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This is an example of how you should set up your Padlet posts:
To for the first week only, type your name in this box. I will then be able to name the appropriate column with your name (e.g. replace 'student 1/2/3 etc.' with the correct names.
After your name, you will need to provide the name of the week you are posting about (e.g. Week 1) and then a link to the news report
with your commentary (e.g. what are the 'main points' and what did you learn?).
Be sure to write in your own words and provide a thoughtful, personal,
reflection of what you learned. Each post should be at least 100 words.
Important: you will always
post to the same column each week (identified by your name)

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This article is about Langara Students collaborating with students at a university in Argentina, via a virtual exchange experience known as 'COIL-VE'. I learned that it is possible for Langara students to work with other students on the other side of the Americas,  and participate on assignments together via the internet. It shows how technology is changing the way we connect with others, but it also reminds us that we are becoming increasingly dependent on/ forced to use technology (what do we do about people/ cultures that prefer not to communicate via technology?). Overall, I think COIL-VE will be great for increasing awareness of other cultures, and allow students to meet/work with others without the cost barriers of international travel. I'd like to introduce this into my own courses!

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Vancouver, BC - Social distancing and COVID-19 haven't prevented students at Langara College from collaborating with their peers at Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Langara is introducing cutting-edge pedagogy by supporting faculty to introduce Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning - Virtual Exchange (COIL-VE) to the classroom.

Under the tutelage of Langara's Latin American Studies instructor Jessie Smith and Antonella Romiti (UNGS), students in Latin American Cultural Perspectives created photo galleries that reflect on interculturalism and art for social change from a gender perspective.

The student projects are:

Femicides in the Americas: how media coverage of femicide shields the aggressors

Abortion in Canada and Argentina: a photo-gallery comparison about abortion rights in Argentina and Canada

LGTBIQ Rights in Canada and Argentina

Indigenous Women Under Attack in the Americas

Me Too/Ni Una Menos: how the Me Too movement has involved in each country

Musicians for Change: Women Rising

"This was an exciting opportunity for Langara's students to interact with and exchange mutual ideas with their peers from Argentina," said Smith. "Their final projects exhibited insight and creativity that far exceeded our expectations. It was a joy to collaborate on this creative project with Antonella, my counter-part in Argentina."

COIL-VE intentionally fosters the development of the intercultural competencies that are needed for success in today's world and work force. Student groups from two or more institutions work together virtually to complete a project.

"This experience has been absolutely mesmerizing and new to me," said Sole Castenada, a Langara student taking Latin America Studies. "I feel so privileged to be able to be a part of such an innovative learning process where multiple cultures have the opportunity to mesh into one virtual dimension of academic nurturing and creative collaboration."

Langara's Centre for Intercultural Engagement (CIE) has developed a COIL-VE Community of Practice to support Langara Fellows engaged in virtual exchange. CIE additionally offers COIL-VE workshop training sessions to Faculty partners from external institutions to support development of joint virtual student learning projects. Following these workshops participants become part of the Langara COIL-VE Community of Practice, gaining access to discussions, peers, and resources.

"Virtual learning is a relatively new program at Langara which started in 2019 with the objective of helping students gain intercultural and global competencies. We're encouraged by the results we've seen from the first couple of projects," said Natasha Mrkic-Subotic, Intercultural Engagement Consultant, Langara College. "Given the challenges with in-classroom learning we're facing, this delivery method is an ideal way to engage our students and build relationships nationally and around the world."
More about COIL-VE
Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning, also called Virtual Exchange, is a method for connecting faculty and their students with peers in other countries via the internet. The model involves in-depth cooperation between paired faculty co-designing parts of courses (to entire courses) and students collaborating in small groups to complete shared projects. COIL-VE produces meaningful, authentic intercultural experiences for faculty and students without the cost and extensive time away from home. For students, COIL-VE increases interest in study abroad. For faculty, COIL-VE increases international faculty collaboration and future short-term exchanges.

About snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College
Located in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., Canada, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College provides University, Career, and Continuing Studies education to more than 23,000 students annually. With more than 1,700 courses and 130 programs, Langara's expansive academic breadth and depth allows students of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages to choose their own educational path. Langara is also known as snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓, a name given to it by the Musqueam people on whose unceded traditional territory the College is located. Langara is celebrating its 49th year on West 49th Avenue with Beyond 49, an integrated celebration, alumni engagement, and fundraising campaign to reconnect with alumni, and raise funds for student support and important College initiatives.

Mark Dawson
Manager, Public Affairs
604.323.5702
mdawson@langara.ca

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Langara students collaborate online with Argentinian peers to explore social change

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Vancouver, BC - Social distancing and COVID-19 haven't prevented students at Langara College from collaborating with their peers at Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Langara is introducing cutting-edge pedagogy by supporting faculty to introduce Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning - Virtual Exchange (COIL-VE) to the classroom.

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From the desecration of Jewish graveyards in France to concerns about the pointed language used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Jewish people in Europe feel they are being subjected to more racism.

A recent European Union survey of 16,500 Jewish people across the continent showed that 28 per cent of respondents reported being harassed within the past year. A staggering 89 per cent consider online anti-Semitism to be a problem.

The report mentioned the increasing need for security protection at synagogues and Jewish schools, the pervasiveness of online hatred and a theme of anti-Semitism within political movements across many EU member states.
WATCH: French president Emmanuel Macron recently announced new measures to tackle online anti-semitism. It came after a series of incidents targeting Jews in France. But right across Europe, record numbers of Jews are reporting anti-Semitic incidents. Redmond Shannon dug beneath the numbers to hear from two British Jews from very different generations.
"For the last three years, we've recorded record totals of anti-Semitic hate incidents across the U.K.," said Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, a Jewish security charity.

"In 2018, there were 1,652 incidents reported to us."

The most recent census figures show there are fewer than 300,000 Jews living in the U.K.

The French government says there was a 74 per cent rise in reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the country last year.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 20, 2019): Britain's May says she never thought she'd see Labour accused of anti-Semitism by former member
In February, Yellow Vest protesters in Paris were filmed hurling anti-Jewish insults at famous philosopher Alain Finkielkraut. Days later, vandals sprayed swastikas on 90 Jewish gravestones in eastern France.

In Germany, police say anti-Semitism is at its worst level in a decade.

"The most common type of incident we get reported to us will be a Jewish person walking down a street like this," said Rich, standing outside Carmelli's Bakery in Golders Green, one of London's mainly Jewish neighbourhoods.

"Possibly, they're visibly Jewish because they wear religious clothing or a school uniform from a Jewish school, and some random stranger walking past or driving past will shout anti-Semitic abuse at them."
WATCH (Aired Feb. 18, 2019): 7 lawmakers quit U.K. Labour Party over handling of Brexit, anti-Semitism
On Thursday, the U.K.'s Equalities and Human Rights Commission said it was considering a formal investigation into anti-Semitism in the main opposition Labour Party.

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Party leader in 2015, he has regularly been accused of not taking the issue of anti-Semitism within the party membership seriously enough. He continues to reject the accusations.

Last month, eight Labour MPs left the party, partly because of Brexit, but some also cited the issue of how anti-Semitism was being dealt with by Corbyn.

"The leadership has willfully and repeatedly failed to address hatred against Jewish people within its ranks," said MP Luciana Berger on the day she left the party.

"I am leaving behind a culture of bullying, bigotry and intimidation. I look forward to a future serving with colleagues who respect each other and who are committed to working together for our great country."

In Europe, anti-Semitism is associated with right-wing fascism, but Labour is a centre-left party - one that has swung more to the left under Corbyn. Labour has traditionally been seen as a natural home for Jews. Not anymore.

"I was brought up in the Labour Party. My dad came from the east end (of London) and probably, as a youngster, flirted with communism," said 61-year-old Jewish Londoner Michael Cohen.

"It was the party for justice and the party that looked after minorities and was an anti-racist party, and as a teenager, I used to go out and canvass for the Labour Party."

Cohen, who says he's never directly encountered anti-Semitism in his life, gave up his Labour membership two weeks ago.

Cohen is a proud Briton. He's a big fan of the Chelsea F.C. soccer team and cricket, and on weekends, you might find him in a North London pub, performing under his jazz/rock pseudonym "The Fabulous Micky C."

"It's just so clear that there is a form of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party which is sometimes hard to define but it's clearly there and it's clearly not being tackled by the Labour Party," said Cohen.

"Which is indefensible and deeply upsetting and deeply worrying to myself and to my family."
Leaving for Israel
Abe Rietti is another a British-Jewish musician but from a very different generation. The 23-year-old has little interest in party politics, but he has experienced anti-Semitism.

"I remember walking in town, in Tottenham Court Road a few months ago, and I was wearing the kippah, and some guy walked past and they said, 'You effing Jew,'" said Rietti.

"And I was like, there's no [context] to that. He didn't even have a reason to say that. And he was around my age."

Rietti's rap songs tackle issues like discrimination, anti-Semitism and the generational scars of the Holocaust.

His parents moved to Israel with six of his eight siblings two years ago, partly for religious reasons.

"They felt that the country was becoming a little bit more... well, less accepting to Jewish people, especially the religious people," said Rietti.

"They felt that by moving to a Jewish/Israeli country, they would be able to live more happily, more content."
Orban vs. Soros
Last year, Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, launched a verbal attack on Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros. The language he used raised concerns among Jews across the world.

"We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open but hiding, not straightforward but crafty, not honest but base, not national but international, does not believe in working but speculates with money, does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world," Orbán said.

Britain's biggest Jewish organisation, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, criticized Orbán at the time for his language and for his handling of issues affecting Hungarian Jews.

In February, the group's president, Marie van der Zyl, was invited to meet with Hungary's Deputy State Secretary for Civil Society Relations Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky at the Hungarian embassy in London, where she raised her concerns.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 19, 2019): France rallies against anti-Semitic attacks
"It was a very forthright meeting," said van der Zyl.

"A number of concerns, which have been well documented in the news, were raised, in particular, anti-Semitic tropes used against George Soros, in particular in relation to money."

After the meeting, Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote to the Board of Deputies, rejecting their criticisms and telling them to "please mind your own business."

"Which shows they are not really interested in listening at all so I'm not really sure why they wanted to see us, but it is our duty to call out right-wing anti-Semitism, and we have told them that in no uncertain terms," said van der Zyl.
Root Causes
Prof. David Feldman is director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Birkbeck College, University of London. He says anti-Semitism is an old, recycled political tactic used by different political movements to different ends.

"It's been driven, to a great extent, by the rise in populist politics, which itself is a response to the austerity, to the hard times, to the rising inequality that followed the crash of 2008," he said.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 21, 2019): Macron announces measures to combat anti-Semitism
"It's not that society as a whole is becoming anti-Semitic, but it is the case that those in society that have anti-Semitic views are becoming bolder, and they're finding spaces in which they're able to express them."

Feldman says social media is that space - and is amplifying the issue everywhere.

In the wake of the anti-Semitic incidents in France in February, French President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish leaders he will introduce legislation aimed at cracking down on online hate speech.

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The rising worries about anti-Semitism in Europe

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From the desecration of Jewish graveyards in France to concerns about the pointed language used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Jewish people in Europe feel they are being subjected to more racism. A recent European Union survey of 16,500 Jewish people across the continent showed that 28 per cent of respondents reported being harassed within the past year.

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This news story is about how racism towards Jewish people still exists today. I chose this news story because racism is a major issue in Europe. A European Union Survey was recently finished and revealed that 28 percent of Jewish people who took the survey felt harassed within the past year. Simply walking down a street wearing a Kippah which is a Jewish cap, many individuals are judged and called ethnic slurs. This news story relates to anthropology because racism is a legitimate concern and sometimes there is not enough awareness about this topic. What I have learned from this news story is racism unfortunately still exists in Europe. I believe we as humans should treat everyone equal regardless of skin or our beliefs.

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This news story is about how racism towards Jewish people still exists today. I chose this news story because racism is a major issue in Europe. A European Union Survey was recently finished and revealed that 28 percent of Jewish people who took the survey felt harassed within the past year. Simply walking down a street wearing a Kippah which is a Jewish cap, many individuals are judged and called ethnic slurs. This news story relates to Anthropology because racism is a legitimate concern and sometimes there is not enough awareness about this topic. What I have learned from this news story is racism unfortunately is a problem in Europe. I believe we as humans should treat everyone equal regardless of skin or our beliefs.

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From the desecration of Jewish graveyards in France to concerns about the pointed language used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Jewish people in Europe feel they are being subjected to more racism.

A recent European Union survey of 16,500 Jewish people across the continent showed that 28 per cent of respondents reported being harassed within the past year. A staggering 89 per cent consider online anti-Semitism to be a problem.

The report mentioned the increasing need for security protection at synagogues and Jewish schools, the pervasiveness of online hatred and a theme of anti-Semitism within political movements across many EU member states.
WATCH: French president Emmanuel Macron recently announced new measures to tackle online anti-semitism. It came after a series of incidents targeting Jews in France. But right across Europe, record numbers of Jews are reporting anti-Semitic incidents. Redmond Shannon dug beneath the numbers to hear from two British Jews from very different generations.
"For the last three years, we've recorded record totals of anti-Semitic hate incidents across the U.K.," said Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, a Jewish security charity.

"In 2018, there were 1,652 incidents reported to us."

The most recent census figures show there are fewer than 300,000 Jews living in the U.K.

The French government says there was a 74 per cent rise in reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the country last year.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 20, 2019): Britain's May says she never thought she'd see Labour accused of anti-Semitism by former member
In February, Yellow Vest protesters in Paris were filmed hurling anti-Jewish insults at famous philosopher Alain Finkielkraut. Days later, vandals sprayed swastikas on 90 Jewish gravestones in eastern France.

In Germany, police say anti-Semitism is at its worst level in a decade.

"The most common type of incident we get reported to us will be a Jewish person walking down a street like this," said Rich, standing outside Carmelli's Bakery in Golders Green, one of London's mainly Jewish neighbourhoods.

"Possibly, they're visibly Jewish because they wear religious clothing or a school uniform from a Jewish school, and some random stranger walking past or driving past will shout anti-Semitic abuse at them."
WATCH (Aired Feb. 18, 2019): 7 lawmakers quit U.K. Labour Party over handling of Brexit, anti-Semitism
On Thursday, the U.K.'s Equalities and Human Rights Commission said it was considering a formal investigation into anti-Semitism in the main opposition Labour Party.

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Party leader in 2015, he has regularly been accused of not taking the issue of anti-Semitism within the party membership seriously enough. He continues to reject the accusations.

Last month, eight Labour MPs left the party, partly because of Brexit, but some also cited the issue of how anti-Semitism was being dealt with by Corbyn.

"The leadership has willfully and repeatedly failed to address hatred against Jewish people within its ranks," said MP Luciana Berger on the day she left the party.

"I am leaving behind a culture of bullying, bigotry and intimidation. I look forward to a future serving with colleagues who respect each other and who are committed to working together for our great country."

In Europe, anti-Semitism is associated with right-wing fascism, but Labour is a centre-left party - one that has swung more to the left under Corbyn. Labour has traditionally been seen as a natural home for Jews. Not anymore.

"I was brought up in the Labour Party. My dad came from the east end (of London) and probably, as a youngster, flirted with communism," said 61-year-old Jewish Londoner Michael Cohen.

"It was the party for justice and the party that looked after minorities and was an anti-racist party, and as a teenager, I used to go out and canvass for the Labour Party."

Cohen, who says he's never directly encountered anti-Semitism in his life, gave up his Labour membership two weeks ago.

Cohen is a proud Briton. He's a big fan of the Chelsea F.C. soccer team and cricket, and on weekends, you might find him in a North London pub, performing under his jazz/rock pseudonym "The Fabulous Micky C."

"It's just so clear that there is a form of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party which is sometimes hard to define but it's clearly there and it's clearly not being tackled by the Labour Party," said Cohen.

"Which is indefensible and deeply upsetting and deeply worrying to myself and to my family."
Leaving for Israel
Abe Rietti is another a British-Jewish musician but from a very different generation. The 23-year-old has little interest in party politics, but he has experienced anti-Semitism.

"I remember walking in town, in Tottenham Court Road a few months ago, and I was wearing the kippah, and some guy walked past and they said, 'You effing Jew,'" said Rietti.

"And I was like, there's no [context] to that. He didn't even have a reason to say that. And he was around my age."

Rietti's rap songs tackle issues like discrimination, anti-Semitism and the generational scars of the Holocaust.

His parents moved to Israel with six of his eight siblings two years ago, partly for religious reasons.

"They felt that the country was becoming a little bit more... well, less accepting to Jewish people, especially the religious people," said Rietti.

"They felt that by moving to a Jewish/Israeli country, they would be able to live more happily, more content."
Orban vs. Soros
Last year, Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, launched a verbal attack on Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros. The language he used raised concerns among Jews across the world.

"We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open but hiding, not straightforward but crafty, not honest but base, not national but international, does not believe in working but speculates with money, does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world," Orbán said.

Britain's biggest Jewish organisation, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, criticized Orbán at the time for his language and for his handling of issues affecting Hungarian Jews.

In February, the group's president, Marie van der Zyl, was invited to meet with Hungary's Deputy State Secretary for Civil Society Relations Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky at the Hungarian embassy in London, where she raised her concerns.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 19, 2019): France rallies against anti-Semitic attacks
"It was a very forthright meeting," said van der Zyl.

"A number of concerns, which have been well documented in the news, were raised, in particular, anti-Semitic tropes used against George Soros, in particular in relation to money."

After the meeting, Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote to the Board of Deputies, rejecting their criticisms and telling them to "please mind your own business."

"Which shows they are not really interested in listening at all so I'm not really sure why they wanted to see us, but it is our duty to call out right-wing anti-Semitism, and we have told them that in no uncertain terms," said van der Zyl.
Root Causes
Prof. David Feldman is director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Birkbeck College, University of London. He says anti-Semitism is an old, recycled political tactic used by different political movements to different ends.

"It's been driven, to a great extent, by the rise in populist politics, which itself is a response to the austerity, to the hard times, to the rising inequality that followed the crash of 2008," he said.
WATCH (Aired Feb. 21, 2019): Macron announces measures to combat anti-Semitism
"It's not that society as a whole is becoming anti-Semitic, but it is the case that those in society that have anti-Semitic views are becoming bolder, and they're finding spaces in which they're able to express them."

Feldman says social media is that space - and is amplifying the issue everywhere.

In the wake of the anti-Semitic incidents in France in February, French President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish leaders he will introduce legislation aimed at cracking down on online hate speech.

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The rising worries about anti-Semitism in Europe

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From the desecration of Jewish graveyards in France to concerns about the pointed language used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Jewish people in Europe feel they are being subjected to more racism. A recent European Union survey of 16,500 Jewish people across the continent showed that 28 per cent of respondents reported being harassed within the past year.

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This news is about Refugees in Greece. I choose this new because homeless asylum is a major issue in Vatican City. Pope Francis communicated solidarity Sunday with the a great many transients who were left destitute by flames that destroyed an evacuee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos and called for them to get a "human and honorable" welcome any place they migrate. Francis visited the Moria camp during a passionate April 16, 2016 road trip to Lesbos that finished with Francis carrying 12 Syrian displaced people back with him to Rome on board the ecclesiastical plane.
Overall, I think giving a warm welcome to refugees will be a great gesture for the humanity worldwide.

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Pope Francis expressed solidarity Sunday with the thousands of migrants who were left homeless by fires that wrecked a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos and called for them to receive a "human and dignified" welcome wherever they relocate.

