The New York Times International - 21 07 2020

2020·5.12 MB·English

GOYA AND TRUMP FUTUREPROOF SMOKE AND MIRRORS
THE POLITICS FINDING GADGETS SHOOTING A SEX SCENE
OF BUYING BEANS THAT WILL LAST DURING A PANDEMIC
PAGE 7 | BUSINESS PAGE 12 | TECH PAGE 15 | CULTURE
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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | TUESDAY, JULY21, 2020
Is Germany China takes
set to thrive unorthodox
post-Covid? route to
test vaccine
Ruchir Sharma
Contributing Writer
In a race to acquire data,
soldiers and workers are
OPINION
pulled into unofficial trials
Imagine a country, a major Western
economic power, where the coronavirus
BY SUI-LEE WEE
arrived late but the government, in-
AND MARIANA SIMÕES
stead of denying and delaying, acted
early. It was ready with tests and con- The offer to employees at the state-
tact tracing to “flatten the curve” swiftly owned oil giant was compelling: Be
and limited its death rate to orders of among the first in China to take a coro-
magnitude lower than that of any other navirus vaccine.
major Western industrial nation. Con- The employees at the oil company,
taining the virus allowed for a brief and PetroChina, could use one of two vac-
targeted lockdown, which helped limit cines “for emergency use” to protect
unemployment to only 6 percent. Amid themselves when working overseas as
a shower of international praise, the part of China’s ambitious infrastructure
country’s boringly predictable leader program, according to a copy of the no-
experienced a huge spike in popular tice, which was reviewed by The New
approval, to 70 percent from 40 percent. York Times. They would effectively be
This mirror image guinea pigs for testing the unproven
Which of America under vaccines outside the official clinical tri-
President Trump is als.
country
Germany under The offer was backed by the govern-
will triumph
Chancellor Angela ment. It stressed that data from clinical
after the
Merkel. Her surging trials showed that the products, both
pandemic? popularity has politi- made by Sinopharm, were safe. It did
Hint: It’s cally marginalized not mention the possible side effects, or
not the U.S. the extreme right and warn against the false sense of security
or China. extreme left. German from taking a vaccine that regulators
unions have worked hadn’t approved.
closely with bosses to “I don’t think this is right ethically,”
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAVIER FUENTES/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
keep factories open The Canary Islands, with few coronavirus cases among two million full-time residents, are allowing visitors on the islands, like La Graciosa, above. But some hotels are shut. said Joan Shen, the Shanghai-based
and working conditions generally safe chief executive officer of the pharma-
(the country’s meatpacking industry ceutical company I-Mab Biopharma.
was a notable exception). Ms. Merkel’s Coasts are clear. And empty. The unorthodox move, to test people
government has coordinated with all separately from the normal regulatory
the German states to contain the pan- approval process, reflects the formida-
demic and with fellow European Union ble challenge facing China as it races to
members to establish a recovery fund develop the world’s first coronavirus
for nations hardest hit by the virus. vaccine.
The strengths Germany is showing nent are few and far between: Just 13 Eager to find a long-term solution to
ADEJE, SPAIN
make it the large economy most likely to countries are on the list of those consid- the outbreak and burnish their scientific
thrive in the post-pandemic world. ered safe by the European Union, a list credentials, Chinese companies are
The coronavirus is accelerating an that so far excludes the United States. rushing to get as much data as possible
Southern Europe reopens,
inward turn among national economies The drag is felt acutely in tourist des- on their vaccines to prove they are safe
that began with the global financial but many popular spots tinations that depend on air travel, like and effective. In China, they are selec-
crisis of 2008. Governments are assum- the Canary Islands, which lie off the tively testing their vaccines on small
are reporting few arrivals
ing more and more control over all northwestern coast of Africa, hundreds pools of people like the PetroChina em-
aspects of economic life, running up of miles from mainland Spain. Airlines ployees — an approach that does not
public debts to keep growth alive and carried 15 million visitors to the archi- count toward the regulatory process but
BY RAPHAEL MINDER
imposing new barriers to foreign trade pelago last year, but the flight capacity could bolster their own confidence in the
and immigration. Only the virtual side Music blared from a beachfront cafe this month is 30 percent of what it was a vaccines. In Brazil and other countries,
of the world economy is booming, as along the normally bustling southwest- year ago. they are conducting clinical trials, going
people work, play and shop on the inter- ern coast of Tenerife, the largest of the As a result, property owners in the Ca- through the normal regulatory chan-
net. Canary Islands. But several tables sat nary Islands have opened only about 20 nels.
Which nations will flourish in this empty, a month after Spain’s Covid-19 percent of the tourism beds, according The dual strategy, though, is risking
reshaped economic landscape? Despite lockdown had ended, and the doors to to Jorge Marichal, a Tenerife hotelier scientific setbacks and political back-
their tech dominance, the United States many resorts remained shut. who is president of Cehat, the Spanish lash, potentially undercutting China’s
and China are running up too much debt Though tourism is returning to south- hotel confederation. efforts.
and their governments have been ern Europe, from Portugal to Greece, its “We are doing our best to highlight Such “emergency use” is rare, and the
widely criticized for mishandling the restart has been sluggish, amid new out- the fact that we now have almost no vi- taking of unapproved vaccines is typi-
pandemic. Vietnam looks promising, an breaks in some countries. Bookings are rus problem — but of course we cannot cally reserved for health care profes-
emerging export powerhouse with a down 80 percent in Italy despite govern- transport the tourists here ourselves,” Ferries, like this one that runs to La Graciosa island in the Canaries, have fewer pas- sionals. Although the government has
government that has stopped the virus ment incentives. Ferries to the Greek is- Mr. Marichal said. sengers than anyone anticipated, as a result of the pandemic. stressed that taking the vaccine is vol-
dead in its tracks. Russia also has an lands are carrying much less than half Italy has tried to promote national untary, the soldiers and the workers at
intriguing economy, because President the loads they once did. tourism by issuing a vacation bonus, a state-owned companies could feel pres-
Vladimir Putin has been working for While Europeans are starting to trav- voucher of 150 euros, or about $170, per Corriere della Sera reported that only a ago, and the country’s 14 regional air- sure to participate.
years to seal off his country from foreign el more within their own countries, far Italian for lodging, to as much as €500 small fraction of Italian hotels accept ports were down 84 percent. As Chinese companies also look be-
financial pressure, a defensive move fewer are venturing beyond their bor- per family. Dario Franceschini, the min- the vouchers. Though all of the countries of south- yond their borders to test the vaccine,
SHARMA,PAGE11 ders. Particularly missing are vacation- ister of culture and tourism, told Parlia- Greece, though suffering less from ern Europe have emerged from lock- they are running into mistrust and skep-
ers from Britain, Germany and other ment this month that about 400,000 the pandemic than either Italy or Spain, down, new outbreaks there and quaran- ticism. Health experts have questioned
The New York Times publishes opinion northern countries who typically jour- vouchers had been issued, worth €183 has still seen scant evidence of a re- tine orders elsewhere have added hur- why the Canadian government is allow-
from a wide range of perspectives in ney south each year, spending billions of million in total. bound in tourism. In the first 12 days of dles. This month, Britain said that peo- ing CanSino Biologics, which has
hopes of promoting constructive debate euros. The Italian news media painted a less July, passenger traffic at the Athens air- ple coming from Portugal, among other teamed up with the People’s Liberation
about consequential questions. And visitors from outside the conti- enthusiastic picture. The newspaper port was down 75 percent from a year TOURISM,PAGE8 VACCINE,PAGE2
Black artists wary of corporate solidarity
dictable.” They also wrote that it “be-
Some cite ‘opportunism’
trays a telling and dangerous opportun-
in a rush to use works ism.”
“In their rush to portray a public soli-
at a time of U.S. unrest
darity with the Black Lives Matter
movement, companies risk reinscribing
BY TIFFANY HSU what got us all here: the instrumental- New York Times
ization and exploitation of Black labor,
AND SANDRA E. GARCIA
ideas and talent for what is ultimately
Events
The streets of New York were crowded their own benefit and safety,” the group
with protesters when Shantell Martin wrote.
received an email from an ad agency The efforts of major companies to
last month. publicly support the protests against Make the most of your time indoors.
M:United, a firm owned by the global racism and police brutality have rung Better understand the world outside.
advertising company McCann, wanted hollow for some Black workers in cre-
Our virtual gatherings are free to attend,
to know if Ms. Martin, a Black artist, ative fields.
and new events are added daily.
would be interested in creating a mural Artists, models, designers, copywrit-
about the Black Lives Matter movement ers and others said they had been
on Microsoft’s boarded-up Fifth Avenue drafted to lend legitimacy to companies Explore the full schedule:
storefront. And could she do it, the email that fail to live up to principles of diversi- timesevents.nytimes.com
said, “while the protests are still rele- ty and inclusion. They said they had
vant and the boards are still up, ideally been pigeonholed for roles in ad cam-
no later than this coming Sunday?” paigns or penalized when they raised
Several other Black artists received objections about efforts they felt were
the same email. In an open letter to insensitive and had been underpaid, or
Microsoft and McCann, Ms. Martin and not given proper credit for their work.
DEMETRIUS FREEMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
the other artists described the invitation Shantell Martin was among the Black artists asked to create a Black Lives Matter mural After Ms. Martin posted on Instagram
as “both shocking and somehow pre- for Microsoft while the protests since George Floyd’s killing were “still relevant.” ARTISTS,PAGE2
NEWSSTAND PRICES Issue Number
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2 | TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
page two
China takes unorthodox route on vaccine
VACCINE,FROM PAGE1 The Wuhan Institute, which Si-
Army, to run human trials in the country. nopharm owns, said its vaccine had
Rumors have spread about the authen- caused no adverse reactions among vol-
ticity of a Chinese-made vaccine that is unteers, according to Xinhua, China’s of-
being tested in Brazil, as supporters of ficial news agency. Volunteers achieved
President Jair Bolsonaro cast doubt. full antibodies after two doses in a 28-
The strategy is born of necessity. day program.
Chinese companies cannot find While the early results in those small
enough candidates at home to conclu- groups are promising, Chinese compa-
sively determine whether their vaccines nies must strike deals in other countries
would prevent infections, a problem to ultimately pass regulatory muster in
faced by research institutes and phar- China and the rest the world.
maceutical makers in countries that In June, Sinopharm began the third
have largely tamed the coronavirus. phase of clinical trials in Beijing, Wuhan
Phase 3 trials, the final stage before ap- and Abu Dhabi, becoming the first com-
proval, require vaccines to be tested in pany to enter the final regulatory stage.
tens of thousands of volunteers in places China’s Sinovac Biotech is teaming up
with large, active outbreaks. with Instituto Butantan in Brazil, which
Along with the testing at the oil com- has the world’s second-highest case
pany, Sinopharm, which has completed count, after the United States.
Phase 2 trials for two products, has in- The process has been politically
jected the vaccine into its chairman and fraught in Brazil, where Mr. Bolsonaro
other senior officials, according to the has played down the threat, though he
State-owned Assets Supervision and later contracted Covid-19. His son
Administration Commission, or SASAC, blamed China for the pandemic.
the government agency managing all Shortly after the vaccine deal, a fake
employees at state-backed companies. meme started spreading that said the
The Chinese government has allowed vaccine had been tested only on mon-
the CanSino-military vaccine to be given keys and never on humans. “If this vac-
to its armed forces, a first for the mili- cine is so promising, then why not test it
tary of any country. in China, where this damned virus ap-
Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan peared, instead of testing it on the citi-
University, was skeptical about the deci- zens of São Paulo?” it said.
sion to give vaccines to employees of Dimas Tadeu Covas, the director of
state-owned companies for business Butantan, said that he was impressed
travel. with Sinovac’s preliminary results and
that the vaccine “has the greatest poten-
tial for success.” He cited results from
The dual strategy is risking
Sinovac’s Phase 1 trials that showed no
scientific setbacks and political adverse effects and Phase 2 trials that
backlash that could undercut showed 90 percent protection against
China’s efforts. Sars-Cov2.
“I know vaccines, and I am betting a
lot on this one,” Dr. Covas said.
“It does not make much sense at all, Despite the political backlash, about
ZHANG YUWEI/XINHUA, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
because the length of time that the em- 600,000 people signed up for the trials
ployees take to travel is not the same, Foundation in China. Dr. Yip added that In a photo released by a state news just 24 hours after the recruiting process
the locations may be different, and it is it would be useful for company execu- agency, above, staff members checked and went live this month.
not easy to do tracking and monitoring,” tives to know that they had given the cleaned equipment at a Sinopharm vac- João Doria, the governor of São Paulo,
Dr. Yang said. “It may just be a psycho- dose to “a couple of thousand people, but cine production plant in Beijing. Right, the state where testing is being con-
logical comfort for employees.” no one has dropped dead, so that’s researchers worked in a lab at the ducted, said, “In the middle of a pan-
A PetroChina employee based over- pretty good.” Yisheng Biopharma company. demic, you can’t prioritize ideology or
seas confirmed that his colleagues in Dr. Yip said the people taking the vac- political factors over life.”
China had been invited to take the vac- cines should read up on reports of the Ralcyon Teixeira, an infectious-dis-
cines. PetroChina, SASAC and Si- safety data and make an informed deci- safe and effective. The agency did not ease specialist and director of the medi-
nopharm did not respond to requests for sion. He said he would be willing to take make clear what vaccine the employees cal division at the hospital Emílio Ribas
comment. it. had taken. The Paper, a newspaper in São Paulo, said he was worried that
Such testing does not help the compa- “If you offer that to me saying it’s safe owned by the Shanghai government, the “politicization” of the Sinovac vac-
nies clear any regulatory hurdles, since and there’s an 85 percent chance that it separately said 180 employees had tak- cine could hinder the introduction of
it is not part of the official clinical trials. works, would I take it today?” he said. en the vaccine. what he believed could be an effective
Mainly, Chinese companies could use it “You know what, I probably will. Be- Last month, the Beijing Institute of treatment. “It’s been four months of just
to give themselves extra reassurance cause then I don’t have to worry.” Biological Products, which is develop- Covid,” he said. “We are tired of seeing
that the vaccines are safe, presuming In a post on its official WeChat ac- ing one of Sinopharm’s vaccines, pub- so many deaths, so many bad and tragic
they do not discover any problems. count, a government agency reported lished its preclinical data in a peer-re- situations, so I think that we are seeking
“If you are a regulatory body, if you that the “vaccine pretest” on Sinopharm viewed journal, Cell, saying the vaccine out hope that this vaccine will work.”
play by the rules, if you are hard-nosed employees showed that antibody levels induced high levels of antibodies in ma-
about it, you say this is very wrong,” said were high enough in subjects to combat caques and protected against Sars- Amber Wang and Liu Yi contributed re-
Ray Yip, the former head of the Gates the coronavirus, indicating that it was CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. search.
NOEL CELIS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Black artists wary of corporate solidarity A reluctant star in Brazil
who gave his all to acting
ARTISTS,FROM PAGE1
on June 6 about the mural request, sev-
eral McCann employees told her that
the ad agency had reached out to her limelight — a reluctance that kept him
LEONARDO VILLAR
and other artists despite some internal from becoming an even bigger star.
1923-2020
objections about how the project was be- “His work was his life,” Mr. Massaini
ing handled, she said in an interview. said, adding that he had never known
Both Chris Capossela, the chief market- Mr. Villar to have been in a romantic re-
BY MICHAEL ASTOR
ing officer of Microsoft, and Harris Dia- lationship. He said Mr. Villar was sur-
mond, the chief executive of McCann, Leonardo Villar, whose star turn as Don- vived by nieces and nephews.
apologized publicly to Ms. Martin on key Jack in “The Given Word” (also Leonildo de Motta was born on July
Twitter. The language used in the email known in English as “Keeper of Prom- 25, 1923, in Piracicaba, a small city in the
to Ms. Martin “was flat out wrong,” Mr. ises”) made him one of Brazil’s most state of São Paulo, to Antonio Mota
Diamond wrote. Microsoft said in a revered actors and helped the film Viñales and Concepción Fernández
statement that the message was “an un- clinch the top prize at Cannes in 1962, Pérez, immigrants from Spain’s Andalu-
acceptable mistake” and that the com- died on July 3 in São Paulo. He was 96. sia region. He was the youngest of seven
pany took “full accountability.” The film producer Anibal Massaini, a children.
