10 injured as Cambodia cracks down on NagaWorld protest

Observers say authorities are making the labor dispute worse by suppressing strikers.

By RFA Khmer
2022.06.27

A NagaWorld worker holds up a poster calling for the reinstatement of 365 people fired from the hotel and casino during a rally in Phnom Penh, June 27, 2022.

 Citizen journalist

At least ten people were injured Monday when security forces in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh violently dispersed a strike, ramping up a crackdown on workers involved in a six-month-old labor dispute with the NagaWorld Casino.

Strikers told RFA Khmer that “hundreds” of security personnel were deployed to set up roadblocks and otherwise stymie the peaceful protest by around 150 mostly female NagaWorld workers near the downtown casino. They said authorities beat them when they wouldn’t board a bus sent to ferry them away from the area, leaving 10 people in need of medical attention.

A worker named Chan Srey Roth said a security officer hit her in the head with a walkie talkie and repeatedly insulted her during the incident, while other officers “grabbed male workers by the hair and smashed their heads” against the side of the police vehicle.

“They are members of the national security forces, whose duty is to protect the people, not to use violence against them – particularly against women,” she said.

“We raised our hands, begging them not to beat us, but they did so anyway, ordering us to disperse. When we interlocked our hands, they tried to break our chain and dragged us off, one by one, to brutally beat us. One of them hit me in the face with a walkie talkie and kicked me, while cursing at me.”

Another worker, Phat Channa, said authorities are increasingly turning to violence to break up gatherings by her group as protesters refuse to board the buses police have used to relocate them to Prek Pnov district, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

“They beat me unconscious. I was shocked because they didn’t bother to consider that we are women – they just dragged us away and beat us like dogs,” she said.

“We have experienced a lot of injustice. We are only demanding the right to work, but they beat us like beasts.”

Other protesters told RFA that authorities prevented civil society representatives and United Nations human rights officials from monitoring Monday’s protest and threatened to confiscate the phones and cameras of anyone seen documenting the incident, unless they deleted their photos and video.

A statement issued by the Phnom Penh government claimed that Monday’s protest was “an ugly event that was planned in advance by a handful of people seeking to make the authorities look bad.”

“They disrupted social and public order, leading to violence that left a number of authorities injured and resulted in the loss of five walkie talkies and one watch.”

Government Human Rights Committee spokesperson Kata Un accused the strikers of holding an illegal rally and called the response by authorities “an educational measure.”

“In the case of illegal acts, the authorities have the right to use whatever measures are necessary to stop, disperse, or suppress the perpetrators,” he said.

“So far, the Phnom Penh authorities have not taken any repressive measures. What the authorities are doing is educating people to avoid restricted areas and to instead hold protests in Freedom Park [in the Phnom Penh suburbs].”

Six-month dispute

Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders, three other jailed workers and 365 others they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The strikers began holding regular protest rallies in front of the casino, drawing the attention of NGOs and U.N. agencies who have urged Cambodia’s government to stop persecuting them and help resolve their dispute in accordance with labor laws.

Cambodian authorities allege that the strikes by NagaWorld workers are part of a “foreign plot to topple the government,” although they have provided no evidence to back up their claim. An increasingly tough response by security personnel led to pushing and shoving during a strike outside the casino’s offices on May 11 that one worker claimed caused her to miscarry her pregnancy two weeks later.

Am Sam Ath, chief of General Affairs for Cambodian rights group LICADO, told RFA that authorities have made the NagaWorld dispute worse by leveling allegations against the workers and cracking down on their protests.

“We don’t want to see a labor dispute between NagaWorld and its workers turn into a dispute between the authorities and the workers,” he said.

“What we want to see is a peaceful settlement to the issue, and these incidents of violence don’t benefit anyone.”

Am Sam Ath urged the Ministry of Labor, as well as other relevant state institutions, to remain neutral and end their accusations against the NagaWorld workers and called for a resolution of the dispute in accordance with the law and international labor practices.

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Vietnam falls far short of its committment to freedom of expression, report says

VNHRN says Vietnam should be kept off the UN Human Rights Council until it improves its record.

By RFA Vietnamese
2022.06.27

Journalist Truong Chau Huu Danh and his colleagues at their trial in October 2021.

Bao Can Tho

Vietnam has a long way to go before it can realize its goal of joining the UN Human Rights council, according to the Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN). The pressure group points to Vietnam’s treatment of journalists, who the government says are protected from all forms of discrimination and violence.

“In fact, the arrests and imprisonment of those who use the right to freedom of expression to voice their opinions are at their peak,” the report said. From the beginning of 2021 to May 31 this year, VNHRN said at least 48 people were arrested and detained, and 72 were given heavy sentences.

“Most of them were convicted for allegedly using the media to express their opinions and aspirations other than the ruling party’s. To our knowledge, Vietnamese authorities currently imprison at least 290 political and religious prisoners with multi-year sentences,” the report said.

Along with restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and information, VNHRN’s president Nguyen Ba Tung told RFA the government is ignoring many more basic human rights, describing the 2019 labor law as an empty promise and also criticizing the government's track record on religion.

“Regarding the right to religious freedom, the government has increased its control and manipulation of religious organizations and eliminated non-registered religious groups," he said, adding that the government has promoted political dogma over religious faith.

"We raised the issue of children being indoctrinated in schools as well as in organizations like Uncle Ho's Good Children - an issue that has not been raised in any international report on the issue of children's rights.”

Nguyen said that no international research agency has talked about the discrimination faced by non-party members no matter how well they had served the country in the past.

“Someone raised the fact that military officers must be party members, which violates the basic rights of people in the political sphere and even as a citizen in defending one's homeland," he said.

