Month: June 2020

The death of George Floyd while in police custody has sparked protests across the country and abroad about police brutality against African Americans. Acclaimed films have shone a light on racial injustice against African Americans since the 1960s. VOA’s Penelope Poulou looks at some of these works.
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Inside the Zarzuela Palace, the spacious residence of King Felipe VI of Spain, there is a corridor dedicated to cartoons about the royal family.Most of the light-hearted jokes are by Spanish media but there is also one from France’s Le Monde.Conspicuous by its absence is the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves (Thursday). This is no accident.When Felipe’s father Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40 years on the throne, the magazine’s artists marked the occasion with a special front page cartoon.It showed the former king passing his son a crown covered in excrement – a pointed reference to the scandals which had led to Juan Carlos’ to quit the throne.It did not go down well at the Zarzuela. El Jueves was ordered to withdraw the magazine from sale and gave in to pressure as insulting the royal family is a criminal offense in Spain.“It seemed that we could make fun of Juan Carlos’ love life but if we said anything about his financial affairs or anything about how he ruled, that would not be tolerated,” Isaac Rosa, a former writer for El Jueves told VOA.“Many staff, myself included, left in protest. We all knew about these allegations but no-one reported it in Spain. That has changed now.”A financial scandal involving the 82-year-old ex-king has put into sharp relief Spaniards’ relationship with the monarchy.Spain’s supreme court prosecutor began an investigation into the role of its former king in a $7.5 billion deal to build a high speed rail link in Saudi Arabia.FILE – Spain’s Princess Elena waves to the crowds as she is escorted by her father King Juan Carlos to the altar of Seville’s cathedral on March 18, 1995.Prosecutors are examining if there is any evidence of money laundering and fraud after Juan Carlos left the throne as the Spanish constitution says serving monarchs cannot be prosecuted.The story revolves around allegations made by Carlos’ former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a German businesswoman who splits her time between London and Monaco. She said they had maintained a relationship between 2004 and 2010. The king remains married to Queen Sofia.Sayn-Wittgenstein claimed in 2008 Carlos received a kickback of $100m from the Saudi Arabian royal family and he later gave her some $65 million which was deposited in offshore accounts.A magistrate in Switzerland is now investigating two financial advisers to Juan Carlos who handled accounts in Switzerland and Panama City.Spain’s relationship with monarchy has in recent years been an uneasy one.The longtime ruler General Francisco Franco nominated Juan Carlos as his successor before Franco died in 1975.Before Franco came to power after winning the civil war in 1936-1939, Spain voted in 1931 on whether to get rid of its monarch, Juan Carlos’s grandfather, Alfonso XIII, and usher in a republic.  Alfonso fled.Juan Carlos was lauded for helping to uphold a fragile new democracy.In 1981, when armed police stormed the Spanish parliament in an attempted coup d’etat, Juan Carlos made a televised address to the nation backing democracy and faced down the plotters. The coup failed.Despite his love of bullfighting, fast cars and women to whom he was not married, the king was a popular figure.Yet doubts remained. Spaniards were often described as “more juan carlistas than monarquistas” meaning they supported the person of Juan Carlos more than the monarchy itself.Attitudes changed in 2012 when Juan Carlos had to be flown back from Botswana to Spain after he injured himself during a secret elephant hunting safari with Sayn-Wittgenstein.Spaniards were appalled as millions were struggling to survive a deep recession.When Felipe came to the throne he promised a “renewed monarchy for new times” and vowing to “listen, understand, warn and advise.”In March, Felipe was forced to renounce his personal inheritance from his father after it was alleged that he was set to receive millions of euros from a secret offshore fund linked to Saudi Arabia. The king also stripped Juan Carlos of his royal allowance.The king released an unprecedented statement saying last year he had become aware he was the beneficiary of an offshore fund and decided to renounce any benefit from this account.Now the issue has split the coalition government of the Socialists and the far-left Unidas Podemos.FILE – People fill the main square of Madrid during a march by members of the Podemos party, which hopes to emulate the electoral success of Greece’s Syriza party in elections later this year, Jan. 31, 2015.Pablo Echenique, parliamentary spokesman for Podemos, led a motion for a parliamentary commission to examine the ex-king’s financial affairs, but it was blocked by the Socialists who formed an unlikely alliance with the conservative People’s Party and the far-right Vox party.“Every time they need weaker arguments to continue protecting the royal household and to keep putting the king above the law. We will keep trying to change that,” Echenique tweeted.Pilar Eyre, a writer and royal expert, said the royal household should have addressed the financial allegations earlier to boost support for the monarchy.“The way the royal household has dealt with this has seemed clumsy. These allegations have been around for a time but they have not dealt with them properly in order to re-establish respect for the institution of the monarchy,” she told VOA.Conservative commentators have applauded the role of King Felipe in renewing faith in the monarchy and for his support during the COVID-19 crisis.Emiliano Garcia-Page, regional president of Castilla La Mancha, said: “I don’t think a debate over monarchy or a republic will be the best idea now. The king has been in touch with us throughout this crisis.”Spaniards may disagree.A poll published in April for Publico newspaper found 51.6 per cent of Spaniards backed a republic rather than a monarchy, while 34.6 per cent supported the crown. Just over 58 per cent said the matter should be settled by holding a referendum.The spokesman for the royal household declined to comment.
 