A group of marketing professionals, longtime friend of Mr. Villar’s, said the Mr. Villar was among the first gradu-
Lexie Pérez, Julian Cole, Stephanie Vi- cause was heart failure. ates of the University of São Paulo’s
tacca and Davis Ballard, began tracking “The Given Word,” which tells the School of Dramatic Art in 1948. He made
the flood of company statements of soli- story of a man carrying a large wooden his first theatrical appearance in 1950 in
darity in an open Google Slides docu- cross through Brazil’s backlands, be- Aristophanes’ “The Birds.” From 1954 to
ment that they released on June 5. They came the first, and only, Brazilian film to 1961, he was a featured player at the Bra-
noted that companies often seemed to win the Palme d’Or, making it a classic zilian Comedy Theater. It was there that
be “seeking participation trophies” and and Mr. Villar a movie star before it even Mr. Villar originated the stage role of
trivializing the Black Lives Matter opened in theaters. It was also the first Donkey Jack in the “The Given Word,”
movement with “empty and vague plati- South American film to be nominated written by Alfredo Dias Gomes in 1960.
tudes,” providing no concrete plans for for an Oscar — for best foreign-lan- He recreated the character in the movie
change and ignoring complaints of in- guage film. adaptation for his film debut.
equality internally. When the director Anselmo Duarte In 1964, he played the lead in the film
“This is the current issue of the day,” and the producer Oswaldo Massaini “Lampião, King of the Badlands,” which
said Sonya Grier, a marketing professor (Anibal Massaini’s father) returned told the story of a real-life Brazilian ban-
at American University. “It has become from Cannes weeks later, they were pa- dit who enjoys a Robin Hood-like status
MAGGIE SHANNON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
almost standard for companies to jump Dionne Clouser, whose fashion line has been replicated by larger brands without compensation, said, “It leaves a bad taste for me.” raded through the streets of São Paulo there. A year later, he was named best
in, because everyone expects them to atop a fire truck — an honor usually re- actor at the Brasília Film Festival for his
have some kind of social presence ex- served for World Cup winners. Mr. Vil- performance in the title role of “The
plaining how they align on race.” and positive change in the global fashion an offer to be a brand ambassador for my adult life, and I’ve noticed that lar, who had discreetly returned to work Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga.”
So-called protest art has appeared on industry.” Pretty Little Thing. there’s often an assumption that you the day after Cannes, turned out briefly Mr. Villar made his telenovela debut
the doors and boarded windows of up- Ifeoma Ozoma, a former manager for But as a small-business owner with should feel flattered that this large com- to appear atop the truck and was then, in 1965 in “A Cor de Sua Pele” (“The Col-
scale brands like Free People, 7 For All the image-sharing web service Pinter- limited funds, she opted not to take on pany is reaching out to you, that it has just as quickly, gone. or of Your Skin”), beginning a long ca-
Mankind and Hugo Boss. Scores of com- est, said on Twitter that she and another the far larger company in court. Pretty noticed you and that reflects a greater That was Mr. Villar’s modus operan- reer in television, where most Brazilian
panies participated in #BlackoutTues- Black woman had recently left the com- Little Thing declined to comment. cultural narrative that the creative work di: He would dutifully appear for red actors make their money.
day on Instagram last month, posting pany after they were subjected to racist “I’ve gotten used to it, but it leaves a of marginalized groups is less valuable,” carpets and press cocktails but never Over his career Mr. Villar appeared in
black squares on their feeds with cap- and sexist behavior. That behavior in- bad taste for me,” Ms. Clouser said. Mx. Okello said. “It’s like, ‘Just shut up stay to socialize. A consummate profes- 42 plays, 16 films and 31 television
tions expressing solidarity with the cluded negative feedback from a man- Lydia Okello, a Black queer influencer and take it, or we’ll find someone else.’” sional whose fame and dedication to his shows, including some of Brazil’s big-
movement. But consumers are increas- ager after Ms. Ozoma pushed back who uses the pronouns they and them, Exacerbating the problem is a lack of craft meant that he could get whatever gest telenovelas. His last appearance
ingly sensitive to the way companies ex- against the promotion of plantation also spoke of feeling powerless to push diversity in leadership roles in the in- part he wanted, he had a distaste for the was in 2010 in the telenovela “Passione.”
press their positions. Twenty percent of weddings on the platform, she said. back against large fashion companies. dustry. Ad agencies and marketing ex-
adults in the United States surveyed in The company said in a statement that Mx. Okello received an offer from An- ecutives from companies such as Gen-
late June said they would stop buying it planned to diversify its board and thropologie of a free outfit for publishing eral Motors, McDonald’s and Walmart
from a company deemed to be acting commission an external review of em- content on Instagram and provided sev- vowed in a public letter to address the
hypocritically on the issues of police vio- ployee pay. eral images to the company for a social issue.
lence and racial injustice, the polling Many creative workers are self-em- media campaign pegged to Pride But the messages of solidarity, while
and market research firm Opinium said. ployed and are not protected by human month. Mx. Okello responded with encouraging, “ring hollow in the face of
After the publishing giant Condé Nast resources departments or represented standard rates, but said the producer our daily lived experiences,” according
and the website Refinery29 publicly in corporate surveys. Many independ- who had reached out repeatedly had to a letter signed by hundreds of Black
backed the Black Lives Matter move- ent Black artists, like Ms. Martin, said evaded a request for payment — treat- advertising employees in June.
ment, they faced accusations of mis- they were frequently asked to provide ment that Mx. Okello did not believe a “You have extremely limited people of
treating employees of color. Leaked input on diversity initiatives, but were straight, white influencer would have color in positions of authority at the
grooming guidelines for store employ- not compensated as consultants. experienced. same time that the marketplace itself is
ees of the Australian fashion label Zim- Last month, the fashion designer URBN, the company that owns An- becoming much more diverse,” said
merman, which recently denounced Dionne Clouser saw a design from her thropologie, said in a statement that it Judy Foster Davis, a marketing profes-
racism and quoted Archbishop Dionne by T brand replicated on the In- had “handled our overture to Lydia sor at Eastern Michigan University, who
Desmond Tutu on its Instagram ac- stagram account of the fast fashion label poorly.” The company said it was evalu- has studied the troubled history of
count, were found to discriminate Pretty Little Thing. She had seen her ating how to make future interactions brands like Aunt Jemima. “Then, over
against Black women who wear their work borrowed without credit before, with influencers more transparent and the past few years, you see all sorts of
hair naturally. In a statement, Zimmer- but this time, the theft seemed espe- respectful while clarifying guidelines marketing blunders.”
ALAMY
man said it condemned racism and was cially brazen. Just a few months earlier, for compensation. Leonardo Villar, who was never one to socialize at public events, in “The Given Word,”
“determined to be part of meaningful Ms. Clouser said she had turned down “I’ve worked as a Black creative all Elizabeth Paton contributed reporting. which in 1962 won the first and only Palme d’Or for Brazil at the Cannes Film Festival.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 | 3
World
‘Our role is to reduce their grief ’
IRAQ DISPATCH
THE DESERT WEST OF NAJAF, IRAQ
Shiite leaders in Iraq
create a place to bury
virus victims of all faiths
BY ALISSA J. RUBIN
There are no signs to indicate the way to
the New Valley of Peace, or, as the Iraqis
call it, the Corona cemetery. But it’s not
hard to find: Just follow the cars. It’s the
only place they are headed on the rough
desert road.
Ground was broken on this cemetery
in southern Iraq four months ago, and
already there are more than 3,200
graves. The backhoes work every night
to make new furrows in the sandy soil.
“We are waiting for our mother,” said
Ali Radhi, 49, from Nasiriya as he stood
by his car at the cemetery’s gate in the
blazing summer sun this month, when
midafternoon temperatures hit 115 de-
grees, or 46 degrees Celsius. “She died
two days ago, but now with corona, we
cannot bring her. We have to wait for the
ambulance to carry her.”
“There are some rituals we should be
doing, but with corona we cannot even
touch her body, and we did not hold a fu-
neral,” he added softly, staring up the
road as if willing the ambulance carry-
ing his mother’s body to appear on the
horizon.
In Islam, burial should be done
quickly, if possible within 24 hours of
death. The body should be ritually
cleansed by professional washers, but
the family can be present — men at the
washing of a male relative, women of a
female one.
In pre-pandemic times, Shiite Mus-
lims, no matter where they were from in
Iraq, would then carry the coffin on their
ALI AL-MUMEN/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
shoulders around the Imam Ali shrine in Above, the New Valley of Peace cemetery, a graveyard for coronavirus victims outside of Najaf in southern Iraq. Below, volunteers burying a coffin at the new cemetery. Family members are not allowed at the graveside.
the pilgrim city of Najaf and pray over
the body outside the shrine’s doors.
Then they would take the coffin to the While scientists have not established which they arrived and then washing The cemetery entrance is nothing
Wadi-al-Salam cemetery, one of the larg- how long the virus survives in a person the deceased. more than a metal skeleton frame in the
est and oldest in the world, for burial. who has died of it, they believe it might Other contingents took responsibility shape of a grand mosque door. Beyond
Sunnis would hold their funerals close linger for as much as a few hours and for the digging and burials. Some took stretches the desert, glittering in the
to home and then take the body to a could be on materials used in wrapping on the role of guides to help family mem- sun, with row after row after row of
nearby graveyard, where, as in Shiite Is- and transporting bodies. bers when they come to find their rela- graves, each with the words of the Qur-
lam, the gravediggers would lift the de- “I began to see these scenes on TV — I tive’s grave among the thousands an: “This is the will of Allah.”
ceased’s white-shrouded body from the still remember them — there were sev- stretching out across the desert. Family As the sun set one recent evening,
coffin and lay it in the earth, with the en or eight bodies thrown outside a hos- visits are permitted 10 days after burial. more families arrived with ambulances.
head facing Mecca. pital morgue, and they left them there,” Under orders from the grand ayatol- Burials took place from 6 p.m. until the
For Mr. Radhi and the other people recalled Sheikh Tahir al-Khaqani, who is lah, although the graveyard is run by first prayers of the morning.
whose loved ones have been buried at head of the Imam Ali Combat Division, Shiites, it welcomes everyone regard- Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
the new Wadi-al-Salam cemetery, all less of faith or sect, and burial is free. sons and daughters stood at the edge of
these essential rituals must be forgone, Mohammed Qasim, a date and vege- the cemetery. A rope kept them from en-
“I spoke with my father and said
and it feels like a betrayal. They failed to table farmer from near Baghdad, said tering to ensure that they stay far from
do the last good thing possible for some- to him, ‘Please forgive me; I those digging the graves, attending to the bodies and any live infection. Some
one they loved: to send them in good or- could not do your will and bury the washing and pronouncing the last raised their arms to the sky and cried
der to the next world. you with our family.’” rites are “human angels.” over their loss.
“They are burying their relative not in “Yes, these are the noblest people I Although the weeping and keening
the usual way, and this makes them very have ever met,” he said. “How can they are ritual, it expressed perhaps even
sad,” said Tawfik Mahdi, a cleric from one of the first militias created to fight not be the noblest when they are with more than usual a sense of injustice:
Najaf, who is on hand to try to comfort the Islamic State extremist group. Un- death at the same table for breakfast, How could they be kept from their loved
ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS
families. “Our role is to reduce their like some of the militias that are close to lunch and dinner, and yet they do not ones in these crucial last moments?
grief and say, ‘Don’t worry, this pan- Iran, the Imam Ali brigade is linked to complain.” who told him his father could be buried The main Sunni cemetery in Baghdad They had traveled so far, to a cemetery
demic happened and you cannot be the moderate, inclusive senior Shiite For Ari Sahak Dirthal, 33, an Arme- anywhere. would not accept the body of the father in the middle of nowhere, but could not
close to them like you were before, but cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. nian Christian, his father’s burial on July “I just said, ‘I want the grave of my fa- of Al-Murtada Ahmed Jasmin, even follow the body to the end. It was the ul-
we will pray for you.’” The idea came to Mr. al-Khaqani that 1 is still a source of pain. “I immediately ther to be away from the others,’ and in- though that is where all his family mem- timate, most painful form of social dis-
The story of how the cemetery came the solution was a new graveyard just went to the Armenian Orthodox church deed he was buried one kilometer away bers had been buried. tancing.
into existence starts when the first coro- for those who died of the coronavirus. in Baghdad because I knew that my fa- from the graves of the Muslims,” Mr. “All the way driving to the new Wadi A middle-aged brother and sister
navirus patients began to die in March He conferred with the governor of Najaf, ther wanted to be buried there, and so I Dirthal said. al-Salam cemetery, I spoke with my fa- stood together in the hot night. The wind
in Baghdad. with Mr. Sistani and with the leader of was surprised when they said we cannot The Shiite gravediggers did their best ther and said to him, ‘Please forgive me; blew the woman’s abaya around her in
The religious and health authorities the Shiite Endowment, which handles fi- bury him here,” he said. for his father, he said, sending him a vid- I could not do your will and bury you swirls and the man raised his arms to
were unprepared for the sense of stigma nancial and real estate matters. They directed him to the coronavirus eo of the burial, with one of the Shiite with our family,’” said Mr. Jasmin, 22. the sky.
that having the disease carried, as well Within days, they had a 1,500-acre cemetery. On the way, he frantically medical staff wearing protective gear But after he arrived at the cemetery, “I give you to the care of Imam Ali,” he
as the fear that touching the body would patch of ground 20 miles from the city of made calls to find out what prayers to and awkwardly making the sign of the “all of the tiredness and anger went said to his dead father, referring to a
risk contagion. Cemeteries refused to Najaf, allocated for the burials. say. It still cuts to the quick, he said, that cross over his father’s body. away because I found a typical ceme- founding figure of Shiite Islam.
take those who had died of Covid-19 be- The Imam Ali combat division volun- no one from the Armenian Orthodox For Sunnis, the rituals are more famil- tery where I could visit my father at any His sister wept into the wind.
cause people whose relatives had not teered to run the cemetery. Its medical church came with him. iar, and so the farewells have been easi- time,” he said. “I felt great relief and said
died of the virus felt it was a stigma to be teams took on the job of receiving the Mr. Dirthal said he was welcomed by er. Hundreds of Sunnis are buried here. to myself that God loves my father when Falih Hassan contributed reporting from
buried next to someone who had. dead, disinfecting the body bags in the sheikhs in charge of the cemetery, But a burial far from home is still hard. he chose this place for his burial.” Baghdad.
Dispute over a beach creates a political crisis in Bulgaria
and power broker. For many, this cry- ported by members of Bulgaria’s ethnic
SOFIA, BULGARIA
stallized fears that the Bulgarian state Turkish minority and has only occasion-
has fallen under the grip of outside influ- ally been a formal part of government.
ence, prompting tens of thousands to But the group and its leading mem-
BY BORYANA DZHAMBAZOVA
demonstrate in cities across the country. bers, like Mr. Dogan, have amassed out-
AND PATRICK KINGSLEY
“There is this sense of having come to size influence in Bulgaria’s politics,
Leaked photographs of the prime min- a fork in the road,” said Vessela Tcher- economy and media by consistently per-
ister. A police raid on the president’s of- neva, head of the Sofia branch of the forming the role of political kingmakers.
fice. A business tycoon’s takeover of a European Council on Foreign Relations, “In Bulgaria, you don’t have a strong-
public beach. An expected no-confi- a research group. man,” said Dimitar Bechev, an expert on
dence vote in the government. And the “Several things are happening at southeast Europe at the University of
largest street protests in seven years. once,” Ms. Tcherneva added. “But first North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It’s more
Bulgaria is gripped in a political crisis, and foremost, there is the sense in the of an oligarchic system.”
POOL PHOTO BY JULIEN WARNAND
its biggest since 2013, when sustained general public that the social contract, Left, an antigovernment protest last week Last week, the United States Embas-
protests against corruption brought which rests on rules being applied in Sofia, Bulgaria. Demonstrators have sy in Sofia issued an unusually forceful
down a center-left government. Now equally to everyone, has been broken.” called for officials, including Prime Min- statement backing the protests.
demonstrators are trying to oust the The crisis began when an opposition ister Boiko Borisov, above, to resign over “We support the Bulgarian people,”
right-wing successors, who face similar politician, Hristo Ivanov, filmed himself accusations of corruption. the statement said, “as you peacefully
accusations of corruption, judicial inter- landing a boat on a nominally publicly advocate for increased faith in your
ference and servility to wealthy busi- owned stretch of the Black Sea coast. democratic system and promote the
nessmen. Plainclothes state security agents was considering firing three senior gov- rule of law in Bulgaria.”
The poorest member of the European shoved Mr. Ivanov back into the water, ernment ministers. But he refused to The force of the statement contrasted
STOYAN NENOV/REUTERS
Union, Bulgaria is both a focus of the illustrating how the beach is unofficially leave his own post — leading protests to with the less strident tone taken by Eu-
tussle for influence between the West reserved for the private use of an influ- tion for Mr. Radev’s criticism of Mr. Do- verified image seemed to show Mr. Bori- spread to other cities. ropean institutions and leaders. Some
and Russia, and an example of a decline ential politician and businessman, Ah- gan. sov’s bedside table stuffed with bank “People are sick and tired of the collu- colleagues from the European Parlia-
in democratic standards in several parts med Dogan. State institutions “have been cap- notes and gold bars. sion between the mafia and the state,” ment’s centrist grouping even issued
of the continent. The episode drew condemnation from tured by a group of people to serve their Mr. Borisov has confirmed that the said Neli Trifonova, a 27-year-old online messages of support for Mr. Dogan and
But it is also a specific and unusual the country’s mainly ceremonial presi- own interests instead of functioning in- room is his, but he has said that the gun retailer who attended a protest. “We see his party.
case. dent, Rumen Radev, and set off a flood of dependently as they should,” said Dan- and money are not, and that the images it everywhere.” Though the rule of law is nominally
In Hungary and Poland, Europe’s two protests at the influence that wealthy iel Smilov, an analyst at the Center for were manipulated. Opposition lawmakers have put for- central to the philosophy of the bloc, Eu-
most prominent victims of democratic power brokers like Mr. Dogan exert over Liberal Strategies, a political research News outlets have also published a ward a motion of no confidence in the ropean leaders have consistently
backsliding, the governing party is driv- political life, state resources and, in this group in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. set of recordings of a man who sounds government, which Parliament was to avoided taking too strong a stance
ing the subversion of the democratic case, public land. The tension was exacerbated by a like Mr. Borisov speaking in private debate on Monday, though Mr. Borisov’s against governments that stray from
process. In Bulgaria, the charge is led by “We wanted to expose that the whole steady drumbeat of embarrassing and about state affairs. majority seemed likely to hold. democratic standards at home.
a wider range of actors, both inside and state is serving the interests of Dogan,” sometimes bizarre leaks about govern- Thousands of Bulgarians have gath- Last week, Mr. Borisov’s party re- “The E.U. is a mechanism for creating
outside the government — including a Mr. Ivanov said in a telephone interview. ment officials, including Prime Minister ered since July 9 in a central square in leased a statement denying that it was consensus,” Ms. Tcherneva said. “The
small group of wealthy businessmen. Public outrage was quickly com- Boiko Borisov. Sofia to chant outside Mr. Borisov’s of- working under the influence of Mr. E.U. is not that good at confrontational
The current unrest was set off by the pounded when the police later raided An unverified photograph recently fice, calling for his resignation and that Dogan’s party, which he founded in 1990, situations.”
revelation that a stretch of publicly the president’s offices and detained two published in the Bulgarian news media of the chief prosecutor. after the collapse of Communism.
owned coast had been reserved for the members of the president’s staff. Pro- showed him half-naked and apparently The day before, Mr. Borisov had tried Mr. Dogan’s party, the Movement for Boryana Dzhambazova reported from
private use of a prominent businessman testers perceived the moves as retalia- sleeping beside a handgun. Another un- to assuage critics by announcing that he Rights and Freedoms, is mainly sup- Sofia, and Patrick Kingsley from Berlin.