Francis recalled visiting the Moria camp during an emotional April 16, 2016 day trip to Lesbos that ended with Francis bringing 12 Syrian refugees back with him to Rome aboard the papal plane.

"I express solidarity and proximity to all the victims of these dramatic events," Francis, who has frequently spoken out for the humane treatment of migrants, said during his noontime blessing in Vatican City.

Fires on Tuesday and Wednesday nights gutted Moria, Greece's largest refugee camp. Authorities have said residents protesting a lockdown imposed after a coronavirus outbreak deliberately set the blazes. Greek authorities said Sunday some 12,000 migrants would be moved to an army-built tent city in the coming days.

Francis' 2016 visit to Moria, though brief, was one of the most memorable foreign trips so far of his seven-year papacy.

He toured the camp with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and the head of the Church of Greece. He met would-be asylum-seekers who wept at his feet.

The church leaders issued a joint statement urging the world to respond to the latest migration crisis with urgent, practical resources. Francis said Sunday that the memory of that visit were still alive as well as the appeal "for a human and dignified welcome to men and women migrants, to refugees and those who seek asylum in Europe."

At the time, the Islamic State group was targeting Christian minorities in Iraq, Syrian refugees were fleeing the civil war and the European Union was implementing a plan to deport the refugees in Lesbos back to Turkey.

"The tragedy of forced migration and displacement affects millions, and is fundamentally a crisis of humanity, calling for a response of solidarity, compassion, generosity and an immediate practical commitment of resources," the trio's appeal said.

Francis later revealed that in its own concrete response, the Vatican had negotiated in the days leading up to the Lesbos trip for the papal plane to carry back with him three Syrian families. The pope said the 12 people were selected because their papers were in order and that they would receive help finding housing, work and schools in Rome..

Asked about the gesture during his in-flight press conference, Francis cited Mother Teresa, the nun who spent her life caring for the poor and destitute of India. At one point she said her work was but a "drop of water in the sea. But after this drop of water the sea will not be the same."

"That is how I would respond," Francis told reporters. "It is a small gesture. But one of those small gestures that we must make, everyone, men and women, to reach out to those in need."

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Refugees in Greece must receive 'human and dignified welcome' when relocated: Pope

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Pope Francis expressed solidarity Sunday with the thousands of migrants who were left homeless by fires that wrecked a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos and called for them to receive a "human and dignified" welcome wherever they relocate.

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This news article tells about the changing views of European people about the effectiveness of various vaccines. There has been a significant decline in the confidence of Europeans in safe affects of vaccines due to different factors like religious beliefs, socioeconomic status etc. In this issue, misinformation spread by social media plays an important role. As anthropology deals with the perspectives of people having different cultures and how they differ and are similar, how these people see vaccines is a matter of how various cultures perceive them. In my opinion, governments should promote benefits of taking vaccines in various cultures spread across the continent.

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As medical laboratories around the globe push limits to develop a vaccine that could end a pandemic once and for all, an even harder challenge awaits - getting it to where it can do the most good.

Ten years ago, an international team of researchers established the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) in order to clarify global attitudes regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccination.

While vaccination uptake itself is closely monitored around the world by groups like the World Health Organisation (WHO), our understanding of the cultural trends behind the decision process is threadbare at best.

To address this shortfall in data, the VCP analysed hundreds of surveys and tens of thousands of interviews collected between 2015 and 2019, providing vital information on the vaccination beliefs of more than 284,000 people across 149 countries.

The study's results provide us with a global map of rising and falling confidence in the overall safety and general effectiveness of vaccines and the perceived importance of vaccinating children.

The researchers also collected demographic details to combine with the survey's results, allowing them to model relationships between vaccine uptake and factors such as religious belief, socioeconomic status, and even sources of trust.

The result is an atlas of mounting fears, growing trust, and indications of troubling viral hotspots in years to come.

Across the European Union, attitudes are waxing and waning. Just two years ago, 64 percent of Polish citizens strongly agreed that vaccines are safe. A year later the number had dropped by one in ten to 53 percent.

There's reason to be optimistic though. In France, confidence in vaccines has been notably low in recent years, with a mere one in five agreeing to their safety in 2018. By the end of 2019, this had improved to nearly one in three.

Similar improvements have been seen in other places around Europe and the UK, including Finland, Italy, and Ireland. In fact, by the end of last year, most of the EU's confidence in vaccines had climbed.

Further to the east, things aren't looking quite as promising. In 2015, a mere 2 percent of people in Azerbaijan strongly disagreed that vaccines were safe. This jumped to a shocking 17 percent by late 2019.

Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Pakistan all had similarly small figures of 1 to 2 percent disagreeing in vaccine safety, with less significant jumps to 3 to 4 percent over a similar period.

Though not as alarming as Azerbaijan's plummeting confidence level, community safety is a numbers game, where a reluctant few can make the difference between the eradication of a virus and its persistence in pockets of sustained infection.
Above: Model-based estimates of the percentage of respondents strongly agreeing that vaccines are effective in November 2015 and November 2018. No data were available for countries in grey.
Links between demographic details and vaccine confidence could provide health workers with better ideas of who to engage, and how to go about changing perspectives. Men, for example, were less likely to vaccinate themselves. So were those with limited education.

In some cases the cause of a loss in confidence can be traced to specific events. For example, fears and confusion over a Dengue virus vaccine called Dengvaxia, controversially rolled out in 2017, seem to be behind a dramatic fall in vaccine confidence in the Philippines. In 2015 they were in the top 10 most confident countries, with 82 percent strongly agreeing they were safe. By 2019, this had fallen to 58 percent.

In countries like Indonesia, religious authorities can heavily influence public opinion over vaccination programs and their safety.

Beyond the raw statistics there are subtle details on how these attitudes might affect behaviours, such as vaccinating children.

"Our findings suggest that people do not necessarily dismiss the importance of vaccinating their children even if they have doubts about how safe vaccines are", says Clarissa Simas, a psychologist from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.

"The public seem to generally understand the value of vaccines, but the scientific and public health community needs to do much better at building public trust in the safety of vaccination, particularly with the hope of a COVID-19 vaccine."

Much has changed in recent months, of course. Attitudes are evolving almost weekly as misinformation is amplified by social media, and hopes and fears compete amid a global health catastrophe.

Which is all the more reason to build a clear foundation of knowledge on how people around the world come to change their minds on public health.

"It is vital with new and emerging disease threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that we regularly monitor public attitudes to quickly identify countries and groups with declining confidence, so we can help guide where we need to build trust to optimise uptake of new life-saving vaccines", says VCP director Heidi Larson, an anthropologist from the London school of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.

In many ways, delivering vaccines is as much a scientific problem as their creation. Brute force isn't going to cut it, so we're going to need informed strategies of public engagement to build trust in healthcare.

Thankfully humanities are making headway in the understanding of the diverse and complex forces at work in our minds as we weigh up the pros and cons of vaccination.

To inform them, we're going to need more studies like this one.

This research was published in .

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These Are The World's Most Troubling Hotspots of Vaccine Hesitancy

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As medical laboratories around the globe push limits to develop a vaccine that could end a pandemic once and for all, an even harder challenge awaits - getting it to where it can do the most good.

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(week 1)

The article I have chosen is about removing a monument that honors a deceased Fascist dictator, Franco, of Spain (1939-1975) and turning the area into a cemetery for people who died in the Spanish Civil War. This article is relevant to anthropology and therefore of interest to me because it relates to history, cultural change and some of the political (human) evolution in this society. The civil war which transitioned Spain into a democracy after the death of Franco left some parts of Spain further divided into “Left” and “Right” political camps that are grounds for current and ongoing political disputes. Removing the monument is considered one step in “redressing the wrongs of the late dictator”, as stated in the attached article, and is in addition to other movements considered by the “left” to right the wrongs of the late dictator.

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A Historical Memory Law, passed in 2007 by the socialist government at the time, recognised the war victims on both sides and provided some help for surviving victims of Franco's dictatorship and their families.

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Franco: Spain seeks to transform monument into civilian cemetery

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A Historical Memory Law, passed in 2007 by the socialist government at the time, recognised the war victims on both sides and provided some help for surviving victims of Franco's dictatorship and their families.

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this article is about how german took steps for gender equality . i choose this topic as gender equality is most burning issue in european countries . Equal opportunities for men and women were created . moreover ,The 9-part plan aims to reduce the gender pay gap and require more women in leadership positions.it seems interesting to me as german society helps women instead of doing domestic work expands the  30% of supervisory board which would be applied to 600 companies .
this article relates anthropology revealing that gender inequality is unseen truth that existed  in german society and tooks years to take steps .

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Germany's federal cabinet on Wednesday adopted a national strategy for equality between women and men, the first strategy plan on gender equality to be implemented on a federal level in Germany.

At a press conference in Berlin, Family Minister Franziska Giffey laid out the 9-part plan, coined "Strong for the Future."

"[The strategy] is a joint commitment by the German government to equality. And all departments have been actively involved. Only in this way can we ensure that the issue of equality is no longer seen as an issue only for the Women's Ministry, but that it is an issue for all ministries," Giffey said in the conference.

The minister said it had taken "decades" for the entire cabinet to commit itself to this and the topic was no longer left to the Family Ministry alone.
Read more: Opinion: German bureaucracy discriminates against women
On Tuesday, lawmakers had agreed on the establishment of a federal foundation for gender equality that would be responsible for implementing a plan to be agreed upon by the coalition government.
Reducing the pay gap
"Article 3 of the Basic Law states that the state shall promote the actual equality of women and men," Giffey told the daily Rheinische Post ahead of the announcement.

Giffey's plan consists of nine gender equality goals that, once approved, are to be backed by targeted legislation in each of Germany's federal ministries.

Objectives include a reduction of the pay and pension gap between men and women and a goal of improving career opportunities for women to be on par with those of men.

To this end, Giffey has included a stipulation that would increase the number of women on executive boards by requiring the inclusion of at least woman on boards made up of at least four members.
Restoring balance
The strategy also aims to expand a law that requires women to make up 30% of supervisory boards so that the rule would apply to 600 companies instead of the current 105.

Responding to a question from DW, Giffey welcomed the news that Germany's conservative CDU party plans to introduce a quota for female candidates and internal party positions.

"Here you always immediately get the discussion of whether lots of unqualified women will have to be hired ...I can never accept that," Giffey said. "When companies tell me, 'Look, we're a technical company. We don't have any qualified women,' I always say, 'They were there in high school, at university. Where'd they all go?'"

"And we can't accept that," Giffey continued. "We're not talking about putting unqualified people in leadership positions. We're talking about personal performance and ability, which of course goes for all people. But we're also talking about the fact that you can't say we only have less than 10% of women that are suitable, effective, and competent. I can't accept that. There we have to have a second look."

kp/rs (AFP,dpa)

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Germany unveils first national strategy for gender equality | DW | 08.07.2020

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Germany's federal cabinet on Wednesday adopted a national strategy for equality between women and men, the first strategy plan on gender equality to be implemented on a federal level in Germany. At a press conference in Berlin, Family Minister Franziska Giffey laid out the 9-part plan, coined "Strong for the Future."

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This news article is about  70th anniversary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said that many German Jews still do not feel safe and that anti-Semitism in Germany "never disappeared." she further emphasis that jews are not treated as they should be , they feel shame in calling themselves jews .  further it comes up with that silence is not something that should be accepted . futher it was emphasized was that group against hostility is something that should be oppose (fight against )

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Delivering a keynote address in a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said that many German Jews still do not feel safe and that anti-Semitism in Germany "never disappeared."

"Many Jews do not feel safe, do not feel respected in our country. This is one part of today's reality and it is one that causes me grave concern," Merkel said at the ceremony in Berlin.

The chancellor called it a "shame" that racism and anti-Semitism "never disappeared" in Germany, stressing that more recently such worldviews seem to be "more visible and without restriction."

Rise in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories

Merkel cited the increased prevalence of conspiracy theories and hate speech targeting Jewish citizens on social media

"That is something we must never accept in silence," she said to applause.

Merkel recalled the deadly attack last year on a synagogue in the German city of Halle as an example of "how quickly words can become deeds."

"Group related hostility against people is something we must fight," the chancellor said.

She added that the rule of law was an important tool to be used to this end, citing measures the German government took to fight anti-Semitism over the past year, including the establishment of a new cabinet committee focused on this issue.

"Anti-Semitism is an attack on people, humanity, against being a human being, because its directed against the dignity of individual people," she said.

Read more: 70 years of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, 'a meaningful voice that is needed'

Nazi ideas have 'not disappeared'

Speaking ahead of Merkel, Council President Josef Schuster also denounced the increasing prominence of anti-Semitic sentiment, including an increase in conspiracy theories and crimes targeting Jews.

Anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, akin to the Middle Ages, have resurfaced during the current coronavirus pandemic, Schuster said.

"The Nazis' ideas have still not disappeared," he said.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany was formed in Frankfurt in 1950, initially to represent Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who were considering exile or moving to newly-founded Israel. The council represented some 15,000 Jews located in the post-war American, French, British and Soviet occupation zones as well as exiles contemplating returns to Germany.

S ome 26,000 Jews lived in 50 communities in then-West Germany and 500 Jews in five communities in the eastern GDR under Soviet rule.

Schuster called the council's founders as "pioneers."

"Where did people get the courage and optimism to start all over again?" he said.

Its founders deserved respect for their role planting the seed for Jewish life in Germany, Schuster said, saying that they were moved to show "great trust" in Germany because they felt tied to the country.

The council now represents Jewish communities across Germany, comprising about 100,000 persons - religious and secular.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel: 'Many Jews do not feel safe in our country' | DW | 15.09.2020

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Delivering a keynote address in a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said that many German Jews still do not feel safe and that anti-Semitism in Germany "never disappeared." "Many Jews do not feel safe, do not feel respected in our country.

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I chose this article because it exhibits moral responsibility in the judicial system, ethics in medicine and illustrates that some of the cultural beliefs of some European people is to offer care for those with special needs.

This article is about a baby boy who became sick while in hospital within a few days of being born, eight years ago, and his parents have now received a settlement of 22.5 million Euros. In 2012 doctors at the Cork University Maternity hospital in Ireland were treating a sick baby but did not react quickly enough or communicate effectively with one another and failed to diagnose him with Meningitis which lead to severe brain damage. The parents were very concerned and communicated this. If the doctors had reacted appropriately the boy would have been treated with antibiotics, cured of the infection and gone on to lead a neurotypical life.

Reading this article is both devastating and infuriating. As a mother of two small children I had to learn early on that I need to be an advocate for them within the healthcare system. Regardless of how good our system is or how fortunate we are to have readily available health institutions that we can rely upon, this article is a further reminder that one must be diligent for our more vulnerable populations in demanding better care for them, especially in times of crisis.

Side note: I have a deep appreciation and awareness that my children and I are very privileged to live in Canada where we have many opportunities to remain healthy and get treatment when needed, however human beings make mistakes, and it is imperative to be aware of this fact when those who cannot speak for themselves are in the care of any type of institutional or professional care.

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The family of a boy who suffered severe brain damage after the Cork hospital he was born in failed to diagnose meningitis has settled a legal action for €22.5m (£20.6m).

Cork University Maternity Hospital apologised to Calum English, who is now eight, and his parents.

His mother called on the Irish government to reform the health service and provide support for children with additional needs.

Calum was born on 1 August 2012.

Following his birth, he was very unwell, with signs of infection. He was showing excessive sleepiness, crying and moaning.

However his parents say assessments, when he was one and two days old, were inadequate and there was a delay in diagnosing him and giving him antibiotics.

Group B streptococcal meningitis was eventually diagnosed and treated, but Calum suffered severe brain damage.

He has cerebral palsy and has multiple mobility and neurological difficulties. He will require extensive care for the rest of his life.

The hospital initially denied liability but on Tuesday issued an apology to Calum and his family.

It apologised unreservedly for the delay in diagnosing the infection and the injuries he suffered.

It said it had learned important lessons and continued to educate staff about the importance of "optimal communication and escalation" across all their multidisciplinary teams.

'Sociable, chirpy child'

Speaking to High Court judge Mr Justice Cross, Calum's mother, Linda Spillane, said it seemed unreal that they were sitting in the court and the judge was saying her son's name.

She said it had taken a long time to come to terms with what had happened to him.

Ms Spillane said Calum's little brother was four years old and she said it was already clear that he had surpassed Calum.

She said she wondered how Calum felt seeing his little brother walk across the fields, but she said Calum could not tell them.

Ms Spillane also told the court Calum had received no therapy for the past five months because of Covid-19 and had regressed.

Despite this, she said he was a sociable, chirpy child who was always willing to give it his best with his therapists.

She said she would like a team to be surrounding him who would work together and communicate to give him what he needed, and she said she was happy to know that if she and her husband were not here tomorrow, he would now be cared for in his own home with his family around him.

'Good settlement'

Mr Justice Cross said it was a good settlement which would not be a bonus to anyone but would try to give Calum what he needed to live as normal a life as possible.

Such care, he said, was very expensive. He wished the family the best in the future.

Outside court, Ms Spillane said she was grateful they now had all the means to provide Calum with all the therapy that he requires.

Ms Spillane also said children with additional needs and their carers deserved respect and care in their communities.

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Calum English: Brain-damaged child case settled for €22.5m

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The family of a boy who suffered severe brain damage after the Cork hospital he was born in failed to diagnose meningitis has settled a legal action for €22.5m (£20.6m). Cork University Maternity Hospital apologised to Calum English, who is now eight, and his parents.

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The article I linked claims that the British Museum is in possession of the worlds largest collection of cultural artifacts. Geoffrey Robertson QC, paints a picture of how British imperialism and colonialism legalism was used to justify the theft of such a large collection of cultural artifacts from around the world. A spokesperson from the Museum confirmed that there were stolen artifacts on display but said that some artifacts were legally obtained.

I chose this article because it shows a shifting view of the results of European, and specifically British, colonialism and hegemony during recent human history. The idea that the theft of items of such cultural importance was justified by empires bringing "benefits, including education and legislation" to "uncivilised" peoples is one that goes back time immemorial. These ideas are seen as anachronistic today given a quote by current French President, Emmanuel Macron. He stated that such artifacts “can no longer remain a prisoner of European museums”.

I learned just how much of many world famous museums are in possession of cultural artifacts that were obtained using dubious legal justification. It was also interesting to learn that the vast majority of artifacts or items are kept hidden away from the public in the archives. The British Museum for example has 8 million items in their collection!

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British Museum is world’s largest receiver of stolen goods, says QC

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Geoffrey Robertson says it should ‘wash its hands of blood and return Elgin’s loot’

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the article that I found  talks about how some people in Europe have chosen to live with the covid in their lives instead of constantly trying to fight it.  The scenario right now with the pandemic reminds me of the black death pandemic that happened in Europe where the people of later on gave up on finding a cure and decide to continue on with their lives without fear.  Reading this article I learned that some people just chooses to accept the things that happen in nature and not try to fight the tides. Personally for me though I think that even there is a possibility to find a solution people should try and overcome this pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/world/europe/coronavirus-europe.html
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The news story I chose for this week is about a preschool in Sweden that focuses on gender equality. At this school teachers will stay away from using the words him and her. Teachers prefer to mention students as friends or by their first names. The choice of words at this school shows how the language is relatively different. Students are encouraged to play with any toy they like, regardless if society views it specifically for a boy or a girl. This news story relates to anthropology because it teaches us how gender should not influence our behavior. After reading this news story I learned how this school is trying to promote gender equality.
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Some have called it "gender madness", but the Egalia pre-school in Stockholm says its goal is to free children from social expectations based on their sex.

