WHITE SUPREMACIST REVISIONISM

Florida city's first Black female firefighter sues over mural that depicted her as White

Oct. 12 (UPI) -- City attorneys and commissioners in a South Florida city will meet Tuesday to discuss a lawsuit filed by its first Black female firefighter over a controversial public mural -- on which she was depicted as being White.

The firefighter, Latosha Clemons, filed the suit against the city of Boyton Beach in April, which says the mural honoring her and others "reflected her as a White member of the city fire department."

A second amended complaint filed last month says the case is being brought on Clemons' behalf "to redress the defamatory statement [the City of Boyton Beach] made regarding her race and/or its negligence in failing to properly oversee an approved use of the likeness of Clemons."

The suit seeks $100,000 and claims that Clemons, 48, has faced damage to her personal and professional reputations, loss of income and has been subjected to "ridicule, contempt, disgrace and/or humiliation" since the mural was revealed.

City Manager Lori LaVerriere told CNN that the Boyton Beach City Commission will "meet in a closed-door session Tuesday to discuss the litigation."

The mural used a photograph of Clemons and two white female firefighters as a template but portrayed all three women as White and was removed a day after it was unveiled in June 2020.

The lawsuit says that representing Clemons as White on the mural "completely disrespected" all that she had accomplished and "demonstrated disrespect" to the Black population of Boyton Beach, a city in Palm Beach County, Fla., located about 55 miles north of Miami.

A 2019 project by the city's art commission to honor the fire department also depicted former city fire chief Glenn Joseph, a Black man, as White.

The city fired public arts manager Debby Coles-Dobay and fire chief Matthew Petty after the mural was unveiled.

Boyton City attorneys James Cherof and Gal Betesh said in a court filing that employees responsible for altering the mural "acted outside the scope of their employment and without the city's knowledge or consent.

Clemons' attorneys have requested a jury trial and they will discuss a range of options during Tuesday's closed-door session, which include seeking a settlement to litigating the case in court.

Groups sue U.S. government over failure to protect giraffes

"Recognizing that giraffe have a complex cooperative social system and live in matrilineal societies will further our understanding of their behavioral ecology and conservation needs,"


Two newborn South African giraffe calves (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) nurse from a female giraffe in the African section of the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, Israel. 

File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The Humane Society's U.S. and international branches, along with a conservation group, sued Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect Africa's giraffes from extinction.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International and Humane Society of the United States argued in the 24-page suit that the federal agency and Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland missed a legal deadline to propose Endangered Species Act protections.

The Humane Society petitioned for the giraffe protections in April 2017, which triggered a 12-month statutory deadline, which the Service and Haaland failed to meet, according to the suit.

"As giraffes face a silent extinction, it's shocking and sad that federal officials are punting on protections for these desperately imperiled animals," Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. "The U.S. market is flooded with products made with giraffe bones and skins, from knife handles and saltshakers to rugs and pillows. It's past time we halt these gruesome imports to help save everyone's favorite long-necked mammal."

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The statement noted that the giraffe population has decreased nearly 40% due to habitat loss, civil unrest, poaching and human-caused habitat changes, exacerbated by international trade in bone carvings, skins and trophies, and fewer than 69,000 mature giraffes remain in the wild.

"It is tragic that the U.S. is a top importer and seller of giraffe parts--heads, legs, feet, tails, skin--and a leading contributor to the species' threat of extinction," Adam Peyman, wildlife programs director for Humane Society International, said in the statement. "It is the responsibility of the Fish and Wildlife Service to stop this horrific trade and provide the long overdue protection that these animals deserve, before it is too late."

In August, a study revealed that giraffes are socially complex, but have been misunderstood.

"Recognizing that giraffe have a complex cooperative social system and live in matrilineal societies will further our understanding of their behavioral ecology and conservation needs," researchers wrote in the study published in Wiley Online Library.

