Monthly Archives: July 2021

Jul 17th 2021

IN JULY 1998 the Reading Evening Post, a now-defunct paper, ran a story about opposition to housebuilding. Rhodri Hughes, a councillor, was concerned that new flats would overshadow residents gardens and that the loss of trees would change the look of the area. Last month another local, the Reading Chronicle, ran a similar story about housing in nearby Wokingham. Clive Jones, a Liberal Democrat councillor, is exercised about the ecological crisis, railing that developers are destroying the wildlife and habitats of muntjac deer, badgers, birds, rabbits.

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The sharp increase in housebuilding in recent years has given a fillip to NIMBYs, people who dont mind development as long as it is Not In My Back Yard. This month YouGov, a pollster, found that 47% of Britons would oppose new housing in their area, up from 40% since mid-2019. Some 43% would support it, a drop of seven percentage points. But as hinted at by this tale of two councillors, todays NIMBYs are citing new concerns: not just my environment but the environment.

NIMBYs have always worried about wildlife, noise, pollution and the like, says Philip Hubbard, a geographer at Kings College London. And their concerns are not merely mercenary: a recent survey by Tom OGrady of University College London found that Britons who expressed opposition to local housebuilding were largely motivated by a desire to preserve the beauty and amenity of their area, rather than the value of their home.

Such attitudes can be characterised as environmentalism, albeit of an intensely local, personal sort. But a growing number of NIMBYs now claim a broader green agenda. Some cite biodiversity, saying they support new housing as long as it does not spoil land teeming with wildlife. Andrew Stringer, who leads the Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent Group on Suffolk County Council (and who has built four houses himself), says he has teamed up with residents to get developers to change their plans. He claims to have stopped trees being felled and barn owls being made homeless.

Green-tinged NIMBYs in Essex want land slated for housing to be rewildedhelped return to a natural state. Elsewhere, they are seeking to block development by citing its impact on carbon emissions. Some groups are aligned with Extinction Rebellion, an international climate campaign. In Newbury a plan to build 1,000 homes is being opposed because of the climate crisis. Campaigners in Chesham claim its carbon footprint would rise by a fifth if planned building goes ahead.

An environment bill making its way through Parliament aims to protect nature despite high volumes of house-building. Developers are supposed to ensure that biodiversity on the plots they develop increases overall. One large housebuilder says it has researched green housing in Japan, and found that wildflower meadows can be created cheaply. But some green NIMBYs dismiss such mitigation measures as shabby and ineffective. One mocks a trend for developers to fix bird-boxes on houseslikely to be unpopular with owners because of bird poo on doorsteps.

The Green Partys gains in Mays local elections could be a sign that the new eco- NIMBYs are sincere about their motives. Jonathan Bartley, a co-leader of the party, says that erstwhile Tory voters in the south-east saw in the Greens a party that gets wildlife, that gets the ecological emergency, that gets the countryside. But others wonder if the conversion to greenery is merely strategic. Locals may not share her environmentalism, says Wendy Turner, a Green councillor in Suffolk, but they see supporting her party as the best route to stopping new development. Since 2019, at least 230 councils have declared a climate emergency; some campaigners may simply be seizing on a new weapon in the same old fight to protect their back yards.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Eco-warriors"

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Opponents of housebuilding claim to care more about the environment than prices - The Economist

At the 47th G7 summit held in the United Kingdom in June, South Africa was the only African country to be invited. In an interview held on the sidelines, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that he believed ordinary South Africans had confidence in his government and things were actually looking pretty good for South Africa.

One month later, the country descended into mass unrest, looting, arson and violence that destroyed thousands of businesses and led to 212 deaths. It is not the first time South Africa experiences such upheaval and one has to wonder why its head of state got invited to make a token appearance at a gathering of the worlds top wealthiest nations, when clearly things are not pretty good.

Some may think it is because South Africa is Africas most industrialised nation and leading democracy. Its development as a liberal democracy, after decades of white supremacist rule, has impressed many in the West. Nelson Mandelas legacy of pushing for national unity after spending 27 years in jail is well remembered, and so is the adoption of a constitution that enshrined progressive political, economic and sexual rights, which strengthened South Africas democratic credentials after decades of brutal apartheid.

Indeed, for a long time South Africa appeared set to avoid the political chaos that plagued many African countries in the post-colonial era. However, that exceptionalism came at a cost: it allowed the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party the liberty to indulge in profound denialism and fashion a narrative of steady progress, even as corruption engulfed its ranks and its governments continued to fail on delivering basic services to townships inhabited by mainly poor Black South Africans.

The frustrations and indignities that drove young and middle-aged South Africans to loot and engage in destructive behaviour over the past week are fairly old. If the troubling scenes that overwhelmed South Africa recently appear familiar, it is because this type of violence and plundering, albeit on a smaller scale, has already happened a few times in recent years.

In 2008, for example, 62 people died and 100,000 were displaced in xenophobic attacks that targeted African migrants and foreign-owned shops. The government reacted slowly to the outbreaks of violence and only deployed soldiers to help bring the situation under control well after many migrants had been killed.

Despite the anarchy, then-President Thabo Mbeki did not address the root causes of the unrest. Instead, he was worried about how the shameful acts of a few had blemished the name of South Africa and dented the ANCs reputation abroad. So, with little done to assess and rectify the economic and social challenges behind xenophobic violence or to enhance the security services preparedness to handle it, South Africa experienced further violent outbreaks in 2015, 2018 and 2019.

The ANC continued to ignore the writing on the wall and in fact used peoples fears to its electoral advantage. Hoping that anti-migrant rhetoric would shield it from assuming responsibility for a plethora of economic shortcomings and appease disgruntled voters, the ANC babysat the growing discontent and targeted migrants in the run-up to the 2019 general election. Party officials blamed migrants for the failing health sector, high crime rates and widespread joblessness.

However, such political manoeuvring did not change the facts on the ground. The ANCs policies have not really dismantled the oppressive economic structures of apartheid and as a result, people are losing faith in democracy.

In 2019, for instance, South Africa experienced the lowest voter turnout in any of the countrys general elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. And a survey published by the Edelman Trust Barometer in February 2021 revealed that South Africans had more trust in business (of all sectors) than in the ANC government.

That is hardly a surprise, as more than a quarter of municipalities are nearly bankrupt and state-owned entities are struggling due to corruption and bad governance. What is more, in 2020, billions of rands allotted to the COVID-19 response and relief were plundered through dubious procurement practices. People, understandably, are livid and anger is pouring out onto the streets. Between August 2020 and January 2021, South Africa experienced 900 protests over the failure of the state to deliver services.

So while the latest round of violence and mass looting might have been ignited by former President Jacob Zumas 15-month imprisonment on contempt of court charges, it certainly thrived on extreme dissatisfaction with tremendous inequality, corruption and inadequate economic development practices. The ANC is presiding over a democracy that is failing the 30.4 million South Africans living in abject poverty.

One could empathise with Ramaphosas position and argue that he has been president for just three years, that he is fairly progressive and just needs time to turn things around. But he spent nearly four years as deputy president of South Africa and five as deputy head of ANC, and must shoulder a significant share of the blame for the partys failings something he is not in a hurry to do.

