I have never stolen from anywhere, said President Cyril Ramaphosa, in response to the claims of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption over the theft of $4-million at his game farm in February 2020, claiming it was politically motivated.

He was speaking at the ANCs Limpopo conference on Sunday evening, regarding the case opened by former spy boss and prisons head Arthur Fraser.

Ramaphosa said this was part of a political ploy to cast aspersion on him because of his undeterred fight against corruption.

Fraser is a close ally of former president Jacob Zuma. His release of the former head of state on medical parole after he was jailed for contempt of court was declared unlawful by the high court and Frasers contract as national commissioner of correctional services was not renewed earlier this year.

The Mail & Guardian reported earlier on Sunday that Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen had written to South African Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter on Friday requesting that Sars investigate whether the money stolen at the game farm had been declared and whether the transaction had implications in terms of the Income Tax Act and the Tax Administration Act.

I want to assure you that all this was money from proceeds from selling animals. I have never stolen anywhere, be it from our taxpayers, be it from anyone. I have never done so and will never do so. My integrity as a leader will never allow me to do so. I will never be able to do so, Ramaphosa said on Sunday.

In another letter to the South African Reserve Bank, Steenhuisen asked for an investigation into the foreign exchange transactions by the president and any possible violations of the legal limit on possession of foreign exchange.

He said the central bank had a legal obligation to apply these regulations equally, and investigate all violations and as such should investigate the presidents possession of the foreign currency.

Quizzed by journalists at the Limpopo conference on Sunday, Ramaphosa said he would not go into detail about the matter, reiterating that he would fully cooperate with the investigation.

He said that he had declared to parliament his business interests as a cattle and game farmer.

I buy and sell animals. Sometimes people buy these animals and some of the people who buy these animals are here. I do it through sales, sometimes through cash and sometimes through transfers. Some of the people who are offshore customers and who are sometimes local, come through and buy animals and some come also to hunt on the farm, he said.

Ramaphosa earlier told delegates: So this that is being reported was a clear business transaction of selling animals. The amount involved is far less than what has been branded in the press. Some are saying its a billion rand, some are saying its $4-million, I want to say its far less.

ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile would not respond to questions about the money. When the M&G asked whether this matter would be part of the discussions in the national executive committee and in the national working committee, Mashatile said no, adding that the newspaper should pose its questions to Ramaphosa.

Meanwhile, the Limpopo province endorsed Ramaphosa for another term as ANC president, with newly re-elected chairperson Stan Mathabatha lauding him as the champion of the partys renewal.

Limpopo has surpassed the Eastern Cape as the second biggest province in terms of ANC membership. The Eastern Cape, which also endorsed Ramaphosa for a second term, remains the second-largest province in terms of wards, after KwaZulu-Natal.

With the two provinces behind him, Ramaphosa is on the right path to his re-election in December.

This conference has been unanimous in expressing its support for your leadership, comrade President Ramaphosa, Mathabatha said in his closing address on Sunday.

The conference has said that president Ramaphosa is a man equal to the challenges of this epoch of our revolution. The project of unity and renewal is well led under president Ramaphosa. Lead us Matamela, we love you.

The rest is here:
Ramaphosa says the case opened against him is politically motivated - Mail and Guardian

Rafa Nadal can now win every Grand Slam on offer in 2022 and the opportunity should spur him on to continue playing, according to a 4 time Wimbledon semifinalist

Rafa Nadal could now achieve what no other player in recent times has managed by winning all 4 mens singles Grand Slam titles in the same calendar year says Tim Henman which will surely it is going to motivate him to keep on going.

Novak Djokovic nearly achieved the feat in 2021 but was left wanting at the US Open when the expectation and emotion of the moment seemingly got the better of him in and he lost the US Open men[s singles final to an inspired Daniil Medvedev

Henman, himself a 6 time Grand Slam singles semi finalist, was commenting after Rafa Nadal had claimed a record breaking 14th French Open title and 22nd Grand Slam singles title when he said,

When you have won as much as he has, you just never know whats around the corner. I think he has been very frank, and very honest, to say that he doesnt know if he is going to be back here.

But when you see a performance like that hes 3-1 down in the second set, he wins 11 games in a row, it was just another clay court masterclass. You would have thought that when he wins these big titles dont forget hes won the Australian Open, the French Open, now you can talk about the Grand Slam being on.

Surely it is going to motivate him to keep on going.

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"Surely he's motivated to keep going" - Grand Slam chance is on for Nadal - Tennishead

Ongole: Setting the pitch for the 2024 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief, Chandrababu Naidu raised the slogan of Quit Jagan, Save Andhra Pradesh, at last weeks Mahanadu an annual plenary event organised by the TDP for its cadre.

The two-day event attended by 1.5 lakh people according to party sources after two years of virtual meetings owing to the pandemic, was termed a success by the party and a huge boost to the spirits of the TDP cadre.

Naidu, a former Andhra chief minister, also announced at the event that 40 per cent of party tickets for the next assembly elections will be given to the youth those below 40 years of age. He further said that it has been decided by the TDP top leadership to not give tickets to those who have lost three consecutive elections.

Dispelling concerns about his own age impacting his ability to lead the party, the septuagenarian leader shared with ThePrint his plans to make the party more visible on the ground, following two years of predominantly virtual engagement with the public.

I will also be on the ground from now on and tour at least two districts every month. Our cadre has also been instructed to become visible and get on the field now, Naidu said.

Naidu had earlier said, Nothing to worry about my age. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is of the same age. What matters is the performance. Thirty-year-olds cannot work as much as I do.

Naidus confidence seems to have rubbed off on party members. Our leader is forever young at heart and as long as he is there, the party will survive, Buchaiah Naidu, a TDP leader from Guntur, told ThePrint at the event.

The former CMs son, Nara Lokesh a former state minister is also set to start a mega walkathon (padayathra) in October, which will continue until the 2024 assembly elections, TDP sources told ThePrint.

