Unprecedented heatwaves — as seen this year — are the greatest direct climate-related health threat to Europe’s population. Heatwaves already account for numerous deaths and illnesses. This burden is set to increase without more climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Heat-health action plans, urban greening, better building design and adjusting working times can contribute to better protect the most vulnerable groups in society, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today.
The EEA report focuses on the impact high temperatures are having on the population, which leads to the largest number of fatalities associated with natural hazards in Europe. Due to climate change, these fatalities are projected to increase substantially unless adaptation measures are taken. Climate-sensitive infectious diseases — another emerging threat — are projected to further spread northwards and cause a higher disease burden in Europe. The report draws on knowledge developed for the European Climate and Health Observatory, which provides access to a wide range of relevant data, tools, publications and other resources informing about climate change impacts for human health.
Action to protect vulnerable groupsto heatwaves
Increasingly frequent, long and intense heatwaves in combination with an ageing population and growing urbanisation mean that more vulnerable populations are exposed to high temperatures, particularly in southern and central Europe. The location of many schools and hospitals in areas experiencing the urban heat island effect, further exacerbating high temperatures, calls for urgent adaptation of those facilities. The rise in temperatures also affect occupational health and safety, resulting in an average annual loss of 16 hours per worker in highly exposed sectors, with the largest losses in southern Europe.
Reducing the health impacts of heat requires implementing a wide range of solutions, including effective heat health action plans, creating more green and shaded areas in cities, appropriate building design and construction, and adjusting working times and conditions so people are less exposed.
Climate conditions more welcoming to infectious diseases
Changing climate conditions are becoming more suitable for the emergence and transmission of climate-sensitive infectious diseases like malaria, dengue fever or West Nile fever, also expanding the risk of transmission to previously unaffected areas of Europe, like northern regions. The projected lengthening of the transmission season and wider distribution of mosquito species that act as carriers for malaria and dengue, combined with the growing number of travel-imported disease cases, increases the likelihood of local outbreaks.
People working in agriculture, forestry, or emergency services may be at higher risk of catching one of these diseases, while the elderly, young children and those with compromised immune systems may suffer more if they catch a disease.
Warming sea waters are also increasingly suitable for the dangerous Vibrio bacteria found in fish and shellfish, in particular along the Baltic Sea coastline. Exposure to the bacteria can cause serious illness. Effective monitoring of species that carry or transmit these diseases and disease surveillance would help the development of early warnings and better targeted control of carrier species or vaccination.
Prevention, coordination is crucial
Monitoring and surveillance of climate-related threats is an effective measure and the most frequently mentioned in national health or climate adaptation strategies. It is essential to develop early warnings: swift, well-organised and effective actions as part of heat health action plans and providing appropriate information to the public can reduce the risk of disease transmission.
At the local level, the engagement of health and social care providers with climate change adaptation planning remains low across Europe. Adapting to the existing and emerging health threats arising from climate change requires better preparedness of the health sector through increasing awareness, improving knowledge and widening engagement of public health and healthcare professionals, the EEA report says. Improving the resilience of healthcare facilities to extreme weather and ensuring that health systems have the capacity to respond to increased demand for patient care or diagnostics will also help.
Alexander De Croo called on the younger generation, Tuesday at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, “to be part of the solution” in the fight against global warming, as the actions of climate activists multiply across the world. Europe, aiming at iconic buildings or works of art.
Belgium image
On 11/8/2022 at 3:31 p.m. Updated on 08/11/2022 at 22:05
In his speech on Tuesday afternoon, on the occasion of the summit of Heads of State and Government at COP27, Mr. De Croo addressed young people in particular: “Be part of the solution with us. We need you. Go study science and above all: build coalitions, build partnerships. Get in touch with people with different ideas, because that’s when the real change happens,” suggested the Belgian Prime Minister.
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Building bridges between business and civil society
Alexander de Croo met young Belgian activists at COP27 on Monday “who know they have to look beyond slogans”, he explained. Young people who understand that government cannot act alone. “That progress is not imposed from top to bottom but co-created between partners. Between governments and the private sector. Between business and civil society. »
Moreover, Belgium came to this COP “with a large delegation from the private sector” because companies “are putting great solutions on the table”, in terms of offshore wind power, green energy, “to protect us against rising sea levels” and even “to turn the driest desert back into an oasis”, continued the Prime Minister.
“Fight for our survival”
According to Mr. De Croo, the fight against climate change is “a fight for our survival but also for the safeguard of social cohesion”. “The last thing we need in the fight against climate change is more polarization,” he said, deeming it necessary to be ambitious but also “to keep everyone on board” as the consequences of the Climate change and the policies to deal with it affect certain categories of the population more, such as farmers, less isolated apartment tenants or small family businesses.
“He always and easy to destroy. Building and cherishing is much more difficult,” concluded the Belgian Prime Minister, quoting the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Martin Ralchevski was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, on March 4, 1974. He graduated from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” majoring in Theology and Geography. He started writing after his return from Mexico in 2003, where he had spent three months acting in the feature film Troy, as an extra. In this special and mystical place, in the town of Cabo San Lucas, California, he talked to the local people and listened to their numerous unique stories and experiences. “There, I felt that I wanted to write a book and tell these hitherto unrecorded mystical stories that I had heard from them”, he would say. And that’s how his first book “Endless Night” came to fruition. In all his books hope, faith and positivity are leading themes. Soon after, he got married and in the following years became a father of three. “Inevitably, since then, I’ve written ten more books”, he says. All were published by the major Bulgarian publishing houses and there was and continues to be a dedicated and loyal cult readership. Ralchevski commented on this himself: “That’s very likely the reason why, over the years, I’ve been encouraged by my publishers, readers and some directors to also write several screenplays for feature films based on my novels. I listened to these suggestions and to date, in addition to the books, I have also written five screenplays for feature films, which I hope will soon be realized.”
Martin Ralchevski’s published books to date are ‘Endless Night’, ‘Forest Spirit’, ‘Demigoddess’, ‘30 Pounds’, ‘Fraud’, ‘Emigrant’, ‘Antichrist’, ‘Soul’, ‘The Meaning of Life’, ‘Eternity’, and ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes’. His last book was extremely well-received by literary critics and readers. It received very positive reviews from various people involved in literature, as well as numerous awards and accolades. “This encouraged me to believe that this book would also be of interest to a U.S. readership. That’s why I decided to apply for this competition, to publish a Bulgarian book in the English language, precisely with this novel”, says Ralchevski.
Synopsis of the novel “Don’t Close Your Eyes” by Martin Ralchevski
A large part of the novel is based on the little-known legend of the Strandja mountain, which today is remembered only by the elderly residents of the area and by the older local population in the towns surrounding the black sea. Legend has it that in the early eighties of the last century, a young man named Peter from the city of Ahtopol experienced a terrible personal drama.
Peter is notorious in the small town for his intellectual disability. His parents, Ivan and Stanka, have to go to work in Burgas (a nearby big city) and leave their ten-year-old daughter, Ivana, in his care. Peter was then eighteen years old. It is autumn, but the weather was warm for that time of year, and Peter decides to take Ivana to the sea for a swim. They go to a remote rocky beach to avoid being seen by anybody. He falls asleep on the beach, and she goes into the sea. However, the weather suddenly deteriorates, large waves appear, and Ivana drowns.
