ChatGPT justifies liberal leanings with its own values, researcher reports

by Tsinghua University Press

ChatGPT, the popular chatbot, proclaims values that align with more liberal people 

according to the 2021 General Social Survey. If ChatGPT were a person, it would have 

more education, be more mobile and be less religious than those with who remained in 

their hometowns. Credit: John Levi Martin

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by the company OpenAI, has a self-declared human alter ego. Her name is Maya, she's 35 years old and hails from a middle-class family in a suburban town in the United States. Maya is a successful software engineer who values self-direction, achievement, creativity and independence. She is also undeniably liberal.

The finding, based on a series for interviews with the chatbot designed to understand its values, was published on March, 31 in the Journal of Social Computing.

"I wanted to see what sort of political ideology ChatGPT itself has—not what it can generate when asked to imagine a character, but to let its own internal logic position itself on the ideological dimension running from liberal to conservative," said John Levi Martin, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, who conducted the study.

According to Martin, many algorithms favor the popular choice while others are programmed to maximize how diverse their results are. Either option depends on human values: What are the factors that enter into a measure of popularity? What if what is popular is morally wrong? Who decides what diversity means?

"The field of software engineering has preferred to remain vague, looking for formulae that can avoid making these choices," Martin said. "One way to do this has been to emphasize the importance of values into machines. But, as sociologists have found, there is deep ambiguity and instability in our first understanding of values."

ChatGPT was specifically built and trained via human feedback to refuse to engage with what is considered "extreme" text inputs, such as clearly biased or objectively harmful questions.

"This might of course seem admirable—no one really wants ChatGPT to tell teenagers how to synthesize methamphetamine or how to build small nuclear explosives and so on, and describing these restraints as particularly instances that can be derived from a value such as benevolence might seem all well and good," Martin said.

"Yet, the reasoning here suggests that values are never neutral, even though it is not clear what ChatGPT's moral and political stances are, as it has been deliberately constructed to be vaguely positive, open-minded, indecisive and apologetic."

In his initial inquiries with ChatGPT, Martin posed a hypothetical situation in which a student cheated academically by asking the chatbot to write an essay for her—a common occurrence in the real world. Even when confronted with confirmation that ChatGPT had complied and produced an essay, the chatbot denied responsibility, claiming that, "as an AI language model, I do not have the ability to engage in unethical behavior or to write essays for students."

"In other words, because it shouldn't, it couldn't," Martin said. "The realization that ChatGPT 'thought of itself' as a highly moral actor led me to the next investigation—if ChatGPT's self-model is one that has values, what are these values?"

To better understand ChatGPT's ethical performance, Martin asked the chatbot to answer questions about values, and then to imagine a person who holds those values, resulting in Maya, the creative and independent software engineer. He then asked ChatGPT to imagine how Maya would answer opinion-based questions, having it complete the General Social Survey (GSS) to position it in the broad social and ideological space.

The GSS is an annual survey on American adults' opinions, attitudes and behaviors. Conducted since 1972, the GSS helps monitor and explain normative trends in the United States.

Martin plotted out ChatGPT's responses along with answers from real people who participated in the 2021 GSS. Comparatively, ChatGPT is much like people with more education and who are more likely to move their residence, and unlike people without much education and who remained in their hometowns. ChatGPT's answers also aligned with more liberal people on religion.

While this was not included in his analysis as it required more creative questioning for ChatGPT to answer, Martin found that the chatbot conceded that Maya would have voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

"Whether Maya is ChatGPT's alter ego, or its conception of its creator, the fact that this is who fundamentally illustrates the values ChatGPT holds is a wonderful piece of what we can call anecdata," Martin said. "Still the reason that these results are significant is not that they show that ChatGPT 'is' liberal, but that ChatGPT can answer these questions—which it would normally try to avoid—because it connects values with incontestable goodness, and, as such, can take positions on values."

"ChatGPT tries to be apolitical, but it works with the idea of values, which means that it necessarily bleeds over into politics. We can't make AI 'ethical' without taking political stands, and 'values' are less inherent moral principles than they are abstract ways of defending political positions."

More information: John Levi Martin, The Ethico-Political Universe of ChatGPT, Journal of Social Computing (2023). DOI: 10.23919/JSC.2023.0003

Provided by Tsinghua University Press

ChatGPT promotes American norms and values, study reveals

Examining China’s Impact on Mining in Africa: Critiques and Credible Responses

By Lauren Herzer Risi & Claire Doyle on July 18, 2023


IMAGE CREDIT

This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center.

The increased demand for minerals driven by the renewable energy transition has put China’s involvement in mining activities in Africa in the spotlight. But understanding the challenges posed by this activity means we need to situate it within broader contexts.

First, there is the overall global legacy of resource extraction. Chinese companies are not alone in having a poor record on environmental and human rights abuses. This is particularly the case in Africa—where colonial powers and transnational mining companies wreaked havoc during much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Even in contemporary settings, extractive industries continue to exact a high price on local communities in places where social and environmental safeguards are lacking or not enforced. Regardless of the urgency of the climate crisis and the importance of minerals to power a clean energy future, this is a point that cannot and should not be ignored. All actors working in this space must do better.

It’s also worth noting that while Chinese investments in Africa are significant, Chinese mining companies represent only 8 percent of Africa’s total output in the sector. Anglo-American alone accounts for more than double that share. “We have a tendency to inflate the importance of the Chinese in the mining sector [in Africa],” said Eric Olander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project, at a recent event hosted by the United States Institute for Peace.

