LAS VEGAS SUN EDITORIAL:

Americans deserve to know the whole truth about what happened Jan. 6

JOHN MINCHILLO / AP

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo rioters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington.

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021 | 2 a.m.

In announcing the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took appropriate action.

But a thorough investigation is also critical from the standpoint that Republican Party leaders are warping the truth about the event — downplaying its severity and trying to convince Americans that their alarm over it wasn’t warranted.The nation needs to know much more about the insurrection, particularly how it was fomented and why the Capitol was so lightly protected. Key questions remain, including whether Capitol security forces or Congress and its staff either inadvertently aided the rioters or, more disturbingly, did it knowingly.

It’s important to counter this GOP gaslighting with hard facts.

As is, Republican leaders and their abettors in right-wing media are attempting to normalize the attack and numb Americans to its significance.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin provided the latest example, saying he didn’t consider the attack an armed insurrection and was “literally never afraid” as it played out. The whole thing was overblown by the media, he said.

“When you hear the word ‘armed,’ don’t you think of firearms?” Johnson asked. “Here’s the questions I would have liked to ask: How many firearms were confiscated? How many shots were fired?”

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson made similar remarks in the immediate aftermath of the riot, ridiculing those who were already calling for a major investigation and suggesting that the violence was merely a protest. After showing video of members of Congress calling the riot an insurrection, Carlson smirked: “According to the Honorable Jim McGovern (a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts) and everyone else you just saw on the screen, this was not a protest, how dare you call it that? This was an insurrection. Insurrection insurrection insurrection! Write that a hundred times on the board and don’t forget it. I-n-s-u-r-r-e-c-t-i-o-n. Insurrection. Learn it. Love it.”

With remarks like this, the GOP leadership wants Americans to disbelieve what they witnessed with their own eyes and ears: Law enforcement officers being beaten with bats, flag poles, hockey sticks or whatever kind of club the attackers could get their hands on; people chanting “Hang Mike Pence”; rioters shattering windows and roaming the halls hunting for victims; pipe bombs being discovered; tasers visible in the hands of rioters (including one used on a police officer who suffered a mild heart attack as a result); guns found in a vehicle near the Capitol, and Lord knows how many concealed in the rioters’ clothing.

According to Johnson, Carlson and the like, though, this was just a political gathering where a few of the good ol’ boys and gals in the crowd decided to take an impromptu tour through the Capitol. Yeah, maybe a few of them got kind of riled up, but it was nothing to get excited about. It certainly wasn’t an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the electoral results and overturn the results of the election.

All wrong, of course. This wasn’t just a bunch of cosplay idiots letting off steam, it was an organized assault that left five people dead and dozens injured in its immediate aftermath, including a law enforcement officer. It was the most serious attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812, and it left Americans stunned and agonized over what they’d witnessed.

News that has emerged since the attack adds to the concerns. Law enforcement officers and former military personnel were arrested for allegedly taking part. It’s been revealed that the insurrectionists had been planning the attack on social media, right under the noses of authorities. The former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police claims officials were aware of the threat well before the rally and asked congressional security officials to call in assistance from the National Guard, but were rebuffed.

It’s time to get a full look at what happened.

Pelosi’s plan calls for the establishment of a bipartisan investigatory panel similar to the 9/11 Commission, the successful undertaking that resulted in dozens of hearings and an authoritative 561-page report about the terrorist attack.

The key now is to establish the Jan. 6 commission in a way that is truly independent and bipartisan, which may be a tall order in today’s polarized political environment. But the good news is that both Republicans and Democrats are calling for such an approach.

They owe it to Americans to follow through, especially to the survivors of those who were killed that day and to the many who were injured. Beyond that, the information is important in defending against the GOP misinformation loop that is crippling the country.

HAPPY HAPPY HYDROCARBONS
Natural Gas Companies Have Their Own Plans To Go Low-Carbon


February 21, 2021


CASSANDRA PROFITA


FROM

A lower-carbon natural gas flame burns on a stovetop at a NW Natural testing facility.Cassandra Profita/Oregon Public Broadcasting

Darren Arnold lights the burners on a natural gas stove at a testing facility near Portland, Ore. He's using a new, lower-carbon gas mixture for NW Natural, a gas utility that serves 770,000 customers across the region.

