Sunday, July 17, 2022

NZ
The islands didn't escape the church's legacy of sexual abuse


Steve Kilgallo, Jul 17 2022
ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF


SUNGMI KIM/STUFF
The Marists had a significant influence in the Pacific Islands.

Frances Tagaloa was one of just two Pasifika survivors to speak at the Royal Commission.

The Marist Brothers and Fathers have educated prime ministers, judges, cardinals and All Blacks at their prestigious Catholic high schools. But their record of sexual abuse is horrific. Worse still was their handling of the abuse when it was exposed. In this series, The Secret History, Steve Kilgallon investigates the power, abuse and cover-ups at the heart of two highly-influential and wealthy religious groups.

This is Part 7. The remaining chapters will be published in the coming weeks.

Warning: This story may be upsetting to some.

When Bertrand Hodgkins first arrived in Fiji in March 1934 aboard the SS Monterey, he was a 21-year-old so callow he turned up without a passport and had to rely on a fellow Marist Brother to negotiate his safe landing.

While he spent 1945 to 1960 back in New Zealand, he re-established himself on his return to Fiji. He loved diving, fishing, surfing, and eschewed a car, preferring to walk everywhere. He was a prominent football coach, coaching both Suva and Fiji, was appointed a life member of the Suva Soccer Association, and was a St John’s volunteer, rising to the rank of deputy commissioner.

By 1963, he was also the founding Master of Discipline at Marist Brothers primary school in Suva Street. Hodgkins taught everything, including Hindi, Fijian and Chinese, helped plant trees and pour concrete on the school site. Most particularly, though, he was considered to have a special affinity with small children.

“Many small boys appreciated a hand to hold when parents were late for coming to pick them up,” the Marists’ own history of their time in Fiji records. “Bertrand was always there to befriend them.”

In particular, it records how he’d learned from another brother how to perform sleight-of-hand tricks with cards, coins, or sweets. “The youngest children loved meeting him and seeing his tricks.”

The five Fremlin brothers enrolled at Marist Brothers Suva St in the 1970s. Felix Fremlin, now 54 years old, says Bertrand Hodgkins would abuse him from his first year in primary school, sometimes in the classroom, but also when he visited the sick bay, where Hodgkins acted as first-aider.

SUPPLIED
Bertrand Hodgkins was described as a great friend to children, but his survivors have another story to tell.

Another New Zealand Marist Brother, Terence Payne, also abused him when he played in the schoolyard with friends after hours, “attracting my attention by holding up fruits or chocolates … as a kid who rarely saw such delicacies I would rush to his room”.

Later, as an altar boy, Felix was abused by two priests, but by now thought it was normal; later still, he would sometimes be picked up in a van by priests drinking booze who would molest him.

Part of the Marist rotation often involved spells in the islands, and priests and brothers with allegations against them in New Zealand would spend time offshore but little is known of their behaviour overseas.

Tom Doyle, an American expert on Catholic sexual abuse, says “religious orders have been great at making a perpetrator disappear [offshore] so they can go off and continue to do what they’ve done”.

The worldwide trend has been for westernised countries to report abuse earlier, while more strongly religious societies which retain the traditional respect for clerics have been slower to move - but Doyle says that’s beginning to change.

Felix Fremlin may be the first Fijian to step forward. He found reporting his abuse a harrowing experience, with few willing to listen.

SUPPLIED
Abuse survivor Felix Fremlin may be the first Fijian to publicly step forward.

Triggered into action when he saw an American TV show about abused high school students, in 2016, Felix met with Marist Father John Crispin (who has served in Fij for 64 years) and Marist Brother Fergus Garrett (author of the very book which praised Hodgkins). The meeting was held at the same presbytery where some of his abuse had occurred.

Felix relayed the same story he’s told Stuff. An interview transcript notes: “Felix was instructed to tell only what he could personally witness to, with names, dates and places as far as possible, not hearsay evidence that he had heard from others”.

Felix says he was told the Marists didn’t refer complaints to police, preferring to keep them in house. He believes the church authorities in Fiji also weren’t informed. The New Zealand Marists also do not appear to have known.

Felix says Crispin was friendly, but mainly wanted to know if the offenders were alive and remained in Fiji. “I realised later it was so they can move them away, so the less people know about it the better. I wish I had recorded the conversations on the quiet.”

Both Payne and Hodgkins were already dead, and no action appears to have been taken.
Who are the Marists?

The Marist Brothers - or the FMS Marists - are a religious order of brothers, who are not ordained priests, devoted to education.

The Marist Fathers - or the Society of Mary - are a group of priests; both are named for and aim to honour Mary, the mother of Jesus.

