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Fair Observer Monthly

March 2019

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Atul Singh (Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief) Abul-Hasanat Siddique (Co-Founder, COO & Managing Editor) Anna Pivovarchuk (Co-Founder & Deputy Managing Editor)

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International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2372-9112

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CONTENTS

About Fair Observer 5 Share Your Perspective 6

Should Sport Let Go of the Idea of Binary Sexes? 7 Ellis Cashmore

With Climate Change Comes Extreme Weather 10 Arek Sinanian

India and Pakistan Have a Choice to Make 13 Priyanka Pandey

How Human Collaboration Can Beat Screen Addiction 16 William Softky

Unless UK Is Better Informed, a Referendum Will Make Things Worse 20 Jack Riddick

The New Zealand “Gunman” Is a Terrorist 23 S. Suresh

Meet the “Moderates” the EU Is Trying to Empower in Iran 25 Alejo Vidal-Quadras

Will Evo Morales Win Again in Bolivia? 27 Javiera Alarcon

What Makes a Christchurch-Style Attack Feel So Likely in Britain? 30 Bethan Johnson

Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Is a New Form of Racism 37 Imran Awan

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ABOUT FAIR OBSERVER

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Should Sport Let Go of the ‘go back to making babies’?” (Cis relates to people whose sense of Idea of Binary Sexes? personal and sexual identity Ellis Cashmore corresponds with their natal, or birth, March 4, 2019 sex.)

We now seem poised for a change: McKinnon is probably right: Even the Instead of understanding women and most motivated male athlete is unlikely men as two different halves of a binary, to self-identify falsely as a woman and we will see them as different points on a maintain the masquerade for, say, 20 spectrum. years (the approximate duration of a sports career) just to win medals and “A man can decide to be female, take money. To then proclaim that he’ll now hormones if required by whatever go back to being a man seems utterly sporting organization is concerned, win preposterous. everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his There is arguably a more relevant decision and go back to making babies objection, which suggests that trans if he so desires,” the former tennis star athletes, especially MtF, would be Martina Navratilova wrote in an op-ed physically advantaged over natal female for The Sunday Times. “It’s insane and athletes. The assumption is that trans it’s cheating.” athletes who were once males have raised levels of testosterone, which Navratilova is an out lesbian, a stalwart confers on them advantages in terms of advocate of LGBTQ rights and, up to the physical strength and speed. article’s publication, a woman renowned Testosterone is the hormone that for her liberal sympathies. She has stimulates the development of male since apologized for using the word secondary characteristics and is part of “cheating,” but her argument brought a group called androgens. Estrogens immediate rebuke, most defiantly from promote the development and Rachel McKinnon, a male-to-female maintenance of female characteristics in (MtF) trans track cyclist, who claimed: the body. Here’s where the issue “She [Navratilova] imagines a intersects with another contentious nonexistent cisgender man who will situation that’s divided sport. pretend to be a trans woman, convince a psychologist and a physician to ELIXIR OF ATHLETIC SUCCESS prescribe hormone therapy, undertake the process for legal changer Caster Semenya is a South African who recognition, then wait the minimum 12 was born, reared and socialized as a months of testosterone suppression woman, was legally recognized as a required by the current IOC woman and competed on the track in [International Olympic Committee] rules, women’s events. In 2009, Semenya, compete, and then change his mind and

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then 18, dominated the 800-meter resting heart rate, for example — are events at the International Association not considered unfair, of course. of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world track and field championships, winning A complicating factor is that success in by more than two seconds. A fellow sport is not the result of just one competitor called her a man. Pierre physical trait. Sport psychologists never Weiss, the general secretary of the tire of reminding us that mental IAAF, track and field’s world governing attributes such as motivation, mental body, said, “She is a woman, but maybe toughness and locus of control are not 100 percent.” Actually she has a crucial. Add to this environmental condition known as hyperandrogenism influences — cultural as well as that causes an excessive secretion of geographical — and the role of androgens. testosterone becomes harder to discern in isolation. Endocrinologists explain the In 2011, the IAAF introduced a policy difference between the sporting directed at women who had unusually performances in men and women by high concentrations of testosterone: reference to testosterone, but they have female athletes above the testosterone no interest in context. Context-sensitive threshold of 10 nanomoles per liter — accounts of sporting excellence provide considered at the lower end of the male more complex algorithms of social, range — faced measures if they wanted psychological and physical factors. to continue competing. Hormone- suppressing drugs and surgical removal ON THE BASIS OF SEX of internal testes, which can produce testosterone, were among the Caster Semenya is understandably unpleasant options. aggrieved at being forced to take drugs, which would probably get other athletes Testosterone is popularly regarded as disqualified, just to get to the start line. an elixir of athletic success. Exogenous Last month, she took her complaint to testosterone is the most popular the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) performance-enhancing drug and is in Switzerland. She no longer wants to forbidden in sport. There’s little or no take testosterone-suppressing drugs in overlap between typical male and order to compete. If she’s successful, female ranges on endogenous IAAF will have to admit Semenya and testosterone levels. So women who, for other athletes with naturally high natural reasons, have levels of testosterone levels — and brace itself testosterone outside the usual female for the howls of protest from countless parameters are considered to hold an other women who will claim they’ll be unfair advantage. At least that’s what disadvantaged. the IAAF concluded. Other naturally conferred advantages — height, If the court rules against Semenya, it will increased red blood cell count, low be a decision that distances athletics —

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and possibly sports generally — from similarities, the female body being just a the rest of society, which has moved “gradation,” or nuance of one basic male toward self-identification as the main type. “Medical theory taught that there criterion for sex. Rather than being was but one sex,” wrote Jeffrey Weeks assigned their sex, people can choose in his 2009 book, Sexuality. how they wish to be addressed and treated. It’s possible that reforms to the The female body was a kind of an UK’s Gender Recognition Act will relax inverted version of the male, a clitoris the demand that anyone has to prove imagined to be an underdeveloped they have a diagnosis of gender version of the equivalent structure in dysphoria and lived in their preferred men — the penis. The big difference sex role for a minimum of two years. was that women could reproduce Sex would become a matter of self- children. Anatomists in the 19th century declaration. searched for the sources of women’s difference and apparent inferiority. It Effectively, if someone expresses a wish wasn’t until 1903 that two English to be considered a man, a woman or biologists discovered a substance neither, that will be sufficient, regardless produced in the body and carried in the of one’s biology. The military, blood to stimulate various cells and educational organizations, places of tissues into specific actions. employment, the criminal justice system and other social institutions will be taxed They called the substance hormones. to make accommodations. That includes Sex hormones were responsible for sport. Some sports have integrated men differences in development between and women into single events. males and females. Over the next three Ultramarathons, equestrian events, decades, sex endocrinology created a some forms of cycling and sailing are completely new understanding of sexual just a few examples. But who can be differences based on hormones. serious about sport embracing gender Eventually, hormonal differences fluidity? It has flexed its muscles and became accepted as natural facts. reaffirmed its reliance on the traditional Women were different to men in most binary. The fact remains: Sport will be profound, categorical and immovable obliged to change. way.

FULL CIRCLE We now seem poised for a change: Instead of understanding women and Ironically, this may draw us close to a men as two different halves of a binary, cultural full circle. It seems staggering to we will see them as different points on a think that the division of the species into spectrum. People will be free to identify two kinds — what we now call the binary as they wish, not necessarily as a male — is largely a product of the past 350 or a female, but combinations of both or years. Before then, the stress was on neither. Under conditions of gender

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fluidity, there will be no impermeable obviously there have always been groups, nor rules that constrain droughts, wildfires, heat waves, storms movement between self-assignations. and floods. The question we need to consider is how global warming and How will sport respond? We will get a climate change are affecting the clue later this month when the CAS weather around the world. rules on the Semenya case. Caster Semenya is not trans, but her unusual Not that this is an easy question to hormonal makeup raises far-reaching answer, but at least it’s an appropriate questions about how sport visualizes one. It’s appropriate because if climate itself for the rest of this century. Will it change is indeed contributing to these change in a way that keeps it consistent events, we need to understand the with the rest of society? Or will it cling to extent of such impact, and then work out its traditions and invite more what resources and efforts we need to challenges? put into mitigating it. And then a more difficult question arises about how the responsibility of addressing this global Ellis Cashmore is the author of problem can be fairly and equitably "Elizabeth Taylor," "Beyond Black" and managed amongst the many nations "Celebrity Culture." He is honorary and economies of the world. professor of sociology at Aston University and has previously worked at Let’s answer the easy one first and the universities of Hong Kong and leave the more difficult question for Tampa. another time.

KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE With Climate Change Comes Before I go any further, let me quickly Extreme Weather remind us of the differences between Arek Sinanian global warming, climate change and the March 5, 2019 weather. As the saying goes, climate is what you expect, weather is what you The question to consider is how global get. In other words, climate is a long- warming and climate change are term trend of events, while weather is affecting the weather around the world. what happens on a daily basis.

Droughts, wildfires, sea levels rising, For example, the weather can change in storms and floods, ice caps melting, a few minutes, but the climate changes heat waves, cold snaps: Many people over much longer time frames. But they are asking whether these are being are linked, and we measure and record caused by climate change. This is the weather events which then give us an wrong question to ask, because overall view of the long-term trends such

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as hotter days, more severe droughts, record-breaking hot temperatures) and etc. decreased the probability of cold extremes. In Australia, the ratio of As for global warming, it is the increase observed hot to cold temperature in average global temperatures above records was 12 to 1 between 2000 and what we would expect without the 2014. The annual number of hot days greenhouse effect, which is a result of (above 35°C) and very hot days (above increased levels of greenhouse gases 40°C) has also increased strongly over — mainly as a consequence of human most areas since 1950. Heatwaves are activity. also lasting longer, reaching higher maximum temperatures and occurring As I have done in all of my previous more frequently over many regions of articles and will continue to do, I’ll start Australia.” with the facts we have available. Yes folks, facts — this currently illusive In a report by The Sydney Morning concept — and not opinion, and Herald, Australia recorded its hottest certainly not belief. To develop summer on record when average appropriate measures and policies, to temperatures exceeded 2oC (3.6oF) act on them and to do this properly, we above the long-term averages. will need a rational and scientific approach, and not be driven by WE MUST ACT ideology. We have no other choice than to have to rely on the science we have, Are these isolated events, or do they as imperfect as it may appear. indicate a trend that we must consider carefully? If we choose to ignore these So, let me summarize a few of the facts trends, we risk the possibility of getting about extreme weather we have in front to a point in time when it will be too late of us. According to the BBC, just this to act effectively. At what point of being year, the UK has seen the warmest presented with evidential data that February day on record at 20.6°C indicates a serious problem do we say (69.08°F) — the first time the country that we must act. witnessed a temperature of over 20°C (69.08°F) in winter, breaking the The 2017 US National Climate February 1998 record of 19.7°C. On the Assessment report, which consolidated other side of the globe, Australia’s key messages and supporting evidence Climate Council’s Weather Gone Wild: from 16 national-level topic chapters, 10 Climate Change Fuelled Extreme regional chapters and two chapters that Weather in 2018 report states: focus on societal response strategies, concludes that the impacts of climate “The increase in global average change are already being felt across the temperatures has increased the country, with more “frequent and probability of hot extremes (including intense extreme weather events and

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climate-related events, as well as overall losses from natural disasters in changes in average climate conditions, 2017 amounted to $330 billion are expected to continue to damage worldwide, $215 billion of which was infrastructure, ecosystems, and social claimed by hurricanes. The five largest systems that provide essential benefits natural catastrophes relating to climate to communities.” Whereas not all change in 2017 were Hurricane Harvey, regions will be affected equally, “Future which caused 88 fatalities and $85 climate change is expected to further billion in damaged in the US; Hurricane disrupt many areas of life, exacerbating Irma, with 128 fatalities and a $67-billion existing challenges to prosperity posed loss across the US and Caribbean; by aging and deteriorating infrastructure, Hurricane Maria, which devastated the stressed ecosystems, and economic Caribbean islands, causing108 fatalities inequality.” and a loss of $63billion; the California wildfires, which claimed 25 lives and a The report predicts that “without loss of $10.5 billion; floods and significant global mitigation action and landslides in China, with 56 fatalities regional adaptation efforts, rising and losses of $6 billion. As a whole, temperatures, sea level rise, and North America shouldered 83% of changes in extreme events are overall losses — an increase from a expected to increasingly disrupt and long-term average of 32%. damage critical infrastructure and property, labor productivity, and the So, back to our philosophical question: vitality of our communities.” Now that the scientists have identified a certain link between fossil fuel burning Numerous new studies are being and climate change, what are we to do presented around the world at a great with this information? What are the rate and, increasingly, the data they practical and sustainable options to provide on extreme weather events are decarbonize the world’s economies? unprecedented. As a US-led team reported in Nature Climate Change, the My answer to these vital and difficult evidence of global warming attributed to questions is simple: Clearly, there needs human activity has reached what is to be a global solution. Each of us must termed “gold standard” or a “five-sigma” take full responsibility for our actions level, which provides a very high degree and, wherever and whenever possible, of certainty. make decisions in our own lives to reduce our own carbon footprint and THE PRICE TAG that of our community.

The sector that knows more about this But, more importantly, we must exercise hard evidence than any other is the our democratic power to select insurance industry. According to Munich politicians and leaders — political and RE, a global insurance company, the

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corporate — who have the will and the The way India chooses to respond to intent to make the hard decisions. the attack in Pulwama has consequences for its future and its relationship with Pakistan. In light of a Arek Sinanian is the author of “A speech by Pakistani Prime Minister Climate for Denial” and an international Imran Khan on February 19, India has a expert on climate change, greenhouse chance to consider the offer he made. gas abatement and carbon accounting, While defiantly warning against an and he has extensive experience in attack on Pakistan, Khan said the long- resource efficiency, waste minimization running dispute over Kashmir between and sustainable development. He is a Pakistan and India could only be “solved member of the United Nations through dialogue.” He added that Framework Convention on Climate Pakistan is ready to cooperate in an Change (UNFCCC) expert panels of the investigation and would hold those clean development mechanism (CDM) accountable if evidence is found that Methodology Panel and the anyone from his country was involved in Accreditation Panel, providing advice on the incident. new methodologies and projects for CDMs submitted for registration under India said his speech was inadequate, the Kyoto Protocol. lacking in offering condolences for the victims’ families and that JeM’s claim of responsibility was proof enough that India and Pakistan Have a Pakistan was involved. From India’s point of view, this perception of the Choice to Make inadequacy of Khan’s offer of dialogue Priyanka Pandey is understandable given the magnitude March 6, 2019 of loss encountered. Instead of dialogue, the Indian government seems India and Pakistan can either make to be intent on revenge. Its air force has peace or continue in an endless cycle of already struck deep into Pakistan. violence. Khan’s offer of dialogue might have On February 14, a suicide bomber killed been more credible if he had more than 40 paramilitary police in acknowledged the suffering of Indians. Indian-administered Kashmir. Jaish-e- But let us put aside for a moment the Mohammed (JeM), a militant group sentiments of sadness, fear, anger and based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility resentment that we are justifiably feeling for the attack. While Islamabad has after the Pulwama attack. The relevant denied having any role in the incident, question to ask for India is whether the India has long accused Pakistan of offer is good enough to get both sides to backing insurgents. the negotiating table.

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HOW SHOULD INDIA RESPOND? to bring peace, violence always leads to more violence. Nonviolent means to To decide how India should respond, we bring peace lead to more peace. So, if need to step back and look at the we respond to violence with violence, Pulwama incident in the context of the we would never reach peace. bigger picture context. Since partition in 1947, tensions between India and Looking at historic and contemporary Pakistan have increased. They have examples in the world, peace leaders fought three bloody wars. Hateful have been clear on one principle: the language is commonly used for the antidote to violence is nonviolence. other side in mainstream media and by Desmond Tutu, the South African anti- politicians on both sides of the border. apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, defines violence quite India and Pakistan have paid a huge simply: words or actions that separate price for the unending conflict. Khan us are violent and those that bring us acknowledged in his speech that it has closer together are nonviolent. cost Pakistan tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars. He also said it is If we apply this definition to the words in his country’s interest to address the that Indian leaders are using in conflict. India is in the same situation response to the Pulwama incident, their and has lost countless lives too. So, it is violent rhetoric will escalate the conflict. also in India’s interest to move toward a Pakistan is doing the exact same thing peaceful solution. by using a similar tone. Of course, a tragedy where numerous families have As hard as it would be, this is an lost loved ones makes us feel anger, opportune time for both sides to rise resentment and hatred. But if we pause above the mindset of right and wrong, and reflect, we can clearly see that to judgment and blame, and instead come address the problem at its root, we need together and work to build peace. The to seriously consider responding non- media, in both countries, bear a huge violently. This is in India’s self-interest. It responsibility in the way they report may sound a cliché, but it is easy to stories and play them over and over. observe from past experiences that if They can either promote conflict or help India responds to hate with hate, we will de-escalate it. secure more violence for our country in the future. India must take its cue not from the media or its politicians, but leaders who PROS AND CONS OF INDIA’S have worked tirelessly for peace. More RESPONSE than ever, Mahatma Gandhi is a good role model for the country. He In weighing up which India should recognized that violence was subject to respond, the question to consider is a universal law. When used as a means what the pros and cons of retaliation

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compared to a nonviolent approach are? India can make the choice of responding If India retaliates, the pro is we may be with empathy to the seemingly deficient able to stem the immediate tide of anger Pakistani offer of dialogue in order to get and resentment in the country arising the two countries to the negotiating from the loss of lives, as well as derive table. Any international dispute that has solace that we have exacted revenge. been settled with mediation and resulted The con is we would just contribute to in a win-win outcome that is sustainable another cycle of violence in the long run has involved responding to the other that has huge costs for us. If India side with empathy and using some form chooses a nonviolent response, the pro of nonviolent communication. This is at is we may end up shifting the trajectory the heart of a restorative option that of the relationship between the two needs, at the very minimum, empathy countries to a path of sustainable peace. because it requires understanding The con is such a response may look where the other side is coming from and weak, but this is not really so. In finding common ground. This does not Gandhi’s view, nonviolence requires imply condoning or minimizing the much more strength than violence. gravity of what has happened.

