Migrant crisis: Supreme Court gives states 3 weeks to file replies on compliance of its orders – Scroll.in

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The Supreme Court on Friday gave states three weeks to file replies about compliance of earlier directions in the suo motu case on the migrant crisis, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bar and Bench reported. The top court also asked states to file a reply on registration and data collection of migrants.

On June 9, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan had directed the Centre and states to identify stranded migrant workers and transport them back to their hometowns within 15 days.

The bench also ordered the Centre to provide additional Shramik Special trains within 24 hours of requests by states, so that migrant labourers could be sent back home soon. The Centre had launched over 300 of these trains from May 1. However, not all migrant labour has been able to board them. The Centre and states have clashed over the operations of these trains.

The court said that cases filed against the labourers under the Disaster Management Act for violating the countrywide lockdown should be considered as withdrawn by states.

The Supreme Court said that states need to establish help desks to help migrants avail employment opportunities. It also ordered states to establish counselling centres for migrant workers, if they wish to travel back to their places of work and find employment. The bench said schemes established for welfare and employment of migrant workers should be properly publicised

Hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers began journeys home on foot in March, after the Centre imposed a countrywide lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Some died on the way due to illness.

India registered a record 55,078 new cases on Friday. With this, the countrys tally climbed up to 16,38,870. The toll also rose to 35,747 with 779 fresh fatalities.

Follow todays live updates on Covid-19 here

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Migrant crisis: Supreme Court gives states 3 weeks to file replies on compliance of its orders - Scroll.in

OPINION: Humanizing migration and COVID-19 crisis – Kyodo News Plus

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Migration has been one of the defining features of the still young 21st Century. It has led to economic and social development for many people and countries. In 2019, there were 272 million international migrants, accounting for 3.5 percent of the global population.

In Qatar, where one of the authors works, migrant laborers account for almost 94 percent of the total workforce. In Japan, where the other author lives and works, the percentage of foreign workers, although still low comparatively, has been steadily increasing amid the larger population decline.

There have also been downsides to migration, for the workers themselves and the sometimes harsh conditions in which they live, as well as the social, economic and political disruption caused in the host countries.

This commentary explores a new facet of the migration issue -- the impact of COVID-19 on migrants' lives. As readers know, millions of jobs are being lost worldwide monthly as a result of the pandemic. Quite often it is the migrant workers, who were barely surviving before, that have lost the most. The floor has literally fallen out for most of them. It is vital that their basic needs -- health, food and shelter more than anything, as well as educational opportunities for their children -- are met.

The obligation to do so is rooted in numerous international conventions and instruments. The 1975 Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provision) Convention, the 1990 International Convention of the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and the Members of Their Families, and the 2008 Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization are the cornerstones of protecting the fundamental rights of migrant workers.

Muhammad Mustafizur Rahaman. (Photo courtesy of Muhammad Mustafizur Rahaman)(Kyodo)

In 2016, the United Nations adopted the "Global Compact for Migration," which provided a set of principles to govern migration effectively and humanely. Protecting the rights of migrants remains the core of the vision of the International Organization for Migration regarding the Compact. The forceful termination of work for migrants suddenly in times of disaster, be it man-made or natural, is unjustified on humanitarian grounds and is against the principles in the aforementioned provisions and instruments.

To address the crisis of COVID-19, governments around the world have been adopting a mixture of measures including the reallocation of resources for revitalizing the economy and business, health care support, subsidies for food and housing, universal basic income or other social safety nets, etc.

The United Kingdom, for example, undertook a coronavirus job retention scheme and provided grant funding for some categories of business. Qatar is providing health care support to everyone irrespective of nationality and immigration status -- both documented and undocumented. The New York State Legislature passed a bill to provide rent vouchers for tenants who have lost income due to the pandemic.

In Japan, foreign residents have also been eligible to receive a one-time 100,000 yen coronavirus payment per person, alongside their Japanese neighbors. While these measures are not enough to be sure, it is also true that many countries have not been able to be even this generous toward the foreigners within them.

Places of employment also have a role, especially at this time. Modern governance is based on the view that serving people is the shared responsibility of both the public and private sector. In the past, as is today, when governments find themselves incapacitated, it is increasingly businesses that fill the void.

Corporations, thus, cannot overlook their responsibility for ensuring the social protection of migrants.

One way in which companies can address this problem is through the exercise or expansion of corporate social responsibility, a concept popularized during the past half-century. Due to COVID-19, many businesses are incurring huge losses making it difficult to retain their workers and thus to participate in CSR, whereas some businesses are booming now. In any case, CSR is not separate but should be an integral part of the thinking of these businesses.

Unemployment leads to the loss of income if no new job is found quickly. With no purchasing power, these workers in many cases lose the ability to pay for food, housing and health care. Not only does a humanitarian crisis emerge, but so does a financial crisis for businesses trying to sell these products in a stagnant economy.

Workers are the pillars of an organization and its production and efficiency. Investing for their betterment is also the core of CSR. Workers who have worked for a long time in an organization have gained expertise and thus become a precious human resource for the organization. Therefore, it is in the interest of such businesses to retain these workers. Morale across the board drops significantly if any are let go.

Robert D. Eldridge. (Photo courtesy of Robert D. Eldridge)(Kyodo)

For financing their salaries and other benefits, companies can take out a loan from the government for a minimal rate or even zero interest. In this way, they can share some of the responsibility of ensuring social protection of the workers and migrants.

Most importantly, it is time to change their profit-at-all-costs mentality. In a capitalist economy, economic profit maximization lies at the core of business whereas serving social needs lies at the periphery. If businesses stick to this philosophy, not only will it be difficult for them to serve workers and migrants, but they may end up eating themselves in the process. Neither Strategic CSR nor the highest level of CSR called creating shared value, not to mention traditional CSR, seem to be suitable to address this problem. Companies must put the maximization of society at the core of business.

The role and responsibilities of International Donors should also not be overlooked. Some of them declared their willingness to provide funds to needy developing countries, and Bangladesh is one of those hoping to work with them.

The ILO and IOM should also come forward to help migrants. While ILO works to protect the rights of workers, IOM focuses on providing practical solutions to migration problems. In the current situation, creating a fund at the national and international levels under the purview of ILO and IOM would be one way to solve migrants' problems.

Migrants, especially low-salaried ones, without rights in a particular country would have to go home after losing their jobs but would struggle to survive and educate their children. Due to interruption of regular flights and the concern over infections, repatriation has emerged as a big problem for destination countries. The scarce capacity of medical facilities and medicine in the home countries prevented them from welcoming home the migrant workers eminently. This has led to protests by these unfortunate migrants in their host countries, posing a threat to public safety as well as to future migration to the host country.

The retention of migrants' jobs, as the reader can see, is thus a necessary condition for peace and development. One way through which migrants' jobs can be retained is by providing necessary funds to the migrants' host organizations who are willing to receive such funds. Similarly, a Local Consultative Group could be created in the country of origin with the participation of competent ministries -- in the case of Bangladesh, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Expatriates and Overseas Employment, ILO and IOM. The LCG can disburse funds to companies and workers through the respective country's embassies.

"No-one left behind" is the ethical imperative of the new development agenda named the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." Therefore, migrants, especially low-skilled and poorly paid workers, should be given priority. In the absence of proper initiatives to ensure social protection of migrants, the economic consequences of COVID-19 have pushed them into extreme poverty. It is the shared responsibility of governments, corporations and international development partners to help rescue migrants from the dangerous situation they find themselves in.

(Muhammad Mustafizur Rahaman serves as a counsellor at the Bangladesh Embassy, Doha. He earned his doctorate at Osaka University and was a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science at Kyoto University. Robert D. Eldridge serves as the director for North Asia at the Global Risk Mitigation Foundation.)

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OPINION: Humanizing migration and COVID-19 crisis - Kyodo News Plus

A refugee crisis is the last thing Latin America needs – Buenos Aires Times

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Just when it seems the lot of Venezuelans could get no worse, trust President Nicols Maduro to show that the bottom is lower still. Earlier this month, Maduro dispatched troops to the Colombian border. The emergency? Tens of thousands of Venezuelans who had fled the dystopic Bolivarian republic and then been slammed by coronavirus and the economic shutdown abroad were now desperate to make their way back home. Biological weapons, Maduro called them, absurdly blaming unwilling prodigal Venezuelans for the countrys spiking contagion.

Venezuelas returnees are the most flagrant face of one of the regions least noted emergencies: the plight of hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans who escaped dead-end lives in their native lands and now, amid disease and lockdowns, find they are unwanted by their neighbours as well.

Forget for a moment the US border wall and crowded detention centres along the Rio Grande; the flow of people between Latin American nations has soared in recent years. The United Nations estimates that some 10 million Latin Americans currently live in another country in the region. Economist Manuel Orozco, an expert on migration and remittances for the Inter-American Dialogue, argues in a forthcoming study that the total could be as high as 13 million, double the number from 2000.

Intraregional migration surged after the global recession in 2008, when rich nations tightened their borders. It rose again after 2010 as worsening violence, drug-related crime and political upheaval drove waves of families from at least eight Latin American and Caribbean nations to seek foreign refuge, often in the country next door. Peru and Brazil were among the five countries with the highest number of asylum applications in 2019.

Consider Nicaragua, where authoritarian Daniel Ortega has met popular unrest with brutal repression, chasing thousands over the border. In the first eight months of 2018, Costa Rica saw its foreign-born population rise to 27,000, with another 25,000 seeking formal refugee status.

The upside of this regional exodus was a spike in homebound dollars, as enterprising migrants rebuilt their lives abroad and shared the wealth with the loved ones they left behind. In a June study, Orozco concluded that 10 percentof the US$17 billion that Latin Americans remitted last year was earned in other Latin American countries.

Another report shows that Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Paraguay netted 21 percentof their expatriate transfers in 2017 from within the region. Indeed, Bolivia and Paraguay captured more migrant dollars from neighbouring nations than from the United States that year, while intraregional remittances in Bolivia, Colombia and Nicaragua outpaced those from Spain.

Venezuelans, again, have set the pace, with migrants sending back on average anywhere from US$40 (from Colombia) to US$214 (from Panama) at a time, up to a dozen times a year.

The coronavirus outbreak now threatens this vital stream of regional largesse, just as it exposes how ill-prepared host countries are to manage the gathering migratory disruption. Consider that more than two-thirds of Venezuelans in Colombia lack legal immigrant status and just a quarter of them have only temporary permits.

Doubling back

Its unclear how many of Latin Americas internal migrants are doubling back, but relief workers and border authorities are overwhelmed. An estimated 70,000 Venezuelans had returned as of early July, with tens of thousands more on the way, according to the United Nations. The multiple-agency relief effort known as Response for Venezuelans launched to contain the crisis was budgeted at US$1.41 billion; as of July 24, it had raised only US$248 million.

Venezuelans are not alone. Paraguayans are returning from Argentina. Peruvians are trying to leave Chile, whose government has also flown struggling Haitians back home. Nicaraguans are packing up in Costa Rica and Panama. The United Nations also reports that the pandemic has spurred a new pattern of internal migration, with tens of thousands of families in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru quitting the cities, where infection rates are rising, for the countryside.

