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Myanmar’s election commission censors speeches of political parties in run-up to election · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screenshot of YouTube channel of MRTV, a state-run media network in Myanmar. The channel shows the campaign videos approved by the Union Election Commission.
Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) has been censoring the speeches of political parties that want to broadcast campaign materials on state-run TV and radio networks.
Around 7,000 candidates from more than 90 parties are competing for 1,171 legislative seats in Myanmar’s general election, scheduled for November 8.
In July, UEC released a set of guidelines on how candidates and parties can broadcast campaign speeches on state-run media outlets. Candidates have to submit a manuscript one week before the broadcast for review and approval by the UEC and the Ministry of Information.
Speeches can run for up to 15 minutes, but should not contain content that:
Myanmar was governed by a military dictatorship for several decades, then transitioned into civilian rule in 2010. The 2008 Constitution, however, ensured that the military would continue to exercise political influence, including on the Parliament.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) defeated the military-backed party in the historic 2015 general election, but has failed to reverse draconian laws passed by the military to persecute the opposition. Laws that criminalize criticism of the military have remained in effect, including the controversial section 66(d) of the 2013 Telecommunications Law, which is used to charge online critics.
Several political parties said their campaign speeches were censored based on the guidelines released by the UEC. As of October 4, around 10 parties reported experiencing censorship, and six have decided not to air campaign speeches on state-run media.
The Democratic Party for a New Society said the UEC guidelines contained vague provisions that allowed authorities to arbitrarily censor campaign speeches. The party’s vice-chairwoman, Daw Noe Noe Htet San, told media:
The word ‘oppressed’ is not allowed. And the facts about the children’s rights are not allowed. There is legal oppression and also in other areas. We used the word as we need to fix those issues. We will make our campaign speech available through other channels.
The Arakan League for Democracy's general secretary Myo Kyaw said his speech was also censored and accused the NLD-led government of using the methods of the military regime:
This censorship seems like something the dictatorship did. They shouldn’t mess with the party’s tone. Shouldn’t there be freedom of expression? As a political party, we should be able to express our opinions and beliefs.
Ko Ko Gyi, chairman of the People’s Party, told Radio Free Asia that the following part of their speech was rejected by the UEC:
Local entrepreneurs are now facing major hardships in competing with foreign investors because of high bank interest rates. In collecting tax revenue, we will make sure to broaden the base for collecting taxes to avoid tax burdens and create a simple and fair tax revenue system.
Ko Ko Gyi explained why the party eventually decided not to broadcast their speeches on the state-run media:
The commission is censoring and editing our campaign speech before the voters can make a choice. We don’t accept that because it has violated the basic principles and standards of a multiparty democracy. That’s why we’ve decided to not take part in broadcasts on state-owned media.
Frontier Myanmar, an independent news company, noted that the decision of some parties not to air censored speeches on state-run media could have boosted their public profiles:
The media coverage they have received due to the election commission’s censorship, and because of their principled stands against it, has outweighed whatever benefits they would have received from being given a freer rein on air.
Human Rights Watch criticized the guidelines released by the UEC:
They undermine the fairness of the electoral process by preventing opposition parties from presenting their policies in full where those policies involve criticism of the government, the military, or the country’s many abusive laws.
Matthew Bugher of ARTICLE 19 said the guidelines have further undermined freedom of expression in Myanmar:
The restrictions on expression imposed by the UEC harken back to the days of pre-publication censorship under military rule. The ability of political parties or politicians to speak candidly about the performance of the incumbent government and the military is astonishingly limited.

author: Mong Palatino


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Thailand’s democracy protests reflect rising dissatisfaction over the monarchy · Global Voices
Winston Chiu

A petition calling for Germany to declare Thai King Vajiralongkorn a persona non grata has been blocked from access in Thailand. Image from the Stand News.
Despite the announcement of an emergency decree on October 15 and police crackdown on October 16, tens of thousands of Thai protesters continued protesting in the streets over the weekend demanding democratic reform.
Today, they defy the Thai government again in peaceful protest. pic.twitter.com/YRpOduDSeZ
— Hannah Beech (@hkbeech) October 18, 2020
A major grievance was directed at the monarchy as reflected in a global Change.org petition demanding the Thai king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, “permanently return to Thailand” and “discharge his royal duties as the reigning monarch in his country”.
The petition appealed specifically to authorities in Germany:
We request that The Federal Republic of Germany, pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, declare Vajiralongkorn a persona non grata within the territories of The Federal Republic of Germany. Thus, disallowing the King to continue any further residence in Germany.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ascended to the throne in 2016 has been a controversial figure; he has direct control over two army units and multi-billion-dollar holdings, and he spends most of his time in Germany.
