LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Monday, November 21, 2022

Right-wing media continued attacking the LGBTQ community after the mass shooting in Colorado Springs

Conservative pundits used the massacre at an LGBTQ nightclub as an excuse to further “grooming” smears

WRITTEN BY ERIC KLEEFELD
PUBLISHED 11/21/22

In the wake of the horrific mass shooting over the weekend at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, right-wing media personalities have continued pushing a campaign of fear and hatred against drag queens and the trans community.

Five people were killed and at least 17 others injured in the shooting on Saturday, which occurred the night before the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual celebration of trans people whose lives were lost to acts of violence. The club regularly featured a drag show on Saturday nights, and also had an all-ages drag event scheduled for Sunday. A suspect is now being held and faces murder and hate crimes charges.

The shooting must also be placed in the context of an ongoing right-wing hate campaign smearing drag queens and transgender individuals as “groomers” — predators who “groom” minors for sexual exploitation — that has already resulted in multiple bomb threats against children’s hospitals. Right-wing media personalities attacked anyone making the obvious connection between real-world violence and their anti-trans smears, accusing their critics of committing “blackmail” against conservatives while defending their own vicious anti-LGBTQ narratives.

On Monday, conservative activist Rob Smith appeared on Fox Business’ Varney & Co., stating that as a gay man he had previously frequented Club Q when he lived in Colorado Springs. “We should all have the families and the victims in our prayers right now,” Smith said, calling the shooting “an absolute tragedy.” But, he then added in response to criticism: “There is a sort of far-left LGBT activist contingent that will stomp over the blood of these dead bodies in order to push their agenda, whether it is a gun control agenda, whether it is an agenda to bully and shame the people that are speaking up against drag queen story hour, against the sexualization and grooming of children that is coming from these far-left LGBTQ sort of circles.”

(Right-wing media have routinely misappropriated the term “grooming,” which describes a social process involved in child sexual abuse, to describe any education or cultural exposure to children about LGBTQ people.)

Smith further exhorted conservative viewers specifically to not reevaluate their prejudices in the face of this shocking violence: “Do not let these far-left LGBT activists sort of bully and shame you into silence, and sort of emotionally blackmail you into thinking that the tragedy that happened is somehow your fault because you spoke up against this. It is absolutely not true. So do not fall prey to that emotional blackmail.”

(Smith’s tirade on Fox Business is also notable in light of the paltry coverage of the Club Q shooting from parent station Fox News.)

Citation From the November 21, 2022, edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co.

On the Monday edition of his podcast, Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh absurdly denied that there was any hatred against LGBTQ people, though he has in fact played a large role in the campaign targeting children’s hospitals for providing gender-affirming care, while also attempting to downplay recent violent threats against the facilities and their staff. (Walsh has also called to outlaw transgender health care for adults.)

Walsh further accused people who made the connection between anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ hate crimes of being “demented freaks” who were in some way celebrating the mass shooting as a political means to go after their opponents:

CitationFrom the November 21, 2022, edition of Daily Wire’s The Matt Walsh Show

MATT WALSH (HOST): So all of us, you know, this is focused on protecting children from castration, mutilation, and sexualization. That’s our dastardly agenda, which the left claims is somehow spawning violence. In other words, they are using a mass shooting as a way to blackmail us into accepting the abuse of children. People die, and as soon as the bodies hit the ground, these demons think, “Yes, we can use this as ammo against conservatives who don't think children should be exposed to drag shows.” Just imagine that. People are dead, and that’s the first thing these demented freaks think. The first thing they think. Seeing the bodies hit the ground, the first thing they think is, “Oh, this is, this is great. Yeah, now we can, now we can silence people who are saying kids shouldn’t be at drag shows.”

Why do they do this? I mean, why do they play this game? Well, because they know that they can’t defend their positions otherwise. They want the kids at the drag shows, they want them in the sex-change clinics. But they dare not defend either stance out loud. They can’t. So instead, they resort to the worst kind of emotional manipulation, which is the only tool that these scumbags have in their toolbox, is emotional manipulation, that's all they’ve got. In this case, gleefully exploiting the deaths of the very people they pretend to care about. But they don’t care about them. They don’t care about anyone or anything except their demented ideological agenda. There is no tactic they won't resort to, no depth to which they will not plunge in pursuit of that agenda. And to silence those who oppose it. And I must tell them once again, it’s not going to work, not in my case it won’t.

Not to be outdone, Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro’s response to the Club Q shooting was to blame progressives for society being so divided, proclaiming, “The Left has no problem blaming tragedies like the one in Colorado Springs on their political opponents. According to them, anyone who doesn’t support their radical social agenda is complicit. And yet they wonder why society is more polarized than ever.”

In addition, Daily Wire host Candace Owens also used the shooting as an occasion to further push hate against trans people, declaring that conservatives “absolutely should not support giving puberty blockers to children, because we’re moral, because we understand that ruining a child’s body is satanic.” She further described trans identity as a mental illness comparable to the mindset of the mass shooter himself, declaring that “the argument that they’re making is if only you guys would allow mental illness to prevail, then mental illness wouldn’t happen, because obviously this individual who shot up this club was a mentally ill individual,” further claiming there were “no signs” the attack was motivated by anti-LGBTQ hatred.

“But no, the left never misses an opportunity to score some points against the right, even if those points are not being scored,” Owens claimed. “Because we stand by our assessment that we need to protect children, and what’s happening to them in terms of the spread of the transgender agenda is wrong.”

Owens concluded that gender-affirming care for children is a form of abuse that would lead to suicides: “And the idea that you think we’re going to shut up about that, that you would stand behind dead innocent people in order to further your sick causes? Again, I have no words. You guys are monsters. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

CitationFrom the November 21, 2022, edition of Daily Wire’s The Candace Owens Show

Club Q has asked that people interested in donating to victims and the local community do so through a contribution to the Colorado Healing Fund, available at this link.

FOR VIDEOS Right-wing media continued attacking the LGBTQ community after the mass shooting in Colorado Springs | Media Matters for America

Why can't Germany break up with nuclear energy?

Germany has spent 25 years flipflopping on nuclear power. An energy crunch caused by the war in Ukraine is the latest reason to reconsider the technology.

