Brain implants make disabled walk but can't read thoughts

Fred Schwaller

DW
May 26, 2023

Brain implant devices could have a transformative impact on human health. But what about their boasted sci-fi capabilities?

ʺThe future is going to be weird,ʺ Elon Musk said in 2020, as he explained the potential uses of brain implants developed by his neurotechnology company Neuralink.

Over the past seven years, the company has been developing a computer chip designed to be implanted into the brain, where it monitors the acitivity of thousands of neurons.

The chip — officially considered a "brain-computer interface" (BCI) — consists of a tiny probe containing more than 3,000 electrodes attached to flexible threads thinner than a human hair.

Musk wants to link the brain with computers to allow information and memories from deep inside the mind to be downloaded, like in the 1999 science fiction film "The Matrix."

As well as using the technology to try and treat conditions like blindness and paralysis, Musk has voiced ambitions to use Neuralink to achieve human telepathy, which he says would help humanity prevail in a war against artificial intelligence. He also said he wants the technology to provide people with "super vision."

Neuralink revealed on Thursday that it has received the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval to launch its first in-human clinical study.

Sci-fi or reality?

Are any of Musk's sci-fi ideas feasible? Short answer: no.

ʺWe cannot read people's minds. The amount of information that we can decode from the brain is very limited,ʺ said Giacomo Valle, a neural engineer at the University of Chicago, US.

Juan Alvaro Gallego, a BCI researcher at Imperial College London, UK, agreed, arguing it's hard to imagine BCIs reading our minds in this lifetime.

ʺThe fundamental problem is that we don't really know where or how thoughts are stored in the brain. We can't read thoughts if we don't understand the neuroscience behind them,ʺ Gallego told DW.

Musk imagines people plugged into devices like in the Matrix via Neuralink devices.

Jean-Christophe Bott/dpa/picture alliance

Clinical uses of BCIs grounded in reality

Musk first showcased the Neuralink technology in 2019, introducing a pig with a Neuralink chip implanted in its brain and a video of a monkey controlling a pong paddle with its mind.

But the potential for BCIs goes far beyond animals playing games.

Gallego said the technology was first developed to help people paralyzed with spinal injuries or conditions like Locked-in syndrome — when a patient is fully conscious but can't move any part of the body except the eyes — to communicate.

ʺIf you [could] translate their internal communication into words on a computer, it would be life-changing,ʺ said Gallego.

In these sorts of cases, BCIs are designed to record electrical signals from neurons in the motor cortex, then send the signals to a computer where they are displayed as text.

The motor cortex isn't typically thought to be involved in thinking. Instead, it's where instructions to move are sent out to the body, like the tongue and jaw muscle movements for speech.

What the electrodes are really recording is a motor plan — more precisely, the end result of all the processing in different parts of the brain (sensory, linguistic, cognitive) required to move or speak.

So BCIs aren't really recording your thoughts, but rather the brain's plan to move a finger here, a leg there, or to open your mouth to make an "Aah" sound.

ʺScientists also showed they can read the motor cortex's intent to draw a letter,ʺ said Gallero. ʺUsing complex modelling [with the connected computer], this allowed paralyzed participants to type 10 words per minute, which was a breakthrough.ʺ

A monkey implanted with Neuralink plays pong with his mind.

Image: Youtube.com/Neuralink

BCIs help people feel and walk again

Another breakthrough occurred in 2016, when then-US-president Barack Obama shook Nathan Copeland's robotic hand.

Copeland, who was paralyzed after a car accident, felt Obama's handshake as if they were touching skin to skin.

ʺThis demonstrated a different capability of BCIs. Rather than using electrodes to record from the brain and interpret intended movements, they instead stimulated the brain with tiny currents to produce sensation,ʺ said Gallego.

In Copeland's case, a BCI called the Utah array was implanted into his brain to improve the functioning of a disabled part of his nervous system.

The device, produced by a Neuralink rival, was implanted into his sensory cortex and connected with sensors on the end of his robotic hand.

When Copeland shook hands with Obama, those sensors sent signals causing electrodes in the sensory cortex to stimulate the "hand" region of the brain, allowing Copeland to "feel" the president's hand.

More recently, a patient with a spinal cord injury caused by a bike accident was fitted with a brain-spine interface which enabled him to walk naturally again.

The device enabled signals from the brain to connect with motor regions of the spinal cord below the level of the damage, thereby bridging the injury.

These new capabilities of BCIs represent the next generation of deep brain stimulation, a treatment that involves implanting electrodes into areas of the brain to help people with movement disorders.

ʺThese technologies have been around for a while. Deep brain stimulation has been used to help hundreds of thousands of people with Parkinson's disease since the 1990s,ʺ said Gallego.

Brain surgery for everyone? Really?

For now, BCIs like the Utah array are only being used in special one-off cases like Copeland's, and Neuralink's technology has only been tested on animals.

ʺAll the clinical applications of BCIs are still at the research stage and not implemented in clinical practice yet,ʺ said Valle.

Neuralink tried to receive approval from US federal drug regulators to test its technology in human trials last year, but suffered a blow when authorities rejected the application, citing major safety concerns.

The device consists of 96 tiny, flexible probes that must be individually inserted into the brain.

Brain surgery is no joke. Even if the invasive procedure required to wire a BCI up to the brain goes well, the potential for infection or immune ʺrejectionʺ of the device remains long after implantation.

Musk's company is reportedly seeking permission to conduct human clinical trials later this year.
The birth of neuroethics

In the long-term, Valle said, BCIs raise "a variety of ethical concerns" that will need to be considered carefully by researchers, companies, funding agencies, regulators and users themselves.

The technology is giving birth to a new field of moral inquiry: neuroethics. It's here where discussions turn more sci-fi.

ʺFor example, what are the consequences of privacy breaches when the data in question relate to people's thoughts? How can we ensure that a lack of access does not exacerbate societal inequity? What happens when this information can be directly input into the brain?ʺ said Valle.

After all, it's the role of science fiction to prepare us for what might come in the future.