According to sources in the TDP, the party chief told leaders at the Mahanadu to focus on local issues in their own consistencies, rather than highlighting broader problems. This is expected to make a better impression on local voters.

We have asked every candidate to focus on their constituency and the MLA there to highlight issues, corruption allegations pertaining to local leaders only. This way, voters will respond better, TDP leader Pattabhi Ram told ThePrint.

Meanwhile, a competitive show of strength has started between the TDP and rival YSR Congress Party, presently in power in the state.

Ministers in CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddys government held a four-day Bus Yatra last week, coinciding with the TDP Mahanadu, to build awareness about the Chief Ministers welfare schemes among the people.

Both parties have bragged about the success of their respective events, but large crowds at functions may not necessarily translate into votes especially for the TDP, which had lost to the YSRCP by a huge margin in 2019.

It is not surprising that the TDP got a good response for Mahanadu. In fact it would have been surprising if they hadnt. But there are instances where despite amazing crowd turnout parties still lost West Bengal election is a good example. Lakhs of people attended Narendra Modis meeting there. They even got 40 per cent of the votes but they could not form the government with just 70 plus seats. So we cannot say anything looking at the crowds, senior political analyst Nageshwar Rao said in a YouTube commentary.

Also read: In Andhra, an uninhabited hill pits tribal women against local administration & mining firm

Talking about the 1.5 lakh attendance at the Mahanadu, TDP leaders said the number was unexpected, but not surprising.

We are not entirely surprised with the turnout, though the number was large. The ground cadre is extremely frustrated because theyre being harassed by local police filing petty cases against them during the YSRCP governance. Their movements are being curtailed, TDP leader Pattabhi Ram alleged.

He added: All of this has pushed them to come out and show that theyre ready to fight. Moreover, they were seeing their party chief after two years, so this turned out to be a huge boost to their motivation.

A TDP leader speaking on condition of anonymity told ThePrint that while the party was expecting a crowd strength of about 15,000 a day, at least 40,000 people attended the event on both days.

On its part, the YSRCP too has its Bus Yatra event was a success and promoted the partys ideals. Speaking to mediapersons ahead of embarking on the journey, Social Welfare Minister Merugu Nagarjuna had said: Social justice is possible only because of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, adding that the Cabinet had 17 SC, ST, BC, and minority ministers.

Both parties have also written off the supposed success of their rival.

While, TDPs Ram said the ruling partys Bus Yatra was a flop, Andhra Pradesh government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy claimed that the Mahanadu was little other than an attempt to propagate false information about Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the state government.

He also alleged that Naidu did not have the courage to win any election without an alliance. The TDP had contested the 2019 parliamentary and assembly elections independently, reportedly for the first time in 37 years. It had alliances with both the BJP and the Congress in the past.

According to a senior YSRCP leader, internal surveys conducted by the party showed that there are at least 70 constituencies in Andhra where the TDP does not have strong faces to contest elections.

Experts say, however, that the TDP cannot be written off completely, since the party still has a strong network of cadres at the village level, while there are murmurs of dissent within the YSRCP owing to lack of development in the state under Reddy. The Andhra CMs tenure has been characterised by welfare measures under Direct Benefit Transfer schemes.

There is dissent against the YSRCP [government] and it may be because of power crisis, issue of power meters in agricultural fields, among others. Point is, YSRCP must recognise this, rather than banking just on welfare schemes. If YSRCP does not recognise this, it will become an advantage for the opposition, Rao said.

Political observer Palwai Raghavendra Reddy said that too much couldnt be read into the turnout for the Mahanadu, but that it was a good sign for the TDP.

Presence of cadre at Mahanadu cannot be an indicator for TDPs re-emergence. After virtual meets for two successive years, this years Mahanadu had to be well attended. However, Chandrababu Naidu is still showing signs of putting up a fight, which is a good sign for TDP, he said.

Sentiments against the YSRCP, he added, could work in the TDPs favour. Jagans overreliance on welfare schemes, and not talking about development will provide much needed ammunition to the Yellow Party (TDP), Reddy said.

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)

Also read: No power, no school, no healthcare: Why tribals from this missing Andhra hamlet want to be relocated

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40% tickets to youth, motivating cadres heres TDP plan to make Andhra quit Jagan - ThePrint

Things to see, do, and enjoy in three American Buddhist hotspots.

Gingerhill Farm Retreats is the home of celebrated Buddhist artist Mayumi Oda. Photo via gingerhillfarm.com.

In the green oasis of the Foster Botanical Garden, tucked away at the edge of downtown Honolulu, stands a large bo tree. Not only does this stately tree offer a welcome respite from the bustle of the city, its a reminder of how the seeds of the dharma were planted and cultivated in Hawaii.

The Foster Botanical Gardens bo tree is descended from the tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Charles Crust / Alamy Stock Photo.

The Foster Botanical Garden bo tree is descended from the tree in India under which Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment. Given to Native Hawaiian philanthropist Mary Robinson Foster by Anagarika Dharmapala in 1913, its a living memorial to their lifelong spiritual friendship and incredible work nurturing Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India, including restoring the sacred Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya.

A benefactor of Buddhist communities in Hawaii, Foster was instrumental in the building of the first Buddhist temple in Honolulu in 1900. She also donated the land that in 1918 would become the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin. Collaborating with Bishop Yemyo Imamura of the Jodo Shinshu school, they designed this temple to embody the hybrid nature of American Buddhism. The stunning white structure is situated in Honolulu on the slopes of the extinct volcanic cone Puowaina (Punchbowl) and features distinctive architectural elements representing Buddhisms Indian origin. While there is a traditional Japanese Shin Buddhist altar, there are also pews, an organ, and a pulpit, representing Buddhisms adaptation to its American home.

