‘Cannot justify what happened’: Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan on attack on Salman Rushdie

World News

Published on Aug 19, 2022 

British author Salman Rushdie was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident

 - identified as Hadi Matar - on stage in western New York state on August 12.

FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan.(REUTERS)

Written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre | Edited by Swati Bhasin

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the attack on British author Salman Rushdie was “unjustifiable”. In an interview to the Guardian, Khan termed the assault as “terrible and sad” and indicated that while the “anger in the Islamic world at the Mumbai-born author’s controversial novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ was understandable”, the attack, on the other hand, was “unjustifiable”.

“Rushdie understood because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, and reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So, the anger I understood, but you can’t justify what happened,” Khan told the British daily.

Notably, in 2012, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had refused to attend a media conclave in New Delhi after learning about Rushdie's participation. He had reportedly said that he could not “think of participating in an event that included Rushdie - who had caused immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe.”

Also read: 'Can finally exhale': Padma Lakshmi, Salman Rusdhie's ex wife, on recovery

British author Salman Rushdie was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident - identified as Hadi Matar - on stage in western New York state on August 12. The Indian-born writer suffered three stab wounds to his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, the police had said.

Rushdie has been receiving threats since his book 'The Satanic Verses' was published in 1988. The book had led to a fatwa - a religious decree - by the then Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. According to some reports, a bounty of around USD three million was declared earlier for anyone who kills Rushdie.

(With inputs from agencies)

Travelling while black: A first-hand account of the restrictive visa system impacting diversity at nuclear policy conferences

Olamide Samuel |Research Associate in Nuclear Politics at the University of Leicester

Commentary | 8 August 2022

“So glad we finally got you here!”

I recall hearing numerous iterations of this statement on the first day of the Nuclear Ban Forum this June in Austria. As I acclimated my sleep deprived self with the Vienna heat, and wandered around the Aula der Wissenschaften, I felt relief knowing that I wasn’t going to miss the panel discussion I was slated to speak at the following day. Even though I had accepted the kind invitation to speak three months earlier, I couldn’t confirm with any degree of certainty that I would be able to physically take the main stage. At least not until I obtained a visa that authorised me to be in Austria – a visa I eventually received 5 days prior to the event.

To obtain the eight-day single-entry visa to Austria, I boarded four trains, spent the night in the city of Manchester, printed just under 40 pages of accompanying documents -including three months of bank statements and payslips, as well as all sorts of cover letters provided by my employer, and ICAN. I also paid £130 in application fees. In addition, I corresponded with everyone from those tasked with ban forum travel logistics at ICAN, to senior diplomats in Vienna. All to ensure that I could be granted an appointment, and that my visa application was not rejected. You see, regardless of the fact that I had provided all the information required for a successful visa application, there was no legal requirement for the Austrian embassy in London to guarantee the issuance of a visa to a Nigerian.

To obtain the eight-day single-entry visa to Austria, I boarded four trains, spent the night in the city of Manchester, printed just under 40 pages of accompanying documents -including three months of bank statements and payslips, as well as all sorts of cover letters provided by my employer, and ICAN. Olamide Samuel

In recounting the visa ordeal with ICAN members of staff, I quickly became aware of the number of participants and speakers who were not issued visas in time to attend the ban forum. I listened to stories of individuals for whom the Austrian Visa was simply out of reach, despite the tireless efforts of ICAN staffers to ensure their in-person participation. Of course, many (if not all) of these individuals were young people from the global south. I quickly became reminded of my privilege – I reside in a western country (the UK) and my journey to the visa application centre was comparatively hassle-free. I travelled to Manchester, whilst others residing in Africa had to travel to neighbouring countries to be able to receive consular services. And all of this happened against the backdrop of an Austria that was rapidly attempting to (albeit momentarily) dismantle systemic barriers they erected to keep people that look like me, out of their country. Afterall, it would have been embarrassing to host the very first meeting of state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW 1MSP), without any global south civil society representatives present. For context, global south states currently account for at least 58 of the 66 TPNW state parties.

Yet, from the point of view of civil society participation and representation in nuclear conferences, the Nuclear Ban Forum and the TPNW 1MSP were unique. The sheer presence of young vibrant activists and academics furnished diplomatic deliberations with immersive testimonies, presentations, and statements. Their participation also noticeably interfered with the traditional diplomatic decorum in a positive way – 1MSP was the first time I ever witnessed rounds of applause after each and every statement given at a diplomatic conference. Diplomats from the global south were noticeably surprised and pleased to see young representatives from their respective countries at a nuclear conference. And many of these young representatives benefited from the generous sponsorship provided by ICAN, which included flights, hotels, and logistical support. Without this, we would have witnessed a similar lack of diversity that has accompanied other nuclear conferences this summer.

As soon as I returned to the UK on the 25th of June, it was time for me to repeat the entire visa process again. I needed a US visa to be able to attend the August NPT Review Conference (RevCon) and the October Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference. My trip to 1MSP meant that my passport was only available for submission, with less than 7 weeks left to obtain a US visa. It should have been sufficient time, I thought, relying on my experience with European visas. I had never applied for a US visa before, but I’ve heard stories from other Nigerians about how daunting and invasive the process is. After booking the flights, hotels, travel insurance (as required), I was finally ready to schedule an appointment with the US embassy in London. To book such an appointment, I had to fill in around 12 pages of forms, which included invasive requirements to declare every single social media account, phone number and email address I have ever owned for the past 5 years – amongst other things. Only after all this information was submitted, would I be able to even see the next available appointment date.

“First available appointments: 5 January 2023”

I stared at my computer screen in disbelief. I had not realised that I would need at least 7 months, not weeks, to be able to attend a visa interview. It quickly dawned on me that I never had a realistic shot at attending the repeatedly postponed NPT RevCon. Even if I had applied for a US visa on the same day as RevCon president-designate Zlauvinen’s announcement of the confirmed dates (which he made on March 11, 2022), I still would have been unable to make it. I guess 1MSP in Austria wasn’t that bad afterall?

I never had a realistic shot at attending the repeatedly postponed NPT RevCon. Even if I had applied for a US visa on the same day as RevCon president-designate Zlauvinen’s announcement of the confirmed dates, I still would have been unable to make it. Olamide Samuel
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I cut my losses, vented on twitter, and decided to move on. Afterall, I still needed to apply for a Swedish visa, as I was invited to speak at the inaugural conference of the Alva Myrdal Centre for Disarmament a few months down the line. I promptly snapped up a visa interview a day later, due to a prior cancellation. A stroke of good luck, given that one usually has to wait weeks to secure an appointment. However, this meant that I had to withdraw from another speaking engagement at a York University conference on the same day, an opportunity-cost most academics in nuclear policy never have to calculate.

