Climate change and construction spell disaster for the Himalayas

This summer flash floods and landslides in India left people bereaved and displaced. Activists say poor urban planning, driven by tourism and urban growth, is exacerbating the impact of the climate crisis.

    

Reena Bhalekar stands in the location where her house was before the 

floods swept it away. All that remains is her bed

At first, no one noticed the water lapping angrily at the riverbank. 

Reena Bhalekar's family slept soundly as the early morning rain drummed on the tarpaulin of their shelter. "The water was rising slowly," the 26-year old remembers. "My sister wasn't even aware that the water had come into her home." 

Then, from somewhere nearby, a piercing scream shattered the silence. Rushing outside, Reena discovered the river had risen dramatically overnight and now reached their slum in Chetru, a tiny village on the outskirts of Dharamshala in the Indian Himalayas. Settlements further down the hill were already a foot deep in water. With the road leading out of the settlement submerged, the family abandoned their belongings and scrambled up the densely forested hill to safety.

The path that the community used to escape after floodwaters cut off their

 escape out of the settlement

The flash flood in July wreaked havoc across the district, damaging properties and triggering a deadly landslide. It was one of 35 witnessed by the state of Himachal Pradesh in the first six weeks of India's monsoon season, a landslide incident increase of 116% compared to last year. 

Himalayan villages like Chetru are situated in a region known as the planet's "third pole" due to its vast ice sheet, which holds the largest amount of frozen water outside of the polar caps. Scientists warn that that the area is likely to witness rapidly melting glaciers and increasingly erratic rainfall patterns over the coming century due to climate change. 

Climate crisis meets poor urban planning 

However, activists say disasters like that in Chetru point to more than just climate change. They highlight how the impacts of the climate crisis are being compounded by unbridled development, driven by tourism and rapid urban growth. 

Houses built along the riverbank in Chetru were severely damaged by the floodwaters

"In the popular discourse climate change is very easy to blame," said Manshi Asher, an environmental activist and co-founder of local research collective Himdhara. This avoids addressing the issues of unplanned development, lack of regulation and rampant tourism, argues Asher. 

A 2015 study prepared for the state's own Disaster Management Cell cautioned against the risks of overdevelopment in Himachal Pradesh, finding the region at high risk of human-induced landslides as heavy construction and deforestation disturb the already fragile terrain. 

Reena's family and her neighbors experienced this first-hand. Not only did overdevelopment and the accompanying deforestation unsettle the local terrain, potentially intensifying the impact of the July floodwaters, it was also the reason they found themselves living there in the first place.

The families migrated decades ago from a neighboring state to find daily wage labor and settled in Charan Khad, a suburb of Dharamshala. In 2016, their slum was deemed a sanitation hazard and demolished, leaving around 290 families without shelter. 

Tourism and rapid population growth have created demand for building projects in the region

However, Asher believes that the land had become "prime property” and the community was displaced to make way for new construction as part of a central government urban development scheme known as theSmart City Mission, aimed at driving economic growth. 

"There was suddenly this whole plan of developing botanical gardens, parking, all kinds of things in the city," she says, adding there was no attempt to provide sanitation or legally recognize the slum, which would have entitled its residents to resettlement. Instead, the community was left to build flimsy tarpaulin structures beside a fast-flowing river — the only patch of land available to them.

Deforestation, building violations and flash floods

India's National Green Tribunal, which handles environmental issues, has strict laws on housing density and multi-story building construction, and in 2019 the Supreme Court imposed a complete ban on tree felling for development projects in forest areas of Himachal Pradesh. Despite this, illicit hill leveling and destruction of forest areas remain commonplace. 

McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government-in-exile, is popular 

with pilgrims and tourists

"The law is very good in India on paper — the problem is with the enforcement of it," says environmental lawyer Deven Khanna, appointed by the High Court of Shimla, the state capital, in 2018 to investigate environmental violations in the region. The number of structures in Dharamshala which are built in violation of building laws is, he says, "mind boggling."

Home to the Tibetan government-in-exile and a popular destination for pilgrims and foreign tourists, Dharamshala has experienced substantial urban growth in the last few decades, with the population more than doubling between 2011 and 2015.

In Bhagsu, a village popular with tourists in Upper Dharamshala, illegal building extensions constructed by hotel owners over the top of a stream obstructed the high flow of water during the flash flood this summer. With nowhere to go, the water burst out onto the main street, washing away cars and causing substantial damage to shops and houses. The illegal encroachments were demolished on the orders of state officials in the days following. 

Locals in Bhagsu claim that constructions had been blocking the path of the

 stream for years before the disaster

Could technology help? 

"The problem is starker in a place like Dharamshala, because it is a tourist place and there is a lot of opportunity to earn money from land, from buildings," Khanna explains. "People are okay with the risks, because they are thinking about the money."

Disillusioned with the inaction of local officials and the lack of resolution from the High Court case, Khanna now believes that long-term solutions lie with technology. He has advocated for the use of aerial drones and satellite mapping to monitor tree coverage and illegal felling. 

Floodwaters burst out from the stream running through Bhagsu village onto the road, 

causing widespread destruction

On his advice, the High Court ordered trials that involved tagging trees with GPS monitors and using drones to map areas around the state capital Shimla. Despite some initial success however, the schemes have been discontinued, due to what Khanna sees as a lack of political will and pressure from the public.  

Before the floods washed away their homes, Reena's community had been campaigning for years to be relocated to safer ground. They have now renewed their campaign for compensation and permanent resettlement. In the meantime, the government has provided temporary shelter nearby. 

For Reena, the memories of the flood still weigh heavily. "I have nightmares where the water comes again at night and all of my children, the whole community, is swept away in the floods," she says. "No-one escapes."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

German Finance, Justice ministries searched in fraud probe

Germany's money laundering investigation unit is accused of covering up fraud committed by banks. The Finance Ministry has said it "fully supports" the raids.

The Finance Ministry said the raids were not directed at individual employees

Police raided Germany's Finance and Justice ministries on Thursday, as part of an investigation into whether the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU) failed to pass on reports to the police and the judiciary about banks laundering money.

"An evaluation of documents secured during previous searches of the FIU has revealed that there was extensive communication between the FIU and the ministries now being searched," prosecutors in the city of Osnabrück, whose remit for corruption cases includes jurisdiction over the FIU, said in a statement.

They added that they were still determining if a crime had taken place and if so, who was to blame. It is still unclear if the FIU failed to pass on the reports of fraud of its own accord, or was directed to do so by someone at one or both of the ministries.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the amount of laundered cash is "in the millions," and that there was "extensive" communication between the two ministries and the FIU about the suspicious transactions made by the banks.

Prosecutors said they are still determining how high up the communications went, searching for the relevant documents was the main target of the raids.

Both the finance and justices ministries said that they "fully support the authorities" carrying out the raids. 

What is FIU?

The FIU was formerly a branch of law enforcement, but it was moved to the customs authority in 2017, which is part of the Finance Ministry.

Its job is to collect tips on possible cases of money laundering from banks and other organizations and forward their reports to the appropriate authorities. In recent years, their caseload has significantly increased — receiving 144,000 reports in 2020, a 12-fold increase on 2010, which has led to a huge backlog in cases.

FIU almost implicated in Wirecard scandal

This is the second time the FIU has come under scrutiny from authorities in recent months. The organization has also been suspected of covering up fraud committed by the German fintech company Wirecard, which collapsed last year in spectacular fashion.

The customs body failed to pass on hundreds of reports of suspicious transactions at the company, according to a report in the Handelsblatt business daily in August.

Both Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Chancellor Angela Merkel came under significant scrutiny over the Wirecard case.

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