A nonviolent response does not in any James O’Dea, former Washington office way mean condoning the Pulwama director of Amnesty International, writes attack or letting go of seeking justice in a post on Facebook: “It is a and accountability. Investigating and fundamental basis of conflict resolution holding the perpetrators accountable that you must give the other party the need to be part of any solution toward space to be the very best person they peace. However, if done carefully, such can be. If you confine the other person a response holds the possibility of a win- to the very limited view you have of win situation for both sides in the long them you will never have dialogue or a term. This is the power of a restorative breakthrough in communication with justice approach that holds the potential them.” to shift the subcontinent from a destructive to constructive trajectory. Using a restorative approach would mean we fully denounce the Pulwama On the other hand, a violent punitive attack and, at the same time, take up response, can provide short-term victory the offer of dialogue without for one side, but both of them will lose in compromising on investigation and the long run. The parents of the suicide accountability. Making peace is by no bomber in Pulwama have stated their means easy in the face of such a son took the route of violence after destructive event, but it is possible and being beaten up by the Indian army a worthwhile because the stakes are very few years ago. This is yet more proof high. that violence begets more violence.

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In 2016, Colombian President Juan The more technology tries and claims to Manuel Santos said in his Nobel Peace “connect” people, the more distrustful Prize acceptance speech that it “is much and disconnected people seem to be. harder to make peace than to wage Metrics of mental misery are rising war.” It is time that the government, worldwide, from loneliness and media and people of both India and depression to suicides and suicide- Pakistan took the hard option. killings. Many ordinary people blame technology.

Priyanka Pandey is an economist and Douglas Rushkoff’s new book, Team researcher with an interest in conflict Human, decries the human damage resolution and restorative options. Her done by digital technologies, some of field of work includes economic and which I helped create. He says the social inequality as well as education. nemesis of humanity is “team She holds a PhD in Economics. algorithm,” and I was Silicon Valley’s first “algorithm officer.” He denounces smartphones, and I collaborated with How Human Collaboration the guy who invented them. He says we need to get back into lived, touchy-feely Can Beat Screen Addiction experience — for years I wrote my own William Softky code and still live by math. March 7, 2019 Rushkoff, an American media theorist, The tsunami of fake news, spam, has been writing books criticizing phishing, cyberstalking and screen technology for years; two of the most addiction motivates Douglas Rushkoff to recent were Throwing Rocks at the write a manifesto for restoring live Google Bus and Program or Be human collaboration. Programmed. You get the idea. The current hardback is bright red and The tech honeymoon is over. Students yellow, the colors of McDonald’s, or in Brooklyn, New York, walked out in communism, take your pick. protest against a tech-heavy educational program. The very first conference on Team Human is cleanly organized into “screen addiction” attracted 200 14 chapters containing a hundred two- teachers, parents and psychologists page, bite-sized ideas, such a tight from three continents, almost all paying design that with the first sentence of their own way. Facebook CEO Mark each essay you can fairly represent the Zuckerberg was grilled on the US whole book’s arc. His entire case can Senate floor. France banned cellphones also be extracted from the first two in schools. pages, forming a different but equally crisp miniature.

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Rushkoff’s theses together form a on Mars or on Alpha Centauri. What manifesto against “the machine,” a Rushkoff doesn’t tell you is that hard- social broadside reminiscent of Martin wired human sociability is the second Luther’s 95 theses on the church door sort. Human social resonance isn’t 500 years ago. The Wall Street Journal hearsay or paid-for propaganda, it is a caricatured Rushkoff’s book using the mathematical fact. phrase “Users of the World, Unite!” That is the conclusion of one peer- Perhaps The WSJ painted him as a has- reviewed paper Team Human cites, been hippie because of this quote: “Sensory Metrics of Neuromechanical “Capitalism’s vision of the individual as a Trust.” In fact, that paper concludes with completely self-interested being, whose an anti-capitalist claim as totalizing and survival was a Darwinian battle royale, absolute as Rushkoff’s final fanfare: is at odds with our social evolution and “Like all other nervous systems, ours our neurobiology.” evolved to forage, not produce. Humankind uniquely produces things Or maybe this quote from Team which captivate its senses, and now Human’s final chapter: “As much as we they do.” think we’re separate individuals, we’re wired from birth and before to share, In fact, that second statement goes bond, learn from, and even heal one beyond being anti-capitalist, all the way another. We humans are all part of the to being anti-productive. I know because same collective nervous system. This is my wife and I wrote it. Criscillia Benford not a religious conviction but an and I agree with Rushkoff, he increasingly accepted biological fact.” interviewed us on his podcast Team Human and we like him. Most of all, we RUSHKOFF IS RIGHT reached the same conclusions as Rushkoff independently, a single answer There are all kinds of scientific “facts.” originating from three different The most common so-called facts are at disciplines (media theory, literature and the evidence-end of the truth spectrum, neurophysics). facts gathered with time and money, often incentivized and organized to These are the same basic conclusions serve an agenda and, therefore, even also expressed ages ago in stories like worse than hearsay. The Machine Stops, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and recently in an essay At the other end of the truth spectrum, by computer-historian George Dyson’s only a rare few scientific are formal, called “Childhood’s End.” A universal set mathematical facts — facts about of truths is emerging, a coherent numbers themselves, facts so absolute consensus among intellectuals about even Albert Einstein would accept them the existence and spread of inherently sight unseen. Facts that would be true toxic patterns in the modern human

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behavior and communications system. media undermine human resonance and Historically, when so many smart people trust in a particularly specific vicious independently reach the same answer, cycle: Technology makes us feel and it’s the right one. act less human, and thereby makes us see and treat others as less human too. Rushkoff is the first to distill the coherent This erosion of trust caused by indirect consensus into book form, and I know (mediated) communications began he’s right. Plus, among the world-class thousands of years ago with micro- brilliant people I’ve interacted with, I insults like memorization and writing, but think he’s even more brilliant, high in the is now exploding in potency to dazzle firmament near Freeman Dyson. So, our anxieties with fake news and this review is biased toward Rushkoff. cyberstalking.

While I can’t remove my bias toward Math says Rushkoff is right. mathematical truth (my parents were Mathematically, trust is built from lots both nuclear physicists), I can explain and lots of back-and-forth interactions where math supports Rushkoff, and among autonomous individuals. Trust where it doesn’t, by explaining a few of accumulates statistically, from data, as it his culture/media-theory ideas in our does in any data-processing algorithm. information-theory, data-science terms. Through that lens, two people talking I’ll start with what’s obviously in Team and touching face-to-face share so Human, then what is implied but not many millions of micro-messages a elaborated and then end with some minute they have plenty of time to lock specifically wonderful solutions even in and confirm that they’re on the same Professor Rushkoff doesn’t know yet. page. They can trust each other’s “content” (whatever that is) because TECH, SCREEN ADDITION AND they can see and interact in real space HUMAN INTERACTION and real time at maximum sensory- motor bandwidth, which is the native Team Human’s core warning is that communications protocol for homo human-created technology on the sapiens’ 3-D nervous systems. whole, including even words and writing, damages human interpersonal Math also says, therefore, that when interaction and affection via a tangle of you break the interactivity, you break runaway vicious circles that are trust formation. Because broadcast is accelerating year on year. Its core one-way, no interaction, therefore the advice is to revive and practice our medium of broadcast provides no trust hard-wired natural capacity for social and only consumes it. resonance. To be sure, broadcast does have uses. More specifically, Rushkoff says that Among the antelope on the savannah, one-way communications like broadcast when one white tail whips, all antelope