The reality is that nuclear politics affect all people, yet not all voices are given equitable access to the spaces where crucial deliberations and decisions are made. Despite the fact that much of the negative human and environmental impacts are borne by people of colour across the global south, the spaces where decisions are made remain exclusively in western capitals – and the conversations remain limited to a select few. The structural barriers erected to limit participation (such as visas, accreditation, the costs of registering, accommodation in Western capitals and flights), remain more diverse than the individuals who are ‘authorised’ to exist in these limited and shrinking spaces. My reflection on the restrictive visa system merely highlights one of many such barriers. Annual statements of sympathy and solidarity with black and brown people will not change the fact that most conference planning committees fail to account for the logistical barriers to entry, faced by people from the global south who are primarily people of colour.

Despite the fact that much of the negative human and environmental impacts are borne by people of colour across the global south, the spaces where decisions are made remain exclusively in western capitals - and the conversations remain limited to a select few. Olamide Samuel
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Given that neither the US, Austria, nor any other western countries appear to be revising their visa regimes any time soon, here are a few recommendations for nuclear conference organisers, all centred around paying attention to the visa regimes governing proposed conferences:

First, the prevailing assumption that invitees enjoy equal mobility privileges, perpetuates this very inequality. In simply inquiring about invitees’ visa challenges, conference planners will become aware of the kind of assistance which might be required by the invitee. It could be as simple as drafting invitation letters, or providing a dedicated point of contact for consular purposes. Inquiring about invitees’ visa challenges should not be any less common than inquiring about dietary restrictions – yet this is not currently the case.

Inquiring about invitees’ visa challenges should not be any less common than inquiring about dietary restrictions. Olamide Samuel

Second, conferences need to be planned well enough in advance, accounting for the time required to obtain entry permits. Three months might seem like a long time to begin logistical preparations for conferences but the reality is that the estimated average waiting time for a US visa appointment, for example, is 244 days. For many other western countries, waiting times are around two to three months. I’ll take this opportunity to point out that even the UN’s accreditation procedures for civil society representatives neither considers extended visa waiting times as relevant, nor does it offer invitation letters – a visa requirement for every western country within which UN conference centres are situated.

Many of these barriers to entry are not as invisible as many would have you believe but by characterising them as invisible it excuses the privileged (and those capable of lowering them) from having not noticed them in the first place.

As I write this, having received reports of “the striking lack of [diversity]” at the 2022 NPT RevCon, I can only imagine the accessibility implications of hosting TPNW 2MSP in New York in 2023 and I already dread the thought of having to go through the US visa hurdle, just so I can stay connected to the TPNW review cycle. For some of us, the Atlantic is not just a pond that can be skipped, it’s a bloody vast ocean.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or all of its members. The ELN’s aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.

In Ukraine's martyred Bucha, more victims are buried without a name

Agence France-Presse
August 19, 2022

In Ukraine’s martyred Bucha, more victims are buried without name © France 24

In March, during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, numerous atrocities were committed in small towns north of Kyiv – horrors that are still being documented today. In Bucha, an estimated 458 prisoners of war and civilians were slaughtered under Russian occupation, at least fifty of whom are yet to be identified.

The victims are now being buried in the local cemetery while the investigation into their identities continues. A truck arrives from the Bucha town morgue — inside, the remains of 20 unidentified bodies. It's the third such burial at the town cemetery in the last week. Father Andriy stands alone among the dead — there are no relatives here to mourn their passing. As they are lowered into the ground, he is here to ensure they will not be forgotten.

"It is very important for us to bury them with dignity, not just to bury them as bodies, but to bury them as people with the hope of resurrection from the dead," says the Orthodox priest.

Six months after the massacre in Bucha, the scene at the cemetery is the beginning of a process of closure. However, it won't be complete until every last body has been identified and the relatives informed

The war in Ukraine and the nuclear consequences of the new arms race

Carlos D. Sorreta |Former Philippine Ambassador to the Russian Federation

Commentary | 19 August 2022

The six months of Russia’s ‘special military action’ in Ukraine have produced many images of Russia’s military shortcomings. The image of a Ukrainian farmer and his tractor towing away a Russian armoured vehicle quickly turned viral. It morphed into dozens of memes that include one where the farmer and his tractor was towing away for scrap the stricken Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Throughout the conflict, we have been inundated with images of military blunders with equipment losses and Russian soldiers dead or in captivity. Russian armoured vehicles breaking down and falling by the wayside even before reaching the frontlines. Russian tanks destroyed by foot soldiers wielding man-portable weapons and drones. Russian aircraft being blown out of the sky by the same foot soldiers and their shoulder-fired missiles. Russian communications easily intercepted. Captured equipment once feared as highly technical and advanced, turning out to be packed with antiquated or even missing components. Russian soldiers stealing food, bulletproof vests, and even boots. Russian logistics struggling to keep their troops and supplies through mud and adverse conditions. Russian generals dying on the frontlines.

Another prevalent image, particularly in the early part of the conflict, was comparisons between the militaries of Russia and Ukraine, showing an immense advantage on the part of Russia. These images were accompanied by commentaries that Russia, with its vast number of troops and equipment, should have easily overrun Ukraine. Often left out of these analyses is the fact that in any armed conflict, it would be difficult for Russia to focus all its forces on one front. Though its military is massive, Russia is a huge country and must defend all its vast territory, which requires that the majority of its defensive forces must stay in place and cannot be brought to bear on a single front in any offensive capacity.

There is an inescapable conclusion from these qualitative and quantitative aspects of Russia’s military power: it is hardly capable of attacking and defeating NATO. It does not have the true offensive capability to challenge and defeat NATO, or even some of its individual members. Russia’s military capabilities, though formidable, are sufficient largely for its own defence to guard and secure its rather substantial territory. In 2021, Russia accounted for just 3.2% of world military spending. For the same year, the rest of NATO – excluding the US, the UK, France and Germany – already amounted to 8.3% of the world’s total. Combined with these four states, NATO collectively accounts for 57.1% of world defence spending.

In 2021, Russia accounted for just 3.2% of world military spending. For the same year, NATO collectively accounts for 57.1% of world defence spending. Carlos D. Sorreta
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Russia’s thinly stretched military could validate what it has been claiming all along: that its armed forces, huge and substantial though they may be, are for defensive purposes only. It has very little true offensive capability in terms of waging conventional war against NATO and having any hope of victory. What then is the reason for NATO’s very existence? If Russia is unable to defeat and conquer Ukraine, whose military power is below that of at least seven or eight individual NATO members, then how much of an existential threat is Russia to NATO and its members?

