Serbian elections: Aleksandar Vucic's media dominance aids bid for another term

Serbs head to the polls on Sunday to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections. President Aleksandar Vucic, who is likely to stay in power, has benefitted from the media limelight amid the war in Ukraine.


Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dominates the media


Wherever Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic takes the stage to campaign for his reelection, he is greeted with roars of applause as supporters wave Serbian flags.

It is difficult to say whether these are authentic or staged displays of affection. In any case, Vucic's reelection campaign is a highly organized affair — and nothing is left to chance — with thousands of supporters arriving in buses to take part in the rallies. Independent Serbian media outlets report that municipal employees are required to attend.

"We want to achieve an even clearer victory this time, with Serbia voting for the future, liberty and stability," Vucic said at a recent rally.


Aleksandar Vucic has held key Serbian posts for a decade

Serbia will see a spate of key elections this Sunday: Voters will cast ballots in the presidential, snap parliamentary, and Belgrade regional elations. Many expect Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to emerge victorious.

A major Belgrade betting company is offering just €2 in winnings on a €100 ($110) bet placed on Vucic's win. Polls, too, suggest the incumbent could maintain the presidency in the first round of voting — and his party is expected to win an absolute majority.

Serbia's fractured opposition parties could, however, make gains in Belgrade's regional elections.

Provider of stability amid war?

Amid Russia's war on Ukraine, Vucic has reiterated in television interviews that his victory would deliver "peace" and "stability." While Serbia — an EU candidate country — condemns Russia for violating Ukraine's territorial integrity, it did not join in Western sanctions targeting Moscow.

One reason is that many Serbs feel culturally and historically connected to Russia. Another is that Serbia's leadership knows the country is heavily dependent on Russia for energy. And when it comes to the Kosovo issue, Russia takes Serbia's side. Neither Moscow nor Belgrade recognize the independence of the former south Serbian province.

Russian President Putin and his Serbian counterpart in Belgrade in January 2019

With the war in Ukraine dominating the headlines, Vucic has benefited. He tallies how many tons of wheat, maize and sardines the country has stockpiled for emergencies. He presents himself as the guarantor of peace safeguarding the precarious Balkans.

"This propaganda aims to instill fear in people," philosopher Vladimir Milutinovic, author of a book on Vucic's rhetoric, tells DW.

"The tabloids write that economic collapse is imminent elsewhere, that famine is even looming in Germany. Such statements are intended to cast Serbia as an oasis of stability."

Golden ticket: Party membership card?

For 10 years, Aleksandar Vucic has held leadership posts in Serbia. His Serbian Progressive Party controls most major television stations and tabloid papers, in addition to state-run companies and municipal administrations.

On television chat shows, opposition lawmakers are regularly vilified as thieves and traitors. Vucic has referred to his political party as a catch-all movement for everyone, regardless of ideology. The party has some 700,000 members — that's one-tenth of Serbia's entire population. The reason, however, is that it's almost impossible to get a job in the civil service, government, or state-owned companies without a party membership card.

"The Serbian Progressive Party dominates public opinion," says Dejan Bursac of the Belgrade-based Institute for Political Studies.

"This allows Vucic to take contradictory positions and appeal to voters on all sides. He makes agreements with Kosovo, yet also spouts fiery nationalist rhetoric — or he boasts of how Serbia was one of the first countries to secure enough coronavirus vaccines, then quickly lifts all measures against the pandemic."

Opposition parties struggling to get heard

That leaves Serbia's opposition with limited options for winning over voters. Their main campaign issues are addressing corruption, environmental degradation, and drawing attention to the government's alleged ties to the mafia — none of these issues garnered much attention since war broke out in Ukraine.

Environmental demonstrators block a Belgrade highway in January 2022

Just a few months back, opposition figures were finally beginning to get their message across. Environmental activists had blocked several highways to protest against a large lithium mine planned to open in western Serbia. Critics feared the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto would cause serious environmental damage and shift profits out of the country.

President Vucic was forced to switch into crisis-management mode. Sensing the issue could harm his reelection campaign, Vucic revoked Rio Tinto's mining permit. And with that, public interest in the issue vanished almost overnight.

Game of cat and mouse

Such political dominance would be almost unthinkable without the party's sway in Serbian media and the practically limitless financial means, writes independent weekly Vreme.

Investigative reporters recently revealed that the party had spent some €23 million ($25 million) on election campaigns between 2015 and 2021 — three times more than all opposition parties combined. This means the regime is in control of everything and "can play a game of cat and mouse with its political opponents," according to Vreme.

Opposition parties largely boycotted the 2020 parliamentary elections, citing unfair conditions. This year, several opposition coalitions are expected to win seats in the legislature. The United Serbia coalition, a broad alliance of centrist parties, is projected to take between 15% and 20% of the vote. Their presidential candidate, Zdravko Ponos, a retired chief of staff in the Serbian armed forces, could fare even better.

The green alliance Moramo, meaning "We Must," could also pass the 3% threshold and enter parliament. Unimaginable in Serbia until recently, the environmental parties gained momentum from their fight against the Rio Tinto mine.

Social and economic issues key

The country's nationalists and right-wing camp, in contrast, appears more fractured, fielding five presidential candidates and just as many electoral lists. Their positions and nationalist slogans. do resonate with many voters. More than 80% of Serbians say they reject joining NATO, and two-thirds say Russia is Serbia's most important partner. Even so, Serbia's right-wing and nationalists don't have a good chance of securing any seats.

