12:41 21/05/2020 Keiran Peacock

I know many educators are uncertain and some are making personal sacrifices in order to return to work. Like nurses, doctors, police officers and sanitisation workers and other frontline workers, so much is being asked of them.

After much deliberation and consultation, the decision to get grade 7 and 12 learners back to school was made by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga this week.

I have had many discussions with ex-colleagues about the prospect of them heading back to school and have received polarised opinions about how and when it should be done.

Whether one agrees with the decision or not, the decision has been made.

From the 1st of June educators should be seen as part of the frontline workers whose actions will be critical in the fight against the pandemic.

Educators need to be mindful that their words carry weight and thus need to ensure that despite their feelings, insecurities, anxieties or anger at returning to school what they impart to learners has to promote the greater good of the child and ultimately South Africa as a whole.

They need to be compassionate and curious about their feelings so that they are in a position to offer support and compassion to those in their care.

I recently listened to Susan David who holds a PhD and is one of the world's leading management thinkers and an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist who spoke about the choice we have as to whether we let the narrative coming through the media own us, or whether we let our emotions own us, or whether we are going to exert some kind of empowerment and connection and be in a better space to own it.

She referred to an oft-used phrase by Victor Frankel who survived the Nazi death camps.

He said that between stimulus and response there is a space and in that space is our power to choose and, in that choice, lies our growth and freedom.

You and those you teach did not choose these circumstances and what often happens is that we get hooked into an experience where there is no space between stimulus and response.

We mindlessly busy ourselves by engaging with social media or the news and we begin to catastrophise our experiences. Thus letting our experiences and emotions own us.

Dr David goes further to say that when situations are ambiguous fear is often exacerbated.

The return to school is extremely ambiguous for all parties as no one knows that may happen in the near future.

When one experiences this ambiguity, people often try fill the blanks which results in more anxiety as they catastrophise the possible future.

Dr David refers to emotional contagion whereby people pick up the emotions of other people. Learners returning will pick up on educators' emotions.

What educators need to show is intentionality where they project the ability to not get stuck in their own lived experiences, to not get consumed by news and social media but instead offer an alternative way of engaging with their lived experiences and that of their students.

Educators must not focus their attention on year-end examinations as this is a mountain that may invoke more fear.

Instead they must focus on the daily lived experience of those they teach and make small manageable goals that will empower those in their care.

Educators will be doing what others cannot do at the moment, they are uniquely positioned to build a better tomorrow.

That is so powerful.

I know many educators are uncertain and some are making personal sacrifices in order to return to work.

Like nurses, doctors, police officers and sanitisation workers and other frontline workers, so much is being asked of them.

Educators now fall into the category of frontline fighters and they will need all the support of fellow South Africans if education is to assist our country overcoming this pandemic.

- Keiran Peacock is a former High school educator and was previously in charge of discipline, leadership and pastoral care at Groote Schuur High School in the Western Cape.

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OPINION | Teachers should be seen as frontline workers and will need all our support - News24

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS To meet the evolving needs of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, Steamboat Creates newest program has gone through some major updates, including its theme, format and timeline, and its ready to welcome you to participate from wherever you may be.

Pivot Point is a series of free, weekly creative sessions led by local creatives and mental health professionals. The program seeks to create a safe, supportive space to explore creativity and work through uncertainty, anger, depression or fear, working toward mastering coping mechanisms and strengthening ones sense of personal empowerment.

Originally, the program was set to take place in person in fall 2020, with a focus on survivors of sexual assault and their allies. The idea had been inspired in part by the In Our Shoes series, a monthslong project combining reporting, art and discussion, presented by Steamboat Pilot & Today, Advocates of Routt County, Young Bloods Collective and Steamboat Creates, as well as Steamboat Creates Executive Director Kim Keiths experiences with Rangelys TANK Center for Sonic Arts.

The intention was for the program to eventually be replicated to focus on different needs, including those of veterans and people in bereavement.

But in the past month and a half, as the scale of the pandemic emerged and it became clear that spring 2020 was going to present challenges unlike any the community had ever experienced, the creators of Pivot Point decided to redesign the program to be as helpful in the immediate circumstances as possible.

The spring series of Pivot Point welcomes anyone who could use community, creativity and coping strategies, for whatever reason. The series designed for survivors of sexual assault will still take place this fall.

Spring classes will take place entirely over Zoom, which participants may access by video, by audio only or by calling in by phone, which allows participants to be as anonymous as they wish. Each class opens and closes with a short mindfulness exercise, with the main event being a 45-minute creative activity. Creative activities include mandala creations, poetry, expressive writing, sonic arts and dance, and all can be done with basic supplies.

Pivot Point is for people to participate without any prior artistic experience, said Steamboat Creates Program Director Sylvie Piquet. There is zero expectation for what is created its all about the process.

The process of each activity is designed to help participants to slow down, embrace mindfulness, balance their thoughts, strengthen resilience and learn creative tools for personal empowerment. A mental health professional will be available at each session, ready to connect with participants and provide resources.

Artistic expression activates part of your brain to create a new perspective on whats going on, said Dr. Jo Anne Grace, who works as a hospice chaplain and also focuses on brain health and emotional mental health issues. Grace will be teaching the Black Out Poetry session May 7.

