'A colossal failure': How were pro-Trump rioters able to breach Capitol security?

Kristine Phillips Kevin Johnson Bart Jansen
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The violence inside the U.S. Capitol building had turned deadly by Wednesday evening, as officials announced that a woman who was shot earlier had died. At least three others were injured and taken to hospitals after rioters, many waving Trump flags and wearing Trump garb, breached security at the Capitol building and swarmed the area.

The breach prompted an evacuation of the Senate chamber and a 3 1/2-hour lockdown before officials declared the building was secure. The FBI is also investigating reports of two suspected explosive devices, though both have been rendered safe. 

This series of events, which disrupted what should have been a largely ceremonial democratic process of counting state-certified Electoral College votes, was a culmination of weeks of resentment fueled by President Donald Trump's false claims that the election had been stolen from him. 

The security breach also raised questions about how demonstrators managed to force their way inside the Capitol and whether there was enough law enforcement presence, especially when threats of violence brewing for days on social media should have raised red flags. 

Earlier Wednesday, protesters crowded halls inside the Capitol building and climbed over chairs. Some made it inside the Senate chambers, while others sat inside lawmakers' offices. Shots and chemical irritants were fired. 

"In my experience in 50 years in law enforcement, this is unprecedented," said John Magaw, a former Secret Service director

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PHOTOS HERE:  How were pro-Trump rioters able to breach Capitol law enforcement? (usatoday.com) 

"The coordination of security has virtually fallen apart. We are watching the deterioration of law and order in the U.S. It just becomes chaos. I don't see any sign that the current president is going to stand up and lead like presidents have led in the past," Magaw said. "Our democracy is on the edge of a cliff."

Ed Davis, former commissioner for the Boston Police Department, said law enforcement should've been better prepared.

"There has to be political will to put resources in place to stop what clearly should've been seen. … This is the result of a lack of political will to control an attempted insurrection.

"What happened here is a colossal failure, and I believe it's a colossal political failure, not on the part of the police," Davis said. "They were outnumbered and overrun."

It's unclear whether the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security were involved in coordinating a robust law enforcement response with the U.S. Capitol Police, which has jurisdiction of the area, before the protests. The federal agencies deployed a large number of agents during protests last summer in Washington and several other cities after the death of George Floyd. 

Videos on social media, which USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify, showed men in police uniforms taking selfies with and removing outdoor barriers for the rioters.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said a review of Wednesday's events "will determine what failures occurred and why."

"The plans should have anticipated the potential for what happened today," Thompson said.

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the Justice Department has sent hundreds of federal law enforcement officers and agents to assist Capitol police. "The violence at our Nation's Capitol Building is an intolerable attack on a fundamental institution of our democracy," Rosen said in a statement.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke late Wednesday with Vice President Mike Pence and congressional leaders about the riot at the Capitol.

“We have fully activated the D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to peacefully address the situation,” Miller said in a statement. “We are prepared to provide additional support as necessary and appropriate as requested by local authorities. Our people are sworn to defend the Constitution and our democratic form of government, and they will act accordingly.”

'Intent on causing harm'

The protesters gathered at the National Mall early on Wednesday to protest election results. During a rally, Trump urged his supporters to go to the Capitol building.

The protesters came to Capitol Hill "following the president’s remarks,” said D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee. “It was clear that the crowd was intent on causing harm to our officers by deploying chemical irritants on police to force entry into the United States Capitol.”

Wednesday afternoon, several Republican lawmakers called on Trump to strongly urge his supporters to back down. Doing so is the "last thing you'll do that matters as President," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said on Twitter. In a video posted on Twitter, Trump urged his supporters to "go home," repeating false claims of a stolen election and telling them he loved them. He later tweeted that "these are the events and things that happen," which many criticized as condoning the riots.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said it’s premature to speculate on how or why protesters were able to swarm the Capitol.

“We won’t know until it’s over. … You don’t analyze a battle while in the middle of it,” Pasco said, adding that demonstrators breaching security at the Capitol is “a national disgrace.”

Terry Gainer, former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police who also served as the Senate’s sergeant at arms, described Wednesday’s protests as unprecedented in four decades in law enforcement.

“It’s dangerous,” Gainer said. “This is a much more hateful crowd incited by the president himself. It’s definitely something new in our business.”


Gainer said there have been breaches of perimeter fencing and barriers at the Capitol, but he wasn't aware of any mass breach of the Capitol building.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the think tank Police Executive Research Forum, said government officials are likely to look back at this and evaluate whether additional law enforcement resources might have been necessary. 

"At this point, it's hard to say," Wexler said. "Most demonstrations are peaceful, but then if they suddenly turn violent like this one did, it’s difficult for the police without a massive police presence to prevent it."

National Sheriff's Association President David Mahoney said protesters' actions were "indistinguishable" from those of antifa, a loosely organized far-left movement, "or any other lawless groups who chose to destroy cities and communities."
History of violence at the Capitol

Though the rioting was unusual, there has been violence at the Capitol in past decades.

History of violence at the Capitol

Though the rioting was unusual, there has been violence at the Capitol in past decades.

Two Capitol police officers – officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson – were killed July 24, 1998, by a gunman who made his way into the first floor of the building on the House side between the chamber and the crypt.

