Protesters in Mexico demonstrate against new election law

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Mexico on Sunday to oppose changes to the National Election Institute.

 Photo by Madla Hartz/EPA-EFE

Feb. 27 (UPI) -- More than 100,000 Mexican residents crowded the Zocalo plaza near the presidential palace in Mexico City to protest changes to the National Election Institute they charge would weaken the agency.

President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has complained that the NEI has become too big and unaccountable. The protests on Sunday opposed his remedy, which seeks to cut its budget and staff to the tune of $150 million annually.

Some, though, see the NEI that has allowed Mexico to avoid one-party rule for decades after elections have been accused of being tainted the years before. They see the agency as being the backstop of Mexico turning into Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro continues to serve after what many experts have seen as a disputed election.

Many of the protesters wrote pink, the official color of the agency, during Sunday's protest.

"This is our last hope," former opposition Mexican legislator Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, told The New York Times. "We want to defend the court's autonomy so it can declare these laws unconstitutional."

Critics have alleged the effort to weaken the NEI is a ploy by Obrador, who is not allowed to seek re-election under Mexico's constitution, to remain in power.

His party currently holds a majority in Congress and many governor's offices and is expected to maintain its hold in the nation's upcoming elections.

Obrador said, though, that the protesters are trying to turn the clock back when Mexican elections could not be trusted as a true reflection of voters.

"They're going to show up because there are vested, corrupt interests that want to return to power to continue stealing," Obrador said at a news conference before the rally. "So don't try to say 'it's that we care about democracy.' It's that democracy is being damaged."

Mass protest planned against Mexico electoral overhaul

Critics of the legislation are holding marches in Mexico City and other major cities as the contentious shake-up appears poised to go before the Mexican Supreme Court.

"Normally presidents try to have governability and stability for their succession, but the president is creating uncertainty," says opposition politician. (Reuters)

Mexico's opposition plans a mass protest against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's drive to shrink the independent electoral authority, arguing the changes threaten democracy - an accusation he vigorously denies.

Mexico's Congress last week approved a major overhaul of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which Lopez Obrador has repeatedly attacked as corrupt and inefficient.

Critics of the legislation, which will slash the INE's budget and staff, are holding marches on Sunday in Mexico City and other major cities as the contentious shake-up appears poised to go before the Mexican Supreme Court.

The INE and its predecessor played a key role in creating a pluralistic democracy that in 2000 ended decades of one-party rule, according to many political analysts.

Fernando Belaunzaran, an opposition politician helping to organise the protests, said the changes weakened the electoral system and increased the risk of disputes clouding the 2024 elections when Lopez Obrador's successor will be chosen.

"Normally presidents try to have governability and stability for their succession, but the president is creating uncertainty," said Belaunzaran. "He's playing with fire."

Mexican presidents may only serve a single six-year term.

Lopez Obrador, a 69-year-old leftist who contends he was robbed of the presidency twice before he finally romped to a crushing victory in the 2018 election, argues the INE is too expensive and biased in favour of his opponents.

The institute denies this.

'Anti-democratic'

According to the INE, the president's overhaul violates the constitution, curbs the institute's independence and eliminates thousands of jobs dedicated to safeguarding the electoral process, making it harder to hold free and fair elections.

Lopez Obrador has also weakened other autonomous bodies that check his power on the grounds that they are a drain on the public purse and hostile to his political project. He says his INE shake-up will save $150 million a year.

This week he called the INE "anti-democratic" and a tool of the ruling elite, accusing it of fomenting electoral fraud.

Polls show the president's National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), which in just a few years has become the dominant force in Mexico, is a strong favourite to win the 2024 election.

Critics of the INE overhaul argue Lopez Obrador is not confident MORENA can retain power without interference in the electoral process. He denies this.

Belaunzaran and his fellow demonstrators aim to fill Mexico City's central Zocalo square, which abuts the presidential palace and is freighted with political significance.

