Equatorial Guinea: Sex scandal sparks debate on consent

Okeri Ngutjinazo

DW  

11/11.2024

A major leak in the small Central African nation has exposed deeper issues of consent, exploitation and public glorification of those involved. The scandal has ignited debates on privacy and personal rights.

The leaked videos were widely shared on social media

Image: Dado Ruvic/REUTERS

Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a high-ranking Equatorial Guinean official, had the internet buzzing last week after video footage leaked online purportedly showing him having sex with multiple women — including the wives of prominent officials.

Authorities rushed to stop the sharing of the viral videos, but this did not prevent an outpouring of reactions and memes online, with celebrities such as Nigerian singer Davido and French rapper Kaaris also chiming in.

The videos sparked condemnation towards the women, while Ebang Engonga was praised for his performance — with some even suggesting he deserved a prize on par with the Ballon d'Or, an annual award given to the best world soccer player.

Baltasar Ebang Engonga is the nephew of Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema (in picture), who has led the country since 1979Image: Alexander Shcherbak/dpa/picture alliance

The country's vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, wrote on X that the married women were participating in "acts that are degrading their reputation and dignity."

"In our position as the government, we cannot continue to watch families fall apart without taking any action," he stated.

Who is Baltasar Ebang Engonga?

Before his suspension due to the sex scandal, Baltasar Ebang Engonga served as the country's National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF) director. He had been under investigation for alleged corruption and embezzlement of public funds when public investigators came across the videos.

Ebang Engonga was in custody at Malabo's infamous Black Beach prison for the embezzlement charges when the videos were released, according to the country's state media TVGE.

Ebang Engonga, who is also known as "Bello" because of his good looks, is the son of Baltasar Engonga Edjo, the current Chairman of the Commission of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community.

Let's talk about Sex - The 77 Percent  26:05

Leaked videos raise the issue of consent

A woman who presents herself as one of Ebang Engonga's partners told state media that she had "given her consent" for their lovemaking to be filmed, but she thought that the images had "been immediately deleted" after viewing them, adding that she felt "humiliated."

It was not indicated whether she was married at the time the video was filmed.

Cyrille Rolande Bechon, a lawyer and activist, told DW that the Ebang Engonga case raises the question of victims' consent — including consent to be filmed, for the videos to be saved, and for how the videos would be used.

"So, in human rights, we talk more about the question of informed consent, informed means that he or she has understood the ins and outs, and especially what will be done with the recording for which he or she has given his or her consent," she said.

Data protection needed

Bechon said there is a lack of awareness among people regarding personal data, which is especially crucial when agreeing to be filmed by a stranger.

"Moreover, even when we are filmed by someone we know, we do not always know how this data can be processed," she said, adding that given that this data is saved on computer devices, which most of us do not control, personal data can be copied with a single click.

In the case of Ebang Engonga, Bechon said instead of families being blamed for the actions of the women in these videos, they should lead a legal battle to address this issue and push for laws on data protection, informed consent, and the right to control the use of their images.

How AI is changing our sex life   12:34

Government bans sex in offices

A government statement said that Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue ordered new measures last week to prevent judiciary and ministry officials from engaging in illicit acts at work.

The measures included installing security cameras in all offices as well as beefing up security.

"We will proceed with the immediate suspension of all officials who have had sexual relations in the offices of the country's ministries. The Government will crack down on these acts, as they constitute a flagrant violation of the Code of Conduct and the Public Ethics Law," Obiang Mangue also wrote on X.

Obiang Mangue said this action is part of "our policy of zero tolerance for behavior that undermines the integrity of the public service."

Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea's chief prosecutor Anatolio Nzang Nguema told local media that if medical examinations revealed that Ebang Engonga was "infected with a sexually transmitted disease" he would be prosecuted for an offense against "public health".



Carole Assignon and AFP contributed reporting

Edited by: Keith Walker

Okeri Ngutjinazo is a Namibian-born journalist.@ONgutjinazo

UK: Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over abuse scandal

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned after an investigation found he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he learned of it.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in a statement that he was stepping down 'in the best interests of the Church of England'

Image: Andrew Milligan/REUTERS

The Anglican Church's top cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, announced his resignation Tuesday after facing mounting pressure to step down over his handling of an abuse scandal that dates back decades.

Welby had faced days of growing pressure to quit after the independent probe found that in 2013 he failed to tell police about decades of serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps.

"It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and re-traumatising period between 2013 and 2024," Welby admitted in a statement.

"I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse," the archbishop said, adding that he was stepping down "in the best interests of the Church of England."

Hours earlier, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer added to the pressure on Welby when he said victims had been "failed very, very badly."

What do we know about the abuse scandal?

Last week, the independent Makin Report criticized Welby's handling of abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s. The report said John Smyth, a British lawyer, had subjected more than 100 boys and young men to "brutal and horrific" physical and sexual abuse over 40 years.

Smyth was chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the Christian camps in Dorset, England, where Welby worked as a dormitory supervisor before he was ordained.

The Church of England "at the highest level" knew about the sexual abuse allegations at the camps in 2013, and Welby learned of the accusations at least that same year, months after he became archbishop, according to the report.

Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 and later moved to South Africa. He continued to abuse boys and young men in Zimbabwe, and there is evidence that the abuse continued in South Africa until his death in August 2018, according to the report.

Smyth's abuse wasn't made public until a 2017 investigation by Britain's Channel 4 television. It prompted Hampshire police to launch an investigation. At the time of his death, the police planned to question Smyth. They were also preparing to extradite him.
Who can succeed Welby?

Welby's tenure spanned a decade of upheaval as he navigated disputes over gay rights and women clergy between liberal churches, mostly in North America and Britain, and conservative ones, especially in Africa.

Uganda's Anglican bishops row over same-sex blessing  03:17

Anglican churches in African countries such as Uganda and Nigeria are likely to welcome Welby's resignation. They said last year that they no longer had confidence in him.

Church procedures for appointing a new archbishop of Canterbury require a panel of clergy and a chair appointed by the British Prime Minister to put forward two names.

Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, have both been tipped to succeed Welby and become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury.

Usher is in favor of gay rights and has been outspoken on the need to tackle climate change. Francis-Dehqani was born in Iran and has spoken about how her brother was murdered in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution. She would be the first woman to hold the post.

dh/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Arab leaders call for Gaza, West Bank, east Jerusalem to become unified Palestinian state

Arab leaders say Mideast peace requires end to Israeli occupation of 'Arab territories'


The closing statement of the summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in Riyadh said that "a just and comprehensive peace" in the Middle East "cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Arab territories", referring to the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights.


