7 ways we can help slow climate change

While individual carbon footprints are dwarfed by global fossil fuel companies, we can do a lot to tackle the climate crisis and 'be the change we wish to see in the world.'

Planting a tree is one of numerous ways individuals can help to limit global heating

Many of us bemoan our inability to limit the wildfires, cyclones and flooding that are being experienced with more frequency and intensity due to climate change. There is a belief that polluting fossil fuel companies cannot be stopped, that governments will not regulate them, that emission reduction targets will never be met.

But individually — and in the end collectively — there are many things we can do to help limit the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that supercharge global heating.  

1. Ditch airplanes and petrol vehicles for buses, trains or bicycles

Transport generates around one fifth of the world's emissions, with road traffic as the worst offender.

One easy way we can cut emissions is to decarbonize our transport by ditching petrol cars for trains, bicycles, e-vehicles, and, whenever possible, walking — the ultimate zero-emission transport.

In cities, electrified transport options from e-scooters to e-buses are becoming a low-emission route from A to B. A petrol car pumps out over 10 times more carbon than an electric scooter — even when factoring in manufacturing and disposal emissions.

For the roughly 10% of the world's population who has ever boarded a flight, favoring trains over planes can also have a big impact. A typical rail journey between European cities emits up to 90% less CO2 than an equivalent flight.

2. Eat more plants instead of animals

Farming meat and dairy contributes around 15% of global GHG emissions — not to mention biodiversity loss, contamination of soils and pollution.

When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this year said that emissions need to be cut by half by 2030 to mitigate global heating, it stressed that a shift to "diets high in plant protein and low in meat and dairy" had the greatest potential to lower greenhouse gases.

So going vegetarian — or vegan — could be the way to go for those looking to mitigate their climate impact. 

A boom in climate-friendly plant-based meats makes that choice even easier.

But so far plants only provide 2% of protein — though that's set to rise to 11% by 2035 and could be accelerated if more of us reduce our demand for meat and dairy, according to the Boston Consulting Group. 

Shopping at the vegan instead of meat butcher to help the climate

3. Pressure governments to take action

School kids at the Fridays for Future protests showed it's possible to take a collective stand for the climate. Politicians might not be doing enough, but they have had to listen as climate concerns drive voting intentions at elections around the world — including recently in Australia, with the new leader promising to significantly raise climate ambition (even if many believe the target remains inadequate).

And sometimes the courts also listen. In April 2021, young people from Fridays for Future successfully argued in a German higher court that a lack of climate action threatened their fundamental freedoms and was unconstitutional. As a result, the court forced the government to strengthen emission reduction targets — which it did a couple of months later.

With climate ranking as the top issue of concern among a rising generation of voters, many are pressuring politicians on climate via protests, social media campaigns, or writing to local representatives.

Demanding carbon neutrality by 2030 — the goal of a citizen initiative for a climate referendum in the German capital — is a good place to start.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke at a Fridays for Future climate strike

 in Berlin in 2021, the year the movement also won in court

4. Switch to green energy providers and (when possible) install renewables

Burning fossil fuels for energy is the largest source of global GHG emissions. This makes choosing green electricity from clean, renewable sources such as wind or solar a great way to cut a key source of climate wrecking carbon.  

And consumers have already made a difference. By 2019 in the European Union, renewable electricity generation doubled from 2005, making up 34% of all electricity generation. This means that coal, the highest emitting fossil fuel, no longer supplies most of the EU's electricity.

Those living in a house or even an apartment block can also try to install clean solar power on the roof, or electric heat pumps — where possible — as a substitute for gas heating. Some communities are even getting together to run their neighborhoods almost exclusively on renewable energy.

Freiburg in Germany's south is known as the solar city

5.  Turn off the lights, turn down the heating

Something as simple as turning the heating down can save a lot of energy. That's why the German government, faced with an energy crisis due to the nation's reliance on Russian gas, will limit heating temperatures to 19 degrees Celsius this winter in public buildings.

Shutting down your computer at night and eliminating "vampire" power by unplugging idle electronics is another climate change busting action we can achieve today. Even easier is to simply turn off the lights when we aren't in the room.

Using highly energy-efficient appliances — induction instead of gas stoves, for example — is another step forward. Better still, demand that your government switch off the night lights at monuments and buildings, a policy recently implemented in the German capital.

6. Waste less food

Meanwhile, around one third of food grown globally is thrown away. This food loss and waste is a massive carbon emitter when the production, transportation and handling of food is calculated — food that ends up in landfills also generates methane, a highly potent GHG over the short term. 

In the US, annual food loss and waste creates 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHG emissions, and that's excluding landfill emissions. It's equivalent to the annual emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants.

So if we can't eat everything in the fridge, at least compost the rest — to fertilize the garden or for biogas.

