‘No one knew they existed’: wild heirs of lost British honeybee found at Blenheim

The ‘ecotype’, thought to have been wiped out by disease and invasive species, is thriving in the estate’s ancient woodlands

Bee conservationist Filipe Salbany handles the Blenheim bees without protective kit as they are ‘extremely relaxed’. Photograph: Filipe Salbany


Donna Ferguson
Sun 7 Nov 2021 06.15 GMT

Thousands of rare forest honeybees that appear to be the last wild descendants of Britain’s native honeybee population have been discovered in the ancient woodlands of Blenheim Palace.

The newly discovered subspecies, or ecotype, of honeybee is smaller, furrier and darker than the honeybees found in managed beehives, and is believed to be related to the indigenous wild honeybees that foraged the English countryside for centuries. Until now, it was presumed all these bees had been completely wiped out by disease and competition from imported species.

While feral honeybee colonies – usually created by swarms of non-native bees that have left a nearby managed hive – are occasionally found in the UK, there was no evidence that self-sustaining colonies of native, tree-nesting honeybees still existed in England, and no record of the wild subspecies living in Blenheim.

Filipe Salbany, a bee conservationist who found 50 colonies of the rare honeybees in Blenheim’s 400-acre estate, said: “These bees are quite unique in that they live in nests in very small cavities, as bees have for millions of years, and they have the ability to live with disease. They have had no treatment for the varroa mite – yet they’re not dying off.”

The varroa mite, a parasite that feeds on and attacks honeybees, arrived in Britain in 1992 and decimated the UK’s population. Salbany believes the bees he has found have evolved to survive. “We are not seeing the deaths we would expect to see with varroa.”

Filipe Salbany with a swarm of wild bees. He has found 50 colonies to date and thinks they have evolved to ensure their survival. 

Photograph: Paul Sharkey Photography

Unusually, the bees swarm with multiple queens – up to nine in some cases – to ensure the colony’s survival, and have been recorded foraging for honeydew on the treetops in temperatures as low as 4C. Most bees will stop flying at 12C. “A wild bee that has adapted to the environment is called an ecotype, and this bee could be a very precious ecotype – the first wild bee that is completely adapted to living in the oak forest.”

The results of DNA samples taken from the bees are expected within the next three to four weeks, but Salbany is confident it will show the bees are descendants of an ancient native species. “I think the majority of the genetics are going to be of an old English bee, of something that was here many, many years ago.”

His preliminary analysis of the wings of the honeybees strongly suggests they are related to indigenous honeybees that once lived in Britain. “They are not from the imported stocks of bees that people bring in. The wings are smaller and their veins are very distinct.”

The wild bees have been discovered in the 400-acre estate around Blenheim Palace. Photograph: Blenheim Estate

The bees’ cubital index, a method for differentiating breeds of honeybees, also confirmed they are “more of an indigenous bee” than anything else, he said, but their adaptations have made them unique and peculiar, and they have very little banding. “Supposedly, wild tree-nesting honeybees which can sustain themselves do not exist, so nobody knows what type of wild, self-sustaining honeybee is actually left in the UK.”

One of the nests he found was at least 200 years old and he estimates that the bees have been living on the Blenheim estate, which dates back to the middle ages, for “quite a few” centuries. Unusually, they have built their nests in tree cavities a quarter of the size of a normal beehive, 15 to 20 metres off the ground, and despite several ecological surveys over the years, “nobody knew they existed”. The entrances to the nests typically have a diameter of less than 5cm.

There are no managed beehives on the estate, which Salbany thinks has played a critical role in the wild bees’ survival, while imported bees from hives nearby are likely to have been deterred from flying to Blenheim to forage by the landscape. “It’s a closed environment, in terms of bee access, because there are damp and humid valleys which form physical barriers.”

The woodlands, which Salbany describes as a paradise of biodiversity, are not open to visitors and no planting or gardening takes place there. “There’s very little human interaction.”

The wild bees seem able to live in balance with the environment and in harmony, not only with each other but with wasps and bumblebees that live in the forest. “For the 50 honeybee colonies that we have found, we probably have 500 empty sites for them to swarm into. They do not populate every single site: they’ve reached an equilibrium with their environment.”


Honeybees use social distancing when mites threaten hives – study

Remarkably, he found two colonies of wild bees living within five metres of each other, in a single tree – right next to a wasps’ nest. “That is quite unique.” He thinks wasps don’t try to rob the bees because the bees build their nests very high up the trees and make their entrances so small: “There’s enough forage for the wasps in the forest not to go and bother the honeybees.”

As a result, the bees are extremely relaxed and he does not need to wear any protective equipment around them. “I can put my hand in the nest. They are very calm.” Their honey, he said, tastes “incredibly pure”. It is very floral as the bees like to feed on dandelions, blackthorn and sunflowers. “The smell of it is just extraordinary.”

He now suspects there may be other colonies of wild, tree-nesting bees in the UK that have not yet been discovered: another reason, he says, that “we need to protect our ancient woodlands. Because that’s where we are likely to find these bees.”

In total, about 800,000 wild bees have been discovered. Salbany hopes the news will have wide-ranging implications for Britain’s large, imported population of managed honeybees, which can “decimate the countryside” for native pollinators when they forage. “This species could be used as stock for beekeepers.”

Dr Rob Stoneman, a director at the Wildlife Trust, said the discovery of the wild bees was “extraordinary” and demonstrated the value of the UK’s ancient woodlands. “These kinds of stories give us hope and motivation to create a wilder future.”

What’s the buzz?


Wild honeybees are resistant to the varroa mite, a deadly parasite for other bees


They can forage in temperatures as low as 4C


They’re happy to live near wasps and other honeybee colonies


They nest in trees 15 to 20 metres off the ground


They live in colonies eight to 10 times smaller than managed beehives


They have multiple queens to ensure the colony survives, and the fittest queen rules


They’re smaller, darker and furrier than imported honeybees, with smaller wings and more distinct veins.

Argentina Pride March Hails Progress, Calls For More Rights Laws


By AFP News
11/06/21
Thousands of people on Saturday celebrated the progress made in Argentina by LGBTQ and women's rights groups with hours of music and marches in downtown Buenos Aires.

Revelers take part in the 30th Pride Parade in Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

The demonstration had a festive atmosphere, but the head of the state anti-discrimination office, Ornella Infante, told reporters: "We celebrate the victories obtained, but we also demand Congress deal with" trans rights and anti-discrimination bills that have been proposed.

The square in front of Congress and the historic Plaza de Mayo were packed with activists for the 30th Pride march.

