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Disappointment with the West is crucial for growth of pro-Russian narratives in the Balkans, says researcher · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Asya Metodieva. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
This interview originally appeared on Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Asya Metodieva is a PhD candidate at the Central European University (CEU), Budapest, researching radical movements with a focus on foreign fighter recruitment. Her policy paper “Russian narrative proxies in the Western Balkans”, which was recently published by the German Marshal Fund (GMF), explores the growth of anti-West/pro-Russia narratives in the Western Balkans by looking at the role of local narrative proxies—local state and non-state information agents that willingly promote Russia’s interests across the region. She spoke to Meta.mk about the main findings of this research.
Meta.mk: Your research examines the role of Russian narrative proxies in the Western Balkans. How do you define these disinformation sources?
Asya Metodieva (AM): I began my research with exactly this question in mind. Our attempts to define disinformation have left us in the recent years with a label that is pretty vague and often confusing, in my view. It simplifies the complex interaction between competing narratives, trusted and deceptive sources, and the exposure of the public to a web of realities. My first task in this research was to give a conceptual answer to the question of what was really going on behind the label disinformation. It is about narrative building, more about framing reality and less about telling the truth. The reliance on facts has diminished dramatically, while narratives emerge from perceptions and opinions. And this is a powerful tool in the hands of domestic and external actors. Disinformation is not necessary a top-down phenomenon. Thus, the paper focuses on disinformation proxies, or the locality of this issue.
Meta.mk: What are the most common anti-West media manipulations and misinformation that circulate in the Western Balkans, and how influential are they?
AM: What the research has found though is that the general disappointment with the West across the region is a key variable to successful narrative building that serves Russian interests. Local disinformation proxies build narratives, while exploiting the idea of pre-existing identity ties, shared history, and unconditional Russian political support over time. These narratives have been filtered through traditional and social media, as well as local political, cultural and economic actors. Four key narratives were used in variations in the three countries: NATO is an aggressor, the EU is institutionally and politically weak, the United States seeks to create a great Albania, and Russia is a reliable partner. About their influence? It is hard to measure it. Though the overall effect of Russian narrative proxies across the region is that the EU and NATO accession prospects for the countries of the Western Balkans are undermined; the image of Russia as a political, military, and economic alternative to the West is promoted; tensions between different communities are stoked; nationalist/patriotic movements’ confidence and presence is boosted; and the local media ecosystem is disrupted and journalism is harmed. In North Macedonia, anti-West/pro-Russia narrative proxies, particularly active within the #Boycott campaign during the referendum, threatened to undermine the country’s pro-West orientation. In Serbia, they have a harmful impact on the normalization process with Kosovo. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, they undermine the prospects of political and institutional cooperation between the country’s two entities.
Meta.mk: In North Macedonia, Russian influence had been a taboo topic for a long time. How aware are the local political and media actors about this issue now?
AM: Russia does not have a long history of geopolitical interest in North Macedonia. Neither has it enjoyed enormous popular support among Macedonians. Yet, this has been changing in the recent years. While Russia has not expressed official objections to the country’s accession to the EU, it has been openly opposed to it joining NATO. I believe that some anti-West political actors benefit from Russian interference, while becoming narrative proxies themselves. When it comes to civil society and media in North Macedonia, they are getting more aware of the risks that disinformation campaigns bring. However, media illiteracy remains a serious issue, not only in North Macedonia but across the region. There was a good sense of resistance during the referendum campaign. And the role of organizations such as Metamorphosis remains crucial in raising awareness.
Meta.mk: Before the name change referendum, foreign correspondents coming to North Macedonia insisted on finding a “smoking gun,” such as direct money trail from the Kremlin, otherwise, they would refrain  from even mentioning Russian interference. But the situation in the Western Balkans is often not that simple. Are there some more subtle indicators of malign foreign influences?
AM: Russian influence is often channeled through topics that at first glance seem entirely local. This is why it is hard to catch it. Information warfare is considered a suitable tool for meddling and it is only part of the broader strategic arsenal for political interference. When we ask “is it Russia again”, we should also ask “who else would have the interest of opposing the West in the region”? Russia got more actively involved in North Macedonia’s domestic politics with the escalation of the crisis in 2017 by explicitly blaming the West for the situation. In 2017, the publication of intelligence documents revealed how the Russian embassy in Skopje conducted subversive activities through direct funding of media outlets and setting up over 30 cultural organizations. Months before the referendum, the Russian embassy was also particularly active in issuing statements. We simply should connect the dots. Russia’s toolkit in the Western Balkans involves a wide variety of soft-power instruments, along with political and economic pressure. Its economic footprint in the region is growing, especially in the energy sector. Russian foundations have increased their activities across the region in recent years, bringing together academics, journalists, and intellectuals who share anti-West attitudes. Meanwhile, Russia has cultivated close ties to veterans organizations and patriotic movements in the region. My argument is that Russia relies on state and non-state actors abroad to project power through pushing anti-West and pro-Russia narratives. Disinformation activities have been outsourced through loose relationships with local disinformation actors that support its interests.
Meta.mk: What types of disinformation about North Macedonia had been prevalent at the time of your research?
AM: For a short time ahead of the referendum, the country’s information landscape was saturated with distorted and polarizing narratives. The boycott campaign, built on anti-West rhetoric, aimed to discourage people from voting. Hundreds of bots and trolls on Facebook and Twitter and tens of anonymous news portals were created to that end and they actively conveyed anti-NATO messages. A key venue for such rhetoric was the online media infrastructure inherited from the previous government’s propaganda machinery. Although the Balkan edition of Sputnik did not publish a high number of articles on Macedonia in the weeks before the referendum, identical anti-West/pro-Russia narratives were generated by Serbian and Russian online sources and relayed by Macedonian ones. Proxy actor parties occupied the front line of the boycott campaign. We should not forget though that the boycott camp represented a very heterogeneous group of people. Not all of those opposing the referendum had pro-Russia sentiments yet many used anti-West rhetoric. On the other hand, even if Russia’s hand in North Macedonia may not be visible at first glance, the influx of anti-West messages has fueled the pro-Russia agenda.
Meta.mk: What types of disinformation are prevalent in the reporting about the latest phase of dispute between Serbia and Kosovo?
AM: The dispute between Serbia and Kosovo is frequently framed as a key arena for the bigger geopolitical battle between Russia and the West. As we know, Russia is the key supporter of Serbia, while trying to assume the role of a mediator or a power broker. As far as the scars from the 1999 NATO bombings have not vanished, anti-West views are widespread among the Serbian public. The dispute between Kosovo and Serbia is central to the process of reconciliation in the region, on which Russia generally takes a stance opposing the Western one. Disinformation proxies exploit the Kosovo issue by employing one-sided pro-Serbia rhetoric. Russia and its narrative proxies reach audiences not only in Serbia but also Serbian communities in Montenegro, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. More often they do not necessarily seek to present the Russian point of view but to magnify narratives that exist locally. Sensational headlines and deliberately selected quotes and comments are tailored to spread suspicion and doubts concerning the role of NATO and the EU in the region, suggesting that Western actors work against Serbia’s political interests and pose a threat to regional stability.
Meta.mk: You have also examined the spread of disinformation about the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. What should foreign media keep in mind while reporting about this country to prevent being unwitting accomplices?
AM: Bosnia and Herzegovina is probably the most fragile country in the Balkans and а fertile ground for geopolitical battles between Russia and the West. However, messages toward the West have been far less aggressive and at a lower volume than in Macedonia and Serbia. The 2018 elections did not bring major political change, except for Milorad Dodik, being elected as the Serb member of the country’s presidency. There was no major political event prior the 2018 vote to intensify Bosnia and Herzegovina’s pro-Russia/pro-West dichotomy. On the other hand, pro-Russia narratives are part of mainstream politics in Republika Srpska, partly as the outcome of good relations between Dodik and President Vladimir Putin. Narrative proxies in Bosnia and Herzegovina are more vocal among the ethnic Serbs in Republika Srpska than in the federation, as messages are most frequently channeled through the Serbian interest in the region, with a specific focus on the dispute with Kosovo. Nonetheless, the role of pro-Russia media proxies in Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be exaggerated. Such narratives have been in use throughout the post-war years by local politicians, journalists, and academics.
Meta.mk: Your paper indicates that different methods had been applied in different contexts to deceive audiences in Western Balkans: from bots and automation in North Macedonia to politically controlled traditional media in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Is there a “remedy” against spreading disinformation?
AM: The remedy is to signify that there is a problem, not to normalize it. Indeed, In North Macedonia, bots and automation tools have played a key role in pushing anti-West narratives, while in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina politically controlled traditional media contribute more to this. But they all suffer from the same illnesses: weak media systems, general media illiteracy, lack of transparency and resistance against disinformation at the political level. We should insist for political acknowledgement of information threats from our political elites. Many among Balkan politicians simply do not recognize freedom of speech as a value, therefore, they cannot provide any “remedy” when it comes to policies. I believe that the EU should incentivize political acknowledgement of the disinformation threat by the governments of the Western Balkans. Although all the countries in the region have been targets of pro-Russia disinformation efforts in recent years, there has been no recognition of this trend as a security issue at the political level, largely due to some governments’ acting as narrative proxies themselves.
Meta.mk: Very often, disinformation created in one Western Balkan country has been recycled across borders, mutated and amplified to serve local political purposes, and after a while returns to its source country in more damaging form. What would be the most effective way to tackle the toxic phenomenon of cross-border disinformation spread?
AM: Disinformation overcome borders as far as the targeted topics are cross-border by nature. And there are plenty of them when we talk about the Balkan region. To resist, I would say we need to see more regional cooperation and shared strategic goals of the countries in the region. Intentionally amplified pre-existing and newly introduced anti-West rhetoric has contributed to the pro-Russia political agenda in the region, especially the Kremlin’s efforts to resist further NATO enlargement. Russia’s narrative proxies have generally enhanced its position by presenting it as a political, economic, and military alternative for the Western Balkans. Russia does not in fact offer an appealing political project but this feeds the weakening enthusiasm toward EU and NATO accession across the region. It seems easy for Russia to sell to local political elites the idea of “not belonging” to the West institutionally and in terms of identity. At the same time, these elites’ inability to offer economic prospects incentivizes them to keep emphasizing identity links with Russia, while showing impatience in their discussions with the West.
Asya Metodieva. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Meta.mk: What should the governments of Western Balkans countries do to combat misinformation and how active they are on this issue? What steps do they need to take to show that they themselves are not purveyors of disinformation?
AM: Do they really want to show this? I doubt it. I believe local political elites are still too tempted to misuse and control media. If they want to demonstrate political will to address the topic of disinformation, they should be ready to be asked about freedom of speech, media pluralism, etc. As I said, as far as there is no political acknowledgement of the issue, we stay with labels and empty political phrases. During the referendum campaign in North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev stated that the government had some signals for interference. Now, it is time to go beyond the political statements, show evidence, engage audiences and initiate policies. Otherwise, we all fall in the trap of conspiracy theories and trendy political narratives without tackling the issue of disinformation per se.
Meta.mk: How active are journalists or media associations in the fight against misinformation? Are mechanisms for self-regulation applied by the journalist community good enough to remedy this situation, or something else needs to be introduced?
AM: We should not forget that on the one side we have machines, bots, algorithms. Journalists, on the other side, especially in vulnerable media systems, cannot fight this battle alone. However, journalists have the important task of not being lazy when it comes to fact checking. Journalists of the Western Balkans often miss the chance to raise awareness about the efforts of Russian proxies to push manipulated media content or to take over various sources of information. For many reasons, including fears of losing their job. Thus, journalists should be supported by local and international stakeholders in their efforts to detect and remove “fake news” and other types of false information by developing incentives to promote journalistic standards and the use of facts.
Meta.mk: What should the European Union and NATO, and in particular their Balkan member states do to remedy this situation? Has there been any good experiences that can be used as a model for the region?
AM: First and foremost, the EU should become more proactive in engaging with the “open questions” in the Western Balkans, more specifically the Kosovo-Serbia dispute. The role of the West in the dispute between North Macedonia and Greece was a positive example of such political efforts. The EU and the United States should become move visible through regional cooperation initiatives and political visits if they want to show their interest in the Western Balkans and to oppose Russia’s ambition to expand its presence there. NATO should be more active in explaining its role, engaging in critical discussions with political opponents across the region in an attempt to diminish the effects of anti-NATO rhetoric, which seems to be louder and more successful in conveying political messages. The EU should incentivize political acknowledgement of the disinformation threat by the governments of the Western Balkans. Although all the countries in the region have been targets of pro-Russia disinformation efforts in recent years, there has been no recognition of this trend as a security issue at the political level, largely due to some governments’ acting as narrative proxies themselves.
Meta.mk: Your policy paper stresses the need for increased investment in civil society activities and academic research about the issues of tackling disinformation. In the Western Balkans, both sectors had been severely weakened through pressure by illiberal governments during prolonged periods of state capture. What should be the priority for the international community and donors in this respect?
AM: Well, the EU and everybody who wants to promote standards should ask themselves what they really want. The question of disinformation is a political question; it is a question of values. If we let some alternative approaches overtake free media, academia, open political discussions, then we are in trouble. Including the donors. There needs for investment in civil society activities and academic research about the issues raised above. It is certainly a challenge to identify disinformation in countries where media freedom is heavily curtailed due to state capture. Therefore, the role of the NGO sector and academia is crucial in informing the public about the harm done by disinformation proxies.
Meta.mk: What would be your recommendation for the individual “average” citizens from the Western Balkans – the ultimate targets of proxy campaigns? How can a non-expert protect oneself from being misinformed?
AM: Read. Read. Read. Check sources. Be critical about the information you read or see on TV. I believe that we are all vulnerable and have to find our own ways to resist. No one can help us if we give up thinking at the individual level. On the contrary, there are too many actors aiming the opposite. So, it is everyone’s responsibility.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