..
4 | TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
Doctors wonder: Where are the preemies? Solar probe
sees details
Reports of fewer cases
of turbulence
during lockdowns open
a promising research path
on surface
BY ELIZABETH PRESTON
This spring, as countries around the
The new orbiter captures
world told people to stay home to slow
the spread of the coronavirus, doctors in images from about half
neonatal intensive care units were no-
the distance of Earth
ticing something strange: Premature
births were falling, in some cases drasti-
cally.
BY KENNETH CHANG
It started with doctors in Ireland and
Denmark. Each team, unaware of the The first images from a new solar mis-
other’s work, crunched the numbers sion — the closest ever taken of the sun
from its own region or country and — reveal a ubiquitous burbling of minia-
found that during the lockdowns, the ture solar flares. The discovery may
numbers of premature births — espe- provide clues for how turbulence heats
cially the earliest, most dangerous cases the atmosphere of the sun and drives the
— had plummeted. When they shared ebb and flow of solar wind, the high-ve-
their findings, they heard similar anec- locity charged particles throughout the
dotal reports from other countries. solar system that buffet Earth and the
They don’t know what caused the other planets.
drop in premature births, and can only “We’ve never been closer to the sun
speculate on the factors in lockdown with a camera,” Daniel Müller, the
that might have contributed. But further project scientist for the mission, Solar
research might help doctors, scientists Orbiter, said during a news conference
and parents-to-be understand the held on Thursday by the European
causes of premature birth and ways to Space Agency. “And this is just the be-
prevent it, which have been elusive until ginning of the long epic journey of Solar
now. Orbiter.”
Their studies are not yet peer-re- The miniature solar flares, which the
viewed and have been posted only on scientists call campfires, were seen as
preprint servers. In some cases the the spacecraft made its first close ap-
changes amounted to only a few missing proach to the sun. It came within 48 mil-
babies per hospital. But they repre- lion miles of the sun’s surface, which is
sented significant reductions from the just a bit more than half of the distance
norm, and some experts in premature between Earth and the sun. The camp-
birth think the research is worthy of ad- fires are about one-millionth or one-bil-
ditional investigation. lionth the size of flares that have been
“These results are compelling,” said observed from Earth. The sun is cur-
Dr. Denise Jamieson, an obstetrician at rently in the quiet part of its 11-year-so-
Emory University’s School of Medicine lar cycle, and the surface looks placid.
HANNAH MCKAY/REUTERS
in Atlanta. A premature newborn in east Lancashire, England, in May. Understanding why premature births happen could help reduce problems associated with them. “But then when you look at it at high
About one in 10 U.S. babies is born resolution, it’s amazing, in the smallest
early. Pregnancy usually lasts about 40 details, how much stuff is going on
weeks, and any delivery before 37 weeks more than 30,000 in all. They looked at At Mercy Hospital for Women outside rienced less stress from work and com- there,” said David Berghmans of the
If some births were prevented
is considered preterm. The costs to chil- birth weights, a useful proxy for very Melbourne, Australia, there were so few muting, gotten more sleep and received Royal Observatory of Belgium, princi-
dren and their families — financially, premature birth. because mothers were in premature babies that administrators more support from their families, the re- pal investigator of an instrument that
emotionally and in long-term health ef- “Initially I thought, ‘There is some isolation, the data could suggest asked Dr. Dan Casalaz, the hospital’s di- searchers said. takes high-resolution images of the
fects — can be great. According to the mistake in the numbers,’” Dr. Philip causes of premature birth. rector of pediatrics, to figure out what Women staying at home also could lower layers of the sun’s atmosphere.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and said. was going on. have avoided infections in general, not “We couldn’t believe this when we first
Prevention, babies born prematurely, Over the past two decades, babies un- In the United States, Dr. Stephen Pat- just the new coronavirus. Some viruses, saw this. And we started giving it crazy
especially before 32 weeks, are at higher der 3.3 pounds, classified as very low Michael Christiansen of the Statens Se- rick, a neonatologist at Vanderbilt Chil- such as influenza, can raise the odds of names like campfires and dark fibrils
risk of vision and hearing problems, ce- birth weight, accounted for about eight rum Institut in Copenhagen and his col- dren’s Hospital in Nashville, estimated premature birth. and ghosts and whatever we saw.”
rebral palsy and death. out of every thousand live births in the leagues used newborn screening data to there were about 20 percent fewer Air pollution, which has been linked to Solar Orbiter is a joint mission for the
The best way to avoid these costs hospital, which serves a region of compare births nationwide during the NICU babies at his hospital than usual some early births, has also dropped dur- Europeans and NASA, which paid for
would be to prevent early births in the 473,000 people. In 2020, the rate was strictest lockdown period, March 12 to in March. Although some sick full-term ing lockdowns as cars stayed off the the rocket that took the probe to space.
first place, said Dr. Roy Philip, a neona- about a quarter of that. The very tiniest April 14, with births during the same pe- babies would stay in the NICU, Dr. Pat- roads. One of the spacecraft’s other instru-
tologist at University Maternity Hospi- infants, those under 2.2 pounds and con- riod in the previous five years. The data rick said preterm babies usually made Dr. Jamieson said the observations ments measures the magnetic field near
tal Limerick in Ireland. sidered extremely low birth weight, usu- set included more than 31,000 infants. up most of the patients, and the drop-off were surprising because she would the surface of the sun. And it was al-
Dr. Philip was vacationing abroad ally make up three per thousand births. The researchers found that during the seemed to have been driven by missing have expected to see more preterm ready able to observe an active region
when his country entered lockdown on There should have been at least a few lockdown, the rate of babies born before preemies. births during the stress of the pandemic, on a part of the surface that is not visible
March 12, and he noticed something un- born that spring — but there had been 28 weeks had dropped by a startling 90 When Dr. Patrick shared his observa- not less. from Earth.
usual when he returned to work in late none. percent. tion on Twitter, some U.S. doctors “It seems like we have experienced
March. He asked why there had been no The study period went through the Anecdotes from doctors at other hos- shared similar stories. Others said their tremendous stress in the U.S. due to
orders while he was gone for the breast end of April. By the end of June, with the pitals around the world suggest the phe- NICUs were as busy as ever. Some Covid,” she said.
milk-based fortifier that doctors feed to national lockdown easing, Dr. Philip nomenon may have been widespread, groups in other countries have said they The Danish and Irish researchers
the hospital’s tiniest preemies. The hos- said there had still been very few early though not universal. didn’t see a change, either. have now teamed up and are building an
pital’s staff said that there had been no preemies born in his hospital. In two Dr. Belal Alshaikh, a neonatologist at If lockdowns prevented early births in international group of collaborators to
need, because none of these babies had decades, he said, he had never seen any- the University of Calgary in Alberta, certain places but not others, that infor- study how Covid lockdowns affected
been born all month. thing like these numbers. said premature births across Calgary mation could help reveal causes of pre- early births.
Intrigued, Dr. Philip and his col- While the Irish team was digging into dropped by nearly half during the lock- mature birth. The researchers specu- “For years, nothing has advanced in
leagues compared the hospital’s births its data, researchers in Denmark were down. The change was across the board, lated about potential factors. this very important area,” Dr. Chris-
so far in 2020 with births between Janu- doing the same thing, driven by curi- though it seemed more pronounced in One could be rest. By staying home, tiansen said, “and it seems it took a virus
ary and April in every year since 2001 — osity over a “nearly empty” NICU. Dr. the earliest babies, he said. some pregnant women may have expe- attack to help us get on track.”
Patients in Britain wait. And wait some more.
SOLAR ORBITER/EUI TEAM (ESA & NASA)
Images of the sun’s surface taken by the
— numbers are expected to start climb- in,” she recalled. “I couldn’t believe that Solar Orbiter in May. They are among the
LONDON
ing again when services resume. they could just pull the plug like that. I closest ever taken of the sun.
With hospitals operating at reduced know they have higher-priority cases to
capacity to accommodate patients with deal with, but my treatment was actu-
With routine care delayed,
Covid-19, the waiting list could soar to 10 ally working and all I could think was, With the new views, “we’re starting to
many have no idea when million people by the end of the year, ac- ‘What if this goes on for the rest of the see the whole beast,” said Sam Solanki
cording to the N.H.S. Confederation, year and I regress? What if all this treat- of the Max Planck Institute for Solar
they will receive treatment
which represents hospitals and other ment was for nothing?’” System Research.
health care providers. The uncertainty and anxiety caused Launched in February, this mission
“There is a real determination to rise by the backlog has been taking a toll on will provide a new perspective on the
BY CEYLAN YEGINSU
to this challenge, but it will need extra mental health. sun as it completes 22 orbits in 10 years.
After nine months of waiting for funding and capacity, not least in re- Many patients waiting for surgery While most previous solar missions or-
surgery, Ruth Fawcett’s knee muscles habilitation and recovery services in the complain about having to deal with ex- bited in the ecliptic, or the same plane
wasted away, causing her joint to come community where so much of the com- cruciating pain on a daily basis, and that the planets travel around the sun,
loose in its socket and leaving her un- ing demand will be felt,” said Niall Dick- many of them are reluctant to take the orbit of Solar Orbiter will tilt upward
able to walk without assistance. son, the chief executive of the confeder- strong opioid painkillers prescribed by so that it will have a better view of our
“They’ve just stopped doing surgery ation. doctors because of the side effects and star’s North and South Poles.
for cases that they call nonlife-threat- The N.H.S. rejects the confederation’s addictive properties. That change of view could help solve
ening, and when they start again, they estimate, saying that waiting lists for “I may not be young, but my brain is mysteries about the sun’s magnetic
will probably have to prioritize the most both diagnostic tests and elective care very active and sometimes I just get so fields and how they accelerate those so-
urgent cases,” she said, with a deep sigh. have fallen since February. down because I’m in so much pain and I lar wind particles. The data from Solar
Ms. Fawcett, 82, is one of nearly four “The overall waiting list has fallen by can’t do anything,” Ms. Fawcett said. “I Orbiter could help explain the sunspot
million people in England on the Na- more than half a million since the onset feel trapped.” cycle — Why does the cycle last 11
tional Health Service waiting list for of Covid, but as more patients come for- Many younger people and families years? Why are some quiet while others
routine hospital treatments, which have ward, local health services continue are being affected by the delays. Melis roar violently? — and help models to
been disrupted in recent months as hos- work to expand services safely,” an Kip, 31, a client manager at a retail con- predict solar storms that could disrupt
pitals have been forced to suspend serv- N.H.S. representative said. sulting firm in London, has a 1-year-old Earth’s power grids and satellites in or-
ices in favor of coronavirus cases. “Despite responding rapidly to the co- son with an acute form of eczema. He bit.
Many patients like Ms. Fawcett are ronavirus pandemic and the need to en- has been waiting more than six months The spacecraft carries 10 scientific in-
experiencing a significant deterioration sure over 100,000 patients could receive to see a dermatologist. struments. Some measure what is hap-
in their health because of the delay and hospital care, N.H.S. staff also provided “Our doctor says this is not serious, it pening directly around the spacecraft,
are growing anxious and frustrated be- more than five million urgent tests, is OK to wait, and we will treat him in the like the magnetic fields and particles of
cause of the lack of information about checks and treatment in a safe way dur- meantime, but the treatment is not the solar wind. Others take pictures of
where they are on the list, or how long ing the peak of the virus.” working,” Ms. Kip said. “He gets these what is occurring on the sun.
they will have to wait for treatment. Experts say there is a growing crisis terrible flare-ups where his skin be- As the orbiter approaches the sun,
Many fear that they could be pushed in the provision of diagnostic tests, in- comes all itchy and red and he is very three peepholes in the heat shield will
down the list if hospitals resume serv- cluding magnetic resonance imaging uncomfortable. It’s worrying.” open to allow the instruments to collect
ices on a triage basis. and computerized tomography, or Ms. Kip has also been struggling with data. The assorted cameras also have
“They won’t tell me where I am on the cross-section, scans. her own health issues. She has been un- heat-resistant windows (think of them
list, or how urgent they consider my “The total number of patients waiting able to get a referral to her local wom- as scientific sunglasses) as protection.
case to be,” said Ms. Fawcett, a jewelry six weeks or more from referral for one en’s clinic for a contraceptive fitting be- The cameras will look at a range of
designer from Cumbria, a county in of the 15 key tests is at almost 571,500 — cause it is not considered urgent. wavelengths of light, including ultravio-
northwest England. “I can hardly walk. 58.5 percent of the total number of pa- “Women’s health is a big issue, but let and X-rays. Some of the cameras
My knee just wobbles about and if I don’t tients waiting — which is shocking, giv- most matters are dismissed because break the light into separate wave-
use my two walking sticks, I will fall. It’s en the target is 1 percent,” said Dr. Nick they are not seen as life-threatening,” lengths to identify specific molecules.
very scary.” Scriven, the former president of the So- PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARY TURNER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Ms. Kip said. “But when the whole One instrument, the coronagraph, in-
Even before the pandemic, the serv- ciety for Acute Medicine. Ruth Fawcett has been on the list for knee surgery at the Cumberland Infirmary in health system is on hold for non-urgent cludes a disk to block out most of the
ice was struggling to meet waiting time Cancer patients have been hit particu- Carlisle, England, top. But the pandemic has forced the National Health Service to delay treatment, that can lead to other prob- light and only look at what is going on in
standards, with one in six patients in larly hard. treatment for her, as well as nearly four million others in England. lems. For example, women can suffer the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona,
January waiting more than the target of About 2.4 million people were waiting from mental health issues because of which you can observe during a total so-
18 weeks for routine treatment. for cancer treatment or tests in June, ac- hormonal imbalances.” lar eclipse.