Issued on: 11/11/2024

DW
By:  NEWS WIRES

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan at the closing press conference of the Riyadh summit. © Fayez Nureldine, AFP

Arab and Muslim leaders demanded on Monday that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories as a precondition for regional peace, while denouncing "shocking" Israeli crimes in war-ravaged Gaza.

A summit meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh gave the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's 57 nations a chance to speak with one voice on turmoil engulfing the region, more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

It came less than a week after Donald Trump secured a second term as president of the United States, Israel's top military backer.

The summit's closing statement said that "a just and comprehensive peace in the region... cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Arab territories to the line of June 4, 1967," referring to the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem as well as Gaza and the Golan Heights.


The statement mentioned UN resolutions which have called on Israel to withdraw from these areas, and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, in which Arab nations offered Israel normalised ties in return for a two-state agreement with the Palestinians along the 1967 lines.

The international community should "launch a plan with specific steps and timing under international sponsorship" to make a sovereign Palestinian state a reality, the statement said.

Hamas later urged Arab and Muslim nations to back up those pledges with action.

"The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital would require more immediate efforts and practical solutions to force (Israel) to stop its aggression and genocide against our people," Hamas said in a statement.

The hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains opposed to Palestinian statehood and Israel's new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, dismissed the prospect as not "realistic".

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich later Monday vowed to push for annexation of parts of the West Bank in 2025.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (L) meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. © Thaer Ghanaim, PPO / AFP

The Riyadh summit reiterated regional leaders' call for Palestinian territories -- including Gaza, which is separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory -- to be grouped together in a future state.

The leaders also condemned "horrific and shocking crimes" by Israel's army, saying they occurred "in the context of the crime of genocide".

The war began with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,600 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Ceasefire call

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, began firing on Israel after the October 7 attack, in stated support of its Palestinian ally.

The regular cross-border exchanges escalated in late September. Israel has intensified its air strikes and later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon.

Addressing Monday's summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the world must "immediately halt the Israeli actions against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon" and condemned Israel's campaign in Gaza as "genocide".

Palestinians amid the destruction in northern Gaza, where war has raged for more than a year. © Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP

Prince Mohammed, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, also called on Israel not to attack Iran, highlighting improving ties between Riyadh and its regional rival Tehran.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned that his country was suffering an "existential" crisis and hit out at countries meddling in its internal affairs -- a thinly veiled swipe at Iran.
A 'signal' to Trump

Trump's election last week for a second term in the White House was likely on leaders' minds, said Anna Jacobs, senior Gulf analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.

"This summit is very much an opportunity for regional leaders to signal to the incoming Trump administration what they want in terms of US engagement," she said.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said in his remarks that "the world is waiting" for Trump "to immediately stop the war against the innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon".

The final statement included a call for a ban on the export and transfer of weapons to Israel.

Despite criticism of the impact Israel's military campaign has had on Gaza civilians, outgoing US President Joe Biden has ensured that Washington remains Israel's most important military backer during more than a year of fighting.

In his first term, Trump defied international consensus with a series of moves praised by the Israeli government but condemned by Palestinians.

He recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, moving the US embassy there, and endorsed Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

(AFP)

‘Nothing grows anymore’: In Malawi, eating becomes a daily struggle due to climate change

The combined effects of cyclones and droughts, worsened by climate change, have led to widespread food insecurity in Malawi. While some adaptation efforts are emerging in this agriculture-dependent country, they have yet to gain traction on a larger scale.


Issued on: 11/11/2024 -
By: Cyrielle CABOT

FRANCE24/AFP

A woman returns from the field, at the Tiyangane irrigation system, on November 3, 2024. © Cyrielle Cabot, FRANCE 24


“I can't stand the taste anymore. But it's this or nothing.” Musamude Binzi slices his mango in half, holding back a wince as he bites into it with full force. For him and all the residents of his village of Kamuga, in the Chikwawa region of southern Malawi, this tropical fruit is the only food they've had access to for over a year. "We boil them, grill them, make porridge, or juice ... We know every way to cook them," the young man said.

For a long time, maize, the staple food in Malawi, filled their plates, harvested directly from the fields around the village. But for two seasons now, those fields have remained barren. "There used to be enough to feed everyone and sell the surplus for income," said Joseph Yona, the village chief. "Now, all our fields are flooded, and the water won’t go down. We can no longer grow anything."

From cyclones to droughts

In March 2023, Malawi was hit by Cyclone Freddy, the longest cyclone on record at 36 days. Six months' worth of rain fell in just six days, causing floods and mudslides. About 1,200 people died, and 700,000 were displaced. Two million farmers lost their crops, and 1.4 million livestock perished. The fields around Kamuga were inundated, and water remains present even today.

Read more'We lost everything that day': After Cyclone Freddy, Malawi struggles to rebuild

In November 2023, just a few months after Cyclone Freddy, El Niño struck. This climate phenomenon, characterised by the warming of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, disrupts typical weather patterns and often results in extreme conditions. It pushed the country – where more than 16 million people rely on rain-fed agriculture – into a historic drought. Some 4.4 million people were still facing food insecurity in spring of this year, according to the UN.

Malawi ranks among the five countries most affected by extreme weather events, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. Rainfall has become increasingly erratic and periods of drought have alternated with five cyclones since 2019.
A crocodile-infested river

For Kamuga’s residents, it has become even more difficult to feed themselves. In this desert-like village, even finding mangoes is a perilous challenge. The few mango trees are located hundreds of metres from homes, near the crocodile-infested Shire River.

In October 2023, Jusa Levison was attacked while picking fruit for his family. "There were four of us. The mangoes were just starting to ripen, so we had to climb the trees to get them," he recalled. "I found a tree with plenty of fruit and left the group to climb up. On my way down, a crocodile attacked me."

Jusa Levison was attacked by a crocodile while picking mangoes to feed his family in the village of Kamuga, Malawi. © Cyrielle Cabot, France 24

The reptile bit his calf as he was putting the precious fruit in a bag. "Luckily, my friends heard me and rushed over with a stick. The crocodile eventually let go, and they took me to the hospital," said the 25-year-old. Nearby villages reported two other attacks, with one man and a 15-year-old boy losing their lives.

As Jusa shares his story, children as young as 10 walk by, carrying jute sacks filled with green mangoes – provisions that will last for about two days. "We know the danger, but we have no choice," said Yona, the village chief. "In about a month, the mango season will end. I don’t know how we’re going to manage."

