The Unprecedented Rise in Journalist Slayings — and What Can be Done to Stop Them

The shooting of a reporter in the West Bank is among the numerous killings of media workers worldwide. What international protections exist for journalists, and what can be done to make the world safer for the press?

Sonya Angelica Diehn
13 May 2022



Reporters at work are increasingly the target of violence


To maintain freedom of the press, which is essential for democracy, journalists must be able to safely complete their jobs. Yet media workers are increasingly facing danger and even death, particularly in conflict zones and in some countries around the world.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran correspondent reporting for Al Jazeera, was fatally shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Abu Akleh's colleague Ali Samoudi was also shot in the back and wounded during the incident, according to Al Jazeera. It was not immediately clear where the gunfire came from.

Abu Akleh's killing has added to a death toll of as many as 28 media staff killed because of their work this year alone, according to the International Press Institute.



Journalists "are coming under increasing attack around the world, and this includes reporting in conflict zones," confirms Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute, a global press freedom organization based in Vienna.

In 2021, the group logged a total of 45 journalists killed.

Since the beginning of this year, the International Press Institute has noted an increase in violent attacks against the press.

WHAT INTERNATIONAL PROTECTIONS EXIST FOR JOURNALISTS?

Human rights laws apply to journalists and are intended to protect them, Griffen explains.

"Journalists, like civilians, are never legitimate targets in a conflict zone, and so this would mean that a deliberate attack on a journalist would be a violation of international law and those responsible would need to be held to account."

Pauline Ades-Mevel, spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders, which advocates for journalists throughout the world, adds: "Reporters Without Borders has condemned the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh this morning because it constitutes a breach of the Geneva Convention, as well as Resolution 2022 of the UN Security Council on the protection of journalists."



Shireen Abu Akleh was a well-known journalist, having worked at Al Jazeera since 1997

In addition, there is a large number of resolutions by various UN bodies, along with other fundamental protections for press freedom including international treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, says Griffen.

Whether those perpetrating crimes against journalists, including murder, get prosecuted is another matter altogether.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF IMPUNITY

The most important thing that can be done in cases targeting media in violent acts is accountability, Griffen says. "It sounds very simple, but it isn't — we know that in at least 90% of cases in which journalists are murdered, those responsible are not held to account."

"The failure to respond quickly to attacks on journalists and to hold those responsible for the initial attacks creates what we call a cycle of violence, a cycle of impunity where those responsible feel that they can act without consequences, and we see it as an open invitation to attack journalists."

Ades-Mevel agrees that ending impunity is crucial to ending the killing of journalists. "If there is no judicial response, the number of killings will continue to grow and grow and grow."



While some reporters are caught in the line of fire in conflict zones by chance or circumstance, others are specifically targeted

Cases may be brought nationally, or even taken to the International Criminal Court, she explains.

When no judicial action is taken, international pressure should be brought to bear, Ades-Mevel says. "International pressure is key in these kinds of cases because it raises awareness throughout the world and forces the state to take responsibility."

But such pressure must be sustained, long-term and meaningful in order to be effective, Griffen adds. "Otherwise, it's just talk."
GLOBAL FOCAL POINTS FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, media freedoms in this region are being increasingly curtailed — and violence against journalists is on the rise.



"The situation in Ukraine is extremely worrying right now," Ades-Mevel says. By Reporters Without Borders' count, six journalists of seven killed while working "were targeted deliberately by Russian forces — international, Ukrainian and Russian journalists covering the conflict."

On the dangerous situation for journalists in Ukraine, Griffen again emphasizes the need for accountability. "If some of these journalists were directly targeted, we need to start collecting the evidence for possible war crimes prosecutions."

He also points to Mexico, which has a high number of journalist killings, 11 this year already. He calls the case of Mexico "shocking" and a "bloodbath against journalists," explaining that many deaths are connected to reporting around drug cartels.

"It's an awful situation and it's just unbearable, actually, that the Mexican authorities are unable to get a grip on this."

WHAT CAN JOURNALISTS DO TO PROTECT THEMSELVES?

In light of all the violence targeting journalists, media workers should be well-briefed and prepared, particularly in conflict areas, believe both Griffen and Ades-Mevel.

Media organizations must be sure to adopt safety protocols, allocate enough resources to protect journalists, and ensure proper training of journalists, Griffen says.

"In the case of Ukraine, for example, it is very important that journalists are equipped with helmets or jackets," Ades-Mevel points out, and adds that Reporters Without Borders has provided some such equipment there.

Unfortunately, that did not help Abu Akleh, who, according to Al Jazeera, was wearing a press vest and a helmet when she was fatally shot.

"She was an icon, a famous journalist," says Ades-Mevel. "She is a symbol for lots of journalists in the world — and not only in the Middle East, but absolutely everywhere."

"The whole community of journalists is mourning."

Edited by: Stephanie Burnett

Delhi: Protest Held Against ‘Dastardly’ Killing of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israel

The Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist was shot in “cold blood” by an Israeli sniper while covering a raid on a refugee camp in Jenin on Thursday.

Ravi Kaushal
13 May 2022



New Delhi: Terming it as “dastardly”, citizen groups in the national capital assembled at Connaught Place here on Friday to protest the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The protest, under the banner of All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), saw the participation of students, women, political and peace activists. The protesters alleged that Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted Shireen because she had shown successfully how the Israeli army had uprooted Arab people from their land and grabbed their precious resources.

Shireen, 51, who worked for Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera, was shot in "in cold blood" in the head during the unrest in the Jenin refugee camp, the channel said on Thursday.

Ayub Khan, a peace activist told NewsClick that the murder should be condemned in the strongest words. “We are organising this protest at a very short notice. We came here to highlight that India should condemn this murder because it has adopted a foreign policy which advocates end to arms race. Besides being land grabber, Israel has played a pivotal role in destabilising world peace and the latest murder of journalist is only one part of it,” he told NewsClick.

R Arun Kumar, head, international relations department of Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that the protest becomes relevant in India because like Shireen, different governments have slapped charges like UAPA against journalists and put them behind bars. “The common thread between India and Israel punishing journalists remains sharing of repressive ideologies of Hindutva and Zionism. Rulers in both countries are bound by their hatred for Muslims. I think extending solidarity to Palestine is a legacy of our freedom struggles and we must reiterate it today,” he said.

