On Jewish Earth Day, more Jewish groups take climate action

By YONAT SHIMRON

January 14, 2022

This image provided by Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center shows solar panels that were installed at the Pearlstone Conference & Retreat Center in Reisterstown, Maryland, in April 2021. The 180-acre property is a Jewish outdoor environmental education center. (Rochelle Eisenberg/Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center/Courtesy of Religion News Service via AP)

(RNS) — Tu BiShvat, the Jewish new year of the trees, barely registers on most Jewish calendars, except as an occasion to plant trees or eat fruit and nuts.

But the one-day holiday, which begins Sunday (Jan. 16), has gotten a boost these past few years as environmentalists have reimagined it as the Jewish Earth Day. This year, Tu Bishvat started early with the Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest, a five-day online event (Jan. 10 -14) that has drawn hundreds of Jews to reexamine ways to make climate action a central priority of the Jewish community.

Despite the growing urgency of tackling the global climate crisis, environmental values haven’t always been at the forefront of Jewish institutional life. Judaism doesn’t have a pope who can issue an encyclical on climate change like Pope Francis did in 2015 with his ecological manifesto, “Laudato Si’.” But multiple Jewish organizations are beginning to consider the environment, spurred by rising global temperatures and growing climate weather disasters.

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Increasingly, major Jewish organizations have signed on, including the Jewish Federations of North America, an umbrella organization representing 147 local federations. Its Federation and Jewish Community Foundations system holds an estimated $21 billion in collective endowment and donor-advised funds — money it uses for social welfare, social services and educational needs for Jews in the U.S., Canada and around the world.

At a panel Tuesday, three local federation leaders in Baltimore, Providence and Vancouver spoke of their efforts to make their buildings environmentally sustainable. The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, for example, began 2022 by drawing 100% of its electricity from renewable energy at its 80,000-square-foot facility in Providence. The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore has awarded nearly $900,000 in interest-free loans to synagogues and other Jewish institutions for energy-efficient HVAC upgrades or solar roof projects.

Sarah Eisenman, chief community and Jewish life officer for the Jewish Federations of North America said the organization will be launching a series of webinars for staff who want to ramp up environmental initiatives.

Jewish environmental groups such as Hazon are leading the educational efforts. Hazon, which claims to be America’s “largest faith-based environmental organization,” developed a “Seal of Sustainability” for Jewish organizations that have undergone 12 months of training and committed to several sustainability initiatives. Some 200 Jewish organizations have received the seal so far.

“We do see increasing commitment and engagement and we need a lot more,” said Jakir Manela, the CEO of Hazon. “We need Jewish leaders and institutions to lean into this project as a global Jewish priority.”

Environmental concerns are also beginning to filter down into Jewish investments. A few Jewish foundations are pushing donors to invest responsibly by supporting environmentally sound practices such renewable energy, electric cars or sustainable agriculture, a field known as impact investing.

Five years ago, the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego became the first Jewish community foundation to offer its fund holders, including 35 Jewish organizations whose financial assets it manages, the opportunity to invest in companies and organizations committed to social and environmental good.

“What we’re trying to promote is that our donors be thoughtful about the social and environmental impact of their investments alongside the impact of the philanthropy they eventually do with their dollars,” said Beth Sirull, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, which has assets totaling $750 million, mostly in donor-advised funds.

An investor network called JLens, begun 10 years ago, encourages Jewish individuals and organizations to apply Jewish values, including caring for the Earth, to their investments.

But Sirull said there’s a long way to go. Investment managers in the Jewish community are more interested in limiting risks and maximizing profits.

“We would never have a board meeting on Shabbat or serve pork,” she said. “But when you go to a synagogue investment committee meaning, it’s all about investment, it’s not anything Jewish. It makes no sense.”

Younger Jews, however, appear to have gotten the memo.

Since the start of the pandemic lockdown, Hazon has started the Jewish Youth Climate Movement to mobilize young people to respond to climate change. It has grown to 37 chapters across the country consisting of small clusters of middle and high school students.

In October, the movement organized in New York City to protest BlackRock, the largest investment management company in New York. With signs and banners, they assembled outside the BlackRock offices to demand the firm stop investing in the fossil fuel industry.

Three rabbis and six Jewish teenagers were among those arrested at the demonstration.