In a televised address to South Africans on July 16, Ramaphosa struck a jingoistic tone and bemoaned the deliberate, coordinated and well-planned attack on our democracy. He promised to extinguish the fires that are raging, and stamp out every last ember. However, the truth is the fires are set to rage on.

Too many South Africans remain pushed to the fringes of society. Too many have been sucked into a vortex of despondency that clearly threatens social and political stability.

The politics of denial within the ANC must end. Going forward, Ramaphosa has to prioritise, with speed, establishing a basic income grant, improving service delivery in the townships, stamping out corruption and implementing the land reform programme he has promised in full. Anything short of this, as the recent unrest has demonstrated, would be catastrophic to South Africas wellbeing.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.

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South Africas unrest and the ANCs many failings - Al Jazeera English

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A Gold Coast site plagued by "development uncertainty" for two decades will be annexed by the Queensland government and transformed into protected koala and wildlife habitat. The state has begun the process of compulsorily acquiring the 148-hectare parcel of land at Currumbin Waters, locally known as Martha's Farm or Martha's Vineyard. It will be added to the Currumbin eco-parkland, which Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon says will make the site among the biggest of its kind in Australia. "Martha's Vineyard is already popular with hikers and nature-based activities, and we want to not just protect that access but improve it," she said in a statement. "This decision will protect koalas and other local wildlife, stop development from encroaching on the local blackbutt forest and, as Queenslanders rekindle their love for their own backyard, encourage more nature-based tourism." Friends of Currumbin, a local community group which lobbied for the land to be reclaimed, said its environmental value is rare. "Land parcels of this size with such high biodiversity are very rare on the Gold Coast, which is why we are so passionate about saving it for future generations," president Peter Kershaw said. But the current landowners aren't happy about the government's plans. Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles said the government had been negotiating with them since early 2021 to buy the site. "Unfortunately, an agreement has not been reached, and we have had to take further action," he said. "We remain open to a commercial resolution with the landowner." Once the land is acquired, an entry road to the site, car parking and amenities will be constructed, before stakeholders will be invited to have their say on the future of the site. "We listened to community concerns about preserving this unique property, and we have acted on these concerns," Mr Miles said. "This decision also ends 20 years of development uncertainty around the site." Australian Associated Press

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A Gold Coast site plagued by "development uncertainty" for two decades will be annexed by the Queensland government and transformed into protected koala and wildlife habitat.

The state has begun the process of compulsorily acquiring the 148-hectare parcel of land at Currumbin Waters, locally known as Martha's Farm or Martha's Vineyard.

It will be added to the Currumbin eco-parkland, which Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon says will make the site among the biggest of its kind in Australia.

"Martha's Vineyard is already popular with hikers and nature-based activities, and we want to not just protect that access but improve it," she said in a statement.

"This decision will protect koalas and other local wildlife, stop development from encroaching on the local blackbutt forest and, as Queenslanders rekindle their love for their own backyard, encourage more nature-based tourism."

Friends of Currumbin, a local community group which lobbied for the land to be reclaimed, said its environmental value is rare.

"Land parcels of this size with such high biodiversity are very rare on the Gold Coast, which is why we are so passionate about saving it for future generations," president Peter Kershaw said.

But the current landowners aren't happy about the government's plans.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles said the government had been negotiating with them since early 2021 to buy the site.

"Unfortunately, an agreement has not been reached, and we have had to take further action," he said.

"We remain open to a commercial resolution with the landowner."

Once the land is acquired, an entry road to the site, car parking and amenities will be constructed, before stakeholders will be invited to have their say on the future of the site.

"We listened to community concerns about preserving this unique property, and we have acted on these concerns," Mr Miles said.

"This decision also ends 20 years of development uncertainty around the site."

Australian Associated Press

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Gold Coast site to become protected land - Daily Liberal

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The pair was stopped by two RCMP vehicles on Main Street. As one officer ordered Dean out of the car with his hands up, another pointed a C8 carbine rifle in his direction.

It took several terrifying and confused minutes before the officers explained that there had been a shooting reported in North Preston. Whether the Simmonds resemble a description of the perpetrators is unclear. Following the traumatic event, Dean filed a formal complaint against the RCMP this morning.

There's a sense of urgency for change that has been called upon for so long, said Vanessa Fells, the director of operations at the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent. It happens to so many people in our community, and yet there's so little change that has happened in decades and decades.

This news follows this weeks announcement that the province will be putting $4.8 million towards the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute, an initiative run through ANSDPAD that aims to address systemic racism in the criminal justice system by helping Black Nova Scotians navigate their interactions with the law and to holding police forces accountable. July 4ths events highlight the ANSJIs importance, but Fells says more needs to happen. Change needs to take place within the RCMP and other police forces as wellexternal accountability isnt enough, especially considering that racist practices in Halifax police street checks have long been known to exist.

The interaction with RCMP police officers provides yet another example of the way Black people continue to be subjected to inhumane treatment and are regarded as dangerous, dishonest, guilty, criminals, said Angela Simmonds in a press release sent out by ANSDPAD. The release said the Simmonds were "targeted for 'driving while Black' by RCMP."

This week Angela became the Liberal candidate for the Preston riding in the upcoming provincial election. The page about her on the Liberal Party's site notes that this year she "was named the Executive Director of the Land Titles Initiative in the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism where she works to address the legacy of systemic racism in historic African Nova Scotian communities." Also, she "was recently acknowledged as one of the Top 100 Most Accomplished African Canadian Black Women in Canada in 2020."

Over a year and a half ago, ANSDPAD proposed systemic change for law enforcement through an African Nova Scotian Policing Strategy, which would address the racism that exists within police forces. The organization shared its ideas with the RCMP as well as other police forces across the province. To date, no law enforcement agencies have shown interest in the proposal, and Fells doesnt think thatll change any time soon.

If past actions and history have shown us anything, the RCMP are not willing and do not want to change the way that they fundamentally interact and have policies and procedures with the community, Fells said.

In ANSDPADs press release, Dean Simmonds also shared his disappointment and disillusionment with Nova Scotias criminal justice system.

I have been dedicated and committed to addressing the mistrust between the Black Community and police, Dean stated. I truly believed that my core values, leadership and respect for my community, my job and fellow officers would contribute to positive changes within community policing.

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Black police officer and Liberal candidate pulled over at gunpoint by RCMP - The Coast Halifax

A new, militant body was set up among members of the I.R.B. and the Land League, with funds from Irish America. The Invincibles, as they called themselves, were a tough lot, every bit as dedicated to physical force as their 20th-century successors, the Provisional I.R.A. While Parnell and his Irish Party at Westminster were quietly negotiating a road map to home rule with Gladstone and the Liberals, the Invincibles and their American backers were convinced that only by violence could Ireland be freed from British control. It is a familiar argument, one that continues even now.

As a symbolic strike against the heart of British power in Ireland, the Invincibles, led by Patrick Tynan, whom Kavanagh describes as a delusional, would-be military hero, drew up a plan to assassinate Thomas Burke, the permanent undersecretary and top Irish civil servant, based at Dublin Castle (hence his nickname, the Castle Rat). A squad was dispatched to Phoenix Park to waylay Burke during his evening stroll.

