Protester Arrests in the UK; Garden Surprises in Mexico City

0:00Today on State of the World, protester arrests in the UK and garden surprises in Mexico City. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close, where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. In a few minutes, some surprising fruits are thriving in Mexico's capital. First, in the United Kingdom, police have been arresting a record number of protesters this summer. The demonstrators have come out in support of a pro-Palestinian group. That group is now banned under British anti-terrorism laws. But the high number of arrests has raised concerns that freedom of speech is under attack.

0:44Here's Fatima al-Qasab in London. Police wrestle handcuffs onto protesters in front of Parliament, arresting supporters of Palestine Action, a group which Britain's Home Secretary told reporters this month is behind. Violent attacks, including injuries, including weapons, smoke bombs, causing panic among innocent people. Palestine Action is a protest group which mainly vandalises weapons factories supplying parts to Israel. When the group broke into a military base in England and sprayed paint on some Royal Air Force planes, the government declared them a terrorist organisation, making membership or support of the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

1:27But every weekend, cities across the UK have nevertheless filled with people expressing support for the group and getting arrested for it. I spoke to one of the terror suspects. Here I am, 81 years old, on bail for terrorism. Deborah Hinton is a retired British magistrate who has previously been interviewed on local radio about her gardening skills. On July the 19th, she was arrested on the steps of her local cathedral for holding a placard reading, I support Palestine action. A whole lot of very scarily dressed policemen went down the line and they arrested us. And I must say, that was pretty terrifying.

2:09I was shaking so uncontrollably. This was Hinton's first brush with the law. In the past, she's been honoured by Queen Elizabeth for her services to her local community. The average age, I think, was well over 70. I mean, we were a respectable lot of people sitting there with placards in total silence. Her fellow detainees this summer include vicars, retired teachers and even one of King Charles's former advisors. Most have been senior citizens. The UK's independent watchdog of terrorism laws, Jonathan Hall, told the BBC the law applies to everyone equally. Whether you look like a sort of, if you like, I use the phrase, a hairy foreigner, or you're some nice white old lady sitting in the road.

2:52Many of these nice old ladies were protesting about the war in Gaza before Palestine action was banned. But many more have come out because they're worried the ban endangers their civil liberties. That's Lord Peter Haynes' concern as well. He's a lawmaker in the House of Lords, from the ruling centre-left Labour Party and a former government minister. When I was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I dealt with serious terrorists. Palestine Action, whether you agree with it or not, and I've never supported any of its activities, is not a terrorist organisation. It's not like Al-Qaeda. Hain also spent many years campaigning against apartheid in South Africa.

3:31We would have been designated as terrorists. So would the suffragettes campaigning for votes for women a century ago in Britain. And they did things far, far worse. than Palestine Action have ever done. The UN has called on Britain to scrap the ban. Amnesty International has called it a threat to freedom of expression. Palestine Action has appealed its terrorism label and London's High Court has said a hearing on that can go ahead for November. Meanwhile, Deborah Hinton, the 81-year-old on bail for terrorism, is keeping herself busy with her volunteer work while she awaits word on whether she'll go to jail.

4:06I try not to think about it because it's not a very, it's a bit of a gloomy prospect. I've got a grandson who's 22 months old. I want him to grow up in a country where there's freedom of speech. And she's prepared to go to jail for that. Fatima Al-Qasab, NPR News, London.

4:30If you haven't been to Mexico City, you might assume it has a tropical climate. But the Mexican capital sits at an elevation of over 7 ,000 feet. That's way higher than, say, Denver. At that altitude, you don't get tropical mangoes, but instead peaches or pears, fruits that are usually grown in more northern latitudes. Now, as NPR's Eder Peralta tells us, climate change is causing some warm weather surprises.

4:59Hola. Puerto Tlatelolco is an urban garden smack in the middle of Mexico City. There are raised garden beds and herbs and vegetables and lots of trees. Right here we're under a peach tree and an apple tree. Gabriela Vargas, who has run this place for more than a decade, says there are more than 150 varieties of edible plants. She has olive trees here, which tend to like subtropical weather. But we also have papaya and bananas. Those are fully tropical plants. Vargas says when she got here, there was one banana tree, which didn't particularly like the cold weather. The bananas wouldn't grow. It was just like the leaf.

5:42But over the years, that one plant started propagating, and then flowers turned into bananas. It actually tasted pretty good. But we walk toward a corner of the garden toward the skinny papaya trees. The leaves, like fingers, are radiant and green. For the past two years, and for the first time ever, these trees began to bear fruit. You have one, two, two big papayas and... Yeah, one that's almost ready. No, and then we have two trees, all ones. So we have six, you know, different stages. So a serious papaya tree. Yeah, serious papaya tree. In some ways, all of this feels magical, like spotting a snowy owl in Florida.

6:25Nah, all of this is totally tragic. That's Francisco Estrada, who studies climate change at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. To him, these delicious fruits are actually a harbinger of a climate catastrophe. The world has heated almost 1.5 degrees centigrade, which is when scientists say we will experience a devastating new climate. But on average, Mexico has heated up by 1.8 degrees centigrade. We're hotter, and we're getting hotter quicker than the globe as a whole. It means climate change is already changing Mexico's agriculture. In Veracruz, for example, the yields of coffee have dropped 48%.

7:10At this latitude, we used to have ideal growing conditions for many crops. Now, the weather is not so ideal. Indeed, almost all staple crops will have a tougher time. By the end of the century, Mexico might even have a hard time harvesting enough rain-fed corn. Back at the community garden, butterflies hover over the purple lavender flowers. On a hot day, we can have 9.5 centigrades. It's a great difference between the entrance outside the street and here where we're sitting. Amid the trees and flowers and the kids from a school trip running around, the doom and gloom of climate change feels really far away.

7:57I asked Gabriela Vargas if it makes her happy or sad to see new tropical plants growing in her garden. She shrugs. A bit of both, she says. I mean, what can we do? And for me, it's like, OK, we're here now. What can we do? At this point, she jokes, we might as well harvest bananas. Ada Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

8:26That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.