Shinnyo-en is a school of esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism that originated in Japan. Shinnyo-en Hawaii, established in Honolulu in 1971, is now famous for its annual lantern floating festival held on Memorial Day. Lantern Floating Hawaii is an opportunity to celebrate the cherished memories of loved ones and to offer a wish for peace. Each year thousands of lanterns gently float in the waters off Ala Moana Beach, casting a warm glow in the tropical twilight. Its a solemn yet joyful ceremony.

Every year, thousands of people attend the Lantern Floating Hawaii festival. Hosted by the Shinnyo-en Buddhist community, this is an opportunity to remember loved ones who have passed away. Photo courtesy of Shinnyo-en.

On the Big Island of Hawaii, in the fertile coffee growing region of Kona, the airport is named for Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, the first Shin Buddhist in space. Making your way down the scenic Mamalahoa Highway, with rolling green mountains on your left and the calm azure waters of the Pacific Ocean on your right, you pass the Kona Daifukuji Soto Mission and the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Established in 1914 and 1897 respectively, these temples were founded by Japanese immigrants who came to Kona to farm coffee. Enshrined at Kona Daifukuji is a beautiful statue of the bodhisattva of compassion known as Hawaii Kannon. At Kona Hongwanji, there is a serene image of Amida Buddha carved from a piece of sandalwood, which was harvested from the rainforest above the town of Kealakekua in 1932.

Three brothers hang loose in front of Kona Daifukuji Soto Mission. Photo courtesy of Daifukuji Soto Mission.

About a half-hour drive from the Kona International Airport, take a narrow, winding road to a five-acre organic farm, Gingerhill Farm Retreat. In addition to growing a variety of fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs, Gingerhill is a dynamic dharma center where people learn to take care of their bodies and minds by caring for the land. Guests not only work on the farm, they practice yoga and Zen meditation daily. The renowned Buddhist artist and activist Mayumi Oda lives at Gingerhill, and its where she creates her powerful artwork celebrating the feminine divine. Its truly a place of healing, creativity, and learning.

From urban centers to the rural backroads, Buddhism has flourished in Hawaii since the late 1800s, becoming part of the rich cultural and spiritual fabric of the Aloha State. These are just a few of the amazing Buddhist sites you can see when you visit the islands.

The Nicholas Roerich Museum features paintings by the Russian mysticadventurer. Photo by David Grossman. Alamy Stock Photo.

Im not a New Yorker, but I love New York, always have. In recent decades my visits there have revolved around my work as editor-in-chief of Lions Roar. So combining my enthusiasms for New York and Buddhism, Im happy to offer you a one-day tour of Buddhist New York.

Our notional visit starts up in Morningside Heights, with a walk around the iconic campus of Columbia University. Here, D. T. Suzuki electrified a generation of 1950s avant-garde thinkers and artists with his lectures on Zen. In the stacks of Columbias famed library, Thich Nhat Hanh had a deep experience of emptiness he described in his journal. And as Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Robert Thurman pioneered the field of buddhology and made it okay to be an academic who is also a practicing Buddhist.

Leaving campus, we walk over to Riverside Drive to the New York Buddhist Church, founded in 1938 as a temple of the Jodo Shinshu Pure Land school. In front of the temple, contemplate a bronze statue of Shinran, the founder of Shin Buddhism, that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Statue of Shinran at the Buddhist Church of New York. It survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. RegentsPark / CC BY-SA 4.0

A couple of blocks away is the Nicholas Roerich Museum, dedicated to work of the Russian artist, traveler, and thinker. Here you can see an extensive collection of Roerichs paintings of Tibet and other mystical subjects. Touching in their naivete, theyre interesting examples of European fascination with and romanticization of Eastern religion.

Now hop on the West Side subway and enjoy a walk across Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you can tour one of the worlds finest collections of Buddhist art. Dont miss the luohans, among the greatest examples of Buddhist art in the world. There are sixteen of these life-like Chinese statues of arhats in existence, and two of them are in the Metropolitan.

Pause and contemplate the living spirit of meditation and enlightenment right in front of you.

Now head down to Chelsea to the Rubin Museum of Art, one of the few museums in the world completely dedicated to the art, culture, and religions of the Himalayas. The permanent collection offers an outstanding overview of Himalayan art, and the temporary exhibits, annual themes, and lecture series are always first-rate (as is the caf).

Seated arhat (luohan) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tomas Abad / agefotostock

Not far away in Chelsea is Tibet House, founded by Robert Thurman and Richard Gere at the Dalai Lamas request to showcase and preserve Tibetan culture. After you enjoy their gallery and bookstore, take the opportunity to thank the dedicated staff for their work on behalf of Tibet.

Now head across town, perhaps through Washington Square Park, to the East Village, where avant-garde poetry, theatre, and music met Buddhism and sparks flew. Buddhist poets Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, and Anne Waldman read at the Poetry Project at St. Marks Church; Patti Smith played at CBGB; and Ginsberg, Philip Glass, William Burroughs, and other Buddhist and Buddhist-adjacent cultural figures lived in the neighborhood. The East Village is a lot more gentrified now, but you can still feel that counterculture spirit.

Keep heading downtown to Soho and drop in at the Village Zendo if theyre open. There you will meet a lively, artsy, and diverse mix of Zen practitioners led by Roshi Pat Enkyo OHara, one of the leading lights of American Zen. Their new location in the American Thread Building has great karma: it used to be the late Gehlek Rinpoches New York center, where students like Ginsberg and Glass heard dharma talks by this outstanding Tibetan teacher.

Finally, head down to Chinatown and notice the many temples in storefronts or commercial buildings that serve Chinese and other East Asian Buddhists in their own languages. You get a glimpse of the vibrant Asian American Buddhist population of New Yorkit numbers in the millions. And if you happen to be in the city on Buddha Day, join the Vesak celebration put on by the New York Buddhist Council that brings together all the Buddhist communities of the five boroughs.

Bonus: If you have time, hop on the L Train to Brooklyn, where you can visit or sit zazen at the Fire Lotus Temple, the NYC center of the Mountains and Rivers Order founded by the late John Daido Loori Roshi. If my friend Geoffrey Shugen Arnold is there, say hello and ask him for a few words of Zen. Then you can head back to Manhattan after a long but I hope rich day in Buddhist New York.

