The invisible waste behind our laptops and smartphones

We tend to focus on household garbage as a measure of our ecological footprints. But what about the waste and pollution that is generated to make the stuff we buy?


Producing electronics involves high levels of hazardous chemicals, greenhouse gases and water drainage


Most people think they know what waste is. It's the plastic they rip off their broccoli and toss in the bin. It's the cardboard box their new laptop arrives in, and that laptop itself, once it's no longer useful.

Every year, the world produces roughly 2 billion metric tons of garbage. But this is just the trash we can see.

"The waste we deal with as consumers is a tiny percentage of the overall waste — only about 2 to 3% of it," said Josh Lepawsky, author of a book on the global impact of making digital technology.

Hidden in the difficult-to-trace processes of resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation and electricity production is the bulk of the world's waste — generated to make the stuff we buy.

This is especially true for electronics, which is the world's fastest growing trash stream and one of the largest sources of invisible waste.

"Most of the pollution and waste from electronics happens long before people have their devices in their hands," said Lepawsky, who is also a professor of geography at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Canada.

Household waste is only the tip of the garbage mountain

Producing electronics involves high levels of hazardous chemicals, greenhouse gases and water drainage.

Most of this is totally invisible to the average consumer and difficult to quantify. Electronics are comprised of numerous components, most of them sourced and manufactured in different locations around the world before being assembled somewhere else entirely.
Mining precious metals

A typical smartphone, for example, can comprise up to 62 different metals. Among the myriad tiny components of an Apple iPhone are gold, silver and palladium. These precious metals — extracted mostly in Asia, Africa and Australia — need to be mined.

A study by Swedish waste management and recycling association Avfall Sverige calculated the invisible waste generated for a typical smartphone and 3-kilogram laptop to be about 86 and 1,200 kilograms (190 and 2,645 pounds) respectively.

"That [figure] includes stones, gravel, tailings and slag," said Anna Carin Gripwall, co-author of the study. "It's also the fuel and electricity used — but that is a very small amount compared to the mining waste."

This far outweighs other products surveyed, including 1 kilogram of beef and a pair of cotton trousers, which generate 4 and 25 kilograms respectively. 

A smartphone can comprise up to 62 different metals

ARTESINAL MINING 
Mining for gold can produce dangerous pollution for workers and the environment

A dirty enterprise

The cutting, drilling, blasting, transportation and processing involved in mining precious metals can release dust containing harmful metals and chemicals into the air and surrounding water sources.

"After you dig up the ore, you have to separate out the concentrated material," said Fu Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University in the US state of Indiana. "They are difficult to break down, so you need to use chemicals and high temperatures." This becomes particularly problematic when done on such a large scale, he added.

Without proper oversight, these toxic components can contaminate groundwater, leach into valleys and streams and damage soil, plants and animals — and threaten the health of human populations.

The Minera Valle Central Mining Company in Rancagua, Chile,

flushes wastewater from the copper mine into a lake

This doesn't necessarily mean that mining for these precious metals is inherently bad for the environment, said Saleem Ali, professor of energy and environment at the University of Delaware in the US.

"The challenge is just figuring out how to manage it so it doesn't damage the environment," he said. "You have to find a way that these toxic solvents don't enter the groundwater supply, and give people working in these areas protective equipment so they aren't inhaling volatile organics." This can be done, he argues, with more investment.

An important part of achieving "green mining" is using more renewable sources of energy in the making of these devices, said Ali.
From the US to China, Hong Kong and back again

Assembling electronics also produces large amounts of waste — much of it toxic.

CASPITALISM PLANNED IN OBSCELECENCE 
Many electronics are not currently designed for reuse or remanufacture

Many of the gases used in the manufacturing of certain electronic components, such as fluorinated greenhouse gases used for screens, "are massively more powerful than carbon dioxide," Lepawsky said.

Most electronics are now manufactured in China, Hong Kong, the United States and countries in Southeast Asia. Part of the difficulty of putting invisible waste into concrete terms is that many modern products, especially electronics, have long, complicated supply chains.

Although Apple publishes a list of its top 200 suppliers located in 27 different countries, the bulk of their supplier's facilities are in places with no publicly accessible registers tracking the release of toxic pollutants.

Watch video 02:27 Eco Check: Why e-waste is a growing problem

The limits of recycling electronics

And as for the world's electronic devices we throw away — currently, only 17.4% is formally collected and recycled.

