That connection might be mostly harmless in and of itself, but left unchecked, it can spiral into unhealthy obsession. Mark David Chapman, the man who shot John Lennon, was himself a huge Beatles fan who was reportedly upset that Lennon declared the band to be “more popular than Jesus.” That may be an extreme example, but it illustrates that celebrity culture, at its absolute worst, encourages fans to think that they have ownership over the object of their fixation.
Within the LGBTQ+ community, garden-variety celebrity worship has been a central facet of just about every culture that fits within the acronym, from our love of Judy Garland to the unwittingly anthemic Diana Ross to Princess Diana and beyond.
Historically, most people who have been deemed “gay icons,” though, are notably not gay themselves. But as the number of out-queer celebrities multiplies — especially out-queer musicians who have made their identity a central facet of their work — it makes sense that that degree of obsession would intensify and sometimes take on a frightening edge.
Roan is the most relevant example of this at the moment, but the near-religiosity of queer fan culture has been evident for a long time, increasing in fervour over the past few years. Gen Z is the queerest generation ever, even as their mental health is suffering from a political landscape that is repeatedly ramming them over the head with the message that they are intrinsically evil and must be eliminated. Heartbreakingly, one Trevor Project study published earlier this year found that over a third of LGBTQ+ youth don’t believe that they’ll live past the age of 35.
In the face of such profound evil, people often turn to religion. When met with insurmountable opposition, what else is there to do other than appeal to a higher power? To state the incredibly obvious, however, the vast majority of queer and trans-Americans are hard-pressed to find spiritual or religious spaces that are explicitly accepting of them, though bastions of safety do exist.
Facing tremendous challenges, and struggling to find meaning in the world, it’s easy to understand why many young queer people would see openly LGBTQ+ celebrities as quasi-religious figures, instead of seeking that sort of salvation elsewhere. Looking after one’s spiritual health doesn’t have to mean participating in organized religion; there are many ways of finding purpose and fulfillment in life that are worth pursuing, and that can help fill a void in life.
I’m not the only one to notice that pop stars seem to have become near-deities. Last June, TikTok user @madisonbravenec pointed out that boygenius songs sometimes “give a little bit of Christian worship music,” and I was never able to listen to the band in the same way after that observation.
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Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker may not have intentionally tried to cultivate cool youth pastor vibes during their supergroup era, but I do think that they drew an audience inclined to see them that way.
Tell me you don’t like rural Coloradans without telling me. That’s what two initiatives will ask the state’s urban-suburban majority to do this November; tell rural folks they’re not welcome in their own state, that their ways are passé, particularly ranching and hunting.
Initiative 91 would outlaw the hunting of bobcats and mountain lions. The initiative is both unnecessary and a slap in the face to rural populations who live with these predators and take part in their management through hunting. These animals are plentiful and well managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in partnership with hunters, many of whom hail from the rural Western Slope.
Contrary to advocates’ assertions, Colorado law already prohibits hunting mountain lions for sport; the meat must be harvested for consumption. Initiative 91 not only rejects science-based wildlife management, it is a deliberate affront to the rural way of life which for many includes hunting and fishing.
Not surprisingly, Colorado’s most recent experience with ballot box biology hasn’t gone well for rural Coloradans. Veal beat venison in a wolf taste test. Thanks to Proposition 114, wolves were reintroduced to western Colorado in December 2023. Soon after, several of them decided to ditch swift deer for slow livestock. They’ve killed 16 calves, cows, and sheep in Grand County alone.
Ranchers appealed to the state for relief. CPW is planning to trap the depredating wolves to relocate them. During similar trap and relocation efforts in Montana, mated pairs separated and abandoned their pups. Scientists over at CPW knew the potential consequences of bringing back this apex predator and resisted it until a narrow majority of voters forced their hand. If urban voters had known that the romantic notion of wolf reintroduction meant eviscerated livestock and dead puppies, would they have voted differently?
Wolves won’t be the only ones going after ranchers’ livelihoods if another initiative passes. Denver voters will be asked in November to shut down the 70-year-old employee-owned Superior Farm slaughterhouse near the National Western Stock Show complex. Not only would the employees lose their jobs, the closure will adversely impact sheep ranchers and the state’s economy.
According to a study by the Colorado State University Regional Economic Development Institute, the business generates around $861 million in economic activity and supports some 3,000 jobs. The Denver facility carries about a fifth of all U.S. sheep processing capacity. If it is not rebuilt elsewhere in Colorado, Colorado ranchers will have fewer options and could go out of business for want of places to send their livestock.
According to the study, the loss of U.S. processing capacity will prompt markets to replace domestic supply with imports. Consumers will likely pay more for meat. Also, not every country that raises and slaughters sheep has same humane livestock regulations and standards as the U.S.
A minority of voters could negatively impact the majority not just in Colorado. The people pushing this initiative represent an even smaller minority. They don’t believe humans should eat meat, according to their website, and this is their way to take a bite out of the age-old practice.
Most vegetarians and vegans are live and let live but a small percentage would like to foist their lifestyle on the rest of us. It only took 2% of registered voters in Denver to push this ballot question that would single out a business for closure, toss its employees out of work, harm ranchers throughout the state, cost the state millions of dollars in economic activity, force markets to import meat, and reduce choices for those who want locally-sourced products. It’s hard to imagine a worse idea.
If urban and suburban voters are tempted to support these no-good, feel-good initiatives, they should first visit their neighbors on either side of the Front Range who will be impacted. A little empathy for rural Colorado is wanting.
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on X: @kristakafer.
WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (IPS) – At least 55 governments in the past decade have restricted the freedom of movement for people they deem as threats, including journalists, according to a Freedom House report published last Thursday.
Governments control freedom of movement via travel bans, revoking citizenship, document control and denial of consular services, the report found. All the tactics are designed to coerce and punish government critics, according to Jessica White, the report’s London-based co-author.
“This is a type of tactic that really shows the vindictive and punitive nature of some countries,” White said. This form of repression “is an attempt to really stifle peoples’ ability to speak out freely from wherever they are.”
Belarus, China, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that engage in this form of repression, the report found. Freedom House based its findings in part on interviews with more than 30 people affected by mobility controls.
Travel bans are the most common tactic, according to White, with Freedom House identifying at least 40 governments who prevent citizens leaving or returning to the country.
Revoking citizenship is another strategy, despite being prohibited by international law. The Nicaraguan government in 2023 stripped more than 200 political prisoners of their citizenship shortly after deporting them to the United States.
Among them were Juan Lorenzo Holmann, head of Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, La Prensa. “It is as if I do not exist anymore. It is another attack on my human rights,” he told VOA after being freed. “But you cannot do away with the person’s personality. In the Nicaraguan constitution, it says that you cannot wipe out a person’s personal records or take away their nationality. I feel Nicaraguan, and they cannot take that away from me.”
Before being expelled from his own country, Lorenzo had spent 545 days in prison, in what was widely viewed as a politically motivated case.
Blocking access to passports and other travel documents is another tactic. In one example, Hong Kong in June canceled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who were living in exile in Britain.
In some cases, governments refuse to issue people passports to trap them in the country. And in cases where the individual is already abroad, embassies deny passport renewals to block the individual from traveling anywhere, including back home.
Myanmar’s embassy in Berlin, for instance, has refused to renew the passport of Ma Thida, a Burmese writer in exile in Germany. Ma Thida told VOA earlier this year she believes the refusal is in retaliation for her writing.
White said Ma Thida’s case was a classic example of mobility restrictions. For now, the German government has issued a passport reserved for people who are unable to obtain a passport from their home country — which White applauded but said is still rare.
“Our ability to freely leave and return to our home country is something that in democratic societies, people often take for granted. It’s one of our fundamental human rights, but it’s one that is being undermined and violated across many parts of the world,” White said.
Mobility restrictions can have devastating consequences, including making it difficult to work, travel and visit family. What makes matters even worse is the emotional toll, according to White.
“There is a huge psychological impact,” White said. “A lot of our interviewees mention especially the pain of being separated from family members and not being able to return to their country.”
In the report, Freedom House called on democratic governments to impose sanctions on actors that engage in mobility controls.
White said that democratic governments should do more to help dissidents, including by providing them with alternative travel documents if they can’t obtain them from their home countries.
The company I work for recently built a new ticket office at the base of Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado. Environmentally, we killed it: argon-gas-filled windows, super-thick insulation and comprehensive air sealing, 100% electrification using heat pumps instead of gas boilers. All within budget.
Yet one of the first comments we received was from a famous energy guru: “Nice building. But why do you have a heating system at all?” Or more simply put: “Why didn’t you build a perfect building, instead of just a really good one?”
Solving climate change could depend on how we answer that question. My answer: Society needs the Prius of buildings, not the Tesla X.
The green building movement didn’t originate only from a desire to protect the environment. It often had elements of the bizarre ego gratification that trumped practicality.
Recall “Earthships” that used old tires and aluminum cans in the walls. Geodesic domes were interesting looking but produced inordinate waste to build. They also leaked. Rudolf Steiner’s weirdly wonderful Goetheanum was an all-concrete structure designed to unite “what is spiritual in the human being to what is spiritual in the universe.”
Early practitioners such as Steiner, Buckminster Fuller, and Bill McDonough, among others, were often building monuments, whose ultimate goal became the concept of “net zero.” Net zero was a building that released no carbon dioxide emissions at all.
