Authors of UK racism report hit back at 'misrepresentation'

LONDON — The commission behind a report that concluded that Britain doesn't have a systemic problem with racism has defended itself against critics, some of whom have argued that it downplayed the country's historic role in slavery

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a response late Friday, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said disagreement with the government-backed review had “tipped into misrepresentation" and it took particular umbrage at accusations that it put a positive spin on slavery.

“This misrepresentation risks undermining the purpose of the report — understanding and addressing the causes of inequality in the U.K. — and any of the positive work that results from it," the commission said in a statement.

The Conservative government launched the commission’s inquiry into racial disparities in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter movement. The panel of experts, which was made up of 11 members from a broad cross section of ethnic backgrounds, concluded that while “outright racism” exists in Britain, the country is not “institutionally racist” or “rigged” against minorities.

Citing strides to close gaps between ethnic groups in educational and economic achievement, the report, which was published Wednesday, said race was becoming “less important” as a factor in creating disparities that also are fueled by class and family backgrounds.

Many academics, lawmakers unions and anti-racism activists were skeptical of the findings in the 258-page report, with some claiming the commission ignored barriers to equality, while others said it downplayed the ongoing legacy of Britain's colonial past as well as its role in slavery.

David Olusoga, professor of public history at Manchester University and one of Britain's leading academics on slavery, became the latest to join in the criticism.

“Determined to privilege comforting national myths over hard historical truths, they (the panel) give the impression of being people who would prefer this history to be brushed back under the carpet,” he wrote in a piece for The Guardian newspaper published Saturday.

In their statement published before Olusoga's article, the commission said the idea it would downplay the atrocities of slavery “is as absurd as it is offensive to every one of us” and described the personal attacks on its members as “irresponsible and dangerous."

“We have never said that racism does not exist in society or in institutions," it said. "We say the contrary: racism is real and we must do more to tackle it.”

Like other countries, Britain has faced an uncomfortable reckoning with race since the death of George Floyd, a Black American, by a white police officer in May 2020, which sparked anti-racism protests around the world.

Large crowds at Black Lives Matter protests across the U.K. last summer called on the government and institutions to face up to the legacy of the British Empire and the country’s extensive profits from the slave trade.

The toppling of a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston in the city of Bristol in June prompted a pointed debate about how to deal with Britain’s past. Many felt such statues extol racism and are an affront to Black Britons. Others, including the prime minister, argued that removing them was erasing a piece of history.

Pan Pylas, The Associated Press

Desperate Burmese refugees flee to Thailand and India to escape crisis

Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi and Emma Graham-Harrison 

4/3/2021 THE GUARDIAN

Myanmar’s escalating crisis is spilling across its borders, as thousands of refugees seek safe haven in India and Thailand in the wake of the military coup and bloody crackdowns on anti-coup protesters.

© Photograph: Royal Thai Army Handout/EPA Karen villagers being carried by refugees and Thai paramilitaries after crossing border at a Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Hong Son province.

Authorities in both countries have tried to block new arrivals, fearing that a steady flow may become a flood, if unrest spreading through Myanmar worsens. A top UN official warned last week that the country is “on the verge of spiralling into a failed state” if action is not taken soon to stem the bloodshed.

The catastrophic human costs of the regime’s brutal policies is visible in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees are living. Most fled after a military campaign that began in 2017, and have lived in limbo ever since.

Last week Thailand reportedly tried to push thousands of people fleeing Myanmar back across their border, after airstrikes on villages held by forces from the Karen ethnic minority.

Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted the country was braced for more arrivals, the Associated Press reported. “We don’t want to have mass migration into our territory, but we will consider human rights, too,” he said. “We have prepared some places, but we don’t want to talk about the preparation of refugee centres at the moment. We won’t go that far.”

At least one Indian border state backed away from an order last month to “politely turn away” any refugees attempting to cross. The home ministry of Manipur said its instructions had been “misconstrued”.

A Covid outbreak in the Chinese border city of Ruili, which authorities said they had traced back to virus cases imported from Myanmar, was another reminder of the risks of large cross-border movements of people in a pandemic era.

The UN’s refugee agency has highlighted Myanmar’s neighbours’ “decades-long history” of protecting refugees from the country, and issued a pointed warning that it is illegal under international law to block people seeking asylum.

“Children, women and men fleeing for their lives should be given sanctuary,” said Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR. “As the situation in Myanmar deteriorates further, we call on states to continue their lifesaving humanitarian tradition of safeguarding the lives of all those forced to flee.”

In India’s Mizoram state no reminders have been needed. Politicians and local residents have welcomed with open arms more than a thousand people who have hiked through forests from Myanmar and waded across rivers to seek sanctuary.


Video: Thailand stopping Myanmar refugees (Sky News)


A large number of them are policemen, who fled after refusing to obey orders to shoot at their own people during the protests, officials said.

At least 550 civilians have died, including 46 children, in protests that have shaken Myanmar’s major cities since the military took power in a February coup, a leading human rights group has said. More than 2,750 people have also been detained or sentenced, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Despite the crackdown, protesters have continued to pour onto the country’s streets, demanding the military respect the results of democratic elections held late last year, which gave opposition parties a landslide majority.