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New book presents rarely researched aspects of Myanmar’s political and media transition · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The image on this book’s cover is entitled “Twilight”, and was created by Myanmar Media in Transition contributor Eaint Thiri Thu. As she explains, twilight is the period between daylight and night, before sunrise or sunset, transitioning us to the light or the dark. Myanmar’s freedom of expression is at its twilight, between darkness and light, hope and despair. Photo and description of the book cover provided by Gayathry Venkiteswaran, used with permission.
A new book launched in June 2019 offers a comprehensive discussion about the history and the current state of the media landscape in Myanmar.
The book, entitled “Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change” was co-edited by Lisa Brooten, Jane Madlyn McElhone, and Gayathry Venkiteswaran. It includes contributions from Myanmar-based scholars, researchers, members of civil society groups, artists, and journalists who wrote about the impact of the country’s political transition on free expression.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was ruled by a junta for several decades until reforms were implemented in 2010, which allowed the restoration of civilian leadership. However, the military has remained dominant in the bureaucracy. In 2015, a national election saw the landslide victory of the former opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Gayathry Venkiteswaran, one of the book’s editors, gives a brief overview of the book in an email she wrote:
The book is multidisciplinary and it combines both theoretical and empirical discussions and we have a mix of academics and practitioners who have contributed to the volume. Many of the chapters draw from the work done by civil society groups and other experts on the ground, but we try contextualise these within the history of politics and media in Myanmar and how best we can understand these developments. The volume includes analyses and commentaries about journalism and its challenges, music and film making, the popularity of Facebook and how it affected political discussions and the role it played in the Rakhine crisis, the gaps in the legal frameworks as well as important reflections on the influence of media assistance on the media and civil society in the country.
She mentions the Rakhine crisis which refers to the rise and spread of communal violence that has displaced thousands of ethnic Rohingya in northwest Myanmar. She also adds that the work of the book's authors focuses on aspects of the political transition that have not been previously given emphasis in other studies:
Much has been written about the political change since 2010 but this is the first volume focused on media, which goes beyond journalism and includes creative expression as well as digital technology in Myanmar. How the transition or political change will play out is difficult to predict but we felt it was important to document the experiences of change affecting the media and hopefully, this will spark conversations about the future of the industry in the country.
More importantly, she also emphasizes the value of understanding the history of the media, and the role it played in the democratic transition:
On the transition itself, we do challenge assumptions held about the situation in the country. For example, there are many who thought Myanmar did not have independent media or practitioners before the opening, or that media development models in other countries would work in Myanmar. A core thesis of our volume is the need to take a historical and contextual approach to understanding the changes taking place, whether these are positive or negative.
The editors of the book (left to right): Lisa Brooten, Gayathry Venkiteswaran, and Jane Madlyn McElhone. Photo used with permission
One of the challenges the editors faced in completing the research was the continued use of junta-era policies and laws by the supposedly reformist NLD-led government to intimidate critics of the military:
There was a lot at stake in terms of the political change and when the NLD government came into power, expectations were high that there would be significant improvements for the media and freedom of expression. But as many of the contributors noted, while the space for expression did open up, the threats against journalists and activists did not reduce. On the contrary, the use of laws, whether Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law or the Penal Code, Unlawful Associations Act and the Official Secrets Act has shown that the democratically elected government is deploying the same tactics as the previous regime.
This posed a difficulty in gathering sources which also reflects the state of free speech in the country:
While most people were open about their opinions, some were reluctant to identify themselves when interviewed as they were concerned about their own safety. Several contributors note in their chapters how self-censorship and the culture of fear continue to be a problem, especially where criticisms involve the military and even NLD leaders.
The book’s editors acknowledge the need for more research, especially on the ownership of media, and analyses of the Myanmar-language media. Meanwhile, they hope that the book “will inspire other studies and conversations among stakeholders whether in or outside the country, and contribute towards debates about political transitions and media reforms.”
The book has already been launched in Yangon, Myanmar and in Bangkok, Thailand. The book and its selected chapters are available online.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Mong Palatino


