How Bangladesh's LGBT Community Is Dealing with Threats and Machete Attacks

Rainbow Rally 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo courtesy of 'Roopbaan'

"People in Dhaka are now saying that Xulhaz made us gay," says the frightened voice across the line. "Xulhaz and Tonoy did not make anyone gay. We are gay because that's the way we were born. There's nothing anti-Bangladeshi or unnatural about being different, but the prejudice is steep."

This is the first time that Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy's friend, who I will not name for his own safety, has lost anyone close to him. It's 2 AM in Dhaka, but he has been unable to sleep properly since Tonoy, an activist, was murdered, alongside former US embassy employee Xulhaz Mannan, by half a dozen machete-wielding extremists in Bangladesh on April 25. The Bangladeshi government claims that the extremists were homegrown, while al Qaeda and ISIS, along with religious extremist groups in Bangladesh, take credit for the dozens of public executions around the country. Extremists have issued warnings that the killings will continue, and that those who report on LGBT issues will be hunted down. Many members of the LGBT community remain in hiding as a result of these attacks, and the prejudice displayed by many of the country's ordinary citizens.

Xulhaz and Tonoy were both involved in Roopbaan, Bangladesh's only LGBT magazine. Over the last year, Roopbaan became very visible in Bangladesh, starting a nationwide youth leadership program, an online platform, a film festival, and an HIV awareness and testing program called Pink Slip.

"My bosses laugh at the fact that Xulhaz and Tonoy were unmarried. They say the two 'deserved' their fate because they were homosexual. My bosses don't even know that I am gay, and neither does my family," the friend confides. "Imagine having to hide grief like this? Now I have nothing. No life. No future."

Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy and Xulhaz Mannan from the 2015 Rainbow Rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The faces of other attendees have been blurred to protect their identities. Photo courtesy of 'Roopbaan'

Since the murders, two terror cells were uncovered and an alleged killer was arrested. However, for those of us who knew Xulhaz and Tonoy, memories of traveling freely around Dhaka, eating biryani, playing card games, attending gallery exhibits and classical music concerts, or sitting under the bamboo groves in the botanical garden have become soiled. After the murders, gay friends felt there is little solidarity with their cause within the country. Sometimes, causes like free speech and LGBT rights are derided as being part of a Western hegemony, but this is just muddying the rhetorical waters: Foreign powers do not need to manipulate people into wanting to be able to walk down the street without harassment, and speak without being killed.

The double homicide marked the first time in the three-year-long wave of radical Islamist murders that the gay community has been targeted. For those of us who knew the two men, the aftermath has been a reminder of the hierarchies placed on which lives are deemed worthy of mourning in Bangladesh. Vigils were held in Paris, London, and New York after the murders, but none were held in Bangladesh.

When the machete attacks on Bangladeshi intellectuals began three years ago, Bangladeshi authorities were initially silent.

The government only spoke up after the death of blogger Niloy Neel at his home in the fall of 2015. And even then, Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, called the writing of bloggers "filthy words." "You can't attack someone else's religion," warned Hasina. "You'll have to stop doing this. It won't be tolerated if someone else's religious sentiment is hurt."

In this climate, it isn't surprising that the attacks have continued. Just days before the murders of my friends, a university professor with a love of classical music was killed. In quick succession following these murders, a Buddhist monk, a Hindu tailor, and a homeopathic doctor were also hacked to death. After a law student in Bangladesh was murdered this May, the government wondered whether the death could be justified based on the online writings of the student.

These deaths showcase how expendable life remains in the country. Terrorists falsely claiming Islam as their guide cannot be further justified by Bangladesh's government.

"We are being attacked on all sides. Locals are allowing it. Those who condemn the murders are being silenced." —A friend of Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy

Amid this targeting of minorities, Bangladesh's government seems either incapable or unwilling to effectively condemn the murders. Blaming homegrown extremism at the hands of its opposition parties, the government has also vilified the legacies of the murder victims instead.

After Xulhaz was murdered, US Secretary of State John Kerry shared his security concerns about growing extremism with Sheikh Hasina over the phone. Soon after US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal traveled to Bangladesh to discuss security issues, meeting with Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. Afterwards, Khan was reported as saying, "Our society does not allow any movement that promotes unnatural sex. Writing in favor of it is tantamount to criminal offense as per our law."

This, then, has been the government's response to a murder epidemic: to blame the victim, and legitimize the slurs hurled at marginalized communities.

"The government wants to hold onto its religious base by wrongfully suggesting that we are not Muslim. This pacifies the extremists and legitimizes the killings," says one of Roopbaan's cofounders, who, like Tonoy's friend, also wishes to remain anonymous.

"Tonoy refused to talk about the threats, although he received dozens of threats," says Tonoy's friend. "Now we are being killed, and talking about how scared we are or writing about it is criminal? We are being attacked on all sides. Locals are allowing it. Those who condemn the murders are being silenced."