But Felix Fremlin says he did tell the archbishop of Fiji, Peter Loy Chong, about it when they bumped into each other in a hardware store. He says Loy Chong never followed up - until he was contacted by the media. “He apologised, and apologised and apologised, but then he wanted me to prove it. I said ‘that is stupid, I can’t go back to the past and show you what happened’. He also said I was the only one, but I know there were others.”

He says Loy Chong admitted contacting him only because of the media interest. He says the archbishop offered counselling from someone attached to the church who would report back to him. “I said ‘that defeats the purpose’... I found it amusing as he wanted me to be counselled by the same institution that was responsible for the abuse that happened to me.”

Loy Chong says Felix had declined to name the Brothers who had abused him, and also declined to contact police. He said he would "proceed with Felix's case when he gives us information required ... I want to help him, but he has to provide me with information."

Fergus Garrett didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Felix told his story anonymously to TVNZ reporter Barbara Dreaver in 2020, but now wants his real name used: “I am open with it now. I am not worried about it now. I have kept it hidden for so long.”

After Dreaver’s report aired, Loy Chong told media he’d received no reports of sexual abuse since taking office in 2013. Any would be dealt with severely, he said: “Sexual abusers have failed the Sixth Commandment - you must not commit adultery."

Felix says a friend edited a local paper and was willing to print his story until becoming worried about the potential of legal action by the church.

Felix knew there were others. Some had spoken to him. Another survivor of Hodgkins’ abuse reported to the New Zealand advocacy group, the Network of Survivors, that Hodgkins would fondle him and other pupils, but none would speak up then because of the brothers’ propensity for caning students. The survivor didn’t want to make a formal complaint.

There was also Felix’s brother John.

John, now 52, has, until now, never felt able to tell anyone. This is the first time he has detailed what happened to him. “It has affected me so badly, very badly,” he says. “It has built up an anger inside me all the time. I have been living with this anger all my life. Even today, little things make me angry so quickly.”

John Fremlin was also taught at Suva St. He recalls a brief spell when the family lived on the school compound when his parents had marital difficulties. “The brothers would offer us to come and sleep with them. They would manipulate us, give us stuff, ask us to sleep with them.” He was 11 years old. John named the principal offender as Terence Payne, who died in 2003.

He says the abuse continued after they moved out. If he made a mistake with his schoolwork, Payne would ask him to remain behind while he corrected the work and would fondle his anus until Payne ejaculated in his trousers. “He used to do it with other boys. But we did not talk about it.” Payne, he says, was a charming manipulator. John says he has become a born-again Christian and forgiven his abusers.

Others contacted Felix Fremlin after his story was published in 2020. He has a regular coffee group with a small handful of other survivors. “As people are slowly becoming aware of it, the numbers are slowly going to increase.”

But he knows it will take time for many to come forward because of the way Fiji, like other countries, has held on to the traditional relationship between laity and priests. His own father refused to believe him, striking him with a belt when he tried to tell him of the abuse.

“In Fiji, if you are a man of the cloth, you are a messenger of God,” he says. “The priests and brothers are almost looked upon as Gods themselves. They were highly respected, which is why they were able to get away with everything.

“Even now, people don’t want me to talk about the church and what they did, even my own family.”

One impact of being the first to speak out is the lack of a support network. Felix Fremlin says nobody explains to survivors the impact on their ability to form stable relationships, to parent, to hold down jobs. He had to seek out other survivors online.

When they first spoke to Stuff, the Fremlin brothers had no idea of how to formally complain to the Marists in New Zealand. Enter Murray Heasley, spokesman and activist for the Network, who lodged a complaint with New Zealand’s National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS), the Catholic abuse clearing-house.

NOPS director Virginia Noonan asked the Fremlin brothers if they could supply any reports of the Fijian investigations. Heasley pointed out that the onus was not on the brothers to prove their case or do the church’s investigative work.

“I would have thought that January 2022 was the perfect time to ... respond differently and prove you have listened and learned.”

In a letter to the brothers, Noonan admitted the Suva archdiocese had failed to respond to their queries.

Instead, the Marists agreed to a payment of $15,000 to each Fremlin brother. In a letter to Heasley, the Marist Brothers admitted they were worried any settlement could generate “unrealistic expectations of ex-gratia [payments] for the wider church in Fiji.”

Marist Brothers district leader John Hazelman sent letters of apology and held a Zoom meeting with the brothers, also attended by Fergus Garrett, the Brother who heard their complaint in 2016 but did nothing.

The money isn’t why the Fremlin brothers spoke up. Felix says he will disperse some of his share among other survivors. They hope more will follow their lead. “I want people to know that what happened there [in New Zealand],” Felix says, “also happened here.”

