Monthly Archives: April 2021

By Tick Segerblom

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Joe Neal

Theres a great chapter in state Sen. Joe Neals biography about his fight to end the death penalty. John L. Smith describes Neal who died Dec. 31 at age 85, having served from 1973 to 2004 in the Nevada Legislature often alone, pushing his legislative colleagues to consider the issue. Smith explains how other legislators had heard his arguments against the death penalty for a decade, had written them off as politically impractical or rejected them on personal philosophical grounds. But Neal, the states first Black state senator, never gave up.

His efforts would be picked up and carried on by later generations of legislators, like Bernie Anderson, Sheila Leslie and Chris Giunchigliani over the past few sessions. James Ohrenschall, first in the Assembly and now as a state senator, has shown courage and conviction by pushing abolition bills.

There is a long history of Nevada heroes in the cause to abolish the death penalty, and I was thinking about them and their tireless efforts last week as the Assembly voted to abolish the death penalty, with a unanimous show of support from the Assembly Democrats. This was history in the making, building off of decades of work, and reflecting great leadership from Judiciary Chair Steve Yeager and Speaker Jason Frierson.

It reflected the fact that views of the death penalty are changing. In the decades since Nevada enacted its current statute, researchers have concluded that the death penalty does not deter people from committing crimes. The reality of the death penaltys effect on victims asking them to suffer decades of litigation and uncertainty for an unlikely sentence has become apparent. And its cost and unreliability have become undeniable.

The vote also reflected that Nevada is changing. The voting coalition that elects Democrats is trending younger and more diverse. This state might not be deep blue, but its not purple, either. These are voters who understand that Black lives matter, that racism infects our criminal justice system and that police and prosecutors need to be accountable.

Abolishing the death penalty wont solve these problems. But its a crucial start. And the Assembly was right to approve this bill, as should the state Senate and the governor. The death penalty is immoral, and we need to end it.

In 1977, when the Nevada Legislature approved our current death penalty statute, Neal had this statement entered into the Journal of the state Senate: The time has come to abolish the death penalty once and for all! It discriminates against our poor! It discriminates against our minorities! It does not deter the commission of capital crimes! After almost 45 years, its time for Nevadans to take these words to heart.

Tick Segerblom represents District E on the Clark County Commission.

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Righteous end to long, lonely fight would bring peace to a state hero - Las Vegas Sun

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In the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests, and subsequent debate around colonial and racist figures being immortalised in public spaces, the council launched the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group.

The group, chaired by Sir Geoff Palmer, Scotlands first black professor, is examining the street names, monuments and buildings of the capital, and according to Sir Geoff, will provide educational resources to provide people with information about their city, rather than removing statues and changing place names.

The group first met in March, and at a full meeting of Edinburgh City Council on Thursday April 29, SNP council leader Adam McVey praised the groups work so far and said it is providing an example for other cities to follow.

Leith councillor McVey said: At the next iteration of the policy and sustainability committee in June, I think were going to have an update which will set out some of the progress that has been made by that group.

Its worth saying that I appreciate some of the people in the city are still criticising the approach that Edinburgh is going down and looking at those historical and cultural issues which are still affecting us right now.

One of the things that has come out of the meeting with Sir Geoff is the number of cities right across the world that are contacting Edinburgh, contacting us and asking for the details of our approach because theyre looking to carbon-copy it.

Thats a huge benefit, and a huge testament, to the work being done in Edinburgh, and a huge benefit to the rest of the world that theyre seeing what were doing and trying to emulate it in their cities, within their regions, within their communities.

So in June there will be an update, and in the autumn there will be a thorough update, with some more information about the work being done.

This is something that all councillors, hopefully, eventually, will come to take pride in because Edinburgh is leading the way in addressing these issues, and addressing them sensibly, and sensitively, to make sure the issues which have dogged our cities past - and present - no longer dog our future, and all our citizens, based on a culture of inclusion, are part of Edinburgh as citizens on equal terms.

Recently, Edinburgh City Council approved the installation of a plaque on the Melville Monument denouncing Henry Dundas role in deferring abolition of the slave trade and his role in expanding the British Empire.

The Category A-listed monument in St Andrew Square, in the heart of New Town, is one of the most prominent landmarks in the capital.

The monument pays tribute to Henry Dundas, the 1st Viscount Melville, the trusted right hand man of Prime Minister William Pitt and at one time the most powerful politician in Scotland.

He was instrumental in the Scottish Enlightenment, the prosecution of the French Revolutionary Wars and British colonial expansion in India.

However, Dundas is a controversial figure in Scottish history, due to his role in subjugating indigenous populations in the British Empire and for his part in delaying the abolition of the slave trade.

As first lord of the admiralty, Dundas deliberately prolonged slavery to protect the elite in the 1800s forcing about 630,000 slaves to wait more than a decade for their freedom.

In June 2020, during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the city, the monument was vandalised.