Trans people face ‘horrifying’ rhetoric at statehouses

By ANDREW DeMILLO

today

Gwendolyn Herzig speaks to a reporter at Park West Pharmacy in Little Rock, Arkansas on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Herzig, who is transgender, was asked about her genitalia by an Arkansas lawmaker when she testified about a bill restricting gender affirming care for minors. The question is an example of the rhetoric transgender people are facing at statehouses as they speak out against new bills targeting their rights. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig’s first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors.

Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the panel that one of the biggest obstacles trans people face is a lack of empathy. Only a few minutes later, a Republican lawmaker asked her an inappropriate question about her genitalia.

“It was horrifying,” she said.

The exchange, which was livestreamed on the Legislature’s website and has since been widely shared on social media, is an example of the type of demeaning questions and rhetoric that transgender people meet when they show up to statehouses to testify against new bills targeting their rights.

In South Dakota, a lawmaker invoked “furries” — people who dress up as animals — when talking about gender-affirming care. In Montana, a legislator compared parents supporting their children in finding treatment to asking doctors to carry out medically assisted suicide.

Advocates worry that increasingly hostile rhetoric about transgender people could have a chilling effect on those who want to speak out against new restrictions and could do lasting damage to a community of trans youth that is already marginalized.

“I feel like that’s what they’re trying to do, to keep us from coming and exercising this right that we have,” said Rumba Yambu, executive director of Intransitive, an advocacy and support group for transgender people in Arkansas. “Because who wants to go and be asked about their genitalia in front of a bunch of strangers? Especially strangers in power.”

So far this year, at least 150 bills targeting transgender people have been introduced, which is the highest in a single year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Bans on gender-affirming care for minors have already been enacted this year in South Dakota and Utah, and Republican governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. Arkansas and Alabama have bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges.

The push has included efforts in some states to restrict gender-affirming care for adults and proposed bans on drag shows that opponents have warned would also discriminate against transgender people.

Herzig came to the state Capitol to testify against a bill attempting to reinstate Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for minors by making it easier to file malpractice lawsuits against providers. In her testimony, Herzig talked about working with transgender patients who are on hormone replacement therapy.

“Bills like SB199 are designed to hinder, not help, Arkansans by creating barriers to evidence-driven health care they deserve under the guise of helping the young and innocent,” she said, later saying a vote for the bill was “unpatriotic, and casts doubts on our own health and research institutions who have worked through health care fields to improve the lives of Americans.”

During follow-up questions, Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Herzig if she is transgender.

When she said yes, he asked: “Do you have a penis?”

The question was met with jeers and audible gasps in the packed committee room.

“That’s horrible,” Herzig responded, telling McKee that asking her such a question was inappropriate and noting she was testifying as a health care professional.

“I had never been so publicly humiliated in my life,” Herzig told The Associated Press in an interview days later.

McKee did not respond to an email or phone call, but defended his question in a written statement.

“As a father of 4 daughters, I will do everything in my power to protect my children and the children of Arkansas, especially from the woke mob who intend to push their agenda and beliefs down our throats and destroy our families,” McKee’s statement said.

The idea of protecting children by withholding medical care is undermined by health experts, who have said minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression.

McKee’s questions were similar in tone to those posed to Debi Jackson’s teen Avery, who is transgender and nonbinary, when they testified before Missouri legislators last year about a proposal to ban trans girls and women from participating on sports teams matching their gender identity.

During the hearing, a lawmaker asked Avery if they were “gonna go through the procedure.” Since that exchange, Jackson said Avery hasn’t wanted to testify again before the Legislature.

“It’s this same idea that in any of these discussions about trans people just being treated with basic dignity and respect, legislators want to reduce them to one body part,” Jackson said. “They miss the entirety of the human being sitting in front of them having a conversation.”