Kristie Pladson | Neil King

TODAY

The pillar of vapor can be seen billowing into the sky from miles away, but finding the nuclear reactor isn't that easy. The Emsland Nuclear Power Station is tucked away between a patch of trees and a chemical factory, quietly generating nuclear power for Germany just 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) south of downtown Lingen, a small city in the regional German state of Lower Saxony.

"Honestly, you forget about it," Christine, a 44-year-old who grew up in the area, told DW on the red-brick streets of Lingen. "And you trust and hope that everything will be fine."

The Emsland reactor is one of the last three nuclear power stations in Germany. All three were meant to be shut down for good on New Year's Eve this year, bringing a complete end to nuclear energy production in Germany. Then Russia started waging war in Ukraine.

"Really I think of myself as against nuclear energy," Christine said. "But I have to admit that you see the situation a bit differently now."
Major policy change

Until recently, Russia had been a major energy partner to Germany, providing the country with the majority of its oil and natural gas. But tensions over the war in Ukraine upended that partnership. It has left Germany scrambling for alternative supplies as the winter months take hold in Europe, and sent energy prices through the roof.

Now the country is rethinking its nuclear phaseout strategy. Today Germany's three existing nuclear reactors produce around 6% of the country's electricity supply. But it wasn't always this way: back in the 1990s, 19 nuclear power plants were producing about a third of Germany's power supply.

Then, in 1998, a new center-left government consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens party moved to get away from nuclear energy, a long-held objective of the Greens. Their prominence had started taking off in the 1980s as they railed against the dangers of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy against the backdrop of the Cold War. The construction of new nuclear plants in Germany ended in 2002 and plans were made to phase out all existing facilities over the next few decades.

Anti-nuclear protests led to the founding of Germany's Greens and fomented public distrust in the technology

Image: Dieter Klar/picture alliance

'Fascinating' technology

But Germany's dramatic affair with nuclear energy wasn't even close to being over. In 2010, a coalition of the conservative Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democratic Party came into power and extended the use of nuclear energy by up to 14 years. But just one year later, meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan prompted Germany to do an about-face on this policy. The government returned to the plan for a nuclear phaseout by the end of 2022.

Until October this year, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered the country's three remaining nuclear power stations to keep operating until mid-April of 2023, less than three months before their planned retirement.

Speaking with DW the week of his own retirement from the industry, Lingen local and electrician Franz-Josef Thiering isn't surprised Germany is struggling to break up with nuclear energy. Over coffee at his home, he shows off a model of a sliver of uranium, gifted to him by the uranium fuel rod company where he had worked. Encased in clear plastic is a thin, dark square the size of a pinky finger nail. Two of these slivers can power one average household in Germany for one year, Thiering says.

"That fascinates me," he told DW. "That's physics."

Germany and nuclear power — a love-hate relationship

Nuclear power has been celebrated, condemned, and banned in Germany. As energy imports from Russia come to an end, many are calling for it to make a comeback. Here's a look at the history of a love-hate relationship.

Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance

It all began with an 'egg'

Germany's first nuclear reactor went online in October 1957 in Garching near Munich. Given its shape, it was nicknamed the "atomic egg" and belonged to Munich's Technical University. It was a landmark in nuclear research and a symbol of a new beginning after WWII. In 1961, Germany began to produce energy for civilian use. Atomic energy was seen as safe and secure.

Image: Heinz-Jürgen Göttert/dpa/picture-alliance

The pushback begins

In the 1970s, opponents of nuclear energy questioned just how clean nuclear power was, seeing as there is no safe storage for spent fuel rods. Thousands of protesters clashed with police during a demonstration against the nuclear power plant Brokdorf, in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. "Nuclear energy? No thanks," became the rallying cry for German environmentalists.

Image: Klaus Rose/imago images

'Nuclear energy? No thanks'

The danger of nuclear power soon became reality. On March 28, 1979, the plant at Three Mile Island, in the US state of Pennsylvania, had a serious accident. And on April 26, 1986, a reactor at the plant near Chernobyl, in Soviet Ukraine, exploded — causing an unprecedented nuclear disaster. A radioactive cloud spread across Europe. It was a watershed moment for Germany, with rotests gaining steam.Image: Tim Brakemeier/dpa/picture-alliance

Birth of a new party

In 1980, a new party was founded in West Germany: the Greens. Their members were a mix of left-wingers, peaceniks, environmentalists — and a key contingency, nuclear opponents. The party made entered Bundestag, the German parliament, in 1983. Meanwhile, the Chernobyl accident prompted the creation of an environment ministry in Germany.

Wackersdorf: Tragedy and triumph

The Bavarian town of Wackersdorf was set to get a reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel rods, but riots broke out in protest. A number of demonstrators and civil service workers were killed, and hundreds more people were injured. Construction was halted in 1989. The German environmental movement claimed its first major victory — muted by the tragedy of lost lives.

Image: Istvan Bajzat/dpa/picture alliance

Gorleben: Radioactive waste in a salt mine

Meanwhile up north, the town of Gorleben — in the state of Lower Saxony — became a symbol of the fight against nuclear waste. The salt dome there was picked as an interim storage facility for nuclear waste. But already in 1977, a large-scale study revealed that groundwater was seeping in, corroding the barrels holding the waste. This of course posed a major risk of radioactive contamination.

Image: BREUEL-BILD/picture alliance

SPD-Green exit plans

Germany's exit from nuclear power has been marked by flip-flops. The center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder intended the phaseout of nuclear energy in an agreement with big energy companies in 2001. An individual lifespan was determined for all 19 German nuclear power plants, requiring the last to be shut down by 2021.

Rolling back — then rolling back the rollback

In 2010, the center-right government under Chancellor Angela Merkel revoked the deal and decided to extend the operating lives of Germany's nuclear power plants. But following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011, Merkel abruptly announced the end to Germany's atomic era. In July 2011, the Bundestag voted to shut down all nuclear reactors by December 31, 2022.

Celebrating the end of nuclear energy in Germany

After years of especially intense protest, activists in the German towns of Grohnde, Gundremmingen and Brokdorf celebrated when the power plants there were switched off at the end of 2021. But the search for a safe waste repository continues. The nationwide location for a geologically suitable safe site for high-level radioactive waste is to be determined by 2031.

Should we stay or should we go?