These exercises are designed to allow a person to integrate the left and right sides of your brain, and to confirm the wisdom thats deep inside you, Grace said.

Through Pivot Points creative activities, we want participants to find opportunities to transform the weight and challenge of this time into hope and find creative coping skills for personal empowerment to take flight, Piquet said.

This idea is symbolized by the programs logo an anchor thats transforming into a flock of birds.

Pivot Point classes are scheduled for 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays, beginning April 30. The seriesis set to continue through May 28, but Piquet notes theres potential for the program to continue into the summer, whether online or in person, depending on the state of the pandemic, community participation and program funding.

Pivot Point is free to participants. Creative instructors and mental health professionals are paid through an Arts in Society grant that Pivot Point was awarded. Steamboat Creates continues to seek grants and accept donations to provide Pivot Point programming.

In July, Pivot Point is set to take the form of an exhibit at the Depot Art Center. Entitled Hope, the show will display pieces created by Pivot Point participants, representing spirit, courage and the transition from being wounded to restored.

Learn more about Pivot Point and find the full series schedule at steamboatcreates.org/pivot-point-creative-tools-for-personal-empowerment.

Julia Ben-Asher is a contributing writer for Steamboat Pilot & Today.

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Pivot Point program blends art, mindfulness, mental health support - Steamboat Pilot and Today

Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan described how she felt when taking part in an early conference call with fellow governors, during which the White House signaled that state leaders would need to find safety and medical equipment on their own. I realized wed have to set up, in our state emergency-operations center, a procurement office that was going to compete with the world, Whitmer told us. That was a sobering moment.

Read: Trumps plan to save his presidency

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said yesterday that Trumps approach shows his commitment to federalism. But he may just want to redirect blame for a rolling catastrophe that could cost him reelection. Hed rather have the governors impose quarantines than him, because he feels theyre then responsible for any economic problems that arise, Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor and the author of the book The Living Presidency, told us.

Save for a brief post-Watergate pause, presidents in the modern era have steadily amassed power within the executive branch. Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal, Dwight Eisenhowers federal highway system, Ronald Reagans push for education standards that would later morph into the Common Coreall of these chipped away at states authority. Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act extended the federal governments reach by helping states fund the expansion of Medicaid programs. Amid the pandemic, Trump has sounded as if hes prepared to push a presidents prerogatives even further, claiming at one point last month that his authority as president is total.

But in terms of actions, he has basically stuck to things that are clearly within the federal jurisdiction, said Christopher DeMuth, a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute who worked in both the Richard Nixon and Reagan administrations. Hes used some emergency authorities, and hes let governors and mayors take the lead. This is a sharp departure from the record in recent national emergencies. After the September 11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis, presidential power expanded. New executive agencies grew out of the wreckage, buttressing a model in which the executive was king, he told us.

Trumps approach is the worst of both worlds, Bobby Chesney, a constitutional-law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told us. Hes using the rhetoric of an authoritarian without any of the China-style payout in terms of taking charge of the actual problem. Rhetorically, at least, hes asserting almost preposterous levels of authority. Fortunately, hes not following through. Hes all hat and no cattle.

A natural role for the president would be to lead the worldwide hunt for medical supplies, leveraging the governments vast purchasing power. Trumps reluctance to serve as what he calls a shipping clerk has left some governors incredulous. Its absolutely maddening, Governor Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, told us. Its like being in World War II and not getting the federal government to manufacture boots Its very difficult to understand. I liken it to Franklin Delano Roosevelt saying, Okay, Connecticut, you build the battleship and Ill be there at the launch and break the bottle.

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The End of the Imperial Presidency - The Atlantic

Pradeep SharmaTribune News Service Chandigarh, May 4

A 2014 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre on Monday resigned from the prestigious service citing personal safety on government duty.

Rani Nagar, currently posted as Additional Director, Social Justice and Empowerment, and Additional Director, Archives, sent her resignation to the state chief secretary with a request to forward it to the competent authority in the Central Government for acceptance.

The copies of the resignation letter were also sent to the President, the prime minister, the governor and the chief minister.

Nagar, in a Facebook post last month, had expressed her desire to resign from the service after the lockdown and go back to her native place in Uttar Pradesh. She had cited issues related to her safety. Nagar currently lives with her sister in Chandigarh.

It may be recalled that in June 2018 Nagar had levelled harassment charges against a senior IAS officer, who was then posted as additional chief secretary, animal husbandry and dairying. She was working as an additional secretary, animal husbandry and dairying at the time. However, the senior officer had vehemently denied the charges.

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Haryana cadre IAS officer resigns, cites 'personal safety on government duty' as reason - The Tribune India

The tidal wave of unemployment has revealed the precariousness of most peoples livelihoods. People are learning that they dont own their futures in the way they thought . . . this is not just an economic crisis, but a crisis of social capital and personal empowerment.