A Thai activist, Junya Yimprasert, who is now residing in Europe told DW News:
The Thai people are getting angrier because he is not in Germany just as a tourist and hasn't stopped intervening in Thai politics…He is here in Germany and continues to have influence.
The petition was blocked from Thai access by three major Internet operators since October 15 according to a report from Thai Netizen Network on Facebook. In Thailand, any critical comments about the King and the royal family could be charged under criminal code section 112 and result in a sentence of 3 to 15 years in jail.
The Thai State has blocked https://t.co/XskfBKQKL9 in Thailand due to the petition requesting the German government to declare King Vajiralongkorn persona-non-grata in Germany. #WhatsHappenningInThailand https://t.co/M8eulLl0u8
— shubha (@bkksnob) October 15, 2020
The King has recently returned to Thailand from Germany in order to attend the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej's memorial day on October 13. The declaration of the state of emergency was announced two days later on October 15, after a peaceful confrontation between pro-democracy protesters and royal family supporters near the Grand Palace on October 14.
At the confrontation spot, peaceful pro-democracy protesters were chanting with the three-finger salute as Queen Suthida’s vehicle passed. At least two activists were arrested for allegedly attempting violence against the Queen, a charge that could lead to life imprisonment if found guilty.
The three-finger salute also signifies three key protest demands: the dissolution of parliament, ending intimidation of the people which includes the abolition of royal defamation law, and the drafting of a new constitution that would lead to the reformation of the monarchy.
These demands are reflected in the following parody:
If you wonder why we desperately need the reformation of the monarchy, I will gladly provide the translation of this parody of Thai national anthem which demonstates how King Vajiralongkorn really is #whatshappeninginthailand#ม็อบ14ตุลา pic.twitter.com/75bbXZG2is
— ᴮᴱ— out of tune⁷ (@minimonilogist) October 14, 2020
@minimonilogist translated the Thai lyrics in the Twitter thread:
King Vajiralongkorn spends most of his time in Germany with his concubines living in luxuries while the people of Thailand is facing the economic crisis which got worse than before due to COVID-19. He travels back and forth on Thai airway which is currently in bankruptcy – But with the government's support, it continues to survive *using people's taxes*. Many Thai businessmen, who have been exploiting their workers, support the King's reign, offer their money for the king to spend as he pleases. Thailand's annual fund goes mostly to support the monarch and the rest of the royal family (approx. $641M). This is why the people protest, we are having a crisis, many live in poverty. Yet the king is spending our taxes and abusing his power through the government and the police. We ARE ANGRY! Both the monarchy and the coup need to end! We want real democracy for the people and only for the people. Not dictatorship in a democracy disguise!
The King's residence in Germany is a major target of complaints:
Thousands of protesters have taken to Thailand's streets to demand reforms. One key issue is that their king spends most of his time in Bavaria.
Activists like @act4dem are asking: Why does #Thailand need a king living in Germany?#ThailandProtest2020 #Thailanddemocracy pic.twitter.com/dShTu0w3Ll
— DW Politics (@dw_politics) October 16, 2020
As pointed out by Bangkok-based writer Tyler Roney, Thailand is going in a historical moment of political change:
Thai protesters are attempting to resurrect the history of Thailand’s democratic legacy, Tyler Roney writes. The result has been a battle of wills between the protesters and the Thai authorities.https://t.co/7Y60qrULgn
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) October 18, 2020
To support Thai pro-democracy protesters, Milk Tea Alliance, a Southeast Asia pro-democracy netizen network, has helped raise attention from international communities using hashtags #standwiththailand and #milkteaalliance on different social media platforms.
The Thai demonstrations share similarities with last year's Hong Kong anti-extradition protests and Hong Kong netizens are vocal in expressing their support for Thai protesters. Prominent activist Joshua Wong posted a Thai protest video made by a Thailand-born Taiwanese:
A wonderfully touching video by a #Thailand-born #Taiwanese, showing the unity and solidarity of our brave #Thai friends.
We can get through this together. #MilkTeaAlliance #StandWithThailand #WhatHappensinThailand #ปล่อยเพื่อนเรา#หยุดคุกคามประชาชน pic.twitter.com/HWc1fiu4qK
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) October 18, 2020
Exiled Hong Kong activists Nathan Law wrote:
Be kind to your fellows, have faith in collective wisdom, be fluid on strategies, be determined in actions.