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In place of crowded and festive in-person parades and celebrations, national pride networks have organized a virtual 24-hour international FILE – People attend the annual Pride in London parade, in London, Britain, July 6, 2019.For Oliva, Global Pride will be a time to reflect and be grateful for the efforts of the international LGBTQIA community. “I think that Pride for a lot of us is going to be just this chance to breathe and to … remind ourselves of our identities and how important it is to keep celebrating them especially during tough times like this,” he told Reuters. Although many local pride organizations postponed their celebrations in order to focus on racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, Global Pride said that over 500 Pride organizations submitted more than 1,000 pieces of content. The content will be compiled into a video stream by volunteers. The event will also focus on the pivotal role of black trans people in the Pride movement in the United States, as well as calling for an end to racism. According to LGBTQIA+ publication Time Out, Global Pride is partnering with Black Lives Matter to raise awareness during the event. “What makes Global Pride very unique is that this is the first Pride of its kind where we are really focused on bringing the entire LGBT global community together,” said Natalie Thompson, a chair of the Global Pride event. Some information from Reuters was used in this report.
 
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Padma Lakshmi has watched in anger as some politicians denigrate immigrants. She’s been left seething as newcomers are discriminated against or targeted.  So she has responded with something she knows quite a lot about: food. Specifically, immigrant food: burritos, dosas, crab boil, pad Thai and poke.Lakshmi, a longtime judge of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” created and hosts the new Hulu documentary series “Taste the Nation,” which celebrates the food of American immigrants and indigenous people.”I am an immigrant. And I was just disgusted the way immigrants had been used as a pawn for political gain and been discriminated against so grossly by this administration. I guess this show is my rebuttal to that,” she said.”Taste the Nation” sees Lakshmi go to the Texas border city of El Paso and talk to locals about the wall. She goes to South Carolina to go crabbing and explore Gullah Geechee food. She goes to Las Vegas to spend time with Thai immigrants and to Arizona to forage for Native American ingredients.Lakshmi, an Indian American who came to America when she was 4, tells viewers at the top of each episode: “I want to explore who we are through the food we eat. What makes us American?”  There’s discussion of immigration, global warming, massacres, cultural stereotypes and racism. It’s a departure from most food shows, which avoid partisan politics or current events for fear of alienating viewers or piercing the safe cooking bubble.  “I wouldn’t even say that I was a very political person a few years ago, but I have out of necessity and anger and frustration, and become very vocal,” Lakshmi said.”I’m not interested in food in a vacuum. I’m interested in the cultural and emotional connection that people have to food. And I’m not just interested in the food: I’m interested in the hand that makes the food.”During each episode, Lakshmi consults with community leaders, food experts and leading lights. Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara talks about being bullied as a kid. Lakshmi and Indian actress and food authority Madhur Jaffrey make Lemony Chicken with Coriander.  “I just wanted to show the humanity of these people who live in our country, who have built our country and show that they’re not something to be afraid of,” she said. “They’re not dirty. They’re not criminals. They’re not going to threaten our jobs.”Lakshmi goes to the very heart of the nation’s food identity when she visits Milwaukee to look at that mainstay of Americanism — the hot dog. It’s another immigration story.Hot dogs have their roots in Germany, as do the classic U.S. beer labels Pabst, Miller and Schlitz. Lakshmi notes than many German Americans had to hide their background during World War II. “Assimilation is complicated,” she points out.  Sarina Roma, executive producer and co-director, said the show represents a lot of what Lakshmi cares about in her personal life. “It all comes from a place of genuine curiosity. It’s very reflective of who she is as a person.”Roma added that the show illustrates food can be political: “We’ve tasted food from all over the world, but when you actually stop and think about how that food got here, it tells a much larger story of America.”The third episode finds Lakshmi getting very personal. The woman known mostly for her kindness to TV contestants beside chef Tom Colicchio this time introduces her daughter and mother as she discusses Indian immigration.  “I did not want this show to be about me. That was not the intention at all. But obviously my experience informs this show throughout. And so I had to be able to show my family in my kitchen,” she said. “To talk to other Indians without talking to members of my own family would have felt not false, but a little hypocritical.”Lakshmi knows her show is subjective and formed around her specific political and cultural lens, but she hopes people with differing views will tune in.She is hopeful. too. that the world of food will look at itself and change. She complains that restaurants are often boys’ clubs for white men, where immigrants and women find glass ceilings. She noted the recent furor at Bon Appetit that cost its editor in chief his job after a photo of him dressed in a stereotypical Puerto Rican costume surfaced on social media.  And Lakshmi called for doing more in real life, not just online.”It doesn’t do any good for us to tweet our support and like and post and all that stuff if, behind closed doors, we’re not practicing what we’re so up in arms about in our social media,” she said. “I would say that a reckoning is very much needed.”
 
