Wednesday, June 09, 2021

Rural Teacher Pedro Castillo Poised to Write a New Chapter in Peru's History

Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo gestures at supporters from a balcony of his party's headquarters in Lima on June 7, 2021, after taking a razor-thin lead as the final votes are tallied in a neck-and-neck battle with populist Keiko Fujimori following the runoff election of June 6. (Photo: LUKA GONZALES/AFP via Getty Images)

Rural Teacher Pedro Castillo Poised to Write a New Chapter in Peru's History

On the foreign policy front, Castillo's victory will represent a huge blow to U.S. interests in the region and an important step towards reactivating Latin American integration.



MEDEA BENJAMIN, LEONARDO FLORES
June 8, 2021

With his wide-brimmed peasant hat and oversized teacher's pencil held high, Peru's Pedro Castillo has been traveling the country exhorting voters to get behind a call that has been particularly urgent during this devastating pandemic: "No más pobres en un país rico"—No more poor people in a rich country. In a cliffhanger of an election with a huge urban-rural and class divide, it appears that the rural teacher, farmer and union leader is about to make history by defeating—by less than one percent—powerful far-right candidate Keiko Fujimori, scion of the country's political "Fujimori dynasty."

Castillo's victory will be remarkable not only because he is a leftist teacher who is the son of illiterate peasants and his campaign was grossly outspent by Fujimori, but there was a relentless propaganda attack against him that touched on historical fears of Peru's middle class and elites.

Fujimori is challenging the election's results, alleging widespread fraud. Her campaign has only presented evidence of isolated irregularities, and so far there is nothing to suggest a tainted vote. However, she can challenge some of the votes to delay the final results, and much like in the U.S., even an allegation of fraud by the losing candidate will cause uncertainty and raise tensions in the country.

Castillo's victory will be remarkable not only because he is a leftist teacher who is the son of illiterate peasants and his campaign was grossly outspent by Fujimori, but there was a relentless propaganda attack against him that touched on historical fears of Peru's middle class and elites. It was similar to what happened recently to progressive candidate Andrés Arauz who narrowly lost Ecuador's elections, but even more intense. Grupo El Comercio, a media conglomerate that controls 80% of Peru's newspapers, led the charge against Castillo. They accused him of being a terrorist with links to the Shining Path, a guerrilla group whose conflict with the state between 1980 and 2002 led to tens of thousands of deaths and left the population traumatized. Castillo's link to the Shining Path link is flimsy: While a leader with Sutep, an education worker's union, Castillo is said to have been friendly with Movadef, the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, a group alleged to have been the political wing of the Shining Path. In reality, Castillo himself was a rondero when the insurgency was most active. Ronderos were peasant self-defense groups that protected their communities from the guerrillas and continue to provide security against crime and violence.

Two weeks before the elections, on May 23, 18 people were massacred in the rural Peruvian town of San Miguel del Ene. The government immediately attributed the attack to the remnants of the Shining Path involved in drug trafficking, although no group has taken responsibility yet. The media linked the attack to Castillo and his campaign, whipping up fear of more violence should he win the presidency. Castillo denounced the attack and reminded Peruvians that similar massacres had occurred in the run-up to the 2011 and 2016 elections. For her part, Fujimori suggested Castillo was linked to the killing.

On the economic front, Castillo has been accused of being a communist who wants to nationalize key industries, and would turn Peru into a "cruel dictatorship" like Venezuela. Billboards along Lima's main highway asked the population: "Would you like to live in Cuba or Venezuela?" referring to a Castillo win. As seen in the photos above, newspapers linked Castillo's campaign to the devaluation of the Peruvian currency and warned that a Castillo victory would hurt low-income Peruvians the most because businesses would shutter or move overseas. Time and time again, the Castillo campaign has clarified that he is not a communist and that his aim is not to nationalize industries but to renegotiate contracts with multinationals so that more of the profits stay with the local communities.

Meanwhile, Fujimori was treated with kid gloves by the media during the campaign, with one of the newspapers in the above pictures claiming that "Keiko guarantees work, food, health and an immediate reactivation of the economy." Her past as a first lady during her father Alberto Fujimori's brutal rule is largely ignored by corporate media. She is able to claim that "fujimorismo defeated terrorism" without being challenged on the horrors that fujimorismo inflicted on the country, including the forced sterilization of over 270,000 women and 22,000 men for which her father is on trial. He is currently in jail over other human rights abuses and corruption, though Keiko promised to free him if she won. Also ignored was the fact that Keiko herself is out on bail as of last year, pending a money-laundering investigation, and without presidential immunity, she will probably end up in prison.

The international media was no different in its unbalanced coverage of Castillo and Fujimori, with Bloomberg warning that "elites tremble" at the thought of Castillo as president and The Financial Times headline screaming "Peru's elite in panic at prospect of hard-left victory in presidential election."