"For a cooktop burner, we're looking for a nice blue flame, nice little peaks on the tips of the flame," he says. "So everything looks really good. We'll also check the oven."

Though it's burning a different fuel mixture, it still works like a regular gas stove. That's a key part of his company's plan to lower its carbon output, with an eventual goal of being a carbon-neutral gas system by 2050.

Fossil fuel companies face an existential threat as more governments and businesses tackle climate change and vow to zero-out carbon emissions. President Biden has a plan to do that in the U.S., and some gas companies are recognizing they need a survival plan for the future.

Dozens of cities have moved to restrict or ban natural gas in new buildings and use renewable electricity for heating and cooking instead. But gas companies, which have launched expensive public-relations campaigns in response, say that's not the only way to decarbonize.

Kim Heiting, senior vice president of operations for NW Natural, says her company's pipelines — a vast network of them — don't have to deliver fossil fuels.

"Let's use them differently," she says. "Let's think about the gas grid as we think about the electric grid and just change what's going through those pipes."

Heiting says NW Natural could continue fueling home furnaces, appliances and industrial plants with a carbon-neutral mixture of renewable gas that would come from a variety of sources.

ENVIRONMENT
General Motors Aims To Be Carbon Neutral By 2040

First, they'd capture the methane or biogas that's being emitted from rotting food, cow manure, wastewater and sewage treatment plants. They'd clean it and put the resulting biomethane, or renewable natural gas, into the company's pipelines.

Heiting says burning that methane is a way of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are currently contributing to climate change. Methane released from dairy farms, for example, has far more global warming potential than the carbon dioxide released when that methane is burned.

"Those gases can now be captured, cleaned up and used interchangeably with conventional natural gas," Heiting says, "allowing them to flow through the pipeline system and providing a very similar climate benefit to wind and solar."

The supply of waste methane is limited, though. Even gas industry research has found there isn't enough renewable natural gas supply to replace all the natural gas we're using now. So the company would then mix that lower-carbon gas with hydrogen gas, which has no carbon emissions when it's burned.

Think about the natural gas distribution and storage system as a massive battery for wind and solar energy.

Kim Heiting, NW Natural utility company

Heiting says her company could even make its own hydrogen gas. NW Natural is talking with an electric utility in Oregon about building a production plant that would use renewable electricity to make hydrogen gas by splitting the hydrogen from the oxygen in water.

"Think about the natural gas distribution and storage system as a massive battery for wind and solar energy," Heiting says. "Those are the kinds of tools we're going to need if we're truly going to achieve deep decarbonization economy-wide."

There are numerous sources of hydrogen gas, however, and some methods of manufacturing it use natural gas and generate carbon emissions that are sequestered to create what's known as "blue" hydrogen.

Heiting says her company would likely use a combination of hydrogen from various sources, including low-carbon "blue" hydrogen and carbon-free "green" hydrogen which is made using renewable electricity from wind, solar and hydropower. And she's hoping the Biden administration will put in new incentives to help cover the costs.

ENVIRONMENT
U.S. Officially Rejoins Paris Agreement On Climate Change

"This is not going to happen without policy support," she says. "We need production tax credits for renewable natural gas and hydrogen just like we put in place for wind and solar."

Other gas companies are developing similar plans for decarbonizing with renewable gas, and other countries are too.

"The rest of the world is kind of already on this," says Evan Ramsey, a renewable energy systems specialist with the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation. "In the U.S., we're a little bit behind."

Ramsey has helped utilities and major companies like Intel and Walmart switch to cleaner energy, and he says making hydrogen would be a great way to use large amounts of excess wind, solar and hydropower that can be difficult to store as electricity.

That's one of the goals of Europe's plan to invest billions in renewable hydrogen production as part of its path to net-zero carbon emissions.