The number of people on the waiting cording to the charity Cancer Research specialists, the median length of time and was undergoing a six-month re- Now that borders have reopened, Ms. “As far as taking high-resolution im-
list for elective care fell from 3.94 million U.K., and thousands of people have they waited for treatment in April was gimen of chemo and radiation therapy Kip, who is Turkish, plans to travel to ages goes, there are two options: getting
in April to 3.84 million in May, according missed hospital referrals for the diag- 12.2 weeks, the longest time in more when her doctor called in late April to Turkey with her son for treatment. closer to the object of interest, or build-
to N.H.S. figures published last week. nostic tests that are critical in the early than a decade. More than one million pa- tell her that her treatment had been “We can’t afford to wait any longer ing a better bigger telescope,” Dr. Müller
However, the drop has been attributed detection and successful treatment of tients waited more than 18 weeks, paused for seven weeks because of the and are in the fortunate position to be said. “That’s a little bit like going on an
to the referring of fewer people for test- cancer. N.H.S. England figures show. risks posed by the coronavirus. able to travel and receive good care at an expedition. You either get closer to the
ing and treatment during the pandemic Even after patients were referred to Sylvia Traynor has cervical cancer “Just like that, they said don’t come affordable price,” she said. elephant or you use a bigger camera.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 | 5
world
Trump allies begin to break ranks With tourists gone,
a cathedral struggles
As president ignores crisis,
some are growing wary of
anybody go,” the monsignor said.
virus surge and angry voters Manhattan landmark
A second loan in the range of $1 mil-
has few options to raise lion to $2 million was given to the
Trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral,
BY ALEXANDER BURNS, money for its expenses
which Monsignor Ritchie described as a
JONATHAN MARTIN
separate entity charged with maintain-
AND MAGGIE HABERMAN
ing the cathedral’s exterior and admin-
BY LIAM STACK
President Trump’s failure to contain the istering several large cemeteries that it
coronavirus outbreak and his refusal to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, one owns across the region.
promote clear public-health guidelines of the most famous churches in the More than five million of the people
have left many senior Republicans de- United States, has long depended on who come through St. Patrick’s doors
spairing that he will ever play a con- tourists and office workers to fill its each year are visiting tourists, the mon-
structive role in addressing the crisis, pews and its collection plates. But now signor said. (The largest crowds come at
with some concluding they must work that the coronavirus has left Manhattan Christmas, when a towering tree is
around Mr. Trump and ignore or even largely deserted, it is facing a $4 million erected across the street at Rockefeller
contradict his pronouncements. budget shortfall that may threaten its Center, followed by Easter and during
In recent days, some of the most ability to pay its bills. the summer).
prominent figures in the Republican The cathedral sits in one of the least Many visitors buy souvenirs at the ca-
Party outside the White House have bro- residential parts of the city, marooned in thedral gift shop, slide a suggested $2
ken with Mr. Trump over issues like the a sea of empty office buildings, vacant into a donation box to light a candle or
value of wearing a mask in public and hotels and boarded-up luxury retailers, download self-guided audio tours to
heeding the advice of health experts like and its rector estimates that 90 percent their phones for as much as $25.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, whom the presi- of those who typically worship there do The monsignor said gift shop reve-
dent and other hard-right figures within not live nearby. nue, which typically amounts to 10 per-
the administration have subjected to Despite donations, coronavirus relief cent of the cathedral’s monthly income,
caustic personal criticism. funds from the U.S. government and its had dropped 80 percent since the pan-
The Republicans outside the adminis- status as the crown jewel of the powerful demic hit.
tration appear to be motivated by sev- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New The cathedral usually makes $2 mil-
eral overlapping forces, including de- York, the situation has imperiled the ca- lion to $4 million annually, just from the
teriorating conditions in their own thedral’s ability to pay operating costs money people give when lighting can-
states, Mr. Trump’s seeming indiffer- like utilities and payroll for dozens of dles and offering prayers. That revenue
ence to the problem and the approach of employees, whether musicians who per- stream has also dried up.
a presidential election in which Mr. form at Mass or maintenance workers “The Easter season had literally no
Trump is badly lagging behind his Dem- who clean and disinfect the pews. visitors because the church was closed
ocratic challenger, Joseph R. Biden Jr., “We have never had anything like this until June,” the monsignor said. “I sus-
in the polls. before,” Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie, the rec- pect that the summer season will be
Once-reticent Republican governors tor of the cathedral, said of the budget drastically reduced in visitor volume, so
are now issuing orders on mask-wear- shortfall, which is equivalent to about we will continue to urge our friends to
ing and business restrictions that run one-quarter of the cathedral’s annual in- continue helping us to keep going.”
counter to Mr. Trump’s demands. Some come. The financial pain at St. Patrick’s is
of those governors have been holding He said the problem had been com- faced by many less-famous parishes af-
late-night phone calls among them- pounded by the lack of fund-raising op- ter months of coronavirus-related shut-
selves to trade ideas and grievances; tions at a time when social gatherings downs.
they have sought out partners in the ad- are subject to public health restrictions. Matthew Manion, a professor at Vil-
ministration other than the president, “All the traditional things we have had lanova University in Pennsylvania, sur-
including Vice President Mike Pence, in the past, dinners and things like that, veyed 92 of the 177 Catholic dioceses in
who, despite echoing Mr. Trump in pub- we can’t do,” he said. “The options are to the United States and said that for most,
lic, is seen by governors as far more at- beg, which is what I have been doing revenue had plunged about 50 percent
tentive to the continuing disaster. since March 15.” since March.
“The president got bored with it,” Da- The Archdiocese of New York
vid Carney, an adviser to the Texas gov- stretches up the Hudson Valley, and
“All the traditional things we
ernor, Greg Abbott, said of the pan- more than half the population of the area
demic. He noted that Mr. Abbott, a Re- it covers is Catholic. have had in the past, dinners and
publican, directs his requests to Mr. It is one of the church’s most populous things like that, we can’t do.”
Pence, with whom he speaks two to and influential districts in the United
three times a week. States.
A handful of Republican lawmakers in But the part of the city around St. Pat- Some reported drops of as much as 85
the Senate have privately pressed the rick’s has been transformed by the pan- percent, he said.
administration to bring back health demic. Mr. Manion said many parishes “ex-
briefings led by figures like Dr. Fauci Stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, just to pect to see collections pick up about now
and Dr. Deborah Birx, who regularly up- the south, were boarded up during the as churches start to reopen” but are
dated the public during the spring until looting that marred racial injustice pro- bracing for another wave of virus infec-
Mr. Trump upstaged them with his own tests in June. Across Fifth Avenue lies tions.
briefing-room monologues. And in his the normally bustling plaza of Rockefel- In the months since the pandemic be-
home state of Kentucky last week, Sena- ler Center, where the crowds are gone gan, Monsignor Ritchie said, the cathe-
tor Mitch McConnell, the majority and the statue of Prometheus, perched dral’s revenues have fallen by about 35
leader, broke with Mr. Trump on nearly DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES above the ice skating rink, has a mask percent.
every major issue related to the virus. Once-reticent Republican governors are now issuing orders on mask-wearing and business restrictions that run counter to Mr. strapped across its face. Donations dropped 80 to 85 percent,
Mr. McConnell stressed the impor- Trump’s demands. Some of them have been holding late-night phone calls among themselves to trade ideas and grievances. The archdiocese does not pay for the he said, but that steep loss was offset by
tance of mask-wearing, expressed “to- cathedral’s upkeep, and, in fact, the op- generous donations from benefactors
tal” confidence in Dr. Fauci and urged posite is true: St. Patrick’s Cathedral is whom he declined to name.
Americans to follow guidelines from the cases because state leaders were un- to start acting like a team on a mission to Trump’s handling of the outbreak, he organized as a parish, like a neighbor- In an interview, he alluded to the help
Centers for Disease Control and Preven- easy about creating space between tackle a real problem,” Mr. Sasse said. said the president could not win re-elec- hood church in a more residential area, provided by members of the cathedral’s
tion that Mr. Trump has ignored or dis- themselves and a president of their own “Navarro’s Larry, Moe and Curly junior- tion this year if he continued losing and it pays an 8 percent tax to the arch- board of trustees, which includes
missed. party who rejected such steps. That dy- high slap fight this week is yet another badly to Mr. Biden among suburban vot- diocese. wealthy finance, real estate and public
“The straight talk here that everyone namic has been particularly pro- way to undermine public confidence ers who were wary of both candidates Like any other Catholic parish, the ca- relations executives.
needs to understand is: This is not going nounced in Southern states like Ala- that these guys grasp that tens of thou- but currently favor Mr. Biden. thedral relies heavily on donations col- Sunday Mass resumed at the cathe-
away until we get a vaccine,” Mr. Mc- bama, Florida and Mississippi, where sands of Americans have died and tens “Biden is winning over Trump in this lected at Mass to make ends meet. On a dral on June 28, the first Sunday after
Connell said last week, contradicting governors have either continued to re- of millions are out of work.” category of voters 70 to 30,” Mr. Ryan typical Sunday, 12,000 to 15,000 people the city entered Phase 2 of the coro-
Mr. Trump’s rosy predictions. sist tough public-health restrictions or Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Mis- said, “and if that sticks, he cannot win attend Mass in its soaring nave. navirus reopening plan, but the number
The result is a quiet but widening have only recently and partially em- souri, was more succinct: “The more states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Before the pandemic, income from a of services at the cathedral was reduced
breach between Mr. Trump and leading braced them. they turn the briefings over to the pro- Pennsylvania.” variety of sources amounted to roughly to three from eight, and attendance at
figures in his party, as the virus burns A few Republicans have grown more fessionals, the better.” Some of Mr. Trump’s closest advisers $1 million a month, Monsignor Ritchie each was capped at 25 percent capacity.
through major political battlegrounds in open with their misgivings about Mr. A group of Republican governors has are adamant that the best way forward said. Those restrictions limited the number
the South and the West, like in the states Trump’s approach, including Gov. Asa for months held regular conference is to play down the dangers of the dis- “We rely on the goodness and gener- of worshipers from a typical high of
of Arizona, Georgia and Texas. Hutchinson of Arkansas, who said this calls, usually at night and without staff ease. Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, osity of people to support us, because we 15,000 to a possible maximum of 1,800,
Amid mounting alarm in a huge por- month that he would require people to present, according to two party strat- has been particularly forceful in his don’t get any money from any other although fewer than 400 people at-
tion of the country, Mr. Trump has at wear masks at any Trump rallies in his egists familiar with the conversations. view that the White House should avoid source beside what comes in through tended its first two Masses that Sunday,
times appeared to inhabit a different state. After issuing a broad mask man- Unlike the virus-focused calls that Mr. drawing attention to the virus, accord- our doors,” he said. including one celebrated by Cardinal
universe, incorrectly predicting the out- date last week, Mr. Hutchinson said on Pence leads, there are no Democratic or ing to people familiar with the discus- But St. Patrick’s — which opened in Timothy M. Dolan.
break would quickly dissipate and false- the ABC program “This Week” on Sun- White House officials on the line, so the sions. 1879, a time of widespread anti-Catholic The limited resumption of Sunday
ly claiming the spread of the virus was day that an “example needs to be set by conversations have become a sort of Mr. Meadows has for the most part sentiment, as well as rising Catholic im- Masses has not done much to ease the
simply a function of increased testing. our national leadership” on mask-wear- safe space where the governors can ask opposed any briefings about the virus, migration from countries like Ireland financial crisis. The monsignor said the
With his impatient demands and de- ing. their counterparts for advice, discuss while other Trump advisers, including and Italy — has also relied on the federal cathedral collected $15,000 in total over
crees, Mr. Trump has disrupted efforts Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republi- best practices and, if the mood strikes Hope Hicks and Jared Kushner, have government. the first two weeks, compared with a
to mitigate the crisis while effectively can, in an interview on “Meet the Press” them, vent about the administration and been open to holding briefings, so long Federal data shows that it received weekly income of as much as $150,000 in
sidelining himself from participating in on NBC, did not answer directly when the president’s erratic leadership. as they are not at the White House — $350,000 to $1 million through the Pay- normal times.
those efforts. asked if he had confidence in Mr. where Mr. Trump could show up and check Protection Program, a $659 bil- The night before a recent Mass, a
The emerging rifts in Mr. Trump’s Trump’s leadership in the crisis. Mr. commandeer them. Mr. Pence’s team lion fund created by Congress to help team of cleaners draped in plastic suits
“I want more briefings but,
party have been slow to develop, but DeWine said he had confidence “in this would like to hold more briefings with companies and nonprofit organizations, sprayed a disinfecting mist throughout
they have rapidly deepened since a new administration” and praised Mr. Pence more importantly, I want the the health experts, but some of Mr. including religious ones, avoid layoffs the space.
surge in coronavirus cases began to for “doing an absolutely phenomenal whole White House to start Trump’s aides do not want the vice pres- during the economic crisis caused by During the Mass, ushers made sure
sweep the country last month. job.” acting like a team on a mission ident to be part of them. the coronavirus outbreak. that worshipers sat at least two pews
In the final days of June, the governor Judd Deere, a White House spokes- A large number of rank-and-file Re- Monsignor Ritchie said the loan was apart from one another and wore masks.
to tackle a real problem.”
of Utah, Gary Herbert, a Republican, man, rejected criticisms of Mr. Trump’s publican lawmakers share Mr. Trump’s for less than $1 million, but he declined Afterward, parishioners said they were
joined other governors on a conference approach. aversion to the disease-control prac- to provide an exact amount, saying he glad to be back to some version of nor-
call with Mr. Pence and urged the ad- “Any suggestion that the president is tices. thought the archdiocese did not want mal.
ministration to do more to combat a not working around the clock to protect Mr. Trump himself seems less inter- Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Repub- the number to be publicized. “The government should not stop us
sense of “complacency” about the virus. the health and safety of all Americans, ested in the specific challenges the virus lican closely aligned with Mr. Trump, is- The monsignor said the federal loan from going to Mass,” said Antoinette
Mr. Herbert said it would help states like lead the whole-of-government response presents and is mostly just frustrated by sued an order last week blocking local helped the cathedral avoid furloughs or Kzandziera, 85, who traveled from her
his own if Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence were to this pandemic, including expediting the reality that it has not disappeared as governments from mandating mask- layoffs for employees, including mainte- home on the Upper West Side of Man-
to encourage mask-wearing on a na- vaccine development, and rebuild our he has predicted. The disconnect is only wearing, then sued the mayor of Atlan- nance and security staff, gift shop em- hattan to the cathedral on a hot summer
tional scale, according to a recording of economy is utterly false,” Mr. Deere said growing between him and other party ta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, for imposing ployees and four salaried musicians. day. “All of life is in God’s hands. It is not
the call. in a statement. leaders — not to mention voters. A poll such a requirement. Mr. Kemp’s edict “We got the loan so we wouldn’t have in the hands of a mask or a vaccine. If
“As a responsible citizen, if you care With only a few exceptions, Republi- published Friday by ABC News and The came hours after Mr. Trump visited his to let anybody go, and we haven’t let God wants us to be safe, we will be safe.”
about your neighbor, if you love your cans have avoided direct confrontation Washington Post found that a majority state, declining to wear a face mask at
neighbor, let us show the respect neces- with Mr. Trump. They have come to of the country strongly disapproved of the Atlanta airport.
sary by wearing a mask,” Mr. Herbert view public criticism as an exercise in Mr. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus Yet some in the Republican Party now
said, offering language to Mr. Pence and political futility — one guaranteed to crisis, and about two-thirds of Ameri- see no alternative to parting ways with
adding, “That’s where I think you and produce a sour response from Mr. cans said they had little or no trust in Mr. Mr. Trump, on policy if not politics.
the president can help us out.” Trump without any chance of changing Trump’s comments about the disease. Glenn Hamer, president of the Ari-
Mr. Pence told Mr. Herbert the sug- his behavior. Mr. Trump’s political standing is now zona Chamber of Commerce and Indus-
gestion was “duly noted” and said that But many Republican lawmakers so dire that even Republicans who have try, a powerful business federation in
mask-wearing would be a “very consis- have grown exasperated with the ad- spent years avoiding direct comment on the crucial state, said he saw Gov. Doug
tent message” from the administration. ministration’s conflicting messages, the his behavior are acknowledging his un- Ducey, a Republican, walking a prudent
But no such appeal was ever forth- open warfare within Mr. Trump’s staff popularity in plain terms. Former line — breaking with Mr. Trump’s policy
coming from Mr. Trump, who asserted and the president’s demands that states House Speaker Paul Ryan, for instance, demands but not blasting the president
days later that the virus would “just dis- reopen faster or risk punishment from offered a bleak assessment of Mr. for issuing them.
appear.” the federal government. Trump’s electoral standing at a recent “Everyone knows that the president
Mr. Trump has offered only hedged Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Ne- event hosted by Solamere, a company doesn’t react well to criticism, construc-
recommendations on wearing masks braska, said he wanted the administra- with close ties to Senator Mitt Romney, tive or not,” he said.
and has rarely worn one himself in pub- tion to offer more extensive public- Republican of Utah, and his family. Mr. Hamer, who was among a group of
lic; in a Fox interview that was broad- health updates to the American people, According to a partial transcript of the business leaders who sent a letter to the
cast on Sunday, the president said he and condemned the open animosity to- comments, shared by a person close to White House urging the creation of
would not issue a national mask order, ward Dr. Fauci by some administration him, the usually tight-lipped Mr. Ryan clearer national standards for facial cov-
because Americans deserve “a certain officials, including Peter Navarro, the said Mr. Trump was losing key voting erings, said Mr. Trump presented a chal-
freedom” on the matter. trade adviser, who wrote an opinion col- blocs across the Midwest and in Ari- lenge to Republican leaders seeking to
Some of the states where outbreaks umn attacking Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top zona, a Republican-leaning state that foster responsible behavior.
have worsened most in recent weeks are infectious disease expert. Mr. Ryan described as “presently trend- “On the mask side, it is difficult when
SEPTEMBER DAWN BOTTOMS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
led by Republicans who spent months “I want more briefings but, more im- ing against us.” the leader of the party had been setting a St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan has reopened for Sunday Mass, but attendance was
avoiding stringent lockdowns, in some portantly, I want the whole White House While Mr. Ryan did not criticize Mr. pretty bad example,” Mr. Hamer said. limited to 1,800 worshipers. The church has been facing a shortfall in donations.
..
6 | TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
Party’s political heirs
emerge in dissent
said Stuart Stevens, a former adviser to
WASHINGTON MEMO
Mr. Bush, Mr. Romney and other Repub-
WASHINGTON
lican presidential candidates. “It’s like
something from the Mayans. The
BY MARK LEIBOVICH
speech was all about humility and com-
One of the presumed lessons of Presi- passion.” Mr. Bush ostensibly ran in
dent Trump’s victory in 2016 was that he 2000 as a moderate healer with an im-
had struck a blow against political dy- pulse for consensus-seeking, even as his
nasties in America. presidency would go on to feature a host
He demolished the early Republican of partisan and deeply divisive actions,
favorite, Jeb Bush, the son of the 41st among them the invasion of Iraq and an
president and brother of the 43rd, and attempted overhaul of Social Security.
then vanquished the wife of the two- A fervent critic of Mr. Trump, Mr.
term 42nd president. Stevens has a book out this month, “It
But even as Mr. Trump’s takeover of Was All a Lie,” which charts what he de-
his party is largely complete, a trio of scribes as the Republican Party’s dec-
heirs to the old guard have been among ades-long spiral into racism, nativism
the most prominent dissenting voices. and ultimately Trumpism. He said de-
Nate Zimdars said his family and friends are happy with Sue Schaetzka planned to vote again for President Trump Diarelis Rodriguez saw Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump as two A high-profile club of elected Republi- scendants of political families might feel
former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. but wasn’t sure he could win the state. sides of the same coin. cans — all descendants of the Republi- burdens of virtue more acutely than oth-
can establishment of the past, whether ers do. He mentioned George Romney’s
rebellious or resolute — has emerged as protest against what he considered the
a kind of shadow conscience of the party party’s lack of commitment to civil
during these days of turmoil. rights at the Republican National Con-
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland has vention in 1964. “To me, you can take a
been a leading voice of frustration over direct line from there to Mitt saying
Mr. Trump’s management of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ in 2020,” he said.
