TRANSPHOBIA KILLS

Idaho's ban on youth gender-affirming care has families desperately scrambling for solutions

CLAIRE RUSH
Updated Tue, April 16, 2024 

FILE - The Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho, is seen on June 13, 2019. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Monday, April 15, 2024, allows the state to put in place a 2023 law that subjects physicians to up to 10 years in prison if they provide hormones, puberty blockers or other gender-affirming care to people under age 18. A federal judge in Idaho had previously blocked the law in its entirety. (AP Photo/Keith Ridler, File)More


Forced to hide her true self, Joe Horras’ transgender daughter struggled with depression and anxiety until three years ago, when she began to take medication to block the onset of puberty. The gender-affirming treatment helped the now-16-year-old find happiness again, her father said.

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on such care for minors could jeopardize her wellbeing once again. Horras is scrambling to figure out next steps and is considering leaving Idaho, where he's lived his whole life, to move to another state.

"It would be devastating for her," Horras, who lives in Boise, told The Associated Press. “If she doesn’t have access to that, it will damage her mental health."


Horras is among the Idaho parents desperate to find solutions after their trans children lost access to the gender-affirming care they were receiving. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision allows the state to put in place a 2023 law that subjects physicians to up to 10 years in prison if they provide hormones, puberty blockers or other gender-affirming care to people under age 18. A federal judge in Idaho had previously blocked the law in its entirety.

The ruling will hold while lawsuits against the law proceed through the lower courts, although the two transgender teens who sued to challenge the law will still be able to obtain care.

At least 24 states have adopted bans on gender-affirming care for minors in recent years, and most of them face legal challenges. Twenty other states are currently enforcing the bans.

Monday’s ruling was the first time the U.S. Supreme Court waded into the issue. The court’s 6-3 ruling steered clear of whether the ban itself is constitutional. Instead, the justices went deep into whether it’s appropriate to put enforcement of a law on hold for everyone, or just those who sue over it, while it works its way through the courts.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch said “lower courts would be wise to take heed” and limit use of “universal injunctions” blocking all enforcement of laws that face legal challenges. In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not decide the fate of those actions without reading legal briefs and hearing arguments on the issue.

Rights groups in Idaho are supporting families to make sure they're aware the measure has taken effect. The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho said it plans to hold a virtual event over Zoom with licensed counselors and legal experts to help people process the shock and answer any questions they may have about the law.

“Yesterday was really just an outpouring of fear, questions, people trying to figure out how this is going to affect them personally,” said Jenna Damron, the group's advocacy fellow. “Getting information out quickly that is accurate is kind of our first priority.”

Paul Southwick, legal director for ACLU of Idaho, said the group wants families to know what their options are.

“Gender-affirming medical care is now immediately illegal for minors in the state of Idaho. However, care remains legal for adults, and it’s also legal for minors to seek gender-affirming medical care out of state,” he said.

In Boise, Horras' 16-year-old daughter wears an estrogen patch and receives estrogen injections every six months. Her last shot was in December and Horras now has two months to find a new out-of-state provider who can continue administering the medication. The situation has left him feeling scared, he said, and angry toward the state politicians who passed the law last year.

“It's cruel,” he said.

Advocates, meanwhile, worry that lower-income families won't be able to afford to travel across state lines for care. Arya Shae Walker, a transgender man and activist in the small city of Twin Falls in rural southern Idaho, said he was concerned that people would alter the doses of their current prescriptions in order to make them last longer. His advocacy group has already taken down information on its website on gender-affirming care providers for young people in the area out of concern of potential legal consequences.

The broader issue of bans on gender-affirming care for minors could eventually be before the U.S. Supreme Court again. Last year, a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in Arkansas was shot down by a federal judge, while those in Kentucky and Tennessee were allowed to be enforced by an appeals court after being put on hold by lower-court judges. Montana’s law is not being enforced because of a ruling from a state judge.

Laws barring transgender youth from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity are also being challenged across the country. An appeals court on Tuesday ruled that West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. Hours later, an Ohio law that bars transgender girls from girls scholastic sports competitions was put on hold by a judge. Set to take effect next week, the law also bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Those who support the bans say they want to protect children and have concerns about the treatments themselves.

Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. However, England is limiting the ability of people younger than 16 to begin a medical gender transition.

The National Health Service England recently cemented a policy first issued on an interim basis almost a year ago that sets a minimum age at which puberty blockers can be started, along with other requirements. NHS England says there is not enough evidence about their long-term effects, including “sexual, cognitive or broader developmental outcomes.”

Medical professionals define gender dysphoria as psychological distress experienced by those whose gender expression does not match their gender identity. Experts say gender-affirming therapy can lead to lower rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among transgender people.

Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln, executive director of Idaho-based advocacy group Add The Words, said she's anticipating “a pretty horrendous ripple effect.” But seeing her community uniting in support has given her a glimmer of hope.

