UK, Canada sanction Myanmar generals after coup

Issued on: 18/02/2021 

File photo of British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab 

© Ashraf Shazly, AFP


Britain and Canada on Thursday imposed sanctions on generals in Myanmar for human rights violations following the military takeover in the Southeast Asian country.

The UK foreign ministry said it was imposing sanctions on three junta officials, including the ministers of defence and home affairs, and had begun a review to stop UK businesses working with the regime.

"The UK condemns the military coup and the arbitrary detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement, referring to Myanmar's de-facto leader who was detained in the coup.

"We, alongside our international allies, will hold the Myanmar military to account for their violations of human rights and pursue justice for the Myanmar people," he added.

The United States has already sanctioned Myanmar leaders after the February 1 coup.

Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau announced a broader sanctions list affecting nine officials in Myanmar.

"The sanctions announced today are part of a united response to send a clear message that Canada will not accept the actions of the Myanmar military and their complete disregard for the will and democratic rights of the people of Myanmar," he said.

The coup ended a decade of transition from outright military rule in Myanmar and saw the arrest of Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders.

The generals justified the power grab by alleging fraud in November elections that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won in a landslide.

The UK sanctions were placed on Minister of Defence General Mya Tun Oo, Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Soe Htut and his deputy home minister, Lieutenant General Than Hlaing.

The government pointed to the role the ministers played in directing the security services as it banned them from travelling to the UK and froze any assets they may hold in Britain.

But the activist group Burma Campaign UK said the sanctions amount to a limit on leisure travel.

"These military leaders won't have any assets in the UK to freeze, so the practical outcome of these type of sanctions is that they can't take holidays in the UK," said Mark Farmaner, the campaign's director.

The foreign ministers of the G7 group of wealthy nations said in a joint statement earlier this week they were "deeply concerned" by the coup in Myanmar.

(AFP)

Rights group call for 'proof of life' of Dubai princess
Issued on: 18/02/2021 - 

File handout photo provided by UAE News Agency (WAM) on December 24, 2018 shows Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (L) with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, at the Latifa's home in Dubai. © Emirates News agency via AFP


Campaigners Human Rights Watch have called for proof of life of the daughter of Dubai's ruler and international pressure to free her after footage emerged apparently showing the royal in distress.

Sheikha Latifa, 35, has not been seen in public since she attempted to escape the emirate by sea in 2018, and said in a video aired by the BBC that she fears for her life.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson later told British media he was "concerned" by the videos, while rights group Amnesty International called the footage "chilling".

"We are hopeful to see that there is movement and that there are comments being made," HRW Gulf researcher Hiba Zayadin told AFP late Wednesday.

"We just hope that they are followed by actions, that the UN fully and clearly calls for her release, not just proof of life.

"(Also) that she is allowed to travel abroad where she can speak freely and where she can say and speak of what she has been going through."

The UAE foreign ministry and Dubai Media Office have yet to comment on the case.

Latifa's father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a constituent.

'Pleas for help'

"We are extremely concerned for her safety, as friends say all contact with her stopped in recent months," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Sheikha Latifa may be detained in a 'golden cage', but that does not change the fact that her deprivation of liberty is arbitrary," she added in a statement Thursday.

"Given its prolonged nature would amount to torture, Amnesty International calls on the international community to turn its attention to Sheikha Latifa's pleas for help."

The BBC said the clips were filmed roughly a year after she was captured and returned to Dubai, showing her crouched in a corner of what she says is a bathroom.

"I'm a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail," she says in one cellphone video.

"There's five policemen outside and two policewomen inside the house. Every day I am worried about my safety and my life."

In another video, Latifa says her situation is "getting more desperate every day".

"I don't want to be a hostage in this jail villa. I just want to be free," she says.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will "certainly raise these new developments with the UAE", a spokesman told the BBC.

(AFP)

Palestinian female football referee dreams of global career



Issued on: 18/02/2021 - 

Palestinian referee Hanin Abu Mariam, at the Faisal al-Husseini International Stadium in the West Bank city of Al-Ram, said her interest in football began while studying sports at university 

ABBAS MOMANI AFP

Al-Ram (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

When Hanine Abu Mariam first refereed a men's football match, she was overcome by fear, but her trepidation soon yielded to motivation to become a rare female Palestinian referee in international football.

Wearing a neon yellow jersey with a Palestinian flag on her sleeve, Abu Mariam was recently running the sidelines of the synthetic grass pitch in Al-Ram, a city between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The 21-year-old said her interest in football began while studying sports at university, where she discovered a love of officiating.