The two assassins were the hulking Joe Brady, one of a Dublin slum family of 25 children, and his best friend and fellow church chorister Tim Kelly, who at 19 was very nearly spared the gallows because of his boyish appearance. One of the two getaway drivers was the cabman James Fitzharris, known as Skin-the-Goat, whom readers of Ulysses will recognize.

The thing had all the makings of a farce, but the end was tragic.

As Kavanaghs book amply demonstrates, life is indeed stranger than the creations of fiction. Walking with Burke that May evening in the Phoenix Park was the Liberal member of Parliament Lord Frederick Cavendish, who, as a younger son of the Duke of Devonshire, was a scion of one of the great English families; he was also an ally of Gladstones and married to his beloved niece Lucy. Cavendish had just been appointed chief secretary for Ireland, the second-highest-ranking queens representative in the country. He had been in the country only for some hours when by chance he met Burke and set out for a stroll with him.

The assassins struck. Brady attacked Burke with a 10-inch surgical knife, inflicting terrible wounds, and when Cavendish attempted to come to his colleagues aid, Kelly, though he had no idea who Cavendish was, stabbed him. Both men died at the scene, as Brady and Kelly clattered away in a cab driven by another Invincible, Michael Kavanagh.

More than a dozen Invincibles were rounded up by Superintendent John Mallon, the same police officer who had arrested Michael Davitt for sedition a couple of years earlier. Evidence against the killers was scarce, until their fellow conspirator James Carey and two other Invincibles agreed to testify against them. Brady, Kelly and three others were condemned and hanged, while Skin-the-Goat was imprisoned.

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The Murders That Touched Off Irelands Bloody Campaign for Self-Rule - The New York Times

The ideological warfare in this country has become such a scarred and smoke-filled landscape that sometimes its hard to see things clearly.

Left-wing and right-wing warriors paint our society as hurtling toward hell, each blaming the other side as an existential threat to America.

Since liberals now control the White House and Congress, you might expect them to be talking up happier days and warning of a return to Trumpian chaos, even as the former president, as he just did at CPAC, continues crusading for his unproven election fraud allegations.

But the most powerful force on the left at the momentand this has had a huge impact on the mediais a rhetorical assault on American culture as racist. This is at the heart of the debate over critical race theory, and burst into the open during the July 4 celebrations, when, for instance, Democratic Rep. Cori Bush tweeted that "this land is stolen land and Black people still arent free."

Theres no denying the legacy of slavery or the fact that we still struggle with discrimination. And yet in this very same country, Kamala Harris is vice president, Barack Obama was elected twice and Congress just approved a Juneteenth holiday with little debate.

Andrew Sullivan has just written a very important column about all this. Ive known him since he was the twentysomething British gay Catholic conservative editor of the New Republic. He evolved into someone largely supportive of Obama, and after writing for such media giants as Time and the New York Times, was booted from New York Magazine a year ago for being insufficiently woke. Hes now on his own at Substack (you may hit a paywall).

Hes tired of answering these questions: "What happened to you?" "When did you become so far right?" "Why have you become a white supremacist, transphobic, misogynistic eugenicist?" Instead, he asks his critics, what happened to you?

MSNBC CONTINUES WAR AGAINST CRITICS OF CRT, INVITES PROFESSOR TO COMPARE ANTI-CRT LAWS TO AUTHORITARIANISM

Sullivan argues that Republicans (and hes a fierce Trump critic) are rebelling against "the sudden, rapid, stunning shift in the belief system of the American elites. It has sent the whole society into a profound cultural dislocation. It is, in essence, an ongoing moral panic against the specter of white supremacy, which is now bizarrely regarded as an accurate description of the largest, freest, most successful multiracial democracy in human history."

He says this: "The elites, increasingly sequestered within one political party and one media monoculture, educated by colleges and private schools that have become hermetically sealed against any non-left dissent, have had a social justice reckoning these past few years. And they have been ideologically transformed, with countless cascading consequences."

Now Ive encountered this time and again, most prominently at the Times, which Sullivan describes as the epicenter of social justice journalism. Thats why the editorial page editor got fired for daring to run a Republican senators op-ed. Thats why editor Bari Weiss quit after what she says was constant bullying by her colleagues; shes also at Substack and has just launched a podcast.

Thats why many journalists worry that liberal reporters and web types have seized effective control of many newsrooms and essentially have veto power over what is deemed fit to print. Thats why the Washington Post posted a video in which guests said white people should undergo a period of shame for being white, and form white accountability groups, with no pushback from the host. And its why liberal students have had such success barring conservative guests from campus, unperturbed by the squelching of free speech.

Andrews essential point "is that liberalism is no longer enough. Not just not enough, but itself a means to perpetuate white supremacy, designed to oppress, harm and terrorize minorities and women, and in dire need of dismantling. Thats a huge deal. And it explains a lot.

"In the successor ideology, there is no escape, no refuge, from the ongoing nightmare of oppression and violence and you are either fighting this and on the right side of history, or you are against it and abetting evil. There is no neutrality. No space for skepticism. No room for debate. No space even for staying silent."

Oh, and one more Sully quote: "Liberalism leaves you alone. The successor ideology will never let go of you. Liberalism is only concerned with your actions. The successor ideology is concerned with your mind, your psyche, and the deepest recesses of your soul."

Now theres plenty to argue with here. In his indictment of the left, Sullivan doesnt address the excesses and intolerance on the right, at least in this piece.

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But its the evolution of the elites that most interests me. Newspapering once pitched itself as being on the side of the working classes, the average guy; now the media business is increasingly practiced by the privileged with the goal of indoctrination. Journalists were once the leading champions of free speech; now they increasingly want to drown out contrary arguments and are stunningly comfortable with Big Tech companies that do the same.

In the end, it all seems self-defeating to me. The woke ideologues who are leading this movement are driving away plenty of people who might be their allies but dont want to be scolded and denigrated or have their kids subjected to propaganda. As for the media, having alienated conservatives for decades, they are now distrusted by many on the left for insufficient purity. That feels like a formula for failure.

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Why the media elite, captured by the Left, are alienating both sides - Fox News

This article was last updated at 20:30UTC

The city hall of the Israeli capital Tel Aviv lit up in the colors of the German flag black, red and gold on Sunday to show support for those affected by the "devastating floods."

The mayor of the city shared a photo of the building over Twitter.

Police detained three people in the town of Eschweiler near the western German city of Aachen. They were charged with looting in one of the areas badly hit by the flooding.

Armin Laschet, State Premier of North Rhine-Westphalia where the town is located, said on Sunday that he was "furious" to hear "that people are returning to their devastated homes to find that looters have stolen what little they have left."

His comments came during an interview with public broadcaster WDR.

Armin Laschet, the State Premier of North Rhine-Westphalia and the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk on Sunday that "a catastrophe on a national scale requires a swift national response."

He said that he was working with colleagues on the state and national level to work out exactly what that response would be. But he also warned that the "rebuilding will take months, if not years."

Laschet hopes toreplace Angela Merkel as chancellor in September. During the interview, helaid out what he considers necessary to avoid a repeat of the catastrophic flooding.

"We have to build dams, retention basins, reservoirs, to renaturalize land protection not just along the Rhine, but also on the large and many small rivers all over the country," he told the broadcaster.