NEW YORK (PRWEB) April 29, 2020

You lost your job. Businesses are closed and no one is hiring. This is the new reality for the 26 million Americans who have filed for unemployment in the last four weeks. To help address the deepening unemployment crisis in the U.S., and to empower all those facing financial insecurity, leading education nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) has taken its highly effective entrepreneurship curriculum for high school students and adapted it to help adults in need across the country.

NFTE Career Relaunch is a free, two-week online course designed to teach unemployed or underemployed adults the essentials of entrepreneurship. The 14-lesson course prompts participants to think creatively about the skills and talents they can leverage to build a new career.

The course offers interactive digital lessons, assessments, and video content on topics such as evaluating a business opportunity, performing market research, providing value to customers, targeting customer segments, and financing a startup. People who take the course will also have access to expert advice from speakers in NFTEs alumni network, which includes executives from Google, Microsoft, and a wide variety of entrepreneurs. After taking the course, participants will have developed a sound business idea, as well as a business plan they can use to take the operational and financial steps needed to bring their idea to life.

The tidal wave of unemployment has revealed the precariousness of most peoples livelihoods. People are learning that they dont own their futures in the way they thought, said NFTE president and CEO, Dr. J.D. LaRock. NFTE is all about owning your future. Thats what we teach in middle and high school classrooms, and its equally relevant in addressing this crisis, which is not just an economic crisis, but a crisis of social capital and personal empowerment. NFTE Career Relaunch gives people agency in a time of uncertainty.

At least 26 million people have filed for unemployment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, small businesses and startups have jumpstarted job creation following a severe economic downturn. NFTE's Career Relaunch program will be a valuable tool to help people navigate an unprecedented jobs crisis.

To access NFTE Career Relaunch, visit http://www.nfte.com/relaunch.

About NFTE Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) is a global nonprofit that activates the entrepreneurial mindset and builds startup skills in young people from under-resourced communities. Reaching more than 100,000 middle and high school students annually, NFTE works with schools and community partners in 25 U.S. states and 10 countries around the world. Leveraging classroom teachers and volunteers from top-tier companies, NFTEs research-based model teaches students how to identify a business opportunity and launch a business; helps them learn about the range of jobs and occupations available to them; and develops their entrepreneurial mindset a set of skills including creativity, adaptability, communication, and collaboration that leads to success in any career. Since 1987, NFTE has educated 1.2 million young people worldwide, helping thousands launch businesses and companies of all sizes. Learn more at nfte.com.

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National Entrepreneurship Nonprofit Steps in to Address the Growing US Unemployment Crisis - PR Web

The coronavirus has threatened the survival of south Louisianas independent bookstores, robbing them of the very thing that helps them successfully compete against internet sales and big-box stores: face-to-face interaction.

Before the virus forced customers into isolation, locally owned stores relied on events, curated selections and individual help for shoppers who wandered through the door.

As they try to limit financial fallout, bookstore owners have adapted their sales strategies, turning to online orders, social media and virtual events to outlast government-ordered shutdowns.

Though the pandemic presents a murky future to their industry, booksellers believe they serve a crucial purpose. They may provide some comfortwhile people wait for Louisianas mass self-isolation to end.

You're not really in isolation when you have a book in your hand, said Tom Lowenburg, co-owner of Octavia Books in New Orleans.

The following is a collection of critical information about coronavirus for East Baton Rouge Parish. This page will be updated daily.

Octavia Books has adopted a curbside system to respect social distance guidelines and remain in business. As readers approach the storefront, they call to pick up their orders. Employees then place brown paper bags filled with books, puzzles and games on a wooden Adirondack chair and return indoors, allowing customers to grab their purchase without face-to-face interaction.

Signs taped on the chair and nearby windows read, We are closed for browsing! and Respect the 6ft.

The internet once challenged the existence of local bookstores, but the last two months, many independents in Louisiana have used it to keep their businesses afloat. Their social media pages buzz with activity, and they promote online orders through their websites.

While helping sales, the internet has also allowed bookstores to maintain a sense of community during isolation. Michelle and John Cavalier, owners of Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, hosted a digital version of their monthly book club last week.

They have also taken viewers on a virtual tour of their personal bookshelves, and hosted online author events, reminding the surrounding community they still exist.

Though Michelle Cavalier has missed in-person interactions with customers, she still feels connected to them in a virtual setting. Cavalier specializes in childrens literature, and throughout the closures, she has received messages from parents asking for recommendations for their children. The parents supply information on their children's interests, then Cavalier creates a specialized list.

More than 2,000 cases of the novelcoronavirushave been diagnosed in East Baton Rouge Parish after Louisiana state officials updated the late

Normally when a kid loves I book I recommended, I'm on cloud nine," Cavalier said. "Right now, knowing so many kids are struggling to feel connected to anything in the world, thats really keeping me going.

Events are the lifeblood of an independent bookstore, creating a community gathering place that fosters ideas, promotes literacy and brings large groups into the store.

Unable to let people gather, local bookstores have moved events online. Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, which typically hosts 75 to 80 events per year, has scheduled about six virtual events, including weekly Happy Hours with authors on Facebook Live.

The sessions give viewers a break from isolation, a chance to talk to other people about their lives and feel a sense of connection.

It doesn't even have to be about books, owner Britton Trice said.