On VICE News: 'Sex, Slavery, and Drugs in Bangladesh':

These fears are palpable in a country where freedom of speech is increasingly under assault. Recently, Bangladesh's government tightened the noose by announcing that it has proposed plans to create a "Cyber Threat Detection and Response Network." The $19 million scheme, if approved, would promote around-the-clock online surveillance of citizens, effectively allowing the government to block and remove any online content it deems unfit for national viewership.

This allocation of resources is misguided, given Bangladesh's more pressing problems—66 percent of the country's girls are married before they reach the age of 18, and poverty is rampant. Sustainable measures to tackle these issues have not been scaled up adequately to create widespread impact: consider that half of Bangladesh's roughly 163 million are female. This means over 40 million women are married before they reach 18. Poor feeding practices, alongside teenage pregnancies, arise in intergenerational stunting in a staggering 41 percent of the overall population, across all social demographics. These problems arise even though the government depends heavily on foreign aid and nonprofits to provide basic services such as vaccines, education, and health interventions, and received $2.6 billion in 2013 alone.

Despite this, the plans to monitor content on social media and international sites, under the guise of tackling "cyber crimes," continues, raising concerns. Some believe it to be a ploy by the supposedly liberal Awami League government to curb freedom of speech. Late last year, the government blocked social media sites for 22 days, and in the fall of 2013 YouTube was blocked for several months.

Individuals have been targeted as well. In December 2015, the administrator of a popular satirical Facebook page, "Moja Losss" ("Lost Fun") was arrested for allegedly mocking the government. The arrest came in the form of a raid carried out by Bangladesh's super-paramilitary force, AK-47s in hand. Mahfuz Anam, the prominent editor of Bangladesh's largest English daily the Daily Star, was slapped with 79 sedition and defamation charges amounting to an alleged $17 billion, as of February.

Little has been made of social media's instrumental role in aiding growing fanaticism in Bangladesh. Ten days before the murders of Xulhaz and Tonoy, a Facebook group called "Voice of Bangladesh" promised violence if the LGBT community took part in the annual April New Year's parade.

Citing the Facebook group, police ordered Xulhaz to stop the community from participating in the national parade. The next day, on April 14, four gay activists were arrested when they did not comply and marched in the rally. Xulhaz stayed in the police precinct until his friends were released from custody.

"Why should I be scared?" Xulhaz wrote to me last year. "I'm human, and I cannot hide who I am."

The question as to why Facebook would even allow such a group to exist remains unanswered. Those within the LGBT community in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, repeatedly reported this group to Facebook, but it remains active. (Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.)

Meanwhile, another social media group called "Salauddiner Ghora" (Salauddiner's Horse), which is affiliated with extremist groups, released a YouTube video of the gruesome aftermath of Xulhaz's murder. The video shows Xulhaz's lifeless body being dragged by curious onlookers outside his home prior to police arrival. Xulhaz's mother—a severe Alzheimer's patient who was forced to witness the murders—is then seen covering the protruding gray matter, pushing it back into Xulhaz's head.

This graphic video remains online, even though human rights groups lodged complaints to YouTube. Salauddiner Ghora lauds the public executions on Facebook and Twitter. They have even published faces of the next targets, while suggesting anyone involved in the future killings of "non-believers" will go to heaven for "doing the work of God."

"These pages are in Bengali. Is that the reason why these social media sites haven't responded?" asks Roopbaan's cofounder.

Earlier this week, the original Salauddiner Ghora Facebook group was finally taken down. But, as of Wednesday, a new one has been started.

Following the April arrests, Xulhaz called for a top-level security meeting with all the leaders and allies of the LGBT community. They began to check in with each other daily. They curtailed going to events at night.

Xulhaz delivered a last youth leadership lecture on Roopbaan just a week before his murder, in tandem with a photography art exhibit in Dhaka. Unaware that he was being followed around, he took an open rickshaw to his house.

"Just the fact that we were being watched for weeks is chilling," says Roopbaan's cofounder, who was with Xulhaz at the time. "Despite our fear after the arrests, we spoke normally and had a good time. It was the last time I saw him alive."

"Tonoy's last production was a theatrical representation of Siraj ud-Daulah, the last king of Bengal before the British invaded the country and began colonizing it," says his friend. "He performed it on Saturday. Then Sunday was Tonoy's birthday. He treated his friends for dinner, but he refused to cut a cake because he cut two cakes last year. If we had known it was his last night, we would have stayed with him longer. He was murdered the next day. Now we are scared to visit his grave or reach out to his family."

Despite the murders, the extremism, and the victim-blaming, many in Bangladesh's LGBT community remain committed to furthering the dialogue.

