'Superhumans': the acclaimed author refusing to forget refugees



Award-winning author Kim Thuy says 'refugee literature' has the power to restore lost identities and reveal the potential of these "superhumans" 

(AFP/Andrej Ivanov)

Thu, October 28, 2021

As conflict pushes millions across the globe from Afghanistan to Syria to flee their homes, award-winning author Kim Thuy says 'refugee literature' has the power to restore lost identities and reveal the potential of these "superhumans".

Thuy -- who escaped Saigon as a 10-year-old in the aftermath of the Vietnam War -- predicted that the world's attention would soon drift from crises such as Afghanistan, leaving those who fled the Taliban voiceless and battling to prove themselves in their new lives.

The novelist -- who was among Vietnam's thousands of "boat people" and spent months in a refugee camp in Malaysia in the 1970s -- has spent her writing career gathering threads of stories of Vietnamese forced to flee, trying to illuminate the lives of communities she says are overlooked.

"When you are on the outside perhaps you cannot see why we should rescue these people," she told AFP, saying she saw parallels between the desperate families that thronged Kabul's airport following the withdrawal of US troops and those that escaped the country of her birth more than 40 years earlier.

"But if they have survived the sea, if they have walked hundreds of kilometres or if they have climbed walls and they still survive, then it's because they have become superhumans.

"So when you plant them anywhere they will grow back, maybe stronger than the average," said Thuy, who has just released a new book, "Em", in English translation.

- Losing your past and future -

The UN has warned that up to half a million people could flee Afghanistan by the end of the year, on top of the 2.5 million Afghans already registered as refugees across the world.

Neighbouring countries have been asked to keep their borders open and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged the EU to take in more than 40,000 over five years.

But it's not clear what their future holds.

The arrival of more than a million migrants on Europe's shores in 2015, many of them Syrian asylum-seekers fleeing a brutal civil war, sparked political chaos as nations argued over who should take responsibility.

Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who has heavily criticised the European and British responses, is one of a growing number of writers telling the refugee story.

Earlier this month Gurnah landed literature's top award for his decades-spanning body of work rooted in colonialism and immigration.

Thuy, who has an honourary doctorate from Montreal's Concordia University for giving a voice to the refugee experience, believes passionately that new arrivals have the capacity to enrich a country -- but she concedes that taking them in is a "total bet".

"When you're in a refugee camp you've lost your past -- you don't have any identity anymore," said the 53-year-old.

"And you don't have any future because you don't even know when you’re going to eat next, let alone where you'll be next."

Her own story is testament to how that gamble can pay off.

Thuy and her family arrived in Malaysia penniless, on board a wooden boat that disintegrated moments after landing on the shoreline, and lived in a makeshift hut so small they were forced to sleep "like we were in a game of Tetris".

Three decades later she returned to the Southeast Asian country as part of a delegation from Canada -- the country that took her in -- having scooped a prestigious national literary award for her debut novel "Ru".

In between, she earned a degree in translation -- funding her studies through work as a seamstress -- and qualified as a lawyer.

In 2018, Thuy was among four authors shortlisted for the alternative Nobel Literature Prize, an award created after a scandal at the Swedish Academy which normally gives the prestigious award.

- Restoring their humanity -

Thuy, who is married to a Quebec-born lawyer and has two sons, now writes to illuminate the pasts of others that have been forgotten.

Her latest book "Em", originally written in French, the language of her adopted home Quebec, weaves together snippets of Vietnamese lives before and after the war and gently lays out their connection with the diaspora identity.

Based on real-life stories but using fictional characters, the novel snakes between the rubber plantations of the French colonial era, Saigon at the end of the war when thousands of children were evacuated during "Operation Babylift" and the new homelands of those who escaped.

The ingenuity of the Vietnamese diaspora is also in focus.

One story reveals how they came to dominate the nail industry following a manicure class organised by Tippi Hedren -- the actress in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" -- during a visit to a camp in 1975.

Those 20 refugees in the class settled in California, passed their skills to a few dozen others, and in only a few years the community had opened salons all over the world.

For Thuy, delving into refugee's complex histories is an essential part of restoring their humanity.

"I don't need readers to understand, I just need them to feel something," she says.

aph/dhc/lto

US, allies chastise Russia on media freedom


Police detain a journalist who holds a placard that reads "We don't stop being journalists" in solidarity with collegues added to the list of "foreign agent" media near the headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service in August 2021 (AFP/Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

Thu, October 28, 2021

The United States and its allies on Thursday urged Russia to protect media freedom, condemning what they called a crackdown on independent outlets.

In a joint statement, the United States and 17 other nations including France, Germany and Britain said that Russia's strenuous new requirements on media to label themselves as "foreign agents," with fines if not, marked an "unambiguous effort to suppress Russians' access to independent reporting."

They said that Russia appeared intent on closing the presence in the country of US government-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty following the closure of independent outlets.

The outlets also criticized Russia for detaining journalists who covered protests for imprisoned opposition activist Alexei Navalny as well as over alleged abuse of a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter in Russian-annexed Crimea.

"We urge the Russian Federation to comply with its international human rights commitments and obligations and to respect and ensure media freedom and safety of journalists," the statement said.

"We call on the Russian government to cease its repression of independent voices, end the politically motivated proceedings against journalists and media organizations and release all those who have been unjustly detained," it said.

The Western powers also pointed to Russia's expulsion of a BBC reporter, Sarah Rainsford, in what the British public broadcaster called an assault on media freedom.

Russia denied the allegation and said it acted against her in response to Britain denying accreditation to an unnamed Russian reporter.

sct/mdl

'Rust' tragedy highlights strain on film crews to 'get it done'

Issued on: 28/10/2021 - 
Los Angeles (AFP)

With a surge in demand for new content stretching productions thinner than ever, some film sets are under intense pressure to cut corners to just "get it done," industry insiders said in the wake of the "Rust" tragedy.

