Jameela Jamil quits Twitter after Elon Musk buys site for $44bn


Nicole Vassell
Mon, April 25, 2022,

Jameela Jamil has announced that she’s leaving Twitter after news that Elon Musk has purchased the platform.

The Tesla founder successfully acquired the social media site on Monday (25 April) for around $44bn (£34.5bn). As a result, Twitter will now be a privately owned company.

Hours before the announcement, billionaire Musk urged his “worst critics” to stay on Twitter.

Users of the site have been reacting to news of the sale, with some announcing that they’d be abandoning their accounts.

Former The Good Place actor and presenter Jamil has stated that she’d also be leaving the platform due to fears of how the environment will change under Musk’s ownership.


She sent a final message to her followers, attaching four photos of herself with her pet dog.

“Ah he got Twitter,” Jamil’s message began. “I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet. Just really *any* excuse to show pics of Barold.”



She continued her goodbye statement by sharing worries that Musk’s proposed bid to encourage free speech would lead to further harmful behaviour on the site.

She wrote: “I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.”

Jamil had previously hinted at her plans to stop using the site if Musk’s acquisition succeeded. Earlier on Monday, she tweeted: “One good thing about Elon buying Twitter is that I will *FINALLY* leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So it’s win win for you all really.”

Musk-ruled Twitter: users left to fight trolls and misinformation?


Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion raises concerns the platform will be subject to the capricious rule of the world's richest person.

 (AFP/Patrick Pleul)


Glenn CHAPMAN
Mon, April 25, 2022

Elon Musk's vow to let everyone say whatever they want on Twitter after his takeover of the social media giant could put the onus on users to combat bullying and misinformation on the platform, experts say.

Details of Musk's plans for Twitter were slim after his deal to buy the tech firm was announced Monday, but the Tesla chief portrays himself as a free-speech absolutist.

But the privatization of Twitter with Musk as its master has raised concerns from analysts and activists that the site will be capriciously ruled by the world's richest man, with more focus on attention and profit than on promoting healthy online conversations, which has been a priority at the service.

For Syracuse University assistant professor of communications law Kyla Garrett-Wagner, Musk's takeover of Twitter is not a free speech rights victory.

"What we have done is put even more power into fewer hands," she told AFP.

"If Elon Musk decides tomorrow that he wants to shut Twitter down for a week, he can do that."

She noted the US Constitution's first amendment only bars governments from gagging what citizens say -- leaving the billionaire entrepreneur the power to decide what can and cannot be posted on the private entity of Twitter.

"This is not the street corner," Garrett-Wagner said. "This is the proverbial Wild West but owned by a minority elite that doesn't represent minority voices."

- 'The trolls take over' -

Musk's promised hands-off approach to content is a particularly thorny matter when it comes to high-profile cases like that of former US president Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter after an assault on the Capitol by his supporters.

"Musk says he is going to turn Twitter into a social media platform with no moderation; there have been several of those and they don't work," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

"The trolls take over, they get too hostile and drive people away from the platform."

Musk has said he is averse to banning people from Twitter due to misbehavior, prompting speculation that he would lift Trump's ban.

But Trump on Monday said he would not be returning to Twitter even if his account were reinstated, saying he would stick to his own site, Truth Social.

- App store trouble? -

If Musk pulls back on policing content at Twitter, advertisers would also have to take the lead to ensure their messages were not associated with toxic content, according to advocates and academics.

"Accountability now rests with Twitter's top advertisers, who need to make it clear that if Twitter becomes a free-for-all of hate, extremism and disinformation, they will walk," said Media Matters for America chief Angelo Carusone.

"It is also critical that Google and Apple hold Twitter to the same standards they applied to other apps like Parler," he added, referring to a social network popular among conservatives.

The tech giants would need to reiterate that "Twitter will not get special treatment and that a violation of their terms of service will result in the platform being removed from the app stores," according to Carusone.

Musk will also face tough judgement in the court of public opinion, with Twitter users apt to turn away from the platform if it becomes hostile and flooded with misinformation, Garrett-Wagner said.

Some of Musk's own tweets have raised eyebrows, as he once mocked a Tesla whistleblower and in 2018 called a rescue worker who criticized a plan to save children from a flooded cave in Thailand "a pedo guy."

While Musk has talked about ridding Twitter of software "bots" that fire off spam, actually confirming that users are living people could prove challenging, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian told investors in a note.

Sebastian noted that Musk's idea of charging for coveted blue check marks that verify users' identities is a "no-brainer," but it is likely only a small minority of people would pay for the status.

Musk has also said he believes anyone should be able to scrutinize the software behind the service.

But that kind of transparency could come with the unintended consequence that it will just be exploited by "bad actors" who find ways to game the system to promote their posts, analysts have warned.

"The rhetoric around transparency is that it will lead to an epiphany and people will change," Garrett-Wagner said.

