title: Anita Hill

text: In September 2018, Hill wrote an op-ed in "The New York Times" regarding sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. On November 8, 2018, Anita Hill spoke at the USC Dornsife's event, "From Social Movement to Social Impact: Putting an End to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace".


title: Anita Hill

text: In 1994, Hill wrote a tribute to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice who preceded Clarence Thomas, titled "A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall: A Man Who Broke with Tradition on Issues of Race and Gender". She outlined Marshall's contributions to the principles of equality as a judge and how his work has affected the lives of African Americans, specifically African American women.


title: Anita Hill

text: On October 20, 1998, Hill published the book "Speaking Truth to Power". Throughout much of the book she gives details on her side of the sexual harassment controversy, and her professional relationship with Clarence Thomas. Aside from that, she also provides a glimpse of what her personal life was like all the way from her childhood days growing up in Oklahoma to her position as a law professor.


title: Anita Hill

text: Hill became a proponent for women's rights and feminism. This can be seen through the chapter she wrote in the 2007 book "Women and leadership: the state of play and strategies for change". She wrote about women judges and why, in her opinion, they play such a large role in balancing the judicial system. She argues that since women and men have different life experiences, ways of thinking, and histories, both are needed for a balanced court system. She writes that in order for the best law system to be created in the United States, all people need the ability to be represented.


title: Anita Hill

text: In 2011, Hill's second book, "Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home" was published. She discusses the relationship between the home and the American Dream. She also exposes the inequalities within gender and race and home ownership. She argues that inclusive democracy is more important than debates about legal rights. She uses her own history and history of other African American women such as Nannie Helen Burroughs, in order to strengthen her argument for reimagining equality altogether.


title: Anita Hill

text: On September 28, 2021, Hill published the book "Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence".


title: Anita Hill

text: Hill received the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession's "Women of Achievement" award in 1992. In 2005, Hill was selected as a Fletcher Foundation Fellow. In 2008 she was awarded the Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award by the Ford Hall Forum. She also serves on the board of trustees for Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont. Her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 is listed as in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank). She was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. On January 7, 2017, Hill was inducted as an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority at their National Executive Board Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The following year, Hill was awarded an honorary LLM degree by Wesleyan University. The Wing's Washington, D.C. location has a phone booth dedicated to Hill.


title: Anita Hill

text: Minor planet 6486 Anitahill, discovered by Eleanor Helin, is named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on November 8, 2019 ().


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard Inc. (Stylized as MasterCard from 1979-2016, mastercard from 2016-2019) is the second-largest payment-processing corporation worldwide. It offers a range of financial services. Its headquarters are in Purchase, New York. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the card-issuing banks or credit unions of the purchasers who use the Mastercard-brand debit, credit and prepaid cards to make purchases. Mastercard has been publicly traded since 2006.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard (originally Interbank then Master Charge) was created by an alliance of several banks and regional bankcard associations in response to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America, which later became Visa, still its biggest competitor. Prior to its initial public offering, Mastercard Worldwide was a cooperative owned by the more than 25,000 financial institutions that issue its branded cards.


title: Mastercard

text: Although BankAmericard's debut in September 1958 was a notorious disaster, it began to turn a profit by May 1961. Bank of America deliberately kept this information secret and allowed then-widespread negative impressions to linger in order to ward off competition. This strategy was successful until 1966, when BankAmericard's profitability had become far too big to hide. From 1960 to 1966, there were only 10 new credit cards introduced in the United States, but from 1966 to 1968, approximately 440 credit cards were introduced by banks large and small throughout the country. These newcomers promptly banded together into regional bankcard associations.


title: Mastercard

text: One reason why most banks chose to join forces was that at the time, 16 states limited the ability of banks to operate through branch locations, while 15 states entirely prohibited branch banking and required unit banking. A unit bank can legally operate only at a single site and is thereby forced to remain very small. By joining a regional bankcard association, a unit bank could quickly add a credit card to its lineup of financial products, and achieve economies of scale by outsourcing tedious back office tasks like card servicing to the association. Such associations also enabled unit banks to aggregate their customer bases and merchant networks in order to make a credit card useful for both customers and merchants; early credit cards had failed because they could only be used within a small radius around their respective issuing banks.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1966, Karl H. Hinke, an executive vice president at Marine Midland Bank, asked representatives of several other banks to meet him in Buffalo, New York. Marine Midland had just launched its own regional bankcard in the Upstate New York market after Bank of America declined its request for a BankAmericard regional license on the basis that Marine Midland was too big. The result of the Buffalo meeting was that several banks and regional bankcard associations soon agreed to join forces as Interbankard, Inc., which then became the Interbank Card Association (ICA). By the end of 1967, ICA had 150 members and Hinke became ICA's chairman. Bank of America eventually joined MasterCard as well. (In the 21st century, Bank of America would revive the BankAmericard brand name as a Mastercard credit card, which it remains today.)


title: Mastercard

text: The Interbank branding in 1966 initially consisted only of a small unobtrusive lowercase "i" inside a circle in the lower right-hand corner of the front of each Interbank card; the rest of the card design was the prerogative of each issuing bank. This tiny logo proved to be entirely unsatisfactory for creating nationwide brand awareness in order to compete against the established leader, BankAmericard. In 1969, Interbank developed a new national brand, "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" by combining the two overlapping yellow and orange circles of the Western States Bankcard Association with the "Master Charge" name coined by the First National Bank of Louisville, Kentucky.


title: Mastercard

text: That same year, First National City Bank joined Interbank and merged its proprietary Everything Card with Master Charge.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1968, the ICA and Eurocard started a strategic alliance, which effectively allowed the ICA access to the European market, and for Eurocard to be accepted on the ICA network. The Access card system from the United Kingdom joined the ICA/Eurocard alliance in 1972.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1983, MasterCard International Inc. became the first bank to use holograms as part of their card security. They acquired the Cirrus network of automated tellers in 1985.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1997, MasterCard took over the Access card; the Access brand was then retired. In 2002, MasterCard International merged with Europay International, another large credit-card issuer association, of which Eurocard had become a part in 1992. MasterCard became a Delaware in connection with the merger, as well as in anticipation of an IPO.


title: Mastercard

text: The company, which had been organized as a cooperative of banks, had an initial public offering on May 25, 2006, selling 95.5 million shares at $39 each. The stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol MA, with a market capitalization of $367.1 billion as of May 2021. The deal was designed to maintain the value of the brand and minimise regulatory costs.


title: Mastercard

text: In August 2010, MasterCard Worldwide, as it had been rebranded, expanded its e-commerce offering with the acquisition of DataCash, a UK-based payment processing and fraud/risk management provider. In March 2012, MasterCard announced the expansion of its mobile contactless payments program, including markets across the Middle East.


title: Mastercard

text: In spring 2014, MasterCard acquired Australia's leading rewards program manager company Pinpoint for an undisclosed amount. In August 2017, Mastercard acquired Brighterion, a company with a portfolio of intellectual property in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Brighterion holds several patents.


title: Mastercard

text: In April 2021, Mastercard created a calculator that gathers information and measures the carbon footprints of the customers in order to help them know how much they are contributing in carbon emissions and global warming.


title: Mastercard

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mastercard complied with United States sanctions and banned cards from being issued or used in Russia, including foreign cards from other countries. Mastercard suspended all business operations in Russia, which had accounted for 4% of their revenue. However, bank cards themselves continue to work in Russia due to the transfer of internal transactions to the Russian National Card Payment System"."


title: Mastercard

text: As of 2020, Mastercard ranked 191 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.


title: Mastercard

text: Operating a payment processing network entails risk of engaging in anticompetitive practices due to the many parties involved (that is, the customer and their bank and the merchant and their bank).