Five House lawmakers were shot and wounded March 1, 1954, by members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, which argued for the island’s independence. The four nationalists shot indiscriminately from the gallery above the chamber’s floor and unfurled a Puerto Rican flag. All were apprehended. A bullet hole remains in a desk that is part of the House dais, a reminder of the attack

A former Capitol police officer, William Kaiser, fired two shots at Sen. John Bricker, R-Ohio, on July 12, 1947, as he entered the subway tunnel linking the Capitol to Senate offices. Both shots missed, and Bricker jumped aboard an electric subway car to escape.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook

With the Capitol's breach, President Trump's virtual coup on Twitter became all too real

Susan Page
USA TODAY

It was the moment that the virtual coup President Donald Trump had been waging on Twitter since Election Day became all too real.

"We will never give up; we will never concede," the president told thousands of supporters on the Mall at midday Wednesday, repeating debunked allegations that fraud had cost him a second term. The crowd had gathered in Washington to pressure Vice President Mike Pence and Republican legislators to object to the certified Electoral College count that would make Democrat Joe Biden the next president.

With that, the protesters marched toward the Capitol, breached metal barricades, pushed their way into the halls of Congress, and took over the dais where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Pence had been standing an hour earlier. The rioters trashed offices and took selfies. They draped a huge Trump banner off the front of the Capitol.

What has traditionally been a ceremonial rite honoring the results of the presidential election already had been transformed into a partisan battle. Dozens of Republican lawmakers had vowed to object to accepting the electors certified by the states.

'Violence and anarchy'

:Chaos erupts following Trump's unprecedented effort to overturn Biden's election win

Now that verbal clash sparked a violent one. The scenes of a mob taking over the Capitol was reminiscent of the forceful governmental overthrow more familiar in authoritarian regimes, not in the world's oldest democracy. Law enforcement officials used flash grenades and tear gas to clear the rioters from the outdoor balcony where Biden is slated to be inaugurated in two weeks.

Former President George W. Bush issued a statement calling it an "insurrection." Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, his face grave, said on MSNBC that "it's a moment where you know that indeed our democracy is fragile."

'A colossal failure': How were pro-Trump rioters able to breach Capitol security?

The shock among officials and former officials, journalists and academics, and President-elect Joe Biden was palpable. The reaction from Trump himself was more muted. Only hours after the rioting began – and after Biden had delivered a public plea to the president to help put an "end to this siege" – did Trump post a short video calling for calm.

"I know your pain; I know your hurt," Trump said, addressing the rioters. "But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order." That said, he also repeated his baseless charges that the election had been "stolen" from him, the very issue that had sparked the mob's actions.

Later, he seemed to justify their actions in a tweet, calling the rioters "great patriots."

Twitter removed both posts shortly after it flagged them with warning labels.

"These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long," he said as darkness fell. "Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"

There were calls to impeach Trump, despite the short time he has left in office. He "must be removed from office and prevented from further endangering our country and our people," said Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass, a member of the House Democratic leadership. The head of the National Association of Manufacturers, a business group not generally given to hyperbole, suggested Pence consider invoking the 25th Amendment to oust Trump. "This is sedition and should be treated as such," Jay Timmons said. 

In a step heavy with symbolism, Pelosi announced that the Electoral College count would resume Wednesday night once the Capitol had been cleared.

Since Election Day, Trump has refused to accept the outcome. For two months, he and his allies have filed dozens of lawsuits in battleground states; none of them have gotten legal traction, not even from judges he appointed. He has lobbied governors and state legislators to change the count in their state or hold new elections. In a phone call Saturday that stretched for an hour, he cajoled and threatened the Georgia secretary of state to "find" the 11,000 additional votes Trump needed to win that state.

By the numbers:President Donald Trump's failed efforts to overturn the election

Through it all, he has repeatedly told supporters that a massive scheme waged by Democrats, the news media, Big Tech companies and others had robbed him of a victory he had won.

In an interview on Tuesday, Alvin Tillery Jr., director of Northwestern's Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, had compared Trump's actions to sedition. "This looks like a real coup d'etat we see in developing nations or in our Latin American neighbors," he said then. "People behave this way when they don't think they can win on the rules."

Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the election erodes faith in democracy itself, said David Barker, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. "Support for the system is the thing that keeps a democracy going," he said. "If you lose it, you have to start wondering if there's a danger of the U.S. going the way most other democracies have gone in the history of the world."

Which would be what?

"Which would be failed," he said.

QAnon supporter from Arizona dressed in fur and horns joins storming of US Capitol
Richard Ruelas
Arizona Republic



Among the supporters of President Donald Trump who mobbed their way into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, one – unmistakable in his fur, horned hat and painted face – was Jake Angeli, a QAnon supporter who has been a fixture at Arizona right-wing political rallies over the past year.

Angeli was seen in photographs from Washington, D.C., amid rioters who turned violent and stormed the building, causing both chambers to suspend their intended action of the day: certifying the results of the presidential election for former vice president Joe Biden.

At one point, Angeli was seen on the dais of the U.S. Senate. He posed for a photo flexing his right arm; his left was holding a spear from which hung a U.S. flag.

Since at least 2019, Angeli has held court outside the Arizona State Capitol shouting about various conspiracy theories, most related to the wide-ranging beliefs espoused by QAnon.

Angeli, in a 2020 interview with the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, said that he wears the fur bonnet, paints his face and walks around shirtless with ragged pants as a way to attract attention.

Then, he said, he is able to speak to people about his beliefs about QAnon and other truths he says remain hidden.