Social media and online orders have helped Garden District maintain some sales with their door closed, but "it's still a fraction of what our daily sales normally are," Trice said.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday that, while coronavirus concerns in the Baton Rouge area, the Northshore and a few others are the latest con

Sales have dropped "tremendously" at Cottonwood Books in Baton Rouge, owner Danny Plaisance said. The storedoesnt have a website, so Plaisance advertised over-the-phone orders on its Facebook page. One day, he filled eight orders. Another, he opened the store for three hours and no one walked inside.

Luckily I had a decent savings, said Plaisance, who bought the store in 1986, and I've been using that.

The coronavirus struck at a time of optimism for local bookstores across the country. After online retail and nationwide chains shook the bookselling industry, print sales had rebounded as independent stores experienced a rebirth.

According to the Association of American Publishers, year-to-date industry sales rose 3.5% the first two months of 2020. The American Booksellers Association, a nonprofit trade organization for independent bookstores, had more members last year than in 2009. Local bookstores fostered a sense of connection in their communities.

+2

About 250 protesters showed up at the Governors Mansion on Saturday demanding Louisiana immediately drop therestrictions put in place to slo

Having that special one-on-one recommendation from your local bookseller, that's the kind of thing you can't get when you're shopping online, said Marissa DeCuir, President of Books Forward, a publicity and marketing firm with a branch in New Orleans.

As sales drop nationwide, local bookstores have found some financial relief. The #SaveIndieBookstores social media campaign has raised more than $950,000 for local stores. Some bookstores also received money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which helps pay employees and rent.

But the assistance cannot cover all the income lost during the shutdowns. Book festivals, conventions and writers conferences have been canceled or postponed. Some authors have changed launch dates, and publishers have pushed e-books.

Lowenburg felt concerned when coronavirus shutdowns began, but with people searching for reading material the last two months, Octavia Books has maintained normal operating hours. It only closed on Easter.

Every afternoon, Lowenburg has packed books into his car to deliver orders. The store has provided free shipping and delivery around New Orleans on orders of at least $25, and Lowenburg spent 2 hours one night dropping off books throughout the city, reaching the Lower 9th Ward and crossing to West End.

People still need books, Lowenburg said. Our customers are keeping us busy.

When bookstores reopen for browsing, the owners look forward to interactions with customers. They dont know when events will resume or how soon sales will rebound, but they cant wait to tell shoppers about new books and make recommendations again as they exchange stories from the shutdown.

The overburdened Louisiana Workforce Commission continues to make strides in making payments to all jobless workers who have filed claims, but

It's going to be insanely difficult, Michelle Cavalier said. I don't know what things are going to look like. But I am optimistic for my business. I'm optimistic for our industry. And ultimately, I'm optimistic for our world.

Every day inside her store, Cavalier has walked past Untamed by Glennon Doyle, a memoir that promotes empowerment in women and the importance of trusting your voice. Cavalier remembers one of Doyles mantras We can do hard things and repeats it to herself.

Yes, Glennon, Cavalier said. We can do hard things.

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Louisiana's independent bookstores thrive on personal touch. How are they handling coronavirus? - The Advocate

NEW YORK In his book, Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918-1965, Marist College professor Michael OSullivan explores the revival of Catholic faith in Germany from 1920-1960, fueled in large part by Marian devotion.

Yet ironically, this new sense of devotion, primarily from traditionalist Catholics, unintentionally weakened the institutional Church, OSullivan argues.

His book, which won the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize, explores this turbulent period in German Catholicism, and in an interview with Crux, OSullivan offers his thoughts on what it means for one of the most influential Catholic nations in the world today.

Crux: These miracles you chronicle often occuring in very rural areas take place when Germany is in tremendous upheaval after the first World War. Are the devotions you chronicled here more politicized than say previous well known Marian devotions, such as, say, Lourdes?

OSullivan: I have trouble thinking of an era in European history where popular religion and sainthood was not politicized. In an example from the medieval period, my colleague at Marist College, Janine Larmon Peterson, just wrote a book that shows how the political situation on the Italian peninsula during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries shaped the reception of local and unsanctioned saints cults.

In modern European history, the Lourdes apparitions were in fact quite political. Although the history of Bernadette Soubirous is certainly a local story about how formal rituals of the Church mixed with local traditions, the shrine became a lightning rod of controversy in the political battle between secular republicans and conservative Catholics during the late nineteenth century. I would also point out David Blackbourns study of the Marpingen apparitions of the Virgin Mary that highlighted the political clash between the Catholic minority and Protestant elites in Prussia during Germanys Kulturkampf (cultural struggle) of the 1870s.

While my book is not the first to demonstrate that unsanctioned religious figures became ensnared in politics, it follows how faith in religious miracles encountered new political terrain during the twentieth century. Of most interest is how Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth and other mystics fit into Catholic attempts at liberal democratic mass politics during the 1920s and 1950s. Furthermore, her circles messy engagement with the Third Reichs dictatorship highlights many of the grey areas in the relationship between Catholicism and fascism. Many of her followers suffered imprisonment or death during this era, but I argue that she backed away from open acts of dissent against National Socialism.