Warnings about surveillance and technological control were all there in early 20th-century novels like "Brave New World" and "1984." Have we listened to them?

Edited by: Clare Roth

 

Plastic pollution: treaty talks get into the nitty-gritty

by Julien MIVIELLE

Environmentally-damaging plastic pollution is expected to surge if nothing is done to curb global reliance on the fossil-based substance.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday warned that global plastics pollution was a "time bomb", as diplomats began five days of talks in Paris to make progress on a treaty to end plastic waste.

Representatives of 175 nations with divergent ambitions met at UNESCO headquarters for the second of five sessions with the aim of inking an historic agreement covering the entire plastics life cycle.

Macron urged nations negotiating a world treaty against plastic pollution to put an end to today's "globalized and unsustainable" production model.

"Plastic pollution is a time-bomb and at the same time already a scourge today," he said in a video message, in which he called for an end to a system where richer countries export plastic waste to poorer ones.

He added that the first priorities of the negotiations should be to reduce production of fossil-fuel based plastics and to ban "as soon as possible" the most polluting products like single use plastics.

NGOs—as well as representatives of plastics companies and lobbyists, much to the chagrin of environmentalists—will also take part in the negotiations.

In February 2022, nations agreed in principle on the need for a legally binding UN treaty to end plastic pollution around the world, setting an ambitious 2024 deadline.

Host country France organized a ministerial summit on Saturday with 60 countries to kick-start the talks.

"If we don't act now, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans", said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

'Complicated

"Combatting plastic pollution will make our lives easier, both in terms of fighting climate change and in terms of preserving our oceans and biodiversity", noted Christophe Bechu, France's Minister for Ecological Transition.

The stakes are high, given that annual plastics production has more than doubled in 20 years to 460 million metric tons, and is on track to triple within four decades.

Two-thirds of this output is discarded after being used once or a few times, and winds up as waste. More than a fifth is dumped or burned illegally, and less than 10 percent is recycled.

But scaling up recycling is not a silver bullet, the head of the UN Environment Programme told AFP.

"It is one of many keys that we will need to make this work," Inger Andersen said before the talks opened. "We can't recycle our way out of this mess."

Policy actions to be debated during the talks include a global ban on single-use plastic items, "polluter pays" schemes, and a tax on new plastic production.

Environmental groups are encouraged global plastics pollution is finally being tackled, but are concerned the treaty may not include targets to reduce overall plastic production.

"There is a consensus on the issues at stake and the will to act", Diane Beaumenay-Joannet, an advocate at the Surfrider Foundation, told AFP.

But "the precise content of the obligations is going to be complicated, particularly as regards reducing production."

© 2023 AFP

High-stakes talks to end plastic pollution resume

Nations meet to strike plastic pollution treaty

Alistair Walsh

DW May 29,2023

Like a Paris deal for plastics, countries want to end plastic pollution with a global treaty. But observers are already concerned that it is ignoring the most obvious solution, while others are dragging their feet.

Norway's climate and environment minister played down calls for strict caps on the production of plastic but said the manufacture of so-called "virgin plastic" should be reduced, as talks on a global treaty to stop the mounting plastic pollution crisis opened on Monday.

More than 145 countries are hoping to hammer out a treaty by 2025, with Norway co-leading the High Ambition Coalition in the talks. Environment minister Espen Barth Eide told DW that market demand for new plastics would decrease as the circular economy increased.

"We agree that we need to reduce production at least of virgin plastics," Eide said. "Of course, the more circular it becomes, the less (virgin plastic) you need to produce."

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which is running the talks, released a paper ahead of the negotiations which found plastic pollution could be reduced by 80%. It largely avoided the production issue, focusing instead on a circular economy.

But environmental groups are warning that the talks are too focused on recycling instead of reducing the production of plastic in the first place. Environmental group Greenpeace is calling for production to be slashed by 75% compared to 2017 levels, because recycling most types of plastic, which are made from fossil fuels, remains extremely difficult.

"If we keep the focus at the end of the pipe and on recycling and promoting a bunch of false solutions like chemical recycling, or cement kilns, or waste-to-energy, we will lock ourselves into some of the worst impacts of climate change," said Graham Forbes, global plastics project leader at Greenpeace USA.

Norway's Espen Barth Eide helped secure the ambitious mandate to form the treaty

 James Wakibia/SOPA/ZUMA/picture alliance

How bad is the plastic problem?

Plastic manufacturers produce about 460 million tons of plastic a year — a quarter of which ends up polluting the planet, according to the UNEP. Less than 10% of plastic is recycled. The rest is buried in landfills or incinerated. Plastic waste is set to triple by 2060 and may already have exceeded safe planetary boundaries, found a 2022 study.

The fossil-fuel based product is found almost everywhere on the planet, from the deepest oceans and the highest mountains to the stomachs of sea birds and inside the human body. Norway's Eide even found plastic and additive chemicals in his own blood test results. While the extent of plastic pollution on land is understudied, it accounts for 80% of marine pollution.

Melanie Bergmann, a marine biologist at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute, began studying plastic pollution when confronted by vast amounts of plastic debris impacting her studies even on the deep Arctic sea floor. Since then, Bergmann has found plastic frozen in Arctic sea ice, inside algae, in tiny zooplankton, and in deep sea sediment samples.

Still, fossil fuel companies such as Shell and Exxonmobil have ramped up production, investing billions in new plastic production plants as they seek new markets for their products to counteract a shift to renewable energy.

"While we're discussing the reduction of plastic pollution, they're building new factories. And we don't even have the capacity to monitor the effects or the extent of the pollution," Bergmann said.

A recent study found just 20 petrochemical companies are responsible for more than half of the world's single-use plastic waste.

Observers question whether countries can build the infrastructure to deal with plastic waste

 Jurnasyanto Sukarno/epa/dpa/picture alliance

US, Saudi Arabia dragging heels on plastic treaty

Countries last year agreed to create this accord, acknowledging that plastic pollution represents a serious environmental problem. But how to tackle it leaves a wide gulf between parties.

