Catalonia
Deutschewelle, “Spain seeks arrest warrant for deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont,” November 2, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/spain-seeks-arrest-warrant-for-deposed-catalan-leader-carles-puigdemont/a-41202052
Sexual harassment
I believe Anita Hill, who accused then Supreme Court-nominee Clarence Thomas, but I think Jane Mayer would have done better to have more fully explored the numerous allegations that have been made recently in a much longer piece. As is, the article doesn’t quite live up to the headline.
Not all of these accusers are “powerful women” and we are, in fact, seeing accusations made against a great many men. It’s possible to speculate that they are overcoming what Hill points to because they have essentially piggybacked their accusations on top of those against Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Uber, the military, universities, Bill Clinton, and the list, I’m sure, goes on. These women are catching a moment, a moment that I think Mayer mostly overlooks but maybe the headline writer didn’t, and a moment I think is very important, in which, if we as a society do the right thing (we probably won’t), we will reflect on how we treat women generally.
What’s emerging here is that we are not, any more than we are with cops shooting Blacks, dealing with a few bad apples. This is a cultural problem and not just because it so often turns a blind eye to these accusations but because women are continuously at risk of sexual harassment and worse from a great many men. I won’t say “all men,” but I will say that this risk is ubiquitous.
Jane Mayer, “Anita Hill on Weinstein, Trump, and a Watershed Moment for Sexual-Harassment Accusations,” New Yorker, November 1, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/anita-hill-on-weinstein-trump-and-a-watershed-moment-for-sexual-harassment-accusations