GUN FETISH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

U.S. on pace to easily surpass last year's gun violence toll on children

Thousands of pairs of shoes were placed on the U.S. Capitol lawn on March 13, 2018, to memorialize the children who lost their lives to gun violence following the 2012 Sandy Hook school shootings. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The United States is well on its way to surpassing last year's total for deaths and injuries among children and teens due to gun violence, updated figures showed Monday.

Some 4,472 children aged 17 and younger have been killed or injured across the country so far during 2021, according to the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive.

Those figures put the United States on pace for a year-end total of more than 5,700 deaths and injuries -- a mark that would easily surpass last year's total of 5,141, a UPI analysis found.

This year's grim toll includes the deaths of 940 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 and 239 children of 11 and under. Some 2,686 teens and 607 younger children have been injured from gun violence so far this year, the group reported.

The updated figures came just days after the release of an FBI report showing that overall homicide in the United States rates were up a record 29.4% in 2020 over 2019.

There were more than 21,500 reported homicides last year, according to the figures, including around 1,600 in which the victims were 19 or younger.

Still, the homicide rate at 6.5 per 100,000 people was about 40% below the peak in the 1980s and the 1990s, the FBI's data showed.

Meanwhile, data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics last week showed the homicide rate for the United States rose 30% between 2019 and 2020 -- the biggest increase in modern history.

Students march in Washington to protest gun violence

A young woman shouts with "Don't Shoot" written on her palms as students from the Washington, D.C., area protest gun violence.

Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

Chemicals in plastic containers, cosmetics linked to risk for earlier death in study


Chemicals found in plastic food containers and cosmetics may cause early death in older adults, according to a new study. Photo by harrydona/Pixabay

Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Daily exposure to chemicals used in the manufacture of plastic food containers and cosmetics may cause up to 100,000 premature deaths among older people in the United States annually, a study published Tuesday by Environmental Pollution found.

Of more than 5,000 adults ages 55 to 64, those with the highest concentrations of chemicals called phthalates in their urine were more likely to die of heart disease than those with lower exposure, the data showed.

In addition, people in this high-exposure group were more likely to die from any cause than those in low-exposure groups, the researchers said.

However, high levels of the toxic chemicals in urine did not appear to increase risk for death from cancer, they said.

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"Our research suggests that the toll of this chemical on society is much greater than we first thought," study co-author Dr. Leonardo Trasande said in a press release.

"The evidence is undeniably clear that limiting exposure to toxic phthalates can help safeguard Americans' physical and financial well-being," said Trasande, who is director of the Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards at NYU Langone Health in New York City.

Deaths caused by high levels of exposure to phthalates generates up to $47 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity, according to Trasande and his colleagues.

RELATED Study: Chemicals in food, clothing, cosmetics increase ADHD risk in kids

Phthalates pose a potential danger to human health because the chemicals can interfere with the function of hormones, signaling compounds made in glands that circulate to influence processes in the body, research has found.

Exposure is believed to occur through buildup of these toxins as consumer products break down and are ingested, with exposure linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease as well as mental health disorders, studies suggest.

For this study, Trasande and his colleagues analyzed data on phthalate levels found in urine samples obtained from adults who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey from 2001 to 2010, an ongoing assessment of health led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The researchers also used data from the CDC's Wonder database, the U.S. Census Bureau and models from earlier studies to estimate the economic cost of early death in adults ages 55 to 64, a group they said is particularly vulnerable to phthalate exposure.

The findings, however, do not establish a direct cause and effect association between phthalate exposure and early death, in part because the specific biological mechanism that would account for the connection remains unclear, they said.

The researchers said they plan to further study the role these chemicals may play in hormone regulation and inflammation in the body.

"Our findings reveal that increased phthalate exposure is linked to early death, particularly due to heart disease," Trasande said.

"Until now, we have understood that the chemicals connect to heart disease, and heart disease in turn is a leading cause of death, but we had not yet tied the chemicals themselves to death," he said.