In response to energy shortages due to the war in Ukraine, calls became louder to extend the lifespan of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants. Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck (right) reluctantly agreed to put two of them on standby until mid-April. But FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner advocated extending all remaining power stations' lifespan well into 2024.

The chancellor decrees an extension

The dispute between the FDP and the Greens turned into a crucial test for the German governing coalition, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the end making use of his directives authority. In a letter to the finance, economy and environment ministries, he communicated his decision: The three remaining nuclear power plants are to continue operating until April 15, 2023. Parliament may amend the law.

Growing energy needs

It's foolish to discount the significance of the electricity produced by Germany's nuclear power plants as the country tries to pull off a transition to green energy, Thiering argued.

"We will need more electric power in the future. That's a fact," he said, thinking of things like electric cars and heat pumps. "And 6% can be a lot to miss when there is nothing new [to replace it]. We'd be losing 6% when we really will need more."

Many Germans seem to agree. While the majority of the public was in favor of the nuclear phaseout following the Fukushima disaster, as of August this year over 80% were in favor of extending the lifespan of Germany's existing nuclear reactors, according to a survey by German broadcaster ARD.

Disaster fears

But fears of a nuclear disaster and the unresolved question of what to do with radioactive nuclear waste still have many convinced the extension is the wrong move. Claudia Kemfert, a professor of energy economics at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, points to Germany's neighbor France, where they are highly dependent on nuclear energy, as an example.

"Half of the new nuclear power plants [in France] are offline and because they have safety difficulties," Kemfert told DW. "In Germany, we have the same problem. The safety inspections haven't been done for over 15 years now. And we need to do them urgently in order to see whether we have the same problem as in France."

She also makes the point that nuclear power is a poor substitute for natural gas, which can also be used for heating, not just producing electricity.

VIDEO Do we need nuclear energy to stop climate change?

Small carbon footprint

Still, many are now seeing nuclear energy as preferable to a fall back to burning coal, another strategy Germany has reached for amid this energy crisis. Nuclear plants produce 117 grams of CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour, according Dutch-based anti-nuclear group WISE, whereas burning lignite, a type of coal, produces over 1,000 grams of CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour.

Despite the changing circumstances, Thiering doesn't see this temporary extension turning into a full-blown nuclear renaissance in Germany.

"I think we're only talking about a short time, really," he said. "Like a bridge."

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Why Joyland movie stirred controversy in Pakistan

Haroon Janjua

NOV 21,2022

Islamabad

The film has opened in some parts of Pakistan after conservative sections opposed its screening in the Muslim-majority country. DW explores what caused the controversy.

The Pakistani government initially banned the screening of Joyland, a film that explores the relationship between a married man and a transgender woman.

The ban was later lifted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government, but the filmmakers are still not allowed to show it in many parts of the country, including the Punjab province.

The movie was banned for showcasing "highly objectionable" content, according to the Punjab government, which insists it can't allow its release "in the wake of persistent complaints received from different quarters."

In May, Joyland won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and the unofficial Queer Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. It then became Pakistan's official entry to the Oscars for the international feature film award.

Acclaimed internationally, why did the film land in controversy in Pakistan?
The controversy

Filmed in Lahore city, Joyland tackled the subject of transgender rights in Pakistan. The movie features a married man who falls in love with a transgender woman dancer.

Transgender people in Pakistan often complain of legal and social discrimination. A large section of the Islamic country considers LGBTQ activities "immoral" and "un-Islamic."

VIDEO Pakistan: Why transgender persons' rights are not a charity 04:34

In August, the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) had granted the filmmakers the license to screen the movie in theaters across the country, but the federal Information Ministry later said that it had stopped the screening of the movie as it did not "conform with the social values and moral stands of our society."

The [film] content is "clearly repugnant to the norms of decency and morality" in line with the relevant laws, according to the ministry's statement.

Saim Sadiq, the movie director, derided the decision as "absolutely unconstitutional and illegal."

"We — a team — are gutted by this development but fully intend to raise our voice against this grave injustice," Sadiq wrote on Instagram last week.
Religious morality vs. human rights

Mushtaq Ahmed, a senator belonging to the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami party, told DW that Joyland goes against "family values and social norms."

"This movie is an act of war against our social values," Ahmed said.

Civil society activists say it is not the first time Islamic sections have called for a ban on movies that promote human rights.

"The film has beautifully tackled the deep-rooted patriarchal issues and attempted to break the myths and stereotypes," Farzana Bari, an Islamabad-based human rights activist, told DW.

"Linking transgender rights to sexuality is absurd. The transgender people have their rights and they need to be liberated," Bari added.

Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist and social activist, says that even those who have not watched the movie are vouching for its ban.
Rising violence against transgender people

Some legal experts are of the view that the ban on Joyland is unconstitutional and that it should be lifted in all parts of the country.

Pakistan: Transgender people fight to abolish torture 03:44

"The revocation of clearance certificate by the Punjab censor [board] is completely arbitrary and a capitulation to obscurantist elements, because the film was [earlier] given a thumbs up by the board after it watched it and found it fit for exhibition," Osama Malik, a human rights lawyer, told DW.

"The ban goes against the freedoms guaranteed in our constitution. The [censor] board should not pander to mullahs and must restore the clearance certificate so that the film can be exhibited in the country's most populous [Punjab] province," he added.

Activists say the [partial] ban on the movie would only justify discrimination against the transgender community.

Rights groups point to an alarming increase in violence and hate crimes against the transgender people in the country. According to Pakistan's Trans-Action Alliance, some 91 transgender women have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015, with more than 2,000 registered cases of violence across the northwestern province.

Shiraz Hassan, who watched Joyland in Islamabad, says the film "starts with a birth and ends with a death."

"Between this, there is a Joyland; a land where we are seeking joy," he told DW. "The film is not about LGBTQ relationships; it's about Pakistani women, a transgender person, and a patriarchal society. It is a story about a transgender woman, a working woman, a wife, a mother, and a widow," Hassan added.

Edited by: Shamil Shams

Is Joyland’s crime that it mirrors society to a fault?

Films like Joyland are banned because 'image-conscious' countries like Pakistan have plenty of skeletons in the closet.