Serbian ultra-nationalist and convicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj is also in the race

Political analyst Bursac says the reason for this is that many in Serbia are more concerned with social and economic issues, rather than the Kosovo question and related topics. Today, he says, nationalism is not the basis for Serbian populism, but merely an additive.

Massive debt

"Vucic's main voters since 2012 have been those who have lost out to the economic crisis: pensioners, housewives and low- to middle-income workers," says Bursac. "In the election campaign, the president promises new factories, highways and hospitals. The message is clear: There is hope for Serbia and for everyone."

Some observers, however, warn that this approach will entail massive public debt. The price of food and energy could climb even further after the election. Analysts are also convinced that Brussels will increase its pressure on Serbia to join the EU in targeting Russia with sanctions.

Radmilo Markovic contributed to this report

This article was originally written in German

NAZI OMA

Germany: 93-year-old Holocaust denier sent back to jail

The so-called "Nazi Grandma," Ursula Haverbeck has been handed another prison sentence. The notorious Holocaust denier will serve a one-year sentence.


The judge said that there was no alternative to prison to Ursula Haverbeck after her repeated intances of Holocaust denial

The notorious neo-Nazi Ursula Haverbeck was sentenced to a 12-month prison sentence in Berlin on Friday for denying the murder of over a million Jews at the Auschwitz death camp.

The court rejected an appeal by the 93-year-old for convictions in 2017 and 2020 handed to her for repeated instances of Holocaust denial.

"You're not a Holocaust researcher, you're a Holocaust denier," the presiding judge said in the courtroom, adding "it's not knowledge you're spreading, it's poison."

PORTRAITS OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AT BERLIN'S JEWISH MUSEUM
Rachel Oschitzki
Rachel Oschitzki survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and a death march. In 1947, she boarded the Palestine-bound refugee ship, Exodus, which was involved in a scuffle with the British the military. After Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, she was one of the first to be allowed to emigrate to the newly established state. She returned to Germany in 1956.
12345678

Serial Holocaust denier

Haverbeck was sentenced to six months in prison in 2017 after repeatedly denying the historic facts of the Holocaust during an event in Berlin.

She then received a further 12-month-long prison sentence in 2020 for publishing an interview online in which she again made statements that denied the Holocaust.

The judge said Haverbeck's actions came from her own beliefs and that the decision to jail the 93-year-old had been necessary as there was no alternative.

"There's nothing that will stop you," the judge told Haverbeck. "We won't have any impact on you with words."
'Nazi Grandma'

Haverbeck repeatedly claimed that Auschwitz was "not historically proven" to be a death camp, claiming it was a labor camp instead. An estimated 1.1 million people were murdered at the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; 90% of the victims were Jewish.

Dubbed "Nazi Grandma" by the German media, had also been convicted in other parts of Germany. She served two and a half years in prison in the western German city of Bielefeld in 2018.

She has also been handed numerous fines for her comments. Her lawyers in Friday's case had asked for her sentence to be lowered to fines or for her to be released.

This plea was rejected and future changes to the sentence are no longer possible.

Mali: Hundreds of militants killed in large-scale operation, army says

The West African nation has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks as European troops drawdown their operations. The country remains a stronghold of both al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) affiliated terrorist groups.



Several international military missions remain in Mali

Mali's armed forces on Friday said they killed more than 200 militants during an operation in March.

In a statement, the army said that a military operation between 23 and 31 March in the area around Moura, a village in central Mali, killed 203 combatants. They arrested 51 people and seized large quantities of weapons as well.

News outlets have not been able to independently verify the information because of a lack of access.

Malians suffer under strain of economic sanctions

African leaders have sought help from the international community for years to fight jihadi terrorism in the western Sahel, an area that stretches across Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Senegal's President Macky Sall, currently the chairman of the African Union, told DW in February that Africa has been "pleading with the [UN] Security Council for the last 10 or 12 years to take greater responsibility" but they have not been able to rally support.
Situation deteriorates in Mali

Mali has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning the UN Security Council that Mali's counter-terrorism efforts had "disastrous consequences for the civilian population," AFP news agency reported.

The UN also said Friday that thousands fleeing fighting in Mali had arrived in Niger.

Mali cutting off ties with France

Mali's army said it was guided by human rights and international law in its statement on Friday, and called for "restraint against defamatory speculations."

A day earlier, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known by the acronym MINUSMA, said security had "deteriorated considerably" in the border area with Burkina Faso and Niger.

French and European troops withdraw

France and its European partners announced on February 17 that it would pull most of its troops from Mali by summer as political and security situation continued to deteriorate with repeated coups in the country.

French forces fought Islamic insurgents in Mali for nearly a decade, as the country remains a stronghold of both al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) affiliated terrorist groups.

The announcement ended France's Barkhane counter-terrorism mission, which includes Canada, and the Takuba mission, where European special forces support Barkhane.

France said it would move operations to Niger instead.

