A group’s moral values may help determine the likelihood of hate-motivated harmful acts

USC Dornsife researchers use geospatial modeling and psychological experimentation to predict “extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice” — malicious acts motivated by hate or bigotry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

From attacks on synagogues and mosques to the COVID-era spike in anti-Asian sentiment, the past couple of years, unfortunately, have seen no shortage of acts of hatred.

But because of the statistical rarity of hate crimes, developing computational models to predict where they might occur has been a scientific challenge.

But a study led by scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences does just that.

Published July 28 in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the research suggests that, within a given county, the moral values oriented around group preservation can help determine the prevalence of hate groups and so-called “extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice” (EBEPs) — that is, harmful acts motivated by hate or bigotry.

“The most striking aspect of our study is our use of geospatial modeling, which showed that the prevalence of hate groups at the county level can be predicted based on the psychological makeup of that county — specifically, the moral concerns,” said corresponding author Morteza Dehghani, associate professor of psychology and computer science, and a researcher at USC Dornsife’s Brain and Creativity Institute.

The study suggests that the prevalence of specific moral concerns is predictive of the number of hate groups per capita in that county, added Dehghani, five of whose students — from USC Dornsife’s Department of Psychology and the Department of Computer Science at USC Viterbi School of Engineering — also worked on the research.

“Our work is built on prior work linking violence and morality. In this research, we advance the understanding of extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice by proposing the Moralized Threat Hypothesis, which suggests that acts of hate are often motivated by the belief that somebody outside your own group has done something morally wrong and they should be excluded or punished for that wrong-doing” said Mohammad Atari, Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at USC’s Department of Psychology.

Extreme forms of morality and their societal consequences

Dehghani has been studying hate crimes since 2016, such as probing how moral rhetoric on Twitter may signal whether a protest will turn violent.

“I’ve always been interested in extreme forms of morality and their consequences,” he said. “Most forms of genocide or killings are explained through morality — ‘it was for the greater good. Someone has done something morally wrong, therefore it’s OK to do what we did to them.’”

Dehghani’s latest paper on EBEPs, he said, is the first to use geospatial modeling paired with behavioral experimentation to predict acts of violence against marginalized groups.

In the study, Dehghani and his student colleagues focused on extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice that were aligned with far right-wing ideologies. People who endorse the ideological right tend to strongly care about so-called “binding” values, such as loyalty to peers and respect for leaders, as much as moral concerns focused on individuals’ rights and well-being, he explained. People who are more left leaning, however, tend to only prioritize the latter set of values.

A key finding in the paper was the relationship between the county-level rate of hate groups and county-level endorsement of binding values. Since the study finds a strong association between the two, local governments could perhaps take steps to target resources to dampen any potential acts of hate, Dehghani said.

“Also,” he added, “we have an immigration crisis. Where are the best locations to place the immigrants? We could look at counties where binding values are not highly prioritized.”

Two actual groups, two fictional groups part of study

In addition to the geospatial analysis of more than 3,100 U.S. counties, the researchers collected data from U.S. adults via surveys and asked questions about anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim acts of hate. The researchers also asked questions about fictional groups to probe the relationship between people’s moral values and the degree to which they justify extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice even when such group does not exist in the real world.

They focused on four distinct EBEPs in their social psychological experiments: posting hate speech on Facebook, sharing hate speech on flyers, verbally assaulting a member of a marginalized group, and physically assaulting a member of a marginalized group.

Results of the social psychological experiments on more than 2,200 participants showed a strong link between their binding values and the degree to which they perceived EBEPs against certain groups, such as Muslims, to be justified.

“Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that acts of hate are morally motivated behaviors,” Dehghani said. “And research suggests that, at least in the United States, binding values are held more strongly among people who report right-wing political ideology.”

###

In addition to Dehghani and Atari, other USC authors on the study include Joe Hoover, Aida Mostafazadeh Davani, Brendan Kennedy, Gwenyth Portillo-Wightman and Leigh Yeh.

Work on the study was supported by National Science Foundation grant BCS-1846531.

 

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-24786-2

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Investigating the role of group-based morality in extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jul-2021

 

Climate experts share insights in new report from Argonne’s America Resilient Conference

Grant and Award Announcement

DOE/ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

 

IMAGE: AMERICA RESILIENT CLIMATE CONFERENCE view more 

CREDIT: (IMAGE BY ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY.)