On the surface, the school in Sodermalm - a well-to-do district of the Swedish capital - seems like any other. But listen carefully and you'll notice a big difference.

The teachers avoid using the pronouns "him" and "her" when talking to the children.

Instead they refer to them as "friends", by their first names, or as "hen" - a genderless pronoun borrowed from Finnish.

Changing society?

It is not just the language that is different here, though.

The books have been carefully selected to avoid traditional presentations of gender and parenting roles.

So, out with the likes of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and in with, for example, a book about two giraffes who find an abandoned baby crocodile and adopt it.

Most of the usual toys and games that you would find in any nursery are there - dolls, tractors, sand pits, and so on - but they are placed deliberately side-by-side to encourage a child to play with whatever he or she chooses.

At Egalia boys are free to dress up and to play with dolls, if that is what they want to do.

For the director of the pre-school, Lotta Rajalin, it is all about giving children a wider choice, and not limiting them to social expectations based on gender.

"We want to give the whole spectrum of life, not just half - that's why we are doing this. We want the children to get to know all the things in life, not to just see half of it," she told BBC World Service.

All the staff are clearly passionate about this.

"I want to change things in society," says 27-year-old Emelie Andersson who is fresh out of her teacher training, and specifically chose to work at Egalia because of its policy on gender.

"When we are born in this society, people have different expectations on us depending if we are a boy or a girl. It limits children.

"In my world, there is no 'girl's world' and there is no 'boy's world'," she says.

Identity politics

Last year a Swedish couple provoked a fuss in the media by announcing that they had decided to keep the gender of their young child, Pop, a secret from all but their closest family members.

There was a similar case recently in Canada with a baby called Storm.

But is it not confusing for a young child to blur gender boundaries like this?

It is a criticism that Egalia director Lotta Rajalin has heard many times before, but she contests it vigorously.

"All the girls know they are girls, and all the boys know that they are boys. We are not working with biological gender - we are working with the social thing."

The verdict of child psychologists and experts in gender is divided - with most supportive of the aims, but questioning the means.

"The sentiments are excellent, but I'm not sure they are going about it in exactly the right way," says British-based clinical psychologist Linda Blair.

"I think it's a bit stilted. Between the ages of three and about seven, the child is searching for their identity, and part of their identity is their gender, you can't deny that," she told BBC World Service.

Gender obsessed?

But Sweden takes gender issues seriously, and for a number of years now, the government has been taking its battle to the playground.

Gender advisers are now common in schools, and it is part of the national curriculum to work against discrimination of all kinds.

Sweden is often praised as being one of the most equal countries in the world when it comes to gender, but there are critics at home who think things have gone too far.

"This equality idea, it has become so absurd, it has become a really stupid industry," rails Swedish blogger Tanja Bergkvist, who argues that the nation has an unhealthy obsession with gender.

"Gender researchers have convinced politicians that the solution to all problems is a gender perspective.

"That's quite dangerous because they spend money and resources on the wrong things."

The Egalia school - which is state-funded - is proving popular though, and boasts a long waiting list.

Pia Korpi, a metal designer, and her husband Yukka, a dancer and choreographer, have two children at the pre-school.

Ms Korpi says she, and her husband in particular, had to battle to pursue their chosen interests because they sat uneasily with gender expectations, and they want their children to feel free from these restraints.

She says most of their friends and family are 100% behind them, but admits some people might not understand their choice. "People who don't know what this is about - and especially in the countryside - they think it's brainwashing."

Swedish way

The idea of working with children in pre-schools - between the ages of one and five years old - is to help shape them from a young age, but many doubt there are any lasting effects.

"It's a real world out there - we cannot isolate people from that real world," says clinical psychologist Linda Blair.

Philip Hwang, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg - who has conducted long-term studies of children's development - chuckles slightly when talking about this scheme.

"I don't think it's anything bad," he says.

"But it is naive to say the least. It is a symbolic gesture. I find it a bit funny - who do they think they are fooling?"

"It's very Swedish in a sense. Swedes have a tendency to think that if they institutionalise something, it will automatically change - it's the Swedish way," he told the BBC.

"But lasting effects - when it comes to issues embedded in our culture - that takes generations."

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Some have called it "gender madness", but the Egalia pre-school in Stockholm says its goal is to free children from social expectations based on their sex. On the surface, the school in Sodermalm - a well-to-do district of the Swedish capital - seems like any other.

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In this article I immediately recognized that it was a part of archaeology. As, it talks about the parasitic infections found in the medieval Europe. This article basically explains that how people have neglected the worms called helminths and how they have effected 1.5 billion people worldwide.They explain as to how this situation created a pandemic in the history of europe which was later solved with medicinal drugs, But in modern world they are astounded at finding the traces of these worms and their eggs. Right now only WASH is being followed meaning taking caring of your hygiene but these anthropologists believe that we need more than this to solve it and need to research more on this topic before it creates another pandemic.

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(CN) - Since the dawn of human history, parasitic worms have plagued us. Evidence of this intestinal scourge has been found in the mummified feces of humans dating back thousands of years, and detailed accounts appear in the ancient writings of Hippocrates and the Bible.

Even today, parasitic worms known as helminths are among the World Health Organization 's top neglected diseases, infecting an estimated 1.5 billion people around the world. The worms are transmitted through eggs in human feces that contaminate soil and water, causing a range of symptoms, from stomach discomfort to anemia, chronic malnutrition and physical impairment, especially in children.

A study published Thursday in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases establishes how prevalent parasitic worms were in medieval Europe and which factors mirror conditions in the modern world.

By all accounts, the Middle Ages was a time of immense suffering, replete with famine, war, and plague, including the Black Death, which killed about a third of Europeans between 1347 and 1350.

It has long been known that parasitic worms riddled the human population. But the study, written by the University of Oxford 's Adrian Smith and his colleagues, yielded valuable data on how pervasive helminths were in the general population. Analyzing samples gathered from 589 graves at seven sites dated between 680 and 1700 A.D., Smith and other researchers discovered two common parasites, roundworm and whipworm, at each site, and two food-derived parasites - both tapeworms - at four of the sites.

"The widespread presence of helminth eggs in archaeological deposits indicates that helminths represented a considerable burden in past European populations," the study authors wrote.

Effective antiparasite drugs were developed in the early 1960s, making fecal-oral parasites almost nonexistent in Europe, limited primarily to the occasional traveler. However, parasites remain endemic in populations in some developing countries, depending on socioeconomic factors, cultural practices and the degree of urbanization.

To contextualize their data, researchers compared their findings historical findings from sites in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic with those from modern regions suffering from parasite endemics. What they found astounded them. Hundreds of years later, certain populations continue to suffer from parasites at levels extinct for decades in developed countries.

"The rates of (roundworm and whipworm) infection in the medieval populations... were comparable to those reported within modern endemically infected populations," the authors wrote.

Researchers found that infection rates in medieval populations were similar between men and women, while rates were higher in children. These findings align with modern populations, in which children tend to have higher infection rates than adults.

The findings help scientists understand how to reduce parasitic infections currently rampant in certain populations, because infections in Europe were reduced long before modern drugs were developed. The reduced rate of infection was likely associated with changes in water, hygiene, agricultural practices and sanitation.

"The European... experience supports the idea that these WASH measures (water, sanitation and hygiene) can be successful in the absence of modern anthelminthic drugs even with high rates of infection in the pre-intervention communities," the study concluded.

So how did researchers come to learn so much about individuals who died centuries ago? Using comprehensive anthropological analysis, researchers collected pelvic soil samples from each grave and rehydrated them overnight before sifting the soil through a sieve. Then they examined the parasitic worm eggs they found under a microscope.

The study represents the first of its kind to examine results from such an extensive set of sites, both individually and geographically.

Smith and his colleagues hope their study serves as a baseline for future archaeological studies and a resource for scientists battling parasitic infections in modern populations.

"Even in the modern era it remains unclear whether chemotherapy alone is sufficient to control (parasitic infections) and it is therefore appropriate to explore other measures including WASH more thoroughly," they wrote.

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Parasitic Infections Common in Medieval Europe, Study of Graves Finds

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(CN) - Since the dawn of human history, parasitic worms have plagued us. Evidence of this intestinal scourge has been found in the mummified feces of humans dating back thousands of years, and detailed accounts appear in the ancient writings of Hippocrates and the Bible.

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This online news article tells about the discrimination being faced by Bosniaks in Sandzak (a Geo- political region in Serbia).  This article shows light on the incident when Montenegro’s small Muslim community was ethnically attacked following the elections on 30 August. The Islamic community experiences a lot of rage in form of massacre by the non-Islamic community. This is a result of ethnocentrism, where people of one culture believe that their culture is superior to others. People of non- Islamic community lack empathy towards Muslim people in that area as they see them as outsiders and do not want to accept them as a part of their society.
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There is a proverb in the Balkans that says that whatever village a traveller should visit, they will find its residents intimately know the language, customs and history of its neighbours.

It is used to explain the fact that while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo are separate countries made up of various religious denominations and creeds, they know each other well. For better and, during the wars that raged during the 1990s, for worse.

The Muslim-majority Serbian region of Sandzak, known as Rashka to Serbs, is a good example. Bordering Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, when there are political earthquakes in other parts of the Balkans, more often than not they are felt here.

The latest quake to hit the troubled region was on 1 September, when Montenegro's small Muslim community was targetted by ethnic and religious attacks following the elections on 30 August. Vandals smashed the windows of the local office of the Islamic community in Pljevlja, while graffiti that praised the 1995 Srebrenica massacre appeared on walls of the city and surrounding towns.

"This is really frightening," said Mevlud Dudic, president of the Islamic Community in Serbia.

"Bosniaks and, I would add, all normal people, tremble when the Srebrenica genocide is mentioned in this kind of context. I like to believe that things from the nineties will never again happen in the Balkans.".

Muslims were the prime targets during the wars that wracked the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, and while the fate of Bosnia's Muslims - known as Bosniaks - is best-known due to the murder of 7,000 men and boys by Serb militias at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo, the Islamic community in Serbia and Montenegro were also victims of ethnic violence.

In Novi Pazar, Sandzak, residents still remember that the Serbian tanks stationed in the hills around the city during the war were pointed not towards Bosnia, but towards them. The unknown number of Serbian Muslims were killed during the war, and thousands of others suffered discrimination. Many of the perpetrators remain unpunished 25 years later.

Semiha Kacar from Sandzak Committee for Human Rights told Euronews that the legacy of that violence and the fact that justice was never provided continues to be a major source of conflict between the Muslim community and their non-Muslim neighbours in Serbia.

"Practically nothing is done about the crimes committed against Bosniaks in Sandzak. That is lowering the trust in the state," she said.

Novi Pazar resident and activist Sead Biberovic echoes the view that the failure to punish war criminals who perpetrated violence against Serbian Bosniaks in the 1990s, and a lack of education generally in the country about what was done during the war, has increased tensions.

"The state of Serbia did not recognize what it did in the nineties. War criminals are not prosecuted and even regular citizens are not aware of what was done," he said.

"That leaves a bad taste in the mouth of Bosniaks. Unsolved issues are never good for stability."

Although rare in Sandzak today, incidents among ethnicities are more often in the football stadiums than on the streets. Biberovic said these incidents are directed, or at least "blessed", by the government in Belgrade.

Ethnic tensions used as a distraction?

The hardline government of Aleksandar Vučić, he said, uses ethnic tensions between Muslims, Christians and other denominations in Serbia to distract from other issues facing the country.

Few have forgotten that the leader of Vučić's party in the 1990s, the Serbian Radical Party's Vojislav Seselj, was convicted of war crimes in the Hague. Fewer still that Vučić told the Serbian parliament in July 1995 that "for every Serb 100 Muslims will be killed."

Meanwhile, ethnically-motivated acts of violence or vandalism in Sandzak in recent years have rarely been investigated or solved. And like in so many nations, the government in Belgrade finds ethnic divisions a convenient distraction from its failures, said Biberovic.

"There are elements in the society that are pushed from Belgrade to create instability here. When something huge is going on in Sandzak, people should look at what the government wants to hide," he said. "We are used as a distraction."

One major sticking point between Belgrade and the Muslim minority in Serbia is that Bosniaks, in general, tend to recognise the independence of Kosovo, which is rejected by the government.

Dudic, the Imam, expressed the hope that the majority of people, both in Serbia and Montenegro, would not allow the violence of the past to happen again.

Divine intervention

Bosniaks and Muslims, a minority in northern Montenegro, are majority in a Serbian Sandzak. But Dudic stressed that it the duty of the majority to watch over the minority. He was therefore buoyed by efforts by the Serbian Orthodox Church to prevent the violence in Pljevlja.

"When members of Serbian Orthodox Church and the opposition appear in front of mosques in Pljevlja, to protect it, it is a good signal for us in Sandzak. That is the right direction in which we as a society need to go," Dudic said.

Biberovic too is optimistic that the region can avoid the ethnic violence of the 1990s.

"Bosniaks, Serbs, Montenegrin, Albanians and others, they have seen empires and armies come and go. They have managed to survive together and I think we are smart enough to continue living together," he said.

"There are many friendships and on some level inter-ethnic marriages. Those ties are taking people together.'

But even for those Bosniaks that were not alive during the worst of the violence in Bosnia, the fact that it was the Muslim community that was immediately targetted in the violence on September 1 is a worrying development for the future of the Balkans.

"When I heard about attacks in Montenegro at first I was angry," said Arnes Corovic, 23, a resident of the city of Tutin.

"I was also frightened. It comes from the knowledge what was done to Bosniaks in the past and certainly I do not want that to happen again. And you know, if you get burned once..."
Every weekday at 1900 CEST, Euronews brings you a European story that goes beyond the headlines. Download our app to get an alert for this and other breaking news. It's available on Apple and Android devices.

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Serbia's Muslim enclave fears new ethnic violence

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There is a proverb in the Balkans that says that whatever village a traveller should visit, they will find its residents intimately know the language, customs and history of its neighbours. It is used to explain the fact that while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo are separate countries made up of various religious denominations and creeds, they know each other well.

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This article is about young celebrities in the Netherlands who refuse to accept the validity of Covid-19. One famous influencer in particular, Famke Louis, had been quite vocal via social media stating "Only together can we get the government back under control, I am no longer taking part, free the people", thereby aligning herself with a conspiracy theory group called “Virus Truth” who believe that the government is using the novel corona virus as a way to control the liberties of its citizens and their rights. Soon after her social media posts she was a guest on a popular talk show where she had difficulty articulating why she held her beliefs regarding Covid and was seemingly embarrassed by the public feedback. After the “backlash” Louis changed her views and suddenly realized the importance of consulting a specialist in pandemics to educate her.

I found this article interesting and so chose it as it illustrates the power of shame in society and, in some cases, regardless of your beliefs.
To the best of my knowledge people don’t change their hard-held opinions overnight so it appears that it was Louis’ embarrassment over the interview and subsequent public shaming that inspired the change. After reading this article I learned, furthermore, how shame can be a major motivator in decision making

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Dutch celebs face backlash over Covid rebellion

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Young stars have been criticised after announcing they were abandoning efforts to combat the virus.

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The article I choose this week is about how EU has a special committee in the European parliament to find and combat fake news and misinformation online. I choose this article because the spread of false info can change how people see things split people's view's apart affecting  culture.  In this article I learned about how the pandemic effects the widespread of misinformation as the constant fear of the virus causes people to believe the information or referred in the article as an 'infodemic'. there is also the fact that this can happen anywhere and anytime whether we are in a pandemic or not.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-takes-action-against-fake-news/a-55056541
word count: 104

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This news story is about the similarities between a language and identity. Immigrants in the United Kingdom who do not speak English are experiencing hurtful comments from others. Many people are offended when they would hear a foreign language being spoken in the UK. This in a way relates to ethnocentrism were you believe your culture is superior to another. The language you speak can reveal your culture, gender, and religion. This article can relate to anthropology because there are various languages spoken in Europe. As a result people who speak different languages may view the world differently. From reading this article I learned that language can affect our behavior and how we perceive others.

Word Count: 112

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From 2021, people moving to the UK for work will have to prove they can speak English to obtain a visa, under the new points-based immigration system.

The new policy was announced just two weeks after the UK left the European Union, as the country prepares to abandon the bloc's free movement rules.

While the role of the English language in British society has not been widely discussed, it has emerged several times in relation to Brexit. Often, it has been about hate crimes.

Even on Brexit night, 31 January 2020, a note now investigated by the police was left in a block of flats in Norwich, England, telling residents that people speaking languages other than English would not be tolerated.

'Everyone is welcome here - except bigots'

A community in #Norwich has come together to condemn a racist 'Happy Brexit Day' poster, which demanded residents speak English or leave.@RobSetchell has been talking to residents of Winchester Tower 👇 pic.twitter.com/TP9u84e8TB
- ITV News Anglia (@itvanglia) February 3, 2020

So what is the link between language and identity? Why are some people feeling offended by the sound of other languages? And why, at the same time, it is so important for immigrants to hold on to their identity by safeguarding their mother tongue? We asked the views of Dr Philip Seargeant, applied linguist from the Open University.
Recent reports show some people feel unease when hearing a language different to their own. Have these feelings become more widespread than they used to be? Or is it the other way around: have there been periods of particularly strong rejection of foreign languages in the past?
There's certainly a sense that it's on the increase, both in the UK and in other parts of the world, following the upsurge in support for national populist leaders and ideas. I don't know precise statistics on this, and they'd be very difficult to interpret anyway, as the ways of measuring this type of phenomenon are complicated. But a lot of people feel that they are being targeted more often now when using a 'foreign' language than they did previously, and many stories to this effect are appearing in the news.

Times when this becomes a prominent issue in society are when there is a large sense of uncertainty and fear in the environment generally. For example, during World War I there were similar panics, especially in the US, which included regulations by companies against the speaking of 'enemy' languages (in that case, mostly German).
It seems that in certain cases people speaking another language are seen as a threat. Why is that?
Language is a vital part of one's identity, and is a clear indicator of this to people you interact with. The language you speak with friends and family, or the accent you have, points to your cultural background or heritage. It can thus become a target for people who have prejudiced views about different cultures or nationalities, based on stereotypes that are circulating in society.

So when people feel that their 'own' culture is 'threatened' by outside forces, they direct their anger at this at people exhibiting signs such as the use of a language from outside the traditional culture. The sense of threat is almost entirely symbolic rather than linked to anything practical (such as communication), even if it might be rationalised as having to do with things like integration.

We rarely ask *why* people feel threatened, and instead just concentrate on the fact that they say they do. More investigation into why these fears may come about, and what precisely they're made up of, would help in providing answers to combat this sort of prejudice.
Are all languages seen in an equally negative light? And what is the role of English as lingua franca in this regard?
To an extent, yes. Those who feel that their traditional culture is being altered because of processes of immigration are likely to focus on anything which does not fit with their idea of national culture - an in the UK, the national culture of course is associated with the English language.

Prejudice along these lines doesn't operate in a logical or consistent way, however. And it rarely takes into account the history of language in a particular country, mainly because this history will not be common knowledge. For instance, English has no official status in the UK. It is the default national language, but there is no legal backing to it. The only language in the UK which has official status is Welsh.