Cologne police said in a statement on Sunday that they had managed to reach 700 people who had been declared missing. There are now just 150 people who they have not yet been able to get hold of in the regions around Cologne and Bonn.

While looters had not proved to be a problem in the wake of the flooding, the police statement called for "catastrophe tourists" and onlookers to avoid the affected areas, saying that they were hindering rescue efforts.

The police also found another body in the Rheinbach district, the statement said.

With the cleanup effort underway, many survivors still do not know if they will ever be able to return to their homes.

Flood survivor Vera David told DW that she spent over 24 hours waiting for the rescuers on the top floor of her now ruined home. When firefighters reached her group, they told them they would "have to manage" on their own.

"There are so many dead. It is unbelievable," she told DW.

The German Meteorological Service (DWD) warned of continued heavy rains in southeastern Bavaria for Sunday evening into Monday morning. Although the rain is expected to die down, the service said it could not rule out flooding in some local areas.

The DWD expected water levels to rise in the city of Passau on the Austrian border, where the Inn and Ilz rivers feed into the Danube.

The rivers in Passau have already burst their banks putting some of the city's streets under water

Local radio broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk also reported flood risk warnings for the Bavarian capital Munich and the surrounding areas.

Germany's Finance Minister Olaf Scholz pledged immediate federal support of around 400 million ($472 million), based on the amount provided during previous floods.

"We're ready to do our part," he said, according to public broadcaster ARD.

He had already said that more than 300 million would be needed immediately for people affected by the flooding in western Germany. The long-term costs could reach billions, he added.

He also highlighted the importance of developing a climate neutral industry in Germany to avoid a repeat of the catastrophe.

The full-scale of the damage caused by the flooding in Bavaria on Saturday is not yet known.

Floods affected the southern state of Bavaria somewhat less than Germany's northwest

German rail carrier Deutsche Bahn (DB) has said over 600 kilometers of tracks were damaged and 80 stops in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Rhineland-Palatinate have also been affected by water, mud and debris. Around 2,000 DB employees in the region have been working around the clock since Wednesday, the report added.

DB said it expects long-distance services to return to normal for destinations in NRW at the start of the new week, but warned that commuters must still prepare for considerable restrictions.

Bavarian Premier Markus Sder tweeted pictures during his visit to the region of Berchtesgadener Land. The conservative politician made the visit alongside the chancellor candidate for the German socialist party (SPD), Olaf Scholz.

"Within a few seconds people lost everything first in the west and now here. Rapid help is needed in this crisis. Many thanks to all the rescue crews, you've done superhuman work," Sder wrote in his tweet.

Premier Sder pledged to provide support for those affected by the flooding in the southeastern part of the state during a visit to the affected area on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking in the town of Schnau am Knigssee, Sder told reporters that the situation in Bavaria was "very, very bad" albeit not on the same scale as the "catastrophe" in western Germany. "We won't leave anyone behind," he promised.

The leader of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) also warned that Germany must accelerate its program of climate protection and adaptation. While such steps may be expensive, "in the end of the costs of not doing anything, are much higher," Sder said.

After arriving the town of Schuld, German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the situation in the flooded regions as "surreal" and "terrifying." She pledged quick financial aid.

"Germany is a strong country," Merkel continued. "We will stand up to this force of nature,in the short term, but also in the medium and long term."

"We have to hurry up, we have to speed up the fight against climate change," Merkel said.

What is needed is a policy "that takes nature and the climate more into consideration than we have have done in recent years," she said.

The chancellor also called on citizens for monetary donations for the affected communities.

While rescuers still look for survivors, both local residents and volunteers from other parts of Germany are taking part in the cleanup process. Around 200 football fans from Cologne traveled to the region over the weekend to help clear the rubble, says DW's Kate Brady.

Merkel and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Premier Malu Dreyer have vowedclose coordination between Germany'sfederal and state governments.

"Because we can't do this alone," Dreyer said in a joint conversation with relief workers in Schuld."It is quite great that the German chancellor is here today." The willingness of the localpopulation to help is very great, she added.

Earlier, Merkel also visited the flood-hit region of Ahrweiler for the first time after returning from her final official visit to the United States.

DW's Giulia Saudelli reports that some locals opted to make sandwiches for volunteers rather than watch the chancellor's walkabout.

The chancellor went on a walkabout talking to locals upon her arrival in Schuld

"There is also a bit of skepticism here," our correspondent says. "Some people I spoke to said they think it's more of a picture opportunity for the election campaign, rather than a visit that will actually bring something."

"Others are happy for this support. But what everyone tells me is that they want this support to last in the long term."

The German Olympic team, made up of 80 athletes, held a minute of silence on Sunday to remember those who lost their lives in the flooding disaster at their base in Tokyo.

The German Olympics Sports Confederation, known by its German acronym DOSB, has already earmarked100,000 ($118,000) in emergency funding.

"The floods are also significantly hurting sports clubs in the affected areas," said DOSB President Alfons Hrmann on Friday.

The DOSB has launched an appeal to try and raise more money for the victims.

The popeappeared at St Peter's Square to bless Sunday worshippers for the first time since recovering from colon surgery two weeks ago.

The 84-year-old pontiff used his 14-minute address to pray for the people of Germany, Belgiumand the Netherlands who werehit hardest.

"May the Lord receive the deceased and comfort the families," the Catholic leader told a crowd of hundreds of faithful outside the Vatican.

One of Belgium's most famous chocolate factories is out of action.

The Galler plant in Vaux-sous-Chevremont just outside Liege supplies the royal court of Philippe, the King of the Belgians.It has ground to a halt after a week of torrential rains swept through production lines, damaging machines and destroying ingredients.

"The priority now is to secure the factory and to get the electricity back on," said Valerie Stefenatto, the 32-year-old communications manager.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Galler pumped out 1,700 tonnes of chocolate every year.

Germany's insurance industry has called on the country's politicians to re-examinetheir policies on climate change after the devastating floods. "In many places, adaptation to the consequences of climate change is being neglected," Joerg Asmussen, managing director of the German Insurance Association (GDV), told the Die Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Asmussen said buildings are still being erected in high-risk areas and there is a lack of investment in preventative measures. "We have to change course here, otherwise a spiral of further catastrophes and increasing damage will be set in motion, which will first become expensive and then at some point unaffordable," he was quoted by the weekly newspaper as saying.

New Israeli president Issac Herzog has written to his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to express "our friendship and support of the German people in this time of destruction and loss."

Aides to President Herzog said he told Steinmeier that "Israel is a partner in any effort or initiative aimed at addressing this urgent challenge (of climate change)."

The colossal North Sea flood of February 1962 killed over 300 people and left tens of thousands in Germany's port city of Hamburg without shelter. It was a crucial turning point in the career of future Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, then interior minister of the city state. His handling of the crisis, particularly his decision to draft in soldiers to help, gained him nationwide popularity.

The "eternal chancellor" was in the final phase of his tenure when he visited the eastern state of Brandenburg in 1997 after massive flooding along the River Oder. Sometimes dubbed the Einheitsflut, "unity flood", the disaster is often considered the first national crisis to test the solidarity between the newly reunified East and West Germanys.

