Hong Kong police raid Tiananmen massacre museum

The shuttered museum was run by the group that organized the Tiananmen vigils in Hong Kong. Separately, the group's vice-chairman and 11 others pleaded guilty of defying a ban on the vigils.


The June 4th museum, commemorating the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, has been shut down for months

Hong Kong police on Thursday raided a museum dedicated to the victims of China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The raid came just hours after a dozen Hong Kong democracy activists pleaded guilty to participating in an unauthorized candlelight vigil marking last year's anniversary of the massacre.

Exhibit items seized

Officers of the newly created national security unit carted away artwork, documents and exhibits from the museum as evidence.

Security officers seized a cardboard featuring pictures of annual candlelight vigil from the museum

Police seized a giant logo of the museum and photos of the huge candlelight vigils that Hong Kong activists had held for Tiananmen's victims, as well as a paper model of the Goddess of Democracy — a symbol of the 1989 pro-democracy student movement in Beijing.

The museum was closed this year as authorities were investigating a lack of appropriate licenses, and the group running it was fined 8,000 Hong Kong dollars ($1,000, €847).



Activists arrested under national security law

The museum is run by the Hong Kong Alliance group, which had organized Tiananmen Square vigils in the city.

The group had been accused of working as a "foreign agent," and authorities had questioned its operational and financial information.

It is seen as the latest target of a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong.

Several members of the Hong Kong Alliance are already in jail on national security charges.

On Thursday, 12 democracy activists pleaded guilty to unauthorized assembly charges over the Tiananmen vigil in 2020, which was the first one banned by authorities since 1990.

The alliance's jailed vice-chairman Albert Ho was among them. He said he rejected the "foreign agents" accusation, and that local groups supporting democracy had formed the alliance.

"We were driven by our consciences and moral commitment to make our best endeavors to maintain this historic tradition of commemorating June 4th, remembering the lesson of history and speaking truth to power," he said.

Yeung Sum, a former lawmaker and one of the 12 who pleaded guilty, said they would continue to fight for democracy.

"The June 4 candlelight vigil may be banned forever... but the flowers of liberty will blossom regardless of the storm. Hong Kong people will continue to seek our way to democracy and freedom."

HONG KONG MARKS TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY — IN PICTURES

Cleaning the Pillar of Shame

Hong Kong students clean the Pillar of Shame statue on the 32nd anniversary of the massacre on Tiananmen Square, which officially left 300 people dead, according to government statistics, after the Chinese military brutally suppressed protests in support of democracy. Independent international estimates put the toll at several thousand.

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Police arrest pro-democracy activists under Hong Kong security law



Chow Hang-tung (C) vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was arrested along with standing committee members Leung Kam-wai, Tang Ngok-kwan (both pictured) and a third member amid allegations the group was acting as a foreign agent in violation of Hong Kong's national security law. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Police in Hong Kong on Wednesday arrested four leaders of one of the city's most prominent pro-democracy groups.

Four members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were arrested after they said police sought details about its funding and membership as part of an investigation into whether it was acting as a "foreign agent" in violation of the government's sweeping national security law.

"Police operations are continuing and it cannot be ruled out that more people may be arrested," police said in a statement confirming the arrests.

The group said the arrested members included vice chairwoman and barrister Chow Hang-tung along with standing committee members Leung Kam-wai, Tang Ngok-kwan and Chan Dor-wai.

RELATED  7 pro-democracy Hong Kong protesters sentenced to prison

Chow posted on social media Wednesday morning that police had been ringing her doorbell and attempting to open her door.

The Alliance on Sunday said it would not comply with the police orders to turn over personal details of its members and meeting records with political groups in Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.

Chow rejected the idea the group was acting on behalf of foreign powers, telling reporters Sunday they are "agents of the Hong Kong people's conscience" and calling the police order "an abuse of power."

RELATED New Hong Kong law aims to ban movies with subversive, dissenting themes

"They are trying to intimidate the people who participate in social movements," she said. "We will now clearly state that this sort of intimidation will stop at us. We will not transmit that fear through our compliance."

The city's security agency responded with a "solemn warning" later Sunday stating that "endangering national security is a very serious crime" and the Alliance "should immediately turn back before it is too late."

The security law was signed into law by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year imposing penalties ranging from up to three years to life in prison for secession, sedition, subversion, terrorism and working with foreign agencies to undermine the national security of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong.

RELATED Hong Kong says patients with COVID-19 Mu variant came from U.S., Colombia

The law was initially tabled after prompting months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 and received widespread condemnation internationally.