Madeline Canfield, a sophomore at Brown University who serves as the organizing coordinator for the youth movement, said it’s all about empowering teens to have what she called “lovingly agitational conversations” with their elders and with Jewish community leaders tackling climate change.

“We can’t solve polarization in Congress but we can solve the way our community orients around the climate crisis,” she said.

The key, she said, is growing the movement’s capacity to reach a critical threshold for change.

“For us it’s about the vision of transforming our own community,” Canfield said. That’s the power we do have.”

Widow stunned by 74% rent increase after Ontario company bought building

Robert Jones 

CBC


A recently widowed Saint John woman has been given notice of a 74 per cent rent increase on the apartment she shared with her late husband after an Ontario company bought her apartment building.


"You just can't come in and slap a 74 per cent rent increase on someone who is 66 years old on a pension," said Roxanne Cormier. She wants to see New Brunswick place limits on large rent increases people like her are experiencing.

"To me, it's unethical, it's not fair, and it's inhumane."

Cormier lost her husband in October. The couple have rented an apartment in a building on Sussex Drive in Saint John's north end for the last decade and most recently had been paying $775 per month.

In November, a numbered Ontario company set up by a Toronto real estate investor and an Alberta man bought the 50-year-old, six-unit structure for $746,000. That's double what the building sold for in 2011 and nearly double what assessors with Service New Brunswick still value it to be worth.

On Dec. 31, Cormier found an envelope taped to her apartment door with a letter inside informing her of a $575 per month increase in rent effective April 1, even though new rules in New Brunswick require tenants be given six months notice.

"The rent is increasing $575.00 from the current payment of $775.00 to the new rate of $1,350.00 per month," read the letter from the new property manager.

"Thank you for your anticipated cooperation in this matter."

© Eve Panaguiton/Facebook Eve Panaguiton is a Toronto-based real estate investor and deal maker who was behind the purchase of a six-unit building on Sussex Drive in Saint John in November. Tenants there have been hit with rent increase notices of up to 74 per cent. 'Landlords make money when they sleep,' she says on her social media pages.

Cormier said others got similar notices, including a tenant in her late 80s, who has lived in the building for 40 years.

"I got really mad and I thought 'OK, this is unethical'," said Cormier, who called in a complaint about her short notice and the size of her increase to New Brunswick's Residential Tenancies Tribunal.

"I am already seeing someone professionally for grief counselling, so I didn't really need to have this added stress," she said

"Where will I go? I just have CPP, Old Age and my widow's allowance. So it's like, where do I go? I was quite upset."

Sharon Delong is 72 and until recently was a neighbour of Cormier's in the same building. She was wary about what new owners might do and moved out in November after 37 years, just one month before the rent increase was announced.

"I could see the writing on the wall as soon as the place was going up for sale," said Delong, who raised both of her children in the building.

"I got out of there at a good time, but I really feel badly for the other tenants. I mean, this is not right. People are being taken advantage of. This is affecting the people living there all their lives. They're on a limited income and they have this happen. Where do they go? I think something has to be done."

© Robert Jones / CBC News This building on Sussex Drive in Saint John was built in the late 1960s. Service New Brunswick assesses it to be worth $396,800, but investors paid $746,000 for it in November.

The deal to buy the Sussex Drive building was put together by Toronto investor Eve Panaguiton, who calls herself "Real Estate Eve" and a "BRRRR specialist" (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) on her social media accounts.

Panaguiton did not respond to attempts to contact her about what is happening with the Saint John property, but in a talk earlier in 2021 posted on YouTube, she said she was "working on buying multiplexes out of town" after raising $7 million from investors in 2020.

Panaguiton acts as a managing partner in purchases by putting properties and buyers together and then splitting profits on deals "50/50."

Mortgage documents show Edmonton resident David Gordon Kirschner partnered with Panaguiton to form the numbered company that now owns the Sussex Drive building.

In New Brunswick, there is no set upper limit on how much rent can be increased by a landlord.

© CBC News file photo Service New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson told the legislature in November there is no set amount of a rent increase in New Brunswick that is too high. 'We cannot put a dollar amount on what is reasonable,' she said.

In November, Mary Wilson, the minister responsible for the Residential Tenancies Tribunal, told the legislature there is "no numerical threshold" for judging when a rent increase is too high.

"We cannot put a dollar amount on what is reasonable," Wilson said.

However, the tribunal can strike down a rent increase if a tenant files an objection within 30 days and an investigation finds the new amount is above market rates in the area "based on the unit's current condition compared to similar units in the same neighborhood."

