海角大神

2018
June
22
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 22, 2018
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Clayton Collins
Director of Editorial Innovation

In a week that seemed to be all about separation, it鈥檚 not a mere distraction to think about unity.

The United States promotes its own 鈥渨orld championships鈥 in sports, but comes together for the World Cup, a truly global showcase for soccer. (There鈥檚 an for international entities not recognized by soccer鈥檚 governing body.)

You don鈥檛 need to tune into matches to hear highlights: With a header against Morocco Wednesday, Portugal鈥檚 Cristiano Ronaldo passed Hungarian legend Ferenc Pusk谩s to become the top goal scorer in international play for a European nation.

The World Cup is not all glistening. There's around how Russia landed its host role. A Deutsche Welle reporter was assaulted聽. But other stories sing. Some who were watching TV last Saturday were tuned to the nation鈥檚 first Cup match. Fans of Senegal鈥檚 and Japan鈥檚 teams celebrated wins by . A Peruvian broadcaster narrated that country鈥檚 first Cup game in 36 years in Quechua, .听听

Then there鈥檚 this: A day before Russia and Saudi Arabia kicked off this year鈥檚 Cup, a program called brought young players from 211 countries together in Moscow, creating 32 teams 鈥 coed and multinational 鈥 for stadium play and, well, unity. It was all about, as Russian pro Aleksandr Kerzhakov said, 鈥渢he message they bring back home, where they are trying to change the world for the better.鈥

Now to our five stories for your Friday, highlighting the need for resilience around democracy and human rights, for workforce pragmatism on American farms, and for political neutrality at an Idaho fiddle fest.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

What expectation of privacy do consumers have in an increasingly technological world? New technology is forcing more answers 鈥 and reinterpretation of the Constitution.

Jorge Silva/Reuters/File
Rohingya refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar two days before walked after they received permission from the Bangladesh Army to continue on to refugee camps in Bangladesh last October.

Champions of human rights are vacillating under pressure from a new generation of populist and authoritarian leaders. That could affect not only embattled minorities but, more broadly, rule of law.聽

SOURCE:

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
Scott Peterson/Getty Images/海角大神
Under tight Turkish police security, supporters of the opposition, mainly the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, dance as they campaigned this month in Istanbul for their presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirta艧. He has been imprisoned and frequently accused of being a 'terrorist' by ruling-party officials.

Turkish President Erdo臒an has tried mightily to consolidate power, imprisoning foes as "terrorists" in authoritarian fashion. But the democratic impulse in the country is still strong.

Christa Case Bryant/海角大神
Gary and Patty Bartley, western Michigan farmers for 38 years, oversee 120 acres of orchards that produce about 4.8 million pounds of apples a year. Last year, a shortage of pickers forced them to leave some crops rotting in the field.

In the era of 鈥淎merica First,鈥 there is vocal opposition to immigrants taking jobs from Americans. But many farmers in Trump country find they have no choice; no one is responding to their job ads.

Dwindling numbers and stylistic differences threaten the future of a beloved fiddlers' festival in Idaho. The solution may lie in something musicians intrinsically know: Simply listening can bridge divides.聽


The Monitor's View

AP Photo
Manzoor Pashteen, a leader of Pashtun Protection Movement, addresses supporters during an April rally in Lahore, Pakistan. A Pakistani rights group in the country's troubled border region has been protesting police brutality, censorship and disappearances, drawing a police campaign against its members and deepening tensions.

In countries where military figures still hold the reins of power through fear, such as Egypt or Thailand, public criticism of the regime comes mainly from abroad. In recent days, for example, the United Nations has accused Venezuela鈥檚 security forces of hundreds of arbitrary killings. It also demanded Myanmar鈥檚 Army be held accountable for mass violence against the minority Rohingya.

In Pakistan, people are so afraid of speaking against the military or its intelligence services that they often use code, such as tapping one鈥檚 shoulder to indicate decorative brass or by referring to 鈥渢he establishment.鈥 While the country has a facade of democracy, the top generals keep a tight hold on politics, the media, and dissent.

Yet that fear may be starting to break.

Since January, Pakistan has seen the rapid rise of a group of young people who rely on peaceful tactics to protest military abuses against ethnic minorities, especially the second-largest group, Pashtuns. In the country鈥檚 70-year history, no group has so openly challenged the military鈥檚 grip like the Pashtun Protection Movement, known by its Urdu initials,聽PTM. Its courage, nonviolence, and appeal to constitutional rights have begun to inspire millions of others far beyond Pakistan鈥檚 minorities to speak out.

鈥淭he impact of the PTM movement is reflected in how it has triggered a wider debate surrounding the role of the military in politics and citizen rights,鈥 according to journalists Sarah Eleazar and Sher Ali Khan in a CNN report.

The PTM鈥檚 main demand is for an accounting of thousands of missing persons either held or killed by the military during its 15-year campaign against the Taliban and other military groups in the country鈥檚 remote regions. At PTM rallies, mothers hold up pictures of their missing loved ones, a powerful image that may have helped prevent violent repression of the group.

Leading this civil rights movement is Manzoor Pashteen, a 24-year-old tribal leader and trained veterinarian who has witnessed many of the military鈥檚 atrocities. He has been likened to a 20th-century pacifist Muslim, Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Widely known as Bacha Khan, Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi in the nonviolent struggle for independence from the British Raj.

Mr. Pashteen has been harassed by security forces to keep him from making public appearances or using social media. The suppression only serves to show how worried the top brass is about this movement鈥檚 purely peaceful struggle and its appeal to conscience.

As Gandhi himself said of the use of moral action against abusive power: 鈥淲e should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.鈥

Will the PTM succeed in freeing Pakistan鈥檚 stunted democracy? In a study of insurgencies from 1900 to 2006, scholars Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan found that campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts.

At the least, PTM provides a model of domestic dissent for other countries living under the thumb of a military. Nonviolent protest based on basic rights can expose and often defeat the violence that props up a regime. Peace has its own natural following.


A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥 in its various forms 鈥 is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥 whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Setting aside quiet moments to experience God鈥檚 presence and peace brings healing and inspiration.


A message of love

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Research assistant Emily Lydic gets up close and personal with Athena, an African grey parrot. When Irene Pepperberg, a research associate in psychology in the Harvard Animal Studies Project, began her work 40 years ago with an African grey named Alex, grant reviewers didn鈥檛 share her belief that a bird could come close to having cognitive abilities similar to those of humans. But over the years, Dr. Pepperberg and her parrots have proved them wrong. 'I think that something we all have to learn is that there are really, really intelligent creatures that live in a world that is so different from ours. They see in the ultraviolet. They fly,' Pepperberg says. 'Their worlds are so different, and yet we can have this commonality and communication.' Click the button below for more images of the project鈥檚 work.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

See you next week.聽On Monday, in his "Patterns" column, Ned Temko will look at how the politics of immigration is driving a global trend toward nationalism. Have we been here before? A crucial EU summit tackles the issue next weekend.

More issues

2018
June
22
Friday

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