Freeland considering action on short-term rentals after B.C. announces crackdown

The Canadian Press
Tue, October 17, 2023



OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is applauding the B.C. government for going after short-term rentals and says the federal government is looking at what it can do on the issue as well.

The B.C. government has introduced new legislation that involves forcing those who offer short-term accommodation to actually live on the property, NDP Premier David Eby told a news conference on Monday.

Eby said the government is also set to increase fines for short-term rental operators who break municipal bylaws and will require short-term rental platforms to share data with the province for enforcement and tax purposes.

"This is a positive and important step in the right direction in an area of provincial jurisdiction," Freeland said in a news conference on Tuesday.

"We know that short-term rentals through sites like Airbnb and VRBO mean fewer homes for Canadians to rent and live in full time, especially in urban and populated areas of our country."

She said her government is looking at what can be done at the federal level to ensure more short-term rentals are made available as long-term rentals.

The finance minister said this is part the government's efforts to address the housing shortage in both the immediate and medium terms.

"We really do understand that housing is a very challenging issue for Canadians," Freeland said.

"We are looking around and are saying, 'What can we do right away that makes more homes available for Canadians?' And ... short-term rental is one of those spaces."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Amid inflation, a housing crisis and conflict with Trudeau, Alberta adopted rent control — 48 years ago


CBC
Thu, October 19, 2023 


Sky-high inflation. Exorbitant rent increases. Conflict between Alberta and Prime Minister Trudeau.

The year is not 2023.

It's 1975.

Albertans were grappling then, like they are now, with a surging cost of living, high interest rates and a housing crisis.

The Progressive Conservative government of premier Peter Lougheed had just been re-elected in the spring with a commanding majority. That summer, amid growing calls from tenants groups who felt gouged by what they described as frequent and unreasonable price increases from landlords, the PCs were adamant that rent controls were not the solution.

By autumn, they had changed their minds.

In the face of mounting pressure both locally and federally — as prime minister Pierre Trudeau's government prepared its own set of wage and price controls — the Alberta government reluctantly adopted legislation in December 1975 that put an 18-month cap on rent increases in the province: no more than 10 per cent in 1976 and no more than nine per cent in the first six months of 1977. After that, the rent-control law would be phased out.

It was a controversial move. Free-market advocates abhorred the government intervention, while tenants groups felt the rules were too lenient. Enforcement was also a challenge, with numerous cases ending up in court.


A Calgary Herald article from Oct. 22, 1975, in which Calgary-Buffalo PC MLA Ron Ghitter discusses 'reluctantly and unhappily' calling for rent control in Alberta. (Newspapers.com/Screenshot)

Today, Ron Ghitter looks back at the rent control legislation as an extraordinary measure at an extraordinary time. He was the PC MLA for Calgary-Buffalo and one of the architects of Alberta's landlord-tenant policy of the 1970s. And while he sees many parallels from that era to today, he doesn't believe a return to rent control is the right way to tackle the current housing crisis.

"I would be opposed to it personally," he said in an interview. "The problems that we've got are much deeper than what rent controls will solve."

Alberta's current United Conservative government has also rejected recent calls for rent control in the province.

So how did the government of 1975 come to adopt the policy, albeit reluctantly?

A combination of factors coalesced at the time, some of which may sound familiar to Albertans today, while others may seem quite foreign. And rent control wasn't the only measure the provincial government took in response to the housing crisis of the era. Additional policies included a temporary ban on apartment-to-condo conversions and a renters' tax credit. Those worked in concert with long-since-expired federal policies aimed at encouraging the construction of more rental housing.

Opinions then, like today, differed on which policies would provide the best solutions. In retrospect, there is still disagreement. But the experiences from nearly half a century ago still hold relevance — and may offer some lessons — when it comes to the housing crisis facing so many people today.

What's old is new again — sort of

On the surface, the parallels between the mid-1970s and today seem numerous.

Economically, both eras saw high levels of global inflation, high interest rates, rapid population growth in Alberta and rapidly surging rents — especially in Calgary.

Politically, both eras saw a conservative government in Alberta that was often at odds with a Liberal government in Ottawa — led by a prime minister named Trudeau.


Pierre Trudeau, left, was prime minister in 1975. His son, Justin Trudeau, is prime minister in 2023. (AFP/Getty Images, Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Both eras also saw the Alberta NDP calling for more government action on affordable housing, led then by Grant Notley and today by his daughter, Rachel Notley.

Then, a group calling itself the Calgary Tenants' Committee circulated a rent-control petition that had amassed 12,000 signatures by November 1975. Among the signatories were two Calgary aldermen (although both said they didn't fully support the petition's demands.)

Today, there have been also been calls for rent control, including public rallies and an online petition that has collected 6,000 electronic signatories. One city councillor in Calgary has also directly called on the province to institute a rent cap.

At first, the PC government of the 1970s came out against the idea, saying rent control would inhibit the construction of new rental housing, disincentivize maintenance on existing rental properties and ultimately harm the lower-income tenants it aimed to protect.

"The record in other parts of Canada and elsewhere indicates that such tenants in the long term suffer greater indignities when rents are controlled," Alberta's consumer affairs minister, Graham Harle, was quoted as saying in a July 1975 newspaper article.