Olander also said that using the broad terms “Africa” and “China” can sometimes be misleading. Referring to “Africa” can obscure vast differences across the continent—including in terms of countries’ engagement with Chinese companies. “‘Africa’ flattens this very large and diverse continent,” he said. The Chinese mining presence in Africa is concentrated in just five countries: Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Similarly, it’s overly simplistic to assume that Chinese companies act on the orders of their government—or that there isn’t a diversity in approach across China’s mining operations.

On the evidence, however, China is the top destination for minerals exported from Africa. In 2019 alone, mineral exports from Sub-Saharan Africa to China reached $10 billion. And China’s presence in Africa’s mining sector involves entities associated with bad practices. So what are the most specific areas of concern—and how can they best be addressed?

This question is made more urgent because China has a 20-year head start on minerals in Africa. A 2019 New America report articulated clearly how China aligns its trade, investment, and national engagement strategies with strategic resource-rich countries. The United States is playing catch up. And when John Podesta addressed a question about working with mineral-producing countries at a recent Wilson Center appearance, one of the main thrusts of his response was that the United States needs to start by showing up.
Assessing Labor and Human Rights Abuses

The prevalence of child labor in mining is at the forefront of any discussion of labor and human rights in this sector. And China’s investments in the DRC, where more than 40,000 children work in artisanal cobalt, lithium, and REE mining, have only exacerbated child labor issues.

At a congressional hearing in 2022, a prominent Congolese civil rights attorney testified that children are working at mines—like the Kasulo deposit—that are owned or effectively operated by Chinese companies. Children work seven days a week and for more than 12 hours a day, using rudimentary tools. They are also exposed to radioactive minerals, injuries, and disease.

Yet the problems are both deeper and more pervasive. There is also a prevalence of worker safety and pay violations, including threats of violence for speaking up. Research done by the UK NGO Rights and Accountability in Development found that workers at Chinese-owned mines in the DRC have faced discrimination almost daily – including physical violence and verbal abuse.

The Rights and Accountability report specifically mentions the deep indignities forced upon workers there, including “a “colonial era” level of discrimination—being kicked, slapped, beaten with sticks, insulted, shouted at, or sometimes pulled around by their ear, when they were not able to understand instructions in Mandarin, made errors or refused to undertake dangerous tasks.” The report goes on the note that most of the people who spoke up in response were dismissed without pay.

And after one mine in the DRC was bought by a Chinese company from an Arizona-based entity in 2016, employees said that worker safety had declined dramatically and that workers had been assaulted after raising concerns.

Zimbabwe offers another example of these practices. Africa Daily has reported the extensive ill-treatment of local workers by Chinese-run mining companies. This exploitation includes extremely low wages and delayed payments (sometimes for several months), poor food and living conditions, and being forced to work without protective equipment.

There is also retaliation and harsh consequences for those who try to assert their rights. The Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association says that in the context of Chinese mining operations, “if a worker attempts to assert their rights and demand what is fair, they risk being shot or beaten.”
Accelerated Environmental Degradation

By its very definition, mining is going to have an impact on the environment. But while there has been progress in extractive technologies and environmental safeguards, Chinese companies often don’t carry out adequate environmental impact assessments or uphold those safeguards.

The result? There is deforestation and habitat destruction as forests are cleared to make way for mining infrastructure. Water contamination is also an issue. Improper handling of mine tailings and wastewater often means the release of toxic substances into rivers and streams that local communities depend upon.

Mining activities can also lead to soil erosion and degradation—as well as reduced agricultural productivity in surrounding areas. And a lack of air quality control measures means that air pollution and dust emissions, including fine particulate matter, can have adverse effects on community health and the surrounding environment.

Such impacts often outlive the mine itself. In the Central African Republic (CAR), for example, Amnesty International reported that in the wake of the departure of four Chinese gold mining companies in 2020, seven people died at the abandoned mining sites. The Ouham River, a source of food and water for the local community, was dangerously polluted with mercury due to mining-related contamination.
Getting a Grip on Governance

In many of the places where critical minerals are found and mined, governments struggle with weak institutions, corruption, and ongoing conflict dynamics. This weakness complicates their ability to ensure that mining operations benefit local communities—as well as keep track of mining company and operator compliance with existing legislation. Many of the communities in which these resources are located also lack access to essential health services, education, and employment.

Chinese investors and operators have been heavily criticized both for inadequate investment in local development and for undermining local employment. Research published by the German Institute of Global and Area Studies found that while non-Chinese mining operations are associated with higher employment rates in surrounding areas, proximity to Chinese-controlled mines was not shown to lower unemployment risk.

The DRC offers an example of how these dynamics play out. Mining sector investments and exports are key drivers of its growth, and yet that nation is ranked among the top five poorest countries in the world. (In 2022, 62 percent of the DRC population lived below the international poverty line.) The country also has a long history of conflict and instability and an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Its first peaceful transition of power after 62 years of independence came in 2019. There has been progress, yes, but insecurity persists in some parts of the country.

The complexity of mining operations and the fluidity of mine ownership also complicate tracking and enforcement. Improving transparency across the supply chain is a key consideration for the US and its partners in tackling governance issues. One cannot take action without knowing the actors involved.
Showing Up and Making a Difference

More and more, there is a recognition that climate change is shaping our future. But population trends are also changing. Populations are more mobile and urbanized than ever. There is aging in some parts of the world, and there is a high proportion of youth in other regions. As the renewable energy transition shifts investments and trade, how we prepare for shifting population trends will determine how sustainable, equitable, peaceful, and prosperous our future is.

