Are Europe’s Africa Strategies Faltering?

The Merkel Consensus Will Live On

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Shocking Videos Ought to be Paused

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Issue 1872- October- 01/10/2021

2

Issue 1872- October- 01/10/2021

Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi: The 77th Patriarch of the Maronite Church in Lebanon

www.majalla.com

Are Europe’s Africa Strategies Faltering ? www.majal a.com

Editorial A Weekly Political News Magazine

www.majalla.com/eng

Last April, the European Council approved the “New Agenda for the Mediterranean” which targets strengthening the EU relations with its southern neighbors of North Africa. The ambitious plan which allocates a huge budget will be guided by a Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument based on bilateral levels with regional countries. In this week’s cover story, Dalia Ziada explores the impact of various European attempts at approaching North African countries. Addressing Europe’s inability to break the vicious “donor-recipient” cycle and other obstacles the EU face in approaching Africa, the writer mentions two main points. First, there is Turkey’s competing influence in Africa, which culminated in Turkish interference with Libya, in addition to holding bilateral economic and military ties with other Mediterranean countries. Second there is the gap between the perspective adopted by EU strategies and African countries’ needs of security and stability.

In another article, Iranian students have played a significant role during recent protest movements that broke out in the country throughout last decade. Signs of ideological transformation can be obvious within various streams forming student activism. Fayrouz Ramadan Zada investigates the changing dynamics of cooperation among ideological movements, as leftists, feminist, and socialist streams have gained momentum against the incumbent system’s reformist groups. Activists interviewed by Majalla remarked that support and credibility are lost by reformists, amid calls for regime change and radical demands supported by both leftists and feminists.

Read these articles and more on our website eng.majalla. com. As always, we welcome and value our readers’ feedback and we invite you to take the opportunity to leave your comments on our website.

2

01/10/21

Editor-in-Chief

Ghassan Charbel The Editor Mostafa El-Dessouki HH Saudi Research and Marketing (UK) Ltd 10th Floor Building 7 Chiswick Business Park 566 Chiswick High Road London W4 5YG Tel : +44 207 831 8181 Fax: +44 207 831 2310

‫الوكيل اإلعالني‬ ،www.alkhaleejiah.com :‫موقع إلكتروني‬ hq@alkhaleejiah.com :‫بريد إلكتروني‬ + 9714 3 914440 :‫ دبي‬،920 000 417 : ‫من داخل اململكة‬ +44 207 404 6950 :‫ لندن‬+00764 537 331 :‫باريس‬ +966 11 441 1444 : ‫ومن مختلف الدول‬

- ‫ طريق مكة‬- ‫ حي املؤتمرات‬- ‫مرخص لها الرياض‬ ‫تقاطع التخصصى‬ +44 207 831 8181 :‫ لندن‬- 4419933 ‫ هاتف‬:‫الرياض‬

A Weekly Political News Magazine

4

01/10/21

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Ancient Camel Carvings in Saudi Desert Older

44 than Giza Pyramids or Stonehenge

Issue 1872- October- 01/10/2021

26 Emerging Cooperation Between Students and Feminists in Iran

32

40

American Muslims: 20 Tough

Years Since 9/11

The Future is Digital

“ from “For54 Reduce Health Risks ever Chemicals

of War”: Paintings Summarize 48 “Women Years of Oppression and Pain 5

01/10/21

58 Trump’s “Peril,” After “Rage” And “Fear”

S

napshot

the World Internet in China This photo taken on September 25, 2021 shows people looking at a robotic dog at the Light of Internet Expo, which is a part of the World Internet Conference, in Wuzhen in China’s eastern Zhejiang province )AFP Photos(

6

01/10/21

7

01/10/21

S

napshot

Pumpkins Exhibition in Moscow People visit a giant pumpkins exhibition at the botanical garden of the Moscow State University, the Apothecary Garden, in Moscow on September 27, 2021. - The biggest pumpkin at the exhibition weighs about 700 kilogramme.

Moscow, Russia )AFP Photos(

8

01/10/21

9

01/10/21

10

01/10/21

11

01/10/21

12

01/10/21

13

01/10/21

C

over story

Are Europe’s Africa Strategies Faltering?

EU, Turkey Compete for North African Geo-Economic Opportunities

By Dalia Ziada Since the beginning of this year, Europe has been working on several fronts to revive its relationship with Africa, in general, and North African

countries, in particular. Most of the new European initiatives are not different from the previous initiatives in terms with the goals they are trying to achieve. Almost all Europe’s Africa initiatives revolve around the idea of Europe providing fi-

14

01/10/21

nancial and technical support to Africa, with the goal to limit the troubles that Africa is exporting to Europe; such as illegal immigration, terrorism, and climate change. This makes us question whether Europe can eventually break the vicious “donor-recipient” cycle with Africa and turn it into a new form of fruitful relationship of collaboration, as described by a European Parliament statement, that was released in March following parliament majority voted for the new EU-Africa Strategy.

European Council President Charles Michel attends a meeting via video link at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, September 29, 2021.

Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS

In addition to the EU-Africa Strategy, the European Council approved, in April, another project with a huge budget that targets North African countries, which represent the majority of Europe’s southern neighbors in the Mediterranean. The “New Agenda for The Mediterranean” is an ambitious trans-Mediterranean project that was proposed by the European Commission in February, and the EU Council approved its conclusions, in April. The goal of the project is for Europe to “relaunch and strengthen the strategic partnership between the European Union and its southern neighborhood partners.” That is through guiding the EU’s policy towards the Mediterranean region, through a new instrument titled “Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - (NDICI).” The NDICI will work on both regional and bilateral levels with targeted countries, in the southern Mediterranean region, to implement an economic and investment recovery plan, with a budget of seven billion euros, for the period between 2021-2027, which is expected to mobilize up to 30 billion euros in private and public investments, over the next ten years.

OBSTACLES TO RENEWED ACTION Europe’s urgent interest in regaining its longlost influence over Africa, and dialoguing with its immediate neighbors in the southern Mediterranean is not new. At least in the past decade, several leading voices inside major European collegiate bodies, such as the European Union (EU), the European Council (EUCO), and the European Parliament reiterated the need to strengthen the bond with Africa. However, real sustainable measures were hardly taken to put

15

01/10/21

Whether the new strategies, that were recently adopted by Europe towards Africa and southern Mediterranean countries, are expected to work in a better way is still an open question.

Europe’s beautifully written strategies into an effective action plan that could yield tangible results. Whether the new strategies, that were recently adopted by Europe towards Africa and southern Mediterranean countries, are expected to work in a better way is still an open question.

For Europe to succeed in this mission, two obstacles need to be removed first. One of them has to do with Turkey and its swiftly growing influence over North African countries, while the second more complicated obstacle is about the clear divergence between Europe’s vision and Africa’s needs.

Leading European collegiate bodies explain the renewed reawakening movement towards Africa as a practical application of the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, last year. “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the growing urgency of the climate crisis show how interdependent our two continents are, and why it is so important that both continents act urgently to seize the shared opportunities that lie ahead and to tackle the common challenges that we all face;” noted the European Commission in a communication sent to the European Parliament and the European Council, in December 2020, about the need to adopt a comprehensive strategy towards Africa.

Nevertheless, we may claim that the quick and deep dives of Turkey into North Africa, since 2019, is the actual stimulus behind Europe’s relentless efforts, in the past few months, to approach and strengthen relations with southern Mediterranean countries. Abandoned by its European neighbors and motivated by the “Mavi

C

over story

Vatan” concept, Turkey has been working, for years, to create a presence for itself in the North Africa region. During that time, the European Union was purposefully alienating itself from the Middle East and North Africa region, especially after the Arab Spring revolutions and the chaotic aftermath that empowered terrorism and created an immigrant crisis from the south to the north.

Turkey is the only country that generously con-

We may claim that the quick and deep dives of Turkey into North Africa, since 2019, is the actual stimulus behind Europe’s relentless efforts, in the past few months, to approach and strengthen relations with southern Mediterranean countries.

tained the waves of immigrants fleeing death in their Arab homelands towards Europe.

Winning North Africa, either for Europe or Turkey, opens the door of Africa and the Middle East with all the geo-economic opportunities they represent. But, for Turkey, the story is much deeper than that. For Turkey, regaining influence over the North Africa region, which it lost in 1923, due to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, is a significant topic of national interest. On one hand, gaining influence over the southern Mediterranean region gives Turkey unprecedented leverage in its decades-long conflict with south European countries, Greece and Cyprus, over maritime delimitations. Turkish officials label the fight for those maritime borders as the fight for the blue homeland “Mavi Vatan.”

TURKEY’S APPROACH Right now, Turkey’s economic and military influence over North African countries outweighs Europe’s influence. Turkey has successfully established various economic and military agree-

16

01/10/21

A fishing boat with migrants is docked at the port of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, late Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.

A rusty, overloaded fishing boat carrying nearly 700 migrants arrived at an Italian island port amid fresh diplomatic efforts by Mediterranean governments to seek more European help in handling migrant flows.

(Sea-Watch.org/David Lohmueller via AP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh leave after a news conference in Ankara, Turkey April 12, 2021. Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

ments with Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. For example, in December 2020, Turkey signed contracts amounting up to 150 million dollars to export arms and military equipment to Tunisia. In September, Turkey exported thirteen “Bayraktar TB2” drones to Morocco, as part of an arms contract of 70 million dollars that was signed in April. Since January, Turkey and Egypt has been negotiating their way to reconciliation after seven years of deep political rift.

Meanwhile, last year, Egypt was sitting on the top of the list of countries exporting food, furniture and clothing commodities from Turkey, with a trading volume exceeding three billion dollars.

signed two agreements with the interim Government of National Accord (GNA), that were later approved by the new interim Government of National Unity (GNU), when they came in power in March 2021.