The QAnon conspiracy theory supposes that a high-level government agent with Q-level security clearance has been unspooling cryptic clues about secret investigations inside Washington, D.C. Some of those investigations involve politicians running a child sex trafficking ring.

In February 2020, Angeli worked the crowd outside a rally in Phoenix for Trump.

He held up a tattered sign that read, “Q sent me,” and asked the crowd if they knew of the conspiracy. Several met him with affirmative nods.


“The snowball has been rolling and it’s only getting bigger,” Angeli said at the time. “We’re the mainstream now.”

Angeli did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

More:Were voters manipulated by QAnon a force behind Trump's 'red wave' in 2020 election?

Angeli was a fixture at rallies to reopen Arizona businesses shuttered by the government as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He has also been at rallies contesting the Arizona election results.

Besides the government corruption espoused by QAnon, Angeli believes that leaders have conspired to keep blockbuster scientific discoveries from the public in order to maintain the system as it is.

Angeli said that he discovered much of what he found through his own research on the Internet. That research – which included “Behold a Pale Horse” by Arizona author William Copper – involved shadowy groups, including the Illuminati, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg group, that control the world.

“At a certain point, it all clicked in a way,” he said. “Oh, my God. I see now the reality of what’s going on.”

The Q movement, he said, validated beliefs he had held as far back as 2016.

Double standard': Black lawmakers and activists decry police response to attack on US Capitol
Grace HauckDeborah Barfield Berry
USA TODAY

VIDEO AT END

WASHINGTON – Civil rights leaders blasted law enforcement agencies for their slow response to rioters at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, noting the massive show of police force in place for Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year over police killings of unarmed Black men and women.

"When Black folks are protesting and progressives are protesting peacefully they were tear-gassed, they were arrested, they were shot with rubber bullets. They were shot with real bullets," said Derrick Johnson, president of the national NAACP. "We watched it take place all summer long when people were peacefully demonstrating."

Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio and former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, also questioned security efforts.

"The Capitol police were unprepared, ineffective and some were complicit. All of them should be held to account," said Fudge, who was still in lockdown by the evening and who has been tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.


Fudge said there's "no question" the response was different than at last year's Black Lives Matter protests at the Capitol. She shared a picture of a row of police standing guard on the steps of the Capitol.

"There is a double standard,'' she said.

As thousands of people of color and allies took to the streets this summer to peacefully protest police brutality, law enforcement often clashed with demonstrators, deploying tear gas and rubber bullets, bruising faces and bodies, and, in one incident that went viral, pushing an elderly man to the ground.

But as thousands of President Donald Trump supporters, mostly white, marched from a campaign-style rally to the Capitol Wednesday and broke into the building as lawmakers were convening to count presidential electoral votes, forcing lawmakers and staff to shelter in place, crowds of law enforcement were notably absent.

Trump, who previously characterized Black Lives Matter protesters as "thugs," said on Twitter that the people involved in the riots Wednesday were "great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long."


D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee III said the mob of Trump voters came to Capitol Hill "following the president's remarks" and was "intent on causing harm to our officers by deploying chemical irritants on police to force entry into the United States Capitol."

But only a small group of riot police stood outside the back of the Capitol building in the early afternoon, and as demonstrators called for breaching the building, hundreds started swarming into the area, reporters at the scene noted Wednesday.


As protesters began climbing up the side of the building and on the back balcony, police appeared to retreat. After the break-in, police attempted to secure one section outside the building but were quickly overwhelmed, according to reporters at the scene.

One video posted to social media showed several people in D.C. Capitol Police jackets removing barriers outside the Capitol building, allowing demonstrators to pass through to the building. Videos posted to Twitter also showed at least one person who appeared to be an officer taking selfies with people who had breached the Capitol. USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify the identities of the people in these images.

By Wednesday afternoon, Army Gen. Mark Milley said the D.C. National Guard had been fully activated. "We have fully activated the D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to peacefully address the situation," Miller said in a statement.

Several videos shared to social media Wednesday afternoon showed officials slowly escorting people out of the building. One officer in riot gear could be seen helping a white woman in a Trump hat down the Capitol steps, holding her hand, according to a CNN livestream.

By Wednesday evening, nearly a full day after the demonstrators first clashed with police Tuesday night, officers began using tear gas and percussion grenades to begin clearing crowds, ahead of a 6 p.m. curfew. In the moments before, there were violent clashes between the police and protesters, who tore railing for the inauguration scaffolding and threw it at the officers. 

At least one woman suffered a fatal gunshot wound inside the capitol, Contee said. At least 13 people were arrested, and five firearms were recovered.

By comparison, in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, which sparked last year's protest movement, more than 100 people were arrested over the course of three days in Minneapolis. In subsequent days, cities across the country arrested dozens of people in a single night, with Los Angeles arresting more than 500 in one day.

U.S. Capitol Police did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.

'A fanciful reality':Trump claims Black Lives Matter protests are violent, but the majority are peaceful

Johnson questioned why the Capitol police and other local law enforcement agencies weren’t prepared for thousands of Trump protestors, including the Proud Boys. There had been plenty of warnings on social media and talk shows about the potential for riots, he said.

"We should not be witnessing what we are witnessing today in this nation,'' he said. "It is a global embarrassment.”

Johnson said tens of thousands of people joined protests at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington without this level of violence. "None of this took place,’" he said.