Even if 100% of these electronics were successfully recycled, it would do nothing to recoup the pollution and waste arising in manufacturing, and only make a minor difference to mining waste, said Lepawsky. The lack of e-waste recycling does, however, highlight part of the problem.

"If you look at electronics, they are not designed for reuse or remanufacture," Zhao said.

Apple has pledged to become 100% carbon neutral by 2030 and has recently responded to growing concerns about e-waste by deciding not to sell earphones and chargers with every iPhone, as well as promising to increase the use of recycled materials in its production.

Yet Zhao said such rapid technological advancements housed in very complex and difficult to disassemble device make those goals a challenge.

"Your cell phone might become obsolete in just a couple of years... That makes reuse and remanufacture almost impossible," he said. "The tech companies have to make money... But at the same time, that has consequences for the environment."



CHINA CLEANS UP ELECTRONIC RECYCLING

No more foreign trash

This year, China decided it no longer wanted to be the world's dumping ground and banned imports of 24 kinds of waste. As a result, there are no more discarded and broken electronics arriving in Guiyu from Europe or the United States. Well, not officially.

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AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Recycled laptops help Rwandan students

Meet the last of Kashmir's 'German Khar' craftsmen

The ''German Khars'' are a family of craftsmen known in Srinagar for their skills repairing old German-made medical equipment. Their craft has been preserved for decades, but today only one blacksmith continues the work.



The last 'German Khar'
Ghulam Mohiuddin is in his late 70s, but he still works every day in his small workshop in Srinagar's Rainawari district, producing and repairing small hospital tools made of iron. Through years of practice, he can make replicas of many small tools used in hospitals.
123456

Longest night of 2020 to feature year's final meteor shower
By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com


A lunar eclipse is seen over Washington, D.C., on December 21, 2010. The last lunar eclipse to happen on the winter solstice was in 1638. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

The longest night of the entire year will feature an astronomical double-header giving stargazers plenty to look for from sundown until daybreak.

The December solstice occurs on Monday at 5:02 a.m. EST, the day when the sun's rays are most direct over the Southern Hemisphere.

For the Northern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day and longest night of the year and marks the transition from astronomical autumn to astronomical winter. Meanwhile, this solstice signals the start of astronomical summer south of the equator with Dec. 21 bringing the longest day and shortest night of the year.

For folks across the Northern Hemisphere, the extended hours of darkness will feature two celestial happenings that may be worth staying up late to see.

The first of the two events can be seen globally and is an extraordinarily close encounter between the two largest planets in the solar system. However, it will only be visible for an hour or two after sunset in the western sky on Dec. 21.

Jupiter and Saturn will be so close to each other that they will look more like one single object in the sky, leading some to nickname the event the 'Christmas Star' due to its proximity to the holiday season.


RELATED Last major meteor shower of 2020 to sparkle in weekend sky

Later in the night, shooting stars will streak across the sky as the first of winter's two meteor showers reaches its peak.

The Ursid meteor shower will unfold during the second half of Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning, but will only be visible for skywatchers across the Northern Hemisphere.

"The Ursids are often neglected due to the fact it peaks just before Christmas and the rates are much less than the Geminds, which peaks just a week before the Ursids," the American Meteor Society explained

"Observers will normally see 5-10 Ursids per hour during the late morning hours on the date of maximum activity," the AMS added. "There have been occasional outbursts when rates have exceeded 25 per hour."

Generally good weather is in the offing for much of the United States for both events with cloud-free conditions in the forecast from California to Colorado and through the Carolinas. However, some patchy clouds could linger along the Gulf Coast and over Southern California.

Those across the northern tier of the U.S. and over much of Canada looking forward to these events may not be as lucky with cloudy conditions expected to obscure the sky throughout much of Monday night. The best chances for breaks in the clouds will be over Atlantic Canada and in the interior Pacific Northwest into the northern Plains.



After the Ursids subside, there will be one more opportunity to view a meteor shower in the coming weeks before there is a three-month spell of no major meteor showers.

On the second night of January, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak, and like the Ursids, will only be visible across the Northern Hemisphere. This shower tends to be more impressive than its predecessor and can feature anywhere from 20 to 120 meteors per hour, according to the AMS.

Once the Quadrantids come and go, it will be three long months before another meteor shower sparkles in the night sky - the Lyrids in late April.