An Edo-period statue of Bishamonten at San Franciscos Asian Art Museum. In Japan, Bishamonten statues frequently guard Buddhist temples. Photo by Archive PL / Alamy Stock Photo.

Had Siddhartha Gautama visited the San Francisco Bay Area during his lifetime, he might have seen it as a pure land. The rolling hills then bristled with redwoods, crystalline streams fed to the sea, and animals roamed the coast and inland valleys. Two and a half millennia later, the Bay Area is a rich pilgrimage destination for his followers, home to a full range of vibrant Buddhist communities.

The history of dharma study in the San Francisco area began in 1899, when two Shin Buddhist teachers came from Japan to provide spiritual guidance to Japanese immigrants. In time, the community developed into the Buddhist Churches of America. Located in San Franciscos Japantown, the local branch of the BCA (which also houses the BCAs national headquarters) offers beginning and advanced instruction in Buddhism and meditation, for children as well as adults.

Dancers performing at the national headquarters of the Buddhist Churches of America in celebration of Bon, a three-day festival honoring ancestors. Photo by Beppe Sabatini.

Established by the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, San Francisco Zen Center has been at the heart of the Bay Area Buddhist community since 1962. It supports three related locations. City Center, in central San Francisco, features daily meditation, individual guidance with experienced teachers, and frequent dharma talks. Set amidst the coastal hills of Marin, Green Gulch Farm offers apprenticeships for working guests, as does Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Located east of Big Sur in Californias Ventana Wilderness, Tassajara hosts long-term retreats and short-term visitors in the summer.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac, Diane di Prima, Gary Snyder, and Allen Ginsberg embraced Buddhist teachings, and poet Lawrence Ferlinghettis City Lights Bookstore quickly became the literary hub of the S.F. dharma scene. Still in its original North Beach location, the store has retained its Beat ambiance and continues to serve as a resource and meeting place for the literary community.

San Francisco Zen Center was established in 1962 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and his American students. Photo by Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle.

Located in Berkeley, the Nyingma Institute founded by the Tibetan teacher Tarthang Tulku offers classes and workshops that, they explain, require no belief system or commitment to Buddhism. Programs range from beginning meditation classes, to guidance in chanting traditional Tibetan prayers, to learning the Tibetan language. Instruction in Kum Nyea form of Tibetan yoga integrating all the bodys senses and energy centersis also available.

The lively, blossoming Uptown district of Oakland is home to East Bay Meditation Center. Drawing on a variety of spiritual traditions, with a focus on Insight Meditation, EBMC serves Oaklands diverse population by focusing on radical inclusivity, cultivating an atmosphere uniquely welcoming to people of color, individuals with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQI community. Along with meditation practice and introductory Buddhist teachings, EBMC offers classes on community healing, tai chi, yoga, social justice, and mindful parenting.

Located on an unassuming street in Berkeley, Wat Mongkolratanaram has long served as a gathering place for the Thai Buddhist community. This elegant wat (temple) is justly famous for its Sunday Buddhist brunch. With proceeds benefitting the sangha, this outdoor market offers a wonderful variety of Thai cuisine and attracts scores of students from nearby U.C. Berkeley and beyond. The temple is also a center for Thai language and music studies, with weekly presentations (mainly in Thai) given by resident monks.

City Lights in bohemian North Beach is an independent bookstore-publisher famous as a center of American literary culture and publisher of Allen Ginsbergs Howl and other Beat classics. Danita Delimont / Alamy Stock Photo.

Siddhartha Gautama is said to have asked that his image never be idolized, and for centuries his presence was symbolized simply by a lotus flower or his footprints. The first crude likenesses of Buddha appeared more than half a millennium after his death, on early coins of the Kushan Empire. But the floodgates were opened. Walking through the beautifully presented displays of San Franciscos Asian Art Museumlocated just steps from City Hallone can trace the global explosion of Buddhist art as it swept through Asia.

About an hours drive past the Golden Gate Bridge is Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center, one of the most active Buddhist teaching communities in the Western world. With an emphasis on mindfulness and compassion, the retreat centerlocated on 411 acres of rolling hills and oak woodlands in Marin countyoffers scores of programs, from open-to-the-public dharma talks to ten-day silent retreats.

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Enlightenment - Lion's Roar

In his letter (June 1) regarding our op-ed The Stakeholder War on the Enlightenment (May 24), Cambridge Prof. Brian Cheffins provides the legal history behind our claim that Parliament repealed royal charters, permitted businesses to incorporate simply by meeting preset capital requirements, and established the rules of law governing private competition.

We condensed 150 years of history into one sentence to explain how Parliament liberated private corporations from government control. Mr. Cheffins correctly explains the legal transformation but misses our point on the economic transformation. The 1720 Bubble Act effectively banned new joint stock companies but didnt eliminate existing corporations. Without the predations of stakeholder capitalism, the latter grew in value by 48% over the ensuing century. When resources were lacking, big projects went to large partnerships, according to Harvard Prof. David Landes. In the nineteenth century, when things got costlier and risks greater, Parliament turned to the most effective device for mobilizing capital . . . , the chartered joint stock company.

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The Corporation and the Story of Prosperity - The Wall Street Journal

For a generation of girls who spent years exclusively wearing butterfly clips, bright blue eyeshadow and pale pink everything, the release of the pop-punk princess Avril Lavignes debut album, Let Go, on 4 June 2002 was not merely a new sound, it was enlightenment.

In an era when bubblegum pop and sexy baby personas reigned, the 17-year-old Lavigne emerged as its antithesis. Rarely seen without a baggy pair of jeans, heavy kohl eyeliner and a loose tie round her neck, she co-wrote her own songs, with lyrics about skateboarding and getting fired from a chicken shop. Her first two singles, Complicated and Sk8er Boi, both spent half of the year on the Billboard Hot 100 and Let Go remains one of the 20 bestselling albums of the 21st century.