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around take note and flee. No time for ethnic groups and political parties. interaction during an alarm, just fear or Diversity was going down in species, fight or flight. Since even antelope can genotypes, body architectures and such broadcast, obviously humans can too, ever since DNA beat out some other so broadcast isn’t bad in and of itself. chemical. Survival of the fittest means death of diverse others. It means But broadcast only works for sending diversity reduction. fast negative signals like alarm or hostility. No instant, one-way signal 2) When moving animals emerged and could ever carry the back-and-forth roved for nutrients, their only choice in signals that slowly accumulate into life was stay and focus your search or positive human qualities like empathy, go afield and blur it out. The catch is trust, affection, collaboration and love. that too much focus gets you stuck. Now, modern human brains fall into Humans don’t actually suck. We aren’t funneling focus on pinpoint pricks of bad people, and people aren’t bad. pixels saying “liked” or “viewed” or We’ve just spent so much time looking “clicked” or “purchased.” Or claiming to at each other through a weird kind of say that. glass that filters out the good parts, that we’ve forgotten what the good parts look 3) Communicating animals reset their like or even where to find them. That’s nervous systems by making ever- the problem Team Human poses. grander attention-seeking gestures, interrupting others to receive a TEAM HUMAN VS. TEAM confirmation that they’re really there. SPREADSHEET Like turning up a megaphone. Making extra noise to be heard is an What Team Human doesn’t and cannot informational instinct, not a human pose is the awful, epic, apocalyptic weakness. scale of a problem that originates in the statistical structure of life itself, and Unfortunately, when everyone starts whose built-in feedback traps precede interrupting and yelling at once, all the human ones that Rushkoff cites a especially in an echo-chamber, the million-fold in time. To wit: communications channel collapses and everything gets worse. For example, the 1) When self-replicating patterns like mobile SMS/text channel is already RNA and DNA first emerged, the collapsing from undelivered or auto- chemo-sphere became a biosphere, miscorrected messages; the email starting its slide down a slippery slope channel is collapsing from spam and called entropy reduction, otherwise fraud; and the phone channel is known as plummeting diversity. Raw collapsing from robo-calls, dropped calls diversity is in fact going down, and not and gurgling over-compression. just in human things like languages,

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Communications technology is getting collaboratively spreading it in time to worse, and thereby disconnecting us. help will be the challenge of the ages.

4) Although automated algorithms (Rushkoff’s “team algorithm”) generate William Softky is a biophysicist who the most anti-human signals, even they was among the first neuroscientists to aren’t the enemy. The real enemy is the understand microtiming, and among the metric values that algorithms calculate first technologists to build that to supplant human values: the anti- understanding into algorithms. human values embedded in the Thousands have cited his scientific spreadsheets used by both algorithms work, his PhD in Theoretical Physics is and executives. The real enemy of from Caltech, his name is on 10 patents Team Human is “team spreadsheet.” and two of the companies he inspired were acquired for $160 million total. That’s a lot of gloom and doom. Fortunately, the same mathematical axioms that deliver the bad news Unless Britain Is Better promise many miraculous cures: ultra- resonance, ultra-breathing, ultra- Informed, a Second acupuncture, ultra-grounding. Poke your Referendum Will Only Make skull at this one spot, make this funny Things Worse face, hold this muscle just so… and pow Jack Riddick — instant relief (sometimes). The good March 11, 2019 news is that a nervous system which can be hacked by social media and As facts and civil discourse are digital deception can be un-hacked too, abandoned for misinformation and best through the spine, instantly hysteria, the democratic waters are rebooted to feel instead of to see. becoming murkier.

This is the only message missing from On March 12, Theresa May will be given Team Human, the most optimistic another opportunity to get her Brexit message of all. Yes, humans are deal through Parliament. The British drowning in a tidal wave of toxic prime minister’s position is not envious. technologies separating us. But there Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the are also cheap, simple, safe touch European Commission, is still to blink on techniques and technologies, right the question of the so-called Irish under our noses, which give relief backstop, designed to ensure the Irish surpassing drugs or surgery, which border remains open after Brexit. The connect us and which help us heal each provision is a deciding factor for many other. The really good stuff exists within the Conservative Party, and already, unmonetizable and thus May’s refusal to abandon her unexploited. Finding it, inventing it and negotiating wild card — the economic

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self-flagellation in the form of a no-deal happen to share an island? Possibly. Brexit — has led to more resignations But perhaps we should look the roots of from both the party and the cabinet. social polarization in the information provided to the general public. Meanwhile, following the defeat of Labour’s Brexit proposal and May’s PARTISANSHIP pledge to give MPs a vote on extending Article 50, a second referendum is Partisan newspapers might have a role becoming a plausible outcome. to play. With perceived left and right- leaning papers such as The Guardian But is this really a way out? Even if a and The Telegraph (respectively) larger youth turnout and a few swing commanding loyal audiences, many of voters were enough to secure a their readers do not have the time or “remain” vote, this would still leave a inclination to seek out different large minority feeling that their voices perspectives. The result is that readers had been constitutionally undermined. are led to believe that those on the other The only way to secure the direction of side are unreasonable and ignorant of Britain’s future is to achieve consensus, the “real situation.” both in Parliament and among the electorate. This problem is compounded by tabloid newspapers that, unsubtly bated with To find a way forward, we must consider pictures of scantily-dressed women and why Britain has been split so neatly in celebrity gossip, often reap the awards half. Presumably, the 48% of those who of their wide circulation by peddling one- voted to stay in the European Union do sided populist agendas. not have radically different interests to the rest of the population. However, tempting as it is for “remain” voters to portray The Daily Mail as a At least in terms of the impact of Brexit, silver-tongued Iago of the impassioned there is more to unite Britons than to Brexiteer, it is difficult to identify where divide them. Of course, contrary to what newspapers influence, as opposed to economists would have us believe, not merely reflect, public opinion. everyone acts in one’s own self-interest. Immigration, the most frequently cited In this age of the digital, we also cannot concern among “leave” voters, divided afford to discount the power of the hearts and minds long before June internet. The argument that social media 2016. For others, questions of British breeds echo chambers is often repeated sovereignty simply trumped economic — despite research indicating otherwise concerns. — but this is by no means the only factor. News reporting, once the domain So, is the UK just a freak nation of of a few conglomerates, has been diametrically opposed individuals who democratized. This shift has been

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marked by a deluge of content, all viral. Meanwhile, the People’s Vote competing for our clicks with enticing campaigners continue to preach to the headlines and shallow controversy. In choir of a cosmopolitan middle class the quest to go viral, simplistic and with promises of a return to pre-Brexit emotionally charged perspectives prosperity, failing entirely to address the inevitably triumph over nuanced debate. non-economic priorities of those who voted to “take back control.” Yet though sensationalist media may be a source of fertile manure, politicians Without a greater degree of unanimity, a are needed to sow the seeds of second referendum would serve only to polarization. In the lead up to the aggravate existing tensions. The first referendum, this was performed with step is to ensure the public understands aplomb. Vote Leave’s demonstrably what it is voting for. Even a single widely false claims included the threat of an trusted, non-partisan source of extra 5 million people potentially moving information read by every voter would to the UK after countries like Turkey join go a long way to ensuring the health of the EU, as well as the infamous £350 British democracy. One way to achieve million ($460 million) that would be this would be to produce a cross-party saved weekly from going to the EU and referendum manifesto. redirected toward the National Health Service, derided by the UK Statistics But what would this look like? In order to Authority as a “clear misuse of official be as politically neutral as possible, it statistics.” would necessarily involve no value judgments. The material would be On the other side, the so-called Project produced by topic experts, their findings Fear of the pro-EU camp successfully subject to peer review and a regulator. It alienated those it wished to convince would need to deal with a wide range of with outlandish claims of economic issues important to voters, from collapse. questions of trade and immigration to effects on specific industries and MISINFORMATION AND HYSTERIA employment. Where there is a degree of subjectivity, both sides would need a As facts and civil discourse are voice. abandoned for misinformation and hysteria, the democratic waters are Impartiality is fairly achievable, at least becoming murkier. A spate of in writing. The real challenge would be resignations has reduced the to secure public trust. It is for this reason government’s working majority in that the findings would need to be put to Parliament to just nine. On the web, a Parliament. To ensure against a campaign of disinformation about the monopoly on truth, it would likely require contents of the Lisbon Treaty, which more than a majority. Clearly, this comes into force next year, has gone