The first agreement, which Turkey signed with Libya’s GNA, is a military “training, support, and advice” agreement. Upon this military agreement, Turkey managed to deploy military troops and equipment to Libya and has been training GNA-affiliated militia and organized them into the ranks of the Libyan national Armed Forces in Tripoli. The military agreement between Turkey and Libya is reminiscent of the military agreement that Turkey signed with Azerbaijan in the Yet, Turkey’s biggest winning move against 1990s, which allowed Turkey to help Azerbaijan Europe in North Africa and southern Mediter- to build, almost from scratch, a capable Azerbairanean region, was intervening into war-torn jani military that managed to defeat the RussiaLibya, in late 2019. Turkey’s military inter- supported Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh vention in Libya gave Turkey a diplomatic and battle, last year. military leverage in the eastern Mediterranean conflict, and improved Turkey’s economic The second was a maritime demarcation agreeopportunities in Africa, especially against in- ment defining an Economic Exclusive Zone ternational economic giants like China and (EEZ) extending across the Mediterranean Sea the United States. In December 2019, Turkey from the southwestern borders of Turkey to the

17

01/10/21

C

over story

northeastern borders of Libya. Despite the fact that this maritime agreement does not conform with related UN conventions or the international law, Turkey used it to shift the dynamics of its decades-long conflict with Greece over seabed rights in the Mediterranean. Upon this agreement, Turkey deployed a seismic research ship that operated in the Mediterranean waters for months, causing tension with Greece and European allies. This turned the mostly quiet basin of the Mediterranean into a piece of hell, last summer, as warships, submarines, military helicopters, and fighter jets from all over the world, came to participate in the ongoing tragedy, under the guise of conducting joint navy exercises.

In that sense, we may easily say that Turkey could be a glitch that hinders the gear of Europe’s ambitious plans towards rebounding with North African countries. However, Turkey is not the only or biggest glitch that Europe needs to worry about in this regard.

The real reason why Turkey is winning in this competition over Europe is that Turkey adapts its strategies to meet the specific needs of each of the individual countries it targets in the North Africa region. Meanwhile, Europe’s strategies towards the region are tailored to meet Europe’s needs in Africa, with almost no regard to the priori-

Europe has to quit viewing Africa as a one whole entity, with one set of goals and one set of problems. Africa is a very diverse continent, in terms with demographics and culture.

ties of targeted African states. For example, Europe has been pouring millions of euros into projects that target improving human rights and democratization in southern Mediterranean countries. Yet, the main concern for these countries, which suffers from civil wars, terrorism, and ailing regimes, is to ensure political and economic security and

18

01/10/21

African migrants wait in line to register their names after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya and arriving at the port of Augusta, on the island of Sicily, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Samy Magdy)

stability, first.

Europe has to quit viewing Africa as a one whole entity, with one set of goals and one set of problems. Africa is a very diverse continent, in terms with demographics and culture. Likewise, Europe should stop playing the role of savior towards African countries, especially its southern

19

01/10/21

neighbors in the Mediterranean, and rather look for what interests them and try to help them satisfy their urging needs and priorities. This is what Europe needs to internally work on, first, before pursuing with its many ambitious strategies, with huge budgets, towards Africa. That is the only way to ensure that these strategies could produce sustainable results.

P

olitics

The Merkel Consensus Will Live On

German Politics Characterized by Convergence Rather Than Polarization

By Hans Kundnani The end of the Angela Merkel era is widely seen as a moment of change. Supporters of the outgoing German chancellor fear the end of the stability they believe she created and, perhaps, a reduction of Germany’s power—within the European Union and beyond—that they see as flowing from her personal influence and stature. Critics of Mer-

kel, by contrast, hope that Germany will now finally undertake the reforms that they blame her for neglecting during her tenure—investing to make Germany zukunftsfähig, or “future proof,” for instance, and adapting German foreign policy to an era of sharpened great-power competition.

The reality, however, is that less is likely to change than either side hopes or fears. The election on September 26 produced an inconclusive

20

01/10/21

result: the Social Democrats received just under 26 percent of the vote and the Christian Democrats just over 24 percent. The new chancellor will be either the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz or the Christian Democrat Armin Laschet, both of whom have promised a continuation of Merkelism and even tried to mimic Merkel’s style. Both are centrist figures within their own parties, and little of substance distinguishes them.

Regardless of who becomes chancellor, the next government will be a coalition—likely comprised of three parties for the first time since 1957—forged through compromise in negotiations that are just now beginning. As a result, the government is unlikely to diverge dramatically from the centrist policies of the grand coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats that has governed Germany for 12 of Merkel’s 16 years as chancellor. Although there will be some changes in domestic policy depending on whether the next coalition is led by Scholz or Laschet, German foreign policy will not change much. In short, the Merkel consensus is likely to live on after Merkel—disappointing those who had hoped for a new approach to the Eurozone or to authoritarian states such as China.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and German Finance Minister and ViceChancellor Olaf Scholz.

(Photo by Michale Sohn/ AFP)

“The new chancellor will be either the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz or the Christian Democrat Armin Laschet, both of whom have promised a continuation of Merkelism and even tried to mimic Merkel’s style”

doomed republic,” he wrote.

Merkel appears to have re-created that “protected idyll” in the chancellery in Berlin, where she has a tight circle of trusted and loyal advisers. When the reporting on Merkel or the analysis of her positions is based on information from these advisers, it tends to reflect what Merkel wants people to think she is thinking. When the reporting or analysis is based on information from people outside this tight circle, it often reflects its authors’ own views, projected onto her. In other words, much of what is written about Merkel is either spin or speculation.

SPIN AND SPECULATION The reporting on Merkel is also often based on what she says rather than what she does. A good During her reelection campaign in 2013, when example of this occurred after President Donald she had been in power for eight years, Merkel ran Trump’s election in 2016, when some analysts on the slogan “You know me.” Merkel has now and members of the media declared Merkel the been chancellor for 16 years, longer than any of new “leader of free world”—not, for example, her predecessors except Helmut Kohl. Yet Ger- because Germany had suddenly decided to proman voters still don’t really know her. An unu- vide security guarantees to other democracies sually uncommunicative politician whose style is as the United States did during the Cold War sometimes compared to that of a monarch, Mer- but on the basis of the chancellor’s statement kel has made little effort to justify or even explain in response to Trump’s victory. “Germany and her policies, which she is known for presenting as America are connected by values of democracy, alternativlos, or “without alternative.” freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of Merkel’s political style seems to have grown out man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, of her childhood in East Germany, where she gender, sexual orientation or political views,” she “learned to keep quiet,” as she once told an in- said, adding that “I offer the next president of the terviewer. Growing up in a seminary in a small United States close cooperation on the basis of town 50 miles north of Berlin, where her father these values.” This relatively anodyne statement was a pastor, Merkel learned early on to be care- managed to confirm to many, especially Demoful about what she said outside of her family’s crats in the United States, that Merkel was the “protected idyll,” as the journalist and author Ste- antithesis of Trump. fan Kornelius put it in an authorized biography. Something similar happened during the refugee “The mystery that is Merkel has its roots in that crisis in 2015, which even many of her critics

21

01/10/21

see as one of the high points of Merkel’s tenure.

Commentators and analysts portrayed Merkel as an exemplary humanitarian leader largely because of what she said—“we can do this”—not what her government did. Germany did not “open its borders” to over a million asylum seekers in 2015, as is often said. Rather, it was simply unable to stop them from arriving there. Moreover, Merkel subsequently shifted course and took steps to prevent immigrants from reaching

“Regardless of who becomes chancellor, the next government will be a coalition—likely comprised of three parties for the first time since 1957—forged through compromise in negotiations that are just now beginning.”

Europe, including striking a dubious deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to keep migrants in Turkey.

Merkel’s great political skill is to embody the consensus that has existed in German politics for the last two decades. Before she was first elected as chancellor in 2005, the Social Democrats had already moved to the right on economic policy under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and implemented a series of structural reforms usually associated with the right. After her election, Merkel formed a grand coalition with the Social Democrats—the first of three in the last four electoral periods—that further solidified the centrist consensus in German politics. She pulled the Christian Democrats to the left on social and cultural issues, “modernizing” the party in the view of many but going too far for many conservative Germans.

As chancellor, Merkel followed German public opinion closely. Polling guided every important decision she made during her tenure, including those that her admirers viewed as demonstrating brave and decisive leadership—welcoming refugees in 2015, for instance, or accelerating the planned closure of Germany’s nuclear power plants after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. During election campaigns, she sought to

22

01/10/21

Armin Laschet has a reputation for endurance and an ability to ‹sit out› his opponents.

(JENS SCHLUETER AFP)

Supporters wave flags at the Social Democrats (SPD) headquarters after the exit polls were broadcast on television in Berlin on September 26, 2021. (ODD ANDERSEN/ AFP)

avoid discussing controversial issues and to coopt other parties’ policies to deter voters from turning out for them—a strategy that the pollster Matthias Jung has dubbed “asymmetric demobilization.”

THE GREAT CONVERGENCE This strategy allowed Merkel to stay in power for 16 years, and it would have allowed her to remain in the chancellery even longer had she not decided to step down after four terms. But Merkel’s strategy has been terrible for German democracy. As the political scientist Sheri Berman and I have argued, German politics has been characterized for the last two decades not by polarization but by its opposite: convergence. This has come with a cost: as the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats aligned ideologically around the Merkel consensus, a “representation gap” opened up, leaving many Germans to believe that their views are not represented.

One consequence of these developments—and one of Merkel’s clearest legacies—is the emergence of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). As the party’s name suggests, it was a direct response to Merkel’s politics of no alternatives—in particular, her approach to the euro

23

01/10/21

“Germany’s federal system and powerful independent institutions—including its Constitutional Court, which has impeded Eurozone reform—tend to resist dramatic policy shifts.” crisis that began in 2010 and to the refugee crisis in 2015. In the last election, in 2017, the AfD entered the Bundestag—the first time since the creation of the Federal Republic in 1949 that a far-right party had done so. It was in part the rise of the AfD that forced Merkel to form another grand coalition with the Social Democrats after that election. And because she did so, the AfD became the leading opposition party. (The AfD’s vote share dropped from 13 percent in 2017 to around ten percent in 2021, and if either the Social Democrats or the Christians Democrats can form a government with the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, the AfD will lose its role as the

P

olitics

leading opposition party.)

Despite the AfD’s rise, the Merkel consensus has remained intact and will likely endure through the next government. Depending on whether the new coalition is led by the Social Democrats or the Christian Democrats, and which ministries they and the other coalition parties control, there will no doubt be changes in some areas of domestic policy, such as how to pay for spending on infrastructure and how best to mitigate climate change. If Scholz becomes chancellor, the Social Democrats will push him to the left in much the same way that the progressive wing of the U.S. Democratic Party has pushed President Joe Biden to the left.

But in most of the areas that matter for Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world, the parties’ differences will essentially cancel one another out. For example, the Social Democrats are more receptive to Eurozone reform than are the Christian Democrats. But the Free Democrats, who received 11.5 percent of the vote, are much less receptive and will likely demand the Finance Ministry as a condition of joining a coalition.

This would limit the possibility of meaningful reform of the EU’s fiscal rules in a coalition of the Social Democrats, the Free Democrats, and the Greens, who received 15 percent of the vote.

