ICYMI; CLIMATE CRISIS

Himalayas: The climate time bomb threatening India
Agence France-Presse
March 25, 2023

REPORTERS © FRANCE 24

In the world's highest mountain range, global warming threatens thousands of glaciers, resulting in increasingly frequent natural disasters: landslides, avalanches and glacier collapses. Our reporters Alban Alvarez and Navodita Kumari travelled to the small northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, where these disasters are compounded by a rush to develop infrastructure such as hydroelectric dams.

Up in the foothills of the Himalayas, the region of Uttarakhand is getting the Indian government’s attention. The state of 10 million inhabitants, bordering both China and Nepal, has become a vast open-air building site. The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi fully intends to take advantage of the region’s geographical position to make it a hub for renewable energy.

India, the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter, which gets 80 percent of its electricity from coal, is counting on the large-scale construction of hydroelectric power stations in the region to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070. Uttarakhand certainly has assets: the state is home to dozens of rivers, especially the Ganges and the Yamuna, the country’s largest waterways. But in addition to being located in a seismic zone, Uttarakhand is threatened by global warming, resulting in the accelerated melting of its glaciers.

For the past decade, the region has experienced natural disasters every year: landslides, avalanches, glacier collapses and even "cloudbursts" – sudden storms that can destroy a valley in a few minutes. In 2013, some 10,000 Hindu pilgrims died there during sudden bad weather while praying at a religious site. The bodies of almost 4,000 of them were never found.

Scientists find water inside glass beads on the Moon
Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2023

Blue Moon

Scientists said Monday they have discovered water inside tiny beads of glass scattered across the Moon, suggesting that one day it could be extracted and used by the "explorers of tomorrow".

The Moon was long believed to be dry, but over the last few decades several missions have shown there is water both on the surface and trapped inside minerals.

Mahesh Anand, a professor of planetary science and exploration at the UK's Open University, told AFP that water molecules could be seen "hopping over the lunar surface" when it was sunny.

"But we didn't know where exactly it was coming from," said Anand, a co-author of a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The study, carried out by a team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the glass beads are "probably the dominant reservoir involved in the lunar surface water cycle".

The team polished and analyzed 117 glass beads which were scooped up by China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft in December 2020 and brought back to Earth.

The beads are formed by tiny meteorites that bombard the surface of the Moon, which lacks the protection of an atmosphere.

The heat of the impact melts the surface material, which cools into round glass beads around the width of a strand of hair.

As well as finding water in the beads, the scientists detected "a telltale signature of the Sun," Anand said.

Investigating further, they determined that the hydrogen necessary to make up the water was coming from solar wind, which sweeps charged particles across the Solar System.

'Sustainable' source of water?

The other ingredient for water, oxygen, makes up nearly half of the Moon, though it is trapped in rocks and minerals.

This means that solar wind could be equally contributing to water on other bodies in the Solar System lacking an atmosphere, such as Mercury or asteroids, Anand said.

The glass beads may make up around three to five percent of lunar soil, according to the study.

A "back of the envelope" calculation suggested that there could be around a third of a trillion tonnes of water inside all the Moon's glass beads, he added.

And it only takes mild heat of around 100 degrees Celsius (210 Fahrenheit) to liberate the water from the beads, Anand said.

While much more research is needed, he said that heating and processing these materials could supply the "explorers of tomorrow" with water -- or even oxygen -- to help them search "other worlds in a sustainable, responsible manner".

The European Space Agency's robotic drill PROSPECT, scheduled to launch for the Moon in 2025, could be the first to be able to collect and extract water in such a way, Anand said.

NASA's VIPER mission, planned to launch late next year, will head to the Moon's South Pole aiming to analyze water ice.


And in the coming years NASA's Artemis mission plans to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

© 2023 AFP

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Magister Ludi

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THE GLASS BEAD GAME, 

Hermann Hesse's last major work, appeared in Switzerland in. 1943. When Thomas Mann, then living in California, received the two volumes of ...

288 pages

A new psychology study has uncovered cultural differences in perceptions of heroes

2023/03/27


In the field of social psychology, the study of heroes has attracted growing interest over the past decade, as heroes have been found to be an important part of everyday life and provide important psychological functions to children and adults. However, most research in this area has focused on predominantly WEIRD (white, educated, industrialized, rich, and from developed countries) samples and may not reflect wider conceptions of heroes across cultures.

A recent study by my colleagues at the University of Limerick and myself delved into the cultural differences in lay perceptions of heroes, examining the impact of individualistic and collectivistic values on the perception of various types of heroes. The study has been published in open access format in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

The research first investigated the prototypical features of heroes (i.e., in your own view, what are the features that you associate with heroes and heroic actions), and determined which features were most important in the prototype of heroes among Chinese participants. We found that some exemplars, such as heroes should love their country, related to the feature of patriotism, have been reported frequently by Chinese participants. However, the feature of patriotism was not mentioned by previous prototype analyses of heroes among Western participants.

We argued that one reason could be the different cultural values people hold. People from collectivistic cultures are more likely to define themselves as aspects of groups and to prioritize in-group goals. Patriotism, at a group level, fulfills important functions for building group unity and mobilizing individuals to act in ways that will favor their group or country.

Our subsequent studies revealed both cultural differences and similarities in lay conceptions of heroes between Chinese and American participants. For example, the findings demonstrated that Chinese participants rated patriotic, masculine, righteous, dedicated, responsible, respected, and noble as being more related to their personal view of heroes than American participants. In contrast, American participants rated strong, powerful, altruistic, personable, honest, leader, proactive, courageous, caring, and talented as being more related to their personal view of heroes than the Chinese participants. Several features did not discriminate well between the groups: saves, humble, fearless, determined, risk-taker, moral integrity, brave, intelligent, conviction, protects, exceptional, decisive, sacrifice, selfless, helpful, compassionate, and inspiration.

We argued that these features were endorsed similarly by the two groups and may represent a common understanding of heroes across both cultures. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated participants were more likely to identify a hero when their cultural features were used to describe the target person, emphasizing the role of cultural differences in hero perception.

We further investigated cultural differences in the perception of civil heroes, martial heroes, and social heroes. Civil heroes risk themselves to save others from physical harm or death, but there is no training or military code to help them deal with emergencies. An example of a civil hero could be a bystander performing an emergency rescue when someone collapses on the sidewalk. Martial heroes include people who are trained to handle dangerous situations and who are bound to a code of conduct. Examples of martial heroes could be police officers and paramedics. Social heroes typically do not involve an emergency situation but act with courage and kindness to serve or foster their community and its values. An example of a social hero could include a martyr or political leader.

We found that while there were no cultural differences in identifying civil and martial heroes between American and Chinese participants, Chinese participants perceived social heroes as more heroic than their American counterparts. Research showed that the perception of social heroes (e.g., martyrs, political figures, and religious leaders who lead a nation or inspire a movement for civil rights and freedom) is associated with collectivistic value orientations among Chinese participants and perception of social heroes is associated with individualistic value orientations among American participants.