The Russian military failure could provide a historic opportunity to reassess the security situation in Europe. Hopefully, a narrative emerges where NATO realises – and acknowledges – the true limited military capabilities of Russia. Russia is not the Soviet Union with its Eastern Bloc. There is no longer a Warsaw Pact. Warsaw is now helping Ukraine wage war against Russia. Just as importantly, for this narrative to have any chance of success, Russia itself must take every effort to be less of a threat.

However, the narrative is heading in the opposite direction. NATO seems to have decided to ignore Russia’s diminished military capabilities and instead place its faith in stronger defence – a decision which will inevitably lead to a new conventional arms race and increased tensions. The emerging narrative is that NATO must increase its defence spending to build and produce more and better arms – whatever the outcome of the current conflict.

NATO seems to have decided to ignore Russia’s diminished military capabilities and instead place its faith in stronger defence – a decision which will inevitably lead to a new conventional arms race and increased tensions. Carlos D. Sorreta
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The question is, will Russia be able to keep up with NATO’s arms build-up?

As mentioned above, NATO collectively has more resources available for defence than Russia does. Though the reporting period covered by the IISS Military Balance 2022 indicates that much of the spending goes towards recapitalisation of airpower, improving readiness, and increasing capabilities for the Indo-Pacific, the conflict in Ukraine has led to the reprioritisation of resources to face the Russian threat, as evidenced by the German decision to commit 100 billion euros for its 2022 defence budget, almost double the 2021 budget. Russia would have to divert huge amounts of capital, source high technology, address the issue of corruption and redirect civilian industries in order to make up for its shortfalls in critical items like precision munitions and sustain the conflict. Though Russia reports that it has gained a budget surplus in January-July 2022, being able to spend that money may be a challenge due to the sanctions regime in place.

Trying to keep up with the West and its military spending is one of the reasons the Soviet Union no longer exists. This is a lesson that President Putin, who was there at its collapse and who had to pick up the pieces of a dismembered power, understood very well. There is a very real danger here. If Russia cannot keep up with the West’s conventional arms build-up, how can it feel truly secure? How can it match NATO’s military capabilities without defaulting on its debts? Although Russia could just try to spend more on its military industries (it has already spent double its planned spending in the first four months of 2022) heedless of long-term costs, doubts remain about whether it can sustain its forces. In the long-term, it seems possible that the only choice for Russia is to rely more heavily on its nuclear force, including tactical nuclear weapons. That choice might appear to Russia as the most cost-efficient way to match any NATO arms build-up.

This concern is reinforced by the fact that throughout the conflict, Russia has never hesitated to bring the spectre of nuclear weapons into the political discourse. This stance is consistent with its 2014 Military Doctrine, which states that: “The Russian Federation shall reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.”

NATO’s leaders are certainly aware of this dire possibility. All their actions in support of Ukraine have been carefully calibrated to prevent an escalation as there is an unspoken fear of triggering a wider, and even a nuclear, conflict. While their rhetoric has been forceful, NATO leaders have gone to great lengths to emphasise that they will not intervene directly in the conflict and will limit their help to sanctions, specific weapons, development assistance, and intelligence. However, there are always those who only need the slightest excuse to push for unrestrained defence spending, and Russia’s armed action in Ukraine is certainly far from being slight.

This month, diplomats in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation gather at the United Nations in New York for the 10th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is an important venue to influence the discourse on the possible nuclear consequences of NATO’s plans to dramatically increase defence spending. The continuous, unrestrained growth in defence spending promotes self-reinforcing “cycles of insecurity”, which will further negatively impact international security. The immediate priority for all parties involved in the conflict is to agree on terms for an effective ceasefire and find a workable diplomatic solution to the war.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Philippine Government, the European Leadership Network or all of its members. The ELN’s aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.

Image: Wikimedia, Міністерство внутрішніх справ України

Turkey's Erdogan warns of 'another Chernobyl' in Ukraine during Zelensky meeting

A flare-up in fighting around Europe's largest nuclear facility in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine has sparked urgent warnings from world leaders.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
19 August, 2022

Turkey's President Erdogan said in Ukraine: 'We are worried. We don't want another Chernobyl' [Mykola Tys/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty]


Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Thursday of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine during his first face-to-face talks with Kyiv's President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia's invasion began, echoing pleas from the UN's chief.

A flare-up in fighting around Europe's largest nuclear facility in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine has sparked urgent warnings from world leaders, and UN chief António Guterres cautioned during talks with Erdogan that any damage to the plant would be akin to "suicide".

"We are worried. We don't want another Chernobyl," Erdogan said during a press conference in the eastern city of Lviv, during which he also assured the Ukrainian leader that Ankara was a firm ally.

"While continuing our efforts to find a solution, we remain on the side of our Ukraine friends," Erdogan said.

Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" about the situation at the plant and that it had to be demilitarised, adding: "We must tell it like it is – any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide".

Erdogan, who has major geopolitical rivalries with the Kremlin but maintains a close working relationship with President Vladimir Putin, met with the Russian leader less than two weeks ago in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Turkish leader and Guterres were key brokers of a deal inked in Istanbul last month allowing for the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine after Russia's invasion blocked essential global supplies.

Ahead of the press conference with Zelensky, Ukraine's port authority announced that the 25th cargo ship under the deal had departed for Egypt carrying 33,000 tonnes of grain.

RELATED

Ukraine: NATO says 'urgent' need to inspect nuclear plant

Ukraine and Russia are two of the world's biggest grain exporters, and the halt in exports has seen grain prices soar and fears of a global food shortage mount.

Guterres said during the meeting with reporters that the sides hoped to intensify efforts to bolster operations at three southern ports designated to handle exports under the deal.

"We will do our best to scale up our operations to face… the coming winter," he said.

Guterres continued his visit on Friday with a trip to Odessa, one of the ports involved, and was expected to later head to Turkey to visit the body tasked with overseeing the exports accord.
'They should leave'

The success of the grain deal contrasts with failed peace talks early in the war, and Zelensky on Thursday ruled out peace with Russia unless it withdrew its troops from Ukraine.

He told reporters he was "very surprised" to hear from Erdogan that Russia was "ready for some kind of peace", adding: "First they should leave our territory and then we'll see".

Fighting raged along the front on Thursday and early on Friday.

Bombardments across the city of Kharkiv and nearby Krasnograd left at least six dead and 25 injured on Thursday, just one day after Russian bombardments killed 13 in the country's second-largest urban centre.

Early morning shelling on Friday also targeted the city of Nikopol, according to a local military official, while the mayor of Mykolayiv reported "massive explosions" there around the same time.

Meanwhile, two Russian villages in Belgorod province were evacuated on Thursday after a fire broke out at an ammunition depot near the Ukrainian border, local authorities said.

The blaze came amid a slew of blasts at Russian military installations near Ukraine, one of which Moscow has acknowledged to be an act of "sabotage".
'Provocation' at Zaporizhzhia?

