Why are all those Racists so Terrified?

Racism directed against indigenous peoples and people of color has been a significant factor driving key aspects of domestic politics and foreign policy in many countries for centuries. This outcome is inevitable given the psychological imperatives that drive racist violence.

by Robert J. Burrowes-Aug 22, 2017

( August 22, 2017, Victoria, Sri Lanka Guardian) Racism is not a new phenomenon and while it is an ongoing daily reality for vast numbers of people, it also often bursts from the shadows to remind us that just because we can keep ignoring the endless sequence of ‘minor’ racist incidents, racism has not gone away despite supposedly significant efforts to eliminate it. I say ‘supposedly’ because these past efforts, whatever personnel, resources and strategies have been devoted to them, have done nothing to address the underlying cause of racism and so their impact must be superficial and temporary. As the record demonstrates.

I say this not to denounce the effort made and, in limited contexts, the progress achieved, but if we want to eliminate racism, rather than confine it to the shadows for it to burst out periodically, then we must have the courage to understand what drives racism and design responses that address this cause.

Otherwise, all of the best ideas in the world can do no more than repeat past efforts at dialogue, education, nonviolent action and the implementation of legislation designed to protect civil rights or even outlaw violence, which doesn’t work, of course, as the pervasive violence in our society demonstrates and was again graphically illustrated by the recent outbreak of ‘white nationalist’ violence in Charlottesville in the United States.

Racism directed against indigenous peoples and people of color has been a significant factor driving key aspects of domestic politics and foreign policy in many countries for centuries. This outcome is inevitable given the psychological imperatives that drive racist violence.

Racism – fear of, and hatred for, those of another race coupled with the beliefs that the other race is inferior and should be dominated (by your race) – is now highly visible among European populations impacted by refugee flows from the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, racism is ongoingly and highly evident among sectors of the US population but also in countries like South Africa as well as Australia and throughout Central and South America where indigenous populations are particularly impacted. But racism is a problem in many other countries too.

So why is fear and hatred of those of a different race so prominent? Let me start at the beginning.

Human socialization is essentially a process of terrorizing children into ‘thinking’ and doing what the adults around them want (irrespective of the functionality of this thought and behavior in evolutionary terms). Hence, the attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors that most humans exhibit are driven by fear and the self-hatred that accompanies this fear. For a comprehensive explanation of this point, see ‘Why Violence?’ and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’.

However, because this fear and self-hatred are so unpleasant to feel consciously, most people suppress these feelings below conscious awareness and then (unconsciously) project them onto ‘legitimized’ victims (that is, those people ‘approved’ for victimization by their parents and/or society generally). In short: the fear and self-hatred are projected as fear of, and hatred for, particular social groups (whether people of another gender, nation, race, religion or class).

This all happens because virtually all adults are (unconsciously) terrified and self-hating, so they unconsciously terrorize children into accepting the attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors that make the adults feel safe. A child who thinks and acts differently is frightening and is not allowed to flourish.

Once the child has been so terrorized however, they will respond to their fear and self-hatred with diminishing adult stimulus. What is important, emotionally speaking, is that the fear and self-hatred have an outlet so that they can be released and acted upon. And because parents do not allow their child to feel and express their fear and hatred in relation to the parents themselves (who, fundamentally, just want obedience without comprehending that obedience is rooted in fear and generates enormous self-hatred because it denies the individual’s Self-will), the child is left with no alternative but to project their fear and hatred in socially approved directions.

Hence, as an adult, their own fear and self-hatred are unconscious to the individual precisely because they were never allowed to feel and express them safely as a child. What they do feel, consciously, is their hatred for ‘legitimized’ victims.

Historically, different social groups in different cultural contexts have been the victim of this projected but ‘socially approved’ fear and hatred. Women, indigenous peoples, Catholics, Afro-Americans, Jews, communists, Palestinians…. The list goes on. The predominant group in this category, of course, is children (whose ‘uncontrollability’ frightens virtually all parents until they have been successfully terrorized and tamed).

The groups that are socially approved to be feared and hated are determined by elites. This is because individual members of the elite are themselves terrified and full of self-hatred and they use the various powerful instruments at their disposal – ranging from control of politicians to the corporate media – to trigger the fear and self-hatred of the population at large in order to focus this fear and hatred on what frightens the elite. This makes it easier for the elite to then attack the group that they are projecting frightens them, which is why Donald Trump and various European leaders encourage racist attacks. See, for example, ‘This expert on political violence thinks Trump is making neo-Nazi attacks more likely’. It is also useful for providing a basis for enhancing elite social control through such measures as legislative restrictions on human rights and expanded police powers.

Historically speaking, indigenous peoples and people of color have been primary targets for this projected fear and self-hatred, which explains the psychological origins (which underpin and complement the political and economic origins) of practices such as the Atlantic slave trade and European colonialism in earlier centuries. Racism allows elites and others to project their fear and self-hatred onto indigenous people and people of color so that elites can then seek to destroy this fear and self-hatred.