Combating climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. To discuss this challenge, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory convened the America Resilient virtual climate conference on April 14, 2021. The conference report is now available for free download on the America Resilient website.

Everyone is feeling the increasing effects of climate change across the United States, from the record-breaking 2020 wildfire season to the Southern freeze of February 2021, which caused the electrical grid in Texas to collapse. Participants at Argonne’s conference focused on ways to mitigate likely human suffering, loss of biodiversity, and disruptions to critical societal systems and functions. Three key themes emerged: prioritizing environmental justice; addressing the need for high-accuracy, high-resolution climate models; and equipping decision-makers to plan for adaptation and resilience.

“While it’s critical that we decarbonize our economy as quickly as possible, the emissions we’ve produced have already baked in weather patterns that will unfold over years to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. “These once-in-a-century storms are going to keep coming, but not all of them need to be crises.”

Currently, some communities encounter greater risks from climate change due to their location, demographics and access to resources and healthcare. “There are inequities that are baked into the energy system, and when you are trying to make your energy system more resilient, you need to make sure you’re not doing it in a way that’s going to further entrench these inequalities,” said Shalanda Baker, DOE Deputy Director for Energy Justice and the Secretary of Energy’s Advisor on Equity.

To build resilient communities, leaders and community members need science-based information about the impacts climate change will have. “While it’s critical that we decarbonize our economy as quickly as possible, the emissions we’ve produced have already baked in weather patterns that will unfold over years to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. “These once-in-a-century storms are going to keep coming, but not all of them need to be crises.”

High-accuracy, high-resolution climate models can help us avoid crises by projecting climate impacts down to regional and local scales and taking action to mitigate their effects.

These localized models allow communities to more effectively assess immediate and future climate-related risks.

At the conference, experts sought to increase climate-change-related education and training and to democratize access to climate data to support informed decision-making.

The America Resilient Climate Conference report summarizes key discussions from the panels and keynote speakers. This resource is available to coordinate research, industry, government and community efforts to enhance climate resilience in the United States, and potentially around the world.

###

Video: American Resilient Climate Conference

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

 

Measuring conservation in a way that counts

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES

 

IMAGE: THE FUTURE OF NATURE CONSERVATION LIES IN IDENTIFYING WHERE SCIENCE AND POLICY CAN SAVE THE MOST ECOSYSTEMS AND SPECIES. view more 

CREDIT: ROBERT STREIT

A new study raises questions on whether current conservation science and policy for protected areas could be saving more biodiversity—with political and economic expediency often having taken precedence in the past.

Lead author Professor Bob Pressey, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU), said the term ‘save’ in conservation needs to be better defined.

“Across the world, protected areas are established where they least interfere with commercial activities, even though those activities can cause decline and extinction,” Prof Pressey said.

“But ‘saving’ means intervening in a way that prevents the loss of ecosystems and species,” he said.

“There lies the problem. Business as usual means expanding protected areas where they make little difference while threatened biodiversity continues to disappear.”

Prof Pressey said measures other than saving are used to assess conservation progress, and these are often politically convenient: money invested, km2 protected areas established and the number of species contained in national parks. These measures can hide a lack of progress in real conservation.

“What do these measures actually tell us about saving?” he said. “Not much. Real progress in saving biodiversity is measured by how much loss we have avoided.”

While political, institutional and communication barriers are difficult to overcome, conservation measures need to be redefined. As an example, the study suggests the Aichi global Target 11 to increase protected areas to 17% of land and 10% of oceans hampers conservation. The target has instead motivated a race to increase coverage in the most expedient ways, both politically and economically.

Prof Pressey said there is a real risk that post-2020 targets will do the same unless they focus on avoiding loss.

“The future of nature conservation lies in identifying where science and policy can make the most difference—and then measuring, year by year, the difference made,” he said.

The study brought together a team of scientific and policy experts from across Australia, Austria, and the USA. Their results will contribute to ongoing global discussions about the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

“Better science is needed to demonstrate that we can predict where, when, and how we can most effectively save biodiversity,” Prof Pressey said.

“And global policy makers need to revise their expectations and targets to address conservation impact, or avoided loss.”

He said saving biodiversity means developing global guidance for all jurisdictions to implement local interventions.

“With this, we can achieve smarter and more meaningful conservation targets that go beyond the extent of the area being protected.”