In the last two years, Bangladesh's first lesbian comic book Project Dhee was launched, alongside theatrical performances and art exhibits, poetry anthologies, and a documentary film about the Rainbow Rally, a diversity-promoting New Year's Day celebration started by Xulhaz. Bangladesh even recognizes hijras—a term used in the region to refer to trans people—under the law.

"Why should I be scared?" Xulhaz wrote to me last year. "I cannot live in fear. I'm human, and I cannot hide who I am."

But the persecution has unquestionably made life harder for many, and resulted in severe chaos.

"There is a lot of misinformation going around. Many who are panicked are claiming affiliations with us so as to receive asylum in countries like Germany. They have never worked directly with anyone in the LGBT community in Dhaka, and it is regrettable that they are taking advantage of this situation," says one of Roopbaan's two surviving cofounders.

"When will the government do something to help us? After we have all been killed?" asks Roopbaan's other surviving cofounder. "We deserve to be protected, not exiled and silenced, alongside remaining voiceless forever."

Raad Rahman is a communications, advocacy, and partnerships specialist who has consulted extensively with UNICEF in Bangladesh. Follow her on Twitter.

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What Would Happen If We Gave Everyone Free Money?

Somewhere in Sarasota, Florida, there is a man named Edwin. It doesn't really matter how old Edwin is, or what he does for a living. It doesn't matter if he has kids or a chronic back problem or if he's racked up $100,000 in credit card debt. Edwin could be rich or poor, young or old, black or white. Edwin is everyman, with one small exception: He is now $15,000 richer.

Edwin was the winner of the first-ever basic income lottery in the United States on Tuesday, sponsored by a San Francisco-based group called My Basic Income. The group created the sweepstakes to rally interest in a universal basic income—the idea that every person should be given enough money to cover their basic needs, regardless of financial hardship or work ethic or anything else, with no strings attached. In Edwin's case, he'll get $1,250 per month for a year to do with what he likes, in the hopes that it will paint a clearer picture of how individuals in the United States would use a basic income supplement in the future.

The concept of universal basic income was first detailed in Thomas More's Renaissance-era Utopia and has garnered support over the years from Milton Friedman, Martin Luther King Jr., half a dozen US presidents, Noble prize-winning economist Christopher Pissarides, and more than 33,000 Redditors.

But right now, basic income is experiencing what is perhaps its biggest moment ever. Tuesday's basic income lottery event comes on the heels of two major announcements—one from the tech incubator Y Combinator, which will sponsor a five-year basic income experiment in Oakland, California; another from the charity GiveDirectly, which will pilot a decade-long basic income program in Kenya. Later this week, Switzerland will vote on whether or not to guarantee every citizen about $2,500 per month, which would make it the first country to put a basic income program into practice.

"There are a lot of assumptions about what happens when you give people free money. But in reality, we really don't know," said Cameron Ottens, the co-founder of My Basic Income, in an interview with VICE. "We're trying to figure out what real people would actually do with it and how it would impact real peoples' lives, to move beyond academic speculation about peoples' behavior."

Past experiments have made a compelling case for how basic income can improve society at large, but haven't paid much attention to how individuals spend the money they're given. One of the more famous experiments—the minimum income or "Mincome" project in Manitoba, Canada—gave monthly income supplements to the poorest third of residents of a small town called Dauphin. The project began in 1974, but after five years, the government shut it down. An official report of the findings was never released.

Years later, though, an economist at the University of Manitoba used the archived data from the project to compile a review. Her report, published in 2011, showed that during the five years that residents collected basic income, workplace accidents decreased, high school graduation rates increased, and people spent less time at their jobs and more time with their families. Basically, if you no longer have to work to live, your quality of life gets a lot better.

Another experiment among low-income families in North Carolina found that giving families a cash stipend led to a decrease in behavioral and emotional disorders among children. There's also evidence to suggest that this kind of supplemental income lowers stress levels, reduces crime rates, and improves the quality of people's diets, as it did for recipients of basic income experiments in Kenya, Nambia, and India, respectively. Free money is not a panacea, but it's pretty close.

Of course, those studies prove only that having money improves peoples' lives, not that basic income is necessarily the method of doing so. And there are plenty of questions about the feasibility of basic income on a large scale: How would we pay for it? How much money would people need? Would it disincentive people from working, or enable people to spend government money on luxury items? New York Times writer Eduardo Porter argued that it's a "poor tool to fight poverty" in a column published yesterday. And Ezra Klein at Vox pointed out that a basic income would require Americans to completely redefine their relationship to work, something he isn't sure is possible. But for all the valid arguments against a basic income, no one has yet been able to answer the simplest question, which is: What exactly would people do with it?

The My Basic Income lottery, which was modeled after a similar project in Germany, aimed to collect data on this question. Anyone could enter the sweepstakes as long as they answered the question: What would you do with the money if you won?Ottens said the group collected roughly 3,000 responses.