Nearly a half-century later, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon made much the same argument.

At left, Graham Harle, who served as Alberta's consumer affairs minister in 1975. At right, Jason Nixon, the province's current minister of community and social services. (Newspapers.com, Alberta.ca)

"I don't want to see more good, hard-working people become homeless," he told the Calgary Sun in August 2023. "That's what rent control in the end will do. It will create less space for people to be able to live."

The current Alberta government has so far stuck to its position.

So why did the Alberta government of 1975 end up backtracking?

Then vs. now

One difference between then and now has been the target of public ire over the housing crisis.

Today, much of the attention in Calgary has been focused on the municipal government, especially as it debated a contentious new affordable housing policy earlier this year. Federally, the opposition have also made housing a key point of attack on the Liberal government.

Meanwhile, the Alberta government has not faced the same level of political pressure.

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley has stopped short of calling for rent control directly, instead saying it should be one of a host of options that ought to be considered.

Back in 1975, by contrast, the opposition Social Credit party had been calling for rent control specifically and, when the PCs finally introduced it, NDP Leader Grant Notley criticized the legislation as not going far enough.

"There was great pressure on us as a government to do something about rent," Ghitter recalled of the era.


Grant Notley, left, led the Alberta NDP in 1975. His daughter, Rachel Notley, leads the Alberta NDP in 2023. (CBC Archives, Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Adding to the local pressure was a situation in federal politics that had not been seen since wartime and has never been seen again since. To deal with spiralling inflation in 1975, Ottawa brought forward a broad set of wage and price controls — a staggering degree of government intervention that was ultimately tested (and approved) by the Supreme Court.

Landlord-tenant relations, as a provincial responsibility, were outside Ottawa's direct purview but the federal government exerted pressure on provincial premiers to go along with the national plan when it came to housing costs.

In the end, Lougheed — sometimes known as "Peter the Pink" by more hard-line conservatives — agreed with the feds, but on the condition that agricultural and energy products would be exempted from federal price controls. Also, Alberta's rent control would be phased out after 18 months instead of the the three-year period Ottawa had been asking for.

The Alberta premier struck a conciliatory tone in announcing the about-face on rent control, saying the province needed to join the national effort to break the cycle — and psychology — of inflation.

"I agree with the prime minister's statement that Canadians are developing a significant fear of of inflation and are trying to overcompensate for the most severe inflation they can imagine," Lougheed said during the opening of the provincial legislature in November 1975.

"This attitude must be checked, and for this reason Alberta will work with the federal government."

Similar measures would be harder to imagine in today's political climate.

The federal wage controls were sweeping in their scope and scale, and nothing remotely close has been proposed by the current Liberal government in response to the modern inflation situation.

And Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, to date, has also been less willing than Lougheed to find common ground with the current Trudeau government on a host of issues — especially those involving federal overlap into provincial jurisdiction.

How it worked out

Opponents of rent control feared Lougheed would break the 18-month promise, but his government indeed began to unwind its policy in June 1977.

It took a phased approach and, by June 1980, all units that had been subject to rent control in Alberta were decontrolled.

In 1982, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation commissioned a report into the Alberta government's dalliance with rental-market regulation.

It found the province's policy had largely managed to achieve the goal of mitigating the housing crisis in the short term without stifling the construction of new rental housing in the longer term — which was a primary concern among rent-control opponents. It credited the short duration of the policy and nuances in the regulation that allowed landlords to pass on some additional costs to tenants in exceptional circumstances.

"These two aspects of the program served to alleviate any negative impacts on the rental housing market," the report reads. "New housing starts do not appear to have slowed due to rent control by itself."

The CMHC report also praised the decision to phase out the rent controls over time rather than having them end abruptly.

"The decontrol scheme did serve to soften and spread out the increases that would have taken place had the controls been lifted with no thought to the resultant increases that might occur," it reads.

Another key aspect of the legislation was the prohibition on the conversion of rental apartments to condominiums for sale, which the report found was effective and "made any transfers out of the rental market negligible."

There was also another provincial policy that helped ease the burden on renters during that era.

Renters tax credit

Flip through newspaper archives from the 1970s and, scattered among the many articles, opinion columns and letters to the editor debating the pros and cons of rent control, you'll find advertisements from the Alberta government promoting its "renter assistance credit."

This was a benefit individuals could claim on their income taxes and was available to most people who paid rent. The value of the benefit was on a sliding scale: the amount of money you could receive diminished with your household income.

Today's rent assistance, by contrast, must be applied for separately and is aimed at low-income people living in subsidized units provided by housing management bodies.


A newspaper ad from 1975 promoting the Alberta government's renter assistance credit, which was a benefit claimed on individuals' income taxes. (Newspapers.com)

Alberta kept the renters tax credit even after ending rent control, and even boosted it. By 1983, it was worth up to a maximum of $500 annually minus one per cent of a household's taxable income.

The province cancelled the renters tax credit in its 1987 budget, amid a host of austerity measures brought in after a crash in oil-and-gas royalties. By that time, the rental market had completely changed as well, and provincial treasurer Dick Johnston defended the decision, noting "the vacancy rate across most of Alberta is, in fact, at the highest levels ever."