While experts have expressed concerns about the uptick in violence as a result of the withdrawal, Germany has been under pressure to end its Mali operations too.

rm/jcg (Reuters, AFP)

Artists hail revolutionary Joni Mitchell at pre-Grammy gala


Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock performs 'Hejira' during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell

 (AFP/ANGELA WEISS)

Joni Mitchell was all smiles at the MusiCares pre-Grammy gala in her honor (AFP/VALERIE MACON)



US singer-actor Billy Porter performs "Both Sides Now" during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell 


Mickey Guyton (R) and Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell (L) perform "For Free" in tribute to Joni Mitchell

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell speaks after accepting the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year award 

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (4th L) stands on stage with performers honoring her, performing a medley of "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Circle Game" 




Brandi Carlile and Stephen Stills perform "Woodstock" on stage during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell 





Maggy DONALDSON

Sat, 2 April 2022

Music's legends and hitmakers turned out Friday to honor Joni Mitchell -- the Canadian-born folk icon behind classics including "A Case Of You" -- at a charity gala ahead of the Grammys that featured moving tributes and glassy eyes.

The 78-year-old Mitchell donned a sequined kimono-style robe, bejeweled black beret and bright red nails at the MusiCares show where artists including Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Angelique Kidjo and Stephen Stills, along with this year's leading Grammy nominee Jon Batiste, paid homage to her vast oeuvre.

"It's been quite a year," the artist known for her distinct contralto and open-tuned guitar told journalists on the red carpet.

In December she was among the inductees at the Kennedy Center Honors gala, one of America's most prestigious arts awards.

The evening marked a rare public appearance for the trailblazing Mitchell, who in 2015 suffered a brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to speak, the aftermath of which has involved extensive physical therapy.

But on Friday she was glowing, telling reporters she's been having artistic "ideas" even as she continues to focus on improving her health.

The influential artist who inspired everyone from Neil Diamond to Prince is perhaps best known for the intensely personal 1971 album "Blue," a deep dive into emotional heartache.

Last summer "Blue" charted number one on iTunes as it hit its fiftieth anniversary -- outperforming even pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo's "Sour."

Voicing her own astonishment over the milestone, Mitchell explained her album's enduring popularity and recent resurgence: "Maybe people want to get a little bit deeper."

And asked by reporters how she was feeling health-wise, she said "pretty good," adding she'd been "making improvements."

- 'Touches the world' -

Jazz great Hancock -- who in 2007 released a tribute album to Mitchell entitled "River: The Joni Letters" -- hailed his longtime friend's artistic "courage."

"She bares her soul, but she does it in such a poetic way," Hancock told AFP on the red carpet, in the hours before he delivered a performance of Mitchell's song "Hejira" onstage.

He credited Mitchell, who is widely considered among the 20th century's greatest songwriters -- with teaching him "how to listen to lyrics."

"Some people -- and I'm one of 'em -- when we listen to music, we hear the harmonies and the musical textures, and the lyrics sound like gibberish," he continued.

Yet Mitchell's "poetry" still strikes him, Hancock said: "Nobody writes lyrics like Joni."

"She's given all of us the courage to tell the truth," said performer Billy Porter, who paid tribute to Mitchell singing her beloved "Both Sides Now" onstage. "To use our art to grow; to use our art to heal."

"To set some other people free -- she's powerful that way."

The star-studded gala is an annual tradition from MusiCares, the charitable wing of the Recording Academy that raises money to help musicians in need prior to the Grammy Awards.

This year's celebration also featured an affecting remote performance of "A Case Of You" from Graham Nash, of the folk supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, a band Mitchell both deeply influenced and shared a rich working relationship with.

She also dated both David Crosby and Nash, and mined the latter break-up for inspiration on a number of the songs comprising the seminal "Blue," including the touching "A Case of You."

Neil Young appeared in a video message sending Mitchell "lots of love," while Stephen Stills attended the ceremony in Las Vegas and praised Mitchell as "one of the great artists of this world."

"Back when we were kids we had a good time trying to figure out the tunings that she used. Crosby happened to be the most adept at it," he told AFP. Crosby produced her debut album, "Song to a Seagull."

Stills played guitar as Brandi Carlile belted out a rollicking rendition of "Woodstock" on an evening flush with performances, that left many in the room, especially Mitchell, with tears welling.

"I could retire now, and just let other people do it," she joked when she accepted her award. "Everybody was splendid."

"Did you enjoy it?" she asked the audience to rounds of applause, before joining the night's performers to sing "The Circle Game" and "Big Yellow Taxi."

Stills summed up the mood: "God bless you Joni Mitchell, for being in our lives."

mdo/ssy

 

Generations sing to Joni Mitchell in pre-Grammys tribute

By ANDREW DALTON

1 of 10

Joni Mitchell accepts the Person of the Year award at the 31st annual MusiCares benefit gala on Friday, April 1, 2022, at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)


LAS VEGAS (AP) — An 81-year-old jazz giant and a 15-year-old rock singer were the first to perform tributes to Joni Mitchell on Friday night.

Such was the diversity of artists honoring a most diverse artist, Mitchell, a Canadian-turned-Californian, folkie-turned-rocker-turned-jazz explorer who was honored as the 2022 MusiCares Person of the year by the Recording Academy two days before the Grammy Awards.

Herbie Hancock played a jazz piano rendition of music from Mitchell’s 1976 album “Hejira” that was followed by a rocking version of 1974′s “Help Me” from Violet Grohl, the teenage daughter of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, to open the tribute concert in a ballroom at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

Mitchell, sitting at the front table, brought out the teenager in many of the older entertainers.

“When I first heard Joni Mitchell it was 1968 and I was 15 years old,” Cyndi Lauper, now 68, said. “I had never heard anyone sing so intimately about what it was like to be a young woman navigating this world.”