Utkarsh Kumar, a student of Global Studies from Ambedkar University said Shireen was reportedly killed by a sniper of Israeli Occupation Forces even when she was wearing a press vest on duty. “For me, it is particularly important to express our anguish because governments across the world have been prosecuting journalists who have been reporting against their them. The ‘bulldozer politics’ that we talk nowadays in our country has its origins in Israel where government demolished the homes of innocent Palestinians who resisted its occupation. Through this protest, we convey our anguish to all oppressors that it will not be tolerated,” he said.

In press statement, AIPSO said an impartial enquiry must be conducted into Shireen’s killing and exemplary punishment must be given to those responsible for this brutal assassination.

“Shireen Abu Akleh, a US citizen, is considered as an ‘icon of Palestinian coverage’. She reported to the world with honesty the brutal deeds of the Israeli occupation forces and the atrocities they commit on Palestinians. This made her a target of the Israeli attack. It is heinous that instead of accepting its responsibility, the Israeli defence forces are laying the blame on Palestinians for the killing – which was rubbished as a blatant lie by the journalists on the ground,” the statement read.

Appalled by the killing, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Gutterres has asked the relevant authorities to carry out “an independent and transparent investigation into this incident and ensure that those responsible are held accountable.”

In a statement, the Secretary-General condemned ”all attacks and killings of journalists and stresses that journalists must never be the target of violence. Media workers should be able to carry out their work freely and without harassment, intimidation or the fear of being targeted.”

The statement added that attack on Abu Akleh has to be seen in the background of the increasing attacks on journalists taking place in many places whenever the ruling forces are bothered with the true representation of facts.

The organisers of the protest in Delhi said:”India too is a witness to such increasing attacks on journalists carried out by Right-wing, authoritarian forces. Hence it is not coincidental that the Zionist forces that killed Abu Akleh and Hindutva communal forces in India leading the attacks on journalists, share deep ideological affinity and friendship. This makes it all the more necessary for Indian people to express indignation at the brutal assassination of Akleh.”

Indian Journalists Write to Israeli PM, Condemn ‘Murder’ of Al Jazeera Reporter

Urging the Israeli PM to strongly condemn both incidents, the Indian journalists demanded an independent investigation to ensure that Akleh gets justice

Newsclick Report
16 May 2022



A group of senior Indian journalists have written to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemning the 'murder' of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces. Akleh, an American-Palestinian, was shot dead in the occupied West Bank while reporting on a raid by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera.

The letter mentioned that Akleh, a long-time TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, was wearing a press vest and was standing with other journalists when she was killed. It said that the journalist’s death underlined the Israeli government's inability to accept independent journalism.It also condemned the Israeli police attacking the pallbearers of the casket at Akleh’s funeral procession and said it come from an environment of impunity where Israeli military targets Palestinians at will.

Urging the PM to strongly condemn both incidents, the Indian journalists demanded an independent investigation to ensure that Akleh gets justice and such targeted attacks and killings are stopped. Read the full letter here:

To

Mr. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel, Tel Aviv,

Israel

Through

Mr. Naor Gilon,

Ambassador of Israel to India, New Delhi,

India 16.05.2022

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

We, Indian journalists, are writing to you to express our strong condemnation of the 'murder' of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot in the face while she was reporting a raid by Israeli soldiers from Jenin. The shocking assassination -- described as such by Al Jazeera -- again underlines your government's inability to accept independent journalism that speaks the truth.

Akleh was known for her independent reporting. She was killed by an Israeli sniper, according to Al Jazeera, even though she was wearing a helmet and body armour marked "Press". Shireen Akleh was standing with other journalists when she was shot in the face. An Al Jazeera producer was shot in the back but survived.

We are also amazed that despite the worldwide condemnation, Israeli police were again directed to stop her funeral procession. And resorted to violence when the Palestinians tried to move forward, with videos recording the brutal attack on the pallbearers that made them nearly drop the casket. The videos also record the police beating and kicking the mourners. We understand that some kind of enquiry has been ordered, as well as an investigation as to whether the well known journalist was shot from an Israeli army jeep.

This attack comes from a deliberately created environment of impunity, where the Palestinians are targetted by Israeli military at will, and the journalists pay the price for independent reportage. We expect strong condemnation from you Sir, as well as a transparent investigation by an independent authority to ensure that she gets justice in death, and that more such targeted attacks and killings are stopped.

Signatories (all are senior journalists from different parts of India):

Abid Shah A.Amaraiah

Amit Prakash Singh
Amit Sengupta
Amitabh Srivastava Amitabha Roychowdhury Amita Verma

Ammu Joseph

Ajaz Ashraf

Ajoy Ashirwad

Anand Sahay

Ananth Nath

Anil Chamadia

Anjali Deshpande

Antara Dev Sen

Anuradha Bhasin

Ashlin Mathew

Bobby Naqvi

Bharat Bhushan

Bharat Sharma Chandrakant Deepak Parvatiyar

Dhanya Rajendran G.Anjaneyulu

Geetha Seshu

Jawed Naqvi

Jigeesh AM

John Cherian

John Dayal

John Thomas

Jyoti Malhotra

Jyoti Punwani

Muniraj

K.Murali

K.A.Shaji

Karuna John

Kavitha Muralidharan

Keya Acharya

K.S.Dakshina Murthy Kumkum Chadha

Kunal Shankar

Kuldeep Kumar

Latha Jishnu

Laxmi Murthy

Madhavan Narayanan Mandira Nayyar

Mannika Chopra

Masoom Moradabadi Meghnad Bose

Mehru Jaffer

Mrinal Pande

Mukesh Kumar

Murali Krishnan

A.Ravooth


N.Kondaiah

Neelam Jeena

Nikita Sharma

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay

Nirmala Ganapathy Nivedita Jha

Padmaja Shaw

Pamela Philipose Pankaj Srivastava

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Paromita S.

Parsa Venkateshwar Rao

Jr. Patricia Mukhim

Poornima Joshi Prakash Dube

Preeti Mehra

Purnima Tripathi

Raghu Karnad

Rahul Bedi

Rajashri Dasgupta Rajalakshmi

Rajeev Khanna

Rathin Das

Rashme Sehgal

Revati Laul

Rita Anand

Rita Manchanda Rukmani Anandani Sandhya Ravishankar Satish Mishra

Seema Chishti

Seema Mustafa

Shaikh Azizur Rahman Sharda Ugra

Shastri Ramachandaran Shobhna Jain

Shubha Singh

Shiv Inder Singh

S.K. Pande

Soma Basu

Sonal Kellogg

Smita Gupta

Sucheta Dalal

Sujata Madhok

Sujata Shakeel

Sujata Raghavan

Sukumar Muralidharan Sunita Aron

Suresh Bafna

Tanushree Gangopadhyay

Teesta Setalvad

Tripta Batra

Uma Kant Lakhera

Urmilesh

V.Sreenivasa Rao Vaishna Roy

Venkat Parsa Venkatesh Kesari

Vidya Subrahmaniam Vijay Lokapally

Vinod Sharma

Vivian Fernandes Wadood Sajid

EXPLAINER: White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.

