Month: April 2019

US Will Support Transition in Sudan Led by Civilians

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States supports a democratic and peaceful transition in Sudan led by civilians who represent all Sudanese, the State Department said on Thursday, as protesters in Khartoum kept up demands that the country’s military hand over power to civilians.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Sudan remained labeled by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism, and emphasized that Washington’s policies toward Sudan would be based on “our assessment of events on the ground and the actions of transitional authorities.”

She said the U.S. was “encouraged” by the release of political prisoners and the cancellation by the transitional military council of a curfew.
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Debate Over Future Notre-Dame Spire Fuels French Divisions

Posted on by SeeEU

President Emmanuel Macron might have hoped he was striking a note for modernity and openness in announcing an international competition to design a new spire for Notre-Dame cathedral, but he may have opened a can of worms instead.

There was already debate about whether his goal of rebuilding the church by 2024, when Paris hosts the Olympic Games, was overly ambitious, but now he’s unsettled those who would prefer to return the national symbol to just how it was.

“Since the spire wasn’t part of the original cathedral,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement late on Wednesday, “the President of the Republic hopes there will be some reflection and a contemporary architectural gesture might be envisaged.”

Computer-generated pictures online included ideas for a soaring glass needle to replace the 91-metre (300 foot) spire, which was added to the cathedral in the mid-1800s, replacing a Medieval one that was removed in 1786.

But that appears to be too much for many French, especially those with a traditional or Catholic bent.

In an online survey conducted by conservative newspaper Le Figaro, more than 70 percent of the 35,000 people who responded said they opposed any contemporary style design.

Francois-Xavier Bellamy, a 33-year-old philosopher who will head the right-of-center Les Republicains party list in next month’s European Parliament elections, said Macron’s government lacked humility in suggesting a modernist rethink.

“We are the inheritors of patrimony, it doesn’t belong to us, and it’s important therefore that we hand it on in the way that we received it,” he told Reuters.

“There are rules in France about protecting national heritage. The President of the Republic is not above the law.

It’s not up to him to decide to build a modern spire.”

Plus ca change…

While Bellamy is a conservative Catholic and might be expected to campaign for returning the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece to exactly how it was before the fire, his views are shared by some architectural historians.

Patrick Demouy, an emeritus professor of medieval history who specializes in the Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral, said it would be difficult to imagine something starkly different to the 19th century spire, even if its architect, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, was himself quite inventive with his design.

“Personally, I’m in favor of restoring it to how it was because that’s the spire that has imposed itself on the collective memory,” he told Reuters. “It would be hard to perceive [a contemporary spire] because we wouldn’t really recognize it any longer as being Notre-Dame.”

Macron’s culture minister, Franck Riester, said it was important the nation debated the issue and generated ideas.

There is likely to be months if not years of discussion before a design — contemporary or otherwise — is fixed upon.

“The masterpiece that Viollet-le-Duc left us is exceptional, but we must not dogmatically insist that we recreate an identical cathedral,” he told BFM TV. “We must let the debate take place, see what ideas are presented, and then decide.”

Paris has a track-record of being experimental with its architecture, whether via buildings such as the Pompidou Center, or the glass pyramid at the heart of the Louvre, which blends modernism with classical lines.

Other constructions, such as the 210-metre Montparnasse tower or the vast empty square of the Arche de la Defense, have come in for more criticism, even if they have fans, too.

For Jean-Michel Leniaud, an art historian at the National Institute of Art History, Notre-Dame is special because it is both a work of art and among the nation’s greatest monuments, a source of unity for citizens in times of strife.

“The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris shouldn’t be the opportunity for creative architects to show off their inventive spark,” he told Reuters. “We should go back to the original, the spire of Viollet-le-Duc,” he said.

“The best way, the most consensual way to overcome this terrible disaster is to return it to the original state.”
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US Senate Leader Calls for Raising Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco Products to 21

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he plans to introduce legislation to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products, including vaping devices, to 21 from 18 to curb their “epidemic” use among teens.

McConnell said the bill would be introduced in May.

Shares of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, which owns a 35 percent stake in e-cigarette maker Juul, fell 3 percent on the news. Philip Morris International and U.S-listed shares of British American Tobacco were also trading lower.

“For some time, I’ve been hearing from the parents who are seeing an unprecedented spike in vaping among their teenage children…. Unfortunately, it’s reaching epidemic levels around the country,” the Republican senator from Kentucky said in a statement.

McConnell’s proposal comes as states and cities across the United States have moved to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco in an effort to prevent addiction at young ages. A 2015 study from the National Academy of Medicine found that among adults who became daily smokers, about 90 percent started using cigarettes before they were 19.

The study found that raising the minimum legal age to 21 would prevent 223,000 premature deaths.

So far 12 states have enacted laws to raise the minimum age to 21, including New Jersey and California. Lawmakers in New York state and Maryland have also approved legislation.

In a statement, Altria Group Chief Executive Howard Willard said the company “strongly supports” McConnell’s move, calling it “the most effective action to reverse rising underage e-vapor usage rates.” A representative for British American Tobacco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

E-cigarette makers are already under pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which laid out plans in March to clamp down on the use of the popular nicotine devices among teens.

Altria made a big bet on e-cigarettes in December with its $12.8 billion purchase of a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs Inc, which makes a sleek line of devices that became popular among teenagers, prompting an FDA crackdown.

Altria Group has been a major contributor to McConnell’s campaigns, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. McConnell’s campaign received $31,900 from Altria employees or political action committees in the most recent election cycle, making him one of the top four recipients of campaign cash in Congress, according to the data.

 
…

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Ivanka Trump Finishes Africa Tour at Women Entrepreneur Summit

Posted on by SeeUS

Ivanka Trump, U.S. President Donald’s Trump’s daughter and senior White House adviser, spoke Wednesday to a summit of women entrepreneurs in the Ivory Coast.

“Societies that empower to succeed are more peaceful and more prosperous. And this is evident in all the research that we see,” Trump told an auditorium full of female business owners, community organizers, politicians and students.

Her appearance at the Women Entrepreneurs Financial Initiative (WeFi) summit in Ivory Coast was Trump’s last stop on a four-day tour of Africa to promote a $50 million initiative signed by her father in February that is aimed at encouraging women’s employment in developing countries.

“We launched WGDP, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, in February of this past year. It is the first ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment in the developing world, and the goal is to empower 50 million women by 2025,” she said at the summit.

The WGDP is one of many international funding projects that will work with the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to distribute money to projects throughout the continent.

Backbone of African economies

“It’s very known that women form the backbone of African economies … yet they’re very much marginalized in terms of their access to most productive resources, from land to finance to acquiring information,” Vanessa Moungar, director of Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, told VOA.

Moungar gave the example of one specific program, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which was developed to bridge the gap between men and women in how they gain access to capital.

The summit touted successful businesswomen speakers and panels, mixed with representatives like Moungar to discuss the potential of women in business on the continent.

Change for the better

And many left the conference feeling inspired about their future.

“From what I’ve heard today, I do believe that things are going to change for the better,” Tatou Dembele, who owns the food marketing company Ivorian Food, told VOA.

“I believe that there is a strong will to help women in their own businesses. I believe this is the most important thing and we need to focus on that, whether or not we receive or might receive so much money or less money,” Dembele added.

​$2 million for cocoa

Earlier Wednesday, at a cocoa farm about 100 kilometers from Abidjan, Trump announced a $2 million commitment to help women in Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry.

Speaking at Cayat, a cocoa cooperative in the town of Adzopé, Trump said the $2 million, promised by USAID and private chocolate companies, would go toward savings associations, which are a popular way for businesswomen to gain capital in the West African country.

