Political
refugees from Myanmar have sought asylum in Mizoram since the military
coup last month. MHA wants them deported but Mizoram govt doesn’t want
to.
By Amrita Nayak Dutta
Aizawl: The Assam Rifles has
stepped up vigil along the porous India-Myanmar border in Mizoram, and
is conducting 24×7 patrols to curb the influx of refugees fleeing the
neighbouring country.
The
heightened security comes even as the central and state governments
remain at odds about the way the refugees ought to be treated. Earlier
this month, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wrote
to the Assam Rifles and the four states that share a border with
Myanmar directing them to “check illegal influx” from the country, and
citing earlier guidelines that call for the identification and
deportation of illegal migrants. However, the Mizoram government has
cited close ethnic ties between the Mizos and residents of the bordering
Chin state to argue that it can’t be “indifferent to their
sufferings”.
Dozens of political refugees from
Myanmar — including policemen — have fled the coup-hit country to seek
asylum in Mizoram since last month, amid reports of human rights excesses.
Most of the refugees are from Myanmar’s Chin state, which shares a
404-km border with Mizoram. The residents of Chin share close ethnic
ties with the Mizo and Kuki tribes that are scattered across Mizoram and
Manipur.
This has resulted in a delicate
situation for the Assam Rifles, who share a good rapport with local
residents and often seek their help in anti-smuggling operations, as
they look to implement the MHA order.
Sources in the Assam Rifles told
ThePrint that the force has stepped up surveillance along the border and
has been closely monitoring 58 crossing points — identified by Assam
Rifles as being vulnerable to infiltration and illegal activities such
as smuggling — over the last few weeks.
“We are manning all the crossing
points along the border 24×7 with troops on rotation,” a source from
Assam Rifles said, adding that patrols are being conducted strictly
along the border.
India
and Myanmar share friendly ties with each other, and the security
forces of both countries have carried out multiple joint operations
against Indian insurgent groups that sought a safe haven in Myanmar.
Both
the countries have a free movement regime (FMR) that allows people in
border villages to trade and move freely up to 16 kilometres inside each
other’s territory. But the FMR has been suspended since March 2020 on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brigadier Digvijay Singh, the commander for Assam Rifles in Mizoram,
said the suspension “has resulted in more illegal transshipment of
goods, since people in border villages need some economic activity for
their livelihood”.
Asked about the Myanmarese nationals fleeing their country to seek
asylum in Mizoram, he said “there is not much movement (at the border)”
as of now.
“The few people who have
come across are mostly from the FMR and they are confined only to
community halls near the border, and all are accounted for,” he added.
Centre vs state
In a letter dated 18 March to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said India
could not turn a blind eye to the “humanitarian crisis unfolding in
front of us in our own backyard”.
“It may be mentioned that the Myanmar
areas bordering Mizoram are inhabited by Chin communities who are
ethnically our Mizo brethren with whom we have been having close contact
throughout all these years even before India became independent,” he
wrote. “Therefore, Mizoram cannot just remain indifferent to their sufferings today.”
The chief minister said the MHA’s
directive to the four northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,
Nagaland and Manipur — and to Assam Rifles, urging them to prevent the
influx of refugees from Myanmar and start their deportation, is not
acceptable to Mizoram.
“I therefore strongly urge you to
intervene so that the political refugees from Myanmar are given asylum
and provided food and shelter here in the country,” he said.
Last month, after the coup, the
Mizoram Home Department issued a standard operating procedure to the
deputy commissioners of the districts bordering Myanmar to help the
refugees arriving from the country. However, after the MHA’s 10 March
order, the SOP was revoked by the state government.
On Friday, a delegation representing CM Zoramthanga met the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, and
the two sides discussed the “pressing need to extend necessary help and
support to Myanmar refugees who are victims of violence and brutality
under military rule in Myanmar”.
According to a statement issued by
the Mizoram government, the delegation ruled out the possibility of
deporting the refugees until the situation in Myanmar normalises.
The
pilot project has been launched at Boke-Botsa under Kohima district,
where eight departments and a public undertaking are converging for the
first time to work with the village community
By Alice Yhoshü
The Nagaland government has begun work on an innovative model of
cluster agricultural development, Naga Model Integrated Settled Farming
(NISF).
The pilot
project was launched at Boke-Botsa under Kohima district, where eight
departments and a public undertaking – agriculture, sericulture,
horticulture, animal husbandry and veterinary science, water resources,
fishery and aquatic resources, land resources, soil and water
conservation, and the Nagaland beekeeping and honey mission – are
converging for the first time to work with the village community.
