Sunday, October 10, 2021

What to Know About the Vibrant Traditions of Día de los Muertos

McKenzie Jean-Philippe

Fri, October 8, 2021,

Day of the Dead—or Día de los Muertos—celebrates life.

With spirited traditions that largely take place across Mexico, Latin America, and the United States, family and friends come together to honor their lost loved ones on November 1 and 2. Traditions include gathering at cemeteries to enjoy traditional foods like pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and calaveras (sugar skulls), dressing up in eye-catching costumes, and assembling colorful floral decorations, which often include symbolic marigolds.

"This tradition is rooted in the native Mexican belief that life on earth is a preparation for the next world and of the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with the dead," Juan Aguirre, Executive Director of the Mexican culture non-profit Mano a Mano tells Oprah Daily.

But what is at the heart of these beloved festivities? Here's a look at the Day of the Dead's rich history, and some facts you might not have known about the Mexican holiday.

"It’s not a funeral. It’s not morbid, and it’s not about being spooky. It’s about joy and color and flavor and celebration, all the mixed emotions," James Beard Award-winning chef Pati Jinich adds."It’s a very Mexican thing to have extreme sadness with extreme joy at the same time."

Here's a look at the Day of the Dead's rich history, and some facts you might not have known about the Mexican holiday.

Día de los Muertos is not a somber occasion.

During the ancient Mexican holiday, it's believed that spirits of the dead momentarily return to the land of the living, for a brief reunion. The community looks at death as an opportunity for renewed life.

Day of the Dead is celebrated with parades, festivals, and more across Mexico.

Though these traditions are universal, various regions across the country also have their own unique takes on how to honor the dead. Mexico City has held a boisterous parade since 2016, complete with entertainers in bold costume, music and dance, and floats. National Geographic identifies Michoacán as the place to go for foodies. The people of La Huasteca Potosina indulge in day-long parties, while Aguascalientes' festival of skulls have near week-long celebrations that include their annual skeleton parade, Legends of Mexico. And at Guanajuato's University of Guanajuato, students create an altar (much-loved by photo-snapping tourists) that honors deceased scholars.

Día de los Muertos is not connected to Halloween.

While Halloween and Day of the Dead occur nearly in tandem and share similar customs (candy, face painting, and community gathering), the two are not related. Halloween has ancient Celtic roots, while Day of the Dead has its own origins that date back to the Indigenous people of Mexico and Central America.

Photo credit: Alfredo Martinez - Getty Images

The holiday first began with the Aztecs.

Roughly 3000 years ago, amongst the Aztec, Toltec, and Mayans, death and the dead were seen as a natural part of life that should be honored and celebrated, rather than mourned. In particular, the Nahua people of central Mexico believed the deceased traveled on a years-long journey to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead. The living would provide supplies, such food and water, to aid them on the trek. This practice inspired the modern tradition of creating altars—known as ofrendas—at their homes, in addition to leaving offerings at the gravesites of loved ones.

Día de los Muertos wasn't always celebrated in November.

Once the Spanish colonized Mexico in the 16th century, their own Catholic views on the dead influenced Mexican customs. Día de los Muertos was originally celebrated in the summer months. The holiday came to fall on November 1 and November 2 to align with All Saints Day and All Souls Day on the Catholic calendar. The first day honors children who have passed, while the second celebrates adults.

Altars, or ofrendas, are the centerpiece of celebrations.

Photo credit: Vincent Isore/IP3 - Getty Images

To beckon spirits back into the Land of the Living for the festivities, revelers create makeshift altars, or ofrendas, at their homes and at the gravesites of their deceased loved ones. Families gather at the site to eat, tell stories, and even clean the graves.

Offerings to the dead are inspired by the four elements.

Ofrendas are decorated with offerings for the spirits that are meant to represent the four elements: fire, water, earth, and wind.

Fire: Candles are lit to help guide the spirits' journey.
Water: Pitchers of water are left to quench their thirst while traveling to the Land of the Living.
Earth: A variety of traditional foods are prepared to help nourish the dead.
Wind: Papel picado are vibrant delicate paper banners are strung. They're decorated with elaborate cut-out patterns, that are said to allow souls to pass through.

Altars are also adorned with sentimental photographs, toys, marigolds, and skulls.

Traditional Mexican foods play a huge part in celebrations.

Photo credit: The Washington Post - Getty Images

As mentioned, when gathering offerings for the ofrendas, the earth element is an integral part of preparations. And since that symbolizes the food eaten throughout the holiday, it's basically its own category.

Pan de Muerto translates to "bread of the dead."

The most prominent food consumed is pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, which is a yeast-based sweet egg bread. Other delicacies include calabaza en tacha (candied pumpkin), calaveras (the famous sugar skulls), tamales, atole, and spicy Mexican hot chocolate.

One of the most prominent symbols of the holiday—the signature skull face—originated from a Mexican illustrator.

It's likely that even those who don't celebrate Day of the Dead are familiar with the holiday's famous symbol: calaveras, aka, the skull. Perhaps you've seen them as decorative face paint, costumes, delicious sugary treats, or even in Pixar's Oscar-winning animated film, Coco. But as with everything for Dia de los Muertos, its significance has a rich history.

Around 1910, Mexican illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada created a satirical lithograph that offered commentary on the political and societal unrest at the time; particularly the elite's tendency to adopt Eurocentric customs. According to The Grace Museum, the image—a skeleton donning a decorative European-style hat—depicted Chicunamictlan, the queen of the Aztec underworld. Posada dubbed her La Catrina, which is a slang word for "the rich." La Calavera Catrina means elegant skull.

