Fiery clash at UN as Pakistan, India trade extremism charges

Issued on: 25/09/2021 -

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses the UN General Assembly by video PETER FOLEY POOL/AFP


United Nations (United States) (AFP)

India and Pakistan clashed Friday at the United Nations as Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the rival of a "reign of terror" on Muslims, drawing a stern rebuke.

Even for Pakistan, which routinely castigates India at the world body, Khan's speech to the annual summit was strikingly loaded as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a plan to "purge India of Muslims."

"The worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India," Khan said in an address, delivered by video due to Covid precautions.

"The hate-filled Hindutva ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime, has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India's 200 million-strong Muslim community," he said.

Khan was referring to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and the affiliated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a century-old Hindu revivalist movement with a paramilitary component.

Under Modi, India has rescinded the statehood of Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority region, pushed through a citizenship law that critics call discriminatory and has witnessed repeated flare-ups of religious-based violence.

Speaking on the day Modi was visiting the White House, Khan -- who has yet to speak to President Joe Biden -- alleged that commercial interests with billion-plus India were allowing it to "get away with human rights abuses with complete impunity."

While India often ignores Pakistan's statements at the world body, a young Indian diplomat on the floor exercised the right to respond to Khan.

Sneha Dubey, a first secretary at India's UN mission, accused Pakistan of sheltering and glorifying Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden who was killed by US special forces in a 2011 raid in the army city of Abbottabad.

"This is the country which is an arsonist disguising itself as a firefight," she said.

"Pakistan nurtures terrorists in their backyard in the hope that they will only harm their neighbors."

She highlighted violence against minorities in Pakistan as well as its "religious and cultural genocide" in 1971 as Bangladesh won independence.

"Unlike Pakistan, India is a pluralistic democracy with a substantial population of minorities who have gone on to hold highest offices in the country," Dubey said.

Her reply triggered yet another response as a Pakistani diplomat, Saima Saleem, took issue with Dubey's contention that Kashmir, which is partially controlled by Islamabad, is an internal issue.

© 2021 AFP

Iceland votes as government hangs by a thread

Issued on: 25/09/2021 -

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir has been hailed for her handling of the Covid crisis Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP/File
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Reykjavik (AFP)

Iceland votes on Saturday in an election that could see its unprecedented left-right coalition lose its majority, despite bringing four years of stability after a decade of crises.

With the political landscape more splintered than ever, the process of forming a new coalition could be more complicated than in the past.

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, whose Left-Green Movement had never led a government before, is seeking a second mandate but the large number of parties could get in her way.

Opinion polls suggest a record nine parties out of 10 are expected to win seats in the Althing, Iceland's almost 1,100-year-old parliament.

That makes it particularly tricky to predict which parties could end up forming a coalition.

"It is challenging for the politicians but I think for democracy it is better to have everyone at the table," Thorsteinn Thorvaldsson, a 54-year-old voter, told AFP on the eve of the election.

"When I was younger it was simpler, there were four parties, now we have 10. But it is interesting," he said.

With 33 of 63 seats, the outgoing coalition is a mix of the conservative Independence Party, the centre-right Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement.

- 'Different opportunities' -

Some opinion polls suggest the current coalition will manage to secure a very narrow majority but others say it will fail.

"Because there are so many parties, I think there will be a lot of different opportunities to form a government," Prime Minister Jakobsdottir told AFP in an interview this week.

This is only the second time since 2008 that a government has made it to the end of its four-year mandate 

Odd ANDERSEN AFP/File

While she is broadly popular, her party is hovering around 10-12 percent in the polls and risks losing several seats.

During her four-year term, Jakobsdottir has introduced a progressive income tax system, increased the social housing budget and extended parental leave for both parents.

She has also been hailed for her handling of the Covid crisis, with just 33 deaths in the country of 370,000.

But she has also had to make concessions to keep the peace in her coalition, including a promise to create a national park in central Iceland which is home to 32 active volcano systems and 400 glaciers.

This is only the second time since 2008 that a government has made it to the end of its four-year mandate on the sprawling island.

Deep public distrust of politicians amid repeated scandals sent Icelanders to the polls five times from 2007 to 2017.

- 'Free-for-all' -

The Independence Party, which polls credit with around 20-24 percent of votes, also risks losing seats but is expected to remain the largest political party.

Its leader, Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, is a former prime minister who comes from a family that has long held power on the right.

He is eyeing the post of prime minister.

Iceland which is home to 32 active volcano systems and 400 glaciers

 Jeremie RICHARD AFP

Benediktsson has survived several political scandals, including being implicated in the 2016 Panama Papers leak that revealed offshore tax havens, and is standing in his fifth election.