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As Siberia burns, Russia chokes · Global Voices
Maxim Edwards

Fighting a wildfire in Siberia. From Euronews’s YouTube video “Лесные пожары не тушат из-за экономии средств”
An immense forest fire has hit Siberia, where Buryatia, Yakutia, and the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk regions are ablaze. According to Greenpeace Russia, over four million hectares are burning, an area larger than the size of Belgium. The vast boreal forests sometimes called the “lungs of the northern hemisphere” are at risk.
For nearly two weeks, photos have spread across the Runet of flaming forests, as well as satellite imagery showing the extent of the blaze, accompanied by the hashtags #сибирьгорит (“Siberia is burning”), #гориттайга (“the Taiga is burning”), #потушитесибирь, (“Extinguish Siberia”) and #мирспасисибирь (“World, Save Siberia!”)
Commentators are angry that local authorities did not start to fight the fire sooner. While forest fires are no rarity in Siberia, climate scientists stated that this year’s fires spread particularly aggressively due to a combination of strong winds and the unusually hot summer. The sluggishness in tackling them could also be explained by the fact that the fires first broke out in remote areas.
According to Alexander Uss, governor of the Krasnoyarsk Region, it is impractical to fight fires in such remote regions. Uss added, during a lecture at a youth forum at a Siberian university on 29 July, that the forests were “self-replenishing,” that forest fires were “a common natural phenomenon,” and that fighting them is “meaningless and can even be harmful to try.”
But there is no fire without smoke. In recent days, that smoke has drifted well beyond Siberian cities such as Novosibirsk and Tomsk, where medical personnel have reported a rise in ambulance calls and patients with high blood pressure due to air pollution. Residents as far west as Tatarstan and as far south as Kazakhstan have also reported breathing difficulties; they are sharing images of thick smog in their regions over Instagram. Others are sharing selfies in which they wear breathing masks bearing the words “Siberia Burns.”
One user shared the experience of her relatives living in a town in the Irkutsk region:
говорила сейчас с сестрой, она живет и работает в Усть-Илимске. дышать там нечем совершенно, все сидят в закрытых квартирах с увлажнителями воздуха и терпят. я не нашла информации по погибшим (а в пожары городские люди часто гибнут не от огня, а от сердца, вспомните пожары в Центральной России 2011 года. но умирающие от сердца на счет пожара и совесть властей не пойдут)
I just spoke with my sister, she lives and works in Ust-Ilimsk. It’s really impossible to breathe there; everyone’s sitting locked up in their apartments with air humidifiers and suffering. I haven’t found any information on victims (and during fires, city dwellers often don’t die from the flames but from heart [complications], remember the fires in Central Russia in 2011.
— Oksana Vasyakina, Facebook, 29 July 2019
Another gave a chillingly clinical account of what awaits residents in such places:
Населённые пункты на запад от горящих лесов поглотил густой дым. Люди дышат токсичными продуктами горения. Наверное, вы знаете, что, когда пожарные входят в горящий дом, на них надеты специальные маски, чтобы они не задохнулись от угарного газа. По этой же причине во время пожара в помещении рекомендуется дышать через мокрую тряпку. Но это делают, когда горят только здания, из которых можно выбраться и начать дышать свежим воздухом, а сейчас пламенем охвачены гигантские лесные массивы, а смог от этих пожаров распространяется на тысячи километров. Людей до сих пор не начали эвакуировать, из-за этого они сильно пострадают. […] Многие последствия могут проявляться не сразу, а через несколько недель. Это бомба замедленного действия.
Populated places to the West of the burning forests are enveloped in a thick fog. People are breathing the toxic emissions from the fire. You probably know that, when firemen enter a burning house, they wear special masks so they don’t suffocate from carbon monoxide. That’s the reason why it’s recommended to breathe though a damp cloth in case of fire. But that’s done when a single building is burning, from which you can escape and start to breathe fresh air. But now the flames cover gigantic forests, and smoke from these fires spreads over thousands of kilometres. People still haven’t begun to be evacuated, so they’re seriously suffering. […] Many of the symptoms don’t manifest immediately, but after several weeks. It’s a slow-acting bomb.
— Александра Кукулина, Facebook, 28 July 2019
The St Petersburg based Buryat journalist Alexandra Gamarzhapova reflected on the crisis in her home region:
Больше 3 млн га леса прямо в эти минуты горит в Сибири. В моей родной Бурятии введен режим ЧС.
Мы привыкли, что людям в общем-то друг на друга плевать (чиновников, которые отказывается тушить пожары, терпим мы с вами), но звери-то и леса тут причем?
Сотни тысяч животных гибнут сейчас, потому что человек говорит, что тушить пожары дорого.
Я присоединяюсь ко флешмобу #сибирьгорит и верю, что если нас, неравнодушных, будет миллионы, власти начнут борьбу с огнем.
P.S. За виртуальные флешмобы пока не сажают, так что присоединяйтесь.
More than three million hectares are burning in Siberia this very minute. A state of emergency has been introduced in my native region of Buryatia.
We’re used to people not giving a damn about each other (to those officials who refuse to put out the fires: we suffer with you), but why do the animals and the forests have to suffer?
Hundreds of thousands of animals are dying right now, because one man said that it is too expensive to put out the fires?
I’m joining the flashmob #Siberiaisburning and believe that if there are millions of us who are not indifferent [to this], the authorities will start fighting the fire.
P.S. They don’t jail people yet for virtual flashmobs, so come and join.
— Alexandra Garmazhapova, Facebook, 30 July 2019
Those are just a few reasons why Alexander Uss is probably the least popular man in Russia right now. They’re also why 780,000 people, as of 31 July, signed an online petition demanding that the government introduce emergency status across Siberia.
Nevertheless, Uss’s statements did have a legal basis. As the Russian daily Vedomosti noted, many of the remote areas where the fires broke out are “control zones,” a term introduced in 2015. Due to their distance from settlements and key infrastructure, local authorities are not obliged to fight forest fires in these areas, which saves them money and resources. But Grigory Kukshin of Greenpeace Russia told Sibir.Realii that many of the control zones are far from uninhabited, and that nearly 90 per cent of Russia’s forest fires last summer occurred in such areas. The State Duma, Russia’s legislature, is now considering a review of “control zones.”
So the authorities are beginning to respond to public demand; on 29 July, Rosleskhoz, Russia’s state forestry agency, reported that military units and planes had started to put out the blaze. But it seems to be too little, too late. As was the case during recent floods in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, Russian commentators are already linking the government’s response to broader questions of accountability and state-society relations. This was not helped by president Vladimir Putin’s earlier offer of support to Greece to combat forest fires on 24 July.
Importantly, many of the regions affected already suffer from ecological problems, meaning that existing eco-movements (such as Krasnoyarsk’s “Clear Sky” movement against air pollution) have played an important role in mobilising locals to make their voices heard.
So the idea that fighting forest fires is “economically unprofitable” resonates with people who suspect this is just how the government sees their prior problems. In fact, the phrase has become a meme in its own right, in a similar spirit to Dmitry Medvedev’s words “there’s no money but you hang in there,” which the Russian prime minister said to pensioners in Crimea in 2016.
Нам говорят, что тушить красноярскую тайгу экономически невыгодно. А выплачивать многомиллионную зарплату Сечину, Миллеру, Костину экономически выгодно? Или, может быть, строительство новой резиденции для патриарха Кирилла за почти 3 млрд рублей, это выгодно? Да вы там что, в своей Москве совсем здравый рассудок утратили? Вы не забыли, кто вытащил ваш зад из лап фашистов в декабре 1941 года? Мы, сибиряки, требуем начала полномасштабной операции по тушению наших лесов, задействуя все силы МЧС и министерства обороны
They tell us that it’s not profitable to extinguish the Krasnoyarsk taiga. And what about paying the multi-million salaries of [Igor] Sechin, [-] Miller, [-] Kostin; is that profitable? Or, perhaps, the construction of a new residence for [Russian Orthodox Patriarch] Kirill for nearly three billion rubles; is that profitable? Have all of you over there in Moscow completely lost your minds? Have you forgotten who saved your asses from the clutches of the fascists in December 1941? We, the Siberian people, demand a full-scale operation to extinguish [the fires] in our forests, using all the forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Ministry of Defence.
— Nikolai Salnikov, Ekho Moskvy, July 27, 2019
Similarly, libertarian activist Mikhail Svetov, who runs a popular YouTube channel, linked discontent over the forest fires to other causes of public concern:
Тушить тайгу невыгодно. Зато выгодно тратить 216 миллиардов на содержание росгвардии. Выгодно травить детей помоями и заваливать токсичными отходами Шиес. Пока мы выходим за Россию и будущее, они борются за право дальше разорять нашу страну.
— Mikhail Svetov (@msvetov) July 27, 2019
It’s not profitable to extinguish the taiga. But it is profitable to spend 216 billion on supporting the national guard. It is profitable to poison children with landfills and send toxic waste to Shiyes. As we go out to defend Russia and our future, they fight for the right to ravage our country.
— Mikhail Svetov (@msvetov) July 27, 2019
True to form, some Runet users turned tragedy to farce with their acerbic wit:
Непатриотично говорить «лесные пожары».
Все ведь знают:
Не взрыв, а хлопок.
Не наводнение, а подтопление.
Не авиакатастрофа, а жёсткая посадка.
Не нищета, а отрицательный рост доходов.
Поэтому не лесные пожары, а дымовая завеса против НАТОвских спутников-шпионов.
— Проф. Преображенский (@prof_preobr) July 30, 2019
It’s unpatriotic to say “forest fires.”
As everybody knows:
It’s not an explosion, but a ball of cotton
Not an aviation catastrophe, but a hard landing
Not miserable poverty, but negative income growth
That’s why these are not forest fires, but a smoke screen against NATO spy satellites