Peru's economy has grown impressively over the past 20 years, but that growth did not raise all boats. Millions of Peruvians in the countryside have been left abandoned by the state. On top of that, like many of its neighbors (including Colombia, Chile and Ecuador), Peru has underinvested in health care, education, and other social programs. Such choices so decimated the health care system that Peru now has the shameful distinction of leading the entire world in per capita Covid-19 deaths.

In addition to the public health disaster, Peruvians have been living through political turmoil marked by an extraordinary number of high-profile cases of corruption and four presidents in three years. Five of its last seven presidents faced corruption accusations. In 2020, President Martín Vizcarra (himself accused of corruption) was impeached, unseated and replaced by Manuel Merino. The maneuver was denounced as a parliamentary coup, leading to several days of massive street protests. Just five days into his tenure, Merino resigned and was replaced by current President Francisco Sagasti.

One of Castillo's key campaign platforms is to convoke a constitutional referendum to let the people decide whether they want a new constitution or wish to keep the current one written in 1993 under the regime of Alberto Fujimori, which entrenched neoliberalism into its framework.

"The current constitution prioritizes private interests over public interests, profit over life and dignity," reads his plan of government. Castillo proposes that a new constitution include the following: recognition and guarantees for the rights to health, education, food, housing and internet access; recognition for indigenous peoples and Peru's cultural diversity; recognition of the rights of nature; redesign of the State to focus on transparency and citizens' participation; and a key role for the state in strategic planning to ensure that the public interest takes precedence.

On the foreign policy front, Castillo's victory will represent a huge blow to U.S. interests in the region and an important step towards reactivating Latin American integration. He has promised to withdraw Peru from the Lima Group, an ad hoc committee of countries dedicated to regime change in Venezuela.

In addition, the Peru Libre party has called for expelling USAID and for the closure of U.S. military bases in the country. Castillo has also expressed support for countering the OAS and strengthening both the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). The victory is also a good omen for the left in Chile, Colombia and Brazil, each of which will have presidential elections over the next year and a half.

Castillo will face a daunting task, with a hostile congress, a hostile business class, a hostile press and most likely, a hostile Biden administration. The support of millions of angry and mobilized Peruvians demanding change, along with international solidarity, will be key to fulfilling his campaign promise of addressing the needs of the most poor and abandoned sectors of Peruvian society.

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
PERU
Pedro Castillo Keeps Lead With 98,1 of Ballots Processed


As a victory of Peru Libre´s party approaches, Castillo turned to social media to urge people to protect the votes following accusations by Fujimori of irregularities during Sunday´elections.  Photo: Twitter/@PedroCastillo

Published 8 June 2021 
by Ignacio Ramonet
Newsletter

The report indicates that Castillo amounts 8, 657,705 valid votes while his opponent Keiko Fujimori has reached 8, 565,321.


Candidate Pedro Castillo continues to lead the race in Peru´s elections with 50.2 percent and 98,1 percent of processed ballots, according to the latest report by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE).

RELATED:
Peru Elections: Castillo Widens His Lead as Final Results Near

The report indicates that Castillo amounts 8 657,705 valid votes while his opponent Keiko Fujimori has reached 8 565,321.

"ONPEinforma [RESULTS UPDATE] Minutes tallied for president and vice-president formula at 5:41 p.m. on June 8."

As a victory of Peru Libre´s party approaches, Castillo turned to social media to urge people to protect the votes following accusations by Fujimori of irregularities during Sunday´elections.

"We must be vigilant to defend the democracy that is expressed in every vote, inside and outside our beloved Peru. We cannot rest. May this historic vigil allow the rebirth of a new country," Castillo said.
The one scandal that should be on every Albertan's mind

Progress Report #269
Your weekly report on Alberta politics for June 8, 2021
on the web at theprogressreport.ca/progress_report_269

There is one scandal in Alberta right now that demands all of our attention. It doesn’t have anything to do with sky palaces. Brian Jean isn’t in it. There won’t be a referendum on it. And while the columnists and pundits seem to have all the time in the world for those gaffes and stunts, this issue is getting pushed to the back burner.

I would describe it as Alberta’s most pressing and severe crisis. I would say that every day that passes with things the way they are currently is a cruel, brutal injustice. And outrageously, that opinion probably puts me in the minority.

You might think it would have been cause for alarm when three men were found dead in a park in Edmonton a few weeks ago, but by today they seem to have already been forgotten. There has been a terrible inflection point in our already grim struggle with the opioid overdose crisis. All across western Canada, there are reports of a surge in the toxicity of the street drug supply—fentanyl and carfentanil are showing up in everything. And that everything includes the stats. In BC and Alberta overdoses and deaths have been spiking far above historical rates since late April, and those historical rates were pretty horrible to begin with. Big spikes, 50% or more in some regions, adding up to hundreds of deaths.