Shortly after graduating, she became one of only two women to referee matches in the top Palestinian women's league and the men's third division.

"At first, I was afraid of making a mistake, but the head referee and other males colleagues helped me," she told AFP.

Before each match, she diligently listens to the head referee's pregame briefing, before stalking the sidelines for 90 minutes armed with her yellow and red checkered flag.

She currently works about seven matches per month at $30 each, the same fee as her male colleagues.

- 'We trust them completely' -

When the Palestinian Football Association first allowed women to officiate matches four years ago, there was backlash from conservative Islamic clerics.

Abu Mariam said her family, which lives in the small West Bank village of Burham, helped her persevere.

"My family has always helped me and encouraged me," said the young referee, wearing a headscarf and long black sleeves under her jersey.

The associations's chief referee, Ibrahim Ghrouf, said that 30 women are currently being trained to work as match officials.

"We trust them completely, of course. Women referees can do the job."

The new trainees are following a trail cut by Hiba Saadia, the first Palestinian woman to referee international women's matches, and Yasmine Nirokh, who officiates in international football.

Abu Mariam said she would like to work at the world's most iconic stadiums.

"I dream of being a famous referee and I hope to reach an international level, but as an assistant referee," she said with a shy smile.

© 2021 AFP

India journalist says judgment paves way for more #MeToo stories


Issued on: 18/02/2021

Priya Ramani's court victory in New Delhi rejected the defamation claim of a former minister accused of sexual harassment is a milestone for India's #MeToo movement 

ALEX WONG GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File


New Delhi (AFP)

She endured more than 50 court appearances over two years, sued for defamation by a former minister after telling her #MeToo story -- but Indian journalist Priya Ramani is proud she spoke out.

On Wednesday, a court in New Delhi rejected the defamation claim by MJ Akbar, the former minister and veteran journalist whom Ramani had accused of sexual harassment -- the culmination of a case seen as a milestone for India's #MeToo movement.

"I'm feeling light and I can't stop smiling... I feel vindicated and that my truth was registered and noted and accepted by a court of law," Ramani told AFP Thursday.


"I think more women will speak up. I have got so many messages from young women saying that this victory gives them hope and they believe in justice."

In 2017, Ramani wrote a story for Vogue magazine about the inappropriate behaviour of an unnamed editor more than two decades ago.

A year later, fuelled by the rage of other women who had been sharing their stories on social media amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, she tweeted a link to the story -- and named Akbar.

Ramani's tweet sparked a flurry of allegations by at least a dozen other women about Akbar, and a few days later, he resigned as junior foreign minister, becoming the highest-profile scalp for the #MeToo movement in India at the time.

Akbar, now 70, filed a criminal complaint against Ramani and called her allegations "baseless", kicking off the legal saga.

The former news editor hired one of India's top criminal law firms.

Ramani was represented by Rebecca John, a top criminal lawyer in Delhi, who had offered her services pro bono.

"Fighting a member of the ruling elite" was a challenge, but the Bangalore-based journalist said support from her family, friends and many in the media fraternity was invaluable.

"I was going to take this case to its end, whatever it was," she said.

"I also knew that I had already won by fighting this battle, whether or not I won in court... because I stood up to a powerful man without feeling scared."

- 'Speak up' -

Since the case started, India's #MeToo movement has picked up steam, with more women -- although mostly from the minority urban elite -- sharing accounts of alleged harassment by powerful men in the worlds of Bollywood, journalism, comedy and even cricket.

The country has an abysmal record on sexual violence -- an average of nearly 90 rapes were reported every day in 2019 and many more thought to go unreported -- while conviction rates are low.

In court, Ramani was joined by supporters as she went through the trouble of flying from the southern city of Bangalore to Delhi for hearings, while still trying to maintain a media career.

One low point was when Akbar's lawyers would snigger in court while a witness was sharing her story, and whenever the words "Me Too" were uttered during the proceedings, Ramani said.

On Wednesday, Ramani stood in court with her friends as Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey handed down his 90-page judgment dismissing Akbar's claim.

Pandey wrote that the "right of reputation can't be protected at the cost of right to dignity".

"The time has come for our society to understand the sexual abuse and sexual harassment and its implications on victims," he added.

Ramani was stunned and her key defence witness started crying.

Then her phone started lighting up with messages from many women.

"I feel proud for all the women who spoke up during #MeToo. It's our victory," she said.

The #MeToo movement is not going anywhere, she added, saying that she was ready if Akbar appeals the verdict to a higher court, which could lead to another legal battle.