Covid-19-induced
lockdowns in 2020, which highlighted the gap in production and access
to food, prompted the state government to look at the agricultural and
allied sector in a new light. Chief minister Neiphiu Rio also said in
his recent budget speech, “The agricultural and allied sectors are going
to be the most important aspect of the state government’s strategy
towards achieving a self-sustaining economy”.
The
project is based on the concept of settled farming because farming in
most of the Naga villages still sees villagers living on hilltops for
security, while their fields are located at the foothills. The settled
farming concept looks to change this approach, saving the farmers the
commuting time with the activities closer home.
According
to agriculture production commissioner (APC) Nagaland, Y Kikheto Sema,
the NISF pilot project area is slightly over 1,000 acres involving 145
farmers or landowners. Several samples of soil have been sent for health
testing for agricultural purposes. Mapping of the area was carried out
in November 2020 and farmers’ activities have already commenced in
February. Road construction around the project site has also been
completed.
The
government is also establishing a farm-to-market chain for marketing
linkage and storage that will help farmers sell their produce in a
bigger market. Sema said many of the Central government schemes were
devised as per the conditions of the mainland states, while the
topography and system of cultivation in Nagaland is different, making
the schemes unsuitable for Naga farmers.
Jhum, or shifting
cultivation, though not economically viable and ecologically
sustainable, is a major practice in the state. Sema said this practice
was ultimately reducing the state’s forest cover and at the same time,
making it difficult for the department(s) to connect with the farmers in
consecutive cycles. He expressed hope that the NISF model would address
these challenges.
In the pilot project, the state government is
looking to establish an organic vegetables market, about 200 fisheries, a
commercial nursery, seed banks to preserve and promote traditional
seeds, compost marketing, farmers training institution, custom hiring
and repairing of farming tools and machinery.
The aim is to turn the project into a model farming township, and ultimately a business model.
“If
it (the NISF pilot project) is successful, we will implement it in all
districts. But its success also depends on all the stakeholders,” Sema
stated.
“The main aim of the project is to start an ecosystem of
farming. If it is successful, it will not only give an entirely new
direction to Nagaland, but to other states in the country as well – to
lead the way for the next generation,” says Richard Belho, the project
consultant. He admitted that the pilot was being started on a research
and experiment basis, but was hopeful that it would take off well and
attract the educated younger generation back to the field.
“We
never had a proper market structure. The activities introduced by
various agri and allied departments often overlap with the farming
community’s, thereby resulting in having to shelf the new activities
after a few years of trial. With NISF, we are looking at sustainability-
first for the farmer, then the village community, and finally the
market,” Belho said.
He said the departments will track the
activities and document their successes and failures so that the future
models can learn from the pilot project, he added.
“If implemented
properly, this project will enable farmers to multiply their
production, become a contributing factor towards sufficiency and even
export beyond the village. The projects are different from our normal
practice as, for instance, the fishery ponds are being widened,
scientific testing of soil is being done to assess suitability of crops
etc.,” says Kechangulie Kense, one of the farmer-landowners at
Boke-Botsa. He said he has taken up fishery and horticulture.
“Farming
was not an option earlier, but this settled farming project has changed
my opinion and I want to seriously get involved in it,” Kense said.
Another farmer and a village elder, Pfheliezhü, said he is upbeat about the project.
The
first impact and output from the project is expected within the next
three to six months. However, the actual output will be the result
yielded in the next three years.
The
political chessboard this time is arranged very differently from 2016,
and key regions of the diverse state are in unpredictable ferment.
Among
the states going into assembly elections in the coming days and weeks,
only one voted for a BJP government the last time around: Assam.
The
BJP in Assam is led by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his senior
cabinet colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma, a man with a reputation as a
master of the cloak-and-dagger art of forming governments even when the
numbers are stacked against the BJP and its allies. As the convenor of
the North East Democratic Alliance, Sarma has demonstrated this mastery
more than once while propping up minority governments in states such as
Manipur.
The only person in the Assam opposition who was viewed as
capable of countering Sarma’s political maneuvering, at least within
the state, was Tarun Gogoi, a veteran Congress leader, former chief
minister of Assam and Sarma’s former boss. Gogoi died last year at the
age of 84 after contracting Covid. With the opposition fragmented and
lacking any chief ministerial face, and the BJP comfortably ensconced in
power both at the state and centre, the results of the Assam poll
should have been a foregone conclusion. Oddly enough, that does not
appear to be the case.