For similar reasons, Merkel’s policy of engage-

“As chancellor, Merkel followed German public opinion closely. Polling guided every important decision she made during her tenure, including those that her admirers viewed as demonstrating brave and decisive leadership “

ment toward China is unlikely to change, even though it has been widely criticized. Foreign policy analysts have put a lot of hope in the Greens.

Although they are more likely to want to cooperate with China on climate change, they are more hawkish on China than the Christian Democrats, at least rhetorically. But the Social Democrats are not, and China policy tends to be made in the chancellery, so a coalition led by them is unlikely to be much more hawkish on China even if it includes the Greens.

This continuity in foreign policy may be reassuring for supporters of Merkel, who are often cen-

24

01/10/21

A crowd of people attend an election campaign rally of German Alternative in Bautzen, Germany. (File photo: AP)

trists. But critics of Merkel, especially of her approach to the Eurozone and to authoritarian states such as China, are also likely to be disappointed by a government led by Scholz or Laschet. Above all, there is unlikely to be a major transformation of Germany’s export-dependent economy, which lies behind both of these problems in German foreign policy.

The inertia in German politics is partly structural.

Unlike the United Kingdom or the United States, Germany has a consensual rather than adversarial political system. Moreover, Germany’s federal

25

01/10/21

system and powerful independent institutions— including its Constitutional Court, which has impeded Eurozone reform—tend to resist dramatic policy shifts. But through her depoliticized style and her transformation of German interparty dynamics, Merkel has exacerbated those tendencies of the German system. As a result, even if Germany’s next government isn’t another grand coalition, it will still feel a lot like one.

This article was originally publish on ForeignAffairs.com

P

olitics

Emerging Cooperation Between Students and Feminists in Iran Reformists Do Not Enjoy Legitimacy Any More

By Fayrouz Ramadan Zada- Washington The Iranian student movement has succeeded in establishing itself as a powerful social actor after it declared solidarity with the widespread protests that stormed the country in December 2017, January 2018, November and December 2019. The student movement has come to realize the nature of structural and chronic crises inflicting the Iranian regime, so it declared its support for demands raised by social movements such as those of women, workers, teachers and retirees. The students’ interest in social challenges such as those of child labor and environment problems has kept their movement one of the relevant and effective civil powers in Iranian society despite crackdown, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and high bails required for detained students.

“Truth has been gradually uncovered to the Iranian people since 2017. It is now manifested in the historic chant of ‘Reformists and Fundamentalists: Game is over’ which was raised in successive protests,” Mujgan, an experienced Tehran-based student activist told Majalla. “We have to change our mindset and people who had relations with the reformists have had to cut ties with them. The people have grown frustrated with reformists,” she added to explain the nature of present student movement.

The student and social activist pointed out that, “Chants of living and economic demands emerged for the first time in 2017, while the people were not suffer from the fallout of sanctions, hiking prices and uncontrollable inflation. These protests and movements swept across all economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in 2018 ,2017 and 2019, while the Green Movement was raising middle-class demands revolving around cultural and lifestyle changes. In parallel, a number of alternative leftist policies have been integrated into

social movements.”

She went on to say, “Marxist trends have prevailed on most student and intellectual movements, and Orthodox Marxism has thrived in Iran since 2017, as leftist powers gained voice.”

EMERGENCE OF LEFTIST MOVEMENT In 2019, the website of “Khabaronline” published an interview with Ibrahim Fayaz, a professor of sociology in Tehran university, in which he said, “Marxists started to have a say and leverage in universities nowadays, where students’ mobilization associations and reformist groups have lost any meaningful influence. Reformist and mobilization groups in universities don’t focus on humanitarian and justice demands, but Marxists lead students in raising these calls.”

These comments support Mujgan’s narrative.

Speaking to Majalla, another student activist, Sasan, commented that “Reformist rhetoric prevailed in students’ circles from 2005 to 2013 while Marxist ideology didn’t enjoy any influence among students at the time. Women’s movement was in harmony with student movements, as dispute over women’s rights wasn’t substantial.

Mainstream rhetoric in university was not about opposition or hardline leftist trends and theories, but it revolved around reformists and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Karroubi, with no other alternative for student movements. Supporting and adopting statements by (political activist) Sadegh Zibakalam or (former professor of philosophy) Bijan Abdolkarimi, were the furthest point reached by student then.”

Sasan added that the core of leftist stream started to evolve within intellectual circles in Tehran during the last 5 to 10 years. It was led by a small group that included writer, journalist and translator Morad

26

01/10/21

A student rally in Iran carrying placards calling for “Bread, Jobs, Freedom and Forming an Assembly of Experts”.

(Supplied)

Farhadpour who translated books in collaboration with writer and philosophy researcher Saleh Najafi, writer and art critic Babak Ahmadi, and writer and translator Omid Mehregan.

“Translation of books on Marxism has started since mid1990s, but Marxist rhetoric was absent in social movements and was limited to intellectual meetings in cultural coffee shops and private cultural events.”

Mujgan argued that “Reformists have lost their legitimacy and position in society, intellectual circles, student leadership and media due to many reasons. First is increasing awareness resulting from social networking and self-produced content which has led to detachment from supporting the last political instrument of the regime. Second is the increasing turnout to Marxist leftist trends inside Iranian intellectual circles. Thus, students known as reformists are no more accepted inside current student movement, and “feminism as adopted by reformists” doesn’t resonate with students.”

“Student movement before post-reformist era consisted of three separate conflicting entities which were: unionist, student, and Islamic associations. Each of them adopted an obvious and distinctive ideology, but neither of them deviated from the republic’s regime, and kept acting within its space. These three associations were active in distinct arenas but shared common political horizons,” remarked Mujgan.

The activist added that the Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat) and the Islamic Society of Students are disbanded now, as she explained, “Both organizations came to lose hope in political reform of existing governance pillars and civil society affiliated with the Islamic Republic and its print media such as “Shargh”, “Etemad” and other newspapers.

27

01/10/21

Reformists have lost their legitimacy and position in society and intellectual circles, due to increasing awareness resulting from social networking and self-produced content and increasing shift towards Marxist leftists.

Consequently, both groups withdrew from the student movement and now we notice a rivalry between Islamic Society of Students and the unionist association.”

According to the Iranian activist, the Student Association brings together students unaffiliated with any political streams or parties, and aims at organizing conferences, sessions and workshops via inviting experts to participate. Union association includes orthodox leftist students with the aim of introducing student economic demands such as lunch cards, dorms expenses and tuition.

Mujgan recalled, “Cooperation between student and union associations has begun two years ago due to leftist atmosphere prevailing in intellectual circles, which has revealed various common grounds between both groups inside the student

P

olitics

movement. More harmony can be seen in the theory and practice of student movement, which resulted in welcoming some feminist groups.”

On another side, Sasan added to Majalla, “Scientific groups in universities started many years ago to organize reading sessions for books on feminism. Also, there has been ongoing cooperation between students of various universities and specializations to publish feminist magazines.”

RECENT HISTORY OF FEMINISM Feminist movement before 2009, especially the One Million Signature, which was a campaign against discriminatory laws launched in September 2006, “suffered from structural

Cooperation between student and union associations has begun two years ago due to leftist atmosphere prevailing in intellectual circles, which has revealed various common grounds between both groups in the student movement.

dysfunction. However, its harmonious members were able to intellectually cooperate with people who belonged to the left since before the revolution and people who were reformists after the revolution. That resulted in translating many literary works and publishing magazines.”

Mujgan added that “This fruitful cooperation was subjected to some problems in the past years. As a consequence, numerous feminist trends emerged such as political feminist streams which adopts a neo-liberal rhetoric calling to oust the Iranian regime, one of its prominent figures being Masih Alinejad. On the other hand, the socialist feminist stream is active in theoretical aspects as they focus on writing articles and translations about student groups affiliated with leftist trends.”

According to Mujgan, feminist activism in Iran was not focusing on women’s causes solely, but it went to support and cooperate with laborers and students and environmentalists. She noted that another feminist movement comprises the first generation of women activists after the revolution, who adopted reformist policies and tolerance. This group is trying to introduce an idea that all feminist challenges and problems are “unpolitical” and “merely social and cultural”. But they don’t have supporters among students and are withdrawing from the scene.

The most influential actors are both political and socialist feminist groups, as they adopt political and more radical demands, in contrast to the reformist feminists who are said to belong to the regime. The two powerful groups better recognized the radical inclinations of the feminist movement.

“They don’t seek to change civil society via superficial means or sham democracy that is authoritarian at its core.”

The experienced student activist explained that the feminist

28

01/10/21

A sign stating “The Student Movement Didn’t Die”. (Supplied)

Masih Alinejad at San Francisco United for Iran Global Day of Action July 2009 ,25. (Steve Rhodes/ Flickr)

groups were focused on finding a foothold and on ensuring the constitutionality and legitimacy of their cause, and to detach themselves from the feminist movement which doesn’t gain the support of student movement that is distinguished for raising the ceiling of student and political demands. “Nevertheless, this has changed after the emergence of feminist campaigns such as ‘White Wednesdays’ and ‘My Stealthy Freedom’”, Mujgan noted.

Remarkably, Mujgan believes that “The reformist feminist movement viewed the political tackling of problems as hindering any possible social transformation. That had made the student movement move alone in its path until the leftist feminist movement joined forces. Although leftist feminism is starting to cooperate with student movement and gaining its support, there is no coordination with these leftist feminists on one side and reformist or socialist feminists on the other.”

“Leftist feminists have spontaneously launched and developed their activism away from the main structure of feminist groups,” she concluded.

Meantime, activist Sasan revealed to Majalla, the role of the student movement and its ties with feminism as he said, “We had a student gathering in the main campus of Tehran University in summer of 2019. It was an official holiday, but we protested against obligatory hijab (head cover) policy. That gathering was one of the few protest movements organized by feminist activists. But feminism doesn’t gain required support and we still have to do more to activate their existence in universities.”

Oral reports and narratives circulated by student unions and activists refer to the fact that women issues and demands are not a priority in the student movement’s demands. Many female

29

01/10/21

Feminist activism in Iran was not focusing on women’s causes solely, but it went to support and cooperate with laborers and students and environmentalists. student activists say that the voice of their male counterparts is heard more than theirs, which means that the female students’ demands don’t gain much legitimacy and support.

In a concluding note to Majalla, Sasan said that “the patriarchal culture is concealed behind ‘superficial’ enlightening practices.

The prevailing rhetoric doesn’t pay attention to the radical change. Obviously, this can be seen all over social Iranian circles even among progressive university movements.”