The UCP government is making this terrible situation even worse by obstructing and defunding supervised consumption sites. The conservative movement has been viciously opposed to harm reduction services for people with addictions for a long time, now. Back when the modern harm reduction model was first being worked out in InSite, in Vancouver, Harper and the federal conservatives adopted a sort of Southern Strategy in regards to the issue, pandering to the cruel and the prejudiced with spiteful policies that blocked access to care and in many cases left people dead. And here is our Premier, former Harper cabinet minister Jason Kenney, keeping up the tradition by obstructing and defunding Alberta’s overdose prevention sites.

More Albertans were killed by opioid overdoses last year than by COVID-19 and it’s are only getting worse. “The fentanyl problem isn’t going away,” warns professor Andrew Greenshaw from the University of Alberta, citing a staggering 118% increase in deaths since the UCP started closing down overdose prevention services. It’s time that we demanded the UCP stop their insane crusade against health care for people who have addictions. Jason Kenney’s rants may be offensive, and his gaffes may get on our nerves, but this project of his is killing Albertans. It’s killing us every day. And that’s the real story right now.
Sundries
The Alberta NDP held their annual convention this year and I haven’t heard anything from it that surprises me. Rachel Notley won an absurd 98.2% approval vote in their leadership review. As you might expect from a weekend that cheerlead-y, most of the things that made it into the policy book were either things the NDP caucus was already talking about. The two big policy pitches of the weekend: a pledge to make Alberta’s electricity grid net-zero by 2035, and a pledge to re-introduce public daycare (presumably not just as a tiny pilot project this time.)


Survivors of Alberta’s residential schools are calling for investigations into the graves at those schools, and it is almost certain that there are terrible things to find at many of them. 25 of the institutions, whose vile goal was to wipe the Indigenous culture out of Indigenous children, operated here in Alberta.


Jason Kenney continues to struggle with the fallout of his unwise party at the ‘sky palace’ last week: several backbenchers and now even cabinet members are criticizing him publicly. Just a few days ago he was still insisting that no rules had been broken, but he gave that lie up to apologize yesterday. His former rival for the UCP leadership, Brian Jean, publicly urged him to resign, though we still haven’t seen whether or not that’s had any impact.


The UCP have announced the details for their upcoming referendum on the equalization program, and already constitutional law experts are pointing out that the referendum is fundamentally broken and useless. The equalization program, which distributes federal tax funds in order to ensure that every province can keep up certain minimum standards of public services, is not the province’s to change. What a referendum will do, however, is drive a lot of conservative voters to the polls for municipal elections in the province that will be happening on the same day. As if just to underscore how corrupt this whole sham is, the UCP are bringing in a new law, presently Bill 68, which will let them use government resources to run a whole campaign on the referendum too.


That's all for this week. Please share our newsletter with any friends or family who you think would like political news and commentary from a progressive point of view. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, you can sign up for it here. 


Senate: Multi-agency failure aided US Capitol attack

The Senate report is the first – and could be the last – bipartisan review of how hundreds of Trump supporters were able to push violently past security lines and break into Capitol on January 6.

In this Wednesday, January 6, 2021 file photo, supporters of then-president Donald Trump scale the west wall of the the US Capitol in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana / AP)

A Senate investigation of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol found a broad intelligence breakdown across multiple agencies, along with widespread law enforcement and military failures that led to the violent attack.

There were clear warnings and tips that supporters of former president Donald Trump, including right-wing extremist groups, were planning to “storm the Capitol” with weapons and possibly infiltrate the tunnel system underneath the building. But that intelligence never made it up to top leadership.

The result was chaos.

A Senate report released Tuesday details how officers on the front lines suffered chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones, among other injuries, after fighting the attackers, who quickly overwhelmed them and broke into the building.

Officers told the Senate investigators they were left with no leadership or direction when command systems broke down.

The Senate report is the first – and could be the last – bipartisan review of how hundreds of Trump supporters were able to push violently past security lines and break into the Capitol that day, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. The failures detailed in the report highlighted how, almost 20 years after the September 11 attacks, US intelligence agencies are still beset by a fundamental issue: a failure of imagination.

Details of the report below:


READ MORE: Violence, chaos in Capitol Hill as Trump-backed mob storms building

The report recommends immediate changes to give the Capitol Police chief more authority, to provide better planning and equipment for law enforcement and to streamline intelligence gathering among federal agencies.

But as a bipartisan effort, the report does not delve into the root causes of the attack, including Trump's role as he called for his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his election defeat that day.

It does not call the attack an insurrection, even though it was.

And it comes two weeks after Republicans blocked a bipartisan, independent commission that would investigate the insurrection more broadly.

