csmonitor--2020-09-17--Afghanistan: Taliban and government talk, but fighting feeds distrust

“ What does a peace process look like with fighting at such high levels ?
” says Andrew Watkins at the International Crisis Group .
“ On both sides , this is about more than just a lack of trust , ” says Mr. Watkins .
“ Why would the Taliban allow the government space to make itself more effective ?
” he asks .
“ It ’ s terrible to think that the cost of that strategic maneuver is continuing to kill fellow Afghans , day after day.
” Analysts say the highest risk in the negotiations is to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in de facto “ regime change.
” On Thursday , the government said at least 27 security personnel and 36 Taliban fighters had been killed in conflict across five provinces in the previous 24 hours .
One result is that a substantial trust deficit has grown even deeper ; any new power-sharing arrangement could take months or even years to negotiate .
The Taliban disagreed .
“ It does not make sense to end 20 years of war in one hour , ” a spokesman said .
When long-awaited intra-Afghan peace talks began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called for an immediate cease-fire .
“ It would be a miscalculation to think that causing more casualties would make people more hopeful about peace , ” warned Abdullah Abdullah .
At the negotiating table , days into landmark intra-Afghan talks to end decades of war , platitudes about the need for peace are interwoven with haggling over procedure .
But perhaps more tellingly , on Afghanistan ’ s weary battlefields , the killing continues , as if negotiation teams from the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents were not now meeting in Doha @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government in Kabul said at least 27 security personnel and 36 Taliban fighters had been killed in conflict across five provinces in the previous 24 hours .
One result of the continued violence is that a substantial trust deficit has grown even deeper , as each side seeks to delegitimize the other and maximize its gains in any new power-sharing arrangement , which could take months or even years to negotiate .
Even as talks began Sept. 12 – when a government call for an immediate cease-fire was rejected by the Taliban – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 18 of the country ’ s 34 provinces .
“ It would be a miscalculation to think that causing more casualties would make people more hopeful about peace , ” warned Abdullah Abdullah , chair of Afghanistan ’ s High Council for National Reconciliation .
Yet Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem Wardak said an enduring cease-fire first required a broader negotiated deal .
“ It does not make sense to end 20 years of war in one hour , ” he told ToloNews Wednesday .
The stakes could not be higher amid a U.S.-engineered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taliban back into the halls of power and pave the way for withdrawal from America ’ s longest-ever war .
Analysts say the highest risk in the negotiations is to the U.S.-backed democratic republic led by President Ashraf Ghani – and the Western-style freedoms it espouses – if the talks culminate in de facto “ regime change.
” “ The first big question is : Are they going to be able to reach a cease-fire anytime soon , in these next few weeks ?
And if not , what does a peace process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels ?
” says Andrew Watkins , the senior Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group .
“ On both sides , this is about more than just a lack of trust , ” says Mr. Watkins .
Both sides “ are actively seeking to deny legitimacy to the other side .
...
Very coldly , the Taliban know that the Afghan government looks weak and ineffective every time it has security problems.
” And any cease-fire is a gift to Kabul , enabling it to address Afghans ’ many other problems , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war .
“ So on one level , why would the Taliban allow the government space to make itself more effective ?
” asks Mr. Watkins .
“ It ’ s terrible to think that the cost of that strategic maneuver is continuing to kill fellow Afghans , day after day.
” These unprecedented intra-Afghan talks are the result of a deal signed last February between the United States and the Taliban – itself an agreement that required nearly a year of diplomacy – that the Taliban have trumpeted as “ victory.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. and NATO forces , in exchange for the Taliban not allowing Afghan soil to be used for attacks abroad .
The Pentagon says the remaining 8,600 American troops will be whittled down to 4,500 by November .
For the Taliban , this sense of triumph has exacerbated the trust deficit by raising expectations that it can achieve , with little compromise , its core demands of greater Islamic rule and renewed legitimacy inside a system where it has significant control .
“ This is their [ most ] golden time in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming with the attitude of the winners , ” says Rahmatullah Amiri , a Kabul-based political analyst and expert on the Taliban , speaking of the arch-conservative group .
“ You see [ the Taliban ] brought unity among their lines , they brought everyone on board with peace talks , they brought legitimacy to their side , ” says Mr. Amiri .
“ They got more than what they expected in the last two years , both militarily and politically , so that ’ s a big boost to their morale when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Taliban ’ s new chief negotiator , the influential religious scholar Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Haqqani , told both negotiating teams Tuesday night that the Taliban aimed to “ make decisions together ” to establish an “ independent , Islamic system that is inclusive of all Afghans.
” But another senior Taliban negotiator told CBS , anonymously , that only the Taliban have a back-up plan if talks fail : “ Our Plan A is a peaceful political solution , and Plan B , definitely a military takeover.
” The current government , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aid , is “ totally corrupt and incapable , ” the senior Talib official said .
Any coalition would be a “ sinking ship [ that would ] drown the Taliban as well.
” “ Now it ’ s the Taliban ’ s turn ” to lead Afghanistan for three to five years , he said , during which the militant group would work with foreigners and “ especially the U.S. , ” to “ prove that , as the Taliban was a hard enemy , in the future we will be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side aims to preserve the democratic status quo , which includes significant women ’ s rights , girls ’ education , and media independence that have grown since the U.S. military ousted the Taliban in late 2001 .
But it has been plagued by corruption , crippled by political gridlock , and sapped by years of losing battles to the Taliban .
The militants , capitalizing on advances against American , NATO , and Afghan forces , have brought roughly half the country under their control and want back into the halls of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was toppled in 2001 , and their strict brand of Islamic law lifted overnight , women danced in Kabul , removed their burkas to reveal their faces , and girls denied an education emerged from secret home schools .
“ Now the time is over that the women of Afghanistan – Afghan girls in the bazaar or streets or stadiums – are whipped , ” Gen. Asadullah Khalid , the acting defense minister , said Thursday , echoing the hopes of many Afghans as he called to “ preserve all achievements ” at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the past two decades became pilots , doctors , teachers , ministers , and deputies , ” he said .
“ We don ’ t want a setback.
” The Taliban say they have now evolved , will welcome women to high posts , allow girls education , and say they want to work with foreign donors to rebuild the country .
The government also is seeking to delegitimize the Taliban as “ terrorists ” responsible for the vast majority of military and civilian deaths who don ’ t deserve recognition .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ convoy was targeted by an explosion on Sept. 9 , killing 10 civilians – this week called the Taliban “ small , ugly and violent ” and said they would be integrated into Afghan society by melting in a “ community furnace.
” The U.S-Taliban deal in February committed the Afghan government to release 5,000 captured Taliban fighters , in trade for the release of 1,000 members of the Afghan security forces .
But the decision was made without the consent of the government , because the Taliban refused at the time to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S .
puppet ” regime .
The prisoner releases , meant to build trust and take place within days , instead took six months to complete , due largely to government stonewalling .
Since the February signing , Taliban attacks killed more than 3,500 members of the Afghan security forces and 775 civilians , President Ghani said in late July .
The U.S.-Taliban deal did require the Taliban to cease attacks on withdrawing American and other foreign forces .
But for Afghans , the agreement stipulated , a “ cease-fire ” would only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ This moment that we sit here , tens of young people are being martyred , women widowed , children orphaned , ” the government ’ s chief negotiator Masoom Stanekzai told both sides Tuesday night .
“ The biggest and most important priority of our people is to stop the bloodshed in the country.
” But for the Taliban , continuing violence is their primary leverage , analysts say , and there is little reason for urgency .
“ The Taliban is a body of logic ; emotion doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amiri , the Kabul analyst .
“ Trust building wouldn ’ t have much impact .
… “ They have a very firm sense of things that they discuss , and they are thinking and they want to achieve it , ” says Mr. Amiri .
“ There is going to be some sort of regime change , whether we like it or not , ” he adds .
“ Because if you are talking about the future state , what is that , then ?
”