Detentions of student and feminist activists have been on the rise following the outbreak of COVID19- and closure of universities all over the country. The crackdown included summoning some activists and sentencing them to long terms in prison as well as other punitive rulings. Two of them are Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, two outstanding students who won gold and silver medals in the International Astronomy Olympiad. Younesi and Moradi have been imprisoned in Section 209 of Evin prison for 10 months without charges.

I

nterview

American Muslims: 20 Tough Years Since 11/9

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Deputy Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

By Mohammad Ali Salih - Washington On the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the US, issued a statement titled “Remembrance and Resilience” that condemned the attacks, calling it “a tragedy we will never forget.” At the same time, CAIR’s statement described how American Muslims became victims of “scapegoating” and “finger-pointing” since the attacks.

The statements called upon American Muslims to be proud, to unite, and to stand-up against injustice, particularly the laws and regulations that were issued by the US government since the attacks.

These laws and regulations are discussed in this interview with Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s Deputy Director.

Mitchell, an attorney, previously served as the Executive Director of CAIR’s branch in the state of Georgia. During that time, CAIR resolved numerous cases of anti-Muslim discrimination in the state.

Mitchell also served as secretary of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers, an editor of “Atlanta Muslim,” a member of the Georgia Association of Muslim Lawyers, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Community Center of Atlanta.

Q. In 2001, right after the attacks, the Congress passed the “Patriot Act.” Is it still the law of the land?

A. When the Congress quickly passed the Patriot Act in 2001, lawmakers gave the federal government limitless surveillance powers that included authorizing courts of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to issue either rubber- stamped warrants or permit the warrantless searches of private records, property, and communications.

The severity of these unconstitutional abuses would only later be revealed by whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, and reporters like Glenn Greenwald.

Yes, the Patriot Act is still the law of the land.

Q. In 2002, the Bush Administration started the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), but, in 2011, parts of the program were dropped and the whole program ended in 2016.

What were the problems with this program?

A. The NSEERS program required nonimmigrant men and boys from predominantly Muslim countries to report to an immigration office to be photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed. Those targeted by the NSEERS program were also required to leave the United States through specified ports.

Anyone who failed to comply with the program faced arrest and deportation.

30

01/10/21

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s Deputy Director

When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dropped the program in 2011, it was viewed by many as being an ineffective and burdensome program that was a massive profiling campaign targeting individuals based on their Muslim religion and ethnicity.

Five years later, during the Obama Administration, the program was disbanded for good.

It is also important to note that in the days and weeks following September 11, the federal government rounded up and detained nearly 800 Muslim citizens and immigrants, and held them for days or weeks without being charged, as they were interrogated under the false pretense of being a threat.

Many Muslim immigrants were deported without reason or charge.

Q. In 2003, former President George W. Bush established the Terrorism Screening Database (TSDB), also known as the “Watchlist.” How has that affected Muslims?

A. The “Watchlist” system is a set of interconnected national security programs throughout the federal government that essentially acts as a “stop-and-frisk” program that often targets Muslims for enhanced screening and interrogation.

The “Watchlist” currently includes more than one million names.

Countless American Muslims are on the No Fly and Selectee List, including children.

The system has been used as a tool to target innocent Muslims secretly and systematically without due process or accountability. A federal lawsuit recently

31

01/10/21

Following September 11, the federal government rounded up and detained nearly 800 Muslim citizens and immigrants, and held them for days or weeks without being charged, as they were interrogated under the false pretense of being a threat. revealed that the federal government has distributed one of its watchlists to local governments and private entities, including employers and banking institutions. This has impacted Muslims looking for jobs, buying a car, traveling across borders, using bank accounts, wiring money to family overseas, and even during traffic stops.

CAIR and a number of other civil rights groups are engaged in multiple federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the various aspects of the system.

Q. Last June, CAIR filed a lawsuit against the spying on Muslims by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), mostly by using informants. How serious has the informants problem been?

I

nterview

A. Over the past two decades, the FBI has reportedly built a network of at least 15,000 registered informants, some of whom are paid to infiltrate American Muslim communities.

CAIR estimates that nearly half of all federal terrorism prosecutions during this period involved the use of an informant and about a third of sting operations were driven by an informant who led the plot.

A number of those cases involved financially-motivated informants who, going to great lengths over long periods of time, sought to radicalize and enable unlikely and at times mentally-ill individuals to commit acts of scripted terrorism.

Q. In 2015, the Congress limited the part of the Patriot Act about mass surveillance of people, particularly Muslims. Did that end the surveillance?

A. Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, Congress enabled the National Security Agency (NSA) and FBI to collect the phone, e-mail, and online records of millions of law-abiding Americans in the name of

Over the past two decades, the FBI has reportedly built a network of at least 15,000 registered informants, some of whom are paid to infiltrate American Muslim communities.

national security for more than a decade.

In 2015, Congress attempted to limit Section 215 to only collection on “specific selection terms,” but that could still permit courts to order private businesses to turn over large quantities of phone records from certain area codes, ZIP codes, and regions of the U.S. CAIR believes that the NSA meta-data programs have been used to spy upon and collect the communications of many Arab and Muslim Americans.

Q. In 2012, the Associated Press reported that the New York Police Department (NYPD) had established a well-funded and staffed campaign to spy on New York Muslims. CAIR, at that time, launched a campaign against the NYPD. What has happened since then?

A. From 2001 to 2014, the New York Police Department carried out an illegal and unconstitutional human mapping program that spied on and infiltrated Islamic institutions, including houses of worship, student groups and businesses that cater to the Muslim community.

The NYPD also recruited informants it referred to as “mosque crawlers” to monitor religious sermons without any suspicion of wrongdoing.

But NYPD officials acknowledged that the program generated zero criminal leads. And in 2014, the NYPD disbanded its special unit that had been conducting the surveillance.

Q. In 2016, the Obama Administration approved the Countering Violent Extremism program (CVE) ostensibly to gain the cooperation of Muslims to counter terrorism. But the Trump Administration

32

01/10/21

The NSEERS program was viewed by many as being an ineffective and burdensome program that was a massive profiling campaign targeting individuals based on their Muslim religion and ethnicity. (Reuters/File Photo)

Protesters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, April 2018 ,25, as the court considers the legality of President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban targeting people from Muslimmajority countries.

(Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

changed the program. What happened?

A. From its inception, the underlying goal of the CVE has been to gain access to, to surveil and to collect information on the American Muslim community. The program was first piloted in three cities with large Muslim populations: Boston, Los Angeles, and Minnesota.

CVE goals purportedly include intervening in an individual’s path toward violent extremism, interdicting in criminal activity and reintegrating those convicted of criminal activity into society.

But the true motive of singularly targeting the Muslim community was exposed by the Trump Administration’s withdrawal of CVE funds from projects that did not focus on Muslims, and did not involve law enforcement. While the Biden administration is attempting to establish a new program under a different name that would address broader forms of extremism, civil rights organizations remain extremely wary of such programs—to say the least.

Q. In 2017, the Trump Administration declared the “Muslim Ban.” CAIR and other human rights organizations played a major role against the ban until it was terminated by the Biden Administration. How much damage has it inflicted on Muslims, inside and outside the US? A. The Trump administration’s discriminatory Muslim and African Bans represented the culmination of 15 years of anti-Muslim politicians, media and hate groups fear-mongering about Muslims. The Ban was amended several times as a result of successful court challenges. At various times, the Ban imposed differing levels of discriminatory travel restrictions on half

33

01/10/21

Trump’s Muslim Ban was repealed on the first day of Biden Administration. However, the damage it caused continues to persist, and Congress has yet to pass legislation that would prevent the Muslim Ban from being imposed in the future. a dozen Muslim-majority countries, such as Libya, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, among other nations.

Because of the ban, which the Supreme Court eventually upheld, thousands of Muslim families have been ripped apart, students have been deprived of educational opportunities, the sick have been blocked from receiving treatment, talented workers have lost out on jobs, and refugees have been trapped in dangerous conditions.

The Muslim Ban was repealed on the first day of the Biden Administration.

However, the damage it caused continues to persist, and Congress has yet to pass legislation that would prevent the Muslim Ban from being imposed in the future.

R

eport

Shocking Videos Ought to be Paused What do Legal Protocols and Media Ethics Say about Suicide Scenes?

By Latifa el Hassanyeh - Beirut

by one rule: Going Viral.

If we time travel for the next 20 decades, we would expect to find media experts discussing theories about the golden word “viral,” where they might start analyzing why media content started losing its ethics for the sake of interaction. We could imagine them gathered in a Zoom meeting or other new app, to mark the 2010 as the beginning of a new media changing the existing standards. If we went further by our imagination and analysis, we could find them saying: In the era of social media, some of the basic ethical elements of publishing, were replaced

Now back to 2021, where media experts believe that this virtual world has lost all restrictions or conditions for posting. Once again, the goal and mission are for the sake of one result: Interaction, and nothing else.

The good news is that media experts are aware of the importance of social media, and the major role it plays in entertaining and providing us with urgent news and updates, with a capability of gathering the world into a “Universal Village” in a fast and

34

01/10/21

easy way, away from the editorial rooms and their precise requirements of high quality standards in content. Rather, these tools have contributed to promoting the dissemination of toxic ideas in either a direct or indirect way.

Among the major issues of toxic-spreading messages is suicide. Here, social media platforms contributed to strengthening and popularizing the “message” of suicide. They have also stimulated an increase in its risk factors and associated behaviors.

This is revealed by the digital research papers prepared in this context.

THE MOST CRITICAL MEDIA STUDY: “WERTHER”

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram logo in this picture illustration taken March 2018 ,28. REUTERS/ Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The role of the media has occupied the largest part in discussions and research in terms of its contribution to the increase in suicide rates, studies reveal. Some portrayal of suicide while posting videos or pictures of people killing themselves can lead to an imitating attitude or as it is so called “suicide infection.”

Perhaps the most notable of these frequently referenced papers that discussed the major role media plays in stimulating suicide is the Werther Effect theory. The term was named after a book published in 1774 called The Sorrows of Young Werther in which the protagonist committed suicide. It is believed that after the book’s release, the number of copycat suicides escalated across Europe.

The Werther Effect was tested by a wide range of media theorists, where the research has focused on the reporting of celebrity suicides in the media in television, print, radio, and Internet-based news.

Descriptive analyzes concluded that media reports of celebrities or high profile suicides are associated with increased suicide rates as well as the choice of suicide methods. Several reviews have also concluded that media reports of suicide and its portrayal in both fiction and non-fiction media can exacerbate suicidal behavior.