Fighting in recent weeks has focused around the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and the nuclear facility there, and Zelensky called on the UN to ensure security at the plant after direct talks with Guterres, while also blaming Russia for "deliberate" attacks on the facility.

Russian forces took the plant in March and uncertainty surrounding it has fuelled fears of a nuclear incident.

Moscow dismissed Ukrainian allegations on Thursday, saying its forces had not deployed heavy weapons at Zaporizhzhia and accusing Kyiv of preparing a "provocation" there that would see Russia "accused of creating a manmade disaster at the plant".

Kyiv, however, insisted it was Moscow that was planning a "provocation" at the facility.

Ukrainian military intelligence said in a Facebook post on Thursday night that it had received reports that all but a "small part of operational personnel" at the plant had been ordered to stay home on Friday, while representatives of Russia's state nuclear operator "actually left the territory" of the facility.

"Considering the number of weapons that are currently located on the territory of the nuclear plant, as well as repeated provocative shelling, there is a high probability of a large-scale terrorist attack at the nuclear facility," it said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said Russia's seizure of the plant "poses a serious threat", and has called for a Russian withdrawal and inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Raid on Ramallah's St. Andrew's Church in Israeli clampdown on Palestinian NGOs

Yesterday the army attacked the Anglican compound "without warning" and in an "unjustified" manner. The military's target was the offices of al-Haq, an organization that fights for the rights of Palestinians, especially political prisoners. The larger operation also involved five other ngos in the West Bank.

 


Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - The "unannounced and unjustified" attack on St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Ramallah, West Bank, was part of a larger operation against Palestinian ngos and activist movements in the territory. In the early hours of yesterday, Israeli security forces broke into the premises, breaking locks and smashing the security glass. Local witnesses report that for more than two hours the military occupied the compound, which includes the sanctuary, parish hall, church offices, rectory and the medical center run by the Episcopalian church.

Rev. Fadi Diab, rector of St. Andrew's, says soldiers "occupied the entire complex" causing substantial damage to the structure. Attacks on places of worship and devastation of church property, he adds, "violate international law and throw an entire community" that operates peacefully into terror.

Those living inside the compound in Ramallah experienced a condition of "profound insecurity" throughout the assault. The sound of gunfire, stun grenades and the crashing of doors caused "terror" among families in the area. Although there was no justification behind the raid, and the assault on the church premises, Israeli security forces tried to justify the operation by stressing that the target was al-Haq, one of the most prominent pro-human rights groups in the West Bank. Indeed, the St. Andrew's compound rents an office to the group, but it benefits from a completely separate entrance from the place of worship.

The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, led by the Rev. Hosam E. Naoum has condemned an attack on "a holy place" and "devastation of Church property." In these hours, the raided NGO al-Haq itself, the target of the raid, also released a note describing the manner of the attack, the damage caused and the threats made by Israeli forces. At the same time, the activists stressed that they will not be intimidated and that they intend to continue in their work in defense of Palestinian rights, particularly political prisoners, calling on the Israeli authorities to revoke the "terrorist" designation for the group.

The assault on al-Haq's headquarters, and by extension on the Anglican compound, is part of a larger operation conducted in recent hours by Israeli authorities against activist groups and ngos fighting for Palestinian rights. Similar incidents have occurred in the past and are linked to very specific directives promoted by the current governments: in the past that of Benjamin Netanyahu, which passed a controversial law on funding sources, and today by the executive led by Yair Lapid (and Defense Minister Benny Gantz).

Also yesterday, in fact, the army raided the offices of six ngos all located in Ramallah, afflicting a permanent closure order. In addition to al-Haq are the other ngos declared "terrorist organizations" in 2021: Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees. According to the order, "illegal activities" were being carried out inside the offices, although no actual evidence of wrongdoing or violence has surfaced in recent months.

UK
Diocese condemns Israeli raid of church compound in Ramallah
by FRANCIS MARTIN

19 AUGUST 2022

ALAMY

A poster is hung over the entrance to Al-Haq’s office after it was raided and shut down by Israeli Military forces

THE Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East has condemned a “flagrant” raid on the premises of its church in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

In a statement released by the diocese of Jerusalem later on Thursday, the actions of the Israeli forces involved in the incident are described as “a violation of international law and a terroristic act against the entire community”.

It was revealed later that the focus of the raid was the offices of Palestinian NGOs that rent space in the church compound, including the human-rights organisation Al-Haq. In October last year, Al-Haq was classified as a terrorist organisation by the Israeli government, a move that was criticised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

A spokesperson for the US State Department has also expressed “concern” about the raid on the NGOs.

The Rector of St Andrew’s, Ramallah, the Revd Fadi Diab, told Agence France-Press: “The soldiers came into the premises around 3 a.m. and we started hearing shots and banging on the doors.”

The diocesan statement details how the door to the church complex was smashed, and the entire building — including the sanctuary and rectory — occupied for two hours. “The sound of gunshots, stun grenades, and the smashing of doors caused terror among the families living inside the compound,” the statement says.

The Guardian reports that the Israeli forces took equipment from the offices and sealed the doors, leaving a notice saying that they had been closed for “security reasons”. But later on Thursday, staff from Al-Haq removed the barriers and vowed to continue its work.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Al-Haq urged the international community to “take concrete measures, such as trade restrictions and arms embargoes, to ensure that Israel is held internationally responsible for its ongoing systematic inhumane acts of apartheid, including the persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders.”

Also on Thursday, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine/Israel Network condemned the attack as “illegal”. Under international law, Israeli forces require the permission of the Palestinian Authority to operate in Ramallah.

The diocese of Jerusalem asserts: “Places of worship and church compounds should be sanctuaries for communities to feel safe to practice their faith and ministry.” It is calling for a “speedy and impartial investigation into this incident, followed by serious disciplinary action against the offenders”.

Republicans 'blew it': Here's how Dems could maintain Senate control in 2022

Matthew Chapman
August 18, 2022

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin 

On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," election forecaster Harry Enten laid out why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to tamp down expectations for Republican performances in Senate contests this cycle — and why he particularly knocked his party's "candidate quality."

"Just go to Pennsylvania, for example," said Enten. "Mehmet Oz, 20 points underwater on his favorability. In Georgia, Herschel Walker, minus 5 points. Arizona, Blake Masters, 4 points underwater. And you see that in all those races that we mentioned where the Democrats are ahead, the net favorability of the different Republicans is underwater. Their unfavorable ratings are higher than favorable ratings. This is a long-standing problem with Republicans. We saw it in 2010 as well. They blew it then because they nominated bad candidates in the minds of the voters."