Years later, in 1947, famed artist Diego Rivera depicted an elaborately dressed La Catrina in his celebrated mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon. As it is displayed in Mexico City's Alameda Park, La Catrina gained even more visibility amongst the country's people. As a leader of the dead, and an integral part of Aztec history, she was a natural fit amongst Day of the Dead celebrations.

Cempasúchiles, or marigolds, bring color to the festivities.

While cempasúchiles are often used as an offering to decorate ofrendas, over time they've earned a spot next to skulls as one of the most prominent Day of the Dead symbols. Also known as flor de muerto, or flowers of the dead, the importance of the lively orange and yellow marigolds date back to the time of the Aztecs, according to Remezcla. The color and scent of the flowers are believed to lure spirits from their places of rest to their families.

If you want to wear a Day of the Dead costume, consider this.

"Sugar skull makeup," as it's called in many a Youtube beauty tutorial, is undeniably gorgeous on a purely aesthetic level; it's a large part of why it's been a popular Halloween costume idea for years. Know that if you're not of Latino or Hispanic—and of Mexican descent, particularly—some people may consider this cultural appropriation.

If you do decide to wear sugar skull makeup and other costume accoutrements such as flower crown headbands and traditional Mexican dresses, there are ways to make sure you're doing so respectfully. Keep in mind that, again, Day of the Dead is actually unrelated to Halloween. Before you apply that face paint, take a moment to educate yourself on the historical and lasting cultural significance of La Catrina. And, as Refinery29 notes, avoid any bloody or scary elements to your costume, because uplifting celebration is an integral part of Día de los Muertos.

Canada's overworked healthcare sector brace for staff shortages as vaccine mandates loom

Moira Warburton
Sun, October 10, 2021,

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canada's health and long-term care industries are bracing for staff shortages and layoffs, as deadlines for vaccine mandates loom across the country, with unions pushing federal and provincial governments to soften hard-line stances.

For hospitals and nursing homes, a shortage of workers would strain the already overburdened workforce dealing with nearly two years of the pandemic. The uncertainty sparked by vaccine mandates underscores the challenges on the road to recovery.

Devon Greyson, assistant professor of public health at the University of British Columbia, said officials are steering into uncharted waters with mass vaccine mandates, and it's not clear how workers will respond.

"A shortage of workers can mean people's health and well being. It's scary," Greyson said.

However, he added, "we're in an ethical situation where it's also scary not to ensure that all health workers are vaccinated. So it's a bit of a Catch-22."

To tackle staff scarcity, at least one province is offering signing bonuses to nurses. Provinces including Quebec and British Columbia have made it mandatory for healthcare workers and nursing staff to be vaccinated to continue working in their respective fields.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also unveiled one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the world last week, saying unvaccinated federal employees will be sent on unpaid leave and making COVID-19 shots mandatory for air, train and ship passengers.

Layoffs have are started to hit, with one hospital in southern Ontario last week dumping 57 employees, representing 2.5% of staff, after its vaccine mandate came into effect. A long-term care home in Toronto put 36% of its staff on unpaid leave after they refused to get vaccinated, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.

British Columbia will place staff at its long-term care and assisted living sector on unpaid administrative leave if they fail to get at least one shot by Monday.

Some 97% of long-term care staff in Vancouver and the surrounding areas have at least one dose as of Oct. 6, the province said. But northern B.C. has only 89% of staff with at least one dose, although the data was still being updated.

The province recently changed the deadline, giving more time for people to receive their second vaccine dose. "It is because we know we have a very limited healthcare resource," Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province's medical officer, said.

'POLITICAL' DECISION

Quebec is offering C$15,000 bonuses to help attract and retain about 4,300 full-time nurses. Some 25,000 healthcare workers who are yet not fully vaccinated ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline risk suspension without pay, said Christian Dubé, the province's health minister.

Some 97% of all staff in University Health Network, which operates medical facilities in and around Toronto, Ontario, has been vaccinated ahead of Oct. 22, with efforts underway to find backup for the remaining.

Daniel Lublin, a Toronto-based employment lawyer, called the mandates "very political" and based on the majority view that vaccines are good. "The fallout is that it's another segment of the Canadian workforce that is going to be faced with job loss if they choose not to vaccinate."

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represents 215,000 federal workers, said while the union supports the government's vaccination stance, its members who do not get inoculated should not be punished.

"Especially when remote work options are available that do not jeopardize the health and safety of co-workers and allow our members to continue to serve Canadians," said Chris Aylward, PSAC president.

Treasury Board, which oversees the public administration, is engaged with PSAC and other labor representatives about the implementation of the mandate, a government source said.

Louis Hugo Francescutti, an emergency room physician in Edmonton, said he worked with several people who were continuing to refuse vaccination, even though it would cost them their jobs when the mandate takes effect on Oct. 31.

Alberta has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Canada, and its hospitals have been overwhelmed by the fourth wave.

"We're so under the water right now that losing a couple of people who don't want to get vaccinated - it's going to be sad (but) the impact will be minimal," Francescutti said.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver,; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal, Steve Scherer and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Denny Thomas and Chizu Nomiyama)

#TAXTHECHURCH

Lakewood Church will repay the $4.4 million PPP ~~loan~~ FORGIVABLE GRANT it received in 2020

Rebecca Cohen
Fri, October 8, 2021

Joel Osteen speaks during SiriusXM Joel Osteen Radio Town Hall with Joel and Victoria Osteen at SiriusXM Studios on December 16, 2019 in New York City.

Bonnie Biess / Stringer / Getty Images

Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church will repay the $4.4 million it received in PPP loans, the Houston Chronicle Reported.

Lakewood Church was one of 60 religious institutions in Texas to receive more than $1 million in loans from the CARES Act.