People danced in the streets, musicians performed, and people in elaborate costumes held a parade of floats to celebrate a wide range of identities at Argentina's 30th Pride 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

People danced in the streets, musicians performed, and people in elaborate costumes held a parade of floats to celebrate a wide range of identities.

"We ask for the law as historical reparation. We have elderly women who have been persecuted. They have not been able to study or access health care," Mary Robles, 60, a leader of the Association of Transsexual and Transgender Transvestites of Argentina (ATTTA), told AFP.

Marchers in Argentina's 30th Pride parade also demanded Congress pass trans rights and anti-discrimination bills 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

"They are 30 years of struggles, resistance, achievements such as the equal marriage law and gender identity law," said Marcela Romero, another ATTTA leader.

People at the march also carried signs that read "Missing Teruel," referring to Tehuel de la Torre, a 22-year-old trans man who disappeared in March when he left home for a job interview.

Marchers demanded more information on his whereabouts.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez also took part in the march, writing on Twitter, "The LGBTI+ flag flies all over the country with great reasons to celebrate. A collective that has our commitment to continue working for a more just, free and equal society."

His government also set up a truck from the health ministry to give out Covid-19 vaccines to marchers. Argentina has recorded 5.2 million cases of the coronavirus with more than 116,000 deaths.


Of its 45 million people, 35 million have received at least one vaccine, and 26 million are fully vaccinated.

GIG ECONOMY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
Battle The Algorithms: China's Delivery Riders On The Edge


By Beiyi Seow and Yuanhao Zhang
11/07/21 AT 1:35 AM

Handing over a piping hot meal at exactly the time promised, Chinese food delivery driver Zhuang Zhenhua triumphantly tapped his job as complete through the Meituan app -- and was immediately fined half of his earnings.

A glitch meant it inaccurately registered him as being late and he incurred an automatic penalty -- one of many ways, he said, delivery firms exploit millions of workers even as the sector booms.

Authorities have launched a crackdown demanding firms including Meituan and Alibaba's Ele.me ensure basic labour protections such as proper compensation, insurance, as well as tackling algorithms that effectively encourage dangerous driving.

Chinese authorities have launched a crackdown, demanding delivery firms ensure basic labour protections Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

But more than a dozen drivers told AFP there has been little change on the ground.

Often the only way to complete orders on time is to "go really fast... speed past red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road," Zhuang said.

"At the beginning, (the app allocated) 40 to 50 minutes to complete an order -- now for an order within a distance of two kilometres, with the same distance and time as before, we are given 30 minutes," he explained.

China's competitive app-based services have expanded into nearly every aspect of modern life, from groceries to meal deliveries Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns sent demand for meal delivery services soaring: the sector is now worth 664 billion yuan ($100 billion), according to a report from the China Hospitality Association.

The nation's competitive app-based services have expanded into nearly every aspect of modern life, with digital-savvy consumers used to instantaneous service and fast delivery due to a ready flow of cheap labour.

But after years of unrestricted growth, China's Big Tech is coming under fire from Beijing with Tencent, Didi and Meituan all targeted over anti-monopoly rules.

China's gig economy now accounts for almost one quarter of its workforce

 Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

Earlier this year, Alibaba was fined a record $2.8 billion after an investigation found it had abused its dominant market position.

There is mounting public concern over the amount of data handled by popular apps, including food delivery platforms, and Chinese authorities have directed the cyberspace watchdog to look at how algorithms are used by tech conglomerates.

Food delivery driver Zhuang Zhenhua looks for a restaurant to pick up food at a food mall in Beijing 

Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

Shortened delivery times have also caused more accidents in recent years, amid promises of swift service.

Globally, the sector is facing scrutiny over its treatment of predominantly freelance workers, who endure low pay, few employee rights, and are often hired through agencies to avoid providing benefits.

China's gig economy now accounts for almost one quarter of its workforce -- 200 million people are in "flexible employment", according to government figures.

Globally, the food delivery sector is facing scrutiny over its treatment of predominantly freelance workers, who endure low pay and get few employee rights 

Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

The plight of food delivery and truck drivers caught public attention after little compensation was offered to the family of one courier who died delivering meals for Ele.me in Beijing, and a second set himself on fire in a dispute with the firm over pay.

Despite being hailed as an essential service, particularly at the height of the pandemic, drivers earn just 7,700 yuan a month on average.

Zhuang said many feel they are putting their lives at risk because of algorithms used by apps to determine the route and travel time allowed before drivers incur a "late delivery" penalty.

Another rider, who gave his surname as Liu, told AFP that the allocated delivery time included the period it took for the food to be prepared, something beyond his control but that could impact his pay.

"If there are delays, riders take the blame," the 40-year-old said, adding that the system made it hard to reject orders from slow merchants.

"It's useless to complain," said rider Chen Mingqiang, 50

Meituan, which has more than 628 million users, said it calculates the time needed for a journey in four ways and allocates the longest from those options and includes a buffer.

In a written statement, the firm insisted such decisions were made "considering rider safety as the first priority, and also to satisfy consumers' needs" and that drivers could contest unfair fines.

Last month, after China's cyberspace regulator outlined plans for tighter controls on tech companies, Meituan said it would optimise its "algorithm strategy" and roll out greater allowances to help couriers avoid dangerous work conditions.

Kendra Schaefer, at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium, said a lack of transparency on how platforms were coded to determine driver requirements and compensation was a serious issue.

"An algorithm is intended to maximise efficiency, unfortunately as we're finding as society modernises, algorithms maximise efficiency at the expense of humans," she said.

"Everybody wants drivers to get treated better but nobody wants to pay for it."

The sector relies heavily on migrant workers -- who are often low-skilled and have come to cities from rural provinces in the hope of making money.

For many, there are few employment alternatives.

Zhuang conceded: "If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn't work as a delivery driver. It's a dangerous job, with high risk."

High-profile Breakthrough Cases Trigger Vaccine Misinformation


By Claire SAVAGE
11/06/21

The problem is persistent: a fully vaccinated public figure catches Covid-19, and social media sites are soon flooded with claims that this proves the shots do not work.

From White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and American comedian Chris Rock testing positive to former secretary of state Colin Powell dying of Covid-19 complications, prominent cases have triggered a deluge of inaccurate information online.

So-called breakthrough cases are expected and do not mean the vaccines are ineffective, US health authorities say. But claims that the shots are failing can erode trust and slow uptake efforts, which remain crucial as younger children become eligible for the shots.