“There are people coming together, and it’s so important, for especially our youth, to feel seen and affirmed as they are," she said.

Southwick, the legal director of ACLU of Idaho, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hold a hearing this summer on its lawsuit challenging the law.

___

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed.

Taiwan Moves to Boost Its Global Standing with Chip Diplomacy

Just over the past week, the National Science and Technology Council announced two tech deals. It signed a science, technology and innovation arrangement with Canada while it will set up an office in Prague to help foster Czech chip design engineers.

Jane Lanhee Lee

Wed, Apr 17, 2024,


(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan is ramping up international cooperation deals with countries like Canada and France in recent months as it parlays its role as the world’s chip kingpin to boost its global standing.

Just over the past week, the National Science and Technology Council announced two tech deals. It signed a science, technology and innovation arrangement with Canada to jointly grow talent training, while it will set up an office in Prague to help foster Czech chip design engineers.

Taipei’s chip diplomacy drive is its latest effort to break through China’s stern opposition to any formal exchanges with other nations and global powers. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and it has ratcheted up military threats against the island of 23 million after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan as US House speaker in August 2022.

“The situation of Taiwan was very difficult in the past, but in recent years we’re getting better and better because a lot of countries discover the existence of Taiwan mostly because of semiconductors,” NSTC Minister Wu Tsung-Tsong said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

The island, separated from China by the 180-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait, has become a powerhouse of advanced electronics engineering, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rising to become Asia’s most valuable company. TSMC and a coterie of local chipmaking suppliers have carved out an indispensable role in the global electronics supply chain, and other nations have begun to offer subsidies to get them to export some of that knowhow and production overseas. Japan recently completed a TSMC factory in Kumamoto, while the US authorized $11.6 billion in grants and loans for an ambitious TSMC project in Arizona.

France and Germany last year signed science and technology cooperation agreements with Taiwan. France said it was cooperating in areas of research including quantum computing, artificial intelligence and green industries. Taiwan started the string of international pacts with the US, its key security and trade partner, in late 2020. Wu said similar arrangements with other countries are coming soon. Germany has also joined the US and Japan in pursuing plans for a TSMC facility within its borders.

Both the Czech Republic and France are also looking to leverage TSMC’s growing presence in Europe to their advantage. David Steinke, the top Czech representative in Taipei, has been busy convincing TSMC suppliers to set up operations in his country, while his French peer Franck Paris has been pushing for more collaboration between Taiwan and CEA-Leti, a top chip research institute in Grenoble.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Why does voting last six weeks in India’s general election?

The size of the country and its electorate is the chief reason why the general election takes so long.

Reuters Published April 17, 2024 

India is set to begin the world’s largest general elections on Friday, held in terrain sweeping from the icy Himalayas to humid jungles, with nearly a billion people eligible to choose 543 members of the lower house of parliament.

Opinion polls suggest an easy victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party when the results are announced on June 4. But more than six weeks will elapse from the time the first vote is cast on April 19 until it is counted.

Here is why the exercise takes so long.
Number of days

The election cycle sprawls over 44 days, long even by India’s standards, as the 2019 vote lasted 39 days.

This year’s elections will be India’s second longest after the first exercise following independence in 1947 from colonial ruler Britain, which ran for four months from October 25, 1951 to February 21, 1952.

There are seven voting days this year, with Friday’s first phase seeing people cast ballots for 102 constituencies nationwide.

The last polling date is June 1, covering 57 seats. All votes will be counted together on June 4.
Voter numbers

The size of the country and its electorate is the chief reason why the general election takes so long.

India’s eligible voters, at 968.6 million, number more than twice the European Union’s population of 448m. The figure has grown eight per cent since the 2019 elections.

With an estimated population of more than 1.4 billion, India overtook China last year as the world’s most populous country.
Geographical spread

Some of India’s 28 states and eight federally governed territories complete voting in just one phase, but in larger states, some constituencies vote on different dates.

For example, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, with a population of more than 230m and 80 members of parliament — more than any other state — will vote in parts in every phase.

The Election Commission manages this massive exercise by carving out smaller voting boroughs, limiting each polling station to no more than 1,500 registered voters.

That requires the watchdog to set up 1.05m polling stations this year, in locations such as government buildings and schools closest to the most voters.

They are sited in terrain ranging from icy Himalayan heights in the north to dense central Indian jungles and remote deserts in the western state of Rajasthan.
Security arrangements

Incidents of violence and vote-rigging have marred India’s election history, but there are drastically fewer instances today.

Nevertheless, to ensure the elections are free, fair and held without fear, more than 300,000 federal security personnel back up the police forces controlled by state governments.

The intervals between voting allow these personnel time to move around the country, usually by rail. They guard election officials taking voting machines to polling stations and keep the devices secure until counting day, to maintain the integrity of the elections.