"I'm optimistic, I feel supported," he told a campaign rally this week, insisting his party would continue to be "the backbone of the next government".

But there are five other parties all hot on his heels, credited with 10 to 15 percent of votes.

They are the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party, the Social Democratic Alliance, the libertarian Pirate Party and the centre-right Reform Party. A new Socialist Party is also expected to put in a strong showing.

"There is not a clear alternative to this government. If it falls and they can't continue, then it's just a free-for-all to create a new coalition," political scientist Eirikur Bergmann said.

Former prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson is eyeing the top job

 Halldor KOLBEINS AFP/File

First early results are expected on Saturday shortly after voting stations close at 10:00 pm (2200 GMT), but a clear picture is not expected to emerge until the next day.

© 2021 AFP

Realist or radical? French Greens pick presidential candidate

Issued on: 25/09/2021 - 

Rousseau, the Greens former deputy leader, sprang a surprise in the first round of online voting, finishing a close second 

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP

Paris (AFP)

A former Greenpeace campaigner who aims to unite the fractured French left will from Saturday do battle with a self-styled "eco-feminist" radical for the presidential nomination of France's Greens.

Seven months before the polls, Yannick Jadot, a 54-year-old member of the European Parliament, faces 49-year-old economist Sandrine Rousseau in the second round of the primary of Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV).

Regardless of who is on top when results are announced on Tuesday, neither is tipped to be among Emmanuel Macron's top challengers in the race for the presidency.

The Green political movement in France so far lacks the national firepower of counterparts in Germany, where Greens have a chance of featuring in a coalition government after Sunday's polls.

But after spectacular gains made by the EELV in municipal elections last year -- the party swept the boards in several big cities -- the environment was confirmed to be a major concern among voters.

Jadot, the only Greens member with nationwide name recognition, had been expected to easily win the nomination on a promise of pragmatic "solutions-driven" environmental policies.

But Rousseau, the party's former deputy leader, sprang a surprise in the first round of online voting last week, finishing a close second out of five candidates with 25.14 percent, compared to Jadot's 27.7 percent.

Jean-Daniel Levy of the Harris Interactive polling institute told AFP its studies showed that Rousseau would win only two percent of votes cast nationally if she was chosen, compared to six percent for Jadot.

He said within the wider left, Jadot was neck-and-neck with Hidalgo whose candidacy bid has got off to a slow start.

"The potential is greater for Jadot because he can rally disappointed Macron supporters, who would find it difficult to return to a Socialist candidate," Levy told AFP.

- Feminist credentials -

Analysts have credited the strong performance to Rousseau's feminist credentials after she went public with allegations of sexual harassment against a Greens leader during the #MeToo movement.

Her radical proposals on the economy and environment -- she wants to introduce a minimum living wage and significantly increase fuel prices and hike taxes on the rich -- have also mobilised the party base.

Yannick Jadot is the only Greens member with nationwide name recognition 

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP

In a sign of the interest generated by the contest, over 122,000 people have registered to cast a vote between September 25 and 28 -- four times the number that took place in the Greens primary of 2012.

The race is being closely watched by the two main parties of the left, the Socialists and far-left France Unbowed, both of whom fear losing votes to the Greens.

While Rousseau is seen more likely to take votes from France Unbowed's firebrand leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, the more moderate Jadot is seen as more of a threat to Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor of Paris, who is also running for president.

Most analysts expect the April elections to be a duel between Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen while emphasising that the emergence of a strong contender on the traditional right could yet upend these calculations.

© 2021 AFP

Denmark's 'freetown' Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

Issued on: 25/09/2021 

Nestled in the heart of Copenhagen, Christiania is seen by some as a progressive social experiment, while others simply see it as a den of drugs 

Mads Claus Rasmussen Ritzau Scanpix/AFP


Copenhagen (AFP)

A refuge for anarchists, hippies and artists, Denmark's 'freetown' Christiania turns 50 on Sunday, and though it hasn't completely avoided the encroachment of modernity and capitalism, its free-wheeling soul remains intact.

Nestled in the heart of Copenhagen, Christiania is seen by some as a progressive social experiment, while others simply see it as a den of drugs.

On September 26, 1971, a band of guitar-laden hippies transformed an abandoned army barracks in central Copenhagen into their home. They raised their "freedom flag" and named their new home "Christiania, Freetown" after the part of the city where it is located.

They wanted to establish an alternative society, guided by the principles of peace and love, where decisions were made collectively and laws were not enforced.

Soft drugs were freely available, and repurposing, salvaging and sharing was favoured over buying new.

It was a community "that belonged to everybody and to no one", says Ole Lykke, who moved into the 34-hectare (84-acre) enclave in the 1970s.