Cayat is an example of one company that was able to grow through use of a savings association. It is a company, however, in an industry largely run by women, but where women are still outearned by men.

“Oftentimes women are left out of the decision-making process. Women do a lot of the work, but women often don’t have the ability to own land,” Tim McCoy, vice president of country relations for the World Cocoa Foundation, told VOA.

“So what we’re seeing here is a change in that and an example of women really taking responsibility and exercising really amazing leadership,” he added about Cayat.

“Thanks for allowing us to highlight a best-in-class example,” Trump told an audience of Cayat employees after touring the facilities Wednesday.

Trump was received warmly both in the town and the cocoa cooperative. Dozens of people wearing shirts with Trump’s photo lined the streets to greet her.

“We are ready to work with them,” Adingra Yawa, a Cayat employee, told VOA after Trump’s announcement. “We want our children to be able to go to school. We want to be happy like other women.”
…

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Ivanka Trump Finishes Africa Tour at Women Entrepreneur Summit

Posted on by SeeUS

Ivanka Trump, U.S. President Donald’s Trump’s daughter and senior White House adviser, spoke Wednesday to a summit of women entrepreneurs in the Ivory Coast.

“Societies that empower to succeed are more peaceful and more prosperous. And this is evident in all the research that we see,” Trump told an auditorium full of female business owners, community organizers, politicians and students.

Her appearance at the Women Entrepreneurs Financial Initiative (WeFi) summit in Ivory Coast was Trump’s last stop on a four-day tour of Africa to promote a $50 million initiative signed by her father in February that is aimed at encouraging women’s employment in developing countries.

“We launched WGDP, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, in February of this past year. It is the first ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment in the developing world, and the goal is to empower 50 million women by 2025,” she said at the summit.

The WGDP is one of many international funding projects that will work with the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to distribute money to projects throughout the continent.

Backbone of African economies

“It’s very known that women form the backbone of African economies … yet they’re very much marginalized in terms of their access to most productive resources, from land to finance to acquiring information,” Vanessa Moungar, director of Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, told VOA.

Moungar gave the example of one specific program, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which was developed to bridge the gap between men and women in how they gain access to capital.

The summit touted successful businesswomen speakers and panels, mixed with representatives like Moungar to discuss the potential of women in business on the continent.

Change for the better

And many left the conference feeling inspired about their future.

“From what I’ve heard today, I do believe that things are going to change for the better,” Tatou Dembele, who owns the food marketing company Ivorian Food, told VOA.

“I believe that there is a strong will to help women in their own businesses. I believe this is the most important thing and we need to focus on that, whether or not we receive or might receive so much money or less money,” Dembele added.

​$2 million for cocoa

Earlier Wednesday, at a cocoa farm about 100 kilometers from Abidjan, Trump announced a $2 million commitment to help women in Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry.

Speaking at Cayat, a cocoa cooperative in the town of Adzopé, Trump said the $2 million, promised by USAID and private chocolate companies, would go toward savings associations, which are a popular way for businesswomen to gain capital in the West African country.

Cayat is an example of one company that was able to grow through use of a savings association. It is a company, however, in an industry largely run by women, but where women are still outearned by men.

“Oftentimes women are left out of the decision-making process. Women do a lot of the work, but women often don’t have the ability to own land,” Tim McCoy, vice president of country relations for the World Cocoa Foundation, told VOA.

“So what we’re seeing here is a change in that and an example of women really taking responsibility and exercising really amazing leadership,” he added about Cayat.

“Thanks for allowing us to highlight a best-in-class example,” Trump told an audience of Cayat employees after touring the facilities Wednesday.

Trump was received warmly both in the town and the cocoa cooperative. Dozens of people wearing shirts with Trump’s photo lined the streets to greet her.

“We are ready to work with them,” Adingra Yawa, a Cayat employee, told VOA after Trump’s announcement. “We want our children to be able to go to school. We want to be happy like other women.”
…

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Court Sets Hearing on Trump Administration’s Asylum Policy

Posted on by SeeUS

A federal appeals court Wednesday scheduled a hearing over whether to stop the Trump administration from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their immigration court hearings.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set a hearing for April 24 in San Francisco over whether a lower court ruling to block the policy should go into effect while the case proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg ruled April 8 that the unprecedented policy violated U.S. law and should be halted because it failed to evaluate dangers migrants face in Mexico.

He issued an order to stop the policy, but gave the government time to appeal, which it did, claiming the ruling was erroneous and would endanger the public.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit issued a temporary stay last week — leaving the policy in place — and requested written arguments from the government and immigrant advocates before setting the hearing date, now set for next week.

Policy introduced in January

The administration introduced its “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy Jan. 29 in San Diego and later expanded it to Calexico, California, and El Paso, Texas. Homeland Security officials have said they planned to sharply expand enforcement along the entire border with Mexico.

Families seeking asylum that typically would have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court, were instead sent back to Mexico to await their hearings.

Eleven Central Americans sued to challenge the policy, arguing it jeopardized asylum seekers by forcing them to stay in Mexico, where crime and drug violence are prevalent.

According to the Mexican government, Central American asylum seekers have been returned to Mexico 1,323 times to await court dates in the U.S.

The U.S. stopped returning people to Mexico in the immediate aftermath of Seeborg’s ruling and at least some who reported to court that week were allowed to stay in the United States.
…

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Court Sets Hearing on Trump Administration’s Asylum Policy

Posted on by SeeUS

A federal appeals court Wednesday scheduled a hearing over whether to stop the Trump administration from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their immigration court hearings.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set a hearing for April 24 in San Francisco over whether a lower court ruling to block the policy should go into effect while the case proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg ruled April 8 that the unprecedented policy violated U.S. law and should be halted because it failed to evaluate dangers migrants face in Mexico.

He issued an order to stop the policy, but gave the government time to appeal, which it did, claiming the ruling was erroneous and would endanger the public.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit issued a temporary stay last week — leaving the policy in place — and requested written arguments from the government and immigrant advocates before setting the hearing date, now set for next week.

Policy introduced in January

The administration introduced its “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy Jan. 29 in San Diego and later expanded it to Calexico, California, and El Paso, Texas. Homeland Security officials have said they planned to sharply expand enforcement along the entire border with Mexico.

Families seeking asylum that typically would have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court, were instead sent back to Mexico to await their hearings.

Eleven Central Americans sued to challenge the policy, arguing it jeopardized asylum seekers by forcing them to stay in Mexico, where crime and drug violence are prevalent.

According to the Mexican government, Central American asylum seekers have been returned to Mexico 1,323 times to await court dates in the U.S.

The U.S. stopped returning people to Mexico in the immediate aftermath of Seeborg’s ruling and at least some who reported to court that week were allowed to stay in the United States.
…

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Yemeni Artist’s Murals Depict Costs of War

Posted on by SeeEA

As the war in Yemen continues to inflict suffering on its millions of civilians, a Yemeni graffiti artist is taking her art to the streets of Sanaa to draw images of war and hunger in the conflict-torn country.  

 

Haifa Subay, 28, is weaponizing her art to disseminate messages of peace at home and to try to bring the world’s attention to the toll that war has taken on Yemenis, particularly women and children. 

 

“I wanted to send a message of peace, a plea to stop the fighting and alleviate the suffering caused by the ongoing war,” Subay told VOA from her home in Sanaa. 

 

Subay said her art campaign focuses on various humanitarian and social consequences of the conflict, including famine, land mines, displacement, child soldiers, child marriage and domestic violence against women. She chose Sanaa’s most populated areas to make sure her striking art is seen by as many people as possible.  