These newcomers performed basic, sometimes crucial, services in their host countries, from construction to care for the elderly. Armies of motorcycle deliverymen have kept Argentines fed and supplied during lockdowns. Cuban and Peruvian nurses and physicians are among the first responders of the Covid-19 crisis. Yet these guest workers have seen their welcomes vanish with their livelihoods. Many are irregular migrants, without access to health services or unemployment benefits. University graduates are unable to validate their diplomas, said Vanina Modolo, regional migration analyst for the United Nations-affiliated International Organisation for Migration, in Buenos Aires.

Even some of the most generous official relief efforts fall short: Argentinas cash benefit to help the most vulnerable through the economic shutdown includes only those foreigners with two years of proven residency.

Discrimination and xenophobia are on the rise, as migrants become easy targets for local populations facing hardships. At a time when fear of catching Covid-19 is high, migrants are also easily and unfairly stigmatised as public health threats in their adopted countries. Nor, as Venezuelans and Nicaraguans have found, are they always welcome back with open arms.

The way home is also fraught with obstacles and danger. As Latin America joined the global movement to restrict mobility and seal borders, returnees often had to find their way along unsafe routes and clandestine crossings, prey to criminal networks and traffickers.

Perhaps its a lot to ask of nations already overwhelmed by unprecedented national crises to also care for strangers in peril. Yet to protect migrants who have provided so many societies with vital service and labor is also to safeguard the native population. Latin America already confronts a public health calamity, an unprecedented economic collapse and incipient social unrest. The last thing it needs is a refugee crisis, as well.

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A refugee crisis is the last thing Latin America needs - Buenos Aires Times

When covid-19 recedes, will global migration start again? – The Economist

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Aug 1st 2020

DUBAI, JOHANNESBURG, SINGAPORE, SYDNEY, TOKYO AND WASHINGTON, DC

EVERY WEEKEND the removal vans come to a leafy suburb of Dubai. Expatriates are packing up. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), of which Dubai is part, will lose 10% of its population this year, reckons Nasser al-Shaikh, an ex-finance minister. Covid-19 has devastated the Gulfs trade-and-transport hub. Emirates, Dubais airline, says it may cut 30% of its roughly 100,000 staff.

Nearly all of those losing their jobs in the UAE are migrants, who are almost 90% of the population. Without a job, they have to leave the country. This is irksome enough if they are bankers or architects. For those who used to wash dishes in hotels or lay bricks on building sites that are now shuttered, it can be a nightmare. Some 500,000 Indians in the UAE have registered to be evacuated; less than half have been.

Many blue-collar migrants have waited so long for flights that they have blown their savings. Asad (not his real name) got a $1,100 pay-off when he lost his construction job in April, but has had to spend nearly all of it on food and other necessities, which are far costlier in Dubai than back home in Pakistan. This week he was huddling outside the airport for a cigarette before a flight to Lahore. Two years [and] I go home with almost nothing, he says. Some of his friends are even worse off: they still owe money to the labour brokers who brought them to the Gulf in the first place.

Covid-19 has immobilised the world. Planes are grounded, borders are closed, people are hunkered down at home. Every country has restricted travel because of the coronavirusissuing more than 65,000 rules in total. Some countries are starting to open up but it will be a long time before people can globetrot as freely as before.

For tourists who have to take a domestic holiday instead of a glamorous foreign one, global immobility is annoying. For would-be migrants, it can be life-shattering. Millions who would have set off to start a new life this year cannot. Workers who might have quadrupled their wages will remain poor. Students who might have stretched their minds on foreign campuses will stay at home.

Tens of millions of migrants who have already moved now face deportation, having lost their job, according to the International Labour Organisation. Millions have gone home to places like the Philippines, India and Ukraine. Millions more are stranded, sometimes in crowded conditions that foster the spread of the virus.

Locals are not always sympathetic. Malaysia, which used to welcome Muslim Rohingya refugees, has started pushing their vessels back into the sea. Italy has stepped up efforts to turn back boatloads of Africans. A Kuwaiti actress suggested that migrant workers, who are 70% of the labour force in Kuwait, be thrown into the desert to free up space in hospitals.

Global remittance flows, which are over three times bigger than foreign aid to poor countries, will fall by 20% this year, predicts the World Bank. Families that used to rely on cash from a migrant son or aunt to see them through hard times are finding that times are suddenly much harder and the flow of cash from abroad has dried up.

Businesses that depend on mobile labour have been hobbled. Pokka Singapore, a drinks-maker, employs about 120 Malaysians who used to commute across the border to Singapore. When the borders closed, more than half decided to remain in Malaysia, says Rieko Shofu, the firms boss. She has gone without half her Malaysian workforce for months, with no end in sight.

Travel curbs have made cross-border investment harder. Before committing money to a venture, you need to be able to walk the factory floor and physically validate what you read in the PowerPoint presentation, says Stephen Forshaw of Temasek, Singapores sovereign-wealth fund. Now, if you are not already there, you cant.

Even if tourism and business travel return to something resembling normal as the pandemic fades, some restrictions on migration may remain. Where people had a settled right to move which was temporarily suspended for health reasons, within the European Union for example, that right will surely be restored. But where permission to move is granted by the host government, it may become permanently harder.

Much will depend on how covid-19 affects peoples view of immigrants. Fear could make them more hostile. Many will conclude that letting in foreigners is a health risk (though the vast majority of travellers are not migrants). Because the virus originated in China, bigots in many countries have mistreated people who look Chinese. Bigots in China, meanwhile, have evicted black immigrants from their homes and barred them from hotels, after hearing a rumour that Africans were likely to be infected. Future migrants will not quickly forget footage of a no-blacks sign on a McDonalds in Guangzhou.

With economies reeling, many will also conclude that it is time to stop immigrants from competing with natives for scarce jobs. In countries where lots of migrants have been laid off and are allowed to live on the dole, locals may resent the expense.

The pandemic might also hurt illicit migrants. Some of the snooping tools that governments have introduced to trace the spread of covid-19 could outlast it, making it harder to work in the shadows. In China, to take the most extreme example, malls and subways often deny entry to those who lack an app on their phone to show they are healthy, which no one can get without a formal address. It may become virtually impossible to live without papers, writes Roberto Castillo of AfricansInChina.net.

In other ways, however, the pandemic could make people friendlier towards immigrants, many of whom have risked their lives to do essential work during the crisis (see chart 1). Health services in rich countries could not function without them (see chart 2). Roughly half the doctors in Australia and Israel are foreign-born. In America migrants were 14% of the population in 2018 but 29% of doctors. Medical research, of the sort that will one day yield a vaccine, depends on teams of the most talented minds from around the world getting together and collaborating. Some 40% of medical and life scientists in America are foreign-born. The Oxford Vaccine Group, which unveiled promising vaccine trial results in July, includes scientists from practically everywhere.

Immigrants also do a big share of the jobs that make it possible for the rest of us to work safely from home, observes Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute, a think-tank. They grow food (42% of farm workers in America are foreign-born), deliver things (18% of industrial truckers) and disinfect floors (47% of hotel maids and 25% of janitors). More than half of American tech giants were founded by immigrants or their children. That includes Zoom, Amazon and Google, without whose products remote working would be tricky.

With covid-19 rife, immigration policy is not at the top of the agenda anywhere. But it is bubbling up. Europe seems more hostile to migrants crossing the Mediterranean. In Australia the opposition Labor Partys immigration spokeswoman said the country should move away from its lazy reliance on cheap foreign workers who take jobs Australians could do.

Among rich countries the debate is playing out most dramatically in America. Long before covid-19 was discovered, Mr Trump associated immigrants with germs. He spoke of tremendous infectious diseasepouring across the border with Mexico. Stephen Miller, a hardline adviser, had long argued that public health could provide a legal justification for shutting them out. After the coronavirus struck, Mr Trump enacted a wishlist of restrictions.

He banned foreign travellers from China. This did not protect America since Americans were free to return home from covid-19 hotspots. Nonetheless, Mr Trump praised his own decisiveness. I banned China, he repeated, often.

Immigration to the United States was falling even before the pandemic, thanks to aggressive enforcement, reduced quotas and the eloquence with which Mr Trump tells migrants they are not wanted. The net increase in the foreign-born population was a mere 200,000 in 2017-18, down from over 1m in 2013-14. Mr Trump seems eager to lower that number to zero.

In June he issued a Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the US Labour Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak. It froze four types of visa for the rest of the year: H-1Bs (for highly skilled workers); H-2Bs (for less-skilled workers); J visas, for au pairs, temporary summer workers and some academics; and L visas, for professionals who are moved within the same company.

These new rules, combined with a neartotal shutdown of visa offices, will destroy American jobs, not create them. Holders of H-1B visas mostly work in information technology, where there is a skills shortage. Adam Ozimek of Upwork, a freelancing platform, estimates that the use of IT to enable remote working has reduced the risk of job losses by between a third and a half. And a new paper by Britta Glennon of the Wharton School finds that when America restricts H-1B visas, multinationals do not hire more Americans. They shift operations to Canada, India and China.

Curbing the flow of talent will constrict economic growth. Consider the baffling decision to stop intra-company transfers. Multinationals routinely bring in key managers or technicians from abroad to solve bottlenecks. If they cannot do this, their businesses are less likely to succeedso they will be less likely to invest in America at all. About 80% of my portfolio consists of at least one founder who has immigrant roots, says Joydeep Bhattacharyya, a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Many have started outside the United States, and then the entrepreneur has moved over, employing a lot of American workers. This year its completely stopped. No matter how well theyre doing, they cant come.

Banning au pairs wont create jobs for Americans, either. On the contrary: by providing cheap child care, au pairs make it easier for American parents to go out to work. Families that couldnt afford a nanny can often afford an au pair because part of the au pairs compensation is a place to stay and a chance to learn English.

Jason Patwell, a defence contractor, is a single father of three boys, one of whom has special needs. He was aghast when he realised that an au pair would not be coming. I would love to say I have a back-up plan, but I dont. I can throw money at the problem, and go into debt. Ill survive until the end of the summer, he says.

In worse-off countries, where the state lacks the cash to cushion the economic shock of covid-19, the debate about migration is even more fraught. Consider South Africa, where xenophobia was common, sometimes lethally so, even before the pandemic. Like America, South Africa shares a long, porous land border with a large continent where wages are much lower. Workers and traders flock there from all over Africa. The World Bank estimates that each one creates on average two jobs for natives, because migrants import skills, start businesses and spend money. But most South Africans think otherwise. They are nearly twice as likely to say that immigrants are a burden than to say they make the country stronger, says a Pew poll. (In America, those figures are reversed.)

One of the first things South Africas government did to fight covid-19 was to build a 40km fence on the border with Zimbabwe. It has more holes than a bagel warehouse. A local farmer calls it a complete farce. It would not be much of a public-health measure in any case. Covid-19 has largely entered South Africa by air, from Europe, and is circulating widely.