These principles remain well-rooted today, but the area has changed in many ways: tourists weave through its cobblestone roads, and the once-reviled market economy is in full swing.

The area has changed in many ways: tourists weave through its cobblestone roads, and the once-reviled market economy is in full swing 

Mads Claus Rasmussen Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

Perhaps most importantly, it is no longer a squat. Residents became legal landowners when they bought some of the land from the Danish state in 2012.

Now it is home to some 900 people, many artists and activists, along with restaurants, cafes and shops, popular among the half a million tourists that visit annually.

"The site is more 'normal'," says a smiling Lykke, a slender 75-year-old with ruffled silver hair, who passionately promotes Christiania, its independence and thriving cultural scene.

Legislation has been enforced since 2013 -- though a tongue-in-cheek sign above the exit points out that those leaving the area will be entering the European Union.

- 'Embrace change'-

It is Christiania's ability to adapt with the times that has allowed it to survive, says Helen Jarvis, a University of Newcastle professor of social geography engagement.

"Christiania is unique," says Jarvis, who lived in Christiania in 2010. "(It) endures because it continues to evolve and embrace change".

Some of those changes would have been unthinkable at the start.

Residents secured a bank loan for several million euros to be able to buy the land, and now Christiania is run independently through a foundation.

A parade in Christiania to mark 50 years since its founding Mads Claus 

Rasmussen Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

They also now pay wages to the around 40 people employed by Christiania, including trash collectors and daycare workers.

"Money is now very important," admits Lykke, who is an archivist and is currently exhibiting 100 posters chronicling Christiania's history at a Copenhagen museum.

But it hasn't forgotten its roots.

"Socially and culturally, Christiania hasn't changed very much," he says, noting that the community's needs still come first.

- 'Judged a little' -

Christiania has remained a cultural hub -- before the pandemic almost two dozen concerts were held every week and its theatres were packed.

But it is still beset by its reputations as a drugs hub.

Though parts of Christiania are tranquil, lush and green with few buildings, others are bustling, with a post office, minimarket, healthcare centre, and Pusher Street, the notorious drug market.

Lykke says it's a side of Christiania most could do without.

"Most of us would like to get rid of it. But as long as (marijuana use) is prohibited, as long as Denmark doesn't want to decriminalise or legalise, we will have this problem," says Lykke.

While still officially illegal, soft drugs like marijuana and hash are tolerated -- though not in excess.

Since early 2020, Copenhagen police have seized more than one tonne of cannabis and more than a million euros.

"Sometimes I don't tell people that I live here because you get judged a little bit. Like, 'Oh, you must be into marijuana and you must be a smoker'," says Anemone, a 34-year-old photographer.

For others, Christiania's relaxed nature is part of the appeal.

"It's different from what I know, I really want to see it," laughs Mirka, a Czech teacher who's come to have a look around.

© 2021 AFP

Clashes as Chile police evict migrant squatters

Issued on: 24/09/2021 - 

Thousands of illegal migrants, mainly Venezuelan families, started arriving in Iquique a year ago

 MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

Iquique (Chile) (AFP)

Chilean police clashed with undocumented migrants in the Pacific port city of Iquique Friday as authorities evicted hundreds who have been squatting in a public square for months.

About 100 police took part in the operation that left one person injured and resulted in five arrests on the Plaza Brasil, officials reported.

Thousands of illegal migrants, mainly Venezuelan families, started arriving in Iquique a year ago, living on the streets in tents and surviving through charity donations, begging or doing odd jobs for cash.

Many of them arrived on foot after an exhausting journey via Bolivia. Many had lived in Peru before coming to Chile, and told AFP they left there due to heightened anti-Venezuelan xenophobia.

As police moved in to expel the migrants, some resisted. One injury and five arrests were reported 

MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

As police moved in to expel them on Friday, some resisted as residents of the neighborhood looked on -- some in support of the police, others denouncing the action.

"It cannot go on like this," said one neighbor, who identified herself only as Mariela.

"I had to move and I have not been able to rent out my house (because) our square has been taken over: there they eat, they go to the bathroom. One cannot live like this," she told AFP.

"The authorities have not come up with a solution for them or for us."

- 'Like we're animals' -

The authorities did not respond to AFP's attempts to find out where the migrants were taken.

The evacuation took place on the eve of a march planned in the city against undocumented migrants.

Joselyn, a 30-year-old Venezuelan who would not give her surname, said many among the squatters had sought to rent accommodation legally, "but the owners said no, simply because we are migrants."

The evacuation took place on the eve of a march planned in the city against undocumented migrants 

MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

Luis, another Venezuelan migrant aged 24, wondered what would happen to them.

