‘Look at the water for evidence.’ Data proves Florida pollution prevention not working


Sydney Czyzon and Max Chesnes, Treasure Coast Newspapers
Fri, May 6, 2022

It’s a textbook Florida morning at a ranch just north of Lake Okeechobee. Cattle roam. Herons and egrets hunt for food. Clouds mosey across the sky.

But beneath this idyllic scene, a silent byproduct lurks. Phosphorus levels, mostly from fertilizer and cow manure, exceeded the state pollution limit by 19 times.

The problem is not exclusive to this Rio Rancho Corp. farm. Rainfall runoff that flows into Lake O from hundreds of surrounding properties routinely exceeds the limit — without the state imposing any consequences, a TCPalm investigation found.

All 32 drainage basins around the lake with available data exceeded the limit over a five-year average, according to TCPalm’s analysis of “water year” data from May 2016 to April 2021. Rio Rancho was just the worst in the last two years. Even lesser polluters exceeded the limit by over 100%.

The data proves — for the first time — that Florida’s flagship program to reduce water pollution isn’t working. And that pollution is contaminating waterways and sparking toxic algal blooms in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

“All one has to do is look at the water for the evidence,” said Indian Riverkeeper Mike Conner, who heads a Treasure Coast nonprofit that advocates for clean water. “The impairment of Florida waters is now at an all-time high.”

BMAP fails to curb water pollution

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees the program involving legally enforceable goals and strategies to reduce pollution, called Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs). There are 38 plans customized to help waterways in their region.

For the Lake O BMAP, the agency set the phosphorus limit at 40 parts per billion two decades ago, but the basins have exceeded that by a median 5.7 times over the five-year average, TCPalm found.

The worst polluter over those five years — 22 times over the limit — was the East Beach Drainage District, on Lake O’s southeast shore, near Pahokee.

State records don’t show that, though. DEP historically touts progress that often doesn’t match reality because it uses models to give credit for pollution-reduction measures — from reservoirs to informational brochures — assuming they produce intended results. DEP’s resulting graphics, used in public presentations, show progress is being made.

The truth is in the data recorded by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) water-quality monitors, which TCPalm analyzed.

DEP has started using some SFWMD data to track pollution entering Lake O, spokeswoman Alexandra Kuchta said. However, many questions TCPalm posed remain unanswered, such as: When did that start? What is modeling still used for? What happens when data and modeling don’t show the same outcomes?

But even data can mask bad practices by individual landowners because the state groups them into basins. East Beach, for example, encompasses dozens of properties. So who’s to blame for exceeding the pollution limit? One of them? All of them?

“BMAPs aren’t working, and we’re having harmful algal blooms every time we turn around,” Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani said. “It’s killing seagrass, and manatees are starving. It’s a bad cascade that’s occurring now.”

BMP lacks enforcement

For BMAPs to work, farmers must agree to follow rules to curb pollution. They don’t always comply, and two state agencies debate which is responsible for enforcement.

The Department of Agriculture oversees the rules, called Best Management Practices (BMP), such as avoiding nutrient-heavy fertilizers, irrigating in ways to reduce runoff, and buffering the land from nearby waterways.

The Florida administrative code says the agriculture department will refer noncompliant farmers to DEP for enforcement. However, the department "has the authority to take enforcement on its own,” but has “simply chosen to rely on DEP to do so,” Kuchta said.

BMP has “no teeth,” said Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

“That’s how the program unfortunately was designed,” she said. “There’s a carrot and stick. We’re the carrot and DEP is the stick. And the stick is not working.”

The agriculture department needs to crack down, she acknowledged, and is now gathering data to do so.

Nearly 2 million pounds of phosphorus — over four times the weight of the Statue of Liberty — were applied to farmland in the Lake O BMAP region in 2020, agency records show. TCPalm was first to request and receive these records since the Clean Waterways Act required DACS to track the data beginning that year.
Warning letters to farmers

DEP, which doesn’t routinely conduct on-site inspections or fine polluters, said “insufficient data” prevents it from enforcing the rules, according to documents.

DEP mails warning letters instructing farmers to either enroll in BMP or pay for water-quality monitoring. The letters state DEP wants “cooperation” from farmers “without the need for taking formal enforcement against you; however, you must take immediate action to bring your property into compliance with Florida law.”

Farmers have 21 days to respond. If they don’t, they might get another letter. At least 872 farmers had ignored their warning letters as of Nov. 2, according to DEP.

State law gives DEP the power to issue fines up to $50,000, but the agency said it never has, nor has it filed a lawsuit, in the five years the program has been enforceable.

2016: Florida puts polluters on honor system to reduce nutrients

2017: Emails show Florida was on verge of agricultural pollution crackdown, but scrapped plans after letting sugar lobbyist dictate edits to 2015 annual report

2018: After Florida enacted BMAP pollution control in 2014, phosphorus flowing into Lake O increased for 2 years, then spiked to record high in 2017
Farmers like cooperative approach

Lazaro Caballero, who owns one of the 254 parcels the agriculture department referred to DEP on May 3 alone, said he never received a letter and no one told him BMP was mandatory.

Letters to Unlimited Turf LLC were returned “as undeliverable” because he sold the land in 2019, according to the DEP, which said it asked the agriculture department to determine whether the current owner is BMP-compliant, but has not heard back.

“We’re doing what we’re supposed to do. [If] they make it mandatory, then we’ll do it,” Caballero said, mistaken that it became mandatory to enroll in 2016. “But as of right now, we’re doing our best practices to keep everything as good as possible.”

Sutton Rucks, owner of a fourth-generation Okeechobee dairy farm that’s enrolled in BMP, lauded the state’s cooperative approach over “a rule-with-an-iron-fist type program,” saying that would have driven him out of the industry.

“I would’ve sold my cows and turned it into houses and let it be someone else’s problem,” he said. “The cooperative effort has kept my family in the business.”

His Milking R Dairy farm north of Lake O produced 14 tons of phosphorus — over 10 times the limit — from May 2020 to April 2021, according to SFWMD data.

“It’s like a thimble in a bathtub,” he said. “Maybe it’s a little elevated, but a water sample might not tell the whole story of what some of these folks, including us, are trying to do to make things better.”

Adams Ranch, a 40,000-acre cattle and citrus farm west of Fort Pierce, has worked with the state for four generations. President Mike Adams, who remembers more stringent regulations in the early 1990s, agreed with the state’s cooperative approach.

“If you don’t have a strong ag economy, urbanization will be the next use,” he said. “Is a cattle ranch less impactful than urbanization? Or citrus groves or even row crops?”
What happened to DeSantis’ promises?