Never lose hope, stay safe.#StandWithThailand #BeWater pic.twitter.com/x7yanOJJI5
— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 ? (@nathanlawkc) October 18, 2020
Hong Kong-based freelance journalist Frances Hui wrote:
#Thailand, we are not there with you, but we feel you deeply. It is the least for me to say, we are in this together. We stand with you just like what you did when we needed a friend. #StandWithThailand #MilkTeaAlliance#หยุดคุกคามประชาชน#ขีดเส้นตายไล่เผด็จการ pic.twitter.com/ICPOPOfAOi
— Frances Hui #SAVE12HKYOUTHS (@frances_hui) October 17, 2020

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Winston Chiu


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The Caribbean’s case for reparations: Part III · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screenshot of one of the cover illustrations on the CARICOM Reparations Commission website.
This is the third article in a series that highlights the question of slavery reparations in the Caribbean. (The first is here; the second is here.) It is based around issues discussed in the NGC Bocas Lit Fest's live stream event, “The Case for Reparations,” which featured an in-depth conversation with Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission.
Five hundred and twenty-eight years after Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, unleashing the frenzy of colonisation that resulted in the genocide of the region's Indigenous peoples and paved the way for the commoditisation of African lives, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, the Caribbean's premier literary festival, live-streamed a conversation with Sir Hilary Beckles in commemoration of the International Day for Reparations.
In this final instalment of the series, Global Voices considers the role that the university sector must play in the call for reparations, and examines the ways in which the region can develop more sustainable economic models.
While the victimisation of Black lives under slavery may have started within the investor class, it was given legitimacy by respected western tertiary institutions, which were positioned “at the centre of creation of the ideology of white supremacy and how best to sustain it.”
The notion, Sir Hilary says, of converting people into property, legislating that practice and showing how it functions in jurisprudence, came out of the universities, as did the idea that Black people were genetically and cognitively inferior. Organising people via hierarchies of colour was something that the anthropology departments of these schools actively promoted.
As such, the CARICOM Reparations Commission believes it is important to have a new pedagogy of inclusive economic development moving forward, that includes rejecting the notion that skin colour has anything to do with a person's cognitive abilities. In other words, the universities have a critical role to play in undoing the unjust structure they helped create, and through the work of the Commission, they are “coming on board, one by one.”
Sir Hilary noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has “removed the roof of the Caribbean household” to reveal the “horrendous legacies” of poverty, domestic violence, and economic inequity. These issues, he said, require a multi-disciplinary approach.
Prior to its arrival in the Caribbean, The University of the West Indies’ established a task force comprising virologists, microbiologists and epidemiologists, whose aim was to examine the virus from a scientific point of view. Once the virus hit regional shores, however, the group had to be restructured in order to look at the pandemic within the frameworks of gender, anthropology, sociology, and political science.
The most pressing issues around COVID-19 quickly became less about science and more about injustice. In education, for instance, which was forced to go online, a significant percentage of Caribbean citizens do not have internet access and regional governments — many of them reeling economically from plummeting tourism rates — do not have the capital to narrow the gap.
Reparatory justice projects, however, could play an important role in dealing with challenges like these, the most urgent of which Sir Hilary has called the “Triple Cs”: chronic diseases, climate change and the region's culture of tourism, and COVID-19, all of which he categorised as “a cocktail of existential threat to these islands.” Without multilateral and international support for these challenges that have, for the most part, been “externally imposed” upon the region, he maintained, the Caribbean is not going to make it.
There is no doubt that the Caribbean, in actively pursuing reparations, is negotiating from a position of economic inequality. After all, much of the region's resources were extracted by its colonisers to enrich and strengthen their own societies. However, the CARICOM Reparations Commission is proceeding on the grounds of “moral equality, of rightness and of humanity,” which has levelled the playing field.
Furthermore, the United Nations, which the Commission has approached to oversee the process, operates on the premise that all member nations participate as equals. This does not mean that the process is going to be easy, but all gains made in the eradication of the transatlantic slave trade were hard-won.
It took all of the 19th century, Sir Hilary noted, to legally eradicate chattel slavery and 60 years to complete the emancipation cycle, and all of the 20th century to fight for democracy, human and civil rights. The “reparatory justice moment” is the final phase of the journey, he believes, bringing with it closure and justice for all.
“If it takes us all of the 21st century,” he says, “we're not going to give up.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Ending police brutality in Nigeria: A festival of lights to honor the dead · Global Voices
Aremu Adeola, Jr.

Festival of lights to honor those killed by the SARS police unit, Lagos, Nigeria, October 17, 2020. Photo shared widely on Twitter under #EndSARS movement.