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PAPER

Pressey R, Visconti P, McKinnon M, Gurney G, Barnes M, Glew L, Maron M. (2021). ‘The mismeasure of conservation’. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.008

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JOURNAL

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.008

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The mismeasure of conservation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Jul-2021

 

Warning over start of commercial-scale deep-sea mining

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Deep-sea mining in international waters could begin in two years – but researchers say this is unnecessary and could cause irreversible damage to marine ecosystems.

Writing in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers from the University of Exeter, Greenpeace Research Laboratories and Globelaw challenge the need for deep seabed mining and highlight the risks to ecosystems and biodiversity that would arise from commercial mining activities.

No commercial-scale deep seabed mining is currently allowed to take place outside the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of coastal nations.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is drafting regulations that would allow such extraction of deep-sea minerals to begin.

Last month, the so-called "two-year rule" was triggered by the Pacific island of Nauru, which is working with The Metals Company, a minerals mining and processing firm headquartered in Canada, for approval to begin mining.

The ISA now has two years to finalise regulations or face an application for mining without agreed rules in place.

"Seabed mining is sometimes presented as an unavoidable consequence of ever-growing demand for minerals, especially to supply certain metals for the green technology transition," said Dr Kirsten Thompson, of the University of Exeter.

"This narrative is put forward by mining companies, who also present deep-sea mining as the ‘lesser of two evils’ in comparison to land-based mining, but it’s impossible to compare the inherent value of land and deep-sea ecosystems. 

“If you're asking 'which destructive industry is better?' then you're asking the wrong question."  

The researchers argue that there are alternatives to opening up the deep seabed for mining, including better design and sustainability of technology to enable far better use of the minerals that humanity has already extracted from the Earth.

"It's vital to bust the myth that we have no choice but to permit commercial mining in the deep sea," said Dr Thompson.

Taking the example of electric vehicles, the researchers highlight three studies that estimate the minerals that will be needed by the electric vehicle industry – and the estimates vary widely, depending on their underlying models and assumptions.

"Current estimates of mineral requirements for renewable technology don't fully account for important factors such as technological advances in battery technology, better public transport and behaviour changes such as people taking fewer journeys by car,” said Dr Kevin Brigden, metals chemist at Greenpeace Research Laboratories.

Kathryn Miller, of Greenpeace Research Laboratories, said: "Deep-sea ecosystems cover vast areas of our planet but we know very little about them.

"What we do know is that the deep sea is home to a variety of highly specialised, slow-growing species, and that the seabed plays an important part in storing carbon.

"We don't fully understand the carbon-burial process, so disturbing the seabed is a risk both to biodiversity and in terms of climate change mitigation."

The paper also says that exploitation of deep-sea minerals would probably benefit "a handful of corporations in the world’s richest countries", rather than the wider global community and future generations.

It proposes a "Rights of Nature" management framework, where a group including scientists, communities and other interested parties would be created to oversee guardianship of the ocean.

The study concludes: "Once started, deep-sea mining is likely to be impossible to stop. Once lost, biodiversity will be impossible to restore."

Dr Thompson added: "We mine our oceans at our peril."

The new article is entitled: "Challenging the need for deep seabed mining from the perspective of metal demand, biodiversity, ecosystems services and benefit sharing."

###

The research team has published previous papers warning that deep-sea mining could destroy ecosystems, and that a “gold rush” of seabed mining could lead to unprecedented damage.

• The University of Exeter has launched a ‘Green Futures’ campaign and website to drive action on the environment and climate emergency. To find out more please visit https://greenfutures.exeter.ac.uk.

---

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2021.706161

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Challenging the need for deep seabed mining from the perspective of metal demand, biodiversity, ecosystems services and benefit sharing

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jul-2021

Draft of Alberta inquiry report critical of environmental groups, but says nothing improper about anti-oil campaigns


JAMES KELLER
PUBLISHED JULY 23, 2021

AMBER BRACKEN/THE CANADIAN PRESS

An inquiry into anti-oil activisim in Alberta, which was a key campaign promise from Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party, is a year behind schedule after repeated extensions that its commissioner has blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic.

A draft report from Alberta’s inquiry targeting anti-oil activists criticizes environmentalists for taking “extreme” positions opposing the province’s resource sector, but also says there is nothing improper about such activism. And while the draft concludes that environmentalists funded in part by American foundations have played a role in reduced investment in the sector, it also says there is no evidence those groups were solely responsible for the cancellation of pipelines or other projects.