Meanwhile, pressure supermarkets to stop throwing away extra food, instead offering it to foodbanks or charities; or ask restaurants to offer "doggy bags" for uneaten food — both measures are included in a food waste law recently passed in Spain.    

7. Plant trees

Trees are vital carbon sinks yet deforestation continues at alarming rates — logging of the Amazon forest, for example, rose by 20% in the last year. 

More than ever, planting trees is one of the best thing we can do as individuals to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.

While also cleaning the air, increasing biodiversity and maintaining healthy soils, trees too save energy — especially in cities where more plants on the street keep things cooler and reduce the need for air conditioning — according to non-profit Become Carbon Negative.

So too in the winter, trees can shelter homes from the wind, helping to reduce heating costs by up to 25%.

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

CLIMATE CHANGE: FLOODING, DROUGHT, FIRE AND 

HEAT WAVES AROUND THE WORLD
Heavy rains devastate communities in Kentucky, USA
Heavy rain has pummeled mountain communities in the US state of Kentucky. Water rushed down hillsides, swallowing towns, washing away homes and trapping hundreds of people. At least 30 people have been killed. US Vice President Kamala Harris said the flooding showed the urgency of crisis and announced $1 billion in grants to help states prepare for weather extremes worsened by climate change.
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Edmonton police spent $164K in overtime costs during convoy protests

The Edmonton Police Service spent $164,000 on overtime to cover six Freedom Convoy protests held in the city in January and February.


Edmonton police estimated about 1,000 to 2,000 people were in Edmonton on February 5 participating in a local convoy protest to show support for demonstrators in Ottawa, with several hundred more potentially on the way.© Nicholas Frew/CBC

Janice Johnston - CBC

A police spokesperson said the overtime was incurred due to staffing shortages caused by COVID-19, along with the need to "maintain adequate staffing levels for the crowds."

"These were unbudgeted expenses that impact our operating budget that are not recoverable from any other entity," Cheryl Sheppard wrote in an email to CBC News, noting that "the results of this adequately resourced police operation over six weekends resulted in no injuries, no mass arrests and no riots."

Sheppard compared 2022 overtime costs to the preceding three years, revealing that more was spent on policing protests in 2019 for seven yellow-vest demonstrations and Greta Thunberg's visit and in 2020, which included a number of Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

EPS Protest Overtime costs

Exhaustive details about police planning and the execution of those plans for the Freedom Convoy protests were revealed in a 63-page package sent by the Edmonton Police Service to Haruun Ali, after he filed a formal complaint about EPS conduct during the protests.

Ali shared those documents with CBC.

The police chief dismissed Ali's complaint and Ali has since notified the Edmonton Police Commission that he plans to appeal the chief's decision.
'Peaceful and orderly'

The largest protest was the first one staged by protestors on January 29. According to the police documents, more than 5,000 vehicles and 9,500 pedestrians participated.

Despite the large numbers, police issued only two traffic violations. A subsequent report authored by Staff Sgt. Bill Krull described the protestors as "peaceful and orderly", though Krull also stated, "the drivers were constantly blaring their vehicle horns creating an intense level of noise throughout the downtown core which continued throughout the afternoon."

The Feb. 5 protest saw eight traffic violations issued.

The report authored by Krull said public pushback had increased by February 12 when the third Saturday protest was staged.

"The local Canada freedom protest/convoy environment was garnering the attention of local politicians and the public questioning the EPS policing response to the noise from the convoy vehicles driving in downtown Edmonton," Krull wrote.

The City of Edmonton was granted an injunction through court order to prohibit the constant blaring of horns in Edmonton for the Feb.12 protest.

Police decided to increase traffic enforcement, but according to the documents, based on legal advice, EPS opted to continue using the Traffic Safety Act and city bylaws for enforcement rather than the newly issued court order.
Counter-protestors

Tensions flared on Feb. 12 when counter-protestors blocked one side of River Valley Road. At the time, the counter-protestors complained about police actions.

An organizer told CBC that someone at the counter-protest was told that if they did not get off the road, they could be arrested and charged with mischief. The counter-protest ended without incident after the group moved to the sides of the road and traffic was able to get through.

"The counter-protestors attracted far more punitive measures than the right-leaning freedom convoy folks," said University of Alberta criminology Prof. Temitope Oriola.

"What struck me the most was the cumulative reverence, often deference, to the freedom convoy protestors … that essentially spoke to the ideation or underbelly of policing."

Leading up to the Feb.19 protest, the documents reveal police were concerned that counter-protestors could possibly block downtown streets and a railway.

As a result, the report notes, "patrol branches would be directed to send police wagons and resources to support a mass arrest protocol if activated."

However, there were no counter-protest blockades and no arrests were made.

The Feb. 19 convoy protest was the third-largest of the six and resulted in the most traffic violations (209) issued or mailed, including 71 noise violations.