Enlarge this image
Darren Arnold of NW Natural tests a natural gas stove to see how well it works when it's burning a lower carbon gas mixture.

Cassandra Profita/Oregon Public Broadcasting

Ramsey says hydrogen could be a viable option for decarbonizing shipping and aviation fuel as well as energy-intensive industries such as steel production. Meanwhile, countries around the world have already launched pilot projects to test hydrogen blends in the gas pipes serving homes and businesses — just as NW Natural aims to do.

"Hydrogen is pretty well suited to solve a lot of problems at once and really be this unifier between renewable energy and our society's energy needs," Ramsey says. "This is a big opportunity for oil and gas companies, but also for electric utilities and renewable developers."

But Sasan Saadat, research and policy analyst with the environmental group Earthjustice, says renewable gas from waste methane and hydrogen simply can't replace all the natural gas we're using today.

His group analyzed gas industry data and found only enough waste methane potential to cover 13% of current natural gas use in the U.S.

"You don't even have enough of this gas to make more than a dent in overall gas demand," he says. "So, it's sort of a dead end solution."

Saadat argues a lot of the waste methane used to make renewable natural gas isn't "renewable" in the same way as wind and solar power.

"A lot of it comes from poor management of resources and poor management of waste," he says. "You know, the sun has to shine and the wind has to blow, but we don't have to raise animals on factory farms that create these lagoons of manure that generate this amount of methane."

In his view, that means the amount of renewable natural gas that's genuinely sustainable is even smaller than the industry estimates. And there's a limit to how much hydrogen you can use in metal pipes without causing damage, Saadat says. Research suggests pipes and appliances would need to be replaced to handle a gas blend of more than about 20% hydrogen.

Saadat says the bottom line is we'll have to use way less gas to completely wipe out carbon emissions. His group is pushing cities to outright ban natural gas hookups in new buildings, and flagging the health risks of burning gas indoors to strengthen the case for switching to electricity.

Gas companies agree that gas use will have to decline as the world shifts to completely zero out carbon emissions. NW Natural's plan includes more energy efficiency, and it also offers customers carbon offsets for a small fee. By switching to renewable gas, the company hopes to have a place in a net-zero future — even if it is a smaller one.

Bill Gates: US faces 'tricky' task working with China on climate change

Max Zahn with Andy Serwer
Sun, February 21, 2021, 

President Joe Biden kicked off his administration with a flurry of executive orders on climate change that included cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline and rejoining the Paris Agreement. But his effort to address the issue extends beyond U.S. borders and faces a stiff diplomatic challenge with China, the world's largest emitter of carbon.

The Biden administration has already made climate change a key part of relations with the country, covering the topic in a recent two-hour call with Chinese President Xi Jinping weeks after Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry publicly criticized China’s steps to reduce emissions as insufficient.

In a new interview, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates — who said he has discussed climate change with Biden several times since the November election — told Yahoo Finance that China is "super important" to the global fight against climate change because it's a potential source of new technology and a huge player in the high-emitting industrial sector.

But environmental diplomacy with the country poses a "tricky" task for the Biden administration, which must navigate a "complex relationship" while urging China to speed up its emissions reduction, according to Gates.

In his new book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster," Gates says rich countries should reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Speaking with Yahoo Finance, he noted that China's goals lag behind that timeline as it continues to back the carbon-intensive energy source coal.

"Their current commitment is zero by 2060," says Gates, former Microsoft (MSFT) CEO. "So how can we — in a win-win kind of way — get them to bring that date earlier, and not have them promoting coal in such a big way?"

That support for coal continues in domestic production as well as the Belt and Road Initiative, a set of China-led development projects worth billions of dollars spread across more than 100 countries, Gates said.

"They are huge in the industrial economy — almost half of the world's cement [and] half of the steel is made in that one country, some of it embedded in exports that they make," he adds. "They also finance coal plants, not just domestically, but as part of the Belt and Road initiative in other countries as well."

"The remaining coal, although there's a few plants in rich countries — and we need to get rid of those — it's really about China and India," he adds.

