Japan's wasabi producers farm 'green gold'

Issued on: 15/12/2020 

Fresh wasabi is known as 'green gold' in Japan; it is difficult to farm, and therefore an expensive delicacy Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

Izu (Japan) (AFP)

If you've eaten sushi, you might assume you've tried wasabi. But chances are it was an artificial version that Japanese growers say is a world away from their 'green gold'.

Unlike the spicy neon concoction familiar to many fans of Japanese cuisine -- which is in fact made from horseradish -- real wasabi is pale-green and offers a complex, mildly piquant flavour.

But even in Japan, it's not common fare. That's because the knobbly root is so difficult to grow, and consequently expensive to buy, with most of it snapped up by wholesalers

"The most important requirement is crystal-clear water, in abundance," Yoshihiro Shioya, 62, told AFP as he pulled a wasabi root from the sodden soil at his lush, green mountainside farm on Shizuoka province's Izu peninsula.

"It's absolutely necessary that the water temperature stays between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, year-round," added Shioya, whose family has cultivated wasabi in the region for seven generations.

Patience is key -- each wasabi crop can take a whole year or even 18 months to mature in the large man-made terraces, which serve a particular design purpose.

"The water flows down from the top of the mountain, which has terraces built into it covered with layers of pebbles and sand that filter and purify it," explained Yasuaki Kohari, of Izu's agricultural cooperative.

Once ready, the long roots, topped with a plume of round green leaves, are harvested by hand. The leaves are stripped off and the root, known as a rhizome, is carried away in baskets.

About half of the 550 tonnes of fresh wasabi grown in Japan last year came from Shizuoka, southwest of the capital Tokyo.

Wasabi grows naturally there and has been used in local cuisine for centuries.

Legend has it that it was especially loved and popularised by 17th century shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, a military ruler who was one of the unifiers of Japan.

These days it is mostly purchased by high-end restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka.

- 'Spicy, but with sweet notes' -

Wasabi is prepared by grating the root, usually on a small square device with fine metal teeth or topped with coarse sharkskin -- a process done almost immediately before consumption, as its piquancy fades after about 20 minutes.

Its spiciness is produced by a chemical called allyl isothiocyanate, which also gives mustard, radish and horseradish their pungency, and which scientists say has antibacterial properties.

It is usually served as a complement to raw fish, or alongside buckwheat soba noodles.

Toshiya Matsushita, a sushi chef at a restaurant in central Tokyo with a month-long waiting list, would never dream of using imitation wasabi.

"It feels powdery in your mouth and doesn't have much flavour," he said.

"Fresh wasabi not only masks the smell of the raw fish, but also heightens its flavour. It is spicy, but with sweet notes."

But it doesn't come cheap. He spends more than $700 a month on wasabi and uses one whole root a day, which he grates freshly for each order at his restaurant, Sushi Matsushita.

"The taste, the texture and the spiciness are different according to the way it is grated," he said.

- Not just a condiment -

Despite its enthusiasts, wasabi remains largely the preserve of restaurants like Matsushita's -- but these have suffered along with the rest of the hospitality industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

So wasabi growers have been prompted to think of ways to expand their market.

Wholesalers have been selling their stock to supermarket chains, hoping to acquaint new customers with the taste of the unique product. But the high price continues to be a barrier, the farmer Shioya says.

Others, like Yamamoto Foods, around an hour's drive from Shioya's farm, offer wasabi-based products that go beyond the root's status as a condiment.

"You can also eat the stalks, the flowers, the leaves. We use all the parts, so people can really get to know this delicious product," said store manager Mayumi Yasumori.

The firm offers wasabi-infused olive oil, salt and mayonnaise, as well as shavings of wasabi to sprinkle on rice -- and even wasabi-flavoured ice cream.

"Wasabi shouldn't just play a cameo in the kitchen," said Yasumori. "It can also take the leading role."

© 2020 AFP

California wants pandemic cases info from Amazon

Issued on: 15/12/2020 -

The state of California has accused Amazon of failing to adequately comply with subpoenas demanding details about coronavirus cases and protocols at its facilities

 David Becker AFP/File

San Francisco (AFP)

California on Monday accused Amazon of failing to adequately comply with subpoenas demanding details about coronavirus cases and protocols at its facilities here.

State attorney general Xavier Becerra filed a petition calling on a California judge to order the e-commerce colossus to provide the information being sought, according to his office.

"It's critical to know if these workers are receiving the protections on the job that they are entitled to under the law," Becerra said, referring to Amazon employees in California.

"Amazon has delayed responding adequately to our investigative requests long enough."

