The Boston Globe - 20.09.2019

A4 TheWorld The Boston Globe FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

By Dan Bilefsky
and Ian Austen
NEW YORK TIMES
Revelations that Prime Min-
ister Justin Trudeau of Canada
has dressed up in brownface
and blackface on multiple occa-
sions have rocked his re-elec-
tion campaign, reinforcing a
narrative that has dogged him
throughout his political career:
that he isn’t really who he por-
trays himself to be.
Trudeau has long cast him-
self as a glittering spokesman
for the world’s beleaguered lib-
erals, standing up to President
Trump, supporting gender and
Indigenous rights, welcoming
immigrants, and fighting cli-
mate change and racism.
But that carefully calibrated
image suffered a major blow

this week when photos and a

video emerged of the prime

minister dressing up as racist

caricatures in the early 1990s

and in 2001.

One showed him at an “Ara-

bian Nights” party, costumed as

Aladdin in brownface makeup

and a turban, his arms wrapped

around a woman. The picture

was taken while Trudeau was

29 and teaching at a school in

Vancouver, British Columbia.

While apologizing for that

image at an appearance on

Wednesday night, Trudeau also

admitted to dressing up in

blackface while performing

“Day-O,” the Jamaican folk

song, in high school.

On Thursday morning,

more damaging material sur-

faced. Trudeau’s campaign

spokeswoman, Zita Astravas,

confirmed that a video posted

by GlobalNews, a Canada-based

news organization, showed the

prime minister in the early

1990s dressed in blackface and

an Afro wig. In the video, he is

waving his hands around and

sticking out his tongue.

“Justin Trudeau has careful-

ly crafted an image of what Ca-

nadians aspire to: hope, open-

ness to the world, and youth,”

said Jean-Marc Léger, chief ex-

ecutive of Léger, a leading poll-

ing company in Montreal. “The

blackface episode shatters that

perfect image and casts ques-

tions on his authenticity.”

Nevertheless, he said, Cana-

dians were a “forgiving people”

and predicted that Trudeau,

who on Wednesday night apol-

ogized repeatedly for behavior

that had taken place nearly two

decades ago, could still recover.

“This is something I

shouldn’t have done many

years ago,” Trudeau said

Wednesday. “It was something

that I didn’t think was racist at

the time, but now I recognize it

was something racist to do, and

I am deeply sorry.”

On Thursday, Trudeau said

he did not disclose the black-

face incident caught on the vid-

eo because he did not remem-

ber the episode, saying that his

life of privilege came “with a

massive blindspot.”

Nik Nanos, the founder of

Nanos Research, an Ottawa

polling firm, said that finding a

way back, while not impossible,

will be very difficult for

Trudeau and his Liberal Party.

“This is about as bad news

as you can get in a campaign,”

he said. “The Liberals have to

find a way to change the chan-

nel.”

Nanos said that even before

this week’s news, support for

the Conservative Party,

Trudeau’s principal opponent,

began inching upward after

Conservatives ran attack ads

suggesting the prime minister

was “not as advertised.”

“The Justin Trudeau revela-

tion is a validation of the Con-

servative attack,” Nanos said.

”Right now the election is

about Justin Trudeau,” Nanos

added. “And in my experience,

the person an election is about

loses.”

In many ways Trudeau has a

strong hand as the Oct. 21 na-

tional election approaches.

Canada’s economy is vibrant,

with unemployment at historic

lows. His move to bring in

25,000 Syrian refugees was

widely acclaimed and his gov-

ernment introduced several pi-

oneering policies, including le-

galizing recreational marijuana

and assisted dying.

But in Canada, he is a deeply

polarizing figure. Some, espe-

cially in the western parts of the

country, have long seen him as

too showy and sanctimonious,

an elitist do-gooder who was

never up to the job.

Others see him as a powerful

symbol of a humanistic country

who, in the era of Trump,

helped a middle-level country

punch above its weight globally.

“Everything the prime min-

ister does is a calculation about

his image,” said Nicola Di Iorio,

who recently stepped down as a

Liberal member of parliament

of a district in Montreal. “There

are too many gimmicks.”

Resurfaced video of Trudeau in blackface compounds scandal

‘Carefullycrafted’

imagedamaged,

pollsterssay

By Mari Yamaguchi

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO — A Japanese court

ruled Thursday that three for-

mer executives of Tokyo Elec-

tric Power Company were not

guilty of professional negli-

gence in the 2011 disaster at

the Fukushima nuclear power

plant because ensuring abso-

lute safety at nuclear plants was

not a government requirement

at that time.