Today, you can still find tax credits aimed at renters in other provinces. Ontario's Trillium Benefit and Manitoba's Residential Renters Tax Credit, for example, both offer modest benefits to low-to-moderate-income tenants.

British Columbia also introduced a new renter's tax credit in its 2023 budget. Lower-income tenants in that province will be able to claim up to $400 in benefits when they file their income taxes in 2024.

Tim Richter, president and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, says these types of benefits administered through the tax system are an easier and more efficient way for tenants living in precarious rental situations to get financial support, compared to government programs that require a separate application process.

But he also noted that Ontario, Manitoba and B.C. each have some form of rent control today, too.

He cautioned that the hypothetical return of a renters tax credit in Alberta could have unintended consequences and end up benefiting landlords more than tenants.

"Alberta doesn't have rent control," Richter said. "I would be worried about a very large-scale subsidy of consumers being captured by landlords who now realize that, 'Everybody is going to get a subsidy of X per cent, so I'm just going to raise my rent by X per cent.'"

Lessons from the past?

In retrospect, Ghitter said the rent controls his government adopted nearly a half-century ago were ultimately "a negative force, economically" and shouldn't be repeated because he believes they would slow the construction of new rental housing.

"What you need to do, really, is you need to have programs that will create more affordable housing," Ghitter said.

One 1970s-era policy he would like to see resurrected is the Multiple Unit Residential Buildings (MURB) provision to the federal Income Tax Act, which allowed investors to claim depreciation and some other costs of building rental apartments against unrelated income.

"It invited investors — net worth people, doctors, lawyers, whatever — to invest in construction of multi-family housing," Ghitter said. "And it was a tax advantage to them. The investor could write that off immediately and they were hopeful that the housing would bring them some benefits."

The CMHC also commissioned a study into the MURB program in 1981, which found the policy to be "an important component of the recovery in rental construction in the mid to late 1970s."

"However, it appears likely that, if left to its own devices, the rental market would have begun to respond to the excess demand on its own — albeit at higher rents."

The report adds: "The main beneficiaries of the MURB provision from the supply side of the market have been the developer/promoters and investors with high marginal tax rates."

In a recent briefing note from the CMHC to Housing Minister Sean Fraser (obtained by CBC News under access-to-information laws), the MURB policy was credited with encouraging the construction of about 195,000 units at a cost of $2.4 billion in forgone taxes.

"Since the elimination of the MURB program in 1982, tax policy in relation to rental housing development has remained largely unchanged and current tax regulations are less favourable to rental investment than have been historically," the briefing note said.

Richter, with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, believes the MURB program was an effective tool. After it ended, he said, "you saw the construction of rental housing drop off and investors getting more into things like condominiums, which … obviously had a better return."

"So tax incentives are a really, really powerful incentive," he said.

Ghitter believes the key challenge with today's housing crisis is a lack of supply. He believes the role of government should be to encourage the construction of new rental housing, rather than to restrict the price of rent. Over the long haul, he believes that will bring the most relief to people struggling to afford their housing.

Richter agrees a permanent solution is needed but also says people struggling to pay rent right now need immediate supports.

"You want to provide relief to people in the short term, for sure," he said. "But in the long term, you know, you've got to build the housing supply and you've got to have a housing supply that matches with the growth of the province, or else you'll just have people permanently struggling to pay rent, right?"

Canada promised to stop exporting unwanted plastic waste. But it's still happening.



OTTAWA — On the northern fringe of Myanmar's largest city is a township of nearly 300,000 people with a growing industrial base in textiles, consumer goods and food products.

But north of Yangon in Shwepyithar, whose name in English means "golden and pleasant," nothing is growing faster than garbage.

And a lot of it isn't even theirs.

Piled up on every block are great big mounds of tattered bags, discarded plastic bottles and packaging turned grey from weather and dirt.

Mountains of plastic waste, sometimes as tall as single-storey houses, are rotting in the streets. People have to wind their way around the piles to get to temples and community centres.

The stench seeps into homes, and mothers instruct their children not to play in the trash. The hot weather dries out the garbage, making every road at risk of catching fire.

In Myanmar, where citizens have once again been under military rule since a 2021 coup, the locals are terrified to speak out.

Frontier Myanmar, an English-language magazine published in Yangon, visited Shwepyithar multiple times between January and June. Reporters Allegra Mendelson and Rachel Moon documented the trash problem, sharing their observations and images with The Canadian Press.

They also interviewed local residents, as well as owners and employees of plastic-recycling factories, about its impact. The Canadian Press agreed not to identify any of them by name out of concern that they would face retaliation by authorities in Myanmar.

"If I create a problem with the governing body, the army will come and arrest me," said a 55-year-old father whose home is one of those facing a mound of trash.

"I don't like it, but I am not comfortable talking about what I don't like. At my age, I can no longer bear being beaten or tortured."

While the nearby factories are believed to be responsible for some of the waste, there is no doubt, upon closer inspection, that much of it has come in from overseas.

While much of the trash has already degraded beyond recognition, clearly visible in the debris are brands from Europe and North America, including several items easily identified as originating in Canada.