The petition to the court argues that the e-commerce giant has not provided information being sought as part of an investigation into Amazon's coronavirus protocols and the status of COVID-19 cases at its facilities.

Subpoenas were issued by the California department of justice four months ago, according to Becerra.

"We're puzzled by the Attorney General's sudden rush to court because we've been working cooperatively for months and their claims of noncompliance with their demands don't line up with the facts," Amazon said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"The bottom line is that we're a leader in providing COVID-19 safety measures for our employees – we've invested billions of dollars in equipment and technology, including building on-site testing for employees and providing personal protective equipment."

Information sought by state attorneys included Amazon sick leave policies and cleaning procedures, as well as raw data on the number of infections and deaths at their facilities in the state.

Seattle-based Amazon has seen sales, and pressure on its logistics network to deliver, soar during the pandemic as people shop online to reduce health risk.

'Terrified' survivors recount attacks on civilians in Tigray


Issued on: 15/12/2020 

Shelling from both sides tore open the walls of concrete homes 

and destroyed mud homes altogether EDUARDO SOTERAS AFP

Bisober (Ethiopia) (AFP)

The first shells landed before dawn, crashing through tin-roofed mud homes and sending Jano Admasi's neighbours fleeing for the cacti-dotted hills around her village in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region.

Jano, a soft-spoken woman in her sixties, tried to escape as well, running with her eldest son, 46-year-old Miskana, along a dirt road leading out of the village.

But on the way, she says, they encountered Ethiopian government soldiers who turned them around, forcing them into a nearby house with two other terrified families.

What happened next, described by three eyewitnesses but denied by the Ethiopian government, casts doubt on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's claim that his military offensive in Tigray has been prosecuted with special care for civilian lives.

In an apparent rage, the soldiers accused Miskana and two other men in the group of aiding the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), whose leaders are the target of the military operations ordered last month.

"They asked us who we were, and we said we are just farmers and elderly women," Jano told AFP. "They came back again and said 'Get out', and separated the men from the women."

The soldiers made the men including Miskana sit down and, before Jano fully realised what was happening, shot them dead with Kalashnikov rifles.

A 15-year-old boy who leapt in front of a bullet in a futile bid to save his father was also killed.

The killings -- which took place on November 14, 10 days after Abiy announced the offensive -- represent just one incident of civilian suffering in Bisober, a farming village home to roughly 2,000 people in southern Tigray.

In the three days it took federal forces to wrest control of the village from the TPLF, 27 civilians died, according to local officials and residents: 21 from shelling and six in extrajudicial killings.

The government has tightly restricted access to the region, making it difficult to assess the toll of a conflict the UN warns is "spiralling out of control".

But AFP recently obtained exclusive access to southern Tigray, where residents of multiple towns and villages accused both government and pro-TPLF combatants of, at best, putting civilians in harm's way -- and, at worst, actively targeting them.

Survivors told AFP they dreaded how many civilians could have died across Tigray.

"If in just this one area you have this much destruction," said Bisober resident Getachew Abera, "then imagine what might have happened generally."

The military did not respond to a request for comment.

Ethiopia's democratisation minister Zadig Abraha told AFP that any claims that Ethiopian soldiers killed civilians were "false".

- Village warfare -

In retrospect, Bisober residents say, the first sign of the conflict came seven months ago, when members of the Tigray Special Forces took over the village's elementary school, which had been emptied because of the coronavirus pandemic.

By early November, when the first shots were fired, some 250 pro-TPLF troops were encamped there, digging trenches behind classrooms and storing weapons in what was once the principal's office.

The Tigrayan fighters' decision to base themselves in the centre of Bisober helps explain the carnage that ensued, said Getachew Nega, the village administrator.

"The TPLF lost hope and they came and put heavy weapons and other weapons in this village. They shouldn't have done this," Getachew said.

Once the fighting started, Tigrayan combatants broke into abandoned homes from which they fired on Ethiopian soldiers, witnesses said, inviting massive damage.

Across Bisober, shelling from both sides tore open the walls of concrete homes and destroyed mud homes altogether, leaving only metal roofs behind.

"The conflict was a sudden act. Both parties had their missions, and we were caught in between," said Said Idriss, a member of a newly-formed command post trying to restore order in the area.

"They could have asked the people to leave earlier."

- 'Like spilt water' -

Today Bisober is relatively calm, with many residents labouring in nearby sorghum fields, trying to salvage this year's harvest.

Security is provided by special forces from the neighbouring Afar region, who use rags to clean their guns while lazing under acacia trees in a makeshift camp on the outskirts of the village.

Abiy declared victory in Tigray in late November after federal forces reportedly seized the regional capital Mekele, but the TPLF has vowed to fight on and the UN has recently reported persistent clashes throughout the region.

