Cambodians vote in local polls as revived opposition vies for seats

Sat, June 4, 2022


Cambodians voted in local polls on Sunday as a revived opposition party attempted to dent Prime Minister Hun Sen's decades-long grip on power ahead of national elections next year.

Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, has ruled Cambodia for more than 37 years and turned the nation into a one-party state at the 2018 general election, winning every parliamentary seat.

Critics and rights groups have accused him of creating a climate of fear by locking up scores of political opponents and activists.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) -- which won 44 percent of the popular vote in previous local elections in 2017 -- was forced to forfeit its positions after a court dissolved the party later that year.

Scores of opposition figures have since fled the country, while others have been arrested.

Opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested and jailed for more than a year, is facing a treason trial, while CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy is living in France to escape convictions he says are politically motivated.

Sunday's vote in 1,652 communes, or village clusters, will take the country's political pulse ahead of the national elections in 2023.

Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) made a show of strength in the capital Phnom Penh on Friday with a massive parade of cars, trucks, motorcycles and tuk-tuks greeted by flag-waving supporters.

A total of 17 political parties are running in the local election, with more than 11,600 positions up for grabs -- the majority of which are presently controlled by the ruling party.

But all eyes are on the performance of the Candlelight Party (CP) -- founded by Rainsy in 1995 -- which has registered candidates to contest nearly all communes and has been gaining strong support.

- 'last hope' -

"The Candlelight Party is the last hope for the people, although we are suffering from intimidation and threats, and political harassment," party secretary-general Lee Sothearayuth told AFP.

UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Liz Throssell said she was disturbed by patterns of obstruction targeting opposition candidates ahead of the poll.

She warned that the CP "faces a paralysing political environment" after at least six candidates and activists were arrested in the run-up to the vote.

The CP is well-positioned to attract supporters and is the only party that "poses a realistic threat" to Hun Sen's CPP, according to Sebastian Strangio, an expert on Cambodian politics and the author of "Hun Sen's Cambodia".

"A strong opposition showing would demonstrate that the popular discontent with CPP rule continues to simmer beneath the surface of Cambodian politics," he told AFP.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan downplayed the threat, telling AFP that his party would "overwhelmingly" win.

"The whole glass has already broken. So these small pieces of glass are not strong," Sok Eysan said, referring to the opposition movement.

An estimated 9.2 million people are registered to cast ballots on Sunday.

suy/lpm/lb/smw/cwl

Cambodians vote in local election amid intimidation, threats

 

Cambodian People's Party (CPP) supporters drive motorbikes during the last day of campaigning ahead of the June 5 communal elections, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, June 3, 2022.

Cambodian People's Party (CPP) supporters participate in a rally during the last day of campaigning ahead of the June 5 communal elections, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, June 3, 2022.

Buddhist monks walk near three-wheeled pedicab drivers who wait for their costumers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, June 3, 2022. 

(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

SOPHENG CHEANG
Sat, June 4, 2022

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodians headed to the polls Sunday in local elections that are their first chance to vote since the ruling party of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen swept a 2018 general election that was widely criticized as unfair.

Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party is certain to sail to easy victory again following what the U.N. Human Rights Office charged Thursday was a pattern of “threats, intimidation and obstruction targeting opposition candidates. ”

"Candidates have faced numerous restrictions and reprisals that have hindered their activities, with imprisonment of a number of candidates that appears designed to curb political campaigning,” the agency said. It added that at least six opposition candidates and activists were in detention four days before the polls, awaiting trial, while others summonsed on politically motivated charges had gone into hiding.

Cambodia's delegation at the U.N. Geneva offices said in a statement that the criticism was “erroneous, politicized and selective.” It said “all political parties, including opposition ones, have fully exercised their rights in line with the laws and registered schedules without any threats and obstruction.”

Hun Sen and his wife cast their ballots Sunday morning in Kandal province near the capital, Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen, an authoritarian ruler in a nominally democratic state, has held power for 37 years. He has said he intends to stay in office until 2028 and has endorsed one of his sons to succeed him.

His party is the only one to field candidates nationwide in all 1,652 communes. Its only serious rival, the Candlelight Party, has candidates in 1,632 communes, and the royalist FUNCINPEC Party has challengers in 688 communes. There are a total of 82,786 candidates from 17 political parties with 9.2 million registered voters.

The local elections are held a year ahead of the general election, and are regarded as a test of the parties’ strength.

In the last communal elections in 2017, the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party made an unexpectedly strong showing, which led Hun Sen’s government to crack down on it as well as independent media. The party was dissolved by the Supreme Court on a charge of treason, widely seen as politically motivated, and the free press was driven out of business or cowed into submission.

Without the Cambodian National Rescue Party on the ballot, Hun Sen’s party was assured of victory in the general election the following year.

Several Western nations imposed sanctions on the government after concluding the 2018 election was neither free nor fair. The harshest measure came from the European Union, which withdrew some preferential trading privileges.

The dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, whose sitting members were also ousted from their political posts, remains banned, with most of its top leaders in exile.

The Candlelight Party is now seeking to challenge the ruling party by rallying its former supporters, though its activities have remained severely curtailed.

The original Candlelight Party was founded in 1995 by Sam Rainsy, the main political rival of Hun Sen, and later folded into the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Sam Rainsy, faced with legal harassment, went into self-exile in France, and the co-founder of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Kem Sokha, is currently being tried on a thinly supported treason charge.

Scouts sell off camps under strain from sex abuse suits

By PAT EATON-ROBB

1 of 5

The Deer Lake Boy Scout Reservation in Killingworth, Conn., sits empty, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. The camp is among many nationwide being sold by local councils as membership dwindles and the organization raises money to pay sexual abuse victims as part of a bankruptcy settlement. Conservationists, government officials and others are scrambling to find ways to preserve them as open space. (AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb)

KILLINGWORTH, Conn. (AP) — As the financially struggling Boy Scouts sell off a number of campgrounds, conservationists, government officials and others are scrambling to find ways to preserve them as open space.

A $2.6 billion proposed bankruptcy settlement designed to pay thousands of victims of child sexual abuse has added pressure to an organization beset by years of declining enrollment, and the Scouts and their local councils have been cashing in on their extensive holdings, including properties where some of the abuse took place. Developers have bought up some. Preservation groups hope others can be protected and some legislators have taken notice.

“I am emphasizing to my colleagues that there is a clear urgency here,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who thinks there may be federal funds available to buy Scout properties. “We have no time to waste.”

For over a century the Scouts and their local councils have acquired properties across the country where generations have learned to appreciate the outdoors through camping, swimming and canoeing.