Freedom Canada protest convoy data

There was a relatively small protest at the Alberta Legislature on Feb. 22 to mark the opening of the legislative session. That protest resulted in 108 traffic violations.

By the time the sixth and final protest was staged on Feb. 26, Krull noted, "The intensity of public and political scrutiny was far less than the previous weekend's events but there were still concerns about vehicle horns and lack of enforcement of the [City of Edmonton] court order."

There were 138 traffic violations issued including 30 for unnecessary noise.

An analysis of the numbers shows that the number of tickets issued increased as the size of the protests decreased.

Sheppard said that officers were able to see more violations taking place when there was less congestion and fewer people on the road. She also said that it was safer to conduct traffic stops when the convoy size decreased.

According to the Krull report, there was also increased attention paid to traffic enforcement.

"It is recognized that there were many public concerns that the EPS enforcement strategy was not aggressive enough to quell noise and traffic disruption," Krull wrote.

"The EPS command team believes that although not perfect for all, the outcomes achieved during these deployments were reasonable in balancing persons lawful right to protest versus other persons lawful enjoyment and safety."

The criminology professor agrees that policing protests is difficult. But Temitope Oriola believes the way EPS handled the six protests in January and February frayed the bond of trust with police for some members of the public.

"What it says to them is that the police may act, but it depends on who is protesting," Oriola said.

Kenney declines comment on cabinet minister lauding "freedom convoy" protesters

.


EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is declining to weigh in on one of his cabinet ministers lauding protesters and “freedom convoys” fighting COVID-19 restrictions.


“I actually don’t monitor Twitter,” said Kenney, speaking to reporters in Toronto Wednesday, while pitching a renewed ad campaign to get more Canadians to move to Alberta.

“If you want to hear (Labour) Minister (Kaycee) Madu’s views or a clarification from him, I suggest you talk to him.”

Madu made the comments on Twitter Tuesday, reacting to news the federal government is debating whether to renew COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory random testing for travellers when those rules expire at month’s end.

“It (the slate of restrictions) was never about science but about political control and power,” Madu tweeted.

“Thanks to all those citizens, freedom convoys, who had the courage to mobilize against these tyrannical policies. They endured a lot (of) hate (and) name calling, suffered and vilified on behalf of all of us. I thank them!”

Madu’s office didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

He has served in cabinet since the start of Kenney’s government in 2019 in three portfolios: municipal affairs, justice and now labour.

Madu became labour minister in late February, when Kenney removed him from the justice portfolio after an independent report determined Madu had tried — but failed — to interfere in the administration of justice by calling up Edmonton’s chief of police to complain about a traffic ticket.

Alberta had its own COVID-19 restrictions, gathering limits and vaccine mandates during the pandemic.

As justice minister in May 2021, Madu, who is also a lawyer, told reporters that while he doesn’t direct police and prosecutors, "it is my expectation that law enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service will deploy all tools available to them to ensure that the (COVID) public health orders are enforced."

Kenney will cease to be in charge in two weeks, when United Conservative Party members pick a new leader and premier on Oct. 6.

Madu is backing leadership candidate Danielle Smith. Smith has promised to reject any COVID-19 rules and restrictions deemed harmful to Alberta's autonomy and well-being.

Alberta’s main U.S. border crossing at Coutts was one of a number of sites — along with downtown Ottawa — that were snarled earlier this year by “Freedom Convoy” protesters demonstrating against the Trudeau government and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The Coutts standoff paralyzed cross-border traffic for two weeks, ending in mid-February soon after RCMP made mass arrests and seized a cache of firearms and ammunition near the protest site.

A trial has been scheduled for June of next year for four men charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the blockade.

Opposition NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir said on Twitter: “Kaycee Madu needs to go. He should’ve been removed from the cabinet for interfering in the administration of justice (in the traffic ticket incident).”

Kenney agreed with Madu on the travel rules. At present, foreign nationals are typically not allowed to travel to Canada unless they have completed a primary series of approved COVID-19 vaccine.

Unvaccinated travellers allowed to enter Canada are subject to mandatory arrival tests and a two-week quarantine.

“It’s no secret that our government has been consistently opposed to unnecessary federal travel restrictions, specifically the ones that are still in place,” said Kenney.

He said he and other premiers made their concerns clear to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that there was no scientific rationale for the rules. Kenney said Trudeau wanted to be seen taking action on the pandemic.

"It has been clear to me from the beginning that at least this latest round of travel restrictions were political and optical, not about reducing transmission," said Kenney.