Human rights organisations are calling for thorough, independent investigations of the violence -- though Abiy is resisting the idea.

Government spokesman Redwan Hussein told a press conference last week that outside investigators would be allowed in only "when the Ethiopian government feels that it failed to investigate" on its own.

Ethiopia "doesn't need a babysitter," he added.

Jano, for her part, has little time for such debates.

She can't shake the memory of watching soldiers shoot her son in front of her, and of waiting in the street with his body for two full days, unsure what to do.

"We didn't cry. We were too terrified. We were trembling with fear," she said.

Instead of worrying about whether the perpetrators will be held to account, she said she is focused on trying to rebuild her life and care for Miskana's three children.

"I already lost my son and he's not coming back," she said.

"It's like spilt water, you cannot get it back."

© 2020 AFP

Most in Japan oppose holding Olympics in 2021: polls

Issued on: 15/12/2020 -
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A majority of Japan's public continues to oppose holding the coronavirus-postponed Olympics next year Philip FONG AFP/File

Tokyo (AFP)

A majority of Japanese people oppose holding the coronavirus-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics next year, favouring a further delay or outright cancellation of the massive event, new polling showed Tuesday.

The new data shows public sentiment has shifted little since the summer, when surveys in Japan also found only a minority backing plans to hold the Games next year, despite the imminent arrival of new vaccines.

A poll released Tuesday by national broadcaster NHK found just 27 percent of respondents support holding the Games next year, with 32 percent backing cancellation and 31 percent favouring a further postponement


The remaining respondents said they were unsure or gave no answer.

Olympic organisers and Japanese officials have ruled out any further delay of the Games, which are the first in history to be postponed during peacetime.

They have insisted Tokyo 2020 can be held even if the pandemic is not under control by the new opening date of July 23, 2021.

But the Japanese public do not appear convinced.

A poll published on Monday by the Jiji press agency similarly found 21 percent favouring a cancellation and nearly 30 percent a further delay.

And a Kyodo news agency poll published December 6 also found a total of 61.2 percent opposed to holding the Games next year.

The figure comes with just over seven months to go until the postponed Games are scheduled to open.

The start of vaccination campaigns in some parts of the world has boosted the confidence of organisers that the Games can go ahead, though innoculation will not be mandatory for athletes or spectators.

But even as the vaccines are being rolled out, new waves of the virus are surging in many places, including Japan, which has seen a comparatively low toll from the outbreak, recording fewer than 2,600 deaths so far.

Postponing the Games and devising coronavirus countermeasures has proved a logistical nightmare for organisers, and carries a steep price tag.

The delay and health measures will add at least an extra $2.4 billion to the existing $13 billion budget for the Games.

Organisers are due to release an updated budget later this month, but their figures for the cost have been hotly disputed, with an audit report last year estimating the national government spent nearly 10 times its original budget between 2013-2018.

Organisers countered that the estimate included items not directly related to the Games.

Overcoming war and disability: Yemen's women basketball players hit the court

Issued on: 15/12/2020 - 

Five all-women teams were part of in the wheelchair basketball competition in the capital Sanaa this month Mohammed HUWAIS AFP

Sanaa (AFP)

In Yemen's capital Sanaa, women in long-sleeved athletics shirts raced down a basketball court in wheelchairs, dribbling and passing as a small crowd cheered them on.

"If the Yemeni people are suffering from the war, then those with disabilities are suffering twice as much," said Amal Hizam from the sidelines, herself also in a wheelchair.

The Arab world's poorest country is devastated by conflict, the novel coronavirus and a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations has called the world's worst.

But all that didn't stop a local wheelchair basketball championship going ahead in Sanaa this month.

Five all-women teams were part of the competition, only the second of its kind, including Al-Erada -- Arabic for "The Will", and Al-Mustaqbal, or "The Future".

Tens of thousands have been killed in Yemen since 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to support the government after Huthi rebels took control of Sanaa the year before.

A UN-brokered agreement reached two years ago between the government and the Iran-backed Huthis offered some hope, but a peaceful settlement has yet to materialise.

The female players, some wearing face coverings as well as their headscarves, jostled and shot baskets from sports wheelchairs painted red and light-green at the indoor court.

Hizam, assistant director of Yemen's sports federation for people with disabilities, said initiatives such as the tournament were "practically non-existent".

- 'A gift, not an obstacle' -

"I wish society wouldn't look down on those who are disabled, and that it would see our capabilities," said one of the Al-Erada players, 28-year-old Tahani al-Omari.