The draft, portions of which were obtained by The Globe and Mail, was written by commissioner Steve Allan as he prepares his final report to the provincial government ahead of a deadline at the end of the month. The inquiry, which was a key campaign promise from Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party, is a year behind schedule after repeated extensions that Mr. Allan blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. His original $2.5-million budget was increased by $1-million.

Mr. Kenney has contended that a network of Canadian environmental groups used funding from American foundations to mount a successful campaign against pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure.

The portions of the report obtained by The Globe and Mail do not include a section detailing the funding of environmental groups, nor do they include Mr. Allan’s recommendations. The draft refers to the “magnitude” of foreign money used by Canadian environmentalists to obstruct oil and gas development, though groups that have been singled out by the government maintain that only a small portion of their overall revenue comes from non-Canadian sources.

Mr. Allan’s draft report points to a presentation prepared in 2008 by a collection of environmental groups that referred to the “Tar Sands Campaign” and outlined a strategy to use public activism and legal challenges to oppose pipelines and other oil and gas projects. The draft concludes Canadian environmental groups co-ordinated between themselves and with their American funders and that they have played a role in reduced investment in the sector.

However, the draft does not make any findings of wrongdoing and repeatedly makes it clear that there is nothing inherently wrong with participating in such a campaign. The draft acknowledges that the environmentalists and their funders appear to be motivated by a genuine concern about climate change.

“I wish to be clear that I do not find that participation in an anti-Alberta energy campaign is in any way improper or constitutes conduct that should be in any way impugned,” Mr. Allan writes.

“I am also prepared to accept that many of the [environmental groups] are driven by an honest concern about the threats of climate change,” he writes later.

In the draft, Mr. Allan complains that environmental groups “tend to advance an extreme ‘all-or-nothing’ position” on Alberta’s oil industry by advocating an end to expansion. He describes the environmental movement as an “industry” whose leaders are also concerned about their own jobs and the success of their organizations.

He says campaigns targeting the oil sector “may have played a role” in the cancellation of some oil and gas projects, though the draft says the inquiry found no evidence that activists alone have been responsible. He also points to broader problems facing the industry, including a collapse in oil prices in 2014 that sent Alberta’s economy into a recession.

“I also note that oil and gas developers and marketers have suffered from a growing negative image due, in no small part, to off-fossil fuel campaigns,” the draft says.

“These campaigners are particularly vocal in their efforts and engagement on economic and energy policy issues and debates that are important, on at least some level, to all Albertans and Canadians.”

A spokesman for Mr. Allan, Alan Boras, declined to comment on the draft report or whether the commissioner will meet his current deadline of next Friday. Once Mr. Allan submits his final report, the government has 90 days to release it.

Mr. Kenney’s office also declined to comment on the contents of the draft report but the Premier’s spokesman, Harrison Fleming, said in an e-mail that the government looks forward to reading Mr. Allan’s findings.

The inquiry has been criticized since its inception. Environmental groups complained that Mr. Allan’s original terms of reference, which have since been revised, prejudged the inquiry’s work and presumed that environmental groups had done something wrong.

They have also said they were given limited opportunity to respond. Mr. Allan did not seek formal input from environmental groups until last month and they were given just a few weeks to submit their responses.

Very little of Mr. Allan’s work has been made public. He submitted an interim report last year that hasn’t been released, and he declined to hold public hearings.

Opinion: Remembering the most important civil rights hero most Americans have never heard of

Opinion by Peniel E. Joseph 

Robert Parris Moses, who passed away this week at the age of 86, is the most important civil rights activist most Americans have never heard of. He died on what would have been the 80th birthday of Emmett Till, the Black boy lynched in 1955 whose open-casket funeral put the violence that defined Jim Crow Mississippi on national display.

© Robert Elfstrom/Villon Films/Archive Photos/Getty Images 

Moses, seen here in New York in 1964, was the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius grant."

Throughout his life, Moses shunned the limelight but, for a time during the first half of the 1960s, it came anyway. As the architect of Freedom Summer in 1964, Moses came to embody one of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) most hopeful, enduring slogans: "Come, let us build a new world together." Though historically Moses has not received the credit he deserved because he did not consciously seek the spotlight, the legacy of this giant was and is everywhere.