"The spread we're seeing so far has a lot to do with people going through transitions," Ottens told VICE. People wrote about using the cash to offset their expenses while getting a degree, quitting a bad job, or starting a business. There were also responses about handling unexpected expenses, like paying off a hospital bill or a car repair—something more than half of Americans said they couldn't afford, according to a recent survey from Bank Rate. "I don't think people realize how often peoples' lives are disrupted by someone who gets in a car accident or gets cancer."

Edwin, who won the sweepstakes, wrote that he would "save the money for a rainy day."

It doesn't really matter what Edwin does with the money, so long as his year of basic income adds to the pool of data about what a basic income could look like for individuals. He could spend all $15,000 on strippers and, while the people who crowdfunded that money would probably not be pleased, it would at least add another data point about how individuals would use a basic income. "If someone says, 'I'm going to buy a brand new car and never drive it,' that would be good to know too," said Ottens.

Now is the perfect time to work out the kinks of a basic income system, since advances in technology threaten to put more and more people out of work, according to Natalie Foster, a fellow at the Institute for the Future and a co-founder of the Universal Income Project.

"Basic income has had supporters throughout history, from Milton Friedman to Martin Luther King, Jr. Even the founding fathers talked about universal basic income. But we haven't seen it move from idea to actual policy," Foster told VICE. "Whether or not you believe that robots are going to come take our jobs, the future is here—it's just unevenly distributed."

Foster said that while the Swiss vote on basic income is "not likely" to pass this week, other governments—including Finland and the cities of Ontario, Canada, and Utrecht in the Netherlands—are considering their own basic income program.

And whether those programs succeed or fail, basic income advocates argue that it's time to start experimenting with them in earnest.

"The idea from the sweepstakes was that you'd get people who were thinking, 'I could use $15,000" who had nothing to do with the movement, who had nothing to do with the politics, who just thought that amount of money was meaningful," said Ottens. "And then they realize that there are people talking about this: What if everyone could survive without a job? What if you could walk away from an abusive relationship ? What if you could work less? What if we could try to solve those problems once and for all?"

For more information about My Basic Income's second lottery, visit their website.

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The VICE Morning Bulletin

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck speaks to the press after two people were killed in a shooting at UCLA on Wednesday morning. (Photo by Mintaha Neslihan Eroglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Everything you need to know about the world this morning, curated by VICE.

US News

UCLA Shooting Victim Identified
The victim of an apparent murder-suicide on the UCLA campus on Wednesday has been identified as William Klug, an engineering professor. Police said two men were found dead. A gun and a possible suicide note were also recovered. They believe Klug may have been the shooter's teacher.—ABC News

Republican Hispanic Media Chief Quits
Ruth Guerra, the Republican National Committee's head of Hispanic media relations, will resign this month. Guerra allegedly told several colleagues she is uncomfortable working for nominee Donald Trump and selling his message to Hispanic voters. She is set to go and work for a Republican-aligned super PAC.—The New York Times

Somali Commander Accused of War Crimes Found Working at US Airport
A former Somali military commander accused of war crimes during the country's civil war has been found working at a US airport. Yusuf Abdi Ali is employed as a security guard at Dulles International Airport outside Washington DC. Ali has been placed on administrative leave by the airport after details of his past came to light.—CNN

No Federal Charges for Cops in Jamar Clark Shooting
Civil rights leaders have criticized the decision by federal prosecutors not to bring charges against two Minneapolis police officers involved in the shooting death of 24-year-old black man Jamar Clark. "Our government leaders have clearly let us down," said the president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAAP.—VICE News

International News

World Powers Call for Air Drops in Syria
The US, UK and France have urged the UN to begin air drops of aid to besieged areas in Syria. They accused the Syrian government of failing to respect a June 1 deadline for aid distribution. A Red Cross convoy reached the besieged area of Darayya on Wednesday, but it was only allowed to deliver a small amount of medicine.—BBC News

At Least 16 Killed in Somali Hotel Attack
At least 16 people have been killed and 55 wounded in a car bomb and sustained gun attack on the Hotel Ambassador in Mogadishu, Somali authorities have said. Security forces say the hotel is now secure after clearing the building of militants from the Islamist group al Shabaab.—Reuters

Saudi Arabia Invests $3.5 Billion in Uber
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has invested $3.5 billion in Uber to help the ride-hailing company expand across the Middle East. It is Uber's biggest influx of cash from a single investor. One of Uber's CEOs Travisk Kalanick described it as a "vote of confidence."—CNN Money

Indian Court Convicts 24 Over Massacre
A court in India has convicted 24 people of involvement in a notorious massacre that took place during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots, finding 11 people guilty of murder. The mob attacked a residential complex in Ahmedabad, hacking and burning 69 Muslims to death. The judge acquitted another 36 people for lack of evidence.—The Guardian

Wiz Khalifa. Photo via Wikimedia.