When their parents return and learn about what happened, they are enraged with wrath. In his anger, Ivan (Peter’s father) chases him down to try and kill him. Peter runs to Strandja and gets lost. A national manhunt is announced, although nobody can find him. He is hidden by a local shepherd in the mountains, who briefly takes care of him. After some time, Peter ended up in the Bachkovo monastery. There, a year later, he accepted monkhood and lived a strict monastic life, hidden from the eyes of people, in the basement of the monastery, constantly repeating through tears: “God, please, do not count this sin against me.” This is his secret prayer; with which he repents for the death of his sister. His hiding is dictated by the real fear that if caught, he will be sent to prison. Thus, in weeping, self-reproach and fasting, with the assistance of the older monks, he spends another year in isolation and seclusion. Following an anonymous tip-off, a State Security team arrived at the Holy Monastery and began a search of all the premises in the monastery. Peter is forced to flee to avoid detection. He goes east. He runs at night and hides during the day. Thus, after a long and exhausting expedition, he reaches again the most remote and deserted part of Strandja Mountain. There he settles in a hollow tree and begins to lead an ascetic life, never ceasing to repeat his penitential prayer. In this way, he gradually transformed from an ordinary monk into a hermit-miracle-worker.
A new chapter follows, in which the action moves to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. In the foreground we have a young priest named Paul. He has a twin sister named Nikolina who is terminally ill with stomach cancer. Nikolina is lying at home, on life support. Since Pavel and Nikolina are twins, the relationship between them is extremely strong. Therefore, Pavel cannot accept that he will lose her. He prays almost around the clock, holding his sister’s hand as he repeats: “Don’t close your eyes! You will live. Don’t close your eyes!” But nevertheless, Nikolina’s chances of survival decrease with every passing day.
The action moves back to Ahtopol. There, in the yard of the house, are Peter’s elderly parents—Ivan and Stanka. For many years, Ivan regrets that he sent his son away and cannot stop tormenting himself. A young man suddenly arrives to them, who tells them that hunters have seen their son Peter deep in the Strandja mountain. His parents are amazed. They immediately leave by car for the mountain. Stanka becomes nauseous from anticipation. The car stops and Ivan continues alone. Ivan reaches the area where Peter was spotted and starts shouting: “Son…Peter. Show yourself… Please.” And Peter appears. The meeting between father and son is poignant. Ivan is a decrepit old man, he is 83 years old, and Peter is gray and tired from his difficult lifestyle. He is 60 years old. Peter tells his father, “You didn’t give up after all, and you finally found me. But I… can’t bring Ivana back from the dead.” Peter is devastated. He lies down on the ground, crosses his arms and mutters to his father: “Forgive me! For everything. Here I am! Kill me.” The old Ivan knelt before him and repented. “It’s my fault. You must forgive me, son,” he wails. Peter rises. The scene is sublime. They hug and say goodbye.
The action returns to Sofia again. The painful feeling of impending death is already hovering around the sick Nikolina. Father Pavel cries and prays incessantly. One evening, a close friend of Pavel confides in him about the mysterious hermit monk who lives somewhere in Strandja Mountain. Pavel thinks that this is a legend, but nevertheless decides to try to find this hermit anyway. During this period, his sister Nikolina rests. Then, in his despair, Pavel entrusts her lifeless body to their mother and leaves for Strandja Mountain. At this moment the mother reproachfully calls after him that he has said this prayer for his sister for so long, “Please don’t close your eyes,” and yet now she is dead, and now what will he say? How will he continue to pray? Then Paul stops, cries, and replies that there is no power to stop him and that he will continue to believe that there is hope for her to live. The mother thinks her son has lost his mind and begins to mourn him. Then Paul thinks on what his mother told him and begins to pray like this: “No, I will not give up. You will live. Please, open your eyes!” From that moment Paul began to repeat incessantly instead of the prayer “Do not close your eyes” its opposite, namely: “Open your eyes! Please, open your eyes!”
With this new prayer at the tip of his tongue, and after considerable difficulties, he manages to find the hermit in the mountain. The meeting between the two is shocking. Paul notices Peter first and silently approaches him. The holy man is kneeling with his hands raised to heaven and through tears repeats: “God, please count this sin against me…” Paul immediately understands that this is not a proper prayer. Because no normal person would pray to have his sin imputed to him, but on the contrary, to be forgiven. It is implied to the reader that this replacement was brought about because of the hermit’s mental deficiency and ignorance. Thus, his original prayer: “God, please do not count this sin against me” gradually, over the years, turned into “God, count this sin against me.” Pavel does not know that the hermit is illiterate and that he has almost gone wild in this desolate and inhospitable place. But when the two meet eye to eye, Paul realizes that he is facing a saint. Ignorant, uneducated, mentally slow, and yet a saint! The wrong prayer shows Paul that God does not look at our face, but at our heart. Pavel cries in front of Peter and tells him that his sister Nikolina had died earlier that day and that he had come all the way from Sofia to ask for his prayers. Then, to Paul’s horror, Peter says that there is no point in praying because God will not hear his petitions. However, Paul does not give in, but continues to beg him, in spite of everything, to pray for his deceased sister that she will come to life. But Peter remains adamant. Finally, in his anguish and helplessness, Paul swears to him like this: “If you had a sister who loved as I love my sister and could bring her back from the other world, you would understand me and help me!” These words shake Peter. He remembers the death of his little sister Ivana and understands that God, through this encounter, after so many years of repentance, is finally trying to exonerate him. Then Peter falls to his knees and cries out to God to perform a miracle and bring back the soul of Paul’s sister to the world of the living. This happens around four-thirty in the afternoon. Pavel thanks him and leaves the Strandja Mountain.
On the way to Sofia, Father Pavel could not contact his mother because the battery of his phone had died, and he, in his haste, forgot to take a charger with him. He arrives in Sofia in the early hours of the next day. When he comes home to Sofia, he is quiet, but he is also so exhausted that he collapses in the corridor and has no will to enter his sister’s room. Finally, he gets scared, goes in and finds Nikolina’s bed empty. Then he starts crying. Soon after, the door opens and his mother walks in and joins him in the room. He is surprised because he thought he was alone in the apartment. “After your sister died and you left,” his mother tells him, trembling, “I called 911. A doctor came and determined the death and wrote the death certificate. However, I did not leave her and continued to hold her hand as if she were still alive. She wasn’t breathing and I knew what I was doing was crazy, but I stood by her side. I was telling her that I love her and that you love her too. It was a little after four-thirty when it felt as if someone was telling me to pick her up. I obeyed and lifted her slightly, and she…she…opened her eyes! do you understand? She had died, the doctor had confirmed it, but she came back to life!”
Pavel can’t believe it. He asks where Nikolina is. His mother tells him that she is in the kitchen. Pavel storms into the kitchen, and sees Nikolina sitting in front of the table drinking tea.
After the themes of “ecumenism of the heart” and unity to be consolidated and expanded, here is the word “pilgrimage” which I would like to deepen in connection with the 11th assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held in Karlsruhe (Germany) last September.
The theme of “pilgrimage” was taken as a paradigm for the WCC’s work, following its 10th Assembly in Busan, Korea, in 2013. Since then, the “Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace” has visited many places of suffering and injustice. For Orthodox theologian Fr Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the WCC, “the image of the pilgrimage refers to our identity. We are a movement, not a static institution. The first Christians were called ‘people of the road’ (Acts 9:2)”.
