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Sharks and rays get a major win with new international trade limits for over 70 species

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Gareth J. Fraser, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, University of Florida

Watching a whale shark swim at the Georgia Aquarium. Zac Wolf/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

The world’s oceans are home to an exquisite variety of sharks and rays, from the largest fishes in the sea – the majestic whale shark and manta rays – to the luminescent but rarely seen deep-water lantern shark and guitarfishes.

The oceans were once teeming with these extraordinary and ancient species, which evolved close to half a billion years ago. However, the past half-century has posed one of the greatest tests yet to their survival. Overfishing, habitat loss and international trade have cut their numbers, putting many species on a path toward extinction within our lifetimes.

Scientists estimate that 100 million (yes, million) sharks and rays are killed each year for food, liver oil and other trade.

The volume of loss is devastatingly unsustainable. Overfishing has sent oceanic shark and ray populations plummeting by about 70% globally since the 1970s.

A manta ray gliding with fish.
A manta ray’s wingspan can be 12 to 22 feet, and some giant ocean rays can grow even larger.
Jon Hanson/Flickr, CC BY-SA

That’s why countries around the world agreed in December 2025 to add more than 70 shark and ray species to an international wildlife trade treaty’s list for full or partial protection.

It’s an important move that, as a biologist who studies sharks and rays, I believe is long overdue.

Humans put shark species at risk of extinction

Sharks have had a rough ride since the 1970s, when overfishing, habitat loss and international trade in fins, oil and other body parts of these enigmatic sea dwellers began to affect their sensitive populations. The 1975 movie “Jaws” and its portrayal of a great white shark as a mindless killing machine didn’t help people’s perceptions.

One reason shark populations are so vulnerable to overfishing, and less capable of recovering, is the late timing of their sexual maturity and their low numbers of offspring. If sharks and rays don’t survive long enough, the species can’t reproduce enough new members to remain stable.

Losing these species is a global problem because they are vital for a healthy ocean, in large part because they help keep their prey in check.

The bowmouth guitarfish, shown here at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, is considered critically endangered.

Endangered and threatened species listings, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, can help draw attention to sharks and rays that are at risk. But because their populations span international borders, with migratory routes around the globe, sharks and rays need international protection, not just local efforts.

That’s why the international trade agreements set out by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, are vital. The convention attempts to create global restrictions that prevent trade of protected species to give them a chance to survive.

New protections for sharks and rays

In early December 2025, the CITES Conference of the Parties, made up of representatives from 184 countries, voted to initiate or expand protection against trade for many species. The votes included adding more than 70 shark and ray species to the CITES lists for full or restricted protection.

The newly listed or upgraded species include some of the most charismatic shark and ray species.

The whale shark, one of only three filter-feeding sharks and the largest fish in the ocean, and the manta and devil rays have joined the list that offers the strictest restrictions on trade, called Appendix I. Whale sharks are at risk from overfishing as well as being struck by ships. Because they feed at the surface, chasing zooplankton blooms, these ocean giants can be hit by ships, especially now that these animals are considered a tourism must-see.

A manta ray swims with its mouth open. You can see the gill structure inside
Manta rays are filter feeders. Their gills strain tiny organisms from the water as they glide.
Gordon Flood/Flickr, CC BY

Whale sharks now join this most restrictive list with more well-known, cuddlier mammals such as the giant panda and the blue whale, and they will receive the same international trade protections.

The member countries of CITES agree to the terms of the treaty, so they are legally bound to implement its directives to suspend trade. For the tightest restrictions, under Appendix I, import and export permits are required and allowed only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II species, which aren’t yet threatened but could become threatened without protections, require export permits. However, the treaty terms are essentially a framework for each member government to then implement legislation under national laws.

Another shark joining the Appendix I list is the oceanic whitetip shark, an elegant, long-finned ocean roamer that has been fished to near extinction. Populations of this once common oceanic shark are down 80% to 95% in the Pacific since the mid-1990s, mostly due to the increase in commercial fishing.

A large shark with several stripped fish swimming with it.
An oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) swims with pilot fish. Whitetip sharks are threatened in part by demand for their fins and being caught by commercial fisheries.
NOAA Fisheries

Previously the only sharks or rays listed on Appendix I were sawfish, a group of rays with a long, sawlike projection surrounded by daggerlike teeth. They were already listed as critically endangered by the IUCN’s Red List, which assesses the status of threatened and endangered species, but it was up to governments to propose protections through CITES.

Other sharks gaining partial protections for the first time include deep-sea gulper sharks, which have been prized for their liver oil used for cosmetics. Gulper shark populations have been decimated by unsustainable fishing practices. They will now be protected under Appendix II.

Gulper sharks are long, slim, deep-water dwellers, typically around 3 to 5 feet long.
D Ross Robertson/Smithsonian via Wikimedia Commons

Appendix II listings, while not as strong as Appendix I, can help populations recover. Great white shark populations, for example, have recovered since the 1990s around the U.S. after being added to the Appendix II list in 2005, though other populations in the northwest Atlantic and South Pacific are still considered locally endangered.

Tope and smooth-hound sharks were also added to the Appendix II list in 2025 for protection from the trade of their meat and fins.

Several species of guitarfishes and wedgefishes, odd-shaped rays that look like they have a mix of shark and ray features and have been harmed by local and commercial fishing, finning and trade, were assigned a CITES “zero-quota” designation to temporarily curtail all trade in their species until their populations recover.

A fish with a triangular head and long body that looks like a mix between a ray and a shark.
An Atlantic guitarfish (Rhinobatus lentiginosus) swims in the Gulf of Mexico.
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble/Flickr, CC BY

These global protections raise awareness of species, prevent trade and overexploitation and can help prevent species from going extinct.

Drawing attention to rarely seen species

Globally, there are about 550 species of shark today and around 600 species of rays (or batoids), the flat-bodied shark relatives.

Many of these species suffer from their anonymity: Most people are unfamiliar with them, and efforts to protect these more obscure, less cuddly ocean inhabitants struggle to draw attention.

So, how do we convince people to care enough to help protect animals they do not know exist? And can we implement global protections when most shark-human interactions are geographically limited and often support livelihoods of local communities?

Increasing people’s awareness of ocean species at risk, including sharing knowledge about why their numbers are falling and the vital roles they play in their ecosystem, can help.

The new protections for sharks and rays under CITES also offer hope that more global regulations protecting these and other shark and rays species will follow.

The Conversation

Gareth J. Fraser is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida, and receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

– ref. Sharks and rays get a major win with new international trade limits for over 70 species – https://theconversation.com/sharks-and-rays-get-a-major-win-with-new-international-trade-limits-for-over-70-species-271386

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Grok fallout: Tech giants must be held accountable for technology-assisted gender-based violence

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kyara Liu, PhD Candidate, Public Health, University of Toronto

The new image and video editing feature for xAI’s chatbot, Grok, has generated thousands of non-consensual, sexually explicit images of women and minors since Grok announced the editing feature on Christmas Eve. It was promoted as enabling the addition of Santa Claus to photos.

The growing ease of perpetrating sexual violence with novel technologies reflects the urgent need for tech companies and policymakers to prioritize AI safety and regulation.

I am a PhD candidate in public health. My research has largely focused on the intersection of gender-based violence and health, previously working on teams that leverage AI as a tool to support survivors of violence. The potential and actual harms of AI on a such a wide scale require new regulations that will protect the health of mass populations.

‘Nudifying’ apps

Concern about sexually explicit “deepfakes” has been publicly debated for some time now. In 2018, the public heard that Reddit threads profiled machine learning tools being used to face-swap celebrities like Taylor Swift onto pornographic material.