Obviously, this cannot work. You cannot destroy fear, whether your own or that of anyone else. However, you can cause phenomenal damage to those onto whom your fear and self-hatred are projected. Of course, there is nothing intelligent about this process. If every indigenous person and person of colour in the world was killed, elites would simply then project their fear and self-hatred onto other groups and set out to destroy those groups too.

In fact, of course, western elites are now (unconsciously) projecting their fear and self-hatred onto Muslims as well and this manifests behaviourally in many ways, including as war on countries in the Middle East. And when the blowback from these wars manifests as ‘terrorist’ attacks on western countries (assuming they aren’t ‘false flag’ events, which is often the case), such as the recent attack in Barcelona, it is simply used by elites, employing their corporate media particularly, to justify more intrusive social control under the guise of ‘enhanced security’, as mentioned above.

If you are starting to wonder about the sanity of all this, you can rest assured there is none. Elites are insane. See ‘The Global Elite is Insane’. Unfortunately, the individuals who are mobilized in response to this projection are also insane, as a cursory perusal of their written words and even modest attention to their spoken words will readily illustrate. See, for example, ‘Charlottesville: Race and Terror’.

So is there anything we can do? Fundamentally, we need to stop terrorizing our children. As a back up, we can provide safe spaces for children and adults alike to feel their fear, self-hatred and other suppressed feelings consciously (which will allow them to be safely released). By doing this, we can avoid creating more insane individuals who will project their fear and self-hatred in elite-approved directions. See ‘My Promise to Children’.

If you are fearless enough to recognize that elites are manipulating you into fearing those of other races (or religions) whom we do not need to fear, any time is a good time to speak up and to demonstrate your solidarity. You might also like to sign the online pledge of ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’.

You are also welcome to consider using the strategic framework explained in Nonviolent Campaign Strategy for your anti-racism campaign. And if you want to organise a nonviolent action to combat racism in a context where violence might erupt, you can minimize the risk of this violence by following the comprehehensive list of guidelines here: ‘Nonviolent Action: Minimizing the Risk of Violent Repression’.

Suppressed fear and self-hatred must be projected and they are usually projected in socially approved ways (although mental illnesses and some forms of criminal activity are ways in which this suppressed fear manifests that are not socially approved).

In essence, racism is a manifestation of the mental illness of elites manipulating us into doing their insane bidding. Unfortunately, many people are easy victims of this manipulation because they are full of suppressed terror and self-hatred too.

Biodata: Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here.

Can Trump’s Religious Freedom Ambassador Actually Succeed?

 

BY JUDD BIRDSALL-AUGUST 21, 2017

If confirmed by the Senate to serve as the next U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback will face a daunting trifecta of challenges: Recent data from Pew Research Center reveals that religious persecution is on the rise, America’s image is in decline, and global majorities view President Donald Trump as “arrogant,” “dangerous,” and “intolerant.”

When it comes to religious tolerance, a skeptical world doesn’t believe America practices what it preaches.

Unsurprisingly, at the release of the State Department’s annual report on religion freedom last week, journalists peppered a senior State Department official with questions about how high-minded rhetoric on the importance of religious freedom abroad squares with Trump’s promise to prioritize Christian refugees, his efforts to enact a so-called “Muslim ban,” silence in response to increased attacks against American Muslims, conflicting views on Russia, and enhanced security cooperation with religiously repressive Saudi Arabia.

And yet, despite the president’s many blunders on religion-related issues, there are signs of a more conventional and constructive focus on religious freedom at the State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared at the religious freedom report rollout and gave solid remarks, offering solidarity with a wide range of persecuted groups — notably including Turkish Alevis, Chinese Uighurs, Pakistani Ahmadiyya, Saudi Shia, and other minority Muslim communities. The administration has retained Knox Thames, the special advisor for religious minorities in the Middle East and South/Central Asia. And most significantly, the administration has nominated a highly qualified, highly respected religious freedom ambassador.

During his many years in Congress, in the House and then Senate, Brownback was a well-known champion of religious freedom and myriad humanitarian causes. His nomination has been praised by a wide spectrum of religious leaders and religious freedom advocates — including some who have been intensely critical of Trump.

The Trump administration is also to be commended for the relative speed of the Brownback nomination. Whereas President George W. Bush took eight months to nominate his religious freedom envoy and Barack Obama took 17, Trump’s selection took just six months.

But many things Trump has said and done in the early months of his young presidency will complicate Brownback’s already difficult job. If the religious freedom report press conference was any indication, he is likely to be dogged by questions about the administration’s credibility on religious freedom issues.

Here, I put forward five concrete recommendations for addressing specific challenges Brownback will face as Trump’s religious freedom ambassador.

1. Emphasize early and often that religious freedom is a universal principle, not identity politics. Everyone from atheists to Zoroastrians is entitled to the same protection to peacefully practice and promote their beliefs.

Thankfully, Brownback has a strong track record of upholding the universality of religious liberty, as does the State Department office he will lead. Brownback should forcefully resist any pressure to prioritize Christians or to give short shrift to other groups.

2. Especially reassure and defend vulnerable Muslims. Muslims are the primary victims of terrorism, they suffer severe repression in places like China and Myanmar, and they face far greater social hostility than socially conservative Christians in Europe and North America.

