It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Argentina's Milei fires foreign minister over vote to end US embargo on Cuba
Argentina's President Javier Milei dismissed Foreign Minister Diana Mondino after Argentina supported a UN resolution to lift the US embargo on Cuba. This marks the first time under Milei's leadership that Argentina diverged from US and Israeli positions, with only these two nations who opposed the resolution.
Issued on: 31/10/2024 -
Argentina's Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, January 26, 2024.
President Javier Milei on Wednesday sacked Argentina's Foreign Minister Diana Mondino after the country voted at the UN in favor of lifting the six-decade US embargo on Cuba, the presidency said.
"The new foreign minister of Argentina is Mr. Gerardo Werthein," presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni wrote on X, hours after Argentina joined 186 other UN members who voted in favor of lifting the embargo imposed on communist-run Cuba since 1962.
Werthein was previously Argentina's ambassador to the United States.
Only two countries, the United States and Israel, both allies of Milei, voted against Wednesday's resolution, while one country, Moldova, abstained.
Moments after Mondino's sacking was announced, Milei retweeted a post by a lawmaker who said she was "proud of a government that does not support nor is an accomplice to dictators. Viva #CubaLibre."
Argentina has traditionally voted against the embargo on Cuba.
Local media quoted foreign ministry sources as saying that while it was awkward diplomatically for Argentina to have opposed the US and Israel, the votes of Cuba and its allies would be needed in any future resolutions on Argentina's claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, a British territory.
(AFP)
Gender gap: How the US election is becoming a battle of the sexes
EXPLAINER
The 2024 US election is shaping up to be one marked by a significant gender divide: while Donald Trump holds a significant advantage with the male electorate, Kamala Harris commands a comparable lead among women. As both candidates seek to mobilise possible voters, the stakes for women have never been higher.
Word of a grassroots campaign began to spread on social media late last month. Post-it notes encouraging voters to cast a ballot for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris were found stuck on the backs of toilet stalls, tampon boxes and diaper bags. Each message varied slightly, but most began with a conspiratorial appeal: “Woman to woman”, they read, before adding: “No one sees your vote at the polls” and then signing off with “Harris/Walz 2024”.
Now, ready-made sticky notes endorsing the Democratic ticket are even available for sale on Amazon.
While nobody knows who initiated the viral campaign, the Post-its are targeting women in Republican areas of the US, the so-called red states. It is part of a last-ditch effort to whisper to right-leaning female voters who fear reprisals from their husbands should they choose not to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Poll after poll has found a gaping gender gap in the 2024 US presidential election. Though more women supporting Democrats than Republicans is not a new phenomenon, the gender gap has grown over recent decades – especially among young voters.
With only one week to go until Election Day and an extremely tight race ahead, a whisper campaign could be enough to tip either candidate over the finish line. Micro-targeting to fight the odds
“The margins are too small … So one or two points is huge. It does not sound huge, but it is,” said Ellen Kountz, author of “Vice Presidential Portraits: The Incredible Story of Kamala Harris” and dean of the finance department at the INSEEC business school.
Hence the Post-it campaign. Kountz explained that such “micro-targeting” – when Democrat or Republican campaigners zoom in on a specific group of electors they feel are on the fence – can be very efficient. “Joe Biden won with 11,000 votes in Georgia,” Kountz recalled of the 2020 election that saw the current Democratic president take over the White House.
Efforts to sway Republic women to vote for Harris were on full display when Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney toured with the vice president, encouraging conservative suburban women to snub Trump.
“You can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody,” Cheney told crowds on the second of three events in Michigan on October 21.
Quinnipiac University polling done throughout October in five key swing states showed Harris leading significantly among female voters while Trump held the same advantage among male voters.
“The women’s vote will be decisive this election,” Katherine Tate, a political science professor at Brown University, shared in a recent panel on what to expect on Election Day.
“If Harris wins, it will because women elected her,” Tate added.