"They are not giving us any papers, they are kicking us out like we're animals. Animals are not even treated like this," he said.

Local authorities and residents claim crime has increased since the arrival of the migrants.

"The evacuation of these spaces has to do with the fact that it is not allowed to use public spaces with a recreational purpose to put up temporary housing," said Interior Minister Rodrigo Delgado.

Many of the migrants who enter Chile from the north are headed for Santiago or further south with the help of family or friends already there, but others without resources or even identity papers get stuck in mining or industrial cities in the north.

© 2021 AFP

Migrants leave US-Mexican border camps

Issued on: 25/09/2021 - 

A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas 

PAUL RATJE AFP/File

Ciudad Acuña (Mexico) (AFP)

Almost all of the mostly Haitian migrants who had gathered on both sides of the US-Mexico border have left their makeshift camps, ending a standoff that had provoked a major border crisis for the Biden administration.

At Ciudad Acuna on the Mexican side, AFP saw migrants packing up their belongings and getting into vans taking them to a shelter, after a deal struck with the Mexican government.

Just hours beforehand the United States had announced that the last of the migrants who were camping illegally under a bridge on the Texas side of the border had either left 

"As of this morning, there are no longer any migrants at the camp underneath the Del Rio bridge," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters at the White House.

Around 2,000 were flown to Haiti on 17 expulsion flights, Mayorkas said, while "others have been moved to processing facilities along the border."

"Many of them will be returned to Haiti from there," he said.

The Homeland Security chief said an estimated 8,000 had voluntarily returned across the border to Mexico, some 12,400 individuals will have their cases heard by an immigration judge, and another 5,000 are being processed to determine if they will be removed or not.

In Ciudad Acuna, city council secretary Felipe Basulto said migrants currently at the shelter would not be detained or deported, and that they could move around the city "with complete confidence."

He said they would be able to try and resolve their immigration status while at the shelter, which is being administered by the National Migration Institute "precisely so that they can offer them an alternative of legally staying in the country."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said all migrants had been removed or had left the Del Rio bridge in Texas 

MANDEL NGAN AFP

The relocation came hours after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he did not want his country to become "a migrant camp."

"We want the underlying problem to be addressed," he said, urging the United States to invest in economic development in Central America so people do not need to flee poverty.

- 'Outrageous treatment' -

Despite the camps' emptying, some Haitians continued to arrive in the US city of Monterrey on Friday.

"If I find work to live here, to support my family, I have no problem staying," Joseph Yorel told AFP on Friday.

The sudden appearance of thousands of desperate Haitians, who traveled through much of Latin America to reach the United States, has caused a major headache for President Joe Biden's administration.

The issue was brought into sharp relief after uproar over photos of confrontations between border patrol officers on horseback and Haitians on foot.

Showing officers wielding long leather reins and dressed in some cases in clothing reminiscent of Westerns, the photos for many evoked distressing images of vigilante justice or even the US slavery era.

In his first comments on the disturbing images, Biden said it was "outrageous" and promised "consequences."

"It was horrible... to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped," Biden said. "It's outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay."

President Joe Biden said confrontations between border patrol agents on horseback and Haitian migrants were 'outrageous'

 Anna Moneymaker GETTY IMAGES/AFP

He added: "An investigation is underway now, and there will be consequences."

- Biden in a bind -

Biden took office in January vowing to reverse what he called his Republican predecessor Donald Trump's inhumane policies at the southern border.

Trump, who regularly warned that US borders were being overwhelmed and claimed falsely that immigrants were bringing large-scale crime and disease, focused much of his presidency on promises to control the frontiers.

Biden finds himself in a bind eight months into his presidency, with huge numbers of would-be migrants being apprehended after crossing illegally from Mexico, including 200,000 people in August.

The government had allowed some of the more vulnerable migrants to register and enter the United States.

However, many of the Haitian migrants were ordered to be flown immediately back to Haiti, the country they'd fled in some cases years earlier.

The US special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest Thursday, citing the "inhumane, counterproductive decision."

At the same time, Biden is hammered daily by Republicans and the Fox News network which portrays the southern border as out of control and the White House as surrendering American security.

© 2021 AFP

For Haitian migrants, Mexican reality replaces US dream

Issued on: 24/09/2021 -

A Haitian migrant bathes in the Rio Grande river in Ciudad Acuna at the Mexican-US border 

Ciudad Acuña (Mexico) (AFP)

The American dream is fading for Haitian migrants confronted with the harsh reality at the US border with Mexico, where some are considering staying and getting a job to survive instead.