When Gov. Ron DeSantis took office in 2019, he proposed a slew of changes to improve water quality, including penalties for noncompliant farmers. DEP lauded it as a “deterrent” that would “ensure immediate and continued compliance” with BMP.

It never happened.

Some guidelines were included in the Clean Waterways Act that took effect in 2020. DeSantis praised the law, which requires the agriculture department to inspect farms for BMP compliance every two years, as a “strong step forward for Florida’s environment.”

The department doesn’t have enough staff for that, said Chris Pettit, the agricultural water policy director, but the agency will ask for more when the Legislature convenes Jan. 11.

So is BMP effective? Pettit never gave TCPalm a direct answer, only said the department, the DEP and the SFWMD have “the right people,” who meet monthly and work well together.

“We have very, very good communication as issues arise,” he said. “I think that the program has matured over time. I think that we are getting better.”

The governor declined TCPalm’s request for an interview, and spokesman Jared Williams’ prepared statement does not address the program’s efficacy.

“The state is in the best position it has ever been to take strategic action to improve our water quality, and Florida has done just that,” it reads, referring to a 2019 executive order that created the Blue-Green Algae Task Force and supports $2 billion for Everglades restoration and water protection. DeSantis also wants the Legislature to budget $960 million more for the environment during the 2022 session.

Florida environmentalists maintain the water would be clean if the programs worked.

“Look at the state of some of the waters in Florida right now,” Indian Riverkeeper Mike Conner said. “I don’t think anybody in their right mind will say, ‘Yeah, this is working great.’ I just don’t think anybody could claim victory at this point.”

Sydney Czyzon is TCPalm’s projects reporter. Contact her at sydney.czyzon@tcpalm.com, 772-469-6045, @SydneyCzyzon on Twitter or @ReporterSydney on Facebook.

Max Chesnes is TCPalm’s environment reporter. Contact him at max.chesnes@tcpalm.com, 772-978-2224 or @MaxChesnes on Twitter.

Lindsey Leake is TCPalm’s health reporter. She contributed significant data analysis and digital producing to this report. Contact her at lindsey.leake@tcpalm.com, 772-529-5378, @NewsyLindsey on Twitter or @LindseyMLeake on Facebook.

ABOUT THIS INVESTIGATION

TCPalm’s exclusive investigation of Florida’s flagship program to limit nutrient pollution flowing into Lake Okeechobee is the first to show that every single rainfall runoff drainage basin around the lake with available data exceeds the state’s limits.

Reporters analyzed data, maps, warning letters to noncompliant landowners and hundreds of other documents, some obtained through state open records laws. They also interviewed nearly a dozen farmers, environmentalists and public officials.

Key data and documents are linked throughout the article.

Adams Ranch president Mike Adams, 66, closes a gate separating pastures on his land on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, while giving a tour of the land. The ranch, an 40,000-acre cattle and citrus farm in Fort Pierce, has worked with state environmental agencies for four generations. Adams remembers when state officials instituted more stringent regulations. Now, state agencies take a more cooperative approach, informing farmers of needed changes rather than threatening hefty consequences. “We definitely want to be good stewards of the land and that's something we have always strived for,” Adams said.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida’s Lake O BMAP water pollution reduction program isn’t working

Article misrepresents study on Arctic ice to question climate change


Manon Jacob, AFP USA
Fri, May 6, 2022, 

An online article uses a scientific study comparing past and present Arctic ice levels to downplay the significance of glaciers melting due to climate change. This is misleading; the study's lead author says the causes of current and past ice loss differ and that the article misinterprets the research, which uses historical data to forecast the eventual disappearance of Arctic glaciers.

"New Study: Arctic Was Much Warmer 6000 Years Ago… 90% Of Glaciers, Ice Caps Smaller Than Present Or Absent!" says the headline of an April 11, 2022 article on Watts Up with That?, a website that features content describing the idea that humans are causing global warming as a lie, and saying climate science is being misrepresented and exaggerated to cause panic.

"Climate alarmists hate this inconvenient fact: hundreds of temperature reconstructions show that the northern hemisphere was much warmer over much of the past 10,000 years (Holocene) than it is today," the article says.

It refers to a graphic in a March study on Arctic ice caps, saying: "We see that the Arctic region glaciers were much smaller 6000 years ago than today. Many in fact disappeared altogether and so summers were warmer."

A screenshot taken on May 5, 2022 shows an article on the Watts Up With That website

The article has been featured in various social media posts questioning the validity of the widely held scientific consensus that humans are responsible for potentially devastating climate change. One Facebook post said: "Global warming is Gobaloney!" Another claimed: "Here is the data. As usual the climate change alarmists are full of it. We are not warming. In fact the opposite. So, stick that in your igloo."

But the article misrepresents the findings presented in the study, which lead author Laura Larocca said aims to better understand the "rapid, and striking, recent retreat" of the Arctic glaciers "into a long-term context."

The article "completely misrepresents our study and takes information out of context to spread common fallacies," she told AFP. "Evidence of past periods of warmth from paleoclimate archives is not an 'inconvenient fact.'"

Larocca, a postdoctoral fellow at Northern Arizona University, said the notion that climate change today is not caused by humans because there have been periods of global warming in the past is incorrect.

Thousands of years ago, "summer warmth was driven by slow and predictable changes in Earth's orbit resulting in higher summer insolation (more solar radiation) in the Northern Hemisphere," she said, while "it is unequivocal that the burning of fossil fuels/human influence is driving current warming."

Larocca said the current and projected changes to Arctic glaciers and ice caps are even more striking when considered within a longer-term context. "Paleoclimate records tell us that during past periods of modest warmth, dramatic environmental change took place. This information provides a concerning glimpse at where we are headed as the Earth continues to warm," she said.

A map locating the Russian city of Verkhoyansk, in Siberia, where a new record high Arctic temperature of 38°C on June 20, 2020 was validated by the World Meteorological Organization ( AFP Graphics / )

Twila Moon, research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said: "There is scientific consensus that natural variations are not causing today's very rapid warming."

The natural causes for historical climate change are well known among the scientific community, and climatologists today can measure all of these natural processes to be able to know if any of them are causing current warming, she said.

"Today's loss of glacier ice is occurring for different reasons than the loss that occurred 6,000 years ago. Unfortunately, that means that we cannot expect natural changes to shift us towards glacier stability or growth over coming centuries or millennia, not to mention the next decades," said the scientist, who specializes in ice dynamics and ice-ecosystem connections.

The melting of land-based glaciers and the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are contributing to global sea level rise, endangering coastal populations around the world.

AFP Fact Check has debunked other inaccurate environment-related claims here.