Header image: A worker fixes a flag of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on a hoarding prior to the public meeting of election candidate and Minister of Education Brijmohan Agrawal in Raipur on April 15. — AFP

PAKISTAN
Amid ban, X says working with govt to ‘understand concerns’

Dawn.com Published April 18, 2024

A man uses the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on his phone at a market in Islamabad on April 17. — AFP

Social media platform X, which has been disrupted in Pakistan since February, has said that it continues to work with the government to “understand their concerns”.

The brief statement was made by X’s Global Government Affairs late on Wednesday night, the first comments since the site was disrupted.




Access to X has been disrupted since February 17, when former Rawal­pindi commissioner Liaquat Chattha accused the chief election commissioner and chief justice of Pakistan of being involved in rigging the February 8 general elections.

Rights bodies and journalists’ organisations have condemned the muzzling of social media, while internet service providers have also lamented losses due to disruptions. The United States had also called on Pakistan to lift restrictions on social media platforms.

In March, the interior ministry had informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that the social media platform was blocked pending further orders on the reports of intelligence agencies.

The interior ministry’s admission came days after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar acknowledged that X was “already banned” when the new government took over the reins from the caretaker set-up, saying there was no official notification for the clampdown.

On Wednesday, the SHC directed the interior ministry to either justify the shutdown of X or rescind its Feb 17 letter directing the telecom regulator to ban the site.

“The SHC has given the government one week to withdraw the letter, failing which, on the next date, they will pass appropriate orders,” Abdul Moiz Jaferii, a lawyer challenging the ban, told AFP.

Meanwhile, the ministry also submitted a detailed report before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), insisting that the site was banned “in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order, and preserving the integrity of our nation”.

The report, submitted before IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, said the social media platform was not registered in Pakistan nor was it under any obligation to comply with Pakistani laws.

It claimed that X had “not complied with the requests of Pakistani authorities” after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s cybercrime wing forwarded numerous requests via the Pakistan Telecommun­ication Authority (PTA) to take “significant action to block accounts involved in a defamatory campaign against the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan”.

Noting that the FIA’s wing had initiated several FIRs against hundreds of Twitter accounts, the interior ministry asserted that the “lack of cooperation from Twitter/X authorities in addressing content that violates Pakistani laws and values further justifies the need for regulatory measures, including the temporary ban”.

“The government of Pakistan has no alternative but to temporarily block access/suspend the operation of this platform within Pakistan,” it said.

The report said the interior ministry had on Feb 17 asked for blocking of X immediately till further orders on the reports of intelligence agencies.

“The decision to impose a ban on Twitter/X in Pakistan was made in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order, and preserving the integrity of our nation,” it contended, adding that the decision was taken after considering “various confidential reports received from intelligence and security agencies of Pakistan”.

It emphasised that “hostile elements operating on Twitter/X have nefarious intentions to create an environment of chaos and instability, with the ultimate goal of destabilising the country and plunging it into some form of anarchy”.

“The ban on Twitter serves as a necessary step to disrupt the activities of these elements and prevent them from achieving their destructive objectives,” the report said.

It noted that X was neither registered in Pakistan nor had it signed an agreement to abide by local laws. It said the platform’s “failure to establish a legal presence or engage in meaningful cooperation with Pakistani authorities underscores the need for regulatory measures to ensure accountability and adherence to national laws”.

“The ban on Twitter/X serves as a necessary step to address this regulatory vacuum and compel the platform to respect the sovereignty and legal jurisdiction of Pakistan,” the interior ministry added.

It said social media platforms were extensively used to propagate extremist ideologies and fake information, adding that some miscreants were using social media as a tool to create a law and order situation and destabilise Pakistan.

It said the ban on X was not to restrict access to information but to streamline the use of social media platforms, and the interior ministry was under obligation to protect citizens’ rights and national interests.

It pointed out that TikTok was also banned earlier and was only restored after it agreed to abide by the law of the land.

Additional input from AFP

China accuses US of hypocrisy over Biden’s ‘xenophobic’ claims

AFP Published April 18, 2024 

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks at United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 17. — Reuters

Beijing on Thursday accused the United States of hypocrisy in response to accusations by President Joe Biden that China is “xenophobic” and “cheating” on trade.

“I would like to ask him: are you talking about China or the US itself?” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said when asked about the comments.

In a speech on Wednesday to union members, Biden called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing it of cheating as he courted blue-collar voters on an election campaign trip to the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

“They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” the 81-year-old Biden said to cheers at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers union in Pittsburgh.

The Democrat said Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidising them so heavily”.

Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminium if Beijing was confirmed to be using anti-competitive practices.

“They’re xenophobic,” he added. “They’ve got real problems. I’m not looking for a fight with China, I’m looking for competition — but fair competition.”




Beijing and Washington have clashed in recent years on flashpoint issues from technology and trade to human rights as well as over the self-ruled island of Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

Relations have stabilised somewhat since Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in November for talks that both sides described as a qualified success.