Conservative Catholics wouldbe characterized today as those wanting to preserve the institutional Church and its traditions, but you write that during this time,traditionalistbelieversunintentionallyweakened it. How so?

This is perhaps the most provocative element of my books argument and it relies on the work of other scholars, such as Thomas Grossblting, who show that institutionalized Christianity in Germany faded in the 1960s and 1970s. Although church attendance and membership declined, many Germans and other Europeans developed personalized beliefs outside the structures of churches that mixed different faith traditions.

Catholics attracted to unsanctioned instances of stigmata and apparitions of the Virgin Mary understood themselves to be more traditionalist in their faith practices than even some of the bishops, the clergy and leading members of the laity, whom they viewed as making too many compromises with modernity. However, they believed so strongly in their own traditionalist vision that they rebelled vigorously against the authority of the Churchs hierarchy and contributed to an erosion of institutional legitimacy. By demanding a personal connection with God that eliminated priests and hierarchical sanction as intermediaries, mystics and seers contributed to the larger pluralization and individualization of religion that overtook Germany in the period that followed them. I never claim that the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to small rural towns were exclusively responsible for this broader shift in spiritual practices. Long-term shifts toward urban lifestyles, consumer economies, socialism, totalitarianism, and war all contributed. Nonetheless, the traditionalist rebels who valued unsanctioned mysticism over Church hierarchy accelerated these larger trends in surprising ways.

How did the story of Therese Neumanns stigmata first catch your attention? As you chronicle, she caught the attention of hundreds of thousands of Germans and other European Catholics and even folks in the United States. You suggest that some of the cult that developed around her was fueled by the belief that Catholics in Germany had compromised too much with the modern nation state and were no longer living authentic Catholic lives. Can you explain this a bit more?

I first became interested in the veneration of religious seers such as Neumann by accident. When researching a dissertation largely about the secularization process of the Catholic regions of Germany, I discovered folders about alleged cases of stigmata and Marian appearances in the archive of the archbishopric of Cologne. Although I set these sources aside for many years, I eventually realized that there was a compelling book that could emerge about the resonance of Catholic mysticism in Germany from the 1920s to the 1950s. The challenge of the study was to find deeper meaning out of microhistories that had such colorful personalities and narratives.

The struggle by the German Catholic minority to fit into the Protestant-majority nation-state founded in 1871 became one of these touchpoints. After a traumatizing church-state battle during the 1870s, German Catholics made efforts to reach out from the subcultures created by the legacy of the Reformation to both demonstrate their loyalty to the new nation and integrate into the modern, urban economy. This led many bishops, clergy, and lay leaders to balance a sense of rationalism with their faith. It also caused the political party that represented Catholics (the Center Party) to overcome past differences and govern with secular opponents, such as the liberal and social democratic parties. Those most attracted to instances of stigmata in the 1920s rejected modernization of the faith or political Catholicism as inauthentic. Sites such as the home of Therese Neumann in rural Konnersreuth became symbols of opposition against the perceived abandonment of the faith by clergy from industrialized northwest of the country; bishops who deployed scientific methods to analyze the authenticity of alleged miracles; and Catholic politicians who dared compromise with past enemies of the Church.

How much momentum does the cause for her beatificationhave today and who are the major players in it?

My sense is that the momentum for beatification slowed in recent years, but I have also found it difficult to gather much information about what is happening beneath the surface. Perhaps I could have used some of your journalistic skills here. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of when Gerhard Ludwig Mller started the process as Bishop of Regensburg and no report has yet been submitted to the diocese with an assessment of Neumanns heroic virtue or forwarded to the Vatican. I did interview the two figures leading the process in 2013: Msgr. Georg Schwager, who will send a report to the Bishop of Regensburg once all research is complete; and Toni Siegert, a journalist and historian based in Munich who leads an historical commission. In their comments to me and in subsequent public statements, they emphasize the vast amount of documentation that must be surveyed before a report is finalized. In a recent appearance in Konnersreuth, Siegert publicly stated that new documents have been released to the commission from the personal papers of Neumann supporter Fritz Gerlich, whose own beatification process started in 2017, and also from a religious order with links to Neumann.

Despite denials by both Schwager and Siegert, I speculate that the divisions within the Catholic Church between progressives and conservatives must play a role in the prospects of this beatification case. Cardinal Mller, who started the process right after Benedict XVI assumed the papacy, served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith after his time in the Regensburg bishops residence and now appears regularly in the press as an aggressive critic of Pope Francis. He also recently compared the Synodal Path adopted by the German Bishops to address a movement for womens empowerment within the Church and the sex abuse scandals (which Mller played a part in covering up) to Hitlers consolidation of power in 1933.

While the current Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, seems publicly supportive of Konnersreuth, the recent association of the town and other sites analyzed in my book with deeply conservative Catholicism and right-wing populism, would seem to make it unpalatable to the current pontiff and most German Catholics who live outside the diocese of Regensburg. In some ways, the present conflict among Catholics in Germany has dimensions that were similar to the divisions within its Catholic community during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s.

How did individualssuch as Neumann change the way the German hierarchy related to women in the 20th century and the movement by other women in the Church seeking an expanded role in leadership?