In March a minister announced that foreign-owned shops, which are the only outlets in many areas and are disproportionally owned by Ethiopians and Somalis, would have to close. Locals were forced to travel miles to buy groceries, which helped spread the virus. Enforcement was relaxed in April, but the hassles did not end.

When the offices that issue permits were closed, the government promised that all expiring permits would automatically be extended, first until July 31st, then until October 31st. However, police and soldiers have allegedly detained and demanded bribes from foreigners with out-of-date papers. A few Zimbabweans got on privately organised repatriation buses. Upon leaving South Africa, some were banned from returning for five years, despite promises to the contrary. An overhaul of immigration laws is due later this yearto be drafted by securocrats, not economists.

Some countries may emerge from the pandemic more open to migration. In Japan covid-19 may have spurred the government to make its pro-immigration policies more explicit. The country is ageing and needs young foreigners to clean hotels and staff shops. The polite fiction was that many of these foreign workers were trainees, learning skills to bring back home.

But from April the government ditched the requirement that these trainees stick with the firm that sponsored their visa. It did not want to deport migrants who had lost jobs in one sector (eg hotels) when others (eg hospitals) were crying out for them. So it announced that they could switch employers. By doing so, it has dropped the pretence that the trainee programme is about anything more than coping with Japans own labour shortage, argues Menju Toshihiro of the Japan Centre for International Exchange, a non-profit. Indeed, migrant workers are so valuable that calls to exclude them from the governments covid-19 stimulus package fell on deaf ears.

In Britain anti-immigration sentiment peaked around the time of the Brexit referendum of 2016, but has since subsided. Many who voted to leave the EU because they thought there was too much migration now feel Britain has taken back control of its borders. In the wake of covid-19, views of immigration will continue to mollify, predicts Jonathan Portes of Kings College London. A recent decision to extend residence rights to up to 3m Hong Kongers passed without fuss. Under a proposed points-based system, EU nationals will find it harder to work in the UK, and few workers from anywhere will be admitted if they make less than 25,600 ($33,231) a year. But the rules will be looser for health workers. And voters have noticed that many migrants who make less than 25,600 have been indispensable of late. Care workers, bus drivers and supermarket staff all fulfil essential functions, and it is far from obvious that there will be public support for an immigration system that excludes them all in favour of relatively junior bankers, writes Mr Portes.

In America, for all Mr Trumps fist-waving, the share of people who think that illegal immigration is a very big problem has fallen markedly since the pandemic began, from 43% last year to 28% in June. This could be because the influx has dried up, or because, compared with covid-19 itself, nothing seems like a very big problem. The country is divided. A new Economist/YouGov poll finds Americans roughly evenly split between wanting immigration to resume after the pandemic at the same pace as before or faster (40%) versus slower or remaining frozen (42%).

Still, the inability of populist leaders such as Mr Trump and Brazils Jair Bolsonaro to cope with covid-19 could cost them their jobsand thereby usher in a less drawbridge-up type of government. The Economists prediction model gives Joe Biden about a nine-in-ten chance of winning the American presidency in November. He would clearly be different. He says Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants. He could immediately revoke Mr Trumps executive orders and stop separating migrant children from their parents. He vows to promote laws to increase the number of skilled migrants, create an easier path to citizenship and let cities with labour shortages petition for more migrants.

Covid-19 has shown that the freedom to migrate, which was always constrained, can be cancelled at will when people are scared. Consider Subha Nawer Pushpitas experiences. She is a Bangladeshi studying computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. America was built by people like her: immigrants at MIT have won more Nobel prizes than China. So she was gobsmacked to learn, on July 6th, that she might be deported. The government said that foreigners at American universities who take only remote classes would have to leave the country.

Eighteen states sued to have the rule scrapped. The week after, it was. I felt incredibly relieved and excited. I called my mom and I was shouting, recalls Ms Pushpita. She will be able to study. But many others wont. On July 24th the Trump administration said that new foreign students who have not yet reached America will be barred if their classes are taught remotely. As long as hes in office, something else will pop up, sighs Ms Pushpita.

Editors note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hub

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline "Tearing up the welcome mat"

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When covid-19 recedes, will global migration start again? - The Economist

The layers of Hagia Sophia – The Indian Express

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Published: July 30, 2020 11:52:32 pm

By Syed Tahseen Raza

Embedded mostly in the world imagination as a site in the custody of Byzantine Christianity for more than a thousand years and Ottoman Islamic protection for around five hundred years, the Hagia Sophia issue needs to be understood independent of the secular-religious binary or, more specifically of the Byzantine Christian and Ottoman Muslim and nationalist-cosmopolitan dichotomies. These frameworks have been amply highlighted.

This magnificent monument becomes a fiercely competitive site each time a claimant asserts their legacy. In this perennial tussle for control, the hegemon at present is the Turkish nation-state, which hosts the structure.

The recent move of the Recep Erdogan government to change the nature of the site from being a museum to a mosque has not happened in isolation. It has as much to do with the collapse of the post-enlightenment rationality as with the unfinished project of decoloniality. Also at play is the collapse of the liberal-secular promise to be the dominant idea of the time.

Of the many international and strategic factors that led Turkey to follow a more assertive path on the status of the site, two sets of issues demand close scrutiny. These may be categorised as long-festering ones and immediate triggers. While the former includes issues such as Turkeys frustration over its attempts to be a part of the European Union and having had to always deliver more than what it thinks it has been responsible for its neighbourhood. The collective response of Europe on issues like Srebrenica massacre to the more recent migrant crisis has further added to the growing disillusionment in Turkey. From acting as more European than Europe itself in the Kemalist era to calibrating its response to the Middle East in tandem with the Euro-Atlantic alliance even entering into a military alliance with Israel Turkey seems to have had enough of its western quest. It realised the painful reality that it can never be European enough.

This East-West tussle goes much deeper in history. When we are discussing Hagia Sophia and Sultan Mehmets annexation of Constantinople, it will be fitting to recall an incident which highlights the East-West dimension of this historical conflict. The East has always been a symbol of barbarism for the West. This goes back to the myth of civilised Greeks conquering Troy. Mehmets biographer recounts an incident that took place in the year 1463, almost 10 years after Constantinoples conquest. Mehmet, while on an expedition to Mitylene, went to Ilium, the site of the legendary battle of Troy and remarked: God has reserved for me through so long a period of years the right to avenge this city and its inhabitants now through my efforts paid the just penalty after a long period of years, for their injustices to us Asiatics at that time and so often in subsequent times.

Erdogans current decision regarding Hagia Sophia, in the final analysis, could have been more statesmanlike. He could have either maintained the status quo or in the tradition of Islam, shown respect as Caliph Hazrat Umar did when he invited Sophroniys to the Church of the Sepulchre to offer prayers to respect Christian sentiments. But Erdogan chose Ottomanism over Islamism.

Raza is Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategic and Security Studies, faculty of International Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, India and is a part of the AMU Teachers and Seniors Collective

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The layers of Hagia Sophia - The Indian Express

BILL BLACK: Review vs. inquiry why did the Liberals get it wrong the first time? – TheChronicleHerald.ca

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BILL BLACK

The decision to investigate the mass-shooting tragedy via a joint independent review had a very short life.

The affected families and communities had been calling for months for a public inquiry, which would have greater independence and the ability to compel witnesses to provide written or oral evidence, and to supply relevant documentation when asked.

Nevertheless, the provincial and federal governments announced the weaker review process. It would be less independent of government, which would have both the interim and final reports to consider before they would be shared with the public. The documents and other evidence they received were to be kept confidential.

To make matters worse, they attributed the choice to exclude the full participation of the families on the theory that it would protect them from further trauma. They had no reason to believe that was what the families wanted, and would have learned that if they bothered to ask.

When announcing the review, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mark Furey confidently asserted that: the government of Nova Scotia is committed to ensuring that they, and all Nova Scotians, get the answers they deserve. We have heard the calls for an independent and impartial review into why and how this happened, and for timely recommendations that will make our communities safer. This joint review will achieve these outcomes.

This confidence was misplaced, as he must have known. There were demonstrations by the affected families and their supporters, and widespread media criticism. Over the weekend, five Liberal members of Parliament from Nova Scotia broke ranks and joined the criticism of their own government.

When that happened, Furey decided to abandon ship:

I have heard from family members and many Nova Scotians who are opposed to a joint review of the tragic events of April 18 and 19 and would prefer a joint public inquiry ...

If the federal government agrees to a joint public inquiry where federal agencies including the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, Criminal Intelligence Services Canada, Canadian Firearms Registry and the Public Alert Ready System will participate and offer testimony, I will support that and so will our government.

A few hours later, Bill Blair, his federal counterpart, fell in line. There will be a full inquiry after all. In response, Furey provided the following statement:

We heard overwhelmingly from families, survivors and Nova Scotians on the importance of a public inquiry regarding the tragic events of April 18 and 19. Our government wanted an inquiry from Day 1, but we also needed the federal government at the table. I am pleased that the federal government now supports a joint inquiry.

That is different from the deferential tone of Premier Stephen McNeil in May: There will be a review, Im sure. Its our belief that the national government will lead that as they see fit (and) we as a provincial government will provide the support where we can.

If they were unhappy with the review format, why didnt Furey and McNeil say so a week ago?

More to the point, what were the federal Liberals thinking? They should have known that the review announcement was going to be unpopular. Why would they make it worse by providing a rationale that was transparently false?

Being forced unwillingly into an inquiry will reinforce suspicions that they have something to hide. Families will be watching like hawks to see if either government fails to provide any evidence requested by the inquiry.

Other collateral damage is the loss of caucus discipline. That wall having been breached, there will likely be other occasions.

This continues a pattern that so far has mostly revolved around Justin Trudeau. His initial responses on awkward questions on free vacations from the Agha Khan (He is a close family friend ), SNC-Lavalin (The Globe and Mail story that there was pressure on Jody Wilson-Raybould is false ...), and the failure to recuse himself on the WE contract (I needed to be there because I know so much about the topic ) all fell apart under scrutiny, but not before making a bad situation worse.

It is hard to know whether the miscue around investigating the Portapique tragedy was just a bad day at the office, or reflects a persistent Liberal belief that they can bamboozle Canadians.

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BILL BLACK: Review vs. inquiry why did the Liberals get it wrong the first time? - TheChronicleHerald.ca

338Canada: The end of the Liberals pandemic bump – Maclean’s

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Philippe J. Fournier: While the Liberals still hold a solid lead over the Conservatives, a host of new polls shows the party beginning to shed support

While many Canadians are taking much needed time off from work and/or their pandemic routines, the news cycle out of Ottawa has not slowed down one bit. The WE Charity stories alleging potential conflicts of interest with the Prime minister and Bill Morneau, the minister of finance, appear to be evolving daily.

One question on the mind of many is whether Canadians are actually paying attention. (And do they care?) No fewer than four new federal polls were published in the past week to measure the impressions of Canadians:

We add these latest figures to the 338Canada model and present today this updated electoral projection. All federal polls are listed on this page. For details on the 338Canada methodology, visit this page.

