TUNISIA

Censorship or no censorship, at the Book Fair opinions differ
BOOKS

Katherine Celebrities a day ago REPORT

-
Tunisians visit the 37th International Book Fair open on April 29, 2023 in Tunis

Return of censorship or not in Tunisia? Saturday at the Tunis International Book Fair, opinions differ the day after the withdrawal of an essay criticizing President Kais Saied and the closing of the stand of his publishing house.

The publisher of the book “The Tunisian Frankenstein”, illustrated by a caricature of Mr. Saied, reopened his stand at the end of the morning, assuring AFP that he had “cleared up misunderstandings” with the organizers of the Fair.

On Friday, security agents had seized all the copies for sale and closed the stand of “La Maison du Livre”, a major Tunisian publisher, arguing of “possession of unauthorized books”.

And this less than an hour after the inauguration of the Fair by President Saied, who came to launch a fervent appeal “to free thought”.

After removing the tarpaulin covering his stand on which he had affixed the sign “closed by an arbitrary decision”, Habib Zoghbi of the Maison du Livre retracted his accusations of “censorship” on Saturday.

“The book in question was not confiscated for its content but because it was not on the list initially presented to the management of the fair as required by the regulations”, assured its publisher.

This fictionalized essay is presented by its author Kamel Riahi as a “political” book, evoking a Frankenstein personified by Kais Saied, elected according to him by surfing on the anger and frustrations of a people disappointed by the system in place since the 2011 Revolution. , the first of the Arab Spring.

Regretting “hot statements”, the publisher insisted that the withdrawal of the book “was not censorship but a question of procedure”. He said he omitted it from his initial list, following delays in printing.

Mr. Zoghbi assured that a few copies “are available in bookstores in Tunis”, that it will be reprinted and should return to the Fair by its end on May 7.

Read more

On the neighboring stand, of the publisher Mashrinalia, closed on Friday “in solidarity” with the Maison du Livre, the manager remains convinced that the refusal of a book not registered beforehand is only a “pretext to censor it” .

Mortadha Hamza evokes “a book which traces what is happening for the opponents of the president” who denounce “an authoritarian drift” since Kais Saied’s coup of July 25, 2021 by which he granted himself full powers.-

– “not normal” –

“It’s not normal that in 2023 we can censor the idea, the writing, under any pretext,” he says.

Despite everything, he reopened his stand on Saturday, “the first real day of the Fair” where families flock to take advantage of deep discounts on the usually very expensive books.

On the stand of the publisher Nirvana which faces the Maison du Livre, Mohamed Bennour relativizes from the top of his 70 years, including more than 40 in publishing, the incident around the book.

According to him, the obligation to provide a list of exhibited books in advance “has existed for a long time” and dates back to the era of the father of independence Habib Bourguiba (1956-1987).

It was intended, he said, to avoid the introduction of books “by Salafists and fundamentalists teaching the techniques of terrorism or to fight against the secular state”.

The procedure was maintained under the dictator Ben Ali who had also set up censorship committees for literature and cinema.

And it continued after the 2011 Revolution and the fall of the regime for fear of the exhibition of works “inciting to manufacture weapons or explosives”, he adds.

“This rule is known and the publisher had accepted it like all of us. So, either we play the game, or we decide not to participate in the Fair as some publishers have done”, believes Mr. Bennour.

On the other hand, the publisher would like a revision of this procedure “in consultation between the cultural authorities, the publishers and the booksellers”.

“The fact of imposing a list is a form of censorship and control of the books exhibited, and that is abnormal,” he admits.

fka/hj

-

Morocco: How French Guiana became a refuge for Sahrawis fleeing repression

Middle East Eye meets Sahrawis who fled to Latin America to seek asylum in an overseas department of France looking for safety

Moroccan Sahrawis used to try to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. But some are now heading to South America (AFP/Dominique Faget)

By Pauline Chambost in
Cayenne, French Guiana
Published date: 30 April 2023 

Seated alone by the sea on the terrace of Les Amandiers, a famous cafe in Cayenne, Saïd* frantically exchanges vocal notes with his family. Amid the conversations in Creole, French, and Brazilian that surround him, his Hassani Arabic stands out. But perhaps, less and less.

Saïd, 25, arrived in French Guiana in December. He is originally from Guelmim, in southwestern Morocco, and says he is fleeing "persecution from the Moroccan regime" in what he calls "occupied Western Sahara".

Western Sahara is 80 percent controlled by Morocco but considered a "non-autonomous territory" by the UN.

This situation has pitted Rabat against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who have been supported by Algiers, since 1975.

Since the recognition of the "Moroccanness" of Western Sahara by Washington in December 2020 - in return for the resumption of its relations with Israel - Rabat has been pressing the international community to follow the American example.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

For several months now, more and more Sahrawis like Said have been arriving on this French territory in South America to seek asylum.

The phenomenon is too recent to be quantified but it has been documented by the French refugee rights group Cimade.

Several Sahrawi activists from France interviewed by Middle East Eye confirm this spike in Sahrawi asylum seekers, which is also corroborated by a simple walk through the streets of Cayenne.

Stopover in Turkey

Moroccans wishing to migrate to Europe usually try to reach it via the Mediterranean.

Those who leave the south of the kingdom sometimes embark from Tan-Tan (in the southwest of Morocco) and head towards the Canary Islands.

But the danger of the crossing is increasingly dissuading people from leaving, several asylum seekers tell MEE.

Sahrawis, therefore, decide to fly to Brazil after a stopover in Turkey, two countries to which they have visa-free access. This migratory route has been used for several years now by Syrians, Afghans, and Palestinians.