In Blumenthal’s state of Connecticut, the Scouts’ Yankee Council is considering a $4.6 million offer from developers for a 252-acre property, Deer Lake, near Long Island Sound that offers camping, fishing, and hiking. The council has rejected offers from two conservation groups but is negotiating with one of them that offered a revised bid.

Sen. Blumenthal has said he’s looking into the possible use of money from the National Park Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund to help in the purchase of the Connecticut camp and the other Boy Scout properties for sale across the nation. Individual states decide which projects to pay for with that money.

Other properties targeted for preservation include 96 acres of what was the Boy Scouts’ Camp Barton, on the west shore of Cayuga Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes region. It includes woodlands, streams, trails and a 75-foot (23-meter) waterfall.

“They are not making any more lakefront property,” said Fred Bonn, regional director for the Finger Lakes State Parks system. “Access to the lake is challenging, both with its topography and what is owned privately.”

Several local towns and New York state’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is working with the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts to try to preserve the land. A nearby 41-acre parcel already was sold by the Scouts to private interests.

It’s unclear exactly how much land across the United States belongs to the Boy Scouts, partly because it is owned by local scout councils. But evidence in the bankruptcy trial indicated the local councils own close to 2,000 properties that could be worth between $8 billion and $10 billion, said Timothy Kosnoff, an attorney who represents more than 12,000 claimants in the bankruptcy.

The proposed bankruptcy settlement with Boys Scouts of America would have its more than 250 councils contribute at least $515 million in cash and property and a $100 million interest-bearing note. Kosnoff said the Scouts will need to sell much of their land to contribute to the national settlement or, if it fails, to pay for continuing legal battles.

“I can’t predict how long it will take for all these properties to be liquidated, but I think it’s inevitable,” he said.

Some abuse victims have mixed feelings about the camps’ sale.

Joe, a victim who did not want his last name used because his family is unaware of his experience, was abused by his scout master starting at the age of 8 in the 1970s at a Connecticut camp that was sold years ago to make way for housing on Candlewood Lake. He’s not sure he wants people camping on land where scouts were once abused.

“I don’t have those warm feelings about those places,” he said. “It’s almost like ‘Poltergeist.’ Do you want your house on land where those things happened? So, I don’t know what to do with those places.”

The Boy Scouts of America said in a statement that selling the camps may be necessary in some instances to compensate victims.

“Every decision must take into account the finances, viability of potential buyers, sustainability and meeting the obligations to provide the best service to youth within their respective council,” the organization said.

Councils in states including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have all recently sold or announced plans to sell camps.

Sen. Blumenthal said selling camps to developers goes against the tenants of an organization that is supposed to teach environmental stewardship.

“Unfortunately, local Boy Scout councils are selling to the highest bidder,” he said. “So, I think it is a national challenge, but it goes to the core of what scouting means and the ethos and ethic of scouting, which they may be betraying.”

In Michigan, a consolidation of local Boy Scout councils that began a decade ago has led to the sale of numerous properties, including Silver Trails, a 269-acre camp about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Port Huron. A group called the Thumb Land Conservancy tried to buy it in 2019, but lost out when the scouts sold it to a gravel-mining company.

“They’ve sold off, I think 15 camps statewide,” said Bill Collins, the conservancy group’s executive director and a former Boy Scout, who used to camp at Silver Trails. “So, people now have to drive sometimes a couple of hundred miles across the state to go to camp. Well, that makes most of day camp activities unfeasible and things like weekend camp outs much more of a chore for everyone involved.”

In Maine, the Androscoggin Land Trust has a purchase agreement to buy the 95-acre Boy Scout Camp Gustin near Lewiston, which includes a large pond and a bog that is filled with wildlife. Aimee Dorval, the trust’s executive director, said the state government’s Land for Maine’s Future program has agreed to chip in half of the $415,000 appraised value of the property. The rest is being raised through private donations.

The purchase would be part of the trust’s larger effort to preserve about 1,000-acres of open space along the Androscoggin River near Lewiston, land that also has been targeted by developers. The trust plans to continue allowing Boy Scouts to use the land while opening it up to the larger community for camping and other activities.

Dorval said it’s important for groups like hers to step up as these camps are put up for sale.

“There are accredited land trusts all across the nation that can take this on,” she said. “I think it would be foolish if people stayed away from this because of the (Boy Scout abuse) controversy. To us, it’s not about that. It is about conservation and about trying to preserve an area for youth and nature-based activities and historic scouting access.”

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LGBTQ people urge Democrats to forcefully reject GOP attacks

By JEFF McMILLAN

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, left, stands next to 16-year-old Aspen Morris at the Rainbow Pride flag raising Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at the Capitol in Madison, Wis. Democratic political candidates who otherwise support the civil rights, safety and visibility of LGBTQ adults and children are finding it difficult to respond to a Republican vote-getting offensive targeting such people. The Republicans' use of LGBTQ people as a “wedge issue” seeks to appeal to the general public’s emotions and misunderstandings about transgender people in particular.

 (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP File)

“The T stands for transgender,” a teacher explains in a video on a Maine Department of Education website launched during the coronavirus pandemic.

“A transgender person is someone who the doctors made a mistake about when they were born,” the teacher says in the lesson plan targeted at kindergartners. “But some people, when they get a little bit older, realize what the doctors said was not right.”

Republicans later produced an ad accusing Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is running for reelection against GOP former Gov. Paul LePage, of using state money to create “radical school lessons.” Within hours, the lesson disappeared from the website, and Mills’ spokesperson said the governor was on board with its removal.

While most Democrats support the rights, safety and visibility of LGBTQ adults and children, they’re struggling to counter a barrage of GOP attacks on LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people. With measured responses and occasional capitulation, Democrats like Mills are aiming to avoid getting sucked further into culture wars that serve mostly to galvanize the Republican base.

But as Democrats largely avoid direct confrontations, some LGBTQ people say they feel abandoned.

“Our lives and our existence are being used as political fodder to ramp up the GOP base, and they’re not coming to our defense,” said Deja Alvarez, a transgender woman who finished third in the Democratic primary in a heavily LGBTQ state legislative district in Philadelphia. “They’re not rallying the troops and saying, ‘Hey, we can’t stand for this.’”

Democrats are hardly silent on LGBTQ issues.

As Pride month began this week, President Joe Biden tweeted his support for LGBTQ rights. He recently named Karine Jean-Pierre as the first openly gay White House press secretary and was critical of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this year after he signed legislation to ban the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

Even after she distanced herself from the Department of Education video, Mills released a statement this week ticking through LGBTQ-friendly legislation she has signed. She insisted that if she is reelected, Maine “will remain a safe and welcoming place to live for LGBTQ people.”

