It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Climate protesters block UK’s busiest motorway after heatwave
Dozens of wildfires broke out across England on Tuesday due to a fierce heatwave that pushed temperatures to record levels - Copyright AFP Wakil KOHSAR
Climate demonstrators on Wednesday triggered a lengthy tailback on Britain’s busiest motorway, warning that a record-breaking heatwave was a dire reminder for urgent action.
Members of the group Just Stop Oil climbed gantries over the M25 encircling London, causing police to intervene and vehicles to back up for several miles (kilometres) in one direction.
Surrey Police later said a 22-year-old woman who had climbed a gantry was arrested on suspicion of causing a danger to road users, causing a public nuisance and for being a pedestrian on the motorway.
Three lanes that were shut as she was brought down were later reopened, the forced added.
Temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in southern England for the first time on Tuesday, with a new record set at 40.3C.
The extreme heat caused huge transport disruption and sparked the same kind of wildfires seen in Europe in recent years.
Government minister Kit Malthouse told parliament that 34 places saw temperatures in excess of the previous record of 37.8C in 2019.
Firefighters saw “their busiest day since World War II”, dealing with dozens of wildfires as 15 fire and rescue services declared major incidents, he said.
He said at least 41 properties were destroyed in London, 14 in Norfolk, eastern England, five in Lincolnshire, and smaller numbers elsewhere.
Malthouse, who chaired weekend meetings of the government’s emergency contingencies committee, called for the public to heed safety advice, as the risk of more wildfires was still high despite a dip in temperatures.
“Tragically… 13 people are believed to have lost their lives after getting into difficulty in rivers, reservoirs and lakes while swimming in recent days –- seven of them teenage boys,” he added.
London Fire Brigade said 16 firefighters were injured around the capital with two taken to hospital.
The city’s mayor Sadiq Khan said the service received more than 2,600 calls on Tuesday — up from a normal day of about 350.
Khan also accused Conservative leadership candidates vying to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson of ignoring “the elephant in the room” of climate change.
Just Stop Oil said it regretted disruption to the public from its latest action on the M25, after activists had previously staged sit-in protests on that road and others.
But declaring the M25 “a site of civil resistance”, it warned of further protests to come this week.
“This is the moment when climate inaction is truly revealed in all its murderous glory for everyone to see: as an elite-driven death project that will extinguish all life if we let it,” the activist group said.
Punk-rave band Little Big were among the latest figures in Russianculture to have to flee the country last month. The lyrics to the new song they released upon their exile says it all: “I’ve got no, I’ve got no / I’ve got no voice / Die or leave, die or leave / I’ve got no choice,” goes one verse in this tune, “Generation Cancellation”.
“We condemn the Russian government’s actions and we are so disgusted by the Kremlin’s military propaganda that we’ve decided to drop everything and leave the country,” the band wrote in a statement quoted by independent news site Meduza.
This hitherto apolitical band, formed in St Petersburg in 2013, are the latest in a stream of cultural figures who have left Russia after opposing the invasion of Ukraine – including rock star Zemfira, who recently fled to France, and Boris Grebenchtchikov, leader of the band Aquarium, who has described Vladimir Putin’s war as “pure madness”.
‘Our Caesar’s Napoleonic plans’
“Grebenchtchikov left because he thought he could express himself better abroad,” said Clementine Fujimora, a professor of anthropology and Russia analyst at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. “This way he can carry on playing concerts and post new songs on Telegram, Instagram and Facebook.”
The singer recently released two songs about the horrors of the war in Ukraine, “Obdidaba” and “Vorozhba”. In the latter, Grebenchtchikov sings about dark magical spells that make “coffins grow in our hearts”.
Other dissident musicians have stayed in Russia – but are paying a heavy price. An icon of Russian rock, Yuri Shevchuck from the band DDT, was on stage in central Russia’s Ufa in May when he declared: “patriotism isn’t about kissing the president’s arse all the time”.
After repeatedly criticising Putin over the past several years, the 65-year-old doyen of contemporary Russian music also lamented that the “youth of Ukraine and Russia are dying” because of “our Caesar’s Napoleonic plans”.