We met Tel Yacoub* in another cafe in downtown Cayenne. He showed us a Facebook post reporting several migrants found drowned in Sidi Ifni, off the Atlantic coast, justifying his trip to Brazil as a safer alternative.

Yacoub hails from a village near Assab, an oasis in southwestern Morocco, about 60km from the 2,700km Western Sahara Wall, erected by Morocco in the 1980s and which cuts Western Sahara into two parts, one controlled by Morocco and the other by the Polisario Front, an armed political movement demanding the independence of Western Sahara.

US approves $524m sale of Himar rocket launchers to Morocco

Read More »

Yacoub said he learned of the existence of this alternative route from news reports on Al-Jazeera.

Arriving in Sao Paulo, asylum seekers usually take several flights to reach Macapá, in northeastern Brazil.

From there, by bus they reach the Oyapock River, a natural border with French Guiana.

Saïd opted for a stopover in Doha, during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, to avoid suspicion from Moroccan police.

The total cost of his trip was around 2,000 euros.

Said says it was in 2013 that the Moroccan authorities put him - a member of a famous activist family - as he puts it, "in the crosshairs".

Guelmim is however 300km north of Western Sahara.

Yacoub proudly recounted that he took part in protests, stood up to the geography teacher who presented a map of Morocco that included the Sahara, and sprayed Sahrawi slogans and flags on the walls of the city.

During his studies, he organised rallies on the history of the Sahara and political prisoners with other activists.

This resulted in a court summons for his parents, detention in police custody for him, and even torture, he tells MEE.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has denounced the Moroccan crackdown on Sahrawi freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

This includes "unnecessary and disproportionate use of force" by security forces to disperse demonstrations, as well as: "Searches without warrants, arbitrary arrests and detentions, unlawful and arbitrary surveillance measures, harassment, intimidation and destruction of property."

Sleep on a balcony

It was because Yacoub “ended up in the hospital” and his situation was the most problematic that he was the first of his siblings to leave.

“Inshallah my big brother will join me soon,” he hopes.

For the sake of doing the right thing, perhaps for fear of not being taken seriously, Saïd substantiates his story by showing papers from the French refugee office (OFPRA) and the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII) which he has meticulously filed in a document holder.

The young economics graduate is now awaiting response from the French administration.

This photograph taken on 15 October 2022 shows a general view of Cayenne,

 taken from the Ceperou Fort in French Guiana (AFP)

The 28-year-old Hassan*, who we met at Amandiers cafe, has already received a decision and is officially recognised as a refugee. Like the others, he lives in a suburb of Cayenne. He rents a room for 150 euros a month, thanks to the 250 euros he is paid by the state and his family's savings.

Amina*, a young Saharawi activist who arrived in Cayenne a few weeks ago without mastering a word of French or English, says she sleeps on a balcony belonging to an acquaintance.

“French Guiana is a territory that has always had a fairly high number of asylum applications but an extremely low number of accommodations," Lucie Curet, Cimade's representative in the Americas, told MEE.

The state must provide accommodation for the duration of the application procedure: this may be a place in a reception centre, in emergency accommodation for asylum seekers (CADA/HUDA), in a hotel, or in an apartment.

In general, part of the allowance for asylum seekers (ADA) is automatically taken to pay for this accommodation at the hotel. "While 40 percent of asylum seekers were housed in France, the rate was below 10 percent here," she added.

Until 2021, the overwhelming majority came from Haiti and relied on the diaspora to find accommodation, often in slums.

Faced with the arrival of people from the Middle East who were sleeping in the streets of the city center, the prefecture finally set up accommodation structures.

'French Guiana is a territory that has always had a fairly high number of asylum applications but an extremely low number of accommodations'

- Lucie Curet, Cimade

But their capacities remain insufficient.

Hassan, Said, Yacoub, and the other Sahrawis MEE met all claim not to have access to this system.

These free public structures are reserved for families and vulnerable people.

However, they do not complain about their living conditions. One of them insists: “The objective was to be safe. And that is the case now, so we are not disappointed."

Although Lucie Curet remarks that French Guiana now registers fairly high protection rates, these young people are not certain of obtaining the desired status.

In 2021, OFPRA granted protection to 41 Sahrawis while 492 others were denied.

Included in this total are people from Western Sahara on either side of the wall, including refugees from Tindouf, in Algeria, who are opposed to the Polisario Front.

Even if the French administration has responded positively in this case, Yacoub does not wish to join the metropolis and would prefer to stay in French Guiana.

“Even if life is expensive, the towns are small and the climate is mild, like ours." So he is ready, for his own safety, to exchange the dry heat of southern Morocco for the humidity of the Amazon.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

RED SHIRTS

Thailand’s election race heats up with opposition party Pheu Thai dominating poll

Supporters of the Pheu Thai party, which is leading in the race, cheer during a campaign rally in Bangkok, on April 24, 2023. 

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

BANGKOK – Thailand’s main opposition party, Pheu Thai, is in prime position ahead of the country’s hotly contested May 14 general election, with the latest poll showing it has a significant lead over its political rivals.

Pheu Thai, which has a longstanding affiliation with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, won the backing of 41.37 per cent of roughly 162,000 eligible voters surveyed, according to the Suan Dusit Poll released on Saturday. The nationwide poll was conducted between April 10 and April 20.

The Move Forward Party, which proposes some of the most reform-minded progressive policies, is second, with 19.32 per cent support. The United Thai Nation Party of incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha received 8.48 per cent, while the Palang Pracharath party led by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan saw 7.49 per cent support.

The election is shaping up to be a battle between the pro-establishment groups of the ruling military-backed coalition and a pro-democracy camp of opposition parties.