author: Maxim Edwards


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Pro-China forum’s plan to troll Hong Kong protesters foiled after doxxing retaliation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from Diba's call for support on Facebook.
Diba, an online forum for pro-government mainland Chinese netizens, attempted to mobilize their users to troll Hong Kong anti-extradition protesters on Facebook and Reddit-like forum, LIHKG. The plan quickly backfired as Hong Kong netizens doxxed members of the Diba administration, releasing their identity card numbers, bank records, home addresses, and more.
On 22 July, Diba forum admins began calling for an “expedition” into Hong Kong anti-extradition platforms after anti-extradition protesters threw an ink-bomb on the national emblem outside China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Diba administrators said that the mission was to counter Hong Kong independence and to show support for the Hong Kong police. To assist them, the administrators recruited about 12,000 netizens and prepared a large number of online stickers.
On 23 July, they flooded Facebook and left pro-China comments on pages run by Hong Kong democracy organizations such as Civic Human Rights Front.
However, the Diba trolls were soon to find out that they could not enter LIHKG as the forum required a local ISP email to log in and leave messages. Worse still, Diba’s administrators then discovered that their real identities and private information had been exposed and posted on a group chat in LIHKG’s mobile app.
China has adopted real-name registration for all online platforms, as a result, finding the real identities and accompanying personal information proved to be easy for Hong Kong netizens. The real names, identity card numbers, home addresses, mobile phone numbers, QQ numbers, online payment accounts, bank card numbers, and bank account balance sheets of Diba admins were shared online.
LIHKG users then made use of the expedition leaders’ identities to get enrolled in the People Liberation Army.
On 24 July, Diba’s administrators surrendered and posted a message on Weibo calling for a halt to their original plan:
为保护大家的个人隐私和人身安全，以及减少大家不必要的麻烦，管理组决定解散集团军粉丝群，对于前晚跟随行动后造成个人资料外泄的问题，管理组深感抱歉。
To protect all of your personal privacy and safety and causing trouble, the management team has decided to dissolve the online army group. The management team expressed our deep apology to the leak of personal data due to the action on July 22.
Diba has organized several missions to spread patriotic messages outside the Great Firewall. The most well-known of these took place in 2015 during the Taiwan presidential election. The Diba troll army has a motto to boost their spirit in the online battle, “Wherever Diba’s expeditionary force reaches, not even a blade of grass can be spared”.
Their defeat was widely discussed on Chinese social media with many users taking the opportunity to laugh at the expense of the Diba admins. Xiakedao, a famous People’s Daily’s commentator could not help but poke fun at the amateur online army. He wrote “defeated without entering into a fight” (出師未捷身先死） and added a “laughing to death emoji”.
Diba’s plan to troll anti-extradition platforms is reflective of the online patriotic sentiment which is also echoed by the Communist Party-backed rappers, CD REV ‘s newly released music video, “Kung Fu China”. The rap song suggests the use of Chinese kungfu to defend the dignity of the motherland.
Patriotism circulating on social media in China is often more extreme than official propaganda. While official media outlets define the Hong Kong anti-extradition protest as a pro-Hong Kong independence movement sponsored by foreign enemies, the younger generation of online patriots are calling for more concrete action to defend national pride.
This idea seems to have traveled as far as Australia. On 25 July, a group of pro-China students clashed with pro-Hong Kong protesters at the University of Queensland during a solidarity rally in support of the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests.
As Hong Kong's anti-extradition campaign has a strong international front, similar conflicts may emerge in other parts of the world.
To read more about Hong Kong anti-extradition protests, visit Global Voices’ special page.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Queer as quantum joy · Global Voices
Shivanee Ramlochan

Pride parade in Port of Spain, Trinidad on July 31, 2019. Photo by Maria Nunes. Used with permission.
The following is an edited version of a short essay posted on Facebook by Trinidadian poet Shivanee Ramlochan, on the occasion of the second year of public Pride celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago.
Pride in the bedsheets crumpled with the weight of the lover who is your other self. Pride in the boardroom with lavender garters licked with frills beneath your sharp, sharp suit. Pride in the whip coiled like a sleeping snake next to your hymnal, nestled in the drawer for your best churchgoing panties. Pride in the parking lot on the fifth floor of the Port of Spain high-rise, after the expensive dinner, before the slow drive home, savouring what you have eaten, soft thanks in your throat for the man who passed between your lips and called you good, good food.
Pride parade in Port of Spain, Trinidad on July 31, 2019. Photo by Maria Nunes. Used with permission.
Proud to be out, placard waving, the bottom inherited from generations of buxom Black Rock aunties bubbling, a small rainbow flag iridesced onto your cheek, for quinting and for kissing. Proud to be in, curled up in bed, witnessing the revolution via livestream, holding your girlfriend's hand, two towers of manga framing your pink laptop, its plastic case bejewelled in “Trans Lives Matter” and “Support Your Sisters, not Just Your Cisters”. Proud to be breathing queerasfuckly whether you star in protests or blog about them, whether you put your body on the line or your voice on the threaded tweet, declaiming.
Pride parade in Port of Spain, Trinidad on July 31, 2019. Photo by Maria Nunes. Used with permission.
Pride is beautiful. And it is political. And it is born of a bloody, mutinous theirstory, from the roots of a radical understanding that acceptance was not the only striveable goal, at least not acceptance from the come-to-Christer, from the corporation, from the oligarchy, from the evangelical, from the elite. And so whether your body was visible in the parade, or not, to exist queerly is its own breathtaking defiance of the statutes of raw hatred. You are alive. All the cells in you, incandescently gay. Irrepressibly lesbian. Outstandingly bisexual. Terrifically transgender. Indisputably intersex. Notwithstanding societal bullshit, non-binary. Queer as quantum joy.
Pride parade in Port of Spain Trinidad on July 31, 2019. Photo by Maria Nunes. Used with permission.
See? That's a parade. You are a parade. You choose to be here, as you are, on your own terms, in your own skin, existing. Breathing. Raised fist or clasped hand. Atheist or acolyte. Devout or ill-disciplined. You have outlived something old and gnarled and toxic, something that has wanted you or someone like you dead, converted or decommissioned, in our time stretching back to antiquity.
You deserve to be proud of yourself, you rare, riotous beauty. Go on, give yourself a huge, rafter-rattling cheer.
Shivanee Ramlochan's 2017 poetry collection, Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting, was shortlisted for the 2018 Felix Dennis Award for best first collection.