​’Just a Leg’

 

One of her popular works, called “Just a Leg,” shows a one-legged boy who is holding his amputated leg, the result of a land mine accident. Another artwork, “Child of Bones,” portrays a mother holding her malnourished son. 

 

“All of my murals are of real people and real situations,” Subay said,  and each one “has a story behind it representing an aspect of the conflict. My favorite mural is of the child victim of land mines holding a leg he lost in an explosion.”

The war in Yemen started in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in support of the internationally recognized government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi after Iran-aligned Houthi rebels staged a takeover of Sanaa and large swaths of Yemeni territory. Since then, the conflict has morphed into a proxy war between neighboring Saudi Arabia and Iran.  

 

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a database tracking violence in the country, the conflict has, since early 2016, caused 67,600 deaths; 7,000 of those victims were civilians.   

  

The United Nations has warned that Yemen is facing the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis, with two-thirds of all districts in the country in a “pre-famine” state and an estimated 80 percent of the population in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.  

​Yemeni women  

 

The agency said women and girls are paying the heaviest price in the conflict, with many being prevented from going to school or even having access to public spaces. 

 

According to a report released in February by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the conflict has forced about 4.3 million Yemenis to flee from their homes, with almost half of the displaced being women and girls under age 18.  

 

“With limited shelter options, displaced women and girls tend to suffer most from lack of privacy, threats to safety and limited access to basic services, making them ever more vulnerable to violence and abuse,” UNFPA reported. 

 

As a female artist, Subay said she wanted to use her work as a tool to express women’s suffering due to the war and their abilities to make positive change when they are given an opportunity.  

 

“When I started painting on the walls of my city, some people were surprised by seeing a woman drawing graffiti on the street. But my illustrations of war touch the hearts of every Yemeni,” Subay told VOA. 

 

“With time, the gazes of surprise have turned into support and encouragement,” she said, adding that she has been able to change the attitude of many toward women’s abilities.  

 

Similarly, she hopes her murals can also help promote peace and respect for civilian lives as warring sides seek a compromise to end over four years of war.  

 

​Peace talks 

 

The Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthis reached a U.N.-backed cease-fire agreement in December that demanded all parties pull back from the main ports and parts of the strategic city of Hodeida. The agreement, however, fell short of its goals as the parties started accusing each other of using the cease-fire to prepare for war.  

 

The U.N. on Monday said efforts were under way to get the warring parties to the negotiating table again.  

 

“I hoped for a peace that alleviates the suffering of Yemenis, but my hope is fading as the conflict is deepening my people’s agony. … My country’s grave suffering is a wound in my heart,” Subay said. 
…

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Notre Dame Fire Exposes Priorities of Giving

Posted on by SeeUS

The remains of precious religious objects lay charred on the church floor, black and smoldering after a devastating fire. 

But this wasn’t Notre Dame, the Catholic cathedral known as the “Heart of Paris,” parts of which collapsed in flames this week as millions watched in horror on broadcast news. This was three small Baptist churches in rural Louisiana.

While these churches in a stubbornly segregated part of America’s South were destroyed by suspected arson over several days, they received scant attention on the news landscape. (The 21-year-old son of a local sheriff’s deputy has been charged with arson and hate crimes.) 

“I think it’s a question that we all have to ask ourselves: Why is it that we can be more moved by the destruction of a beautiful but inanimate object rather than, say, the death of refugees in the Mediterranean or elsewhere? Or the continuing and growing problems of climate change, and the deaths of animal species?” asked Nick Jubber, a travel writer in London who lived in Paris.

The Twittersphere agreed. After an overnight of collective grief and social mourning over the 850-year-old Paris cathedral, people started to talk about priorities. 

“My heart is broken over the loss of Notre Dame,” tweeted Megan Romer of Lafayette, Louisiana, just south of the parish where the Baptist churches burned. “If you are going to donate money to rebuild a church this week, I implore you to make it the black churches in St. Landry Parish.

“I am not saying this to minimize any suffering. Loss is loss and it all hurts,” Romer continued. “But if you happen to be reading this, remember that famous history isn’t the only history. Imagine the courage it took to build and fill a black house of worship in postbellum rural Louisiana. AND NOW.” 

While Notre Dame receives about 30,000 visitors a day as one of the biggest attractions in the world, the predominantly black Louisiana churches receive little tourism attention or dollars. Instead, tourists in that part of Lousiana come to admire the plantations constructed before the Civil War by wealthy white landowners who built their sizable fortunes on generations of enslaved black people. 

Besides the Louisiana churches, people worldwide noted the outflow of money going to Notre Dame, while, in their eyes, other parts of the world were burning.

Three French “billionaires have pledged 600+ million euros for the Notre Dame reconstruction in less than 12 hours,” tweeted Iman. “Let that put into perspective how easily billionaires could end world hunger, poverty, lack of access to healthcare/clean water/education but choose not to.” 

“The 800-year-old Keriya Aitika mosque in China’s Xinjiang province was also razed to the ground by the Chinese (government), the latest in a string of historic mosques destroyed,” tweeted Kaveh Akbar. “Pray for these histories, too.”

“Masjid Al-Aqsa got burned and there’s not media coverage??! But Notre Dame fire is on every news channel??? Ok,” lamented @Salmaabellaa, referring to a fire at Islam’s Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

When others with significant social media followings tweeted about the inequity, the Baptist churches were no longer anonymous. A GoFundMe account asking for donations to restore the churches raised close to $1.5 million by Wednesday afternoon EST. 

Nearly 27,000 donations were made worldwide to the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149-year-old nonprofit religious organization comprised of 60 Baptist churches in southwest Louisiana, which includes the three churches affected by the recent fires, the GoFundMe webpage states.

“As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana. Three historically black churches have burned in recent weeks, charring buildings and scattering communities. If you can, contribute to rebuilding funds …” tweeted former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Jubber explained that the outpouring for the Catholic cathedral is because Notre Dame “is just as alive as any person and, perhaps, more so … because it’s been there and present through so much history, it has this living force that gives it this emotional power. … It feels like more than just a building … its so permanent. I never would have imagined that Notre Dame would have burned. It seemed like something that was always there. It was always something so stable.

“It will never be the same,” said Jubber, who recently published “Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe.” 

“There may seem something perverse about this display of grief when species are falling extinct on a regular basis, and we’re increasingly faced with the effects of climate change. But it reflects a truth that is increasingly apparent: We look to the past for our collective identity.”
…

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Notre Dame Fire Exposes Priorities of Giving

Posted on by SeeUS

The remains of precious religious objects lay charred on the church floor, black and smoldering after a devastating fire. 

But this wasn’t Notre Dame, the Catholic cathedral known as the “Heart of Paris,” parts of which collapsed in flames this week as millions watched in horror on broadcast news. This was three small Baptist churches in rural Louisiana.

While these churches in a stubbornly segregated part of America’s South were destroyed by suspected arson over several days, they received scant attention on the news landscape. (The 21-year-old son of a local sheriff’s deputy has been charged with arson and hate crimes.) 

“I think it’s a question that we all have to ask ourselves: Why is it that we can be more moved by the destruction of a beautiful but inanimate object rather than, say, the death of refugees in the Mediterranean or elsewhere? Or the continuing and growing problems of climate change, and the deaths of animal species?” asked Nick Jubber, a travel writer in London who lived in Paris.

The Twittersphere agreed. After an overnight of collective grief and social mourning over the 850-year-old Paris cathedral, people started to talk about priorities. 