“This report is important in the fact that it allows us to make some immediate improvements to the security situation here in the Capitol,” said Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which conducted the probe along with the Senate Rules Committee. “But it does not answer some of the bigger questions that we need to face, quite frankly, as a country and as a democracy.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that the findings show an even greater need for a bipartisan commission to investigate the root causes of the attack, referring to Trump’s unfounded claims about the 2020 election.

“As the ‘big lie’ continues to spread, as faith in our elections continues to decline, it is crucial — crucial — that we establish a trusted, independent record of what transpired,” said Schumer.

READ MORE: Democrats say Capitol attackers acted on Trump's 'orders'

Bipartisan commission under threat


But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who led the blockade against such a commission, said he’s confident the ongoing reviews by lawmakers and law enforcement will be sufficient.

The House in May passed legislation to create a commission that would be modeled after a panel that investigated the September 11 attacks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told colleagues in a letter on Tuesday that if the Senate fails to approve the commission, her chamber will launch its own investigations.

The top Republican on the rules panel, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, has opposed the commission, arguing that investigation would take too long. He said the recommendations made in the Senate can be implemented faster, such as legislation that he and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the rules committee chair, intend to introduce soon that would give the chief of Capitol Police more authority to request assistance from the National Guard.

Bureaucracy trips up Guards

The Senate report recounts how the Guard was delayed for hours January 6 as officials in multiple agencies took bureaucratic steps to release the troops. It details hours of calls between officials in the Capitol and the Pentagon and as the then-chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, begged for help.

It finds that the Pentagon spent hours “mission planning” and seeking multiple layers of approvals as Capitol Police were being overwhelmed and brutally beaten by the attackers.

It also says the Defense Department’s hesitant response was influenced by criticism of its heavy-handed response to protests in the summer of 2020 after the killing of George Floyd in police custody.

The senators are heavily critical of the Capitol Police Board, a three-member panel made up of the heads of security for the House and Senate and the Architect of the Capitol.

The board now is required to approve requests by the police chief, even in urgent situations.

The report recommends that its members “regularly review the policies and procedures” after senators found that the three board members on January 6 did not understand their own authority and could not detail the statutory requirements for requesting National Guard assistance.

Two of the three board members, the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms, were pushed out in the days after the attack. Sund, the Capitol Police chief, resigned under pressure.

READ MORE: How a security lapse allowed pro-Trump protesters to invade US Capitol

Capitol police failure to communicate


The report recommends a consolidated intelligence unit within the Capitol Police after widespread failures from multiple agencies that did not predict the attack even though insurrectionists were planning it openly on the internet.

The police intelligence unit “knew about social media posts calling for violence at the Capitol on January 6, including a plot to breach the Capitol, the online sharing of maps of the Capitol Complex’s tunnel systems, and other specific threats of violence,“ the report says, but agents did not properly inform leaders of everything they had found.

On December 28, for example, the report notes that someone emailed a public Capitol Police account and warned about “countless tweets from Trump supporters saying they will be armed on January 6th” and “tweets from people organizing to ‘storm the Capitol.'"

There were also internal warnings of an uptick in posts on various websites that showed maps of the Capitol, including its underground tunnels. But those specifics were never disseminated widely.

In a response to the report, the Capitol Police acknowledged the need for improvements and said some are already being made.

“Law enforcement agencies across the country rely on intelligence, and the quality of that intelligence can mean the difference between life and death,” the statement said.

During the attack, the report says, Capitol Police were compromised by bad intelligence, poor planning, faulty equipment and a lack of leadership. The force’s incident command system “broke down during the attack,” leaving officers on the front lines without orders. There were no functional incident commanders, and some senior officers were fighting instead of giving orders.

Capitol Police "leadership never took control of the radio system to communicate orders to front-line officers,” the investigation found.

Front line officers left alone

“I was horrified that NO deputy chief or above was on the radio or helping us,” one officer told the committee in an anonymous statement. “For hours the screams on the radio were horrific(,) the sights were unimaginable and there was a complete loss of control. ... For hours NO Chief or above took command and control. Officers were begging and pleading for help for medical triage.”

The acting chief, Yogananda Pittman, who replaced Sund after his resignation, told the committees that the lack of communication resulted from “incident commanders being overwhelmed and engaging with rioters, rather than issuing orders over the radio.”

The committee’s interviews with police officers detail “absolutely brutal” abuse from Trump’s supporters as they ran over them and broke into the building. The officers described hearing racial slurs and seeing Nazi salutes. One officer trying to evacuate the Senate said he had stopped several men in full tactical gear, one of whom said, “You better get out of our way, boy, or we’ll go through you to get (the senators).’”

The insurrectionists told police officers they would kill them, then members of Congress.