The fortunes of Gerhard Schrder turned round when the rains fell in Saxony in the summer of 2002, when deadly floods affected Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. With his election campaign ailing, the Social Democrat chancellor donned wellington boots and portrayed himself as a crisis manager in the small eastern town of Grimma. He won the election by the barest of margins a month later.

His opponent, Edmund Stoiber, chancellor candidate for the CDU/CSU, was caught cold by Schrder's trip he was actually on holiday in northern Germany when the disaster struck. He only arrived in the affected area a few days later, and complained bitterly of his competitor's "flood tourism."

Angela Merkel visited flood regions several times during her chancellorship. The first major flood of her tenure came in March and April 2006, again around the River Elbe in Saxony. The disaster struck just a few months after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in the US, when George W. Bush came under attack for failing to organize an adequate response. Merkel made sure to avoid the same criticism.

Eastern and southern Germany were hit again by extreme floods in the summer of 2013, this time a few months before an election. The historic center of Dresden was threatened as the Elbe burst its banks in widespread flooding that hit much of Central Europe. Merkel visited affected regions in Saxony and Bavaria, promising federal aid.

CDU chancellor candidate and premier of North Rhine-Westphalia cancelled all other appointments to visit the badly affected city of Hagen in his state. The political stakes are high, as the deadly floods are being linked to climate change, and Laschet has a reputation as a protector of the state's coal industry, which could potentially damage his campaign.

The Social Democrat candidate Olaf Scholz also appeared in the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate after the floods hit, alongside state premier and party colleague Malu Dreyer (SPD). Though his party is trailing in the polls a long way behind Armin Laschet's CDU, Scholz, as the current German finance minister, was able to promise immediate federal aid for the flood-stricken regions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the hard-hit village of Schuld in western Germany's Eifel region on July 18. She assured locals of her support and said she would visit again in August, ahead of the country's federal elections in September.

Author: Ben Knight

The town of Erftstadt, west of Cologne, remains closed off after some of the worst floods in living memory.

Several residents are still waiting for news oftheir loved ones as authorities report that 59 people are still unaccounted for.

A spokesman for the Rhine-Erft district told the WDR broadcaster on Sunday that the breakdown of the local telephone network may explain why some people have been unable to be contacted.

As many as 130 people were evacuated from their homes in the Bavarian district of Berchtesgadener Land close to the Austrian border in southern Germany.

Officials told 80 people from Schnau am Knigssee to leave their houses. District administrator Berhard Kern said the order was given due to "geological problems", but the Christian Social Union politician gave no further details. He added that roads in and around the area are "extremely badly affected" by the rising water levels.

DW's Giulia Saudelli is reporting on the ground in the flood-hit village of Schuld, which has seen large areas destroyed by the extreme weather.

"One can see the devastation and destruction that the water has brought through the town," our correspondent says.

"Some of the houses that were closer to the river have been completely swept away. Houses futher back away from the water are destroyed up to the second floor; some are completely gutted and filled with mud and debris," she reports.

Schuld, which has a population of just over 700 people, is in Germany's Eifel region close to the border with Belgium.

At the center of the floods is the Eifel region, a low mountain range that stretches across eastern Belgium and western Germany, bordering the Rhine and Mosel rivers. In Germany, the Eifel lies in both federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The area is home to usually gentle, picturesque rivers that run through the towns. These are the rivers that burst their banks, flooding and laying to waste entire villages.

Heavy rain in such mountainous terrain is particularly dangerous because water collects in the valleys instead of spreading evenly across other surfaces. This is what happened in the Ahr region, a particularly narrow valley, where a sudden rise in water levels would leave residents with little chance to escape the flood.

The small towns affected in the Eifel area benefit mainly from tourist economic activity, which had slowed down significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The floods are likely to be a terrible setback for the region.

Before and after footage of the Ahr valley show just how much water was carried by the small river, spilling into the entire town and the dramatic devastation that followed.

For more before and after shots, click here.

Germany's oldest Grand Prix race track has been turned into a provisional center to help the victims of the recent floods.

Thousands of motor sports fans had marked July 15 to 17 in their diaries for the ADAC Truck Grand Prix at the Nrburgring.

Ferry, a Dutchman who has worked at the event as an attendant in recent years, decided to stay on to help when the floods struck.Oliver Pieper reports from the scene.

Opposition parties have hit out at Armin Laschet, the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, who hopes to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in September's election.

The Christian Democratic (CDU) candidate was filmed making a joke with aides during his visit to flood-hit areas of western Germany, sparking fierce criticism. "The way Armin Laschet is joking around in the background while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is speaking to victims is without decency and outrageous," Lars Klingbeil, secretary general of the Social Democrats (SPD), told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"They say that in times of crisis, one's true character reveals itself," he said, concluding that Laschet had "disqualified himself."

The Social Democrats are currently in coalition with the conservative CDU, but running against them in the September 26 poll.

The economic liberal Free Democrat (FDP) party also attacked Laschet in the same paper, with deputy parliamentary leader Michael Theurer saying that "fooling around without a mask while the president remembers the victims does not do justice to the seriousness of the situation." Laschet apologized on Saturday evening, calling his conduct"inappropriate."

Germany's Association of Cities and Municipalities (DGsTB), a group that represents the interests of local authorities, has said there needs to be fundamental reform when it comes to protection frompotential natural disasters.

"The disaster shows once again that we need to reorganize civil protection in a new, better and more sustainable way," said DStGB chief executive Gerd Landsberg in an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance must be strengthened and early warning systems improved, he said.

The number of people who have died in the extreme flooding in Germany has risen to 156, authorities say.

Koblenz police said on Sunday that another 12 bodies had been found in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate overnight, bringing the number of fatalities there to 110.

Officials in the neighboring state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported 45 deaths by late Saturday evening.

Read more:

Germany needs better climate policy, Merkel says from flooded region live updates - DW (English)

SOUTH PORTLAND Political unrest is mounting in South Portland, where some residents say an increasingly progressive City Council is ignoring the citys working-class roots and leaving more moderate and conservative residents in the lurch.

Discord has intensified in recent weeks, fueled by a long-delayed citywide property revaluation and a pandemic-driven home-buying spree that sent residential tax bills skyrocketing and tightened an already exclusive housing market. Frustrated residents say they see a seven-member council that is unrelenting in its pursuit of costly progressive goals especially related to environmental protection and climate action at a time when cash-strapped taxpayers fear they may have to leave the city.

While many support the councils progressive agenda, critics say South Portland is becoming too restrictive and left-leaning in its politics, in part because newcomers have shifted the citys demographics in recent years. They say few people feel comfortable voicing opposition at public meetings, especially if their opinions likely wont make a difference.

People feel like theyre gonna be run out or called names, said Jeanie DiBiase, an insurance underwriter who has lived in South Portland for 29 years. With more rich people moving in, especially from out of state, poorer families and the elderly arent going to be able to live here anymore. Whether youre Republican or Democrat, you want our city to be affordable to the working middle class.

The council is raising hackles with two proposals in particular: one is a tree protection ordinance that would be the most restrictive in Maine and require the city to hire additional staff to enforce it; the other is a $4.5 million bond issue on the November ballot that would be used to buy open space. Critics note that South Portland already has plenty of trees, here in the most forested state, and it already owns or manages 375 acres of parkland, far exceeding the national average of 245 acres among cities its size, according to the National Recreation and Park Association.