To the pilgrimage of justice and peace have been added reconciliation and unity. This is what the love of Christ calls us to, as the final lines of the Assembly’s final message state: “The love of Christ, which is open to all people… can lead us on a pilgrimage of justice, reconciliation and unity and empower us to act through him”. https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/message-of-the-wcc-11th-assembly-a-call-to-act-together
A pilgrimage of justice and peace
Prior to the assembly, WCC delegations visited some of the bloody wounds in the world today, including Ukraine and the Middle East. The pilgrimage of justice and peace traversed the “dark valleys” of humanity where Christ awaits us and calls us to live out his love, such as climate issues, economic injustices, violence against women, marginalization of people living with disabilities, the damage of colonization and exclusion of indigenous peoples, and many others.
Jesus was outraged by anything that denies human dignity, and following his lead, the Church must boldly speak the truth about the injustices that exist within itself and in society and commit itself to new relationships. To be credible agents of reconciliation, moved by the love of Christ, we must begin by acknowledging our complicity in the perpetuation of injustices.
With many “mea culpas”, a sense of humility permeated the prayer life of the assembly. Christians from war-torn countries, those suffering from famine, injustice, climate disasters were able to express their suffering and their appeals were heard!
The Church must challenge exclusionary practices that perpetuate stigma, racism and xenophobia. Christ’s love liberates us to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 5). In this way we will move with one another towards reconciliation and unity.
The assembly also gave voice to witnesses and proposed concrete steps in each area, such as the Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network. https://www.oikoumene.org/what-we-do/edan ). In a plenary session on justice, Cuban reformed theologian Dora Arce Valentin said that violence against women has claimed more victims than the Coronavirus during the pandemic. For Adele Halliday of the United Church of Canada, indigenous people whose rights have been denied need not only an apology but also reparations. With Christ, reconciliation is possible, but it takes time for those on the periphery.
Samson Waweru Njoki, from the Orthodox Church in Kenya, is blind. He speaks out against misconceptions about disability: “Everyone can succeed because they have the same brain. God created human beings as co-creators, including the disabled. Our vocation as Christians is to include them… But when we don’t see the person in need next to us, we too are blind”.
Jørgen Skov Sørensen, from the Conference of European Churches, asks how wars are possible. As Europeans we like the idea of progress, so this question is difficult for secularized people. But as Christians we have an answer: war is possible because we know that we are broken beings. We do the evil that we do not want to do, as Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 7, so timely, says. The Church’s response to any war is to be animated by the love of Christ. It’s a worldwide community of mutual encouragement. This is his preferred definition of the Church.
The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace will continue to be an “integrative strategic direction”. Its name is now “Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation and Unity”. If there can be no peace and unity without justice, it is also true that there can be no justice without forgiveness and healing of hearts through the love of Christ.
All issues where churches and societies are divided must be addressed in this spirit of pilgrimage. The WCC calls for a deeper “theology of companionship”. (1) This should be lived out in particular with young people: walking with them to prepare, for example, “Ecumenical World Youth Days”, as in the Catholic Church (a proposal of the American Reformed pastor Wesley Granberg).
A pilgrimage of reconciliation and unity
Justice and peace issues have always been high on the WCC agenda. Today, climate-related issues are added. This was also reflected in the assembly. The Orthodox and Catholics feel that issues of Christian unity are not given enough emphasis. Full eucharistic communion should be the primary goal of the WCC, they say. And those concerned with evangelization believe that everything should lead to a response to Jesus’ prayer: “That they may be one, so that the world may believe“. And that this dimension is not sufficiently considered.
These various dimensions of the Ecumenical Council should not be set against each other, but rather articulated, remembering that the richness of the ecumenical movement would be lost if we were to confine ourselves to one area. Because the eternal Son of God became incarnate, he has taken on all the realities of our world. To reject the realities of the world would be to reject the incarnation. In principle there should be no tension between “Faith & Order” and “Life and Work”, although it is not easy to keep these two areas in balance.
Doctrinal and moral questions must also be discussed in this spirit of pilgrimage. Pilgrims have time: their temporality is not that of society, where immediate answers must be given. For example, on the theme of sexuality, a document invites to a “Conversation on the Pilgrimage Way: Journeying Together on Issues of Human Sexuality”. (2) I participated in an “ecumenical conversation” and a “workshop” on this controversial topic and will speak about it later.
On theological issues, Fr Ioan Sauca recognizes that there is a tendency today to emphasize the experience of ecumenism rather than formal agreements and to recognize that when we walk together we are also led to reflect together on questions of faith and truth.
This is how Pope Francis understands ecumenism. At each assembly, the “Joint Working Group” between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC issues its report. It is always awaited with interest by “ecumenists”. This year’s report is entitled “Walking, Praying and Working Together: An Ecumenical Pilgrimage”. (3) This title is based on the meditation given by Pope Francis during his visit to the WCC in Geneva in June 2018. https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/speech-of-the-pope-francis-during-the-ecumenical-meeting-at-the-wcc
The latter has often said: “Ecumenism is made on the way… Unity will not come as a miracle at the end: unity comes in the journey; it is the Holy Spirit who makes it in the journey”. (4)
A pilgrimage to vast horizons
This pilgrimage takes on much wider dimensions than simply ecclesial. Two testimonies were given. At the evening event organized by the inviting churches, the Franco-German reconciliation was discussed. “We must tell our stories of reconciliation… The Alemannic dialect unites Baden, Alsace and Switzerland. But here we all speak the language of Christ’s love,” says Bishop Heike Springhart of the Church of Baden-Württemberg. “If there was reconciliation between Germans and French in the aftermath of the war, there is hope for Russians and Ukrainians when the guns have fallen silent,” adds the president of the Union of Protestant Churches in Alsace and Lorraine.
The second testimony came from the surprising Azza Karam, Secretary General of Religions for Peace, who received the only standing ovation during the assembly. According to her, politicians have a great responsibility, but religious leaders have much greater challenges to face. She would like to kneel down, if she could, to ask the question: “Is the love of Christ only for Christians? I firmly believe that his love is also for me, a Muslim. Unity among Christians is not enough. Our world is much bigger and deserves the love of Christ”!
She then asks the assembly to work not only for unity among Christians but also among all. She calls on the assembly to be the conscience of the political establishment and to fight against all feelings of superiority, exclusion and the idea that war is a valid option.
William Wilson, president of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, believes that unity must first be lived out in our relationships with each other and then in our mission to witness to reconciliation in Christ. As a collaborator in the ecumenical initiative JC2033, I was pleased that he invited the assembly to keep the horizon of 2033 in mind. “In that year we will celebrate 2000 years of Christ’s Resurrection. Can we share the love of Christ together? Let us make the next ten years a decade of reconciliation”! After his speech, we had an influx of visitors to our stand! https://jc2033.org/en
Let us not put off walking on these paths where the Risen One goes before us. This is the appeal of Ruth Mathen, delegate of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church (India), who says that above all we need a “metanoia” (a change of attitude). We do not need to understand more, because we know enough. We need to engage in the deep compassion of Christ. Enough talk, let’s do it!
To conclude, I would like to quote the prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict which says: ” “Let us walk in the paths of the Lord by the guidance of the Gospel”! And let us give a great place to the Risen One among us by welcoming one another! It is he who will enlighten us, unite us and send us out to this world that needs reconciliation and unity. This is what this pilgrimage through the dark valleys inspires me.
1. See the book Towards an Ecumenical Theology of companionship (WCC, Geneva, 2022) https://www.oikoumene.org/fr/node/73099.
2. “Conversation on the pilgrim way: invitation to journey together on matters of human sexuality. WCC, Geneva, 2022. https://www.oikoumene.org/fr/node/73043.
3. Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, Walking, Praying, and Working Together: An Ecumenical Pilgrimage, Tenth Report 2014 – 2022, WCC publications Geneva-Rome, 2022.