Everything Else

Wiz Khalifa Sues Label and Former Manager
The rapper has filed a lawsuit against his former manager and label in an effort to terminate a deal signed in 2005. It accuses Rostrum Records and Benjy Grinberg of profiting from "every aspect" of Khalifa's life, and seeks $1 million plus in damages.—Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Airbnb Bans Racist North Carolina Host
Airbnb has banned a host in North Carolina after he used racist language to tell a black woman who booked a room she was not welcome. "This is the south darling. Find another place to rest," he wrote to her in a message.—USA Today

Marijuana Edibles Made Legal in Oregon
Marijuana-infused edibles go on sale legally in Oregon for the first time today, part of the state's rollout of legalized recreational weed. Customers aged 21 or over can purchase the edibles, so long as they contain under 15 milligrams of THC.—The Oregonian

Illegal Commercial Drones Receive No FAA Fines
The Federal Aviation Administration has never fined a drone user for flying for money, despite warning that flying drones for commercial purposes without permission is illegal,according to documents obtained using the Freedom of Information Act.—Motherboard

Done with reading today? Watch our new video 'Locked Off: A Documentary About the UK's Illegal Rave Scene'.

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What It Was Like at UCLA When There Was a Shooting on Campus

On Wednesday morning shortly before 10 AM, a murder-suicide claimed the lives of two men on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles. According to the LAPD, the gunman was likely a student, and the LA Times reports that his target was biomechanics professor William S. Klug, who worked at the "interface of mechanics and biology."

The shooter's identity and motive are still unknown as of this writing, but the LAPD says a note has been found at the scene.

As details of the shooting slowly emerged on Wednesday, UCLA, and the surrounding neighborhood of Westwood, were plunged into chaos. Law enforcement ordered a campus-wide lockdown, and deployed armed officers to secure classrooms and other campus facilities until the all-clear was given at 12:05 PM.

It was also meant to be the start of UCLA's finals week.

"We were supposed to be doing our final presentations in that class today," a UCLA senior named Nicole Turkson told VICE. But news of the shooting arrived, and the students dropped everything, barricaded themselves inside, and "sat up against the wall so we couldn't really see the outside windows."

20-year-old Nicole Tadros, a junior in the chemistry and material science program tried to work despite the confusion. Between classes, she noticed someone shouting, and people took off running, so Tadros said she ran with them, "because I didn't know what to do." But when she got to her next class, she carried on preparing for a final.

Then she and her classmates finally found out the situation was "much more serious than we thought."

"When the officers responded here, initially, it came as a shooting in progress. They don't know at that point. They don't know if there's an active shooter on campus, or it's an isolated incident," said LAPD public information officer Chris Ramirez.

In addition to UCLA's campus police and the LAPD officers and SWAT teams, several additional law enforcement agencies sent officers, according to Ramirez. Members of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the California Highway Patrol all made appearances. Members of the LA Fire Department, and campus police vehicles from nearby University of Southern California could also be seen.

Ramirez explained that responders' jobs included, "finishing up the evacuations, finishing up the clearing out of the campus, making sure there was no additional victims, and providing aid, if anyone needed it," adding, "My understanding is there weren't any reports of anyone needing aid."

But 20 year-old UCLA student Bernardo Gonzalez said the presence of such a large number of officers had the side effect of adding to the confusion. " were kicked out of classrooms, saw someone running around with a gun, and were like 'Oh, there's another shooter running around!'"

Gonzalez said he and his acquaintances confused tactical law enforcement gear for commercially available body armor, and heard hysterical reports about a vast killing operation with a body count as high as seven. "It wasn't cleared up until the police gave their statement," he said.

According to Tadros, during the two-hour lockdown, nearly everyone in her classroom received frantic texts from friends and family, including her own family who had learned of the shooting all the way in her home country of Jordan, "They were freaking out," she said.

"I think people are gonna be shaken up about this for a while," said Cole Tegner, a 22-year-old political science major. "I talked to some friends already who told me they're afraid to go to class tomorrow. It's very scary," Tegner said, pointing out that the campus is ostensibly "a gun-free zone."

At a press conference late Wednesday afternoon, Scott Waugh, UCLA's Vice Chancellor and Provost told the press that most classes will resume Thursday, but that the engineering department, including Boelter Hall where the shooting took place, remains closed indefinitely with the planning of a candlelight vigil still pending.

Alan Garfinkel, colleague of professor Klug in the engineering program told the Los Angeles Times that he was "absolutely devastated" at this loss, adding, "You cannot ask for a nicer, gentler, sweeter and more supportive guy than William Klug."

Waugh also pointed out that UCLA has "a lot of very distressed students and staff" right now, and that mental health services are available, and will "have extended hours tonight, and over the next few days."