author: Shivanee Ramlochan


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Election focuses spotlight on disability issues in Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Newly elected representatives Kimura Eiko (L) and Funago Yasuhiko (R) of Reiwa Shinsengumi prepare to meet the press. Caption says: “Member of the Diet must currently cover their own expenses for personal assistance and care.” Screencap from ANN official YouTube channel.
On July 21, 2019, Japan elected 124 out of the 245 members of the House of Councillors, the parliament's upper house. While the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost 9 seats, opposition parties did not achieve the hoped-for breakthrough. Although Japan's political status quo appears to remain in place, the July election did shine a spotlight on barriers that people living with disabilities face as they try to participate in daily life.
Representing a newly formed political party, Kimura Eiko and Funago Yasuhiko were elected to Japan's upper house. Kimura lives with cerebral palsy and is largely paralyzed below the neck, while Funago has spent nearly twenty years living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disease where patients gradually lose control of most of their muscles. Both Kimura and Funago rely on motorized wheelchairs and caregiver support in order to carry out daily tasks.
The pair were elected to Japan's national proportional representation block of seats, instead of to a local electoral district. They ran as part of Reiwa Shinsengumi, a new political party led by Yamamoto Taro, a populist politician who actually won more votes than any other candidate in the proportional representation segment of the election. The new political party was allocated two seats and had prioritized Kimura and Funago, and so Yamamoto, an incumbent, lost his seat in the Japanese Diet.
The barriers Kimura and Funago immediately encountered following their election provide a concrete example of what Kimura was fighting for in her campaign, according to her election slogan, “to create a society where disabled people can live in the community” (障害者が地域で生きられる社会に). For example, their motorized wheelchairs are too large to enter Diet chambers
Newly-elected Eiko Kimura and Yasuhiko Funago cannot attend the Diet, and it's not down to wheelchair access. Both receive severe disability home care not offered to those who work (and Diet attendance qualifies as work). The issue is under discussion. https://t.co/zJiw85eu00 pic.twitter.com/kdIsRfbufW
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) July 28, 2019
Michael Peckitt, an academic, commentator on disability issues and Global Voices contributor says the size of the duo's motorized wheelchairs highlight a general lack of government policies and regulations that realistically lower barriers for people living with disabilities in Japan.
“What does ‘barrier-free’, or perhaps more specifically ‘wheelchair-accessible’ mean for the Japanese government?” says Peckitt. “For example, as far as the government is concerned, when it comes to hotel rooms, a room is considered ‘accessible’ if its doors are 70cm to 80cm.”
Peckitt says that the official dimensions outlined in Japanese government regulations in no way accommodate every wheelchair user, and because of that they have been constantly subjected to legal challenges.
In addition, the newly elected Kimura and Funago also cannot physically manipulate the buttons used for votes in the Diet, and their care aides are barred from entering parliament to help them. Both lawmakers can be barred from the Diet as they technically violate strict parliamentary dress codes.
Following the July 21 election, parliamentary committees quickly promised to amend dress code rules for the duo, and also allow their aides to accompany them in Diet chambers. As well, the Diet quickly began work to modify its facilities to accommodate Kimura and Funago.
It's not clear if the Japanese Diet will cover the cost of care aides whose help makes it possible for Kimura and Funago to do their jobs — it's estimated that it will cost 1.3 million yen (US$12,000) per month. Until they were elected in July, Kimura and Funago received a subsidy for care aide fees through government insurance. However, under the government insurance scheme, Kimura and Funago's employment as Diet members constitute “economic activities”, which do not qualify for government subsidies. Without help from the Diet, the pair will have to self-fund their daily care while carrying their activities as elected representatives.
So far, the Diet committee responsible for setting and administering rules that govern eligible expenses for Diet members has refused to reimburse Kimura and Funago for caregiver fees, and will instead consult with the government to find a solution for these costs.
The difficulties Kimura and Funago are experiencing with financing the support they need highlights a common hurdle people living with disabilities face in Japan when trying to participate in the workforce.
“In general, while at the workplace the company is responsible for disabled employees’ personal care, it's an extra hurdle for those with disabilities to find an accepting workplace,” says Josh Grisdale, a Canadian-born Japanese citizen and accessibility consultant who is conducting a survey about accessibility in Japan on behalf of Japan Tourism Agency, in an online interview with Global Voices.
“As policymakers get a closer look into the realities of employment with a disability, hopefully laws will change and it will become easier for those with disabilities to participate more fully in society,” he added.
Grisdale says that any policy that reduces the financial burden on both employers and workers to pay for care will create a more equitable system that will help more people living with disabilities to participate in the workforce.
Japanese companies are required by law to ensure 2.2 percent of their workforce is made up of disabled employees. However, while the number of disabled employees has increased year-over-year, less than half of Japanese companies claim to have reached the 2.2 percent target. On top of that, in 2018 it was discovered that some companies — including 28 government ministries and agencies — are likely padding or overstating the number of disabled workers they employ, making statistics suspect.
“Our two lawmakers have not entered parliament yet, but already they are making (the chamber) barrier-free,” said Reiwa Shinsengumi Party leader Yamamoto Taro in an interview following the election. “Even if we are smaller than the number two opposition party, I think we can have a big impact.”

author: Nevin Thompson


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Iran’s invisible children · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Baloch children in Iran. Photo by Mostafameraji (CC BY-SA 4.0)
There are more than one million people undocumented people in Iran, and a significant number of them are children. One of the main reasons for this inhumane state of affairs is a decades-old law which deprived Iranian women in mixed marriages of the right to pass on their nationality on to their children. A doomed future has already been sealed for thousands of Iranian children even before their birth. These children have no access to education, health care and their names are not even included in the national database.
Many in the country celebrated in May 2019 when Iran’s Majlis (parliament) amended the discriminatory law. The Council of Guardians, the body that reviews all legislation passed by MPs, approved the amendment but added that “security issues” could be used as a basis for withholding the granting of nationality.
But changing the law will not erase all of the discrimination “nameless” children face. Iran's two million-strong Baloch minority, for instance, who live in the undeveloped area near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, have been the victims of tremendous discrimination at the hands of the Iranian authorities, whose policies bar many Baloch people from full citizenship.
Nasser Boladai, spokesperson for Balochistan People's Party and president of the Unrepresented Nations and People Organisation (UNPO), told Global Voices that:
While there are some Baloch children with foreign fathers who have been denied citizenship, for the majority of Baloch children both mother and father are Baloch—that is to say Iranian—whose parents have lived in Balochistan province or other part of Balochistan which are now part of the populated of provinces of Kerman and Hormozgan.
Government estimates put children both of whose parents are Baloch and who lack national identity cards at about 40,000, while other estimates from local sources put the number at twice that—about 80,000 to 100,000.
Testimonies from Baloch people reveal the depth of their suffering: from mothers whose biggest dream is to send their kids to school, to women who question why the authorities have confiscated their Iranian identity cards, leaving them powerless.
One reason some Baloch children do not have Iranian identity cards is that their parents live in remote areas and, being illiterate, never had their own cards and never apply for their children.
Others become trapped in Iran's Kafkaesque bureaucracy. In some cases they are asked to take DNA tests, which many cannot afford. In other cases, existing national identity cards are confiscated, allegedly to verify their authenticity. Some political and civil society activists consider such acts part of an ongoing discriminatory policy against certain ethnic groups, notably Sunnis and Balochs.
Boladai said that in some cases the Iranian authorities have confiscated or annulled the birth certificates of Balochs when they go to have their documents renewed or apply for identity cards. Some Balochs believe these measures are designed to punish members of the community who have failed to embrace the regime's propaganda. Boladai also believes they are used as “a pretext of development to change the demography of region, to make the Baloch a minority in their homeland.” According to Boladai, to achieve this aim the government is planning to move 2 to 5 million people to the coastal region of Balochistan, to the provinces of Sistane-Balochistan and Hormozgan.
“Not having an identity card means it's difficult having a recognized individual and collective identity in society,” Azadeh Pourzand, human rights researcher and executive director of the Siamak Pourzand Foundation, told Global Voices. “Therefore, one should keep in mind the many emotional and psychological challenges that Balouch children who are deprived of having an identity card face.” Without identification documents people are barred from accessing government services such as healthcare and education. “One of the main—but not the only—reason behind thousands of Baloch children deprived from school education,” Pourzand said, “is their not having an identity card—a reality that even officials have raised in the country’s state-sponsored press and media. Yet, very little is done to put an end to the dire situation of Balouch children.”
Even when the children do manage to go to school, Pourzand said, they do so in poorly constructed, badly maintained buildings that put them at risk of “having the school ceilings and walls fall on their heads at any moment. Similarly, access to clean water, energy to ensure a healthy temperature at school and home and sanitary considerations all plague this impoverished area of the country.”
“Given the Islamic Republic’s history of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities,” Pourzand said, “as well as targeted persecutions of these groups, this lack of infrastructure, economic negligence and the depth of poverty appears intentional, and therefore a form of discrimination in and of itself that also leads to other forms of discrimination.”
According to Nasser Boladai, ideally Baloch people should be able to stay in their villages and engage in their traditional practices of agriculture or farming livestock, but because of the lack of facilities and the difficulty of farming the land, many have been forced to leave their villages. As Baloch people have moved to the outskirts of cities like Chahbhar, Zahidan and even Tehran to work as daily wagers, their situation has come to public attention. “Many times they are harassed or beaten and forced to leave their homes and find another place to live,” Boladai said. “There are indications that the number of Baloch stateless people is growing, instead of decreasing.”
Iranian authorities’ repressive policy regarding ethnic and religious minorities has been embedded in the DNA of the Islamic Republic from its inception. In this decades-long game, thousands of Baloch people have been transformed not into second-class citizens, but practically into invisible beings.