The majority of Black Lives Matter-affiliated protests over the summer were peaceful, according to a report by the U.S. Crisis Monitor, a joint effort including Princeton University in New Jersey that collects and analyzes real-time data on demonstrations and political violence in the United States.

Kofi Ademola, a local Chicago activist who helped organize civil rights protests throughout the summer, said he was not surprised Wednesday by the police response.


"It’s not any shock that we see this huge contradiction that we can storm a capitol ... break into elected officials’ offices, the chamber, and create other chaos trying to perform a fascist coup, and we see little to no consequences,'' he said. "But Black protesters here in D.C. and Chicago, we’re heavily policed, brutalized, for literally saying, 'Don’t kill us.' There was no planned insurrections. We were literally just advocating for our lives. It speaks volumes about the values of this country. It doesn’t care about our lives."


CNN commentator Van Jones highlighted the discrepancy in a tweet Wednesday.

"Imagine if #BlackLivesMatter were the ones who were storming the Capitol building," he wrote. "Thousands of black people laying siege to the seat of government – in the middle of a joint session of Congress? Just imagine the reaction."

At the Capitol Wednesday, some lawmakers were holed up in their offices and other places. Several would not say where they were for safety reasons. Staffers were cleared out of the press galleries and the Capitol by the afternoon.

"The after-action review will determine what failures occurred and why,'' said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "The plans should have anticipated the potential for what happened today."


The chaos that unfolded Wednesday stands in particularly harsh contrast to the law enforcement presence seen when U.S. and military police drove protesters out of Lafayette Square, located between the White House and the historic St. John's Episcopal Church, shortly before a presidential photo op with a Bible at the church on June 1. Officers used smoke canisters, shields, pepper balls and horses to force demonstrators from the park.


Black Lives Matter Global Network called the law enforcement response to Wednesday's riots hypocritical.

"When Black people protest for our lives, we are all too often met by National Guard troops or police equipped with assault rifles, shields, tear gas and battle helmets,'' the group said in a statement. "When white people attempt a coup, they are met by an underwhelming number of law enforcement personnel who act powerless to intervene, going so far as to pose for selfies with terrorists, and prevent an escalation of anarchy and violence like we witnessed today.'

"Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been tear-gassed, battered, and perhaps shot,'' the group wrote.

Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., put out a series of statements on Twitter Wednesday calling on law enforcement to engage demonstrators “with the same humanity and discipline with which they should have engaged people who were outraged by a police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck.”

“What many are saying is true: If this were Black Lives Matter storming the Capitol, tanks would have been in the city by now,” she wrote. “The response tells the story of our nation’s racist history and present. How can we stop it from being the future?”

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., was holed up in his Capitol Hill office Wednesday as protestors continued their assault on the Capitol. During a Zoom call with reporters, said he and his staff were safe and weren’t leaving. Kind said he intended to return to the House chamber to continue the debate over the certification of electoral votes.

"Things are still not in control, unfortunately," he said.

Kind blamed Trump, who has been reluctant to denounce white nationalists and fraudulently insisted he won the November election, for encouraging the violence Wednesday. 

“When he was encouraging the demonstrations, tweeting out that this was going to be quote ‘wild.’ I mean, what would he expect the reaction would be, especially when you're talking about the Proud Boys, militia groups, white supremacists coming into our nation's capital today,” Kind said.

Contributing: Will Carless, Marco R Della Cava

 TRUMP LIKE MUSSOLINI HAS MARCHED HIS TROOPS TO THE STEPS OF THE GOVERMENT 

HIS FOLLOWERS ARE NOW MARCHING ON THE SENATE

THE COUP HAS BEGUN

THE SENATE IS CLOSED 

DOWN

  

WHITE PEOPLE RIOT 

COPS USE PEPPER SPRAY

WHERE IS THE TEARGAS

TRUMPS TROOPS ALLOWED 

INTO CAPITOL BUILDING BY

 REPUBLICAN ALLIES 

ONLY CAPITOL POLICE RESPONDING

WHERE ARE BARR'S BULLY BOYS THE

PARK COPS

TRUMP HIDDENING IN WHITE HOUSE

BUNKER

COUP HAS BEGUN IN THE USA

DC protests live updates: Trump speaks to thousands of supporters (usatoday.com)

Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates and follow USA TODAY reporters on Twitter here. Scroll down for more news you need to know. 

• The Capitol was locked down and staffers were evacuated from two congressional buildings as crowds tried to breach them.
• City officials had braced for violence. Mayor Muriel Bowser asked that area residents stay away from downtown, but added that "we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.” Colleen Cupp of Carmel, Indiana, said Wednesday the crowd was friendly and that she wasn’t worried about violence.  “We’re here supporting our president,” she said. “It feels unifying.”
• Most of the early crowd shunned face coverings despite the nationwide surge in coronavirus cases, though some wore red “Make America Great Again” masks. “USA” and “stop the steal” chants rippled through the area. Music blared and people stumped for the president with megaphones. Many donned red, white and blue apparel, and waved "Trump 2020" flags.
• Legislators began meeting at 1 p.m. ET to count the Electoral College votes during a special joint session of Congress — 306 for Biden, 232 for Trump. It takes 270 to win the presidency. Follow live updates from inside Congress here. 
• Tuesday night, D.C. police made six protest-related arrests. The charges ranged from carrying a pistol without a license to assault of a police officer, according to a spokesman. The U.S. Park Police also made one arrest.
• Members of the "Proud Boys," designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, were expected to attend. The group's leader, Enrique Tarrio, was arrested Monday after arriving in D.C., on charges related to the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner at a protest last year. Tarrio pleaded not guilty to destruction of property and weapons charges and was released – but ordered to stay out of D.C. until his next court appearance in June.
• 
  

Is Pakistan prepared to deal with climate migration?