The Liberal Party remains on top of voting intentions with an average of 37 per cent nationally, seven points ahead of the Conservatives at 30 per cent:The NDP has remained remarkably stable throughout the spring and summer and currently stands at 17 per cent. The Greens and Bloc are at 7 per cent each (the Bloc stands at 30 per cent in Quebec).

The regional breakdown of support still heavily tilts towards the Liberals: The LPC leads by an average of 23 points in Atlantic Canada, by six points in Quebec (over the Bloc), and by 11 points in Ontario. Additionally, the LPC currently leads a tight race in British Columbiasix points over the Conservatives and only 10 points over the NDP.

As for the Conservatives, they remain comfortably in the lead in Alberta and in the Prairies.

Here is the progression of national voting intentions since January 2020. We see the Liberals and Conservatives in a statistical tie throughout winter, and the Liberals taking the outright lead from April to July:

Has the pandemic/CERB bump in the polls come to an end for the Liberals? It certainly is a plausible hypothesis at this point in time, and we will know more in the coming weeks, but once again we must use caution with summer numbers, as several Canadians are on vacations and fewer voters usually pay attention to the news. Nevertheless, it appears the Liberals have indeed shed some support of late.

For the Conservatives, while they could rejoice in seeing their main rival slide for the first time since early spring, these latest numbers show the CPC has remained stuck at the 30 per cent mark (or below) since April. In short, the latest Liberal misfortunes have not yet translated into additional Conservative support. The new leader of the CPC will be elected in the second half of August, so it will be interesting to see what kind of bumpif at allthe CPC gets then.

In the national seat projection, the 338Canada model has the Liberals winning an average of 177 seats, just above the 170-seat threshold for a majority at the House of Common. Notice however that the confidence intervals show the real possibility of the LPC falling into minority territory.The Conservatives win an average of 102 seats. According to these numbers, the best-case scenarios for the Conservatives would have them win around 125 seats, slightly above their 2019 election result of 121 seats. The Bloc, NDP and Greens all remain close to their 2019 election results.

From a purely political point of view, every sitting government in Canada has enjoyed surging support and increasedsatisfaction level to some extent since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Canadas borders. The federal Liberals were no exception. But as the pandemic goes from a public health crisis to a financial one with billions and billions of dollars of projected deficits, which governments across the country will keep voters on their side to weather the storm ahead? And will the WE Charity stories coming out on an almost-daily basis of late further hurt the Liberals in the eyes of voters?

This falls parliamentary session should be interesting to say the least.

For complete numbers of this 338Canada federal projection, including regional and district-level projections, visit 338Canada.

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338Canada: The end of the Liberals pandemic bump - Maclean's

Former Kingston MP Ted Hsu to seek provincial Liberal nomination – The Kingston Whig-Standard

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Ted Hsu, the former MP for Kingston and the Islands, is to seek the Liberal nomination for the 2022 provincial election.Julia McKay/Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia NetworkJulia McKay / Julia McKay/Kingston Whig-Standa

KINGSTON Former Kingston and the Islands MP Ted Hsu left politics five years ago to focus on his family.

But when he announced he would not seek re-election in the 2015 federal election, Hsu left the door open to making a return to elected office some day.

That day is today.

Hsu is to announce Thursday that he plans to seek the Liberal nomination for the 2022 provincial election.

And it was his daughters and their growing concern about the problems of the world climate change, economic upheaval and international tensions who motivated him to go back to politics.

When I talked to my daughter, shes in high school, I feel that her generation is pessimistic and that makes me kind of sad, Hsu said in an interview Wednesday.

I have a few good years left in me and I have the experience and energy so I am just gong to do a little bit. Im motivated in wanting to address the pessimism of my daughters generation.

Hsu represented Kingston and the Islands in the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015 as an opposition Liberal MP.

He worked as the Ontario Liberal caucus and critic for economic development in Ontario, post-secondary education, and science and technology and was named Parliamentarian of the Year in 2013.

Since leaving politics, Hsu has kept a low profile but his interest in politics remained.

Last year he co-chaired, along they Kingscourt-Rideau Dist. Coun. Mary Rita Holland, the mayors task force on housing.

That experience, he said, provided a good view of how provincial government affects the lives of people.

The provincial government regulates and funds big parts of the provinces economy, such ashousing,environmental standards,economic competitiveness,health care and education and improving those sectors will put Ontario in a better place to tackle other challenges, he said.

There are big challenges in the world and we need people with expertise to who want to attack the things people are worried about, he said.

Hsu said the current provincial Progressive Conservative governments two years in office are looked at they have to be divided in two distinct parts separated by the beginning of the pandemic.

Hsu said before the pandemic struck, many of the governments policy decisions and budget cuts that were not very well thought through.

During the pandemic, the government has made the right moves by taking the threat seriously and following the advice of public health experts, he added.

What the pandemic did show was how important it is for politicians to interact with health officials, scientists, economists and other experts, and to listen to their advice, something Hsu said will become even more critical in the coming few months as the economy begins to reopen.

Now it becomes tricky, he said. I dont really want to knee-jerk critical if I have not been in the room and seen all the moving parts. I just hope they take the advice of the experts.

Hsu joins former MPP Sophie Kiwala in seeking the nomination. Prior to winning the 2014 election, Kiwala worked in Hsus constituency office.

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Former Kingston MP Ted Hsu to seek provincial Liberal nomination - The Kingston Whig-Standard

How trivia, alma mater, liberal arts and religion are tied to the medieval roots of modern higher educa – Deseret News

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Although struggling recently to cope with the global COVID-19 pandemic, universities have long been important institutions not only in the West but internationally.

How long? No direct link exists between todays universities and either the Academy of Plato or the Lyceum of Aristotle. Instead, the origins of the modern university lie in the medieval period.

The term universitas itself seems to have been coined in Italy, in connection with the establishment of what is still known today as the University of Bologna. Focused initially on civil and canon law and featuring teachers recruited from the areas lay and ecclesiastical schools, Bologna is often considered the oldest continuously-functioning degree-granting institution of higher education in the western world. Its official seal features not only its name and the traditional year of its founding (1088) but the motto Alma mater studiorum (Nourishing mother of studies) and, of course, we still use the phrase alma mater in connection with schooling to this day.

Basic studies at Bologna and at subsequent medieval universities focused initially on the arts, and specifically upon the threefold Trivium from which we derive our word trivial of rhetoric, grammar and dialectic (or logic). Thereafter followed the quadrivium of astronomy, arithmetic, geometry and music. Together, these were regarded as the seven liberal arts liberal because mastery of them was thought to equip a person to be free. But the real glory of the medieval university came in the specialized higher studies of medicine, theology and law by which was intended both civil law and ecclesiastical or canon law.

The overtly religious character of the second oldest Western university, the University of Paris, is clearer than that of Bologna. Perhaps already in the sixth century, monks and nuns taught classes in so-called monastic schools or cathedral schools. Founded in 1150, the University of Paris appears to have grown directly out of the cathedral school of Notre Dame, and it was officially recognized by Pope Innocent III in 1215. For many generations, it has also been called the Sorbonne, which is, strictly speaking, the name of its medieval theological college.

The oldest institution of higher learning in what is today the English-speaking world is the University of Oxford. Its founding date is unclear teaching in Oxford is attested at least as early as 1096 perhaps because there wasnt a single, specific founding. But when, in 1167, King Henry II banned English students from attendance at the University of Paris because of his war with Louis VII of France, Oxford really took off. Its Latin motto, visible on its arms or seal, is the opening words of Psalm 27, Dominus Illuminatio Mea (The Lord is my light).

In the midst of violent altercations between students and ordinary citizens in Oxford, though town and gown frictions were common wherever medieval universities were established, and often still are a number of faculty and students found refuge in Cambridge, where Englands second-oldest university was founded in 1209. Astonishingly, Oxford and Cambridge became so powerful that no additional English universities were permitted to compete with them or even to exist until the early 19th century. The University of St. Andrews was established in 1413 but St. Andrews is a city in Scotland.

The oldest institution of higher education in the United States was founded in 1636 and named after an English-born Cambridge-trained minister named John Harvard (1607-1638) who had been serving in the Colonies and whose will bequeathed half of his money and his entire library to the newly-founded school. Newtowne, Massachusetts, accordingly (and ambitiously) changed its name to Cambridge. In its early years, Harvard College served principally to train Unitarian and Congregational clergymen.

Yale University, founded in 1701, was also intended to train Congregational ministers; initially, its curriculum focused entirely on theology and the biblical languages (such as Latin, Greek and Hebrew). Its seal still reflects its roots, with the motto Lux et Veritas (Light and Truth) displayed beneath a book bearing the Hebrew words Urim ve-Tummim (roughly Lights and Perfections). Like Harvard, Yale has an important divinity school.

Established by Presbyterians in 1746, Princeton University was, once again, initially created to train men for the ministry. And still today, the very influential Princeton Theological Seminary autonomous but closely related, having been founded by the Universitys eighth president in 1812 sits nearby.

Some question whether religiously oriented colleges and universities are fully legitimate. For most of the history of higher education, however, there was no other kind.

Daniel Peterson teaches Arabic studies, founded BYUs Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, directs MormonScholarsTestify.org, chairs interpreterfoundation.org, blogs daily at patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson, and speaks only for himself.

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How trivia, alma mater, liberal arts and religion are tied to the medieval roots of modern higher educa - Deseret News

Liberalism is facing a crisis and it’s a cop-out to blame China and Russia, analyst claims – The Guardian

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Liberalism is facing its greatest crisis in decades, in part because western governments have failed to uphold their values and Donald Trump has damaged the wests moral authority, according to a new Lowy Institute paper.

The scathing assessment, published on Wednesday, is accompanied by a call for countries including Australia to work towards a more inclusive order driven by a common imperative in meeting 21st-century challenges such as climate change, pandemic disease and global poverty.

Dr Bobo Lo, a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and a former deputy head of mission at the Australian embassy in Moscow, writes that the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a harsh spotlight on the state of global governance.

Faced with the greatest emergency since the second world war, nations have regressed into narrow self-interest, Lo writes in the paper titled Global Order in the Shadow of the Coronavirus: China, Russia, and the West.

The concept of a rules-based international order has been stripped of meaning, while liberalism faces its greatest crisis in decades.

The actions of Donald Trump, in particular, have undermined transatlantic unity, damaged the moral authority of the west and weakened global governance

Lo argues that even though western leaders blame global disorder on an increasingly assertive China and disruptive Russia, the principal threat lies closer to home because governments have failed to live up to the values underpinning a liberal international order.

This failure, he says, has been compounded by inept policymaking and internal divisions.

The actions of Donald Trump, in particular, have undermined transatlantic unity, damaged the moral authority of the west and weakened global governance.

The paper portrays Trump as openly contemptuous of norms under the rules-based order but it also cites the 2003 invasion of Iraq under George W Bush as the most notorious instance of Washington deciding it would not be bound by supranational rules.