Ideas from the “great replacement theory" filled a racist screed supposedly posted online by the white 18-year-old accused of targeting Black people in Saturday's rampage. Authorities were still working to confirm its authenticity.

Certainly, there was no mistaking the racist intent of the shooter.

WHAT IS THE ‘GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY'?

Simply put, the conspiracy theory says there's a plot to diminish the influence of white people.

Believers say this goal is being achieved both through the immigration of nonwhite people into societies that have largely been dominated by white people, as well as through simple demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations.

The conspiracy theory's more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan: White nationalists marching at a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that turned deadly in 2017 chanted “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

A more mainstream view in the U.S. baselessly suggests Democrats are encouraging immigration from Latin America so more like-minded potential voters replace “traditional” Americans, says Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism.

WHAT ARE THIS CONSPIRACY THEORY'S ORIGINS?

How long has racism existed? Broadly speaking, the roots of this “theory” are that deep. In the U.S., you can point to efforts to intimidate and discourage Black people from voting — or, in antagonists' view, “replacing” white voters at the polls — that date to the Reconstruction era, after the 15th Amendment made clear suffrage couldn't be restricted on account of race.

In the modern era, most experts point to two influential books. “The Turner Diaries,” a 1978 novel written by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, is about a violent revolution in the United States with a race war that leads to the extermination of nonwhites.

The FBI called it a “bible of the racist right,” says Kurt Braddock, an American University professor and researcher at the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab.

Renaud Camus, a French writer, published a 2011 book claiming that Europe was being invaded by Black and brown immigrants from Africa. He called the book “Le Grand Replacement,” and a conspiracy's name was born.

Related video: The mainstreaming of the "Great Replacement" theory (MSNBC)



WHO ARE ITS ADHERENTS?

To some of the more extreme believers, certain white supremacist mass killers — at a Norway summer camp in 2011, two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques in 2019, a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 — are considered saints, Pitcavage says.

Those “accelerationist white supremacists” believe small societal changes won't achieve much, so the only option is tearing down society, he says.

The Buffalo shooter’s purported written diatribe and some of the methods indicate he closely studied the Christchurch shooter — particularly the effort to livestream his rampage. According to apparent screenshots from the Buffalo broadcast, the shooter inscribed the number 14 on his gun, which Pitcavage says is shorthand for a 14-word white supremacist slogan.

A written declaration by the Christchurch shooter was widely spread online. If the message attributed to the Buffalo shooter proves authentic, it's designed to also spread his philosophy and methods to a large audience.

IS THE THEORY MAKING WIDER INROADS?

While more virulent forms of racism are widely abhorred, experts are concerned about extreme views nonetheless becoming mainstream.

In a poll released last week, The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 1 in 3 Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.

On a regular basis, many adherents to the more extreme versions of the “great replacement” theory converse through encrypted apps online. They tend to be careful. They know they’re being watched.

“They are very clever,” Braddock says. “They don’t make overt calls to arms.”

WHO'S TALKING UP THIS THEORY?

In particular, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ most popular personality, has pushed false views that are more easily embraced by some white people who are concerned about a loss of their political and social power.

“I know that the left and all the gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said on his show last year. “But they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually, let's just say it. That's true.”

A study of five years' worth of Carlson's show by The New York Times found 400 instances where he talked about Democratic politicians and others seeking to force demographic change through immigration.

Fox News defended the host, pointing to repeated statements that Carlson has made denouncing political violence of all kinds.

The attention paid by many Republican politicians to what they see as a leaky southern border along the United States has been interpreted, at least by some, as a nod to the concern of white people who worry about being “replaced.”

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik's campaign committee was criticized last year for an advertisement that said “radical Democrats” were planning a “permanent election insurrection” by granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants who would create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. Stefanik represents a New York district.

Pitcavage says he's concerned about the message Carlson and supporters are sending: “It actually introduces the ‘great replacement theory’ to a conservative audience in an easier-to-swallow pill."

___

David Bauder, The Associated Press

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/buffalo-shooters-manifesto-shows-folly.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/blatantly-racist-element-of-society-is.html

'We are ascendant!' Steve Bannon addresses 'replacement theory' after Buffalo shooting
David Edwards
May 16, 2022

Real America's Voice/screen grab

Conservative podcaster Steve Bannon on Monday vowed not to back down in promoting a racist conspiracy theory that was allegedly cited by suspected Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron.

On his daily War Room: Pandemic podcast, Bannon insisted reports about the "replacement theory" were meant to distract the public. Bannon has previously promoted a French book that inspired the theory, which claims that white citizens are being replaced by immigrants.

"Of course, all of the morning shows are all over Tucker Carlson and a few others about the replacement theory," Bannon complained. "They seem to miss the point. And here's what we're not going to back off on. For people who have followed this show from day one, we are inclusive nationalists. Right?"

"OK? So, this is not about race," he continued. "This is about American citizenship! This is about the value of your citizens."

Bannon said that he was "not backing off one inch" despite the shooting.

"This is why we're going to take over every elections board in the nation," he remarked. "This is why we're going to take over every medical board in this nation. This is why we're going to take over state legislatures and D.A.s and attorney generals [sic] and secretaries of state and governors. And we're not going to stop. We are ascendant!"

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.

Tory leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'

BUT LIKE ALL CONSERVATIVES HE STILL REMAINS RACIST 

OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre, a high-profile contender in the Conservative party's leadership race, onMonday denounced the "white replacement theory," which was believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as "ugly and disgusting hate-mongering."


 leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'

In a statement provided to The Canadian Press,the longtime Ottawa MP, who has been attracting massive crowds as he campaigns across the country, condemned the attack, in which police say a white gunman shot up a supermarket in a majority Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and wounding three others.

U.S. law enforcement is investigating the shooter's online posts, which include the conspiracy theory that there’s a plot to diminish the influence of white people.

Believers say so-called "white replacement" is being achieved both through immigration and demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations, and some claim this has been orchestrated by Jews.

Poilievre was responding to a tweet by fellow leadership contestant Patrick Brown pointing out that Pat King, a leader of the February "Freedom Convoy"that clogged up the streets surrounding Parliament Hill for weeks, which Poilievre and many other Conservative MPs supported, has spread the conspiracy theory online.