Biden inherits an adversarial approach to China taken up by his predecessor, President Donald Trump, which included a years-long trade war, restrictions on telecommunications company Huawei, and efforts to ban social media platform TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

Gates, who in April downplayed criticism of China's early response to the coronavirus, has carried out philanthropic and public health initiatives in the country on a host of issues since the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation opened an office in the country in 2007.


Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates speak with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer.

Gates took a special interest in climate change over the course of electrification efforts undertaken in the developing world by the Gates Foundation in the early 2000s, when he realized that concerns about carbon emissions could limit energy growth in the developing world, he told The New York Times. His study of the issue culminated with a Ted Talk in 2010 called "Innovating to Zero!," describing the need for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In 2015, he helped launch the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a collection of private investors who back ventures that will help the world address climate change. Other investors include Amazon (AMZN) founder and outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos and Alibaba Group (BABA) co-founder Jack Ma.

Gates praised Kerry, saying he will make the U.S. relationship with China a central part his effort to galvanize global action on climate change.

"John Kerry is going to do his best to see if this isn't an area that that we're helping each other," Gates says.

A VALID CONCERN REGARDLESS OF THEIR POLITICKS

An Oath Keeper Charged In The Capitol Attack Fears For Her Safety Because She Is Transgender

Her attorney argues in a new court motion that she is no threat and should be allowed to go home with a monitoring device.

Jessica GarrisonBuzzFeed News ReporterKen BensingerBuzzFeed News ReporterZoe TillmanBuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on February 21, 2021, 

Jim Bourg / Reuters

Jessica Watkins (center) on January 6

Jessica Watkins, an Oath Keeper charged with conspiring to storm the US Capitol, has asked to be released from jail pending trial, alleging that she has been “treated harshly” and is at “particular risk in custody” because she is transgender. She also argues she is no threat to the public and only went to the Capitol because “she believed that the President of the United States was calling upon her.”

Watkins, 38, a former Army ranger who served in Afghanistan, was “forced out of the military after her sexual orientation was discovered,” her attorney wrote in a motion for home detention filed late Saturday. In the petition, Watkins alleged that while in a county jail in Ohio, she was stripped naked and left “in a cell with lights on 24 hours a day for 4 days in full view of everyone.” According to the attorney, that was a response to a hunger strike Watkins went on in a failed attempt to get medical attention for an injury to her arm.

Watkins has been held in at least two facilities since her arrest, including the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton, Ohio. A spokesperson for the county sheriff’s office, which administers the jail, said she could not provide immediate comment. It was not clear Saturday night where Watkins was currently being held.

Watkins, who operates a bar called the Jolly Roger in Woodstock, Ohio, turned herself in and was arrested on Jan. 17. She is facing some of the most serious charges to come out of the Jan 6 insurrection.

A grand jury has indicted her and eight others associated with the extremist group the Oath Keepers with descending upon the Capitol in “an organized and practiced fashion” to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election as president.

Watkins wore full tactical gear as she joined a line of Oath Keepers who pushed through the mob outside the Capitol, up the stairs, and finally inside the building. Prosecutors have obtained messages and videos in which she appeared to exult in what happened that day.

“Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today,” she wrote in one message posted to the social app Parler. “Teargassed, the whole 9. Pushed our way into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even. The news is lying (even Fox) about the Historical Events we created today.”

Prosecutors have alleged that Watkins was part of an organized group of Oath Keepers and charge that they conspired to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

Court filings indicate that as early as Nov. 9 — less than a week after the election — Watkins was sending text messages inviting people to her group’s basic training in Ohio, telling one person, "l need you fighting fit by innaugeration [sic]."

But Watkins’ attorney, federal public defender Michelle Peterson, argues that she poses no threat and should be allowed to return home with a GPS monitoring device pending trial.

According to Peterson, Watkins has no history of violence, no prior convictions, and that while she acknowledges entering the Capitol she “did not vandalize anything … or engage in any destruction of property, and in fact, encouraged others not to vandalize.”