Multiple insiders, who spoke to DW off the record so they could talk openly, said major petroleum producer Saudi Arabia has been one of the most resistant to an ambitious strategy, dragging their feet on procedural issues, such as voting rules. The United States, China, and India were also identified as having low ambition for the talks.

The US has been accused of parroting the demands of lobby groups such as the American Chemical Council (ACC) to keep the focus on recycling and to limit controls, and was also criticized for its support of individual countries voluntarily determining their own contribution to reducing pollution.

Others, like Norway's climate minister Eide and environmental groups, believe the global treaty should issue legally binding rules.

Leaving it up to individual countries would be unfair to regions like Latin America and Africa that don't manufacture much plastic or chemicals, said Bjorn Beeler, international coordinator of the Sweden-based International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).

"So that national approach climate model (instead of binding global rules) would be a failure again because you can't really handle a global problem at a national level," said Beeler.

Microplastics - An invisible danger  28:36

Dealing with the deluge of plastic waste

The High Ambition Coalition — which also includes Rwanda, Peru, European Union member states, Australia, several island nations, as well as some African and Latin American nations — want a comprehensive approach to end plastic pollution by 2040, linking the problem to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.

In a press release, the group also pointed to accelerating production of single-use plastics in particular, saying the world cannot deal with growing levels of waste. Norway's Eide said they wanted to focus more on how plastic is manufactured to avoid dangerous chemicals and make it easier to recycle.

"We, of course, do not want to get rid of plastics, because there will be plastics in the future in many forms," Eide told DW.

The treaty should focus on "the types of plastic that lend themselves most to pollution, either because they contain toxic substances, or because they're single use or because they are developed in such a way that it is very hard and even impossible to recycle them," said Eide.

Plastic recycling inadvertently perpetuates toxic chemicals, according to recent IPEN research. The High Ambition Coalition pointed to health concerns regarding plastic across its life cycle, spotlighting the dangerous chemicals involved. At least 3,200 of the 13,000 different chemicals associated with plastics are known to be concerning, according to UNEP.

What are the plastic producers doing?

The Plastics Industry Association — which lobbies for the entire plastics supply chain — defended the "essential nature" of plastic and said it supported a circular economy approach, in a statement sent to DW.

It said it backed a move to transparency regarding material in plastic, but specifically spoke against caps on production.

Leaks to the Reuters news agency revealed that the US lobby group, the ACC, and its Brussels counterpart, Plastics Europe, have been working behind the scenes to limit the scope of the deal. They have formed the "Business for Plastic Pollution Action" alliance to tout the benefits of plastic.

A group of 174 NGOs, scientists and organizations — including Jane Goodall, Greenpeace, and the Center for International Environmental Law — penned an open letter calling on UNEP to limit the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists in the negotiations, who they say have a vested interest in undermining the deal.

The group quotes the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said there is a "fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the plastics industry … and the human rights and policy interests of people affected by the plastics crisis."

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

 

Shanghai swelters through hottest May day in 100 years

Vivian LIN

Mon, May 29, 2023, 

Shanghai residents swelter as China's largest city records its hottest May day in 100 years of 36.1 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit)

Shanghai recorded its hottest May day in more than 100 years on Monday, the city's meteorological service announced, shattering the previous high by a full degree.

Scientists say global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with many countries experiencing deadly heatwaves and temperatures hitting records across Southeast and South Asia in recent weeks.

"At 13:09, the temperature at Xujiahui station hit 36.1 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking a 100-year-old record for the highest temperature in May," a post on the service's official Weibo account read, referring to a metro station in the centre of China's largest city.

The temperature at the bustling station climbed even higher to 36.7C (98F) later in the afternoon, the meteorological service said.

That put it a full degree above the old record, 35.7C, which has been recorded four times previously, in 1876, 1903, 1915 and 2018, according to the service.

Shanghai residents sweltered under the early-afternoon sun, with some apps showing a "feels like" temperature estimate of more than 40C (104F).

"I almost got heatstroke, it's really hot enough to explode," read one post on Weibo.

A  man who gave his surname as Wu told AFP: "It's an environmental problem, the world is going to get hotter and hotter."

"I have the feeling that summers are becoming much hotter every year. I'm turning on the air conditioning sooner than before."

- Deadly heat -

Parts of India saw temperatures above 44C (111F) in mid-April, with at least 11 deaths near Mumbai attributed to heat stroke on a single day.

In Bangladesh, Dhaka suffered its hottest day in almost 60 years.

The city of Tak in Thailand recorded its highest-ever temperature of 45.4C (114F), while Sainyabuli province in Laos hit 42.9C (109F), an all-time national temperature record, the study by the World Weather Attribution group said.

A recent report from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that "every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards".

In May, the United Nations warned it is near-certain that 2023-2027 will be the warmest five-year period ever recorded, as greenhouse gasses and El Nino combine to send temperatures soaring.

There is a two-thirds chance that at least one of the next five years will see global temperatures exceed the more ambitious target set out in the Paris accords on limiting climate change, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900 -- and 1.5C if possible.

The global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15C above the 1850-1900 average.

"Although it makes me worried, on the policy level we have to look to the country," Shanghai resident Jenny told AFP on Monday.

"Only the authorities will have the capability to be able to make changes. Because what we can do as individuals is very limited."

reb/pbt

Nepal celebrates 70 years since first Everest summit
by Irsa
May 29, 2023


On the 70th anniversary of the famous first ascent of Everest, the sons of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa joined celebrations in Nepal on Monday.

On May 29, 1953, the New Zealander and his Nepalese guide scaled the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak, forever changing climbing and making the New Zealander and his Nepalese guide household names.


“It wasn’t just Ed Hilary and Tenzing Norgay who reached the summit of Mount Everest, it was all of humanity,” Peter Hillary remarked at a school constructed by his father in the isolated settlement of Khumjung at 3,790 metres.

“Suddenly, all of us could go,” he remarked.