“My heart is broken over the loss of Notre Dame,” tweeted Megan Romer of Lafayette, Louisiana, just south of the parish where the Baptist churches burned. “If you are going to donate money to rebuild a church this week, I implore you to make it the black churches in St. Landry Parish.

“I am not saying this to minimize any suffering. Loss is loss and it all hurts,” Romer continued. “But if you happen to be reading this, remember that famous history isn’t the only history. Imagine the courage it took to build and fill a black house of worship in postbellum rural Louisiana. AND NOW.” 

While Notre Dame receives about 30,000 visitors a day as one of the biggest attractions in the world, the predominantly black Louisiana churches receive little tourism attention or dollars. Instead, tourists in that part of Lousiana come to admire the plantations constructed before the Civil War by wealthy white landowners who built their sizable fortunes on generations of enslaved black people. 

Besides the Louisiana churches, people worldwide noted the outflow of money going to Notre Dame, while, in their eyes, other parts of the world were burning.

Three French “billionaires have pledged 600+ million euros for the Notre Dame reconstruction in less than 12 hours,” tweeted Iman. “Let that put into perspective how easily billionaires could end world hunger, poverty, lack of access to healthcare/clean water/education but choose not to.” 

“The 800-year-old Keriya Aitika mosque in China’s Xinjiang province was also razed to the ground by the Chinese (government), the latest in a string of historic mosques destroyed,” tweeted Kaveh Akbar. “Pray for these histories, too.”

“Masjid Al-Aqsa got burned and there’s not media coverage??! But Notre Dame fire is on every news channel??? Ok,” lamented @Salmaabellaa, referring to a fire at Islam’s Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

When others with significant social media followings tweeted about the inequity, the Baptist churches were no longer anonymous. A GoFundMe account asking for donations to restore the churches raised close to $1.5 million by Wednesday afternoon EST. 

Nearly 27,000 donations were made worldwide to the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149-year-old nonprofit religious organization comprised of 60 Baptist churches in southwest Louisiana, which includes the three churches affected by the recent fires, the GoFundMe webpage states.

“As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana. Three historically black churches have burned in recent weeks, charring buildings and scattering communities. If you can, contribute to rebuilding funds …” tweeted former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Jubber explained that the outpouring for the Catholic cathedral is because Notre Dame “is just as alive as any person and, perhaps, more so … because it’s been there and present through so much history, it has this living force that gives it this emotional power. … It feels like more than just a building … its so permanent. I never would have imagined that Notre Dame would have burned. It seemed like something that was always there. It was always something so stable.

“It will never be the same,” said Jubber, who recently published “Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe.” 

“There may seem something perverse about this display of grief when species are falling extinct on a regular basis, and we’re increasingly faced with the effects of climate change. But it reflects a truth that is increasingly apparent: We look to the past for our collective identity.”
…

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Instagram Blocks Iranian Guard Commanders’ Pages

Posted on by SeeEA

With 800,000 followers, the Instagram page of the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force was among the most popular pages of Iranian officials on the photo-sharing website.

The Instagram comments, public appearances, travels and promotional posters of Qassem Soleimani — who as head of Quds commands the vaunted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) outside Iran — were shared on the Instagram page, which is one of the only major social media sites that has not been blocked by Iran.

On April 16, a day after Washington’s designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization came into effect, Soleiman’s page, along with the Instagram pages of several other IRGC commanders, were blocked.

“Sorry, this page isn’t available,” a message on the page reads. “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”

An Instagram spokesman said it was operating “under the constraints of U.S. sanctions laws.”

“We work with the appropriate government authorities to ensure we meet our legal obligations, including those relating to the recent designation of the IRGC,” the spokesman said.

Iranian media reported that the English-language Instagram page of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the page of judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi were also blocked.

Khamenei’s Persian-language Instagram page, with 2.5 million followers, remains available. Khamenei’s English-language page was back up on April 17.

‘Take reciprocal actions’

The blockages were condemned in Tehran and prompted renewed calls from hard-liners for a blocking of Instagram, the second most popular social media platform in Iran after the communications app Telegram, which was blocked last year.

“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you aren’t proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you FEAR what he might say,” Communications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahrom wrote on Twitter, blocked in Iran since 2019, quoting the cult TV series Game of Thrones.

Other hard-liners, including Hossein Allah Karam, a leader of the paramilitary Ansar-e Hezbollah group, blacklisted by the U.S. for human rights abuses, also agreed that the time had come for the Islamic Republic to block Instagram.

“Social media sites use any opportunity to harm national interests. We need to be ready to confront these plots and take reciprocal actions,” Allah Karam was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

“Under the current conditions it is needed more than ever to filter these social media sites in support of the IRGC,” he said, adding that “the blocking of hostile social media sites such as Instagram will [prevent] them from doing what they want.” 

The conservative chairman of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alaeddin Borujerdi, said he would stop posting on Instagram to protest the blocking of the pages of Khamenei and the IRGC commanders.

In a video posted on Instagram, Borujerdi said the “unwise move” reflected “the depth of America’s hostility” toward the Islamic establishment.

​To block or not to block?

Iranian hard-liners have long called for tighter Internet censorship, including the blocking of Instagram.

Earlier this year, Javad Javidnia, secretary of Iran’s state committee on online censorship and deputy state prosecutor in charge of cyberaffairs, was quoted by domestic media as saying that the country was ready to block Instagram once the authorities agreed.

The move has been opposed by the government of President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in 2013 promising people more freedom and less censorship. 

Iran blocks tens of thousands of websites, including news sites and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but many Iranians access banned sites through virtual private networks and other anti-filtering tools.
…

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Turkish Opposition Has Historic Victory Confirmed in Istanbul, as Erdogan Seeks to Overturn Vote

Posted on by SeeEU

After 17 days of recounts and controversies, Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was confirmed the official winner Wednesday in the Istanbul mayoral election.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to overturn the historic vote, which ends his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP), and other Erdogan-affiliated parties’, 25-year control of Turkey’s largest city. 

Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s new mayor, addressed thousands of jubilant supporters outside the city’s mayoral building.

“I take this victory for Turks, Kurds, Greeks and Armenians,” Imamoglu said, referring to Istanbul’s diverse population. 

Imamoglu’s victory speech included a theme of inclusivity that underpinned his winning campaign, which secured a narrow victory by 14,000 votes out of 9 million ballots cast.

Potential game changer

Victory for the CHP in Istanbul, the country’s industrial, financial and cultural capital, is already touted as a potential political game changer for an opposition that has suffered nearly two decades of defeat at the hands of the AKP.

“The unquestionable significance of this election is that power can be changed through the ballot box, and that is a big change,” said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations, at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “On the other hand, it will be quite disastrous for the (AK) party — in terms of finances, power, psychology, morale— to lose Istanbul.”

The AKP vigorously challenged the result, calling for numerous partial recounts of the millions of votes. In an attempt to prove fraud, interior minister Suleyman Soylu sent police to knock on the doors of Istanbul residents to confirm voter lists. 

Erdogan is calling for the vote to be annulled. Tuesday, AKP officials delivered five suitcases of evidence to the Supreme Electoral Board to back calls to rescind the Istanbul election.

Analysts warn of the dangers a vote annulment holds.

“All the opponents from various parties and different ways of life are tired of this regime, and people are rejoicing now,” political scientist Cengiz Aktar said. “The annulation of the vote will have a devastating effect on them. I worry about the reaction.”

The High Election Board (YSK) is predominantly made up of government and presidential appointees. Opposition parties have in recent polls questioned the board’s impartiality, but have raised few criticisms of its handling of the Istanbul result.