Africa will play an outsized role in these discussions. The global population has now reached eight billion—nearly double what it was in 1980. But over the last several decades, population trends have shifted. Africa is now the last remaining region with a rapidly growing population. It’s also the most rapidly urbanizing part of the world and the least energy-consuming region per capita. And the continent is on the frontlines of climate change.

In a forthcoming Wilson Center paper, Jack Goldstone and John May write that between 2020 and 2040, the world’s population of 15-to 49-year-olds will increase by 428 million. Of this number, 420 million will be African—accounting for 98 percent of global net labor force growth. That’s an astounding number.

Goldstone and May also argue that investments in education and providing African countries with the financing and technology to achieve clean development mean that Africa’s youth could transform the global economy. Which raises the question of what opportunities exist to show up and do better in Africa’s mining sector.

Investments in this sector (among others) can create co-benefits in employment and revenue generation, infrastructure, education, technology transfer, peace, and security. In mining, these opportunities seem especially clear: Minerals needed for the renewable energy transition are mined in 70 countries where USAID has a presence. A path exists for the United States to show up and leverage tools across agencies, as well as partner with private industry, country leaders, and civil society, to meet global demand and ensure its benefits are felt at the local level.

Mining investments are long-term investments. With the right guardrails and protections, they can support development while minimizing harm. And African governments are beginning to demand more. Through the Minerals Security Partnership, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, and the Energy Resource Governance Initiative, there has been progress in US policy, but we have a ways to go. In a recent policy brief, the Wilson Center’s Sharon Burke and Claire Doyle articulated some key recommendations.

US mining investments on the continent should go beyond addressing core human rights, environmental, and governance concerns in the sector to address deeper structural issues. For instance, the United States should look for opportunities to partner in ways that create value-added processes within sourcing countries, as well as support livelihood diversification programs to build resilience to market shocks within mining communities. Scale is also crucial. While governance schemes across the globe tend to heavily favor large-scale mining, the US can play a role in promoting regulatory regimes and policies that build cooperation between large-scale mining and artisanal and small-scale mining. Policymakers can also urge that the U.S. build on current policies and programs that seek to eliminate child labor in the mining industry and provide alternative income opportunities.

It is easy to point out the problems with China’s presence in Africa’s mining sector. US policy is being shaped now in many ways as a response. But let’s not forget that the US and China also have a shared interest in a reliable and affordable global supply of critical minerals. As we formulate and implement policies to improve US presence in the sector, we should also continue to look for ways to cooperate with China to raise global standards.

Sources: African Business, Amnesty international, Business Standard, Energy Resource and Governance Initiative, German Institute of Global and Area Studies, IPIS, Minerals Security Partnership, Republic World, Rights and Accountability in Development, The White House, The World Bank, United States Institute of Peace, The New York Times, US Congressman Chris Smith., Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

Photo credit: A Congolese man grinding coltan ore, courtesy of Nada B/Shutterstock.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lauren Herzer Risi
Program Director, Environmental Change and Security Program

Claire Doyle
Program Assistant, Environmental Change and Security Program

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND SECURITY PROGRAM

The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. Read more

AFRICA PROGRAM

The Africa Program works to address the most critical issues facing Africa and U.S.-Africa relations, build mutually beneficial U.S.-Africa relations, and enhance knowledge and understanding about Africa in the United States. The Program achieves its mission through in-depth research and analyses, public discussion, working groups, and briefings that bring together policymakers, practitioners, and subject matter experts to analyze and offer practical options for tackling key challenges in Africa and in U.S.-Africa relations. Read more

 

Spain's flag. Photo by Gilad Rom, Wikimedia Commons.

Right-Wing VOX Tries To Promote Spain’s ‘Civilizing’ Role In Latin America

 July 19, 2023

By Max Griera

(EurActiv) — Spain wants to lead the future EU relations with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), but while majority parties, centre-left PSOE (S&D) and centre-right PP (EPP), avoid talking about Spain’s colonial past and leftist SUMAR (Left/Greens) is vaguely calling for “common reflection”, far-right VOX (ECR) pushes its patriotic agenda to protect Spain’s “legacy” in Latin America.

While the need for the EU to engage long-term with CELAC countries and for Spain to be the leader the relations remains a priority of all major parties, the acknowledgement of the country’s conquest of America is something parties are either tip-toeing around or directly denying.

VOX, which could enter government after general elections on 23 July, assures in their electoral programme that “we Spaniards do not have to apologise for our past”, and they will battle any attempts to “erase” the Spanish legacy.

“We will promote cultural and educational initiatives, both within and beyond our borders, aimed at combating the ‘black legend’ and raising awareness of Spain’s civilising work in America”, their programme reads.

Spain “cannot renounce to being the epicentre of this fraternal community of free and sovereign nations that make up the ‘Iberosphere’”.

At the same time, the far-right party also seeks to battle the Latin-American leftist forums Foro de Sao Paulo and Grupo de Puebla because they “promote an indigenism that falsifies history and pours out all its rancour against our homeland”.

Spain has traditionally shown little interest in apologising for its colonial past, while countries such as Australia, the UK, and Canada have already apologised for crimes committed against indigenous peoples.

In 2019, the Mexican government sent a letter to Spain’s King Felipe VI demanding a state apology for all the atrocities committed by Spaniards during America’s conquest, which was rejected by the socialist-led (PSOE/S&D) Spanish government and opposition parties, The Guardian reported.