The church faced backlash when it initially received the loan by church-state separation groups.

Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church will repay the $4.4 million it received last year in a PPP loan, the Houston Chronicle reported.

After receiving millions of dollars from the CARES Act funds in December, the Houston-based church faced major backlash online, specifically from church-state separation groups, according to the Houston Chronicle. At the time, owner Osteen's name even trended on Twitter.

Ten months later, the church will repay the total amount of funds received.

Initially, the church defended the decision to apply for the loan, making the argument that none of the money was going to go to Osteen or his wife.

"Like many organizations temporarily shuttered by the pandemic, this loan provided Lakewood Church short-term financial assistance in 2020 ensuring that its approximately 350 employees and their families would continue to receive a paycheck and full health care benefits," the church said through a spokesperson.

Lakewood was not alone in this case, as at least 60 Texas religious institutions were approved for more than $1 million in PPP loans, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Still, church-state separation groups criticized religious groups who received this government payout. They argued that since the loans were forgivable, they were essentially grants from the government, which was, by their measure, subsidizing religious practices. This goes against the Constitution, they said.

"Religious freedom is a core promise of our Constitution, and that means that no one should be forced to pay for someone else's religious beliefs or practices," Rob Boston, senior adviser for the Washington, based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Joel Osteen took over Lakewood Church in 1999 following the death of his dad in 1999, Fox Business reported. His sermons to 52,000 weekly congregants are seen worldwide.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

GREENWASHING

Top fossil fuel lender JPMorgan joins UN climate action finance plan

FILE PHOTO: JPMorgan Chase & Co corporate headquarters in New York

Elizabeth Dilts Marshall
Fri, October 8, 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase & Co said Friday it was joining the United Nation's Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a group of global banks that have committed to dramatically reducing their carbon financing and investment activities.

As the largest U.S. bank and a major lender to the fossil fuel industry, JPMorgan has been criticized for not joining the group, which launched in April, sooner. The announcement comes ahead of next month's UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP 26, in Glasgow.

JPMorgan followed rivals Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and others in aligning its climate plan with the UN's Race to Zero campaign.

"We are joining the Net Zero Banking Alliance because we support the ambition for greater climate action, the sharing of best practices and a collaborative approach between the public and private sectors to reach this goal," Marisa Buchanan, JPMorgan's global head of sustainability, said in a statement.

Member banks are required to submit science-based climate plans that cover all types of emissions, include 2030 interim targets and commit to transparent reporting and accounting. Banks have 18 months to set the 2030 interim targets.

Critics say the group's targets are too weak and flexible.

"Without a plan to stop funding the expansion of fossil fuels, commitments like this are completely inadequate," said Ben Cushing, fossil-free finance campaign manager at the Sierra Club.

In May, JPMorgan set out mid-term, carbon reduction goals for clients, including asking oil and gas clients reduce the intensity of direct and indirect emissions. [L1N2MZ2S4]

(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Massive flare seen on the closest star to the solar system: What it means for chances of alien neighbors

R. O. Parke Loyd, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Astrophysics, Arizona State University
Sun, October 10, 2021,

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system and is home to a potentially habitable planet. Hubble/European Space Agency/WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA

The Sun isn’t the only star to produce stellar flares. On April 21, 2021, a team of astronomers published new research describing the brightest flare ever measured from Proxima Centauri in ultraviolet light. To learn about this extraordinary event – and what it might mean for any life on the planets orbiting Earth’s closest neighboring star – The Conversation spoke with Parke Loyd, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University and co-author of the paper. Excerpts from our conversation are below and have been edited for length and clarity.

Why were you looking at Proxima Centauri?

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to this solar system. A couple of years ago, a team discovered that there is a planet – called Proxima b – orbiting the star. It’s just a little bit bigger than Earth, it’s probably rocky and it is in what is called the habitable zone, or the Goldilocks zone. This means that Proxima b is about the right distance from the star so that it could have liquid water on its surface.

But this star system differs from the Sun in a pretty key way. Proxima Centauri is a small star called a red dwarf – it’s around 15% of the radius of our Sun, and it’s substantially cooler. So Proxima b, in order for it to be in that Goldilocks zone, actually is a lot closer to Proxima Centauri than Earth is to the Sun.

You might think that a smaller star would be a tamer star, but that’s actually not the case at all – red dwarfs produce stellar flares a lot more frequently than the Sun does. So Proxima b, the closest planet in another solar system with a chance for having life, is subject to space weather that is a lot more violent than the space weather in Earth’s solar system.

A photo of the surface of the Sun with a towering explosion of plasma.

What did you find?

In 2018, my colleague Meredith MacGregor discovered flashes of light coming from Proxima Centauri that looked very different from solar flares. She was using a telescope that detects light at millimeter wavelengths to monitor Proxima Centauri and saw a big of flash of light in this wavelength. Astronomers had never seen a stellar flare in millimeter wavelengths of light.

My colleagues and I wanted to learn more about these unusual brightenings in the millimeter light coming from the star and see whether they were actually flares or some other phenomenon. We used nine telescopes on Earth, as well as a satellite observatory, to get the longest set of observations – about two days’ worth – of Proxima Centauri with the most wavelength coverage that had ever been obtained.

Immediately we discovered a really strong flare. The ultraviolet light of the star increased by over 10,000 times in just a fraction of a second. If humans could see ultraviolet light, it would be like being blinded by the flash of a camera. Proxima Centauri got bright really fast. This increase lasted for only a couple of seconds, and then there was a gradual decline.

This discovery confirmed that indeed, these weird millimeter emissions are flares.

A gray rocky planet with a pale star behind it.

What does that mean for chances of life on the planet?