From candidate Trump’s call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” to his insistence on using the unhelpful phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” to his refusal to host the traditional White House iftar, this administration has severely strained America’s relationship with the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims.

Brownback can help to repair some of the damage by meeting regularly with Muslim groups, speaking at their conferences, visiting their holy sites, calling out governments that mistreat their Muslim populations, condemning acts of terror targeting Muslims, and being forthright about America’s own struggle with Islamophobia.

3. Communicate the value of religious liberty in language that appeals across the ideological and theological spectrum. At home and abroad, the very term “religious freedom” is increasingly viewed as a partisan, sectarian rallying cry — as a front for a Christian nationalist agenda.

Brownback need not drop the phrase “religious freedom” entirely — it will be in his official title after all — but he can help to broaden the lingo of the movement he will serve. In Europe and in multilateral settings, the standard phrase is “freedom of religion or belief,” which more explicitly expands the concept and the cause to include people with nonreligious beliefs. Other terms like “belief rights,” “soul liberty,” and “freedom of conscience” get at more or less the same thing in less politicized ways.

Framing the issue around social inclusion, minority rights, and protection of sacred sites can also help to open productive conversations on the importance of respecting religious pluralism.

4. Champion democracy and the full range of human rights. Rarely does a government make isolated progress on one discreet human right, such as religious freedom. All rights are interconnected, mutually reinforcing elements of good governance. The rising tide of liberal democracy lifts the boats of all human rights.

Thus, the apparent lack of emphasis on democracy and human rights in “America First” foreign policy is worrisome for U.S. religious freedom diplomacy. Brownback will be more effective in advancing religious freedom if he is surrounded by a strong and collegial team of senior and mid-level officials advocating human rights and democracy. He can use his position to press the administration to fill and empower other vital human rights positions, most critically the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, and the special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

5. Defend and collaborate with the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global 
Affairs. Just as religious freedom is only one of many human rights, it’s also just one of many issues at the intersection of faith and foreign affairs. That’s why in 2013, after several years of internal and external lobbying, the State Department created an office devoted to it.

Now, under the Trump administration, there are concerns that the office could be bureaucratically sidelined. If it is, the State Department would lose an important mechanism for analyzing and advising on global religiopolitical dynamics and for equipping the U.S. diplomatic corps to more effectively engage faith-based communities on a broad range of shared goals, from promoting peace to combating corruption.

Religious freedom is just one small part of American foreign policy, but given Brownback’s political prominence and religious freedom’s significance to Trump’s constituency, Brownback will likely become a major force in Trump’s diplomacy. His task will be to make American religious freedom advocacy credible again.

Photo credit: ALEX WONG/Getty Images

 

Muslim 'triple talaq' divorce law 'unconstitutional', rules Supreme Court

Television journalists are seen outside the premises of the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India August 22, 2017.

Farha Faiz, a lawyer, speaks with the media after a verdict for the controversial Muslim quick divorce law outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India August 22, 2017.

Suchitra Mohanty and Rupam Jain-AUGUST 22, 2017

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled a controversial Muslim instant divorce law unconstitutional, a landmark victory for Muslim women who had long argued that it violated their right to equality.

The law allows Muslim men to divorce their wives simply by uttering the word "talaq" three times. Muslim women say they have been left destitute by husbands divorcing them through "triple talaq", including by Skype and WhatsApp.

Under the ruling, the government will need to frame new divorce legislation, which would replace the abolished practice of triple talaq.

"Finally, I feel free today," Shayara Bano, who was divorced through triple talaq and was among the women who brought the case, told Reuters after the ruling.

"I have the order that will liberate many Muslim women."

The ruling was delivered by a panel of five male judges from different faiths - Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

Three of the five ruled that the practice was unconstitutional, overruling the senior-most judge in India, the chief justice.

He announced a suspension of the practice, and told the government to come up with a new law within six months.

Many Muslim countries have banned the practice of triple talaq, including neighbouring Pakistan and conservative Saudi Arabia.

Opposition to the law helped forge an unlikely coalition of Muslim women and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Hindu nationalist party, which wanted the law quashed, and pitted it against Muslim groups that say the state has no right to interfere in religious matters.

Some fear that the Hindu majority is trying to limit Islamic influence in society. Muslims make up about 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion people.

Two of the judges said triple talaq was "arbitrary" and violated fundamental rights. Justice Kurian Joseph said the practice was not "integral" to the Muslim faith.

'POWERFUL MEASURE'

Opponents of the law have toiled to abolish it for decades and were given a boost last year when Modi threw his support behind Bano, calling the law derogatory and discriminatory against women.

Modi hailed the judgment as "historic."

"It grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment," he said in a tweet.

Tuesday's ruling could spur Modi's party to push again for its long-held desire for a uniform civil code, which would end the application of religious laws to civil issues.

"The Supreme Court has a right to interfere in the personal space and they have done so," said Maneka Gandhi, minister for women and child development.

Some Muslim institutions have said that while triple talaq is wrong, the law should be reviewed by the community itself.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board said it would contest the court's decision.