As we explained in our article: “People from individualistic cultures (e.g., the United States) may be more sensitive to the personal causes of social heroes, such as their individualistic characteristics. Compared with other types of heroes, social heroes strongly emphasize collectivistic features, and they incorporate features (e.g., loyalty to the country and willingness to sacrifice their own interests for the country) that are strongly related to values that Chinese people tend to adopt. Hence, Chinese participants, compared with American participants, are likely to perceive social heroes as being more heroic than the other two types of heroes.”

Overall, the research offers valuable insights into the cultural differences in perceptions of heroes and the influence of individualistic and collectivistic values on these perceptions. Furthermore, the study contributes to the advancement of cross-cultural psychology methodology by using prototype analysis to explore cultural differences in lay understandings of a concept. Using the data-driven, bottom-up approach to collect lay conceptualization of heroes gives voice to the participants as active producers of definitions of heroes rather than based on researchers’ assumptions and expectations.

Human societies differ in a variety of psychological and behavioral tendencies, and therefore, it is interesting to explore how we conceptualize heroes in different societies. Importantly, examining lay conceptions of heroes in a non-Western culture can be helpful for contributing to understanding how heroes are used in everyday life in diverse cultures and promoting hero-related education initiatives.

The study, “On Cultural Differences of Heroes: Evidence From Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures“, was authored by Yuning Sun, Elaine L. Kinsella, and Eric R. Igou.

We’ve been connecting brains to computers longer than you’d expect. These 3 companies are leading the way

The Conversation
March 27, 2023

Shutterstock

Since it was founded in 2016, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink has had its moments in biotech news.

Whether it was the time Musk promised his “link” would let people communicate telepathically, or when the whole company was under investigation for potentially violating the Animal Welfare Act, the hype around Neuralink means it’s often the first mental reference people have for BCI technology.

But BCIs have been kicking around for much longer than you’d expect. Musk’s is just one in a growing list of companies dedicated to advancing this technology. Let’s take a look back at some BCI milestones over the past decades, and forward to where they might lead us.

An expanding sector

Brain-computer interfaces are devices that connect the brain with a computer to allow the user to complete some kind of action using their brain signals.

Many high-profile companies entered the BCI field in the 2010s, backed by millions of dollars in investment. Founded in 2016, the American company Kernel began by researching implantable devices, before switching to focus on non-invasive techniques that don’t require surgery.

Even Facebook gave BCIs a go, with an ambitious plan to create a headset that would let users type 100 words per minute. But it stopped this research in 2021 to focus on other types of human-computer interfaces.

First contact

Developed in the 1970s, the earliest BCIs were relatively straightforward, used on cats and other animals to develop communication pathways. The first device implanted in a human was developed by Jonathan Wolpaw in 1991, and allowed its user to control a cursor with their brain signals.

Advances in machine learning through the years paved the way for more sophisticated BCIs. These could control complex devices, including robotic limbs, wheelchairs and exoskeletons. We’ve also seen devices get progressively smaller and easier to use thanks to wireless connectivity.

Like many newer BCI devices, Neuralink has yet to receive approval for clinical trials of its invasive implant. Its latest application to the US Food and Drug Administration was rejected.

There are, however, three notable groups conducting clinical trials that are worth keeping an eye on.

1. BrainGate

Founded in 1998 in Massachusetts, the BrainGate system has been around since the late 1990s. This makes it one of the oldest advanced BCI implant systems. Its device is placed in the brain using microneedles, similar to the technology Neuralink uses.

BrainGate’s devices are probably the most advanced when it comes to BCI functionality. One of its wired devices offers a typing speed of 90 characters per minute, or 1.5 characters per second. A study published in January released results from data collected over 17 years from 14 participants.

During this time there were 68 instances of “adverse events” including infection, seizures, surgical complications, irritation around the implant, and brain damage. However, the most common event was irritation. Only six of the 68 incidents were considered “serious”.

Apart from communication applications, BrainGate has also achieved robotic control for self-feeding.

2. UMC Utrecht

The University Medical Centre in Utrecht, Netherlands, was the first to achieve fully wireless implanted BCI technology that patients could take home.

Its device uses electrocorticography-based BCI (ECoG). Electrodes in the form of metal discs are placed directly on the surface of the brain to receive signals. They connect wirelessly to a receiver, which in turn connects to a computer.

Participants in a clinical trial that ran from 2020 to 2022 were able to take the device home and use it every day for about a year. It allowed them to control a computer screen and type at a speed of two characters per minute.

While this typing speed is slow, future versions with more electrodes are expected to perform better.

3. Synchron (originally SmartStent)

Synchron was founded in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. In 2019, it became the first company to be approved for clinical trials in Australia. Then in 2020 it became the first company to receive FDA approval to run clinical trials using a permanently implanted BCI – and finally did this with a US patient this year.

Synchron’s approach is to bypass full brain surgery by using blood vessels to implant electrodes in the brain. This minimally invasive approach is similar to other stenting procedures routinely performed in clinics.



Synchron’s very small ‘stentrode’ can be implanted with a minimally invasive procedure. Synchron

Synchron’s device is placed in the brain near the area that controls movement, and a wireless transmitter is placed in the chest. This transmitter then conveys brain signals to a computer.

Initial clinical results have shown no adverse effects and a functionality of 14 characters per minute using both the BCI and eye tracking. Results were not reported for BCI use alone.

Although its device efficiency could be improved, Synchron’s approach means it leads the way in achieving a low barrier for entry. By avoiding the need for full brain surgery, it’s helping to bring BCI implantation closer to being a day procedure.

The benefits must outweigh the risks

The history of BCIs reveals the immense challenges involved in developing this technology. These are compounded by the fact that experts still don’t fully understand the links between our neural circuitry and thoughts.

It’s also unclear which BCI features consumers will prioritize moving forward, or what they’d be willing to sign up for. Not everyone will happily opt for an invasive brain procedure – yet the systems that don’t require this collect “noisy” data that aren’t as efficient.


Electroencephalogram-based (EEG) BCIs don’t require surgery, but being less invasive means they’re also less effective. Shutterstock

Answers will emerge as more devices gain approval for clinical trials and research is published on the results.

Importantly, developers of these technologies must not rush through trials. They have a responsibility to be transparent about the safety and efficacy of their devices, and to report on them openly so consumers can make informed decisions.

Sam John, Senior Lecturer in Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne

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

Microplastic pollution impairs seabird gut health

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2023

Plastic-infested digestive tracks from two species of Atlantic seabirds, northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters, showed a decrease of mostly beneficial 'indigenous' bacteria and more potentially harmful pathogens © JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/File

Scientists have long known that wild seabirds ingest bits of plastic pollution as they feed, but a study Monday shows the tiny particles don't just clog or transit the stomach but can subvert its complex mix of good and bad bacteria too.