VNHRN’s report covers last year and the first few months of 2022. It was put together with help from several activists in Vietnam. The study focuses on the areas outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Conventions on Human Rights that Vietnam has committed to observing. Those rights are: liberty, security of person, a fair trial by an independent, impartial tribunal; the right to participate in national political life, freedom of expression and information, freedom of religion and worship; the right to work and enjoy the fruits of that labor, equal treatment and non-discrimination, and well-being.

VNHRN said the aim of the report is to alert the world about what it called “the alarming human rights situation in Vietnam today.” The report also offers the Vietnamese government what VNHRN called “concrete and feasible recommendations for the Vietnamese government to terminate its repeated violations throughout the years.”

VNHRN said that until Vietnam improved its human rights record members of the United Nations General Assembly should vote against Vietnam’s membership of its Human Rights Council.

Filming for the rights of the Papuan people and land

An interview with filmmaker Irene Yuliana Fatagur

Written byWITNESS

Posted 27 June 2022 

Screenshot from the film ‘Perempuan Di Tanahnya‘. Source: YouTube

This edited article was published on April 21 by WITNESS Asia, an international organization that supports people using video in their fight for human rights. It has been republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.

Since Indonesian forces annexed West Papua in the 1960s, Papuan citizens have faced relentless human rights abuse and environmental damage as Indonesia plunders its resource-rich land. The region is host to the American and British-owned Freeport mine, the largest gold mine in the world, which has effectively poisoned the local river system and reduced a sacred mountain to a crater. Amnesty International estimates that at least 100,000 West Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian military so far. [Link? Also consider adding some context that some organizations believe this number is far too low]

On top of the exploitation and genocidal acts by authorities, restrictions placed on international journalists in the region and throttling of the internet have made obtaining information on the region extremely difficult [Links?]. Films such as those produced by West Papuan filmmaker Irene Yuliana Fatagur help highlight environmental, Indigenous campaigns, and land rights issues that may not be visible to the rest of the world. WITNESS Asia interviewed her to get her insight into the Papuan struggle for independence.

WITNESS Asia (WA): Most of your films are about the Keerom Regency, where you are from. Can you begin by telling us more about it?

Irene Yuliana Fatagur (IYF): Within Keerom Regency, only about 30 percent of the population is made up of people who are indigenous to Keerom. The other 60 percent are not Papuans, while the remaining 10 percent consist of people from other parts of Papua.

Oil palm trees were first brought here to Papua, specifically to Keerom, on the instruction of the Indonesian government. At that time, Keerom was categorized as a “red zone” and the Indigenous community was deported to Papua New Guinea, the neighboring country. While they were away, many of their crops were seized and replaced with palm oil trees.

Therefore, the entry of oil palm into the regency did not happen with the customary consent of the Indigenous people. There were many illicit incidents during that period (1983–1997).

WA: What inspired you to get started in filmmaking and how did it happen?

IYF: I can still see cases of illegal violations of the border area of ​​Keerom. I still see the aftermath of these incidents. I took the plunge into the world of filmmaking because I felt that my world has been ruined and I wished to create awareness among the community.

The current state system is destroying the property of the people and the local customs. There are also systems of giving money to the Indigenous people as a way to bribe them into giving away the remaining land that has not yet been used by the government. Conflict has been created to deceive the Indigenous people and take away the remaining land to be used for oil palm. So, as a native woman in my area, I felt that it was my responsibility to take action.

I cried when I saw the nature around me being destroyed. I felt called to make films about the environment and that motivated me to join the Papuan Voices film community.

I have no background knowledge in films, but I’ve always enjoyed taking photos. At first, there were only five of us who participated in the one-day training. But because of my intentions, I became attracted to the world of filmmaking. Friends in the Papuan Voices community taught me a lot about filming, editing, and how to make good films. It was there that we first went on the ground to make films, and where I made my first film.

Papuan Voices film community. Photo from WITNESS Asia.

WA: How have films helped as a tool for activism and advocacy in West Papua?

IYF: Indigenous people are easily deceived by so-called investors or the government looking to take advantage of them. But films help them quickly understand and be aware of issues, which enables them to protect the nature around them or directly work on the issues they are facing.

As education is not accessible to everyone, the communities in Papua are mostly illiterate. The Indigenous people don’t have access to education, so we advocate through films.

I mostly record videos of “infestations” of oil palm in my area. Because of oil palm plantations today, many Indigenous people do not have a place to grow crops or raise livestock, and so they are forced to depend on the government for their livelihood.

My films, which are situated in the context of the economic needs of the Indigenous people, have been screened and watched by many — within the community, among academics, and also among the activists. Many have also requested for the films to be made as educational tools for the youths. You can also find two of my films on YouTube, “Dari Hutan Kong Hidup” and “Perempuan Di Tanahnya.”

Photo from WITNESS Asia

WA: What are some of the challenges you face as a filmmaker, such as safety and security issues?

IYF: So far, I have not been on the receiving end of intimidation, but I have faced some challenges. It is important to carefully approach our sources, and ensure that they are fully aware of what you’re doing. This is because the Papuan people are no longer interested to be used as objects to be published, as many organizations made use of them for their self-interests.

There are also safety and security issues. There was a friend of mine who filmed a large-scale demonstration. Their camera equipment was damaged, destroyed or confiscated, and the data was also seized. This is an example of intimidation by the military. Sometimes, our safety is threatened if we do not destroy the data. They may even come up to your house. They came to my friend’s house, and my friend was so frightened by it that they crossed over to a neighbouring country to stay there and protect themselves for the time being.

WA: How have internet shutdowns and throttling disrupted your work?

IYF: Internet access is unstable here, especially now. In Papua, there are often large-scale demonstrations, and violence carried out by the military. We might get a video recording and intend to upload it, but the internet is suddenly interrupted. As a result, we have to find another way to access the internet to inform the public about what has happened.