Lauper recited several of Mitchell’s lines that moved her most, before launching into “Magdalene Laundry” while playing mountain dulcimer.

“I don’t know how you do what you do, I just know I need it like food,” Meryl Streep said in a video message played for Mitchell and the crowd. “Ever since we were both young girls. We didn’t know each other, but you sang me into being. You sang my life.”

Seven years after a brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to walk or speak, Mitchell, 78, was delighted to be in Las Vegas and out at a major public event for the first time since the pandemic began.

“I had the best margarita that I’ve ever had at our hotel,” she told The Associated Press as she walked into the gala.

Mitchell is a presenter and a nominee for best historical album at Sunday’s Grammys. She says she’s always found herself in the genres and categories that don’t make the Grammy telecast.

“I usually win the behind-the-curtain awards,” she said with a laugh.

Inside, sitting a table with Hancock and director Cameron Crowe, Mitchell often appeared near tears as a parade of artists praised her before giving their takes on her songs.

“Not unlike people who lived in the time of Shakespeare, and of Beethoven, we are living in the time of Joni Mitchell, and it shows tonight,” said Brandi Carlile, who sang a version of “Woodstock” that began as a quiet ballad before the house band kicked in and Stephen Stills — who played on the most famous version of the 1970 song with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — joined her for an electric guitar solo.

In a new approach to this year’s MusiCares tribute, organizers appointed Carlile, who is up for five Grammys on Sunday, and Jon Batiste, who is up for 11, as music directors to coordinate the artists and their approaches to the difficult, genre-bending songs of Mitchell’s five-decade career.

“We helped shepherd artists to their Joni songs, the ones that their souls connected to,” Carlile told the AP. “This isn’t easy music. This is complicated, brilliant music that is really hard to interpret.”

Before singing one of those esoteric songs, “The Jungle Line” from 1975′s “The Hissing of the Summer Lawns,” Beck said “preparing for this event I feel like I’ve been in Joni school.”

John Legend gave a surprise performance, singing and playing solo piano on Mitchell’s “River” on a spinning stage in the middle of the room as the crowd of 2,400 was finishing their spinning dessert, an edible Grammy trophy on a turntable.

“Everybody was splendid, it just kept getting better and better and better,” Mitchell said in a brief acceptance speech near the concert’s end. “I can retire now and just let other people do it.”

But she showed she’s not quite done yet.

Carlile and Batiste brought most of the night’s performers back to the stage for a sing-along of “The Circle Game” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Mitchell eventually made her way to the mic to join them, delivering the famous baritone ending of the latter song.

“Put up a parking lot,” she sang, to laughs and whoops from the crowd.

The MusiCares Person of the Year is a career achievement award handed out for a combination of inspiring artistic accomplishments and philanthropy. The gala handing it out raises funds for the programs of MusiCares, the Recording Academy charity that provides health and welfare services to musicians in need.

Past honorees include Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and Aerosmith.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

Tribes seek more inclusion, action from US officials

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and FELICIA FONSECA

1 of 6

FILE - Interior Secretary Deb Haaland waves after speaking to a crowd during a totem pole delivery ceremony by Native American tribal leaders and Indigenous activists, on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 29, 2021. Secretary Haaland vowed on her first day on the job to ensure Native American tribes have opportunities to speak with her and the agencies she oversees. Native American and Alaska Native groups are seeing change under Haaland but some remain frustrated with the pace of action. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was a quick trip for U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland with stops to hike through desert scrub near the U.S.-Mexico border and to marvel at the jagged Organ Mountains before soaking in what life was like in one of the oldest settlements along a historic trade route.

For Haaland, the time spent in West Texas and New Mexico over recent days helped to highlight the work being done to conserve parts of the borderlands.

But it also marked an opportunity for Haaland — as head of the agency that has broad oversight of tribal affairs — to deliver on promises to meet with Native American tribes that have grown increasingly frustrated about the federal government’s failure to include them when making decisions about land management, energy development or the protection of sacred sites.

Haaland’s selection as the first Native American to serve in the position opened a door for tribes who pointed to a history fraught with broken promises.

“I want the era where tribes have been on the back burner to be over, and I want to make sure that they have real opportunities to have a seat at the table,” Haaland said on March 17, 2021, her first day on the job.

Haaland has since met with nearly 130 of the nation’s 574 federally recognized tribes as she seeks to overhaul a federal system that has limited Native American relations to a check-the-box exercise.

And while some tribes say her aspirations are admirable, others remain skeptical they will see real change and say they have yet to experience meaningful dialogue with the federal government or key decision makers.

Haaland’s department has developed a plan for improving formal consultations with tribes and established an advisory committee that will aid with communication once it’s up and running. In an effort to make consultation a hallmark of her tenure, Haaland has said she wants integration of tribal input to become second nature for her employees.

There has been some success as tribes felt heard when the Biden administration restored the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and when the U.S. Department of Agriculture pulled back an environmental impact statement that paved the way for an Arizona copper mining operation to consult further with tribes.

But frustrations persist among tribal leaders who say their conversations with the federal government have not resulted in action on the ground.

For the Ute Indian Tribe in Utah, those frustrations lie in management of the Colorado River basin as western states grapple with less water amid a megadrought and climate change. Tribes were not included in a century-old compact that divvied up the water, and the Ute tribe says it’s seeing the same exclusion now.

