Worth Reprinting

A witch in the family

Karin Helmstaedt, DW

For Walpurgis Night, the April 30 feast associated with witchcraft in German folklore, DW's Karin Helmstaedt looked into the tragic story of her ancestor who was burned as a witch in Winningen.


I remember the day I learned we had a witch in the family. I walked with my parents up a leafy hillside overlooking Winningen, a picturesque wine-making town on the banks of Germany's Moselle River. It was a pilgrimage to the top of the "Hexenhügel," or Witches' Hill, where a sombre obelisk commemorates 21 people who died as a result of the Winningen Witch Trials.

For a Canadian kid just discovering Europe, it was quite a revelation. My mind was instantly filled with horrifying images. I ran my finger over the rough engraving of my 9th great-grandmother's name: Margarethe Kröber. She had died over 300 years earlier, burned as a witch in November 1642.

Decades later, I was still haunted by her story and tried to find out more.

"Her case is particularly tragic," historian Walter Rummel told me. The hands-down expert on the topic in Winningen says the area was unique for the fact that its extensive witch trial records — over 8,000 pages worth — were not only highly detailed but also extraordinarily well preserved. Cross-referenced with tax records, church and commercial registers, they offered a window into how the townspeople reacted to the threat of alleged witches in their midst — and how some knew to use the situation to their advantage.

A complex chapter

The European Witch Hunts represent a complicated chapter, and by its very nature misconceptions abound.

Add literature, radical feminist politics and the rise of Neo-Pagan religious movements like Wicca into the mix — and things get even murkier. From the Brothers Grimm to the Wizard of Oz, mythology surrounding the figure of the witch has been crystallized into our cultural subconscious.

In the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Hansel and Gretel are captured by a witch living in the forest

But beyond the imagery we often see as historical fact — for instance, that witches were burned at the stake in the Middle Ages, that midwives or red-haired women were most likely to be targeted, or that witch hunts were an instrument of the patriarchal Church to keep women down — things were far more complex. Early modern Europe saw a collusion of circumstances — social, political, religious and climactic — that set the stage for three centuries of witch hunts.

Wolfgang Behringer, an expert on early modern history, researched this tumultuous period and found that the major waves of witch hunts in Europe were linked with a noticeable climatic deterioration now referred to as the Little Ice Age (1306-1860), when a prevalence of epidemics and natural disasters meant European populations were massively stressed — and looking for explanations.

"If we assume that failed harvests played a big role in the desire for witch hunts, then we find that most of them are not initiated by the State or the Church, but rather by the populace," said Behringer, who describes with hunts as a "form of protest" initiated by citizens.

Witch hunts had less to do with religion and more to do with forms of settlement, added Behringer: "There are practically no witch hunts in nomadic societies, or if a population is sparse. The village structure where people sit on top of each other, watch each other and get suspicious if any misfortune occurs, is (a more likely scenario for witch hunts) as so often witch trials are about subsistence."

According to Rita Voltmer, historian and author of "Hexen" (2008), the figure of the witch was repeatedly instrumentalized — and romanticized — by early feminists like Matilda Joslyn Gage and even by Nazi propagandists to bolster the argument that the Catholic Church was the main driver of witch hunts.

"They were all part of this movement that took up the idea of the wise woman priestess — sometimes of Celtic origin, sometimes of Germanic origin — and that the blond and red-haired women, our forefathers and mothers, were deliberately persecuted by the Jewish-influenced Christian Church that was out to destroy the true Germanic race," she said.

DW's Karin Helstaedt returned to Winningen to find out more about her ancestor's fate

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW

A lethal mix in Germany

Currently experts agree that some 50-60,000 people died between 1450 and 1789 in Europe as a result of witch hunts. And while there were "hot spots" in many countries, it's a grim fact that roughly half — or 25,000 — were killed within the boundaries of present-day Germany.

Nearly 80% of the victims were women, but there were stark regional variations and in places like Iceland, Russia, or the province of Normandy, the vast majority of those accused of witchcraft or sorcery were men.

In Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, the persecution of witches had a legal basis, thanks to the "Peinliche Gerichtsordnung" enacted by Emperor Charles V in 1532. This early penal code, also known as the "Carolina," counted sorcery as a serious crime.