Internet connectivity issues happen a lot in Papua, and it disrupts our work. We are silenced, but we will keep storing the videos and make films to tell the story of what had happened.

WA: What is your hope for West Papua, and how can the international community show more solidarity?

I hope we become one of the lungs of the world that can help all mankind and every living thing which exists on earth.

I hope that the infestation of our lands will be stopped so that we can live in peace. It is due to the effects of encroachment that we in Papua demand for independence. Stop it and give us full rights to manage our nature. Don’t make us stepchildren in our own country. That’s our hope.

And I think that international solidarity for the Papuan community already exists, but it is not strong enough. Not strong enough to actually help us. We have not yet overcome our past troubles and there are still more coming. I thank our friends for their solidarity but I need them to support us even more, so that the country can look directly at us, and not down on us.

‘How to move to Canada’ — Google searches jumped 850% after abortion ruling




Published June 26, 2022

The Roe v Wade decision has not only made crossing state lines a big issue in seeking an abortion, but Americans are also looking at the bigger picture – Moving to Canada.

Google searches for “how to move to Canada from U.S.” surged on Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, according to Google Trends data.

“how to move to Canada from U.S.” spiked 850 percent in the hour after the Supreme Court decision was announced in the U.S., reports Axios, and “How to become a Canadian citizen” spiked 550 percent in the same time frame.

As for Canada, you may just find a lot of encouragement if you are thinking of becoming Canadian.

When a leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v Wade was leaked last month, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to Twitter to reaffirm his support for women’s reproductive rights, according to Digital Journal.

Prime Minister Trudeau on Friday promised to defend abortion rights in Canada and around the world after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, reports Global News.

Trudeau was speaking at a news conference in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Trudeau called the court’s decision a “devastating setback” for American women, who will now face tremendous disparities in access depending on which state they live in.

Trudeau pronounced the ruling “horrific” and warned that it could eventually lead to weakened protections for same-sex couples, per the Washington Post. “Women for generations have fought for more rights in the United States, (only) to see this setback, to worry as well about how this can be expanded to more rights being taken away in the United States.”

Access to abortions varies across Canada

Abortion is legal at every stage of pregnancy in Canada. “If an American wanted a medical procedure, they could get one, they would just have to pay for it out of pocket,” a Cabinet member said. “There’s no reason why we would turn anyone away to receive that procedure here.”

However, in Canada, some women in rural areas of some provinces — including Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba — are forced to travel to urban centers for surgical abortions.

And for many Americans, the cost to travel to Canada could be prohibitive, and that is not including the cost of the procedure or getting a passport, reports First Post.

Canadians warn Americans that it might not be a simple process, reports Politico. “Wait lists are through the roof,” the head of Planned Parenthood Toronto said in May. “The places that do provide abortion or reproductive care in this country are overwhelmed.”

Indonesia ‘democracy, human rights at risk’ as row over criminal code heats up

Aisyah Llewellyn 

June 26,2022

SCMP


Talks between the government and an alliance of legal and civil liberties groups to discuss the new draft criminal code have stumbled

The coalition said there was a lack of transparency over the proposal, which caused protests in 2019; updated version will still impact people's rights

A row that erupted ahead of the passage of Indonesia's controversial new criminal code has continued to deepen after talks between an alliance of legal and civil liberties groups and the government to discuss the legislation broke down.

The Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights invited the National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform to discuss issues related to the draft of the new code in Jakarta on June 23.

But the Alliance rejected the premise of the discussion, saying it did not amount to "meaningful participation" from the public.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

"While the Alliance welcomed the invitation from the government to discuss the draft criminal code, this discussion did not amount to meaningful participation because it should have been done during a parliamentary session with the draft transparently published," said Citra Referandum Simamora from Jakarta's Legal Aid Institute, an Alliance member.

Will a video about 'being gay in Indonesia' lead to an anti-LGBT law?

Indonesia's current criminal code dates back to 1918, drafted during the Dutch colonial period. It was codified and expanded across Indonesia in 1946 following independence in 1945.

The government has not yet released the latest draft of the code to the public, following widespread protests in late 2019 when students and others clashed with police over that year's version.

It was found to contain a number of controversial articles that could affect minorities and be used to clamp down on civil liberties.

It is thought the latest updated draft code could be signed into force in July. It includes bans on sex before marriage and cohabitation, something which civil society groups say amount to "moral policing" and could be used to criminalise members of the LGBT community - same-sex marriage remains illegal in Indonesia.

Initially, hopes were high for the new code, supposed to be a comprehensive overhaul of existing criminal laws, some of which are out of date, overlapping and contradictory.

Following complaints that the latest draft had not been released publicly, the government released 14 updated "crucial articles" (out of hundreds of articles) that were recently discussed in parliament in an effort to placate citizens.

However, Simamora said the Alliance was not satisfied by the government limiting public discussion to just 14 articles and it needed to be transparent about all of the new code, including any controversial passages.

"These include the criminalisation of freedom of expression and opinion, contempt for public power and state institutions, holding demonstrations and demonstrating without a permit," she said.

Is Indonesia's blasphemy law unfair to minority groups?

Others said they welcomed efforts by Indonesian lawmakers to move on from colonial era laws and draft a new code more in line with "Indonesian values".

"This law was never our law, but a colonial legacy," said Berlian Simarmata, a lecturer in criminal law at Santo Thomas Catholic University in North Sumatra's city of Medan.

He added that some parts of the code released in 2019 also reflected a more humanitarian approach to legal matters, with some provisions stipulating that "fines should be offered in place of custodial sentences in many instances".

However, Usman Hamid, the head of Amnesty Indonesia, said democracy, the rule of law, and human rights "will certainly be in real political danger" as a result of the new code.

"In short, the draft criminal code is one of the most dangerous laws that will put democracy at risk," he said.