"Disability is a gift, not an obstacle," she told AFP, wearing her team's striped orange vest.

Teenage girls in the bleechers squirmed with excitement, throwing their arms into the air to cheer on the players.

Yemen's conflict has displaced some 3.3 million people, and around 80 percent of the population needs humanitarian aid and protection, according to the UN.

There are estimated to be around four million people with disabilities in Yemen, according to World Health Organization data.

"Millions of people with disabilities in Yemen have not only endured years of armed conflict but are also among those most excluded," rights group Amnesty International said last year.

"What we want is inclusion and support, and we can be involved in any field," Omari said.

"We need special wheelchairs equipped for playing and, most importantly, moral support."

A coach of multiple teams, Abdo Mohammed Zayed, said Yemen's lack of clubs and facilities for players with disabilities presented another challenge.

The goal of the tournament, he said, was to "offer social and moral support to those with disabilities, and allow them to showcase their capabilities and creativity."

The pandemic has taken surveillance of workers to the next level

Monitoring people while they do their jobs is creepy, and can even be counterproductive – but it has a long history

‘Companies that offer remote monitoring software have reported a surge of interest in their products.’ 

Photograph: Andriy Popov/Alamy Stock Photo
Mon 14 Dec 2020 
Rachel Connolly

One of the worst jobs I have ever had was made particularly bad by the micromanaging efforts of my manager’s boss. He seemed to spend all day skulking around, peering over the shoulders of junior staff to check that whatever we were doing looked like work. If he spotted someone doing something he considered untoward (usually reading the news or, on slow days, perhaps online shopping) he would come up behind them, point at the screen, wag his finger and say: “Not work!”

Sometimes it actually was work, but there was no point in arguing. It was a frustrating and corrosive environment, and not conducive to getting things done. His measure of productivity was clearly a blunt instrument and, instead of fostering a motivated workplace, he created an atmosphere of jittery paranoia and low-level resentment.

I think of him often (much more than I would like to), especially when I read anything about workplace surveillance. This term usually arises in the context of some new technology with alarming privacy implications that allows managers to track whatever employees are doing on their computers. But the concept is not a new one; the idea that people need to be constantly observed if they are to work efficiently dates back to Taylorist theories from the early 1900s about the best way to organise factory staff.

During the pandemic, there has been a renewed sense of panic about the implications of companies monitoring their employees. Most office work has been conducted online, and surveillance methods have adapted accordingly. Companies that offer remote monitoring software have reported a surge of interest in their products. Issues have been raised about things such as where the data collected from Zoom calls is stored, and which other companies it might be shared with.

The latest outcry happened last month, when it transpired that Microsoft 365, a software package released in 2019 that gives managers an overall rating of their team’s productivity by measuring things such as how many emails people are sending and who they are communicating with, also allows you to zero in on individuals. It’s possible to see how much people participate in group chats, and how much they contribute to shared documents.

Software that measures things such as what (and how fast) people are typing and what they are looking at on their screens would (or at least should) give most people the creeps. But in focusing primarily on these methods, partly because they seem new, we can miss how ingrained the instinct to watch and measure workers is.

Surveillance isn’t created by technology, but rather facilitated by it. It has been said that Covid has accelerated these practices, but perhaps the pandemic has simply highlighted the extent to which they always went on.

Employers have long correlated workers’ efficiency with their visibility, and this logic has followed through to the modern workplace. As far back as 1915, a contraption called the “modern efficiency desk” (a flat metal desk that could be installed in rows) was designed so that clerks, who had previously used wooden desks surrounded by stacks of paper, were more exposed while working, and could therefore be more easily monitored.

My old boss was an extreme example, but in any open-plan office it is normal to be watched almost constantly by your superiors. In fact, one of the selling points of this layout is that it facilitates surveillance. Hence, a common experience is trying to orientate the appearance of your productivity around what you think is being measured, rather than trying to do your work to the best standard; dragging out tasks to stay late so your boss will not think you are shirking your responsibilities by leaving early, for example.

Lots of white collar jobs (law and accountancy are two examples) make employees record how they spend their time (even down to the minute) so they can bill clients. This same system is used for non-billable time too; certain things that are presented as perks (such as having key cards, clock-in systems for flexible hours, company phones that you can also use for personal communication and in-office socialising) also have monitoring possibilities built in. Meanwhile, digital forms of communication, such as Slack chats, generate an automatic record of everything people say, even in conversations that feel casual.

Away from the white collar world, Amazon workers operate under regimes of extreme surveillance, with networks of security cameras and hourly productivity goals for moving packages. And in many call centres, information is collected on everything from the length of calls and the number of call transfers, to the time people spend on their toilet breaks. This is, of course, significantly more invasive than a programme that monitors inter-office email communication, but the purpose is much the same.