"I think it’s become a huge inconvenience."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

 UCP leadership race power rankings: It’s all over but the groveling

Never underestimate a politician's ability to grovel.  Now that Danielle Smith has the UCP leadership race all but locked up, conciliatory trial balloons are being floated, emails are being exchanged between former rivals and phone calls are being made to friendly columnists. This Don Braid column is a very effective bit of propaganda for the UCP and for Danielle Smith. It goes into some detail of what a Danielle Smith premiership would look like that and the conciliatory moves she’s already making.  Braid very kindly decided to run a quote from an anonymous MLA that sums it all up.  “There is no one in this caucus, not one person, who thinks a Rachel Notley-led government is better than a Danielle Smith-led government. The feeling is, let’s get our arrows pointed in the same direction.” A man begging for his wife's forgiveness inside Chicago divorce court. 1948.  It’s also entirely believable that all the UCP MLAs and leadership candidates who said they’d never vote for the Alberta Sovereignty Act would turn around and immediately cave and vote for an Alberta Sovereignty Act. Nothing unites a fractured political project like losing your job or status. There’s all the perks, pay and power that come with a cabinet post (an extra $60K a year) or even just your ability to run as an MLA again since the leader of the party signs your nomination papers. I expect we’ll all see a very rapid change of tune on how bad the Alberta Sovereignty Act is, not just from UCP MLAs but also Postmedia columnists and talking heads shortly after October 6.  This Rick Bell column imagines a sniveling UCP insider character that Bell creates dialogue for instead of Braid’s tactic of quoting them anonymously. But it’s the same message: Smith is going to win and the groveling has begun. While Bell mocks his made up insider character, don't think for a second that the coterie of government relations hacks and conservative insiders who surround this government like a noxious gas cloud will vanish if Smith wins. Smith has been around conservative politics for a long time and knows how things get done.  Kenney may decry Smith’s latest stunts—he would prefer his chosen heir Travis Toews win the leadership instead—but once you get past the Alberta Sovereignty Act theatrics there’s no big policy disagreement between the two. Smith will continue gutting the healthcare system, killing people en masse for “freedom”, handing over public assets to private interests for pennies on the dollar and the rest of the odious conservative political project with just as much verve as Kenney. Our only blessing is that she’ll only be premier for a few months before an election.  But it’s pretty funny that the UCP just skipped through the actual leadership race and are moving on to post-leadership race jockeying.  Some journalists have tried to ask the UCP candidates about policy. Michelle Bellefontaine of the CBC asked the candidates about healthcare, no one cared. Alanna Smith of Globe and Mail asked about the drug poisoning crisis that continues to kill so many. Crickets. What are the UCP leadership candidates going to do about this inflation crisis? Maybe fiddle with the small business tax. This column was originally going to be about policy but the battle of ideas in the UCP leadership race lasted less than a week. There’s no significant policy disagreement between any of the leadership candidates, although Leela Aheer might want the UCP to be a bit more polite if she was leader.    So instead of doing a power ranking of the policies of the UCP leadership candidates I’m going to rank their wordmarks.   7. Travis Toews Boring dark blue, reverse text and a weird superfluous outline of Alberta next to the word Alberta mean this wordmark ends up last. The font is also a pricey one, Ysans Std Extra Bold. That goes for $80. For that money he probably could have gotten two bottles of Jameson’s for his Sky Palace dining experience.  6. Todd Loewen Maybe I’m just biased against reverse text but Todd Loewen’s wordmark just isn’t doing it for me. I also don’t like the design choice to put the logo above the name and to have the slogan be skinny all caps. The font looks to be Marat Sans Bold Small Caps which goes for a cool $60.69 (nice.) There’s been a bit of custom design work here as well as the T and the L have been made larger though it just doesn’t jibe once you look at it for more than a second. This guy actually participated in the convoy in Ottawa and is now set to become a cabinet minister. 5. Rebecca Schulz Another stale blue colour choice. Boring super common bold sans serif font that according to myfonts.com and my eye looks like Hamburg Serial Heavy. The little pop of light blue from the slogan doesn’t add much to a design that’s so focused on the big blocky name. Also she refused to sign the childcare deal with the feds until after a federal election making thousands of parents pay extra money for childcare unnecessarily.  4. Brian Jean We all love mountains and honestly it’s the visual element that brings this one all the way up four. I also like the font used used for the name even though I can’t figure out which one it is when I plug it into myfonts. The blue is tedious but standard. He’s also a politician who uses an “aw shucks” image to hide the fact that he’s a man living off the fortune his mom made when Fort McMurray became a boomtown.  3. Leela Aheer I don’t quite know what that design element to the left of her name is but I kind of like it and it has some colour which is welcome. And the bold mix of the serif and sans serif fonts is a refreshing change from a sea of sans serifs. Shame about the blue.  2. Rajan Sawnhey She deindexed AISH and presided over an entirely unnecessary change to giving out AISH money that resulted in thousands of disabled folks being stuck with NSF charge but I do like the little pop of yellow and the font on the word Forward.  1. Danielle Smith I’m a sucker for wheat and the two blues used in the name with the two blues in the outline of Alberta work quite well. Design wise it’s solid. It’s just a shame she wants to immediately cause a constitutional crisis and start feuding with Ottawa instead of actually making people’s lives better while our healthcare system crumbles to dust and the price of everything goes up.  Duncan Kinney http://www.progressalberta.ca/ PS. You can find the online version of this piece here.

