The Irrational “Greed” of Geriatric Plutocrats

by William Manson / April 13th, 2024

In his book Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud indulged in a speculative scenario for the origins of society.  Everyone, young and old alike, once lived together in a “primal horde”– ruled by an aging, domineering father-figure, who selfishly monopolized the women for his own satisfaction.  But one day (so to speak), the deprived “sons” defiantly rose up, challenged his control–and slew him.  In the aftermath, separate nuclear families now became possible, along with the sanctions and taboos which would facilitate orderly social relations.

Notwithstanding the fanciful quality of Freud’s origin-myth, world mythology does exhibit countless fables of aged tyrants ruling and depriving youth–who, in the end, overthrow them.  (Freud, of course, in a perhaps dubious fashion, claimed the age-old Greek myth of Oedipus as a confirmation for this theory.)  In his book The Denial of Death (1973), anthropologist Ernest Becker historically analyzed how enormous wealth–and the dominance it brings–conferred an illusory “immortality” on aged tyrants desperately clinging to their (waning) power.

The inevitable life-cycle, the replacement of one generation by another: the very existence of sexual reproduction means that the old, who die, are superseded by the young.  But some, to paraphrase Dylan Thomas, “do not go gently”!  (As a startling example, David Rockefeller had an endless succession of heart transplants–before dying finally, at age 102.)  What I’m suggesting is that the aged plutocrats’ pathological “greed”–especially aberrant since they will soon have no use at all for wealth–is ultimately a graceless, petulant, denial of (inevitable and approaching) death.  And, as well–a power-fantasy of continuing dominance over the rising younger generations.

I think that we can agree that this monomaniacal obsession with ever-more wealth–on the part of many aged, almost infirm, billionaires–cannot be explained simply as human nature (“greed”).  Certainly it is grotesquely unjust, domineering, selfish–and responsible, directly or indirectly, for the suffering–even despair and death–of millions of young people.  These consequences, in fact, may be a key motivation: the vindictive satisfaction in continuing to dominate and discomfort those younger generations who possess the one priceless thing they don’t have: youth–and with it, decades of living ahead of them.

To be sure, many affluent old people, recognizing and accepting the inevitability of their imminent decline and death, graciously make way for the young, helping them–and even heavily financially contributing toward a more humane future they will never see.  But others  (most notably the aging billionaires we are examining), try for “immortal fame” by endowing orchestra pits or museum wings (most notoriously, the Sacklers–of oxycontin infamy).  While others, still profiteering on fossil-fuel stocks as the planet itself dangerously heats up, spitefully offer their own, infamous epitaph: “Apres moi?  Le deluge!”

In many cultures, the old males explicitly act out their envy of the young males.  Indeed, anthropologists have often suggested that the circumcision characterizing puberty rites, commonly found throughout the tribal world, was among other things a kind of “partial castration.”  In our own plutocratic world today–with its astoundingly obscene concentration-of-wealth–we see aging tyrants trying to hold on and dictate the conditions under which younger people are forced to “live.”  Such geriatric billionaires–and I am, admittedly, focusing primarily on males in this essay–have “spent” their lifetimes focusing single-mindedly on pursuing more-and-more wealth.  The ostensible rewards?: not only ostentatious status-displays (as classically described by Thorstein Veblen), but more significantly, the consequent power to impose submission and deference, and to demand various services (many humiliating to the providers).  Still, the exercise of this power is only partially satisfying (in a sadistic-vindictive fashion)–the envy remains.

Since these billionaires, in their rather crude equation of money=satisfaction, never developed genuine moral and aesthetic sensibility–let alone empathic solidarity with humanity–they have, toward the end, nothing enduring to compensate for their loss of vitality, sexual pleasure (virility), physical attractiveness, and so forth.  They still do have, rather than the developed human qualities of compassion and magnanimity, the stunted passions of pride, vanity–and vengeance.

It is the age-old question of two, diverging paths: “to have”–or, “to be.”Faceboo

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Intellectual historian and psychoanalytic anthropologist, William Manson (Ph.D., Columbia) has published numerous scholarly books and papers, and is a longtime contributor to Dissident Voice. Read other articles by William.

Industrial Policy Is Back But The Bar To Get It Right Is High – Analysis

 April 13, 2024  0 Comments

By Anna Ilyina, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu and Michele Ruta

Governments have traditionally used targeted interventions known as industrial policy to make domestic producers more competitive or promote growth in selected industries. While some developing countries continued to use it, industrial policy fell out of favor across most of the world for years, because of its complexity and uncertain benefits.