© Provided by South China Morning Post

Usman Hamid, head of Amnesty Indonesia. Photo: Reuters

He said one of the most dangerous articles is the death penalty, which will apparently not be abolished despite an Amnesty campaign since the 1960s.

There are also fears women's rights could be disproportionately affected.

Among the 14 published articles in the new draft code are a continued ban on abortion except in medical emergencies or if the pregnancy is a result of rape but has not yet exceeded the 12-week mark.

According to Amnesty's Hamid, other sections of the code could also affect minorities, such as articles that refer to blasphemy and criticism of the government, but which are opaque and elastic.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

WEAPONIZED AUTOMOBILE

Car drives into protest by climate activist group in Sydney, Australia

Amelia McGuire, Jun 27 2022

NINE
A car has driven through climate protests in Sydney's CBD as unrest continues.

A car has driven into a march by a climate activist group in Sydney’s CBD on Monday. New South Wales Police said they were aware of the incident and had commenced inquiries.

The Harbour Tunnel in Sydney was earlier blocked by a member of the group Blockade Australia, while other CBD streets were obstructed during a morning of protest.

The woman, 22, from Lismore, blocked the southbound entrance to the tunnel by chaining herself to the steering wheel of her parked white car just after 8am (local time).




The tunnel reopened after police arrested her. Southbound traffic on the Warringah Freeway and Gore Hill Freeway has since cleared.

The woman, named Mali, live-streamed the event in which an unknown man repeatedly approached her car to yell obscenities at her.

So far, 10 people have been arrested after participating in the unauthorised protest. They are awaiting charges at Surry Hills and Day Street police stations in Australia.

“I’ve watched much devastation with two one-in-100-year floods. This is climate change. I cannot stay silent any more. I cannot be complacent any more. The colony of Australia, this destructive colony system landed here, hell-bent on spreading exploitative practices all over the earth,” Mali told viewers.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
A Blockade Australia protest blocked the south-bound lanes of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel on Monday.

“To those people who are really angry right now, I understand, and it’s not a good thing to be experiencing. You know what? Climate change isn’t a good thing to be experiencing.

“There’s a lot of people yelling, it’s quite overwhelming, but it’s been an overwhelming year. I was lucky in Lismore, but I’ve seen people that I love lose everything and places I love be destroyed.”

The Blockade Australia protest began at Hyde Park at 8am and quickly moved across the city’s CBD towards the harbour. Streets were obstructed with wheelie bins, plastic crates, and other items.

The protesters began to disperse in the CBD just before 9am. According to internal communications seen by The Sydney Morning Herald, the group intended to reconvene at lunchtime. New South Wales Police estimate about 50 to 60 people were involved in the protest.

NICK MOIR/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Police made arrests after climate protesters stopped traffic around Sydney’s CBD on Monday.

“I encourage those who continue to participate in this unlawful protest activity to reconsider. Police will continue to be out in force over the coming days,” acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Dunstan said confirming he expected further arrests in the coming days.

“They appear hell-bent on continuing this activity,” Dunstan said.

New South Wales Transport Minister David Elliott told 2GB the way Blockade Australia chooses to protest is “selfish” and ineffective because its cause remains unclear despite repeated demonstrations.

“They need to re-evaluate how they’re going to get their message out, because it ain’t working with these demonstrations,” he said.


NICK MOIR/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
More than 100 Blockade Australia protesters have obstructed the streets of the CBD.

Blockade Australia said last week it wanted to “blockade the streets of Australia’s most important political and economic centre and cause disruption that cannot be ignored”.

The New South Wales Parliament introduced new laws and penalties in April to discourage protesters who disrupt traffic on bridges and tunnels.


Sydney Morning Herald

World’s most widely used drug is spreading further and getting stronger

By Francois Murphy
June 27, 2022 — 


KEY POINTS

Legalising drug appears to increase regular use, UNODC says.

Cannabis on market getting stronger in terms of THC content.

Cocaine production, US opioid overdose deaths hit records.

Vienna: Places across the world that have legalised cannabis appear to have increased its regular use, while COVID lockdowns had a similar effect, raising the risk of depression and suicide, a UN report said on Monday.

Cannabis has long been the world’s most widely used drug and that use is increasing while the cannabis on the market is getting stronger in terms of its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report.

Marijuana plants grow in a greenhouse in Thailand, where recent legal changes mean it is no longer be a crime to grow and trade marijuana.CREDIT:BLOOMBERG

Various US states have legalised non-medical use of cannabis, starting with Washington and Colorado in 2012. Uruguay legalised it in 2013, as did Canada in 2018. Others have taken similar steps but the report focused on those three countries.

“Cannabis legalisation appears to have accelerated the upwards trends in reported daily use of the drug,” the Vienna-based UNODC’s report said.

While the prevalence of cannabis use among teenagers “has not changed much”, there had been “a pronounced increase in reported frequent use of high-potency products among young adults”, it said.

“The proportion of people with psychiatric disorders and suicides associated with regular cannabis use has increased.”

The legalisation of cannabis gummies has been linked with greater accidental use among children in the US.  AND PETS

CREDIT:BLOOMBERG

The report said roughly 284 million people, or 5.6 per cent of the world’s population, had used a drug such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines or ecstasy in 2020, the most recent data available. Of those, 209 million used cannabis.

“Periods of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic drove increases in the use of cannabis ... in 2020,” it said.

Cocaine production hit a record in 2020 and trafficking by sea is growing, it added, with 2021 seizure data suggesting an expansion outside the two main markets of North America and Europe into Africa and Asia.

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‘As legal as garlic’: High times in Thailand as marijuana is decriminalised

Opioids remain the deadliest drugs, it said, with fentanyl driving US overdose deaths to a new record: the provisional estimate for 2021 is 107,622.