The major parties are all promising a similar package of cash handouts, higher minimum wages and the suspension of debt repayments to woo about 52 million voters.

In another survey by Thai language newspapers Matichon and Daily News released on Saturday, the Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat was the top choice for premier, with 49.17 per cent support. He was followed by two candidates from Pheu Thai: Mr Thaksin’s youngest daughter, Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, with 19.59 per cent backing, and Mr Srettha Thavisin with 15.54 per cent.

The poll was conducted virtually, and results were based on some 78,000 respondents between April 22 and April 28.

The popularity of Mr Prayuth and Mr Prawit, both of whom are retired generals, continues to trail behind the prime ministerial candidates from the opposition camp. The incumbent premier received 6.52 per cent support, while the Palang Pracharath Party leader was picked by just 2.35 per cent of respondents. 

BLOOMBERG

How women-led companies are trying to make condoms more appealing — to everyone

Social Sharing

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Email
• Reddit

Canadian companies Jems and Slipp aim to change how condoms are marketed

James Dunne · CBC News · Posted: Apr 30, 2023

Whitney Geller and Yasemin Emory of Toronto co-founded condom company Jems because they felt the established brands on drug store shelves aren't appealing to women or LGBTQ+ consumers. (Heather Waldron/CBC)

With sexually transmitted infections surging to alarming levels in Canada and the U.S. over several years, a number of female entrepreneurs have moved into the condom industry, intent on making change.   

The $8.3 billion US global business is dominated by five massive companies that produce brands like Durex, Trojan and Lifestyles. And it was drug stores shelves, packed with hyper-masculine images from some of those brands, that inspired the Canadian women behind two new companies to get into the market. 

Their plan? To change how condoms are marketed and sold to make them more appealing to any gender or sexuality, normalizing the idea that anyone can buy them. 

Whitney Geller and Yasemin Emory co-founded Toronto-based Jems in 2020, after being surprised on a trip to the pharmacy by what they say are the toxic stereotypes and embarrassing imagery they found on some condom packaging.

"It looked like something from the 1950s," said Geller. 

"It all seemed to be speaking to males," added Emory, "certainly we noticed we felt excluded."

Victoria Lyons started London, Ont.-based Slipp in 2021. When she quit hormonal birth control and was seeking condoms, she says she felt put off by the warrior icon of Trojan packages, and others focused on performance.       

"You kind of feel like the products there aren't really speaking to you or aren't necessarily made with you in mind."

Now, Jems and Slipp are among 10 female-owned condom companies CBC News found around the world in an online search, most quite new to the business. 

Doing condoms differently

Both Jems and Slipp are taking a different approach to branding and who they're targeting as customers. 

At Jems, Emory says, "we wanted it to be a fun name, something light, playful." They wanted a gender-neutral and inclusive overall look, said Geller, "so it feels like it's not for women or for men, it's really for everyone."   

The demographic they're focused on is the teens to late 20s crowd known as Gen Z. Their goal is to take away the awkwardness or stigma of buying condoms for any shopper.   

• Syphilis cases on the rise across the province, warns B.C. Centre for Disease Control

• 7 in 10 Canadians don't use condoms: McMaster University

At Slipp, the packaging is purple and pink, and Lyons says the focus is to normalize women carrying condoms.

Both companies also say their products are made with only natural latex and 100 per cent silicone lubrication, to reduce vaginal irritation and skin reactions. 

The condom section at a downtown Toronto Pharmasave store is dominated by the Trojan brand. Female entrepreneurs are trying to make condoms more inclusive with gender neutral packaging and other changes. (Heather Waldron/CBC)

A tough business

Getting into the condom business isn't easy.  A 2021 research report says more than 35 billion condoms are sold globally every year, but only a handful of factories in the world make them and the minimum orders are huge.

Lyons crowdfunded and used savings to pay for her initial order of 300,000 condoms with Slipp. With only a few independent shops carrying her brand, she says most of her business is online.

"The pressure is definitely on given there's so much inventory," she said.     

Victoria Lyons started her condom company, Slipp, in 2021 to normalize the idea of women carrying condoms. Slipp is based in London, Ont., and sells primarily online. (Submitted by Victoria Lyons)

The pressure is on Jems, too. 

Geller and Emory started Jems as a side hustle from the design company they own together.  After three years, Jems has a staff of five and deals with major retailers. 

A key part of the company's plan: make sure its product isn't sold just in drug store condom sections, but instead is alongside other essentials, like hand sanitizer or sunscreen. The idea seems to be working. 

Jems is the only condom carried by Whole Foods Canada, is stocked in select Loblaws in Ontario, and is being  launched in 150 Target stores in the U.S. The company has raised money from investors for online advertising to help sell several hundred thousand condoms and stay on store shelves.

"It is nominal though in comparison to what the major brands are spending," said Geller, so Jems is using social media and event partnerships to boost its profile.

Jems has landed deals with three major retailers, Whole Foods Canada, Loblaws in Ontario and Target in the U.S. Here, their product is displayed near body washes in a downtown Toronto Loblaws store. (Jems)

The danger of pink-washing

Farrah Khan, a gender equity advocate and the Executive Director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, said she hopes women getting involved in the condom industry will help flip the sexual script that only men should carry condoms and control when they're used. 

Khan says to be truly inclusive it's important companies invest in women's health and the health of gender non-binary people, "to understand what people's needs are, how they have sexual communication, how they want to have condoms be used to prevent other things besides just pregnancy." 

• ANALYSIS
  Free contraception — the intended consequences of Alberta NDP's new promise

• France to make condoms free for those 25 and younger amid rise of STIs

"Obviously we don't want just a pink-washing," she added, "where they're like, 'oh, we put a pretty flower on it, we're done.'"