Astronomers are actively exploring this question at the moment because it can kind of go in either direction. When you hear ultraviolet radiation, you’re probably thinking about the fact that people wear sunscreen to try to protect ourselves from ultraviolet radiation here on Earth. Ultraviolet radiation can damage proteins and DNA in human cells, and this results in sunburns and can cause cancer. That would potentially be true for life on another planet as well.

On the flip side, messing with the chemistry of biological molecules can have its advantages – it could help spark life on another planet. Even though it might be a more challenging environment for life to sustain itself, it might be a better environment for life to be generated to begin with.

But the thing that astronomers and astrobiologists are most concerned about is that every time one of these huge flares occurs, it basically erodes away a bit of the atmosphere of any planets orbiting that star – including this potentially Earth-like planet. And if you don’t have an atmosphere left on your planet, then you definitely have a pretty hostile environment to life – there would be huge amounts of radiation, massive temperature fluctuations and little or no air to breathe. It’s not that life would be impossible, but having the surface of a planet basically directly exposed to space would be an environment totally different than anything on Earth.
Is there any atmosphere left on Proxima b?

That’s anybody’s guess at the moment. The fact that these flares are happening doesn’t bode well for that atmosphere being intact – especially if they’re associated with explosions of plasma like what happens on the Sun. But that’s why we’re doing this work. We hope the folks who build models of planetary atmospheres can take what our team has learned about these flares and try to figure out the odds for an atmosphere being sustained on this planet.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: R. O. Parke Loyd, Arizona State University.

As the homeless population booms due to sky-high rent prices, we need to think of the California homeless crisis as a refugee crisis

Jack Herrera
Sun, October 10, 2021

A man lays on a mattress in People's Park in Berkeley, California,

on Tuesday, September 28, 2021.

Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

I've reported from refugee camps in Mexico, and the homeless camps in San Francisco feel familiar.

Both refugees and unhoused people are forced to leave their homes through no fault of their own.

By rethinking the crisis, we can stop blaming our unhoused neighbors and better take care of them.

Jack Herrera is an independent reporter writing about immigration, race, and human rights. He is a contributing opinion writer for Insider.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

In August, around the same time I realized I could no longer afford the rent of my home in San Francisco, I began speaking with Afghan refugees arriving in California. They had survived a perilous journey - but their struggles were not over. Many were still living in hotels as they diligently worked to find apartments for themselves and their families. In the Bay Area, however, that could prove impossible.

Median rent in San Francisco is $3,900 a month for a two-bedroom. To the south, in San Mateo, it's more than $3,200. Oakland, where rents are cheaper than elsewhere in the Peninsula, still has a median rent cost of more than $2,600 for just two bedrooms.

For most people working anywhere in the world, those rents are simply not tenable. For Afghan refugees, who had to sell off their possessions in a rush - or simply leave them behind - the basic requirements to get one's family in an apartment are impossible. In the Bay Area, landlords often ask for proof of income three times higher than rent; they also ask for credit checks. Security deposits, which legally can run up to two months rent, can easily put a family back more than $6,000.

Something about talking with refugees in the Bay Area crystallized a realization - putting words to an amorphous frustration I have felt. Even before we welcomed these latest Afghan newcomers to the Bay, California's housing crisis has been a kind of refugee crisis. And it's time we think of it that way.

Rethinking the housing crisis

I was born in San Francisco in the '90s, about three miles from where I live now. In that time, I've seen the number of my unhoused neighbors increase horrifically, year after year. Right now, up to 35,000 people are living on the streets in the Bay Area.

When I was a kid going to school in San Mateo, just to the south of San Francisco, it didn't feel like Silicon Valley quite yet. But steadily, tech's tentacles spread throughout every city and suburb. GoPro opened offices on the hill by the community college; a historic hotel was turned into a gauche and self-satisfied start-up incubator. The costs of living skyrocketed. And every year, people leave.

Young people decamp to Denver, Austin, and Portland; families flee to "the other valley" - the dry, hot grasslands of the San Joaquin, in towns like Manteca or Fresno. As the years have gone on, community support systems have broken down as neighbors and relatives escape to cheaper cities. Now, there is little infrastructure left to support those who are still here.

When I get out on the 16th Street BART in San Francisco's Mission District, I see tents and tarps on the sidewalks. In Oakland, entire encampments spring up, get brutally "sweeped" by the city, and spring up again in an unending cycle. City governments and the state have invested billions in the issue, but when I talk to my unhoused friends and neighbors, they say the shelters aren't safe: Robbery and assault are common.

It sometimes shocks me how similar the homelessness "camps" around the Bay Area resemble the refugee camps I've spent time in as a reporter in Northern Mexico. In both, rows of tents, many of them housing families, bear the tender marks of home - a teddy bear, a battered copy of the Bible. These marks are juxtaposed against the precarious tarps, mended with duct tape, pitched on concrete.

In both places, local residents regard the inhabitants of the tents with a mix of pity and distrust; I've spoken to Central American asylum-seekers in Mexico who bear scars from robbery and assault by locals. In San Francisco, besides robbery and attacks, unhoused people have to deal with constant police harassment, as their housed neighbors use 911 like a concierge service to come "sweep" their stoops of any evidence of our city's economic brutality.

One of my unhoused neighbors, who I share a coffee with every few days, says one of the hardest parts of being unhoused is sleeping - he's woken up countless times every night, often forced to move somewhere else to sleep.