At the press conference, Waugh expressed concern over reports that doors couldn't be locked during the lockdown, forcing students to improvise solutions and post them on social media. One group of students reportedly tied a belt around the hydraulic mechanism at the top of a door to secure it. Another forced heavy objects against an inward-opening door to form an ad-hoc barricade.

Students and staff pour out of the engineering department at the conclusion of the lockdown

Tadros said she has always felt safe at UCLA, but she certainly didn't rule out another tragedy like this one, saying, "I don't feel like there's much they can do."

"It's a huge campus," Tadros said. "Things happen. That's life."

Follow Mike Pearl on Twitter.

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The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election: Almost All of the 34 Candidates in California’s Senate Race Are Totally Nuts

Six of California's 34 US Senate candidates. Composite image by author

The primary elections in California on June 7 will, mercifully, be the final showdown of a torrid, endless presidential nominating season. But with Donald Trump already triumphant and Hillary Clinton virtually guaranteed to lock up the race on the Democratic side, the results appear to be a forgone conclusion.

Down the ballot, however, the battle for California's soon-to-be vacant US Senate seat is just heating up. California Democrat Barbara Boxer is not seeking re-election after a 30-year reign in the upper chamber, and a whopping 34 candidates are vying for two spots in the general election runoff this November. And with only a week to go before ballots are cast, a full one-third of likely California primary voters—and nearly half of Republicans—remain undecided, according to a recent poll.

At this point, California's Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris continues to lead the race, although she faces an interparty challenge from Muslim-fearing Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and former banker Ron Unz on the Republican side. The remaining candidates run the gamut from single-issue cheerleaders to long-shots, lifers, political neophytes, straight white males, and more than the occasional quack.

For example, there's Cristina Grappo, who refers to herself as 'President Cristina Grappo,' and whose ballot bio boasts that she is "mainstream Facebook!" whatever that might mean. There's also Herb Peters, a 77-year old fundamentalist Christian who identifies himself as an 'Andrew Jackson Democrat;' and Greg Conlon, a Republican octogenarian, who during a secondary candidates' debate this month, declared in some kind of nativist Freudian slip that, "All illegals should be turned over to ISIS—I mean the INS."

And of course, there's our personal favorite, Ling Ling Shi, a mysterious candidate whose internet presence is limited to a YouTube video of her absolutely crushing the high notes in an operatic performance of the self-penned canticle "Amazing Love, Amazing Grace," and who, according to her ballot bio, is running to "challenge 10 giant chaos in economy and economy-related sectors."

For all their quirks, though, these also-rans intent challenging the Democratic Machine offer a colorful glimpse into the often-overlooked underbelly of the American democratic process. Without PACs, speechwriters, or press secretaries, the lower echelons of the state's senatorial race race have the grassiest of roots, and we think they should be celebrated for their efforts.

So VICE called up some of these quixotic political hopefuls to find out what they would say if they knew someone was finally listening.

US Senate candidate Tim Gildersleeve (middle) accompanied by two supporters. Photo via campaign website

Tim Gildersleeve, No Party Preference
A paratransit operator by profession, Gildersleeve, 55, is a devout Christian from San Jose who identifies politically as something called a "Christocrat." His website identifies Gildersleeve as pro-life and anti-gay marriage— but he also claims that he'll ignore those beliefs and vote with California's liberal majority if he finds himself in the US Senate.

VICE: You call yourself a Christocrat—what does that mean exactly?
Tim Gildersleeve: I view that as someone who recognizes Jesus Christ as rightful ruler of Planet Earth. I do believe he's gonna return and that one day he will rule, in some form, and bring peace to the planet.

If Jesus returns, would he run for president or just, like, assume control?
That's open to debate. I believe we'll enter into a time of real chaos, a time of crisis. When we look at our economic system, consumerism is a doomed-to-fail philosophy. We have a $19 trillion debt, 70 percent consumer spending.This is unsustainable.

Plus, with ISIS, which I think we've dealt with wrong, we could see more of the San Bernardino situation happening in our country. It'll be a time of chaos and then he will return and what is discussed in Matthew:25, where he separates the sheep from the goats, will happen. There will be a judgment of evil. I'm glad I'm not the one making that decision, because I don't wanna judge people.

How do you think voters in California will respond to your stances on social issues, particularly against abortion and gay marriage?
In spite of what I want, I will go with what the voters want. Californians seem to like the current abortion laws. I'm not gonna work to change that. I might have my personal views, but I'm representing Californians. When I disagree with my boss, I still do what he says! I can't force people to be pro-life. I'm not going to try to. I state my view, but I'm there to represent the people.

Who will you be voting for in the presidential race?
In June, I'm voting for Bernie Sanders. He's very honest. In November, if it's Clinton and Trump, I will be voting for a third party, of which I don't know yet.