In response, all of Shevchuk’s concerts have been cancelled and he is being prosecuted for “discrediting” the Russian army.
The clearest sign of the amplifying repression in Russia is a law decreeing that spreading “false information” about the Russian army is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The legislation was put in place at the start of March, a week after the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow insists is merely a “special military operation”. Analysts say the law demonstrates that Russia’s mode of government has changed from authoritarianism to a form of totalitarianism.
One of the most prominent victims of this repressive measure is artist and activist Alexandra Skochilenko – whose crime was to have replaced price tags in supermarkets with anti-war messages.
To avoid prison, others have had to make quick getaways. In May, Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina disguised herself as a food delivery worker to escape police surveillance and reach safety across the Lithuanian border.
“I’ll stay here as long as I’m not in danger,” Manija, the singer who represented Russia in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, told Radio France Internationale. “I think there are many people in Russia who share my view,” she said. Nevertheless, her concerts have been called since she took a stand against the invasion of Ukraine. ‘Afraid of cultural figures’
So one of the old dilemmas from the Soviet era is returning: do writers, musicians and artists stay as an act of defiance, even if they risk losing everything? Or do they leave so they can be safe and speak freely?
“During the Soviet period, dissident cultural figures who left the country often felt a certain guilt because they were leaving people behind”, Fujimura said, noting that many in Russia questioned some exiles’ loyalty.
Fujimura mentioned the most famous dissident of them all, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist, essayist and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who left the USSR for the US in 1974. “When he returned from exile in 1994, some expressed anger that he hadn’t come back sooner,” she observed.
This issue is resurfacing in the current context. Explaining her promise not to leave Russia at the outset of the Ukraine war, Diana Arbenina from 1990s rock band Night Snipers cited a line from a 1992 Anna Akhmatova poem: “I was with my people, where my people and their misfortune were.”
“Most of the artists I follow on social media have no intention of leaving; they want to stay, even if they’ve been fined, threatened and banned from performing concerts,” Fujimora said. “The Russian regime has always been afraid of cultural figures expressing themselves through social media – or indeed any other media – because they have the ability to change people’s consciences.”
But it looks like it will only get more difficult to be a writer, artist or musician in Russia. Not only is the Kremin cutting off dissident voices, it also wants to put the creative arts in the service of its national narrative – especially within Russia’s most influential institutions.
The heads of the Sovremennik Theatre and Gogol Centre in Moscow were ousted in early March. “From the point of view of art, this is not just sabotage – this is murder,” fumed Kirill Serebrennikov, the Gogol Centre’s exiled artistic director, renowned for making the performing arts centre a world leader in avant-garde theatre. Since then over twenty more theatre directors have been sacked.
Kamloopa Powwow organizers have issued an apology and made changes, following public backlash to event rules said to discriminate against those who are of partial indigenous ancestry, two-spirit and young mothers. Kamloops This Week.
On July 12, the Kamloopa Powwow Society posted its dance rules online for those participating in the 41st annual competition. The powwow is set to return from July 29 to July 31 after two years of cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The document stated participants must be at least one-quarter native blood. Other rules stated: Each contestant must dress in full regalia and be of the “correct gender” for that category. Those participating in the princess pageant were required to be single, have no children or spouse and be a female enrolled in high school.
The rules came under fire across several social media channels, with outrage and disappointment expressed. Comments were posted to the society’s Facebook page, including accusations of the rules being transphobic, colonial and discriminatory. Others called for rule changes and a boycott of the powwow.
Garry Gottfriedson, a Secwépemc cultural adviser at Thompson Rivers University, told Kamloops This Weel he was angered and saddened when he saw the rules. He said Indigenous culture is complicated and rules around blood are colonial constructs that dictated who could be defined as Indian.
“Our societies never operated that way,” Gottfriedson said. “If you were willing to live in our community and you were willing to accept our culture — no matter how much Indian blood you have in you — then you were accepted as a member of our tribe.”
Kamloops Pride president Ashton O’Brien said she heard from two-spirit and gender-diverse individuals who did not feel welcomed by the event rules and thought they were now being excluded from a cultural celebration, due to the gender requirements.
“For a lot of people, that didn’t make sense,” she said. “Like, what is the correct gender and, if that meant aligning with whatever gender the category was, it felt exclusive.”