The Alliance was formed more than 30 years ago to support pro-democratic protests in Hong Kong and has also organized the annual vigil on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Hong Kong: police arrest senior members of group that organised Tiananmen vigils


Chow Hang-tung, a barrister and organiser of the Hong Kong Alliance, wrote on Twitter ‘Any farewell words for me?’ before she was detained

Chow Hang-tung is seen inside a vehicle after being detained in Hong Kong 

Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters


Helen Davidson in Taipei
@heldavidson
Wed 8 Sep 2021 03.11 BS

Hong Kong police have arrested several members of the group that organised the city’s annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil, after it was accused of foreign collusion by the authorities.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said police arrived at the offices or residents of several members early on Wednesday morning. The arrests come amid increasing crackdown on political, professional and civil society groups, which the government has accused of unpatriotic conduct or national security offences.

Chow Hang-tung, vice-chairwoman of the organisation, was arrested at her office in Hong Kong’s central business district, according to local media. Chow had earlier posted to Facebook saying people, presumed to be police, were ringing her doorbell and attempting to crack the door code: “Any words of farewell for me?” she said.

At least three others were also arrested, according to the South China Morning Post, including standing committee members Leung Kam-wai, Tang Ngok-kwan and Chan Dor-wai. The police said investigations were ongoing and it did not rule out further arrests.



British foreign secretary Dominic Raab strongly criticised the arrests. “Today’s arrests of members of the Hong Kong Alliance are another chilling demonstration of how the national security law is being used by Beijing to dismantle civil society and stifle political dissent in Hong Kong,” Raab said on Twitter.

Chow, who is also a barrister, was due to appear at a bail hearing later on Wednesday to represent Gwyneth Ho, an opposition politician charged with conspiracy to commit subversion. Ho is among 47 politicians and campaigners who were arrested for holding unofficial primaries ahead of a general election which was later postponed.

On Tuesday the Hong Kong Alliance formally refused a police request to hand over information about its finances, membership and operations last week, saying police were abusing their power to invoke fear, by making “a fishing attempt to construct stories and conspiracies” against civil society groups.

“I want to tell Hong Kongers that we need to continue to resist, never surrender to the unreasonable power quickly and easily,” Chow told media on Tuesday when she went to police headquarters to inform officers she would not provide information they had requested.


Hong Kong: international companies reconsider future in wake of security law

In its letter demanding the information, police accused the alliance of being “an agent of foreign forces” and requested the information by 7 September. Failure to comply could bring six months’ jail time or a HK$100,000 (£9,300) fine, it said. After the refusal, Hong Kong’s security chief, Chris Tang, vowed follow-up action and said law enforcers would act quickly.

Without naming the alliance, the police force’s national security department said one of several organisation had refused requests to provide information, and “police severely condemn such acts”.

The 32-year-old organisation formed amid student protests in China in 1989, which later saw Chinese authorities killing untold numbers of protesters in Beijing and other cities. In subsequent years the alliance held annual mass candlelight vigils on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on 4 June, often attended by hundreds of thousands of people. The previous two vigils have been banned by authorities citing pandemic restrictions, and there are widespread concerns that under the national security law it will not be legally held again.

The national security law punishes acts which authorities deem to be secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with sentences of up to life in prison.

Samuel Chu, a US-based Hong Kong activist and founder of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, which he has since left, told the Guardian the national security law “has proven to be the perfect weapon against civil society, forcing self-censoring and the disbanding of both new and old groups.”

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China organises the city’s annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil 

Photograph: Jérôme Favre/EPA

Chu’s father, the activist Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, was a senior member of the alliance and served on its standing committee from its inception until last year, alongside the founding chair, Szeto Wah, who died in 2011. In the weeks after the 1989 massacre Rev Chu, Wah and the alliance were among groups running ‘Operation Yellowbird’, which helped about 400 wanted activists and dissidents escape China through Hong Kong.

“The rapid and complete closing space for civil society is not abstract or merely academic. For me – and so many Hongkongers – Hong Kong’s civil society is personal and generational. It is how we mark the passage of time and history as Hongkongers,” said Chu.

The alliance had already scaled down in an attempt to protect itself from persecution. Lee Cheuk Yan and Albert Ho are among numerous high-profile activists serving prison terms over their roles in the 2019 pro-democracy protests that roiled Hong Kong.

Last week the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) disbanded, saying no members were willing to perform secretariat duties after its convener, Figo Chan Ho-wun, was jailed for 18 months over a 2019 rally. The CHRF is also under investigation by police.

On Tuesday the city’s leader Carrie Lam said a group couldn’t call itself civil society if it defied the law.

“It’s not for her to decide. Does the government own the power to decide the definition of a civil society organisation?” Chow said in response. “By labelling everyone as foreign agents, as not civil society, they can do anything and it’s wrong.”

She said if there was any risk to the group in refusing the demand, it was a political one, as any arrest or charge would be without justification.

“The stronger you resist of course, the more they’ll want to suppress you.”

Newly uncovered Walt Whitman texts reveal poet's German ties

The influential US poet Walt Whitman wrote articles under a pen name, as two scholars have found. The letters reveal his love of German culture.