The tribe’s Business Committee has spent hours in meetings and preparing formal comments and says it’s tired of having to reiterate its position that the federal government must protect the tribe’s water rights or support development of water infrastructure to serve the reservation.

Committee Chairman Shaun Chapoose said he’s seen proposals, but “actual where-the-rubber-meets-the-road stuff hasn’t occurred yet, and the drought gets worse.”

There are similar sentiments among Navajo Nation lawmakers who are concerned about Haaland’s plans to make oil and gas development off-limits on federal land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.

Advocacy groups sent a letter to Haaland on Thursday, saying more needs to be done to include tribes as her department charts a path forward for protecting culturally significant areas in northwestern New Mexico.

The Interior Department said more meetings with the Navajo Nation and other tribes are planned in April and that Navajo-language translators will be present.

In Nevada, several tribes and the National Congress of American Indians have asked the Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to uphold a duty to engage in “robust and adequate” tribal consultation regarding plans for a massive lithium mine at Thacker Pass. So far, the tribes say that hasn’t happened.

Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties and statutes, the federal government must consult meaningfully and in good faith with Native American and Alaska Native tribes when making decisions or taking action that is expected to impact them.

However, a 2019 report from a government watchdog found some federal agencies lacked respect for tribal sovereignty, didn’t have enough resources for consultation or couldn’t always reach tribes.

Another top complaint from tribes is that they are brought in when a course of action already has been set, instead of including them in the earliest phases of planning.

“The federal government says all the right words, but their mentality is one in which they are not really doing this in a way that reflects the proper government-to-government relationship that I think tribes are orienting to when they enter into these conversations,” said Justin Richland, a professor at the University of California-Irvine School of Social Sciences who specializes in Native American law and politics.

Consultation doesn’t always lead to action or create any substantive rights on the part of the tribes, making it somewhat of a “toothless tiger,” said Dylan Hedden-Nicely, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who directs the Native American Law Program at the University of Idaho.

He said it’s reasonable, although incorrect, to think things would move quickly with Haaland — a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico — because she had a base of knowledge about Indian Country when she took the office. But the groundwork is still being laid to effectuate real change, Hedden-Nicely said.

“It’s not immediate, but it’s going to be worth the wait, I’m hoping,” he said.

During Haaland’s confirmation hearings, Interior staff consulted with tribes on how to improve the process.

“Secretary Haaland and the entire department take our commitment to strengthening tribal sovereignty and self-governance seriously, and we have affirmed that robust consultations are the cornerstones of federal Indian policy,” department spokesman Tyler Cherry said in a statement to The Associated Press.

President Joe Biden issued a memo during his first month in office, reaffirming previous executive orders on tribal consultation and directing federal agencies to spell out how they’ll comply. That set in motion Haaland’s efforts to give tribal leaders a direct line of communication to the Interior Department.

A congressional committee is scheduled next week to consider a bill by Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona that would codify a framework for tribal consultation that supporters say would insulate the process from changes in administration.

The legislation faces an uphill battle, and some tribes want to ensure that it includes a pathway not only for the federal government to initiate consultation, but for tribal leaders to start conversations, too. Similar legislation introduced in the past has failed.

For Amber Torres, chair of the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Nevada, consultation should be more than a generic letter or email.

“I want true, meaningful, face-to-face dialogue with a timeline, intent and follow-up and next steps agreed by both parties,” she said. “Making the tribal consultation process a law is long overdue, and it would be a step in the right direction to ensure tribal nation sovereignty is protected.”

___

Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Missouri regulates boarding schools after abuse allegations

By JIM SALTER


1 of 3

This undated photo shows Maggie Drew. Drew, now 29, is among several former students of Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch who have alleged abuse at the Christian boarding school in southwestern Missouri. The husband-and-wife operators of the school have been charged with around 100 crimes combined. Religious boarding schools like Circle of Hope and a nearby facility for boys, Agape, have come under scrutiny amid tales of abuse, prompting a new state law providing greater oversight. 

(photo by Maggie Drew via AP)


Maggie Drew’s dad sent her to Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch in Missouri in 2007, hoping strict Christian teachings would stop his 14-year-old daughter’s teenage rebellion.

Instead, Drew said, she found herself in a nightmare, sexually abused by one of the boarding school’s founders and left with permanent spinal injuries after a fall from a hay barn for which she received no medical attention.

Just 25 miles away at another Christian boarding school, Brett Harper says he endured abuse that included staff members stomping on his back.

They are among dozens of people who say they were abused at either Circle of Hope or Agape Boarding School — allegations that helped prompt a new Missouri law aimed at reining in religious boarding schools that for decades went without any oversight by the state.

“I still have nightmares about these people and the things they did to us,” Drew said.

The founders of Circle of Hope face around 100 charges, some alleging sexual abuse. Agape’s doctor is charged with child sex crimes and five employees are accused of assault, though Missouri’s attorney general thinks many more workers should have been charged.

The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. But both opened in southwest Missouri under a 1982 state law that gave religious boarding schools free rein and the state no way to monitor how kids were educated. Even the health department had no oversight, including for schools that claimed to address mental health, behavioral and addiction issues.

The new law approved last year followed extensive reporting from The Kansas City Star that found that several faith-based boarding schools, including Agape, relocated to Missouri after being investigated or shut down for abuse or neglect elsewhere.