Now, industrial policy appears to be back everywhere. The pandemic, heightened geopolitical tensions, and the climate crisis raised concerns about the resilience of supply chains, economic and national security, and more generally about the ability of markets to allocate resources efficiently and address these concerns. As a result, governments came under pressure to have a more active industrial policy stance.

Economists have long debated the merits and drawbacks of industrial policy. These measures can help address market failures, such as interventions related to the climate transition. But industrial policy is costly, and can lead to various forms of government failures ranging from corruption to mis-allocation of resources. Industrial policies can also lead to damaging cross-border spillovers, raising the risk of retaliation by other countries, which can ultimately weaken the multilateral trading system and worsening economic fragmentation. More data, more analysis and more dialogue are needed to avoid costly mistakes.

In this blog, we unpack the return of industrial policy and ask three questions about what is driving this resurgence, the trade-offs that it raises, and what the IMF is doing about it.

The new wave

The IMF recently joined forces with the Global Trade Alert to monitor developments. Our new research shows that there were more than 2,500 industrial policy interventions worldwide last year. Of these, more than two thirds were trade-distorting as they likely discriminated against foreign commercial interests. This data collection effort is the first step toward understanding the new wave of industrial policies.

The recent surge in such measures has been driven by large economies, with China, the European Union, and the United States accounting for almost half of all new measures in 2023. Advanced economies appear to have been more active than emerging markets and developing economies. Data for the past decade are less precise, but the available information shows that the use of subsidies has historically been more prevalent in emerging economies, contributing to large number of legacy measures still in place.

Recent measures focus more on the green transition and economic security, and less on competitiveness. Competitiveness was the objective for one-third of all industrial policy measures last year. The remaining two-thirds were motivated by climate mitigation, supply chain resilience, and security considerations.

Interestingly, the most-active sectors were military-civilian dual use products and advanced technologies, including semiconductors and low-carbon technologies, as well as their components, such as critical minerals.

Industrial policy steers a reallocation of resources toward certain domestic firms, industries or activities that market forces fail to promote in a socially efficient way. To deliver net economic benefits, however, these interventions need to be well-designed, which means they need to be directed to address well-identified market failures, and based on competition-enhancing principles and sound cost-benefit analysis.

Since industrial policy aims to alter incentives for private companies, it also entails a risk of resources being misallocated and governments being captured by industries over time. It can also affect trade, investment, and financial flows as well as global market prices which could have significant implications for trade partners and the global economy.

IMF staff’s recent analysis of the new industrial policies underscores the need for caution.

Measures announced or implemented last year were not always clearly related to market failures. This means that in some cases well-designed policies aimed at improving the general business environment would have been more appropriate than targeted government interventions which carry a risk of misallocating resources and potentially significant fiscal cost.

Staff’s research provides further evidence of a tit-for-tat dynamic. The odds of interventions focusing on a certain product are higher if it was the target of interventions by other trading partners. In fact, measures such as subsidies often create cross-border spillovers that may induce other governments to react in a similar way.

There is also some evidence that industrial policy can be captured by special interests. Analysis shows a high correlation between the number of measures and political economy variables such as the presence of an upcoming election and the importance of certain products in the export basket, which indicates that governments may favor established companies.

The IMF’s role

Given the novelty and macro-criticality of many recent industrial policy measures, IMF staff has stepped up work in three areas.

The IMF has increased focus on collecting data and providing analysis of industrial policies to increase awareness and inform policy discussions. In addition to the new data monitoring initiative, staff examines the effectiveness of industrial policies in achieving stated objectives, such as innovation (see the April 2024 IMF Fiscal Monitor) and climate goals, as well as their cross-border spillover effects.

In bilateral surveillance, IMF staff focuses on assessing industrial policy measures that can significantly affect the country’s domestic or external stability or have the potential to generate significant cross-border spillovers. The scope of staff’s analysis and policy advice depends on the type of industrial policy and its objectives, as well as on available information and expertise. Two recent IMF papers provide a conceptual framework and guiding principles for the coverage of industrial policy in IMF surveillance, including trade-related issues and consistency with World Trade Organization rules.

Finally, the IMF is collaborating with the WTO to promote a multilateral dialogue on trade and industrial policy. A technical meeting on policies for resilience already took place in February with contributions from several countries and other international organizations. The goal is to deepen and broaden this work in the coming months. Discussions like these can improve information-sharing on enacted measures, their effectiveness and spillovers, and help develop a common understanding of the issues and possible cooperative solutions.