And in Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers warned that if he loses in November, Republicans will take steps to ban books, especially those with LGBTQ themes.

Evers’ approach is one activists say more Democrats should embrace this election year. They want to see candidates go beyond prepared statements celebrating Pride month and instead place LGBTQ issues more at the center of the campaign while warning of the specific consequences of Republican victories.

“These are the kinds of actions we need people to take,” Alvarez said, “but not just because it’s Pride month.”

Councilperson Daniella Fernandez talks to a crowd of people gathered along York Street in Nevada City, Calif., to witness the raising of the Pride flag above City Hall on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Democratic political candidates who otherwise support the civil rights, safety and visibility of LGBTQ adults and children are finding it difficult to respond to a Republican vote-getting offensive targeting such people. The Republicans' use of LGBTQ people as a “wedge issue” seeks to appeal to the general public’s emotions and misunderstandings about transgender people in particular

The problem may be that even allies are not prepared to speak on the issues, which allowed the framing of LGBTQ people as a threat to catch on, said Fran Hutchins, executive director of the advocacy group Equality Federation.

In this election cycle, Republicans have zeroed in on the discussions banned by the Florida bill dubbed by opponents as “Don’t Say Gay”; the participation of transgender students in competitive sports, even though such conflicts are rare; and gender-affirming care for children.

“The root of why this is happening is a real lack of familiarity with and lack of understanding for trans folks and what it’s like to be transgender,” Hutchins said.

One notable exception has been Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state senator from Michigan who gave an impassioned speech in response to an invocation from a Republican lawmaker who claimed McMorrow, who is running for reelection, wanted to “groom” and “sexualize” kindergarteners.

The video of McMorrow’s reaction speech and a related Twitter thread were widely celebrated, but there remains a sense — even by McMorrow — that she fell on a sword other Democrats are dodging.

“There is a difference between politics and outright hate,” she said in April, pondering the reaction to her speech. “I think people are frustrated that elected officials haven’t done enough to call that out, that maybe Democrats are afraid of talking about religion and faith openly and honestly and calling hate what it is.”

Labeling education about sexual orientation and gender identity as “grooming” connotes the methods sex offenders use to molest children, and is part of a push by conservatives to speak to parents’ fears by equating such education with pornography and pedophilia.

The teacher in the Maine video, Kailina Mills — no relation to the governor — said in a Facebook post that she has taught transgender and nonbinary preschoolers and that they deserve to be represented in the curriculum, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“Public schools are for everyone and should, therefore, include everyone,” the teacher said.

When the narrative that such issues are inappropriate or dangerous becomes embedded in the minds of voters, pushing back can indeed be politically problematic. But activists said there are larger issues to consider.

“It goes well for candidates when they stand up and say what their real values are and say what they believe about what’s really going on with legislation,” said Liz Seaton, policy director for the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund. “When they speak the truth from values, they will be speaking from their heart, and their constituents will respond.”

Annise Parker, a former Houston mayor who is now CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund and Institute, a nonpartisan organization that works on behalf of LGBTQ candidates, agreed that LGBTQ allies running for office have a responsibility to “stand up and speak out when any of those marginalized communities are attacked.”

Political observers and activists noted parallels in today’s rhetoric with that around same-sex marriage in the 1990s and 2000s.

It was only 10 years ago that former President Barack Obama — on the heels of Biden, his vice president — endorsed same-sex marriage. That was 16 years after another Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the law that blocked it.

Both presidents were running for reelection and may have been hostages to public opinion, which by Obama’s time had swung the other way. Same-sex marriage soon became legal throughout the United States, and the public now sees the sky didn’t fall as predicted, advocates said.

But now “conservative forces are using the tactics of ‘othering’ us very effectively again ... and they are making trans activists look radical when all they’re looking for is the right to exist,” said Jonathan Lovitz, a gay man who ran against Alvarez and other candidates in last month’s Democratic primary in Philadelphia and placed second.

A poll released in April by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that overall, Americans lean slightly toward expanding discussions of sexuality in K-12 classrooms. And some observers say it’s only a matter of time before today’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric stops working in Republicans’ favor.

Lovitz encouraged Democrats to set aside political concerns as LGBTQ people feel increasingly targeted.

“Be a vocal and visible ally even if it costs you endorsements and donations. Stand up for what you believe in; otherwise you’re not an elected official, you’re just a weather vane,” he said. “We don’t need fair-weather friends right now.”

___

Follow Jeff McMillan at http://twitter.com/jeffmcmillanpa.

Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings

Axon was “absolutely not” trying to capitalize on recent tragedies to attract investors.

By MATT O'BRIEN and MICHAEL BALSAMO

This photo provided by Axon Enterprise depicts a conceptual design through a computer-generated rendering of a taser drone. Taser developer Axon says it is working to build drones armed with the electric stunning weapons that could fly in schools and “help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine.” But its own technology advisers quickly panned the idea as a dangerous fantasy. (Axon Enterprise, Inc. via AP)

Taser developer Axon said this week it is working to build drones armed with the electric stunning weapons that could fly in schools and “help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine.” But its own technology advisers quickly panned the idea as a dangerous fantasy.

The publicly traded company, which sells Tasers and police body cameras, floated the idea of a new police drone product last year to its artificial intelligence ethics board, a group of well-respected experts in technology, policing and privacy.

Some of them expressed reservations about weaponizing drones in over-policed communities of color. But they were not expecting Axon’s Thursday announcement that it wants to send those Taser-equipped drones into classrooms to prevent mass shootings by immobilizing an intruding gunman.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Axon founder and CEO Rick Smith said he felt compelled to make the idea public after the mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school, saying he was “catastrophically disappointed” in the response by police who didn’t move in to kill the suspect for more than an hour.

But he stressed Friday that no product had been launched and any potential launch would be down the road. The idea, he felt, needed to be shared now because of the public conversation about effective ways for police to safely confront attackers and how schools can increase safety.

“This is an idea that should get into the public’s consciousness while our minds are open to it and I felt if I wait another six months, the world is going to change and people are going to forget this pain and we’re going to see a shift in sentiments where people are going to focus a lot more on what could go wrong, rather than the pain of this problem we need to solve,” he said.

Axon’s stock price rose with the news. But the announcement angered members of the ethics board, some of whom are now likely to quit in protest.

“This particular idea is crackpot,” said Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor who sits on the Axon AI Ethics Board. “Drones can’t fly through closed doors. The physical properties of the universe still hold. So unless you have a drone in every single classroom in America, which seems insane, the idea just isn’t going to work.”