Bookchin M. Our Synthetic Environment - Libcom
https://libcom.org/files/Bookchin M. Our Synthetic Environment.pdf · PDF file

Our Synthetic Environment Murray Bookchin 1962 Table of contents Chapter 1: THE PROBLEM Chapter 2: AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH Chapter 3: URBAN LIFE AND HEALTH Chapter 4: THE PROBLEM OF CHEMICALS IN FOOD Chapter 5: ENVIRONMENT AND CANCER Chapter 6: RADIATION AND HUMAN HEALTH Chapter 7: HUMAN ECOLOGY Chapter 8: HEALTH AND SOCIETY Appendixes

US Economy: Record 4.3 Million Workers Quit In August Amid Mass Exodus From Retail, Food Service Sectors

By Ashley Palya
10/12/21 AT 1:02 PM

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings and hiring rapidly declined in August, along with the largest number of workers quitting their jobs in more than two decades.

A total of 4.3 million workers left their jobs, an increase of 242,000 as about 4 million people left the workforce in July. The latest figures include 892,000 food-service workers, 721,000 retail workers and 534,000 healthcare and social assistance workers.

Surveys have shown that workers are confident they can find a new job amid a labor shortage.

Employment vacancies decreased to 10.44 million during August, according to the department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Many economists have noted that U.S. labor issues are due to low wages and benefits.

“There’s simply no labor shortage when you’re talking about finding house cleaners for a hotel — there is a shortage of workers who want to work at what you’re offering,” Sylvia Allegretto, a UC Berkeley labor economist, told the Los Angeles Times in July.

DHS to end worksite immigration raids, focus on employers

Undocumented workers who report abusive employers could be shielded from deportation

Immigration activists march in front of the Capitol in May.

 (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

By Suzanne Monyak

Posted October 12, 2021

The Biden administration will halt massive worksite immigration raids while it prepares policies offering deportation protection to undocumented immigrants who report their employers for labor abuses, according to an agency memo released Tuesday.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in his memo that immigration agents would no longer conduct immigration sweeps at work sites, where hundreds of people suspected of working without authorization can be arrested at once.

These raids are “not focused on the most pernicious aspect of our country's unauthorized employment challenge: exploitative employers,” Mayorkas wrote in a memo to the leaders of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

These types of enforcement actions can also chill or even be used “as a tool of retaliation” for undocumented workers who cooperate with labor investigations against their employers, he said.

Mayorkas also instructed immigration agency officials to, within 60 days, develop proposals to encourage witnesses and victims of labor trafficking to come forward and cooperate with law enforcement. These plans should “provide for the consideration of deferred action, continued presence, parole, and other available relief for noncitizens” who report abuses, a reference to various forms of legal protections from deportation.

The agencies should also consider ways to ensure that undocumented immigrants are not placed into deportation proceedings while investigations continue, Mayorkas said.

“We will not tolerate unscrupulous employers who exploit unauthorized workers, conduct illegal activities, or impose unsafe working conditions.  Employers engaged in illegal acts compel the focus of our enforcement resources,” Mayorkas said in a Tuesday statement.

The memo is part of the administration’s stated effort to crack down on employers who violate U.S. labor law.

President Joe Biden has for years been a vocal supporter of labor movements and unions. He issued a stark pro-union statement during the unsuccessful union drive among Amazon workers in Alabama and nominated former Boston mayor and union leader Marty Walsh to lead the Department of Labor.

The memo also signals a departure from the immigration enforcement priorities of the Trump administration, which ramped up the use of worksite immigration raids, particularly in the Southeast.

In 2019, under the prior administration, ICE conducted the largest raid in the agency’s history when it arrested nearly 700 workers at poultry processing plants across Mississippi in a single day.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the Homeland Security Committee chair whose home state was targeted in those immigration raids, praised Tuesday's action.

“The previous Administration too often carried out raids that tore apart communities but allowed employers to continue exploiting workers,” Thompson said in a statement. “Refocusing resources to counter exploitative employers is a necessary step in protecting the American labor market and workers.”