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Cities around the globe following Edinburgh's lead reviewing statues with slavery links - Edinburgh News

Ithaca Colleges Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) recognized the work of journalists Liliana Segura and Tim Schwab along with the publication Truthout during the 13th annual Izzy Award ceremony April 27.

The Izzy Awards created in memory of journalist I.F. Izzy Stone are given to honor journalistic work produced outside of mainstream media structures. Jeff Cohen, founder and former director of the PCIM, created the award, which was first given in 2009. This was the second Izzy Award ceremony held via Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first was held Oct. 28, 2020.

Segura received the award for her work published in The Intercept examining the Trump administrations use of capital punishment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seguras series of articles, Out for Blood, highlights the arbitrary use of capital punishment in the U.S. and its disproportionate effect on people of color.

The Trump administration ordered the first federal execution in 17 years July 13, 2020. Between July 2020 and January 2021, 13 people were executed. Seguras reporting helped tell the stories of these individuals, their families and the movement to abolish the death penalty.

Segura was unable to attend the Zoom award ceremony, but a prerecorded message from her was shown, and Rodrigo Brando, senior director of communication and strategy for The Intercept, spoke as a representative of the publication.

Segura said in her message that activists like the people who protested the killing of George Floyd are the inspiration for her work. She said Virginias abolishment of the death penalty March 24 would not have been happened if there were not so many protests in 2020 against racial inequity.

Those who refuse to be silent, who continue to speak truth to power in all kinds of ways, including in the streets, who refuse to be told that theyre asking for too much too soon or too loudly, those are the people who I continue to learn from and who have informed my inspired my work from from day one, Segura said.

Raza Rumi, director of the PCIM, said he believes Seguras work regarding capital punishment also has international impacts. Rumi said that when he mentioned the Izzy Award ceremony on social media, people from his home country of Pakistan were interested in Seguras work.

The work that Liliana has done is not just important for the U.S. movements that call for the abolition of capital punishment, but I think it also has a global impact, Rumi said.

Schwab was recognized for his series of investigative articles about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, published in The Nation. The foundation was founded by Bill and Melinda Gates in 2000 and is considered the wealthiest private foundation in the world, with an endowment of approximately $42.3 billion. Schwabs investigation examines the power held by wealthy individuals like Bill and Melinda Gates and its implications for democracy.

Schwabs articles focus on billionaires power in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. One article notes Bill Gates $250 million stock invested in companies researching and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines. Schwab said he was inspired to look into the foundation because there was a lack of critical media coverage on the subject.

When I approached this project, it just was such an obvious goldmine of a story, not just because journalists havent covered it but because the Gates Foundation is one of the most powerful, least scrutinized actors in global politics, Schwab said.

Bob McChesney, professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois and co-founder of Free Press, introduced Schwab at the ceremony. McChesney said Schwabs reporting on the foundation is important to the field because there was previously little journalistic investigation into the foundation. He noted the pressure placed on journalists who are the first to report on a story.

If they make a mistake, if theyre lazy, if they screw up, if they go off in the wrong direction, they can throw off everyone that follows them for a decade or two decades, they could screw it all up, McChesney said. On the other hand, if they get it right, then they could open a door for every other scholar, every other journalist to walk through it to carry the work forward. And I think thats the way to understand what Tim Schwab has done with his work on Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation. He has opened our door.

Truthout was given the Izzy Award for its series of articles about the political, economic, environmental and racial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series, Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19, comprises 250 articles produced throughout 2020. The series includes reporting by individuals who experienced these issues firsthand, like incarcerated individuals and frontline workers.

One of these writers was Lacino Hamilton, who was incarcerated for 26 years as the result of a wrongful conviction. Hamiltons reporting from prison brought attention to his case, and he was exonerated in September 2020. Hamilton began writing for Truthout in 2015 and has offered an inside perspective on the lives of incarcerated people with his reporting.

Maya Schenwar, editor-in-chief of Truthout, spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the publication. Schenwar said Hamiltons work should inspire all independent media outlets to continue to fight for justice and equality beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

His goal was never to only get himself free but to fight for all who are incarcerated and for collective liberation, and I think that we in independent media should take a cue from that goal, Schenwar said. So if and when this pandemic ends, inequity and injustice are going to persist. Theyre not going away. And we cant lose our momentum or lose our conviction or lose our drive to urgently do journalism in the service of justice, until everybody is free.

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Independent media recognized at 13th annual Izzy Awards - Ithaca College The Ithacan

Broadly, the reaction to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for George Floyds murder was one of relief.

Theres a saying among Black folks, Veela Ammons, a business consultant and coach based outside Chicago, told me. It says, Its not justice, its just us. And so we thought it was going to be that kind of situation again where even though it was so plain to see, we thought, from anybodys perspective that this man committed murder, we didnt think that we would actually get that verdict.

But for many, such surprise and relief also gave way to another feeling. A desire for something more, followed by an idea that became a mantra: that this verdict wasnt justice.