About the authors:

Anna Ilyina is Assistant Director in the Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR) of the IMF. Previously, she headed the Global Markets Analysis Division in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, responsible for monitoring and analysis of the global financial markets, and production of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report. 

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu is Director of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR) of the IMF. In this capacity, she leads the work on the IMF’s strategic direction and the design, implementation, and evaluation of Fund policies. She also oversees the IMF’s interactions with international bodies, such as the G20 and United Nations.

Michele Ruta is Deputy Division Chief in the Strategy and Policy Review Department of the International Monetary Fund, where he oversees the work on trade and trade policy. He had previous appointments at the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the European University Institute, and holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

Source: This article was published at IMF Blog

German car lobby chief criticises von der Leyen’s solo run on Chinese EVs


By Jonathan Packroff | Euractiv

During her ‘State of the Union’ speech in September 2023, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers. 

[Robert Way/shutterstock]

The decision to open an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric cars was not sufficiently coordinated with Berlin, a managing director of the German car industry association VDA said on Thursday (11 April), criticising von der Leyen’s solo effort.

During her ‘State of the Union’ speech in September 2023, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, which could lead to new tariffs on Chinese EV imports.

The German car industry has met the investigation with scepticism from the outset, as it fears potential retaliation measures against its products by China, which is the world’s largest car market.

Andreas Rade, managing director of the German Automotive Industry Association VDA, has now also criticised the procedure for not coordinating sufficiently with EU capitals.

“As far as I know, this procedure was not a joint project between Berlin and Paris, so to speak, but was initiated by Brussels in the meantime in the context of a candidature,” Rade said on Thursday at an event of the Green group in the German parliament.

He added, “That is why there was no consensus on the procedure at the European level, I believe, which is not a good signal.”

Only a week before the investigation’s official announcement, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD/S&D) had loudly welcomed Chinese manufacturers to the European market, arguing that “fair competition […] is in the interest of consumers.”

Von der Leyen faces pushback for Chinese electric vehicle investigation

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced countermeasures against the growing number of Chinese electric cars distorting the EU single market through price-dumping practices in her State of the Union address on Wednesday (13 September), but her approach is under fire from German lawmakers and industry.

The French government, on the other hand, is a supporter of a tougher stance against Chinese competitors and has launched its own national EV support scheme that includes sustainability criteria to exclude Chinese manufacturers.

Chantal Kopf, German MP and speaker for the Greens in the German Bundestag, also defended the step on Thursday.

“It is clear that the German automotive industry is and should remain an export industry. And that is why it is understandable that there are great sensitivities about possible trade policy tensions and countermeasures,” Kopf said.

“At the same time, of course, if there is a suspicion that China is engaging in practices that distort competition and jeopardise Europe as a business location, then it is absolutely legitimate and even necessary for a corresponding investigation to be initiated,” she added.

 

Stakes Could Not Be Higher For This Year’s European Parliament Election – Analysis

The European Parliament. Photo by Diliff, Wikipedia Commons.

 April 13, 2024  

By Arab News

By Luke Coffey

Elections for the European Parliament will take place across the 27 EU member states in June. Campaigning has already begun and many are speculating on what the outcome may mean for the future of Europe.

A lot has changed since the last elections in 2019: the UK was still in the EU; unknown at the time, the world was a mere 10 months away from a life changing pandemic; Donald Trump was still in the White House; and the war in Ukraine was essentially a frozen conflict limited to local skirmishes in the east of the country.

How different it all is now. Brexit in January 2020 sparked a debate inside the union about the future of Europe. Joe Biden is US president and Trump is challenging him for the office. The COVID-19 pandemic is over, but its social and economic consequences are still being felt. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 changed the security situation in Europe in a way not seen since the Second World War.

The political landscape in Europe has changed too. In the past, European parliamentary elections have been fertile ground for fringe parties to make inroads into politics, and 2024 will be no exception: the polls show a significant rise from 2019 in the popularity of far-right and populist parties.

There are good reasons for this. Elections with low voter turnout often result in a better performance by non-traditional parties because their supporters tend to be more energized to vote. Voter turnout for European elections has been traditionally low. In fact, between 1979 and 2014, it decreased with every election. This changed in 2019 when turnout reached 50 percent, but that was still far below the 1979 peak of 62 percent.

Also, not only are many Europeans uninterested in voting in EU elections, but those who do participate often use the elections to exercise a protest vote against their incumbent national government. People rarely vote in European elections on issues directly pertaining to the EU, which helps fringe parties increase their share of the vote.