Separate US analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that sales of cannabis generated more than $US11 billion in tax revenue for states and localities from 2014 through 2021. The research firm New Frontier Data projects the lawful weed business in the US will bring in sales of $US32 billion this year.

Before recent changes to the legality of cannabis it had been thought that more readily available marijuana might increase casual use by appealing to the so-called cannacurious. Surprising data show it’s also encouraged a rise in hardcore stoners. The US in 2019 saw a significant increase in the percentage of people over 26 who used marijuana in the previous month as well as in the share who used it daily or almost daily, according to an annual government survey. In Colorado, the first state to sanction recreational use, 15 per cent of those age 18 to 25 consumed weed daily, a figure twice as high as the national average.

According to a different report, 48 per cent of people in Colorado who used cannabis in 2019 did so on a daily or near-daily basis, up from 44 per cent in 2014. Canada, which authorised recreational use nationwide in 2018, has seen similar results. By the end of 2020, 20 per cent of people reported using marijuana in the previous three months, versus 14 per cent at the outset of 2018. Daily or near-daily use rose, too.

On the health effects of increased cannabis use, the drug can offer a benefit to those who previously bought the drug on the illicit market, given that laws require legitimate sellers to monitor their wares for contaminants. States with lawful recreational weed had fewer cases of vaping-related lung injuries, a 2020 study found.

On the downside, rates of cannabis use disorder in people age 12 to 17 grew 25 per cent more in states that legalised recreational marijuana than in those that didn’t, according to a 2020 study.

Since legalisation, Colorado has seen an increase in hospitalisations, emergency-department visits and poison-centre calls linked with marijuana exposure. Children who stumble upon a parent’s edibles are a particular cause of concern. In 2019 and the two years prior, there were a total of 4172 exposure cases nationwide in kids 0 to 9 years old, according to a study of calls to poison-control centres, which found that the rate was higher in states with sanctioned recreational use.

Reuters, Bloomberg

The US Supreme Court Is Now Forcing Taxpayers to Pay for Anti-Gay Religious Schools

The Supreme Court is seen behind a fence after overturning Roe v. Wade, 

in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022.

STEFANI REYNOLDS / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

BY Sasha Abramsky, 

Truthout

PUBLISHED June 25, 2022

Yesterday’s shameful Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade was telegraphed months ago.

But, during the angst-laden wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe, the court, so radically reshaped during the Donald Trump years, made hay trashing other vital precedents in its stampede to remake the country’s legal priorities in an extreme-right direction. This court will, with the Roe ruling and with a slew of other rulings from the past weeks, go down as arguably the most destructive court in United States history, certainly the most destructive in the post-Civil War era.

The six members who make up the majority on the court must be understood as far right extremists, not “conservatives.” By definition conservatives are not supposed to like sudden, jarring change; they are supposed to put a premium on stability and continuity. This court, by contrast, is a radically activist court, selectively trashing precedents to inject a far right vision of the role of religion in U.S. society, as well as reimagining labor and environmental law so as to harm consumers, immiserate the environment and benefit powerful corporate interests.

In no realm have they done more harm recently than in education. This week’s startling Carson v. Makin decision, in a case coming out of Maine, effectively mandates that schools subsidize parochial religious education institutions at taxpayers’ expense.

The background for the case is pretty straightforward: For more than 40 years, Maine has been providing subsidies to a few residents, who lived in very remote rural areas without easy access to public schools, to send their children to private schools. But, in keeping with state law on the issue, it has limited the funding to “nonsectarian” schools. Recently, two sets of parents sued, arguing that the state should fund their children’s attendance at Christian schools.

Had precedent held any weight whatsoever, this case wouldn’t have made it past first base. After all, roughly three dozen states have long had constitutional provisions, known as Blaine Amendments, many of them dating back to the 19th century, banning the public funding of religious schools.During the angst-laden wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe, the court made hay trashing other vital precedents in its stampede to remake the country’s legal priorities in an extreme-right direction.

The Blaine Amendments are a critical pillar supporting the notion that states have an obligation to fund non-religious education institutions available to all children. They are — ironically, given that this week’s Maine-originated ruling essentially struck them down — named after a 19th century Republican politician in Maine, James Gillespie Blaine. They were pushed federally from 1875 onward, when Congress passed a law requiring all new states to add a Blaine Amendment into their state constitutions.

In 2004, in Locke v. Davey, seven of the nine Supreme Court justices ruled that a state-funded university scholarship program in Washington State could exclude theology majors, owing to the fact that the state’s Blaine Amendment prohibited stated funding for religious “worship, exercise, or instruction.”

That Supreme Court-endorsed wall separating public funding from religious education started to break down in the following decade, as the court’s composition shifted rightward.This court is selectively trashing precedents to inject a far right vision of the role of religion in U.S. society.

In 2020, the Supreme Court chipped away at the separation of church and state, when, in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue it allowed to stand a Montana law providing tax credits to people who wanted to contribute to a scholarship fund for parents sending children to religious schools. But that ruling simply said a state may provide such credits; and, moreover, it only provided for indirect state funding of religious schools.

Now the court has gone much further: The Carson v. Makin ruling is far more radical in its implications than the Montana case was. It essentially asserts that if states do choose to have a program to subsidize some private schools, they must include in that program direct subsidies for religious schooling as well, and, in so doing, it lays the groundwork for what could soon become a concerted legal effort to undermine the principle of universally available, secular, public education.

In a six-three ruling issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court declared that the Maine restrictions were discriminatory against religion and against religious people, and ruled the law — which emerged out of the bedrock principle of separation of church and state — null and void.

“Maine has chosen to offer tuition assistance that parents may direct to the public or private schools of their choice,” page 3 of the majority opinion, penned by Chief Justice Roberts, notes. “Maine’s administration of that benefit is subject to the free exercise principles governing any public benefit program—including the prohibition on denying the benefit based on a recipient’s religious exercise.”