"I'm not in a hurry to enter the United States. If I find an opportunity, yes, but if I can't, I'm not going to risk crossing there," said 29-year-old mother Yslande Saint Ange.

"If I can't and the Mexican authorities can help us with papers to be allowed to look for a job, rent a room, then we can stay with no worries," she added.

Around the park in Ciudad Acuna where they have set up a makeshift camp, men and women gathered discussing what to do given the US repatriation of Haitians trying to cross over.

They were still recovering from the fright caused by the sudden arrival of dozens of Mexican police officers before dawn on Thursday, in what initially appeared to be a massive raid.

"I got up running and told my husband to run because the migration authorities are going to take us," Saint Ange said.

- 'Like hell' -

Mexican immigration officials then entered the camp to announce that the operation was to "protect" the migrants and "invite" them to return to the southern city of Tapachula while their refugee applications are processed.

A man carries a child on his shoulders as Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande river between Ciudad Acuna in northern Mexico and Del Rio, Texas 

PEDRO PARDO AFP

Tapachula, located near the border with Guatemala, is already crammed with tens of thousands of Central Americans and Haitians.

Many of the Haitians had been living in Chile and Brazil, which gave them refuge after the 2010 earthquake that left around 200,000 people dead in their country.

Most of those in Ciudad Acuna left Tapachula because they were tired of the daily struggle to survive there.

"If I go to Tapachula, what can I do? I left my country four years ago... I have nothing -- nothing!" said Hollando Altidor, 25.

"Tapachula looks like hell for us, with deportation in the future too," added a young man sitting next to Altidor who did not want to give his name.

Marc Desilhomme, 29, said he was ready to stay in Mexico if he can send money to his daughter who lives in Chile.

"For now I don't have anything. I don't have money and I have a girl to help. Before that I need papers to work, because you know that migration hassles you if you don't have papers," he said.

- 'Not on vacation' -

The situation is more urgent for people traveling with children.

When the police arrived, Etlover Doriscar grabbed his son and wife by the hand and fled with just the clothes on his back, fearing that they would be detained.

"You can never fight with the police or immigration. They know what they can do with us and there's nothing we can do," the 32-year-old said.

Tens of thousands of migrants, many of them Haitians previously living in South America, have arrived in recent weeks in Mexico hoping to enter the United States PEDRO PARDO AFP

Attempting to cross into the United States and risk deportation back to his country is out of the question for Doriscar.

Nor does he plan to return to Brazil, where he worked for seven years as an Uber driver -- a job that he said did not pay enough to support his family.

The Mexican refugee commission is struggling with a backlog of requests for documents, and some of the migrants in Tapachula have been waiting for months for their papers.

Sonja Pierre, who arrived at the border a week ago, said commission officials should come to Ciudad Acuna to help the migrants with documents instead of sending them back to Tapachula.

"We're poor. We're looking for work. We're not on vacation," the 43-year-old said.

'They won't stop me': Haitians stuck in Colombia keep sights on US

Issued on: 25/09/2021 - 

Haitian migrants Benedictine Point Du Jour (R) and her son Roberth are undeterred in their quest to make it to the United States, come what may 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

Necocli (Colombia) (AFP)

Halfway on their perilous journey to the United States, news reaches a Haitian mother and son near the Colombian border with Panama that American officials are deporting their newly arrived compatriots by the thousands.

But Benedictine and Roberth Point Du Jour are undeterred by the disturbing images of Haitian border-crossers being detained on arrival in Texas from Mexico.

"My goal is to get there and they cannot stop me," said the mother, 42, who began the journey with her son on August 6 from Chile, where many Haitians found refuge after a devastating earthquake in 2010.

With economies struggling from the fallout of the coronavirus epidemic and travel restrictions being lifted, many are now making their way north through Central America with dreams of a better life in the United States.

The Point Du Jours find themselves stuck in the coastal town of Necocli in northwest Colombia with some 19,000 other undocumented migrants, mainly Haitians, trying to enter Panama.

Some have been stranded here for weeks, waiting for seats on boats that cross the Gulf of Uraba to Acandi on the Panama border.

There are only 250 boat tickets available every day.

The migrants are waiting for limited places on a boat to Acandi, on the Panama border Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

From Acandi, they will start on foot -- and armed with machetes, lanterns and tents -- the dangerous trek of at least five days to Panama through the Darien jungle, battling snakes, steep ravines, swollen rivers, tropical downpours and criminals often linked to drug trafficking.

In a recent report, Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym MSF) said criminal gangs in the jungle prey on migrants, and assaults and rapes are common.

- Fear of drowning -

Still in Necocli, Roberth Point Du Jour on Thursday recounted his biggest fear: drowning on the 40-mile (60-kilometer) journey across the gulf.