"The fact that only three of the five judges have deemed the practice illegal shows that there was no clear decision," member Maqsood Hasani Nadvi said.

India allows religious institutions to govern matters of personal law - marriage, divorce and property inheritance - through civil codes designed to protect the independence of religious communities.

Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Writing and additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Malini Menon and Robert Birsel

Forced marriage women and girls cannot be disposable 

• forced marriages destroy mutual respect and trust
• The saddest thing about Lalani’s story is its wider significance for all of us as members of Sri Lankan society, because her experience is not exceptional

2017-08-21

Supportive marriages, leading to nurturing environments for families, are the building blocks of our society.  

A marriage can represent a safe haven for two people facing the outside world hand in hand. A good marriage is a loving and supportive relationship, built on mutual respect and trust.  

However, this wasn’t the reality for Lalani (not her real name), who was forced to marry an abusive man by her mother. Her husband turned out to be a violent alcoholic, who physically and sexually assaulted her, leaving her with serious injuries.

   The saddest thing about Lalani’s story is its wider significance for all of us as members of Sri Lankan society, because her experience is not exceptional.  

Incidences of forced marriage are, by their nature, very difficult to chart and map. They happen behind closed doors, with the - usually female - victim unable to seek help and perhaps unwilling to disobey the wishes of her closest family members. Forced marriage are not a new phenomenon for Sri Lankans, and have in fact been a key part of the recent public discussion around the existing Muslim family law. It is also a priority area of the international community and institutions.   

UNICEF commissioned a report, Emerging Concerns and Case Studies on Child Marriage in Sri Lanka, published in 2013, which examines the particularly pernicious form of forced marriage that involves underage girls. This report references the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 1948), which specifically refers to the right to enter marriage “with free and full consent” (Article 16 (2).

Just like forced marriage, these laws take away a person’s freedom, privacy and dignity. It strips them of what it is to be a rational and free-thinking human being, and breaches their rights as a citizen. For more information on the laws that target LGBTIQ people, and why we should get rid of them
  

Meanwhile, the UN’s instrument for protecting and advancing women’s rights globally, The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a treaty that Sri Lanka has signed up to, has this to say on forced marriage:  

“Traditional attitudes by which women are regarded as subordinate to men or as having stereotyped roles perpetuate widespread practices involving violence or coercion, such as family violence and abuse, forced marriage, dowry deaths, acid attacks and female circumcision. Such prejudices and practices may justify gender-based violence as a form of protection or control of women. The effect of such violence on the physical and mental integrity of women is to deprive them the equal enjoyment, exercise and knowledge of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Furthermore, CEDAW’s recent General Recommendation on Equality in Marriage (No. 21) considers early and forced marriages a “harmful” practice that must be eliminated, even if it is approved in local cultures and customs. In ratifying CEDAW and other international treaties, Sri Lanka is bound under international human rights law to harmonize domestic law and policy with treaties. The state must therefore work towards eliminating early and forced marriages.  

Incidences of forced marriage are, by their nature, very difficult to chart and map. They happen behind closed doors, with the - usually female - victim unable to seek help and perhaps unwilling to disobey the wishes of her closest family members

Many LGBTIQ people also report varying levels of coercion into unwanted marriages, as their families see marriage as a way to avoid the shame and stigma attached to their child’s sexuality. There is enough anecdotal evidence – particularly from lesbian and bisexual women - to indicate that forced marriage is deployed on an alarmingly regular basis.  

Of course, women are at the sharp end of this practice because of the profoundly patriarchal culture we live in, which means that female bodies and lives are at the mercy of the men around them.
Another example involves two 24-year-old women who worked together at a detergent factory. They were arrested by the police on July 19, 2017, following complaints made by their parents and neighbours in their home town. Although they were later released, one of the victims has been set up for a wedding by her parents and was locked in her house, her phone was taken away from her and she was unable to have any outside contact, until the appointed day of marriage. She is a lesbian, who was ‘out’ to her work colleagues at the factory, but she was forced into a marriage.  

A pervading and oppressive patriarchal ideology limits women’s free choice and judges them based on their ability to become a wife and mother. We live in a society in which women are pushed to become economically dependent on men and discouraged from skilled or well-paid work other than accepted ‘female professions,’ such as nursing. Given this environment, women become acutely vulnerable to forced marriage.  

A pervading and oppressive patriarchal ideology limits women’s free choice and judges them based on their ability to become a wife and mother. We live in a society in which women are pushed to become economically dependent on men and discouraged from skilled or well-paid jobs other than accepted ‘female professions,’ such as nursing

Meanwhile, society’s homophobia and refusal to accept LGBTIQ people as they are, often leads to their inability to see an alternative life for themselves outside conventional marriage. We hear of these artificially contrived heterosexual marriages for LGBTIQ people time and again, and to my knowledge they never end well.  

With combined societal homophobia and pressure from a male-dominated society and family unit, it is easy to see how lesbian and bisexual women are uniquely at risk of forced marriage. Sri Lanka is among the 44 countries worldwide that expressly target lesbians with a discriminatory law, criminalising their sexual conduct.   

Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code, which carried a sentence of up to ten year’s imprisonment, originated as an old British colonial law targeting gay men, which was expanded to cover lesbian relations in 1995. While the existence of these laws does not always mean arrest for lesbian and bisexual women, it is a powerful tool to ensure their silence and compliance. They cannot access justice or protection, and any appeal to the authorities for help extracting themselves from a potential forced marriage is an unsound risk.  

This is not to mention the everyday sadness of being locked inside an unhappy marriage to someone you did not choose. Of course, it is likely that if your spouse is unable to make you happy, they are not very happy either.

Just like forced marriage, these laws take away a person’s freedom, privacy and dignity. It strips them of what it is to be a rational and free-thinking human being, and breaches their rights as a citizen. For more information on the laws that target LGBTIQ people, and why we should get rid of them, see my column on March 13, 2017.  

The way in which women’s human rights are removed by a combination of the lack of protection they have under the law and their vulnerability to forced marriage is clear to see. The devastating impact of forced marriage is vast and enduring. As Lalani’s account illustrates, the risk of physical and sexual abuse is considerable. Other reported experiences include isolation, unstable family settings for children, self-harm and even suicide.  

This is not to mention the everyday sadness of being locked inside an unhappy marriage to someone you did not choose. Of course, it is likely that if your spouse is unable to make you happy, they are not very happy either.

 
If marriage, relationships and families are the building blocks of our society, we must consider carefully the kind of society we will construct, if those building blocks are rotten.  

The eclipse capital of the U.S. is over the moon for Monday’s solar event

CARBONDALE, Ill. — At first, Bob Baer thought it had to be a hoax.
The first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in almost 100 years moved across the U.S. at 2,000 mph on Aug. 21. Here are some highlights. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

By Sarah Kaplan August 20

A man identifying himself as an astronomer had emailed to let him know about two eclipses that would cross the United States — one in 2017, the next in 2024. Carbondale, the small southern Illinois city where Baer was a physics professor, would be the only city at the center of both.

Disbelieving, Baer pulled up a NASA projection of future paths of totality — the places where the moon completely covers the sun during an eclipse. The lines crossed right over his city, like an X on a treasure map, marked by the shadow of the moon.

Three years later, Carbondale residents are still incredulous at their cosmic good fortune. The city has been badly in need of a break, ever since the recession and state budget crises cut enrollment at the local campus of Southern Illinois University nearly in half. With the region’s biggest employer in a tailspin, businesses shuttered and buildings fell into disrepair. The apartment vacancy rate was 35 percent. “This place was depressed,” Baer said.

But now, to be twice blessed by the movements of the heavens — that’s not a coincidence that comes along every millennium. And Carbondale is determined to make the most of it.

On Saturday, at T-minus 48 hours to totality, the city was in a carnival mood. Hotel rooms were booked solid, restaurants were packed, and the line at the Dairy Queen extended far out the door.
 Laws banning open containers of alcohol had been temporarily suspended for an eight-block stretch of the main drag. Kids got their faces painted with pictures of the sun, then smeared the images by running through the cooling sprinklers set up all over town. The owners of the local tattoo parlor said they’d fielded 20 calls from people wanting to get an eclipse image inked into their skin.

No one was having more fun than Valeri Bleyer and Cheryl Bovee, who sat sipping ice water in camp chairs they set up outside their favorite local greasy spoon, Mary Lou’s Grill. The two old friends and longtime Carbondale residents had been recruited by Mary Lou’s owner, Marilynn Martin, to hawk T-shirts bearing the phrase “I’ve got my bacon and two egg-clipses.”

Marilynn Martin, owner of Mary Lou's Grill in Carbondale, Ill., was inundated with customers before the eclipse. (Sarah Kaplan/The Washington Post)

“Hi, girl,” Bovee called to a woman walking by. The woman smiled back. “Those shirts are real cute.”

“Hey, thanks.”

“Oh no, we don't know them,” Bovee explained later, after exchanging pleasantries and familiar smiles with several more passersby. “Everyone’s just friendly today. We’re all happy.”
“It reminds me of how it used to be,” Bleyer agreed.

Bovee and Bleyer were in college the same year at SIU, though they didn’t meet until after graduation. Back then, in the 1980s, the university was so big that you could spend four years there and still not meet a fraction of the people on campus. The students would throw wild parties that overwhelmed the downtown and ended only when police were called.

These days, enrollment is about 15,000 — down from 25,000 when Bovee and Bleyer attended.
Few people mourned the celebrations so raucous that they got SIU a mention in Playboy magazine. But they desperately miss the absent students, and the millions of dollars they spent on food, rent, school supplies and plastic cups each year.

“We’ve been struggling,” Bleyer said soberly. She jerked her head at the restaurant behind her. “She’s been having a hard time keeping her doors open.”

Not today. Martin hadn’t taken a break since 5 a.m., when she turned on the grill to cook triple the amount of food she makes on a normal Saturday. Finally she found a lull and came out to say hello.
“Hey! You busy in there?”

Martin gave her friends a wry look. “Are you kidding?”