The low-budget Western on which Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer in a tragic accident last week was running behind schedule after crew members walked off the New Mexico set in protest over low pay and poor conditions.

Many of the dozen producers -- whose number included Baldwin -- trying to make an elaborate, action-packed movie on a reported budget of under $7 million had little relevant experience.

With no major studio attached, "Rust" was funded by a group of small financial companies, and the film was expected to be sold to a streaming service, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Many of these conditions are typical of a new reality in Hollywood, where the need for fresh content across ever-growing on-demand platforms has upped the ante further for hard-pressed crews, experts said.

"There is a lot of pressure to get things done -- and after Covid, there seems to be even more pressure because people are trying to get films out, they have deadlines to meet," said Joyce Gilliard, a veteran hairstylist who narrowly survived one of Hollywood's most infamous disasters.

Alec Baldwin was both the star and one of the producers of the movie Angela Weiss AFP/File

Gilliard's arm was shattered when a train hit crewmembers during the 2014 filming of "Midnight Rider," killing a camerawoman. She told AFP that the "Rust" tragedy has "brought on PTSD tremendously for me."

"If the productions, the studios aren't even thinking about safety, then it trickles down to the rest of the staff," she said. "It starts from the top."

The producers on "Rust" did not respond to repeated AFP requests for comment.

While facts are being gathered in the "Rust" case and charges have not been laid, experts warned it is impossible to draw a direct line between cost-cutting and any alleged negligence.

But University of Southern California law professor Gregory Keating said that "people have been using guns as props on movie sets for over 100 years," and that if established protocols are followed it is essentially impossible for someone to be killed with a live round on set.

"The failure is always to take the precautions that you should take. And the background here is the cost-cutting sure looks relevant to that," he said.

"It is more expensive to do things the right way than on the cheap."

At a press conference Wednesday, Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said it appeared "there was some complacency on this set."

"I think there are issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly the state," he said.

- 'Frenzy'-

The hiring practices on "Rust" have come under increased scrutiny after it emerged that veteran prop master Neal Zoromski turned down a job on the production due to "massive red flags" during negotiations.

Producers rejected his request for an assistant prop master and an armorer, insisting one person could handle both tasks.

"You never have a prop assistant double as the armorer," Zoromski told the Los Angeles Times. "Those are two really big jobs."

Several union camera operators had walked off set the day prior to the shooting, and were replaced by non-union crew who were last-minute hires.

Unions can play a role in enforcing safety norms to protect their members, said Keating, the law professor.

"If the armorer is a union employee, and you can't fire them, the armorer is in a better position to say 'no effing way are we shirking on this, don't you dare do this, shoot this scene until...'" he said.

The armorer on "Rust," 24-year-old Hannah Gutierrez-Reed whose father is a famous armorer, had only worked on one other film. She could not be reached for comment.

One gaffer -- or electrician -- who asked to be anonymous told AFP that since productions resumed after the Covid lockdown, he had "never had this much of an issue hiring people."

"There is a frenzy, this push for content to make up for lost time," he said.

"I think that fuels the mentality, 'Oh, just get it done. Get it done. Get it done. Get it done.'"

© 2021 AFP

US Congress grills oil executives over climate disinformation in day-long hearing

Issued on: 29/10/2021 

Climate activists and leading Democrats have focused particular ire on Exxon, after a senior lobbyist for the company was caught in a secret video bragging that Exxon had fought climate science through “shadow groups”. © Angela Weiss, AFP/file

Top executives of ExxonMobil and other oil giants denied spreading disinformation about climate change as they sparred Thursday with congressional Democrats over allegations that the industry concealed evidence about the dangers of global warming.

Testifying at a landmark House hearing, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said the company “has long acknowledged the reality and risks of climate change, and it has devoted significant resources to addressing those risks.″

The oil giant’s public statements on climate “are and have always been truthful, fact-based ... and consistent” with mainstream climate science, Woods said.

Democrats immediately challenged the statements by Woods and other oil executives, accusing them of engaging in a decades-long, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the contribution of fossil fuels to global warming.

“They are obviously lying like the tobacco executives were,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee.

She was referring to a 1994 hearing with tobacco executives who famously testified that they didn’t believe nicotine was addictive. The reference was one of several to the tobacco hearing as Democrats sought to pin down oil executives on whether they believe in climate change and that burning fossil fuels such as oil contributes to global warming.

Maloney said at the end of the nearly seven-hour hearing that she will issue subpoenas for documents requested by the committee but not furnished by the oil companies.

Republicans accused Democrats of grandstanding over an issue popular with their base as President Joe Biden’s climate agenda teeters in Congress.

Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the oversight panel, called the hearing a “distraction from the crises that the Biden administration’s policies have caused,” including gasoline prices that have risen by $1 per gallon since January.

“The purpose of this hearing is clear: to deliver partisan theater for primetime news,″ Comer said.

The hearing comes after months of public efforts by Democrats to obtain documents and other information on the oil industry’s role in stopping climate action over multiple decades. The fossil fuel industry has had scientific evidence about the dangers of climate change since at least 1977, yet spread denial and doubt about the harm its products cause – undermining science and preventing meaningful action on climate change, Maloney and other Democrats said.

“Do you agree that (climate change) is an existential threat? Yes or no?” Maloney asked Shell Oil President Gretchen Watkins.

“I agree that this is a defining challenge for our generation, absolutely,” Watkins replied.

Watkins, Woods and other oil executives said they agreed with Maloney on the existence and threat posed by climate change, but they refused her request to pledge that their companies would not spend money – either directly or indirectly – to oppose efforts to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re pledging to advocate for low-carbon policies that do in fact take the company and the world to net-zero” carbon emissions, said BP America CEO David Lawler.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who leads a subcommittee on the environment, said he hopes “Big Oil will not follow the same playbook as Big Tobacco” in misrepresenting the facts to Congress.