At the same time, the senators acknowledge the officers’ bravery, noting that one officer told them, “The officers inside all behaved admirably and heroically and, even outnumbered, went on the offensive and took the Capitol back.”

Source: AP

Canada: Catholic Church Guilty Of Cultural Genocide -Poll

    • Indigenous communities demonstrate in Canada against the residential school system.

      Indigenous communities demonstrate in Canada against the residential school system. | Photo: Twitter/ @ChalecosAmarill

    Published 8 June 2021

    The poll comes amid widespread outrage over the finding of the remains of 215 children at the Kamploos residential school in British Columbia. The 120 years old system has been declared a cultural genocide by the Canadian authorities. 

    Two out of three Canadians think the Catholic Church is responsible for the abuse residential schools system, according to the latest poll by Leger.

    RELATED:

    UN Special Rapporteurs Urge Probe on Canada Residential Schools

    "66 percent of Canadians think the Church should bear the responsibility for the tragedies committed at residential schools, while 34 percent think the Government of Canada should be held responsible," the poll revealed.

    The poll comes amid widespread outrage over the finding of the remains of 215 children at the Kamploos residential school in British Columbia. The 120 years old system has been declared a cultural genocide by the Canadian authorities. According to the poll 80 percent o Canadians the Kamploops event is the "tip of the iceberg" and more research has to be conducted in other areas of the country. 

    Following the findings, the Canadian authorities have renewed calls for a papal apology and a group of United Nations human rights experts called for a full investigation into the events and the prosecution of any responsible who might still be alive.


    by teleSUR/esf-MS
    Brazilians bang pots in protest as another 2,500 die of COVID-19
    By Metro US


    COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro statekTwitter

    RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Pot-banging protests erupted across several cities in Brazil on Wednesday evening as President Jair Bolsonaro addressed the nation, just days after protestors took to the streets across the country over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far killed almost half a million people here.

    The last few days have been rocky for the government of the right-wing leader, whose popularity had already been flagging amid persistently high daily COVID-19 deaths and cases.

    On Wednesday alone, almost 100,000 Brazilians came down with the coronavirus and 2,507 died, according to government data. Earlier in the day, the nation’s Supreme Court authorized a criminal investigation into Bolsonaro’s environment minister for allegedly interfering with a police probe into illegal logging.

    In the televised speech, Bolsonaro briefly summarized some of his government’s recent accomplishments and pledged strong economic growth going forward, but presented no new information.

    On Saturday, thousands participated in protests in at least 16 cities across the country, which were organized by leftist political parties, unions and student associations.

    In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, thousands of mask-wearing people blocked one the largest city’s avenues, while a large balloon depicted Bolsonaro as a vampire.

    Some protests, like the one in Rio de Janeiro, included images of former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has emerged as Bolsonaro’s main challenger in the nation’s 2022 election, wearing the presidential sash.

    In the brief Wednesday evening speech, Bolsonaro, who has ridiculed masks and vaccines in the past, said all Brazilians who wanted a vaccine would be able to get one by the end of the year.

    Also in the evening, the nation’s Health Ministry revised down the number of COVID-19 vaccines it will receive in June by about 4 million doses.

    (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Gram Slattery; Editing by Michael Perry)

    London attack comes amid federal government inaction on Islamophobia: expert

    OTTAWA — The federal government hasn't gone far enough in addressing Islamophobia in Canada despite the rise of anti-Muslim hate in recent years, a Wilfrid Laurier University professor said.
    © Provided by The Canadian Press

    Jasmin Zine said the London, Ont., attack that left four members of a Muslim family dead is another episode in a series of attacks that targeted Muslim Canadians across the country in the last few years amid lack of concerted government action to tackle the rise in Islamophobia.

    Zine said she is working with a group of researchers on a study that will come out in the fall to document how a network of associations, groups, activists and donors has been promoting anti-Muslim hate in what she calls an "Islamophobia industry."

    "We're inspired to act, to do this kind of work because of tragedies like the Quebec massacre, this horrible terror attack in London, the stabbing of a Muslim caretaker at a (Toronto) mosque (last year) and all of the other incidents and issues of Islamophobia that happen on a daily basis," she said.

    More than four years before the London, Ont., attack, a gunman stormed a Quebec City mosque on Jan. 29, 2017, shooting dead six men and seriously injuring 19 people.

    Liberal MP Iqra Khalid tabled a motion in Parliament following the attack calling on the federal government to address Islamophobia and study it along with religious discrimination and systemic racism.

    The motion was adopted in March 2017, although 91 Conservative and Bloc Québécois members voted against it, including Erin O'Toole, who is now the Tory leader. A national study and hearings by the House of Commons heritage committee emerged from that motion.