"The second (fear) is that they will deport me," he said, "because the thing I want most is to make something of myself in life."

Nearly 20,000 undocumented migrants, mainly Haitians, are stuck in the northwestern Colombian town of Necocli, trying to make their way to Panama and ultimately the United States

 Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

The US government came in for much criticism over images of mounted border patrol officers wielding long leather reins and confronting a slew of migrants crossing the border from Mexico.

Many have been driven back, and some 1,400 others repatriated to Haiti on a series of flights.

"It's a shame but my goal is... to get there, no matter what," Benedictine insisted, stubbornly.

Waiting their turn, she and her son are renting accommodation in Necocli -- a town of some 45,000 people -- for $10 a night.

Many other migrants have no choice but to camp on the beach.

"It's too late to go back now," said Frank, a 38-year-old Haitian who also made the trip from Chile and withholds his family name for fear of reprisals from authorities along the way.

Six countries still separate him from the United States, where friends and family await.

So far this year, an estimated 60,000 people have crossed the Colombia-Panama border Raul 

ARBOLEDA AFP

Frank is travelling with five relatives including a baby of six months.

Under an agreement between the governments of Panama and Colombia, no more than 650 migrants are allowed to cross the border every day, contributing to the bottleneck.

Some 11,500 people have managed to buy tickets to make the boat trip to Acandi by October 13, and a further unknown number of people are trying to make the crossing on "illegal" vessels, according to Colombia's human rights ombudsman Carlos Camargo.

- 'Do not come' -

All this despite US officials insisting in recent months that undocumented migrants will not be allowed entry.

"Do not come," Vice President Kamala Harris said in June. "You will be turned back."

But officials say there have been several thousand new arrivals at Necocli in recent weeks.

So far this year, an estimated 60,000 people have crossed the Colombia-Panama border -- a key crossing for migrants fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries in search of a better life up north.

Many did not make it through the forest, according to their fellow travelers.

Those who make it to Panama, MSF said in a report last month, are generally held for processing and deportation.

Those with pending administrative or judicial processes -- refugee applications, for example, or giving testimony against human traffickers -- can be held at a migrant reception center for weeks or months.

"The centers are a source of complaints, as those who are held there face inadequate food and shelter, a lack of clean water and showers, and no means to communicate with their families," MSF said.

© 2021 AFP

Canada needs to start looking for new subs now, says report

Canada should move quickly to ensure its aging submarine fleet is replaced on time, considering the build-up in submarine capability by countries like Russia and China and the “relative decline” of the United States, according to a new paper from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.


© Provided by National PostHMCS Windsor, one of Canada's four Victoria-class long range patrol submarines, in Halifax port in 2018. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Canada needs to have replacement submarines before the current fleet of four diesel-electric Victoria-class subs is decommissioned, the paper authored by political science professor Jeffrey Collins says, given “Canada’s ability to exert influence in its vast maritime domain will be tested as the demand for resources and northern sea access increases in the coming decades.”

The federal government has allotted up to $10 billion for separate projects to modernize and maintain its current submarines, but even with those initiatives the paper says “serious questions remain” about whether Canada will have a replacement ready by the time they are decommissioned, sometime between 2036 and 2042.

That might “not appear to be a particularly urgent timeline,” said former vice-admiral Mark Norman in an interview. But because complex procurements like this can take 12 to 15 years, that “gives us one to two years to really get this project properly initiated and oriented.”

The paper was released the same week as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States entered a new partnership, known as AUKUS, that will see Australia obtain nuclear-powered submarines.

Kim Nossal, a professor emeritus of international relations at Queen’s University, said that it’s not accurate to characterize Canada as being “excluded” from the AUKUS initiative. That agreement came out of an Australian ask for nuclear power technology sharing following a “nightmare” program to buy French submarines.

“It was that initiative then that basically turned into AUKUS. There was no notion here that the Brits and the Americans and the Australians said ‘Oh, let’s see who else might be interested in this arrangement’.”

Nossal said he agrees with the MLI report on the need to replace Canada’s Victoria-class submarines. Unless Canada substantially stepped up in another defence area, “getting out of the sub business would mean that our friends and allies (and, of course, those who oppose our friends and allies) would take Canada even less seriously in defence matters than they do now,” he said.

It would also “effectively cede operational control over our coastal and Arctic waters to others,” both allies and enemies, Nossal added.

That doesn’t mean Canada should opt for nuclear submarines like Australia did, according to Nossal. “There is no willingness in Canada to spend the kind of money needed to buy a nuclear-powered sub fleet,” he said. Even if there was, countries who make nuclear-powered subs aren’t necessarily willing to share that technology with Canadians.