"It's a misleading comfort to think everything will be okay if we know how it is working."

gc/sw/caw

THE QUANTUM UNIVERSE HAS CHANGED
Large Hadron Collider hits world record proton acceleration
AGAIN

By Chelsea Gohd 
APRIL 25,2022

The Large Hadron Collider restarted after a three-year shutdown on April 22, 2022. 

(Image credit: CERN)

The newly-upgraded Large Hadron Collider (LHC) just broke a world record with its proton beams.

The LHC, located at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, restarted on Friday (April 22) after a planned, three-year hiatus during which a number of upgrades were made to the facility. These improvements are already being put to the test and, in restarting and preparing for its new operating phase, called Run 3, the LHC has already beaten a previous record.

This particle accelerator is both the largest and most powerful in the world. And, in a test run conducted shortly after being switched back on, the LHC accelerated beams of protons to a higher energy than ever before.

"Today the two #LHC pilot beams of protons were accelerated, for the first time, to the record energy of 6.8 TeV per beam. After #restartingLHC, this operation is part of the activities to recommission the machine in preparation of #LHCRun3, planned for the summer of 2022," CERN tweeted today (April 25).

Related: The Large Hadron Collider will explore the cutting edge of physics after 3-year shutdown

The LHC works by accelerating two beams of particles like protons towards each other. These high-energy beams collide, allowing particle physicists to explore the extreme limits of our physical world and even discover aspects of physics never seen before.

With the upgrades implemented during the planned shutdown, the energy of the LHC's proton beams was set to increase from 6.5 teraelectronvolts (TeV) to 6.8 TeV. For reference, one teraelectronvolt is equivalent to 1 trillion electron volts and, in terms of kinetic energy, is roughly equal to the energy of a mosquito flying. While this might seem like a very small amount of energy, for a single proton it is an incredible amount of energy.

The LHC facility is used to explore cosmic mysteries ranging from investigating possible candidates for dark matter to completely breaking apart our understanding of physics. Now both switched on and working as intended with the new upgrades, the LHC is well on its way to enabling a new round of groundbreaking physics research.

RELATED STORIES:

— Photos: Behind the scenes at the largest U.S. atom smasher

— What does it take to be an astrophysicist?

— 20 trailblazing women in astronomy and astrophysics

SEE 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for LHC 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CERN 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for QUANTUM 

Melissa Lucio granted temporary stay of execution, but no clemency

Chase Lawrence
WSWS.ORG

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution Monday for Melissa Lucio, just two days before she was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on April 27. The 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron Country, the same that convicted her, has been ordered to consider new evidence.

Melissa Lucio [Photo by "The State of Texas vs. Melissa"]

The stay came after significant sections of the political establishment, nervous about the execution of a clearly innocent person discrediting the death penalty and aware of the outrage it was provoking, called for a delay in Lucio’s execution.

Coerced into a confession after having claimed her innocence over 100 times to police interrogators, Lucio was convicted of the murder of her two-year-old daughter Mariah in 2007.

Lucio faced a trial where evidence critical to her defense was omitted, such as that her child suffered a physical disability that made her walk unsteadily, which pointed to an accidental death by falling down the stairs. She has spent the last 14 years since her 2008 capital murder conviction languishing on death row in conditions amounting to torture, being deprived of social contact and only allowed two one-hour sessions a week for gardening, with the rest of her time spent in a barren cell.

The trial court is to evaluate four claims to determine whether Lucio will be granted a new trial including that she would not have been convicted without the state’s use of false testimony, that the new scientific evidence undermines her conviction, that the state committed a “Brady violation” by suppressing favorable evidence, and that she is innocent.

Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, wrote in a statement released after the stay was announced:

The Court of Criminal Appeals did the right thing by stopping Melissa’s execution. Medical evidence shows that Mariah’s death was consistent with an accident. But for the State’s use of false testimony, no juror would have voted to convict Melissa of capital murder because no murder occurred.

It would have shocked the public’s conscience for Melissa to be put to death based on false and incomplete medical evidence for a crime that never even happened. All of the new evidence of her innocence has never before been considered by any court. The court’s stay allows us to continue fighting alongside Melissa to overturn her wrongful conviction.

A recording of Lucio receiving the news of the delay of her execution from Republican state Representative Jeff Leach and becoming emotionally overwhelmed at the sudden reprieve can be heard here.

Near the end, Leach states, “This isn’t the end. We’re going to continue to work together to make sure that the right thing is done, that hopefully you are ultimately free.” Leach, who has been in the forefront of the official opposition to the execution, is a self-described death penalty supporter.

Speaking to the Dallas News, Leach said, “I’m not the only conservative death penalty supporter who has great concern about the way we, no pun intended, execute the death penalty in Texas,” and that “We policymakers have an obligation not just to speak up on Melissa’s behalf, but to speak up on behalf of all death row inmates and the victims of these crimes.” Along with Leach, around half of the Texas House issued a bipartisan call for clemency, with half of both the House and Senate calling for a delay in the execution.