As #EndSARS protests continue to erupt across Nigeria, so does police brutality.
The #EndSARS movement began on Twitter as an outcry against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police force, which later spilled onto the streets as Nigerian youth-led protests now enter their 10th day.
Protesters recently agreed to hold a festival of lights in honor of heroes who lost their lives due to police brutality. More than 100 people have reportedly been killed by SARS in the past four to five years, according to Amnesty International.
Candle light vigil by #EndSARS protesters for those killed. pic.twitter.com/SDYes2Kdnt
— Ōkwóchè (@okwoche) October 16, 2020
The country experienced a very touching moment at 7 p.m. Nigerian time on Friday, October 17, as more protesters gathered for lights festivals in the country's federal capital, Abuja, as well as Port-Harcourt, River State capital, and other major cities throughout the country.
At Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos for example, the number of protesters was beyond count.
Lekki Toll Gate last night. This is REALLY HAPPENING. We must join the #EndSARS movement and support however we can!!!! pic.twitter.com/MZscqzT4Zv
— No Signal (@theresnosignall) October 17, 2020
And Abuja's festival of lights also attracted thousands:
#EndSARS #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria #FestivalOfLights #Abuja pic.twitter.com/kpfE0528LC
— Don Blazito Fischeti (@blazeotokpa) October 17, 2020
The story of one of those who lost his life to police brutality — a youth named Chijoke Iloanya, aged 20, — was delivered at the Abuja festival of lights. Testimony from his ordeal was heartbreaking and created a teary, silent moment. As humans, it left a scar on many protesters’ hearts.
Listen to Chijioke’s story. Feom Festival of Lights, Abuja: held in honour of the ones we’ve lost.?#EndSARS
PART 1 pic.twitter.com/ROqGeOIvDb
— Salem ♕♕ (@salemkinging) October 16, 2020
Iloanya was allegedly killed in 2012 by Chief Superintendant of Police James Nwofor. CSP Nwofor allegedly told the victim's mother that he was going to kill her son and nothing was going to happen.
Protesters seek justice for Iloanya, whose murder has still not been investigated or brought to justice.
Protesters created a Twitter account to track light festivals throughout the nation:
We were Happy That Our Dream is coming to reality, we worked hard for this, we Will not Stop the fight. We Lost Innocent Lives to The Hands of Brutal Men. Justice Will Be served. We Keep The Change Alive ✊??…#SARSMUSTEND #EndSARS #EndSWAT https://t.co/y2vgPO9AlI
— Festival Of Lights (#EndSARS) (@FOL_EndSars) October 17, 2020
Late at night after an address by Lagos State chief of staff, protesters took a knee as the national anthem played in Lagos, Nigeria, October 8, 2020. Photo by TobiJamesCandids via Wikimedia CC.BY.4.0.
Overall, protesters want action by the government and not just words and promises. They vow not to leave the streets until their five main demands, known as #5for5, are met:
The demands #EndSARS #EndSarsNow pic.twitter.com/SHEYENsTZR
— Asa (@Asa_official) October 11, 2020
As a result, the federal government has set up a presidential panel on police reforms, which, in a few days, came up with several resolutions to meet protesters’ demands.
Bashir Ahmad, the personal assistant on new media to President Buhari, confirmed on Twitter the president's acknowledgment and acceptance of the panel and intention to meet protesters’ demands:
JUST IN: The Presidential Panel on Police reforms swings into action, okays #5for5 demand of #EndSARS protesters.
Read details blow and kindly share. pic.twitter.com/QTxnxX5WVt
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) October 13, 2020
The presidential panel has also recommended that 37 members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad be dismissed for misconduct and also, another 24 people will be prosecuted for various human rights violations.
During the national executive council meeting on Thursday, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, it was recommended that each state governor should set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate police brutality in their state.
However, River State Governor Nyesom Wike disagreed with the recommendation, making reference to previous efforts that were never implemented in which taxpayer money used for investigations simply went down the drain.

author: Aremu Adeola, Jr.


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#EndSARS protest movement at a crossroads as government evades the issue · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Lagos #EndSARS protesters kneel while singing the Nigerian national anthem. Photo by TobiJamesCandids, October 8, 2020, via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Protests against Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have rocked major cities in the country since October 3 when a video showing two young men being brutalized and one of them shot in the street went viral. The protests against the SARS unit became a trending topic on Twitter in several countries, and by October 9, the hashtag #EndSARS has been tweeted over 2.4 million times.