Some families have already started collecting water lily tubers from nearby streams. These are eaten peeled, cut into pieces, or dried and ground. A food that is "without taste and certainly without vitamins", the chief said, "but which can prevent us from dying of hunger".
Diverting water from rivers

A few kilometres downstream, the repeated environmental disasters drove the village of Nsomo to act. "We experienced severe floods in 2016 that destroyed many homes and fields," said Alfred Mbalame, a member of the local disaster management committee. "We had to move the village a little further away and rebuild ourselves."

In the years that followed, these episodes became more frequent. "We then came up with the idea of replanting trees near the riverbed to protect ourselves," Mbalame said.

The trees in question were gradually cut down to be sold, as more and more Malawians turned to the sale of wood and charcoal for financial survival, an illegal activity that fuels deforestation and ultimately exacerbates vulnerability to extreme weather. Without trees, the soil loses its ability to absorb water, erodes, and becomes prone to flooding and mudslides. By 1992, Malawi had lost more than half of its forests, and it is now losing an additional 0.63% annually, according to government figures.

"We soon realised this wasn’t enough," Alfred continued. In 2023, the risk management committee came up with a new idea: building a dyke to divert water during heavy rains and protect the village and fields.

The project, funded by the Danish NGO DanChurchAid at 6.5 million Malawian kwacha (approximately €3,500), was launched a year later. "It was a big challenge to do this with such a small budget," said Charles Herbat Mandafzuwa, an engineer and village member. He designed cost-effective plans, sourced materials, and hired local artisans and villagers. In just 30 days, the dyke was completed.

Charles Herbat Mandafzuwa shows the dam he helped build in Nsomo, Malawi, on November 3, 2024. © Cyrielle Cabot, France 24

Today, rows of perfectly aligned trees now obscure the two small stone walls that run along the dry riverbed. Though they reassure the village as the rainy season approaches, much work remains.

"These walls should be longer and higher, and sandbags should be installed in the middle. But we’ve run out of money," the engineer admitted, estimating another 20 million kwacha (10,780 euros) are needed to finish the project. "Honestly, it may not hold during severe rains. Let’s hope it will limit the damage."
Diversifying crops

Davi Tsoka has pursued his own solutions for adapting to the new climate challenges. For two years, he has diversified his crops to ensure at least some harvest each season.

"In 2016, floods destroyed my home and fields, forcing my family and I to relocate. Since then, every year has brought either drought or flood. We’ve never had a normal harvest again," said the 45-year-old. Previously, he managed to harvest about 16 bags of corn annually; now, he barely fills one.

A farmer in Malawi, Davi Tsoka, has tried to diversify his crops in an effort to overcome food insecurity. © Cyrielle Cabot, France 24

In addition to maize, he now alternates crops depending on the time of the year, including soybeans, which thrive in dry conditions, and rice, which grows in wet areas, as well as peas. "My grandparents used to grow soya and they passed on their knowledge to me. As for rice, I went to observe farmers in the region who were already growing it to learn all about it," he said.

Yet, given the severity of the weather events, the farmer admitted he still struggled to get by. "Almost nothing grows despite everything, because it's too dry or too wet," he said, noting he only managed to harvest enough rice to survive in 2024. "But it's better than nothing."

The maize he planted in October wilted a month later due to the delayed rainy season, and the crops planted in December didn’t survive February’s drought.

Tsoka’s approach aligns with recommendations from the Malawian ministry of agriculture, which has called on farmers to plant drought-resistant and early-maturing crops.

While Tsoka is among the fortunate ones able to follow these recommendations, early warnings often do not reach the most rural and vulnerable communities, such as Kamuga. Even when they do, many are unable to act, as farmers remain financially weakened by the most recent disaster.
‘I was able to buy a house, livestock, and a moped’

Several kilometres from Nsamo, in the Nsanje district, near Tiyangane, a stark contrast emerges. Unlike the empty fields around Kamuga, the lanes are green and full of lettuce. Long stalks of corn have just been harvested and onions are beginning to sprout. It’s the end of the day, and women are either ploughing the land or returning to the village smiling, tools in hand.

Farmers work in the fields of the Tiyangane irrigation system in Malawi, on November 3, 2024. © Cyrielle Cabot, France 24

Since 2020, this area has flourished into a small Garden of Eden, sheltered from the many problems facing other Malawian farmers. This is due to the fact that it benefits from a rare technology in Malawi: an irrigation system. "This has changed everything for us. Without it, the situation wouldn't be the same at all," said Medison Govati, who led the project.

The farmers cultivating these nine hectares of arable land harvest maize, vegetables and onions three times a year. "We prioritise maize to make sure we can feed everyone, and then we sell the other crops," Govati explained. "With this money, the 105 people who live off these fields have been able to build a house, buy a moped or cattle. It's exceptional." Govati himself now has two homes, a moped and 10 animals. Before, he barely survived by selling charcoal.

While successful, this project, also funded by DanChurchAid, raised a lot of questions at first. Many village chiefs wanted to use the funds for immediate needs like livestock or food. "One chief insisted we try it after seeing it in northern countries," Govati recounted.

"We'd never seen anything like it in the region, so it was a real gamble."

Govati said the project has been such a success that it has even stirred envy and conflict with neighbouring villages.

But promising as these strategies are, they all suffer from the same shortfall: funding. Following Cyclone Freddy, the government launched a $16 million, five-year initiative to help 10,000 households develop resilient livelihoods through beekeeping, mushroom farming and brick-making. The World Food Programme has also helped 118,000 households adapt to climate change through crop diversification, reforestation and solar irrigation.

Govati acknowledged that lack of funding is the main limitation of the irrigation system project. "It's difficult not to be able to help more people. We would very much like to be able to expand the irrigation system, but that would require much more funding."

This article has been translated from the original in French.

Conservatives tried to repeal one of the country’s strongest climate policies. They failed big time.

Washington state’s Climate Commitment Act survived. It’s a promising sign for the future of climate action.


by Kate Yoder

Nov 8, 2024, 

GRIST

Mount Baker is seen just behind a Shell oil refinery near Anacortes, Washington. 

Getty Images/Gallo Images/ROOTS

Kate Yoder is a staff writer at Grist.

This story was originally published by Grist and is republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.


The people of Washington state elected to save the most ambitious price on carbon in the country. A large majority of voters, 62 percent, rejected a ballot initiative to repeal the state’s Climate Commitment Act, the cap-and-trade law that has already raised more than $2 billion for cleaning up transportation, shifting to clean energy, and helping people adapt to the effects of a changing climate.