Walt Whitman, circa 1866

Often called the father of free verse, poet, essayist and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) had a profound impact on poetry in the United States.

His most famous work, Leaves of Grass, prompted controversy when it was first published in 1855.


"Writing and talk do not prove me, I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face, With the hush of my lips I confound the topmost skeptic." Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself

Part of the controversy stemmed from the tome's undisguised sensuality. Controversial, too, was Whitman's presumed homo- or bisexuality.

"The bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them, They will not let me off nor I them till I go with them and respond to them and love them." Leaves of Grass, I Sing the Body Electric

Born in West Hills, New York in 1819, Walt Whitman lived much of his life in Brooklyn. Leaving school at the age of 11, he became a journalist, teacher, government clerk and poet. Influenced by transcendentalism and realism, he thus financed the publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855.

Whitman lived in New Orleans for three months in 1848 and helped establish the New Orleans Daily Crescent newspaper. Whitman then left the city in the South of the United States and returned to New York City, with most scholars assuming Whitman's contributions to the paper ceased upon his departure.

A young Walt Whitman in New Orleans in Spring 1848
Literary detectives at work

But recently, scholars Stefan Schöberlein, of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia in the US — along with his colleague, Zachary Turpin, of the University of Idaho — have found "that Whitman kept contributing texts by mail: both correspondence under the pen name of 'Manhattan' and further installments of a humorous series of sketches he had begun during his in-person tenure."

That means that they have discovered "a significant cache of hitherto unknown texts" by Whitman, which were originally written for the Daily Crescent newspaper in New Orleans.

"These newly discovered texts stretch over a period of six months and constitute a fascinating glimpse into Whitman's day-to-day activities, political ideas, and attitudes about race during a period in his life that has been somewhat shrouded in mystery," Schöberlein told DW in an email.

Their findings have just been published in the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review.
Most significant Whitman (re)discovery in years

After discovering a series of letters published in the Crescent that sounded "a lot like Whitman," the researchers did a computer analysis to assess whether the language used in the texts reflected the author's.

And they did indeed "turn out to be the almost 50 'Manhattan' letters we have now identified," Schöberlein said, adding: "These sets of texts constitute one of the most significant textual rediscoveries by Whitman in recent years. It fundamentally changes how we understand Whitman's relationship to New York and his activities in that crucial year, 1848."

Whitman's affinity to Germany

The newly discovered texts also reveal that Whitman closely followed developments in Germany.

In 1848 and 1849, Germany was embroiled in a series of revolutions that would define European history.

The 1848 revolutionaries fought for a unified Germany, a more democratic government and protection of human rights

"In his letters after his return to New York, we see him paying close attention to the 1848 revolutions in the various German states (and beyond). And when the infamous Badenesian revolutionary Friedrich Hecker arrives in his New York exile in October of 1848, Whitman is there to cheer him on and salute the German republican flag," explained Schöberlein.

Friedrich Hecker led the "Hecker Uprising," along with Gustav von Struve and other radicals — an attempt in April 1848 to overthrow the German monarchy and establish a republic in the Grand Duchy of Baden.
Whitman, a fan of German music

Whitman was not only interested in German politics, but also in culture.

"We always knew that Whitman loved Italian operas — but now we know he loved German and Austrian music, too. He eagerly listened to Joseph Gungl's German Musical Society perform Beethoven, Strauss, Mendelssohn, and Spohr. He was especially enchanted by a young violinist named Ikelheimer. Just a few weeks later, he raves about Lenschow's 'Germania' troupe," Schöberlein said of the Manhattan letters.

An excerpt from the 'Daily Crescent,' October 18, 1848, showing one of Whitman's 'Manhattan' letters

Likewise in the Manhattan letters, Whitman discussed European emigration and anti-immigrant sentiment in the US in the 19th century. "Hardly a day passes that hundreds of poor wayfarers from Europe do not land upon our wharves; some no doubt, to sink amid disease or poverty, but most, I am happy to say, to take a start which brings them amid better times and far more comfort," poet and journalist Whitman wrote.
Still relevant today

Beyond the poet's profound literary influence, Whitman remains relevant to this day.

"When I teach Whitman, I'm always struck by how relevant he seems, often in unexpected ways." said Schöberlein. "During the height of the first waves of COVID, my students and I discussed one of Whitman's prose pieces that deals with how one might possibly take account of mass death of the Civil War. In the same week, The New York Times was attempting the same on its front page (with those lost to the pandemic)."

Whitman at around age 50

One could argue that Whitman is just another "old white guy" of the literary canon, and that contemporary verse by female poets of color, like US National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman or Indian-born Canadian poet Rupi Kaur deems more attention. Yet poetry can always educate and entertain, regardless of the color and gender of the writer.

"I often read one of Whitman's lesser-known love poems in class and enjoy seeing the surprise on my students' faces when they realize that the whole piece is fully gender-neutral — which felt so seamless to them that they didn't notice it at first," Schöberlein said.