There is also the question of voter turnout. Women have consistently registered and voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
So far, women are outpacing men in early turnout. According to Politico and data from the University of Florida’s United States Election Project, there is so far a 10-point gender gap in early voting in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. And this holds true across the political spectrum: Republican women are also voting early.
The Harris camp has expressed optimism over the gender makeup of early voting and is now focusing on convincing moderate suburban women as well as non-college-educated White women in the final days of the campaign. The hope, it seems, is that these women will turn out en masse the way they did in the 2022 midterm elections.
“There are two gender gaps. One is related to presidential preferences, with women more likely to support the Democratic ticket and men more likely to support the Republican ticket. But then there is a huge gap in the last 20 years or so with women turning out in more consistent and higher rates [to vote],” said Susanne Schwarz, professor of political science at Swarthmore College.
“I think we will see a record turnout of women for this election. We have already seen a record number of young women registering to vote. The gender gap in turnout is probably going to widen in this election,” Schwarz added. Widening divide among young voters
The gender divide across political lines in the US is particularly stark among young voters. It is a surprising trend, given that the majority of young people voted for Biden in the previous election – regardless of gender.
Some 66 percent of women ages 18 to 39 said they were likely to vote for Harris in an ABC/Ipsos poll published on October 27 compared to only 32 percent for Trump. But only 46 percent of men from the same age bracket planned to vote for Harris and 51 percent for Trump.
A gap of this size for young people did not exist a generation ago, let alone an election ago.
It is partly explained by a broader trend of young women becoming more progressive than their male counterparts, recent research has revealed. A recent Gallup poll found that young women in the United States have become significantly more liberal than young men since Trump was elected in 2016.
Young women’s ideological shift to the left can be explained by a multitude of factors. The #MeToo movement in 2017 put a spotlight on sexual violence and harassment. Women became more galvanised politically over the years too, especially after Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, putting an end to women’s federal right to abortion. And their liberalism has also been reflected in their stances on the environment, unease with lax gun laws and race relations, according to Gallup.
“On average, we see women endorsing a little more community-oriented, social programme-oriented platforms and candidates who display that. Whereas Trump has been very good at tapping into this long tradition of individualism in the US, promising that he will lift you up,” Schwarz said.
On the other hand, young men “often feel like if they ask questions they are labelled as misogynist, homophobic or racist” and then they “get sucked into a 'bro-culture'” as a result, John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, told BBC News.
But what this could mean for this year’s election outcome is unclear, Schwarz said. “It depends on the turnout rate among young voters … They are the group who are least likely to turn out,” she noted. Shifting gender roles and masculinity
Trump has cast himself as a vengeful protector ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “I am your warrior. I am your justice,” he declared at CPAC, the annual gathering for conservatives. At a late September campaign rally in Indiana, he told women, “I will be your protector,” adding that they will be “happy, healthy, confident and free” and, as a result, will “no longer be thinking about abortion”.
His goal, some say, is to appeal to men who feel that traditional masculinity is under threat. And it seems those efforts – notably backed by billionaire Elon Musk – are resonating with male voters. According to a CBS News poll result released on October 27, men are more inclined to say efforts to promote gender equality have gone too far in the US.
This may be even more the case with young men who are shifting to the right of the political spectrum. New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller recently interviewed young voters for The Daily podcast and found that a core driver in young men was wanting to provide for a family, and that many felt this is not possible in the current economy. Though they may not have families yet, being a provider seemed to strike at the core of their identity.
“I feel like you’re not a man until you have to take care of other people. Being able to financially and emotionally support those around you makes you a man,” 20-year-old Ranger Erwin, based in Las Vegas, told Miller.
01:47
Meanwhile, Harris is appealing to an entirely different form of masculinity. In contrast to the image of a hyper-masculine protector, Tim Walz, the vice presidential candidate, perfectly embodies the image of a kind and caring American dad.
“There is a new kind of male persona that is being put forward,” Kountz remarked. “Kamala is surrounded by strong men, but not macho men. Like Tim Waltz. He is a gun-toting hunter, but he is also No. 2 to a woman,” she said.