    "The report that came out of that, unfortunately, sidelined Islamophobia," Zine said, noting that only two of the 30 recommendations in the report referred explicitly to Islamophobia.

    "I felt that was a lost opportunity to provide some important calls to actions, some important strategies that could specifically address Islamophobia."

    Zine said the focus on Islamophobia was also sidelined in Canada's anti-racism strategy.

    "It needs to be far more salient."

    NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement that the attack is yet another example of the existence of Islamophobia in Canada.

    "This horrific situation shows how important it is to act against Islamophobia and to do so quickly," he said.

    "The Trudeau government promised to tackle online hate and we are still waiting. It is crucial that we immediately implement measures to tackle online hate including regulations to make social media platforms remove hateful and violent content from their platforms."

    O'Toole's office didn't immediately respond to a comment request.

    Green party Leader Annamie Paul called on the Liberal government to create a national anti-Islamophobia strategy.

    Paul told a news conference that a comprehensive national strategy should include law enforcement, education and identifying those who are promoting hateful ideologies.

    "A national strategy on Islamophobia … is something that the community has been asking for and is overdue," Paul said

    She said the government has a duty to identify, expose and root out movements that promote discrimination and hate, and to ensure that those who promote such ideologies know that there will be no safe place or dark corner where their beliefs will be allowed to flourish.

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference that his government has made investments to ensure that its work is focused on recognizing the systemic discrimination that exists and on highlighting and naming Islamophobia.

    He said there is more work to do and his government will partner with the Muslim community across the country to find out how to move forward.

    Trudeau said the government will continue to fund initiatives to protect schools and places of worship of communities at risk. He added the Liberals will also continue to fight hate online and off-line, which will include more action to dismantle hate groups.

    "There is always more to do … whether it’s protecting mosques and churches, synagogues with extra investments in security which is heartbreaking to have to do but is necessary, whether it's fighting online hatred, banning right wing extremist terrorist groups like the Proud Boys."

    Zine said the deep roots of Islamophobia in Canada require more direct action on dealing with anti-Muslim racism in the country.

    "There are networks of groups that purvey Islamophobia and Islamophobic rhetoric propaganda and discourses and a lot of those kinds of sentiments underwrite (Islamophobic) actions."

    She said there are policies in place in Canada that create Islamophobic public sentiments including Quebec's ban on religious symbols, also known as Bill 21. It prohibits public-sector workers who are deemed to be in positions of authority, like public prosecutors and judges, from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas or turbans while at work.

    Muslims are characterized as a particular kind of threat — including a demographic one — in the white supremacist and white nationalist circles, Zine said, and that thinking is in Canada too.

    "The ideas that underwrite Islamophobia are tied to different kinds of ethno-nationalism, not just in Canada but abroad."

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2021.

    ——

    This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

    Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press


    Relativity Space's reusable Terran R rocket can be 3D-printed in 60 days

    By Nick Lavars
    June 08, 2021

    A render of Relativity Space's Terran R rocket
    Relativity Space

    3D printing has come to play a significant role in modern rocket construction, with key players like Rocket Lab, NASA and SpaceX all leaning on the technology in producing their spacecraft. Startup Relativity Space is now coming to the party with its freshly unveiled Terran R rocket, which it describes as an entirely 3D-printed launch vehicle that can be created from raw materials in 60 days, and which is fully resuable.


    In revealing its plans for the Terran R rocket, Relativity Space describes it as a two-stage launch vehicle that stands 216 ft (66 m) tall with a 16-ft (4.9-m) diameter. The California-based company is designing the rocket to launch satellites and for multi-planetary travel, equipping it with an ability to lift 20,000 kg (44,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, close to the payload capacity of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at 22,800 kg (50,265 lb).


    The first stage of the Terran R rocket will be powered by seven of Relativity Space's Aeon R 3D-printed rocket engines that each generate 302,000 lb of thrust
    Relativity Space

    The rocket will be powered by seven of the company's Aeon R 3D-printed rocket engines that each generate 302,000 lb of thrust, while the upper stage will carry just one of its 3D-printed Aeon Vac engines. Relativity Space says the rocket will be fully reusable, including these engines, the first and second stages and the 5-m (16.4-ft) fairing used to protect its payloads. How it will retrieve all of this following launch is at this stage unclear, though such a feat won't be easy.

    It also describes the rocket as the world's first to be entirely 3D printed. It will be manufactured using a mix of artificial intelligence and autonomous robots to print the structures and engines, a process the company says results in far fewer parts and an ability to turn raw materials into a standing rocket within 60 days. It also says this approach allows for unique aerodynamic features and geometries that wouldn't be possible with traditional production methods.