Closer to home


ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF
Moeapulu Frances Tagaloa is a survivor of sexual abuse by the Marist Brothers.

When the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care began asking survivors to share their stories at Commission hearings, they were especially anxious to hear from Frances Tagaloa.

Tagaloa was one of only two Pasifika survivors willing to speak publicly. “I know it’s difficult, but it is a big issue and I can’t believe only two have come forward,” she says.

In part, cultural reasons may underlie that reluctance - she talks of overcoming the Samoan “cultural taboo” of telling her father of her abuse.

But another reason may be the predilections of abusive priests. The majority of survivors spoken to by Stuff were Pākehā men who suffered abuse from the ages of 10 to 15 - which tallies with anecdotal and church records of pre-teen boys being the preferred victims of church abuse.

Francis ‘Brother Bede’ Fitton was different. In his 31 years at Marist Brothers intermediate school, on the steeply-sloping Vermont Street in inner-city Ponsonby, he was a serial groomer and abuser of young Māori and Pacific girls who lived in the then-working-class neighbourhood. At least four girls, spanning 18 of those years, were targeted.

The British-born Fitton came from the wealthy neighbouring suburb of Herne Bay, but lived in a presbytery adjoining the school, where he taught science from a classroom with puppets, toys and tanks of exotic fish. On the same site was Sacred Heart primary. Both schools are long closed, and the buildings now house a theology college.


SUPPLIED/STUFF
Accused paedophile Francie ‘Brother Bede’ Fitton.

From the age of five to seven, Frances Tagaloa - who attended Sacred Heart - visited Fitton in his classroom after school, brought along by an older neighbouring girl she now believes was abused by Fitton and groomed to find a replacement victim.

Frances came from a deeply-religious family, so she trusted Fitton. He would molest her and tell her to remove her clothes. She stopped visiting him when a female teacher took an interest in her.

“Not until I was about 17 did I begin getting flashbacks,” she says. “I had an inkling that something had happened, but my memory was just blank. I would only remember little bits - the feelings, the fear and the awkwardness, and ‘freezing’. I didn’t like what was going on, I had a deep fear, and I didn’t really understand it.”

After Frances came Sarah Jones*. Whenever Jones returns to Auckland from her home in the US, she’s amazed at how much Ponsonby has changed. But she struggles taking her children down Vermont St to show them where she once lived.

“I have a very hard time going home,” she says. “I feel like my childhood was stolen from me.”

In Sarah’s day, Ponsonby was poor and tough. There was a gang pad a few doors away. She was the youngest of seven, raised by a single mother who would go drinking and disappear for days at a time. The family weren’t Catholic, but Fitton was a well-known local who took daily walks past their house. Her brothers knew him because they would play on the school field.

Fitton took an interest in Sarah, and by the age of four, was collecting her after school, taking her to his classroom until dinner time, when one of her brothers would be sent to collect her.


CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF
The Catholic buildings on Vermont St, Ponsonby, where Bede Fitton lived, taught, and abused young girls.

She remembers bus trips to the Domain to fly kites, giant Easter eggs, expensive Christmas presents, and the jealousy of her siblings. “My mother would always say ‘you are so lucky’ because he is so kind to you.”

But Fitton was soon molesting her. “Looking back it was grooming, but at the time it was normal. He used to tell me I couldn’t tell anyone, because God would punish me.

“I remember being very young and thinking ‘gosh, I am a bad person, because he has done all these amazing things and taken me places, and bought me things and all I have to do is go to his classroom and let him do those things, and it will be fine’. As I got older, it didn’t feel fine.”

The abuse lasted six years. As she got older, she would avoid going, but Fitton would visit her mother, “and so I would have to go and see him and the abuse would begin again”.

She recalls Fitton becoming bolder, and taking her to his house. She can remember his bedroom down to the detail of his neatly-tucked brown woollen blankets.

At the age of 10, the family moved west, to New Lynn. She never saw Fitton again, despite his best efforts and her mother’s cajoling. “I swore to myself I would do whatever I had to not to go back there.”

When her elder brother died when Sarah was 21, she sat with her siblings as they reminisced and Fitton was remembered warmly. Sarah then disclosed her abuse to her sister. “From that day, nobody has ever brought it up. And he was really part of our family history previously: any talk about good times living in Vermont St, he was always no 1 on the list.”


CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF
Bede Fitton's grave at Waikaraka cemetery. There are no abuse accusations against his brother, Edwin.

Jones moved overseas, and now lives in the US with her husband and two children. Falling pregnant with her second child, a daughter, prompted the memories to flood back and for her to contact the Marists.

On a trip home in 2008, she met the then-delegate, Richard Dunleavy.