“I would almost say those are new gender roles. And the Republicans are doing an exaggerated, toxic and hyper masculinity, which I don’t think in the end is helpful for them,” Kountz said.
Harris is breaking traditional gender stereotypes in her own way. “A great example is Kamala and her gun,” Kountz said, referring to when Harris revealed she was a gun owner during the presidential debate on September 10.
“I don’t think people think of Black ladies with guns … It breaks gender codes.”
“We are conditioned to want to hold on to these traditional roles and ideas of gender, but a lot has moved,” Kountz pointed out. “Kamala does not even speak about being a woman.”
With such a close race, it is difficult to say which strategy will bear the most fruit. For Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who spoke to Vox in an interview on October 26, what is certain is that “the formula for victory is to win women by more than you lose men”.
‘She was on the front lines’: In California, friends remember a young Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris may be a familiar face in Washington, but her roots run deep on the other side of the country, in California’s Bay Area. That’s where her early years and career laid the foundation for her political ascension. France 24’s Wassim Cornet traveled to the region to speak with some of the people who have known her the longest.
Sexual violence in war-torn Sudan on 'staggering' scale, UN probe finds
The scale of sexual violence being commited in Sudan is "staggering", said the chair of a UN fact finding mission in the war-torn country on Tuesday. The investigation found evidence of gang rapes, violence and sexual slavery being used as a means of "terrorising and punishing civilians".
Rape is widespread in Sudan's civil war, a United Nations investigation said Tuesday, accusing paramilitaries especially of committing sexual violence on a "staggering" scale.
Children are not spared the abuse, with women and girls being abducted for sexual slavery, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said in a new report.
"There is no safe place in Sudan now," the investigation's chair Mohamed Chande Othman said.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army (SAF) under the country's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
It has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 25 million people -- over half the population -- are facing acute hunger. War crimes
The SAF, the RSF and their allied militias "have committed large-scale human rights and international humanitarian law violations, many of which may amount to war crimes and/or crimes against humanity", the mission concluded.
Both sides have engaged in torture amounting to war crimes and obstructed access to humanitarian aid, the mission said.
The report accused both sides of sexual violence, but said the RSF was behind the "large majority" of documented cases.
The mission said the RSF was responsible for "sexual violence on a large scale", including "gang-rapes and abducting and detaining victims in conditions that amount to sexual slavery".
It also said the RSF and its allies had indulged in "abduction, and recruitment and use of children in hostilities", amid systematic looting and pillaging. Rape, terror and punishment
"The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering," said Othman, a former chief justice of Tanzania.
Such abuses were "part of a pattern aimed at terrorising and punishing civilians for perceived links with opponents," and suppressing any opposition to their military advances, the mission said.
In the western Darfur region, sexual violence was committed "with particular cruelty, with firearms, knives and whips".
The report said: "First-hand sources informed of rape of girls as young as eight years and women as old as 75."
Victims were often subjected to "punching, beatings with sticks and lashing, before and during the rape", with sexual violence often occurring in the presence of the victims' relatives.
The mission said they had received credible information "about rape and gang-rape of men and boys".
UN rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that escalating hostilities in Sudan's eastern al-Jazira state were further exacerbating the risk of atrocities.
Turk's office said it had documented at least 25 cases of sexual violence in RSF attacks on Sharq Al-Jazira villages, including an 11-year-old girl who died as a result, while women and girls were abducted.
His spokesman Seif Magango told reporters that those responsible should be brought to justice "to break this horrendous cycle of violence". 14 million displaced
UN migration agency chief Amy Pope said the situation in Sudan was "catastrophic" and deserved greater attention.
"Sudan is easily the most neglected crisis in the world today," she told a Geneva press briefing, speaking from Port Sudan.
"All wars are brutal, but the toll of this one is particularly horrifying... A generation will live in the shadow of trauma."
Her agency's latest figures released Tuesday show that there are more than 11 million internally displaced people within Sudan -- 8.3 million of whom fled their homes since the conflict erupted.