Friedman said it was a “dangerous and fantastical idea” that went far beyond the proposal for a Taser-equipped police drone that board members — some of them former or current police officials — had been debating in recent months.

“We begged the company not to do it,” Friedman said of the company’s announcement. “It was unnecessary and shameful.”

The product idea had been kicked around at Axon since at least 2019 and the company has been working to try to figure out whether a drone with a Taser was even a feasible idea. Over the last year, the company created computer-generated art renderings to mock up a product design and conducted an internal test to see if Taser darts — which transmit an immobilizing electric jolt — could be fired from a flying drone, Smith said. He added that he had discussed the possibility of developing such a product with the ethics board.

Board members who spoke with The Associated Press said they were taken aback by the school drone proposal — which they got notice of only earlier this week — and cobbled together a unanimous statement of concern that described Axon’s decision as “deeply regrettable.” The company tweeted out the board’s dissent shortly after its own statement Thursday announcement.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were resignations,” said another ethics board member, Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington. “I think everyone on the board has to make a choice about whether they want to stay involved.”

Friedman and Calo both described this week’s process as a sharp turnaround from the respectful relationship that Axon executives have had with the board in recent years on controversial topics such as face recognition — which Axon decided against using in its body cameras — and automated license plate readers.

“Sometimes the company takes our advice and sometimes it doesn’t,” Friedman said. “What’s important is that happens after thoughtful discussion and coordination. That was thrown out the window here.”

Smith said the company is still in the very early phases of product development and would continue to consult the ethics board, along with law enforcement officials, community leaders and school officials. He acknowledged that the company might later determine that the idea isn’t feasible and abandon it.

But he took issue with the idea that he had ignored the concerns from the ethics board, which is meant to provide guidance and share feedback. Ultimately, the decision still falls to Smith as the company’s chief executive.

“I have not ignored what they have said. People can have debates and disagree,” Smith said. “I think there is one thing the world can see: our board is not a whitewash.”

“I hope they don’t resign,” he added. “I hope that they are somewhat proud maybe after this that we’re having this public debate.”

On Friday in an “Ask Me Anything” chat on the online forum Reddit. Smith acknowledged that “drones in schools can sound nuts” but went on to answer detailed questions about them. They could travel through school vents, he said, and perch on doors and walls near ceilings. It could be a “good thing” if a gunman tried to shoot one down because it would distract from trying to kill people.

“We’re doing this because we care,” Smith said. “We’re a business so ultimately we have to find a financial model that works, but at the end of the day we’ve been successful because our mission drives our business and we solve problems we care about,” he added.

Smith told a Reddit user that Axon was “absolutely not” trying to capitalize on recent tragedies to attract investors. He noted the advisory board’s disagreements but said the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas — and what he described as misguided proposals to arm teachers with guns — compelled him to go public with the drone idea to field a “far broader array of voices.”

Canada handgun sales soar after Trudeau proposes freeze

Michel COMTE
Sat, June 4, 2022



Aman Sandhu checked store after store for a handgun in Canada's British Columbia, hoping to make a purchase before a freeze on sales takes effect, but struggled to find one in stock.

"I'm concerned that if I don't buy one now, I may never have the choice again," Sandhu, a member of the Dawson Creek Sportsman's Club, told AFP.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's proposed freeze on pistol sales -- which he announced in the wake of a series of high-profile mass shootings in the United States -- has pushed some Canadians to rush out to gun stores while they still can.

While Sandhu is keen to buy a pistol, he is also wary of becoming mired in new rules that include hefty penalties for even minor lapses.

"Jeez, if I slip up, I could screw up the rest of my firearms ownership," he said, describing a handful of long guns in his collection.

Several gun stores in British Columbia province saw lines out the door within hours of the liberal leader's declaration on Monday. Other shops across Canada said they sold out within days.

"Sales have been brisk," said Jen Lavigne, co-owner of That Hunting Store in a strip mall on the outskirts of the capital Ottawa, nestled between a barbershop, a Chinese buffet restaurant, and a conservative lawmaker's constituency office.

"We sold 100 handguns, or almost our entire stock, in the last three days, since the prime minister announced the freeze," she said, showing off her nearly empty handgun cabinet.

- 'Panic' -

At DoubleTap Sports in Toronto, a similar scene unfolded. Owner Josko Kovic said the government announcement "created a panic, and people are now rushing out to buy handguns."

"Almost all stores are sold out, including me," he said.

According to government estimates, there are more than one million handguns in Canada, which has a population of 38 million people. Some 2,500 stores sell pistols in the country.

At present, a person must have a restricted firearms license in order to purchase a handgun. Most also require a special permit to transport them from any location to another, and they must be in secured cases.

Shooting ranges are about the only places where they can be legally fired.

The new regulations, unveiled after mass shootings killed 21 people at an elementary school in Texas and 10 at a supermarket in New York state, would prohibit the purchase, sale, transfer and importation of handguns.

They are expected to come into force in the fall, along with a border crackdown on weapons smuggling from the United States.

"We are capping the number of handguns in this country," Trudeau said Monday, citing "a level of gun violence in our communities that is unacceptable."

- 'Catch-22' -

Almost two-thirds of gun crimes in Canadian cities over the past decade involved handguns, according to government data.

At That Hunting Store, a man picking up a new handgun for competition, who identified himself as David, lamented the new restrictions on top of already cumbersome rules that drag out purchases.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "It takes two months just to get a license with all the background checks."

Gun shop owners interviewed by AFP unanimously decried the freeze, which must still be passed by parliament.

"This measure is only going to hurt legal gun owners," Lavigne said, adding: "It's not going to reduce any of the crime because the bad guys don't follow the rules."

Darryl Tomlinson, owner of Canadian Gun Guys in Winnipeg, said he worries for the future of his store and shooting range, as well as the social network of members.

"This handgun measure is going to take away livelihoods and break up communities," he said.

"It's a Catch-22. We're busy now, but I fear we're going to be put out of business in the fall," Tomlinson said of the week's sales boom.

amc/wd

Online pro-gun extremism: ‘Cool for active shooter stuff’

By DAVID KLEPPER

 Illegally possessed firearms seized by authorities are displayed during a news conference Oct. 9, 2018, in Los Angeles. As Americans reel from repeated shootings, law enforcement officials and experts on extremism are taking increasing notice of the sprawling online space devoted to guns and gun rights: gun forums, tactical training videos, websites that sell unregistered gun kits and social media platforms where far-right gun owners swap practical tips with talk of dark plots to take their weapons. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The young man in the jeans and sunglasses proudly shows off his gun in the YouTube video, then instructs his 1 million subscribers how to fit extra ammo on his belt, and offers a chilling observation.