Moses represents the best of a generation of radical democratic activists whose efforts helped to change American society in ways that are still contested and unfolding. His story, one that is full of twists and turns, reflects the ongoing struggle to achieve multiracial democracy in a nation founded in racial slavery.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris each offered statements of tribute to Moses' heroic activism. And with good reason. Bob Moses came early to social justice activism early and stayed late.

The unlikely icon changed Mississippi

A Harlem-bred graduate of the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, Moses graduated from Hamilton College, and pursued a Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University before abandoning his studies after his mother's untimely death to care for his emotionally devastated father. In 1960, when the sit-in movement began, Moses left his job teaching math at Horace Mann High School in New York City to join the movement. His initial ambition to work for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. turned, by accidental good fortune, into a fast friendship with Ella Baker, the veteran organizer who founded SNCC.

Moses would become SNCC's key organizer in Mississippi. With his horn-rimmed glasses, baby face and denim bib overalls, Moses became an unlikely icon; the further he strayed from the trappings of celebrity, ego and fame, the more of a following he attracted. The mathematician in Moses regarded democracy as a test that required political experimentation, strategic flexibility and the ability to leverage grassroots ambitions in service of national change. The philosopher in him proved capable of inspiring colleagues, who ranged from future Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael to student activist (later documentary filmmaker) Judy Richardson.

In the towns of Mississippi, Bob Moses directed the first of SNCC's many voting rights projects and galvanized much of the momentum that defined civil rights advocacy throughout the 1960s. Moses' 1961 sojourn in McComb in Pike County in particular set off political shockwaves that transformed America. Confronting segregation, Black poverty and Jim Crow, Moses observed White supremacy in the raw. Black residents courageous enough to support his voting rights efforts suffered violence and he himself was arrested and assaulted. In a letter from jail, Moses described Mississippi as the "middle of the iceberg" of racial hatred that he devoted his entire life to confronting.

Freedom Summer, three years later, represented Moses' most audacious effort of the civil rights era. He proposed, over objections from supporters and critics alike, a two-month proving ground for American democracy in the Magnolia State. Recruiting over one thousand predominantly White volunteers destined to interact with an overwhelmingly poor, Black, and rural communities where voting had ceased to exist after Reconstruction. Moses held the ability to inspire local Black folk, White volunteers and Black students eager to be of service to a cause they all instantly recognized as larger than themselves. Both sets of Black and White volunteers and Black residents faced threats from Mississippi law enforcement and White vigilantes, who in many cases were difficult to distinguish from one another.

The murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner (two White volunteers and one Black) in Mississippi made national news that summer; their bodies were recovered in an earthen dam in August, and before that the search for them in local rivers recovered body parts of dead Black people. Despite this and other brutal acts of violence, Freedom Summer went forward, with volunteers organizing Freedom Schools, civics classes, libraries, mass meetings and cultural and arts events in parts of the state where Black people had long been denied any access to citizenship at all. Also in 1964, after Black people were excluded from the all-White Mississippi delegation to the Democratic National Convention, Moses helped create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and was part of an effort with the candidate for vice president, Hubert Humphrey, to have their delegation recognized.


Freedom Summer's enduring influence

Freedom Summer's influence -- and Moses' -- persisted throughout the 1960s and beyond. White participants, such as Mario Savio, organized social justice movements like the Berkeley Free Speech Movement on college campuses that amplified work already being done by Black activists. Moses' efforts catalyzed anti-war and anti-imperialism activism within and outside of SNCC and the Black Freedom Movement. Moses decried America's indiscriminate use of force domestically and overseas in the name of freedom and democracy. He linked anti-Black violence, poverty, and segregation at home with America's imperial dreams abroad. Years before Martin Luther King Jr. took a decisive stance against the Vietnam War, Moses plaintively asked a journalist, "What do you do when the whole country has a sickness?"

He answered his own question through action. He viewed the brutality of White supremacy in the South not as a regional aberration but as a mirror reflecting the national soul of America.

Bob Moses did not escape the tumult of the 1960s unscathed. Moses battled through depression and feelings of defeat but renewed his political faith in radical social change at every step of the way. For a time, he changed his name to Bob Parris (his middle name) and in 1965 at a SNCC conference in Atlanta held at Gammon Theological Seminary announced to stunned colleagues, "I will no longer speak to White people." In 1966, he left America for Tanzania where he spent a decade teaching math.