Some 3.1 million more people have fled the country since April last year.
"More than half of those displaced are women, and more than a quarter of them are children under the age of five," said Pope.
... Against. Our Will. Men, Women and Rape. SUSAN BROWNMILLER. Fawcett Columbine • New York. Page 5. Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If ...
Nepali women's flowering prosperity from garland industry
Agence France-Presse October 30, 2024 A woman arranges garlands made of globe amaranth in Nepal's Gundu village, where the flower industry has provided a flourishing local industry (AFP)
The flower fields of Nepal's Gundu village glimmer yellow, orange and purple as women harvest blooms, a flourishing industry changing tough village lives by providing garlands for Hindu festivals.
Nestled on the rim of Kathmandu Valley, Gundu is renowned for supplying the brightly-colored globe amaranth and marigold flowers, with demand surging for this week's Tihar celebrations, also known as Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
At dawn, the village women gather in the fields to harvest the blooms, that will, by the day's end, be woven into garlands to adorn homes and temples.
The women of Gundu have turned this seasonal bloom into a thriving industry, despite a labour-intensive process of picking and weaving them into garlands.
"This has provided more jobs for women of our village," said flower farmer Saraswoti Bista, 56.
"We don't have to leave home, and by weaving garlands, we earn a good income," she added.
- Flourishing -
Nepal, a majority-Hindu Himalayan nation, has a GDP per capita of $1,324, according to the World Bank.
The flourishing trade has transformed Gundu into a model for flower production, with nearly 500 households supplying over one million garlands every year, generating over $133,000, according to the local village authority.
As the festival peaks, garlands spill from rooftops and porches, filling the village with vibrant purple, red, and orange, a floral hub in Nepal.
The dramatic deep purple-colored globe amaranth, known in Nepal as makhmali, is in special demand during the five-day festival of Tihar.
The dried blooms can last for months -- or even years -- with proper care.
The garlands are given by sisters to their brothers on the fifth day of Tihar, as a symbolic offering wishing for their long life.
Nepal produced an estimated 2.5 million garlands of globe amaranth flowers in 2024, a 10 percent increase since last year, according to the Floriculture Association Nepal.
"It also supplies to different countries," said flower association representative Dilip Bade.
The country is set to export 200,000 garlands, valued at $1.4 million, to the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Europe, according to the floriculture association.
But while the flower industry is blossoming, heavy flooding worsened by climate change hit the floriculture sector hard, resulting in estimated losses of over $1.1 million.
'Bear the burden': CEOs warn major price hikes already planned to offset Trump tariffs
Kathleen Culliton October 30, 2024 Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 26, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
A slew of businesses across the U.S. say they're preparing to spike prices should former President Donald Trump regain the White House in 2025, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Companies that rely on foreign suppliers for baby products, auto parts and clothing — to name just a few — say the only way to survive Trump's promised tariffs on foreign imports will be to offload the cost on consumers, according to the report.
“We’re set to raise prices,” Timothy Boyle, chief executive of Columbia Sportswear, told the Post. “It’s going to be very, very difficult to keep products affordable for Americans." The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard
The Post reported that Trump's pledged tariffs would be the heaviest since the 1930s and could reach up to 60 percent on Chinese products.
While Trump claimed foreign companies will pay the tariffs, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency demands American purchasers pay when their products enter the country, according to the Post.
Investors in AutoZone — an auto parts retailer that sources supplies from China , India and Germany — received word this month that consumers will be asked to pay the increase, the Post reported.
“We know what the tariffs will be ,” Philip Daniele, CEO of AutoZone, reportedly said. “We generally raise prices ahead of that.”
An analysis by the nonpartisan Budget Lab at Yale University also contradicts Trump's claim that foreign entities will bear the financial burden of his tariffs, the Post reported.
“A consistent theoretical and empirical finding in economics is that domestic consumers and domestic firms bear the burden of a tariff, not the foreign country,” the study stated.
According to the Washington Post, Stanley Black & Decker CEO Donald Allan told investors this year the company would likely offset tariffs with “some surgical price actions."