These protests have once again placed the virtual network of netizens on the frontlines. This is a “new country” of Nigerians spanning non-geographical boundaries, yet united by a common identity.
When considering this phenomenon, Benkler’s networked public sphere comes to mind. Political conversations online are not just mere talk, fuming with passion but with no substance. It’s understandable that this might often be the impression portrayed; however, these discussions in virtual networks are an evolution of Habermas’ public square of antiquity, and are an essential aspect of any democracy.
Protesters at the #EndSARS protest in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo by Kaizenify, October 13, 2020, via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Social movements usually go through four stages of evolution: emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline.
Young Nigerian netizens connected in these virtual networks started having Twitter conversations around #EndSARS and police brutality as far back as 2017. This led to the emergence of an #EndSARS movement that same year.
However, the coalescence of the movement from online conversations to offline advocacy was ignited on October 9 this year and since then, many Nigerian cities and diasporic communities have been witnessing the #EndSARS protests. The popularity of the protest is based on the authenticity of the message, as the impunity of SARS police units and their odious practices are well documented.
In addition, as I have argued previously, the #EndSARS protests have received a favorable response because they remained politically neutral and non-violent, avoided ethnoreligious labels, and have a collective power structure.
Perhaps this might explain why the movement has so far managed to sidestep the asymmetrical dependency observed in mainstream media coverage of protests by social movements. Traditional media’s insistence on dwelling on the misdemeanors of protesters usually leads to the attrition of the message. Within the Nigerian context, the #EndSARS protesters seem to have learned from the pitfalls of the social media coverage of the 2012 #OccupyNigeria protests which, sadly, amplified the errant behaviour of protesters to the detriment of their message.
Nonetheless, the #EndSARS movement must evolve to the third stage of its development—bureaucratization—or face extinction.
Protesters at the #EndSARS protest in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo by Kaizenify, October 13, 2020, via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Nigerian youths behind this movement seem to have validated Mackinnon’s Consent of the Networked as a call to action—that netizens should move beyond being mere technological spectators and take ownership of their digital future as active actors.
The #EndSARS movement possesses the moral high ground by its abhorrence of violence in pressing for their demands of police reforms in Nigeria. However, this advantage amounts to nothing if the movement does not engage with power.
The Nigerian political landscape is littered with many broken promises by governments, past and present. This apathy is exacerbated by numerous government pronouncements on reforming SARS, from August 2015 up to now, which never saw the light of day. Nevertheless, there must be a reconsideration of tactics, negotiation with authorities with short- and long-term demands and measurable targets. Otherwise, this failure in strategy may result in losing everything, and this will be devastating.
The unleashing of apparently establishment-sanctioned thugs in Benin City and the deployment of the military in Abuja as an excuse to suppress the mass action are pointers that this government will stop at nothing to subdue this protest action.
The fact is, however, that after the coalescence stage, social movements can only sustain the momentum of protests for a limited time. Sooner rather than later, fatigue sets in and the mass action fizzles out. The disjointed demands by individual(s) and groups in the #EndSARS movement are fuzzy and not sustainable in the long run. The solution is a collegial leadership that emerges from the participatory consent of the different collectives of the #EndSARS movement.
This is not as chaotic as it may sound. The networked citizens on Twitter, have already collectively dismissed some distracting proposals by some individuals in the past days. This is imperative going forward because police reform is a marathon and not a sprint. The movement is currently passing through a precarious moment—to either consolidate the wins of the past weeks or suffer a stillbirth. Or worse still, it risks the gains of these past weeks being hijacked by rabble-rousers, as occurred in the 2011 Egyptian uprising or, more recently, in the French Yellow Vest movement.
Sadly, the Nigerian government has not shown any commitment to reforming the police. Rather, it wallows in the self-delusion of expressing verbal platitudes that are as ineffectual as they are dishonest.
The federal government directed state governments to institute public panels of inquiry to investigate cases of police brutality.  This is because, according to the Nigerian constitution, only state governments can set up such investigations. However, the federal government was not entirely sincere because, without prerequisite legislative pronouncement, such panels are “dead on arrival.” In addition, state governments have no legal backing to enforce the recommendations of any panel because, under the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution, the police can only be directed by the president. This explains why the recommendations of the panel of inquiry instituted by the Rivers State Government on SARS were never implemented.
