ARYAN SUPREMACY

Opinion

Ram Mandir in the NYC India Day Parade is a symbol of hate, not heritage

As Indian Americans become more visible in politics and public life, there is a growing need to reflect on the kind of legacy we are building.

A general view of the audience during the opening of the Ram Mandir, a temple dedicated to Hindu deity Lord Ram, in Ayodhya, India, Jan. 22, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

August 16, 2024
By Sunita Viswanath

RNS

(RNS) — This year’s India Day Parade in New York City on Sunday (Aug. 18), traditionally a celebration of India’s vibrant democracy and cultural diversity, will be marred with a float of a model Ram Mandir, the controversial temple to Lord Rama in Ayodhya, India. Organizers who included the float insist this is an expression of Hindu heritage in India, but this structure signals a divisive ideology that threatens the very values the parade seeks to celebrate.

India’s Ram Mandir stands on the site of the Babri Masjid, a centuries-old mosque that was illegally demolished in 1992 by a mob of Hindu extremists, sparking Hindu-Muslim riots that killed at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. This violence was the culmination of a campaign based on the unproven claim that the mosque stood on the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram — a claim rejected by historians, the Archaeological Survey of India and, until recently, the Indian judiciary.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which has promoted an increasingly authoritarian agenda in India, has recently faced setbacks, but the ideology of Hindutva — a Hindu nationalist movement — remains a potent and destructive force. This ideology’s threat to Indian society, particularly on Muslims and Christians, is profound and ongoing.

In the U.S., as Indian Americans become more visible in politics and public life, there is a growing need to reflect on the kind of legacy we are building. Our community must mature and take responsibility for the messages conveyed at events like the India Day Parade. The inclusion of the Ram Mandir float is not just a cultural statement. It’s a troubling emblem of exclusion and intolerance.

This marks a continuation of a disturbing trend that began in 2022 when the India Day Parade in Edison, New Jersey, featured a bulldozer — a symbol of the brutal tactics used by India’s current regime to demolish homes and lives, particularly those of Muslims. For many Americans, the inclusion of such symbols in a celebration of Indian heritage might seem perplexing. But this is more than just an internal issue for the Indian community; it’s an alarm for how dangerous ideologies can cross borders and influence communities far from their origins.

RELATED: A celebrated temple in India is also a symbol of the country’s anti-Muslim campaign

Awadhesh Prasad, center, is blessed by Swami Ram Das and other Hindu clerics at Sidh Peeth Mandir in Ayodhya, India, on June 5, 2024, the day after Indian elections. (Courtesy photo)

Yet, there are signs of hope that the days of Hindutva rule may be numbered. In a surprising turn of events, a BJP parliamentarian was recently unseated in Ayodhya, the very city where the Ram Mandir stands, replaced by Awadhesh Prasad of the socialist Samajwadi Party. Despite its predominantly Hindu population, Ayodhya chose to reject Hindu nationalism in favor of a Dalit candidate, signaling a desire for a more inclusive and compassionate vision of Hinduism. Prasad has spoken in the press as a devotee of Lord Ram: “No one can be a greater devotee of Ram than me. I am a native of Ayodhya, so who could be closer to Lord Ram than me?”

Swami Ram Das, the mahant (temple chief) of Sidh Peeth Mandir in Ayodhya, was among those who supported Prasad, even offering him his blessing along with other local Hindu religious leaders. Their cooperation sent a message that resonates far beyond India’s borders.

Speaking to me after the election, Swami Ram Das said: “Ayodhya is the land of Lord Rama, the supreme deity who accepts all people, especially marginalized people, and people of all religions and cultures. Real Hinduism teaches us love, unity and respect for other beliefs. Rama doesn’t belong to one person, one party or one religion. He exists in all of us.”

Swami Ram Das further highlighted the irony that despite the grand inauguration of the Ram Mandir being livestreamed in Times Square, he and most Ayodhya-based religious leaders were not invited. Laughing, he told me: “Why do I need to go? Ram is in my heart.”