Accountability was served in that courtroom today, not so much justice, Mikeale Davis , an accounting major at Georgia State University, told me.

True justice would be served only if George was still here with his family, loved ones, and community, Miski Noor, co-executive director of the Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota-based advocacy group, said in a statement.

Nothing will bring Floyd back to life, making the justice Noor spoke of impossible. But as President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Noor, and many others noted in the wake of the trials verdict, ensuring police killings stop is well within the limits of human ability.

As D.A. Bullock, a member of the Minneapolis-based civil rights organization Reclaim the Block, told me, True justice really looks like this never happening again.

In its most basic form, justice can be thought of as protection from wrongdoing. The justice system should protect people from being killed, cheated, or discriminated against. But all too often, it fails to be protective and instead tries to be corrective.

Sometimes this corrective action comes through reform for instance, following Floyds murder, 46 percent of police departments instituted chokehold bans, joining the 27 percent that did so before June 2020, according to the advocacy organization 8 Cant Wait. Body camera use is another reform that has spread rapidly in response to police killings; 32 percent of departments used them in 2013, and more than half are now believed to employ them.

But reform cant always provide the level of protection the level of justice citizens desire. Critics of policing reforms like stricter use of force policies or expanded access to body cameras note that even in places where these reforms have been in place for years, theyve had little effect on the number of police killings.

Minneapolis was already the poster child for police reform efforts body cameras, implicit bias training, all of that has been in place in Minneapolis and has not changed how people experience police violence here, Sheila Nezhad, a policy organizer with Reclaim the Block and Minneapolis mayoral candidate, told me.

When these reforms fail to protect as they failed to protect Floyd the criminal justice system steps in, meeting wrongdoing with a punishment that causes the person who committed it to suffer.

In theory, through this suffering, the person is able to reflect on their actions and come to some revelation about the harm they have caused. Or perhaps their punishment serves more as a deterrent to others, warning them not to behave in the same way.

But the problem, Fordham Law professor and criminologist John Pfaff told my colleague Jerusalem Demsas, is that this places too much of the burden of justice on the individual.

Theres this sort of individualistic approach saying when someone does something wrong, well punish them, Pfaff said. While punishing Chauvin is critical and essential accountability for the harm that he did, it doesnt address the bigger systemic failings that got us here.

Overall, Pfaff told Demsas, he is worried that were going to look at this trial and say that our current system works, or we say this one bad apple does this really bad thing [and] the courts can come in and fix it. But the expression is One bad apple ruins the bunch.

Chauvin being incarcerated does not mean other officers currently facing charges, like those who killed Rayshard Brooks or Daunte Wright, will be convicted, nor does it magically remove the threat of further police violence and misconduct.

Its this reality that has led even some of those who have held up the trial as proof the system can be trusted like the president to say some reforms must be made. And for others to call for an extensive overhaul of policing. Or for others still to argue for taking police out of the picture altogether.

For all these people, it is this specter of violence and pain to come that makes it difficult for the Chauvin verdict to feel like complete justice. For them, true justice will involve making serious changes to policing, and perhaps to the criminal justice system more broadly.

Shannon Perez-Darby, a writer and anti-violence consultant, told me part of the problem is that the justice system disincentivizes acknowledging harm that youve done, especially if that harm is a crime.

Admitting to a crime could mean jail and bail and court fees and prison; denial represents at least a chance of freedom. But only through admission can there be true accountability what Perez-Darby defines as being responsible for your choices and the consequences of those choices.

That level of accountability facilitates transformative justice, a system with roots in many communities of color and LGBTQ communities that works outside the bounds of the criminal justice system, taking a non-punitive, inclusive, and preventive approach to correcting a wrong.

There are a variety of ways in which transformative justice is practiced, but it generally works by creating a space of support, healing, and renewal for the harmed, as well as a structure for accountability, understanding, and growth for the person who inflicted the harm. It also addresses systemic or community issues that facilitated the harm (for instance, implicit bias or toxic masculinity); creates a framework to promote healing while preventing that harm from occurring again; and avoids the meting out of punishments, isolation, loss of legal rights, or any kind of traditional vengeance.

With respect to a police killing, broadly, transformative justice practitioners might work with the family and friends of the person killed to help them navigate their thoughts and feelings while helping them access tools and resources for healing, and working with the officer or officers who killed to take responsibility for that killing and to interrogate and dismantle the thinking and acculturation that led up to it. The process might also include the department as a whole working with officials and individual officers not directly involved in the shooting to institute changes that might stop future killings.

Overall, Perez-Darby said, transformative justice is about supporting everyone to have the skills they need and creating the conditions to support loving equitable relationships and communities.

The widespread adoption of such a system would, hypothetically, create conditions in which prisons become unnecessary and police violence is eliminated because police officers become redundant.

Transformative justice is not a quick or easy fix to the problem of policing. It requires a local shift in thinking and priorities, one that would be difficult to impose via federal legislation. But Perez-Darby said it would facilitate a more just reality: We know that justice is when everyone has their needs met and when the people who are most impacted are heard and put at the center.