“It felt like an ambush. When we turned up, he was dressed in his black robes - and I am taken right back and thinking he is dressed like Brother Bede. There was a panel of people, and I wasn’t prepared. They began asking questions like was there penetration? Did you ever see his penis? I thought I was going for a conversation … if I had known, I would have taken notes, and read from them.”

For the first time, she learned she was not the only complainant. It shocked her.

“When I was nine, I remember thinking that if he is doing this to you, at least he is not doing it to anyone else.” Sarah was eventually given $10,000, but rejected counselling when she was told the Marist Brothers would determine how much she needed.

Frances Tagaloa had complained six years earlier, triggered by learning of plans for a memorial to Fitton. She was given $6,000, which she donated to her church - “I thought ‘what a waste of time’. It felt very much like I was paid off”. She wasn’t told that Fitton had already died, in 1986, or of her right to complain to police.

Frances and Sarah shared their experiences after being connected, not through the Marists, who would not pass on survivor contact details, but through the support group, the Network of Survivors. After her Royal Commission hearing, Frances was contacted by another woman who was abused by Fitton, but never told anyone: “That tore my heart out.” The Marists have five complaints on record.

How was Fitton able, over so many years, to spend time alone with small girls without anyone questioning it? Frances has been contacted by a former student who says he saw her with Fitton, asking for her forgiveness for not speaking up.

Jones recalls a housekeeper who “looked down on me like I was doing something wrong”, and a younger brother - records suggest Fitton was in a community of five Marists - who she thought may have been their leader, telling her she shouldn’t visit Fitton. She assumed it was prejudice because she was Māori. “Now I think it’s because he knew. He never said it when Brother Bede was around.”

Brother Colin Divane, who headed the Vermont St community for some of Fitton's time, said they “ran a pretty vigorous school, full of sport and activities, so it was the last thing on my mind at the time”. He said he had “no concerns” about Fitton, never saw him in any suspicious situations, and learning of his abuse years later was “quite a shock”.

Frances Tagaloa says: “Someone has to have known - at least a priest he is confessing to, if not his superiors, or other teachers who saw him in a room with a little girl.”






Nintendo announces it will recognize same-sex partnerships even though Japan doesn’t

The massively popular video game company is giving queer employees a "power-up" in the fight for marriage equality.

By Daniel Villarreal Saturday, July 16, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

Even though Japan doesn’t have legalized same-sex marriage, the Japanese video game company Nintendo has announced that it will extend marriage benefits to employees who are in same-sex partnerships. The company also said it would revise its policies to forbid outing or harassing employees over their LGBTQ identities.

Nintendo — the creators behind such massively popular game titles as Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda — made the announcement in its annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.

The CSR report noted, “We introduced the Partnership System in March 2021 as one initiative based on this philosophy. Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognized under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage.”

The CSR report added that the company would also recognize common-law marriages in the same way as legal marriages.

Additionally, the company’s report stated that it will revise its policies “regarding harassment to clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someone’s privately held sexual orientation against their will.”

Fans of the video game company have praised its move — particularly in a socially conservative country — even though the company has only ever introduced one out gay character in any of its video games.

Right now, Japan doesn’t have national LGBTQ non-discrimination protections or same-sex marriage. A district court in Osaka recently ruled that the country’s same-sex marriage ban is constitutional. But as a result, LGBTQ people in Japan often face inequities in employment, housing, education, and health care.

More than 200 Japanese municipalities offer some form of recognition for same-sex couples. Such recognition can help same-sex couples rent apartments together, visit each other in city hospitals, and receive other services that married heterosexual couples enjoy.

LGBTQ advocacy groups have pushed for a national bill that would enshrine equal civil rights and non-discrimination protections into law. However, the conservative party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida helped defeat the effort in the lead-up to last summer’s Olympic Games.
WHITE WHALE-SPIRIT ANIMAL
AUSTRALIA

Experts confirm white whale carcass on Victorian beach is not Migaloo

Victorian environment officials said images of the dead humpback proved it was not well-known humpback

Scientists have determine that a dead white whale washed up in Victoria is not Migaloo. Photograph: REX/Jenny Dean

A white whale that washed up on a Victorian beach is not the well-known albino humpback Migaloo, according to the state’s environment department.

The carcass of an albino whale was found at a beach in Mallacoota in the state’s far east this week, sparking concern it could be the beloved Migaloo, who was first spotted off Byron Bay in 1991.

But Peter Brick, of Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP), said images of the carcass that had been viewed by officials proved it was not Migaloo.

“DELWP officers have examined images of the dead humpback whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female,” Brick told AAP. “Migaloo is a male.”

It has been two years since Migaloo, who was named using an Indigenous word for white person, was last spotted.

Macquarie University wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta told the ABC such long spells without a sighting were not uncommon.