UAW president calls for working class unity against billionaire 'lap dog' Donald Trump
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams October 30, 2024 United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/AFP)
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain late Tuesday called for working class unity against Republican nominee Donald Trump in the final stretch of the 2024 race, warning that the former president would serve the interests of his own class and embolden the nation's executives to intensify their decades-long war on the labor movement.
Responding to members who question why the UAW is involved in the political process at all, Fain said during a videolivestream that "we are up against a billionaire class that will not stop their attack on us at the bargaining table."
"They will not stop at the workplace, they will not stop at the border—they will take every inch we give them," said the president of the UAW, which has endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. "We don't engage in political activity because we like a candidate. We don't do it for ourselves, as your union leadership. We don't do it for the Democratic or Republican parties. We engage in politics as a union because it is core to our fight for economic and social justice."
Fain said that the United States is currently trapped in a "vicious cycle" in which the "ruling class has waged a one-sided class war on the working class, and they've been winning."
"We're in a vicious cycle where the billionaire and corporate class take more and more for themselves and rewrite the rules of the game to keep it that way," said Fain. "They use their insane wealth to buy off politicians and elections. The lap dogs of the billionaires then pass more laws that restrict unions and keep working-class people down. They consolidate the fruits of our labor into the hands of Wall Street and corporate America, and that cycle goes on and on."
"It is an embarrassment to our democracy when billionaires can openly buy elections. But it's also a devastating situation for the working class."
Fain acknowledged that "it's a bipartisan issue" and that billionaires have "done everything they can to buy off both parties," characterizing the GOP as the outspoken party of big business and condemning "corporate Democrats" who "have also cozied up to the rich."
"It is an embarrassment to our democracy when billionaires can openly buy elections," said Fain. "But it's also a devastating situation for the working class."
But in the 2024 election, Fain argued, the choice is stark.
"The Democratic Party is interested in working-class people and what they have to say, and they want us to be in their coalition," said Fain. "On the other side, we have the Republicans, who—on a national level in particular—have embraced the billionaire class. They embraced their billionaire candidate, and they embrace his billionaire buddies, and they explicitly push policies that help billionaires and hurt anyone who might challenge that system."
"We can't sit this one out," the union president said. "Every organizing campaign, every contract, every grievance settlement will be impacted by this election. If the billionaires take back our presidency through their lap dog, that lap dog Donald Trump, you can be damn sure that every single CEO in this country will smell blood in the water."
Watch Fain's full remarks, which he urged union members to share with their co-workers, friends, and families:
'Fain has used the waning days of the 2024 presidential race to highlight the slew of anti-worker policies Trump pursued and implemented during his first term in the White House, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)—a trade deal that the UAW president has called "Trump's NAFTA."
"The proof of Trump is already in the body of work," Fain said in a recent interview with The Nation. "Trump was president for four years. Auto plants were closing. He didn't do a damn thing to stop any of it, to save any of it. He didn't even make an effort to curtail any of that. He continues to tell this lie that he's fixing this and he fixed that and he's saving auto jobs and he's saving working-class jobs. But his body of work when he was president shows different. He didn't [fix things]. We lost jobs under Trump, and nothing improved with trade."
The UAW's messaging and organizing against Trump appear to have had an impact on the union's members: According to survey data released last week, Harris is leading Trump by 22 percentage points among UAW members in the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
The poll found that "among those who say they have been contacted by the union," Harris' lead over Trump was 29 percentage points.
"What we do in this election matters," Fain said Tuesday, pointing to the survey results. "What we do as a union matters. When we talk to our co-workers about this election, it has an impact. When we talk to our families about this election, it has an impact. What you do in the next week matters—it matters for the next four years, it matters for your next contract negotiation, and it matters for your next organizing drive."
"For us in the UAW, it ain't about a campaign, it ain't about one day—it's about power," Fain continued. "No matter what happens in this election, we're all UAW, and we either rise together or we fall together. You can disagree with me, and you can vote however you're going to vote, but you cannot ignore our duty as a union to fight like hell for social and economic justice for every single member of this union, and every single member of the working class."