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crucible could only be passed if the The New Zealand “Gunman” contents were entirely uncontroversial. Is a Terrorist Needless to say, this is idealistic. And S. Suresh even if it were possible, there would still March 17, 2019 be discord. A manifesto that appeals to both sides would be ipso facto Everyone who spews vile, hateful unpersuasive. Nevertheless, it would rhetoric have their hands tainted with enable voters to weigh their own values the blood of the victims from the against the facts. For example, those mosque attacks in Christchurch. who feel that Britain should have greater control of its borders would have a On March 15, 50 people were killed by a better idea of how Brexit would change Christian, far-right, white supremacist this, as well as the possible impact this when they were engaged in Friday might have on trade and the job market. prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, Moreover, statistics that contradict the New Zealand. More than three years contents of the manifesto would be ago, when gunmen killed 130 people in called into greater scrutiny, thus giving France, media had no issues calling the politicians less freedom to twist the perpetrators what they were, Islamic truth. terrorists, highlighting both the faith and the ideology of the attackers. In a democracy, giving the electorate a clearer understanding of its vote is The whole world stood by France in its about as far as one can go. A second moment of grief, with social media feeds referendum would still risk further going through the roof as people division. Even with a reliable source of embraced the French flag in their information, the unanimity of a identity, especially on Facebook. There referendum relies on common values was no ambiguity in the grief expressed and the wisdom of the crowd. That said, across the globe at the predominantly better informing the voter would at least Christian lives that were lost at the give us a chance to see what remains of hands of terrorist perpetrators belonging both. to the Islamic State group. While there is outrage expressed at the New Zealand massacre, it seems the world is more Jack Riddick is a student of philosophy. shocked at the fact that a terrorist attack Having recently completed school happened in the small island nation, exams, he will begin studying rather than the hate crime targeted at philosophy in 2019. He is currently innocent Muslims. working as a writing volunteer at the Indian Institute of Technology Standing in solidarity with New Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Zealanders where worshippers were killed by an Australian citizen, Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the

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perpetrator as an “extremist right-wing, It is no wonder that the Christchurch violent terrorist.” It is remarkable that the shooter’s 74-page manifesto lauded Australian prime minister went as far as Trump as a “symbol of renewed white using the word “terrorist” to describe identity and common purpose.” Whether him. Trump acknowledges it or not, his hateful rhetoric following his ascension In contrast, the irresponsible, indifferent to power has had serious and Islamophobic Australian senator consequences, and his hands are from Queensland, Fraser Anning, had tainted with the blood of the Muslim no qualms about blaming the attack on women, men and children who lost their New Zealand’s immigration policies from lives while praying in mosques on that the past that allowed Muslims to fateful Friday. immigrate into that country. “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand WHY HATE CRIMES AGAINST streets today is the immigration program MUSLIMS WON’T STOP that allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place,” As long as there are leaders like Trump Anning said in a statement soon after and Anning who unabashedly spread the Friday massacre. falsehood with their vile rhetoric against Muslims, the world will continue to see US President Donald Trump had this to more incidents where innocent people say of the tragic incident: “My warmest are targeted with hate crimes. sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand.” Warmest As long as countries defend and accept sympathy? Best wishes? Even the tragic hate speech as an individual’s right to loss of lives could not move Trump to freedom of expression, the world will call out the Muslim identity of the victims continue to breed more of the likes of and express at least some perfunctory Brenton Tarrant and Anders Behring sympathy for them and their families. Breivik — the terrorists behind the New Zealand massacre and the 2011 Trump has never hidden his disdain for Norway attack. Muslims while openly promoting white nationalism. It is farfetched to expect the As long as the world refuses to president to call out the gunman for acknowledge that guns have no place in what he is: a Christian, white, right-wing a civilized society and allow people to terrorist. In fact, when Trump was asked own weapons that can extinguish if he saw white nationalism as a rising multiple lives in a matter of moments, threat in the world, he doubled down on the Christchurch attack will not be the his core fundamentalist beliefs and last of its kind. responded: “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, As long as the world media continues to very serious problems.” paint Christian, white, right-wing

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terrorists as outliers and tries to Meet the “Moderates” the EU “humanize” them, Caucasians and Christians will never have to bear the Is Trying to Empower in Iran brunt of the actions of people like Alejo Vidal-Quadras Tarrant. They can offer their prayers and March 18, 2019 sympathies to those killed and move on with their lives without fear. The appointment of Ebrahim Raisi as head of Iran’s judiciary is the latest proof As long as the media continues to that the country’s moderates and describe the actions of every Muslim hardliners are united in the main goal of extremist as a reflection on the entire the regime: its survival through Islamic population, every Muslim in the repression at home and export of world will have to live in fear of bearing terrorism abroad. the brunt of those actions just because they share the same faith. Recently, two events that have taken place at the highest level of the Islamic March 15, 2019, was a sad day not only Republic of Iran have once again because of the loss of 50 innocent demonstrated the failed strategy and the Muslims engaged in prayers at the massive misreading of Tehran by the hands of a hate-filled man, but the world European Union. Earlier this month, we got to witness yet again the double witnessed the farce enacted by the standards in media reporting and the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad words of fanatics in positions of power Javad Zarif, who threatened to quit his like Trump and Anning. post only for his resignation to be rejected by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. S. Suresh is a product executive with more than 25 years of experience in The threat, prompted by a non-invitation enterprise software. He is also a writer to meet the Syrian dictator and war who devotes much of his time analyzing criminal Bashar al-Assad when he socioeconomic issues and shares his visited Tehran, ended with the viewpoints and experiences through his confirmation that the Foreign Ministry of blog, newsletter and Fair Observer. He the Islamic Republic acts with the is a volunteer at HealthTrust, a nonprofit explicit blessing (and of course that works towards building health guidance) of the supreme leader. equity in Silicon Valley. Suresh holds Wasn’t Zarif the face of the supposed graduate degrees in Computer Science moderates confronting the faction of and Chemistry from Birla Institute of those close to Khamenei — the Technology and Science, Pilani, India. hardliners?

This fake rift — separated on minor

issues but united as a block in the

survival of the system on which they all

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depend — has been more troublingly But in a country ruled by religious exposed with the shameful confirmation hardliners, this crime against humanity this month of Ebrahim Raisi as head of is not only insufficient cause for the judiciary of Iran. According to investigation and punishment of the Amnesty International’s recent damning perpetrators, but a source of pride for its report, Blood-Soaked Secrets: Why instigators. When in 2015 Raisi ran, Iran’s 1988 Prison Massacres Are unsuccessfully, for president, he Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, boasted about his role in the massacre Raisi was actively involved in the and said that he was proud to have massacre of thousands of Iranian executed the members of the MEK. Now political prisoners, most of them he will lead the judicial system of the members of the People’s Mujahedeen regime. Weren’t the European Union’s Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) — the efforts to appease Iran and all these main opposition to the mullahs. This years of dialogue and concessions new head of the judiciary was, in 1988, supposed to empower moderate figures the deputy prosecutor general of Tehran and isolate the hardliners? and member of the “death committee” that sent tens of thousands of political All this is the result of a fundamentally prisoners to the gallows, denying the flawed policy, based on a bad reading of families even the basic right of knowing the internal composition of the Islamic where the bodies had been buried after Republic of Iran. The European External the secret executions. Action Service has conducted a strategy based on a mirage of a rift between two This case, widely recognized as a crime sides that are “in confrontation,” falling against humanity, was brought back to into a trap set by Tehran by appeasing the front pages when in the summer of and conceding benefits to the mullahs’ 2016, the son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali regime, hoping naively that all this would Montazeri, who in 1988 was the lead to a change of behavior that never appointed successor to Supreme came. Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, published an audio tape recorded during the These two sides, while ferociously months of the massacre where his competing for internal parcels of power, father openly denounced it as “the are united on the main goal of the biggest crime in the Islamic Republic.” regime: its survival through repression at home and export of terrorism abroad. Directly addressing the “death committee” in Tehran, of which Raisi Last week, the European Parliament was a member, Montazeri said: “History adopted a resolution on the case of will condemn us. The worst crime has Nasrin Sotoudeh and other human been committed at your hands, and rights defenders in Iran. Sotoudeh, a they’ll write your names as criminals in human rights lawyer, winner of the history.” Sakharov Prize and a mother of two,