“This is just unbelievable,” she continued. “How can you plan for something like this? You know, when I first heard about it, I asked, is there a town that I can call them and ask what they did? But nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz takes us back in time to show how mankind has reacted to eclipses over thousands of years. (Claritza Jimenez, Daron Taylor, Angela Fritz/The Washington Post)

Over at SIU, the atmosphere was equally frenzied. At Saluki Stadium, where 14,000 people will watch totality on Monday, cameramen unloaded trucks of equipment, and students tested out the instruments they will use to study the event. People dressed as video game characters and well versed in the rules of “Magic: The Gathering” converged on a Comic-Con being held at the student center.

Two additional cell towers had been set up to handle the influx of visitors, who will inevitably want to text and Snapchat about their experience. And one of the residence halls — no longer needed for students — was converted into housing for eclipse-goers. The accommodations were spare, even by the low standards of a college dorm, but all 208 rooms were booked in a matter of weeks.

Baer, the co-chair of SIU’s eclipse committee, had the haggard but happy look of someone who hasn’t stopped moving in days and was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“It’s completely awesome,” he said, then blushed. “I almost said totally, but I’m trying to avoid puns.”

“The attitude of campus, the morale was low,” he continued. “But it’s turned around. It’s turned the culture around.”

That’s true in town, as well. Baer pointed to the restoration of several main blocks that residents call “the strip.” Buildings have been repainted, decrepit storefronts torn down. Sidewalks were repaved. Old, tangled power lines were removed.

People had been talking about downtown revitalization for decades. But it didn’t get done until they had the eclipse for a deadline.

“That is so improved I can’t believe it,” Baer said. “Stuff that was the same for 50 years is now different.”

Many residents said the eclipse has given Carbondale its old energy back. “It reminds me of how homecoming used to be,” said Susan Mann, who grew up here but now lives in Chicago. She returned this weekend with her 15-year-old son, Joshua, to volunteer with the visitors bureau.

Susan Mann returned to Carbondale, her hometown, to help out with eclipse festivities. (Sarah Kaplan/The Washington Post)

Wearing matching neon-green T-shirts, mother and son distributed pamphlets to tourists and let a weary-looking father know where his kids could find a bathroom.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Mann said.

“Uh, sure,” was Joshua’s response.

His mother laughed and grabbed him around the shoulder. “He hugged me when I told him we were going,” she said.

Mann still has family in Carbondale and comes back often. But this visit feels different, she said.
“We’re excited. We’re putting Carbondale on the map.”

An estimated 50,000 people will be in Carbondale to watch Monday’s celestial spectacle. That’s roughly an $8 million boost to the city’s economy, said Mayor Mike Henry — all for two minutes and 48 seconds of darkness.

The weather in Carbondale was beautiful over the weekend — clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and barely any of the humid haze that’s typical for Illinois in August.

But Mike Kentrianakis, a veteran eclipse chaser who was in Carbondale for the big event, warned against “complacency.”

“I predict we may have partly cloudy skies on Monday,” he said. “First-timers won’t know the gravity of that. But it’s a high-risk situation.” Meteorologists say that about half the country will probably experience clouds on Monday.

Kentrianakis has witnessed 20 solar eclipses, from every continent except Antarctica. “It’s a magical moment, an impenetrable happiness,” he said.

If the moon is obscured when it passes in front of the sun, watchers here in Carbondale will still feel the temperature drop and darkness fall around them. But they will miss the stunning light show of the corona.

Henry is determined not to let the excitement end when the sun returns. The city has rebranded itself as the “Solar Eclipse Crossroads of America” — and the folks at the visitors bureau can tell you where to buy any number of T-shirts proclaiming that fact. The three-day “Shadow Fest” music festival that is blocking off Main Street is planned to be held every summer between now and 2024.
The hope is that some of the people who have come for the eclipse will like it so much that they decide to return.

“This is the kind of coverage you beg for and can’t get,” Henry said. “In a year, in 10 years, we couldn’t do all the marketing that Mother Nature has given us for free.”

Is it working? Just ask Mary Smith of Tuttle, Okla., who booked her eclipse trip to Carbondale after reading about the city’s eclipse plans in a newspaper.

“I saw it and thought, that sounds like fun,” Smith said, as she checked into one of the SIU dorm rooms.

This will be Smith’s first total solar eclipse. But, “good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as they say in Oklahoma,” she’d like to come back for the one in 2024.

Carbondale will be waiting for her.

Johnson & Johnson faces $417m payout in latest talc case

Johnson & Johnson said the safety of talc was supported by decades of scientific evidence

21 August 2017

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $417m (£323.4m) to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after using products such as baby powder.

The California jury's decision marks the largest award yet in a string of lawsuits that claim the firm did not adequately warn about cancer risks from talc-based products.

A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson defended the products' safety.

The firm plans to appeal, as it has in previous cases.

"We will appeal today's verdict because we are guided by the science," Carol Goodrich, spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc, said in a statement.

The evidence around any link between talc use and cancer is inconclusive.

• Blood tests spot ovarian cancer early

Johnson & Johnson, headquartered in New Jersey, faces thousands of claims from women who say they developed cancer due to using the firm's products to address concerns about vaginal odour and moisture.