On July 13, the Kamloopa Powwow Society posted an apology online and said wording of the rules did not reflect how the event was run in the past. It said the organization would update its dance rules to “reflect equality.” Over the weekend, the society posted rule revisions.
The society stated it had removed outdated and discriminatory language regarding gender and updated rules to welcome all self-identified Indigenous people.
In the updated rules, the one-quarter blood requirement has been changed to “dancers must self-identify as Indigenous” and language in the document now includes both sexes.
As for the princess pageant, the only remaining stipulation is contestants must be between the ages of 13 and 17.
The society said beginning this year it is also adding an annual switch dance special and two-spirit round dance to the powwow. It also plans to appoint youth and a two-spirit member to its committee.
“We are inclusive in honouring our 2SLGBTQIA+ and will continue to recognize our relatives,” the online apology read. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said in a statement that the band is happy the society is taking corrective steps. “Those rules do not reflect (Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc) values,” Casimir said. Our “chief and council endorses the implementation of a National Action Plan that addresses violence against Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and 2SLGBTQQIA++. They are our people and are our k’wséltkten, our family and we all hold them dear.”
Kamloopa Powwow Society president Delyla Daniels indicated the powwow’s tabulators and others have dropped out of this year’s powwow.
“I do not know how we are going to recover from this,” Daniels said. “We’ve impacted so many people who were set to have specials and celebration of their family and loved one that are no longer having specials.”
C&T Tabulating, a business that does powwow tabulations, posted online last week that it had withdrawn from the powwow, due to the viral social media outrage. It is not clear if the company now intends to rejoin the powwow, given the updated rules.
Iraqi PM slams Turkey after Kurdistan strike kills 9 civilians
Nine civilians, including at least two children, were killed in a park in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region Wednesday by artillery fire Baghdad blamed on neighbouring Turkey, a country engaged in a cross-border offensive.
In an unusually strong rebuke, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi warned Turkey that Iraq reserves the "right to retaliate", calling the artillery fire a "flagrant violation" of sovereignty.
Turkey launched an offensive in northern Iraq in April dubbed "Operation Claw-Lock", which it said targets fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The victims included Iraqi tourists who had come to the hill village of Parakh in Zakho district to escape sweltering temperatures further south in the country, according to Mushir Bashir, the head of Zakho region.
"Turkey hit the village twice today," Bashir told AFP.
People gather outside a hospital following shelling in the city of Zakho in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 20 Ismael ADNAN AFP
A source in Turkey's defence ministry said that he had "no information reporting or confirming artillery fire in this area".
The artillery strikes killed nine and wounded 23, Zakho health official Amir Ali told reporters. He had earlier put the toll at eight dead, including two children.
'Bodies in the water'
In front of a hospital in Zakho, Hassan Tahsin Ali spoke to AFP wearing a bandage around his head.
He said he was lucky to survive the deluge of fire that fell on the park and its water features, where visitors had been relaxing.
"We come from the province of Babylon," the young man said in a slow voice.
"There were indiscriminate strikes on us, there were bodies in the water," he added. "Our young people are dead, our children are dead, who should we turn to? We have only God."
Iraq's prime minister dispatched the country's foreign minister and top security officials to the site.
"Turkish forces have perpetrated once more a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," Kadhemi said on Twitter, condemning the harm caused to "the life and security of Iraqi citizens."
"Iraq reserves the right to retaliate against these aggressions and take all necessary measures to protect our people," Kadhemi added.
Designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has complicated relations with the PKK as its presence in the region hampers vital trade relations with neighbouring Turkey.
The military operations have seen Turkey's ambassador in Baghdad regularly summoned to the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Putin relies on Erdoğan and Raisi to shield himself from Western sanctions
The Iranian president receives his Russian and Turkish counterparts in Tehran to discuss the situation in Syria with a view to strengthening trade and military relations
Álvaro Escalonilla July 19 2022 SPUTNIK/KONSTANTIN ZAVRAZHIN - Russian President Vladimir Putin
arriving in Tehran, Iran, on 19 July 2022
This is the third time Vladimir Putin has left Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February. After visiting Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, the Russian president landed in Tehran on Tuesday to attend the Astana summit, a trilateral meeting aimed at resolving disputes in Syria, where he met with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and again with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whom he met a few weeks ago in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat. This is a golden opportunity to strengthen the Kremlin's external role in the midst of the isolation to which it is being subjected by the West.