Upon returning to the US, he founded The Algebra Project, devised to offer a high-quality math education to predominantly Black public-school children who faced innumerable challenges even after the civil rights victories Moses helped to orchestrate. He likened the absence of math education to the voter registrations movements of the 1960s.

The recipient of a MacArthur "Genius grant," Moses also generously spent time recounting his movement days to younger generations of scholars and writers (including this one) eager to capture the spirit of the times from a figure whose analytical, soaring mind remained grounded in the struggles of the Black quotidian. I spoke with him by telephone in the process of researching a biography of Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) and found him to be patient, insightful and perceptive. He answered questions he undoubtedly heard before as if they were revelatory and fresh.

Moses should be remembered as a patriot who endeavored to do the back-breaking labor of registering Black people to vote in places where they lived under a feudal system of racial oppression: small towns run by White families whose legacies could be traced back to antebellum America, where anti-Black violence was normalized as ordinary, mundane even. He confronted, struggled against and came to understand that changing these circumstances required more than legal and legislative reform, although these were important ingredients. Hearts and minds needed healing -- but he knew even that was not enough.

We haven't yet reached "enough." Moses, as a SNCC leader, anti-war activist, math educator, husband, father and citizen set the United States on a better course; we owe him an immeasurable debt of gratitude that can only be repaid by taking action in our own lives to continue his work.

   

Bob Moses in 1964, speaking to civil rights workers during

 training for the Mississippi Project, an effort to register black voters.

BOB MOSES  SPEAKING

David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles

The Monopolization of Everything

[S3 E18] New

In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey asserts that capital is becoming ever more centralized. We are seeing the monopolization of housing and rental markets, Pharma, media, and the means of distribution. The monopolization of power is inevitable in capitalism. However, according to Harvey, there are significant barriers to the continuity of capital accumulation. People are growing dissatisfied with the current economic conditions, a political system does not work for the benefit of the population, and are more and more at odds with the ruling ideas.  We have a crisis of ideology, a crisis of economy, a crisis in the environment and a crisis of the future in terms of demographic possibilities.

David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a  @Democracy At Work  production. To our supportive and generous Patreon community: thank you for supporting this podcast. Your contributions help us compensate the staff and workers it takes to put each episode together. Thank you for being part of the ACC team!

The Spectre of Steroids: Nazi Propaganda, Cold War Anxiety and Patriarchal Paternalism

Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie

Abstract:

This essay demonstrates that certain fears in North America and Western Europe over steroid and other banned substance use in sport can be tied to three post-WWII events: reports that the Nazis had abused steroids to increase troop aggressiveness during WWII; claims during the cold war that Communist countries' athletes were utilizing steroids for purposes of totalitarian regime building similar to the manner in which the Nazis had allegedly used them; and allegations that east bloc female athletes were being used to further the cause of Communist regimes by being forced to accept the androgenizing effects of anabolic steroids and other hormone treatments. It is only with a full understanding of the repressed anxieties engendered by these events that the status of current banned substance policies can be fully and accurately evaluated.

PDF

Fastest, Highest, Strongest: A Critique of High-Performance ...

by R Beamish · Cited by 237 — ... Francis from Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie, “The Spectre of Steroids: Nazi Propaganda, Cold War Anxiety and Patriarchal Paternalism” in The

YUKON
‘The world needs to take serious and immediate action’: Old Crow temperatures sound alarm on climate change

On July 22, Old Crow reached a historic high of 29.7 degrees Celsius, according to Environment Canada. The heat warning issued that day was the second since 2018.

Old Crow joins a growing group of exceptional heat readings and warnings from around the globe. On July 22, the Washington Post reported that “no fewer than five powerful heat domes are swelling over the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere.”

All-time record highs have been set in northern Ireland, northern Japan and Turkey while swarms of wildfires have engulfed British Columbia, California and Siberia.

But heat is not the only story.

The record high temperatures in Old Crow came after three weeks of extraordinarily low water levels in the Porcupine River. Benoit Turcotte, senior researcher in hydrology and climate change at Yukon University, explained that this year marks the lowest level ever recorded in a 46-year tracking period for the Old Crow River, which flows into the Porcupine River from Old Crow flats.

Crow Flats are a special management area in the traditional territory of the Vuntut Gwitchen, an area long recognized for its unique network of lakes and wetlands. Elders said the area had always acted as a ‘food bank’ with a rich diversity of inter-connected mammals, birds and plants.