"For instance, English has no official status in the UK. It is the default national language, but there is no legal backing to it. The only language in the UK which has official status is Welsh." Dr Philip Seargeant

Furthermore, Great Britain has always been a multilingual society. English was not the original language of the population. Prior to the invasion by the Anglo-Saxons the population spoke Celtic languages, while Latin also played an important role when the Romans were occupying parts of the country. And then of course English has absorbed influences from languages all over the world throughout its history. So there is no reality to the idea of a 'pure' English. This is a political construction.
What are the feelings a person unhappy about others speaking different languages tries to express?
As I say, the threat is based mostly on the symbolism around a changing culture. But it is also going to be to do with fear of the unknown, and in some instances may relate to genuine problems around communication. For instance, a patient in a hospital who has difficulty understanding the accent of one of the staff is not being prejudiced if they feel awkward about this. But this is quite different from someone forbidding someone from speaking a foreign language because they are in the UK.
Is denouncing these feelings as racist a way to solve the problem or does it make it worse?
Of course, specific acts of racism should be called out as such and condemned. But the general issue of fear of foreigness is more to do with education than anything, and thus labelling large proportions of the population as racists because they have narrow views about the way that immigration relates to cultural change is more likely to produce polarisation rather than bring about a shift in the culture. Merely pointing out that a lot of people in the country feel 'threatened' by hearing foreign languages being spoken in public is of little use unless we also know why they feel that way, and what exactly is meant by saying they are 'threatened'.
Are there any historical examples of a situation where a language tension has been resolved positively?
Language is often standing in for wider issues about prejudice and stereotype in this instance. The ways to combat this are a mixture of education, and of those in positions of public influence ensuring they don't inflame the situation by demonising particular sections of society.
What can be done in concrete terms through education?
Education, along with travel, are excellent ways of experiencing just how alike different people are even if the superficialities of their culture may be different. What education can help us understand is how many of the prejudices we have are built on stereotypes or myths, and that the things we might condemn are in fact common across all sorts of cultures.

The facts of the matter are that the UK itself has always been a multilingual society, and that for those lucky enough to be brought up as multilingual this is a positive rather than a negative thing. Simply by dispelling some of these myths, which see language in terms of purity and so on, it should be possible to reduce irrational fears about 'foreign' languages.
The learning of a language is also often related to citizenship (e.g. a requirement for getting the nationality of another country). Where does a language indicate belonging and when does it become nationalism?
This is a difficult question. Ever since the Romantic period, languages have been central symbols of the idea of nation states. But at the same time, the idea that nation states are predominantly monolingual is mostly a myth. So, while fostering a sense of national pride by celebrating symbols of national identity can produce a cohesive sense of community, it becomes problematic when it starts demonising the diversity which also exists as part of that community.
Soile Pietikäinen © all rights reserved. The author is a sociologist specialised in bilingual family interaction. She helps families through private bilingual family consultancy and is the founder of Bilingual Potential, an ethical business dedicated to every child's right to learn and use the language of his or her parents, as defined in the Article 30 of the UN Convention of the Right of the Child. Europe Street News is an online magazine covering citizens' rights in Europe. We are fully independent and we are committed to providing factual, accurate and reliable information. We believe citizens' rights are at the core of democracy and information about these topics should be accessible to all. This is why our website and newsletter are available for free. Please consider making a contribution so we can continue and expand our coverage.

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Do you speak English? The link between language and identity - Europe Street News

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From 2021, people moving to the UK for work will have to prove they can speak English to obtain a visa, under the new points-based immigration system. The new policy was announced just two weeks after the UK left the European Union, as the country prepares to abandon the bloc's free movement rules.

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the news article tell us that how  islamic communities is struggling  and  the importance of religious plurality in german . further the article explains steps taken by government and local people to promote islamic community like islamic holidays  . moreover it was interesting that 16 Muslim youth organizations  is trying to give young genration a  muslim voice . This article is relevant to anthropology as it relates to history, cultural change and some of the political , evolution of islams in german society.
from this article i learned that small steps in right way could helps to overpower the obstacles that is faced by certain religions .

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It was a short statement that had a lot of impact. In his speech almost 10 years ago on the 20th anniversary of German reunification, Germany's then-President Christian declared that Islam was a part of Germany.

The claim sparked a nation-wide debate on the role of Islam in the country - one that had continued to this day. Wulff's 2010 statement enraged some, while resonating deeply with others.

Today, millions of Muslims call Germany their home. Some families have been living in the country for two, three and even four generations. But, for some, the question of integrating into German mainstream society, and gaining recognition, has not been without its difficulties.

Riem Spielhaus, an expert on Islam at the University of Göttingen, says Wulff's statement struck a chord. In the following years, she says, much progress was made in terms of the integration of and acceptance towards Muslims. But by 2016 this process stagnated, she says. "And we have partially seen advances undone."

Where, exactly, has progress been made? And where are improvements needed? Spielhaus says the German government rarely has the power to push for nation-wide changes, such as the introduction of a Muslim chaplaincy in the German military.

German President Christian Wulff's speech provoked widespread debate about Islam's place in Germany

In many cases, the expert says, Germany's various states are the ones with the legal means to make society more accommodating towards Muslims. This relates to things like Islamic burials, giving time off on Islamic holidays, offering spiritual care in hospitals and jails, and teaching Islamic theology at universities. German states differ the most when it comes to Islamic religious lessons in school.

Spielhaus welcomes that German courts are changing their perspective, too. When ruling on fundamental religious issues, many are now emphasizing the importance of religious plurality.
A patchwork of associations
Unlike in Christianity, where Churches are structured hierarchically and have official leaders, this is not the case in Islam. Some large Muslim organizations that are active in Germany, like the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Ditib), are funded from abroad. German lawmakers, therefore, avoid close cooperation with the association, fearing outside interference.

For academic Riem Spielhaus, the last ten years have shown mixed results

A broad range of Muslim associations exists in Germany today. Not all, Spielhaus says, are as representative of the Muslim community as they might claim. This has become evident for instance during the German Islamic Conference, when different Muslim associations vehemently disagreed with one another.
Read more: Germany: Imams will have to prove they speak the language Promising grassroots cooperation
This disunity has made progress difficult. Cooperation between the German state and the country's numerous Muslim associations is fraught with difficulties. In July this year, for example, Germany's Foreign Ministry endeavored to make Muslim lawyer Nurhan Soykan an adviser in one of its departments. The announcement drew criticism, however, with some accusing Soykan - who serves as vice president with the Central Council of Muslims in Germany - of doing too little to counter religious extremism. Germany's Foreign Ministry then reversed its course, and dropped Soykan.

While cooperation with official Muslim associations has not always proven easy, working together on a smaller scale has often been successful. Serap Güler, a lawmaker with the Christian Democrats (CDU), who serves as state secretary for integration matters in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, cites the Coordination Council for Muslim Civic Activism as an example.

Read more: Salafism in Germany: What you need to know
Young Muslims in Germany
She says it cooperates with some 200 Muslim civil society organizations in the state, such as a Muslim Carnival group, a scout organization and integration initiatives. According to Güler, lawmakers are keen to empower such citizen organizations.

Dennis Sadiq Kirschbaum heads an organization working to give German Muslims a greater say in public affairs. JUMA, which was founded in 2019, represents young, active Muslims in Germany. Kirschbaum says traditional Muslim associations are losing appeal among his generation, with some turning their backs on them entirely. He says there are plans for 16 Muslim youth organizations across the country - none of which define themselves through religion alone - to create an alliance to give young German Muslims a voice.

Many children with a Muslim background are also embracing their German identities

Yet Spielhaus says Islamic groups often possess fewer "financial resources and personnel" than Christian organizations. This may limit their influence. Moreover, she warns of "growing religious skepticism and an Islamophobic climate in Germany."

Indeed, when a racist shot and killed nine individuals with a foreign background in the town of Hanau near Frankfurt in February this year, Germany - and the country's Muslim community - was shocked. In a search for a better understanding of the issues, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has set up a special expert body to investigate the problem of Islamophobia in the country.

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Islam still faces obstacles on path to be part of Germany | DW | 19.09.2020

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It was a short statement that had a lot of impact. In his speech almost 10 years ago on the 20th anniversary of German reunification, Germany's then-President Christian declared that Islam was a part of Germany. The claim sparked a nation-wide debate on the role of Islam in the country - one that had continued to this day.

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This Article is about converting turkey’s museum ‘HAGGIA SOPHIA’ into a mosque. People are against this decision by president of turkey and are protesting by grouping together and chanting slogans Infront of museum. A letter has been written to president of turkey   by the interim secretary-general of the World Council of Churches showing disappointment and despair. He said that   Hagia Sophia act as a world heritage museum which has been a position of receptiveness, rivalry, and motivation from all nations. This article is related to anthropology  as  It was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral 1500 yeas ago and when ottomans conquered Istanbul ( in 1453)  it got converted into mosque  but then the government decided  to make it museum in 1934.overall, I  epitomize that have  learnt form  recent decision to get it converted into mosque is hurting people’s secularism .

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The interim secretary-general of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey's president expressing his "grief and dismay" over Turkey's decision to change the status of Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.

As a World Heritage museum, "Hagia Sophia has been a place of openness, encounter and inspiration for people from all nations," Ioan Sauca said in the letter released on Saturday by the Geneva-based group.

The colossal Hagia Sophia was built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral and was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453. The secular Turkish government decided in 1934 to make it a museum.

Sauca said the museum status had been "a powerful expression" of Turkey's commitment to inclusion and secularism.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally converted the building back into a mosque on Friday and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled the 1934 decision turning it into a museum.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim, has frequently used the debate over Hagia Sophia to drum up support for his Islamic-rooted party. The decision has provoked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said France "deplores" Turkey's decision on Hagia Sophia.

"These decisions cast doubt on one of the most symbolic acts of modern and secular Turkey," the minister said in a statement.

"The integrity of this religious, architectural and historic jewel, a symbol of religious freedom, tolerance and diversity, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, must be preserved," he said. "Hagia Sophia must continue to represent the plurality and diversity of religious heritage, dialogue, and tolerance."

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Hagia Sophia: Church body appeals for mosque decision to be reversed

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The interim secretary-general of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey's president expressing his "grief and dismay" over Turkey's decision to change the status of Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.

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This article is about the most recently elected lord mayor of ireland who is a Chinese Lady. I could relate this article to cultural anthropology where people are carrying an approach of holism and keeping an etic approach to cross culturalism and understanding every culture and treating them the same. In this Ms. Hazel chu also explains how she and her mother faced racism when they moved here in the early 1970's whereas compared to now it's really different and I think anthropology has helped in changing that alot with educating people about all different types of culture.

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Green Party councillor Hazel Chu was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, at a vote of Dublin City Council in the Mansion House on Monday evening.

Ms Chu was elected with 43 votes, to Fine Gael councillor Anne Feeney's nine votes.

Ms Chu is the cathaoirleach of the Green Party and spokeswoman for enterprise. She was elected to the council as a first time candidate in the 2019 local elections, topping the poll in the Pembroke ward with over 4,000 first preferences.

Born in Ireland to parents from Hong Kong, she is the first elected councillor of Chinese heritage in the Republic.

She becomes the first Lord Mayor of Dublin from the Green Party since John Gormley held the title in 1994 - and would later go on to lead the party.

In a speech after her election, Ms Chu said she would use the position to have "an open and frank conversation on the topic of racism and gender inequality."

"In recent years, we have seen the polarisation of politics in countries overseas, Ireland is not immune to this," and had seen evidence of far-right groups in recent years, she said.

The Black Lives Matter movement had taught her there is no such thing as an "innocent bystander," and it was not enough to be "not racist, but we must be anti-racist," Ms Chu said.

She recalled how her mother Stella came from a family in Hong Kong that "was not well off," and she would sell flowers in a market after school. She moved to Ireland in the 1970s and "worked night and day washing dishes in a restaurant off O'Connell Street, dreaming of a better future for her own daughter," she said.

"I wonder as I sit here if she dreamt her daughter would become the ninth female Lord Mayor of this great city," Ms Chu said.

Ms Chu said she had a dream for her own two-year-old daughter Alex, that she would grow up to "celebrate her diversity rather than being ashamed of it."

Ending her acceptance speech Ms Chu said she would like to thank her mother, "who worked endlessly to give us the future she never had."

Social Democrats councillor Mary Callaghan was elected deputy Lord Mayor with 43 votes, to nine cast for Fine Gael councillor Terence Flanagan, with several abstentions.

Green Party councillor Michael Pidgeon nominated Ms Chu at the meeting, who he said would be the first person of colour to hold the post, and would represent a Dublin "which is changing."

"Hazel's election as a woman and person of Chinese heritage would be an important step in sending a progressive message to some groups who need to hear it," he said.

Fine Gael had nominated Ms Feeney for the role, who was first co-opted onto the council after Kate O'Connell's election to the Dáil in 2016 and was re-elected to the council last year.

Ms Chu was elected to the position as part of a voting pact agreed between Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Labour and the Social Democrats, which included rotating the role of Lord Mayor.

Fianna Fáil's Paul McAuliffe was the first elected Lord Mayor under the deal, called the Dublin Agreement. Ms Chu takes over from Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Brabazon, who replaced Mr McAuliffe after his election to the Dáil.

Green wave

Ms Chu was one of 49 councillors elected for the party among the "Green wave" during the 2019 local elections.

Ms Chu studied history and politics in University College Dublin, where she was involved in running debating championships and the Philosophy Society. She then went on to graduate from King's Inns, but to date has not practiced as a barrister.

Since her election to the council Ms Chu has been a high profile media performer for the party, and has frequently spoken out against racist abuse she receives on social media.

Her partner is Green Party TD Patrick Costello, and they have a two-year-old daughter Alex.

She got involved with the Greens after managing Mr Costello's successful local election campaign in 2014. In the aftermath of the party's electoral wipeout following its last stint in government, the canvassing team often consisted of just the two of them.

Following her spectacular performance at the local elections, there was speculation that she might stand as a running mate to party leader Eamon Ryan in the Dublin Bay South constituency, but amid fears that this strategy could split the vote dangerously and elect neither - or cost Ryan his seat - the plan never got off the ground. Nor was Ms Chu successful in a bid to be one of the party's Seanad candidates this year.

Relations with Mr Ryan are said to be cool since, and Ms Chu was one of the most prominent party figures who opposed entering coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, part of a group that included Mr Costello, Neasa Hourigan and deputy leader Catherine Martin's husband, Francis Noel Duffy. However, they are part of the mainstream of the party, rather than from the anti-government extremes such as former candidate Saoirse McHugh and Cork councillor Lorna Bogue.

Previously she worked as head of corporate communications for Diageo Ireland, who produce Guinness, Smithwick's, and Smirnoff vodka. Ms Chu has more than €12,000 in shares in the drinks producer, according to ethics declarations filed with DCC last year. The shares were acquired as part of a bonus scheme structure and an employee saving scheme.

She has also previously worked for St Michael's House and Electric Picnic, and in 2009 volunteered for six months as a teacher in a school in rural China.

The role of Lord Mayor has been held by politicians from immigrant backgrounds on a number of occasions in the past.

Former Fianna Fáil TD Robert Briscoe, whose family came to Ireland as Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, held the title on two occasions in the mid-1950s and early 1960s.

Two brothers, Jean Desmynieres and Louis Desmynieres, were members of a French Huguenot family who both held the title in the late 1660s.

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Green Party's Hazel Chu elected Lord Mayor of Dublin

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Green Party councillor Hazel Chu was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, at a vote of Dublin City Council in the Mansion House on Monday evening. Ms Chu was elected with 43 votes, to Fine Gael councillor Anne Feeney's nine votes. Ms Chu is the cathaoirleach of the Green Party and spokeswoman for enterprise.

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this news article deals with racism which has become a bitter truth of society in Europe against black people. Finland has the highest number of racism cases This news survey relates anthropology because racism is a great concern about what people should talk about and take steps against it. further, it is need of concern because according to a survey majority of racism cases against blacks are not reported are afraid of police it relates to cultural and some of the political aspects in European society. The further color of people cannot describe how the community is.

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When looking for work, a quarter of respondents said they had felt racially discriminated against - these rates were highest in Austria, Italy and Luxembourg. Nearly 10% said they had faced similar problems in dealing with schools and education authorities.

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Racism against black people in EU 'widespread and entrenched'

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Although Finland was among the highest for stop rates (38%), only a small minority thought it had been for race reasons (4%) and trust in the police there was among the highest of those surveyed. Austria also had high stop rates (66%), but 31% believed it had been racially-motivated.

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Week 3
Many cases have been found where people got died just because of their honesty and their voice against the evils prevailing in the society.This case happened with a Russian journalist too as mentioned in this article.Just because of her desire to reach the last layer of any case,she had lost many jobs.She set fire on herself on 2 oct,2020 which proved that being a journalist in russia is not easy.She had been pressurized by the local authorities for mentioning open source in her news.She put the blame on federal system before she died.This made me think whether the condition of journalist will get improved or they will live their life in fear of being killed?
I think government is made for securing people lives, not for being a reason of their death.If government would had acted in different way, situation could be better than this one.

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The self-immolation by the journalist, Irina Slavina, 47, a longtime Kremlin critic, came a day after the authorities in her hometown of Nizhny Novgorod had searched her apartment.

MOSCOW - A Russian journalist who edited an independent news website died on Friday, setting herself afire in front of police headquarters in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after investigators had searched her home there.

Just before her self-immolation, Irina Slavina, 47, the founder and editor of Koza Press, a local news site, posted a message on Facebook saying: "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death."

Koza Press confirmed her death. The local branch of the Investigative Committee, Russia's equivalent of the F.B.I., said in a statement that the allegation that her death had anything to do with the search of her apartment was "groundless." The statement said the search had been conducted as part of a criminal case in which Ms. Slavina was considered a witness.

Irina Slavina Credit... Associated Press

Ms. Slavina said on Facebook Thursday that early in the morning 12 people, including members of a special police unit, had conducted a search of her apartment. The Facebook post said law enforcement agents had been looking for "brochures, leaflets, accounts" from Open Russia, an opposition organization, financed by Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a Kremlin critic, who had to flee Russia after spending more than a decade in prison.

The search was conducted as part of a criminal case against Mikhail Ioselevich, a local entrepreneur, who the authorities suspect was working together with Open Russia, officially regarded as an "undesirable organization" in the country.

Ms. Slavina's death came against the backdrop of rising dangers confronting journalists who write about subjects deemed objectionable by the Kremlin. The number of threats and attacks against journalists in the country has surged in recent years, according to incidents compiled by Justice for Journalists, an advocacy group.

"Russia remains a country where working as a journalist is associated with increased risks to life, health and freedom," the group says on its website.

Before the search, Ms. Slavina had been continuously pressured by the local authorities. She was fined for taking part in opposition demonstrations in Nizhny Novgorod and for mentioning Open Russia in her Facebook posts.

Local authorities throughout the Russian regions have been putting pressure on independent media outlets and journalists. Many have quit established publications to create their own small websites or blogs. Before founding her own news website in 2016, Ms. Slavina worked in several local media outlets, where she always faced various forms of censorship.

"I lost jobs three times because I can say that I poked my nose too far," she said in an interview in September of last year.

The website's only editor and writer, Ms. Slavina published investigative articles about the internal workings of the Federal Security Service, the most powerful security agency in Russia. Despite its one-member staff, Koza Press quickly turned into one of the most cited outlets in the region.

In Nizhny Novgorod, a city of 1.3 million people 250 miles east of Moscow, people were taking flowers and candles to the site of Ms. Slavina's death, according to photos posted online.

Natalia Gryaznevich, an acquaintance of Ms. Slavina, described her "as a brave journalist, without any cynicism or suspiciousness."

"She was just a very free and passionate person," Ms. Gryaznevich wrote on her Facebook account. "It is deadly dangerous to be such a person in Russia."