“As I’m sure you realize, that didn’t turn out too well for them,” Khanna said. “These companies must be held accountable.”

The committee released a memo Thursday charging that the oil industry’s public support for climate reforms has not been matched by meaningful actions, and that the industry has spent billions of dollars to block reforms. Oil companies frequently boast about their efforts to produce clean energy in advertisements and social media posts accompanied by sleek videos or pictures of wind turbines.

Maloney and other Democrats have focused particular ire on Exxon, after a senior lobbyist for the company was caught in a secret video bragging that Exxon had fought climate science through “shadow groups” and had targeted influential senators in an effort to weaken Biden’s climate agenda, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a sweeping climate and social policy bill currently moving through Congress.

In the video, Keith McCoy, a former Washington-based lobbyist for Exxon, dismissed the company’s public expressions of support for a proposed carbon tax on fossil fuel emissions as a “talking point.”

McCoy’s comments were made public in June by the environmental group Greenpeace UK, which secretly recorded him and another lobbyist in Zoom interviews. McCoy no longer works for the company, Exxon said last month.

Woods, Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, has condemned McCoy’s statements and said the company stands by its commitment to work on finding solutions to climate change.

Chevron CEO Michael Wirth also denied misleading the public on climate change. “Any suggestion that Chevron has engaged in an effort to spread disinformation and mislead the public on these complex issues is simply wrong,” he said.

Maloney and Khanna sharply disputed that. They compared tactics used by the oil industry to those long deployed by the tobacco industry to resist regulation “while selling products that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.″

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., accused the oil industry of “greenwashing” its climate pollution through misleading ads that focus on renewable energy rather than on its core business, fossil fuels. Shell spends nearly 10 times as much money on oil, gas and chemical production than it does on renewables such as wind and solar power, Porter said, citing the company’s annual report.

“Shell is trying to fool people into thinking that it’s addressing the climate crisis when what it’s actually doing is continuing to put money into fossil fuels,″ she told Watkins.

While U.S. leaders and the oil industry rightly focus on lowering carbon emissions, the world consumes 100 million barrels of oil per day — an amount not likely to decrease any time soon, said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group.

The industry group supports climate action, Sommers added, “yet legislative proposals that punitively target American industry will reverse our nation’s energy leadership, harm our economy and American workers, and weaken our national security.”

(AP)

Big Oil clashes with US Democratic lawmakers over climate 'disinformation'

Issued on: 29/10/2021 

New York (AFP)

US oil industry executives faced tough questions from congressional Democrats on Thursday over statements on climate science and whether their actions on green energy live up to their marketing campaigns.

Big Oil critics in the House of Representatives likened the hearing with CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron and other oil giants to a famous 1994 congressional hearing in which tobacco executives testified under oath that nicotine was not addictive.

But Democrats were unable to secure any expressions of regret by oil executives in a free-flowing session titled, "Fueling the Climate Crisis: Exposing Big Oil's Disinformation Campaign to Prevent Climate Action."

Leading oil companies are on the record as acknowledging the science of climate change, supporting the Paris Climate Agreement and policies to set carbon pricing. But critics accused the industry of "greenwashing," saying actions have not matched public relations efforts.

"Some of us actually have to live the future that you are all setting on fire for us," said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans defending the industry came out swinging against President Joe Biden's energy policies which they say have led to higher gasoline prices, including a move to shut down the Keystone Pipeline.

Representative Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican, accused Democrats of "shamelessly creating fear in a whole new generation" by highlighting climate change in order to promote a "liberal socialist wish list" of policies.
Coming clean?

The hearing comes amid rising worries about climate change in the wake of worsening hurricanes and forest fires.

But Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, was thwarted during an exchange with ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods.

She pointed to research dating to the 1970s in which Exxon scientists characterized climate change as a dire concern caused by fossil fuel emissions, that was followed by public statements downplaying the issue, a newspaper advertisement on climate change in 2000 headlined "Unsettled Science."

"There is a clear conflict between what Exxon's CEOs told the public and what the scientists were telling them," Maloney said.

But Woods defended the company, saying the stance was consistent with climate science at the time and noting that the fine print of the 2000 ad recommended lower-emission technologies because "climate change may pose long-term risks."

"I don't think it's fair to judge something 25 years ago by" the standards of current scientific knowledge, Woods said.

Maloney said she plans to issue subpoenas to get additional documents from the companies. She is seeking information from the companies on payments to "shadow groups" and public relations committees that have fought climate policies.

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California unsuccessfully sought to win commitments from oil executives to quit supporting trade groups that oppose key climate legislation, such as Biden's proposals to fund charging stations for electric vehicles and to crack down on methane emissions from oil and gas production.

But executives from Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron declined Khanna's request to rebuke a fellow panelist from the American Petroleum Institute over its lobbying stances, saying it is normal to have some disagreements with trade groups.

A memo released ahead of the hearing took the companies to task over their lack of action on climate on Capitol Hill, including when former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Accord -- a stance reversed by Biden.

ExxonMobil reported only one instance of lobbying on the Paris Agreement between 2015 and 2021, while lobbying 74 times against a bill to repeal tax breaks and 36 times on US corporate tax cuts approved in 2017.

Chevron lobbied just eight times on carbon pricing legislation since 2011, less than one percent of its total lobbying over the period, the report said.

© 2021 AFP

ALMOST CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Sen. Burr under investigation again for pandemic stock sales

In this June 17, 2021, file photo Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee ranking member Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Burr and his brother-in-law are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for potential insider trading, a case that stems from their abrupt sales of financial holdings during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent federal court filings. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)More


BRIAN SLODYSKO
Thu, October 28, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and his brother-in-law are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for potential insider trading, a case that stems from their abrupt sales of financial holdings during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent federal court filings.