Photo via gailklightfoot.com

Gail Lightfoot, Libertarian Party
Lightfoot, 78, is a charter member of the Libertarian Party, and has made a career out of running for office on the party's ticket. She and her husband also produce a weekly public-access television show in San Louis Obispo County that features various readings and musings on libertarian ideas, including a line-by-line reading of the US Constitution.

VICE: You've spent quite a bit of time seeking public office. What drove you to get involved in politics?
Gail Lightfoot: I got involved in politics with the Barry Goldwater campaign in 1964. I've been active in the Libertarian Party since 1980. I've run for Congress on three occasions, and then I ran for Secretary of State. The first time I ran was '96. I was State Chair of the Libertarian Party then. In between then, and up until now, I've been running for US Senate. But this year, with the open seat, that's why we have 34 candidates. There's lots of competition.

What strikes you about the current election cycle? Is 2016 different than past years that you've run campaigns?
There's a huge percentage of Americans who realize that this system is broken. It was Trump or Sanders' bandwagons.

Who will you be voting for in the presidential race?
I vote Libertarian up and down the ballot.

Photo via Beitiks for US Senate campaign website

Mike Beitiks, No Party Preference
A 32-year-old Bay Area attorney and stay-at-home dad, Beitiks is running a single-issue campaign centered on the dangers of climate change—a problem he approaches with a doomsday-like gravity. As his website states, "ISIS. Immigration reform. The NSA. Gun control...None of them matter because we're all going to die."

VICE: Tell us a little about your campaign platform.
Mike Beitiks: The short answer is climate change. The long answer is that I'm running a single-issue campaign as an equal and opposite reaction to federal legislative inaction on climate change. The problem we're facing is not one of a lack of solutions, but a lack of political will. I just want to make sure that political will is adequately reflected in the candidate space.

Are we really going to die as soon as you say we will?

While the clock is debatable, the important fact is that we need to do something now. As the evidence continues to mount, it sounds like the worst is right around the corner. And if that worst is a possibilIty, why are we addressing it as an inconvenience rather than a true existential threat?

What is it that you're trying to achieve with your Senate campaign?
Kamala Harris, the heir apparent . I thought it was unacceptable that someone who is most likely to assume our senatorial seat not prioritize climate change. I started my campaign to make sure this important issue is being discussed in the candidate space, and I have attempted to do that in the most attention-grabbing way possible.

Who will you vote for in the presidential primaries?
I lean Sanders. I'm of the opinion that he has the most realistic climate approach in the race right now.

Image via www.jasonhanania.com

Jason Hanania, No Party Preference
An engineer and attorney from the Bay Area, Hanania's only statement in the California voter guide is "01100101." As he explains on his campaign website, it's a binary code that stands for the letter "E," as in e-voting, in this case. Hanania's platform extends from there, and is mostly based on a website he founded called eVoteAmerica, which is designed to let citizens vote on the decisions of their elected officials.

VICE: Tell us a little about your background.

Jason Hanania: I'm an attorney and engineer, but from 2004 to 2006, I worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a result of that experience, I filed two government accountability lawsuits—and ultimately I founded evoteAmerica. We're looking to replace the 1 percent political party system with a 100 percent e-voting techno-democracy.

How does a techno-democracy work?
The e-voting service will re-engineer democracy using electronic voting software through which every American votes on how their elected officials should vote. With this system, every American can have a seat at the legislative table.

How do you see this affecting politics?
We've grown into this perception that the president is the leader of the free world. However, if we implemented a 100 percent e-voting democracy, the US legislative branch would be far more powerful than the US president. The president is supposed to do what Congress says. With e-voting, Congress does what the people want.

That sounds hard to implement.
It's got a lot of new, technical issues and political ramifications. But, it's easier than putting a man on the moon! Building this is very do-able and it empowers 100 percent of the American people. I understand that when you're bringing in all these opinions, it could seem like chaos. But I do think that between algorithms and integrating software, I think it's an endeavor worth pursuing.

Photo via voteforemory.com

Emory Rodgers, Democrat
According to his campaign bio—and as his handful of supporters are eager to share—Rodgers was homeless at age 16. He also once went on a 79-day hunger strike to raise awareness about about biomass fuels. Now a 49-year-old property manager in Los Angeles, he describes himself as a "Berniecrat," and has adopted Sanders' campaign platform in its entirety for his US Senate run.

VICE: Tell us a little bit about your background—sounds like you have an interesting life story.
Emory Rodgers: I've lived in every economic existence, from being homeless and on the streets to being a business owner now. It's given me a perspective on a wide variety of economic lifestyles and variations of civil and human rights. As a homeless person, I saw it from the harshest position, but I also saw opportunities for solutions. Thirty years ago I was a homeless activist up in San Francisco.