Gubernatorial candidate at Trump rally says he will 'take sex education out of the schools and put it back in the homes where it belongs'

He has been accused of sexual assault by eight women, two of whom have come forward publicly.

Hannah Getahun

Nebraska candidate for governor Charles Herbster greets guests before the start of a rally with former President Donald Trump on May 01, 2022 in Greenwood, Nebraska. 

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Charles Herbster said he would put sex education "back in the homes where it belongs."

The Nebraskan Gubernatorial candidate also said he was going to "quit CRT" in the state.

Herbster has been accused of sexual assault by eight women, two of whom have come forward publicly.

Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster said that sex education should be taken out of schools and "put back in the homes" during a Trump campaign rally in Greenwood, Nebraska, on Sunday.

The Trump-endorsed Republican said he was going to "quit CRT" and "cut taxes" before going in on sex education.

"We're gonna take sex education out of the schools and put it back in the homes where it belongs," Herbster said Sunday evening to the Trump crowd.

An April 14 report from the Nebraska Examiner quoted eight women who accused Herbster of sexual misconduct between 2017 and 2022. Many of them had been groped during a 2019 Republican fundraiser in Douglas County, Nebraska. Three people have spoken on the record to corroborate the claims.

Elizabeth Todsen, an employee of State Sen. Dave Murman, who was present at the dinner, came forward as Herbster's second public accuser on Saturday.

Todsen told the Examiner that after Herbster groped her while greeting her table, "it was just all a blur after that happened because it was all I could think about."

"This decision to come forward with my story has been extremely difficult due to my fear of repercussions from Charles W. Herbster, a powerful voice in Nebraska politics," Todsen said to Insider in a statement provided on behalf of her lawyer. "But after thinking about this for years now, I know that it is time that Nebraskans know about the horrible actions made by Charles W. Herbster."

Previously, State Sen. Julie Slama was the only person not quoted anonymously in the Examiner's story. Herbster has since filed a lawsuit against her.

In a press release sent to Insider, Herbster – CEO and President of Carico Farms and Herbster Angus Farms – denied all the allegations.

"Charles W. Herbster has already filed legal action against one of the people named in reports and will be taking legal action against others," the release said. "He will not stop fighting until his name is cleared and he is vindicated."

Trump also defended Herbster during the rally, saying that the accusations were "malicious charges to derail him."

May 1, 2022

The Qatar 2022 World Cup Draw and International Politics: Situating the ‘Group of Death’ in Group B

Thomas Ameyaw-Brobbey examines the interplay of sport and politics to determine how it shapes serious competition in Group B of Qatar 2022.

By Thomas Ameyaw-Brobbey - 02 May 2022

Sports analysts and football fans worldwide discuss the Qatar 2022 World Cup groups, pointing to Group E as the toughest. Nevertheless, this conclusion is based on sporting merits, including FIFA ranking and historical pedigree. In this piece, I turn to international political relationships to situate the ‘group of death’ in Group B. Thus, the purpose is to discuss how politics and sport bound up with one another to draw attention to how politics may shape sport to make Group B the ‘group of death.’ How may politics shape Group B’s strength to influence a ‘group of death’ performance?

Group B encompasses England, Iran, the US and possibly Wales, Scotland, or Ukraine. The US and Iran are geopolitical rivals. The US and England are brethren and allies. England also endures frosty relations with Iran. Although not discounting Ukraine, the group could be joined by Wales or Scotland which have their issues with England. Thus, I argue that there is likely to be more politics – that transcends leaders – than sports in Group B, making the group competitive. First, politics could influence political leaders to invest in the teams to demonstrate superiority beyond power capabilities. Second, it could influence popular national pride to build high national expectations to make the group’s competition more serious.

Diplomatic relations between the US and Iran severed in April 1980 from an Iranian revolution. Revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, turned Iran from a pro-West monarchy to an anti-West theocracy. Relations have been characterized by civilian and military attacks and counterattacks, and increased sanctions. Since declaring Iran as an “Axis of Evil” in 2002 for aggressive pursuing nuclear, the two have continuously battled on a nuclear deal. The US and its allies believe that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a global existential threat. Nevertheless, some scholars argue that the Middle East would be more peaceful if Iran gets nukes because it will ensure nuclear balance and enhance deterrence while others oppose this idea. The frosty relations go beyond the governments. Americans see Iranians as terrorists with about 74% negative views in 2020. Iranians also see Americans as invaders and dangerous with a negative perception of 86% in 2019. Promising revenge for Qassem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s assassination in 2020 that resulted in a mistaken shooting of a Ukrainian passenger plane, this negative view is likely to increase.

The US has no closer ally than the UK. Thus, the US-UK “Special Relationship” plays a major role in shaping US-Europe relations and the course of the international system. The two sides have maintained foreign policy congruence throughout modern history, albeit with occasional disagreements. The UK endures a tensed relation with Iran, dating back to after World War I. The two restored limited ties through lucrative defense contracts and investments throughout the 1970s although relations remained beholden to historical mistrusts and grievances. Mostly domestic and regional events, including the 1979 Revolution and its attack on the US embassy, the 1980 Iran-Iraq war, and British hostages in Iran and Lebanon renewed tensions. Starting from 2002 with President Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech, the UK-Iran strain relations compounded due to the UK’s inability to diverge from the US. The 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq and issues involving the Iran nuclear deal have entrenched tensions. Recently, Iran resorts to civil attacks such as capturing a UK vessel, and several arrests of British or British-Iranians on spying charges, perceiving the British as foreign interventionists and imperial arrogant.

Historically, the UK’s union has been uneasy. Thus, London promoted devolution to shift powers to the units, allowing them to maintain their unique identities to contain separatist urges. Nevertheless, tensions have persisted with increased nationalists’ nostalgia for independence, although stronger in Scotland than in Wales. The countries harbor some injustices. For example, Scots are aggrieved that their natural resources, for example, the North Sea oil fund are exploited by the Westminster government. In Wales, “Remember Tryweryn: Remember what England does to Wales” – referring to drowning Capel Celyn in 1965 to supply water to Liverpool – remains in memory. Brexit has fueled Scots independence agitation because they voted to stay in the European Union but were taken out against their will for being a UK member. Thus, in 2020, independence agitation edged up to 50%. Ordinarily, Scots and Welsh see English as hooligans. Thus, they support anyone playing against England. They also chafe against the English’s loud-mouth media, obsession with the 1966 World Cup win, arrogance, repression and dominance.