There is huge sympathy with both the protesters’ cause, and those who have fled over the border to Mizoram. Most refugees are members of the same ethnic group as local residents, known as Chin in Myanmar and Mizos in India.

“We are the same tribe. We share the same language and culture and religion – Christianity,” said Lalbin Sanga, assistant general secretary of the Mizo Students’ Union. “We all have family and blood ties because, although a border and different nationalities separate us, we are effectively the same people,”

On social media, indignant Mizos have shared pro-democracy slogans and freedom songs, and a series of fundraising street music concerts in the state capital Aizawl drew crowds of more than 3,000 and donations of 300,000 rupees (£3,000) to support refugees.  

© Provided by The Guardian Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar outside a mosque in Jammu in Kashmir, India. Photograph: Jaipal Singh/EPA

But these sentiments have put the local government on a collision course with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party in New Delhi. It has tried to categorise many of those seeking amnesty as illegal immigrants, and taken a hard line on deportations, including drawing controversy last week for trying to deport a lone teenage Rohingya girl, whose parents are refugees in Bangladesh, back to Myanmar.

In March the national ministry of home affairs ordered Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga (who is known by one name) to check the influx of new arrivals and deport those who had already arrived.

He responded by asking home minister Amit Shah to change government policy. “I have told Amit Shah that the people who came from Myanmar are our brothers and sisters. We have family ties with most of them. Once they enter Mizoram, we have to give them food and shelter.”

Few of the refugees are any financial burden on the government, because of their extensive local ties. “The vast majority of those crossing into India don’t need help. They have moved into the homes of relatives and melted into the local population,” one local official said.

That may change if numbers grow. There are 500 kilometres of border between Mizoram and Chin and extensive ties mean large stretches are unfenced.

It has served as a safety valve for decades, with people fleeing an insurgency in India during the 1960s and 70s, then escaping from Myanmar after a previous military crackdown in 1989.

With protesters determined to keep challenging the government, and fears the situation in Myanmar could escalate into full-blown civil war, some in the region are already preparing for many new arrivals.

At least three armed groups from Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, which have long track records in guerrilla warfare against the central government, have vowed to join what they called the “spring revolution” if the crackdown continues.

The opposition are also working on an interim constitution which would include a “federal army” to replace the current military system. Although outnumbered, and outgunned, if the various opposition forces are able to come together effectively they could pose a significant challenge to the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military forces.

“The way things are going, I anticipate more people seeking refuge in Mizoram,” said Lawma Chhangte, president of the United for Democratic Myanmar NGO. “At the moment most of them are staying with relatives but we have started renting a few homes in case the numbers become too large for families here to manage.”

Haitian women protesters denounce violence, political instability
AFP 

4/3/2021

Hundreds    THOUSANDS of women protested in Haiti's capital on Saturday, denouncing gang violence and political instability that they say could lead to a new dictatorship.

© Reginald LOUISSAINT JR

 Protesters march in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on April 3, 2021

At the demonstration marking the national day for the Haitian women's movement, the protesters deplored the rising power of gangs in recent months which has led to a spike in kidnappings for ransom in Port-au-Prince and other provinces.

"The women who have been kidnapped are raped and sexually assaulted, so today we must put at the center of the debate, beyond the kidnappings, the impact of the (security) situation specifically on women," activist Pascale Solages said.

April 3 is the national day of the Haitian women's movement, marking the date in 1986 when 30,000 women marched to demand better inclusion in politics, two months after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship.

The crowd on Saturday was comprised of activists of all ages, when political protests in Haiti usually attract young men.

"What we were saying in 1986 is that democracy cannot be built without women or to their detriment. It is important to remember these slogans," said Daniele Magloire, a feminist activist.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been in a months-long political crisis.

President Jovenel Moise maintains that his term of office runs until February 7, 2022, but others claim it ended on February 7, 2021.

The disagreement stems from the fact that Moise was elected in a vote that was cancelled for fraud, and then re-elected a year later.

Without a parliament, the country fell further into crisis in 2020 and Moise is governing by decree, fuelling growing mistrust of him.

Amid the instability, Moise has said he plans to hold a constitutional referendum in June.

"They are talking about a referendum but we do not need a new constitution where they sprinkle in two, three cosmetic measures, while all the power will be concentrated in the hands of the executive, with a president who will have total immunity during and after his mandate," protested Gaelle Bien Aime

© Reginald LOUISSAINT JR The protesters deplored the rising power of gangs which has led to a spike in kidnappings for ransom in Port-au-Prince and other provinces

"We are in the street to fight impunity -- so many men, including in the spheres of power, who beat their wives, who rape," the 30-year-old said.

"I was not yet born in 1986 and I am very annoyed to have to be here 35 years later in the street fighting the same fights," she said.

amb/vgr/acb/st

UK's elite schools face a reckoning on rape culture

By Nina dos Santos and Lauren Kent, CNN 

4/3/2021

Nine years after being assaulted by a boy she alleges was a student at Eton College, Zan Moon can still remember the moment as if it was yesterday.

© Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou, CNN Ribbons tied to the gates of James Allen's Girls' School, the sister school of Dulwich College.

"I can picture the hallway where it happened, his hands around my neck choking me," she says. "Then he put his hands down my pants... It was painful. I told him to stop."

Moon says the five-hour attack took place outside of school in a secluded cottage on England's South Coast, rented for the weekend by a friend at the elite girls' boarding school she attended: Benenden. She was 15 then.

Boys from the two all-male schools the girls often socialized with -- Eton and Tonbridge -- were also there and saw her fight her aggressor off multiple times. Yet no one intervened, she says.

"We're privileged kids, but despite all the money that goes on the maths and lacrosse lessons, not a penny is spent in these schools teaching students about their right to be safe from this type of behavior, which is a disgrace," Moon remembers of her school days.

"And it's important we talk about this because these are the men who will in some cases go on to run the country," she adds.

Eton, which has educated numerous British prime ministers, including the incumbent Boris Johnson, and Princes William and Harry, told CNN by email that it does run workshops on healthy relationships, teaching pupils about consent. It said it always takes specific allegations extremely seriously, supporting those affected and working with the police and children's services, when appropriate.

"Safeguarding the welfare of young people is our highest priority," said Eton in a statement. "All involved in education have a responsibility to recognize that we can and must do more so as to effect meaningful and sustained change, for the benefit of all young people."

The school did not address CNN's specific questions about what Zan Moon has alleged.


'Rape Culture'

Like a growing number of young women in the UK, Moon is speaking out about her experiences -- and soliciting the memories of others -- to smash the stigma of discussing a "rape culture" which they say is rife in schools.

What has burst forth is a chorus of anger, drowning out the deafening silence that previously surrounded the issue of sexual violence among school children.

After compiling a 15-page dossier of alleged incidents at multiple institutions, Moon wrote an open letter to the heads of Eton, Tonbridge and others, serving them notice on the "chauvinism" that she said "runs deep inside the UK's private boys schools." "It ends now," she wrote.

James Priory, the headmaster of Tonbridge, expressed "significant concern" after reading Moon's letter, saying in a statement that such behaviors had no place in his school. Tonbridge also said in a statement that it teaches consent to its pupils and refers incidents to the authorities when necessary.

"'We will be listening carefully to our students, staff and alumni, as well as to anyone who has contacted us directly from outside the School, in establishing what more we can do to ensure that sexual harassment and abuse are never accepted and that everyone will feel supported and able to come forward if they wish to," it said.

Moon's letter follows the initiative Everyone's Invited, a website that has garnered more than 13,000 testimonials detailing rape culture in British schools from current and former students.

They include accounts of 10-year-olds being catcalled, 12-year-olds being sexted, and disturbing allegations of rape -- all well below the UK's legal age of consent at 16 years old. The testimonies also include allegations of incidents at state schools and universities, highlighting the pervasive nature of harassment and violence against women in the UK -- an issue recently thrown into sharp relief by the killing of 33-year-old Londoner Sarah Everard, attacked while walking home from a friend's house.

"It's a lot wider than just the schools that have been named," says Everyone's Invited founder Soma Sara, a Londoner and former student of Wycombe Abbey girls' school. "There is a culture within our whole society of acceptance of sexual aggression and harassment. It's a culture that trivializes and normalized the worst behaviors and that can create an environment where sexual violence can exist and thrive."


A new helpline and action promised

On Thursday, the UK's Department for Education launched a new helpline to support potential victims of sexual harassment and abuse in educational settings. The government also announced an immediate review of safeguarding policies in state and independent schools. Meanwhile, London's Metropolitan Police are investigating several specific offences in relation to allegations on Everyone's Invited, and police are encouraging sexual assault survivors to speak out and seek support.

"We have subsequently received a number of reports of specific offences.

In addition, where schools have been named on this website, officers are making contact with those schools and offering specialist support for any potential victims of sexual assaults," wrote the Metropolitan Police in a press release.

"We understand the complex and varied reasons why many victim-survivors do not contact law enforcement, but I want to personally reassure anyone who needs our help that we are absolutely here for you," said The Met's lead for rape and sexual offences, Detective Superintendent Mel Laremore.

The anonymous nature of the posts shared on such platforms makes it hard to look into claims unless they are specific.

Individual schools have also launched investigations. Highgate School in north London -- where girls in Year 11 (aged 15/16) and above held a walkout in protest -- has commissioned an immediate external review of the sexual abuse and harassment allegations raised by student testimonies. It said in a statement:

"We are deeply shocked and horrified by the allegations that have recently come to light. The Highgate they describe runs entirely contrary to the values of our whole community ... We are truly sorry."

King's College School in Wimbledon, southwest London, also commissioned an independent review and said it will not accept any form of abuse or discrimination.