In recent years, it says, the US has moved to withdraw from major accords such as the Paris climate agreement and trashed deals the US initiated such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Iran nuclear agreement giving Beijing and Moscow all the justification they need to indulge in their own considerable sense of self-entitlement.

In setting out the case that liberalism is retreating around the world, the paper cites the rise of illiberal democracy in European Union member states Hungary and Poland and the increasing strain on international agreements as some countries abuse or withdraw from them.

Lo, a former head of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House in London, says authoritarian regimes have become more numerous and repressive, with Xi Jinpings China and Vladimir Putins Russia just the most conspicuous examples of a larger trend.

His paper emphasises that with the world in the midst of the worst crisis of international leadership since the 1930s, the issue is not simply Trump but a collective failure that cuts across continents and systems of governance.

The very notion of moral authority is imperilled. Truth has become almost entirely subjective, giving way to narratives. The old cold war confrontation between capitalism and communism may have gone, but in its place are new ideological conflicts, both internationally and within nations.

Lo accuses western policymakers and thinkers of being in denial about the values, norms and institutions of liberalism being in crisis wrongly believing that normal service can be restored with adjustments, such as a change of US president, more transatlantic unity, getting tough on China, and accommodation with Russia.

Lo instead calls for a fundamental rethinking of global governance, with the future being a more inclusive and flexible order. America will remain the leading power in the world for at least the next decade, he says, but US global leadership in its post-cold war form is over.

The paper suggests multilateral organisations will become more important and governments should build their capacity, starting with the chronically under-resourced World Health Organization.

It argues the evolution of global governance will bring greater input from middle-level powers, such as Australia, and smaller states, while also featuring greater involvement of business, civil society organisations and private individuals.

Governments should also be receptive to new regional and global mechanisms, leading eventually to a network of interlocking structures that helps us tackle key priorities, be it climate change, security in the AsiaPacific and Europe, or addressing the infrastructure deficit in Eurasia and Africa.

Sounding the alarm over stalled action to deal with the climate crisis, the paper says the economic downturn prompted by the pandemic had led to misguided moves to drop or weaken carbon emission and other environmental standards when nothing could be more short-sighted.

Lo argues while coronavirus is seen as the most immediate peril facing humanity, the threat of climate change is even larger and more devastating in its consequences both now and in the longer term.

Yet most governments (not least Australia) have ignored, denied, or minimised its importance; made half-hearted and wholly inadequate commitments to cut carbon emissions; played for time they do not have; and shifted responsibility onto others.

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Liberalism is facing a crisis and it's a cop-out to blame China and Russia, analyst claims - The Guardian

If Bakra Eid was a Hindu festival: 10 images that tell the tale of how liberal media and celebs would have reacted – OpIndia

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Today is the Islamic festival of Bakra Eid where thousands of cattle, goats and buffaloes specifically are slaughtered by pious Muslims as an offering to Allah. For the entire duration of the festival and the build-up to it, you probably did not read any preachy articles from the Left media or even the righteous Liberals who during every Hindu festival, tell Hindus what they should or should not do to uphold the collective morality of the country.

From preaching to save milk during Mahashivratri to saving the water bodies during Ganesh Chaturthi, to caring about pollution on Diwali to talking about saving water on Holi Hindus have seen it all. In fact, recently Holi was equated withterrorismand fake story aboutsemen filled balloonswas propagated. Media and the celebs are pushing the bar higher every year.

The very same celebrities and media go completely silent during any Islamic festivals. Well, not completely silent. They wish the Muslims of India and of the entire world. Hope that peace prevails and that all of the rest of us learn the principles of sacrifice, brotherhood and devotion from the Islamic festival.

But have you ever wondered how would the media and these very liberals who hold sanctimonious placards at the drop of a hat react if Eid was a Hindu festival? What if everything else was constant the festival, the Qurbani et al and just the religion had changed? Would the Liberals still be talking about peace and brotherhood? Or would their reaction be completely different?

Here are 10 images that show how the Liberals would have reacted had Eid been a Hindu festival:

What would PETA and Prashant Bhushan be doing if Eid was a Hindu festival? Surely, running to the court.

And Bengal?

When there is a scope for Hindu shaming, Swara Bhaskar would surely not be left far behind.

If Eid was a Hindu festival, Barkha Dutt would surely be interviewing Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM.

If the Liberals had the chance to shame Hindus on a festival where Hindus went around slaughtering thousands of animals, it would be quite a surprise if the media and their favourite Hinduphobes would not have branded Hindus are terrorists.

And, of course, the portal that turned Holi in a terrorist attack with children being the terrorist would have gone hammer and tongs against the Hindus.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation would have condemned Hindu Nationalists and passed a resolution to ban the festival.

And, of course, no Hindu shaming event would be complete till the secularist would invoke Jinnah and justify the partition See? This is why Muslims did not want to live with Hindus! Ram Guha would certainly be the best person to give a whole new meaning to the Shaheen Bagh slogan Jinnah wali Azadi.

Disclaimer: I wish Happy Eid to everyone! This article is just to show how the liberal crowd is as bigoted as people they brand as bigots, and how their preaching and disdain are reserved for only one community. I wish no ill will to anyone or wish to offend any sensibilities, except theliberal kind.

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If Bakra Eid was a Hindu festival: 10 images that tell the tale of how liberal media and celebs would have reacted - OpIndia

Should research really be part of the job description at liberal arts colleges? – Times Higher Education (THE)

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Colleges routinelyassessfacultyresearch, but few have thought carefully aboutwhythey want faculty to engage in research. They should.

For 35 years, I was a student, postdoc and faculty member at top universities and research institutes, where doing science was at the top of the job description. Seven years ago, I switched gears and joined a new liberal arts college.

Founded by Yale University and the National University of Singapore (NUS), Yale-NUS College has an enrolment of just 1,000 students. We have heavy teaching loads, few on-site research labs, modest start-up funds and no graduate programmes. We also have the most talented, interesting, globally diverse student body I have ever known.For me, this isample compensation for theinabilityto conduct research in the ways I have been used to.

For colleagues who are not yet tenured, itcan bea different matter. Over and above the anxieties experienced by junior faculty everywhere, uncertainties arise from our organisational structure (tenure decisions have to be approved by the provosts of both parent universities as well as by Yale-NUS itself) and our short history.

As in mostAmericaninstitutions, our faculty are assessed on their teaching, service and research, the latter evaluated on the basis of publications and letters from outside reviewers.Thesecriteria are almost universal; differences among institutions lie largely in where to set the bar. At Yale-NUS College, we have askedourselves how much research we can expect. Of what quality and impact?What criteriadowe use to evaluate these things? I suspect we are as far from a consensusnow as we were seven years ago, when we opened our doors.

The problem is that we have been asking the wrong questions. What we should have asked first iswhydo we want faculty to do research? There is more than one possible answer, but most of them imply the need for assessment criteriathat aredifferent from those typically used.

For academia as a whole, the advancement of human knowledge is a primary mission. For private universities at the top of the research pyramid, it is arguably their single most important purpose. For colleges such as mine, though, the reason we exist is to offer the bestundergraduateeducation we can. If we evaluate faculty research solely on how much it expands human knowledge, we lose sight of other benefits that are more important to our mission.

First of all, providingfaculty with theopportunity to do researchis simply what we have to do to recruit the best educators we can.Second, research improves the classroom experience of students, since faculty who are engaged in research are more likely to be attuned to new developments and unresolved questions in their disciplines. Third, research-active faculty are a model for students, showcasing the excitement about intellectual work. Fourth, faculty research provides opportunities for students to engage in research themselves, an especially powerful form of experiential learning. Fifth, faculty who share their research passions in an accessible manner, reaching colleagues and students outside their own discipline, enrich the intellectual culture of the college beyond their own classrooms.

Many institutions recognise these benefits of research but treat them as incidental. Mentoring students in a research project, for example, might count as supplemental teaching. Giving an accessible public lecture might be seen as a form of service to the college. Neither, however, is considered when assessing research.

This may sound like amereaccounting issue, but it can create incentives that are antithetical to the mission of the institution. If a college assesses research entirely in terms of publication metrics and impact, it should not be surprised that faculty are preoccupied with meeting those expectations, at the expense of communicating their interests in a broad and accessible manner.An emphasis on research productivity can also incentivise faculty to limit student involvement in research, or to spend inadequate time on mentoringand training students who are involved.

If colleges were to consider seriously the reasons why they want faculty to do research, many would realise that their promotion and tenure standards are poorly aligned with thosereasons. There are a couple of options for realignment. One is to down-weight research in assessments and add to the teaching and service components the kinds of research-associated activities that the college now realises it has undervalued. This option has the advantage of retaining the research assessment criteria that the college has always used.

However, down-weighting research could be anathema to institutions that use equal weights for research and teaching as a way of signalling that both are valued.A more palatable solution would be to continue to give the same high weight to research but to redefine how it is assessed. Colleges should explicitly include under the research umbrellaallthe research-related activities and behaviours that they deem relevant to their missions.

It is too easy for colleges to default to publications and peer assessments as the sole criterionfor assessing the contributions of faculty research.Focusing debate on where to set the baronlymakes sense if you want high jumpers. Most colleges need a track and field team.

Neil Clarke is an associate professor (science) at Yale-NUS College.

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Should research really be part of the job description at liberal arts colleges? - Times Higher Education (THE)

Most Wanted in Las Vegas for the week of July 26, 2020 – KTNV Las Vegas

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LAS VEGAS (KTNV) Police in the Las Vegas area are asking for the public's help in locating the following individuals. Anyone with information is asked to contact the appropriate police department or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

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A robbery occurred near the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Flamingo Road on June 3. Two women entered a business and selected items, according to a July 30 police news release. As they exited the business without paying for the items, one of them pepper-sprayed the employees who attempted to stop them.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

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Anyone with information is urged to call the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Commercial Robbery Section at (702) 828-3591.

To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555 or visit crimestoppersofnv.com. Tips directly leading to an arrest or an indictment processed through Crime Stoppers may result in a cash reward.

**********

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Most Wanted in Las Vegas for the week of July 26, 2020 - KTNV Las Vegas

Il Mulino and California Pizza Kitchen on the Las Vegas Strip File for Bankruptcy – Eater Vegas

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Two restaurant companies with locations in Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, both citing the coronavirus pandemic as one of the main causes.

The parent company of Il Mulino, the Italian restaurant with a location at the Forum Shops at Caesars, filed for bankruptcy protection for seven of its locations outside of New York City, including Las Vegas. The Wall Street Journal reports that K.G. LM LLC, the restaurants manager, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to prevent lenders from taking over seven locations. The company defaulted on a loan in June, and owes about $36.3 million.

California Pizza Kitchen, which operates about 200 locations nationwide, including six in Las Vegas, also declared bankruptcy on Thursday. The Playa Vista, California-based chain plans to close unprofitable locations, Restaurant Business reports. The chain did not pay rent at the majority of its locations during the coronavirus pandemic and owes more than $400 million. CPKs locations in Las Vegas include one at McCarran International Airport, Downtown Summerlin, Fashion Show mall, and Town Square. The locations at the Park and the Mirage remain closed for now.