Plastic-infested digestive tracks from two species of Atlantic seabirds, northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters, showed a decrease of mostly beneficial "indigenous" bacteria and more potentially harmful pathogens.

There was also an increase in antibiotic-resistant and plastic-degrading microbes, researchers reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Certain types of microplastic, the findings suggested, may be leeching chemicals that disrupt the birds' so-called gut microbiome.

Microplastics -- produced when plastic products break down in the environment -- are directly and indirectly ingested across most animal food chains.

They can be found in every corner of the world, from the deepest oceans trenches to top of Mount Everest.

In humans, they have been detected in the blood, breast milk and placentas.

The new study supports previous findings that prolonged ingestion of microplastics causes an imbalance of healthy and unhealthy bacteria in the stomach, a condition known as gut dysbiosis.

The implications are far-reaching.

Like humans, birds have evolved with a vast network of microbes, including bacteria, that live in our bodies in communities called microbiomes.

Some microbes cause diseases, but most exist as "friendly" bacteria with a critical role in digestion, immune response and other critical functions.

"There's a symbiosis that goes on -- and that's the case in the seabirds as well as in humans," lead author Gloria Fackelmann of Ulm University in Germany told AFP.

Little is known about the effects of individual microbes on the body.

But overall, a growing body of research points to the harmful impacts of microplastics on animal health.

The tiny particles -- less than five millimeters in diameter -- can cause cell death and allergic reactions in humans.

Chemicals in microplastics have also been linked to increased risks of cancer, reproductive problems, and DNA mutations.

The authors hope the findings in seabirds will spur related studies for humans.

"If this manmade substance could alter our microbiome, I think that should make people think," said Fackelmann.

© 2023 AFP

U$A

How the natural gas industry cozies up to utility regulators

Emily Pontecorvo, Grist
March 28, 2023

Illustration by Grist / Getty Images

This story was originally published by Grist. 

Last November, in a vast conference hall at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans, utility executive Kim Greene took the stage. Greene, the CEO of Southern Company Gas, a Georgia-based conglomerate that owns gas utilities across four states, was the first to speak on a panel titled “The Role for Natural Gas in America’s Clean Energy Future.”*

“Natural gas is foundational to America’s clean energy future,” she started, before proceeding to tell the audience about the nation’s 2.6 million miles of pipelines that deliver gas to 187 million Americans and 5.5 million businesses. “These customers are depending on our energy every day,” she said. “So as we look to the clean energy future, the most practical, realistic way to achieve a sustainable future where energy is clean, safe, reliable, resilient, and affordable, is to ensure that includes natural gas.”

The statement, with its head-scratching, circular logic, may sound aimed at an audience of oil and gas industry executives, or perhaps an earnings call. But the seats were filled with utility commissioners — the state-level public servants who regulate gas, electric, water, and telecommunications companies. The panel was the centerpiece event for the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or NARUC. And Greene was hardly the only industry representative there to lecture on the bright future for natural gas.

The conference provided a glimpse into the collegial relationship utility regulators have with the companies they are charged with regulating on behalf of the public, and the way the natural gas industry is working that relationship to shape how the country moves toward its climate goals. Public utility commissioners hold significant sway over the storied clean energy future. They help decide what energy infrastructure gets built, and when. If a utility wants to raise rates to invest in new power plants, transmission lines, or pipelines, it’s up to these powerful panels to determine whether such multimillion-dollar, long-lived projects are necessary, and how much a company can profit off of them. That means commissioners are not only shaping the energy transition, but determining what it means for utilities and their bottom lines.

At the time of the conference, the industry was scrambling to adapt to new circumstances. President Biden had signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August, making hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies available for clean energy over the coming decade and threatening some utility business models that rely on fossil fuels. Electric companies were staring down the prospect of having to reevaluate the cost assumptions underpinning their capital spending plans, which in many cases include building new natural gas power plants. Natural gas companies faced an existential crisis. The growing push to electrify buildings, and new federal and state incentives that support the shift, could lead to greatly reduced demand for their product. In 2022, U.S. shipments of electric heating systems called heat pumps outnumbered those of gas furnaces for the first time.

In 2022, U.S. shipments of electric heating systems called heat pumps outnumbered those of gas furnaces for the first time. 

Tristan Spinski for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Some commissions that once approved natural gas projects without hesitation were now bringing more scrutiny to proposals following new state policies requiring rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. A handful had even launched investigations into the future of natural gas, tribunals where gas companies were being put on the stand to show how they could evolve to comply with state climate goals. Plus, soaring natural gas prices related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were highlighting the risks of continuing to rely on the fuel.

All of that was surely on utility executives’ minds when they sent a small army of missionaries to the NARUC meeting. The annual conference is hosted by and for utility commissioners, and the sessions in November covered a range of topics, from how to make sure funding from the Inflation Reduction Act benefits low-income customers to planning for the expansion of electric vehicle charging and clean energy storage systems. Those were in addition to at least half a dozen sessions about natural gas. On the conference attendee list, commissioners were outnumbered by people from the gas and electric companies they regulate.

The lobbying effort began almost immediately upon arrival; the conference Wi-Fi password was “committed2clean,” a marketing slogan used by the Edison Electric Institute, the largest trade organization for electric utilities. (Regina Davis, the assistant executive director for NARUC, said the group had the opportunity to set the password as a top sponsor of the conference, and that the organization “did not hear of any complaints concerning the password.”) The American Gas Association, Edison’s counterpart for gas utilities, also sponsored the conference, though they shared the bill with a number of other trade groups that represent renewable energy and nuclear companies.


Industry executives sat on panels and threw parties. The four-day event’s theme was “Connecting the Dots: Innovative/Disruptive Technology and Regulation,” and company representatives worked to convince regulators that they are innovating and disrupting — but that ultimately, the energy systems of the future should look a lot like the energy systems of today.

The Edison Electric Institute and the American Gas Association, the largest trade organizations for electric utilities and gas utilities, respectively, were among the sponsors of the conference. Emily Pontecorvo / Grist

“One hundred and eighty seven million Americans use natural gas in their homes today, that’s more people than voted in Tuesday’s election,” Karen Harbert, the executive director of the American Gas Association, said during a discussion about investor expectations and natural gas. “We’re growing one customer every minute of every day.”

Industry representatives like Harbert often linked the idea that natural gas is essential to a clean energy future with another, seemingly conflicting point — that companies plan to replace natural gas with lower-carbon fuels down the line. The industry is investing in reducing methane emissions from leaking infrastructure in the near term, Harbert said, but “also innovating and delivering new technologies and new fuels through our existing 2.7 million miles of pipeline.”