Both proposals come as the council aims to address a crying need for affordable housing in a city where two-bedroom apartments now rent for more than $2,000 a month and buying a house for under $300,000 counts as a miracle.

Given the lack of developable land in Maines fourth-largest city, some question the logic of passing a tree ordinance that would make it more costly and difficult to build new housing, or borrowing millions to expand the citys roster of open space rather than let available land be developed for housing.

Donald Ladd was the only resident who questioned the councils cross purposes during a Zoom meeting last week, when its members unanimously agreed to put the $4.5 million open space referendum on the November ballot. No residents and only a few councilors spoke in favor of the bond issue.

I just dont understand the councils reasoning, said Ladd, a former finance executive who teaches government and management accounting at the University of Southern Maine. They say they want more housing, but theyre doing everything they can to prevent it.

Ladd has lived in South Portland for 37 years and also owns a four-unit apartment building. He and DiBiase say the lack of moderate or conservative voices on the council is leading the city in an unhealthy direction.

Both say they arent concerned about the councils social agenda, which has included painting rainbow crosswalks for Pride Month and creating a human rights commission in the wake of last years Black Lives Matter protests.

But when their decisions start affecting taxpayers wallets, people are going to start questioning things, Ladd said.

While city elections are nonpartisan, it has been several years since a Republican was elected to the council and current members openly espouse progressive or liberal political views. Democrats have dominated in South Portland for decades, but moderate and conservative perspectives were common on the council in the past, regardless of party affiliation.

You could go to a meeting and feel you were heard, DiBiase said. Its not that way anymore.

Increasingly partisan politics at the national level seem to have silenced some residents of South Portland, where registered voters break down as 11,195 Democrats, 3,649 Republicans, 6,218 unenrolled and 856 Green Independents. In last years presidential election, the vote was 12,075 for Joe Biden and 3,783 for Donald Trump, but noticeably few residents put out lawn signs for the incumbent.

Known for its working waterfront, where Liberty ships were built during World War II, South Portland has long benefited from a strong commercial-industrial job market and tax base. That has shifted in recent years, with online shopping chipping away at the Maine Mall retail area and the city taking aim at petroleum interests with its Clear Skies Ordinance and other restrictions. Newcomers brought greater racial and socioeconomic diversity, pushing the median annual household income from $51,066 to $69,290 in the last decade, according to the U.S. Census.

South Portlands 25,500 residents also have become significantly more educated and professionally employed. The population with a bachelors degree or higher has more than doubled, from 21.4 percent in 1990 to 45.7 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, the population with management and other professional jobs also more than doubled, from 26.2 percent to 57 percent in the same period, increasing 15 percentage points since 2015 alone.

While some residents might be unaware of the citys changing demographics, the first citywide property revaluation in 15 years got most peoples attention. The average single-family home value increased $83,800, or 41 percent, from $203,800 to $287,600, while the average commercial property value increased 27 percent, according to city officials.

As a result, the average residential tax bill increased 18 to 20 percent, or $203 per year, even as the tax rate dropped from $19.75 to $14.70 per $1,000 of assessed property value. But homeowners in neighborhoods near the waterfront saw their tax bills increase close to 30 percent or more. Now, even people who dont often pay much attention to what happens at City Hall are expecting more careful spending and greater accountability.

Mary Cobb experienced sticker shock when the assessed value of her four-bedroom colonial in the Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood jumped from $284,300 to $402,000, and her annual tax bill increased $421, or 8.2 percent, to $5,542. A human resources administrator who grew up in South Portland, Cobb worries that she can no longer afford to live in the city.

But Cobb is more troubled that her adult children and other family members cant afford to rent or buy homes here, either. Her daughter and grandchild live with her because they cant afford to live elsewhere. Her son and his wife, who have three children, are virtually trapped in a two-bedroom home in the Cash Corner neighborhood because they cant find an affordable four-bedroom house anywhere in Greater Portland. They were excited when they found a house they liked in Pownal, a rural community about 25 miles north of South Portland, then they learned it already had 40 offers.

So they never even got a chance to look at it, Cobb said. Their house appraised for a lot more than they paid for it, but they still cant afford to move. They didnt even bother to look in South Portland, which makes me so sad. The prices are so inflated because people coming from other states dont think $600,000 is a lot for a house. At some point its just going to crash, or I may have to sell my home, and thats scary because I dont know where Id go.

Tim Manney, a woodworking tool maker, shares Cobbs concerns, though he and his wife arent worried about covering the tax increase on their home in the Ferry Village neighborhood.

Im generally supportive of the things the council does, but were feeling the development pressure all around us, Manney said. It feels like every little open space around us has had a surveyor on it. Several homes in our neighborhood have sold in the last year and taxes are going up, but thats mostly because of the housing market and the (state) constitution requires regular revaluations. But we do have a lot of concern for other people who may not be able to afford the increase and suddenly have to move.

The council has its defenders, including Roberta Zuckerman, a leader of Protect South Portland, a local environmental group that campaigns against petroleum pollution and the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Shes aretired psychotherapist who moved from Portland to South Portland 13 years ago.

I feel the council is doing an excellent job, especially on environmental issues, Zuckerman said. Im not sure what to say if people are unhappy because (more conservative candidates) didnt get elected to the council or theyre uncomfortable speaking out. But thats what you have to do. And in my experience the council meetings require civility so everyone can be heard.

Zuckerman said she understands that change is difficult, dealing with newcomers with different viewpoints is unsettling and the nature of politics today is extremely divided. But being involved and talking with one another is important, she said. There may be some things we disagree on, but there are probably a lot of things we agree on, too.

Aaron Filieo, a city native who is the head football coach at South Portland High School, agrees with Zuckerman on the need for people to speak up, especially since he teaches U.S. history and government to eighth-graders in Cape Elizabeth. Rather than retreat into a corner to complain with like-minded people, he believes citizens should strive to engage in respectful public discourse.

That is the essence of democracy, Filieo said. But theres a weird sense in the city now that wasnt there when I was a kid. It feels fractured. It may be that whats going on at the national level has trickled down, but it doesnt have to be that way.

Filieo said he noticed the political divide during recent discussions about the need for artificial turf on the football field. Some involved in the conversations have worried that it might not win council support given the citys status as one of the greenest communities in Maine. It banned single-use plastic bags and plastic foam food containers years before state bans went into effect July 1.

The fear is, the City Council is so extreme with its environmental agenda, it will be a no go, Filieo said.

Mayor Misha Pride, who heads the council, also defends the work that he and his colleagues are doing and disputes the perception that the council is in lock-step in its approach to issues.

Im surrounded by strong, opinionated women and I think they are pretty diverse, said Pride, a lawyer who is the only man on the council. But I realize the optics scream super liberal.

Pride said councilors support the proposed tree ordinance and the $4.5 million open space bond referendum because preserving trees and open space has been identified as a community goal to fight climate change.

We dont have a lot of open space left, Pride said. I think theres a feeling that its precious and there wont be any left. If the voters say no, the voters say no. The City Council isnt deciding that.