"Women have started speaking up, and it's addictive... I would tell young women to speak up to share their stories (and) to not feel scared... We're all with you."

© 2021 AFP

Environmental degradation poses triple threat to humans: UN

Issued on: 18/02/2021 

A scientific assessment by the UN Environment Programme found that decades of economic growth has come at a devastating cost to the planet

 Raul ARBOLEDA AFP/File


Paris (AFP)

Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution pose a triple threat to human health and prosperity that may be averted only by transforming how we power our economies and feed ourselves, the United Nations said Thursday.

A scientific assessment by the UN Environment Programme found that galloping economic growth has come at a devastating cost to the planet and urged governments, businesses and people around the world to act to reverse the damage before it is too late.

Drawing on findings from other major assessments on climate and biodiversity from expert international panels, the report titled "Making Peace With Nature" said a rapid shift to renewable energy and eliminating habitat loss are essential to preventing "unacceptable risk" for future generations.

"For too long, we have been waging a senseless and suicidal war on nature," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

"The result is three interlinked environmental crises: Climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution threaten our viability as a species."

Lead report author Robert Watson told AFP that the three crises threatened far more than nature.

"They undermine food security, water security and human health," he said.

The report found that the global economy had grown nearly fivefold in the last 50 years fuelled by a tripling in extraction of natural resources and energy.

Yet amid such prolific growth, the burden of the environmental fallout is borne by the poorest and most vulnerable, it said.

Although average prosperity has doubled over the last five decades, around 1.3 billion people are classed as poor and 700 million go to bed hungry each night.

The assessment said that environmental degradation was undermining progress on ending poverty and hunger and warned that pandemics such as Covid-19 were increasingly likely in future as we continue to strip away species' natural habitats.

"This is not the first pandemic caused by animal to human infection, so we really have to think how we can prevent the next one," said Watson, a veteran climate and biodiversity researcher.

"By cutting down vegetation, we humans go into areas we didn't used to go into and therefore we interact with wild animals."

- 'Low-hanging fruit' -

Despite a record drop in emissions last year as the pandemic curbed international travel, the world is on track to be at least three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

That is a far cry from the aims of the Paris climate deal, in which nations promised to limit warming to "well below" 2C and to a safer cap of 1.5C if possible.

None of the goals the world set itself a decade ago for halting nature loss has been met, with one million species of plants and animals currently threatened with extinction.

The assessment recommended that protected areas be expanded to allow for more space for wild species, as well as addressing the drivers of forest loss, such as unsustainable farming and food waste.

It also found that governments pay out a staggering $5-7 trillion in subsidies to fossil fuel and large-scale farming operations.

These contribute to air pollution that kills an estimated eight million people each year.

Co-author Ivar Baste said that reducing fossil fuel subsidies -- which after all most benefit richer, high-polluting firms -- should be considered "low-hanging fruit" in the fight against climate change.

"We have to do the obvious," he told AFP, while noting that "vested interests" are pushing for continued fossil fuel use.

With 2021 set to see two major UN summits on biodiversity loss and climate change, the authors said "piecemeal and uncoordinated" responses would fall well short of what the planet needs.

"While I applaud all the countries in the world that have set zero net carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the real issue is what will countries do between now and 2030," Watson said.

"Action really is needed in the short term, not just aspirational goals for the middle of the century."

© 2021 AFP

The search for life beyond Earth

Issued on: 18/02/2021 

Perseverance is tasked with searching for telltale signs that microbial life may have lived on Mars billions of years ago 

Patrick T. FALLON AFP

Paris (AFP)

Mars may now be considered a barren, icy desert but did Earth's nearest neighbour once harbour life?

It is a question that has preoccupied scientists for centuries and fired up sci-fi imaginings.

After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover is due to land on Mars on Thursday, in search of clues.

- Why Mars? -

Other planets or moons, could also harbour forms of life, so why pick Mars?

NASA says Mars is not just one of the more accessible places in the solar system and a potential future destination for humans, but exploring the planet could also help to answer "origin and evolution of life questions".

"Mars is unique across the entire solar system in that it is a terrestrial planet with an atmosphere and climate, its geology is known to be very diverse and complex (like Earth), and it appears that the climate of Mars has changed over its history (like Earth)," it adds on its Mars programme website.

Scientists believe that four billion years ago the two planets both had the potential to nurture life -- but much of Mars' intervening history is an enigma.

Mars exploration is not to find Martian life -- scientists believe nothing would survive there now -- but to search for possible traces of past lifeforms.