This approach which seeks to include everyone in justice is the opposite of the individual focus of the current criminal justice system that Pfaff highlighted as problematic. It attempts to do what he said the current system has struggled with: address the bigger systemic failings that got us here.

A similar focus on creating change is also an important part of healing justice, which holistic health and community healing practitioner Rebeka Ndosi describes as the inclusion of healing in social justice work in a diffusive manner that holds the space of there being a world beyond the struggle of a just world.

Our own individual hurt and healing affects, and is not separate from, the collective hurt and healing that exists, Ndosi said. Working with individuals on healing their own wounds and pain of trauma will spread to their circles, and their spaces and communities, because they show up differently when theyre actually able to focus on themselves and find the wisdom from the wounds.

The adoption of healing justice much less transformative justice would require a completely different way of viewing crime and justice. Ndosi said it would mean that when theres harm that is done, instead of it being something that means you are punished, it is something that says, lets draw you in closer and see why this happened and how the balance got thrown off. For many, if not for most, this sort of change would be very uncomfortable.

I doubt theres anybody who wants to draw Derek Chauvin in closer right now, Ndosi said. A lot of this can sound very, Woooo, its out there, but if we dont hold a space of a different way of being together, then well just continue the patterns. ... We have to hold what it is that were working toward up in front of us every single day. Otherwise, we dont know where were going.

That these ideas seem revolutionary is the point. The problems with policing (and the criminal justice system more broadly) are deep and old, going back more than a century. They are intertwined with the worst parts of American history. Modern police departments have roots in slave patrols; the nationwide campaign of lynchings and general racial terror that followed slavery went largely unchecked and was sometimes participated in by police officers. Later, many departments had intimate ties to 20th-century corruption and white supremacy. And now, due to viral videos like those of Floyds killing, the issues with policing are visible as never before.

It is also by design that while these ideas could be used to address the problems with police departments, they exist in a space wholly separate from policing. They posit, as many activists have done, that the path to justice does not necessarily run through the police as it does now and that, perhaps, police arent needed at all.

I believe abolition abolishing prisons, abolishing policing as we know and understand it is the only way to create conditions free from violence and harm, Perez-Darby said.

Abolition is exactly what it sounds like.

It would bring about that policeless state, creating a system in which police are replaced by professionals with the expertise needed to handle departments current duties: That could mean mental health and medical professionals for crises, or trained negotiators for noise complaints, or detectives to retrieve stolen property and to solve murders. And maybe healing and transformative justice practitioners to assist in all sorts of cases.

Without police on patrol, there would still be someone to call for help just not someone armed and allowed to kill, assault, and harm people with near impunity.

We have to move toward abolition, Jorden Giger, the co-leader of Black Lives Matter in South Bend, Indiana, told me. Thats our duty as a people.

As activist Bree Newsome recently wrote, the United States is no stranger to adopting the unfamiliar when the moment calls for doing so and has divorced itself from long-held practices before: If we can end things like monarchal rule and the slave trade, we can end policing.

Neither the monarchy nor slavery was thrown off easily. Ending policing either as we know it now or altogether wont be easy, either. But there can be no true justice with it as it is now.

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The Chauvin guilty verdict wont stop police misconduct but transformative justice could - Vox.com

It is the duty of every Muslim to read the life and work of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) with all seriousness for understanding the message of God the Holy Quran in practical terms. What the Prophet preached, he practised. A proper understanding of his life and work will provide the Ummah with all the strength needed to meet the challenges it faces today.

The birth of Allahs last Apostle, a blessing for all mankind, the harbinger of hope for humanity and the heralder of revolutionary reform, was an occasion for thanksgiving for every human being. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) preached and practised nothing but Islam, a simple, natural, perfect and practical religion, all his life.

His tradition, as well as the Holy Quran, should be an object of careful study and a source of inspiration for all Muslims. The most befitting homage to his memory is therefore to follow his example. As followers of the Mercy Unto the World, we have it as one of our first obligations to present an example of civilised humanity in every aspect of our life. The irony is that other nations have profited by the values underlying the Prophets percepts and attained a higher stage of individual and collective living, while we pay only lip-service to his teachings.

Worst still, even though we go on repeating that Islam is not merely a religion in the sense in which it is understood by most other people, but a complete code of life, we have virtually negated the concept by confining Islam to the pulpit of the mosque. The result is the imposition of an un-Islamic social superstructure on a people whose concepts of individual right and wrong are based on Islamic notions of ethics and morality.

It is time we bridged the distance between profession and practice.

The last sermon (khutba) of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at the farewell Haj which gave the first clearly formulated charter of human rights, laid emphasis on the sanctity of life and property, on the sanctity of the pledged word, on abolition of usury, on renunciation of revenge and above all on the concept of equality. He thus knocked down the deeply-entrenched notions of tribal, racial and parochial prejudice.