Regardless of which political bloc does the best at the polls in June, when the next European Parliament meets this summer there will be three pressing issues.

First and foremost will be the formation and approval of the next European Commission, the executive branch and “motor” of the EU which also renews every five years. In recent years the European Parliament has been given more of a say in the process.

In theory, the European Commission president should be initially selected based on the outcome of the elections in consultation with member states and the European Parliament. For example, the European People’s Party is currently predicted by the polls to win the most seats. If this turns out to be the case, then the next president should come from this bloc. Once that is approved, the member states consult the new president to nominate the other 26 commissioners. Then the Parliament votes to approve or reject the new commission. It cannot approve some commissioners and reject others. Unsurprisingly, this can all take months and be fraught with political difficulty.

The second pressing issue is Ukraine. Russia’s invasion was a wake-up call for Europe. In addition to individual member states acting unilaterally, the EU as an institution has provided significant support and aid to Ukraine. The European Parliament plays a role in approving such aid. As expected, much of it has been humanitarian and economic. However, for the first time, the EU has also authorized significant amounts of military aid too. The EU has even had a military training mission since late 2022 to prepare Ukrainian soldiers for the front lines. Previously, the idea of the EU doing any of this, especially for a non-EU country, would have been unthinkable.

Finally, how best to maintain US-EU relations during a possible second Trump administration will be a focus for the new parliament. While Trump had cordial relations with some individual European leaders during his first term, it is no secret that he did not get along well with the EU as an institution. Part of the problem was the very public, and at times childish, criticism of Trump by some senior EU officials. How the new parliament could best engage with a second Trump administration will be on the minds of many.

There will be no shortage of challenges for the next parliament, but expectations of what it can achieve should be curtailed. It is the only directly elected institution in the EU, but it is also the weakest. Over the years successive treaties have gradually shifted more power to the parliament, but it still lacks much of the power that national legislatures enjoy and take for granted.

Even so, these elections will lay down a marker for the future political direction of Europe. With the appointment of the next European Commission, the war in Ukraine and a possible second Trump administration on the table, the stakes are high.

• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

 

Japan’s Young Workers Head Abroad as Huge Wage Gap Persists

Momoka Yokoyama and Mia Glass, Bloomberg News

, Source: OECD Average Annual Wages

(Bloomberg) -- Tomoki Yoshihara starts his shift at a meat-processing plant in rural Australia at 5am, and earns three times more butchering lamb for almost 50 hours a week than he did as a member of Japan’s military. 

He’s among a record number of young Japanese granted working holiday visas in Australia last financial year, lured by higher wages that are made even more attractive by the weakening yen.

“From a salary perspective, it’s so much better here,” said the 25-year-old, who earns around A$5,000 ($3,300) a month after tax and lives in Goulburn, south of Sydney. “If you want to save money, Australia is the place to be.” 

With similar visa programs in the UK, Canada and New Zealand recovering post pandemic, the outflow of talent risks exacerbating Japan’s acute labor shortage. It’s also a sign that many younger Japanese aren’t buying into the nation’s economic optimism as it exits from decades of deflation. 

“Youth are questioning Japan’s economic outlook,” said Yuya Kikkawa,an economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute. “Living conditions are far tougher than the headline inflation figure suggests.”

The Bank of Japan finally scrapped the world’s last negative interest rate last month amid signs a virtuous cycle of wage gains is feeding demand-led inflation. But even after Japanese labor unions won their biggest wage hike in more than 30 years last month, there remains a notable gap in real wages with other advanced economies. 

In 2022, average annual wages in Japan were $41,509, compared with Australia’s $59,408 and $77,463 in the US, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A long-running trade off that put job security ahead of higher pay made more sense when prices were barely moving. Now with inflation at its strongest in decades, Japanese are starting to realize that years of static wages leave many of them budgeting each month before their next pay check.

“Japan’s wages hadn’t risen at all for 20 years while other countries were increasing theirs,” said Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at Itochu Research Institute. “With the yen getting weaker, the gap has become even bigger.”

Some 14,398 Japanese were granted working holiday visas in Australia in fiscal 2022-23, the highest number in Australian government data going back to 2001. It allows 18- to 30-year-olds (or 35 for some countries) to have a 12-month holiday and work in roles ranging from farming to hospitality, nursing, construction or office work to fund their trip. There’s also an option to extend as long as three years.

On top of the attractive wages, Australia has been a popular destination for Japanese due to its perceived safety, the similar time zone to Japan and recently relaxed rules that allow visa holders to work for more than six months for employers in certain industries.