The Assam legislative assembly has 126
seats. In 2016, the BJP fought the election in alliance with the Asom
Gana Parishad, a party with a strongly Assamese identity, and the
Bodoland People’s Front, a party with a strongly Bodo tribal identity
led by a former militant leader, Hagrama Mohilary. While the BJP won 60
seats, the AGP won 14 and the BPF 12. Thus, although the BJP by itself
was short of the halfway mark, the alliance was in an unassailable
majority.
This time, things are different. The BPF is no longer in
alliance with the BJP, having been dumped in favour of a new
Bodoland-based party called the United People’s Party Liberal. More
importantly, the opposition Congress and the All India United Democratic
Front led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal are in alliance, along with other
smaller outfits, including one called the Anchalik Gana Morcha that has a
strongly Assamese nativist identity.
In order to understand what this implies, a look at the geography of Assam is necessary.
Most
states of India are mini-Indias within themselves, encompassing
varieties of language, communities, castes and tribes that typically
inhabit distinct areas and regions. Few are as diverse as Assam.
The
state has two main river valleys – the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys –
surrounded by hills. The Brahmaputra valley is predominantly Assamese in
character, with upper Assam (corresponding to the upper reaches of the
river) as the Assamese heartland. Lower Assam has a large Muslim
population of East Bengal origin whose ancestors were encouraged by
British administrators to settle in the Brahmaputra floodplains as
cultivators of rice and jute in the early 1900s.
To make it more
complicated, the population on the north bank of the Brahmaputra is
different from that on the river’s south bank. The north bank is
dominated in large part by plains tribal populations such as the Bodo
and Mishing, while the south bank is more Ahom and Assamese.
The
Barak valley is different from both upper and lower Assam, being
dominated by Sylheti-speaking Bengalis, both Hindu and Muslim, who have
been at odds with one another for many decades. In addition to all this,
there’s also a number of hill ranges, each with its own dominant tribe,
such as the Dimasa and Karbi.
The politics of Assam is different
in each of its sub-regions, which all have their own dominant local
communities, leaders, and internal dynamics. This time, the political
chessboard shows a situation where the arithmetic of the Congress-AIUDF
alliance overwhelmingly favours their candidates in the seats with large
Muslim populations. Assam has a 35 percent Muslim population that
decides outcomes in at least a third of the state’s 126 seats, mainly in
lower Assam and the rural areas of Barak valley. The Congress-AIUDF
alliance will be looking at picking up most of these.
The Bodoland
region, which has 12 assembly seats, may also slip away from BJP. Last
time, the BPF contested 13 seats and won 12. This time, it will be
fighting to defend its turf against the UPPL, BJP and allies. It will
also support Congress candidates in 28 seats outside Bodoland.
The
situation in upper Assam is also not as rosy for the BJP as the last
time. Although the Citizenship Amendment Act has receded into the
background as an issue, it is still there in the political discussion.
The BJP in Assam has consistently tried to wish it away but the party’s
political compulsions in neighbouring West Bengal have forced it back
into the headlines. The BJP and its ally, the Asom Gana Parishad, face
nativist Assamese disenchantment over CAA and aspects of the Assam
Accord which has catalysed the formation of two new parties, Assam
Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal, led by former All Assam Students’ Union
chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi and activist Akhil Gogoi, respectively.
The
BJP alliance also has a problem with a community that, after decades of
voting for the Congress, backed it solidly last time around: the
descendants of plains tribal workers from Central India brought during
British rule as tea garden labour, who are now known as the tea tribes
of Assam. They number around 65 lakh out of Assam’s three crore
population. Since the tea gardens are concentrated in upper Assam, that
is where most of them live.
The tea tribes have been agitating for
long for better wages and Scheduled Tribe status. They haven’t got
either. A recent Gauhati High Court decision putting a stay on a
proposed Rs 50 per day hike in wages has further infuriated many of
them. The Congress campaign in upper Assam, led by Chhattisgarh chief
minister Bhupesh Baghel and his team, has smartly capitalised on this.
It could have an impact on at least 40 seats.
In short, barring a
few predictable seats, the situation appears fluid in most sub-regions
of the state. This is the case for all parties including the opposition.
Issues of angst over ticket distribution have led to bitterness in both
the BJP, which is internally divided into two camps, and the
Congress-AIUDF alliance. The BJP has been forced to expel 14 leaders who
are contesting as independents after being denied tickets. Most of them
are from the Barak valley and upper Assam. In Silchar, the principal
town of the Barak valley, sitting BJP MLA Dilip Paul, who won by a
handsome margin last time defeating Congress leader Sushmita Dev’s
mother Bithika Dev, is the rebel now.