'Hitler's Girl' explores British ties with the Nazis

A new book discusses how close Britain's aristocracy was to the Nazi regime and what the situation in those times tells us about the dangers to democracy today

'Hitler's Girl': Unity Mitford (left) with her sisters Diana (center) and Nancy (right)

Anyone trying to dive deep into the history of British far-right and fascist movements in the 1930s is bound to come across the names of Unity Mitford and Oswald Mosley.

Rumored to have been Hitler's girlfriend, Unity Mitford's personality and ideas have been discussed in books such as David Pryce-Jones' "Unity Mitford: An Enquiry into Her Life and the Frivolity of Evil" (1977) and David Litchfield's "Hitler's Valkyrie: The Uncensored Biography of Unity Mitford" (2014).

Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) from 1932 to 1940, and his movement have similarly been analyzed in several books, including "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" (2005), Graham Macklin's "Failed Führers: A History of Britain's Extreme Right" (2020) and Richard C. Thurlow's "Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front" (1998).  

Now a new book on the topic, "Hitler's Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WWII," has been published. The author, Yale lecturer Lauren Young, has used newly unclassified material for the work.

By revealing the complicity of British aristocrats with Hitler's Germany and the possible threat to British democracy at the time, Young aims to demonstrate how Western liberal democracies face the same challenges today as in the 1930s.

"We are inundated with information about the Second World War, Hitler and the Nazis. This book argues that today's challenges to democracy are similar to those of the 1930s," Young tells DW. The author and lecturer has previously taught at the London School of Economics and served as a political adviser in many international forums, including the UN.


HOW HITLER AND THE NAZIS DEFAMED ART
Degenerate art
Modern artworks whose style, artist or subject did not meet with the approval of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists were labeled "degenerate art." From 1937, the Nazis confiscated such works from German museums. In a traveling exhibition, "degenerate art" was held up for public ridicule. Here we see Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and Hitler at the original exhibition in Munich.
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Britain in the 1930s

The book first establishes the historical background by chronicling how Germany's crushing defeat in World War I and the severe terms of the Treaty of Versailles led to financial and social crises in the country, setting the stage for Hitler's rise to power.

Young then looks into how the British aristocracy started flirting with fascism as early as the 1920s, when members of the upper class, including the Duke of Westminster, the Duke of Buccleuch and politician Harold Nicolson traveled to Italy to observe the fascist movement for themselves.

Winston Churchill, who later became Britain's prime minister, had also visited Italy during this period, leaving the country with a favorable impression of the fascists as an "antidote to the Russian poison," according to the book.

Young also examines the emergence of the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and discusses how many members of the aristocracy, including Unity Mitford's family, were connected with it.

The author points out that pro-Nazi views were also found among the royal family. She mentions a 1933 video of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was seven years old at the time, giving the Nazi salute along with her mother and her younger sister, Margaret, as instructed by their uncle, future King Edward VIII. The publication of the picture in 2015 in British tabloid The Sun caused a furor and a dismissive response by the royal family.

The Queen's Nazi salute caused a stir in the UK in 2015

The book also mentions aristocrats like the Duke of Connaught and the Earl of Kincardine showing interest in visiting a concentration camp in Germany to understand how the Nazis were implementing "race purity and fitness."

It also discusses how the cornerstone of Neville Chamberlain's foreign policy was to avoid war at all costs, and this included an unspoken rule to refuse German and Austrian Jewish refugees entry into what was then British-mandated Palestine. Chamberlain, who had preceded Churchill, was British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940.

Even the Kindertransport to Britain could have been more robust and saved more Jewish children, had the British government been less eager to please Hitler, the author argues.

'Hitler's Girl'

The title of the book, "Hitler's Girl," was inspired by a headline from the British press in the 1930s about Unity Mitford, explains Young. As the title suggests, Mitford is a central figure in the book.

Born as one of seven children in the aristocratic Redesdale family, Mitford was — almost prophetically — conceived in the town of Swastika, Ontario, Canada and christened Unity Valkyrie. Over the years, she and her sisters, Nancy and Diana, would grow up to become "Bright Young Things," which was the nickname given by the tabloid press to describe young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London, and flirted with the far right in Britain.

Yale lecturer and author Lauren Young

Unity's sister, Diana, famously married BUF leader Oswald Mosley. Unity herself was a fierce antisemite, completely taken in by Hitler and his personality. She even joined a finishing school in southern Germany to be able to personally meet the Führer. Altogether, she met him over 160 times.

According to Young, "everybody knew what Unity Mitford was doing. It was gossip. It was intriguing. Yet nobody thought that it was worth using her as an intelligent asset, a way to learn more about their adversary, Hitler, or even as evidence to imprison her for treason when she was repatriated to England."