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Russian Journalist Sets Herself on Fire and Dies, Blaming Government

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The self-immolation by the journalist, Irina Slavina, 47, a longtime Kremlin critic, came a day after the authorities in her hometown of Nizhny Novgorod had searched her apartment. MOSCOW - A Russian journalist who edited an independent news website died on Friday, setting herself afire in front of police headquarters in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after investigators had searched her home there.

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Week 4
This article really shed light on the difference between the view of government and some religious groups.Recently, France's Macron announced that he will do anything to fight against what he called "Islamic-separatism".He said that counter-society which is making their young generation too like them by teaching them separately at homes and making them follow strict norms, could be dangerous for the republic.He also promised to offer more economic and social mobility to immigrant communities.In order to achieve what he wants,he even warned that it could create problem for students.This taught me that following the rules and culture of the country , where we live is important as it could cause some problems for the whole community.

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"In a one hour speech #Macron burried [sic] #laïcité, emboldened the far right, anti-Muslim leftists and threatened the lives of Muslim students by calling for drastic limits on home schooling despite a global pandemic."

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France's Macron vows to fight 'Islamist separatism'

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"In a one hour speech #Macron burried [sic] #laïcité, emboldened the far right, anti-Muslim leftists and threatened the lives of Muslim students by calling for drastic limits on home schooling despite a global pandemic."

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For this week I chose a article about the impact of losing languages can have on society. Francois Alfonsi who is a member of the European Parliament is advocating to help save the 120 endangered languages in Europe. He believes the disappearance of some languages would have a major effect on the language diversity. There are many languages at risk. Some of them are Sami, Manx, and Breton. I believe if we lose a certain language we potentially lose the culture and the knowledge of the people who spoke it. Language is something that every culture has and without language there would be no culture. From reading this news story I have learned that saving languages could prevent our diversity to diminish.

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When it comes to linguistic tussles at the European Union, it usually falls to the francophone and anglophone camps to argue over the superiority of their native tongue, with much of the bloc's paperwork churned out only in French and English.

But what about Germany's Lower Sorbian speakers, the Ladino speakers of Greece, or Finns still fluent in Ingrian?

One MEP is determined that they too should have their voices heard - or at least preserved - and is lobbying to make sure the 120 endangered languages of Europe do not disappear.

Francois Alfonsi, the only Corsican speaker in the European Parliament, will later this month present the first report in decades into the state of Europe's dying languages.

"There are hundreds of languages in the EU and each is a part of the European identity," Mr Alfonsi recently told the parliament's cultural committee. "Without concrete support at European, national and local level, we will see a further decline in linguistic diversity over the next decades. This will leave all of us culturally, socially and economically impoverished."

The EU already has 23 official languages and that is growing with each new member. But the diversity within each member state is startling. About 250 languages are indigenous to the continent.

Across the northern reaches of Scandinavia, there are nomadic reindeer herders speaking Sami. In Finland, dozens of ethnic languages spill over the border from Russia, while in pockets of France you can pick a word or two in Champenois, Breton or Savoyard.

It is already too late to save dozens of Europe's ancient languages. The Shuadit and Zarphatic Judeo-French languages died along with many of their speakers during the holocaust. Others such as Dalmatian, Polabian and Slovincian have gone unuttered for decades.

Meirion Prys Jones, chief executive of the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity, told The Independent: "If you allow these languages to flourish and live, it brings better social cohesion."
Lost in translation: Languages at risk
Nine separate languages fall under this grouping, spoken across northern Scandanavia. Northern Sami has 15,000 speakers but Ume Sami has only 20 left.
Phrase book: "Hálatgo Eaŋgalasgiela?" (Do you speak English?)
The language of the Isle of Man was declared extinct by Unesco in 2009, prompting pupils at a primary school to write and insist it was still alive in their classroom.
Phrase book: "Cha nel mee toiggal." (I don't understand.)
A Celtic language spoken in the French province of Brittany, closely liked to Cornish. More than 200,000 native speakers remain.
Phrase book: "Ur banne bier 'm bo." (I would like a beer).

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One man's fight to protect Europe's dying languages

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When it comes to linguistic tussles at the European Union, it usually falls to the francophone and anglophone camps to argue over the superiority of their native tongue, with much of the bloc's paperwork churned out only in French and English. But what about Germany's Lower Sorbian speakers, the Ladino speakers of Greece, or Finns still fluent in Ingrian?

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A student, aged 26, is currently dealing with severe injuries to his head after he was hit many times over with a shovel by a man as he entered a synagogue. This news story is about the unmitigated brutal attack of this victim and the continual rising racism towards Jewish people in Germany as Chancellor Angela Merkel stated last month. This incident is being viewed as attempted murder with anti-Semitic motivations. Considering Germany’s history with anti-Semitism (the Holocaust, for example, where over 6 million innocent people including many children were murdered, raped, tortured and burned alive) Germany’s Justing Minister said, “The hatred against Jews in a disgrace for our country”.

All forms of racism are disgraceful, and this article is a reminder that it exists all over the world, even in Germany where there is a strong cultural/historical awareness of just how horrid racism is and what it can lead to. I have a very difficult time understanding how one can hate another based on culture or religion, or any personal choices – especially those that do not cause harm to others.

As anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures and their development (one definition) I would be interested to learn where hate for “the other” originates from. I am aware that since the 1600’s there were many ridiculous claims put forward by leading scientists, doctors, politicians, surgeons, philosophers and anthropologists that those with darker skin or of different ethnicities were inferior (some even suggested that Caucasians had larger brains due to the size of their cranium compared to Native and African Americans and that became “proof” that white people were more intelligent). It seems that racism has been present across history, and as much as I want to believe that our world is improving in this regard, when I read articles like this one, I am not so sure.

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Jewish student attacked with shovel in Germany

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Police in Hamburg say they are investigating the case as attempted murder with anti-Semitic intent.

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For this week   I chose an article about language anxiety in Denmark.  Danish People's Party MP Alex Ahrendtsen turned into the discussion of the Danish political world – and the objective of much joke   when he said  "it should cost a bit more" when advertisers use English words.’’  Around 20% of all courses at colleges are currently instructed in English and it's a developing pattern. This implies college teachers and understudies, every one of whom are Danish, are presently instructed in English.  From this article I have learned that life in Denmark is becoming more challenging because of the language. when people in Denmark asked about why they are against English language , they stated that they are  not afraid of foreign language  but the only issue is they are slowly giving up on  their own language .After reading this  article I have learned that adopting new language should  not impact on our native language as language and culture can never be separable .

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Coronavirus has proved to have increased death rates all over the world, especially the elderly population. As this range of population (people in their 70s, 80s, 90s) is believed to be the well of wisdom and hold the secrets of how the rituals of a culture work, their lives matter a lot when talking about protection of a culture. As mentioned in the article, Italy has seen massive number of deaths of the older population which unveils the dangerous affect on the secure-keeping of the culture. Not only this but prevention methods such as putting on masks, social-distancing etcetera encourage a feeling of distrust among various populations.
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Our elders are dying one by one, oak trees struck down by an acceleration of greed and skepticism. The generation that was raised in the angst of World War II is gone.

Coffins, too many to bury. Lined up at the Monumental Cemetery, in churches, in convoys in the streets around Borgo Palazzo-our elders, waiting to be turned back to ashes.

The crematorium fire never ceases burning, smoldering 24 hours a day. Crackling, it consumes bones, lace collars, mustaches, and memories.

Many rested their hopes on a tube down the throat and died in the painless emptiness of sedation. Many more were never reached by an ambulance and asphyxiated by lung exhaustion, rarefied oxygen, sheer solitude. Some couples, instead, chose to simply surrender life, together, at home and with each other.

To none of those remaining, the comfort of seeing their beloved one last time, of retaining the contour of their hands or the feel of their skin, of remembering. To none of us, the possibility of accompanying and saluting them, of accepting our loss.

Within the coffins is the wisdom of the place I come from, draped in a shroud saturated with disinfectant.

What will we be without our elders? A meadow exposed to every strong wind that blows, a mountain with an amputated peak where the snow cannot settle. How will we put the depth of the field back together? How will we build perspective again?

New bushes and shrubs, we have a shallow memory: Our bones don't hold as yet the winter fog of the plains; we leave the crumbs on the tablecloth, certain of abundance, yet retain what is worth being forgotten; we do not recite the enchanted riddles of the nor feel the need to know them. We have looser moorings, historically and ecologically, yet aren't more supple in mind and spirit.

Dear Doctor, encumbered with the most atrocious of choices, I beg you: Do all you can to not remove the ventilator from our elders. In an old man is a grandchild who needs him in order to grow up well and wise. He is our dictionary, the village register, the fount of the stream that runs toward the village square and then out into the fields. In an old woman is a grandchild who needs her in order to grow up compassionate and large-spirited. She is the village school, the warmth of the evening soup, the promise that time will bring not only fragility but also its acceptance.

Our elders, taken away like the air this disease steals. What we will miss the most, once we emerge from this and start all over, is our elders, whose dedication is carved in everything we have to rebuild.

Dear Mayor, I implore you, bring back the ashes of those cremated elsewhere. Find a grassland to bury our loved ones here. Lay them to rest in our countryside, nella nostra campagna. We need our elders to return to the land that remains theirs if we want this land to continue to be ours.

When this pandemic ends, we'll call the grassland where they are buried "the old folks' field." We'll plant barley, red poppies, and oak trees. We'll sit with our children in the sun and teach them our dialect, while we remember what happened in the spring of 2020. There, we will make the future grow again.

In my community, in the city and the province of Bergamo, Italy, we are witnessing the decimation of a whole generation by the novel coronavirus. We grieve, between anguish and guilt. And we ask how we can ensure that the significance of this generation will not be completely lost.

I originally wrote my lament on March 17 as a letter to Bergamo's Mayor Giorgio Gori, recognizing the unfortunate and time-sensitive decisions his role is imposing on him, and offering a reflection on the loss of our community's elders as well as a possible preparation for mourning and remembering.

Bergamo, in Lombardia, is the epicenter of the outbreak in Italy, followed closely by the neighboring province (equivalent to counties in the U.S.) of Brescia and Milan. The number of victims is impossible to calculate, with the only realistic estimate obtained by comparing the number of deceased in March 2020 with the same data from previous years. Bergamo, as a province, lost as many people as it would in six months ( 5,400 against 900 in 2019). A similar tragedy happened in the small communities around the city of Bergamo: San Pellegrino, 42 deceased in March 2020, and two in March 2019; San Giovanni Bianco, 41 this March, two last March.

In the city and in the province, both testing facilities and emergency transportation have been overwhelmed for a full month. The large majority of those who died, possibly 90 percent, passed away at home, slowly suffocating while waiting for an ambulance. Others, in particular couples who have been together for a long time, decided not to be separated: They did not even call an ambulance, resigned to wait for the end at home, hand in hand.

The obituaries in the local newspaper, generally spanning one to two pages, now take up to 13, even though not all the dead have the privilege of being included. Those pages bear witness to the proportional relationship between the number of victims and their ages, almost defying the demographic distribution: a few youngsters, some in their 50s, a few more in their 60s, and countless in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Nursing care facilities have lost, some administrators say, as many as half of their residents.

Medically speaking, it is certainly more difficult to save people of an older age. Also, the scarcity of resources-primarily ventilators-has forced medical personnel to the dreadful decision of prioritizing the patients who have the highest odds of survival. While the doctors I spoke with described collective and painful decisions that torment them, the questions for an anthropologist are: What cultural values intervene in such decisions? Would societies that treasure elders as the prime holders of knowledge, wisdom, cultural identity, and history make the same choices? Would certain people be able to gather necessary resources for themselves because of their political or economic power, regardless of their age and medical condition?

Medical personnel are the sacrificial victims. Not only have they behaved heroically, working in conditions of extreme danger and stress, often separated from their families for extended periods of time, but many of them, and their families, have paid the highest possible price of this pandemic. But doctors have also spoken out, even if under conditions of anonymity, about the capitalist principles that, over the last 20 years, have ruined the public health system in Lombardia: They explained how savings on public spending were converted into corporate bonuses, a legalized profiting of public resources that is nothing short of bribery masked by the rhetoric of meritocracy.

In the town where the outbreak started, the community blames the local factories that have units in Wuhan, China, and, it seems, had repatriated and reinstated personnel from there. That was before it was known that the asymptomatic and the recently recovered remain highly contagious. But even when cases were exponentially increasing, local and national authorities, under the influence of the same industry leaders, prevented the containment measures that the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità (the technical scientific body of the National Health System) had recommended.

There will be time for a more careful analysis of what happened in Bergamo, an affluent mountainous community that prides itself on its incomprehensible dialect and principles of hard work. For now, it is its pain and devastation that tear my heart. Local cemeteries, funeral homes, and the crematorium have been unable to keep up with the burials. Coffins have piled up in churches-not for funerals, now prohibited, but awaiting burial or cremation. When even churches became too crowded with caskets, the mayor summoned the army to transport the corpses to the crematoria of other cities-Novara, Trecate, Padua, Ferrara, Bologna, Piacenza, Modena-in what is now called the " diaspora of the caskets " from Bergamo.

Contrary to the many images of music and humor from other regions in Italy, Bergamo is deserted, stripped of its vivacity by the cold solitude of the countless coffins.

Nothing but strident silence occupies its elegant squares, le sue piazze. Death notices cannot be posted, for they would compel people to gather. Death knells cannot be rung, for they would further sadden. Behind each closed door, undiluted agony: Each and every one of us has lost mothers, fathers, grandparents, close friends, neighbors. And the tormenting guilt: What should we have done differently?

Collectively, we have lost the generation of our elders, and with them, our history, tradition, language, taste, knowledge, wisdom, commonsense, and perhaps our strength. Now that we need to imagine how to trust one another behind a mask, reconsider what we most value, express affection and care while foregoing touch, un-globalize ourselves yet recognize our interdependence, prioritize equality and competence over tendencies toward autocracy-we have lost most of the expertise we could count on to confront these challenges. In honoring our elders, we will find the courage and the patience to rebuild.

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What Will Italy Become Without Its Elders?

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The coronavirus has swept away a generation of wisdom-keepers, WWII survivors, storytellers, parents, and grandparents in Bergamo, Italy. An anthropologist mourns with her community-the hardest hit in the country-and asks all of us the most difficult questions of this pandemic.

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This article is about the some members in the Spanish government hoping to change a law that states women between the ages of 16 and 18 need to obtain parental consent to undergo a legal abortion. “Irene Montero, equality minister, said that women should have the “right to decide” about their bodies” and many others agree. However, in order for the law to change every majority must rule in favor (176 votes).

This may be a challenge considering the rights of women in Spain, where abortion is concerned, seems to be a slow climb toward the ultimate prerogative of every person: freedom of choice. It was only in 2014 where women were no longer limited in undergoing an abortion without evidence of rape or where the mother’s health was at risk. This new liberation for women was not a popular decision and created much opposition which is why the government modified the law, soon after, stating that those between the age of 16 and 18 would need parental permission.

Many are hoping that the law to allow women access to abortion without their parent’s authorization will be passed.

This story relates to anthropology as the roles, rights and positions of women in society is a subject that has been studied cross culturally by anthropologists.

I learned from this news story that there are still so many seemingly progressive countries in the world that consist of governments opposed to women having freedom over their own bodies.

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Spain abortion: Government works to repeal parental consent rule

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The government is aiming to repeal the reform - introduced by the PP in 2015 - which established the obligation of parental consent in the case of girls between 16 and 18-years-old who wanted to end their pregnancy.

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This article is about an incidence of racism caused due to the spread of covid-19. It has been found that along with deteriorating health, pandemic is also leading to increase in racism faced by the people of Asian heritage. Recently, in a restaurant , a poster on the wall showing the portrait of a very yellow Xi Jinping with bat ears and the term 'BAT MAN' made the Asian people feel mortified. They felt racism as their culture is being blamed and they are being harassed by people. It really rises a question to those who are blaming every citizen of china for the spread of virus , What if pandemic would had emerged from their own home country? This is the time to stand and fight together against this pandemic by supporting others, not to blame each other.

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As coronavirus has spread around the world, people of Asian heritage have reported facing greater hostility.

But fashion influencer Bryanboy said he was shocked to find "racist" images on the walls of a Stockholm restaurant.

"It wasn't until we placed our order that we noticed all the huge posters on the wall - an illustrated portrait of a very yellow Xi Jinping with bat ears and the term 'BAT MAN'," he said.

The restaurant has since removed the posters.

Restaurant Riche, in the Swedish capital, said many people had found the exhibition "disturbing and racist, which was of course not the intention", adding that it "sincerely apologise[s] to anyone that was offended".

The artist behind the poster, who publishes work under the name Iron Art Works, said they apologised for any offence caused, but not for the image itself.

"I would not have done it in the first place If I did not stand behind it. I still do," they told the BBC via email. "I don't want to hurt people of course, that is not my intention at all."

Bryanboy, whose real name is Bryan Yambao, was dining at the restaurant in the Swedish capital with a friend from Hong Kong on Saturday. He wrote on Instagram that he was "mortified" when he saw the posters.

"Ever since Covid happened, me and pretty much a lot of the Asian people I know have gone through so much racist and xenophobic abuse on the internet," Mr Yambao, who is Filipino, told the BBC. "So to see it in real life was kind of surreal."

He added that he had already ordered food but "couldn't wait to get out of the restaurant".

The artwork features the Chinese president as "Bat Man" - in an apparent reference to the theory that the coronavirus may have originated in bats - in front of a Japanese-style rising sun. It was installed in the restaurant several weeks ago.

The first cases of coronavirus were recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, but the virus has since spread around the world.

The pandemic has led to a wave of racism, xenophobia and even violence directed towards people of Chinese ethnicity, as well as people of East Asian appearance. In one case in London, a student from Singapore was beaten by a group of men who allegedly said: "I don't want your coronavirus in my country."

"Almost every day I get comments, just because I'm Asian, linking me with Covid," said Mr Yambao. "And it's not just online - these images have real-life repercussions, because they create a hostile environment for Asians and it normalises racism and xenophobia against them."

The artist said on Instagram that their work was not intended to be racist, and their previous art included satirical depictions of a number of world leaders.

"My intention was only to make a fool of Xi [Jinping]/CCP [Chinese Communist Party] NOT to make a racist comment that hurt a lot of people, but I accidentally did, and I again apologise to you who feel that way," they wrote in an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

Tonight my "BAT MAN" blew up for beeing racist against Asian people. My intention was never for it to be. Thou racism and hate IS a part of our time and that is included in the symbolism. I cant stretch enough how much i apologise for the people who got their feelings hurt by it. I have been working with hardcore satire portraits alot and making a fool of people in power (swipe ex HATE and PUTAN). My intention of the "BAT MAN" was the same, represented by the dictator Xi Jinping and CCP's handling of the virus outbreak. But i now, thanks to you teatching me, realised that it hit all wrong... So I repeat, my intention was only to make a fool of Xi/CCP, NOT to make a racist comment that hurt a lot of people, but i accedentally did, and I again apologise to you who feel that way. So for that sake i will take down the posts of it, but im keeping this one, to contribute too the open discussion and so you get your voices herd. That was my intention all along.

A post shared by iron (@ironartworks) on

In comments to the BBC, the artist said the incident was a "schoolbook example" of cancel culture, and argued that there had been no complaints of racism about the art - which they said had been displayed in parts of Stockholm for several months and in Restaurant Riche for a month - until this weekend.