‘Take a blowtorch’: Trump cronies share how they plan to end ObamaCare
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson say they have big plans to implement "massive" changes to the entire U.S. food, drug, and health care system — from killing ObamaCare and all its protections, to handing over control of all health, food, and drug policies and agencies to conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—and they're openly bragging about it just days before Election Day.
Republicans conspired to block every one of Barack Obama's initiatives even before the 44th President was sworn in to office in January, 2009. They have spent years promising to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare, or just end the Affordable Care Act entirely. Donald Trump for over a decade has repeatedly vowed to kill ObamaCare, and repeatedly said he would end it and unveil his new health care plan soon, before admitting during the presidential debate all he had were mere "concepts of a plan."
In September, The Washington Post reported Donald Trump "has spent 13 years promising a health-care plan" (video below).
“Health care reform’s going to be a big part of the agenda. When I say we’re going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we got a lot of things still on the table,” Speaker Johnson told an attendee at a GOP candidate's meeting, NBC News reported.
“No Obamacare?” an attendee asked.
“No Obamacare,” Johnson responded, before explaining how Donald Trump wants to "go big" in removing regulations.
“We want to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state," Johnson said, per NBC. "These agencies have been weaponized against the people, it’s crushing the free market; it’s like a boot on the neck of job creators and entrepreneurs and risk takers. And so health care is one of the sectors and we need this across the board.”
“And Trump’s going to go big. I mean, he’s only going to have one more term. Can’t run for re-election. And so he’s going to be thinking about legacy and we’re going to fix these things.”
Sunday night at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, the ex-president promised to let RFK Jr. "go wild."
"I'm gonna let him go wild on health. I'm gonna let him go wild on the food. I'm gonna let him go wild on the medicines."
On Tuesday, RFK Jr. announced Donald Trump had "promised" to put him in charge of the entire federal public health system.
“The key that President Trump has promised me is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH, and a few others, and then also the USDA.”
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday remarked, "House Republicans plan to kill the Affordable Care Act, impose a nationwide abortion ban and implement Trump’s Project 2025. These extremists cannot be trusted with the health, safety and economic well-being of the American people."
Last year, Forbes published what it described as "all the conspiracies" RFK Jr. promotes. Among them (quotes are Forbes's, not RFK Jr.'s):
"Covid-19 targets certain races and gives others immunity," "Mass shootings are linked to prescription drugs," "The 2004 presidential election was stolen," "The pharmaceutical industry is throwing money at Democrats," "The Covid-19 virus was genetically engineered," "Vaccines can cause autism," and, "Former White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates sought to exaggerate the pandemic, in part, to promote vaccines."
New York magazine's "Intelligencer" columnist Ed Kilgore reports that Speaker Johnson "plans to make repealing Obamacare an immediate priority if Trump wins and Republicans control Congress, which likely means it would be rolled into a gigantic budget-reconciliation bill and steamrolled through to passage if possible."
Kilgore adds, Johnson's "party’s designs on health-care policy are radical, meant to replace the regulations central to Obamacare’s coverage guarantees with 'free market' provisions almost certain to return the health-care system to the days when insurers aggressively discriminated against anyone old, sick, or poor. Johnson’s rhetoric will also give Democrats an opportunity to remind voters that the last 'repeal Obamacare' package aimed to decimate Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for poor people and a key part of the country’s social safety net. Beyond that, Johnson seemed to to be telling Pennsylvanians a reelected Trump wouldn’t care if his health-care plans made Americans unhappy."
Camera trap study reveals a “vital sanctuary” for wildlife and endangered species in Cambodia’s Central Cardamom Mountains
108 species detected including Sunda pangolin, Asian elephant and Dhole, Cambodia’s last apex predators
Conservation International
image:
Camera trap footage released by Conservation International of the Endangered (IUCN Red List) Asian Elephant in the Central Cardamom Mountain Landscape of Cambodia in 2024.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (October 30, 2024) –The first-ever camera trap study of the Central Cardamom Mountains Landscape has recorded 108 species, 23 of which are listed at risk (Vulnerable or above) on the IUCN Red List, underscoring the significance of the region as a global stronghold for biodiversity and rare and threatened species.