Environmentalists have expressed concern over a massive climate-induced migration in various parts of Pakistan and the government's apathy toward tackling a serious problem.

A symbolic picture of thick smog engulfing Pakistan's Lahore city

A report by ActionAid International and Climate Action Network South Asia recently revealed that in the past few decades, more than 18 million people in South Asia have been forced to migrate due to climate change. By 2050, up to 63 million people could be displaced as a result of it, the report said.

Many of these environmental migrants are from Pakistan, which has been hit hard by climate change.

In the past decades, the South Asian country has witnessed a drastic change in rain patterns and an increase in droughts and floods. At the same time, experts say ground water is rapidly depleting across the country.

Sitara Parveen, an environmental expert, told DW that the northern Gilgit-Baltistan area and the southern coastal belt of Sindh have been worst hit by climate change.

"Northern glaciers are melting as a result of rising temperatures. It has triggered flooding in some areas, and at the same time we see a shortage of water in some parts of the country. This has affected our agriculture sector and has forced thousands of people to migrate to other areas," Parveen said.

"Similarly, in the southern Sindh province, we are experiencing a rapid sea intrusion. The fishermen are losing their livelihood, and many of them are forced to move to other places," she added.

Watch video 01:33 Pakistanis planting trees to tackle climate change

Experts say that more than 1.2 million acres of land in Pakistan have been invaded by sea in the past decades, leaving tens of thousands of people with no option but to migrate and search for an alternative livelihood.

Migration and economic loss

Arif Mahmud, a former lecturer at Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University, says that severe droughts in parts of rural areas in Sindh and Punjab provinces are also forcing people to migrate to cities, resulting in an overpopulation in metropolises.

Irfan Choudhary, a Faisalabad-based environmental expert, says that Pakistan is witnessing severe droughts more frequently than ever. "It is happening because of a changing rain pattern caused by climate change," he told DW.

Choudhary says the situation is negatively impacting the country's agriculture sector, which is a source of livelihood for millions in Pakistan.

Farooq Sulehria, a Lahore-based academic, says that Pakistan is losing around $2 billion (€1.63 billion) annually because of climate change. "It is causing multiple problems in the country. Floods caused by climate change are the major reason behind environmental migration. The 2010 floods damaged around 132,000 square kilometers of area, killing some 2,000 people, and affecting at least 20.2 million people," Sulehria told DW.

Amir Hussain, an Islamabad-based expert, says the 2010 floods triggered one of the largest climate-induced displacements in human history. "Pakistan should spend at least 7% of its GDP to deal with the adverse effects of climate change," he told DW.

Residents carry belongings as they wade through a flooded area during a heavy monsoon rains in Karachi in August 2020

Sulehria believes the government faces a difficult job dealing with the situation. "In the next 30 years, Pakistan needs between $7-$15 billion to tackle this issue. This cannot be done without the support from the international community."
International efforts

Analyst Mahmud says it is high time the authorities step up their efforts to deal with the climate change crisis. "The government needs to offer alternate livelihoods to people migrating from the coastal areas. For instance, they can be useful in the artificial fish farming business," he suggested.

Watch video02:32 Dams threaten Pakistan's unique Indus River dolphins

Prime Minister Imran Khan's government denies allegations that it is not taking the issue seriously.

"The migration phenomenon is linked to an overall environmental degradation. We are trying to address the issue by planting trees and promoting sustainable ways of power generation. We have recently scrapped coal power projects and ensured that no coal plant is installed in the future," Khial Zaman Orakzai, a member of the Parliament's Climate Change Committee, told DW.

Orakzai says mitigating the impacts of climate change is a long-term plan. "It will also prevent climate migration," he said, adding that Pakistan can't tackle the situation alone.

"The international community must help us. Pakistan contributes very little to the global carbon emissions but suffers a great deal as a result of environmental pollution caused by industrialized countries."

East Africa braces for a return of the locusts

East Africa has not just suffered from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, but also the worst locust plague in decades. Now, the swarms are returning, and experts are concerned about food security in the region.



The locust invasion in East Africa has deprived many farmers of their livelihood

Leion Sotik has lost everything. The farmer living in Garissa County, Kenya, still remembers what happened just a year ago, right during harvest season. The invaders came — and destroyed everything on his maize plantation. "I am very desperate," he told DW. "I was expecting a harvest to feed my family and take the children to school. Look at how my crops have been destroyed. Everything is gone now."

The culprits are one of the world's oldest pests and probably have their most famous reference in the Old Testament's Book of Exodus: Locusts. In 2020, a plague of the hoppers invaded East Africa, ravaging crops and pastures and driving the level of human hunger and economic hardship higher in parts of the region. One year later, right at the start of 2021, the United Nations has warned that a second and maybe even deadlier re-invasion of locusts has already begun.

The locusts are breeding and multiplying at an alarming rate

Trillions of locusts in East Africa

The first wave of the pests emerged at the end of 2019, numbering in hundreds of billions, multiplying by a factor of 20 per generation, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The second generation in March and April numbered in the trillions. A plague that spread like wildfire — up to now.