Advocates say the rhetoric surrounding these proposed bans further exacerbates an already treacherous environment for transgender people, their families and medical providers. Children’s hospitals around the country have faced an uptick of harassment and threats of violence for providing gender-confirming care.

Though she said she’s received an outcry of support since her testimony, Herzig said she and the pharmacy she owns have also gotten hateful emails and calls.

People opposed to gender-affirming care for minors argue that children are too young to make decisions about their futures, sometimes comparing such treatments to child abuse. That’s despite medical experts saying the care is safe when administered properly.

Nearly every major medical group, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on such care for minors.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-affirming care for kids as abuse, but a judge has since blocked those investigations.

Amber Briggle, the mother of a transgender teenager in Texas whose family was investigated after Abbott’s order, said she gets frustrated when speaking before lawmakers in her state who she thinks already have made up their minds on the issue. But Briggle said she plans on returning to Texas’ Capitol this year and that Herzig’s encounter motivates her even more to show up and speak out.

“They should not have to fight this alone,” Briggle said of transgender people testifying in statehouses. “They should know they have loving, supporting allies in their corner.”

Herzig said she probably would not have testified had she known she was going to be asked about her genitalia.

“I felt like I was pretty much prepared for any combative question,” she said. “Except that.”

Revealed: the US is averaging one chemical accident every two days

Guardian analysis of data in light of Ohio train derailment shows accidental releases are happening consistently

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Carey Gillam

Sat 25 Feb 2023 11.00 GMT

Mike DeWine, the Ohio governor, recently lamented the toll taken on the residents of East Palestine after the toxic train derailment there, saying “no other community should have to go through this”.

But such accidents are happening with striking regularity. A Guardian analysis of data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by non-profit groups that track chemical accidents in the US shows that accidental releases – be they through train derailments, truck crashes, pipeline ruptures or industrial plant leaks and spills – are happening consistently across the country.

By one estimate these incidents are occurring, on average, every two days.

“These kinds of hidden disasters happen far too frequently,” Mathy Stanislaus, who served as assistant administrator of the EPA’s office of land and emergency management during the Obama administration, told the Guardian. Stanislaus led programs focused on the cleanup of contaminated hazardous waste sites, chemical plant safety, oil spill prevention and emergency response.

In the first seven weeks of 2023 alone, there were more than 30 incidents recorded by the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters, roughly one every day and a half. Last year the coalition recorded 188, up from 177 in 2021. The group has tallied more than 470 incidents since it started counting in April 2020.

The incidents logged by the coalition range widely in severity but each involves the accidental release of chemicals deemed to pose potential threats to human and environmental health.

Map of reported chemical accidents in the US created by Coalition To Prevent Chemical Disasters. Red icons indicate accidents from 1 January to 31 December 2022. Purple icons indicate accidents since 1 January 2023. Photograph: Coalition To Prevent Chemical Disasters

In September, for instance, nine people were hospitalized and 300 evacuated in California after a spill of caustic materials at a recycling facility. In October, officials ordered residents to shelter in place after an explosion and fire at a petrochemical plant in Louisiana. In November, more than 100 residents of Atchinson, Kansas, were treated for respiratory problems and schools were evacuated after an accident at a beverage manufacturing facility created a chemical cloud over the town.

Among multiple incidents in December, a large pipeline ruptured in rural northern Kansas, smothering the surrounding land and waterways in 588,000 gallons of diluted bitumen crude oil. Hundreds of workers are still trying to clean up the pipeline mess, at a cost pegged at around $488m.

The precise number of hazardous chemical incidents is hard to determine because the US has multiple agencies involved in response, but the EPA told the Guardian that over the past 10 years, the agency has “performed an average of 235 emergency response actions per year, including responses to discharges of hazardous chemicals or oil”. The agency said it employs roughly 250 people devoted to the EPA’s emergency response and removal program.