Harbert and other speakers described using those pipelines to deliver increasing amounts of “renewable natural gas,” a label for methane diverted from landfills and animal feedlots, as well as hydrogen, a gaseous fuel that does not produce CO2 when burned. But she noted that such efforts to cut emissions are “not cheap” and told commissioners utilities “need to be able to get rate recovery on some of the innovation that we are investing in.” In other words, customers should help pay for this experimentation.

The gas industry claims to be “innovating and delivering new technologies and new fuels through our existing 2.7 million miles of pipeline.”

During most of the sessions focused on natural gas, none of the panelists chimed in to acknowledge that continuing to burn natural gas will worsen climate change, whether or not methane leaks are reduced. Left unsaid were the reasons many environmental justice and clean energy groups remain skeptical of plans to pursue renewable natural gas and hydrogen, including concerns that they could cost more than other options and perpetuate pollution without meaningfully reducing emissions.


“We respectfully and vehemently disagree with the characterization that our meetings are not open to varied perspectives,” Davis, the NARUC spokesperson, told Grist. “We make a concerted effort to invite diverse perspectives and include representation from consumer/environmental and other constituencies relevant to NARUC’s membership.”

Davis highlighted, among other events, one unique panel that brought critical questions about the future of natural gas to the fore. It featured participants in a series of workshops held in 2021 by the clean energy research nonprofit RMI, which is known for its building electrification advocacy, and National Grid, a gas and electric utility that operates in Massachusetts and New York. They brought together staff from other energy companies and environmental groups — those typically pitted against each other in utility commission proceedings — in an attempt to build trust and find common ground.

The goal was to discuss some of the many potential challenges to cutting emissions from the natural gas system. For example, as homeowners who can afford to switch to electric appliances do so, the shrinking pool of remaining natural gas customers could be left footing the bill for maintaining 2.7 million miles of pipelines, as well as any experiments with lower-carbon fuels that gas companies pump through them.

“There are so many questions and challenges that are unclear, and even controversies and conflicts about what the vision is for the path forward,” Mike Henchen, a principal at RMI, said during his opening remarks about the project. “We wanted to work across that difference in a collaborative, constructive way to see what we have in common and where we can find guiding principles.”

But the panel’s optimistic title, “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work,” did not exactly bear out. Henchen spoke candidly about tensions during the workshops, noting that even words like “transition” had been unexpectedly loaded. He said the participants decided not to examine data together because each interpreted it differently, and it only served to highlight divisions. Ultimately, many points of agreement came down to boilerplate principles like “affordability” and “comprehensive system planning.”

Still, Henchen was proud of the work as a starting place. He contrasted it with the discussions about natural gas that pervaded the conference. “I see words like, ‘natural gas is an unstoppable workhorse,’ and that ‘the industry has reduced its carbon footprints,’” he said. “These kinds of talking points, I feel like we need to get past them.” He looked out at the commissioners in the audience and asked for their help. “This transition is underway, the path is not yet written, and I look forward to your leadership in helping us move it forward.”

But while commissioners will undoubtedly be key players in this transition, another session — a commissioner-led discussion about soaring winter energy costs for consumers — indicated that many of these officials don’t exactly see themselves as being in a position of power.

The conversation began with a bit of recent history from Eric Blank, the chair of the Colorado Public Service Commission. First, he said, the price of natural gas shot up when the pandemic began to wind down, driving up gas and electricity bills. It spiked again after Russia invaded Ukraine. And costs incurred during a brutal 2021 ice storm were piling on top of high gas prices, while people in Colorado were also still paying for system upgrades their utilities had made over the last decade.

“People are hurting, and we’re struggling to figure out what to do. I’m looking forward to seeing if anyone has any solutions,” Blank said, letting out a laugh that suggested he didn’t have high expectations.

Utility commissioners generally have a mandate to secure reliable services for residents and businesses at “just and reasonable” rates. What counts as “just and reasonable,” a standard phrase written into many state laws, is often debated. But it was clear the commissioners felt that between inflation and the war, forces out of their control were putting it out of reach.

Few offered Blank solutions. Instead, the session began to resemble group therapy. Abigail Anthony, a commissioner in Rhode Island, said her state had some programs to help low-income residents, but most customers there were going to see a 45 percent increase this winter. “Nothing prepares people for seeing that.”

“It’s gonna be an ugly time for ratepayers in Georgia,” said Georgia Public Service commissioner Tim Echols, who worried aloud about his reelection in 2023. “We just approved another six natural gas plants. We haven’t hedged as much as you guys have,” he said. “I wish we had.”

If a utility wants to raise rates to invest in new infrastructure, it’s up to commissioners to determine how much it can profit. Here, Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack answers questions before the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2022. AP Photo/Jeff Amy

Michael Richard, a commissioner in Maryland, nodded toward his state’s renewable energy goals as a potential future lifeline. “That may not have a lot of impact or benefits for this coming year,” he said, “But as we look to increasing electrification and renewable energy in the state, that hopefully will begin to have some positive impact on prices.”

As the commissioners in the room resigned themselves, however reluctantly, to the price volatility of an energy system that’s hooked on natural gas, just outside the room, powerful forces were working to keep it that way. According to David Pomerantz, the executive director of the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute, these two stories were related.

“I think they’re wrong that there’s not that much they can do,” he told Grist. “It sort of reflects what I would call a failure of imagination in the regulatory community. That’s a hallmark of regulatory capture.”

The Energy and Policy Institute acts as a watchdog of utilities, and has documented the many scandalous ways they try to maintain a grip on regulators and policymakers, such as by offering them bribes or supporting advocacy organizations that appear independent but are backed by corporate interests. But here he was alluding to a more subtle form of influence: the way utilities control the information environment that commissions operate in, creating an atmosphere where it feels like they are the only ones with the answers.

For example, rate cases, in which utilities lay out their capital spending plans and request rate increases, are hard to engage in, let alone follow, without expertise. Many states have a consumer advocate’s office that weighs in; in many cases, nonprofit advocacy groups attend hearings, submit comments, and hire experts to help them analyze utility proposals. But utilities hold tightly onto the system data that underlie those proposals, limiting the ability of commissioners or outside parties to question them or offer credible alternatives. When utilities claim a proposal is good or bad for safety or reliability, it’s hard for anyone else to claim otherwise.

In many cases, nonprofit advocacy groups attend hearings, submit comments, and hire experts to help them analyze utility proposals. But utilities hold tightly onto the system data that underlie those proposals. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

Pomerantz also said too many commissions are reactive, rather than proactive. “They don’t see themselves as setting policy. Their job is to take the cases that are handed to them by the utilities and adjudicate them, right?” he said. “But then the utility’s leading the dance on everything and the commission is just following. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Davis, the NARUC spokesperson, stressed that commissioners are always looking for ways to increase affordability. “Passing through the commodity cost of natural gas to ratepayers is basically required by U.S. and state constitutional principles and is anything but a symptom of regulatory capture,” she told Grist. “State regulators do not have the luxury or freedom to simply be imaginative at will.”