An international trend 

Both Jems and Slipp are part of an international trend. A female-owned condom company in India called Bleu launched in 2019, and there are two in Australia, Get Down, which started in 2020, and Jonny, founded in 2018. 

In the U.K., there's Hanx, which started in 2017 and was co-founded by a gynecologist. 

In the U.S., several female-owned companies make sexual health products, including condoms, like Maude (with actor Dakota Johnson as a partner), Lola, (Serena Williams and model Karlie Kloss are investors), and Lovability, which was founded in 2013. 

• Everything you want to ask about STIs but maybe haven't yet

• Saskatchewan group launches cheeky condom wrappers in Indigenous languages

Lyons said she sees all of them as part of an evolution. She points out that sexual health products have gone mainstream, with vibrators and lubricants now carried by retailers like Indigo and Sephora. 

"I really feel like we're seeing a shift," she said, "talking more about sex in a healthy way with female pleasure and health and reproductive health at the forefront."

Lyons recalls launching her business in May last year, on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the abortion rights case Roe v Wade was leaked. She says it made her feel like what she was doing was even more important. 

"The mission behind the business really is about empowering women in particular to feel in control of their reproductive health," she said.

• PARENTAL GUIDANCE
  Reproductive rights should be a vital part of sex ed — and that means talking to your kids about abortion

At Jems, the founders also feel their business can make a difference.     

"There can be a real positive outcome if we're able to shift the mindset around condoms," Emory said. 

UK republicans eye coronation to rally support

By AFP
April 30, 2023

Pressure group Republic, which wants an elected British head of state, plans to protest at the coronation 

- Copyright AFP Paul ELLIS

Valentine GRAVELEAU, Joe JACKSON

Despite his surname, Ryan King will not be among those waving Union Jack flags at the coronation of King Charles III next week.

Instead, he plans to protest on the historic royal occasion, dressed in a yellow T-shirt with the provocative slogan: “Abolish the monarchy.”

“The monarchy has no place in modern society given how outdated and undemocratic it is,” King, 40, told AFP.

He aims to join other protesters rallied by the pressure group Republic, which wants the monarch replaced by an elected head of state.

Republicans have long been a fringe group in Britain. But their voices have been getting louder since the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year.

Charles, who inherited the crown automatically, has been trailed by protesters holding up signs proclaiming: “Not my king!”

Republic’s chief executive Graham Smith sees the spectacle of dazzling jewels and golden carriages as a chance to make their case, particularly as Britons struggle with the rising cost of living.

That makes it “more fertile ground” for recruitment. “People are far more willing to listen and engage,” he added.

Times have also changed since Britons gave deference to those deemed their social superiors.

“People are far more critical generally of our political system, which comes into this whole debate not just about the royals but about the constitution and the government and parliament,” Smith said.

“And they are far less interested in the royals.”

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams agreed that for the first time, the republican movement was “showing its teeth”.

But he said it still failed to have major political support.

– ‘Tepid’ –

To get its point across, Republic has become more active than ever on social media, to try to mobilise its 130,000-strong base and expand its numbers.

It sends out regular emails about upcoming protests, including last week for a visit by the king and queen to Liverpool, in northwest England.

“Not my king” placards have as a result become more visible. Such protests were virtually unthinkable during Elizabeth’s reign.

A recent YouGov poll indicated that most Britons (58 percent) still support the monarchy. But Smith still sees that as at most “tepid”.

“You’re still going to get a good crowd in London (on coronation day),” he added.

“A lot of people will go because they want to see something which is historic… it doesn’t necessarily translate into royalism.”

Republicans prefer instead to concentrate on levels of support among younger people.

The YouGov poll indicated that 32 percent of those aged 18-24 supported the monarchy, against 38 percent who wanted an elected head of state.

“Polling that shows attitudes towards the monarchy are changing as the younger generation comes to the fore and quite rightly asks themselves, what’s the point of the monarchy?” said King.

But Sean Lang, a history professor at Anglia Ruskin University, disagrees: young people have never been enthusiastic about the monarchy, he said.

“I think republicans who see the polling as evidence that the end of the monarchy is round the corner are indulging in wishful thinking,” he added.

– Democratic –

Unlike the revolutionaries of old, who brought down foreign kings and queen with violence, Smith does not see the current crop of republicans as radicals.

“What we’re proposing isn’t particularly radical, it’s democratic,” he argued.

Instead of the hereditary principle of monarchy, they want a fully elected parliament and elected head of state, plus a written constitution that clearly separates powers.

“Our focus is getting the public on board and to push for a referendum,” he said.

Unlike recent direct action protests in London by environmental groups, Smith says they have “no plans to disrupt the actual procession”.

They are expecting supporters to be spread out along the route with about 1,000 at Trafalgar Square to chant “Not my king” as Charles passes by.

“There are huge swathes of society in desperate need of help and those are all far worthier causes for where our money should be spent,” said King.

“Parading a gold carriage through the capital isn’t going to solve any of these problems.

In pictures: Celtic fire festival celebrated with burning of giant wicker phoenix

By James King

30 April 2023,

A traditional Celtic fire festival to mark the coming of summer has been held at Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire.

The experimental archaeology site in Waterlooville hosted the burning of a giant winged phoenix “wicker man” at dusk to mark the pagan quarter-day farming celebration of Beltane or Beltain, which has connections to later May Day celebrations.

Performers from the Steamship Circus and the Pentacle Drummers took part, along with living history interpreters, including some dressed as Roman soldiers.

Here are some of the best pictures.