According to figures kept by the tribunal, it has had 21 applications for a "revision of a rent increase" since New Brunswick laws were updated on Dec. 17. Seven applications have been successful so far and 14 are still pending.

Rent increases that are denied apply only to the tenant who has objected and not to others in a building who may have gotten similar increases but have not filed an objection.

"The Residential Tenancies Tribunal is only able to review a rental increase if the tenant submits a request," said Jennifer Vienneau, the communications director with Service New Brunswick.

Landlords denied a rent increase can raise the rent by a lesser amount by issuing a new notice.

Cormier's property manager initially disputed she was entitled to six months' notice but has since acknowledged she was right and has agreed to reissue rent increase letters to tenants in the building

Cormier said she would like to see renters receive protections similar to what New Brunswick homeowners have against spikes in their property tax bills.

Without renovations, New Brunswick homeowners cannot be charged property tax on assessment increases above 10 per cent in a single year. Increases above that have to be phased in over multiple years.

"I understand you have to put rent up," she said. "But if it needs to be five hundred more dollars, then you need to do it once a year in increments."

"What about the little person? We have to have some protection."

Hundreds protest possible lithium mining in Serbia

A Tsunami Advisory Has Just Been Issued For BC After A Volcano Erupted In Tonga

© Provided by Narcity

The underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean erupted on Saturday, sending large waves crashing across the shores of the South Pacific islands and flooding Tonga's capital city Nuku'alofa.

Now, a tsunami advisory has been issued for the north coast and Haida Gwaii, the central coast and northeast Vancouver Island, the outer west coast of Vancouver Island, and the Juan de Fuca Strait coast.

"Wave activity" is expected in Langara at 8:30 a.m. PT and Tofino at 8:50 a.m. PT.

People in coastal areas that are at risk are advised to stay away from the shoreline.

© Provided by NarcityEmergencyInfoBC

If you are in a tsunami advisory area, you should:
Get out of the water, off the beach, and stay away from harbours, marinas, breakwaters, bays and inlets.
Not return to the coast until local emergency officials say it is safe to do so.

People who own boats have been told to move their vessels out to sea to a depth of at least 180 feet.

According to CNN, the eruption has also prompted tsunami advisories for New Zealand's North Island and the west coast of the United States from California to Alaska.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

Volcano eruption triggers tsunami advisories along entire West Coast

The explosive eruption of an undersea volcano set off a 5.8-magnitude earthquake near Tonga Saturday, powerful enough to trigger tsunami advisories for the entire North American West Coast including British Columbia.

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano, situated about 65 km, north of Nuku'alofa, generated a 1.2-metre tsunami, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said. It elicited an earthquake that registered at a 5.8 magnitude.

RELATED: Tsunami observed in American Samoa after Tonga volcano erupts

Shockwaves from the eruption made their way across the entire globe and the sound was heard as far away as Alaska.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Tsunami waves were recorded in Tonga's capital and the capital of American Samoa, according to a U.S.-based tsunami monitor. There have been reports of rocks falling from the sky.

As a result, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued tsunami advisories for much of B.C.'s coastal regions. People in coastal areas that are at risk are advised to stay away from the shoreline and heed instructions from local authorities.

"There is a possibility of strong localized currents. No significant inundation is expected, but low-lying coastal areas and beaches may be at risk. A tsunami is a series of waves. The first wave may not be the largest," the advisory from ECCC reads.

© Provided by The Weather Network

In the U.S., the mainland tsunami advisory extends from California's border with Mexico to Attu Island at the tip of Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

It was reported that Hawaii, which has now been dropped from the tsunami advisories, was already seeing tsunami waves of up to 0.82 metres, with accounts of boats being lifted out of the water onto docks, but no inundation cited. High waves were also spotted in Alaska, and are expected to hit the Oregon and southern Washington coast shortly.

In Tonga, video was captured of tsunami waves hitting shore and people higher ground.

The large eruption was seen from space and verified to be the cause of the tsunami, which swept through buildings, fences, roads and cars in Tonga not long after it occurred.

With files from Reuters.

Thumbnail courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB)/Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA).