"Any time there is a breakthrough case, people who feel very concerned about the efficacy of vaccines see it as yet another reason to reinforce the doubt that's already in their mind," said Andy Carvin, managing editor at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, describing the problem as a "weaponization of doubt."

Psaki announced on Sunday that she had Covid-19, crediting the vaccine for the mildness of her illness. But she was described as "living proof that the vaccine is ineffective" by a Twitter user with more than 12,000 followers -- one of a number of people who made such claims on social media.

Similar allegations followed the Powell family's October announcement that the retired four-star general died from complications caused by Covid-19, even though he had a type of cancer that experts say undermines the efficacy of the shots.

Positive tests for Kavanaugh and Rock this year also gave rise to accusations that the shots are not effective.

Addressing the issue of misinformation stemming from breakthrough cases is increasingly important, because as more people get vaccinated, more cases -- including severe ones -- will occur in the vaccinated population, said Devon Greyson, public health researcher at The University of British Columbia.

"Vaccination is an amazing technology, but it isn't a magic forcefield," Greyson said.

Prominent Covid-19 breakthrough cases have triggered a deluge of inaccurate information online Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Michael M. Santiago

Yotam Ophir, health and science misinformation expert at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, said that health communicators need to better set public expectations about the realities of the vaccines, both in terms of their benefits and their limits.

The other issue is that "humans have a tendency to pay a lot of attention to vivid cases. We don't really know how to think in numbers and statistics, we usually think in stories and good narratives," he said.

What is not covered by the news is "all the people who got vaccinated and stayed healthy," Ophir said.

Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation specialist at the Wilson Center, said false claims following Powell's death were "especially disappointing," because a lack of nuance in the media allowed misinformation to bloom.

"A lot of the coverage that I saw, even from some of the most trusted news outlets in our country... didn't include information about Secretary Powell's cancer status," she said.

Carvin said the necessity of context in news coverage is at odds with the breakneck speed and need for brevity in the current media environment.

Deciding which breakthrough cases merit coverage -- thus possibly inciting a misinformation storm -- "very much becomes a media ethics question," he said, adding that "journalists and media in general has to think creatively about how we go presenting it."

Ophir called for policy-level changes to address health misinformation, saying that "we are basically at the mercy of private corporations like Facebook and Twitter" to manage the problem.

"What we're doing right now is putting out fires," he said. "That's a losing battle. What we will need to do eventually is to find a more systematic solution."

Climate crisis could give nuclear energy a second wind
Nuclear reactors that are operational and under construction worldwide, as of March 2021

 (AFP/John SAEKI)

Catherine HOURS
Sat, November 6, 2021

For more than two decades, promoters and purveyors of nuclear energy felt shunned at UN climate change conferences.

At the COP26 summit underway in Glasgow, however, they have been welcomed with open arms, the UN's top nuclear regulator told AFP.

The spectre of Chernobyl and Fukushima, along with the enduring problem of nuclear waste, kept energy generated by splitting atoms on the sidelines, even if that energy was virtually carbon free.

But as the climate crisis deepens and the need to transition away from fossil fuels becomes urgent, attitudes may be shifting.

"Nuclear energy is part of the solution to global warming, there's no way around it," said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in an interview.

It already accounts for a quarter of "clean" -- that is, carbon-free -- energy worldwide, and Grossi said this COP is the first where it has "had a seat at the table".

"The winds are changing."

To have even a 50/50 chance of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels -- the threshold for dangerous tipping points that could trigger runaway warming -- global greenhouse emissions must be slashed by almost half within a decade, scientists say.

But things are still moving in the wrong direction: a report on Thursday said emissions in 2021 are approaching record levels.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned they could hit new heights by 2023.

That is helping refocus attention on nuclear.

"At the 2015 COP in Paris, nuclear wasn't welcome," said Callum Thomas, head of a recruitment firm for the nuclear industry, who was spotted at COP26 sporting a T-shirt saying "Let's Talk Nuclear".

"There was a belief it was not needed. Now many countries are looking at the feasibility, especially with the rise in gas prices."

- 'Never stops' -

From the time he took the IAEA's helm nearly two years ago, Grossi, an Argentine diplomat, has been a tireless advocate for the industry.

At his first COP in Madrid he "went in spite of the general assumption that nuclear would not be welcome".

On the contrary in Glasgow, where nearly 200 countries are still trying to put flesh on the bone of the 2015 Paris Agreement, he said "nuclear is not only welcome, but is generating a lot of interest".

Grossi argues that the technology can not only speed the transition away from fossil fuels, but also power research on technologies needed for adapting to climate impacts, from finding drought-resistant crops to eradicating mosquitos.

He acknowledges that it carries serious risks.

The meltdown of three reactors at Japan's Fukushima power plant in 2011 following an earthquake and a tsunami profoundly shook confidence in nuclear.

The industry also has yet to find a way to dispose of nuclear waste, which remains highly radioactive for thousands of years.

But Grossi said these issues are not disqualifying, arguing that statistically the technology has fewer negative consequences than many other forms of energy.

It could also be a complement to renewables.

"Nuclear energy goes on and on for the entire year, it never stops," he said.

Even so, with prolonged construction times, many argue that it is too late to build enough nuclear capacity to effectively join the battle against global warming.

But Grossi said he thinks part of the answer lies in keeping existing reactors up and running.

- 100-year-old reactors? -

Many power plants designed to run for 40 years are now licensed for 60 years under strict national safety standards supervised by the IAEA, he said.

"What could be more efficient than a facility that you build that gives you energy for close to 100 years?" he said.

He acknowledged that plants running that long might be a "bit of a provocation".

"But it still might be possible."

In their projections on how to limit the rise in global temperatures and satisfy a growing global demand for energy at the same time, the IEA takes all non-carbon sources on board.

The UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, has also given a place to nuclear in its models, even as it says that its deployment "could be limited by social preferences."

Indeed, attitudes towards nuclear power vary sharply across nations.

While New Zealand and Germany are opposed, India is in discussions with French energy giant EDF to build what would be the largest nuclear power plant in the world.

Meanwhile, both Canada and the United States are developing so-called "small modular reactors", although only Russia has put into operation a floating reactor using this technology.

Price is also not the barrier it used to be, said Grossi.

"Countries see in smaller units a very interesting alternative, which is not in the range of billions but of hundreds of millions," he said. "When it comes to energy projects, this is quite affordable."

cho/mh/klm/har

Living On The Great Lakes -- A Dream Threatened By Climate Change

On a fall night in 2019, Eric Brandt was awoken by the sound of steel rods cracking inside concrete.
November 07, 2021

Photo: TYT

Chicago (AFP) – On a fall night in 2019, Eric Brandt was awoken by the sound of steel rods cracking inside concrete.