On an otherwise depressing election night for voters who consider climate change a top concern, there was an air of victory at the Seattle Convention Center on Tuesday evening, where Gov. Jay Inslee and a couple hundred organizers with the campaign opposing the repeal gathered for a watch party. As news rolled in that former President Donald Trump was the favorite to win the presidential election, many in the crowd did their best to focus on their success in rescuing the state’s landmark carbon-cutting law. Inslee, the outgoing Democratic governor whose signature climate legislation was at risk, said that the results should embolden states to take action on climate change.

“I really feel it was important from a national perspective, because every state legislator can now look to Washington and say, ‘This is a winning issue,’” Inslee said in an interview with Grist. “This is something you can defend and win big on. And we won big.”

Inslee said that the effort to defeat the initiative had emphasized the concrete, local benefits of the program to voters, rather than getting into the weeds about how cap and trade works. “We focused on the easiest thing for people to wrap their minds and hearts around,” Inslee said, pointing to the tangible economic benefits that the repeal would take away: the funding for transportation, schools, and fighting fires.

Putting any kind of price on carbon has long been seen as politically risky. Opponents of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, including Brian Heywood, the hedge fund manager driving the repeal effort, blamed it for raising gas prices. The ballot measure would have not only struck down the state’s price on pollution — it would have also prevented the state from ever enacting a similar policy in the future.

The resounding public support for Washington’s cap-and-trade program “is going to echo coast to coast,” said Democratic state Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who helped pass the legislation in 2021, during a speech at the convention center. Officials in states including New Jersey, Maryland, and New York have been eyeing similar policies, and they’ve been watching the results in Washington to see how voters responded. “I know that there are states that are thinking, ‘What can we do?’” Fitzgibbon told Grist. “And especially when there’s a vacuum at the federal level, that’s when I think you see the most motivation in state capitols to move.”

Cap and trade already exists in California, and in a more limited form among a network of states in the East, but Washington’s law is more ambitious, aiming to slash emissions nearly in half by 2030, using 1990 levels as a baseline, and by 95 percent by 2050.

“Washington state is the gold standard for how we tackle climate change in a way that’s inclusive, in a way that’s politically popular, in a way that actually will decarbonize,” said state Sen. Joe Nguy?n, a Democrat who chairs the state’s Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee. A review of existing climate policies in 41 countries in August found that carbon pricing programs were the most likely of any policy to lead to large emissions cuts.

The Climate Commitment Act’s passage in 2021 followed more than a decade of failed attempts to put a price on pollution in Washington state. It requires companies to buy pollution permits at quarterly auctions, a way to generate money for climate solutions and at the same time incentivize businesses to reduce their emissions. The number of permits available decreases over time. The program has so far raised billions to make public transit free for youth, install energy-efficient heat pumps in homes, and reduce local air pollution, among other measures.

Across the state, almost 600 organizations joined the “No on 2117” coalition to defend the law in 2024, ultimately raising $16 million. Many businesses, religious organizations, health advocates, and agricultural organizations were on board. At the event Tuesday, there were security guards representing unionized labor, the chair of the Suquamish Tribe, and a public policy manager from the tech giant Amazon. “We put together, all of us, the most extraordinary coalition in the history of this state, on any issue, ever,” said Gregg Small, executive director of the group Climate Solutions, in a speech at the convention center.

The initiative faced other headwinds. Ballots explicitly alerted voters to the fiscal costs of the repeal, despite appeals to the state Supreme Court by the Washington State Republican Party to get that language removed. And Washington’s gas prices — which soared to $5, the highest in the country, in 2023 — have now come down to around $4 a gallon.

Related:The 5 most important questions about carbon taxes, answered

Another ballot initiative, which would complicate the state’s plans to get off natural gas, was still too close to call on Friday. With ballots still left to count, 51 percent of voters approved of the measure, which targets new building codes that make installing natural gas more difficult and legislation to help the state’s largest utility accelerate its use of clean energy.

Now that Washington’s cap-and-trade program survived the repeal, the state can move forward with plans to link its carbon market up with California and Quebec’s. The state can also begin the years-long process of implementing the Climate Commitment Act’s program to regulate air quality. This summer, the state began releasing grants to help reduce air pollution in “overburdened” communities, but much of the work had been on hold as the state waited to see if voters would keep the law, according to David Mendoza, the director of public advocacy and engagement at the Nature Conservancy in Washington state.

The whole repeal initiative might have been a blessing in disguise, Nguy?n said. It gave people a chance to pay attention to all the work the state had done on climate change that might otherwise have been ignored. “I actually want to thank Brian Heywood and his cronies for putting this on the ballot, and just reaffirming to everybody that we care about climate change in Washington state.”

It’s not normal for the East Coast to be on fire

Why New York’s November wildfires are so alarming.


by Paige Vega

Nov 12, 2024

VOX


Over the weekend, a very small wildfire broke out in a hilly and densely vegetated area of Prospect Park, a swath of green space in Brooklyn. The 2-acre blaze drew about 100 firefighters as residents were warned to stay out of the park. Meanwhile, on the New York-New Jersey border, another blaze, the Jennings Creek wildfire, has burned thousands of acres, sending smoke drifting across much of New York City and killing an 18-year-old New York state forest ranger volunteer who died while responding to the fire.

Is this typical? Not exactly. But the Northeast has been under severe drought conditions for weeks. These fires, and the dozens of others currently burning in the Northeast and across the Ohio River Valley, as well as the scores more in the Western US, are the consequence of months of unseasonably hot and dry weather across large swaths of the country.

Okay, pause: What is a drought? Simply put, a drought is a dry period — that is, a long stretch of time without any rain or snow — that leads to a water shortage. Droughts can (and do) happen all over the world; they are not just a characteristic of a desert or a regional problem. Extreme drought can stress landscapes and water tables, regardless of whether a city is built on top of them or not. If a drought lasts long enough, people in that place can lose access to water.

While the Western United States is associated with aridity, it is remarkable to see this extent of drought spread across the Northeast. And current forecasts show that the conditions will persist for weeks or even months. “It’s problematic to see drought in all parts of the country. It’s not just a regional issue,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. “Regardless of where you’re at, drought can and will impact you.”

Related: The shady origins of the climate haven myth

Firefighters extinguished the Prospect Park fire. Rain mercifully moved into New York on Sunday night and snuffed much of the smoke drifting across the East Coast, obscuring the fact that a cluster of fires in New Jersey continued to burn.