Fahad Naveed

Published November 21, 2022

By now, you have probably come across an instantly iconic image from Saim Sadiq’s Joyland. It shows a man on the backseat of a motorcycle, carrying a massive cutout of a theatre show dancer. We do not see the face of the man, Haider (Ali Junejo), whose back is towards us. Instead, the cutout of Biba (Alina Khan), a khwaja sirah starlet and Haider’s boss, stares back at us. Much like Biba herself, the larger-than-life cutout demands attention. And much like Biba, the cutout is not easy to put in a corner or hide away.

Haider, the second son in a middle-class family in Lahore, works as Biba’s background dancer. Having to hide his real job from his family, he tells them that he is a theatre manager.

One night, he ends up with the giant cutout at home. He struggles to hide it. Keeping it indoors is not safe — Rana Amanullah (Salmaan Peerzada), his strict father, may see it. So Haider and his wife, Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), decide to take it up to the roof. But the cutout has to be hidden from the neighbours too. So the couple covers it with a white sheet.

The sheet barely makes a difference. By the morning, the cutout has caught the eye of a concerned neighbour, Fayyaz (Sania Saeed). How could it not? Hiding away something of that scale is no easy task.

Concealment, secrets, hidden truths and repressed desires are all themes Joyland explores. The film raises pertinent, difficult questions. It is no surprise then that there are active efforts to hide and conceal the film in Pakistan. By now, you must also know that the film’s release was barred by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a notification dated November 11, nearly three months after it was first given certification by all three censor boards (more on that later). The decision was reversed on Nov 16. But the film found itself banned again in Punjab.

The back and forth brings to question the role of the censor boards. It also brings into unflattering focus Pakistan’s history of film bans and censorship.
Déjà vu

We’ve been here many times before. WZ Ahmed’s film Roohi (1954) became the first film to be banned in Pakistan. According to an obituary of the filmmaker, the government took issue with the film for generating ‘class hatred’ and for showing an affair between a married woman and a young man. The filmmaker responded to the ban by pointing out that he was only showing the realities of society. The ban was eventually lifted.

The back and forth being experienced by Joyland was also meted out to the original Maula Jat, the censor certificate for which was cancelled by the Zia government. As film historian Mushtaq Gazdar writes in his book Pakistani Cinema 1947-1997, before the authorities could act, Maula Jat’s producers obtained a stay order from the high court against the censor board. The film ran for two and a half years, setting box office records. Finally, when the stay order expired, the police forcibly removed it from the cinemas.

The government’s attempts to defeat and silence Maula Jatt clearly failed. Maula is indestructible. As he himself declares, “Maulay nu Maula na maray, tay Maula naee marda [Maula won’t die unless God kills him]”. Not only did the film amass a cult following and kickstart a sub-genre of gandasa films, a remake is currently setting box office records around the world.

In the decades since, dozens of films have found themselves banned in Pakistan. A Twitter thread by filmmaker Javaria Waseem lists many of them. Recent examples include Durj (2019), Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of A Serial Killer (2019) and I’ll Meet You There (2020).

The circus of life

Then there is Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha (2019), which also made its mark internationally at festivals including the Busan International Film Festival, only to have its release barred because of pressure from the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). Much like in the case of Joyland, those who pressured the government into blocking the film had not even watched it. While it was eventually announced that the film will be released in Pakistan in March 2022, it is yet to be released.

Khoosat is also one of the producers of Joyland. Thinking about Khoosat and the question of censorship, one is reminded of his performance as Manto. In the 2015 film/drama, Khoosat delivers Manto’s response to those who accused him of spreading obscenity: “Main tehzeeb-o-tamaddun aur society ki choli kia utaaron ga jo hai hee nangi … Main issey kaprey pehnaane ki koshish bhi nahin karta, isliyeh ke woh mera kaam nahin, darzion ka hai.” Manto questioned how he could undress an already naked society, pointing out that he did not even try to dress the naked society because that was not his job, but that of tailors.

In 2018, the film Manto by Nandita Das was also banned in Pakistan. Das hoped that her tribute to Manto would be able to traverse borders, but it was not meant to be. (The film can now be watched on Netflix. In this day and age, most films eventually do make their way to the audiences.)

One of the reasons for the ban was the presence of scenes that were deemed ‘obscene’ by the censor board. Commenting on the ban, late IA Rehman wrote: “Censorship has always been defended in terms of a need to protect impressionable minds. One hopes Pakistani audiences are not as vulnerable to adult cinema as they were when the Cinematograph Act of 1918 was enforced.”

Rehman Sahib pointed to the need to rethink the policies in place. Similarly, Hasan Zaidi, filmmaker and Dawn’s Magazines Editor, has previously suggested moving from censorship to certification and introducing “an enforced ratings system that trusts the people of Pakistan.” This model is in place in neighbouring India, at least in name. On multiple occasions, filmmakers such as Zoya Akhtar have stressed that their Central Board of Film Certification should not be censoring films, but rather giving films an Adult certificate where appropriate.

In Pakistan, matters are further complicated by the presence of three boards. After the 18th Amendment devolved most ministries to the provincial level, films receive certifications from the Sindh Board of Censors (SBFC), the Punjab Board of Film Censors (PBFC) and the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC, which oversees the federal capital areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, the cantonment areas around the country and the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan). The three bodies have often been on different pages.

Currently, Punjab’s censor board has blocked Joyland’s release in the province where the film is set. The decision is reportedly under review.
Image conscious

If the tailor’s job is to dress people, what is the job of the storyteller?

To go back to Manto’s words to his detractors: Log mujhe siyah qalam kehte hain, lekin main takhta-e-siyah par kaali chalk se nahin likhta, safaid chalk istemaal karta hoon takey takhta-e-siyah aur bhi numayan ho jaaye. It was not that Manto’s pen was black. He would use white chalk to write on the blackboard, which made the blackboard’s darkness even more prominent.

Artists, writers, filmmakers have long paid the price for shedding light on matters society would rather remain hidden.

It seems many in Pakistan have decided that the job of a storyteller should be to ‘promote a positive image’ of the country. This is not their job. On the show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath, filmmaker Sadiq spoke about misconceptions regarding what a film is supposed to do. A film’s job is not promotion of any kind, Sadiq points out. Films — specifically good films — are meant to depict, not promote.

As Malala Yousafzai, who is an executive producer of Joyland, writes: “Too often in my country, we expect art to serve as public relations. Tired of seeing negative portraits from the rest of the world, we want stories that cast ourselves as unequivocal heroes.”