 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MAYDAY 

Worth Reprinting

A witch in the family

Karin Helmstaedt, DW

For Walpurgis Night, the April 30 feast associated with witchcraft in German folklore, DW's Karin Helmstaedt looked into the tragic story of her ancestor who was burned as a witch in Winningen.


I remember the day I learned we had a witch in the family. I walked with my parents up a leafy hillside overlooking Winningen, a picturesque wine-making town on the banks of Germany's Moselle River. It was a pilgrimage to the top of the "Hexenhügel," or Witches' Hill, where a sombre obelisk commemorates 21 people who died as a result of the Winningen Witch Trials.

For a Canadian kid just discovering Europe, it was quite a revelation. My mind was instantly filled with horrifying images. I ran my finger over the rough engraving of my 9th great-grandmother's name: Margarethe Kröber. She had died over 300 years earlier, burned as a witch in November 1642.

Decades later, I was still haunted by her story and tried to find out more.

"Her case is particularly tragic," historian Walter Rummel told me. The hands-down expert on the topic in Winningen says the area was unique for the fact that its extensive witch trial records — over 8,000 pages worth — were not only highly detailed but also extraordinarily well preserved. Cross-referenced with tax records, church and commercial registers, they offered a window into how the townspeople reacted to the threat of alleged witches in their midst — and how some knew to use the situation to their advantage.

A complex chapter

The European Witch Hunts represent a complicated chapter, and by its very nature misconceptions abound.

Add literature, radical feminist politics and the rise of Neo-Pagan religious movements like Wicca into the mix — and things get even murkier. From the Brothers Grimm to the Wizard of Oz, mythology surrounding the figure of the witch has been crystallized into our cultural subconscious.

In the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Hansel and Gretel are captured by a witch living in the forest

But beyond the imagery we often see as historical fact — for instance, that witches were burned at the stake in the Middle Ages, that midwives or red-haired women were most likely to be targeted, or that witch hunts were an instrument of the patriarchal Church to keep women down — things were far more complex. Early modern Europe saw a collusion of circumstances — social, political, religious and climactic — that set the stage for three centuries of witch hunts.

Wolfgang Behringer, an expert on early modern history, researched this tumultuous period and found that the major waves of witch hunts in Europe were linked with a noticeable climatic deterioration now referred to as the Little Ice Age (1306-1860), when a prevalence of epidemics and natural disasters meant European populations were massively stressed — and looking for explanations.

"If we assume that failed harvests played a big role in the desire for witch hunts, then we find that most of them are not initiated by the State or the Church, but rather by the populace," said Behringer, who describes with hunts as a "form of protest" initiated by citizens.

Witch hunts had less to do with religion and more to do with forms of settlement, added Behringer: "There are practically no witch hunts in nomadic societies, or if a population is sparse. The village structure where people sit on top of each other, watch each other and get suspicious if any misfortune occurs, is (a more likely scenario for witch hunts) as so often witch trials are about subsistence."

According to Rita Voltmer, historian and author of "Hexen" (2008), the figure of the witch was repeatedly instrumentalized — and romanticized — by early feminists like Matilda Joslyn Gage and even by Nazi propagandists to bolster the argument that the Catholic Church was the main driver of witch hunts.

"They were all part of this movement that took up the idea of the wise woman priestess — sometimes of Celtic origin, sometimes of Germanic origin — and that the blond and red-haired women, our forefathers and mothers, were deliberately persecuted by the Jewish-influenced Christian Church that was out to destroy the true Germanic race," she said.

DW's Karin Helstaedt returned to Winningen to find out more about her ancestor's fate

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW

A lethal mix in Germany

Currently experts agree that some 50-60,000 people died between 1450 and 1789 in Europe as a result of witch hunts. And while there were "hot spots" in many countries, it's a grim fact that roughly half — or 25,000 — were killed within the boundaries of present-day Germany.

Nearly 80% of the victims were women, but there were stark regional variations and in places like Iceland, Russia, or the province of Normandy, the vast majority of those accused of witchcraft or sorcery were men.

In Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, the persecution of witches had a legal basis, thanks to the "Peinliche Gerichtsordnung" enacted by Emperor Charles V in 1532. This early penal code, also known as the "Carolina," counted sorcery as a serious crime.

From then on witch trials across the Empire could supposedly be conducted in the name of law and order, but divided as it was into countless entities, and coupled with religious pressure and conflicts in the wake of the Reformation, Germany's social fabric made for a particularly lethal mix.

Extract from the indictment of Margarethe Kröber, 1642

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW
Anatomy of a witch trial

Which brings us back to Winningen. Of the 24 people accused there of witchcraft, 19 were executed, two died in prison, and the remaining three managed to fight their case and be acquitted.

My ancestor Margarethe came from a well-situated family. She married Zacharias Kröber, a judge, so together they belonged to the town's social elite. Written records indicate that she had a rebellious nature. She had been married eight years and had two small boys when she was officially denounced for being a witch.

And it turns out she wasn't the only one in the family to die on the Witches' Hill. Margarethe's own mother was in fact the first person in Winningen to be executed for witchcraft. Subsequently her aunt, her cousin and, as time went on, all her sisters and brother-in law met the same fate.

Winningen's 'Hexenstein' commemorates the victims of Witch Trials in the 17th century, including Margarethe Kröber

Image: Karin Helmstaedt/DW

A clear case of the the upper crust being a target of witch hunts, which was typical for this area, but even Walter Rummel agrees the systematic destruction of an entire generation of Kröber spouses is exceptional. "Witchcraft was an accusation that couldn't be topped," he said, "and like a reactor, it irradiated everyone and everything around it."