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard, along with Visa, engaged in systematic parallel exclusion against American Express during the 1980s and 1990s. Mastercard used exclusivity clauses in its contracts and blacklists to prevent banks from doing business with American Express. Such exclusionary clauses and other written evidence were used by the United States Department of Justice in regulatory actions against Mastercard and Visa. Discover has sued Mastercard for similar issues.


title: Mastercard

text: Both Mastercard and Visa have paid approximately $3 billion in damages resulting from a class-action lawsuit filed in January 1996 for debit card swipe fee price fixing. The litigation cites several retail giants as plaintiffs, including Wal-Mart, Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Safeway.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1996, about 4 million merchants sued Mastercard in federal court for making them accept debit cards if they wanted to accept credit cards and dramatically increasing credit card swipe fees. This case was settled with a multibillion-dollar payment in 2003. This was the largest antitrust award in history.


title: Mastercard

text: In 1998, the Department of Justice sued Mastercard over rules prohibiting their issuing banks from doing business with American Express or Discover. The Department of Justice won in 2001 and the verdict withstood appeal. American Express also filed suit.


title: Mastercard

text: On August 23, 2001, Mastercard International Inc. was sued for violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.


title: Mastercard

text: On November 15, 2004, Mastercard Inc. paid damages to American Express, due to anticompetitive practices that prevented American Express from issuing cards through U.S. banks, and paid $1.8 billion for settlement.


title: Mastercard

text: On November 27, 2012, a federal judge entered an order granting preliminary approval to a proposed settlement to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2005 by merchants and trade associations against Mastercard and Visa. The suit was filed due to alleged price-fixing practices employed by Mastercard and Visa. About one-fourth of the named class plaintiffs have decided to opt-out of the settlement. Opponents object to provisions that would bar future lawsuits and prevent merchants from opting out of significant portions of the proposed settlement.


title: Mastercard

text: Plaintiffs allege that Visa Inc. and Mastercard fixed interchange fees, also known as swipe fees, that are charged to merchants for the privilege of accepting payment cards. In their complaint, the plaintiffs also alleged that the defendants unfairly interfere with merchants from encouraging customers to use less expensive forms of payment such as lower-cost cards, cash, and checks.


title: Mastercard

text: A settlement of $6.24 billion got preliminary approval in November, 2019. A settlement of $5.54B was approved in 2019. Certain merchants appealed the settlement and were heard. The case is ongoing .


title: Mastercard

text: In October 2010, Mastercard and Visa reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in another antitrust case. The companies agreed to allow merchants displaying their logos to decline certain types of cards (because interchange fees differ), or to offer consumers discounts for using cheaper cards.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard, along with Visa, has been sued in a class action by ATM operators that claim the credit card networks' rules effectively fix ATM access fees. The suit claims that this is a restraint of trade in violation of federal law. The lawsuit was filed by the National ATM Council and independent operators of automated teller machines. More specifically, it is alleged that Mastercard's and Visa's network rules prohibit ATM operators from offering lower prices for transactions over PIN-debit networks that are not affiliated with Visa or Mastercard. The suit says that this price-fixing artificially raises the price that consumers pay using ATMs, limits the revenue that ATM operators earn, and violates the Sherman Act's prohibition against unreasonable restraints of trade. Johnathan Rubin, an attorney for the plaintiffs said, "Visa and Mastercard are the ringleaders, organizers, and enforcers of a conspiracy among U.S. banks to fix the price of ATM access fees in order to keep the competition at bay."


title: Mastercard

text: In 2003, the Reserve Bank of Australia required that interchange fees be dramatically reduced, from about 0.95% of the transaction to approximately 0.5%. One notable result has been the reduced use of reward cards and increased use of debit cards. Australia also prohibited the no surcharge rule, a policy established by credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard to prevent merchants from charging a credit card usage fee to the cardholder. A surcharge would mitigate or even exceed the merchant discount paid by a merchant, but would also make the cardholder more reluctant to use the card as the method of payment. Australia has also made changes to the interchange rates on debit cards and has considered abolishing interchange fees altogether.


title: Mastercard

text: As of November 2006, New Zealand was considering similar actions, following a Commerce Commission lawsuit alleging price-fixing by Visa and Mastercard. In New Zealand, merchants pay a 1.8% fee on every credit card transaction.


title: Mastercard

text: The European Union has repeatedly criticized Mastercard for monopolistic trade practices. In April 2009, Mastercard reached a settlement with the European Union in an antitrust case, promising to reduce debit card swipe fees to 0.2 percent of purchases. In December 2010, a senior official from the European Central Bank called for a break-up of the Visa/Mastercard duopoly by the creation of a new European debit card for use in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).


title: Mastercard

text: WikiLeaks published documents showing that American authorities lobbied Russia to defend the interests of Visa and Mastercard. In response Mastercard blocked payments to WikiLeaks. Members of the European Parliament expressed concern that payments from European citizens to a European corporation could apparently be blocked by the United States, and called for a further reduction in the dominance of Visa and Mastercard in the European payment system.


title: Mastercard

text: In 2013, Mastercard was under investigation by the European Union for the high fees it charged merchants to accept cards issued outside the EU, compared to cards issued in the EU, as well as other anti-competitive practices that could hinder electronic commerce and international trade, and high fees associated with premium credit cards. The EU's competition regulator said that these fees were of special concern because of the growing role of non-cash payments. Mastercard was banned from charging fees on cross-border transactions conducted wholly within the EU via a ruling by the European Commission in 2007. The European Commission said that their investigation also included large differences in fees across national borders. For instance, a €50 payment might cost €0.10 in the Netherlands but eight times that amount in Poland. The Commission argues that Mastercard rules that prohibit merchants from enjoying better terms offered in other EU countries may be against antitrust law.


title: Mastercard

text: The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) praised the action against Mastercard. BEUC said interbank fees push up prices and hurt consumers. BEUC Director General Monique Goyens said, "So in the end, all consumers are hit by a scheme which ultimately rewards the card company and issuing bank."


title: Mastercard

text: In January 2019, the European Commission imposed an antitrust fine of €570,566,000 to Mastercard for "obstructing merchants' access to cross-border card payment services", due to Mastercard's rules obliging acquiring banks to apply the interchange fees of the country where a retailer was located. The Commission concluded that Mastercard's rules prevented retailers from benefitting from lower fees and restricted competition between banks cross border, in breach of EU antitrust rules. The infringement of antitrust rules ended when Mastercard amended its rules due to the entering into force of the Interchange Fee Regulation in 2015, which introduced caps on interchange fees. The Commission did grant Mastercard a 10% reduction of the fine however, in return for Mastercard acknowledging the facts and cooperating with the antitrust investigation.


title: Mastercard

text: In February 2021, following an investigation by the British Payment Systems Regulator, Mastercard admitted liability for breaching competition rules in relation to pre-paid cards.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard, Visa, and other credit cards have been used to fund accounts since online gambling began in the mid-1990s.


title: Mastercard

text: On March 20, 2000, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, reviewed motions in "Re: MasterCard International Inc." regarding multi-district litigation alleging Mastercard illegally interacted with a number of internet casinos. The plaintiffs alleged, among other claims, that Mastercard had violated the Federal Wire Act. They sought financial relief for losses suffered at online gambling sites outside the United States.


title: Mastercard

text: The District Court's ruling on February 23, 2001, later upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sided with Mastercard. The Firth Circuit also clarified the application of the Wire Act to illegal online gambling. The Court determined that the wire act only applied to gambling activities related to a "sporting event or contest". Therefore, the court could not conclude that Mastercard had violated the Wire Act.


title: Mastercard

text: When PASPA was overturned May 14, 2018, Mastercard had to provide new guidance to its member banks. It clarified that state location restrictions apply to the individual placing the wager, not the member bank processing the transaction. According to various state gaming laws, sports betting providers must use Internet geolocation to determine a customer's physical location prior to accepting a wager. The Independent Community Bankers of America specifically requested information about a new online gambling merchant category code. Mastercard has dedicated MCC 7801 to online gambling. This code is distinct from 7800 for government owned lotteries and 7802 for government licensed horse and dog tracks.


title: Mastercard

text: In December 2010, Mastercard blocked all payments to whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks due to claims that they engage in illegal activity. In response, a group of online activists Anonymous organized a denial-of-service attack; as a result, the Mastercard website experienced downtime on December 8–9, 2010. On December 9, 2010, the servers of Mastercard underwent a massive attack as part of an Operation Avenge Assange for closing down payments to WikiLeaks. The security of thousands of credit cards was compromised during that attack due to a phishing-site set up by the attackers. However, Mastercard denied this, stating that account data had "not been placed at risk". WikiLeaks' spokesman said, "We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks." U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that closing down credit lines for donations to WikiLeaks "could be interpreted as an attempt to censor the publication of information, thus potentially violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression".


title: Mastercard

text: In July 2011, Iceland-based IT firm DataCell, the company that enabled WikiLeaks to accept credit and debit card donations, said it would take legal action against Visa Europe and Mastercard, and that it would move immediately to try to force the two companies to resume allowing payments to the website. Earlier on December 8, 2010, DataCell's CEO Andreas Fink had stated that "suspension of payments towards WikiLeaks is a violation of the agreements with their customers." On July 14, 2011, DataCell announced they had filed a complaint with the European Commission claiming the closure by Visa and Mastercard of Datacell's access to the payment card networks violated the competition rules of the European Community.


title: Mastercard

text: On July 12, 2012, a Reykjavík court ruled that Valitor, Visa and Mastercard's partner in Iceland, had to start processing donations within fourteen days or pay daily fines to the amount of ISK 800,000 (some $6000) for each day after that time, to open the payment gateway. Valitor also had to pay DataCell's litigation costs of ISK 1,500,000.


title: Mastercard

text: In 2014, pursuant to an agreement between Mastercard and the Nigerian Government, acting through the National Identity Management Commission, the new Nigerian ID cards bear the Mastercard logo, contain personal database data and double as payment cards, irrevocably linking such payments to the individuals, sparking criticism by the Civil Rights Congress alleging that it "represents a stamped ownership of a Nigerian by an American company ... reminiscent of the logo pasted on the bodies of African slaves transported across the Atlantic."


title: Mastercard

text: In 2018, "Bloomberg News" reported that Google had paid millions of dollars to Mastercard for its users' credit card data for advertising purposes. The deal had not been publicly announced.