There are no heroes in Sadiq’s film. The characters are flawed humans.

One such character is of Biba. The role is brilliantly played by Alina Khan, a transgender woman — a historic feat in itself. In Biba, we have a khwaja sirah character unlike any other we see on our screens. Biba is stern when she needs to be — “Biba nahin, Madam kehna hai mainu [Not Biba, you have to call me Madam],” she tells one of her male background dancers. She is flirty when she wants her way. She is vulnerable when she allows herself to be. She has a guru. She has dreams. She is a human not a joke or a punchline, like so many transgender characters in Pakistani films often are.

Of course, Joyland is not just Biba’s story. And the ensemble cast along with Abdullah Siddiqui’s score and Sadiq’s loving storytelling are brilliant.

But that’s just my opinion. Every Pakistani should have the option of watching the film and forming their own. Audiences may hate it, love it or choose not to watch it — but they should not be robbed of that choice.

KRIMINAL KAPITALI$M

SOUTH AFRICA
German firm faces payback bill in South Africa

Thuso Khumalo

Johannesburg

Previous lucrative deals clinched by German software giant SAP in South Africa have returned to haunt the company. A proposal by a graft investigating agency could see SAP forced to repay millions of euros.

https://p.dw.com/p/4JgCP

South Africa's Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has applied to the Special Tribunal seeking an order for SAP to pay back €55 million ($56.8 million), which are fees paid to it for deals the SIU said the company scored with the country's ailing power utility, Eskom, when former President Jacob Zuma was still in power.

The Special Tribunal has the same powers as the courts of law and serves as a recovery unit for government assets and wrongfully acquired funds.

The SIU filed papers to the tribunal demanding the return of the funds after finding that the payments did not adhere to the proper procurement laws.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told DW that the unit is not commenting at this stage because it has only filed a motion with the tribunal and is still waiting for a date when the matter will be heard.

The corruption scandal involving the Gupta family angered many South Africans

Image: Mujahid Safodien/AFP/Getty Images

Role of whistleblowers in uncovering the scandal

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism reported that SAP hired business development partners that sourced contracts for it in state-owned enterprises.

A company owned by the corruption-linked Gupta family was one of those partners, and it managed to clinch lucrative deals for SAP at Eskom.

In an affidavit, principal SIU forensic investigator Richard Allie said a contract for three years and three months was awarded to SAP in 2016 due to a corrupt relationship between SAP and CAD House, a suspected shell company.

In return, the company was well remunerated by SAP, although according to the SIU papers, it is still being determined what exactly it did.

"Once the money was paid into these Gupta front companies, it very quickly filtered into the rest of the Gupta empire," amaBhungane investigative journalist Susan Comrie told local media.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma faces charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering

Image: Jerome Delay/Pool/AP/picture alliance

Will SAP pay back millions?

She says it remains to be seen what SAP's next course of action will be. "What is going to be fascinating is whether in the face of this, SAP agrees to simply say we will pay back the money or they are actually going to take that further step of responding to the allegations."

SAP has already agreed to pay back millions of euros after the same tribunal ruled that it received a similar irregular payment from deals secured at the Department of Water and Sanitation between 2015 and 2016.

"SAP continues to cooperate fully with the SIU and other authorities relating to their ongoing review of Eskom contracts dating back to 2016," Delia Sieff, Head of Communications for SAP Africa, told DW.

She said Eskom remains one of SAP's most valued customers.

Eskom and SAP business dealings

Sieff noted that SAP has partnered with Eskom for over 20 years to provide the best technology solutions to meet its critical business needs.

"Eskom usage of SAP products is strong, and Eskom continues to ask SAP for additional support, maintenance, and training, given Eskom's critical business challenges," Sieff said in a written statement.

She said the German firm is very proud to support Eskom, as it seeks to fulfill its mandate to the people of South Africa.

"SAP looks forward to further engagement with Eskom and the SIU on this matter."

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu

Who Or Rather What Killed Bruce Lee? This Study Thinks Its Water

By Urja Kalyani
11/21/22

KEY POINTS

The celebrated actor died in Hong Kong in July 1973 at the age of 32

The official reason for his demise is cerebral edema caused by hypersensitivity to Equagesic

The researchers believe that the edema was the result of hyponatremia

Many theories have already emerged on what really caused Bruce Lee's death. The eclectic list ranges from assassination by gangsters to heatstroke. Interestingly, a new study posits that the culprit may have been the humble water.

Based on the information available in the public domain regarding Lee's death, a team of researchers has suggested that the martial arts expert and actor may have died from an excess of water. The findings of the study were published in the Clinical Kidney Journal.

The celebrated actor passed away in Hong Kong in July 1973 at the age of 32 after suffering cerebral edema or swelling of the brain. The researchers believe that the edema was the result of hyponatremia.

"In other words, we propose that the kidney's inability to excrete excess water killed Bruce Lee," the scientists wrote in the paper.

There were many factors that predisposed Lee to hyponatremia. He was reported to have been consuming copious amounts of liquid, such as juices and protein drinks on account of his diet. Moreover, he reportedly consumed marijuana, which may have compounded the condition since it makes one thirsty.

"We hypothesize that Bruce Lee died from a specific form of kidney dysfunction: the inability to excrete enough water to maintain water homeostasis," the researchers added.

The circumstances under which Lee died were mysterious, to say the least. The official reason for his demise was due to cerebral edema caused by hypersensitivity to Equagesic, a pill he took earlier that day. The medication, a combination of meprobamate and aspirin, was something he had had before as well.

The pill was given to Lee by Betty Ting Pei, who was rumored to be his lover, when the actor complained of headache and dizziness after having drunk water. As mentioned earlier, he was also reported to have consumed marijuana on that fateful day.

Lee went to the bedroom to rest after taking the pill. Two hours later, Ting Pei found Lee unconscious. She then called producer Raymond Chow to check on Lee. Unable to wake Lee up, the duo called a doctor. The doctor performed 10 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation but was unable to revive him. Lee was pronounced dead after his body was brought to a nearby hospital.

During the autopsy, no signs of external injuries and no tongue bite were observed. However, Lee's brain weight had increased to 1,575 grams, which was heavier compared to the normal 1,400 grams due to swelling of the brain. Traces of marijuana were also discovered in his stomach.