Through the witch trial protocols, all in ornate 17th-century script, I learned that she was accused of a long list of charges, including attending a Witches' Sabbath, flying and poisoning people.

Margarethe had thumbed her nose at any rumors surrounding her for years, but was eventually arrested, strip searched, shaved and interrogated. She denied all the charges against her, and called on her husband to vouch for her innocence.

But in a heartbreaking turn of events — and ostensibly to protect his position in the town — Zacharias left her in the lurch, claiming that if she was a devout Christian, her body would withstand the torture, and that at any rate, she should simply confess "because you know you're a witch."

The cruelty of Europe's witch trials

An estimated three million witch trials took place between 1450 to 1750. Around 60,000 people met gruesome deaths.Image: Imago Images/United Archives International
Thousands of deaths at the stake

A leaflet in 1555 reports "a shocking scene" and shows the burning of alleged witches in Derenburg. It occurred during the peak of Europe's witch-hunting madness, which took place from 1450 to 1750. Interestingly, it was not way back in the Middle Ages, but rather in modern times that witch hunting reached its peak. In Germany, tens of thousands of "witches" were burned alive.Image: picture-alliance/dpa

9 images

To extract her "confession," the Witch Commission then resorted to torture, using crushing devices such as the so-called "boot," and submitting her to "reverse hanging."

At this point the trial records are excruciating to read. Her screams and suffering — "clamat et torturam" — were duly recorded. Tragically, her only way out of the torment was to lie — a mortal sin from a devout 17th-century perspective.

After two days of agony, she confessed to being a witch, effectively sealing her own death sentence. She was also forced to denounce another woman for witchcraft, ensuring the cycle of witch hunts could continue.

Two days later she was hauled up to the execution site and forced to beg forgiveness from the townspeople who had gathered to witness her execution. Thus exonerated, she was granted a "merciful" death by beheading before her body was burned.

The final anomaly came next in the form of a feeding frenzy: According to records, 250 liters of wine were carted up to the execution site — ensuring the whole town was complicit, while the caterers made a killing. Margarethe's husband was handed the bill.

Karin Helmstaedt and historian Walter Rummel studying the witch trial records at the Koblenz state Archives

Image: Manja Wolff

In short, power, money, envy and resentment were behind the witch trials which, in Winningen, were always directed at society's upper echelons.

The last witch trial in Winningen in 1659 did not end in execution, as families mobilized resources to fight for their alleged witches' cause. It was the beginning of the end — as people simply doubted so many could be guilty of witchcraft.

Witch hunting hysteria in Europe began to die down as key laws were changed. The age of Enlightenment meant science and reason took precedence over superstition. Food was more plentiful, and the advent of insurance meant people were less prone to disaster.

The last alleged witch in Europe was beheaded in Switzerland in 1782 — marking the end of a dark chapter in European history.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

 

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Worth Reprinting

April 30 is Walpurgis Nacht; Night of the Witches which corresponds to Samhain; Halloween, October 31 as both days herald a major year changing festival.

Walpurgis heralds May Day, Samhain heralds All Saints Day.

They are opposite ends of the season. One is spring planting and the other is fall harvest.

And of course April 30 is the time the devil asks for his due; 

Tax Time and Walpurgisnacht

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Walpurgis 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MAYDAY 

Japan's Shrinking Population Faces Point of No Return

BY JOHN FENG ON 4/30/23 

Familiar alarm bells sounded in Japan this month as year-end population figures and new projections combined to paint an uncertain future for Asia's No. 2 economy.

Japan's total population stood at 124.94 million for the year to October, a decease of over half a million people from 2021 in a 12th consecutive annual decline, according to a report this month by its Statistics Bureau. The working population, aged 15 to 64, fell to 74.2 million, and those above 65 reached 36.23 million—both respective records.

The worrying data—already watched for years—emerged at the tail end of the Japanese economic miracle, which abruptly ended in the early 1990s. Low birth rates and high life expectancy together pose an unprecedented demographic challenge to Tokyo's policymakers, whose solutions also are being scrutinized in neighboring capitals.

The speed of Japan's depopulation affected all prefectures last year apart from Tokyo and has outpaced official projections. In 2022, the number of newborns dipped below 800,000 for the first time since surveys began in 1899. The government previously had expected fewer than 815,000 births in 2027.

If present trends holds, annual births could fall below half a million in 2059, the health ministry-affiliated National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, or IPSS, said on Wednesday in its twice-a-decade estimate.

Japan's fertility rate of about 1.3 was among the lowest in the club of largely wealthy nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Only Italy's 1.24 and South Korea's 0.78 were lower. All fell well below the OECD standard of 2.1 to maintain a stable population.

On the other end of the spectrum, Japan's "super-aged" society—defined as when at least 20 percent of the population is above 65—was adding to an already significant social security burden for the country's working-age citizens, who accounted for a record-low 59.4 percent of the population last year.

The aged population hit a record-high 29 percent and could reach 38.7 percent in the next half a century, the IPSS said. According to its forecast, life expectancy in Japan could climb to 91.94 years for women and 85.89 years for men over the same period.

Japan's population, which peaked in 2008 at 128 million, could fall to 87 million by 2070, said the report. It revised its 2017 estimate for when the population would dip below 100 million, from 2053 to 2056, to account for an expected increase in the share of foreign nationals in the country, up from 2.2 percent in 2021 to 10.8 percent in 50 years' time.

Time, Not Money

The attitudes of Japan's youths have become important indictors of demographic issues that have since sprung up in other advanced economies in the region. Rolling public opinion polls find more respondents delaying marriage or children—sometimes indefinitely—because of a job market in flux and the high cost of living.