But Pomerantz offered one possible solution, noting that commissions could require utilities’ shareholders to pay some of the cost of fuel for electricity generation, rather than passing 100 percent of it onto customers, which would not only improve affordability but create an incentive to transition away from fossil fuels. One commission in Hawaii has already implemented a program like this.

To be fair, commissioners occupy an awkward position in the energy transition. They are not technically policymakers, though some commissioners are democratically elected. “In a nutshell, commissions must implement the policies of their states,” said Davis. “Any overreach in their authority will likely result in an action by the courts.” That means they must maintain the appearance of being nonpartisan implementers of the law. But within that implementation lie all kinds of decisions that resemble policy, with major implications for how swiftly, and justly, the transition plays out.

At NARUC’s annual meeting, the utilities were, in one very real sense, leading the dance. The American Gas Association regularly throws a party for the commissioners during the conference. The invitation for the “Big Easy Bash” stated, in three places, that the event was not sponsored by NARUC, nor was it “part of the 2022 NARUC Annual Meeting and Education Conference agenda” — though it did advise attendees to bring their NARUC meeting badge to gain entry.

The party was held at the House of Blues, a concert venue around the corner from the conference building. Bartenders passed out free drinks while a cover band roused the crowd with decade-hopping hits like “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire, and “Ride Wit Me” by Nelly. As everyone on the dance floor threw their hands in the air shouting, “Hey, must be the money!” TV screens around the venue cycled through an American Gas Association presentation. The slides contained statements like, “Somewhere in the U.S. a home or business is signing up for natural gas service at this moment,” and “America’s natural gas utilities are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through smart innovation” under headings like “Natural Gas is Essential for Improving our Environment.”

Once upon a time, there may have been a stronger case for the deference commissions show utilities, said Pomerantz. A decade or two ago, the utilities had technical tools and expertise that no one else did. That’s no longer the case.

“Utilities might have a monopoly on the distribution grid, but they don’t have a monopoly on ideas and information,” he said. “So it’s great for them to have a healthy relationship with regulators, but regulators should also have healthy relationships with a host of other parties who also have good ideas, and who frankly aren’t motivated by, you know, profits.”

* Correction: This article originally misstated Kim Greene’s role within Southern Company.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/regulation/how-the-naural-gas-industry-cozies-up-to-public-utility-commissioners/.

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org.

Three years after giant protests, Bulgarians' hopes dashed


Issued on: 31/03/2023

Sofia (AFP) – Bulgarians took to the streets in 2020 in the biggest protests since the end of communism, aiming to push out longtime premier Boyko Borisov who was mired in corruption claims.

Hoping it would be a first step to cleaning up public life, the protesters unleashed a spiral of elections.

As voters head to the polls Sunday for the fifth time in two years, the optimism felt by many of the demonstrators has proved short-lived.

The pessimists

Despite his frustration with the system, construction engineer Konstantin Varbenov, 57, said he would "absolutely" vote again.

Even so, he sees little chance of a stable government to end the string of interim cabinets appointed by pro-Russian President Rumen Radev, himself the target of recent protests.

"We are disappointed mainly by the fact that the people don't know what they want... They like to be beaten on the head, to be stolen from," said Varbenov, referring to the continued support for Borisov's conservative GERB party, which protesters accuse of graft.

"I don't know what awaits us," he shrugged, lamenting the rise of pro-Russian ultra-nationalists in the Balkan nation with historically close ties to Moscow.

His two sons have already moved abroad, part of an exodus from the EU member by those seeking a better life. Bulgaria has lost 1.5 million people in two decades.

Social researcher Aleksandra Kirova, 41, is so disillusioned she is not even planning to vote anymore.

"The political market offers products that don't taste good to me," she said wryly. "I can't think of any party that has a vision of what Bulgaria should look like in five, 10 or 20 years."

The optimists

Puppet theatre director Mila Kolarova, 42, and her partner Vladimir Vasilev, 45, have not lost their spirit of resistance since AFP talked to them on the 100th day of the 2020 "revolution", recently taking part in protests against Radev.

"I am more of an optimist... I think that we are moving in the right direction even if slowly and the hard way. Once woken up, people won't calm down easily," Kolarova said.

She has pinned her hopes on a new coalition of anti-corruption parties, We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, to bring out voters against Borisov's GERB.

Vasilev said the couple would continue to push for change no matter the result.

"It's like love, once you fall in love nobody can convince you that this is not going to work," he said.

Despite their tiredness, "we will fight as long as we have to," Kolarova added.

Niya Gicheva, a 45-year-old lawyer, attended all 116 days of the protests, which she called an "awakening".

But she said it had been "awfully hard" to remain optimistic since.

"Unfortunately, the unity of the protests did not transfer into political life... the participants divided," she said.

"Real change has begun and it will happen, but too slowly and painfully... It's a process," she said.

© 2023 AFP

Three PM contenders in close Finnish election

Issued on: 31/03/2023 - 

Prime Minister Sanna Marin Marin has made headlines for her hard line on Russia as well as a controversy over partying © JOHN THYS / AFP/File


Helsinki (AFP) – Prime Minister Sanna Marin, centre-right National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo, and far-right head Riikka Purra are the top contenders for the post of prime minister in Finland's general election on Sunday.

Polarising leader

In power since 2019, Marin has become an icon of feminist politics, making headlines for her hard line on Russia as well as a controversy over partying.

But she was little known in Finland before her meteoric rise to the top echelons of politics.

She was the world's youngest-serving democratically elected leader when she became prime minister at age 34.

Seen as one of the figureheads of the young European guard, her name is already being mentioned for top jobs in Brussels should she lose Sunday's election.

In her campaign, Marin has defended her economic track record against the conservative National Coalition Party's calls for austerity measures.

With Finland entering a recession at the end of last year, Marin insists that now is the time to stimulate the economy and not cut spending.

Navigating the Covid-19 pandemic and Finland's NATO application while keeping her quarrelling five-party coalition government in check has shaped Marin into a pragmatic leader.

While some view her as a strong, unwavering prime minister, others say her partying scandals make her unfit for office.

Marin grew up in council housing in the southern Finnish town of Pirkkala with her mother and her mother's female partner.

She was the first in her family to go to university, earning a master's degree in Administrative Sciences.

Gentle conservative

Orpo, the 53-year-old head of the centre-right National Coalition Party, is the longest-serving politician of the three main contenders.

National Coalition Party chair Petteri Orpo Orpo has been described amiable and calm

 © Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva/AFP

He was first elected to parliament in 2007 and has served three times as a cabinet minister.

Orpo has a master's degree in political science from the University of Turku with a major in economics, which has shined through in his party's campaign.

"The most important thing the National Coalition wants to change in Finland is that we stop increasing debt," Orpo told AFP during a recent campaign rally.