"Ironically, Lee made famous the quote 'Be water my friend,' but excess water appears to have ultimately killed him," the researchers concluded.

A security guard sits in front of an advertising poster of martial arts movie star Bruce Lee at the Olympic Park in Beijing, Nov. 4, 2009. REUTERS

CATASTROPHE INDONESIA

Indonesia: Over 150 killed as earthquake hits island of Java

Officials reported scores of deaths after an earthquake struck the highly populated island of Java, with tremors also felt in Jakarta. The victims include children who were killed when a school collapsed.

https://p.dw.com/p/4Jol4

At least 162 people were killed after an earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Java on Monday, with the tremors being felt in the capital Jakarta, the island's governor said.

The magnitude 5.6 quake — according to the US Geological Survey — struck in the afternoon in the Cianjur region of West Java province, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the capital.

What we know so far

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil told a press conference on Monday night, "I regret to inform that 162 are dead."

At least 326 people were injured in the quake, the governor added, with many sustaining fractures "from being crushed in the ruins."

Kamil said that "the majority of those who died were children." Many of the victims were students in public schools who finished classes for the day and were attending extra lessons at Islamic schools.

Cianjur, a town with roughly 175,000 people, is located in a mountainous district of the same name with over 2.5 million inhabitants. The town is known for having a large number of mosques and Islamic boarding schools.

The number of dead and injured was still being assessed and authorities said both could rise. Earlier estimates put the number of injured at over 700.

Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said that at least 25 people are believed to be trapped under rubble.

Initial counts estimate 2,000 houses were damaged, with 13,000 people taken to evacuation centers.

Power outages have also hampered rescue efforts, with at least one hospital left without electricity — making it

The force damaged several buildings including a hospital and an Islamic boarding school.

A man stands in front of the rubble of his home in Cianjur, West Java province after a shallow earthquake rocked the region

ANTARA/REUTERS

Footage broadcast on Indonesian TV showed a number of buildings in Cianjur that had been almost totally destroyed. Images showed cracked roads and houses badly damaged in Cianjur's Cugenang area.

Agus Azhari told news agency AFP he was with his elderly mother when strong tremors destroyed their living room within seconds. Parts of the walls and roof fell-in around them.

"I pulled my mother's hand, and we ran outside," he said. "I heard people screaming for help from all around me," the 19-year-old told AFP.

A local woman attempts to collect her belongings from her house in Cianjur after it was destroyed in Monday's earthquake

Image: ANTARA/REUTERS

In Jakarta, some people evacuated offices as buildings started to shake.

"The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs," a worker in South Jakarta told the Associated Press news agency.
Earthquake-prone 'Ring of Fire'

Indonesia is situated on the so-called "Ring of Fire" — a region around the rim of the Pacific Basin that is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The country of 270 million is frequently struck by quakes, one of the most recent, in February of this year, killed at least 25 people and injured another 460 in West Sumatra province.

rs, ab/dj (Reuters, AP, dpa, AFP)

'I Was Crushed': Fear And Panic Grip Indonesian Town Battered By Quake

By Dessy Sagita with Gemma Cahya in Jakarta

11/21/22

People evacuate a wounded woman on a stretcher following a landslide triggered by earthquake in Cianjur

Surrounded by chaos, panicked residents still filled the streets and hospitals of a West Javan town on Monday hours after a quake killed at least 62 people and injured hundreds more.

Agus Azhari, 19, was with his mother in their family home when the living room was destroyed within seconds by the quake that was centred on West Java's Cianjur, the worst-hit town.

Parts of the walls and roof fell to the floor, along with cupboards and other debris that hit his legs and hands.

"I couldn't see anything. The dust from the debris blocked my sight for a while," Azhari told AFP. He said he had never experienced an earthquake like it before.

The Indonesian teen shared a video in which his 56-year-old mother screams, "Lord have mercy! My house!" as their home shook.

"I pulled my mother's hand and we ran outside," he said. "I heard people screaming for help from all around me."

The shallow tremor, with a magnitude of 5.6, brought down the roofs and walls of homes built on the town's hilly landscape. Many were made more vulnerable by the use of wood, mud and concrete in their construction.

Emergency workers raced to treat victims in any outdoor space possible, with the town's three hospitals overwhelmed and not enough rooms to cope with an injury toll of 700.

At least 25 people were still trapped in the rubble, authorities said.

Residents rushed lifeless bodies to Cianjur's Sayang hospital in pickup trucks and on motorbikes. Power outages meant doctors were unable to operate immediately.

Some of the injured sat on stretchers or blankets with their heads and limbs bandaged. Elderly women sat in wheelchairs waiting to be treated as crowds of worried bystanders looked on.

At another hospital, Cimacan, victims arrived covered in blood while parents looked for missing children.

Several injured elderly women were taken on stretchers into makeshift green tents erected outside the hospital.

People ran to resuscitate victims in the immediate aftermath of the quake, while others fled their homes for safety.

Dozens of aftershocks shook the town for minutes that, for rattled locals, seemed like hours.

The province's governor said some of the injured needed their heads and feet stitched back together from wounds sustained by the debris falling around them.

Landslides around the town buried bodies, and bulldozers were mobilised to reopen roads.

A woman and a baby were pulled alive from the rubble, while others lost their lives nearby.

Oman, a 55-year-old who, like most Indonesians goes by one name, was making fried rice in a village near Cianjur when his house started to sway.

"All of a sudden I was crushed beneath it. I could do nothing in the rubble. My wife was outside at the time," he said.

His feet, legs and hands were squeezed in the ruins but his son arrived to pull him free, emerging with only a broken leg and a bloodied body.

"I did not know where to go but at least I am alive," Oman said.

The search for survivors was set to last well into the night as survivors reckoned with the carnage of lost homes and relatives.

"My mother looked at her house and she cried," Azhari said.

Wounded people rest under a tent displayed outside a hospital following an earthquake in Cianjur

Earthquake claims at least 46 lives in Indonesia

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 36 people and injured about 700 others in Cianjur town, Indonesia's West Java province on November 21 afternoon, according to the town’s authorities.