“What does a peace process look like with fighting at such high levels?” says Andrew Watkins at the International Crisis Group. “On both sides, this is about more than just a lack of trust,” says Mr. Watkins. “Why would the Taliban allow the government space to make itself more effective?” he asks. “It’s terrible to think that the cost of that strategic maneuver is continuing to kill fellow Afghans, day after day.”
Analysts say the highest risk in the negotiations is to the U.S.-backed government if the talks culminate in de facto “regime change.”
On Thursday, the government said at least 27 security personnel and 36 Taliban fighters had been killed in conflict across five provinces in the previous 24 hours. One result is that a substantial trust deficit has grown even deeper; any new power-sharing arrangement could take months or even years to negotiate.
The Taliban and the Afghan government have traveled a long road, rhetorically and practically, to reach the negotiating table in Qatar. With peace and/or regime change the prize, a long road ahead looms.
The Taliban disagreed. “It does not make sense to end 20 years of war in one hour,” a spokesman said.
When long-awaited intra-Afghan peace talks began Sept. 12 in Qatar, the government called for an immediate cease-fire. “It would be a miscalculation to think that causing more casualties would make people more hopeful about peace,” warned Abdullah Abdullah.
At the negotiating table, days into landmark intra-Afghan talks to end decades of war, platitudes about the need for peace are interwoven with haggling over procedure.
But perhaps more tellingly, on Afghanistan’s weary battlefields, the killing continues, as if negotiation teams from the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents were not now meeting in Doha, Qatar.
On Thursday, the government in Kabul said at least 27 security personnel and 36 Taliban fighters had been killed in conflict across five provinces in the previous 24 hours.
Why We Wrote This The Taliban and the Afghan government have traveled a long road, rhetorically and practically, to reach the negotiating table in Qatar. With peace and/or regime change the prize, a long road ahead looms.
One result of the continued violence is that a substantial trust deficit has grown even deeper, as each side seeks to delegitimize the other and maximize its gains in any new power-sharing arrangement, which could take months or even years to negotiate.
Even as talks began Sept. 12 – when a government call for an immediate cease-fire was rejected by the Taliban – the defense ministry counted Taliban attacks across 18 of the country’s 34 provinces.
“It would be a miscalculation to think that causing more casualties would make people more hopeful about peace,” warned Abdullah Abdullah, chair of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation.
Yet Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem Wardak said an enduring cease-fire first required a broader negotiated deal. “It does not make sense to end 20 years of war in one hour,” he told ToloNews Wednesday.
At stake: Regime change
The stakes could not be higher amid a U.S.-engineered peace process designed to bring the jihadist Taliban back into the halls of power and pave the way for withdrawal from America’s longest-ever war.
Analysts say the highest risk in the negotiations is to the U.S.-backed democratic republic led by President Ashraf Ghani – and the Western-style freedoms it espouses – if the talks culminate in de facto “regime change.”
“The first big question is: Are they going to be able to reach a cease-fire anytime soon, in these next few weeks? And if not, what does a peace process look like with fighting at such high levels?” says Andrew Watkins, the senior Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group.
“On both sides, this is about more than just a lack of trust,” says Mr. Watkins. Both sides “are actively seeking to deny legitimacy to the other side. ... Very coldly, the Taliban know that the Afghan government looks weak and ineffective every time it has security problems.”
And any cease-fire is a gift to Kabul, enabling it to address Afghans’ many other problems, if it is not preoccupied with the war.
“So on one level, why would the Taliban allow the government space to make itself more effective?” asks Mr. Watkins. “It’s terrible to think that the cost of that strategic maneuver is continuing to kill fellow Afghans, day after day.”
Hussein Sayed/AP View caption Hide caption Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, bottom right, speaks at the opening session of the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.
U.S. withdrawal
These unprecedented intra-Afghan talks are the result of a deal signed last February between the United States and the Taliban – itself an agreement that required nearly a year of diplomacy – that the Taliban have trumpeted as “victory.” It called for complete withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO forces, in exchange for the Taliban not allowing Afghan soil to be used for attacks abroad.
The Pentagon says the remaining 8,600 American troops will be whittled down to 4,500 by November.
For the Taliban, this sense of triumph has exacerbated the trust deficit by raising expectations that it can achieve, with little compromise, its core demands of greater Islamic rule and renewed legitimacy inside a system where it has significant control.
“This is their [most] golden time in the last 20 years. ... They are coming with the attitude of the winners,” says Rahmatullah Amiri, a Kabul-based political analyst and expert on the Taliban, speaking of the arch-conservative group.
“You see [the Taliban] brought unity among their lines, they brought everyone on board with peace talks, they brought legitimacy to their side,” says Mr. Amiri. “They got more than what they expected in the last two years, both militarily and politically, so that’s a big boost to their morale when they come to the negotiating table.”
“Now it’s the Taliban’s turn”
The Taliban’s new chief negotiator, the influential religious scholar Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Haqqani, told both negotiating teams Tuesday night that the Taliban aimed to “make decisions together” to establish an “independent, Islamic system that is inclusive of all Afghans.”
But another senior Taliban negotiator told CBS, anonymously, that only the Taliban have a back-up plan if talks fail: “Our Plan A is a peaceful political solution, and Plan B, definitely a military takeover.”
The current government, kept afloat by U.S. and other donor aid, is “totally corrupt and incapable,” the senior Talib official said. Any coalition would be a “sinking ship [that would] drown the Taliban as well.”
“Now it’s the Taliban’s turn” to lead Afghanistan for three to five years, he said, during which the militant group would work with foreigners and “especially the U.S.,” to “prove that, as the Taliban was a hard enemy, in the future we will be a solid and trustworthy partner.”
The Kabul side aims to preserve the democratic status quo, which includes significant women’s rights, girls’ education, and media independence that have grown since the U.S. military ousted the Taliban in late 2001. But it has been plagued by corruption, crippled by political gridlock, and sapped by years of losing battles to the Taliban.
The militants, capitalizing on advances against American, NATO, and Afghan forces, have brought roughly half the country under their control and want back into the halls of power.
Rahmat Gul/AP View caption Hide caption Afghan security personnel and municipal workers at the site of an explosion in Kabul, Sept. 9, 2020. Ten people were killed in the attack on the convoy of First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who this week called the Taliban “small, ugly and violent.”
Afghan women
On the day the Taliban was toppled in 2001, and their strict brand of Islamic law lifted overnight, women danced in Kabul, removed their burkas to reveal their faces, and girls denied an education emerged from secret home schools.
“Now the time is over that the women of Afghanistan – Afghan girls in the bazaar or streets or stadiums – are whipped,” Gen. Asadullah Khalid, the acting defense minister, said Thursday, echoing the hopes of many Afghans as he called to “preserve all achievements” at the intra-Afghan talks.
“Afghan women in the past two decades became pilots, doctors, teachers, ministers, and deputies,” he said. “We don’t want a setback.”
The Taliban say they have now evolved, will welcome women to high posts, allow girls education, and say they want to work with foreign donors to rebuild the country.
The government also is seeking to delegitimize the Taliban as “terrorists” responsible for the vast majority of military and civilian deaths who don’t deserve recognition.
First Vice President Amrullah Saleh – whose convoy was targeted by an explosion on Sept. 9, killing 10 civilians – this week called the Taliban “small, ugly and violent” and said they would be integrated into Afghan society by melting in a “community furnace.”
Stonewalling on prisoners
The U.S-Taliban deal in February committed the Afghan government to release 5,000 captured Taliban fighters, in trade for the release of 1,000 members of the Afghan security forces. But the decision was made without the consent of the government, because the Taliban refused at the time to talk to what it called a “U.S. puppet” regime.
The prisoner releases, meant to build trust and take place within days, instead took six months to complete, due largely to government stonewalling. Since the February signing, Taliban attacks killed more than 3,500 members of the Afghan security forces and 775 civilians, President Ghani said in late July.
The U.S.-Taliban deal did require the Taliban to cease attacks on withdrawing American and other foreign forces. But for Afghans, the agreement stipulated, a “cease-fire” would only be an agenda item during intra-Afghan talks.
“This moment that we sit here, tens of young people are being martyred, women widowed, children orphaned,” the government’s chief negotiator Masoom Stanekzai told both sides Tuesday night. “The biggest and most important priority of our people is to stop the bloodshed in the country.”
But for the Taliban, continuing violence is their primary leverage, analysts say, and there is little reason for urgency.
“The Taliban is a body of logic; emotion doesn’t play much part,” says Mr. Amiri, the Kabul analyst. “Trust building wouldn’t have much impact. …
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“They have a very firm sense of things that they discuss, and they are thinking and they want to achieve it,” says Mr. Amiri.
“There is going to be some sort of regime change, whether we like it or not,” he adds. “Because if you are talking about the future state, what is that, then?”