Johnson & Johnson has lost four of five previous cases tried before juries in Missouri, which have led to more than $300m in penalties.

The California lawsuit was brought by Eva Echeverria, a 63-year-old woman who said she started using baby powder when she was 11 years old. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 10 years ago; the diagnosis is terminal, according to lawyers working on the case.

The lawsuit alleged that the company was aware of cancer risk associated with talcum powder, but concealed that information from the public.

The verdict included $70m in compensatory damages and $347m in punitive damages.

Analysis: James Gallagher, health editor, BBC news website

Is talc safe?

There have been concerns for years that using talcum powder, particularly on the genitals, may increase the risk of ovarian cancer.

But the evidence is not conclusive. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies talc used on the genitals as "possibly carcinogenic" because of the mixed evidence.

Why is there any debate?

The mineral talc in its natural form does contain asbestos and does cause cancer, however, asbestos-free talc has been used in baby powder and other cosmetics since the 1970s. But the studies on asbestos-free talc give contradictory results.

It has been linked to a cancer risk in some studies, but there are concerns that the research may be biased as they often rely on people remembering how much talc they used years ago. Other studies have argued there is no link at all and there is no link between talc in contraceptives such as diaphragms and condoms (which would be close to the ovaries) and cancer.

Also there does not seem to be a "dose-response" for talc, unlike with known carcinogens like tobacco where the more you smoke, the greater the risk of lung cancer.

What should women do?

The charity Ovacome says there is no definitive evidence and that the worst-case scenario is that using talc increases the risk of cancer by a third.

But it adds: "Ovarian cancer is a rare disease, and increasing a small risk by a third still gives a small risk. So even if talc does increase the risk slightly, very few women who use talc will ever get ovarian cancer."

Sampur residents submit over 1000 documents on land issues to human rights commission

The resettled people of Sampur and Kadarkaraichenai have filed a complaint over land issues to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, submitting over a thousand documents as evidence.

18Aug 2017

Representatives of the villages went to the Trincomalee regional office of HRCSL to hand over the files of evidence and letters and to register the official complaint.

S. Shanmuganathan, head of the Sampur East Village Development Association said the team had handed over information pertaining to four pressing land issues faced by the people of Sampur.

Firstly, the resettled villagers and owners of released land in the Sampur area have not been furnished with proper documentation in order to claim their lands.

“Our area was settled in three stages; first 365 families, and then gradually up to 950 families resettled. In that time 818 acres of land were released but the proper documents for those lands have not been given.”

Secondly, 18 families who gave up their land in Sayakkara Vaddavaan at the request of the Sri Lankan Navy who wanted the land to build a camp, have not been compensated, Mr Shanmuganathan said, pointing out that the Navy continues to occupy over 400 acres of Tamil livelihood land.

“Our Murugan temple is also in that land,” he said.

Third, the land of 49 families which was seized to create transport networks for the planned thermal power plant have not been returned. 

“Since the thermal power plant has been abandoned, those lands should be returned,” Mr Shanmuganathan said.

Finally, a new obstacle to their peaceful resettlement has come up in Kilavely where the Ceylon Electricity Board is currently fencing off around 200 acres of private paddy land.

“We have gathered over a thousand documents related to the above issues and submitted them with explanatory letters to the HRC,” Mr Shanmuganathan said. “The HRC team from Colombo recently came and observed our situation directly as well. So all the mentioned issues must be addressed immediately, to pave a way back to normal life for our people.”

Highlighting that the Sampur land issues have been communicated repeatedly to many levels of politicians and government officials, from government agents and parliamentarians to the Sri Lankan President, Mr Shanmuganathan urged rapid action “without prolonging our people’s suffering.”

Related Articles: 

11 August 2017 : Ceylon Electricity Board fencing off 200 acres private paddy land in Sampur

28 June 2017 : Tamils displaced by Sampur 'Vidura' navy camp meet HRCSL

TNA’s Relationship With Government On The Rocks
TNA leader R. Sampanthan and President Maithripala

August 21, 2017 

The relationship between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the government is on the rocks with Tamils in the North losing faith in the administration. The TNA has said enough is enough and the international community must now intervene to address the issues faced by the Tamils in the North.

The TNA’s official website quoted TNA leader R. Sampanthan as saying the government has begun to divert from its political goals and so it is time the international community stepped in. He said the failure by the military to release all occupied private lands in the North will not help the reconciliation process. Sampanthan said that the Tamil people have now lost patience.

“Foreign countries must not remain silent anymore. They must intervene,” he said.

Sampanthan had expressed these views in letters addressed to the UN and foreign diplomatic missions in the country. The TNA leader has also sought a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena to discuss the political situation in the country but has yet to be given a date for the meeting.

Meanwhile TNA spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran has said the TNA will not support the 20th Amendment to the Constitution in its current form.

He was quoted by the Tamil media as saying there is a move by the government to bring the Provincial Councils under Parliament and dissolve and hold elections for all Provincial Councils on one day.

Sumanthiran said the government has not had any talks with the TNA on the 20th Amendment.