Designers achieved that goal by constructing well-sealed, heavily insulated, properly oriented, and controlled buildings–but then they did something wasteful. They added solar panels to make up for carbon dioxide emissions from heating with natural gas. The approach zeroed out emissions, but at extraordinary cost that came in the form of added labor, expense and lost opportunity.
While net zero wasn’t a good idea even when most buildings were heated with natural gas, the rapid decarbonization of utility grids — happening almost everywhere — and advances in electrification make the idea downright pointless.
Instead, all you need to build an eventual net zero building is to go all-electric. It won’t be net zero today, but it will be net zero when the grid reaches 100% carbon-free power. So, all that really matters is that building codes require 100% electrification.
Yet many communities remain focused on that sexy goal of net zero, and therefore include requirements for solar panels, or “solar ready” wiring. Even apart from the issue of cost, many utilities don’t need rooftop solar because they increasingly have access to huge solar arrays, giving them more electricity than they need in peak times.
What utilities really need is energy storage and smart management.
That means home batteries and grid integration that allows utilities to “talk” to buildings and turn off appliances during peak times. The problem is that environmentalists haven’t evolved: Just like we can’t retire our tie-dyes, we think “green” means rooftop solar panels.
My company’s Buttermilk building passes the only test that matters: “If everyone built this kind of structure, would it solve the built environment’s portion of the climate problem?” The answer for our building is “yes.”
Still, aspirational monuments matter. We need the Lincoln Memorial, the Empire State Building. But if we’re going to solve climate change in buildings, which is about a third of the total problem, new structures will have to reconceive what we consider efficient and beautiful. And it doesn’t have to break the bank.
Electrification, for example, is getting cheaper every year. Years ago, I served on an environmental board for the town of Carbondale in western Colorado. The overwhelming interest there was ending dandelion spraying in the town park. But at one point, we worked on a building.
After a long conversation about the technical tricks and feats we could pull off, a Rudolf Steiner disciple named Farmer Jack Reed said: “We should also plant bulbs in the fall so colorful flowers blossom in the spring.” “Why?” I asked, stuck in my own technocratic hole. He said: “Because flowers are beautiful and they make people happy.”
So, too, are realistic solutions as we adapt to climate change.
Auden Schendler is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen One. His book, Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering our Soul, comes out in November.
What is a photo? If your answer is “something you shoot with a camera, you massive idiot”, thanks for playing. But also: are you sure? Because give it a few years and I’m not convinced modern smartphone snaps will be photos in any meaningful sense. They’ll be some kind of monstrous concoction that resembles a photo yet rewrites reality with all the subtlety of a Hollywood producer ‘adapting’ a much-loved classic upon realising they don’t like the lead’s face. Or their locale. Or the entire premise and story that they’re adapting.
Modern smartphones already take a lot of liberties with what they see anyway, trying to outdo each other by turning the Uncanny Valley dial up to 11. Colours are saturated in a manner that would even have given my much younger self pause, while twiddling dials on a portable telly to transform the C64’s notoriously dull palette into something vaguely vibrant. And everything now has to be so sharp. You’re lucky to not lop off your eyelashes as you scroll through your photos app. But all of that was just the beginning. It’s set to get much worse. Which is why I’m excited about Halide’s Process Zero – but we’ll get to that shortly.
Face swap
Oooh – pretty! Also, shot with default settings that are like a kind of hyper-reality. Or at least a more saturated one.
First, how did we get to where we are in smartphone photography and the ongoing encroachment of AI ‘enhancements’? And what’s the problem anyway? It’s pretty clear at some point we abandoned arguments tech pipelines are all about style – the modern incarnation of ‘different film’. And we’re fast leaving behind any notion of ‘honest’ captures, of freezing moments in time. Instead, the industry belts along, having moved on from ‘let’s sharpen everything up’ and ‘let’s remove that background object that ideally shouldn’t be there’ to ‘let’s create a total fiction’. Images are stitched together. Scenes are swapped. And users lap it up, in an ongoing quest to concoct a reality inside of a phone that beats the one before their very eyes.
I totally get it. When angry clouds ruined your special day, why not swap out the sky? And when you’re done with that, why not… add in a moon? Or change people’s faces, if someone’s looking sullen or has particularly alarming eyebrows? And that daft hat you hate – the one your other half always wears? Gone! The very location in which the photo was taken? Bit dull, so get rid of that too! An AI will be along shortly with something that somewhat looks reasonably like it might possibly have existed. And… is this still a photo? Are we all just making collages now? Who cares? Does it even matter?
Zero hour
Process Zero isn’t about turning the clock back – it’s about giving control back to the photographer.
Your answer to that last question will determine what you think about Process Zero – and whether you clamour for it to become a movement of its own. For now, it’s a mode nestled within iPhone camera app Halide. Its aim: to turn a smartphone into a classic camera. Not in the Hipstamatic ‘make this photo look like 1973’ sense. But in a ‘dispense with fancy modern pipeline gubbins and any semblance of AI’ sense. So you point. You shoot. Halide bypasses Apple’s image processor, and gives you a single unprocessed 12-megapixel shot. The results are natural and film-like. They have noise and warmth. They feel… real.
Maybe this is nostalgia talking, but I like that naturalness. I’m all for clarity, but not overly processed output that feels sterile and polished, where certain fine details are atomised and smoothed out at the behest of an unavoidable pipeline. And, again, that’s before you start even considering the AI ‘helpers’ gradually worming their way into every smartphone shot.
Yet this isn’t a regression. Halide still leverages the quality hardware packed into a modern phone. It’s Process Zero, not Process Party Like It’s 2007. What it’s doing, then, is giving us a much-needed choice – one that lets you bring back a little of photography’s past, before the entire medium is consumed by its present.
For more on Process Zero, including comparison snaps, read the Halide ‘Lux’ blog.
Nikola Jokic isn’t just the best hoops player on the planet when it comes to dishing out dimes.
The Big Honey might be the best when it comes to dishing out bling, too.
Despite our crack staff being in the writing biz, Team Grading The Week believes actions speak louder than all the words on this page.
And GTW is firmly in the camp of backing up your brags.
Is anybody — certainly not anybody in the basketball sphere — conquering both fronts better than the Joker is, right here and now?
The NBA’s three-time MVP didn’t just help carry the Serbian hoops squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to the Blic newspaper in his native country, Jokic purchased Rolex watches for every one of his teammates on the national team.
Jokic’s Serbian gifts — A
The kicker? Those timepieces were reportedly worth $32,500 each. Which puts the Joker’s total purchase at an estimated $357,500 for 11 watches.
Jokic and Serbia won the men’s hoops bronze in Paris thanks to a 93-83 win over Germany in the tourney’s third-place game. The Nuggets star posted a very Jokic stat line, too — 19 points, 12 boards and 11 assists.
The Joker averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists for his homeland, which finished 4-2 at the tourney. He led all tournament players in points, boards and dimes — the first Olympian to ever top all three categories in one campaign.
Apparently, nobody gives like Jokic gives when it comes to the gift department, either. At least the fantastic gesture was one the Joker could afford: The Nuggets center, per Spotrac.com, is slated to take up $51.4 million in cap space in ’24-’25, and $55.2 million in ’25-’26.
If you’re like the GTW staff, you don’t just want Jokic as your franchise centerpiece now. You kind of want him as your secret Santa, too.
Big Russ’ debut — D
Russell Wilson’s Steelers stats after preseason Week 2: One appearance, five drives led, zero points, three sacks taken.
Bo Nix’s Broncos stats after preseason Week 2: Two appearances, seven drives led, 30 points, zero sacks taken.
It’s early, and we’ll know in a month whether Sean Payton won the Broncos-Steelers game, head-to-head. But the coach is off to a flying start in terms of winning the argument. And in justifying one hellaciously expensive football divorce.
Valor’s Friday — A
Love ’em or hate ’em, this past Friday was a pretty good day to be an Eagle.
Earlier in the day, Valor alum and PGA star Wyndham Clark pulled himself back into the BMW Championship title picture by shooting a 68 during his second round at Castle Pines — including five birdies. Later that evening, his alma mater’s football team opened its season with a 31-14 victory over Pine Creek. The latter had beaten Valor in last September’s meeting, 31-17.
ROME, Aug 23 (IPS) – The student movement in Bangladesh demanding reform of the quota system for public jobs was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Awami League (AL) government led by Sheikh Hasina, in power continuously since 2008, collapsed on 5th August 2024. With Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India and leaving the country in disarray, her authoritarian rule of 15 years just melted away.
Saifullah SyedPrior to this sudden and dramatic turn of events, during her rule, the country was mired by institutional and financial corruption, crony capitalism, authoritarian administration, and forced disappearance of opponents. In addition, the AL government of Sheikh Hasina monopolised all lucrative appointments and commercial privileges for people belonging to her party, banning political discourse and dissent.
She developed the personality cult of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence in 1971 and who was brutally murdered on 15th of August 1975. The personality cult was so perverse that liberation of the country was attributed to Sheikh Mujib alone and all the other stalwarts of the liberation war and her party were ignored. Everything of significance happening in the country was attributed to his wisdom and foresight alone and were often named after him. Every Institution, including schools across the country and embassies around the world were obliged to host a “Mujib corner” to display his photo, and books about him only.
Yet, no political party, including the leading opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) succeeded in mobilising an uprising against Hasina’s regime. This was partly due her ability to project AL and her government as the sole guarantor of independence, sovereignty and secularism. Everyone else was cast as a supporter of anti-liberation forces, being communal, and accused of being motivated to turn the country into a hotbed of Islamic extremism. BNP was also accused of committing crimes and corruption when it was in power.