Most of it appears to be post-consumer waste — the kind that Canadians likely tossed into a blue bin in their kitchen with no clue it would end up on the top of a trash heap 11,000 kilometres away.

On the top of one pile, in the township's Ward 27, is a bright red-and-blue Unico bag that once held dry penne pasta. Sun-Brite Foods, which owns the popular Unico brand known for its pastas and canned goods, has not yet replied to queries from The Canadian Press.

Beside the pasta bag is a faded white tub of black cherry yogurt from the Loblaws brand Foremost Dairies. Loblaws has not yet responded to a request for comment, either.

A bright blue Oikos yogurt tub from Danone is a few centimetres away from the Foremost container. A spokesperson for Danone Canada said they were investigating whether the packaging could be identified as from the company's Canadian, European or American lines.

What can be confirmed is that it didn't come from Myanmar. None of the brands are sold there.

But Canada is part of an international treaty to prevent the dumping of plastic waste in developing countries and hasn't ever issued a permit to ship plastic waste to Myanmar.

So, how did it get there?

———

The Canadian Press, in partnership with Lighthouse Reports, an investigative newsroom based in the United Kingdom and collaborating with media outlets in Thailand, Myanmar, Poland, the United States and the U.K., is trying to answer that question.

In 2016, Canada was starting to address fallout after shipments of Canadian trash were sent to the Philippines illegally labelled as plastic for recycling. The move had created a high-profile international spat, which ultimately saw the Philippines ship the garbage back to Canada.

As part of its response, the federal government introduced a new regulation requiring plastic waste exports to get a permit from the federal Environment Department.

The regulations were updated again in 2021, after Canada agreed to implement a change to the Basel Convention governing international trade in hazardous waste.

The original convention, which Canada joined in 1992, was intended to prevent wealthy countries from dumping hazardous waste into the developing world. It requires informed consent from the importing country before such shipments can be made.

In 2019, an amendment was formally proposed to include plastic as a type of hazardous waste covered by the treaty. The majority of Basel Convention countries agreed to the amendment in March 2020, but Canada initially resisted,finally agreeing just weeks before the amendment took effect in January 2021.

The amendment means that Canada is not supposed to export plastic waste almost anywhere without prior, informed consent. If consent is provided and a permit granted, that means an importing country has confirmed it can manage the waste properly, including by recycling it or disposing of it in an "environmentally sound manner."

When a permit is issued, the federal Environment Department tracks the shipments and requires confirmation of the end stage recycling or disposal.

However, there is a caveat. If the waste is considered to be "clean and sorted" and intended for recycling, no permit is needed. But there are few limits or checks to see if the waste conforms.

Data the department provided to The Canadian Press show a total of 16 permits for plastic waste exports have been issued since 2016 — half under the 2016 regulations and half under the updated version in 2021. Nine of them were for shipments to Malaysia, six to the Netherlands and one was for Denmark. None of them were for Myanmar.

Trade data, which are tracked using an international coding system, show Canada exported plastic waste to dozens of countries in that time. In 2022, for example, Canada issued export permits for just two countries, but trade data list 26 countries that received Canada's plastic "waste, parings and scrap" exports.

In 2021, export permits were issued only for Malaysia, but trade data show exports were made to 40 countries.

The United Nations' Comtrade database, which tracks international exports and imports, says that between 2020 and 2023, Myanmar recorded imports of nearly 80,000 kilograms of plastic scrap waste from Canada, worth about $50,000.

The Environment Department would not make any of its experts on the plastic waste file available for an interview. However, in response to written questions, a spokesperson said the department would not track plastic waste that doesn't require permits.

In 2022, Canada exported 183 million kilograms of plastic waste. More than 90 per cent of it went to the United States, which is one of the few countries that is not a party to the Basel Convention.

Canada has its own agreement with the U.S. on plastic waste. Many critics feared that this would allow Canada to bypass its Basel obligations and ship waste to developing countries without getting their permission, by shipping it first to the U.S.

The Environment Department says the agreement doesn't allow for that.

"Without speculating on specific shipments leaving the United States, Environment and Climate Change Canada can confirm that plastic waste subject to the Basel Convention and destined to any party to the Basel Convention (including developing countries) requires an export permit before being exported from Canada, even when the shipment transits the U.S.," the department said in a statement.

But advocates pushing for an end to all plastic waste exports say that without ensuring all plastic waste conforms to recycling needs and is in fact recycled, Canada and other wealthy countries continue to sit by as their trash becomes someone else's problem.

"We've been violating the whole purpose of the Basel Convention for years and years and years," said Kathleen Ruff, a Canadian human-rights advocate who has made ending global plastic waste flows a key part of her work.

Multiple plastic waste importers interviewed in Myanmar told Frontier's reporters that a large portion of international waste they bring in is too contaminated to be recycled. Often it's household waste that is filled with products that can't be recycled, or requires too much effort to separate and clean to make it economically useful.

The owners of one import company told Frontier Myanmar that about 60 per cent of the plastic they buy is imported, and about 10 per cent of that has to be thrown out because it's not recyclable.