RELATED: India’s Hindu nationalism is exporting its Islamophobia

The people of Ayodhya voted out the BJP and its divisive Hindutva politics. Instead, they embraced the inclusive Hindu faith that Swami Ram Das represents. New Yorkers can do the same.

The dangerous ideology that the Ram Mandir float represents has no place in a city known for being a refuge for the persecuted and marginalized. After all, the same Hindu nationalist regime that promoted the Ram Mandir has been credibly accused of assassinating its critics outside of India, including attempting to kill a New Yorker.

New York City, which proudly stood as a sanctuary during former President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban, must reaffirm its commitment to combating hate and Islamophobia. The Ram Mandir float in the New York parade is not a symbol of heritage. It is a symbol of hate. Indian Americans must ensure that our cultural expressions in public spaces reflect the diversity, inclusivity and democratic values central to both our Indian and American identities.

(Sunita Viswanath is the executive director of Hindus for Human Rights. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

New York’s India Day Parade will not remove controversial Hindu tribute

The centerpiece float of Lord Ram at this year's parade has been met with fierce criticism from those who say it represents anti-Muslim sentiment.

FILE - Participants march during the India Day Parade on Madison Ave. Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

August 16, 2024
By Richa Karmarkar

NEW YORK (RNS) — This year’s India Day parade in New York City, a long-running celebration of the birth of Indian democracy and the diversity of the diaspora, has stirred dissent for its plans to prominently feature a float of the Hindu deity Ram and a model of a controversial temple recently built over a demolished mosque.

The parade, to take place Sunday (Aug. 18), is the largest of its kind outside India. Grand marshals, usually A-list Bollywood celebrities, lead hundreds of marchers with fanfare through Manhattan’s tree-lined Madison Avenue. This year’s theme is “Vasudhaiva Katumbakum,” a Sanskrit phrase translating to “the world is one family.”

“We celebrate our unity in diversity, and we celebrate inclusiveness — that’s our India,” said Avinash Gupta, the president of the parade’s organizer, the Federation of Indian Associations.

Gupta said the parade is meant to honor all Indians from diverse regional, linguistic and religious backgrounds, to recognize their freedom from British rule 78 years ago and also to celebrate “how well the Indian diaspora has done here in the fields of science, technology and now politics.”

A Hindu, Gupta hoisted India’s tri-color flag in Times Square on Thursday (Aug. 15), Indian Independence Day, to celebrate next to his “Muslim, Sikh and Christian brothers,” he said.

But this year’s centerpiece float featuring an 18-foot-long, 9-foot-wide and 8-foot-tall statue of Lord Ram and a replica of the recently opened Ram Mandir (temple) in Ayodhya, India, has sparked fierce criticism from those who say the float represents anti-Muslim sentiments while misrepresenting Indian and Hindu values.
RELATED: Ram Mandir in the NYC India Day Parade is a symbol of hate, not heritage

The temple to Ram was opened early this year and built after a Hindu extremist mob demolished a 16th-century mosque on that site in 1992, believing the contested claim that the Mughal emperor Babur constructed the mosque on the exact birthplace of Lord Ram. The deadly Hindu-Muslim riots that followed killed over 2,000 people across the country, mainly Muslims. 

A general view of the audience during the opening of the Ram Mandir, a temple dedicated to Hindu deity Lord Ram, in Ayodhya, India, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

After many disputes, India’s top court finally ruled in 2019 that a new temple dedicated to Ram could be built on the site.

While many devotees see the newly opened mandir as an overdue homecoming of baby Ram and a rejection of Islamic conquest, some others see the temple itself as a symbol of Hindu exclusivism and are reminded of the painful rift it exasperated between the two communities.

“The inclusion of the Ram Mandir float in this year’s parade is not a celebration of cultural pride, but a glorification of both a violent history and a violent ambition,” said David Kalal, communications director for the progressive organization Hindus for Human Rights, speaking at a press conference. “Given the growing political activity and influence of Indian Americans, the debates within our community have broader implications for American society as a whole.”