They’ve vanished. According to the Himalayan Database, almost 6,000 climbers have scaled the world’s highest peak in the last seven decades.

It remains hazardous, with over 300 people killed in the same period, including 12 this year. Five more people are missing, putting 2023 on track to be the worst year on record.

The increasing rise of the climbing sector has increased money for Nepal, which now charges visitors an Everest permit fee of $11,000.

On Monday morning, family members of both climbers gathered villagers and officials at the school to inaugurate the Sir Edmund Hillary Visitors Centre, which is housed in the original building that opened in 1961.

In front of a photograph of Hillary and Tenzing, butter lamps were lighted, and their sons, Peter Hillary and Jamling Norgay, cut a red ribbon to open the doors to the centre.

In Namche Bazaar, the major tourist centre on the hike to Everest base camp, a new museum in Tenzing Norgay’s honour will also open.
Officials and hundreds of mountaineers gathered in Kathmandu for a rally with joyful banners.

In a ceremony, top Nepali climbers, including the record holder for most Everest ascents, Kami Rita Sherpa, were acknowledged.

Sanu Sherpa, the only person to have climbed all 14 of the world’s highest peaks twice, has urged the government to support Nepali guides who risk their lives to carry equipment and food, maintain ropes, and restore ladders.

“The government has done little for the Sherpas.” “I believe it would be of great assistance, and we would be grateful if the government assisted in the education of the children of those climbers who died on the mountains,” Sherpa told AFP.

Outcry as Uganda's anti-gay bill signed into law

AFP
Mon, 29 May 2023

The amended bill was passed by parliament earlier this month

Uganda announced Monday that President Yoweri Museveni had signed into law draconian new measures against homosexuality described as among the world's harshest, prompting condemnation from human rights and LGBTQ groups.

The passage of the anti-gay bill came despite warnings from Uganda's international partners, including close ally the United States, of repercussions should the controversial proposals become law.

Museveni's office said in a statement the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 was among six pieces of legislation the president signed into law on Sunday.


Lawmakers passed a new draft of the legislation earlier this month, vowing to resist what they said was outside interference in their efforts to protect Uganda's values from Western immorality.

Museveni had instructed parliament to rework the bill, although most of the hardline provisions that caused an outcry in the West were retained.

The amended version said that identifying as gay would not be criminalised but "engaging in acts of homosexuality" would be an offence punishable with life imprisonment.

Although Museveni had advised lawmakers to delete a provision making "aggravated homosexuality" a capital offence, lawmakers rejected that move, meaning that repeat offenders could be sentenced to death.

Uganda has not resorted to capital punishment for many years.

A rights group announced later Monday it had filed a legal challenge with Uganda's High Court arguing that the legislation was "blatantly unconstitutional".

"By criminalising what we call consensual same-sex activity among adults, it goes against key provisions of the constitution including rights on equality and non-discrimination," said Adrian Jjuuko, executive director of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF).

- 'Deeply repressive law' -

The UN Human Rights Office -- whose commissioner Volker Turk in March described the bill as "among the worst of its kind in the world" -- condemned its passage into law.

"It is a recipe for systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people & the wider population," it said on Twitter.

Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, Africa deputy director for Human Rights Watch, told AFP it was "discriminatory and is a step in the wrong direction for the protection of human rights for all people in Uganda".

Amnesty International also said the signing of this "deeply repressive law is a grave assault on human rights".

But the legislation enjoys broad public support in devout, majority Christian Uganda, which has pursued among the toughest anti-gay legislation in Africa where around 30 nations ban homosexuality.

"We have stood strong to defend the culture, values and aspirations of our people," parliament speaker Anita Among, one of the bill's strongest proponents, said in a statement.

- Living in fear -

Discussion of the bill in parliament was laced with homophobic slurs, and Museveni himself referred to gay people as "deviants".

Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said the law would "bring a lot of harm" to the country's already-persecuted LGBTQ community.

"We feel so, so, so worried," he told AFP.

The revised bill said "a person who is believed or alleged or suspected of being a homosexual, who has not committed a sexual act with another person of the same sex, does not commit the offence of homosexuality".

An earlier version also required Ugandans to report suspected homosexual activity to the police or face six months' imprisonment.

Lawmakers agreed to amend that provision and instead the reporting requirement pertained only to suspected sexual offences against children and vulnerable people, with the penalty raised to five years in jail.

Anyone who "knowingly promotes homosexuality" faces up to 20 years in jail, while organisations found guilty of encouraging same-sex activity could face a 10-year ban.

- Aid cuts -

Reaction from civil society in Uganda has been muted following years of erosion of civic space under Museveni's increasingly authoritarian rule.

But internationally, the law provoked outrage.

The European Parliament voted in April to condemn the bill and asked EU states to pressure Museveni into not implementing it, warning that relations with Kampala were at stake.

The White House also warned of possible economic repercussions if the legislation took effect.

A 2014 anti-gay bill signed into law by Museveni but later struck down prompted foreign aid cuts by Western nations, and diplomats have warned similar measures are being considered now.

Asuman Basalirwa, the MP who sponsored the bill, said aid cuts were expected and that Among, the parliament speaker, had already been informed her US visa had been revoked.

The bill also risked undermining progress in combating HIV/AIDS in Uganda, warned UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Homosexuality was criminalised in Uganda under colonial laws, but there has never been a conviction for consensual same-sex activity since independence from Britain in 1962.

str-np-txw/giv

Turkey's LGBTQ Community Dread Future Under Erdogan

By Eylul YASAR

May 29, 2023

Erdogan routinely rails against LGBTQ people for threatening traditional family values

KEMAL ASLAN

Turkey's LGBTQ community fear being exposed to more homophobic hate after conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made them into his favourite target for his bitterly divisive re-election campaign.

The Islamic-rooted leader constantly railed against LGBTQ people on the campaign trail, accusing them of threatening traditional family values and calling them "perverse".

He also attacked opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu for pledging to "respect everyone's beliefs, lifestyles and identities", including those of the LGBTQ community.