    Relativity Space says its Terran R rocket can be 3D printed from raw materials in 60 days

    Relativity Space

    "Relativity was founded with the mission to 3D print entire rockets and build humanity’s industrial base on Mars," says Tim Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Relativity Space. "We were inspired to make this vision a reality, and believe there needs to be dozens to hundreds of companies working to build humanity’s multi-planetary future on Mars. Scalable, autonomous 3D printing is inevitably required to thrive on Mars, and Terran R is the second product step in a long-term journey Relativity is planning ahead.”


    Relativity Space doesn't plan to launch the Terran R until 2024 from Cape Canaveral, but says it has already signed its first customer contract for the vehicle. The Terran R is actually the second rocket in the Relativity Space stable, following in the footsteps of its first and far smaller Terran 1, which will also be 3D printed and is set to launch for the first time this year. While it is 20 times smaller than the Terran R, the company says it has already secured nine contracts from private and public sector customers to use the Terran 1 to launch payloads into space.

    "Together with our first rocket Terran 1, our second product, Terran R, will continue to take advantage of Relativity's disruptive approach to 3D printing – reduced part count, improved speed of innovation, flexibility, and reliability – to bring to market the next generation of launch vehicles," says Ellis.

    The company also revealed it had closed a US$650 million Series E equity funding round that will enable scaling of the Terran R program and long-term infrastructure development.

    You can check out the promo video for the Terran R below.

    This Is Terran R

    Source: Relativity Space


    Relativity Space unveils fully reusable,3D-printed Terran R rocket


    By Mike Wall 
    SPACE.COM

    The 216-foot-tall rocket is expected to start flying in 2024.

     Video A fully reusable, 3D-printed rocket will be launching satellites to orbit three years from now, if all goes according to plan.




    Today (June 8), Relativity Space revealed details of Terran R, a new two-stage rocket that's key to the Southern California startup's bold off-Earth goals, which include helping humanity get a foothold on Mars.

    "Terran R is at the cutting edge of rocket innovation and design," Zach Dunn, senior vice president of engineering and manufacturing at Relativity Space, said in a statement. "Fully reusable and entirely 3D printed, Terran R will be well suited to serve customers' evolving needs in the large satellite constellation industry, while also representing a significant leap towards achieving our mission of building humanity's industrial base off of Earth."

    Related: Relativity Space will 3D-print rockets at new autonomous factory


    Artist's illustration of Relativity Space's Terran R rocket, a fully reusable 3D-printed vehicle that's expected to start flying in 2024. (Image credit: Relativity Space)

    Terran R will be a big step up in power and performance from the two-stage Terran 1, an expendable rocket that Relativity Space expects to start flying later this year. Nine different customers have already signed contracts to put payloads on Terran 1, company representatives said.


    Terran 1 is 115 feet (35 meters) tall by 7.5 feet (2.3 m) wide and can deliver a maximum of 2,756 lbs. (1,250 kilograms) to low Earth orbit (LEO), according to its specifications page. The vehicle's first stage is powered by nine of Relativity Space's Aeon 1 engines, while the upper stage features one vacuum-optimized Aeon.

    The engines, which burn liquid oxygen and methane, are 3D printed, just like the rest of the rocket. This manufacturing strategy allows Relativity Space to build rockets with 100 times fewer parts than those of its competitors and churn out a completed vehicle in less than 60 days, company representatives said.


    Artist's illustration of Relativity Space's Terran 1 (left) and Terran R rockets, with a person for scale. (Image credit: Relativity Space)

    Terran R is expected to launch for the first time in 2024. Like Terran 1, it will depart from a pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on Florida's Atlantic Coast.


    Terran R will be 216 feet (66 m) tall by 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, with the ability to loft more than 44,100 lbs. (20,000 kg) to LEO, Relativity Space representatives said. The rocket's first stage will be powered by seven Aeon R engines, a brawny, high-pressure cousin of the Aeon 1. Terran R's upper stage will feature one vacuum Aeon, as on Terran 1.

    Terran R's payload capacity is close to that of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9, a pioneer in rocket reuse. Falcon 9 first stages regularly and repeatedly come back to Earth after sending satellites on their way to orbit; last month, for example, a Falcon 9 booster known as B1051 launched and landed for a record 10th time.


    Relativity Space - 3D-Printed Rockets 'Built and Flown in Days'


    But Relativity Space, which was founded in 2015, aims to take reuse a step further with Terran R. The entire rocket — the first stage, the second stage and the payload fairing, which protects satellites during launch — will be reusable, company representatives said.

    "There’s an organic relationship between 3D printing and reusability, and it gives us an unparalleled advantage to design the best fully reusable rocket possible," Relativity Space co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis said in the same statement.

    Terran R has been in Relativity Space's plans for a while, but the company decided over the past year or so to accelerate its development. That work will be aided by an infusion of investor cash — $650 million in newly secured equity funding, the company announced today.