On Wednesday (Aug. 14), representatives from several faith-based groups, including Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the New York State Council of Churches, held a press conference outside of City Hall to condemn the float and to call for its prompt removal.

More than 20 groups signed a letter to Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, arguing that the sponsors of the float, the Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America and the Hindu denomination BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, plan to use the parade to “propagate hate and instill fear among American Muslims.”

“If there is a float or a person in the parade that is promoting hate, they should not,” Adams said on Wednesday.

The Hindu American Foundation, the largest advocacy organization for Hindus in the U.S., sent a letter today (Aug. 16) urging Adams to “support freedom of expression” and the inclusion of the float, arguing common narratives about the mosque dispute miss historical context.

According to Gupta, no city officials or law enforcement agents have reached out to FIA to remove the float.

To Gupta, the float is nothing more than a prideful tribute to the temple.

“There are a lot of people here who cannot go to India to visit the temple because of their age, because they have medical conditions, or they simply cannot afford to go, so this will be a good opportunity for them to see the replica of the mandir, which was built after a 500-year wait,” Gupta said.

While the Ram float will not be taken down, Gupta doesn’t want it to represent the parade as a whole, which he said includes floats from Muslim, Sikh and Christian Indian organizations. Instead, he hopes non-Indians see the parade as a celebration of the diaspora’s rising power, now more than 5.4 million strong.

“I feel very proud that we collect, we gather, we bring together all of the Indian diaspora, of all states, all faiths, all religions, and we march together,” Gupta said. “We all have to be united, and that way, we’ll have our voice heard.”

The Rev. Chloe Breyer of the Interfaith Center of New York, a longstanding institution that partners with faith groups throughout the city, said she approaches the complicated situation with an acknowledgement of “the deep ties between Hindu New Yorkers and the sacred geography of India,” and an affirmation of the group’s right to religious freedom.

But instead of religious freedom, she said, the float seems more like “religious boasting that is definitely viewed as the opposite of what they’re proud of.” In a statement released on Aug. 12, Breyer and ICNY cautioned the organizers to be more mindful of current religious relations in the U.S. and abroad.

“That question of this contested site is not one that a press conference is going to solve, and it’s not one I’m going to solve,” she said. “However, if you’re in New York City and you’re having a parade to celebrate your heritage, I would just say, know your people and know your context. Your neighbors are some Hindus and some not Hindus.”
RELATED: In India’s new Ram temple, some American Hindus see a new beginning

Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing, Queens, an ICNY partner, says the controversy is painting Hindus as intolerant, which she feels contradicts the purpose of an Independence Day parade. Describing herself as a “very religious person,” Mysorekar said she understands why this float would be a source of pride for many Hindu Americans.

But the timing of the float, she said, is like “adding more fuel to the fire,” given that the temple came “only less than a year ago,” and that there are “so many other ways” to symbolize India’s vast and beautiful diversity. In private conversations, she said, many Hindus going to the parade agree with her sentiment.

“Indian Independence Day has nothing to do with religion,” Mysorekar said. “Independent India consists of all kinds of people, and we represent the beliefs and thoughts of everybody. … I think we must respect that and uphold India’s integrity. That’s really important.”

Opinion

At Buddhist-Christian dialogue, finding solidarity amid shifting religious landscape

In a polarized country renegotiating the role of religion in civic life, interfaith\ partnerships are critical.

Participants in the National Buddhist-Christian Dialogue at University of the West in Rosemead, Calif. (Photo via National Council of Churches)

July 10, 2024
By Michael Woolf

RNS

(RNS) — Recently, a group of more than 30 Buddhists and Christians gathered to form relationships and discuss ways to collaborate as part of the National Buddhist-Christian Dialogue.

As one of the Christian participants, representing the American Baptist Churches USA, I participated in the dialogue against the backdrop of white Christian nationalism. Recently, Louisiana passed a law mandating the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms of the state, and Oklahoma issued a directive for all public schools to teach the Bible. Our public spaces ought to be free from religious dogma and such laws represent a growing trend of Christian nationalism. The efforts are part of a slew of new laws that seek to enforce Christian hegemony, as backers eye a sympathetic Supreme Court that has recently supported prayer at school functions.