She also said that after viewing photos of the whale it may not even be a white whale, but one that has lost its pigmentation after dying because of weather exposure.

Scientists have genetic samples from Migaloo, meaning that they can test any remains to confirm whether they belong to him.

“It seems to be most likely a white whale, or at least a whale that has been a darker pigmentation that has passed out at sea and washed ashore and been weathered over time,” Dr Pirotta said.


Dead whale which washed up at Mallacoota is not Migaloo
Analysis of images show the whale was a young female.(Supplied: Peter Coles)

Wildlife officers say a whale which was found washed up at Mallacoota, in Victoria's east yesterday is not the famous albino humpback Migaloo.

Key points:The white whale was found at a remote beach at Mallacoota in Victoria's east
Wildlife officers say analysis of photos shows the whale is a female, while Migaloo is male
People have been warned to stay away from the carcass due to health risks and potential predators

The whale carcass was discovered on Saturday morning at a beach at Mallacoota which is only accessible by water.

Officers from Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning [DELWP] said analysis of images of the carcass show that the whale is not Migaloo.

"DELWP Officers have examined images of the dead Humpback Whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female. Migaloo is a male," DELWP Regional Agency Commander Peter Brick said.

"DELWP and Parks Victoria staff will be further assessing the carcass over coming days."

DELWP said it was an offence for people or their dogs to be within 300 metres of a beached whale, and the animals were protected under the Wildlife Act whether they were alive or dead.

Rather than try to remove the whale from the remote location, DEWLP's Principal Officer for Wildlife Emergencies, Rodney Vile, said it will be left on the beach.

"Currently we're planning to leave it in place, and let it decompose naturally," he said.

"That's our preferred approach but it really depends with deceased whales like this, the location of it and leaving it to decompose naturally versus human safety about where it's actually located.

"There are warnings out for people to avoid going near the whale or touching the whale… and also warnings around the potential for sharks to be in the area as well."

Mr Vile said DELWP will provide ongoing updates to the Mallacoota community.

Scientists will still conduct genetic testing on the whale.

Macquarie University wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta said photos of the animal did not confirm that it was an albino whale.

"It seems to be most likely a white whale, or at least a whale that has been a darker pigmentation that has passed out at sea and washed ashore and been weathered over time," Dr Pirotta said.
What appears to be black skin can be seen near a collection of barnacles on the throat of the carcass.(Supplied: Peter Coles)

Dr Pirotta said barnacles on the throat of the whale carcass appeared to be covering skin which was not white, casting doubt on it being a true albino whale.

"Over time, these animals can pass [away] and their bodies weather, there's sun exposure and their skin can come off," she said.

Whale carcass still valuable for scientists
The carcass of what appeared to be a white whale has washed up on the beach at Mallacoota.(Supplied: Peter Coles)

Dr Pirotta said the whale carcass would still be highly prized by marine scientists.

"A stranded whale like this is a huge contribution to science … because often we don't have a whale wash up in an area that can be accessible to science," she said.

"Measurements and samples, genetics will be taken from this individual by the appropriate authorities."

Dr Pirotta warned people not to approach the animal as it could be carrying diseases, and could attract predators such as sharks to the area.

Rodney Vile said DELWP is working with the Victorian Fisheries Authority about how long shark warnings will need to be in place.

He said the time it takes whales to decompose depends on the size and species, as well as wave action and temperature.



The whale carcass is not that of Migaloo, but who is the creature that has fascinated us for decades?

By Bridget Judd

Washed up white whale not Migaloo.

The discovery of a white whale carcass on a beach in far-east Victoria sparked fears for Migaloo, the elusive humpback who hasn't been spotted in two years.

But wildlife officers now say an analysis of images shows that it's not the iconic whale.

"DELWP Officers have examined images of the dead Humpback Whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female. Migaloo is a male," Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Regional Agency Commander Peter Bick said.

The case of mistaken identity isn't all that surprising.

While some 35,000 humpback whales migrate along the east coast of Australia each year, Migaloo is one of just a handful of known white humpback whales worldwide — and the most famous.

Here's what you need to know.

Who is Migaloo?

It's not hard to understand how Migaloo — meaning "white fella" in some Indigenous languages — earned his moniker.

First discovered in 1991 off Byron Bay, the humpback's albino appearance is the result of a variation in the gene responsible for the colour of his skin.

First discovered in 1991 off Byron Bay, the humpback's albino appearance is the result of a variation in the gene responsible for the colour of his skin.(Supplied: Craig Parry)

While it's attracted the attention of whale watchers across the globe, the condition has been associated with reduced heat absorption in colder waters, increased conspicuousness to predators, increased eye and skin sensitivity and visual impairment.