Norman, who wrote the foreword for the MLI paper, said Canada previously considered nuclear submarines on two occasions and opted not to go that route, for both practical and political reasons. He said given Canada’s geography, the country needs a submarine that’s capable of operating in and under the ice.

“It wasn’t that long ago that the only option for that was to consider nuclear propulsion,” but now the technology had advanced enough to allow “a broader conversation about other options.”

“We need to move forward with a viable program to replace the current capability,” said Norman. “And what that looks like, I don’t know, but it starts by having what I would characterize as a mature, open and transparent conversation.”

In July, the Canadian Press reported that the Royal Canadian Navy had created a team to start the process of replacing the current fleet, noting there is likely to be an “extremely controversial debate” about whether Canada needed them at all.

CP pointed out Canada’s current fleet spent more time undergoing repairs and maintenance than in the water, and required billions to address multiple problems with the submarines.

A new fleet of submarines would cost upwards of $5 billion. A 2003 estimate put the cost of four new subs at between $3 billion and $5 billion; as the MLI report pointed out, we “can easily expect that 20-year-old estimate to be higher.”

Such a large project could face political opposition from those who would rather those funds be spent elsewhere, and potential wariness from governments who might find defence an easy area for budget cuts.

“Defence expenditures in Canada are always subject to significant criticism,” Norman acknowledged. But he said even those who don’t like the idea can be receptive “when the conversation is well informed” and the reasons for the expenditures are adequately explained.

The MLI paper said our current subs are used for a variety of purposes, including surveillance and intelligence, building alliances and deterring opponents, and monitoring our waters. It pointed out that Russia’s subs are now more active in the Arctic and North Atlantic than any time since the Cold War.

At the same time, the Unites States is in decline “due to competing internal and external pressures including fleet overstretch, divided domestic institutions, quasi-isolationism, trade protectionism, and the return of great power rivalries for the first time in 80 years,” which MLI said puts more pressure on American allies.

“With China and Russia building up their respective nuclear and non-nuclear submarine fleets, it will become harder for Canada to ignore the need to maintain its submarine capability,” the paper argued. “The idea that Canada could return to its 1950s past of relying on US or UK submarines to undertake these missions on our behalf is myopic.”

Douglas Cardinal's exhibit of Turtle Island's finest architects coming to Edmonton


World-renowned architect Douglas Cardinal was in Edmonton Friday to announce an upcoming exhibition shining the spotlight on Indigenous architecture.


© Provided by Edmonton JournalArchitect and curator of Unceded: Voices of the Land, Douglas Cardinal provides a preview of the multi-media exhibit in Edmonton's Pendennis Building, 9660 Jasper Avenue, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.

Just ahead of Canada’s inaugural Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the Alberta-born Cardinal made the announcement in the newly restored Pendennis Building at 9666 Jasper Ave., now Métis-owned by Lorraine Bodnarek and Ed Cyrankiewicz.

Unceded: Voices of the Land is slated to open in this reclaimed space in March, sponsored by RoadShowz, a new urban retail concept supporting Indigenous initiatives, which has brought Cardinal onboard as a consultant.

First unveiled at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale — the most prestigious architectural exhibit in the world — Unceded: Voices of the Land showcases the work of 18 Indigenous architects and tells their story through an immersive, multimedia installation.

The candy colours of the northern lights are projected in geometric patterns that dance around the exhibit space and screens embedded in dedicated walls. Images of the beautiful buildings these architects are responsible for are interspersed by scenes of mossy forests and salmon running up rivers superimposed with undulating gridlines to demonstrate how these natural elements have been interpreted and translated into a representative form. Flutes like bird songs and gentle, rhythmic drumming like a soft and steady rain complete the story of our connection to the natural environment and the message delivered by these works.

“Stories invented us so they could be carried through the universe,” said Lewis Cardinal, Edmonton co-lead for Unceded YEG, who addressed Friday’s audience. “When you see yourself in someone else’s story, that is when we being to build relationships.”

Stories and relationships, with each other and the environment, are shared values that inform the work of these architects.

They first banded together to submit to the Canada Council for the Arts to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale, and asked Cardinal to be their lead presenter. These artists work across Canada and the United States, known as Turtle Island to Indigenous cultures, “because our people did not have borders,” Cardinal explained.

From Venice, the exhibition moved to the Canadian Museum of History, a building Pierre Elliott Trudeau commissioned Cardinal to design in 1989. Facing parliament along the banks of the Ottawa River, the museum’s curvilinear exterior echoes the flowing river, exemplifying Cardinal’s work that embraces our natural environment. It closed there in February of this year, and Edmonton is the installation’s next destination. Cardinal said it would continue on to New York, Portland, Oregon and California in the years to come.