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was condemned to 38 years in prison Will Evo Morales Win Again and 148 lashes this month for defending the human rights of her compatriots. in Bolivia? Javiera Alarcon The resolution also raised attention to March 21, 2019 the case of Maryam Akbari Monfared, who was sentenced to 15 years in Evo Morales’ re-election bid will be a prison in 2010 for so-called “enmity referendum on his current against God” and denied medical care administration. despite suffering from various illnesses. Her three brothers and sister, who all Evo Morales, the president of the supported the MEK, have been Plurinational State of Bolivia, is currently executed by the regime of Iran, two of in his 13th year in office, with aspirations them during the 1988 massacre. of remaining until 2025. He is the longest consecutively serving head of So far, the EU’s foreign policy chief state in Latin America, whose expert Federica Mogherini has failed to speak deployment of clientelism has continued out against the appointment of a mass to reward the discipline of party murderer as Iran’s judiciary chief. members and civil servants. Morales is Ebrahim Raisi and other officials not immune to the so-called politician’s responsible for human rights abuses in dilemma — a term coined by Barbara Iran should be added to the EU Geddes to explain partisan strategies of sanctions list. Europe must work survival. Even though granting plum forcefully for the right of Iran’s people to appointments to loyalists appears to live in freedom and democracy. create a competent bureaucracy, burden sharing is tearing at the seams The EU was founded on the principle of of a delicate political climate. human rights. It is high time for the EU to understand its failure and to rethink It is not just political elites that the way we deal with this inhuman exclusively benefit from President theocracy. Morales’ expansive network of partisan maneuvering. Civil society organizations Alejo Vidal-Quadras is the former vice- are mobilized specifically to achieve president of the European Parliament, political expediency with promises of serving from 1999 to 2014. A Spanish accessibility or economic prosperity. professor of atomic and nuclear physics, The Bolivian economy has steadily he is currently president of the Brussels- grown, and a significant reduction in based International Committee in poverty serves to bolster the Search of Justice (ISJ). administration’s achievements. World Bank data from 2006 indicate poverty affected 59.91% of the population; in

2016, it was down to 39.5%.

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Historically, indigenous people have seems unscathed by these fiscal and been shut out from economic judicial problems. opportunities. Morales, who is the country’s first indigenous president, has In How Democracies Die, Steven taken deliberate action on the Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt describe distribution of public goods. Grassroots conditions of institutional forbearance, leaders at the helm of the progressive including violation of constitutional rules. movement continue to work with Bolivia embodies a populist government supporters to reassure them that the that has weakened judicial current government is on their side. independence, where the rule of law is repeatedly bent to subvert democracy. Moreover, the Movement to Socialism Manipulating popular support, as party (MAS) is struggling to maintain a Levitsky and Ziblatt outline, is a page stronghold. MAS activists curry from a populist’s playbook on claiming favorable votes and perpetuate the political legitimacy. Overreach of civil spoils of a MAS victory. In their political liberties in a populist government has vision this can only be possible with consequences for its stability and leaves Morales as the guarantor. the door open for authoritarianism to creep in. The National Coordination for Bolivia (Conalcam) is a Tammany Hall-style Both the 2009 and 2017 overhauls of political machine responsible for turning the Bolivian Constitution are examples out people to various local activities. of how the Morales administration has These visibility events are organized by forged the ideas of a social movement supporters from all sectors of the into state building. A government- electorate to boost enthusiasm for the controlled court, backed by Morales, Morales administration. authorized the 2017 constitutional reform and subsequently eliminated POLITICAL MACHINE presidential term limits. In part, the 2009 constitutional reform facilitated a The president has overcome corruption judiciary shakeup, especially following scandals, including charges of the 2011 judicial election. A point of inadequate fiscal transparency. The pride for MAS is furthering successful 2014 International Monetary Fund report representation of marginalized on Bolivia documented poor reporting of communities, and the newly reformed tax expenditure and mismanagement of constitution was able to claim a historic external audits. number of female judges elected into office, including many of indigenous Diminishing transparency is also an origin. example of weakened democratic institutions. In this environment, Morales In Bolivia, judicial activism has a greater likelihood of bending toward

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authoritarianism. The judiciary is, in Ortiz and Jaime Paz Zamora, both a principle, independent from the distant third and fourth in the primary, executive, but in practice it is yet representing strong opposition factions another mechanism for expansive determined to vote Morales out of office. powers. Judicial independence has In the final tier of candidates with 2% or been eroded through unrestrained less of the primary vote, Víctor Hugo constitutional reform that lacks Cardenas is notable for having transparency in the selection process of experience as Bolivia’s vice president judges, which just one example of from 1993 to 1997. Cardenas is also an corruption involving powerful interests. Aymara activist, representing the Judges must be able to freely apply the Solidarity Civic Unity opposition rule of law, but for the last few years, movement. judicial independence has not been a guarantee for Bolivia’s federal judges. As can be seen by the fierce presidential competition, there’s a robust In April 2018, the Organization of sector of the population that is keeping American States (OAS) took up pressure on the Morales administration. Morales’ declaration that re-election is a Most recognized are the protests that human right based on his interpretation question the legitimacy of the February of Article 23 of the American Convention 21, 2016 referendum (21F), which made on Human Rights. Arguing that term it possible for Morales to remain as limits inhibit political participation and president. These protests signal representation, Morales hoped to continued grievances, but to date they substantiate his bid to a presidential re- have failed to oust Morales. Bolivia’s election, but the OAS report rejected the supreme electoral tribunal, with its claim. partisan support for Morales, plays a role. The January primary election The immediate challenge for Morales in results reported a 45.51% turnout — or a re-election bid is the unmistakable some 451,026 — of registered MAS referendum on his current voters. Not even a recent election administration. The outcome of the monitoring visit from the Inter-American presidential primary in January reveals Commission on Human Rights has been just how deep the political rifts are. One able to diminish what Morales believes viable contender for office is the former is an unwavering support from a president, Carlos Mesa, and it will be traditional base of indigenous militants interesting to see how he’s able to and other coalition members. redefine civic participation. The results of the January primary show Mesa to be REGIONAL CONTEXT neck and neck with Morales. The election date has been set for Besides Morales and Mesa, the other October 20, and will prove to be presidential contenders include Óscar consequential for the future of Bolivian

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politics. Deliberation over the election their pick on October 20, and Mesa date was affected by international does have the advantage of executive politics. In terms of optimizing electoral experience. In baseball terms, Mesa turnout, some speculated that the could end up a five o’clock hitter, but a Bolivian government and the electoral home run over Morales might prove tribunal will make sure that the election harder to swing. date would not conflict with other elections, like the one in Argentina, which is home to a large Bolivian expat Javiera Alarcon is a political analyst on community. Latin American and security affairs. She received her MA in International If MAS is able to consolidate power for Relations and Comparative Politics with Morales, such a win could have benefits a specialization in Latin American for neighboring Venezuela as well. politics from the University of Maryland, Having an ally in the region should College Park. She also has an ideally help Caracas to stem mass advanced degree in environmental law migration by securing resources and and international relations from the aid. At the moment, Morales is steering University of King Juan Carlos and clear of the Venezuelan crisis, with his Georgetown University. She was a failing government focused on Morales’ fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. own uncertain position in the upcoming election. Given the political unrest in Venezuela, it is most likely that Bolivia’s What Makes a Christchurch- election plans will proceed without much international pressure. Style Attack Feel So Likely in Britain? The recent primary results show that Bethan Johnson this will not be an easy electoral season. March 25, 2019 Morales must tread carefully when it comes to both domestic and foreign The sentiments at work in the manifesto policy. Missteps could easily provide of the Christchurch terrorist can be Mesa with the tailwind he needs for found in Britain with increasing electoral success. In a region that is frequency. seeing a return of right-wing conservatives, one of Mesa’s most “It absolutely could happen here.” This valuable attributes is that he is not was the Minister of State for Security Morales. The region is wary of the crisis Ben Wallace’s response on BBC Radio in Venezuela, and attempts to contain 4 to the question many in the United the spillover could prove consequential Kingdom and around the world have for the survival of a populist government asked themselves in the aftermath of like the one headed by Evo Morales. the terrorist attacks that claimed the The “No Evo” block of voters will have lives of 50 people praying in two