For the Congress and AIUDF,
the ticket angst is greater in Muslim-dominated areas of lower Assam.
The two parties will be contesting against one another in “friendly
fights” in at least five seats. The BJP, meanwhile, has given eight
tickets to Muslims candidates, some of whom may win because of local
factors. In the end, it will be richly ironic if these seats save the
day for them.
Finally, there is of, course, the mastery of Himanta
Biswa Sarma in propping up minority governments. Should the BJP-AGP
alliance wind up short of the required numbers – an increasingly likely
scenario – Sarma will be a man much in demand. He will then be well
placed to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dictum of turning crisis
into opportunity.
A $3 billion deal for the purchase of 30
armed drones manufactured by US company General Atomics is likely soon.
If the deal goes through the army, navy and air force will get 10 such
combat drones each.
By Abhishek Bhalla
A General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper drone
Drones
are changing the face of modern warfare. Aerial attacks using drones
loaded with missiles and laser-guided bombs capable of destroying
targets deep inside enemy territory could soon be a reality for the
Indian military looking to boost its unmanned warfare tactics.
A $3 billion deal for the purchase of 30 armed drones manufactured by US company General Atomics is likely soon. If the deal goes through the army, navy and air force will get 10 such combat drones each.
Surveillance,
reconnaissance for intelligence gathering and even carrying out combat
missions behind enemy lines, without risking pilots or soldiers on the
ground in tough mountainous terrains, would be the key objectives of
these unmanned aerial vehicles. So far, the Indian military has been
using drones, which include Heron Surveillance drones and the Harop
loitering munition, for surveillance purposes only.
The MQ-9
Reaper, also called Predator drone, can detect targets using its inbuilt
sensors and radars. It has an endurance of more than 27 hours and
carries payloads up to nearly 1,700 kg with a range of 6,000 nautical
miles and a flying capacity of up to 50,000 feet. It can carry deadly
hell fire missiles and laser-guided bombs, making it a potent weapon.
The Predator B armed drones have been used by the US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.
These high altitude long endurance (HALE) drones would be critical for the Indian military
for operations in higher reaches of Kashmir, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh,
and Sikkim in wake of the growing threats from China and Pakistan.
China
is a big player when it comes to drones and unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), but Pakistan is also looking at using armed drones with
Beijing's help. China has invested a lot of effort in developing
civilian drones and the same has been translated into them developing
combat drones. China is also one of the leading countries when it comes
to R&D concerning drone technology.
Officials said the features of these drones can vary based on the requirements of the navy, air force, and army.
While
the plan is to have 30 of these drones—10 each for the army, navy, and
air force, the orders can be split and purchases made in batches to have
some of these available to the forces at the earliest.
Discussions
in the security establishment on the purchase of these drones have
taken place ahead of the visit of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin next
week.
Defence deals worth $18 billion were signed with the US in 2007.
Indigenous options being explored
Unmanned
vehicles are considered the future of warfare, and India is also
exploring indigenous options. It is important to note that drones have
helped win numerous wars in recent times; the latest being the
Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict where they proved immensely effective
against armour and artillery.
Indian Army chief Gen MM Naravane while speaking at a webinar recently also asserted how the use of disruptive technologies like drones is the future of warfare.
Underlining the use of drones by Azerbaijan recently in Idlib and
Armenia, he said the offensive technology has challenged the traditional
prima donnas: the tanks, artillery, and the dug-in infantry.
Private
Indian companies and public sector units are working on such platforms
that will be the key in military combat in years to come. Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unveiled a blueprint of their plans recently
to bring in such platforms during the ongoing Aero India show in
Bengaluru.
Modeled on US project Skyborg, HAL has started work on
an ambitious project that will allow teaming up of unmanned aircraft and
vehicles with manned jets.
Combined
Air Teaming System or CATS will have a mother vehicle -- a fighter jet
operating 700km away and strike enemy targets through unmanned warriors.
The fighter jets guiding the unmanned drones can remain 150km behind
and control and give directions to four unmanned vehicles called the
CATS Warriors.
The drones are expected to be integrated on Tejas
and Jaguar fighter jets. The first prototypes are expected to fly in the
next three to four years. Capable of evading radar detection, its
stealth capacities will make it even more potent.