title: Mastercard

text: On July 14, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indefinitely barred Mastercard from issuing new debit or credit cards to domestic Indian customers starting July 22, 2021, for violating data localization and storage rules as set by RBI on April 6, 2018, under Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act). This ban does not affect cards already issued and working in India. Mastercard is the third major payment systems provider to be restricted in India after American Express and Diners Club International. On June 16, 2022, the business restrictions imposed were lifted by RBI with immediate effect.


title: Mastercard

text: Depending on the geographical location, Mastercard issues cards in tiers, from the lowest to the highest, Traditional/Classic/Standard, Gold/Titanium, Platinum, World and World Elite.


title: Mastercard

text: Through a partnership with an Internet company that specializes in personalized shopping, Mastercard introduced a Web shopping mall on April 16, 2010, that it said can pinpoint with considerable accuracy what its cardholders are likely to purchase.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard teamed with Apple in September 2014, to incorporate a new mobile wallet feature into Apple's new iPhone and Apple Watch models known as Apple Pay, enabling users to more readily use their Mastercard, and other credit cards.


title: Mastercard

text: In May 2020, Mastercard announced the Mastercard Track Business Payment Service. The service will provide business-to-business payments between buyers and suppliers. According to the head of global commercial products, it "creates a directory of suppliers, enabling suppliers to publish their payment rules so they can better control how they receive payments while making it easier for buyers to find suppliers and understand their requirements."


title: Mastercard

text: On February 10, 2021, Mastercard announced their support of cryptocurrencies saying that later in 2021, Mastercard will start supporting select cryptocurrencies directly on their network. One of the main focus areas that Mastercard wants to support is using digital assets for payments, and that crypto assets will need to offer the stability people need in a vehicle for spending, not investment. In October 2021, Mastercard announced that through its partnership with Bakkt, any bank or merchant on its network would soon be able to offer crypto services. In June 2022, Mastercard announced that it would now be allowing cardholders to purchase NFTs via various NFT scaling platforms.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard, Comerica Bank, and the U.S. Treasury Department teamed up in 2008 to create the Direct Express Debit Mastercard. The federal government uses the Express Debit product to issue electronic payments to people who do not have bank accounts. Comerica Bank is the issuing bank for the debit card.


title: Mastercard

text: In June 2013, Mastercard announced a partnership with British Airways to offer members the Executive Club Multi-currency Cash Passport, which will allow members to earn extra points and make multi-currency payments. The Passport card allows users to load up to ten currencies (euro, pound, U.S. dollar, Turkish lira, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar, U.A.E. dirham, and South African rand) at a locked-in rate. When used, the card selects the local currency to ensure the best exchange rate, and if the local currency is not already loaded onto the card, funds are used from other currencies.


title: Mastercard

text: QkR is a mobile payment app developed by Mastercard, for the purpose of ordering products and services through a smartphone with payments charged to the associated credit card. It is being deployed for use in large-scale events, such as sport events, concerts, or movie theaters. Unlike other Mastercard mobile payment apps such as Pay Pass, QkR does not use NFC from the phone, but rather an Internet connection.


title: Mastercard

text: Users can open the app, scan a QR code located on the back of the seat in front of them, and place orders for refreshments of their choice. The order is dispatched to a nearby concession stand, from where a runner delivers the items to the patrons' seats. It is already deployed in Australian movie theaters and is being tested in Yankee Stadium.


title: Mastercard

text: QkR is being marketed to vendors as a replacement for other mobile payment apps and a mobile ordering app, either distributed by the vendor (such as Starbucks's app, McDonald's' app, or Chipotle's mobile ordering app) or by a third party, such as Square, headed by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard Contactless (formerly branded PayPass) is an EMV-compatible, contactless payment feature similar to American Express' ExpressPay, and Visa Contactless. All three use the same symbol as shown on the right. It is based on the ISO/IEC 14443 standard that provides cardholders with a simpler way to pay by tapping a payment card or other payment device, such as a phone or key fob, on a point-of-sale terminal reader rather than swiping or inserting a card. Contactless can currently be used on transactions up to and including 100 GBP, 50 EUR, 80 CHF, 50 USD, 100 CAD, 200 SEK, 500 NOK, 100 PLN, 350 DKK, 80 NZD, 100 AUD, 1000 RUB, 500 UAH, 500 TRY or 2000 INR.


title: Mastercard

text: In 2003, Mastercard concluded a nine-month PayPass market trial in Orlando, Florida, with JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and MBNA. More than 16,000 cardholders and more than 60 retailer locations participated in the market trial. In addition, Mastercard worked with Nokia and the Nokia 6131, AT&T Wireless, and JPMorgan Chase to incorporate Mastercard PayPass into mobile phones using near-field communication technology, in Dallas, Texas. In 2011, Google and Mastercard launched Google Wallet, an Android application which allows a mobile device to send credit/debit card information directly to a Paypass-enabled payment terminal, bypassing the need for a physical card, up until the creation of Android Pay.


title: Mastercard

text: During late 2015, Citicards in the US stopped issuing Paypass-enabled plastic, but the keyfob was still available upon request. Effective July 16, 2016, Citicards stopped supporting Paypass completely. While existing plastic and keyfobs continued to work until their expiration date, no new Paypass-enabled hardware was issued to US customers after that date.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard is associated with security and is believed to be reliable in emergencies. Antitrust litigation over the years has damaged the brand.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard's current advertising campaign tagline is "Priceless". It started in 1997. The slogan associated with the campaign is "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard." The Priceless campaign in more recent iterations has been applicable to both Mastercard's credit card and debit card products. They also use the "Priceless" description to promote products such as their "priceless travel" site, which features deals and offers for Mastercard holders, and "priceless cities," offers for people in specified locations.


title: Mastercard

text: In mid-2006, MasterCard International changed its name to MasterCard Worldwide. This was to suggest a more global scale. In addition, the company introduced a new corporate logo adding a third circle to the two that had been used in the past (the familiar card logo, resembling a Venn diagram, remained unchanged). A new corporate tagline was introduced at the same time—"The Heart of Commerce".


title: Mastercard

text: In July 2016, Mastercard introduced their new rebranding, along with a new corporate logo. In addition, they changed their service name from "MasterCard" to "mastercard".


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard sponsors major sporting events and teams throughout the world. These include rugby's New Zealand, the MLB, the UEFA Champions League and the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational. Previously, it also sponsored the FIFA World Cup but withdrew its contract after a court settlement and its rival, Visa, took up the contract in 2007. In 1997, Mastercard was the main sponsor of the Mastercard Lola Formula One team, which withdrew from the 1997 Formula One season after its first race due to financial problems. It also partners the Brazil national football team and the Copa Libertadores.


title: Mastercard

text: In late 2018, Mastercard became the first major sponsor for "League of Legends" esports. The company sponsors the League of Legends World Championship, Mid-Season Invitational, and the All-stars event for "League of Legends".


title: Mastercard

text: Until 2018, Mastercard was the sponsor of the Memorial Cup, the CHL's annual championship between its three leagues.


title: Mastercard

text: In September 2022, Mastercard acquired the title sponsorship rights for all international and domestic home matches organized by the Board of Cricket Control in India.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard has its headquarters in the Mastercard International Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York. The Global Operations Center is located in O'Fallon, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard was listed as one of the best companies to work for in 2013 by Forbes. In 2016, Mastercard UK became one of 144 companies who signed the HM Treasury's Women in Finance Charter, a pledge for balanced gender representation in the company.


title: Mastercard

text: Prior to its IPO in 2006, Mastercard was an association that had a board of directors composed of banks. The current board of directors includes the following individuals:


title: Mastercard

text: In June 2013, Mastercard announced the promotion of Gilberto Caldart to head of Latin America and Caribbean divisions. Caldart joined Mastercard from Citi Brazil in 2008, where he served as country business manager and oversaw the retail bank, consumer finance, and card business.


title: Mastercard

text: In 2017, CEO Ajay Banga reinforced the company's goal of extending financial services to those outside the current system by bringing digital payment systems to the unbanked around the world. The company invested $500M in India with offices in Pune and Vadodara to help Mastercard bring cashless transactions to the 2nd largest population in the world. The company also is scheduled to invest an additional $750M in cashless apps and technology, especially focused on India between 2017 and 2020.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard operates Banknet, a global telecommunications network linking all Mastercard card issuers, acquirers, and data processing centers into a single financial network. The operations hub is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Banknet uses the ISO 8583 protocol.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard's network differs significantly from Visa's. Visa's is a star-based system where all endpoints terminate at one of several main data centers, where all transactions are processed centrally. Mastercard's network is an edge-based, peer-to-peer network where transactions travel a meshed network directly to other endpoints, without the need to travel to a single point. This allows Mastercard's network to be much more resilient, in that a single failure cannot isolate a large number of endpoints.