csmonitor--2020-09-17--Fighting stigma with ice cream at Sikia Cafe

“ You come here and you see children and clients who have never interacted with a deaf person before , interacting with our staff , ” says Mr. Nakueira .
“ The fact that it ’ s a business that is transforming society , even if by one small step every day , it kind of makes you feel , what more can I do ?
” Though change is slow , staff say that watching people ’ s perceptions and attitudes change has been rewarding .
The cafe is staffed by deaf waiters .
But its founders , Shadia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do more than provide employment opportunities .
The goal is to change attitudes toward the deaf community in Uganda , where misunderstanding and discrimination toward deaf people are common .
The cafe ’ s name is derived from Swahili , and means “ hear ” or “ listen ” – which Ms. Nakueira emphasizes can happen in so many ways , not just through sound .
When customers first enter Sikia Cafe , in the lakeside town of Jinja , Uganda , they ’ ll first spot colorful ice cream flavors .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they ’ ll notice an infographic on their menus , teaching them how to sign for the items they ’ d like .
Shadia and Imran Nakueira rented the space for a restaurant in the dreamy , lakeside town of Jinja , Uganda , before they knew exactly what they were going to do with it .
They knew one thing though : They wanted to work alongside people with disabilities .
This resolve had a lot to do with their first meeting .
The couple , now married for three years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a primary school for children with learning disabilities in Kampala , Uganda ’ s capital , in July 2013 .
Imran had driven his sister to the event .
Shadia , who had just finished her MBA in the United States , was dishing up ice cream for students and guests .
“ She was busy that day and she was selling to many people , ” Imran says , with Shadia leaning against him .
There was no time for flirting , so he had to get creative .
“ The story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We have a party somewhere .
Can you supply ice cream ?
Can we have your number ?
’ ” Four years later , Shadia closed up her ice cream business in Kampala to join her new husband in Jinja , where he worked in human resources for a forestry company .
Long before they met , though , she ’ d hoped to help open opportunities for people with disabilities .
She ’ d grown up just on the other side of the fence from the school where they met .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tutor us at home , ” Shadia says in her usual bubbly tone , fond with memory .
“ And then on weekends we would go to school to study there as well.
” Shortly after the couple acquired the space , in 2018 , an idea came along at the market .
“ There was this very nice gentleman who I started buying things from .
He used to sell lemons and he was deaf , ” she says .
But she noticed other people mostly avoided him – never knowing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with money .
Was there a way , she wondered , to highlight other deaf people ’ s skills , and break down those barriers ?
That was the birth of Sikia Cafe , staffed by deaf waiters , which opened last August – ice cream section first .
The name is derived from Swahili , and means “ hear ” or “ listen.
” Listening happens in so many ways beyond sound , Shadia says : body language , emotion , watching .
In Jinja , Sikia is famous for its colorful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entrance – Shadia ’ s touch .
To order , customers consult an infographic on the menu , which teaches how to sign words for menu items and phrases like “ thank you , ” “ takeaway , ” and “ eat here , ” or scribble their selections on paper .
One of the four deaf people serving up desserts is Mark Kato , who often flashes a smile .
The job has been instrumental to his own development , he says .
In addition to learning job skills , for example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Like many students with disabilities , Mr. Kato wasn ’ t able to complete secondary school .
Overall , 12.5 % of Uganda ’ s total population is living with a disability .
Yet only about 2 % of enrolled students are disabled , which analysts suggest indicates the difficulty they face accessing education .
Before Sikia , Mr. Kato held a job as a waiter at a hotel in Kampala , an environment he describes as hostile and less accommodating .
“ There was a lot of pressure because the other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a barrier too , ” he says , using British Sign Language .
Yet Sikia hasn ’ t always been a bed of roses either .
“ When customers come in and I give them a book to write in , most of them give me a bad attitude , ” Mr. Kato says .
“ It makes me feel bad sometimes , but I understand because not all of them know I am deaf ” right away .
It ’ s that kind of widespread prejudice that Sikia hopes to combat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are deaf or hard of hearing live in Uganda , according to the most recent census data , and discrimination is common .
In one of the local languages , Luganda , the word for deaf is “ kasilu , ” which Shadia and Imran say translates as “ stupid ” and “ violent.
” “ That stigma is very [ present ] , ” says Shadia , who teaches customers to use the word “ kigala ” : someone who doesn ’ t speak or hear .
Aisha Kauma , another deaf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had a similar experience .
Some customers , especially new ones , like to request the cafe manager , who can speak and hear .
Unlike Mr. Kato , Ms. Kauma wasn ’ t born deaf .
She continued to go to a regular school while her ability to hear declined , and it was not until she turned 13 that she completely lost her hearing .
“ I was OK with it , ” she says wearing her signature wide smile .
“ I felt normal.
” If she weren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been a nurse – not “ having to deal with customers !
” she says , laughing .
Many employees , Shadia notes , have grown more confident .
In September of last year , the cafe organized a talent show for Deaf Awareness Month .
“ It became a deaf space , ” says Imran .
“ Ninety percent of the people in this courtyard were deaf.
” During business hours , many deaf people visit Sikia as customers , too .
Most of them come from Kampala , Shadia says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shadia , Imran , and the rest of the staff , watching people ’ s perceptions and attitudes change in the community has been rewarding .
“ What makes it different is that to our staff , the job is not just a job ; it ’ s kind of a form of acceptance into society , ” Imran says .
“ You come here and you see children and clients who have never interacted with a deaf person before , interacting with our staff .
The fact that it ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if by one small step every day , it kind of makes you feel , what more can I do ?
” Ssentongo Rogers has been visiting Sikia nearly every week since March , after he read about the cafe on a local blog .
It ’ s also his workstation sometimes when he doesn ’ t go to the office .
Mr. Ssentongo works for a multinational brewery in Jinja and says he enjoys Sikia for many reasons , but mainly for the mind shift it ’ s given him about disability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a social responsibility .
“ That ’ s the bigger picture and that ’ s why I am always here , ” says Mr. Ssentongo , who is slowly learning to sign .
Wanting to do more but not having the means is a major obstacle , Imran says , especially as the cafe struggles to break even .
“ You want to be transformative , but the resources may not allow you to do it , ” he says .
For him and Shadia , though , the biggest transformations might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personally .
Before Sikia opened , Shadia had to enroll in an official class to learn British Sign Language , and Imran has used YouTube to improve his skills as well .
But she ’ s learned more than language skills from her employees , and refers to one instance in particular .
“ When we interviewed Aisha , she didn ’ t even know whether she had passed or not but she asked , ‘ Can I bring my friend to interview as well ?
’ which is not something that would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ And before I knew it , it was happening in every interview .
They are all wanting to bring their friends .
You realize that in their world , it ’ s intertwined .
They are a team , they help each other .
”

“You come here and you see children and clients who have never interacted with a deaf person before, interacting with our staff,” says Mr. Nakueira. “The fact that it’s a business that is transforming society, even if by one small step every day, it kind of makes you feel, what more can I do?”
Though change is slow, staff say that watching people’s perceptions and attitudes change has been rewarding.
Sikia Cafe is more than a place to get dessert, or a job. It’s building community and breaking down barriers as it challenges people’s ideas about language and disability.
The cafe is staffed by deaf waiters. But its founders, Shadia and Imran Nakueira, hope Sikia will do more than provide employment opportunities. The goal is to change attitudes toward the deaf community in Uganda, where misunderstanding and discrimination toward deaf people are common. The cafe’s name is derived from Swahili, and means “hear” or “listen” – which Ms. Nakueira emphasizes can happen in so many ways, not just through sound.
When customers first enter Sikia Cafe, in the lakeside town of Jinja, Uganda, they’ll first spot colorful ice cream flavors. And when it’s time to order, they’ll notice an infographic on their menus, teaching them how to sign for the items they’d like.
Shadia and Imran Nakueira rented the space for a restaurant in the dreamy, lakeside town of Jinja, Uganda, before they knew exactly what they were going to do with it.
They knew one thing though: They wanted to work alongside people with disabilities.
This resolve had a lot to do with their first meeting. The couple, now married for three years, met at a sporting event at a primary school for children with learning disabilities in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, in July 2013.
Why We Wrote This Sikia Cafe is more than a place to get dessert, or a job. It’s building community and breaking down barriers as it challenges people’s ideas about language and disability.
Imran had driven his sister to the event. Shadia, who had just finished her MBA in the United States, was dishing up ice cream for students and guests.
“She was busy that day and she was selling to many people,” Imran says, with Shadia leaning against him. There was no time for flirting, so he had to get creative. “The story [we told her] was ‘We have a party somewhere. Can you supply ice cream? Can we have your number?’”
Four years later, Shadia closed up her ice cream business in Kampala to join her new husband in Jinja, where he worked in human resources for a forestry company.
Long before they met, though, she’d hoped to help open opportunities for people with disabilities. She’d grown up just on the other side of the fence from the school where they met. “The teacher used to come ... and tutor us at home,” Shadia says in her usual bubbly tone, fond with memory. “And then on weekends we would go to school to study there as well.”
Katumba Badru/Special to The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Rashida Namale, a waitress who is deaf, serves tea to a customers at Sikia Cafe in Jinja, Uganda.
Shortly after the couple acquired the space, in 2018, an idea came along at the market.
“There was this very nice gentleman who I started buying things from. He used to sell lemons and he was deaf,” she says. But she noticed other people mostly avoided him – never knowing, for example, how good he was with money. Was there a way, she wondered, to highlight other deaf people’s skills, and break down those barriers?
That was the birth of Sikia Cafe, staffed by deaf waiters, which opened last August – ice cream section first. The name is derived from Swahili, and means “hear” or “listen.”
Listening happens in so many ways beyond sound, Shadia says: body language, emotion, watching.
On the job
In Jinja, Sikia is famous for its colorful ice cream flavors, displayed at the entrance – Shadia’s touch. To order, customers consult an infographic on the menu, which teaches how to sign words for menu items and phrases like “thank you,” “takeaway,” and “eat here,” or scribble their selections on paper.
One of the four deaf people serving up desserts is Mark Kato, who often flashes a smile. The job has been instrumental to his own development, he says. In addition to learning job skills, for example, he’s learned to write.
Like many students with disabilities, Mr. Kato wasn’t able to complete secondary school. Overall, 12.5% of Uganda’s total population is living with a disability. Yet only about 2% of enrolled students are disabled, which analysts suggest indicates the difficulty they face accessing education.
Before Sikia, Mr. Kato held a job as a waiter at a hotel in Kampala, an environment he describes as hostile and less accommodating.
“There was a lot of pressure because the other waiters were not deaf, and language was a barrier too,” he says, using British Sign Language.
Yet Sikia hasn’t always been a bed of roses either.
“When customers come in and I give them a book to write in, most of them give me a bad attitude,” Mr. Kato says. “It makes me feel bad sometimes, but I understand because not all of them know I am deaf” right away.
Katumba Badru/Special to The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Waitress Rashida Namale, who is deaf, talks with regular customer Ssentongo Rogers, who is slowly learning how to sign.
It’s that kind of widespread prejudice that Sikia hopes to combat. More than a million people who are deaf or hard of hearing live in Uganda, according to the most recent census data, and discrimination is common. In one of the local languages, Luganda, the word for deaf is “kasilu,” which Shadia and Imran say translates as “stupid” and “violent.”
“That stigma is very [present],” says Shadia, who teaches customers to use the word “kigala”: someone who doesn’t speak or hear.
Aisha Kauma, another deaf waiter at Sikia, says she has had a similar experience. Some customers, especially new ones, like to request the cafe manager, who can speak and hear.
Unlike Mr. Kato, Ms. Kauma wasn’t born deaf. She continued to go to a regular school while her ability to hear declined, and it was not until she turned 13 that she completely lost her hearing.
“I was OK with it,” she says wearing her signature wide smile. “I felt normal.”
If she weren’t deaf, however, Ms. Kauma would have been a nurse – not “having to deal with customers!” she says, laughing.
Many employees, Shadia notes, have grown more confident. In September of last year, the cafe organized a talent show for Deaf Awareness Month.
“It became a deaf space,” says Imran. “Ninety percent of the people in this courtyard were deaf.” During business hours, many deaf people visit Sikia as customers, too. Most of them come from Kampala, Shadia says – a 2-hour drive away.
Katumba Badru/Special to The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Waitresses Rashida Namale, Aisha Kauma, and Aidah Nambi (from left to right) arrange tables and chairs to start the workday at Sikia Cafe in Jinja, Uganda.
‘The bigger picture’
For Shadia, Imran, and the rest of the staff, watching people’s perceptions and attitudes change in the community has been rewarding.
“What makes it different is that to our staff, the job is not just a job; it’s kind of a form of acceptance into society,” Imran says.
“You come here and you see children and clients who have never interacted with a deaf person before, interacting with our staff. The fact that it’s a business that is transforming society, even if by one small step every day, it kind of makes you feel, what more can I do?”
Ssentongo Rogers has been visiting Sikia nearly every week since March, after he read about the cafe on a local blog. It’s also his workstation sometimes when he doesn’t go to the office.
Mr. Ssentongo works for a multinational brewery in Jinja and says he enjoys Sikia for many reasons, but mainly for the mind shift it’s given him about disability. In his eyes, patronizing Sikia is a social responsibility.
“That’s the bigger picture and that’s why I am always here,” says Mr. Ssentongo, who is slowly learning to sign.
Katumba Badru/Special to The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Waitress Aisha Kauma, who is deaf, prepares to serve ice cream to a customer at Sikia Cafe.
Wanting to do more but not having the means is a major obstacle, Imran says, especially as the cafe struggles to break even.
“You want to be transformative, but the resources may not allow you to do it,” he says.
For him and Shadia, though, the biggest transformations might be how the cafe has changed them personally.
Before Sikia opened, Shadia had to enroll in an official class to learn British Sign Language, and Imran has used YouTube to improve his skills as well. But she’s learned more than language skills from her employees, and refers to one instance in particular.
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“When we interviewed Aisha, she didn’t even know whether she had passed or not but she asked, ‘Can I bring my friend to interview as well?’ which is not something that would normally happen,” she says.
“And before I knew it, it was happening in every interview. They are all wanting to bring their friends. You realize that in their world, it’s intertwined. They are a team, they help each other.”