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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, are donating $120 million toward student scholarships at historically black colleges and universities.  
The couple is giving $40 million to each of three institutions: the United Negro College Fund, Spelman College and Morehouse College. The organizations said it is the largest individual gift in support of student scholarships at HBCUs.  
Hastings has a history of supporting educational causes, including charter schools. He launched a $100 million education fund in 2016, beginning with money toward college scholarships for black and Latino students.  
Hastings said now is the time when “everyone needs to figure out” how to contribute to solving racism. He said HBCUs have been resilient “little-known gems” for black education.FILE – People enter the campus of Morehouse College, a historically black school, in Atlanta, Georgia, April 12, 2019.Amid protests over police brutality that began three weeks ago, companies and business leaders have been pledging solidarity with their black employees and the black community. But tech companies — including Netflix — have fallen short in hiring, retaining and promoting underrepresented minorities within their own ranks.  
Other tech industry donations in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests have largely been on the company level. Last week, for instance, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company will spend $100 million on a new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, investing in education and criminal justice reform among other things. YouTube, meanwhile, pledged $100 million to help black artists and other creators. 
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Democrats flooded Twitter and email inboxes this week with praise for the watershed Supreme Court decision shielding gay, lesbian and transgender people from job discrimination. Republicans — not so much.  
The court’s 6-3 ruling came just two days after an event that played out in the opposite direction. Freshman GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman, who’d officiated at a same-sex wedding, lost his party’s nomination in a conservative Virginia district.
The two developments underscored an election-year challenge facing the GOP: how to reconcile broad national support for LGBT protections, even among many Republicans, with fervent opposition from some of the party’s die-hard conservative voters.  
On Election Day, that question will be easily overshadowed by the moribund economy, the coronavirus pandemic, the interaction between race and violent police tactics and by Trump himself. Still, the week’s events point to a culture-war schism in the GOP that Democrats are happy to exploit, even as Republicans struggle to prevent moderate suburban voters from deserting them.
 