Read more:
Taylor Swift deepfakes: new technologies have long been weaponised against women. The solution involves us all

Other AI-powered programs for “nudifying” could be found in niche corners of the internet. Now, this technology is easily accessible at anyone’s fingertips.

Grok can be accessed either through its website and app or on the social media platform, X. Some users have noted that when prompted to create pornographic images, Grok says it’s programmed not to do this, but such apparent guardrails are being easily bypassed.

xAI’s owner, Elon Musk, released a statement via X that
the company takes action against illegal content on X by removing it, “permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”

However, it’s unclear how or when these policies will be implemented.

This is nothing new

Technologies have long been used as a medium for sexual violence. Technology-facilitated sexual violence encompasses a range of behaviours as digital technologies are used to facilitate both virtual and face-to-face sexually based harms. Women, sexual minorities and minors are the most often victimized.

One form of this violence that has received significant attention is “revenge porn” — referring to the non-consensual distribution of an individual’s images and videos on the internet. Victims have reported lifelong mental health consequences, damaged relationships and social isolation.

Some social media websites have policies forbidding the distribution of non-consensual intimate content and have implemented mechanisms for reporting and removing such content.

Search engines like Google and Bing will also review requests to remove links from search results if they’re in violation of their personal content policies. Canada has criminalized “revenge porn” under the Criminal Code, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Similar to revenge porn, victims of deepfakes have reported mental distress, including feelings of helplessness, humiliation and embarrassment, while some have even been extorted for money.

Creators of sexually explicit deepfakes have also targeted prominent female journalists and politicians as a method of cyberbullying and censorship.

Now what?

This latest Grok controversy reflects a predictable major lapse in AI safeguards. Prominent AI safety experts and child safety organizations warned xAI months ago that the feature was “a nudification tool waiting to be weaponized.”

On Jan. 9, xAI responded by moving the image-editing feature behind a subscription for X users (though it can still be accessed for free on the Grok app) and has stopped Grok from automatically uploading the generated image to the comments.

However, X users are still generating sexualized images with the Grok tab and manually posting them onto the platform. Some countries have taken action to block access to Grok.

Looking to the future

This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time, a tech company demonstrates such a major lapse in judgment over their product’s potential for user-perpetrated sexual violence. Canada needs action that includes:

1. Criminalizing the creation and distribution of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.

Legal scholars have advocated for the criminalization of creating and distributing non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes, similar to existing “revenge porn” laws.

2. Regulate AI companies and hold them accountable.

Canada has yet to pass any legislation to regulate AI, with the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and Online Harms Act dying when Parliament was prorouged in January 2025. Canada’s AI minister referenced this in his response to these Grok issues, but the response lacks a dedicated timeline and a sense of urgency.



Read more:
Why Canada’s reaction to the Grok scandal is so muted in the midst of a global outcry

As AI progresses, major regulatory actions need to be taken to prevent further harms of sexual violence. Tech companies need to undergo thorough safety checks for their AI products, even if it comes at the expense of slowing down.

It also raises questions about who should be responsible for the harms caused by the AI’s outputs.

Three American senators have called on Apple and Google to remove Grok from their app stores for its clear policy violations, citing the recent examples of these companies’ abilities to promptly remove apps from their store.

3. Expand the scope of sexual violence social services to support those affected by non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.

As the perpetration of sexual violence via AI technologies becomes more prevalent, sexual violence organizations can expand their scope to support those affected by non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes. They can do so by leveraging existing services, including mental health care and legal supports.

4. Dismantle the underlying rape culture that perpetuate these forms of violence.

The root of sexual violence is the dominance of rape culture, which is fostered in online environments where sexualized abuse and harassment is tolerated or encouraged.

Dismantling rape culture requires holding perpetrators accountable and speaking out against behaviour that normalizes such behaviours.

The Conversation

Kyara Liu 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. Grok fallout: Tech giants must be held accountable for technology-assisted gender-based violence – https://theconversation.com/grok-fallout-tech-giants-must-be-held-accountable-for-technology-assisted-gender-based-violence-273093

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Human-wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe is a crisis: who is in danger, where and why?

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Blessing Kavhu, Research Fellow, Remote Sensing & GIS Data Scientist I Conservationist I Transboundary Water Modeler I Technical Advisory Board Member I UCSC Climate Justice Fellow I UCSC Coastal Climate Resilience Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz

In the fishing villages along Lake Kariba in northern Zimbabwe, near the border with Zambia, everyday routines that should be ordinary – like collecting water, walking to the fields or casting a fishing net – now carry a quiet, ever-present fear. A new national analysis shows that human-wildlife conflict in rural Zimbabwe has intensified to the point where it has become a public safety crisis, rather than simply an environmental challenge.

Between 2016 and 2022, 322 people died in wildlife encounters. Annual fatalities climbed from 17 to 67: a fourfold increase in just seven years. These fatal encounters are concentrated in communities that live closest to protected areas and water bodies. Here, people and wildlife compete for space and survival.

Protected areas and rivers provide water, forage and shelter for wildlife. Rural households rely on the same landscapes for farming, fishing and domestic water. The study shows that this overlap between human activity and wildlife movement sharply increases the risk of fatal encounters.

Historically, human-wildlife conflict research and policy in southern Africa focused on economic losses such as destroyed crops, livestock predation and damaged infrastructure. Fatal attacks on people were often treated as rare or incidental. This study shifts that perspective by showing that human deaths are not isolated events, but a growing and measurable pattern that demands urgent attention.

I am a US-based Zimbabwean scientist working with Zimbabwean conservationists. We analysed national wildlife-related fatality records from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. The central questions were: how many people are dying from wildlife encounters, where are these deaths occurring and which species are responsible?

The findings were stark. Fatal encounters are rising rapidly, are geographically clustered in the north and western districts, and are driven primarily by two species: crocodiles and elephants (not lions, as people might expect). The implications extend beyond conservation to include trauma, fear, retaliatory killings of wildlife and the need for targeted, locally specific interventions.

Patterns in the data

The study reveals that more than 80% of recorded deaths involved only two species, elephants and crocodiles. Crocodiles alone were responsible for slightly more than half of all fatalities. Many of these incidents happened during activities people cannot avoid: fishing, crossing rivers, bathing, or washing clothes in rivers and lakes. These encounters are sudden and often impossible to anticipate, especially in places where visibility is poor and safe water access is limited.

Elephants were responsible for nearly a third of the deaths. These happened mainly during crop-raiding incidents or when communities attempted to chase elephants from fields and homesteads, or when people were walking to school and work. These confrontations often occur at night or in the early morning when visibility is low. Lions, hyenas, hippos and buffalo contributed only 17% of fatal incidents during the study period.

The rise in lethal encounters appears to be driven by several overlapping forces. Zimbabwe still holds one of Africa’s largest elephant populations, estimated at over 80,000 animals. This is second only to Botswana. In dry years elephants move over long distances in search of water and forage, increasing their presence in communal lands. Shrinking natural habitats and growing rural populations mean that human populations are expanding into wildlife corridors. Climate change, particularly recurring droughts, intensifies the competition for water and space.

The geography of the fatalities reveals a clear pattern. Most deaths occurred in Kariba, Binga and Hwange. These are districts along the country’s northern and western frontier, with a combined population of about 343,264 people. They have large water bodies that support abundant crocodile populations; they are close to protected areas with high elephant numbers; and people there depend heavily on farming, fishing and natural resource use.

How people feel

These encounters leave people with fear. Parents become anxious about children walking to school, farmers worry about tending crops at dawn and communities may avoid crossing rivers.