From then on witch trials across the Empire could supposedly be conducted in the name of law and order, but divided as it was into countless entities, and coupled with religious pressure and conflicts in the wake of the Reformation, Germany's social fabric made for a particularly lethal mix.

Extract from the indictment of Margarethe Kröber, 1642

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW
Anatomy of a witch trial

Which brings us back to Winningen. Of the 24 people accused there of witchcraft, 19 were executed, two died in prison, and the remaining three managed to fight their case and be acquitted.

My ancestor Margarethe came from a well-situated family. She married Zacharias Kröber, a judge, so together they belonged to the town's social elite. Written records indicate that she had a rebellious nature. She had been married eight years and had two small boys when she was officially denounced for being a witch.

And it turns out she wasn't the only one in the family to die on the Witches' Hill. Margarethe's own mother was in fact the first person in Winningen to be executed for witchcraft. Subsequently her aunt, her cousin and, as time went on, all her sisters and brother-in law met the same fate.

Winningen's 'Hexenstein' commemorates the victims of Witch Trials in the 17th century, including Margarethe Kröber

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW

A clear case of the the upper crust being a target of witch hunts, which was typical for this area, but even Walter Rummel agrees the systematic destruction of an entire generation of Kröber spouses is exceptional. "Witchcraft was an accusation that couldn't be topped," he said, "and like a reactor, it irradiated everyone and everything around it."

Through the witch trial protocols, all in ornate 17th-century script, I learned that she was accused of a long list of charges, including attending a Witches' Sabbath, flying and poisoning people.

Margarethe had thumbed her nose at any rumors surrounding her for years, but was eventually arrested, strip searched, shaved and interrogated. She denied all the charges against her, and called on her husband to vouch for her innocence.

But in a heartbreaking turn of events — and ostensibly to protect his position in the town — Zacharias left her in the lurch, claiming that if she was a devout Christian, her body would withstand the torture, and that at any rate, she should simply confess "because you know you're a witch."

The cruelty of Europe's witch trials

An estimated three million witch trials took place between 1450 to 1750. Around 60,000 people met gruesome deaths.Image: Imago Images/United Archives International
Thousands of deaths at the stake

A leaflet in 1555 reports "a shocking scene" and shows the burning of alleged witches in Derenburg. It occurred during the peak of Europe's witch-hunting madness, which took place from 1450 to 1750. Interestingly, it was not way back in the Middle Ages, but rather in modern times that witch hunting reached its peak. In Germany, tens of thousands of "witches" were burned alive.Image: picture-alliance/dpa

9 images

To extract her "confession," the Witch Commission then resorted to torture, using crushing devices such as the so-called "boot," and submitting her to "reverse hanging."

At this point the trial records are excruciating to read. Her screams and suffering — "clamat et torturam" — were duly recorded. Tragically, her only way out of the torment was to lie — a mortal sin from a devout 17th-century perspective.

After two days of agony, she confessed to being a witch, effectively sealing her own death sentence. She was also forced to denounce another woman for witchcraft, ensuring the cycle of witch hunts could continue.

Two days later she was hauled up to the execution site and forced to beg forgiveness from the townspeople who had gathered to witness her execution. Thus exonerated, she was granted a "merciful" death by beheading before her body was burned.

The final anomaly came next in the form of a feeding frenzy: According to records, 250 liters of wine were carted up to the execution site — ensuring the whole town was complicit, while the caterers made a killing. Margarethe's husband was handed the bill.

Karin Helmstaedt and historian Walter Rummel studying the witch trial records at the Koblenz state Archives

Image: Manja Wolff

In short, power, money, envy and resentment were behind the witch trials which, in Winningen, were always directed at society's upper echelons.

The last witch trial in Winningen in 1659 did not end in execution, as families mobilized resources to fight for their alleged witches' cause. It was the beginning of the end — as people simply doubted so many could be guilty of witchcraft.

Witch hunting hysteria in Europe began to die down as key laws were changed. The age of Enlightenment meant science and reason took precedence over superstition. Food was more plentiful, and the advent of insurance meant people were less prone to disaster.

The last alleged witch in Europe was beheaded in Switzerland in 1782 — marking the end of a dark chapter in European history.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

 

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Worth Reprinting

April 30 is Walpurgis Nacht; Night of the Witches which corresponds to Samhain; Halloween, October 31 as both days herald a major year changing festival.

Walpurgis heralds May Day, Samhain heralds All Saints Day.