The founder of BNP is linked to the cruel murder of Sheikh Mujib and the members of her family, and the current leader of BNP is accused of masterminding the grenade attack aimed at killing Sheikh Hasina at an AL rally on 21st August 2004. Hasina survived the attack, but it killed 24 people and injured about 200.
Why did the student movement succeed ?
Like most historical events there are several factors, but the ultimate ones were that (i) the students were willing to die and (ii) the Military displayed patriotism and wisdom by refusing to kill. The students came from all walks of life, transcending party lines and economic background. Hence, attempts to cast them as anti-liberation did not succeed. The army refused to kill to protect a despotic ruler. Bangladeshis have always overthrown dictatorial rulers.
Why the students were ready to die and the army refused to kill are important issues for analysis but the critical question right now is: what next and where do we go from here ?
What Next for Bangladesh ?
The students have shown support for the formation of an interim government with leading intellectuals, scholars and elite liberal professionals and civil society actors under the leadership of Dr Younus, the founder of the Grameen Bank and a Nobel Laureate. These people were previously silenced and harassed during Hasina’s 15 year rule.
Many people remain sceptical, however. Many fear collapse of law and order and communal disturbances in the short run, which may lead to the emergence of another dictatorial rule. Neighbouring India, which supported Hasina’s government, is concerned about the rights of minorities in Bangladesh, although they showed scant concern for the minorities in India in the recent past.
Political and geo-political analysts are busy analysing the geo-political implications and the role of key players in mobilising the students to overthrow Hasina. This is raising questions about who engineered the Regime Change.
Fortunately for Bangladesh and the Bangladeshis, things can get only better. None of the short-term concerns have materialised. No major collapse of law and order nor oppression of minorities have taken place, barring a few localised incidents. Regarding the long run, things can only get better: it is extremely unlikely that another leader can emerge with reasons to substantiate a “moral right to rule”, disdain political discourse and project a personality cult – the basic ingredients of a dictatorial regime.
Hasina embodied several factors which were intrinsically associated with who she was. It is unlikely that anyone else with a similar background will emerge again. She started as a champion of democracy by seeking to overthrow the military rule that followed the murder of her father, then as a champion of justice by seeking justice for the killing of her father. Over time, however, she became a despot and a vengeful leader. Even if AL manages to regroup and come to power, it will be obliged to have a pluralistic attitude and not identify with Sheikh Mujib alone. All the stalwarts of the party have to be recognised, as only by recognising the forgotten popular figures of the party can it re-emerge.
Regarding the wider geo-political play by bigger powers, it may be important but cannot take away the fact that the majority of people are in favour of the change and are happy about it. It could be similar to gaining independence in 1971. India helped Bangladesh to gain independence because of its own geo-political strategic objective, but it has not reduced the taste of independence. If Bangladeshis’ desire coincides with the objective of others’ then so be it. It is win-win for both.
Eventually, Bangladesh will emerge with robust basic requirements for the protection of the institutions to safeguard democracy, such as independent judiciaries, a functioning parliamentary system with effective opposition parties, vibrant media and civil society organisations. It will become a country that will recognise the collective conscience of the leading citizens and intellectuals and establish good governance and social justice. The economy may go through some fluctuations due to troubles in the financial sector and export market, but a robust agriculture sector, vibrant domestic real estate market and remittances will keep it afloat.
The author is a former UN official who was Chief of Policy Assistance Branch for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Central Downtown Astana with Bayterek tower. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Opinion by Katsuhiro Asagiri (tokyo/astana)
Inter Press Service
TOKYO/ASTANA, Aug 19 (IPS) – In a world increasingly shadowed by the threat of nuclear conflict, Kazakhstan is stepping up its efforts in the global disarmament movement. On August 27-28, 2024, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Kazakhstan will host a critical workshop in Astana. This gathering, the first of its kind in five years, is set to reinvigorate the five existing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs) and enhance cooperation and consultation among them.
This initiative aligns with UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s Agenda for Disarmament, particularly Action 5, which emphasizes the strengthening of NWFZs through enhanced collaboration between zones, urging nuclear-armed states to respect relevant treaties, and supporting the establishment of new zones, such as in the Middle East. This effort reflects the global community’s ongoing push to reduce the nuclear threat and foster regional and global peace.
Kazakhstan’s Historical Commitment to Disarmament
Kazakhstan’s vision for a nuclear-free world is deeply rooted in its leadership in global disarmament efforts. This vision is not just aspirational; it is grounded in the country’s lived experience of the devastating impact of nuclear weapons. The Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeastern Kazakhstan, often referred to as “the Polygon,” was the site of 456 nuclear tests conducted by the Soviet Union between 1949 and 1989. These tests exposed over 1.5 million people to radiation, resulting in severe health consequences, including cancer and birth defects, as well as environmental degradation.
Kazakhstan’s dedication to disarmament is further highlighted by its initiative to establish August 29 as the International Day against Nuclear Tests, recognized by the United Nations. This date commemorates both the first Soviet nuclear test at Semipalatinsk in 1949 and the closure of the site in 1991, serving as a reminder of the horrors of nuclear testing and a call to action for the global community.
These zones prohibit the presence of nuclear weapons within their territories, reinforced by international verification and control systems. NWFZs play a crucial role in maintaining regional stability, reducing the risk of nuclear conflict, and promoting global disarmament.
Astana Workshop: A Critical Gathering for Disarmament
The upcoming workshop in Astana is a critical opportunity for states-parties to the five NWFZ treaties, alongside representatives from international organizations, to engage in vital discussions aimed at overcoming the challenges facing these zones. This gathering is particularly timely, given the escalating geopolitical tensions in regions where nuclear capabilities remain central to national security.
A key focus of the workshop will be on enhancing cooperation among the NWFZs, as outlined in the Secretary-General’s Agenda for Disarmament. This includes facilitating consultation between the zones and encouraging nuclear-armed states to adhere to the protocols of these treaties. The workshop builds on the 2019 seminar titled “Cooperation Among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and Mongolia,” co-organized by UNODA and Kazakhstan in Nur-Sultan(Astana), which produced key recommendations aimed at revitalizing cooperation among NWFZs.
Participants will discuss strategies to advance the objectives of NWFZs, with an emphasis on strengthening security benefits for member states and fostering more robust consultation mechanisms. The workshop will also address the challenges posed by the reluctance of certain nuclear-armed states, particularly the United States, to ratify protocols related to several NWFZ treaties. Despite being a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the U.S. has yet to ratify protocols to treaties covering the South Pacific (Treaty of Rarotonga), Africa (Treaty of Pelindaba), and Central Asia. This reluctance has impeded the full realization of the security benefits these zones could offer.
Kazakhstan’s Leadership in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)
Kazakhstan’s role in nuclear disarmament extends beyond NWFZs to include leadership in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In March 2025, Kazakhstan will host the 3rd Meeting of State Parties to the TPNW at the United Nations, further solidifying its position as a champion of nuclear disarmament.
Kazakhstan has been a vocal advocate of the TPNW and has actively pushed for the creation of an international fund to support victims of nuclear testing and remediate environments affected by nuclear activities, in line with Articles 6 and 7 of the treaty.
The Vienna Action Plan, developed during the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW（１MSP）, outlines actions for implementing these articles, including exploring the feasibility of an international trust fund and encouraging affected states parties to assess the impacts of nuclear weapons use and testing and to develop national plans for implementation.
At the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP), co-chaired by Kazakhstan and Kiribati, progress was made, but challenges remain. The informal working group on victim assistance, environmental remediation, and international cooperation presented a report, and its mandate was renewed, with the goal of submitting recommendations for the establishment of an international trust fund at the 3rd Meeting of States Parties (3MSP). Kazakhstan’s leadership in this area underscores its commitment to addressing the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, drawing from its own experience with the devastating consequences of nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk.
Civil Society’s Crucial Role
As a part of the two day event, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) from Japan and the Center for International Security and Policy (CISP) will hold a side event in the evening of September 28 to screen the documentary “I Want to Live On: The Untold Stories of the Polygon,” highlighting the survivors of nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk. This documentary, produced by CISP with SGI’s support, was first shown at the UN during the second meeting of state parties to the TPNW in 2023. This side event is part of a broader initiative by SGI and Kazakhstan, which have co-organized several events focusing on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons at UN, Vienna, and Astana in recent years.
Also coinciding with the Astana workshop, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) will hold a conference convening civil society organizations and activists including Hibakusha from some countries. This confluence of governmental and civil society efforts in Astana marks a significant moment in the global disarmament movement. While diplomats and state representatives discuss policy and cooperation during the official workshop, the parallel activities organized by civil society will amplify the humanitarian message and emphasize the urgent need for a world free of nuclear weapons.
As global tensions rise, the Astana workshop represents a beacon of hope, a critical moment in the global journey toward disarmament. Through cooperation, dialogue, and a shared commitment to peace, the dream of a world free of nuclear weapons remains within reach. Kazakhstan, with the support of the international community, is at the forefront of this vital effort.
Educators around the country are scrambling to save jobs and programs created in the last few years as they face the end of the federal funds aimed at helping schools recover from the pandemic.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund gave districts nearly $200 billion. School systems leveraged these funds to pay for high-dosage tutoring, early literacy support, leadership development, enhanced counseling, expanded student exposure to career pathways and other endeavors. But when access to that money ends later this year, school administrators will face stark choices. To make a difference now, they will have to do even more with less resources as their students continue to struggle.