As the smoke fades, attention shouldn’t: Millions of people in the Northeast remain under red flag wildfire warnings, which signal conditions where anything that can generate a spark could likely lead to a fire. But we all live with drought, extreme heat, and fire now — and our relationship to water is connected to just how bad things could get.

People watch as a wildfire burns and spreads on a mountain in West Milford, New Jersey, on November 9, 2024.

 Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images

Why is the drought so severe?

For much of the country, October was an extremely hot and dry month. We are currently on pace for 2024 to become the hottest year ever recorded, a declaration that forecasters from the World Meteorological Organization are making with confidence even with more than a month left.

According to the US Drought Monitor, the long periods of hot and dry conditions have left every state in the country facing drought — an unprecedented statistic.


There isn’t a single driver responsible for the scope of the current drought conditions. Even as our global average temperatures are rising thanks to climate change, our short-term weather patterns will shift all of the time. For example, despite Hurricane Helene bringing heaps of moisture to places like North Carolina a little more than a month ago, even western North Carolina is now abnormally dry. How can that be? Because it’s been that hot and dry in the weeks since — enough to erase any sign of a so-called thousand-year event.


“When I started looking at data over the past six months, you see that places like New Jersey, the Ohio River Valley, much of the plains have 12 to 15 inches below normal precipitation for this time of the year,” Fuchs said. “New York has a deficit of 10 inches. That’s very extreme for this part of the country.”

Related:Wildfires are coming... for New Jersey?


And then there are these warmer temperatures later in the year that end up amplifying the ongoing drought’s worst effects. Temperatures usually fall significantly by November. Trees will drop their leaves and go dormant. Certain critters hibernate or go into low-power mode. Snow begins accumulating in the higher elevations, banking moisture that will melt out — gradually — during the warmer periods.


But when it’s 80 degrees in New York in November, trees and vegetation are still consuming water. There’s an extra period of demand on the overall water system, and that taxes water sources — lakes and streams begin to draw down and the ground holds onto less moisture. Vegetation that grew earlier in the year begins to dry out — and fuel wildfires.


“It really doesn’t take much time to transition to a hot and dry environment and you all of a sudden have all of this extra fuel for wildfires,” Fuchs said. “This is the perfect mix for fires to blossom.”

Should we expect more wildfires?


Drought is a normal part of our climate, but it’s not normal to see this much drought across so much of the country.


Resources to help you understand how drought will impact where you live


There are two monitors produced by the US Drought Monitor from the Climate Prediction Center that reflect what areas in the US will be most affected by drought and water scarcity. These projections, which update regularly, give a real-time pulse on conditions across the country and are created through a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These tools are also helpful in getting a clearer picture of how the climate is impacting your local landscape and will give you the heads-up if you’re likely to face water shortages.
The monthly outlook is a great snapshot for this moment in time. It provides a gradient of drought conditions, shaded by severity, impacting the country. If you live in a place where drought is persisting, conserve your water and be aware of acute wildfire risk.
The seasonal outlook currently shows projection through January 2025 and will update again in mid-November to show conditions expected to the end of February. This map is helpful for getting a longer-range view of aridity and whether it’s likely to lessen or become more severe.


This extreme period of dry weather is a part of the larger picture that scientists have come to expect: that our weather will become more extreme and unpredictable and that we will collectively experience more pronounced swings from incredibly dry periods to incredibly wet periods.


Those dry periods, Fuchs says, are connected to warmer temperatures persisting into what should be the colder parts of the year and ramping up the demand on our water systems.


That demand, by the way, includes water consumption by you and me and everyone else. Just multiply our daily showers, drawing from the tap, running our dishwashers and washing machines, washing our cars, watering our house plants (and so on) by the millions of people who live in a watershed, the area that shares a single water source for a particular region.


If there’s too much demand on an already stressed landscape, the wildfire risk increases as water levels in streams and in our water table drop.


To better navigate the conditions we see today and the climate we should expect in the future, we need to understand that no place is immune to drought conditions, Fuchs said. “Even if you think you’ve not been impacted by drought in the past, it’s increasingly important for people to know where their water comes from and conserve it the best you can at any time,” he said.


“We’re actively experiencing severe climate change impacts,” said Aradhna Tripati, a climate scientist from UCLA who helped author the latest national climate assessment. Climate change “is no longer theoretical or a distant threat, an abstract one. It is not something that happens in the future here. It is not something only happening in places far away from where we live. All weather is now being affected.”


Yes — even in New York City.

Paige Vega is the climate editor of Vox. She has written and edited at the intersection of climate change, community and conservation for outlets including High Country News, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Capital B News among others.

Anti-Abortion Former Trump Official Signs Secretive Deal With Ugandan Government

Project 2025 contributor Valerie Huber is pushing an abstinence-only, anti-choice agenda across Africa.

By Rachel Schraer , 

TheBureauofInvestigativeJournalismPublished

November 11, 2024

TRUTH OUT

Uganda's Health Minister  Sarah Opendi delivers a speech in Kampala, Uganda, on April 17, 2017. Uganda's health minister disguised herself as a patient and caught two medical workers demanding a bribe for free government services, she told AFP 

STRINGER / AFP via Getty Images

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Valerie Huber has had a busy couple of years. Since leaving her senior post in the US government, the former Trump official has spent months traveling across Africa, from Burkina Faso to Uganda, meeting officials and heads of state from at least nine countries. Social media posts show her gladhanding ambassadors and smiling with politicians, making public her commitment to promote women’s wellbeing and health.

At the heart of her latest project is the Protego Women’s Optimal Health Framework, a public health initiative that was the subject of an agreement signed in May by Janet Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and minister for education. The programme’s launch was attended by prominent doctors, women’s groups, politicians, even groups of schoolchildren. And it was heralded as an exciting opportunity for Uganda’s public health.

Protego is run by Huber’s charity, the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH), which says the project aims to offer, “evidence-based interventions to support the health and wellbeing of women and their families.” One of its more ambitious goals, according to a senior source in the Ugandan health ministry, is to roll out clinics that deliver a significant range of reproductive health services to women, as well as cancer screenings.

The background, however, is that Protego is Huber’s latest project in a 25-year career spent promoting ineffective abstinence-focused sex education and so-called “natural” contraceptive methods. As a senior adviser within Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, Huber made sweeping changes that led to the closure of some evidence-based family planning programs. She was also the driving force behind the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a statement signed by 34 countries saying that there is “no international right to abortion.”