“This is something suburban voters support,” said GOP pollster Glen Bolger. “And that is a group that Republicans are having challenges with.”Polling illustrates GOP’s dilemma
In a December survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 62% of Americans overall said they backed banning discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people in workplaces, housing and schools.  
That included around 3 in 4 Democrats and nearly half of Republicans. That’s a turnaround from more negative feelings people had two decades ago.
“Wake up, my Republican friends, the times, they are a-changing,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday.
Yet just 33% of white evangelical Protestants said they supported prohibiting broad LGBT discrimination. In a September 2019 survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 61% of Americans said making same-sex marriage legal was good for society while 72% of white evangelical Protestants said it was bad.  
Those voters are a crucial GOP bloc, especially in rural districts, and party leaders cross them at their own peril. The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Constitution ensures a right for same-sex couples to marry.
“It’s decided law” but some Republicans are using same-sex marriage as a “divisive political tool,” said Jerri Ann Henry, who resigned last year as executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT members of the party.
Henry, a GOP strategist, said the battle over the issue is “the exact thing that will further alienate suburban and independent voters.”
Within hours of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Democratic lawmakers unleashed a flood of statements hailing it. GOP reaction was harder to find, with top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., mum.  
Notably, praise came from two moderate GOP senators, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins.
“All Americans deserve a fair opportunity to pursue the American dream,” tweeted Collins, a four-term senator in her toughest reelection race. She called the decision “a major advancement for LGBTQ rights.”
Collins’ likely Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, tweeted that the decision showed Collins “will continue to be a reliable vote for Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ nominees.” Gideon’s focus was Collins’ pivotal 2018 vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, which Democrats consider a major vulnerability for Collins. Kavanaugh voted against this week’s court ruling.
 
Other Republicans were less receptive to the court’s decision.
Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, suggested the ruling would motivate conservative voters eager to ensure that Congress, not courts, control the law.
 
“The Supreme Court is always a hugely important issue to conservatives,” Severino said Tuesday.  
If the court’s ruling wasn’t painful enough for Republicans, the opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee. Trump administration lawyers had argued on the side of employers who opposed lifting the discrimination ban.
Trump has voiced support for LGBTQ rights and appointed openly gay Richard Grenell to be acting director of national intelligence, though he’s since been replaced.  
But Trump has also appointed numerous federal judges who opposed LGBTQ rights and rolled back federal protections for transgender people. And the GOP has embraced its 2016 party platform anew for this year’s campaign, a document that “condemns the Supreme Court’s lawless ruling” that legalized same-sex marriage.
“Donald Trump has racked up some firsts, and that sets the tone in the Republican Party,” said Charles Moran, managing director of Log Cabin Republicans. But he added, “There are definitely battles we still need to fight in some heartland areas” of the country.  
Riggleman learned that firsthand last weekend. His short-circuited attempt to be renominated to Congress demonstrated that while religious conservatives have gotten more attention lately for opposing abortion, battling same-sex marriage resonates for many.
A member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, Riggleman was endorsed by Trump and evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.  
But he was defeated Saturday at a GOP nominating convention in rural Virginia that, amid the pandemic, was conducted by delegates who voted by driving up to a church near his opponent’s home. It was the only polling location in a district that sprawls from northern Virginia to the North Carolina border.
Riggleman officiated at a wedding last summer of two of his male friends and campaign aides. He said that during Saturday’s voting, a constituent asked him to repent for conducting that wedding. He said he responded he had nothing to repent for.  
Riggleman said younger Republicans and those who’ve have served in military like himself don’t see gay marriage as an issue. He said if the GOP wants religious liberties protected, it must embrace civil liberties, too.  
“If we can’t get over how other people live, I think the Republican Party is dead in Virginia,” Riggleman said. And he voiced no regrets for officiating at the wedding. 
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced the U.S. Open tennis tournament is on schedule to be held this year in Queens, N.Y. from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 without spectators due to health concerns associated with the coronavirus.  Cuomo said the United States Tennis Association (USTA) “will take extraordinary precautions to protect players and staff, including robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space and dedicated housing and transportation.”  The USTA said they are “incredibly excited” by Cuomo’s approval to push ahead with the U.S. Open.  “We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times, and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks,” said Mike Dowse, USTA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director.Dowse also described “tennis as the ideal social distancing sport,” and “a boost for the City of New York and the entire tennis landscape.”  The green light for the U.S. Open makes it the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to be held after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.  The French Open, originally scheduled for May 2020, was moved to September and London’s famed Wimbledon tournament was cancelled.  
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