Brown called on his rival to "condemn this hate."

"For Patrick Brown to use this atrocity is sleazy — even for him,"Poilievre said in his statement Monday. "I supported the peaceful and law-abiding truckers who protested for their livelihoods and freedoms while simultaneously condemning any individuals who broke laws, behaved badly or blocked critical infrastructure.

"I also condemn Pat King and his ugly remarks."

In response to Poilievre's remarks, a spokesman for Brown accused him of "reluctantly giving a statement when asked, rather than shouting denunciation from every platform you have."

"Flirting with these dangerous elements does a disservice to the vast majority of Conservative Party members and will cost us the next election if it is allowed to stand,'" Chisholm Pothier wrote.

Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen also issued a statement Monday calling racism repugnant.

"The ‘white-replacement’ conspiracy theory is peddled by racists and bigots, Conservatives unequivocally condemn this kind of thinking," she said.

Bergen went on to say that "while Canadians are free to protest and demonstrate, that does not include illegally blocking or occupying infrastructure, nor does it include illegal hate-speech.”

How much support each of the six Conservative leadership candidates running for Erin O'Toole's former job showed to the protesters who descended on the nation's capital as part of the convoy has been a reoccurring feature of the race.

Poilievre discussed his position on the demonstration – which was characterized by local police and political leaders as an occupation – during an hour-and-a-half interview with controversial Canadian psychology professor and bestselling author Jordan Peterson, which aired Monday.

In the interview, which was conducted virtually, Poilievre defended the protest near Parliament Hill as a mostly peaceful endeavour, saying he believed truckers who travelled there would have left had Trudeau acquiesced and removed the federal mandates.

"The media depiction was total nonsense. If you watched it on television you would think that it was Armageddon," Poilievre told Peterson, pointing out MPs who condemned the protest were not blocked from accessing the Hose of Commons.

"It was peaceful. It was most of the time sort of a jubilant-type celebration."

Poilievre did, however, acknowledge the pain it caused to some businesses. Some in the area decided to close during the convoy for reasons that included protesters flouting public health rules and reports of staff being harassed.

"Some businesses were inconvenienced and lost money. They should be compensated."

Poilievre suggested he's also looking at proposing changes to the federal Emergencies Act, telling Peterson he was consulting with legal scholars around curtailing its use, which Conservatives contend was unnecessary to dismantle the Ottawa protest.

Peterson rose to fame after refusing to call trans students by their preferred pronouns and opposing transgender human rights legislation.

These topics were not discussed in his wide-ranging interview with Poilievre, which covered everything from the MP's burgeoning interest in conservativism as a teenager in Calgary and having a sense of humour in politics, to his pledge to defund the CBC and insights into why his rallies were drawing such large crowds.

After the interview aired, fellow Conservative leadership candidates Leslyn Lewis and Roman Baber said on Twitter that they too wanted to be interviewed by Peterson.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

-- With files from The Associated Press

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

Canada must confront white supremacist ‘trash’ after racist Buffalo shooting: experts

Saba Aziz and Abigail Bimman - TODAY
Global News

Canadian racism, homegrown extremism also in focus after Buffalo mass shooting

© AP Photo/Matt Rourke

People embrace outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket a day earlier, in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. The shooting is the latest example of something that's been part of U.S. history since the beginning: targeted racial violence.

A deadly mass shooting in the United States over the weekend has heightened concerns about anti-Black racism and hate crime in Canada, with Canadian government officials and experts calling for stricter measures to clamp down on extreme white supremacist groups.

The Saturday afternoon shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed at least 10 people is being investigated as a federal hate crime and a case of racially-motivated violent extremism.

Read more:

Buffalo mass shooting: How should platforms respond to violent livestreams?

The bloodshed in Buffalo has highlighted racism south of the border, but similar hatred exists in Canada as well, Canadian MPs say.

“What our American friends should know is that they are not alone, that Canada is not immune from these challenges,” said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

“So we have to do more to eliminate gun violence, and we also have to do more to eradicate racism, which has no place in our society,” he told Global News in Ottawa on Monday.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said even though Canada has more stringent gun laws and lower gun holding than the U.S., he was worried about threats on Canadian soil.

“White supremacist extreme groups are the biggest domestic terrorist threat in this country, and we still make excuses for them. So I think that's a challenge we need to be focusing on every day,” he told Global News.

Police-reported data shows hate crimes are on the rise in Canada.

According to a Statistics Canada report released in March, there was a 37-per cent increase in hate crimes across the country during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Black and Jewish people were the most targeted groups, representing 26 per cent and 13 per cent of all hate crimes, respectively, StatCan reported.

Read more:

Buffalo mass shooting was act of domestic terrorism, attorney for victim’s family says

Since 2014, seven attacks on Canadian soil have killed 26 people and wounded 40 others due to ideologically motivated violent extremism, according to the most recent report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) published in March.

Right-wing extremism and terrorism is an international movement that includes groups in Canada, said Mubin Shaikh, a counter-extremism specialist and professor of public safety at Seneca College.

“Canada's far, far better than any other context, but … we still have trash in our yard as well,” he told Global News.

Barbara Perry, a researcher with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society, said there has been a “really dramatic increase” in far-right activism since 2015.

She said her team has identified 300 active right-wing hate groups in Canada, but there are likely tens of thousands of more people drawn to the movement without being affiliated with a group.

“This is the really frightening thing and, I think, surprising thing is that proportionately, if we just talk about the number of groups, it's very similar to the U.S.”

Some organizers of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” that paralyzed the nation’s capital for three weeks have well-documented ties to white supremacists, and there were multiple instances of Nazi flags, Confederate flags and Canadian flags marred by swastikas flown by individuals in the crowd during the demonstrations.

Video: Three generations of Muslim women reflect on hate in Canada

Meanwhile, there are growing concerns about Islamophobia, anti-Muslim hate crimes and discrimination in light of recent events in Ontario and Quebec.

In June 2021, a man intentionally rammed his truck at a Pakistani Muslim family in London, Ont., while they were out for an evening walk, killing four members of the family. A nine-year-old boy was the lone survivor.

In January 2017, six men were killed and 19 others seriously injured in a shooting at mosque in Quebec City.

Confronting extremism in wake of Buffalo mass shooting

CBC

Mubin Shaikh, professor of public safety at Toronto’s Seneca College, talks about his reaction to the alleged motives in the Buffalo mass shooting and what can be done to prevent extremist ideas from turning into violence.

The “great replacement theory” is believed to be a motive in the Buffalo shooting.