But people aren’t getting mental health support. So grief and fear can turn into anger, often resulting in killings of wildlife. A destructive cycle undermines conservation and damages trust between communities and authorities.

What to do about it

Different places face different dangers, and solutions should reflect that.

Areas near crocodile-prone rivers need safe water access and crossing points and redesigned community washing areas. Districts where elephants are responsible for most fatalities require better early-warning systems, community-based monitoring networks and low-cost methods to deter elephants from crop fields. These measures must be paired with community education and consistent follow-up support.

The findings highlight that coexistence will not be possible without recognising the emotional and psychological dimensions of living alongside wildlife. The responsibility lies with government agencies working with communities. These must be supported by conservation organisations and health services. Counselling, community healing processes and long-term engagement can help break the retaliatory cycle.

Research from other African settings shows that targeted solutions grounded in community involvement and local risk patterns are key to reducing conflicts. In northern Kenya, community-based early warning systems that alert villagers to elephant movements have significantly reduced fatal encounters. Beehive fences and chili-based barriers have helped protect crops without harming wildlife.

In Uganda’s Murchison Falls area, surveys found that local people preferred physical exclusion measures and the relocation of specific crocodiles as ways to lower the risk of attacks. In South Sudan’s Sudd wetlands, communities identified crocodile sanctuaries as one way to reduce dangerous interactions. In Zambia’s lower Zambezi valley, villagers highlighted the need for more alternative water access points (such as boreholes).

These examples show that fatal encounters are not inevitable. When interventions are matched to the species involved and the daily realities of local communities, both human deaths and retaliatory killings of wildlife can be reduced.

Zimbabwe’s wildlife remains a source of national pride and a cornerstone of tourism. But conservation cannot succeed if the people who live closest to wildlife feel unprotected or unheard. A future where people and wildlife thrive together depends on acknowledging that human wellbeing is inseparable from the wellbeing of the ecosystems they share.

The Conversation

Blessing Kavhu 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. Human-wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe is a crisis: who is in danger, where and why? – https://theconversation.com/human-wildlife-conflict-in-zimbabwe-is-a-crisis-who-is-in-danger-where-and-why-271117

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Early humans relied on simple stone tools for 300,000 years in a changing east African landscape

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Niguss Gitaw Baraki, Postdoctoral scientist, George Washington University

Our prehistoric human ancestors relied on deliberately modified and sharpened stone tools as early as 3.3 million years ago. The selection of rock type depended on how easily the material could be flaked to the desired shape and form.

The resulting product proved invaluable for everyday tasks. Sharp-edged rock fragments were manufactured to suit various needs, including hunting and food processing.

The Stone Age period lasted from about 3.3 million years ago until the emergence of metalworking technologies. Throughout this time, diverse tool-making traditions flourished. Among them is the Oldowan tradition, one of the earliest technological systems created by our early ancestors. The tools are not shaped to have “fancy looks”. Still, they represent a huge step in human evolution. They show that our ancestors had begun modifying nature intentionally, creating tools with a purpose rather than just relying on naturally sharp stones.

Evidence from Homa Peninsula on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria and Koobi Fora, Kenya’s Lake Turkana, places the origins of the Oldowan between 2.6 million and 2.9 million years ago at these sites. For nearly a million years, this technology stayed within Africa, becoming a key part of how early humans survived.

Over time, the knowledge of how to produce and use stone tools spread. By about 2 million years ago, Oldowan toolmaking had spread across north Africa and southern Africa. It eventually extended into Europe and Asia as our ancestors expanded their geographic range.

Although these tools appear basic, their manufacture required skill, planning, and a thorough understanding of stone fracture mechanics. Hominins made sharp flakes by striking rocks against other rocks to break them. The resulting sharp edges could then be used for butchering animals, processing plants, and breaking bones for marrow.

Until recently, the oldest known evidence of tool use found on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, in Kenya, was dated to around 2 million years ago. The region is one of the world’s richest areas for early human fossils and archaeological remains, yet it lacked a secure, long-term sequence of early Oldowan occupation.

That picture has now changed dramatically.

We are researchers who study ancient life and landscapes, and we have now documented some of the oldest evidence yet of Oldowan tools. They are 2.75 million years old and come from East Turkana, at a site called Namorotukunan in Kenya. They are nearly 700,000 years older than other Oldowan sites from this part of Lake Turkana (and older than Oldowan tools from the Afar, Ethiopia, by about 150,000 years).

Namorotukunan: 300,000 Years of Innovation and Survival in Kenya.

At this site, there were three distinct archaeological horizons (layers of sediment that record separate events of tool making activities), spanning 300,000 years. But throughout this long period, during which the climate and landscape changed, our hominin ancestors continued to make and use the same kind of tools. Our findings tell us something about their ability to make choices that enabled them to adapt, survive and evolve.

A landscape in constant transition

Today, the Turkana Basin experiences hot, arid to semi-arid conditions with daily average temperature of around 35°C. The vegetation cover is heterogeneous and includes bushland, shrubland and sparse grasslands with distribution influenced by seasonal drainage systems and groundwater.

Between 3 million and 2 million years ago, the region experienced major landscape transformations due to strong climatic fluctuations. Evidence from Namorotukunan shows that it shifted from a lakeshore setting to a dry semidesert, then to open savannah, and eventually became submerged again as the lake expanded. Along its banks, early human ancestors gathered stones, striking them with precision to make stone fragments, sharp enough to use as implements that allowed them to access different types of foods.

Before approximately 2.8 million years ago, the Turkana Basin had lush floodplains with abundant standing water, palm trees, and wetland vegetation. Approximately 2.75 million years ago, the region began to dry out as grasslands expanded and subsequently replaced forests. Despite this increasing aridity, early toolmakers remained in the landscape. Our ancestors took advantage of river gravels that provided good-quality stone (especially chalcedony) for manufacturing sharp-edged stone tools.

By approximately 2.58 million years ago, the climate had become even drier and more variable. Nevertheless, early humans continued to produce the same style of tools, demonstrating technological persistence despite fluctuating environmental conditions.

At about 2.44 million years ago, semi-arid conditions persisted, followed by flooding of the lake, eventually submerging the region again. However, as landscapes changed once again, toolmakers continued to return to this same region, producing Oldowan tools that remained unchanged in form.

This persistence suggests that these early humans had developed a successful survival strategy that worked across a wide range of ecological settings.

Selecting and using the best rocks

The stone tools at Namorotukunan were not made from just any rock. Nearby outcrops offered a variety of raw materials, but early humans selected the most suitable types of rock for their needs. They chose high-quality stones that break easily to produce sharper edges.

This kind of selectivity suggests an understanding of how different rocks behaved during breakage and reflects the cognitive capabilities of the early humans who made and used these stone tools.

Understanding the functional importance of these stone tools from this site is crucial to evaluating their evolutionary significance.

One clue comes from a fossilised animal bone found at the site, bearing cut marks made by sharp-edged stone tools. These marks reveal that the toolmakers were cutting animal tissues and likely accessing meat or marrow from animal carcasses.
Such evidence supports previous studies that early humans were beginning to rely more heavily on meat and marrow, a dietary shift that played a major role in human evolution. Eating meat may have provided critical calories and nutrients that fuelled the growth of larger brains. The tools might also have been used to dig for underground plant parts or process other foods.



Read more:
When did our ancestors start to eat meat regularly? Fossilised teeth get us closer to the answer

This suggests that early hominins were experimenting with various ways of surviving in the ever-changing environment around them.

Adapting to instability

The technological continuity at the site shows that Oldowan toolmaking was more than a simple craft. It was a dependable survival strategy, one that likely became essential during dry periods, when plant foods were scarce and it was vital to eat meat and marrow.