Burr, a Republican, is among several lawmakers from both parties who faced outrage over their aggressive trading in early 2020, before the economic threat from the virus was widely known. That fueled accusations that the members of Congress were acting on inside information gained through their official duties to benefit financially, which is illegal under a law known as the STOCK Act.

Burr was previously investigated by the Trump administration's Justice Department for offloading $1.6 million from his portfolio in January and February 2020. The department cleared him of wrongdoing almost a year later — on Jan. 19, Donald Trump’s last full day in office.

But the SEC continued to investigate Burr, according to court documents filed in the Southern District of New York that were first made public last week. The agency enforces federal securities law.

Attorneys for Burr as well as for Gerald Fauth, who is the brother of Burr's wife, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Burr has previously denied any wrongdoing.

The filings stem from a case brought by the SEC to force Fauth to comply with a subpoena. The agency argued that his close relationship with Burr and a phone call between the two, followed by calls to Fauth's brokers, made his testimony “critical."

“Whether Fauth was himself tipped with inside information from Senator Burr, and whether Fauth knew Senator Burr was violating his duties under the STOCK Act by conveying that information, are matters Fauth is uniquely positioned to speak to,” the SEC said in a filing.

To bolster their case, SEC attorneys released a timeline of phone calls from Feb. 13, 2020, the day Burr sold off the vast majority of his portfolio. It was roughly one week before the stock market went into a tailspin.

At the time Burr had "material nonpublic information concerning Covid-19 and its potential impact on the U.S. and global economies” some of which he “learned through his position” as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and from former staffers directing the government's coronavirus response, the SEC alleges in the court filing.

That day, after Burr instructed his own broker to sell, he spoke with Fauth in a call that lasted 50 seconds.

One minute later, the court document states, Fauth called one of his brokers. Two minutes later, he called another broker and gave instructions to sell shares in his wife's account.

Later that day, Burr, who was staying at the Fauths' home in suburban Washington, logged into his online brokerage account from an IP address registered to Fauth's wife, court records state.

Burr has drawn perhaps the most scrutiny of all members of Congress for his trades in the early days of the pandemic. He was captured in a recording privately warning a group of influential constituents in early 2020 to prepare for economic devastation.

Burr denied trading on private information, but stepped aside from his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI obtained a search warrant to seize a cellphone.

Burr is not seeking reelection next year. He was elected to the Senate in 2004 after a 10-year run in the House.

The STOCK Act, the statute which Burr and Fauth are being investigated under, was passed with bipartisan support in 2012 following a congressional stock-trading scandal. It was cheered by government ethics groups and watchdogs as a long-overdue step.

But in the nearly decade since, no one has been convicted under the law. Meanwhile, congressional stock trading has continued apace.

Legal experts say such insider trading cases are exceptionally difficult to prosecute because they require definitively proving whether someone acted on nonpublic information. That hinges on demonstrating intent — a high burden.

That's part of why SEC investigators are trying to get a court order to force Fauth to testify a-year-and-a-half after they first issued a subpoena.

Fauth, a government official who serves as chairman of the National Mediation Board, has repeatedly cited his health as a reason for not complying. His attorneys have said it is a valid reason.

But he has continued to tend to his duties for the mediation board, participating in calls and meetings. He was recently nominated for another three-year term and appeared last month with the agency's attorney to be interviewed by Republican Senate staffers before his confirmation hearing for the post.

“When he appeared for that interview, Fauth does not appear to have followed (his) physician's advice that he avoid ‘stressful situations,’" the SEC wrote in the court filing.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

In Afghanistan, a girls' school is the story of a village

Afghan children stand among the ruins of houses destroyed by war in Salar village, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. In urban centers, public discontent toward the Taliban is focused on threats to personal freedoms, including the rights of women. In Salar, these barely resonate. The ideological gap between the Taliban leadership and the rural conservative community is not wide. Many villagers supported the insurgency and celebrated the Aug. 15 fall of Kabul which consolidated Taliban control across the country. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)More

SAMYA KULLAB
Fri, October 29, 2021, 


SALAR, Afghanistan (AP)  Mina Ahmed smears a cement mixture to strengthen the walls of her war-ravaged home in rural Afghanistan. Her hands, worn by the labor, are bandaged with plastic scraps and elastic bands, but no matter, she welcomes the new era of peace under the Taliban.

She was once apprehensive of the group’s severe style of rule in her village of Salar. But being caught in the crosshairs of a two-decade long war has granted her a new perspective.

Taliban control comes with limits, even for women, and that is alright, the 45-year-old said. “With these restrictions we can live our lives at least.”

But she draws the line on one point: Her daughters, ages 13, 12 and 6, must go to school.

From a bird’s eye view, the village of Salar is camouflaged against a towering mountain range in Wardak province. The community of several thousand, nearly 70 miles from the capital Kabul, serves as a microcosm of the latest chapter in Afghanistan’s history — the second round of rule by the Taliban — showing what has changed and what hasn’t since their first time in power, in the late 1990s.

Residents of Salar, which has been under Taliban hold the past two years, are embracing the new stability now that the insurgents’ war with the U.S. military and its Afghan allies is over. Those displaced by fighting are returning home. Still, they fear a worsening economic crisis and a drought that is keenly felt in a province where life revolves around the harvest.

In Kabul and other cities, public discontent toward the Taliban is focused on threats to personal freedoms, including the rights of women.

In Salar, these barely resonate. The ideological gap between the Taliban leadership and the rural conservative community is not wide. Many villagers supported the insurgency and celebrated the Aug. 15 fall of Kabul which consolidated Taliban control across the country.

But even in Salar, changes are afoot, beginning with the villagers’ insistence on their local elementary school for girls.

That insistence helped push the Taliban to accept a new, small school, funded by international donors. But what the school will become — a formal public school paving the way to higher education, a religious madrasa, or something in between — is uncertain, like the future of the village and the country.