Evidence of impartiality

On election night, the YSK declared Imamoglu to be provisionally ahead, contradicting claims of victory by AKP candidate Binali Yildirim. Analysts cite the electoral board’s decision to give Imamoglu the mayoral mandate, and with it further political momentum to his claim for power, as further evidence of impartiality.

“The credibility of the electoral board was on the line,” Ozel said. “I think they have been compromised in other places, but at least the procedural lines were at last followed (in Istanbul).

“In that sense, it’s both a political victory for Mr. Imamoglu, and at least a somewhat legal victory, too. So we are, in my judgment, on a different plateau. A threshold has been crossed,” he added.

Observers suggest the AKP will be lobbying the YSK hard behind the scenes to overturn the vote, given the importance of Istanbul to the party.

“Istanbul presents so many patronage opportunities. It greases the wheels of politics for those who control it,” Ozel said. “And for the AKP, in the last 25 years, they have truly mastered that, as well.”

“They’ve generated enormous urban rents, which they used to help the dependent and poorer sections of society, but also enrich contractors, who in turn supported the party. So, that wheel of fortune will be broken,” he added.

Significant risks

Any rerun of the Istanbul vote brings with it significant risks for the AKP, as well as for Erdogan. The underlining causes for the AKP’s defeat — high unemployment and inflation — remain unchanged. Observers also point out that voters usually punish the party blamed for re-elections, especially any considered unjustified.

There are unconfirmed reports that the AKP has conducted private polls in Istanbul that indicate Imamoglu would win with a larger margin of victory in a revote. 

Analysts also warn that Turkey’s current economic woes could be further exacerbated by another Istanbul poll held in a profoundly polarized atmosphere.

Analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners suggests while Erdogan is publicly calling for another vote, he may not be too disappointed if his calls for a new ballot are rejected.

“Erdogan’s finely honed political instincts tell him repeating the elections carry several political and economic hazards, which are costlier than losing the center of cronyism,” Yesilada said.
…

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Turkish Opposition Has Historic Victory Confirmed in Istanbul, as Erdogan Seeks to Overturn Vote

Posted on by SeeEU

After 17 days of recounts and controversies, Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was confirmed the official winner Wednesday in the Istanbul mayoral election.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to overturn the historic vote, which ends his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP), and other Erdogan-affiliated parties’, 25-year control of Turkey’s largest city. 

Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s new mayor, addressed thousands of jubilant supporters outside the city’s mayoral building.

“I take this victory for Turks, Kurds, Greeks and Armenians,” Imamoglu said, referring to Istanbul’s diverse population. 

Imamoglu’s victory speech included a theme of inclusivity that underpinned his winning campaign, which secured a narrow victory by 14,000 votes out of 9 million ballots cast.

Potential game changer

Victory for the CHP in Istanbul, the country’s industrial, financial and cultural capital, is already touted as a potential political game changer for an opposition that has suffered nearly two decades of defeat at the hands of the AKP.

“The unquestionable significance of this election is that power can be changed through the ballot box, and that is a big change,” said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations, at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “On the other hand, it will be quite disastrous for the (AK) party — in terms of finances, power, psychology, morale— to lose Istanbul.”

The AKP vigorously challenged the result, calling for numerous partial recounts of the millions of votes. In an attempt to prove fraud, interior minister Suleyman Soylu sent police to knock on the doors of Istanbul residents to confirm voter lists. 

Erdogan is calling for the vote to be annulled. Tuesday, AKP officials delivered five suitcases of evidence to the Supreme Electoral Board to back calls to rescind the Istanbul election.

Analysts warn of the dangers a vote annulment holds.

“All the opponents from various parties and different ways of life are tired of this regime, and people are rejoicing now,” political scientist Cengiz Aktar said. “The annulation of the vote will have a devastating effect on them. I worry about the reaction.”

The High Election Board (YSK) is predominantly made up of government and presidential appointees. Opposition parties have in recent polls questioned the board’s impartiality, but have raised few criticisms of its handling of the Istanbul result.

Evidence of impartiality

On election night, the YSK declared Imamoglu to be provisionally ahead, contradicting claims of victory by AKP candidate Binali Yildirim. Analysts cite the electoral board’s decision to give Imamoglu the mayoral mandate, and with it further political momentum to his claim for power, as further evidence of impartiality.

“The credibility of the electoral board was on the line,” Ozel said. “I think they have been compromised in other places, but at least the procedural lines were at last followed (in Istanbul).

“In that sense, it’s both a political victory for Mr. Imamoglu, and at least a somewhat legal victory, too. So we are, in my judgment, on a different plateau. A threshold has been crossed,” he added.

Observers suggest the AKP will be lobbying the YSK hard behind the scenes to overturn the vote, given the importance of Istanbul to the party.

“Istanbul presents so many patronage opportunities. It greases the wheels of politics for those who control it,” Ozel said. “And for the AKP, in the last 25 years, they have truly mastered that, as well.”

“They’ve generated enormous urban rents, which they used to help the dependent and poorer sections of society, but also enrich contractors, who in turn supported the party. So, that wheel of fortune will be broken,” he added.

Significant risks

Any rerun of the Istanbul vote brings with it significant risks for the AKP, as well as for Erdogan. The underlining causes for the AKP’s defeat — high unemployment and inflation — remain unchanged. Observers also point out that voters usually punish the party blamed for re-elections, especially any considered unjustified.

There are unconfirmed reports that the AKP has conducted private polls in Istanbul that indicate Imamoglu would win with a larger margin of victory in a revote. 

Analysts also warn that Turkey’s current economic woes could be further exacerbated by another Istanbul poll held in a profoundly polarized atmosphere.

Analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners suggests while Erdogan is publicly calling for another vote, he may not be too disappointed if his calls for a new ballot are rejected.

“Erdogan’s finely honed political instincts tell him repeating the elections carry several political and economic hazards, which are costlier than losing the center of cronyism,” Yesilada said.
…

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UN: Fighting in Libyan Capital Intensifies

Posted on by SeeEA

The United Nations said Wednesday that the Libyan capital saw its most intense fighting overnight since the forces of Gen. Khalifa Haftar began their battle to take Tripoli earlier this month. 

“Tripoli witnessed the heaviest fighting since the outbreak of clashes, with indiscriminate rocket fire on a high-density neighborhood in the Libyan capital,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. He said that at least five civilians were reportedly killed and several others injured.

The U.N.’s top diplomat in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, condemned the shelling on Twitter: “Horrible night of random shelling of residential areas. For the sake of 3 million civilians living in Greater Tripoli, these attacks should stop. NOW!”

In a statement to the media on Tuesday, Salamé renewed his call for international unity to spare Libya from the devastating consequences of a civil war.

To that end, the U.N. Security Council has been considering a draft resolution this week calling for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire.

Russian objection

Diplomats said Russia had objected to the naming of Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) in the text as originating the new violence. But after a revised draft was circulated Wednesday afternoon, it did not appear to satisfy Moscow, which raised objections, as did council member Equatorial Guinea on behalf of itself and the other two African council members — South Africa and Ivory Coast. Negotiations continue in search of a consensus as the fighting goes on.

The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that the offensive has displaced 25,000 people in the capital, with 4,500 displaced in the past 24 hours alone.

Humanitarians are also having difficulty evacuating civilians trapped by the fighting. A request for a temporary truce Tuesday to allow civilians to leave volatile neighborhoods in Tripoli was not granted.

“Civilians trapped in conflict areas are reportedly running low on basic food items, as well as fuel, and experiencing prolonged electricity and water cuts,” Dujarric told reporters.

Libya has been in political and economic chaos since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. 