The ability of the early toolmakers to select high-quality stone, produce sharp flakes, and return to familiar raw-material sources suggests a deep understanding of their landscapes. It allowed early hominins to survive ecological uncertainty over hundreds of generations.

This research would not have been possible without the continued support of the Daasanach community of Ileret, who welcome researchers onto their land each year, and the National Museums of Kenya, whose leadership and collaboration underpin archaeological and geological work across the Turkana Basin.

The Conversation

Niguss Gitaw Baraki receives funding from the Leakey Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Dan V. Palcu Rolier’s work was supported by NWO Veni grant 212.136, FAPESP grants 2018/20733-6 and 2024/21420-2, and the PNRR C9-I8 grant 760115/23.05.2023.

David R. Braun receives funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, The Leakey Foundation, and The PAST Foundation.

Emmanuel K. Ndiema and Rahab N. Kinyanjui do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Early humans relied on simple stone tools for 300,000 years in a changing east African landscape – https://theconversation.com/early-humans-relied-on-simple-stone-tools-for-300-000-years-in-a-changing-east-african-landscape-271433

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Uganda’s autocratic political system is failing its people – and threatens the region

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Evelyn Namakula Mayanja, Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University

When he was first sworn in as Uganda’s president in 1986, Yoweri Museveni declared that his victory represented a “fundamental change”. He promised that Ugandans would no longer die at the hands of fellow citizens. He also criticised African leaders who sought international prestige while their people lacked food, healthcare and dignity.

In his books Sowing the Mustard Seed (published in 1997) and What Is Africa’s Problem? (2000), Museveni condemned leaders who overstayed in power.

Now nearly four decades into his rule, Uganda’s promised democratic renewal has been replaced by increasingly autocratic governance. Once the liberator, Museveni has become the strongman, overseeing a deeply repressive system. Political opposition, civil society and ordinary citizens have faced growing human rights violations, violence and intimidation. This is particularly targeted at young people and political dissidents.

In the run-up to Uganda’s 2026 elections, political repression has intensified. Young people, under the leadership of opposition figure Robert Kyagulanyi (popularly known as Bobi Wine), are at the centre of a growing struggle for freedom and democracy. And they are increasingly the targets of state violence.

I teach and research political repression and human rights. My work emphasises the importance of strengthening ethical and democratic leadership and governance. This enables sustainable peace, justice, development and human security to take root.

I have also argued that young people around the world can help save democracy – if they are supported. This is particularly the case in Uganda, which has one of the youngest populations in the world.

This support should come from the African Union (AU) in the first instance. Its peace and security council should make it clear to Museveni that he has obligations to respect people’s rights and freedoms. There is also a need for a standby military force from the AU and/or the UN to protect Ugandans against bloodshed.

The international community can also play a role by ending its supply of weapons and ensuring the implementation of international laws. This includes a commitment to arrest and prosecute those who commit crimes against humanity.

It is also urgent that Bobi Wine be granted special protection during and after the elections. The opposition leader has warned that the regime has plans to assassinate him.

What’s ailing Uganda

Museveni’s Uganda is marked by five key characteristics.

Firstly, authoritarianism and institutional control. To entrench his power, Museveni has rigged votes in every political election.

Authoritarianism is reinforced by personal and family control of institutions, particularly the military, police, the judiciary, the legislature and the electoral commission. The president’s son Muhoozi Kainerugaba is Uganda’s chief of defence forces. Museveni’s wife Janet is the minister of education and a member of parliament. All institutions are headed and monopolised by people from the president’s ethnic group.

Secondly, corruption. Uganda is estimated to lose more than Sh10 trillion (US$2.8 billion) to corruption annually. Senior officials have amassed wealth through corruption.

Museveni’s recent political messaging has centred on protecting the gains of those in power. The president has referred to a national resource like oil, estimated at 6.65 billion barrels, as his.

For their part, the UK and US governments have sanctioned Ugandan officials for corruption.

Third, poverty. As of June 2025, Uganda ranked 157th out of 193 countries on a UN global development index. This index measures standards of living. Children still study under trees and hospitals are dilapidated. According to the World Bank, nearly 60% of the population lives on less than US$3 a day.

Fourth, human rights abuses, with perpetrators going unpunished. Supporters of Bobi Wine have faced beatings, torture, arrests, disappearances, military trials and extrajudicial killings. In 2020, security forces killed dozens of opposition supporters. Bobi Wine himself has survived several assassination attempts. His campaigns are frequently blocked. He has been pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and denied accommodation.

Lastly, digital repression. The government has suspended internet access, and blocked platforms to prevent citizens from sharing evidence of state violence. This digital clampdown is a central tool of political control.

Opposition remains defiant

Despite repression, Bobi Wine, aged 43, has vowed to proceed with his campaign to unseat Museveni, 81. The opposition leader presents his movement as a fight to restore democracy, constitutionalism and civilian rule.

His political programme focuses on ending corruption and youth employment, healing national divisions, and improving access to public services. His manifesto talks about creating jobs, strengthening education, and restoring respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The youth-led struggle for democracy in Uganda reflects a broader continental reality: young Africans are demanding accountable leadership that reflects national potential rather than elite survival.

Why Uganda’s future matters

Reversing authoritarianism is essential if Uganda’s going to deal with its myriad social and political ills.

The biggest immediate threat is a real risk of mass violence. The president’s son, who is also the military chief, has publicly threatened Bobi Wine. The opposition leader has warned of reports suggesting preparations for mass killings.

A reversal of the current state of affairs would contribute to peace and stability in Uganda, and across the Great Lakes region, one of Africa’s most conflict-affected zones. All six of Uganda’s neighbours (Burundi, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya) face instability of one form or another.

The region has experienced cycles of violence dating back to the 1980s. Museveni’s bush war (1980-1986) was followed by the 1994 Rwanda genocide. In 1996, Uganda and Rwanda invaded the DR Congo, triggering a wave of violence that persists to date. The violence is heightened by Museveni’s militarisation of the DRC and Kagame’s support for militias in the country, including the March 23 Movement (M23).

In addition, some neighbouring countries are experiencing increased internal political tension. For example Tanzania, long seen as relatively peaceful, has experienced lethal crackdowns against political opponents and protesters.

For its part, Kenya’s young people’s protests against government corruption and police brutality have been met with violence and abductions.

In Uganda itself, ethnic and regional tensions are rising. Museveni has said every soldier will have 120 bullets to silence protesters in the January 2026 election. Civilians have previously been kidnapped, tortured, disappeared and killed.

What’s needed

The youth-led struggle for democracy in Uganda reflects a broader continental reality: young Africans are demanding accountable leadership that reflects national potential rather than elite survival.

In Burkina Faso, the people rallied in support of President Ibrahim Traore’s emancipatory leadership. In Kenya, young people have not stopped demanding democratic rule and accountable leadership.

For the wider international community, supporting democratic transitions is not only a moral responsibility. It is also central to long-term peace, security, development and reducing forced migration.

History shows that early international action can prevent atrocities – and its absence can enable catastrophe.

The Conversation

Evelyn Namakula Mayanja 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. Uganda’s autocratic political system is failing its people – and threatens the region – https://theconversation.com/ugandas-autocratic-political-system-is-failing-its-people-and-threatens-the-region-273404

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Nigeria’s 2027 election can set a model for disability inclusion. Here’s how

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Temitayo Isaac Odeyemi, Research fellow, International Development Department, University of Birmingham

Nigeria has built an impressive legal framework for disability rights. The challenge now is turning these commitments into consistent, lived realities for voters with disabilities. With elections in 2027, the country has an opportunity to show others what full electoral inclusion looks like.