csmonitor--2020-09-17--With Broadway dark, the show must go on outside New York City

“ I said , ‘ Yes , I ’ ll take any dates you ’ ve got , ’ ” says Broadway veteran Matt Castle , who ’ s been performing at the Paper Mill Playhouse ’ s socially distanced cabaret night in New Jersey .
“ I don ’ t even care about the money at this point , it ’ s like , hey , I need to be singing and playing .
I need to be seeing other people.
” As a result , many of the industry ’ s regional theaters have found topnotch talent at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and others flee New York as traditional backup jobs like bartending and restaurant service dry up , many have headed back to their hometowns .
“ And if we really do open next March – and that ’ s when we ’ re hoping we do open – New York City alone will have already lost the economic impact of almost $ 15 billion , ” says Charlotte St. Martin , president of the Broadway League .
The trade association represents 41 Broadway theaters and a nationwide network of regional venues .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus turned Broadway stages dark , shuttering all at once an industry that generates $ 2 billion a year in ticket sales – a figure that outstrips the combined total of every professional sports team in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area .
In the first few months of the Broadway season this year , Elizabeth Ward Land was experiencing what she calls a “ late-career surge.
” A veteran Broadway performer , she had just begun rehearsals for a prominent role in the musical “ Memphis ” at a regional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reprising a character she played in New York a decade ago .
She also had a late-summer gig booked in Nashville , singing in a new production celebrating the struggle for women ’ s suffrage in 1920 .
The biggest thrill came in March , when her own show , “ Still Within the Sound of My Voice , ” a cabaret-style homage to the music of Linda Ronstadt , won a Bistro Award for best tribute show .
Venues were beginning to contact her about booking performances .
But nearly overnight , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her surging career experienced a reversal of fortune as dramatic as any of those in the musicals she ’ s performed .
“ I mean , all of these very fun and exciting things were happening , and then it just felt like I hit a wall .
Everything was canceled , ” Ms. Land says .
“ Showbiz has always been a very difficult career to navigate , but it ’ s never been that my profession didn ’ t exist , ” she continues .
“ Right now , it just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s just been kind of a hard concept to grasp.
” It ’ s been six months since the coronavirus turned Broadway stages dark , twisting the plot lines of Broadway ’ s once promising 2020 season and shuttering all at once an industry that generates $ 2 billion a year in ticket sales – a figure that outstrips the combined total of every professional sports team in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area .
“ And if we really do open next March – and that ’ s when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – New York City alone will have already lost the economic impact of almost $ 15 billion , ” says Charlotte St. Martin , president of the Broadway League , the trade association representing 41 Broadway theaters and a nationwide network of regional venues .
The theater district ’ s glittering marquees account for some 97,000 jobs in the city , says Ms. St. Martin , noting these include workers in the now-dormant restaurants , hotels , and retail shops that depend on the millions of tourists drawn to 42nd Street each year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flee New York as traditional backup jobs like bartending and restaurant service dry up , many have headed back to their hometowns .
As a result , many of the industry ’ s regional theaters have found topnotch talent at their disposal .
That ’ s true for both the streaming performances that have become the new normal for venues trying to scrape by with a fraction of the audiences they ’ re used to , or as big-name instructors for theaters ’ acting schools .
“ As the stages across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have returned to their hometowns , and they have been eager to see what they can do at their hometown theaters , ” says Vincent VanVleet , managing director of The Phoenix Theatre Company in Arizona .
“ And a lot of these folks have been so gracious with their time and doing virtual benefit concerts for us and talking online with our audiences.
” The Academy of Musical Theater in Pittsburgh was able to expand its offerings during the summer , including those for its New Horizons programs , which helps train @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to shift about 200 classes to online learning within four days of the shutdown , ” says Mark Fleischer , executive producer of Pittsburgh CLO , the academy 's parent company .
“ We were able to use a lot of our alumni who became Broadway performers , local artists who we ’ ve had relationships with early on in their careers and who now teach classes for our students.
” “ July is when it dawned on me that it was time to stop expecting things to return to normal anytime soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Broadway veteran who has appeared in productions of “ Oliver !
” , “ Camelot , ” and others .
“ It just stopped feeling realistic and it stopped offering any kind of solace.
” Just two days after March ’ s Bistro Awards , he had been excited to attend an event at the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center , where five of the New York cast members of “ Company ” planned to have a reunion and fundraiser .
In 2006 , Mr. Castle starred as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Six months later , he is now once again a proverbial struggling artist along with his husband , Frank Galgano , in their home in West Orange , New Jersey .
“ I know I ’ m in the same boat as pretty much everybody else , whether they ’ re performing artists or mail delivery people or [ people ] who work in restaurants , ” Mr. Castle says .
“ But now I ’ m just wondering , wow , what kind of place for me is there in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a professional musician since I was in high school , and I really have no other professional skills – yet for the first time I am totally willing to look into another line of work.
” Both Mr. Castle and Ms. Land have been among those who have found an outlet in performing on platforms like Zoom – a radically different kind of medium demanding different kinds of skills , they say .
“ On a creative level , a lot of us started experimenting with what I call these ‘ pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who produced both a live video version of “ Still Within the Sound of My Voice ” as well as a Zoom-style version .
Musicians in her show laid down tracks separately with individual videos and sent them to a producer , who then provided a combined version for her to provide the songs ’ lyrics .
Mr. Castle and Mr. Galgano were also able to continue to work with a cruise line and work online with other actors and musicians to start planning a series of Broadway musical selections for cruises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has also revealed the inherent dramatic irony in trying to fit an art form defined by live performance on Zoom .
“ The very premise of our art form is the gathering together as community to share in a story told onstage , live , ” says Joe Haj , artistic director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis .
“ That ’ s what connects us to our 2,500-year-old Western drama past.
” Trained performers passed on a given culture ’ s oral traditions for centuries before written records and generated the kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bond communal ties necessary for survival , scholars say .
“ Community building is at the heart of what we do , ” says Hillary Hart , executive director of Theatre Under the Stars in Houston , which has postponed all of its live performances until at least May 2021 .
“ It is about that community building and that exchange of energy .
It ’ s no accident that studies show people ’ s heart rates sync up inside a theater as they share that time together , ” Ms. Hart says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are social service needs , health care needs , making sure people have what they need in order to just literally survive , there is a role for the arts in that conversation .
Especially in this day and time , we can be a place for healing.
” Both Ms. Land and Mr. Castle experienced a measure of healing themselves when Paper Mill Playhouse , a local theater near their homes in New Jersey , asked them to perform at a socially-distanced cabaret night at a makeshift outdoor venue on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a way to keep us present , offer something for our patrons , and also something to be able to employ some local artists and give them a modest paycheck , ” says Michael Stotts , managing director of the Paper Mill .
“ But it ’ s only 80 or 90 seats , compared to our 1,200-seat main venue.
” Mr. Castle says he had fallen into a really bad funk before the venue reached out to him , but he was thrilled to have a chance to perform for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whom he ’ s been friends for years .
“ I said , ‘ Yes , I ’ ll take any dates you ’ ve got , ’ ” he says .
“ I don ’ t even care about the money at this point .
It ’ s like , hey , I need to be singing and playing .
I need to be seeing other people.
” Normally eight musicians play with Ms. Land during performances .
At the Paper Mill , there can only be two or three performers on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her on piano as they perform selections from her cabaret show .
“ Collaborating with Matt at the Paper Mill , it forced me to reinvent it , and that ’ s been a real positive , ” she says of her tribute show .
“ We ’ re all just kind of just trying to stay in the moment , because looking at the long haul – is just way too daunting.
” The same has been true for Mr. Castle , who has been struggling with the current uncertainty of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to practice gratitude , practice being in the present , and not worrying about the future , ” he says .
“ And it ’ s still important to be generous with other people – I feel that ’ s the best any of us can do .
”