Covid-19 outbreak. He was also one of Until recently, no one would have ever
the few Republican governors to say, in described Mitt Romney as a leading dis-
2016, that he would not support his par- sident within his party. But the Trump
ty’s nominee. Instead he wrote in the years have imposed a distinct set of
name of his father, Representative character tests upon elected Republi-
Lawrence J. Hogan, the only Watergate- cans at every level.
era Republican in the House who voted Notions of history and reputation
to recommend all three articles of im- tend to resonate stronger among politi-
peachment against President Richard cal heirs. “‘What will be said of me?’
M. Nixon. The elder Mr. Hogan died in ‘What will my character be in history?’”
2017. asked the journalist and historian Jon
Representative Liz Cheney, Republi- Meacham, a biographer of President
can of Wyoming and daughter of former George H.W. Bush and close friend of
Vice President Dick Cheney, has been the Bush family. “Interestingly, the peo-
perhaps her party’s most persistent ple with familial antecedents in the busi-
critic of Mr. Trump’s national security ness have tended to understand that a
program. good character in history — a good story
She has bristled at a number of his ad- — requires standing up to the prevailing
ministration’s positions — including on sentiments of the hour.”
the Middle East, Russia and the presi- At the very least, one of the advan-
dent’s engagement with autocrats — tages of having political elders who took
and has generally promoted a hawkish difficult positions is the example of their
strain of Republican foreign policy that own survival. They have “been through
was associated with her father during the wars,” Mr. Meacham said, and lived
his vice presidency. She has made no to tell about it.
apologies for Mr. Cheney’s role as a chief
proponent of the Iraq invasion, despite
Several descendants of
how fully that conflict deteriorated and
how dubiously it has been recalled in prominent Republicans show an
history — none more so than by Mr. independent streak similar to
Trump. that of their fathers.
Ms. Cheney also spoke out in support
of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a wit-
ness who testified in the impeachment “He paid a big price,” Mr. Hogan said
inquiry against Mr. Trump, as well as Dr. in an interview, speaking about the re-
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infec- criminations his father faced after vot-
tious disease expert; both have endured ing to impeach Nixon.
sustained attacks from the White House “He lost friends in Congress, he lost
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAUREN JUSTICE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
An Independence Day parade in Friendship, Wis. The village is in one of the 22 Wisconsin counties that voted for President Trump after backing President Obama in 2012. and several elected Republicans. the support of his constituents, and he
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the Re- angered the White House,” Mr. Hogan
publican presidential nominee in 2012, said. Nixon himself cited Lawrence Ho-
Candidate who suits local tastes has made plain his disgust for Mr. gan’s repudiation as a decisive signal
Trump on a variety of occasions. (The that his support among Republicans in
feeling is mutual.) His father, George Congress would not hold.
Romney, was a three-term governor of History was kind to his father, Gover-
Michigan and a moderate candidate in nor Hogan said: “He voted his con-
or Hillary Clinton, or that he lacks Mr. Trump by 11 points in Wisconsin in a forced Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump to ad- Republican presidential primaries who science and was known as a courageous
ADAMS, WIS.
bumper-sticker progressive policies like poll by The New York Times and Siena just the structures, and the messages, of repeatedly ran afoul of the party’s ortho- guy.”
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie College last month, and more recent their campaigns. doxy on civil rights and Vietnam. Unlike Mr. Romney, Mr. Hogan, who is
Sanders — they’re grateful for it. polling from other battleground states Sue Schaetzka, who attended the Chic In recent months, Mitt Romney said, 64, still has possible designs on higher
Biden is avoiding risks
After the 2016 election, Mrs. Clinton like Pennsylvania has been even better Nic in Adams, said she voted for Mr. he has received several “Dad would be office. He has said he is exploring a run
in Wisconsin; for many, was lambasted for running a risk-averse for him. Trump in 2016 and planned to do so proud” messages from members of his for the 2024 presidential nomination of a
campaign that seemed to rely on voters’ Representative Mark Pocan, a Demo- again in November. But she said the extended family. party in which Mr. Trump will likely re-
that plan fits the moment
finding Mr. Trump’s conduct inherently crat who represents Madison, said Mr. events of the past few months, and par- They came during Mr. Trump’s im- tain significant affection from the rank
repugnant. Four years later, facing a Biden’s campaign had already outpaced ticularly the nation’s response to the co- peachment trial this year after Mr. Rom- and file, whether or not he is re-elected.
changed electoral landscape, many Wis- Mrs. Clinton’s in terms of investment in ronavirus, had changed the way people ney cast the lone Republican vote to con- For that reason, it makes little sense for
BY ASTEAD W. HERNDON
consin Democrats think Mr. Biden can and attention to Wisconsin. Mr. Pocan in her social circles felt about the presi- vict the president and remove him from Mr. Hogan to unload upon the president
Nate Zimdars, a Democratic candidate win the state with that exact playbook. said the Clinton campaign had taken dent. office. as freely as Mr. Romney has.
for the Wisconsin State Assembly, ar- Mr. Biden is “the perfect candidate for “the purple state for granted,” citing a Ms. Schaetzka was unsure Mr. Trump Other missives arrived last month af- Likewise, Ms. Cheney — who occu-
rived at the Veterans of Foreign Wars this area at this time,” said Matt Mareno, lack of both visits and financial support could win the state again this year, par- ter Mr. Romney attended a racial equal- pies the sole House seat from solidly Re-
lodge in the town of Adams after march- the chairman of the Waukesha Demo- for down-ballot candidates. ticularly against a Democrat like Mr. Bi- ity protest near the White House and publican Wyoming — has been men-
ing in the local Independence Day pa- cratic Party. “Donald Trump came and lied to us, den. chanted “Black Lives Matter” — a tioned for a variety of future roles, in-
rade, ready to meet voters at an annual “Trump’s whole rallying cry was that but at least he showed up,” he said, call- “With everything that’s going on with phrase that few elected Republicans cluding that of House Republican leader
outdoor chicken cookout called the Chic he was an outsider coming to fix the es- ing the Democrats’ losses in 2016 a “duh Covid, I know some people are rethink- have uttered in public. or even a run for president herself.
Nic. Although the event was hosted by tablishment, and now he is the establish- moment” for the party. It was Demo- ing,” Ms. Schaetzka said. “I heard from my brother and sister, She has been especially deft in criti-
the local Republican Party, Mr. Zimdars ment,” Mr. Mareno said. “We’re seeing cratic voter drop-off across Wisconsin — At the protest in Milwaukee, young and my nieces and nephews, saying, cizing Mr. Trump while managing not to
was far from nervous being behind ene- more and more college-educated white not big Republican turnout — that most liberals said they planned to vote for Mr. ‘That’s what Dad would have done,’” Mr. alienate him. While Mr. Trump has
my lines. He was eager. voters leaving him and we’re seeing helped Mr. Trump win there, he said. Biden, but the exact things that help him Romney said in an interview. voiced repeated scorn for the presiden-
The county flipped from Democratic- more seniors leave him. We’re seeing “When one candidate doesn’t cam- appeal to people like Ms. Schaetzka are The legacy club includes two emeri- cy of George W. Bush, he has mostly
leaning to Republican-leaning in 2016, that coalition just completely dissolved, paign and the other one does, you would what makes them begrudging, even re- tus brothers, former President George spared her father.
Mr. Zimdars noted, which meant it could down to the very core base of his sup- expect that you might get the results sentful, supporters. W. Bush and Jeb Bush, neither of whom Now 79, the former vice president re-
flip again. Plus, national Democrats had port.” that we got,” Mr. Pocan said. “But no one Diarelis Rodriguez, who marched in have much use for Mr. Trump. The for- mains a close adviser to his daughter,
done him a favor — they had chosen for- will ever make that mistake again.” the protest, said she understood the mer president released a video in May who is the third-ranking Republican in
mer Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. This does not mean that Mr. Biden has young people who saw Mr. Biden and that saluted health care workers and the House, a role Mr. Cheney himself
“Trump’s whole rallying cry was
for the top of their ticket. avoided skepticism from core Demo- Mr. Trump as two sides of the same coin. urged national unity in the fight against held. Ms. Cheney recently tweeted a
“Biden comes across as someone that he was an outsider coming cratic constituencies like young people “Biden is part of the problem. He the coronavirus. But Mr. Bush’s video, photo of her father wearing a cowboy
who’s moderate and has experience on to fix the establishment, and now and progressive minority voters — the helped with the War on Drugs and does- which received bipartisan praise, made hat and a blue surgical mask, which she
both sides of the aisle,” Mr. Zimdars said. he is the establishment.” same groups that frequently needled n’t really understand the issues we need for a stark contrast with Mr. Trump’s captioned “Dick Cheney says WEAR A
“My close family and friends, who are a Mrs. Clinton and backed Mr. Biden’s ri- him to,” said Ms. Rodriguez, 18. “The more combative approach — a slight MASK. #realmenwearmasks.” The
little more on the Republican side of the vals in the primary. people I talk to don’t want to vote be- that apparently upset the president, message was taken as quasi-subtle defi-
fence, said if Biden became the nominee Several characteristics inform Mr. Bi- In fact, the same polls that show Mr. cause they don’t want to participate in a who then complained in a tweet that Mr. ance at Mr. Trump’s stubborn refusal at
they would vote for him.” den’s strategy, including his lengthy ca- Biden securely ahead of Mr. Trump also corrupt system.” Bush had not properly defended him the time to do the same.
Such persuasion is at the core of Mr. reer as a bipartisan legislator, Mr. find Mr. Biden with tepid numbers But Ms. Rodriguez still said she during his impeachment. For his part, Mr. Romney said he was
Biden’s campaign strategy, designed to Trump’s panned response to the pan- among young people and minority vot- planned to vote for Mr. Biden in Novem- One of the hallmarks of recent history less concerned with how he would be re-
bring together moderates, seniors, demic and Mr. Biden’s identity as an old- ers. ber, though both she and Ms. Gladding has been the accelerated time frames in membered in history than by his own
working-class voters across races and er white man, the type of politician easi- His favorability rating decreased in a wished he embraced more activist rhet- which political identities can shift. family. He cautioned that at 73, he was
former supporters of President Trump. ly categorized as “presidential.” recent survey by NBC and The Wall oric on matters of racial equality and de- “George W. Bush’s acceptance speech at too young to dwell on the past.
The approach has helped him jump out There are a range of ways Mr. Biden Street Journal, driven by shifts among funding the police. the 2000 Republican convention reads “I’m just getting started with this Sen-
to an early lead in polling, both in na- can build a general election coalition in a younger Democrats. There’s a reason he has not. Twenty like a document from a lost civilization,” ate thing,” Mr. Romney said.
tional surveys and in swing states like battleground state like Wisconsin. At a protest in Milwaukee in support miles away, leaders of the Waukesha
Wisconsin, where Mr. Trump won by He could focus on winning back vot- of Black Lives Matter this month, Laris- Democratic Party said they recently
fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. It has ers in low-population areas, where Mrs. sa Gladding, 23, said she viewed voting fielded a phone call from a skeptical vot-
also helped him fend off attacks from Mr. Clinton suffered big losses in 2016. for Biden as the unfortunate cost of er who said she wanted to vote for Mr.
Trump, who has sought to cast Mr. Bi- He could build on recent Democratic beating Mr. Trump. “It doesn’t even feel Biden, but she was worried Democrats
den as a radical progressive despite his efforts to target the college-educated like it’s an election about young people were becoming hostile to police officers.
lengthy career as a moderate lawmaker. white voters whom Mr. Trump has, at or he wants the young vote anymore,” A volunteer named Scott Prindl called
But if Mr. Biden hopes to maintain his times, repelled, particularly in subur- she said, adding that she planned to vote the woman back. Mr. Prindl, 65, said the
advantage as November draws near, ban counties like Waukesha, Ozaukee for Mr. Biden anyway. woman had family in law enforcement
Wisconsin Democrats like Mr. Zimdars and Washington, where Mrs. Clinton Dominique Tonneas, 24, who was in- and he does also.
have some advice, akin to the famous outperformed Mr. Obama but also lost terviewed at a fireworks show in During the phone call, he explained
medical principle of “do no harm,” or the some votes to third-party candidates. Muskego and who plans to vote for Mr. the Black Lives Matter movement and
cautionary words of the hit HBO series Or he could seek to motivate reliable Trump in November, said Mr. Biden’s its goals, as he saw them.
“The Wire”: “Keep it boring.” Democratic voters like young people, age and long career meant he wouldn’t “The real Black Lives Matter protests
Being politically milquetoast is Mr. Bi- Black voters and Latino voters in Mil- bring a new perspective to the table. She are the ones who are peaceful,” Mr.
den’s appeal, they said, driving his abil- waukee, the Democratic stronghold said she planned to vote for Mr. Trump, Prindl, who is white, assured the woman
ity to attract progressives in Milwaukee, where voter turnout was down signifi- who is only a few years younger, be- over the phone. “It’s outsiders who are
moderates in suburbs like Waukesha cantly in 2016. cause she preferred his economic poli- coming in and wreaking havoc,” he said,
and more rural voters in places like Ad- Mr. Biden’s advisers say he will seek cies. alluding to the destructive political
ams County, one of the 22 counties in the to both appeal to persuadable voters What is already clear: The last sev- groups that protesters say turned some
state that voted for Mr. Trump after and motivate the party’s base, mimick- eral months, which have featured the of the demonstrations violent.
backing President Barack Obama in ing the successful campaign of Senator largest protest movement in American The woman was comforted. She will
2012. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a pro- history and a pandemic that continues be voting for Democrats in November,
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
They don’t lament that Mr. Biden is gressive who won re-election in 2018 by to kill thousands and upend the coun- she said, and for Mr. Biden over Mr. Senator Mitt Romney recently attended a protest near the White House and chanted
not a historic candidate like Mr. Obama an eye-popping 10 points. Mr. Biden led try’s social and economic fabric, has Trump. “Black Lives Matter” — a phrase that few elected Republicans have uttered in public.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 | 7
Business
The politics of pantry items
words in Spanish. It’s the same kind of
Goya becomes a proxy
signal.”
for a president trying to Mr. Trump has occasionally made vis-
ible efforts to reach Hispanic voters.
reach Hispanic voters
The Hispanic Prosperity Initiative,
which included few details, came during
a week in which he also met with Vene-
BY FARAH STOCKMAN,
zuelans who had fled socialism and held
KATE KELLY
an interview with Telemundo, a Span-
AND JENNIFER MEDINA
ish-language television station. Mr.
For years, the Goya brand was synony- Trump spoke in the interview about a
mous with the Latino-American dream. “road to citizenship” for undocumented
The sheer number of products that lined immigrants brought to the United
the grocery store aisles in the United States as children, even as his adminis-
States — like refried pinto beans and tration has pledged to fight a Supreme
sazón con azafran seasoning — spoke to Court decision upholding the Obama-
the growing number of Hispanic immi- era program that protected them.
grants who bought them. Goya, the na- It remains to be seen whether Hispan-
tion’s largest Hispanic food company, ics who do not already support Trump
has sponsored Dominican art shows, will be swayed by his sudden associa-
mariachi contests and soccer programs. tion with Goya or his attempt to bring
Advisers to President Trump consid- Hispanics onto the conservative side of
ered it a victory when Goya’s chief exec- the nation’s long-simmering culture
utive, Robert Unanue, agreed to appear war.
at the White House rollout of what it But for a few Latinos, the message
called the Hispanic Prosperity Initia- resonated.
tive, an executive order that promised Alexander Otaola, a Cuban-American
better access to education and employ- in Florida with 105,000 followers on In-
ment for Hispanics. stagram, issued a video in Spanish that
In the Rose Garden at the White likened the Goya boycott to the destruc-
House on July 9, Mr. Unanue praised Mr. tion of statues and other cultural icons.
Trump and compared him with his “What is Goya in the Latino communi-
grandfather, who founded Goya. ty? It’s an icon, a statue,” he said in the
“We’re all truly blessed at the same YouTube video. “The left wants to de-
time to have a leader like President stroy all icons.”