author: Fred Petrossian


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The Gambia’s truth commission continues to confront abuses under past president’s regime · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh. September 1, 2003. Photo courtesy of IISD/Earth Negotiations Bulletin via Wikimedia Commons.
Like South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission established after the end of apartheid, The Gambia has established its own Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to address widespread human rights violations under former president Yayha Jammeh's 22-year rule.
The TRRC was launched on October 15, 2018, at Dunes Hotel, in Banjul, the capital. On January 7, 2019, hearings officially began before a commission comprised of eleven people. The plan is to hear testimonies for the next two years.
Last month, testimonies continued from those directly involved in the most serious crimes before the commission, revealing the horrors experienced by Gambians under the Jammeh regime — including the consequences of a failed December 2014 coup attempt to overthrow Jammeh.
The Law Hub Gambia, an independent legal organisation, explains that the truth commission was established because perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice.
As a direct result of 22 years of authoritarian rule, human rights violations were widespread. In most cases, there was no effective investigation and perpetrators have not been brought to justice. On December 13, 2017, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission Act was adopted by the National Assembly and assented to by the the president on January 13, 2018.
Article19.org, a non-governmental human rights organisation, explains the type and intensity of human rights violations under former president Jammeh between 1994 and 2016:
Between 1994 to 2016, under President Yahya Jammeh’s regime, Gambian citizens suffered numerous human rights violations. These included murder, extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, physical assaults, arbitrary arrests and detention, the arbitrary closure of media outlets and the systemic intimidation and harassment of influential and critical voices who spoke out. These violations were perpetrated by the security forces and condoned by a compromised judiciary with blatant disregard for international human rights standards. There were no mechanisms for access to justice for victims of human rights violations and the perpetrators were not punished.
In December 2016 presidential elections, Jammeh was surprisingly defeated by current President Adama Barrow and now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
On July 26, journalist Mustapha K. Darboe wrote about President Jammeh's “infamous hit squad” — The Junglers:
There seems to be no limit to what will be revealed before Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. This week, the first three members of former president Yahya Jammeh’s infamous hit squad – the Junglers – testified. They claimed responsibility in a number of high-profile murders, including the execution of dozens of migrants in 2005. And they said the chain of command leads to Jammeh himself…
“There seems to be no limit to what will be revealed before Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.” — Mustapha K. Darboe, journalist
Some of the men who testify appear not to realize the seriousness of their actions. Brigadier General Alagie Martin, a senior Gambian army officer accused of serious human rights abuses, claims to have beaten victims — but denies having tortured them.
Martin allegedly tortured Sana Sabally, then-vice chairman of the Armed Forces, along with other soldiers, between the mid-90s and early 2000s.
Journalist Lamin Njie reports on how Martin answered the commission lead counsel Essa Faal's questions:
…[Sana Sabally] was ‘beaten, butt-stroked slapped, all those things have been done to him because he refused to talk.’ When Faal [asked] him if he was satisfied to call it ‘beaten’ but would not call it ‘torture,’ the top general shook his head and said: ‘No. No. It’s not torture.’
Journalist Sheriff Bojang Jr. gave an account of the July hearing of Omar Jallow alias Oya, the first confessed Jungler, who revealed having killed nationals of other African countries, including Ghanaians:
Jallow confessed that he participated in the extrajudicial killing of dozens of Ghanaians and other nationals who were reportedly arrested while attempting to go to Europe through the so-called back-way. He also confessed to torturing Imam Baba Leigh, Imam Bakawsu Fofana, another person he couldn’t remember and the December 30 [2014] alleged coup plotters.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Fatou Bom Bensouda, served alongside President Jammeh for many years, leaving critics to wonder if her past will catch up with her during The Gambia's TRRC.
Bensouda is known to “hunts tyrants” in her role as an ICC prosecutor. Yet, Darboe and fellow journalist Thierry Cruvellier note that in 1995, Bensouda served as deputy director of prosecutions and Jammeh promoted her to principal state counsel. In 1998, she assumed the role of solicitor-general and legal secretary to Jammeh, reporting directly to him, followed by appointments as attorney general and minister of justice — a position she would hold for two years:
…During the first six years of the dictatorship, Fatou Bensouda enjoyed a meteoric and remarkable career to reach the highest national judicial and political positions in the field of justice, under a regime in which the judicial system was marked by multiple and serious violations of the law, the systematic practice of torture, the fabrication of evidence, illegal detentions, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody.
Truth-telling is not a sport for victors and losers. The public hearings should be a safe space where victims can finally share their stories, not one granted to the perpetrators, or to a public that is impatient only to hear perpetrators speak. Countries grappling with cycles of violence and repression have placed victims at the center of a truth-telling exercise; this is so that the nation can acknowledge, heal, learn from their suffering and restore their dignity.
Otherwise, the TRRC could become a platform for perpetrators to be lionized and victims to once again be relegated to second place.
Netizens like human rights activist, Pasamba Jow, agree:
@TRRC_Gambia in total solidarity with this important institution. No shenanigans can bring the people’s trcc into disrepute. Justicefor the victims #trrcthepeoplescommission#NeverAgain
— Pasamba Jow (@coachjow) June 27, 2019
Extensive human rights violations under Yahya Jammeh has left Gambians with numerous cases to process. Making even a small dent in those cases will cost money and further human suffering — but survivors and victims’ families are counting on it.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Trinidad and Tobago prime minister refuses to impeach embattled chief justice · Global Voices
Jada Steuart

The Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Photo by Debangsu, CC BY-NC 2.0.
For more than two years now, the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) has been trying to get the country's chief justice, Ivor Archie, removed from his post — but the association’s most recent recommendation to impeach the CJ has not managed to sway Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley to take action.
In December 2018, 150 of LATT's members voted to begin an investigation into misconduct allegations against Archie and present it to the prime minister, a move some criticised as politically motivated.
The process of getting a chief justice impeached requires the prime minister to trigger Section 137 of the country’s Constitution, which deals with the removal of judges from office. Once invoked, the president then appoints a tribunal to investigate any accusations of inability or misbehaviour.
In response to correspondence sent by LATT, PM Rowley has advised the law association that he would not acquiesce to its recommendation of invoking Section 137. He based this on the April 2019 advice of a British Queen’s Counsel (QC), Howard Stevens.
Trinidad and Tobago follow the British legal system; its highest appellate court is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, headquartered in London. It is not unusual for local attorneys to seek the advice of British QCs, especially in cases of public interest where the perception of impartiality is important.
The whole furore with Chief Justice Archie began back in April 2017, after the Judicial and Legal Service Commission announced the appointment of several new judges to the High Court. One judge, Marcia Ayers-Caesar, failed to declare a large backlog of unfinished cases to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC), chaired by the chief justice. Ayers-Caesar subsequently resigned. Some felt the incident was simply an administrative oversight, but other legal experts believed that Archie and the JLSC's failure to take responsibility for the snafu resulted in a loss of moral authority and “legitimacy to exercise the constitutional authority entrusted to them”.
Archie was subsequently accused of trying to persuade supreme court justices to change their state-provided security to a private firm where Dillian Johnson — a friend of Archie's with a record of fraud and forgery — worked. Archie also allegedly helped fast-track state housing applications for people Johnson and others recommended.
Denyse Renne, the Trinidad Express reporter who broke the story, claimed she read WhatsApp messages wherein Archie allegedly contacted Prime Minister Rowley for help in procuring state housing —  a claim the prime minister denies.
The QC’s response to this accusation was astonishing:
The fact that the alleged WhatsApp communication […] appears to have been a fabrication also raises the distinct possibility that someone sought falsely to implicate the Chief Justice.
Prime Minister Rowley, in responding to LATT, said that QC Stevens had advised against pursuing impeachment based on a lack of evidence that Archie knew Johnson and others were engaged in criminal activities, or that any communication occurred between the chief justice and prime minister regarding housing.
His opinion read:
The conclusion I have reached in all the circumstances is that the HDC [Housing Development Corporation] complaints have an insufficient basis in fact to warrant a representation by the prime minister to the president that the chief justice's removal ought to be investigated.
An anonymous statement — allegedly penned by nine judges — later claimed that the decision “perpetuates the perception that this is a lawless land where no one is held to account”.
Attorney Justin Phelps criticised the anonymous statement in a public Facebook post:
This is not what an independent judiciary looks like. The CJ must be very concerned that one of these anonymous judges is hearing the case filed against him. They should be identified because they will be disqualified from some cases and because they have exhibited a profound misunderstanding of what it means to be independent and impartial.
Meanwhile, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the country’s opposition leader, has criticised PM Rowley’s decision, while various members of LATT have asked for more transparency on QC Steven’s advice. After his initial announcement, PM Rowley wrote a letter to LATT President Douglas Mendes, stating all his reasons for declining to invoke Section 137.
LATT has since made another appeal to the prime minister, saying it is “dissatisfied with the answer which you were advised to give”:
Respectfully, prime minister, it cannot be that the important responsibility which the Constitution imposes on you under Section 137 to hold the chief justice to account, limits you to such a passive role.
Prime Minister Rowley, in turn, has accused the association of political bias. LATT itself appeared to be divided on the issue, with some members saying the association's findings seem biased, and other commentators maintaining that the prime minister should proceed with impeachment.