The latest cycle of fighting began after forces loyal to Haftar advanced from the east on Tripoli, which is controlled by the U.N.-backed Presidential Council and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj in a bid to capture the capital.

The fighting scuttled a national conference the U.N. had planned this week as part of an effort to secure a political settlement. 
…

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28 Dead in Portugal Bus Crash, Including Germans

Posted on by SeeEU

An official on Portugal’s Madeira Island says a tour bus crash has killed 28 people, most of them German tourists.

Local mayor Filipe Sousa tells cable news channel SIC that the victims include 17 women and 11 men.

 

He says the bus carrying 55 people rolled down a steep hillside Wednesday after veering off the road on a bend east of the capital, Funchal.

 

Local television shows bodies scattered over the rural hillside next to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Residents say the weather was fine at the time of the accident, which happened in daylight in the early evening.

 

Authorities say they are investigating the possible cause.

Madeira is a popular vacation destination for Europeans.
…

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28 Dead in Portugal Bus Crash, Including Germans

Posted on by SeeEU

An official on Portugal’s Madeira Island says a tour bus crash has killed 28 people, most of them German tourists.

Local mayor Filipe Sousa tells cable news channel SIC that the victims include 17 women and 11 men.

 

He says the bus carrying 55 people rolled down a steep hillside Wednesday after veering off the road on a bend east of the capital, Funchal.

 

Local television shows bodies scattered over the rural hillside next to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Residents say the weather was fine at the time of the accident, which happened in daylight in the early evening.

 

Authorities say they are investigating the possible cause.

Madeira is a popular vacation destination for Europeans.
…

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Bells Toll as France Focuses on Repairing Notre Dame

Posted on by SeeEU

Bells tolled across France Wednesday, marking the moment flames began demolishing parts of Notre Dame Cathedral. The focus is now on rebuilding the Paris cathedral — and finding the cause of the inferno that ravaged one of the world’s most iconic landmarks. The unity forged by the fire may be short-lived.

From village churches to Saint Sulpice in Paris, the sound was of bells. Notre Dame is badly damaged by Monday’s fire but still standing. Some of its biggest treasures have been saved: the bell towers and rose windows, along with priceless artifacts – like a crown of thorns said to have been worn by Jesus.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced a global competition to design the replacement for Notre Dame’s spire that collapsed in the inferno. The cathedral had fire alarms but reportedly lacked some basic safety measures.

President Emmanuel Macron wants to repair Notre Dame in five years, when Paris hosts the Olympics. Some experts estimate it will take much longer. But reconstruction money is pouring in — nearly a billion dollars in donations so far.

​In an address to the nation, Macron said the fire offered an occasion to come together. “We can be better than we are,” he said.

But it’s unclear whether Notre Dame — or Macron— can unify a deeply divided France that has seen months of yellow vest protests over government policies.

Nicolas Chouin, who joined the crowds of people flocking to see the charred cathedral, said he hopes healing will occur.

“It’s something beyond us – beyond our little problems of everyday life. So it can be a rewarding event in a way. Of course it doesn’t solve all the political issues…we’ll see if it’s just a parenthesis.”

The fire caused France’s squabbling parties to suspend campaigning for European Union elections, but most observers think the truce will be short-lived. The French are also waiting for Macron to announce planned measures to meet popular grievances — also delayed by the inferno.

Investigators are interviewing construction workers who might have inadvertently started the blaze. So far, the cause is still considered likely to be accidental.
…

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Bells Toll as France Focuses on Repairing Notre Dame

Posted on by SeeEU

Bells tolled across France Wednesday, marking the moment flames began demolishing parts of Notre Dame Cathedral. The focus is now on rebuilding the Paris cathedral — and finding the cause of the inferno that ravaged one of the world’s most iconic landmarks. The unity forged by the fire may be short-lived.

From village churches to Saint Sulpice in Paris, the sound was of bells. Notre Dame is badly damaged by Monday’s fire but still standing. Some of its biggest treasures have been saved: the bell towers and rose windows, along with priceless artifacts – like a crown of thorns said to have been worn by Jesus.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced a global competition to design the replacement for Notre Dame’s spire that collapsed in the inferno. The cathedral had fire alarms but reportedly lacked some basic safety measures.

President Emmanuel Macron wants to repair Notre Dame in five years, when Paris hosts the Olympics. Some experts estimate it will take much longer. But reconstruction money is pouring in — nearly a billion dollars in donations so far.

​In an address to the nation, Macron said the fire offered an occasion to come together. “We can be better than we are,” he said.

But it’s unclear whether Notre Dame — or Macron— can unify a deeply divided France that has seen months of yellow vest protests over government policies.

Nicolas Chouin, who joined the crowds of people flocking to see the charred cathedral, said he hopes healing will occur.

“It’s something beyond us – beyond our little problems of everyday life. So it can be a rewarding event in a way. Of course it doesn’t solve all the political issues…we’ll see if it’s just a parenthesis.”

The fire caused France’s squabbling parties to suspend campaigning for European Union elections, but most observers think the truce will be short-lived. The French are also waiting for Macron to announce planned measures to meet popular grievances — also delayed by the inferno.

Investigators are interviewing construction workers who might have inadvertently started the blaze. So far, the cause is still considered likely to be accidental.
…

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Turkey Criticizes US for Designating Iranian Force Terrorist

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.S. decision to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is a dangerous development that could lead to chaos, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Turkish minister also said that U.S. sanctions were harming the people of Iran.

 

The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, last November, after President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

 

Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the designation against the Revolutionary Guard with great fanfare last week.

 

“When we start adding other countries’ armies to terror lists, then serious cracks will occur in the system of international law,” Cavusoglu said. “Trust in the global system will decline and total chaos will ensue.”

 

“Our conscience does not accept that the brotherly Iranian people be punished,” Cavusoglu said of U.S. sanctions on Iran. “Such steps put regional stability, peace, calm and economic development under risk.”

 

Zarif arrived in Turkey after visiting Syria where he met President Bashar Assad. Russia, Iran and Turkey, which back rival groups in Syria’s conflict, have been sponsoring talks in Kazakhstan to try to end the war.

 

Zarif said he would tell Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his talks with Assad, adding that Iran wants to help Turkey and Syria establish “good relations.”

 

The U.S. designation — the first-ever for an entire division of another government — adds another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary Iranian force and makes it a crime under U.S. jurisdiction to provide it with material support.

 

 
…

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Turkey Criticizes US for Designating Iranian Force Terrorist

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.S. decision to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is a dangerous development that could lead to chaos, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Turkish minister also said that U.S. sanctions were harming the people of Iran.

 

The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, last November, after President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

 

Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the designation against the Revolutionary Guard with great fanfare last week.

 

“When we start adding other countries’ armies to terror lists, then serious cracks will occur in the system of international law,” Cavusoglu said. “Trust in the global system will decline and total chaos will ensue.”

 

“Our conscience does not accept that the brotherly Iranian people be punished,” Cavusoglu said of U.S. sanctions on Iran. “Such steps put regional stability, peace, calm and economic development under risk.”

 

Zarif arrived in Turkey after visiting Syria where he met President Bashar Assad. Russia, Iran and Turkey, which back rival groups in Syria’s conflict, have been sponsoring talks in Kazakhstan to try to end the war.

 

Zarif said he would tell Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his talks with Assad, adding that Iran wants to help Turkey and Syria establish “good relations.”

 

The U.S. designation — the first-ever for an entire division of another government — adds another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary Iranian force and makes it a crime under U.S. jurisdiction to provide it with material support.