"Whitman was an undogmatic political and philosophical thinker, able to transcend his own personal biases in writing — to a degree that is truly remarkable," says Schöberlein. "All of his bravado and bluster aside, Whitman's underlying thesis that 'democracy' is above all a set of attitudes and behaviors, a way of seeing and way of being in the world, remains a really important insight to me."

Speaking about Whitman's poetry, Schöberlein said: "There's just something about this grandiose amateur poet who decided to explain the universe in slang and innuendo that still feels utterly refreshing."

 MERKEL SAYS THE F WORD

Germany's Angela Merkel declares 'yes, I am a feminist'

After years of shying away from the question, Merkel is now taking a clear stance on feminism in her last days in office. Her comments came during an event with Nigerian writer and feminist icon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

   

Long seen as a feminist icon, it's the first time Merkel has openly declared 

herself a feminist

Germany's chancellor may have been hesitant to describe herself as a feminist in the past, but as Angela Merkel counts down her last few days in office, it would appear she is making her position known.

Speaking to reporters after an event with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Düsseldorf on Wednesday, Merkel spoke about her new perspective on feminism.

"Essentially, it's about the fact that men and women are equal, in the sense of participation in society and in life in general. And in that sense I can say: 'Yes, I'm a feminist.'"

'We should all be feminists'

The comments were a turnaround from an awkward exchange at the Women20 summit in Berlin in 2017, when Merkel was asked directly if she was a feminist.

Volume 90%

 

Listen to audio40:38

Is Angela Merkel a feminist? - Interview with Miriam Meckel (E07)

In that instance, Merkel did not answer the question directly, prompting criticism and disappointment from many.

At Wednesday's event Germany's first female chancellor was more candid and admitted her reticent approach from the past.

"I was a bit shyer when I said it. But it's more thought-out now. And in that sense, I can say that we should all be feminists."

Her comment prompted a round of applause from the audience, as well as enthusiastic endorsement from Adichie— whose 2012 TEDx talk-turned book "We Should All Be Feminists" has been hailed as a cornerstone text of 21st century feminism.

Icons of feminism

The event included a panel discussion hosted by journalists, Miriam Meckel and Lea Steinacker. They spoke about the similarities between Adichie and Merkel, both of whom are considered to be feminist icons in their own rights.

Merkel opened up about her experiences as a young girl and told the audience about what had shaped her growing up. 

"The fact that I grew up with mentally handicapped people as a child and had no fear," she said. "That I studied physics," Merkel went on, recalling how she was among a small percentage of women studying in a male dominated discipline.

Merkel said on many occasions she battled to get to a table to conduct experiments, which taught her to fight for her position.

A different Germany

Merkel also spoke about the differences she has seen in German society over the past few decades.

"I must say, however, that something has changed in our country, well, in Germany it has," she continued.

"I wouldn't have noticed 20 years ago if a panel discussion had been all men. I no longer think that's OK. There's something missing," Merkel said.

The chancellor spoke alongside renowed writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the opening

 of a festival in Düsseldorf

The outgoing chancellor also said she would be leaving office with a clear conscience and having done what she could.

"I think I have done my bit, and anyone who hasn't understood it now won't understand it in the next four years," she said.

Germany will head to the polls on September 26 to elect a new parliament which will pick Merkel's successor as chancellor.

In recent weeks, Merkel has emphatically endorsed Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate Armin Laschet to succeed her.

As for what comes next, Merkel said she needs space to figure out her next steps after 16 years as chancellor.

"I've resolved to do nothing for the time being and wait and see what happens. And that, I find, is very fascinating."

kb/rs (AFP, dpa)

Ocasio-Cortez Slams Texas Governor's 'Disgusting' Defense of Abortion Ban

"It's not just ignorance, it's ignorance that's hurting people across this country."


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a rally in New York City on June 5, 2021.

 (Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)


JAKE JOHNSON

September 8, 2021

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's latest defense of his state's near-total ban on abortion as "disgusting" and said the Republican leader's ignorance on matters of basic biology is actively harming people across the nation.

Questioned by reporters earlier Tuesday, Abbott argued that there is no need for a rape or incest exception to the new ban because the law "provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion"—a span of time that the governor characterized as sufficient for a person to discover they're pregnant, make the decision to terminate the pregnancy, and actually obtain an abortion under increasingly difficult circumstances.

In an appearance on CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said she was appalled by Abbott's comments, which she characterized as coming from "a place of deep ignorance."

"And it's not just ignorance, it's ignorance that's hurting people across this country," Ocasio-Cortez added.

Lamenting that she had to "break down biology 101 on national television" for the leader of a major U.S. state, the New York congresswoman noted that "six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period."

"Two weeks late on your period for any person, any person with a menstrual cycle, can happen if you're stressed, if your diet changes, or for really no reason at all," Ocasio-Cortez said. "So you don't have six weeks."