Undoubtedly, the group’s Iran-related tensions are severe. Thus, games involving Iran would not just be football. Moreover, a Wales/Scotland-England match would exhibit unique characteristics. The group is a perfect conduit to assert domination or reject subordination. Likely to use each game to make political statements of strength, political leaders are expected to adequately resource the teams for enhanced performance. Generally, sport functions successfully as a political tool when states have image problems to start with. Thus, Iran is hoping to correct its terrorism image. Wales/Scotland will hope to disabuse the notion of subordination to a brethren. The US and UK would hope to assert strength and disabuse perceptions of loud-mouth paper tigers with nothing, except guns, to show.

The bond between politics and sport is a historical phenomenon. All kinds of states and regimes utilize sport as a means to an end, manipulating it to achieve political objectives or to express political message to domestic or international audiences or both. Thus, I conceptualize sports politics as the interplay and the intersection of sport and politics. Resembling the diversionary politics or theory of war, disgruntled leaders use national sports to entertain their citizens and temporarily distract attention from acute socio-economic and political problems. Domestically, sport engenders an emotional feeling of national pride which provokes a feel-good factor among a dissatisfied population.

The ancient Greeks and Romans used sport as a military training exercise to prepare for war. The Romans even staged large-scale sports spectacles to mobilize large crowds to distract the attention of the war-weary citizens. The 1936 Berlin Olympics is considered the first blatant manipulation of sport for political gains. Hitler sought to propagate the Nazi regime and the Aryan superiority. Nelson Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to mobilize South Africans around a national consensus that eventually helped unite a divided country on a verge of civil wars. Internationally, East Germany developed an elite sports system and successes in Olympic medals in the 1970s and 1980s became cultural diplomacy to achieve far-reaching foreign policy objectives: increase international authority and image, prestige and legitimacy, and growing strength.

The inextricable bond between sport and politics has induced leaders to influence or enhance the performance of national sports representatives through doping. For example, some scholars believe that state-sponsored doping was a major characteristic of East Germany’s successes. German political elites at least partly tolerated doping to save face. The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia for state-sponsored doping. Russia is believed to resort to doping because sports successes boost Vladimir Putin’s approval rating.

What makes Group B particularly interesting is that tensions go beyond the state level, expanding to involve ordinary masses. Sport and politics bound up to engender a sense of national pride among people, thus, creating a feel-good factor. This is an emotional phenomenon, relating to the metaphysics of life. Thus, a win for any team in any of the group games would create a feel-good factor and national narratives – stories of triumph – that would make up the country and the people’s past, particularly the weaker sides. Due to the present tensions among the teams, media framings and pundit discussions are likely to create a high public expectations. Thus, losing a game would be humiliating, corresponding to losing pride such as turning superiority into inferiority in the case of the greater powers or affirming inferiority in the case of the smaller powers. Government investments and people’s expectation to settle people-to-people scores would increase pressure on players and make Group B’s competition more serious.

Despite sport’s ability to communicate political messages, I must note that its impact is temporal and unstable. However, it offers long-term bragging rights and assertiveness but it does not win wars. Nevertheless, the desire to transfer off-the-pitch politics to the pitch is likely to make Group B competitive.





Thomas Ameyaw-Brobbey is affiliated with the Faculty of Business and Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Photo by RGR G.

HATE CRIME COVER UP

Belgian trial shines spotlight on university hazing rituals

Sanda Dia died following a brutal initiation ceremony.

Ousmane Dia, father of Sanda Dia | Eric Lalmand/AFP via Getty Images

BY CAMILLE GIJS
May 2, 2022

Three years after student Sanda Dia died following a brutal initiation ritual carried out by an exclusive club at KU Leuven university, the trial of 18 former students accused of being responsible for his death has been put on hold.

The second part of the criminal trial was meant to kick off on Monday. But on Friday, lawyers for Dia’s family decided to appeal a court decision on the scope of the case, delaying the trial. No new start date has been given.

Here are the key points of the case.


What is the trial about?

The son of a Senegalese immigrant, Dia, then a 20-year-old engineering student at KU Leuven, wanted to join the Reuzegom club, a male fraternity run by students from wealthy Antwerp families.

In 2018, Dia was accepted into the club and took part in a hazing ritual that would have allowed him to become a full member.

The ritual took place over several days in Leuven. During the final part of the ritual, which occurred in a wood in Vorselaar, near Antwerp, in early December 2018, Dia was forced to drink large amounts of alcohol, eat live goldfish, and eat toast spread with blended mouse and eel. Along with the two other students who were also undergoing initiation, Dia was put for hours in a pit filled with ice water. He was also forced to drink large amounts of fish sauce: The high concentration of salt in his blood is what killed him, according to forensic experts.

The trial, to take place in Hasselt, pits the 18 members of the Reuzegom fraternity against 13 plaintiffs, mainly Dia’s family members and relatives (animal rights organization GAIA is also one of the plaintiffs because of the animals killed during the ritual). Well-known Belgian attorneys are representing both sides.
What are the charges?

The charges against the 18 former students initially included unintentional killing and the administration of poisonous substances resulting in death, which together carry a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

As none of the defendants revealed who forced Dia to drink the fish sauce, the judge last week proposed broadening the charges to assault and battery. She subsequently said she could not judge the entire initiation ritual, only what happened in Vorselaar.

But for Dia’s family, this would have excluded too many incidents leading up to the fatal hazing, which could lead to lighter sentences. They therefore decided to appeal the judge’s decision.

Allegations have also been made that Dia received worse treatment than others because he was Black, but these were not included in the official charges because of a lack of evidence. Sven Mary, a prominent Belgian lawyer who is representing the Dia family, said there are not “enough elements to say that it was a crime with an aggravating circumstance of racism.”

Why did it take so long to come to court?

The investigation hit hurdles right from the outset. After the hazing, the Reuzegom members immediately deleted all messages and photos from their phones and websites, and cleaned up Dia’s dorm room.

Dia’s family accused the families of the other club members of a cover-up.

Then the judicial investigation took more than a year and a half. Finally, the hearing was postponed in September last year, because one of the judges involved was affiliated with KU Leuven.

When is the verdict due?

The hearing was paused last week to allow for a revision of the charges to assault and battery. The Court of Appeal of Antwerp will now rule on the Dia family’s lawyers’ appeal against narrowing the scope of the incidents taken into consideration. If it rules in the family’s favor, the case will be heard in the Antwerp court instead of Hasselt, Sven De Baere, one of the lawyers for Dia’s family, said.

It’s unclear at this stage when the trial will continue.

What are hazing rituals like in Belgium?

Fraternities and student clubs are not just an American thing.