If readers’ eyes are not rolling by now, they should be. The Republican Party has instituted the laws, along with their Democratic Party colleagues, that have made it not only possible but likely that innocent people like Melissa Lucio are put on death row.

Lucio has languished in prison for 14 years with little commotion up until this point by the political establishment, despite the state of Texas appealing a US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision in July 2019 overturning the case. Texas has carried out 574 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the most of any state. Texas alone accounts for more than one third of all executions over the last 46 years. This particular case just happened to be too obviously unjust, too exposing and poorly timed for sections of the political establishment. Collectively, they have no concern for justice.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was, in addition to voting on a reprieve, supposed to meet separately to consider a clemency request. According to officials speaking to the New York Post, the Board of Pardons and Paroles decided not to vote on her clemency due to the appeals court ruling. That is, that there is still a possibility that Lucio will be executed.

Sabrina Van Tassel, writer and director of The State of Texas vs. Melissa, told the WSWS, “This was an egregious miscarriage of justice. But I am so happy that my film helped to put light on this just shameful case. This case really represents everything that could have possibly gone wrong in a case. And if we can have that kind of justice in our country, it’s very scary. And when is that good?”

Van Tassel noted there is no date set for a new trial and she thought there was little chance that Lucio would be released pending that trial. It is also very unlikely that the charges against her would be dropped.

To date, the Biden administration and Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott have made no calls for clemency, despite Abbott having the ability to grant one given a recommendation by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the members of which are all appointees of Abbott’s.

Texas is about to execute an innocent woman for a crime that never occurred

Mia Brett
April 25, 2022

Greg Abbott

Melissa Lucio is set to be executed, as the first Hispanic woman in Texas, on April 27 for a crime that never happened.

It’s not just that she is innocent of her daughter’s murder. It’s that her daughter died from a tragic accident and no murder occurred.

On February 15, 2007, Melissa’s 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, fell down a flight of stairs. Two days later she took a nap and never woke up.

Without evidence or confession, prosecutors convicted Lucio of murder in July 2008 and a jury sentenced to death. Now we only have a few days left to get the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Abbott to grant her clemency and stop this execution.

Two hours after Mariah was pronounced dead, police began a six-hour interrogation. Melissa Lucio declared her innocence over 100 times, but after five hours of officers employing the controversial Reid method for interrogations, Lucio broke down and said, “I don’t know what you want me to say … I’m responsible for it … I guess I did it.”

This interrogation technique has led to so many false confessions that a police consulting group said it would stop using it in 2017.

At the time, Lucio had 12 other children and was pregnant with twins. During police interrogation, her children were being questioned in another room. They told investigators they saw Mariah fall down a flight of stairs and appear listless before sleeping for long hours.

Mariah also had a minor disability that likely contributed to her fall and the bruises on her body. None of this was presented at trial to explain Mariah's injuries. Alternatively, scientifically inaccurate testimony was given by the medical examiner to support the theory that Mariah’s injuries were the result of abuse.

Child Protective Services found no evidence of violence or abuse. The District Attorney, who’d later serve 13 years for unrelated corruption, was seeking reelection at the time and needed a high profile win.

Like many women caught in the criminal justice system (86 percent have a history of abuse), Melissa Lucio suffered child sexual abuse from the age of 6. She married at 16 to escape her family but her husband was also abusive and abandoned her and their five children.

Her next partner was also abusive. This lifelong abuse made Lucio particularly vulnerable to police coercion and likely contributed to a demeanor of shock and numbness that made police suspect her.

Eighty percent of women in jail are mothers. Seventy-one percent of exonerated women were convicted of crimes that never happened (though it’s rare for women accused of killing their children to get the death penalty). Lucio and others like her are criminalized when people in their care die accidentally if they’re not seen as “a good mother.”

Now five jurors from Melissa Lucio’s trial have joined the call to halt her execution. In particular, the jurors objected to the trial court allowing police to give testimony that Lucio’s demeanor showed she was guilty, but didn’t allow testimony about her history of abuse. More than 100 Texas state legislators from both parties as well as 130 Christian faith leaders also support clemency for Melissa Lucio.

(Join the fight to save Melissa Lucio and call Governor Abbott’s office, add your name to the petition, and use The Innocence Project’s social media toolkit to spread the word).

Mia Brett, PhD, is a legal historian. She lives with her gorgeous dog, Tchotchke. You can find her @queenmab87

Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala sentenced to life over Gezi Park protests


By Isil Sariyuce and Yusuf Gezer, CNN
Updated Mon April 25, 2022

Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala is seen at a news conference in Belgium in December 2014.

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN)An Istanbul court on Monday sentenced Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala to life in prison for "attempting to overthrow the government," according to state-run news agency Anadolu, concluding a high-profile trial that has concerned Western nations and human rights groups.

Kavala was sentenced in connection with the 2013 anti-government protests in Turkey, which began over a plan to turn a small park in central Istanbul into a shopping mall in the summer.