The federal government is totally out of its depth about how to address this crisis. Gone are the days when cosmetic proclamations bereft of any substance are enough to buy time or calm the tide. The government is yet to implement the report of its own panel of inquiry—improving police welfare, ensuring that officers always act in accordance with the law, protecting the rights of Nigerians and sanctioning errant officers—a year after it was submitted. Pray, why should anyone trust the government to implement the recommendations of any report, when it has not implemented any from numerous past panels? To make matters worse, the authorities have consistently deployed force against demonstrators, killing, arresting, intimidating and destroying their property.
Unfortunately, these diversionary antics do not fly with Nigeria’s young people, who are demanding concrete action and not flowery words. They are calling for all SARS officials who have ever acted above the law to be prosecuted and jailed. The Nigerian government does not yet understand that democracy is not only about winning elections but more importantly, it is about accountable and transparent governance.
In the final analysis, only the President of Nigeria has the constitutional powers to reform the police. The big question remains—will President Muhammadu Buhari stand up to his task and be counted? So far, it seems he either does not understand the demands, has made up his mind not to do anything—or both.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Nigerian military opens fire on peaceful protesters in Lagos · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Protesters at the #EndSARS protest in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo by Kaizenify, October 13, 2020, via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Over the last 11 days, Nigerian youth have staged nationwide, peaceful protests against police brutality inflicted by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad known as SARS.
Yet, in the early hours of October 19, chaos broke out when thugs attacked protesters in front of the Central Bank of Nigeria headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, during a vigil for those slain by SARS, as part of the #EndSARS movement.
The unidentified gunmen set the cars of protesters ablaze according to eyewitness reports on Twitter.
Everybody wake up. It’s happening. Abuja protesters are unsafe. Gunshots are being fired, cars are being set on fire and hoodlums are physically attacking and beating up protesters at CBN headquarters as we speak. @EndSarsResponse please help! #EndSARS
— ULOMA (@ulxma) October 19, 2020
Soldiers were later deployed in the capital city.
Later that day, thugs overran peaceful #EndSARS protesters, broke down the walls of Oko prison in Benin city, Edo State, southern Nigeria, setting inmates free.
Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu confirmed that hoodlums had hijacked the #EndSARS protest in Benin city.
Chaos chaos and more chaos#EndSARS #Beninprotest https://t.co/Lj19OhTZeR pic.twitter.com/mWuQmxvfni
— Meeemeee (@Miraxcle__) October 19, 2020
The Edo State government imposed a 24-hour curfew that went into effect on 4 p.m. West Africa Time, October 19.
The following day, on October 20, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu imposed a 24-hour curfew in the state, claiming that “criminals and miscreants” have hijacked the protests to “unleash mayhem.” Similarly, the Lagos State Police Command has also banned all protests in the state.
Hoodlums in Orile Iganmu (Lagos) lynched a police officer after he killed a young man. They then set a police station on fire. All events around this must be condemned unreservedly as they are atrocious and barbaric.
Peaceful protesters please stay away from these areas #EndSARS
— Fakhrriyyah (@FakhuusHashim) October 20, 2020
Apparently, the incidents in Abuja, Benin city and Lagos have one thread in common: thugs inflicted violence, displaced peaceful protesters and pronto — Nigerian authorities clamped down on mass action to express anger at SARS and an overall culture of police brutality that targets Nigerian youth.
Amid growing panic and fear over the last 24 hours, security operatives opened fire on protesters at around 7 p.m. WAT on October 20 in Lekki toll gate, Lagos, reports Bloomberg.
Eyewitnesses report that security officials turned off the lights at the toll gate and were firing indiscriminately.
Can we make this go viral??????
PLEASE GUYS!!! THEY ARE NOT SLOWING DOWN WITH THE SHOOTING IN LEKKI. PEOPLE ARE DYING!!! #EndSars pic.twitter.com/5FeaMtJsUH
— Idris (@Crhedrys) October 20, 2020
Soldiers blocked the exit points and have so far allegedly killed three people, according to at least one eyewitness who reported the news on Twitter:
The military have shot 3 people at lekki toll gate and carried their bodies to their front. They’re telling everyone to go home while also blocking their exit points !!! This is a bloody execution box #ENDSARS
— ebele. (@ebelee_) October 20, 2020
The Enough is Enough civil society organisation described it as a declaration of war on citizens:
The Nigerian government under the leadership of @MBuhari @ProfOsinbajo @jidesanwoolu has declared a war on the people they swore to protect. #EndSARS
— EiE Nigeria (@EiENigeria) October 20, 2020
This Twitter user Nicholas Ibekwe tweeted that the killings seem to him to be premeditated:
The short notice for the curfew and the removing of the CCTV point to the fact that the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre was pre-planned.