It is a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory about a plot to diminish the influence of white people through immigration.

The theory’s more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan.

Read more:

What is white replacement theory? Police probe conspiracy’s role in Buffalo shooting

Ottawa convoy organizer Pat King has espoused that theory in past videos posted online.

In 2021, Canada experienced another record-setting year for antisemitic incidents, with over 733 per cent increase of violent incidents, according to a recent report by Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada.

In 2020, Jews were the biggest target of hate crimes against religious minorities in the country, StatCan reported.

Marvin Rotrand, national director of B’nai Brith’s League of Human Rights, said the government needs to step up to the plate.

“Clearly, Canada's got to look at hate online and how it can better regulate that,” he told Global News.

Video: Buffalo supermarket shooting: US politicians call for more action on gun control, violent extremism

The Liberals tabled Bill C-36, an anti-hate law, at the tail end of the last Parliament in June 2021, but that died when the federal election was called two months later.

Rotrand said Canada is falling behind European countries when it comes to hate laws.

“We can't sit back and say ‘we're different than the United States, we're not going to have the same thing happen here,'" he said. "It could happen here and … we need to be vigilant."

Read more:

Extremism, hateful rhetoric becoming ‘normalized’ in Canada, spy agency head warns

CSIS says it is boosting resources dedicated to investigating and analyzing ideologically motivated violent extremist threats.

Speaking at the University of British Columbia earlier this month, CSIS director David Vigneault warned the combination of major disruptive events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-increasing influence of social media and the spread of conspiracy theories has created an environment open to exploitation by influencers and extremists.

Under Pressure: Tucker Carlson’s Debunked Conspiracy Theory Cited By Buffalo Shooting Suspect

MSNBC

A white gunman walked into a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and killed 10 people in the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year. Almost all of the victims are Black and the FBI is investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime. MSNBC’s Ari Melber discusses the tragedy and how “Replacement Theory” contributes to incidents of violence like this, saying “this weekend another person has drawn on this conspiracy theory… this time committing a mass murder.”

In the House of Commons on Monday, NDP MP Peter Julien introduced a unanimous consent motion to condemn the Buffalo shooter, extend condolences to the victims, and reaffirm commitment to confront racism and white supremacy. This was followed by a moment of silence.

While that was a symbolic gesture, MPs admit stronger measures are needed to tackle the root cause of the problem.

“We have to take this more seriously than we ever have,” said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.

— with files from David Baxter, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press

Inukjuak men's association teaching the next generation of Inuit hunters

INUKJUAK, Que. — Elder Simeonie Ohaituk sits on a caribou skin on the floor of the Unaaq Men’s Association in Inukjuak, Que., pulling and cutting a stretchy, cylindrical piece of sealskin.

He makes smooth, even cuts, the length of rope piling up on the ground as he pulls and another elder stretches and turns the sealskin over and over. It’s a two-man job, he says, requiring an even stretch each time.

The skin has been carefully cleaned of fat and fur by another elder using an uluk, a woman’s knife with a distinct crescent moon shape.

Ohaituk explains what he’s doing in Inuktitut with Charlie Nowkawalk translating his words into English as about a dozen young boys crowd around to watch.

Within minutes, the patch of skin is a rope more than 30 feet long, consistently the width of a thumbnail. It can be tied in knots before it’s dried into a hardened line that’s strong enough to haul a bearded seal, which weigh up to 800 pounds, from under the ice.

This used to be the only way Inuit could make rope strong enough for hunting and pulling dogsleds. It was also, Ohaituk says, a good excuse for men to spend time together.

“We really admire our elders,” said Tommy Palliser, assistant manager of the men’s association. “They tell us stories about how it has been before and you really can’t learn that anywhere else.”

These elders — men and women — are passing their skills on to young men in Inukjuak, ensuring they have the knowledge to hunt, fish and live on the land.

“We certainly sleep better, knowing that we are helping to provide some time and space for these young men to grow,” Palliser said.

“It makes us very proud, and also humble.”

Unaaq was formed after a number of young men died by suicide in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At a community meeting to talk about the social issues, Nowkawalk said, the women of Inukjuak asked the men, “What are you doing to help?”

It’s precisely this kind of work Mary Simon wanted to highlight during her weeklong visit to Nunavik, which ended Friday. It was a homecoming for the Governor General, who spent time in Kuujjuaq, where she went to school and returned to live as an adult, and Kangiqsualujjuaq, where she was born and close to where her father ran outfitting camps.

The stops along the way were intended to showcase resiliency, reclamation of language and culture, and community-driven solutions to some of the challenges of living in the North.

At the Unaaq Men’s Association, Palliser’s son Ray Berthe said he has been part of the group since he was 12.

“I really want to learn my culture and pass it on to the next generation, start teaching them,” he said.

Berthe, 20, is one of the young men bringing dogsled teams back to Nunavik. His seven-dog team is led by a husky named Sakkuq, which he explains means “bullet” in Inuktitut.

They’re fed a traditional diet as much as possible. Local hunters ensure they have enough to eat by providing scraps of caribou and seal.

Asked what they’ve taught him, Berthe smiles and says, “hard work.”

Dogs have been an important part of life in the North for more than a thousand years.

Dogsleds enabled people to travel further and faster, stretching out hunting and trapping territory. The Canadian Inuit dog is a unique breed descended from the dogs domesticated by the Thule, ancestors of the Inuit. It’s estimated there were 10,000 to 20,000 living in the North in the 1920s, but by the late 1960s the species was extinct.

Tens of thousands of dogs were slaughtered, mainly by the RCMP, under laws that prohibited them from being allowed to run loose. The loss of this important means of transportation was devastating to the Inuit, who were cut off from hunting, trapping and fishing grounds and confined to year-round communities.

In 2019, the Canadian government apologized to the Inuit and committed to funding a sled dog revitalization program.

“Vehicles nowadays, they always have problems,” said Berthe, who recently completed a mechanics course in Kuujjuaq. “But dogs, we don’t need parts or any gas.”

In 2018, Unaaq was awarded a $500,000 Arctic Inspiration Prize to continue its work.

Palliser said they want to get the word out about Unaaq, in the hopes other communities across the Arctic will form men’s groups of their own. That's already happened in two Nunavik communities.

Throughout the Governor General’s journey through Nunavik, she was greeted by cheering crowds. People hugged her and shook her hand, and said how proud they were of her achievements. Teachers, students, elders and organizers called her a role model.

At school visits, Simon told students how important it is to finish their education. She answered their questions — everything from her favourite colour, to whether she’s hunted caribou, to why she accepted her current post.