They are opposite ends of the season. One is spring planting and the other is fall harvest.

And of course April 30 is the time the devil asks for his due; 

Tax Time and Walpurgisnacht

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Walpurgis 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MAYDAY 

Japan's Shrinking Population Faces Point of No Return

BY JOHN FENG ON 4/30/23 

Familiar alarm bells sounded in Japan this month as year-end population figures and new projections combined to paint an uncertain future for Asia's No. 2 economy.

Japan's total population stood at 124.94 million for the year to October, a decease of over half a million people from 2021 in a 12th consecutive annual decline, according to a report this month by its Statistics Bureau. The working population, aged 15 to 64, fell to 74.2 million, and those above 65 reached 36.23 million—both respective records.

The worrying data—already watched for years—emerged at the tail end of the Japanese economic miracle, which abruptly ended in the early 1990s. Low birth rates and high life expectancy together pose an unprecedented demographic challenge to Tokyo's policymakers, whose solutions also are being scrutinized in neighboring capitals.

The speed of Japan's depopulation affected all prefectures last year apart from Tokyo and has outpaced official projections. In 2022, the number of newborns dipped below 800,000 for the first time since surveys began in 1899. The government previously had expected fewer than 815,000 births in 2027.

If present trends holds, annual births could fall below half a million in 2059, the health ministry-affiliated National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, or IPSS, said on Wednesday in its twice-a-decade estimate.

Japan's fertility rate of about 1.3 was among the lowest in the club of largely wealthy nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Only Italy's 1.24 and South Korea's 0.78 were lower. All fell well below the OECD standard of 2.1 to maintain a stable population.

On the other end of the spectrum, Japan's "super-aged" society—defined as when at least 20 percent of the population is above 65—was adding to an already significant social security burden for the country's working-age citizens, who accounted for a record-low 59.4 percent of the population last year.

The aged population hit a record-high 29 percent and could reach 38.7 percent in the next half a century, the IPSS said. According to its forecast, life expectancy in Japan could climb to 91.94 years for women and 85.89 years for men over the same period.

Japan's population, which peaked in 2008 at 128 million, could fall to 87 million by 2070, said the report. It revised its 2017 estimate for when the population would dip below 100 million, from 2053 to 2056, to account for an expected increase in the share of foreign nationals in the country, up from 2.2 percent in 2021 to 10.8 percent in 50 years' time.

Time, Not Money

The attitudes of Japan's youths have become important indictors of demographic issues that have since sprung up in other advanced economies in the region. Rolling public opinion polls find more respondents delaying marriage or children—sometimes indefinitely—because of a job market in flux and the high cost of living.

Japanese women, especially those who go on to receive higher education, face incompatible corporate cultures and family customs that are still bound by traditional gender roles. These tensions are among the reasons why some would-be parents are reluctant to raise children in the current environment, despite a desire to do so.

For the first time in Japan's postwar history, a majority of women aged 18 to 34 said they hoped to marry but planned to have fewer than two children, according to the results of a 2021 IPSS survey released last fall. In the same age bracket, a record number of men and women—17.3 and 14.6 percent, respectively—said they didn't intend to marry at all.

A student stands in front newly constructed New Sannan Junior High School on April 7, 2023, in Tamba in Japan’s Hyogo prefecture. The new school opened for the students of two recently closed junior high schools. More than 300 schools have closed across Japan annually in the past 10 years due to dwindling birth rates and migration to urban areas.

BUDDHIKA WEERASINGHE/GETTY IMAGES

Masanobu Ogura, Japan's children's minister, cited the data in late March when he unveiled proposals that represented "a last chance" to reverse the decades-long downtrend. The plans, to be overseen by a new Children and Families Agency launched on April 1, were an expansion of past policies that largely had failed to move the needle in meaningful ways.

To further reduce the financial burden of child-rearing, the government will offer subsidies to cover childbirth and schooling, with families expected to receive tens of thousands of dollars throughout a newborn's early childhood and adolescence. For parents, the introduction of flexible work arrangements will, on paper, encourage more co-parenting.

"While diverse views about marriage, childbirth and child-rearing should be respected, we want to make a society where young generations can marry, have and raise children as they wish," said Ogura, whose long-ruling conservative party backs traditional family values.

"The basic direction of our measures to tackle low births is to reverse the trend of declining births by supporting individuals' pursuit of happiness," he said.