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Lavignes snarky attitude, grungy look and alternative-inspired sound was a potent combination that elevated Let Go above the rest of the pop pack. Almost overnight, girls all over the world began to swap choker necklaces for mens neckwear, body glitter for leather bracelets, and denim for cargo pants. Her videos, featuring Lavigne trashing malls and skating with groups of boys, were watched obsessively. Let Go unleashed an army of seven to 15-year-olds brimming with ennui, desperate to remake themselves in Lavignes image.

I was getting out of high school and I just wanted to rock out, says Lavigne today, speaking from her home in Malibu ahead of the albums 20th anniversary. I want loud guitars, I want live drums I want to write about the crazy stuff, the insane emotions, the good and the bad.

All of this, Lavigne says, was a genuine reflection of her teenage experience. Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1984, she spent most of her childhood in Napanee, a small town with a population of roughly 5,000, where she wrote poems, learned to play guitar and hung around with the grungy kids. She initially made a name in the country music world, an influence that can be heard in some of the twangy cadences and narrative storytelling on Let Go. She even performed on stage with Shania Twain after winning a radio contest in her early teens, before signing to Arista Records and moving to California at 16.

Even at the time, Lavigne felt acutely aware of her innocence within the music industry. I didnt even know what Hollywood was or what record deals were, she says. The process of finding co-writers and producers who matched her artistic style involved an endless string of uncomfortable meetings in corporate boardrooms; her age coupled with her lack of understanding of the mechanics of production led to a struggle to get her sound across. They didnt care what I had to say; they had their own style and didnt bother to look at me and try to let me lead, she says.

However, Lavignes instincts were strong: I was very clear on what I wanted to do and what I didnt want to do. I wanted to be angsty and to sound more like a band; I didnt want to be all bubblegum pop. I wanted to turn my emotions into lyrics. I was honestly just very, very pure.

She eventually settled on a music writing and production trio known as the Matrix, consisting of Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards and Scott Spock. The moment things began to click for the group was when they wrote their first track together, the song that become Lavignes breakout hit, Complicated. I didnt know what hits were, but my body and my intuition knew that this was a hit song, she says. I was like: This is fucking cool, this sounds cool to me.

Over the next year, Lavigne and the Matrix would meet in studios and hotel rooms across southern California to build the 13-track album. The themes were heavily influenced by Lavignes life, which at the time, she says, mostly involved wearing fat skate shoes and finding skateboarders hot. But while many of her songs were fun and frivolous, such as Sk8er Boi, or light and melodic, like Mobile and Anything But Ordinary, darker emotions cut through elsewhere on Losing Grip and the albums only ballad, Im With You, which Lavigne says is still a highlight of her live performances.

The combination of these different themes and attitudes made for an album that could be played repeatedly without becoming repetitive. I wrote this album right when I got out of high school and now I get to hear these lyrics of me talking about my small town and my obsession with skater boys, she says. Even things like in My World, I literally talk about the fact that I got fired by a fried chicken ass I worked for at a fried chicken chain. Its hilarious. I look back at those lyrics, and Im like: I cant believe I said that in a song.

The naivety and simplicity of her lyrics turned out to be a key to her success. Targeting a young audience, Let Go propelled Lavigne beyond two-hit wonder status. But even with the success of the album, she couldnt quite grasp quite how big it had become. I remember my manager being like: Do you realise youre No 1? And still No 1 this week and No 1 this week and then this week?

Lavignes self-assurance obscured just how young she was when she rose to fame and that she did so during a time when young celebrities were facing extreme sexualisation and horrifying invasions of privacy. However, Lavigne stood apart from other female pop stars at the time through her tomboy look and active criticism of her contemporaries. (In one interview, she mocked Britney Spears for dressing like a showgirl.)

Looking back at her treatment in the early 00s, does she wish it had been different? Unusually, Lavigne feels gratitude for being a teenager when Let Go debuted. I remember being at home and being 14 and thinking like: I need to hurry up and get this music thing going! She laughs: I was like: I want to be doing this while Im YOUNG!

I moved out of my parents house and directly into a tour bus, not having any rules, she adds. I was like: I can drink beer now and eat pizza every day and I just got to hang out with my band and travel the world. It was crazy, but it was pretty special.

Let Gos 20th anniversary comes alongside a reappraisal of Y2K culture by a generation too young to remember it. Several of its tracks have gone viral on TikTok, and Lavigne has been cited as an influence by gen Z artists such as Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo (who brought Lavigne on stage at a recent gig for a duet of Complicated). Concurrently, there has also been a rise in emo nostalgia among older music fans. Lavigne is playing a festival in the autumn, Las Vegass When We Were Young, that went viral earlier this year for featuring so many popular emo and pop-punk artists of the 00s, including My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World and Paramore.

Lavigne finds the whole experience surreal. That younger generations are discovering my stuff and that Billie, Olivia, and Willow [Smith] go out into the world and continue to shatter the mould like I did 20 years ago is super-inspiring. She says even the musicians she is friends with and collaborates with are longtime fans. All these people around me are like: Oh my God, Im a huge fan, I listened to you growing up, you inspired me! Its really trippy.

Her future plans include working with two other superstars: Blink-182s Travis Barker, whose label, DTA Records, put out Lavignes recent album, Love Sux, and Machine Gun Kelly, who features on the album and with whom Lavigne will be going on tour. Major items on her bucket list include a Christmas album, a makeup line and a cookbook. (My food is, like, gourmet, she says, I can do everything! Pasta, sauce, vegan, salads and soups I can do every kind of soup.) She has also recently found a director to lead a film adaptation of Sk8er Boi. I cant wait to learn this process of making a movie, she says. I think Ill want to make more.

Twenty years on, Lavigne believes the appeal of Let Go has endured because once people connect to her music they stay connected.