That means coming up with answers to some tough questions. Can educators free up essential resources from ineffective programs and nonstrategic professional development? Will they close buildings that have dwindling numbers of students? Should states put money into a coalition to expand evidence-based reforms? How should school leaders address funding inequities and invest in historically marginalized students?
School administrators cannot rely on existing strategies and instead should use the lessons learned from the last few years to boldly envision and invest in the future. The task will not be an easy one because the education field is obsessed with shiny new objects when we should be investing more in leaders and systems advancing the hard work that will drive scalable innovation.
Related: Widen your perspective. Our free biweekly newsletter consults critical voices on innovation in education.
In Ector County, Texas, student achievement rose after the district reorganized to focus on talent development and rigorous academics. The district also dramatically increased internship and associate degree credit opportunities.
In Oklahoma City, the district consolidated schools before the pandemic, and it has used the savings to invest in instruction, student support, leadership development and popular student programs that focus on technology. These purposeful actions led to the start of overdue academic gains, decreasing the number of underperforming schools from 30 to 10, increasing districtwide proficiency in 14 of 14 tested areas in grades 3 to 8, and ensuring every high school achieves growth on the ACT.
In Englewood, Colorado, an intensive focus on instructional leadership and systems helped every school that had been placed on the state’s accountability watch list move to good standing, and one of those schools received the state’s highest rating.
As part of UVA-PLE’s 20th anniversary, we closely examined recent successful system change efforts to better understand what leaders need to do next. We found that our most successful partners are more responsive to the reality of schools, teachers and students and collectively display three attributes:
They ignite action with a compelling vision and a willingness to disrupt the system. Leaders face up to harsh realities, drive focus and allocate resources to where change is possible.
They build coalitions for sustained effort. Enduring change can’t be top down or bottom up but must include administrators, teachers, students and the larger community.
They lead the learning and embrace evidence. Leadership teams consider opportunities and risk-taking with a data-driven approach so that they can understand and amplify what is working.
Today, our instructional supports are often not interconnected, our tutoring efforts are typically not complementing instruction and our students are not given enough rigorous learning experiences to expand their postsecondary opportunities.
States and funders can play a critical role in system change by drawing attention to and expanding effective efforts like those mentioned above. Today, too much attention is being paid to issues that may or may not lead to long-term transformation but are very unlikely to help current students. That must change. Emerging AI efforts, for example, show great promise but, like past technological innovations, will have negligible student impact unless leaders design them with greater attention to coherence and rollout.
We need to invest more in initiatives that promise to advance educational outcomes and opportunity now and lay a stronger foundation for future ingenuity. And no matter the challenge, leaders must be supported as they make tough choices and reimagine resource allocation.
Rather than fear the end of ESSER funds, we see it as a galvanizing moment. Now is a time to invest resources boldly in successful strategies and in leaders who are ready to insist that teams work together to achieve compelling results.
William Robinson is executive director of the University of Virginia Partnership for Leaders in Education (UVA-PLE).
The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
Nostalgia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This month’s Batman: The Caped Crusader was billed as the grownup version of beloved and groundbreaking ’90s show Batman: The Animated Series, made by B:TAS co-creator Bruce Timm, producers Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams, liberated from Saturday morning cartoon censors, and backed by the talent of some all-time Batman comics writers.
And while the show certainly had the Animated Series look, it was neither a direct continuation nor a strong relaunch. Timm’s crew were free to say whatever they wanted, but didn’t have much to say in the end. Sometimes you just can’t go home again.
But what if I told you there’s already a more mature version of Batman: The Animated Series, with hour-long episodes like a live-action drama, multi-season plotting, and fresher animation than Caped Crusader. It’s episodic, but its characters keep a solid emotional continuity, and while its appropriate for kids, it’s got multiple layers and references for adult audiences to chew on.
If you’re looking for a better Batman: The Caped Crusader, you should watch Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which are available right now on Netflix for your marathon pleasure.
Image: Warner Bros. Animation
Premiering in 2001, Justice League was a direct continuation of the DC Animated Universe setting, which began with 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series and continued in Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman Beyond — and in large part, it had all the same talent working behind the scenes. Artist Bruce Timm, writer Paul Dini, producers Rich Fogel and Glen Murakami, voice actors Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown, Ron Perlman, Arleen Sorkin, Michael Ironside, and Michael Dorn, all returned to reprise their various roles and duties.
But Justice League wasn’t a half hour, one-and-done episodic series hitting the waves at 9am on Saturday mornings. Airing in prime-time slots on Cartoon Network, every episode of the series was part of a two-part story — hacking the half-hour animated standard into an hour-long adventure series. The core cast began with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, the Martian Manhunter, Wally West’s Flash, and John Stewart’s Green Lantern, but two seasons into the show, Cartoon Network asked for a rebrand and expanded the mandate.
In Justice League Unlimited, the full breadth of DC Comics’ superhero roster was welcome on the Justice League, not just the founding seven. Episodes were knocked down to half hour slots again, but the show’s crew found a new way to think big. For the first and only time in the setting’s history, a DC Animated Universe show started delivering season-long story arcs; placing dominoes, foreshadowing reveals, and paying off setups from weeks before.
And while each episode was still appropriate for kids, the show writers were not immune to the thrill of including references that only adults would really pick up on — like 1950s gender and racial prejudice, a time-lost Martian Manhunter being brought before Nazi physician Josef Mengele for experimentation, or canonically establishing that the Flash is a more attentive lover than Lex Luthor.
Image: Warner Bros. Animation
So if you want a Batman fix this weekend, queue up Justice League (2001) on Netflix. Now, you might have to give it a few episodes to get going, but if you can stick around through the early middle-weight stuff, the show will pay out dividends. Aquaman cutting his own hand off to save his infant son, an alt-timeline Superman who lobotomizes his opponents with laser vision, a collection of killer romantic subplots, the Batman of Justice League: Unlimited traveling through time and meeting the elderly Bruce Wayne and the future Batman of Batman Beyond, Lex Luthor’s season-long presidential campaign, and a direct adaptation of one of the greatest Superman stories ever told, “For the Man Who Has Everything.”
So maybe it’s not the spooky procedural that makes you feel just like you did when you watched Batman: The Animated Series for the first time. But, then again, neither is Batman: The Caped Crusader!
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug 16 (IPS) – During the first half of the 20th century, antisemitism was endemic in Europe and eventually burst out in full force when Nazi-Germany and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945 systematically (and well-documented) murdered six million Jews across German-occupied Europe.
In an environment mined by hostile public opinion, the Zionist Nahum Sokolow popularized the Hebrew term Hasbara. The word has no real equivalent in English, but might be translated as “explaining”, indicating a strategy seeking to explain actions, regardless whether or not they are justified.
As a skilled diplomat, Sokolow based his widely publicized opinions on in-depth research of actual events, though he presented his findings in a manner that favoured his cause.
David Alfaro Siqueiros: Echo of a Scream. 1937
The State of Israel has often used hasbara, now generally described as public diplomacy, meaning that policies and actions have not been denied, but at the same time has any criticism of such facts been presented as biased and/or tinged by “antisemitism”.
To avoid being labelled as antisemitic the following article is mainly based on two books by Ilan Pappé – The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.
Pappé is considered to be a member of the New historians, a loosely defined group of Israeli historians who challenge the official version of Israel’s role in the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians. An event which among Palestinians is called Nakba, the Catastrophe.
In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs, about half of the former British controlled Mandatory Palestine’s predominantly Arab population, fled from their homes.
At first they were attacked by Zionist paramilitaries and after the establishment of the State of Israel by its regular army, acting on direct orders from the newly founded nation’s leaders.
Dozens of massacres targeted the Arab population and between 400 and 600 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Village wells were poisoned and properties looted to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning.
The New historians debunked several myths. For example, that the British Government tried to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state – it was actually against the founding of a Palestine state.
The official version states that Palestinians fled their homes on their own free will, instigated to do so by surrounding Arab states. However, the majority of them were actually expelled, and/or fled out of a well-founded fear of the Israeli army.
Furthermore, general opinion has been that the surrounding Arab nations at the time were united and more powerful than the newly established State of Israel – as a matter of fact, Israel had the advantage both in manpower and arms, while the Arab nations were divided by internal strife and did not have a coordinated plan to destroy Israel.
The recurrent praise that the Israelis made the desert bloom and took over a land without a people for a people without a land, are according to Pappé unfounded clichés. Before the ethnic cleansing the vast majority of agricultural land was being cultivated by Palestinians. It is estimated that on the eve of the 1948 war, around 739,750 acres of agriculturally apt land were being cultivated by Palestinians, actually greater than the physical area which was under cultivation in Israel almost thirty years later.
The appropriation of Palestinian land occurred in conjunction with a Land Acquisitions Law allowing for a mass transfer of the entire Palestinian economy to the Israeli state. Practically overnight, the State gained control of a vast amount of fertile land, 73,000 houses, and 7,800 workshops. This dropped the average cost of settling a Jewish family in Palestine from 8,000 USD to 1,500 USD.
Furthermore, the whole issue whether Palestine belongs to “Jews” or “Arabs” is somewhat spurious. It is a myth that any region constitutes a closed environment. Trade, immigration, invasion and intermarriage are part of any nation’s history.