Born in Alberta in 1934 of Métis decent, Cardinal’s name may not be immediately recognizable, but his organic buildings are a part of our local fabric. He built the Telus World of Science and St. Albert Place, which houses the city’s government while also acting as an arts and culture destination.

“Using the soft power of love is stronger than the hard power of force,” Cardinal stated, a message passed to him from Elders who have always informed his work.

It’s a lesson Cardinal also puts out to the world in these trying times, insisting we’ll only succeed if we “treat the earth and each other with a lot of love and caring.

“We have to come from our hearts in whatever we do.”


© David BloomA visitor gets a preview of the multi-media exhibit Unceded: Voices of the Land, in Edmonton’s Pendennis Building, 9660 Jasper Avenue, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.

jfeniak@postmedia.co

Environmental racism is real - and climate solutions need to involve vulnerable populations, experts say
kho@insider.com (Karen K. Ho) - 5h ago

© Anadolu Agency

Environmental-justice advocates know who's hit hardest by these floods

Environmental-justice advocates are helping shape government policies on climate solutions.

Policies need to consider communities that are the most vulnerable and suffer environmental hazards.

The US government's transition plan includes economic benefits for underserved communities.

Low-income and racialized communities are the most vulnerable populations in the climate crisis, and they're much more likely to suffer from climate disasters. Environmental-justice advocates are working to ensure that climate solutions from government policies address vulnerabilities that cause this disproportionate suffering, such as illegal basement housing.

Environmental-justice advocates are working to ensure that government policies about the transition to a greener economy are for everyone, including the people who've suffered the most from pollution and climate disasters in the past.

During a Climate Week panel on the roots of environmental justice in government action and policy on Thursday, panelists also said that a cleaner and greener economy needs to include low-income and racialized communities in determining the solutions, as well as give them a fair share of the economic gains.

The panelists highlighted the specific ways that communities of color suffered from different environmental issues, as well as the work needed to make sure these communities are included in budget discussions and new government investments. Issues identified as having disproportionate climate effects on low-income and racialized communities include housing, frontline workers in agriculture, and energy providers during cold snaps. Negative climate effects include air pollution, flooding, poor transit access, and fewer parks.

"Environmental racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color," said Peggy Shepard, a cofounder and the executive director of the community organization WEACT for Environmental Justice.

In January, President Joe Biden signed an executive order focused on the climate crisis. It included an initiative to have 40% of the overall benefits from specific federal investments going to underserved and underinvested communities, including in areas such as clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transportation; affordable and sustainable pollution reduction; training and workforce development; and clean water systems and wastewater systems.

"We've already been working with agencies on how we can meet this goal through the delivery of their programs," said Dr. Cecilia Martinez, the White House's senior director for environmental justice.

Corporate leaders should also be aware of environmental-justice laws such as the one signed in New Jersey in September 2020. As a result of the bill, permit applications for a large variety of facilities - including incinerators, gas-fired power plants, solid-waste depots, and landfills - would require evaluation of environmental and public-health effects by the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

"According to the law, it is in the public interest for the state to limit the future placement and expansion of these facilities in these overburdened communities," said Olivia Glenn, New Jersey's deputy commissioner for environmental justice and equity. "In other words, we have to do what our advocates have long shared: advance a triple bottom line of social, environmental, and economic benefits. These three are not mutually exclusive."

Corporations also need to be aware of how recommendations from members of the environmental-justice community could continue to shape regulatory policies well into the future. "Being a partner with government is critical, but so is being able to stand there and evaluate how the government is doing and how accountable they are to the public," Shepard said.

Another Murder Hornet Nest Was Just Destroyed Near The BC Border & Its Queen Is Horrifying

Canada Edition (EN) - 9h ago

© Provided by Narcity


In news that no one needed for 2021, another nest of murder hornets was found near the B.C. border in Washington State, but thankfully, it's been destroyed

According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), the nest of Asian Giant Hornets, a.k.a murder hornets, was dismantled on Thursday, September 23 and the picture they took of the queen is all kinds of upsetting.

This isn't the first nest that the agency has identified and dealt with. Back in August, they posted a very troubling video of the first nest they found.



The WSDA said that the queen from this most recent nest was a slightly different colour than the last queens they identified and quite frankly, she looks way too big to exist in this world.

The Invasive Species Council of BC says that Asian giant hornets can range in size from 2.5 to 5 centimetres. Just a few of the wasps can destroy a honey bee hive in minutes, which could pose a serious threat to pollinators.