4. Cf. Homily of Pope Francis, Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls 25th January 2014: “Unity will not come about as a miracle at the very end. Rather, unity comes about in journeying; the Holy Spirit does this on the journey. If we do not walk together, if we do not pray for one another, if we do not collaborate in the many ways that we can in this world for the People of God, then unity will not come about ! But it will happen on this journey, in each step we take. And it is not we who are doing this, but rather the Holy Spirit, who sees our goodwill”. Vatican website.
Over the last two decades the demand and supply for illicit drugs have dramatically increased as evidenced by the huge quantities seized in 2020 according to the European Drug Report: 739tons of cannabis, 213 tons of cocaine, 21.2 tons of amphetamines, 5.1 tons of heroin, 2.2 tons of methamphetamine, 1 ton of MDMA (ecstasy). Among the illicit drugs are not only found the traditional ones but also mixtures of illicit drugs, adulteration with other chemicals, newly synthetized drugs (as the NPS: New Psychoactive Substances: 5.1 tons seized) developed in clandestine laboratories, and finally the misuse and abuse of prescriptions drugs.
The young generations, in search of thrills, experiences and for recreational purposes have today easy access to a wide range of these illicit psychotropic drugs via dealers, shops and also on the web (the darknet). To counter the diversity of abuses and the real danger they represent for young consumers, in the UNGASS Resolution April 2016 A/S-30/L.1 Final Document, is already mentioned in the Prevention of Drug Abuse, paragraph (a) to:
“Take effective and practical primary prevention measures that protect people, in particular children and youth, from drug use initiation by providing them with accurate information about the risks of drug abuse, by promoting skills and opportunities to choose healthy lifestyles and develop supportive parenting and healthy social environments and by ensuring equal access to education and vocational training.”
Some six years later by listening, across Europe, to the parents, the children and even to teachers themselves, none or only a little progress is made in this field despite its crucial health, social and economic importance.
On the contrary, under lobbyists and companies’ pressures or sinking into corruption or by hidden vested interests some governments are refusing to see the previous human damages caused by the most used psychoactive drugs: alcohol and increasingly by cannabis. During the last decades, we have been witnessing real pressure to decriminalize or legalize the use of the drug cannabis. After long World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) experts studies and debates, this resulted in December 2020, the declassification of cannabis in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs from Schedule IV (drugs having ‘particularly dangerous properties’ so under the strictess control measures as for opioids and heroin) to Schedule I (available only for medical and research purposes). Still aware that “ poorly regulated medical cannabis programmes could step-up the ‘recreational use’ of the drug while diminishing public concern over its harmful effects” (News UN, 2020)
Based on Eurostat statistics 2020, 447.3 million of people are living in Europe and there are 73.6 million of young people aged 15-29 year-olds.
In 2019, for the aged 15 and over, one in twelve people consumed alcohol on a daily basis and one in five of these consumers have monthly an episode of heavy drinking (more than 60 gm of pure ethanol on a single occasion).
The average of alcohol consumption is 10 liters of pure alcohol per adult (2018) and it is responsible for some 255,000 to 290,000 deaths each year (World Health Organization, 2019). The proportion of 15 year-olds reporting drunkenness has declined in most EU countries between 1998 and 2018 from 41% to 24% for boys and 29% to 20% for girls.
The EMCDDA reports that the prevalence for the cannabis use among the young people (15-34 y.o.) is 15.5%. In 2020, 46% of European cannabis users are using it daily and 21% are using it between two and six days a week.
86,600 cannabis users entered in treatment last year, the source of referral being: self-referred (42%), from criminal justice (28%) and health-care system (22%).
The overall illicit trade in drugs is associated with violence, corruption of lawyers and officials, kidnappings, intimidation and homicide, as in July 2021 the drug-related shooting to death of a Dutch journalist exposing the drug lords. Also, the current increasing trend of dealings in open spaces is compromising the neighborhood safety.
“The trade in illegal drugs continues to dominate serious and organized crime in the EU, and nearly 40% of the criminal networks operating at the international level reported to Europol are active in drug trafficking. Fighting this illegal trade is a key priority for Europol and the EU” stated the Europol’s Executive Director (2022).
The illicit drug are big business market with an income of at least Euros 30 billion a year (EMCDDA & Europol 2019). This is a main source of income for the EU organized crime groups. The illicit drug use has also detrimental effects on the communities due to: dependency and shooting rooms, treatments, infectious diseases, deaths (8,300 overdoses), with a social cost representing up to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country.
The use of psychoactive substances was well evidenced after the neolithic revolution in 10,000 BC with settlment and development of agriculture and rituals. Thus, the cannabis plant usage was found in 8,100 BC in Asia; the alcohol which is produced by the natural yeast fermentation of sugars from fruits, vegetables, and grains, is also used by some animals.The earliest human made alcohol comes from 7,000 BC in China, then in Caucasus (6,000 BC), followed by Sumerians (3,000 BC with beer) and Aztecs (pulque). The cocaine was already used in 6,000 BC and the opium in 5,700 BC, and many more kind of vegetables after them. This was the human migration which started to spread the discovery and then the use of these substances.
In 2,700 BC in China the Emperor Shen Nung wrote a compendium of medicinal plants, describing 365 medications and many are still in use today. The first prescriptions appears in 2,600 BC in Sumerian cuneiform writing on clay tablets. This is also the time where the first apothecary shops where found in Baghdad, mainly providing plants, assisting the priests and the physicians in their needs in regard to the patient care. In India starting as far as 2,000 BC the basic text of the traditional Ayurveda (science of life) has an holistic approach. It described some 700 medicinal plants and more than 1,000 diseases that can be effectively treated. Later in Ancient Egypt in 1,500 BC the Ebers Papyrus mentioned no less than 700 different plant species used for healing. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates (460-370 BC), developed a more rational medicine and described some 300 medicinal plants and bequeathed to the posterity of medical doctors his famous Oath.
Meanwhile, in China from 168 BC lists of prescriptions were found and on first century AD, during the Han dynasty was compiled a ‘divine’ herbal manual. Galen (129-201 AD), a Greek anatomist devotee of Asclepius (the God of healing art), created the Theriac: an herbal recipe of some 60 ingredients. The physician and botanist Dioscorides (circa 30-90 AD) wrote De materia medica, a widely used encyclopedia about herbal medicine that was later developed during the 8th to 14th century, the Middle Eastern Islamic Golden Age, by scientists such as in the famous Canon of Medicine of Ibn Sina known as Avicenna (980-1037). There were also the important works in Latin of Al-Maridini and Ibn al-Wafid.
In the 10th century Al-Muwaffaq wrote The Foundations of the True Properties of Remedies. In the course of the 11th century these writings were more widely known in Europe due to the Muslim part of Spain and the translation of Arabic books in Latin by the Italian medical professor Pietro d’Abano and by Constantinos, a Salerno scholar of Italy. There are also the works of Paracelsus (1493-1541) a medical iconoclast Swiss German author of the maxim: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison”. The English classic herbalist Culpeper (1616-1654) was the author of the A Complete Herbal catalog. To name a few of them! (For more, refer to Wikipedia.org)
The word ‘drug’ appeared in the 14th century from old French ‘drogue’ (still in use) deriving from old Dutch ‘droge’ meaning ‘dry’ and referring to dry medicinal plants that were prepared and sold initially by apothecaries (from the Greek ‘apotheke’ meaning storage). The first apothecary profession and shop has been traced back in B.C. time in Babylon and expanded toward western countries. They were found in Europe during the years 1,100-1,200 and many countries have kept until today the appelation of ‘Apothecary’.