“I said, ‘Yes, I’ll take any dates you’ve got,’” says Broadway veteran Matt Castle, who’s been performing at the Paper Mill Playhouse’s socially distanced cabaret night in New Jersey. “I don’t even care about the money at this point, it’s like, hey, I need to be singing and playing. I need to be seeing other people.”
As a result, many of the industry’s regional theaters have found topnotch talent at their disposal.
But as Broadway performers and others flee New York as traditional backup jobs like bartending and restaurant service dry up, many have headed back to their hometowns.
Broadway performers talk about community and connection as parts of their profession as vital as singing and dancing. With New York theaters shuttered until at least spring, some are returning to their hometowns and sharing their talents there.
“And if we really do open next March – and that’s when we’re hoping we do open – New York City alone will have already lost the economic impact of almost $15 billion,” says Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League. The trade association represents 41 Broadway theaters and a nationwide network of regional venues.
It’s been six months since the coronavirus turned Broadway stages dark, shuttering all at once an industry that generates $2 billion a year in ticket sales – a figure that outstrips the combined total of every professional sports team in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.
In the first few months of the Broadway season this year, Elizabeth Ward Land was experiencing what she calls a “late-career surge.”
A veteran Broadway performer, she had just begun rehearsals for a prominent role in the musical “Memphis” at a regional theater in Raleigh, North Carolina, reprising a character she played in New York a decade ago. She also had a late-summer gig booked in Nashville, singing in a new production celebrating the struggle for women’s suffrage in 1920.
The biggest thrill came in March, when her own show, “Still Within the Sound of My Voice,” a cabaret-style homage to the music of Linda Ronstadt, won a Bistro Award for best tribute show. Venues were beginning to contact her about booking performances.
Why We Wrote This Broadway performers talk about community and connection as parts of their profession as vital as singing and dancing. With New York theaters shuttered until at least spring, some are returning to their hometowns and sharing their talents there.
But nearly overnight, after accepting her award in Manhattan, her surging career experienced a reversal of fortune as dramatic as any of those in the musicals she’s performed. “I mean, all of these very fun and exciting things were happening, and then it just felt like I hit a wall. Everything was canceled,” Ms. Land says.
“Showbiz has always been a very difficult career to navigate, but it’s never been that my profession didn’t exist,” she continues. “Right now, it just doesn’t exist, and that’s just been kind of a hard concept to grasp.”
It’s been six months since the coronavirus turned Broadway stages dark, twisting the plot lines of Broadway’s once promising 2020 season and shuttering all at once an industry that generates $2 billion a year in ticket sales – a figure that outstrips the combined total of every professional sports team in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.
“And if we really do open next March – and that’s when we’re hoping we do open – New York City alone will have already lost the economic impact of almost $15 billion,” says Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, the trade association representing 41 Broadway theaters and a nationwide network of regional venues.
Ann Hermes/Staff View caption Hide caption The theater district in New York City is unusually quiet on Sept. 16, 2020. Broadway shows have been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic.
The theater district’s glittering marquees account for some 97,000 jobs in the city, says Ms. St. Martin, noting these include workers in the now-dormant restaurants, hotels, and retail shops that depend on the millions of tourists drawn to 42nd Street each year.
But as Broadway performers and others flee New York as traditional backup jobs like bartending and restaurant service dry up, many have headed back to their hometowns.
As a result, many of the industry’s regional theaters have found topnotch talent at their disposal. That’s true for both the streaming performances that have become the new normal for venues trying to scrape by with a fraction of the audiences they’re used to, or as big-name instructors for theaters’ acting schools.
“As the stages across the country go dark, a number of performers have returned to their hometowns, and they have been eager to see what they can do at their hometown theaters,” says Vincent VanVleet, managing director of The Phoenix Theatre Company in Arizona. “And a lot of these folks have been so gracious with their time and doing virtual benefit concerts for us and talking online with our audiences.”
The Academy of Musical Theater in Pittsburgh was able to expand its offerings during the summer, including those for its New Horizons programs, which helps train students with disabilities.
“We had to shift about 200 classes to online learning within four days of the shutdown,” says Mark Fleischer, executive producer of Pittsburgh CLO, the academy's parent company. “We were able to use a lot of our alumni who became Broadway performers, local artists who we’ve had relationships with early on in their careers and who now teach classes for our students.”
From Broadway veteran to struggling artist
“July is when it dawned on me that it was time to stop expecting things to return to normal anytime soon,” says Matt Castle, a Broadway veteran who has appeared in productions of “Oliver!”, “Camelot,” and others. “It just stopped feeling realistic and it stopped offering any kind of solace.”
Just two days after March’s Bistro Awards, he had been excited to attend an event at the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where five of the New York cast members of “Company” planned to have a reunion and fundraiser. In 2006, Mr. Castle starred as the character Peter in his Broadway debut.
Six months later, he is now once again a proverbial struggling artist along with his husband, Frank Galgano, in their home in West Orange, New Jersey.
“I know I’m in the same boat as pretty much everybody else, whether they’re performing artists or mail delivery people or [people] who work in restaurants,” Mr. Castle says. “But now I’m just wondering, wow, what kind of place for me is there in the world? I’ve been working as a professional musician since I was in high school, and I really have no other professional skills – yet for the first time I am totally willing to look into another line of work.”
Both Mr. Castle and Ms. Land have been among those who have found an outlet in performing on platforms like Zoom – a radically different kind of medium demanding different kinds of skills, they say.
Ann Hermes/Staff View caption Hide caption Matt Castle, a Broadway veteran, has performed with Elizabeth Ward Land at the Paper Mill in Millburn, New Jersey.
“On a creative level, a lot of us started experimenting with what I call these ‘pandemic videos,’” says Ms. Land, who produced both a live video version of “Still Within the Sound of My Voice” as well as a Zoom-style version. Musicians in her show laid down tracks separately with individual videos and sent them to a producer, who then provided a combined version for her to provide the songs’ lyrics.
Mr. Castle and Mr. Galgano were also able to continue to work with a cruise line and work online with other actors and musicians to start planning a series of Broadway musical selections for cruises scheduled for late 2021.
Live tonight ... via Zoom
The pandemic has also revealed the inherent dramatic irony in trying to fit an art form defined by live performance on Zoom.
“The very premise of our art form is the gathering together as community to share in a story told onstage, live,” says Joe Haj, artistic director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. “That’s what connects us to our 2,500-year-old Western drama past.”
Trained performers passed on a given culture’s oral traditions for centuries before written records and generated the kind of shared emotional experiences that served to bond communal ties necessary for survival, scholars say.
“Community building is at the heart of what we do,” says Hillary Hart, executive director of Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, which has postponed all of its live performances until at least May 2021.
“It is about that community building and that exchange of energy. It’s no accident that studies show people’s heart rates sync up inside a theater as they share that time together,” Ms. Hart says. “Even though we understand that there are social service needs, health care needs, making sure people have what they need in order to just literally survive, there is a role for the arts in that conversation. Especially in this day and time, we can be a place for healing.”
Ann Hermes/Staff View caption Hide caption A socially distanced audience listens to performer Nicholas Rodriguez at a cabaret night event in a makeshift outdoor performance space at Paper Mill Playhouse on Sept. 16, 2020.
Cabaret night at the Paper Mill
Both Ms. Land and Mr. Castle experienced a measure of healing themselves when Paper Mill Playhouse, a local theater near their homes in New Jersey, asked them to perform at a socially-distanced cabaret night at a makeshift outdoor venue on the theater's property.
“It’s a way to keep us present, offer something for our patrons, and also something to be able to employ some local artists and give them a modest paycheck,” says Michael Stotts, managing director of the Paper Mill. “But it’s only 80 or 90 seats, compared to our 1,200-seat main venue.”
Mr. Castle says he had fallen into a really bad funk before the venue reached out to him, but he was thrilled to have a chance to perform for the first time with Ms. Land, with whom he’s been friends for years.
“I said, ‘Yes, I’ll take any dates you’ve got,’” he says. “I don’t even care about the money at this point. It’s like, hey, I need to be singing and playing. I need to be seeing other people.”
Normally eight musicians play with Ms. Land during performances. At the Paper Mill, there can only be two or three performers on stage, so Mr. Castle has accompanied her on piano as they perform selections from her cabaret show.
“Collaborating with Matt at the Paper Mill, it forced me to reinvent it, and that’s been a real positive,” she says of her tribute show. “We’re all just kind of just trying to stay in the moment, because looking at the long haul – is just way too daunting.”
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
The same has been true for Mr. Castle, who has been struggling with the current uncertainty of his career.
“I’m just trying to practice gratitude, practice being in the present, and not worrying about the future,” he says. “And it’s still important to be generous with other people – I feel that’s the best any of us can do.”


csmonitor--2020-09-17--Cutting emissions, exporting gas: Does Biden’s climate plan make sense?

