12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Thursday, December 3, 2020

he Oscar-nominated star of “Juno” sleeper hit “Juno.” The actor also entertainment industry and beyond. “The discrimination protections for transgender has come out as transgender, intro- appeared in the 2010 science fiction hit truth is, despite feeling profoundly happy people in the health care system, and Tducing himself as Elliot Page on “Inception” opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, right now... I’m scared of the invasive- also banned transgender Americans from Tuesday in social media posts that voiced and the 2012 Woody Allen comedy “To ness, the hate, the ‘jokes’ and of vio- serving in the military. joy at sharing the news-but also fear over Rome with Love.” Page came out as gay lence,” wrote Page. Page also railed Harry Potter author JK Rowling has a possible backlash. In a landmark move in 2014, quickly become a flagbearer for against politicians who “criminalize trans been at the center of a firestorm in recent for a top Hollywood actor, the performer Hollywood’s LGBTQ community, and mar- health care and deny our right to exist,” as years over comments deemed insulting to formerly known as Ellen Page thanked ried dancer Emma Portner in 2018. While well as influential public figures who use transgender people. Rowling sparked supporters in the trans community for largely absent from big-budget Hollywood “a massive platform who continue to spew controversy in June for tweeting about the helping him on his journey to “finally love blockbusters since 2014’s “X-Men: Days hostility towards the trans community.” use of the phrase “people who menstru- who I am enough to pursue my authentic of Future Past,” Page has repeatedly “You have blood on your hands. You ate” instead of women-prompting some self.” “I love that I am trans. And I love that In this file photo Director/actor formerly shrugged off suggestions of being type- unleash a fury of vile and demeaning rage former fans and activists to call for a boy- I am queer,” wrote the Canadian-born known as Ellen Page attends the premiere cast or shunned by Tinseltown. Page joins that lands on the shoulders of the trans cott of her works. “You aren’t being ‘can- Page, who has recently starred in Netflix of the documentary “There’s Something in a small group of prominent Hollywood community,” added Page, noting high celled,’ you are hurting people. I am one superhero series “The Umbrella the Water” during the 2019 Toronto transgender figures, alongside “The rates of attempted suicide among the of those people and we won’t be silent in Academy.” His statement identifying as International Film Festival Day 4 in Toronto, Matrix” series writer-directors Lana and community. Alphonso David, president of the face of your attacks,” wrote Page, trans won swift praise across Hollywood Ontario. — AFP Lilly Wachowski, “Transparent” creator LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights addressing transphobia in general. and beyond, with LGBTQ charity GLAAD Joey Soloway and actor Laverne Cox. Campaign, thanked Page for “sharing GLAAD provided a “tip sheet” for journal- calling Page “remarkable” and “an out- deserve the chance to be ourselves and your truth with us, and for shining a bright ists covering Page’s statement, advising spoken advocate for all LGBTQ people.” to be accepted for who we are.” Netflix ‘I’m scared’ light on the challenges too many in our reporters to “use he/they pronouns when “He will now be an inspiration to count- tweeted: “So proud of our superhero! We On Monday, Cox described being the community face.” Although Page did not referring to Elliot Page.”— AFP less trans and non-binary people,” said love you Elliot!” Page, 33, burst onto the victim of a recent transphobic attack in name any specific individuals, President the group’s director of transgender media Hollywood scene with an Oscar-nominat- Los Angeles, underlining the hostility fac- Donald Trump’s administration has Nick Adams. “All transgender people ed role as a pregnant teenager in 2007 ing many transgender individuals in the attempted to roll back Obama-era anti-

ab-grown chicken will soon be In this file photo a school teacher helps a pupil reads a In this file photo young Amazigh (Berber) women pose In this file photo a man waves the Amazigh flag as thousands of available in restaurants in text in Amazigh, an ancient tongue in Rabat. for a selfie photograph during the annual mourners attend the funeral procession and burial of Hocine Ait- LSingapore after the country —AFP photos “Engagement Moussem” festival near the village of Ahmed, one of the fathers of ’s struggle for independence became the first to green-light meat Imilchil in central ’s high Atlas Mountains. and a key opposition figure, in the Algerian village of Ait Ahmed. created without slaughtering any animals. US start-up Eat Just said Wednesday that its meat had been approved for sale in the city-state as an ingredient in chicken nuggets. The news marks a “breakthrough for the global food industry”, said the company, as firms increasingly try to find less environmentally