His accent on moderation and the middle path is specially worth recalling as many of us are apt to be assailed by partisan or extremist sentiments. He cautioned the Muslims against exaggerated interpretation of religion so that no tyranny could be instituted by invoking religion. Those Muslims who fight among themselves in the name of religion and think they are serving the cause of Islam must pause and ponder today if they are not misled by momentary passion.

The life of the Prophet has been minutely recorded by his attentive Companions, so that the full significance of his example is there for all to know.

Remembrance of Muhammads (PBUH) character has a life-giving value to those who remember and those who listen; and the setting down of Muhammads (PBUH) qualities in books of biography and history, in speeches and sermons, has enabled countless people in countless generations to lead better lives.

Small wonder then, that the Word of God urges believers to follow the example of the Prophet. If the Muslims want to recapture their past glory and want to make their due contribution to the peace and happiness of mankind, the schism in Muslim social life must go. The Prophet demonstrated how a man can live a fuller life without becoming a recluse. If each and every action in ones life is performed with a sense of accountability to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, the difference between the religious and the secular disappears and life becomes one harmonious whole.

For leading such a life, the holy Prophets teachings can serve as the candle that illumines humanitys path till the last Day.

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Ramadan in UAE: Prophets teachings work as a candle for humanity - Khaleej Times

Some 300 religious sisters on Tuesday heard their peers call on them to empower women through education, institutions specifically created to support women, being critical of situations where women are being trampled on, and by telling the stories of the thousands of religious sisters who are fulfilling their apostolic mission.

Who are we as sisters? We are people whove been chosen by God to be sent, were apostolic sisters, trying to live the life of the apostles, sent out to the world to bring the good news, the message of freedom to humanity, said Dominican Sister Helen Alford, a member of the Vaticans Academy for Social Sciences. What we do for empowering women is part of that basic gospel-rooted mission.

Alford was speaking in a pre-recorded message showed at the beginning of an online event called Sisters Empowering Women, organized by the International Union of Superior Generals, under the theme of Economy and Health: Religious Sisters, Leaders of a New Model.

The leading voices in the panel were American Sister Carol Keehan, a member of the Daughters of Charity and chairperson of the Health Task Force of the Vaticans COVID-19 Commission, and Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli, undersecretary of the Vaticans Dicastery for Integral Human Development. The two-hour long encounter was moderated by the UKs ambassador to the Holy See, Sally Axworthy.

Keehan spoke about what the Vaticans COVID-19 commissions health task force is doing to try to promote vaccination equity and also better understanding how they work and why the Catholic Church sees receiving it as a moral imperative, despite some voices which as she said, range from bishops to religious sisters saying the contrary.

Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI have both received the COVID-19 vaccine, the Vatican mandated it for all of its employees, andoffered it for freenearly 2,000 homeless and needy people from Rome. In a TV interview broadcast Jan. 10, the pope said that he believed that from an ethical point of view, everyone should take the vaccine because those who did not would not only put their own lives at risk, but also the lives of others.

The COVID commission aspires to work towards solving this global problem from a global perspective, Keehan said. Quoting Pope Franciss 2020 encyclical,Fratelli Tutti, she said: Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality.

Keehan said her task force began by understanding what were the most valuable contributions the Catholic Church could make when it comes to the pandemic, and they decided to focus on the equitable distribution of vaccines and in helping reduce the resistance in many places to getting vaccinated.

Though she avoided going into specifics, she acknowledged the concern people have in some countries for getting diluted products were more than justified.

The taskforce has since then made several resources available for dioceses, schools, parishes and religious to distribute. The resources combine both up-to-date clinical data and theological background information, and several are guides made in a Q&A format.

In her presentation, Smerelli spoke about how the Economy of Francis was forced to change from a week-long event in the Italian city of Assisi in 2020 to an international online process to create an inclusive economic model that is person-centered.

Recalling some of the points made by young people from around the world during the various online gatherings, Smerelli said that young people suggested the abolition of tax-havens and for all major companies to have independent bodies that have decision-making power on issues involving social and environmental impact.

Young people also asked for all children to have access to education, and for working women to have the same opportunities as men. They also echoed Franciss call for money currently used for the arms trade to be utilized instead to create an international fund to fight poverty.

In a meeting with the COVID commission coordinators, Pope Francis told us that we cannot think about development without starting from what COVID is leaving us, Smerelli said. We cannot think about managing COVID issues without a notion of integral human development.

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Religious sisters seek to fight the pandemic, and look towards post-COVID world - Angelus News

MADRID - For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, crowds are expected to return on Sunday to Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, the spiritual home of this controversial spectacle.

Six matadors will do battle with bulls in front of 6,000 cheering aficionados amid tight health restrictions that included limiting ticket sales to 25% of capacity.

However, for lovers of what is known in Spain as thefiesta nacionalit will be a huge emotional boost after a year in which rings across the country have remained closed.