Australia “always had a generous visa system but recent changes in lengthening the employment period made it even easier for Japanese to move there,” said Kotaro Sanada, a spokesman for the Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers. 

Aside from Australia, Canada issued 7,996 such visas in 2023 until October, while the UK issued 898 last year, according to host-country data. New Zealand approved 2,404 in fiscal 2022-23. Sanada anticipates numbers will rise further as rules are relaxed. He expects the UK to become the next popular destination after the annual visa quota for Japanese was raised to 6,000 from 1,500.

“More people are flying abroad with hopes of getting jobs,” said Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “If this trend continues, hiring younger workers in Japan could get even more difficult.”

Lili Takahashi, who flew to Australia this month shortly after graduating college, says she aims to spend two years on a working holiday and may apply for permanent residency and marry her girlfriend there. Australia, unlike Japan, allows same-sex marriages.

In the meantime, the higher wages in Australia — magnified by the yen at the weakest against the Australian dollar in almost a decade — will allow a better work-life balance.

“Japanese wages may be enough to survive,” said Takahashi, 22. “But it’s sad to think I wouldn’t have much money left for hobbies and hanging out with friends” if she stayed in Japan. 

The rise in working holiday visas is part of a broader trend of Japanese choosing to live abroad. Last year, the number of Japanese who were permanent residents overseas was the most since the survey started in 1989, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

That could worsen chronic labor shortages in Japan’s aging and graying society, where companies compete for increasingly scarce human resources. 

More than two-thirds of small- and medium-sized businesses say they face labor shortfalls, one survey found, and the number of bankruptcies attributed to manpower constraints reached a record high last year, according to a report by Teikoku Databank. Last year, the government allowed a record number of foreign workers into the country to alleviate the demographic struggles.

Itochu’s Takeda says the outflow of Japanese workers depends on the economic outlook.

“If the conditions for faster growth do take hold in Japan, maybe young people will see a reason to return,” he said.

--With assistance from Akemi Terukina and Emily Cadman.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Ralph Nader: Choosing Regular Food To Extend Longevity – Book Review

Screenshot"100 Life or Death Foods: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely," by Jean Carper

 April 13, 2024 

By Ralph Nader

It is not often that a best-selling author and correspondent on consumer, food, medical, and health issues comes up with an idea for all Eaters that nobody has thought of before. Jean Carper, with sixty years of experience, has done just that with her brand-new book provocatively titled “100 Life or Death Foods: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely.”

Based on scientific studies about the life-expectancy effect of different foods – positive and negative – (many cited in the book’s Appendix and available at the National Institutes of Health Library of Medicine). Carper writes: “The evidence is stunningly clear that people who eat ‘optimal’ diets can slow their aging process and add years to their lives.”

Carper reports that researchers have found common legumes (beans, peas, soybeans), whole grains, and nuts, extend longevity, while refined grains (white bread), sugar-sweetened beverages, heavy salt use, and red and processed meats can shorten one’s life.

Carper’s book is instantly usable because she efficiently runs through specific foods. For example, studies give high life-extension marks to apples, bananas, beets, berries, cabbage, carrots, hot chili peppers, coffee, eggplant, fermented food (pickles and sauerkraut), garlic grapes and raisins, green leafy veggies, herbs and spices, kale, oats, olives and olive oil, brown rice, tea, tomatoes, vinegar, yogurt and whole grain cereals.

On the life-shortening side, she names alcoholic beverages, candy, diet sodas, cured meats (bacon, hot dogs), fried foods, ice cream, fruit juices (stripped of fiber and called “high-calorie sugar water”) ultra-processed foods, including those labeled with high amounts of sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn syrup, and refined sugary cereals that corporate hucksters advertise to youngsters.

In addition to specific foods, Carper explains why the Mediterranean Diet is so superior to the corporate Western Diet. She also praises the Dash Diet (similar to the Mediterranean Diet) which she reports as a “famous blood pressure downer.” She advocates getting your protein more from plants than from animals.

Much of the “bad food” cited in “100 Life or Death Foods” is high on the list of the corporate marketeers who exploit “taste and texture” – meaning sugar, salt, and fats – to seduce children at a young age for a lifetime of ingesting junk food and junk drink. Their advertising is relentless, with heavy psychological manipulation. Fast food companies know from their own research the damage they have been doing to the health of their customers. That is why they fill their ads with lies and deceptions and have focused promotions on “kiddy TV,” over the decades.

The natural foods grown locally for generations have been mostly displaced by pesticide-heavy factory farms that fuel processed corporate diets.