They added that they thought cancel culture was "a greater danger to society than any artwork".

But Mr Yambao said the artist's response was a "non-apology".

"It comes from a place of ignorance - that he wasn't expecting it to be racist or considered racist... I'm all for freedom of expression by artists, but I just wish that he knew what the repercussions of his work are."

"In these crazy times, when millions of people are affected by this disease and hundreds of thousands of people have already died, and the world is already in such a bad state, do we really need to create divisive artwork out there, that could be misconstrued by anyone?" Mr Yambao asked.

The World Health Organization has warned against attaching locations or ethnicities to the pandemic. "This is not a 'Wuhan Virus', 'Chinese Virus' or 'Asian Virus'," the body said in guidance issued earlier this year, adding that the "official name for the disease was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatisation".

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Bryanboy: Controversy grows over restaurant's 'racist' posters

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As coronavirus has spread around the world, people of Asian heritage have reported facing greater hostility. But fashion influencer Bryanboy said he was shocked to find "racist" images on the walls of a Stockholm restaurant.

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The news article events the story of the Halle synagogue attack its sad that it has become normal to insult ordinary citizens(jews ). European society has to face the sight of criminal activity and a picture of fear among citizens. This news story relates to Anthropology because jews people are not safe and protect them from this kind of terror ( short dead women and killing one daina ). Further, it was interesting that Thousand of jews and non-jews people were supporting antisemitism showing the multicultural society in Germany which relates to history, cultural changes evolution in this society.  However, I believe discrimination should not be made by one believe and culture.

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It was 9 October 2019 and the Jewish community of Halle in eastern Germany was observing the morning prayer service on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, when a far-right gunman fired shots at the synagogue door in an attempt to attack them.

Among the congregation was Mollie. She had nipped outside to get some fresh air, leaving her prayer book on a pew.

Minutes later, the gunman fired at the door she had just walked through.

Mollie was sitting across the street on a park bench, hidden from view by a water tower. She realised the noise was coming from the direction of the synagogue and intuition told her not to move.

Returning to the synagogue, she saw police and a body lying covered on the ground. Jana L, 40, was the first victim of the Halle shootings.

Mollie was quickly bundled indoors, but the gunman was still on the run and went on to kill a second victim, 20-year-old Kevin S, in a nearby kebab restaurant.

Defendant in court

Neo-Nazi Stephan Balliet, 28, confessed before a judge shortly after the Halle murders and went on trial in July. The attack was streamed online for 35 minutes.

I first saw him in court on 1 September, when survivors began giving evidence.

Mollie was called on as the first witness and she asked if I would be her support person throughout the ordeal.

As the defendant walked into the courtroom in handcuffs, he sat down, clearly enjoying the attention of the press photographers, and smirked as he peered into their lenses.

I could not help but notice how physically small he looked.

Survivor takes the stand

Mollie and I are close friends and we are both granddaughters of Holocaust survivors from the former Czechoslovakia.

When she was called to take the stand, Mollie told me that being able to testify was a way of representing more than 100 family members murdered by the Nazis during World War Two. She felt she was speaking not only on her behalf but theirs too.

"For so long, my grandfather was the only survivor in our family," Mollie told the court. "On October 9, 2019, I too joined the ranks of survivors. I stand alongside him."

She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress: everyday tasks became hard and getting through the day proved difficult. Then, at the end of her testimony, she talked of the gunman: "After today, he will no longer cause me any more personal turmoil. It ends today."

Any time the term "Holocaust" was mentioned, the defendant would laugh.

Whenever the judge told the co-plaintiff or witness that their costs would be covered by the court, he made hand gestures signalling "money" in a derogatory manner.

When he testified on 22 July, he proclaimed that his attack on the Halle synagogue was not a "mistake" and that the people inside were his "enemies".

However, he did express remorse for the two people that he had fatally shot, as they were white Germans and not a part of a minority group.

During the two days I was in court on 1 and 2 September, he showed sympathy just once: when a German nurse who saw Jana L lying on the ground told the court how the experience had made her confide in her loved ones and that her Christian faith had helped her through a difficult time.

At this point, the defendant apologised, telling the nurse he wished he hadn't harmed her.

How police were unprepared

Throughout much of the evidence ran a theme of a police force ill-equipped to handle the attack in a sensitive manner.

Christina, a co-plaintiff in the case, said she was astounded that on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar there were no police present. The accused merely laughed and shook his head.

The question arose of how the Halle attacker could know more about Jewish high holy days than German police.

Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz, head of Jewish learning for the Base Berlin cultural centre, told the BBC that during the attack police "treated us like a burden, and there was definitely a lack of cultural knowledge".

There was a lack of understanding why they were praying in a group, and the rabbi believed that "by addressing this in court, we might contribute towards changing the system".

The BBC has approached Saxony-Anhalt police but has not had a response.

The federal government has allocated funding towards training police on how to report and deal effectively with anti-Semitic crime.

Felix Klein, the German government's Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism, told the BBC he was saddened to hear of the alleged police response, but not surprised.

Ninety percent of anti-Semitic attacks recorded in Germany have had far-right motives, he says. Only this week, a Jewish student was attacked outside a Hamburg synagogue by a man wielding a shovel.

Halle synagogue was not the only building attacked on 9 October 2019.

Immediately after firing at the door, the gunman targeted a doner restaurant two blocks away in the hope that Muslims or immigrants would be eating there.

He fired a large number of bullets, killing Kevin S.

Afterwards, the owner of the Kiez-Doner restaurant handed it over to two workers traumatised by the attack, brothers Ismet and Rifat Tekin.

Mollie and I decided to go to Halle to retrace the day's events and we spent time with Ismet while we were there.

He and his brother came to Germany 12 years ago from Turkey and have always enjoyed living in Halle.

"My brother was heavily affected by the attack. I now have to be strong for the both of us," he told me.

While Ismet himself had never had concerns about racism until a year ago, he was now fearful for his children's safety, he said.

Support for victims

Mollie has described "varied layers of support" for the synagogue survivors from both Jewish and non-Jewish groups in Halle.

And there has been help for the victims of the restaurant attacks too. Ismet and Rifat Tekin have struggled to get customers through the doors of the Kiez-Doner, as it has become a memorial to the two who died.

The brothers' lawyer, Onur Ozata, has appealed to the German government for help, as they are faced with the financial impact as well as the emotional effects of the attack.

Mobile victim counselling group MobileOpferberatung has provided four counsellors who specialise in hate crime, with help for mental health problems as well as legal issues and state compensation.

Project manager Antje Arndt says a couple of people from Halle have also provided voluntary support for the brothers.

"The solidarity group was able to offer Ismet a ride to and from Halle to court. It's one of the many ways in which we can work together and it's so nice to see."

The German Jewish student union launched a fundraising campaign and held a a rally this week to mark the anniversary of the 9 October attack.

Co-plaintiffs gave speeches and the union presented the brothers with a donation of thousands of euros.

Union leader Noa Luft said it showed "people are eager to fight for a more multicultural society here in Germany".

Meanwhile, the trial in Magdeburg continues and is due to finish by the end of the year.

The defendant is accused of two counts of murder and 68 charges of attempted murder and other crimes. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

This story is featured on Heart and Soul, on the BBC World Service

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Halle synagogue attack: Survivors relive terror in German trial

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It was 9 October 2019 and the Jewish community of Halle in eastern Germany was observing the morning prayer service on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, when a far-right gunman fired shots at the synagogue door in an attempt to attack them. Among the congregation was Mollie.

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For this week I chose a article about the corona virus pandemic and how various countries across Europe are reintroducing restrictions because of the rise in cases. I was drawn to this news story because I find it interesting how countries across Europe have different restriction measures in place. For example Sweden authorities are not advocating citizens to wear masks despite the uptick in cases. While in parts of France masks are mandatory for anyone over the age of 11. This shows how people in Europe have various differences on what they think is best for controlling the virus. Some people in Europe and across the world are not concerned with the virus, while others take a more cautious approach with regard to Covid-19. I believe the differences of opinions on the virus will continue to exist, and that can show how humans are different on what they think is right or wrong.

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Covid: How is Europe lifting lockdown restrictions?

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Europe is gradually easing lockdown measures ahead of the tourist season.

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This news story is about how denmark has a culture of “ widespread  sexual violence “. I choose this topic because  rape cuture is a problematic and shameful issue in the society.  A survey was conducted and outcome was  In spite of having gained notoriety for sexual orientation fairness, the common liberties campaigners found that "the detailing cycle and its fallout are gigantically damaging" for casualties.   According to the research , In 2017,  (5100-24000 cases)  only  890 rapes were reported from which prosecutions were 535 and rest in convictions  . This news story relates to anthropology sexual assault violates the sexual integrity of the victim. What i have learnt from this news is  despite rules and laws, people still face assaults. I believe laws should be amended in order to protect prestige and respect of the human culture and  person doing abuse must be punished hard.

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Denmark has a culture of "widespread sexual violence", and systemic problems in how it deals with rape: that's according to a new study by Amnesty International.

Despite having a reputation for gender equality, the human rights campaigners found that "the reporting process and its aftermath are immensely traumatising" for victims.

Rape in Denmark is hugely under-reported, and even in circumstances where women do go to the police, the chances of prosecution or conviction remain slim, Amnesty said.

Of the women who experienced rape or attempted rape in 2017 (estimates vary from 5,100 according to the Ministry of Justice to 24,000 according to a recent study), just 890 rapes were reported to the police. Of these, 535 resulted in prosecutions and only 94 in convictions.

Under the Istanbul Convention, ratified by Denmark in 2014, rape and all other non-consensual acts of a sexual nature must be classified as criminal offences. Despite this, under Danish law, rape is not defined on the basis of a lack of consent. Instead, the definition is based on whether physical violence, threat, or coercion is involved or if the victim is found to have been unable to resist.

By placing the burden of proof on the victim to have adequately protected themselves from the attack, and not on the person carrying out the assault, the law has faced criticism from activists, as there is common evidence that victims are known to freeze in the face of assault.

Helle Jacobsen, senior advisor at Amnesty International said: "We show how this legislation creates very problematic and harmful gender stereotypes and rape myths all the way through the legal system from the police to the prosecution, to lawyers to judges in the court system. It's really important to remember that legislation carries culture."

There is hope for activists wishing for a change in the law.

Responding to Amnesty's report, Danish Minister of Justice Soren Pape Poulsen went on Twitter to say: "Thanks so much for putting this on the agenda. We must ensure that Danish legislation reflects the fact that sex shall always be voluntary. It is utterly important to bring justice to sexual assault victims. I am working hard for new legislation."

In response to his comment, Jacobsen said: "We are waiting to see a law proposal, but we are hopeful."

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Denmark has pervasive rape culture, says human rights group Amnesty

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Despite being concerned one Europe's most gender equal countries, Denmark has a "pervasive rape culture" and systemic problems in dealing with rape, according to a report from Amnesty International. The report is calling for a change in the definition of rape, to focus on the importance of consent.

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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Be sure to read the updated assignment instructions and good luck with your final 3 posts!

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The article I chose for this week is about the ongoing anti-Muslim hatred in Europe. In a recent report  People in the countries of Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and France had over 50% of dislike of Islam. In addition racist hate crimes towards Muslim's have increased dramatically. The European Union anti-racism coordinator plans to put a strategy in place to combat anti-racism. This story relates to anthropology because it is about religion and why a certain religion like Islam is looked down upon. I believe we should be nonjudgmental and try to develop a understanding of what it means to be part of a religion other than yours. By treating everyone as equal regardless of there skin colour or beliefs we can progress as a society.

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Rarely does the EU act so swiftly. Less than four months since the killing of George Floyd in police custody and the Black Lives Matter campaign that spilled into Europe and galvanised continent-wide protests, the EU is appointing its first ever anti-racism coordinator. This brilliant idea will make little sense, however, if anti-Muslim hatred is not part of their portfolio. Because instead of building a "truly anti-racist union", as the president of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, would wish, we have so far built an anti-Muslim one.

Prejudice against Muslims exists in every corner of Europe. Not only do we collectively devalue and discriminate against Europeans who follow Islam, but the incidence of violence against Muslims is increasing.

We have known since the refugee and migration crisis of 2015 and the jihadist terrorist attacks in France, Spain and Germany that Muslims suffer from an exceptionally bad reputation in our societies. In 2019, research conducted for the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Religion Monitor yet again confirmed widespread mistrust towards Muslims across Europe. In Germany and Switzerland, every second respondent said they perceived Islam as a threat. In the UK, two in five share this perception. In Spain and France, about 60% think Islam is incompatible with the "west". In Austria, one in three doesn't want to have Muslim neighbours.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) confirms these findings in its most recent paper on the rise and meaning of hate crimes against Muslims. So does Europe's police coordinating body Europol: in 2019, far-right terrorism soared.

What is more surprising is how quickly anti-Muslim racism has turned violent.

In its most recent report the Council of Europe warns that "Europe is facing a shocking reality: antisemitic, anti-Muslim and other racist hate crimes are increasing at an alarming rate". The OSCE also corroborates these findings in its own paper on hate crimes against Muslims.

If it were not so distressing it would be fascinating. From Spain to Bulgaria and from Finland to France, people feel prejudice against Muslims no matter the size of the country's economy, its Muslim community, the religious, racial or ethnic social makeup, the kind of historical relations with the south and the Muslim world, or even the refugee policy after 2015.

Take two very different European countries: Germany and Poland. The German Muslim community (4.7 million people or 5.7% of the population) is more than 200 times larger than Poland's (about 20,000 or 0.05). German GDP is seven times larger, and the country is much more religiously diverse. Perhaps the best indicator to showcase differences is the policy towards Syrian refugees that the two countries adopted in 2015. Germany's Willkommenskultur stood in stark contrast to Poland's staunch refusal to take any.

And yet roughly the same percentage of Germans and Poles think unfavourably about Muslims.

Racism in Germany occurs particularly frequently under the guise of anti-Muslim prejudice. Some 52% of those surveyed in early 2019 said they perceived Islam as a threat. This perception has remained stable at a high level for around 10 years. In Poland, with only a handful of Muslims, Arabs (usually identified as Muslims) have been the most disliked ethnicity for more than a decade. In the 2020 poll, 55% of Polish respondents said they disliked them.

In both countries, anti-Muslim prejudice prepared fertile ground for racist violence. According to German police statistics, the number of crimes classified as Islamophobia rose by 4.4% to 950 offences in 2019. Repeated or foiled attacks on refugee centres and mosques are becoming a serious danger to Germany's national security, with the killing of nine people in Hanau in February as the most blatant example. Although smaller and less frequent in Poland, hate crimes since 2016 also have been perpetrated mostly against Muslims or "persons thought to be Muslims".

The anti-Muslim bias is omnipresent not only geographically but also across the political spectrum. The right, the centre and the left - everyone seems to hold a grudge, although for different reasons.

In Germany, far-right racism focuses on the question of whether Muslims or other minorities can be "real Germans". A whole generation of German Muslims have grown up in this social climate - constantly questioned and forced to justify their religion. The Alternative für Deutschland party, which claims it is defending Judeo-Christian values against so-called Islamisation, is now the biggest opposition party in the national parliament. Its ideas have spread into the mainstream.

Among liberals and on the left there is often prejudice against Islam from a position of "humanist universalism, human rights, gender equality and democracy", as one Polish liberal commentator put it while warning about the creeping Islamisation of Europe. Even the strongest critics of the current PiS government in Poland will quite openly talk of Muslims as religious fanatics: "Not that I am against Islam," you hear people say, "it's just that they have not had their reformation yet - they're like Christians in the Middle Ages."

This is not to say that criticism of religion is inadmissible, or that all Europeans are racist. But xenophobia grows in crises, and we currently live in crisis - the pandemic, looming recession and global uncertainty may exacerbate what is already an existential danger for the European Union and democracy. The European scapegoat of choice will most likely be Muslim. Far-right or populist parties will openly vilify Islam, with the tacit support of many mainstream politicians.

The good news is that, thanks to the Black Lives Matter protests, the ground is now fertile in Europe for anti-xenophobic activism and policies. Across the continent - Poland and Germany included - thousands of people gathered this summer in anti-racist and antifascist demonstrations. In Germany, as a direct result of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Bundestag recently asked the DeZIM-Institut to set up a Racism Monitor, with funding of €10m.

The creation of an EU anti-racism coordinator could reinvigorate a pan-European approach to anti-Muslim racism. But it should incorporate the existing office for coordinating Europe's efforts to combat anti-Muslim hatred - which was created in 2015 but has achieved little - with an enhanced budget and a clear, strong mandate.

An energetic and devoted coordinator should not only coordinate between EU institutions but also monitor and record anti-Muslim hatred in all member states: only 15 of 27 have strategies to fight racism.

But none of us should give anti-Muslim racism a free pass. Many communities across Europe are uniformly white and Christian, particularly in smaller towns and villages. But we all live in our own social bubbles, none of which are free from prejudice, and it is there that we need to act.

We need to keep a nose for what Frantz Fanon called the "stench of racism" - those seemingly rational opinions that hide a bias uttered at friendly dinners or drinks parties. Take up the issue and talk loudly about anti-Muslim racism.

Call a spade a spade. We have become accustomed to the word Islamophobia, but the "phobia" part softens the meaning as if it was a medical condition deserving of tolerance. EU legislation classifies anti-Muslim racism as racism - once we take it as such, its ominous character becomes clear. Racism is not a temporary or transitional phenomenon. It is a social pandemic that burrows into the structures of society, infiltrating and disintegrating all areas of life.

* Patrycja Sasnal is a political scientist and head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs; Yasemin El Menouar is a social scientist, head of the Religion Monitor project at the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Germany and a member of the independent expert group on hostility against Muslims at the German interior ministry
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There's a social pandemic poisoning Europe: hatred of Muslims | Patrycja Sasnal and Yasemin El Menouar

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Rarely does the EU act so swiftly. Less than four months since the killing of George Floyd in police custody and the Black Lives Matter campaign that spilled into Europe and galvanised continent-wide protests, the EU is appointing its first ever anti-racism coordinator.

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The article which I have chosen is about how covid and lockdown have to lead to the fantastic idea of Europeans flock to British museum to go online. It was quite interesting that 3d models have been created to view the collection from any angles. Although COVID 19 was hard for everyone that has impacted society socially, culturally, and economically, modern technology has led cultural institutions and  British Museum in London with 60 world-famous collections to go online and serve people.
It relates anthropology as through videos, they can feel and walk through galleries and stay connected to culture while sitting at home. However, I felt sad that the museum is struggling because exhibitions cannot head due to COVID and have impacted the museum economically.
From this article, I have learned that knowledge finds its way to spread, as in this case, online collection through certain sights and 3d models.

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Mass lockdowns around the globe have pushed many people to seek creative ways of keeping themselves entertained online.

Virtual tours of The British Museum in London are pulling in the crowds as visitors can browse more than 60 galleries full of world-famous objects.

The museum says traffic to its website rose five-fold at its peak and remains three times what it was before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Its channel on YouTube has also just reached 300,000 thousand subscribers - making it the third-largest museum worldwide in terms of subscribers.

The rise in the number of visitors has been especially strong coming from Italy and Spain, where lockdowns have been strictest.

"Maybe there's something about a desire for culture, the permanence of these objects from thousands of years ago that give people comfort in the troubled times we're living in," Michael Tame, website programme manager for the British Museum, told Euronews.

The Rosetta Stone, Lewis Chessmen and Egyptian Mummies are among the biggest draws.