The pharmacy history develops in parallel with the history of medicine but as separated professions. ‘Pharmacy’ derives from the Greek ‘pharmakeia’: use of drugs, potions, poisoning, remedy, cure. The first world’s oldest pharmacy was established in 1,221 in the ornate designs and decorations of the Chapel of San Nicolo in the Santa Maria Novella Basilica of Florence (see here).
Nowadays, a drug as medicine can be defined as any chemical substance of known structure, other than a nutrient or dietary ingredient, intended for preventing, diagnosing, treating, curing or to relief an illness or an anomalous state.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the development of the chemistry began to modify the landscape of the pharmaceutical industry. Many of the drugs that were obtained from plants and animals are now chemically synthesized in laboratories as well as new substances. Often the Sixties are considered as the ‘pharmaceutical decade of the pharmaceutical century’ due to the amount of drugs available.
At international level the drugs are classified based on the three United Nations Conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988. In the European Union the drug regulations defining classes of precursors are derived from the EU objectives of free movements of goods. They are the Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 amended by the Regulation (EU) No1258/2013 for the intra-Community trade and the Council Regulation (EC) No111/2005 amended by the Regulation (EU) No 1259/2013 (see EMCDDA-Classification of controlled drugs).
The drugs are usually classified according to their physiological effects. Thus they can be listed, with some examples, as:
-Anesthetics & Dissociatives: Nitrous oxide (NO2-propellant used as “laughing gaz”), Ketamine, Methoxetamine (MXE), GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate also known as “rape drug”) and its precursor GBL (gamma-butyrolactone, an industrial solvent). The hallucinogens/psychedelics alter the mental state of the person and have a powerful effect on the mind such as hallucinations, euphoria, emotional disorders: Ibogaine, LSA (ergine), LSD, Mescaline, Peyotl, Ayahuasca, PCP (phencyclidine, the “Angel Dust”), …
-Cannabinoids: THC (Delta 9 TetraHydroCannabinol), Haschisch (resine), Butane hash oil (BHO), interferring with the physiology of the very important Endocannabinoid System. It had been also demonstrated (John Merrick et al, 2016) that the CBD or Cannabidiol in an acidic medium, as in the stomach, transforms slowly in the psychotrope THC (Delta 9 and Delta 8 TetraHydroCannabinols).
The synthetic cannabinoids (as Spice, K2, Black Mamba) much appreciated by the younger generations since the 2000’s are more dangerous and addictive than THC. They continue to emerge on the European market and are often mixed to the natural cannabis without consumer knowledge. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) highlighted that the adulteration of products with synthetic cannabinoids has been confirmed in France, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden (2021).
-Deliriants & Entactogens/Empathogens: Betel nut, Muscimol (Amanita muscaria), Saponins (oneirogenic), Scopolamine and Atropine from the Belladona plant, …
-Depressants: the action on the Central Nervous System (CNS) provides a feeling of relaxation, slowing reflexes, acting on sleep and for pain reduction: Alcohol, Barbiturates (Phenobarbital); they also include the opioids as the natural opium derivatives (or opiates): Opium, Morphine, Codeine, Heroin, and the semi- or synthetic opioids: Oxycodone, Tramadol, Fentanyl, the Methadone and Buprenorphine used against opioid dependence but also misused,…
-Psychiatric drugs: Atomoxetine (Strattera), Fluoxetine (Prozac), Haloperidol (Haldol), Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Paroxetine (Paxil), Sertraline (Zoloft), Ritaline (to treat the ‘hyperactivity’ of the children),…
-Benzodiazepines (psychiatric sedatives): Xanax (Alprazolam), Valium (Diazepam), Rohypnol (Flunitrazepam),…when combined with opioids they increased the risk of fatal overdose.
synthetic: amphetamines, methamphetamine (highly addictive), MDMA (ecstasy), 2C-B (phenethylamine), the cathinones 3-MMC (new cheap alternative to cocaine) and 4-MMC (mephedrone). The synthetic cathinones in Europe are the second most common new psychoactive substances (NPS) after the synthetic cannabinoids. They have also a wide range of adverse effects.
“The continued escalation of synthetic drug production in the European Union shows us the hard work of organized crime groups to profit from the illegal drug trade…” said Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs (EMCDDA Drug Report-2022):
All these drugs have the particularity to be psychoactive, generally rapidly addictives and toxic. Their main characteristics are the alteration of the neuronal activities, perceptions, ability to think and memory. So, when illegally used they are becoming rapidly harmful and potentially fatal for the individual health.
Another key point to consider is the drug accessibility, mainly for alcohol and more and more for cannabis, to the teenagers and adolescents. Indeed, their brain having not yet reached its full maturity with an immature limbic system (the reward center) and prefrontal cortex (cognitive and executive functions), the youth are still very vulnerable facing the peers pressure, the media, the marketing, without an education guidance and in lack of factual information on this subject. And this is especially true for the adolescents, that J. Kessel (in Mermoz, 1938) defined as “the age when the need for exchange, for confidence, becomes almost tragic by dint of its acuteness. Muted forces, a confuse and powerful hope and anxiety, exalt and weigh down the heart in turn. They have to be said, to be shared.”
According to the European School Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) Report 2019 and concerning the 16-year-old European students:
the alcoholic beverages are the psychoactive substances the more popular and easy to get. 35% of European students have consumed at least 5 glasses of alcohol on the same occasion with significant toxicity results;
the cannabis is the most widely distributed illicit substance consumed by the European youth, the average being 7.1% and according to the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST), one in three users would be at high risk of problematic use or dependence, which could be physical or/and mental.
among other illicit drugs: ecstasy is the most frequently tested (2.3%), followed by LSD and other hallucinogens (2.1%), cocaine (1.9%) and amphetamines (1.7%). The methamphetamines, crack cocaine and heroin affect only one in every 100 adolescents.
“Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance” William J. Durant (1885-1981). For centuries the schools were a place preparing for life with learning, establishing rules for citizenship, building a unity in the population and providing a qualification. But since the 1970s with the changing modern society and the fast spreading drug among the European juveniles, the traditional curricula became inadapted and the schools became also of a space of physical and psychological violences for the most vulnerable. Indeed, for the “Impact on communities” (European Commission, 2022) “Drug use is also considered a cause of youth crime by 72%, stealing, theft or burglary (66%) and violent crime or murder (58%) as well as of corruption (39%)”. Adding to a possible community and family role of protective factors, the educational authorities developed new educational schemes including the knowledge of drug phenomenon. And this is how many non-governmental organizations as the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe, came to assist the officials ones in the arduous, thankless but needed task of prevention as described in the International and European Conventions on the Rights of the Child and thus,
“Together, we can pursue more effective prevention and protection, to build resilience as we build back better, and leave no one behind.”(UNODC, 2020)
We have just had the opportunity to interview two of the academics working on the Ukrainian project “Religion on Fire”, Anna Mariya Basauri Ziuzina and Lillia Pidgorna, a project described in the article “Russia is destroying primarily its own Churches in Ukraine“.
LB:What is the purpose of « Religion on Fire » and what do you expect from it?