All of this measuring is done in the name of maximising productivity. But the best measure of productivity is simply the quality and quantity of a person’s work. Monitoring what people are doing is not the same thing as measuring their work output. Indeed, a Harvard Business Review report from earlier this year argued that needlessly monitoring employees can erode trust. It exalted the benefits of new tracking options from a manager’s perspective, but stressed that not everything that can be tracked is relevant or useful; sometimes it is just a thing that can be tracked.

We are inured to the idea that professional environments have a built-in layer of surveillance, and now that this environment has merged with the home for many workers, some of these practices have started to look more extreme. But the discussion about surveillance should not start and end with the tools employers use to monitor people working from home. We should instead be asking: how necessary is any of this?

• Rachel Connolly is a London-based journalist from Belfast

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BIG BUSINESS UNION
UAW agrees to monitor, voting changes after corruption probe

LIKE THE TEAMSTERS BEFORE THEM 

DETROIT — An independent monitor will watch the United Auto Workers’ finances and operations, and members will decide how they pick future leaders under a reform agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The deal was announced Monday in the wake of a wide-ranging federal probe into corruption that reached into the upper ranks of the 400,000-member union.

It forestalls a possible federal takeover of the UAW due to the probe into bribery and embezzlement that has lasted more than five years.

The monitor, to be nominated by the union and approved by the Justice Department, will stay in place for six years unless all sides agree to end or extend the term. The deal, spelled out in a federal court consent decree, still must be approved by a U.S. district judge.

Matthew Schneider, the U.S. attorney in Detroit, said Monday that the probe of the union has ended, but investigators still are pursuing unspecified individuals.

But he said that current UAW President Rory Gamble is not a target of the investigation. “I don't have any reason to investigate Mr. Gamble,” Schneider said.

Gamble said the settlement, while painful, takes the union another step toward “restoring the full faith and confidence of our members.”

He said it puts in place safeguards that go beyond what the union already has done, including a review of financial controls, hiring an ethics officer and retaining a third-party firm to review finances.

“The UAW going forward is clean, and we are a better union for it,” Gamble said.

The probe has led to 11 convictions of union members, including two former presidents. Schneider said it uncovered embezzlement of over $1.5 million in dues money, kickbacks to union officials from vendors, and $3.5 million in illegal payments from executives at Fiat Chrysler who wanted to corruptly influence contract talks.

The union, he said, already has repaid $15 million in improper charges to joint training centres set up with General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. It also agreed to pay $1.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service to settle a tax investigation.

Under the deal, union members will decide by secret ballots whether they will vote directly to pick the union's future leaders, within six months of when the monitor is appointed.

Schneider, whose office has been investigating union corruption since 2015, had floated the idea of a government takeover and has advocated for direct voting by members to elect union leadership. Currently the union’s members vote on delegates to a convention, who then vote on a president.

The monitor will administer the election, will have the power to approve hiring or discharges of union employees, and can end or approve contracts, the agreement says.

Lee Harris, a worker at a General Motors engine and transmission factory in Romulus, Michigan, near Detroit, said the union needs additional oversight because of the scandal.

He said he would love to see members directly vote on leaders because the old method was unfair to workers.

“I, as a dues-paying, rank-and-file member, have no say whatsoever,” he said.

Many of the union officials were accused by federal authorities of conspiring with others to cover up the use of union cash for boozy meals, premium cigars, golf and lodging in Palm Springs, California.

Former UAW President Dennis Williams in September pleaded guilty in the government’s investigation, and his successor as president, Gary Jones, pleaded guilty in June.

Williams, 67, was president from 2014 until he retired in 2018. He was accused of conspiring with others to cover up the source of cash for lavish meals, cigars and large expenses.

The union’s Region 5 leadership, which was based in Missouri and headed by Jones, would hold weeklong retreats in Palm Springs and invite Williams along. He said he stayed beyond “what my union business required.”

Williams told a judge that he wondered if money was being misused but that he was assured by Jones that “everything was above board.”

More than $53,000 in union money was used to rent a villa for Williams for months long stays in 2015-18, according to a court filing.

He faces a likely prison sentence of 18 to 24 months.

The Detroit-based UAW is best known for representing 150,000 workers at Detroit's three automakers.

Williams has repaid $55,000 in inappropriate travel expenses, the union said. Separately, the UAW is selling a lakefront house built for him at a union conference centre in northern Michigan.

Eleven union officials and a late official’s spouse have pleaded guilty since 2017, although not all the crimes were connected. The first wave of convictions, which included some Fiat Chrysler employees, involved taking money from a Fiat Chrysler-UAW training centre in Detroit.