Across the millennia, additions and losses have befallen people living in Palestina (it was the Romans who in 131 CE changed the denomination “Judea” into “Syria Palaestina”). Conquerors, like those of the Muslim faith, seldom replaced an entire native population, they only added to it.
Many of the Palestinians of today are the Jews of yesteryears. Palestinian Arabs did not suddenly appear from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century to settle in Palestine, most of those “Arabs” living there now are descendants of indigenous peoples who lived there before. People who, like most others, over time have changed their beliefs and traditions. For example, Sardinians eventually became Italians, but no one would suggest that Sardinians were kicked out and replaced by a foreign Italian people.
We ought to separate political nationalist identities from the actual reality of a human being. Nationalism is a relatively modern concept, especially in the Middle East.
Likewise, the Jewish diaspora was not the result of a sudden expulsion of Jews from their Holy land. It was, just as current migration, a result of various factors, including refugees from war and repression, forced labour, deportation, overpopulation, indebtedness, military recruitment, and not the least opportunities in business, commerce, and agriculture.
Before the Romans in 70 CE destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and in 131 forbade Jews to settle there, large and prosperous Jewish communities existed in provinces like Egypt, Crete, Cyrenaica, Syria, Asia, Mesopotamia, and in Rome itself.
However, the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem motivated many Jews to formulate a new self-definition and adjust their existence to the prospect of an indefinite period of displacement, that eventually would culminate in a return to a mostly imaginary realm of Israel. In 1948, this religious dream became a reality through the establishment of the Jewish State of Israel.
A development that by most the U.S. and European politicians was considered to strengthen a “Western” strategic, economic, and political presence in the Middle East, at the same time as the establishment of Israel could ease the burden of a bad conscience for not having done enough to hinder the extermination of Jews, combined with easing the pressure to resettle and compensate the victims.
Nowadays, the Sate of Israel does not only control the land granted to it by the British, but also territories inhabited by also areas like the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Gaza strip. In Gaza, Israel maintains control of its airspace, its territorial waters, no-go zones within the strip, and the population registry. Pappé has stated that
“the tale of Palestine from the beginning until today is a simple story of colonialism and dispossession, yet the world treats it as a multifaceted and complex story – hard to understand and even harder to solve. Indeed, the story of Palestine has been told before: European settlers coming to a foreign land, settling there, and either committing genocide against or expelling the indigenous people. The Zionists have not invented anything new in this respect. But Israel succeeded nonetheless, with the help of its allies everywhere, in building a multilayered explanation that is so complex that only Israel can understand it. Any interference from the outside world is immediately castigated as naïve at best or anti-Semitic at worst.”
On October 11th 2023, Hamas-led fighters breached the Gaza-Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities, killing 1,139 people, including 695 Israeli civilians, among them 38 children, 71 foreign nationals, and 373 members of the Israeli security forces, while taking about 250 Israelis as hostages. Incidents of great brutality and rape were witnessed and reported.
Israeli repercussion was swift and merciless. Israel has ravaged the Gaza Strip. Apartment buildings, mosques, schools, hospitals, and universities have been reduced to rubble.
During their hunt for Hamas fighters Israel has deliberately targeted and destroyed civilian structures where civilians have sought refuge. On May 21st 2024, Israeli government offered its first estimate of the operation’s death toll, claiming its troops had killed 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians. A week earlier the U.N. reported that approximately 35,000 individuals had died during the conflict, including 7,797 minors, 4,959 women and 1,924 elderly, the latter three groups with confirmed identities. Among the victims were 103 journalists and 196 humanitarian workers.
At almost the same time, Save the Children reported that more than 13,000 children had been killed, while WHO stated that at least 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated. On the 11th of August the death toll was estimated to be approximately 39,000 people.
The killing is continuing unabated, worsened by starvation. WFP recently reported that 1.1 million Gaza inhabitants are facing catastrophic hunger.
In northern Gaza, one in three children under two years of age suffer from acute malnutrition. According to estimates by UNICEF, people’s daily nutritional intake is down to 245 calories, i.e. less than a can of beans. This is mostly attributable to an Israeli blockade that according to UNICEF since March 1 has stopped 30 percent of aid missions, letting in a daily average of only 159 of the required 500 aid trucks.
Even before October 11th people of Gaza had an intolerable existence, lacking sufficient access to electricity, potable water, food, and medical equipment. Unemployment rate was more than forty per cent, while children grew up in a world of intermittent war and persistent trauma, of barbed wire and surveillance. Israeli attacks continue while remains of Hamas’ military branch has become a drastically diminished insurgent force, which fighters pop up from the rubble to shoot at Israeli soldiers.
An entire population has been severely punished for the presence of a fanatical, political party, which according to polls conducted in September 2023 by the majority of Gazans was considered to be repressive and corrupt, but which they were frightened to criticize. Hamas’s support was estimated to be between 27 and 31 percent, though since many Gazans are unable to perceive a viable solution to Israel’s iron grip on their confined strip of land, they consider armed resistance to be the only way out.
In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s two decades long regime has tried to sabotage a two-state-solution by weakening the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank, allowing for vast amounts of mainly Qatari money to reach Hamas, in exchange for maintaining a ceasefire and sowing division within Al-Fatah, the party governing the West Bank.
Part of this policy has also been the increased support to 144 Israeli settlements within the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem, and a discreet sustenance to over 100 “Israeli outposts”, i.e. settlements not authorized by the Israeli government. Over 450,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank, with an additional 220,000 in East Jerusalem. Living in a settlement is made attractive through lower costs of housing compared to living in Israel proper. Government spending per citizen in settlements is double, in some cases triple, than what is spent per Israeli citizen in Israel proper.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israeli settlements on occupied territory is, according to international laws, illegal and established that Israel has “an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the occupied territories”. The Court is talking to deaf ears.
A current expansion of settlements has involved the confiscation of Palestinian land and resources, leading to displacement of Palestinian communities while creating a source of tension and conflict. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that from 1 January to 19 September 2023, Israeli settlers killed 189 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and wounded 8,192. The violence increased after October 3rd, after that date 460 Palestinians have so far been murdered by settlers. On average, there are every day three cases of settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, resulting in the killing and injuring of Palestinians, harming their property, and preventing them from reaching their land, workplace, family, and friends.
International ramifications are continuously unfolding – armed exchanges between Israel and Iran, between Israel and Hezbollah, Iran supported Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, followed by Israeli counterattacks on Yemen, waves of pro-Palestine demonstrations across Europe, the U.S., and Arab capitals, combined with increased antisemitism. All this could for Israel mean its worst defeat ever, while at the same time it may for Palestinians prove to be more deadly and devastating than the Nakba.
ROME, Aug 15 (IPS) – Corinne Fleischer, WFP’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, describes Gaza as “a terrible situation getting worse.” Over the past two weeks, 21 United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution points have been closed under evacuation orders.
“UNRWA says that 86% of the Strip is under an evacuation order,” she says on a video call from her office in Cairo. Fleischer visited the enclave in July.” 2 million people are crammed into 14% of the territory.”
Despite Immense Challenges, WFP Continues to Assist Gazans
With continuous evacuation orders forcing WFP to uproot food distribution sites, precise targeting of the most vulnerable groups becomes challenging. We provide ready-to-eat food, hot meals and nutrition support to breastfeeding women and small children.
Mohammed was severely injured in the conflict but all efforts to evacuate him for medical treatment failed. His family fully depends on food from WFP to survive.
“We support partners in almost 80 kitchens, where they cook meals, pack and distribute them to people in camps,” Fleischer explains. She previously visited Gaza last December. “Then, it was really about how do we bring food in – that’s still very much the case,” she says. “Now, at least we have a dedicated WFP operation on the ground.” Our main accomplishment? “We have helped prevent full-scale famine from happening,” she says.
There are currently nearly 500,000 people at IPC5/Catastrophe, the highest grade of food insecurity on the global standard for measuring food insecurity – down from 1.1 million people earlier this year.
Fleischer is keen to highlight the positive impacts of humanitarian supplies making it through.”Right now, we don’t bring enough food into Gaza,” she says. “We don’t bring in what we plan for the month because we don’t have enough crossing points open. We need all the crossings open and at full capacity.”
“Operations are super complicated,” Fleischer says. “We work in a war zone. Roads are destroyed. We are waiting hours at checkpoints for green lights to move.”
WFP, she stresses, also works to support the wider humanitarian community. “We are leading the Logistics Cluster (the interagency coordination mechanism) and supporting partners to bring in their goods through the Jordan corridor. We are receiving their goods in the north at the Zikim crossing point. We’re helping them in Kerem Shalom. So, of course, we’re helping with fuel supplies too.”
Nowhere Is Safe in Gaza
“Gazans cannot get out, and they’re asking to get out,” Fleischer says. “They’re beyond exhausted. There is no space – one makeshift tent after the other up to the sea. Streets are teeming with people.” Meanwhile, the breakdown of sewage systems, lack of water and waste management means diseases, such as Hepatitis A which is spreading among children, are allowed to fester.
Children eat fortified biscuits from WFP at a makeshift camp in southern Gaza.
“We are lucky that nothing has happened to our amazing staff – more than 200 UNRWA staff have been killed,” she says. “That is not acceptable.” She adds: “We have amazing security officers who advise management on which risks to avoid, so that we can stay and do our work safely and families can access our assistance safely. But the risks are high. Very high. We have bullets close to our convoys. We’re there repairing roads. We’re there moving with our trucks. We’re there reaching people. And it’s very dangerous.”