Being homeless is like being a refugee

Asylum-seekers in Mexico and so many of my unhoused neighbors in the Bay share something else in common: They're fleeing something. Domestic abuse is one of the leading causes of homelessness. But beyond physically dangerous homes, the forcefulness of displacement in a place like the Bay Area and, say, Honduras, have some similarities. In towns like San Pedro Sula in Honduras, gangs have taken control of entire neighborhoods, and these pandillas charge townspeople an impuesto, or a tax - extortion money (typically 80% of income) in exchange for safety. The cost of living becomes untenable; people are forced out of their homes, and, without any guarantees of safety in their hometowns, they often flee northward.

In the Bay Area, rents have risen precipitously almost every year (the pandemic caused a sharp dip, but rents have steadily increased in the last few months). In 2019, 13% of all people living on the streets in San Francisco had become homeless because of an eviction; 26% were forced out of their homes after losing their jobs.

Speculative real estate has seen national and international moguls buy up huge swaths of housing stock, leaving a shocking number of houses and apartments empty as they wait for their value to appreciate - in San Francisco, there are as many as five empty houses per unhoused resident. Silicon Valley has also disrupted the traditional labor market, for the worse. Increasing numbers of workers , especially janitors and maintenance staff, are no longer salaried employees with benefits and a chance to move up in the company; instead, they're hired as contractors. The result is that greed and brutal economics are valuing profit over basic facets of human well-being, like a roof over one's head. The manic, speculative real estate market has led landlords to charge rents that cannot be survived.

While it can get complicated in the law, refugeeism is simple from a moral perspective: People who have been forced to leave their homes through no fault of their own deserve hospitality, and we have an obligation to house and welcome them.
Where do we go from here?

The homelessness crisis is a social creation, a danger so much larger than any one individual or their choices. The response, then, must take place at the societal level.

For both Afghan refugees trying to make a new life for themselves and unhoused people across California, the answer is simple: Massive public investment. The US government had a direct role in the crisis that forced Afghans to flee, so it should be responsible for their rent and any other costs of relocation, now that Afghans are in the country.

Likewise, the thousands of people forced out of their homes in the Bay Area have been forced out by the failures of our society at large, rather than any personal failings. The costs here will be massive: A recent report estimated that it would take $11.8 billion investment to end homelessness in the Bay Area alone. To put that in perspective, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the largest ever effort to address homelessness last year, with $1.4 billion designated in the state's budget.

However, the costs of homelessness already exist: They're simply being felt by the economic refugees from Hunger Games-esque inequality we've allowed to fester in the Bay. To fix this problem, we will all need to pay our part.

In California, this will require levying taxes on the corporations and real estate interests that have created such a horrific housing market in the first place.

And on a personal level, my neighbors in this city need to abandon a mindset that blames an unhoused person for their own homelessness. They are refugees from a society and an economic system we created, and our responsibility to help them comes not just from a place of charity, but from moral obligation. We are all part of this society; they are owed our help.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Some Tijuana locals say they're hopeful

about a new Amazon warehouse that

social media users called dystopian

Thomas Pallini

Sun, October 10, 2021

Amazon fulfillment center Tijuana, Mexico — Visiting the community of Nueva Esperanza in Tijuana, Mexico next to Amazon's new fulfillment center. Thomas Pallini/Insider

Amazon's new warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico borders homes made of wood, tarps, and cardboard.
Some residents of the homes have reportedly said they are fearful Amazon will kick them out.
Insider went to Tijuana, where several residents said they were grateful for the new jobs.
See more stories on Insider's business page.

Amazon's newest fulfillment center in Tijuana, Mexico made headlines after it opened in September and put the neighboring community of Nueva Esperanza in the spotlight.

Photographer Omar Martinez captured photos of the Amazon facility, the first of its kind in Tijuana, that showed the brand-new facility standing feet away from a sprawling community of makeshift homes made of wood, tarps, and cardboard, where stray dogs lie in unpaved streets.

The photos were widely shared on social media, with users quick to condemn them as "dystopian" symbols of inequality, as Insider's Katie Canales reported. Some residents have expressed fears that Amazon could evict them, while the local government has praised Amazon's decision to move into the northwestern Mexican city.

Insider hired an interpreter and crossed the border to talk with residents living in the shadow of Amazon's new facility. Most of the eight people interviewed for this story said they felt hopeful about Amazon's arrival in Tijuana.

Locals praise Amazon's new jobs

"It's good for the community because it brings jobs," said Rosano Ochoa Builon, whose home neighbors the Amazon warehouse. "The factory is welcome."

She said she was surprised by the recent media attention on the facility, saying she's never seen anything like it in 20 years of living there.

The blue and gray Amazon factory is instantly recognizable when approaching by air or on land. It sits in a newly-developed industrial zone on the Tijuana River just a few miles from the US-Mexico border.

Lourdes Velazquez Toledo, who runs the eatery Comedor/Antojitos Mexicanos just outside the main gate to the industrial park, told Insider that she's seen an increase in customers since Amazon moved in.

"It's a better job than what they had before," Velazquez Toledo said of Amazon's new hires, speculating that local factories could lose workers to Amazon.

It's unclear what Amazon is paying workers at the Tijuana facility. Amazon declined Insider's request to confirm its wages, saying only that it pays "industry-competitive salaries."

Amazon pays workers a $15 minimum hourly wage in the US and at a nearby facility just over the border in San Diego, California. By comparison, Tijuana's 2021 minimum wage is around 26 pesos ($1.29) an hour - which is slightly higher than the minimum wage elsewhere in Mexico given the city's status as a special economic zone near the US border.

Reuters reported in April that 15 contracted staffers at Amazon warehouses across Mexico earned roughly 25 pesos ($1.25) per hour - above the minimum wage in their area - plus bonuses. The report also included allegations of unfair mandatory overtime practices.

Without confirming any specifics, Amazon has managed to make an impression - at least among the locals interviewed by Insider - that its wages are competitive. Two employees of a nearby factory told Insider that they've heard that Amazon's jobs are "good work in a good company" and that they pay well, without knowing specifics on wages.