The book treats the history of women in the Catholic Church extensively, but it largely explores the exceptional nature of Therese Neumanns accumulation of power as a seer in modern Catholic history. Disruptive Power argues against studies that view female stigmatics and visionaries as popular theologians who used mysticism to pursue a form of Catholic feminism. It also questions scholars that depict religious women as manipulated pawns in the hands of their religious patriarchs. Rather, the book highlights the story of a woman who adopted deeply conservative and traditionalist positions as she increased her fame and agency over time. Most other girls and women in her position suffered terribly as a result of claiming a direct connection to sacred figures. If they submitted too much to patriarchal authority or rebelled too aggressively against it, they wound up ruined, discredited and sometimes excommunicated. Many of them were institutionalized. Neumann carefully navigated a path where she cultivated male patrons to protect her without empowering any one of them too much. She used loyalty to her father in order to shield herself from her bishops desire for her institutionalization. Neumann also instrumentalized the Churchs conservative sexual politics as a tool with which to wield moral authority.

Neumanns approach to gender did not influence the German women leading the Maria 2.0 movement that calls for feminine empowerment within the Church in Germany today. Their predecessors were active within the Catholic Womens Movement of the early twentieth century, a subject for my new book project. Nonetheless, it is vital for scholars of womens history to access the mindset of traditionalists such as Neumann and the many women devoted to her during the era of the two world wars.

Follow Christopher White on Twitter:@cwwhite212

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Women played an intriguing role in Catholic revival in Germany, author says - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Approximately 67 million women are organized into 6 million self-help groups (Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo)

As India fights the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), it requires all stakeholders to take charge and deliver. Among those which are working on the ground, the women-led self-help groups (SHGs) have emerged as effective frontline responders, reaching the last-mile and ensuring an immediate relief and socio-economic protection to the countrys most vulnerable.

Their reach is staggering: Approximately 67 million women are organised into 6 million SHGs. Operating on the principles of self-help, cohesion and mutual interest, SHGs are voluntary groups of 10-20 women from their neighbourhood, who pool their savings and gain access to credit. As of today, these collectives have saved $1.4 billion, and leveraged another $37 billion from commercial banks. What began as a call to empower poor rural women under the aegis of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has since grown into one of the worlds largest institutional platforms for the poor.

To facilitate the workings of SHGs, the Union ministry of rural development issues policy directions and advisories to state missions.

SHGs have local as well as national reach. They are producing masks and personal protective equipments (PPEs), creating awareness about the pandemic, and delivering essentials goods and financial assistance to the most vulnerable.

For example, in Bihar, women under the JEEViKA platform (the State Rural Livelihood Mission) are active in identifying and surveying vulnerable households. Using innovative communication methods, SHG members ensure that the risks of Covid-19 and its transmission are easily explained to rural masses. Using the information education and communication material developed by the state mission, the didis, as they are locally called, use the network of 1.4 lakh state-wide SHGs to create awareness about hand-washing, social distancing, sanitation and quarantine.

In Uttar Pradesh (UP), with the help of Khadi Gramudyog, SHG members plan to produce masks worth six lakh metres of khadi fabric. In Kheri district, SHGs are working round-the-clock to produce PPE kits for frontline health workers and police personnel. Moreover, SHG women under the Prerna platform use methods such as rangolis, TikTok videos and songs to create awareness about hand-washing and social distancing.

In Jharkhand, SHG women use the Aajeevika Farm Fresh mobile app to sell vegetables, ensuring that social distancing guidelines are not flouted. They also use their networks to identify vulnerable households, flagging to the administration the pockets in need of food. They help run a 24-hour helpline by the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), which provides important information and counselling to the returning migrant. Every Panchayat in the state has a Muhkya Mantri Didi Kitchen, which provides free food to the needy. At present, the state has about 4,185 community kitchens in as many Panchayats, with SRLM providing Rs 20,000 each to SHGs running these centres.

In Kerala, through the renowned Kudumbashree network, women collectives have been on the frontlines, home-delivering groceries through a floating market to the most vulnerable, providing PPEs to local government hospitals, and running 1,300 community kitchens across the state. They also help in Covid-19-related myth-busting.

In several states, SHGs have taken up the task of production, packaging and distribution of take-home ration (THR) as anganwadi centres across the country are shut due to the lockdown. In Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the SHG women also distribute eggs along with THR. This ensures that the State reaches every child under five, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and vulnerable target groups.

In many states, SHG members engaged as BC Sakhi (banking correspondent agents) help home-deliver the Centres financial relief packages for the rural community facing socio-economic distress, pensioners, and those who are dependent on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

There are four main reasons why SHGs play an important role in serving the poor:

One, they have a better understanding of local communities, and in times of crises, have immediate access on the ground.

Two, they serve as an integral community communication channel, help reach the last mile, and are trusted by local communities.

Three, they can provide short- and medium-term social and economic protection, serving as a critical conduit for providing relief to the most vulnerable.

Four, they quickly set up the production of relevant items using their well-honed skills, and put to use village distribution and supply chains.