Eight people were shot dead and more than 30 were injured when police
and soldiers opened fire with live rounds during a raid on residential
areas in Mandalay on Sunday night.
The shootings followed a deadly confrontation between security forces and anti-regime protesters earlier in the afternoon.
Including the night raid fatalities, 249 people have been killed by
the military regime as of Sunday night during crackdowns on peaceful
pro-democracy supporters.
Local said security forces opened fire with automatic weapons in Aung
Pin Lae in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township. Rescue groups and locals
said the shooting continued until midnight. In a video filmed by a
resident, the sound of gunfire can be heard.
A 16-year-old teashop waiter was one of the victims of the violence,
along with a 43-year-old member of a charity group who died after being
shot, according to a local charity group. Security forces also broke
into homes and beat residents.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon, police and soldiers also fired live
rounds while cracking down on a protest by residents in Aung Pin
Lae. One man was killed after being shot in the head and at least six
people were severely injured.
There were also reports of the military opening fire on anti-coup demonstrations in the Shan State capital Taunggyi
This
past week, British fashion designer Stella McCartney unveiled a black
"leather" bustier top and pants made not from cow hide, but mycelium —
which is grown from fungi.
Up until now, if you wanted leather
that wasn't made from animals, you've probably had to settle for plastic
"pleather," which comes with a different set of environmental problems.
But
a number of big brands, including Stella McCartney, Adidas,
Lululemon and Hermes, in partnership with biotechnology startups Bolt
Threads and MycoWorks, say later this year you'll be able to buy more
products with leather made from another bio-based material that's grown
by recycling waste.
Mycelium is already on the market in the
form of styrofoam-like packaging, "un-leather" handbags, flooring and
sound-proofing acoustic panels. It's also been experimentally used to
build larger structures such as benches, coffins, composting toilets and even buildings.
But
manufacturers are now aiming to scale up the products and applications
made from mycelium, which they tout as a more sustainable substitute for
petroleum-derived plastics such as styrofoam and vinyl, leather made
with harsh chemicals from water-guzzling, methane-belching cows and even
other bio-based materials such as cardboard and wood.
In
the future, they say it could even be used to make advanced materials
such as transparent "paper" or construct buildings that can be triggered
to automatically biodegrade at the end of their useful life.
What is mycelium?
Mycelium
is made of fungi. While you may think of them as plants, they
technically aren't and are more closely related to animals. (Fungi and
animals are in different "kingdoms" but the same "supra-kingdom," while plants are in a different supra-kingdom.)
You
might associate fungi with mushrooms, but mycelium is a different part
of the fungus — its fast-growing network of roots, rather than the
compact fruits we know as mushrooms.
What makes mycelium more sustainable than the materials it replaces?
Those who use mycelium tout its low environmental footprint as its biggest advantage.
Dan
Widmaier, CEO of California-based Bolt Threads, said that among the
brands that work with his company, 70 per cent of their environmental
impact comes from the materials they use.
"Broadly speaking,
those materials have to change if there's going to be eight billion of
us and counting on the planet," Widmaier said.
Bolt Threads says
its mycelium-based leather, Mylo, emits fewer greenhouse gases and uses
less water and resources than animal leather.
They
note that in nature, fungi help soils capture and store carbon through
their symbiotic relationships with plants, making their growth
"effectively carbon neutral." When grown to make mycelium-based
materials, they can upcycle waste such as food and agricultural residues
without the heating that's usually required for manufacturing
processes.
Bismarck said compared to such animal-based materials —
as well as plastics — mycelium-based products provide "a significant
reduction in CO2 or greenhouse gas."
Mycelium has even been
suggested as a replacement for other bio-based materials, such as
cardboard, wood or bioplastics. Jones said even many of those have
negative environmental impacts, such as the need to cut down trees or
limited biodegradability. "The fungi doesn't really have that downside."
What can you buy now that's made of mycelium?
Over the past decade or so, biotechnology companies have launched a small number of mycelium-based products such as:
Packaging,
designed to replace styrofoam, from New York-based Ecovative Design.
It's now produced by manufacturing partners in the U.S., U.K., Europe
and New Zealand. Dell Technologies and IKEA are among those who have committed to using it.
Flooring and acoustic tiles, which are sold by Italian interior design products firm Mogu.
Leather. MYCL, based in Bandung, Indonesia, partnered with local apparel brand BRODO, to launch sneakers, sandals, wallets, luggage tags and watch straps made of its mycelium-based leather Mylea last year.
Two U.S. competitors aim to make mycelium-based leather more widely available this year.