The charity bullfight will raise money for matadors and some of the 200,000 people who work in this sector who have been hard-hit by the coronavirus.

In normal times, the bloody spectacle generates $4.8 billion for the economy annually, almost 1% of GDP, according to the National Association of Organizers of Bullfights.

Regarded as an art by admirers in Spain, bullfighting has met with increasing criticism in recent years from a growing animal rights lobby which has been supported by left-wing parties.

Fighting back

Now, after the pandemic has pushed the industry onto the ropes financially, the men who wear the colorful suit of lights are staging a fight back.

For bullfighting this will be hugely symbolic. It will be the first time we return to Las Ventas, the world home of bullfighting, since before the start of the pandemic, Antonio Lorca, bullfighting critic of El Pas, one of Spain's major newspapers, told VOA.

The hope is that this will be the start of many more fights. It will be in aid of those who work in the industry. They have all struggled to get through the past year.

Victorino Martn, president of the Foundation of Fighting Bulls that represents breeders, believes this weekends contest will mark the start of a recovery for an industry which, he says, has cultural as well as economic importance for Spain.

This bullfight will be strategically important as it will mark the start of a series of similar fights in Madrid next month, he told VOA.

This industry has suffered economically but it is also a part of Spanish culture, a little like theatre.

Tradition and politics

The pandemic has accelerated the decline of a spectacle which in the past has inspired artists including Francisco de Goya, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso.

In 2012, there were 1,997 fights but this fell to 1,425 by 2019, according to Spain's ministry of culture which deals with bullfighting as it is considered an art form.

After the financial crisis of 2008, many local councils, which traditionally pay for bullfights, cut their budgets.

A younger generation are attracted as much to Tik Tok or YouTube as a paying to see a spectacle which is seen by some as old fashioned.

Bullfighting has recently become an increasing political issue.

Rocio Monasterio, the candidate for the far-right Vox party in regional elections in Madrid on May 4, took on a bull in the ring with the aid of a real matador to kick off her campaign.

Vox, which is the third largest party in the Spanish parliament with 52 deputies, supports countryside pursuits.

I wasn't scared at all. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. It was great in spite of the nonsense of the totalitarians who oppose bullfighting, she told VOA afterwards.

Isabel Daz Ayuso, the current conservative president of Madrid who polls suggest will win, has promised to organize 18 bullfights in small towns in coming months and pledged $3.63 million in subsidies.

Spaniards have been split over the issue of bullfighting in recent years with some considering it an art, while others see it as cruelty.

A 2019 poll for the online newspaper El Espaol found 56.4% of Spaniards opposed bullfighting while 24.7 per cent supported it and 18% were indifferent.

Jos Zaldivar has been campaigning to ban bullfighting but holds out little hope of success at least in the short term.

He works from an office that contains an arsenal of the weapons which matadors use to battle with the bull, from the sword which ends the animals life to the banderillas which are punctured into its back to weaken it during the duel.

What the animal goes through in terms of stress and pain cannot be anything else but torture, said Zaldivar, who is president of the Association of Veterinarians for the Abolition of Bullfighting.

He believes as long as bullfighting is protected as part of Spain's cultural heritage it will be impossible to deal the estocada the sword thrust in which the matador kills the bull.

In 2013, the then conservative government passed a law which established the indisputable cultural character of bullfighting.

This meant that in 2016 the Constitutional Court was able to annul a ban on bullfighting by regional authorities in Catalonia and in the Balearic Islands.

Read this article:

Spains Matadors Fight Back After COVID-19 Nearly Kills Their Art - Voice of America

The 4th Annual Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas will begin its Juneteenth celebration on May 31 with a pause to remember the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. "We will hold a solemn Candlelight Ceremony commemorating the deadliest and most destructive massacre in our countrys history," officials said.

This years slate of events will be hosted based on the most recent CDC COVID-19 recommendations for masks and social distancing. We will present work showcasing the disciplines of music, dance, visual arts, film and spoken word throughout the month of June. Most events will be held on MLK Boulevard. in honor of Black Wall Street. The main event, Juneteenth Independence Day will be held at Community Haven in East Chattanooga with a black party vibe.The multidisciplinary festival aims to spotlight emerging and established local Black artists and build greater community awareness of the diversity of Black arts within Chattanooga and Hamilton County, says festival founder and CEO Ricardo Ric Morris. The event will also provide opportunities for discussions on topics that connect Black arts to other areas of the life of the community.

The first and most important outcome I want the festival to achieve is to awaken the greater Chattanooga community to the broad spectrum of exemplary work by black artists in our own back yard, Mr. Morris said. This celebration will allow other ethnicities to better understand and embrace the concept that while these works of art may be created Black people and reflective of the Black condition, they more importantly speak to the human condition in ways that only the arts can do.

The date of the festival coincides with the internationally recognized observance of Juneteenth, a U.S. holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas and, more widely, the emancipation of African slaves throughout the former Confederacy.

