaustive detail.

Stopping the introduction will in many ways be a race against the clock, but because the giant hornet’s life cycle can be plotted on a calendar, entomologists know just how fast to move and when to act. This is an uncommon advantage when it comes to species introductions and it might make all the difference.

Read more: You can't control what you can't find: Detecting invasive species while they're still scarce
Staying one step ahead

In Japan, giant hornet queens emerge from hibernation in the spring, spending May and June establishing their nests. During this time, the queen lays its first few eggs, which develop into non-reproductive workers. These workers normally emerge in July, taking over the jobs of building and provisioning the nest. After a couple of weeks, the queen shifts focus to laying eggs full-time, and the colony begins to grow in earnest. As colonies grow, workers become more and more common.

Strategies for detection will concentrate on trapping workers beginning in July. As worker hornets show up in traps, entomologists hope to be able to zero in on established nests and destroy them before the summer is out.

In mid-summer, giant hornets are not expected to cause too much trouble. At this stage, they mostly hunt individual insects, including wasps, large beetles and foraging honey bees. It is not until late August to early September that giant hornets undergo a dramatic shift in behaviour and begin attacking honey bee colonies.
Conspicuous consumers

An entire honey bee colony can be destroyed in the course of a few hours by a handful of attacking hornets. Although devastating, these attacks are conspicuous, which might make the hornets easier to track. Once this stage of the giant hornet’s life cycle begins, authorities will need to focus their efforts on investigating reported attacks.

Giant hornets occupy defeated bee hives for a few days while they empty the hives of protein-rich bee larvae and pupae. Entomologists may be able to take advantage of this behaviour by staking out hornet-occupied hives and following workers back to their nests. Technologies like miniature tracking tags and heat vision cameras can help locate underground hornet nests.

If that sounds like overkill, consider that attacks on honey bees represent some of the last opportunities to track down established hornet nests. It is unknown why giant hornets suddenly begin attacking honey bee colonies in late summer, but one hypothesis is that it’s due to an increased need for protein in the nest. That protein is needed to support the development of upwards of 300 reproductive females, each of which is a potential future queen.

Males and reproductive females emerge in late October and November, and remain in the nest just long enough to eat all the food they’ll need to mate and, in the case of the females, survive the winter. By the time attacks on honey bees are investigated and confirmed, authorities may only have a few weeks left to stop another generation of queens from being produced.

For that reason, entomologists at the WSDA will be working hard to ensure that as many nests can be located and destroyed as early as possible. Besides placing a large number of their own traps, they are enlisting the help of the public to set out homemade hornet traps, and to report any suspicious sightings using an online form.Entomologist Chris Looney replaces a trap used to search for the Asian giant hornet on May 7, 2020, in Blaine, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The logic is simple: the more workers that are detected, the easier it will be to work out the locations of any established colonies throughout the summer.
Known unknowns

At the moment, entomologists are cautiously optimistic, being careful to recognize the gaps in our knowledge. For one, we don’t know how many colonies were able to reproduce before the end of 2019. One colony on Vancouver Island near Nanaimo, B.C., was located and destroyed before any reproductive females were produced, but no colonies were found on the mainland of British Columbia or Washington state.

We also don’t know just how far founding queens travel before they establish their nests; in other hornet species, this can range from less than one to a few dozen kilometres. The locations of this spring’s queens tell us either that the new queens travelled up to 35 kilometres before founding their nests or that they came from more than one colony. Either way, it probably means that giant hornets could spread faster than initially thought.

On the other hand, any number of factors might work in our favour, such as differences in the climate and ecosystems on the West Coast of North America compared to Japan, or the likelihood that any successful colonies from last year were smaller than average. With any luck, the number of colonies to locate could be as few as two dozen or so. Until hornets start turning up in traps, however, we can only speculate.

It’s not clear how the summer will play out. But thanks to decades of basic research on this remarkable insect, we are well informed and well prepared, and we stand a very real chance of stopping the giant hornet’s introduction.

This is an updated version of a story originally published on July 7, 2020. It clarifies the number of mated queens found this spring, and that no colonies were found in Washington state.

Author

Spencer K. Monckton

PhD Candidate, Biology, York University, Canada