AUDIENCE AS NEWS CREATORS Despite the censorship imposed by the custodians of virtual world applications under the name of “community standards,” there is a continued

35

01/10/21

Usage of Social Media is similar to the use of fire when it was first discovered with ancient man burning his hands before later turning this vital element to the service of his goals. spread of videos that include sensitive scenes of individuals throwing themselves off tall buildings, shooting themselves in the head, or sending messages acknowledging the intent to take action.

What is frightening, both from a human and moral point of view, is the intense desire of the public to interact with these posts.

Despite serious attempts to ban such videos, they did not reach the level of a complete and comprehensive ban. The videos are still out there and are being widely shared.

Regarding the current state of publishing in the virtual world, the media and social media specialist Ameen Abu Yehya compared the usage of social media to fire when it was discovered for the first time. At that time, ancient man initially burned his hands before later turning this vital element to serve his purposes.

During an interview conducted by Majalla, Abu Yehya pointed out the radical shift in media principles, “The media, with its traditional function as a source of visual, audio and print news (newspapers, magazines, and publications) changed dramatically ten years ago with the advent of “social media.” Here, he referred to the information revolution that brought about changes in the concept of sending and receiving news. “The viewer no longer receives news, but also contributes to its creation through the major known platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.” He said that in the past years, the role of traditional media has declined significantly in favor of public media and the materials it provides, which are not subject to the recognized standards of professional

R

eport

ethics, including ensuring the credibility of the news before it is published. This has plunged everyone into an attitude of doubt and caution about what is published.

He continued – this matter applied to purely humanitarian issues that were “taboo” for audiences around the world, including documenting and publishing scenes of the execution of people, as ISIS did. “Then the situation developed to the publication of videos and photos of suicide cases without any respect for the families of the victims, who will always be haunted by these clips and pictures.”

Regarding what is classified in the prohibited category, he answered: “Photos of suicide victims in a way that shows the victim’s face, and pictures of massacres, killings and torture, whether of humans or animals, all of which is also immoral and unprofessional.”

The social media specialist also called for a collective resistance against the publication of videos depicting suicides, describing this as a being a human duty even “before it is a professional duty.”

This is done, he explained, through community awareness via traditional media which is relatively credible when compared to social media that do not include rules regulating their usage.

He also called for the creation of effective platforms to expose those who publish videos of this kind as well as the passing of laws that criminalize the

In the vast virtual space, many do not realize the dangers of publishing suicide videos in terms of encouraging the idea of killing oneself.

people who publish them and to systematically draw attention to the emotional aftershocks to the families of the suicides.

Abu Yehya considered that promoting suicide leads to mitigating the effects of this act and turning it into a normal thing, especially for the new generation.

“This is definitely dangerous, because the idea of killing oneself is rejected by all religions and societies, and it should not go without censorship.”

Regarding the impact of publishing such videos on the surroundings of the deceased, Abu Yehya explained that the families of the victims and those close to them, are the first ones affected in this case “because these pictures and scenes will permanently remain with them, especially if these clips are widely circulated through the communication networks of the internet.” He continued to say that, intentionally or unintentionally, some consider that publishing the video will contribute to promoting their accounts and increasing the number of followers without figuring out the psychological impact on the families of the victims.

Abu Yehya believes that it is possible to spread awareness messages without publishing pictures and videos about acts of suicide, and this could be done through preparing awareness messages extensively through the framework of communication that has become the primary source of the new generation.

He also called for issuing laws to criminalize the publisher of sensitive content, which may seem

36

01/10/21

Media and social media specialist, Ameen Abu Yehya

With the wide spread of information and videos in distractingly huge amounts, many of the users may lose sight of the extent of the harm of publishing and some may unintentionally publish toxic posts.

Appellate attorney, university professor and lecturer Dr. Bassam El Muhtar

difficult now in light of the current chaos.

Abu Yehya focused on the importance of the pivotal role of traditional media by preparing programs and episodes dedicated to this topic which are created by specialists in the field of media, “without neglecting the role of civic societies, some of which contribute to illuminating this sensitive subject.”

As far as the ethics of publishing are concerned, and its role in censoring the content and assuring compliance with the appropriate standards that are often ignored in the digital world, Abu Yehya considered that the user should have the responsibility for publishing. He explained that applications like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok have interposed special algorithms to delete any video that encourages acts of violence or glorifies suicide, and considered this as a good step, even if it came late. He also referred here to strengthening the role of the family, “which bears the responsibility to pay attention to indications of suicidal intentions among children and teens.”

PUBLICATION ETHICS FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE With an aim of media censorship, social media apps have issued rules in the form of community standards that generally follow the ethics of traditional publishing. Media students should study these guidelines rather than those of online publishing that is unregulated.

37

01/10/21

And while journalists and professional content creators are well informed of media ethics and the rules of publishing, the average user may miss quality standards related to content, most notably the dangers or penalties for publishing a video or photo to promote the act of suicide.

Basically, in this vast virtual space, many do not realize the dangers of publishing items which support the idea of killing oneself. Hence, it is of great importance to discuss the legal penalties for posting material that violates an individual’s privacy, and to understand the legal point of view in this matter.

Appellate attorney and university professor lecturer Dr. Bassam el-Muhtar considered, during an interview with Majalla, that addressing the issue of imposing punishment on those who publish videos of dead people in general, or videos of those who committed suicide in particular, together with the issue of compensation may seem contradictory.

However, he continued, the correct analysis leads us to one conclusion — The rapid development of the new means of communication, with the failure of global legislation to keep pace with, codify and regulate this development, and the need to apply old legislation to modern phenomena, created this contradiction, and necessitated the need to urgently create guidelines and policy statements to relegate these phenomena to a reasonable minimum.

El-Muhtar, who believes in the vital role of freedom of the press and expression and public freedoms, and the right to access information and freedom of opinion, stressed the need not to violate morals

R

eport

and to respect the emotional repercussions for the groups and families of the victims of suicide. He said, “Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, as well as article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guaranteed freedom of opinion and expression.”

Regarding the moral rights of the owners of the videos or their families in the case of suicide, Muhtar clarified that there are prepublication measures for the prospective damage caused by the publication of images, and subsequent measures that may be uses after publication.

Additionally, the Declaration issued by UNESCO in 1948, guaranteed public access to information through the media, and required the freedom of journalists to support media and provide it with the broadest liberty, while allowing the public to create media content themselves. At the same time, these laws warned of interference in private lives or relationships, or exposing them to attacks affecting their honor and reputation.

Regarding prepublication measures, “whoever fears that a publication will be offensive or harmful to his reputation or the reputation of a member of his family, or in the event of publishing something that offends feelings or violates privacy or any moral consideration, can go to court with an emergency application to prevent publication, as such publication would constitute an infringement of legitimate rights.” However, he says, ‘this raises a challenge towards controlling the publishing phenomenon at the present time in light of the speed and complexity of the means of communication, and the possibility of knowing all publishers in advance.”

In addition to the above, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right of privacy for the deceased and members of his family, urging effective and accessible remedies against those responsible for a breach of privacy.

He also pointed out that “this new situation at the level of the media, and the inadequacy of legislation to keep pace, encouraged the International Federation of Journalists, as well as professional and trade unions to set up committees to create special guidelines that take into account these principles and draw the boundaries between them, in light of respect for human rights and public freedoms. This confirms the utmost and urgent need to create clear and specific international legislation in this regard.”

With an aim of media censorship, social media apps have issued rules in the form of community standards that generally follow the ethics of traditional publishing.

Regarding the procedures subsequent to the act of publishing, “it is also possible to go to court for an emergency session to remove the publication and delete harmful scenes, and this also raises the possibility of controlling applications within countries that do not consider that there is any abuse, but rather legitimate freedom, or the possibility of cooperation.”

Muhtar revealed that it is possible to claim financial compensation for publishing scenes that caused moral or material harm, and this is the civil aspect.

“As for the penal part, each case can be studied separately, especially if the publication involves incitement to suicide or clearly facilitating it or otherwise.”

Muhtar stressed the need for international organizations, the bodies of the international community and the role of states themselves in this field for a clear, lofty and accurate legislative treatment of a situation that has imposed itself forcefully on all societies of the globe, and on each of its members, where “everyone has an easy and available way to access any information found on any website or otherwise.”

38

01/10/21

Publishing pictures of anyone while committing suicide exposes the owner to legal prosecution (Jody Hong Films)

Publishing videos or photos of people at the moment of their death or while they are committing suicide, provides disturbing and sensitive images as well as powerful visions of the tragedy, and it also comes within the framework of exploitation.

So, how can we balance between the public’s right to know and avoiding misuse?

The following criteria are the most important basic standards for publishing that are being launched by experts in digital media. The questions below will contribute in providing quality content without causing any harm: - Are you attacking the subject’s privacy by publishing any picture or video?

- What is the emotional damage caused to the victim’s family (in the event of suicide)?

- Is the photo you are publishing important and relevant to the story? Is the image merely expressive and dramatic, or does it have news value? What makes it meaningful?

- Will the audience understand the information conveyed without reading any accompanying text?

- What story are you telling?

- What story can others get from that photo?

- What is the effect of posting this photo on the people in the photo or their loved ones?

- What effect does this have on the news consumer?

Does the public’s right to know outweigh any emotional harm to the subject or his loved ones?

GENERAL CRITERIA FOR PUBLICATION With the wide spread of information and videos in distractingly huge amounts, many of the users may lose sight of the extent of the harm of publishing and some may unintentionally publish toxic posts.

It is of great importance to know that what matters in publishing is not only the news value of the image, but also the emotional impact of the image on the audience. It is also necessary to promote the public’s right to know as well as the privacy of the persons present and their loved ones.

39

01/10/21

- What caveats, if any, should accompany online content?

- Is there a better alternative way to present the story?

In the middle of this digital world and the difficulty we face in controlling publications, the only control one must be armed with is knowledge of the harm a publication may cause to another individual. In case we are not aware of this, there is no harm in consulting specialists to ensure that we deliver appropriate content in this complicated universe.

E

conomy

The Future is Digital Social Media Re-Shapes the Saudi Advertizing Industry

By Motasem Al Felou - Jeddah “I have not designed a press ad for any of our agency’s clients in the past five years. The design team rarely works on print ads. Clients are going digital. This means they prefer social media to advertize their products and services,” said Majid Ali, a local Saudi advertizing agency senior designer, when answering a question by Majalla on the effects of social media on the Saudi advertizing industry.

The vast majority in Saudi Arabia have left the traditional

advertizing platforms such print media, TV channels, brochures and flyers, and turned to social media to communicate with their audiences.