One resident of Nueva Esperanza, who asked not to be identified, said some of her coworkers quit their jobs to work at Amazon. She said they may have left because of the perception that Amazon is a "better company than ours" and had a nicer facility.

She also said she had seen social media posts that expressed concern over whether Amazon could destroy nearby homes because they were giving the e-commerce giant a "bad image."

Amazon declined to comment directly on the Nueva Esperanza settlement but told Insider: "We are in constant communication with the local government to find a way to generate a positive impact in the community."

"At Amazon, we are committed to the development of Mexico and the communities in which we operate, benefiting thousands of Mexican families, through the generation of direct and indirect jobs," Amazon said.

The Amazon fulfillment center will allow for same-day deliveries in Tijuana and next-day deliveries to nearby cities, a government press release said. Amazon is investing around $21 million into the ground-up construction of the 344,000-square-foot facility.

"Since our arrival in Mexico, Amazon has created more than 15,000 jobs throughout the country and now we are adding 250 in Tijuana, creating employment opportunities with industry-competitive compensation packages for all our employees, who enjoy benefits superior to the law, such as health insurance, life insurance, savings fund, and food vouchers," an Amazon spokesperson told Insider in a statement.

"Our wages and benefits strengthen local communities, and our investments help these areas to grow and to build better futures," Amazon said, citing 6.5 billion pesos of donations in Mexico that it says helped 30,000 families.

A woman who lives near the new warehouse told the Voice of San Diego that she's worried about being kicked out of her home.

"They have not threatened us directly with eviction but we have seen how other houses in the neighborhood have been sidelined to move or worse have destroyed their homes because they want to develop the land. I just don't want that to happen to us, " she said.

While none of the locals interviewed by Insider said they were fearful of being evicted by Amazon, they agreed Amazon has deep enough pockets to be able to resettle them.

"If Amazon wants to get rid of these houses, Amazon has the money to relocate these people," Trinidad Adel Calles Zazueta, a passerby near the warehouse, told Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider

'The Billion Dollar Code': The battle over Google Earth

Netflix's new miniseries fictionalizes the story of two Berlin internet pioneers who attempt to prove that Google stole their idea, worth billions.

'The Billion Dollar Code' is also a journey back to the beginnings of the internet

Two guys in Berlin in the early 1990s: One of them is an art student with big ideas, the other a computer nerd.

After meeting in 1993 in a techno club, they developed together the idea of creating a kind of global work of art that would allow people to travel to any point in the world, simply by zooming into a location with a click of the mouse.

They quickly realized that computers in the early 1990s weren't performant enough for their project.

But that could change, especially with the help of a telecommunications giant and experienced hackers on board: They were sponsored by Deutsche Telekom, and developers were members of the Chaos Computer Club.

Juri Müller (Marius Ahrendt) and Carsten Schlüter (Leonard Schleicher) develop their idea

Despite a chaotic process, the two partners managed to have their "Terra Vision" project ready for a presentation at an international communications fair in Kyoto, Japan, in 1994. It was a resounding success.

But during a trip to Silicon Valley, the source code for "Terra Vision" fell into the wrong hands — and in 2005 Google, by then a tech giant, suddenly released Google Earth.

The two developers from Germany felt that Google had stolen their idea — leading to a David vs. Goliath court case.

Overtaken by a tech giant

The Netflix miniseries tells in two timelines and four parts how two computer freaks developed their idea, convinced a large corporation and finally the whole world of its interest — only to be robbed of their fame and fortune by a tech giant's legal ruse.

With this German production, Netflix demonstrates once again that the setting of a story is not what matters most, but rather what it is about. The two developers could just as well have been from Japan or South Africa instead of Germany; the core of their tale is universal.

The Netflix production's look, story, editing, script and soundtrack is on par with similar international productions, and, adding an authentic feel, the German actors in The Billion Dollar Code have synchronized their own voices in the English version.

Time travel to the 1990s

Details of the 1990s are meticulously reproduced. Through the story of Juri Müller and Carsten Schlüter, the miniseries dives into the atmosphere of Berlin's post-reunification era, with its techno clubs, its wildly experimental art scene and its hackers, who weren't really taken seriously at that point. It was a time when having an actual bank account felt like being part of the establishment, and young people had found their own way of being cool.

The internet embodied dreams of revolution and freedom without borders. The idea that all knowledge could be available to everyone was incredibly new and exciting at the time.

Arriving in paradise: Carsten (Leonard Schleicher) and Juri (Marius Ahrendt) in Silicon Valley

Funders were investing insane sums to help build this new world. Silicon Valley was the El Dorado of the new computer age, with digital prospectors gathering in the gigantic tech park under palm trees, with basketball courts and espresso machines.

Twenty-five years later, the Berlin programming pioneers set off for a lawsuit against internet giant Google. They want to prove that they were the ones who, with "Terra Vision," laid the foundations for Google Earth, Google Maps and all the navigation systems in use today.

25 years later: Carsten (Mark Waschke) and Juri (Misel Maticevic) meet Google's lawyers

A fiction, based on real events

A rollercoaster ride, fast-paced and emotional, which ends in an exciting court drama — with a cast of consistently outstanding actors.

With The Billion Dollar Code, director Robert Thalheim and screenwriter Oliver Ziegenbalg have created a journey through time in a fiction based on real events.

The idea for the story arose while having a barbecue with a neighbor, who turned out to be Joachim Sauter, a media artist who helped develop "Terra Vision" in the early 1990s and who actually went to court against Google.

Of course, the miniseries' creators dramatized interpretation of the story does not represent all the facts behind the development of the program and the ongoing court case.