“ We can ’ t continue to pull fossil fuels out of the ground and put them in the air and expect to have a livable planet , ” says Susan Jane Brown , an attorney who has long fought the project .
“ It ’ s a nonstarter.
” The debate over America ’ s energy future is playing out in Oregon ’ s southwest corner , home to Jordan Cove , a proposed LNG project that could open up markets in Asia while providing jobs at home .
Opponents cite scientific evidence that natural gas is not nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be .
Yet methane , the largest component of natural gas , is a notoriously potent heat-trapper , which could present a conundrum for Joe Biden and his climate plan .
One the one hand , the Democratic presidential candidate has proposed rejoining the Paris Agreement and tightly regulating greenhouse gas emissions .
On the other , Mr. Biden supports fracking , and his team of energy advisers includes fossil fuel executives .
Proponents of natural gas , which burns cleaner than coal , say it offers a bridge fuel to sustain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ renewable energy comes online .
Exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia could also give the U.S. geopolitical leverage against Russia and Middle Eastern countries .
For more than a decade , Susan Jane Brown has been battling to stop a natural gas pipeline and export terminal from being built in the backcountry of Oregon .
As an attorney at the nonprofit Western Environmental Law Center , she has repeatedly argued that the project ’ s environmental , social , and health costs are too high .
All that was before this month ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skies above her home office in Portland .
“ It puts a fine point on it .
These fossil fuel projects are contributing to global climate change , ” she says .
Jordan Cove , the $ 10-billion liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) project that Ms. Brown is trying to stop , has yet to break ground .
But environmental lawsuits and permitting delays aren ’ t the only barriers .
A calamitous crash in natural gas prices and a glut of LNG capacity have cast doubts over its commercial viability and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of converting abundant U.S. gas into a global commodity and geopolitical tool .
“ There ’ s too much oil .
There ’ s too much gas .
There 's not enough demand , ” says Clark Williams-Derry at the liberal-leaning Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis .
Still , even if projects like Jordan Cove are shelved , several other LNG terminals on the Gulf Coast already have all their permits and are waiting to secure financing .
Their expansion over the next five years would make the U.S. the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jobs at home and opening new markets in energy-hungry Asia .
For a future Biden administration , that ’ s a wrinkle in any serious climate plan .
Once built , these LNG plants would potentially lock in decades of heat-trapping emissions that are already hurling the planet toward a hotter , less stable future .
“ Once you build the infrastructure it ’ s there , and it gets run on a different economic basis than if it ’ s not there , ” says Mr. Williams-Derry , who tracks the LNG @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cleaner than the coal that it replaces both in the U.S. , where it now produces around 40 % of electricity , and in countries like India and China .
That makes it a “ bridge fuel ” to a fully renewable energy future that hasn ’ t yet arrived , says Fred Hutchison , president and CEO of LNG Allies , an industry group .
“ Gas can continue to be part of a low-carbon energy system globally , ” he says .
He predicts that LNG firms would be comfortable with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s got a great affinity for working people and labor , and labor is very much on board with regards to LNG , ” he says .
On the campaign trail , Mr. Biden has gotten heat over his support for hydraulic fracturing , or fracking , which left-leaning Democrats oppose but which is seen as important for winning Pennsylvania , a battleground state in November ’ s election .
Far less attention has been paid to where the oil and gas goes , and whether support for LNG exports is compatible with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans for tackling climate change .
“ It ’ s not going to save the climate if we ’ re just exporting our emissions overseas , ” says Collin Rees , a campaigner for Oil Change U.S. , an environmental nonprofit .
If elected , Mr. Biden has vowed to stop new drilling for oil and gas on federal land and in federal waters and to rejoin the 2015 Paris climate accord that President Donald Trump gave notice of quitting .
He would reinstate Obama-era regulations of greenhouse gas emissions , including methane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Biden climate platform also states that all federal infrastructure investments and federal permits would need to be assessed for their climate impacts .
Analysts say such a test could impede future LNG plants and pipelines , though not those that already have federal approval .
Climate change activists who pushed for that language say much depends on who would have oversight of federal agencies that regulate the industry .
Some are wary of Biden ’ s reliance on advice from Obama-era officials , including former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Company , a utility , and a former Obama environmental aide , Heather Zichal , who has served on the board of Cheniere Energy , an LNG exporter .
In a letter sent earlier this month , Mr. Rees and other signatories urged Mr. Biden to ban “ all fossil fuel executives , lobbyists , and representatives ” from any future administration .
That Obama-era moderates are under fire over their climate bona fides is a measure of rising leftist clout in the Democratic coalition .
It also reflects how the climate debate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in response to extreme weather events and troubling scientific findings .
This includes research into lifecycle emissions from natural gas production and methane leaks and flaring that muddies the argument that it ’ s a transition fuel to a carbon-free future .
“ We ’ ve gotten more proof on the science that switching to gas is not enough , ” says Mr. Rees .
The push for U.S. fuel exports As vice president , Biden was part of an administration that pushed hard for global climate action while also promoting U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trading partners .
As fracking boomed , Obama ended a 40-year ban on crude oil exports .
In Europe , LNG was touted both as an alternative to coal and as strategic competition with Russian pipelines .
That much , at least , continued with President Trump .
Under Energy Secretary Rick Perry , the agency referred to liquified U.S. hydrocarbons as “ freedom gas.
” Mr. Trump has also championed the interests of coal , oil , and gas while denigrating the findings of government climate scientists .
He rejected the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and detrimental to its economy , but has offered no alternative path to emissions cuts .
Still , Trump ’ s foreign policy has not always served the LNG industry : Tariffs on foreign steel drove up pipeline costs , and a trade war with China stayed the hand of Chinese LNG importers wary of reliance on U.S. suppliers .
Even his regulatory rollbacks could be a double-edged sword .
By relaxing curbs last month on methane leaks , the U.S. has ceded ground to European regulators who are drafting emissions standards that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s a precursor of fights that will be fought in all the rest of the developed world , ” says Mr. Hutchison .
Indeed , some oil-and-gas exporters had urged the Trump administration not to abandon the tougher rules , since they undercut their claim to offer a cleaner-burning way of producing heat and electricity .
“ U.S .
LNG is not going to be able to compete in a world that ’ s focused on methane emissions and intensity , ” says Erin Blanton , a senior research scholar at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Columbia University .
In July , the Department of Energy issued an export license to Jordan Cove ’ s developer , Canada ’ s Pembina Pipeline Corp .
In a statement , Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said the project would provide “ reliable , affordable , and cleaner-burning natural gas to our allies around the world.
” As a West Coast terminal , Jordan Cove offers a faster route to Asia where its capacity of 7.8 million tons of LNG a year could serve to heat more than 15 million homes .
At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create 6,000 jobs , the company says , in a stagnant corner of Oregon .
But the project still lacks multiple local and state permits , and its biggest asset – a Pacific port – has become its biggest handicap , says Ms. Blanton .
“ They are putting infrastructure in a state where there ’ s no political support for the pipeline or the terminal , unlike in Louisiana or Texas , ” she says .
Ms. Brown , the environmental lawyer , says she wants to see Jordan Cove buried , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recover .
But she knows that it ’ s only one among many LNG projects and that others will likely get built , even if Biden is elected in November , despite growing evidence of the harm caused by methane emissions .
“ I do n't see this country turning off the natural gas spigot anytime soon and I don ’ t see a President Biden doing that either , ” she says .
But she does expect a decisive shift on climate policy that could eventually force a reckoning for the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t continue to pull fossil fuels out of the ground and put them in the air and expect to have a livable planet .
It ’ s a nonstarter , ” she says .