"This is about making sure that someone like me, as a woman, or any menstruating person in this country cannot make decisions over their own body," she continued. "And people like Governor Abbott and [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell want to have more control over a woman's body than that woman or that person has over themselves."

Ocasio-Cortez's comments came nearly a week after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block Texas' abortion ban, a 5-4 decision that allowed the most draconian assault on reproductive rights in the country to take effect. Legal analysts argued that the high court's refusal to stop the ban effectively gutted Roe v. Wade and imperiled abortion access throughout much of the nation.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 11 U.S. states currently have in place "post-Roe laws to ban all or nearly all abortions that would be triggered if Roe were overturned."

In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, some Republican-led states are already moving to replicate the Texas law, which deputizes private individuals to enforce the abortion ban—a maneuver that makes the new restrictions more difficult to challenge in court.

To counter the GOP's intensifying assault on reproductive rights, House Democrats are expected to vote later this month on legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade—the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established abortion as a constitutional right—into federal law.

"The Supreme Court's cowardly, dark-of-night decision to uphold a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women's rights and health is staggering," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement last week. "This ban necessitates codifying Roe v. Wade."

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Anger Mounts Over Democrats' Refusal to Address Jobless Aid Crisis

Progressive critics warn failure to bolster the unemployment system during the pandemic "is a shocking dereliction of responsibility."

Local residents receive food during a food distribution event in New York City on May 26, 2021. 

(Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Food Bank for New York City)

JAKE JOHNSON

September 8, 2021

Worker justice advocates are growing increasingly furious over the national Democratic leadership's refusal to act after more than nine million people across the U.S. were thrown off unemployment insurance earlier this week, an unprecedented aid cut that took effect in the middle of a surging pandemic and persistent economic crisis.

"Failure to do anything at this critical juncture is a betrayal of the workers who have suffered so badly over the course of this crisis."

—Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project

The Biden administration and congressional Democrats had been aware of the massive benefit cliff for months, but there was hardly any push on Capitol Hill for an extension of the trio of federal unemployment insurance (UI) programs that lapsed on Labor Day—slashing benefits for roughly 9.5 million unemployed workers.

In recent weeks, the Biden White House repeatedly made clear that it supported the expiration of a $300-per-week federal boost to state-level benefits and said it would do nothing to stop the Republican-led states that ended the UI supplement prematurely.

While administration officials said in a recent letter that President Joe Biden believes the coronavirus pandemic "has exposed serious problems in our UI system that require immediate reform," the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday left UI reform out of a package of policy measures that it hopes to include in the emerging budget reconciliation package.

"This is a shocking dereliction of responsibility and every committee member should be ashamed," Rachel Deutsch of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) tweeted Tuesday. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) must step in."

Jennifer Epps-Addison, CPD Action's co-executive director, echoed that message in a statement Tuesday night, declaring that "it's time for Congress to step up and ensure that every person in this country gets the support they need to not only survive this pandemic, but to thrive long term."

"Congress has known for decades that our UI system does not adequately support workers or stabilize our economy during recessions," said Epps-Addison. "Just this week, 9.5 million working people lost their lifeline when Congress allowed pandemic unemployment benefits to expire—the largest benefit cliff in history—while unemployment rates in communities of color remain shockingly high. To pretend that we can 'build back better' without tackling this broken and racist system is absurd."

"President Biden urged Chairman Neal to take up the issue of long-term UI reform as part of the reconciliation process—but today, the Ways and Means Committee ignored his call," Epps-Addison added. "Speaker Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer must step up and ensure meaningful UI reforms are included in this reconciliation package."

The People's Policy Project (PPP), a left-wing think tank, estimated last week that around 35 million people live in households that will be impacted by the federal unemployment cuts, which are expected to leave more than seven million jobless people with no UI benefits at all. Nearly three million others will lose the $300-per-week federal boost, forcing them to get by on state benefits that average less than $400 a week.

"If Democrats had any sense, they would add an extension of pandemic benefits to the reconciliation package currently under discussion, and pass it immediately."
—Ryan Cooper, The Week

"Due to severe shortcomings in state UI programs, Congress had to create emergency pandemic unemployment programs in the CARES Act to offset barriers to eligibility, too-short payment durations, and inadequate benefit levels. These three pressing issues are priority UI fixes that can be taken on in the reconciliation budget," Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), said Tuesday. "It is a sad and avoidable policy choice to leave unemployed people across the country without needed support."

"Failure to do anything at this critical juncture," Dixon added, "is a betrayal of the workers who have suffered so badly over the course of this crisis, and those who will need the program in the future."

Travis Curry, a 34-year-old freelance photographer who is set to lose all of his UI benefits, told the New York Times that "to just cut people off, it's ridiculous and it's unethical and it's evil."