Across Africa, citizens with disabilities continue to face barriers to voting, from high staircases and narrow doorways to uninformed officials and ballot papers they cannot read. Yet democratic participation is not a privilege. It is a right guaranteed under Article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, has taken bold steps to protect that right. This includes its Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018.

Our research examined the experiences of people with disabilities during the 2019 elections. We found that challenges of braille ballot papers, transport restrictions and stigmatisation adversely affected their voting participation.

Since that election the government has enacted the Electoral Act 2022. This establishes some of the continent’s strongest guarantees for equal political participation.

Our follow-up research, which examined Nigeria’s 2023 elections, shows that new legal and institutional frameworks improved disability accessibility and participation. Gaps in implementation, staff training and polling-unit accessibility persist, however. The study outlines some ways to fill those gaps.

Put together, our research shows that Nigeria’s problem is not the absence of policy but the gap between commitment and execution. Laws must be translated into daily practice.

With credible data, structured training and genuine collaboration between the Independent National Electoral Commission and key actors, Nigeria can transform the 2027 elections for disabled people.

This article offers recommendations for enhanced inclusion of disabled people and for closing the disability gap in future elections.

What our research shows

Our research found both progress and gaps.

Since 2018, the Independent National Electoral Commission has become more proactive. It created a Framework on Access and Participation for Persons with Disabilities, produced braille ballot guides, provided magnifying lenses and sign-language materials, and worked closely with disability organisations such as the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities.

Field interviews and focus-group discussions confirmed that assistive devices reached more polling units and that voters with disabilities were often given priority in queues.

Our follow-up research on the 2023 elections shows further improvement. The electoral commission’s engagement with disability groups became more systematic, priority voting was more consistently applied, and assistive tools were distributed more widely than in 2019. These changes helped more disabled voters participate.

Yet inclusion remains uneven. Our research shows that many polling units in both the 2019 and 2023 elections were inaccessible to wheelchair users. Some officials did not understand how to deploy assistive tools. Blind voters frequently reported receiving braille guides without prior orientation. And, most critically, the commission still does not maintain a reliable database of where voters with disabilities live. So materials are mis-allocated, and needs go unmet.

How other African democracies compare

Nigeria’s experience mirrors a broader continental challenge.

South Africa has gone furthest in implementing inclusive voting. The Independent Electoral Commission uses a universal ballot template that enables blind and low-vision voters to cast a secret ballot. It also allows advance voting for people with mobility impairments.

But challenges were still evident. These included getting information, staff training, physical access to polling stations, privacy, and availability of the ballot template.

Ghana follows closely. The Electoral Commission and partners such as Sightsavers and the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations have institutionalised the Tactile Ballot Jacket, which embeds accessible voting into routine electoral administration rather than treating it as an ad-hoc arrangement.

They have also trained thousands of visually impaired voters and polling officials. Observation reports from the 2020 and 2024 elections found most centres accessible and procedures orderly.

Limitations were also reported, from polling station access to voter education and training of election officials.

Kenya has strong constitutional and legal frameworks but inconsistent delivery. Accessibility remains concentrated in urban areas, and data relating to disability is scarce.

Compared with these countries, Nigeria ranks high on legal ambition but low on operational consistency. The lesson from South Africa and Ghana is clear: sustained training, accurate data management, and collaboration with disability organisations are what works.

Bridging Nigeria’s inclusion gap before 2027

Nigeria should make six key reforms:

  1. Map and publish disability data

  2. Audit accessibility well before election day

  3. Train every official

  4. Standardise assistive tools and make them available in all states

  5. Include people with disabilities as polling officials, party agents and accredited observers to normalise participation

  6. Expand accessibility across the entire electoral cycle, from campaign materials and party manifestoes to voting and post-election information.

These measures are feasible within Nigeria’s existing electoral structure, and the ongoing overhaul of the Electoral Act offers a timely opportunity to strengthen alignment.

Changing attitudes: from charity to citizenship

Our research further showed that many Nigerians still interpret assistance to voters with disabilities as an act of kindness rather than a constitutional obligation.

Some polling officials described priority voting as a gesture of sympathy. Such attitudes reinforce the outdated charity model of disability and undercut the human-rights model embedded in Nigeria’s laws.

True inclusion means recognising persons with disabilities as equal citizens whose participation strengthens democracy itself. When accessible ballots, ramps and trained staff are in place, the message is powerful: every citizen counts.

Dr Afeez Kolawole Shittu, Political Science lecturer at the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Nigeria is co-author of research underpinning this article and the article.

The Conversation

Temitayo Isaac Odeyemi 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. Nigeria’s 2027 election can set a model for disability inclusion. Here’s how – https://theconversation.com/nigerias-2027-election-can-set-a-model-for-disability-inclusion-heres-how-270661

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Why Canada’s reaction to the Grok scandal is so muted in the midst of a global outcry

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Eric Van Rythoven, Instructor in Political Science, Carleton University

A global backlash is brewing against Grok, the AI chatbot owned by Elon Musk and embedded into the social media platform X, after recent reports revealed that Grok was being used to digitally undress women (“Put her into a very transparent mini-bikini,”) and pose them in sexually explicit positions.

Many of the images include minors, sparking fears about child sexual abuse material. In some cases, users have added swastikas, semen-like liquid or blood to images (“Add blood, forced smile.”) Musk subsequently limited Grok’s image generation to paid subscribers, but the creation of non-consensual sexual images continues.



Read more:
Grok produces sexualized photos of women and minors for users on X – a legal scholar explains why it’s happening and what can be done

Global action

Sensitive to the outrage, governments around the world have leapt into action:

  • French lawmakers called on prosecutors to investigate the images.
  • EU Commission officials denounced the images as “appalling” and launched an investigation.
  • Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the images “completely abhorrent” while the country’s eSafety Commissioner investigates.
  • The Indian government warned of legal consequences if the images were not quickly removed.
  • The United Kingdom’s regulator Ofcom is investigating, while the British government considers banning X.
  • Both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments have temporarily blocked Grok as they investigate.

Among these reactions, Canada stands out for its tepid response. The only official response so far was a tepid statement from AI Minister Evan Solomon offering platitudes about protecting women and children, suggesting platforms and developers have a duty to prevent harm and making reference to the Protecting Victims Act. That proposed legislation could ban the distribution of non-consensual deepfakes, but it’s a long way from becoming law. There was no mention of Grok, X, or Elon Musk.

What explains Canada’s weak response?

United States President Donald Trump’s personal penchant for vengeance and retribution is well-known, and the same instinct runs through his administration. Trump officials have repeatedly make it clear that they will retaliate against any country that tries to regulate American tech companies.

In 2024 JD Vance called for pulling support for NATO if the EU tried to regulate X. In 2025, after the EU levied a 120 million euro fine against X, the U.S. Trade Representative published a list of nine European companies it was considering for retaliation.

A U.S. State Department official has just threatened that “nothing is off the table” if the U.K. bans X.

The problem is that Canada’s overwhelming trade and security dependence on the United States has left it uniquely vulnerable to American retaliation. In a single hastily written tweet, Trump could call for new tariffs (of dubious legality), create new barriers at the border or simply threaten Canada in ways that roil markets. This means Canadian officials are constantly walking on eggshells around the Trump administration out of fear of retaliation.

Canadian officials still value X

It was not lost on observers that Solomon’s response to the sexual images controversy on X was to write a post about it … on X. Even after the platform’s controversial transformation under Musk, it still remains the favoured communications tool of the Canadian government, and it is widely used by political elites.