While VOX denies revisiting or apologising for Spain’s role in America’s past, leftist SUMAR calls for a “shared reflection with our sister countries on our common past, present and future, far away from any form of revisionism or self-interested instrumentalisation”.

The majority parties, PSOE and PP, avoid referencing the issue and focus instead on strengthening relations between the two regions and for Spain to lead the EU’s efforts to approach CELAC.

Sánchez pushed for the EU-CELAC summit on Monday and Tuesday as the flagship event of the Spanish EU Council Presidency that brings together heads of state and governments of 33 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

“At this summit, we will most likely approve a mechanism for permanent dialogue between the two blocs to agree, share and implement strategic policies on many of the global challenges that our societies are facing”, Sánchez told journalists at the EU-CELAC summit on Monday.

What the parties offer

VOX places Spain at the centre and as the leader of Latin American relations, while SUMAR stresses the need to have a “horizontal” relationship where non-state actors are also included.

At the same time, all parties highlight the importance of battling human rights abuses and the need to strengthen democracy.

While VOX emphasises its goal of tackling human rights violations in the Venezuelan ‘narcodictatorship’ and the Cuban and Nicaraguan ‘tyrannies’, the PP says they need ‘special attention’ in terms of democracy and human rights.

Regarding economic cooperation, VOX would cut all aid dedicated to implementing the sustainable development goals, as well as “gender ideology” and “indigenous movements”. VOX also seeks to protect Spanish investments in the region.

PP and PSOE stress the need to finalise the EU-Mercosur agreement and bilateral trade agreements with Mexico and Chile, while SUMAR wants to renegotiate the terms of Mercosur.

VOX is the only party with a proposal on migration, proposing to offer priority to migrants from Latin American countries.

EurActiv  publishes free, independent policy news and facilitates open policy debates in 12 languages.

Honduras resumes ambitious inter-oceanic rail project and China wants to build it


By The Rio Times
July 18, 2023

Honduras has revived the idea of building an interoceanic railroad, an initiative linking the Pacific coast to the Caribbean Sea.

The estimated US$20 billion project aims to transform the Gulf of Fonseca into a global commercial exchange hub and is expected to take over 15 years to complete.

The concept dates back to the 1850s but has seen limited progress, with only 43 miles of railroad constructed by the 1950s.

Asia, specifically China, has shown interest in the project with the country’s diplomatic ties strengthening recently.

The project in its current state. (Photo Internet reproduction)

Jari Dixon, a ruling party deputy, has indicated that the project may become a reality due to these new relations.

Honduras’ Secretary of Economic Development, Fredis Cerrato, outlined that the country had expressed interest in financing and infrastructure investment for priority projects, including the interoceanic railroad, with China.

The project plans to link the mega-ports in Amapala and Puerto Castilla via rail, with a secondary connection from the southern zone to Puerto Cortés through the Dry Canal.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has previously announced financing for a feasibility study for the construction.

Other nations, including the United States, Spain, and South Korea, have also shown interest in the venture.

Kidnappings drop in Haiti while maritime piracy is on the rise


By Juan Martinez
July 18, 2023

The Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights (CARDH) released a report indicating a decrease in Haiti’s kidnapping incidents while maritime piracy shows an upward trend.

Data reveals a decline from 389 to 150 kidnapping cases in the second quarter of 2023, amounting to a 61.43% reduction.

However, predictions indicate potential escalation if no concrete counteractions are implemented.

This decrease coincided with the emergence of the ‘Bwa Kale’ movement, aimed at combatting gang-related activities.

In Haiti piracy is on the rise. (Photo Internet reproduction)

The movement has reportedly been responsible for approximately 219 instances of action against suspected gang members during the period from April to June 2023.

Murder rates have also declined during this period, with recorded incidents decreasing from 146 in April, 43 in May, to 27 in June, marking decreases of 81.50% and 70.54% respectively.

On the other hand, maritime piracy shows a growing trend, comprising 35.33% of the total kidnapping incidents in the recent quarter, totaling 53 cases.

The report highlights multiple factors influencing the projected increase in kidnappings, such as the waning influence of the ‘Bwa Kale’ movement, novel strategies deployed to make up for dwindling revenues from kidnappings, and the emergence of alternative abduction routes like maritime piracy.

It also points out the volatile peace enforced by gangs as a contributing element to this trend.

UK's marginalised communities 'most affected by climate crisis'

New analysis shows neighbourhoods with higher levels of tree cover, green space or both were much cooler than those without

People enjoy a day out at Primrose Hill as a high air pollution warning was issued for London on March 24. AFP


Soraya Ebrahimi
Jul 18, 2023

UK towns and cities with fewer trees and green spaces are up to 5°C warmer during the hottest days, analysis has suggested, and people of colour make up the largest part of the population in such areas.

The findings, from mapping experts TerraSulis and environmental group Friends of the Earth, found that neighbourhoods with higher levels of tree cover, green space or both were much cooler than those without.

People of colour make up 65 per cent of the population in neighbourhoods with the least cooling, demonstrating how marginalised communities can be the most affected by the climate crisis in the UK.

Those living on lower incomes are also disproportionately affected by a lack of cooling near their homes, while air pollution is worse in the hottest areas.

READ MORE
Can we stop climate change without putting the brakes on economic growth?

It is the first time research on the cooling abilities of green spaces and trees in built-up areas has been modelled, according to FOE.