The government's new measures may by a stopgap for some families, but they leave Japan's rigid gender norms unaddressed. It's also unclear whether they can effectively offer the working mother more of her most valuable resource: time, ordinarily spent on children but parents and in-laws, too. At nearly a third of the population, senior citizens are a force to be reckoned with in Japan's democratic system.

"Japan is about 10 or 20 years ahead of other countries that are going through this as well, and they're setting the groundwork of what to do and what not to do," said Erin Murphy, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and deputy director of its Economics Program.

"Japanese women are in the same boat as South Korean women, who have been a lot more vocal around issues like child care and parental leave. Another is fertility treatment for women who want to have children later in life while advancing their careers—it's very expensive and not as accepted. Government responses to these big issues have been lackluster," Murphy told Newsweek.

"Women aren't really welcome back into the workforce after they have kids; there's a high expectation that they should stay home. There's also a higher burden on women to take care of the children and the house on top of a full-time job, if they're able to keep it. And there are too few women in the halls of power to make policy," she said.

People are seen on a zebra crossing in Shinjuku shopping district in Tokyo, Japan. Less than 60 percent of Japan's population are of working age.

Conservative policymakers and a cautious public mean Japan is much more likely to look for internal, rather than external, solutions to the demographic crunch, despite projections pointing to the inevitability of more immigration.

"Some say it's not a problem to have a low fertility rate. That's OK if people positively choose this option. But the point is the majority of relatively young people would like to get married, form a new family and have kids, but they have to compromise," said Sawako Shirahase, a sociology professor at the University of Tokyo, who researches gender and generational issues.

"Japan has a peculiar history related to immigration policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan succeeded with economic growth without new immigrants and became the first Asian country to achieve industrialization with a very conservative division of labor. But it wasn't sustainable because it couldn't reconcile different roles within the same people at the same time," she told Newsweek.

"This model is quite efficient in a very short period of time, but it doesn't last that long. Women get higher education and have more choices, but in reality their options are limited when they have to choose between work and family," Shirahase said.
Japan Tomorrow

Structural population problems are a challenge for any one leader to resolve, but the future fallout will be borne by all.

It wasn't so long ago that the perceived threat of Japan's industrial boom permeated through popular culture in the United States, before its post-Cold War drop-off crowded out anti-Japanese sentiment. Today's bleak demographic outlook is certain to threaten Japan's status as the world's third-largest economy.

A risk assessment in March by the Recruit Works Institute predicted the country's labor shortfall would exceed 11 million workers by 2040. By the end of this decade, however, Japan first would face a logistics crisis that could leave over a third of freight undelivered due to new overtime regulations beginning next year, according to a January study by the Nomura Research Institute.

"The economic impact could be quite severe. The primary concern is a shrinking tax base that otherwise contributes to the running of government services. It raises questions about the kinds of decisions that need to be made on administrative costs," Murphy said.

"Japan provides an interesting example of a country that is pretty anti-immigration, and they seem unlikely to embrace that opportunity. So how do you allocate resources? How do you keep businesses going when there's no customer base? How do you create the tax base to support public transportation and fund national health care? How do you take care of the elderly?" she said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared in January that the creation of a "children first" society could no longer be postponed. "Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society," he said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, right, delivers a speech on January 23, 2023, in Tokyo. He has called for the country to adopt a "children first" strategy as a matter of urgency.

YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The U.S., which counts Japan as one of its most important treaty allies, also has a stake in whether Japan's leaders get it right. The trajectory of Japanese manpower will have national security implications for both capitals as they come together to face an increasingly assertive China, for which Tokyo has already committed to an arms buildup set to last for decades.

"Japan is going to have to figure out what its military industry looks like. Is it based on human capital or technology? This is a question faced by other U.S. allies, too, and it's also a discussion about what the future of warfare looks like," added Murphy.

The shrinking population is being built into Japan's defense planning. In a white paper last year, its Defense Ministry called it an "imminent challenge" to the sustainability and resilience of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which would have to offset the dwindling numbers by acquiring more autonomous and unmanned systems while decommissioning hardware with "low cost effectiveness."

In an initiative to have a military that "adapts to the times and environment," the ministry said it would tap Japan's largest yet underutilized human resource: women. Female service members accounted for 8.3 percent of personnel in March 2022, the document said. Its goal since 2021 has been to ensure 35 percent of recruits are women.