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mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: Terrorist attacks such as the one in New Could it happen here? Zealand are the manifestation of underlying biases in society, articulated Superficially, a response like this may at an extreme. Although law appear to be the perfunctory answer to enforcement and government officials such a hypothetical, particularly given have placed serious pressure on social that it was posed on a broadcast entitled media platforms and search engines to “Threat of UK far-right” and given the restrict access to the manifesto written discernible rise in popularity of far-right by the perpetrator of the terrorist attack movements and ideologies throughout in Christchurch, the substance of the Europe. text can be analyzed in order to discern driving forces behind his actions. However, it behooves analysts and lay observers alike to consider exactly what According to the manifesto, the man this response says about the state of viewed European society (which he Britain’s ideological landscape today. deemed to include also non-European Why could it happen here, and what states that were populated by white makes it feel so possible? Europeans, such as Australia, the United States and New Zealand) as It is important to acknowledge that imperiled by the alleged replacement of Wallace’s answer might be the result of (white) Europeans with non-Europeans, intimate knowledge of the condition on namely non-white Muslims. The text the ground in Britain that wider society articulates at length ideas of how does not, or even cannot, know. Law immigration, high birth rates among enforcement foiled 18 alleged terrorist immigrants, and European beliefs in attacks since March 2017, four of these multiculturalism were facilitating the planned by so-called far-right actors. erasure of white societies in Europe, Likewise, the European Union’s law something the author felt threatened the enforcement apparatus, Europol, also existence of various elements of culture uncovered five terrorist plots planned by and tradition unique to white Europe. right-wing individuals in 2017. The author takes pains in the opening There are undoubtedly many individuals pages of his manifesto to claim that he still under observation at present for does not object to Islam nor to the indications that they are planning a existence of non-white people in the terrorist attack. While the exact threat world, but rather argues against level thereby remains obscure, immigration and ethnic heterogeneity in additional or alternative avenues must society based on the belief that be explored to consider the possibility of multiculturalism is incompatible with fatal, far-right terrorism. human nature, and that immigration and non-Europeans in European countries MANIFESTO threaten the survival of Europe’s

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cultures, traditions and people. “The responsible for the deaths of 77 people attack was to ensure a preservation of in Norway in July 2011. At more than beauty, art and tradition,” he writes. “In 1,000 pages, this manifesto opens with my mind a rainbow is only beautiful to an assertion about “the ongoing Islamic due [sic] its variety of colours, mix the colonisation of Europe,” the colours together and you destroy them “Islamisation of Western Europe” and all and they are gone forever and the the perceived evils of multiculturalism. end result is far from anything beautiful.” Another example can be found in the The author entitles one section of his mass shooting at a Sikh Temple in manifesto “Europe for Europeans,” in Wisconsin, where the attacker, which he endorses the forced removal motivated by the belief in an “impending of “Roma, African, Indian, Turkish, racial holy war,” killed six worshippers Semitic, or other,” people “regardless and injured four more before killing from where they came or when they himself. In Sweden, a lone-wolf attacker came” to Europe. shot and killed two people and injured 13, largely in a 10-month period The terrorist articulates the reason for between 2009 and 2010; he espoused attacking Muslim immigrants in anti-immigrant ideologies and selected particular because they “are the most targets based on their race. despised group of invaders in the West, attacking them receives the greatest BRITISH WAY OF LIFE level of support. They are also one of the strongest groups, with high fertility, The sentiments at work in the manifesto high in group preferences and a will to of the Christchurch terrorist can be conquer.” Inherent in these and many of found in Britain with increasing the other claims found in the manifesto frequency. According to the Hope Not is the fundamental rejection of Hate’s State of Hate 2019 report, a July multiculturalism, a staunch belief in the 2018 poll found that 35% of Britons incompatibility of Islam or Muslim believed that “Islam is generally a threat immigrant communities’ cultures with a to the British way of life.” A January European culture, and a nostalgic belief 2018 survey found that 30% felt that in the idea that European states were either “almost all Muslims do not want to more peaceful when more racially integrate” or that “most Muslims do not homogeneous as they were in previous want to integrate despite the few that centuries. do.” Furthermore, on the idea of Muslim immigration and replacement theory, Similar sentiments can be found in other only 13% of Britons are able to correctly manifestos from perpetrators of far-right approximate the size of the Muslim terrorism in the last decade. The most population in Britain (5%), while 40% of prominent one cited by the Christchurch Britons overestimate that percentage. terrorist is the manifesto of the man

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An additional survey of Britons Analysis of “racially motivated hate conducted by ComRes in October 2018 crime by religion” found that Muslim found that 43% agreed with the adults in Britain were significantly more statement that “Western liberal society likely to be the subject of such race- can never be compatible with Islam,” related hate crimes. (It is important to with 25% strongly agreeing. briefly acknowledge that these rising rates may be due to an increased The Council for Arab-British willingness to report hate crimes, but Understanding and the Arab News they still fail to capture the entire picture newspaper also conducted a poll, as almost half of all incidents allegedly finding that 64% of Britons believed that go unreported to the police.) “Arabs have failed to integrate” in Britain, and that 69% of Britons believed Most often, reported hate crimes involve the United Kingdom had accepted “too verbal abuse or threats, graffiti on many refugees.” Studies such as these places of worship or homes, and indicate the prevalence of ideologies physical assaults. Evidence of this is that would be foundational to anti- perhaps most palpable in the aftermath immigrant, anti-Muslim terrorist attacks of the terrorist attack in New Zealand. in Britain. According to statistics from the charity Tell Mama, the group has received Statistics from the Home Office show reports of 95 hate-based incidents that these ideas are being acted upon between the day of the attack on March with a greater prevalence. For example, 15 and March 21, with almost 90% of reported hate crimes motivated by race these incidents making explicit nearly doubled between 2011/2012 and reference to the violence in 2017/2018, while religiously-motivated Christchurch. The police, meanwhile, hate crimes have more than quadrupled are investigating attacks on six mosques since 2011. in Birmingham.

According to reports, the majority of Considerable or even fatal physical specifically religion-related hate crimes violence has flared up in multiple last year were perpetrated against instances within the last half decade Muslims, and previous government alone. In mid-March 2019, an incident of findings show that Muslim adults were far-right violence allegedly took place in disproportionately more likely to be Surrey when a heavily-armed man targets of religiously-motivated hate yelling racial abuses stabbed a young crimes. Additional reporting man. In June 2017, during the Muslim demonstrates a degree of holy month of Ramadan, a man drove a interconnectivity between racial and van into a group of Muslims in Finsbury religious hate crime in Britain, a Park, killing one and injuring nine component of the attack in New others; he was allegedly incensed Zealand. following the terrorist attacks in London

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earlier that month. Although not aggression based on Islamophobic or exclusively motivated by Islamophobic racist beliefs in Britain and exist along or anti-immigrant beliefs, the member of the continuum that motivates far-right Parliament for the Batley and Spen ideologues to commit acts out of hatred. constituency, Jo Cox, was also However, it is important to acknowledge murdered by a far-right extremist in the distinction between these incidents June 2016. and a terrorist attack such as the one in New Zealand. Increases in race and HATE CRIMES religious-based hate crimes often occur in the immediate aftermath of major, An additional finding of hate crime emotional events. These attacks are statistics from the government shows what some in the counterterrorism that Islamophobic and anti-immigrant community would call sudden extremist attacks rise in the aftermath of terrorist violence, a phenomenon whereby a attacks, with notable upsurge following person’s violent action is unplanned or the murder of Lee Rigby (May 2013), only briefly planned, and is the result of the Westminster Bridge attack (March a reaction to specific trigger. 2017), the Manchester bombings (May 2017), and the London Bridge attack Likewise, numerous instances of verbal (June 2017). Increases in hate crimes abuse and threats are the result of the related to religion were also evident manifestation of anger or hatred in following the Charlie Hebdo attack in unplanned moments, invective France in January 2015, though there interjections with no intent or a lack of was no surge in the weeks after the requisite planning to cause physical or November 2015 attacks in Paris. mass, fatal harm.