“We can’t continue to pull fossil fuels out of the ground and put them in the air and expect to have a livable planet,” says Susan Jane Brown, an attorney who has long fought the project. “It’s a nonstarter.”
The debate over America’s energy future is playing out in Oregon’s southwest corner, home to Jordan Cove, a proposed LNG project that could open up markets in Asia while providing jobs at home. Opponents cite scientific evidence that natural gas is not nearly as clean as it is made out to be.
Proponents say liquefied natural gas is cleaner than coal when burned, and we shouldn’t make perfect the enemy of the good. Here’s why policy on the fuel would test Democrats under a potential Biden presidency.
Yet methane, the largest component of natural gas, is a notoriously potent heat-trapper, which could present a conundrum for Joe Biden and his climate plan. One the one hand, the Democratic presidential candidate has proposed rejoining the Paris Agreement and tightly regulating greenhouse gas emissions. On the other, Mr. Biden supports fracking, and his team of energy advisers includes fossil fuel executives.
Proponents of natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal, say it offers a bridge fuel to sustain the economy and limit climate change as renewable energy comes online. Exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia could also give the U.S. geopolitical leverage against Russia and Middle Eastern countries.
For more than a decade, Susan Jane Brown has been battling to stop a natural gas pipeline and export terminal from being built in the backcountry of Oregon. As an attorney at the nonprofit Western Environmental Law Center, she has repeatedly argued that the project’s environmental, social, and health costs are too high.
All that was before this month’s deadly wildfires in Oregon shrouded the skies above her home office in Portland. “It puts a fine point on it. These fossil fuel projects are contributing to global climate change,” she says.
Jordan Cove, the $10-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that Ms. Brown is trying to stop, has yet to break ground. But environmental lawsuits and permitting delays aren’t the only barriers. A calamitous crash in natural gas prices and a glut of LNG capacity have cast doubts over its commercial viability and, more broadly, the easy promise of converting abundant U.S. gas into a global commodity and geopolitical tool.
Why We Wrote This Proponents say liquefied natural gas is cleaner than coal when burned, and we shouldn’t make perfect the enemy of the good. Here’s why policy on the fuel would test Democrats under a potential Biden presidency.
“There’s too much oil. There’s too much gas. There's not enough demand,” says Clark Williams-Derry at the liberal-leaning Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Still, even if projects like Jordan Cove are shelved, several other LNG terminals on the Gulf Coast already have all their permits and are waiting to secure financing. Their expansion over the next five years would make the U.S. the world’s largest LNG producer, creating jobs at home and opening new markets in energy-hungry Asia.
Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA/AP/File View caption Hide caption Environmental protesters storm the Capitol in Salem, Ore., on November 21, 2019, to demand that the State reject proposals by Canadian energy giant Pembina for the Jordan Cove Energy Project which if approved would see the construction of a liquefied natural gas export terminal at the International Port of Coos Bay fed by an associated 229 mile Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline.
For a future Biden administration, that’s a wrinkle in any serious climate plan. Once built, these LNG plants would potentially lock in decades of heat-trapping emissions that are already hurling the planet toward a hotter, less stable future. “Once you build the infrastructure it’s there, and it gets run on a different economic basis than if it’s not there,” says Mr. Williams-Derry, who tracks the LNG industry.
Proponents say natural gas is cleaner than the coal that it replaces both in the U.S., where it now produces around 40% of electricity, and in countries like India and China. That makes it a “bridge fuel” to a fully renewable energy future that hasn’t yet arrived, says Fred Hutchison, president and CEO of LNG Allies, an industry group. “Gas can continue to be part of a low-carbon energy system globally,” he says.
He predicts that LNG firms would be comfortable with a Biden presidency. “He’s got a great affinity for working people and labor, and labor is very much on board with regards to LNG,” he says.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden has gotten heat over his support for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which left-leaning Democrats oppose but which is seen as important for winning Pennsylvania, a battleground state in November’s election. Far less attention has been paid to where the oil and gas goes, and whether support for LNG exports is compatible with Mr. Biden’s clean-energy agenda and plans for tackling climate change.
“It’s not going to save the climate if we’re just exporting our emissions overseas,” says Collin Rees, a campaigner for Oil Change U.S., an environmental nonprofit.
Moderates feeling the heat
If elected, Mr. Biden has vowed to stop new drilling for oil and gas on federal land and in federal waters and to rejoin the 2015 Paris climate accord that President Donald Trump gave notice of quitting. He would reinstate Obama-era regulations of greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, the largest component of natural gas.
The Biden climate platform also states that all federal infrastructure investments and federal permits would need to be assessed for their climate impacts. Analysts say such a test could impede future LNG plants and pipelines, though not those that already have federal approval.
Climate change activists who pushed for that language say much depends on who would have oversight of federal agencies that regulate the industry. Some are wary of Biden’s reliance on advice from Obama-era officials, including former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who is now on the board of Southern Company, a utility, and a former Obama environmental aide, Heather Zichal, who has served on the board of Cheniere Energy, an LNG exporter.
Patrick Semansky/AP View caption Hide caption Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about climate change and wildfires affecting western states, on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware. The Biden climate platform states that all federal infrastructure investments and federal permits would need to be assessed for their climate impacts. Analysts say such a test could impede future LNG plants and pipelines, depending on the implementation.
In a letter sent earlier this month, Mr. Rees and other signatories urged Mr. Biden to ban “all fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives” from any future administration.
That Obama-era moderates are under fire over their climate bona fides is a measure of rising leftist clout in the Democratic coalition. It also reflects how the climate debate has shifted since Biden was in office, in response to extreme weather events and troubling scientific findings. This includes research into lifecycle emissions from natural gas production and methane leaks and flaring that muddies the argument that it’s a transition fuel to a carbon-free future.
“We’ve gotten more proof on the science that switching to gas is not enough,” says Mr. Rees.
The push for U.S. fuel exports
As vice president, Biden was part of an administration that pushed hard for global climate action while also promoting U.S. oil and gas exports to its allies and trading partners. As fracking boomed, Obama ended a 40-year ban on crude oil exports. In Europe, LNG was touted both as an alternative to coal and as strategic competition with Russian pipelines.
That much, at least, continued with President Trump. Under Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the agency referred to liquified U.S. hydrocarbons as “freedom gas.”
Mr. Trump has also championed the interests of coal, oil, and gas while denigrating the findings of government climate scientists. He rejected the Paris accord as unfair to the U.S. and detrimental to its economy, but has offered no alternative path to emissions cuts.
Still, Trump’s foreign policy has not always served the LNG industry: Tariffs on foreign steel drove up pipeline costs, and a trade war with China stayed the hand of Chinese LNG importers wary of reliance on U.S. suppliers.
Even his regulatory rollbacks could be a double-edged sword. By relaxing curbs last month on methane leaks, the U.S. has ceded ground to European regulators who are drafting emissions standards that LNG producers are watching closely. “That’s a precursor of fights that will be fought in all the rest of the developed world,” says Mr. Hutchison.
Indeed, some oil-and-gas exporters had urged the Trump administration not to abandon the tougher rules, since they undercut their claim to offer a cleaner-burning way of producing heat and electricity. “U.S. LNG is not going to be able to compete in a world that’s focused on methane emissions and intensity,” says Erin Blanton, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
Stepping on the gas
In July, the Department of Energy issued an export license to Jordan Cove’s developer, Canada’s Pembina Pipeline Corp. In a statement, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said the project would provide “reliable, affordable, and cleaner-burning natural gas to our allies around the world.”
As a West Coast terminal, Jordan Cove offers a faster route to Asia where its capacity of 7.8 million tons of LNG a year could serve to heat more than 15 million homes. At its peak, its construction would also create 6,000 jobs, the company says, in a stagnant corner of Oregon.
But the project still lacks multiple local and state permits, and its biggest asset – a Pacific port – has become its biggest handicap, says Ms. Blanton. “They are putting infrastructure in a state where there’s no political support for the pipeline or the terminal, unlike in Louisiana or Texas,” she says.
Ms. Brown, the environmental lawyer, says she wants to see Jordan Cove buried, not just mothballed until natural gas prices recover. But she knows that it’s only one among many LNG projects and that others will likely get built, even if Biden is elected in November, despite growing evidence of the harm caused by methane emissions.
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“I don't see this country turning off the natural gas spigot anytime soon and I don’t see a President Biden doing that either,” she says. But she does expect a decisive shift on climate policy that could eventually force a reckoning for the U.S. energy sector.
“We can’t continue to pull fossil fuels out of the ground and put them in the air and expect to have a livable planet. It’s a nonstarter,” she says.


csmonitor--2020-09-17--Lifting the clouds of doubt over voting

Lifting the clouds of doubt over voting

Since the early 20th century , the United States has defended and promoted democracy around the world .
It has emphasized free and fair elections as necessary to economic development and legitimate government .
Now the U.S. faces its own questions of legitimacy just weeks before voters head to the polls to elect a new Congress and decide who will occupy the Oval Office .
President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden have both expressed doubts that the election will be fair .
Intelligence assessments indicate Russia , China , and Iran might be sowing doubts about the voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an unprecedented need for alternatives to in-person voting .
These concerns have registered with many Americans .
Their doubts are reflected in how they would perceive a negative result for their preferred candidate .
Polls conducted by two groups , the Campaign Legal Center and Protect Democracy , found that 2 in 5 Republicans planning to vote for Mr. Trump said if Mr. Biden wins it will be because the vote was somehow rigged .
Among Democrats planning to vote for Mr. Biden , 2 in 3 say a Trump win would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But here ’ s how those worries can translate into action : A majority of voters on both sides say state and local governments should allocate more money to ensure the ballot process is credible .
Without broad acceptance of the ballot count , elected leaders will find it harder to govern .
There are reasons for calm .
According to Jess Marsden , a specialist in election law at Protect Democracy , the average level of experience among election officials nationwide is seven elections .
“ These people aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Atlantic .
“ They ’ re serious professionals working at the state and local level .
If they say the results are legitimate , that means a lot.
” More than 900,000 poll workers helped out in the 2016 presidential election .
In a 2018 survey of local election officials by the Democracy Fund , most said it has become easier for people to register and vote , and easier to administer the registration and voting process .
The U.S. can build on this high level of civic neutrality by those involved in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a long history .
This week , Pennsylvania , a swing state , set a new standard of credibility by mandating that all votes must be counted regardless of how they were cast or how long it takes .
That follows a 2019 state law enabling voters to vote by mail without conditions .
This is progress in a year when millions more Americans are expected to cast ballots by mail .
One of the best safeguards for free and fair voting , however , may already be in place .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most vigorous civic activism in half a century .
They are deeply engaged on issues , left and right , through social media .
They are watching how states conduct the election .
In the 2018 midterm elections , their participation surged at the ballot box .
That political activism coincides with recent activism in many other places around the world , such as Belarus , India , Hong Kong , and Chile .
America ’ s best defense of democracy is by ensuring its own citizens can vote and that their vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to public doubt is the exercise of individual agency – registering to vote and following through by voting .
And by supporting the integrity of local polling , a people who are `` created equal '' can have more confidence in the equality of the ballot box and voting from home .