"The school has established a system to handle disclosures made by pupils, past or present and to offer support, and we urge anyone affected by these issues to come forward," it said.

The Everyone's Invited website has since stopped posting the names of schools alongside testimonies, but the debate continues. While hundreds of schools were named on the site, some current and former students, Like Moon -- have written open letters to headteachers, detailing their experiences of misogyny, abuse, and sexual violence.

One letter, penned by former Dulwich College student Samuel Schulenburg, accused the south London boys' school of being a "breeding ground for sexual predators." The letter was written to his former headmaster to raise awareness of problems at Dulwich, and detailed anonymous stories of sexual violence and harassment put forward by girls at James Allen's Girls School (JAGS), the sister school of Dulwich College.

In response to the open letter and anonymous allegations, Dulwich College headmaster Joe Spence said in a statement, "The behavior described is distressing and entirely unacceptable; we condemn it unreservedly."

"Whilst we cannot comment on anonymous testimonies, any specific and evidenced allegations will be addressed, and we will involve external authorities where appropriate," Spence added. "As a boys' school the first thing we must do is listen to what women and girls are telling us about their experiences and their concerns, but we also have a particular part to play, as educators of boys, in making a difference."


Victims asked to move schools

The Children's Commissioner, Rachel de Souza, said in a statement that "there is no excuse" for any school failing to follow safeguarding guidelines and offer victims support. Activists and women's campaigners say more preventative education is also needed in schools -- well before the onset of puberty.

"I think there's a lack of severity taken when disclosures are made. So often in schools, it will be brushed under the carpet," said Elizabeth Brailsford, herself a former headteacher now with Solace Women's Aid, a charity that supports survivors of sexual violence and conducts educational workshops in schools.

"Every time we go in to do a series of our sessions on healthy relationships, we'll get young people that come forward and tell us about experiences that they've had," Brailsford said. She added that it's "too common" for schools to suggest that girls who come forward with disclosures leave the school, "even though they're not the one that perpetrated the sexual assault."

Women's rights campaigners say that's little surprise in a country where sexual violence is now prosecuted at a much lower rate than in years gone by.

Rape prosecution rates dropped by 30% between 2019-2020 compared with the previous year, according to data from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). More than 55,000 cases of rape were recorded in 2019-2020 but only 1.4% resulted in a charge or summons, the CPS data said.

Sexual assault, rape, and attempted sexual violence often goes unreported, and it's difficult to quantity experiences of rape culture more broadly. Fewer than 16% of victims in England and Wales report their experience of assault to the police, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But among women aged 16 to 74, more than one in 20 (6.2%) have experienced rape or attempted rape, while 4.8% have experienced assault by penetration.

Meanwhile, 58% of girls aged 14 to 21 say they have been publicly sexually harassed in their learning environment, according to a new survey from Plan International, a global children's charity.

"I only realized fairly recently that most of the sexual relationships I had when I was younger were not what I would describe as consensual," says Moon.

"The whole top private school system is set up to protect the boy's prospects and the school's reputation. That's the priority," Moon said. "What happens to us girls doesn't matter to them."

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the age of the girls who protested at Highgate School. They were aged 15/16 and upwards.

© CNN Some of the UK's top academic institutions are facing a reckoning on rape culture through anonymous testimonials posted on a website called Everyone's Invited.

Amazon apologizes for tweets attacking criticism of working conditions
Jon Fingas 

Amazon isn't normally one to say sorry for its behavior, but it just made a notable exception — more or less. GeekWirereports that company has apologized to Rep. Mark Pocan for Twitter posts blasting the Wisconsin politician when he criticized working conditions that included drivers peeing in bottles as they faced pressure to meet quotas. The tweets were "incorrect" by focusing on warehouse workers rather than drivers facing these problems, according to Amazon. A flawed process also meant the tweets didn't receive "proper scrutiny."

 An Amazon Prime delivery truck drives through the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach April 22, 2020 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) 

The company partly downplayed the drivers' experience, arguing that peeing in bottles was a "long-standing, industry-wide" problem made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it also recognized this wasn't acceptable and that it would "look for solutions."

There was no explanation for why Amazon issued a rare social media attack. Recodesources recently claimed that outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos was frustrated with his company's lack of resistance to accusations he felt were inaccurate or misleading. On top of its response to Pocan, Amazon recently defended its practices against criticism from Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

It's not certain why Amazon took over a week to apologize to Pocan, although it comes as warehouse staff in Alabama vote to unionize. The internet shopping giant has also faced growing scrutiny of its union-busting tactics and overall labor conditions. Amazon isn't necessarily trying to draw attention away with the apology (the move arguably highlights those concerns), but it is recognition that the tech firm's work environment is a hot-button issue.

CANADA

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation launches website on residential schools history

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) launched its new website and archive database to provide Survivors, educators, researchers and learners interested in the residential schools’ history an accessible tool for resources.

NCTR has access to approximately five million documents kept in locations such as government and church offices.

These documents were primarily collected to meet these institutions’ colonial needs. The website and archive database connects the information gathered so that it can be easily accessible to all.

