Leaders of Native American Church Pressure Biden Administration for Protections of Peyote Habitat

Flowering peyote plant (Photo: Hans B | CC BY-SA 3.0)

BY DARREN THOMPSON MARCH 03, 2023

WASHINGTON—Leaders of the country’s largest intertribal religious organization met this week with federal officials and urged them to uphold Native rights to use peyote in religious ceremonies.

On Tuesday, leaders of the Native American Church of North America (NACNA) convened at the Department of the Interior to ask the federal government to uphold its legal responsibilities in enforcing the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) of 1978. Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, AIRFA protects the rights of Native Americans to exercise their traditional religions and ensures access to sacred sites and the use and possession of sacred objects. 

NACNA, which has more than 300,000 members, centers many of its prayer ceremonies around the legal use of peyote as a sacrament. Peyote is a Schedule I substance regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and is illegal for non-Native people to possess.

The federal government is not enforcing AIRFA and its 1994 amendment, according to NACNA leaders. 

“We witness AIRFA being violated every day by clinical and pharmaceutical interests,” Jon “Poncho” Brady told Native News Online. “We are working to keep our holy medicine sacred and want it protected in its natural habitat.”

NACNA leaders are urging the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments to take leadership in protecting the continued use of peyote for enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribes. The group wants the U.S. government to enforce laws that prohibit non-Natives from using the drug, but is also asking for federal funding for conservation of peyote and the creation of protected habitats where it can be grown.

Peyote is used recreationally by some non-Natives, and there have been efforts to decriminalize its use, which NACNA leaders say violate Native cultural and ceremonial traditions. Recreational use and promotion of peyote as a medicine could lead to over-harvesting of the plants, Native leaders said.

“This medicine is sacred to us, and people who are not permitted to share its abilities with others outside of our ceremonies are harming our sacred ceremonies,” Brady said. “Our way of life is not for sale."

AIRFA is the only federal legislative statute that protects a specific religion in the United State — that of American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians. AIRFA was amended in 1994 after the Supreme Court ruled in Oregon Employment Division v. Smith that the use of peyote was prohibited by anyone — Native or non-Native — by the state of Oregon in 1990. AIRFA’s 1994 amendment allowed the possession, transportation, and ingestion of peyote in a bona-fide ceremony for enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribes.

Rising interest in psychedelic drugs, including peyote, is growing among recreational drug users and wellness providers, who promote the plant’s medicinal properties. That is causing over-harvesting of the plants and because its environment is not protected, the slow-growing cacti may need further protections, such as congressional legislation, in the future, Native leaders say.

Because peyote only grows on private lands in southern Texas—Hogg, Starr, Webb, and Zapata Counties—leaders are worried that the plant’s environment will continue to diminish and it will be too late. An existing USDA soil conservation program in the region has also contributed to the diminishing habitat of peyote, according to NACNA leaders. Because the peyote cacti grows close to the ground, its habitat is being diminished to make way for other crops in the region.

According to carbon dating, peyote is more than 10,000 years old. The plant is a slow-growing cacti that takes 8-10 years to mature, and its habitat is known by many as the Peyote Gardens.

NACNA is requesting $5 million in federal funding for a new program to be established either by the USDA’s existing Conservation Reserve Program or as a stand-alone grant program to be administered by DOI’s Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.

The project would compensate private land owners for agreeing to convert their lands into a protected peyote habitat and would fund activities that focus on the conservation and managed harvest of peyote.

Ideally, the program would be guided by a federal steering committee that would have representation by federally recognized tribes, tribal religious leaders and organizations such as NACNA, and representatives from state and federal agencies with jurisdiction over peyote. The committee’s scope would be to work collaboratively to create and implement a conservation plan for peyote that manages healthy cultivation and harvesting of peyote.

The federal government has passed legislation that supports numerous successful conservation grant programs to protect and restore wetlands, forests, marine habitats, and endangered species habitat. 

“The entire Biden Administration needs to review and assess its full implementation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act,” NACNA’s Legislative Director Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota) told Native News Online. “They need to shift the focus into meaningful partnerships with private landowners and access to sacred lands and medicines within the nexus of private lands.”

Next week, representatives from Indian Country, including NACNA leaders, will testify to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies on a variety of topics, including protections of peyote and its habitat. 

Indian Country leans into traditional knowledge to advance modern data needs

BY CASEY LOZAR, 

CENTER FOR INDIAN COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT

 MARCH 09, 2023

Guest Opinion. 

For my people, the Salish, when the Mission Valley on the Flathead Reservation is first blanketed with snow, a new cultural season is underway. Traditionally, winter ushers in a time when we tell our stories and reflect on our histories, weaving in life lessons to remind us of where we’ve been and who we want to be as a people, as a Native nation.   

As snow surrounds me in Montana, I find myself reflecting on conversations about data that have unfolded in Indian Country since the first snow fell last year. In no time during our modern history has data been more woven into the daily dialogue of tribal leaders and policymakers.

The Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) has engaged in many of these conversations about how to collect accurate, comprehensive data with Indian Country in ways that honor tribal data sovereignty. As I consider our collective work to address harmful data gaps that perpetuate the invisibility of Native people, I take comfort in history.  

Data and our knowledge systems 

Over the holidays, my brothers, my dad, and I shared stories of a recent q̓ʷeyq̓ʷay (buffalo) hunt we did in our tribe’s aboriginal hunting grounds in southwestern Montana. Even though it was a one-day hunt, it took months to plan. Reflecting on the volume of  information we needed to carry out the hunt got me thinking about the traditional q̓ʷeyq̓ʷay hunts the Salish did in our part of the world. 

The success of these tribal hunts depended on a deep knowledge and understanding of the natural world that, in modern terms, we could consider a form of data. To drive their decision-making, our leaders relied on information regarding the skills and training needs of the hunting party, their horse and supply inventories, the demand for and the supply of meat in the community, q̓ʷeyq̓ʷay migration patterns, the location of supplemental foods, climate indicators, transportation logistics, and any competition from other hunters in the area. 

While these data didn’t live on rows of spreadsheets or in complex datasets as they do today, Salish leaders were experts in interpreting information found in the physical and spiritual world, and relying on this knowledge to make the best decisions for their communities.  

Understanding Indian Country today 

Information-gathering systems for the Salish and much of Indian Country have had to evolve. Many would argue that our data evolution has been relatively slow to develop in the modern context. There are good reasons for this. Historically,  there have been far too many instances of tribal data being misused or misrepresented to undermine the sovereignty and economic prosperity of tribal communities. In addition to the history of data misuse, tribal governments have also been in the position of directing precious resources toward defending their sovereignty and managing essential government services—limiting their capacity to invest in data systems.

Today there is great diversity in data capacities within tribal governments and communities. This patchwork of data experience across the hundreds of tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian Homelands makes for a complex environment for understanding the collective economic conditions of our Native communities. There isn’t a complete picture of Indian Country that’s anchored in data—yet. 

Data takes central stage  

Though considerable gaps remain, a new era of data collection, use, and governance has gathered steam in conversations among tribal leaders and their partners. At the heart of these conversations is tribal data sovereignty—tribes’ right to collect, secure, analyze, and share data on their own terms. Over the past several decades, tribes have strengthened and exercised their inherent sovereignty as Native nations. These efforts have increasingly extended to the governance of our own data.

Policymakers and practitioners now recognize tribally certified data as vital in economic self-determination—necessary for understanding tribal needs and opportunities and informing decision-making.  

Data are also becoming increasingly essential for tribal governments to deliver public goods in responsive ways. As a result, individual tribes have increased data collection and utilization.  

For example, the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan just executed its first-ever tribal census to gather community data that could be used to enhance service delivery. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana recently partnered with the University of Montana to evaluate tribal workforce needs, resulting in new educational programming at the tribes’ college. For several years, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe in Texas has conducted a tribal census, which helps the tribe direct workforce opportunities for its members. These are just a few of many examples across Indian Country.  

In addition to efforts at the tribal level, federal agencies are beginning to address data sovereignty and the low sample sizes of American Indians and Alaska Natives in their data-collection efforts. Recently, the federal government partnered with all 574 federally recognized tribes to support their collection of tribal enrollment and employment data. For the first time in history, federal agencies leveraged self-certified tribal data to distribute billions of dollars in emergency relief funds. While these efforts don’t solve all of the concerns about data in Indian Country, they reflect greater inclusion of our people.

Research organizations and financial institutions are also partnering with Indian Country to help fill these gaps. Guided by our research principles, CICD has multiplied our suite of data tools available to the public and hosted discussions on the intersection of data, research, and good economic policy. Projects are rooted in input from tribal stakeholders, policymakers, and our CICD Leadership Council.

Braiding tradition and modern systems 

This data revolution is nothing short of remarkable and necessary. Our people are braiding traditional knowledge practices with modern data systems at frequencies and depths never seen before, and in ways that allow us to articulate an Indigenous future. As we do this, we can lean into our tradition of being knowledge keepers and our modern understanding of what it means to honor tribal data sovereignty. 

Trusted partners are at the doorstep of Indian Country eager to learn and collaborate. CICD is honored to be one such partner—one foot in the past, and another in the future. 

Casey Lozar is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and director of the Center for Indian Country Development, a research and policy center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Prior to joining the Minneapolis Fed in 2018, Casey served in economic development and higher education roles for the state of Montana, as well as executive leadership roles in national Native American nonprofits, including the American Indian College Fund and the Notah Begay III Foundation. He is based in Helena, Montana.

Retired Police Officer Launches Non-profit to Search for Missing Indigenous People




BY DARREN THOMPSON MARCH 09, 2023

MESA, Ariz. — After Mark Pooley retired from law enforcement due to a rare blood cancer in 2020, he continued investigative work by launching a nonprofit to help find missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP).

Pooley is Navajo and Hopi with a passion for helping Native people. A former tribal prosecutor and longtime sergeant for the City of Tempe Police Department, he founded Mesa, Ariz.-based nonprofit Native Search Solutions in order to leverage new investigative tools and technology in helping resolve active and cold cases related to MMIP.  Services to assist in finding missing people are provided free of cost.