Canadian politicians, in particular, use social media to broadcast party messages, set the agenda for journalists, participate in partisan debates and engage in personal and visual storytelling. And while some have spoken out against staying on X, most have opted to remain.

This puts Canadian officials in a bind. They could easily distance themselves from the platform by condemning X and its transformation into a global hub for illicit sexual images. But without any further action, these condemnations risk sounding insincere. Leaving the platform, however, would mean giving up what many see as a valuable tool.

Potential rift

It’s not just the Liberal government that has been slow to respond. In theory, the Conservative opposition should have an easy target in the Grok controversy.

Conservatives have spent years fashioning themselves as the champions of victims’ rights, and Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner tabled a private members bill in 2025 that would update “existing laws that prevent the non-consensual distribution of intimate images to include deep nudes.”

In practice, however, the situation is more complicated. When Musk purchased Twitter, he remade it into a bastion of Conservative and far-right politics. X became a critical space for Conservatives to build an audience, share ideas and exercise influence.

It’s no surprise that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is the most followed Canadian politician on the platform, and that Conservatives have been slow to migrate to other platforms.

The danger for Conservatives is that any critique of Musk risks opening a rift among supporters. Musk has a loyal coterie of conservative supporters and influencers — many of whom owe their livelihood and loyalty to Musk. This group may not take kindly to criticism of their exalted entrepreneur.

More pragmatically, a Conservative party that is struggling to staunch defections may not be well-placed to pick a fight with the world’s richest man who has more than 200 million followers.

Sitting on our hands?

There are compelling reasons, then, for why Canada has been slow to act amid the global backlash to Grok. But are these good reasons? No.

Canadian officials are likely overestimating the Trump administration’s ability to retaliate on Grok. If the administration wants to retaliate and engage in a de facto defence of non-consensual sexual images and child sexual abuse material, the best response is to let them.

Make them wear it. Let the administration burn its rapidly diminishing political capital by embracing a politically radioactive position.

Canadian officials are also probably overestimating the value of staying on X. The number of Canadian users is declining, the algorithm is geared to amplifying far-right voices and the platform’s growing reputation for white nationalist content and non-consensual sexual images make the decision to exit clearer than ever.

Finally, Canadian Conservatives need to start thinking about how their proximity to Musk risks damaging their brand. Staying silent on Grok’s abuses may placate a small group of Musk supporters in the party, but it risks alienating a much larger pool of voters who see these images as vile. For Conservatives, the time has come to consider whether Musk may be a millstone around their neck.

The Conversation

Eric Van Rythoven 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. Why Canada’s reaction to the Grok scandal is so muted in the midst of a global outcry – https://theconversation.com/why-canadas-reaction-to-the-grok-scandal-is-so-muted-in-the-midst-of-a-global-outcry-273201

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Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life – our new study examines each method’s risks

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Kelsey Roberts, Post-Doctoral Scholar in Marine Ecology, Cornell University; UMass Dartmouth

Phytoplankton blooms, seen by satellite in the Baltic Sea, pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. European Space Agency via Flickr, CC BY-SA

Climate change is already fueling dangerous heat waves, raising sea levels and transforming the oceans. Even if countries meet their pledges to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, global warming will exceed what many ecosystems can safely handle.

That reality has motivated scientists, governments and a growing number of startups to explore ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or at least temporarily counter its effects.

But these climate interventions come with risks – especially for the ocean, the world’s largest carbon sink, where carbon is absorbed and stored, and the foundation of global food security.

Our team of researchers has spent decades studying the oceans and climate. In a new study, we analyzed how different types of climate interventions could affect marine ecosystems, for good or bad, and where more research is needed to understand the risks before anyone tries them on a large scale. We found that some strategies carry fewer risks than others, though none is free of consequences.

What climate interventions look like

Climate interventions fall into two broad categories that work very differently.

One is carbon dioxide removal, or CDR. It tackles the root cause of climate change by taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

The ocean already absorbs nearly one-third of human-caused carbon emissions annually and has an enormous capacity to hold more carbon. Marine carbon dioxide removal techniques aim to increase that natural uptake by altering the ocean’s biology or chemistry.

An illustration shows solar modification, ocean fertilization and other methods.
Some of the methods of climate interventions that affect the ocean, such as iron (Fe) fertilization.
Vanessa van Heerden/Louisiana Sea Grant

Biological carbon removal methods capture carbon through photosynthesis in plants or algae. Some methods, such as iron fertilization and seaweed cultivation, boost the growth of marine algae by giving them more nutrients. A fraction of the carbon they capture during growth can be stored in the ocean for hundreds of years, but much of it leaks back to the atmosphere once biomass decomposes.

Other methods involve growing plants on land and sinking them in deep, low-oxygen waters where decomposition is slower, delaying the release of the carbon they contain. This is known as anoxic storage of terrestrial biomass.

Another type of carbon dioxide removal doesn’t need biology to capture carbon. Ocean alkalinity enhancement chemically converts carbon dioxide in seawater into other forms of carbon, allowing the ocean to absorb more from the atmosphere. This works by adding large amounts of alkaline material, such as pulverized carbonate or silicate rocks like limestone or basalt, or electrochemically manufactured compounds like sodium hydroxide.

How ocean alkalinity enhancement methods works. CSIRO.

Solar radiation modification is another category entirely. It works like a sunshade – it doesn’t remove carbon dioxide, but it can reduce dangerous effects such as heat waves and coral bleaching by injecting tiny particles into the atmosphere that brighten clouds or directly reflect sunlight back to space, replicating the cooling seen after major volcanic eruptions. The appeal of solar radiation modification is speed: It could cool the planet within years, but it would only temporarily mask the effects of still-rising carbon dioxide concentrations.

These methods can also affect ocean life

We reviewed eight intervention types and assessed how each could affect marine ecosystems. We found that all of them had distinct potential benefits and risks.

One risk of pulling more carbon dioxide into the ocean is ocean acidification. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it forms acid. This process is already weakening the shells of oysters and harming corals and plankton that are crucial to the ocean food chain.

For images show a shell slowly dissolving over time.
How a shell placed in seawater with increased acidity slowly dissolves over 45 days.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

Adding alkaline materials, such as pulverized carbonate or silicate rocks, could counteract the acidity of the additional carbon dioxide by converting it into less harmful forms of carbon.

Biological methods, by contrast, capture carbon in living biomass, such as plants and algae, but release it again as carbon dioxide when the biomass breaks down – meaning their effect on acidification depends on where the biomass grows and where it later decomposes.

Another concern with biological methods involves nutrients. All plants and algae need nutrients to grow, but the ocean is highly interconnected. Fertilizing the surface in one area may boost plant and algae productivity, but at the same time suffocate the waters beneath it or disrupt fisheries thousands of miles away by depleting nutrients that ocean currents would otherwise transport to productive fishing areas.

A glass beaker with cyanobacteria growing inside.
Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can multiply rapidly when exposed to nutrient-rich water.
joydeep/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Ocean alkalinity enhancement doesn’t require adding nutrients, but some mineral forms of alkalinity, like basalts, introduce nutrients such as iron and silicate that can impact growth.

Solar radiation modification adds no nutrients but could shift circulation patterns that move nutrients around.

Shifts in acidification and nutrients will benefit some phytoplankton and disadvantage others. The resulting changes in the mix of phytoplankton matter: If different predators prefer different phytoplankton, the follow-on effects could travel all the way up the food chain, eventually impacting the fisheries millions of people rely on.