After extending his two-decade rule until 2028 in Sunday's historic run-off election, Erdogan used the opportunity to target them again when he greeted supporters in Istanbul.

"Is the CHP LGBT? Is the HDP LGBT?" he asked, referring to Kilicdaroglu's secular party and the main pro-Kurdish group that supported the opposition alliance.

"Yes!" the crowd roared in reply.

Erdogan continued the pantomime by asking his rapturous supporters whether his ruling AKP party was LGBTQ-friendly.

"No!" was the unanimous rejoinder.

Ilker Erdogan, a 20-year-old university student and LGBTQ activist, has known no leader other than Erdogan and AKP-led governments.

"From the moment I was born, I felt that discrimination, homophobia and hatred in my bones," he told AFP before Sunday's vote.

"I feel deeply afraid. Feeling so afraid is affecting my psychology terribly. I couldn't breathe before, and now they will try to strangle my throat," he added.

Ameda Murat Karaguzu, 26, says she has been "subjected to more hate speech and acts of hate than I have experienced in a long time", from physical threats to verbal insults.

The project assistant at an LGBTQ association blamed the government's virulent rhetoric for the upsurge in hostility because the perpetrators "are aware that there will be no (legal) consequences for killing or harming us".

Erdogan's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has for example denounced same-sex relationships as a "religion" imported from the West and claimed they involved marriages between animals and humans.

Documentary filmmaker Tugba Baykal worried that the right-wing majority in parliament would seek to shut down LGBTQ associations and criminalise activists, predicting an exodus of gay people from Turkey.

The 39-year-old said she already had plans to leave before the elections and would go to the United States.

"It would be harder for me to make this decision if we were a more hospitable country," she regretted.

"How will I survive if Erdogan is elected? No one will give me a job because I am an openly identified LGBTI," Karaguzu said ahead of the run-off election.

But Ilker Erdogan refused to be cowed by the increasingly hostile environment.

"I am also part of this nation, my identity card says Turkish citizen. You cannot erase my existence, no matter how hard you try," he told AFP.

"You are trying to erase me without any reason and without any justification."

Baykal agreed. "We have to continue the struggle," she said.

TURKEY VOTES 2023

'No amateur': Identity politics, media crackdown help propel Erdogan to victory

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defeated opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday’s Turkish presidential election runoff – a victory analysts ascribe to Erdogan’s focus on identity issues and use of the government’s resources, as well as Kilicdaroglu’s tepid leadership of a precarious coalition.


Issued on: 29/05/2023 - 

Text by: Tom WHEELDON

The first round was a shock to many Western observers who thought they might finally see the back of Erdogan. But after the Turkish president came within a whisker of re-election in that ballot, his second-round victory surprised no one. He defeated opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu with 52.1 percent of the vote.

“I will be here until I’m in the grave,” Erdogan said as he addressed jubilant supporters from an open-top bus in Istanbul.

These polls belied the Western cliché that elections are about “the economy, stupid”. Along with his much-criticised response to February’s devastating earthquakes, Turkey’s economic woes looked like a big weakness for Erdogan at the outset of the campaign.

While growth remains robust, five years of an inflation and currency crisis has seen the cost of living soar for many Turks – a major reversal after the abundant economic gains after Erdogan first took power in 2003. Experts blame this crisis on Erdogan’s unorthodox belief that cutting interest rates helps reduce inflation while all mainstream economic theories hold that higher interest rates are required to calm rampant inflation in an economy.

Identity politics

But culture war has been at the heart of Turkish politics ever since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk made the country a modern nation-state in 1923, introducing strict secularism as he transformed Turkey along Westernising lines. Erdogan’s traditional constituency of socially conservative Muslim voters in the Anatolian heartland have always seen him as their champion in this culture war. A gifted orator and political strategist, Erdogan has already gone down in history as the leader who smashed secular Kemalism’s long hegemony over Turkish politics.

“Erdogan won primarily because he was once again able to shift the focus from socio-economic issues to identity issues,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Ankara bureau.

>> Read more:Turkey’s undefeated Erdogan enters third decade of rule

Erdogan also instrumentalised Turkey’s long fight against Kurdish militant group the PKK, which has waged a guerrilla war against the Turkish state punctuated by ceasefires since 1984 and is classified as a terrorist group by the EU and the US as well as Turkey.

Kilicdaroglu won the support of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). Erdogan then accused the opposition of having links to terrorism, saying opposition leaders went into “dark rooms to sit and bargain” with militants.

“He was particularly successful in directing the anger of Turkish society towards the PKK [against] the opposition,” Unluhisarcikli noted.

Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu’s big-tent approach was always going to be a tremendous challenge. The opposition contender had to juggle the Nation Alliance – the heterogenous six-party coalition behind his candidacy, which included the nationalist Good Party – with the HDP’s endorsement of his candidacy.

>> Read more:Turkey’s Kurdish areas serve as petri dish for illiberal democracy test

After Kilicdaroglu’s disappointing first-round performance, he won the support of the nationalist Victory Party’s Umit Ozdag and adopted his hard line on the Kurdish issue – which evidently risked alienating the millions of Kurdish voters Kilicdaroglu needed.

“The diversity of the opposition alliance was both an advantage and a disadvantage,” Unluhisarcikli observed. “It was an advantage because it made it possible for Kilicdaroglu to address a wider audience. It was a disadvantage because it led to an image of dysfunctionality. Moreover, while most voters could find an element they could identify with in the opposition alliance, they could also find one that they could not tolerate.”

When he was performing well in opinion polls ahead of the first round, Kilicdaroglu’s unassuming, professorial demeanour looked like a potential boon after two decades of Erdogan’s often mercurial style. But in reality Kilicdaroglu’s image was that of a “lacklustre candidate” backed by a “wobbly coalition”, said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey specialist at St. Lawrence University and the Middle East Institute in Washington DC.