Noise from underwater volcanic eruption across the Pacific heard in the Yukon

Luke Carroll 4 hrs ago

© Mary Lyn Fonua/AFP/Getty Images This picture taken on December 21, 2021 shows white gaseous clouds rising from the Hunga Ha'apai eruption seen from the Patangata coastline near Tongan capital Nuku'alofa. Noise caused from the eruption could be…

Some Yukon residents woke up to loud sonic booms and shaking homes after an underwater volcano erupted across the Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. National Weather Service posted on Facebook that loud booming sounds heard in Alaska are the result of shock waves from an underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga that have finally reached North America.

Several residents in Haines Junction, Whitehorse and other parts of the territory posted about the sound in various Facebook groups.

Georgina Widney, who lives in the Ibex Valley about 50 km outside of Whitehorse toward Haines Junction, said she awoke sometime between 5 and 6:30 a.m. to her house shaking.

"We heard a little bit of rumbling and we thought someone was on our deck or an animal," she said.

Widney said she and her husband went outside, as did many of their neighbours, where it sounded as though the noise was coming from the sky.

"It got really loud," she said.

She compared the noise to that of a large truck passing by and said the sound lasted for about an hour.

The sound could also be heard in Whitehorse where Elise Maltin said it woke her at about 6:45 a.m.

"I was asleep and then it dawned on me that I was hearing some noise," she said. "I couldn't figure out what it was."

Maltin said it sounded like a thumping noise, comparable to a jet taking off. She said she experienced an earthquake five years ago, which sounded similar.

As a result of the volcanic eruption, the U.S. National Weather service is warning of a possible tsunami in Alaska. The Canadian government issued an tsunami advisory for the B.C. coast.

Maltin said her thoughts are with the people affected in Tonga and that she immediately reached out to a friend in Alaska when she heard the news.

But she added the experience was interesting way to start off her Saturday.

"There are some really sad parts," Maltin said. "But as a natural occurrence it was pretty interesting to hear something like that."

Global vaccine-sharing programme reaches milestone of 1 billion doses
By Francesco Guarascio 

© Reuters/MONICAH MWANGI FILE PHOTO: 

A consignment of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines in Kitengela

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The COVAX global vaccine-sharing programme has delivered 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, one of the organisations which manages it said on Saturday.

Supplies to poorer nations have long been very limited because of lack of vaccines, as wealthier states secured most of the doses initially available from December 2020.

But in the last quarter shipments have exponentially increased, allowing COVAX to reach the milestone of 1 billion doses shipped to 144 countries, said Gavi, which co-leads the programme alongside the World Health Organization (WHO).

COVAX was launched in 2020 with the goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, but was slowed by wealthier states' initial hoarding of limited shots, export restrictions and frequent changes https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/global-vaccines-project-revamp-rules-after-britain-got-more-than-botswana-2021-09-27 within its organisation.

The program began delivering vaccine doses in February 2021. About one-third have been donated by rich nations, despite COVAX's initial plans to supply only jabs procured directly by the programme with a budget of over $10 billion in donors' funds.

The change of strategy has led to delays, as donors have often requested to send doses to countries selected by them.

Despite the recent surge in deliveries, vaccine inequity remains high. The latest WHO data shows 67% of the population in richer nations have been fully vaccinated, compared with only 5% in poorer nations. Over 40% of the world's population has not yet received a first dose.

Gavi, a vaccine alliance which co-manages COVAX, is seeking more funds to reach the WHO's goal of vaccinating 70% of the population in poorer nations by July.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Mike Harrison)

Scientists Found a Healthier Way to Cook Broccoli, But There's a Catch

Signe Dean

 1 day ago

In recent years, broccoli has gained a reputation as an excellent vegetable due to its high levels of a particularly beneficial compound called sulforaphane.

© Wu et al., J. Agric. Food Chem, 2018

With some early-stage studies showing how this compound plays a role in blood sugar control and potentially even has anti-cancer benefits, it's no wonder that broccoli pills are on the rise.

However, a 2011 study showed that eating the whole vegetable gets you more sulforaphane than taking a supplement – so a team of Chinese researchers decided to try and find the best way to cook broccoli.

They arrived at a clear winner, publishing their results in 2018 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry – but it's a tough sell if you have better things to do with your time.

There's a method behind the madness, though. Sulforaphane doesn't just sit there in the broccoli florets, ready to be consumed. Instead, the vegetable contains several compounds called glucosinolates.