AMBZ and LP: The main purpose of the project “Religion on Fire” is to document Russia’s war crimes against buildings dedicated to religion, as well as against religious leaders of various denominations. In order to bring those responsible for war crimes to justice, documenting and collecting evidence of the crimes is crucial. Keeping that in mind, our team cooperates with lawyers and we hope that data collected by us will be used in Ukrainian and international courts as evidence of war crimes. Apart from such dramatic violations of international humanitarian law like killing and kidnapping religious personnel and destroying religious facilities, we also document the cases of looting religious objects and their usage with military aim, which are also examples of violations of the law by the Russian forces. The materials we collect can be also used in future studies of the war’s impact on the religious communities of Ukraine, in preparing reports for local and international organizations, and as a proof that Russia doesn’t attack only military objects as their officials often declare.
Being a group of academics, who devoted our life to studying and teaching about the religious diversity in Ukraine, we will use – and are using now – the collected materials to educate people about the damage this war is giving to various religious communities of Ukraine. We are analyzing the collected materials and suggesting ways how Ukraine could restore its rich religious life after our victory.
LB:Why and how do you think that the findings of your project are helpful in establishing that the Russian Federation is guilty of war crimes? How do you establish the intention when you document the attacks on religious facilities and personnel?
AMBZ and LP: We strongly believe that documenting the war crimes helps to ensure that all people responsible for them will be brought to justice, and justice for the victims and survivors of the atrocities will be secured. While documenting any particular case related to the damage and destruction of religious buildings, we try to analyze the type of the bombardment using all the data we have and collect all the evidence of deliberate attacks. Though the official results of the investigation of attacks on religious facilities have not been published yet, we know about at least 5 religious objects that were special targets and thus were deliberately destroyed by the Russian army. For establishing deliberate attacks, we analyze the following factors:
testimonies of eyewitnesses, both published and collected during our own field investigations in Kyiv region. Such testimonies prove that e.g. St. George church in the village of Zavorychy (Kyiv region), historical landmark of the XIX century, was destroyed on March 7, 2022 by targeted fire.
the fact that a religious building was shelled with a machine gun, especially at point blank range. This fact proves that the religious facility was a target, that’s the case for St. Paraskeva church in Druzhnya village (Kyiv region), where a roadside chapel was shelled with a machine gun.
the fact that a religious object was fired from inside. That’s the case for St. Dymytrii Rostovsky church in Makariv (Kyiv region), where interior icons were fired.
We’d like to outline that any attacks on religious buildings result in ruining cultural and spiritual heritage and restrict religious freedom, that is prohibited by international humanitarian law.
Wilful killing and taking of hostages of civilians are considered to be grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. For now we know about at least 26 cases when religious personnel has been killed by bombings, shot with automatic weapons or kidnapped. One of the most well-known cases of wilful killing of the priest is the killing of Fr. Rostyslav Dudarenko on March 5, 2022 in Yasnohorodka village (Kyiv region). According to numerous evidence of eyewitnesses, he was shot dead by the Russian soldiers when they were invading the village, and unarmed Fr. Rostyslav raised a cross over his head, trying to come up to them.
As far as we are concerned, we can not establish the intention to commit a crime, this is done by the court. But we can provide lawyers with maximum information about a specific case, sticking to the facts, provided by reliable sources and eyewitnesses, which can be used for proving this intention.
LB:What would you like the European states to do about this situation specifically? What’s your call?
AMBZ and LP: We experience constant help and support from European countries and we’re immensely grateful for that. And in order to set justice, we’d like the European States, first, to keep the focus on the war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, to spread truthful and evidence-based information about their violations of international humanitarian law.
Second, to advocate for sanctions against Russian religious figures who play an important role in the war by supporting it, calling for continuation of hostilities, and often, using their influence on masses, encourage them to participate in the war promising reward in heaven. And we call on European countries to continue to support Ukraine. We understand that with time it becomes more difficult to do it, we see the sacrifice Europe is making to support Ukraine and we are thankful for that. But we will repeat again and again: Russia is committing war crimes against religions in Ukraine and we need all your support to stop it. We need all the support to fight for freedom and democracy, because religious diversity is a foundation of democratic society.
FECRIS (European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sects and Cults), an umbrella organization funded by the French government, that gathers and coordinates “anti-cult” organizations throughout Europe and beyond, has been the subject of several of our articles recently, for their support to the Russian propaganda, which had started far before the current invasion of Ukraine, but recently culminated through their Russian representatives.
As FECRIS is a French registered organization, whose president André Frédéric is a Belgian member of the Parliament of Wallonia (one of the three self-governing regions of Belgium) and a Belgian Senator, when they felt they were in the spotlight, they also felt they should react to avoid becoming labelled as enemy agents by the French authorities. So instead of clearly distancing themselves from their Russian members, whose hate speeches and violent statements against Ukraine are now very well documented, they recently decided to publish a kind of counterattack on their website.
FECRIS claims to be falsely labelled “pro-Russian”
They claim that they are “systematically attacked by an organised movement that supports cultish/sectarian organisations”, and falsely labelled as “pro-Russian”, and they advance a weird argument that they expect would vindicate them: “FECRIS counts Ukrainian associations among its members.”
Whilst that does not change anything to the fact that they have been working with the Kremlin for years and have supported incredible anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian statements and acts during this time, we thought that we should dig into their claim to have “Ukrainian members”. And what we found is interesting.
On their website, they feature two Ukrainian member associations. One is “Dneprpetrovsk City Center for the help to Victims of Destructive Cults – Dialogue”, which in fact has not published one line on their website since 2011. It looks like this member association stopped its activity more than 10 years ago but still remains on the FECRIS website to increase the number of members.
FECRIS Ukrainian rep in “Defense of Orthodoxy from infidels”
The second one is “F.P.P.S. – Family and Personality Protection Society”. Whilst their website is not active since 2014 (which means since the Maidan revolution), we found that one of their members, which was speaking during the last event they organized in Odessa on February 21, 2014, less than a week before the Russian invasion began, was Vladimir Nikolaevich Rogatin, a Ukrainian scholar who is board member of the All-Ukrainian Apologetic Center in the name of St. John Chrysostom (Moscow Patriarchate), and teaches at the Kazan Federal University, in Russia. The All-Ukrainian Apologetic Center in the name of St. John Chrysostom’s activities are “Defense of Orthodoxy from infidels, non- Orthodox, pagan, occult and godless delusions”. Aims that tell the whole story.
Vladimir Rogatin – FECRIS Ukrainian Representative
Rogatin is an interesting character. He almost uniformly introduces himself as the Ukrainian representative of FECRIS, and in fact is very “pro-Russian”. Since 2010 he wrote about the impact of “cults” and non-Orthodox religions on the contemporary Ukraine. And since the “Euromaidan”.[1] , he wrote a series of articles to show how the changes in Ukraine were led by new religious movements (“cults”, in his mind) as well as Muslims, and how the Russian Orthodox Church would have been persecuted under the new governance bodies, pointing what he called “the legal nihilism on the part of the authorities in relation to Orthodox believers”.
FECRIS rep: Ukraine plagued by Satanism
In 2014, he started to attribute the cause of the Euromaidan to the harmful influence of new religious movements. He added that those were already behind what had happened in Ukraine in 2004 (orange revolution).[2] That was completely aligned with the Vice-president of FECRIS Alexander Dvorkin who did the same at the same period.
In July 2014, he was also one of the first, if not the first, to spread the idea that Ukraine was plagued by Satanism, which he linked to Nazism. In an interview with bankfax.ru:
“There is an increase in the influence and presence of various kinds of satanic cults in Ukraine, said Volodymyr Rogatin, corresponding member of the European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sectarianism (FECRIS). According to various estimates, there are more than a hundred satanic groups operating in our country, with a total of about 2,000 adherents.”