    

 

Romania ravaged by COVID as its doctors work abroad

One-third of Romania's doctors work abroad — the highest percentage in the world. The doctors who have stayed behind now find themselves working in difficult conditions on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Romania has received additional ICU beds to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but it needs more doctors

"As an intensive care doctor, I'm prepared to save people's lives. What I wasn't prepared for was risking my own life to do it," says Dana Tomescu. The head of department No. 3 for Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Fundeni Clinical Institute in Bucharest jumps right in before the DW reporter has finished asking the first question.

What's her experience of the pandemic? She feels "under threat," she says. For months now, she has been fighting around the clock to save the lives of the most seriously ill COVID patients. "The fears I had at the beginning, before I started dealing with COVID patients, have lessened, but they haven't gone away," she says.

High death rates among medical personnel

The COVID death rate in Romania is high, including among medical personnel. In early December, the trade union Solidaritatea Sanitara reported an average of 6.8 deaths per 1,000 infections in the medical professions — a higher rate than among people of the same age doing other jobs.

Many of the doctors DW spoke with told of chaos, mismanagement, corruption and a lack of protective measures. "The majority of the masks we use are actually intended for use in construction. It's written on them explicitly: Not for medical use. They filter dust, smoke — but unfortunately they don't protect you from COVID," says Tomescu.

"People on the street are better protected than we are," says a doctor working in another Romanian hospital. Like most of the doctors DW spoke with about the pandemic, he wants to remain anonymous. Many cite the dictatorial style of hospital managers as their reason — they're afraid of repercussions from their superiors, who are often appointed through cronyism and according to political criteria.

A fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Piatra Neamt killed 15 people

The tragedy at the district hospital in Piatra Neamt, a small town in eastern Romania, showed that cronyism and bad management can have fatal consequences. Fifteen patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) died in a fire there in November, with the blaze blamed on an overloaded electrical system. Catalin Denciu, the brave doctor who tried to rescue them from the flames, sustained life-threatening burns and is being treated in a hospital in Belgium.

'Doctors have left the country'

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the Romanian health care system was chronically underfunded. It receives only between 5% and 6% of Romania's GDP — around half the EU average. The Fundeni Clinical Institute where Dana Tomescu works is one of the best in the country, and a particularly positive example.

With the help of donations, the clinic was able to create capacity to treat the increasingly high numbers of COVID-19 patients by setting up additional intensive care beds, along with the necessary technical equipment, in shipping containers on the hospital grounds. However, as Tomescu points out: "We don't have enough staff."

Another doctor working in Romania made the same point. "When it comes down to it, it's not beds that treat the patients!" she said. "You can set up 7,000 new ICU beds and still not solve the problem, because there aren't enough doctors, nurses or carers to look after these intensive care patients. The doctors have left the country," she says bitterly.

An OECD study from May 2020 shows that one-third of Romanian-trained doctors work abroad. This means that Romania has the highest emigration rate for doctors in the world, followed by Zimbabwe, Belize and the Dominican Republic. According to the German Medical Association, in 2019 the majority of foreign doctors working in Germany were from Romania.

Doctor Dana Tomescu received a drawing with well wishes from a little girl

'I'd like to invite the COVID skeptics to pay a visit to the ICU'

As well as suffering bad working conditions and low wages in comparison to other European countries, Romanian doctors are also having to confront the absurd accusations of COVID deniers in the midst of the pandemic. People at demonstrations shout slogans like "Liar doctors!” and "Down with the doctors' dictatorship!”

"These are people who aren't interested in hearing arguments because they already know it all," says Tomescu. "I'd like to invite the COVID skeptics to pay us a visit so they can see how we work with COVID patients. They should experience what it's like when we lose a patient who dies of a disease we'd never even seen until a short time ago." Perhaps then, she says, these COVID deniers would finally understand "that all they have to do is make a few small gestures as part of their daily life in order not to make a mockery of our work and of the lives of others." Very simple things: like maintaining distance and following hygiene rules.

There are also COVID deniers in the AUR, a party on the far-right of the political spectrum that is about to enter the Romanian parliament for the first time after the December 6 election. Railing against doctors and pandemic restrictions has also become a kind of national sport in Romanian online forums and in the comment sections. The only time Romanians seem to have anything positive to say about their doctors is when they're flown abroad with serious injuries — like the young doctor from Piatra Neamt, who tried to rescue patients from a fire in the ICU.