‘Live in daily fear of an accident’

The coalition has counted 10 rail-related chemical contamination events over the last two and a half years, including the derailment in East Palestine, where dozens of cars on a Norfolk Southern train derailed on 3 February, contaminating the community of 4,700 people with toxic vinyl chloride.

The vast majority of incidents, however, occur at the thousands of facilities around the country where dangerous chemicals are used and stored.

“What happened in East Palestine, this is a regular occurrence for communities living adjacent to chemical plants,” said Stanislaus. “They live in daily fear of an accident.”

In all, roughly 200 million people are at regular risk, with many of them people of color, or otherwise disadvantaged communities, he said.

There are close to 12,000 facilities across the nation that have on site “extremely hazardous chemicals in amounts that could harm people, the environment, or property if accidentally released”, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued last year. These facilities include petroleum refineries, chemical manufacturers, cold storage facilities, fertilizer plants and water and wastewater treatment plants, among others.

EPA data shows more than 1,650 accidents at these facilities in a 10-year span between 2004 and 2013, roughly 160 a year. More than 775 were reported from 2014 through 2020. Additionally, after analyzing accidents in a recent five-year period, the EPA said it found accident-response evacuations impacted more than 56,000 people and 47,000 people were ordered to “shelter-in-place.”

Accident rates are particularly high for petroleum and coal manufacturing and chemical manufacturing facilities, according to the EPA. The most accidents logged were in Texas, followed by Louisiana and California.

Though industry representatives say the rate of accidents is trending down, worker and community advocates disagree. They say incomplete data and delays in reporting incidents give a false sense of improvement.

The EPA itself says that by several measurements, accidents at facilities are becoming worse: evacuations, sheltering and the average annual rate of people seeking medical treatment stemming from chemical accidents are on the rise. Total annual costs are approximately $477m, including costs related to injuries and deaths.

“Accidental releases remain a significant concern,” the EPA said.

In August, the EPA proposed several changes to the Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations that apply to plants dealing with hazardous chemicals. The rule changes reflect the recognition by EPA that many chemical facilities are located in areas that are vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, including power outages, flooding, hurricanes and other weather events.

The proposed changes include enhanced emergency preparedness, increased public access to information about hazardous chemicals risks communities face and new accident prevention requirements.

The US Chamber of Commerce has pushed back on stronger regulations, arguing that most facilities operate safely, accidents are declining and that the facilities impacted by any rule changes are supplying “essential products and services that help drive our economy and provide jobs in our communities”. Other opponents to strengthening safety rules include the American Chemistry Council, American Forest & Paper Association, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.

View of the site of the derailment of a train carrying hazardous waste in East Palestine, Ohio. Photograph: Alan Freed/Reuters

The changes are “unnecessary” and will not improve safety, according to the American Chemistry Council.

Many worker and community advocates, such as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, (UAW), which represents roughly a million laborers, say the proposed rule changes don’t go far enough..

And Senator Cory Booker and US Representative Nanette Barragan – along with 47 other members of Congress - also have called on the EPA to strengthen regulations to protect communities from hazardous chemical accidents.

“The East Palestine train derailment is an environmental disaster that requires full accountability and urgency from the federal government. We need that same urgency to focus on the prevention of these chemical disasters from occurring in the first place,” Barragan said in a statement issued to the Guardian.

‘We’re going to be ready’

For Eboni Cochran, a mother and volunteer community activist, the East Palestine disaster has hardly added to her faith in the federal government. Cochran lives with her husband and 16-year-old son roughly 400 miles south of the derailment, near a Louisville, Kentucky, industrial zone along the Ohio River that locals call “Rubbertown.” The area is home to a cluster of chemical manufacturing facilities, and curious odors and concerns about toxic exposures permeate the neighborhoods near the plants.

Cochran and her family keep what she calls “get-out-of-dodge” backpacks at the ready in case of a chemical accident. They stock the packs with two changes of clothes, protective eyewear, first aid kits and other items they think they may need if forced to flee their home.