"It's a continuation of the 2020 locusts swarm. The adults have flown to various areas and are laying eggs", Frances Duncan, Professor of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, told DW. "If we have good rains like it is the case at the moment in most areas, the hoppers will hatch, and we get the second wave of the swarm."

However, Keith Cressman, FAO's Senior Locust Forecasting Officer, remains optimistic. "I think it's still a very dangerous situation. But it should not be worse as it was last year." According to the weather forecast, the months to come should be dry, reducing the locusts' reproductive rate.

Threatening food security

Kenya was heavily affected by the worst invasion of locusts in 70 years. In Garissa, the insects have driven farmers into despair: Their farms' total yields in 2020 were destroyed in less than 24 hours.

Watch video 01:41 Somalia locusts threaten food supplies

Nur Fadhil remembers that they had no chance against the plague. "We have tried chasing the locusts away, but our efforts were in vain. The locusts spent the night on our farms. When we woke up the next day, they were still here. They had munched on everything on the farm. We have gone through massive losses," Fadhil said.


In an emergency case, the FAO is ready to step in, Cressman told DW in an interview. "We are constantly monitoring the locusts' situation, the weather conditions, and provide service to all countries in the world in terms of early warning and forecasting so they can be prepared to respond." The FAO is supporting control operations financially through pesticides, aircraft, and sprayers.

Cressman emphasized that the livelihoods of the population need to be protected. "If a farmer has crops planted and his crop has been wiped out, and he does not have resources to buy new seeds to replant, the FAO can assist. For pastoralists, if there is not enough food for animals, the FAO can provide animal feed."
Breeding in Ethiopia and Somalia

Five countries have been especially hard hit by the African migratory locusts: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. As a result, more than 35 million people suffer from food insecurity. FAO estimates this number could increase to 38.5 million if nothing is done to control the new infestation.

The FAO warns that numerous immature swarms have already formed in eastern Ethiopia and central Somalia during December, now they have reached northern Kenya. More swarms will arrive in January and spread throughout Ethiopia and Kenya.

"If the locust swarm is not controlled, it can completely destroy the crop and wipe out animal feed. This poses a serious threat to food security in the region and can lead to human and social crises," Amh Yeshewas Abay, Head of Natural Resources Office in South Omo Zone Hamer Woreda in Ethiopia, said in a DW interview. "We are working to eradicate locusts in northern Kenya and on the border with Somalia."
Danger of conflict

In northern Somalia, swarms laid eggs in areas affected by Cyclone Gati. Heavy rains in the region had turned out to favor the locusts, the UN says. New immature swarms could start to form in early February. Adult groups and a few swarms appeared on the coast of Sudan and Eritrea in December.

East Africa has seen the worst locust plague in decades

According to Daniel Lesego from Kenya's National Disaster Management Unit, the locust invasions come with multiple risks apart from food insecurity. "If there will be competition over pasture, space, and water, then it is likely to trigger conflict, resource-based conflict, and that is something that we do not want to see in Kenya," he told DW. "For us, this is a national call. It is a national duty that we are responding to and are committed to ensuring that locusts in Kenya are eradicated to make sure that locusts do not cross to our neighbors."
Is East Africa prepared?

1.3 million hectares of locust invasion were treated across 10 countries since January last year to stave off an economic and agricultural catastrophe, according to the UN. Countries have prepared themselves to use pesticides on the ground and from the air. It helped to prevent the loss of around 2.7 million tons of cereal.

"Countries have been alerted to this possibility for a couple of months. They have been preparing, mobilizing their teams and getting them into the field to doing the monitoring, identifying locusts and doing ground control operations, supported by aerial operations," Cressman said, adding that the goal would now be to treat as many swarms as possible, "before they spread, mature, and lay eggs for another generation of locusts."

The Kenyan government has set aside $30 million (€24 million) to fight the second wave. Agriculture Minister Peter Munya told journalists that Kenya is well-equipped to fight the locust swarms and promised that in counties where crops and livestock have been lost, the government would intervene to help distribute seeds, cereals, clean water, or fertilizers.

Germany: Catholic officials ask reporters for 'silence' on child abuse report

Reporters walked out of a press event in Cologne after church officials asked them to sign a confidentiality agreement. The officials were due to discuss issues around a key report on child abuse.



Journalists were asked to keep the contents of the report a "secret"

With the Catholic Church shaken by the child abuse scandal in Germany, journalists walked out of a press event organized by church representatives on Tuesday.

The Archdiocese of Cologne had called for a press conference to discuss an unpublished child abuse report. Specifically, church officials were to explain issues regarding the report's methodology. These issues, at least according to Cologne Archbishop Reiner Maria Woelki, were the reason for withholding the document from the public in its current form.

Church representatives said they would show journalists a redacted version of the document. They also asked reporters to sign a pledge to keep the contents "secret," including information on crimes, alleged perpetrators and implicated church officials.

"The journalist commits himself to exercise absolute silence regarding this information," the agreement read.

All eight of the journalists invited to the event refused to sign the statement.
Why has the report been withheld?

Cardinal Woelki promised an independent and comprehensive investigation into sexual abuse in his diocese two years ago. However, in October 2020, victims were told the ensuing report was not "legally watertight" and contained "inadmissible prejudices."

Watch video 02:53 Cologne archbishop criticized for refusal to publish abuse report

A new version of the report is expected to be released in March.