It also contains the enzyme myrosinase, which plants have evolved for defending themselves against herbivores. Through what's known as 'myrosinase activity', the glucosinolates get transformed into sulforaphane, which is what we want.

To kick myrosinase activity into gear, you need to do damage to the broccoli, so you'd think cooking would do the trick.

Unfortunately, studies have shown that common broccoli cooking methods, like boiling and microwaving, seriously reduce the amount of glucosinolates in the vegetable – even if you just zap it for a couple minutes. And myrosinase is super-sensitive to heat, too.

Hence, by far the largest amount of sulforaphane you can get from broccoli is by munching on raw florets. Ugh.

This got the team of researchers thinking about the results of stir-frying – the single most popular method for preparing vegetables in China.

"Surprisingly, few methods have reported the sulforaphane concentrations in stir-fried broccoli, and to the best of our knowledge, no report has focused on sulforaphane stability in the stir-frying process," the researchers noted in their study.

The team bought a bunch of broccoli from the local market and set to work, measuring the levels of compounds in the vegetables as they went.

First, they basically pulverized the broccoli, chopping it into 2-millimeter pieces to get as much myrosinase activity going as possible (remember, the activity happens when broccoli is damaged).

Then, they divided their samples into three groups – one was left raw, one was stir-fried for four minutes straight after chopping, and the third was chopped and then left alone for 90 minutes before being stir-fried for four minutes as well.

The 90-minute waiting period was to see whether the broccoli would have more time to develop the beneficial compounds before being lightly cooked.

And that's exactly what the team found – the broccoli that was stir-fried right away had 2.8 times less sulforaphane than the one left to 'develop' for longer.

"Our results suggest that after cutting broccoli florets into small pieces, they should be left for about 90 minutes before cooking," the team concluded, adding that they didn't test it but thought "30 minutes would also be helpful."

We're not sure we're willing to commit to all that effort, though. The team does say they're looking into ways to reduce the chopping needed, so watch this space – or just eat some raw broccoli.

The study was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

An earlier version of this article was first published in February 2018.

UK's Labour take 10-point opinion poll lead over scandal-hit Johnson, its biggest lead 

since 2013

Fri., January 14, 2022

Britain's Labour Party Conference

LONDON (Reuters) - The scandal engulfing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his conduct during coronavirus lockdowns has helped the opposition Labour Party to pull into a 10 point lead over the ruling Conservatives in a new opinion poll released on Friday.

Johnson apologised to parliament on Wednesday and to Queen Elizabeth on Friday following a series of parties or gatherings that were held in his Downing Street residence at times when the country was under strict pandemic curbs.

Pollster Savanta ComRes said a survey of 2,151 adults on Thursday and Friday put Labour up 5 points to 42% of the vote while the Conservatives fell one point to 32%. It said that marked Labour's largest share of the vote since 2013.

Johnson secured a landslide election victory in 2019. The poll said that 70% of respondents now want him to resign.

Johnson's office apologised to the queen after it emerged that staff had partied on April 16, 2021, late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of her husband Prince Philip's funeral, at a time when mixing indoors was banned.

Johnson apologised to parliament after he admitted he had attended a "bring your own booze" gathering at his residence in May 2020 during the country's first lockdown.

The ComRes poll showed that voters across the political spectrum were angry with the revelations, with only 66% of those who backed the Conservatives in the 2019 election giving their support to the party now.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Grant McCool)

Kazakh ex-leader's in-laws leave key energy sector jobs

NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - Two members of former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev's extended family have resigned from the leadership of state oil and gas shipping companies, the Central Asian nation's sovereign fund said on Saturday.

© Reuters/MUKHTAR KHOLDORBEKOV FILE PHOTO: 

Former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev attends President Tokayev's inauguration ceremony

Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's leader for three decades before his resignation in 2019, retained sweeping powers until last week, when his successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over from Nazarbayev as security council chairman amid violent unrest.

The 81-year-old former leader has not appeared in public since the protests erupted on Jan. 4, and Tokayev's critical comments about him have prompted suggestions the two had fallen out before Tokayev sidelined his former patron.

On Saturday, the sovereign fund Samruk-Kazyna said in a statement that Kairat Sharipbayev and Dimash Dossanov had quit as chief executives of state oil pipeline firm KazTransOil and natural gas pipeline operator QazaqGaz respectively.