Adaptation by Dana Alexandra Scherle from two DW Romanian articles by Cristian Stefanescu.

NOT BECAUSE THEY BECAME ZOMBIES
Coronavirus: Denmark to exhume millions of minks over pollution concerns

The work will begin in May 2021, when the risk of coronavirus contamination from the dead animals has been eliminated. Denmark culled more than 15 million minks last month in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19.


Millions of minks in Denmark have been culled in recent weeks

Four million minks culled in Denmark over a mutant coronavirus strain will be exhumed next year to prevent contamination, the Scandinavian country's government said.

The move follows complaints from residents about potential health risks after some of the mink had resurfaced.

In November, the government of Denmark — the world's largest fur exporter — ordered all of the country's roughly 15 million minks be killed.

This came after mutated versions of the coronavirus were found to have developed in the animals and jumped to at least 373 people.

Watch video 02:02 Danish PM admits to mistakes over mink cull

Concerns over contamination

But of the 4 million minks hastily buried at a military area in the west of the country, some soon began to resurface from the sandy soil after gasses from the decomposition process pushed the animals upwards, and out of the ground.

Authorities claimed there was no risk of the graves spreading the novel coronavirus, but citizens have complained about the risk of contaminating drinking water and a nearby lake.

The Food and Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that the government had gained support in Parliament to dig up the minks. It said the work would begin in May next year, after the risk of infection from the remains has completely passed.

The exhumed animals are to be taken to nearby waste incinerators.

Spectacular Ice Age rock paintings found in Colombian rainforest

Archaeologists have discovered tens of thousands of prehistoric paintings of animals and humans in a remote area of Colombia. Some now-extinct animals are depicted, meaning the art is likely more than 12,500 years old.


These are rock paintings that take your breath away: Stretched across almost 12 kilometers (8 miles) of cliff face, there are geometric shapes along with tens of thousands of images of animals and humans, including fish, turtles, lizards and birds, people dancing or holding hands, figures with masks, and lots of handprints.

The most fascinating thing is how incredibly detailed and lifelike some of the paintings are.

Animals that have long since become extinct, such as giant sloths, Ice Age horses, or the palaeolama, a type of ancient camel, are also depicted.



It is already clear that it will take decades for all the pictures to be documented and analyzed.

There is even a picture of amastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant that has not inhabited South America for the last 12,000 years. These paintings would seem to make it clear that the rock art was created more than 12,500 years ago.

Archaeologists found pieces of ocher that were scraped off to make the images, which are painted in a reddish terra-cotta color.

Some of the paintings are so high up on the rock face that they can be viewed only with drones.

Kept secret for a documentary

The fascinating rock paintings were discovered in 2017 by a British-Colombian team of researchers, but the sensational find was kept secret ahead of a British Channel 4 series being shown in December, "Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon."

It is not surprising that this Ice Age art has remained undiscovered for so long: The site is located in the Serrania de la Lindosa mountain range in the middle of the Colombian jungle, about 400 kilometers southeast of the capital, Bogota. On satellite images, the area around the Serrania de la Lindosa simply looks green; to the north, the Rio Guaviare meanders through the dense Amazon rainforest.

During the civil war, FARC rebels claimed the area

To compound the difficulty of getting to the site, the region was controlled by FARC rebels until not so long ago and was thus completely inaccessible to archaeologists. Not until very recently, after the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian government finally negotiated a ceasefire following 50 years of civil war, were archaeologists able to venture into the remote area.

Similar paintings in Chiribiquete National Park

The images are strongly reminiscent of the more than 20,000 rock paintings discovered years ago in neighboring Chiribiquete National Park.


More than 20,000 drawings of animals and humans were also found in Chibiriquete

These paintings prove that people lived in the area as far back as 19,000 years ago and decorated rock faces with scenes of hunting, dancing and eating.

In addition to depictions of humans, there are also images of deer and elk, porcupines, snakes, birds, monkeys and insects. However, most of the paintings of animals and humans in the Chiribiquete National Park, which is a World Heritage Site, are in small, difficult-to-access caves at high elevation

The newly discovered rock paintings are similar to the paintings in Chiribiquete National Park

Archaeologists hope the recent sensational find will give them new insights into the lives of people in the Amazon region during the Ice Age. The paintings will not only provide more information on the animals and plants that existed at that time, but also give clues about how people communicated with each other and what shamanic rituals they had. It is already clear that it will take decades for all the pictures to be documented and analyzed.

