20200703-The New York Times International Edition

2020·4.72 MB·English

WINE EXPERTS ART THAT MOVES WHAT LOCKDOWN?
ON BEING BLACK MILTON GLASER’S WIND ENERGY
IN A WHITE FIELD GUIDING FORCE PROJECTS PRESS ON
BACK PAGE | LIVING PAGE 14 | CULTURE PAGE 7 | BUSINESS
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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | FRIDAY, JULY3, 2020
How China Europe
scammed may bounce
Hong Kong back faster
than the U.S.
Yi-Zheng Lian
Contributing Writer
BRUSSELS
OPINION
Pandemic turns the world
After many years of rejecting the into a laboratory to test
people of Hong Kong’s persistent de-
competing social systems
mands for genuine universal suffrage
and other rights, China made its posi-
tion clear again on Tuesday with the
BY STEVEN ERLANGER
legislative equivalent of a cracking
head bash. After the devastating financial crisis of
It chose the eve of July 1, a triple 2008 and 2009, the United States recov-
anniversary — of the birth of the Chi- ered much more quickly than Europe,
nese Communist Party (1921), the which underwent a double-dip reces-
handover of Hong Kong from Britain to sion. This time, many economists say,
China (1997) and a break-in of the Europe may have the edge.
city’s legislature by pro-democracy The main reason America did well
activists (2019) — to pass a draconian was the rapid response of the govern-
national security law that will forever ment and the flexible nature of the
harm Hong Kong’s political freedoms American economy, quick both to fire
and hobble its economic relations with workers but also to hire them again. Eu-
the rest of the world. rope, with built-in social insurance, tries
Hong Kong is a special administra- to keep workers from layoffs through
tive region of China with its own, sup- subsidies to employers, making it hard-
posedly independent, er to fire and more expensive to rehire.
It pays executive, legislative But this is a different kind of collapse,
and judiciary a mandated shutdown in response to a
to play the
branches. Yet the new pandemic, driving down both supply
long game
law was proposed in and demand simultaneously. And that
against
Beijing, drafted in difference creates the possibility that
people Beijing and promul- the European response, freezing the
who want gated in Beijing. economy in place, might work better
EUGENE HOSHIKO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
to be free. It went into force as Marches in Japan, like this one in Tokyo, in support of U.S. anti-racism demonstrations have prompted a backlash, including comments like, “This is an American issue.” this time.
soon as it was gazetted “It’s an important debate,’’ said Jean
on Tuesday night — Pisani-Ferry, a senior economist with
which was also the Protests in Japan face denial Bruegel in Brussels and the Peterson In-
first time its contents were released to stitute for International Economics in
the public. Washington. “This isn’t a normal reces-
The law criminalizes acts of seces- sion, and there’s a lot you don’t know, es-
sion, the subversion of state power, pecially if the virus comes back.’’
terrorism and “collusion with foreign By now, the coronavirus has turned
or external forces to endanger national have a lot of experience of seeing other the world into a giant laboratory of com-
TOKYO
security.” Some offenses in each of races,” said Yasumasa Fujinaga, an as- peting systems, each with its own way of
these categories are punishable with sociate professor of American studies at fighting the virus and mitigating the
life imprisonment. Property damage Japan Women’s University. “So they economic damage. The contrast be-
View of racism as problem
alone might amount to terrorism. don’t think racism exists.” tween Europe and the United States has
Especially severe cases may be abroad keeps country from But Japan has a longstanding history been particularly stark.
referred to the Supreme People’s Court of discrimination against minorities, in- Much of Europe resorted to strict
confronting discrimination
of China, to be tried by another court of cluding the descendants of Koreans lockdowns that mostly beat back the vi-
its choosing under the mainland’s law brought to Japan as forced labor before rus but capsized economies. In the
of criminal procedure, which allows for and during World War II; Indigenous United States, President Trump has giv-
BY MOTOKO RICH
capital punishment in some cases. The groups like the Ainu of the northern- en priority to getting the economy mov-
AND HIKARI HIDA
death penalty was abolished in Hong most island, Hokkaido; those whose lin- ing, even as infections have multiplied.
Kong in 1993, and no execution had As protests were spreading around the eage traces back to a feudal class of out- Nearly everywhere, governments
taken place since 1966. globe in response to George Floyd’s casts known as buraku; and mixed-race had to step in with support as the em-
The new law trumps any local laws killing by the police, Sierra Todd, an Af- individuals. phasis shifted to relief and recovery. The
that are inconsistent with it. A national rican-American undergraduate in Ja- The mistreatment of mixed-race peo- common denominator is debt. The In-
security commission will be set up in pan, organized a march last month in To- ple through their school years and be- ternational Monetary Fund is forecast-
the city, joined by a Beijing-appointed kyo to show solidarity with American yond has drawn particular attention, as ing that global debt will increase this
adviser, to oversee the law’s implemen- demonstrators. a growing number of biracial celebrities year by 19 percent, relative to gross do-
tation. Its work will not be made pub- She said she hoped it would prompt have spoken out. mestic product.
lic, nor will that be subject to judicial Japanese marchers to think about rac- In an emotional testimonial posted on But the contrast is not only about dif-
review. ism in their own country, too. “Of course, Twitter last month, Louis Okoye, a half- ferent systems. It is also about different
DAI KUROKAWA/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
The Hong Kong chief executive is to we want to talk about American issues, A woman at a march in Osaka held an umbrella with the names of Black Americans who Japanese, half-Nigerian professional wagers on how the pandemic will pro-
appoint special judges to hear national and Black Lives Matter is an American died in situations with the police. Japan has yet to reckon with its own discrimination. baseball player, described how he had ceed — which will make all the differ-
security cases. The city’s Secretary of thing,” said Ms. Todd, 19, who is study- often been bullied as a child in Japan be- ence in how long government relief can
Justice may deny a defendant a trial ing at Temple University’s campus in cause of the color of his skin. be sustained.
by jury. The ultimate power to inter- Tokyo. “But we also do live in Japan.” With images of America’s racial strife A vocal faction of Japanese conserva- “I would look out from the balcony of Already the different approaches are
pret the law rests with Beijing. A backlash quickly followed. Critics rolling across television screens, some tives endorses racist notions of blood- our home and think, if I jumped off and yielding different outcomes, not only in
Articles 37 and 38 appear to mean on social media accused participants of in Japan have insisted that institutional based purity. And the largely homo- was born again, maybe I can come back terms of infections and deaths — where
LIAN,PAGE11 disregarding the risks of spreading the racism is a faraway problem. That, ac- geneous population has often resisted as a normal Japanese person,” he wrote the United States leads the world — but
coronavirus. An interview with Ms. tivists and scholars say, is keeping the acknowledging difference or engaging in the post, which has been retweeted also in jobs, with unemployment soaring
The New York Times publishes opinion Todd that was posted on YouTube elic- public from more fully seizing the mo- in the kind of introspection about racism 52,000 times. Most of the comments in the United States while it remains
from a wide range of perspectives in ited comments that “This is an Ameri- ment to reckon with entrenched dis- and inequality that is playing out in the were overwhelmingly supportive. largely stable in Europe.
hopes of promoting constructive debate can issue” and “Please do this in your crimination against marginalized United States. Still, the conversation is shifting only The United States has provided an
about consequential questions. own country.” groups in Japan. “In essence, Japanese people don’t JAPAN,PAGE4 RECOVERY,PAGE8
An inconvenient resemblance to the top leader
closed repeatedly. Censors block com-
Beijing opera singer
ments on some of his instructional vid-
who looks like Xi Jinping eos, in which, sitting at home in a white
sweatshirt, he offers energetic tutorials
runs afoul of censors
on vocal warm-ups and singing bel
Netting Zero. A new virtual
canto.
BY JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ His experience is an offbeat manifes- events series on climate change,
tation of the ruling Communist Party’s
The long stares and startled whispers — obsession with controlling the internet. leading up to COP26.
Is that him?— begin as soon as Liu Ke- In China, the sensitive censors can en-
qing, an imposing Chinese baritone, en- snare even those who have no political Understand the challenges. Lead the change.
ters any room in China. With a square agenda. nytclimatehub.com/netting-zero
face, closely cropped black hair and a “I don’t understand,” Mr. Liu said in
portly figure, Mr. Liu bears a striking re- an interview, referring to the constant
semblance to Xi Jinping, China’s top censorship of his social media accounts.
leader. “Maybe the country has security con-
Mr. Liu, who has spent his career in cerns.”
opera houses, used to welcome the at- Under Mr. Xi, the authorities have
tention. But now, in China’s increasingly worked to seize greater control over the
authoritarian system, his resemblance thoughts and musings of China’s more
to Mr. Xi has drawn him into an Orwell- than 900 million internet users, leading
ian saga in which his name, his face and aggressive campaigns to stamp out dis-
his very likeness are considered sensi- sent, activism and even jokes.
tive by the Chinese authorities. The authorities are particularly cau-
Mr. Liu’s name has been censored on- tious about freewheeling discussions of
line. His social media accounts, which Mr. Xi, China’s most powerful leader in
ADAM WARZAWA/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
have featured photos of him dressed in a Liu Keqing performing in Poland in 2014. The censorship Mr. Liu has faced because of decades. Mr. Xi presents himself as a
suit and tie that evoke Mr. Xi, have been his resemblance to Xi Jinping reflects China’s obsession with controlling the internet. SINGER,PAGE2
NEWSSTAND PRICES Issue Number
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2 | FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
page two
Gifted actor and multifaceted master of comedy
CARL REINER
1922-2020
BY ROBERT BERKVIST
AND PETER KEEPNEWS
Carl Reiner, who as performer, writer
and director earned a place in comedy
history several times over, died on Mon-
day night at his home in Beverly Hills,
Calif. He was 98.
His death was confirmed by his
daughter, Annie Reiner.
Mr. Reiner first attracted national at-
tention in 1950 as Sid Caesar’s multital-
ented second banana on the television
variety show “Your Show of Shows,” for
which he was also a writer. A decade lat-
er, he created “The Dick Van Dyke
Show,” one of the most celebrated situa-
tion comedies in television history, and
teamed with Mel Brooks on the hugely
VINCE BUCCI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
successful “2000 Year Old Man”
records. His novel “Enter Laughing” be-
came both a hit Broadway play and the
first of many movies he would direct;
among the others were four of Steve
Martin’s early starring vehicles.
He won praise as an actor as well,
with memorable roles in films like “The
Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are
Coming” and, more recently, “Ocean’s
Eleven” and its sequels. But he spent
most of his career just slightly out of the
spotlight, letting others get the laughs.
His work was recognized by his peers,
by comedy aficionados and, in 2000, by
the Kennedy Center, which awarded
him the Mark Twain Prize for American
Humor. He was the third recipient, after
Richard Pryor and Jonathan Winters.
In his performances with Mr. Brooks
and Mr. Caesar, Mr. Reiner specialized in
portraying the voice of sanity, a calm
presence in a chaotic universe. But de-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
spite his claim to the contrary, he was Left, Carl Reiner with Mary Tyler Moore in “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Top, with Mel
never “just the straight man.” Brooks in 1999 with their Grammy Awards for “The 2000 Year Old Man In The Year
“He was a comedian himself, and he 2000.” Above, with Steve Martin in 1979, and below left, his Walk of Fame star.
truly understood and still understands
CBS VIA GETTY IMAGES
comedy,” Mr. Caesar said of Mr. Reiner
in his book “Caesar’s Hours” (2003), “The 2000 Year Old Man” began as an as the central character. Pacific. After his discharge, he joined tor in movies and in life.”
written with Eddy Friedfeld. “Most peo- act Mr. Reiner and Mr. Brooks per- The workplace scenes in “The Dick the road company of the musical revue Mr. Reiner returned to Broadway
ple still don’t realize the importance of a formed for friends at parties. When they Van Dyke Show” — featuring Morey “Call Me Mister” as the comic lead, and twice after moving west, but neither vis-
straight man in comedy, or how difficult put it on record, it became a phenom- Amsterdam and Rose Marie as Mr. Van within a year he was in the Broadway it was triumphant. In 1972, he directed
that role is. Carl had to make his timing enon. There were ultimately five “2000 Dyke’s fellow writers, with Mr. Reiner production. “Tough to Get Help,” a comedy by Steve
my timing.” Mr. Reiner was, Mr. Caesar Year Old Man” albums, one of which making occasional appearances as their During the 1949-50 television season Gordon about a Black couple working in
added, “the best straight man I’ve ever won a Grammy and all of which are boss, Alan Brady — were inspired by Mr. he was a regular on “The Fifty-Fourth an ostensibly liberal white household; it
worked with.” treasured by comedians and fans. Reiner’s time with Sid Caesar (although Street Revue,” a variety series, and in was savaged by the critics and closed af-
As part of a stellar supporting cast Mr. Brooks was the star of the largely Mr. Reiner insisted that his character 1950 he was back on Broadway in “Alive ter one performance. In 1980, he staged
that also included Imogene Coca and improvised routines, reflecting on what was only partly based on Mr. Caesar). and Kicking,” where he caught the eye of “The Roast,” by Jerry Belson and Garry
Howard Morris, Mr. Reiner proved his it was like to be two millenniums old The domestic scenes, with Mary Tyler Max Liebman, the mastermind of “Your Marshall, two writers he had worked
versatility week after week on “Your (none of his thousands of children ever Moore as Mr. Van Dyke’s wife, were set Show of Shows.” with on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
Show of Shows,” which ran from 1950 to visited) and reminiscing about histori- in New Rochelle, N.Y., where Mr. Reiner Mr. Reiner married Estelle Lebost in That play, about a group of comedians
1954 on NBC and established the tem- cal figures like Sigmund Freud (“He was lived at the time, and Ms. Moore’s char- 1943. She died in 2008. who expose their darker instincts when
plate for sketch comedy on television. a good basketball player; very few peo- acter was modeled on his wife, Estelle. In addition to his daughter, an author they gather to roast a colleague, ran for
ROBYN BECK/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
He played roles as varied as a harried ple know that”) and Shakespeare (“He Mr. Reiner later attributed the show’s and psychoanalyst, he is survived by his less than a week.
commuter, a frenzied rock ’n’ roller and had the worst penmanship I ever saw in success to the choice of “somebody with That same year he made his Broad- sons, Rob, known for directing “When The movies he directed after he
an unctuous quiz-show host. But he is my life”). But it was Mr. Reiner who more talent to play me.” way debut as a writer and director with Harry Met Sally,” “A Few Good Men,” stopped working with Mr. Martin did
probably best remembered as an inter- came up with the questions that lit Mr. Seen on CBS from 1961 until 1966, “Something Different,” the story of a “This Is Spinal Tap” and numerous only somewhat better. In his 70s, he de-
viewer, solemnly posing questions to a Brooks’s comedic fuse. “The Dick Van Dyke Show” won a total playwright suffering from writer’s other films and for his role as Archie cided that filmmaking demanded “just
mad professor, a spaced-out jazz musi- of 15 Primetime Emmy Awards for its block. It received generally good re- Bunker’s son-in-law on the ground- too much energy.” But he remained ac-
cian or some other over-the-top charac- cast and crew, five of them for Mr. Rei- views (Walter Kerr of The New York breaking sitcom “All in the Family,” and tive in front of the camera, notably as a
“The best straight man I’ve ever
ter played by Mr. Caesar. ner as writer and producer. (He won Times praised Mr. Reiner’s “nifty habit Lucas, a painter and filmmaker; and crook lured out of retirement by the
Mr. Reiner contributed behind the worked with.” nine Emmys in his career, including two of approaching a gag at high speed, five grandchildren. prospect of sharing in the loot from a
scenes as well. He took part in the fren- for his on-camera work on “Caesar’s passing it on the outside, and then notic- Las Vegas casino robbery in Steven
zied writing sessions that shaped the SID CAESAR, WHO TEAMED WITH CARL Hour,” one as a writer on a 1967 special ing where it went in the rearview mir- “THE JERK” AND BEYOND Soderbergh’s 2001 remake of the Frank
show, bouncing jokes off the walls of the REINER ON “YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS” that reunited the “Show of Shows” cast ror”) and had a respectable three- Mr. Reiner’s first major box-office suc- Sinatra caper film “Ocean’s Eleven.” He
writers’ room with the likes of Mr. and one for a guest appearance, as Alan month run. By that time, however, Mr. cess as a director was “Oh, God!” (1977), reprised the role in “Ocean’s Twelve”
Brooks and Neil Simon. Indeed, it was Mr. Reiner who sponta- Brady, on an episode of the sitcom “Mad Reiner’s focus had shifted westward. starring George Burns as a very down- (2004) and “Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007).
“I became a writer because of that neously started the ball rolling one day About You” in 1995.) It is widely re- He had already appeared in a number to-earth deity and John Denver as the On television he had recurring roles
room,” he recalled. “I’d say something during a quiet moment in the Caesar garded as one of the greatest sitcoms of of Hollywood movies when he and his man he chooses to spread his message. on the sitcoms “Hot in Cleveland” and
and somebody would yell: ‘What do you writers’ room. “I turned to Mel and I all time. family moved to Beverly Hills in the late Two years later, he teamed with Steve “Two and a Half Men” and guest-starred
know? You’re not a writer.’ So I became a said, ‘Here’s a man who was actually Someone else once again played Mr. 1960s, and he would continue to show up Martin, then at the height of his fame as on “Parks and Recreation,” “House” and
writer.” seen at the crucifixion 2,000 years ago,’” Reiner, or a character very much like onscreen occasionally. But for the next a comedian, for what proved to be a mu- other series. He also did voice-over
He characterized his later career he told The New York Times in 2009, him, on Broadway and in the movies. three decades, most of his work in Holly- tually rewarding collaboration. work for several cartoon shows.
moves with similar self-effacing humor “and his first words were ‘Oh, boy.’” “Enter Laughing,” his autobiographical wood was done behind the scenes. Mr. Reiner first directed Mr. Martin in Mr. Reiner wrote a number of books in
in an NPR interview: “I acted like a di- “I always knew if I threw a question to novel about a stage-struck delivery boy Carl Reiner was born in the Bronx “The Jerk” (1979), a film largely in- addition to “Enter Laughing,” including
rector. I acted like a producer. I sat in Mel he could come up with something,” from New York City who decides to be- borough of New York City on March 20, spired by Mr. Martin’s manic stand-up novels, children’s books and several
front of a typewriter and acted like a Mr. Reiner said. “I learned a long time come an actor, was published in 1958 1922, to Irving Reiner, a watchmaker, act. The critical response was luke- memoirs, among them “My Anecdotal
novelist.” ago that if you can corner a genius com- and adapted for the stage by Joseph and Bessie (Mathias) Reiner. After warm, but the movie was a box-office Life” (2003), “I Remember Me” (2013)
Mr. Reiner’s association with Mr. Cae- edy brain in panic, you’re going to get Stein, another former member of the graduating from Evander Childs High smash. and “Too Busy to Die” (2017). His
sar encompassed three different series: something extraordinary.” Caesar writing staff. With Alan Arkin in School in the Bronx, he went to work as a “The Jerk,” “Dead Men Don’t Wear daughter said another book would be
After “Your Show of Shows” the two As Mr. Brooks put it, “I would dig my- the lead role, it opened in 1963 and ran machinist’s helper and seemed headed Plaid” (1982), “The Man With Two published soon.
worked together on “Caesar’s Hour,” self into a hole, and Carl would not let me for more than 400 performances. for a career repairing sewing machines. Brains” (1983) and “All of Me” (1984) de- Toward the end of “I Remember Me,”
which had a three-year run on NBC, and climb out.” Then one day his older brother, Char- fined Mr. Martin’s onscreen persona as a Mr. Reiner said a friend of his had re-
“Sid Caesar Invites You,” a failed at- In 1960, the same year he and Mr. FROM ACTOR TO DIRECTOR lie, mentioned seeing a newspaper arti- lovable goofball and made him a movie cently asked if he had thought about re-
tempt to recapture the “Show of Shows” Brooks made their first album, Mr. Rei- When “Enter Laughing” was sold to cle about a free acting class being given star. They also established Mr. Reiner as tiring. Noting that his role on “Hot in
spirit that lasted less than one season on ner wrote and starred in a pilot for a TV Hollywood, Mr. Reiner shared screen- by the Works Progress Administration, an imaginative director — especially Cleveland” had given him “the opportu-
ABC in 1958. series, based on his own life, about a writing credit with Mr. Stein for the 1967 the New Deal jobs agency. Carl tried his “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” a black- nity to kiss Betty White — thrice — and
writer who works in New York for a film adaptation, starring Reni Santoni. hand at acting, found he was good at it, and-white spoof of film noir set in the on the lips,” he offered a succinct re-
THE PARTY PIECE larger-than-life, difficult-to-please co- It was Mr. Reiner’s third produced hung up his machinist’s apron and 1940s, in which he integrated clips fea- sponse: “Retire? I may be old, but I am
The next phase of Mr. Reiner’s career median. screenplay, after “The Thrill of It All” joined a theater troupe. turing actors like Humphrey Bogart and not crazy!”
found him again in the role of deadpan The show, “Head of the Family,” was (1963) and “The Art of Love” (1965). During World War II, Mr. Reiner Barbara Stanwyck into the action.
interviewer. This time the interviewee not picked up. It became a series only More important, it was the first film he served in an Army entertainment unit On Monday, Mr. Martin praised Mr. Derrick Bryson Taylor contributed re-
was Mr. Brooks. when it was recast with Dick Van Dyke directed. that toured American bases in the South Reiner on Twitter as “my greatest men- porting.
A singing Xi Jinping look-alike draws scrutiny from censors
SINGER,FROM PAGE1 Liu’s resemblance started to become a followers, but comments on many of his and “Liu Keqing Dada,” a reference to a
down-to-earth, accessible figure. But his liability. videos remain blocked across Chinese popular nickname for Mr. Xi, “Xi Dada,”
government obsessively manages his His account on TikTok, where he had social media platforms, including Tik- or Uncle Xi.
image, jailing critics for mocking him as built a following of nearly 300,000 peo- Tok, Weibo and Bilibili. “The idea of control has gone beyond
a “steamed bun” on social media and ple for his eccentric videos on vocal To evade censors, some commenters strategic purposes,” said Jennifer Pan,
censoring playful memes comparing techniques, was suddenly deleted. Mr. have taken to discussing Mr. Liu’s re- an assistant professor of communica-
him to Winnie the Pooh. Liu’s profile picture showed him wear- semblance to Mr. Xi, the leader of the tion at Stanford University who is an ex-
Mr. Liu is neither government critic ing a suit and red tie, which resembled Communist Party and the chairman of pert on Chinese censorship. “In the Xi
nor activist. He is best known as an arts some of Mr. Xi’s official portraits. the military, in cryptic ways. Jinping era, sometimes it’s control for
manager and opera singer who runs an Many people commented on the simi- the sake of having control.”
opera house in Beijing and has starred larities. One of Mr. Liu’s videos on the While Mr. Liu has never met Mr. Xi, he
“The idea of control has gone
in dozens of productions in China and bel canto style attracted more than once produced an opera that included a
elsewhere over the course of his 47-year 370,000 likes in two days, “not in support beyond strategic purposes.” leading role for Mr. Xi’s wife, the singer
career. of my good singing, but because I look Peng Liyuan. Mr. Liu said that if he had
About three years ago, though, people like a national leader,” Mr. Liu wrote at the opportunity to meet the president he
began looking at Mr. Liu differently, he the time on WeChat, a popular messag- “Thank you, chairman,” an internet would perform a song based on a poem
said. Tourists asked for selfies, strang- ing app. user wrote beneath a video of Mr. Liu that Mr. Xi wrote in 1990 to remember
ers gave him odd looks and flight attend- “In order to keep ‘trouble’ from stir- singing “My Chinese Heart,” a patriotic Jiao Yulu; Mr. Jiao was a model party
ants treated him with special gifts. They ring, they’ve blocked my TikTok video,” tune. On another video, a user said that cadre whom the Chinese leader often in-
were amazed at how much Mr. Liu, 63, Mr. Liu wrote. “Argh! What can be Mr. Liu had “the appearance of an em- vokes when speaking about the need to
resembled Mr. Xi, 67, who is roughly the done?” peror.” In yet another post, a user was eliminate corruption.
same height (5 feet 11 inches) and Mr. Liu tried to open several new ac- more direct: “Too scared to comment.” Mr. Liu, a self-described patriot who
MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
speaks in a similarly deep voice. Both Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese censors have taken aim at apolitical social media. counts but was blocked after internet Mr. Liu may have drawn scrutiny be- began his career as a singer in the
men are from Beijing. users reported that he had violated cause the authorities are worried his navy’s South Sea Fleet at age 16, said he
“They kept saying it,” Mr. Liu re- standards by using someone else’s im- page could provide a forum for criticism was not bothered by his brush with the
called. “But I didn’t feel I looked similar.” tractions in the southern province of Hu- $1.40, each. Last fall, when Mr. Xi was age. He denies that he has ever ex- of Mr. Xi and the government, experts censors and did not want to “make trou-
Mr. Liu was at first happy with the at- nan a few years ago, a line formed as preparing to preside over celebrations ploited the similarities with the Chinese said. Mr. Xi does not have an account on ble for the country.”
tention, though he told his friends and people asked him for photos. He spent marking the 70th anniversary of the leader for his own gain. Weibo or any social media presence. On “Others say we look alike, but I don’t
students, “Don’t talk nonsense,” when more than two hours posing for pictures founding of the People’s Republic of He was able to open an account after Baidu, the Chinese search engine, the dare have too many ideas on this,” he
they brought up the similarities. — so many that his friends joked he China — one of the most tightly con- he changed his profile photo to a man in most frequently searched terms for Mr. said. “I’m just a normal person and a
While Mr. Liu was visiting tourist at- should charge 10 renminbi, or about trolled spectacles of the decade — Mr. a yellow hat. He now has about 41,000 Liu are “Liu Keqing looks like someone,” normal artist.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 | 3
World
Hong Kong law stokes the fear factor
said she would step back from civic and
THE NEW NEW WORLD
political engagements because of the
death of her daughter in May.
At the same time, pro-democracy
City’s activists worry they
Hong Kong residents are deleting their
may suffer same fate as Twitter accounts for fear that their post-
ings could incriminate them under the
mainland China dissidents
new law. Writers are calling media out-
lets to delete past articles.
These are familiar sentiments in Bei-
BY LI YUAN
jing. After dozens of outspoken critics
After the Chinese legislature unani- were jailed and many more social media
mously passed the national security law accounts were deleted by censors in
that would curb free speech and pro- 2013 and 2014, liberal intellectuals went
tests in Hong Kong, my initial thought quiet. Writers and academics could no
was, “Is Hong Kong just like Beijing longer get their books and articles pub-
now?” lished. Their speeches and seminars
The first time I felt that Hong Kong were canceled. Human rights lawyers
was becoming like Beijing was in the were almost wiped out. Many journal-
spring of 2017. I had been invited to ists quit to become public relations man-
lunch with Chan Kin-man, a professor at agers for tech companies.
the Chinese University of Hong Kong Those were changes caused by exter-
and a co-founder of the 2014 Occupy nal forces. People were changing inter-
Central protests, which became known nally too. Gradually, most liberal intel-
as the Umbrella Movement. lectuals stopped writing and speaking
Only days before, he had been publicly, partly out of fear and partly out
charged over his role in the pro-democ- of a sense of futility.
racy protests. We sat in the garden of a Earlier this year, when many nation-
dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. Mr. alistic youths went after people who
Chan talked about how he was prepar- supported Fang Fang, the writer and
ing himself physically and psychologi- government critic in Wuhan, a software
cally for life in jail. program surfaced that could delete all
It was déjà vu for me. I’d had many social media postings with one click.
similar conversations with people in The young nationalists would dig into
Beijing over the years. Like Mr. Chan, these critics’ past posts on the Twitter-
they were intellectuals who aspired to like social media platform, Weibo, un-
bring democracy, liberty and justice to earth writings that they deemed anti-
China. Like Mr. Chan, they became China and label their authors as ene-
thorns in the government’s side because mies of the people. A novelist used the
they talked about, wrote about or orga- software to delete 11,000 of her posts on
nized activities to pursue those ideals. Weibo.
Since 2013, a growing number of ac- The law professor who sent “The Fed-
tivists, intellectuals and human rights eralist Papers” to his jailed friend had
lawyers have been detained by the au- nothing left to delete. He used to be ac-
LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
thorities. Most were released after a few tive on Weibo and had registered more
weeks, a few months, or a year. A couple than 300 accounts between 2009 and
of them are still behind bars. 2014. One after another, the accounts
For a while, jail was a popular topic at were deleted by the censors.
dinner tables. A man who spent a year in Now, he keeps an anonymous account
prison after the 1989 Tiananmen Square just for browsing. He used to be a prolific
crackdown liked to say that the guards writer but no longer has a desire to
and cellmates treated political prisoners write, both because no mainland pub-
with more respect in his time than they lisher would dare to publish his books
did now. A woman who was jailed for po- and because he’s worried that his writ-
litical reasons both in the late 1970s and ing could bring catastrophe to his family.
in 2014 compared her experiences then He told me last week that he felt
and now at a big welcome back dinner ashamed that he couldn’t be as brave as
on Christmas Eve. A man we call Xu Zhiyong, the dissident who wrote an
“Pangzi,” or “Fatty,” shed 60 pounds af- open letter to China’s leader, Xi Jinping,
ter a year behind bars. He talked about urging him to resign for mishandling the
how he was brutally beaten. The other coronavirus crisis. Mr. Xu, who had ear-
guests at the tables listened, then dis- lier served four years in prison for or-
cussed what they might do when that ganizing the New Citizens Movement,
day arrived, just like my conversation has been detained since February and
with Mr. Chan three years ago. was recently charged with “inciting sub-
Mr. Chan said he was trying to decide version against the state.”
what books he would take with him to I caught up with Mr. Chan after the
LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES ISAAC LAWRENCE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
jail. In Hong Kong, every inmate is al- Clockwise from top: A billboard for the new national security law in Hong Kong; Chan Kin-man, a co-founder of the city’s 2014 pro-democracy movement, being released from a passage of the national security law.
lowed to keep six books. We joked that it Hong Kong prison in March; the activist Joshua Wong, who has announced that he is planning to withdraw from the political group he co-founded. “With the law, we’re living in a big pris-
was great he had the freedom to choose on,” he said. “There’s no difference be-
his books. tween Hong Kong and Beijing now.”
In the mainland, prisoners have very deemed it not appropriate for inmates. of the national security law on Tuesday, I the same punishment as mainland dissi- ecutions, black jails, secret trials, forced In another sign of the rising anxiety
limited access to reading material. One Then the guard turned to “The Feder- wondered: Has the difference between dents, such as jail time and constant vis- confessions, media clampdowns and po- level in Hong Kong, his new book, “Chan
story a law professor likes to tell is that alist Papers.” The law professor, who Hong Kong and Beijing come down to its from state security officers. litical censorship,” he wrote on Twitter. Kin-man: Letters from Prison,” has sold
years ago, he tried to send two books to a faced potential retribution for speaking the books one is allowed to read in jail? An hour after the law’s approval in He was referring to the 40-year period of 2,000 copies in presale and bookstore or-
dissident friend in jail. out, said it was a book about patriotism. The new law allows for prosecuting Beijing, Joshua Wong, the activist who political repression in Taiwan when ders. Books like this usually sell only a
The guard rejected “Fortress Be- The guard waved it in. critics of the Chinese government in has become the best-known face of the more than 100,000 dissidents were im- few hundred copies, he said.
sieged,” a satirical novel about the lives Mr. Chan ended up reading 50 books Hong Kong. The law lays out new crimes Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, prisoned and at least 1,000 were execut- The demand wasn’t only driven by an
of Chinese intellectuals during World in jail. When he got out in March after in the territory like inciting separatism announced that he would withdraw ed. interest in the prison experience, he
War II. It is famous for the quote, “Mar- serving 11 months, he was seen holding and colluding with foreign powers. The from Demosisto, the political group he Two other co-founders of the group said. “Everyone needs to face the ques-
riage is like a fortress besieged: those the novel “Lives of Girls and Women” by government will also establish a new se- co-founded. also announced their withdrawals after tion: In an environment with diminish-
who are outside want to get in, and those Alice Munro. He looked happy, healthy curity agency in the territory. “From now on, Hong Kong enters a the passage of the law. A few days earli- ing freedom and growing suppression,
who are inside want to get out.” The and at peace with himself. This means the city’s pro-democracy new era of reign of terror, just like Tai- er, Anson Chan, another pro-democracy how are we going to keep cool and not
guard believed it was a “war book,” so, As I woke to the news of the passage protesters will most likely be subject to wan’s White Terror, with arbitrary pros- figure and the city’s former No. 2 official, crash?”
Hacking let China stalk its Muslim minority
countries — with tools that could hack ated. One type of Chinese malware, In June 2019, Lookout uncovered Chi-
TAIPEI, TAIWAN
their iPhones and siphon off their data. known as GoldenEagle after the words nese malware buried in an app called
Lookout’s latest analysis suggests hackers littered throughout their code Syrian News. The content was Uighur
that China’s mobile hacking campaign — an apparent reference to the eagles focused, suggesting China was trying to
Broad spying campaign
was broader and more aggressive than used for hunting in Xinjiang — was used bait Uighurs inside Syria into download-
tracked Uighurs who fled security experts, human rights activists as early as 2011. But its use picked up in ing their malware. That Beijing’s hack-
and spyware victims had realized. But 2015 and 2016. Lookout uncovered more ers would track Uighurs to Syria gave
to other countries, too
experts on Chinese surveillance say it than 650 versions of GoldenEagle mal- Lookout’s researchers a window into
should come as no surprise, given the ware and a large number of fake Uighur Chinese anxiety over Uighur involve-
lengths to which Beijing has gone to apps that function as a sort of Trojan ment in the Syrian civil war. Lookout’s
BY PAUL MOZUR
monitor Xinjiang. “We should think horse to spy on users’ mobile communi- researchers found similarly malicious
AND NICOLE PERLROTH
about smartphone surveillance being cations. apps tailored to Uighurs in Kuwait, Tur-
Before the Chinese police hung high- used as a way to track people’s inner life, The malicious apps mimicked so- key, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan
powered surveillance cameras and their everyday behavior, their trustwor- called virtual private networks, which and Pakistan.
locked up ethnic minorities by the hun- thiness,” said Darren Byler, a postdoc- are used to set up secure web connec- Researchers at other security re-
dreds of thousands in China’s western toral researcher at the University of Col- tions and view prohibited content inside search groups, like Citizen Lab, had pre-
region of Xinjiang, Chinese hackers orado, Boulder, who studies the surveil- China. They also targeted apps fre- viously uncovered various pieces of Chi-
went to work building malware, re- lance of minority populations. quently used by Uighurs for shopping, na’s mobile hacking campaign and
searchers say. In 2015, as Beijing pushed to crack video games, music streaming, adult linked them back to Chinese state hack-
The hacking campaign, which re- down on sporadic ethnic violence in Xin- media and travel booking, as well as ers. However, Lookout’s new report ap-
searchers at Lookout, the San Francisco jiang, the authorities grew “desperate” specialized Uighur keyboard apps. pears to be the first time researchers
mobile security company, said on to track online communications among Some offered Uighurs beauty and tradi- were able to piece these older cam-
GILLES SABRIÉ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wednesday had begun in earnest as far China’s western region of Xinjiang, which has a large Muslim Uighur population. Hid- Uighurs, which were growing quickly, tional-medicine tips. Others imperson- paigns with new mobile malware and tie
back as 2013 and continues to this day, den software was used to harvest data from the phones of millions of Uighurs. Mr. Byler said. Uighurs began to fear ated apps from Twitter, Facebook, QQ — them to the same groups.
was part of a broad but often invisible ef- that their online chats discussing Islam the Chinese instant messaging service “Just how far removed the state is
fort to pull in data from the devices that or politics were risky. Savvier Uighurs — and the search giant Baidu. from these operations is always the
know people best: their smartphones. and disguised themselves as commonly threat of American sanctions, President took to owning a second “clean phone,” open question,” said Christoph
Lookout found links between eight used apps in third-party websites. Some Xi Jinping of China struck an agreement said Mr. Byler, who lived in Xinjiang in Hebeisen, Lookout’s director of security
“Wherever China’s Uighurs are
types of malicious software — some pre- could remotely turn on a phone’s micro- with President Barack Obama in 2015 to 2015. intelligence. “It could be that these are
viously known, others not — that show phone, record calls or export photos, cease hacking American targets for On the streets of Xinjiang, the police going, however far they go, patriotic hackers, like the kind we have
how groups connected to China’s gov- phone locations and conversations on commercial gain. The agreement stuck began confiscating Uighurs’ phones. whether it was Turkey, Indonesia seen in Russia. But the targeting of Ui-
ernment hacked into Android phones chat apps. Others were embedded in for a time, with a significant drop in Chi- Sometimes they returned them months or Syria, the malware followed.” ghurs, Tibetans, the diaspora and even
used by Xinjiang’s largely Muslim Ui- apps that hosted Uighur-language nese hacks in the United States. later with new spyware installed. Other Daesh, in one case, suggests otherwise,”
ghur population on a scale far larger news, Uighur-targeted beauty tips, reli- Last fall, private researchers deter- times, people were handed back entirely he added, using another term for the Is-
than had been realized. gious texts like the Quran and details of mined that — over that same period — different phones. Officials visiting Ui- Once downloaded, the apps gave Chi- lamic State.
The timeline suggests the hacking the latest arrests of Muslim clerics. China had turned its most advanced ghur villages regularly recorded the se- na’s hackers a real-time window into One clue to the attackers’ identities
campaign was an early cornerstone in “Wherever China’s Uighurs are go- hacking tools on its own people. In over- rial numbers used to identify smart- their targets’ phone activity. They also came when Lookout’s researchers
China’s Uighur surveillance efforts that ing, however far they go, whether it was lapping discoveries, researchers at phones. They lined the streets with new gave China’s minders the ability to kill found what appeared to be test versions
would later extend to collecting blood Turkey, Indonesia or Syria, the malware Google, the security firm Volexity and hardware that tracked people’s phones their spyware on command, including of China’s malware on several smart-
samples, voice prints, facial scans and followed them there,” said Apurva Ku- the Citizen Lab at the University of To- as they walked past. when it appeared to suck up too much phones that were clustered in and
other personal data to transform Xin- mar, a threat intelligence engineer at ronto’s Munk School of Public Affairs The authorities dragged Uighurs off battery life. In some cases, Lookout dis- around the headquarters of the Chinese
jiang into a virtual police state. It also Lookout who helped unravel the cam- separately uncovered what amounted to detention camps for having two covered that all China’s hackers needed defense contractor Xi’an Tianhe De-
shows the lengths to which China’s paign. “It was like watching a predator to an advanced Chinese hack against phones or an antiquated phone, arbi- to do to get data off a target’s phone was fense Technology.
minders were determined to follow Ui- stalk its prey throughout the world.” phones belonging to Chinese Uighurs trarily dumping a phone, or not having a to send the user an invisible text mes- The company did not respond to
ghurs as they fled China for as many as A decade ago, the People’s Liberation and Tibetans throughout the world. phone at all, according to testimonials sage. The malware captured a victim’s emails requesting comment.
15 other countries. Army’s hackers were notable not so Google’s researchers found that hack- and government documents. data and sent it back to the attackers’
The tools the hackers assembled hid much for their sophistication as for the ers had infected websites frequented by Over that same period, Lookout said, phone via a text reply, then deleted any Paul Mozur reported from Taipei, and
in special keyboards used by Uighurs volume of their attacks. But under the Uighurs — inside China and in other China’s mobile hacking efforts acceler- trace of the exchange. Nicole Perlroth from San Francisco.
..
4 | FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
Contractor said to have moved Russian cash
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Afghan businessman
identified as link in plot
to kill American troops
BY MUJIB MASHAL,
ERIC SCHMITT,
NAJIM RAHIM
AND RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
He was a lowly drug smuggler, neigh-
bors and relatives say, then ventured
into contracting, seeking a slice of the
billions of dollars the U.S.-led coalition
was funneling into construction projects
in Afghanistan.
But he really began to show off his
wealth in recent years, after establish-
ing a base in Russia, though how he
earned those riches remained mysteri-
ous. On his regular trips home to north-
ern Afghanistan, he drove the latest
model cars, protected by bodyguards,
and his house was recently upgraded to
a four-story villa.
Now Rahmatullah Azizi stands as a
central piece of a puzzle rocking Wash-
ington, named in American intelligence
reports and confirmed by Afghan offi-
cials as a key middleman who for years
handed out money from a Russian mili-
tary intelligence unit to reward Taliban-
linked fighters for targeting American
troops in Afghanistan, according to
American and Afghan officials.
As security agencies connected the
dots of the bounty scheme and homed in
on him, they carried out sweeping raids
to arrest dozens of his relatives and as-
sociates about six months ago but dis-
covered that Mr. Azizi had sneaked out
of Afghanistan and was most likely back
in Russia. What they did find in one of
his homes, in Kabul, was about half a
million dollars in cash.
American and Afghan officials for
years have maintained that Russia was
running clandestine operations to un-
dermine the U.S. mission in Afghanistan
and aid the Taliban.
But they concluded only recently that
JIM HUYLEBROEK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
a Russian spy agency was paying boun- Members of an elite Taliban unit in the Alingar district in March. It is not clear how much money was paid to militants carrying out attacks for the Taliban.
ties for killing coalition troops, including
Americans, which the Kremlin and the
Taliban have denied. and the raids that led to it; his neighbors Just how the money was dispersed to to the Taliban came at a delicate time in
According to officials briefed on the and friends; and business associates of militants carrying out attacks for the the conflict, just as the United States
matter, U.S. intelligence officials believe the middle men arrested on suspicion of Taliban and at what level the coordina- was deep in negotiations with the insur-
the program is run by Unit 29155, an arm involvement. All spoke on condition of tion occurred remain unclear. But offi- gents over a deal to withdraw the re-
of the Russian military intelligence anonymity to avoid retaliation. cials say the network had grown in- maining American troops from the
agency known as the G.R.U. that has U.S. intelligence reports named Mr. creasingly ambitious and was in com- country.
carried out assassinations and other op- Azizi as a key middleman between the munication with more senior levels in Some of the attacks believed to be
erations overseas. G.R.U. and militants linked to the Tal- Taliban military ranks to discuss poten- part of the bounty scheme were carried
That a conduit for the payments iban who carried out the attacks. He was tial targets. out around the time the Trump adminis-
would be someone like Mr. Azizi — tied among those who collected the cash in About six months ago, Afghanistan’s tration was actively reaching out to Rus-
to the American reconstruction effort, Russia, which intelligence files de- intelligence agency, the National Direc- sia for cooperation on those peace talks.
enmeshed in the regional netherworld, scribed as multiple payments of “hun- torate of Security, raided the offices of Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special en-
but not prominent enough to attract out- dreds of thousands of dollars.” Those several Hawala businessmen, both in voy leading the talks, repeatedly met
side attention — speaks to the depth of files were among the materials provided Kabul, the capital, and in Kunduz, in the with Russian officials to build consensus
Russia’s reach into the increasingly to Congress this week. north, who were believed to be associ- around the American endgame.
complicated Afghan battlefield, exploit- ated with the bounty scheme, making The Afghan battlefield is saturated
ing a nexus of crime and terror to strike more than a dozen arrests. with smaller terrorist groups in addition
The Russians saw an opportunity
blows with years of deniability. “The target of the operation was Rah- to the Taliban, who are still responsible
The public revelation last week of that for long-awaited payback mat, who was going back and forth to for most of the violence. Criminal net-
conclusion has touched off a political for the Soviet Army’s humiliation Russia for a long time and said he works, profiteers and terror training ex-
firestorm in Washington. White House in Afghanistan in the 1980s. worked there but no one knew what he perts also freelance — often working for
officials said at first that President did,” said Safiullah Amiry, the deputy several groups at the same time.
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Trump had never been briefed on the head of Kunduz provincial council, re- Democrats and Republicans have expressed alarm at the lack of action from President Mr. Azizi, who neighbors and relatives
matter, but it emerged that the intelli- Through a layered and complex ferring to Mr. Azizi. But by the time the Trump’s administration in response to the Russian bounty scheme. said is in his 40s, thrived in that convo-
gence assessment had been included in Hawala system — an informal way to raid took place, “Rahmat had fled.” luted, murky environment.
a written briefing to the president in late transfer money — he delivered it to Af- “From what I heard from security offi- None of those interviewed who know
February, if not earlier. ghanistan for the missions, the files say. cials, the money had come from Russia wary of the prolonged United States Russia has walked a fine line in recent Mr. Azizi were surprised when his asso-
As Democratic and Republican offi- The transfers were often sliced into through Rahmat,” he added. presence and moved closer to the Tal- years, eager to bloody the American ciates were raided about six months ago
cials have expressed alarm at the news, smaller amounts that were routed Russia was initially seen as cooperat- iban, hedging its bets on who would take nose, but wary of Afghanistan’s collaps- and one of his brothers was taken into
and the administration’s lack of action in through several regional countries be- ing with American efforts after the U.S. power in a post-American Afghanistan. ing into a chaos that could spill over its custody with the half a million dollars in
response, the White House has insisted fore arriving in Afghanistan, associates invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, as its in- The Russians also saw an opportunity borders. Publicly, Russia has admitted cash. As one of his friends put it, he had
that the information was uncertain. of the arrested businessmen said. terests in defeating Al Qaeda, an inter- for long-awaited payback for the Soviet only to information-sharing with the gone from “not even having a blanket”
Details of Mr. Azizi’s role in the bounty Afghan officials said prizes of as much national Islamist terror group, were humiliation in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Taliban in fighting the Islamic State in to having multiple houses, fancy cars
scheme were confirmed through a doz- as $100,000 per soldier killed were of- aligned with those of the United States. when the Red Army withdrew after be- Afghanistan, a common foe. and security escorts.
en interviews that included U.S. and Af- fered for American and coalition tar- But in recent years, as the two powers ing unable to defeat a United States- The U.S. conclusion in 2019 that the
ghan officials aware of the intelligence gets. clashed elsewhere, the Kremlin grew backed insurgency. Russians were sending bounty money Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.
Anti-racism movement hits a wall of denial in Japan
JAPAN,FROM PAGE1 Blacks in America are facing horrible
gradually in Japan, and the resistance things and we have to help them,’ that is
can be stiff. When Bako Nguasong and almost like charity,” said Haeng-ja
V. Athena Lisane, English teachers in Chung, a professor of anthropology at
Fukuoka — the largest city on the south- Okayama University and an ethnic Ko-
ern island of Kyushu — organized a rean born in Japan. “Before we accuse
march there last month, one poster other societies, we have to stop and
wrote on Twitter: “I won’t feel any think: How about us?”
mercy if these people are told to get de- The tennis champion Naomi Osaka,
ported by the local Japanese.” the daughter of a Haitian-American fa-
Ms. Nguasong, 36, left a home and a ther and a Japanese mother whose su-
career behind in Washington and moved perstar status has inspired a reassess-
to Japan two years ago because she was ment of traditional Japanese identity,
weary of fearing for her safety as a has called out those on social media who
Black woman in America. “I knew it claim there is no racism in Japan.
wasn’t going to be diverse, but I also In one Twitter post, she reminded fol-
knew I wasn’t going to be afraid for my lowers of an incident when Japanese co-
life,” said Ms. Nguasong, who previ- medians said she needed “bleach” be-
ously worked as a mental health coordi- cause she was “too sunburned.”
nator for former inmates. Some Japanese are working to draw
She did find physical security in Ja- more attention to prejudice against for-
pan, where crime rates are low and po- eigners. After video emerged on social
lice killings are rare. But she could not media showing Tokyo police officers
ANDY BROWNBILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS NORIKO HAYASHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
escape racism, even if in Japan it takes a From left: The tennis champion Naomi Osaka, who has called out those who say there is no racism in Japan; Kento Suzuki, who volunteers at a detention center for asylum seekers. roughing up a Turkish immigrant, Ra-
less violent form. mazan Celik, during a traffic stop, Kento
Ms. Nguasong said that she had no- Suzuki, who volunteers at a detention
ticed looks and whispers from local Jap- caricatures and presented the protests foreigners in Japan said they had been ture like everything that is stereotypi- taking part in our culture, and we have center where asylum seekers and other
anese people and that passengers had as the product of frustration with eco- the target of discrimination, with many cally Black, like gold teeth,” said Farah accepted you into our culture,” Ms. foreigners are held, organized two pro-
avoided sitting next to her on trains. Two nomic disparity and the coronavirus, citing problems in getting jobs or hous- Albritton, 28, an English teacher in Fu- Albritton said. “And you can’t even post tests.
older women, she said, once groped her without mentioning police brutality. Af- ing. kuoka who is from New York. “Or they about our friends who are dying — the “I have been thinking that Japan is a
breasts in an elevator in apparent sur- ter pushback on Twitter, NHK apolo- A candidate in the Tokyo governor’s will change their hair to be Afro-tex- people who are inspiring you.” racist society from a very long time
prise over her figure. gized and took the clip down. race, Makoto Sakurai, is running on a tured or put in cornrows.” Compared with Black Lives Matter ago,” said Mr. Suzuki, 28. “There are a lot
“It’s not the same insidious nature,” The country’s insularity has generat- platform that includes the slogan “abol- Ms. Albritton has experienced inci- marches in France or Britain, which of people becoming more involved in the
Ms. Nguasong said. “But racism still ex- ed not just overt and unconscious bias ish welfare for foreigners.” dents of racism in Japan, such as when a have drawn tens of thousands of people, movement to help immigrants in Ja-
ists in Japan.” against people abroad, but also a dis- At the same time, though, some Japa- man in the street shouted “you’re so the rallies in Japan have been modest in pan.”
A glaring reminder of that came last trust of foreigners who come to Japan. nese show a fascination with foreigners, gross,” or when a casting agent for a size. The largest, in Tokyo, drew about Still, Mr. Suzuki worries about cases
month when NHK, the public broadcast- As the country slowly opens its doors including Black pop culture. That has modeling job asked her to demonstrate 3,500 people, and many participants had in which asylum seekers and immi-
er, aired a segment about the Black to outside workers to help confront a led to accusations of cultural appropria- a “Black handshake” at an audition. some foreign roots. grants have said that they were abused
Lives Matter protests in the United demographic crisis, improving its treat- tion and left some African-Americans She said she was offended that Japa- Some scholars worry that the Japa- or neglected while in detention.
States. ment of foreigners may be crucial to Ja- chagrined that more people in Japan nese acquaintances who emulate Black nese public sees racism abroad only “I feel hope and also dread,” he said.
A clip showed African-Americans as pan’s future. But according to a 2017 don’t reflect on their own racism. pop stars have shown little or no public without reflecting on it closer to home. “It’s a constant battle between these two
overly muscled, music-playing, looting Ministry of Justice survey, 30 percent of “Japanese people who like Black cul- support for Black Lives Matter. “You are “If they are just saying, ‘Oh, gee, emotions.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 | 5
world
Cry for help from a U.S. Embassy
nel in the kingdom. The message was
WASHINGTON
sent on behalf of some embassy employ-
ees, another person familiar with it said.
Mr. Schiff’s office passed the message
Slow response to outbreak
to the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
at American outpost in which has oversight over the diplomatic
missions. Its chairman, Representative
Saudi Arabia is criticized
Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York,
said the committee “immediately
looked into reports about dangers to
BY MARK MAZZETTI
American personnel and citizens in
AND EDWARD WONG
Saudi Arabia as a result of the coro-
Inside the sprawling United States Em- navirus pandemic.”
bassy compound in Riyadh, Saudi Ara- Based on the message and follow-up
bia, a coronavirus outbreak was spread- inquiries, congressional officials be-
ing. Dozens of embassy employees be- came concerned about the rising ten-
came sick last month, and more than 20 sions inside the embassy and the lack of
others were quarantined after a birth- confidence by some senior employees
day barbecue became a potential vector there in Mr. Abizaid’s ability to prioritize
for the spread of the disease. the safety of American personnel above
A Sudanese driver for the top diplo- political considerations.
mats died. Mr. Abizaid, a former Army four-star
A bleak analysis from within the em- general and an Arabic speaker, once
bassy that circulated in closed channels commanded all American forces in the
in Riyadh and Washington late last Middle East as the head of U.S. Central
month likened the coronavirus situation Command, which works closely with
in Saudi Arabia to that of New York City Saudi Arabia. He was the top general in
in March, when an outbreak was set to the region as the Iraq war intensified in
explode. The assessment said the re- the mid-2000s.
sponse from the Saudi government — a Congressional officials requested a
close partner of the Trump White House briefing from the State Department.
— was insufficient, even as hospitals Last week, agency officials gave two
were getting overwhelmed and health briefings to aides from Republican and
care workers were falling ill. Democratic congressional offices, and
Some in the embassy even took the the aides put pressure on the officials to
extraordinary step of conveying infor- allow employees to leave Saudi Arabia.
mation to Congress outside official Department officials said that 32 of
channels, saying that they did not be- the 50 or so embassy employees con-
lieve the State Department’s leadership firmed or presumed to have Covid-19,
or the American ambassador to the the disease caused by the virus, had re-
kingdom, John P. Abizaid, were taking covered, one congressional official said.
the situation seriously enough, and that Most of the patients were not Ameri-
most American embassy employees cans.
and their families should be evacuated. The driver for Mr. Abizaid and his
The State Department took those steps deputy is one of at least two U.S. diplo-
BROOKS KRAFT/CORBIS, VIA GETTY IMAGES
months ago at missions elsewhere in the The United States Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The State Department recently announced that nonemergency personnel were allowed to leave. matic mission employees in the Middle
Middle East, Asia and Russia. East and North Africa who have died,
The episode, based on accounts from the official said. The State Department
nine current officials and one former of- las London, a former C.I.A. clandestine despite a congressional freeze on the ex- confirmed the death of a staff employee
ficial, highlights the perils facing Ameri- officer who served in numerous coun- ports. Last year, the administration de- in Saudi Arabia.
can diplomacy with a global pandemic tries in the Middle East. clared an “emergency” to bypass a con- More recently, officials on the embas-
still raging and the frictions between “The Saudis have never been subtle in gressional hold on sales of $8.1 billion of sy’s emergency action committee rec-
front-line diplomats, intelligence offi- discouraging U.S. officials from outward arms to Saudi Arabia and the United ommended to Mr. Abizaid that most
cers and defense officials on one side actions that might cast the kingdom as Arab Emirates — a potentially illegal ac- American employees be ordered to
and senior Trump administration offi- appearing weak, incompetent or vulner- tion that became the focus of a State De- evacuate, with only emergency person-
cials on the other who are eager to pre- able in difficult times,” he said. partment inspector general investiga- nel staying. Mr. Abizaid has not acted on
serve relations with nations like Saudi He said that placating the kingdom tion. that recommendation. (The State De-
Arabia that have special ties with the was even more important for the Trump The United States Embassy in Ri- partment did not answer specific ques-
Trump White House. The Saudi royal administration, which has made Ameri- yadh, a walled enclave dotted with palm tions about Mr. Abizaid’s decisions.)
family has exercised enormous influ- ca’s relationship with the royal family a trees in the Diplomatic Quarter of the On Saturday, the department an-
ence on Middle East and energy poli- cornerstone of its foreign policy. capital city, is one of the most important nounced the “voluntary departure” de-
cies, as well as on controversial arms American diplomatic outposts in the cision for the three missions in Saudi
sales that President Trump has person- Middle East and home to one of the big- Arabia. The message said the depart-
Friction between diplomats
ally championed. gest C.I.A. stations in the region. Hun- ment was trying to arrange repatriation
The State Department appeared to re- and senior Trump officials. dreds of American diplomats, intelli- flights since international air trans-
act Saturday because of quiet bipartisan gence officers and their families live in portation had been shut down. The an-
congressional pressure, announcing the the embassy compound and nearby res- nouncement is not a significant step be-
“voluntary departure of nonemergency “As the State Department weighs the idential complexes. yond a similar action the State Depart-
U.S. personnel and family members safety of American personnel and their The growing alarm in the embassy in ment took in March that applied to all
from the U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia.” dependents in the midst of the king- recent weeks has come as Saudi Arabia missions worldwide and that ended in
But some senior embassy officials see dom’s Covid outbreak, Secretary of and its neighbors struggle with a surge May.
KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
that as a half measure. They had pushed State Mike Pompeo and the White of coronavirus cases and embassy offi- Some in the embassy said that John P. Abizaid, the American ambassador to Saudi Some officials said that given the
for an evacuation of most of the 400 to House remain more focused on the con- cials raise serious doubts about the Arabia, was not taking the situation seriously enough. surge in Covid-19 cases in Saudi Arabia
500 American employees at the Riyadh sequences to their relationship with de kingdom’s readiness to deal with the and the shortage of adequate medical fa-
embassy and two consulates, people facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed pandemic. cilities — at least one American citizen
with knowledge of the situation said. bin Salman than the risks to Americans, The Saudi government has an- The analysis that circulated in Wash- sy “to do whatever it can to hold on until with Covid-19 was turned away at a hos-
In response to questions, the State private and official alike,” he said. nounced that it would drastically reduce ington, written by embassy staff mem- the Covid problem improves.” At the pital — the State Department and Mr.
Department said in a statement on Mr. Trump has made strengthening the number of Muslims allowed to do the bers and reviewed by The New York missions, working from home became Abizaid were still failing to take the
Wednesday that it “has no higher pri- America’s relationship with Saudi Ara- hajj, the annual pilgrimage that brings Times, said that the cases were likely to the norm. proper actions.
ority than ensuring the safety of U.S. bia and its young crown prince a focus of millions of people to Mecca to fulfill one spike through July and that there would The alarm in Congress sounded two In doing what is formally called an
government personnel and U.S. citi- his foreign policy. The president has of the requirements of the Islamic faith. probably be a shortage of hospital beds. weeks ago when an encrypted message “authorized departure,” the department
zens.” It said that the voluntary depar- strongly advocated American arms It is believed to be the first time since the The embassy’s own medical unit was al- making similar points as the embassy is most likely leaving the bulk of the em-
ture “is appropriate given current con- sales to Saudi Arabia, despite the king- modern kingdom was founded in 1932 ready overwhelmed with the rise of co- analysis arrived in the inbox of a con- bassy staff in place.
ditions associated with the pandemic” dom’s role in leading an air war in Yem- that the pilgrimage, scheduled to begin ronavirus cases among mission employ- gressional official working for Repre- The more drastic step of an “ordered
and that “the pandemic has affected en that has killed thousands of civilians. in late July, was effectively canceled. ees and their families. sentative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of departure” — which the chief of mission
mission staff and our community in Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior ad- Dozens of members of the royal family Around mid-June, the embassy’s California and the chairman of the has the right to take — would require
Saudi Arabia.” viser, Jared Kushner, maintains close fell ill this spring. emergency action committee, com- House Intelligence Committee. The most employees to evacuate, leaving
The Saudi royal family would not wel- ties to Crown Prince Mohammed, and Saudi Arabia has reported about posed of senior officials at the diplomat- sender did not purport to be an employ- only a skeleton crew remaining to han-
come any move by the American gov- the Trump administration is trying to 4,000 new cases of coronavirus per day, ic outpost, approved departure for ee of the U.S. government, according to dle emergencies.
ernment to reduce the number of diplo- push through sales to the kingdom of among the fastest-growing caseloads in “high-risk individuals,” the message a congressional official, but the message
mats and intelligence officers in the two arms and intelligence surveillance the world. Despite that, the government said, but the State Department had de- contained detailed assertions about the Ben Hubbard contributed reporting
kingdom amid the pandemic, said Doug- packages worth more than $500 million, has ended lockdown measures. nied the request and advised the embas- coronavirus threat to embassy person- from Beirut, Lebanon.
Like a ‘match at kindling’: A few people infect many
professor at Emory University in Atlan- 9,500 Covid-19 cases from March to May. ple aren’t around many others during
Becoming a superspreader
ta. But other diseases, like measles and They created a model for the spread of that window, they won’t pass it along.
appears to rely on chance, SARS, are prone to flares, with only a the virus through five counties and esti- And certain places seem to lend them-
few people spreading the disease. mated how many people each person selves to superspreading. A busy bar, for
rather than on biology
Epidemiologists capture the differ- had infected. example, is full of people talking loudly.
ence between the flare-ups and the plod- In a preprint published last week, the Any one of them could spew out viruses
ding with something known as the dis- researchers found many superspread- without ever coughing. And without
BY CARL ZIMMER
persion parameter. It is a measure of ing events. Just 2 percent of people were good ventilation, the viruses can linger
Following a birthday party in Texas on how much variation there is from per- responsible for 20 percent of transmis- in the air for hours.
May 30, one man reportedly infected 17 son to person in transmitting a patho- sions. Now researchers are trying to fig- A study from Japan last month found
members of his family with the coro- gen. ure out why so few people spread the vi- clusters of coronavirus cases in health
navirus. But James Lloyd-Smith, a disease rus to so many. They have three ques- care facilities, nursing homes, day care
Reading reports like these, you might ecologist at University of California, Los tions: Who are the superspreaders? centers, restaurants, bars, workplaces
think of the virus as a wildfire, instantly Angeles who developed the dispersion When does superspreading take place? and musical events such as live concerts
causing contagion wherever it goes. But parameter 15 years ago, cautioned that And where? and karaoke parties.
other reports tell a different story. scientists’ ability to measure it doesn’t This pattern of superspreading could
In Italy, for example, scientists looked mean they understand why some dis- explain the puzzling lag in Italy between
“You can really go from thinking
at stored samples of wastewater for the eases have more superspreading than the arrival of the virus and the rise of the
earliest trace of the virus. Last week others. “We just understand the bits of you’ve got things under control epidemic. And geneticists have found a
they reported that the virus was in Turin it,” he said. to having an out-of-control similar lag in other countries: The first
and Milan as early as Dec. 18. But two When Covid-19 broke out, Dr. outbreak.” viruses to crop up in a given region don’t
months would pass before northern Ita- Kucharski and his colleagues tried to give rise to the epidemics that come
ly’s hospitals began filling with victims calculate that number by comparing weeks later.
ALESSANDRO GRASSANI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
of Covid-19. So those December viruses One person infecting many others could explain the puzzling lag in Italy between the cases in different countries. As for the first question, doctors have Many countries and states have
seem to have petered out. arrival of the virus and the epidemic, which strained hospitals like this one in Brescia. If Covid-19 was like the flu, you would observed that viruses can multiply in- fought outbreaks with lockdowns, which
As strange as it may seem, these re- expect the outbreaks in different places side some people more than in others. have managed to reduce Covid-19’s re-
ports don’t contradict each other. Most to mostly be of the same size. But Dr. It’s possible that some people become productive number. But as governments
infected people don’t pass the coro- where you’re always one step behind the going into lockdown, for instance, Mass- Kucharski and his colleagues found a virus chimneys, blasting out clouds of move toward reopenings, they shouldn’t
navirus on to someone else. But a small virus,” said Adam Kucharski, an epide- achusetts drove its reproductive num- wide variation. The best way to explain pathogens with each breath. forget the virus’s potential for super-
number pass it on to many others in so- miologist at the London School of Hy- ber down from 2.2 at the beginning of this pattern, they found, was that 10 per- Some people also have more opportu- spreading. “You can really go from
called superspreading events. giene and Tropical Medicine. March to one by the end of the month; cent of infected people were responsible nity to get sick, and to then make other thinking you’ve got things under control
“You can think about throwing a When the virus first emerged, epide- it’s now at .74. for 80 percent of new infections. Which people sick. A bus driver or a nursing to having an out-of-control outbreak in a
match at kindling,” said Ben Althouse, miologists scrambled to understand But this averaged figure can be mis- meant that most people passed on the home worker may be at the center of a matter of a week,” Dr. Lloyd-Smith said.
principal research scientist at the Insti- how it spread from person to person. leading because it masks the variability virus to few, if any, others. social network, while most people are Singapore’s authorities earned praise
tute for Disease Modeling in Bellevue, One of their first tasks was to estimate of spread from one person to the next. If Dr. Kucharski and his colleagues pub- less likely to come into contact with oth- early on for suppressing the epidemic
Wash. “You throw one match, it may not the average number of people each sick nine out of 10 people don’t pass on a vi- lished their study in April as a preprint, ers — especially in a lockdown. by tracing cases. But they didn’t appre-
light the kindling. You throw another person infected, or what epidemiolo- rus at all, while the 10th passes it to 20 a report that has not been reviewed by Dr. Nelson suspects the biological dif- ciate that huge dormitories where mi-
match, it may not light the kindling. But gists call the reproductive number. people, the average would still be two. other scientists and published in a scien- ferences among people are less signifi- grant workers lived were prime spots
then one match hits in the right spot, and The new coronavirus turned out to In some diseases, such as influenza tific journal. Other epidemiologists have cant. “I think the circumstances are a lot for superspreading. Now they are
all of a sudden the fire goes up.” have a reproductive number some- and smallpox, a large fraction of in- calculated the dispersion parameter more important,” she said. wrestling with a resurgence of the virus.
Understanding why some matches where between two and three. It’s im- fected people pass the pathogen to a few with other methods, ending up with sim- A lot of transmission seems to happen But knowing that Covid-19 is a super-
start fires while many do not will be cru- possible to pin down an exact figure, more. These diseases tend to grow ilar estimates. in a narrow window of time, starting a spreading pandemic could be a good
cial to curbing the pandemic, scientists since people’s behavior can make it easi- steadily and slowly. “Flu can really plod In Georgia, for example, Dr. Nelson couple days after infection and even be- thing. “It bodes well for control,” Dr. Nel-
say. “Otherwise, you’re in the position er or harder for the virus to spread. By along,” said Kristin Nelson, an assistant and her colleagues analyzed more than fore symptoms emerge. If infected peo- son said.
..
6 | FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
They backed Trump in 2016. But not this year.
What changed things?
Some dislike his behavior;
others want a fresh start
BY CLAIRE CAIN MILLER,
KEVIN QUEALY
AND NATE COHN
For some, the disenchantment started
almost as soon as Donald J. Trump took
office. For others, the president’s han-
dling of the coronavirus and social un-
rest turned them away. All of them say it
is highly unlikely they will vote for him
again.
These voters, who backed Mr. Trump
in 2016 but say there is “not really any
chance” they will this year, represent
just 2 percent of all registered voters in
the six states most likely to decide the
presidency, according to New York
Times/Siena College polls. But they
help explain why the president faces a
significant deficit nationwide and in the
battleground states.
“I think if he weren’t such an ap-
palling human being, he would make a
great president, because I think what
this country needs is somebody who
isn’t a politician,” said Judith Goines, 53,
a finance executive at a home building
company in Fayetteville, N.C. “But obvi-
ously with the coronavirus and the so-
cial unrest we’re dealing with, that’s
where you need a politician, somebody
with a little bit more couth.”
“I’m ashamed to say that I’ve voted ELAINE CROMIE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES LAUREN JUSTICE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES CHARLOTTE KESL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
for him,” said Ms. Goines, who described Cathleen Graham of Grand Rapids, Mich., said she had been shocked to The president is “like a little kid with a temper tantrum when he doesn’t Mr. Trump’s business background won a vote from Kelvin Pittman II of
herself as a staunch Republican. learn how much racism still existed in the country. get things to go his way,” said Robert Kaplan of Racine, Wis. Jacksonville, Fla., but he now feels disappointed.
These 2016 Trump voters might not all
be considered part of the president’s
base — many were not enthusiastic dency. Several mentioned his divisive press conferences, having him come out Cathleen Graham, 53, a nurse who abolish Obamacare, and he didn’t trust “I thought, obviously he’s going to
about him four years ago. As 6 percent of style and his firing of officials who dis- and say it’s all fake,” she said. “I have lives in a mostly white suburb of Grand Mrs. Clinton. But he was disappointed step it up and he’s going to have to
battleground-state Trump voters, they agreed with him, and especially his re- family who have unfortunately passed Rapids, Mich., has had very different life from the start. change, he’s going to have to become
are just a sliver of the overall electorate. sponse to the coronavirus and to the un- away from it.” experiences, but came to the same con- “He’s an embarrassment,” he said. more presidential,” he said. “But little
Also, 2 percent of battleground-state rest in the aftermath of the death of It made her wonder how often he had- clusion. She said she had been shocked “He’s like a little kid with a temper did I know, he’s not. He got worse.”
voters who supported Hillary Clinton in George Floyd in police custody. n’t told the truth before, she said. She to learn how much racism still existed. tantrum when he doesn’t get things to There was one moment, Mr. Chavez
2016 say they will vote for Mr. Trump. Not all of them are ready to back Joe plans to vote for Mr. Biden. “I understand the movement and why go his way. He’s very punitive — if you said, when “he lost me forever”: when
But Trump defectors play an outsize Biden, but they no longer entertain the The president also lost voters because it’s going on a lot better than I did than disagree, he fires you. He disrespects Mr. Trump did not wear a mask during
role in the president’s challenge. He won possibility of backing the president. of his handling of the growing move- when the gentleman was kneeling at the very good people in Washington trying his recent rally in Tulsa, Okla. He said
by a narrow margin in 2016, and he has Over all, 78 percent of respondents in ment against police brutality and en- football game,” she said, referring to to do some good. And I think it’s very that the president should not have
made limited efforts to broaden his ap- battleground states who said they trenched racism. More than 80 percent Colin Kaepernick. “Even speaking up to disrespectful of the office to be tweeting turned masks into a political symbol,
peal. Even a modest erosion in support wouldn’t vote for Mr. Trump again dis- of those who won’t vote for him again support it, I’ve lost friends, friends that all the time.” and that if the public should wear
imperils his re-election chances. An- approved of his handling of the pan- say that Mr. Biden would do a better job were crude, and I was like, ‘How can you More than 80 percent of the voters masks, so should he.
other 6 percent of Trump voters in these demic. John Crilly, 55, a retired commer- on race relations or unifying America. even think that of another race?’” who won’t back Mr. Trump again agreed Mr. Chavez will vote for Mr. Biden,
states say they no longer support Mr. cial diver in Reeders, Pa., said he had Of the Trump voters who have not ruled with the statement that he doesn’t be- mostly as a vote against Mr. Trump.
Trump, while allowing “some chance” voted for Mr. Trump “because the other out voting for him again, only around 10 have the way a president ought to act. Though many voters similarly de-
“What changed my mind?
that they will vote for him again. option was Hillary Clinton.” percent said they trusted Mr. Biden to Their view is shared by 75 percent of scribed Mr. Biden as the least objection-
A majority of the defectors disap- “What changed my mind? 120,000 do a better job on race relations. 120,000 deaths.” registered voters across the battle- able choice, some were more enthusias-
prove of his performance on every ma- deaths,” he said. “He refused to realize, Kelvin Pittman II, 34, who is self-em- ground states. tic. Craig Smith, 64, a veteran in Big
jor issue, except the economy, according ‘Oh my God, there’s a virus coming our ployed doing car detailing in Jack- “He said he was going to, quote un- Rapids, Mich., said he planned to vote
to the Times/Siena polls. Somewhat way; shouldn’t we do something, guys?’ sonville, Fla., said he had voted for Mr. Mr. Trump fits in that category, she quote, drain the swamp, and all he’s for Mr. Biden because “he’s got integrity,
surprisingly, they are demographically Covid was the turning point. It’s the Trump because “he was a great busi- said. She plans to vote for Mr. Biden. done is splashed around and rolled he tells the truth, he’s got compassion
similar to the voters who continue to thing that touches home with every- nessman.” As a Black man, he said, he Some former Trump voters said it was around in it,” Mr. Kaplan said. and empathy.”
support him. They are only marginally body.” aligns with Democrats on many issues, his personality more than any specific John Chavez, 45, a manager at a car “Donald Trump represents the past,”
more likely to be women or white col- He plans to vote for a local write-in but as a businessman, he favors certain policy that turned them off. They ob- dealership in Queen Creek, Ariz., voted he said, “and I believe that the Demo-
lege graduates. candidate instead of Mr. Biden, who he Republican policies. served his behavior as a candidate, but for both George W. Bush and Barack crats and Joe Biden and the young peo-
In interviews, many said they initially worries is too old, at 77. Then came the killing of Mr. Floyd. “It expected him to act with more decorum Obama. His 2016 vote was not so much ple of the world are looking at the future.
backed Mr. Trump because he was a Coronavirus also changed the mind of was kind of the last straw. It was like, in office. for Mr. Trump, he said, as against Mrs. “I will never vote for another Republi-
businessman, not a politician. In partic- Ariel Oakley, 29, who works in human this dude is just in it for himself. I Robert Kaplan, 57, a supervisor at a Clinton — he was “spooked” by things can in my life because of Donald
ular, he was not Hillary Clinton. But they resources in Grand Rapids, Mich. “With thought he was supposed to be for the water utility in Racine, Wis., voted for he had heard about her potential in- Trump,” Mr. Smith added. “What
have soured on his handling of the presi- coronavirus, even just watching the people.” the president because he wanted to volvement in scandals. changed? Well, three years.”
A generation for whom the abortion fight seems less urgent
would restrict access to legal abortion work I did felt more relevant because I
BY EMMA GOLDBERG
remain in lower courts, and 25 abortion had people in my life who had gone
Like many young Americans, Brea bans have been enacted in more than a through the prison industrial complex,
Baker experienced her first moment of dozen states in the past year. and I experienced discrimination.”
political outrage after the killing of a “The fight is far from over,” said Other young women said they felt less
Black man. She was 18 when Trayvon Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of drawn to reproductive rights messaging
Martin was shot. When she saw his Planned Parenthood. “Our vigilance that is focused strictly on legal abortion
photo on the news, she thought of her continues, knowing the makeup of the access, and more drawn to messaging
younger brother, and the boundary be- court as well as the federal judiciary is about racial and socioeconomic dispari-
tween her politics and her sense of sur- not in our favor.” ties in access to abortion, widely re-
vival collapsed. Interviews with more than a dozen ferred to as reproductive justice.
In college she volunteered for the young women who have taken to the Deja Foxx, 20, a college student from
N.A.A.C.P. and as a national organizer streets for racial justice in recent weeks, Tucson, Ariz., became involved in repro-
for the Women’s March. But when con- though, reflected some ambivalence ductive justice advocacy when she con-
versations among campus activists about their role in the movement for re- fronted former Senator Jeff Flake, Re-
turned to abortion access, she didn’t feel productive rights. publican of Arizona, at a town hall event
the same sense of personal rage. These young women recognized that over his push to defund Planned Parent-
“A lot of the language I heard was while some American women can now hood.
about protecting Roe v. Wade,” Ms. gain easy access to abortion, millions But abortion access is not what ini-
Baker, 26, said. “It felt grounded in the more cannot; at least five states have tially drew her to the movement. She
’70s feminist movement. And it felt like, only one abortion clinic. wanted to fight for coverage of contra-
I can’t focus on abortion access if my But some, raised in a post-Roe world, ceptives, as someone who was then
people are dying. The narrative around do not feel the same urgency about abor- homeless and uninsured, and for com-
abortion access wasn’t made for people tion as they do for other social justice prehensive sex education, since her
from the hood.” causes; others want to ensure that the high school’s curriculum did not men-
Ms. Baker has attended protests fight is broadly defined, with an empha- tion the word consent.
against police brutality in Atlanta in re- sis on racial disparities in reproductive “There’s a need to protect the wins of
cent weeks, but the looming Supreme health. the generation before us,” Ms. Foxx
Court decision on reproductive health, Members of Gen Z and millennials are said. But she believes the conversations
June Medical Services v. Russo, felt more progressive than older genera- that engage members of her generation
more distant. As she learned more about tions; they’ve also been politically ac- look different. “My story is about birth
the case and other legal threats to abor- tive, whether organizing a global cli- control access as a young person who
tion access, she wished that advocates mate strike or mass marches against didn’t have access to insurance,” she
would talk about the issue in a way that gun violence in schools. said.
LYNSEY WEATHERSPOON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
felt urgent to members of Generation Z While Gen Z women ranked abortion Brea Baker, an activist and organizer in Atlanta, asked, “How can we reframe it so it feels like a young woman’s fight?” The generational shift is evident at
and young millennials like her. as very important to them in a 2019 sur- national gatherings for abortion
“It’s not that young people don’t care vey from Ignite, a nonpartisan group fo- providers. Ms. Schoen has attended the
about abortion, it’s that they don’t think cused on young women’s political edu- for the anti-gun violence advocacy implausible. “I know we have a lot to determine their own futures, to get the National Abortion Federation’s annual
it applies to them,” she said. Language cation, mass shootings, climate change, group Youth Over Guns, agreed that the lose, but it’s hard to imagine us going education they want, to have careers,” conference each year from 2003 to 2019.
about “protecting Roe” feels “antiquat- education and racial inequality all edged fight for reproductive rights felt less backward,” said Alliyah Logan, 18, a re- Dr. Schoen said. “As people got used to In recent years, she said, its attendees
ed,” she added. “If I’m a high school stu- the issue out. On the right, meanwhile, personal. “For many activists, we have a cent high school graduate from the having access to abortion — and there’s have grown more racially diverse and
dent who got activated by March for Our researchers say that opposition to abor- calling, a realm of work we want to pur- Bronx. “Is it possible to go that far a false sense that we’ve achieved a the agenda has shifted, from calls to
Lives, I’m not hip to Supreme Court tion has become more central to young sue because of our own personal experi- back?” measure of equality — that radicalism keep abortion “safe, legal and rare” to an
cases that happened before my time.” people’s political beliefs. ences,” Ms. Cham said. “Growing up, Then she added: “Of course in this ad- women had in the early years got lost.” emphasis on racial equity in abortion ac-
Her question, as she kept her eyes on Melissa Deckman, a professor of po- abortion never came to mind as an issue ministration, anything is possible.” Some millennial women who can easi- cess.
the court, was: “How can we reframe it litical science at Washington College I needed to work on.” For many women in the 1970s and ly and safely get abortions do not con- “The political questions and demands
so it feels like a young woman’s fight?” who studies young women’s political be- Some young women said that they ’80s, fighting for legal abortion was an nect the experience to their political ac- that the younger generation raises are
On Monday the Supreme Court ruled liefs, said that Gen Z women predomi- considered reproductive rights an im- essential aspect of being a feminist ac- tivism. Cynthia Gutierrez, 30, a commu- very different,” she said. “There’s more
on the case, striking down a Louisiana nantly believe in reproductive freedom portant factor in determining how they tivist. A 1989 march for reproductive nity organizer in California, got a medi- of a focus on health inequalities and lack
law that required abortion clinics to but that some believe it is less pressing vote, but they struggled to see how their rights drew crowds larger than most cation abortion in 2013. Because she did of access that Black and brown women
have admitting privileges at local hospi- because they see it as a “given,” having activism on the issue could have an ef- protests since the Vietnam War, with not struggle with medical access or in- have to abortion.”
tals, four years after deciding that an ef- grown up in a world of legalized abor- fect. more than half a million women rallying surance, the experience did not immedi- For some young women the calls to
fectively identical Texas requirement tion. When Ms. Baker helped coordinate lo- in Washington, D.C. ately propel her toward advocacy. action feel sharpest when they go be-
was unconstitutional because it placed “Myself and other activists in my cal walkouts against gun violence, she Today, young women who define “I had no idea about the political land- yond defending rights they were raised
an “undue burden” on safe access to community are focused on issues that sensed that young people no longer themselves as progressive and political- scape around it,” she said. “I had no idea with.
abortion. The Guttmacher Institute had feel like immediate life or death, like the needed to wait for “permission” to de- ly active do not always consider the is- that other people had challenges with “Right now, in a lot of social justice
estimated that 15 states could put simi- environment,” said Kaitlin Ahern, 19, mand change. With abortion advocacy, sue central to their identities, said Jo- access or finding a clinic or being able to movements we’re seeing language
larly restrictive laws on the books if the who was raised in Scranton, Pa., in a she said, organizers seem focused on hanna Schoen, a professor of history at afford an abortion.” about the future,” said Molly Brodsky,
Supreme Court upheld the Louisiana community where air quality was low waiting for decisions from the highest Rutgers and the author of “Abortion Af- Around that time, Ms. Gutierrez be- 25. “I hear ‘protect Roe v. Wade,’ and it
law. because of proximity to a landfill. “It’s courts. ter Roe.” gan working at a criminal justice reform feels like there needs to be another
The leaders of reproductive rights or- easier to disassociate from abortion And even as those decisions move “Women in the ’70s understood very organization. “I wasn’t thinking, let me clause about the future we’re going to
ganizations celebrated their victory rights.” through the courts, the possibility of a clearly that having control over repro- go to the next pro-choice rally,” she said. build. What other changes do we need?
with caution. At least 16 cases that Fatimata Cham, 19, an ambassador future without legal abortion can feel duction is central to women’s ability to “The racial justice and criminal justice We can’t be complacent with past wins.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 | 7
Business
Wind energy powers through the pandemic
effects of the pandemic, it is likely to fare
Producers hope to finish
better this time around.
projects in time to take “The outlook for renewables looks re-
ally quite resilient, despite all the Covid
advantage of recovery
restrictions,” said Sam Arie, a utilities
analyst at UBS, an investment bank.
“We have seen a few companies with mi-
BY STANLEY REED
nor interruptions,” he added. “But rela-
After a two-hour boat trip from Lowes- tive to other sectors, the impacts here
toft, a seaside town on the east coast of have been very limited.”
England, giant windmills more than 500 Businesses have consolidated, creat-
feet high loomed out of the mist like ing stronger players. Siemens Gamesa,
enormous sea creatures. High atop the for instance, was formed in 2017 through
towers, technicians in helmets and red- the merger of the wind interests of the
and-black protective suits were visible, German industrial giant Siemens with
fine-tuning the machines and hooking those of Gamesa, a Spanish company.
them up to the British power system. The industry has also continued to re-
Britain has been under various stages duce costs. The turbines at East Anglia
of lockdown since March, but work on One are 15 times as powerful as those in-
this wind farm, called East Anglia One, stalled in the first offshore wind farms
has charged ahead. almost 30 years ago, and so they
But early on, the companies behind produce much more revenue per unit. In
the 2.5-billion-pound, or $3.1 billion, the United States wind power often
project weren’t so sure. ranks as the least expensive source of
As the coronavirus was gathering mo- electricity, according to Supriya Subra-
mentum across Europe, managers manian, a UBS analyst.
called a one-day halt in late March to Industry executives argue that re-
consider whether pushing forward newable energy is now mainstream, not
made sense. New health and safety a fringe player, and this gives compa-
measures would inevitably drain re- nies a stronger chance of emerging from
sources. this crisis in better shape. When looking
“We had to do a check and say ‘OK, at options for electric power, a vital force
should the project continue?’ and we for all economies, governments and
asked ourselves with a very open mind,” other customers often favor green ener-
said Charlie Jordan, the project director gy options, not only to reduce emissions
for Iberdrola, the Spanish utility devel- blamed for climate change, but also be-
oping the project. cause they are often cheaper.
The answer was “yes.” Work resumed Demand for clean power is also ex-
the next day and hasn’t stopped. pected to grow as electricity powers
The fallout from the coronavirus pan- more manufacturing and transporta-
demic has many businesses reeling, and tion. Low operating costs — wind and
the oil and gas industry in particular has sunshine are free, after all — and pri-
been rocked by plummeting prices that oritizing by some governments are key
have forced it to drastically cut produc- reasons that the International Energy
tion and lay off workers. Agency forecasts that these and other
But producers of clean energy are renewables will be the only energy
pushing hard to get their projects up and SUZIE HOWELL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES sources that grow this year. The use of
running. They want to start making coal will take the steepest dive since
money on their investments as soon as World War II, the agency forecasts, con-
possible, and while demand for electrici- tributing to an 8 percent drop in CO
2
ty has been reduced by the impact of the emissions.
virus, renewable power tends to win out Emissions also fell during the finan-
over polluting sources in electricity sys- cial crisis, but they bounced back. The
tems because of low costs and favorable question is whether the pattern will re-
regulatory rules. peat itself. There is reason to calculate
While crews fixed the huge turbines that the world economy that emerges
to the seabed off the English coast in from a deep recession could differ in
April, Iberdrola began producing power terms of how it uses energy, the main
from what it says is Europe’s largest so- source of emissions, from the pre-pan-
lar energy facility, in western Spain. demic version. Working at home may
Mr. Jordan, the offshore project man- prove to be a lasting habit for many, cut-
ager, said that he and his colleagues fig- ting down the use of gasoline-burning
ured that they could take steps to keep cars for commuting. And international
risks under control. Among other travel may have lost its appeal for years.
things, contractors rented holiday cab- “People are going to stay home or
ins and reached agreements with hotels closer to home” until there is a vaccine
near Lowestoft, the operations base, so for the virus, said Jan Freitag, a vice
that they could house some of the off- president at the travel consultants STR.
shore workers there and keep them iso- Faced with reduced demand for their
lated. Workers were taken out on boats products and rock-bottom prices, oil and
to the wind farm for 12-hour day and SUZIE HOWELL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES CHARLOTTE DE LA FUENTE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES SUZIE HOWELL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES gas companies are cutting back invest-
night shifts. Clockwise from top: the East Anglia One wind turbine project off Britain’s east coast; a workers’ boat dwarfed by one of the towers; the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Denmark ment by about a quarter, or $110 billion,
So far, no one working on the project that produces nacelles, the chambers at the top of turbines; and workers moving construction equipment for the project. according to Rystad Energy, a consult-
has become ill with the coronavirus, ac- ing firm. Delays on investment deci-
cording to Mr. Jordan. sions may favor wind and solar power
All of the 102 turbines are now in- meet a record first-quarter order book of of turbines, safety measures are visible, up obstacles for these companies. Ves- strictions in India this year had pre- because their costs are falling.
stalled in an area about 25 miles off the 34.1 billion euros, $38.3 billion, for its gi- especially in the canteen. The meals tas said that in the first quarter, matters vented him from signing two contracts, “The longer you wait, the more likely
coastline. The nearly 250-foot blades on ant electric power-generating windmills now come on prepared plates rather like delays in obtaining components and though he assumed the deals would be the decision is for renewables,” said
top of these monsters can spin out and services. than buffet style, and employees eat in changes in work procedures added €10 concluded later. Jarand Rystad, chief executive of Rys-
enough power to supply around 600,000 “We started out differently, saying shifts to reduce crowding. People sit di- million in costs, contributing to an €80 The green energy industry has bad tad Energy, a consulting firm.
homes, according to the company. ‘Let’s not use the excuse of Covid-19,’” agonally across from one another at ta- million loss. The company said it was memories of the financial crisis of 2008 Environmentalists say that the public
Demand for the equipment for these said Henrik Andersen, the chief execu- bles. suspending guidance for the year. and 2009, which proved to be a big set- has noticed the beneficial side effects of
projects is putting pressure on makers tive of Vestas, which is based in Den- “It is strange having to keep distance Markus Tacke, who until recently back. Vestas was forced to close or sell a the pandemic and will want them to con-
of gear to keep their factories churning. mark. to your co-workers when you are so served as chief executive of Siemens dozen factories and shed a third of its tinue. “People have experienced clear
Vestas Wind Systems, for instance, is Vestas, too, points to a variety of used to being close,” said Julie Noes- Gamesa Renewable Energy, which work force as orders fell. Other manu- blue skies,” said Fred Krupp, president
striving to keep a global network that in- measures it has taken to keep workers gaard, who packages parts for ship- made the East Anglia turbines, said dur- facturers were similarly rocked. of the Environmental Defense Fund,
cludes plants in Colorado, China, Den- safe. At its factory in Denmark, which ment. ing a call with reporters that the dire Analysts say that while the renew- “and want to find ways to keep them as
mark and elsewhere largely open to makes nacelles, the chambers at the top The pandemic is certainly throwing health situation in Italy and travel re- ables industry will not be immune to the we put people back to work.”
Much still to do as new trade deal takes effect
winding their way through the Mexican In a congressional hearing on June 17,
WASHINGTON
legal system, under threat from power- Robert E. Lighthizer, the United States
ful companies and politicians. American trade representative, said that he had
labor leaders warn that the deal’s pro- pushed to have the agreement take ef-
Many of the requirements
tections for workers — which made it a fect on July 1, even during a pandemic,
of the North America pact model trade agreement in the eyes of so that the new rules could be enforced.
Democrats and were largely responsi- In a sign of how fraught the new trade
have not yet been fully met
ble for winning their support — could deal could be, Mr. Lighthizer said the
still falter. United States was looking at a number
Michael Wessel, the staff chairman of of issues “that are quite troubling.”
BY ANA SWANSON
the Labor Advisory Committee that Like many Democrats, Mr. Lighthizer
President Trump’s promised rewrite of counsels the administration on trade is- has criticized America’s past trade
trade terms between the United States, sues, said that while much public atten- agreements for enabling American fac-
Canada and Mexico officially takes ef- tion had focused on the drama of negoti- tories to move overseas and also lacking
fect on Wednesday. But while the presi- ating the U.S.M.C.A., “the really hard the tools to crack down on those who
dent claims victory in reworking the work of making the provisions effective, would violate the rules. Over months of
North American Free Trade Agreement, ensuring that workers’ rights are ad- negotiations with Canada, Mexico and
putting its provisions into practice is far vanced and that the competitive land- congressional Democrats, Mr. Lighthi-
from done. scape changes is ahead of us.” zer forged a coalition and worked out
Company executives, government of- “Making sure we don’t lose sight, and changes to the trade deal that won broad
ficials and union leaders across the con- action, on the changes that need to be bipartisan support.
tinent have been scrambling to comply implemented, monitored and enforced They included sweeping changes to
with the United States-Mexico-Canada will be a day-by-day fight,” Mr. Wessel Mexico’s labor system that would try to
Agreement, which overhauls a trade added. break the corrupt unions that help many
deal that has governed commerce in- “Today as #USMCA enters into force, companies control their workers in
volving the three countries for more many improvements must be made to Mexico and replace them with freely or-
than 26 years. fulfill its promises,” Richard Trumka, ganized unions that could negotiate bet-
The Trump administration and other the president of the AFL-CIO, wrote on ter wages and working conditions. That
supporters have welcomed the revised Twitter. “We will fight to ensure that the in turn would benefit American work-
pact as providing much-needed changes #USMCA doesn’t become another ers, by giving them a more level playing
to previous trade rules, including bigger #NAFTA." field for competition.
incentives to manufacture products in The Trump administration has taken Mr. Lighthizer pointed to Mexico’s re-
North America, new guidelines for dig- an aggressive approach to rewriting fusal to accept American biotech prod-
ital trade and stronger labor protections CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/REUTERS and enforcing trade rules. The ucts — like genetically modified corn
for Mexican workers. And the official The United States, which won access to Canada’s dairy market in the deal, is monitoring that sector for potential violations. U.S.M.C.A., a comprehensive deal that and other crops — as one area where the
start of the new agreement puts to rest covers the country’s most important United States could bring a case under
much of the uncertainty Mr. Trump cre- trading partners, is the biggest test so the new trade deal. Mexico’s labor re-
ated for businesses by repeatedly been fully met or still need to be phased products satisfy the trade deal, which The three-country pact, which was far of Mr. Trump’s ability to change forms and treatment of American media
threatening to walk away from the deal in over the coming months and years. requires some industries to buy more reached after more than two years of ne- global trade terms in America’s favor. companies are also drawing U.S. scru-
altogether. Industries as varied as automobiles materials and components from North gotiations, sought to change Mexico’s la- Administration officials say they are tiny. Mr. Lighthizer told lawmakers that
But many of the deal’s requirements, and agriculture are still struggling to America and provide the government bor rules to ensure that workers had the gearing up to use the deal as a way to his agency would take action “early and
like expanding workers’ rights or open- understand recent guidelines from the detailed information on their sourcing freedom to form unions and bargain for challenge Canadian and Mexican busi- often” to combat violations of the agree-
ing up the flow of agriculture, have not U.S. government and certify that their and wages. better wages. But those changes are still ness practices that harm U.S. interests. TRADE,PAGE8
..
8 | FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
business
Europe may bounce back first Trade deal
to take effect,
RECOVERY,FROM PAGE1
early burst of funds for taxpayers and but much is
company support, but it is effectively
leaving it up to the market to reallocate
jobs. still undone
European governments, faced with
an artificial shutdown, rather than a tra-
ditional fiscal crisis, have chosen to try
to freeze their economies, in the hope of TRADE,FROM PAGE7
restoring them quickly. ment’s labor rules, which are meant to
They have bet on a fairly rapid recov- improve wages and working conditions,
ery, trying to preserve jobs as much as particularly in Mexico.
possible through wage subsidies, often Mr. Lighthizer also indicated that the
up to 80 percent of salary, and for part- United States, which won access to Can-
time work. ada’s dairy market as part of the deal,
But if the pandemic goes on too long, was monitoring that sector for potential
or returns in an extended second wave, violations of the agreement. And the ad-
European governments are unlikely to ministration is considering renewing
extend such support for much longer. tariffs on Canadian aluminum exports.
Already, said Mr. Pisani-Ferry, “ev- Another new part of the U.S.M.C.A.
eryone is pulling back a bit.” Some plans that was crucial for winning the support
were very generous and “there is a of Democrats and labor leaders was its
question of balance — you want to avoid “enforcement provisions,” which give
fraud and avoid companies’ keeping governments, unions and workers the
people on furlough, if there’s no chance ability to report violations of the agree-
of rehiring them.’’ ment, and to seek redress.
Many European countries have One of these systems allows the coun-
adopted what is known in Germany as tries to bring cases against one another
‘‘kurzarbeit,’’ in which employers prom- about labor rights or a wide variety of
ise not to lay anyone off but to have em- other issues. Another fast-acting, labor-
ployees share the work, while the gov- specific system allows unions, workers
ernment makes up much of the lost in- and other parties to report labor vio-
come. lations, which may lead to factory in-
“So far Europe is doing quite well, spections and even products from the of-
with a huge increase in unemployment fending company being blocked at the
in the U.S. and not so much here,’’ said U.S. border.
Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, an “We’ve always talked about agree-
economic think tank. ments that don’t have teeth, and this one
“If what we see is temporary, if we re- has some teeth,” said Ben Davis, the di-
turn to an economic system much like rector of international affairs for the
before, then kurzarbeit is the right re- United Steelworkers union. “Maybe not
sponse,’’ he said. ‘‘But if you think there a full mouthful, maybe not as sharp as
will be longer-lasting shifts, if you need we need it, but it has some teeth, and
to reallocate, then the U.S., which is we’re all waiting to see how that plays
more agile, may be better off.’’ out.”
Initial American spending was enor- Mr. Lighthizer has said that these pro-
THIBAULT CAMUS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
mous — up to $2.7 trillion in March and Paris is opening up after lockdown, and Europe in general has bet on a fairly rapid recovery. Countries froze their economies in the hope of restoring them quickly. visions will help to reverse a long-run-
April (about 13 percent of gross domes- ning trend in which manufacturers have
tic product) to provide economic relief moved out of the United States to take
to individuals, firms and states. It was a lot to those who did not need it — in- tem, in which it’s easier to hire and fire, That was especially true, he said, for Last week, Christine Lagarde, the advantage of lower wages and laxer
the largest economic stimulus in Ameri- cluding to many dead people — and on a argued Megan Greene, an economist at “the critical eight weeks, mid-March to head of the European Central Bank, working conditions in Mexico.
can history. It was also several times as first-come, first-serve basis to employ- Harvard’s Kennedy School. mid-May,’’ when Europe largely suc- which stepped in with a large program “It wasn’t economics in my judgment;
large as packages in Europe. In France, ers, some of whom did not need the help. “Labor market flexibility creates ceeded in snuffing out the rapid advance to guarantee new government debt, it was industrial policy down there,” Mr.
for example, the stimulus was only 2 But even that huge spending, largely more opportunities for U.S. workers, of the virus, which is continuing to said: “We probably have passed the low- Lighthizer said in the June 17 hearing,
percent of gross domestic product, Mr. aimed at individuals, rather than em- usually leading to a faster recovery after spread in the United States at a record est point,’’ but given all the unknowns, “I about companies’ outsourcing to Mex-
Pisani-Ferry said. ployers, did not prevent extensive lay- a downturn,’’ she wrote. pace. say that with some trepidation.” ico. “We’ve turned that around.” Con-
Still, “the European response was bet- offs. Washington is relying on unem- That has helped America bounce back In the United States, “there are a lot of In the United States, on the other gressional Democrats and labor leaders
ter — simpler and more effective in ployment insurance and has increased faster in traditional recessions, different voices clamoring to open up or it will hand, the uncertainty of the government say it’s too early for the Trump adminis-
terms of the use of public funds,’’ he said. insurance payments by $600 a week, but from the current, sudden freeze with no cost us the economy, since there are mil- response is itself a factor. “Despite being tration to declare victory, pointing to
The reason is Europe’s existing social that provision runs out at the end of this obvious exit. lions of Americans that need to work to one country,” Ms. Reichlin said, “the U.S. Mexico’s half-finished labor reforms.
welfare system. Its “automatic stabiliz- month. Without any certainty about “The United States had a much larger put food on the table,’’ he said. “So Amer- is coming out much more fragmented
ers’’ kick in to support the poor and un- what comes next, consumers will hesi- fiscal stimulus, but as usual, fewer auto- icans were willing to take chances that than Europe.’’
“We’re going to be paying
employed, without the need, as in the tate to spend, slowing any recovery. matic stabilizers, so the discretionary Europeans did not have to.’’ If American consumers remain ap-
United States, to pass ad hoc legislation. The rise in unemployment in America part was bigger,’’ said Lucrezia Reichlin, Europeans continue to argue fiercely prehensive, or their unemployment attention, very closely,
The American response was a broad, has been roughly five times that in professor of economics at London Busi- over the size and shape of their coro- benefits run out, or if there is a contin- to how the agreement
rather than a targeted attack, with large France, Mr. Pisani-Ferry wrote in a pa- ness School. “So in America there is a navirus recovery fund and how it will be ued rise in illnesses or a second coro- is implemented.”
amounts of money handed out quickly per with Jérémie Cohen-Setton. “As an bigger debate about who is winning and distributed, but by now there is no doubt navirus wave, the American recovery
but indiscriminately and thus ineffi- immediate crisis response, the French who is losing.’’ that the money will be in the pipeline. could be short-circuited.
ciently by the Treasury, which had no (and European) approach undoubtedly Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peter- If Europe is lucky and can engineer a “We live with the idea that the U.S. has At that hearing, Richard E. Neal, a
system in place to do otherwise. offered a bigger bang for the buck.’’ son Institute for International Econom- broad, comprehensive lockdown, but a an ability to rebound that is almost un- Democratic congressman from Massa-
The main point was to get money into But such European generosity in ics pointed out that because most Euro- short one, then whenever that money limited,” Michel Duclos, a former chusetts, said there had been “serious
the system so it did not shut down en- propping up the existing system may peans don’t have to worry about getting arrives next year will help the economy French ambassador, told The Atlantic. deficiencies” in the way Mexico was en-
tirely, so consumer demand would con- slow job growth, compared with the their salaries, the “lockdown was also grow, especially if recovery is slow, “For the first time, I’m starting to have acting its labor reforms.
tinue. But the Treasury ended up giving more flexible, insecure American sys- easier to sustain.’’ weak and prolonged. some doubts.” “We’re going to hold people’s feet to
the fire,” said Representative Rosa De-
Lauro, Democrat of Connecticut and one
of the Democratic negotiators.
A Fourth of July with a lot less bang Mexico passed a sweeping labor law
in 2019 aimed at meeting the pledges it
had made to Canada and the United
States in its new trade deal by giving
viduals to use in their backyards, a busi- late last year after an explosion in a fac- workers more ability to organize and
U.S. fireworks companies
ness that is booming this year. But it has tory in Liuyang, where most of the bargain. But since the labor law was
feel pain as displays are also created headaches in cities like world’s fireworks are made. Then, the passed, violence against Mexican labor
New York City, Chicago and Los Ange- coronavirus outbreak in China affected activists has continued, and hundreds of
canceled over pandemic
les, where fireworks are illegal. In Utah, key ports where fireworks are shipped lawsuits have been filed challenging the
a person setting off fireworks sparked a all over the world. constitutionality of these reforms.
wildfire recently and forced evacuations “The first wave of coronavirus hit in If the Mexican Supreme Court rules
BY JULIE CRESWELL
of homes 30 miles south of Salt Lake China, and we were like, ‘Oh, my God, that the labor law is unconstitutional,
The annual Big Bay Boom over San City. we’re not going to get any of our prod- Mexico could be in violation of a major
Diego will be quiet this year. The skies Some of the fireworks display compa- ucts,’” Mr. Sorgi said. “Everyone started portion of the trade pact and could face
over Lake Tahoe, home to the Lights on nies have, over the past decade or so, to put in backup orders. Then, all of the tariffs or other punitive actions from the
the Lake celebration, will be dark. branched out to broader entertainment sudden, they open up and there’s no way United States and Canada.
Also falling silent will be the IPL arenas, creating “ooohs” and “aaahhs” to cancel the orders because they’re al- Union leaders are preparing a list of
Downtown Freedom Blast in Indianapo- at major- and minor-league baseball sta- ready on the boats from China. Every labor cases they could bring under the
lis; the Patriots Point Blast in Charles- diums, as well as complex pyrotechnics fireworks display company is over- agreement’s dispute settlement provi-
ton, S.C.; and the Legacy Blast in Lee’s for rock concerts, music festivals, and stuffed with product.” sions, including that of a Mexican labor
Summit, Mo. indoor basketball and hockey games. And in the days leading up to the holi- lawyer, Susana Prieto Terrazas, who
Across the United States, the coro- The vast majority of those sports day, fireworks display companies say, was arrested while trying to establish
navirus pandemic has brought to a halt games and entertainment events were they have been receiving calls from an independent union. But it remains to
a tradition of summer: Fourth of July also canceled this year. When they ulti- civic leaders, changing where and how be seen what kind of punishment the in-
fireworks. mately resume, they may initially do so the fireworks will be staged to maintain dependent panels that review these
As many as 80 percent of community without spectators, making fireworks social distancing among spectators. cases could hand down, if any.
fireworks displays in large cities and unnecessary. Some, like Seven Springs Mountain “Implementation is only as good as
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DA’SHAUNAE MARISA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
small rural towns have been canceled “I’ve had days where I’ve lost Above, from left, David and Roberto Sorgi of American Fireworks, below, in Ohio. “We’re Resort in Champion, Pa., are hosting they’re willing to enforce it,” said Repre-
this year over fear that they would cre- $150,000 of business from cancella- going to lose 50 to 75 percent of our business from the Fourth of July,” Roberto said. drive-in fireworks shows, where visitors sentative Jimmy Gomez, Democrat of
ate a social distancing nightmare. tions,” said Roberto Sorgi, the fifth gen- park and stay by their cars. California. “We’re going to be paying at-
For the 150 companies across the eration of the family that runs American Others, like West Palm Beach, Fla., tention, very closely, to how the agree-
country that thrill spectators with their Fireworks in Hudson, Ohio. “We’re go- and New York City, are planning to have ment is implemented.”
booming, colorful explosions in the ing to lose 50 to 75 percent of our busi- multiple shows that can be seen from “The promise of the U.S.M.C.A. is that
skies, the two weeks around the the ness from the Fourth of July, and there homes. it was righting the wrongs of NAFTA,”
American July Fourth holiday make up are no clear signs of when concerts or “We’ve changed a number of the dis- he added. “But if they’re not willing to
about three-quarters of a year’s reve- plays to have the fireworks go off at a use it, or if they’re taking steps to under-
nue. The numerous cancellations this high level so that people can see the en- mine it, then it’s for naught.”
“I’m sitting on millions
year, they say, are taking a significant fi- tire display from different locations,” For companies that are scrambling to
nancial toll on their businesses, many of of dollars, tons and tons said George Zambelli, the third genera- comply with the pact’s voluminous rules
them family owned for generations. of explosives, that have to tion of the family that runs Zambelli for how they source their products and
With July Fourth falling on a week- be stored very specifically.” Fireworks in Warrendale, Pa. The Zam- share information with the government,
end, giving communities extra days to belli family has put on shows at the much remains uncertain as well.
host events, “we were looking at a White House for presidents including Many businesses that were working
record year,” said James Souza, the fifth mass gatherings will be allowed again, John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, as to enact the changes required by the
generation of his family to operate Pyro so we may not have a third or fourth well as for the Bush family at its Kenne- U.S.M.C.A. had to put everything on
Spectaculars by Souza from California. quarter this year. It is a very scary road bunkport estate in Maine. hold for the pandemic, said Richard Mo-
“But of the 400 shows we expected to do ahead for all of us.” This year, Mr. Zambelli said, 80 per- jica, a lawyer with Miller & Chevalier’s
around the holiday, we’ll be lucky if we Most of the fireworks companies re- cent of the company’s July Fourth International practice. Companies have
do 40,” he said, noting that he had been ceived money through the federal Pay- shows have been canceled. also been trying to digest hundreds of
receiving daily calls with cancellations check Protection Program and the Eco- Stephen Vitale, the fourth generation pages of new detailed industry guid-
or program changes from event plan- nomic Injury Disaster Loan program. of the family to run Pyrotecnico in New ance, which the administration only re-
ners. But they said it wasn’t enough. Castle, Pa., said about 160 of the 600 leased in June. “It’s absolutely a scram-
Included in the 40 shows that Mr. That’s because the fireworks industry shows he expected to do this Fourth of ble,” Mr. Mojica said.
Souza will produce this year are the has a ton of upfront expenses. The com- July would happen. Ann Wilson, the senior vice president
Mount Rushmore show in South Dakota panies start buying millions of dollars’ going to cover expenses this year.” Even before the coronavirus out- “The first 15 days of May were incred- for government affairs at the Motor &
and, for the 36th consecutive year, the worth of fireworks nearly a year in ad- The industry hopes Congress will ear- break, the year was shaping up to be a ibly devastating,” Mr. Vitale said. “Ev- Equipment Manufacturers Association,
Macy’s fireworks show in New York vance, and they paid hefty insurance mark $175 million for it in another stimu- challenging one for many in the fire- ery call was a bad call, a cancellation.” which represents auto parts suppliers,
City. The Macy’s show has been premiums this year to cover the planned lus bill, if one is passed. works industry. Noting that many clients are munici- said companies were facing significant
changed to five-minute displays in un- events. “We’re asking for relief in the next Last summer, the top-of-mind con- pal parks and recreation departments, costs to meet the new rules at a particu-
disclosed locations throughout the week “I’m sitting on millions of dollars, tons Senate Covid package to address the cern for many was whether President and that an 18- to 20-minute show can larly trying time, in the midst of a pan-
that are designed to be watched from and tons of explosives, that have to be unique and specific costs to this indus- Trump would include fireworks in his cost anywhere from $5,000 to $200,000, demic and economic recession.
outside without leaving home. The stored very specifically,” Mr. Souza said, try,” said Julie Heckman, the executive tariffs on Chinese imports. About 95 per- Mr. Vitale and others are worried about “Many of these companies are still
grand finale on July Fourth, also from an “which, for us, is in 24 military-style director of the American Pyrotechnics cent of the world’s fireworks are made in what may happen next year. laying off people, furloughing people,
undisclosed location, will be televised. bunkers that we have to lease, and those Association. “Fireworks display compa- China. “Right now, the cancellations are pan- and they’re still trying to grapple with
A few companies that specialize in leases are now at a premium.” nies will be one of the last industries to Fireworks were eventually excluded demic driven,” he said. “But next year, I these requirements,” Ms. Wilson said.
large fireworks displays also sell Roman He added: “We’ve maxed out all of reopen, and that may not happen until from the tariffs. believe it will be more money driven.
candles, spinners and sparklers for indi- our lines of credit. I don’t know how I’m May of 2021.” But then China halted manufacturing Budgets are going to get cut.” Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 | 9
Opinion
Is economic inequality really a problem?
Yes, but the Samuel Scheffler
answer is less
obvious than
you might
It is impossible to ignore the stark
think. disparities of income and wealth that
prevail in the United States and
around the world, and a great many of
us are troubled by this state of affairs.
But is economic inequality really
what bothers us? An influential essay
published in 1987 by the philosopher
Harry Frankfurt suggests that we
have misidentified the problem. Pro-
fessor Frankfurt argued that it does
not matter whether some people have
less than others. What matters is that
some people do not have enough. They
lack adequate income, have little or no
wealth and do not enjoy decent hous-
ing, health care or education. If even
the worst-off people had enough re-
sources to lead good and fulfilling
lives, then the fact that others had still
greater resources would not be trou-
bling.
When some people don’t have
enough and others have vastly more
than they need, it is easy to conclude
that the problem is one of inequality.
But this, according to Professor Frank-
furt, is a mistake. The problem isn’t
inequality as such. It’s the poverty and
deprivation suffered by those who
have least.
Professor Frankfurt’s essay didn’t
persuade all his fellow philosophers,
many of whom remained egalitarians.
But his challenge continued to res-
onate and, in 2015, even as concerns
about economic inequality were grow-
ing in many corners of society, he
published a short book in which he
reaffirmed his position.
And Professor Frankfurt, it seems,
has a point. Those in the top 10 percent
of America’s economic distribution are
in a very comfortable position. Those
in the top 1 percent are in an even
more comfortable position than those
in the other 9 percent. But few people
find this kind of inequality troubling.
Inequality bothers us most, it seems,
only when some are very rich and
others are very poor.
Even when the worst-off people are
very poor, moreover, it wouldn’t be an
improvement to reduce everyone else
to their level. Equality would then
prevail, but equal misery is hardly an
ideal worth striving for.
So perhaps we shouldn’t object to
economic inequality as such. Instead,
we should just try to improve the
position of those who have least. We
should work to eliminate poverty,
hunger, bad schools, substandard
housing and inadequate medical care.
But we shouldn’t make the elimination
of inequality our aim.
Is this the correct conclusion? I
think not. Economic inequality matters
a great deal whether or not it matters
“as such.”
Start by considering two points that
Professor Frankfurt himself would
accept. First, to succeed in eliminating
poverty and securing decent condi-
tions of life for all Americans would
require raising taxes on the rich signif-
icantly. Although the ultimate purpose
would not be to reduce inequality, the
indirect effect would be to do just that.
So even if inequality as such is not the
problem, reducing inequality is almost
certainly part of the solution. ILLUSTRATION BY JANET HANSEN; PHOTOGRAPHS BY GETTY IMAGES
Second, even if economic inequality
is not a problem in and of itself, it can those who have the least are also poor trophe of slavery, but we aspire to If extreme economic inequality transform us from a democracy into a
still have bad effects. Great disparities and lack adequate resources, but create a society of equals, and we are undermines the ideal of a society of plutocracy, and it makes a mockery of
of income and wealth, of the kind we which may persist even if everyone proud of the steps we have taken to- equals, then is that merely one of its the ideal of equal citizenship.
see in the United States today, can has enough. The rich may persuade ward that ideal. bad effects, like its corrupting influ- If, as they say, every crisis is an
have damaging effects even when themselves that they fully deserve But extreme inequality makes a ence on the political process? Or, in- opportunity, then America today is
nobody is badly off in absolute terms. their enormous wealth and develop mockery of our aspiration. In a society stead, is that simply what it is for truly the land of opportunity. Of the
For example, the wealthiest may be attitudes of entitlement and privilege. marked by the spectacular inequalities economic inequality to matter as such? many opportunities with which the
able to exert a disproportionate share Those who have less may develop of income and wealth that have For practical purposes, it doesn’t current crises have presented, one of
of political influence and to shape feelings of inferiority and deference, on emerged in the United States in the make much difference which answer the most basic is the opportunity to
society in conformity with their inter- the one hand, and hostility and resent- past few decades, there is no meaning- we give. In either case, the imperative rethink the conception of society. Go-
ests. They may be able to make the ment on the other. In this way, extreme ful sense in which all citizens, rich and that Professor Frankfurt identified — ing forward, Americans must decide
law work for them rather than for inequality can distort people’s view of poor alike, can nevertheless relate to the imperative to ensure that all citi- whether they wish to constitute them-
everyone, and so undermine the rule themselves and compromise their one another on an equal footing. Even zens have enough resources to lead selves as a genuine society of equals
of law. Enough economic inequality relations with one another. if poverty were eliminated and every- decent lives — is of the utmost impor- or, alternatively, whether they are
can transform a democracy into a This brings us to a more fundamen- one had enough resources to lead a tance. It is appalling that so many content to have relations with one
plutocracy, a society ruled by the rich. tal point. The great political philoso- decent life, that would not by itself people in a society as wealthy as ours another structured by an increasingly
Large inequalities of inherited pher John Rawls thought that a liberal transform American citizenship into a continue to lack adequate housing, stark and unforgiving economic and
wealth can be particularly damaging, society should conceive of itself as a relationship among equals. There is a nutrition, medical care and education, social hierarchy.
creating, in effect, an economic caste fair system of cooperation among free limit to the degree of economic inequal- and do not enjoy the full benefits of the
system that inhibits social mobility and equal people. Often, it seems, we ity that is compatible with the ideal of a rule of law. But addressing Professor SAMUEL SCHEFFLERis a professor of
and undercuts equality of opportunity. do like to think of ourselves that way. society of equals and, although there is Frankfurt’s imperative is not enough. philosophy and law at New York Uni-
Extreme inequality can also have We know that our society has always room for disagreement about where Extreme economic inequality, whether versity and the author, most recently, of
subtler and more insidious effects, been blighted by grave injustices, exactly the limit lies, it is clear that we it matters as such or “merely” for its “Why Worry About Future Genera-
which are especially pronounced when beginning with the great moral catas- have long since exceeded it. effects, is pernicious. It threatens to tions?”
Here come the four horsemen of the Techopolypse
become one of the biggest critics of Big “But throughout, we know it is impos- — given the growing public alarm as close as I would describe them, and
The leaders Kara Swisher Tech’s enormous power, told me on sible to properly conclude this without about the power of the tech giants, this there is intense dislike between some
of Apple, Contributing Writer Wednesday that Jeff Bezos of Amazon, hearing from the decision makers gathering of the four horsemen of the of the companies — but in the hopes
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sundar themselves.” Techopolypse could be an epic show. that a group appearance will keep any
Google,
Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of He said that all of the chief execu- Winter may be coming for Silicon one of them from being singled out for
Facebook and
Apple will testify in what could be an tives agreed to appear voluntarily and Valley. intense scrutiny. Some are suggesting
Amazon will You can call it Techpalooza. all-day event. that logistics are still being worked out Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Pichai and Mr. that a multiday interrogation, with
The chief executives of four of the Mr. Cicilline said that the yearlong for what he hopes will be an in-person Bezos had indicated in letters previ- each chief executive facing a small
soon appear
most powerful tech companies in the congressional investigation has includ- hearing in Washington. But safety ously that they were open to appearing number of experienced questioners, as
before world — Apple, Facebook, Google and ed eight round-table discussions, 93 concerns over the coronavirus may at a hearing, after being invited by Mr. well as real people they hurt, would be
Congress. Amazon — have agreed to appear in requests for information, 43 experts mean that the executives end up testi- Cicilline’s antitrust subcommittee, a better way to grill the tech moguls.
late July before a U.S. congressional testifying and five hearings. fying remotely. while Apple had said that it was open Still, if the lawmakers do their job in
Get ready.
committee as part of an investigation “It’s the first major look at antitrust And while tech leaders have ap- to sending a top official. the planned format and ask pointed
focused on antitrust. in this industry in 50 years and a lot of peared before Congress in the past — It’s clear that the chief executives questions about the true impact of
Representative David Cicilline, a people worldwide are watching how and there is often less illumination wanted to appear together, not so these companies’ power on competi-
Democrat from Rhode Island who has lawmakers deal with tech,” he said. than noise at these kinds of hearings much for support — frenemies is about SWISHER,PAGE11
..
10 | FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
opinion
13 hours’ pay for a 24-hour shift
aides proceeded to work in fear.
A.G. SULZBERGER,Publisher E. Tammy Kim Their employers, despite claiming to
Contributing Writer do the best they could, were in fact
DEAN BAQUET,Executive Editor MARK THOMPSON,Chief Executive Officer
mobilizing lobbyists to shield them-
JOSEPH KAHN,Managing Editor STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSON,President, International
selves from litigation: The nursing-
TOM BODKIN, Creative Director CHARLOTTE GORDON, V.P., International Consumer Marketing
home industry has tried to limit its
SUZANNE DALEY, Associate Editor HELEN KONSTANTOPOULOS, V.P.,International Circulation
Even as U.S. states reopen, Covid-19 liability in more than 20 states and is
HELENA PHUA, Executive V.P., Asia-Pacific
continues to lay waste to the elderly and pushing for nationwide relief in Con-
KATHLEEN KINGSBURY, Editorial Page Editor SUZANNE YVERNÈS, International Chief Financial Officer
those who care for them. America has a gress.
long tradition of banishing ailing sen- Long-term care employees, on the
iors, and this neglect extends to the other hand, face criminalization simply
workers who help them eat and dress for doing their jobs. In May, a home
and nourish their minds and souls. health aide was arrested in Camden,
The home health aides and certified N.J., and charged with multiple counts
WILL MR. TRUMP STAND UP TO CHINA?
nursing assistants who work in long- of “endangering the welfare of another.”
term care facilities and private homes The state alleges that, in mid-April, the
Much of the focus on China in recent months has been are usually paid no more than the min- aide went to get tested for the coro-
History will
over the coronavirus that originated there late last year. imum wage and given few, if any, bene- navirus and ignored instructions to
not be kind fits. Their salaries are drawn from self-isolate; the next day, she showed up
But that has hardly slowed Beijing’s assault on funda-
to those who public Medicaid funds, through a laby- for work as usual. Her patient later fell
mental freedoms and human rights, from the brutal rinthine arrangement of state-by-state ill and died, and four other members of
did nothing
repression of the Uighurs to choking off Hong Kong’s block grants, health insurers and pri- the household got sick. The aide’s test
to try to limited autonomy. vate contractors. Medicare, despite its turned out to be positive, although it is
association with seniors, does not cover not clear whether she had transmitted
stop Beijing’s Congress has acted with admirable alacrity and una-
long-term care. the virus to her patient or vice versa.
human rights nimity to pass tough bills allowing for the imposition of These front-line workers, mostly At a court hearing, the aide told the
abuses. sanctions against the Chinese officials and enterprises Black and immigrant women, have judge that she had not known that she
become victims and vectors of the was positive with the virus when she
behind these outrages. It is now for President Trump,
pandemic. More than 54,000 Americans went to work. Teri Lodge, her lawyer,
who has shown little enthusiasm so far for tangling with living or working in long-term care have told me that her client is distraught over
President Xi Jinping over human rights, to use the tools died of the coronavirus, representing 40 her patient’s death. Neither the New
percent of all Covid-19 fatalities, and a Jersey Office of the Attorney General
that Congress has placed at his disposal to show Beijing
disproportionate number of those nor the Camden County prosecutor
that its transgressions have consequences.
deaths have occurred in facilities serv- would speak with me about the case,
The new national-security law for Hong Kong is the ing nonwhite patients. though they have boasted of the arrest
most current and most publicized example of Mr. Xi’s These figures should scandalize, but as a Covid-19-era victory. In fact, the
they may be an undercount. While aide’s prosecution shows a system in
repressive, nationalistic policies. The measure severely
concentrations of deaths in nursing crisis: a retreat to criminalization in-
erodes Hong Kong’s civil and political freedoms, under- homes have made the news across the stead of social repair.
mining the “one country, two systems” model that China country, from Hawaii to Illinois to Loui- Low-wage caregivers are taking a
siana, there is no parallel accounting in stand. Yolanda, the aide I spoke with in
pledged when the British colony reverted to Beijing’s
private residences, where more than 2.3 Queens, joined the worker-led “Ain’t I a
rule in 1997. One of the first arrests under the new law million aides help seniors and people Woman” campaign to demand that the
was of a protester with a pro-independence flag, the with disabilities. Cuomo administration provide protec-
New York now requires weekly test- tive equipment, regular testing, safe
display of which is now a criminal offense. As a result, a
ing for “personnel” in nursing homes transportation and compensation for all
bipartisan push is now underway in Congress to grant
and assisted-living facilities. Yet the KATIE ORLINSKY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES hours worked on 24-hour shifts. In
refugee status to certain Hong Kong residents. rule does not apply to visiting agency Yolanda, a home health aide in New York, watched a beloved client die of the virus. states where home care unions are
But while Hong Kong has garnered the most attention aides or those in apartments and strong, workers have engaged in coro-
houses. Like so much domestic work, navirus-specific bargaining to improve
in the West, it is hardly the sole, or even the worst, of the
this intimate caregiving is rendered that she watched a beloved client die of regulators. pay and conditions. Service Employees
Chinese government’s systemic violations of elemental invisible. Covid-19, then fell sick herself. With only Other aides I interviewed were work- International Union Local 775, in Wash-
human rights. These are among other recent develop- The home health aides and nursing a few hours of paid leave, she lost six ing in multiple patients’ homes. Direct ington State, won temporary pay raises
assistants I have interviewed since weeks of income. She was then assigned caregivers are so poorly paid that they of an additional $3 per hour, expanded
ments:
May, mostly in New York, relay terrify- to 24-hour shifts for a new patient but often have to accept whatever shifts are health insurance and an equipment
■A new report from the Jamestown Foundation has
ing stories. When I reached Paula, a was paid for only 13 hours a day. The law offered, shuttling between private stipend. Unions in Massachusetts,
exposed chilling details of official measures to shrink
home health aide working 12-hour shifts in New York State requires her employ- residences, assisted-living units and Pennsylvania, Oregon and Illinois have
the Uighur population, including sterilization and forced for a patient in Manhattan, she had just er to compensate her for only half her nursing homes. “They’re putting them- negotiated similar provisions.
abortions. The report by Adrian Zenz, a leading author- taken the subway back to her apartment time, even if her selves at risk, going from job to job to job Worker organizing will continue to
ity on the mass detention of Uighurs in Chinese prison in the Bronx. “The transportation is America’s patient needs consis- and putting the older adults at risk as improve the home care industry, but
pretty crowded; it’s worrisome,” she tent care, on the well,” Amy York, executive director of radical change is impossible in the
neglect of
camps, found that while China has long sought to man- said. absurd assumption the Eldercare Workforce Alliance, told absence of an adequate Medicaid budg-
older people
age its vast population, the draconian controls in the Her client had tested positive for the that she’s able to me. et. One-fifth of America’s population will
extends to the
coronavirus, yet the agency that em- sleep and eat for the Even before the coronavirus reached reach retirement age over the next
Western region of Xinjiang were intended “to suppress ploys her, at the $15 minimum wage, people who remaining hours. the United States, the risks to older decade, far exceeding our long-term-
minority population growth” while boosting the major- offered no additional compensation or care for them Sonya, an aide on people were clear. As in South Korea, the care infrastructure.
ity Han population through increased births and migra- guidance, let alone taxi service, she at home. Long Island, told me first clusters here, too, were linked to Covid-19 has shown that America
said. It gave her one gown and a few that since the begin- long-term care. I happened to be report- must reorder its notion of medicine, by
tion. Natural population growth in the region, the report
masks and gloves, with vague instruc- ning of the pandemic ing in Washington State in early March recognizing that those who tend to the
found, had “declined dramatically.”
tions on reuse. her agency has had when the virus was detected in a facility elderly and people with disabilities are
■On Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection “I go home, take off all my clothes, her provide extra care to a patient in an in Kirkland. Officials there, in inter- as indispensable as nurses and doctors.
officials in New York announced that they had seized a and disinfect,” she said. “We risk our assisted-living facility. Because of the views, could not address my questions The patchwork that we call a system is
large shipment of weaves and other beauty products health, we risk our families and there’s ban on visitors, she was the man’s only about what should happen to the care- not merely insufficient; it is proving
no protection.” (Paula and the other conduit to his family. But because she giving staff. fatal to workers and patients alike.
that officials suspect were made out of human hair from
women interviewed for this article isn’t employed directly by the facility, To contain the spread of the virus,
people locked inside the Xinjiang camp system. “The asked that their last names be withheld, she found herself excluded from Gov. wouldn’t aides need hazard pay and E. TAMMY KIMwrites about labor, busi-
production of these goods constitutes a very serious to protect them from retaliation from Andrew Cuomo’s order requiring work- extra protective equipment, private ness and the Koreas. This article was
their employers.) ers to be tested every week. As an transportation and temporary lodging? supported by the Economic Hardship
human rights violation, and the detention order is in-
Yolanda, an aide in Queens, told me agency aide, she went unnoticed by No one seemed to have an answer, and Reporting Project.
tended to send a clear and direct message to all entities
seeking to do business with the United States that illicit
and inhumane practices will not be tolerated in U.S.
Refusing to wear a mask is like driving drunk
supply chains,” Brenda Smith, a customs official, told
The Associated Press. An American government advi-
sory issued Wednesday warned companies that they
For one study this year, reported in
risk “reputational, economic, and legal risks” from do-
Clinical Infectious Diseases, re-
ing business with companies that used Xinjiang forced searchers placed hamsters with the
labor. coronavirus in cages next to those with-
Of all these horrors, the fact that China is actually out the virus, and found that when surgi-
cal masks were used as a barrier be-
seeking to reduce the population of Uighurs — a Turkic
tween the cages infections plunged by
Nicholas Kristof
minority of about 10 million with its own language and more than half.
culture — is especially disturbing. As Dr. Zenz notes in Or take a lesson from East Asian
countries, where mask-wearing is more
his report, these measures “raise serious concerns” that
common as a sign of courtesy, that have
the policies amount to a violation of China’s obligations managed to contain the virus. Dr. Kwok-
under the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Pun- As the coronavirus rages out of control Yung Yuen, an infectious diseases spe-
across much of the United States, Amer- cialist at the University of Hong Kong,
ishment of the Crime of Genocide, whose definition of
icans are acting curiously helpless. told me that a crucial reason for Hong
genocide includes “imposing measures intended to
If we had been this passive in 1776, we Kong’s success against Covid-19 (less
prevent births” within a national, ethnic, racial or reli- would still be part of Britain. Yet even as than one death per million inhabitants,
gious group targeted for destruction. we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of compared with 385 per million in the
July, we don’t seem willing to assert United States) is that 97 percent of Hong
Last week, the Senate adopted by unanimous consent
independence from a virus that in four Kong residents wear
a bill that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials, months has killed more Americans than masks. DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
businesses and banks involved in the assault on Hong the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, Afghanistan Republicans “Masking is a sign President Trump with Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado in May.
and Iraq wars did over 70 years. talk a good of responsible civili-
Kong’s limited autonomy, and it is expected to sail
Here’s the simplest of steps we could game about ty,” Yuen told me.
through the House of Representatives. The week before take: Wear a face mask. “personal Hong Kong, like distancing, hand-washing, contact that wearing them “is just a good idea.”
that, Mr. Trump signed the Uighur Human Rights Policy In the United States, mask-wearing some Asian coun- tracing and bans on large assemblies. Senator Marco Rubio urged, “Just wear
responsibility.”
lags, particularly among men, com- tries, distributes I’m also a big believer in more wide- a damn mask.” Representative Liz
Act, a bill that would potentially impose sanctions on It’s time for
pared with some other countries. A poll masks free. The spread sewage testing to provide an Cheney tweeted a photo of her father,
Chinese officials over the prison camp system. The President
finds that many American men regard United States should early warning that the virus is in the former Vice President Dick Cheney,
reaction from China was the usual bluster about “fabri- the wearing of face masks as “a sign of Trump’s do the same, for the neighborhood. wearing one, with the hashtag #real-
cated” or “fake news” and threats of “countermeas- weakness,” and President Trump’s supporters cost is negligible To be sure, we need more research, menwearmasks. Good for them!
refusal to wear them has suggested that to actually compared with and masks vary in effectiveness. N95 But Trump has resisted. Republicans
ures.”
he perceives that masks are for wimps. display some. hospitalization. respirators work very well — so much talk a good game about “personal re-
Mr. Trump’s commitment to using these tools of state- Trump may now be switching gears, A University of so that they make breathing difficult. sponsibility,” so it’s time for Trump to
craft to change China’s behavior, however, is uncertain. for he told Fox Business on Wednesday Washington comput- Disposable surgical masks are more display some — and to call on his sup-
that he’s “all for masks” and would wear er model suggests comfortable though less protective, and porters to wear masks as well. As we
In a signing statement accompanying the Uighur bill,
one if he were “in a tight situation with that 33,000 American lives could be cloth masks are reusable but less effec- celebrate our independence, this is how
the president said he would treat it as “advisory and
people.” He shouldn’t waste time: He saved from Covid-19 between now and tive. Masks protect your neighbors, but they can show patriotism, protect the
nonbinding.” The day he signed the act was also the day should tweet a photo of himself in a Oct. 1 if more people wore masks. The a new Goldman Sachs report finds that economy and save the lives of their
excerpts from John Bolton’s tell-all book about his stint mask and call on supporters to wear implication is that inconsiderate Ameri- expanding mask mandates could also neighbors.
masks as well. Refusing to cover one’s cans unwilling to wear them could in the help the American economy. The White House press secretary,
as national security adviser appeared, with his accounts
face is reckless, selfish behavior that next few months kill thousands of their “A national face-mask mandate could Kayleigh McEnany, deflects questions
of Mr. Trump’s reluctance to let China’s human rights imperils the economy and can kill or neighbors. potentially substitute for renewed about Trump and masks by insisting
transgressions get in the way of the trade deal he has endanger innocent people. “We need to do everything we can to lockdowns that would otherwise sub- that mask-wearing is simply a “person-
A review of 172 studies in The Lancet increase mask usage,” said Kate tract nearly 5 percent from G.D.P.,” al choice.”
long sought.
medical journal found that “face mask Grabowski, an epidemiologist at Johns Goldman Sachs said. “The economic No, it’s not. Refusing to wear a mask
Still, the unanimous, bipartisan support for these use could result in a large reduction in Hopkins University. But she added: benefit from a face-mask mandate and is no more a “personal choice” than is
bills, and Mr. Trump’s signature on them, are an appro- risk of infection.” An article in Health “People shouldn’t see masks as a silver increased face-mask usage could be drinking all evening and then stumbling
Affairs found that state mask mandates, bullet. They’re not going to be 100 per- sizable.” into your car and heading down the
priately direct and clear signal to China that its behavior
which cover about half the population, cent effective at preventing transmis- Republicans seem to be coming road. In a time of plague, shunning a
is contemptible and will have serious consequences.
may have averted more than 230,000 sion.” around. Vice President Mike Pence face mask is like driving drunk, putting
What remains is to make sure it does. coronavirus infections. So even with masks, we also need earlier eschewed masks but now says everyone in your path in danger.
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