 

 
…

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Long-Hidden Kafka Trove Within Reach After Series of Trials

Posted on by SeeEA

A long-hidden trove of unpublished works by Franz Kafka could soon be revealed following a decade-long battle over his literary estate that has drawn comparisons to some of his surreal tales.

A district court in Zurich upheld Israeli verdicts in the case last week, ruling that several safe deposit boxes in the Swiss city could be opened and their contents shipped to Israel’s National Library.

At stake are untouched papers that could shed new light on one of literature’s darkest figures, a German-speaking Bohemian Jew from Prague whose cultural legacy has been hotly contested between Israel and Germany.

What’s in the vaults?

Though the exact content of the vaults remains unknown, experts have speculated the cache could include endings to some of Kafka’s major works, many of which were unfinished when they were published after his death.

Israel’s Supreme Court has stripped an Israeli family of its collection of Kafka’s manuscripts, which were hidden in Israeli bank vaults and in a squalid, cat-filled Tel Aviv apartment. But the Swiss ruling would complete the acquisition of nearly all his known works, after years of lengthy legal battles over their rightful owners.

Kafkaesque saga

The saga could have been penned by Kafka himself, whose name has become known as an adjective to describe absurd situations involving inscrutable legal processes. Kafka was known for his tales of everyman protagonists crushed by mysterious authorities or twisted by unknown shames. In “The Trial,” for example, a bank clerk is put through excruciating court proceedings without ever being told the charges against him.

“The absurdity of the trials is that it was over an estate that nobody knew what it contained. This will hopefully finally resolve these questions,” said Benjamin Balint, a research fellow at Jerusalem’s Van Leer Institute and the author of “Kafka’s Last Trial,” which chronicles the affair. “The legal process may be ending, but the questions of his cultural belonging and inheritance will remain with us for a very long time.”

Manuscripts not burned

Kafka bequeathed his writings to Max Brod, his longtime friend, editor and publisher, shortly before his death from tuberculosis in 1924 at the age of 40. He instructed his protege to burn it all unread.

Brod ignored his wishes and published most of what was in his possession — including the novels “The Trial,” “The Castle” and “Amerika.” Those works made the previously little-known Kafka posthumously one of the most celebrated and influential writers of the 20th century.

But Brod, who smuggled some of the manuscripts to pre-state Israel when he fled the Nazis in 1938, didn’t publish everything. Upon his death in 1968, Brod left his personal secretary, Esther Hoffe, in charge of his literary estate and instructed her to transfer the Kafka papers to an academic institution.

Instead, for the next four decades, Hoffe kept the papers stashed away and sold some of the items for hefty sums. In 1988, for instance, Hoffe auctioned off the original manuscript of “The Trial” at Sotheby’s in London. It went for $1.8 million to the German Literature Archive in Marbach, north of Stuttgart.

When Hoffe died in 2008 at age 101, she left the collection to her two daughters, Eva Hoffe and Ruth Wiesler, both Holocaust survivors like herself, who considered Brod a father figure and his archive their rightful inheritance. Both have since also passed away, leaving Wiesler’s daughters to continue fighting for the remainder of the collection.

Legitimate inheritance or cultural assets?

Jeshayah Etgar, a lawyer for the daughters, downplayed the significance of the potential findings in Zurich, saying they were likely replicas of manuscripts Hoffe had already sold. Regardless, he said the ruling was the continuation of a process in which “individual property rights were trampled without any legal justification.” He said his clients legitimately inherited the works and called the state seizure of their property “disgraceful” and “first degree robbery.”

Israel’s National Library claims Kafka’s papers as “cultural assets” that belong to the Jewish people. Toward the end of his life, Kafka considered leaving Prague and moving to pre-state Israel. He took Hebrew lessons with a Jerusalem native who eventually donated her pupil’s vocabulary notebook to the library. In recent years, the library also took possession of several other manuscripts the courts had ordered Hoffe’s descendants to turn over.

“We welcome the judgment of the court in Switzerland, which matched all the judgments entered previously by the Israeli courts,” said David Blumberg, chairman of the Israel National Library, a nonprofit and non-governmental body. “The judgment of the Swiss court completes the preparation of the National Library of Israel to accept to entire literary estate of Max Brod, which will be properly handled and will be made available to the wider public in Israel and the world.”

Other scholars question Israel’s adoption of Kafka, noting that he was conflicted about his own Judaism. The German Literature Archive, for instance, has sided with Hoffe’s heirs and aimed to purchase the collection itself, arguing the German-language writings belong in Germany. Dietmar Jaegle, an archive official, said he would not comment on the Zurich verdict as he had not yet seen it.

Balint cautioned that the contents of the hidden archive may not live up to everyone’s expectations.

“It is very unlikely we are going to discover an unknown Kafka masterpiece in there, but these are things of value,” Balint said, noting the fierce competition over any original Kafka material. “There is something about the uncanny aura of Kafka that is attracted to all this.”
…

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Long-Hidden Kafka Trove Within Reach After Series of Trials

Posted on by SeeEA

A long-hidden trove of unpublished works by Franz Kafka could soon be revealed following a decade-long battle over his literary estate that has drawn comparisons to some of his surreal tales.

A district court in Zurich upheld Israeli verdicts in the case last week, ruling that several safe deposit boxes in the Swiss city could be opened and their contents shipped to Israel’s National Library.

At stake are untouched papers that could shed new light on one of literature’s darkest figures, a German-speaking Bohemian Jew from Prague whose cultural legacy has been hotly contested between Israel and Germany.

What’s in the vaults?

Though the exact content of the vaults remains unknown, experts have speculated the cache could include endings to some of Kafka’s major works, many of which were unfinished when they were published after his death.

Israel’s Supreme Court has stripped an Israeli family of its collection of Kafka’s manuscripts, which were hidden in Israeli bank vaults and in a squalid, cat-filled Tel Aviv apartment. But the Swiss ruling would complete the acquisition of nearly all his known works, after years of lengthy legal battles over their rightful owners.

Kafkaesque saga

The saga could have been penned by Kafka himself, whose name has become known as an adjective to describe absurd situations involving inscrutable legal processes. Kafka was known for his tales of everyman protagonists crushed by mysterious authorities or twisted by unknown shames. In “The Trial,” for example, a bank clerk is put through excruciating court proceedings without ever being told the charges against him.

“The absurdity of the trials is that it was over an estate that nobody knew what it contained. This will hopefully finally resolve these questions,” said Benjamin Balint, a research fellow at Jerusalem’s Van Leer Institute and the author of “Kafka’s Last Trial,” which chronicles the affair. “The legal process may be ending, but the questions of his cultural belonging and inheritance will remain with us for a very long time.”

Manuscripts not burned

Kafka bequeathed his writings to Max Brod, his longtime friend, editor and publisher, shortly before his death from tuberculosis in 1924 at the age of 40. He instructed his protege to burn it all unread.

Brod ignored his wishes and published most of what was in his possession — including the novels “The Trial,” “The Castle” and “Amerika.” Those works made the previously little-known Kafka posthumously one of the most celebrated and influential writers of the 20th century.

But Brod, who smuggled some of the manuscripts to pre-state Israel when he fled the Nazis in 1938, didn’t publish everything. Upon his death in 1968, Brod left his personal secretary, Esther Hoffe, in charge of his literary estate and instructed her to transfer the Kafka papers to an academic institution.

Instead, for the next four decades, Hoffe kept the papers stashed away and sold some of the items for hefty sums. In 1988, for instance, Hoffe auctioned off the original manuscript of “The Trial” at Sotheby’s in London. It went for $1.8 million to the German Literature Archive in Marbach, north of Stuttgart.