"You've got [Wisconsin's Ron] Johnson, an incumbent, but Oz, that was completely discretionary. That was their choice. Walker, completely discretionary, that's their choice," noted anchor Erin Burnett. Enten concurred, pointing out that Trump himself picked most of these candidates through his endorsements.

Another point to note, said Enten, is that while President Joe Biden's approval rating remains low, that has historically had little impact on the result of Senate elections in midterms.

"If you go back over time and say let's look at the Senate races or the Senate years in which the incumbent, the White House party did not in fact lose any seats or in fact gain seats and look at the president's approval rating in those years, we don't actually see that much of a relationship," said Enten. "You look at 1982, for example, Ronald Reagan was not anywhere close to 50 percent. In fact, Republicans held their grounding. You look just four years ago, Donald Trump was well underwater. What happened? Republicans actually gained two senate seats."

"There are years where the president's approval rating is high and the White House party holds or gains seats, but the relationship is not as straight as you might expect it to be," Enten continued. "At this point, even though Biden's approval rating is low, it's not shocking to me that Democrats are not only holding their grounding but if the election is held today, they might gain some seats."

 

Democrats think they can defy history and hold the House in 2022 — here's why

Bob Brigham
August 18, 2022

Kevin McCarthy on Twitter.

The conventional wisdom that the Republican Party is likely to win control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm election was challenged by Susan Glasser in The New Yorker.

"The results of this midterm season so far have shown how nearly complete Trump’s Republican triumph already is. Dozens of election deniers who have adopted the former President’s lies about his 2020 election loss have won Republican nominations, up and down the ballot," Glasser wrote. "So why are Trump’s opponents—at least some of them—feeling in any way optimistic?"

Glasser noted historical precedent, President Joe Biden's low polling, and record inflation.

"But, over the summer, a new school of what might be called 'Trumptimism' has taken hold among some Democratic strategists and independent analysts," Glasser reported. "In the mess of our current politics, they discern a case for optimism—history-defying, experience-flouting optimism that maybe things won’t work out so badly after all in November."

Glasser noted hopes of a blue wave from Simon Rosenberg of New Democrat Network.

"The Trump factor, according to Rosenberg, is key. For the past several election cycles, nothing has united Democratic voters more than the chance to vote against him. And all summer Trump has been back in the news, thanks to revelations from testimony in the House’s January 6th hearings; the F.B.I. search of Mar-a-Lago, for classified documents improperly taken from the White House; and endless speculation about whether Trump will be indicted or run again for President—or both," Glasser wrote. "Rosenberg sees this fall as a genuinely competitive election, not a foregone conclusion."

Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report disagreed.

“All the fundamentals are telling us not that much has changed,” Walter said. “There is not a blue wave, no. The question is: How big is the red wave?”

However, also on Thursday, the Cook Political Report shifted their forecasts towards Democrats in two senate races.

In Pennsylvania, the forecast was shifted from a tossup to leaning towards Lt. Gov. John Fetterman beating Dr. Mehment Oz. And it Utah, where GOP Sen. Mike Lee is facing independent Evan McMullin after Dems refused to nominate a candidate, the forecast was shifted from solid for Lee to leaning towards him.

"GOP fears a repeat of 2010/12 when weak candidates cost them winnable races," Cook Political's Jessica Taylor reported.

Veteran Democratic strategic Joe Trippi predicted, "it’s gonna be a lot worse than 2010."

"2010 crazy just infected Senate races. 2022 it’s even crazier in the House," Trippi wrote. "2010 was just the Tea Party. We’re talking Ultra MAGA in 2022."

Republicans turn against the League of Women Voters
Pro Publica
August 19, 2022

Group of people waving American flags (Shutterstock)

LONG READ


For decades, the League of Women Voters played a vital but largely practical role in American politics: tending to the information needs of voters by hosting debates and conducting candidate surveys. While it wouldn’t endorse specific politicians, it quietly supported progressive causes.

The group was known for clipboards, not confrontation; for being respected, not reviled.

But those quiet days are now over, a casualty of the volatile political climate of the last few years and the league’s goal of being relevant to a new generation.

In 2018, the league’s CEO was arrested, along with hundreds of other protesters, for crowding a Senate office building to demand lawmakers reject Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative accused of sexual harassment.

Two years later, the league dissolved its chapter in Nevada after the state president penned an op-ed in July 2020 accusing the Democrats of hypocrisy for opposing gerrymandering in red states while “harassing” the league in Nevada over its activism on the issue.

And two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the league’s board of directors called then-President Donald Trump a “tyrannical despot” and blamed him for inciting the violence and for threatening democracy. The league demanded his removal from office “via any legal means.”

As a result, the league is calling attention to itself and drawing criticism in ways that are extraordinary for the once-staid group. Republicans are increasingly pushing back hard against the league, casting it as a collection of angry leftists rather than friendly do-gooders.

And with more right-leaning candidates snubbing the league, voters are less likely to hear directly from those candidates in unscripted and unfiltered forums where their views can receive greater visibility and scrutiny. That pushback sidelines the league at a time when misinformation has become a significant force in elections at every level.

“The League of Women Voters, while that sounds like a nice organization, they don’t do a lot of nice work,” Catalina Lauf, a Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois, said in a video posted in May on Instagram, explaining her reasoning for refusing to participate in a league-sponsored debate.

The league, she claimed, “peddles Marxist ideology” and is “anti-American.” In an interview with ProPublica, Lauf cited the league’s support for the rights of transgender student athletes as one reason she is suspicous of the group. She also claimed the league has endorsed the defunding of police departments, though that is inaccurate. The league has, however, taken stands in favor of sweeping police reforms that would address brutality and racial profiling.

“They need to switch their brand fast,” Lauf said. “Because their hyperpartisanship is turning off a lot of women who just want common sense.”

Conservative candidates for school board and county supervisor in Wisconsin have fired similar broadsides when declining to participate in league debates. And in Pennsylvania this year, only 30% of Republican candidates completed the league’s VOTE411.org informational guide for the primaries, compared with 70% of Democrats, according to the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. The guide gives voters the candidates’ unedited answers to questions about their qualifications, priorities and stances on certain issues.

Elsewhere, Republican-led policies make it harder for groups like the league to add people to the voting rolls. In Kansas, because of a change in law, the league no longer registers voters — a task that has long been central to its mission.

Under its bylaws, the league does not endorse candidates. And by policy, board members can’t run for or hold any partisan elected office. Nor can they chair a political campaign, or fundraise or actively work for any candidate for a partisan office.

Just as its founders were crusaders, however, the league itself is outspoken on a multitude of issues, including supporting universal health care, abortion rights, affordable child care and clean water. The league has pushed for gun control measures since 1990. And it has been a strong voice nationally for campaign finance reform. In some communities, the league has even weighed in on zoning decisions.