Despite this, the 40-tonne, 15-metre humpback whale made it to adulthood and is believed to be aged in his 30s.

Migaloo is protected under Queensland and Commonwealth government legislation, prohibiting boats from being within 500 metres of him.
Migaloo has attracted the attention of whale watchers across the globe.(ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

Are there other white humpback whales?

While Migaloo is one of the world's most recognisable whales, he's not alone.

There are three to four other known white humpback whales, including Bahloo, Willow and Migaloo Junior (although it's unclear if they are related).

Unlike Migaloo, however, these animals have some black spots on their body, leading researchers to believe they have a condition called leucism, or hypo-pigmentation.
 
Is it Migaloo? The answer is no

Photographs indicate the beached whale is younger than Migaloo and not the same sex.
(Supplied: Craig Parry)

While there were initially concerns for Migaloo's welfare, officers from Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning [DELWP] said analysis of images of the carcass show that it is not the same whale.

"DELWP Officers have examined images of the dead Humpback Whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female. Migaloo is a male," DELWP Regional Agency Commander Peter Bick said.

"DELWP and Parks Victoria staff will be further assessing the carcass over coming days."

DELWP said it was an offence for people or their dogs to be within 300 metres of a beached whale, and the animals were protected under the Wildlife Act whether they were alive or dead.

Scientists will still conduct genetic testing to confirm the whale is not Migaloo
Has this happened before?

Similar concerns were sparked back in 2011, when the carcass of a white whale was discovered off Palm Island, near Townsville.

But after viewing photos and video footage, the Whale Research Centre found the humpback had some black markings and was not the same animal.

At the time, researchers noted that whales go belly up when they die, and as they are white underneath, some may mistake them for the iconic whale.

Students, Campuses, and Dominant Corporate Power

When it comes to corporate power and control over their lives, now and into the future, today’s college students are perilously dormant. When it comes to putting pressure on Congress to counter the various dictates of corporatism, there is little activity other than some stalwarts contacting their lawmakers on climate violence.

Much of campus activity these days focuses on diversity, tuition, student loans, “politically correct” speech demands and conforming conduct.

This campus environment is strangely oblivious to the corporate abuses of our economy, culture and government. This indifference extends to the endless grip of corporate power over the educational institutions that the students attend.

Companies see universities and colleges as profit centers.

Corporate vendors influence or control the food students eat on campus, down to the junk in vending machines, along with their credit cards, iPhones, very expensive textbooks and, of course, student debt.

College Boards of Trustees are dominated by corporate executives or corporate affiliated people. Corporate science is – as from drug companies, biotech, military weapons and fossil fuel companies – co-opting, corrupting or displacing academic science which is peer-reviewed and unencumbered by corporate profiteering (See Professor Sheldon Krimsky’s books).

Corporate law firms dominate law schools, with few exceptions, seriously distorting the curriculum away from courses on corporate crimes and immunities and courses that show how corporations have shaped public institutions such as Congress, state legislatures, and the Pentagon along with state and federal regulatory agencies.

Business schools, except for a few free-thinking professors, are finishing schools for Wall Street and other businesses. They operate in an empirically starved environment regarding what is really going on in the world of global corporate machinations, while feeding their student’s dogmatic free-market fundamentalism.

Engineering departments narrowly orient their students toward corporate missions, without educating them about the engineering professions’ ethical and whistleblowing rights and duties.1

Social science courses are largely remiss as well. There are very few courses on plutocratic rule and uncontrolled big-business ways of getting commercial values to override civic values. Teachers may be wary of raising such taboo topics, but the enthusiastic student response to Professor Laura Nader’s course on “Controlling Processes” at UC Berkeley over the years might indicate deep student interest in courses on top-down power structures.

Active students in the nineteen sixties and seventies took their environmental, civil rights and anti-war concerns directly to Congress. They, with other citizen groups, pushed Congress and got important legislation enacted.

Students in about twenty states created lasting full-time student advocacy groups called Public Interest Research Groups or PIRGs.

Today the PIRGs are still making change happen in the country (See “Right to Repair Project.”). However, few new PIRGs have been established since 1980. Students need to embrace how important, achievable and enduring such nonprofit independent PIRGs can be. With skilled advocates continuing to train students in civic skills and provide students with extracurricular experiences for a lifetime of citizen engagement, the PIRGs create a vibrant reservoir for a more functioning democracy.

As a leading European statesman Jean Monnet said decades ago – “Without people nothing is possible, but without institutions nothing is lasting.”

Students need to think about the civic part of their years ahead and focus on building the pillars of a democratic society that dissolve the concentrated power of giant corporations and empower the citizenry as befits the “We the People” vision in our Constitution.