harmful ways of producing meat. “I’m sure oussef Diab drives his truck survive. “Everyone uses it here,” he said. wrote her PhD thesis on the language in world,” said Mehdi Al-Howeiti, the head that our regulatory approval for cul- through the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, The of Siwa are one of the main the oasis. It wasn’t until the 1980s that of the local tourism office. A son of the tured meat will be the first of many singing catchy songs in a local linguistic minorities in , the most Arabic became more common, due in oasis, he studied elsewhere, but returned Y in Singapore and in countries Berber dialect that clings to life despite populous Arabic-speaking country with large part to “tourism, mass media and to Siwa to live. around the globe,” said Josh the dominance of Arabic. The UN has some 100 million inhabitants and long the mobility for higher education or for work- Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat classified Siwi, the easternmost dialect of flag-bearer of Arab nationalism. ing purposes”. Preservation efforts Just. Consumption of regular meat the Tamazight language spoken across Located some 560 kilometers (350 Despite that devotion to their roots, is an environmental threat as cattle North as far as Morocco, as miles) from Cairo, their oasis only came Siwa residents face several challenges in produce methane, a potent green- “endangered”. But few adults in the oasis under state control when it was occupied protecting their language, including the house gas, while logging forests to speak Arabic as their main language, by Mohammad Ali, the founder of modern cultural dominance of Arabic and the fact make way for animals destroys nat- and the children playing at the foot of the Egypt, in 1820. Its isolation “allowed Siwa the tongue is only transmitted within fami- ural barriers against climate ancient local fortress talk and shout in and its inhabitants to keep their specific lies. “In the past, our parents only spoke change. Siwi. Diab, a 25-year-old tourist guide traditions and a language that sets them Siwi, which had nothing in common with Demand for sustainable meat with a colorful Berber flag in his back win- apart from mainstream Egyptian culture”, Arabic,” said tribal elder Mohamed, who alternatives is rising due to growing dow, is convinced that the tongue will said sociolinguist Valentina Serreli, who wore a black Libyan-style skullcap on his pressure from consumers about the head. “Today, the language is becoming environment and animal welfare, but closer and closer to Arabic.” And while other products in the market are Egyptian curricula feature foreign lan- plant-based. There were concerns guages, neither of the country’s main In this file photo, a young Amazigh that lab-grown varieties would be minority languages-Siwi and Nubian-is (Berber) woman waits for her wedding too expensive, but a spokesman for taught at schools. “The language should ceremony during the annual “Engagement Eat Just said the company had be formally taught so it doesn’t disap- Moussem” festival near the village of made “considerable progress” in pear,” Mohamed said. The local organi- Imilchil in central Morocco’s high Atlas lowering the cost. “Right from the zation “Children of Siwa” has led efforts to Mountains. start, we will be at price parity for he Berbers are descendants of to jail for having brandished the preserve the language. premium chicken at a high-end pre-Arab populations across Amazigh flag, banned from rallies by Language still ‘dominant’ Working with Moroccan and Italian restaurant,” he told AFP. TNorth Africa, from the extreme the army. The UN in 2008 estimated that 15,000 partners, in 2012 it published a collection He did not reveal the price of the west of Egypt to the countries of the people in the oasis, half the population, of songs, poems and proverbs in both nuggets but said they would be Maghreb. The Berbers, who refer to speak Siwi. But Serreli estimates that the Siwi and Arabic. It was the product of launched soon at a Singapore themselves as the Amazigh meaning Persecuted under dictator Moamer real figure is around 20,000. “UNESCO two years work with 60 young local peo- restaurant before other products- “free man”, have long fought for Kadhafi, who denied their existence, considers the language ‘definitely endan- ple and elders. But despite those efforts, including chicken breasts with lab- greater recognition for their ancient the Berbers of Libya have called for gered’ because ‘children no longer learn the book is now out of print and there grown meat-are rolled out. Eat Just ethnic group, their culture and lan- their language to be given official sta- the language as mother tongue in the isn’t enough money for another edition, hopes to bring down the cost to guage. Here is some background on tus alongside Arabic and for greater home’”, she said. But “as far as I can tell, said the association’s vice-president below that of conventional chicken Berber communities that have political representation. They make up this is not true”. “The language is domi- Yahya Qenaoui. “We need to do more to in the coming