VNA Monday, November 21, 2022

A house damaged in the earthquake in Cianjur town of Indonesia's West Java province on November 21 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - A 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 36 people and injured about 700 others in Cianjur town, Indonesia's West Java province on November 21 afternoon, according to the town’s authorities.

Herman Suherman, a government official in Cianjur, said that some residents were trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. News channel Metro TV showed what appeared to be hundreds of victims being treated in a hospital parking lot.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the quake’s epicentre was at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). There was no potential for a tsunami.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes as it sits in a vulnerable area called the Pacific Ring of Fire./.

Turtles and see-through frogs on agenda at wildlife summit
November 21, 2022

Conservation experts and delegates from more than 180 nations began the week with a decision to maintain a ban on the trade of white rhinoceros horn, despite a request from Eswatini that was backed by Japan and several other African countries.

The tiny nation, formerly known as Swaziland, had argued the money from the sale of rhino horn would aid in conserving the threatened species.

Delegates began meeting last Monday to discuss 52 proposals to modify protection levels set by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In the coming days the fate of several unique amphibians will be up for debate.

“Freshwater turtles are among the main groups that are trafficked in the countries, and there is high pressure for international trade,” said Yovana Murillo, who heads a program against wildlife trafficking for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru want to list two species of matamata turtles, which live in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, on CITES Appendix II, which requires the tracking and regulation of trade.

Doris Rodrigues of Peru’s forestry service told AFP that the striking matamata turtles, with their beetle-like appearance, have become sought-after pets and “face many threats.”

These include habitat destruction, pollution, illegal trade, and being hunted for their meat and eggs.
Glass frog

Delegates will also debate regulating the trade of the nocturnal glass frog, found in several rainforests in central and south America.

The amphibian is an increasingly popular pet. Some are a lime green color, while others have translucent bellies and chests.

“They are being collected for their beauty. They are being trafficked and some are in critical danger,” said Rodriguez.

CITES, in force since 1975, regulates trade in some 36,000 species of plants and animals and provides mechanisms to help crack down on illegal trade. It sanctions countries that break the rules.

The meeting of the parties to the convention takes place every two or three years.

On Friday, delegates rejected a request by Zimbabwe to allow the ivory trade to resume in some southern African countries, a decision lauded by conservation NGOs.
Beleaguered porpoise

The conference has seen fierce debate over the vaquita, a species of porpoise that lives in Mexico’s Gulf of California and is at risk of extinction.

On the eve of the summit, CITES issued an ultimatum to Mexico, to show progress in protecting the world’s most endangered marine animal by February 2023, or face sanctions against its fish exports.

Washington has argued that its neighbor is not doing enough to protect the world’s most endangered marine animal, while Mexico countered that it had boosted naval surveillance in the Gulf.

Good news also emerged from the summit: the Aleutian cackling goose was moved from the list of most threatened species to those no longer threatened with extinction, after its numbers increased.

“This is a positive story about the recovery of a species,” highlighted the president of the committee which approved the move, Britain’s Vincent Fleming.

Nations vote to extend protection to over 50 shark species

Nearly 200 nations have voted to extend protections to over 50 species of sharks, including the requiem family that includes the tiger shark, shown here.

File Photo by bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock

Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Nearly 200 countries have voted to extend protection to more than 50 species of sharks at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Tuna and Flora (CITIES), the world's largest wildlife summit.

The measure, which was introduced by host nation Panama, offers protection to approximately two-thirds of the species that are targeted in the global shark fin trade. The protection applies to the requiem family of sharks, which includes tiger sharks, as well as to several species of hammerhead sharks.

The decision, which brings the percentage of shark species regulated by CITIES from 25% to 70%, is binding for member states, who have a year to implement the changes. The measure would require shark fin exports to have correct paperwork proving they are in compliance with regulations.

A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature found that approximately one-third of shark and ray species are in danger of extinction. Additionally, research indicates that ocean-going shark populations have decreased by 70% in the past 50 years.

RELATEDThree boaters rescued in Gulf of Mexico after fighting off sharks

Overfishing and lack of regulation are believed to be the principal factors driving the the depopulation of the sharks.

Japan pushed back against the measure, lobbying to remove 35 species that are not endangered from the list. Peru, a major exporter of shark fins, lobbied to have the blue shark removed from the list.

The trade in shark fins remains a multimillion-dollar industry, with shark fin exports from Peru increasing to twice their pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Of the 300 tons of shark fins exported Peru, 160 tons came from species that have now come under regulation.

Will the Abu Aqla investigation be a watershed moment for Washington?

The FBI investigation of the killing of a Palestinian journalist has implications for US-Israel relations

JAMES
ZOGBY

The FBI has announced it will investigate the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla. AFP

By itself, the announcement that the FBI will conduct an independent investigation into the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla is not, as one Israeli journalist said, a “watershed moment” in the US-Israel relationship. But because of the factors that led to this decision and the tensions that will flow from it, it is clear that there are changes under way in the American attitude towards Israel's behaviour.

After Ms Abu Aqla was killed, the Israeli hasbara machinery hoped to buy enough time until the issue faded from the headlines and was forgotten. Some said:

“We don’t think we killed her.”

“Palestinian terrorists, firing indiscriminately, are likely to have hit her.”

“Our forces … returned fire as accurately, carefully, and responsibly as possible. Sadly … she was killed in the exchange.”

“They were armed with cameras.”

“By not co-operating with us … perhaps Palestinians are covering up the truth.”

In too many instances in the past, such an intense campaign of dissembling might have worked. But this was different for several reasons: Ms Abu Aqla was a respected journalist; she was an American citizen; there is ample video footage of the shooting; and reflecting the changes that have been developing in US public opinion, some members of Congress were emboldened to demand an independent investigation of Ms Abu Aqla’s death.

Given the intense US media reaction to the killing of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, there has been a heightened American media sensitivity to the protection of journalists – even more so in this case, as Ms Abu Aqla has family who eloquently pressed US officials for support.

Major news outlets, including CNN, the Associated Press, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, conducted investigations of their own, interviewing witnesses, reviewing video footage, and surveying the scene. Their findings, in every instance, found Israel’s claims to be false.

Most importantly, within days after Ms Abu Aqla’s killing, a quarter of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Secretary of State and the Director of the FBI calling for an independent investigation of the shooting. Their demand was joined a few weeks later in a letter to US President Joe Biden, signed by half the Democrats in the US Senate.