On the path to recovery, the private sector has a role to play, says Fleischer – take the reopening of shops. “If you think of a lifeline, of hope, or a sense of normalcy, it’s surely when the staple bread is back in the market,” she says of bakeries that have reopened with WFP support. “Bakeries need wheat flour, they need yeast, and diesel too – and that’s where we come in.”
High Prices Keep Basic Foods Out of Reach for Most Gazans
In the south of Gaza, “basic food items are slowly re-emerging in food markets. You can actually find vegetables, fruits in the markets but because prices are high, they remain out of reach for most,” she says “And in any case, people don’t have cash. There are no jobs. Even our own staff tell us, ‘We have a salary, but we can’t access cash’.”
Fleischer is keen for humanitarian efforts to reach a stage where people “stop eating things they have been eating for the past nine months” – to diversify diets heavily dependent on canned food (provided by WFP) and whatever people can get their hands on.
“This level of destruction I’ve never seen.”
Fleischer’s biggest fear for Gaza is “that there is no end to this . That we continue with ever less space for the people who already have nowhere to go back to. Even if they moved back to the north, where could they go?”
“Everything is flattened. There are no homes, it’s all destroyed. We need a long ceasefire that leads to peace so we can operate.”
After the Rafah incursion, many people returned to Khan Younis but there’s no means of living in the area. There are no homes left. Credit: WFP
Fleischer, who has served with WFP in Syria and Sudan’s Darfur Region, adds: “This level of destruction I’ve never seen. Hospitals and clinics are destroyed, food processing plants are destroyed. Everything is destroyed.”
Yet, “There is this never-give-up attitude from the people, from the families we serve,” she says. “I can’t believe children still run to you and laugh with you. They probably see in us hope that there will be an end to all this – a sign they are not forgotten.”
This story originally appeared on WFP’s Stories on August 8, 2024 and was written by the WFP Editorial Team.
Opinion by Witada Anukoonwattaka, Preety Bhogal (bangkok, thailand)
Inter Press Service
BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 12 (IPS) – The rapid growth of digitalization has fundamentally altered commerce, impacting production and facilitating the movement of goods. The 2023 Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR), has pointed out that although digital trade revenues of Asia and the Pacific account for a significant share of global trade, this growth is uneven, with trade concentrated in a few areas, leading to disparities across the region.
Different policy measures to establish an inclusive digital trade and e-commerce landscape have been used across the region. For example, research on internet courts in China showed how such public and digitized judicial systems benefit smaller and medium-sized firms compared to private dispute resolution mechanisms, which are highly costly.
Indonesia’s introduction of single submission for freight transport applications and its impact on sustainability in supply chains was another case study. This policy instrument has had significant impacts across multiple domains, such as increasing time effectiveness, reducing costs, and increasing transparency in shipping and port clearances.
Lessons learned and the way forward
There is a need to understand the specific digital trade policy instruments that promote sustainable development. It is critical to acknowledge key differences and similarities between trade and digital trade policy to strategically leverage their interlinkage to achieve the SDGs. Social development works in tandem with economic progress.
A key concern is the lack of data on cross-border e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions, which hinders the implementation and evaluation of programs designed to promote the participation and productivity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
More concerted efforts to improve data measurement through private-public partnerships could be a possible policy intervention to address this issue. States should establish effective monitoring systems by improving the availability of economic statistics and third-party evaluations for measuring the progress and impact of SME support programs.
However, given the diversity in operations of SMEs across sectors, it is essential to devise and tailor policies that cater to their specific needs and realities.
There is also a need for sharing real-world examples of successful government initiatives and SME support programs so neighboring countries can draw lessons from them. There are doubts about the long-term usefulness of stand-alone Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) due to the lack of stringent legal provisions for possible breaches, unlike market-access free trade agreements (FTAs).
Lastly, the United States, which has played a pivotal role in advocating for an open global trade environment, gradually step back from its position, it is time to rethink the leadership that would guide the establishment of digital trade provisions in the future.
This involves showcasing how digital trade rules will be established and enforced moving forward. Who will provide such public goods for digital trade is a major question facing the global economy.
Given its rapid digital-economy growth, significant market size, and increasing influence in global digital trade, should that leadership come from the Asia-Pacific region?
Witada Anukoonwattaka is Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Investment and Innovation Division, ESCAP; Preety Bhogal is Consultant, Trade Investment and Innovation Division, ESCAP.
Stephen Curry came off that brick-house screen from Joel Embiid late in the fourth quarter, with Serbian guard Ognjen Dobrić running into the wall as if he were Wile E. Coyote and crumpling to the floor, and the greatest shooter of all time fired a shot from up top that might as well have landed on a craps table.
With just 144 seconds left to play in this FIBA-style game where the clock is no one’s friend, it fell through the net to give Team USA a lead for the first time since midway through the first quarter. Eventually, Team USA pulled off one of the most stunning comebacks ever by somehow surviving a 17-point deficit against Serbia, 95-91, en route to the Olympic gold-medal game against France. Eventually, we’ll come to truly appreciate how close this squad — with names like LeBron James, Curry, Kevin Durant and so many more all-time talents on board — came to a level of infamy that would have surpassed the 2004 team that took bronze in Athens and inspired a reckoning within the national program as a result.
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
Phew.
I honestly don’t know what else to say.
When you cover international tournaments such as the Olympics, there is a level of support from some non-American media for their respective teams that is, to be honest, quite off-putting. Some reporters cheer on press row, which is considered a no-no in the United States, and others even shout disparaging things at American players like Joel Embiid (true story).
But to watch these Americans walk up to the edge like they did, and to anticipate the sort of scrutiny that was headed their way from people like yours truly if they fell short, was to quietly hope that shots like Curry’s late 3 would fall. It’s a dynamic that simply doesn’t exist in the NBA, one that’s born out of the reality that you know one group of humans so much better than the others. And when Curry finished the job, stealing that pass from Bogdan Bogdanović and going coast-to-coast for a left-to-right layup that put Team USA up 91-86 with 1:01 left, there was a sense of relief that the Golden State Warriors star had finally had a moment in his debut Summer Games.
As Team USA coach Steve Kerr shared afterward, Curry had the look of a player who was pressing coming in. He scored in single digits in three of Team USA’s four Olympic games while averaging a whopping 7.3 points in the first four, with the lone highlight of his first Olympics experience being the exhibition game against Serbia on July 17 in which he scored 24 points.
That was child’s play compared to this one. Curry was unconscious, finishing with 36 points while hitting 12 of 19 shots and burying nine of 14 3s in all.
You know how many times he has hit that many 3s on 14 or fewer attempts in his entire storied career? Nine, according to Stathead.com, and that includes 1,103 games in all between regular season and playoffs (0.8 percent of the time). As a relevant reminder, these games are 40 minutes long and not the 48-minute affairs we see in the NBA. The fact that it came in a game in which Team USA was in such desperate need of a hoops hero made it all the more epic.
“There were times these last couple weeks where I thought (Curry) was working too hard,” said Kerr, the Warriors coach who has had his front-row seat to Curry’s greatness for a decade. “He just cares so much, works so hard at his game constantly. We all know who he is, what he’s about, and I almost wanted to tell him, ‘Hey, take a day off,’ But it’s just not who he is. He works so hard, and he willed himself to that game tonight over the past couple weeks with the work he’s put in.”
Curry, the 36-year-old who had still managed to enjoy this Olympic experience to the fullest off the floor, insisted the walls weren’t closing in.
“I didn’t feel (pressure) at all, because we were winning by … 15, 20 every game,” he said. “I know that I affect the game in other ways. But about two minutes into the game tonight, we realized that I’m getting looks, that they were playing a different type of defense on us. Obviously, they were scoring crazy on the other end, so you just keep going and get lost in the moment.
“It’s whatever the game calls for. I shot three times last game (in a rout of Brazil), and I wasn’t looking to force it, because that’s not what the game called for. So that’s the beauty of Team USA and FIBA and this whole experience. Every game has been somebody different.”
Still, to hear Curry’s side of the story was to realize this role has been a massive adjustment for him. While he entered the Serbia game shooting just 35.7 percent from the field and 25 percent from three (5 of 20), he had also averaged just seven shots per game. That context, the reality that this team makes it so challenging for so many great players to find a way to play like they do with their NBA squads, is often lost in the discussion.
“I haven’t had many opportunities,” Curry said so plainly. “I haven’t shot the ball well the whole tournament, but it doesn’t waver your confidence to meet the moment.”
And did he ever.
When one of the greatest basketball games of all time was over, James — who was a part of the ’04 team the USA Basketball program would rather everyone forget — threw the ball into the air and looked down to find Curry waiting to hug him with unbridled joy. It was a surreal scene in every way, the sight of these two NBA rivals sharing the kind of memory no one could have imagined when their Cavs and Warriors teams were battling for all those years in the finals.
GO DEEPER
LeBron James, Steph Curry had a ‘healthy resentment’ — Olympics offer something new
So, I asked James, where does this game rank in terms of sheer emotion?
“I mean, it’s up there,” said James, the four-time champion and Los Angeles Lakers star whose triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) played a massive part in the win. “I mean, I’m 39 years old, going into my 22nd season. I don’t know how many opportunities or moments I’m gonna get like this, to be able to compete for something big and play in big games.”