Legislators heard testimony from former students such as Chanel Mare, who told of girls at Circle of Hope being forced to eat their own vomit; and James Matthew Lawson, who said he was raped at Agape and called “seizure boy” because of his epilepsy.

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Larson and Drew both came forward publicly to discuss the allegations.

Supporters of religious boarding schools say they provide structure to troubled young people. Megan Stokes, executive director of National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, said the wrongdoing alleged at Agape and Circle of Hope is exceedingly uncommon.

Yet unlike Missouri and many other states, her trade association requires state licensing for all of its 150 member schools, including the religious ones. Agape is not a member, nor was Circle of Hope.

Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope in 2006 in the remote town of Humansville. “We use the BIBLE to teach (girls) that they are to obey their Parents and the authority over them,” the school’s website, which has been taken down, stated.

The school closed amid a 2020 investigation; 25 girls were removed. In March 2021, Boyd Householder, 72, was charged with 79 crimes and Stephanie, 56, was charged with 22.

Sixteen former residents alleged they were restrained with handcuffs, whipped with belts, and punched. Nearly two dozen counts against Boyd Householder accuse him of sexual contact with girls.

Messages left with the Householders’ attorney were not returned. In an August interview with the Star, the couple said the accusers made up their stories.

Drew, now 29, said her life was upended when her brother died in a car wreck in 2007. Her grieving father joined a church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Drew said that when she refused to wear a skirt and her grades dropped, church leaders persuaded her dad to send her to Circle of Hope.

“It was absolute torture,” said Drew, who also accused the Householders of stealing a $25,000 inheritance from her.

James Clemensen, a retired California trooper, and his wife, Kathy, started Agape in Stockton, Missouri, in 1990. He told a reporter in 2002 that he picked Missouri because of its lack of regulation. He died in October.

Agape serves 120-150 boys ages 12-17. Its website says it’s a nonprofit school “designed to show God’s love to teen boys struggling with behavior issues that can threaten their future.”

The school remains open. Five staffers were charged in September with abusing students. In December, Dr. David Smock was charged with sexual abuse. He pleaded not guilty in March.

Phone messages left with Agape’s director and Smock’s attorney were not returned.

Harper was 14 when he was sent there from his rural Oregon home in 1999. Now 36, he recalled long hours moving large rocks from one pile to another, toting lumber by hand and clearing land. Harper said his injuries have left him unable to keep a job.

“What I went through at Agape primed me for abusive relationships with people, it primed for being an ignorant young man not knowing the way the world worked, it destroyed my family relationship,” Harper said.

Missouri’s new law sets minimum health and safety requirements for boarding schools, which still don’t have to be licensed. The law mandates background checks for employees; requires adequate food, clothing and medical care for students; and says parents must be allowed access to their children at any time without prior notice.

After a state investigation last year, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt recommended charges against 22 Agape employees. But in Missouri, only the local prosecutor can file charges, and Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither does not plan to file more.

“The attorney general has his agenda,” Gaither said. “I’m an experienced prosecutor and I filed what I believe are the appropriate charges.”

James Clidence, who taught math at Agape from 2012 to 2015, said he left after witnessing abuses so concerning that his wife contacted federal, state and local authorities. None would investigate, he said.

“I’m for religious liberty. I’m a pastor. But at this point we’re talking about children’s well-being,” Clidence, who now leads a Baptist church in Maryland, said.

Harper is among those who question whether religious boarding schools will get real scrutiny in Missouri.

“How many things have to happen before they act?” he asked.

Peru to Target Miners’ ‘Excess Profits’ in Tax Reforms: Reuters

Max Zimmerman, Bloomberg News

A drilling machine moves copper concentrate at the Southern Copper smelter facility in Ilo. Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Peru will target the “excess profits” that mining companies have earned from rising metal prices around the world, Economy and Finance Minister Oscar Graham told Reuters in an interview late Friday.

The world’s second-largest copper supplier will focus on surplus profits, potentially through an “adjustment” to taxes, Graham said, as the metal trades at near record levels of around $10,000 per ton following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Graham said the margins of the adjustment are being evaluated but it is important the mining sector retain its competitiveness and that investment will not be discouraged. He also told Reuters that Peru needs a better distribution of mining wealth to communities to quell recent protests, which have halted output of some key mines.

Peru Government, Communities Agree on Truce for Las Bambas

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo pledged to raise taxes on the mining sector when he came to office last year. His current plan, however, is much less ambitious than initially promised after it faced resistance from miners and a split Congress, according to the report.

UN rights body appoints Tuvalu negotiator as climate change expert

Ian Fry has negotiated on behalf of least developed countries, ensuring that human rights were part of the final package. 

PHOTO: FENNERSCHOOL.ANU.EDU.AU

PUBLISHED
APR 2, 2022

GENEVA (REUTERS) - The UN top rights body appointed an expert on climate change and human rights for the first time on Friday (April 1), a move that is expected to embolden environmental defenders and provide more support for victims of extreme weather.

The new Special Rapporteur position was formally created by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in October at the same time as the body recognised access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right.

The first to hold the post will be Ian Fry, who holds both Australian and Tuvaluan nationality. He has negotiated on behalf of least developed countries including at the 2015 Paris climate conference where he helped ensure that human rights were part of the final package.