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a key player in congressional immigration talks, called the memo “an important step in safeguarding the safety and well-being of undocumented workers" and stressed the contributions of undocumented essential employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The memo comes less than a month after ICE released its final guidance narrowing enforcement priorities to focus resources on migrants who recently crossed the border and on immigrants who threaten national security or public safety.

That Sept. 30 guidance also prohibited immigration enforcement from being used to retaliate against noncitizens exercising workplace or tenant rights, previewing Tuesday’s memo.

Marielena Hincapié, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, praised the changes as “a paradigm shift away from targeting undocumented workers to holding accountable the unscrupulous employers.” Hincapié previously co-chaired the immigration unit of the Biden-Sanders unity task force.

The announcement “signals pivotal changes ahead that will make workplaces across the country safer and more equitable for all workers and finally puts an end to deeply harmful worksite raids,” she said in a statement.

Caroline Simon contributed to this report.

 Radio waves from distant stars indicate hidden planets

This discovery is an important step for radio astronomy.

BYAMIT MALEWAR

OCTOBER 12, 2021

 

SPACE

Image: Pixabay

Using the world’s most powerful radio telescope Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), Dr. Benjamin Pope from the University of Queensland and colleagues at the Dutch national observatory ASTRON have searched for planets. Recently, the team has discovered radio waves blasting out from distant stars, indicating the presence of hidden planets.

Scientists have discovered radio signals from 19 distant red dwarf stars. Four out of them are best explained by the existence of planets orbiting them.

Dr. Pope said, “We’ve long known that the planets of our solar system emit powerful radio waves as their magnetic fields interact with the solar wind, but radio signals from planets outside our solar system had yet to be picked up.”

“This discovery is an important step for radio astronomy. It could potentially lead to the discovery of planets throughout the galaxy.”

Scientists focused on red dwarf stars that have intense magnetic activity. The magnetic activity from these stars drives stellar flares and radio emissions. But some old, magnetically inactive stars also showed up, challenging conventional understanding.

Dr. Joseph Callingham at Leiden University, ASTRON, and lead author of the discovery, said that “the team is confident these signals are coming from the magnetic connection of the stars and unseen orbiting planets, similar to the interaction between them. Jupiter and its moon, Io.”

“Our own Earth has aurorae, commonly recognized here as the northern and southern lights, that also emit powerful radio waves – this is from the interaction of the planet’s magnetic field with the solar wind.”

“But in the case of aurorae from Jupiter, they’re much stronger as its volcanic moon Io is blasting material out into space, filling Jupiter’s environment with particles that drive unusually powerful aurorae.”

“Our model for this radio emission from our stars is a scaled-up version of Jupiter and Io, with a planet enveloped in the magnetic field of a star, feeding material into vast currents that similarly power bright aurorae.”

“It’s a spectacle that has attracted our attention from lightyears away.”

Dr. Pope said, “We can’t be 100 percent sure that the four stars we think have planets are indeed planet hosts, but we can say that a planet-star interaction is the best explanation for what we’re seeing.”

“Follow-up observations have ruled out planets more massive than Earth, but there’s nothing to say that a smaller planet wouldn’t do this.”

This work exhibits that radio space science is on the cusp of altering our comprehension of planets outside our Solar System.

Journal Reference:

1. Callingham, J.R., Vedantham, H.K., Shimwell, T.W. et al. The population of M dwarfs observed at low radio frequencies. Nat Astron (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01483-0
2. Benjamin J. S. Pope et al. The TESS View of LOFAR Radio-emitting Stars. DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac230c

Barbarians at the gate stand down: KKR private equity barons Henry Kravis and George Roberts quit as co-chief execs after 45 years

By HUGO DUNCAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED 12 October 2021

Two of the world's most powerful private equity tycoons have stepped down as co-chief executives of buyout firm KKR after 45 years of dealmaking.

Billionaires Henry Kravis and George Roberts – cousins who set up the business in New York with the late Jerome Kohlberg in 1976 – handed over to long-term co-presidents Scott Nuttall and Joe Bae.