The decision to withhold the document until its reworked has already caused backlash in Germany. The law firm which drew up the report also decried the delay.

Woelki himself faces accusations of failing to inform the Vatican about a sexual abuse allegation.

dj/rs (dpa, KNA)

Waste: an environmental justice issue we should be talking about

By Deonna Anderson

 

 January 6, 2021

 Remember when Flint, Michigan garnered international attention because water in the city was making people sick? Well, there are communities like that around the county and the world. And while Flint gained attention because of its failing infrastructure, there are places where water and sewage infrastructure is absent.

"Too many Americans live without any affordable means of cleanly disposing of the waste from their toilets, and must live with the resulting filth," writes Catherine Coleman Flowers, an environmental health advocate, in her book "Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret," published by The New Press in November. (Read an excerpt here.)

"They lack what most Americans take for granted: the right to flush and forget," Flowers continues.

For nearly two decades, Flowers, a recent awardee of the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," has been bringing attention to failing water and waste sanitation infrastructure in rural areas.

I spoke with Flowers in mid-December over Skype. Below is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for clarity.

Deonna Anderson: You are the woman mentioned in the title of your book, which chronicles your life and also your work as an environmental justice champion. For those who have not read the book, can you give an overview of what the "dirty secret" is in the title?

Catherine Coleman Flowers: The dirty secret is that there are many Americans living with waste that comes from their toilets, whether it is through straight piping, in which [waste from] the toilets comes straight out on top of the ground or into a pit, or whether it is through a failing septic system, which means that when it fails, there's sewage from their homes, usually from their toilets, of course. I just want to be graphic because that's what it is. 

And it ends up either out on top of the ground or comes back into the home, sometimes into their bathtubs. Or they're part of these community systems that are supposed to be managed but were built in a way in which they were not sustainable. And consequently, people have sewage coming back into their homes or into their yards.

Anderson: Throughout "Waste," you write about the tours that you take people on to see all the waste and the lack of infrastructure in Lowndes County, Alabama. And that's where you grew up. First, how many people have you taken on these tours over the years?

Flowers: That's a good question... In some cases, it would be one or two people and in other cases, there may be groups. So I would say on the small number, maybe close to 100 people, at least, that I've actually taken around to see this firsthand over the years, because I've been doing this since 2002.

Catherine Coleman Flowers guides Senator Cory Booker through Lowndes County, Alabama, as part of his 2017 environmental justice tour.  Photo courtesy of Catherine Coleman Flowers.

 

Anderson: What has been the tangible impact of people going to see what happens in Lowndes County?

Flowers: Well, first of all, this is not on a lot of people's radar. When I wanted to talk about this before, I couldn't get media interest. I was told that this was not sexy, nobody would be interested in it. But since that time, I've had the opportunity to speak before Congress, active members of Congress, the Senate, who've actually come to Lowndes County to see for themselves and have been working on policies to try to address this issue in rural communities.

I had the opportunity to visit Geneva, because the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty came to Lowndes County and made it a major global issue. The first real coverage we get from it from a newspaper actually came from The Guardian. So now there are other people that are interested as well.

And the fact that I can even write a book about it. ... I'm thankful to The New Press for giving me an opportunity to tell this story. I'm excited that we have seen and have heard from people from around the country that are indeed interested in knowing about this, and also people that are interested in what the potential solutions are.

Anderson: That's actually a really good segue to my next question. Towards the end of the book, you talk about how solutions haven't really come fast enough. And I'm curious if there's anything that you hope happens in the next year or so, to address the sanitation issue in rural communities all over the country?

Flowers: I think the first thing that should happen within the next year is to find out how many people are impacted, because we're not going to have any real solutions until we really know how many people are impacted by this. Because I think for some people, a solution is to go to a place like Lowndes County, put in a few septic systems and say, "Problem solved."

The problem is not solved. And whatever systems are put in place have to be monitored — because of climate change, a lot of them simply are not working. And then we're going to see what we've already seen: the failing septic systems, which exist around U.S. It's not just in in Lowndes County.

We could develop a vaccine for the coronavirus in less than a year. Just imagine what we could do if we put that same type of know-how and ingenuity behind coming up with some real wastewater solutions.

The first thing is trying to quantify how many people are impacted by this and where they're located. So when we talk about solutions, we're talking about getting solutions to all the people that are impacted by it. Then the second thing that I'd like to see within the next year, is to actually to have the work on the type of innovation that's needed to have long-term solutions to this problem, because obviously, it doesn't exist. If it existed, everybody would have it, or they could go buy it and it's not available. So we need to find something that's sustainable, that takes into account climate change, and also is affordable so that we can that people could maintain it if they have to.

What I envision is within the next five years coming up with a system that treats wastewater to drinking water quality that can be done on a household level. Because we're going to have to talk about how we rebuild differently, and how we build differently. And as people have to move away from the coasts, and they move into these unincorporated areas, or they move into these areas where they don't have big pipe systems, or have systems that are failing, we have to have something to be able to address that. And I think in terms of being forward thinking, we have to start working on that technology now.

And I believe that it's possible because we could develop a vaccine for the coronavirus in less than a year. Just imagine what we could do if we put that same type of know-how and ingenuity behind coming up with some real wastewater solutions that reuse and reclaim.