This book is a guide for all eaters to work their way back to unprocessed natural foods, with organic-certified labels. These foods have another advantage – they frequently come in at lower prices than steaks, chops, and highly processed foods, including those from fancy bakeries.

Carper recognizes, of course, that many factors influence life expectancy, such as genetics, exercise, lifestyles, smoking, pollution, alcohol abuse, and, of course, endemic poverty. Inadequate healthcare and health insurance also contribute to shortened life expectancies. However, food is something people can have personal control over without asking the permission of higher authorities.

Some people are in a position to grow their own vegetables and fruits and share the harvest with neighbors. Now you have what Carper calls “a unique, up to date, one stop guide to more than 100 common foods, beverages and popular diets, revealing whether they prolong health and life or accelerate aging and death.”

The guide works for all ages as well. It will show you that nutritious and delicious food prepared with all kinds of simple recipes can be healthy and tasty. (See, 100 Life or Death Foods: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely, December 9, 2023).

Ralph Nader is a politician, activist and the author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!, a novel. In his career as consumer advocate he founded many organizations including the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Center, the Pension Rights Center, the Project for Corporate Responsibility and The Multinational Monitor (a monthly magazine).

Is The Russian Federation Set To Fall Apart On Its Own? – OpEd

 April 13, 2024  

By Paul Goble

The Congress of the League of Free Nations which took place in Estonia April 6-7 provided not only many insights about the direction such groups are now moving (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/04/conference-in-estonia-brings-together.html) but also an occasion to reflect about some larger issues as well.

A commentary by the IdelReal portal about the meeting (idelreal.org/a/32897728.html) notes that many who took part in the meeting assume that Russia is about to “fall apart on its own” and that their task is less to struggle for that outcome than to to be prepared to take advantage of that situation once it occurs.

Indeed, in the minds of many such people, especially those who are now forced to live abroad, there is little they can do otherwise. But one consequence of that they spend a disproportionate amount of time drawing borders on maps and talking about not the immediate tasks but about a much-desired future that will occur only after some unspecified interval.

On the one hand, such attitudes give their discussions a certain air of unreality that leads most outsiders to dismiss them and their notions as irrelevant. And on the other, they can in at least some cases promote a kind of passivity among those who want such futures, a self-serving feeling that they will be benefit from changes they can’t or at least aren’t working to promote. 

But even more than that, such views reflect a widespread attitude that the future of Russia will be like that of the Soviet Union in 1991, a collapse that in the minds of many happened somehow naturally rather than as the result of the activism of ethnic and regional elites and political struggles at the top.

Because the collapse of the USSR was so quick and at least for the first few years relatively peaceful, many people both from Russia and the West assume that the same pattern will hold in the future even though the demographics, politics, and attitudes of outside players have changed significantly.

That Russia faces serious even existential problems and that Vladimir Putin’s policies have put that country on course to disintegrate is certainly true; but when and even if things will go all the way along that road and whether they will do so quickly or only after a very long interval are issues that should be confronted and then acted upon.

The author of these lines last year offered a discussion of these issues in which I suggested that the approaching end of Russia is far more likely to resemble what happened in 1918 than what happened in 1991 (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/04/approaching-end-of-todays-russia-more.html; a Russian translation is available at region.expert/1918-1991/).

In that presentation, I argued that the coming collapse is likely to be far more immediately bloody than was 1991 and far more likely to result in the re-assembly of more parts of the empire under a Moscow-centric state even more brutal than the one Putin embodies and that the role of outsiders in this process now as in 1918 may paradoxically lead to that outcome.

My remarks last year were just one effort to push the discussion into more fruitful directions, and it is my hope that both those who live under Moscow’s yoke and those who would like to see that yoke smashed will focus on some major questions that unfortunately in my view are not being discussed. 

Among these, two are overwhelmingly important at the present time. For activists in or from the regions and republics of the current Russian Federation, the critical issues are simple: What should they be doing now and in the future to promote the demise of the Muscovite state? And what can they do to avoid taking steps that are counterproductive?

And for those abroad who either recognize that the continued existence of a Putinist Russian Federation is an existential threat to the West and/or want to see a better life for the peoples on the current territory, the questions are even greater: What should they be doing now to promote those ends? And how can they avoid doing so in ways that subvert their own ends?

'I was born intersex and doctors tried to erase me. It's important to speak out'

Raven van Dorst is the singer and a musician with the Dutch rock-metal band Dool, and a TV personality in the Netherlands. After discovering in their 20s that they had been born intersex, van Dorst is now singing about the theme of identity in Dool's upcoming album.