And the museum's Google street view tour is "probably the most popular," Tame said in an interview on Euronews Now. "Because you can take control. You can just literally walk through those galleries, which millions of people do every year but right now are completely empty."

Cultural institutions across Europe have been opening up online amid nationwide lockdowns. In Stockholm, the Moderna Museet Modern Art Museum is offering "sofa tours" for online visitors.

'Very heartening'

Tame called the spike in online visits "very heartening" at a time when the British Museum, usually bustling with around 6 million visitors each year, is deserted.

"Right now it's just security staff and maintenance people making sure that the central systems carry on running. And it's a huge problem for us because we plan out exhibitions for months and years in advance, and they're all sort of stacked up, ready to go," he said.

"So we are working out how to redo some of those - possibly turn them onto online because we have no idea when the museum's going to reopen at the moment."

Online visitors can also contemplate 3D models of some of the museum's star objects up really close - and from all angles - on Sketchfab.

There are about 250 of these 3D models available right now, but the museum's online galleries hold millions of objects, with "something for any interest," Tame said.

"It literally is a museum of the world for the world."

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Locked-down Europeans flock to British Museum's online collections

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Mass lockdowns around the globe have pushed many people to seek creative ways of keeping themselves entertained online. Virtual tours of The British Museum in London are pulling in the crowds as visitors can browse more than 60 galleries full of world-famous objects.

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This article reflects upon the shortage of immigrant field workers in Italy. Italian culture holds a part where agricultural practices are performed by workers who migrant from other less privileged countries of Europe. This is done to reduce the cost of labour. The main reason for this inconvenience is said to be COVID 19 pandemic. This is an ideal example of capitalist mode of production. Workers do not own the property and have to work according to the capitalist even if they are not provided with best living conditions or wages. Due to the pandemic such migrants have been put under keen observation which also reflects a change in culture with changing environment.
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Some Italian politicians and farmers' organisations have invoked the rapid adoption of the yearly government decree to employ non-EU migrant workers in agriculture. However, it must be highlighted that this system, which sets yearly quotas for different categories of workers, has proved to be inadequate to implement and has mainly resulted in "ex post regularisations" and abusive practices. Furthermore, since 2011, quotas for non-EU seasonal workers have been drastically reduced, making this system further unable to meet labour demand in branches such as agriculture.

It is an open secret that this demand has been offset, in addition to eastern EU nationals, by asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented third country migrants. However, current national emergency measures, by establishing high mobility restrictions and controls, have made it particularly difficult for these workers, especially for those without a residence permit or a regular contract, to move and look for job opportunities. Moreover, such pandemic measures seem to undermine the action of the illegal gangmasters, so-called caporali, who, in some areas of Italy, tightly manage, in an exploitative way, the recruitment, transport and accommodation of farm workers.

Meanwhile, the dire and degrading living conditions in Italian rural areas raise even more concerns at this time of health emergency. Especially in the south of the country, where thousands of migrant farm workers are stuck in isolated and crowded outbuildings, tent cities, or in slums, without basic services such as access to water and sanitation. In these contexts, the virus could have serious dramatic consequences.

In this light, as many national organisations, trade unions, and workers have claimed, the implementation of regularisation mechanisms for migrants in irregular conditions appears to be more necessary than ever. Similar interventions have been taken in Portugal, where the government has given temporary residence to migrants with pending applications.

While the far right has firmly opposed a regularisation of undocumented migrants, the Italian Minister of Agriculture has expressed her support to this measure. However, the first draft of the Government decree on regularisation seems to be inadequate. It only applies to migrant workers in the agricultural, breeding, fishing and aquaculture sectors.

Regularisation of undocumented migrants is urgent, also to facilitate their access to health and social services during the pandemic. But, it must cover all migrants, irrespective of their role in the labour market.

Certainly, the response cannot be limited to this. A change of the current Italian migration policies is also fundamental in order to create safe and legal entry routes and to remove the link between the residence permit and the labour contract, which constitutes a driving factor of exploitation and blackmail situations.

At the same time, as the Covid-19 emergency sharply shows, in order to fight labour exploitation in the agri-food system, it is necessary to implement structural interventions to bolster the wages and labour rights, and guarantee decent living conditions. New efforts to support those alternative agri-food chains that can ensure fair working conditions and ecological sustainability now appear to be clearly essential.

In the Italian agri-food sector there is not a labour shortage, but a shortage of rights for workers.

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Keeping the Italian agri-food system alive: Migrant farmworkers wanted!

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Some Italian politicians and farmers' organisations have invoked the rapid adoption of the yearly government decree to employ non-EU migrant workers in agriculture. However, it must be highlighted that this system, which sets yearly quotas for different categories of workers, has proved to be inadequate to implement and has mainly resulted in "ex post regularisations" and abusive practices.

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Hackers in Finland infiltrated the private firm Vastaamof, a therapy centre, and obtained personal patient information recorded by psychotherapists on their computers. Some of the data contained notes about the personal conversations shared between therapists and patients which contains very sensitive knowledge. Many of the patients have been contacted via email by the hackers and are being extorted for money by threatening the release of the sensitive data, while the records of others have already been spread online. Not only are these hackers threatening vulnerable adults but also children, some of whom face mental health issues. A website for the victims has been made available to help the clients of Vastaamof deal with this cruel security breach by offering advice in regards to dealing with extortionists. One digital service agency said "the cyber-attack could have been avoided if Vastaamo had used better encryption."

This article is related to cultural anthropology as it relates to human behavior, in this case that of seeking therapy and how the material world is affected by technology. Psychologists also do similar work as psychological anthropologists as they both seek to understand how our minds and personalities interact.

I noticed my heart racing while I read this news story as I have sought the advice of therapists at different times in my life and I would feel so violated if my personal struggles were in the hands of criminals looking to extort me. I don’t know how interesting my story would be to the public as I am not a person “of interest” publicly, but the breach alone would cause a great distrust in the organization where I sought guidance and in the therapist with whom I shared personal details. I learned that our information is valuable and can be used in frightening ways against us. In the event I see a psychologist again I will be certain to request nothing about our session is recorded in an online database. Reading the story reminded me of a quote I read once, “the combination of hatred and technology is the greatest danger threatening mankind” - Holocaust survivor, Simon Wiesenthal.

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The confidential treatment records of tens of thousands of psychotherapy patients in Finland have been hacked and some leaked online, in what the interior minister described as "a shocking act".

Distressed patients flooded victim support services over the weekend as Finnish police revealed that hackers had accessed records belonging to the private company Vastaamo, which runs 25 therapy centres across Finland. Thousands have reportedly filed police complaints over the breach.

Many patients reported receiving emails with a demand for €200 (£181) in bitcoin to prevent the contents of their discussions with therapists being made public.

"The Vastaamo data breach is a shocking act which hits all of us deep down," the country's interior minister, Maria Ohisalo, wrote on her website on Monday. Finland must be a country where "help for mental health issues is available and it can be accessed without fear", she added.

Ministers met for crisis talks this weekend, with further emergency discussions tabled for the coming week over the data breach.

"We are investigating an aggravated security breach and aggravated extortion, among other charges," Robin Lardot, the director of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation, said at the weekend. He added they believed the number of patients whose records had been compromised numbered in the tens of thousands.

Vastaamo said it had started an internal inquiry, and that the security of its patient records database had been checked. It noted that the actual theft was believed to have happened two years ago.

"According to current information, it is secure and no data has leaked since November 2018," the firm's chairman, Tuomas Kahri, told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Security experts reported that a 10-gigabyte data file containing private notes between at least 2,000 patients and their therapists had appeared on websites on the "dark web".

The hack, which targeted some of society's most vulnerable - including children- has caused widespread shock in the Nordic country of 5.5 million people. Ministers gathered on Sunday to discuss how to support the patients whose data had been leaked.

"It is absolutely clear that people are justifiably worried not only about their own security and health, but that of their close ones too," Ohisalo said late on Sunday.

On Monday, authorities launched a website for victims of the cyber-attack, offering advice and telling them not to pay the ransom demand. "Do not communicate with the extortionist - the data has most likely already been leaked elsewhere," the Data Leak Help website said.

Mental health and victim support charities reported being overwhelmed with calls from distressed people fearing their intimate conversations with their therapists would be released.

One of the recipients of a blackmail threat, the former MP Kirsi Piha, tweeted a screenshot of the ransom message along with a defiant reply to the hackers. "Up yours! Seeking help is never something to be ashamed of," Piha wrote.

Mikko Hyppönen of the data security firm F-Secure said on Twitter: "This is a very sad case for the victims, some of which are underage. The attacker has no shame. He added that the perpetrator was using the alias "ransom_man".

On Monday, Finland's social care regulator said in a statement it was investigating Vastaamo's practices, including how well patients were kept informed of the breach.

Meanwhile, the head of the state digital services agency DVV, Kimmo Rousku, said the cyber-attack could have been avoided if Vastaamo had used better encryption. "Management needs to wake up," he told the public broadcaster Yle.

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'Shocking' hack of psychotherapy records in Finland affects thousands

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The confidential treatment records of tens of thousands of psychotherapy patients in Finland have been hacked and some leaked online, in what the interior minister described as "a shocking act". Distressed patients flooded victim support services over the weekend as Finnish police revealed that hackers had accessed records belonging to the private company Vastaamo, which runs 25 therapy centres across Finland.

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The news I am going to share this week is about the muslim people living in Europe. As majority of population in Europe does not consider Islam or  Islamic religion as equal as other groups or religions. There is so much hatred going on in most of the big cities in Europe. Muslims in France and somewhere else are likewise enraged at what they guarantee is a ponderous government clampdown on their networks in the wake of the killing 11 days ago of the secondary teacher Samuel Paty. This news is related to anthropology because it is related to religion. I think that they have to fight an ideology not a religion and the people of Europe( who are against other religions only) needs to consider every religion as equal as their own.

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The backlash against Emmanuel Macron following his insistence that publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad is fundamental to freedom of speech has spread, with angry international protests, cyber-attacks against French websites and warnings that the president's response is "unwise".

Muslims in France - and elsewhere - are also furious at what they claim is a heavy-handed government clampdown on their communities in the wake of the killing 11 days ago of the high school teacher Samuel Paty.

The French interior minister, Gérard Darmanin, who has overseen raids on Islamic organisations and individuals in the last week, and even criticised supermarkets over their separate halal and kosher sections, defended the police actions, insisting France was seeking to stamp out extremism.

"We are seeking to fight an ideology, not a religion. I think the great majority of French Muslims are well aware they are the first affected by the ideological drift of radical Islam," Darmanin told Libération.

In the latest fallout from Macron's declaration that France would not "renounce the caricatures", Iran summoned a French diplomat to inform them Paris's response to the killing was "unwise".

A report on state TV claimed an official from the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran had accused France of fostering hatred against Islam under the guise of freedom of expression.

A powerful association of clerics in the Iranian city of Qom also urged the country's government to condemn Macron's remarks and called on Islamic nations to impose political and economic sanctions on France. One hardline Iranian newspaper depicted the French president as the devil, portraying him as Satan in a cartoon on its front page.

In Saudi Arabia, the country's state run press agency quoted an anonymous foreign ministry official saying the kingdom "rejects any attempt to link Islam and terrorism, and denounces the offensive cartoons of the prophet".

In Bangladesh, an estimated 40,000 people took part in an anti-France rally in the capital, Dhaka, burning an effigy of Macron and calling for a boycott of French products. The rally was organised by Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), one of the country's largest Islamist parties. There were also calls for the Bangladeshi government to order the French ambassador back to Paris and threats to tear down the French embassy building.

In France, Macron's centrist government is facing criticism over its response to Paty's killing by Abdoullakh Anzorov, 18, a Chechen national living in France since the age of six, after the teacher showed one of his high school classes a series of caricatures, including one of the prophet Muhammad, during a lesson on free speech.

After his death, French police raided dozens of suspected Islamist groups and individuals accused of extremism. Darmanin said the raids, authorised by a judge, were aimed at "sending a message" and told Libération the searches had uncovered "weapons and videos of decapitations".

Darmanin has also announced his intention to dissolve high-profile Muslim organisations, including the Collective for the Fight Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and BarakaCity, a humanitarian organisation that has carried out projects in Togo, south-east Asia and Pakistan.

Darmanin said the CCIF was implicated in the murder of Paty as a video posted on Facebook implicated it in what he described as a "fatwa" against the history teacher.

"It is an Islamist outfit that does not condemn the attacks ... that has invited radical islamists. It is an agency against the republic. It considers there is a state Islamophobia all the while being subsidised (financially) by the French state. And I think it's time we stopped being naive with these outfits on our territory," he told Libération.

The minister also defended his criticism of supermarkets that operated special sections for halal or kosher food, saying it led to "communitarianism" and "separation" and declared that the "harassment" of radical Islamism was a "national priority".

In the wake of Paty's killing, police sources told French media the authorities were ready to deport 213 foreign nationals on a government watchlist as holding alleged extreme religious beliefs.

There have been calls from several Islamic countries to boycott French goods and protests across the Islamic world, including in Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Turkey, the UAE and Gaza.

On Tuesday, Le Figaro reported Islamic hackers had taken over a number of French websites, leaving the message: "Those who mistreat the messenger of Allah must be punished." Certain groups have called for an "apocalypse" to be brought down on the French web and appealed for other hackers to target French websites. Similar attacks, described by French officials as a "cyberjihad", happened after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, in which 12 people were killed by Islamist terrorists.

The Muslim advocacy group Cage, a London-based NGO, called on the French government to "end its campaign of hostility towards those carrying out their duties lawfully".

"The interior minister made the shocking public admission that dozens of individuals not linked to any criminal investigation were raided in order to simply send a message to Muslims in France. This extraordinary claim highlights that the police and other arms of government have been politicised to intimidate otherwise innocent Muslim citizens," it wrote in an open letter.
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Muslim backlash against Macron gathers pace after police raids

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The backlash against Emmanuel Macron following his insistence that publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad is fundamental to freedom of speech has spread, with angry international protests, cyber-attacks against French websites and warnings that the president's response is "unwise".

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The article I have chosen for this week is based on protests that have been occurring since the recent ban on abortion in Poland. I was drawn to this article because of how significant the differences are on the law regarding abortion in Poland and where we live in Canada. In Warsaw which is the capital of Poland, protesters have blocked the main intersections on the road. Furthermore written slogans have been used by protesters to display their frustration on the recent law. Clearly majority of the people in Poland are displeased with the recent ban on abortion. From a anthropological point of view abortion is a highly debated topic and it is more essential of a issue for some over others. I could also  see gender playing a factor on the opinions whether abortion should be legalized or not. From reading this article I have learned that the illegalization of abortion is causing turmoil in the country of Poland.

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From reading the news reports I have posted, I have learned the various issues that occur all across Europe. Some of the things I have learned from the articles is the prevalence of racism in Europe, the importance of saving languages, and the endorsement of gender equality. Out of all the articles I relished my second week article the most. It was about a Sweden preschool promoting gender equality and trying to alter the view on how society views gender based issues. At this school children are encouraged to play with any toy they like without any worry of judgment. I found it fascinating how much of a importance this school has on gender equality. Whether this becomes more common in other parts of the world remains to be seen. Overall finding a article in relation to anthropology was difficult at times, but nonetheless I enjoyed this weekly assignment.

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The news article is about severe damage that turkey has to face due to the natural calamity earthquake. This has lead to a diverse condition like collapsing of buildings, flooding of some roads. This has lead to both the economic and social health of people. In this case, many buildings have collapsed, leading to economic impact, and the death of people and injuries has to lead to irreparable damage to Turkish society. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency confirms 73 deaths, 961 injures, 220 still need treatment. The rubbing of buildings has to impact turkey's financial condition, but demolishing some cultural building has a historical impact on Turkish society.

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Rescue workers in western Turkey extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building Sunday, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 75 people and injuring close to 1,000.

The man was pulled out of the rubble overnight and doing well at a hospital, according to the Turkish health minister. The minister tweeted that the survivor, Ahmet Citim, told him, "I never lost hope." The operation that saved Citim was the latest in a series of remarkable rescues after the Friday afternoon earthquake.

But on the third day since the disaster, search-and-rescue teams appeared to be finding more bodies than survivors in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city. They continued searching in eight toppled buildings, but work was paused at one when authorities determined the damaged structure next door was also at risk of falling, forcing rescuers and people waiting outside to retreat.

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The earthquake was centred in the Aegean northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) raised the death toll Sunday in Izmir province to 73. The agency said 961 people were injured in Turkey, with more than 220 still receiving treatment Sunday.

The earthquake also killed two teenagers on Samos and injured at least 19 other people on the island.

There was some debate over the magnitude of the earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey rated it 7.0, while the Istanbul's Kandilli Institute put it at 6.9 and AFAD said it measured 6.6.

The quake triggered a small tsunami that hit Samos and the Seferihisar district of Izmir, drowning one elderly woman. The tremors were felt across western Turkey, including in Istanbul as well as in the Greek capital of Athens. Hundreds of aftershocks followed.

Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay said 26 badly damaged buildings would be demolished in Izmir.

Strong earthquake shakes Turkish and Greek coasts, brings buildings to the ground

"It's not the earthquake that kills but buildings," he added, repeating a common slogan.

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Turkey has a mix of older buildings and cheap or illegal construction, which can lead to serious damage and deaths when earthquakes hit. Regulations have been tightened in light of earthquakes to strengthen or demolish buildings and urban renewal is underway in Turkish cities but it is not happening fast enough.

Two destroyed apartment buildings in Izmir where much of the rescues are taking place had received reports of "decay" in 2012 and 2018, according to the municipal agency in charge of such certificates. Turkish media including the Hurriyet newspaper said one of the apartments, which was built in 1993, was at risk of earthquake damage because of its low quality concrete and the lack of reinforcements. However, the building continued to be occupied.

A 73-year-old survivor from one of those buildings said she was on her third-floor balcony when the quake struck and believes there were at least 50 people in the building, which also had a cafe on the bottom floor.

"In the first tremor nothing happened. During the second tremor, the seventh floor, sixth and fourth floors fell on top of another like a sandwich," Suzan Dere said. "The building collapsed in a cloud of dust onto the street with a very loud noise. It all happened within one minute."

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Turkey's justice minister said prosecutors have begun investigating several collapsed buildings and promised legal repercussions if experts identified neglect.

AFAD said nearly 6,400 personnel had been activated for rescue work and hundreds of others for food distribution, emergency help and building damage control.

Turkey-Greece earthquake: Footage shows dramatic rescues from rubble as death toll climbs to 28

Turkey is crisscrossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed some 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey. Earthquakes are frequent in Greece as well.

In a rare show of unity amid months of tense relations over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek and Turkish government officials issued mutual messages of solidarity over the quake toll.

Pope Francis on Sunday asked the faithful to pray for the people of the Aegean Sea.

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The quake occurred as Turkey was already struggling with an economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Turkey has more than 10,000 confirmed virus deaths but some experts have accused the government of concealing the true impact of the virus with the way it counts new cases.
Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Ayse Wieting and Robert Badendieck in Istanbul, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed.

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Turkey-Greece earthquake death toll rises to 75 as rescuers comb through rubble

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Rescue workers extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building in western Turkey on Sunday, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 900.

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This article is about a mass riot in Belarus where tens of thousands of people have been protesting for the past 12 weeks for Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus for the last 26 years, to step down. Many people believe that the recent election was improperly handled and that election fraud is the reason for his win. Police arrested hundreds of people at the riot, used stun grenades, shot bullets into the air and engaged in chasing people at “top speed”. The unpopular President said, in regard to any person touching a police officer during the protest should, “at least leave without hands”. The protesters were shown on social media shouting, “We believe, we can, we will win!”.