And the tree ordinance would be less restrictive than critics believe, Pride said, aiming to block developers from clear-cutting trees and give homeowners leeway to cut up to three protected trees in five years. He pointed to several recent council actions that responded directly to residents concerns, including the preservation of a prized neighborhood parcel known as the piggery, a temporary leash law in Hinckley Park to address a variety of problems, and the removal of existing homes from a costly new sprinkler ordinance proposal.

Most of the decisions weve made have come from residents asking us to do something, Pride said.

Pride said the council is more balanced and reasonable than it appears, as it tries to keep taxes down while meeting demand for a wide spectrum of community needs, including housing, business development, open space protection and overall sustainability. He noted that most councilors have full-time jobs and that serving on the council is a mostly voluntary position with a $3,000 annual stipend. He acknowledged, however, that some councilors are more committed than others to seeing things from different perspectives.

But thats not everybodys thing, Pride said. We give residents plenty of opportunity to weigh in. We hear their voices and we give them their due.

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Unrest growing in South Portland as political divide widens - Press Herald

If trees could talk, what might they tell us? Well, says the Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak, smiling at me over a cup of mint tea, her long hair a little damp from the rain. They live a lot longer than us. So they see a lot more than we do. Perhaps they can help us to have a calmer, wiser angle on things. In unison, we turn our heads towards the window. Were both slightly anxious, I think, Shafak because she arrived for our meeting a tiny bit late, and me because this cafe in Holland Park is so noisy and crowded (we cant sit outside because yet another violent summer squall has just blown in). A sycamore or horse chestnut-induced sense of perspective could be just what the pair of us need.

Shafak, who is sometimes described as Turkeys most famous female writer, has a reputation for outspokenness. A fierce advocate for equality and freedom of speech, her views have brought her into conflict with the increasingly repressive government of Recep Tayyip Erdoan. In person, however, you get no immediate sense of this. Gentle and warm, her voice is never emphatic; she smiles with her (green) eyes as well as her mouth. And while her new novel, The Island of Missing Trees her first since the Booker-shortlisted 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is certainly political, its themes to do with violence and loss, its also a passionate love story, one of whose most important characters just happens to be yes a gentle and sagacious tree.

Grown from a cutting that was smuggled from Cyprus to London by its owner, Kostas, after he and his forbidden love, Defne, left the island in search of a new beginning, it has seen it all, this little fig. It grew originally in the taverna where Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot, used to meet as teenagers a restaurant that was reduced to rubble when it was bombed in 1974 and thanks to this, it knows everything that theyve been through: the pain of separation, the melancholy of exile. But it also represents a physical link between past and present for their teenage daughter, Ada, who was born in London, and who, when the book begins, understands nothing of her parents secrets and shared trauma.

Ive always believed in inherited pain, says Shafak. Its not scientific, perhaps, but things we cannot talk about easily within families do pass from one generation to the next, unspoken. In immigrant families, the older generation often wants to protect the younger from past sorrow, so they choose not to say much, and the second generation is too busy adapting, being part of the host country, to investigate. So its left to the third generation to dig into memory. Ive met many third-generation immigrants who have older memories even than their parents. Their mothers and fathers tell them: This is your home, forget about all that. But for them, identity matters.

Can a person be homesick for a place theyve never been, or knew only briefly? She believes that they can: You carry a place in your soul, even through the stories you were not told. You can sense the void. The past matters, because it shapes us, whether we know it or not. This kind of longing, she believes, is often triggered by food, which is one reason why her novel is full of enticing descriptions of Cypriot dishes (as you read, you may find yourself longing for a slice of sticky baclava, the correct recipe for which is almost as hotly contested as that of hummus). Religions clash, but superstitions travel well across borders, she says. And its the same with food. In the kitchen, the lives of a Greek family and a Turkish one may be very similar.

Adas aunt, Meryem, visiting her in London, turns every meal into a banquet, even breakfast: this is her way of controlling the world. I was raised by women like her, says Shafak. For my grandmother, food was more than food. It was about bringing people together. You can solve problems around the table. You can achieve peace. Yes, there are things Meryem doesnt know how to talk about. In some ways, she is outmoded. But she associates food with love, and to me thats very real.

She had long wanted to write about Cyprus and its troubles. In Europe, we still have a divided capital [Nicosia, where a militarised border has since 1974 separated the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus, the latter a country recognised only by Turkey]. Its so near geographically, and its part of the history of this country, too [Britain was the colonial power in Cyprus]. Yet we know so little about it, even though so many people travel there. The question was: how to approach such contentious territory? I just didnt dare. Its a wound that is still open until, that is, I found the tree. Only then did I feel comfortable enough. She my tree is very female gave me a chance to look beyond tribalisms, nationalisms and other clashing certainties. She also gave me the chance to think about roots, both in a metaphorical sense, and a literal one.

Her botanical reading, as her bibliography reveals, was extensive (Richard Mabey, Merlin Sheldrake, an academic article about the notion of optimism and pessimism in plants). In the novel, Kostas at one point buries his fig, the better to protect it from the British winter. Id heard that they could be buried, says Shafak. When I lived in Ann Arbor in Michigan, where it can be quite cold, I heard of Italian and Portuguese families doing this. I found out that it really works. You hide it safely beneath the ground for two months, and then, when the spring comes, you unbury it, and its a kind of miracle, because its alive. Later, this unburying is mirrored by other, grimmer exhumations: those carried out by the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, a bicommunal organisation that continues to try to find and identify the bodies of the civil wars disappeared.

Is she hopeful for the future of Cyprus? For all the pain in her book, Kostass enduring fig tree suggests that she might be. I want to feel optimistic, she says, softly. The Committee on Missing Persons is so valuable. Many of those involved with it are women, and these young volunteers give me hope. But, of course, politicians are a different matter. Thats more complicated. Right on cue, the two small children at the table next to us begin screaming like banshees.

Shafak spent the lockdown in London. Was it helpful to be able to visit Cyprus in her imagination? She shakes her head. At the beginning of the pandemic, I read some tweets in which publishers said: this [isolation] isnt very different for authors; they already work from home, theyre solitary anyway. That wasnt my experience at all. A writer isnt immune to whats happening in the world. People are dying. Even if you sit down at your desk, you start questioning yourself. Is this really what I should be doing? Does the perfect simile really matter? Its existential. I was struggling with a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, and I want to honour those negative emotions. I dont like pretending that I dont have them.

But still, she is no stranger to separation. She moved to London with her husband, a journalist, and two children more than a decade ago, after her novel The Bastard of Istanbul sparked a chain of events that led to a trial for insulting Turkishness (she was eventually acquitted, though other books of hers have since been examined by Turkish prosecutors on the grounds of crimes of obscenity). Its now six years since she has felt able to visit Turkey. I think about such things as belonging and home a lot, she says. But when youre physically away from a place, it doesnt mean youre mentally disconnected. Sometimes, in your soul, you become even more attached emotionally. There is melancholy in being an exile though I say this cautiously, because Im also aware of the fact that the UK is my home, and I have a strong sense of belonging here, too. She sighs. This is what some politicians dont understand, especially with this Brexit saga. You can have multiple attachments.