The least risky options for the ocean

Of all the methods we reviewed, we found that electrochemical ocean alkalinity enhancement had the lowest direct risk to the ocean, but it isn’t risk-free. Electrochemical methods use an electric current to separate salt water into an alkaline stream and an acidic stream. This generates a chemically simple form of alkalinity with limited effects on biology, but it also requires neutralizing or disposing of the acid safely.

Other relatively low-risk options include adding carbonate minerals to seawater, which would increase alkalinity with relatively few contaminants, and sinking land plants in deep, low-oxygen environments for long-term carbon storage.

Still, these approaches carry uncertainties and need further study.

Scientists typically use computer models to explore methods like these before testing them on a wide scale in the ocean, but the models are only as reliable as the data that grounds them. And many biological processes are still not well enough understood to be included in models.

For example, models don’t capture the effects of some trace metal contaminants in certain alkaline materials or how ecosystems may reorganize around new seaweed farm habitats. To accurately include effects like these in models, scientists first must study them in laboratories and sometimes small-scale field experiments.

Scientists examine how phytoplankton take up iron as they grow off Heard Island in the Southern Ocean. It’s normally a low-iron area, but volcanic eruptions may be providing an iron source. CSIRO.

A cautious, evidence-based path forward

Some scientists have argued that the risks of climate intervention are too great to even consider and all related research should stop because it is a dangerous distraction from the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We disagree.

Commercialization is already underway. Marine carbon dioxide removal startups backed by investors are already selling carbon credits to companies such as Stripe and British Airways. Meanwhile, global emissions continue to rise, and many countries, including the U.S., are backing away from their emissions reduction pledges.

As the harms caused by climate change worsen, pressure may build for governments to deploy climate interventions quickly and without a clear understanding of risks. Scientists have an opportunity to study these ideas carefully now, before the planet reaches climate instabilities that could push society to embrace untested interventions. That window won’t stay open forever.

Given the stakes, we believe the world needs transparent research that can rule out harmful options, verify promising ones and stop if the impacts prove unacceptable. It is possible that no climate intervention will ever be safe enough to implement on a large scale. But we believe that decision should be guided by evidence – not market pressure, fear or ideology.

The Conversation

Through his role at Cornell University, Daniele Visioni receives funding from the Quadrature Climate Foundation and the Advanced Research + Invention Agency UK. Daniele Visioni is Head of Data for Reflective, a philanthropically-funded initiative focused on responsibly accelerating sunlight reflection research.

In addition to her primary role as UCSB faculty, Morgan Raven serves as the Chief Science Officer for, and holds minor equity in, a seed-funded startup company exploring applications of biomass-related CDR (Carboniferous). This work was supported by a grant from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment to UCSB.

Through his role at the Univeristy of Tasmania, Tyler Rohr receives funding from the Australian government and Co-Labs ICONIQ Impact Co-Labs to research impacts and efficeincy of marine carbon dioxide removal.

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

– ref. Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life – our new study examines each method’s risks – https://theconversation.com/climate-engineering-would-alter-the-oceans-reshaping-marine-life-our-new-study-examines-each-methods-risks-270659

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For some Jewish women, ‘passing’ as Christian during the Holocaust could mean survival – but left scars all the same

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Hana Green, Postdoctoral Fellow in Holocaust Studies, Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, College of Charleston

A 1943 post office identification card for Annelies Herz, a German Jewish woman who managed to survive by posing as a Christian woman with the last name ‘Stein.’ From the Collection of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Gift of Annelies and Helmut Herz, 393.89.

Travel case in hand, dressed in fashionable clothing and wearing a practiced, coquettish smile, Hela Schüpper Rufeisen sat aboard the train to Warsaw, Poland. No one on board would have suspected that beneath the coat of the young woman were strapped assorted handguns and several cartridge clips.

Schüpper Rufeisen, who was Jewish, relied on this dissonance between appearance and reality to ferry items into, out of and between the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos. Her carefully cultivated “Aryan” image and false papers listing her as Catholic made it possible to cross borders and survive encounters that would otherwise have ended in death.

A black-and-white, close-up portrait of a girl with dark hair and a serious expression.
Hela Schüpper Rufeisen before the war.
Eli Dotan/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

During the Holocaust, trying to “pass” as non-Jewish was often more feasible for women than men. Some Jewish women, like Schüpper Rufeisen, took the risk in order to join resistance efforts against the Nazis and their collaborators. Most Jews who tried to pass, however, did so simply to remain alive in a system designed to murder them.

Passing took many forms. It enabled some women to transport weapons, papers or messages, while allowing others to work as domestic servants, move between cities, secure food or sleep safely for another night. What united these experiences was the pressure of living under constant threat. Blanca Rosenberg escaped the Kolomyja ghetto – then Polish, now part of Ukraine – in 1942. As she recalled afterward, “I tried to force myself into the mind of the woman I was to impersonate … I was now an Aryan, with a right to life, and no longer a Jewess, hunted like prey.”

Over years of research on Jews who evaded capture during the Holocaust, what struck me most was not the daring of these acts, but how often survivors described them as something done to get through the day alive. A central aim of my work has been to move beyond celebrated figures such as couriers and resistance agents – not to diminish their bravery, but to show how passing functioned as a strategy of survival within a system committed to Jewish annihilation.

Women’s roles

Under Nazism, “passing” meant assuming a non-Jewish identity and performing it convincingly in hostile public places, whereas going into hiding meant concealing one’s physical existence. This required constructing an entirely new self: adopting new names and speech patterns, demonstrating fluency in Christian rituals, and sustaining backstories capable of withstanding scrutiny.

Passing relied on constantly negotiating visibility and concealment, safety and exposure. The stakes were immense. Exposure often meant immediate death, and those who helped risked execution themselves.

Jewish men and women who passed navigated unique dangers. Yet women, often perceived as less of a threat, also had distinct possibilities.

A yellowed page of an official form written in German.
Duplicate copy of Christine Denner’s birth records issued in July 1942 and given to her Jewish friend Edith Hahn as false identification.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collections Photo Archive #23179. Courtesy of Edith Hahn. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Their mobility was less strictly policed than men’s, and they could assume roles such as domestic workers or caretakers, providing credible explanations for their presence in public spaces. Women could adapt hairstyles, clothing and mannerisms to try to blend in. Men’s circumcisions, on the other hand, might expose them as Jewish, and in some circumstances, being a military-aged man out of uniform could arouse suspicion.

Testimonies from survivors show how many women relied on intuition and social awareness to navigate danger, crafting performances that balanced vulnerability and confidence. These were not advantages born of privilege, but survival strategies shaped by patriarchal and Nazi stereotypes, in which women’s perceived docility became a precarious form of cover.

The experience of Adina Blady-Szwajger reflects this precarious calculus. Traveling under a false Polish passport, the young physician moved between the Warsaw Ghetto and the so-called “Aryan side,” concealing ammunition beneath ordinary goods. When stopped by a gendarme on Żelazna Street, she opened her bag, revealing a heap of potatoes masking ammunition, smiled broadly, and waited. The patrolman glanced inside and ordered only “Los” – “Go.”

At the same time, Jewish women were doubly vulnerable. Living without legal protection, they faced heightened risks of sexual violence and coercion, as well as the potentially fatal consequences of pregnancy. Gender shaped not only how women passed, but the dangers they faced while doing so.

Emotional weight

Passing exacted a heavy psychological toll. Women lived with the constant fear that a single mistake could reveal their true identity. Rosenberg’s account of suppressing her sense of self after escaping the Kolomyja ghetto illustrates how passing fractured identity, producing a self that was at once protective and deeply alien.

Isolation compounded this strain. Cut off from family, unsure whom to trust, and burdened by guilt, many women endured emotional isolation that lingered long after liberation.