An aerial photo shows contaminated material being removed as cleanup continues in East Palestine, Ohio, on 18 February 2023. Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA

The organization she works with, Rubbertown Emergency Action (React), wants to see continuous air monitoring near the plants, regular evacuation drills and other measures to better prepare people in the event of an accidental chemical release. But it’s been difficult to get the voices of locals heard, she says.

“Decision-makers are not bringing impacted communities to the table,” she said.

In the meantime React is trying to empower locals to be prepared to protect themselves if the worst happens. Providing emergency evacuation backpacks to people near plants is one small step.

“Even in small doses certain toxic chemicals can be dangerous. They can lead to long term chronic illness, they can lead to acute illness,” Cochran said. “If there is a big explosion, we’re going to be ready.”

• This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group.

Brazil's central govt tops expectations with record January budget surplus

A general view of the Central Bank headquarters building in Brasilia, Brazil February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

BRASILIA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's central government posted a better-than-expected primary budget surplus in January on the back of record tax revenues, Treasury data showed on Monday, although the outlook for the year is for a large deficit.

The central government, comprised of the Treasury, central bank and social security, reported a primary budget surplus of 78.3 billion reais ($15 billion) in January, above the median forecast of a 60.9 billion reais surplus in a Reuters poll.

This was the best nominal result for the month since 1997, boosted by higher revenues amid a surge in taxes on capital income, as the country's benchmark Selic interest rate was aggressively hiked to control inflationary pressures, resulting in larger collection over fixed-income funds and bonds.

After pushing its benchmark rate from a record-low of 2% in March 2021, the central bank paused its tightening cycle in September, holding it at 13.75%.

Although the central government's primary surplus reached 54.5 billion reais in 12 months, the primary deficit in this year's budget, the first under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had been forecast at 231.6 billion reais after Congress approval for a multi-billion spending package to increase expenses and meet campaign promises.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad released a fiscal package in January to more than halve the shortfall, but the measures are uncertain, including a possible tax increase on fuels that needs Lula's approval.

Commentary: The American right has gone to war with 'woke capitalism.' Here's what they get wrong

by David Bach, The Conversation

Anglo American = blue, Glencore = turquoise, Rio Tinto = orange. Credit: Trading View

Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican governor and likely future presidential contender, has opened up a new front in his party's war on "woke capitalism." He is proposing to change the rules around how public bodies within Florida borrow from the markets by issuing bonds.

The proposal is that they would no longer be able to work with ratings agencies that value the bonds using the ESG (environmental, social and governance) sustainability criteria that have become commonplace in the world of finance in the past few years. Public bodies and companies with lower ESG scores can see this reflected in their borrowing costs, and some politicians on the right object to this "interference" with market valuations.

DeSantis already pledged in December to pull US$2 billion (£1.7 billion) of the state's investment from BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager and a key player in the ESG movement. This was after 19 Republican state attorneys-general told the asset manager in a letter: "Our states will not idly stand for our pensioners' retirements to be sacrificed for BlackRock's climate agenda."

Eighteen states have also either proposed or adopted legislation over the past two years restricting state business with financial institutions that use ESG criteria to limit funding to industries like fossil fuels.

According to Republican senator Kevin Cramer from North Dakota, banks and asset managers "should ignore calls for ESG and woke capitalism and stick to what they do best." Former vice president Mike Pence wants the the next Republican congress to work to "end the use of ESG principles nationwide."

What they get wrong

Newly in charge of a Congressional branch, Republicans are taking their quest to Washington, DC. Andy Barr, the new chair of the House financial services subcommittee responsible for financial institutions, claimed America's financial system had been "co-opted by the intolerant left that is intolerant of diversity." For the US to be economically competitive, he said "we need our financial system to provide equal access to capital to all kinds of businesses."

This revealed either a remarkable ignorance about financial markets and the financial risks posed by environmental and social challenges—or he was being cynically misleading to score political points.