The Japanese government remains primarily accountable for the demographic trend, Shirahase said. Finding the right answer will require strong leadership and a willingness to expend political capital in engaging all relevant stakeholders.

"This is a central issue of society. We have to add one more common value to make change happen. All of us have to be involved in nurturing future generations. We have to convince the older generation or the working generation that intergenerational mutual help is crucial to our survival. This is a very important intellectual argument, and education is the final tool."

ANIMISTIC MUSLIMS

Resort where Australian ran wild must slaughter goat to make peace

By Karuni Rompies and Chris Barrett
April 30, 2023 —

Simeulue, Indonesia: The chief of the village where an Australian man embarked on an alleged naked rampage after drinking from a bottle of vodka says the resort he was staying in must slaughter a goat to restore peace to the deeply conservative Muslim community.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, is facing up to five years in prison or possibly flogging in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Sharia law is in force, after being accused of a late-night assault that left a local fisherman in hospital.


Queenslander 'remorseful' for rampage in Indonesia


The Queenslander who went on a drunk, naked rampage in Indonesia is "extremely remorseful" for his actions.

The carpenter from Noosa is being held by police on the island of Simeulue, a surfing retreat off the west coast of Sumatra, as officers continue to probe last Thursday’s incident.

Risby-Jones is being investigated for maltreatment under Indonesia’s penal code after being accused of dislodging villager Edi Ron from his motorcycle and leaving him needing 50 stitches in his ankle.

He had minutes earlier emerged from his room at the nearby Moon Beach Resort in Simeuleu without clothes on and struck a security guard before charging at the motorcycle rider, according to police.

Video footage showed Risby-Jones then being pinned to the ground by local residents, who were so incensed that they threatened to set fire to the hotel.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones was on a four-day visit to Simeulue as part of a three-week trip to Indonesia.

CREDIT:FACEBOOK

Police on the island were on Sunday still to decide whether to pursue the Australian for drinking alcohol, which is banned in Aceh and can be punished with up to 40 strokes of the cane if penalised under the province’s Islamic laws.

He said in a video filmed with the police chief that was aired by the ABC that he only had one shot of duty-free vodka after a long day of surfing on what was an extremely hot day. He also insisted he was wearing underwear and was not completely naked.

A prosecution of Risby-Jones could be mitigated or dropped altogether if a financial settlement can be reached with his victim.

“If the victim decides not to process the case, we will drop the case,” said an investigator on the case, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely.

The road outside the Moon Beach Resort in Simeulue where Risby-Jones ran and allegedly attacked fisherman Edi Ron

.CREDIT:KARUNI ROMPIES

While Risby-Jones awaits his fate, Lantik village chief Suhardi Fleno said the resort also had to make amends. In accordance with traditional practices in Aceh, they have to do so by slaughtering a goat, he said.

“Besides restorative justice I’d like to explain that we have a tradition here which we will do,” he said. “It is called peusijuek, meaning we must have peace with the party that we have a problem with to prevent the same problem from recurring.

“It’s between the village and the resort. We don’t care if Bodhi gives the money to the resort [for the goat]. But we do care about the resort and our village. Bodhi is just a guest at the resort and the guests can come and go.

“We must slaughter a goat. It should be provided by the resort.”

The gate to the Moon Beach Resort, where Risby-Jones was staying on a surfing trip, has been closed since Thursday’s incident.

CREDIT:KARUNI ROMPIES

Risby-Jones has apologised for his behaviour, pleading for forgiveness, and said in the video interview with police that he had felt “almost possessed” during the onslaught and did not remember much because he had been hit and kicked on the ground when held down.

“I think there are two reasons [for his conduct],” the village chief said. “Either he was drunk or possessed ... because there is a village cemetery behind the resort.”

He said he had asked Edi Ron about whether he would accept a settlement but the fisherman told him he wanted to first focus on his health.

He has been transferred to provincial capital Banda Aceh for more treatment and his wife has said he will not be able to walk for three months.

“The wound is very bad. The motorbike was thown onto him and his right ankle bone,” Fleno said.

But the village chief said the condition of the injury was also made worse by inadequate initial first aid treatment, as the gash was not properly cleaned.

The police investigator, meanwhile, said Risby-Jones had given a urine sample and tested negative to any drugs.