title: Mastercard

text: Mastercard approached TrustStamp in 2018 and invited them to join the Mastercard Start Path Program. The goal of the partnership is integrating TrustStamp's biometric and facial recognition technology into the Mastercard Well Pass platform. This partnership would enable biometric tracking of vaccinations, especially for children. The program is based on the TrustStamp Evergreen Hash, which is a personal digital token that is tied to a fingerprint, palm or face. The AI software creates a 3D 'mask' and then the original data is destroyed. The token would then adapt as the individual does, creating a lifelong identification system.


title: Mastercard

text: This system is now being implemented in West Africa through partnership with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and NuData. The Mastercard wellness program was adapted in response to the COVID-19 crisis and now Mastercard is working with TrustStamp and GAVI to bring integrated vaccine verification and payment systems to Developing countries throughout the world.


title: Micropenis

text: Micropenis is an unusually small penis. A common criterion is a dorsal (measured on top) erect penile length of at least 2.5 standard deviations smaller than the mean human penis size, The condition is usually recognized shortly after birth. The term is most often used medically when the rest of the penis, scrotum, and perineum are without ambiguity, such as hypospadias. Micropenis occurs in about 0.6% of males.


title: Micropenis

text: Of the abnormal conditions associated with micropenis, most are conditions of reduced prenatal androgen production or effect, such as abnormal testicular development (testicular dysgenesis), Klinefelter syndrome, Leydig cell hypoplasia, specific defects of testosterone or dihydrotestosterone synthesis (17,20-lyase deficiency, 5α-reductase deficiency), androgen insensitivity syndromes, inadequate pituitary stimulation (gonadotropin deficiency), and other forms of congenital hypogonadism. Micropenis can also occur as part of many genetic malformation syndromes that do not involve the sex chromosomes. It is sometimes a sign of congenital growth-hormone deficiency or congenital hypopituitarism. Several homeobox genes affect penis and digit size without detectable hormone abnormalities.


title: Micropenis

text: In addition, in utero exposure to some estrogen based fertility drugs like diethylstilbestrol (DES) has been linked to genital abnormalities or a smaller than normal penis.


title: Micropenis

text: After evaluation to detect any of the conditions described above, micropenis can often be treated in infancy with injections of various hormones, such as human chorionic gonadotropin and testosterone.


title: Micropenis

text: Growth of the penis both before birth and during childhood and puberty is strongly influenced by testosterone and, to a lesser degree, the growth hormone. However, later endogenous hormones mainly have value in the treatment of micropenis caused by hormone deficiencies, such as hypopituitarism or hypogonadism.


title: Micropenis

text: Regardless of the cause of micropenis, if it is recognized in infancy, a brief course of testosterone is often prescribed (usually no more than three months). This usually induces a small amount of growth, confirming the likelihood of further growth at puberty, but rarely achieves normal size. No additional testosterone is given during childhood, to avoid unwanted virilization and bone maturation. (There is also some evidence that premature administration of testosterone can lead to reduced penis size in the adult.)


title: Micropenis

text: Testosterone treatment is resumed in adolescence only for boys with hypogonadism. Penile growth is completed at the end of puberty, similar to the completion of height growth, and provision of extra testosterone to post-pubertal adults produces little or no further growth.


title: Micropenis

text: Because hormone treatment rarely achieves average size, several surgical techniques similar to phalloplasty for penis enlargement have been devised and performed, but they are not generally considered successful enough to be widely adopted and are rarely performed in childhood.


title: Micropenis

text: In extreme cases of micropenis, there is barely any shaft, and the glans appears to sit almost on the pubic skin. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, it was common for sex reassignment and surgery to be recommended. This was especially likely if evidence suggested that response to additional testosterone and pubertal testosterone would be poor. With parental acceptance, the boy would be reassigned and renamed as a girl, and surgery performed to remove the testes and construct an artificial vagina. This was based on the now-questioned idea that gender identity was shaped entirely from socialization, and that a man with a small penis can find no acceptable place in society.


title: Micropenis

text: Johns Hopkins Hospital, the center most known for this approach, performed twelve such reassignments from 1960 to 1980, most notably that of David Reimer (whose penis was destroyed by a circumcision accident), overseen by John Money. By the mid-1990s, reassignment was less often offered, and all three premises had been challenged. Former subjects of such surgery, vocal about their dissatisfaction with the adult outcome, played a large part in discouraging this practice. Sexual reassignment is rarely performed today for severe micropenis (although the question of raising the boy as a girl is sometimes still discussed).