In addition to the devastating effects the UI cuts could have on millions of jobless workers who are already struggling to afford food and other basic expenses, economists and commentators have also voiced concerns about the broader economic consequences of lawmakers' decision to let the emergency programs expire. Before they ended, the federal UI programs were pumping billions of dollars into the economy each week.

"We've got this fragile economic recovery and now we're going to cut income from people who need it, and we are pulling back dollars out of an economy that is still pretty unsteady," Elizabeth Ananat, an economist at Barnard College, said in an interview with the Times earlier this week.

According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy remains more than five million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, and the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant appears to be taking its toll on hiring.

In a column on Tuesday, The Week's Ryan Cooper argued that "if I were the Democratic Party, I would be reversing these [UI] cuts immediately."

"Rule of thumb: A program to address an emergency should last at least as long as the emergency itself," Cooper wrote. "If it was necessary to pass a pandemic rescue back on March 11 when there were about 55,000 coronavirus cases per day, it stands to reason that we should still need those same rescue programs when cases are running about 160,000 per day."

"If Democrats had any sense," Cooper added, "they would add an extension of pandemic benefits to the reconciliation package currently under discussion, and pass it immediately."

Prior to the Labor Day expiration of the emergency UI programs, 26 states—each led by a Republican governor except Louisiana—cut off the federal benefits early, arguing that the aid was dissuading people from returning to the workforce.

But subsequent research showed that slashing the benefits did virtually nothing to boost hiring, vindicating experts who disputed Republican leaders' talking points. The premature cuts did, however, dramatically reduce jobless workers' incomes—a possible preview of what's to come now that the federal programs have expired nationwide.

"You cannot say canceling unemployment benefits gets people back to work when we have the data to prove it doesn't," Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted Tuesday. "What it will do is make life even harder for the single mom who's barely making ends meet while trying to balance childcare and staying healthy during a pandemic."

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Los Angeles to make Covid vaccines compulsory for schoolkids

Issued on: 09/09/2021 -

Children attending schools managed by Los Angeles Unified School District will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19, under a proposal being debated Tuesday, the first such mandate by a big school district in the United States

 Patrick T. FALLON AFP/File

Los Angeles (AFP)

Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be made compulsory Thursday for Los Angeles schoolchildren aged 12 and over, the first such requirement by a major education board in the United States.

The vote by the Los Angeles Unified School District -- the second biggest in the country -- comes as the nation grapples with surging coronavirus numbers, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

It also comes as President Joe Biden is set to unveil vaccine mandates for federal employees, as part of a plan to wrestle the Covid caseload under control.

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Around 600,000 students attend a public school managed by LAUSD, and the expected passage of the motion at Thursday's meeting could set a precedent for school boards across the country.

The district already mandates regular testing for children, and masks are required on campus, both indoors and out. Staff must be vaccinated.

Under the proposal, all children attending in-person classes would need to have their first dose by November 21, and their second by December 19.

A child who turns 12 will have 30 days to get their first shot.

The plan has the support of teachers' unions and many parents, but -- as elsewhere in the United States -- a significant and vocal minority is strongly opposed to vaccines, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that they are safe and effective.

Local health officials say around 58 percent of those aged between 12 and 18 have had at least one shot.

The motion, which is expected to pass, says action is required to stem the rising number of infections among schoolchildren, which has threatened to derail a so-far successful return to classrooms after a lengthy hiatus last year.

Covid-19 "is a material threat to the health and safety of all students within the LAUSD community, and is a further threat to the successful return to continuous in-person instruction," it says.

Vaccines, masks and other mitigation measures against Covid-19 have become deeply political issues in the United States.

Republican-led states and counties, citing personal freedoms, have resisted imposing rules that doctors say would protect their populations.

A free and widely available vaccine program is credited with taming earlier surges in the coronavirus, a disease that has claimed more than 650,000 lives and sickened millions more in the United States.

But Delta's emergence has threatened to reverse progress, and case numbers have risen nationwide in recent months, concentrated in places where vaccine take-up is low.

© 2021 AFP

Armed groups benefit from poaching, logging in Congo reserve, say NGOs

Issued on: 09/09/2021 - 

The Virunga National Park is one of the last holdouts of the mountain gorilla - 

Virunga National Park/AFP

Goma (DR Congo) (AFP)

Illegal logging, charcoal production and poaching in and around Virunga National Park, the famed sanctuary of mountain gorillas in eastern DR Congo, are enriching armed groups in the troubled region, local NGOs say.

"The majority of armed groups active in North Kivu (province) have set up bases in and around the park," raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars (euros) each month, 38 environmental and human rights movements say.

They spell out the problem in a letter to the province's military governor, President Felix Tshisekedi and senior officials in Kinshasa and in Goma, North Kivu's capital.

Armed groups "illegally exploit various natural resources to finance themselves," from ivory trafficking and charcoal production to extorting local fishermen on Lake Edward, according to the letter released on Wednesday.