"I heard the pings. I know the sound because I used to drill rebar into the top of coal mines," Brandt explained. "I couldn't even imagine what was happening out there."

But Brandt, a 69-year-old former mine worker, was nowhere near a coal mine. He was in bed in his condominium on the shore of Lake Michigan, on the South Side of Chicago.

Brandt, now a writer, recalled that it was the second major storm that he lived through in four years at his building.

This time, crashing waves broke a cement wall in half, and the water washed away a beach adjacent to his 12-story building.

"They called it a 50-year storm, but it was the second in two years," Brandt said, standing by a new shoreline of giant rocks put down by the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect against further erosion -- a problem that has increased dramatically for the Great Lakes over the last decade.

The five lakes that make up the Great Lakes, which account for more than 20 percent of the world’s freshwater supply, have always risen and fallen over the decades.

But climate change has now made the extremes much stronger than before, according to Drew Gronewold, a hydrologist at the University of Michigan.



The five lakes that make up the Great Lakes have always risen and fallen over the decades, but climate change has now made the extremes much stronger than before, according to Drew Gronewold, a hydrologist at the University of Michigan KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI AFP

"You have precipitation coming in and evaporation going out," Gronewold said.

"The analogy we use now is a game of tug-of-war. If both teams are equally strong, the rope doesn't move. What happens if they are both getting stronger, and one slips -- the rope swings much more quickly than it otherwise would."
Adapting to new extremes

The coast of Lake Michigan, the third-largest Great Lake by surface area, is a mix of dune bluffs, sandy beaches, rugged rocks, marshland, big midwestern cities and small tourist towns.

Experts say the Great Lakes should be considered as one body of water.

"It's important to realize that they are connected. If one lake is going up, they probably all are," Gronewold said.

In 2014, water levels were at record lows and caused alarm in the shipping industry.

Since then, the lakes have risen sharply, reaching highs in the last two years and threatening buildings, beaches and nearby structures.

They have since dipped slightly, but all the Great Lakes remain above the long-term average.

"We've seen this huge increase over the last seven years. Lake levels have come down a bit since last year, but it was a huge swing and was larger than anything we saw over the last 100 years," said Tomas Hook, director of the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University.


Concrete barriers and rocks to prevent erosion are placed outside a high-rise apartment building next to Lake Michigan KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI AFP

Todd Rosenthal, a 56-year-old theater set designer who has lived on Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline for two decades, says a major 2019 storm "like the wrath of God" tossed cement barriers around and sent water through the walls and windows in his second-story unit.

He and several neighbors then installed hurricane doors and shutters -- which he says is just part of the cost of living on the lake.

"You never can tell. We’ve had times when the lake has been pristine and calm, and within five minutes you could see whitecaps,” Rosenthal said.

His building, 20 miles (30 kilometers) north from Brandt's, also lost a protective cement wall and had adjacent beaches washed away by storms in the last two years -- the sand now replaced with large, protective rocks.

"Some people moved out of the building because they couldn't take the constant pounding,” Rosenthal said.
Forced out?

That could also be the future for Jera Slaughter, a 71-year-old retired Amtrak worker on a fixed budget who has lived in the same building as Brandt for 44 years.

Aaron Packman, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, stands on a pier next to a shoreline that was once a dog beach now closed due to erosion on Lake Michigan KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI AFP

She fears extra costs will drive out her and her neighbors.

Since 2019, residents at the 12-story, 70-unit building on Chicago's South Shore have spent $450,000 on damage repairs -- and have little money left for routine maintenance and preventative measures.

"We love this building, but at some point we won't be able to afford it,” Slaughter said.

“We take it moment by moment because we don't know what this year is going to bring."

Aaron Packman, the director of Northwestern University's Center for Water Research, can offer little comfort.

"One of the issues, especially with Lake Michigan, is that we're seeing the effect of climate change with more intense storms, more flooding, and there's a lot of uncertainty with what will happen with the Great Lakes in the future," said Packman.

"The future is going to be different, and in some sense worse. We can and must change our response to be much more effective than it's been in the past," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Algerian farmer's olive oil wins global recognition

Hakim Alileche inspects a dripping batch of his prize-winning organic olive oil at the press (AFP/Ryad KRAMDI)

Abdellah CHEBALLAH
Sat, November 6, 2021

Hakim Alileche left a successful career in graphic design and moved to the Algerian countryside to produce "magic potion" -- organic olive oil that has won him international recognition.

The 48-year-old says he chose the Ain Oussera plateau for its cheap land and water supply.

His oil won first prize at the Dubai Olive Oil Competition in the Extra Virgin Early Harvest category in February 2021 and in May he won silver at the Japan Olive Oil Prize.

"These honours really reassured us because it means we were right," he said.

The farm of some 40 hectares (100 acres) has over 15,000 olive trees, and so far 9,000 have started producing.

"I started planting them bit by bit from 2005. I like farming and I've been fond of olive trees since I was little," he said.

"In Algeria, it's a sacred tree."

Producing organic olive oil "puts me right into this mood of respect and protection for the planet," he said.

He has visited several other producing countries -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, France and Italy to learn about production methods.

"These trees have never had any chemical treatment and I will do everything to make it stay that way," he said, clasping a goblet of oil freshly extracted from his modern Italian press.

"It's really food and medicine," he said, taking a sip of the fragrant liquid before heading out to supervise workers harvesting olives in the orchard.

A worker scrapes olives by hand from the branches to avoid damaging the trees

 (AFP/Ryad KRAMDI)

- 'Very high quality' -

As with every year since entering into production, Alileche is picking his olives early, in a country where the harvest doesn't start until mid-November.

"An early harvest allows you to get all the benefits of the olives, all the natural antioxidants," he said.

The olives are scraped off the branches by hand to avoid damaging the trees, and fall on a tarpaulin on the ground to then be scooped into crates and hauled off to the press.

"Crushing them the same day avoids the olives oxidising," Alileche said.

Picked this early, the olives give a meagre amount of oil -- just eight litres per 100 kilogrammes (14 pints per 220 pounds). That compares to 18 litres for fully mature fruits.

Alileche stands in his grove during harvest -- the trees have never been treated chemically, he says

"Our oil is a very high quality that we want to get certified in Europe" as organic, Alileche said.

He has labelled his oil Dahbia, the name of both his mother and his wife.

The production process "respects the entire ecological system: no pollution, no fertilisers".

The oil's free acidity -- a measure of quality whereby the lower the figure, the better the oil -- is 0.16 percent, just a fifth of the 0.8 percent limit for Extra Virgin oil.

