Gun control, climate: a new US generation takes to the barricades

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People take photos of the March For Our Lives students place gun violence prevention art on the US Capitol grounds on March 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/AFP)
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David Hogg of Parkland High School and Washington, DC-area students participate in the S42 protest calling for stricter gun control in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the March For Our Lives at the US Capitol in Washington on March 25, 2019. (REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy)
Updated 31 March 2019
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Gun control, climate: a new US generation takes to the barricades

  • The March for Our Lives movement is pushing for stricter gun control legislation in the US
  • The European face in the fight against global warming is a 16-year-old girl

NEW YORK: In the United States, David Hogg is a leading campaigner for gun control, while in Europe, Greta Thunberg fights to defend the climate.
They may only be teenagers, but both have drawn worldwide followings for their clear messages and fierce commitment — symbols of a generation of surprising militancy.
Hogg, who is 18, is a leader of the March for Our Lives movement, launched by students from his high school in Parkland, Florida, where a heavily armed gunman massacred 17 people on February 14, 2018.
The movement, pushing for stricter gun control legislation, has mobilized hundreds of thousands of young Americans.
Thunberg, a pig-tailed Swedish student who looks younger even than her 16 years, has become the European face of the fight against global warming, inspiring huge crowds of young protesters to take to the streets, including in Germany, which had not seen such massive turnouts since the heady days of reunification.
Thunberg has come far from the days when she mounted a brave but lonely protest standing on the steps of the Swedish parliament. She is now mentioned as a possible Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2019.
Were she to win that lofty award, Thunberg would be the youngest laureate ever, younger even than Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who at 17 won the 2014 Nobel for her fight — even after being shot by a Taliban gunman — for education rights for girls and women.
Some members of this new generation are even more precocious. Consider American schoolgirl Alice Paul Tapper, who was only 10 in 2017 when she started her “Raise Your Hand” campaign to encourage girls not to let themselves be intimidated. The movement caught fire on social media, boosted by help from her Girl Scout troop and also by the celebrity of her father, CNN newsman Jake Tapper.
Her new book “Raise Your Hand,” published this week, briefly ranked 12th on Amazon’s list of “hot new releases.”
According to several experts, these examples illustrate a rise in youthful involvement not seen in years — akin, some say, to the activism seen during the US civil rights protests of the 1960s.
If youth has always been synonymous with protests, the trend seemed to have gone latent for years. “We went through a generation or almost two when we were not seeing a lot of activism,” said Elizabeth Matto, a Rutgers University specialist in youthful political participation.
“The teenagers we are calling Generation Z now,” she said, are showing a “real inclination to engage in expressing their political voice.”
“They are starting to recognize what a force they are to be reckoned with... a generation that wants to make things better and who does not really see their age as a barrier.”
As proof she cited the involvement of Americans aged 18 to 29 in last November’s US congressional election: some 31 percent of them voted, the highest rate in 25 years, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).
More educated than older Americans, and having grown up with — and become completely fluent in — the ways of social media, this generation knows how to organize and draw attention, said Sam Abrams, a political science professor at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
These young militants can quickly assemble videos that are “almost movie-quality stuff,” said Abrams, who is 39. “This generation knows how to do that and convey these stories really effectively.”
Without social media, says Hogg — who has 950,000 Twitter followers — the Parkland students could still have organized their protests “but not nearly to the scale that we did.”
But even if social media make it far easier to attract attention or draw followers, they offer no guarantee that this young generation can effect real change, Abrams emphasized.
“The big question always is: can they sustain a movement?“
“Social change,” he added, “it is slow, it takes years.”
With college students coming and going — and graduating — Abrams says he has seen many student movements burst onto the scene, and then lose steam and fade away.
Nineteen-year-old Zanagee Artis, who last year co-founded the Zero Hour coalition for climate and environmental justice, admits that after months of intensive activism, he shed most of his leadership responsibilities after starting his studies in political science and the environment at Brown University.
“Older youths like me,” he told AFP, “we are going to be more busy and will have less time” for activism.
“But I don’t have any doubt that Zero Hour will be able to continue,” he said. “With the rise of social media, we are able to connect with a lot more youths than before.”
David Hogg said that after taking a “gap year” to travel across the country, he is ready to ease off on the gas as he heads to Harvard University.
“I’ll be less involved, but we’ll be just as effective,” he said. “There are many other people involved, and we have a movement that’s growing stronger every day.”
Hogg said he is quite aware that change on a subject as sensitive as US gun control could take years.
“It might take a while,” he said. “It might take kids running for Congress who are not old enough yet.”