Spectacular Ice Age rock paintings found in Colombian rainforest | Science| In-depth reporting on science and technology | DW | 21.12.2020

AFRICA
Opinion: Africa must unite to demand stolen art's return

African nations need to work together to pressure Europe to return looted art held in its museums, such as Germany's newly opened Humboldt Forum, says DW's Harrison Mwilima.


This ewer in the form of a leopard is one of the looted Benin bronzes to be displayed in the Humboldt Forum


Among the priceless works held by Germany's new Humboldt Forum museum, a massive cultural complex in Berlin, are 75,000 African artifacts. It's not clear how some of these objects made their way into German hands during the colonial-era.

But the provenance of the Benin bronzes, considered among Africa's greatest treasures, is known. Several thousands artifacts were looted by British soldiers in 1897 from the ancient Kingdom of Benin, in what is now modern-day Nigeria. Around 200 ended up at the British Museum in London, while the rest were divided up between a variety of Western collections, including museums in Germany.

Objects from the Benin bronzes will form the centerpiece of the Humboldt Forum's Africa exhibition, which is planned to open in the third quarter of 2021.

Read more: Berlin's Humboldt Forum launches with unanswered questions

The speeches at Humboldt Forum's opening ceremony last week included some voices critical of the museum's role in exhibiting these, and other, looted artifacts.

And then it ended there. An ending that seemed to be over too early.

It feels like a book that has been closed although there are so many unwritten chapters lying ahead.

The opening of the Humboldt Forum cultural complex resparked the debate about what to do with colonial-era artifacts

Watch video 03:12 Berlin's Humboldt Forum opens

Nigeria among those demanding art back

A week before the Humboldt Forum's opening, Nigeria's ambassador to Germany Yusuf Tuggar sent a second letter to the German government asking for the return of the Benin bronzes held in Germany. Tuggar says he never received a response from the German government to his first letter sent in August 2019.

Nigeria is among the growing number of African countries formally requesting the restitution of artifacts pilfered during the colonial-era.

Last year, Germany gave back a 500-year-old stone cross to Namibia after the Namibian government officially requested its return in 2017.

Read more: How African activists try to force the return of colonial-era artworks

Ethiopia has repeatedly asked for artifacts back from Britain while Benin, Senegal and Ivory Coast are among those countries which have asked France to return objects taken during the colonial era.

Many of these requests seem to fall on deaf ears: The relationship between former colonial powers and the formerly colonized are still marred with power asymmetry.

Read more: Black activists arrested after stealing Congolese statue from Dutch museum

Other African governments may not decide to take a strong role in requesting for their artworks and objects for fear of losing development aid and international support from their former colonial masters.

This has led to many African governments not being active in their requests, thus most of the push for restitution has been left to various NGOs, activists and other committed individuals.

The movements and debates going on in Europe need to take place also in African countries.

Watch video 42:36 DocFilm - Stolen Soul - Africa's Looted Art

African nations need to unite to demand return of artifacts

A groundbreaking report in 2018 by Felwine Sarr and Benedicte Savoy estimates that 90% of African artworks and cultural objects such as sculptures, masks, burial objects, jewelry and ritual objects are located outside the African continent. In order to facilitate the return of those African looted arts, African governments must take center stage.

The quest for restitution should be a key item on the agenda in most African countries and key policy guidelines should be developed on how to facilitate this process.

In this context, African sub-regional organizations could also play a strong role.

Taking the East African Community (EAC) as an example, once member states have developed their national policies to facilitate restitution, they could move forward and develop a regional position to push their agenda beyond their nations.

This could also be taken further to the continental level, whereby the positions of sub-regional groups could be taken to the African Union to create a strong continental position on restitution to recover cultural heritage.

The African Union's Agenda 2063 already shows the continent's intention of building Africa with a strong identity.

How is that possible when a large part of this identity has been stolen and is inaccessible in museum archives or generating income for European cities as the star attractions of museum exhibitions.

How many Africans can make a journey to the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and learn about their cultural heritage?

And even when they manage to make that trip, from whose point of view are they going to receive such explanations?