“Pretty cool for active shooter stuff, if you need extra mags.”

It’s a typical video, one of thousands teaching military-style training and tactics to civilian gun owners, offering instructions on silencers and grenade launchers, on shooting from vehicles or into buildings. Other websites sell ghost gun kits, gas masks and body armor.

“You shouldn’t be scared of the NRA. You should be scared of us,” one online ghost gun dealer Tweeted last week.

As Americans reel from repeated mass shootings, law enforcement officials and experts on extremism are taking increasing notice of the sprawling online space devoted to guns and gun rights: gun forums, tactical training videos, websites that sell unregistered gun kits and social media platforms where far-right gun owners swap practical tips with talk of dark plots to take their weapons.

It’s an ecosystem rich with potential recruits for extremist groups exploiting the often blurry line separating traditional support for a Constitutional right from militant anti-government movements that champion racism and violence.

White supremacists have carried out most of the deadliest attacks on U.S. soil in the last five years, including a 2018 shooting inside a Pittsburgh synagogue and a 2019 rampage in which a gunman targeting Hispanics inside a Texas Walmart killed 23 people.

The gunman who perpetrated last month’s rampage in Buffalo, for example, claimed in a rambling racist diatribe that he was radicalized when pandemic boredom led him to far-right social media groups and tactical training videos he found online.

One of the companies specifically cited by the gunman sells firearm accessories and operates popular social media channels boasting hundreds of training videos. The videos cover topics like shooting from cars, assaulting a building, using gas masks while shooting, and night vision goggles.

“I think we’re going to see an increase in these kinds of attacks,” said Kurt Braddock, a professor and extremism researcher at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University. “Until we’re able to figure out a way to address this, this kind of disinformation is going to keep spreading, and with it the risk of increased radicalization and violence.”

Elected leaders in some states are considering how to address the internet’s role in radicalizing extremists. New York lawmakers, for example, recently introduced legislation to require social media companies to set policies on “hateful conduct” and to create mechanisms for users to report disturbing posts they may read.

New York Attorney General Letitia James initiated an investigation into some of the platforms used by the Buffalo gunman, who streamed his attack on Twitch, which is owned by Amazon. Twitch pulled the livestream after about two minutes.

Federal authorities have also taken notice, increasing funding for investigations into domestic terrorism, a challenge that FBI Director Christopher Wray last year described as “metastasizing.” But there’s little law enforcement can do but monitor as extremists use the threat of gun control to recruit new members.

Extremists paint any effort to regulate firearms as the prelude to widespread gun seizures, according to Callum Hood, director of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a UK-based organization that researches online extremism and abuse.

“The message quickly becomes ‘the government is coming to take your guns and leave you undefended,’” Hood said. That’s despite the obvious political challenges that even modest attempts at gun control face in the U.S. Despite a long and growing list of mass shootings, gun rights have not been restricted in any significant way in the U.S. in decades.

Rather than be under threat, guns are flourishing. Since the year 2000, the year after Columbine school shooting in Colorado, the number of firearms manufactured in the U.S. has tripled. There are now an estimated 400 million guns in the U.S. — more than one for everyone in the country — giving the nation the world’s highest gun ownership rate.

Gun manufacturers and industry groups like the National Rifle Association bear some responsibility for unfounded conspiracy theories about federal plots to seize American’s guns, according to Braddock.

“What’s the first rule in salesmanship? It’s to create the need for the item. We think about guns as something different – and they are because they’re instruments of violence – but they’re also commodities sold in huge quantities,” Braddock said. “They’re creating the illusion of need.”

Contacted by the Associated Press, one website selling ghost gun kits responded with a statement saying “all questions” about regulating firearms amount to “naked attempts to disarm traditional Americans, weaponize the government against them, and subject them to the ignorant and vicious tools of federal power.”

While some of the creators of tactical training videos posted on platforms like YouTube say their intended audience is law enforcement, others say their subscriber base is mostly those looking to arm themselves against the government.

Despite their alarm, law enforcement officials and experts on extremism caution there’s little to do about the growing online spaces devoted to military-style weaponry unless they find evidence of illegal gun sales or other crimes.

For their part, tech companies and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter say they have rules to prohibit violent threats, hate speech and other content that poses a direct harm. Some platforms also prohibit the sale of firearms.

Further restrictions on content about guns or even extremism will only backfire anyway, according to Amy Cooter, an expert on militias. While efforts to ban users might be successful in the short term, they’re bound to fail as those users flee to other platforms with less moderation.

“If we want to reduce the size of the movement, de-platforming is really effective,” Cooter said. “But If we want to de-radicalize it, it is not. The most extreme elements will find other ways to stay connected.”

Shootings expose divisions on gun issue in faith communities

 Are you pro-life if you are pro-guns?

By DEEPA BHARATH and HOLLY MEYER

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Marius Annandale kneels while praying during a Second Amendment gun rights rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, March 27, 2021, in Salt Lake City. After a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, several pastors and rabbis around the country have challenged their conservative counterparts with this question: Are you pro-life if you are pro-guns? (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

After a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, several pastors around the country challenged their conservative counterparts with this question: Are you pro-life if you are pro-gun?

One of those faith leaders is the Rev. Steven Marsh, senior pastor of Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California. That’s where a gunman, who officials say was fueled by hate against Taiwan, opened fire on May 15 at a luncheon organized by members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, killing one and injuring five others.

“I’ve heard people tell me I’m not Christian because I’m pro-choice,” Marsh said. “I ask those people: How can you be pro-life and not support getting rid of assault rifles? You can’t pick and choose where you want to be pro-life.”

Marsh’s emotional statement is a vignette in the larger narrative of a nation divided on how – or if – guns should be regulated. The faith community is not monolithic on this issue.

People of faith who are tired of years of failed gun control efforts and grieving the latest mass shooting victims are pointing out what they say is hypocrisy – conservative Christians pushing to abolish abortion and grant unfettered access to guns. Those who disagree contend the real problem is sin and soft targets. It’s not guns, but the “evil” in people and abortions that kill, they say.

These entrenched, partisan divisions in the U.S. on abortion and gun rights are stark after high-profile massacres in New York, California, Texas and elsewhere as the country awaits a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

According to 2017 Pew Research Center data analyzed for Christianity Today, 41% of white evangelicals own a gun compared to 30% of Americans overall – the highest share of any religious group. The survey also shows 74% of all gun owners in the U.S. agree that their right to gun ownership is essential to their sense of freedom. Most states also allow firearms in places of worship.