Sharipbayev is married to the former president's eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, her son has said on social media. Neither Sharipbayev nor Dariga Nazarbayeva have commented on their relationship. Dossanov is the husband of Aliya Nazarbayeva, Nazarbayev's youngest daughter.

Samruk-Kazyna gave no reasons for their resignations.

Tokayev said this week he wanted Nazarbayev's associates to share their wealth with the public by making regular donations to a new charity foundation.

Last week's protests in the oil-rich nation were triggered by a jump in the price of car fuel in the western Mangistau province.

On Saturday, the authorities said they had detained a deputy energy minister and several other officials who they believe were responsible for the "unjustified" price increase.

(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Ros Russell)

Kazakhstan activists recall path from protest to bloodshed

By KIRILL ZARUBIN and DASHA LITVINOVA

FOTOS 1 of 18

Riot police prepare to block protesters in the center of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. At demonstrations in the largest city of Almaty, protesters say groups of armed men reportedly joined the peaceful rallies and urged them to storm police stations and government buildings. (Vladimir Tretyakov/NUR.KZ via AP, File)

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — The mass protests in Kazakhstan began peacefully over the New Year’s weekend, with marchers denouncing a sharp rise in fuel prices. They spread quickly from the western part of the Central Asian nation to more populous areas, eventually reaching its largest city of Almaty.

But something changed over the course of a week.

Groups of armed men appeared in Almaty, with some seen riding in cars without license plates or with their faces covered. Marchers at the peaceful protests say these men began urging them to storm government buildings, promising to give them guns.

Clashes with police soon broke out, and by the night of Jan. 5, Almaty was in chaos. City Hall was burning, as were cars and buses; stores were looted; and attempts were made to storm the presidential residence. Gunshots were heard in the streets, the internet was blacked out, and even the airport was briefly seized.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has blamed the unrest on “terrorists” who received foreign training and support.

But nearly two weeks after the events that led to scores of deaths and about 16,000 arrests, the government has not presented any evidence to support its allegation of outside involvement.

It remains unclear whether these more violent actors were individuals taking advantage of the mayhem to loot and vandalize stores, or if they were part of organized groups with larger political motives.

Protesters, however, say their rallies were somehow undermined, leading to the crackdown by security forces. Tokayev has said authorities didn’t use force at peaceful demonstrations.

Although the protests began over the higher price of fuel, the scope and the agenda of the demonstrations expanded quickly. Large crowds rallied in major cities, venting their frustration with worsening living conditions and inequality under the authoritarian government that has maintained a tight grip on power for over three decades in the energy-rich nation of 19 million.

Much of that occurred under longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 in favor of Tokayev, his hand-picked successor, but has maintained behind-the-scenes influence. The slogan “Shal ket!” — “Old man go!” — was chanted at rallies.

“A significant part of the people are those who came at the call of their hearts to express their attitude towards the authorities, because they are tired, because they do not feel like the state is providing them with social security,” said human rights activist Galym Ageleuov, president of the Liberty Foundation.

Tokayev initially tried to calm the crowds by announcing a 180-day cap on fuel prices and removing Nazarbayev as head of the National Security Council, a move widely seen as an attempt to end the former leader’s patronage while also consolidating power.

But the protests continued and the violence escalated amid the peaceful rallies in Almaty.

A protester whose first name is Bezshan said that on Jan. 5, armed men approached and asked young people in the crowd to help them storm a police station. “They said they would hand out weapons,” he told The Associated Press, recalling the incident more than a week later. AP has chosen not to publish the full names of protesters interviewed out of caution for their security.

Beken, another protester, said he also saw “provocateurs” at the rally that day, urging an attack on police: “We tried to stop them as much as we could, telling them: ‘Everyone, stay put.’ We don’t need weapons, we came out to a peaceful rally,” he said.

On Jan. 6, security forces opened fire and killed dozens of protesters. At least 12 officers also were reported killed. The next day, Tokayev announced he had given security forces shoot-to-kill orders to halt the violent unrest, saying: “We intend to act with maximum severity regarding lawbreakers.”

Almaty police spokeswoman Saltynat Azirbek called the Jan. 5 attack on the police department “a proper battle.”

The attackers “didn’t put forward any demands,” she told reporters. “They deliberately came to destroy, to kill.”

She also insisted police were unarmed when working at unsanctioned demonstrations in Almaty, but she didn’t clarify whether she meant the Jan. 6 rally.

Amid the bloodshed, Tokayev also called in troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of six former Soviet states, which helped restore order.