Perseverance is tasked with searching for telltale signs that microbial life may have lived on Mars billions of years ago.

- Ingredients for life -

For life you need water.

A planet in what is known as the "habitable zone" around a star is an area in which water has the potential to be liquid.

If it is too close to the star the water would evaporate, too far away it would freeze (some call this the "Goldilocks principle").

But water alone is not enough.

Scientists also look for the essential chemical ingredients, including carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur.

And to stir it all up, they also look for a source of energy, said Michel Viso, an astrobiologist at CNES, the French space agency.

This could come from the Sun, if the planet is close enough, or from chemical reactions.

- Martian fascination -

Scientific enquiry of the red planet began in earnest in the 17th Century.

In 1609 Italian Galileo Galilei observed Mars with a primitive telescope and in doing so became the first person to use the new technology for astronomical purposes.

Mars -- compared to the "desolate, empty" moon -- has long seemed promising for potential inhabitability by microorganisms, wrote astrophysicist Francis Rocard in his recent essay "Latest News from Mars".

But the 20th century presented setbacks.

There was no reaction.

A decade later the Viking landers took atmospheric and soil samples that showed the planet was no longer inhabitable and interest in Mars crumbled.

But in 2000 scientists made a game-changing discovery: they found that water had once flowed over its surface.

This rekindled interest in Mars exploration and scientists pored over images of gullies, ravines, scouring the Martian surface for evidence of liquid water.

More than 10 years later, in 2011, they definitively found it.

Scientists now think Mars may once have been warm and wet and possibly have supported microbial life.

"As the Sun did not always have the same mass, the same energy, Mars could very well have been also in this habitable zone early in its existence," said astrophysicist Athena Coustenis, of the Paris-PSL Observatory.

If life did exist on Mars, why did it disappear?

And perhaps more profoundly if life never existed, then why not?

- Further frontiers -

There are always other areas to explore.

Jupiter's moon Europa, spotted by Galileo four centuries ago, may have a saltwater ocean hidden beneath its icy surface that is thought to contain about twice as much water as Earth's global ocean.

NASA says it "may be the most promising place in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth".

Its tidal energy might also cause chemical reactions between water and rock on the seafloor, creating energy.

Future missions include NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper and the European probe JUICE.

Saturn's frozen ocean moon Enceladus is also considered a promising contender.

The American Cassini probe, orbiting the planet from 2004 to 2017, discovered the existence of water vapour geysers on Enceladus.

In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered geysers of icy water particles and gas gushing from the moon's surface at approximately 800 miles (1,290 kilometers)per hour.

The eruptions generate fine ice dust around Enceladus, which supplies material to Saturn's ring.

No mission is currently scheduled to Enceladus.

Another of Saturn's moons Titan -- the only moon in the solar system known to have a substantial atmosphere -- is also of interest.

The Cassini mission found it has clouds, rain, rivers, lakes and seas, but of liquid hydrocarbons like methane and ethane.

NASA, whose Dragonfly mission will launch in 2026 and arrive in 2034, says Titan could be lifeless or harbour "life as we don't yet know it".

© 2021 AFP

NASA's rover Perseverance makes historic Mars landing

Issued on: 18/02/2021 - 21:57

The first image that the Perseverance rover sent back after landing on Mars on February 18, 2021. © Cortesía NASA

NASA's science rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world, streaked through the Martian atmosphere on Thursday and landed safely on the floor of a vast crater, its first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.

Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as radio signals confirmed that the six-wheeled rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone inside Jezero Crater, site of a long-vanished Martian lake bed.

The robotic vehicle sailed through space for nearly seven months, covering 293 million miles (472 million km) before piercing the Martian atmosphere at 12,000 miles per hour (19,000 km per hour) to begin its approach to touchdown on the planet's surface.

The spacecraft's self-guided descent and landing during a complex series of maneuvers that NASA dubbed "the seven minutes of terror" stands as the most elaborate and challenging feat in the annals of robotic spaceflight.

"It really is the beginning of a new era," NASA's associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, said earlier in the day during NASA's webcast of the event.

The landing represented the riskiest part of two-year, $2.7 billion endeavor whose primary aim is to search for possible fossilized signs of microbes that may have flourished on Mars some 3 billion years ago, when the fourth planet from the sun was warmer, wetter and potentially hospitable to life.

Scientists hope to find biosignatures embedded in samples of ancient sediments that Perseverance is designed to extract from Martian rock for future analysis back on Earth - the first such specimens ever collected by humankind from another planet.