  1. See Ethics, Politics, and Whistleblowing in Engineering by Nicholas Sakellariou and Rania Milleron, CRC Press, 2018. [↩Facebook
Ralph Nader is a leading consumer advocate, the author of Unstoppable The Emerging Left Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State (2014), among many other books, and a four-time candidate for US President. Read other articles by Ralph, or visit Ralph's website.
UK
Hull Trains drivers in 24-hour strike over pay and conditions

ALAN JONES, PA INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT16 July 2022,

Train drivers have launched a 24-hour strike in the worsening rail disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the Aslef union on Hull Trains walked out on Saturday, disrupting services across the region.

Nigel Roebuck, Aslef’s full-time organiser on Hull Trains, said: ‘We don’t take strike action lightly but this union is determined to defend the living standards of our members

“Drivers on Hull Trains have not had a pay increase for three years and it’s time for the company to do the right thing, with inflation soaring, depending on which index you use, to something north of 10%.”

Aslef and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union are planning a series of strikes in the coming weeks which will cripple services across the country.

Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association are also taking industrial action over the summer.

Extensive talks have been held in recent weeks but the dispute remains deadlocked.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that Aslef bosses have opted for destructive strike action instead of engaging in constructive talks.

“Train drivers, such as those Aslef represent, earn a median salary of almost £60,000 – significantly more than the very workers who will be most impacted by these strikes.

“We urge union bosses to reconsider this divisive action and instead work with their employers, not against them, to agree a new way forward.”

Inside Josephine Baker’s badass life as a resistance spy during WWII

As Josephine Baker moved through international checkpoints in Spain and Morocco, the dancer and singer teased the agents who asked to see her papers, saying they just wanted her “autograph.”

Her official story was that she was on a “tour of Spain.” She was really working as a spy for the resistance, with state secrets neatly hidden in her bra.

Baker took a gamble that no one would dare to strip-search her. She smiled her famous smile — she was at the time the most photographed woman in the world — as the documents stayed “snugly in place, secured by a safety pin.” 

Baker’s role as one of the true heroes of World War II, fighting against the Nazis at great risk to herself, is detailed in the new book “Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy” (PublicAffairs) by Damien Lewis. In 1961, she received a Legion D’Honneur, France’s highest decoration for military service, for her Spain and Morocco mission, and was commended for retrieving “precious information.”

Josephine Baker — shown here receiving the Legion D’Honneur and the Croix de Guerre on August 19, 1961 — would also receive admission into the Pantheon in 2021, one of only five women to earn a place there.
Josephine Baker — shown here receiving the Legion D’Honneur and the Croix de Guerre on August 19, 1961 — would also receive admission into the Pantheon in 2021, one of only five women to earn a place there.
AFP via Getty Images

Born in St. Louis in 1906, Josephine Baker moved to France at 19. She emigrated with the hope of leaving the racism that hindered her American aspirations behind. She quickly became famous for her singing and dancing, including her beloved act where she wore only a skirt made of rubber bananas. She befriended French luminaries like the writer Colette. She bought a chateau, wore gowns by the most exclusive designers, and often walked the streets with her pet cheetah, Chiquita, who wore a diamond collar. 

And for a while she was treated equally.

Josephine Baker was once the most photographed woman in the world.
Josephine Baker was once the most photographed woman in the world.
Corbis via Getty Images

Once, when a visiting American seeing her dance at the Folies Bergere theater remarked, “At home a n—-r woman belongs in the kitchen,” the room fell silent in horror.

“You are in France,” the manager curtly replied, “and here we treat all races the same.” 

But dark forces were rising in Europe.  

In 1925, when Hitler’s “brown shirt” storm troopers were still considered a fringe group, Baker performed in Berlin to thunderous applause. When she returned two years later — after Hitler had gained prominence with the publication of his book “Mein Kampf,” which denounced black people as “half-apes” — the response was very different. German and Austrian newspaper headlines denounced her as a “black devil” and a “jezebel.”

“How dare they put our beautiful blonde Lea Seidl with a Negress on stage?” asked one paper, while another claimed “the convulsions of this coloured girl” would undermine Dresden’s sense of dignity. The mobs were such that Baker feared for her life.

Ten years later, Baker’s face adorned the cover of a 1937 brochure denouncing decadent artists issued by Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party. That same year, Josephine married the Jewish industrialist Jean Lion. Her passion to fight against the Nazis — and to defend her adopted country and husband, as well as herself — grew to a fever pitch. In 1938, she declared that Nazis were criminals and “criminals need to be punished.” She claimed she would kill them with her own hands if necessary. 