‘Authoritarian reasons’

Beyond the issues and personalities, Erdogan was able to mobilise resources surpassing the typical advantages of incumbency. He made lavish offers to voters using the state’s largesse, notably promising discounted gas bills for a year. Erdogan’s presidential power was helpful to his campaign in other ways, as the government controls 90% of the national media and has effectively curtailed the power of the independent press, seeing Turkey fall to 165 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index.

Highlighting restrictions on press freedom, observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe found during the campaign that the polls were “marked by an unlevel playing field” even if they were “still competitive”.

“There are electoral reasons why Erdogan won and there are authoritarian reasons why he won,” Eissenstat said, emphasising that both sides of this equation are crucial.

“Given Erdogan’s gross mismanagement of the economy, his electoral skills would mean little without the authoritarian components: his control of 90% of the media, his use of the courts to limit the opposition, his use of government resources to support his own campaign,” Eissenstat continued. “As the saying goes, ‘only amateurs try to steal elections on election day’: Erdogan is no amateur. Election day had some irregularities, but nothing wildly out of the ordinary. Erdogan controlled every aspect of how the election was [run] and that is the key explanation for why he won.”

>> Read more:Nationalism is ‘definitely a winner’ in Turkey’s presidential elections

All that said, Kilicdaroglu came closer to defeating Erdogan than any previous opposition standard-bearer. In the 2018 presidential elections many Western observers thought Muharrem Ince had a decent chance of winning. But Erdogan clinched re-election in the first round, despite a lively campaign from the candidate representing Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party.

“The second round was closer than I thought it would be,” Eissenstat said. “The opposition did very well given the limits it was working under, and the voter turnout was higher than I expected."

“I am in Turkey right now and my sense from conversations before the run-off [was] that opposition voters were demoralised and that many would stay home,” Eissenstat continued. “In the event, the Turkish electorate’s belief in the moral importance of voting trumped their hopelessness. The exception was the Kurdish vote, which clearly was dampened by Kilicdaroglu’s swerve to the right in the second round.”

Potential successors?

But there is no mistaking the sense of jubilation among Erdogan and his supporters as he enters his third decade in power. This year is symbolic, too, as Turkey is marking a century since Ataturk made it a nation-state.

Beneath the congratulations pouring in from Washington to Moscow, there is a clear divide between the perspectives of Western governments and those of Turkey’s geopolitical partners, pre-eminently Russia. After the Western commentariat hailed Erdogan as a reformer in the 2000s, their attitudes soured during the following decade, as he ramped up an assertive foreign policy amid his turn towards illiberal democracy at home.

>> Read more:How the West, Russia see Turkey's presidential elections

Yet the West’s most pressing geopolitical priority, the war in Ukraine, demonstrates that Turkey is both troublesome to the Western alliance (as shown by Ankara blocking Sweden’s NATO accession) and a valuable partner (as shown by Ankara brokering Ukraine’s Black Sea grain export deal).

Russia will “celebrate” Erdogan’s victory as Moscow sees his “transactionalism as convenient” – while “for the West, he will continue to be a challenge, but they will try to make the best of it”, Eissenstat said. “They won’t be happy, but in the end, they want to work with Turkey and Erdogan is its president.”

On foreign and domestic policy alike, Eissenstat expects Erdogan is unlikely to make any major changes during this new presidential term.

“He will likely make some half-hearted nods at a reset with some Western powers and with the markets to try to help stabilise the economy, but I think the general trajectory of his rule is set,” Eissenstat said. “I don’t expect him to become wildly more repressive and I certainly don’t expect him to liberalise.”

Nevertheless, both analysts foresee one key difference in the 69-year-old Erdogan’s third term: he's likely to hand-pick his political successor.

The jailed opponents of Erdogan's Turkey

Istanbul (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election has dashed hopes for high-profile opposition figures who have been jailed during his rule, where a crackdown on dissent intensified following a failed 2016 coup.

Issued on: 29/05/2023 - 

Selahattin Demirtas, the figurehead of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish HDP party, has been serving a prison sentence since 2016 © Yasin AKGUL / AFP

Secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu had pledged to release them as part of an inclusive campaign message seeking to heal the wounds in Turkish society.

The president has given no indication he will offer his rivals an amnesty.

Osman Kavala

Philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala, 65, has been in prison since 2017 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government and financing mass protests in 2013.

The so-called "Gezi" demonstrations, initially sparked by plans to mow down an Istanbul park, morphed into a wider protest movement that rocked Erdogan's government.

Philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala, 65, has been in prison since 2017 © Handout / Anadolu Culture Center/AFP

In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights said Kavala's arrest was aimed at silencing him and deterring other human rights defenders.

A Turkish court confirmed the Paris-born businessman's conviction in a 2022 appeal hearing.

An 18-year prison sentence handed down to seven other defendants has also been maintained, including Tayfun Kahraman, an urban planner and top official at Istanbul's municipal authority.

Film producer Cigdem Mater, researcher Hakan Altinay and lawyer Can Atalay have also been imprisoned in connection with the Gezi movement.

Atalay was elected as an MP in the May 14 parliamentary election and could soon be freed.

Selahattin Demirtas

Selahattin Demirtas, the figurehead of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish HDP party, has been serving a prison sentence since 2016 for spreading "terrorist propaganda".

He also stands accused of dozens of crimes such as insulting the president and having ties to the outlawed PKK group, and risks up to 142 years in jail.

Demirtas has always denied the charges.

Selahattin Demirtas has gained hero status among Turkey's Kurds since his jailing in 2016 © handout / AFP

The PKK has since 1984 waged an insurgency for greater Kurdish autonomy in which tens of thousands have died.

Ankara and its Western allies, including the United States and the European Union, have designated it as a terrorist organisation.

Erdogan's governments and the PKK held peace talks in the 2000s before they broke down and armed conflict resumed in 2015.

The Council of Europe has repeatedly demanded the release of Demirtas in accordance with a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

The HDP has also demanded the liberation of two former mayors of Diyarbakir, a southeastern city considered Turkey's informal Kurdish capital, and a former party co-president.