Il Mulino Owner Puts Some Restaurants Outside New York City Into Bankruptcy [WSJ]

California Pizza Kitchen declares bankruptcy [Restaurant Business]

How Coronavirus Is Affecting Las Vegas Food and Restaurants [ELV]

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Il Mulino and California Pizza Kitchen on the Las Vegas Strip File for Bankruptcy - Eater Vegas

Gaming Commission revokes license of bar that was homicide site – Las Vegas Review-Journal

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The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday formally revoked the gaming license of a Las Vegas bar that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said had become a hangout for gang activity and was the site of a June 2019 homicide.

Luca Bertolini, owner of the Stateside Lounge on Las Vegas Boulevard North, didnt contest the revocation in a short hearing by the commission that ended in a unanimous vote to revoke the restricted license, the type generally held by bars and taverns with 15 or fewer slot machines.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Ed Magaw told commissioners that, in the investigation by Metro and Control Board agents, the Stateside Lounge had become a hangout for gang members after another nearby bar had closed.

Between Jan. 1, 2018, and June 25, 2019, Metro received 72 calls to quell disturbances, including nine calls involving violent crimes and three for property crimes.

Bertolini said at first he didnt realize that there were gang-affiliated customers in the bar, but once he did, he failed to take the advice of Metro officers on how to monitor them.

Metro was called to several gang confrontations, including motorcycle gang parties and a gang-affiliated funeral event.

30 to 40 gunshots

On June 22, 2019, Metro was called to investigate the shooting death of 48-year-old Michael Johnson outside the bar.

Bartolini lied to police that he wasnt at the bar at time of the shooting, which involved 30 to 40 gunshots.

Shortly after the homicide, the city of Las Vegas moved to revoke the Stateside Lounges business license.

The Gaming Control Board signed a complaint against the bar in February and Bertolini offered to give up his gaming license, signing the stipulation to surrender the license in late May.

Bertolini participated in the hearing online and told commissioners he was embarrassed by the proceedings and apologized for being a part of the incidents.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.

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Gaming Commission revokes license of bar that was homicide site - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas man, 67, accused of slaying father in domestic dispute – Las Vegas Review-Journal

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A 67-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder early Friday after he allegedly killed his father, Las Vegas police said.

Police were called about 12:35 a.m. Friday after report of a domestic dispute between an elderly father and his son at a home on the 4800 block of Van Carol Drive, near West Tropicana Avenue and South Durango Drive, according to a Metropolitan Police Department news release.

While officers were on their way to the home, dispatchers received a call from the son saying his father was taken to Spring Valley Hospital and had died, police said.

Metro identified the son as 67-year-old Oris Jones. Detectives believe Jones and his father had an argument inside the home, and Jones struck his father.

The man suffered facial and chest injuries, police said. The Clark County coroners office will identify the victim and determine his cause and manner of death.

Jones was booked into the Clark County Detention Center without bail, jail records show. He faces a charge of murder of an older person, according to court records.

Further information was not immediately available.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Glenn Puit contributed to this report.

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Las Vegas man, 67, accused of slaying father in domestic dispute - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Pandemic highlights the need to invest in civic education – Las Vegas Sun

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By Saha Salahi

Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020 | 2 a.m.

At a time of crushing financial strain on schools, businesses, families and individuals, the need for a well-functioning government could not be greater. Nor could the need for citizens to understand how the government should function.

The July special session of the Nevada Legislature and the decision to initiate massive cuts in government spending proved particularly damaging to public higher education. However, now is not the time drain education funding.

Nevadas K-12 and higher education institutions train the next generation of responsible and participant citizens. For example, the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement (NCCE) at UNLV is designed to promote and support the study of history, law and civics for the development of responsible and informed citizens who are committed to democratic principles and active engagement in representative government.

The center strives to create an informed, engaged citizenry that both understands government and its role in our society not only in higher education but in K-12 schools across the Silver State. With programs like We the People and ProjectCitizen, center staff expose students to relevant content and establish a solid knowledge base for ambitious youths.

Knowledge like this is critical in the current environment.

Throughout these difficult times, citizens of the community have turned to their local and state government more than ever to resolve their concerns. But clearly, the infrastructure of both state and local government is bending if not breaking under the public health and economic challenges before us.

Members of the community deserve answers and explanations from the local and state government, and they can see the lack of effective leadership. In recent weeks, the federal government has been unabile to manage an unparalleled public health crisis created by COVID-19, which has led to a crippling economy prompted by the closure of nonessential business operations.

But recent events in the Legislature reinforce the idea that ignorance of government role in society leaves citizens without a viable option, because too few constituents participate in these processes.

UNLV remains a popular university for first-generation, lower- and middle-income students. Now is the time to instill the value of civics instruction and study.

Instructors devoted to civics are not brainwashing students, as some allege. Rather, students who experience a robust civics curriculum are better able to understand society and government, which encourages young people to participate in the immense role they play within our democracy.

Saha Salahi is a UNLV sophomore and an intern with Brookings Mountain West and the Lincy Institute. She also is the 3rd Congressional District coordinator for the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement.

Originally posted here:

Pandemic highlights the need to invest in civic education - Las Vegas Sun

Las Vegas Valley Water District – Invested in the Future – Nevada Business Magazine

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When a severe drought first hit the Colorado River basin in 2000, the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) joined other local water agencies to invest in forward-thinking plans and programs to protect the communitys water resources.

Engineering a deep-water solution, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) and its member agencies, including the LVVWD, initiated the engineering design and construction of a 24-foot diameter intake tunnel and Low Lake Level Pumping Station to ensure 2.2 million Southern Nevadans maintained access to their drinking water.

Nearly all of the water delivered throughout the Las Vegas Valley comes from the Colorado River at Lake Mead, said Dave Johnson, SNWA and LVVWD Deputy General Manager for Operations. In response to this ongoing drought and water level reductions in Lake Mead, we implemented a number of initiatives to protect our water supply, including investing in the infrastructure that ensures continued access to our share of water in Lake Mead.

Since the drought began, Lake Mead water levels have declined more than 130 feet. Additional declines in the lakes level threatened the operation of the water agencys two original intake pipes, which were installed in the early 1970s and early 2000s.

The deep-water intake, known as Intake No. 3, stretches nearly three miles to one of the deepest points in Lake Mead, sitting nearly 200 feet below the lakes surface. To pump water from these depths, SNWA also constructed the Low Lake Level Pumping Station, which became operational in April 2020. The pumping station includes 34 of the worlds largest submersible pumps that have a capacity to move more than 900 million gallons per day.

With this infrastructure we can now access water from within the full elevation of the lake, regardless of the lakes level. Thats important because even if Lake Mead drops below elevation 900 feet and Hoover Dam can no longer generate power or release water to states and users downstream, including Arizona, California and Mexico, we still will be able to provide water to the Las Vegas Valley, Johnson explained.

With the ability to draw water from any lake level, Southern Nevada can confidently pursue partnerships to develop new water resources in exchange for access to additional Colorado River water. Pursuing the development of desalination or water reuse projects will allow SNWA and its member agencies to partner with other states on smart investments to develop new water resources in exchange for Southern Nevada receiving additional Colorado River water that can be accessed through the new intake and Low Lake Level Pumping Station. This certainty defers and possibly eliminates the need for SNWA to pipe and pump water from hundreds of miles away, providing greater flexibility to expand our communitys water supply in a smart, efficient and sustainable way.

SNWA recently entered into a Letter of Intent with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MET) to partner on a major water recycling project. Currently, MET treats wastewater generated from indoor use and releases it to the ocean. A new water reuse facility would provide the infrastructure to treat and reuse the wastewater, extending Californias Colorado River resource.

This historic agreement would allow Southern Nevada to benefit by financially participating in the project and receive a significant amount of water in return, which we can treat and deliver through our existing infrastructure. This project will significantly enhance our water supply for the future, Johnson explained.

SNWA continues to evaluate possible partnerships with California and Mexico to develop desalination facilities. In exchange for investing in this type of partnership, SNWA could acquire additional Colorado River water.

While Southern Nevadas water agencies are working to address the challenges of the drought, we need everyone to do their part and conserve, Johnson said. Adhering to seasonal watering restrictions, removing unused grass and preventing water waste, stretches our water supply and protects our quality of life.

Its your water. Your investment. Use it wisely. For tips on how to save water, visit lvvwd.com.

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Las Vegas Valley Water District - Invested in the Future - Nevada Business Magazine

Every Voice: Race, Protest, and Power in Las Vegas – KNPR

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A roundtable on racial justice in Las Vegas

Widespread protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have sparked a national conversation about racism. On July 9, Desert Companion hosted a live Zoom event, Every Voice: Race, Protest, and Power in Las Vegas, a roundtable on racial justice in the valley.

How can street rallies translate into real change? What can be done to reform the police and expand economic opportunity in communities of color? How does a movement evolve into a coalition that bridges the divides of race, class, and gender identity? These are just a few of the questions panelists discussed.

Moderated by writer and CSN English professor Erica Vital-Lazare, the 90-minute discussion included panelists Aaron D. Ford, Nevada attorney general; Tenisha Freedom, organizer and activist; Tyler D. Parry, assistant professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at UNLV; Lance L. Smith, a multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, and teacher; and the Reverend Vance Stretch Sanders, Baptist youth pastor and president of All Shades United.

The following is a transcript of the roundtable discussion, edited for length and clarity. You can find a link to the recorded video of the Zoom event at desertcompanion.com.

Erica Vital-Lazare: When we were thinking about how to home in on a theme for this discussion, we kept coming back to Whats different? How is this current civil rights movement, which feels so different, actually different in your personal experience? How does it compare to similar ones in the past?

Aaron D. Ford: In the immediate aftermath of George Floyds killing, I didnt think anything was different. I didnt expect anything would be different. I thought it would continue to be yet another example of a Black man dying at the hands of police, and nothing happening. I have been, I hate to say the word surprised, but I have been surprised at where we are now, which is on the precipice of actual policies being implemented. But beyond implementation, being enforced. And on the precipice of laws being passed at a state legislative level that are seeking to address some of the concerns that have been raised from generations past.

Aaron D. Ford

What I am also surprised at and happy to see I use the word happy in quotes, right, because whos happy to talk about this in the context of another mans killing? but happy to see that law enforcement at the outset began to voice their outrage at what we saw in Minneapolis.

Tenisha Freedom

Tenisha Freedom: Whats different this time as far as after the George Floyd murder? I think that the video was so clear. The audio was so clear. It was something that was kind of broadcast as a horror film, broadcasted live across the country, and it was undisputable. I think thats what led to some of the reaction and change and demands that are happening right now. This isnt new. Weve had four centuries of racial capitalism leading the country. Weve had decades of police terror haunting our communities. But whats changed is social media videos being in the hands of everyone being able to record it and put it out quickly without it being edited. In these last few months, weve seen COVID change the dynamic of the economy and the way people are moving as well. Were seeing so much corruption, so much poverty, so much of a division between the high elite and the wealthy and the poor. Its starting to touch people that its never touched before. Were seeing an uprising of people and the unity of people because of that.