Social media is the name of the game in the Saudi advertizing market. Let’s discover how social media has transformed the local advertizing scene.

EASY REACH AND INTERACTION Out of the total population of Saudi Arabia, which is estimated at 35 million people, the number of social media

40

01/10/21

users is around 28 million. This has made it easier for advertizers to reach their target audiences. This easy reach is not restricted to big or medium companies – small restaurants or coffee shops with one or two branches can open their accounts on social media, post their content, promote their products and speak directly with their audience, whether they are followers or potential customers.

“YouTube ads, social media content calendars, and online advertizing campaigns have replaced TV screens and print media. Radios and outdoor advertizing (billboards, unipoles, POS displays, etc.) have survived the transformation,» said Husam Rajab, an advertizing expert.

“Nobody could tell the exact number of views of the ads that used to be shown on TVs. With social media, every view, click, and impression is calculated accurately without guessing,” he added.

Social media has influencers, who are widely used by companies to advertize products and services in exchange for money. The more followers the influencer has, the higher they charge. The Saudi Commission for Audiovisual Content has recently started to supervise the promotional content posted by influencers to make sure they don’t deceive the public with fake information on products, services, or shops. Penalties are imposed on violators and announced publicly.

The vast majority in Saudi Arabia have left the traditional advertizing platforms such print media, TV channels, brochures and flyers, and turned to social media to communicate with their audiences.

(Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash)

CONROLLABLE COST AND INCREASING SPENDING The total digital ad spending is estimated between USD 878 m-USD 933 m in 2020. The spending on social media ads ranges between %30-%25. The numbers are expected to increase by %12-%10 according to different sources.

The production of advertizing content is carried out by advertizing companies, both local and international, as well as by freelancers. In the past, producing a single video ad used to cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The cost of airing the videos on TVs is calculated by the second, and in print media by the number of insertions.

Only big companies were able to afford the high cost.

“Now things are totally different. Advertizing content development can start from a few hundred dollars to millions. Any small shop can produce its advertizing content and post it on social media without having to spend a fortune. The content can be promoted by targeting certain areas and age groups with just a few dollars. Big companies deal with media buying agencies to promote their content,” commented Husam Rajab when asked about the cost of producing digital advertizing content.

41

01/10/21

YouTube ads, social media content calendars, and online advertizing campaigns have replaced TV screens and print media. Radios and outdoor advertizing (billboards, unipoles, POS displays, etc.) have survived the transformation.»

“When it comes to videos, big companies prefer to deal with famous production houses for higher quality.

However, there is a growing number of small production houses or freelance directors who can produce video ads for social media at lower costs. There are video ads that are designed to be aired on social media channels, not TVs,” he added.

MAJOR PLATFORMS The most visited social media platform in the Kingdom is YouTube with more than 20 million users and 55 minutes of watching daily. Saudi advertizers do not only post their ads on YouTube, they also sponsor popular YouTube shows to increase brand visibility and exposure. More and more Saudis prefer to watch to local content on YouTube.

This is an opportunity for Saudi brands to be present where they can reach their audiences.

In 2020, Twitter had around 13 million users in Saudi Arabia. Twitter is preferred by Saudi adults as a source of news updates and a discussion platform. There are Saudi Twitter influencers with millions of followers, who are targeted by advertizers to promote their brands. The same happens with Snapchat influencers, who are invited to shop or restaurant openings to attract their audience’s attention.

Facebook and Instagram are preferred by expats more than Saudis. Expats form around %30 of the total population in the Kingdom.

“Two-thirds of the ad spending in the Kingdom comes from the services, retail and FMGC sectors. Due to COVID19-, the travel sector comes last. However, this could change when travel restrictions are lifted.

The future of the advertizing industry is digital. Social media ads will continue to be the name of the game,” concluded Rajab.

A Weekly Political News Magazine

2

Issue 1872- October- 01/10/2021

Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi: The 77th Patriarch of the Maronite Church in Lebanon

www.majalla.com

C

ulture

Ancient Camel Carvings in Saudi Desert Older than Giza Pyramids or Stonehenge

Life-size sculptures Chiseled with Stone Tools Predate Domestication of Camels

By Salma Adham Rock carvings of camels unearthed in northern Saudi Arabia are much older than they were estimated at the time of their unveiling a few years ago, according to an international study.

Archaeologists were shocked to discover that a series of camels carved into desert rock faces in the Al-Jawf Desert in Saudi Arabia, are prehistoric, dating from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago - before the construction of the Pyramids of Giza (4,500 years old) or Stonehenge (5,000 years old). They even predate the domestication of camels, a catalyst for economic development in the region.

The 21 relief sculptures, carved into three rocky outcrops, are a life-size beauty. In 2018, archaeologists estimated that they were from the start of our era, because of the similarities with other sculptures at the nearby site of Petra in Jordan that belong to the Nabataean civilization.

These heavily eroded carvings—which, unlike cave paintings, don’t contain the organic materials used for radiocarbon dating— presented a considerable challenge.

A collaborative research program launched between the Saudi Ministry of Culture, the German Max Planck Institute for Science and Human History and the National Institute for Scientific Research in France relied on a set of techniques to precisely date these cravings, especially since their condition has deteriorated sharply over the years.

A team of 14 scientists from Europe and the Middle East used X-ray analysis and fluorescence dating to study the camels’ location in detail, according to a Ha’aretz report.

They also evaluated erosion patterns, analyzed tool marks, and tested animal bones in relevant rock layers. The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science, assessed erosion patterns, analyzed tool marks, and tested animal bones found at the site to determine

44

01/10/21

The Camel Site in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern al-Jouf province, with a carved sculpture of a camel’s legs seen in the foreground. (Fayez Nureldine, AFP).

a new date for the sculptures’ creation.

The luminescent dating method measures the energy of photons emitted by the rocks to determine how long they have been exposed to infrared and thermal radiation naturally. This could reveal when a geologic structure was first exposed to sunlight or extreme heat. But it was the tool marks, which suggested stone rather than a metallic implement that provided the first hint that the archaeologists were in uncharted territory.

According to researchers’ findings, the camels are the world’s oldest-known largescale animal reliefs. That also makes the camels the first three-dimensional Neolithic carvings ever found.

They see an example of “an era in ancient history in which shepherd groups in northern Saudi Arabia wondered at rocks and made huge stone structures.”

Although today the camels sit amidst a sandy, barren desert, the site was a grassy plain with the appearance of lakes when their creators first began shaping the rocks, the researchers noted. stone tools 15 kilometers from the site and required collective work that could be part of the annual rituals of one of the Neolithic societies. Researchers also noted the difficulty of making such works thousands of years ago - many of the reliefs are high above the ground, meaning their carvers would have had to build scaffolding to create them.

The researchers suggested that the efforts made to complete these rock carvings required laying scaffolding and bringing There also may be significant symbolism

45

01/10/21

C

ulture

for some of the camel carvings which have indications of a breeding cycle linked in turn to those of the wet and dry seasons.

Scientists consider that this site had a special symbolism for its residents, who have not yet determined what it is, with multiple interventions over a long period to refine the sculptures.

now seeing it in a state of severe erosion with so many slabs falling off, the original site must have been magnificent,” the paper’s lead author, Maria Gugnin, of the Department of Archeology at the Max Planck Institute for the sciences of human history, told the National newspaper.

“Neolithic groups have regularly returned to They settled that some of these carvings the site, which indicates that its symbolism were carved in the sixth millennium before continued over several generations, noting our era, using stone tools in the middle of a that the carvings were regularly repaired by savannah that was scattered with trees and ancient peoples.” Maria Gagnyan added. lakes, which later turned into a desert.

Each of the 21 engravings on the three rocks “It is stunning, and considering that we are of the spurs was supposed to take about 10 to 15 days to complete with tools made of a boulder - meaning that the tools were frequently sharpened and replaced.

Archaeologists were shocked to discover that a series of camels carved into desert rock faces in the Al-Jawf Desert in Saudi Arabia, are prehistoric, dating from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago.

Although today the camels sit amidst a sandy, barren desert, the site was a grassy plain with the appearance of lakes when their creators first began shaping the rocks, the researchers noted. It is not clear why the camel sculptures were created, but the researchers have suggested that they could have provided a meeting point for nomadic tribes.

46

01/10/21

The Camel Site in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern al-Jouf province, with a carved sculpture of a camel’s legs seen in the foreground. (Fayez Nureldine, AF)

This small scale, 2D depiction of camels is more typical of the kind found in the region. (Corbis news)

The sculptures were first found three years ago in northern Saudi Arabia. (AFP)

47

01/10/21

A

rt

“Women of War”: Paintings Summarize Years of Oppression and Pain Painter Yara Hasko to Majalla: I Was Affected by Syrian war, So I Try to Convey the Suffering of Women

By Jiwan Soz – Qamishli Behind each of her paintings, there is a story.

This is the work of the young painter Yara Hasko, who hails from the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin, but resides in Aleppo, which she was forced to live due to the control of the Turkish army and armed groups supported by it over her city in northwestern Syria, from which hundreds of thousands of its original inhabitants were expelled since the control of Ankara on Afrin in March 2018.

time before she was displaced from her city due to Ankara’s control over it.

Hasko is currently raising the banner of

Hasko did not leave Syria despite the war that the country has been witnessing for nearly a decade, and she intends to draw the faces of many women. She says that she aims, through these paintings, to convey the oppression of women, as well as to show their strength, especially when she draws the faces of Kurdish fighters defending their country.

The 25-year-old painter started developing her drawing talent more than 5 years ago, and her paintings were of a different nature at that

Painter Sara Hasko

48

01/10/21

A Painting from “Women of War” Series by Sara Hasko.

(Supplied)

“Women of War” in her paintings to express her anger and sadness at the scenes of the ongoing conflict in Syria that followed the protests that erupted in the country in March of 2011.

Women occupy the largest part of the young painter’s work, especially since they live in difficult conditions full of oppression, but they are nonetheless “beautiful and elegant despite all their attempts to hide their anxiety and fatigue,” she said.

Hasko is a witness to the Syrian war, which left the greatest impact on her paintings, and also contributed to the formation of her artistic personality, especially after the Turkish army launched a large-scale military attack on Afrin, the city in which she was born.

The young painter has memories that seem as harsh as the cruelty of women’s faces in some of her paintings, in which she says that she tried to show the beauty of women despite sadness and oppression.

49

01/10/21

Hasko recalls her first painting of the “Women of War” series, which she began working on some time ago, after the killing of the Kurdish fighter, Sawsan Berhat, in a Turkish air raid in the Syrian town of Tel Tamer. She called this painting “The Martyr”.