Hosted at University of the West, one of the country’s only Buddhist institutions of higher learning, and co-sponsored by the National Council of Churches, Hsi Lai Temple, University of the West, Claremont School of Theology and the Guibord Center, the May 29 dialogue was one of several the National Council of Churches has co-convened with interfaith partners, including dialogues among Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus.

I was struck by how often I have been in Christian spaces for interfaith dialogue and how rarely the dialogues have been hosted by a Buddhist institution. Signs included invitations to a dharma group, and Chinese characters and calligraphy were posted on the walls. It was a joy to be in another faith tradition’s space as a guest. My only hope is that members of other faiths feel so welcomed when they are in Christian spaces, a task made more difficult by the current climate of Christian supremacy.

One of the most moving takeaways for me is how much we shared in common as religious leaders in a quickly secularizing society — the struggle to attract and retain new members, the hard work of building youth groups, the concern over what the future might hold. Moving beyond dogma helped us realize there is a need from both of our traditions to engage young voices in leadership.

The data on this is clear in Christianity. According to the Faith Communities Today 2020 study, the median age of those in congregational leadership is 57, up from 50 in 2000. While the statistics are a little harder to come by for Buddhist leadership, anecdotally one Buddhist participant in the dialogues remarked, “It’s hard to convince young men to become monks these days.”

As we were joined on a Zoom call by two United Methodist young adults and their in-person Buddhist counterparts from Hsi Lai Temple, we heard familiar themes: the need to act now on the climate crisis, the importance of authenticity, the gap between belief and practice. Those voices were augmented and complemented by distinguished leaders from both traditions, who spoke eloquently about aging and the deep knowledge developed over a lifetime.

Some of the most moving conversations centered on the Transformative Hope Project, led by Tammy Ho and the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative. The project brings together resources and educational materials, including videos, that center Asian American elders and their diverse religious responses to increased hate crimes since 2020.

The panel on peacemaking highlighted the need for faith-based voices to speak into the many crises in our world. In particular, there was a strong commitment from those present to speak out against injustice and be in solidarity with the vulnerable. As one Buddhist participant put it to me, “Once we get past the basics — we have no God, you do — then we can get to the really important conversations.”

As we left the one-day meeting, I felt a sense of hope. We shared how much we admire each other’s traditions and talked about real issues facing our communities and how we can address them together as religious leaders.

In a country that is polarized and shifting its understanding of the role of religion in civic life, these interfaith relationships have the capacity to develop strong networks that can respond to racism, white Christian nationalism and climate change from a faith-based perspective, understanding that what unites us is so much more than what divides us.

(The Rev. Michael Woolf is senior minister of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois, and co-associate regional minister for white and multicultural churches at the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago. He is the author of “Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically About Whiteness and Sanctuary Movements.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Who is the ‘Laughing Buddha’? A scholar of East Asian Buddhism explains

The ‘Laughing Buddha’ shows how people have adapted Buddhism to different cultural and historical contexts.

August 19, 2024
By Megan Bryson

(The Conversation) — With his delighted expression, round belly, bald head and monastic robes, the “Laughing Buddha” is instantly identifiable. However, astute observers might wonder why this buddha does not look like the historical Buddha, who lived in India about 2,500 years ago.

A third-century standing Buddha statue, from ancient Gandhara, in Pakistan.
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Images of the historical Buddha, known as Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamuni, depict him with a neutral expression, slim build, tightly coiled hair and monastic robes. If the Laughing Buddha isn’t the historical Buddha, who is he, and how did he become so popular?

As a scholar of East Asian Buddhism who studies how and why deities transform over time, I see the Laughing Buddha as a key figure that shows how people have adapted Buddhism to different cultural and historical contexts.
The Zen monk who became the Laughing Buddha

One of the names for the Laughing Buddha is “Cloth Bag,” which is pronounced “Budai” in Chinese and “Hotei” in Japanese. Cloth Bag was the nickname of a Chinese Buddhist monk who lived in the 10th century. He belonged to the Zen school of Buddhism, which is known for its stories about monks who reject conventional pursuits like wealth and fame.