Ianja Rak came to Belgium from Madagascar at the age of 18 to study at a management school. “My father had studied here and he had been ‘baptized,’” she said. She explained that this was generally a positive experience because it taught values such as solidarity, learning to say no, and getting to know yourself better.

Depending on the university, rituals last for a few weeks at the beginning of the school year, generally from September to November. People get together for the so-called cantus, where they play games, sing traditional songs and drink beers.

But in Leuven, the Reuzegom rituals were known to be far harsher. Kenny Van Minsel, former president of the Leuven students organization LOKO, said they did everything they could to get non-official regional clubs to sign a “hazing charter,” meant to introduce rules and boundaries during rituals.

Reuzegom was “a ticking time bomb,” Van Minsel said.

Israel said to block Palestinian-American activist from traveling abroad

Ubai Aboudi is head of Bisan, one of six Palestinian groups that Israel last year designated terrorist organizations; groups deny terror ties and continue to operate

By AP

2 May 2022,

Palestinian American civil society activist Ubai Aboudi holds a copy of the Palestinian police report that includes the investigation and charges against him, at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, July 14, 2021. 

(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

Israel has prevented the director of a Palestinian civil-society group from traveling abroad to attend a professional conference in Mexico, the activist said.

Ubai Aboudi is the head of Bisan, one of six Palestinian groups that Israel last year designated a terrorist organization. Israeli officials declined to comment on the travel ban.

In an interview, Aboudi said he tried to exit the occupied West Bank last week in order to travel to the World Social Forum, an annual gathering of civil society groups that this year is taking place in Mexico. But he said he was stopped by Israeli officials at the crossing into Jordan.

“I was informed that I am banned from traveling. I asked why I am banned from traveling. They said they did not want to inform me,” he said. Aboudi, who is a US citizen, said that just a month earlier, he traveled to Jordan without any problems.

The Bisan Center for Research and Development is a nonprofit that says it is committed to promoting a Palestinian society based on “freedom, justice, equality and dignity.” Aboudi has been arrested in the past by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which administers autonomous areas of the West Bank, for his political activities.

Bisan is among six Palestinian human rights groups that Israel last year effectively outlawed after designating them terrorist organizations.

Israel says the groups have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a small Palestinian faction with an armed wing that has carried out deadly attacks on Israelis. The PFLP is considered a terrorist group by Israel and its Western allies.

But Israel has provided little evidence backing up its claims against the six groups. The groups all continue to operate, though the Israeli crackdown has concerned international donors and caused some to cut ties.

Aboudi says he has no ties to the PFLP. The activists have said the Israeli move is an attempt to silence groups that have documented alleged harsh treatment against Palestinians over the years.

“There is no explanation for what happened to me except that this was an attempt to silence the Palestinian voice,” Aboudi said.

Has the war in Ukraine made the EU 

a geopolitical actor?

Suddenly, Nicoletta Pirozzi writes, the EU’s ‘geopolitical’ claims have become essential, not aspirational.

NICOLETTA PIROZZI 

2nd May 2022

Europeans have quite enough collective memory of totalitarianism not to want to repeat that shameful history 

(VILTVART/shutterstock.com)

The war in Ukraine represents the greatest geopolitical challenge facing the European Union. Moscow attacked Kiev with explicitly imperialist aims, with a view to restoring what it considers its rightful ‘sphere of influence’ in the European neighbourhood, thus implicitly threatening other European countries (including EU members).

The aggression also entails a systemic element. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is promoting an autocratic-state model in the European neighbourhood, in contrast to the democratic polity towards which countries such as Ukraine and Georgia have been striving—the value system on which the EU is founded and which it seeks to project.

Radical rethink

This has led the union to rethink radically its relations with Russia. The traditionally co-operative approach is giving way to a sort of containment strategy, which will last for the foreseeable future. Hence the reflection on how to end the energy and technological dependencies that bind Europe to Russia, the offer of substantial support to democracy in countries threatened by its expansionism and the defence of the resilience of our societies from Russian interference through disinformation and cyber assaults.

Most fundamentally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed the EU to exercise a proactive role at regional and global levels, thus testing its ability to implement the ‘strategic autonomy’ it has been advocating for a long time. And in its immediate reaction to the menace coming from east, the EU has shown a unity and resolve many—perhaps including Putin—did not expect.

Instead of playing the role of a paper tiger in a world of great powers, the union has displayed a determination to mobilise all the instruments at its disposal, from diplomacy to sanctions, from military assistance to humanitarian support. After she was appointed as president of the European Commission in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen did promise this would be a ‘geopolitical’ commission and three initiatives in particular are unprecedented.

Extremely restrictive measures have been imposed on Russian financial institutions and media, and these may soon be expanded to the import of oil and even gas. The European Peace Facility has been activated to support the Ukrainian armed forces with a budget of €1.5 billion. And a temporary-protection scheme has been adopted for persons fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of the war.

Structural reforms

At the same time, the war in Ukraine has confirmed the limits of the EU to date as a geopolitical actor, from its energy dependence to a barely existing defence dimension—to mention merely the most evident weak spots. Being a relevant stakeholder in the new international (dis)order created by Putin will require more structural, long-term reforms.

On energy, member states are confronted with various levels of threat to their supplies, with Germany the most exposed. Spain and Portugal have been allowed to introduce an electricity price cap. Poland and Bulgaria need help to face the cut-off of gas by Moscow. A sustainable strategy would need stronger action at EU level—to ensure not only availability of alternative energy sources, possibly with common purchase and storage mechanisms, but also compatibility with the commitments undertaken in the Green Deal and particularly the ‘Fit for 55’ package.

On defence, the Strategic Compass adopted in March emerged already obsolete, yet the February 24th attack led member states to revise only its narrative, not its substance. It cannot be the instrument to realise what is most needed in the current context—an EU capacity to project a credible military force outside its borders and to enhance deterrence, with a view to offering adequate security guarantees to its citizens and neighbours while exercising more collective weight in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Concrete initiatives should be identified to use in a joint or, at least, co-ordinated fashion the additional budgetary resources member states are currently allocating, avoiding a renationalisation of defence spending. At the same time, decision-making rules which would allow the deployment of European forces quickly and effectively—such as qualified-majority voting—should be introduced.

European perspective

Another crucial aspect concerns the future of enlargement. At this stage it is important to offer a European perspective to Ukraine, as the best way to support democracy in line with our values and interests.

The accession process might however turn into a trap for everyone: Ukraine risks being alienated by the long, bureaucratic procedure, the EU could suffer unbearable ‘enlargement fatigue’ and meanwhile other partners in the western-Balkans anteroom could chafe at the inconsistencies. Strengthening the current association agreement between Brussels and Kiev, with a view to integrating Ukraine in the internal market and improving co-operation in security, could offer a short-term and parallel, if not alternative, way forward.