Tom Krisher, The Associated Press

 ON THE OBSERVERS

Tunisian activists say authorities’ campaign to kill stray dogs ‘barbaric’

Issued on: 10/12/2020 - 18:35Modified: 14/12/2020 - 16:34

It’s still a common practice to kill stray dogs in some cities in Tunisia. © France 24 screengrab

Text by:Fatma Ben Hamad

Graphic photos and videos showing dogs shot and killed by city workers in Tunisia have been circulating online since late November. Animal rights activists as well as people living in neighbourhoods where killings are taking place have taken to social media to protest against what they say is a “barbaric” campaign. Our Observers say that both the government and citizens share the blame for this massacre.

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WARNING: Some readers may find images in this article shocking

Several cities across Tunisia announced on November 27 that they would be carrying out a two-week campaign to kill stray dogs, stating that their aim was to reduce the number of stray animals in urban spaces and prevent the spread of rabies. Since the start of this brutal campaign, social media has been flooded with videos and images taken by horrified locals showing city workers in Tunis shooting and killing animals. 

 

Une militante pour les droits des animaux lance l'alerte sur Facebook. Capture d'écran. © F24

This Facebook post by Yasmine Azaiez Animal Rescue reads: “15 days of killing stray dogs in greater Tunis. Please keep your dogs inside and any others you can save. Thank you.”

City officials in Tunisia frequently carry out this kind of killing campaign, despite vehement protests from animal rights organisations. In 2107, the city of Tunis set up sterilisation centres for stray dogs. After being sterilised, the dogs were released back into the city with ear tags. However, during this most recent campaign, eyewitnesses have reported that city workers have been killing tagged dogs along with the others. 

An animal rights activist sounds the alarm on Facebook. © France 24 screengrab

Horrified by the graphic images of dogs being slaughtered, concerned citizens launched an online campaign calling for animal cruelty to be criminalised. They said the killing campaigns were “barbaric”. 

This social media user heard shots being fired the night of November 24. He found a dog who had been shot and tried to save it by bringing it to a veterinarian in Sousse, but it later died from a haemorrhage. 

 

Faced with the wave of anger online, the mayor of Tunis announced that he was “hostile to this barbarous act” and that the city government wouldn’t take part in the national campaign to exterminate stray dogs. However, city residents proved through the images they captured that this announcement was not being respected on the ground. 

Une internaute dénonce l'opération dans une banlieue de la capitale. © F24

This post by Christiane Schmelzer reads: “Last night at 11pm, in the Nour Jafaar housing projects, Raoued, all of our dogs were murdered. The mayor promised us that they were going to stop killing dogs. RIP.”

 

“The bodies are sometimes just left there; it’s a horrible sight”

Amal Hattab is a veterinarian who works at a shelter in Tunis called “Protection for stray animals”. 

There are lots of veterinarians who work on a volunteer basis to sterilise the dogs in our shelter. Currently, we are making the rounds in Tunis neighbourhoods to pick up dogs who have been shot to bring them back to our centre to be treated. Most of these dogs aren’t aggressive at all. They actually need help. We work with trainers who take care of the dogs who are the most fragile and afraid. 

 

 

City officials in Sousse banned the killing of any dogs who had been tagged. But numerous witnesses took photos and videos showing that city workers were still carrying out their deadly campaign late at night. In Tunis, no concrete measures to stop the killing were taken, despite numerous pleas made to the mayor. 

 

En Tunisie, les municipalités abattent les chiens errants avec de la chevrotine

En Tunisie, l'abattage des chiens errants est toujours couramment pratiqué © Les Observateys

This video, filmed in Sousse, was live-streamed the night of November 27. The man filming, who is horrified, says: “City workers just killed it … look, they used buckshot. The poor thing, they riddled it [with bullets]; they chased it down and killed it.” 

 

“Je ne sais pas quoi faire. Il a été blessé par balle”, commente cette internaute de Kasserine (ouest). © F24

“I don’t know what to do. He was shot,” says this social media user in Kasserine.  © France 24 screengrab

 

“We urgently need to create more shelters in Tunis”

City workers are focusing their campaign on residential neighbourhoods. Lots of people complain that these stray dogs make too much noise and contact the city to ask that they be killed. Sometimes stray dogs can be dangerous, especially if they have rabies, but that is all the more reason to place them immediately in a shelter, far from humans and other dogs. 

There are also a lot of dogs who don’t die immediately from their wounds and suffer greatly, without access to food or water. 

Sometimes the bodies are just left in the street and they start to rot. It is a horrific and shocking sight for everyone. 