“I drew it because Sawsan was an influential person and influenced me personally when she was martyred, as I saw the people’s love for her. This was the main motivation for me to create the “Women of War” series, through which I try to send sincere messages of the amount of pain experienced by women in Rojava,” (which is the Kurdish name for the predominantly Kurdish autonomous region in north and northeastern Syria)”, she explained.

She also added: “When I was drawing or reading books about art or aesthetics, I feel a state of absolute freedom, and that gave me energy to bear the burden of life and be able to be balanced and study with poise. Simply put, the more I paint, the more I study, the more I succeed, the more I miss drawing, and so on.”

A

rt

A Painting from “Women of War” Series by Sara Hasko. (Supplied)

With regard to her work as a painter or engineer, Hasko cannot choose between them or make her final decision and her better place between the two places, especially because her practical experience is recent through her participation in the Women’s Exhibition in the Syrian city of Qamishli for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020. However, she can unite with her paintings for hours and merge with colors with high professionalism to reach the final form that impresses the sin-

The young painter has memories that seem as harsh as the cruelty of women’s faces in some of her paintings, in which she says that she tried to show the beauty of women despite sadness and oppression.

A Painting from “Women of War” Series by Sara Hasko. (Supplied)

cerity of her feelings, anxiety and fear after the difficult scenes she experienced in the last ten years of her life, and prefers to engineering drawings that require laptop programs and craftsmanship in drawing shapes.

The painter also had a short experience for only three months in the world of sculpture and the formation of different shapes that absorb the imprint her personality and relieve her suffering and pain, but she was forced to stop due to the lack of a suitable place for that, considering that sculpture needs a space and special tools for it, while her simple studio was and still is a part from her room inside the house.

Memories form the core of the spiritual reality of things, which is evident in Hasko’s work, which continues her life in Syria despite the war, and it is something that also created a special world for her in her artistic journey to express herself and the sadness and oppression she endures in her paintings, each of which bears a story of a woman from her country.

50

01/10/21

A Painting from “Women of War” Series by Sara Hasko. (Supplied)

51

01/10/21

A

rt

In “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”

Tom Hardy Back for More Outlandish Action

By Katie Walsh Back in 2018, a delightful surprise was smuggled inside what would otherwise appear to be just another rote comic book movie. It was Tom Hardy’s performance in “Venom,” playing a San Francisco journalist, Eddie Brock, who becomes the host body for an alien symbiote affectionately known as Venom. As the possessed Eddie and the voice of Venom, Hardy’s funny, freewheeling and frequently unhinged performance felt like an alien parasite inside a Marvel movie itself. As a result, “Venom,” was that much more entertaining, anarchic, and frankly, punk rock than any other comic book movie going. Watching Hardy splash around in a lobster tanks, ferociously chomping crustaceans, felt like we were getting away with murder, because in a sea

of crushing sameness, Hardy dared to grab the wheel and steer “Venom” straight into the land of weird.

It also seemed that “Venom” director Ruben Fleischer was merely along for Hardy’s wild ride, in the same way Eddie Brock was shanghaied by his dark passenger. The sequel, “Venom: There Will Be Carnage,” is directed by Andy Serkis, and now, host and alien have achieved symbiosis. The person quite obviously steering the ship is Hardy, who has a story by credit on the film. The screenwriter, Kelly Marcel, is his longtime friend and collaborator.

The sequel doesn’t have that sense of joyful discovery and gleeful mischief that the first film did, because it’s obviously now a comedy on purpose.

But the Venom/Eddie dynamic remains the best buddy action comedy going these days. Back in the ‘80s, it was Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, now we

Tom Hardy and director Andy Serkis on the set of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.”

(Jay Maidment/ Sony Pictures )Entertainment/TNS

52

01/10/21

Carnage in the film, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” (Courtesy Sony Pictures Entertainment/ )TNS

have Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy, and Tom Hardy pulls it off and then some.

This time, there’s a lot more Venom, as the cheeky alien symbiote yearns to be free, eating as many brains as he wants. A rebellious parasite would be enough to deal with, while Eddie also works to get his journalism career back on track, and tries to moves on from his ex-fiancee Anne (Michelle Williams, the only other actor as committed as Hardy to the gig, and the wig). Living with Venom is like having a very rambunctious, and hungry, roommate, with the added complication of sharing one body.

The “Carnage” part of the title comes in the form of Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a Bay Area serial killer on death row. Harkening back to classic killers like Ed Kemper and the Zodiac, Cletus is as hard and psychotic as they come, and he’s decided to tell his life story to Eddie alone. Cletus still holds a torch for his teenage sweetheart, Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), who possesses a lethal shriek. The two lovebirds were institutionalized together before they were cruelly torn apart. Now, all Cletus cares about is seeing his Frances again. Opportunity arrives when a droplet of Eddie’s alien blood curdles his own, transforming Cletus into a many-limbed red

53

01/10/21

alien, and Venom and Eddie will need to learn to get along again in order to defeat Carnage and save Anne.

The climax is predictably chaotic and cacophonous, and while the action may be a mess, at least it doesn’t overstay its welcome. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” dares to be a tight 90 minutes, unprecedented in these times. There’s some humor and romance, a splash of comic book violence, references to the lore and a story about friendship, all in an hour and a half. Plus, the film allows Venom to really shine. While he’s no longer novel, he’s still just as outlandishly funny.

Who knows if the joke will have any staying power, but for the time being, that alien remains as entertaining as ever.

‘VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE’

2.5 stars (out of 4) MPAA rating: PG13- (for intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material and suggestive references) Running time: 1:30 Where to watch: In theaters Friday This article was originally published by Tribune News Service.

H

ealth

Reduce Health Risks from “Forever Chemicals ”

PFAS are Unusually Dangerous for Their Broad Effect on Human Body

By Kelly Bilodeau Compounds found in everything from nonstick pans to fabric-protecting sprays can harm your health, but simple lifestyle changes can help protect you.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of thousands of human-made chemicals that are widely used -- and pretty amazing. They repel water, grease, and oil and are resistant to heat, making them perfect for use in such products as nonstick pans and food packaging, camping gear, cosmetics, and stain repellants for carpet and upholstery.

These compounds were first used in consumer and industrial products in the 1950s, and their uses have only expanded over the years. Today they are ubiquitous, found in everything from eye shadow to metal plating.

But to scientists who study human health, PFAS have a dark side.

“I don’t have anything good from a health perspective to say about them,” says Elsie Sunderland, professor of environmental science and engineering at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering. “These compounds are basically a complete nightmare. They have been associated with a whole slate of terrible health effects.”

One of the biggest problems with PFAS is the same thing that makes them so useful -- they don’t break down, which is why they are often referred to as “forever chemicals.”

“That persistence seems great until a chemical enters the human body or sits in the environment,” says Sunderland.

HEALTH EFFECTS OF PFAS While many chemicals pose health risks, PFAS seem to be unusually dangerous because of how broadly they affect the human body. Experts have noted health effects related to PFAS in every major organ system, says Sunderland.

For example, PFAS can disrupt the body’s metabolism, potentially contributing to health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. These compounds might even impair a person’s ability to lose weight or to breastfeed. PFAS exposure has been linked to thyroid disease, liver damage, and kidney damage, as well as certain cancers. The chemicals also appear to harm the immune system, and they may be a factor in the rise in autoimmune disease, along with asthma and allergy disorders, Sunderland says. In children, this immunotoxicity may be even more serious than it is in adults, because it’s during childhood that the immune system undergoes important programming. Suppression of the immune system can inhibit children’s response to routine vaccination or make them more susceptible to a virus.

UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT Companies continue to use PFAS because they are powerful and profitable, says Sunderland. This is despite the fact that a number of lawsuits have uncovered evidence that some of these companies have known for decades -- even before academic researchers started looking into PFAS -- that these compounds present health risks, says Sunderland.

Drinking PFAS-contaminated water is the main way people living in communities with large PFAS sources are exposed to these compounds, says Sunderland. Large PFAS sources are typically airports, military bases, chemical manufacturing sites, and industries that use PFAS in their production processes.

“PFAS may be released into the surrounding environment in water or land or may be volatile and released from smokestacks to the atmosphere, where they can be redeposited in rainwater to surrounding regions and dispersed over large areas,” says Sunderland.

54

01/10/21

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of thousands of human-made chemicals that are widely used.

(CasarsaGuru/Getty Images)

In a 2020 paper, the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit activist organization, reported that between 18 million and 80 million people are exposed to drinking water levels of PFAS that exceed 10 parts per trillion, which is in the same range as the maximum contaminant levels being developed by many states. In another study, scientists from the same group found PFAS in drinking water in all but one of 44 samples taken across the country from 31 states and Washington, D.C. They found PFAS levels ranging from one part per trillion to 186 parts per trillion in numerous major metropolitan areas, including Miami, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Boston, and a New York City suburb in New Jersey. Harvard researchers have proposed a maximum exposure limit for PFAS of one part per trillion, based on levels that may lead to immunotoxicity in children, says Sunderland.

Once these chemicals enter the water system, they also make their way into the ocean where they pollute sea life, including fish.

PFAS IN FOOD? European regulators have found contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in many foods, including fish, fruit, and eggs, according to the European Food Safety Authority. Is the U.S. food supply also at risk?

The FDA says that the threat of contamination is low, based on testing that has been done so far. The FDA did find PFAS

55

01/10/21

One of the biggest problems with PFAS is the same thing that makes them so useful -they don’t break down, which is why they are often referred to as “forever chemicals.” in some of the fish samples it tested, including cod and tilapia, but concluded that there is no evidence as yet that supports advising people to avoid eating particular types of foods.

However, Elsie Sunderland, professor of environmental science and engineering at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says that current testing methods could be falling short. The number of products tested by the FDA was small, and it wasn’t clear how those products were selected or where they came from. She and other experts are hoping to see expanded testing along with an assessment of systematic exposure in the U.S. population to get a better picture of overall risk.

H

ealth

BRINGING ABOUT CHANGE The federal government doesn’t currently regulate PFAS levels in drinking water, although it has made some recent moves in that direction. “[Government officials] are rushing to establish a limit now that the administration has changed at the federal level,” says Sunderland.

In the absence of federal rules related to PFAS, individual states have taken the lead to rein in PFAS use. In July 2021, Maine adopted an emergency measure that would ban all PFAS from products sold in the state by 2030, with limited exceptions. Other states have adopted more limited restrictions. For example, in October 2020, Massachusetts capped the amount of six different PFAS that can be found in the public drinking water supply.