Was London the obvious place to come? Yes, it really was. I love this country. Its so diverse, and I dont take that for granted, because I come from a country that has never appreciated diversity. But Ive also seen it change. Imagine it. I became a British citizen, and a few months later, Britain left the EU. I used to think British people were so calm when they talked about politics, but that calmness has gone. Brexit broke a strained system. There are many things that worry me, and one is that the language of politics is full of martial metaphors now. This talk of judges being the enemy of the people. It makes me freeze. These are dangerous signs. Ive met some arrogant politicians. Surely youre not comparing the UK to Turkey, they say. No, Im not saying that. But what has happened elsewhere can always happen here.

When she thinks about Turkeys young people, she senses the possibility of change. But when she looks at President Erdoan and his regime, she sees only a country going backwards. When he came to power, he and his party were posing as liberal reformists. They were pro-EU. They talked about recognising the pain of the Armenians and of reconciliation with the Kurds. Then, at first gradually, and later with bewildering speed, they became more authoritarian. We have elections, but that doesnt mean Turkey is a democracy. If you have the rule of law and a separation of powers, a diverse media and independent academia, then you have a democracy. But if those components are broken, then you dont. Its an ecosystem. Erdoan has now been in power for 18 years. An entire generation has never known any other leader.

Shafak was born in Strasbourg, in 1971; her father was studying for a PhD in philosophy in the city. But when her parents separated, she returned to Ankara with her mother, where she was brought up between the ages of five and 10 largely by her grandmother. Divorce was unusual at the time, she tells me. But what was more unusual was that my grandmother, who was not educated herself, intervened so that my mother could return to university and have a career [she was later a diplomat]. Usually, young women divorcees were immediately married off to someone older because they were seen as in danger and needing someone to protect them. Shafak had come from a world inhabited by leftist students, smoking their Gauloises in black polo necks; even to a little girl, the conservative atmosphere in Ankara was a shock. Was her grandmother religious? She wasnt strict. My two grandmothers were the same age and class and sect, but their interpretation of religion was very different. My paternal grandmothers was based on fear and shame, on haram and the unblinking celestial gaze, while my maternal grandmothers was based on love.

Her mother never remarried, but her father and his new French wife went on to have two sons, whom Shafak did not meet until she was in her 20s. He was very disconnected from me. I didnt see him much. I have no photos of us together. There was an issue of anger it took me a while to cope with that. Maybe what I found hardest was that he had been a bad, negligent person towards me, but a good father to his sons, and a good professor to his students. That was difficult, coming to terms with the idea that someone can be very good in parts of their life, and a failure in others. For a long time, I felt like the other child: the forgotten one.

Was it this the need to be seen that drove her to be a writer? By any standards, she has had a remarkable career: the recipient of numerous awards, her bestselling books translated into dozens of languages, her Ted talks watched by millions. (She doesnt disguise her ambition, telling me that she struggles to believe writers who insist they dont care about awards.) No, I started writing fiction when I was very young, not because I wanted to be an author, but because I thought life was really boring. I needed books in order to stay sane. To me, story land was much more colourful and enticing than the real world. The desire to be a writer only came in my 20s.

What about her decision to use a different language? (The Saint of Incipient Insanities, which came out in 2004, was the first novel she wrote in English.) I was constantly writing little pieces in English, but I kept them to myself. I had my voice in Turkish. But then there came a moment Id moved to America to be a professor when I just took the plunge. It gave me such a sense of freedom. I still find it easier to express melancholy and longing in Turkish, but humour is definitely easier in English. We dont have a word for irony in Turkish.

It has stopped raining now, and the cafe is closing, so we go out into the fresh air. Were heading in different directions, but shes determined to walk me to the park gate. I notice what a good listener she is, her body angled towards mine confidingly. She is a very serious person. Its not only that she regards it as her political duty to talk of such things as equality and diversity; she seems to relish doing so. But theres a larky, student-ish side to her, too. Is it true that she loves heavy metal, I ask. Her gentleness seems a bit at odds with headbanging. Oh, yes, she says. Ive always loved it. She lists several bands, none of which Ive heard of. I like all the sub-genres: industrial, viking While shes working, she listens to the same song over and over, using headphones so her children dont complain. Crikey. Can she concentrate? Yes! Thats when I write best. I dont like silence. It makes me nervous. Somewhere in the distance, I hear the obliging roar of a motorbike.

More:

Novelist Elif Shafak: Ive always believed in inherited pain - The Guardian

An art installation has been forcibly removed from a park in Essex after a group of Conservative councillors threatened to censor the piece.

Art charity the Old Waterworks said it was shocked, dismayed and disappointed when artist Gabriella Hirsts An English Garden had to be taken down from Gunners Park in Shoeburyness at the end of June, despite the piece meditating on the UKs colonial and nuclear history scheduled to be in situ until 31 August.

According to statements they released on Instagram earlier this week,Ms Hirst and the art commissioners were issued a 48-hour ultimatum to remove the work before the council would intervene to censor one of the plaques discussing the harm of the nuclear experiments on Australias indigenous community.

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A letter sent by Conservative councillor James Moyies on behalf of Southends Conservative group of councillors, called the work a direct far left wing attack on our History, our People and our Democratically Elected Government.

The artwork was comprised of flowerbeds planted with the Atom Bomb rose variety and Cliffs of Dover irises and accompanied by three benches, with one describing the development of the UKs first atomic bomb in the early 1950s, which was subsequently tested off the northwest coast of Australia.

Arts organisation Metal said: Our decision was taken after being subjected to intense pressure over the previous 48 hours from the local ward Councillors who issued us with a demand to remove the work.

The group added the demand would alter the text contained in the plaque under supervision [] shifting the works intentions and putting words into the artists mouth.

The councillors took issue with a plaque included in the work, which critically reflected upon Britains nuclear history and colonial legacy, Ms Hirst wrote.

In a post expressing her disappointment, Ms Hirst added: What remains of An English Garden is a series of empty garden beds.

Ceri McDade, the Chair of BNTVA, The Charity for Nuclear Veterans supporting victims of nuclear development and warfare, told i the removal ofAn English Garden is an insult to our British nuclear test veterans.

She said: These people, including indigenous peoples who have suffered horrendous health effects and been displaced from their lands due to this testing, have been misunderstood for decades regarding the generational impact of these radioactive bombsand radiation experimentation on British personnelduringthe 1950s and 1960s.

I fail to see how MrMoyiescould choose todissect every line of the plaquewith its historical factsof early British nuclear testingand effectivelyairbrush the unfortunatebackground to Britains nuclear deterrent.

Mr Moyies told The Art Newspaperthat the plaque on the bench was offensive and inappropriate in a council-owned site, adding that the situation was amicably resolved.

Cllr Carole Mulroney, Liberal Democrat Group Leader & Councillor for Leigh WardSouthend-on-Sea Borough Council disputed the councillors claims, telling i the installation was on privately leased land.

Ms Mulroney said: I understand the rationale for the decision taken by Metal they should not have been placed in that position in the first place.

The Councils Joint Administration, of which I am part, does not in any way condone censorship or support the approach taken by the ward councillors concerned regarding the artwork, which was on privately leased land.

I have offered to meet the organisation to discuss the matter further.

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Southend art installation taken down after Conservative councillors claim its a left wing attack - iNews