The public defender also noted that while in the Capitol, Watkins spoke with police officers, followed their orders, and “participated in medical rescue operations for injured people during the event.” Watkins is a former firefighter and EMT, working for a local fire department in Fayetteville, NC, for several years.

via AP

Watkins' booking photo

The filing notes that when Watkins learned she was wanted for questioning, she “drove nearly eight hours to turn herself in to local police.”

When she did so, according to court papers, authorities were not even aware that she was wanted because her arrest warrant had not yet been entered into the national system.

In a filing last week arguing she should remain behind bars, prosecutors argued that Watkins, who in 2019 founded the Ohio State Regular Militia and is a dues-paying member of the Oath Keepers, “was thus not an ancillary player who became swept up in the moment, but a key figure who put into motion the violence that overwhelmed the Capitol.”

Watkins, they added, “formed a subset of the most extreme insurgents that plotted then tried to execute a sophisticated plan to forcibly stop the results of a Presidential Election from taking effect.”

Watkins, for her part, argued that she was induced to go to the Capitol by Trump. “Although misguided,” her attorney wrote, “she believed she was supporting the Constitution and her government by providing security services at the rally organized by Mr. Trump and the Republican lawmakers who supported his goals.”

Last week, a federal judge denied a request for release by Thomas Caldwell, a Virginia man accused of coordinating the Capitol raid with Watkins, and indicted along with her and the others. Caldwell “represents not just a danger to the community but to the fabric of democracy,” Judge Amit Mehta said.

 WAIT, WHAT?

Capitol riot arrests: Transgender Oath Keeper petitions for release (businessinsider.com)

BEHIND PAYWALL

IT'S NOT JUST THE OATH KEEPERS

  

 

Barclays donates £100,000 to retail workers hit by pandemic

BY

 TOM SHEARSMITH

 -

19TH FEBRUARY 2021

The UK’s retail industry charity retailTRUST has received a 

£100,000 donation from Barclays to help retail workers hit hard 

by the coronavirus pandemic.

Demand for retailTRUST’s support has reached record levels since the start of the pandemic as retail workers deal with dramatic changes in their working conditions and a rising number of job losses from British retail.

Its services include non-repayable grants for people facing financial difficulty and wellbeing support for those suffering from anxiety, stress and depression.

retailTRUST is one of 100 charities to receive a donation from Barclays’ £100m COVID-19 Community Aid Package, which has been set up to support organisations helping people and communities most impacted by the pandemic.

New figures have suggested that about 850 jobs have been lost from the retail sector each working day since the start of the year, with more to come.

Chris Brook-Carter, CEO of retailTRUST, said: “The financial support we provide to help people stay in their homes, feed their families or make essential hospital visits rose by 125 per cent last year and we responded to a 164% rise in applications for mental health support.

“Four million people work in British retail as a whole and they have been heavily impacted financially, emotionally and physically during the entire course of the pandemic. This funding from Barclays will allow retailTRUST to continue to provide vital help to those who need it.”

More than £800,000 in non-repayable grants was provided by retailTRUST last year to help people stay in their own homes and meet other essential needs and the charity also ran more than 6,000 counselling sessions as demand for its services grew. It now provides support to retail workers aged 16 to 18 as well as all adults working in the sector following a 235% increase in requests for help from people aged under 20 last year.

Nigel Higgins, Barclays Chairman, added: “COVID-19 has created an unprecedented social and economic impact in the UK, with many experiencing greater hardship due to the crisis. Incredible charities, such as retailTRUST have been playing a vital role in the UK’s response to the pandemic, ensuring urgent help reaches those most in need of support.

“As a bank we have been doing all we can for our customers, clients and colleagues, and we hope that by partnering with retailTRUST and many other charities across the UK, collectively we can ensure that as many people as possible in the communities in which we live and work are supported through this crisis.”

Last month, retailTRUST called on leaders in retail to take part in the charity’s Financial Health and Wellness month this January, asking them to “download, donate, direct and delegate”.