US military ready to carry out lawful orders of next administration, Pentagon chief says

Updated 58 min 10 sec ago
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US military ready to carry out lawful orders of next administration, Pentagon chief says

  • “The US military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena;,” Austin wrote

WASHINGTON: US Défense Secretary Lloyd Austin told troops that the Pentagon was committed to an orderly transition to the incoming administration of Donald Trump, adding that the military would not get involved in politics and was ready to carry out “all lawful orders.”
“The US military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena; to stand guard over our republic with principle and professionalism; and to stand together with the valued allies and partners who deepen our security,” Austin wrote in a memo to troops that was sent out on Wednesday night.


Germany arrests a US citizen over accusations of spying for China

Updated 07 November 2024
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Germany arrests a US citizen over accusations of spying for China

  • The suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt
  • His home was being searched

BERLIN: Germany’s federal prosecutor office said it arrested an American citizen on Thursday who allegedly spied for China.
The office said that the suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt and that his home was being searched.
The accused, who until recently worked for the US Armed Forces in Germany, is strongly suspected of having agreed to act as an intelligence agent for a foreign secret service.
Earlier this year, he contacted Chinese government agencies and offered to transmit sensitive information from the US military to a Chinese intelligence service, according to an investigation by Germany’s domestic intelligence service.
He had obtained the information in question in the course of his work in the US army, the prosecutor’s statement said, without giving any further information.


Offering Putin Ukraine concessions ‘suicidal’ for Europe: Zelensky

Updated 25 min 30 sec ago
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Offering Putin Ukraine concessions ‘suicidal’ for Europe: Zelensky

  • Zelensky blasted those who were urging him to give in to some of President Vladimir Putin’s hard-line demands
  • “There has been much talk about the need to yield to Putin, to back down, to make some concessions ...” Zelensky said

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said it would be “suicidal” for Europe to offer the Kremlin concessions to halt its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to European leaders at a summit in Hungary, Zelensky blasted those who were urging him to give in to some of President Vladimir Putin’s hard-line demands, and urged Europe and the United States not to loosen ties following the election of Donald Trump.
“There has been much talk about the need to yield to Putin, to back down, to make some concessions ... It’s unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all Europe,” Zelensky said, according to a copy of the address provided to AFP by the Ukrainian presidency.
He accused some European leaders, without specifying who, of “strongly” pushing Ukraine to make “concessions to Putin” — something Kyiv says would only embolden the Kremlin leader and encourage further aggression.
“We need sufficient weapons, not support in talks. Hugs with Putin won’t help. Some of you have been hugging him for 20 years, and things are only getting worse,” Zelensky said.
The summit was being hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has repeatedly railed against the West’s multi-billion dollar support to Kyiv.
Zelensky also urged Europe and the US to preserve their strong ties following Trump’s election victory this week.
The Republican has repeatedly criticized American aid to Ukraine and said he could end the war within hours of taking office.
“We do hope that America will become stronger. This is the kind of America that Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs. This is the connection between allies that must be valued and cannot be lost,” Zelensky said.
As he repeated a call for more Western arms for his struggling army, Zelensky said Europe had to realize that North Korea was effectively “waging war” on the continent.
“North Korea is now, in effect, waging war in Europe. North Korean soldiers are attempting to kill our people on European soil,” he said, referring to reports Pyongyang has deployed troops to Russia to support the invasion.