Shireen Abu Aqla was one of the most recognisable faces in Arab media. AFP

Within days of Ms Abu Aqla’s killing, a quarter of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent a letter calling for an independent investigation

Then, following the release of an inconclusive forensic analysis of the bullet that killed Ms Abu Aqla, which the Israelis likely hoped would lay the matter to rest, four leading Democratic senators sent a sharp response to the Secretary of State decrying the report as inadequate, lacking in transparency, and in no way “meeting any plausible definition of … [an] independent, thorough, and transparent investigation". The bulk of the letter was comprised of 13 probing questions that needed to be answered to satisfy their demand for a full investigation. Now, four months later, the FBI has responded that they will conduct such an inquiry.

The congressional sponsors of the letter expressed satisfaction with the prospect of an FBI investigation, with one senator calling it “an overdue but necessary and important step in the pursuit of justice and accountability".

Israel’s reaction, on the other hand, was predictable outrage. Defence Minister Benny Gantz called the FBI announcement a “grave mistake", pledging that they “will not co-operate". Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid amplified this rejection, saying “Israeli soldiers won’t be investigated by the FBI".

With battle lines drawn, the White House and State Department sought to distance themselves from the fray, claiming that they were unaware of the FBI decision. It is unlikely that they were not informed. Now that it has been announced, it is even more unlikely that it can be aborted without further alienating important leaders in the US Senate and generating an intense political backlash in Congress and public opinion.

James Zogby

Dr James Zogby is the president of the Arab American Institute and a columnist for The National

Japan nuclear watchdog considering extending reactor life

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Nuclear Regulation Authority Commissioner Shinsuke Yamanaka speaks at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Monday Nov. 21, 2022. Japanese nuclear regulators are considering revising a safety evaluation system to allow aging reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit, but the move is aimed at preventing safety lapses and is not motivated by government efforts to increase use of nuclear power, the official said Monday.(Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese nuclear regulators are considering revising a safety evaluation system to allow aging reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit, but the move is aimed at preventing safety lapses and is not motivated by government efforts to increase use of nuclear power, an official said Monday.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority Commission, at the request of the Economy and Industry Ministry, has drafted a plan to scrap the 60-year limit and replace it with a system of potential extensions granted every 10 years after 30 years of operation.

That would be a major change from the current 40-year limit with a possible one-time extension of up to 20 years, a rule that was adopted under stricter safety standards set after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

The draft plan still has to be formally approved.

The move has prompted mixed reactions from the public. Nuclear Regulation Authority Commissioner Shinsuke Yamanaka denied criticism that the watchdog may have yielded to government pressure to prolong the operational lifespan of reactors.

“Our judgment in our safety inspections is not affected, no matter what the government policy may be,” Yamanaka said. “We have no intention of making any compromise in our strict safety checks.”

Yamanaka stressed that his agency had not initiated the change and was responding to the government’s request in order to ensure safety.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in August that Japan needs to consider all options in its energy mix, including nuclear, to bolster its “green transformation” to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and secure a stable energy supply. Japan has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Anti-nuclear sentiment and safety concerns rose sharply in Japan after the Fukushima disaster, but the government has been pushing for a return to nuclear power amid worries of energy shortages following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a global push to reduce greenhouse gases. Japan has faced criticism for saying it will phase out fossil fuel use by 2050 without giving a clear timeline.

While maintaining a 20%-22% target for nuclear energy as part of its energy mix for 2030, Japan’s government previously insisted it was not considering building new nuclear plants or replacing aged reactors, apparently to avoid triggering criticism from a still wary public.

Kishida, in a major shift toward a greater use of nuclear energy, asked a government panel to decide by the end of this year on a proposal for development and construction of “new innovative reactors,” such as small modular nuclear reactors, while also asking nuclear officials and experts to consider extending the operational lifespan of aging reactors.

U$A

Big rail unions split on contract with engineers ratifying

By JOSH FUNK

This April 2, 2021, file photo shows freight train cars and containers at Norfolk Southern Railroad's Conway Yard in Conway, Pa. Railroad engineers accepted their deal with the railroads that will deliver 24% raises but conductors rejected the contract casting more doubt on whether the industry will be able to resolve the labor dispute before next month’s deadline without Congress’ help. The votes, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, by the two biggest railroad unions follows the decision by three other unions to reject their deals with the railroads that the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Railroad engineers accepted their deal with the railroads that will deliver 24% raises but conductors rejected the contract, casting more doubt on whether the industry will be able to resolve the labor dispute before next month’s deadline without the help of Congress.

A split vote Monday from the two biggest railroad unions follows the rejection by three other unions of their deals with the railroads that the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. Seven smaller unions have approved the five-year deal that, on top of the 24% raise, includes a $5,000 bonus.

But many union members have voted to reject the contracts because, they say, they fail to address demanding schedules and quality of life issues for employees.

All 12 must approve the contracts to prevent a strike that could cripple supply chains and hamper a stressed U.S. economy still emerging from the pandemic.,

The unions that rejected their deals agreed to return to the bargaining table to try to hash out a new agreement before a new strike deadline early next month. But those talks have deadlocked because the railroads refuse to consider adding paid sick time to what was already offered.

It appears increasingly likely that Congress will have to step in to settle the dispute. Lawmakers have the power to impose contract terms if both sides can’t reach an agreement. Hundreds of business groups have urged Congress to be ready to intervene if needed.

Workers frustrated with the demanding schedules and deep job cuts in the industry pushed to reject these contracts because they don’t resolve workers’ key quality-of-life concerns. The deals for the engineers and conductors did include a promise to try to improve the scheduling of regular days off and negotiate the details of those schedules further at each railroad. The unions that represent engineers and conductors also received three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical needs as long they were scheduled at least 30 days in advance.

The railroads also lost out on their bid to cut crew sizes down to one person as part of the negotiations. But the conductors in the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union still narrowly rejected the deal.

The railroads maintain that the deals with the unions should closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators President Joe Biden appointed. That’s part of the reason why they don’t want to offer paid sick time. Plus, the railroads say the unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick time in favor of higher pay and strong short-term disability benefits.

The unions say it is long overdue for the railroads to offer paid sick time to workers, and the pandemic highlighted the need for it.