The filmmakers didn't hope to re-establish justice. They simply wanted to portray the ideals that initially drove the tech generation and what it ultimately turned into, says Robert Thalheim.

One of the men behind the actual events: Joachim Sauter

The director explained that he wanted to show "how the balance of power has shifted and the internet pioneers themselves are overwhelmed by this development," said Thalheim. "Today, everyone only talks about the multimillionaires who have become extremely rich with the internet and are now flying to the moon. But we wanted to show how it all began, and tell the story of those who were never in the limelight. "

Interviews with the people involved in the events as well as the court files contributed to the authenticity of the series. The script reproduces the actual court statements to avoid coming into conflict with Google.

Joachim Sauter also collaborated with the filmmaker. But the art professor did not get to see the series as a completed work — he died in July 2021. The Billion Dollar Code, released on October 7 on Netflix, is dedicated to him.

Update: This article was updated shortly after its publication to better reflect that it is solely about the fictional miniseries, and not about the actual court case.
The text was translated from German.

It's all in the eye: Tunisia's veteran photographer Jacques Perez

Issued on: 10/10/2021 -

A visitor views the works of Tunisian photographer Jacques Perez during the launch of his exhibition "Memories before Oblivion"

FETHI BELAID AFP

Tunis (AFP)

"It's the eye that makes a photograph, not the camera," says 90-year-old Jacques Perez, who has forever retained his curiosity for his homeland Tunisia.

An exhibition of his work named "Souvenirs d'Avant l'Oubli" (Memories before Oblivion) is being held until the end of October in a palace in the medina of Tunis, the old city where he was born and still lives.

"I didn't study to take photos -- no need. It's above all about seeing. I like to look at 360 degrees and show what I saw," he said. "This was not a vocation, it came on its own."

Perez said he began photography at the age of 11 or 12: "I was lucky to have a German mother and an Italian grandmother who gave me illustrated magazines" and educated his eyes.

After 15 years of amateur photography alongside a teaching job, he was commissioned by a major Tunisian publisher to create a photo book of Sidi Bouzid, a poor but picturesque blue-and-white city, that launched his career.

Born to a Tunisian father and a German mother, the 90-year-old Perez says he started photography between the ages of 11 and 12

FETHI BELAID AFP

In the exhibition, all his works are "inhabited" by people, Perez said. "People speak to me, their faces intrigue me, I would like to know what's behind them."

This idea is at the core of the work of Perez, a photographer of international repute, from the United States to France.

He "is a humanist photographer," like those who inspired him, including Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliot Erwitt, said exhibition curator Hamideddine Bouali.

- 'It's all intuitive' -

Perez has only ever wanted to photograph his own country, in all its diversity.

"I feel concerned only by Tunisia," he said.

The 70 photos in the exhibition cover the breadth of his work: the sea and fishermen, the daily life of Tunisians, the old arts and crafts.

The 70 photos in the exhibition cover the breadth of his work: the sea and fishermen, the daily life of Tunisians, the old crafts

FETHI BELAID AFP

Some of the most striking images are portraits of women, including "Lady of Chebika" and "Lady with a Lion".

Both were spontaneous portraits by Perez, who likes to interact with his subjects and has shunned "stolen" images or those shot from far away with telephoto lenses.

In the Lady of Chebika, wrinkled with age, "her face interested me but I did not know if I could approach her," Perez said. "I got closer, she did not react. I got closer again and she gave me a sign of assent. I took the picture."

"It's all intuitive," he said, stressing that "photographers have this ability to predict the next move".

He himself is surprised that he was able to capture the moment when a drop fell from the jar of a water carrier.

For the exhibition being held close to where he was born, he chose "emblematic photos ... always framed, geometric and always inhabited" by people.

FETHI BELAID AFP

It's all about "patience", he said, knowing how to "wait for the right moment without provoking it".

But he remains humble, stating that "I do not take myself seriously. I am neither the father, nor the cousin, nor the grandfather of the Tunisian photo. I am just a photographer in Tunisia."

© 2021 AFP

Murder trial of ‘African Che Guevera’ Thomas Sankara to finally begin

Issued on: 10/10/2021 -

Captain Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso gives a press conference on September 2, 1986, at a summit in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Text by: Romain BRUNET

The murder trial of Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s iconic “father of the revolution”, is due to open on Monday, 34 years after his assassination. Fourteen people, including the country’s ex-president, Blaise Compaoré, will stand trial. FRANCE 24 examines why Sankara is such a heroic figure in Africa and at what to expect from this long-anticipated court case.

In one of Africa’s most eagerly awaited trials for years, 14 people will be tried on October 11 at a military court in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou for the murder of the country’s former president, Thomas Sankara, and 12 members of his entourage.

Nicknamed the “African Che Guevara”, Sankara came to power in a coup in 1983. He was a hero to many fans – who say he championed national sovereignty by rejecting aid from the International Monetary Fund and point to his advancement of women’s rights, banning forced marriages, polygamy and female genital mutilation. Sankara’s detractors say he was an authoritarian leader, alleging human rights violations including arbitrary arrests of political opponents and extrajudicial killings.

Sankara was killed four years after taking power, when commando troops stormed the headquarters of his National Revolutionary Council and shot him dead – bringing to power Blaise Compaoré, hitherto Sankara’s close friend and right-hand man.

Compaoré then ruled Burkina Faso for nearly three decades, before a popular uprising overthrew him in 2014 and he fled to neighbouring Ivory Coast. The ex-strongman is the main defendant in the forthcoming trial – but he will not go to Ouagadougou to stand in the dock, his lawyers said on Thursday.