Christian author and activist Shane Claiborne disputes the notion that the U.S. has a sin problem, but not a gun problem; he says it has both. Claiborne recently went to Uvalde to support victims, and to Houston to pray and protest at the National Rifle Association’s convention held days after the massacre.

He passed out tracts asserting “We can’t be pro-life and ignore gun violence” and asking “Will we choose the gun or the cross?” Claiborne said he was among those asked to leave the NRA’s Sunday prayer breakfast after disrupting the program to call for prayer for the Uvalde victims.

Claiborne wants to see laws change, including policies that would raise the age of gun ownership, limit magazine capacity, ban assault-style weapons and mandate training. He said laws can’t make people love each other, but they can make it more difficult to take a life.

“We want to make it harder for folks to kill other people, and we’re making it really easy right now,” Claiborne said.

Conservative pastors have said mass shootings and other social harms are the result of an overall degradation in moral values and disregard for human life.

Pastor Tim Lee, an evangelist and a former U.S. Marine who lost both legs during the Vietnam War, was one of the featured speakers at the NRA prayer breakfast that Claiborne and others were asked to leave.

After the Uvalde shooting, Lee posted on his Facebook page: “This is so heartbreaking. I have said it so many times – When kids hear adults say that it’s OK to kill babies (abortion) then all respect for human lives is gone.”

The gun debate is deeply personal for the Rev. Chineta Goodjoin. Her best friend, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was one of nine people shot and killed by Dylann Roof in June 2015 as they sat in prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Goodjoin, who leads New Hope Presbyterian Church in Anaheim, California, said people of faith must rise up in “righteous anger” to demand common-sense gun regulation. When massacres occur in community spaces like churches, schools and supermarkets, it tests an entire community’s resiliency, she said.

“How can you teach in schools when people are traumatized by gun violence?” she said. “When a church is no longer a safe space, do I work to enhance security or enhance people’s faith? The impact is like an epidemic that touches every fiber of our being.”

But others, like the Rev. Russ Tenhoff, say it is simply not possible to “legislate safety.”

“There are plenty of laws, but people who are lawless don’t obey them,” said Tenhoff, lead pastor of Mountainside Community Fellowship in Kingwood, West Virginia. “Murders are going to happen even without firearms. We’re never going to be able to prevent gun violence.”

As a firearms safety officer who trains adults and children, Tenhoff says the solution is to “harden the schools,” which have become soft targets.

“We need to put one-way locks on schools, have metal detectors and an armed officer in every school,” he said.

For a Catholic pastor in Newtown, Connecticut, who a decade ago experienced the grief that now envelops Uvalde, the lack of political will to enact gun legislation is unfathomable.

Monsignor Robert Weiss, who leads the St. Rose of Lima parish, presided over the funeral of eight victims who were murdered in Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. He held an evening Mass in his church the day after the Texas shooting.

“I guess I was a fool to think Sandy Hook was going to change the world,” he said in a video recording of the service.

Weiss also questioned the consequences of individualism in America.

“Is that what our forefathers intended for us?” he asked. “To live in a country where unborn babies are aborted, where children are murdered in school where they should be safe, where you can’t even go to a grocery store or to a church or to a library and feel like you’ll be OK?”

Pastor Mike McBride, who leads The Way Christian Center in Berkeley, California, said those on different sides of the gun issue must find common concerns to unite around and work on solutions together.

McBride says many who are pro-gun are also worried about accidental gun deaths, intimate partner violence and suicides.

“Those shared concerns can be addressed with targeted strategies that don’t keep us bogged down in the Second Amendment fight,” he said.

McBride suggests having listening campaigns across church groups and neighborhoods — a “peace infrastructure” to combat violence.

Marsh, the Laguna Woods pastor, says the shooting in his church and other recent massacres have inspired him to have “more serious conversations about this issue” in his community. He would like to see diverse faith communities organize marches in local seats of government to push legislators to act.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “We need to stop using Christianity as a veneer to deny reality.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

RIP

Gerber baby Ann Turner Cook dies at 95
By Adam Schrader



A charcoal sketch of Ann Turner Cook as an infant, drawn by Dorothy Hope Smith in 1928, was chosen during a contest by the Gerber Products Company as the official logo for its new line of baby food. Photo courtesy Gerber/Instagram

June 4 (UPI) -- Ann Turner Cook, the woman whose face has adorned billions of Gerber baby food products, has died. She was 95.

A charcoal sketch of Cook as an infant, drawn by Dorothy Hope Smith in 1928, was chosen during a contest by the Gerber Products Company as the official logo for its new line of baby food.

The drawing was trademarked in the 1930s and has been reproduced ever since on billions of baby food jars, becoming an internationally recognized logo, even as the identity of the baby remained a mystery for decades.

Cook's death was announced by Gerber in a statement to Instagram and her family confirmed to The New York Times that she died in her home in St. Petersburg, Fla., early on Friday.

Ann Turner Cook, the woman whose face has adorned billions of Gerber baby food products, has died. She was 95. Photo courtesy Gerber/Instagram

"Gerber is deeply saddened by the passing of Ann Turner Cook, the original Gerber baby, whose face was sketched to become the iconic Gerber logo more than 90 years ago," the company said in its statement.

"Many years before becoming an extraordinary mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies. We extend our deepest sympathies to Ann's family and to anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her."

Smith made her drawing of Cook based on a photograph of her taken when she was about four months old, though she was about two years old when the sketch was made.

The artist had considered the sketch unfinished but submitted it with the promise she would make it more elaborate if she won the competition but it was chosen without changes. The company, now a subsidiary of Nestle, preferred the simple sketch to more elaborate drawings and paintings that had been submitted.

Ann Turner Cook, original Gerber baby


 In this photo provided by Gerber, Ann Turner Cook, whose baby face launched the iconic Gerber logo, arrives at NBC's Today Show to announce the winner of the 2012 Gerber Generation Photo Search on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012 in New York City. Ann Turner Cook, whose cherubic baby face was known the world over as the original Gerber baby, has died. She was 95. Gerber announced Cook's passing in an Instagram post on Friday, June 3, 2022.  (Amy Sussman/Gerber via AP, File)

Smith was originally paid about $300 for the rights to her drawing and Gerber paid Cook a one-time cash settlement of $5,000 in 1951 which helped her place a down payment on her first home.

Gerber, Smith and Cook remained tight-lipped about her identity as the so-called "Gerber Baby" for decades as questions grew about the sex and identity of the model.

Cook only revealed herself as the model in the late 1970s when Gerber celebrated the 50th anniversary of the drawing.