"At the mill, we don't touch the olives much," he said. "We wash them, press them and finally bottle the oil."

An employee shows a handful of olives at the press ahead of oil production, which Alileche says "respects the entire ecological system" 

That breaks with more traditional practices, he added.

"Before, people wouldn't wash the olives and they would sit exposed for long periods in bags in the open air, which changed the taste of the oil."

Alileche's farm benefits from a drip irrigation system, but he fears that climate change could threaten his livelihood, bringing both drought and early summer hailstorms.

"A quarter of an hour of hail and it's all gone," he said. "You'd have to wait five years for the olive tree to recover."

abh/fka/ezz/par/dwo/oho

Organic farmers find fertile ground in North Africa

Out of 250 categories of organic products grown in Tunisia, around 60 are exported

 (AFP/FETHI BELAID)

Kaouther Larbi and Françoise Kadri with AFP bureaus in Rabat and Algeria
Sat, November 6, 2021, 

Proudly displaying her freshly picked pomegranates, Tunisian farmer Sarah Shili says going organic is "the future of farming" -- and as demand surges in North Africa and beyond, the sector is blooming.

Shili runs Domaine Elixir Bio, a 94-hectare (230-acre) farm near Tunis that produces organic-certified vegetable, fruit and cereal crops in a way she said "respects nature".

The farm's revenues have surged thanks to strong demand and the growth of online sales, multiplying five times in as many years to hit 100,000 euros in 2020.

That is despite the higher price of organic products in a middle-income country where many people's wallets have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and years of economic crisis.

Indeed, with export demand also on the rise, Shili says the main challenges are on the supply side.

"We lack water, like all farmers, and to get organic seeds and plants we have to do everything ourselves," she told AFP.

Despite the challenges, the sector has surged in Tunisia since the turn of the millennium.

In 2001, just 16,000 hectares were dedicated to organic farming -- a figure that has multiplied 20-fold over two decades.

The number of producers and venders has grown at a similar pace to some 8,000, said Samia Maamer, in charge of organic products at the agriculture ministry.

Maamer said the sector has helped diversify the country's economy and now makes up 13 percent of food exports.

- 'Tunisia's favourable climate' -

Out of 250 categories of organic products grown in Tunisia, around 60 are exported -- mainly olive oil but also dates, aromatic and medicinal plants as well as some vegetables and fruit.

Despite its small size, Tunisia ranks 30th in the world and first in Africa in terms of area certified for organic farming.

Maamer said that apart from its chronic water shortages, "the climate in Tunisia is very favourable" to the trade.

She added that only five percent of the country's two million hectares of olive groves had been treated with pesticides, meaning the remainder could potentially win organic certification.

"It's a sector with ongoing and growing international demand," said Maamer.

And due to the coronavirus pandemic, people began increasingly looking for organic products "because... they don't contain (artificial) chemicals", she added.

While there is strong demand in the US and Europe for bio products, they are also gaining attention among 25-30 year-old Tunisians "who are well-informed" about their benefits, she added.

As the market grows, Tunisia hopes that by 2030 the sector will contribute to help develop tourism, renewables and handicrafts, she said.

- Morocco, Algeria trail behind -

Bio farming is also on the rise in Morocco, where the area of farmland certified for organic production has more than doubled since 2011 to reach over 10,300 hectares.

However, "that's far behind the potential of a farming country like Morocco," said Reda Tahiri, who heads a union for organic farmers.

The majority of the country's olive, citrus and almond groves are in the southern area around Marrakech and near the capital Rabat in the north-west.

But given the country's 300,000 hectares of aromatic and medicinal plants and the iconic argan tree, there is potential for going organic.

Moroccan authorities are trying to develop the sector with the Green Morocco Plan, which helps farmers cover the costs of getting certified.

For exports to the European Union to be labelled as organic, they must be inspected once a year by an EU-licenced certification agency.

Tahiri said certification for export to European or North American markets can cost up to 1,000 euros ($1,115) per hectare annually.

"So the total cost of production is higher than in conventional agriculture, but without the producer getting any guarantees of higher prices for the products," he said.

As well as state help on these costs, Tahiri says that for the organics market to develop, "we need to raise awareness among consumers and ensure better profit margins for producers".

Morocco's agriculture ministry said it has prioritised organic agriculture and is hoping to reach 100,000 hectares of certified farmland by 2030, with 900,000 tonnes of produce per year -- two-thirds of it for export.

By comparison, Algeria is trailing.

The semi-official economics and development think tank CREAD said that in 2013 just 1,200 hectares were being farmed organically.

Although there are no recent statistics, in the past few years some shops have been offering customers organic vegetable boxes delivered straight from small producers.

kl-ko-abh-fka-isb/par/hkb/oho

Moderate Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger says Americans didn't elect Biden to be FDR

THEY DIDN'T ELECT FDR TO BE FDR EITHER THEN

John L. Dorman

Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin


Rep. Spanberger told The New York Times that voters didn't elect President Biden to govern like FDR.

The congresswoman said that voters sent Biden to the White House "to be normal and stop the chaos."

Biden responded on Saturday, calling Spanberger "a friend" and saying he mold his own presidency.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia said earlier this week that "nobody" elected President Joe Biden to pursue sweeping legislation similar to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's transformative New Deal, but because they wanted someone "normal" in the White House who would "stop the chaos," according to The New York Times.

Spanberger, a moderate Democrat first elected to the House in 2018 in a Republican-leaning congressional district anchored in suburban Richmond, pointed to sentiments among swing voters across the country – the kinds of voters who had voted for Republicans for years but propelled Democrats to a House majority during the presidency of Donald Trump.

Looking at electoral losses in her backyard, with a painful defeat for Democrats in the Virginia gubernatorial race between Republican Glenn Youngkin and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, alongside losses in the state House of Delegates, the congresswoman said that the party must assure voters that they're focused on kitchen-table issues.

"We were so willing to take seriously a global pandemic, but we're not willing to say, 'Yeah, inflation is a problem, and supply chain is a problem, and we don't have enough workers in our work force,'" she told The Times. "We gloss over that and only like to admit to problems in spaces we dominate."

The congresswoman said that many Americans saw Biden as a level-headed leader who could turn the page from the tumult of the Trump years, but didn't necessarily vote to give Democrats a mandate to pass their spending priorities.

"Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos," she told The Times, pointing to the party's narrow 221-213 House majority and its razor-thin Senate majority.