DW RECOMMENDS

Looted colonial art: Germany to set up new contact office

Germany plans to set up a central contact office to help facilitate the return of African works of art looted in the colonial era. But will that make the process more transparent? Critics are wary.

Colonial heritage: Germany aims to improve restitution process

The country's culture ministers met to prepare a joint statement on how museums and institutions should deal with items acquired during the colonial era. A Cape Cross pillar is to be returned to Namibia.

Belarus: 'Lukashenko may end up like Gadhafi'

NOT SOMETHING TO WISH UPON ANYBODY 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko faced protests and strong opposition in the 1990s. Yuri Zakharenko, one of his critics, was among many who disappeared back then. His daughter Elena draws parallels with today.

Elena Zakharenko still doesn't know the full truth about what happened to her father

One year ago, DW revealed how opponents of the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, were kidnapped and murdered at the end of the 1990s. Yuri Garavski, a former soldier with the SOBR special unit, told DW in an exclusive interview how he had assisted in the abduction and murder of prominent Belarusian opposition politicians — including the former interior minister, Yuri Zakharenko.

Shortly after that, on December 18, 2019, the investigation committee of the Republic of Belarus reopened the Zakharenko case. However, it was closed again three months later on the grounds that "the identities of the accused could not be established."

This came as no surprise to Elena Zakharenko, the daughter of the abducted politician. "It's clear to us that the truth about what happened is not going to come to light under the current regime," she said recently, when DW interviewed her at home in the German city of Münster.
Disappearance of Lukashenko's opponents

Elena's father, Yuri Zakharenko, was among the opponents of the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko in the late 1990s who tried to prevent him establishing an autocracy. Elected in 1994, Lukashenko went on to extend his powers and authority by means of two disputed referendums. He had the constitution changed to his advantage, and the presidential-parliamentary system of government was transformed into a purely presidential one.

Zakharenko was once a supporter of Lukashenko, and became his interior minister in 1994. But he soon became one of his strongest critics, accusing the president of corruption and the misuse of power. Lukashenko sacked him in 1995, and Zakharenko became one of the leaders of the opposition. His aim was to get Lukashenko, whom he considered a dictator, removed from office. Yuri Zakharenko disappeared without trace in Minsk on May 7, 1999.

Former Interior Minister Yuri Zakharenko (pictured) disappeared in 1999

Until February 2020, his daughter didn't know what had happened to him. After DW published its report, she decided to contact Yuri Garavski. A meeting took place between them in 2018. Zakharenko was in a state of agitation before the interview. It wasn't easy for her to see the man who claimed to have been involved in her father's murder. "But I had to do it," she said. She wanted to find out whether Garavski had told the truth in his interview with DW. The meeting resolved her doubts.

Fleeing the past

Elena Zakharenko has lived in Münster for 20 years. She applied for political asylum in Germany in 2000 along with her son, her mother, and her younger sister.

Now 45, Zakharenko has dark hair and pale blue eyes, speaks good German, and works as a saleswoman. In her spare time, she plays the piano and goes to church. She comes across as melancholy and calm, but the sadness of her family history still weighs heavy on her. There are no photos of her father in the apartment. She finds it hard to watch old videos, but shows them to DW nonetheles

Watch video 06:35The men who killed my father

One video shows Elena Zakharenko out for a walk with her 4-year-old son in Münster in 2002. "Where's your grandpa?" asks the cameraman. "He was kidnapped," the boy replies. "By whom?" — "By bandits."

In other sequences, Elena Zakharenko is seen talking to her grandmother, Yuri's mother, who stayed behind in Belarus. "We haven't seen you for two years. Our limited finances mean we can't call you very often. I would so love to see you again." She never did. Yuri Zakharenko's mother died in Belarus in 2018, without ever knowing the truth about her son's disappearance.
Current protests revive memories of the past

Elena Zakharenko is following the ongoing anti-government protests in Belarus on the internet, "with anxiety and hope." Both the anti-Lukashenko slogans and the symbols of the protest movement (the white-red-white flag, for example) are the same today as in the late 1990s, when her father was one of the leaders of the opposition. This doesn't surprise her, because the aim of the protests remains the same: "To liberate the country from the dictatorship." What is new is that, thanks to the internet, information spreads far more quickly than it did 20 years ago. There is also a new, young generation in Belarus oriented toward European democratic values.