In addition to the Syrian chessboard, the war in Ukraine, bilateral relations and trade agreements, and the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement with Iran signed in 2015, have been some of the issues that have defined the agenda in a context marked by the recent tour of the Middle East by US President Joe Biden, in which he closed ranks with Israel and smoothed out differences with Saudi Arabia, Iran's nemesis. Now, Putin is taking the opportunity to level the scales and distance himself from Iran.
AFP PHOTO / HO / PRESIDENCIA DE IRÁN - With the war in Ukraine still raging, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to Tehran on 19 July 2022 for talks with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on the Syrian conflict
Erdoğan's plans in Syria
The Turkish president arrived in the Iranian capital late on Monday accompanied by a large delegation of political and economic advisors and several members of his cabinet. The trip was an important one. One of Erdoğan's objectives was to restore commercial and strategic ties with Iran after the setback caused by US sanctions and aggravated by the pandemic. And so it has been. Ankara and Tehran have sealed a total of eight agreements worth $30 billion to increase the volume of bilateral trade.
Prior to the signing, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had received the Turkish president in the aseptic room of the Saadabad Palace, accompanied by Raisi, to discuss Turkey's plans on the Syrian chessboard. Ankara has launched four military operations in the neighbouring country between 2016 and 2020, and controls large areas in northern Syria. Erdoğan is now planning a new intervention. He intends to establish a 30-kilometre-deep security strip covering the cities of Tall Rifat and Manbiy to expel Kurdish militias, which he considers "terrorists" because of their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
PHOTO/REUTERS - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, Iran, July 19, 2022
Erdoğan could act unilaterally, but if he wants to play it safe he needs the approval of the Kremlin, which has troops deployed on the ground despite concentrating efforts in eastern Ukraine. Iran's position is also important because, like Russia and Turkey, it has been deeply involved in Syria since the early stages of the conflict, which erupted in 2011 in the context of the Arab Spring. Each has different interests. While Moscow and Tehran supported Bashar al-Assad's regime, Ankara pushed to unbalance Damascus by wholeheartedly supporting the Free Syrian Army, the spearhead of the opposition. Despite distances, the parties maintained relations.
Russia and Iran, however, oppose Erdoğan's umpteenth gambit in Syria. Upon learning of his plans first-hand, Ali Khamenei expressed his rejection of intervention. "Any military attack will harm Turkey, Syria and the whole region, will benefit terrorists and will not bring about the expected political action by the Syrian government," said the veteran Iranian head of state. "Syria's problems must be solved through negotiations, and Iran, Turkey, Syria and Russia must put an end to this problem through dialogue," he concluded. The international community fears further destabilisation in the country now that al-Assad enjoys some stability.
President Website/WANA - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi walks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, July 19, 2022
Turkey, on two sides
Erdoğan has made the most of Turkey's geographical, religious, strategic and political conditions to turn the country into an influential actor on the international stage. Riding on the back of a multi-vector diplomacy, albeit evolving from the "strategic depth" coined by former Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and based on the theory of "zero problems with neighbours", to military expansionism, the Islamist leader maintains a key position as a NATO ally, but at the same time as a partner of Russia and Iran, not without difficulty.
This strategy has allowed him to reconcile with the Gulf monarchies or to move closer to Israel while maintaining good relations with Iran. It has also served to set itself up as an arbiter between Russia and Ukraine. In March, Turkish diplomacy hosted the first contact between the parties since the beginning of the invasion in order to unblock a ceasefire, but the Bucha massacre brought the end of the negotiations in Istanbul. Last week, Russian and Ukrainian officials met again in Turkey with the aim of unblocking grain stranded in Ukrainian ports, without success.