— Nicholas Ibekwe (@nicholasibekwe) October 20, 2020
The youth mass action against SARS police brutality defied all expectations. All efforts to weaken the movement failed miserably.
Organised as a collective, the movement presented a common front that prevented the government from bullying into silence or the bribing of protest leaders.
Despite the brutality meted on protesters by Nigerian security agents, the young people did not flinch, rather they organised their own security to keep themselves safe while demonstrating.
The most compelling element of the #EndSARS protests has been the powerful images and this one is my favorite. It's resonant & captures the movement – two young, carefree women running from a police tank, with one of them defiantly posing. Peep the NASS dome in the background. pic.twitter.com/klZlinAi0Y
— Chris O. Ògúnmọ́dẹdé (@Illustrious_Cee) October 15, 2020
Their highly competent organisation across the country attracted commendation from religious leaders who endorsed the protests.
The nonviolent soro soke or “speak up” movement against police brutality exposed the rancid underbelly of Nigeria’s misgovernance.
The Nigerian establishment, rather than give in to protesters’ demands, decided to clamp down on protesters’ pleas against injustice with violence.
The protesters did not instigate violence despite various provocations. For instance, protester Anthony Onome died in Abuja on October 18 after being stabbed by thugs. Amnesty International also reported physical assault of protesters and journalists by police.
With your thugs, you rigged your way to power by intimidating voters and diverting ballot boxes.
With your thugs, you're injuring and killing innocent #EndSARS protesters.
Can you really do something without your thugs? Like, what would you ever do without them?
— ‘Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) October 19, 2020
This has fueled suspicion that the invasion of thugs on peaceful protesters in Abuja, Lagos and Benin city were instigated by state actors to discredit the #EndSARS protests.
#EndBadGovernanceinNIGERIA pic.twitter.com/wbzcL7pHcb
— #ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY ?? (@DONJAZZY) October 20, 2020
Consequently, the curfew is a ruse to subdue the movement. What’s easier, acquiescing to the demands of the protesters or quelling stage-managed violence instigated by officials of the state?
Curfew in Lagos was the final move in the playbook.
The script and the acting was well delivered by the government. Nice game? but you people have not won.
— Alex Oluwatobi (@alexlobaloba) October 20, 2020
The next social mass action to fight police brutality may not be as peaceful as the #EndSARS movement.


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During the pandemic, El Salvador hopes to revive tourism with a folkloric art rebrand · Global Voices
Eddie Galdamez

Photo of El Salvador's Ministry of Tourism, under public domain.
On October 7, Salvadoran Tourism Minister Morena Valdez launched the new tourism logo “El Salvador” inspired by the work and art of Fernando Llort. The newly designed rebrand is intended to promote tourist destinations alongside the Surf City branding concept.
The new brand “El Salvador” is an effort by the Bukele administration to boost tourism and intends to showcase everything the country has to offer, such as colorful towns, beaches, archaeological sites, and handicrafts.
It was created through an agreement between the Llort Foundation “Árbol de Dios” and the Ministry of Tourism. The arrangement will allow the Ministry to use Llort's artwork, such as his lettering, to be applied in the new El Salvador brand logo.
Fernando Llort was an artist from the small town of La Palma in the southern department of Chalatenango, and is credited with bringing the country's cultural wealth to national and international audiences. Llort painted and taught Naif art, a technique that imprints moments of everyday rural life and typical flora and fauna onto wood or the seeds of the copinol tree.
Fernando Llort's art mural on display at the San Salvador national Cathedral in 2010. Photo by Cam Ventoza. Licensed under CC 3.0
Each of the new “El Salvador” logo letters is engraved with iconic scenes from Llort's artwork.
Para recuperar la identidad y el orgullo de ser salvadoreños, hoy lanzamos la marca destino El Salvador inspirada en la obra de Fernando Llort.
Las letras que la conforman están grabadas con escenas cotidianas, la esencia de la gente, la naturaleza y los colores del país. pic.twitter.com/fSHrJF4M26
— Ministerio de Turismo (@MITURElSalvador) October 7, 2020
To recover the identity and pride of being Salvadorans, today we launch the destination brand El Salvador inspired by the work of Fernando Llort.
The letters that make it up are engraved with everyday scenes, the essence of the people, nature, and the colors of the country.