The two held a follow-up telephone call this month, where they clashed over US trade restrictions on technology and on Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

But they also agreed that two high-level US officials would soon travel to China — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited last week, with top diplomat Antony Blinken due in Beijing soon.

The US also this week announced a probe into China’s trade practices in the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors.

China’s commerce ministry hit back, saying the probe was “full of false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities as harming US national security and corporate interests, and blaming China for its own industrial problems”.

US to Investigate China's Shipbuilding as Biden Calls for New Steel Tariffs

China and CSSC have emerged as the world's leading shipbuilders (CSSC)

PUBLISHED APR 17, 2024 12:41 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

President Joe Biden and the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed today that they are initiating an investigation into China’s shipbuilding practices. News of the investigation comes as President Biden and the White House will tell steelworkers that they are also calling for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. He is also promising to block efforts by China and others to circumvent U.S. restrictions by importing products through Mexico.

The White House said the administration recognizes the growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition. While highlighting that the U.S. trade deficit with China is the lowest it has been in a decade, the administration is also accusing China of unfair competition saying China is undercutting U.S. products with artificially lower-priced alternatives. They cite the critical nature of steel in U.S. commercial and naval shipbuilding calling steel the backbone of the American economy. 

The concerns over China subsidies and state control of the shipbuilding industry were outlined in a petition to the U.S. Trade Representative from five labor unions. Filed in March, the unions formally requested an investigation into Chinese acts, policies, and practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.

“The petition presents serious and concerning allegations of [China’s] longstanding efforts to dominate the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, cataloging the PRC’s use of unfair, non-market policies and practices to achieve those goals,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. The announcement marks the start of a process of comments and hearings into China’s shipbuilding programs and could see tariffs imposed on Chinese-built ships calling at U.S. ports.

Administration officials are saying that China accounts for more than half the world’s steel exports. They said the Chinese have created overcapacity with non-market investments in the steel and aluminum industries.

“The steel and aluminum industries face a significant challenge from Chinese exports which are among the most emissions-intensive products in the world,” the White House wrote in its briefing document. It accuses China of “distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition.”

China’s commerce ministry responded immediately to the accusations saying the initiative was “full of false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities.” They repeated the Chinese position that the U.S. administration is playing the “China card” for its political aspirations. 

The White House cites over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products already imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. President Biden said he was not seeking a trade war, but said steps would be taken against countries and importers that flood the market with cheap products.

President Biden said they would also be working with Mexico to jointly prevent China and other countries from evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum by importing products into the United States from Mexico. 

WIDE ANGLE:THE COLOURS OF DUNE

Is Dune an example of a white saviour narrative — or a critique of it?

Cherine Fahd 

DAWN

Published April 14, 2024

Courtesy Warner Bros

Science-fiction film as a genre allows us to encounter hypothetical worlds in which to understand our own.

These films often present utopian and dystopian worlds, exploring themes of nationalism and heroism. They often include a strong, white, male lead who heroically rescues the poor and the good from the stranglehold of authoritarianism. Therefore, historically, science fiction has had mass appeal for political zealots from the far left to the alt-right.

In Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024), however, science fiction becomes a genre to subvert colonial and patriarchal narratives of the white, masculine saviour.

What is a ‘white saviour’?


Elements of a white saviour narrative are pervasive in Villeneuve’s first Dune film (2021), which hints at — but doesn’t commit to — subverting this narrative. But before we get into the details, it helps to understand what the “white saviour complex” is.

Is Dune an example of a white saviour narrative — or a critique of it?

This is, to put it simply, the idea that a white person or people are needed to help or “save” people of colour from their circumstances.

White saviourism, also called the white “messiah complex”, is born of a legacy of colonialism, and often performed in a paternalistic or self-serving way. For decades, we’ve seen this narrative play out in science-fiction films, from the Star Wars franchise to Avatar (2009).

The set-up

Signs of white saviourism in the first Dune film are recognisable in the male protagonist, Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet. Paul is destined for messianic status in both films, which have so far stayed close to the plot line of Frank Herbert’s book series of the same name.

However, Chalamet’s casting as a white saviour is complicated by his physicality. In both demeanour and appearance, Paul Atreides contradicts the traditional masculinity of science-fiction heroes, with his fine features, elfin stature and mummy’s boy status.

The first film follows the House of Atreides as it travels to the distant planet, Arrakis, to take charge of the scarce and precious spice production which their future wealth, power and survival depend on.

The Indigenous inhabitants of Arrakis, the Fremen, are portrayed as being deeply connected to the desert environment. They find innovative ways to survive in the extreme weather conditions, yet are considered savage by the aristocratic characters in the film. They’re even referred to as “rats” by the film’s villainous, luminously white, oil-bathing leader, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

This reflects a common criticism of the white saviour complex: it perpetuates stereotypes about the Indigenous people being “helped”, while ignoring their strengths and agency.