The ruling by the Tokyo Dis-

trict Court ended the only crim-

inal trial related to the nuclear

accident that has kept tens of

thousands of residents away

from their homes because of

lingering radiation contamina-

tion.

Lawyers representing the

5,700 Fukushima residents

who filed the criminal com-

plaint said they will push prose-

cutors to appeal the decision. A

group of supporters stood out-

side the court Thursday with

placards reading ‘‘Unjust rul-

ing.’’

The court said ex-TEPCO

chairman Tsunehisa Katsuma-

ta, 79, and two other former ex-

ecutives were also not guilty of

causing the deaths of 44 elderly

patients whose health deterio-

rated during or after forced

evacuations from a local hospi-

tal and a nursing home.

The executives were accused

of failing to anticipate the mas-

sive tsunami that struck the Fu-

kushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant

on March 11, 2011, following a

magnitude 9 earthquake, and

of failing to take measures that

might have protected the plant.

Katsumata and codefen-

dants Sakae Muto, 69, and Ichi-

ro Takekuro, 73, pleaded not

guilty at the trial’s opening ses-

sion in June 2017. They said

predicting the tsunami was im-

possible. Three of the plant’s re-

actors had meltdowns, spread-

ing radiation into surrounding

communities and into the sea.

Prosecutors in December re-

quested five-year prison sen-

tences for each executive. In its

ruling, the court said the defen-

dants held responsible posi-

tions at TEPCO, but that did not

necessarily mean they were re-

sponsible for taking measures

beyond those in the legal regu-

latory framework.

It said there is no proof they

could have foreseen that a tsu-

nami could flood the plant the

way it did in 2011.

Executives

notguilty

forroleat

Fukushima

Japanesecourt

findsnonegligence

By Susannah George
WASHINGTON POST
KABUL — Violence in Af-
ghanistan killed at least 24 ci-
vilians Thursday as the country
prepares for presidential elec-
tions following the collapse of
peace talks earlier this month.
A Taliban suicide bomber
struck a hospital in southern
Afghanistan and left more than
15 dead, while in the country’s
east, a US airstrike killed nine
civilians, according to US and
Afghan officials.
The Ministry of Interior said
the car bomb in the southern
Zabul province also wounded
66 people. The Taliban said in a
statement it was targeting an
intelligence headquarters near
the hospital.
The blast follows a Taliban
attack Wednesday that hit an
office issuing voter identifica-
tion cards and a bombing the
day before at a campaign rally
held by Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani.
The US airstrike was con-
ducted in Nangahar province
early Thursday morning and
was targeting Islamic State
group fighters, according to
Colonel William Leggett, a US
military spokesman in Kabul.
Leggett said the strike is un-
der investigation and US forces
are working with local officials
to ‘‘determine whether there
was collateral damage.’’
‘‘We are fighting in a com-
plex environment against those
who intentionally kill and hide
behind civilians,’’ Leggett said
in a statement.
Attaullah Khogyani, the

spokesman for the Nangahar

provincial governor said the

strike hit farmers working in

the fields and the death toll is

expected to rise.

But later in the day, Nanga-

har Governor Shahmahmood

Miakhel disputed the reports of

civilian casualties. He said all

those killed were militants.

The United States is con-

ducting operations against the

local branch of the Islamic

State in addition to fighting

against the Taliban in Afghani-

stan.

The Islamic State has signifi-

cantly fewer forces than the Tal-

iban and in many parts of the

country they fight each other,

but US officials see the Islamic

State as the greater terrorist

threat.

Many in Afghanistan feared

new waves of violence after the

collapse in peace talks earlier

this month coupled with prepa-

rations for presidential elec-

tions on Sept. 28.

Both US and Taliban forces

pledged to step up attacks after

President Trump abruptly de-

clared the talks ‘‘dead’’ after

more than a year of negotia-

tions. The Taliban have also re-

peatedly pledged to derail a

vote they described as a ‘‘fake

presidential election,’’ warning

civilians to stay away from elec-

tion-related offices and events.

If violence escalates, many

fear extremely low turnout that

could undermine the election’s

legitimacy. Security concerns

have delayed the election twice,

and the government an-

nounced that some 2,500 out of

7,400 polling stations will be

closed on Election Day. Most of

the closed sites are in provinces

where insurgents are active.

The Taliban is estimated to con-

trol or influence nearly half of

Afghanistan’s 400 districts,

most of them rural.