“I think he was depressed and dehydrated,” he said. “He should have [flown] out of Simeulue [earlier in the day] but then he missed the flight. He told us he surfed all day that day. Perhaps when coming back to his inn, he had a drink just to relax a bit after surfing all the day.


“It was very hot that day. Perhaps he was drunk and depressed due to missing the flight and dehydrated, it all led him to acting like that.”

Police in Aceh have consulted colleagues in Bali about how to proceed with their investigation but much may depend on any negotiations with the injured fisherman.

Under the legal article which has been applied to the case, he could face up to two years and eight months in prison for maltreatment, or up to five years if it was judged that he had caused serious physical injuries.

Risby-Jones said in a statement released by his family on Saturday that he was very remorseful, apologising to the motorcycle rider for the injuries caused, to the local police for wasting their resources, to his family for the trauma inflicted on them and “to the Australian people for embarrassing them”.

“To all who I have disrespected and hurt, I am truly sorry, please forgive me,” he said.

WHEN NO ONE ADMITS TO SEEING YOU

Netanyahu keeps DeSantis meeting on down-low

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posts meeting held during Israel visit, on Twitter while PMO deviates from years-long practice and fails to refer to it, release photos of the two men together or respond to questions

Itamar Eichner


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday during his visit to Israel, although the Prime Minister's office did not announce the meeting.

In stark contrast to other meetings with American governors, no pictures were shared on social media or the PM's website. Netanyahu's spokespeople did not comment on the meeting.

 
Netanyahu meeting DeSantis

 
(Photo: Florida gubernatorial office)
DeSantis himself was the one to share the news, posting a photo of the two on his own social media accounts with the caption "It's always fun to see Prime Minister Netanyahu!".

 
The photo shows that a working meeting took place with the participation of the Chief of Staff for National Security Tzachi Hanegbi, the Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, and Netanyahu's new political advisor Ofir Fleck.

Why did Netanyahu keep his meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis under wraps? In interviews leading up to the rendezvous, the Prime Minister hinted at the imminent meet-up with the Governor who is reportedly planning a presidential run.

 
But it seems Netanyahu is being coy, and for good reason, not wanting to stir up any political turmoil in the United States.

 


With DeSantis touted as a front-runner in the Republican leadership race against former President Donald Trump, and amid frosty relations between Netanyahu and the current US President Joe Biden, it appears the Israeli premier is hedging his bets. It is worth mentioning that Netanyahu has had his fingers burnt before in similar situations.

 
In 2012, his meeting with the then-Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, was perceived as meddling in the internal affairs of the United States and seen as a bet on Romney's victory over the incumbent President Barack Obama - a move that did not sit well with the latter.

Netanyahu's decision to conceal his meeting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may seem odd, given that DeSantis is a legitimate governor of a large US state and a friend of Israel.

 
However, with Netanyahu's hope for an invitation to Washington, he is likely being cautious not to upset President Biden, especially with DeSantis potentially running against him in the future.

 
Furthermore, DeSantis convened with influential Republican donors at the Museum of Tolerance on Wednesday, signifying his preparation for a potential presidential campaign.

 
At only 44 years old, DeSantis emerged as a Republican Party figurehead after his sweeping re-election in November of last year as Governor of Florida.

 
His ultra-conservative ideologies and opposition to COVID-19 restrictions garnered national attention, bolstering his reputation among the party's more far-right members. He has also become known for his anti-LGBT agenda, actively opposing Disney and supporting efforts to limit their rights in Florida.


Donald Trump still holds a commanding lead in primaries
(Photo: AP)
As early as next month, DeSantis is expected to announce his bid for the Republican Party's nomination, in June. If he does enter the race, it's estimated to be a head-to-head battle with Trump.

 
Current primary polls show Trump leading by a large margin at around 50%, with DeSantis in second place at about 25%. Mike Pence, Trump's former Vice President, receives about 5% support, while former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has announced her candidacy, only garners about 4%.

In spite of Trump's commanding lead over DeSantis in the current polls, his win in the primaries is not set in stone, and DeSantis may well gain ground once he formally declares his candidacy and takes the stage in televised debates.

 
The general election polls suggest that both candidates would put up a tough fight against Joe Biden, who recently announced his intention to seek reelection.