Few months later, he developed in another interview in a Russian Newspaper:
“According to Vladimir Rogatin, a correspondent member of the European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sectarianism, living in Nikolaev, ‘for at least three years, graffiti has been updated in front of the wooden (symbols of WotanJugend). This neo-Nazi group, which has existed in Russia and Ukraine for several years, proclaims the worship of the god Wotan (Odin). Judging by the messages on the group's Internet resources, its members took an active part in the events on the Independence Square in Kyiv’. According to Rogatin, ‘after they returned from the Maidan, they painted the whole city with their graffiti.’ Some of the WotanJugend members then joined the ranks of the Azov Battalion.”
Vladimir Rogatin in Moscow
In January 2015, he participated with other representatives of FECRIS to a huge Russian Orthodox event in Moscow, the XXIII International Christmas Educational Readings, where he explained how the “neo-pagan cults” were operating in Ukraine.
Since, he continued to publish about cults and satanism in Ukraine, adding the participation of Ukrainian Muslims to his rhetoric about the causes of the (not beloved) Euromaidan.
FECRIS inspiring Kremlin’s apparatchiks
It’s interesting to note that this rhetoric of satanism plaguing Ukraine and being the cause of Euromaidan hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. Indeed, it’s today a real trend for high-ranking Russian government leaders to use it and justify the war by the necessity to “de-satanize” Ukraine. Number 2 of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Alexei Pavlov recently declared: “I believe that with the continuation of the ‘special military operation’ it becomes more and more urgent to carry out the de-Satanization of Ukraine, or, as the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov aptly put it, its ‘complete de-Shaitanization2’”. He added that “hundreds of sects are operating in Ukraine, trained for a specific purpose and flock.” Pavlov mentioned the “Church of Satan”, which allegedly “spread across Ukraine”. “Using network manipulation and psychotechnologies, the new government turned Ukraine from a state into a totalitarian hypersect,” Pavlov said.
Even the French President Macron has been called a “pitiful and shabby little satanist” by TV presenter Vladimir Soloviev (On Rossiya 1, the main TV Chanel in Russia). And Putin himself, on September 30, portrayed the annexation as a holy war against the West, which is helping Ukraine to defend itself, justified because “They [the West] are moving toward open satanism”. So well done FECRIS, you’re a hit!
Was it a decent defense?
So finally, while we are not saying that all Ukrainians associated with FECRIS are pro-Russian, and while we agree that FECRIS has indeed Ukrainian members, we notice that one of the two Ukrainian FECRIS member associations is dead for more than 10 years, and the second one has been associated with and represented by one of the most pro-Russian Ukrainians, who has been pushing (and inspiring) the Kremlin’s propaganda (as every Russian FECRIS member) against Ukraine since 2014.
So, was that a decent defense to argue that FECRIS had Ukrainian members?
[1] Euromaidan is the name given to the pro-European protests protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government’s sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia. Ukraine’s parliament had overwhelmingly approved of finalizing the Agreement with the EU, while Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it.
[2] Vladimir Nikolaevich Rogatin, 2014, “Features Of The Research Approaches In The Study Of New Religious Movements In Contemporary Ukraine”, QUID: Investigación, Ciencia y Tecnología, 1401-1406
[3] Shaitanization: Shaitan, Sheitan is an Arabic word that means devil. In a broader sense, sheitan can mean: demon, perverse spirit. This term is etymologically derived from Aramaic and Hebrew: satan
by Anthony Pereira – Brazil election – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has achieved a remarkable political comeback by regaining the presidency of Brazil. His narrow victory, in the second round run-off, was the closest margin of victory in an election since Brazil reverted to democracy in the late 1980s. The result was 50.9% for Lula and 49.1% for the incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro – a difference of little more than 2 million votes out of almost 119 million valid votes cast.
Lula is now set for a third term, 12 years after ending his second term as an unusually popular president who achieved both economic growth and social inclusion between 2003 and 2010.
During the campaign the two contenders slugged it out over some familiar themes: Bolsonaro reminded voters of the corruption uncovered concerning several members of Lula’s administration. For his part, Lula criticised Bolsonaro for his poor handling of the COVID crisis, in which Brazil recorded the second-highest national death toll behind the United States.
But – unlike in 2018 when Lula was ruled as ineligible to run because of his 2017 conviction on corruption charges (since anulled) and Bolsonaro instead beat the inexperienced and relatively unknown Fernando Haddad, this was not an election in which corruption was a central issue.
Instead, the economy seemed to be the main concern of most voters. The core of Lula’s support is concentrated most heavily in the impoverished north-east. Bolsonaro’s support is particularly strong within better-off households of the south, south-east and centre-west.
Lula’s coalition of ten parties was a broad coalition ranging from the left to the centre-right. The campaign brought together two political forces that had been enemies in the 2000s: Lula’s Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT) and politicians who had been or still were members of the centre-right Social Democratic Party (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, or PSDB) and the Brazilian Democratic Movement (Movimento Democratico Brasileiro, or MDB).
Lula’s vice presidential running mate was Geraldo Alckmin, a conservative Catholic and former member of the PSDB. MDB member Simone Tebet, a presidential candidate in the first round, campaigned for Lula in the second round and who will probably be offered a place in Lula’s cabinet.
One of the keys to the future Lula government is whether this coalition can stay together. It remained united during the campaign, when it had the shared goal of defeating the incumbent president. Whether it will retain its unity in government is another question.
Fissures could appear when the administration has to make difficult choices about the management of the economy and the challenge of rebuilding state capacity in those areas most damaged by Bolsonaro’s administration. The damage is particularly evident in the environment, public health, education, human rights and foreign policy.
Bolsonaro backlash?
Bolsonaro has yet to make a pronouncement about the election result either to concede or allege fraud. The coming days will offer a test of his character and the nature of the movement that brought him to the presidency.
That movement is sometimes characterised as a hard-right alliance of beef (agribusiness), Bible (evangelical protestants) and bullets (parts of the police and military, as well as the newly enlarged ranks of gun owners).
Bolsonaro could reprise what he said after the final debate (“whoever has the most votes takes the election”) and concede defeat. But he could also emulate his hero and mentor Donald Trump and attempt to propagate a narrative about fraud, refuse to accept the legitimacy of Lula’s electoral victory and become the leader of a disloyal opposition to the new government.
Under Brazilian law he has the right to contest the result by making a case to the supreme electoral court, as did the losing candidate in 2014, Aecio Neves of the PSDB. But he would have to submit compelling evidence. The result would probably be similar to the outcome after the 2014 election, when the court eventually ruled against Neves.
Lula reached out to the opposition in his acceptance speech on Sunday evening. He said something that Bolsonaro never said after his 2018 victory – nor at any time since: “I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not only those who voted for me.”
He also set out some of the goals of his future government. The most pressing are reducing hunger and poverty, accelerating economic growth, and strengthening the industrial sector. Importantly Lula also stressed the need to cooperate with international partners to slow down the rate of deforestation in the Amazon.
Challenges ahead
His government will have an uphill battle. Government coffers are emptier than they were when Lula was last president. Large increases in the minimum wage, which Lula appeared to commit to during the campaign, are likely to push up inflation, currently running at around 7%. Productivity remains stagnant and industry – which has shrunk as a share of the overall economy – is internationally uncompetitive in many sectors.
But Lula’s biggest challenge will probably be political. Bolsonaro may have lost the presidency, but many of his allies have won powerful political positions around the country. Five of Bolsonaro’s former ministers won places in the Senate, where Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) has the biggest bloc of seats. Three of Bolsonaro’s ex-cabinet members won places in the lower house of the national Congress, where the PL is also the largest party.