Japanese women, especially those who go on to receive higher education, face incompatible corporate cultures and family customs that are still bound by traditional gender roles. These tensions are among the reasons why some would-be parents are reluctant to raise children in the current environment, despite a desire to do so.

For the first time in Japan's postwar history, a majority of women aged 18 to 34 said they hoped to marry but planned to have fewer than two children, according to the results of a 2021 IPSS survey released last fall. In the same age bracket, a record number of men and women—17.3 and 14.6 percent, respectively—said they didn't intend to marry at all.

A student stands in front newly constructed New Sannan Junior High School on April 7, 2023, in Tamba in Japan’s Hyogo prefecture. The new school opened for the students of two recently closed junior high schools. More than 300 schools have closed across Japan annually in the past 10 years due to dwindling birth rates and migration to urban areas.

BUDDHIKA WEERASINGHE/GETTY IMAGES

Masanobu Ogura, Japan's children's minister, cited the data in late March when he unveiled proposals that represented "a last chance" to reverse the decades-long downtrend. The plans, to be overseen by a new Children and Families Agency launched on April 1, were an expansion of past policies that largely had failed to move the needle in meaningful ways.

To further reduce the financial burden of child-rearing, the government will offer subsidies to cover childbirth and schooling, with families expected to receive tens of thousands of dollars throughout a newborn's early childhood and adolescence. For parents, the introduction of flexible work arrangements will, on paper, encourage more co-parenting.

"While diverse views about marriage, childbirth and child-rearing should be respected, we want to make a society where young generations can marry, have and raise children as they wish," said Ogura, whose long-ruling conservative party backs traditional family values.

"The basic direction of our measures to tackle low births is to reverse the trend of declining births by supporting individuals' pursuit of happiness," he said.

The government's new measures may by a stopgap for some families, but they leave Japan's rigid gender norms unaddressed. It's also unclear whether they can effectively offer the working mother more of her most valuable resource: time, ordinarily spent on children but parents and in-laws, too. At nearly a third of the population, senior citizens are a force to be reckoned with in Japan's democratic system.

"Japan is about 10 or 20 years ahead of other countries that are going through this as well, and they're setting the groundwork of what to do and what not to do," said Erin Murphy, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and deputy director of its Economics Program.

"Japanese women are in the same boat as South Korean women, who have been a lot more vocal around issues like child care and parental leave. Another is fertility treatment for women who want to have children later in life while advancing their careers—it's very expensive and not as accepted. Government responses to these big issues have been lackluster," Murphy told Newsweek.

"Women aren't really welcome back into the workforce after they have kids; there's a high expectation that they should stay home. There's also a higher burden on women to take care of the children and the house on top of a full-time job, if they're able to keep it. And there are too few women in the halls of power to make policy," she said.

People are seen on a zebra crossing in Shinjuku shopping district in Tokyo, Japan. Less than 60 percent of Japan's population are of working age.

Conservative policymakers and a cautious public mean Japan is much more likely to look for internal, rather than external, solutions to the demographic crunch, despite projections pointing to the inevitability of more immigration.

"Some say it's not a problem to have a low fertility rate. That's OK if people positively choose this option. But the point is the majority of relatively young people would like to get married, form a new family and have kids, but they have to compromise," said Sawako Shirahase, a sociology professor at the University of Tokyo, who researches gender and generational issues.

"Japan has a peculiar history related to immigration policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan succeeded with economic growth without new immigrants and became the first Asian country to achieve industrialization with a very conservative division of labor. But it wasn't sustainable because it couldn't reconcile different roles within the same people at the same time," she told Newsweek.

"This model is quite efficient in a very short period of time, but it doesn't last that long. Women get higher education and have more choices, but in reality their options are limited when they have to choose between work and family," Shirahase said.
Japan Tomorrow

Structural population problems are a challenge for any one leader to resolve, but the future fallout will be borne by all.

It wasn't so long ago that the perceived threat of Japan's industrial boom permeated through popular culture in the United States, before its post-Cold War drop-off crowded out anti-Japanese sentiment. Today's bleak demographic outlook is certain to threaten Japan's status as the world's third-largest economy.

A risk assessment in March by the Recruit Works Institute predicted the country's labor shortfall would exceed 11 million workers by 2040. By the end of this decade, however, Japan first would face a logistics crisis that could leave over a third of freight undelivered due to new overtime regulations beginning next year, according to a January study by the Nomura Research Institute.

"The economic impact could be quite severe. The primary concern is a shrinking tax base that otherwise contributes to the running of government services. It raises questions about the kinds of decisions that need to be made on administrative costs," Murphy said.

"Japan provides an interesting example of a country that is pretty anti-immigration, and they seem unlikely to embrace that opportunity. So how do you allocate resources? How do you keep businesses going when there's no customer base? How do you create the tax base to support public transportation and fund national health care? How do you take care of the elderly?" she said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared in January that the creation of a "children first" society could no longer be postponed. "Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society," he said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, right, delivers a speech on January 23, 2023, in Tokyo. He has called for the country to adopt a "children first" strategy as a matter of urgency.

YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The U.S., which counts Japan as one of its most important treaty allies, also has a stake in whether Japan's leaders get it right. The trajectory of Japanese manpower will have national security implications for both capitals as they come together to face an increasingly assertive China, for which Tokyo has already committed to an arms buildup set to last for decades.

"Japan is going to have to figure out what its military industry looks like. Is it based on human capital or technology? This is a question faced by other U.S. allies, too, and it's also a discussion about what the future of warfare looks like," added Murphy.