Ive always had this thing where Im like: just be as sincere as possible, she says. The songs are real and theyre emotional. That works for me.

Let Go will be rereleased this summer.

Link:
Avril Lavigne: I moved out of my parents house and straight into a tour bus with no rules - The Guardian

The barbaric attack of Russia on Ukraine came as a powerful shock to many of us. When the war exploded on our screens it seemed incomprehensible and irrational. The wanton destruction of urban neighbourhoods very similar to the worldI grew up instruck me as almost unbelievable.

Meanwhile, the narratives coming out of Russia suggested their dictator had become captive to an absolutist ethno-nationalist narrative with moralistic overtones that were being used to justify unspeakable violence.

The war in Ukraine has cast a shadow over 75 years of comfortable Western beliefs about civilisational progress, the universal attractiveness and eventual victory of liberal democracies, and the general superiority of the Enlightenment over tribal forms of political organisation.

Russias attack on Ukraine represents a defining moment in history for a variety of reasons, not all of them obvious. This is not only a war between competing political systems, values, and ideologies the situation confronts us with profound questions about human nature. We have to consider who we are, what we are capable of, and where we are going.

Liberal democracies have created themost successful civilisationsin human history, but perhaps we have become too complacent? We have accepted an optimistic view of ourselves while ignoring the less flattering aspects of human nature that have always been there and may yet shape our fortunes.

In many ways, we are trapped in the 21st century with palaeolithic minds.

A historical perspective

We should not have been quite so shocked by Ukraines situation. Taking a broader historical perspective, Russias aggression is neither unusual nor surprising. It fits perfectly into the pattern of human history over thousands of years, which is characterised by incessant conflict be it tribal, religious, racial, or ethnic.

Decades ago in a prescient treatise, Arthur Koestlersuggested something was badly amisswith Homo Sapiens.

Koestler argued that human history is uniquely marked by incomprehensible patterns of gruesome intra-species violence and that this could only be explained by some fatal flaw in the evolution of the human brain that, unless corrected, would lead to the demise of our species.

The historical horrors Koestler observed are being replayed in real time on our screens every night. Putins regime fits Koestlers fear perfectly, as do thereligious warsin Europe which lasted for hundreds of years and led to the deaths of nearly 30 per cent of the local population. The revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment that inform our successful Western liberal democracies liberty, individualism, rationalism, tolerance eventually grew out of the exhaustion and despair produced by historic horrendous bloodshed.

In a sense, the war in Ukraine is about two conflicting visions about human nature.

What we might be witnessing (and not only in Ukraine) is the grisly conflict between manifestations of the collectivist, tribal proclivities built into our palaeolithic brains versus the more recent civilisational values emphasising individualism, rationalism, and tolerance.

Are we Enlightened creatures capable of managing our affairs without recourse to violence? Or has our nature been permanently shaped by the irrepressible tribal dictates of our Stone Age background?

Many humans enthusiastically follow the latter, embracing their deeply-rooted collectivist tendencies.

The palaeolithic mind

Tribal characteristicswere shaped by evolution when loyalty to the group, belief in shared narratives, cohesion, and effective coordination offered significant survival benefits over chaos. Accordingly, evolutionary psychologists suggest that the human brain evolved, not so much to optimise the rational discovery of reality and truth, but rather to facilitate the maintenance of tribal cohesion.

Putins war may be seen as a warning for Homo Sapiens. One of the major achievements of psychologyover the last few decades has come with achieving empirical insights into human nature, including the defining cognitive, emotional, and social characteristics of our species.

The picture is not entirely flattering.

There is plenty of evidence that humanity has universal and deep-seatedtribal inclinations, cognitiveshortcomings, gullibility, a tendency towardauthoritarianism, and a predilection for moral absolutism which is readily exploited by politicians like Putin, Orban, Erdogan, and Trump. The same qualities are found in authoritarian left-wing populist movementssuch as Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Woke ideology, Critical Race Theory, and Cultural Marxism.

Tribalism

Intense group competition has been a defining feature of human evolution. Loyalty to the group presents survival benefits. As a consequence, selective evolutionary pressures shaped the human mind to preference this behaviour. The consequence of strong group loyalty is the converse suspicion of other groups.Discrimination against outsiders, the need to seeksignificance within group identity, and the desire for shared group narratives are all followup behaviours that have not (and will not) disappear even with the rise of rational individualism.

Partisan bias (based on ancient group preference) is a feature of liberal democracies. There has been a marked increase in polarisation, both on the political left and on the political right. Research shows that the tendency for tribalism isa natural and nearly ineradicable feature of human cognition that no group not even ones own is immunefrom.

In more autocratic societies, the result can be the widespread acceptance of what may seem to outsiders as consensual group delusions re-enforced by propaganda and social coercion. This is what we are seeing in Putins Russia.

Gullibility

Another feature of palaeolithic thinking is the built-in tendency forcognitive shortcomingsin the service of promoting consensual beliefs. How could so many Russians believe Putins absurd narrative about Nazis in Ukraine threatening national survival of such an extreme nature that it necessitated preemptive war? This is less surprising if we consider thatthroughout historyevery civilisation has believed fictional stories that served the purpose of group integration.

One of the most important adaptations in our evolutionary history is the emergence of a symbolic ability to preserve ideas inside fictional realities and to use language to share information with others by way of telling stories. Shared beliefs improve group cohesion which is beneficial in small groups where communicators intimately know each other.

The tendency to believe brings with it a measure ofgullibilitythat has always been exploited by politicians, advertisers, and powerful institutions. Even today we have a ready ability toaccept fake information. Putins true believers are not so different from followers of other tribal movements like fascism, Marxism, or Woke ideology. There is a well-established pattern of cognitive distortions and heuristics such as the confirmation bias, the illusory correlation effect, fluency effects, the Dunning-Kruegereffect, and others that are more likely to promoteconsensual agreementrather than the rational discovery of reality. Putins propaganda is effective not only because he dominates the media, but also because his message exploits common failures of human inductive reasoning.