The book ends with Unity Mitford coming back to England in 1939 after reportedly trying to kill herself. Despite Britain being at war with Germany, she was not tried for high treason, a subject that has been much discussed in political circles and the media at the time. She was also rumored to have had a child — possibly Hitler's child, whose birth was not recorded because the mother was not married.

The future of democracy

"Hitler's Girl" is not an attempt to find proof for what might have been, but it's about complacency and the lack of public outcry on important issues.

During the period described in the book, Chamberlain's policy of appeasement was beneficial in many respects, and there was also a groundswell of support for Hitler among the British ruling classes as well as a resurgence of right-wing movements.

'Hitler's Girl' was released this year on August 22

The author argues that there are many implicit parallels in today's world: "If we look at democratic erosion, for example, in America today, we have important warning signals like voter suppression legislation that has been enacted in 19 states just in this past year. Are we doing enough to protect our basic democratic right to vote," Young asks, citing examples like the recent landmark judgement by the Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

Ultimately, through this book, Young aims to raise awareness that "democracy is not our birth right."   

"In many cases, complacency is tantamount to complicity in the erosion of our democracy, our democratic rights, and potentially to the future as liberal democracies," she says.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

Muslim women are taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair on TikTok to protest Iran's hijab rules following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini

Charissa Cheong
Wed, September 21, 2022

Mahsa Amini died in a Tehran hospital on Friday.Screenshots from TikTok

• 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died on Friday after being arrested by Iran's Islamic morality police.

• Police detained Amini on suspicion of breaking hijab-wearing rules, reports say.

• Muslim women are now cutting their hair and hijabs on TikTok in protest.

Women in Iran are taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair to protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Amini died in a Tehran hospital on Friday after being arrested by Iran's Islamic morality police on Tuesday on suspicion of not correctly wearing a hijab — a head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and is mandatory in Iran — according to reports.

Tehran police said Amini was arrested for the purpose of "justification and education" about the hijab, and told her family she died of a "sudden" heart attack. Her family say she had no known heart conditions, and witnesses said they saw police beating her up inside a van, according to BBC News.

On September 18, the day of Amini's funeral, protests erupted in Iran, with women removing their headscarves and waving them in the air to protest the hijab-wearing rules that led to the arrest of the 22-year-old.

Now, Muslim and Iranian women based all over the world are joining the protests by taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair in protest on TikTok and Instagram.

@persianziba Today exactly two years ago I started wearing hijab, today I cut my hair for #mahsaamini , who was an Iranian woman that got unal!ved in Iran because of the mandatory hijab law. I cannot show the video of me cutting my hair out of religious reasons (On my story there is a censored version of the video) so as a symbol of solidarity I made a video cutting my scarf as well in order to spread the message. I am wearing one of our traditional Persian scarfs around me to represent my people as an Iranian woman. I cannot go into detail for my own safety, so please do the research and spread our message. #fy #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #freedom #help #helpus #iran ♬ original sound - em🤍

In one video with 930,000 views, a woman can be seen cutting up her black headscarf with a pair of scissors. The caption under the video read, "Today exactly two years ago I started wearing hijab, today I cut my hair for #mahsaamini." The user wrote that she did not want to cut her hair on camera for "religious reasons," but filmed herself cutting the headscarf "to spread the message."

"My heart goes out to all my female friends fighting for their basic human rights in Iran," wrote one TikToker under a video with 430,000 views, where she could be seen snipping her long hair into a shoulder-length bob.

@mayamahyari For #Mahsa Amini. My heart goes out to all my female friends fighting for their basic human rights in Iran. #mahsa_amini #mahsaamini #no_to_islamic_republic_of_iran #humanrights #womenpower #griving #Iran #iranianwomenlivesmatter #iranianwomen ♬ original sound - em🤍

Some women who don't identify as Muslim have also been posting tributes to Amini on TikTok, saying they want to "stand with Iranian women." One TikToker took part in the hair-cutting trend and showed herself standing in front of a mirror with a newly-shaved head after a caption appeared on the clip saying, "Candian women stand with you."

@altruisticmama Say her name, bring her justice, Mahsa Amini #iraniantiktok #mahsaamini #bringherjustice #oneworld #onepeople #iranianprotests2022 #wehearyou #justice #womenempowerment #women4womenrights #isupportiranianwomensequality ♬ original sound - em🤍

Many of these TikTok videos used audio from "Another Love," a pop song by English singer Tom Odell. The song is also being used on TikTok to share clips filmed at protests in Iran following Amini's death, according to captions under the videos.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both called for criminal investigations into Amini's death. Iranian state-run news agency IRNA reported that President Ebrahim Raisi has asked Iran's interior ministry to "investigate the cause of the incident with urgency and special attention.