Anderson: A few weeks ago, you were in conversation with Khaliah Ali Wertheimer. During your conversation, you mentioned how you would love for more rural communities to be included in conversations related to the Green New Deal. And I'm curious if you can share why it's an important thing to include rural communities in these conversations?

Flowers: I think oftentimes what we do — and it's unintentional — is we frame our solutions or our conversations with an urban perspective that inadvertently is biased against rural communities. It leaves them out, when in fact, people in rural communities probably saw climate change before the people in the cities did, and may also have some type of knowledge about the solutions, and especially if we're going to talk about agricultural solutions, solutions around soil. People in rural communities, especially [those] living in these agricultural communities that are very close to the soil, have some understanding that a lot of people don't have because they have to pay attention to the natural elements in order to be successful in those environments.

And I think, also, there are some common sense solutions that can come from rural communities. When we talk about green infrastructure, of course, we talk rightfully so about transportation systems that will move large amounts of people from one place to the other. And we talk about the grid and how the grid could connect cities.

What I envision is within the next 5 years coming up with a system that treats wastewater to drinking water quality that can be done on a household level.

But we need to connect those places in between as well, because even right now, a lot of people don't have access to broadband and internet services. There are some parts of the country, especially in rural communities, where people's cell phones might not work, because there aren't cell towers nearby. So all of these kinds of things that we just assume that everybody has is not true. That's why I believe that people from rural communities should be part of any discussion that we have about a Green New Deal and green infrastructure. They can also inform that conversation and how we get [resources] to those areas that have been left behind from what we currently have. We don't need to keep skipping over these communities.

Anderson: I'm curious if there has been any legislation over the years that has really helped improve the lives of rural communities that you can think of. And can you paint the picture of what the ideal would be when it comes to making sure that rural communities are thought about in conversations about climate change?

Flowers: I haven't really done a deep dive search but with the legislation that I have seen, I haven't seen what I think is the model yet. I think in order to have a model, it would involve going into these communities and having people that are experiencing these problems sitting at the table and helping to draft the legislation because oftentimes, people are well intentioned and want to do it, and I applaud them for that, but you can't do that by just visiting for a day and thinking you have the answer. 

It's unintentional — we frame our solutions or we frame our conversations with an urban perspective that inadvertently is biased against rural communities.

Using the principles of environmental justice, that means having the people in the community sitting at the table — not having a top-down approach. The top-down approaches, as we know, have failed. That's why we have this problem. That's why we're having this discussion. The model includes using the principles of environmental justice — and letting the people in the community be part of designing the policy to address these issues — because sometimes even the language in the policies get in the way — for example, language such as "town," when a lot of these areas are unincorporated. There are no towns. Or putting in a limit or a minimum of 500 or more people. What does that do? Exclude the smaller towns or the smaller communities who may not be part of the town. And I think that's one of the reasons that we have the problem that we have. 

It's something that I call a rural lexicon and what the rural lexicon is is understanding the language of rural communities, so that when we write policy, it is not always written from an urban perspective. I'm not saying that urban communities should not have access to services. They should, but we should all have access to services, whether rural or urban.

Anderson: When I was listening to you talk, it reminded me that when solutions to issues are dreamed up and implemented, the people doing the work need to be deeply embedded with the communities in which they're working in order to really understand and make sure that everyone is included. With that in mind and because the GreenBiz audience is mostly corporate sustainability people, I'm curious about how companies can help rural communities and support organizations like yours.

Flowers: Companies come with expertise that we don't have and they can also help expand our capacity — and they can contribute to organizations like ours, so that we can do the work. Some of them can serve as board members; some can serve as advisers. They can host seminars to educate their staff about these issues. Some of them could also visit as well, when it's feasible to visit again. And certainly there are services that they offer that people in rural communities want as well. 

In some cases, some of these smaller areas cannot have sustainability offices. Wouldn't it be great if some of these companies will partner with communities that don't have that? They can actually go in and help them develop more sustainable practices in those communities. There are lots of things that can be done and I'm sure if you talk to somebody else from a rural community, that they would have other ideas.

I used to teach social studies so I remember teaching state and local government and history, and we know that there are three branches of government. We know that there are some other unofficial branches of government like the media, but I think the business community plays a key role as well. And the business community can be very helpful in states and pushing for the state governments to not leave out rural communities and to make sure that there's infrastructure in place for these rural communities.

Companies come with expertise that we don't have and they can also help expand our capacity — and they can contribute to organizations like ours, so that we can do the work.

When I was an economic development coordinator, I couldn't recruit a lot of businesses to Lowndes County because they require certain things that we did not have in terms of just basic infrastructure. By pushing for those things to happen, and pushing for states to provide the infrastructure, not just in the places that already have it but also in places that need it, that can go a long way.

Anderson: Now that your book is out in the world, what is the life you hope the book has? What do you hope the people who read the book take away from it and put to action?

Flowers: The first thing I want them to do is to read the book. And then the second thing I want them to do is not just look at Lowndes County. Look in their own communities, look in their own states. Throughout the United States, there's this problem — United States and U.S. territories. So look at those areas and help us to identify where those areas are and what those problems are so together we can come up with a solution. 

That's what I'm asking people to do because a lot of people want to come to Lowndes County. You're passing by situations in your own state and that's not helpful. What we need to do is make sure that everybody gets help, and that people are not left behind. I ultimately hope that what will come of this book, or at least writing and telling the story, is that we'll be able to look back and say this was the impetus to end this problem in the United States of America, and potentially globally.