Tuvalu, a tiny, low-lying Pacific nation, has been prominent in drawing global attention to the struggle against rising sea levels. Its foreign minister gave a video address to the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow last year standing knee-deep in seawater.

The mandate of the new independent expert is to "study and identify how the adverse effects of climate change, including sudden and slow onset disasters, affect the full and effective enjoyment of human rights and make recommendations on how to address and prevent these adverse effects".

In his letter stating his reasons for seeking the post, Fry stressed the need for action to help those forcibly displaced by extreme weather, having witnessed this first hand after Cyclone Pam in Tuvalu in 2015.

"I believe the displacement due to climate change is one of the greatest human rights threats confronting the international community," he wrote.

Fry, who teaches environmental policy part time at an Australian university, was one of 26 candidates for the position, UN documents showed. The appointment is for three years.

FETUS FETISHIST
Five Fetuses Were Found In The Home Of An Anti-Abortion Activist, DC Police Said


Salvador Hernandez
Fri, April 1, 2022, 1:52 PM·4 min read

Five fetuses were found in the home of an anti-abortion activist on Thursday after Washington, DC, police received a tip about a "bio-hazard material" at the home, the Metropolitan Police Department told BuzzFeed News.

The grisly discovery was made after the US Department of Justice announced federal charges against Lauren Handy and eight others in a 2020 incident where they allegedly forced their way into a reproductive health clinic in DC, barricaded themselves inside, and livestreamed it all on Facebook.

Police released few details of the discovery on Thursday, stating only that the fetuses were collected by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the investigation is ongoing.

A reporter for WUSA saw Handy outside the home as police were on scene and asked her what officers had found inside.


"People will freak out when they hear," she told him.



On Friday, an anti-abortion group associated with Handy, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, confirmed in a statement that one of the defendants from the federal criminal case "privately arranged" to notify D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department about the fetuses.

The group claimed the fetuses appeared to show injuries suggesting violations of the Partial Birth Abortion Act, which prohibits certain methods of abortion.

"These babies were given to police based on the suspicion of these violations," the statement read.

Public records show Handy has been arrested on multiple occasions on suspicion of various charges, including disorderly conduct.

According to the federal indictment, Handy and eight others plotted to get inside a DC clinic that provides abortions on Oct. 22, 2020, aiming to keep patients from being treated inside.

The nine defendants used force to get inside and carried tools with them to barricade themselves, including ropes and chains, in order to prevent patients from getting in, the indictment said.

Handy allegedly called the clinic days in advance, giving them a false name and making an appointment for 9 a.m. that day. Before the clinic opened, Handy then walked up to a receptionist outside, according to the indictment, and gave her false name for the appointment. In the meantime, one of the other defendants was starting a Facebook event titled "No one dies today" to stream the incident.

When the clinic doors opened, seven other defendants allegedly forced their way inside. One nurse fell and sprained her ankle while Handy and others blocked the doors, the indictment said.

According to the indictment, Handy directed the other defendants on what to do.

Handy is director of activism for a group called Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, which said in a statement that Handy was released just hours after her arrest Wednesday.

The group describes itself as a "progressive grassroots pro-life activists."

"We will not stop mobilizing against violence until every unjust law has been struck down," the group said in a Facebook post.

Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of the group, declined to speak to BuzzFeed News but referred a reporter to the organization's media contact, Randall Terry, a prominent anti-abortion activist who founded Operation Rescue, a fundamentalist Christian anti-abortion group.

Terry could be heard in the background passing his contact information to Bukovinac to give this reporter. When Terry answered the phone, he first spoke in an accent seemingly imitating the cartoon character "Speedy Gonzalez" and identified himself as "Jose Jimenez" before bursting into a laugh.

Terry referred to the clinic where Handy was arrested on Oct. 22, 2020, as an "abortion mill" and said the fetuses found in Handy's home were obtained from the same clinic.

The fetuses, however, were not obtained during the Oct. 22, 2020 incident, he said.

"On a different time, the babies were retrieved," he said. "There's a direct connection. We're going to lay out a timeline."

Terry declined to say when the group would provide more information, or to say if the five fetuses were the only ones obtained from the clinic.

Police did not answer questions about the origin of the fetuses, or if any other items were discovered in the home.

In her Facebook profile, Handy has made multiple anti-abortion posts and described actions that she and others have taken. In March, for example, she claimed she and other activists had gained access to the University of Washington's fetal organ labs and freezers.

Kristin Monahan, a member of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, said nothing was taken from the freezers during the group's activities at the University of Washington.

How Brexit axed abortion access for Europe’s most marginalised

Post-Brexit immigration rules mean the UK has abandoned European citizens in dire need of basic healthcare

Jenna Norman
1 April 2022

A march in Dublin for ‘free, safe and legal’ abortion, 2018 |
Fabrice Jolivet Photography / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved

Last year, Alessia, 24, became pregnant. She’s from Malta, where abortion is banned, but she needed to end her pregnancy. She knew that you could order abortion pills online, but was terrified of the consequences of getting caught. Desperate, she discovered that she could travel to the UK to have a safe surgical abortion up to 24 weeks into her pregnancy, giving her time to save money and plan the trip.

But then she realised she needed a passport to travel to England, because of the new rules after Brexit. Malta is in the European Union, so Alessia was used to relying on freedom of movement to travel and had never needed one before. Also, a passport cost €70; an expedited one was double the price.