Religious schools don’t have to adhere to state standards or abide by anti-discrimination laws — the schools involved in the lawsuit don’t accept gay students. Moreover, religious schools don’t have to teach secular subjects, such as science, that would be mandated in any public school.The Carson v. Makin ruling essentially asserts that if states do choose to have a program to subsidize some private schools, they must include in that program direct subsidies for religious schooling.

In his dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer argued that this ruling, which mandates Maine to fund religious schools, opens the door to a broad-based assault on the concept of universal, secular, education. “What happens once ‘may’ becomes ‘must’?” he asked of his colleagues. “Does that transformation mean that a school district that pays for public schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to send their children to religious schools? Does it mean that school districts that give vouchers for use at charter schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to give their children a religious education?”

Those same states, set to ban abortion now that this radical-right Supreme Court has given them the green light by overturning Roe, already have disproportionately influential religious-right movements.

How long will it be, now that the Supreme Court has so weakened the ability of states to withhold public education dollars from sectarian schools, before one or another legislative house or right-wing governor looking for a radically disruptive educational policy to champion, backs the notion of widespread state payments to religious schools?

How long will it be before states or individual school districts start proposing educational “reforms” that have the effect of utterly undermining secular public schools and ultimately replacing them, or at least complementing them, with growing networks of sectarian education institutes?The Supreme Court has just set the stage for ferocious battles over the future of publicly funded education in the U.S. over the coming years and decades.

Given all the other major stories competing for the headlines this week — from the overturn of Roe, to congressional hearings into the insurrection of January 6, to the war in Ukraine, to inflation, to primary season — it’s unlikely that Carson v. Makin will make it onto the public’s radar, but it should.

With this ruling, largely flying under the radar, the Supreme Court has just set the stage for ferocious battles over the future of publicly funded education in the U.S. over the coming years and decades.

THEOCRACY USA
Religious schools may face another hurdle to state tuition


DAVID SHARP
Sat, June 25, 2022 

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Religious schools got what they wanted when the Supreme Court allowed them to participate in a state tuition program.

But the state attorney general said the ruling will be for naught unless the schools are willing to abide by the same antidiscrimination law as other private schools that participate in the program.

An attorney for the families criticized the “knee-jerk” comments, and the leader of a religious group predicted further litigation.

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can't exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition for private education in towns that don’t have public schools. But religious schools didn't have long to savor their victory before learning of a new hurdle.

Attorney General Aaron Frey said both Christian schools involved in the lawsuit have policies that discriminate against students and staff on a basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, preventing their participation in the tuition program despite the hard-fought litigation.

“The education provided by the schools at issue here is inimical to a public education. They promote a single religion to the exclusion of all others, refuse to admit gay and transgender children, and openly discriminate in hiring teachers and staff,” he said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from two schools, Temple Academy in Waterville or Bangor Christian Schools.

Michael Bindas, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, said the attorney general isn’t paying close attention to the Supreme Court’s commitment to religious liberty in recent years.

“It was an erroneous opinion of the Maine attorney general that embroiled the state in five lawsuits spanning three decades and that culminated in the Supreme Court’s ruling against the state,” Bindas said Thursday in a statement. “The current attorney general seems to not have learned any lessons from that experience.”

If the state truly intends to use the state law to create another obstacle, then more litigation will be inevitable, said Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine.

The original lawsuit by three families seeking reimbursements to attend Christian schools dates to 2018, but it goes back even further.

The state always sought to maintain a solid line between church and state by reimbursing for private schools — but not religious schools. The goal was to give rural students without a public high school an education that’s similar to what public school students get.

In Maine, 29 private schools participate in the program, enrolling 4,526 students, officials said. Private schools that meet the state’s criteria can get about $12,000 in taxpayer funding per student.

The most immediate effect of the court’s ruling beyond Maine probably will be in nearby Vermont, which has a similar program.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision could propel school choice pushes in some of the 18 states that have not directed taxpayer money to private, religious education. It was seen as an affirmation for states that already have voucher programs open to religious schools.

But all schools receiving state tuition must abide by the Maine Human Right Act, which bans discriminating against someone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability, Frey said.

The Legislature in the last session strengthened the law that clarified the scope of the Maine Human Rights Act in education. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law last year.

The updated law, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Craig Hickman, the first openly gay African American to serve in both chambers of the Legislature, bans discrimination in education on the basis of “sex, sexual orientation or gender identity,” among other things.

The American Association of Christian Schools, meanwhile, brushed aside concerns of discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

“We don’t look at it as discrimination at all. We have a set of principles and beliefs that we believe are conducive to prosperity, to the good life, so to speak, and we partner with parents who share that vision,” said Jamison Coppola, spokesperson for the association.

The lead plaintiffs, Dave and Amy Carson, were students of Conley when he used to be headmaster at Bangor Christian Schools.

Conley said the attorney general “laid down the gauntlet” for religious schools, but he said legal precedent favors the schools.

Dave Carson, for his part, said his family won't benefit from the ruling because his daughter is already a junior at Husson University. But he said he doesn't think it's right for the state to try to put up roadblocks.

“As long as it’s an accredited school, students should be able to go wherever they want to,” he said. “You’re teaching the basics. If you want to have a Bible class, too, then that's a parent’s choice, not someone down in Augusta.”

Bindas said the attorney general should undertake a “sober reflection” of how best to balance the rights of parents in the litigation versus the state's anti-discrimination interests.

“It is possible to develop policies that respect the concerns of both advocates for LGBTQ rights and advocates for religious liberty, but only if elected officials are genuinely committed to that task,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report.