Editors please note: Use these links to access camera trap footage and the full report.
The report, released today by the Cambodian Ministry of Environment (MoE), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Conservation International and partners, documents 65 bird species, 38 mammal species, and five reptile species including the Endangered dhole (Cuon alpinus), one of the last remaining predators in Cambodia, and its abundant prey base including wild pig (Sus scrofa), and northern red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis).
The study detected other rare and elusive species including Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulasa), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), and Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus).
With over 95% of its forests intact, the Central Cardamom Mountains Landscape remains one of the country's least deforested areas. Recognized as one of the Global 200 ecoregions, this landscape is home to nearly 4,000 Chourng and Por Indigenous peoples, supports more than 500 species, stores a significant volume of carbon and provides a critical watershed for over 30,000 people downstream, sustaining agriculture and fisheries, including the Tonle Sap Lake, one of the world’s largest inland fisheries.
The Central Cardamom Mountains face threats from illegal logging, forest clearing for agriculture, poaching, and the unsustainable overuse of natural resources such as wood collection for charcoal, overfishing, and sand dredging.
Conservation International’s Research Lead, THAUNG Ret, said, “This survey confirms the Central Cardamoms as a globally significant biodiversity hotspot and conservation priority. While the 108 species recorded by the camera traps are impressive, they represent just a fraction of the animals present. These cameras couldn’t capture insects, canopy habitat birds, aquatic species like amphibians and fish. Extensive research is needed to truly understand the species richness and adequately conserve this treasure trove of biodiversity."
His Excellency Dr. EANG Sophalleth, Minister of Environment emphasized the importance of the habitat conservation collaboration in protecting this habitat stating, “The survey’s result reaffirm that Cambodian forests are not just a landscape, but a vital sanctuary for our planet’s diverse species. It reflects the positive result of the efforts that the Ministry of Environment has been putting through the Circular Strategy on Environment which focus on biodiversity protection and habitat restoration.”
H.E. Minister continued, “This also underlines the importance of our collaborative efforts, which are crucial to the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC)’s Pentagon Strategies and our commitment under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Protecting our biodiversity is not just an obligation as it is a testament to our dedication to sustainable development and environmental stewardship.”
The survey is the result of a collaboration between the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF), Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), Conservation International, Indigenous People and Local Communities, and other partners. It has engaged and enhanced stakeholders' understanding of the invaluable ecological services provided by the Central Cardamom Mountains Landscape, including robust biodiversity support, climate change mitigation, freshwater provision, and sustainable livelihood.
OUM Sony, Country Director of Conservation International Cambodia, stated, "The study establishes a critical baseline for future wildlife population monitoring, and also highlights the critical conservation needs of the area. Conservation International actively engages with all stakeholders to develop long-term and effective conservation strategies in the Central Cardamoms and in its supported landscapes. Our approach focuses on fostering nature-positive livelihoods, forging public-private partnerships, and utilizing blended financing tools to drive meaningful climate and conservation outcomes.”
In total, 147 camera traps were deployed which captured 55,000 videos and 22,200 images. The systematic deployment of traps provides a comprehensive dataset from February to December 2023.
USAID Mission Director Kerry PELZMAN said, “USAID’s investment in the Central Cardamom Mountains reflects our commitment to biodiversity conservation in Cambodia and recognizes the critical role of natural systems in achieving development goals. USAID is proud to support programs that both protect Cambodia’s natural resources and endangered species and also empower indigenous people and local communities to enhance their livelihoods to thrive with nature.”
CHEM Samphorn,a member of the local Tatai community who participated in the deployment of the camera traps said, “I am thrilled to be able to join the team in conserving wildlife in my homeland. I am always excited to see those animals and working together with the [Conservation International] team to safeguard them is a great incentive. I am hoping that my children and the next generation will be able to still see them the way I did.”