Besides, the challenges and constraints the EU still has to face suggest that building the union’s geopolitical power must go hand in hand with buttressing an international system based on shared norms and institutions. Indeed, only in such a context can the EU fully exercise its strengths—its regulatory and normative capabilities—while minimising its weaknesses, which inevitably emerge in a confrontational environment based purely on power politics.

Global dimension

The EU’s agenda therefore cannot exclude a global dimension and the reinforcement of global governance institutions via their reform. From the United Nations Security Council to the international financial institutions, the EU should urgently find a common position and seek the support of partner countries. The timing could be favourable to have the United States on board in this endeavour, as the Europeans could now easily call for Washington’s support in the context of a renewed transatlantic partnership.

The details will be tailored to each specific institution but the underlying logic should be the overcoming of the post-Yalta structure, which embedded the pre-eminence of the great powers after World War II with the privilege of veto amid their emerging bipolar confrontation. This means making these institutions more transparent, more representative and more democratic—giving voice to those countries which have so far remained excluded or marginalised.

This is a joint publication by Social Europe and IPS-Journal




NICOLETTA PIROZZI is head of the EU programme and institutional-relations manager at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), specialising in EU politics and institutions, Italian foreign policy and international security. She is president of MondoDem, a progressive foreign-policy network, and a founding member of ProgressiveActs.

Culture Currents 

 Cowgirl of the sky

Welder Josie Lucille Owens was one of the crew building the SS George Washington Carver during World War II. In our neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point, men and women alike found work in the shipyard and were able to purchase homes and raise families. – Photo: Office for Emergency Management, 1942

‘I learned that green and white plastic union card was my ticket’

by Deborah Turner, Positive Directions Equals Change

Being as high as 100 feet off the ground secured only by a safety harness takes nerves of steel and muscles of iron to build structures that push up to merge with the clouds. There’s nothing like ironwork. The higher you get, the closer you are to God, so you feel safe.

My journey is one of female empowerment and determination in the face of addiction, incarceration and motherhood. Growing up straight, rigid and judgmental, there was a corresponding pressure that I had to behave in a certain way – not to mess up – that led to pain, insecurity and doubt.

I was raised by a single mom with Louisiana roots – my role model of strength, dignity and faith. I am the youngest girl of six siblings; the only one born in San Francisco, educated in Catholic schools and first-generation college.

Growing up in the Hunters Point projects, I was a good girl and a tomboy. My 12-year-old Catholic school self by day and project girl by evening; the sacred and the secular.

We later moved to a home in Sunnydale. My outlet was sports because it was an escape from real life troubles, a sense of belonging, and connection to the wider world. In high school I was a standout basketball guard.

I moved on to junior college with my first-year drive to be the best guard on the court. At the second-year mark, realizing I lacked the proper guidance to pursue collegiate athletics, my dream deferred and I was lost.

After losing my way in sports, I lost interest in school. I was unhappy, feelings of emptiness and deep sadness. I experimented with drugs and eventually was introduced to crack cocaine. My life took a downward spiral. It seemed it could not happen to me, who came from good stock, truly an all-American girl. I fell hard.

Like many types of progress, my improvement did not always happen in a straight line. I caught a case in 1988 that eventually sent me to prison in 1989 with a 3-year sentence, although I served only 18 months.

In 1992, I became pregnant while using. I lost custody of my child to the courts a few days after giving birth. Fortunately, my mother gained custody while I was in prison. I missed my child’s first and second birthdays. I was too busy to cuddle my baby – pushing forward trying to make it to the next day.

“In order to maintain sobriety, you need to change people, places and things.”

I caught a second case in 1993, did another 2-year prison sentence and was released in 1995. I became sober while in prison and remained sober for six years. During that time, I was introduced to a program called Facts on Crack. I started working in the non-profit sector, helping other women who were struggling with dependency issues, letting them know they mattered.

Here we go again: I relapsed and got busted. My parole officer sent me to a program called Milestones in 1998. After seven months clean, I picked up old habits and old friends. That popular adage is true: “In order to maintain sobriety, you need to change people, places and things.”

I thought I was strong enough to fix me and them at the same time. I reached out for help. Back then and even now, people had to wait for an opening in detox, let alone a program. The cold part about it was while you were waiting, the desire to use was strong, I went back to getting high.

Three times is a charm. An awakening came in 1999, I surrendered all – I was spiritually broken and could not live that lifestyle anymore. In that jail cell I realized this was the moment to change my life.

I started looking at my child’s picture on the side of my wall. I vividly remembered holding him as he fell asleep in my arms, reminding me when he was a newborn and all the time I had missed. I had to rethink life. I did six months in county and a year in Walden House, with credit for time served for a total of 16 months.

In 2000, I was introduced to Positive Directions Equals Change, and my journey became easier with mentors, like members Na’im Harrison, Nitra Williams and Cedric Akbar. It really was all the members of the organization who wrapped their arms around me and showed me some love; I owe a debt of gratitude.

They helped me to change my circumstances and change my life. I was forced to grow up in that moment. I began engaging in groups and classes. I started taking suggestions and let someone help change my life.

In 2004, when my son was 12 years old and had graduated from middle school, I gained custody of him. I vowed to be the best parent I could be. I sent him to S.R. Martin College Preparatory here in the community with the help of Ms. Mary Martin.

By this point, I was no longer in and out of substance abuse programs for repeated cocaine use or wrecking my life from parole violations. Finally, I had turned my life around. There were strong women and men along the way to sobriety who guided and supported me, some still to this day.

After working some gigs, I wanted a career. My mom’s career path working as a riveter and then as a key punch operator at the Hunters Point Shipyard influenced my decision to pursue non-traditional work with a good salary and benefits. I ventured to the construction industry through City Build.

The construction industry is a male dominated field and they needed me. I was a woman, African American, resident of San Francisco, educated and willing to do the hard labor to be successful. I checked all the boxes since diversity on the job site was important.

I paved the way and opened doors for the next generation of female, African American, journeyman ironworkers. I had a cowgirl mentality; tough as nails, physically strong, unafraid of great heights, agility, courage and a good sense of balance.

Deborah Turner – ironworker, healer and mother. Deborah’s been up 100 feet above the ground tying rebar, fixing walls, sending bundles of steel up 30 floors and carrying 20-40 pounds on her shoulder around job sites.

My work involved looking at blueprints, installing metal pieces into columns, girders or other structural frameworks for buildings, bridges and towers as well as welding and cutting iron.