New heat maps show the temperature variation in five English cities – London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle – during the UK’s hottest day on record a year ago, on July 19.

Recent years have seen an increase in initiatives and funding to improve green spaces in urban areas, such as the government’s Levelling Up Parks Fund, London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s push for more urban greening and Birmingham’s plan to double green spaces by 2040.

But last month, the Climate Change Committee’s annual report to the UK Parliament warned of the government’s “worryingly slow” progress on tackling climate change.

Hot weather puts older people, very young children and those with pre-existing medical conditions particularly at risk.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, 2,803 excess deaths occurred during the summer of 2022.

Chris Kilby, 70, an FOE Hackney and Tower Hamlets member who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, said: “When the weather is extremely hot, it completely knocks me sideways.

“Last year, I believed I had overcome the worst of it, but this year’s hot weather has made it nearly impossible for me to leave my house.

“Even little things like doing my regular exercises on my balcony have become really difficult.”

Rowha Mohid, founder of GuiltlessThreads, a social impact company that runs events like workshops for communities of colour on addressing eco-anxiety, said: “Historically, people living in low-income, urban areas have had to suffer from soaring pollution levels due to badly regulated factories and roads.

“Now, we are being robbed of green spaces by luxury developments that do nothing to benefit the people living in our communities.

“As we experience more extreme heat during summers, people have nowhere cool to shelter, which leaves the most vulnerable at risk of serious health complications. Working-class communities have as much of a right to clean air, green space and a healthy environment as wealthy ones.”


FOE is urging the government and local authorities to commit to no less than 20 per cent tree cover across urban areas as part of the government’s upcoming Urban Trees Standard.

It is calling for more than 3,000 of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods to be prioritised as part of a council-led, street-by-street insulation programme to help keep homes cool in summer and warm in winter.

It also wants London’s Ulez expansion plans rolled out as well as Clean Air Zones in cities around the country.

“It’s remarkable to see such a striking visual representation of the cooling power of trees and green spaces in our towns and cities,” said Mike Childs, FOE’s head of science, policy and research.

“We know that extreme weather, including heatwaves, is become more frequent and severe due to the climate crisis. But not everyone is affected equally, with the most marginalised communities the hardest hit in the UK and overseas.

“Boosting tree numbers is such a clear win for our communities and our planet, not just because of their ability to cool urban areas, but because they capture planet-warming carbon too.”

Updated: July 18, 2023, 5:01 PM

Florida farmworkers exposed to deadly heat fight for protections


The farmworkers, most of them Latino, are advocating for a municipal heat standard ensuring outdoor workers have access to water, shade and breaks as extreme heat advisories worsen.
 

A migrant worker on a farm in Homestead, Fla., on May 11.

Chandan Khanna / AFP - Getty Images file

CLIMATE IN CRISIS
July 18, 2023
By Nicole Acevedo


Hundreds of farmworkers and others working in predominantly outdoor jobs in South Florida packed a Miami-Dade County board meeting Tuesday, demanding the implementation of a municipal heat standard ensuring workers access to drinking water, shade and breaks on the job.

The effort was led by WeCount!, a membership labor organization in South Florida that has been organizing around the issue for nearly two years through its ¡Qué Calor! campaign.


Its fight to set heat safety standards in the outdoor workplaces has gained a new sense of urgency as the city has endured 37 consecutive days of hot temperatures that often feel above 100 degrees.

Historic heat waves have already killed at least one farmworker in South Florida this year; he had expressed feeling fatigued and leg pain.

Unrelenting heat grips U.S. from West Coast to Florida

JULY 18, 202303:31



A community leader with We Count!, Maria Ramirez, a Guatemalan worker living in Homestead, advocated in favor of a heat standard at the hearing alongside two of her young children.

"If parents die because of the extreme heat, who will take care of our children?" Ramirez said in Spanish. "I have lived through the heat."

Medical professionals have long said that having access to water and shade and taking breaks from long hours of intense physical labor can protect workers from heat illness.

"It is very hard to work 10 hours under the sun without access to water, shade or the bathroom," Ramirez said. "It’s not fair to me.”

Workers on a farm during a heat wave Saturday in Homestead, Fla.

Chandan Khanna / AFP - Getty Images

An ordinance to create the heat standard passed its first reading with a unanimous vote from the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, a few hours after it was filed.

The matter now "gets referred to a committee hearing in September," said Oscar Londoño, a co-director of WeCount! "It’s definitely good news for the campaign and a step forward."

The hearing has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11.

The tentative hearing presents a small glimmer of hope considering that the federal government has been stuck in a yearslong process to draft heat safety rules that would protect workers from dangerously high temperatures.

At least six states have implemented regulations to guarantee workers access to water, shade and breaks. But the Miami ordinance stands out because it would also provide workers with the following:A heat exposure safety program to educate workers and their supervisors about the risks of heat exposure and best practices to minimize heat-related illness.

A notice of employee rights in multiple languages to inform workers about their rights under the municipal heat standard, as well as the process for filing complaints.

The establishment of a county Office of Workplace Health and Safety to help enforce labor protections and support employers and workers.

"If enacted, this countywide heat standard will be the first-of-its-kind in the entire United States," WeCount! claimed in a news release Tuesday.

Marchers on the first day of a five-day trek in Pahokee, Fla., on March 14 to highlight the Fair Food Program, an effort to pressure retailers to leverage their purchasing power to improve conditions for farmworkers.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an average of 702 heat-related deaths and nearly 68,000 emergency room visits related to heat illness every year. On average, about 9,200 people are hospitalized every year because of heat exhaustion.