The species monitoring project, part of Central Cardamom Mountains Landscape Program, was largely funded by USAID through USAID Morodok Baitang, with additional co-financing from Conservation International, the Legacy Landscapes Fund and the Procter & Gamble Company and leadership provided by the Ministry of Environment.
About The Study:
The camera trap survey detected 108 species in total. A total of 147 camera traps were deployed. The survey team consisted of Conservation International biodiversity experts, rangers from the Provincial Department of Environment, Ministry of the Environment, and local communities within the landscape, who were equipped with extensive training on how to deploy camera traps and collect metadata using the digital platform, KoboCollect.
Suggested Citation: Thaung et al. (2024), Species monitoring using camera traps at the Central Cardamom Mountains Landscape. Technical Report. Conservation International Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Subject of Research
Animals
Article Publication Date
30-Oct-2024
When science speaks in extremes
Polarizing scientific information can be harmful. A study published in JCOM tries to identify it
Credit: Becker1999 from Grove City, OH https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:March_for_Science,_Washington,_DC_%2834052400162%29.jpg
“Vaccines are 100% safe, and anyone who doubts this is ignorant”: Have you ever come across messages like this during the pandemic crisis a few years ago? If you often feel that certain public debates—such as those on vaccines or the climate crisis—boil down to a black-and-white clash between two sides demanding, with harsh tones, unquestioning allegiance to their view, you're not entirely wrong. We are rightly accustomed to being warned about pseudoscientific misinformation and fake news, and much research has been devoted to identifying the characteristics of such messages in order to debunk them. Yet, even those "on the side of science" sometimes use a form of polarized communication that doesn't align with a genuinely scientific approach, which should foster critical thinking and the ability to evolve over time. A certain type of scientific message, like the example above, often amplifies these forms of polarization by reinforcing extreme viewpoints, deepening divisions between different audience segments. Therefore, it is important to recognize not only scientific misinformation but also polarized scientific information.
A new study just published in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) elucidated, based on available scientific literature, the characteristics of polarized scientific digital messages, proposing a system of codification for identifying and characterizing polarized discourses in science communication digital messages.
“Polarized messages in online science communication often present extreme views about a specific scientific topic, which can stir strong emotions, reinforce group loyalty, and deepen divisions in society," explains Thiago Cruvinel, professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and coordinator of the research. “These polarized views can affect various social aspects. For example, to make people feel certain and comfortable, a one-sided message might use terms related to conflict or separation, even when talking about well-known scientific topics like climate change caused by humans.”
As Cruvinel explains, simplifying and polarizing scientific information is not always the best approach, as it can limit critical thinking. Presenting scientific agreement as unquestionable may unite supporters but push away skeptics, making the issue even more divisive. When one dominant view takes over, it can hold back scientific progress by discouraging people from challenging existing ideas, which is a key part of advancing science. Cruvinel and his colleagues' work mapped the scientific literature that examined the syntactic and lexical features of polarized messages in online science communication, as well as studies measuring the effects of these messages on readers' opinions, which also involved more specialized audiences like journalists, scientists, and health professionals. This scoping reviewmapped the available literature, identifying ten studies that allowed Cruvinel and his colleagues to develop a system to identify polarized scientific messages.
“Our codification system is grounded in a framework that encompasses 20 distinct codes, categorized into four key dimensions: sideness, criticism, emphasis, and discordance," explains Cruvinel. “This structured approach enables a nuanced analysis of the underlying elements contributing to polarization within scientific discourse.”
According to Cruvinel, an important contribution of this study is that this coding system can serve as a valuable tool for science researchers and journalists, supporting the systematic identification of polarized materials within the realm of science communication.
Journal
Journal of Science Communication
Method of Research
Meta-analysis
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Characterization of polarized scientific digital messages: a scoping review
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Sudanese people, fleeing the conflict the Darfur region, cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 2, 2023. © Zohra Bensemra, Reuters
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