author: Jada Steuart


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Cannabis advocates petition Trinidad & Tobago parliament to enact existing medical marijuana legislation · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Activist Nazma Muller, second from left, and other supporters of cannabis legalisation, outside Trinidad and Tobago parliament in Port of Spain, July 31, 2019. Photo by Janine Mendes-Franco, used with permission.
Nazma Muller, founder of the Caribbean Collective for Justice and a staunch advocate for the legalisation of marijuana in the region, has long maintained that it's unconscionable that Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Health has never exercised clauses to amendments made to the Dangerous Drugs Act in 2000, which allows for licenses to grow, import, export, sell and distribute marijuana, and regulates “the use, purchase, sale or possession of any dangerous drugs for medicinal or scientific purposes.”
In 2016, Muller's group started a petition asking for the government to legalise cannabis. They presented the petition — which has now garnered close to 12,000 signatures — to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, in 2018. The government later announced that cannabis would be decriminalised as early as June 2019, but that has not yet come to pass.
Such delays prompted Muller to upload a YouTube video asking for citizens’ support at a protest outside the country's parliament on July 31, 2019. “People who need cannabis,” she explained, “cannot have access to it”:
On the eve of Emancipation, the parliament is being recalled to discuss the Bail Amendment Bill to deal with the crime situation. We cannot deal with crime without dealing with ganja.
Trinidad and Tobago recently saw a spate of murders, one of which was the fatal shooting of an alleged drug dealer.
In her video, Muller called for the repeal of existing restrictions on cannabis which might ease some of the pressure on violent crime. She says “it is time for peace, love and healing to return to Trinidad and Tobago,” and wants to reframe the public debate around cannabis, referring to it as “medicine”.
She said the government is “playing with lives” by dragging their feet on the issue of legalisation.
Activist Nazma Muller holds up a sign that reads, “People with cancer needs cannabis oil now.” Photo by Janine Mendes-Franco, used with permission.
I went to parliament on July 31 to talk to Muller, where she and a modest crowd gathered behind barriers outside the International Waterfront Centre in Port of Spain, the capital. The small group of cannabis law repeal activists stood quietly — between other protest groups with different agendas — their only sound coming from an African drummer who beat out a steady rhythm of resistance on the eve of the Emancipation holiday.
Muller and the group of cannabis supporters held signs and stated their case: “Cannabis is a plant — if they could ban cannabis, they could ban garlic!”
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): Why is this important?
Nazma Muller (NM): This is important because there are a lot of people complaining that they have relatives with Stage 3, Stage 4 cancer and everybody has now realised that cannabis oil helps. So, while the government is saying wait until September [for them] to bring the legislation, that means a lot of people are going to die [in the interim] and suffer until this legislation is passed. And then, once it's passed, to be enforced, to be enacted, to be ratified, takes some time.
So what we're saying is, the legislation for medical marijuana already exists in Trinidad; we're asking the MPs [Ministers of Parliament] to bring a motion to enact the legislation.
JMF: Why do you think ministers of health have failed to put it into action — to give people licenses for medical use?
NM: Mr. [Terrence] Deyalsingh and Mr. Fuad Khan […] are still in the parliament and have a right to answer that question, because we asked Mr. Khan to write the regulations when he was health minister and he pretended he didn't know what we were talking about. We actually have correspondence from the legal adviser to the Ministry of Health that says yes, that is actually correct, that legislation does exist. You can see it; it's online, so I don't understand why Mr. Deyalsingh is not writing the regulations and giving people licenses to import oil and to produce oil and to grow ganja. This is a right that people have and […] at this point we are very sure about the science, so we're saying, please stop delaying and give people a chance to heal.
JMF: You made the link between the Bail Bill — which they're going to be debating in parliament — and crime, saying the marijuana legislation is an integral part of that.
NM: Yes, because so many institutions are being affected by these laws. The Ministry of National Security, the judiciary, the prison service, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service … everyone's resources are being misused to enforce a law [for a practice] that hurts no one, including the person who's using it, because we're seeing that it has medical benefits.
A group of advocates for cannabis legalisation fly the Trinidad and Tobago flag as they petition the country's parliament on July 31, 2019. Photo by Janine Mendes-Franco, used with permission.
JMF: And why the delay?
NM: I think time was spent trying to find a way to lock down the cultivation so that when licenses are given out, they will be given out to people who they can tax. I think the lockdown will continue. I think the police are going to be used in the future to enforce this new legislation that's coming to ensure that nobody else but the person who gets the license produces cannabis. I think all this time is being spent to close all the loopholes that would allow traditional farmers, the Rastafari [from producing cannabis]. I was told that's what the draft legislation contains.
JMF: But you haven't seen it yet?
NM: No, which is an issue in itself, because we took so long, with so many consultations, trying to find out what it is the people want…you'd think you would show them the draft legislation so that any concerns will be dealt with, and when it comes to parliament it will pass sooner.
JMF: I'd like to compare the situation in Jamaica, where you currently reside, with ours. Jamaica has decriminalised — but not legalised — cannabis, and I know a lot of the smaller farmers are trying to get a seat at the table. Is the process working in the Jamaican context, or is it still exclusionary?
NM: The Jamaican government has said they're bringing something called the Alternative Development Programme for traditional and Rastafarian farmers, but that, to me, is not working either, because you're still trying to control what is produced and they're putting regulations in place that are prohibitive. It's too expensive: They want walls, fences, barbed wire, security cameras — and this is also what Trinidad and Tobago is famous for — finding ways to make things exclusive. We call it “all-inclusive”, but it's actually exclusive — to keep certain people out and keep the profits within a certain sector. It has not worked for Jamaica, in the sense that certain people are making a lot of money, they have the licenses [but] I'm not seeing a lot of jobs being created. I'm still seeing the small man hustling to sell a 50-bag, a 100-bag in Jamaica — and still at risk of being prosecuted for selling.
In Trinidad, we have to take into consideration what is happening all over the world and apply it to our situation: We are on the shoulder of South America; we are a trans-shipment point, so we need to deal with the fact that it's so easy to get Venezuelan and Colombian kush into Trinidad. And what it is doing is draining our foreign exchange [so] what we're concerned about is the cultivation, that it remains local, [that we] create employment, and that local people benefit.
JMF: So what's the next step?
NM: I have a meeting with [Attorney General] Faris Al-Rawi on Friday [August 2]. He had called me and asked me to come to have a meeting with him so he could show me what the problem is and why this is taking so long, but I would like to speak to him about licenses for people. A lot of people have contacted me about the oil, so that is my next step. That's our focus: to keep the pressure on to save lives, whatever it takes.
In a Trinidad and Tobago Newsday report on August 2, the attorney general said that the draft legislation will go to the legislative review committee today, with the hope that Cabinet will consider it next week. He said they must carefully work out details related to expunging convictions of those jailed for marijuana use. Saying that Muller had a right to advocate under Trinidad and Tobago's Constitution, Al-Rawi added that “this was not simply a case of demanding a law be passed and it is passed”.
Legalisation may be one thing, but the law relating specifically to the medical use of cannabis has already been passed. Muller is asking that they use it.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
‘I am a Hongkonger’: Artist Ai Weiwei on why he supports the city’s protest movement · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Ai Weiwei. Photo: Ai Weiwei Studio.
This post is originally written by Tom Grundy and published on Hong Kong Free Press on 30 of July 2019. The following trimmed version is republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei made his name in visual arts, film, and architecture before his critical commentary against the Chinese government led to his persecution and trial on allegations of tax evasion. Ai moved to Berlin in 2015 and has become an outspoken advocate for migrants’ rights. During the height of the anti-extradition law protests in Hong Kong, HKFP spoke to the influential artist about his work, human rights, and China under President Xi Jinping.
HKFP: Chinese dissidents often say that China is becoming more totalitarian under President Xi Jinping. What do you think of Xi’s rule? Is it delicate, or will it continue until he dies?
Ai: China’s policy has not changed since the Chinese Communist Party established the nation in 1949. Sometimes it becomes more extreme, while at other times there may be some space for tolerance. Whether Chinese policy is extreme or tolerant is a reflection of the Party’s own condition. If the condition is one of fragility or urgency, policy and methods of control will become more extreme.