Two subsequent Mars missions are planned to retrieve the samples and return them to NASA in the next decade. Thursday's landing came as a triumph for a pandemic-weary United States in the grips of economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 public health crisis.

Search for ancient life

NASA scientists have described Perseverance as the most ambitious of nearly 20 U.S. missions to Mars dating back to the Mariner spacecraft's 1965 fly-by.

Larger and packed with more instruments than the four Mars rovers preceding it, Perseverance is set to build on previous findings that liquid water once flowed on the Martian surface and that carbon and other minerals altered by water and considered precurors to the evolution of life were present.

Perseverance's payload also includes demonstration projects that could help pave the way for eventual human exploration of Mars, including a device to convert the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into pure oxygen.

The box-shaped tool, the first built to extract a natural resource of direct use to humans from an extraterrestrial environment, could prove invaluable for future human life support on Mars and for producing rocket propellant to fly astronauts home.

Another experimental prototype carried by Perseverance is a miniature helicopter designed to test the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If successful, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) helicopter could lead to low-altitude aerial surveillance of distant worlds, officials said.

The daredevil nature of the rover's descent to the Martian surface, at a site that NASA described as both tantalizing to scientists and especially hazardous for landing, was a momentous achievement in itself.

The multi-stage spacecraft carrying the rover soared into the top of Martian atmosphere at nearly 16 times the speed of sound on Earth, angled to produce aerodynamic lift while jet thrusters adjusted its trajectory.

A jarring, supersonic parachute inflation further slowed the descent, giving way to deployment of a rocket-powered "sky crane" vehicle that flew to a safe landing spot, lowered the rover on tethers, then flew off to crash a safe distance away.

Perseverance's immediate predecessor, the rover Curiosity, landed in 2012 and remains in operation, as does the stationary lander InSight, which arrived in 2018 to study the deep interior of Mars.

Last week, separate probes launched by the United Arab Emirates and China reached Martian orbit. NASA has three Mars satellites still in orbit, along with two from the European Space Agency.

(REUTERS)

ICE Will Focus More On Arresting Public Safety Threats Instead Of All Undocumented Immigrants

ICE officers will focus on those suspected of being a national security threat, recent border crossers, and those who are considered to be a public safety threat, officials announced Thursday.

Hamed AleazizBuzzFeed News Reporter
February 18, 2021


Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

The Biden administration began its overhaul of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday by announcing that it will direct officers to focus primarily on certain groups of immigrants, such as those suspected of being a national security threat and recent border crossers.

The Biden administration had previously attempted a 100-day deportation moratorium, but that plan was blocked by a federal judge in Texas. The judge’s order, however, did not stop the White House from moving forward with changing ICE’s arrest priorities, which will likely lead to a cut in the average number of arrests officers make.

A Department of Homeland Security official told reporters on Thursday the interim guidelines, which are expected to be followed by another directive in May, will help the agency “better perform” its mission.

BuzzFeed News previously reported on a draft version of the guidelines in January, which outlined that the groups of people ICE officers will focus on include those suspected of being a national security threat, recent border crossers, and those who are considered a public safety threat. The agency said that means people who were “convicted of an aggravated felony or engaged in certain activity as part of a criminal gang or transnational criminal organization and there is reason to believe they currently pose a threat.”

The guidelines lay out how ICE is working with limited resources and other constraints, like ongoing lawsuits, the health of officers and immigrant detainees during the pandemic, and the “responsibility” to ensure that people eligible for relief through the immigration courts can obtain it.

ICE officers will also need pre-approval from their local superiors in deciding whether to arrest or deport people who are not a priority and will be required to justify the action through a written request. The memo also blocks officers from making so-called “collateral” arrests if the person is not a priority listed by the administration. The only times officers can avoid this requirement is when there is a threat to life or substantial threat to property. The directive also seeks to bolster relations with local communities by requiring that any operations be communicated to state and local law enforcement agencies. Data on the implementation of the guidance will also be required each week.

In an email sent to ICE employees Thursday, acting ICE Director Tae Johnson said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will issue additional guidance within the next 90 days, but only after he has talked with employees.

“By focusing our limited resources on cases that present threats to national security, border security, and public safety, our agency will more ably and effectively execute its law enforcement mission,” Johnson said in a statement. “Like every law enforcement agency at the local, state, and federal level, we must prioritize our efforts to achieve the greatest security and safety impact.