As part of his efforts, he also collaborated with the Native American Fathers and Families Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that he founded, and privately held Biometrica Systems Inc., a Las Vegas-based software and data company focused on public safety. Together, they launched MMIP Fusion Center, a brick-and-mortar space where anti-sex-trafficking groups, families, law enforcement agencies, and media can gather and collaborate.

“My main vision is to find as many resources with other non-profits, technologies, and law enforcement agencies to provide resources for our Native people,” Pooley told Native News Online. 

While there is no comprehensive data on the number of MMIP in the United States, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center reported 5,203 missing Indigenous girls and women in 2021. According to the CDC, murder is the third-leading cause of death for Indigenous women in the United States. With Native people going missing or murdered at a rate 2.5 times their share of the U.S. population, the outsized number of MMIP has been declared an epidemic by tribal leaders, government officials and law-enforcement agencies.  

Federal departments and state governments have taken action in recent years to bridge the gaps in jurisdiction and resources that leave many of these cases unsolved. Most notably, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland created the Missing and Murdered Unit to allocate federal resources to analyzing and solving MMIP cases. 

Government resources are critically important to solving the MMIP crisis, but at an investigative level, human resources and technology are among the most critical assets to missing people investigations, Pooley said.  

“An investigation needs human resources, or personnel, to conduct an investigation, and technology such as a database,” said Pooley. “If you don’t have one of these, or both of them, you’re behind in an investigation.” 

Tribal law-enforcement agencies — which are funded by the federal government  — often lack these resources.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe have filed lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Interior for a severe shortage in funding for law enforcement on their reservations in South Dakota. 

How It Works

Pooley says there are five main reasons people go missing: drug and alcohol addiction, violence, endangered runaways, human trafficking, and mental health crises. 

His process at Native Search Solutions is straightforward: When a person suspects someone is missing, Pooley can be contacted through the Native Search Solutions website. From there, he meets or speaks with the person who made initial contact to get more information and establish mutual understanding. 

Before an investigation begins, each person must sign a consent form giving Pooley permission to search for their loved one. Families then share photographs with Pooley, and he taps into Biometrica’s database, which has more than 16 million records sourced from law-enforcement organizations. 

“Sometimes, people are arrested for crimes of survival such as shoplifting, and Biometrica pulls a public record booking photos from an arrest and makes matching suggestions to photos families share with me,” Pooley said. “Facial recognition compares photographs families share with me to 16 million others.”

Since 2020, Native Search Solutions has assisted 57 families and has found two people with Biometrica’s database and 14 people with the help of families, according to Pooley.  

“We as Native Americans are a minority of a minority, and we basically don’t exist to the dominant society,” Pooley said. “We, as Native people, need to look for our own people. If we’re going to think that someone is looking for us, they are very likely not.” 

Native Search Solutions services are provided to families free of cost, and while the organization’s primary focus is on Native Americans, they will assist any family looking for a missing relative. People in Canada and Italy have reached out to the nonprofit in the last year. 

“One day, the non-Native world will come to us and ask how we found our people,” Pooley said. “If they’re missing, we’ll try to find them.”

First Native American Woman in Space, Nicole Mann Back on Earth

Photo off recovery vessel of splash down of Dragon Dragon spacecraft named Endurance. (Photo/NASA TV - screenshot)

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

MARCH 11, 2023

Breaking News. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the first Native American woman in space Nicole Aunapu Mann and fellow NASA Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina splashed down at approximately 9:02 p.m. EST tonight in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida.

Nicole Aunapu Mann (Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes) became the first Native American woman ever to be launched into space when she was launched into space last October 5, 2022. 

 

                                                                                                  Nicole Aunapu Mann

Mann served as the mission commander on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 space mission on the Dragon spacecraft named Endurance. The SpaceX Crew-5 mission was launched with four other astronauts on board on their way to the International Space Station. 

Mann and crew returned after 157 days in space. 

Related: History Was Made as Nicole Aunapu Mann Became the First Native American Woman Launched into Space

Related: INTERVIEW: Astronaut Nicole Mann is Ready to Become the First Native Woman in Space

Thousands of South Koreans rally against ‘humiliating’ govt plan to resolve forced labour row with Japan

Demonstrators in front of the Seoul City Hall on March 11, 2023, calling for withdrawal of the forced labour resolution announced by the South Korean government.

Chang May Choon
South Korea Correspondent
UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

SEOUL - Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the past week to protest against South Korea’s plan to end a wartime forced labour dispute with Japan, many voicing anger at what they deem a “foolish” and “humiliating” move.

The administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on Monday it would compensate victims of forced labour with donations from a Seoul-based foundation.

But this goes against a 2018 Supreme Court ruling for Japanese companies to directly pay damages to 15 people forced to work in their factories during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial period until the end of World War II.

The government’s move is aimed at improving ties with Japan, which sank to historic lows after the ruling triggered diplomatic and trade rows.