Tyler D. Parry: One thing that was distinct with George Floyds death is the sheer length of the video, what the public was able to see. Juxtaposing that with what happened to Byron Williams that was filmed, too but LVMPD only released part of the video for public viewing, and apparently showed a few people, including family members, the entirety of the video, which is where you hear him repeatedly say, I cant breathe, multiple times. Whereas what we have with George Floyd is nearly nine minutes of prolonged pleading for the officer to get off of his neck, and the callous nature of other officers simply watching and, in fact, getting very disgruntled with the crowd that was forming around them. It was just a visual that most people were horrified by.

Reverend Vance Stretch Sanders

Reverend Vance Stretch Sanders: For the most part, not much has really changed. Yes, this feels different. Yes, the climate is different, but when I say not much has changed, Im meaning in the sense of its 2020, and were still saying Black Lives Matter. Its 2020, were still asking and demanding Black power. Its 2020, racist police officers and officers of color are getting away with killing Black, brown, oppressed people. Its 2020, Black folks are still being lynched on trees. Its 2020, were still being abducted, kidnapped with our organs missing. Its the same old song, just a different tune. But what can be different this time is I do see a huge emergence of older people and young people who have taken to the streets, but also taken to the community to organize, because we understand that protesting is temporary, and protesting and mobilizing is something that we do to bring awareness. Whats going to really bring the actual change is the 365 (days a year) work, right? Giving folks knowledge of self, political education classes, and the community giving out resources to the people. Thats how essentially we bring change.

So I see where theres a shift. I just hope that this shift is not temporary. Because right now, its cool to be an activist, everybodys an activist now, everybodys a community leader, everybody wants to be on panels and speak on behalf of work theyve never really done. I just hope that spirit is not people just playing revolutionary dress-up or playing activist dress-up, but they really understand this is bigger than George Floyd.

Vital-Lazare: Lance, can you talk about the way this movement feels different, and how it is informed by the image of George Floyd in that street, Michael Brown laying for hours in the street. What impact does that have on the psyche of a nation, what impact does such imagery have on the psyche of Black people in particular?

Lance L. Smith

Lance L. Smith: We understand this is psychological warfare. The torrent of images of Black death on our televisions are meant to destabilize us. I think its very deliberate. And when you think of things like, you talk about the lynching tree going from the tree to our streets, its just, again, visual representations of how we as Black people do not matter in this place. I think its important as an artist, and I see all of us as artists, to figure out ways to transmute those horrors. Thats the gift of us being able to create, being able to see the horror front on and being able to transmute it into something we can use for our power.

Vital-Lazare: Minister Stretch, you keep an eye on the movement nationwide. How does Black activism and Black life in Southern Nevada differ from that in the rest of the country, particularly where the movement is involved?

Sanders: Vegas is a different city. You look at the history of not just the movement from Black Lives, but if you look at the history of the Vegas civil rights movement, other cities leaders back in the 60s were ministers. Vegas was different. Their leaders were Bob Bailey, an entrepreneur; Charles Kellar, a lawyer; Dr. Charles West, who was a dentist; Dr. James McMillan, who was a doctor. Vegas leaders were people who owned their own businesses, people who were successful, not preachers or working-class folks. That same energy is transferred today. So you look at the leadership of Las Vegas now, it differs from a lot of the leadership in other places. Vegas considers leadership politicians, thats their leaders. In Chicago, the leaders are the people at the bottom of the barrel, the leaders are the people who run community centers. Those are the leaders in other cities as well.

Its definitely different, but thats not a bad thing. Because theres also room to grow a movement in Las Vegas. But because Vegas is traditionally not known for having a progressive movement, were not going to have the same energy as L.A. or Detroit. And people are sometimes frustrated because they wish we would Turn it up like Oakland! Sometimes I do, too. And we wish that Vegas was like Detroit or Chicago, but its not, because unfortunately people move here from all over. When we move here, we dont bring whatever skill or culture or knowledge that we have. We leave that back where were from. And for those who were born and raised here, they didnt grow up seeing movements, they didnt grow up seeing struggle, so they learned about what they know from other places.

Vegas has a history of having movement moments but not a movement. So they protest and they shut down the Strip, but then after that, a year later, there is no result of that protest, there is no result of that energy. Thats why its so important because Vegas does not have a consistency of activism. We have to make sure those who are currently in activism are laying down the foundation.

Vital-Lazare: So, you feel like youre going back to the original ministry of movement, really replacing, or standing alongside, politicians and other activists in this movement, but you want to bring the ministry back into the movement? Is that your goal?

Sanders: Not necessarily, because for me to bring the ministry to the movement means I have to force religion on people, and I think that people have the right to practice whatever spiritual practice they practice. For me, my movement is my ministry. But ministry also means serve, so it doesnt have to be a religious thing. My goal is to continue there was a movement going on before there was a Stretch Sanders so my goal is to make sure that we can sustain.

My mother always said its not about what you obtain, its what you maintain. And Vegas will brag about, Oh we did that 20 years ago, but what are you doing now? We have a lot of leaders in Las Vegas who live off things they did 20 years ago, but if you aint worked in 20 years, then its like that work is kinda in vain. So if we get into the movement, theres no such thing as saying, Oh, I used to be an activist. When youre in this life, youre in this life.

As far as standing with the politicians, I think weve tried that and Im open to that, but I think it has to be the right politicians because we know that we have a whole lot of politicians that this is a career for them. So most, even all, the Black politicians, theyve sold us down a creek, they sold us out continuously. Now theyre community leaders and now theyre speaking out against whats going on, but theyve been quiet about Byron Williams, theyve been quiet about Tashii Brown Farmer. They were nowhere to be found then. But now that its a global thing, now some of our Black elected officials want to play superhero. They were elected to represent us, and so I want to see the people stand together. If that includes politicians, obviously, then they will be welcome. But I want the people to stand together, and that means the sister whos on the corner, the brother whos selling dope, the grandmother who raised her grandkids.

We need to get to the people and get rid of some of the commercialization of the movement, because the Vegas movement to me is becoming very commercialized, because you got folks who are trying to co-opt, stop, hijack the movement, and turn it into something that its not. I want to continue to keep this movement as authentic and as original as possible.

Vital-Lazare: Professor Parry, what are we doing now? What are activists old and new doing now? How does this now fit into the continuum of history, how does Las Vegas now fit within that continuum?

Parry: Ive been reaching out to educators in the Clark County School District. I was just curious, what is being done as far as pedagogical strategies that are being implemented within the classroom? What are the children learning? What are they learning about Las Vegas history? Because I can tell you as a person who went through the school district, most of what I learned about racism or discrimination within Las Vegas came from either discussing it with elders within the community, or learning it after I graduated from high school. Addressing anything about race or discrimination either within the United States or within the city itself was largely a side note in most of the curriculum.

The thing Im worried about is, thus far from what Im hearing from educators, is that very little has changed. Theres an elective of African American studies that students can choose to take, but theyre not entirely sure how much of this is actually addressed in U.S. history. And I understand that teachers are pressed for time, and theyre following particular guidelines that come down from administrators and the higher levels. But I think that we have an opportunity now to at least introduce the idea that this needs to be addressed for young people, that they need to know about this.

Once I learned about a lot of these things after I graduated from high school, I became very resentful. People had lied to me. Tyler D. Parry

Once I learned about a lot of these things after I graduated from high school, I became very resentful. People had lied to me. They were trying to cover it up. They didnt trust me with this type of knowledge. Something that Im going to be pursuing is to try to form some type of alliance between educators within the K-12 CCSD system, and faculty, activists, or anybody whos interested in aligning themselves, to introduce a curriculum that will talk about these things and discuss them and strategize how to help students understand the history of this city beyond just the tourism and the Mafia stories that we typically get.

I agree with the minister, Las Vegas history is unique. But at the same time, it mirrors many other parts of the country. You have students coming into my classroom thinking that racism only exists in the South. But at the same time, theyre coming from a city (in a state) that was called the Mississippi of the West and with pretty good reason. It wasnt until 1971 when Black people could move out of the Westside.

This is not ancient history. I think students need to know and understand that. What we need to do is adjust the curriculums to meet the needs of this current movement.

Vital-Lazare: Tenisha, in your movement, how do you include education thats a component in building awareness, also in building numbers for protest on the Strip?

Freedom: Its important to note, like the professor did, that Las Vegas is not exempt from racism. In very recent years, Blacks were not allowed to frequent casinos. Even our entertainers werent allowed to perform in the same guise as white performers. Las Vegas Metro Police Department is not exempt from racism, is not exempt from saturating Black and brown communities, is not exempt from our youth being tagged and really targeted for felonies as gang members. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department is not exempt from murder and excessive force in our communities. So we have to know that Las Vegas is not unique in some of those areas of racism and oppression, as we want to put out there that its all about tourism. The tourism aspect is a reason why so little is known about what really happens here on some of those fronts, because theres a lot of money there to hide it. A part of what were doing is exposing that it is here, but also exposing the politicians, or people that are in power and police that are not speaking on it, that are not pushing reform on it, that are not defunding these entities that dont work to eradicate it. So were wanting to call out some of those names.

We have the attorney general with us as well. What stance is he taking? What areas can he use his power in to make sure that were united on some of these fronts, and using that power and position for the peoples voice? As activists in the community, we serve the people. We are the voice of the people. We try to push the peoples narrative, and we try to push the peoples agenda and our goals.

We know that CCSD does not have a mandatory Black history curriculum in the schools. It doesnt exist, so it is voluntary and optional if they even present any Black history to our children. So we have a couple of options. Either we demand that this curriculum is included, or we begin to organize our own schools and our own curriculums that include it.

One time, for Malcolm Xs (birthday), which is May 19, we went out into the community for Malcolm X Day, and we had books for the children, we had fruit, and we had some informational fliers on Malcolm X. And it just happened that a school bus got off. And this is a Black and brown neighborhood right in the middle of the Westside. All Black children getting off the bus, probably about 30 or 40 of them, and not one of them even knew who Malcolm X was. So we understand thats on purpose, we understand thats by design, that some of our Black liberation leaders are not known, and theyre certainly not taught in these school systems.

Vital-Lazare: I wanted to hear from you, Attorney General Ford, about police reform. It is the most basic request of this movement. Whose responsibility is it, what has to happen at every level to get more day-to-day accountability for institutionalized violence against Black people?

Ford: Its everybodys responsibility. Each of us has a role. Weve heard the speakers before me talk about what they do relative to grassroots or being the voice of the people. I think people have several voices. I dont think anyone has a monopoly on the way that theyre able to serve. I understand that some politicians in fact do nothing. Some do more than nothing. And part of my job as the top law enforcement officer in the state is to utilize the influence that I have in my position to be able to effectuate policy changes, but also the enforcement of those policies.

Its not so much again the institution of a policy to de-escalate or the institution of a policy to take implicit-bias training or use-of-force training. Thats not the issue. The truth is, many of our departments have those, and they are state-of-the-art policies. But whats not happening, though, is the enforcement of those from a disciplinary and oftentimes judicial enforcement perspective.