In the decades before the reveal, speculation had grown that the model could be movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor to Senator Bob Dole.

Some of that speculation was fueled by the fact that Maud Humphrey, a commercial illustrator, used her son as a model for much of her work including ads for another baby food brand.

In her adult life, Cook earned a bachelor's degree in English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a master's from the University of South Florida before she went on to become a mystery novelist and English teacher.

Her husband James Cook, a criminologist with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Tampa, died in 2004, The New York Times reported.

She is survived by their three daughters and a son, as well as eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Russia plans to restart German telescope without permission

Russian space agency Roscosmos says it will restart a telescope shut down by Germany over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. But a noted expert has warned that this might be dangerous to the instrument.



The eROSITA telescope works together with a Russian one to send data from space

Russia will try to unilaterally restart a German satellite telescope that was put into sleep mode by Germany's Max Planck Institute in protest at Moscow's war in Ukraine, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos said in remarks broadcast on Saturday.

The X-ray telescope, named eROSITA, works in tandem with a Russian instrument, the ART-XC, to scan distant galaxies in what was a joint German-Russian mission until Germany put its cooperation on ice over Russia's invasion.
What did Roskosmos' head say?

"I gave instructions to start work on restoring the operation of the German telescope in the Spektr-RG system so it works together with the Russian telescope," Roskosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in a televised interview.

"Despite Germany's demand to shut down one of the two telescopes at Spektr-RG, Russian specialists insist on continuing its work. Roscosmos will make relevant decisions in the near future," Rogozin said.

"They — the people that made the decision to shut down the telescope — don't have a moral right to halt this research for humankind just because their pro-fascist views are close to our enemies," added Rogozin, who is a Putin loyalist and a vocal supporter of Moscow's military action.

The telescope was launched into space from the Baikonur launch site in July 2019

Expert's warning

However, the scientific director of the Spekr-RG project said that attempts to restart the telescope without German cooperation could be detrimental to the device itself.

The recommissioning could take place only with Germany's consent; otherwise, the telescope would be in danger of breaking down, said Russian astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev.

The Russian Interfax news agency also cited him as saying that "unilateral action in this situation only adds more mistrust between people."

What is eROSITA?

The eROSITA telescope was launched by Roscosmos on July 13, 2019, from the Russian launch site Baikonur in Kazakhstan. It began collecting data in October 2019.

The Spektr-RG mission on which it is deployed along with the Russian telescope aims, among other things, to detect black holes.

Until eROSITA was put into sleep mode on February 26, two days after Russia started its invasion, Russian and German researchers had been able to jointly evaluate the data sent by the two devices.

At the time it was shut down, eROSITA had completed four of its planned eight full-sky surveys. Data from the first four are still being evaluated by scientists.

tj/dj (dpa, Interfax)

Nigeria's political system favors old wealthy men

Despite young people making up the majority of Nigeria's voters, the country's politicians are mostly old, wealthy and male. Such a system makes it harder for young people to enter politics.

Nigeria goes to the polls in February and March 2023 for general and state elections

Campaigning is in full gear in Nigeria as the the June 9 deadline nears for Nigeria's political parties to pick their presidential candidates for the 2023 polls.

The main opposition party, the People's Democratic Party, or PDP, has already nominated a 75-year-old as its presidential candidate. 

Business tycoon Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, has had five previous goes at winning the presidential ticket. Given his advanced age, many believe this could be his last shot. 

Abubakar is unlikely to be the only politician over 70 on the ballot paper.

Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos governor who entered politics some 30 years ago, is hoping that the ruling All Progressives Congress, or APC, will select him in their primaries. 

Aged 70, Tinubu is nearly a decade younger than Nigeria's current president Muhammadu Buhari. 

The 79-year-old incumbent, who isn't eligible to run in 2023 due to presidential term limits, is also deeply entrenched in the nation's politics, having run for president five times since 2003.

Bola Tinubu, who hopes to run for president, is is part of the ruling elite

Young voters, old politicians

Slightly over half of Nigeria's84 million registered voters in the 2019 election were between 18 and 35.

But young citizens, many of whom who face endemic unemployment and entrenched poverty, often feel that the political old guard are out of touch with their needs. 

This is perhaps one of the reasons why just over a third of registered voters cast a ballot in 2019, a turnout that is low by global — and West African — standards.

But the political system is proving hard for young people to break into and many feel they are being sidelined in the decision-making processes.

Big barriers to enter politics

Ngbejume Ugochukwu, who lives in Benin City in the country's south, dreamed of entering politics. 

But 32-year-old Ugochukwu didn't have a powerful patron, or "godfather" to help pull the strings. 

"To become a politician in Nigeria, you have to first of all be extremely loyal to somebody who is up there already ... and then pay years of service of being loyal to that person," the scientist and youth mentor told DW in an interview. 

The country's politics also require deep pockets. 

Simply registering as a 2023 presidential aspirant with the main two political parties, the APC and the PDP, required nomination form payments of 100 million naira ($242,000 or €225,000) and 40 million naira respectively.

Being a wealthy candidate is also important "insofar as nominations often have to be bought by bribing party delegates," finds a 2021 analysis by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German foundation, of how Nigeria's ruling elite cling to power.

Atiku Abubakar supporters hold up a banner during the People's Democratic Party primaries

For the 2023 PDP party nominations, some delegates were reportedly paid as much as $50,000 for their vote, sources who attended the party primaries held last weekend, told DW. 

In a country where the minimum wage is $68 per month, that puts politics out of reach of most Nigerians, particularly women, and is leading to growing resentment among the young. 

"The youths don't have millions to throw around like our fathers [the older, wealthy politicians] are doing; buying [a nomination] form for 100 million naira and paying delegates millions of naira," said Freedom Chukwumezie, a law firm secretary in Delta State. 

"The youths can't afford it," he said. 

Rise of 'moneytocracy'

Political analyst Solomon Opara says his country's dependence on "money politics" means most young people don't bother trying to get into politics in the first place. 

"No young man would want to invest such [sums] into a venture that he is not sure of because it has become a thing of the highest bidder gets it," said Opara. 

Nigeria has been called a 'moneytocracy', a country ruled by corruption and bribery

For those few that do venture into politics, the vast sums of money required make it difficult, if not impossible, for youths to clinch leadership positions with established parties, he said. 

Kinsman Alabribe from Owerri in Imo state says young people are completely disillusioned about the whole process. 

"An average youth believes that no matter how much work you do, they [the political elite] must manipulate it to their own favor to make sure that they win," he said. 

Too immature?

But there are those who believe that young people are shut out of politics because they are too immature and inexperienced to qualify. 