“I think that the access to the NCTR achieves and the records they hold are a public good. Canada should acknowledge its exploitive history, and Indigenous communities need this understanding to heal and prosper,” said Raymond Frogner, Head of Archives at NCTR said on Wednesday.

“This digital infrastructure promotes reconciliation through acknowledgement. It is recognition that we are who we choose to remember but we are also what we choose to forget. As you see on the opening page of our website, it is Canada’s story, not just an Indigenous story.” The easy-to-navigate website at nctr.ca includes a space where communities can submit their Truth and Reconciliation-related news and events, to bring people together on the path to reconciliation.

Educational resources are categorized by grade level, including adult learning as well as pre-developed resources for teachers to use in their classrooms in English and French.

The centre also delivers free demonstrations on the available tools for teachers, organizations and researchers to support their work development and programs using the records.

“The website enables advance discovery and access of the digital archival records of the NCTR. It will promote innovative research which is meaningful to Indigenous communities,” said Frogner.

“It provides research materials that examine the colonial relationship between academic researchers and Indigenous communities, and it allows for the understanding of the rights and identity of Indigenous peoples,” he added.

The new data system, Access to Memory, makes it easier for Survivors and the general public to search for the location of schools and gravesites of children who attended the schools, as well as dates, statements, attendance records, pictures and other archival material.

As it is open-sourced, it gives the NCTR the ability to maintain its work decolonizing the archives while incorporating Indigenous languages into the records.

This web-based platform has high international standards in archiving along with several multilingual capabilities.

Free presentations to navigate the archives are also available to those who need them.

“By itself, the database is a portal that promotes discussion, recognitions, acknowledgement and engagement across Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadian society,” said Frogner.

Presently, the NCTR is actively engaging with Indigenous communities to bring out the voice of the records collected by the centre.

While the administrative records take notes of building records and salaries of those working in residential schools, within them still hold the experiences of Indigenous children.

“These are the documents that record some of the most traumatic incidents of their lives. With that in mind, we are trying to find the Indigenous voices of these administrative records,” said Frogner.

After the launch of the website and archive database, Frogner hopes that researchers, Indigenous communities, Survivors and Canadians in general start engaging with the records and educate themselves on the history of residential schools.

Nicole Wong is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Radicalization to extremist ideologies is often triggered by negative life events

Rejection of extremism often aided by friends and groups

RADICAL; TO GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM  

K. MARX

RAND CORPORATION

Research News

 

People who radicalize to extremist ideologies often are triggered by negative life events or exposure to propaganda, and those who escape from extreme groups frequently are aided by an individual or group that intervenes to help them reject the philosophy, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Expanding access to mental health care, creating opportunities for exposure to diverse cultural groups and media literacy education all are important strategies that may aid the battle against extremism, according to researchers. However, harsh law enforcement actions often are unproductive in changing people's extremist beliefs.

The RAND study describes personal accounts based on interviews with more than two dozen former white supremacists, Islamic extremists and their family members about what leads people to join extremist groups and, at least in some cases, leave these groups and their radical ideologies.

"Terrorism and ideologically-inspired violence represent persistent and serious threats to the security of the United States," said Ryan Andrew Brown, the study's lead author and a senior social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "By better understanding the pathways individuals take to radicalization, we can improve our prevention and deradicalization strategies."

The study is one of the first public reports to incorporate the experiences of white supremacists, Islamic extremists and their family members to look for common factors and signs along the pathway to radicalization.

Events such as the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol underscore a growing threat to America's national security posed by homegrown terrorism and ideologically inspired violence. Domestic attacks have maintained a steady and growing pace in recent years, foreshadowing recent events.

The RAND study is based on interviews about 32 people who became radicalized -- 24 white supremacists and 8 Islamic extremists. Those interviewed included 24 former extremists, 10 family members and two friends. To recruit study participants, the team worked with Parents for Peace and Beyond Barriers, two organizations that work with former members of radical extremist organizations and family members who have assisted with deradicalization efforts.

The study provides findings across four areas: background characteristics of radical extremists, pathways to radicalization, deradicalizing and leaving organizations, and participant perspectives on mitigation strategies.

The RAND interviews highlight several factors that may contribute to individuals becoming radicalized, including facing financial instability, mental health challenges such as trauma and PTSD, and social factors such as victimization and marginalization.

In more than half of the cases, a "re-orienting" event was described that prompted an individual to reconsider previously accepted views and embrace extremist ideologies. These events included a gun possession charge, rejection by the military, a friend's suicide and an extended period of unemployment.

In a majority of cases, individuals described consuming propaganda during radicalization, especially online materials, but also music and books.

In seven cases (4 white supremacist, 3 Islamic extremist), recruitment involved top-down action by recruiters from radical organizations. In 18 cases (15 white supremacist, 3 Islamic extremist), recruitment involved "bottom-up" entry in which individuals radicalize on their own and then sought membership in extremist organizations.

"It may be difficult to observe noticeable changes in individuals until they are radicalized and those changes often are a surprise to their family," Brown said. "It is only after the radicalization takes place that family members and friends may understand what has happened."