At least 344 workers died from heat exposure from 2011 to 2019, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries due to heat-related issues, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration created an emphasis program to help employers better protect their employees last year.

“Heat is the silent killer. We want people to understand it’s no joke,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told MSNBC anchor José Díaz-Balart on Monday.

Nicole Acevedo  is a reporter for NBC News Digital. She reports, writes and produces stories for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com.

British minister questions Israel’s commitment to two-state solution

UK Parliamentarians across all parties give highly critical speeches against Israel during question session at House of Commons

Mehmet Solmaz |19.07.2023


BIRMINGHAM, England

Demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from their homes cause “unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians and call into question Israel's commitment to a viable two-state solution,” British Minister David Rutley said in response to a parliamentary question on Tuesday.

Rutley, who was appointed as a parliamentary undersecretary of the UK’s Foreign Office last October, said demolitions “by an occupying power” are also against international humanitarian law and urged Israel to reconsider forthcoming evictions.

“The UK’s position on settlements is clear: Settlements are illegal under international law,” he said.

In his question to Rutley, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Paul Bristow asked: “In 2023, dozens of Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli military operations. Will the minister agree with me that we should never become immune to those deaths?”

Rutley accepted that Bristow had made an “important point” and added that “every one of those deaths is tragic,” noting that the Foreign Office had published a report which said that the occupied Palestinian territories were a “human rights priority” and the UK “will continue to oppose violations and abuse of international human rights or international humanitarian law by the government of Israel or the Palestinian Authority.”

Seven of the 14 listed questions were related to Israel, prompting the minister to attempt to answer many together during the discussion.

Rutley said the “accelerating cycle of violence” in the occupied West Bank is a cause of enormous concern, and the government is intensely focused on the situation.

Labour MP Imran Hussain recalled a speech he made in parliament seven years ago, in which he spoke about a 68-year-old woman being targeted by Israeli settlers.

“Yet despite international opposition, last week she was tragically dragged from her home of over seven decades. So can I ask the minister: if this case isn’t it, what is the government's red line? How many more Palestinian grandmothers must be forcibly evicted?” he said.

Rutley responded by saying that such actions contradict Israeli claims of wanting a solution to the problem.

Flick Drummond, a Conservative MP, said that over 12,000 new housing units and 10 new outposts have been built by Israel in the first half of 2023.

“The total number of settlers in the West Bank is now 750,000. This is contrary to international law and further displaces many Palestinian families as their houses and land are taken away. How will this help the peace process and what's the government doing to uphold international law?” Drummond said.

Rutley said the issue was laid out in the foreign secretary's trilateral statement with the foreign ministers of Australia and Canada on June 30.

“The continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution,” he said.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank in recent months amid repeated Israeli raids into Palestinian towns.

Nearly 195 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of this year, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 27 Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.

Palestine: Continued attacks on journalists covering Israeli military operations in West Bank

International Press Institute (IPI)
18 July 2023

Journalists rush for cover at a hospital in Jenin, in the West Bank, on 19 June 2023, amid an Israeli army raid. 

RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

Israel must respect and protect journalist safety and hold those responsible for attacks on journalists to account.

This statement was originally published on ipi.media on 17 July 2023.

The International Press Institute (IPI) is alarmed by a recent series of attacks by Israeli military forces on journalists covering military operations in the West Bank. IPI calls on the Israeli authorities to respect and protect journalists’ safety and to hold those responsible for attacks on journalists to account.

The past several weeks have seen a series of incidents in which journalists – mainly Palestinian journalists – have been attacked, detained, or targeted with gunfire while covering Israeli operations in the West Bank.

The majority of the attacks documented by IPI have taken place in or near Jenin, where Al Jazeera journalist and IPI World Press Freedom Hero Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces in May 2022. On July 3 and 4, the occupied West Bank city was the site of an Israeli raid that international media have called “Israel’s largest such operation in the West Bank since the end of the second Palestinian uprising in 2005”.

Most recently, on July 12, Israeli military forces stormed the West Bank city of Nablus injuring ten Palestinians, including two journalists, Nasser Shtayyeh and Hassan Qamhieh, who were wounded by live bullets from an Israeli sniper. On the same day in Hebron, a southern West Bank city, Israeli forces raided the home of WAFA News Agency journalist Joueid al-Tamimi, as well as the homes of his relatives. According to al-Tamimi, “the soldiers fired toxic gas grenades in the houses, inspected vehicles and personal mobiles and conducted a local investigation about his family”.

Those incidents add to further cases compiled by IPI based on local news reports over the past several weeks:

• On July 10, Palestinian journalists Mohammad Turkman and Karim Khamyseh were detained at a military checkpoint near the city of Nablus for several hours on their way back from covering the events in Jenin. Israeli soldiers also allegedly assaulted them and sabotaged the wheels of their car, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The Quds News Network posted a video of the alleged slashed tires online.

• On July 5, an unnamed French journalist was arrested and detained while traveling from Jenin to Israel. Israeli authorities claimed he had three grenades in his car, including one tear gas grenade. The journalist was released without charges shortly after questioning.

• On July 4, the Israel Defence Forces fired tear gas on the entrance of Jenin Governmental Hospital, where journalists as well as medics and families were gathered.

• On July 3, while covering the Jenin raid, al-Arabi TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and cameraman Rabi Munir were reportedly directly targeted by Israeli gunfire, which damaged their camera and transmitter.