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then vested power in a military junta. Acting president Myint Swe proclaimed a year-long state of emergency and declared power had been transferred to Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing. It declared the results of the November 2020 general election invalid and stated its intent to hold a new election at the end of the state of emergency. The coup d'état occurred the day before the Parliament of Myanmar was due to swear in the members elected at the 2020 election, thereby preventing this from occurring. President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were detained, along with ministers, their deputies, and members of Parliament.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 3 February 2021, Win Myint was charged with breaching campaign guidelines and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions under section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law. Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with breaching emergency COVID-19 laws and for illegally importing and using radio and communication devices, specifically six ICOM devices from her security team and a walkie-talkie, which are restricted in Myanmar and need clearance from military-related agencies before acquisition. Both were remanded in custody for two weeks. Aung San Suu Kyi received an additional criminal charge for violating the National Disaster Act on 16 February, two additional charges for violating communications laws and an intent to incite public unrest on 1 March and another for violating the official secrets act on 1 April.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: , at least 1,719 civilians, including children, have been killed by the junta forces and 9,984 arrested. Three prominent NLD members also died while in police custody in March 2021, and four pro-democracy activists were executed by the junta in July 2022.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been beset with political instability since it was granted independence from the United Kingdom in January 1948. Between 1958 and 1960, the military formed a temporary caretaker government at the behest of U Nu, the country's democratically elected prime minister, to resolve political infighting. The military voluntarily restored civilian government after holding the 1960 Burmese general election. Less than two years later, the military seized power in the 1962 coup, which under the leadership of Ne Win, precipitated 26 years of military rule.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: In 1988, nationwide protests broke out in the country. Dubbed the 8888 Uprising, the civil unrest was sparked by economic mismanagement, leading Ne Win to step down. In September 1988, the military's top leaders formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which then seized power. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the country's modern founder Aung San, became a notable pro-democracy activist during this period. In 1990, free elections were allowed by the military, under the assumption that the military enjoyed popular support. Ultimately, the elections resulted in a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. However, the military refused to cede power and placed her under house arrest.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The military remained in power for another 22 years until 2011, following the military's roadmap to democracy, during which the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar was drafted. Between 2011 and 2015, a tentative democratic transition began, and elections held in 2015 resulted in a victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). However, the military retained substantial power, including the right to appoint of all parliament members.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The 2021 coup occurred in the aftermath of the general election on 8 November 2020, in which the NLD won 396 out of 476 seats in parliament, an even larger margin of victory than in the 2015 election. The military's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, won only 33 seats.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The army disputed the results, claiming that the vote was fraudulent. The coup attempt had been rumored for several days, prompting statements of concern from Western nations such as the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Australia.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 1 February 2021, NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt said that Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint, Han Tha Myint, and other party leaders had been "taken" in an early morning raid. Myo Nyunt added that he expected to be also detained shortly. Numerous communications channels stopped working – phone lines to the capital, Naypyidaw, were interrupted, state-run MRTV said it was unable to broadcast due to "technical issues", and widespread Internet disruptions were reported beginning around 3 a.m. The military disrupted cellular services throughout the country, mirroring "kill switch" tactics previously employed in combat zones in Chin and Rakhine states. All the member banks under the Myanmar Banking Association suspended their financial services.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Around 400 elected members of parliament (MPs) were placed under house arrest, confined to a government housing complex in Naypyidaw. Following the coup, the NLD arranged for the MPs to remain housed in the complex until 6 February. Social media users began calling on MPs to convene a parliamentary session within a government guesthouse, since the group met the Constitution's quorum requirements. In response, the military issued another order giving MPs 24 hours to leave the guesthouse premises. On 4 February 70 NLD MPs took an oath of office, in clear defiance of the coup.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: During the coup, soldiers also detained several Buddhist monks who had led the 2007 Saffron Revolution, including the Myawaddy Sayadaw and Shwe Nyar War Sayadaw, outspoken critics of the military. 8888 Uprising activist leaders, including Mya Aye, were also arrested. As of 4 February, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners had identified 133 officials and lawmakers and 14 civil society activists in detention by the military as a result of the coup.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Soldiers were seen in Naypyidaw and the largest city, Yangon. The military subsequently announced on military-controlled Myawaddy TV that it had taken control of the country for one year. A statement signed by acting president Myint Swe declared that responsibility for "legislation, administration and judiciary" had been transferred to Min Aung Hlaing. The National Defence and Security Council – chaired by acting president Myint Swe and attended by top military officers – was convened, following which a statement was issued by the military declaring that fresh elections would be held, and that power would only be transferred after they had concluded. The military also announced the removal of 24 ministers and deputies, for whom 11 replacements were named.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 2 February 2021, Min Aung Hlaing established the State Administration Council, with 11 members, as the executive governing body.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 3 February 2021, Myanmar police filed criminal charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing her of violating the Export and Import Law, for allegedly importing unlicensed communications devices used by her security detail, after conducting a raid on her home in the capital. The Export and Import Law carries a potential prison term of 3 years and/or a fine, and was previously used in 2017 to prosecute journalists for flying a drone above the Assembly of the Union. Meanwhile, Win Myint was charged with violating the Natural Disaster Management Law, specifically for waving at a passing NLD convoy in September 2020, thereby violating rules against election campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 6 February 2021, Sean Turnell, the Australian economic advisor to the civilian government, was arrested.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 8 February 2021 and 9 February 2021, the military government issued orders to impose curfew from 8:00pm to 4:00am in Yangon and other major cities and restrict gatherings of 5 or more people in the public spaces.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 9 February 2021, the NLD's headquarters in Yangon was raided by Myanmar police. Myanmar military regime distributed a draft for the controversial Cyber Security Law to internet service providers, asking them to provide comments by 15 February 2021. The law was widely criticised by IT communities as it violates human rights by putting citizens under digital surveillance and severely restricting freedom of speech. News of China's involvement in building the firewall were widely circulated among Myanmar social media users, which prompts protestors to demonstrate outside the Chinese Embassy. China denied the news as rumours.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 10 February 2021, civil servants at Kayah State protested against the coup, which also included police officers stationed there when they refused orders from their superior to return to work.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 12 February 2021, at midnight, members of Myanmar's military and police arrested government ministers, election officials, senior members of the NLD, activists, and a former general.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 13 February 2021, a viral post online showed that the military-run Ministry of Information (MOI) pressured the press not to use the words "junta" and "regime" in the media in the military's first attempt to restrict the freedom-of-press. The military regime issued an arrest warrant for seven well-known activists and influencers including Min Ko Naing for using their fame to spread writing and speaking on the social media that would disturb the nation's peace process.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 15 February 2021, the military deployed armoured vehicles across the cities, in an attempt to silence the demonstrations in the country. Thousands of protestors in different cities across Myanmar had been calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. On 16 February, as protests continued, Aung San Suu Kyi was given a new criminal charge on allegations of violating the country's National Disaster Law.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 17 February 2021, the military issued arrest warrants on six more celebrities for urging civil servants to join the civil disobedience movement.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 26 February 2021, the Myanmar ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, condemned the coup by the Tatmadaw. He was sacked from his post the next day. On the same day, a Japanese freelance journalist named Yuki Kitazumi was detained by Myanmar officers at the Sanchaung township police station, but he was released hours later after Kitazumi explained that he clearly identified himself as a reporter.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 8 March 2021, state-controlled channel MRTV announced that the Ministry of Information revoked the licences for five local media outlets: Mizzima, Myanmar Now, DVB, 7 Day News, and Khit Thit Media. The announcement stated that the outlets were prohibited from publishing and broadcasting in any type of media and by using any sort of technology.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 9 March 2021, Kyaw Zwar Minn, the Burmese ambassador to the United Kingdom, was recalled after he called for release of Aung San Suu Kyi.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 18 October 2021, Min Aung Hlaing announced the release of 5,636 prisoners jailed for protesting against the coup. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 7,300 protesters remained imprisoned across the country following the announcement.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 10 January 2022, Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for possessing walkie-talkies in her home and for violating COVID-19 protocols.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 1 August 2022, Myanmar junta’s extended the state of emergency for another six months, after the leader Min Aung Hlaing’s request to “serve for an additional 6 months”. The decision was unanimously taken by the junta's National Defence and Security Council.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The military's motives for the coup remain unclear. Ostensibly, the military has posited that alleged voter fraud threatened national sovereignty. A few days before the coup, the civilian-appointed Union Election Commission had categorically rejected the military's claims of voter fraud, citing the lack of evidence to support the military's claims of 8.6 million irregularities in voter lists across Myanmar's 314 townships.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The coup may have been driven by the military's goal to preserve its central role in Burmese politics. The Defence Services Act imposes a mandatory retirement age of 65 for the Armed Forces' Commander-in-Chief. Min Aung Hlaing, the incumbent, would have been forced to retire on his 65th birthday in July 2021. Further, the Constitution empowers solely the President, in consultation with the National Defence and Security Council, with the authority to appoint Min Aung Hlaing's successor, which could have provided an opportunity for the civilian arm of the government to appoint a more reform-minded military officer as Commander-in-Chief. Hlaing's lack of power would have exposed him to potential prosecution and accountability for alleged war crimes during the Rohingya conflict in various international courts. Min Aung Hlaing had also hinted a potential entry into politics as a civilian, after his retirement.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The activist group Justice for Myanmar has also noted the significant financial and business interests of Min Aung Hlaing and his family, as a potential motivating factor for the coup. Min Aung Hlaing oversees two military conglomerates, the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), while his daughter, son, and daughter-in-law have substantial business holdings in the country.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: A few days before the coup, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had released in cash loans to the Central Bank of Myanmar, as part of an emergency aid package, to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The funds came with no conditions, and without any precedent for refunds. In response to potential concerns regarding proper use of the funds by the military regime, an IMF spokesperson stated "It would be in the interests of the government, and certainly the people of Myanmar that those funds are indeed used accordingly." The IMF did not directly address any concerns regarding the independence of the Central Bank, given the military's appointment of Than Nyein, an ally, as governor. On 16 September, the IMF acknowledged it was unable to ascertain whether the military regime was using the funds as intended (i.e., "to tackle COVID and support the most vulnerable people.") Myanmar's Ministry of Planning and Finance did not respond to a request for comment on how funds had been appropriated.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: A lobbyist for the military junta reported that the junta would like to improve relations with the United States and distance Myanmar from China, believing Myanmar had grown too close to China under Aung San Suu Kyi.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: China is depicted in Western media as having hegemony over Myanmar. China and Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the coup. China and Russia are reportedly the main suppliers of weapons to the Myanmar Army. Chinese foreign direct investment in Myanmar totalled $19 billion in 2019, compared with $700 million from the EU. The "Financial Times" argues that Russia is supportive of the junta in order to sell more arms to them.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Israel has been known to supply small arms, drones, patrol boats and spyware to the Myanmar military. On September 27, 2017, Israeli court issued an order banning Israeli arms industries from exporting weapons to Myanmar. Despite the ban order, Myanmar military received training and weapons from Israeli defense companies. Myanmar army officers continued their visits to Israeli arms shows.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The Myanmar military government did not attend the 27 October 2021 East Asia Summit. The United States and ASEAN (chaired by Brunei) criticised the junta's treatment of political prisoners, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen described Myanmar's decision to skip the summit as "regrettable". U.S. President Joe Biden stated:"[…] We must address the tragedy caused by the military coup which is increasingly undermining regional stability," and called for the "military regime to end the violence, release all political prisoners and return to the path of democracy."While ASEAN urged constitutional government, it also officially "reiterated that Myanmar remains a member of the ASEAN family."


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The legality of the coup has been questioned by legal scholars, including Melissa Crouch. The International Commission of Jurists found that, by staging a coup, the military had violated Myanmar's constitution, since the alleged election irregularities did not justify the declaration of a state of emergency in comport with the Constitution. Further, the jurists found that the military's actions had violated the fundamental rule of law principle. The NLD has also rejected the legal basis for the military takeover.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: During its announcement of the coup, the military invoked Articles 417 and 418 of the 2008 Constitution as the legal basis for the military takeover. However, Article 417 of the Constitution authorises only a sitting president to declare a state of emergency, following consultation with the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC). The incumbent civilian president Win Myint had not voluntarily ceded his role; instead, the state of emergency was unconstitutionally declared by vice-president Myint Swe. During Win Myint's court testimony on 12 October, he revealed that on 1 February before the coup, two senior military generals had attempted to force him to resign, under the guise of "ill health."