Ruth Ackerman, who survived the war by working for a German family under a false name, recalled scanning newly arrived American troops for a single “Jewish face.” The only member of her family to survive, Ackerman searched for other Jews, yearning for connection after years of concealment.

Edith Hahn-Beer, who lived in a displaced persons camp after the war, recalled feeling rejected by survivors who resented that she had emerged “intact,” without the physical suffering, imprisonment and degradation they themselves had endured. Using the false papers of a friend from Vienna, Hahn-Beer survived the war by living as an “Aryan” in Germany, marrying a Nazi officer – choices that complicated how other survivors saw her survival.

A black-and-white photo of a young woman in a coat and dark hat standing before a ramp leading up a building with a bell tower.
Leah Hammerstein Silverstein, born Lodzia Hamersztajn, poses in front of the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, Poland.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives #17907. Courtesy of Leah Hammerstein Silverstein. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Lodzia Silverstein, a courier in Poland, described the postwar shift as “crawling out from the Polish skin and back into my Jewish skin.” This arduous psychological process was complicated by continued antisemitic violence, including the 1946 Kielce pogrom, a blood libel massacre that killed 42 Jews and wounded at least 50 others in the southeastern Polish town.

In some cases, Jews who passed for Christian retained their wartime identities for years, or even for the remainder of their lives, out of fear of continued persecution or a desire to move on.

Lasting lessons

As these women’s struggles show, passing was an ongoing negotiation of selfhood under extreme, and often violent, duress. For Jews who managed to pass, their deception was both a shield and a burden. Every gesture, word and detail of appearance carried the risk of exposure.

Their stories continue to resonate. People displaced by war, persecution or discrimination often alter aspects of their identities to remain safe. Belonging is rigorously policed – from immigration enforcement, racial discrimination and attacks on gender identity in the United States to ethnic violence across the globe. Whether through documents and checkpoints, or everyday scrutiny of language, dress, religion and appearance, people scrutinize each other, drawing lines around who belongs.

During the Holocaust, concealment was a condition of survival under persecution. Survivors’ testimony illuminates both the ingenuity required to endure such pressure and the emotional costs of erasing parts of oneself. In a moment of rising nationalism, antisemitism and mass displacement, their stories carry renewed urgency.

The Conversation

Hana Green has received research funding from the Central European History Society, the Leo Baeck Institute, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Historical Institute, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

– ref. For some Jewish women, ‘passing’ as Christian during the Holocaust could mean survival – but left scars all the same – https://theconversation.com/for-some-jewish-women-passing-as-christian-during-the-holocaust-could-mean-survival-but-left-scars-all-the-same-268745

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Building ‘beloved community’: Remembering the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Jeremy David Engels, Liberal Arts Endowed Professor of Communication, Penn State

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, appears at a Chicago news conference with Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh on May 31, 1966. AP Photo/Edward Kitch, File

Before Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, he asked several of his friends to continue his life’s work building what he called “beloved community.” One of the people he invited was the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, poet and mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

My new book, “On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World,” is inspired by King and Hanh’s friendship. These two men bonded over the shared insight that how we show up for each other matters, as does how we advocate for social change. In his sermon “Loving Your Enemies” King announced, “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Hanh taught: There is no way to peace, peace is the way.“

At the heart of beloved community is true democracy. To be agents of change who do not add to the suffering of the world, people must learn to become more loving and peaceful people.

‘The real enemies of man’

Hanh was born in 1926 in central Vietnam. As a young Buddhist monk living in a nation confronted by colonialism, conflict and war, he developed the doctrine of ”engaged Buddhism,“ premised on the belief that working to relieve suffering in the world is enlightenment.

During the mid-1960s, amid the Vietnam War – Vietnamese call it the “American War” – Hanh founded the School of Youth for Social Services to practice engaged Buddhism and help those affected by the bombs raining down on their homes.

On June 1, 1965, Hanh wrote a letter to King to raise awareness of the suffering of the Vietnamese people. He also hoped to correct some common misconceptions about Buddhism.

His overarching point was that Buddhists in Vietnam did not hate Americans. In fact, they did not hate anyone. Their goal was simply to bring an end to war – and an end to the delusions that led to war. “Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred and discrimination which lie within the heart of man,” he wrote. “These are the real enemies of man – not man himself.”

Hanh refused to take a side during the war. He stood for peace. His peace activism earned him a 39-year banishment from his homeland.

Continuing King’s dream

Marc Andrus, author of the 2021 book “Brothers in the Beloved Community,” notes that King and Hanh met in person twice: once in Chicago, on May 31, 1966, and a second time in May 1967, at the World Council of Churches Peace on Earth Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. In Geneva, King shared his understanding of the beloved community with Hanh, inviting him to participate in its construction.

In between these two meetings, King nominated Hanh for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize, writing in his nomination letter, “I know Thich Nhat Hanh, and am privileged to call him my friend.” No award was given that year, however, perhaps to protest King’s choice to make his nomination letter public. Nominations were typically private, but King used his to call out the injustice of the Vietnam War.

Hanh was crushed when he learned of King’s death in 1968. “I was in New York when I heard the news of his assassination; I was devastated. I could not eat; I could not sleep,” he later recalled. “I made a deep vow to continue building what he called ‘the beloved community’ not only for myself but for him also. I have done what I promised Martin Luther King Jr. And I think that I have always felt his support.”

Building ‘beloved community’

In the years after King’s murder, part of Hanh’s life work was devoted to fulfilling King’s dream and building the “beloved community.”

Beloved community is not an abstraction. It is a loose-knit global community composed of a multitude of smaller, local communities committed to practicing peace, nonviolence, freedom, love and justice. Emerging from King’s activism and Hanh’s engaged Buddhism, these communities are also committed to social change.

In 1982, Hanh and his student Sister Chan Khong established the Plum Village monastery in southern France. In the years since, the Plum Village community has founded dozens of monasteries around the world, including three in the United States: Blue Cliff in upstate New York, Deer Park outside San Diego, and Magnolia Grove in Mississippi.

Hanh’s lay students have established thousands of smaller Plum Village sanghas – communities – in North America and Europe. These monasteries and sanghas serve as practice centers where people learn to embody the ideals of beloved community in their mindfulness practice and daily lives.

A monk’s gravestone rests in the foreground, with a towering statue of the Buddha behind it.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s gravesite outside Hue, Vietnam.
Jeremy Engels, CC BY

Since the time of the Buddha, people committed to the path of mindfulness have agreed to live by a number of “precepts.” These precepts, typically numbering five, provide a moral foundation for action. Hundreds of thousands of people attending Plum Village retreats have agreed to live by the updated, secular version of the precepts that Hanh and his community wrote called the Five Mindfulness Trainings. These include: reverence for life, true happiness, true love, loving speech and deep listening, and nourishment and healing.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are written to provide people with a practical path to building a shared life based in love, compassion, joy and peace: the type of life that both King and Hanh envisioned for all.

As Hanh told the global Plum Village community in a 2020 letter titled Climbing Together the Hill of the Century: “We have continued that aspiration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and every day, our practice is to generate brotherhood and sisterhood, to cultivate joy and the capacity to help people. This is a concrete way to realize and continue that dream.”

On MLK Day, their friendship and writings are a reminder that democracy rests on the ability of citizens to be present for each other, to recognize their interconnectedness, to embody loving kindness and to disagree without resorting to violence.

The Conversation

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

– ref. Building ‘beloved community’: Remembering the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh – https://theconversation.com/building-beloved-community-remembering-the-friendship-between-martin-luther-king-jr-and-buddhist-monk-thich-nhat-hanh-272062