Writers, journalists, academics

Erdogan's critics are fighting a years-long crackdown on the freedom of expression and media independence in Turkey.

The offence of "insulting the president" was frequently used during Erdogan's last term to muffle dissident voices, with more than 16,000 such charges in 2022 alone.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 38 journalists are behind bars and dozens have fled abroad, including the former chief editor of the left-wing Cumhuriyet daily, Can Dundar.

Dundar was convicted in absentia to more than 27 years in prison in 2020 © John MACDOUGALL / AFP

He is now based in Germany after serving a prison term in 2015 for a report on Turkish weapons deliveries to armed jihadist groups in Syria.

Dundar was convicted in absentia to more than 27 years in prison in 2020.

More than a thousand university academics were also targeted in the purge of institutions that followed the 2016 coup attempt.

Their infraction consisted of signing a petition calling for peace and criticising the government for the resumption of fighting between the state and the PKK.

Trial Begins For Iran Journalist Who Reported Mahsa Amini's Death

By AFP - Agence France Presse

May 29, 2023

Iran on Monday held the first trial session for one of the two detained female journalists who reported on Mahsa Amini's death in custody last year, her lawyer said.

Months of nationwide protests erupted after Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16 following her arrest for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.

The journalists, Niloufar Hamedi, 30, and Elaheh Mohammadi, 36, could face the death penalty after they were detained for covering Amini's death and its aftermath.

The pair are being tried separately by the revolutionary courts behind closed doors in Tehran.

Mohammadi's trial began on Monday and Hamedi's is scheduled to start the following day, according to judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi.

Mohammadi's lawyer, Shahab Mirlohi, described the session as "good and positive", telling AFP that the next court date would be confirmed later.

Mohammadi, a journalist at reformist publication Ham Miham, was taken into custody on September 29 after she travelled to Amini's hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province to report on her funeral ceremony which turned into a protest.

Hamedi, who works at another reformist paper, Shargh, was detained on September 20 after reporting from the hospital where Amini had spent three days in a coma before her death.

The two women were charged on November 8 with propaganda against the state and conspiring against national security, offences that potentially carry the death penalty.

During last year's protests, which Tehran had labelled foreign-incited "riots", thousands were arrested and hundreds killed, including dozens of security personnel.

Russian 'spy' whale surfaces in Sweden

Stockholm (AFP) – A harness-wearing Beluga whale that turned up in Norway in 2019, sparking speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has appeared off Sweden's coast, an organisation following him said Monday.

Issued on: 29/05/2023 

A 2019 image from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries (Sea Surveillance Service) shows a white whale now observed off Sweden's southwestern coast wearing a harness © Jorgen REE WIIG / NTB Scanpix/AFP/File

First discovered in Norway's far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and on to Sweden.

On Sunday, he was observed in Hunnebostrand, off Sweden's southwestern coast.

"We don't know why he has sped up so fast right now," especially since he is moving "very quickly away from his natural environment", Sebastian Strand, a marine biologist with the OneWhale organisation, told AFP.

"It could be hormones driving him to find a mate. Or it could be loneliness as Belugas are a very social species -- it could be that he's searching for other Beluga whales."

Believed to be 13-14 years old, Strand said the whale is "at an age where his hormones are very high".

The closest population of Belugas is however located in the Svalbard archipelago, in Norway's far north.

The whale is not believed to have seen a single Beluga since arriving in Norway in April 2019.

Norwegians nicknamed it "Hvaldimir" -- a pun on the word "whale" in Norwegian, hval, and a nod to its alleged association to Russia.

When he first appeared in Norway's Arctic, marine biologists from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries removed an attached man-made harness.

The harness had a mount suited for an action camera and the words "Equipment St. Petersburg" printed on the plastic clasps.

Directorate officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure, and may have been trained by the Russian navy as it appeared to be accustomed to humans.

Moscow never issued any official reaction to Norwegian speculation he could be a "Russian spy".

The Barents Sea is a strategic geopolitical area where Western and Russian submarine movements are monitored.

It is also the gateway to the Northern Route that shortens maritime journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Strand said the whale's health "seemed to be very good" in recent years, foraging wild fish under Norway's salmon farms.

But his organisation was concerned about Hvaldimir's ability to find food in Sweden, and already observed some weight loss.

Beluga whales, which can reach a size of six metres (20 feet) and live to between 40 and 60 years of age, generally inhabit the icy waters around Greenland, northern Norway and Russia.

© 2023 AFP

Sweden Takes Swift Action Upon Arrival of World Famous ‘Spy Whale’

NEWS PROVIDED BY
OneWhale
May 29, 2023, 


Hvaldimir when he first arrived in Norway wearing a harness


Hvaldimir with Swedish firefighters who immediately came to help

'Russian spy' beluga whale Hvaldimir has now left Norwegian waters for Sweden.

We are impressed by Sweden’s show of care for Hvaldimir. They immediately contacted us upon his arrival, and even closed a bridge to protect him.”
— Regina Haug

KUNGSHAMN, SWEDEN, May 28, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- After four years of swimming south down the coast of Norway, Hvaldimir – known worldwide as the ‘Russian spy’ beluga whale – is now in Swedish waters.

The nonprofit organization OneWhale has been working to protect Hvaldimir and advocating for his safety since 2019. Their “Team Hvaldimir” is on site and working side-by-side with the Swedish authorities. Founder Regina Haug says, “We are impressed by Sweden’s show of care for Hvaldimir. They immediately contacted us upon his arrival, and even closed a bridge to protect him.”

Hvaldimir made global news in the past several days when he appeared in Oslo, the capitol city of Norway. Being in an area of one million people with heavy boat traffic and major industry had the OneWhale team extremely concerned for his safety. But the famous beluga skirted around the dangerous waters of Oslo for Sweden.

OneWhale President Rich German says, “Hvaldimir’s situation remains an extremely vulnerable one as Sweden is a highly populated country, but we are very grateful Swedish authorities have quickly taken action to care for the whale.”