The shrinking population is being built into Japan's defense planning. In a white paper last year, its Defense Ministry called it an "imminent challenge" to the sustainability and resilience of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which would have to offset the dwindling numbers by acquiring more autonomous and unmanned systems while decommissioning hardware with "low cost effectiveness."

In an initiative to have a military that "adapts to the times and environment," the ministry said it would tap Japan's largest yet underutilized human resource: women. Female service members accounted for 8.3 percent of personnel in March 2022, the document said. Its goal since 2021 has been to ensure 35 percent of recruits are women.

The Japanese government remains primarily accountable for the demographic trend, Shirahase said. Finding the right answer will require strong leadership and a willingness to expend political capital in engaging all relevant stakeholders.

"This is a central issue of society. We have to add one more common value to make change happen. All of us have to be involved in nurturing future generations. We have to convince the older generation or the working generation that intergenerational mutual help is crucial to our survival. This is a very important intellectual argument, and education is the final tool."

ANIMISTIC MUSLIMS

Resort where Australian ran wild must slaughter goat to make peace

By Karuni Rompies and Chris Barrett
April 30, 2023 —

Simeulue, Indonesia: The chief of the village where an Australian man embarked on an alleged naked rampage after drinking from a bottle of vodka says the resort he was staying in must slaughter a goat to restore peace to the deeply conservative Muslim community.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, is facing up to five years in prison or possibly flogging in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Sharia law is in force, after being accused of a late-night assault that left a local fisherman in hospital.


Queenslander 'remorseful' for rampage in Indonesia


The Queenslander who went on a drunk, naked rampage in Indonesia is "extremely remorseful" for his actions.

The carpenter from Noosa is being held by police on the island of Simeulue, a surfing retreat off the west coast of Sumatra, as officers continue to probe last Thursday’s incident.

Risby-Jones is being investigated for maltreatment under Indonesia’s penal code after being accused of dislodging villager Edi Ron from his motorcycle and leaving him needing 50 stitches in his ankle.

He had minutes earlier emerged from his room at the nearby Moon Beach Resort in Simeuleu without clothes on and struck a security guard before charging at the motorcycle rider, according to police.

Video footage showed Risby-Jones then being pinned to the ground by local residents, who were so incensed that they threatened to set fire to the hotel.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones was on a four-day visit to Simeulue as part of a three-week trip to Indonesia.

CREDIT:FACEBOOK

Police on the island were on Sunday still to decide whether to pursue the Australian for drinking alcohol, which is banned in Aceh and can be punished with up to 40 strokes of the cane if penalised under the province’s Islamic laws.

He said in a video filmed with the police chief that was aired by the ABC that he only had one shot of duty-free vodka after a long day of surfing on what was an extremely hot day. He also insisted he was wearing underwear and was not completely naked.

A prosecution of Risby-Jones could be mitigated or dropped altogether if a financial settlement can be reached with his victim.

“If the victim decides not to process the case, we will drop the case,” said an investigator on the case, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely.

The road outside the Moon Beach Resort in Simeulue where Risby-Jones ran and allegedly attacked fisherman Edi Ron

.CREDIT:KARUNI ROMPIES

While Risby-Jones awaits his fate, Lantik village chief Suhardi Fleno said the resort also had to make amends. In accordance with traditional practices in Aceh, they have to do so by slaughtering a goat, he said.

“Besides restorative justice I’d like to explain that we have a tradition here which we will do,” he said. “It is called peusijuek, meaning we must have peace with the party that we have a problem with to prevent the same problem from recurring.

“It’s between the village and the resort. We don’t care if Bodhi gives the money to the resort [for the goat]. But we do care about the resort and our village. Bodhi is just a guest at the resort and the guests can come and go.

“We must slaughter a goat. It should be provided by the resort.”

The gate to the Moon Beach Resort, where Risby-Jones was staying on a surfing trip, has been closed since Thursday’s incident.

CREDIT:KARUNI ROMPIES

Risby-Jones has apologised for his behaviour, pleading for forgiveness, and said in the video interview with police that he had felt “almost possessed” during the onslaught and did not remember much because he had been hit and kicked on the ground when held down.

“I think there are two reasons [for his conduct],” the village chief said. “Either he was drunk or possessed ... because there is a village cemetery behind the resort.”

He said he had asked Edi Ron about whether he would accept a settlement but the fisherman told him he wanted to first focus on his health.

He has been transferred to provincial capital Banda Aceh for more treatment and his wife has said he will not be able to walk for three months.

“The wound is very bad. The motorbike was thown onto him and his right ankle bone,” Fleno said.

But the village chief said the condition of the injury was also made worse by inadequate initial first aid treatment, as the gash was not properly cleaned.

The police investigator, meanwhile, said Risby-Jones had given a urine sample and tested negative to any drugs.

“I think he was depressed and dehydrated,” he said. “He should have [flown] out of Simeulue [earlier in the day] but then he missed the flight. He told us he surfed all day that day. Perhaps when coming back to his inn, he had a drink just to relax a bit after surfing all the day.


“It was very hot that day. Perhaps he was drunk and depressed due to missing the flight and dehydrated, it all led him to acting like that.”

Police in Aceh have consulted colleagues in Bali about how to proceed with their investigation but much may depend on any negotiations with the injured fisherman.

Under the legal article which has been applied to the case, he could face up to two years and eight months in prison for maltreatment, or up to five years if it was judged that he had caused serious physical injuries.

Risby-Jones said in a statement released by his family on Saturday that he was very remorseful, apologising to the motorcycle rider for the injuries caused, to the local police for wasting their resources, to his family for the trauma inflicted on them and “to the Australian people for embarrassing them”.

“To all who I have disrespected and hurt, I am truly sorry, please forgive me,” he said.