To truly protect the public from the health risks related to

If you do have products, such as furniture, fabrics, or carpets, that contain PFAS in your home, you might be exposed to these compounds when you inhale dust that sheds from these items.

PFAS, federal regulators need to step in, Sunderland says.

But federal measures to protect people from the dangers of PFAS are likely a ways off, she says. Part of the problem is that there are so many of these chemicals that it can be difficult for regulators to keep up.

Right now, what’s happening is that when a state regulates a problematic chemical, companies pivot and use a different one from the same class that may present similar -- but as yet unknown -- health risks. Substituting new compounds also makes it hard for scientists to detect them in products, because they don’t know what they’re looking for, says Sunderland.

“It’s like playing chemical whack-a-mole,” she says. The goal, instead, should be to regulate these chemicals as a class, as Maine did, says Sunderland.

REDUCING YOUR RISK While regulators sort out the issues related to PFAS, there are some lifestyle changes you can make to help protect yourself in the meantime.

“I think trying to minimize your exposure through easy changes can be effective,” says Sunderland. Here are some strategies you can use.

Filter your drinking water. While not everyone can afford to purchase a water filter, even simple, less expensive ones do a surprisingly good job of removing PFAS chemicals from drinking water. “So definitely filter your water if you can,” she says.

Accept a little bit of mess. Because PFAS are commonly found in carpet and furniture protectants, it’s best to avoid

56

01/10/21

A recent study found more than half of 231 cosmetic products from major cosmetics brands contained toxic forever chemicals known as PFAS. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Large PFAS sources are typically airports, military bases, chemical manufacturing sites, and industries that use PFAS in their production processes.

(Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash)

using these products. Whenever possible, look for carpets and furniture that are free from these chemicals. Your couch and carpet may have a few more stains, but the trade-off may be better long-term health.

Dust and vacuum regularly. If you do have products, such as furniture, fabrics, or carpets, that contain PFAS in your home, you might be exposed to these compounds when you inhale dust that sheds from these items. Dusting and vacuuming regularly can minimize the number of contaminants that you breathe.

Look for safer products. Today many manufacturers make a point of promoting PFAS-free products in their advertising to meet increasing consumer demand. When shopping for products that often contain PFAS, such as camping gear, cleaning products, or personal care products, look specifically for those that are PFAS-free. The Environmen-

Multiple major food chains have been found to have packaging containing “forever chemicals” and dangerously high levels of fluorine. (Dreamstime/TNS)

While not everyone can afford to purchase a water filter, even simple, less expensive ones do a surprisingly good job of removing PFAS chemicals from drinking water. tal Working Group offers tools on its website, www.ewg. org, to help you see what chemicals are in various personal care products and make a more informed choice about what you’re using.

Pare down. Limiting the number of products you use, particularly cosmetics, can also help reduce your exposure. Decide which items are most important and stop using the ones that don’t make the list.

Choose natural foods with less packaging. People with the highest levels of PFAS in their systems are those who eat a lot of processed, fast foods, says Sunderland. Packaging often contains PFAS; choosing unpackaged, less processed items can help. For example, swap microwave popcorn for plain kernels you can pop in a pan on your stove.

This article was originally published by Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

57

01/10/21

B

ook Reviews

Trump’s “Peril,” After “Rage” And “Fear”

Woodward’s Book Explores the Turbulent Aftermath of Biden’s Election

By Mohammad Ali Salih - Washington Another book by the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward (this time with fellow journalist Robert Costa), another set of secrets about Washington’s politics disclosed and distributed all over the world, and another wave of criticism about Woodward’s writing style and the accuracy of some of the “secrets.”

“Peril” is Woodward’s third book about the presidency of Donald Trump, after “Fear” and “Rage.”

Although the general criticism of Trump and his administration has been repeated in books, reports, tweets and texts, in “Peril”, Woodward, as usual, selected a harvest of extensive interviews with top leaders and news-makers. That enabled him to find new information directly from their sources, aside from already published accounts.

Here are some of them: In the aftermath of last year’s presidential elections, as Trump refused to accept the results, Trump had a conversation with Vice President Mike Pence in which he pressured Pence to invalidate the election results of a few states that Trump thought he actually won. On the evening of January 2021 ,5, Pence told Trump he had no power to do it. Pence said his staff found no respectable lawyer who would say he had that power. Trump asked, pointing at a TV that was showing his supporters outside the White House, “Well, what if these people say you do?»

Pence disagreed and Trump shouted back, “You’ve betrayed us.

I made you. You were nothing.”

Then, there was the story of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. As the TV was showing Trump’s supporters inside the Congress building, he called Trump and asked him to order his supporters to leave the building. But Trump said that McCarthy should be ashamed for not supporting the riot— “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are much more upset about the election than

you are.”

Woodward wrote about this conversation between Trump and McCarthy in the White House at lunchtime: Trump: “You want a cheeseburger and fries?”

McCarthy: “I’ll have a cheeseburger, but I’m fat. No fries. Salad.

Take the bun out.”

Trump, later: “You want some ice cream?”

McCarthy: “I’ll have some fruit.”

Trump ordered ice cream for himself.

Then there was the story of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who, while not publicly supporting the riot, blamed the Democrats. He had always been an extreme partisan, and looked at politics in Washington as a war with the Democrats in which each side was either a winner or a loser – no compromises.

So, he blamed, not Trump, but Democrat Joe Biden who had just defeated Trump: “He (Biden) is doing what every Democratic president wants to do, which is to push this country as far left as possible, as rapidly as possible. They all want to be the next FDR (former President Franklin D. Roosevelt).” Riots or not, ransacking the Congress or not, it was war between socialism and democracy, McConnell had always believed.

Then, there was the story of General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who, not a politician, thought the riots were not about socialism and democracy, as McConnell believed: “Blood was shed to support the belief that retaining power by mob rule against the law would be almost cool,” he told Woodward.

Woodward disclosed that, the day after the riots at the Congress, General Milley called his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng, and told him: “We are not going to attack. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

Then there was the story of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, although less partisan than his fellow McConnell, was

58

01/10/21

President Donald Trump boards Marine One as he and first lady Melania Trump depart the White House ahead of Joe Biden›s inauguration on Jan. ,20 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images/ TNS)

nevertheless a staunch supporter of Trump, even after Trump left the White House: “I think he’s redeemable. I think he’s got magic and I think he’s got darkness.”

On a second occasion, Graham said to Trump: “Mr. President, there’s just no way this party can grow without you. You are the leader of the Republicans.”

During a third occasion, Graham said: “My job is to maintain what’s left of the John McCain wing of the

Although the general criticism of Trump and his administration has been repeated in books, reports, tweets and texts, in “Peril”, Woodward, as usual, selected a harvest of extensive interviews with top leaders and news-makers.

Republican Party, the Ronald Reagan wing of the Republican Party, that believes that America is an indispensable leader of the world.”

Obviously, Graham believed that Trump, although a Conservative Republican, was “an indispensable leader” of the “indispensable leader of the world.”

Then there was the story of Woodward himself. As happened after he published the two earlier books about Trump, “Rage” and “Fear” (as well as previous books), Woodward was criticized for his style of: First, quoting people depending on a third party.

Second, quoting conversations depending on one participant.

Third, quoting people remembering what they had said, which might not be exact.

But apparently Woodward’s style has been not objectionable because he continued to publish successful books as “Peril” was number 21.

Finally, Trump comments on “Peril” that Woodward “writes fiction, not fact.”

Book Cover

59

01/10/21

Po

rt

ra

it

Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi: The 77th Patriarch of the Maronite Church in Lebanon

By Majalla Illustration by Jeannette Khouri

Michel Aoun is being used to split the Christian ranks and that he is a tool in the hands of Hezbollah. He also has Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, or, in the opinions calling for the withdrawal of official form, Mar Beshara Boutros Palestinian weapons from Lebanon.

Al-Rahi, the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, was elected patriarch on Born in the village of Hemlaya in the March 15, 2011, after thirteen voting Matn District of Mount Lebanon Govrounds over five days conducted by ernorate, on February 25, 1940, his fathe Council of Maronite Bishops since ther is Youssef Al-Ra’i and his mother March 11, succeeding Patriarch Nas- is Thamina. He joined the ranks of the rallah Sfeir who had announced his Marian Maronite Order, the secondresignation in February 2011 due to largest in Lebanon after the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1953. old age.

Patriarch Al-Rahi is considered the first Arab and Maronite in the modern era to participate in the papal elections after participating in the closed council of 2013.

He is known for his opinions against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. He had previously accused Syria of seeking to return to Lebanon and continuing to interfere in its affairs and sees Hezbollah as an Iranian party in Lebanon.

After demonstrating his permanent vows, the monks sent him to Rome, where he continued his studies in theology and philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. John Lateran Cathedral, until 1975, where he obtained his doctorate in ecclesiastical and civil rights. During that period, he also studied ecclesiastical law and obtained the license of the Roman Rota, which gives him the position of a judge in the Universal Church.

Al-Rahi had previously repeated the call to confine arms to the Lebanese army. He also considered that the MP

He studied in Lebanon and Italy, worked in the Vatican, and taught

60

01/10/21

theology and church rights in several universities, before becoming a bishop in 1986 and Archbishop of Byblos in 1990.

He headed several church committees from his election as bishop until his election as patriarch. In addition to being the Maronite Patriarch, he is considered the head of the Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs.

Pope Benedict XVI conferred upon him the title of Cardinal in the Universal Church, and he is the fourth Maronite patriarch to be conferred the title of next Pope, in the Catholic Church.

In 2005, he became the general coordinator of the Committees for the Protection of the Catholic Family in the Middle East.

On March 25, 2011, Patriarch AlRahi took office in the presence of the Catholic Patriarchs, representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Evangelists, and all the bishops of the Maronite Church who participated in the election process. The Lebanese

Minister, Saad Hariri, ministers and former presidents of the republic and the Armed Forces Commander, General John Kahwagi, also attended.

In the first sermon he delivered after the ordination, the Patriarch addressed the role and future of the Church and said: “We will live together in this communion of love, in Lebanon, whose “glory” is in its mission. “Woe to a nation in which sects multiplied and religion decreased.”

On March 13, 2012, during his visit to Qatar, the Patriarch said that he was proud of belonging to the Arab world, and he also stated that the Arab family need to join hands more and more and cooperate so that each of these countries will succeed and grow.

Al Rahi said in his last sermon in Lebanon that it has become the duty of the country’s leaders, parties, and popular movements to consult among themselves and meet to take national decisions and decide the necessary steps to push the state to change its performance before the great collapse that will not save anyone.