Japan has since invited Mr Yoon to visit Tokyo on March 16 and 17 for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in what would be the first state visit by a South Korean president in 12 years.

Protesters, however, say the Yoon administration is being too pro-Japanese.

Thousands of them turned up in front of the Seoul City Hall on Saturday, holding signs to demand the withdrawal of the forced labour deal and a “trial of the Yoon government’s humiliating diplomacy”.

The turnout exceeded organisers’ expected 6,000, and the gathering morphed into a full-scale anti-government rally, with opposition politicians lambasting the Yoon administration on stage and attendees holding signs that called for Mr Yoon’s resignation.

Protesters holding blue balloons, indicating their support for the country’s main opposition Democratic Party, joined others wearing red headbands signalling that they are trade union members.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who lost the 2022 presidential race to Mr Yoon by a tiny 0.74 per cent margin, said the President “seems to be deaf” to the voices of the people.

“The President said the compensation plan respects the victims, but I heard with my own ears the grandma victims saying they don’t need that kind of money,” said Mr Lee, whose stage appearance at the Saturday rally drew thunderous applause.

“The President cut open the wounds of the victims and mercilessly trampled on the people’s pride.”

Mr Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, speaking on stage during a protest in front of the Seoul City Hall on March 11, 2023. 

Added Ms Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the minor opposition Justice Party: “The Yoon government betrayed history and gave the victims of forced labour indelible humiliation.”

Government data shows there are currently 1,815 survivors of forced labour in South Korea.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

South Korea announces plan to compensate victims of forced labour during wartime occupation by Japan

World War II forced labour victims lash out at South Korea's 'dirty money' plan

Two of them, Madam Yang Geum-deok and Madam Kim Sung-joo, both in their 90s and seated in wheelchairs, voiced their objections to the compensation plan at a protest in front of the National Assembly on Tuesday organised by activist groups.

As teenagers, both had been forced to work for 17 months, unpaid, in a factory owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, Japan.

Madam Yang Geum-deok (left) and Madam Kim Sung-joo, South Korean victims of forced labour during the Japanese colonial period, holding a news conference in Seoul on March 7, 2023. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

They are among a group of victims who successfully sued the Japanese firm in 2018. Another group won a case against Nippon Steel.

But the Japanese government stopped both companies from paying damages, insisting that all compensation for issues related to history were settled under the 1965 agreement to normalise relations between Japan and South Korea.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin announced on Monday that the victims would instead receive compensation from a foundation funded by private Korean companies that had benefited from a US$800 million reparation package from Japan in 1965.

“I will not accept the money even if I starve to death,” said Madam Yang, who deems the plan unacceptable as it did not involve the company responsible for her suffering.

Added Madam Kim, who was accompanied by her son: “We can forgive, if Japan tells us ‘we are sorry and we did wrong’. But there’s no such word. The more I think about that, the more I cry.”

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

South Korea vows to strengthen security cooperation with Japan after wartime forced labour proposal

Japan, US cheer South Korea plan to end wartime labour dispute, but victims cry foul

A poll released on Friday showed that 59 per cent of 1,002 respondents opposed the plan as it did not require Japan’s official apology and compensation.

About 35 per cent supported the plan for the sake of national interest and better relations with Japan, while the rest were unsure.

The ruling People Power Party has proposed an alternative – to compensate the victims with funds collected from the two countries’ governments and companies, as well as public donations – ostensibly to assuage public anger.

Some of the 100 or so people who joined a weekly Wednesday protest calling for a resolution for wartime sex slaves for the Japanese army – another trigger of animosity against Japan – also voiced outrage against the compensation plan for forced labourers.

Retired teacher Im Gye-jae, 70, called it a “very, very stupid and foolish” plan, speaking in English for emphasis.

Retired teacher Im Gye-jae at the demonstration calling for a resolution to the Japanese military sexual slavery issue, held on March 8, 2023. She is wearing a yellow hoodie showing the face of Kim Bok-dong, a victim turned activist. 

Student Park Sae-hee, 25, said everyone around her was “really angry”, even those who are not interested in historical issues.

“The statement (by Foreign Minister Park) was so long, but it was full of pro-Japanese remarks, with no promise of apology,” she told The Straits Times.

“Anyone who remembers our history of being colonised by Japan cannot help but feel angry, because we know how our ancestors fought and died. Issues from the colonial era have not been settled yet. In fact, I feel we are regressing when it comes to past problems that were not resolved properly.”

Student Lee Seung-ju, 33, travelled to Seoul from his home in Gumi city 200km south of the capital to join both the Tuesday and Wednesday protests.

Protesters attending the 1,586th instalment of a weekly demonstration calling for a resolution to the Japanese military sexual slavery issue, on March 8, 2023. 

He said the Yoon administration’s overtly pro-Japanese stance made it seem like “we’re going back to colonial times”.

“One of my friends, a woman, even said, ‘Are we going to be kidnapped again?’” he added.

“You don’t even have to be Korean to feel upset. When you see people dying, people being treated brutally, you’re not angry?”

ST PHOTOS: CHANG MAY CHOON

TURKIYE
Who is Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and can he beat Turkey's President Erdoğan?