The National Coalition has attacked Marin's government for what it deems an irresponsible rise in public debt, and wants to cut spending by six billion euros if elected.

Orpo has been described as amiable and calm, though some have questioned how the father of two has lasted so long in the fiery world of politics.

While that calm usually plays in his favour in heated election debates, Orpo can get put on the back foot by more assertive public speakers like Marin.

In October, he was accused of belittling women and had to apologise after referring to Marin and Finance Minister Annika Saarikko's "shrieking" in a debate.

While Marin has ruled out forming a government with what she calls the "openly racist" populist Finns Party, Orpo has said he will keep his options open.

Despite his party's differences with the Finns Party on immigration, the EU and climate, they still "have a lot of things in common," he said.

Orpo will likely play a central role in forming the next government, as both the Finns Party and the Social Democrats will need him to build a majority.

Vegetarian nationalist

With her trademark green smoothies, Purra is a stark contrast to her predecessor as head of the nationalist anti-immigration Finns Party.

Finns Party chair Riikka Purra warned against environmental degradation as well as immigration © Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva/AFP

Before she took over in 2021, the party was led by soft-spoken gun hobbyist Jussi Halla-aho, whose controversial writings got him convicted of inciting ethnic hatred.

Purra, a 45-year-old mother of two, has an Instagram account dedicated to her plant-based diet, whole foods and raw juices.

After her mother died when she was 12 years old, Purra became concerned about environmental issues as a teenager, worried about overconsumption and the degradation of nature.

She later took an interest in Halla-aho's writings, saying she believed that negative aspects of immigration were treated with too much indifference in Finland.

The eurosceptic Finns Party has campaigned for a hard line on immigration, pointing a finger at neighbouring Sweden's woes with gang shootings and bombings, and laying the blame on immigrants.

Purra told public broadcaster Yle that she had been harassed as a teenager by people with immigrant backgrounds, which shaped her opinions.

Five things to know about Finland

Issued on: 31/03/2023 - 

Helsinki (AFP) – Finland votes Sunday in a nail-biting election with Prime Minister Sanna Marin's centre-left government fighting to hold on to power. Here are five things to know about the Nordic nation.

Women in power

Seven of the country's eight largest parties are run by women, and Finland ranks among the world's best countries for gender equality.

When Marin came to power in 2019 -- Finland's third female prime minister -- pictures of her five-party coalition, all headed by women, made headlines around the world.

The Finnish parliament was the first in the world to have women as MPs in 1907, when Finland was still an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian empire.

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While women have never been a majority in parliament, they make up 47 percent of outgoing MPs.

And the share of women running for office on Sunday is the highest ever.

The Finnish language may help explain Finns' egalitarian nature. It does not distinguish between genders for personal pronouns, with the word "han" meaning both "he" and "she".

Historic NATO U-turn

In a major turnaround, Finland dropped its decades-long policy of military non-alignment in May 2022 and applied to join NATO after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The country, which shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia, is due to soon become a member.

Many Finns long believed that not criticising their giant neighbour's foreign policy was the best way to safeguard their interests, a policy known as "Finlandisation".

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finnish support for NATO membership was only around 20 to 30 percent, but the war sent it soaring to more than 75 percent.

Although voters see national security and defence as important, NATO membership has not become an issue due to broad political consensus.

World's happiest country

For the sixth year running, Finland was named the world's happiest country this month by a UN-sponsored index.

With thousands of lakes and seemingly endless forests, the country is also known for its extensive welfare system, high trust in authorities and low levels of inequality among its 5.5 million inhabitants.

Finland also has around three million saunas -- more than the number of registered cars -- a comfort in a country where temperatures fall below freezing for nearly half the year.

Nonetheless, the happiness report raised some eyebrows when Finland first came out on top of the ranking in 2018.

Many Finns describe themselves as taciturn and prone to melancholy, and admit to eyeing public displays of joyfulness with suspicion.

Turn to the right?

Just days before the election, opinion polls put Marin's Social Democrats neck-and-neck with two right-wing parties.

The centre-right National Coalition Party reportedly held a thin lead over the Social Democrats and the populist, anti-immigration Finns Party.

One of Marin's coalition partners, the Centre Party, has signalled it is not keen to continue under her leadership.

That means she might have to secure a deal with the National Coalition to obtain a majority -- a fairly common situation in Finland's consensus-oriented politics.

The National Coalition also has the option of forming a right-wing government with the Finns Party, similar to the one the two formed with the Centre Party in 2015.

During that period in government, the Finns Party split.

Its moderate breakaway wing ultimately faded away, while the original Finns Party became the second-biggest party in the 2019 election.
Immigration and debt

But the National Coalition is opposed to the Finns Party's push for a hard line on immigration, which could push them towards Marin's Social Democrats.

The Finns Party blames a large influx of immigrants for a surge in gang violence in neighbouring Sweden.

The National Coalition meanwhile sees immigration as vital to solving Finland's ageing population dilemma.

Marin has insisted she would refuse to form a government with the Finns Party, qualifying it as "openly racist".

But a blue-red government could be hampered by opposing economic policies.

The National Coalition has attacked Marin's government for what it sees as irresponsible spending.

When Marin came to power in 2019, Finland's debt-to-GDP ratio was around 64 percent, but spending owing to the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine has pushed it up to 73 percent.

The National Coalition wants to cut spending by six billion euros, which left-wing parties see as a threat to Finland's generous welfare state.

© 2023 AFP

Finland's far right aims to oust 'rock star' PM

Issued on: 31/03/2023 - 


Helsinki (AFP) – Finnish politics could see a dramatic shift to the far right in elections on Sunday as an anti-immigration party aims to replace "rock star" Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democrats.

The mother-of-one, who took office in 2019 as the world's youngest prime minister at age 34, is Finland's most popular prime minister this century, polls show.

But the latest polls on Thursday put her centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) in third place, behind the anti-immigration and nationalist Finns Party and the centre-right National Coalition, which held on to a thin lead.

"It is a very exciting situation and it's hard to say at the moment which party will be the biggest on election day," Tuomo Turja of the polling firm Taloustutkimus told AFP.

A top spot for the far-right Finns Party, and a far-right prime minister, would be a first in Finland -- though the party has previously served in government. It currently looks set to top its record 19 percent from the 2011 election.

Traditionally, the biggest of the eight main parties in parliament claims the top post and tries to build a government.

Marin leads a centre-left coalition of Social Democrats, the Centre, the Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party of Finland.

While some view her as a strong leader who skilfully navigated the Covid-19 pandemic and the country's NATO membership process, others say her partying scandals and youthful behaviour make her unfit for office.

"Sanna Marin is a polarising character. She has fans like a rock star, but on the other hand, she has a lot of people who can't stand her," Marko Junkkari, a journalist at daily Helsingin Sanomat, told AFP.