She told them about her experience with discrimination and talked about her hopes for the next generation of Inuit. Self-determination is the next step toward ending the reliance on fly-in workers from the south, she said, and instead filling the northern labour force with Inuit who have the skills and education needed.

“We need to decide what kind of governing system there’s going to be, and then identify where the gaps might be,” she said in an interview

On a personal level, Simon was able to reconnect with family on this trip.

At the Avataq Cultural Institute in Inukjuak, she said she was “very touched” to be given a copy of her own family tree, tracing back generations of ancestors even she didn’t know of.

"It's been a wonderful experience and feeling of coming home again," Simon said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

MANITOBA
Flood mitigation in Peguis a complex issue say governments

Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative reporter - Friday, May 13,2022

Winnipeg Sun

The federal government says it has made “significant investments” in recent years to reduce the risk of flooding and flood-related damage in the Peguis First Nation, despite the fact the community continues to have no permanent flood protection and has faced flooding five times in the last 16 years.


Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said on May 6 in Ottawa that the feds will be looking into the issue of flooding in Peguis, now that the community has dealt with its fifth flood in the last 16 years.

Peguis, a First Nations community located more than 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg, continues to deal with devastating flooding this week from the overflowing banks of the Fisher River, and as of Friday, more than 1,900 residents of the community had been evacuated, with many now living out of hotel rooms in Winnipeg and other southern Manitoba communities.

This year’s flood in Peguis, which is Manitoba’s largest First Nations community, and is home to more than 3,500 on-reserve residents, follows previous floods in the community in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2014.

On Friday, an Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson confirmed to the Winnipeg Sun that the federal government and the province split the cost of a study that was undertaken in 2006 that looked at the reasons for flooding in Peguis and to determine what permanent solutions could be undertaken to mitigate flooding risks in the community.

“In 2006, Canada and Manitoba provided approximately $3.1 million, cost-shared 50-50, for a study undertaken by AECOM Canada to examine the causes of flooding on the Fisher River, and flood protection options for Peguis First Nation,” the spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, the study put forth several options for improving flood protection in Peguis, including an option to construct a flood diversion channel, and another to build a series of dikes.

But as of this spring, there continues to be no permanent flood protection in Peguis.

“We have asked for a diversion (channel). We have asked for ring diking. We have asked for elevated roads … but nothing has occurred,” Peguis First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson said in a recent media interview.


© FilePeguis 

First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson said in a recent interview that the community has been asking for permanent flood protection for years, but that so far “nothing has occurred.” Winnipeg Sun file

When asked why none of the possible options listed in the report have been acted upon, the spokesperson would only say that, “the AECOM Canada study concluded mitigation measures were possible, but would likely cost several hundred million dollars, and would likely not prevent all types of flooding such as overland flooding.”

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is also saying that they have made what they say are “significant investments” into flood mitigation efforts in Peguis.

“Since 2015, ISC has invested $3,073,243 to assist Peguis First Nation with flood-fighting preparation and response. This includes activities such as sandbagging, ditch clearing, culvert steaming, snow removal, and pumping of water,” the spokesperson said.

“Since 2015, ISC also invested $3,564,159 for long-term flood mitigation at Peguis including wells and septic field protection, repairs for dikes around vulnerable structures, sump pumps, and road inspections.”

In comments made by Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu on May 6 in Ottawa, the minister said that the feds will be looking into the issue of flooding in Peguis, now that the community has dealt with yet another flood.

“There is a history of flooding in this community, and we have some important work to do once we get through this crisis period to talk about the future of supporting Peguis in resiliency efforts,” Hajdu said.

The Winnipeg Sun also reached out to the province asking for comment on the 2006 study and the continued lack of permanent flood protection in Peguis, and in an email, a provincial spokesperson said “this lies with the federal government as they are the decision-makers with First Nations.”

The spokesperson did claim that this spring’s flooding in Peguis will likely lead to “reviews” of the community’s flood mitigation infrastructure by the province, once the floodwaters have receded.

“The levels on the Fisher River this year have reached record levels, and the issues in this area are very complex, and therefore would require flood infrastructure to meet the needs of those complexities,” the province said. “This spring’s run-off event will prompt further reviews and will have to be done post-flood with the First Nation and surrounding communities and with the federal government.

“The province will work in collaboration with communities and the federal government to assist them in providing long-term flood mitigation improvements.”

— With files from the Canadian Press

B.C. invests $789 million for new safe, accessible and culturally inclusive museum

The Canadian Press


VICTORIA — The Royal British Columbia Museum needs to be brought into the 21st century and that means spending nearly $800 million on a new building, Premier John Horgan says.

The current museum next door to the B.C. legislature will close its doors in September to allow for the construction of the new building.

It will be offering travelling exhibitions and regional satellite displays in the province before the new museum is expected to open in 2030.

Horgan said the $789-million building will be seismically safer, inclusive, accessible and modern.

"Once complete, it will be a state-of-the-art museum, a flagship destination for tourism in British Columbia but particularly here in Victoria, and it will be a place where generations of British Columbians will learn more about the extraordinary history of this province," he told a news conference Friday.

The government announced two years ago that it was building a satellite facility for research and storage for the museum in the neighbouring community of Colwood, budgeted at $224 million.

Melanie Mark, B.C.'s minister of tourism and the only First Nations woman to serve in cabinet, said the museum will update its exhibits through consultations with residents, including Indigenous communities.

Mark said though the changes are long overdue, she considers it to be "reconciliation in action."

"We are taking the diverse stories of British Columbians, and Indigenous people, out of the shadows and into the light," she said.

Chief Rob Thomas of the Esquimalt Nation said he was very happy to be included in the planning.

"To be part of this, to partner with the museum in our own traditional territory, means so much to me," he said. "Finally, First Nations are being heard, seen and appreciated, not just as First Nations, but our culture, our history, and that doesn’t go unnoticed from our people."

In November, the Royal BC Museum announced some sections were closing to work to decolonize its Indigenous exhibits. The move was in response to calls from Indigenous leaders after reports released last year made allegations of racist and toxic working conditions at the institution.

It named Alicia Dubois as its new CEO in February. She came to the job after serving as CEO for the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation in Calgary.

Dubois said Friday that staff are currently going through mandatory training to combat systemic discrimination and racism, and said the museum is working to hire a diverse staff that "reflects the population."

She noted the new buildings will recognize Indigenous territory and incorporate their ceremonial, cultural and celebratory spaces.