Gemma Peplow
Culture and entertainment reporter 

SKY NEWS

@gemmapeplow
Saturday 13 April 2024 

Dool singer Raven van Dorst. Pic: David Fitt

For years through childhood and early adulthood, Raven van Dorst felt different. The response evoked in others was always 'too': too loud, too wild, too aggressive, too messy.

It wasn't until a visit to a doctor, aged in their early 20s, that it all fell into place. Having struggled to fit in as a little girl, then a young woman, the medic confirmed van Dorst had been born intersex, with aspects of both male and female sex characteristics, and operated on as a baby. It was something their parents had never spoken about.

"I never felt like a girl," they say now. "I never felt like a boy either. I didn't know what to feel, what to think."

The doctor's explanation made sense of years of frustration. I got a bit of a malfunctioning in my head, but all of a sudden, a lot became clear. It was kind of a relief... At the same time, I also got very sad. I felt disconnected to my family for a while until I could find the courage and the energy to talk to them about it."

Now aged 39, van Dorst is a rock musician and presenter, a judge on Drag Race Holland and a well known TV personality in the Netherlands. In 2021, they made the decision to change their name and go by they/ them pronouns. Later this month, their rock-metal band Dool will release third album The Shape Of Fluidity, which tackles the themes of gender and identity in today's changing world.

While coming to terms with who they are and their past has not been easy, the singer says they want to speak out about their experiences to anyone who might be struggling.

"When I was younger, I didn't know anything about myself. I thought I was a lesbian, and even that was hard back then. I was desperately trying to find like-minded people and thought they didn't exist. I was lonely and misunderstood and if I had someone back then who could show me the way, I would [have been] really grateful for that."

'They called it normalising'

Image:Pic: Mark Nolte

Following the discovery about their birth, they were told they had been operated on to remove male sex characteristics, at the age of about nine months. "My parents didn't know what to do with the information," van Dorst says. "It was in '84, there was no Google.

"They trusted the doctor, [who] said they had to pick a gender, a biological sex, and 'adjust' - mutilate, I feel. They called that 'normalising' back in the day, you 'normalise' an intersex child and pick a sex, basically. And that's what they did to me. I got mutilated as a baby.

"My parents were advised never to talk about it with me and everything will be fine, we'll give the child hormones when they're reaching puberty, stuff like that. But of course, that didn't work because I always felt different. And people told me I was different."

Teachers would say not to behave like a boy. "But I'm not a girl, you know? I felt that it wasn't me. I lived my whole youth like that."

Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to adopt a resolution designed to protect the rights of intersex people, the first initiative of its kind and described as a landmark moment by campaigners.

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Intersex is a general term for variation within a person's sex traits, including genitals or internal sex organs, hormones or chromosomes, and the UN estimates that up to 1.7% of babies are born with some form of intersex characteristics.

Many intersex adults exposed to such surgery as children can suffer significant physical and mental suffering, the UN says, including as a result of extensive and painful scarring. Like van Dorst, many also feel they have been forced into sex and gender categories that do not fit.

For van Dorst, it was changing their name and pronouns that made them feel truly liberated. "I felt like I was living the lie the doctors forced me in. They put me in this female straitjacket from which I have been trying to get out of... It took me another couple of years to realise that if I'm not changing my name or changing my pronouns, nothing's going to change."

Van Dorst changed details on their passport and on the birth papers that claimed they were born a girl. "Reclaiming my birthright, basically. They tried to erase me from f****** history, erase my nature from history. It's not right."

'It's okay to be non-conforming'

Dool will play in the UK later this year. Pic: David Fitt

The name Dool is derived from the Dutch word for wandering, and the singer says the upcoming album is about broader themes of identity, personal to all the bandmates. But their story is inevitably intertwined. The song Venus In Flames deals with "shaking off societal expectations, obliterating gender roles", while Hermagorgon features "gorgon", the Greek word for female monsters.

"I feel that those doctors, when I was born and they were standing at my cradle, they saw a little monster. They saw a monster, and they tried to fix it. I'm singing, you can't fix me. I'd rather be your f****** monster than live the lie you've made for me."

Van Dorst says they sought solace in music to escape bullying in childhood, "for being too boyish, too ugly", and recalls hearing Nirvana for the first time.

"When I was younger, I would dress up like Kurt Cobain, tear up my trousers, dye my hair green and have a mohawk or whatever. I discovered very soon that if you do that on the streets, people make fun of you. But if you go on stage, people think you're cool. A freak on the streets, but a hero on the stage."