The new guidelines are part of the Biden administration’s promised reforms of ICE and the work it carries out across the country. Former president Donald Trump’s directive in 2017 made nearly every undocumented immigrant a priority for arrest. ICE prosecutors were also restricted from granting reprieves for certain immigrants facing deportation and ordered to review and potentially reopen previously closed cases, which was first revealed by BuzzFeed News through Freedom of Information Act requests. Soon after, the proportion of immigrants with no prior criminal convictions who were being arrested and placed into deportation proceedings increased significantly.

A Last-Minute Deal Between A Trump Official And ICE’s Union To Hamper Biden’s Policies Has Been Rejected

A whistleblower had alleged that the agreement gave the union powers to "indefinitely delay" President Joe Biden's immigration policy changes.

Hamed Aleaziz BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on February 16, 2021


Gregory Bull / AP
ICE officers escort a man in handcuffs during an operation in Escondido, California, in 2019.

A last-minute agreement Trump officials signed with the union for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that could have undercut sweeping policy changes has been rejected by the Biden administration.

The move on Tuesday sets the stage for a possible showdown between President Joe Biden and ICE’s union, which endorsed former president Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Earlier this month, a whistleblower alleged that Ken Cuccinelli, a top Trump administration official, had abused his authority by entering into a set of agreements that granted the union "extraordinary power and benefits" and allowed it to "indefinitely delay changes to immigration enforcement policies and practices.”

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security put the ICE union on notice; it had determined that one of the agreements “was not negotiated in the interest of DHS and has been disapproved because it is not in accordance with applicable law,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Department’s Chief Human Capital Officer notified ICE and the union in writing today that the proposed agreement has been disapproved,” the spokesperson added. “DHS will make policy decisions in accordance with the law and based on what’s best for national security, public safety, and border security while upholding our nation’s values.”

According to the DHS, officials have 30 days to approve or disapprove the agreement after it is signed.

Cuccinelli, the controversial former acting deputy secretary, signed a series of agreements that required DHS to give local jurisdictions six months to review and submit comments for immigration policy changes. The state of Texas, which signed one of the agreements, eventually sued DHS over Biden’s deportation moratorium, claiming that it violated the contract.

A representative for the union did not immediately return a request for comment. But Cuccinelli told the New York Times earlier this month, "The agreement is entirely legal and appropriate, or we wouldn’t have executed it.”

In its first week, the Biden administration issued new priorities for ICE officers as of Feb. 1, including that they should focus on immigrants who have been deemed a national security threat, were arrested at the border after Nov. 1, 2020, or have been convicted of an aggravated felony.

“This abuse of authority is shocking,” the letter from the whistleblower’s attorney, David Seide, stated. “When the evidence is collected — the agreements’ last second timing, their out-sized conveyance of power and benefits, their purported invulnerability and Mr. Cuccinelli’s extraordinary involvement — it is clear that they are another example of the prior administration’s effort in its waning hours to cement a legacy at taxpayer expense.”


MORE ON THIS
The Biden Administration Is Ending The Use Of The Term “Illegal Alien” In Many Government CommunicationsHamed Aleaziz · Feb. 16, 2021

Trump Had A Mandate To Target All Undocumented Immigrants For Arrest. ICE Has A New Plan To Change That.Hamed Aleaziz · Jan. 27, 2021

A Whistleblower Alleges A Top Trump Official Signed A Last-Minute Agreement With ICE’s Union That Could Hamstring Biden’s Immigration PoliciesHamed Aleaziz · Feb. 1, 2021

Hamed Aleaziz 
is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in San Francisco.

Why Strippers Are Upset About Netflix’s Pole Dance Documentary

Strip Down, Rise Up follows women healing through pole dancing, but strippers told BuzzFeed News it lacks the critical context of their voices.

Lauren Strapagiel BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on February 18, 2021

Courtesy of Netflix

A new, emotional documentary on Netflix delves into the world of pole dancing, but some women who dance as a profession rather than a hobby or sport are taking issue with it.

Strip Down, Rise Up follows both newbies and diehards who pull tricks on poles, sometimes for fitness, sometimes for competition, or in the case of the main group of students, as a raw journey of healing from trauma. But current and former strippers, including one who can be seen in the film, told BuzzFeed News they felt their profession was erased from the Netflix documentary.

In response to the criticism, director Michèle Ohayon said the film was meant to show how some women use pole dancing for empowerment and transformation, rather than examine the industry at large.

“This in no way minimizes or excludes the experiences of strippers. It is simply a different focus on the pole community,” she said.

