WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned what he called “vicious hate crimes” committed against Asian Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, calling such acts “un-American” and demanding they stop.
“Too often, we’ve turned against one another,” Biden said in his first primetime address, detailing the progress made in the fight against Covid-19.
The Democratic president decried “vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated” over the pandemic, which originated in China.
“At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans — they’re on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still, still they’re forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” Biden said.
“It’s wrong. It’s un-American. And it must stop.”
Activists say broader anti-Asian discrimination has been fueled by talk of the “Chinese virus” from former president Donald Trump and others.
Racial motivation is hard to establish in many cases, but reported anti-Asian hate crimes more than doubled from 49 to 122 last year across 16 major US cities including New York and Los Angeles — even as overall hate crime fell, according to a California State University study.
The report looked at events categorized as criminal in nature and showing evidence of ethnic or racial bias, using preliminary local police data.
It aligns with another study from the Stop AAPI Hate advocacy group showing more than 2,800 incidents of racism and discrimination — including non-physical forms — targeting Asian-Americans and reported online across the United States between March and December last year.
Biden slams ‘vicious’ attacks on Asian Americans during pandemic
https://arab.news/57w74
Biden slams ‘vicious’ attacks on Asian Americans during pandemic
- Activists say broader anti-Asian discrimination has been fueled by talk of the “Chinese virus” from former president Donald Trump and others
Nepal’s rapper politician who took on the old guard and won
- Shah’s victory over the veteran Marxist leader marks one of the most symbolic results of Nepal’s high-stakes parliamentary election
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah won a dramatic parliamentary contest on Saturday, defeating veteran leader KP Sharma Oli in the former prime minister’s own constituency after staking his political future on the challenge.
Shah’s victory over the veteran Marxist leader marks one of the most symbolic results of Nepal’s high-stakes parliamentary election, held six months after mass anti-corruption protests toppled the government.
His win caps a bold gamble by the 35-year-old reformist, who resigned as Kathmandu mayor to challenge Oli, the 74-year-old four-time premier, in his own stronghold.
Shah had taken an unassailable lead on Saturday, according to Election Commission figures.
He will become prime minister if his Rastriya Swatantra Party party secures a parliamentary majority, as Election Commission trends on Saturday put it on course to do.
Better known as Balen, the sharply dressed 35-year-old has emerged as a symbol of youth-driven political change.
Born in Kathmandu in 1990, he was a schoolboy during Nepal’s 1996-2006 Maoist civil war, which killed thousands and eventually ended the monarchy.
Shah trained as a civil engineer but first gained national attention through Nepal’s underground hip-hop scene, releasing songs that railed against corruption and inequality.
Those themes, he says, still guide his politics.
“If a person involved in politics also engages in literature or music, it becomes emotionally driven,” said Shah during his campaign for Thursday’s elections in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people.
“We also need to nurture the emotional aspect of our lives, and a politician should possess that sensitivity.”