Cloth Bag got his nickname because he wandered from town to town carrying a cloth bag full of treasures that he shared freely with children.

Chinese Buddhists, seeing Cloth Bag’s legendary generosity, compassion and joy, concluded that he must not be an ordinary monk, but that he must be a human incarnation of the future Buddha, whose name is Maitreya. Artists in China depicted Cloth Bag as a plump, laughing monk often surrounded by children or animals. In a traditional East Asian context, his round belly represents his generosity and abundance, and also symbolizes the positive qualities of wealth and fertility.

From China, images of Cloth Bag as the Laughing Buddha traveled in two directions. They spread first in East Asia to countries such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Zen is a popular form of Buddhism in all of these countries, but it was Japanese Zen Buddhism that attained global popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. This means that many images of the Laughing Buddha in the West are based on Japanese models.
Displaying Chinese porcelain

Images of the Laughing Buddha also spread west from China to Europe, where 18th-century elites showed their aesthetic sophistication by displaying Chinese-style porcelain, including statues of the Laughing Buddha.

The Laughing Buddha’s transformation into a global icon results from both the fascination with Chinese porcelain in 18th-century Europe and the 20th-century spread of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

Today we see the Laughing Buddha in stores, homes and even as a brand name. A lot of people may know what the Laughing Buddha looks like, but few may be familiar with who he is or how he became so popular.

(Megan Bryson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

RIP

Phil Donahue, Legendary Talk Show Host Fired by MSNBC for Airing Antiwar Views, Dies at 88

DEMOCRACY NOW!

Story August 19, 2024
This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today.Donate



The pioneering TV host Phil Donahue, who revolutionized daytime television by tackling major social and political issues in front of a studio audience, has died at the age of 88. The Phil Donahue Show, later renamed Donahue, ran from the 1960s through to 1996, and the affable host won 20 Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award throughout his career. In 2003, Donahue was fired from his primetime MSNBC talk show for airing antiwar voices during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when most of the corporate media was cheerleading the Bush administration’s drive for war. Donahue spoke with Democracy Now! about his firing in 2013, describing it as a decision “from far above” in the network. “They were terrified of the antiwar voice,” he said. Donahue is survived by his wife Marlo Thomas, his four children and his grandchildren.

The Exonerated: Meet Two Chicago Men Wrongly Imprisoned for Decades, on Police Torture, Death Row & More

DEMOCRACY NOW!

Story August 19, 2024

Guests

Jimmy Soto
longest-serving exonerated prisoner in Illinois history, exonerated in 2023 after being incarcerated 42 years for a murder he did not commit.

Stanley Howard
former death row prisoner who was later exonerated for a 1984 murder he did not commit.

Links"Tortured by Blue: The Chicago Police Torture Story"

As Chicago hosts the 2024 Democratic National Convention, we look at the city’s long history of police misconduct, including the use of torture under police commander Jon Burge, accused of leading a torture ring that interrogated more than 100 African American men in Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s using electric shocks and suffocation, among other methods, to extract false confessions from men who were later exonerated. Illinois has one of the highest rates of wrongful convictions in the United States, and a disproportionate number of the wrongfully convicted are Black or Brown people. For more, we speak with two men from Chicago who were exonerated after serving decades in prison: Stanley Howard spent 16 years of his life on death row for a 1984 murder that he confessed to after being tortured; Jimmy Soto was released from an Illinois prison in December after a 42-year fight to prove his innocence.

This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today.Donate

UK buyer sought for Alan Turing’s Second World War papers

19 August 2024

A wartime collection of notebooks and sheets show the famed mathematician’s development of a portable encryption system

A temporary export bar has been placed on Alan Turing’s unpublished Second World War papers, which document the ‘Delilah’ project

The wartime papers document Turing’s development of a portable encryption system for use in military operations.