As we celebrate and acknowledge their contributions in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, we must continue to strengthen them, and replicate the model across the country. They must be given a requisite economic and social empowerment. Governments and society must recognise that effective emergency response and the social and economic protection of the most vulnerable is critically dependent on institutions like SHGs.

Nita Kejrewal is joint secretary, ministry of rural development

The views expressed are personal

Originally posted here:
Covid-19: In times of crisis, women self-help groups lead the way - Hindustan Times

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In April 2020, as conspiracy theories swirled about former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates alleged connections to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, images supposedly showing an eerie quote ostensibly uttered by him circulated on social media.

Text from a February 1997 issue of George magazine was presented in such a way that suggested Gates had said an over-populated planet would be choked to extinction by a lung-attacking virus:

Practically the only thing connecting Gates to the quote in this image is the neon green line drawn between them.

The above-displayed images are both genuine and both come from the February 1997 issue of George, a magazine founded by John F. Kennedy, Jr. and published between 1995 and 2001. Although this issue does feature a lengthy interview with Gates, the quote featured here comes from an entirely different article.

The February 1997 issue of George magazine included a Survival Guide to the Future that featured various commentators describing how the world was now and providing their thoughts on what the world would be like in 2020. The actual article, titled A Nations Future Foretold, was divided into themed sections such as transportation, education, environment, crime, warfare, and food. The quote shown in the viral image comes from the disease section of this article. Heres a screenshot from a digital copy of the magazine, which more clearly shows the author of this text:

The end of the article comes after a page break, where you can read the pull-quote in context:

Gates did not write that an over-populated planet would be choked to extinction by a lung-attacking virus. This article was actually written by poet and science writer Arno Karlen.

However, social media users did find an actual quote from Gates in this issue of George that they presented as equally controversial as the lung-attacking virus quote. A second image showing an excerpt from this issue appears to show Gates talking about funding population control:

This, again, is a genuine image from the February 1997 issue of George magazine. And this time, it is a genuine quote from Gates. He made this comment shortly after he was asked about how he keeps his personal opinions separate from his business decisions:

While this quote is often shared as if it revealed some secret and nefarious plot from the former Microsoft CEO, the truth is a bit more mundane.

This quote was widely circulated by those who adhere to the idea that Gates was using the COVID-19 pandemic to give himself an opportunity to microchip the population via vaccines. The above-displayed quote shows, according to proponents of this conspiracy theory, that Gates has long been planning to take control of the global population. We took a deeper look into the ID2020 conspiracy theory here.

However, the term population control isnt as literal as it may seem in this context. This term was widely used in the 1970s and 80s, but it fell out of fashion in the 90s and was replaced by terms such as reproductive health, family planning, and womens empowerment.

In writing about the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the Christian Science Monitor noted a major philosophical difference between that years conference and conferences from years past:

If there is a major philosophical difference in the 1994 version of the once-a-decade international conference on population, it is the shift from population control to womens empowerment especially in areas of reproductive health, education, and economic opportunities, which planners of the UN conference see as closely linked to fertility rates.

Economic growth and improvement of quality of life have been fastest in those areas where women have higher status, and slowest where they face the greatest disadvantages, states the draft Programme of Action now being debated in New York.

Gates quote in this 1997 interview may have been a bit outdated, but it was not indicative of a nefarious plot to enslave humankind. Rather, Gates was noting his charitable work with global organizations that support reproductive health programs.

For example, in 1997, the year this interview was published, the Gates Foundation awarded a $2.2 million grant to Johns Hopkins University to support the Institute for Population and Reproductive Health to strengthen leadership and institutions in the developing countries. Two years later in 1999, Bill and Melinda Gates donated $2.2 billion to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Forbes explored Gates thinking on population control in a 2011 profile:

That same epiphany for his public health philanthropy came even earlier. Bills dad had set up a dinner at Seattles posh Columbia Tower Club with the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). While the meeting started with birth control among other efforts, PATH taught Chinese condom makers to test their products before shipping them Gates began consuming data that startled him. In society after society, he saw, when the mortality rate falls specifically, below 10 deaths per 1,000 people the birth rate follows, and population growth stabilizes. It goes against common sense, Gates says. Most parents dont choose to have eight children because they want to have big families, it turns out, but because they know many of their children will die.

If a mother and father know their child is going to live to adulthood, they start to naturally reduce their population size,says Melinda.

In terms of giving, Gates did a 180-degree turn. Rather than prevent births, he would aim his billions at saving the kids already born. We moved pretty heavily into vaccines once we understood that, says Gates.

See original here:
Did Bill Gates Tell George Magazine That an 'Over-Populated Planet' Would Fall to a 'Lung-Attacking Virus'? - Snopes.com

This article originally appeared on VICE India.

The most jarring visual of a crisis in any part of the world is always its human face. And the bigger the scale of a disaster, the more devastating the image. Over the last couple of months, as the coronavirus pandemic swept across Asia, it revealed consequences of not just the pandemic, but also how a virus can instantly change life as we know it.