Meanwhile last week the National Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners submitted a memorandum to Sampanthan on political prisoners. The memorandum called for the release of the political prisoners arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Also last week the families of those reported missing during and soon after the war also demanded answers. The TNA and the Tamil community in the North backed the government and supported change at the last elections yet their expectations have not been fully met.

Even the Tamil Diaspora which supported the current government has expressed disappointment.

GTF dismayed

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), which supported the unity government at the last election, said recently it was dismayed that more than eight years after the end of war, Sri Lanka has yet to demonstrate that it is genuinely committed to addressing the accountability issues occurred during the brutal armed conflict. Despite twice co-sponsoring UNHRC resolutions calling for comprehensive transitional justice measures, the present coalition government has not lived up to its commitments and yet to take any meaningful steps in this respect.

The lack of progress to-date in many ways is eerily reminiscent of the past when commitments made on political and governance issues concerning to the Tamil people (such as Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam or Dudley-Chelvanayakam pacts) were reneged at the slightest of political opposition. While GTF acknowledges that some progress has been made it is far from adequate.

A careful comparison of the commitments made and the actions carried out unambiguously shows a glaring disparity. No efforts have been made by the top Sri Lankan leaders to integrate credible international participation in the local judicial processes as stipulated in the UNHRC resolutions. The report from the government’s own Consultation Task Force (CTF) set up to recommend transitional justice measures based on country-wide consultations has remained ignored for more than six months after its official release, reinforcing the impression most Tamils have that setting up Commissions and then discarding their reports is a continuation of delaying strategy practiced by many previous governments.

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP), the only transitional justice mechanism Sri Lankan Parliament enacted exactly a year ago, was signed into law by the President only recently and yet to be operationalised. Mothers of disappeared have been protesting for over five months crying for attention living with the agony of not knowing the fate of their children for so many years.

A month has passed since President Sirisena met with the relatives of the missing, but his promise to release any existing lists of surrendered and detained within 48 hours remains unfulfilled. We fail to understand the obstacles in bringing justice to these mothers, four of whom have died since the vigils started, and the unwillingness on the part of the government to bring closure to this highly emotive issue.

The parliamentary process to ratify Enforced Disappearances as illegal has been indefinitely postponed and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is yet to be repealed, while continuing use of torture to extract confessions is widely reported. Complete elimination of this dreadful practice from Sri Lanka needs leadership from the government which is solely lacking.

The government has utterly failed to engage the majority Sinhala community about the need for true reconciliation and the indispensability of transitional justice to achieve that.

In fact, a consistent narrative articulating the above and the need for ending the culture of impunity is absent in the political discourse of the country.  If Sri Lanka is to enter a new era of respect for rule-of-law and good governance, resolute and consistent efforts are imperative.

Though the GTF commends Sri Lankan Government for allowing external scrutiny of the human rights situation by facilitating visits by various UNHRC Special Rapporteurs, their assessments and reports are unsurprisingly scathing. The latest (July 14, 2017) is from Ben Emmerson, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, who told reporters at the conclusion of a four-day visit: “There is little evidence that perpetrators of war crimes committed by members of the Sri Lankan armed forces are being brought to justice,”… … “None of the measures so far adopted to fulfil Sri Lanka’s transitional justice commitments are adequate to ensure real progress” … …  and progress on meeting commitments made under a 2015 U.N. Resolution have ground “to a virtual halt.”

Report by the UN Special Rapporteur

A report tabled at the 35th session of the UNHRC (May 2017) by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Diego García-Sayán, was again highly critical of the Sri Lankan justice system.

The report identified ‘continuation of a normative framework based on PTA’, ‘persisting impunity for any abuses committed by the police or the security forces’ and ‘the lack of effective victim and witness protection’ as key areas where urgent action was needed. Both Special Rapporteurs concluded that it was the Tamil community that was at the receiving end, disproportionately.

Various statements released by International Crisis Group (ICG), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Truth and Justice Project during the last six months also concur with the findings and sentiments expressed by the UN Special Rapporteurs. Clearly stating that Sri Lanka is faltering on its commitments made to its own people as well as to the international community, these institutions have called for re-energising the process of addressing the war’s legacy. The latest report from the ICG (July 28) highlighted the plight of the Tamil speaking women in the North and East, stating that these women “have been marginalised during the transitional justice process” and called on the government to act “promptly by establishing the offices on missing persons and reparations” to prevent the emergence of “renewed grievance that damage already slim hopes of reconciliation among communities, and between the state and its Tamil citizens.”

GTF calls upon the International Community and the Government of Sri Lanka to take serious note of the impartial assessments made by such eminent organisations and mandate holders, and to recognise that Sri Lanka is truly in danger of losing the momentum in addressing the accountability issues that are critically important at this juncture.

The Tamils are seeing the same old political dynamics that has plagued Sri Lanka since Independence and are understandably becoming cynical of the Government. For our part, the GTF would like to reaffirm its commitment to assist in any meaningful initiatives to arrest this dangerous trend.

GTF notes it is essential that Sri Lanka take urgent concrete measures that will assure confidence to its entire people, and most importantly to the victims, that achieving justice that has been denied for so long is possible.