The demonstrations quickly morphed into larger anti-government rallies across Turkey. The court also sentenced seven other defendants to 18-year prison sentences for aiding an attempt to overthrow the government. Among them was 71-year-old architect Mucella Yapici, Istanbul Municipality urban planner Tayfun Kahraman and documentary filmmaker Cigdem Mater.

Istanbul's 13th Heavy Penal Court ordered that the activists, who were not arrested pretrial, to be immediately arrested, Anadolu reported.

Kavala, his lawyers, other defendants and their lawyers have repeatedly denied the accusations, saying prosecutors lack evidence to support the claims. They are also expected to appeal the verdict.
Kavala, 64, is among Turkey's most high-profile detainees.

He was first arrested in 2017 on charges related to the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul. The trial was closely watched by rights groups, who have accused the Turkish government of using the judicial system to crack down on dissenting voices.

Though Kavala was acquitted in 2020, that verdict was overturned and new charges were brought against him for his alleged involvement in the July 2016 attempted coup, which resulted in the death of at least 250 people and a subsequent crackdown that has seen over 110,000 people, including civil servants, teachers, activists and journalists detained.

Turkish activist Osman Kavala re-arrested hours after his Gezi Park acquittal

Amnesty International called Monday's ruling a "devastating blow" for human rights, saying that the court's decision "defies all logic."

"Today, we have witnessed a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions. This verdict deals a devastating blow not only to Osman Kavala, his co-defendants and their families, but to everyone who believes in justice and human rights activism in Turkey and beyond," Amnesty said in a statement.
Kavala's arrest has strained Turkish government relations with West when 10 ambassadors, including the United States, France and Germany, released a statement asking his freedom and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared them "persona non grata."

In February, Europe's top human rights body, the Council of Europe, launched infringement procedures against Turkey for refusing to abide by a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which called for Kavala's release on grounds that his rights had been violated.

In a statement on Monday, two leading European Parliament ministers following the decision said, "This regrettable decision by the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court is in clear contempt to the rulings of the European Court on Human Rights and will surely bring about consequences in the infringement proceedings ongoing at the Council of Europe."

European Parliament Standing Rapporteur for Turkey Nacho Sánchez Amor and Sergey Lagodinsky, chair of the EU-Turkey Parliamentary Delegation, expressed solidarity with Kavala, the other defendants and their families in their statement.

"(This is a) very sad day not only for them but also for those who daily defend fundamental rights and the rule of law in Turkey and for all those who wish to see the country coming closer to the EU. This is obviously not the way to do it," they said.

"There is little to none EU perspective for the current Turkey, which is sliding away from international consensus on a rule-based order while disrespecting its own international commitments," they added.

Turkish court sentences Erdogan critic Kavala to life in jail

A Turkish court Monday sentenced leading intellectual and rights campaigner Osman Kavala to life in jail on highly controversial coup plot charges that had already seen him locked up without a conviction for more than four years. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer reports from Ankara.

   

US 'Deeply Troubled' By 'Unjust' Conviction Of Turkish Activist Kavala: State Dept

By AFP News
04/25/22

The United States was "deeply troubled" by the conviction Monday of a leading Turkish activist, calling his life sentence on controversial charges of trying to topple the government "unjust," the State Department said.

"The United States is deeply troubled and disappointed by the court's decision to convict Osman Kavala," a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had already been jailed without a conviction for more than four years, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

"His unjust conviction is inconsistent with respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law," Price added.

Demonstrators, including lawyers and opposition lawmakers chant slogans as they gather in front of Istanbul's courthouse after jailed civil society leader Osman Kavala was sentenced to life in prison on controversial charges, a verdict condemned by the US as 'unjust'. Photo: AFP / OZAN KOSE

Washington called for the release of Kavala and "all others arbitrarily incarcerated" in Turkey, denouncing "the continued judicial harassment of civil society, media, political and business leaders in Turkey."

A leading figure in Turkey's civil society, 64-year-old Kavala was accused of financing protests against then-prime minister Erdogan's government during large-scale protests in 2013 and involvement in a failed military coup in 2016. Monday's ruling only covered the case stemming from the 2013 unrest.

Kavala's plight had soured relations between Ankara and Western nations and Monday's ruling from an Istanbul court has drawn swift condemnation from some of Turkey's main allies in the NATO defence alliance as well as rights campaigners.

His treatment has prompted the Council of Europe to launch rare disciplinary proceedings that could ultimately see Turkey's membership suspended in the continent's main human rights grouping.

Belarus: Biggest attack on a trade union in Europe this century

Act NOW!
A LabourStart campaign

April 19 was marked a black day in the history of the independent trade union movement in Belarus. The State Security Service (KGB) arrested more than a dozen trade union activists, including almost all the Union leaders. Among them were President of Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) Alexandr Yarashuk, vice-president Siarhei Antusevich, and the head of the Free Belarusian Trade Union Mikalaj Sharakh. One of them, the head of Free Trade Union of Metal Workers (SPM) Aliaksandr Bukhvostau, had a heart problem and was taken to the hospital. For decades the independent trade union movement in Belarus has taken a strong stand against the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Despite a severe political crackdown, the BKDP has openly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demanded the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the territory of Belarus. Global unions, the ILO, Amnesty International, and others have already condemned the arrests and called for a stop of repression against Belarusian Trade Unions. We demand the immediate release of all the activists and stop the prosecution of independent trade unions in Belarus.