Dune as a colonial critique

It’s tempting to consider Dune’s narrative, settings and costume design as an appropriation of Islamic and Arab culture. For example, there are scenes where the Fremen are dressed in Bedouin clothing, worshipping behind an Islamic architectural screen in ways that are reminiscent of Muslim prayers at a mosque.

The cinematography and light also appear to refer to 19th-century paintings by Jean-Léon Gérôme, much of which are of Islamic subjects. Such appropriations aren’t unique to Dune; the landscape of Arrakis itself is reminiscent of Tatooine, the desert planet where much of the action takes place in the original Star Wars trilogy.

While the intention may be to create otherworldly settings, the portrayal of a desert land often relies on stereotypical tropes of “exoticness” associated with the Middle East, as well as the use of Arabic-sounding names for characters and locations.

Nonetheless, there is a surprising critique of colonialist fantasy in Dune:Part Two, which primarily takes place through changes between the script and the book. These changes enable us to see the white saviour from the perspective of Chani (played by Zendaya), Paul’s Fremen love interest.

In the book, Chani is a supporting character who is merely there to encourage and promote Paul’s ascendancy. She is also a white person who is bound to Paul through having his children. In the film, Chani’s character has been adapted to provide a critical counterpoint.

This reveals Villeneuve’s directorial intention in reframing the book to account for the postcolonial and feminist perspectives of the 21st century. In many ways, Dune: Part Two can be read through the post-colonial perspective of late Palestinian-American writer Edward Said.

In his 1978 book Orientalism, a founding text of post-colonialism, Said argued against the West’s distorted image of the East or the Orient as exotic, backward, uncivilised and sometimes dangerous.

He expressed that Western scholars, artists and politicians use Orientalism as a pervasive framework to depict the East as the “Other”. This reinforces a binary opposition between the West as rational, developed and superior and the East as irrational, undeveloped and inferior.

While we see this play out in both Dune films’ visual tropes, a more nuanced message is delivered through the character of Chani.

Paul through Chani’s eyes

Chani is a woman of colour who is sceptical of Paul’s mother’s intentions for him as leader. She also refuses to believe in the prophecy of a saviour, as is held by some Fremen.

Ultimately, the film’s postcolonial and feminist leanings are made explicit in the final scenes. Through careful cinematography and editing, the audience is encouraged to see, from Chani’s perspective, the ways in which Paul is being manipulated.

When Paul avenges the death of his father and takes control of the empire, promising to marry the empress — despite having declared his enduring love for Chani — we encounter this betrayal from Chani’s standpoint.

The scenes tend to switch back to her disappointment as the witness. As viewers, we are not encouraged to celebrate Paul’s rise to messiah. Rather, we mourn the loss of his moral conscience with Chani. And this point is affirmed when we see Chani surfing the worm alone in the final scenes.

As a woman of colour who is both independent, powerful and resistant to the white saviour narrative, Chani activates the idea of looking at cinema from a non-white vantage point. She leads us to be critical of both colonial and patriarchal narratives.

Where will this lead? We will have to find out in the next film.

The writer is an Associate Professor of Visual Communications at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia

Republished from The Conversation

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 14th, 2024

Finnish recipe

Mohammad Ali Babakhel 

DAWN

Published April 16, 2024 

The writer is the author of Pakistan: In Between Extremism and Peace.


FINLAND has been ranked as the wor­ld’s happiest country for the seventh strai­ght year. It is also the 13th safest in the world. In the Global Terrorism Index, it is ranked 89th, placing it at the bottom of the list. Yet, even though it is one of the safest countries, preventing violent extre­mism (VE) is one of Finland’s top priorities.

Finland’s first National Action Plan (NAP) to prevent VE was drafted in 2012, the second version in 2016. Its implementation was assessed by an external reviewer, and the assessment report published in 2019. The objectives of the plan were to reduce extremist violence and its threat, promote the implementation of equality, freedom of speech, and other constitutional rights, and detect and investigate hate crimes.

The Finnish interior ministry now coordinates the prevention of VE and leads the National Cooperation Network, while the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service works with the police and international partners to combat terrorism. The Finnish plan also recognises the power of politicians in determining a direction for society and in defining values that influence public opinion and attitudes about VE.

Considering the productive role religious communities can play in the prevention of VE, the plan gave them immense importance. It aimed to strengthen the knowledge of imams and community leaders so that they could support their communities with the correct information. Militant groups attempt to use local incidents to support their ideology and spread their own interpretations of religion through social media. Finnish authorities realised that religious leaders can prove effective in countering militant ideology if they can strengthen the immunity of their communities against messages that encourage violence.

Finland’s plan recognises that young people can build peace.

The plan also recognised that families are in the strongest position to prevent radicalisation. Strong emotional ties within families can play an important role in preventing a person from joining militants. Likewise, the Finnish saw that their municipalities can also play an effective role. In multi-professional ‘anchor work’, the police, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and education officers were asked to work with young people. ‘Anchor work’ also acted as a contact point for anyone if they had concerns about radicalised individuals.