On my first day on the job as an apprentice, the supervisor asked me to climb a 20-foot column. I had the courage but lacked the training; I did it anyway. Afterwards, I complained, and was temporarily reassigned to the job of picking up trash and wire around the jobsite.

I was intrigued watching the crane operator lift and position structural and reinforcing iron and steel and how to communicate with him through hand signals. I have been up 100 feet above the ground tying rebar – the steel bars used to reinforce concrete – fixing walls, sending bundles of steel up 30 floors and carrying 20-40 pounds of rebar on my shoulder around the job site.

In San Francisco, I worked on renovation projects like the Golden Gate Bridge and new construction projects, like the18-story federal building south of Market Street, the Infinity high rise towers on Spear Street and the high-rise apartment buildings by the ballpark.

The struggle is real and you have to surrender.

I learned that green and white plastic union card was my ticket. I did this hard labor for 10 years and earned a pension.

Once I left the construction industry, I went back to the nonprofit sector, becoming certified as a drug and alcohol counselor, a domestic violence trainer, later working as a case manager building resources throughout the Bayview community. As a co-founder of Solutions for Women, we have aided countless women and their families struggling with addiction.

My athleticism, incarceration, education, addiction and sheer will to succeed were roadblocks and bridges in my journey. Recovery is possible and life can change! Anything is possible if you believe and have faith that you can beat addiction. The struggle is real and you have to surrender.

The shame of everything I have done not according to the plan I set for myself is no longer a barrier to my success. As the years passed, I began to feel a quiet confidence as worthy. I exercise continuous service and stay positive and optimistic.

I have been in recovery for over two decades, helping others and providing services for justice involved clients. In hindsight, seeing my mom, back bent and weary in fatigue, never complaining and never giving up on me, has shown me how to foster empathy, honesty, self-reliance, self-control and kindness.

It’s especially hard for women to speak out about our addiction, although I have found a purpose to help people by speaking about my past struggles. My favorite scripture is Psalms 23: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Positive Directions Equals Change is a unique and powerful bond. The unconditional tough love and support I have received from this organization showed me I could stand up and be accountable. Positive Directions loves those who cannot love themselves and until they can love themselves. Their life saving approach and cultural connection works!

The recovery Zoom classes are open to everybody, in love and healing.

If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or co-occurring disorder issues, please give us a call. Positive Directions Equals Change, a community-based organization in the Bayview, offers classes and support groups each day of the week. If we aren’t the best fit for you or your loved one, we will take the necessary time to work with you to find a treatment center or provider that better fits your needs.

Please give us a call at 415-401-0199 or email our team at recoverycorner@pd4life.org. The schedule is pictured and all are welcome.

THE PROSPECT
All of Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates with a statue of Mark Twain in 2015.
Courtesy of Joyce Carol Oates

 
Joshua Yang
May 1, 2022 | 

Content warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault, rape, and police brutality.

As a high school senior traipsing through AP English Literature class, I was regularly assigned passages of notable literary prose — one, two paragraphs at most — to scrutinize and analyze. It was in this way, somewhat unexpectedly, that I first stumbled upon the work of the great American novelist — and famed Princeton faculty member — Joyce Carol Oates.

The prose in question was an excerpt from Oates’ 2004 short story “Spider Boy,” originally published in The New Yorker and republished in the collection “High Lonesome”; the paragraph in question painted a portrait of the protagonist’s father, a (former) New Jersey state senator.

Perhaps it’s because I was assigned to painstakingly close read that paragraph at least 10 times, but something about Oates’ writing lodged itself in my mind: the text was snappy, supple, and eagerly rhythmic; the repetition of sentence structures was joyfully symmetrical, yet the paragraph contained a hint of something darker, something more pernicious in the esteemed senator. Oates’ opening sentence was “Here was a man to be trusted” — and the unsettling details in the following sentences screamed reasons why the man was not, in actuality, to be trusted.

I’m sad to say that “Spider Boy” was the only fraction of Oates’ writing I had read until I arrived at Princeton. One may be forgiven for only being familiar with a paragraph of Sylvia Plath (who only wrote a single novel) or Harper Lee (who I’d like to pretend only wrote a single novel). However, this isn’t the case for Oates, an amazingly prolific writer with well over 50 novels — not to mention countless short stories, poems, and book reviews — to her name. Indeed, I long viewed only being familiar with a single paragraph of Oates’ as an egregious oversight on my part.

Yet perhaps that one paragraph contained enough of Oates that my unfamiliarity didn’t matter as much as I thought it would. Oates is a master at finding horror in the ordinary: her most famous short story, the 1966 “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes a girl kidnapped (and then presumably sexually assaulted) on a perfectly normal, sunny Sunday afternoon. Despite the fact that “Spider Boy” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” were written decades apart, the sense of dread and dark foreboding carries over seamlessly between the two stories: namely, in “Spider Boy,” our erstwhile senator rapes and murders homeless young men between legislative sessions at the state capitol. The excerpt of “Spider Boy” I had read, then, seemed quintessentially Oates.

The darker tones that Oates weaves in her stories are also often grounded in societal issues. Oates’ 2020 novel, “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.” for example, details a family reeling in the aftermath of the murder of one of its members at the hands of police brutality.

In a series of emails I exchanged back and forth with Oates in February of this year, I was curious about how the author views and addresses the world around us. Is Oates trying to make explicitly political statements through her body of work?

Oates doesn’t think so — but her approach to social and cultural issues has changed significantly through her career. One of Oates’ earliest novels, “them,” also details racial injustice, but against the backdrop of the 1967 Detroit Riots instead of a police stop. “them” is written in an almost apathetic third-person narrator’s voice, whereas “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.” focuses on one character at a time, describing much of a character’s inner monologue. The choice is no coincidence — and reflects Oates’ evolving approach to writing about current issues.

“I no longer ‘narrate’ a work of fiction in my own voice but rather through mediated voices — the distinctive voices of the characters who inhabit the fiction,” Oates told me. “Whether the fictional perspective is first-person or third-person, the ‘voice’ is mediated through the particularity of character; it is not an objective or omniscient voice.”

Indeed, thanks to a narrative voice centered around specific characters, Oates has subtly shifted how she discusses social issues: her work no longer appears to comment on humanity as a whole, but rather on individual humans.

“My focus is on persons, ‘characters,’ and not on political or cultural issues,” she said. “I am not a journalist or propagandist; I am keenly interested in human personality.”