Now TBIJ can reveal that Huber and her charity, the IWH, have entered into a secretive agreement with the Ugandan government to find public money to spend on her Protego programme.

Related Story

As US Erodes Sexual and Reproductive Rights, International Law Can Be a Lifeline
US activists are turning to international frameworks on sexual rights, the right to health and anti-torture protections.
By Zane McNeill , Truthout

October 22, 2024

What’s more, key documents relating to the project are being kept away from the public eye in a manner described by one lawyer as “unconstitutional.”

Rolling Back Progress

In Uganda, women’s health rests on shaky foundations. Teen pregnancies are high. Girls and young women between 15 and 24 account for almost a third of all new HIV infections. And for every thousand babies born, around three of the mothers die.

It is also a country where the issues of contraception and sex education remain deeply controversial. Religious leaders and conservative politicians have pushed back against increasing access to contraception, focusing instead on abstinence and “purity.”

However, the scale of HIV-related deaths and unplanned pregnancies have forced the government’s hand. Recent pledges have been made to increase the use of modern contraceptives, including for young people. But any advances on this front are fragile, and in constant danger of regressing.

Huber, meanwhile, has spent almost three decades promoting schemes that teach young people that the best way to avoid infections and unwanted pregnancies is to forego sex altogether. After running abstinence initiatives in Ohio, she took over the state’s abstinence-only education programme, which were found by one study to contain “false and misleading information” under her tenure. She then spent a decade leading the not-for-profit National Abstinence Education Association (later renamed Ascend), before Trump appointed her into government.

Extensive research supported by major medical institutions has found abstinence-only education does not significantly delay the initiation of sexual activity in young people — it simply leaves them ill-informed and unprepared. Some previous research has shown some young people in abstinence-based programmes are similarly likely to use condoms. But leading experts have criticised them for both withholding accurate information and including inaccurate information, as well as promoting harmful gender stereotypes.

In a statement, Huber said the IWH and the Protego project drew on “science-based concepts.” She cited a number of studies which showed people undergoing abstinence education delayed their “sexual debut,” were “no less likely to use a condom” and had “improved academic success.”

While the full details of the Uganda agreement are unknown, Huber has met with representatives of at least one women’s hospital in the run-up to Protego’s implementation.

And her track record suggests abstinence-focused education is likely to be at the forefront of the scheme. A copy of the project’s framework and accompanying document seen by TBIJ mentions abstinence and “natural family planning” (having unprotected sex while trying to avoid the fertile part of a woman’s cycle) as well as modern evidence-based methods. It also states any discussion of contraception should include education about avoiding “sexual risks,” terminology used by Huber to describe abstinence-based education.

Gillian Kane, director of global policy at the reproductive rights charity Ipas, told TBIJ: “There are existing programmes [in Uganda] that are vetted, they’re implemented by professionals in the field,” she said. “There are technicians who know how to provide health services.”

She said that Huber’s project “really raises a lot of questions [about] their area of expertise and what they’re replacing.”

Uganda’s Ministry of Health told TBIJ that Protego will supplement, not replace, existing services. It also said the concept of abstinence is “integral to Uganda’s moral fabric” and has been used in the past to combat HIV transmission, as part of a strategy also involving contraception.

Huber’s charity, the IWH, told TBIJ the Protego framework is “culturally sensitive” to local populations and “does not force beliefs, values, or doctrines upon a country and its people.”

TBIJ has repeatedly asked the relevant ministries, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development and Huber’s IWH to see the agreement and has made formal requests for information about what it contains. But with no success.

Kane said that people she has spoken to with access to Huber have been been met with a “vacuum of detail about what it is.”

Sources in ministries working on the project, as well as via those providing reproductive health services in Uganda, have told TBIJ that Protego is being coordinated by the office of the first lady — which is also where key documents relating to the project are being held. The office has no formal standing in the constitution.

A constitutional lawyer familiar with the situation, and who did not want to be named for fear of backlash, explained that the first lady’s office does not have the same status in Uganda law as a government ministry and therefore cannot be scrutinised or challenged in the same way. He described the situation as “unconstitutional.”
Finding the Money

Although official details on the project are scarce, it seems clear that Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and minister of education, has thrown her full weight behind it. A commissioner in the health ministry and a member of parliament who helped set up the project have confirmed to TBIJ that there is an agreement to find the Protego money in some form from within the existing budgets of three government ministries.

The IWH said no money would be exchanged between the charity and other parties.

Dr Richard Mugahi, assistant commissioner at Uganda’s Ministry of Health, told TBIJ that not all aspects of the plan may be able to go ahead within existing budgets. But asked whether there was a path to money coming in the future, he said: “Of course. Our chief mobiliser is the first lady, who is very passionate about this.”

Museveni took up the cause after Huber was introduced to government figures by Sarah Opendi, a member of parliament and chair of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association. Opendi, who also attended an early meeting about the project, is a backer of Uganda’s extreme anti-LGBT bill.

She told TBIJ she believes Protego should advocate abstinence for adolescents, rather than contraceptives, as a way to address the country’s high teen pregnancy rate.

Dr Sabrina Kitaka, a paediatrician who attended the launch event in May, seemed cautiously optimistic about the programme. Kitaka told TBIJ she “did appreciate their vision and goal to support the girl child, to empower her, to make sure she doesn’t become pregnant before she finishes school and also to promote women’s health in general.”

But she added that “we have to not put our head in the sand” when it comes to the burden of teenage pregnancy and that contraception should be given to “those who need [it].”

“The data shows that abstinence-only programmes do not work,” said Ophelia Kemigisha, an activist and human rights lawyer. “A return to this strategy will lead to a loss of the progress made.”
Project 2025

Huber’s ideas on the subject, however, appear unwavering. When she was appointed to the US Department of Health and Human Services in June 2017, she promptly cancelled the contracts for all 81 providers of Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs, which had been independently judged as effective. She then issued various funding opportunities that favored both providers advocating abstinence-only education and “natural” family planning over medically approved contraception. One of the results was almost a million fewer people serviced by federal family planning programs.

Now Huber is listed as a contributor to Project 2025, a radical 900-page blueprint for the next US government, drawn up by the ultra-conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation. It says the next administration should remove all references to “gender equality,” “abortion” and “sexual and reproductive rights” from foreign aid policies, contracts and grants. It also recommends the removal of references to “controversial” sexual education materials.

When the US makes changes to its aid policies, for example excluding abortion from funding, it has a direct effect on the availability of wider reproductive health services in countries receiving US funding, including Uganda.