A VILLAGE DEMAND

By 8 a.m., 38 small faces framed by veils are seated on a carpeted floor looking up at their teacher, Qari Wali Khan. With a stick in hand and furrowed brow, he calls on the girls to recite from the Quran.

Rokia, 10, is the unlucky first. Merely three words of classical Arabic escape her lips when Wali Khan interrupts, correcting her pronunciation. When she repeats again, he exclaims, “Afarin!” — “Excellent,” in Pashtu.

In three hours, the students, ages 9-12, will cover Quranic memorization, mathematics, handwriting, and more Islamic study. Homework: What is 105 x 25?

The school opened two months ago, marking the first time in 20 years girls in the village have ever stepped foot in a classroom, or something like it. In the absence of a building, lessons are held in Wali Khan’s living room.

The classes are the product of U.N. negotiations with the Taliban.

In 2020, the U.N. began working on a program to set up girls’ learning centers in conservative and remote areas, including ones under Taliban control at the time, like Sayedabad district where Salar is located.

Taliban interlocutors were initially reluctant to embrace the idea, but an agreement was eventually reached in November 2020, said Jeanette Vogelaar, UNICEF’s chief of education. International funding was secured, $35 million a year for three years to finance 10,000 such centers.

Launch was delayed by COVID-19. By the time centers were scheduled to open, the Taliban had taken over in Kabul. To everyone’s surprise, they allowed the project to go ahead, even using the previous government’s curriculum — though they have introduced more Islamic learning and insisted on gender segregation and female teachers.

Wali Khan, a madrasa teacher by training, got the job in Wardak because most educated women had left for the capital.

The program enables girls without formal schooling to complete six grades in three years. When completed, they should be ready to enter Grade 7.

It remains unresolved whether they can continue after that. In most districts, the Taliban have prohibited girls ages 12-17 from going to public school.

Still, it’s a good start, Vogelaar said. “Based on what we see now, somehow the Taliban doesn’t seem to be the same as how they behaved before,” she said.

Ten years ago, the Taliban were at the forefront of a deadly campaign targeting government officials in Wardak, with particular venom reserved for those campaigning for girls’ schools. Two village elders recounted the shooting death of Mirajuddin Ahmed, Sayedabad’s director of education and a vocal supporter for girl’s' access to education.

Several public girls’ schools were burned down in 2007 in the province. To this day, not a single one stands.

Times have changed.

“If they don’t allow girls to go to this school now, there will be an uprising,” said village elder Abdul Hadi Khan.

The shifting attitudes may be part of a broader trend in support of education. In 2000, when the Taliban were last in power, there were just 100,000 girls in school, out of a total 1 million schoolchildren. Now they are 4 million out of 10 million schoolchildren, according to the U.N.

Salar’s villagers wanted no different. They convinced Wali Khan to teach.

“They put their trust in me, they told me, this is a need in our society,” he said.

That might be one reason why the Taliban decided to cooperate; with the economy in ruins, they could not risk alienating a constituency that supported them throughout the insurgency.

There are concerns of how much the Taliban will shape the schooling. The U.N. is aware the Taliban enter villages and insist on more Islamic study, said Vogelaar.

Most families are not against it, either. Sayedabad district is composed primarily of Afghanistan’s dominant Pashtun ethnic group, from which the Taliban are mostly drawn. Religion and conservatism are central to daily village life.

But a madrasa-type education “was not the intention,” said Vogelaar.

Wali Khan said he received specific orders from the Taliban-controlled education directorate in Sayedabad to “include more religious study” in the curriculum. He obeyed.

In late October, local Taliban officials came to visit Wali Khan. They wanted to know how the classes were going.

“The girls have a hunger to learn,” he told them.

A FATHER’S PRIDE

After class, 12-year-old Sima runs home, whizzing past Salar’s mud-brick houses, a cloud of dust in her wake.

Her father, Nisar, is away picking tomatoes in the fields for 200 afghanis ($2.5) a day. He is their only breadwinner.

Her mother, Mina, is still mixing cement.

Mina expects it will be a long time before her home is in one piece again.

She’s rebuilding bit by bit, buying cement bags for the equivalent of $1 whenever she can. She has accumulated some 100,000 afghanis ($1,100) in debt to relatives and friends.

The family returned home just a month ago. Only one of the house’s four rooms was usable. Walls are still riddled with bullet holes.

They had fled more than 11 years earlier, moving to the other side of the village where it was safer. Their home was too dangerous, located on a strategic incline overlooking Highway One, which connects Kabul to the south and was a hotbed of insurgent activity throughout the war.

She remembers standing out in the cold as American troops inspected their house for insurgents. By 2007, ambushes of army convoys on the highway became frequent. Many times, Mina saw army tanks burst into flames from her kitchen window. She has lost two brothers-in-law.

The ruins of an army checkpoint lie above Mina's home. The Afghan army held it for 18 years, until the Taliban took over the area decisively two years ago.

Mina has made slow progress with the house but fears what will happen as temperatures drop and market prices rise.

Afghanistan is grappling with an economic crisis after the U.S. froze Afghan assets in line with international sanctions against the Taliban. Foreign aid that once accounted for 75% of state expenditure has also paused.

Mina has six children and they all need to be fed, she said.

Everyone who has returned has a similar story.

“You won’t find one person in this village who is in a good situation,” said Mahmad Rizak, 38, standing outside his home with a face flecked with cement.

Food shortages are taking a toll. The Mohammed Khan Hospital, the only one in the district, is struggling with a rising number of malnourished newborns wailing in the maternity ward.

In the surgical ward, an unusual museum of mementos hangs on the wall. It consists of bullets and kidney stones removed from patients — the first from the war, the second from poor water quality.

“Tells you everything about this place,” said Dr. Gul Makia.

Drought has decimated the harvest, leaving many whose lives revolve around tilling the earth and raising livestock with no means to make a living.

When October ends, so does tomato-picking season, and Nisar will be out of work.

He joins his wife in mixing cement.