"Our mandate is to be a museum for all people of British Columbia," Dubois said. "This is not an erasure of history, this is a celebration of it."

— By Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

ZIONIST STATE NOT A DEMOCRACY

DRUZE FLAGS

Liberman calls for Nation-State law to be changed for Druze community

By TZVI JOFFRE - The Jerusalem Post

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman called for fellow lawmakers to support a change to the Nation-State Law and to establish Israel's Declaration of Independence as a Basic Law after the name of the Druze IDF soldier who fell in a covert operation in Gaza in 2018 was released on Sunday.


"There is a clear contradiction between the Nation-State Law in its current version and all the words of praise for the hero of Israel, the late Lt.-Col. Mahmoud Kheir al-Din, and many other good people who fell while serving the state," said Liberman on Sunday.


"This is an opportunity to amend the Nation-State Law and establish the Declaration of Independence as a Basic Law," added the finance minister. "I call on both the opposition and the coalition to recalculate the path and instead of settling for words like 'brothers in arms' to Druze society, to do what is necessary."

Lt.-Col. Mahmoud Kheir al-Din, from the Druze town of Hurfeish in the North, was killed on November 11, 2018, by friendly fire during a firefight with Hamas gunmen while carrying out a lengthy special operation in the Gaza Strip.

The Basic Law: Israel - The nation-state of the Jewish people was approved by the Knesset in July 2018. It stipulates that "The state of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, religious, and historic right to self-determination" and "The fulfillment of the right of national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."

Druze protesters with their flags in Tel Aviv 

(credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

The law faced controversy when it was passed, as it does not guarantee the equality of all Israeli citizens, especially minorities, including Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians. The High Court upheld the Nation-State Law last year, saying it was not within its purview to order the law be canceled or be involved in its content. The lone dissenting judge said that some parts of the law challenge Israel's democratic nature, as it ignores Arab and Druze citizens and harms the principle of equality.

Yaya Fink, director-general of the Darkenu movement, welcomed the call by Liberman on Sunday, saying "We do not need a blood covenant but a covenant of living in equality. The Druze and Arab citizens of Israel are all good enough to take care of us in the hospitals and fight alongside us in the security forces, and they should be good enough for amending the Nation-State Law because equality is a fundamental value in democracy."

Dr. Amir Khnifess, head of the Institute for Druze Studies, repeated the call for the Nation-State Law to be changed and for the Declaration of Independence to be established as a Basic Law.

"It is time to right the terrible injustice that the Nation-State Law causes the Druze, who daily risk their lives for the defense of the homeland," said Khnifess. "It is time to realize that hundreds of members of the community have given their lives for the state and thousands such as Kheir al-Din have protected its security since the establishment of the state. It is time to translate the great slogans 'blood covenant' into a true covenant of life and to give equal status to the community which is a symbol and role model for a real connection with the Jewish people in Israel."

MK Gilad Kariv expressed support for Liberman's call to change the law, calling it "an important opening for anchoring the principle of equality in the Basic Laws of the State of Israel, and strengthening the constitutional status of the Declaration of Independence."

"The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which is responsible for enacting the Basic Laws, discussed the issue at the previous session and will convene again in the coming days to examine the feasibility of the matter," added Kariv.

Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg and Meretz MK Mossi Raz will both submit separate bills amending the Nation-State Law, the two announced following Liberman's statement.

The bills will go to a vote at the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday. The Likud stated that it will oppose any changes made to the Nation-State Law, claiming that the amendment will lead to the annulment of the Law of Return and the "flooding of Israel with millions of Muslim immigrants."

Chicago alt-weekly survives column clash, going nonprofit


CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Reader, the city's famed alt-weekly, is expected to become a nonprofit this month after the sale was nearly derailed over a co-owner's column opposing COVID-19 vaccine requirements for children.

The publication was on track to be sold to the new nonprofit last year until the November printing of defense attorney Leonard Goodman’s column headlined “Vaxxing our kids" prompted allegations of misinformation and censorship.

Goodman agreed to step aside in late April, allowing the sale to go through. Still, the standoff among the alt-weekly's managers left staff members in limbo for months, wondering if the Reader would be shut down after surviving multiple previous sales and the coronavirus pandemic.

In the column, Goodman wrote that “feverish hype by government officials, mainstream media outlets, and Big Pharma" made him question whether his 6-year-old daughter should be vaccinated.

Critics including former and current Reader staff quickly blasted his take, arguing that Goodman relied on sources repeatedly fact-checked by media and infectious-disease experts.

Publisher Tracy Baim said editors asked to hire an independent fact-checker to vet the column. Baim said she and her co-publisher then met with Goodman and discussed options, but “it was very clear he didn't like any” of their proposals.

Goodman said the Reader should have stood by him once the piece was published, regardless of his argument.

“This is an opinion piece,” he said. “It’s not writing as a scientist.”

Hoping to keep the peace, Baim said she told editors they would leave the column as written until the sale closed. But then two board members accused Baim and Reader staff of censorship and demanded several changes to the sale agreement — stalling the transition.

Sladjana Vuckovic, one of the members who backed Goodman, said she wouldn't have objected to the Reader publishing another writer's column favoring vaccination for kids but thought Goodman's perspective “was of great interest" and didn't require a rewrite.

The Reader's staff union led protests outside Goodman's home last month, bringing renewed attention to their demand that Goodman and his backers “free the Reader.” Many in the city's arts, music and performing arts communities backed the push, sharing stories of the Reader's influence on Chicago.

The alt-weekly first published in 1971, with editions assembled in some of its young founders’ apartments. In an issue celebrating the publication’s 50th anniversary, one founder recalled breaking even for the first time three years later.

By the 1980s, ad revenue was in the millions and kept growing to a peak of $22.6 million in 2002. But the Reader has struggled financially since as advertising dollars migrated online and the publication shuffled between owners.

Goodman and Elzie Higginbottom, a developer, bought the alt-weekly for $1 in 2018 in an orchestrated bid to keep it alive. Baim, also the founder of the LGBT newspaper the Windy City Times, became the Reader’s publisher.

She felt a drastic change was the only solution. In the summer of 2019, Baim made her pitch to the owners and board: form a new nonprofit to purchase the Reader.

The IRS approved creation of the Reader Institute for Community Journalism in February 2020. And then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

Alt-weeklies including the Reader have struggled for several decades alongside local newspapers. But they were uniquely vulnerable to the pandemic that abruptly shut down restaurants, performing arts and other advertisers.

“Any news outlet that was free and dependent entirely on advertising had a very real and in some ways almost impossible challenge,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University specializing in alternative business models.