When Hoffe died in 2008 at age 101, she left the collection to her two daughters, Eva Hoffe and Ruth Wiesler, both Holocaust survivors like herself, who considered Brod a father figure and his archive their rightful inheritance. Both have since also passed away, leaving Wiesler’s daughters to continue fighting for the remainder of the collection.

Legitimate inheritance or cultural assets?

Jeshayah Etgar, a lawyer for the daughters, downplayed the significance of the potential findings in Zurich, saying they were likely replicas of manuscripts Hoffe had already sold. Regardless, he said the ruling was the continuation of a process in which “individual property rights were trampled without any legal justification.” He said his clients legitimately inherited the works and called the state seizure of their property “disgraceful” and “first degree robbery.”

Israel’s National Library claims Kafka’s papers as “cultural assets” that belong to the Jewish people. Toward the end of his life, Kafka considered leaving Prague and moving to pre-state Israel. He took Hebrew lessons with a Jerusalem native who eventually donated her pupil’s vocabulary notebook to the library. In recent years, the library also took possession of several other manuscripts the courts had ordered Hoffe’s descendants to turn over.

“We welcome the judgment of the court in Switzerland, which matched all the judgments entered previously by the Israeli courts,” said David Blumberg, chairman of the Israel National Library, a nonprofit and non-governmental body. “The judgment of the Swiss court completes the preparation of the National Library of Israel to accept to entire literary estate of Max Brod, which will be properly handled and will be made available to the wider public in Israel and the world.”

Other scholars question Israel’s adoption of Kafka, noting that he was conflicted about his own Judaism. The German Literature Archive, for instance, has sided with Hoffe’s heirs and aimed to purchase the collection itself, arguing the German-language writings belong in Germany. Dietmar Jaegle, an archive official, said he would not comment on the Zurich verdict as he had not yet seen it.

Balint cautioned that the contents of the hidden archive may not live up to everyone’s expectations.

“It is very unlikely we are going to discover an unknown Kafka masterpiece in there, but these are things of value,” Balint said, noting the fierce competition over any original Kafka material. “There is something about the uncanny aura of Kafka that is attracted to all this.”
…

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Runaway Saudi Sisters Plead for Help on Social Media

Posted on by SeeEA

Two Saudi sisters appealed for help Wednesday from the former Soviet republic of Georgia after fleeing their country, in the latest case of runaways from the ultra-conservative kingdom using social media to seek asylum.

Using a newly created Twitter account called “GeorgiaSisters,” they identified themselves as Maha al-Subaie, 28, and Wafa al-Subaie, 25. Like other Saudi women who have fled and turned to social media, they posted copies of their passports to establish their identities.

The sisters claim they are in danger and will be killed if they are forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia. They said their father and brothers have arrived in Georgia looking for them. Wafa said they fled “oppression from our family” without elaborating.

Saudis can enter Georgia visa-free, making the country a transit point for numerous other Saudi women who have fled in recent years.

Guardianship laws

Saudi women who run away are almost always fleeing abusive male relatives and claim there are few good choices for them to report the abuse in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women caught running away in the kingdom can be forced into restrictive shelters, pressured to reconcile with their abusers or detained on charges of disobedience.

Regardless of their age, women in Saudi Arabia must have the consent of a male relative to obtain a passport, travel or marry under so-called male guardianship laws.

The sisters’ first post to the Twitter account was Tuesday evening. It read: “We are two Saudi sisters who fled from Saudi Arabia seeking asylum. Yet, the family and the Saudi government have suspended our passports and now we are trapped in Georgia country. We need your help please.”

Remember us

In another post, the sisters appear with their faces showing and their hair uncovered — a taboo for conservative families in Saudi Arabia. The post says they are showing their faces in order for the world to “remember us” in case something happens to them.

In a later video posted on Twitter, Maha said: “We want your protection. We want a country that welcomes us and protects our rights.”

Her sister posted another video calling for help from the U.N. refugee agency.

“We fled oppression from our family because the laws in Saudi Arabia (are) too weak to protect us. We are seeking the UNHCR protection in order to be taken to a safe country,” Wafa said.

The sisters did not give further details on why they have fled. The Associated Press could not immediately reach the sisters in Georgia. A Saudi activist who goes by the name Ms Saffaa told the AP that she and other activists have had direct contact with the sisters in Georgia.

Other, similar cases

Their cases mirror that of 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who in January drew worldwide attention when she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok after fleeing her Saudi family during a trip to Kuwait. Her social media pleas on Twitter prompted quick action by the UNHCR and she was granted asylum in Canada.

There had been speculation that al-Qunun’s successful getaway would inspire others to copy her, but powerful deterrents remain in place. If caught, runaways face possible death at the hands of relatives for purportedly shaming the family.

The issue of male guardianship is extremely sensitive in the kingdom, where conservative, tribal families view what they consider to be the protection of women as a man’s duty.
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Runaway Saudi Sisters Plead for Help on Social Media

Posted on by SeeEA

Two Saudi sisters appealed for help Wednesday from the former Soviet republic of Georgia after fleeing their country, in the latest case of runaways from the ultra-conservative kingdom using social media to seek asylum.

Using a newly created Twitter account called “GeorgiaSisters,” they identified themselves as Maha al-Subaie, 28, and Wafa al-Subaie, 25. Like other Saudi women who have fled and turned to social media, they posted copies of their passports to establish their identities.

The sisters claim they are in danger and will be killed if they are forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia. They said their father and brothers have arrived in Georgia looking for them. Wafa said they fled “oppression from our family” without elaborating.

Saudis can enter Georgia visa-free, making the country a transit point for numerous other Saudi women who have fled in recent years.

Guardianship laws

Saudi women who run away are almost always fleeing abusive male relatives and claim there are few good choices for them to report the abuse in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women caught running away in the kingdom can be forced into restrictive shelters, pressured to reconcile with their abusers or detained on charges of disobedience.

Regardless of their age, women in Saudi Arabia must have the consent of a male relative to obtain a passport, travel or marry under so-called male guardianship laws.

The sisters’ first post to the Twitter account was Tuesday evening. It read: “We are two Saudi sisters who fled from Saudi Arabia seeking asylum. Yet, the family and the Saudi government have suspended our passports and now we are trapped in Georgia country. We need your help please.”

Remember us

In another post, the sisters appear with their faces showing and their hair uncovered — a taboo for conservative families in Saudi Arabia. The post says they are showing their faces in order for the world to “remember us” in case something happens to them.

In a later video posted on Twitter, Maha said: “We want your protection. We want a country that welcomes us and protects our rights.”

Her sister posted another video calling for help from the U.N. refugee agency.

“We fled oppression from our family because the laws in Saudi Arabia (are) too weak to protect us. We are seeking the UNHCR protection in order to be taken to a safe country,” Wafa said.

The sisters did not give further details on why they have fled. The Associated Press could not immediately reach the sisters in Georgia. A Saudi activist who goes by the name Ms Saffaa told the AP that she and other activists have had direct contact with the sisters in Georgia.

Other, similar cases

Their cases mirror that of 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who in January drew worldwide attention when she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok after fleeing her Saudi family during a trip to Kuwait. Her social media pleas on Twitter prompted quick action by the UNHCR and she was granted asylum in Canada.

There had been speculation that al-Qunun’s successful getaway would inspire others to copy her, but powerful deterrents remain in place. If caught, runaways face possible death at the hands of relatives for purportedly shaming the family.

The issue of male guardianship is extremely sensitive in the kingdom, where conservative, tribal families view what they consider to be the protection of women as a man’s duty.
…

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