Highlights of the festival line-up include:

Monday, May 31 5 p.m. - FreeThe inaugural, Inviting Their Voices: A Youth Town Hall Racism. The Waterhouse Pavilion. At the Corner of MLK & Market Street starting at 5 p.m.

Monday, May 31 6:21 p.m. - Free100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. We will hold a solemn Candlelight Ceremony in Miller Park starting at 6:21 p.m.

Fridays, June 4-25 - 9 p.m. - FreeOscar Micheaux Black Film Festival (outside) Community Haven, 815 North Hickory in East Chattanooga

Thursday, June 10 6 p.m. - FreeElizabeth Catlett Visual Arts Exhibition Opening Night CocktailsJoin us at the Proof Bar, 422 E. MLK Blvd., as we view the work of featured artist Joseph Forsons work

Friday, June 18 6 p.m. Free / StreamingArtist to Artist: A Round Table : Meet and Greet Ed Johnson Memorial artist Jerome Meadows and CFBA&I featured Artist Joseph Forson and others. Keeody Gallery - 756 West MLK Blvd., Suite 200

Saturday, June 19 - 10 a.m. - FreeScratching Your Roots Black Genealogy Workshop Chattanooga Public Library 1001 Broad St.

Saturday, June 19 3-9 p.m - FreeJuneteenth Independence Day All School Reunion Block Party Music, Food, DJ for dancing and games. Community Haven 815 North Hickory in East Chattanooga

Sunday, June 20 - 1:30 p.m. - TicketedBlack Dads Matter Jazz Brunch Cruse aboard the Southern Bell River Boat. Live music with Dexter Bell and Friends Singer Jackie Ramsey.

With this fourth-years presentation of the festival, we are taking Juneteenth into the Black community with welcoming arms for all to attend," said Mr. Morris, founder and CEO of the festival.

If you would like to be a vendor or volunteer, visit the website at chattanap192.com/contact and complete the form.

Community partners providing support for the festival include: Benwood, Lyndhurst and Footprint Foundations, Bessie Smith African- American Museum, River City Co., The Chattanooga Chronical, EPB, Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Chattanooga Public Library, City of Chattanooga and The Proof Bar.

For more information, visit the festival website at BlackArtsAndIdeasFest.com or call Ric Morris at 423-883-0178. You may also send an e-mail to BlackArtsAndIdeasFest@gmail.com.

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The 4th Annual Chattanooga Festival Of Black Arts And Ideas: Juneteenth Independence Day To Be Held In East Chattanooga - The Chattanoogan

The government announced yesterday that it is abolishing the UPSR exam for Year Six students. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The decision by Putrajaya to abolish the UPSR has received a mixed reaction from education groups.

Education minister Radzi Jidin, in announcing the scrapping of the exam for Year Six students, said the ministry would introduce an alternative method to evaluate students who are supposed to sit for the two major examinations.

No substitute exams will be held. We will strengthen the current evaluation methods, said Radzi.

Speaking to FMT, National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan Huat Hock agreed with the move, saying that the public exam only added pressure on students to get good results but neglected wholesome education.

The union has been fighting for the abolition of the national exam for more than five years.

UPSR is so skewed towards producing As but neglects wholesome education. The whole system is geared towards achieving academic excellence and nothing else, he said.

Tan said that as most of resources went to UPSR, other education streams such as music, arts and physical education are often sidelined.

He believed the goal of primary education is the mastery of the basics such as reading, writing and arithmetic, saying: With the mastery of the basics, they should not have a problem advancing to Form One (secondary education).

However, he said, other existing school-based assessment instruments such as monthly tests, year-end examinations, course work and quizzes should be continued as they are important for teachers to evaluate the students progress.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Rahim also believed that big examinations caused teachers to heavily focus on preparing students for the test rather than providing quality education to them.

When there are important public examinations, teachers tend to teach for the test rather than educate, she said.

However, Noor Azimah said evaluation of students must not be abandoned and some other forms of assessment is needed.

Continuous assessment throughout the academic year may be more meaningful as is currently being conducted, with school-based assessments at all levels except for form five.

However, she admitted that the abolition of UPSR may increase inequality in academic achievement.

The more affluent community will take mitigating measures to ensure their children are educated properly. Meanwhile, the B40 community will suffer the most, she said.

Meanwhile, the Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) criticised the last-minute cancellation of UPSR.

What frustrates us the most is: why cant they inform us ahead that they intend to do so? Magpie chairman Mak Chee Kin said.

Mak said the sudden decision would cause stress and confusion to students, teachers and parents.

He said it would also put a heavy burden on teachers to prepare new teaching materials.

Teachers have a very important role to ensure that their students are ready for secondary schools, he said.

The Association of Science, Technology and Innovation (ASTI) shared a similar concern, saying the government should have made the announcement earlier, as it would give teachers more time to prepare.

This is a drastic change and our teachers may not be ready. Some may question if they need to come up with their own assessments now. There is an element of uncertainty, ASTI president Mohamed Yunus Yasin said.