However, the strippers feel the lack of representation of their work is indicative of a larger issue of stigmatization of their work within those who pole dance, the hobby rather than the profession.

VANILLA GENTRIFICATION OF EROTICISM
The documentary speaks to several women who engage with pole dance for different reasons but centers on a group who signed up for S Factor. Created by Sheila Kelley, S Factor is a studio class where women are encouraged to use erotic movement to connect with their feminity and empower themselves. Those who sign up learn to do pole tricks and are encouraged to wear outfits that make them feel sexy, as well as the platform heels typically worn by strippers. This is all done without mirrors and without the presence of the male gaze, so participants can find eroticism on their own terms.


Courtesy of Netflix
A scene from the S Factor class

That sounded interesting to Alyssa Aparicio, 31, a former stripper who now works as a pussy empowerment coach, helping women to embrace their bodies and sexuality. She signed up to be part of the S Factor class for the documentary in 2018 but ended up discontinuing classes halfway through filming because she was frustrated with the lack of stripper representation (although she did not discuss this in class). She is seen in the background of the documentary but is not featured as a speaker.

“We started talking about pole as a tool for empowerment, but there is not really, like, context around it. That was the thing that felt off for me,” Aparicio told BuzzFeed News of her experience in the class.

Early in the film, the S Factor participants open up about their own traumas they want to find healing from. Their stories are heartbreaking and compelling, including a survivor of abuse from Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor convicted of sexually abusing dozens of young athletes. The intimacy of the interviews and the newfound empowerment in the women have been lauded in reviews.

Aparicio said the class’s lack of discussion about where pole work came from also bothered her. During the course, stripping and sex work were not addressed at all, she said, although the participants were taught pole tricks and go to a store in LA where strippers shop to purchase Pleaser heels.

“I think it being an empowerment class, it doesn't necessarily have to speak directly to sex work. But I think, having brought pole into it, that they had a responsibility to address that,” she said. A spokesperson for S Factor told BuzzFeed News that "discussion of stripping as a profession is appreciated, honored, and woven" into their business, but they "cannot confirm" whether stripping was specifically discussed during the classes in the film.

She was also unhappy with how little screentime actual stripping gets in the film. Largely, the profession of stripping goes unmentioned, but there is a nod to Pantera, a stripper and pole performer who inspired Jenyne Butterfly, a pole competitor interviewed in the film. But there are also scenes that some strippers feel seem to juxtapose “empowered” pole work with stripping.

“I believe that taking the pole and reframing it allows for personal reclamation of the feminine body,” Kelley, the S Factor founder, says in a voiceover during the film’s introduction.


A moment later, there’s grainy footage of strippers working in a club while a woman says, “We like to talk about how forward-thinking we are, but the truth of the matter is, the second you say ‘pole dancing,’ they immediately think where men go smoke cigars, drink, and women do lap dances for money.”

“As a stripper and just as a woman watching that movie, I definitely felt that there was a juxtaposition of bad and good. And it seemed like bad was always in the context of real-life, sex work. And good was always in the context of being as separate as we can from that history,” said Aparicio. She believes the film could have benefitted from featuring more voices of former or current strippers to add to that context.

The S Factor spokesperson said that the company was inspired by strippers, but also by "other movements from around the world" including Pilates and ballet. They added that Kelley frequently cites two strippers she has worked with as "inspiration and original teachers in the movement."

"Her mission continues to normalize sensual feminine movement in the everyday world, with the eventual goal of allowing women to feel comfortable expressing themselves through their own unique body movements and sensuality without fear of reprisal from the patriarchy," the spokesperson said.


Courtesy of Netflix

Not including the history of stripping is a problem said April Haze, a 24-year-old stripper in California. Particularly, she felt the voices featured in the film framed strippers as complicit in the oppression of women. Kelley, for example, speaks of how she started S Factor, and how she “knew I had to separate [pole] from this male gaze” to create a space for empowerment.

“To think that we're just complicit, it's kind of really disrespectful to us and just takes away our autonomy, which a lot of people want to do all the time,” said Haze.

“I feel like she framed it in a way that we are victims of the male gaze almost. And it's like, No, I use the male gaze to empower myself and reclaim my sexuality. You can go ahead and do that by yourself in a room with no mirrors. I'm going to go ahead and do it on stage.”

Haze said that to engage in hallmarks of stripping, like the tricks and the shoes, without acknowledging its roots is just appropriation.

“Myself and a lot of other strippers think that if you want to take the time to get on the pole, wear heels, dance sexy, and reclaim your femininity and sexuality, you should be able to do that while respecting and supporting sex workers and strippers,” she added.