The demonstrations in Belarus are being brutally suppressed. Human rights activists say that more than 30,000 people have already been arrested since the start of the mass protests that followed the disputed presidential election of 9 August. The UN has documented hundreds of instances of torture, and the real figure is likely to be much higher. Several people have died — like the 31-year-old artist Roman Bondarenko, who was beaten to death.

Belarusians have been protesting in the streets since the disputed presidential election August

"This is happening because the criminals were not brought to justice all those years ago. This impunity has resulted in more victims," says Elena Zakharenko. And whereas in the past the repression was directed against leading politicians, today it is affecting ordinary citizens as well.

She doesn't believe that Alexander Lukashenko will ever leave office of his own accord. She envisages one of two possible scenarios: Either Lukashenko will end up like the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled into exile in Russia — or like the former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed attempting to flee. "If Lukashenko were to walk into a public square without his bodyguards, the people would simply rip him to shreds," she says.

Zakharenko believes that in the past few months it has become clear to many people in Belarus exactly what kind of regime they are living under. This painful realization is one that her family was forced to make 20 years ago.
Homesick for Belarus

Of the people currently exposed to police brutality in Belarus, Elena Zakharenko comments: "We are connected through the pain of loss, the hopelessness." What advice does she have for them? "There are possibilities for younger people and the well-educated to realize their potential abroad," she suggests, but adds that it is hard for older people to emigrate.

Zakharenko herself misses Belarus very much. Germany has not become a homeland for her — but it is her home, because her mother and son are here. Now 22, Yuri Zakharenko's grandson hopes to become a policeman. Elena Zakharenko talks to him about the events in Belarus, but says that he lives "in a completely different world."

She would like to go back to Belarus to say goodbye to her father and grandmother. After more than 20 years, the daughter of the missing politician still hasn't been able to put the past behind her. But Elena Zakharenko hopes that this will become possible soon — not only for her, but for her homeland of Belarus as well.

This article has been translated from German.

Anti-vaxxers should forgo ventilators, German doctor says

YOU COULD NEVER SAY THIS IN AMERIKA

A German geneticist has said those who turn down the new COVID-19 vaccine should carry a note also refusing intensive care treatment. He also said medical decisions should not be left to conspiracy theorists.


Germany is set to begin its vaccination program before the end of the year

People who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine should not be able to access ventilators and other emergency measures if they become ill, a member of Germany's Ethics Council told the mass circulation Bild newspaper.

"Whoever wants to refuse the vaccination outright, he should, please also always carry a document with the inscription: 'I don't want to be vaccinated!'" Wolfram Henn, a human geneticist, told Bild on Saturday. "I want to leave the protection against the disease to others! I want, if I get sick, to leave my intensive care bed and ventilator to others."

Watch video 02:08 Comparing vaccines

'Leave it to the experts'

While Henn said critical questions in connection with vaccinations are understandable and justified, he recommended relying on the advice of "people who really know their stuff." Researchers worldwide, he said, have "stepped up the pace at a huge expense, but not at the expense of safety."

"Within months, there will also be coronavirus vaccines of the classic type, such as those that have been proven a billion times over for decades against influenza or hepatitis," he added.

Henn also slammed conspiracy theorists and coronavirus deniers, saying decisions should not be left to "lateral thinkers and vaccination opponents," referring to the Querdenker movement, the umbrella group for most of Germany's sometimes violent anti-shutdown demonstrations.

"I urgently recommend that these alarmists go to the nearest hospital and present their conspiracy theories to the doctors and nurses who have just come from the overcrowded intensive care unit completely exhausted," he said

Watch video 04:37 Germany's culture scene and the pandemic

A growing anti-COVID measures movement

Germany has played host to a growing movement against coronavirus-related measures, with several large protests held in the capital, Berlin, and other cities. Last month, a protest in the eastern city of Leipzig drew over 20,000 participants.

Additional demonstrations are expected this weekend in Berlin and Stuttgart.

Germany is currently under a strict lockdown that is set to last until at least January 10. The country is facing a spike in the number of cases, despite its successes at the start of the pandemic.

On Friday, Germany recorded 33,777 new cases, marking the first time that the country had a daily surge in excess of 30,000. Health officials have also reported more than 25,700 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Rising anti-Semitism in Hungary worries Jewish groups

Hungary says it provides a safe environment for its Jewish community. But the government has shown itself to be tolerant of anti-Semitic figures in public life.