'There is no discrimination in Japan': survey results show statement is far from true

February 21, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

A Zainichi Korean woman attending graduate school in Japan pictured here on Jan. 13, 2021 says, "I make sure it's not obvious from my tweets that I'm Zainichi Korean, because I know that if people find out, I'll be attacked." The photo is partially modified. (Mainichi/Yoshiya Goto)

   TOKYO -- In the summer of 2020, when the Black Lives Matter movement was gathering tremendous momentum, comments on social media in Japan to the effect that "discrimination in Japan is not as bad as it is in the United States" often popped up. But is that true?

The results of a survey conducted by a private organization and released in February 2021 showed that this common social media sentiment was far from true. What the majority who feel that "discrimination in Japan is not as bad" cannot see is a reality that their privilege shields from them.

Between December 2019 and February 2020, the Korean Scholarship Foundation -- an organization based in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward that assists South Korean foreign students and "Zainichi" Korean residents of Japan while they are in school -- surveyed 1,030 students in high school through graduate school about experiences they'd had in the past three years. About 80% of the respondents were Japan-born, including Zainichi Koreans whose families have been in the country for several generations.

Sociologist and specially appointed researcher at Hosei University, Takahiro Akedo, who cooperated on the Korean Scholarship Foundation's survey on discrimination, is pictured here in Tokyo's Toshima Ward on Dec. 24, 2020. (Mainichi/Yoshiya Goto)

Of the respondents, 30.9% said they had been verbally harassed for reasons including being Zainichi Korean. Of those, 48.1% of cases involved being harassed by classmates and other students. Furthermore, 16.4% mentioned customers they had encountered at their part-time jobs, and 10.1% said that Japanese teachers at school had been the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, 73.9% of respondents said that they had seen ethnic discrimination online. A total of 23.7% said that they often or sometimes refrained from using the internet because they did not want to see discriminatory articles or other content. The survey highlighted how using the internet, indispensable in everyday life, has been impacted by discrimination.

A high percentage of respondents -- 75.7% -- also said that they had seen or heard hate demonstrations or speeches. And at least 23.9% had had offensive encounters in public, such as at stores, on public transportation, and at government offices, or had been treated in a discriminatory manner when trying to rent apartments and other types of residence.

A Zainichi Korean woman attending graduate school in Japan is pictured here on Jan. 13, 2021. (Mainichi/Yoshiya Goto)

More women than men said that they had faced verbal harassment, with 14.5% of female respondents saying they had been verbally harassed by Japanese teachers, 10.7 percentage points higher than the figure for male respondents. The survey revealed that Zainichi Korean women are victims of intersectional discrimination, targeting both their gender and their ethnicity.

So what are verbal harassers saying to young Zainichi Koreans? In a section of the survey that allowed respondents to answer that question freely, "Go back to South Korea," "Get out of Japan," and, "Chon" (a derogatory word for Koreans) were just some of the things they had been told. And these words were all uttered by Japanese youth of the same generation, such as the respondents' friends and classmates. Multiple respondents said that the terms were said jokingly.

Respondents also said that they were harassed verbally by adults. "A Japanese teacher said to me, 'Are you a North Korean spy?'," "My girlfriend's father said that Koreans who attended ethnic schools were dangerous," and, "At my part-time job, a customer who saw my name badge said, 'Can you not even speak decent Japanese?" are just some examples. Multiple respondents said they experienced outright job discrimination, in which they were told they would not be employed unless they used their Japanese names.

Journalist Koichi Yasuda, who reports on hate speech, is pictured here on Zoom on Jan. 16, 2021.

Seventy-three percent of those subjected to discriminatory speech and actions said they felt offended, and 10.1% said they made them resent the fact that they were South Korean or Korean. At least one respondent said that they wished they had been born Japanese. Of those who had seen or heard hate demonstrations and speeches, 21.3% said they felt anxious and fearful about living in Japan.