Trump, who is a builder,” Mr. Unanue It is not clear how deeply the boycott
said. “And that’s what my grandfather has cut into Goya’s bottom line, or
did.” whether the impact of the “buycott” has
And just like that, a once-beloved canceled it out. Goya is a privately held
brand became anathema in many Lati- company, so its records are not public.
no homes across the United States. Peo- In Jerry’s Supermarket in the pre-
ple posted videos and photos of them- dominantly Latino Oak Cliff community
selves clearing out their pantries and in Dallas, Goya products lined the
tossing cans of Goya beans into the shelves, as usual, and were bought by a
trash. It became a symbol of political re- steady stream of customers on a recent
sistance to share recipes for Goya prod- weekend.
uct substitutes. “Oh look, it’s the sound In San Antonio’s Alamo Heights com-
of me Googling ‘how to make your own SERGIO FLORES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES munity, one cashier said managers of La
Adobo,’” Representative Alexandria A Goya distribution center near Brookshire, Texas. A once-beloved brand became anathema in many Latino homes after the company’s chief executive praised President Trump. Michoacana Supermarket have not said
Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York they would quit carrying Goya products.
wrote on Twitter, referring to a popular Guava paste and Salvadoran pickled
seasoning that Goya sells. company that has prided itself on know- class Latinos who make up his customer years. And now the Left is trying to can- swallowing beans, which he admitted he salad, among other items, remained on
Almost immediately, Trump loyalists ing its customers intimately. base. cel Hispanic culture and silence free rarely ate. A few days later, Mr. Trump the shelves.
pushed back — filling shopping carts full With each wave of Hispanic immi- The harshest critics questioned speech. #BuyGoya.” circulated a photo of himself sitting in But in Tucson, Ariz., Patrick Robles, a
of Goya products and posting videos of grants from Latin America and the Ca- whether he considered himself Latino. And suddenly, the once-beloved His- the Oval Office, smiling widely and with 19-year-old student at the University of
themselves dutifully swallowing Goya ribbean, Goya has added new products The speed and size of the boycott panic brand became a cause célèbre on his thumbs up, in front of several Goya Arizona, said his whole family was boy-
beans. to suit their cuisine, and over the years it speak to “how raw people in the commu- the right. products, including a package of choco- cotting Goya products, even though the
By the time Ivanka Trump, the presi- has distributed millions of pounds of nity feel about the president,” said Mr. Cruz said in an interview that he late wafers and coconut milk. company’s chickpeas had always been
dent’s daughter and a senior adviser, food to pantries after hurricanes and Clarissa Martinez de Castro, the deputy saw the boycott as an example of “spirit Responding to questions about perfect for cocido, or Mexican stew.
tweeted an endorsement of Goya, one during the pandemic. vice president for policy and advocacy of intolerance.” whether Ms. Trump’s tweet violated fed- “It was a punch in the stomach for us,”
thing had become clear: In a polarized The company was founded in 1936 by for UnidosUS, a Latino civic engage- “The offense is he dared to say he sup- eral law forbidding government em- Mr. Robles said of Mr. Unanue’s com-
country, at a polarized time, the buying Mr. Unanue’s grandparents, who moved ment organization. She said many Lati- ported the president,” Mr. Cruz said, ployees from using their positions to en- ments praising a president who Mr. Ro-
of beans had become a political act. from the Basque region of Spain to nos blamed Mr. Trump’s attacks on un- adding that “anytime anyone dares dis- dorse products, Carolina Hurley, a bles felt has routinely devalued Latinos.
Even as Mr. Trump’s support has cra- Puerto Rico, and then New York City, documented immigrants for inciting agree from their rigid orthodoxy, they White House spokeswoman, said the Now, they are going to turn to brands
tered among many demographics, he where they sold sardines and olive oil discrimination and violence against La- seek to punish, cancel or destroy to the president’s daughter “has every right to like La Costeña or Rosarita.
has held on to a small but durable slice of from a storefront on Duane Street in tinos, particularly the massacre last dissenter.” express her personal support” for the But Pamela Ramirez, a 48-year-old
Hispanic voters, many of them in Flor- Lower Manhattan. summer in El Paso. Mr. Unanue, who has contributed to company. Mexican-American small-business con-
ida, a state full of Cuban Republicans As the company expanded, it changed the campaigns of both Democrats and “Only the media and the cancel cul- sultant in East Los Angeles, said she
that is known for razor-thin electoral its name from Unanue & Sons to Goya Republicans and worked with Michelle ture movement would criticize Ivanka strongly opposed the Goya boycott.
The speed and size of the
margins. Foods — reportedly buying rights to its Obama on an anti-obesity initiative, ap- for showing her personal support for a Since there is a large number of Latinos
Polls consistently show Mr. Trump new name for $1 because it was easier to boycott speak to “how raw peared unprepared for the firestorm. company that has been unfairly employed by the company, she thinks
with an approval rating among Hispanic pronounce than “oo-NA-new-way” — people in the community Neither he nor Goya officials responded mocked, boycotted and ridiculed for that boycotting the product could harm
voters hovering around 25 percent, and branched into manufacturing. Dur- feel about the president.” to requests for comment. But Mr. supporting this administration — one her own community. For every one of
within the lower end of the range that ing the mid-1970s, Joseph Unanue, one Unanue defended his remarks at the that has consistently fought for and de- her Facebook friends who has posted
Republican presidents have attracted of the founders’ four sons, took over as White House, telling The Wall Street livered for the Hispanic community,” about boycotting the product, Ms.
for decades. chief executive, and the company relo- For the first time, she said, anxieties Journal that he had gone there out of re- Ms. Hurley said. Ramirez bought $10 worth of Goya prod-
Before the coronavirus pandemic cated to New Jersey. about racial discrimination have ranked spect. “I remain strong in my convic- Some political scientists said Mr. ucts and donated them to a food bank,
tanked the economy, the Trump cam- By the time he stepped down, the in the top concerns among Latino voters tions that I feel blessed with the leader- Trump appeared eager for the free pub- she said.
paign repeatedly pointed to the low un- company had established relationships in surveys. But Mr. Trump’s supporters ship of our president,” he told the news- licity that came by associating himself “You’ve got to put your money where
employment rate among Hispanics as with Walmart and other big grocers and are betting that this is a winning issue paper. with a beloved Hispanic brand. your mouth is,” she said. “If you don’t,
an indication that the administration its annual revenue had grown to $1 bil- for them and that Americans won’t un- Trump supporters filmed themselves “It’s the Republican version of ‘His- then you’re just part of the problem.”
was delivering for the community, a lion from $20 million. derstand or empathize with the boycott. filling shopping carts full of Goya prod- pandering,’” said Geraldo Cadava, a his-
group he has also offended with inflam- Some noted that Robert Unanue’s re- The day after the Rose Garden cere- ucts, relishing in the opportunity to de- tory professor at Northwestern Univer- Contributing reporting were Elda Lizzia
matory remarks about immigration. marks at the White House showcased mony, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of fend a Hispanic businessman and ac- sity and author of “The Hispanic Repub- Cantú, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio,
Now Goya, based in New Jersey, has the glaring disconnect between the Texas, tweeted: “Goya is a staple of Cu- cuse Democrats of being anti-Latino. Di- lican.” “He’s pandering to Hispanics the Marina Trahan Martinez, Erin Coulehan
fallen into this boiling pot of politics and wealthy executive whose family hailed ban food. My grandparents ate Goya nesh D’Souza, a conservative political same way that politicians have pep- and David Montgomery. Sheelagh Mc-
anger, a strange turn of events for a from Spain and the largely working- black beans twice a day for nearly 90 commentator, shared a video of himself pered their stump speeches with a few Neill contributed research.
Abusive game culture proves hard to clean up
June by Molly Fender Ayala, a commu- since-deleted tweet. He could not be about Brenda Laurel, one of the first fe-
BY KELLEN BROWNING
nity developer for the game Overwatch, reached for comment. male game designers, who worked at
First, a popular esports tournament was of acting inappropriately toward her Kishonna Gray, a professor of gender Atari in the 1980s. When she started the
canceled. Next, game studio executives and propositioning her for sex in 2014. and women’s studies and communica- job, Ms. Laurel was one of the first wom-
stepped down. Then, a prominent talent Mr. Dariani stepped down from his role tions at the University of Illinois, Chi- en at the company, Dr. Kocurek said, and
management agency for video game the same day that Ms. Ayala came for- cago, said she viewed the statements told her male colleagues that they could
streamers laid off its employees and ward. He did not respond to a request for and reactions from game companies as no longer use the women’s restroom as a
closed. comment, and Ms. Ayala declined to attempts to “pacify” people until they smoking lounge.
The stream of reports of sexual har- comment. stopped talking about the companies’ “Everyone laughed, because they
assment and assault in the video game Last week, with most of its clients problems with diversity, inclusion and thought somebody had gotten their wife
industry that began in June has contin- working to terminate their agreements harassment. or girlfriend to come play a prank on ev-
ued unabated, as more women — and and distance themselves from the talent “They just purge the evildoers and eryone,” said Dr. Kocurek, who inter-
some men — have come forward with agency after the allegation, the group it- think that they’re OK, not realizing that viewed Ms. Laurel for a book about her
accusations of mistreatment. self shut down. The new chief executive, they’re all complicit and that there’s a pioneering accomplishments in the
Despite the actions that companies Shane Wilson, broke the news to about culture that devalues women,” said Pro- field. The men thought it was “so ridicu-
have taken in response to individual in- 10 employees on a video call, several for- fessor Gray, who studies the industry. lous that a woman was working there.”
cidents, game experts hesitate to call mer staff members said. She said she wanted to see evidence of Game companies are somewhat more
the moment an inflection point for an in- “It’s heartbreaking, O.P.G. went out of companies’ hiring and devoting re- diverse now, but Dr. Kocurek attributed
dustry with a long and difficult history of business today,” Mr. Wilson posted on sources to diverse candidates. the longstanding sexist attitudes to
sexist behavior and abuse. This is not his LinkedIn page. He did not respond to Neither Evo nor Ubisoft responded to these male-dominated beginnings.
the first time women have spoken up. In a request for comment. Two days later, a request for comment about specific “If you don’t actively try to change
2014, in what is known as Gamergate, the agency’s site was unavailable. changes they planned to make. these things, they don’t change that
women faced death threats for criticiz- Some employees had already quit the Ms. Gordon said she was heartened to much,” she said. “There’s been a few
BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
ing the industry and its culture. Last company after the claims against Mr. A Ubisoft video game being played at a trade fair in Paris last year. Several Ubisoft see people in positions of power forced times where there’s some pushback and
year, women again came forward with Dariani. And Oliver Pascual, a senior ac- executives have resigned over allegations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior. to step down over the accusations but there seems to be a real conversation
stories of abuse in what was seen as the count manager there who was laid off, said it was too early to see evidence of a happening, and then it just kind of fiz-
industry’s #MeToo moment. said the majority of the group’s 70 con- true shift. A “culture change” has to zles.”
So few expect the resignations this tent creators and streamers had sig- inappropriate behavior.” Serge Hascoët, thousands to Las Vegas each year, can- start at the top, she said, so she hoped As more women join the video game
time to quickly change a culture that for naled their intentions to leave. the high-profile chief creative officer in celed this year’s virtual tournament and women and people of color would be giv- work force, its white male-dominated
decades has often been hostile to wom- “The clients’ leaving was likely a big charge of Ubisoft’s games, was one who announced that its chief executive, Joey en more senior roles in companies. culture is pushing back, said Anita Sar-
en. reason, but I think it was also a matter of departed after accusations were made Cuellar, would “no longer be involved “If we saw things like that, and not keesian, a media critic, podcaster and
“You can fire people all day long,” said the public’s opinion of the company by against him in a French newspaper. He with Evo in any capacity” after a player just kind of being a symbolic gesture but creator of the Feminist Frequency non-
Kenzie Gordon, a Ph.D. candidate at the that point,” Mr. Pascual said in an inter- could not be reached for comment. said on Twitter that Mr. Cuellar had people being put into positions where profit group that provides educational
University of Alberta who studies how view. “We had always prided ourselves “Ubisoft has fallen short in its obliga- acted inappropriately toward him and they could affect how the company oper- resources related to gender, race and
games can be used to prevent sexual on O.P.G.’s pristine reputation, and after tion to guarantee a safe and inclusive other teenage boys in the late 1990s and ates, that might be indicative of some- sexuality, and operates a confidential
and domestic violence. But “if only the those allegations, it was tainted and workplace environment for its employ- early 2000s. thing,” she said. emotional support hotline for people
individual people are held accountable, hard to recover from.” ees,” Ubisoft’s chief executive, Yves “We are shocked and saddened by Carly Kocurek, an associate professor who are harassed in the industry.
that doesn’t have any impact on the cul- Days earlier, several top executives Guillemot, said in a statement. “I am these events, but we are listening and of digital humanities and media studies They feel as if “they’re losing this cul-
ture of the organization as a whole, nec- stepped down at Ubisoft, the French vid- committed to implementing profound committed to making every change that at the Illinois Institute of Technology, ture war to what they would call the
essarily.” eo game company that develops games changes across the company to improve will be necessary in making Evo a better said sexism in the video games industry S.J.W.s,” said Ms. Sarkeesian, referring
The most extensive action has come like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, af- and strengthen our workplace culture.” model for the stronger, safer culture we had its roots in the very beginning of the to the term social justice warriors.
at the talent agency Online Performers ter a “rigorous review that the company And in early July, the fighting video all seek,” tournament organizers said in industry in the 1970s. “And their reaction is violence,” she
Group. The agency’s former chief exec- initiated in response to recent allega- game tournament Evolution Gaming a statement published on Twitter. Mr. Dr. Kocurek, who researches the cul- said. “That is the environment in which
utive, Omeed Dariani, was accused in tions and accusations of misconduct and Series, known as Evo, which draws Cuellar apologized for his actions in a tural history of video games, has written these stories of abuse are coming out.”
..
8 | TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
business
Layoffs at Airbnb were like a family breakup
pion the mission” was code for putting a plans to confirm that all of its listings
SAN FRANCISCO
positive spin on things. (A company were what they advertised.
spokesman disputed the characteriza- In the employee Q. and A., Mr. Chesky
tion.) reiterated past statements that safety
Company’s close rapport
Airbnb’s rental listings grew from was a priority for the company. Workers
with employees met reality 2,500 in 2009 to seven million this year. piped up with written heckles — the
The company landed funding from top equivalent of shouting in a crowded the-
of surviving in a pandemic
venture firms including Andreessen ater — with messages like “Safety was
Horowitz, Founders Fund and Sequoia never a priority!” It was an unusual
Capital. Its valuation, which topped $2 public show of dissent.
BY ERIN GRIFFITH
billion in 2012, skyrocketed to $31 billion Within a week of the layoffs, new
On May 5, after working alone in his San by 2017. An initial public offering this safety cases had piled up, two people
Francisco apartment for almost two year was set to make its executives, in- with knowledge of the situation said.
months, Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief ex- vestors and employees rich. Airbnb asked some laid-off employees
ecutive, cried into his video camera. Enter the virus. As travel ground to a to return temporarily to work through
It was a Tuesday, not that it mattered halt in March, Airbnb cut its 2020 reve- the cases, they said. Workers on the reg-
because the days had blurred together, nue projection to less than half of the ulatory response and payments teams
and Mr. Chesky was addressing thou- $4.8 billion it hauled in last year. Its I.P.O. were asked to come back temporarily as
sands of his employees. Looking into his filing, which Mr. Chesky had been well, they said.
webcam, he read from a script that he tweaking with ideas for stakeholder An Airbnb spokesman said that the
had written to tell them that the coro- capitalism and planned to submit by late groups focused on user safety were the
navirus had crushed the travel industry, March, went into a drawer. same size as before the layoffs and that
including their home rental start-up. Di- Instead, Mr. Chesky said, he drew up the company assessed its support
visions would have to be cut and work- a list of principles for operating in the vi- staffing levels daily. “Brian has always
ers laid off. rus. They included being decisive and made clear that safety is our priority,” he
“I have a deep feeling of love for all of emerging “on the right side of history.” said.
you,” Mr. Chesky said, his voice crack- He compared the situation to a fire. During that time, Leonardo Baca, an
ing. “What we are about is belonging, “You’re in a house, it’s burning, you have information technology professional
and at the center of belonging is love.” to put out the fire while getting the furni- who was laid off, joined colleagues at a
Within a few hours, 1,900 employees — a ture out of the house and also rebuilding virtual magic performance presented
quarter of Airbnb’s work force — were the house,” he said. by Airbnb Experience — part of the
told they were out. Mr. Chesky asked Airbnb’s board of company’s activities booking service,
The moves thrust Airbnb into the cen- directors to call in to virtual meetings which had moved online because of the
ter of a growing debate in Silicon Valley: every Sunday and set up a daily “war virus. It was meant to be a team-build-
What happens when a company that has room” meeting with his executive team. ing exercise but instead became a good-
positioned itself as family to its employ- He said he had remained glued to his bye party.
ees reveals that it is just a regular busi- computer most days till around mid- Some laid-off colleagues were devas-
ness with the same capitalist concerns night, occasionally baking chocolate tated, Mr. Baca said, while those who re-
— namely, survival — as any other? chip cookies or going on walks during mained expressed dismay over why
Start-ups that sell things as varied as calls. they had been spared. “We don’t know
mattresses and data-warehousing soft- There were stumbles. When guests why people were cut,” he said. “You lose
ware have long used “making the world wanted out of nonrefundable bookings a piece of the team.”
a better place” mission statements to because the pandemic had forced them Later, on a Slack channel for former
energize and motivate their workers. to change their plans, Airbnb changed employees, some lamented that Airbnb
But as the economic fallout from the co- its policy to allow refunds. But the move was gutting its culture, according to
ronavirus persists, many of those gauzy outraged the company’s rental opera- messages viewed by The New York
mantras have given way to harsh reali- tors, who relied on the income. Mr. Times. In June, an Airbnb contractor
ties like budget cuts, layoffs and bottom Chesky eventually apologized for how who had recently been let go wrote an
lines. Airbnb had communicated the decision. editorial for Wired that quoted peers
That puts companies with a “commit- “Was everything done perfectly? No,” calling the company “hypocritical” for
ment” culture at the highest risk of los- said Alfred Lin, an Airbnb board mem- its “remarkably callous” treatment of
ing what made them successful, said ber and investor at Sequoia Capital. “It contract labor during the pandemic.