Jewish groups in Hungary and abroad condemned a recent op-ed in the Hungarian online media outlet Origo, in which a government-appointed cultural commissioner compares George Soros to Hitler.

Szilard Demeter, the head of Budapest's Petofi Museum of Literature and a loyal supporter of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, compared the Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire Soros as a "liberal Fuhrer" and Europe as "his gas chamber;” he also likened Poland and Hungary to "the new Jews.” "Poison gas flows from the capsule of a multicultural open society, which is deadly to the European way of life,” he wrote. After a massive outcry in both Hungary and abroad, Demeter apologized half-heartedly and retracted his article. However, he kept his job.

It is because of such incidents that Orban's government is regularly accused of flirting with anti-Semitism. The government is always quick to refute this, saying that Jews in Hungary are safer and freer than in western Europe. "Open threats and attacks on Jewish people, the likes of which happen today in Germany are unimaginable in Hungary," Orban recently wrote.

It is true that there are relatively few documented cases of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Hungary — though Hungary's Jewish population (47,400) is smaller than France's (453,000) or Germany's (116,000). According to a 2018 study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Jews in Hungary felt safer than in other EU countries. Only 13% worried about becoming the victim of an anti-Semitic physical attack. By comparison, 58% of Jews in France feared this and 47% of those living in Germany.

Watch video 12:36 Hungary: Orban critics fight to be heard

Celebrating anti-Semitic public figures

"This government is not anti-Semitic,” claimed Andras Kovas, Professor for Jewish Studies at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest in an interview with DW. However, he agreed that the government does use anti-Semitic stereotypes in its ongoing campaign against Soros.

The government has also celebrated public figures who are openly anti-Semitic. The far-right Erno Raffay who had already received numerous awards, was given another in August. In 2015, he had compared migrants from largely Muslim countries to Jewish immigrants in the 19th century, saying that these latter had "multiplied" and "pushed" Hungarians from many areas of society. "This should be a lesson to [Hungary]" he added.

The journalist Zsolt Bayer, known for racist and anti-Semitic utterances, is also a close friend of the prime minister and was a co-founder of the ruling Fidesz party. About 10 years ago, he described the French-German politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the Hungarian-born pianist Andras Schiff, who are both Jewish, as "stinking excrement."

"Regrettably we did not manage to bury all of them up to their necks in the woods of Orgovany," Bayer added. During what is known as the White Terror of 1919 to 1921, there were various massacres of Jews and Communists by counter-revolutionary soldiers, including one at Orgovany in southern Hungary in 1919.

His newspaper was fined twice after Bayer published articles that were deemed to constitute hate speech. Three years later, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross, one of the highest in Hungary. Some 30 recipients of the same award, including Andras Heisler, the head of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz), returned theirs in protest.

"These people have a very bad influence on our society," Heisler told DW. "We would prefer it if the government distanced itself from them in future."

Watch video 01:59 Thousands rally in Budapest for media freedom

Revising history

Hungary has attempted to relativize Hungary's role in the Holocaust over and over again. A few ways it does so is by erecting statues or monuments — like Budapest's Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation, which critics say relativizes Hungary's role in the deportation of more than 440,000 Jews during the Holocaust — or setting up museums, such as the controversial "House of Terror" in Budapest. Anti-Semitic writers such as Albert Wass who was sentenced in absentia to death for war crimes in 1946 are now part of the national curriculum.

Almost ironically, Viktor Orban is a close friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rarely uttered any criticism of anti-Semitism in Hungary. The two have similar political agendas, are critical of the EU and share an animosity towards Soros.

Anti-Semitism is not only to be found in the government and its allies but among the opposition too. In October, the opposition put forward Laszlo Biro from the erstwhile far-right Jobbik party, as its joint candidate.

The credibility of the opposition alliance suffered after Biro was forced to apologize for previous racist and anti-Semitic comments on social media. The whole affair has played into the government's hands and the media outlets which support it. It is cited each time Orban and Fidesz are accused of anti-Semitism. The government has also criticized Mazsihisz president Heisler for speaking up against anti-Semitism in Fidesz ranks but not in those of the opposition.

"The problem, not only in Hungary," argued Heisler, "is that politicians from all camps play the ‘Jew card' when it works for them politically." He has called on all politicians and parties to put a stop to anti-Semitism.