He points to the room once occupied by Afghan soldiers, and then Taliban insurgents after them. “My daughter will become a teacher one day, and we will make this into a school for her to educate other girls.”

“She will be our pride,” he said.

 

In Afghanistan, a girls' school is the story of a village (yahoo.com)

Biden's new cyber czar is pushing for collective defense inside government and out


Ellen Nakashima
Thu, October 28, 2021

WASHINGTON - The Office of the National Cyber Director wants to bring cohesion to efforts to strengthen computer defenses across a sprawling set of more than 100 civilian agencies even as it seeks to drive more robust cybersecurity in the private sector.

"This is the beginning, not the end" of the attempt to ensure that the United States enjoys a secure and open Internet, said National Cyber Director Chris Inglis in an interview Wednesday laying out strategic vision for the federal government's newest agency.

Part of that effort may eventually include cybersecurity mandates for critical infrastructure.

"You can't rule that out," said Inglis, who was confirmed by the Senate as the first national cyber director in June and sworn in the following month. "I'm confident that at some point we'll get to that bridge and have to cross it."

He noted that such mandates would have to be set by Congress, and would be done "on an exceptional basis as opposed to a primary tool."

Congress established the office last year and purposely placed it in the White House, making the director report to the president, to ensure it had prominence and influence, and would be in a position to coordinate cyber defense efforts across the federal government.

Confronting challenges in cyberspace is a top priority for President Joe Biden, who has raised the issue of ransomware - a highly disruptive attack in which hackers demand exorbitant payments to free computers paralyzed by malware - with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Inglis's office will work toward building resilience against ransomware assaults, which often originate from Russia. But deterring them through bilateral talks, international pressure from allies and disruptive actions is more appropriately overseen by the National Security Council, he said.

Inglis has designated Chris DeRusha as his deputy for federal cybersecurity. DeRusha, who is also the federal chief information security officer for the White House Office of Management and Budget, will serve in a "dual-hat" role that is intended to bring his budget and cybersecurity expertise to the effort.

A key lever for the office is the ability to review agencies' cybersecurity budgets and recommend changes that will align spending plans with the president's cybersecurity priorities.

"It's a great opportunity to have that synergy," DeRusha said. "We're excited to have that extra capacity" afforded by the new office.

The coordination should be a boon for federal agency cybersecurity officers, Inglis said. "Particularly if you're a chief information security officer, you'll see us speaking in complementary ways and using our resources in a collaborative manner."

Inglis said that raising the federal government's cyber game is essential, but only a "predicate" to the broader effort to improve public-private collaboration. "You need to do that before the other things become a viable possibility," he said.

"I think we'll use our buying power" with federal contractors to encourage stronger cybersecurity practices, he said. But "we're not going to be big enough to drive the entire marketplace."

Inglis' role could be seen as encroaching on that of the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, who leads the federal agency in charge of cybersecurity for civilian agencies and critical industrial sectors.

But Inglis said he sees himself more as a "coach" with Easterly as "quarterback." The two, who once worked together at the National Security Agency, speak daily about cyber matters.

"My job is to ensure that she has the right resources and the right authorities within the scope of what the federal government can do on its own, and that her job is to execute," said Inglis, a former NSA deputy director. "So when she goes on the field, she has significant resources and a growing capacity to succeed."

The office is just starting to hire and Inglis said he expects to have about 25 personnel by year's end, working toward a total of about 75.

The office will build on a federal executive order issued in May that, among other things, will require companies selling software to the government to meet a set of standards. The hope is that effort to improve software security will ripple across businesses and critical industries nationally and internationally.

After Congress established the office in December, the Biden administration created a new role of deputy national security adviser for cyber within the NSC. Debate ensued over whether that job would conflict with the NCD.

The administration's delay in naming a national cyber director frustrated some lawmakers, who wanted to see the position filled quickly amid major incidents such as the SolarWinds hack, which saw government agencies and private companies compromised by Russian government operatives. But the naming of Inglis appeased the critics.

"Standing up the Office of the National Cyber Director finally provides the government with the strategic leader who both reports to the president and to Congress and thus can lead both the federal cybersecurity effort and build the public-private collaboration that is necessary to the defense of critical infrastructure," said Mark Montgomery, senior adviser to the bipartisan Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which recommended the office's creation.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M GAME BROS
Activision Blizzard ends forced arbitration for harassment and discrimination claims

Igor Bonifacic
·Contributing Writer
Thu, October 28, 2021, 


Following months of pressure from employees and workers, Activision Blizzard says it will no longer employ forced arbitration in sexual harassment and discrimination claims. CEO Bobby Kotick announced the policy change in a letter to employees the company shared on Thursday. Kotick said the publisher will also implement a new company-wide zero-tolerance harassment policy. In the future, any employee who is found to have violated the rule will be fired immediately. Additionally, they’ll forfeit any future compensation, including equity awards.

“Our goal is to have the strictest harassment and non-retaliation policies of any employer, and we will continue to examine and tighten our standards to achieve this goal everywhere we do business,” Kotick said.

The executive outlined three other steps Activision Blizzard will take to create a safer and more diverse workplace. Over the next 10 years, it will invest $250 million in programs that create opportunities in tech and gaming for under-represented communities. Additionally, the company to plans to hire more women and non-binary people. According to Kotick, approximately 23 percent of all employees at Activision Blizzard identify as part of those groups. Its goal is to increase that number by 50 percent to more than one-third across the entire company within the next five years. Kotick also promised the company will share annual reports on progress it makes toward pay equity.

Separately, the executive said he has asked Activision Blizzard’s board of directors to reduce his total compensation to $62,500 per year until it feels like he has met the diversity and safety goals outlined above.