Takahiro Akedo, a sociologist and specially appointed researcher at Hosei University who analyzed the survey results, says, "Those who have been directly discriminated against through words and actions have a tendency to resent themselves more, and those who have witnessed hate speech online or hate demonstrations in the streets to have their view of Japanese society worsen." Cho Kyongho, an assistant researcher at Hosei University who also took part in analyzing the survey, said, "Discrimination has a big emotional impact on students on the receiving end. Some of these cases could drive people to suicide."

In the summer of 2020, in debating the Black Lives Matter movement, the claim that "there is no racial discrimination in Japan" rolled through Twitter. A Japanese Nike commercial in which young women athletes, including Zainichi Koreans, were portrayed trying to overcome hardships such as discrimination and bullying through sports, caused a buzz that November. Many slammed the ad, claiming that the contents were "fraudulent," or that "there is no discrimination around me." But what becomes clear from the survey is that, as the relationship between Japan and South Korea, and between Japan and North Korea, become increasingly frigid, anti-Korean sentiment has gone from being an extreme discourse of the few to that of the ordinary public, hitting young Zainichi Koreans in Japanese society today.

Attorney Yasuko Morooka, who is well versed in the hate speech problem, is pictured here on Zoom on Jan. 15, 2021.

"To tell a certain ethnic group to get out or to call for them to be killed used to be something screamed in the streets by a tiny number of extremists," says journalist Koichi Yasuda. "But now, such discriminatory words have become increasingly a part of everyday vernacular. Discrimination and prejudice have been imprinted into our subconscious not just in the streets and online, but in various parts of our day-to-day lives, and are now being widely wielded."

To restrict repeated instances of hate speech that had been taking place on the streets, Japan's Diet enacted the Hate Speech Act in 2016. But it does not set any penalties for committing hate speech and does not apply to online hate speech.

Yasuko Morooka, an attorney well versed in the issue of hate speech, says that "an all-encompassing anti-discrimination law is necessary." Mostly in the United States and Europe, there are varying types of anti-discrimination legislation, and some countries, like Germany, have criminal penalties for hate speech.

"This latest survey has brought into sharp relief that there is no shared awareness in Japanese society that ethnic discrimination and racial discrimination are unacceptable," Morooka points out. "Only by enacting a law banning hate speech and building a shared awareness can we stand at the starting line to eliminate discrimination."

(Japanese original by Yoshiya Goto, Photo and Video Center, and Aya Shiota, Integrated Digital News Center)

 

Minorities in Myanmar seek Japanese gov't help to free Suu Kyi

February 20, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

Anti-coup protesters hold identical posters with an image of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they gather outside the Hledan Centre in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb. 20, 2021. (AP Photo)

YANGON (Kyodo) -- As protests against the Feb. 1 military coup continue across Myanmar, ethnic minority groups on Saturday sought the Japanese government's help in securing the freedom of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees.

Hundreds of anti-coup protesters with the flags of each ethnic group gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Yangon, the largest city, to call for political support from the Japanese government.

An ethnic Chin female representative of the protesters read aloud an open letter in Japanese and English requesting support for the liberation of all detained people and the realization of democracy, and Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama himself received it after stepping out of the embassy gates.

Maruyama responded, "We do not ignore the voices of the people of Myanmar. We are calling on the armed forces to release detainees and solve democratic problems."

Applause then arose.

In a related matter, the peace negotiation team of the 10 ethnic minority armed groups that are signatory to Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement issued a statement Saturday saying they have decided to suspend peace talks with "the military junta" and to support the civil disobedience movement.

In Yangon, a rally was also held in memory of a female student, Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, 20, who died Friday after being shot in the head while participating in a Feb. 9 demonstration, after being on life support for 10 days, according to her family.

She is the first fatality from the anti-coup movement, though authorities say a policeman has also died from injuries sustained in a protest.

Security forces fired rubber bullets in the second city of Mandalay, injuring two demonstrators, according to local media.

Anti-coup protests continue in Myanmar after deadliest day of violence

The deaths of two anti-coup protesters in Mandalay has sparked fresh condemnation from the US and UN of the country's new military regime. Meanwhile Facebook says it had deleted the military's main page for repeated violations of its standards.

