Critical State: Plotting Potential

In Noema, Joanna Thompson, a New York City-based freelance science journalist, wrote about making room for environmental conservation even in our densest cities.

“Urban agriculture — that is, growing crops in a city setting — is becoming a popular alternative to industrial farming for eco-conscious city dwellers,” she writes. “Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, members of the community garden movement transformed myriad abandoned lots into green spaces in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Seattle.”

These projects can provide community and environmental benefits, but to some native instincts, they’re “food deserts.”

There are two environmental catastrophes unfolding, Thompson explains: climate change and “the biodiversity crisis, the swift disappearance of thousands of species due to myriad human activities. Both are deeply intertwined, but the climate crisis tends to get more attention because its impacts are more immediately threatening to human life and its underlying causes are easier to pin down.”

But the biodiversity crisis will be as damaging. And we are not as separated from the natural world as we might think — or as our climate change solutions might suggest. Thompson is interested in how plots in our cities balance these two crises.

If You Read One More Thing: Labour’s Laws

Anita Mureithi writes for Hyphen Online on how Labour has sided with the Tories on anti-protest laws.

• As Mureithi explains, “The Home Office has said it will back a controversial Tory anti-protest law at the High Court by continuing with an appeal lodged by the previous government. A group of Palestine Action protesters was targeted under the new law weeks after Israel began bombing Gaza last year, while climate protests have also been restricted.”

• Activists are concerned about what this means for the relatively new government’s commitment to core democratic freedoms. The laws were “conceived by Suella Braverman when she was home secretary, significantly lowered the threshold for police to intervene in protests, giving them powers to restrict or shut down anything that caused ‘more than minor disruption.’ The previous threshold was anything that caused “serious disruption.” Hundreds have been arrested and convicted under the measures. Greta Thurnberg was caught up under the law, but was acquitted of all charges in February. 

Profiled

Reyne Grande, an acclaimed author and documentary producer, was stopped, detained, and accused on the US-Mexico border by agents, as Todd Miller reports for the Border Chronicle.

• It was, per Grande, a harrowing affair: “According to Grande, he had her self-frisk. He asked if she was in the United States legally. He asked her this three times. Each time she answered yes. Each time she was looking at her US passport, which the agent held in his hand.” Grande described the whole thing as “pretty traumatizing.”

• The Department of Homeland Security has a documented history of “taking ethnicity into account.” As Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Defense and Education Fund, told Miller, “The Border Patrol still, in my view, works in stereotypes and targets those who happen to be Latino.” This, he said, has been made worse by the “dangerous rhetoric” of politicians, who speak of “immigrant invasions.” For Grande, the episode was illustrative as well as upsetting: “One of the reasons I go to the border is so I don’t forget my immigrant roots. I feel responsibility to immigrants as a person who crossed the border, a responsibility to be there and help in any way I can,” she told Miller.

Deep Dive: Wartime Tweets

In the American Journal of Political Science, authors Anita R. Gohdes and Zachary C. Steinert-Threlkeld have a paper on “Civilian behavior on social media during war.” Research, they write, emphasizes the ability to express shared grievances. But active conflict changes things, and posts indicating loyalties can put civilians at risk.

As the authors write, “Because civilian support is crucial to winning wars and maintaining control over territory, conflict actors have a strong incentive to monitor whether and how civilians display loyalties toward the conflict parties,” and authoritarian governments often demand loyalty be shown publicly.

They also articulate the ways in which counterinsurgents try to win — and keep an eye on — local support. And while armed conflict is ongoing, “the degree to which information about civilians' loyalties is relevant and available fluctuates.” One major factor is who controls a given territory. After a conflict, the victor wants to know who’s loyal and who should be punished, and also wants social media proof of widespread support. 

The authors thus develop a theory: “After major changes in territorial control, civilians should be more likely to post positive content, and more content that supports the winning side.”

As they write, “In the context of armed conflict, major changes in territorial control produce situations of information scarcity that increase the incentives of civilians to publicly show support for the victorious side in order to improve their security.” And given that individuals can choose to self-disclose location, strategic posting “should therefore be strongest in content where individuals disclose their location.” 

They suspected that three types of posters drive changes in content: individuals loyal to the winners who showed their support before control changed hands; individuals who had no previous public stance on the victor; and individuals who supported the loser but are falsifying their position online (and, for that matter, offline). 

They looked at posts during and following the November 2016 siege of Aleppo. They used Twitter specifically because it was used by individuals against, for, and “neutral” on the Assad regime. 

They found a range of behavior. They found that, when self-disclosing their location, users in Aleppo sent more positive, pro-Assad posts. This was true for accounts that did not support the regime prior to the end of the siege.

On the other hand, posters who didn’t disclose their location were more likely to post anti-regime content after the end of the siege in Aleppo (there were no changes post-siege in other parts of Syria). The results, the authors write, suggest social media users post strategically.

Digital communication is now a key part of politics of contention. The authors maintain that how civilians use social media every day in war is understudied, and that their paper points to a future direction that more research could take.  

Show Us the Receipts

Winthrop Rodgers wrote about Iraqi Kurdistan’s “shadow media” ahead of October’s elections. Formally, the semi-autonomous region’s campaign season hasn’t begun, but  “the so-called ‘shadow media’ is already in full swing spreading disinformation, promoting political spin, and attacking rivals.” And as Rodgers explained, “The rise of the shadow media was not an organic process. It was designed, directed, and funded by some of the most powerful politicians, businesspeople, and security forces in the Kurdistan Region, who frequently hide their involvement through proxies and shell companies in order to maintain a façade of independence.”

Anne Louise Deslandes asked whether Mexico has actually banned genetically modified corn. A 2020 decree said “that the use of the pesticide glyphosate would be completely phased out in Mexico by 2024, with a parallel plan to ban the import of genetically modified (GMO) corn.” Per Deslandes, “Under the decree, authorities would also refrain from allowing companies to use genetically modified corn in products for human consumption. Within this, the government said it would pursue the total replacement of genetically modified corn products in Mexico by Jan. 31, 2024.” But this was challenged by biotechnology and seed titans, and the decree was reissued last year with the relevant provision nullified. Deslandes also looked into what that means for the state of genetically modified corn in Mexico today. 

Hannah Krishner reported on the “precarious state” of Japan’s green tea. Over a third of Japanese tea leaves come from Shizuoka prefecture, where green tea is a major industry. But with the wholesale price of tea leaves falling, some farmers are deciding that it’s better to “call it quits,” as one put it. The tea harvested early in the spring gets the highest price, meaning Shuzuoka’s relatively late harvest puts it at an economic disadvantage. Krishner also looked at some who are trying to find solutions: for example, “by arranging home stays and educational tours hosted by former farmers.”

Well-Played

No is a full sentence.

“Ice-vestment” was right there.

The Renata difference.

Well!?

Never too late.

Et al.

Critical State is written by Emily Tamkin with Inkstick Media.

The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.

With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”

Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.