Moral absolutism

Absolutist morality is where the values of the group become unquestionable and all efforts to promote them are virtuous and justifiable regardless of truth. This kind of moral certainty justifies all manner of horror including genocides in the ends justifies the means approach to politics. Moral absolutism offers certainty as well as significanceto followers of variousradical political movements.

National Socialists believed in the inherent superiority of Germans, Marxists believe in unquestionable virtue of destroying class enemies, religious radicals see nonbelievers as things to be converted or erased, Woke activists revel in calling out and destroying the lives and careers of those who question their dogma. Moral certitude blinds us to reality and denies the legitimacy of disagreement and the need foropen discussion, which is a foundational value of classical liberalism.

Consider the absurd slogan silence is violence seen at BLM rallies asserting that withholding opinion is morally deplorable because it does not actively affirm the group. Moral absolutism is often justified in terms of Utopiannarratives that promise a glorious future for the group that justifies every sacrifice. The dramatic promise of a thousand-year empire (Nazism) or a perfect communist utopia (Marxism) or Putins Novorussia have a powerful emotional appeal that liberal incrementalist ideologies have great difficulty matching.

Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leaders like Putin are a quintessential feature of the human predisposition to tribalism, and often become the symbolic embodiment of their cause. Traditional belief in divine rulers has given way to intense personality cults in countries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. They oftenpersonalise complex issues and ideas, making people feel as if their election solves existential threats. Leaders need to display strength, consistency, and an uncompromising attitude to satisfy the craving for simplicity and moral certainty by their followers. Disrespect for the truth is a common feature, replaced by the repetitive invocation of tribal narratives. Putin is not unique in this: Trump also lied repeatedly, as did HungarysOrban,Erdogan,and others. Followers concur, as long as the propaganda they receive is comforting and consistent with their views.

Conclusions

The Ukrainian war serves as a reminder of the powerful tendency for our tribalism to be too easily aroused for political purposes.

At the most general level, the dramatic confrontation between diametrically opposed visions of human nature collectivism and individualism will continue and perhaps escalate. The archaic tribal imperatives of the human mind shaped by our evolutionary past remains with us. Despite the unprecedented achievements of Western liberal civilisation based on the Enlightenment, we cannot be certain that these hard-won values will endure and be powerful enough to overcome our human vulnerability to evolutionary tribalism marked by gullibility, autocracy, and moral absolutism.

Which human political system will triumph? The outcome is by no means certain, but we can take some comfort from the past victory of liberal democracies over fascism and communism. The results of the war in Ukraine will either affirm the superiority of our system and our optimistic vision about the perfectibility of human nature for the time being, or it will signal a return to autocratic tribalism in an important part of the world.

Joseph P Forgas is a social psychologist and Scientia Professor at UNSW. He published numerous books, includingThe Psychology of Populism: Tribal Challenges to Liberal Democracy, and has received theOrder of Australia for his work.

The rest is here:
Humanity: stuck with palaeolithic minds in the 21st C - The Spectator Australia

By Sandy MacDonald

(June 2, 2022) Remember when California was the self-proclaimed enlightenment capital of the world? Steve Martins 2017 Broadway hit Meteor Shower, set in the chic SoCal hamlet of Ojai circa 1993, harks back to that era when relentless self-improvement did battle with unalloyed hedonism.

The two couples depicted in the comedy represent the eras polar extremes. Or do they? Amid the sleek luxe living room captured in scenic designer Peter Waldrons period-perfect set, we find the well-named Norm (Jeremy Webb) and his perky wife Corky (Mollie Vogt-Welch) working on their interpersonal skills.

At the slightest hint of what today we would label micro-aggression, Corky demands that Norm enact with her a relationship-righting ritual which starts with pacifying hand gestures and ends with the vow I honor your feelings. Apart from a few peculiarities in their past (the most horrifying of which has convinced Corky that she suffers from exploding head syndrome), these two appear normal to a fault. The playwright is clearly urging us to mock along.

Theatre Workshop of Nantuckets Meteor Shower, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through June 18, Bennett Hall, 62 Centre St. http://www.theatrenantucket.org for tickets.

To read the complete story, pick up the June 2 print edition of The Inquirer and Mirror.

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Meteor Shower a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat comedy - The Inquirer and Mirror

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

The pandemic has spurred the Great Resignation phenomenon, and it is still on.Many workers have continued to resign and switch jobs, and the pandemic reportedly has changed what matters to employees and what they want from their jobs leading to a disconnect between leaders and workers.

GenZ and younger Millennials are speaking up about what they want their workplace to look like and feel like something that no other generation has done.

Many GenZ workers got their first job during the pandemic, so they expect flexibility and remote work as the standard option. In addition, they view jobs as experiences that they can end if they no longer need or feel connected to them, said Dr. Ximena Hartsock, founder ofBuildWithin.

This D.C.-based company identifies, trains, and manages tech-related apprentices.And, they have always been presented with a buyers market, in terms of jobs which has led to job-hopping, which is unlikely to go away and puts pressure on employers to lead with an employee-centric and value-driven culture, Hartsock insisted.

This new generation is putting needed pressure on employers to make the workplace more empathetic. Perhaps the Great Resignation will transition to the Great Enlightenment.Mark Pierce, CEO ofCloud Peak Law Group, said he believes that employees arent feeling valued or that their working location puts them at a disadvantage. He said thats a primary contributor to the Great Resignation.

Whether employees are working in-person, fully remote, or hybrid, its important to ensure that everyone feels welcome and valued in their roles, Pierce stated.

He noted that focusing on company culture and giving employees autonomy are solutions.It can be easier to focus on employees who work in the same way that you as a leader do most often. If youre in the office a lot, youll likely be more in touch with employees who work in-office frequently, and vice versa if you work remotely, Pierce observed.He added that micromanagement becomes amplified when performed remotely, making it even more bothersome for employees than when they worked in the office where employers did so in person.