Nonprofit local newsrooms remain rare in U.S. media, but there has been a growing push to create them as the pressures of a declining business model force consolidation and increasing ownership by hedge funds and private equity.

The Reader cut its 60,000 printed copies down to twice a month, furloughed staff and tried to make money by selling branded merchandise and publishing a coloring book.

“We lost almost 100 percent of advertising overnight,” Baim said. “We had to basically dance for dollars.”

Baim said she still believed the nonprofit strategy was the Reader's best chance — if board members and Goodman would allow it to go forward. But she and others balked at the board members' insistence on more seats on the new nonprofit's board.

Goodman said he tried to work out an agreement with his co-owner “for many months," including a proposal to complete the sale and resolve the dispute about the board appointments later on. That idea was rejected, he said.

”And there was no path forward at that point other than filing a lawsuit, which would have destroyed the Reader" Goodman said.

Goodman said the dispute hasn't swayed his confidence in the sources cited in the column. He called the suggestion that staff felt pressure to run a co-owner’s piece “complete nonsense” and said his opposition to requiring vaccines was the reason for the backlash, not his sources.

Baim though said that the staff’s pushback was a journalistic response to the sources Goodman used — not a reaction to his opinion.

“I am horrified the relationship deteriorated over one column out of 21 that we tried to do the right thing journalistically with,” Baim said.

For the Reader's staff, the final sale expected to close this month brings optimism. But they worry the delay cost the paper financially and will make the process ahead more difficult, said Philip Montoro, the music editor who has been on staff since 1996.

"We don't have owners anymore, there's no backstop, no safety net,” Montoro said.

Kathleen Foody, The Associated Press

USA
She's been pushing for student loan forgiveness for a decade. Now it could happen

Astra Taylor co-founded Debt Collective, the first union for debtors, nearly a decade ago.

Broad student loan forgiveness could be the union's biggest win.

CNBC asked Taylor about what it's like to finally see something you've been fighting for for so long on the horizon.


Astra Taylor

Annie Nova - CNBC

Astra Taylor took out her first student loan at 17. She attended Brown University and The New School, and owed tens of thousands of dollars when she defaulted on her debt during the 2008 financial crisis.

"Overnight, they added 19% to my principal," Taylor, 42, said. "Like millions of others, I was caught in a debt trap."

By luck, her partner, Jeff Mangum, a musician who founded the band Neutral Milk Hotel, offered to pay off her loans in 2012. In almost every way, her life changed.

"It saved me decades of payments," she said. Without worrying about meeting her monthly student loan bill, she was able to focus on her passion of making documentaries and writing books.

Around the same time, in 2014, she helped to found Debt Collective, the first union for debtors.

"The experience of having the weight of my student loans lifted is part of why I am doing this work," Taylor said. "I want the same relief and opportunity for other people."

President Joe Biden recently said he'd be making an announcement on student loan forgiveness within weeks. CNBC interviewed Taylor about what it's like to finally see something you've been fighting for for so long on the horizon.

Annie Nova: Beyond your personal experience, what made you want to make one of your life's mission fighting for people in debt?

Astra Taylor: When wages aren't high enough to cover the essentials of life, poor and working people have no choice but to take on debt to survive. In this sense, we are robbed twice, first by bosses who underpay us, and then by lenders who charge interest and fees when we borrow to cover the gap. Contrary to stereotypes, a lot of credit card debt is for basic necessities — things like rent, food and medical care. In this country, most working people aren't living beyond their means, they are being denied the means to live. Exploding household debt is the result.

AN: Why do people with debt, in your opinion, need a union?

AT: The financial sector is incredibly well organized. They are lobbying around the clock and have been able to repeal usury protections, deregulate the banking industry and grow their business, and we're all paying the price. That's why we need to band together to fight for fairer terms, debt relief and policy shifts that will ensure we don't have to take on debt to survive.

AN: Outstanding student loan debt has been rising for decades. What do you see as some of the earliest roots of the crisis?

AT: We used to have a model of adequately funding public higher education. That began to change in the 1960s, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California. He dismantled the University of California Master Plan, which provided free college to everyone, and demanded that the system start charging students. This was part of his strategy to quiet down student protests for civil rights and free speech. The idea was that if people had to go into debt to go to school, they'd think twice about paying to carry a picket sign. His actions were part of the broader right-wing push to dismantle government services and turn as many public institutions as possible over to private actors looking for new ways to profit.

AN: You have an issue with the term "student loan forgiveness." Can you explain why?

AT: Millions of debtors have paid off the original amount they borrowed, and yet are still in debt thanks to compounding interest, and many of them somehow owe more than their original balances. That's the classic definition of a debt trap. It doesn't make sense to say these people are asking for "forgiveness." That word makes it seem like debtors have done something wrong. We are talking about a system-level problem — not an individual moral failing.

AN: What role do you think student debt cancellation could have on the midterm elections?

AT: Nearly 1 in 5 Trump voters said they would consider voting for a Democrat if Democrats canceled all student debt. Another poll determined that 40% of Black voters would consider staying home for the next election if there's no action on student loan debt. It could make or break the Democrats in battleground states.

AN: It remains uncertain how much student debt will be canceled, if any. Biden has said he's not considering wiping out $50,000 per borrower, suggesting he might decide on a smaller figure. You believe all $1.7 trillion in outstanding student debt should be canceled. Why?

AT: For millions of borrowers stuck in a debt trap, ... $10,000 or $20,000 barely provides a dent in the amount they owe. For 83% of Black borrowers, canceling $10,000 of debt still leaves them with a balance higher than their original amount. That is unacceptable.

AN: One of the leading arguments against student loan cancellation is that it directs resources to people who are better off, since they attended college. What are your thoughts on this?

AT: Truly rich people do not have student debt, because they or their parents could cover the costs. Also, the well off get lots of financial assistance they don't acknowledge. Mortgage holders have been able to take advantage of historically low interest rates, and they also get to deduct their mortgage interest on their taxes. Credit card debtors, who are more likely to be struggling, aren't getting a 3% interest rate they can write off. Our financial system is riddled with these kinds of double standards and it's rigged against poor and working people.

AN: Student debt cancellation could be imminent. How does that feel?

AT: It's amazing to see something you've been working on for so long become mainstream and to hear people like Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and others echo our talking points. We first protested student debt in 2012, when it surpassed $1 trillion. Ten years later, it's racing toward $2 trillion and even more borrowers are suffering. The problem has gotten a lot worse, but at least we're finally hearing politicians acknowledge that the only sensible solution is for the debt to be erased.