When I saw the killing of George Floyd, my immediate thought was, here we go again and nothings going to happen. Thats because I am conditioned at some level to believe that actual justice will not be made in any circumstances, and that helps contribute to the lack of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, particularly the Black community right now. Its partially my responsibility as an individual who has a level of influence to be able to talk to and about police departments, but also to and about legislators, and also utilizing my statutory authorities and abilities given to me that Im asking for that I have not yet received.

If, in fact, a police department is being alleged to be racially discriminating in the way that it enforces justice or enforces laws, then the attorney generals office can be an entity that can operate in the oversight perspective. It can add an extra level of transparency. I dont have that authority right now. The Department of Justice at the federal level has that authority, and I have asked along with 17 other attorneys general across the nation that Congress give us that authority under federal law. But I have also simultaneously asked that our state Legislature authorize that authority within my office, so I have belt and suspenders of sorts, if you will. There are additional opportunities that I think we all have vis--vis holding people accountable. We all have a role in this.

Vital-Lazare: Tenisha, Metro announced (recently) that it changed its policy on neck restraint technique to only allow it in life-threatening situations. So I wanted to know your thoughts on that and how grassroots organizing might have influenced that change in policy.

Freedom: We believe that grassroots organizing is a major influence on mainstream platforms or policy creations. Weve seen that happen historically on many issues. People do set the tone for these discussions. Years ago, we werent hearing anything about defunding the police. It was kind of one of those radical ideas that was only talked about in a few groups that were more considered to the left. So now were seeing that, were hearing that every day, and now you can google defund the police, and it comes up as a very palatable discussion.

Although Im not sure exactly what the attorney generals powers are, but I do know these people rub elbows with each other, they go to dinner with each other, they go to lunch with each other. These conversations of what the people are demanding need to be top priority, then tuning in and then attending our protests, our gatherings, our forums, and saying, Hey what do you guys want? What can we deliver to you? Because they are supposed to be the peoples servants. Were not seeing that. So, as far as the Metro initiating yet another law or another policy, they have a use-of-force policy, they have a dont-choke-hold policy. But they seem to somehow be able to be immune to whatever policy or whatever procedures are in place. Like the attorney general said, theres no accountability, and that we see over and over again.

We saw this week a budgeting forum where the governor took millions of dollars away from education again. And nothing taken away from police forces. So we hear it. However, we dont see the response that wed like. What the people are demanding is that these people in positions of power and representatives of the so-called elite begin to speak out and share some of the narratives that we have, that they take a political stance in it, that they push the agenda.

Even in the know-your-rights types of forums. They hold these forums to bring the youth together, bring the community together so you know your rights, know how you should respond if the police is apprehending you or if you have an encounter with the police. The issue is that we know our rights, and the police know our rights, and instead theyre impeded and blocked and disregarded time and time again.

So our distrust with the police is a branch of it. But unfortunately, it escalates up the entire tree and down to the roots. The police are just the branch of enforcement, but we know whos really pulling the strings: The people in these political offices that are simply not doing what the people are asking them to do. We want defunding, we want disarming, we want disbanding of the police, and we also want those resources redistributed to our communities.

What we can do from our end from the grassroots and organizing part of it is start to withhold our resources, so instead of begging them to redistribute the budget, we start impacting the budget. So thats what were looking to organize, look at ways that we can impact the budget so our resources never even get into the states hand of control. We keep it in our hands for control.

Vital-Lazare: Minister Stretch, Tenisha is talking about defunding, disarming, disbanding. Is this part of your philosophy as well? Do you think that the type of revolutionary change that Tenisha is pointing toward is a solution?

Sanders: I probably agree with 90 percent of the ideology that she has. We dont want reform. We want revolution. The root word of revolution is revolt. To revolt means to break away. So we want abolishment. We dont want a cleaner version. Its like, almost, either be raped or be murdered. We dont want those options. We want complete, total change. So I wholeheartedly believe, as a liberation activist, that if were going to bring change, the people got to have the power.

The police cant police the police. Because theres a silent code. Its even like that with the politicians. They do rub elbows, they do go to lunch, they do have a code of conduct to each other. To Attorney General Fords point, I agree that we all play a role. But the issue is, those who are supposed to play roles who are in elected office positions are not playing any roles. Im not saying every politician in the state of Nevada has to play a role, but what Im saying is the masses of them who should be playing roles are not playing roles. Theyre playing the role of, Im trying to get re-elected, so Im gonna say whats popular. Im going to make sure I dont be too radical or too Black.

It would be so powerful if politicians would not only come out to the protests, but also come out when folks are giving out food and giving out resources. If I go to most of the Westside housing projects like Sherman Gardens and ask them, Have you ever saw an assemblyperson in person? Have you ever saw the Attorney General in person, have you saw the Black councilman thats supposed to be in this area? They would say no. Thats problematic. So imagine how powerful, a councilman coming and bringing food every other week. You start changing the trajectory of the people and you start actually being a voice.

We dont want reform. We want revolution. We want complete, total change. Rev. Stretch Sanders

Just because you have a voice box dont mean you have a voice. So you have people who have voice boxes, but theyre not using them. So you ended up in a position of power, but youre not using that power. I think that so many of our elected officials, including Attorney General Ford, definitely have to step their game up. We commend them for speaking out now, but theyre still silent on Byron Williams. Sheriff (Joseph Lombardo) said on TV, This is not Minneapolis. Like hell it aint! This is Minneapolis. This is Baltimore. This is Chicago. This is Ferguson. The police terrorism has been going on in Las Vegas since the beginning of time. This is nothing new.

When our elected officials and some so-called leaders, when they get on TV and they say, This is not Minneapolis, were going to be sure, then youre erasing history because Byron Williams was just killed in September for riding a bike! When a Black man rides a bike, hes suspicious. But when a white man rides a bike in Summerlin, hes bike-riding.

I cant put all the pressure on Attorney General Ford. Its also on community folks. Its also on the pastors and the preachers and so-called leaders like the teachers. Weve all got to step our game up, but particularly those who were supposed to be elected to be the voice of the people have to step it up. We all can agree that the politicians in Las Vegas and Nevada are definitely not as revolutionary, radical, and vocal as they can be. They were not speaking out about Byron Williams, they were not speaking out about Tashii Brown Farmer and Trevon Cole. They were not speaking out about so many others. Thats just the Black folk. Were not talking about the Hispanic families that got killed. We cant sit here and acknowledge George Floyd had been killed and everybodys like well, this is a good time to celebrate Metro. No, Metro is the biggest gang in the state of Nevada. Its not just us bullying and picking on Metro, but before you can clean up a wound you have to acknowledge who made that wound. What were looking for as different activists and revolutionaries is we need all of our people who are so-called leaders to be leaders.

When I look at panels such as the Solutions, Strategies & Service Summit (hosted by Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly and moderated by rapper and entrepreneur Tip T.I. Harris on June 24 at Pearson Community Center), there were several activists who were on there listed as community leaders. What qualifies as a community leader? Because if thats the case, are we paying for this? Is this like a membership, because these folks were nowhere to be found two months ago. Nowhere! But now that T.I.s in town, everybodys a leader.

Weve got to do better. This is not a game. People are harassed. Phones are tapped. Houses are watched. We can be killed doing this work. We dont like to have people who make a mockery of this. Yes, we all play a role, but play the role that you were elected for and put in a position to play.

Vital-Lazare: Who are the community leaders? What qualifies as a community leader?

Smith: The thing that really kind of blows me away is that were not talking about racism as a social construct that gains capital. The invention of the police force was to police Black bodies, period. Attorney General, I thank you for all you do, but we cant mince words here. Its always life or death if you are a minority in this space. So when you ask what can you do, I totally agree with Tenisha and Stretch: Its about making our own, and understanding that this system is built to kill us. Period. We can pontificate and try to be cute and dance around it. The attorney general knows that hes indoctrinated in a system thats built kill us.

Ford: Lets be clear. Everyone has their experiences. Im not originally from here. Im from inner-city Dallas, Texas. Ive had my fair share of negative experiences with law enforcement. I know my experiences, and I dont run from it and I dont shy away from it. I also know what my role is. And I utilize my position to effectuate policy change in the way that I think is appropriate. Is it going to please everybody? Absolutely not. Is it pleasing some of those on this screen? Clearly not. But does that deter me from doing what I think is most appropriate in the position that I hold? It does not, and it will not.

But I dont purport to speak on behalf of other elected officials; I will speak on my own behalf and to say that absolutely indoctrination has occurred. Professor Parry talked about indoctrination in the educational system. Education has always been used to indoctrinate.

Ive told the story several times before, when my young Black kid was taking a test in Texas, a multiple-choice exam that required him to pass to get to the next grade, and the question was multiple choice. Simply, what was the cause of the Civil War? Two answers he was able to get rid of. The last two answers were states rights and slavery. And, according to the Texas curriculum, the right answer was states rights, not slavery. Obviously, I was up in arms about that and explained to them this is no reason why that should be the more correct answer. It was the states rights to own slaves.

And so in the context of the worst, most racist institution of our countrys history, you cant acknowledge that that in itself was the cause of the Civil War. Its no wonder people say Black people are too sensitive when it comes to race. Its indoctrination. Absolutely. Does the system indoctrinate? It absolutely does, but does it also take people inside the system to try to help undo it? I believe so. I believe that there are some of us who are being effective. For example, when I was in the state Senate, (we passed) laws that helped to remove the ability to racially profile and beyond that, to prosecute those who actually do it. Thats necessary, and it runs parallel with whats happening at the grassroots level.

Not everyone looks to be seen, not everyone looks to be heard. Some folks actually just want to be in the background and do some work and effectuate the change in the best way that they can. And one of the ways to do that is to vote. Some of the people in our communities push back even on that particular concept. And when my grandmother and my great grandmother and my in-laws tell me about their struggles to vote in Texas, it appalls me that folks would pooh-pooh on the notion of voting when they were the ones that were having dogs sicced on them and water hoses turned on them.

Lets be clear. I am the top law enforcement officer in the state. I wear a badge. I dont run from it. And that does mean that I cant do certain things in good faith for example, appear at a protest when I have to enforce a law that says youre not supposed to be in groups of 50 or more.

Now what I can do and what I did do in that context is put out a notice about what your rights are, relative to your interactions. To be sure, some people know their rights, but not everybody does. And so understanding that there are opportunities for us to educate, even in our positions of power, putting power in quotes because some folks dont want to acknowledge it. There are still ways that we can influence whats going on here.

Vital-Lazare: Lance, I want to ask you about privilege and marginalization. What is the underlying idea of really representing all marginalized people within this movement, centering them, moving everyone toward lives of parity?

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Every Voice: Race, Protest, and Power in Las Vegas - KNPR

38 acres of undeveloped land on Las Vegas Strip sells for $108.6M in virtual auction – FOX5 Las Vegas

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38 acres of undeveloped land on Las Vegas Strip sells for $108.6M in virtual auction - FOX5 Las Vegas