    Such a haul is not exactly unprecedented for Relativity Space. The company raked in $500 million in its previous investment round, which was announced in November 2020.



    Relativity Space's new Terran-R will be a completely reusable rocket standing 216 feet tall with a 16-foot diameter and a 5-meter payload fairing. (Image credit: Relativity Space)

    "Relativity was founded with the mission to 3D-print entire rockets and build humanity’s industrial base on Mars," Ellis said.

    "We were inspired to make this vision a reality, and believe there needs to be dozens to hundreds of companies working to build humanity’s multiplanetary future on Mars," he added. "Scalable, autonomous 3D printing is inevitably required to thrive on Mars, and Terran R is the second product step in a long-term journey Relativity is planning ahead."

    Though today marked Terran R's official unveiling, the rocket's existence was not a secret: In February, CNBC's Michael Sheetz wrote an in-depth story about the vehicle and its envisioned role.

    Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

    Russia, US reach agreement on JBS, Colonial Pipeline cyberattacks — Lavrov

    The Russian Foreign Minister hopes that this will help to develop bilateral dialogue


    © EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO


    MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Russia and the United States have found consensus on cyberattacks on US companies JBS and Colonial Pipeline, and it can contribute to developing dialogue in this area, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

    "In the end, a consensus was found in both cases, although earlier our Western partners had objections. I have reasons to hope that this will help to develop bilateral dialogue. But the most important thing is to conduct the dialogue professionally, and not for show," he noted.

    The minister stressed that Russia does not abandon its attempts to set up a dialogue in the cybersphere with its US partners. "We do not stop trying. In September last year, President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin issued a statement on how we would see US-Russian cooperation in developing a comprehensive program of measures to restore cooperation in this area," Lavrov added.

    Lavrov said he hopes that Russia’s proposal will be substantively discussed at the summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States on June 16 in Geneva.

    In early May, attackers from the DarkSide group hacked into the systems of American pipeline company Colonial Pipeline. According to US intelligence services, DarkSide may be based on the territory of Russia or Eastern Europe but is not associated with any government. The attack on computer networks of American meat processing company JBS was carried out on May 31. According to the White House press service, the company believes that a criminal organization, allegedly located in Russia, is behind the attack.

    'You didn't get the best of me': Residential school survivor gets honorary doctorate

    © Provided by The Canadian Press


    CALGARY — Clarence Wolfleg remembers the day his mother took him to school.

    It was 1956 and for the next 5 1/2 years he attended the Old Sun Residential School outside Gleichen in southern Alberta.

    "My first memory was when my mother suited me up in my finest — my GWG denim jacket, my new pants and my little fedora hat. I said, 'Where am I going?' She said, 'We're going to go to that place.'"

    Wolfleg was 6 1/2 years old. He was able to earn high enough marks to attend a public school when he was 12.

    He doesn't say the name of the residential school. It's simply "that place."

    Wolfleg, 72, shared some of his not-so-fond memories on Tuesday before Mount Royal University in Calgary bestowed him with an honorary doctor of laws degree for his efforts as an elder and spiritual adviser.

    "It was horrible in a sense that I could not connect with my language to soothe my pain. I couldn't cry because they told me you can't cry, so my emotions was hidden inside of me," he said.

    Wolfleg's mother gave some older boys "a few dollars" to protect him from some of the priests and other students. Leaving the institution is one of his better memories.

    "The most happiest moment I had was when I left there and ... I wasn't going back. I looked back and said, 'Well, you didn't get the best of me. I'm still alive. My spirit is still with me."'

    Wolfleg said when he first entered the school, he committed to following his father's example of joining the military and becoming a spiritual leader to his people.

    He accomplished both.

    Word that remains believed to be of Indigenous children were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has reawakened other memories for Wolfleg, known as Miiksika'am in Blackfoot.

    "I had to think about three girls that were found not even 300 yards from (my) school," said Wolfleg.

    "They ran away from school and the house they went to was just a quarter mile down the road. A heavy snowstorm hit and they were found huddled on a hilltop south of the school.

    "A little girl in the middle, she survived, but the other two passed away."

    University president Tim Rahilly said Wolfleg has become an icon at the institution and helped many Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with his wisdom. He said the degree is the highest honour the school gives out and the decision was made long before the news out of Kamloops.

    "We have been working for a long time on trying to recognize Indigenous ways of knowing and to recognize longer service of Indigenous folks in our community," he said.

    "I think the emotional weight of what's happened recently is something that is on all of our minds."

    The graduation ceremony was not unlike a drive-in movie. Graduates sat in their cars watching the stage.

    Chancellor Dawn Farrell paid tribute to residential schoolchildren as she addressed the graduates.

    "Our hearts break for them, for their family, for their communities, for all of our residential school survivors and all of our Indigenous and First Nations people."

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2021.