It would be good if they had made this announcement in January. Now, we are well into the second quarter of the year.

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Scrapping of UPSR gets mixed reaction | Free Malaysia Today - Free Malaysia Today

This article is written by Owen Buchan, writer for News and Politics of The Yorker, and Deputy Editor of York Politics Review.

We have to face some hard facts. The political, social and economic order is here to stay. We can spend all day pointing out the systemic injustices against people form marginalised groups. How wealth and power are being concentrated into a smaller and smaller group of oligarchs. How the continuation of policies is leading us to a climate disaster. Finally, how powerless the masses seem to be to counter these and various other issues. Identifying these issues and devising a better system is a worthwhile cause. The works of Marx, Engels, Lenin or Kropotkin (just to name a minuscule variety of left-wing writers) have rich insight and analysis that is invaluable to the cause of a better world. Yet we still have to face the grim reality that we live in that isnt going to alter any time soon.

The ultimate aim is a society free from the various systems/institutions of coercion and domination. Systems like capitalism or institutions like the state for example would ideally be abolished. While this is the end goal, the potential of this occurring is relatively slim. A global changing event, something much larger than a global pandemic, would need to occur. Despite this, laying down and accepting the status quo is not preferable and still not acceptable. So if we have established that there are systems in society that we cannot abolish but we still want to alter the status quo, what can we do?

A plan is a two-pronged approach. Direct action through protest and mass movements that put pressure on parties to take action for example is one aspect. The Other approach is electoralism and party political formation. In terms of the latter, social democratic parties have seen major historical success and its time we try and put it back into action.

Social democracy is a revisionist form of Marxism and socialism that admittedly tones down the more radical elements such as the abolition of capitalism and the overall aim of communism. They seek to work within the confines of the current system of liberal democracy to create a more equitable and fair society. This is normally done through state intervention in the economy, generous welfare spending and promotion of socially progressive values. If you want a catch-all term, it is the promotion of social justice. Thus the aim is not to abolition capitalism, but to make it more palatable and workable for the average person. Compare this to socialism generally that seeks to end capitalism totally.

Social Democracy has been incredibly successful. It was social democracy that rebuilt Western Europe after World War 2. In the UK for example, it was the Labour party under Attlee and a clear social democrat manifesto that created the ever loved and enduring British Welfare state. These collections of policies such as the creation of the NHS and free education that aimed to ensure all in society were cared for from the cradle until the grave. As the Labour continued to get into power up into the 70s, we saw the nationalisation of major industries and major social victories with the abolition of the death penalty, decriminalisation of homosexuality and protections against sex-based discrimination. Through all this, society was radically altered. A society in which people were living longer, had more rights and lower income inequality. It was only after 1979 when Thatcher came to power that we saw a shattering of the Social Democrat order in the UK.

While all these achievements are in the past, their effects are still felt and needed today. While the UK has moved away from the mixed economy of social democracy, the Scandinavian countries have held strong and retain strong social democratic policies. Vast investments into public services and industries have meant that the Scandinavian nations have the highest standard of living in the world. With leading public education and humane prison systems that create a happy and more equal society. It is a trope in US politics to point at the Scandinavian nations and proclaim them socialist, obviously this is not true as they still have capitalism. Bernie Sanders is right to point to them and argue its a model for what could be for the USA. For the UK its a calling for specifically the Labour party to return to its roots of social democracy. For all the criticism directed at Jeremy Corbyn; the nationalisation of the railways was a prime social democratic policy that was incredibly popular.

Social democracy is pragmatic and has created results. In a system controlled by wealthy elites and interest, social democrats have been able to get results for people. Some may view these as mere concessions. A concession is ultimately still a result. Its time for social democracy to come back cautiously. The banners of socialism cannot fly high and scare the establishment. It must be subtle. Conflict with major interest is not one that social democracy can win. By navigating and moving within the system we can get results. Pushing the system to its limits opens the debate to working outside the system.

Social democracy is still heavily flawed. It relies heavily on a neo-colonial exploration of the developing world to sustain large welfare expenditure. Social Democrats are also in constant war with the bourgeoise and often deliver watered-down versions of policies. It fails to tackle the underlying issue in society like capitalism. Furthermore, they often become hostile to socialism more broadly and become the part of the class they are meant to oppose. See the Spartacist Uprising and youll see why social democrats arent always to be trusted. This is why social democracy is only a part of a wider plan. It can get some results but soon it will hit a roadblock. So we should support social democrats when we can. Moving the Labour Party and the Democrat Party to the left so that social democrat policies become normalised again is a route forward. Even small policies can bring major changes to the lives of ordinary people and that alone is worth supporting but we must not lose sight of the wider prize.

Written by Owen Buchan, Deputy Editor of YPR in collaboration with YPR. Read more from YPR at https://yorkpoliticsreview.wordpress.com/.

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Opinion: Social Democracy is still a valid cause but not the end goal - The Yorker