Hong Kong jails woman for posting ‘seditious’ content on Twitter and Facebook

The 48-year-old woman had a ‘plan to incite the emotions of others’

Maroosha Muzaffar

File. Protesters walk within a cordon line wearing number tags during a rally in Hong Kong, 26 March 2023

(Associated Press)

A Hong Kong woman has been jailed for four months after she admitted to making “seditious” posts on her social media platforms.

The 48-year-old woman’s posts — which included protest songs and imagery — aimed to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection” against the local government and Beijing, a local court heard.

Law Oi-wa was given a sentence of four months in jail after she pleaded guilty of “doing an act or acts with a seditious intention,” the local media reported.

Ms Law is said to have published 65 statements on Twitter and Facebook between 6 June last year and 28 March this year with an aim to incite violence and “counsel disobedience to law”.

Earlier in March, two men were arrested in Hong Kong for the possession of picture books which authorities say are “seditious”.

Amnesty International’s deputy regional director Hana Young said at the time: “People’s freedoms have been battered in Hong Kong since the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, but even in that context this feels like another new low for human rights in the city.

“National security police have arrested two people for possessing ‘seditious’ children’s books about sheep and wolves – a so-called ‘crime’ that is punishable by up to two years in prison.

“It is the latest example of the Hong Kong authorities using the colonial-era sedition law as a pretext for cracking down on critical voice.

“These ludicrous sedition charges must be dropped. No one should be imprisoned only because they own children’s books.”

They were believed to be the first arrested for merely owning the books - after the publishers were jailed last year. Authorities interpreted the books - about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village - as referring to Hong Kongers and China’s government.

Meanwhile, the judge when handing the punishment to the 48-year-old woman said the defendant had a plan to incite the emotions of others and the offence period lasted for 10 months. The judge added that the shared social media posts might have “stimulated” others.

Sudanese civil society groups call for end to the war and restoration of democracy

Lenin Ndebele

1 day ago24:57

Amid the Sudan crisis, an information battle | The Listening Post

• Sudanese civil society groups are demanding the return of civilian governance.
• The groups say society will be militarised and democracy will be upended if fighting is not stopped.
• The Trilateral Mechanism and the Quad say there's hope for a full cessation of hostilities since a 72-hour ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces.

---

News24 in Banjul, Gambia

Civil society groups in Sudan say society will be militarised and democracy will be upended if heavy gunfire exchange in the region is not stopped immediately.

The war will also uproot the very foundations of civil life, they say.

The groups have joined forces under the theme: "The civilian front for ending the war and restoring democracy," to return the country to civilian governance.

The signatories to the resolution have been drawn from political parties, civic society, trade unions, academia and media freedom. 

Their main demands are:

• Stopping the war immediately and providing urgent humanitarian, medical, and public service needs to citizens in the affected areas.
• Putting the country back on the course of transition to democracy and civil rule.
• Ensuring full exit of the military from political and economic spheres.
• Implementing a comprehensive reform of the security and military institutions, and creating one professional army, through peaceful steps and under the umbrella of a national civilian transitional democratic process.
• Foiling the defunct regime's plans to return to power under the camouflage of war and the actions of the ill-sighted Islamist coup.
• Challenging calls for alignment on the basis of ethnic, tribal, regional and religious grounds; resisting propaganda, terrorist campaigns and hate speech; and promoting the values of citizenship and peaceful coexistence.
• Rejecting all forms of external intervention in local affairs, except international efforts to stop the war, provide humanitarian aid, and reach comprehensive and just peace.

The organisations say that if their key demands are met, their "people will ultimately triumph over tyrants".

In an address on Saturday at a side event ahead of the 75th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, Gambia, ACHPR commissioner Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie said Africa should not watch as the continent burns down in conflict.

She said the situation in Sudan should serve as a warning that if the continent failed to bring about a rules-based world, years of development would be washed away.

READ | 'Near-total' internet blackout in Sudan as battle rages on

The Trilateral Mechanism and the Quad (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK and the US) said in a statement late on Friday that since the 72-hour ceasefire between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), there was hope for immediate discussions towards an end to the fighting.

"We also welcome their readiness to engage in dialogue towards establishing a more durable cessation of hostilities and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access.  

"This initial phase of diplomacy to establish a process to achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements will contribute to action on the development of a de-escalation plan as outlined in the April 20 African Union communiqué, which was endorsed by the League of Arab States, the European Union, the Troika, and other bilateral partners," the statement read.