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Follow David Sharp on Twitter at https://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

‘I don’t want to be an icon’: Mick Lynch on winning the rail strike PR battle

Public support has soared for the plain-speaking RMT leader who is leading the fight to protect his members’ living standards

Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, addressing a rally outside King's Cross station in London on the third day of the rail strikes. 

Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Jon Ungoed-Thomas

THE GUARDIAN

Sun 26 Jun 2022

At 7 o’clock on Saturday morning, union boss Mick Lynch was once again on the picket line at Euston station in London, galvanising colleagues, talking tactics on the pay negotiations and conducting broadcast interviews.

Until the biggest industrial action on the rail network for more than 30 years, few people would have even heard of Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). This weekend, he is a national figure.

While millions of rail passengers were hit by the dispute, Lynch has won plaudits for clearly articulating the grievances of his members and the reasons for action. He has also disarmed some of television’s most experienced interrogators, including Sky News broadcaster Kay Burley and Talk TV presenter Piers Morgan.
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A Network Rail spokesperson said yesterday that Lynch had spent “more time on telly than at the [negotiating] table this week”. Rail bosses accuse the union of adopting “strike first, negotiate later” tactics.

Despite the brickbats, it was Lynch who was widely judged to have won last week’s public relations battle.

John Leach, RMT assistant general secretary, said: “We’ve had some larger-than-life general secretaries in the past going back to the days of Jimmy Knapp and Bob Crow and all of a sudden there’s this guy no one has heard of articulating what millions are thinking.”

There is concern among ministers that the RMT has been first out of the blocks in what could be a long and difficult few months for pay talks. Lynch has voiced the frustrations and worries of a workforce whose pay packets have effectively been eroded by inflation.

NHS workers and teachers are among the employees who have seen their pay fall in real terms over the past decade.

Passing lorries and cars were beeping their horns in support of yesterday’s picket in London despite more than 40,000 RMT workers virtually bringing the country to a halt over three days of strikes.

Lynch said: “I certainly don’t want to be some kind of icon. Our job is to deliver the most effective action and articulate our case. Millions of people in this country face lower living standards and the stripping out of occupational pensions. We’re not going to accept that.

“We’ve got the most peculiar economic situation in this country with full employment and falling wages. Covid has been a smokescreen for the rich and powerful in this country to drive down wages as far as they can.”

The virtually empty concourse at Waterloo station, London, on Saturday, as train services continue to be disrupted in the RMT dispute. 

Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Lynch says it has been easier to negotiate pay deals with rail firms which are not under government control. He accuses ministers of undermining the prospects of successful negotiations, but failing to come to the table. The RMT wants a pay deal which keeps pace with inflation and no compulsory redundancies. It has so far rejected a pay offer of 3% from the industry.

Network Rail boss Andrew Haines last week criticised Lynch’s union members for blocking modernisation practices, including claims workers would not turn on a forward-facing camera in a vehicle, had delayed the introduction of an app for communicating with staff, and blocked the use of safety planning tools. Newspaper headlines reported a claim it took “nine workers to change a plug socket”.

The RMT says it continues to implement technological changes. One official said: “We wanted [Mick Lynch] to do broadcast interviews to respond to the industry’s claims, but it just went stratospheric.”

An Ipsos poll conducted last Monday to Wednesday found 62% of respondents sympathised with rail workers over the strikes. Opinion was split on support for the strikes, with one in three supporting them and the same proportion opposing them.

Another poll conducted by Opinium for the RMT before the strikes found that three out of five people polled said the government should intervene to ensure rail companies meet workers’ concerns. The survey also found fewer than one in five supports cuts to staff on trains and stations.

“They have a right to strike and it’s for a good reason,” said Zoe Charlwood, 35, a teacher from Glasgow who was catching one of the few trains operating to Milton Keynes on Wednesday. “I don’t think this is a return to the 1970s.”

Lynch was elected general secretary in May last year. Born to Irish parents, he grew up on a council estate in Paddington, west London, and left school at 16 to become an electrician.

He was blacklisted by construction companies over his union involvement, but the scandal was only exposed two decades later after a raid by the Information Commissioner’s Office on the organisation which compiled the secret database. He moved to the railways to find work, helping to maintain the Eurostar fleet.

He founded and built the RMT Eurostar branch to become one of the biggest in the union. He earns £84,000 with pensions and benefits taking his annual package to £124,000.

Lynch said last week while the unions had calls from around the world supporting members, there had not been the progress he had hoped for in negotiations. He now faces the prospect of protracted talks and a decision on whether to lead out his members for another national strike.

Lynch said last week that more rail strikes were “extremely likely” unless there was more progress in the talks. Rail bosses, the union and passengers are braced for what could be a long summer.

RMT has best response as Johnson bemoans train drivers for going out on strike

"Can someone please tell the man with the wallpaper made of gold that this is not a train drivers strike!"

 by Jack Peat
2022-06-25 
in Politics


Boris Johnson has hit out at well-paid train drivers for going out on strike.

Addressing reporters from Kigali, Rwanda, the prime minister said some train drivers are on “£59,000 and some are on £70,000” as he bemoaned the industrial action.

But he overlooked the fact that most rail workers on the picket line are actually not drivers, who are mainly associated with the ASLEF union.

The average salary of striking RMT members is actually £33,000, well below the numbers Johnson is spouting.

Thankfully, the union was on hand to clear things up:

More UK rail strikes possible, warns RMT leader Mick Lynch

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union walk out for the third time this week

The National
Jun 25, 2022

Britain's specialist transport union has refused to rule out further industrial action as its latest strike cripples train services.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union walked out on Saturday for the third time this week, with little sign of a breakthrough in discussions between the union and rail operators.

Only a fifth of services are running and half of the lines are closed. Passengers have been warned by rail operators that they should only travel by train if necessary and to check their journey in advance.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the union's strikes could continue, given there is little sign of an end to the deadlock.