The notion of equal access to capital flies in the face of one of the central tenets of capitalism. The ability of different organizations to borrow and the price they pay is never equal. It depends on the risk of the investment and how many investors will take that risk.

Consider mining. It inherently impacts the environment and surrounding communities. Communities can tie owners up in lawsuits or even block mining access if their concerns go unaddressed. This can affect the mine's profitability.

Researchers have shown how two gold mines with the same volumes of gold and extraction costs can be valued radically differently depending on local support. ESG ratings seek to capture such factors to enable investors to make better informed decisions.

For asset managers like BlackRock, it's also about customer demand. If investments that mitigate ESG risks offer a better risk-adjusted return and investors are increasingly shunning certain companies—be it gun manufacturers or fossil fuel producers—it will affect where money flows.

BlackRock's CEO, Larry Fink, recently said that his company lost about US$4 billion in assets from Republican-led states withdrawing money in 2022, but added US$400 billion overall. Nothing nefarious or political here, just capitalism at work.

Owners of dirty assets can still raise capital. It's just that the price may be higher. Look at the divergent coal strategies of mining giants Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore.

Rio Tinto entirely exited coal in 2018. Anglo American has created a separate entity for these assets called Thungela, while Glencore still has coal in its portfolio and proposes to run it down responsibly over time. (Full disclosure: I hold the Rio Tinto Chair in Stakeholder Engagement at IMD, but the company has no influence over my research.)

Investors can choose between these strategies. At any moment, these companies' borrowing costs will reflect the consensus assessment of the underlying risk, including from ESG factors.

Glencore has not been cut off from capital markets and is doing quite well—reporting record 2022 profits fuelled largely by coal. Yet its share price has not outperformed its peers, reflecting investor concerns about the long-term strategy.

Woke capitalism?

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine, recently said that for "conservatives now, wokeness is the root cause of everything negative." He interviewed linguist Tony Thorne, who traced the term to a 1971 Black liberationist play in which the main character says "I must stay woke."

Thorne explained that for today's progressives, particularly following Black Lives Matter, "woke" became synonymous with "socially aware" or "empathetic." But conservatives, he said, made this vague term a proxy for leftist self-righteousness, and so "anti-woke" became the rallying cry for any social change they oppose—just like "political correctness" a generation ago.

While US conservatives are particularly fixated on anti-wokeness—"Florida is where woke goes to die," intoned Governor DeSantis in his November victory speech—it is not just an American phenomenon. For instance, the Atlantic magazine's Thomas Chatterton Williams recently observed: "The French are in a panic about Le Wokisme." Europe's debate has not yet spilled into financial markets, though it may only be a matter of time.

By labeling ESG "woke," conservatives imply that large parts of the US$100 trillion global asset management industry have been hijacked by leftists. Having spent time with lots of asset managers, it's nonsense.

Of course, not all is well in ESG land. Greenwashing is rampant, and rating agencies and asset managers get criticized for insufficiently scrutinizing firms' actual ESG performances.

Most dramatically in May 2022, German prosecutors raided the offices of DWS, Deutsche Bank's asset management unit, following allegations that it had vastly overstated its ESG investments. Lawsuits are ongoing, and DWS denies it misled investors.

Yet the idea that a firm would dress up "normal" assets as ESG simply demonstrates the investor demand for these products. Equally, greenwashing is pilloried because it makes it harder for investors to assess the underlying risks to a firm's future profitability. These problems highlight the need for better standards and regulation, which is to be expected in a nascent field like this.

Despite conservative opposition, analysts expect ESG investment to almost double over the next three years to nearly US$34 trillion, representing one in every five dollars invested worldwide. This is not an aberration of free-market principles but a reflection of them. That U.S. Republicans are puzzled by this says more about them and the echo chambers in which they have been moving than about the state of ESG.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

GOP vs. ESG: Why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republicans are fighting 'woke' ESG investing