Please join us in sending your message of protest to the Belarusian government demanding the immediate release of the jailed union leaders:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/belarus22

``

In partnership with the International Trade Union Confederation, the European Trade Union Confederation, Building and Wood Worker's International, IndustriALL, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tourism, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations, and UNI Global Union.

Sri Lankan students mob PM’s home over economic crisis
AFP
Published April 25, 2022 

University students protest outside the residence of Sri Lanka's prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa during a demonstration over the country's crippling economic crisis in Colombo. — AFP

COLOMBO: Thousands of Sri Lankan university students mobbed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home on Sunday demanding his resignation over the island nation’s worsening economic crisis.

Months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and acute food and fuel shortages have sparked increasing public discontent in Sri Lanka, which is dealing with its worst economic downturn since independence in 1948.

Sunday’s protest saw student leaders scale the fence of Rajapaksa’s compound in Colombo after police erected barricades on various roads around the capital to stop them from linking up with demonstrators elsewhere.

“You can block the road, but can’t stop our struggle until the entire government goes home,” one unidentified student leader said while standing on top of the walls.

Facing off against rows of police holding riot shields, protesters tried to pull down the barricades preventing them from entering the residence.

Some carried signs that said “Go Home Gota” — the nickname for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is Mahinda’s younger brother — while others wore the Guy Fawkes mask that have become synonymous with anti-establishment movements.

Police said Mahinda Rajapaksa, the head of Sri Lanka’s ruling clan, was not on the premises at the time and the crowd left peacefully.

For more than two weeks, thousands of protesters have been camped daily outside the seafront office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, demanding for him and his brother to step down. Nationwide demonstrations have seen crowds attempt to storm the homes and offices of government figures.

This week a man was shot dead when police fired on a road blockade in the central town of Rambukkana — the first fatality since protests last month.

Sri Lanka’s economic collapse began to be felt after the coronavirus pandemic torpedoed vital revenue from tourism and remittances.

The country is unable to finance essential imports, which has left rice, milk powder, sugar, wheat flour, and pharmaceuticals in short supply, while runaway inflation has worsened hardships.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022

PAKISTAN

‘Haughty culture’

Why are we bent upon making our lives a living hell by refusing to see link between culture and economy?

We see the importance of the economy but insist that it exists in some bubble outside culture and the society that practises it.

Shahzad Sharjeel

Published April 25, 2022

The writer is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled Rindana.


WE love to berate the West, not that it discourages us from doing so. However, we must think hard to come up with an answer to the mother of all questions: can economics be separated from culture? Let us unbundle this.

In Pakistan we love nothing more than hating the Yanks, right? A sure-shot recipe for winning elections. How about the dollar, the lure of immigration, technology, scholarships at top-notch universities though? We are not loath to make use of these, but... . Herein lies the complexity. The ‘but’ is always followed by a rider that has something to do with ‘our culture’ and its perceived superiority over theirs. In other words, we want our culture but also the industrialised world’s economy.

The above argument refuses to die down because we will not acknowledge the connection that economy has with culture, including the ‘superior’ one we are willing to temporarily abandon in favour of the ‘inferior’. The ‘suspension’ too only lasts till we set foot in the land of opportunity. Soon after arrival, we want to impose our culture while savouring their economy whose fruits include social security, healthcare, free basic education, unemployment benefits, student loans, home finance, etc. But, they have learnt all of it from us, goes the argument. Our faith ensured all the above, even when the Europeans lived like barbarians.

Fine. But if we had not forsaken all of it, why would we need to uproot ourselves and bear the humiliation of living in ‘their’ culture, eking out a better living pumping petrol and flipping burgers than the white-collar jobs in the superior culture steeped in spirituality? Ask a question like ‘doesn’t this make their culture better than ours?’, and the answer usually is, ‘but, all of that is because their economy is better than ours’. So, we are confused, if not outright hypocrites.

We see the importance of the economy but insist that it exists in some bubble outside culture and the society that practises it. Additionally, ‘their’ economy is built upon repression, and the blood of millions of innocent human beings lubricates its wheels. Lest anybody forget, remember what was done to the Native Americans? How about the slave trade from Africa? Do not even get us started on Vietnam, Chile and the ‘regime change’ frenzy whose most current episode ran in Islamabad. Spot on, no?


Why do we bear the humiliation of living in ‘their’ culture?