Signatories included the Congolese Alert Network for the Environment and Human Rights (ACEDH), Humanitarian Action for Sustainable Development (AHDD), the Congo Basin Conservation Society (CBCS) and Planete Verte RDC (Green Planet DRC).

Fishing alone is estimated to provide the groups with income of least $100,000 a month, through "taxes" levied on the use of the canoes.

As for charcoal burning, "at least 40 trucks each carrying 150 sacks of lump charcoal enter the city of Goma every day," the letter says. At $10 per sack, the sums collected reach almost $1.7 million per month.

These funds add to income from kidnapping and other criminal activities, which the groups use to buy weapons and bribe officials, the letter adds.

The Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) said the letter "pinpoints a real problem" where armed groups directly feed off trafficking in natural resources.

The groups are urging North Kivu's government to "prohibit any commercial activity or illicit traffic involving the military, park wardens or members of their families" and to crack down on "intermediaries".

Virunga National Park Paul DEFOSSEUX AFP

Situated on DR Congo's borders with Rwanda and Uganda, the 7,800-square-kilometre (3,000-square-mile) park is the oldest nature reserve in Africa and a sanctuary for rare species, including mountain gorillas, which are also present in neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.

The haven has also been the theatre of clashes between gunmen and park rangers, of whom 21 have died in the past year.

More than 120 armed groups roam eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them a legacy of regional wars some two decades ago, according to the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), a respected US-based monitor of violence in the region.

© 2021 AFP

Art, terror and erections show VR potential at Venice

Issued on: 09/09/2021 

There are 37 projects in the Venice VR Expanded official selection, which has been part of the film festival since 2016 

Marco BERTORELLO AFP

Venice (AFP)

"Can you tell the difference between what is and isn't real?" intones Tilda Swinton as the room disintegrates into pixels.

Swinton is the latest star to lend her talents to the world of virtual reality, which has been quietly building into a medium with incredible -- and disconcerting -- potential.

She narrates "Goliath", about a man's descent into schizophrenia, illustrated by startling visual effects and interactive experiences that illustrate his slippery hold on reality.

It premiered in the VR section of the Venice Film Festival which is running until Saturday.

It was far from the only intense experience on offer to those willing to don helmets and flail around in a booth.

"Container" was a particularly arresting experience.

One minute, the container is filling with water as a woman tries desperately to keep from drowning, then suddenly it becomes a massage parlour with a man trying to force a woman into sex, then suddenly a tiny sweatshop in which a family of garment workers are toiling away.

The viewer is so utterly immersed, effectively standing just centimetres away from the characters, that it feels viscerally, uncomfortably real.

"VR is immersive theatre meeting technology. It has extreme potential, it goes beyond the wildest imagination of what people can experience spatially and artistically," May Abdalla, co-creator of "Goliath", told AFP.

- Fully fledged artform -

"Not every project suits VR. You need to find the right experience," Abdalla added.

One of the most daring at Venice was "In the Mist", which skirts a delicate line between art and porn.

Given that its 15-minute running time is almost entirely filled with naked men fellating and penetrating each other in a sauna, some might feel the line is crossed.

Michel Reilhac, Venice VR co-curator, insisted it should be seen as naked contemporary dance that "transcends sexuality", though he added that the porn industry was the only sector to turn a profit with VR for now.

VR competitions have become a regular feature of film festivals around the world, from Sundance to Cannes, but many remain unaware of how quickly the medium is evolving.

"The tech has reached the point where the makers are no longer fascinated by the tech... where it can call itself a fully-fledged artform," said Reilhac.

- Tricking the brain -

The projects at Venice range from 360-degree films in which the viewer can look around but not interact with objects, to the other end of the spectrum in which they embody an avatar and are fully immersed in an interactive world.

Swinton is the latest star to get involved with VR, narrating new release 'Goliath' CHRISTOPHE SIMON AFP

"You're tricking the limbic brain and you can't turn that off," said co-curator Liz Rosenthal.

"When you're standing on the edge of a virtual cliff, you can't stop yourself feeling vertigo."

The vast potential means creators are still defining what VR can be for themselves and for audiences.

"You can feel the possibilities changing as you're working with the tools," said Abdalla.

"With film, there is already a sophisticated rapport with the audience. They understand the vocabulary of cinema. But with VR, you know it's often their first time. You have to connect with that. It's a collaboration with them."

- 'Will become ubiquitous' -

Famously, VR is a medium that has been on the cusp of going mainstream for years -- even decades -- without ever quite getting there, held back by the expensive and unwieldy equipment.

A visitor takes part in the Venice VR Expanded programme at the Venice Film Festival Marco BERTORELLO AFP

But the industry only really got going in the mid-2010s as many companies -- including Google, Apple and Amazon -- began pouring money into the technology.

Reilhac said things were now moving fast thanks to the surge of interest in "social VR", where people meet up for digital gaming and gigs -- a trend accelerated by the pandemic.