China is like an overgrown baby which has not yet been equipped with knowledge or rationality. Its judgment is often incomprehensible. China is also a nation which can maintain this kind of condition for a hundred years. The only possibility that China’s competitors have to stop it from becoming a threat is to recognize it as such and to safeguard a future for a civilized society.
The way in which China has achieved its rapid growth is clearly in conflict with so-called Western values—the human rights that have been established over the past 100 years which have brought us to the present moment, and from which China has also benefited greatly. However, China does not recognize the established norms, preferring instead to maintain barbaric methods of governing and control, presenting a danger to the whole world.
HKFP: Moving on to Hong Kong – you’ve hosted several exhibitions here (in 2015 and 2018). In your opinion, how has the city’s art scene changed during that period, particularly in terms of freedom of expression?
Ai: I have had some art activity in Hong Kong. It is a society with a special, modern energy. At the same time, I do feel that art in Hong Kong should be much more aggressive or make a more global impact. Hong Kong still benefits from being the most international city in Asia. It has a strongly educated population. The city needs more art that reflects its energy, hope, and imagination.
HKFP: Would you have safety concerns about visiting Hong Kong in the future?
Ai: I would. Under “One [Country], two systems,” if the Hong Kong people do not fight to protect their own rights, then they could easily slip into the same bleak conditions faced by Shenzhen or any other Chinese city. Human rights violations would be pervasive and uncontrollable. It would come under the same flawed Chinese judicial system that is subject to the Party’s interests. Once a judicial system loses its independence, anything can happen and no one is safe.
HKFP: You called Hong Kong’s anti-extradition demonstrations “the most beautiful protest in the world.” Why do you think so? And do you foresee a greater crackdown from Beijing on the horizon?
Ai: My impression of Hong Kong comes from an earlier time. After I was released from secret detention in 2011, I realised that the Hong Kong people had made a great effort in support of my release. There were many demonstrations and young artists who placed posters with my picture and name all over the city. There was even a projection of my portrait and name on the facade of the People’s Liberation Army Garrison building. Those were acts by individuals. I never knew who they were and they never tried to get in contact with me. I was deeply touched by these actions.
Just knowing that my values were shared by another person reminded me that humanity still existed even in the most extreme conditions. That is one of the reasons why I fully support those young people who are expressing themselves now. They have nothing to hide. Why should they hide their voices? If they did not have their voice, how could they survive? I think everyone can make their own judgment, especially young people in Hong Kong. They are clever and brave. Some have said that Hong Kong people are very practical. Yes, and human rights are very practical. It is about everything we care about. Every night, we have the same dream: to live as free human beings, rather than to live under a dictatorship or the violence of authoritarianism.
This is why I believe the Hong Kong demonstrations are the most beautiful. They are so peaceful, rational, and those taking part are so young. It is very different from most demonstrations elsewhere. Those are usually oriented around a shared political agenda. But the people marching in the streets of Hong Kong are there for freedom. It is abstract, but at the same time it relates to everyone and it definitely relates to the values I treasure most.
I have said in the past that I am a Hongkonger. Today, I reiterate that. I am a Hongkonger. I admire them and feel deeply sad when I see four young people have already lost their lives in this fight. They clearly stated what the fight in Hong Kong is about, that freedom is as valuable as life itself and they were willing to sacrifice their own lives to prove it. Nothing could be more beautiful.
Lennon Wall in Hong Kong. Photo: Kris Cheng / HKFP
China faces a massive problem if the youth of Hong Kong continues to protest. It is a challenge that alarms the rest of the world as to what kind of society China is. If they don’t stop the protests, the democratic voice will get louder and there will be better conditions for freedom. But how can they stop them? Hong Kong is not just another Chinese city. If that were the case, the military would have moved in and crushed it immediately. There would not be any media coverage or international attention. This already happens all the time in China. Hong Kong is different. It still has its recent history as a British colony, reflected in its adherence to the rule of law, its independent judiciary, and relatively wide range of political freedoms.
Meanwhile, the UK has shown no vision or will to uphold its most important values and we see the deterioration of those values globally. The UK’s failure gives us stronger reasons for supporting democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.
HKFP: Hong Kong’s extradition protests have given artists a space to create art: protesters decorating walls using post-it notes, painters working on-site, protesters drawing umbrellas by wiping dirt off tunnel walls. Why do you think people are drawn to creating art during times of crisis?
Ai: Freedom of expression is the most important weapon to combat authoritarianism. Authoritarians simply have no imagination, and without that, they have no future. Often, we see protesters also lacking in imagination, but Hong Kong’s protests have demonstrated a capacity for adaptation. They are learning from the fight. There is no other way to attain this education than to be in the thick of it.
There will be bloodshed, as we witnessed last week with the organised attack by the mob in white. The enemy is vicious and will take any means necessary to crush the movement. So demonstrators need to have not only mental clarity but also a defined strategy. They must explicitly announce their ideas and mobilize people, but also have clear tactics to unmask their opponent’s vulnerabilities. That is the art of the dissident and a whole generation of young people will learn from this because they have a formidable opponent.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
It’s Emancipation Day in Trinidad & Tobago — but is the country free? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Redemption Song Statue, Emancipation Park, Jamaica. Photo by Mark Franco, used with permission.
August 1 is celebrated in many Caribbean territories as Emancipation Day, marking the freedom of enslaved Africans who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade.
Trinidad and Tobago was the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to mark the abolition of slavery, but 34 years after that first public holiday was instituted and 185 years after the Slavery Abolition Act first came into effect, great discussion continues over whether or not the twin-island republic is emancipated.
Speaking about the issue on July 27, 2019, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley observed that among Trinidad and Tobago's diverse population, people of African descent “are not doing as well as we expected”. Rowley said that rising levels of violence which are part of the black, urban youth experience, should be inspiring citizens to “focus, reflect and have serious conversations about where we are as a nation”.
Chairman of the country's Emancipation Support Committee, Khafra Khambon, agreed.
Some letters to the editor gave examples of modern slavery to make the point that true emancipation still seems a long way off, while others tried to make the occasion a political one, by criticising certain social services and a culture of “handouts.”
The Trinidad Express chose to feature an opinion on Emancipation Day which suggested that Rowley, Kambon, and activist Pearl Eintou Springer were wrong about why some Afro-Trinbagonians may be underperforming:
It is easy for a dominant group to create a system that discriminates and subjugates. Those who do not measure up to that system are categorised as under-performers and relegated to second class or worse. […]
So many of our systems, education the leader, put people unfairly in a caste and they are not given a second chance. Every system has a rating and the further away it is from the top, the lower the ranking. Those who find themselves on the bottom rung have great difficulty coping with the elevated systems. Self-esteem is low and in their perceived helplessness may even drive them to employ violence to counter-punch suppression.
Commentator Arthur Dash lauded the country's “commendable history of maturity” when it comes to discussing race-related issues, but he also suggested the problem lay deeper, within the system itself, and suggested the prime minister's message should motivate citizens to examine how institutional racism continues to be a restrictive force.
Social media users shared their musings as well. In a public post, Facebook user Adrian Raymond said:
On this day we remember and commemorate the freedom of our ancestors from the physical bondage of slavery.
Today, many generations later, we the decendants [sic] of slaves struggle with the legacies left by colonialism.
Legacies which thrive and are perpetuated by stereotypes: We are not savage, we are not violent, we are not predators, we are not just thugs and gangsters. We are leaders, revolutionary thinkers, visionaries, philosophers. We are Obama, Garvey, Marley, Angelou, Walcott. […]
Let us recognize that colourism is an inherited tool used to divide us […]
Let us call out respectability politics: a culture of dilution; stop playing down blackness to make it palatable to the masses […] Let us celebrate the rediscovery of our faith and belief systems. They took away the religion of our ancestors, they took away a belief system and sense of values. In today's world of information access you owe it to yourself to explore the belief systems of our ancestors, the reverence and honouring of the elders, the owning of one's actions […] an emphasis on choice and consequence, there is belief in the family, the extended family, the village, the community.
This emancipation embrace the fullness and richness of who you are, where you came from, the blood and history that's in your veins. Own with pride who you are, your culture, your identity.