Individuals in the RAND study said they also benefited socially while participating in extremist groups, most notably finding friends and developing a sense of camaraderie and friendship that was previously missing in their lives. Some noted a new sense of power.

The most commonly mentioned factor for exiting a group was a sense of disillusionment and burnout. Hypocrisy or other negative behaviors by group members were often cited as reasons for these feelings.

Individuals or groups helped 22 of the individuals in the RAND sample to exit extremist groups, with such interventions most often conducted intentionally. The interventions included diverse cultural and demographic exposures, providing emotional support, and providing pathways to financial and/or domestic stability.

In half of those cases, the intervention was orchestrated and conducted by an institution, including religious groups, law enforcement, and secular nonprofits. Twenty-two of the 32 cases also described processes of self-driven exit from extremism, in which former extremists sought their own paths out of groups and ideologies.

A majority of the study participants also indicated that they experienced interventions that had failed, most often efforts that had been initiated by family members. Punitive interventions by law enforcement also often led to paradoxical effects of increased extremism.

"Our work suggests that the punitive approach should be used sparingly because it seldom ends radicalization and frequently has negative consequences for community members," Brown said.

The RAND study provides recommendations that community organizations and researchers should pursue in the future to strengthen both practice and understanding of what works.

Those recommendations include expanding community based mental health services in areas at risk for radicalization and exploring whether interventions based on an addiction treatment model can help deter radicalization.

Community organizations also should consider ways to expand exposure to diverse populations, help at-risk families recognize and react to signs of extremism, and improve ways to present deradicalization messages at the right time and place.

Researchers should work to better identify geographic and demographic hot spots for radicalization, develop educational and outreach efforts to help recognize and address the signs of radicalization, and explore social network approaches to deradicalization.

###

Support for the study was provided by the National Institute of Justice.

The report, "Violent Extremism in America: Interviews With Former Extremists and Their Families on Radicalization and Deradicalization," is available at http://www.rand.org. Other authors of the study are Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades and Liisa Hiatt.

The RAND Justice Policy Program conducts research across the criminal and civil justice system on issues such as public safety, effective policing, drug policy and enforcement, corrections policy, court reform and insurance regulation.

Cannabis use disorder linked to increased complications after spinal surgery

WOLTERS KLUWER HEALTH

Research News

 

April 2, 2021 - For patients undergoing spinal surgery, the diagnosis of cannabis use disorder is associated with higher complication rates, including substantially increased risks of stroke and respiratory complications, reports a study in Spine. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

"Chronic cannabis use among patients undergoing spine surgery is associated with higher rates of inpatient neurovascular, thromboembolic, and pulmonary complications, and less favorable overall discharge disposition," according to the new research by Ankit Indravadan Mehta, MD, FAANS and colleagues of the University of Illinois at Chicago. "The treatment of these patients is also associated with increased length of stay and cost of hospitalization."

For chronic cannabis users, surgical care may be 'extremely complex and difficult'

Using a national hospital database (Nationwide Inpatient Sample), the researchers identified nearly 433,000 patients who underwent common elective spinal surgery procedures between 2012 and 2015. About 2,400 patients had a diagnosis of cannabis use disorder, defined as continued use of cannabis despite significant distress or impairment.

On initial analysis, there were some important differences between patients with and without cannabis use disorder. Patients diagnosed with problematic cannabis use were younger, more likely to be male, and had lower rates of accompanying medical disorders (comorbidity). They were also much more likely to use tobacco: about 71 versus 31 percent.

Using a technique called propensity score matching, Dr. Mehta and colleagues created matched groups of 2,184 chronic cannabis users versus non-users with similar characteristics and comorbidities. A wide range of complications and other hospital outcomes of spinal surgery were compared between groups.

Patients with cannabis use disorder were at increased risk for several types of complications after spinal surgery. The cannabis users were about twice as likely to develop respiratory and blood clot-related (thromboembolism) complications. They also had nearly a threefold increase in the risk of stroke and other neurologic complications. Risk of bloodstream infection (septicemia or sepsis) was increased by 50 percent.

There were also more myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) among patients with cannabis use disorder. However, on further analysis, this was related to their much higher rate of tobacco use.

Patients with cannabis use disorder also spent nearly two more days in the hospital (about seven versus five days) and had hospital costs nearly $15,000 higher. They were also more likely to be discharged to a nursing or rehabilitation facility and less likely to receive home health care.

The results are of special concern as cannabis use becomes increasingly legalized and accepted in the United States. Estimates suggest that more than 15 percent of Americans use cannabis. Rates of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder have "increased drastically" in recent years, according to the authors.

The findings have important implications for anesthesia and surgical management in patients with cannabis use disorder, Dr. Mehta and colleagues believe. For example, such patients may need higher doses of opioid medications to achieve adequate pain management after spinal surgery. That may lead to slower recovery, requiring longer hospital stays and more intensive rehabilitation that cannot be done at home. The researchers also note previous studies outlining the mechanisms by which cannabis use may lead to increased risk of respiratory, thromboembolic, and neurologic complications.