On Friday, after months of intraparty disagreements, the House passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill in a 228-206 vote, with 13 Republicans crossing over to support the legislation and six progressive Democrats voting in opposition.

The bill now heads to Biden's desk, where he will sign it into law during an official ceremony in the coming days.

The party will then shift to passing the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, composed of a social-spending blueprint that includes funding for universal pre-K for six years, childcare subsidies, and an expansion of Medicare to cover hearing aids, among other items

On Saturday, Biden was asked about Spanberger's comments, which elicited a smile from the commander-in-chief, who called her "a friend."

The president relayed that the congresswoman told him that she has a photo of FDR in her office.

He then stressed that he was his own man, working on his own terms.

"I don't intend to be anybody but Joe Biden," he said. "That's who I am. And what I'm trying to do is do the things that I ran on to do."sed that he was his own man, working on his own terms.

Opinion: Biden is on to something important

Opinion by Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst 

President Joe Biden scored a major victory on Friday night. For months, negotiations between different factions of the Democratic Party have threatened to tank his domestic agenda. But after the President stepped up the pressure and urged lawmakers to "vote now," the House passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill with bipartisan support, sending it to Biden's desk for his signature.

  

© Alex Brandon/AP President Joe Biden speaks about the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, in Washington.

House Democrats also moved forward with the larger spending package to strengthen the social safety net and fund environmental programs, with a tentative deadline to pass the legislation by mid-November.

The deal took place after a difficult week. Democrats have been scrambling for answers after the party suffered several resounding election losses, from the gubernatorial race in Virginia to local contests on Long Island. Many Democrats, convinced they know exactly what went wrong, claim the party moved too far to the left. "Nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR, they elected him to be normal and to stop the chaos," said Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger.

But Biden has chosen a more ambitious path. As a veteran legislator, he still believes when voters yearned for competence and normality in November 2020, it didn't just mean they wanted a President who avoided Twitter and refrained from firing White House staff in dramatic, made for television announcements. He understood Americans wanted a President who could actually tackle the nation's biggest problems.

And Biden is on to something important.

Competence means governance and problem-solving. It means getting things done, so voters can see tangible results. The New Deal was successful not because it offered voters some grand ideological vision of society, but because President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the problems Americans faced by providing public jobs, electrifying rural areas, building roads and bridges and creating unemployment insurance and Social Security.

In 1965, voters were excited about President Lyndon Johnson's Medicare not because it shifted the debate over the American safety net, but because older Americans could afford the health care they needed.

Part of what has made President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act more popular over time is voters gradually experienced firsthand the benefits it provided.

Biden also enjoyed high approval ratings early in his presidency in part due to the vaccine rollout and the American Rescue Plan, which provided financial support to families across the country.

Our political standards have fallen so far we have forgotten what competence actually looks like. When Spanberger argues Americans voted for Biden because they wanted him to be "normal," she underestimates what the American electorate wants and needs. What made Biden so attractive to Americans was he came to office with decades of experience. In fact, he entered the White House as one of the most seasoned politicians since George H.W. Bush. In the aftermath of the tumultuous Trump presidency, Biden seemed like the kind of person who could get things done and rely on the help of experts and political veterans who knew how to move the needle on public policy.

To be sure, President Biden would do well to spend his time wrestling over his rhetoric in the months ahead. Should the President stick to his guns, continuing to offer a robust Rooseveltian defense of New Deal liberalism? Or should he take a page from former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 famously proclaimed in his State of the Union Address the "era of big government is over"?

Ultimately, Biden needs to ensure the reconciliation bill passes. And even then, he should continue to focus on the core issues that concern average Americans and make legislative, as well as executive progress on issues like stabilizing the economy. Though October's job report was promising, inflation and snags in the supply chain remain key issues to address. The more the President can ameliorate these problems through the levers of policy, the more his numbers will likely improve.

Addressing other perennial issues, such as drug costs, childcare, family leave policy and climate change will only boost his standing.

Despite some Democrats denouncing progressive policies in response to the party's election losses this week, Biden should continue to work in tandem with Democratic leaders to make progress on these issues, rather than getting mired in a conversation about procedural issues or costs. Any success at addressing these longstanding problems would be good for Biden, good for the party and a huge benefit for the American people.

And, finally, the pandemic remains front and center. Over the past few months, the administration has made significant progress with vaccines. By shifting to a more proactive approach with vaccine mandates, we have seen big jumps in the number of Americans receiving the jab. The more the administration can do to reach unvaccinated populations in the US, control the spread of the virus at home and work with allies to boost supplies of the vaccine in other parts of the world, the better the prospects are for an economic rebound.

Passing the infrastructure bill counts as a significant victory for Biden. But there is still the reconciliation package -- and plenty more to be done beyond that. If the Democrats cannot offer tangible progress on the economy, the pandemic and popular social policies like paid family leave, they will likely be looking at Republican congressional majorities in 2023 and a very competitive presidential election the year after. But if they keep problem-solving, the party can beat the odds and pave the way for a much brighter future

Right-Wingers Demand “Right” to Choose — But Only for Vaccines, Not Abortion

A crowd of protesters against COVID-19 vaccine mandates stands outside the headquarters of City Light, Seattle's public utility, on October 18, 2021.

TOBY SCOTT / SOPA IMAGES / LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

BYChris Walker, 

Truthout

PUBLISHED November 5, 2021

It’s been less than 24 hours since the Biden administration announced the deadline for companies to require their workers to be vaccinated against coronavirus or present weekly negative tests, but lawsuits have already been filed against the measure, with more likely to follow.

These lawsuits claim to be defending bodily autonomy — but they’re being filed by the same Republican-controlled states where this defense has been ignored in the fight for abortion rights.

The Biden rule, which will be enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), requires employers at companies with more than 100 employees on their payrolls to have their workers provide proof of vaccination. If a worker does not wish to be vaccinated, they must provide evidence of a negative COVID test each week at their own expense. Companies and workers have until January 4 to comply with the new rule.

Several states under Republican control have already filed lawsuits against the White House, including a joint suit by Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio — and at least 20 other states are planning to sue the Biden administration over the vaccine rule.

Some companies have also filed lawsuits. Tankcraft Corp. and Plasticraft Corp., a company based out of southeastern Wisconsin, has filed a challenge to the rule directly to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, alleging that it violates the company’s and their workers’ autonomies.

“OSHA does not know how to run our companies. We do,” the company’s secretary and treasurer, Steve Fettig, said in a statement.

“We respect our employees’ fundamental right to make their own private, difficult medical choices,” Fettig said.