AFP PHOTO / Turkish Presidency Press Office - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presenting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi with an invitation to the Islamic Solidarity Games to be held in Konya, following the seventh meeting of the Turkey-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council in Tehran
In the framework of the trilateral summit in Tehran, Erdoğan is trying to persuade Putin to allow Ukrainian exports and thereby alleviate the famine threatening the African continent and the Middle East. The context seems complicated, especially since it has been reported that numerous Russian and Syrian vessels have taken advantage of the situation to steal Ukrainian grain and take it to their coasts. Putin intends to advance positions in Ukraine in order to force concessions in a hypothetical negotiation, in which Ankara is expected to play a mediating role; no concessions are expected.
Russia and Iran, allies?
Vladimir Putin landed early this afternoon at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, where his Turkish counterpart had landed hours earlier. Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji was waiting for him on the tarmac to greet the Russian president. This was no coincidence. Hours earlier, the signing of a $40 billion deal between Russian energy giant Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had been announced. The largest foreign investment in Iran's oil industry in history, according to CEO Mohsen Khojastehmehr.
In the midst of diplomatic, economic and commercial isolation with the West, Russia is seeking to weave alliances in different latitudes to stem the bleeding caused by sanctions. Iran's conditions are ostensibly worse, with an economy that has been ravaged for years by restrictions imposed by Washington and Brussels. Cooperation would benefit both. Moreover, Tehran is adept at circumventing sanctions and exporting oil surreptitiously, methods that would help the Kremlin evade responsibility for future operations. The problem, however, is that their economies excel in the same sectors, complicating bilateral trade. On paper, they are natural competitors.
In favour of the nuclear deal
The revival of the JCPOA seemed imminent earlier this year following the unilateral abandonment of the deal by the United States, undertaken in 2018 by former President Trump. The Biden administration had made the nuclear pact the centrepiece of its foreign policy after the abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan, confident of revalidating Obama's 2015 conquest. However, Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the subsequent cooling of relations between Washington and Tehran after successive clashes with Israel made the deal difficult to achieve.
PHOTO/AFP - President of the Islamic Republic Ebrahim Raisi welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran on 19 July 2022
For the time being, Biden flatly refuses to lift the Revolutionary Guard's designation as a "terrorist organisation", even if it means breaking off negotiations, a more symbolic than material issue, but one that irritates the Ayatollahs' regime. The Democrat has hardened his message, distancing himself from a political resolution, especially after the regional tour that took him to Jerusalem and Jeddah. Meanwhile, Tehran fuels its nuclear weapons development machine, a scenario that no one wants, not even its closest partners.
Russia threw a spanner in the works of the JCPOA by demanding that its trade with Iran be exempted from Western sanctions triggered by its invasion of Ukraine. Turkey, for its part, is not part of the 5+1 group that agreed the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. In any case, both welcome the resumption of the deal as long as the sanctions imposed on Tehran are eased. Erdoğan spoke in favour of the JCPOA, as did the Kremlin's diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov. All three, with their differences, have been able to partner with each other.
NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission recently concluded a six-year field campaign in Greenland to measure how much the ocean is contributing to global sea-level rise by melting Greenland’s glaciers from below. Rising sea levels caused by climate change are one of the biggest threats society faces in the next few decades.
US downplays Turkey threat to ‘freeze’ Finland, Sweden NATO bids
A State Department spokesperson said the United States is working for the accession process to be as swift and efficient as possible.
The U.S. Department of State reaffirmed on Monday that there is “strong consensus and support” for Finland and Sweden’s membership bids for NATO, after President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will freeze the bids if the Nordic countries do not keep promises on counter-terrorism.
According to Department of State spokesman, Ned Price, the United States is working for the accession process to be as swift and efficient as possible.
Finland and Sweden applied for membership of the defense alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but were met with opposition from Turkey, which accused the Nordic countries of supporting groups it deems terrorists.
The three countries signed an accord at the NATO summit in Madrid last month to lift Ankara’s veto in exchange for pledges on counter-terrorism and arms exports. Turkey has said it will closely monitor the implementation of the accord to ratify their membership bids.
He Tracked Down Nazi War Criminals. Now He's Investigating Atrocities In Ukraine
A grave digger prepares the ground for a funeral at a cemetery on April 21, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine. The first several rows contain remains of people killed during the Russian occupation of the area.