It is hard to absolve it of most of these wrongs. The Western economy, particularly that of its leading superpower the US, is built upon hundreds of years of repression and brutality both at home and abroad. How about the pyramids of skulls erected by Timur, though? We have no qualms naming our boys after him or his ancestor Changez. What about the Armenian genocide? Who wants to even know about it, leave alone lay a claim to it? So, if that was perpetrated by the Turks and they are not ‘us’ then how is Timur ours? Was he not of Turkic origin? How are the Arab conquests ours because they are our co-religionists, hence making them ‘Muslim conquests’, but the Armenian genocide cannot be laid at our door because a different people unleashed it? Were they not our co-religionists as well?

Read: Economy, not culture

No. The purpose of this piece is not to hold the West’s brief, least of all that of the Americans’. Let us for argument’s sake conclude that they are all bad and will eventually get their comeuppance. The question is, why are we bent upon making our lives a living hell by refusing to see the link between culture and economy?

It was not too long ago that seemingly every Afghan, man, woman and child was trying to scale the parapets of Kabul airport, to escape the next citadel of superior culture even if it meant hanging by the wheels of a plane leaving for the lowest sections of hell in the West. They did that knowing that their daughters would not be allowed to attend school.

What were we up to then? We went door-to-door across the world holding a brief for the Afghan Taliban. We beseeched the world to go easy on them, otherwise wave upon wave of refugees would head towards Pakistan. True. However, we forget to add that it is so because we refuse to acknowledge Afghanistan as a sovereign country that is not our backyard for strategic depth.

The culture of shutting out half the population of the country from education is guaranteed to ruin the economy. Before anybody gets smug about how we in Pakistan are nothing like the regime across the Durand Line, do not forget that the thorns sowed in Afghanistan were exported from our nurseries of ‘haughty culture’. While Imran Khan has been derided as ‘Taliban Khan’, the new dispensation has amongst its ranks their biggest sympathisers. The hate culture is looking at the economies of scale.


shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022

'No change in army's approach despite huge protests in support of Pakistan's ousted premier'

Retired military officers believe Imran Khan's 'collision' approach will backfire

Aamir Latif |23.04.2022

KARACHI, Pakistan

Former Pakistani army officers do not foresee any change in the military's current approach towards the country's future "political and constitutional course" despite huge crowds spilling out in support of former Prime Minister Imran Khan following his ouster.

Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power after the 2018 general elections, was ousted through a successful no-trust motion by the opposition alliance earlier this month.

He is the first Pakistani leader ousted through a no-confidence motion in the country's 75-year political history.

Crying foul, the ousted premier heaped the blame for his exit on an "American conspiracy", a claim rejected by the country's powerful army, although it acknowledged there was an "interference" in Islamabad's internal affairs.

Khan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, nonetheless, acknowledged a creeping bitterness in otherwise congenial relations between the ex-prime minister and the army.

"The PTI would have been in power had our relations with the establishment were good," Chaudhry said in an interview with Express News, a local broadcaster, earlier this week.

Confirming that ties with the establishment – a term to designate the army – had been fragile for the past several months, he said his party made "a lot of efforts" to end the rift.

Army and politics

"The army will maintain its approach. There will be no change in its policy because of several crucial factors," Talat Masood, a retired three-star general, opined.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Masood, who served in the military from 1952 to 1990, and took part in two wars against arch-rival India, contended that the former premier's ongoing policy could "only diminish his chances of coming back to power."

A nod from the army, which has ruled this South Asian nuclear country for half of its 75-year history, is considered crucial for any political party to jump to power.

"The first and foremost factor (behind no change in the military's policy) is that the state cannot afford Khan's narrative, which is highly detrimental in terms of economy, foreign policy, and internal and external security," Masood said.

He was referring to Islamabad's longtime dependence on the US and the European Union in terms of military hardware, trade, and financial aid, particularly from international monetary agencies, which are heavily influenced by Washington.

"It is high time for Khan to review his current approach, which is not at all in the country's interest. He will definitely continue to enjoy (his) cult following, but it will not benefit the nation as a whole," he went on to argue.

The cricketer-turned-politician enjoys massive support among the youths, and nearly 9 million overseas Pakistanis, who took to the streets across the country to protest his ouster.

"Khan must exploit this potential in his favor positively rather than choosing a collision course," he maintained.

Endorsing Masood's views, Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier, observed that political gatherings or crowds, no matter how big they are, will not change the army's policy.

"Khan has a big following. But it's not that big, which can dictate the state. He can come back to the power through elections, and not by forcing the state," Shah, who served in the military from 1970 to 2002, told Anadolu Agency.

"He will soon realize that he is pursuing a wrong approach."

'Pacification' campaign

Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa has held a string of meetings with serving and retired military officers in recent days, which according to analysts, is part of a "pacification" and "realization of factual position" campaign in the face of criticism the army is facing for its alleged role in the change of regime in the country.

"The ongoing campaign, especially on social media, which aims to target the army has affected the ranks and files of the military. And this is quite understandable because the army men don't live in isolation. They have families, friends, and acquaintances with different political backgrounds," said retired army Brig. Said Nazir.

Khan's ouster, he said, did not sit well not only with his supporters, but many retired military officers, who took to the streets or the social media to express their peeve, which was "unprecedented."