Since the early 20th century, the United States has defended and promoted democracy around the world. It has emphasized free and fair elections as necessary to economic development and legitimate government. Now the U.S. faces its own questions of legitimacy just weeks before voters head to the polls to elect a new Congress and decide who will occupy the Oval Office.
President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden have both expressed doubts that the election will be fair. Intelligence assessments indicate Russia, China, and Iran might be sowing doubts about the voting process. And the pandemic has created an unprecedented need for alternatives to in-person voting.
These concerns have registered with many Americans. Their doubts are reflected in how they would perceive a negative result for their preferred candidate. Polls conducted by two groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Protect Democracy, found that 2 in 5 Republicans planning to vote for Mr. Trump said if Mr. Biden wins it will be because the vote was somehow rigged. Among Democrats planning to vote for Mr. Biden, 2 in 3 say a Trump win would be because of vote suppression and/or foreign meddling.
But here’s how those worries can translate into action: A majority of voters on both sides say state and local governments should allocate more money to ensure the ballot process is credible. Without broad acceptance of the ballot count, elected leaders will find it harder to govern.
There are reasons for calm. According to Jess Marsden, a specialist in election law at Protect Democracy, the average level of experience among election officials nationwide is seven elections.
“These people aren’t partisan hacks,” he told The Atlantic. “They’re serious professionals working at the state and local level. If they say the results are legitimate, that means a lot.”
More than 900,000 poll workers helped out in the 2016 presidential election. In a 2018 survey of local election officials by the Democracy Fund, most said it has become easier for people to register and vote, and easier to administer the registration and voting process.
The U.S. can build on this high level of civic neutrality by those involved in the voting process. This nonpartisan service has a long history.
This week, Pennsylvania, a swing state, set a new standard of credibility by mandating that all votes must be counted regardless of how they were cast or how long it takes. That follows a 2019 state law enabling voters to vote by mail without conditions. This is progress in a year when millions more Americans are expected to cast ballots by mail.
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One of the best safeguards for free and fair voting, however, may already be in place. This summer, young voting-age Americans demonstrated the most vigorous civic activism in half a century. They are deeply engaged on issues, left and right, through social media. They are watching how states conduct the election. In the 2018 midterm elections, their participation surged at the ballot box. That political activism coincides with recent activism in many other places around the world, such as Belarus, India, Hong Kong, and Chile.
America’s best defense of democracy is by ensuring its own citizens can vote and that their vote is counted. The most available antidote to public doubt is the exercise of individual agency – registering to vote and following through by voting. And by supporting the integrity of local polling, a people who are "created equal" can have more confidence in the equality of the ballot box and voting from home.


csmonitor--2020-09-17--In law-and-order debate, data paints safer picture than rhetoric

President Donald Trump points to spiking crime and delivers stark statistics on murders and shootings as part of his “ law and order ” campaign emphasis that suggests cities are overrun with violence that only he can stop .
Several cities have seen a sobering surge in murders this summer , but those numbers are only a small snapshot of crime in the United States , and his strategy is highlighting how data can be easily molded to suit the moment .
At a televised town hall event Tuesday for undecided voters in Pennsylvania , Mr. Trump spoke about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after nationwide protests against police brutality .
He has tried to link the violence to the protests , and is trying to leverage the violence to scare white , suburban voters and encourage them to back his reelection campaign .
“ Look at New York , ” Mr. Trump said .
“ The city was safe , and then all of a sudden we have a mayor who starts cutting the police force and crime is up 100 % , 150 % .
I saw one form of crime up 300 % ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shootings .
They are up in New York by about 86 % so far this year , but overall , crime is down about 2 % , and there are about 34,000 uniformed officers , about the same as in recent years .
Murders are up 35 % , but there were 305 killings compared with 226 , still low compared with years past .
Other major cities have also seen a recent spike in violence , but the vast majority is neither linked directly to the protests nor is it moving to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a University of Missouri criminologist .
And violence often rises in the summer and drops in colder months .
“ It is correct for people to not only draw attention but to be quite concerned about the uptick in violence , but at this point there is no evidence to claim the protests have somehow generated that uptick , ” Mr. Rosenfeld said .
Overall , the nation ’ s crime rate has been falling for decades .
It ’ s not yet clear whether the recent increase is a troubling trend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nearly unprecedented times .
A preliminary FBI report released Tuesday on national crime found that while the number of murders was up over the past six months , decreases in rapes and robberies meant violent crime was down overall , especially in smaller towns .
The data is from information voluntarily given by law enforcement agencies around the country .
Final crime report data hasn ’ t been released by the FBI since 2018 , and the bureau always cautions against geographic comparisons .
Still , the general sense of anxiety pervading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe even if the data indicates they ’ re not in any more danger .
“ Because that level of unpredictability has entered our daily lives , it has ratcheted up fear across the board , ” said research scholar Meghan Hollis with the Ronin Institute , an independent scholarly research group .
She has studied how much people believe they ’ re at risk from crime .
“ Unfortunately , I think people are seizing on an environment of fear right now that ’ s pervading in all aspects of our lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may not be there.
” She cautions against drawing any kind of conclusions about crime this year .
“ There ’ s just a lot of challenges we ’ re facing right now in comparing around the country , comparing trend lines over time .
You have to be so careful right now , because it might not be accurate , ” she said .
Meanwhile , full census data is nearly a decade old , making it harder to tell if crime is increasing in frequency or simply happening more because there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Broad statements about crime in the U.S. are also tricky because there are 18,000 police departments across the country and no single central records-management system , said University of Miami criminology professor Alex Piquero .
Some departments track crime weekly .
Others quarterly .
Some annually .
Some report their data to the FBI , others don ’ t .
“ We don ’ t have anything standard in terms of record-keeping , ” he said .
Police are also dealing with the coronavirus themselves .
Many officers have caught the virus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quarantined , leaving fewer police out to patrol the streets , said Mr. Rosenfeld .
His analysis of 27 cities found that homicides and aggravated assaults grew by about 35 % between late May and June .
Most of those happened in neighborhoods long roiled by violence and hit hard by the pandemic and recession , he said .
But violence in some places such as Chicago leveled off later in the summer , he said .
There have been both state and federal crackdowns on the violence .
The timing of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death , but his research shows most of the crime happened away from the demonstrations .
There was a spike in commercial burglary at the end of May , just as the protests started , but it lasted just a week .
Rather , Mr. Rosenfeld believes the instances of police violence and the significant attention they generate may be exacerbating a breakdown in trust between police and the communities they serve .
“ Police legitimacy suffers , that is confidence and trust in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ If that drops enough , a space , a void opens between the community and the police ... and street justice fills that void.
” This story was reported by The Associated Press .

President Donald Trump points to spiking crime and delivers stark statistics on murders and shootings as part of his “law and order” campaign emphasis that suggests cities are overrun with violence that only he can stop.
Several cities have seen a sobering surge in murders this summer, but those numbers are only a small snapshot of crime in the United States, and his strategy is highlighting how data can be easily molded to suit the moment.
At a televised town hall event Tuesday for undecided voters in Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump spoke about how he believed crime was soaring in cities after nationwide protests against police brutality. He has tried to link the violence to the protests, and is trying to leverage the violence to scare white, suburban voters and encourage them to back his reelection campaign.
“Look at New York,” Mr. Trump said. “The city was safe, and then all of a sudden we have a mayor who starts cutting the police force and crime is up 100%, 150%. I saw one form of crime up 300%”
Mr. Trump may have been talking about shootings. They are up in New York by about 86% so far this year, but overall, crime is down about 2%, and there are about 34,000 uniformed officers, about the same as in recent years. Murders are up 35%, but there were 305 killings compared with 226, still low compared with years past.
Other major cities have also seen a recent spike in violence, but the vast majority is neither linked directly to the protests nor is it moving to typically lower-crime areas, said Rick Rosenfeld, a University of Missouri criminologist.
And violence often rises in the summer and drops in colder months.
“It is correct for people to not only draw attention but to be quite concerned about the uptick in violence, but at this point there is no evidence to claim the protests have somehow generated that uptick,” Mr. Rosenfeld said.
Overall, the nation’s crime rate has been falling for decades. It’s not yet clear whether the recent increase is a troubling trend or a tragic but brief part of the nearly unprecedented times.
A preliminary FBI report released Tuesday on national crime found that while the number of murders was up over the past six months, decreases in rapes and robberies meant violent crime was down overall, especially in smaller towns. The data is from information voluntarily given by law enforcement agencies around the country. Final crime report data hasn’t been released by the FBI since 2018, and the bureau always cautions against geographic comparisons.
Still, the general sense of anxiety pervading the country can make people feel less safe even if the data indicates they’re not in any more danger.
“Because that level of unpredictability has entered our daily lives, it has ratcheted up fear across the board,” said research scholar Meghan Hollis with the Ronin Institute, an independent scholarly research group. She has studied how much people believe they’re at risk from crime. “Unfortunately, I think people are seizing on an environment of fear right now that’s pervading in all aspects of our lives to discuss potential risk that may or may not be there.”
She cautions against drawing any kind of conclusions about crime this year.
“There’s just a lot of challenges we’re facing right now in comparing around the country, comparing trend lines over time. You have to be so careful right now, because it might not be accurate,” she said. Meanwhile, full census data is nearly a decade old, making it harder to tell if crime is increasing in frequency or simply happening more because there are more people in certain cities.
Broad statements about crime in the U.S. are also tricky because there are 18,000 police departments across the country and no single central records-management system, said University of Miami criminology professor Alex Piquero.
Some departments track crime weekly. Others quarterly. Some annually. Some report their data to the FBI, others don’t.
“We don’t have anything standard in terms of record-keeping,” he said.
Police are also dealing with the coronavirus themselves. Many officers have caught the virus, and hundreds have died. Others have quarantined, leaving fewer police out to patrol the streets, said Mr. Rosenfeld.
His analysis of 27 cities found that homicides and aggravated assaults grew by about 35% between late May and June. Most of those happened in neighborhoods long roiled by violence and hit hard by the pandemic and recession, he said.
But violence in some places such as Chicago leveled off later in the summer, he said. There have been both state and federal crackdowns on the violence.
The timing of the spike he found does coincide with the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but his research shows most of the crime happened away from the demonstrations. There was a spike in commercial burglary at the end of May, just as the protests started, but it lasted just a week.
Rather, Mr. Rosenfeld believes the instances of police violence and the significant attention they generate may be exacerbating a breakdown in trust between police and the communities they serve.
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“Police legitimacy suffers, that is confidence and trust in the police,” he said. “If that drops enough, a space, a void opens between the community and the police ... and street justice fills that void.”
This story was reported by The Associated Press.