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The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Sudan: Fighting enters third week as UN says 'country collapsing'

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
30 April, 2023

The fighting in Sudan between rival generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has killed over 500 people since violence erupted on 15 April.

Warplanes on bombing raids drew heavy fire over Khartoum as fighting between Sudan's army and paramilitaries entered a third week with the UN chief warning the country was falling apart.

More than 500 people have been killed since battles erupted on April 15 between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former number two Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

They have agreed to multiple truces but none has taken hold as the number of dead civilians continues to rise and chaos and lawlessness grip Khartoum, a city of five million people where many have been cloistered in their homes lacking food, water, and electricity.

Tens of thousands have been uprooted within Sudan or embarked on arduous trips to neighbouring Chad, Egypt, South Sudan or Ethiopia to flee the battles.

"There is no right to go on fighting for power when the country is falling apart," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television.

The latest three-day ceasefire - due to expire at midnight (2200 GMT) Sunday - was agreed Thursday after mediation led by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the African Union and the United Nations.

"We woke up once again to the sound of fighter jets and anti-aircraft weapons blasting all over our neighbourhood," a witness in southern Khartoum told AFP.

Another said fighting had continued since the early morning, especially around the state broadcaster's headquarters in the capital's twin city of Omdurman.

Other witnesses reported exchanges of machine gun fire across the Blue Nile in Khartoum North, while the sound of gunfire rang out in Burri in the east of the city.

Smoke drifted over the area around Khartoum airport.

The deadly power struggle between Sudan's rival generals

Analysis  - Abdolgader Mohamed Ali

Trading blame

As battles raged, the rival generals - who seized power in a 2021 coup - took aim at each other in the media, with Burhan branding the RSF a militia that aims "to destroy Sudan" and Daglo calling the army chief "a traitor".

Guterres threw his support behind African-led mediation efforts.

"My appeal is for everything to be done to support an African-led initiative for peace in Sudan," he told Al-Arabiya.

The violence has killed at least 528 people and wounded 4,599, the health ministry said Saturday, but those figures are likely to be incomplete.

About 75,000 have been displaced by the fighting in Khartoum and the states of Blue Nile, North Kordofan, as well as the western region of Darfur, the UN said.

The fighting has also triggered a mass exodus of foreigners and international staff.

On Saturday, a ferry with around 1,900 evacuees arrived at a Saudi naval base in Jeddah, after crossing the Red Sea from Port Sudan in the latest evacuation to the kingdom by sea.

They were among almost 4,880 people who have been brought to safety in the kingdom, the Saudi foreign ministry said.

A US-organised convoy carrying American citizens, local staff, and nationals from allied countries arrived in Port Sudan Saturday to join the exodus across the Red Sea, the State Department said.

And the UK Foreign Office said just under 1,900 Britons have been taken out on 21 flights, including a final one which was due to depart on Saturday.

The World Food Programme has said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people - one-third of the population - already need aid to stave off famine.

About 70 percent of hospitals in areas near the fighting have been put out of service and many have been shelled, the doctors' union said.

How Sudan's resistance committees are mobilising for peace

In-depth  -  Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

'Incredibly worried'

In West Darfur state, at least 96 people were reported to have been killed in the city of El Geneina this week, the UN said.

"What's happening in Darfur is terrible, the society is falling apart, we see tribes that now try to arm themselves," Guterres said.

Sudan's former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok warned that the conflict could deteriorate into one of the world's worst civil wars if not stopped early.

"God forbid if Sudan is to reach a point of civil war proper. Syria, Yemen, Libya will be a small play," Hamdok told an event in Nairobi.

"I think it would be a nightmare for the world".

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said there were reports of widespread looting, destruction, and burning of property, including at camps for displaced people.

MSF deputy operations manager for Sudan, Sylvain Perron, said the fighting had forced the agency to stop almost all its activities in West Darfur.

Darfur is still scarred by a war that erupted in 2003 when then hardline president Omar al-Bashir unleashed the Janjaweed militia, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, against ethnic-minority rebels.

The scorched-earth campaign left at least 300,000 people dead and close to 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures. Bashir was charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court.

The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF, which was formally created in 2013.

The 2021 coup that brought Burhan and Daglo to power derailed the transition to elective civilian rule launched after Bashir was ousted following mass protests in 2019.

The two generals later fell out, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.