Those arguments are hypocritical, particularly when juxtaposed with the current debate on abortion rights in the United States. Despite Fettig’s supposed commitment to the “fundamental right” to make “private, difficult medical choices,” Fettig is chair of the board of directors of the MacIver Institute in Wisconsin, a right-wing organization that has advocated for anti-abortion legislation in the state.

In Texas, a state that is also challenging the Biden administration over the OSHA vaccine rule, abortion access been severely curtailed by a restrictive law banning the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy — so early on in the pregnancy that many people don’t even realize they’re pregnant.

When announcing the lawsuit against the Biden administration on Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed that the “new vaccine mandate on private businesses is a breathtaking abuse of federal power.”

Of course, when it comes to the Texas abortion ban, Paxton has no qualms about the government intruding in people’s lives. Although the courts have long maintained the constitutional right to abortion, Paxton dismissed that idea in filings to the Supreme Court last month.

“The idea that the Constitution requires States to permit a woman to abort her unborn child is unsupported by any constitutional text, history or tradition,” Paxton claimed, disregarding five decades of precedent and case law.

The Texas abortion bill was signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Greg Abbott (R); last month, the governor signed an executive order forbidding any public or private sector entity from abiding with a vaccine mandate. Although federal rules and laws supersede this order, many have criticized Abbott for his inconsistency — especially because abortion affects only the individual who is undergoing the procedure, whereas actions related to the pandemic, like choosing to get vaccinated or wear a mask, can have an enormous impact on the health and wellbeing of others.

“They say it infringes upon their freedom if the government mandates that they wear their masks or if the government mandates they get a vaccine,” noted state Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). “I don’t know what country they come from because the one that I grew up in, I couldn’t go to school until I got what I call my shots. We had to have vaccinations to go to school when I was a little girl. So it’s always been that way.”

“We got hypocrites [in Texas],” Crockett continued.

Cindy Banyai, a Florida candidate for Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, expressed a similar sentiment on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

“If you think a vaccine mandate from OSHA is unconstitutional, you should see what states are trying to do with abortion and voting,” she said.

In a number of interviews on Thursday, Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh defended the Biden administration’s new vaccine rule, calling it “unfortunate” that so many states were planning lawsuits just hours after the deadline was announced.

OSHA has “a 50-year history of making these rules work,” Walsh said on PBS’s “NewsHour”, adding that both employers and the Biden administration are in “uncharted territory” when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.

Walsh also noted that the new rule is not a mandate because it still gives workers the choice to do what they want with their bodies.

“It was a well-written rule and put together. A lot of thought went into it,” Walsh said, adding that the administration is “confident” that the rule will stand up to judicial scrutiny.

People Worldwide Name US as a Major Threat to World Peace. Here’s Why.

Iranians burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration against American "crimes" in Tehran on January 3, 2020, following the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Major General Qassim Suleimani in a U.S. strike on his convoy at Baghdad international airport.

ATTA KENARE / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

BY C.J. Polychroniou, 

Truthout

PUBLISHEDNovember 6, 2021

How is it that people across the globe have come to agree that the United States is now one of the primary threats to world peace and democracy?

Having leveled two Japanese cities with atomic bombs and established itself as the world’s top superpower following the collapse of the international order in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. quickly became intoxicated by its newfound military superiority.

The U.S. soon went on to introduce a doctrine that positioned itself as the world’s police, drop more bombs in the Korean and Vietnamese wars than there had been dropped in the whole course of World War II, and orchestrate military coups against democratically elected governments throughout Latin America. It ended up in turn supporting brutal dictatorships and establishing more foreign military bases than any other nation or empire in history all over the globe.

All this occurred within the first 30 or so years after the end of World War II. By the time the 21st century came around, the U.S. was the only military and economic superpower in the world. Yet, that did not put an end to U.S. imperial ambitions. A “global war on terrorism” was initiated in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with the U.S. ending up by 2013 being seen by people around the world as “the greatest threat to world peace.”

What are the roots of U.S. imperialism? What has been the impact of imperial expansion and wars on democracy at home? Is the U.S. empire in retreat? In this interview, scholar and activist Khury Petersen-Smith, who is Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses how U.S. imperialism has undermined democracy, both home and abroad, with the wars abroad even being tied to police brutality at home.

C.J. Polychroniou: The U.S. has a long history of war-on-terror campaigns going all the way back to the spread of anarchism in late 19th century. During the Cold War era, communists were routinely labelled as “terrorists,” and the first systematic war on terror unfolded during the Reagan administration. Following the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration renewed the war on terror by implementing a series of far-reaching policy initiatives, many of which, incidentally, went unnoticed by the public but also continued during the Obama and Trump administrations, respectively, which subverted democracy and the rule of law. Can you elaborate about the impact of war-on-terror policies in the dismantling of U.S. democracy?

Khury Petersen-Smith: It’s true: The tactics and beliefs that the U.S. has deployed in the war on terror have deep roots that stretch well before our current time. I would argue that the U.S. has never been a democracy, and that a key reason is its basically permanent state of war, which began with its founding. New England settlers, for example, waged a war of counterinsurgency against Indigenous peoples here who resisted colonization in King Philip’s War. The settlers besieged Indigenous nations, considering communities of adults and children to be “enemies” and punishing them with incredible violence. This was in the 1670s.I would argue that the U.S. has never been a democracy, and that a key reason is its basically permanent state of war, which began with its founding.

In a different U.S. counterinsurgency, in the Philippines in the early 20th century, American soldiers used “the water cure,” a torture tactic comparable to the “waterboarding” that the U.S. has used in the war on terror. This was one feature of a horrific war of scorched earth that the U.S. waged as Filipino revolutionaries fought for an independent country after Spanish colonization. The U.S. killed tens of thousands of Filipino fighters, and hundreds of thousands — up to a million — civilians. There was also a staggering amount of death due to secondary violence, such as starvation and cholera outbreaks, and due to the U.S. declaration that civilians were fair game to target (as seen in the infamous Balangiga Massacre). It was during that episode in 1901 on the island of Samar, when an American general ordered troops to kill everyone over the age of 10. The designation of whole populations as the “enemy” — and therefore targets for violence — has echoes that reverberate in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and other places where the U.S. has fought the war on terror.

This is to say that there are different chapters in the history of U.S. empire, but there is a throughline of justifying military violence and the denial of human rights in defense of U.S. power and “the American way of life.” This history of wars informs those of the present.

In the 20th century, labeling various activities “terrorism” was one way of rationalizing the use of force. The U.S. did this especially with its allies in response to anti-colonial liberation movements. So the South African apartheid regime called anti-apartheid resistance “terrorism,” and the Israeli state did (and continues to do) the same to Palestinian resistance, however nonviolent. The U.S. has armed and defended these states, embracing and promoting the rhetoric of war against “terrorism.”