This game was bigger than big. It was downright magical, with all this history tied up between the players who matter most falling by the wayside for the sake of their national pride. Just listen to Kevin Durant, the Phoenix Suns star who won two championships with Curry in Golden State and sounded like he’d never seen anything like this before.
“Steph, man, that was a God-like like performance,” said Durant, who forced Bogdanović into a crucial backcourt violation with 1:34 left and hit a nasty jumper with 34 seconds remaining that put Team USA up 93-89. “Dang, (Curry) was tough. He felt like he was struggling throughout the whole tournament, and we always said each night it could be somebody different (every game). And tonight, he showed up in a way that, man…”
Durant almost couldn’t find the words.
“Shot after shot, getting a steal and then finishing with the layup,” he said. “He was everywhere tonight. It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen him play.”
Required Reading
(Top photo of Stephen Curry and Aleksa Avramović: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Can we just get on with it? Please? Declaring Steady Stiddy as your starter, as Payton more or less did for Sunday’s preseason opener at Indianapolis, is just delaying the inevitable. It’s cute for cute’s sake. It’s either an epic troll job or a backdoor message to Nix, picked 12th in this past spring’s draft to be your franchise quarterback, that his present isn’t promised.
“I’m not ready for a depth chart, but I have to get (the league) a depth chart,” Payton said after Tuesday’s practice. “So it’s easy to push the (younger) players to the back of the line and then make sure it’s kind of where we sit right now.
“And that’s really it. No, it’s a good question, but I’m not trying to send messages at all.”
Whatever. No. 10 turns 25 in February. Start the meter or get a different cab.
This isn’t 2021. This isn’t about Drew vs. Teddy, about dividing the family and picking a side. This isn’t about an unproven coach who desperately needs to win now, the way Uncle Vic Fangio had to and didn’t.
Broncos Country should be united around Nix, until he gives them ample cause, gives them enough evidence, to cut bait and turn the page. Which might be never.
But dang it, there’s only one way to find out.
It’s about 2025. And 2026. And 2027. Until then, you’re thumb-wrestling with the Raiduhs for third in the AFC West.
It’s about the long game. The Chiefs are the new Patriots; Patrick Mahomes is the new Tom Brady. The Chargers are casting their mercurial lots with Jim Harbaugh — which history says will burn very hot, burn very fast, and, fairly quickly, burn itself out.
Ask yourself this: If Nix is more Josh Rosen than Kyler Murray, wouldn’t you prefer to figure that out sooner as opposed to later?
Sure, Stidham probably gives you the best chance to win now. If your idea of “winning now” is 6-11. Better to stink young.
First-round QBs are like a sports car. In the wrong hands, such as those belonging to Nathaniel Hackett, it’s a sexy wreck waiting to happen.
But there’s a fine line between careful and constipated. You spent the dough to make a show. What’s the point of letting that bad boy sit in the garage all weekend, gathering dust in the darkness?
“I didn’t realize how fast he was,” linebacker Jonas Griffith said Tuesday, eyes widening, when asked about the Broncos’ rookie signal-caller. “It’s kind of crazy because he had (an opening), he was running, I think it was a few days ago, and I was like, ‘Whoa, he’s kind of fast.’ And I consider myself a fast guy.”
Let’s see how fast this kid does 0 to 60. What’s the worst that can happen?
Say Nix gives into his inner Lock, becomes a turnover machine, and stinks up the joint. Congratulations! You’ve backpedaled your way into another top-12 pick, something the Broncos haven’t had in consecutive springs since 2008 and 2009.
The former turned into tackle Ryan Clady. The latter turned into Knowshon Moreno.
“Rookies are at the back of the line,” Payton said.
With most NFL coaches, it’s best to weigh podium proclamations with several grains of salt. With Payton, you take half a shaker. Sunshine Sean is begrudgingly honest in front of a microphone, selectively honest when circled by tape recorders. We are the jackals and hyenas he feeds the way a parent feeds an irresponsible child’s pet hamster. Not because he wants to. Because he has to.
When it comes to any depth chart on Aug. 6, Payton’s right, in theory. It’s too early, it’s too soon, and who cares?
But here’s the difference: When you’ve declared an open QB competition, every rep, every sound bite, is a potential lean, a potential tell.
Although with Payton, who knows? In his six preseason openers since 2016, only two of the coach’s eventual or presumed starters actually took the first snaps of the preseason. Those honors usually went to backups such as Chase Daniel (2017), Tom Savage (2018), Teddy Bridgewater (2019) and Taysom Hill (2021).
Daniel never threw a regular-season pass in ’17. Savage wound up getting cut on Sept. 1 of ’18 after losing the backup battle to our old pal Teddy B.
“Like I said, there wasn’t a lot of thought,” Payton continued. “I mean, we just got the depth chart out (Tuesday) and that’s it. And that’s where we’re at now.”
Some seasons are about winning at all costs. Some are about development. You can split the difference, of course. But six years of always trying to thread that particular needle has left the Broncos a little cross-eyed.
Payton would sooner share a booth at Subway with Russell Wilson than punt 20-24 months of a precious, ticking clock. But in this league, sometimes the surest path forward is by taking two steps back first.
Lightweight, colourful, and often more affordable, plastic watches have found a significant place in the hearts (and on the wrists) of watch fans in recent years. Given this rising trend, the idea of a plastic Apple Watch not only makes sense but is also a natural evolution for Apple’s smartwatch lineup.
The recent rumour comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a reputable journalist who informed his newsletter subscribers that Apple will likely be using plastic to make the Watch SE more affordable and child-friendly. He added that this move “could allow for a better array of colors.”
The surge in popularity of plastic watches can be attributed to two high-profile collaborations in recent years.
The first and most obvious is the MoonSwatch collaboration between Swatch and Omega. This collection combines Swatch’s playful designs with Omega’s heritage, resulting in an incredibly popular series of watches.
Similarly, the TAG Heuer Formula One Kith edition highlights how luxury brands are embracing the plastic watch trend. This collaboration with lifestyle brand Kith resulted in a watch that merged high-end watchmaking with contemporary fashion.
Now, Apple has a history of following material trends in the watch industry. Over the years, the company has introduced Apple Watch models made from a variety of materials, including ceramic and titanium. Introducing a plastic version of the Apple Watch aligns perfectly with current trends.
A plastic Apple Watch would likely come in a variety of colours, appealing to people who love more personalised tech. I can see this versatility being very popular with fashionable individuals.
Plastic watches are known for their lightweight and comfort (as anyone who has worn a MoonSwatch can attest). That means a plastic Apple Watch could provide a comfortable wearing experience, which is ideal for fitness fans, children and everyday wear.
Now, while a plastic Apple Watch may not match the durability of aluminium or steel, I think Apple’s reputation for exceptional build quality means it won’t feel like a mere toy. Apple certainly has a past record of making plastic tech feel much more expensive than the material suggests.
It’s rumoured that this new material will be reserved for the affordable Apple Watch SE model, allowing Apple to offer the smartwatch at an even lower price. This would allow the company to compete with cheaper smartwatches, fitness trackers and Fitbits.
Will Apple unveil a plastic Apple Watch SE? We’ll find out for sure if it’s revealed at the next Apple event. For now, it’s exciting to imagine the possibilities and the new wave of watch enthusiasts that a plastic model could inspire.
Cave inspires Rockies fan despite a tough season for the team
I’ve been following the Rockies since their beginning in 1993. My favorite player in those first years was Dante Bichette. He was such a clutch power hitter and I loved his coach Don Baylor. Baylor believed in Bichette and they were friends. In 2020 the Rockies signed Connor Joe. He was a cancer survivor who was inspiring. He made each play like it was his last. Connor Joe became my favorite player. I still love both Bichette and Joe and was inspired watching them play.
In a season where the Rockies are at the bottom of the NL West, I don’t know why but this is my favorite season to watch the Rockies. It shouldn’t be, but I think it has a lot to do with Jake Cave, Ezequiel Tovar, Nolan Jones, Michael Toglia, Charlie Blackmon, Hunter Goodman, Kyle Freeland, Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle, and their manager, Bud Black.
Cave, now my favorite Rockies player of all time, is a real-life Crash Davis with a gray beard and a relentless engine. He is playing each game with desperation as if the Rockies are going to send him back to the minors. He makes me believe the Rockies might completely turn it around for the second half of the season.
Whatever happens, I thank the current Rockies for entertaining this retired 69-year-old man. You have given the devoted fans eternal hope, and it is riding on a 31-year-old gray beard who has no idea he shouldn’t be playing this well.
Steven Antonuccio, Pueblo
Harris is an exciting choice for president
What a summer for the Democratic Party! Today, I find myself as excited about the 2024 election as I was when Barack Obama ran in 2008. Kamala Harris brings a freshness and energy we sorely need. Discouragingly, I am hearing grumblings from people who say America is “just not ready” to have a black woman as president. I say to those people, you need to check your own biases. Black Americans and women are top leaders in all segments of our society today. Questions around how race, ethnicity and gender factor into ability have been asked and satisfactorily answered over and over since this country was founded. The only relevant question now is whether Vice President Harris has the intelligence, skills, fortitude, morals, values, and drive to lead this country.
Tamara Bennett, Carbondale
If you really want to thank me for my service …
I joined the Navy in 1968, one step ahead of the draft. This was just prior to the lottery system and beer-swigging wise-ass 19-year-old punks with lousy high school transcripts, such as me, were being swept up off the streets of America to participate in our first war fought for no logical reason: Vietnam. I consider myself a draft dodger by joining the Navy. Fortunately for me, the Navy gave me a chance to grow up, become focused, and develop self-discipline without the risk of lead poisoning.