Giving employees autonomy shows that you as a leader trust them to do their work without needing to intervene, Pierce insisted.It also frees you to focus on the most important tasks at hand, rather than simply monitoring employees.

APew Research Center surveyfound that low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement, and feeling disrespected at work are the top reasons Americans quit their jobs last year.Released in March 2022, the survey also found that those who quit and are now employed elsewhere are more likely than not to say their current job has better pay, more opportunities for advancement, and more work-life balance and flexibility.

A few factors are driving the Great Resignation, but one that stands out is that most workplaces simply arent doing as much as they could to support the health and wellness of their employees, advised Logan Mallory, vice president atMotivosity.

This company helps employees remain engaged remotely and in the office.This means offering support for mental health and workplace options that support overall health and wellness, such as flexible working hours or the ability to work remotely, Mallory stated.

When employees see that their employers truly care about them as individuals, theyll be much happier, more engaged, and less likely to resign.

Pavel Stepanov, the CEO of Virtudesk, added that COVID confronted many workers with the question of what it means to have meaning in their lives.Stepanov said Generation Z, a group with a different mindset and culture, has entered the workforce.

Further, the cost of living increases and housing and homeownership are becoming more unattainable for young people.So many factors are contributing to the Great Resignation. However, this isnt just a brief trend anymore. Whats looking to be a long-lasting shift is changing culture and economic environment, Stepanov stated.

Also, the culture of Gen Z has also proven to be very different from Gen X and Millennials, where they strive to attach more meaning to what they do and strive to have a strong impact on the world.

He continued:This, coupled with the hardship of COVID in the last two years, is having people demand greater job fulfillment when they enter or participate in the workforce. People want to stand out, be different, and make change where they are, and many jobs have been designed not to deliver that feeling of purpose.

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Generation Z Sparking The 'Great Resignation' As Employers Realize Shortages - Seattle Medium

Cabinets of curiosities were all the rage in the 18th century; before modern museums existed, private collections of natural phenomena were the true markers of status. One of the largest belonged to Albertus Seba, a Dutch pharmacist and zoologist. He eventually published a four-volume book, Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, a stunning, exhaustively detailed document of exotica that became a touchstone of taxonomy and symbol of the Enlightenment.

Sebas book inspired Nederlands Dans Theaters house choreographers Sol Len and Paul Lightfoot, along with Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke, to create a ballet: Kunstkamer. The Australian Ballet artistic director, David Hallberg, secured it for the premiere performance outside the Netherlands, and it isnt hard to see what attracted him to it. Its a bold, expansive work, and fiendishly complicated the kind that challenges a dance company to reach out for new modes of expression. A status marker.

Tempting though it is to catalogue the various choreographers stylistic quirks, Kunstkamer actually works best when viewed as a cohesive whole, a meditation on connectivity and our desire for meaning. It has an often dizzying array of moods and textures, from flippant humour to aching romanticism, and it moves between them with lightning speed. But even its violent shifts feel beautifully integrated, the infinite variety seemingly bursting forth from a singular artistic vision.

It opens, after a haunting series of projections, with Hallberg himself, returning to the stage as a dancer after retiring in 2019. After a graceful frontal split, he turns to the audience and simply says: Ouch. Hes an extraordinary presence throughout, with hooded eyes like an owl and limbs like a brolga. Hallberg is brilliantly matched by guest artist Jorge Nozal, hunched over like a pantomime villain, his face a white mask straight out of German Expressionism. Together they create an unsettling image of spiritual oscillation, a toggling between light and dark; the whole ballet seems to emanate from their uneasy dynamic.

So much of the movement, especially in the first act, is jittery and jagged, the dancers elegant lines interrupted by angular extremities a turned-out foot or a tilted head. Hands are constantly flitting around the upper body, before slapping down hard on the outer thigh. Animals are evoked, either directly or obliquely, but even here organic movements are stymied, contracted. Its really only in the second act that the choreography loosens, allowing for some heart-wrenching romanticism. A theme emerges gradually, of a wildness barely contained, the sounds of breaking waves a reminder of a vast untameable world outside.

This is most evident in the extraordinary group work, with long lines of dancers undulating in waves. Bodies look controlled like marionettes, faces contorted into exaggerated laughs or screams but they also break out into moments of pure lyricism and an individuated longing.

Several principal artists shine in solos or pas de deux. Callum Linnane is wonderfully sensual and commanding; Brett Chynoweth is, as always, daring and vivid; Amy Harris is gorgeously supple and poignant. The elevation of Lucien Xu from the Coryphes and Lilla Harvey from the Corps de Ballet is a lovely surprise; its terrific to see them given a chance to shine, and they rise effortlessly to the challenge. But best of all is the corps, thrumming with energy. Len and Lightfoots dense choreographic language is worlds away from the demands of traditional ballet but it also feels completely innate, as if contemporary dance were this companys natural home.

The set design, by Len and Lightfoot themselves, is magnificent, towering and severe. Three massive dark grey walls fold in and out, like pages in a giant book, doors opening everywhere like lift-the-flap insets. The monochrome costumes (Joke Visser, Hermien Hollander) are striking, the one flash of red hinting at the colouring process that followed Sebas initial black and white illustrations. The music ranges from the baroque formalism of Purcell to the dreamy ambience of lafur Arnalds, all played superbly by Orchestra Victoria under the expert baton of Nicolette Fraillon. And the lighting design (Tom Bevoort, Udo Haberland, Tom Visser) is astonishing, creating corridors and pools or throwing menacing shadows.

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Kunstkamer is a pinnacle of Hallbergs tenure so far, a convincing indication of future directions. It allows for individual excellence, but it ultimately champions the interconnectivity of the whole, the way that divine individuality subsumes itself into the group, species into genus. This is contemporary dance as Regency fever dream. Like Sebas cabinet, full of awe and awe inspiring.

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Kunstkamer review this fiendishly complicated ballet is astonishing - The Guardian