Populist surge

The leader of the opposition conservative National Coalition, Petteri Orpo, has focused his campaign on the economy, accusing the government of irresponsibly increasing public debt.

"The outlook is very bad. Our public finances will plummet and this will lead to the erosion of the foundations of our welfare society," Orpo told AFP.

Finland's debt-to-GDP ratio has risen from 64 percent in 2019 to 73 percent, which the National Coalition wants to address by cutting spending by six billion euros ($6.5 billion).

Marin has defended her track record and accused the National Coalition of wanting to "take from the poor to give to the rich."

Support for the populist Finns Party has surged since last summer, spurred by rising costs of energy and other goods in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The eurosceptic party wants a hard line on immigration, pointing to neighbouring Sweden's problems with gang violence and laying the blame on its large influx of migrants.

"We do not want to go the way of Sweden. We are highlighting the effects of a harmful immigration policy," Finns Party leader Riikka Purra told AFP.

While the party served in a centre-right government in 2015, it later split into two factions, one hard-line and the other moderate.

Only the hard-liners, which became the second-biggest party in the 2019 election, now remain in parliament.

The Finns Party sees an EU exit as its long-term goal and wants to postpone Finland's target of carbon neutrality for 2035.

Shift to the right

Negotiations to build a government are expected to be thorny.

The former heavyweight in Finnish politics, the Centre Party, has plummeted from the largest party in 2015 to record-low support, after sitting in consecutive right- and left-wing governments for nearly eight years.

It does not want to continue in Marin's current coalition, clashing in particular with the Greens.

Without the Centre's support, both the SDP and the National Coalition will have a hard time building a majority.

And Marin has ruled out forming a government with what she calls the "openly racist" Finns Party.

Orpo has said he will keep his options open, which gives him a central role in forming the next government, as both the Finns Party and the SDP would likely need him to obtain a majority.

"At the moment, the most likely scenario is a blue-red government based on the National Coalition and the SDP," Turja said.

While a left-right government is reasonably common in Finland's consensus-oriented politics, their opposing economic policies could complicate the task.

Another option would be a right-wing government with the National Coalition and the Finns Party.

While Orpo said the two "have their differences" when it comes to the EU, immigration and climate goals, "there are many things that unite us," such as economic policy.

© 2023 AFP

Border wall threatens huge wetlands between the Dominican Republic and Haiti

Post author:Deborah Acker
Post published:March 31, 2023

 AFP.- A vast mangrove forest is cut in two by the wall that the Dominican Republic is building on the border with Haiti, which according to environmentalists has become an impassable barrier to the watercourse that feeds the wetland and its plant species And animals.

This border fence, which will cover 160 of the 380 km of border between these countries that share the island of Hispaniola, is part of the aggressive immigration policy of the government of President Luis Abinader, which has multiplied the deportations of Haitians.

What is the environmental risk?

The Dominican Academy of Sciences estimated “irreparable” damage in the wetland area of ​​the Monte Cristi National Park, in the northwest of the country.

“Here the gorge that gives water flow to the mangrove swamp was interrupted,” Roque Taveras, an ecologist and Environment Ministry official, told AFP as he pointed from a hill toward the 250-meter-long section of wall that crosses the wetland. with mangroves that can exceed 20 meters in height.

Remains of felled trees surround that section. “That mangrove, red mangrove, was hundreds of years old,” Taveras comments when he sees a large terracotta-colored trunk during a tour of that stretch, now at ground level.

“How long does it take for a new mangrove to reach that size?” he wonders when faced with promises of reforestation.

However, the Ministry of Defense, responsible for the work, says that “only 6 km2 have been touched, 0.04% of the wetland area.

Hiciar Blanco, president of Manzanillo EcoAventura, an organization that organizes tourist visits and promotes the preservation of the area, regrets that a project by the University of Pennsylvania, United States, for an ecological viewpoint was ignored.

The works are momentarily paralyzed in that section of the wall by order of environmental authorities, who demand the construction of 16 nozzles that will give way to the water.

What species are affected?

“We have the four species of mangroves” that grow in the Dominican Republic, says Taveras. “Red (rhizophora mangle), white (laguncularia racemosa), black (Avicennia germinans) and button (Conocarpus erectus),” lists this 52-year-old man.

The blue crab (Cardisoma guanhumi), called by the Dominicans “Paloma de Cueva”, is part of the fauna of the ecosystem.

This crustacean, with pincers that can reach 15 centimeters in length, is among the animal species that the Dominican government considers “vulnerable” due to habitat reduction and excessive capture for human consumption.

Small fiddler crabs also live there, and when people approach them they rush into ponds at full speed.

Birds such as the Ash Dove (Patagioenas inornata) and several species of herons nest in the area, continues Taveras.

The environmentalist says that there have even been recent sightings of alligators, which have been considered extinct in the area for more than three decades.

What is the impact on the local population?

“The impact has been very negative,” says Blanco, 49.

“It already began to affect us, because this was an area where we came to show tourists how far we are from our neighbor” Haiti, he says. “We came to show the mangrove.”

His group organizes kayaking and other activities in the national park.

When the border wall is finished, “we will not have easy access,” questions the activist, because a large part of the mangrove forest will remain on the Haitian side.

Artisanal fishermen will also have problems, says Blanco, who has a sailfish tattooed on his right forearm in honor of his father, a fan of fishing.

“There are crab fishermen who practically support their family from that fishing, done responsibly (…). For the tourist it is one of the most exquisite dishes”.

Germany: Discrimination against Roma and Sinti on the rise

Roma and Sinti continue to be subject to prejudice in various areas of public life in Germany. The Berlin-based Amaro Foro youth organization has documented incidents in the capital.


Andrea Grunau
DW

MARCH 30,2023

Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Germany and most have received a friendly welcome. Some, however, have had to prove they are "real" refugees by showing their IDs in line for food handouts; others have been the target of racist insults. One family was blocked by security forces at the main train station in the capital Berlin, as its members made their way to a COVID test center. The guards tried to impose a blanket ban on them entering the building.

"Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, we have noticed that Roma who fled Ukraine are not identified as seeking protection, but as illegitimate refugees," said Violeta Balog, the head of DOSTA, a documentation center on antiziganism, which is also known as antigypsyism, at Berlin's Amaro Foro, a cross-cultural youth association of Roma and non-Roma. "War and crises strengthen anti-Roma sentiment," she added. Amaro Foro, according to the group's website, means "our city" in the Romanes language

Rise in anti-Roma incidents in Berlin

DOSTA says that Germany has a particular responsibilty because of Nazi crimes against Sinti and Roma in Europe: "The German extermination campaign also took place on the territory of Ukraine, the 'Holocaust by Bullets,' that is, mass shootings."

DOSTA has been documenting cases of racist discriminationagainst people who are Sinti and Roma, or perceived to be, in Berlin since 2014. It recorded 372 incidents in 2021 and 2022, more than ever since it started collecting the data, but thinks that there were probably a great number of unreported cases.