"That's why the army chief is meeting with serving and retired officers to clarify the military's position on the recent political developments," Nazir, who served in the army from 1973 to 2008, told Anadolu Agency.

Without realizing the long-term effects, he argued, Khan chose a collision course for "short-term political benefits", which has backfired.

"It is not good for an already economically weak and politically polarized country. We cannot afford this (approach) when it comes to national security and foreign policy," he went on to say.

"It will not benefit him (Khan) either. I don't think the army will bid for him to be the country's leader, at least in near future," he contended.

Imran Khan’s rallies

DAWN

Editorial

Published April 23, 2022 -

AFTER three massive rallies in Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore, Imran Khan has proven that he still commands significant respect. The sudden revival of his political fortunes was quite unexpected, and it goes to show how shrewdly he has played the political hand he was dealt.

The reaffirmation of his supporters’ faith in him should give him enough confidence to proceed headlong into his campaign for early elections. As a leader, he ought to take this opportunity to turn a fresh page and rewrite his political destiny based on lessons learnt from his first stint in power. It is unfortunate that he, instead, continues to amplify a toxic narrative that risks turning the people of Pakistan against the state, its institutions and even themselves.

From between the lines of an angry speech, which has varied little from city to city, Mr Khan has demanded from the powers that be that they give him an early election. It is the only way, he says, to set right the wrong that he believes was done to him.

The call for a march on Islamabad, to be announced at a date of his choosing, is leverage for enforcing that demand. It remains to be seen how seriously and enthusiastically it is taken up by his supporters, if indeed matters come to that. However, it does have the potential to throw another spanner in the works for the new coalition government, which suddenly finds itself with everything to lose after walking itself into a political quagmire littered with economic landmines.

Editorial: Imran’s choice

Still, Mr Khan must realise that the best-laid plans often go awry.

Dharnas and jalsas alone may not be enough to sway the umpire’s finger, as they once did in 2014. His graph may be rising today, but political fortunes are fickle and subject to the vagaries of time. It would be prudent, therefore, that he finds a new tune to pipe for the people following him.

There has always been something distinctly Orwellian about Mr Khan’s vision for a ‘Naya Pakistan’, but the heady mix of religion and hyper-nationalism he has introduced in recent speeches takes it to another level. Granted that most among our political lot simply cannot resist appealing to our basest instincts when attempting to turn our loyalties against each other, but turning political differences with rival parties into grounds for hate and revulsion of the other is not only unnecessary; it is deplorable.

Mr Khan often describes Mohammad Ali Jinnah as his “only leader”, forgetting that it was statecraft and diplomacy that made Mr Jinnah ‘Quaid-i-Azam’. If Mr Khan wishes to emulate the Quaid, he needs something substantially more wholesome than a narrative that paints anyone who has ever disagreed with him as a traitor. He ought to rise above the politics of hate and adopt a narrative of inclusion and reconciliation instead.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022

VANCOUVER ISLAND

‘It just breaks your heart’: Island animal rescues are overwhelmed by people surrendering their COVID-19 pets

Posted: Apr. 23, 2022 
CHEK

A desperate situation continues to develop at Vancouver Island animal rescues, as unwanted COVID-19 pets return in waves.

At Duncan’s Humanity for Horses Rescue, founder Rebecca Sanesh said she’s received seven pleas from people wanting to surrender in just the last month alone and is worried that people are becoming desperate.

“It just breaks your heart to think of what’s happening,” said Sanesh.

According to the Victoria Humane Society, it’s the worse rate of surrender they have ever seen.

“It seems like non-stop. The amount of surrenders we’re getting now is way higher than we’ve ever seen, I would say owner-surrenders alone are 10 times what we used to see, we get calls every single day and everything’s urgent,” said Victoria Humane Society’s executive director, Penny Stone.

At Parksville’s Flying Fur Small Animal Rescue, it’s overwhelming their already small resources, as people surrender to travel, go back to work, or blame a lack of time now, to care for their four-legged friends.

“It’s just at an enormous level we’re not used to seeing. We’re sometimes getting up to 20 animals a day and our vet costs are just through the roof,” said Flying Fur Small Animal Rescue’s Leah Moore.

It’s a trend first seen last fall, when the so-called COVID-19 pets people were adopting for many thousands of dollars during the pandemic suddenly began being surrendered. Yet now rescues say the volume pouring in is becoming unmanageable.

“Absolute helplessness because you don’t want to say no but you have to,” said Sanesh.

Sanesh said in addition to all of the surrenders, the cost of feeding the rescue’s horses and donkeys has gone up 80 per cent in the last year alone.

“There’s another rescue that’s feeding straw because they can’t afford the price of hay and then if they can’t find hay they can’t pay for it,” said Sanesh.

So Saturday, Lisa Petrovic who adopted her horse — named Danny — from the rescue volunteered to help.