The papers are valued at £397,680 and are at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found to acquire them. DCMS is hoping to find an organisation to take on the documents before November 2024.

The papers consist of two bound notebooks and six separate gatherings of loose sheets. It comprises the notes of Alan Turing (1912-54) and Donald Bayley (1921-2020) relating to the World War Two project.

Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said the pares “offer unique insights into the extraordinary mind of Alan Turing, who is famed for decoding the Enigma machines, being instrumental in ending the Second World War and saving many lives.”

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Arts Council’s Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

Its Chair, Andrew Hochhauser KC added: “The United Kingdom owes a debt of gratitude to Alan Turing. His extraordinary work on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park played a major part in winning World War Two and saved so many lives.”

The decision on the export licence application for the papers will be deferred for a period ending on 15 November 2024. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for four months.

Russia on mpox: No risk due to our ‘traditional values’

MISOGINY, HOMOPHOBIA

Russian official laughs off threat of disease formerly known as monkeypox.

“Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of” Anna Popova said. | Yevgeny Biyatov/AFP via Getty Images

August 19, 2024 

By Elena Giordano

Russia is pretty chill about the mpox threat.

Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian consumer protection watchdog, said there is no risk of mpox spreading in Russia, hinting that's because incidence is higher among gay people.

“Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of,” Popova said in a video published Monday by Russian Telegram channel Shot.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has cracked down on LGBTQ+ rights by making gender-affirming surgery illegal and through Russia's Supreme Court decision to label the international LGBTQ+ movement as “an extremist organization.”

Popova’s comments come after WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency last Wednesday, saying that "a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”

The virus, previously known as monkeypox, is transmitted via contact with lesions of an infected person. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the virus has killed more than 500 people so far this year, with more than 17,000 suspected cases across Africa.

On Thursday, the Rospotrebnadzor announced that there was “no threat of the disease spreading in Russia” and that the government was taking “all the necessary measures to detect the infection ahead of time.”

Russia reported its first case of mpox in July 2022 in a man who had recently recently returned from Portugal. He was then isolated in the hospital and, according to the Rospotrebnadzor, the infection was stopped.

The variant of mpox which is now causing concern is different to that which spread in 2022. It is more deadly and is unaffected by the drug manufactured to fight the 2022-2023 outbreak.

Popova said that in Russia there have been three cases in total, all of which had been detected and contained on time. “For Russia this does not present a danger,” she said, adding: “We’re not expecting it to spread, it won’t happen.”

Solar overtook hard coal as energy source in EU in 2022

Imports of hard coal rose, with Russia remaining biggest supplier that year, says Eurostat

Ahmet Gencturk |19.08.2024 -

Turkiye's largest hybrid solar power plant
ATHENS

Solar power overtook hard coal as an energy source for the EU in 2022, Eurostat announced on Monday.

“In 2022, hard coal for the first time was overtaken by solar energy in electricity generation in the EU,” the statistics authority said in a statement, noting that solar energy produced 210,249 gigawatt hours (GWh) for the EU that year, compared with 205,693 GWh for hard coal.

Brown coal, a type of coal with lower energy content, is used in electricity generation by nine member countries and was the source of 241,572 GWh of electricity, according to the statement.

During the same period, the union’s import dependency for hard coal reached its highest point at 74.4%, up from some 60% in 2021, likely owing to countries building up stocks of hard coal.

In 2022 – the year the Ukraine war began – Russia remained the largest supplier of hard coal to the EU at 24%, down from 45% in 2021, followed by the US with 18% and Australia with 17%.

 

Most young voters support Kamala Harris—but that doesn't guarantee they will show up at the polls

by John Holbein, The Conversation

Credit: The Conversation

Young people could decide the 2024 presidential election.

It's a tale as old as time—a story that pops up every election, almost like clockwork.

The narrative is the same this election cycle. There is a palpable excitement about the possibility of young people making their voices heard in 2024.