The flip side of “terrorism” — the blanket enemy against which all violence is justified — is “democracy” — the all-encompassing thing that the U.S. claims to defend in its foreign policy. But again, the 20th century saw the U.S. embrace, arm and wage war with and on behalf of anti-democratic, dictatorial forces on every continent. The decades of violence that the U.S. carried out and supported throughout Latin America in the latter part of the 20th century, in response to waves of popular resistance for social and economic justice, serve as a brutal chapter of examples.

All of these things helped constitute the foundation upon which the Bush administration launched the war on terror.

To answer your question more directly, military violence always requires dehumanization and the denial of rights — and this inevitably corrupts any notions of democracy. War, in fact, always involves an attack on democratic rights at large. When the U.S. launched the war on terror in 2001, the federal government simultaneously waged military campaigns abroad and passed legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act, issued legal guidelines and other practices that introduced new levels of surveillance, denial of due process, rationalization of torture and other attacks on civil liberties. These efforts especially targeted Muslims and people of South Asian, Central Asian, Southwest Asian and North African origin — all of whom were subject to being cast as “terrorists” or “suspected terrorists.”

It is worth noting that while Bush drew upon the deep roots of U.S. violence to launch the war on terror, there has been incredible continuity, escalation and expansion throughout it. Bush launched the drone war, for example, and President Barack Obama then wildly expanded and escalated it. President Donald Trump then escalated it further.

Have the war-on-terror policies also affected struggles for racial and migrant justice?

The war on terror has been devastating for racial and migrant justice. The Islamophobic domestic programs that the U.S. has carried out are racist. And once they were piloted against parts of the population, they could be expanded to others. This is how U.S. state violence works. Indeed, the mass policing, mass incarceration regime built up in the 1990s — which was supposedly directed at “fighting crime,” and the “war on drugs” — targeted Black people and Latinos in particular, building an infrastructure that was then deployed against Muslims and others in the war on terror. With policing vastly expanded in the name of the war on terror, its force came back to Black and Indigenous communities — as it always does in the United States.With policing vastly expanded in the name of the war on terror, its force came back to Black and Indigenous communities — as it always does in the United States.

It is important to acknowledge the new level of credibility and power that the police attained after 9/11 and in the war on terror. There was actually a powerful wave of anti-racist protest against the police in the 1990s — especially strong in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. In New York, thousands mobilized to demand justice for Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Patrick Dorismond, and others brutalized and killed by the New York City Police Department. The police were on the defensive. They seized upon the post-9/11 moment and the beginning of the war on terror to rehabilitate their image and attain new powers.

With this in mind, I wonder if the current moment of “racial reckoning” unfolding in the U.S. over these two years — brilliant and important as it is — could have actually happened 20 years ago. I think that anti-racist movements were on track to do it, and the war on terror set us back two decades. Consider all of the Black lives lost in that time.

And yes, the war on terror has been catastrophic for migrant justice. One of the early measures was the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, which forced the registration of non-citizens from South and Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and North and East African countries. It was largely unopposed, setting the stage for more racist, targeted policies, like the Muslim ban. Before the war on terror, there was no Department of Homeland Security, no Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The U.S. government seized the opportunity of the war on terror to build on the long history of white supremacy in controlling migration and open a new chapter of border militarization, policing and surveillance of migrants, and deportation.

The United Nations condemned this past summer, for the 29th year in a row, the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Indeed, the U.S. is notorious around the world for violations of international law and has been widely perceived as the greatest threat to world peace. However, the influence of the U.S. in world affairs is sharply in decline and its so-called “soft’ power has all but evaporated. Are we living through the death of an empire?

I’m afraid that U.S. empire is far from death, or even dying.

From the perspective of humanity and the planet, the war on terror has been catastrophic in its levels of destruction and death. But from the perspective of the proponents of U.S. empire, those at its helm, it was a gamble. Bush administration officials were clear from the start that the invasion of Afghanistan was the opening of what they conceived of as a series of invasions and other military operations to demonstrate U.S. hegemony, and punish the minority of states located in the most strategic regions of the world that were not solidly in the American orbit. After invading Afghanistan, Bush declared the “Axis of Evil,” targeting Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The U.S. then invaded Iraq, implying that Iran and North Korea could be next. The idea was to project U.S. power and to disrupt and prevent the rise of potential rivals to it.

The U.S. lost the gamble. Not only did untold millions of people around the world suffer from the wars, but the U.S. also failed in its strategic objectives. The regional and world powers whose ascension the U.S. sought to curtail — especially Iran, Russia and China — emerged more powerful, while U.S. power was set back.

But the U.S. remains, far and away, the most powerful country in the world. And it will not surrender that status quietly. On the contrary, even as it continues and supports military operations as part of the war on terror, it is very openly preparing for confrontation with China. It is pursuing a belligerent path that is driving rivalry and militarization — a path toward conflict.

The story of the path the U.S. is pursuing regarding hostility toward China is another that reveals the subterranean, forward motion of empire that continues across presidential administrations. President George W. Bush’s 2002 National Security Strategy first signaled that, “We are attentive to the possible renewal of old patterns of great power competition,” and identified China as one potential competitor. In 2006, the Bush administration gestured further toward identifying China as posing a problem for U.S. empire, saying, “Our strategy seeks to encourage China to make the right strategic choices for its people, while we hedge against other possibilities.”

When President Obama took office, the U.S. foreign policy establishment had clearly united behind the notion that China was an enemy to be isolated and whose rise was to be curtailed. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared “America’s Pacific Century” and argued for a winding down of American attention to Iraq and Afghanistan, and a new strategic focus on Asia and the Pacific. Obama launched the “Pivot to Asia,” which involved shifting military weapons and personnel to the region and building more facilities there, all aimed at addressing China’s ascension. President Trump, of course, brought anti-China hostility to a fever pitch, blaming China for the COVID-19 pandemic, openly using crude, racist language directed at China (but impacting Chinese American people and many other Asian Americans), and opening the door for Fox News personalities and officials like Sen. Tom Cotton to talk directly about the supposed “threat” that China poses and call for military action against it. That brings us to today, where there is near consensus between both parties that the U.S. should be gearing up in armed competition with China.

Unfortunately, empires do not simply die. This means that we — around the world, and especially those of us located in the United States — are called upon to resist, undermine and disrupt empire. We need to, across borders, envision a radically different world, and fight for it.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.