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The declaration of a state of emergency then transfers legislative, executive, and judicial authority to the Commander-in-Chief per Article 418. Half of the NDSC's members at the time of the coup were civilians, including the president, the civilian-elected second vice-president, and the speakers of the upper and lower houses, all of whom had been arrested by the military. The military claims that the NDSC was convened, chaired by Min Aung Hlaing, to invoke Articles 417 and 418. However, this session was held in the absence of the civilian members of the NDSC, and it is unclear whether the military had the constitutional authority to reconstitute a session of the NDSC, or to unilaterally declare a state of emergency through a vice-president, since the Constitution grants the president, who at the time had not voluntarily vacated his role, the sole authority to declare a state of emergency.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 23 March 2021, during a news conference in Naypyidaw, the Tatmadaw defended the reimposition of the junta and claimed that ousted national leader Aung San Suu Kyi was corrupt, tantamount to graft. No supporting evidence for these allegations was offered outside of the taped testimony of a former colleague of Kyi, Phyo Min Thein, who has been detained by the military since the coup began.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Civil resistance efforts have emerged within the country, in opposition to the coup, in numerous forms, including acts of civil disobedience, labour strikes, a military boycott campaign, a pot-banging movement, a red ribbon campaign, public protests, and formal recognition of the election results by elected representatives. The three-finger salute has been widely adopted as a protest symbol, while netizens joined the Milk Tea Alliance, an online democratic solidarity movement in Asia. "Kabar Makyay Bu" (ကမ္ဘာမကျေဘူး), a song that was first popularised as the anthem of the 8888 Uprising, has been revitalised by the civil disobedience movement as a protest song.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Since the onset of the coup, residents in urban centres such as Yangon staged cacerolazos, striking pots and pans in unison every evening as a symbolic act to drive away evil, as a method of expressing their opposition to the coup.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 2 February, healthcare workers and civil servants across the country launched a national civil disobedience campaign, in opposition to the coup, with workers from dozens of state-run hospitals and institutions initiating a labour strike. A Facebook campaign group dubbed the "Civil Disobedience Movement" has attracted 150,000 followers, within 24 hours of its launch on 2 February. As of 3 February, healthcare workers in over 110 government hospitals and healthcare agencies have participated in the movement. The labour strikes have spread to other parts of the civil service, including union-level ministries and universities, as well as to private firms, such as factories and copper mines, students, and youth groups.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 3 February, healthcare workers launched the red ribbon campaign (ဖဲကြိုးနီလှုပ်ရှားမှု), the colour red being associated with the NLD. The red ribbon has been adopted by civil servants and workers across Myanmar as a symbol of opposition to the military regime.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 3 February, a domestic boycott movement called the "Stop Buying Junta Business" campaign also emerged, calling for the boycott of products and services linked to the Myanmar military. Among the targeted goods and services in the Burmese military's significant business portfolio include Mytel, a national telecoms carrier, Myanmar, Mandalay, and Dagon Beer, several coffee and tea brands, 7th Sense Creation, which was co-founded by Min Aung Hlaing's daughter, and bus lines.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Public protests have also emerged in the wake of the coup. On 2 February, some Yangonites staged a brief 15-minute protest rally at 8 pm, calling for the overthrow of the dictatorship and Aung San Suu Kyi's release. On 4 February 30 citizens protested for the very first time against the coup led by Tayzar San, in front of the University of Medicine in Mandalay, an act that led to four arrests. On 6 February, 20,000 protestors took part in a street protest in Yangon against the coup, calling for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released. Workers from 14 trade unions participated in the protests. Protests spread to Mandalay and to the Pyinmana township of Naypyidaw on the afternoon of 6 February. The Mandalay marches started at 1 pm. Protestors continued on motorbikes at 4:00pm in reaction to police restrictions. Police were in control by 6 pm. On 9 February 2021, the military used violence to crackdown on peaceful protests, injuring six protestors, including a 20-year-old woman who was shot in the head. About 100 demonstrators were arrested in Mandalay. On 10 February 2021, most of the arrested demonstrators from Mandalay were released.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Youth groups protested on the roads by wearing cosplay costumes, skirts, wedding dresses, and other unusual clothing for daily life while holding signboards and vinyl banners that break with the country's more traditional protest messages for the purpose of grabbing attention from both domestic and international press media.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 12 February, the Union Day in Myanmar, junta's crackdown in Mawlamyine became more intense as shots were fired. Gunfire was heard in Myitkyina, Kachin State, when security forces clashed with protesters on 14 February. Five journalists were arrested afterwards. Troops joined police in forcefully dispersing marchers using rubber bullets and slingshots in the city of Mandalay.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Facebook had been used to organise the civil disobedience campaign's labour strikes and the emerging boycott movement. On 4 February, telecom operators and internet providers across Myanmar were ordered to block Facebook until 7 February, to ensure the "country's stability." MPT, a state-owned carrier, also blocked Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services, while Telenor Myanmar blocked only Facebook. Following the Facebook ban, Burmese users had begun flocking to Twitter, popularising hashtags like #RespectOurVotes, #HearTheVoiceofMyanmar, and #SaveMyanmar. On 5 February, the government extended the social media access ban to include Instagram and Twitter. On the morning of 6 February, the military authorities initiated an internet outage nationwide. Internet access was restricted by the government again since 14 February 2021 for 20 days, from 1:00am to 9:00am. People use social media Facebook and Twitter to reach their voices to international communities and also to share photo and video evidences of brutality of military forces on the protestors.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Various Buddhist monasteries and educational institutions have denounced the coup, among them the Masoyein and Mahāgandhārāma monasteries. Sitagu International Buddhist Academy also released a statement imploring against actions that run counter to the "Dhamma". Aside from the Buddhist "saṅgha", local clergy and monastics of the Catholic Church have similarly voiced their opposition to the military takeover.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: As the military response to the ensuing protests started taking a violent turn, the Shwekyin Nikāya, Burma's second largest monastic order, urged Min Aung Hlaing to immediately cease the assaults on unarmed civilians and to refrain from engaging in theft and property destruction. Its leading monks, including Ñāṇissara Bhikkhu, who is known for his amicable relationship with the military, reminded the general to be a good Buddhist, which entailed keeping to the Five Precepts required for at least a human rebirth.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Thailand's largest industrial estate developer, Amata, halted a $1 billion industrial zone development project in Yangon in response to the coup, after commencing construction in December 2020. Suzuki Motor, Myanmar's largest automaker, and several manufacturers halted domestic operations in the wake of the coup. The Yangon Stock Exchange has also suspended trading since 1 February. Myanmar's real estate market crashed as a result of the coup, with sales and purchase transactions dropping by almost 100%.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 4 February, French oil multinational Total SE announced it was reviewing the impact of the coup on its domestic operations and projects. On 4 April, it issued a statement saying it would not withhold payments to the military junta and would not cease operations in its Yadana offshore gasfield where electricity is generated for public use. A couple of weeks later there were reports of U.S. oil giant Chevron lobbying against United States Department of State sanctions restricting the company in its capacity as "a non-operating partner" in the Yadana field through an affiliate.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 5 February, Kirin Company ended its joint venture with the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). The joint venture, Myanmar Brewery, produces several brands of beer, including Myanmar Beer, and has an 80% market share in the country. Kirin's stake had been valued at US$1.7 billion.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 8 February, Lim Kaling, co-founder of Razer announced he was divesting his stake in a joint venture with a Singaporean tobacco company that owns a 49% stake in Virginia Tobacco, whose majority stake is owned by MEHL. Virginia Tobacco, Myanmar's largest cigarette maker, owns the Red Ruby and Premium Gold brands. That evening, Min Aung Hlaing made a televised address, aiming to ease concerns about Myanmar's foreign investment climate.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: US President Joe Biden announced his administration will impose sanctions on the military leaders of the coup in Myanmar and freeze 1 billion dollars in government assets held in the United States on 11 February.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: After several protesters were shot dead by the military during the protests on February, Facebook responded by suspending several accounts belonging to governments including Tatmadaw and its news website, Tatmadaw True News, and MRTV, due to these pages linked to promoting violence. On 25 February, Facebook banned all accounts of the Tatmadaw, along with its related commercial entities. The tech giant also implemented the move on Instagram. Other tech companies follow suit, with YouTube terminated several channels belonging to governments including MRTV and Myawaddy TV, and TikTok restricts several violence contents from being available in their platform.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 16 April 2021, South Korean steel giant Posco announced that its Myanmar subsidiary, POSCO C&C, would end its relationship with military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). On 27 October, Indian-owned Adani Ports & SEZ announced it would terminate its US$127 million investment in Myanmar to construct a container terminal in the country. Foreign direct investment in Myanmar fell to an eight-year low, dropping 22% to US$3.8 billion in Myanmar's 2020 fiscal year (September 2020 and September 2021), due to the combined pressures of COVID and political unrest following the February coup.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: As the protests have started, there have been reported defections from the Myanmar Police Force. On 5 March 2021, 11 officers have crossed the India–Myanmar land border to Mizoram state with their families due to refusing orders to engage protestors by using lethal force. Myanmar officials have reached out to India to repatriate the defecting police officers located in Mizoram, with the reply that the Indian government will make a final decision. The Assam Rifles were given orders to tighten security along the India–Myanmar border. As of 5 March 2021, more than 600 police officers have joined the anti-regime movement, some of whom have served as police officers for many years and have collected awards for their outstanding performances. From 10 March, the border has been closed after 48 Burmese nationals have crossed it.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Some military personnel from Tatmadaw also left their posts to stand with the people against the military junta. Among them are Captain Tun Myat Aung from the 77th Light Infantry Division and Major Hein Thaw Oo from the 99th Light Infantry Division who holds the highest rank among the known defectors from Myanmar's military as of 21 April 2021. Both of them cited the corruption among the high-ranked military officers and the lack of will to kill their own people as main reasons for their defection.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Many countries, including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Singapore, encouraged dialogue between the government and the military in order to resolve the issue, many of which expressed concern in response to the coup. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States on their part condemned the coup and called for the release of detained officials; the White House also threatened to impose sanctions on coup perpetrators. Subsequently, President Biden approved an Executive Order for new sanctions on the coup perpetrators which would enable his administration to affect the perpetrator's business interests and close family members." President Biden also stated that he would freeze $1 billion US assets belonged to the Myanmar's government while maintaining support for health care, civil society groups, and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly."