In the states, candidates aligned with Bolsonaro won 11 of 27 state governorships, while candidates aligned with Lula won only eight. More importantly, the three biggest and most important states in Brazil – Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo – will be governed by pro-Bolsonaro governors from 2023.
Bolsonaro may be due to leave the presidency – but Bolsonarismo is not going anywhere.
Anthony Pereira – Visiting Professor in the School of Global Affairs, King’s College London, is also director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University
After the word “love” with the theme of “ecumenism of the heart”, which I mentioned in my previous article, “unity” is the second word I would like to use to reflect on the World Council of Churches’ World Assembly in Karlsruhe in early September.
Unity first with God! Union with God is indeed the source of unity among us. The whole assembly was anchored in daily Bible studies, morning and evening prayers where participants prayed both together and according to different Western and Eastern liturgical traditions. Without prayer, the WCC would only be a counterpart to the United Nations! And without faith, the WCC would be just another NGO. The heart of faith must be the heart of ecumenism. In this sense, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby calls to “be strong in the heart of our faith but relaxed in its limits”.
In the centre of the “oasis of peace”[1] , the tent of celebrations with the evocative name, stood an icon of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, symbolizing Christ’s desire to meet each person, to transform them and to set them on their way.
Unity around Christ
The plenary meeting on the unity of the Church began with the Taizé song “Ubi Caritas…” (“Where there is love and charity, there God is present”). Brother Alois, the prior of Taizé, says that our union with Christ must precede dogmatic formulas. Turning to him together then leads us to confess him together. Hence the importance of the common prayer that his community wants to live with everyone, especially with young people.
Relationships are essential for deepening the fellowship of WCC member churches. Romanian Orthodox Fr Ioan Sauca, the WCC general secretary, is convinced of this. In particular, he stresses the importance of the Global Christian Forum, a platform between the WCC, the Catholic Church, the World Evangelical Alliance and Pentecostal churches to broaden the experience of Christian unity. It encourages the WCC to continue its support.
As for the South African pastor Jerry Pillay who will succeed him, he has a vision of a WCC that is “relevant, praying, celebrating and walking together”, whose priority will be to consolidate the visible unity of the churches, which is crucial for witnessing in a divided and wounded world. And this unity can only be “kenotic”, in the humble and uncluttered style of Christ.
Bishop Brian Farrell, the secretary of the “Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity” (so renamed last June), expresses the Catholic Church’s appreciation for the WCC’s work on ecclesiology: “Towards a Common Vision of the Church”. The document identifies convergences and differences (compatible or not); it gives parameters for the future. His hope is that the ecumenical movement will be more rooted in a kerygmatic and charismatic faith, that it will listen to young people, and that the churches will expect each other. “We need to return to the simplicity of Jesus and the Gospel. Our philosophies and theologies cannot solve our crises. In the end, it is the grace of Christ that will bring us to unity”.
This document on the Church is certainly a major achievement. But the challenges between and within churches today are more moral issues, especially in the area of sexuality. Orthodox Archbishop Job Getcha believes that the WCC’s primary goal of visible unity among Christians has been relegated to the background. “As Christians we are challenged by the fratricidal war between Christians in Ukraine. Is this the witness we want to give to the secularized world? We have to repent and be reconciled. The word ‘reconciliation’ is the key to the future”.
Jacqueline Grey, an Australian Pentecostal biblical scholar, wonders whether the sons of Zebedee (who considered themselves Jesus’ favorites) might not be Pentecostal? They are young, ambitious, self-confident and in conflict with the other disciples. But Jesus calls them to gather around him. “This is how Jesus continues to call us today. I hope for more Pentecostal participation in the ecumenical movement. Even though we are a young movement, we are learning fast. Let us overcome suspicions and stereotypes: this requires us to love each other and therefore to know each other better”!
New challenges for Christian unity
I participated in an ‘ecumenical conversation’ on ecclesiology prepared by members of the Faith and Order Commission. It identified some broadening reflections on Christian unity.
The Covid-19 pandemic has raised various ecclesiological challenges and questions. What does it mean to be (and do) Church amid a pandemic? What are the theological presuppositions and implications of the pandemic for the liturgical, sacramental, community, diaconal and missionary life of the Church?
The digital revolution has also raised new questions. Where is the Church in the online world? What about, for example, a Lord’s Supper shared on the internet during the pandemic?
The issue of spirituality is crucial, especially for the “youth continent”, which is often disconnected from the church and longs for an understanding of how theology is applied in daily life. Indeed, the WCC has taken the participation of young people seriously. Their loud and clear voices were heard and encouraged. Their participation gave rise to much optimism for the future of the ecumenical movement, through a pre-assembly gathering of over 300 young people and the meeting of over 140 young theologians in the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) program.
The experience of secularization in many countries also raises the question of how the Church can witness in a context where it no longer has the same authority and cultural influence.
Above all, this statement gives me much food for thought: “World Christianity is growing faster than the ecumenical movement”. If it is extremely fragmented with thousands of independent churches in the world, what should be the priorities? How can we reach out to these new churches and invite them to join a pilgrimage of reconciliation and unity?
Picture: Albin Hillert, WCC
[1] An evocation of Neve Shalom – Wahat as Salam (meaning in Hebrew and Arabic “Oasis of Peace”), a village inhabited by Jews and Arabs, founded in 1969 after the Six Day War. The discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was very present during the Karlsruhe assembly and was even the most contradictory debate.
Europe’s political landscape is a complex tapestry of power plays and shifts, where the fate of nations and the future of the European Union are interwoven. As the continent grapples with various challenges, from the ongoing Brexit saga to the rise of populist movements, the dynamics of power are constantly evolving. In this article, we will explore the key players and trends shaping Europe’s political landscape, shedding light on the intricate web of alliances and rivalries that define the continent’s political future.
Rising and Falling: Shifting Tides in European Politics
The European political scene has witnessed significant shifts in recent years. Traditional powerhouses have found themselves losing their grip, while new forces are emerging on the scene. One prime example is Germany, which has long been Europe’s economic and political powerhouse. However, the country’s political landscape has been rocked by the decline of traditional parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing populist party, has further fragmented the political spectrum, challenging the status quo.
Meanwhile, in countries such as France and Italy, traditional parties have faced a similar fate. France’s political landscape has been reshaped by the arrival of Emmanuel Macron and his En Marche! movement, which has disrupted the traditional two-party system. Italy, on the other hand, has seen the rise of the Five Star Movement, a populist and anti-establishment force that has shaken the foundations of the country’s political establishment. These shifts not only reflect a growing disillusionment with traditional politics but also highlight the increasing fragmentation of European societies.
In addition to internal changes within individual countries, Europe’s political landscape is also being shaped by external forces. The rise of Euroscepticism and the surge of populist movements have challenged the European Union’s unity and cohesion. Brexit, in particular, has been a seismic event that has sent shockwaves throughout the continent, prompting a reevaluation of the EU’s future and the balance of power within it. The departure of one of the EU’s largest member states has not only weakened the Union but has also emboldened other Eurosceptic movements across Europe, who now see an opportunity to challenge the established order.
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Unraveling Europe’s political landscape requires a keen understanding of the power dynamics at play. From the rise of populist movements reshaping traditional parties to the external challenges facing the European Union, the continent is undergoing a period of profound transformation. As we move forward, it is imperative to closely monitor these power plays and shifts, as they will ultimately shape the future of Europe and its place on the global stage. Only by gaining a deeper understanding of Europe’s political landscape can we navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