The shake-up marks a changing of the guard in an industry that has long attracted fierce criticism for debt-fuelled buyouts they pioneered.

Dealmakers: Henry Kravis (left), George Roberts have stepped down as co-chief executives of their buyout firm KKR

Kravis, 77, and Roberts, 78, will stay on as executive chairmen. Kohlberg died aged 90 in 2015 having left the firm in 1987.

KKR shot to fame in 1988 when it pulled off what was then the largest leveraged buyout in history with the £18billion takeover of food and tobacco giant RJR Nabisco.

As the bidding war raged, Time magazine said the 'invisible line that separates reasonable conduct from anarchy' had been crossed, adding: 'Seldom since the robber barons of the 19th century has corporate behaviour been so open to question.'

The deal was immortalised in the best-selling book Barbarians At The Gate and a film starring James Garner as Nabisco boss F Ross Johnson and Jonathan Pryce as Kravis.

Kravis and Roberts have since grown KKR into a global titan with nearly 2,000 staff and £315bn of assets. Current investments include ride-sharing start-up Lyft and media group Axel Springer.

Earlier this year, the company set up a team of dealmakers to target British firms amid a tsunami of takeover bids in the UK.

It has offices in Hanover Square in Mayfair, central London. According to business magazine Forbes, Kravis has a fortune of £6.3billion while Roberts is worth £6.7billion.

The duo worked together at investment bank Bear Stearns before departing with their mentor, Kohlberg, to set up KKR.

Nuttall, 48, and Bae, 49, have long been seen as successors having risen through the ranks after joining KKR in their twenties in 1996.

KKR pointed out that its share price has tripled and assets under management doubled since the pair became co-presidents and co-chief operating officers in July 2017.

But they face a stiff challenge to replicate the success of Kravis and Roberts, who have maintained a tight grip on the firm for almost half a century.

In a statement announcing the shake-up, Kravis and Roberts said: 'Whether reflecting on the business, our mission or the team that undertakes it, we are proud of what we have built to support companies and serve our clients over the last four and a half decades.

Joe and Scott – over the last 25 years – have played a significant role in that endeavour and in shaping the firm, its culture, and our market leading businesses into what they are today.

'We could not be more excited about this moment in time.

'There is such a huge need for private capital to support businesses, and KKR still has so much potential even 45 years later.'

Anarchy of production - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy_of_Production

In Marxist theory, anarchy of production is a characteristic feature of all commodity production based on private property, which is the primary mode of production in the capitalist market economy. The term is often used as a criticism of market economies, emphasizing their chaotic and volatile nature in contrast to the stable nature of planned economies, as proposed by Marxists.

Sally Rooney rejects Israeli translation offer in support of BDS

Irish author turns down bid by publishing company Modan to translate, Beautiful World, Where Are You, into Hebrew.

Beautiful World, Where Are You, is Sally Rooney's third novel, following Normal People, and, Conversations with Friends

 [File: Henry Nicholls/Reuters]

12 Oct 2021

Irish author Sally Rooney has rejected a bid by an Israeli publishing company to translate her latest novel into Hebrew due to her stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Rooney, 31, said in a statement on Tuesday that her decision to turn down Modan’s offer for the translation rights to, Beautiful World, Where Are You, was taken in support of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

BDS calls for a full cultural, economic and academic boycott of Israel for its illegal repression of Palestinian rights.

“For the moment, I have chosen not to sell these translation rights to an Israeli-based publishing house,” Rooney said.

“I understand that not everyone will agree with my decision, but I simply do not feel it would be right for me under the present circumstances to accept a new contract with an Israeli company that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.”

Rooney cited “damning” reports this year by global Human Rights Watch and Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, that exposed “Israel’s system of racial domination and segregation against Palestinians” as motivating factors in her decision.

After some social media users reacted with anger to early media reports of her decision, Rooney clarified that she is not against her book being translated into Hebrew.