As the debate around transgender rights continues, The Shape Of Fluidity aims to show how identity can change, with artwork featuring a flag made out of ice.

The cover of The Shape Of Fluidity features a flag made of icy water

"It feels that ever since COVID, the world is going a little bit mad," says van Dorst. "Polarisation is a really big issue, misinformation is a really big issue, you don't know what you can believe. Everything that comes through your phone... it's so much, more than a human brain can handle, in a way.

"This is something we try to address on the album. On the cover, you see a flag, a symbol of identity. You have the UK flag, you can say, this is my country, or there's a rainbow flag - this is my community - or the flag of your favourite football club. It appeals to a certain part of your identity. And this flag of ours is a changing element, it can evaporate, it can freeze, it can fall from the sky.

"That is exactly what we as a band try to express: it's okay to be non-conforming and to change and to shape yourself. You don't have to be a finished and polished person all the time. You can have doubts... I hope it appeals to soul-searching people like us."

Our interview follows the recent comments made by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who dared police to arrest her over legislation that came into force in Scotland earlier this month.

The new measures aim tackle harm caused by hatred and prejudice, extending protections from abusive behaviour to people on grounds including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Critics such as Rowling claim the legislation could stifle free speech - and fails to extend these protections to women. The author has been widely condemned in recent years for her views on transgender rights.

Van Dorst says they believe in free speech and understand some of Rowling's points, but that her arguments are "dangerous".

"I think people can say whatever the f*** they want, but they should expect a reply, too. She's acting as if she's being silenced but no one is silencing her.

"I really do get her points. She wants to protect female rights and they always have been under fire. But she must understand what the LGBT and trans community is going through. I mean, women have been going through that for centuries as well. She should be an ally, in my opinion, not an enemy.

"There should also be space for others, just like there's now more space for women than there's been in the centuries before. It's dangerous and it's kind of hateful."

For Dool, van Dorst hopes the music can offer comfort, support, a friend, even, to anyone struggling.

"It's been a long process, a hard process, I'm not going to lie. I don't feel like a victim or anything, but it hasn't been easy.

"Ever since I came out, I've had so much response from kids and parents and people in general fighting with gender issues. Struggling with a lot of stuff, and they say [things like], 'Your story helped me so much because now I can talk to my grandmother, who really likes you on television and thinks you're really funny. Now I can say, grandma, I kind of feel like Raven does'.

"I never aimed for that. I just basically wanted to rid myself of the straitjacket I was put in. But at the same time, accidentally, it helped a lot of people. Now I understand that it's important to speak a little louder about this - especially with all the violent voices that are arising all around us at the moment."

The Shape Of Fluidity is released on 19 April and Dool will perform at Damnation Festival in Manchester in November

Guilty plea by leader of polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border is at risk of being thrown out

This photo shows Hildale, Utah, sitting at the base of Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz., in the foreground, Dec. 16, 2014. The guilty plea of Samuel Bateman, the leader of a polygamous sect in the Colorado City-Hildale area who is accused in a scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children, is at risk of being thrown out due to an unmet condition of his plea deal that hinged on whether other charged in the case also would plead guilty. Prosecutors informed the court, Thursday, April 11, 2024, that two other men charged in the case had rejected plea offers.

 (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)


By The Associated Press
Posted April 12, 2024

PHOENIX (AP) — A guilty plea by the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border is at risk of being thrown out due to an unmet condition of his deal that hinged on whether others charged in the case also would plead guilty.

Under the terms of Samuel Bateman’s deal, prosecutors can — but aren’t required to — withdraw his guilty plea, after two other men charged in the case rejected plea offers and are now headed to trial.

Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet who took more than 20 wives, including 10 girls under age 18, pleaded guilty this month to charges of kidnapping and conspiring to transport underage girls across state lines in what authorities say was a yearslong scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix declined on Friday to say whether it will withdraw Bateman’s plea.

“We have yet to see it. It’s not on the docket,” Bateman’s attorney, Myles Schneider, said when asked about the matter. He declined to comment further.

Hearings are scheduled Monday and Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich over the offers that were rejected by Bateman’s co-defendants.

Bateman’s plea agreement recommends a prison sentence of 20 to 50 years, though one of his convictions carries a possible maximum sentence of life.

In his plea, Bateman, 48, acknowledged taking underage brides, having sex activity with them and arranging group sex, sometimes involving child brides.

Authorities say Bateman created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which historically has been based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

He and his followers practice polygamy, a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it. Bateman and his followers believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.



The Associated Press