An employee at a large recycling factory in Yangon told Frontier Myanmar they can only return unusable plastic waste if they buy it locally. Anything imported cannot be returned and unusable waste is thrown out. They estimated they throw out the equivalent of a "big-sized car" every month.

Ruff said many wealthy countries claim they're supporting industries in developing countries, and they don't have the ability to recycle the material at home.

But she said the whole point of the Basel Convention is to prevent rich waste from harming people in the poorest countries, and Myanmar is the latest proof that it's not working.

"The experience has been internationally … that this has been a disaster," she said.

"It hasn't been effective "

———

In Shwepyithar, the garbage problem began to pile up in earnest within the last year.

Established less than 40 years ago, Shwepyithar is one of Yangon's newer townships. It was envisioned as a place where green space would prevail, to encourage outdoor recreation. As homes were built, large lots were left vacant, with the plan to eventually turn them into parks.

But those parks never materialized. Instead, the open spaces, interspersed between every 100 or so homes, are an ideal dumping ground and most have now become flooded with trash.

Until 2018, China was the main destination for the world's recycling plastics, with the feedstock being used to supply its insatiable manufacturing industries.

But in January of that year, China slammed the door shut to most plastic waste imports. It complained that the vast majority of it was too contaminated to be recycled and was just ending up in Chinese landfills or incinerators.

The decision triggered some major problems for municipal recycling systems in wealthy countries, which were suddenly competing for limited new destinations in other Asian countries.

In 2020, Interpol reported a sharp rise in the illegal plastic pollution trade, as unscrupulous dealers promised to buy plastic recycling from cities around the world, including in Canada, with no intention of ever recycling it.

Many would dump it illegally in places such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. As those countries began to get more careful about what was coming into their ports, the trade shifted, with Myanmar becoming a more common dumping station.

A Myanmar government document from 2020, discussing the amendments to the Basel Convention related to plastic waste and the development of new laws in Myanmar, made note of the difficulty in distinguishing acceptable shipments from ones that are not.

That presentation, made before the country's military coup, came as Myanmar was implementing tough new laws about plastic imports.

Officially, items under the international code 3915, for plastic waste and scraps, are banned from imports to Myanmar. But there are exceptions for licensed plastic traders, and since the coup, enforcement has become more limited.

Okka Phyo Maung, founder and head of Myanmar recycling organization RecyGlo, told Frontier Myanmar's reporters that there are now illegal dump sites all over the country, but the Yangon region is the worst because of its big industrial zones.

Okka said foreign companies pay brokers to bring the waste into Myanmar, and sell it to small businesses that are trying to work as recyclers.

"About 70 per cent of the waste is usable and 30 per cent is very bad, and they will just dump it in a landfill," he said.

Okka said the brokers don't care what happens to the waste because they get paid both by the western companies looking to off-load the waste, and the Myanmar recyclers looking for plastic to turn into pellets for local factories.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2023.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM
EU awards rights prize to Mahsa Amini, Iranian who died in custody

By AFP
October 19, 2023

Mahsa Amini's death in custody triggered mass protests in Iran 

- Copyright AFP Brendan Smialowski
Marc BURLEIGH

The European Union on Thursday awarded its top rights honour, the Sakharov Prize, to Mahsa Amini, the Iranian Kurdish woman who died in Iranian custody a year ago, and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement her death triggered.

“The brutal murder of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini marked a turning point. It has triggered a women-led movement that is making history,” European Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola said, using Amini’s Kurdish first name as she announced the award.

Metsola said the movement’s three-word slogan was “a rallying cry for all those standing up for equality, for dignity, and for freedom in Iran”.

The EU prize announcement comes two weeks after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an imprisoned Iranian rights campaigner, Narges Mohammadi.

Amini died age 22 on September 16, 2022, while being held by Iran’s religious police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Her family and supporters say she was killed. Iranian authorities claim she died in custody from a previously undisclosed medical condition.

Her death triggered mass protests in Iran.

It also generated a global movement known as “Woman, Life, Freedom”, calling for the end of Iran’s imposition of a headscarf on all women and an end to the Muslim cleric-led government in Tehran.

Iranian security forces have cracked down on the protests domestically, killing hundreds, and have executed dozens for allegedly participating in what officials have called “riots”.

This week, they jailed Amini’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, for one year for “propaganda” after he spoke to media about her case.

Many Iranian women continue to defy the government’s clothing edict by taking off their headscarves in public.

– Defying Iran’s clerics –

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” campaign continues in cities around the world, with frequent demonstrations in which Amini’s photo is held aloft.

Mohammadi’s Nobel Peace Prize was in recognition of her fight against the mandatory headscarf in Iran and against the oppression of women in the country.

Together, the two prizes focus attention on Iranian authorities’ punishment of women who defy the headscarf order, seen by both sides as defiance of the Islamic republic’s system of governance itself.

Amini and the “Woman, Freedom, Life” movement were backed by the European Parliament’s three main political groups, making them the frontrunner well before the Sakharov Prize winner was announced.

The two other nominations on the shortlist, backed by smaller groups, were Nicaraguan rights defenders, Vilma Nunez de Escorcia and Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos; and three women campaigning for abortion rights, Justyna Wydrzynska from Poland, Morena Herrera from Salvador and Colleen McNicholas from the United States.