Today’s announcement sees Kotick and Activision Blizzard meeting many of the demands employees put before the company when they began protesting its actions in the wake of California’s sexual harassment lawsuit. When employees first staged a walkout in July, they demanded the end of forced arbitration, greater pay transparency and new hiring policies designed to increase representation across the company. “This is a great start, and there’s still work to do,” said Jessica Gonzalez, one of the employees involved with the A Better ABK advocacy group. “We can lead the charge as an industry standard. Victories and still pushing.”

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick cuts his salary to $62,500, California’s state minimum

Chris Morris
Thu, October 28, 2021


After issuing what he later called a “tone deaf” response to a recent sexual harassment lawsuit, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick laid out a more robust response early Thursday and asked that his total compensation be reduced to $62,500, the lowest amount allowed for someone earning a salary under California law.

“I want to ensure that every available resource is being used in the service of becoming the industry leader in workplace excellence,” he said in a note to staff. “Accordingly, I have asked our board of directors to reduce my total compensation until the board has determined that we have achieved the transformational gender-related goals and other commitments…To be clear, this is a reduction in my overall compensation, not just my salary. I am asking not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity during this time.”

Kotick recently won a shareholder fight regarding his salary with the passage of a Say-on-Pay proposal. His 2020 pay package hit more than $150 million as the company laid off employees. Since 2007, he has received $461 million in compensation.

Kotick also announced a number of changes at the company, including a “new zero-tolerance harassment policy” and doing away with forced arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims. The company also will increase the percentage of women and nonbinary people in its workforce by 50%, he said, and will invest $250 million to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent.

In July, Activision was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing following a two-year investigation, which alleged the company fostered a “frat-boy” culture that led to widespread gender-based discrimination and harassment, and named several high-level executives. The company also has been the subject of multiple federal investigations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The company settled the EEOC investigation for $18 million.

Many Americans Say They Believe in Ghosts. Do You?

Anna P. Kambhampaty
Thu, October 28, 2021,

A staircase at the Merchant Õs House Museum in New York, Oct. 14, 2018. (Jackie Molloy/The New York Times)

There are a number of different ways to quantify belief among Americans in so-called paranormal phenomena. One way is to ask a selection of people representative of the population if they believe in ghosts. In a 2019 Ipsos poll, 46% of respondents said they did.

Another is to ask what they fear. This year, according to the Chapman University Survey of American Fears, about 9% of 1,035 adults surveyed said they feared ghosts, and the same amount said they feared zombies; many more people said they were afraid of government corruption, the coronavirus or widespread civil unrest.

The last time Gallup surveyed people about ghosts, in 2005, 32% of respondents said they believed in “ghosts or that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations.” When Gallup asked the same question in 1990, the result was 25%.

Such beliefs have pervaded U.S. culture and media for centuries. But some researchers are now studying whether their rise may be tied, in part, to the rise over the past few decades of Americans claiming no religious preference.

“People are looking to other things or nontraditional things to answer life’s big questions that don’t necessarily include religion,” said Thomas Mowen, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University.

For a continuing study on religion and paranormal belief, for example, Mowen said he was finding that “atheists tend to report higher belief in the paranormal than religious folk.”

‘This Supernatural Interest’

Last year, the share of Americans who belong to religious congregations fell below 50% for the first time in more than 80 years, according to a Gallup poll released in March. And the percentage of people claiming no religion nearly tripled from 1978 to 2018, according to the General Social Survey.

Still, even as religious frameworks for thinking about the meaning of life and death have become less popular in the United States, the big existential questions inevitably remain.

The General Social Survey found that as religious affiliation declined over four decades, belief in the afterlife remained relatively steady: In 1978, about 70% of those surveyed believed in the afterlife, and about 74% reported the same in 2018.

As Joseph Baker, co-author of the book “American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems,” put it: “People are outside of organized religions, but they still have this supernatural interest.”

Paranormal television, film and media of all sorts also play a significant role in the perpetuation of belief in the supernatural. Sharon Hill, author of the 2017 book “Scientifical Americans: The Culture of Amateur Paranormal Researchers,” sees the rise of nonfiction paranormal television shows like Syfy’s “Ghost Hunters” — which averaged about 3 million viewers per episode at its peak — as particularly influential in the culture.

“Ghost Hunters,” which premiered in 2004 and originally ran for 11 seasons, portrayed the search for paranormal activity as a discipline. “They had gadgets, they talked in jargon, it sounded professional,” Hill said. “It was convincing to the person at home that this was a serious thing going on in the world.”

And then, Hill said, “because of the rise of the interest in the paranormal, it was really, really easy for these tabloids to pick up cheap stories of people saying that they have demons in their house or they’ve seen a ghost or they got something creepy on their video cam.”

The internet allowed for people across the globe to connect with each other over paranormal interests, Hill added. Reddit became a popular forum to discuss unexplainable mysteries, such as an eerie experience at a rest stop or claims of a demonic run-in at a hospital unit. The site added a new element to these stories by making them interactive, with readers going back and forth in the comments, joining and adding to the narrative themselves.

Pandemic-Fueled Paranormal

Some paranormal investigation groups in the United States say they have received more requests than usual during the pandemic.

Don Collins, a director at Fringe Paranormal, a group in Toledo, Ohio, that investigates claims of unexplained happenings, said his team has been contacted for residential investigations or information on a weekly basis this year, as opposed to the typical one or two requests per month they got before the pandemic.

“I think part of it is that since a lot of people are at home due to COVID, if there is something paranormal going on, they’re actually home to notice it,” Collins said.

“People try to explain things happening through paranormal means when they can’t find an explanation for things that are going on,” he continued. “Negative things are happening around them, they may tend to attribute it to paranormal activity.”

Baker put it another way. “Religion and supernatural belief tend to go up in times of what we would call existential crisis or more existential perils,” he said.

“The increased suffering and death” caused by the pandemic means that people are “more likely to have experiences with death recently,” he said. “That may bring up these sorts of issues of wondering about spirits of loved ones.”