I chose this article as it relates to the current political election happening south of our own border. As Canadians, the verdict of an American election impacts us especially during this distinct time of Covid. Many voters are concerned with election fraud and regardless of who wins there will likely be accusations of one party tampering with ballots which seems to also be the belief of tens of thousands of citizens in Belarus who have been protesting for the last 12 weeks. There is evidence of mass distrust among the citizens of Belarus of their current government and the parallels between what is happening in Europe and here in North America is striking. It leads me to believe in a potentially new pattern of thinking among human beings across the globe and cross-culturally; a lack of trust for the people in power. Anthropologically this is interesting as it expresses changes in human behavior toward politics and their state.

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Tens of thousands protest in Belarus, defying warning shots

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Riot police fired warning shots into the air, used stun grenades and arrested more than 200 people to deter tens of thousands of Belarusians who marched through Minsk on Sunday to demand veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko leave power.

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This article puts light om injustices faced by women in Poland when it comes to the decision whether they can abort their unborn child according to their preferences. It also reflects on the criticism faced by LGBTQ community in the country. Protests against both these issues have been reported in recent times. Poland is a country that mostly resides conservative Catholics. In my opinion, abortions should be the personal choice of the mother and the decision should not be conformed in any religious boundaries. Also, same-sex marriage or other such relationships should be completely left to an individual. Putting restrictions on such matters suffocates the minority and negatively affects the well being of a society.

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This month, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortion in cases involving severe fetal impairment was unconstitutional, ending one of the few exceptions to the country's extremely restrictive legislation around abortion. The decision prompted not only mass protests and road blockades, but also international pushback from human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as from prominent European politicians. Dacian Cioloş, the head of Renew Europe, a liberal group in the European parliament, called on the Polish government to repeal the ban: "Only women should decide what they can or can't do with their bodies."

This is not the first time that extremely socially conservative policies in Central European countries have attracted international criticism. In her 2018 report on the state of rule of law in Hungary, Judith Sargentini, a Dutch Green politician and member of the European parliament, criticized Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government for leaving sexual orientation and gender identity out of the country's constitutional ban on discrimination. In July this year, members of the European Parliament expressed concerns about Poland's "de facto criminalization of sexual education, as well as hate speech, public discrimination, violence against women, domestic violence, and intolerant behavior against minorities and other vulnerable groups, including LGBTQ people, and the drastic limitation, coming close to de facto banning of abortion and limiting access to emergency contraceptive pills." In September, Human Rights Watch called on the EU to defend the autonomy of Hungary's University of Theatre and Film Arts after the government placed it under control of a private foundation controlled by Orbán's loyalists, leading to student protests and resignations by academics. And in early November, the Council of Europe is organizing a fact-finding mission (via Zoom) in Poland to investigate discrimination against LGBTQ people.

The international concerns are not unfounded. For instance, dozens of local authorities in Poland under the control of the ruling right-wing populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) have declared themselves "LGBT ideology-free zones," banning pride marches and other events. In May, Hungary banned legal gender changes, stipulating that only "sex at birth" can be enter into the civil registry. And just last month, the Hungarian government also lashed out against publishers of a children's book featuring gay characters, calling it "homosexual propaganda." Both Hungarian and Polish government routinely threaten freedom of expression through broad legislation, such Poland's insult laws and Hungary's recent decree on coronavirus "misinformation," allowing the state to impose years-long prison sentences on alleged offenders.

Each new outrage sparks new criticism from abroad, which, in turn, contributes to a siege mentality in Budapest and Warsaw-and among the governments' supporters-leading to a further hardening of their stances. Indeed, Central Europe's culture wars, which involve clashes between irreconcilable values each held by sizeable groups, can be deescalated only by Central Europeans themselves, through their own democratic institutions. Instead of helping, international efforts to weigh in on internal conflicts often backfire.

Of course, outside actors-especially the European Union, which has a direct stake in its members' political health-are right to push back when democratic institutions themselves are in jeopardy, as is arguably the case in both Hungary and Poland. When it arrived in power in 2015, PiS made sweeping and unlawful changes to the composition of the country's constitutional tribunal, its supreme court. The court's "acting" president, Julia Przylebska, for example, was appointed directly by President Andrzej Duda, ignoring the tribunal's rules which required her to be elected by the judges themselves. In Hungary, meanwhile, many of the most senior judges were unlawfully forced out by Fidesz, Orban's party, when a 2012 law lowered the mandatory retirement age of justices and prosecutors.

The European Commission and Parliament initiated the so-called Article 7 procedure, known as the "nuclear option," against both Poland and Hungary in response to their rule-of-law violations. Yet for this formal process to lead to sanctions, a unanimous agreement of member countries including Poland (in the case of the proceedings against Hungary) and Hungary (in the case of the procedure against Poland) would be required. And that seems far off. The Commission also sought to tie the disbursement of Europe post-pandemic economic rescue package conditional on basic rule of law requirements. But that effort, too, seems unlikely to succeed.

One part of the problem is that, in political practice, critics of the governments in Warsaw and Budapest frequently conflate liberal democracy and rule of law with progressive social and cultural norms. That plays right into the hands of Central European nationalist leaders-those who, as Princeton political scientist Jan-Werner Mueller puts it, seek "to wage an EU-wide culture war" precisely to "distract domestic and international attention from the kleptocratic autocracies they have created." In other words, those leaders can channel anger among conservative citizens about EU criticisms of social policies toward discrediting the entire European project and the countries' Western alliances.

Such conflicts can grow into wedge issues that Moscow uses to weaken the EU and Western alliances. Russia's constitution was recently amended to ban same-sex marriage. Its notorious "gay propaganda" laws, with the explicit support of the Orthodox Church, are used to openly persecute members of the LGBTG community-not to speak of the horrors committed against gay men in particular in Chechnya, which are left unaddressed by the Russian government. Putin's regime has a long history of persecuting free speech when it conflicts with the state's preferred narratives, and continues to implement new repressive laws. The more heavy-handed the international efforts to push back against socially conservative policies in Poland and Hungary, the greater the appeal of the Russian strongman across conservative Central Europe as an imagined bulwark of Europe's Christian values against real and imagined excesses of Western liberalism and progressivism.

What makes the current moment in Central Europe so dangerous is that, just like in the United States, both sides of the cultural divide believe, for different reasons, that they are losing-and that the war that they are waging is an existential one. Obviously, the populists in power control the government and use it fully to pursue their agendas. At the same time, their hold of cultural and intellectual institutions is weak, and their longer-term prospects are bleaker still. Central European countries, after all, are not immune to the broader cultural and demographic trends unfolding in the West. In Poland, church attendance is declining and the country is polarized between liberal, cosmopolitan, and affluent cities and the socially conservative, economically stagnant, and increasingly depopulated countryside.

The odds are that, at least in Poland, the PiS-controlled Constitutional Tribunal has badly overreached. Although Poles, 90 percent of whom identify as Catholic, have grown more conservative on the issue of abortion, a majority still rejects an outright ban. Since the recent ruling, the public protests have grown in intensity, trailing in size only behind those organized by the Solidarity movement in the 1980s.

It is true as Western European nations have become significantly in favor of protect LGBTQ rights, no such shift has materialized in Central and Eastern Europe. Yet while less than half (47 percent) of all Poles say society should "accept homosexuality," in younger generations that number swells to 60 percent for those under the age of 30 and to 59 percent for those aged 30-49. It is also worth noting that the change in the West occurred gradually from the bottom up, rather than through elite efforts, campaigning, or activism. As late as the mid-2000s, even U.S. President Barack Obama was reluctant to embrace same-sex marriage; he did so only as public opinion on the issue shifted. Catholic Ireland made its peace with same-sex marriage in the same way-and more recently also with legal, though still strictly regulated, access to abortion.

Central European nations might undergo a similar shift later, or perhaps they will not. What is important is that such a shift be homegrown. In 2006, the Czech Republic introduced, with relatively little controversy, civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Yet, in August 2011, when U.S. ambassador to Prague Norman Eisen joined diplomats from a dozen other countries in voicing support for Prague's first gay pride march, he unwittingly prompted a massive political backlash that became the defining moment of his ambassadorship. As Karel Schwarzenberg, the foreign minister, put it, "expressions of support to rights that nobody in the Czech Republic is denied are counterproductive and redundant."

The sense that the Czechs were being nagged by their most important ally gave new prominence to hitherto marginal far-right protest movements, such as the initiative D.O.S.T. ("Enough"), which railed against the Lisbon Treaty, multiculturalism, and "homosexualism"-a term coined by the former Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Today's Czech Republic has a wide array of anti-immigrant and euroskeptic political groups and disinformation outlets, some with ties to Russia. Worse yet, as Hungarian and Polish governments up the ante in their ideological war with Brussels over "LGBT ideology:" They have started to equate homosexuality with pedophilia. LGBTQ Poles and Hungarians have become frequent targets of hate crimes.

This is not to say, of course, that all outside interventions are equally undesirable. The Pope's authority among social conservatives, for example, can go a long way toward lowering the temperature of the culture wars. For far too long, local leaders of the Catholic Church in the region have assisted aspiring local strongmen in their cultural battles. Last year, the archbishop of Krakow likened "LGBT ideology" to a "rainbow plague." Ahead of the presidential election in Slovakia last year, a bishop called voting for the liberal candidate, Zuzana Caputova-who would later be elected-a "grave sin." In such an environment, Pope Francis' recent expression of support for same-sex civil unions and his long-standing criticisms of those for whom "the only thing that counts is one particular ethical issue or cause that they themselves defend," as he referred to the anti-abortion movement in his 2018 exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, are both important and helpful.

Central Europe's culture wars, which have gone on and off for over two decades now, put the democracies of the region to a test. The nature of that test is not, however, how fast those societies can converge on the West's more progressive equilibrium, but rather in whether they are able to mediate conflicts between seemingly irreconcilable values without a permanent cultural civil war or the rise of autocracy. For that reason, European institutions, and indeed all Westerners who care about the future of Central Europe, have every reason to be vocal about the state of democracy and rule of law in the region. Yet, they should also think twice about the unintended consequences of inserting themselves into conflicts such as the one currently unfolding over access to abortion in Poland.

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This month, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortion in cases involving severe fetal impairment was unconstitutional, ending one of the few exceptions to the country's extremely restrictive legislation around abortion. The decision prompted not only mass protests and road blockades, but also international pushback from human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as from prominent European politicians.

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This news is about The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in co-activity with the People's Advocate and the Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination of Albania, coordinated on 28 October 2020 in Tirana, an online Round Table on "Fighting racial segregation and prejudice in Albania".

The gathering coordinated in the system of the European Union and Council of Europe joint Programs: Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022" – Action on Promoting Diversity and Equality in Albania and "ROMACTED: Promoting great administration and Roma strengthening at neighborhood level", pointed toward examining with key focal and nearby power authorities, worldwide associations, weak gatherings, public minorities and common society delegates, the advancement and key issues encompassing the subsequent given to the suggestions contained in ECRI keep going observing report on Albania, embraced in June 2020. This news is related to the anthropology as it is related to the racism in Albania which needs to end.

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The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in co-operation with the People's Advocate and the Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination of Albania, organised on 28 October 2020 in Tirana, an online Round Table on "Combating racial discrimination and intolerance in Albania".

The meeting organized in the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint Programmes: Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022 " - Action on Promoting Diversity and Equality in Albania and "ROMACTED: Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level ", aimed at discussing with key central and local authority officials, international organisations, vulnerable groups, national minorities and civil society representatives, the progress and key matters surrounding the follow-up given to the recommendations contained in ECRI last monitoring report on Albania, adopted in June 2020.

The event was opened by Christian Ahlund, Former Chair of ECRI and rapporteur on Albania who welcomed the participants, recognized the positive change while tackling some of the key challenges in the efforts to fight racial discrimination and intolerance in Albania. "I was positively struck last year by the great achievements Albania has accomplished over two decades and I congratulate all of you on this. Nevertheless, as in all Council of Europe member states, there are problems and challenges in the area of racism, racial discrimination and intolerance that remain and which need to be addressed.", stressed Ahlund.

Erinda Ballanca, People Advocate in Albania was focused on the importance of following up and implementing key recommendations included in the ECRI Reports and the consideration to be given to key European strategic documents in the process of drafting of domestic strategic documents and the provision of necessary funds from the State budget for the implementation of these Plans.

Robert Gajda, Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination during his address tackled the importance of the policies and public initiatives in fighting racial discrimination and intolerance. " The role of the state in this process is to create through policies, actions and consistent initiatives, real opportunities for the most disadvantaged groups so that such opportunities are effectively put in place and do guarantee substantive equality ", added Gajda.

Agron Tare, Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in his address confirmed the commitment of the authorities in Albania in fighting discrimination and ensuring equality. " The Albanian Government remains committed in fulfilling the international obligations, having as a priority the implementation and improvement of the legal framework ", emphasized Tare.

The meeting followed with the thematic sessions, where the participants tackled key challenges related to the development and application of the legal framework for combating racism and racial discrimination; as well as on the solutions for the housing problems of Roma and Egyptians communities.

This event aims at contributing positively to the national debate on combating racial discrimination and intolerance in Albania, as well as raising awareness among the general public about these crucial issues.
Since the adoption of ECRI's fifth report on Albania on 19 March 2015, progress has been made in a number of areas, howeverECRI expressed its concern about key issues, such as additional measures to fight hate speech and discrimination especially against LGBTI persons and Roma, proper implementation of the LGBTI Action Plan 2016-2020 and National Action Plan for the integration of Roma and Egyptians 2016-2020 as well as further actions in the fight against bullying and extremism in schools, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
In Albania the European Union and Council of Europe joints initiatives "Promoting diversity and equality in Albania" and ROMACTED are working with the authorities to address national minority protection , promotion of LGBTI rights and combating hate speech in line with the standards and recommendations set by the Council of Europe .

ECRI is a human rights body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts, which monitors problems of racism, discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin, citizenship, colour, religion and language (racial discrimination), as well as xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance, prepares reports and issues recommendations to member States. For more information on ECRI: www.coe.int/ecri

This event is organized in the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint Programmes: "ROMACTED: Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level" and Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022" - Action on Promoting Diversity and Equality in Albania, financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.

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Round table on combating racial discrimination and intolerance in Albania

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Tirana Diminuer la taille du texte Augmenter la taille du texte Imprimer la page Imprimer en PDF The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in co-operation with the People's Advocate and the Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination of Albania, organised on 28 October 2020 in Tirana, an online Round Table on "Combating racial discrimination and intolerance in Albania".

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Two months ago (September) a couple, walking in a field, stumbled upon a pigeon message found in a small aluminum capsule in the eastern French Alsace region. The message was written in German Gothic script by a German soldier in approximately 1910. The message was from the first world war and detailed German military maneuvers. The couple brought it to a nearby museum in Orbey and was told that ‘the find’ was extremely rare and that the soldier who wrote the message would have been based in Ingersheim. The message and the container will now be an exhibit at the museum.

This article is so interesting and linked to anthropology as the pigeon message is quite literally a ‘blast from the past’. This kind of rare finding paints part of a picture that illustrates a major historical event (World War I) and it is in these types of findings where we are able to piece together parts of history.

In reading this article I learned that so much of our history might still be out there floating around in capsules (or the like) waiting to be discovered, and what a magical thought.

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Pigeon message found over a century after sent by German soldier

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The pair were strolling in the French Alsace region when they came across a tiny capsule.

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Media and curation is a great way of increasing ones general knowledge as one goes through various news articles while looking for a specific type of information. I got more insight on how culture affects ones thinking when it comes to various social issues. Examples of these included how effectiveness of vaccines were questioned by Europeans, discrimination faced by Muslims of Serbia, how corona virus affected elderly group of age and shortage of field workers in Italy, and the injustices faced by people with less power in Poland.  Personally, I was most intrigued by the various aspects of information that last news article provides about abortion is seen as a sin, and LGBTQ community faces injustices in Poland.

Word Count- 118

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I have learned so many things from these news reports. I got to know about Europe's culture, religion and the racism faced by the people of Europe. I have learned about the idea to preserve the languages  and culture. I know sometimes its hard to find a news sometimes but the idea of sharing these news is really good. I really enjoyed this News and Media Curation assignment. Its really a knowledgable assignment.
I got to know that in most of the areas of Europe, the gender inequality, racism still exists. Overall, my experience was good and I had so much fun with these assignments.

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This article explains that researchers from multiple universities gathered for a 10 million euro project of cultural and climate changes throughout europe. This project will focus on agriculture over a time period from the beginning of farming (around 6000 BCE) to the end of the Bronze Age (500 BCE).it will explore how number of small-scale changes makes large-scale patterns of genetic and cultural adaptation.This project will also see factors like migration of people over time , innovation and population growth. It will combine results from hundreds of human prehistoric genomes, with analyses of environmental, past vegetation and climate data and archaeological data

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The University of Plymouth is part of a €10million project examining how the genetic and cultural diversity of Europe developed over thousands of years.

Funded by a European Research Council Synergy grant, the research will focus on the northern areas of the continent over a time period from the beginning of farming (around 6000 BCE) to the end of the Bronze Age (500 BCE).

Uniting world-leading experts in a number of disciplines, it will explore how numerous small-scale changes generate large-scale patterns of genetic and cultural adaptation.

This will be achieved through novel modelling approaches with the aim to explain how changes have been shaped by the dynamic interaction of cultural innovation, migration, admixture, population growth and collapse, dietary change, biological adaptation, social structure, and the emergence of new diseases within the context of changing landscapes.

The project is being led by the University of Gothenburg (Kristian Kristiansen and Karl Göran Sjögren), the University of Copenhagen (Kurt Kjær, Eske Willerslev and Fernando Racimo) and University College London (Mark Thomas and Stephen Shennan).

The research component to be conducted in Plymouth by Dr Jessie Woodbridge and Professor Ralph Fyfe (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences) will contribute findings on European fossil pollen-inferred vegetation change essential to understanding how past human populations interacted with their landscapes.

The project findings will serve to determine what the impact of the movement of people was on the European landscape, simultaneously and on multiple scales.

By identifying prehistoric regularities in the interactions of human biology, social and economic organisation, landscape change and demography, we can compare them to anthropological and historical models of such processes in recent times.

The project will combine results from hundreds of human prehistoric genomes, with analyses of environmental, past vegetation and climate data, archaeological data, and data from strontium isotopes on mobility.

Spanning a period from the first farmers to the Iron Age, the project aims to reveal whether climate change preceded social and economic change, how cultural and genetic changes influenced each other and why people started to migrate.

The research benefits from the University's existing expertise in the field of past land cover change, which has previously shown when human activity began to have significant impacts on Europe's landscape.

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Researchers join €10m project examining cultural and climate change across Europe

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The University of Plymouth is part of a €10million project examining how the genetic and cultural diversity of Europe developed over thousands of years. Funded by a European Research Council Synergy grant, the research will focus on the northern areas of the continent over a time period from the beginning of farming (around 6000 BCE) to the end of the Bronze Age (500 BCE).

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Well, to summarize this assignment I haven't really posted a lot which is my fault  but as much as I did I really enjoyed learning about the ongoing projects or  anthropological research findings going on in the Europe or even the Gender roles as I covered one topic of first mayor elected in Ireland. Got to know that how a country is treating all these anthropological issues such as culture and gender roles. well, now at the end I wish I could research more about it and learn more while however much i did it was really interesting.