 

The person who filmed this video on December 5 in Bou Salem says: “In a quarter of an hour, the students at Hédi Nouira Middle School will start their day with a distressing sight […] this dog was shot during the night.”

 

 

The shelters and centres need financial support from the city to pay for medicine and care. We have been focusing on spaying female dogs because we don’t have the means to sterilise all of them. The number of injured dogs that we are caring for is rising. Currently, there are about 100 dogs in the shelter. We urgently need to create more animal shelters in Tunis because the veterinarians can’t keep the animals long term. 

In Tunis, veterinarians and activists have worked together to set up shelters and parks. 

 

 

“This is a reflection of the general perception of animals in Tunis; people don’t respect animal life”

Amal Ben Mohamed, 46, is currently caring for about 50 animals in her home in the working class neighbourhood of Kabaria, where a large number of stray dogs have been slaughtered.

 

City workers aren’t supposed to be acting alone. They are supposed to work in tandem with a veterinarian and a representative from the Regional Commission for Agricultural Development, who can identify if the animal has rabies and, thus, if it is necessary to kill it. 

 

 

“Look at the buckshot the city used here in Jendouba. [The dog] was carrying eight puppies.”

 

 

For me, this is a reflection of the general perception of animals in Tunis; people don’t respect animal life. If that weren’t the case, the government wouldn’t dare to slaughter animals in this way. There is no law to protect stray dogs. [Editor’s note: According to article 317 of the Tunisian penal code, a person can be sentenced to 15 days in prison and fined 4.80 dinars (equivalent to €1.46) for abusing a domestic animal, either their own or one belonging to someone else, but this doesn’t apply to stray animals.]

A lot of us have reached out to the city because we want to help them care for these dogs. We’ve made numerous calls for donations. Over the past few months, we’ve spent all our time caring for these animals. We want to create a service for caring for stray animals within city government to manage this issue in a more efficient and humane way. 

The government needs to work to progressively change this mentality, starting with campaigns to raise awareness for young people so they get used to animals in public spaces and no longer fear them.

The city of Tunis reported that 145 dogs were spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies in 2020. They claimed that they kill dogs only in the most extreme cases. The France 24 Observers team contacted them but didn’t receive a response; we will publish it if they send it

https://observers.france24.com/en/africa/20201214-tunisian-authorities-launch-barbaric-campaign-to-kill-stray-dogs

Cartoon cat helps keep Tunisia's revolutionary flame alight

Issued on: 15/12/2020

Willis the cat from Tunis has become an icon of the revolution that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East that toppled several longtime dictators - AFP

Tunis (AFP)

When Tunisia's embattled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali delivered a last-ditch speech promising new freedoms to a country in revolt, Nadia Khiari sketched her cat delivering the same address to a group of mice.

The next day, on January 14, 2011, Ben Ali fled into exile, forced out by weeks of unprecedented mass protests against his rule.

Ten years later, the cat remains in rude health, and his cartoon alter-ego Willis from Tunis has become an icon of the revolution.

"I decided to use this character to tell the story of what was happening in my country," said Khiari, a painter and lecturer in fine arts.

Pouncing on Tunisia's unprecedented new freedoms, she began posting bitter and witty political cartoons on Facebook, all featuring cats.

"For me as an artist, it was a true revolution, because from one day to the next I was able to express myself freely," she said.

Her audience, initially just family and friends, has grown to over 55,000 followers today.

In November she published her latest Willis from Tunis book, a selection of her best work over the decade since the uprising.

Tunisia's revolution, with its demands for "work, freedom and national dignity", sparked a string of revolts across the Arab world.

The North African country has since been praised for its democratic transition.

But many Tunisians, disillusioned by economic woes, official corruption and pitiful public services, say they have gained little -- apart from to right to say what they think.

In one of Khiari's cartoons from 2018, Willis lies silently on the floor, a boot stamped on his face.

"Before the revolution," reads the caption.

The next frame shows the same cat under the same boot, but letting out a scream: "AAAAIIIE!"

The caption reads: "Today, happily we have freedom of expression."

- Growing corruption -

Khiari says she has always enjoyed drawing, but Ben Ali's fall let her creativity out of the bag.

Before the protests against his rule, she had hinted at political subjects in the titles of her paintings, but "a satirical picture as such, a political cartoon -- no, never," she said.

Today, she no longer pussyfoots around tough subjects. Instead, she takes regular swipes at Tunisia's post-revolt political class, seen by many as just as corrupt as Ben Ali's regime.

"Hide your wallet," one of her cartoon cats tells another as they walk towards the government's headquarters in Tunis.