US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official

Updated 07 November 2024
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US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official

  • The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so

WASHINGTON: A US military judge has reinstated plea agreements for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants, an official said Thursday, three months after the deals were scrapped by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The agreements — which are understood to take the death penalty off the table — had triggered anger among some relatives of victims of the 2001 attacks, and Austin said that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.
“I can confirm that the military judge has ruled that the pretrial agreements for the three accused are valid and enforceable,” the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so.
The plea deals with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices were announced in late July in a step that appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution after years of being bogged down in pre-trial maneuverings while the defendants remained held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.
But Austin withdrew the agreements two days after they were announced, saying the decision should rest with him given its significance.
He subsequently told journalists that “the families of the victims, our service members and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case.”
Much of the legal jousting surrounding the men’s cases has focused on whether they could be tried fairly after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the CIA in the years after 9/11 — a thorny issue that the plea agreements would have avoided.


India’s Hindus bathe in holy river defiled by pollution

Updated 07 November 2024
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India’s Hindus bathe in holy river defiled by pollution

  • Thousands celebrated the festival of Chhath Puja for the Hindu sun god Surya, entering the stinking Yamuna waters to pray
  • A parliamentary report in February called the Yamuna ‘more of a toxic waterway than a river’

NEW DELHI: Sweeping aside thick toxic scum, thousands of Hindu devotees ignored court warnings Thursday against bathing in the sacred but sewage-filled Yamuna river, a grim display of environmental degradation in India’s capital.
Thousands celebrated the festival of Chhath Puja for the Hindu sun god Surya, entering the stinking waters to pray as the evening rays set in the sky.
A parliamentary report in February called the Yamuna “more of a toxic waterway than a river,” saying the foam clouds were formed from a potent chemical soup including laundry detergent and phosphates from fertilizers.
“Please understand you will fall sick,” a high court order said Wednesday, Indian media reported, restricting ritual bathing on health grounds. “We can’t allow you to go into the water.”
But housewife Krishnawati Devi, 45, said she was not worried.
“I believe the waters of the river are pure and blessed by the sun god himself,” she said. “Nothing will happen to me — god will take care of everything.”
Hindu faithful ignored the order, with women wrapped in fine saris and heavy jewelry wading into the grey waters.
White foam swirled around their feet. In places, it was so thick it looked like the river had frozen.
“Chhath is a festival of unflinching faith,” said Avinash Kumar, 58, a government office worker. “We can also offer prayers at home but it doesn’t feel the same as praying in the river.”
Others thumped drums and sang.
New Delhi’s authorities have poured in anti-foaming agents to disperse the froth, and used nets to sweep the scum away — but it has done nothing to clean the fetid water itself.
“It stinks, but it’s ok,” said 14-year-old schoolgirl Deepa Kumari. “What is important is that we get to celebrate in the river with our people.”
Rituals in the days-long festival culminate at dawn on Friday.
“I don’t bother about the pollution,” said Pooja Prasad, 20, a student. “The mother goddess will take care of all our troubles,” she added.
The sprawling megacity of some 30 million people is also smothered in poisonous smog — fueled by burning crop fields and vehicle exhaust fumes.
Levels of fine particulate matter — dangerous microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs — have this week surged beyond 50 times the World Health Organization recommended daily maximum.
“Toxi-city,” broadcasters dubbed the capital.
City authorities have declared repeated efforts to clean the river.
From an icy source of a Himalayan glacier, the Yamuna feeds into the mighty Ganges, flowing more than 3,100 kilometers (1,925 miles) to the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
But barely 400 kilometers into that journey, the water passing New Delhi is already effectively dead.
The parliamentary report warned of an “excessive presence of heavy metals” and cancer-causing pollutants ranging from arsenic to zinc, from everything from batteries to pesticides.
“Contamination... transform it into a carrier of untreated industrial waste, garbage, agricultural run-off and municipal waste,” the report read.
“This has a profound effect on the well-being of the people.”
Government statistics say 80 percent of the pollution load is raw sewage, far exceeding permissible levels for bathing.
Some of the faithful have traditionally drunk the water.
Levels fluctuate, but in one spot in 2021 in south Delhi, fecal bacteria levels exceeded maximum health regulations by 8,800 times.
But many say they are frustrated at the situation.
“The river is sacred to us, but all the filth from the industrial belt nearby is being pumped into it,” added Kumar.
“Every year they say they are going to clean it, but nothing ever happens.”