Yet examining human personality without considering the wider world — and its systemic failings — can often fail to capture the full context behind an issue. In looking toward a new generation of writers, Oates recognized and acknowledged the need to address political and cultural issues head-on: “If there is anything advantageous about this time in our history, it’s that undergraduates are forced to acknowledge their place in the world — in the ‘real’ world of climate change, unpredictable pandemics, bitter political division & the endangerment of democracy — [and] think [and] write with passion about such issues, which previous generations were inclined to ignore,” she said. “I am always impressed with student writers [who] can absorb into their works of fiction such impersonal or transpersonal issues as these.”

Oates should know about the next generation of writers; she has taught in the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton since 1978, mentoring and guiding students for well over four decades. Although Oates formally retired in 2014, she continues to run much-coveted, 10 person seminars. She will teach yet another fiction writing class next fall.

What changes, then, has Oates seen throughout her years teaching creative writing? The answer surprised me: not much, apparently.

“It may be surprising to say this but writers are so individual, [and] talent [is] so highly specialized, there is really not much difference between my students of the 1980s [and] students in 2022,” she said. “The ‘born writer’ is a certain sort of personality, [and] resists generalities or reductive classification. The very best students in any generation have more in common with one another than they do with their larger cohort.”

The only change, Oates said, is a willingness to face “distressing facts of contemporary life” — such as climate change, pandemics, and political upheaval.

At the same time, though, just as her students and the University have learned much from Oates, Oates has learned much from the Princeton community.

For one, living in Princeton has undeniably influenced her writing. Not only is Oates’ 2013 novel “The Accursed” explicitly set in the town, but her 1989 novel “American Appetites” and 2001 novel “Middle Age: A Romance” also both have settings strongly resembling Princeton, as Oates herself pointed out. “A Princeton Idyll,” a short story, is also set in Princeton and centers around the Institute for Advanced Study.

Beyond her writing, Oates remains an active participant in Princeton’s literary community. She lamented that “much has been lost” during the course of the pandemic and reminisced over public readings from the likes of Stephen King to Margaret Atwood. Oates is cautiously optimistic for the return of the community’s pre-pandemic vitality — but conceded that “any expectation of large, public events in McCosh 50 may be quixotic right now.”

And, perhaps most importantly, Oates’ students have managed to leave their own mark on the author. “I have been impressed by the idealism of Princeton students, as well as their wonderfully diverse imaginations [and] determination,” she said.

I would be remiss, finally, not to mention this fortuitous coincidence: one of my favorite short story collections is Ted Chiang’s imaginative and dazzling sci-fi anthology, “Exhalation.” I was delighted to find out that, at one point, Oates had reviewed Chiang’s collection in The New Yorker. Oates is not traditionally known as a science fiction writer, but as I read her review of “Exhalation,” I found myself falling in love with Chiang’s writing — and sci-fi as a whole — all over again. Through Oates, I found new joy in the same, old writing. I discovered new observations I had neglected to realize before; I considered each short story with a more critical eye in light of Oates’ assessments.

In that moment, I found myself wondering if I was admiring Oates’ ability to explain, analyze, and criticize a body of work — to teach it, essentially — or if I was admiring Oates’ sharp, marvelously enjoyable writing within the review itself.

Then I realized perhaps it didn’t matter: Oates the teacher and Oates the writer are one and the same. It is, after all, our utmost privilege to have all of Joyce Carol Oates.

Joshua Yang is a Contributing Writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ He can be reached at joshuayang@princeton.edu or on Twitter at @joshuaqyang.

Western multinationals congratulate Hong Kong's new leader

AUTHORITARIAN CAPITALI$M WEST & EAST

Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi
Sun, 8 May 2022, 

JOHN LEE CEO OF HK, APPOINTED NOT ELECTED

LEE AND LAM

Western multinationals and local tycoons published newspaper adverts congratulating John Lee on becoming Hong Kong's next leader (AFP/Peter PARKS)More

Western multinationals and local tycoons published newspaper adverts on Monday congratulating John Lee on becoming Hong Kong's next leader, following a rubber-stamp selection process condemned by critics as anti-democratic.

Lee, 64, a former security chief who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong's democracy movement, was anointed the business hub's new leader on Sunday in a near unanimous vote by a small committee of Beijing loyalists.

He was the sole candidate in the race to succeed outgoing leader Carrie Lam at a time when Hong Kong is being remoulded in China's authoritarian image.

Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, two newspapers that answer to the office which sets Beijing's Hong Kong policy, were filled with adverts on Monday from leading companies and business figures praising Lee's selection.

The majority were from Chinese and Hong Kong businesses as well as community organisations.

The "Big Four" accountancy firms -- KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC -- were among western multinationals placing adverts, as were city carrier Cathay Pacific and conglomerates Swire and Jardine Matheson.

Messages were also carried by Hong Kong's family tycoon-dominated property giants, including Sun Hung Kai and Henderson Land Development.

Western businesses have found themselves in an increasingly precarious position in Hong Kong, especially as geopolitical tensions have risen with China.

Many have embraced progressive political causes in western markets, such as the anti-racism Black Lives Matter movement, same sex equality and ridding supply chains of labour abuses.

But they usually steer clear of any criticism of China's policies towards hotspots like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan.

Some companies such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swire and Jardine Matheson publicly backed Beijing's national security law, which was imposed on Hong Kong after 2019's democracy protests to curb dissent.

- Can Hong Kong reopen? -

The elevation of Lee, who is under US sanctions, places a security official in Hong Kong's top job for the first time after a tumultuous few years for a city battered by political unrest and economically debilitating pandemic controls.

Despite the city's mini-constitution promising universal suffrage, Hong Kong has never been a democracy, the source of years of protests since the 1997 handover to China.

After the 2019 rallies, Beijing responded with a crackdown and a new "patriots only" political vetting system that eradicated the city's once outspoken political opposition.

Lee faced no rivals and won 99 percent of the votes cast by the 1,461-strong committee that picks the city's leader -- roughly 0.02 percent of the city's population.

Beijing hailed the process as "a real demonstration of democratic spirit".

European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell countered that the selection process was a "violation of democratic principles and political pluralism".

Lee, a former police officer, has vowed strengthen Hong Kong's national security and integrate the city further with the mainland.

He wants to reboot the city's economy and slowly reopen its pandemic sealed borders at a time when rivals have moved to living with the coronavirus.

But it is unclear how he can do that given China has doubled down on its strict zero-Covid strategy.

On Monday morning, Lam met her successor Lee and both gave short speeches stressing that they would prepare for an orderly transition between their administrations.

Lee, who takes over on July 1, was Lam's security chief and then her deputy.

Lee said his first port of call would China's top agencies in Hong Kong -- the Liaison Office, the national security committee, the foreign ministry's office and the People's Liberation Army garrison.

jta-su/lb