Young people, in particular, have broadly voiced their support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who will officially accept her party's presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024.

Harris' young supporters have created popular TikTok videos and widely-shared memes with coconut trees and ample allusions to the trendy term "brat."

Both former President Donald Trump and Harris are trying to build on young people's excitement—through participating in livestreams with popular, young content creators and by copying some of the specific colors and themes that often come up in young people's online content.

The vibes suggest, perhaps, that a "youth wave" is coming.

Young people mostly support Harris

At present, Harris holds a commanding lead among young people.

Depending on the poll that you look at, if the election were held today, Harris would probably command about 50% to 60% of the youth vote, meaning people ages 18 to 29, or in some cases 18 to 34.

Trump would pull in only about 34% of young people.

That's a big difference. A person might see that difference and think that young people could, indeed, tip the scales at the ballot box in November.

Knowing exactly how many young voters Harris needs to win over to carry the election is difficult, but many political pundits have argued that Harris needs to make sure that she secures a dominant majority of them.

But regardless of whether they support Harris in preelection polling, my research finds that many young people aren't likely to show up and actually cast their ballots.

Young people often don't vote

Young citizens' track record of participation in American elections is dismal. Although young people are the biggest group of citizens who are eligible to vote, they turn out at significantly lower rates than older Americans.

In the November 2022 midterms, for instance, only 25.5% of 18- to 29-year-olds cast a ballot, whereas 63.1% of those age 60 or older voted.

Though November 2020 set records for youth voter turnout, only 52.5% of 18- to 29-year-olds cast a ballot, compared with 78% of those 60 or older.

While it's hard to know how many young people will cast a ballot in November 2024, early indicators—such as the number of young people who say they plan to cast a ballot—suggest that this pattern of low youth voter turnout will continue.

The United States has one of the lowest rates of youth voter turnout in the world. The gap between 18- to 29-year-olds and those over 60, a common measuring stick, is more than twice as large here than it is in other countries such as Canada or Germany.

In our 2020 book, "Making Young Voters: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action," political scientist Sunshine Hillygus and I tried to better understand what stops young people from voting and what can be done to change this trend.

Why more young people don't vote

Two main hurdles stand in the way of young people casting a ballot. One problem is that young people are not especially interested in voting. In recent polls, for example, about 77% of young people say that they plan on definitely voting in the upcoming November election.

For older citizens, that number is 90%.

However, a second—and a perhaps more consequential—problem is that young people who are interested in voting often don't follow through on their intentions.

By examining survey data and conducting interviews with dozens of young people in 2018, Hillygus and I found that many young people lack confidence in themselves and their ability to navigate the voting process for the first time.

Many told us that in their busy, hectic and ever-changing schedules, voting often simply falls by the wayside.

With school and work commitments, as well as a lack of experience filling out voter registration forms and casting a ballot, voting seems like an insurmountable burden for many young people.

What works to increase youth voter turnout

A common assumption of many youth advocacy groups seems to be that more young people would vote if voting were considered cool. We've seen that approach again this cycle, with advocates clamoring, for example, for celebrity endorsements from the likes of singer Taylor Swift.

The problem is that this approach doesn't square with the fact that young people care about politics—they just struggle to follow through.

The biggest hurdle for many young people, in particular, is voter registration. In 2022, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that only 40% of young people said they were registered to vote in the midterm election.

Programs that help young people register to vote can be particularly effective at getting them to cast a ballot.

It has also become increasingly common for political campaigns to help young adults make a plan to vote—by outlining when and where they are going to vote, as well as how they will get to their polling location.

Other methods, such as sending text message reminders, creating automated calendar reminders and offering transportation to the polls, are also effective at helping young people who want to vote actually do so. Though some of these strategies are being used in the 2024 election, many are not common.

Government policies that make registering to vote and casting a ballot easier would also increase youth voter turnout.

Same-day voter registration is particularly effective at encouraging young people to vote. Likewise, letting 16- and 17-year-olds preregister to vote before they turn 18 can also substantially increase the number of voters under 30. At present, 21 states, including California, Massachusetts, Florida and Louisiana, let 16- and 17-year-olds preregister to vote.