The plan also recognised that young people can help prevent VE and build peace. They can support other young people and apply their experiences and expertise to preventive work. During the last few years, the focus in Finland has been on improving the media literacy of young people, while less attention has been paid to that of adults. Increasing knowledge and the ability to identify the concepts used by extremists is essential, so training materials are being prepared for the public.

Hate speech is linked to violent extremism, as it divides people into ‘us’ and ‘them’ — friends and enemies — thus strengthening the possibility of confrontation. The Finnish plan aimed to increase the understanding of its public and professionals about communications related to hate speech and strengthen the ability of people working with young citizens to talk about propaganda and hate speech, as well as support the victims of hate speech.

The gender perspective in the prevention of VE is often overlooked. Militant groups have both male and female members. Mothers play a more important role in raising children and are faced with the difficult task of protecting children in conflict areas from the influence of violent groups. Wom­en, as mothers, can play an important role in saving children from being re­­cruited by milita­n­­ts. The plan focused on increasing know­ledge and awareness of the ways in which VE affects women in Finland and what can be done to support them.

Combating violent radicalisation in prisons was a key objective of the Finnish plan, as many of the individuals who had committed terrorist attacks in Europe became radicalised during imprisonment.

Before release from prison, the release plan now covers housing, education, job opportunities, and family situations. Information about released prisoners is exchanged with the intelligence service, police department, social services, and municipality so that the released persons may be assessed and monitored.

Since the education sector plays an important role in supporting the well-being, development, and learning of children, enhancing teachers’ knowledge of extremist ideologies was part of the prevention measures identified. From Finland’s experience, militancy-infested societies can learn that the kinetic option can kill terrorists, but extremism may still multiply. It is, therefore, not enough to simply counter terrorism: we must work actively to prevent it.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2024

LAND OV VOODOO-HOODOO

Brazilian police detain woman suspected of taking a dead man to withdraw bank loan
NOT YET LES ZOMBIE

Alessandra Castelli, CNN
Wed, 17 April 2024


Police in Brazil have detained a woman suspected of wheeling a dead man, who she said was her uncle, to a bank to withdraw a four-figure loan.

Footage of the woman’s encounter with the bank has sparked a nationwide discussion in Brazil after going viral on social media. It appears to show the woman at the counter of a Rio de Janeiro branch of Itau Bank, propping up the head of an elderly man in a wheelchair and trying to get his hand to clasp a pen.

According to police, she was attempting to take out a loan equivalent to $3,000, which had already been approved by the bank but still needed the elderly man’s sign-off.


But the elderly man in the video – filmed by a bank attendant – remains unresponsive. His arm is limp and his head keeps falling back as she talks to him.

“Uncle, are you listening?” she asks him. “You need to sign. If you don’t sign, there’s no way. I can’t sign for you, it has to be you. What I can do, I do.”

“Sign it so you don’t give me any more headaches, having to go to the registry office. I can’t take it anymore,” the woman continues.

At that point, one of the bank attendants says, “I think he isn’t feeling well,” and a second attendant agrees.

Footage of the incident has sparked a nationwide discussion in Brazil. This image has been blurred by CNN. - Provided to police by Itau

Rio de Janeiro Civil police chief Fabio Luis Souza said the bank attendants then decided to call an ambulance. When paramedics arrived, they concluded that the man had been dead for a couple of hours and must have been dead when he arrived at the bank.

Police say they are still trying to establish the relationship between the woman and the dead man.

CNN affiliate CNN Brasil reported that the family’s lawyer disputed the account offered by police, saying “the facts did not happen as stated; that the man has arrived at the bank alive; and that the woman is completely shaken and medicated.”

Authorities say they are investigating the case, but have not brought charges.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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False claims about Canada's rules on personal data spread online


Gwen Roley / AFP Canada
Wed, 17 April 2024 

When the Canadian government collects personal data it is required to disclose how the information will be used and stored via Personal Information Banks (PIBs). Social media users are saying the process is new and nefarious, but such claims are misleading. PIBs have been in use for more than 40 years and are required by a Privacy Act, with federal agencies overseeing the process.

"We were not consulted nor informed about the creation or existence of these databases and they are being collected without our permission or knowledge," says the text of an April 7, 2024 X post from retired hockey player Theo Fleury, who has previously spread misinformation.

The post alleges that PIBs are databases surreptitiously created by the government to store biometric, biographical and financial information.

The text appears to be copied and pasted from an email chain, with near word-for-word posts found on Facebook and Instagram, sometimes ending by encouraging people to send a letter of protest instead of filing tax returns.

Screenshot of an X post, taken April 16, 2024

Screenshot of a Facebook post, taken on April 16, 2024


However, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), which oversees the protection of personal information in Canada, said PIBs are not new as claimed online. They have been a requirement under the Privacy Act since it was introduced in 1983 (archived here).