In India, the worlds harshest lockdown manifested in the loss of livelihood and displacement of hundreds of thousands of informal labourers and migrantswhich some say saw an exodus bigger than the one during the India-Pakistan partition (which saw the displacement of 15 million people). Now, as we approach the end of the lockdown (May 3though this is tentative in many parts of the country which are seeing high numbers of positive cases), analysts and researchers are predicting the same demographic will possibly face even more exploitation as workplaces rush to meet the rising demands and make up for lost time and money.

Trinanjan Radhakrishnan, the project coordinator for private sector engagement at Oxfam India, an international non-profit that works towards issues such as women empowerment and inequality, told VICE that this scenario is very likely primarily because Indias informal workforcewhich stands at almost 93 percent of the total population (according to the Economic Survey of 2018-19)already work under a system where they have no legal protection and are thereby exploited because of that. Think of folks who are a part of the supply chain or construction workers they have lost three months of work, they have to make up for the lost time. There will be increased work hours, he said. In supply chains, the margins are already slim, so there will be more pressure or more hours at lesser wages.

This trend, adds Radhakrishnan, will be especially prevalent in textile supply chainsa trend that is currently unfolding in Bangladesh right now. Owing to the pressures from international brands to meet export deadlines and piling orders, many Dhaka factories opened this week despite a nationwide lockdown. In some Western countries, factories have reopened. In others, like in India, there are attempts to open up the economy to restore its broken supply chain because of the lockdown. Experts feel that the unorganised workers will face not just the dangers of coronavirus infection, but also an increased burden of work.

You have to choose between either losing your job, or working doubly hard, says Radhakrishnan. Their consignments still have to be made up for. There will be lesser breaks. If eight hours is the law, the norm is 12 hours, and now, it will increase further. They will probably see 18-hour shifts. This could be worse for some people more than others.

In India, such work conditions and its exploitative nature put the country quite high up on the Global Slavery Index 2018, where modern slavesthose who are severely exploitated for personal or commercial gainmade up of 7.9 million people (as of 2016). Workers in informal and unregulated sectors, owing to a lack of strict labour laws and regulations, often fall under this bracket. The United Nations has condemned this, and calls it contemporary forms of slavery. The majority of those who suffer are the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised social groups in society, says the UN statement. Fear, ignorance of ones rights and the need to survive do not encourage them to speak out.

Over the last few weeks, the lockdown has also increased the risk of jobless informal workers resorting to loans, which will sink them deeper into modern slavery. In fact, there are concerns that those stuck in brick kilns and rice mills are already overworked and exploited. Owners of these facilities have pushed up deadlines for work to be completed, knowing that the workers will ... (go) home once the lockdown is opened, Jaba Prince, a social worker for the International Justice Mission in southern Tamil Nadu, told Reuters.

India is not the only country where experts have predicted exploitation of vulnerable workers even after the pandemic. UK-based charity Focus on Labour Exploitation, which works to end human trafficking for labour exploitation across the world, recently came out with a study that highlights this risk in low-paid and insecure employment in the UK. Struggling to make ends meet, low-paid workers are at high risk of falling into debt and facing destitution, reads the report.

There have also been concerns about women in the labour force facing even more exploitation owing to gendered, cultural and structural issues, such as discrimination related to pregnancy and maternity, gender-based violence and sexual harassment at work. The burden on them will increase at work along with the unpaid care work at home, said Radhakrishnan.

At the same time, there are reports of the pandemic and ensuing lockdown changing the labour market considerably. In India, this analysis has come after witnessing mass displacement of migrant workers, and them struggling to go back home even now. Now, experts say that this has taught workers that distance matters. The Indian economy is functioning at not more than 25 percent capacity and most of the unorganized sector has shut down leading to migration back to the rural areas. Consequently, in states like, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, demand for work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has increased dramatically, Arun Kumar, one of the leading authorities on black economy, tells VICE. This shows that workers dont have work and because of the fear factor, they will more or less not return to urban areas in the near future and look for work in rural areas. Kumar also predicts that owing to these factors, businesses will function way below capacity, which will lead to more unemployment. Poverty will increase all around.

Its also been argued that though Indias lockdown may have been successful in minimising the spread of the virus, it has also paralysed the markets along with its people. And if the unorganised sector is forced to get back to their unsafe and exploitative workplaces again, it might just lead to something bigger than we have now. A second wave of the pandemic is being predicted by the experts, especially because we do not have enough testing, said Kumar. Big businesses are being shortsighted in demanding an immediate restart of the economy because if the disease flares up again, the poor will be hit hard due to lack of adequate medical facilities and another lockdown would be required. And experts say that a second lockdown will be even more painful than the first. And if the poor continue to be unprotected, there can be chaos in society.

Radhakrishnan looks at this as a critical juncture for how to treat the marginalised and the poor, a response that even the UN is advocating for right now through their build back better campaign. This is not the economy for the 1 percent, he says. Whenever many people think of the economy, they think of that section of the newspaper with words like GDP or mergers or interest rates, and so on. But when the lockdown happened, you saw the other face of the economy. Thats the human face of our economy, and this is the time for us to refocus ourselves and relook at our priorities. We need a human economy that works for everyone and not just a select few.

Follow Pallavi Pundir on Twitter.

View original post here:
Experts Worry That the Post-Lockdown World Could See a Surge of Exploitation and Modern Slavery - VICE