Our research suggests that when states implement these types of reforms, they close the gap between older and younger voters by about a third.

There is some evidence that Harris has reinvigorated the youth vote.

Whether young citizens will show up and deliver the presidency to Harris or stay home and yield to Trump remains to be seen.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How gender, race, age and voter ID laws affect whether a voter actually casts a ballot

Ahead of Democratic convention, anger in Chicago's 'Little Palestine'

Bridgeview (United States) (AFP) – On the outskirts of Chicago, as enthusiastic Democrats gather for their national convention, some residents of "Little Palestine" have a different message for presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Issued on: 19/08/2024 -

Palestinian flags flutter in the wind, shops display signs in both Arabic and English, and posters call for demonstrations against steadfast US military support of Israel 

© Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP

"They won't be having our votes this year," said Ali Ibrahim, the manager of a Palestinian bakery in Bridgeview, Illinois, a pendant in the shape of historic Palestinian lands hanging around his neck. "And we do not want them in office."

Nestled by Midway International Airport and a soccer stadium, the Chicago suburb is home to the largest Palestinian community in the United States.

Palestinian flags flutter in the wind, shops display signs in both Arabic and English, and posters call for demonstrations against steadfast US military support of Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza.

The kickoff of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, just 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in downtown Chicago, has only heightened divisions between Palestinian Americans and the national party, and comes amid similar fractures with the country's larger Arab community, once a reliable Democratic voting bloc.

"We are angry. We are frustrated," Souzan Naser, a 46-year-old professor, told AFP.

"You can't expect us to vote for you when your values, your policies, your principles don't align with ours."

'Betrayed'

President Joe Biden has stuck by Israel in its war in Gaza, sparked by an attack by Hamas militants on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas also seized 251 hostages in the attack.

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza in response has killed more than 40,000 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry © Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza in response has killed more than 40,000 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, with the United Nations rights chief saying "most the dead" were women and children.

Swaths of the territory have been reduced to rubble, humanitarian aid has been blocked from entering the Strip and international observers have raised serious human rights concerns.

Amid the destruction, Gaza recorded its first case of polio in 25 years, with water infrastructure destroyed and civilians displaced in fetid conditions.

Biden and Harris "could have easily called for a ceasefire, had this war over a long time ago," said Ibrahim.

'We are angry. We are frustrated,' Souzan Naser, a 46-year-old professor, told AFP © Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP

Naser, a member of the activist group US Palestinian Community Network, was born in the Palestinian territories and raised in Bridgeview.

Residents in the Chicago suburb worked hard to elect Biden in 2020, she said, "and now they feel betrayed."

For many, the war is more than a hypothetical question of foreign policy, she added.

"I had one student who lost 35 members of her family," she told AFP, her voice choking with emotion. "And couldn't reach others. Didn't know if they were alive or not."
New candidate, new policies?

Harris has, at times, struck a different tone than her boss, calling for a ceasefire in March before she was running for president.

Harris has been largely vague on foreign and domestic policy so far, and it is unclear what sort of relationship she will strike with Palestinian Americans 

© Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP

Most recently, however, during her last-second campaign launched after Biden decided not to run for reelection, she rejected calls for an arms embargo.

"Has she done enough yet? No, will she? We hope," said restaurant owner Muhammad Baste, 38, insisting on a change in US government policy rather than just rhetoric.

It is possible the Democratic Party will have to go into November without votes from "Little Palestine" and other Arab-American communities -- including a large number of residents in nearby Michigan, viewed as a key battleground state.

"We know another Trump presidency would be a disaster," said Naser, while insisting that the Palestinian community has given "Biden ample time to change course."

Harris has been largely vague on foreign and domestic policy so far, and it is unclear what sort of relationship she will strike with Palestinian Americans -- but the vice president got off to a rocky start.

As anti-war protesters interrupted a speech in Michigan earlier this month, she shot back: "If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking."

© 2024 AFP