By Euronews • Updated: 10/03/2023 - 

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People's Party, arrives for a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, 6 March 2023 - Copyright Burhan Ozbilici/AP

After months of negotiations, an alliance of six Turkish opposition parties has finally chosen its candidate for the presidential election.

The leader of the social-democratic CHP party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will face President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 14 May.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s campaign will likely focus on promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law after years of increasingly centralised power under Erdoğan.

And due to a perceived slow government response to devastating earthquakes last month, a currency crisis and rampant inflation, political scientists believe the opposition candidate may have a real chance.

"All the important actors of the opposition are involved in this election alliance by supporting Kiliçdaroglu's candidacy", says Ali Çarkoglu, a political scientist at Koç University.

"The performance of the AKP and the Erdoğan government in recent years, both in economic and security policy, has been mediocre."

"Combining these two factors, we could expect Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to win the presidential election easily."

A chance to win

Samim Akgönul, a historian and political scientist at the University of Strasbourg, agrees that Kiliçdaroglu has a strong position.

"If we enter a normal, regular election period where the political parties will campaign and the leaders will campaign and then put themselves to the judgment of the electorate, I really think that Kemal Kilçdaroglu has a chance to win."

"Because there is a feeling of wear and tear on power, there is a feeling of being fed up, in the opposition, in the whole of society, but also for the first time, there is a very broad coalition against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan."
A veteran candidate

But, as Akgönul notes, not all opposition supporters are behind Kılıçdaroğlu as a candidate.

"As he is a veteran candidate, a veteran leader, he does not represent the new. He does not represent the new breath and does not represent the new emotion."

"He is a rather old man, 74 years old I think, and the electorate knows him well."

The opposition alliance hopes that if he wins Kılıçdaroğlu will govern in a more conciliatory format, respecting constraints on his power.

His image as a reserved intellectual compared to the fiery and charismatic nature of Erdoğan has long done him a disservice. Now it may be exactly what the opposition needs to clinch victory.

CLIMATE
Meet the psychologist who matchmakes philanthropists with cash-strapped activists

Jessica Kleczka spoke to fellow climate psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon about why disruptive activism works. - 

 Copyright Angharad Bache / Aimee Almstead

By Jessica Kleczka • Updated: 12/03/2023 - 

I meet Margaret Klein Salamon over Zoom. Her New York office is bright and minimalist, with a couple of pieces of abstract art and a single large plant. She greets me with a smile. I’ve been anticipating our conversation for weeks. Being a climate psychologist can be lonely at times as our work is still very niche. So it’s a rare treat to meet another of our small tribe.

It turns out that our work trajectories have been similar, too. We both gave up careers in clinical psychology to focus on activism.

While my work involves researching effective climate communication and implementing findings in my campaigning work, Salamon directs a fund that financially supports some of the most radical activist groups. It’s a joy to connect with someone else who does this unusual job, and uses their skills in an unconventional way.

My diagnosis of our situation is that we're in a state of mass delusion of normalcy.

Margaret Klein Salamon

I wonder aloud to Salamon how her background in psychology shaped her approach to climate action. “My diagnosis of our situation is that we're in a state of mass delusion of normalcy”, she says with what I come to learn is her usual candour, “which is perpetuated by the media and other institutions, but also socially. This is quite challenging, because all you have to do to play a part in perpetuating this delusion is to just continue with life as usual. You could say we're asleep or in a trance.”
‘Climate deniers are victims not villains’: A psychologist’s guide to winning them over
Hannover, Marburg: German mayors on why they're giving climate activists (some of) what they want

We’ve known about the science behind climate change for decades - but our actions are still far from what is needed to solve the climate crisis. A lot of this is the result of relentless lobbying, cover-ups and campaigns from the fossil fuel industry, who continue to falsely claim that a future without their products is impossible. Their fear-based tactics have been successful. Both on an individual and political level, we continue to cling on to the status quo. And that’s where activists come in.

Does climate activism work?

Activists threw tomato soup on one of the world’s most famous paintings, Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh, last October.

Just Stop Oil/AFP

Salamon says activists are awake to the seriousness of the climate crisis and “they are here to wake us up.”

They are unlikely to be popular while blocking major roads, throwing soup at paintings or interrupting football games. But social scientists are seeing that disruptive action shifts the ‘Overton window’ - the range of policies and actions seen as politically acceptable to the mainstream population.

Last year, UK pressure group Just Stop Oil repeatedly stopped traffic on major roads and highways to protest new oil and gas licences.

Non-profit research group Social Change Lab ran surveys before and after a week of Just Stop Oil disruption. They found that while the actions increased polarisation between groups who are strongly for or against climate action, increased awareness of Just Stop Oil also resulted in increased support for environmental charity Friends of the Earth. This phenomenon is called the Radical Flank Effect.

So: activism works. But it’s not free. This is why Salamon’s grant-making organisation the Climate Emergency Fund aims to be a “bridge” between philanthropists and activists.