In response to accusations of appropriation, the S Factor spokesperson said the company is "a feminine movement practice is proudly inspired by movements and techniques popularized by strippers and sex workers in the modern era, and we share it openly."

They added: "S Factor is committed to elevating all women inclusive of age, shape, size, ethnicity, and occupation. Women who choose to work in the sex industry are supported, elevated, and celebrated as any other woman would be."


The documentary, released on Feb. 5, comes at a fraught time for strippers, Haze said. COVID-19 has forced the closure of clubs across the country, and concurrently sex workers are facing expulsion from social media platforms. Haze said strippers and sex workers are also often targeted by law enforcement, adding to the stigma and danger of this work.

“So to see women who don't really have anything to risk by pole dancing, like, joking around and then distancing themselves from strippers, it just feels really disrespectful,” she said.

Filmmaker Ohayon told BuzzFeed News in a statement that she has “enormous respect and love for the entire pole community, including strippers and sex workers, without whom this form of pole dancing would not exist.”

“My film tells a very specific, character-driven story about how sensual dance and pole can be a tool for women to find their own pleasure and expression, away from the male gaze,” she said.

In addition to Butterfly, who says in the film she was inspired by a stripper to get into pole competition, Ohayon notes the film also features Amy Bond. Bond, a former sex worker and pole instructor and competitor, says in the film that pole is an industry built by women and people want to learn a craft that originated with strippers.

“My intention in making this film was to shine a light on female empowerment through sensual dance, to show survivors of abuse who reclaim their power, and to illustrate how some women use sensual movement as a form of healing and transformation,” said Ohayon.

“My intent was not to make a film about the history of pole, per se, but rather to focus on a small segment of a much larger community. And my hope is that it starts a broader conversation and the beginning of a mainstream recognition of how powerful pole dancing and sensual movement can be, inclusive of all voices.”



Courtesy of Netflix An S Factor student

Bond, the CEO of San Francisco Pole and Dance, told BuzzFeed News that she doesn’t think strippers were intentionally left out of the film, just that it had a different focus. But she added that there’s a larger issue of stripper erasure in society.

“This is largely a result of society stigmatizing stripping and sex work. As a former sex worker, I can attest that it is a heavy burden to carry,” she said.

Bond added that education is key for pole enthusiasts who want to honor the art’s roots. Those looking to learn more about the history of stripping can check out books by Antonia Crane and Lily Burana, who have both worked as strippers. There are also stripper-led labor movements, such as Soldiers of Pole.

“Beyond that, we should support politicians who support sex workers. As we’ve seen in recent elections, voting matters,” she said. “Communicating with our elected representatives about why sex workers’ work matters is also important.”

The tension between the world of pole as a hobby and stripping is a long-simmering that predates Strip Down, Rise Up. According to Vice, pole enthusiasts previously used the hashtag #notastripper to separate themselves from strippers. Strippers then fired back with their own hashtag, #yesastripper.

There are ways to engage in pole as a hobby respectfully, one New York–based stripper who goes by Corinne told BuzzFeed News. She’s taken pole classes that were taught by strippers or that had strippers come in to do exhibitions.

“I don't think it's inherently problematic. However, it's like it's the overarching culture that is problematic,” she said.

She understands why pole enthusiasts try to distance themselves from the stigma of stripping, but said it’s not doing anyone any favors.

“It will affect everyone, at the end of the day. Especially as a woman, it's like, Oh, I'm not a stripper, so people will respect me. But you know what, they won't. Because people that hate strippers just hate women,” she said. “You think you're gonna separate yourself to better yourself, but, like, good luck. We're all in the same boat.”

And some in the pole industry are working to end this divide. Carolina Are is a pole instructor based in London who wrote a blog post about why pole dancers are critiquing Strip Down, Rise Up. She has not worked as a stripper herself but said it’s important to include strippers in the pole community. She said she’s heard of strippers feeling unwelcome in classes, or even being kicked out.

“I always try to make sure that if I do have a platform, I try to include sex workers as much as possible,” she said.

Heel clacks, for example, are a move that she learned through Kitty Velour, a UK pole dancer, that come directly from strippers who work in clubs.

“I know that a history of the move comes from stripping. I will say that in a class. Or I also recommend: If some of you like the stripper style of dancing, please follow this and this instructor, who is also a stripper.”

She also says it’s important to push back on any anti-stripper rhetoric from students and to make sure students can find resources to learn more about supporting sex workers and strippers.

“Give the credit when it's due.”