years, the spokesman stretched across since around 10 percent of the 6.4 million nant in... conversations, even between preserve our heritage,” he said. “We added. long before the Arab conquests: and live mainly in the mountains west young peers.” Ibrahim Mohamed, an eld- can’t do 10 percent of what we’d like to of Tripoli or in the vast southern desert er of one of the region’s 11 tribes and a do... the association doesn’t get any Morocco regions. Their demands have become respected figure in Siwa, said Siwi was funding.” But Diab remains hopeful that Soaring meat consumption The company conducted more On Africa’s northwestern tip, more vocal in the turmoil-wracked central to the “Amazigh identity” of the the dialect will survive. “At school, my than 20 production runs in 1,200- Morocco is home to the largest Berber country since Kadhafi’s ouster and oasis. And despite an influx of tourists in son Ibrahim learns Arabic, he reads and litre bioreactors to make the chicken community in the region. Their lan- death in 2011. The Berber flag can the last few decades, the oasis remains writes it,” he said. “But at home, he alternative, and checks on safety guage-of which there are three main now be seen on administrative build- relatively isolated, accessible by a single needs to speak Siwi.”— AFP and quality showed that its “cul- dialects-was only given official status ings. Textbooks in their language road from the Mediterranean coast. “Siwa tured” product-the term for meat alongside Arabic in a new constitution have also been produced, but they is to the Siwis what water is to fish-they grown in labs from animal cells-met in 2011. One of the major conse- have not been officially approved by wouldn’t leave it for anything in the quences of this recognition has been the internationally backed govern- food standards. Meat consumption the appearance of their ment. Under a draft constitution is projected to increase more than alphabet on public buildings next to endorsed by parliament, but still 70 percent by 2050, and lab-grown Arabic and French. Since 2010 the awaiting ratification, the languages alternatives have a role to play in Tamazight TV channel has been dedi- spoken by the various communities, ensuring a secure food supply, Eat cated to promoting Berber culture. including Tamazigh, are recognized Just said. “Working in partnership Some years ago lawmakers created a as part of Libyan cultural heritage but with the broader agriculture sector major stir by talking in the Berber lan- not given official status. and forward-thinking policymakers, guage in parliamentary sessions. companies like ours can help meet Despite advances, the Moroccan the increased demand for animal authorities still sporadically refuse to In Tunisia estimating the number of protein as our population climbs to register Berber names on the official Berbers is tough as official statistics 9.7 billion by 2050,” said company registry. The Amazigh flag was a based on ethnicity are prohibited. CEO Tetrick. major symbol in protests that hit the Outside their traditional heartland in The Singapore Food Agency, the depressed region in the north of the south, Berbers are mainly found in city-state’s regulator, confirmed it the country in 2016, where the group the capital Tunis following an exodus Ibrahim Mohamed, a sheikh of the Haddadin (blacksmiths) tribe and a respected figure in had approved the sale of Eat Just’s is a majority. from the countryside. They complain Siwa, speaks at his workshop in Egypt’s western desert oasis. lab-grown chicken in nuggets after of marginalisation and exclusion in a concluding it was safe for consump- Algeria state that recognises only Arabic in its tion. The high-tech city-state has The Berber comprise about 10 mil- constitution. Jallol Ghaki, the head of become a hub for the development lion people in Algeria, making up the Tunisian Association of Amazigh of sustainable foods, with start-ups roughly a quarter of the country’s total Culture, estimates that while some half producing goods ranging from lab- population of 40 million. They live of Tunisians may be of Berber origin, grown “seafood” to dumplings mainly in the mountainous northern the vast majority have been fully made with tropical fruit instead of region of Kabylie, and as in Morocco, Arabised and only one percent speak pork. William Chen, a Singapore- they have led a long fight for their the local Chelha dialect. While based scientist and member of an rights. After some progress, such as activists complain that the state takes expert panel that advises the regu- the recognition of Tamazight as the no efforts to preserve or educate chil- lator, said food security was a key country’s second official language in dren about Berber culture, there have concern in the city-state’s drive for 2016, the Berber were the target of been some improvements since developing meat alternatives.—AFP much repression in the crackdown on Tunisia’s 2011 revolution. — AFP anti-government protests. Several dozen demonstrators were sentenced Craftsmen work on traditional palm wicker baskets at their shop in Egypt’s western desert oasis of Siwa.