A desolate Waterloo railway station on Saturday on the third day of UK rail strikes this week. AP

MORE ON UK RAIL STRIKES

No holds barred for Mick Lynch as he fronts Britain's biggest rail strikes in 30 years

His comments came as he joined workers on a picket line outside Euston Station in central London on Saturday morning.

"We're not ruling out strikes but we have not put down any dates for any strike action," he told the PA news agency.

"We're going to review with our national executive next week, who have been all the way round the country this week on the picket line, so we're all going to get together the leadership of the union and see where we are.

"We are not going to name dates immediately and we're going to continue working constructively with the companies to strike a deal, but that is a really steep challenge at the moment because of the agenda they've got and the effects they want on our members.

Mr Lynch said they were hoping for "some compromise".

"Strike action's not ruled out and it will have to take place if we do not get a deal," he said.

"What we try to do is have the most effective strike action if it needs to take place. We're not just pretending.

"It's got to be a coherent and effective strike action because we don't want to waste our members' energy on something that doesn't work. We'll review that and see what we need to do if we need to take that action."

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, centre, on a picket line outside Euston station in London on Saturday. PA

The union leader also had reproachful words for UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who rejected as a "total lie" accusations by the RMT that he was wrecking negotiations by refusing to allow Network Rail to withdraw redundancy threats.

Mr Lynch hit back on Saturday, saying the union had not made any false claims.

"The railway last week was down by 80 per cent," he said.

"That has an effect that we don't particularly want to deploy and they are losing revenue commercially and that hurts them and it hurts our people because they've lost their wages. We don't want that.

"So if Grant Shapps wants to be constructive that's what he can do. He needs to tone down the rhetoric and get on with his job which is to settle this dispute."
'Government-worker disconnect'

Mr Lynch also hit out at the wider government, saying many ministers had never experienced the difficulty of manual labour.

"They're not using the system that they want and they've never worked in this type of work," he said.

"Many of them have never run a business, but they've also never worked on the tools. As my mother would say, they've never done a hand's turn.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been told to 'tone the rhetoric' and get round the table with the RMT. EPA

"It's quite odd. The people who are running this country are brought up on a diet of Latin and Greek and our members are brought up on a diet of getting up at ungodly times to run the transport system. I think there's a bit of disconnect there.

"If we had people who were used to doing work, we might get a better deal out of them."
Boris Johnson calls for rail reform

The dispute comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the public has a right to expect reforms to rail services.

"I would say, given the circumstances we're in, I think what we want to see is reform and improvement in the way the railways work, and modernisation," he told Sky News.

"When you've got a 25 per cent fall in ridership, which we've got at the moment, we've got the government putting billions and billions [into it].

"We're putting more into the railways than any previous government.

"I think the travelling public has a right to expect some basic reforms, like with ticket offices ... and some of these other practices that really nobody defends except the union leaders."

'Get off the fence': Labour MPs defy Starmer over rail strikes amid 'simmering resentment'

25 June 2022

Sir Keir has been told to get off the fence over striking workers. Picture: Getty

By Will Taylor

Labour MPs have defied Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to keep the party away from striking rail worker's picket lines, demanding he "come off the fence".

John McDonnell and Diane Abbot – key figures in the Corbyn era – joined hundreds of people at King's Cross St Pancras in central London to show support for the RMT union.

Saturday marked the third and final day of national train strikes that ground Britain's railways to almost a complete halt, with workers taking action over pay, jobs and conditions.

Labour leader Sir Keir – who is keeping one eye on public reaction to the industrial action – has been trying to keep his party away from the picket lines, reportedly ordering his frontbench MPs to avoid them.

Backbencher Mr McDonnell cranked up the pressure on Saturday: "I'm on picket line after picket line and so are many Labour MPs.

"I'm saying to Keir Starmer and other Labour MPs as well, do the right thing.

John McDonnell said he wanted Sir Keir to back the strikes. Picture: Getty

"If you think RMT have got a justifiable dispute, we should support them. I think it is justifiable.

"Follow your conscience, so therefore for me that means Labour MPs being on picket lines and it includes Keir Starmer as well coming off the fence, supporting working people because they're not asking for the world.

"They're asking for protection."

Sir Keir has been emboldened by strong polls for Labour and the return of the red wall seat Wakefield in Thursday's by-election.

Read more: Boris ducks questions over '£150,000 bulletproof treehouse he wanted for son Wilf'

But he has spent the week under pressure from unions to back the industrial action.

He has not given full support, instead blaming the Government for allowing the dispute to get to this point and saying he did not want strikes.

He will also want to avoid giving the Government more opportunity to run out its attack line where it claims Labour is supporting the disruptive action.

Sir Keir has tried to avoid tying Labour to the strikes. Picture: Getty

Ms Abbott told the crowd: "I'm proud to be speaking here, proud to be speaking on RMT picking lines and I have to say I don't understand this argument that Labour MPs should not be on picket lines."

She said: "I don't understand the argument that Labour should not be there because we are not supposed to pick a side.

"I thought when you join the Labour Party you had picked a side - on the side of working people."

Read more: Police release photos of two men after visiting Polish man attacked on arrival in London

Deputy leader Angela Rayner also clearly backed the action, saying workers had been left with "no choice".

Sir Keir is reported to be weighing up disciplinary action for an MPs who defied his orders about the picket lines.

Simon Fletcher, who has advised Sir Keir along with Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband, warned of an "explosion" if frontbenchers are disciplined, adding that there is a "a lot of simmering resentment and irritation" over Labour's approach to the strikes.

A week of rail strikes - in pictures











Passengers at a near empty Newcastle station on Thursday morning, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union. PA
Updated: June 25, 2022, 7:15 AM