Norma Kassi grew up in Old Crow. When she was very young, her grandfather warned of massive changes that would come to the area. He told her that she might not see the same lakes once she had children.

Twenty years ago, many birds left the flats. Zelma Lake vanished as melting permafrost literally collapsed the lake bottom and the water drained away. Other lakes disappeared. Animals moved to other areas and massive tracks of mud slumped on creeks and lake shores. Willows crept everywhere.

Crow Flats’ massive network of lakes feed the Old Crow and Porcupine rivers. Turcotte said today’s historically low water levels are cumulative, and the result of several years of decrease in the Porcupine River basin. This year is not a one-off.

For decades, Old Crow residents called for the world to notice as caribou habitat deteriorated, permafrost melted, lakes disappeared, and river levels dropped, affecting their food harvesting habits and traditional practices.

Kassi, now a highly recognized climate change educator and advocate, is amazed at the rapidity of the changes she has witnessed.

“Events have been so dramatic — the loss of culture and way of life,” she said.

The connection of climate change markers at play in the northern Yukon is remarkable, and disconcerting. Scientists are paying attention. The official from Environment Canada and Turcotte both expressed sadness at the cumulative indicators, sensing an inevitable expectation of other ramifications.

Low water levels and high temperatures spiral to increase water temperatures which accelerates permafrost melt which destabilizes land and water bodies, further impacting fish spawning, bird nesting and muskrat and caribou habitat which further disrupts traditional harvesting and cultural practices, inevitably impacting health and social well-being and an Indigenous way of life.

Kassi said “they should have listened earlier,” as the climate is now substantially changed. Now the emphasis is on protecting the caribou and remaining boreal forests.

“It is not too late but the world needs to take serious, and immediate action,” she said.

Environment Canada sees a slight cooling trend for Old Crow in the next week. But according to a North American ensemble of data, there is a 50 to 70 per cent probability that temperatures will return to high levels again at the beginning of August.

Environment Canada reminded that averages don’t really represent “normal” temperatures. We are living in a period of extremes and outliers.

Lawrie Crawford, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yukon News

China tries to ease investor fears over crackdown: report

Issued on: 29/07/2021 

Chinese recent regulatory crackdown has sent stocks plunging ISAAC LAWRENCE 

Beijing (AFP)

Beijing scramble to calm investors after a crackdown on some of China's biggest firms rattled markets with regulators calling bankers in for a last-minute call Wednesday night, Bloomberg reported.

The call hosted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission included executives of international investment banks, Bloomberg added.

The business models of private tutoring firms were obliterated by a shock announcement on Saturday that they must become non-profits, sending stock prices crashing.

A source with knowledge of the call on Wednesday told Bloomberg that bankers were given the impression that the sudden edicts for education companies were not going to ripple out to other industries.

The crackdown on the sector is the latest in a series of new rules for industries ranging from education to e-commerce.

Proposed new cybersecurity checks on internet firms planning foreign IPOs have been followed by shelved listings, recently.

Authorities have moved to calm spooked markets this week.

Multiple local media outlets on Wednesday night republished a commentary from the official Xinhua news agency that declared "the foundation for China's capital market development is still solid".

The recent new rules are "not restrictions and suppression targeting the relevant industries", the commentary said, arguing that the policies are instead aimed at "preventing disorderly capital expansion" and strengthening anti-trust measures.

China's recent crackdown has impacted nearly every aspect of modern life.

E-commerce empire Alibaba was hit with a record antitrust fine in April and leading ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing was banned from Chinese app stores days after its New York IPO this month.

© 2021 AFP

China's crackdown on its biggest companies

NOT COMMUNISM JUST GOOD OLD FASHIONED STATE CAPITALI$M

Issued on: 29/07/2021

Tech titan Tencent is among the many companies swept up in China's crackdown across multiple industries NOEL CELIS AFP/File

Beijing (AFP)

With market-trembling new rules and investigations, Beijing's crackdown on its most prominent companies has seeped into nearly every aspect of modern life, wiping billions of dollars from Chinese and Hong Kong-listed stocks and bamboozling investment sages.

From after-school tutoring to music streaming apps, and shopping to bike-sharing, stellar firms have been hit as Beijing tightens the leash on corporations, citing national security and antitrust concerns.