Billionaire Elon Musk had been put forward in an initial round by a far-right grouping in the parliament but failed to make the cut for the shortlist.

The Sakharov Prize, which comes with a 50,000-euro ($53,000) endowment, will be handed over in a European Parliament ceremony on December 13.

FEMINIST
Catholic women speak up as ‘patriarchal’ Church debates its future


By AFP
October 19, 2023

The place of women in the Catholic Church is a hot topic - Copyright AFP Brendan Smialowski
Clément MELKI

Not far from the Vatican, where hundreds of Catholics have gathered to debate the future of the Church, purple-clad activists make their voices heard against the “patriarchy”, chanting “Ordain women priests!” .

The place of women in the Catholic Church — led for 2,000 years by a man, and which outlaws abortion, female priests and does not recognise divorce — is one of the hot topics at the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops taking place over four weeks.

Women campaigning for change have come to Rome to make their case, from Europe and the United States to Australia, Colombia, India and South Africa.

They have different backgrounds and diverse goals. Not all want female priests. Some aim first for women to become deacons, who can celebrate baptisms, marriages and funerals, although not masses.

But they are united in their frustration at seeing women excluded from key roles in what many view as a “patriarchal and macho” Church.

“The majority of people who support parish life and transmit the faith in families are women, mothers,” said Carmen Chaumet from French campaign group “Comite de la Jupe” (Committee of the Skirt).

“It is paradoxical and unfair not to give them their legitimate place.”

“If you go to the Vatican, to a mass, you see hundreds of men priests dressed the same way, and no women,” added Teresa Casillas Fiori, a member of Spanish association “Revuelta de Mujeres en la Iglesia” (Women’s Revolt in the Church).

“I feel that men are the owners of God.”

– ‘Voting rights’ –

The Synod assembly, which runs until October 29, nevertheless marks a historic turning point in the Church, with nuns and laywomen allowed to take part for the first time.

Some 54 women — around 15 percent of the total of 365 assembly members — will be able to vote on proposals that will be sent to Pope Francis.

Vatican observers have called it a revolution. “A first step,” say campaigners.

Adeline Fermanian, co-president of the Committee of the Skirt, said the pope had signalled “openings” on the question of ordaining women.

“He recognised that the question has not been examined sufficiently on a theological level,” she said.

Since his election in 2013, Francis has sought to forge a more open Church, more welcoming to LGBTQ faithful and divorcees, and encouraging inter-faith dialogue.

He has increased the number of women appointed to the Curia, the central government of the Holy See, with some in senior positions.

Last week, he promoted a nun to under-secretary of the office that manages the Holy See’s property assets.

But some campaigners see the changes as “cosmetic” reforms which hide a biased perception of women.

Cathy Corbitt, an Australian member of the executive board of umbrella group Catholic Women’s Council (CWC), said the inclusion of female voting members in the Synod was a sign of progress.

But she said the wider view of women in the Church was “very frustrating”, much of it taking inspiration from the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.

“The pope still seems to have this blind spot towards women… He seems to regard women in terms of a role, and it’s usually in terms of a mother,” she said.

– Resistance –

The Synod process is slow. The current meeting in Rome followed a two-year global consultation, and a second general assembly is planned for next year.

Regina Franken-Wendelsorf, a German member of the CWC executive board, said women were hoping for concrete action.

“All arguments and requests are on the table. It’s now the Vatican and the Church who have to act!” she said.

While the Church debates, “there are collateral victims, frustration, Catholics who leave because they no longer feel welcomed”, added French campaigner Chaumet.

But just as Pope Francis faces resistance in his reform agenda, there is significant resistance to the women’s push for change.

“Some American bishops are afraid to follow the path of the Anglican Church”, which authorised the ordination of women in 1992, notes one Synod participant, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another senior Church member, who also asked not to be named, noted that pressure for reform was not equal from all regions of the Church.

“We must not forget that the Church is global,” he stressed.

“There are expectations (among women) in Europe but in Asia and Africa, much less.”

Tech giants Foxconn, Nvidia announce they are building ‘AI factories’

WHERE-EVER THEY  GET THE BEST TAX DEAL


By AFP
October 18, 2023

Chairman of Foxconn Technology Group Young Liu (R) and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Taiwanese announced Wednesday they are building 'AI factories'

 - Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn and US hardware leader Nvidia said Wednesday they would team up to create “AI factories”, powerful data processing centres that would drive the manufacturing of next-generation products such as electric cars.

The world’s largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn — officially known as Hon Hai Technology Group — already plays a lynchpin role in assembling gadgets for top global brands, including Apple’s iPhone.

But it has ambitions to diversify beyond electronics assembly — even embracing the competitive but rapidly expanding electric vehicle business by unveiling concept cars on its “Hon Hai Tech Day” in past years.

This year, chairman Young Liu opened the annual event with Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang to introduce a “new class of data centres powering a wide range of applications”.

Silicon Valley-based Nvidia made its name developing graphics processing units (GPUs), a powerful chip technology that started as the backbone of modern video games — but has now become a crucial pillar in the rapid development of generative AI.