Thousands of refugees arrived in Berlin from Ukraine in 2022

Image: Vladimir Esipov/DW

On the recommendation of the Independent Commission on Antiziganism set up by the German parliament, last year a nationwide Reporting and Information Center on Antiziganism (MIA) was established.

Doubts as to refugee status

Mehmet Daimagüler, the Germany's first commissioner for combatting discrimination against Roma and Sinti, confirmed that Roma from Ukraine had been discriminated against at all stages of their journey from Ukraine to Germany. In one case, German police and rail staff forced more than 30 people to get off a train because their refugee status was doubted.

"I find it intolerable that Roma, descendants of people who survived the Holocaust, some of whom were taken to the gas chambers on Reichsbahn trains, are now being discriminated against on Deutsche Bahn trains," Daimagüler told DW.

Meanwhile, he said, the chairperson of the Deutsche Bahn board and the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma had discussed the matter, and Deutsche Bahn had committed itself to educating its employees about anti-Roma and Sinti discrimination.


Refugees from Moldova have also faced very negative experiences in Berlin, according to DOSTA. They are often depicted as Roma and "illegitimate refugees," said political scientist Aron Korozs, who added that in Moldova Roma communities hardly had any access to education and health care. He also said that seriously ill people and heavily pregnant women had been deported from Berlin.

Antiziganism in everyday life

Incidents reported include the case of a woman who went to the emergency room of a Berlin hospital because she felt poorly as a result of chemotherapy. She reportedly vomited on the premises and was thrown out by security guards who said to her: "You only come here to eat and drink anyway."

In another incident, a Romanian woman lifted a watermelon in a supermarket to see if it was ripe. Security personnel chased her away "because 'gypsies' always steal." The woman filed a complaint after the racial slur. Sinti and Roma were persecuted under the Nazis and between 250,000 and 500,000 are estimated to have been murdered. In concentration camps, they were often ascribed serial numbers prefaced by a Z for Zigeuner (the German word for "gypsy"), which were tatooed on their arms. Balog said the term was "insulting, racist, hurtful."

DOSTA has found that whether they are shopping, working or dealing with neighbors and landlords, Roma — and people who are thought to be Roma — experience discrimination in all areas of life.

Balog said that it was difficult for people to defend themselves because often their basic needs, including housing and work, were at stake. Many feared the consequences if they stood up against discrimination. Not without reason: One man who turned to Amaro Foro for advice after facing discrimination from his landlord had been given notice, she said.

Figures show only a "fraction of the reality," says Mehmet DaimagülerImage: Martin Schutt/dpa/picture alliance

Antiziganist prejudices and crimes

The 2022 Leipzig Authoritarianism Study found that many people in Germany tended to be hostile when asked about Sinti and Roma. Over half of those surveyed had agreed with the statement "I would have problems with Sinti and Roma hanging out in my area" in eastern Germany, while over a third had agreed with it in the country's west. There was even more agreement with the statement "Sinti and Roma are prone to crime."

Antiziganism has led to a rise in crime against Roma and Sinti in Germany. "In 2022, 145 antiziganist crimes were reported, including 12 violent crimes," the German government said in response to a question from the Left party parliamentary group. Daimagüler told DW that this was the highest figure since these crimes began being recorded in 2017 but probably only showed "a fraction of the reality."
'Discrimination should not be tolerated'

In another case, a Romanian mother who was looking for a kindergarten place for her daughter had been told on the phone that there were vacancies. When she showed up, she and her daughter were sent away and told there were no places. She said that a few days later, an acquaintance of hers "who is taken for white" had been granted a spot at the same kindergarten.

Violeta Balog, Aron Korozs and Valerie Laukat are part of the DOSTA team

Image: Sarah Eick/Amaro Foro e.V.

Balog said that finding a kindergarten place was not the only problem for Roma. She said that many children waited "forever" before being admitted to school. She saide that some school administrators rejected Moldovan children across the board because "they're going to be deported anyway."

She said that even when they did go to school, Roma and Sinti children often faced bullying from classmates and staff. A 2021 RomnoKher study conducted by the nationwide association of Roma and Sinti found that more than six in 10 experienced discrimination at school.

Balog said that racist bullying at school could have a strong impact on the education of children and limit their opportunities. She said that educational establishments had to be open to everybody and that all children should be taught together instead of being divided into seperate classes because of language barriers. She said that children should be given more support to learn German if necessary. Discrimination must not be tolerated, she said, adding there was a need for "independent complaints bodies with powers."

She also criticized the fact that history books often only mentioned the Nazi genocide of the Sinti and Roma in passing. "German Sinti in particular have been part of this society for more than 600 years," she argued, adding that it was unacceptable that "we still live in times of ignorance."

'Unemployment rates hardly differ'

The Berlin State Anti-Discrimination Act (LADG) entered into force in 2020. DOSTA says that progress has been made, but antiziganist incidents have still occurred, including on the part of federal agencies, such as job centers as well as social welfare offices, to which the LADG does not apply.

All children should have the same rights to an education, says Amaro ForoImage: 

Uwe Anspach/dpa/picture alliance

In 2019, Balog said that DOSTA had learned of a Federal Employment Agency document that suspected Romanian and Bulgarian nationals of "organized benefit abuse," through a leak.

She said that the document had since been amended but that in practice benefit payments were often delayed and applicants were frequently asked for "irrelevant" information and documents. DOSTA points out that employment rates for people from Romania and Bulgaria hardly differed from those for the German population in 2021, in order to refute accusations of "poverty immigration."

'Do not lump people together'

Another case is that of a social worker telling a colleague not to pay too much attention to a young woman in a shared residence because she had a Roma background, would soon drop out of school and get married, as that was part of the "culture." Horrified, the colleague replied that she too was Roma, had studied and did not have children. To which the social worker had replied: "Oh, you are Roma? You don't look it."

The Amaro Foro team in Berlin

: Sarah Eick/Amaro Foro e.V.

Aron Korozs said that this was a prime example of how antiziganistic images partly shaped the social work sector, in which a homogeneous Roma culture was that did not exist was assumed. He said that social workers should not lump people together but seek individual solutions.

Amaro Foro spokeswoman Andrea Wierich told DW she was worried about the way Roma and Sinti were depicted in the media. She said there had been some improvement but antiziganist stereotypes had not disappeared. "A beggar is immediately labeled as being Roma, a doctor is not," she said, adding that images contributed to stigmatization. "Roma are often not portrayed as individuals, but as a foreign-looking mass, seen from behind, often wearing long colorful skirts, and with dark hair."

She said that she hoped it would eventually become normal to see Roma and Sinti individuals in the media, "with a Rom presenting the weather in the daily news program, and not only seen as an activist on World Roma Day."

This article was originally written in German.