Bolt Threads (which licensed its initial technology from Ecovative) was supposed to deliver its first product made of Mylo, the Driver bag, to Kickstarter backers late last year, but delivery was delayed after the batch produced by its manufacturing partner didn't meet quality standards. The company also announced in October
that it would partner with Adidas, Kering, Lululemon and Stella
McCartney to launch Mylo products in 2021. (The items unveiled by Stella
McCartney this week aren't yet available for sale.)
San Francisco-based MycoWorks announced earlier this month
that it had partnered with luxury brand Hermes to make a version of the
Victoria bag that will be the first product using a mycelium-based
leather called Sylvania.
How is mycelium produced and turned into new materials and products?
Step
one is obviously to grow it. That can be done either in a nutritious
liquid or on a bed of solid materials. Either can include waste products
ranging from blackstrap molasses to sawdust from furniture production.
What's
suitable depends on the fungal species, which can be found in different
habitats in the wild, said Joe Dahmen, an associate professor at the
University of British Columbia School of Architecture, who has been
working with mycelium-based materials for several years.
For
example, oyster mushrooms, which he works with, grow on hardwood
trees but not conifers. Some of the materials used commercially include
cotton fibres or hemp hurds, the inner cores of the stems.
The
fungi also need water and nutrients, and they're generally kept in
humidity- and temperature-controlled environments to prevent them from
producing mushrooms — a completely different material that can also
generate potentially irritating spores. Fruiting typically happens when
the fungi think it's autumn, Dahmen said.
Fungi are
fast-growing — it takes just a week to grow mycelium for Mushroom
Packaging and two weeks for Mylo, their manufacturers say. They're often
grown with high levels of CO2 to encourage them to grow outward in
search of oxygen.
Once ready, the mycelium is usually dehydrated
and processed with machines and chemicals to improve the density,
strength, elasticity and texture.
All that means mycelium-based
materials generally aren't pure mycelium, but a "composite," Bismarck
noted. They contain the material it was grown on along with anything
added during processing.
Widmaier said that's part of the
"secret sauce" for Mylo. "We start with the mycelium, and then we do
everything from making sure it doesn't rot to making sure it's finished
appropriately and it's got the right colour."
Is the fungus still alive and can it keep growing within products?
For most commercial products (except for coffins),
the mycelium is heat treated long before it reaches the customer in
order to kill it, maintain the product's intended form and eliminate the
risk that it could form mushrooms and allergens such as spores.
That
said, some designers, such as Dahmen and his wife, Amber Frid-Jimenez,
Canada Research Chair in Design and Technology at the Emily Carr
University of Art and Design, have experimented with living fungi.
"As
architects and designers, we were really interested in the idea of a
material that might aggregate and continue to grow once it was in the
shape or form of whatever it was we were designing to," said Dahmen, who
has a design studio with Frid-Jimenez called AFJD.
They once
built a wall at the Museum of Vancouver that consisted of individual
mycelium bricks that were left alive and eventually fused together.
"So
you could imagine a kind of building technology that can kind of evolve
and continue to grow, you know — sort of magical, in a way," he said.
In
2016, they created benches made from mycelium that included a space in
the middle for mushrooms to fruit. They remained in use on campus for
several months.
Generally, in normal indoor or outdoor
conditions, they dry out and become inert. "But that doesn't mean they
can't reawaken later," he said.
That
means it might be possible to engineer a building made with inert,
mycelium-based materials that can be triggered to decompose or
self-demolish at the end of the building's useful life. "In the right
conditions, they might reawaken and start digesting the materials and
finish the building."
What else could mycelium be used for in the future?
Both Dahmen and Bismarck say it has a lot of potential as a building material — to replace foam insulation, for example.
Its
insulating abilities have prompted Dahmen to use mycelium to create a
biodegradable composting toilet for refugee camps that traps heat to
speed up decomposition by heat-loving bacteria. After use, it can simply
be buried. Dahmen is even playing around with integrating seeds into it
so "basically you're kind of converting the excrement into a flower bed
at the end."
Bismarck and Jones have been experimenting with
ways to make more advanced materials from mycelium. For example, they
have found that by growing it in a mineral-rich environment, they can
create mineralized, fire-resistant insulation panels.
While
most current mycelium products are composites that include agricultural
or wood fibres, the researchers are also trying to create
"nanomaterials" with pure fungi selected for their extra-fine fibres.