Plans are underway to move the whale far north to arctic waters. OneWhale has partnered with the town of Hammerfest and together they are creating the Norwegian Whale Reserve. When finished, the massive 500-acre marine reserve would be a safe place for Hvaldimir to live until an attempt can be made to release him back into a wild beluga population. The reserve will also be a home for other whales who are currently living in captivity.

Hvaldimir first arrived in Hammerfest, Norway in April 2019 wearing a harness that read ‘Equipment St. Petersburg.’ It is believed he was part of a Russian marine mammal military program for several years. He is a friendly, tamed, displaced, formerly captive whale who relies on humans for social interaction. Belugas are highly social whales and he has been living all alone the past four years.

Communication between OneWhale and the Swedish authorities are ongoing as Hvaldimir’s perilous situation continues.

The "spy whale” is back

The well known ‘Whaledimir’ beluga whale has been detected in the waters near Oslo.

‘Whaledimir’ in Norwegian waters back in 2019. Photo: Jørgen Ree Wiig / Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries

Read in Russian | Читать по-русски

Text:
Elizaveta Vereykina

May 24, 2023

This time the arctic waters whale has reached the densely populated area near Oslo. On Tuesday, May 24, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, that has management responsibility for marine mammals, called for people not to interact with the mammal in order not to cause it any harm.  

The beluga ‘Whaledimir’ (Hvaldimir in Norwegian) was first spotted by local fisherman Joar Hesten on Norway’s Barents Sea coast in April 2019 in Måsøy municipality and has since been traveling along the Norwegian coast. 

Fisherman Joar Hesten on Norway’s Barents Sea coast in April 2019 interacting with ‘Whaledimir’. Photo: Jørgen Ree Wiig / Fiskeridirektoratet 

 

When it was first spotted, the whale was wearing a harness that some took for equipment to potentially attach a GoPro camera to. That prompted different speculations about the whales origin - one of the versions was that the sea mammal possibly escaped from one of Russia’s naval bases in the Murmansk region and thus could be “trained to spy” on Norway. 

The Directorate of Fisheries reports that it has rejected multiple inquiries from various organisations to catch the whale and shut it up in a fjord or keep it in captivity in aquariums. 

“We have always communicated that the whale is a free-living animal and we see no reason to capture it and put it behind barriers,” Directorate stated and added that the authorities will monitor the whale’s movements: “We hope it will turn around when it reaches the end of the Oslofjord”, Directorate says. 

The name ‘Whaledimir’, that has a clear resemblance of the Russian male name Vladimir, was chosen for the mammal by Norwegian public when the national broadcaster NRK made a poll asking their audience to name the sea creature.

Former Russian Spy Whale Faces His Greatest Danger

NEWS PROVIDED BY
OneWhale
May 24, 2023



Here's Hvaldimir next to a boat at a salmon farm


Hvaldimir in a very unnatural setting in Oslo

‘Russian spy’ whale lost in Oslo, Norway – city of over one million people. Massive crowds and boat traffic create the ‘perfect storm’ for tragedy to occur.

With swift action Hvaldimir could transition from being a symbol of inhumane animal treatment to a great ambassador of compassion between humans and marine life, but only if we’re able to act quickly.”
— Rich German

OSLO, NORWAY, May 24, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Hvaldimir, known worldwide as the ‘Russian spy’ beluga whale, is now lost in the industrial ports of the capitol city of Oslo – which has a population of over one million people. Massive crowds eager to see the whale, heavy boat traffic and warming weather are creating the ‘perfect storm’ for tragedy to occur.

Hvaldimir first arrived in Hammerfest, Norway in April 2019 wearing a harness that read ‘Equipment St. Petersburg.’ It is believed he was part of a Russian marine mammal military program for several years. He is a friendly, tamed, displaced, formerly captive whale who has been living all alone since his arrival in the country. Hvaldimir seeks out humans for his social needs and due to that behavior has been severely injured multiple times by boat propellers and foreign objects.

To help protect him, the nonprofit organization OneWhale created a public safety program and has been on-site with Hvaldimir since the summer of 2021. OneWhale Founder Regina Crosby Haug recalls, “Because of his incredible charm, his viral fame grew quickly which multiplied the public’s interest to see him in person. Totally understandable, however there were no guardrails around him, just hundreds of people and lots of boats - a risky situation for both the humans and the whale. We put on yellow vests, enlisted volunteers and showed up. This is what Team Hvaldimir still does every day.”

The initiative has been successful in creating safety practices and education around Hvaldimir, however, it cannot prevent the potential disaster he is now facing. According to OneWhale President Rich German, “Without proper intervention it is only a matter of time before Hvaldimir gets seriously injured again or killed. He did not choose to be in this predicament. Hvaldimir needs and deserves help.”

In a measure to provide short term protection, OneWhale is formulating an emergency transport plan to move Hvaldimir far north to arctic waters. OneWhale is in contact with the Norwegian authorities whose permission is required to intervene on behalf of the whale.

“We are very hopeful the authorities will agree to move Norway’s beloved beluga to safety. Norwegians have fallen in love with Hvaldimir and have compassion for his incredible story,” says Haug.

In an effort to provide protection and rehabilitation for Hvaldimir, OneWhale has partnered with the town of Hammerfest and together they are creating the Norwegian Whale Reserve. When finished, the massive 500-acre marine reserve would be a safe place for Hvaldimir to live until an attempt can be made to release him back into a wild beluga population. The reserve will also be a home for other whales who will be released from captivity.

There are presently over 300 belugas and 56 orcas confined in concrete tanks around the world. As laws and attitudes change in favor of whales having freedom, many of these animals will need an ocean home and the Norwegian Whale Reserve can be a solution for many of them. According to German, “With swift action Hvaldimir could transition from being a symbol of inhumane animal treatment to a great ambassador of compassion between humans and marine life, but only if we’re able to act quickly.”

Discussions between OneWhale and the authorities in Oslo continue.

Rich German
OneWhale
rich@onewhale.org