Eventually, Alessia contacted the Abortion Support Network (ASN), a UK-based charity that helps people access safe abortions. She managed to travel to Spain, where the legal limit is 14 weeks and the cost of the procedure is higher, to have a termination just in time.

Alessia is one of many European citizens whose access to abortion has been severely restricted by Britain’s exit from the European Union. On 1 October 2021, UK immigration rules changed: anyone visiting the UK from outside the Common Travel Area, even for the shortest time, is now required to have a passport.

Before Brexit, thousands of pregnant people travelled from within the EU to clinics, primarily in London, Liverpool and Manchester, using national ID cards, to make use of the lengthy abortion time limit (24 weeks) in England, Wales and Scotland. Brexit changed this for good.

“The majority of our clients [in Poland] don’t have passports,” said Mara Clarke, founder and director of ASN, which supported more than 700 Polish women to end unwanted pregnancies between 2019 and 2021. It’s “impossible to get an expedited passport,” she added.

Clarke said the formal rule changes consolidated a clear pattern since 2016, the year of the UK’s referendum on Brexit: “Almost immediately after [the referendum] we noticed that it was almost impossible for us to get visas for people, no matter what the circumstances.” This has completely changed the way ASN works. “We send the majority of our clients to the Netherlands now,” she told me.

This is borne out by figures from the UK’s Department for Health and Social Care, which show an 80% reduction in “non-resident” abortions in England and Wales between 2016 and 2020 (Scotland’s figures are separate).

In 2016, 4,810 people travelled to England and Wales to have an abortion, followed by 4,633 in 2017 and 4,687 in 2018. In 2019, that number plummeted to 2,135 before collapsing to 943 in 2020 as a result of the added complications of Brexit and COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Irene Donadio from the European arm of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), which advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights, explained: “The new Brexit requirements to have a passport plus visas plus COVID testing act as increased barriers and costs for women in desperate need of abortion care.”
Mainland Britain and abortion

Why was mainland Britain previously such an important refuge for people in need of abortions?

Key factors are the relatively stringent time limits and uneven provision that exist across Europe. In France, the non-exceptional limit for abortion (where there is no risk to life or health and the pregnancy is not the result of rape) is 14 weeks. In Italy and Germany, it’s 12. Bans on abortion in Malta and Poland mean women are forced to travel abroad (at their own expense).

Provision in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, despite the much-celebrated legal changes, remains patchy at best, and the number of weeks into a pregnancy someone can have a surgical or medical abortion is only 12 weeks – assuming you can find a hospital to perform the operation.

For later abortions in particular, the British mainland was a crucial destination. For European migrants in Ireland, geographical proximity enabled the journey to be done in a day, saving on accommodation and childcare expenses. But the decision to no longer allow travel with EU identity cards has closed this window completely.
Poor and marginalised suffer most

Unsurprisingly, it is the poorest and most marginalised women who are most affected. Passports cost money, which immediately creates a financial barrier to access. Racism also plays a role, especially for those travelling from Ireland by ferry: ASN reports that racial profiling during ‘randomised’ immigration checks makes this journey feel particularly unsafe for people of colour.

Punitive border laws and punitive abortion laws are impacting the same group of people: the people who don’t have the money to buy their way through things

ASN’s Clarke concludes: “Punitive border laws and punitive abortion laws are impacting the same group of people: the people who don’t have the money to buy their way through things.” Donadio from IPPF agrees: “The fatal combination of anti-choice and anti-immigration policies might mean that poorer women, especially undocumented migrant women or asylum seekers, become double victims of these radical policies because their legal and economic status does not allow them to travel to access crucial care like abortion.”

For example, Irish citizens can still travel to the UK with an ID card on most airlines and ferries, but European migrants in Ireland must have a passport – even though they probably used an EU identity card to enter Ireland.

This leaves migrant women stranded without options if they experience an unwanted pregnancy while, for example, studying abroad – as in the case of another of ASN’s clients last year. Lisa (not her real name) got pregnant while she was studying in Ireland, but the baby was diagnosed with foetal abnormalities in the 13th week.

Despite her best efforts, she could not get two doctors to certify the baby’s condition (as required by law) and permit an abortion. The hospital advised her to travel to mainland Britain instead, but she only had her Irish residency ID and no passport. Lisa did not get the necessary documents and had to continue with the pregnancy.

This is the terrible consequence of what Clarke calls “state-sanctioned medical negligence” when it comes to the post-Brexit maelstrom of anti-choice and anti-immigration policies. The growing anti-choice movement in Europe is coinciding with the rise of what Donadio describes as “ultra-nationalist […] authoritarian governments that are xenophobic and anti-migrant”, including in the UK.

When asked what needs to change, both Clarke and Donadio sounded resigned to the current situation. “I spend all my time trying to decrease the obstacles between people who need abortions and the abortions,” says Clarke. She describes the UK’s provision of abortion as “when it is good, it is very good and when it is bad, it is horrid. And it is horrid for the people who are already marginalised or at risk or poor.”

Leaving the EU has seen the UK – formerly a relative champion of reproductive justice – abandon European citizens in dire need of basic healthcare. Experts such as ASN and IPPF think that rates of non-resident abortions in the UK will never recover from COVID-19 travel restrictions as a result of the Tory government’s stringent post-Brexit rules.

For women and pregnant people like Alessia and Lisa, living in places that actively suppress their rights to their own bodies, Brexit has created yet another obstacle to justice and security.