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: In response of the coup, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the country had suspended its diplomatic ties with Myanmar a week after the coup; the New Zealand government also banned some high ranking elites in military government. Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam explicitly refused to support a side, characterising the coup as an internal matter. On 9 February 2021, New Zealand suspended all high-level contact with Myanmar and imposed a travel ban on its military leaders because of the coup. On 25 February 2021, Tokyo considered halting projects in Myanmar in response to the coup. On 24 February, the new Myanmar foreign minister visited Thailand, marking the first high official visit since the coup. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo also called a special meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss the issue during Muhyiddin's visit to Jakarta. In March, the Thai military was accused of supplying aid to the Myanmar military, which it denied.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 26 February 2021, the South Korean National Assembly passed a resolution condemning the coup. On 5 March 2021, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato urged the SAC-led government to stop using lethal force to disperse protests. Singaporean foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan also called the military to stop using lethal force.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on 12 March 2021 that South Korea will suspend defense exchanges with Myanmar and ban arms exports, and would limit exports of other strategic items, reconsider development aid and grant humanitarian exemptions for Myanmar nationals to allow them to stay in South Korea until the situation improves.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 27 March 2021, eight countries sent representatives to attend the Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: Intergovernmental organisations, including the United Nations, ASEAN, and the European Union expressed concern and called for dialogue from both sides. In addition to concern, the European Union also condemned the coup and urged the release of detainees.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: In response to the coup, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting, where a British-drafted resolution urging the "restoration of democracy" in Myanmar, condemning the Myanmar military's action, and calling for the release of detainees was proposed. The first draft of the statement was not issued because of failure to garner support from all 15 council members; the diplomats of China and Russia reportedly had to relay the draft to their respective governments for review. China and Russia, as permanent members of the council and therefore having the power of veto, refused to back the statement. India and Vietnam, two non-permanent members, also "voiced reservations" about the resolution.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: However, through negotiations, by 10 March 2021 — with explicit condemnation of the Myanmar military and its coup removed from the statement, along with removal of the threat of U.N. sanctions — a consensus was reached among the 15 Security Council members, resulting in a "presidential statement" from the Security Council (a step below a "resolution.") The statement condemned the violence, called for its end, and restraint by the military, and the prompt release of the detained civilian government officials (including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint), and a negotiated settlement between the parties within the framework of the Myanmar Constitution.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The UNSC presidential statement further urged all parties to cooperate with mediation efforts of the ASEAN, and the U.N. envoy to Myanmar, and to ensure access to humanitarian aid for all in Myanmar. The resolution also addressed the in Myanmar's Rakhine State (which had targeted the Rohingya Muslim minority, there, most of whom were driven out of the country) — noting that the current conditions were preventing the Rohingya's "voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return" to Myanmar. ASEAN called for a special ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta on 24 April 2021, with Min Aung Hlaing in attendance along with other member states' heads of government and foreign ministers. Members of the National Unity Government formed in response to the coup and consisting of ousted lawmakers were reported to have been in contact with ASEAN leaders, but were not formally invited to the meeting. During the summit, Min Aung Hlaing was not referred to as a head of state. ASEAN released a statement that it had agreed to a "five-point consensus" with Min Aung Hlaing on the cessation of violence in Myanmar, constructive dialogue among all parties concerned, and the appointment of a special envoy by ASEAN to facilitate the dialogue process.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 28 May 2021, the governments of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam proposed that a U.N. draft resolution on Myanmar be watered down, including removing a call for an arms embargo against the country.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 27 July 2021, U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews urged the U.N. Security Council and member states to advance a "COVID Ceasefire" in Myanmar. At the time of his report, over 600 healthcare professionals were eluding outstanding arrest warrants and 67 had already been detained in the midst of soaring COVID-19 infections and deaths throughout the country.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: A group of about 200 Burmese expatriates and some Thai pro-democracy activists including Parit Chiwarak and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul protested the coup at the Burmese embassy on Sathon Nuea Road in Bangkok, Thailand. Some protesters reportedly showed the three-finger salute, the symbol used in the protests calling for democracy in Thailand. The protest ended with a police crackdown; two protestors were injured and hospitalised, and two others were arrested. Burmese citizens in Tokyo, Japan gathered in front of the United Nations University, also to protest against the coup. On 3 February, more than 150 Burmese Americans protested in front of the Embassy of Myanmar in Washington, D.C.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: The Singapore Police Force issued warnings on 5 February 2021 against foreigners planning to participate in anti-coup protests in Singapore. On 14 February 2021, SPF officers arrested three foreigners for protesting at the outskirts of the Myanmar embassy without permits to participate in a public assembly. In March 2021, the Public Security Police Force of Macau has warned Myanmar residents that they are not allowed to conduct anti-coup protests as Article 27 of the Macau Basic Law only allows Macanese residents the right to do so.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 4 February 2021, Japanese expats living/working in Myanmar were evacuated from Yangon International Airport to Narita International Airport after the coup on 1 February. On 21 February, Taiwanese government started the evacuation process of Taiwanese expatriates in Myanmar, Taiwanese government also urged Taiwanese expatriates who wished to go back to get in touch with China Airlines. On 7 March, the South Korean government ordered a chartered Korean Air flight from Yangon to Seoul to return South Korean expatriates from Myanmar. On the same day, the Indonesian and Singaporean governments urged their citizens to leave Myanmar as soon as possible due to safety reasons. The British government also urged British citizens who stayed in Myanmar to immediately leave the country due to rising violence.


title: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état

text: On 4 March 2021, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Singaporeans living or working in Myanmar to immediately leave while they still can due to growing clashes between the protestors and police. It also warned Singaporeans to avoid all travel to Myanmar.


title: John Birch Society

text: The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas.


title: John Birch Society

text: The society's founder, businessman Robert W. Welch Jr. (1899–1985), developed an organizational infrastructure of nationwide chapters in December 1958. The society rose quickly in membership and influence, and was controversial for its promotion of conspiracy theories. In the 1960s the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and "National Review" pushed for the JBS to be exiled to the fringes of the American right. More recently, Jeet Heer has argued in "The New Republic" that while the organization's influence peaked in the 1970s, "Bircherism" and its legacy of conspiracy theories have become the dominant strain in the conservative movement. Politico has asserted that the JBS began making a resurgence in the mid-2010s, while observers have stated that the JBS and its beliefs shaped the Republican Party, the Trump administration, and the broader conservative movement. Writing in "The Huffington Post", Andrew Reinbach called the JBS "the intellectual seed bank of the right."


title: John Birch Society

text: Originally based in Belmont, Massachusetts, the John Birch Society is now headquartered in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a suburb of Appleton, Wisconsin, with local chapters throughout the United States. It owns American Opinion Publishing, which publishes the magazine "The New American".


title: John Birch Society

text: The John Birch Society from its start opposed collectivism as a "cancer" and, by extension, Communism and big government. The organization and its founder, Robert Welch, promoted Americanism as “the philosophical antithesis of Communism.” It contended that the United States is a republic, not a democracy, and argued that states' rights should supersede those of the federal government. Welch infused constitutionalist and classical liberal principles, in addition to his conspiracy theories, into the JBS's ideology and rhetoric. In 1983, Congressman Larry McDonald, then the society's newly appointed chairman, characterized the JBS as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.


title: John Birch Society

text: The society opposes "one world government", the United Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. It argues the U.S. Constitution has been devalued in favor of political and economic globalization. It has cited the existence of the former Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union. The JBS has sought to reduce immigration.


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS supports auditing and eventually dismantling the Federal Reserve System. The JBS holds that the United States Constitution gives only Congress the ability to coin money, and does not permit it to delegate this power, or to transform the dollar into a fiat currency not backed by gold or silver.


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS opposed the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the women's Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. It has campaigned for state nullification. It opposed efforts to call an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.


title: John Birch Society

text: Its publication "The New American" has described what it sees as American moral decline and threats to the family, including abortion, drugs, homosexuality, crime, violence, teenage pregnancy, teen suicide, feminism and pornography. The JBS has alleged that moral degeneracy is perpetrated by a conspiracy to make the United States vulnerable to internationalism.


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS has been described as ultraconservative, far-right, and extremist. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the society as a "Patriot" group, a group that "advocate[s] or adhere[s] to extreme antigovernment doctrines". By the 1990s, the JBS was perceived as "more mainstream conservative" than in the 1960s. It has also been associated with the libertarian movement and business nationalism.