Ethan Mollick, an entrepreneurship was about speed and being directionally An Airbnb spokesman said its con-
professor at the Wharton School at the right.” tractors “were more than contractors,
University of Pennsylvania. Airbnb soon cut $800 million in mar- they were our teammates and friends.”
“Part of the compensation is being keting costs, dropped bonuses and He said the company had provided them
part of this family,” Mr. Mollick said. halved executive pay for six months. It two weeks of pay and other benefits.
“Now the family goes away, and the deal also ended contracts with roughly 490 Other issues bubbled up. In an Airbnb
is sort of changed. It just becomes a job.” full-time freelancers. With cancellations chat room for laid-off female employees,
In many ways, Airbnb was the ideal pouring in and call centers closed be- one former worker described three in-
example of a commitment culture com- cause of the virus, Airbnb directed em- stances of sexual harassment while at
pany. Founded by Mr. Chesky, Nathan JASON HENRY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES ployees across the company, including the company, saying that human re-
Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia in 2008, the Inside Airbnb’s headquarters, above, its recruiters, who had frozen hiring, to sources had been unhelpful and that co-
start-up grew quickly as an online plat- where workers are encouraged to embody assist customers. The backlog took workers had brushed it off, according to
form that helped homeowners rent out the company’s core values, former em- weeks to get through. an image of the conversation viewed by
rooms to travelers. Along the way to a ployees said. Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief In April, the company raised $1 billion The Times. The latter, the person wrote,
$31 billion valuation, it built a reputation executive, left, told employees in May: in emergency funding, followed by an- “hurt the most.”
as the polar opposite of its sharing econ- “What we are about is belonging, and at other $1 billion in debt. The company said it does not tolerate
omy peers such as Uber, which prized the center of belonging is love.” Hours Then came the May 5 layoffs. To blunt harassment and discrimination and in-
ruthless competition, and WeWork, later, 1,900 employees were laid off. the shock, Airbnb’s severance packages vestigates all claims.
which collapsed under a partying cul- included three months of salary and a Last month, some employees in
ture and its founder’s self-dealing. year of health benefits, which was more Airbnb’s China division sent a letter to
Instead, Airbnb stood for earnest ide- that people might trust one another generous than many other start-ups’ management outlining what they said
alism. Mr. Chesky, 38, a stocky designer enough to stay in strangers’ houses. Ba- layoff packages. was inappropriate behavior by Yanxin
from upstate New York, spoke fre- sically, the goodness of humanity. Mr. Chesky has since described a Shi, the engineering director for its
quently of trustworthiness, authenticity Its network of home rentals quickly “second founding,” in which Airbnb will China business, according to one of the
and a desire to build a business that val- spread across the United States and into be more focused on its core home rental employees responsible for the letter,
ued principles and people over the almost every other country. Airbnb business. It will look different, he said, which The Times viewed. They alleged
short-termism of Wall Street. Mr. Geb- raised more than $3 billion in venture with fewer customers booking interna- that Mr. Shi had ranked female col-
bia delivered a TED Talk on designing capital and expanded into activities, lux- tional travel, less flocking to crowded leagues by attractiveness and had said
for trust. And Airbnb’s former chief ury vacations, experiments with flights cities, more local trips and more long- he didn’t believe in the company’s “core
ethics officer, Rob Chesnut, wrote a book and even a print magazine. term stays. values” but could perform them well
called “Intentional Integrity.” As the company grew, Mr. Chesky be- enough to pass the job interview and
Inside the San Francisco company’s gan talking of a world where digital no- DISSENT IN THE “AIRFAM” teach others to do the same.
airy, plant-filled offices, the positive mads healed divisions with in-person Two days after the layoffs, the questions Airbnb said it had concluded that the
JESSICA CHOU FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
vibes were also plentiful. Employees connections. came thick and fast in the employee Q. letter’s “most serious allegations” were
surprised one another by raising their Chesky’s layoffs script, which was pub- nial and grief when he was let go. “I think in the future, people won’t and A. inside Awedience, Airbnb’s virtu- not supported and had taken “appropri-
arms to form celebratory human tun- lished on the company blog, got more “There are a lot of people who feel travel — they’ll just be mobile,” he pre- al meeting software, according to five ate action,” but it did not specify what
nels, held dog “pawties” in conference than one million views and was praised very betrayed by this,” he said. “I deeply dicted in 2013. “People are going to be people who attended. that was. Mr. Shi did not respond to a re-
rooms designed to look like actual as compassionate, empathetic and a hope that Airbnb is able to remain the living a month here, a few weeks there, Some workers asked why there had- quest for comment. Skift, a travel indus-
Airbnb listings and were serenaded on “lesson in leadership.” At a question- thing that I believed in.” four months somewhere else.” Airbnb n’t been furloughs or broader pay cuts try publication, had reported earlier on
their birthdays by the company’s a cap- and-answer session about the job cuts A company spokesman said it “has was not just renting vacation homes, the instead of layoffs. Others asked why cer- the letter.
pella group, Airbnbeats. New employ- later, Mr. Chesky and his co-founders of- been a difficult time for everyone.” He idea went, it was building a “United Na- tain groups had been chosen for cuts Mr. Chesky said he remained opti-
ees, who were screened for empathy in fered a standing ovation to the employ- added, “The more than 5,000 people tions around the kitchen table.” and why the company couldn’t trim mistic. The company has been promot-
job interviews, were welcomed “home” ees they had let go. Clapping and heart who work at Airbnb are incredibly moti- His philosophy crystallized in 2018 more perks, like its budget for renting ing signs of recovery, like a growing
and told: “You belong here.” emojis from audience members filled vated and enthusiastic because they be- when he presented a plan for “stake- office plants. number of bookings within driving dis-
So in March, when the coronavirus the screen. lieve in our mission.” holder” capitalism: In contrast to Wall Mr. Chesky said the situation was too tance and adoption of its “virtual experi-
hurtled in, the rupturing of the “Airfam” But more than a dozen current and In a podcast interview in May with Street’s focus on quarterly financial re- uncertain for furloughs and pay cuts, ences.” In a virtual meeting last week,
was painful. Airbnb, which had been on former Airbnb employees, most of Eric Ries, a fellow entrepreneur, Mr. ports and daily stock moves, Mr. Chesky calling those temporary measures. Lay- Mr. Chesky told Airbnb workers that the
track to go public this year, suddenly whom declined to be identified because Chesky acknowledged a disconnect. aspired to a capitalism that had an “infi- offs were mapped to the future business company would resume work on its
faced an avalanche of travel cancella- they had signed nondisparagement “How does a company whose mission nite time horizon” and was good for soci- strategy, he added. A spokesman said plans to go public.
tions. Revenue evaporated. Weeks later, agreements with the company, said in is centered around belonging have to ety. the company spent only a small amount He also reflected on the last four
Mr. Chesky announced the layoffs and interviews that they had experienced a tell thousands of people they can’t be at That philosophy imbued many areas on landscaping and related services. months, which he said had been “trau-
scaled back the company’s ambitions. sudden disillusionment when the care- the company anymore?” he said. “It was of work for Airbnb employees. Part of One area hit by layoffs was Airbnb’s matizing in some ways.” The crisis
“Everything that kind of could go fully crafted corporate idealism a very, very difficult thing to face.” their performance reviews, for instance, safety team, which handles situations showed him that Airbnb had strayed
wrong did go wrong,” he said in an inter- cracked. were based on how well they embodied like shootings and assaults at its rentals. from its roots as a place for people to
view. “It felt like everything stopped Kaspian Clark, 38, who worked in “EMBRACE THE ADVENTURE” the start-up’s core values, three former When a fatal shooting at a party in connect, and he planned to rectify that.
working at the same time.” customer support in Portland, Ore., for Airbnb was built not on a genius techno- employees said. “Embrace the adven- Orinda, Calif., made national headlines “Something we can never lose,” Mr.
From the outside, Airbnb’s commit- around two years, said he had fully logical innovation or a meticulous busi- ture” was sometimes used to justify dif- last fall, the company banned unauthor- Chesky said, “is being true to ourselves,
ment culture appeared intact. Mr. bought into Airbnb’s mission and felt de- ness school PowerPoint, but on the idea ficult situations, they said, and “cham- ized parties at rentals and announced being different, being special.”
Coasts are clear, but few tourists are showing up
TOURISM,FROM PAGE1 This month, hundreds of thousands of sharply with the picture that emerged relocated there at the last minute by
countries, would have to quarantine on Spaniards were placed back under tem- from the Canary Islands in late January, their travel agents because the hotels
arrival, a move that essentially choked porary lockdown by the regional au- when the archipelago recorded Spain’s they had booked were still closed.
off British tourism. thorities in Catalonia and Galicia after first coronavirus case, a German tourist “A week before leaving Germany, I
And Britons have traditionally been new outbreaks. Mr. García Pastor said who tested positive on the island of La wasn’t sure that this vacation could ac-
the top visitors to the Algarve, the south- some clients had canceled their book- Gomera. tually go ahead, but I had reached the
ern region of Portugal. Britain’s action ings as soon as they heard about the new Weeks later, one of the large hotels on point where I desperately needed time
drew fire from Augusto Santos Silva, restrictions. Tenerife, the H10 Costa Adeje Palace, away from my hospital work and no
Portugal’s foreign minister, who called it “Tourism is extremely reactive, for became the first European resort to lock longer really cared about which hotel I
“absurd.” Still, Portugal has recorded a better or worse,” he said. down after the virus was detected would stay in,” said Svetlana Arsenije-
strong uptick in coronavirus cases, In the Canary Islands, home to more among Italian guests. vic, an anesthetist from Halle, Germany.
many of them in municipalities sur- than two million full-time residents, offi- But as the virus rampaged across A Swiss tourist, Anaïs Zufferey, said
rounding its capital, Lisbon. cials have trumpeted their strict safety mainland Spain, the islands quickly that she and her sister not only had to
Outbreaks have also occurred around measures and their low coronavirus brought their own outbreaks under con- switch hotels at the last minute, they
major tourism hubs like Barcelona, caseload, less than 1 percent of the na- trol. The archipelago has reported 162 also had to set off from Zurich a day later
where about three million residents tion’s total. The archipelago’s hotels re- deaths, according to the latest official than planned because their initial flight
were told on Friday to stay indoors to quire guests to wear face masks in the Spanish data, out of 28,420 nationwide. was canceled.
help contain the coronavirus. lobbies and other indoor areas, and they Travel within the Canary archipelago “It’s a holiday that has required us to
Carlos García Pastor, the marketing limit the number of people who can has continued. Smaller islands like El be very flexible,” Ms. Zufferey said.
director of Logitravel Group, a Spanish lounge around their swimming pools. Hierro that do not have an international But their journey from Tenerife’s air-
travel operator that had revenue of The protocols drew praise from Zurab airport have reported an influx of Cana- port to their hotel was more than com-
about €800 million last year, said that his Pololikashvili, the secretary general of rians this summer. fortable — they were the only pas-
company expected earnings to drop at the World Tourism Organization, an But across the islands the doors re- sengers on a 50-seat shuttle bus.
least 50 percent this year. agency of the United Nations, after his main shut to many of the large resorts
The final result, he said, “will really visit to tourism destinations in Italy and PETROS GIANNAKOURIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS normally filled by international package Elisabetta Povoledo contributed report-
depend on how many new outbreaks Spain this month. Travelers from the United Kingdom arriving at Athens International Airport, where tours. At the recently reopened Adeje ing from Rome, and Niki Kitsantonis
there are.” That portrait of safety contrasts passenger traffic was reported to be 75 percent less than a year ago. Palace, some guests said they had been from Athens.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 | 9
Opinion
Russia and China add to Syria’s misery
With a U.N.
veto, Moscow
and Beijing
are restrict-
ing aid
to Syria’s
suffering
civilians in
their effort
to prop up
Bashar
al-Assad.
RAMI AL SAYED/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
crossing point to remain open for the hospitals and civilian centers across which jeopardize the lives of Syrians, off this lifesaving assistance to the Syr- A displaced
James Risch
next 12 months. Sadly, this one crossing Syria. Yet, the Russian regime’s active show that Beijing is not shy about med- ian people. This is not a confrontation Syrian boy with
will not be nearly enough for the mil- participation in efforts to oppress and dling outside its borders. The United between the United States and Russia packages of
lions of Syrians who continue to depend deny relief to the Syrian people should States supports the human rights of the and China. It is the entire world versus humanitarian
on U.N. assistance to survive. come as no surprise. After all, this is Syrian people, just as we do the Ui- Russia and China. aid at a camp
Earlier this month in the United Nations This nefarious alliance within the how Russia’s leaders treat their own ghurs, Tibetans and other persecuted In 12 months, when the Syria border- along the border
Security Council, the world saw a pre- Security Council is depriving millions of citizens. minorities in China crossing resolution comes up for re- with Turkey in
view of what Russian and Chinese innocent civilians, including children, of Second, China has As Russia and China continue to show newal again, Russia and China will February.
global “leadership” looks like: a world essential food, medicine and care, all in It is imperative no credible interest their true colors, it is important to re- almost assuredly again be on the wrong
order where the most vulnerable suffer the interest of solidifying the so-called in the Syrian con- member that the Americans are among side of humanity. These actions high-
that we push
for the political gains of those at the top. legitimacy of the murderous regime of flict, yet it continues the largest humanitarian aid providers light the attitude of China and Russia on
back against
Twice, Russia and China vetoed U.N. Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad. No to veto resolutions to the Syrian people. The United States the international stage, where callous
this behavior
resolutions which would have ensured truly great power would behave in this that would provide is leading the way on holding Mr. Assad indifference toward the rest of humanity
that lifesaving humanitarian aid could way. now. lifesaving assist- accountable for the crimes he has com- is the trademark of their foreign policy.
reach millions of suffering Syrians The recent events at the United Na- ance — the over- mitted, and we will continue to stand It is imperative that we push back
through vital border crossings. The tions have confirmed Vladimir Putin’s whelming majority with the Syrian people by working against this behavior now. If we do not,
remaining 13 members of the Security and Xi Jinping’s priorities. First, Russia of which is provided by the West — to toward a political solution. Syrians we will repeat this same fight for years
Council, along with U.N. leaders and continues to reach new lows in its quest the Syrian people. The world has wit- deserve a better and brighter future. to come. For the sake of the Syrian peo-
nongovernmental organizations serv- to maintain a foothold in Syria and along nessed the horrific human rights Going forward, the United States, the ple, and the rest of the world, we must
ing Syrians, strongly and publicly advo- the Mediterranean. Russia protects the abuses the Chinese Communist Party rest of the U.N. Security Council, private not let them win.
cated for the renewal and reopening of brutal Assad regime without regard for commits at home, including those aid groups and other United Nations
three border crossings. But after days of its atrocities against the Syrian people. against Uighurs and Tibetans. The agencies need to increase the pressure JAMES RISCH, an Idaho Republican,
intense negotiations, the resolution that The United Nations has reported that party claims these are internal matters, on Russia and China. The world needs chairs the Senate Foreign Relations
passed allows only one northwestern Russia has assisted in the bombing of yet China’s actions in the Middle East, to know who is responsible for cutting Committee.
Would Prophet Muhammad convert Hagia Sophia?
the city of Najran to worship in his own because they had ultimately agreed on a
Turkey’s Mustafa Akyol mosque. He also signed a treaty with peaceful surrender. The cities that re-
decision Contributing Writer them, which read: sisted Muslim conquerors, however,
“There shall be no interference with were fair game for plunder, enslave-
to change
the practice of their faith. ... No bishop ment, and conversion of their churches.
the former
will be removed from his bishopric, no In the words of the Turkish scholar
cathedral The recent decision by the Turkish monk from his monastery, no priest Necmeddin Guney, this legitimatization
government to reconvert the majestic from his parish.” of conversion of churches came from not
into a
Hagia Sophia, which was once the This religious pluralism was also the Quran nor the Prophetic example,
mosque flies world’s greatest cathedral, from a mu- reflected in the Quran, when it said God but rather “administrative regulation.”
against the seum back to a mosque has been bad protects “monasteries, churches, syna- The jurists who made this case, he adds,
news for Christians around the world. gogues, and mosques in which the name “were probably trying to create a society
pluralist
They include Pope Francis, who said he of God is much mentioned.” (22:40) It is that makes manifest the supremacy of
instincts was “pained” by the move, and the the only verse in the Quran that men- Islam in an age of religion wars.”
of Islam’s spiritual leader of Eastern Christianity, tions churches — and only in a reveren- Another scholar, Fred Donner, an
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, tial tone. expert on early Islam, argues that this
founders.
who said he was “saddened and shak- To be sure, these theological affinities political drive even distorted records of
en.” When contrasted with the joy of did not prevent political conflicts. Nor the earlier state of affairs. For example,
Turkey’s conservative Muslims, all this did they prevent Muslims, right after later versions of the amangiven to the
may seem like a new episode in an old the Prophet’s passing, from conquering Christians of Damascus allotted Mus-
story: Islam vs. Christianity. Christian lands, from Syria to Spain. Yet lims “half of their homes and churches.”
But some Muslims, including myself, still, the early Muslim conquerors did CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES In the earlier version of the document,
are not fully comfortable with this something uncommon at the time: Hagia Sophia in Istanbul on Friday. there was no such clause.
historic step, and for a good reason: They did not touch the shrines of the When the Ottomans reached the gates
forced conversion of shrines, which has subjugated peoples. of Constantinople in 1453, Islamic atti-
occurred too many times in human The Prophet’s spirit was best exem- ... nor shall their crosses be removed.” the Mount, on which the Mosque of tudes had long been imperialized, and
history in all directions, can be ques- plified by his second successor, or ca- The Christian historian Eutychius Umar and the Dome of the Rock were also toughened in the face of endless
tioned even from a purely Islamic point liph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, soon after even tells us that when Caliph Umar built. conflicts with the Crusaders. Using a
of view. his conquest of Jerusalem in the year entered the city, the patriarch of Jerusa- In other words, Islam entered Jerusa- disputed license of the Hanafi school of
To see why, look closely into early 637. The city, which had been ruled by lem, Sophronius, invited him to pray at lem without really converting it. Even jurisprudence they followed, they con-
Islam, which was born in seventh cen- Roman Christians for centuries, had the holiest of all Christian shrines: the “four centuries after the Muslim con- verted Hagia Sophia and a few other
tury Arabia as a monotheist campaign been taken by Muslims after a long and Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Umar quest,” as the Israeli historian Oded Peri major churches. But they also did other
against polytheism. The Prophet Mu- bloody siege. Christians feared a mas- politely declined, saying that Muslims observes, “the urban landscape of things that represent the better values of
hammad and his small group of believ- sacre, but instead found aman, or safety. might later take this as a reason to Jerusalem was still dominated by Chris- Islam: They gave full protection to not
ers saw the earlier monotheists — Jews Caliph Umar, “the servant of God” and convert the church into a mosque. He tian public and religious buildings.” only Greek but also Armenian Chris-
and Christians — as allies. So when “the commander of the faithful,” gave instead prayed at an empty area that Yet Islam was becoming the religion tians, rebuilt Istanbul as a cosmopolitan
those first Muslims were persecuted in them security “for their possessions, Christians ignored but Jews honored, of an empire, which, like all empires, city, and soon also welcomed the Span-
pagan Mecca, some found asylum in the their churches and crosses.” He further then as now, as their holiest site, the had to justify its appetite for hegemony. ish Jews who were fleeing the Catholic
Christian kingdom in Ethiopia. Years assured: Temple Mount, where today the West- Soon, some jurists found an excuse to Inquisition.
later, when the Prophet ruled Medina, “Their churches shall not be taken for ern Wall, the last remnant of that an- overcome the Jerusalem model: There, Today, centuries later, the question for
he welcomed a group of Christians from residence and shall not be demolished cient Jewish temple, rises to the top of Christians were given full security, AKYOL,PAGE11
..
10 | TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
opinion
The tenacity of the Franco-American ideal
A.G. SULZBERGER,Publisher
DEAN BAQUET,Executive Editor MARK THOMPSON,Chief Executive Officer
JOSEPH KAHN,Managing Editor STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSON,President, International
TOM BODKIN, Creative Director CHARLOTTE GORDON, V.P., International Consumer Marketing
Roger Cohen
SUZANNE DALEY, Associate Editor HELEN KONSTANTOPOULOS, V.P.,International Circulation
HELENA PHUA, Executive V.P., Asia-Pacific
KATHLEEN KINGSBURY, Editorial Page Editor SUZANNE YVERNÈS, International Chief Financial Officer
PARIS Perhaps the root of the mutual
fascination that binds France and the
United States is that each sees itself as
an idea, a model of some kind for the rest
REACHING THE LIMITS OF BROADBAND of the world. This is an immodest but
tenacious notion, bound up with the
When Autumn Lee, a pre-med junior at the University of founding articles and myths of both
In pandemic- republics. No other countries make such
New Mexico, needs to download lectures or class as-
plagued claims for the universality of their
signments, she hops in her car and drives 45 minutes to virtue.
America,
the McDonald’s nearest to her town of Sanders, Ariz., to These are now unfashionable ideas,
high-speed having their roots in the white patriar-
connect to reliable Wi-Fi from her car.
chal societies of the late 18th century.
internet
Like Ms. Lee, many other Americans sheltering from Beware of fashion. It may overcor-
connections
Covid-19 are discovering the limitations of the country’s rect. I will try to explain.
are a civil In France, the Declaration of the
cobbled-together broadband service. Schooling, jobs,
Rights of Man and of the Citizen,
rights issue.
government services, medical care and child care that adopted in 1789 as the expression of the
once were performed in person have been turned over ideals of the French Revolution, states
in its first article: “Men are born and
to the web, exposing a deep rift between the broadband
remain free and equal in rights.” The
haves and have-nots.
declaration defines these natural rights
Those rifts are poised to turn into chasms, as the as “liberty, property, security, and re- DAMON WINTER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
global pandemic threatens another year of in-person sistance against oppression,” and says The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
that liberty “consists of doing anything
schooling for American children. Large public-school
which does not harm others.”
districts like Los Angeles and Prince George’s County in Thirteen years earlier, in its Declara- Woman and the Female Citizen was comes unpardonable. Can a slave owner “atrocities.”
Maryland, as well as a variety of colleges and universi- tion of Independence, the United States written in France in 1791 by the French be celebrated for penning a liberating The United States has never formally
set out certain “self-evident” truths: feminist Olympe de Gouges.) And what sentence? How can a progressive so- apologized for slavery. President Clin-
ties, from Hampton to Harvard to Scripps, have can-
“that all men are created equal, that of Black slaves, their value set in the cialist French president, François Mit- ton, in Africa more than two decades
celed in-school instruction at the start of the coming they are endowed by their Creator with Constitution at 60 percent of a free terrand, have been an official of the ago, managed to say that “we were
year. certain unalienable Rights, that among human being? Let’s rephrase the sen- Vichy regime? Because the second- wrong” to have “received the fruits of
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of tence: All white male property owners most conspicuous feature of human the slave trade.” That was all he could
Other districts will surely follow, as the raging conta-
Happiness.” The right to govern are created equal. Not much of a ring to beings is their contradictory natures. muster.
gion in their communities gives them little alternative. stemmed “from the consent of the gov- it, but has the merit “I don’t think any people enjoys root- Now, in the midst of another push to
An adequate connection is no longer a matter of conven- erned.” Over the ensuing 15 years, these Can a slave of accuracy. ing around in the unpleasant parts of overcome America’s original sin, would
ideas were enshrined in the United And what of their past,” Robert Paxton, a prominent be a good moment for such an apology.
ience; it is a necessity for anyone wishing to participate owner be
States Constitution and Bill of Rights. France, trading in American historian whose ground- That, after all, is what democracies
in civil society. France and the United States were celebrated slaves well into the breaking work helped bring France to a like France and the United States are
for writing
Service is often unavailable or too expensive in rural intertwined as political allies, but also as 19th century, usher- full understanding of the crimes of the capable of: continuous adjustment,
twinned sources of Enlightenment aliberating ing Jews to emanci- Vichy regime, told me. “Denial is often improvement, recognition of past mis-
communities and low-income neighborhoods. This has
principles. Thomas Jefferson, a slave sentence? pation through the ineradicable. I think on the whole the takes, atonement, progress toward their
forced people into parking lots outside libraries, schools owner, influenced the formulation of the principles of the French came out of it quicker than we ideals. If they are, it is thanks in large
and coffee shops to find a reliable signal — while others French Declaration and was an author revolution only to did.” part to the flawed brilliance of the archi-
of America’s founding laws. contribute to their mass murder during It took more than a half-century, until tects, direct or indirect, of the two re-
are simply staying logged off. At the same time, there is
The revolutions were sweeping. World War II, fighting a savage colonial 1995, for France, in the person of Presi- publics.
pressure on small businesses that are still using pen and There was nothing “self-evident” about war in Algeria between 1954 and 1962? dent Jacques Chirac, to acknowledge We can and should acknowledge their
paper to modernize or face extinction. them. Out with monarchy, in with “We So, a cry goes up. These pretensions that the French state, and not some flaws without denigrating their achieve-
the people.” Out with divine right, in of embodying ennobling ideals for handful of misguided Vichy operatives, ment in spreading the ideas of liberty,
Yet, federal and local initiatives have failed to bring
with human rights. Out with rule by humankind were false, reflecting no had “committed the irreparable” in free expression and the rule of law
swift internet service to tens of millions of Americans.
edict, in with the separation of powers more than the narrow worldview of sending some 76,000 French and foreign across the face of the earth. The words
Like electricity, internet service has become a necessity and the rule of law. So, falteringly, began 18th-century white males whose talk of Jews to their deaths. It was more than a that issued from Paris and Philadelphia
for modern life. the liberal democratic experiment, now equal rights was shot through with half-century after France left Algeria between 1776 and 1791 have served the
under attack. exploitative hypocrisy. that Emmanuel Macron, while a candi- cause of freedom, even if they were the
Efforts to fix this inequity extend back at least as far
The experiment was as flawed as The perfect becomes the enemy of the date for the French presidency in 2017, product of minds and cultures foreign to
as 2009, when Congress directed the Federal Communi- Jefferson himself. All men are created good. In an age of absolutist moral called the French colonization of Algeria the Great Awokening of recent years,
cations Commission to develop a plan to get broadband equal. Sounds good, but what about certainty, the most conspicuous feature “a crime against humanity” and later, as whose own chief flaw may prove to be
women? (A Declaration of the Rights of of humankind — its fallibility — be- president, acknowledged French self-righteous intolerance.
service to nearly every American.
Some 21 million still lack it, according to commission-
ers’ estimates. Yet that might be an underestimate: One
study puts it far higher, at around 42 million. The Pew A doctor versus a denier
Research Center said as many as one in four rural
Americans lack high-speed internet service, because of
a worsening pandemic?
either the cost or a lack of availability. Microsoft and
The administration acted like Peter
others have disputed the F.C.C.’s data, which relies on Navarro, Trump’s wacko-bird trade
self-reporting from internet service providers — report- adviser, had gone rogue when he as-
sailed Dr. Fauci for being Dr. Wrong, in a
ing that can indicate an entire census block has service
USA Today op-ed. But does anyone
even if service is provided to just one household within
believe that? And if he did, would he still
Maureen Dowd
the area. have his job?
No doubt it was a case of Trump mur-
Getting an accurate count of where broadband is
muring: Will no one rid me of this med-
needed is critical, because it helps federal programs like
dlesome infectious disease specialist?
the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund determine where to Republicans on Capitol Hill privately
spend to expand broadband’s reach, meaning the Op- WASHINGTON Never mind Johnny confessed they were baffled by the
Depp and Amber Heard. whole thing, saying they couldn’t under-
portunity Fund’s $20.4 billion in planned outlays over
You want to see a real can’t-look-away stand why Trump would undermine
the next 10 years could still leave many Americans be- train wreck of a relationship? Look to Fauci, especially now with the virus
hind. Two of the F.C.C.’s five commissioners dissented America’s capital, where a messy falling resurgent. They think it’s not only hurt-
out is chronicled everywhere from the ing Trump’s re-election chances, but
over parts of the funding, citing the faulty accounting.
tabloids to a glossy fashion magazine, theirs, too.
Two bills passed by the House last year would help replete with a photo shoot by a swim- As though it couldn’t get more absurd, POOL PHOTO BY AL DRAGO
improve how broadband’s reach is counted. These bills ming pool. Kellyanne Conway told Fox News on Dr. Anthony Fauci trusts science, making him a White House outcast.
The saga has enough betrayal, back- Friday that she thinks it would help
are encouraging bipartisan steps toward addressing the
stabbing, recrimination, indignation Trump’s poll numbers for him to start
problem. and ostracization to impress Edith giving public briefings on the virus wily than everybody else. Now we’re through which we view everything
Also worthy of strong consideration is a bill intro- Wharton. again — even though that exercise went Slugs Bunny. now. Consider the shoot by his pool,
The press breathlessly covers how off the rails when the president began Can the country be any more pathetic photographed by Frankie Alduino, for
duced last month by Representative James Clyburn,
much time has passed since the pair last suggesting people inject themselves than this: The Georgia governor suing a digital cover story by Norah O’Don-
Democrat of South Carolina. It was followed by a Senate spoke, whether they’re headed for with bleach. the Atlanta mayor and City Council to nell for InStyle magazine.
version this month, that would devote $100 billion to- splitsville, and if they can ever agree on “How did we get to a situation in our block their mandate for city residents to From the left, the picture repre-
what’s best for the children. country where the public health official wear masks? sented an unflappable hero, exhausted
ward making broadband accessible in underserved
It was always bound to be tempestu- most known for Trump promised the A team, but he and desperately in need of some R & R,
areas. But Republicans have indicated that they are not ous because they are the ultimate odd Anthony honesty and hard has surrounded himself with losers and chilling poolside, not letting the White
likely to support it. couple, the doctor and the president. work is most vilified kiss-ups and second-raters. Just your House’s slime campaign get him down
Fauci’s at
One is a champion of truth and facts. for it?” marvels basic Ayn Rand nightmare. or silence him. And on the right, some
Today, broadband is a patchwork of infrastructure the pool,
The other is a master of deceit and Michael Specter, a Certainly, Dr. Fauci has had to adjust saw a liberal media darling, high on his
and services offered primarily by major corporations but Donald
denial. One is highly disciplined, work- science writer for some of his early positions as he learned own supply in the midst of a deadly
like Verizon and AT&T. But swaths of the country have ing 18-hour days. The other can’t be Trump’s The New Yorker about this confounding virus. (“When pandemic. “While America burns,
bothered to do his homework and golfs in deep. who began covering the facts change, I change my mind. Fauci does fashion mag photo shoots,”
been left with no service, either because of a lack of
instead. One is driven by science and Fauci during the What do you do, sir?” John Maynard tweeted Sean Davis, co-founder of the
perceived profits or a lack of the political will to extend
the public good. The other is a public AIDs crisis. “And as Keynes wisely observed.) right-wing website The Federalist.
fiber to harder-to-reach communities. menace, driven by greed and ego. One is Team Trump trashes him, the numbers “Medicine is not an exact art,” Jerome It’s no coincidence that the QAnon-
Universal broadband will be costly, but shelter-in- a Washington institution. The other was keep horrifyingly proving him right.” Groopman, the best-selling author and adjacent cultists on the right began
sent here to destroy Washington institu- When Dr. Fauci began treating AIDs professor at Harvard Medical School, circulating a new conspiracy theory in
place orders have demonstrated that it is even more
tions. One is incorruptible. The other patients, nearly every one of them died. put it. “There’s lots of uncertainty, al- the fever swamps of Facebook that Dr.
costly to leave so many Americans behind. corrupts. One is apolitical. The other “It was the darkest time of my life,” he ways evolving information, much room Fauci’s wife of three and a half dec-
“People are afraid of the price tag,” said Mr. Clyburn, a politicizes everything he touches — told Specter. In an open letter, Larry for doubt. The most dangerous people ades, a bioethicist, is Ghislane
toilets, windows, beans and, most fa- Kramer called Fauci a “murderer.” are the ones who speak with total au- Maxwell’s sister. (Do I need to tell you
co-sponsor of the bill along with Representative Fred
tally, masks. Then, as Specter writes, he started thority and no room for error.” she isn’t?)
Upton, Republican of Michigan. “We can’t afford not to After a fractious week, when the listening to activists and made a rare Sound like someone you know? Worryingly, new polls show that the
do it.” former reality-show star in the White admission: His approach wasn’t work- “Medical schools,” Dr. Groopman smear from Trumpworld may be start-
House retweeted a former game-show ing. He threw his caution to the winds continued, “have curricula now to teach ing to stick; fewer Republicans trust
Perhaps more daunting is the challenge of providing
host saying that we shouldn’t trust and became a public-health activist. students the imperative of admitting the doctor now than in the spring.
service that is speedy and at a price that even lower- doctors about Covid-19, Donald Trump Through rigorous research and commit- when something went wrong, taking Forget Mueller, Sessions, Comey,
income Americans can afford. One study found that and Anthony Fauci are gritting their ment to clinical studies, the death rate responsibility, and committing to right- Canada, his niece, Mika Brzezinski. Of
teeth. from AIDs has plummeted over the ing it.” the many quarrels, scrapes and scraps
poorer Americans can afford only $10 a month for inter-
What’s so scary is that the bumpy years. Some are saying the 79-year-old Dr. Trump has instigated in his time in
net service. But such service is typically at far slower course of their relationship has life-or- Now Fauci struggles to drive the data Fauci should say to hell with it and quit. office, surely this will be remembered
speeds than what is available in more affluent neighbor- death consequences for Americans. bus as the White House throws nails But we need his voice of reason in this not only as the most needless and
Who could even dream up a scenario under his tires. It seems emblematic of a nuthouse of a White House. perverse, but as the most dangerous.
hoods, or for free at Starbucks.
where a president and a White House deeper, existential problem: America Despite Dr. Fauci’s best efforts to stay As Dr. Fauci told The Atlantic, it’s “a
Drawing Wi-Fi from school buses and fast-food drop oppo research on the esteemed has lost its can-do spirit. We were al- apolitical, he has been sucked into the bit bizarre.”
restaurants isn’t a long-term solution. scientist charged with keeping us safe in ways Bugs Bunny, faster, smarter, more demented political kaleidoscope More than a bit, actually.
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