Those
can be processed in a blender with some chemicals into interesting
materials such as transparent, paper-like sheets. The mycelium paper can
be made 10 times stronger than regular paper or designed to filter
viruses or heavy metals from water.
One of the applications
they're testing right now is mycelium-based wound dressings, which can
help reduce bleeding, keep bacteria out and accelerate healing.
"It's
simply incredible what a fungus can do," Bismarck said, adding that
there are an estimated 5.1 million types of fungi out there, many with
untapped potential. "It's still a vast space of biology that can do
something for you."
A paramilitary police officer talks next to a screen
showing frontier soldiers of the People's Liberation Army during an
event at a primary school in Wuzhishan, Hainan province, China, on Feb.
22. On the screen are (L-R) Qi Fabao, who was seriously wounded in the
border clash with Indian troops in June last year, and four who were
killed: Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
BEIJING — When China acknowledged this year that four of its
soldiers had died fighting Indian forces on the two countries' disputed
mountain border eight months prior, the irreverent blogger Little Spicy
Pen Ball had questions.
"If the four [Chinese] soldiers died
trying to rescue their fellow soldiers, then there must have been those
who were not successfully rescued," he wrote
on Feb. 19 to his 2.5 million followers on Weibo, a Chinese social
media site. "This means the fatalities could not have just been four."
The
day after, Qiu Ziming, the 38-year-old former newspaper journalist
behind the blog, was detained and criminally charged. If convicted, he
faces a sentence of up to three years.
"Little Spicy Pen Ball maliciously slandered and degraded the heroes defending our country and the border," according to the annual work report published by the country's chief prosecutor office this month.
A contrite Qiu, sitting behind bars, called his actions "an obliteration of conscience" in a taped statement aired on the state broadcaster's prime-time news show on March 1.
Qiu's is the first case to be tried under a sweeping new criminal law
that took effect March 1. The new law penalizes "infringing on the
reputation and honor of revolutionary heroes." At least six other people
have been detained or charged with defaming "martyrs." The government
uses the terms "revolutionary heroes" and "martyrs" for anyone it
memorializes for their sacrifice for the Communist Party.
The
detentions typify the stricter controls over online speech under Chinese
leader Xi Jinping, which have deterred nearly all open dissent in the
country. The new law even seeks to criminalize speech made outside
China.
Such is the case of Wang Jingyu, 19, who lives in the
United States and is now a wanted man in his hometown of Chongqing,
China. The authorities accuse him of slandering dead Chinese soldiers
after Weibo reported him for a comment questioning the number of border
fight casualties.
"This is killing a monkey to scare the chickens," Wang says. "The
Chinese state wants to show others that if anyone wants to be like me or
relay the truth, then you will be pursued."
A 2018 law allows police to investigate speech defaming martyrs. Several people have been detained as a result, according to an online spreadsheet kept by a free speech activist, but such behavior did not carry a jail sentence until now.
"Cyberspace is not outside the law," the Chongqing public security bureau said
in an online notice after it declared Wang would be "pursued online"
for his comments. "Public security organs will crack down on acts that
openly insult the deeds and spirit of heroes and martyrs in accordance
with the law."
It's unclear how authorities plan to apprehend Wang. A police
officer who contacted Wang, asking him to turn himself in, did not
answer calls and texts from NPR.
China's ruling Communist Party
is hyper-sensitive to challenges of its rule. One of the newer threats
it has identified is "historical nihilism" — that is, rejecting the party's official version of history and its pantheon of revolutionary heroes and martyrs.
The four Chinese soldiers who died during the border clash
last June are the newest members of this canon. They were killed high
up in the Himalayas, where hundreds of Chinese and Indian soldiers armed
with nothing but stones and batons beat each other bloody, with each
side accusing the other of alleged encroachments over an unmarked border
line. Days after the incident, India said 20 of its troops died in the
brawl.
China refused to confirm fatalities on its side until this
February, when it released the names of four soldiers killed and a fifth
who was critically injured in the disputed Galwan Valley area. State
media ran extensive footage of their service and the last hours of their lives.
The
sudden media blitz infuriated Wang, he says. He had closely followed
China and India's border tensions and questioned the initial lack of
fatalities reported by China. He wondered about the families of the
soldiers who he suspected had died, left to grieve silently in the
absence of official recognition.
In late February, as he sat in the backseat of a friend's
car in Europe, Wang went back and forth for half an hour over whether to
write anything online. He currently lives in California but his parents
remain in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing, where they worked for
two state-owned firms.