Baker was not shy to call out the evil of the rising Nazi power in Germany, declaring in 1938 that she would kill [Nazis] with her own hands if necessary.
Baker was not shy to call out the evil of the rising Nazi power in Germany, declaring in 1938 that she would kill [Nazis] with her own hands if necessary. 
Provided by Svce Historique DeLa

That same year, she was approached by the Deuxième Bureau as an Honorable Correspondent, a voluntary position that involved retrieving intelligence for the bureau. It was entirely unpaid, as was typical for such a role. Throughout the war, Josephine refused to accept money for her work and sometimes resorted to selling off jewels and other assets to help finance her excursions.

Soon after she began working as a spy, Baker learned through friends at the Japanese Embassy that Japan had signed a secret anti-communist pact with Hitler. It was the first of many pieces of information she’d convey back to the bureau. Shortly after that, she informed the bureau that — through friends at the Portuguese embassy — she had learned that Germany planned to occupy neutral Portugal to use their ports. She quickly became one of France’s most valuable assets. Espionage gave Baker the ability, as Lewis puts it, “to strike back, without necessarily ever needing to draw blood.”

Baker’s country home, the Château des Milandes in the Dordogne region, where she housed refugees.
Baker’s country home, the Château des Milandes in the Dordogne region, where she housed refugees.
courtesy of Damien Lewis

When the war came to France in 1940, Josephine’s glamorous country home — the Château des Milandes in the Dordogne region — became a base of operations for the local members of the resistance, as well as refugees, including a Belgian Jewish couple whom Baker sheltered there. A radio transmitter was installed on the tower for contact with Britain, and the cellar was filled with weapons for the resistance. When German soldiers stopped by to investigate after receiving a denunciation, Baker assured them that she was merely a dancer.

Though, she informed them pointedly, “I would not have the heart to go on stage when there is so much suffering.” In fact, Baker did go on stage throughout the war — she just wouldn’t perform for Nazis.

As a star performer, Baker had a cover that allowed her to easily travel to other countries — from Portugal to Spain to Morocco — something most people could not obtain visas for during the occupation.

“I come to dance, to sing,” she told journalists abroad who asked her why she’d left France. She’d actually come to ferry missives, photos and documents that might be helpful to the allies, and to meet with those sympathetic to the cause of the resistance. She carried sheet music with information written in invisible ink regarding the positions of the enemy defenses in southwestern France. She stuffed notes about other important details in her lingerie. Fellow agents would travel with her, pretending to be her “tour manager.” 

Born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in Saint-Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker (center, with dog) obtained French nationality in 1937.
Born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in Saint-Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker (center, with dog) obtained French nationality in 1937.
Provided by Svce Historique DeLa

Throughout the war, she worked with “Berber leaders, Rif chiefains [from the Northeastern region of Morocco], Arab dignitaries, American troops both black and white, (former) Vichyites, plus the Free French forces.” Even as her friends were murdered by Nazis or sent off to concentration camps, Baker maintained her cool. When she performed for American troops in Northwestern Algeria, she survived enemy fire by diving near the buffet tent. A Texan soldier crawled over on all fours with a bowl of ice cream for her, which she happily ate.

14. Casino de Paris
A poster from Casino de Paris, where Baker performed.
public domain

Afterward, she joked, “Me, belly down, amongst soldiers from Texas, Missouri and Ohio in my 1900 Paris dress, must have been an irresistibly funny sight. Mostly because I kept on eating.”

After the war, Josephine returned again to Germany in 1945. This time, she was honored at the Allied Victory ceremony at Hohenzollern Castle, the historic home of the German royal family. She took the place of honor in a country that had degraded and ridiculed her only a few years before. Then, she performed for the survivors of Buchenwald death camp who were too feeble to leave the prison. Although the camp was riddled with typhus and still littered with bodies, and Baker was in poor health, she still found the strength to sing a number called “In My Village” about the simple pleasures of home.

Even after France was liberated from the Nazis in 1944 and the war ended the following year, Baker never stopped fighting for equality for all people.

“She would never forget the lesson of the war years: freedom must be fought for, every day,” writes Lewis.

She died in 1975 at the age of 68. While she danced right up until the day before her death in a revue at the Bobino Theatre in Paris celebrating her 50 years in show business, she said that “the war years” had been the highlight of her life.

Baker lounging on a tiger rug, circa 1925. She said “the war years” had been the highlight of her life.
Baker lounging on a tiger rug, circa 1925. She said “the war years” had been the highlight of her life.
Getty Images

“I gave my heart to Paris, as Paris gave me hers,” she said onstage at the Revue’s opening night.

In 2021, she was given her greatest honor — admission to the French Pantheon, which recognizes only the greatest figures in French History, such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Marie Curie.

She is one of only five women to earn a place there.