“We educate and help donors see why disruption is important as it's very foreign to most of them. Many are primarily interested in climate policy, so I explain why activism is a great policy intervention, and that controversial activists are not necessarily a bad thing. Activists have always been unpopular throughout history.”

‘It’s a lifeline’: The colourful letters and postcards uplifting climate protesters in prison

Behind the scenes with the environmental lawyers who are taking Shell’s Board of Directors to court

Why do activists need funding?

The case for funding activists is strong: the Stanford Innovation Review found that funding activist groups can achieve a hundred times the amount of CO2 reduction compared to carbon offsetting.

To put this in context, an estimated $46 million (€43.5 million) in philanthropic funding is invested in grassroots organising worldwide. While $2.3 billion or €2.1 billion is pledged in support of human rights. The voluntary carbon offset market was worth $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in 2021.

So it’s clear that activists are needed but there is one big barrier: making a living.

83 per cent of grassroots activists are unable to focus their time solely on activism for financial reasons.

Research by HERO, a subscription platform which raises funds for activists, found that 83 per cent of grassroots activists are unable to focus their time solely on activism for financial reasons.

It’s hard for grassroots activists, particularly the most radical, to get funding because many institutions steer clear of them for ideological reasons.

Funding provides more than just a living in some cases. “Many activists are at terrific risk,” Salamon says. “One person I want to mention is Zain Haq, who is a 21-year-old activist from Pakistan. He was on a student visa in Canada, and currently facing deportation for non-violent climate activism. If Zain is forced to go back to Pakistan, he will land in jail there for being deported from another country. It’s a shocking case of state repression.”

         Donate to Zain Haq's legal defence fund

 

'Foreign agents': Inside the Russian climate movement taking the government to court

Talking about the climate crisis is one of the best ways you can help

Jessica Kleczka at a protest against the Rosebank, the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea which Equinor is seeking approval from the UK government to develop.

Andrea Domeniconi

Normalising activism, or even conversations about climate change, is something Salamon sees as a key psychological challenge. “It’s important to understand the forces of normalcy and social conformity. There’s a social psychology experiment where a room is filling with smoke. If all the other people in the room are just sitting there as if nothing was happening, the study subject will also not act. But if one person raises the alarm, it totally changes the dynamic. Yale calls it the ‘Spiral of Silence’ - people don't talk about climate because other people don't talk about it. The good news is that we can flip this, and normalise being alarmed about the climate emergency.”

Salamon hits the nail on the head. In my climate communication work, I often tell people that the most powerful climate action they can take is to just talk about it. Most people are concerned about the climate crisis, but feel uncomfortable to talk about their feelings, simply because they don’t hear others talk about it. This is perpetuated by unhelpful stereotypes of people who are ‘green’, and harmful media narratives demonising activists.

The emergency is so advanced that we don’t have time for gradualist approaches.

Margaret Klein Salamon

“What we're talking about is getting the public to realise that we are not safe, our families are not safe, everything we love is not safe. The emergency is so advanced that we don’t have time for gradualist approaches. While small changes are better than nothing, I would rather see activists waking up the public and calling for solutions that could actually work.”

Young people’s mental health is especially at stake if we don’t talk about the climate crisis openly. Psychologist and academic Caroline Hickman’s research has shown that 75 per cent of young people are terrified of the future, and a paper I co-published last year found that many young people do not feel taken seriously in their climate concerns.

Salamon cites research, conducted by the United Nations, which found that 56 per cent of young people worldwide think humanity is doomed. A recent study by the University of Bath found that 75 per cent of young people’s daily lives are affected by worrying about the climate crisis.

“That can fuel a movement”, she says. “That pain and despair, those are the conditions that also supply the inspiration and truth that you can be part of changing the world.”

Here are all the positive environmental stories from 2023 so far

EU agrees to push for worldwide phaseout of fossil fuels at COP28

Imagining a better world takes courage

Given the increased stakes of activism and advocating for a better future, how can we inspire people to take action for the planet?

“People will need to understand that they’re taking action for their own safety, their family and the whole world.”, Salamon explains. “[Environmental lawyer and ecocide activist] Polly Higgins talked about the courage to be great, and I think that a vision of greatness is important. It’s very easy to get down on humanity and say that nature will heal when we’re gone. But the reality is that we’re part of a destructive system, and there is a fundamentally different way we can exist on this planet. A healthy, vibrant and restored way.

“Activists are fighting for that, and that mentality is much more fulfilling, joyful and healthy than what most people are doing - living for oneself, our careers, our apartments, and money. Ultimately, the shift we need to make is a new vision of greatness.”

That’s where our imagination comes in. We’ve been stripped of our capacity to envision a better future, taught to believe that there is no alternative to the systems of capitalism and extractivism we currently live in. I personally love climate fiction such as ‘solar punk’, which helps us reclaim that lost imagination. Creatively exploring what could be achieved if we radically restructure our current systems and economies nurtures and maintains our movements.

Salamon agrees. “It’s so hard to envision a way out of this. Policy and think tanks have a role to play in that, but also artists. We need examples to follow both from real life and fiction.”