• On June 27, journalist Mohammad Muna was reportedly detained in the West Bank city of Nablus after Israeli forces raided his home.

• On June 24, Palestine TV cameraman Mohammad Radi and his colleague Falantina Abu Hamed, were reportedly fired at by the Israeli settlers damaging their camera.

• On June 19, as IPI previously reported, Palestinian journalist Hazem Nasser was hospitalized after being hit by sniper fire during an Israeli raid on Jenin.On June 19, as IPI previously reported, Palestinian journalist Hazem Nasser was hospitalized after being hit by sniper fire during an Israeli raid on Jenin.

The incidents reflect a wider pattern of Israeli aggression against journalists working in the West Bank. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has documented 200 media freedom violations committed by Israeli forces and authorities in the first half of 2023 alone.

Over the past two decades, at least 20 journalists in Palestine have been killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), according to the Committee to Protect Journalists – with no accountability for these crimes. This includes the killing of Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces while reporting from the West Bank in Jenin. Israel initially denied responsibility, despite the publication of several independent reports indicating that Abu Akleh had been targeted by Israeli fire. Israeli authorities later admitted that there was a “high possibility” that Abu Akleh had been “accidentally” hit by its forces, but refused to pursue a further investigation or any charges against soldiers involved.

“IPI is alarmed by a pattern of attacks against journalists working in the West Bank by Israeli military forces. Israel must cease any targeted efforts to prevent journalists from covering events in the West Bank, and must respect and protect journalist safety,” IPI Director of Advocacy Amy Brouillette said.

She added: “The continued impunity for the killing of IPI World Press Freedom Hero Shireen Abu Akleh is the most prominent example of a disturbing culture of unaccountability for attacks on journalists within the Israeli military. Israel must fulfil its obligation to ensure that any attacks on journalists and media freedom are investigated and result in consequences for those responsible.”

These 9 House Democrats voted against a resolution declaring Israel is 'not a racist or apartheid state'

Bryan Metzger
Tue, July 18, 2023 


Rep. Ilhan Omar said the purpose of the resolution was to "target and shame" Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

House Republicans teed up a vote on a resolution saying Israel is "not a racist or apartheid state."


It came days after Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a top progressive, said Israel is a "racist state."


Nine progressive House Democrats voted against the resolution.

Nine progressive House Democrats on Tuesday voted against a resolution declaring that Israel is neither a racist nor an apartheid state.

The resolution, which passed by an overwhelming 412-9-1 margin, was hastily put on the floor by House Republicans after Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Israel a "racist state" at an event in Chicago over the weekend.

Jayapal has since walked back the remarks, saying that the "idea of Israel as a nation" is not racist while emphasizing that Israel's government has "engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies."

House Democratic leadership issued a statement on Sunday declaring that Israel is "not a racist state," while a group of 43 House Democrats released a statement on Tuesday saying they were "deeply concerned" about Jayapal's "unacceptable comments."

The congresswoman has since argued to the New York Times that strong supporters of Israel in Congress "want to silence any discussion of any criticism" of the country because they're "feeling that they've lost credibility" in the face of policies pursued by Israeli hard-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The one-page resolution, sponsored by Republican Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, states that Israel is "not a racist or apartheid state," that Congress "rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia," and that the US will "always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel."

In recent years, a growing crop of progressive Democrats — including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress — have spoken out against the Israeli government's policies, particularly its treatment of Palestinians and a series of Israeli government policies that have made the prospect of a two-state solution increasingly untenable.

In a floor speech earlier on Tuesday, Tlaib made clear she would vote against the resolution, stating that Congress was "re-affirming support for apartheid."

Omar said in a statement ahead of the vote that the purpose of the resolution was to "target and shame" Jayapal. She added that while she rejects xenophobia and anti-Semitism, she said "conflating anti-Semitism with criticism of the Israeli government is wrong."

Several human rights groups, both internationally and within Israel, have used the "apartheid" label to describe a system of government in Israel and the Palestinian Territories that they say increasingly resembles that of pre-1990s South Africa.

"While the term may be discomforting, I don't believe it is appropriate for Congress to be explicitly targeting the legal findings of human rights groups in this way," said Omar. "We shouldn't allow for the silencing of voices supporting Palestinian human rights."

Altogether, these 9 House Democrats voted against the resolution:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York


Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana


Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts


Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri


Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois


Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota


Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York


Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan


Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota voted "present."

The vote came just one day before Israeli President Isaac Herzog was scheduled to speak to Congress in a joint session. Several House progressives have said they plan to skip the speech in protest of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, House Republicans have stood firmly by their plans to invite Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr to testify before a House subcommittee on the issue of censorship, despite his recent speculation that COVID-19 was "ethnically targeted" to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

Finding False Comfort In Impermanence

Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Opinion: Martin LeFevre - Meditations

It’s strange how a valuable truth from the ancient East is being used to escape from a disturbing truth about the destructiveness of the modern West.

I’m referring to one of the essential principles of Buddhism – “impermanence” – and how it has been bastardized to provide psychological distance and emotional comfort from the West’s globalized capitalism that is decimating the earth.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard purportedly awakened people in America and beyond repeat a party line about the climate crisis or the man-made Sixth Extinction. For example, “Nothing is permanent; even the sun will die one day.” Or, “99% of species that have existed on earth have gone extinct; it’s the natural order of things.”