Another factor identified in cases of Attacks including the one perpetrated in violence against immigrant and Muslim New Zealand or the other locations communities in Britain has stemmed referenced are the result of additional from reports relating to sexual abuse and specific form of radicalization, one and grooming scandals in which the that condones and even valorizes perpetrators were reported to belong to bloodshed and takes considerable Muslim communities. Finally, an planning. Mass violence exists at the additional spike in police-classified most extreme end of the spectrum of “racially or religiously aggravated far-right ideology and necessitates a offences” occurred in the immediate series of structural and institutional aftermath of the EU referendum in July supports to achieve the requisite level of 2016, following an already steady rise in grooming. offences throughout the campaign. As the Christchurch terrorist explained, Statistics such as these demonstrate a “young men and women see this concerning rise in manifestations of suicidal nihilism and isolate themselves

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from this mainstream, ‘multicultural’, “protect” or “defend” the nation can still egalitarian, individualistic insanity and contribute to a person’s willingness to look for allies anywhere they can find commit a terrorist attack. For example, them, in the flesh or online. They in the case of New Zealand, the congregate, discuss, despair, strategize, perpetrator claimed that he was not in debate and plan. They decry weakness, fact a member of any hate groups but mock fecklessness and worship rather used the internet to listen to and strength, and in this worship of strength talk to like-minded people around the they radicalize and find the solution.” world who spoke about the urgency of These institutions and material the issue and the futility of non-violent requirements are also essentially met in means of reform. Britain. In Britain, videos produced by Tommy While currently banned by the Robinson, the English Defence League, government, for years far-right extremist UK Independence Party and a range of organizations such as National Action, other videos produced by less well- Scottish Dawn, NS131 and Combat 18 known names are easy to find on disseminated radical material, YouTube and Facebook, speaking to connected far-right thinkers and ideas about “replacement” and calling promoted violent activism from upon Britons to act to preserve a members. Despite their proscription that “British” way of life threatened by hinders their ability to openly recruit and Muslim immigration. radicalize, these organizations and offshoots still operate. Radio broadcasts such as Radio Aryan also relay extreme nationalist, anti- For example, System Resistance immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments. Network and Sonnenkrieg Division, While deprived of a platform by many which adopt neo-Nazi principles, social media outlets, many online continue to engage in violent activities forums remain readily available to and to endorse violence. Many other, connect far-right thinkers in Britain, smaller (sometimes regional) groups whereby they can mutually radicalize by likewise serve to reinforce prejudices in reinforcing prejudices and encouraging such a way that compels some toward each other toward violent action, much violence. like the Islamic State and other radical groups. PROPAGANDA Beyond the British context, there are Consistent exposure to propaganda that many more far-right organizations, does not expressly advocate violence message boards, social media platforms but reiterates anti-immigrant or anti- and informal networks that serve to Muslim sentiments alongside language radicalize viewers. As was the case in that encourages immediate action to New Zealand, Norway and the United

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States, far-right terrorists accessed and question remains as to how effective took inspiration from radical materials this and other measures will be. Finally, from many countries. Moreover, the while gun control measures in New many organizations and activists that Zealand and Great Britain are different, contribute to the counter-jihad and terrorists are inherently so committed to identitarian movements — generally the cause that they are willing to speaking movements endorsing the circumvent the system to stockpile need for a white, non-Muslim Europe — arms. As the trials of National Action which can be found in many Western members show, for example, far-right countries and may contribute to the groups remain able to attain guns. radicalization of Britons. Moreover, it is important to recognize that far-right terrorism may inflict Finally, the manifestos of far-right bloodshed using a variety of means terrorists can be found through other than guns. traditional search engines, and these texts are known to help crystallize Just as Wallace’s response is a radical ideologies in readers, as was the reflection of the unknowable future, so case for the man responsible for the too are studies such as this that killings in New Zealand. recognize the potential for violence but see it as by no means definitive. The difficulty that the British authorities However, given the robustness of anti- face in preventing far-right terrorism is immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment, tied to the array of means by which a an assortment of far-right groups person may become radicalized and the endorsing violence, and a technology reality of lone-wolf style attacks. Policing sector that has failed to (and may never and banning far-right organizations, as be able to) remove those broadcasts well as government programming aimed and manifestos designed to incite at monitoring and deradicalizing violence, there can be no other individuals and communities, may reasonable answer to whether a high- prevent the level of violence witnessed fatality, far-right terrorist attack could in New Zealand recently. However this happen in Great Britain than that it is hardly certain, especially given the “absolutely could.” reality that terrorists like the Christchurch shooter may never have *[Note: The author has intentionally joined any hate groups and managed to excluded the names of perpetrators of gain access to radical materials terrorism, as well as the titles of their unbeknownst to the authorities. manifestos, so as to focus the attention on the ideologies they espoused, and British authorities in the aftermath of the also because many far-right terrorists, violence in New Zealand have pledged including the perpetrator of the to issue official threat warnings with Christchurch attack, claim to have been regards to far-right terrorism, the

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radicalized after using the internet to My worry was that these attacks would find these manifestos.] trigger further violence and a perception of a “them versus us” culture. What we know is that — following terrorist attacks Bethan Johnson is a Cambridge Trust- in Paris and Tunisia, and in Woolwich in funded PhD candidate at the University 2013 — we tend to see a sharp rise in of Cambridge, where her doctoral anti-Muslim attacks. Indeed, Britain’s research examines the intellectual biggest force, the Metropolitan Police, underpinnings of violent sub-state recorded 500 anti-Muslim hate crimes nationalisms in the Cold War West. She following the Woolwich attack, in which holds a master's degree from the British Army Fusilier Lee Rigby was University of Cambridge in modern brutally murdered by two British British history, with a dissertation nationals who recently converted to exploring the codification of cultural Islam. nationalism in 19th-century Wales, as well as bachelor's degrees in history, These incidents include those where Jewish studies and English from Vassar mosques have been targeted — the College. latest incidents taking place just last week in Birmingham — Muslim women have had their hijab (headscarf) or niqab Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Is a (face veil) pulled off, Muslim men attacked and racist graffiti scrawled on New Form of Racism Muslim graves and properties. Muslims, Imran Awan particularly those with a visible Muslim March 28, 2019 identity, are more vulnerable to anti- Muslim hostility, intimidation, abuse and Anti-Muslim hate crime, which spikes threats of violence. following terror attacks, is inextricably intertwined with racism. The prevalence and severity of such anti-Muslim hate crimes are influenced This article has been difficult to write by trigger events of local, national and because I was hoping that, in 2019, I international significance. The danger is would not need to start talking about that hate crimes are often provoked by international terrorism and how it can antecedent events that incite a desire impact the streets of Britain. Instead, we for retribution in the targeted group — are focusing on the terrible events that and toward the group that shares similar happened in Christchurch, New characteristics to the perpetrators — will Zealand, where a far-right extremist shot form again. From this perspective, hate and killed 50 Muslims during Friday crimes increase following trigger events prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood as they operate to galvanize tensions mosques on March 15. and sentiments against the suspected

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perpetrators and groups associated with to counter-reactions and impacts on them. Muslims in the UK. Participants we spoke to pointed out that they were In my joint research project, looking at “bombarded with online abuse and anti-Muslim hostility, we found that after offline threats” as IS rose to the Woolwich attack, the people we prominence, especially following the interviewed often cited terrorist release of videos showing beheadings, antecedent trigger events that induced a or when there was a terror threat made significant increase in their anti-Muslim against the UK linked to the group. hate crime experiences. Sarah told us: “I know sisters who have been punched, Sarah told us: “I was on my way to the being shouted at on the street, being shops and people shouted at me, ‘Why pulled and pushed around by people, don’t we chop your head off?’” In had their houses being burned down.” another case, people on the street Ahmed stated: “I have figured out over shouted, “Your head will be much better the years that this happens when there on the floor.” Along similar lines, Aisha is a terrorist attack in the news said: “The cancer of ISIS and the committed by Muslims so Islamophobia atrocities that Boko Haram commit in happens even more.” Nigeria, when these incidents happen anti-Muslim hate crime does rise too.” We also spoke to people who had She added that on her birthday, “a suffered anti-Muslim hate following high- group of white men shouted at me and profile terrorist attacks around the world my sister, ‘You Muslim scums, such as the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, supporters of ISIS, tell us how much you the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, hate Britain!’’’ and the shootings in Copenhagen and Tunisia the same year. Reflecting a In addition to the significance of trigger spike in both online and offline anti- events and the visibility of the Muslim Muslim hate crime, Hamza stated: “I identity, this highlights that both race have received Islamophobic abuse in and religion are interlinked in anti- social media and on the street on Muslim hate crime. Within this various occasions. After the Sydney framework, the Muslim identity has been incident, I received Islamophobic subject to a process of racialization remarks on four separate occasions in whereby this identity is defined on the the space of two weeks.” According to basis of the individual’s race rather than Asma, “After the Paris attacks, I got a lot exclusively on the basis of their religion. of nasty comments especially on social Indeed, we found that anti-Muslim hate media.” crime and racism were inextricably intertwined. In a globally connected world, the actions by one terrorist group such as From this perspective, anti-Muslim hate the so-called Islamic State (IS) can lead crime is understood as a “new” form of

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racism, which can be attributed to Islamophobic, anti-Muslim attitudes as well as to racist sentiments. In this regard, it is crucial that we counter the negative viewpoint that all Muslims are “bad,” and that law-abiding Muslims in the UK should suffer anti-Muslim hostility because they believe in Islam. Instead, we need to show signs of solidarity and unity in the face of terrorism and work together to prevent further reprisal attacks against all communities. Because if we don’t, we only play into the hands of the extremists who want to divide and conquer.

Imran Awan is a professor of criminology and deputy director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University, UK. He focuses on issues related to Islamophobia, hate crimes and tackling extremism.

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