“The Hebrew-language translation rights to my new novel are still available, and if I can find a way to sell these rights that is compliant with the BDS movement’s institutional boycott guidelines, I will be very pleased and proud to do so,” Rooney said.

Rooney said she was “very proud” her two hugely successful previous novels – Normal People, and, Conversations with Friends – were translated into Hebrew.

Rooney, 31, has received four book awards in the UK including the 2018 Costa Book award

 [File: Vickie Flores/EPA]

‘No business-as-usual’

Palestinian campaigners welcomed the author’s move.

“There should be no business-as-usual with an apartheid state and institutions complicit in it,” the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) said in a post on Twitter.

Hil Aked, an independent researcher and activist, said Rooney’s move was a “principled act of solidarity”.

“She joins an ever-growing list of cultural figures showing practical support for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality,” Aked told Al Jazeera.

“Though the Israeli government – and many other governments – are seeking to repress the BDS movement, it continues to grow.”

But a senior Israeli official rejected the Irish author’s move as “anti-Semitism in a new guise”.

“The cultural boycott of Israel … is a certificate of poor conduct for her and others who behave like her,” Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai tweeted.

Israel has long denounced the BDS movement as anti-Jewish and rejects any comparison between its treatment of Palestinians and apartheid as inaccurate.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

HUBRIS

Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he is ‘bored’ with COVID deaths questions

Far-right president’s comment comes just days after Brazil surpassed 600,000 coronavirus deaths, spurring public anger.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has faced mass protests and calls for his impeachment over his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic 

[File: Evaristo Sa/AFP]

11 Oct 2021

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has said he did not want to be “bored” with questions about the country’s coronavirus death toll, just days after Brazil became the second country in the world to surpass 600,000 fatalities.

Bolsonaro – a COVID-19 sceptic who has downplayed the severity of the virus – was surrounded by supporters at the beach in Guaruja, in Sao Paulo state, on Monday when a journalist asked him about the death toll.
KEEP READING‘Out Bolsonaro!’: More protests in Brazil over COVID crisisBrazil chief justice says top court ‘will not tolerate threats’Brazil’s Bolsonaro complains about gas prices as inflation soars‘Horrific milestone’: Brazil surpasses 600,000 COVID deaths

“In which country did people not die? Tell me!” he responded. “Look, I didn’t come here to be bored.”

Brazil surpassed 600,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday, the country’s health ministry announced, spurring more public anger against Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic.

For months, the president has rejected calls to impose restrictions such as lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus, while public health officials have slammed his government for failing to quickly secure COVID-19 vaccines.

Thousands have taken to the streets to demand Bolsonaro’s impeachment over the pandemic as well as corruption allegations, but he has remained defiant and continues to reject public health measures.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro claimed that COVID-19 protocols at soccer matches had prevented him from attending a Brazilian championship football match in the city of Santos.

“Why a vaccine passport? I wanted to watch Santos now and they said I needed to be vaccinated. Why should that be?” Bolsonaro told journalists. Santos said Bolsonaro had not asked to attend the match, however.

Authorities this week allowed clubs to fill 30 percent of available seats in Brazilian championship games, but the protocol agreed to by the Brazilian soccer confederation says all people inside stadiums must be vaccinated and recently tested.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian Senate committee that in April launched an investigation into Bolsonaro’s pandemic policies is expected to release a final report in the coming weeks.

That could heap more pressure on the president ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

While Brazil’s former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has not formally announced he will run, polls show Lula would easily defeat Bolsonaro.

On Friday, Brazilian non-profit Rio de Paz hung 600 white scarves on Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana beach in honour of all those who died during the pandemic.

“The president discouraged sanitary standards, challenged mask use, condemned social distancing, was against mass vaccination – because of that we have these bitter numbers,” said the group’s president, Antonio Costa.

“These are thousands of grieving families,” he said, referring to the scarves dotting the beach. “One day, we’ll know how many of those have died, lost their lives, because they heard the denying speech of some of our main public authorities.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES