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September 17, 2025

Vaccine death and side effects database relies on unverified reports – and Trump officials and right-wing media are applying it out of context

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Matt Motta, Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management, Boston University

Government approval of COVID-19 vaccines determines their availability to populations vulnerable to infection, such as children. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Trump officials intend to link 25 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines, according to reporting from The Washington Post. These findings will reportedly be discussed during the Sept. 18-19, 2025, meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, with implications for who may be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in the future.

These death reports are reportedly derived from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database co-managed by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration. It was originally established in 1990 to detect possible safety problems with vaccines. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine movement has used this database to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine activist, has promulgated this misinformation through the Make America Healthy Again movement in efforts to limit access to COVID-19 vaccines.

VAERS is ripe for exploitation because it relies on unverified self-reports of side effects. Anyone who received a vaccine can submit a report. And because this information is publicly available, misinterpretations of its data has been used to amplify COVID-19 misinformation through dubious social media channels and mass media, including one of the most popular shows on cable news.

We are political scientists who study the social, political and psychological underpinnings of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. In our research, we argue that VAERS, despite its limitations, can teach us about more than just vaccine side effects – it can also offer powerful new insights into the origins of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S.

What the side effects database was designed to do

Medical experts at the Department of Health and Human Services are well aware of VAERS’ limitations. Rather than taking each individual report at face value, regulators remove clearly fraudulent reports. Demonstrating this, anesthesiologist and autism advocate James Laidler once used the system to report that a vaccine turned him into the “Incredible Hulk,” which was removed only after he agreed to have the data deleted.

Regulators also look for reporting patterns that can be corroborated by additional evidence. For example, reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome should be more common in people over 50 than in younger adults. This can help researchers identify potential adverse events that were not detected in clinical trials.

Because VAERS claims are self-reported, they tell us something about what ordinary people, as opposed to doctors and medical researchers, think about vaccine safety. In other words, people who feel that a vaccine is responsible for a side effect they might be experiencing can log that concern with the federal government, whether or not those claims would stand scrutiny in rigorous clinical testing.

Red breaking news banner behind two vials of COVID-19 vaccine. — Media stories on vaccine side effects can influence public sentiments toward vaccination.
MikeMareen/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Consequently, VAERS reports might not only document people’s negative experiences with vaccination but also their attitudes toward vaccination. People may be more likely to report side effects, for example, in response to media stories about vaccine safety concerns. If reports to VAERS increase following these stories, then the reporting system may be functioning similarly to a public opinion poll. It could reflect, in part, public attentiveness to and concern about potential side effects.

To see whether this is the case, we examined a well-known case of vaccine misinformation: the since-retracted paper that claimed a link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) to childhood autism.

Is a fraudulent study responsible for MMR vaccine skepticism?

In 1998, former physician Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues published a since-retracted paper claiming that the MMR vaccine could cause autism in children. Although the study was rife with unreported conflicting interests and data manipulation, it nevertheless garnered significant media attention in the late 1990s. Some journalists and researchers have since argued that the paper played a major role in inspiring MMR vaccine hesitancy.

While this is plausible, there hasn’t been evidence to support the argument. Virtually no opinion polling about MMR existed prior to the publication of Wakefield’s paper. Consequently, researchers have not been able to directly observe whether the study influenced how Americans think about the MMR vaccine.

VAERS data, however, could offer some clues. In our study, we examined whether the number of VAERS reports following publication of Wakefield’s paper was significantly greater than expected based on typical report numbers prior to its publication. We found that the number of adverse event reports for MMR increased by about 70 reports per month following publication of the paper. This is significantly greater than what we would expect by chance based on previous reporting frequencies. Notably, we did not find a similar effect for other childhood vaccines in the same time period. This further underscores the power this since-debunked study has had in shaping public opinion about the MMR vaccine.

Importantly, we also found that adverse event reporting rates rose in tandem with negative media coverage of the MMR vaccine. Following the publication of Wakefield’s paper, television and print news published significantly more stories about MMR than before the paper was published. These results suggest that Wakefield’s article influenced how much more attentive Americans were about the MMR vaccine.

VAERS: A double-edged sword

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in the side effects reporting system had significantly grown. Google search engine trends suggest that more Americans were looking up VAERS than ever before shortly after emergency use authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. This trend continued to increase until a peak in August 2021.

This search behavior is likely a result of increased media attention to VAERS, particularly by right-leaning news outlets. According to the data from media research platform Media Cloud, there have been 459 stories in mainstream national news outlets, such as CNN or USA Today, mentioning VAERS between December 2020 and mid-August 2021. In right-wing media outlets such as Fox News, The Daily Caller and Breitbart, however, coverage soared to 3,254 stories – over seven times more than mainstream news media.

Consequently, VAERS data could be seen as something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has been weaponized by the anti-vaccine movement and political actors on the right to sow doubt and distrust about COVID-19 vaccinations. On the other hand, this data could also tell public health researchers something useful about how American vaccine skepticism might ebb and flow in response to events such as the brief pause in Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine administration or fluctuations in the tone of media coverage about COVID-19 vaccines.

VAERS data may even offer an important advantage over public opinion polls, which, with the exception of weekly vaccine uptake polls, have typically been administered much less frequently. Our research cautions that media attention to discredited vaccine-related claims may undermine public confidence in vaccination.

How to avoid another wave of misinformation

To ensure that VAERS is used properly, journalists and scientific researchers can team up to help the public interpret new findings. Journalists should, in our view, contextualize their coverage within a broader body of scientific evidence. Scientific researchers can aid in this by helping journalists accurately portray studies on vaccine side effects, clearly outlining their methodologies and results in accessible language.

By working together, researchers and journalists can take constructive action to address vaccine hesitancy before it has a chance to germinate.

This an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 25, 2021.

Matt Motta has received funding from the National Science Foundation.

Dominik Stecuła receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

– ref. Vaccine death and side effects database relies on unverified reports – and Trump officials and right-wing media are applying it out of context – https://theconversation.com/vaccine-death-and-side-effects-database-relies-on-unverified-reports-and-trump-officials-and-right-wing-media-are-applying-it-out-of-context-265362

September 17, 2025

Right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and more deadly than left-wing violence − what the data shows

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton

President Donald Trump is targeting left-wing organizations he incorrectly says promote political violence. Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

After the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump claimed that radical leftist groups foment political violence in the U.S., and “they should be put in jail.”

“The radical left causes tremendous violence,” he said, asserting that “they seem to do it in a bigger way” than groups on the right.

Top presidential adviser Stephen Miller also weighed in after Kirk’s killing, saying that left-wing political organizations constitute “a vast domestic terror movement.”

“We are going to use every resource we have … throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again,” Miller said.

But policymakers and the public need reliable evidence and actual data to understand the reality of politically motivated violence. From our research on extremism, it’s clear that the president’s and Miller’s assertions about political violence from the left are not based on actual facts.

Based on our own research and a review of related work, we can confidently say that most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.

Trump aide Stephen Miller says the administration will go after ‘a vast domestic terror movement’ on the left.

Political violence rising

The understanding of political violence is complicated by differences in definitions and the recent Department of Justice removal of an important government-sponsored study of domestic terrorists.

Political violence in the U.S. has risen in recent months and takes forms that go unrecognized. During the 2024 election cycle, nearly half of all states reported threats against election workers, including social media death threats, intimidation and doxing.

Kirk’s assassination illustrates the growing threat. The man charged with the murder, Tyler Robinson, allegedly planned the attack in writing and online.

This follows other politically motivated killings, including the June assassination of Democratic Minnesota state Rep. and former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.

These incidents reflect a normalization of political violence. Threats and violence are increasingly treated as acceptable for achieving political goals, posing serious risks to democracy and society.

Defining ‘political violence’

This article relies on some of our research on extremism, other academic research, federal reports, academic datasets and other monitoring to assess what is known about political violence.

Support for political violence in the U.S. is spreading from extremist fringes into the mainstream, making violent actions seem normal. Threats can move from online rhetoric to actual violence, posing serious risks to democratic practices.

But different agencies and researchers use different definitions of political violence, making comparisons difficult.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security define domestic violent extremism as threats involving actual violence. They do not investigate people in the U.S. for constitutionally protected speech, activism or ideological beliefs.

Domestic violent extremism is defined by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as violence or credible threats of violence intended to influence government policy or intimidate civilians for political or ideological purposes. This general framing, which includes diverse activities under a single category, guides investigations and prosecutions.

Datasets compiled by academic researchers use narrower and more operational definitions. The Global Terrorism Database counts incidents that involve intentional violence with political, social or religious motivation.

These differences mean that the same incident may or may not appear in a dataset, depending on the rules applied.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security emphasize that these distinctions are not merely academic. Labeling an event “terrorism” rather than a “hate crime” can change who is responsible for investigating an incident and how many resources they have to investigate. “investigate IT”?

For example, a politically motivated shooting might be coded as terrorism in federal reporting, cataloged as political violence by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, and prosecuted as homicide or a hate crime at the state level.

Patterns in incidents and fatalities

Despite differences in definitions, several consistent patterns emerge from available evidence.

Politically motivated violence is a small fraction of total violent crime, but its impact is magnified by symbolic targets, timing and media coverage.

In the first half of 2025, 35% of violent events tracked by University of Maryland researchers targeted U.S. government personnel or facilities – more than twice the rate in 2024.

Right-wing extremist violence has been deadlier than left-wing violence in recent years.

Based on government and independent analyses, right-wing extremist violence has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities, amounting to approximately 75% to 80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001.

Illustrative cases include the 2015 Charleston church shooting, when white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine Black parishioners; the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue attack in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were murdered; the 2019 El Paso Walmart massacre, in which an anti-immigrant gunman killed 23 people. The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, an earlier but still notable example, killed 168 in the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history.

By contrast, left-wing extremist incidents, including those tied to anarchist or environmental movements, have made up about 10& to 15% of incidents and less than 5% of fatalities.

Examples include the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front arson and vandalism campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s, which were more likely to target property rather than people.

Violence occurred during Seattle May Day protests in 2016, with anarchist groups and other demonstrators clashing with police. The clashes resulted in multiple injuries and arrests. In 2016, five Dallas police officers were murdered by a heavily armed sniper who was targeting white police officers.

A woman crying at a memorial of many flowers outside a church. — A memorial outside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 19, 2015, after a white supremacist killed nine Black parishioners there.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Hard to count

There’s another reason it’s hard to account for and characterize certain kinds of political violence and those who perpetrate it.

The U.S. focuses on prosecuting criminal acts rather than formally designating organizations as terrorist, relying on existing statutes such as conspiracy, weapons violations, RICO provisions and hate crime laws to pursue individuals for specific acts of violence.

Unlike foreign terrorism, the federal government does not have a mechanism to formally charge an individual with domestic terrorism. That makes it difficult to characterize someone as a domestic terrorist.

The State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list applies only to groups outside of the United States. By contrast, U.S. law bars the government from labeling domestic political organizations as terrorist entities because of First Amendment free speech protections.

Rhetoric is not evidence

Without harmonized reporting and uniform definitions, the data will not provide an accurate overview of political violence in the U.S.

But we can make some important conclusions.

Politically motivated violence in the U.S. is rare compared with overall violent crime. Political violence has a disproportionate impact because even rare incidents can amplify fear, influence policy and deepen societal polarization.

Right-wing extremist violence has been more frequent and more lethal than left-wing violence. The number of extremist groups is substantial and skewed toward the right, although a count of organizations does not necessarily reflect incidents of violence.

High-profile political violence often brings heightened rhetoric and pressure for sweeping responses. Yet the empirical record shows that political violence remains concentrated within specific movements and networks rather than spread evenly across the ideological spectrum. Distinguishing between rhetoric and evidence is essential for democracy.

Trump and members of his administration are threatening to target whole organizations and movements and the people who work in them with aggressive legal measures – to jail them or scrutinize their favorable tax status. The administration’s focus is on left-wing organizations, but research shows that it’s organizations on the right that the government needs to focus on with prevention and investigation.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and more deadly than left-wing violence − what the data shows – https://theconversation.com/right-wing-extremist-violence-is-more-frequent-and-more-deadly-than-left-wing-violence-what-the-data-shows-265367

September 17, 2025

Pourquoi il faut lire – ou relire – « Les identités meurtrières » d’Amin Maalouf

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Christian Bergeron, Professeur en sociologie de l’éducation/ Professor of Sociology of Education, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Sommes-nous en train de perdre notre humanité ? L’actualité récente n’a rien de rassurant. Sur les réseaux sociaux se manifeste une véritable jouissance face à la souffrance d’autrui.

On l’a vu avec l’influenceur Pormanove, humilié sous les yeux de milliers d’internautes : « Le créateur de contenu français de 46 ans aurait subi des coups et blessures d’autres instavidéastes (streamers) pendant plusieurs jours » jusqu’à son décès.

On l’a vu encore avec les réjouissances de certaines personnalités québécoises et même d’une professeure de l’Université de Toronto concernant l’assassinat de Charlie Kirk, perçu comme un ennemi à abattre plutôt qu’un humain.

Être étiqueté « fasciste » ou « nazi » suffit, pour certains, à nier toute humanité à autrui et à légitimer la violence la plus extrême. D’ailleurs, le présumé tueur de Charlie Kirk avait inscrit sur l’une des douilles retrouvées : « Hé, fasciste ! Attrape ça ! ».

Ce mécanisme de déshumanisation s’exerce aussi à l’encontre de groupes stigmatisés, comme les personnes « trans » et les personnes « itinérantes », ou même contre les « cyclistes ». Une étude australienne montre en effet que plus de la moitié des automobilistes considèrent les cyclistes comme « moins humains », ce qui accroît l’acceptation d’actes d’agression à leur égard.

Dans tous ces exemples, le même processus est à l’œuvre : déshumaniser l’autre afin de pouvoir justifier le sadisme, la violence et jusqu’à la haine meurtrière.

Cette perte d’humanité s’observe malheureusement lorsque des idéologies sont véhiculées sur la place publique ou sur les réseaux sociaux. Elles ne sont pas toutes également violentes, mais ces mouvances reposent sur un même ressort : la peur de disparaître, d’être menacé, victime, persécuté ou discriminé. L’histoire nous enseigne que ces peurs, réelles ou construites, conduisent trop souvent à des conflits sanguinaires. Les intensités diffèrent, mais l’urgence demeure : rester vigilants.

Je suis chercheur en éducation inclusive et j’étudie la glottophobie au Canada et en France.

J’estime qu’il est aujourd’hui plus que jamais pertinent de lire ou relire Les identités meurtrières d’Amin Maalouf. L’ouvrage éclaire avec force la manière dont la crispation identitaire mène à la déshumanisation de l’autre et ouvre la voie à la justification de violences extrêmes, voire de la mort de ceux que l’on ne perçoit plus comme pleinement humains. Lire Maalouf, c’est rappeler que nos appartenances ne devraient jamais se transformer en identités meurtrières.

Cet article fait partie de notre série Les livres qui comptent, où des experts de différents domaines décortiquent les livres de vulgarisation scientifique les plus discutés.

Les identités exclusives

Publié en 1998, cet essai lucide et précurseur analyse les fractures identitaires engendrées, entre autres, par l’Histoire et la mondialisation. Loin d’abolir les frontières, la mondialisation suscite un besoin accru d’identité. Les conflits religieux, culturels et politiques, l’opposition entre nationalismes et globalismes en témoignent.

L’un des fils conducteurs du livre est la critique des identités exclusives : « À toutes les époques, il s’est trouvé des gens pour considérer qu’il y avait une seule appartenance majeure, tellement supérieure aux autres ». Or, dès qu’une appartenance est menacée, elle peut envahir l’identité entière : « Qu’une seule appartenance soit touchée, et c’est toute la personne qui vibre ».

Ce qui fait qu’une personne devient une cible à abattre, c’est précisément le processus de déshumanisation : lorsque l’on réduit la personne à une seule appartenance : trans, immigrante, blanche, noire, itinérante, chrétienne, musulmane, juive, etc., on efface la complexité de son humanité et on transforme cette appartenance en stigmate. Dans ce cadre, l’autre n’est plus un être pluriel, mais l’incarnation d’un « ennemi » à éliminer.

La langue française au Québec

Le Québec s’est construit dans un rapport constant à son identité : sa place au sein du Canada, la défense de la langue française, ses tensions avec la religion et ses débats sur l’immigration en sont quelques exemples. Cette histoire l’a doté d’une certaine résilience, mais nul endroit, aussi pacifique soit-il, n’est à l’abri de débordements lorsque l’identité collective se perçoit menacée.

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Pour Maalouf, parmi toutes nos appartenances, la langue occupe une place décisive. On peut vivre sans religion, pas sans langue. Préserver les langues menacées est un enjeu civilisationnel.

Le cas du Québec illustre bien cette tension entre défense culturelle légitime et risque d’exclusivisme. Minorité francophone en Amérique du Nord, mais majoritaire sur la plupart de son territoire, le Québec a dû affirmer son identité par des politiques linguistiques et un volontarisme populationnel.

Ce nationalisme a sauvé le français, mais il porte en lui, selon certaines perceptions, le risque signalé par Maalouf : quand une appartenance devient exclusive, elle se ferme. Le défi québécois est donc de protéger sa langue et sa culture tout en assumant la pluralité d’appartenances, dont celle à la culture anglophone.

Assumer ses appartenances multiples

Cela vaut aussi pour les langues autochtones, qu’il convient de défendre avec la même énergie que le français. L’enjeu est de ne pas se retrouver piégés dans le dilemme : « nier soi-même ou nier l’autre », car il faut assumer nos appartenances multiples et concilier nos besoins mutuels d’identité, tout en protégeant et valorisant le français.

Aujourd’hui, des langues disparaissent, l’anglicisation s’accélère, les effets conjugués de la mondialisation et du radicalisme religieux se heurtent au retour d’idéologies, telles que la montée du nationalisme identitaire dans le monde. Il importe de rappeler que les idéologies ne meurent jamais : elles sont « plus qu’une idée, un projet ou un idéal : c’est aussi un mouvement, un combat, souvent mené contre d’autres » mouvements.

Relire Les identités meurtrières aujourd’hui, c’est comprendre que la question identitaire n’est pas un débat secondaire ou passéiste. Le véritable enjeu est de bâtir un monde où nos appartenances multiples cessent d’être des menaces pour devenir des richesses partagées. C’est cette tâche, éminemment politique et profondément humaine, que nous rappelle Maalouf : défendre la pluralité des langues, des cultures et des modes de vie, non comme un vestige à protéger, mais comme une condition vitale pour l’humanité.

Christian Bergeron ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Pourquoi il faut lire – ou relire – « Les identités meurtrières » d’Amin Maalouf – https://theconversation.com/pourquoi-il-faut-lire-ou-relire-les-identites-meurtrieres-damin-maalouf-265050

September 17, 2025

Is the ‘Biggest Loser’ documentary entangled in its own internalized fatphobia?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Darby M. Babin, PhD Candidate, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Were you expecting Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser to peel back the curtain and provide hard-hitting truths on what really happened on the show that captivated millions in its heyday?

Well, uh, fat chance.

Instead, the three-part Netflix documentary, released mid-August, seems to traffic in some of the same problematic aspects of the show that spurred the need for an exposé in the first place.

Best of intentions?

This purported tell-all documentary — billed as exposing the truth of The Biggest Loser — is a bit of a nothing burger. There is no groundbreaking admission from the producers of the reality show that it shamelessly exploited fat people.

Instead, viewers are told the show’s creators had only the best of intentions and that it was just an unfortunate accident that things got out of hand when the trainers — Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper — took their roles too seriously.

The focus, for example, shifts to Michaels’ alleged failings, like providing contestants with banned caffeine pills. Michaels has refuted those claims and threatened legal action against Netflix.

Dr. Robert Huizenga, the show’s medical director tasked with overseeing the contestants’ health and well-being, is cast as the embodiment of concern and the voice of reason. Michaels is portrayed as the main villain while Harper gets off relatively scot-free. To elicit sympathy for him, we are reminded of his heart attack — so out of character for such a fit guy, of course.

The fatphobia problem

This is the fatphobic myth: bad health happens only to bad (see: fat) people, like the ones who auditioned to appear on The Biggest Loser. People like Harper should be safe from illness because they have lived lives worshipping at the altar of the fitness goddesses.

All the tropes about fat people lacking will power and being “lazy” (a term loaded with ableism) coalesce in this two-hour watch.

A welcome breath of fresh air is provided by Aubrey Gordon, a razor-sharp fat activist who writes under the moniker, Your Fat Friend. Her thoughtful critique is accessible to viewers who are less familiar with fat studies. And with her first appearance, she reminds us that what the show markets as its inspirational ideology differs in practice both on screen and behind when she remarks: “I’ll tell you what I think the show thinks it’s about…”

Gordon also challenges The Biggest Loser‘s overarching message by highlighting Harper’s heart attack. She says: “It sort of punctures one of the main arguments of the show, ‘If you’re fat, you’re going to die.’ And if you exercise ‘correctly,’ as determined by Bob and Jillian, all of these health outcomes will be warded off.”

Gordon’s observations are as close as the series gets to truly examining the fatphobia at the heart of the reality show.

The racism problem

Joelle Gwynn, who joined the show with friend Carla Triplett in 2009, is the only person in the documentary to openly raise concerns about race. She mulls over feeling as though the producers and fellow contestants were trying to frame her as the “angry Black woman.”

The angry Black woman trope is tied to what race, gender and class scholar Patricia Hill Collins calls “controlling images” of Black women, in particular the Sapphire, the Mammy and the Jezebel. These images are intended to demean, dehumanize and punish Black women in the name of white supremacy. The angry Black woman is the Sapphire’s contemporary, described by The Jim Crow Museum as “rude, loud, malicious, stubborn and overbearing.”

Triplett was perceived as more committed and jovial. When the pair was eliminated, Triplett was offered apologies while Gwynn faced hostility.

Indeed, as the producers confirm on the documentary, they sought out people who were downtrodden. In executive producer JD Roth’s own words: “We were not looking for people who were overweight and happy. There’s a lot of ’em. That’s fine. We were looking for people who were overweight and unhappy.”

Gwynn was too willful, unwilling to accept the treatment that the show seemed to believe she deserved by virtue of her fat, Black body. During one of her interview segments in Fit for TV, Gwynn looks directly into the camera after she shares a difficult memory of Harper berating her and says: “Fuck you, Bob Harper.” Somebody had to say it.

Of course, fatphobia and racism are deeply intertwined. As Sabrina Strings explains in her book Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, anti-fatness emerged through chattel slavery when colonizers realized they had fat bodies in common with those they enslaved. This similarity was incompatible with their beliefs about superiority, so they mobilized chattel slavery and eugenics to tie anti-fatness to Blackness.

The misogyny problem

Perhaps the most puzzling case is that of Tracey Yukich, who made a dramatic entrance in Season 8 when she collapsed during her first running challenge and was hospitalized and diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis (an injury where muscle tissue breaks down).

Yukich explains that the reason she was willing to push herself so hard was her belief that weight-loss would improve her abusive marriage. She shares that the infidelity and abuse in her relationship felt inseparable from her weight gain and that the show was her opportunity to turn things around.

It is difficult to watch as there is no onscreen evidence to suggest Yukich ever received support from anyone at The Biggest Loser about the abuse in her marriage.

For all the talk about health in the reality show, Yukich’s mental health didn’t seem a priority. Instead, the doctor acts as counsellor and encourages Yukich to use the show as a second chance. Unable to exercise, however, she followed in the footsteps of other contestants who reduced their caloric intake to 800 or less — in other words, starvation.

The individual problem

A hyper-focus on individual responsibility is embodied in the entrepreneurial contestants who jockeyed for a spot on the show. The promise of freedom from fat is intoxicating.

The collective fascination with weight loss under the contradictory “weight” of liberalism, as critical food scholars Julie Guthman and Melanie DuPuis so aptly put it, reminds us that we live in societies that exhort us to consume more and eat less.

This, Guthman and DuPuis argue, “produces contradictory impulses such that the neoliberal subject is emotionally compelled to participate in society as both out-of-control consumer and self-controlled subject.”

The Biggest Loser reflects this neoliberal paradox of consumption and restraint: contestants were berated during exercise and told to try harder, yet given temptation challenges with desirable foods that tested their ability to resist so-called bad eating habits.

Who is the biggest loser?

More than a decade later, viewers are left to wonder, in the age of wall-to-wall weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, have we really moved the needle?

Is it surprising that when we paused viewing, a Dairy Queen ad popped up beside the cover image of the documentary? Like The Biggest Loser, it seems society and entertainment industries, bolstered by advertising, want both our self-control and our consumption.

And if we fail to appreciate that the media spectacle of weight loss is as grotesque as the profits made from weight-loss products, then maybe “the biggest loser” is us.

Darby M. Babin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Michael Orsini receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

– ref. Is the ‘Biggest Loser’ documentary entangled in its own internalized fatphobia? – https://theconversation.com/is-the-biggest-loser-documentary-entangled-in-its-own-internalized-fatphobia-264752

September 17, 2025

SHIELD: A simple, memorable model to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Donald Weaver, Professor of Chemistry and Senior Scientist of the Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto

Up to one-third of Alzheimer’s disease cases could be prevented simply by avoiding certain risk factors. (Piqsels)

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is on track to become one of the defining public health challenges of our time. Every three seconds, somewhere in the world, someone is diagnosed with dementia, and it’s usually Alzheimer’s disease.

Currently, approximately 50 million people worldwide have AD. By 2050, this number will exceed 130 million.

The human health and socioeconomic consequences of this are going to be immense. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be this way.

Preventing Alzheimer’s disease

A 2024 report from the influential Lancet Commission suggests that up to one-third of AD cases could be prevented simply by avoiding certain risk factors. These 14 modifiable risk factors encompass: traumatic brain injury, hypertension, depression, diabetes, smoking, obesity, high cholesterol levels, low physical activity levels, too much alcohol consumption, too little education, vision loss, hearing loss, social isolation and air pollution.

While this comprehensive list is rooted soundly in science, it’s not easy for members of the general public to monitor and manage 14 separate health targets — especially when prevention efforts need to start decades before symptoms appear.

This is a problem that needs addressing. Tackling this problem requires a prevention model that is simple and memorable — something the public can easily embrace, understand and follow.

There are successful examples that can serve as a template. Stroke prevention associations, for instance, have successfully adopted the FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) mnemonic to teach stroke warning signs. AD prevention needs a FAST equivalent.

SHIELD (Sleep, Head Injury prevention, Exercise, Learning and Diet) may fill that role. SHIELD brings together the most significant, overlapping dementia risk factors into five core pillars, offering a clear and effective strategy for prevention.

Sleep

Sleep is a foundational element of SHIELD. Maintaining healthy sleep habits is a key protective factor against dementia. Adequate sleep supports brain function, memory, mood and learning.

Insufficient (less than five hours per night) or poor-quality sleep (frequent awakenings), especially in midlife, increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Chronic poor sleep leads to build-up in the brain of amyloid-beta protein, which is implicated in the development of AD.

Poor sleep also increases the likelihood of obesity, high blood pressure and depression, all risk factors for AD. If you’re currently sleeping four to five hours per night, consider changing this habit to avoid increasing your risk for developing dementia in later life. Sleep is a vital tool for brain protection and AD prevention.

Head injury

Head injury prevention is, rather surprisingly, often overlooked in conversations about dementia. There are strong links between traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, and higher AD risk.

Such head injuries can occur in a wide variety of settings, not just professional sports. Intimate partner violence, for example, is unfortunately common in our society and is a frequent, but neglected, cause of head trauma.

Head injury prevention should start early and continue throughout life, as damage can accumulate over time. Broader safety measures (such as improved helmet designs, stronger concussion protocols in youth and adult sports and efforts to prevent head injuries in all settings) can play a significant role in protecting long-term brain health and avoiding AD.

Exercise

Exercise is perhaps the most powerful lifestyle habit for reducing the risk of AD. Exercise directly addresses multiple major risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression. It also supports the growth of brain cells, memory and emotional health.

Despite this, physical inactivity remains common, especially in high-income countries, where it may contribute to as many as one in five AD cases. Exercise is not just “heart medicine,” but “brain medicine” too. Regular movement, even in small amounts, enables better brain aging and can help avoid AD.

Learning

Learning, both in and out of school, remains one of the strongest protective factors against dementia. Lower educational levels, such as not finishing secondary school, are linked to a significantly increased risk for dementia. Learning contributes to the brain’s “cognitive reserve,” which is the brain’s ability to function well despite damage or disease.

Individuals with AD maintained better mental function if they had continued learning throughout life. Public health messaging should promote life-long learning in all forms — from reading and language learning to engaging hobbies that keep the brain active. It’s never too early (or too late) to learn another language or to challenge your brain. Boosting your cognitive reserve boosts your brain against AD.

Diet

Diet also plays a major role in brain health and dementia prevention. No single food prevents dementia. Rather, a combination of nutrient-rich foods supports overall brain health. A healthy diet can lower dementia risk by emphasizing whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fish, while restricting processed foods, red meat and sweets.

Adhering to dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet has shown promising results in protecting against cognitive decline. The Mediterranean diet is a brain/heart-healthy eating style inspired by the traditional diets of people in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It emphasizes plant-based foods with olive oil as the primary fat source, while limiting red meat, processed foods and added sugars.

What we eat influences brain inflammation and brain vascular health — all of which are increasingly tied to AD. A healthy diet shouldn’t feel restrictive or like a punishment for trying to improve brain health. Instead, it can be framed as a positive investment in long-term independence, clarity and energy.

By simplifying the science, the SHIELD framework offers a realistic and research-backed approach to brain health. Until a cure is discovered, prevention is the strongest tool. Concepts like SHIELD provide a starting point for achievable prevention.

Alzheimer’s disease should not be seen as inevitable. The statistic that there will be more than 130 million people with AD by 2050 must not be accepted as predestined. With the right decisions and actions, we can work towards AD prevention by protecting the minds and memories of millions.

Emma Twiss, a fourth year undergraduate student in Life Sciences at Queen’s University, co-authored this story.

Donald Weaver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. SHIELD: A simple, memorable model to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia – https://theconversation.com/shield-a-simple-memorable-model-to-help-prevent-alzheimers-disease-and-dementia-265053

September 17, 2025

Les adultes d’âge mûr sont débordés par leurs différents rôles

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Gail Low, Associate Professor, Chair International Health, MacEwan University

Les quinquagénaires et les sexagénaires sont pris entre la nécessité de soutenir les plus jeunes générations, celles de leurs parents, et de veiller à leur propre bien-être. (Shutterstock)

Au Canada, les adultes d’âge mûr constituent l’une des ressources les plus importantes, mais aussi les plus sollicitées et les moins reconnues. Ils s’occupent discrètement de la santé et du bien-être de millions de personnes, jeunes et âgées, en présence ou à distance.

D’août 2024 à juillet 2025, les adultes canadiens de 55 à 64 ans ont collectivement travaillé plus de 100 millions d’heures par mois dans un large éventail de professions telles que le commerce de détail, le droit, l’ingénierie et les soins de santé.

À cela s’ajoute leurs activités bénévoles officielles : 552 millions d’heures par an, selon Statistique Canada, notamment dans des centres d’aide d’urgence et des écoles. Ils ont aussi consacré 1,342 million d’heures supplémentaires à des activités bénévoles informelles et non rémunérées.

Cet article fait partie de notre série La Révolution grise. La Conversation vous propose d’analyser sous toutes ses facettes l’impact du vieillissement de l’imposante cohorte des boomers sur notre société, qu’ils transforment depuis leur venue au monde. Manières de se loger, de travailler, de consommer la culture, de s’alimenter, de voyager, de se soigner, de vivre… découvrez avec nous les bouleversements en cours, et à venir.

La majorité de ces heures de bénévolat informel est consacrée à soutenir directement des membres de leur famille, comme des parents, des enfants, ou des frères et sœurs. Pendant la pandémie de Covid-19, beaucoup de personnes ont ajouté 20 heures de soins à leur semaine de travail, que ce soit à la maison ou chez un membre de leur famille.

Des aidants surchargés

Nous menons des recherches sur le vieillissement de la population et des individus. Nous avons vu les membres de nos familles se sentir coincés entre les soins à prodiguer à leurs parents et l’éducation de leurs enfants, et négliger ainsi leurs besoins en matière de santé. Ce n’est pas surprenant, car environ une femme d’âge mûr sur cinq s’occupe d’un enfant et plus d’un tiers prend soin d’un adulte.

En observe qu’en moyenne, un aidant fournit 35 heures de soins par semaine, et ce, depuis plus de quatre ans. Trois heures de plus par semaine suffiraient à le mener vers un état proche de la dépression.

Une femme d’âge moyen vêtue d’une chemise bleue, debout entre une femme plus âgée et une adolescente — Une femme d’âge mûr sur cinq s’occupe d’un enfant, et plus d’un tiers prend soin d’un adulte.
(Shutterstock)”

Dans le contexte économique actuel, la plupart des gens travaillent pour gagner leur vie, plutôt que pour financer leurs loisirs et leur retraite.

Ainsi, près de la moitié des aidants naturels au Canada doivent travailler à temps plein. Dans ce contexte, six sur dix souhaiteraient avoir une forme de soutien officiel de l’État.

Des études montrent que quatre aidants naturels actifs sur dix ont peur de ne pas pouvoir payer leurs comptes. Pas étonnant que beaucoup d’entre eux commencent leur journée fatigués et stressés.

Les jeunes adultes vivent plus longtemps chez leurs parents

De plus en plus de jeunes adultes de 20 à 35 ans vivent avec un parent. Ils ont davantage de chances d’épargner pour l’avenir en demeurant avec leurs parents.

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Des sondages récents révèlent par ailleurs que les adultes d’âge mur ont en moyenne 300 000 dollars de dettes et qu’ils sont préoccupés par les dépenses essentielles du ménage. Un tiers d’entre eux ne sont pas préparés à la flambée du coût de la vie, en particulier pour les dépenses de base et s’ils vivent déjà d’un chèque de paie à l’autre. Certains établissent même un lien entre l’évolution historique de la cohabitation des jeunes adultes avec leur parent et l’augmentation de l’endettement des personnes âgées.

Les adultes canadiens d’âge mûr ont également souffert d’une plus grande détresse mentale pendant la pandémie et se sont sentis davantage jugés et isolés que les Canadiens plus âgés.

Les études indiquent que cette tranche de la population a peu tendance à utiliser les services d’aide communautaires pour des activités telles que la préparation des repas ou la remise en forme. Environ une personne sur quatre ayant eu besoin de services de santé a rencontré des difficultés pour y accéder. D’autres ont déclaré ne pas avoir pris le temps d’en trouver ou préférer se débrouiller seules.

Une charge trop lourde

Selon une étude menée dans 20 pays, la satisfaction à l’égard de la santé à 60 ans est étroitement liée à la perception du vieillissement.

Deux femmes préparant un repas dans une cuisine — Un aidant fournit en moyenne 35 heures de soins par semaine.
(Shutterstock)

Pour les quinquagénaires et les sexagénaires, le fait de devoir à la fois aider les jeunes générations et s’occuper de leur propre bien-être entame leur confiance en eux. Il est reconnu que consacrer du temps à des activités permettant de mieux se connaître et de prendre conscience de ses qualités constitue un investissement judicieux.

Parallèlement, les priorités fédérales en matière de financement se concentrent sur les programmes de santé mentale destinés aux jeunes et la sensibilisation aux besoins des personnes âgées des adultes susceptibles de devenir proches aidants.

Les adultes d’âge mûr constituent l’une des principales ressources de notre pays, en raison de leur rôle socio-économique et de leur soutien auprès des jeunes et des personnes âgées. Cependant, ils ont eux-mêmes besoin d’attention et de respect pour continuer à assumer ces rôles sans s’épuiser.

Il est temps de demander aux Canadiens d’âge mûr quels sont les fardeaux qu’ils portent, si leur charge est trop lourde, et comment ils la gèrent. C’est une discussion que nous devrions lancer.

Gail Low reçoit des fonds de la Fondation RTOERO, de l’Université de l’Alberta et de l’Université MacEwan. Elle travaille pour l’Université MacEwan et fait du bénévolat pour l’association Gateway.

Gloria Gutman est professeure émérite à l’Université Simon Fraser. Elle est ancienne présidente de l’Association internationale de gérontologie et de gériatrie, de l’Association canadienne de gérontologie et du Réseau international pour la prévention des abus envers les personnes âgées.

– ref. Les adultes d’âge mûr sont débordés par leurs différents rôles – https://theconversation.com/les-adultes-dage-mur-sont-debordes-par-leurs-differents-roles-263384

September 17, 2025

Que manger après 50 ans pour prévenir les blessures musculaires ?

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Patricia Yárnoz Esquíroz, Profesor Clínico Asociado, Universidad de Navarra

Les besoins en protéines varient en fonction de la situation clinique de chacun. (Prostock-studio/Shutterstock)

Mieux vaut tard que jamais. De plus en plus de personnes envisagent de faire de l’exercice physique après 50 ans. Est-ce une bonne idée ? Les différentes associations médicales s’accordent à dire que oui : l’exercice physique est non seulement essentiel pour prévenir les maladies, mais il est également recommandé dans le cadre du traitement de nombreuses pathologies.

Cependant, commencer à bouger à ce stade de la vie nécessite certaines précautions, surtout pour les personnes sédentaires, en surpoids ou obèses.

Adopter d’emblée un programme trop exigeant, combiné à une alimentation inadaptée, peut entraîner des blessures musculaires ou osseuses. Après 50 ans, ce risque est accentué par la perte naturelle de masse musculaire et osseuse liée au vieillissement.

Avant d’entamer tout programme d’exercice, il est donc conseillé de réaliser un bilan sanguin complet afin d’évaluer la nécessité d’une supplémentation en cas de carence en micronutriments.

Le rôle clé des protéines

Au-delà des micronutriments, l’organisme a besoin de macronutriments : des glucides, des lipides et des protéines. Les protéines, en particulier, apportent des acides aminés essentiels qui jouent un rôle clé dans le maintien et le développement des muscles. Elles aident aussi à prévenir la perte de masse et de force musculaires liée au vieillissement — un phénomène connu sous le nom de sarcopénie, souvent associé à la fragilité — ainsi que les lésions musculaires et l’ostéoporose.

Les besoins en protéines varient en fonction de la situation clinique de l’individu. Chez les personnes actives de plus de 50 ans qui ont une activité physique modérée, les besoins en protéines sont compris entre 1 et 1,5 g/kg de poids corporel/jour.

Mais attention : un apport accru en protéines n’est justifié que s’il est accompagné d’une activité physique. Un excès de protéines peut avoir des effets contre-productifs, en particulier sur la santé osseuse, notamment en augmentant la perte de calcium par les urines.

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D’origines végétales, animales… et bien réparties

Il est recommandé de combiner (soja, lentilles, graines de courge, cacahuètes…) et animales (œufs, laitages, volaille, poisson) pour un apport protéique équilibré.

D’autre part, bien que l’idéal soit d’avoir une alimentation équilibrée entre les deux types de nutriments, il a été démontré que le respect des recommandations diététiques végétariennes est compatible avec la pratique du sport de haut niveau s’il y a un suivi médico-nutritionnel adéquat.

Le moment de consommation des protéines est aussi important que leur quantité : il est préférable de les répartir sur la journée, et de privilégier une prise dans les 30 minutes avant ou après l’exercice pour en optimiser l’absorption.

Micronutriments essentiels : magnésium, calcium et vitamine D

En ce qui concerne les micronutriments (vitamines et minéraux), certains d’entre eux jouent un rôle fondamental dans la pratique sportive à cet âge, comme le magnésium, le calcium et la vitamine D.

Le magnésium favorise la récupération musculaire et la formation des os. Ce micronutriment se trouve dans des aliments tels que le son de blé, le fromage, les graines de citrouille et les graines de lin.

Quant au calcium, il est essentiel pour maintenir une minéralisation osseuse adéquate et prévenir la perte de densité minérale osseuse (ostéopénie) associée à des carences de cet élément dans le sang.

Traditionnellement, l’un des grands alliés de la santé osseuse est la consommation de produits laitiers, tant pour leur biodisponibilité (degré et rapidité avec lesquels un médicament passe dans le sang et atteint son site d’action) en calcium que pour leur apport en vitamine D dans leurs versions laitières issues du lait entier.

D’autres aliments d’origine végétale, comme la pâte de sésame, les amandes, les graines de lin, le soja et les noisettes, sont également considérés comme des sources de calcium, mais leur teneur en phytates et en oxalates peut nuire à son absorption.

Enfin, les poissons gras (thon, bonite, sardine, saumon, etc.) et le jaune d’œuf sont considérés comme des sources complémentaires de vitamine D, dans le cadre d’un schéma alimentaire axé sur les personnes de plus de 50 ans qui pratiquent une activité physique.

Il est tout aussi important de maintenir une bonne hydratation avant, pendant et après l’exercice. La déshydratation et la surhydratation peuvent toutes deux affecter les performances et augmenter le risque de blessure musculaire.

Le type d’exercice a-t-il une importance ?

Jusqu’à présent, nous avons surtout abordé le lien entre alimentation, performance physique et risque de blessure. Mais un autre facteur entre en jeu : le type d’exercice pratiqué.

Sur ce point, le débat reste ouvert. De nombreuses recherches s’intéressent aujourd’hui à l’activité physique la plus appropriée en fonction de l’âge, du sexe ou de la composition corporelle. Faut-il privilégier les exercices de force ? Alterner avec des séances de cardio ? Ou encore, répartir les deux sur des jours différents ?

Cependant, malgré les différentes théories sur le sujet, une chose est claire : l’exercice régulier, adapté aux capacités de chacun et accompagné d’un bon suivi médical et nutritionnel, réduit le risque de multiples maladies et améliore la qualité de vie.

Patricia Yárnoz Esquíroz ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Que manger après 50 ans pour prévenir les blessures musculaires ? – https://theconversation.com/que-manger-apres-50-ans-pour-prevenir-les-blessures-musculaires-258657

September 17, 2025

Canada’s $43-billion subsidy scheme for critical minerals misses supply chain steps

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Chris Arsenault, Chair of the Master of Media in Journalism and Communication Program (MMJC) and assistant professor of journalism, Western University

Construction workers gather at facility in Kingston, Ont., which will be used as a start-up laboratory to test new processes related to critical minerals and other emerging technologies. (Chris Arsenault), CC BY-NC-SA

As climate change intensifies, companies and countries are attempting to build new low-carbon supply chains. From electric vehicles to solar panels and wind turbines, these technologies require vast amounts of critical minerals.

These are commodities such as cobalt, lithium and nickel, and also include a smaller set of 17 rare earth elements like dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium and terbium.

Canada’s federal government, and provincial officials in Ontario, have pledged some of the biggest public subsidies to private companies in a generation — more than $43 billion — to create this new supply chain.

Plans for new mines in Northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” to extract critical minerals parallel billions in production subsidies to EV producers and related manufacturers in the province’s southern manufacturing heartland.

The idea is to supply southern factories with northern minerals. Instead of only exporting unrefined primary commodities like oil, copper or lumber, Canadian industry would also export high-value, renewable technology-related products.

In addition to promises around jobs, innovative industries and fighting climate change, politicians, business executives and military analysts frame the country’s critical minerals strategy around countering China’s dominance.

However, our new study identified several challenges to subsidizing supply chain integration in Canada.

Based on 20 interviews with government officials and industry leaders in Ontario’s critical minerals sector, and a review of existing literature, we identified challenges including: opposition to new mining and infrastructure projects, particularly from some Indigenous communities; some policymakers lacking understanding of the complexity of supply chains; slowing global EV demand and regional trade barriers at a time of uncertainty for the sector.

Processing: The weak link

First, there is a weak link in the planned supply chain: processing. Policymakers and average Canadian can picture a mine or an EV factory, business leaders said.

Understanding how to separate terbium, a rare earth element used to make stronger alloys for EVs, from mined stock is a more difficult process conducted in unassuming industrial parks. It doesn’t necessarily excite the public imagination.

A 2023 map of critical minerals mining and processing projects. — Advanced mining and processing projects for battery minerals in Ontario.
(Natural Resources Canada/Eric Leinberger), CC BY-NC

This is not merely complicated chemistry. Processing and refining critical minerals is where China dominates, controlling about 90 per cent of the industry. Under the current plan, even if mines are built in Northern Ontario, the minerals would likely be sent to China to be processed and then shipped back, leaving manufacturers dependent on the Chinese.

As one long-time chemical processing executive said: “Governments have convoluted the resource sector, the stuff in the ground, the product in the end (EVs and related technologies) and forgotten this middle section” before adding “infrastructure isn’t sexy and [processing facilities] are weirdo infrastructure nobody sees.”

Companies in Canada or the United States, the executive said, don’t want to pay a premium for rare earths processed in Canada. China can do the work more cheaply.

Investments suspended and delayed

Second, many high-profile manufacturing projects have been shelved or suspended, despite billions in promised subsidies. Of eight major EV manufacturing plants in Ontario selected to receive a combined $43.6 billion in subsidies, five have suspended or delayed their activities, including the European firm Umicore’s planned $2.7 billion battery plant near Kingston, Stellantis’ EV jeep production in Brampton and GM’s EV van plant in Ingersoll, which halted then reduced production earlier this year.

Subsidies promised to these firms are far higher than what the companies themselves pledged to invest. Our analysis suggests pledged public subsidies for the eight renewable manufacturing projects, including money from the federal government and Ontario, are more than 13 per cent higher than what the companies themselves promised to spend from their own coffers.

This doesn’t seem like a good use of the public purse. Subsidies can certainly help spur growth in new industries if leveraged effectively: South Korea and Taiwan’s development from the 1960s illustrates this. But spending more public money than private companies themselves are willing to invest does not seem wise in the current trade climate, especially considering government deficits and the costs of financing them given high interest rates.

In fairness to provincial and federal officials, much of the pledged money has not left the treasury. A substantial portion of the promised funds are production subsidies for each car or battery produced.

The cancelled projects, and uncertainty over access to U.S. markets and EV sales in North America, are making companies skittish, subsidies be damned. Canada this month suspended its own planned EV mandate which would have required 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold here to be electric by next year.

A map showing proposed EV manufacturing facilities and their costs. — Location of battery and EV manufacturing investments in Canada and Ontario (millions of Canadian dollars).
(Author provided/Eric Leinberger), CC BY-NC

Subsidies and the new mercantalism

Recent problems in the EV industry notwithstanding, the broader subsidy race to build out renewable energy supply chains, and the geopolitical scramble to control critical minerals, has a distinctly 19th century, neo-mercantalist vibe.

Hearkening back to the days of the British East India Company and gunboat diplomacy, corporations are working arm-in-arm with governments to advance commercial and military objectives. U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded Ukraine give American companies preferential access to the country’s vast critical minerals deposits in exchange for continued military aid amid the war with Russia.

China currently mines roughly 70 per cent of the world’s rare Earth elements, according to Canadian government data. More importantly, it processes nearly 90 per cent of the strategic commodities and also holds near processing monopolies for graphite (95 per cent), manganese (91 per cent), and cobalt (78 per cent).

China is not afraid to weaponize its control of rare earths, limiting access for U.S. companies following Trump’s tariff threats or temporarily cutting them off to Japan following a dispute over fishing and territorial rights in 2010.

“If China embargoed rare earths right now, that would put us out of business,” said one senior Ontario government official we interviewed. “They are a critical part of the supply chain.”

Against that backdrop, and threats against Canada from the Trump government, there is value in building coherent public policy around critical minerals.

However, following billions in pledged subsidies delivering mixed results, federal and provincial governments need to focus their limited financial firepower on what’s actually achievable. Developing the means to refine and process critical minerals extracted here would be a good first step.

Chris Arsenault has received funding from the Michener Awards Foundation under the 2025 Michener-L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship for Journalism Education. His journalism has also been supported by The Pulitzer Center.

Philippe Le Billon receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Raphael Deberdt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Canada’s $43-billion subsidy scheme for critical minerals misses supply chain steps – https://theconversation.com/canadas-43-billion-subsidy-scheme-for-critical-minerals-misses-supply-chain-steps-264742

September 17, 2025

Itinéraire d’une génération gâtée

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Gérard Bouchard, Professeur émérite, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)

Les boomers sont à l’âge de la retraite, où ils profitent pleinement de la société des loisirs. Nés à une période faste, ils ont bénéficié toute leur vie de conditions gagnantes. (unsplash plus), CC BY-NC-ND

La génération des baby-boomers a profondément changé la société, et continue de le faire alors que les plus âgés d’entre eux deviennent octogénaires et les plus jeunes, sexagénaires. Ce phénomène coïncide avec une accélération du vieillissement de la population au Québec, au Canada et dans l’ensemble des sociétés occidentales.

À 81 ans, l’historien et sociologue Gérard Bouchard, professeur émérite à l’UQAC, s’identifie à la génération des boomers, même s’il la devance de quelques années. Comme tous les membres de ceux et celles que le professeur de littérature François Ricard a qualifié de « génération lyrique », il a été un participant enthousiaste de la Révolution tranquille, adoptant les nouvelles valeurs de liberté qui déferlaient sur l’Occident.

Il est aussi l’un de ses intellectuels les plus en vue, auteurs d’une trentaine d’ouvrages, récipiendaires de nombreux prix et distinctions, titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la dynamique comparée des imaginaires collectifs, et co-directeur en 2007 de la Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles. Il y a élaboré son concept d’interculturalisme, une approche québécoise en matière d’intégration des nouveaux arrivants et des groupes minoritaires qui se différencie du multiculturalisme canadien.

Cette semaine, Gérard Bouchard publie un énième ouvrage, qu’il considère comme l’un de ses plus importants, Terre des humbles. « Le livre est sur mon établi depuis 50 ans », dit-il lors de notre rencontre à son bureau de l’UQAC, à Chicoutimi. Il s’agit d’une histoire des premiers habitants du Saguenay, celle des gens ordinaires, « pas juste de ses dirigeants ».

Son prochain ouvrage portera quant à lui sur les boomers. Il traitera des différentes interprétations de la Révolution tranquille, de l’avant et de l’après Grande noirceur.

Gérard Bouchard travaille sept jours par semaine, « un peu moins le dimanche », et ne comprend pas les gens qui prennent leur retraite à 55 ans, alors qu’ils sont en pleine santé, avec des enfants devenus adultes. « Ils vont passer quarante années de leur vie à s’amuser ? C’est absurde. » Lui n’arrêtera jamais. « Je suis un chercheur, c’est ma passion, je suis incapable de penser que je pourrais arrêter. Je vais travailler jusqu’à la fin. »

La Conversation Canada : Le baby-boom qui a suivi la Deuxième Guerre mondiale a provoqué des secousses partout en Occident, dont au Québec. La société a dû s’ajuster à leur arrivée massive. Quels étaient les principaux défis au Québec ?

Gérard Bouchard : Sans aucun doute la démocratisation de l’éducation. Les Canadiens français accusaient un important retard. La plupart des enfants quittaient l’école à partir de 12 et 13 ans. Or, les attentes vis-à-vis de l’instruction se sont faites plus importantes dès les années cinquante. Les parents des classes moyennes et pauvres voyaient bien que ceux qui avaient une belle vie, les notables, les avocats, les notaires et les médecins, étaient des gens instruits. L’idée que « qui s’instruit s’enrichit » a été formulée dans les années 60, mais elle était présente bien avant. Il fallait instruire cette génération.

LCC : On a donc construit des écoles secondaires, le réseau des cégeps, celui des universités du Québec…

G.B. : Oui, car il y avait urgence. Et pour cela, il fallait d’abord se défaire de l’autoritarisme considérable de l’Église, sa censure, sa guerre contre les intellos. L’Église s’opposait à l’instruction obligatoire jusqu’à 14 ans. L’arrivée du premier ministre Jean Lesage, en 1960, a changé les choses. Lui-même n’était pas porteur du changement. Il était contre la nationalisation de l’électricité, la laïcisation, la création de la Caisse de dépôt… Il a fallu le convaincre. Ce qu’il a fait de mieux, c’est de s’entourer de gens très brillants et très intègres [NDLR notamment René Lévesque et Jacques Parizeau], qui ont créé un État moderne, avec moins de corruption, d’arbitraire, d’amateurisme dans la manière de gouverner.

Une bourgeoisie francophone a pris son essor, on a créé des entreprises, une classe de technocrates. C’était la Révolution tranquille. Elle s’est déployée dans les années soixante, mais ses idées circulaient depuis quelques décennies, notamment avec l’intellectuel André Laurendeau, le plus important de sa génération.

L’école est devenue obligatoire jusqu’à 16 ans et on a créé le tout nouveau réseau de l’Université du Québec, avec ses dix antennes. Il fallait des professeurs. On a embauché des gens qui n’avaient parfois que de simples maîtrises. On les formait, on payait leurs études et leurs salaires jusqu’au doctorat. On n’avait pas le choix. Il fallait pourvoir les postes pour former les cohortes qui venaient. Mais on s’est arrêté une fois les besoins remplis. Les générations suivantes ont donc frappé un mur…

LCC : Quel a été l’impact de la Révolution tranquille sur cette génération devenue adulte ?

G.B. : Les boomers n’ont pas fait la Révolution tranquille, ils en ont bénéficié et ils ont participé activement et avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme à sa mise en place. J’avais 20 ans en 1963. À 25 ans j’étais un militant, partisan des nouvelles valeurs de liberté, de l’indépendance du Québec. Cette génération a assimilé profondément ces nouvelles valeurs et en a fait les siennes. Les boomers sont donc associés à de grands changements sociaux, à l’émergence d’une société de consommation, où le travail n’était plus l’absolu sanctifié, à un monde de liberté.

LCC : Le party s’est terminé cependant…

G.B. : Oui, dès 1973, l’Occident a connu le premier choc pétrolier, la fin de l’expansion économique, l’inflation. Les États étaient endettés. Les boomers n’en ont pas tant souffert. Ils étaient établis dans leur vie. Par ailleurs, avec la Révolution tranquille, le Québec s’est doté de vastes politiques sociales qui sont restées en vigueur.

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Mais l’idée qu’un bon diplôme équivalait à un bon emploi ne fonctionnait plus. Ce qui a fait que la génération qui a suivi, les X, s’est sentie traitée injustement. La musique s’était arrêtée. Il n’y avait plus de chaises pour eux. Les X ont cherché des coupables et blâmé les boomers de s’être empiffrés, d’avoir été narcissiques. On comprend cette réaction émotive.

Ils ont eu raison d’être fâchés. L’évolution de notre société leur a causé beaucoup de tort.

Mais les boomers n’y étaient pour rien. La crise économique était à l’échelle de l’Occident. Il y a eu rupture dans la mobilité sociale. Cela dit, le Québec a su résister aux effets du néo-libéralisme qui a déferlé à partir des années 80. Il n’a pas coupé dans ses politiques sociales. Le filet s’est même étendu.

LCC : Les premiers boomers auront bientôt 80 ans, et seront suivis par une vaste cohorte. Comment vivent-ils leur vieillesse ?

G.B. : Ils ont de bons fonds de pension universelle. Ils ont des moyens, dépensent, s’amusent, sont heureux… jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient malades. Et lorsque c’est le cas, l’État s’en occupe. À l’image de leur vie, leur couloir est tracé. Ils sont sur la voie de sortie, et c’est une voie convenable, qui est le propre d’une société civilisée.

Évidemment, il y a des inégalités, notamment dans les fonds de pension individuels. Tous ne participent pas au même banquet. Mais la société leur permet de vivre une vie convenable. La manière dont on traite les personnes âgées, c’est quelque chose qu’on fait de bien.

Gérard Bouchard ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Itinéraire d’une génération gâtée – https://theconversation.com/itineraire-dune-generation-gatee-264009

September 17, 2025

Paul Biya at 92: will defections weaken his grip on absolute power in Cameroon?

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By David E Kiwuwa, Associate Professor of International Studies, University of Nottingham

Cameroonians go to the polls in October 2025 in what some people hoped might be a break from the country’s troubled recent past. They thought that President Paul Biya (92) might stand aside to allow a transition.

Three years ago I was one of those who expressed optimism about the 2025 poll. But I was wrong.

Biya is set to run yet again for an 8th term. He is already one of Africa’s longest ruling presidents, behind only Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Nguema.

Biya is on the cusp of achieving lifetime presidency since taking office in 1982.

In July 2025, after months of speculation, he confirmed in a tweet that he would run again.

Having weathered coups, silenced dissent, defied death rumours, and outlasted generations of challengers, he reminded friend and foe alike that he remains at the centre of Cameroon’s political ecosystem.

I am a long time scholar of and commentator on African politics, regime transformation, democratic transition and broader governance. Given regional developments that have seen the military deposing long term leaders, one might expect Biya to superintend a managed transition. The intriguing question is: what is it about the situation in Cameroon that continues to defy logic?

There is evident restlessness and frustration among young Cameroonians as well as clear clamour for change. Yet, the incumbent remains the front-runner, supported by the ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, and his near-total command of the state’s political machinery.

Simply, the system has been designed to serve Biya’s interests. With government control of the media, resources, and judicial and electoral institutions, it is unlikely that the opposition can bring about systemic change.

Some things have changed, however. Biya’s previous wins were landslides that left no room for debate. This time things could potentially be different on account of high-profile defections from his party. These men will be challenging him at the polls.

The field

The last electoral cycle, leading up to the 2018 poll, was characterised by subdued challenges and a co-opted or deeply divided opposition. This time Biya appears to face a relatively organised opposition.

Initially, 83 candidates signalled their interest. In July the electoral commission cleared 13 to run. The commission controversially disqualified Maurice Kamto, a renowned legal scholar who performed respectably in the 2018 electoral cycle with 14% of the vote.

Human Rights Watch warned that this would cast a shadow over the credibility of the electoral process.

Nevertheless, several credible figures across the political spectrum remain in the race and present alternatives.

Biya faces two other former allies turned political adversaries.

One is Issa Tchiroma Bakary, his minister of employment and vocational training. A longtime insider of the regime, he served in various ministerial roles and was long considered a loyalist. Yet in June 2025, he resigned from the government, delivering a searing critique of the system he once represented.

He then launched his campaign, running on the ticket of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon.

The minister of tourism and leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari, still formally holding office, declared his intention in July 2025 to run against his boss in the October elections.

This announcement was especially striking given the deep political history between the two men. Maigari is not just any cabinet member. He is a long-standing confidant of the president, having been appointed Biya’s prime minister in 1982 and hailing from the vote-rich northern region. The decision to enter the race marks a shift from loyal lieutenant to presidential challenger, revealing the growing fissures within the ruling elite.

Others in the race worth noting are:

Akere Muna, a former speaker who swore in Biya in 1982 and a tireless advocate for transparency and accountability. He ran for the top job in 2018 (but withdrew at the last minute).
Cabral Libii, from the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, a young and dynamic leader who also ran for president in 2018 and garnered 6% of the total vote.
Joshua Osih, a seasoned politician with a strong track record.

The issues

The nation’s pressing issues remain the same as they have been for a long while.

These include:

Endemic corruption. Cameroon is ranked 140 out of 180 countries by Transparency International. The reasons are systemic decay of state institutions and maladministration.
Economic stasis, including stubborn unemployment forecast at 7.34% by Statista; 23% live below the international poverty line and 3.3 million are food insecure.
The ongoing anglophone regional crisis pitting the English speaking regions against the dominant francophone centre.
Biya’s ability to govern and the succession question, given his very advanced age and the potential vacuum or infighting if he couldn’t complete his term.

The external dimension

Western actors have been consistent critics of Biya’s regime in the recent past. However, some have adopted a more cautious tone, balancing criticism with strategic interests.

The US, for instance, suspended some military assistance to Cameroon in 2019 over human rights abuses. But it continues counter-terrorism cooperation against Boko Haram.

The European Union, while pressing for peaceful resolution of the anglophone conflict, remains an important trade and aid partner.

China has become Cameroon’s largest bilateral creditor and a top trading partner. According to a report by Business in Cameroon, in 2024 Cameroon owed about 64.8% of its external bilateral debt to China. This is primarily for infrastructure loans that have funded projects like the Kribi Deep Sea Port, the Yaoundé-Douala highway, and hydropower stations.

For regime survival, Biya has pursued a pragmatic foreign policy. Beijing’s diplomatic stance of non-interference and respect for sovereignty resonates with Cameroonian political elites wary of western scrutiny and criticism over democratic backsliding and the anglophone conflict.

But Biya has not severed ties with the west. For example, the government maintains partnerships with France for security training, with Germany for decentralisation support, and with the US for counterinsurgency.

This balancing is not simply geopolitical. It is also deeply embedded in domestic patronage networks. Foreign aid, loans and investments serve as resources to consolidate elite power, strengthen the patronage system and suppress dissent.

The October polls are sure to reaffirm the status quo.

David E Kiwuwa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Paul Biya at 92: will defections weaken his grip on absolute power in Cameroon? – https://theconversation.com/paul-biya-at-92-will-defections-weaken-his-grip-on-absolute-power-in-cameroon-264915