"It will become ubiquitous when the headsets become glasses," he said.

The business potential was underlined last month when Facebook -- which owns the Oculus headset firm -- unveiled "Horizon Workrooms" for people to collaborate virtually.

"Give it two to three years and we'll see where we are, but I bet it's going to be major," Reilhac said.

© 2021 AFP



Facebook and Ray-Ban debut 'smart' shades



Issued on: 09/09/2021 

Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo

 Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP

San Francisco (AFP)

Facebook and iconic eyewear brand Ray-Ban on Thursday launched their new smart glasses, the latest effort in a tricky, niche market but which the social media giant sees as a step toward its future.

The "Ray-Ban Stories" shades can take pictures and video upon the wearer's voice commands, and the frames can connect wirelessly to Facebook's platform through an app.

"We took our Wayfarer (frames), born in 1952, and we reinvented the design squeezing in some cool technology," said Fabio Borsoi, global research and design director at the EssilorLuxottica group, Ray-Ban's maker.

Facebook is wading into a market that has already seen 2013's Google Glass, which sparked a privacy backlash over built-in cameras and prompted the tech titan to pivot its focus for the device away from the general public.

Messaging app SnapChat has also released its camera-equipped Spectacles, but they are pricey and have struggled to catch on broadly with tech lovers.

Notably, the Ray-Ban Stories glasses will not have augmented reality features -- technology that can mesh online computing with visual cues such as mapping or face recognition.

Instead, the shades are an early step toward efforts to create futuristic eyewear that adds to real-world views with data or graphics from the internet, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said previously.

The company had said in July it was combining specialists from across its hardware, gaming and virtual reality units to build an immersive digital world known as the "metaverse."

- Privacy features -

Priced starting at $299, the Ray-Ban Stories will roll out in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Cameras are built into the front of the frames, while the arms are designed to act as directional speakers for listening to calls or streamed audio.

A white light in the front of the frame goes on when the cameras are being used, which is intended as a privacy feature to alert people they could be filmed.

Users can take a picture or a video clip of up to 30 seconds by pressing a button at the temple or using a voice command, both of which can be cues that a camera is on.

"We need the user to feel completely in control of their capture experience," said Facebook Reality Labs product manager Hind Hobeika.

"And, similarly, we need people around them to feel comfortable that these smart glasses exist and always be in the know when a capture is happening," Hobeika added, referring to filming.

The glasses also have a physical switch for turning them off.

Users log into the glasses' Facebook View app using their accounts at the social network.

Ray-Ban Stories frames sync wirelessly to a smartphone app designed specifically for handling images or video captured by the glasses.

Users can decide using the app whether they want to share pictures or video they have just captured, such as posting to Facebook or attaching them to an email.

Only data needed to run the app is gathered, and no information is used for targeting ads, said Hobeika.

© 2021 AFP

BELLA CIAO COMRADE THEODORAKIS 

'Zorba the Greek' composer Theodorakis buried in Crete

Issued on: 09/09/2021

Theodorakis was adored in Greece for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967-74

 Costas Metaxakis AFP


Chania (Greece) (AFP)

Renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who scored the 1964 film "Zorba the Greek", was buried on Thursday in Crete where thousands converged to pay homage to the man who came to personify the country's modern music.

Adored in Greece for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967-74, Theodorakis died last week at age 96.

His coffin was laid out on Thursday morning at the cathedral in Chania, where a steady trickle of admirers came to pay their respects before he was taken to Galatas cemetery to be buried.

Speaking to the press, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said this was "the last journey of the great ambassador of Greekness".

"We say goodbye, as he deserves, to the last great Greek of the 20th century."

Theodorakis's coffin arrived in Crete, where his family was from, on Thursday morning from Athens where it had been on display for three days in the capital's cathedral.

At a ceremony on Wednesday to say goodbye, the head of the Communist Party of Greece said: "All your life you have held the gun in one hand and your scores in the other."

"Impulsive, revolutionary, passionate, your music shows that our world must change and can change," said Dimitris Koutsoumbas.

Theodorakis joined the resistance against the German and Italian occupation of Greece when he was just 17, during World War II.

Liberation in 1944 was followed almost immediately by civil war between the communists and royalists.

By the time he graduated from Athens Conservatory in 1950, Theodorakis had already been sent to deportation camps on several occasions.

At one point, he was sent to the dreaded Makronisos island prison off the eastern coast of Attica, where he was tortured as a "red".

After studying music at the Paris Conservatory, Theodorakis was elected to parliament as a left-wing deputy in 1964.

When a dictatorship seized control of the government in a 1967 coup, Theodorakis was among the first left-wing politicians to be arrested.

Pardoned a year later, he was involved in setting up the clandestine Patriotic Front, which led to another detention and a ban on his works.

Even in old age, he maintained an active interest in Greek politics.

© 2021 AFP