Medical students wearing face masks hold placards as t

hey gather during an anti-coup protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, 

February 21, 2021. (AP)

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in towns across Myanmar once again, undeterred by the bloodiest episode of their anti-coup campaign that saw two people killed by security personnel city a day earlier.

Early on Sunday, police arrested a famous actor wanted for supporting opposition to the coup, his wife said, while Facebook deleted the military's main page under its standards prohibiting the incitement of violence.

The military has been unable to quell the demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others, even with a promise of a new election, arrests and warnings against dissent.

In the main city of Yangon, several thousand young protesters gathered near the city's main university campus to chant slogans, while hundreds massed peacefully in Mandalay, footage shown by a media outlet showed.

People also marched in the central towns of Monywa and Bagan and the southern towns of Dawei and Myeik.

"The number of people will increase today and we won't stop. We'll continue to our goal of democracy," said Yin Nyein Hmway at the Yangon protest.

READ MORE: What is happening in Myanmar? 'They messed with the wrong generation'

Ethnic minorities on the movement

The more than two weeks of protests had been largely peaceful, unlike previous episodes of opposition during nearly half a century of direct military rule, which ended in 2011.

Members of ethnic minorities, poets, rappers and transport workers marched peacefully on Saturday in various places, but tension escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers.

Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire at the protesters, witnesses said.

Video clips posed on social media also showed members of the security forces firing and witnesses said they found the cartridges of live rounds and rubber bullets on the ground.

Two people were shot and killed and 20 were wounded, said Ko Aung, a leader of a volunteer emergency service.

Police were not available for comment but the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused the strikers of sabotaging vessels and attacking police with sticks, knives and catapults.

Eight policemen and several soldiers were injured, it said.

READ MORE: Myanmar's anti-coup protests turn deadly again after police open fire

An injured man is carried by rescue workers after protests 

against the military coup, in Mandalay, Myanmar, 

February 20, 2021. (Reuters)

Humanity crimes

The newspaper did not mention the two deaths but said: "Some of the aggressive protesters were also injured due to the security measures conducted by the security force."

A young woman protester became the first death among anti-coup demonstrators on Friday. She was shot in the head on February 9 in the capital, Naypyitaw.

The army says one policeman has died of injuries sustained in a protest.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) condemned the violence in Mandalay as a crime against humanity.

The army seized power after alleging fraud in November 8 elections that the NLD swept, detaining Suu Kyi and others. The electoral commission had dismissed the fraud complaints.

Facebook takes down main page of Myanmar military

Facebook said it deleted the military's main page, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page, for repeated violations of its standards "prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm”.

The Myanmar military is known as the Tatmadaw.
READ MORE: Explained: the coup in Myanmar and its political ramifications


Celebrities arrested

Early on Sunday, police arrested actor Lu Min, who has been a prominent figure in protests in Yangon and was one of six celebrities who the army said on Wednesday were wanted under an anti-incitement law for encouraging civil servants to join the protest. The charges can carry a two-year prison sentence.

His wife, Khin Sabai Oo, said in a video posted on his Facebook page that police had come to their home in Yangon and taken him away.

Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun, who is also the spokesman for the new military council, has not responded to repeated attempts by Reuters to contact him by telephone for comment.

He told a news conference on Tuesday the army's actions were within the constitution and supported by most people, and he blamed protesters for instigating violence.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group says 569 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced in connection with the coup.

Condemnations

Western countries that earlier condemned the coup spoke out against the violence.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was "deeply concerned" by reports that security forces had fired on protesters.A wounded man injured in his eye is treated by a medical team following a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay on February 20, 2021. (AFP)

France, Singapore and Britain also condemned the violence, with British foreign minister Dominic Raab saying shooting protesters was "beyond the pale".

"Lethal force, intimidation and harassment against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter.

The United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have announced limited sanctions with a focus on military leaders but the generals have long brushed off foreign pressure.

Suu Kyi faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios. Her next court appearance is on March 1.

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