"I knew if I mocked these soldiers, it
would bring a negative impact on my parents," Wang says. "But I was just
too angry." He pressed publish on three comments under a news item
lauding the four Chinese troops.
The People's Liberation Army soldiers "deserved to die," he wrote,
and the Indian forces were within their rights to confront their
"offenders." Wang now acknowledges the comments were offensive, but he
says he deliberately crafted them to push the bounds of speech in China.
His
comments went viral and were aired on China's most-watched evening news
program. Shortly after, Wang says his parents were questioned for hours
by police officers.
Chongqing's police department did not respond to a request for comment.
In
the days following his social media posts, Wang says his mother and
father were kept under effective house arrest in their Chongqing home,
where they were able to call Wang twice, briefly, under police watch. He
has been unable to reach them since.
"They told me they support me, and they are proud of me," Wang said.
Councilors voted to consider naming roads and buildings in the surrounding area of the site Tiananmen Square, Uyghur Court, Hong Kong Road, and Tibet Hill.
Tiananmen Square, Uyghur Court: Tower Hamlets plans name changes in solidarity
As the Chinese embassy prepares to move in, councillors vote to support the ‘freedom and diversity of our borough’
By Haroon Siddique
At the handing-over ceremony for the site in the East End of London
where the Chinese embassy is to be relocated, the ambassador boldly
proclaimed that it would “write a new chapter for a China-UK golden
era”.
Three years later, before the
redevelopment has begun, those hopes appear in tatters after councillors
in Tower Hamlets voted to consider naming roads and buildings in the
surrounding area of the site Tiananmen Square, Uyghur Court, Hong Kong Road and Tibet Hill, to assert “support for the freedom and diversity of our borough”.
In
a move that is likely to infuriate the Chinese government, the
councillors said they welcomed the relocation of the embassy from the
West End but “we must continue to make clear where our own standards and
principles apply”.The motion was passed after months of campaigning by opposition councillors for the local authority to issue a statement about human rights abuses by China,
in light of Beijing’s purchase of the Royal Mint site in the borough
for its embassy. The repression of Uighur Muslims is particularly
sensitive for Tower Hamlets, which has the highest proportion of Muslim residents (38%) of any borough, according to the latest census.
The
motion states: “This council resolves that Tower Hamlets council
investigates whether roads or possibly new buildings near the location
of the proposed Chinese embassy could be renamed appropriately as acts
of solidarity with historic symbols or placenames of Chinese
significance; for example Tiananmen Square, Tibet Hill, Uyghur Court, Hong Kong Road and/or Xiaobo Road (in memory of Liu Xiaobo).”
Liu, a Nobel laureate and democracy campaigner, died in Chinese custody aged 61 in 2017, having been sentenced to an 11-year jail term for demanding an end to one-party rule.
The
motion also notes that the Chinese embassy in the UK has written to a
number of schools in the area to explore opportunities for potential
collaboration, and calls for the nature of this to be ascertained to
ensure it reflects the borough’s “proud history of standing up for each
other as one community and celebrating our differences”.
It
extends a welcome in the borough to Hong Kong residents taking up
British citizenship under a new visa scheme and says the council will
investigate what other actions it can take to show solidarity.
It
is a far cry from the March 2018 handing-over ceremony for the historic
Royal Mint site facing the Tower of London, when China’s ambassador Liu
Xiaoming said the embassy would become “a new landmark in London” and
the Tower Hamlets mayor, John Biggs, said the move showed the borough
was “an open and dynamic place to live and work”.
Since then China has faced international condemnation of its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uighur people and clampdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
There have been heightened tensions between China and the west of late. Last year the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, condemned what he called “gross and egregious” human rights abuses in China’s western Xinjiang region, and last week he accused China of breaching the legal deal over the governance of Hong Kong.
The
Liberal Democrat councillor Rabina Khan, who proposed the council
motion, said: “Tower Hamlets has a unique history of welcoming people
and at Wednesday’s full council meeting politicians unanimously came
together on the amended motion that whilst we welcome the proposed
relocation of the Chinese embassy, we also stand up against the CCP’s
[Chinese Communist party’s] human rights violations.”
The
motion assures the borough’s constituents that there will be no
financial cost to them associated with the naming of the roads or
buildings.
Last month council officers raised
concerns about a separate issue in relation to the embassy: the impact
on views of the Tower of London.
In a previous
statement to the Guardian, the Chinese embassy in the UK said the new
building would be a symbol of a “robust relationship” between the
countries and that people should “stop using human rights as an excuse
to interfere in China’s internal affairs”.
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