Since the Navy provides medical and dental support for the Marines, I proudly served with them for seven of my 21 years of active duty. I retired as a senior chief petty officer.
As to my response to “Thank you for your service!” it will depend on my mood of the moment. Usually, I simply shake their hand and move on. But, occasionally, I will continue to shake their hand (that really makes some people uncomfortable) and say that if they actually wanted to thank me, then promise to not waste any more young, naive patriots in any war fought for no reason such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. When I let go of their hand, off the sincere citizen goes at double time.
The truth is that little remains architecturally on the 130-year-old buildings worth salvaging, and that was the case even before the Wyman Historic District was designated in 1993 to save a neighborhood full of stately mansions of historic value. Like bulky monsters constructed in an ad-hoc manner from bits and pieces, storefronts had been added to the homes in 1938 to capitalize on the bustling commercial area on Colfax. The boxy additions are poorly executed.
And even before the current owners – Pando Holdings — purchased the buildings at Franklin and Colfax in 2017, they were in decline.
Sadly saving the old buildings by blocking their demolition until someone comes along with the desire, financial means and ability to structurally restore them is not the best way to protect the Wyman Historic District.
Signs of fire damage are apparent from the back of the vacant building at 1600 East Colfax Avenue in Denver on July 17, 2024. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)
In March a fire rendered the homes unsound and the owner wants to abandon his already approved plans to preserve both houses as part of a mixed-use development with a seven-story residential building on the large parking lots behind the homes.
Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission rejected the demolition permit requested by Pando Holdings and developer Kiely Wilson.
But allowing the buildings to sit structurally damaged, vacant and badly burned for an indeterminate amount of time is doing more damage to Wyman than their demolition.
The fire was possibly started by people using the empty buildings for shelter – although the Denver Fire Department has not been able to determine a cause yet. The remaining structures are unsound and a safety hazard to anyone else who might try to enter the fenced-off area, whether that’s homeless individuals or Denver teens looking for a fun graffiti pallet.
Demolition seems to be the best path forward.
That is not to say that we don’t sympathize with the Preservation Commission’s consternation over the turn of events.
A plan was in place to save the buildings, and if they are demolished there is less ability to ensure that the developer will build something compatible with the historic district. The commission has more teeth when it comes to preserving a historic building and can even order repairs on buildings so homeowners don’t intentionally allow a historic structure to decay beyond the point of salvage so they can demolish it. Do we suspect that Pando Holdings is guilty of such a nefarious practice? If there was evidence of wrongdoing, no one has named it.
Even with demolition, the commission still has review power over plans for new development in historic districts, even on non-conforming structures and on vacant lots. The goal is to make sure that a new build does not “adversely affect the character-defining features of the overall historic district.”
That’s still a pretty high bar for any new plans at the five-point intersection of East Colfax, Park Avenue, and Franklin Street.
Barring revelations of a plot to avoid preserving the buildings via neglect, we think the commission must recognize that the fire dramatically altered the feasibility of plans to save the homes and storefronts on East Colfax.
Pando Holdings and Wilson surely must recognize that their reputation is on the line if they replace the buildings with anything that isn’t a net gain for the community in terms of aesthetically pleasing, historic façades on East Colfax.
Leaders have been lied to for decades about DEIA. We’ve been told there is a clean, clear way to integrate diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism into an organization and that simply making a statement, changing hiring demographics by a percentage point or investing in training is enough.
All of those things are positive; all are progress. However, human beings aren’t data points that can easily be changed and manipulated. We’re complex individuals with many layers and connecting identities. The equity we are hoping to see will not be reached by easy-to-achieve metrics alone.
That’s why we must push ourselves and our organizations to lead our DEIA work by accepting the mixed and unique nature of all our identities, so we can better serve our students, staff and families.
This sounds incredibly messy because it is.
The oppressive structure of systemic racism in this country is powerful, poisonous and must be explicitly combatted. Anti-racism must remain a core part of our DEIA work. We must talk about the hard things.
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As a Black man and leader in public education, I have grappled with the complexities of race and identity throughout my life. My entry into this topic was — and largely still is — grounded in my racial identity and my upbringing in Texas, something I’m reminded of every time I look at my birth certificate and see the word “Negro” on it.
Yet we are all more than our race. It’s all too easy to focus solely on the parts of who we are that are the most visible or important to us. I am Black, I am a cisgendered man, I am heterosexual, I am Texan, I am a father and so much more.
Inclusion and belonging work is more than race too. In addition to grappling with our own personal DEIA journeys, we must navigate the surrounding political environments of our schools. These contexts often lead teachers and leaders to cherry-pick aspects of DEIA that seem easier to address, or more palatable, while neglecting others.
For example, many teachers struggle to tell parents about books and materials that feature religious or sexual identities. Yet these same teachers find it easy to vocalize the needs of students with learning disabilities.
Schools nationwide celebrate Black History Month enthusiastically, yet voice concerns about whether Pride Month should be recognized. Staff members urge schools to prioritize hiring diverse educators, yet advocate against using school budgets to update school facilities for all bodies.
With such messy work, it’s natural to cling to what feels most achievable or comfortable. Educators are overwhelmed by challenges, from the pandemic’s impact on learning to resource gaps, safety concerns and a myriad of society’s ills.
Facing down systemic racism can feel impossible, as can dismantling overlapping systems of oppression. When we see DEIA as a singular objective to achieve or a single battle to win, we can feel defeated.
But when educators adopt DEIA as a mindset and approach, that discipline allows us to make slow but steady progress toward a more just future. This is forever, all-encompassing work. The growth and progress for each of us is never done and requires us to lean into productive struggle.
To make real gains in creating inclusive schools, we need to go beyond just meeting goals and instead commit to making sometimes difficult choices and confronting uncomfortable truths to create a new world of standards. As we approach decisions, we must ask ourselves not only what measurable outcomes our choices will achieve, but also how they will change our culture. Just as systemic racism is entrenched in American culture, we need to entrench DEIA in the work of schools.
At the charter network I lead, DEIA is everyone’s responsibility. This commitment is rooted as much in mindset as it is in accountability. It’s the lens we use to critically examine our systems, policies, programs and interactions as we aim to eliminate inequitable and exclusionary practices — without focusing solely on one identity, but instead considering how different identities interact with one another.
In the classroom, we introduced reading programs that acknowledge literacy as a key factor in creating an anti-racist education; our literacy efforts are complemented by classroom library selections for all grades that promote an inclusive learning environment for students of all identities.
We see the work as both immediate and ongoing. We name and embrace that complexity. More than 79 percent of our staff do not identify as white; 64 percent identify as Black. The majority of our school leaders and executive team reflect a similar mix of identities. Every staff member is required to engage deeply with our value of centering justice.
We’re actively working to increase religious and gender inclusion, such as with designated prayer spaces and more all-gender bathrooms, so students feel supported every time they enter our buildings.
Much more work remains to be done. We will hold ourselves to it and continue to move forward, and I remain hopeful that we’re moving in the right direction.
It’s time for all of us to dive into the mess.
Recy Benjamin Dunn is CEO of Ascend Public Charter Schools, a network of K-12 public charter schools serving nearly 6,000 students in 17 schools across Brooklyn.
This story about DEIA work was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.
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All the way back in 2019, I got my first Christopher Ward watch – the C60 Trident GMT. It was reliable, beautiful, and practical, with build quality that belied its affordable price tag. Now, the British watch brand is bringing back everyone’s favourite complication with the C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT.
Available in three colour options, this brand new iteration comes with all the refinement you’d expect from a modern Christopher Ward Trident, but now with the added practicality of a GMT hand.
Measuring 40mm, the new Pro 300 GMT boasts the latest light-catcher case design. It combines fine linear brushing and diamond polishing, with a case height of just 11.8mm – significantly thinner than my old C60.
Christopher Ward claims the downturned lugs and 47.4mm lug-to-lug width comfortably conform to a broad range of wrist sizes.
At this price point, the Pro 300 GMT promises exceptional tactility, featuring a threaded crown, a bracelet adjustment system, and a 120-click, bi-directional coin-edge bezel with either a lumed ceramic or steel relief insert marked with 24-hour numerals for monitoring up to three time zones simultaneously.
The dial is super legible, with the large, bevelled indexes and the signature Trident handset both filled with the highest grade C1 BL Grade X1 Super-Luminova.
The dial is nicely balanced with the applied, five-piece, twin-flag logo at the 12 o’clock position and a colour-matched date wheel at 6 o’clock.
Inside the new Pro 300 GMT is the Sellita SW330-2 – a self-winding calibre with a 4Hz beat rate and a lengthy power reserve of 56 hours.
The new C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT is available in three striking colours, and I really like all of them. The light blue/blue is classic and understated, the white/blue looks perfect for summer, and the turquoise/yellow with a steel relief bezel really stands out. What I genuinely appreciate about all of them is that they’re all quintessentially Christopher Ward. They haven’t just relied on the traditional (and now somewhat clichéd) Pepsi, Coke, and Sprite colourways.
If you’re looking to buy just one good watch, the C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT is all the watch you’d ever need.
The new C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT is priced from £995 / $1195 on a FKM Aquaflex rubber strap, £1150/$1380 on the three-link Bader bracelet, and £1185/$1420 on the five-link Consort bracelet.