Iran restricts access to WhatsApp and Instagram in response to Mahsa Amini protests


Mohamed Azakir / reuters

Igor Bonifacic

·Weekend Editor

Wed, September 21, 2022 

Iran has blocked access to Instagram and WhatsApp as its government attempts to subdue protests that began last week following the death of a woman at the hands of local authorities. As of Wednesday, demonstrations across the country had been ongoing for four consecutive days. The protests began over the weekend after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s morality police on September 16th. She was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

According to internet watchdog NetBlocks (via Reuters), the Iranian government has gradually restricted web access across much of the country in recent days. The blackout began in Tehran and other parts of Iran when protests first broke out on Friday. On the evening of September 19th, the government extended restrictions to parts of the western Kurdistan province. As of Wednesday, accessing WhatsApp and Instagram through any of the country’s major internet providers was impossible. According to NetBlocks, the current restrictions are the most severe since 2019, when Iran shut down all internet access in response to fuel protests.

Meta did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. NetBlocks suggests the disruptions are likely to significantly limit the ability of the Iranian people to communicate freely. In theory, Iran’s government may believe that restricting internet access will reduce the likelihood of protestors organizing and allow it to better control the narrative of Amini's death.

US condemns death of Iranian woman in religious police custody while demonstrations erupt in Tehran
John Bowden
Wed, September 21, 2022

The US State Department has condemned the killing of an Iranian woman in police custody after she was detained for not wearing a head covering.

Outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini is growing both domestically inside Iran, according to reports from opposition groups, as well as around the world.

The 22-year-old’s death last Friday has sparked a new wave of resistance against Iran’s religious police and morality rules, including from some prominent left-leaning members of the country’s parliament. Protests have broken out in dozens of cities across the country, according to anti-government sources.

“Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights,” a spokesperson for Joe Biden’s National Security Council told reporters. “Our thoughts are with Mahsa’s family and loved ones.”

“Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms,” they continued. “There must be accountability for Mahsa’s death.”

In the US, protests continued with new fervour outside the United Nations’s headquarters as well as a nearby hotel where Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, is staying as he attends a meeting of the General Assembly. Thousands of protesters gathered in the streets on Wednesday, demanding justice.
Anti-Raisi protesters in the streets of New York City (OIAC)

“No one can nor should remain silent regarding the barbaric murders of the young 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by this brutal regime,” said Dr Ramesh Sepehrrad, advisory chair of the Organization of Iranian-American Communities.

Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, added that Ms Amini’s death “ignited the powder keg in our rebellious cities”.

“Indeed, the moment this murderer enters the building that is supposed to serve the nations of the world is a moment of shame and disgrace for those who appease the ruling religious fascism, a moment that scars the conscience of humanity,” Ms Rajavi added of Mr Raisi’s upcoming speech to the General Assembly.

At least some in the body appear to agree, as the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an investigation into Ms Amini’s death and alleged torture.

The Biden administration remains engaged in negotiations with Iran’s leadership regarding a possible resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal signed between the Obama administration, Tehran, and a handful of European countries.

Senators on the Foreign Relations committee told The Independent on Tuesday that they had no updates about the status of those negotiations, which are opposed entirely by more hawkish members of Congress.

Wave of protests in Iran reflects seething anger over how its regime treats women

Dan De Luce and Yasmine Salam and Hyder Abbasi and Bianca Britton

Wed, September 21, 2022

She traveled to Tehran to visit relatives, a dark-haired 22-year-old woman from Iran’s Kurdistan region. But outside a subway station, the “morality police” arrested Mahsa Amini for allegedly failing to fully cover her hair, and pulled her into a police van.

Three days later, she was dead.

Amini’s death in the capital has ignited a wave of protests across the country, exposing a raw anger among Iranian women about their treatment by the regime and an unprecedented willingness to defy the government.

"Many people are pointing out that this could be my daughter, my sister, my wife," said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. "This has shaken people, that every time a woman leaves home, she might not come back.”

As Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi met world leaders in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week, extraordinary scenes have unfolded in his country, with women removing their headscarves and even burning them in front of cheering crowds, according to videos posted online.

The combination of viral videos and pent-up anger represent a potential “George Floyd” moment for Iran, Ghaemi said, with the regime now “forced into a corner given how innocent this woman was and there was no grounds for having treated her so violently.”

Iran’s U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment.

Protesters in Tehran throw stones at police during demonstrations Tuesday over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code. (AP)

Raisi has ordered an investigation into Amini’s death and expressed condolences to her father in a phone call, according to Iranian state media.

“I learned about this incident during my trip to Uzbekistan, and I immediately ordered my colleagues to investigate the matter specially," Raisi said on the call, according to his official website. "I assure you that I will demand this issue from the responsible institutions so that its dimensions are clarified."

The president emphasized that he considers all Iranian girls as his own children. "Your daughter is like my own daughter, and I feel that this incident happened to one of my loved ones. Please accept my condolences," he added.