Some saw the blaming of foreign instigators as a pretext for bringing in the mostly Russian forces.

“In order to invite Russian troops, you need a serious reason ... that is not an internal standoff with the people,” political analyst Dimash Alzhayev said in an interview. “So naturally, (the authorities) needed to come up with terrorists.”

A protester named Marat told AP that the authorities “haven’t so far showed us a single terrorist,” citing only the highly publicized arrest of Vikram Ruzakhunov, a well-known jazz pianist from neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

The musician appeared on Kazakh television after his arrest with large bruises on his face and said in the broadcast he had flown in and was promised money for participating in the protests.

Kyrgyz authorities protested Ruzakhunov’s arrest and demanded that Kazakhstan release him. He was freed shortly afterward, and upon returning to Kyrgyzstan said his statement on Kazakh TV was false — he was visiting a friend in Almaty and got swept up while trying to leave the city.

Ruzakhnunov told a Kyrgyz broadcaster that while in jail, his cellmates said the quickest way to get released was to confess to a false story, so that’s what he did.

Alzhanov, the analyst, noted that Kazakh state broadcasters amplified the government’s message by repeatedly airing video of the turmoil.

“They continued broadcasting the visuals, so the government was interested in communicating them to a broad audience,” he said, adding that the state of emergency that was declared provided a pretext to suppress the demonstrations with force.

A protester named Daulet told AP that he believed the “security forces deliberately painted the protesters as some kind of a fringe group prepared to riot.”

Beken, the protester who described seeing what he called “provocateurs,” criticized the security forces “for shooting at their own people.” He said a Jan. 6 rally he attended featured protesters walking toward the military with a white flag.

“It is unfathomable. I can’t understand it. How is this possible?” he said.

REST IN POWER
Former federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough dies at 77

HALIFAX — Former federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough, a political trailblazer who paved the way for women in politics, died Saturday in Halifax at the age of 77.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Her family confirmed McDonough's death after a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

McDonough became the first woman to head up a major political party in Canada when she was elected leader of the Nova Scotia New Democrats in 1980. She became leader of the federal NDP in 1995 and served in the party's top post until 2002.

But in an interview Saturday, Justin McDonough said his mother was a consensus builder who earned respect beyond partisan political lines.

"I think the one thing that I really learned from her is that you can have courageous conversations and you can disagree with someone, but it doesn't mean that you aren't going to be respectful and you're not going to appreciate their opinion," he said. "Her political life resonated in that regard."

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston paid tribute in a statement calling McDonough an historic figure in provincial and federal politics.

"The hallmark of Ms. McDonough's long career was her respect for the people she represented," Houston said. "She was a public servant in the truest sense and she will be sorely missed by people across Canada."

Known affectionately to many across the country as simply "Alexa," McDonough was a former social worker who cut her political teeth in the Nova Scotia Liberal Party before switching to the provincial NDP in 1974.

After capturing the party's leadership, she became the first New Democrat from mainland Nova Scotia to sit in the provincial legislature when she was elected in a Halifax area riding in 1981. She was the party's lone voice in the legislature over the next three years.

"These are accomplishments of real historic stature," said Gary Burrill, the current leader of the Nova Scotia NDP. "She is a big person on the landscape in the history of the province."

Burrill said Nova Scotia New Democrats have suffered a significant loss and are a "party in mourning."

McDonough resigned as provincial leader in 1994 and later made the jump to federal politics, where she mounted a challenge for the national party's top job in 1995. She won the federal NDP leadership in an upset over perceived front-runners Svend Robinson and Lorne Nystrom.

She was elected to the House of Commons for the first time during the 1997 federal election, while her party's seat count went from nine to 21. That total included a breakthrough in Atlantic Canada, where the New Democrats took six of Nova Scotia's 11 seats.

"That was a moment that broke the mould of Nova Scotia politics which had been in place for over a century," Burrill said.

McDonough made her mark federally as a champion of strong social programs and gender equality. She retired from politics in 2008.

Born Alexa Ann Shaw in Ottawa on Aug. 11, 1944, she adopted the name known across the country when she married Peter McDonough in Halifax in 1966.

McDonough was an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of Nova Scotia and is a past president of Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.

She is survived by her sons, Justin and Travis, along with seven grandchildren.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2022.

Keith Ducette, The Canadian Press