Is it true that you hold a record for the world's longest hunger strike?
It was a liquid fast! I held it for 79 days. Yeah, it's a global record, unless you wanna consider some Buddhist monk that had nothing to do with protest. His wasn't a strike. I will be going on a hunger strike again , as well as at the state and local level. There's an insurgency of Bernie-type, philosophically driven people that support progress.

Follow Jemayel Khawaja on Twitter.

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We Witness One of Hockey's Oldest Rivalries Tonight on VICELAND

On tonight's episode of VICE World of Sports on VICELAND, we head to a quiet Michigan town that's home to one of hockey's oldest rivalries, the Gibson Cup, where we meet the two teams who have been battling each other for the coveted trophy for more than 100 years. Watch a preview of the episode above and tune in tonight at 11 PM EST.

VICE World of Sports airs Wednesdays 11 PM EST on VICELAND.

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Is Vancouver the Tax Haven Capital of Canada?

A city of glass and offshore accounts. Photo via Flickr user Jake Warren

It's been nearly two months since the Panama Papers first made headlines, and still there's so much more to learn from the millions of documents exposing clients of the notorious Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. (Now released into a searchable online database; you're welcome, tax nerds.)

Already we've got the sense there are hundreds of thousands of super-rich people setting up offshore bank accounts and shell companies for various purposes, many of them shady. And on top of all the world leaders, mobsters, C-list celebrities, and sports officials named in the docs, there are also over 1,300 Canadian mailing addresses linked to offshore firms that are just starting to get noticed.

Vancouver correspondent for the South China Morning Post Ian Young took a closer look at those Canadian-owned tax havens last week, and found a pretty glaring concentration of them in Metro Vancouver's wealthiest neighborhoods and suburbs. It turns out Vancouver and Richmond addresses are over eight times more likely to appear in the papers than the Canadian per-capita average, while West Vancouver addresses are in there 19.2 times more than the norm. See the whole investigation with graphs and charts here.

While Greater Toronto technically has a handful more addresses linked to offshore accounts than Metro Vancouver (382 to 375, respectively), if you control for the huge population gap between the cities, Young found the West Coast is way ahead. "I think Vancouver is definitely the tax haven capital of Canada," Young told VICE. "On a per-capita basis, there's a fairly huge disparity."

Young is quick to note the Panama Papers leak does not give a full picture of all Canadian-made tax havens, nor does it necessarily suggest wrongdoing. "What you can see is the difference in scale between Vancouver and the rest of Canada, between Vancouver and, say, Toronto, which is the financial capital, which you would think would have a very huge number of tax haven companies, or a higher proportion, but it doesn't."

Young also has some theories about why and how this all happened. He's been following "millionaire migration" to Vancouver for a long time, and he says the tax havens are another indication that Vancouver has an unusually high concentration of international millionaires.

"I think you can make some conclusions," Young told VICE. "The situation is this: Vancouver has taken by far and away the great majority of the world's wealthy immigrants that have arrived in Canada."

Related: Watch 'Surreal Estate,' our documentary about Vancouver's skyrocketing housing market

For nearly 30 years, Canada had an investor visa program that essentially granted citizenship to anyone with the means to lend the government $800,000. That visa program was shut down in 2014, but a similar one run out of Quebec continues to let in more millionaires destined for Vancouver, according to Young's research.

"So many millionaires have moved here, and have been moving money around the world to come to Vancouver, and one of the strategies that people use when they're doing that is tax havens." Young says Vancouver is the end destination for about two thirds of Canada's millionaire migrants, while Toronto takes the other third.

Wealth migration, predominantly from mainland China, has also been blamed for heating up Vancouver's out-of-control real estate market. To get a sense of the size of the issue, University of British Columbia researcher Andy Yan somewhat controversially looked at Anglicized and non-Anglicized Chinese names registered on property documents. This week Vancouver's mayor Gregor Robertson called out pundits who take studies like these and assume "anybody with a Chinese name who is buying a home in Vancouver must not be from Canada."

Young agrees that looking at names doesn't prove anything about individuals. "What it doesn't do is tell you whether or not those are citizens or not citizens. It doesn't tell you whether they're permanent residents or not permanent residents," he said. "All it tells you, basically, too a greater or lesser degree, is whether or not they're ethnically Chinese."

With some caution, Young still thinks this information can add a new dimension to the ways millionaires are shaping the city. "You certainly don't want to come to some conclusion about whether or not ethnically Chinese people have some racial predisposition to misbehavior, that is simply not true," he said. "What there is, is a millionaire disposition."

When compared to Census data of the general population, the offshore firm data Young looked at again showed a much higher concentration of Chinese names, particularly in West Vancouver. Again, it doesn't mean the whole group are recent immigrants or from China.

According to Young, that means the international superwealthy can choose to play by different rules on both citizenship and taxes—and both are happening more in Vancouver than anywhere else in Canada.

Follow Sarah Berman on Twitter.

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