“When you give yourself over to a greater force, you put yourself in service. This sounds very noble, and it is, but it also feels good. It feels so much better. Once you've seen the possibility of being part of changing the world, even if it seems unlikely, it's the only path to the future that is worth pursuing.”

Pre-order the 2nd edition of Salamon's book “Facing the Climate Emergency: How to transform yourself with Climate Truth”

Donate to Zain Haq's legal defence fund

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Soccer hero’s tweet on asylum kicks up huge culture war and BBC boycott

By Adela Suliman 
March 11, 2023 

BBC TV presenter Gary Lineker is at the English FA Cup quarterfinal football match between Leicester City and Manchester United at King Power Stadium in Leicester, England, on March 21, 2021.

(Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)


LONDON — There’s only one topic of conversation feverishly consuming the United Kingdom this weekend: soccer. But it’s not what’s going on between two rival teams on the pitch that’s causing a stir.

Instead, it’s a fierce debate about free speech, impartiality and a proposed government immigration law, which has seemingly pitted two hugely popular British institutions — the public broadcaster BBC and soccer, including its most famous presenters and commentators — against each other.

Several BBC TV and radio sports shows have been pulled off air this weekend as presenters, football stars and commentators have boycotted the broadcaster, including its beloved Saturday night sports show, “Match of the Day” — which has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the longest-running football TV show in history.

It began when the British government this week proposed to send almost all asylum seekers arriving on small boats via the English Channel back to their home country or to a “safe third country,” like Rwanda. The bill has been criticized by rights groups, and the United Nations has described it as a “clear breach” of international law.

What to know about the U.K.'s controversial new asylum plan

Among the critics was the former England soccer captain turned star television pundit Gary Lineker, who hosts “Match of the Day” — which describes itself as “the world’s most famous football show” and is watched by millions.

Lineker decried the government proposal as an “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable,” in a tweet Tuesday that compared the government’s language to that used “by Germany in the 30s.”

He drew reaction from both sides of the political spectrum. Many urged him to stay out of politics and stick to soccer, while others championed him as the moral conscience of the people.

Conservative politicians criticized Lineker’s tweet, and his employer, the BBC, came under pressure from right-wing commentators to sanction him.

The broadcaster — one of the most trusted sources of news and a producer of some of the most popular television entertainment in the country — is publicly funded and has strict impartiality and social media guidelines for its staff who work in news, which prevent them from expressing opinions on controversial subjects.

Following days of pressure, the BBC said Friday that Lineker’s social media activity was in fact “a breach” of its guidelines, and that Lineker would therefore “step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.”

The reaction has been swift.

Cameroon goalkeeper Thomas N'Kono slides into England striker Gary Lineker during a World Cup quarterfinal match in Naples, Italy, on July 1, 1990. 

(Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images)

Lineker’s fellow hosts and sideline commentators said they would not be appearing on “Match of the Day” in “solidarity” with Lineker, and fans began urging players not to give post-match interviews to the BBC.


The BBC was forced to announce it would be airing “Match of the Day” in a bare-bones format, with no studio presenters or punditry. The boycott also spread to other BBC TV and radio sports shows, leading to hours of footage being pulled at the last minute, the BBC reported.

On Twitter, the hashtags #ImWithGary and #BoycottBBC were both trending Saturday as people vowed to boycott the show, and a petition to reinstate Lineker has garnered almost 180,000 signatures so far.



Britain’s opposition Labour Party has called the BBC’s decision “cowardly” and “an assault on free speech,” while the National Union of Journalists described it as a “massive own goal,” adding that “yielding to sustained political pressure in this way is as foolish as it is dangerous.”

The BBC, which denies succumbing to political pressure, did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.

A film crew stands outside the BBC headquarters in central London. 

(Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

The overall mood of the BBC newsroom Friday evening was one of shock, according to a journalist working there, who agreed to speak candidly about their workplace on the condition of anonymity.

The journalist joked they would remove their BBC badge when they left the building for the day — a reference to how popular Lineker is with much of the public and how contentious the row has become across Britain.

Employees’ use of social media, impartiality and the expression of opinions have regularly caused controversy and debate, including at The Washington Post.

However, many of Lineker’s supporters have also argued that the BBC’s impartiality guidelines are aimed at employees working in news, rather than pundits or sports presenters. The BBC has previously argued that, as one of the BBC’s highest-profile stars, Lineker was considered to have “an additional responsibility” to the BBC.

British press expert and former newspaper editor Alan Rusbridger told The Post on Saturday the focus on Lineker and the BBC was likely a “godsend” to the government, creating a distraction from the underlying issue of their immigration and asylum stance.

“Everyone’s arguing about Gary Lineker and not the policies they’ve just announced,” he said.

He added that the BBC had a number of “enemies” from commercial competitors to political parties of all stripes and had a tough job maintaining strict impartiality rules. “There is a culture war here. The BBC gets pulled into that because it has a huge output … across music, sports, politics, current affairs.”

“There’ll be something that offends culture warriors on one side or the other.”