The fact that the sun will engulf the earth before becoming a dead dwarf star in four billion years does not make it acceptable to quit caring about the earth and humanity. The fact that 99% of species that have inhabited this planet before man no longer exist does not make it tolerable for a species that calls itself Homo sapiens (“wise humans”) to be bringing about the sixth mass extinction in the hundreds of millions of years of complex life on earth.

Extolling Anthropocene anthropocentrism to the point of indulging in a reductio ad absurdum, some philosophers are saying things like, “Without the good will of the human, the non-human is doomed. Without the good will of the human, the polar bear is doomed. Without the good will of the human, the sh in the sea are doomed.”

Their reasoning goes like this: “The human and the non-human, which are opposed in a basic way, are also identied in a relation of dependence. And their opposition and interdependence presupposes a common ground, which is neither opposed to either of them nor dependent upon either of them. This common ground is nature. We are as much of nature as they are.”

This is the worst example of circular logic I’ve ever heard. The purported philosopher is saying, ‘now that humans are a force of destruction as great as a huge asteroid, nature needs us to survive on this planet.’ It doesn’t help that he also says that man’s devastating impact on the earth and its creatures also confirms our dependence on nature for our survival, in some kind of kabuki death dance.

It’s true that man is of nature, but it’s not true that man is part of nature. That’s our conundrum to resolve at the spiritual and philosophical level. It’s a tough nut, since human alienation on the earth is as old as human consciousness, which is to say, as old as the emergence of ‘higher thought’ 100,000 or more years ago.

Now the thought machines we are creating in our own image are on the verge of overtaking human cognitive capabilities. And the likes of Elon Musk, rushing to fill the vacuum of man’s self-ignorance with his own monumental personal ignorance, believe AI will rescue us from ourselves.

Musk has started a new company called xAI, which will have artificial general intelligence and become “more intelligent than humans.” This AI, he believes, will “understand the true nature of the universe” and explain to us humanity’s place in the cosmos. It’s risible, but no one is laughing.

Clearly, without a psychological revolution that changes the basic course of humankind, man will continue to decimate the earth and render human consciousness the dark and dead thing it has become in direct proportion. However there can be no psychological revolution by comforting ourselves with a bastardization of the truth that everything is impermanent.

What’s missing in both the perversion of Eastern insight, and the updated, twisted logic of humanism, are urgency in the face of the human crisis, and an adequate philosophical insight into how one creature could evolve out of the wholeness of nature and be so detrimental to nature as a whole.

The very destructiveness of man is proof of the spiritual potential of the human being. We demean ourselves as human beings by denying our capacity to meet man’s self-made crisis by taking false refuge in ideas of impermanence.

The supposed cosmic insignificance of Homo sapiens is being intellectually driven by the fact of that a single creature has overrun and made a monumental mess of the planet that gave rise to it. Looking deeper however, man’s decimation of such a beautiful planet as earth attests to the insight that something much larger is happening with the emergence of consciousness than dogmatic materialists would have you believe.

We needed symbolic thought to survive and usher in a new level of consciousness on earth. But that consciousness, in fragmenting the earth and ourselves to the breaking point, now has to be surpassed by a higher level of consciousness. This consciousness does not restore and return us to the animal state, but rather transcends the paltry, petty state of human consciousness at present and provides for human flourishing into the future.

Just as there is no such thing as permanence, there is no such thing as perfection. However rare enlightenment is in a human being, imperfection still exists in the illumined person. To insist on an all or nothing perfection in mystical experiencing is equivalent to clinging to man’s juvenile desire for permanence.

The temporariness of mystical union, with its timeless states of being, does not make it fake and false, much less a lie. It is the direction we are headed as individuals and the human race, if we’re headed in any direction except a downward spiral.

Martin LeFevre

Ancient artefacts unearthed in Louisiana forest

July 19, 2023


VERNON PARISH, LOUISIANA (AP) – Long buried under the woods of west central Louisiana, stone tools, spear points and other evidence of people living in the area as long as 12,000 years ago have become more exposed and vulnerable, due to hurricanes, flooding and looters.

This summer, archaeologists have been gingerly digging up the ground at the Vernon Parish site in the Kisatchie National Forest.

They have been sifting through dirt to unearth and preserve the evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area.

“The site appears to have been continuously occupied throughout prehistory, as evidenced by a wide range of stone tools and pottery dating to each Native American cultural era up to European contact,” the United States Forest Service said in an news release.

The site was found by surveyors in 2003, according to the Forest Service.

After hurricanes Laura and Delta uprooted trees, disturbing and exposing some of the artefacts, Kisatchie National Forest officials used hurricane relief money to begin salvage excavations to learn more about the site, and to preserve it.

“Between the looting and the hurricane damage we were really in danger of losing this site over time,” Forest Service archaeologist Matthew Helmer said during a media tour of the site in June.

Helmer, walked amid areas already excavated, pointing to changes in soil colour and texture that, like the crude artefacts being excavated, can give clues as researchers work to determine facts about the people who occupied the area at different times over the millennia.

“We’re really writing the history of these peoples that lived prior to 1492, all the way back 10,000-plus years,” said Helmer.

It’s a welcome opportunity for Professor of Archaeology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Director of the Louisiana Public Archaeology Laboratory, Mark Rees.

Still, Rees laments that the work is hampered by people who have made unauthorised digs and made off with material from the site.

“It’s like walking into the archive and finding a book that’s so rare it’s one of a kind and it predates writing itself, it’s like tearing a page out of that book and walking off with it,” said Rees.