Its viewpoints have long branded the league as a progressive organization. “They’re very fine, but they tend to be a little bit liberal,” the late Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican from Kansas, said of the league during a televised 1976 vice presidential debate in Houston.

Those liberal leanings have been harder to ignore in recent years, forcing the league to defend itself against claims of partisanship.

After its CEO was arrested at the Kavanaugh protest in 2018, the league admitted in a statement that openly opposing a Supreme Court nominee was “an extraordinary step for the League,” but said it believed the action was warranted.

“This situation is too important to sit silently while the independence of our judiciary is threatened.” CEO Virginia Kase Solomón closed her legal case by paying a $50 fine.

The league’s chief communications officer, Sarah Courtney, told ProPublica in a written statement: “Organizations always need to change with the times and current events in order to stay relevant.”

She noted: “The League has been a force in American democracy for more than a century, and we expect to be around in another hundred years. We haven’t gotten this far by doing things the same way we did them in 1920.”

UCLA professor Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert, said that while it’s clear that the league has been more aggressive in taking on controversial issues, it’s the group’s core mission that puts it at odds with some politicians. Supporting voting rights, he said, can be seen as an attack on the Republican Party, which has pushed for laws that make it more difficult to register and to vote. (Republicans say they are doing so to protect the integrity of elections, though there is no evidence of any widespread voter fraud.)

“It’s hard to be seen as neutral when you have the political parties dividing over questions like voting rights,” said Hasen, who directs the law school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, which is aimed at researching election integrity.

To Hasen, the league’s evolution is notable. “Generally, there’s kind of a caricature of the league as kind of a group of old women coming together for tea,” he said. “Whereas, I think the league has become much more of a powerhouse in terms of advocating for strong voting rights.”

“Dare to Fight”

It took women more than 70 years of agitating, organizing and marching to convince men to give them the right to vote in 1920. Once the 19th Amendment was ratified, these activist women were wary of the political parties, which wanted their votes but not necessarily their input.

“Women in the parties must be more independent than men,” the league’s founder, suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, wrote, according to papers kept by the Library of Congress. “They must dare to fight for what they believe is right.”

Catt worried that some women would come to believe that all virtue or all wisdom was held by the party, paralyzing their judgment.

The league, which was formed the same year women nationwide were finally granted the right to vote, dedicated itself not to political parties, or the men running them, but to specific causes. One cause helped forge its identity: educating league members and other voters at election time.

Its first political agenda was long, numbering 69 items, and was called a “kettle of eels” by the league’s own president. Many of those items, such as child welfare and access to quality education, have remained league priorities for decades — as has its commitment to voter education. In 2018 and 2020, the league and ProPublica worked together to produce a guide sharing basic, nonpartisan information to help citizens choose among candidates and obtain ballots.

For nearly a century, the league itself seemed to change little, but by 2018 it found itself at a crossroads.

Leadership hired consultants and began to look for ways to reach disillusioned voters, combat misinformation in elections and effectively respond to society’s escalating racial issues, including the disenfranchisement of people of color.

“Although it remains a trusted household name, many stakeholders cannot describe clearly the purpose of the organization and are unclear about its relevance,” a league consultant wrote in a 2018 report. “The membership is much older and whiter than the population at large, and League membership has steadily declined by almost a third over the past few decades.”

Membership plunged from 72,657 in 1994 to 53,284 in 2017, according to the report. (It has since climbed back up to over 70,000, the league said.)

The organization also faced greater competition. Dozens of new nonprofits had emerged to protect voting rights, including Indivisible, NextGen America, Color of Change and Hip Hop Caucus.

According to the consultant’s report, league members long knew that its homogenous membership limited its effectiveness and its appeal to a broader audience. So, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, the league issued a formal mea culpa.

In an August 2018 blog post, the league’s president and its CEO admitted that “our organization was not welcoming to women of color through most of our existence” and vowed to build “a stronger, more inclusive democracy.” Many of the early suffragists were also abolitionists, but after the Civil War, they were divided over whether to support the 15th Amendment, which at the time gave Black men, but not women, the right to vote. The fissure persisted for decades and had lasting consequences for the league.

“Even during the Civil Rights movement, the League was not as present as we should have been,” the post said. “While activists risked life and limb to register black voters in the South, the League’s work and our leaders were late in joining to help protect all voters at the polls.”

In recent years, the league has been more visible in advocating for racial equity and fairness. It particularly focused on reducing barriers to voting in marginalized communities. The league has fought, for instance, against reductions in the number of polling places or voting hours in minority communities.

After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd by kneeling on the Black man’s neck in May 2020, the league announced the next month that it would strongly push for reforms in the justice system, including changes aimed at preventing excessive force and brutality by law enforcement.

“The League of Women Voters of Minneapolis is not your grandmother’s League,” Anita Newhouse, the city chapter’s league president at the time, wrote in the MinnPost, a nonprofit news outlet, in August 2020. “We are still the nonpartisan education and advocacy group committed to empowering voters, but with a commitment to identifying racism and dismantling policies that suppress non-white votes.”
Advocates, Progressives or Democrats?

Even within the league, not everyone feels the group applies its principles evenly.

For five years, Sondra Cosgrove, a College of Southern Nevada history professor specializing in multicultural issues, ran the league in Nevada as it took on issues such as gerrymandering.

But she’s no longer part of the organization, and she wonders whether that’s because she was not always clearly in the Democrats’ corner.

In 2019, the league launched a 50-state Fair Maps strategy to combat racial and political gerrymandering. As league president in Nevada, Cosgrove began pushing for a ballot initiative that would create an independent commission to draw legislative district boundaries. The move would have taken power away from the Democrats, who controlled the statehouse and the governor’s office.

Cosgrove soon found the league’s ballot initiative challenged unsuccessfully in court by a Black activist and, later, by the Democratic governor, who did not allow petition signatures to be collected electronically during the pandemic.

About a week after her July 2020 op-ed accusing the Democrats of hypocrisy and “harassing” the league in Nevada, officials from the national league office emailed Cosgrove, instructing her to “stop making public statements online and in the media accusing the Democratic party of attacking the League of Women Voters.” The officials clarified that their position would be no different if Cosgrove was criticizing Republicans.

Cosgrove, however, said she told the league’s national office she wouldn’t seek its input on public statements. The league dissolved the state chapter not long afterward, in December 2020. Cosgrove and others quit the national organization and now are with another voting group.

“There was always the feeling the league was run by the Democrats,” said former Nevada league Treasurer Ann Marie Smith. “We tried to fight that to a large degree, but in my opinion the national league has gone down that road much further than they should have.”

Executives in the league’s national organization told ProPublica that the decision to shut down the state chapter was not an easy one and was made “after multiple attempts to resolve policy violations” that went beyond just the clash with the governor.