"There are lots of robberies in this area."

This Thursday will mark 10 years since Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, set fire to himself, sparking the uprising.

Ahead of the anniversary, Tunisia has seen protests demanding jobs and investment in long-marginalised regions, amid an economic crisis amplified by the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of medics from crumbling public hospitals protested last week to demand the health minister's resignation, after a young doctor plunged to his death in a hospital lift shaft.

The tragedy was widely blamed on official corruption and indifference.

In this environment, Khiari's cartoons have struck a chord.

"The government fights corruption," reads the title of another of her cartoons, showing a cat in suit and tie sitting behind a desk.

"If you want to speed up the process," the cat purrs with a wide grin, "that can be arranged."

- Taboos swept away -

Khiari says that while the media describes Tunisia as a "laboratory of democracy", the messy reality is closer to that of a building site.

But, she told AFP at a chic art and craft boutique she runs with her husband, the revolution did sweep away "lots of taboos."

"We talk about religious questions. We talk about sexual questions, homosexuals, women's bodies, power," she said.

She regularly tackles themes of women's rights and gender inequality in her work.

In one cartoon, a female kitten asks why her brother gets more pocket money than herself.

"It's to prepare you for later on," her mother replies.

Khiari is on the board of Cartooning for Peace, set up by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and French cartoonist Plantu to "fight with humour for the respect of cultures and freedoms".

That is an ongoing battle in Tunisia, where press freedom watchdog RSF says the climate for the media and journalists has worsened since the election of a new president, Kais Saied, in October 2019.

For Khiari, that means the fight that began a decade ago is far from over.

"The attempts to silence us again have never ended, never, because freedom of expression bothers (some people)," she said.

"So unfortunately it's a struggle every day to preserve that freedom of expression."

A HANGING OFFENSE

Gay rights progress, but same-sex relations still a crime in 69 states: report

Issued on: 15/12/2020 -

Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity Sergei SUPINSKY AFP/File

Geneva (AFP)

Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity, including six where being gay is punishable by death, campaigners said Tuesday.

In a fresh report, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found "considerable progress" in legal protections for LGBTI people worldwide.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created significant additional challenges for LGBTI and other minority communities, "positive developments have taken place," the organisation said.

But while the trend is towards acceptance, a full 69 UN member states continue to criminalise consensual sex between people of the same gender, the report found.

That is one fewer than last year, after Gabon backtracked from a 2019 law -- "the shortest-lived law of its kind in modern history," ILGA research coordinator and lead author of the report Lucas Ramon Mendos said in a statement.

More urgently than laws on the books, ILGA verified that 34 countries -- more than half of those with criminalising laws -- have actively enforced them in the past five years.

The report warned the real number could be "much higher".

"Wherever such provisions are in the books, people may get reported and arrested at any time even just under the suspicion of having sex with someone of the same gender," Mendos said.

"Courts actively prosecute and sentence them to jail, public flogging, or even death," he said.

In six UN member states, the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for consensual homosexual sex: Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as across 12 northern states of Nigeria.

And the report said sources indicated that the death penalty could potentially be used in such cases in five other countries -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates -- although there was less legal certainty.

- 'Oppress, persecute, scapegoat' -

Another 42 countries have erected legal barriers to freedom of expression and sexual orientation and gender identity issues, while 51 have legal barriers to setting up NGOs that work on LGBTI issues.

ILGA's head of programmes Julia Ehrt voiced concern that some governments had taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis to step up efforts to "oppress, persecute, scapegoat and violently discriminate against us."

The organisation also voiced concern over the proliferation of so-called "LGBT-free zones" in places like Poland and Indonesia, and renewed support for "conversion therapies".

But even as anti-gay rights forces seem to gain ground in a number of places, ILGA said its latest report showed "how our global community has collectively achieved progress in every single legal category tracked."

It highlighted that Sudan in July repealed the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts, and hailed that Germany had become one of four UN member states which ban conversion therapies at the national level.

A number of jurisdictions within Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States have also done so.

And it celebrated that Costa Rica had joined the growing number of countries that have introduced marriage equality, bringing the total to 28.

Another 34 countries provide for some partnership recognition for same-sex couples, it pointed out.

Tuesday's report also showed that as of this month, same-sex sexual acts are legal in 124 countries -- 64 percent of UN member states.

A full 81 countries meanwhile have laws offering protection against discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, ILGA said, pointing out that 20 years ago, only 15 did.

Despite the challenges, Ehrt said the report "contains hope for a better tomorrow (and) a future in which our communities will no longer have to fight to reclaim rights that should have never been taken away from us in the first place."

© 2020 AFP