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, co-founder of the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, told TBIJ Huber’s career and involvement in Project 2025 appeared to “point to her true agenda — to limit the sexual health and rights of girls, women and young people.”

“The outcome of her activities on the health and wellbeing of young people are dire.”

OPINION

Meet Jack D. Ripper: the new h​ealth czar

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Fox Tucson Theatre in Tucson, Arizona. Image via Gage Skidmore.

Team Trump says RFK Jr's conservative star rise is 'concerning and beyond logic': report
Joe Conason

November 10, 2024

Over the few days since Donald Trump's election victory, America has gotten a foretaste of the wreckage likely to ensue when he returns to the White House. His promise to endow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with plenary authority over health and food regulation -- and to let him "go wild" -- shows once more how little Trump really cares about anyone or anything but himself.

As Trump and his associates surely know, Bobby has no qualifications whatsoever to direct or oversee any federal health office, no matter how small, let alone a major agency like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Food and Drug Administration. Their corrupt deal with the anti-vaccine activist -- who has made millions from his attacks on public health -- was premised solely on his sycophantic endorsement of Trump and his perceived influence on the crackpot segment of the American electorate

So confident is Kennedy of Trump's unconditional support that he has already announced his first policy directive, effective on Jan. 21, 2025: an attempt to curtail the municipal fluoridation of American water that has been in continuous effect in most places for decades. Cities and counties dose their water with tiny amounts of fluoride, a naturally occurring substance, because study after study has proved that it prevents dental decay in children, who are saved from the grave health impacts not only of rotting teeth but the infections and disabilities that can follow.

Yet Kennedy somehow has come to believe fluoride is a poison that must be removed from water systems immediately. Perhaps he was influenced the John Birch Society, which has promoted the idea that fluoridation is part of a left-wing plot against Americans since the '50s. (Stanley Kubrick satirized this nonsense in his 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove," which featured a rant by the fanatical right-wing Gen. Jack D. Ripper, justifying a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union that will end the world: "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?")

Although it's true that excessive consumption of fluoride can lead to ill effects, the levels of fluoridation in U.S. water systems are nowhere near such levels. That's why the American Dental Association and every other health authority have long supported fluoridation policy.

Whatever the source of his bizarre misapprehensions, Kennedy will sooner or later have to confront the simple fact that the scientific evidence shatters his baseless speculations, as it has on so many occasions. The most recent study of fluoridation's impact on human beings, and especially young children, comes from the University of Alberta in Canada. It was produced in the context of a decade-long debate in Calgary, that province's largest city, over whether to restore fluoride to its water supply after removing the chemical in 2011.

Published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health last February, the study of thousands of children in the cities of Calgary (with non-fluoridated water) and Edmonton (where water is fluoridated) showed that lack of fluoride had serious adverse effects on children's health. It had led to thousands of children suffering tooth decay so severe that they needed surgical care under general anesthesia, which is perilous for young kids and led to lasting impact on their health, schooling and emotional well-being.

Of course, the likeliest victims of Kennedy's conspiracy-mongering are the poor -- including many lower-income Americans who voted for Trump at his urging. Should he succeed in outlawing fluoridation in water systems, it is poor children whose teeth will rot and whose lives will be blighted. More affluent and educated families will be able to provide fluoride treatment for their kids to save them from Bobby's destructive obsession.

The idea that such a radical scheme would go into effect on the first day of a new administration, without due process or reasoned consideration, is exactly the kind of dictatorial maladministration we can expect from Trump. We've seen it before, after all.

But before any such anti-fluoridation scheme proceeds, perhaps someone should demand that Kennedy uphold his recent vow to restore our public health agencies to "their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science" instead of allowing him to impose his wacky suppositions about fluoride on the entire country, without any study or evaluation.

Naming a health czar who parrots the superstitions of Jack D. Ripper is a bad omen of Trump's intentions. We're about to find out how far the new administration will veer into chaos, how much human misery this president will cause on a whim. The prospects are not reassuring.

AMERIKA

Death row inmates ask for pause in executions over winter holiday

Photo by Alan Bowman on Unsplash
a close up of a light

Skylar Laird, 

SC Daily Gazette

November 12, 2024


COLUMBIA — Attorneys for death row inmates are asking the state Supreme Court to wait until after New Year’s Day to issue any more death warrants, according to court filings.

The attorneys’ request, filed last week, would have the court pause in issuing execution notices until Jan. 3. By law, each execution takes place four weeks after the warrant is sent, making Jan. 31 the next time an inmate would enter the death chamber if the state Supreme Court agrees.

“Six consecutive executions with virtually no respite will take a substantial toll on all involved, particularly during a time of year that is so important to families,” the inmates’ attorneys wrote.

After a holiday break, executions could resume at the regular five-week interval, the lawyers wrote.

Attorneys previously had requested the court wait at least 13 weeks between executions to protect the mental health of corrections staff working in the death chamber and give them time to address any logistical problems. After the state’s attorneys said they were ready to carry out executions in quick succession, the Supreme Court ultimately landed on five weeks.

Under that schedule, inmate Marion Bowman was set to receive a death warrant Friday setting his execution date for Dec. 6. But Friday came and went without a warrant or an explanation as to why the court decided not to issue it.

Bowman, 44, was convicted in 2002 of fatally shooting a 21-year-old Orangeburg mother who owed him money, putting her body in her trunk and setting the vehicle on fire in rural Dorchester County.

The state has already executed two inmates since September, when the state Supreme Court ended a 13-year hiatus in deciding that firing squad and electrocution were constitutional means of death. Lethal injection is also an option after a secrecy law allowed corrections officials to replenish their supply.

The state put Freddie Owens to death Sept. 20, some 25 years after he was convicted of killing gas station clerk Irene Graves, a 41-year-old single mother of three, during a string of robberies on Halloween night 1997.

Richard Moore, 59, was executed Nov. 1, about 23 years after a jury convicted him of killing of James Mahoney, a gas station clerk, in Spartanburg County in September 1999.

Four inmates, all of whom are listed in last Tuesday’s request for a pause, are slated for execution in the coming months after exhausting their appeals.

While no major problems have been publicly reported during the two most recent executions, a pause would give attorneys and corrections staff the chance to address any potential issues and ensure coming executions go without incident, the attorneys wrote.

“Even in the best of circumstances, there is always a risk attached to executions of error, serious harm, and even torture,” the inmates’ attorneys wrote. “By adjusting those circumstances to provide a brief respite, the Court can help preserve the capacity of corrections staff and minimize the risks of such errors.”