"This study reveals multiple aspects of perioperative care that are extremely complex and difficult in patients with cannabis use disorder," Dr. Mehta and coauthors write. "Their high-risk cardiorespiratory profiles combined with specialized anesthetic considerations [before, during, and after surgery] necessitate very unique perioperative management. We hope this research will lead to future prospective trials for specific interventions that could improve outcomes in this specific population."

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Click here to read "Cannabis Abuse and Perioperative Complications Following Inpatient Spine Surgery in the United States."

DOI: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000004035

About Spine

Recognized internationally as the leading journal in its field, Spine (http://www.spinejournal.com) is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-weekly periodical that considers for publication original articles in the field of spine. It is the leading subspecialty journal for the treatment of spinal disorders. Only original papers are considered for publication with the understanding that they are contributed solely to Spine. According to the latest ISI Science Citation Impact Factor, Spine is the most frequently cited spinal deformity journal among general orthopaedic journals and subspecialty titles.

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Mapping policy for how the EU can reduce its impact on tropical deforestation

UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN

Research News

 

EU imports of certain products contribute significantly to deforestation in other parts of the world.

In a new study, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and University of Louvain, Belgium, evaluated thousands of policy proposals for how the EU could reduce this impact, to assess which would have the largest potential to reduce deforestation - while also being politically feasible.

"Unsurprisingly, there is weaker support for tougher regulations, such as import restrictions on certain goods. But our study shows that there is broad support in general, including for certain policies that have real potential to reduce imported deforestation," says Martin Persson, Associate Professor of Physical Resource Theory at Chalmers University of Technology.

Previous research has already shown the EU's great impact in this area. More than half of tropical deforestation is linked to production of food and animal feed, such as palm oil, soybeans, wood products, cocoa and coffee - goods which the EU imports in vast quantities. The question is, what can the EU do to reduce its contribution to deforestation?

"This issue is particularly interesting now, as this year the EU is planning to present legislative proposals for reducing deforestation caused by European consumption. The question has been discussed by the EU since 2008, but now something political is actually happening," says Simon Bager, a doctoral student at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and lead author of the study.

The authors of the article mapped 1 141 different proposals, originating from open consultations and workshops, where the EU has collected ideas from companies, interest groups and think tanks. The researchers also compiled proposals from a large number of research reports, policy briefs and other publications, where different stakeholders have put forward various policy proposals. After grouping together similar proposals, they arrived at 86 unique suggestions.

Two suggestions stand out from the crowd

Finding proposals for measures that would have the desired effect but are also possible to implement in practice, and enjoy the necessary political support, is no easy task. But after their extensive survey, the researchers identify two policy options in particular which show particular promise:

- The first is to make importers of produce responsible for any deforestation in their supply chains, by requiring them to carry out the requisite due diligence."If the importing companies' suppliers have products that contribute to deforestation, the company may be held responsible for this. We consider such a system to be credible and possible to implement both politically and practically - there are already examples from France and England where similar systems have been implemented or are in the process thereof," says Simon Bager. "Due diligence is also the measure which is most common in our survey, put forward by many different types of actors, and there is broad support for this proposal. However, it is important to emphasise that for such a system to have an impact on deforestation, it must be carefully designed, including which companies are affected by the requirements, and which sanctions and liability options exist."

- The other possibility is to support multi-stakeholder forums, where companies, civil society organisations, and politicians come together to agree on possible measures for ridding a supply-chain, commodity, or area, of deforestation. There are positive examples here too, the most notable being the Amazon Soy Moratorium from 2006, when actors including Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature gathered with soy producers and exporters and agreed to end soy exports from deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest. "Examples such as these demonstrate the effect that multi-stakeholder forums can have. And in our opinion, it is a measure that is easier to get acceptance for, because it is an opportunity for the affected parties to be directly involved in helping design the measures themselves," says Martin.

A delicate balance

The researchers also investigated how to deal with the trade-off between policy impacts and feasibility. An important part of this is combining different complementary measures. Trade regulations on their own, for example, risk hitting poorer producing countries harder, and should therefore be combined with targeted aid to help introduce more sustainable production methods, increasing yields without having to resort to deforestation. This would also reduce the risk of goods that are produced on deforested land simply being sold in markets other than the EU.

"If the EU now focuses on its contribution to deforestation, the effect may be that what is produced on newly deforested land is sold to other countries, while the EU gets the 'good' products. Therefore, our assessment is that the EU should ensure that the measures introduced are combined with those which contribute to an overall transition to sustainable land use in producing countries," says Simon Bager.

In conclusion, the researchers summarise three essential principles needed for new measures, if the EU is serious about reducing its impact on tropical deforestation. "First, enact measures that actually are able to bring about change. Second, use a range of measures, combining different tools and instruments to contribute to reduced deforestation. Finally, ensure the direct involvement of supply chain actors within particularly important regions, expanding and broadening the measures over time," concludes Simon Bager.