“Ultimately, the board had no choice but to disband the Nevada league to protect the entire organization,” Courtney, the league spokesperson, said. “Our northern Nevada local league has remained active with a dedicated group of members who are committed to rebuilding the league’s presence in the state.”

The league does sometimes call out Democrats.

In late July of this year, the league released an update on its Fair Maps initiative, saying it had organized public hearings in 24 states, used apps and software to test draw fairer maps in 38 states, and joined 11 state lawsuits and six federal cases challenging maps in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Two of those states feature Democrats in control of the state legislative chambers and the governor’s office. Five of them have Republican control. In the rest, control is split.

But, going forward, the league may find it more difficult to do the work it’s always done.

The league chapter in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, for instance, has faced what one member there called sustained opposition in recent years.

Complaints from a parent, who is also a Republican on the borough council, derailed the league’s annual Running and Winning high school program in 2019, which was to feature female speakers from both parties as a way to encourage young women to pursue careers in politics. The parent argued that the league had a political agenda and was excluding high school boys and male politicians.

Ultimately, the school district canceled the event.

Political tensions only got worse in the months that followed. When the newly created Laker Republican Club emailed an unsolicited mass membership appeal throughout the community, a league board member replied with an email questioning the morals, courage and patriotism of Trump and his supporters. The league defended her, saying she was speaking as a private citizen and she did not reference her role with the league.

Local Republicans running for borough council responded by refusing to participate in league debates in 2020. Former Mountain Lakes Mayor Blair Schleicher Wilson wrote in a local publication that she had been a member of the league for 25 years but now supported the candidates who shunned the league.

Wilson, a Republican, wrote that the local league chapter “has sadly lost their way.” In an interview with ProPublica, she added that she loved being involved with the league but believes it should stick only to voter advocacy. “I always thought their focus should be more on voter services,” she said. “That’s a perfect place for them.”

The chapter lost about 30 members because of the community tensions and is trying to rebuild, said former Mountain Lakes league President Mary Alosio-Joelsson, now the organization’s events leader.

She believes conservatives in Mountain Lakes have changed, not the league. “Many have moved so far to the right that anybody who is walking down the middle of the road looks like they’re on the left,” she said.

The shift in the country’s political climate also has far-reaching implications for what the league considers some of its most essential work. In Kansas, the organization halted registration work a year ago after a measure enacted by a Republican-led legislature made it a felony to engage “in conduct that would cause another person to believe a person ... is an election official.”

The league worried its volunteers could be prosecuted if someone mistakenly believed them to be election officials while registering voters. Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez, a Democrat, agreed there were problems with the law and said she wouldn’t pursue cases of alleged violations.

“This law criminalizes essential efforts by trusted nonpartisan groups like the League of Women Voters to engage Kansans on participation in accessible, accountable and fair elections,” she said in a statement.

But Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, quickly retorted that his office would, indeed, prosecute alleged violators.

The league asked the Kansas Court of Appeals for an injunction that would temporarily prevent the law from being enforced, but the group lost and is now requesting a review from the state Supreme Court.

Despite the setback, Jacqueline Lightcap, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, said the league intends to continue to work to defend democracy and empower voters. But she said the mission has become harder. Even seeking dialogue with legislators on the ramifications of the registration law is difficult.

“We are not getting much traction,” she said.

Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders
Of all of the foreign life ways Indians held, one of the first the Europeans targeted for elimination was the Two Spirits among Native American cultures.

DUANE BRAYBOY

"The New World." This romanticized term inspired legions of Europeans to race to the places we live in search of freedoms from oppressive regimes or treasures that would be claimed in the name of some European nation.

Those who arrived in the Native American Garden of Eden had never seen a land so uncorrupted. The Europeans saw new geography, new plants, new animals, but the most perplexing curiosity to these people were the Original Peoples and our ways of life. Of all of the foreign life ways Indians held, one of the first the Europeans targeted for elimination was the Two Spirit tradition among Native American cultures. At the point of contact, all Native American societies acknowledged three to five gender roles: Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and transgendered. LGBT Native Americans wanting to be identified within their respective tribes and not grouped with other races officially adopted the term "Two Spirit" from the Ojibwe language in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1989. Each tribe has their own specific term, but there was a need for a universal term that the general population could understand. The Navajo refer to Two Spirits as Nádleehí (one who is transformed), among the Lakota is Winkté (indicative of a male who has a compulsion to behave as a female), Niizh Manidoowag (two spirit) in Ojibwe, Hemaneh (half man, half woman) in Cheyenne, to name a few. As the purpose of "Two Spirit" is to be used as a universal term in the English language, it is not always translatable with the same meaning in Native languages. For example, in the Iroquois Cherokee language, there is no way to translate the term, but the Cherokee do have gender variance terms for "women who feel like men" and vice versa.

Old Prejudices In The New World

The Jesuits and French explorers told stories of Native American men who had "Given to sin" and "Hunting Women" with wives and later, the British returned to England with similar accounts. George Catlin said that the Two Spirit tradition among Native Americans "Must be extinguished before it can be more fully recorded." In keeping with European prejudices held against Natives, the Spanish Catholic monks destroyed most of the Aztec codices to eradicate traditional Native beliefs and history, including those that told of the Two Spirit tradition. In 1530, the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca wrote in his diary of seeing "soft" Native Indian males in Florida tribes dressing and working as women. Just as with all other aspects of the European regard for Indians, gender variance was not tolerated. Europeans and eventually Euro-Americans demanded all people conform to their prescribed two gender roles.

Squaw Jim / Osh-Tish (Finds Them and Kills Them), Crow tribe. On the left is Squaw Jim, a biological male in woman’s attire, his wife to the right. Afforded distinctive social and ceremonial status within the tribe. Squaw Jim served as a scout at Fort Keogh and earned a reputation for bravery after saving the life of a fellow tribesman in the Battle of the Rosebud, June 17, 1876.

The Native American belief is that some people are born with the spirits of both genders and express them so perfectly. It is if they have two spirits in one body. Some Siouan tribes believed that before a child is born its soul stands before The Creator, to either reach for the bow and arrows that would indicate the role of a man or the basket that would determine the role of a female. When the child would reach for the gender-corresponding hand, sometimes The Creator would switch hands and the child would have chosen the opposite gender's role and therefore casting its lot in life.