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS contributed to the development of modern American conservatism through its organizational tactics and its promotion of right-wing political views. Despite never considering itself a religious organization, the JBS played a role in the rise of the Moral Majority and the Christian right as major political forces, ideologically and tactically influencing multiple leaders in that movement including Tim LaHaye and Phyllis Schlafly. The historian D. J. Mulloy wrote in 2014 that the JBS has served as "a kind of bridge" between the Old Right (including the McCarthyites) of the 1940s50s, the New Right of the 1970s80s, and the Tea Party right of the 21st century.


title: John Birch Society

text: Professor Edward H. Miller wrote that Welch and the JBS were "never excommunicated" from conservatism and that "the ideas of the John Birch Society paved the way for the conservatism of the twentieth century" and "shaped events in the twenty-first century". Miller also credits JBS with helping stop the ERA and setting the stage for the Reagan Era, while Mulloy states that the JBS "played an essential role in the revitalization of conservatism."


title: John Birch Society

text: JBS took an early stance in opposing abortion and social liberalism, and its TRIM committees, which supported lower taxes, helped lead to the Reagan tax cuts. By the early 2020s, multiple commentators and academics argued that the John Birch Society and its beliefs had successfully taken over the Republican Party and the broader conservative movement.


title: John Birch Society

text: The John Birch Society was established on December 9, 1958, in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the conclusion of a two-day session of a group of 12 people led by Robert W. Welch Jr.. Welch was a retired candy manufacturer from Belmont, Massachusetts, who had been a state Republican Party official and had unsuccessfully run in its 1950 lieutenant governor primary. In 1954, Welch authored the first book about John Birch titled "The Life of John Birch". He organized an anti-Communist society to "promote less government, more responsibility, and a better world". He named his new organization in memory of Birch, saying that Birch was an unknown but dedicated anti-Communist, and the first American casualty of the Cold War. Welch alleged that a Communist conspiracy within the American government had suppressed the truth about Birch's killing.


title: John Birch Society

text: John Birch was an American Baptist who went to China as a missionary in 1940, when the Japanese invasion had created suffering and chaos. He was a U.S. military intelligence officer under Brigadier General Claire Chennault in China. Chennault commanded the "Flying Tigers" and afterwards U.S. Army Air Forces units in China. In April 1942, Birch helped Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle and his flight crew (and other crews) a few days after they bailed out of their B-25 bomber over Japanese-held territory in China. Sixteen B-25's led by Doolittle bombed Tokyo ("Doolittle raid") off the Navy aircraft carrier "USS Hornet" during the United States' first attack on Japan. Beginning in July 1942, Birch, who spoke Chinese, became an Army intelligence officer. He operated alone or with Nationalist Chinese soldiers, and regularly risked his life in Japanese-held territory in China. His many activities included setting up Chinese agent and radio intelligence networks, and rescuing downed American pilots; he had two emergency aircraft runways built. Although he suffered from malaria, he refused furloughs.


title: John Birch Society

text: In 1945, Birch was promoted to captain and began working in China both for and with the OSS, the U.S. wartime intelligence service in World War II. In August, after the Japanese surrendered, Birch was ordered by the OSS to northern China to get the surrender of the Japanese commanders at their installations. On August 24, nine days after the war, Birch left by train with his party which included two American soldiers, five Chinese officers, and two Koreans who spoke Japanese. After spending a night in a village, the party proceeded by handcar the next morning, and ran into a group of 300 armed Chinese Communists. Birch and his Chinese officer aide approached them and were told to surrender their weapons and the group's equipment. Birch refused, and after arguing about it with their commander, they were allowed to proceed. Along the way, Birch's party encountered more groups of Communists. The party arrived at a train station at Hwang Kao which was occupied by more Chinese Communists. Birch requested to speak with their leader. Birch and his aide approached the group's leader and after Birch refused to give up his sidearm, both were beaten and shot. Birch's corpse was bayonetted. The rest of Birch's party were taken prisoner. Birch's aide survived and the prisoners were later released. Birch's remains were recovered, and a Catholic burial service was held with military honors on a hillside outside of Suzhou, in eastern China. The Chinese Communists, who were active in northern China and Manchuria, were supposedly WWII allies with the United States. Birch believed that Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists intended to take over China after the war (as they did in 1949) and move into Korea. There were different explanations and theories as to why Birch was killed, ranging from his party showing up at Hwang Kao instead of Ninchuan, Birch's scheduled meeting with Chinese puppet troops of the Sixth Army under General Hu Peng-chu, misunderstanding by local guerillas, and provocation from Birch himself.


title: John Birch Society

text: The founding members of the JBS included Harry Lynde Bradley, co-founder of the Allen Bradley Company and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Fred C. Koch, founder of Koch Industries and Robert Waring Stoddard, President of Wyman-Gordon, a major industrial enterprise. Another was Revilo P. Oliver, a University of Illinois professor who was later expelled from the Society and helped found the National Alliance. Koch became one of the organization's primary financial supporters. According to investigative journalist Jane Mayer, Koch's sons, David and Charles Koch, were also members of the JBS. However, both left it before the 1970s.


title: John Birch Society

text: A transcript of Welch's two-day presentation at the founding meeting was published as "The Blue Book of the John Birch Society," and became a cornerstone of its beliefs, with each new prospective member receiving a copy. According to Welch, "both the U.S. and Soviet governments are controlled by the same furtive conspiratorial cabal of internationalists, greedy bankers, and corrupt politicians. If left unexposed, the traitors inside the U.S. government would betray the country's sovereignty to the United Nations for a collectivist New World Order, managed by a 'one-world socialist government. Welch saw collectivism as the main threat to western culture, and American liberals as "secret Communist traitors" who provided cover for the gradual process of collectivism, with the ultimate goal of replacing the nations of western civilization with a one-world socialist government. "There are many stages of welfarism, socialism, and collectivism in general," he wrote, "but Communism is the ultimate state of them all, and they all lead inevitably in that direction." Welch predicted that "you have only a few more years before the country in which you live will become four separate provinces in a world-wide Communist dominion ruled by police-state methods from the Kremlin".


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS was organized to be, in Welch's words, "under completely authoritative control at all levels". It incorporated aspects of business hierarchies and also the Communist cells Welch opposed but whose discipline he admired. Chapters of 10 to 20 members each had a leader appointed from above, and were expected to meet twice a month. Members of chapters that grew larger than 20 members were expected to break off and form a new small chapter.


title: John Birch Society

text: The activities of the JBS include distributing literature, pamphlets, magazines, videos and other material; the society also sponsors a Speaker's Bureau, which invites "speakers who are keenly aware of the motivations that drive political policy". One of the first public activities of the society was a "Get US Out!" (of membership in the UN) campaign, which claimed in 1959 that the "Real nature of [the] UN is to build a One World Government". The society also alleged that Communists and UN supporters were conducting an "assault on Christmas" to "destroy all religious beliefs and customs". In 1960, Welch advised JBS members to: "Join your local P.T.A. at the beginning of the school year, get your conservative friends to do likewise, and go to work to take it over." "One Man's Opinion", a magazine launched by Welch in 1956, was renamed "American Opinion" and became the society's official publication. The society publishes "The New American", a biweekly magazine.


title: John Birch Society

text: In the 1960s, the JBS was known as a right-wing organization with anti-Communist ideology. As of the middle of the decade, it had 400 American Opinion bookstores selling its literature.


title: John Birch Society

text: By March 1961, the JBS had 60,000 to 100,000 members and, according to Welch, "a staff of 28 people in the Home Office; about 30 Coordinators (or Major Coordinators) in the field, who are fully paid as to salary and expenses; and about 100 Coordinators (or Section Leaders as they are called in some areas), who work on a volunteer basis as to all or part of their salary, or expenses, or both". According to Political Research Associates (a non-profit research group that investigates the far-right), the society "pioneered grassroots lobbying, combining educational meetings, petition drives and letter-writing campaigns. Rick Perlstein described its main activity in the 1960s as "monthly meetings to watch a film by Welch, followed by writing postcards or letters to government officials linking specific policies to the Communist menace". One early campaign against the second summit between the United States and the Soviet Union (which urged President Dwight D. Eisenhower, "If you go, don't come back!") generated over 600,000 postcards and letters, according to the society. In 1961 Welch offered $2,300 in prizes to college students for the best essays on "grounds of impeachment" of Chief Justice Warren, a prime target of ultra-conservatives. A June 1964 society campaign to oppose Xerox corporate sponsorship of TV programs favorable to the UN produced 51,279 letters from 12,785 individuals."


title: John Birch Society

text: In 1962, William F. Buckley Jr., editor of the "National Review", an influential conservative magazine, denounced Welch and the John Birch Society as "far removed from common sense" and urged the GOP to purge itself of Welch's influence.


title: John Birch Society

text: In the late 1960s, Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against Communism in Vietnam was part of a Communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the left. The society opposed water fluoridation, which it called "mass medicine" and a Communist effort to destroy American children.


title: John Birch Society

text: The JBS was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. It was rejected by most conservatives because of Welch's conspiracy theories. The philosopher Ayn Rand said in a 1964 "Playboy" interview, "I consider the Birch Society futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against Communism ... I gather they believe that the disastrous state of today's world is caused by a Communist conspiracy. This is childishly naïve and superficial. No country can be destroyed by a mere conspiracy, it can be destroyed only by ideas."