The authors hope that the research and identified policy options can serve as inspiration for policy makers, NGOs, industries, and other stakeholders working to address the EU's deforestation footprint. With at least 86 different unique alternatives, there is a wide range of opportunities to focus on the problem - very few of these are political 'non-starters' or proposals which would have no effect on the issue.

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MOF-based sensor for water quality testing

SHINSHU UNIVERSITY

Research News 

VIDEO: VIDEO SHOWING THE QUENCHING OF TERBIUM GREEN EMISSION WHEN COTTON IS IN CONTACT WITH THE AQUEOUS FLUORIDE SOLUTION, THIS CHANGE IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE FLUORIDE CONCENTRATION AND USED IN THE... view more 

CREDIT: COPYRIGHT © 2021, KIMURA LAB., SHINSHU UNIVERSITY

In United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Number 6, addresses the need for access to clean water and sanitation for all. In the worldwide situation, one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water, and two out of five do not have basic hand-washing facilities with soap and water.

Water quality also address to elements dissolved. In the case of fluoride, controlled amount are recommended for protect tooth, e.g. included in toothpaste. Higher levels can cause fluorosis, interfere in tooth enamel formation, correct growth of the bones, and cause crippling deformities of the spine and joints. The incidence of higher concentrations of fluoride in water is higher in rural areas without access to an appropriate water network.

Fluoride in water sources has a geogenic origin instead of anthropogenic, the fluoride concentration in water is determined by geological formations in riverbeds. This, making the fluoride distribution inhomogeneous in the affected regions, finding water sources with safe and unsafe fluoride levels in a close distance. In this case, the fluoride problem could be solved by the local population provided with specific equipment to detect the levels of fluoride in the water and help them to consume safe water.

The equipment cost for fluoride detection is moderate to high, and requires training to be used effectively. This cost is not affordable for the populations in rural areas. For these reasons, the group led by Professor Mutsumi Kimura and Dr. Eugenio Otal from Shinshu University decided to develop an affordable portable equipment which can detect fluoride in a simple manner at low costs, which was recently published in Chemistry - A European Journal. The cost of the developed tech-demo is about US$23, but this price can be reduced to less than the half if production is scaled up. The main cost is related to electronics which is useful for many determinations.

Lanthanide-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer a good platform for fluoride sensing due to their high affinity by fluoride and intense emission in the visible spectrum. The strong affinity of lanthanides by fluorides transforms the MOFs into the corresponding fluorides, quenching the lanthanide fluorescence. This intensity change can be used to determine the fluoride level in drinking water. Researchers at Shinshu University chose cotton as a substrate for their hydrophilic nature, allowing a good synergy with the porous MOFs and a good control over the amount of liquid sample introduced in the device, making the results reproducible and simplifying the previous systems used.

These innovations are compatible with the group's previous developments, which were published in ACS-Sensors in January of this year. In this previous article, they present the electronic platform based on an Arduino microcontroller, which uses a smartphone as a power source and data acquisition platform. This innovation eliminates the battery and screen, reducing the costs and allowing to transfer the fluoride quantification information directly to the smartphone. The Arduino code used in the device can be also modified according to the requirements of the local population.

To transfer the information, a friendly graphical interface was developed (https://hello.fridie.de/zensorics-app/), it collects the fluoride quantification data, the time, date, and position from the smartphone GPS and transfer them via email, SMS, WhatsApp or any instant messaging service to be included in a safe-water map to be shared with the rest of the local population.

This novel system accomplishes the 4.0 Industry concepts, it is 3D printable, Arduino programmable, open-source, and the device can be produced locally and distributed. All this innovation produced a low-cost device which can be easily operated by non-trained users.

Many times, science and technology are dissociated, but represents two aspects of the same search. Science provides intellectual satisfaction, feeds our curiosity, while technology provides the ability to implement science to achieve comfort, and health, among other things. The research group used both to find new ways to reduce the impact of fluorosis in areas without access to safe water, like synchrotron measurements, to understand the basics phenomena in the material and helped them to design a more sensitive and reliable sensing device. To the device development also contributed, Hideki Tanaka (Shinshu University), Manuela L. Kim (Shinshu University), Juan P. Hinestroza (Cornell University).

The next step is to implement a MOF with even better performance. The actual system uses a UV LED for excitation of the lanthanide MOF and detects the green emission. First author Eugenio Otal states, "we developed a modification of this MOF which can be excited with visible light and the signal will be detected in the Infrared. This innovation could reduce the cost of the electronics and use cheaper and more sensitive detectors in the infrared region of electromagnetic spectra."

Their final goal is to develop a portable device for water quality using the same concepts they used here, making it modular according to the requirements of each region and make their contribution to the Goal 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all a reality, with a portable and affordable device.

CAPTION

Concepts used in the tech-demo design: Identification of the water quality problem in the local population, modification of cotton to emit light indicating the fluoride content, tech-demo design and construction, and transferring of the fluoride levels to the smartphone to be processed and shared.

CREDIT

Copyright © 2021, Kimura Lab., Shinshu University