Teresa Scassa, the Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy at the University of Ottawa (archived here), said the Privacy Act requires agencies to annually publish updated lists of all PIBs.

"It is inevitable," that the government will need to collect personal data on its citizens, she said in an email, and PIBs are designed to disclose what information is held by which institution and for what purpose in accordance with the Privacy Act.

OPC spokeswoman Tobi Cohen also said PIBs are intended to be a transparency tool, disclosing the categories and purpose of information collected by government agencies.

"PIBs do not contain personal information that can be searched for or accessed online, rather PIBs explain where personal information may reside in government records," Cohen said in an April 12, 2024 email.

"Someone who would like to request access to the personal information that the organization holds, may reference the PIB when making a request."

Cohen said that contrary to the online claims, PIBs do not create means for the government to collect personal information without consent.
PIBs examples

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) is responsible for policy concerning the operation of the Privacy Act, including PIBs.

Some of the social media posts lead to the TBS site describing standard PIBs maintained by most government institutions (archived here) which mentions biometrics and medical information as category examples, along with language, citizenship status and date of birth.

The TBS website also includes a page which links to institution-specific PIBs, describing the information these agencies collect and how it is stored (archived here).

For example, Elections Canada describes the purposes of retention of voter registration and identification information so eligible voters can cast their ballot (archived here).

The Canada Revenue Agency -- the country's tax administrator -- lists a PIB for the one-time top-up to Canada Housing. Agreeing to having data, including financial information, stored is required to access this benefit, as mentioned in the posts on social media. But the agency says the personal information is only used to determine eligibility for the benefit and will be destroyed after six years (archived here).

If the government needs to share personal information with another department, it can only do so under conditions outlined in the Privacy Act, Cohen said in an April 15 email.

However, she said exceptional cases related to law enforcement or national security may involve transfer or collection of personal information without prior consent.
Oversight of PIBs

When agencies are not correctly disclosing PIBs, a complaint can be filed with the OPC.

In one such case (archived here), the commissioner found the country's transportation agency, Transport Canada, had not published the PIB for a zero-emissions vehicle incentive before launching the program (archived here).

The OPC found the agency failed to submit the information to TBS and after it did so, an administrative backlog kept it from being approved for nearly four years after the program start date. The PIB has since been approved and published (archived here).

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.

Exclusive-Thousands of frozen Gaza IVF embryos destroyed by Israeli strike

'5000 lives in one shell': Gaza’s IVF embryos destroyed by Israeli strike


Wed, April 17, 2024 
By Saleh Salem, Imad Creidi and Andrew Mills

(Reuters) -When an Israeli shell struck Gaza's largest fertility clinic in December, the explosion blasted the lids off five liquid nitrogen tanks stored in a corner of the embryology unit.

As the ultra-cold liquid evaporated, the temperature inside the tanks rose, destroying more than 4,000 embryos plus 1,000 more specimens of sperm and unfertilized eggs stored at Gaza City's Al Basma IVF centre.


The impact of that single explosion was far-reaching -- an example of the unseen toll Israel's six-and-a-half-month-old assault has had on the 2.3 million people of Gaza.

The embryos in those tanks were the last hope for hundreds of Palestinian couples facing infertility.

"We know deeply what these 5,000 lives, or potential lives, meant for the parents, either for the future or for the past," said Bahaeldeen Ghalayini, 73, the Cambridge-trained obstetrician and gynaecologist who established the clinic in 1997.

At least half of the couples — those who can no longer produce sperm or eggs to make viable embryos — will not have another chance to get pregnant, he said.

"My heart is divided into a million pieces," he said.

Asked on Wednesday by Reuters about the incident, the Israeli military's press desk said it was looking into the reports. Israel denies intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure and has accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities, which Hamas denies.

Three years of fertility treatment was a psychological roller coaster for Seba Jaafarawi. The retrieval of eggs from her ovaries was painful, the hormone injections had strong side-effects and the sadness when two attempted pregnancies failed seemed unbearable.

Jaafarawi, 32, and her husband could not get pregnant naturally and turned to in vitro fertilization (IVF), which is widely available in Gaza.

Large families are common in the enclave, where nearly half the population is under 18 and the fertility rate is high at 3.38 births per woman, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. Britain's fertility rate is 1.63 births per woman.

Despite Gaza's poverty, couples facing infertility pursue IVF, some selling TVs and jewellery to pay the fees, Al Ghalayini said.

NO TIME TO CELEBRATE

At least nine clinics in Gaza performed IVF, where eggs are collected from a woman's ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. The fertilized eggs, called embryos, are often frozen until the optimal time for transfer to a woman's uterus. Most frozen embryos in Gaza were stored at the Al Basma centre.

In September, Jaafarawi became pregnant, her first successful IVF attempt.

"I did not even have time to celebrate the news," she said.

Two days before her first scheduled ultrasound scan, Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched an all-out assault that has since killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Jaafarawi worried: "How would I complete my pregnancy? What would happen to me and what would happen to the ones inside my womb?"