Native Americans traditionally assign no moral gradient to love or sexuality; a person was judged for their contributions to their tribe and for their character. It was also a custom for parents to not interfere with nature and so among some tribes, children wore gender-neutral clothes until they reached an age where they decided for themselves which path they would walk and the appropriate ceremonies followed. The Two Spirit people in pre-contact Native America were highly revered and families that included them were considered lucky. Indians believed that a person who was able to see the world through the eyes of both genders at the same time was a gift from The Creator. Traditionally, Two Spirit people held positions within their tribes that earned them great respect, such as Medicine Men/Women, shamans, visionaries, mystics, conjurers, keepers of the tribe's oral traditions, conferrers of lucky names for children and adults (it has been said that Crazy Horse received his name from a Winkte), nurses during war expeditions, cooks, matchmakers and marriage counselors, jewelry/feather regalia makers, potters, weavers, singers/artists in addition to adopting orphaned children and tending to the elderly. Female-bodied Two Spirits were hunters, warriors, engaged in what was typically men’s work and by all accounts, were always fearless.

Traditional Native Americans closely associate Two Spirited people with having a high functioning intellect (possibly from a life of self-questioning), keen artistic skills and an exceptional capacity for compassion. Rather than being social dead-enders as within Euro-American culture today, they were allowed to fully participate within traditional tribal social structures. Two Spirit people, specifically male-bodied (biologically male, gender female) could go to war and have access to male activities such as the sweat lodge. However, they also took on female roles such as cooking, cleaning and other domestic responsibilities. Female bodied (biologically female, gender male) Two Spirits usually only had relationships or marriages with females and among the Lakota, they would sometimes enter into a relationship with a female whose husband had died. As male-bodied Two Spirits regarded each other as “sisters,” it is speculated that it may have been seen as incestuous for Two Spirits to have a relationship with each other. Within this culture it was considered highly offensive to approach a Two Spirit for the purpose of them performing the traditional role of their biological gender.

Finds Them and Kills Them

Osh-Tisch, also known as Finds Them and Kills Them, was a Crow Badé (Two Spirit) and was celebrated among his tribe for his bravery when he attacked a Lakota war party and saved a fellow tribesman in the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876. In 1982, Crow elders told ethnohistorian Walter Williams: "The Badé were a respected social group among the Crow. They spent their time with the women or among themselves, setting up their tipis in a separate area of the village. They called each other 'sister' and saw Osh-Tisch as their leader." The elders also told the story of former B.I.A. agents who tried to repeatedly force him to wear men's clothing, but the other Indians protested against this, saying it was against his nature. Joe Medicine Crow told Williams: "One agent in the late 1890's...tried to interfere with Osh-Tisch, who was the most respected Badé. The agent incarcerated the Badés, cut off their hair, made them wear men's clothing. He forced them to do manual labor, planting these trees that you see here on the B.I.A. grounds. The people were so upset with this that Chief Pretty Eagle came into Crow agency and told the agent to leave the reservation. It was a tragedy, trying to change them."


8 Things You Should Know About Two Spirit People

Pressure to change also came from Christian missionaries. In 1903 a Baptist minister arrived on the reservation. According to Thomas Yellow Tail, "He condemned our traditions, including the Badé. He told his congregation to stay away from Osh-Tisch and other Badés. He continued to condemn Osh-Tisch until his death. That may be the reason no others took up the Badé role after Osh-Tisch died."

Closer To Home

On February 11, 1712, Colonel Barnwell of South Carolina attacked the Tuscaroras at Narhantes, a Tuscarora fort on the Neuse River, North Carolina. Barnwell's troops were surprised to find that the most fierce of the Tuscarora warriors were women who do not surrender "until most of them are put to the sword." It was an Iroquois custom to put Two Spirits on the front lines to scare the enemy. A warrior woman and man in women’s clothes were as frightening to Euro-Americans then as they are now. John Lawson wrote of the Tuscarora: "During their move to winter hunting quarters, women carried grain and other provisions. After arriving, most of their time was spent in getting firewood, cooking and making craft items. Men who were poor hunters, possibly berdaches, procured bark for the cabins, ran errands back to the town where the old people were left, made wooden bowls and dishes and clay tobacco pipes." By the early 1900s, it had been claimed that there were no alternative genders among the Six Nations Iroquois/Haudenosaunee, despite documentation and oral histories. Most, if not all tribes had been influenced by European prejudices.

Perhaps one of the most famous Two Spirits of the past was We'wha (1849-1896), of the Zuni nation. We'wha was biologically a male and engendered with a female spirit. By all accounts, she was a very intelligent person who became the Zuni Ambassador in Washington, D.C. and was celebrated by the Washington elite as "The Zuni man-woman." This photo depicts We’wha in traditional Zuni female clothes.


Berdache, LGBT or Two Spirit?

Before the 20th century, anthropologists were widely using the term “Berdache” as a generic term to reference Two Spirit people. This inflamatory term is based on the French“Bardache,” to imply a male prostitute and the word originates from the Arabic “Bardaj,” meaning “captive” or “slave.” LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) is a cultural term invented by Euro-Americans who typically define themselves through their sexuality. LGBT Native Americans were looking for a way to remove themselves from a culture that emphasizes sexuality over spirituality and a way to reconnect with their own tribal communities. Adopting the Two Spirit term was the answer. The term is sometimes referenced more abstractly to indicate two contrasting spirits such as “Warrior and Clan Mother” or “Eagle and Coyote.”

Colonization Takes Its Toll

As Europeans forced their way into North America, colonial governments eagerly formed white power structures, land grabbed from Natives and implemented the genocidal conversion tactics that has defined the relationship between Native Americans and Euro-American governments. When Christopher Columbus encountered the Two Spirit people, he and his crew threw them into pits with their war dogs and were torn limb from limb. The inhuman treatment Christians offered was only the beginning of the Native American holocaust.

As Europeans and subsequently Euro-Americans moved from east to west, they spread diseases and imposed European culture and religions onto Natives. In the 20th century, as neurotic prejudices, instigated by Christian influences, increased among Native Americans, acceptance of gender diversity and androgynous persons sharply declined. Two Spirits were commonly forced by government officials, Christian representatives or even their assimilated Native communities to conform to standardized gender roles. Those who felt they could not make this transition either went underground or committed suicide. The imposition of Euro-American marriage laws invalidated the same-gender marriages that were once common among tribes across North America. The Native American cultural pride revivals that began in the 1960s / Red Power movements brought about a new awareness of the Two Spirit tradition and has since inspired a gradual increase of acceptance and respect for gender variance within tribal communities. It was out of this new tribal and self respect that encouraged the shedding of the offensive “Berdache” term that was assigned by Europeans.

I will leave the last words to the late Lakota actor, Native rights activist and American Indian Movement co-founder Russell Means: “In my culture we have people who dress half-man, half-woman. Winkte, we call them in our language. If you are Winkte, that is an honorable term and you are a special human being and among my nation and all Plains people, we consider you a teacher of our children and are proud of what and who you are.”

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UPDATED:
SEP 13, 2018
SEP 7, 2017

This story was originally published on January 23, 2016.