The state’s attorneys called those concerns speculation, saying nothing has yet gone wrong, so there’s no reason to think any of the upcoming executions will have issues, according to court filings. Media witnesses to the past two executions said the inmates did not seem to outwardly suffer, the Daily Gazette has previously reported.

SC inmate is executed despite calls for clemency from jurors, trial judge

The state has executed inmates during the winter months in previous years, including a spate of five executions between Dec. 4, 1998, and Jan. 22, 1999, the Attorney General’s Office wrote in response.

“The State stands ready to duly and carefully carry out its obligations under the law,” the filing reads.

The inmates have known the schedule of executions since August, when the state Supreme Court first decided to wait five weeks between warrants and released the order in which inmates could expect to receive their death warrants. If the inmates’ lawyers had a problem with the timing, they should have brought it up sooner, the attorney general’s office argued.

SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and X.

Silence speaks volumes: How mental health influences employee silence at work

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

grayscale photo of woman doing silent hand sign

The Conversation

November 10, 2024


What happens when the loudest voice in the room suddenly falls silent?

Consider a woman named Isla who is known in her office as the idea generator. She regularly participates in meetings, offers opinions about new directions and critiques strategies that are misaligned with company values. By all accounts, she is a star employee.

Lately, however, her co-workers have noticed a shift in Isla’s demeanour. She’s notably quiet in meetings, only chiming in when prompted. She doesn’t contribute nearly as much and seems disengaged from work. Her vibrance and passion for sharing ideas has been replaced by a palpable silence. Her co-workers can’t help but wonder: what happened to Isla’s voice?

This scenario may be hypothetical, but it’s not uncommon in the workplace. Even the most vocal employees experience phases of silence — intentionally withholding ideas, information or concerns that could otherwise benefit them and their organization.

Research shows there are many benefits to employees speaking up at work. In another recent study, we found that employees who spoke up more often and effectively were evaluated as better performers and more deserving of promotion.

Research also shows that speaking up can enhance organizational and team performance, innovation and learning. On the flip side, when employees don’t speak up in the workplace, it can have serious consequences. Several prominent organizational disasters, including the Boeing 737 MAX crashes and Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, have been linked to employee silence.

It follows, then, that if we want to reduce the prevalence of silence at work, we need to better understand why some employees keep silent and explore how organizations can best intervene. To answer this question, our research explored how fluctuations in mental health, specifically symptoms of depression and anxiety, relate to fluctuations in employee silence.
Linking mental health to silence

Mental health ranges along two continuums: well-being (such as positive self-regard and a sense of purpose) and mental illness (such as symptoms of depression and anxiety). Everyone experiences varying levels of both, and these experiences tend to flare up and settle down over time.

Depression involves persistent feelings of sadness and a loss of interest, often accompanied by cognitive and physiological impairments like an inability to focus and exhaustion. Anxiety is characterized by feelings of self-doubt and persistent worries that something will go wrong. It often includes distinct cognitive and physiological impairments like muscle tension and obsessive thoughts.

Depression and anxiety have become increasingly prevalent worldwide: over 20 per cent of employees report clinical diagnoses of depression and anxiety, and up to 75 per cent report experiencing at least one symptom while working. 

Depression and anxiety are linked to employee silence because they tap into two main reasons people withhold ideas: fear of negative repercussions and the belief that speaking up won’t make a difference. (Shutterstock)

Experiencing depression and anxiety tends to shift employees’ perceptions of their work experiences as more negative, threatening and meaningless. These symptoms relate to employee silence because they tap into two main reasons people withhold ideas: fear of negative backlash (also known as defensive motive) and the belief that nothing will change (also known as ineffectual motive).

Accordingly, we predicted that experiencing depression would make employees feel speaking up is pointless, and experiencing anxiety would make them feel it is dangerous, resulting in more silence.
Voice endorsement as an antidote

As organizational researchers and mental health advocates, we also explored whether certain organizational behaviours can offset this tendency, and identified voice endorsement as one potential antidote.

Voice endorsement reflects the degree to which people accept and/or support an employee’s ideas and concerns. We theorized that receiving endorsement would challenge the belief that speaking up is dangerous and pointless, signalling that using their voice is actually a safe thing to do and can make a difference.

We tested our predictions by conducting an experience sampling study, which involved surveying 136 employees about their work experiences across four weeks. The results supported our predictions that depression and anxiety relate to silence through ineffectual and defensive motives, respectively.

Voice endorsement, however, offered a silver lining: the impact of depressive and anxious symptoms on silence was reduced during weeks in which employees experienced greater endorsement.
Implications for work

Our research shows how mental illness symptoms can impair work engagement by causing employees to fixate on the potential negative consequences of speaking up.

However, a simple, low resource-intensive action like offering encouragement when somebody speaks up can counteract this cycle. This underscores the importance of developing a culture where employee input is genuinely valued, which can be as simple as leaders acting on the feedback they solicit. Simple actions like checking in on someone, offering a listening ear or pointing a colleague toward professional resources can have a lasting impact. (Shutterstock)

We also demonstrate that silence is one way mental health challenges manifest at work. This is important because employees who are silent are often mislabelled as “disengaged” or “lazy” — terms that are also used to stigmatize those with mental illnesses. Mental health-related silence isn’t due to a lack of care or engagement; rather, it stems from heightened fears and concerns about speaking up at work.

In this same vein, organizations need to take care to avoid unintentionally punishing employees suffering from mental health challenges, who are less likely to speak up and stand out. Although most organizations recognize the benefits of upward communication and the dangers of silence, many are unsure of how to intervene.
Investing in well-being

When an employee is frequently silent at work, it can signal a deeper issue beyond workplace factors. By recognizing these signs and understanding their causes, organizations, colleagues and leaders can take meaningful action.

To address this, workplaces should prioritize mental health by providing resources, support systems, and training to counteract silence while promoting mental health and accommodating employees experiencing mental health challenges.

Colleagues play a vital role in this process too. Given that people spend most of their waking hours at work, colleagues are in a unique position to recognize changes in their co-workers behaviour and intervene to offer support before things worsen.

Colleagues can openly state the value and meaning their co-workers bring to their teams to help create an atmosphere where speaking up feels safe and valued. They can also encourage open discussions about mental health to reduce stigma, point one another to resources, and support each other through the challenging times everyone inevitably experiences.

Kyle Brykman, Associate Professor of Management, Odette School of Business, University of Windsor and Anika Cloutier, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University

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