Despite Compaoré’s absence, the trial is hotly anticipated – with more than 200 hundred journalists from across the world accredited to cover the proceedings.

What does Sankara represent?

Sankara left an indelible mark on his country and became a pan-African icon in the process.

In a major symbolic move, he changed the country's name from Upper Volta, given by France, to Burkina Faso, meaning “the land of upstanding men”.

Sankara made a break with former colonial power France, which maintained clientelist relationships with its former African colonies in an approach known as the Françafrique.

“Sankara developed complete independence in his country by giving its people confidence in themselves,” said Bruno Jaffré, author of L’insurrection inachevée: Burkina 2014 (“The Unfinished Rebellion: Burkina 2014”) who runs a website devoted to Sankara, thomassankara.net. “Outside of Burkina Faso, he is seen as an anti-imperialist revolutionary who spoke for the oppressed and bolstered his nation’s sovereignty in the face of France.”

In this context, the Sankara legend continues to grow, especially among young people who worship him despite having no memory of his rule in Burkina Faso.

Why did it take 34 years for a trial to take place?

The trial announcement in August was a huge shock, Jaffré pointed out, since the 1987 assassination had long been a taboo subject in Burkina Faso: “When the trial was announced, Burkinabés didn’t even dare to believe it,” he said.

“Compaoré’s regime did everything it could to prevent the criminal justice process from doing its work over Sankara’s death – and it wasn’t until [Compaoré was ousted in] autumn 2014 that the ball got rolling,” Jaffré continued.

Indeed, it was the government put in place for Burkina Faso’s democratic transition that started the justice process in March 2015. An international arrest warrant was issued for Compaoré in December of the same year. Eventually, the first reconstruction of Sankara’s assassination took place at the scene of the crime in February 2020. The judge presiding over the inquiry then transferred it to a military court in October – paving the way for the trial starting on Monday.

But obstructionism delayed this historic trial. Compaoré’s defence lawyers did “everything they could to delay or even cancel it”, Jaffré noted. In particular, they got a lot of mileage out of saying that Compaoré’s international arrest warrant was “cancelled” by Burkina Faso’s highest court in 2016. Compaoré’s defence lawyers also said their client had “never been summoned for questioning” and that he had “never been notified” of any procedure by the Burkinabé criminal justice system except for his “final summons” to stand trial. The defence lawyers have also argued that Compaoré benefits from immunity as a former head of state.

In April 2016, the attorney general of Burkina Faso’s highest court did indeed announce a cancellation due to a technicality of the international arrest warrant targeting Compaoré. But a month later, the government’s commissioner at the military court denied reports that the trial was cancelled, clarifying that the cancelled warrants only concerned a September 2015 coup case against the transitional government.

Given that the ex-president has always denied responsibility for anything that has gone wrong in Burkina Faso, “it’s not surprising” that Compaoré will not be at the court to face the accusations against him, Guy Hervé Kam, the lawyer representing the civil party in the case against Compaoré, told AFP.

Who are the accused?

Compaoré is one of 14 people who stand accused. General Gilbert Diendéré – one of the main Burkinabé army chiefs at the time of the 1987 coup – is the other main defendant. After serving as Compaoré’s chief of staff during the latter’s long presidency, Diendéré was imprisoned for 20 years for attempted murder in the 2015 coup attempt. At the forthcoming trial, he and Compoaré both stand accused of “complicity in murder”, “concealment of dead bodies” and “attacking state security”.

Soldiers in Compaoré’s former presidential guard – in particular Hyacinthe Kafondo, who is accused of leading the commando group that assassinated Sankara and who is currently on the run – are also among the defendants.

Initially, more people were expected to stand trial. However, “many defendants died”, according to lawyers for the civil party.

What should be expected from the trial?

There has been much speculation about the possible role of foreign countries – including France, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Libya – in the killing of Sankara. But the trial will focus exclusively on Burkinabé people involved in his assassination.

The focus will be on Compaoré, according to Jaffré. “His absence is regrettable; nevertheless, the question of his responsibility for the killing will be at the heart of the trial,” he noted.

The judge in charge of the inquiry was able to question all the surviving witnesses present on the day of the assassination who had never before spoken.

These witnesses have already clarified some important issues – in particular, they have established that the “commando force came from Compaoré’s house” and that “Diendéré was present to direct the operations”, Jaffré observed.

As well as trying to understand the exact sequence of the assassination, the trial will also seek to hold people responsible for complicity in the attempted cover-up of Sankara’s murder. For example, the doctor Jean Christophe Diébré said he died a “natural death”; Diébré is being prosecuted for “forging a public document”.

Will France’s alleged role be addressed?

While the focus is on the role of Burkinabé actors, France will still be relevant to the trial.

“The inquiry established that French agents were present in Burkina Faso on the day after the assassination to destroy wiretaps targeting Blaise Compaoré and Jean-Pierre Palm, a gendarmerie officer implicated for his alleged role in Sankara's killing,” Jaffré said.

Many observers note that Sankara’s government opposed the operation of Françafrique, rejecting his country’s longstanding alliance with France. He also angered Paris by calling for New Caledonia, a French overseas territory, to be included on the UN’s list of places to be decolonised.

During a 2017 trip to Burkina Faso, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to lift the “national defence secret” classification of all French archives concerning Sankara’s killing. Since then, three batches of declassified documents have been sent to Ouagadougou. But these contain only secondary documents and do not include any documents from the offices of François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, who were respectively president and prime minister of France at the time of the assassination.

“There is no sign, in the documents provided so far, of a French presence in Ouagadougou the day after the assassination. But these documents must exist – and the fact that Macron didn’t keep his word shows a certain degree of embarrassment,” said Jaffré.

This article was translated from the original in French.

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