A former BBC director-general, Greg Dyke, made a rare public statement Saturday against the company he used to run, stating that “the BBC has undermined its own credibility,” with the Lineker debacle. “There is a long-established precedent in the BBC that if you are an entertainment presenter or a sports presenter then you are not bound by those same rules,” he said of the company’s impartiality guidelines.

However, current BBC director-general Tim Davie stood by the broadcaster’s decision, telling a BBC reporter, “We always look to take proportionate action, and that’s what we’ve done.”

From left, soccer pundits and former players Micah Richards, Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker watch the FA Cup sixth-round soccer match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England, on June 28, 2020. 

(Shaun Botterill/AP)

Lineker, who has previously opened his home to at least two refugees, has been an outspoken critic of the government on asylum issues and has been reprimanded by the BBC in the past. He has yet to publicly comment on his sanctioning, and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.


However, earlier in the week he tweeted his thanks to supporters. “I want to thank each and every one of you. … I’ll continue to try to speak up for those poor souls that have no voice.”

Helier Cheung in London contributed to this report.

By Adela Suliman is a breaking-news reporter in The Washington Post's London hub. Twitter

BBC slashes sports coverage following suspension of star host Lineker

By Euronews with AP • Updated: 12/03/2023 - 07:49

A growing number of players and presenters rallied to Lineker’s support, - Copyright James Manning/AP

The BBC was forced to scrap much of its weekend sports programming as the network scrambled to stem an escalating crisis over its suspension of soccer host Gary Lineker for comments criticizing the British government's

Presenters, analysts and English Premier League players rallied in support of Lineker by boycotting the airwaves on Saturday, as Britain’s national broadcaster was accused of political bias and suppressing free speech, and received praise from Conservative politicians.

The broadcaster said it would air only “limited sport programming” this weekend after hosts of many of its popular sports shows declined to appear in solidarity with Lineker. The former England captain

Instead of blanket coverage on Saturday of the most popular league in the world, the BBC had no preview shows on radio or TV and no early evening summary of the final scores of Premier League games. Lunchtime TV program “Football Focus” was replaced with a rerun episode of antiques show “Bargain Hunt,” while early evening “Final Score” was swapped for “The Repair Shop.”

“Match of the Day” — the late-night program that has been a British institution for 60 years — was reduced from the usual hour and a half of highlights and analysis to a 20-minute compilation of clips from the day's games, without commentary or punditry — just cheers and jeers from the stadium crowds for a soundtrack.

There were not any post-match player interviews, either. The Professional Footballers’ Association said some players wanted to boycott the show, and as a result “players involved in today’s games will not be asked to participate in interviews with ‘Match of The Day.’”

The union said it was a “common sense solution” to avoid players facing sanctions for breaching their broadcast commitments.

The BBC said it was "sorry for these changes which we recognize will be disappointing for BBC sport fans. We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even weighed in, urging Lineker and the BBC to settle their disagreement.

“Gary Lineker was a great footballer and is a talented presenter. I hope that the current situation between Gary Lineker and the BBC can be resolved in a timely manner, but it is rightly a matter for them, not the government," he said.

Lineker, 62, was a household name in Britain even before he became chief “Match of the Day” presenter in 1999.



One of English soccer's most lauded players, he was the leading scorer at the 1986 World Cup and finished his international career with 48 goals in 80 matches for England.

After retiring from a career that included stints with Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton and Leicester, Lineker has become one of the U.K.’s most influential media figures and the BBC's best-paid star, earning 1.35 million pounds ($1.6 million) last year.

An enthusiastic social media user with 8.7 million Twitter followers, Lineker has long irked right-of-cenre politicians and activists with his liberal views, including criticism of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

The latest controversy began with a tweet on Tuesday from Lineker’s account describing the government’s plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat as “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”

The Conservative government called Lineker’s Nazi comparison offensive and unacceptable, and some lawmakers said he should be fired.

In his statement, Sunak doubled down on the government's plan to deter people from making dangerous journeys across the English Channel in small boats, saying it was the only way to “break this cycle of misery once and for all.”

On Friday, the BBC said Lineker would “step back” from “Match of the Day” until it had "an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.” Lineker has yet to comment publicly, and on Saturday went to his hometown of Leicester to watch Leicester City play Chelsea in the Premier League. He was greeted with cheers from bystanders as he arrived for a match Chelsea won 3-1.

The 100-year-old BBC, which is funded by a license fee paid by all households with a television, has a duty to be impartial in its news coverage, and BBC news staff are barred from expressing political opinions.

Lineker, as a freelancer who doesn’t work in news or current affairs, isn’t bound by the same rules, and has sometimes pushed the boundaries of what the BBC considers acceptable. Last year, the BBC found Lineker breached impartiality rules with a tweet about the Conservatives’ alleged Russian donations.

BBC neutrality has come under recent scrutiny over revelations that its chairman, Richard Sharp — a Conservative Party donor — helped arrange a loan for then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021, weeks before Sharp was appointed to the BBC post on the government’s recommendation.

Former BBC Director General Greg Dyke said the network “undermined its own credibility” by appearing to bow to government pressure.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said the BBC was “caving in” to political pressure from Conservative lawmakers.

“They got this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed,” he said.