“Together we will be helping the whole industry move much faster into the new AI era,” Liu announced onstage with Huang.

The “factories” would include “digitalisation of manufacturing and inspection workflows, development of AI-powered electric vehicle and robotics platforms, and a growing number of language-based generative AI services”, according to Nvidia.

Huang said Foxconn “has the expertise and scale to build AI factories globally”.

If successful, Foxconn’s customers could use these systems to deliver generative AI services and use simulation to train autonomous machines like industrial robots and self-driving cars.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after the United States unveiled tightening curbs on exports of state-of-the-art chips to China — the latest move to prevent Beijing’s advances in cutting-edge tech, seen by Washington as a national security threat.

The ban would hit Nvidia’s chips that had previously gone to China — a major supplier base for many contract electronics manufacturers, including Foxconn — and sent the company’s share price plummeting on Wall Street on Tuesday.

Nvidia said the new rules by the US Department of Commerce may “require the company to transition certain operations out of one or more of the identified countries”.

Swedish Tesla workers to strike over union demands


By AFP
October 18, 2023

A Tesla logo. — © AFP NICOLAS ASFOURI

Tesla mechanics in Sweden will walk off the job on October 27 unless the electric carmaker agrees to sign a collective wage agreement, the metalworkers union IF Metall said Wednesday.

“Over a long period of time, we have attempted to discuss with Tesla the signing of a collective agreement, without success. Now we see no solution other than to take industrial action,” the union said in a statement.

The strike would affect Tesla’s 120 mechanics at seven workshops across Sweden, IF Metall spokesman Jesper Pettersson told AFP.

He said “many” of Tesla’s workers in Sweden were members of IF Metall, but would not disclose an exact number.

Despite being union members, they cannot benefit from industry-wide collective bargaining agreements.

Negotiated by sector-by-sector, collective agreements are the basis of the Swedish labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all Swedish employees and guaranteeing standard wages and working conditions.

“This conflict is about our members’ wages, pensions and insurances. And in the end it is about the playing rules on the Swedish labour market,” said the head of IF Metall’s collective agreements, Veli-Pekka Saikkala.

IF Metall, which has some 300,000 members, said the agreements also allow for companies “to operate on a level playing field, while avoiding the risk of any one employer distorting competition in the sector by imposing poor conditions on their employees.”

Tesla has yet to comment on the strike call.

Its founder and chief Elon Musk has consistently rejected calls to allow Tesla’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.

“Even though we have called for industrial action, it is our sincere hope that Tesla will begin to negotiate and sign a collective agreement for their employees in Sweden,” IF Metall said.

Attitudes to cybercrime vary across the generational divide

By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published October 18, 2023

A teacher using laptop as part of a workshop for school children. 

Image by Astrid Lomholt. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

New study reveals that most people living in the UK consider identity theft and financial cybercrimes as the most dangerous. However, beyond this broad headline there are some variances between generations.

Most Internet users are concerned about the theft of their bank credentials or payment card information (68 percent) and theft of identity and national insurance numbers (46 percent), according to a survey commissioned by NordVPN. While these two types of cybercrimes raise the most significant concerns among all age groups, attitudes towards other common cyber fears have divided Internet users of different generations.

“Cybersecurity fears are heavily influenced by the different ways generations perceive and use technology, personal experiences, and historical context, among other factors. Thus, a generational gap in the perception of dangers online is unavoidable,” Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN tells Digital Journal.

Young generations are concerned about theft of personal photos, older generations – malware

The research reveals that the younger generation is more concerned about the theft of personal photos and videos. They are also worried that hackers could take over their webcam and CCTV.

While 29 percent of millennials and 28 percent of Gen Zers mention the theft of personal pictures or videos as one of the biggest dangers, only about 12 percent of Baby Boomers and 9 percent of the so-called silent generation have the same opinion. At the same time, Generation Z are more concerned about hacked webcams and CCTVs (35 percent), while it’s not considered to be as much of a severe issue among baby boomers (10 percent) and the silent generation (11 percent).

Apart from theft of identity or bank credentials and payment card information, the biggest concern for the older generations (68 percent of silent generation and 59 percent of baby boomers) is infecting devices with viruses or other malware. In comparison, only 36 percent of Generation Z and 31 percent of millennials mention it among the top cyber threats.

Older generations are concerned about losing files but not health information

The survey further reveals a tangible generation gap regarding attitudes towards losing access to the computer and files on the computer. While 59 percent of the silent generation and 44% of baby boomers in the United Kingdom mentioned loss of computer and files on it due to cyberattack among the most worrying cybercrimes, only 24 percent of Generation Z share the same attitude.

On the other hand, the younger generations are more concerned about the security of their personal health information. While 21 percent of Generation Z consider health information theft as one of the most dangerous cybercrimes, only 9 percent of baby boomers and the silent generation see it as a severe threat.

Crossing glaciers and fjords: Norwegian reindeer migrate for winter

ByAFP


AFP followed the reindeer on their way back from the summer pasture in Seglvik to the Kautokeino lands near the Finnish border - Copyright AFP Mandel NGAN
Olivier MORIN

A herd of reindeer with white, brown or grey coats climb mountains and swim between glaciers on their great migration to their winter pasture in Norway’s far north.