Whether motivated by the control reflexes of the Communist Party or to avoid market contortions hurting the pockets and safety of the Chinese public, few expect this to be the end of the crackdown.


Here are some of the sectors caught in regulators' jaws so far.

- Food delivery -

Top food delivery app Meituan's shares have fallen about 15 percent from Friday after regulators suddenly announced new worker protection rules this week.

Employers in China's booming food delivery sector, a lunchtime lifeline for millions of office workers, must now enforce minimum salary levels and "relax delivery time limits".

Meituan and rival Alibaba-owned Ele.me have come under fire in recent months after local media exposed the dangerous routes taken by drivers on tight delivery deadlines.

Hong Kong-listed Meituan's stocks had already taken a beating in April when regulators launched an antitrust probe of its lifestyle super-app, which also allows users to book entertainment, health and leisure services.

- Education -

Beijing also trotted out new rules on Saturday requiring tutoring companies to become non-profits and forbidding weekend classes, sending the valuations of private education stocks plunging. Analysts said the move made the companies virtually univestable.

The government said the industry, worth $260 billion in 2018 according to consultancy and research firm L.E.K. Consulting, had been "hijacked by capital".

The founders of New Oriental and Gaotu Techedu almost instantly lost their billionaire statuses after the rules were announced.

Their fortunes were built by capitalising on China's hyper-competitive education system where parents try to give their children any advantage they can afford.

- Ride-hailing -

Market-leader Didi Chuxing was banned from Chinese app stores in early July, just days after raising $4.4 billion in a New York IPO.

The company had gone ahead with its debut despite pushback from Chinese authorities concerned that a listing could place Didi's user data in foreign hands.

Beijing eventually sent officials from seven government departments to the firm for on-site cybersecurity investigations.

The company, whose stock has fallen around 40 per cent since its Wall Street listing, could face a multibillion dollar fine or suspension of certain operations as a punishment, Bloomberg reported last week.

- Cryptocurrency -

Beijing has also squeezed out of its market miners and traders of bitcoin and other digital currencies, arresting more than a thousand people for laundering money using cryptocurrencies in June.

China banned crypto trading in 2019 and multiple provinces have ordered energy-intensive crypto-mining outfits to shut down in recent months, citing concerns about spiking power consumption.

Analysts say China fears cryptocurrency transactions could aid illicit investment and threaten government controls on capital outflows.

The crackdown also allows China room to introduce its own digital currency, which can be monitored by the central government.

- Online shopping -

Jack Ma's e-commerce empire Alibaba was fined a record 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) by antitrust authorities in April, after the government said it had "abused its dominant position in the market" by forbidding merchants to advertise wares on rival sites.

A planned $35 billion listing by its fintech arm Ant Financial was scrapped by authorities late last year, with Ant ordered to jettison its financial services and return to its roots as an online payment platform.

- Entertainment -

Social media and entertainment behemoth Tencent has come under increasing pressure. The state market regulator shot down plans for a merger between Huya and Douyu, China's two largest video game live-streaming sites that Tencent owns stakes in. The merger would have granted it majority control over the combined entity.

Tencent's entertainment empire faced a new setback on Saturday after the State Administration for Market Regulation ruled that the company must give up its exclusive rights deals with music labels after violating antitrust laws.

Meanwhile, TikTok parent Bytedance, Tencent and dozens of other private companies were summoned by regulators in April and urged to "heed the warning" of Alibaba.

- Who's next? -

Online platforms with more than a million users have been ordered to submit to cybersecurity reviews before overseas IPOs.

This could have a chilling effect on future listings by Chinese companies as they think twice about attracting Beijing's wrath.

That also sweeps in all manner of start-ups in China's vast consumer market.

Bike-sharing platform Hello Inc said it would scrap a planned Nasdaq IPO in a regulatory filing Wednesday, shortly after the popular Pinterest-like app Xiaohongshu put similar plans on hold.

Still, it appears officials have been spooked by the reaction to their latest moves. On Wednesday regulators called top bankers in for a last-minute meeting to soothe fears about the crackdown, according to Bloomberg News.

The move came after several local media outlets on Wednesday night republished commentary from the official Xinhua news agency that declared "the foundation for China's capital market development is still solid".

Shares in badly hit tech and tuition firms rallied Thursday, while Hong Kong and mainland markets both surged after taking a beating at the start of the week.

© 2021 AFP