Eyewitnesses — who were also in the van — told Amini’s father that she was beaten up in the police vehicle on the way to the detention center, human rights groups say. Iranian authorities, however, said she died from a heart attack and called the incident “unfortunate.”

“They said Mahsa had heart disease and epilepsy but as the father who raised her for 22 years, I say loudly that Mahsa did not have any illness. She was in perfect health,” Amini’s father told an Iranian news outlet.

Women’s rights advocates have battled the theocracy from its earliest days after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, protesting the mandatory veil or hijab, along with an array of laws that critics and U.N. rights monitors say render women second-class citizens.

But human rights groups say the women’s movement has gained new strength from social media in recent years and a younger generation more willing to confront the regime.

Since 2017, Iranian women increasingly have taken their opposition to the hijab law online, posting videos of themselves removing the headscarf accompanied by declarations that the government has no right to tell a woman how to dress.

Since Raisi was elected in June, the government has deployed more morality police units, who patrol the streets to ensure women adhere to the regime’s strict female dress code, said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International’s Iran researcher based in London.

"One very distressing trend in recent months has been the persecution of females who defy compulsory veiling laws. The level of violence that women are facing in the street is really horrific," she said.

"And because there is now more vocal opposition, and campaigning against compulsory veiling laws in Iran, the Iranian authorities are also escalating their attacks on women in the streets," Bahreini said.

But phone cameras and hashtags have become a weapon for activists to push back, mobilize civil disobedience and expose what they allege is a surge in police repression against women.

The digital campaign has been cheered along by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian women rights activist who immigrated to the United States and has become a thorn in the side of the regime.

She invites Iranian women to post their protest videos on social media under her #WhiteWednesdays hashtag campaign. As a result, she has amassed millions of followers online and the FBI alleges she was the target of a recent kidnapping plot by the regime.

For the Iranian government, "the compulsory hijab is not just a small piece of cloth. It is like the main pillar of the Islamic Republic," Alinejad told NBC News.

"When mullahs took power in Iran, what was the first thing they did? They forced women to wear the hijab. Why? Because they use our bodies, like a political platform. So they write their own ideology on our bodies."

The regime likely fears that giving ground on the mandatory hijab rule could open the door to the whole theocratic system unraveling, said Mahsa Alimardani, a researcher at Article 19, a nongovernmental organization that promotes freedom of expression.

"They do not want to concede on this one point in fear that they would have to concede on a lot of other restrictions that help keep the regime in place," she said.

On July 12, when the Iranian government organized an annual “chastity” day to promote the mandatory hijab law, opponents organized counterprotests, posting videos of themselves removing their headscarves in public. Some of the protesters were identified and arrested, but a subsequent online protest on social media under the #No2Hijab hashtag attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters.

"The consequence of this campaign in Iran was to enrage government authorities, clergy and imams,” said Atena Daemi, an Iranian human rights activist who was imprisoned for seven years for protesting the death penalty and undertook three hunger strikes.

Government officials and clerics called for harsher penalties against women protesting the law, she said.

"Women, on the other hand, grew more motivated to continue their fight against the mandatory hijab because with each new action, they discover they are so many, they find each other, and unify and organize for the next movement,” Daemi added.

Human rights experts and activists say Iran has never wavered from its hard-line restrictions on women since the revolution, even when more pragmatic reformists have been in power.

According to Iran’s interpretation of Sharia law, women cannot travel abroad without the permission of a father or husband, are banned from singing or riding bicycles, are denied custody of their children if they remarry, can seek a divorce only under limited circumstances, can be legally married at age 13 and even younger if a court approves and can only inherit an eighth of their husband’s estate. Iran ranked 143 out of 146 countries surveyed in a recent World Economic Forum report on gender pay gaps around the world.

Image: Tehran protests (AP)

When faced with major street protests in the past, the Iranian government has responded with overwhelming force, including opening fire on unarmed protesters, according to human rights groups and Western governments. At least four people have been killed so far by police in this week’s protests, according to Iranian-focused human rights organizations.

NBC News has not verified the claims.

State media alleged that foreign agents and seditionist elements were behind the street protests.

It’s unclear if the protests will snowball further, or if the authorities will find a way to stifle the momentum of public anger.

Whatever the outcome of the current protests, Amini’s death has meant the regime is “definitely losing the battle for legitimacy,” Alimardani said.

Every prison sentence and arrest meted out by the regime has only radicalized Iranian women and served as a catalyst for more protests, Alinejad and other activists said.

“We have so many Rosa Parks in Iran. To me, I don’t see Iranian women like victims. They are like warriors,” Alinejad said, referring to the U.S. civil rights pioneer.

Daemi, one of the most prominent women’s rights advocates in Iran, said she has no plans to abandon her struggle despite the threat it poses to her health and her family.

“I am confident that humanity will win,” she said. “One day, the sun will break through the gloom.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com