The idea that older people have more experience simply because of their seniority is deeply rooted in the West African nation's culture. 

"Among the youths currently in the limelight in Nigeria today, which one of them would you seriously think could be handed over the position of the senate president?" grassroots activist Geoffrey Noriode, from Warri in Delta State, asked DW in an interview.

Noriode says the politics of student leaders show that youths aren't ready, warning that because of their inexperience, they could be used as "pawns" by more experienced power brokers.

Mistrust of young people and inexperience is ingrained in many parts of Nigerian society

Way forward 

In 2018, constitutional reforms lowered the minimum age for a presidential candidacy from 40 to 35, while those who are at least 25 years old can run for a seat in the House of Representatives. 

But the average age in the House of Representatives was 55.7 when members of parliament were sworn in after the 2019 elections, according to the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung report. 

Chido Onumah, a rights activist and coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, an NGO based in Abuja, believes that the electoral commission should set certain guidelines to get more representation for young people. 

As well as this, the government and, in particular, its electoral commission need to find a way to reduce the importance of money in Nigerian politics.

"Nigeria is a democratic country but in terms of the building blocks of democracy, we are very lacking," he told DW.

Edited by: Kate Hairsine

Can a 'green Islam' save Indonesia from climate collapse?

Calls for an environmentally conscious form of Islam are growing in Indonesia, as climate change poses enormous ecological challenges for the country. Experts say it could change society's approach to climate efforts.



Indonesia is struggling with a myriad of environmental troubles

Following the publication of an alarming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Indonesia is once again at the center of the global climate debate.

As the world's largest exporter of coal and palm oil, the country has a major impact on the global climate crisis. Yet the island state itself is increasingly affected by extreme weather events. In 2019, a severe drought led to widespread forest fires. In 2020, the country experienced massive flooding due to the heaviest rainfall in decades.

With a population of over 270 million, Indonesia faces enormous social and environmental challenges, and some experts see religion as a ray of hope. As the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, calls for an environmentally conscious Islam are growing in Indonesia.

"There is no doubt that the new Islamic environmental awareness is strengthening the entire ecological movement in Indonesia," Fachruddin Mangunjaya, chairman of the Center for Islamic Studies at the National University in Jakarta, told DW.

Watch video 02:19 Indonesia: Coal power comes at a high cost   

A country in an environmental dilemma

Indonesia, with its more than 17,000 islands, is in a quandary. In addition to waste disposal, the two major climate sins of the country — coal-fired power and deforestation — repeatedly make the country's headlines.

Indonesia is not only the world's export champion for thermal coal, but also the largest producer of palm oil, which leads to the deforestation of large areas of forest every year.

Coal and palm oil form the backbone of the Indonesian economy, which cannot grow without reliable energy and the export of palm oil.

On the other hand, this economic model harms the very people it is supposed to serve: Indonesians. Greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and deforestation are having a significant impact on the health and livelihoods of the rural population.

As a result of climate change, many of Indonesia's remote and poor provinces suffer regular droughts, exacerbating poverty in the country.

Watch video 01:37 Appetite for Indonesian coal growing

Green Islam creates hope

Islam, to which almost 87% of the population in Indonesia feels affiliated, could provide a way out of the dilemma.

"The protection of nature and the environment is one of the commandments of Islam. Therefore, the use of clean energy is also ethically and morally important for Muslims," Indonesian anthropologist Ibnu Fikri told DW.

Together with his colleague Freek Colombijn from the Free University in Amsterdam, he has been researching the topic of "Green Islam" in Indonesia – an interaction between humans and the environment inspired by Islamic ideas and teachings.

Green Islam is also receiving more attention in politics. President Joko Widodo's government recently engaged with Islamic leaders and communities to set a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060.

Holding onto that principle, last year, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry signed a partnership agreement with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, to improve environmental management and sustainable forestry.  

Some surveys indicate that many Indonesians place the highest trust in information from religious clerics

'Translate awareness into concrete action'

According to Fachruddin, however, that is not enough. The urgency for increased climate awareness has not yet reached the majority of the country's rural population and clerics.

A 2020 survey by the Katadata Insight Center shows that Indonesian citizens place the highest trust in information from religious clerics.

As a result, Fachruddin's institute in Jakarta is working specifically on building bridges between leaders in Muslim society and environmental scientists.

"It is important that Islamic clerics not only understand the religious teachings, but also their significance for climate protections, so they can translate their awareness into concrete action," Fachruddin said.

So far, he has trained about 1,000 Islamic clerics who practice environmental protection and provide education in various villages across the country — and the number is growing.

Boarding schools as the nucleus of climate activism

Young people in particular need to be reached and made aware of environmental protection.

"We need to think more about our future so that our students can find answers to pressing environmental issues early on and get involved in their own communities," Khatibul Umam, who runs an Islamic boarding school (Pesantren) on the island of Madura, told DW.

Islamic boarding schools are an important part of Indonesia's education system. Umam's boarding school alone has 11,000 students.

The school has made the combination of Islam and environmental protection one of its core tasks by supporting several environmental protection projects such as reforestation, sustainable agriculture and recycling, all of which have regional roots and are inspired by Islam.


President Joko Widodo has called on Islamic leaders to help reach zero emisions by 2060
The limits of 'green Islam'

Although the direction is clear, Umam also knows that Islamic environmental activism in Indonesia is still at the beginning. "The main challenge we face, not only in our schools but in society in general, is to try to make people understand why these projects are significant, not only to us, but to all levels of society and the future generations," said Umam.

Finally, as anthropologist Ibnu Fikri admits, there is no one Islam in Indonesia. "Due to compulsory religion in Indonesia, there is a huge diversity of practitioners of Islam. For some, it's part of their daily routine. Others feel they belong less and are Muslim because they have to choose a religion."

Watch video 01:24 Indonesian environmentalists doubt sustainability of capital city relocation

Pluralism creates opportunities

Therefore, it is not only Islam and environmental protection that need to be reconciled in the long-term, but also different social groups.

Many experts say that a comprehensive, whole-of-society approach is needed. Fachruddin sees Indonesia's pluralism as a great opportunity. "We learn a lot from traditions from before Islam. Because of our democratic situation in Indonesia, we respect not only nature and the environment, but all people and their ideas."

Ibnu Fikri also gained this impression in his fieldwork in Indonesian communities. He describes it as a "cultural environmental awareness," an interplay of religion, traditions and local practices that encourages people to protect the environment.

Even if there is a long way to go, Islam can still provide a strong source of inspiration for many.

Edited by: Leah Carter