“Today I brought a load of hay. I plan on bringing another load of hay to the rescue from a donator,” said Petrovic.

sryan@cheknews.ca

INDIA

Deserted In Pandemic: Why The Worst Isn’t Over For Pets

Noida News

April 23, 2022 by chahlatte

Noida: The pandemic has been cruel for pets. First came rumors of the animals being carriers of the virus. Then the catastrophic second wave hit, leaving many pets without their families. Over the two years, dozens of pets have been rescued from homes or abandoned at shelters.

The return to normalcy that 2022 has kindled hopes of, with Covid showing signs of becoming endemic, hasn’t, however, reversed the trend of pets becoming homeless, say animal welfare NGOs working in Delhi-NCR.

In 2020, the Animal Shelter and Hospital in Sector 94, the only largescale one running in Noida, took in 40 pet dogs from March onwards. The next year saw 90 such cases and three dozen dogs have already been let go by their keepers in the first three months of 2022.

“It is devastating for us to see pet dogs initially brought up by a family get abandoned. Of all the breeds, we find pit bulls abandoned the most,” says Anuradha Dogra, a volunteer at the shelter that is being run by Dhyan Foundation.

Dogra cited examples. Bella, nearly 3 years old, is a pit bull found this January. She had a dead puppy attached to her belly when she was rescued.

The shelter suspects Bella’s keepers did not want to get her medical treatment after she gave birth. “The pit bull, treated and recovered, is now waiting for her forever home,” she said.

It’s not just Covid distress, say activists, that’s led to pets turning homeless. People rushed to adopt pets for company because they felt lonely confined to their homes during lockdowns, only to realize later they were not prepared for it. As a result, labradors, huskies, great danes, beagles, pit bulls and other breeds have been found loitering on streets and taken to shelters by animal lovers.

“We got a St Bernard in the first week of March. He died within a week… heartbreak or heat, we can’t tell,” says Dogra, referring to the breeds that aren’t meant to live in the harsh summers of India.

Kaveri Rana Bhardwaj, who runs the Sophie Memorial Animal Relief Trust in Greater Noida, says her shelter had taken in three abandoned dogs in the recent weeks. “In my rescue home, I end up taking 4-5 dogs every month. Cases of deserting pets have not decreased and we can’t even blame a Covid outbreak right now. Some of the families do it because they are shifting cities and don’t want the hassle of taking their dog with them. Others who adopted dogs during the pandemic now say the pets are aggressive or too energetic for them to handle,” she says.

Recently, Bhardwaj says, she rescued a one-year-old American bully that a family didn’t want because he apparently bit the children. “I’ve had him for three weeks and have not seen any sign of aggression in him,” she says.

Many people who adopted pets did not realize the animals need a lifetime of care and affection. For those who did, job losses and deaths in the family because of Covid may have forced their hand. “Employment and pandemic losses over the last two years may have dissociated many from keeping pets,” says Dogra.

Pets also aren’t all the same. Some breeds of dogs need more exercise, and others may need special grooming in this hot and humid weather. “People need to do some research before keeping pets. For instance, with pit bulls, they are not supposed to be raised in small houses or apartments. These are high-energy dogs who thrive in cooler climates. In a warmer place with little space for them, they can become aggressive because they are uncomfortable all the time,” Bhardwaj says.

Vikas Gautam, who runs a dog shelter home in Sector 163, agreed. “Covid has badly impacted on individual’s income. This is one of the major reasons why more pet dogs are getting abandoned after Covid struck.”

Delhi-based NGO Friendicoes says it has been seeing a similar trend. “Sometimes, this has happened because a family member died and extended relatives can’t take care of the dog. Other times, family members have to go back to office (after working from home for two years) and no longer have the time for a pet,” says Shreya Agnihotri, a volunteer at the NGO.

For those abandoned, rehabilitation is not easy. Veterinary doctors say that even if pet dogs recover from the physical and mental trauma of being left to fend for themselves on the streets, they don’t find people willing to take them. “People prefer to take puppies home,” says Dogra.

“They go into depression. They can stop eating, become aggressive or less active. An abandoned dog needs a lot of care and love. If they don’t, most of the time, they end up losing their lives,” says Dr Pankaj Chaudhary, a veterinarian practicing in Greater Noida West.

 

Deserted In Pandemic: Why The Worst Isn’t Over For Pets

Apr 24, 2022

Animals Planet

The pandemic has been cruel for pets.

First came rumours of the animals being carriers of the virus.

Then the catastrophic second wave hit, leaving many pets without their families.

Over the two years, dozens of pets have been rescued from homes or abandoned at shelters.

The return to normalcy that 2022 has kindled hopes of, with Covid showing signs of becoming endemic, hasn’t, however, reversed the trend of pets becoming homeless, say animal welfare NGOs working in Delhi-NCR.

In 2020, the Animal Shelter and Hospital in Sector 94, the only largescale one running in Noida, took in 40 pet dogs from March onwards.

The next year saw 90 such cases and three dozen dogs have already been let go by their keepers in the first three months of 2022.

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“It is devastating for us to see pet dogs initially brought up by a family get abandoned.