John Moore/Getty Images
How serious is the U.S. about investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine? They put Eli Rosenbaum on the case. He's best known for directing the Department of Justice special investigations unit which tracked down Nazis who had gone into hiding after World War II.
He lays out the challenges of conducting an investigation in the midst of an ongoing war.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Jason Beaubien and Brian Mann on Russian airstrikes that killed Ukrainian civilians.
This episode was produced by Connor Donevan and Elena Burnett. It was edited by Bridget Kelley and Aaron Schachter. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Spain approves ‘only yes means yes’ new sexual consent law
The new law was prompted by widespread protests across the country and calls for Spain to join other countries in legally defining rape as sex without consent
(Pic: Getty Images)
Associated Press Reporters
July 19 2022
Spain has approved a law that requires an explicit expression of consent in sexual relations.
It is part of an effort to address the legal difficulties sexual assault victims have faced in trying to prove intimidation or violence was used against them.
The legislation passed by the Spanish Senate is popularly known as the "Only yes means yes" law.
The legislation, long championed by Spain's Socialist-led coalition government, has its roots in the outcry over a gang rape that shocked the country during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.
Initially, a court found the five men accused in the case known as "La Manada" (The Pack) guilty of sexual abuse, but not rape, because the unconscious victim wasn't proven to have objected to what was happening.
Under the new law, silence or passivity won't be considered as indicating consensual sex, which will require an explicit expression of agreement from the partners.
Lawyers from the conservative Popular Party, which is the main opposition party, and the far-right VOX party voted against the legislation.
The initial sentences in the San Fermin case prompted widespread protests across the country and calls for Spain to join other countries in Europe in legally defining rape as sex without consent.
Spain's Supreme Court later overruled two lower courts and sentenced the five defendants to 15 years in prison for rape.
US Overdose Deaths Jumped for Blacks, Native Americans During Pandemic
Prefilled syringes of naloxone to counter opioid overdoses are ready for use outside the gate where dozens of Native women are living in tents in the lot of an abandoned gas station in south Minneapolis, Nov. 15, 2021.
WASHINGTON —
Overdose deaths increased 44% for Blacks and 39% for Native Americans in 2020 compared with 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to care and exacerbated racial inequality, an official report showed Tuesday.
"Racism, a root cause of health disparities, continues to be a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acting Principal Deputy Director Debra Houry said in a briefing.
"The disproportionate increase in overdose death rates among Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native people may partly be due to health inequities, like unequal access to substance use treatment and treatment biases."
Recent increases in deaths were largely driven by illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, according to the report from the CDC.
Before the pandemic, the overdose death rate was similar for Black, Native and white people, at 27, 26 and 25 per 100,000 people in 2019.
But that changed dramatically in 2020, when the respective figures were 39, 36 and 31 per 100,000 people.
Though the increase among white people was not as great as for Blacks and Native Americans, the new rate is still a historic high.
Among key findings: The overdose death rate among Black males 65 years and older was nearly seven times that of their white counterparts.
Black people 15-24 years old experienced the largest rate increase, 86%, compared with changes seen in other groups.
"There was a substantially lower percentage of people in racial and ethnic minority groups showing evidence of ever receiving treatment for substance use, compared to white people," CDC health scientist Mbabazi Kariisa said during the briefing.
In fact, most people who died by overdose had no evidence of getting prior substance use treatment before their death. Areas with a wider income gap between rich and poor had the highest death rates.
Being impoverished "can lead to lack of stable housing, reliable transportation and health insurance, making it even more difficult for people to access treatment and other support services," Kariisa said.
In terms of recommendations, Houry said it was vital to raise awareness about the lethality of the illicit drug supply, particularly fentanyl, and encourage people to carry the life-saving treatment Naloxone.
Improving access to treatment and offering structural support, such as transport assistance and child care, can improve care access.
"Combining culturally appropriate traditional practices, spirituality and religion with evidence-based substance use disorder treatment also helps raise awareness and reduce stigma," she said.
"While we have made so much progress in treating substance use disorders as chronic conditions, rather than moral failings, there is still so much more work to do, including making sure that all people who need these services can get them," Houry concluded.
People gather outside a hospital following shelling in the city of Zakho in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 20 Ismael ADNAN AFP