In a statement condemning

the violence Wednesday, Secre-

tary of State Mike Pompeo

called on the Taliban to ‘‘dem-

onstrate a genuine commit-

ment to peace rather than con-

tinue the violence and destruc-

tion that causes such

inordinate harm to the Afghan

people and the future of their

country.’’

Separately, Pompeo an-

nounced in a statement Thurs-

day that the US government

was taking a series of steps in

response to corruption in Af-

ghanistan. Pompeo said the

United States would withhold

about $100 million from a large

energy infrastructure project

but would continue to support

the project by other means.

‘‘We expect the Afghan govern-

ment to demonstrate a clear

commitment to fight corrup-

tion, to serve the Afghan peo-

ple, and to maintain their

trust,’’ Pompeo said. The secre-

tary of state also added that the

United States would withhold

$60 million due to transparen-

cy concerns regarding the Af-

ghan national procurement au-

thority and would cease fund-

ing the Afghan monitoring and

evaluation committee at the

end of the calendar year.

Violence

escalates

asAfghan

votelooms

Talibanvowsto

derailelection

AHMAD WALI SARHADI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

An Afghan security member helped people carry an injured man after a suicide attack devastated an area hospital.

By Karla Adam
and William Booth
WASHINGTON POST
LONDON — Just as it
seemed Brexit couldn’t become
any more surreal, a former
Conservative prime minister
argued against the current
Conservative prime minister
Thursday on the third and final
day of a landmark Supreme
Court hearing.
John Major submitted in
written testimony that the con-
tention that there are no legal
constraints on a prime minis-
ter’s ability to suspend Parlia-
ment ‘‘would be a remarkable
position for the courts to en-
dorse.’’
Major further accused Boris
Johnson of being motivated by
‘‘political interest’’ when he de-
cided to shut down Parliament
for five weeks ahead of the
deadline for Britain to leave the
European Union.
Major has been a vocal op-
ponent of Brexit and has advo-
cated for a second referendum.
So his opposition to Johnson,
who headlined the 2016 Brexit

campaign, is not surprising.

But it is unusual for British

prime ministers from the same

party to challenge each other so

directly.

The case is testing the outer

limits of Britain’s unwritten

constitution and the balance of

power between the executive,

legislature, and judiciary.

‘‘None of this is easy,’’ Bren-

da Hale, the president of the

Supreme Court, told the court-

room. She promised a ruling

‘‘early next week.’’

The high court was called in

for an emergency session to

weigh contrasting judgments

over Johnson’s decision to sus-

pend Parliament until mid-Oc-

tober. Britain is scheduled to

leave the European Union on

Oct. 31, though a withdrawal

deal remains elusive.

A Scottish court ruled that

Johnson’s suspension was an

‘‘egregious’’ overreach that

aimed to thwart the legisla-

ture’s ability to scrutinize the

government’s Brexit plans. An

English court dismissed a relat-

ed case saying that it was a po-

litical matter and not one for

the courts to decide.

If the Supreme Court finds

Johnson acted unlawfully —

and essentially misled the

queen when he requested her

approval — it is possible law-

makers could return almost im-

mediately to work.

On Thursday, however,

speaking in Wiltshire, England,

Johnson would not rule out

suspending Parliament again if

he lost the case.

The three-day hearing —

streamed live — has been by

turns unprecedented, impene-

trable, important, and a bit tes-

ty.

On Wednesday, Aidan

O’Neill, a lawyer representing

70-plus lawmakers who

launched a case against John-

son’s shutdown, told the judges

not to let ‘‘the mother of Parlia-

ments be shut down by the fa-

ther of lies.’’

O’Neill called Johnson’s gov-

ernment ‘‘unworthy of our

trust.’’

On Thursday, Richard Keen,

a lawyer for the government,

called the charges against

Johnson ‘‘discourteous, incen-

diary, and wholly unwarrant-

ed.’’

Keen warned the judges

against wading into an ‘‘ill-de-

fined minefield.’’

Johnson did not provide the

court an explanation for his de-

cision — which Major said was

‘‘conspicuous.’’

Johnson has said publicly

that the suspension was neces-

sary to prepare a new legisla-

tive agenda. It’s normal for a

government to do that, but the

length of the break is usually

measured in days, not weeks.

Ex-primeministerweighsinonquestionofJohnson’sauthority

MATT DUNHAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Brexit supporter protested outside the Supreme Court in

London, where judges will decide if Johnson broke the law.

Lawyersforthe

defendantssaid

thatpredictingthe

tsunamiwould

havebeen

impossible.

HO / TIME INC. / AFP

Canada’s Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau costumed as

Aladdin in brownface

makeup at a party in 2001.