Her ultrasound never happened and Ghalayini closed his clinic, where an additional five of Jaafarawi's embryos were stored.

As the Israeli attacks intensified, Mohammed Ajjour, Al Basma's chief embryologist, started to worry about liquid nitrogen levels in the five specimen tanks. Top ups were needed every month or so to keep the temperature below -180C in each tank, which operate independent of electricity.

After the war began, Ajjour managed to procure one delivery of liquid nitrogen, but Israel cut electricity and fuel to Gaza, and most suppliers closed.

At the end of October, Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza and soldiers closed in on the streets around the IVF centre. It became too dangerous for Ajjour to check the tanks.

Jaafarawi knew she should rest to keep her fragile pregnancy safe, but hazards were everywhere: she climbed six flights of stairs to her apartment because the elevator stopped working; a bomb levelled the building next door and blasted out windows in her flat; food and water became scarce.

Instead of resting, she worried.

"I got very scared and there were signs that I would lose (the pregnancy)," she said.

Jaafarawi bled a little bit after she and her husband left home and moved south to Khan Younis. The bleeding subsided, but her fear did not.

'5,000 LIVES IN ONE SHELL'

They crossed into Egypt on Nov. 12 and in Cairo, her first ultrasound showed she was pregnant with twins and they were alive.

But after a few days, she experienced painful cramps, bleeding and a sudden shift in her belly. She made it to hospital, but the miscarriage had already begun.

"The sounds of me screaming and crying at the hospital are still (echoing) in my ears," she said.

The pain of loss has not stopped.

"Whatever you imagine or I tell you about how hard the IVF journey is, only those who have gone through it know what it's really like," she said.

Jaafarawi wanted to return to the war zone, retrieve her frozen embryos and attempt IVF again.

But it was soon too late.

Ghalayini said a single Israeli shell struck the corner of the centre, blowing up the ground floor embryology lab. He does not know if the attack specifically targeted the lab or not.

"All these lives were killed or taken away: 5,000 lives in one shell," he said.

In April, the embryology lab was still strewn with broken masonry, blown-up lab supplies and, amid the rubble, the liquid nitrogen tanks, according to a Reuters-commissioned journalist who visited the site.

The lids were open and, still visible at the bottom of one of the tanks, a basket was filled with tiny colour-coded straws containing the ruined microscopic embryos.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills, Imad Creidi and Saleh Salem in Doha, additional reporting by Dawoud Abu Alkas in GazaWriting by Andrew MillsEditing by Peter Graff)


'5,000 lives with one shell': when Israel hit an IVF unit

Reuters Videos
Updated Wed, April 17, 2024 


STORY: BAHAELDEEN GHALAYINI: "...and we had a picture of the two containers with their lids open and all the gas evaporated, and all these lives were killed or taken away. 5,000 lives in one shell."

Bahaeldeen Ghalayini headed the Al Basma IVF Center, Gaza's biggest,. He doesn't know if the Israeli strike in December targeted the lab specifically or not.

But the impact of that single blast was far-reaching.

GHALAYINI: "...we know deeply what these 5,000 lives or potential lives mean for their parents, either for their future or for their past. For days I would say, I kept crying for what has happened."

Those embryos, sperm specimens and unfertilized eggs were a last hope for hundreds of Palestinian couples facing infertility.

JAAFARAWI: "Whatever you imagine, or I tell you about how hard the IVF journey is, only those who have gone through it know what it's really like."

Seba Jaafarawi had three years of painful fertility treatment then became pregnant last September, right before the war broke out on October 7.

“I did not even have time to celebrate the news. You know an IVF case is very sensitive, unlike natural pregnancies. You have to take care, not go out, eat healthy food and move little...”

Ghalayini closed his clinic, where an additional five of Jaafarawi's embryos were stored.

Jaafarawi couldn't rest and keep her fragile pregnancy safe, with the elevator not working and a bomb leveling the building next door.

She started bleeding. She and her husband moved south to Khan Younis then Egypt on November 12.

Her first ultrasound in Cairo showed she was pregnant with twins. They were alive.

But a few days later she miscarried.

"It was really the most difficult moment of my life. I entered the bathroom, I had twins, one of the babies was hanging out of me and at that moment I didn't realize what was happening. I was screaming and shouting and I was exhausted. My mother wasn't with me, so the first thing that I said was that I wanted my mother, I was really tired, my situation was extremely difficult going through all this without my parents."

At least nine clinics in Gaza performed IVF. Most frozen embryos in Gaza were stored at the Al Basma Center.

Even before the strikes, Mohammed Ajjour, Al Basma's chief embryologist, says he struggled to get supplies of nitrogen to top up the specimen tanks. Electricity was also cut off.

But he says they can't give up on the couples who need them.

"We should return, and we will return and we will rebuild all these destroyed things. We will be a torch and beacon for the people who lost hope, so we restore the hope to them with God’s strength.”