Believing in the supernatural can even be a source of solace. Emily Midorikawa, a biographer of Victorian-era women, provided a historical parallel. “There was certainly a real spike in people who sought the services of mediums, sought comfort in spiritualism about the time of the American Civil War,” she said.

Then as now, the paranormal was fodder for connection. In the Victorian era, seances were gathering places where social structures were less rigid, Midorikawa said.

“It wasn’t unusual, for instance, to have a female medium leading a seance, talking to groups of men and women,” she said. “There was an appeal to women who just went to seances as participants, perhaps it was a chance to get out and mix with people in that setting that was a little bit unusual — and one where perhaps there was a little bit more freedom.”

Today, believing in some form of the paranormal may represent freedom in another way, perhaps as an avenue to conceptualize other possibilities. After all, there are plenty of everyday mysteries we simply accept as part of modern life.

“A belief in the paranormal maybe doesn’t seem as much of a stretch,” Midorikawa said, “when we think about all the things we’re interacting with all the time that might as well be a kind of magic for all the understanding we have of them.”

© 2021 The New York Times Company

Teens in America

From spellcasting to podcasting:

Inside the life of a teenage witch

By Michelle Boorstein

Photos by Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post

MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

Teenage witch: From spellcasting to podcasting - Washington Post

 Bennett embraced witchcraft at the tail end of childhood, which they spent partly in Turkey, their mother’s native country, and in England, where their father is from and still lives.

Bennett is a witch influencer — albeit on a small scale. Shot in their bedroom, “Lunar Faery Witch” has 1,100 YouTube subscribers following their video explainers about different aspects of witchcraft.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema delivers ... for pharmaceutical companies

Opinion: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has apparently succeeded in killing a wildly popular plan to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. Shame on her for that.

Laurie Roberts
Arizona Republic


Congratulations are apparently in order to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her role in killing a wildly popular plan to have Medicare negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs.

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a new framework that cuts in half his proposal for social and climate change spending.

Gone from the $1.75 trillion proposal is a plan that would have allowed Medicare to use its considerable bargaining power to lower the price of prescription drugs for Americans – a proposal that would have saved the government about $600 billion over 10 years.

Instead, Sinema struck a deal with Biden on a narrower proposal that would, among other things, cap out-of-pocket prices for seniors. It was not included in the framework released on Thursday because the votes aren't there to pass it. Presumably, it’s that or nothing if Democrats want to do something this year on prescription drug prices.

“As she promised Arizonans, Kyrsten is working hard to ensure prescription drugs are available at the lowest cost possible, and she looks forward to continuing that work,” her spokeswoman, Hannah Hurley told The Arizona Republic’s Ronald J. Hansen.
BigPharma must be high-fiving all around

Or put another way, the lowest cost possible, given the hundreds of millions of pharmaceutical dollars flowing forth into campaign warchests and into lobbying members of Congress.

While allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices is popular with Arizonans – and Americans – it isn't so much with prescription drug companies.

Or with Sinema, who, along with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is calling the shots in Washington D.C. these days.

I’d tell you why the senator, who is among the top recipients of pharmaceutical campaign donations this year, is opposed to allowing Medicare to negotiate better prices for us all but alas, Sinema doesn’t generally talk to people like me. Or you.

She did, however, put out a two-sentence statement praising the $1.75 trillion bill’s new framework — the one that doesn't free Medicare to cut us a better deal on drugs.

“After months of productive, good-faith negotiations with President Biden and the White House, we have made significant progress on the proposed budget reconciliation package. I look forward to getting this done, expanding economic opportunities and helping everyday families get ahead.”
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I imagine it’s high fives all around pharmaceutical board rooms across the land.
Letting Medicare bargain seemed like a no brainer

The idea of unleashing the bargaining power of Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices seems like a no brainer.

Yet Republicans and a few moderate Democrats oppose it, buying the pharmaceutical companies’ rationale that barring them from gouging ailing Americans would stifle the development of new life-saving drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies get away with charging Americans close to three times what they charge, on average, in other countries, according to a 2021 analysis by the Rand Corporation.

Medicare doles out more $129 billion on prescription drugs every year. Yet it is barred by law from using its purchasing power to negotiate a better deal.

Let me repeat that. Medicare negotiates prices for every other type of health care but federal law bars the government agency from negotiating drug prices.

As a result, we sucker Americans are stuck paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
It's widely popular with Arizona voters

Biden’s plan would have allowed Medicare to negotiate the cost of medicine on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries and people enrolled in private insurance plans. He also proposed that drug companies pay a penalty if they raise their drug prices higher than the inflation rate.

A startling 94% of Arizona voters favor the idea, according to a recent poll conducted by OH Predictive Insights. That includes 92% of Republicans and independents and 97% of Democrats.

Sinema, instead, reached a deal with Biden to back a narrower plan that tracks with one offered by Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., who has raked in more than $128,000 from pharmaceutical and health products companies this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s more than all but two other lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but I digress. (Sinema rings in at No. 5.)

Peters' plan calls for caps on prescription drugs for seniors, ranging from $1,200 $3,100, a $50 cap on out-of-pocket costs for insulin (though Sinema supports something lower) and government negotiation on prices of some hospital-administered drugs and drugs whose patents have expired.

As if drugmakers won’t develop a sudden hankering to extend those patents for a decade or three.

Now, that popular plan is gone. Coincidence?

It’s worth noting that Manchin, Sinema’s fellow Senate holdout, supported the original plan to let Medicare get a better deal for all of us.

It’s also worth noting that Sinema – who campaigned in 2018 on a pledge to lower prescription drug prices – has scooped up nearly $520,000 from the pharmaceutical and health products industry over the course of her career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

This year alone, she's enjoyed $100,000 in BigPharm donations, the Center for Responsive Politics reports.

And now, in a strange twist of coincidence, the insanely popular plan to allow Medicare to bargain for a better deal on prescription drugs is going ... going ... gone.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.