Over fourteen days, an AFP photographer followed the Kautokeino reindeer on their way back from their summer pasture in Seglvik to the Kautokeino lands near the Finnish border.

The reindeer — bred by the indigenous Sami reindeer herders that span northern Europe — are semi-nomadic and travel across vast expanses as they move between their winter and summer grazing grounds.

To make their journey home, the reindeer bypass two glaciers before arriving at the foot of the Jokelfjord glacier — the only one in Europe which drains into the ocean.

The Sami follow their animals on quad bikes, on foot, or by boat.

Ante Niillas Gaup, a 37-year-old Sami herder, whistles towards the herd to show them the path to take. But the herder, accompanied by his barking dogs, says mostly they are driven by their instinct to follow the right route.

“If they don’t want to walk, they don’t walk — they do it little by little as they want, when they decide,” said Gaup.

When they reach obstacles such as a steep wall or crossing a fjord, the reindeer stop and wait for a signal from the herders.

A Sami herder in a small motorboat in the middle of the fjord rings a bell to show them the way to the opposite bank.

When they are ready to swim, the reindeer form themselves into a single file, preparing to dive in.

Hundreds of the animals then launch into the water, grunting as they head for the other shore in a synchronised swim.

Once they reach land again, they are on the final leg of their journey to Kautokeino, where they will spend the winter.

COVID INCREASED SELF LOVE

Sexual wellbeing industry revels in swelling sales

By AFP


The global market was estimated to be worth around $19 billion in 2021, with the United States leading the way ($4.4 billion) -

Véronique DUPONT

From creams and oils promising to take the user to seventh heaven to multi-sensory vibration devices and erotic lingerie, the sex accessory market has become more feminine over the years, even feminist.

In doing so, it has managed to broaden its market and is reaping the dividends, enjoying impressive growth.

The global market was estimated to be worth around $19 billion in 2021, with the United States leading the way ($4.4 billion), according to a study by consultancy firm PwC.

Further growth is predicted to reach $27 billion by 2026.

The repositioning of the market towards “sexual wellbeing”, with more playful and refined designs and discreet packaging, has helped attract women who would otherwise be turned off by products with more “hardcore” connotations.

Although the shift began way back in the 1970s with feminists who wanted to emancipate women and their sexuality, it gathered pace at the turn of the century.

“I remember going to the big sex toys market wholesaler,” said Ky Hoyle, who describes herself as “founder and head girl” of Sh! Women’s Erotic Emporium in east London.

“In the beginning it was owned by porn barons,” she told AFP.

“The same porn barons realised there was a whole market and came to us to ask us what can we do to be more female friendly.”

Manufacturers then began making their products more suitable for women, with pastels or more sober colours and less conspicuous packaging.

– ‘Sex and the City’ –

Female sexuality gradually began getting more media attention, with hit television series such as “Sex and the City” widely credited with helping to bring “sex toys” out of the closest.

In one episode, Charlotte — the most buttoned-up of the show’s four main characters — becomes obsessed with her vibrator.

Meanwhile the worldwide success of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, a big-screen adaptation of the best-selling erotic novels about a college graduate’s sadomasochistic relationship with a billionaire, is also seen as lifting many taboos.

The phenomenal interest in the film “actually provided a step change about the industry and made people become more open about their desires,” said Lucy Litwack, chief executive and owner of erotic lingerie brand Coco de Mer.

“We saw people come to our stores asking about… BDSM accessories or toys.”

Coco de Mer sells handcuffs, martinets, ropes and other restraints, at eye-watering prices.

Elsewhere in Hollywood, star Gwyneth Paltrow has established herself as a pioneer in “sex-wellness”.

She sells items such as vibrators and rings for men, alongside oils and lubricants sold in golden bottles or with lyrical or names such as “viva la vulva”.

Paltrow is not the only one: other celebrities have put their name to sensual devices, such as the British singer Lily Allen.

– Covid trigger –

In France, feminist fashion designer Sonia Rykiel began selling vibrators and other accessories in 2002 in her upmarket boutique in Saint-Germain-des-Pres on the Left Bank in Paris.

The brand’s artistic director, Rykiel’s daughter Nathalie, said at the time she wanted a “guilt-free” approach to pleasure.

Fast-forward two decades and the coronavirus pandemic triggered a huge boost in sales, according to retailers.

“We saw a massive increase in the sale of sex toys to people alone, also couples who were open to experiment, had time on their hands,” said Litwack.

“The subject started to be normalised much more. One positive thing that came out of Covid was that it put self-care at the top of our priority list.”

Sex toy accessories now account for a quarter of Coco de Mer sales.

From growing at five percent a year pre-Covid, the global market grew by 50 percent between 2019 and 2021, said PwC.

It projects a seven percent annual increase until 2026.

The consultancy said that consumers in the United States, the UK and France now own an average of nearly four sex toys.

It attributed the trend to a relaxing of social taboos but also that sexual wellbeing has begun to be seen as “increasingly important”.

The popularity of sex toys had also quickened the pace of innovation in the sector.