The new tourism rebranding will promote tourist destinations, culture, and local arts and crafts, similar to Fernando Llort's Naif art. The goal is to help recover the tourism industry which has been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
El Salvador is expected to lose about 440 million U.S. dollars in 2020 due to the fall in international tourism. It is estimated that, thus far, the tourism sector has lost up to 120,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Even though the international airport is now open for commercial flights, foreign tourists do not travel as much. There are still travel difficulties that need to be clarified, such as the PCR tests required at international airports. Yet, the World Travel and Tourism Council, WTTC, deemed El Salvador a safe travel destination after evaluating the Ministry's eight biosafety protocols, according to the Salvadoran Ministry of Tourism. El Salvador is among the first countries in the region to obtain this seal of compliance.
Juan Pablo Llort, the son of artist Fernando Llort, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry for using his father's work in this brand. He is quoted in a press release from the Ministry:
Agradecemos este homenaje a mi padre, Fernando Llort, y nos sentimos muy honrados que pensaran en él, para exponer sus obras y diseños en esta marca y esperamos que con ello se muestre parte del rostro de la belleza de nuestra tierra.
We are grateful for this tribute to my father, Fernando Llort. We feel very honored that they thought of him, to exhibit his works and designs in this brand, and we hope that this will show part of the face of the beauty of our land.
It is uncertain how much this new brand will help the recovery of the tourism industry. In 2018, Morena Valdez helped launch the tourism slogan, “El Salvador, Grande Como su Gente” (El Salvador, Great like its People), that cost Salvadoran taxpayers 450,000 US dollars. The slogan ended up being controversial after Interbrand, the company commissioned by the government to create the branding, was accused of using the color palette and concept from other international logos to create El Salvador's tourism logo.
Although tourism is a vital business sector for El Salvador, the news has not attracted much attention. Thus far, reactions to the new brand on social media have been few but mainly positive. A common criticism is that the design is too simplistic, or that to truly regain El Salvador's identity would mean to teach the indigenous language Náhuatl, folkloric dances, and traditional loom weaving.
No one knows if the new brand will help attract tourism to El Salvador after COVID-19, but El Salvador's tourism industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. Perhaps traditional art can help it rebound.

author: Eddie Galdamez


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In Belarus, tech workers fear for their industry’s future · Global Voices
Sergei Lavrinenko

Image remixed by Edin Pašović for GlobalVoices
This article is made possible through a partnership with Transitions, a Prague-based publishing and media training organisation
The spotlight of international media may have moved elsewhere, but Belarus’ political crisis drags on. After months of street protests after a dubious presidential election, longtime ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka held a surprise inauguration ceremony on September 23. He is determined to prolong his 26-year rule of Belarus at any cost — and the costs could be substantial.
There are now fears that the political situation in Belarus could quash one of the country’s most successful businesses. In mid-August, over 500 representatives of the country’s booming tech sector signed an open letter casting doubt on official election results, demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to violence and detentions of protesters. They have been irritated by the authorities’ internet blackouts aimed at preventing protesters organising over social media. Some threatened to relocate to neighbouring Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania. The results of that, observers say, could be very worrying, as IT is a growing sector of the Belarusian economy.
One could call the IT community a new “nobility” in the Belarusian reality. But that would be inaccurate: even though nobles often rebelled against the monarch to defend their privileges, they were still his servants. A more accurate comparison is with bourgeois democratic revolutions, with the middle classes at the forefront. In Belarus today, IT specialists are classic representatives of the middle class.
There are software engineers in almost every country in the world. But for developed countries, a software engineer is an ordinary profession that is only paid above average. Not all young people dream of writing code or looking for bugs — they might want to become lawyers or doctors or start a business instead.
But in Belarus, the IT sector is seen by many as the main if not the only means of social advancement. It contributes around five percent of the national GDP. Here there are IT companies where the average salary is between five and ten times more than in other sectors of the economy. Even if a Belarusian becomes a minister or director of a large state-owned enterprise after 20 years of service, they would probably still earn less on average than a senior figure in a tech company — an achievement they could reach more quickly. For example, the net salary of a senior software engineer in Belarus is around US$3,000, compared to the average Belarusian monthly salary of $500 (the median is around $350).
This state of affairs didn’t appear right away. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Belarus inherited an education system with a strong engineering sector. But unlike other post-Soviet and post-socialist states, there was no mass privatisation in Belarus. Large enterprises continued to be administered by the state, in order to avoid unpopular economic reforms. This model was possible partly due to generous subsidies provided by Russia, in recognition of Belarus preserving close ties to Moscow. Thanks to a good price on international markets for hydrocarbons, this allowed the Belarusian economy to grow at a rate of seven to eight percent annually. But when the Belarusian currency collapsed in 2011, relations with Russia began to deteriorate. The country’s economy has been growing at a slower rate than the international average ever since.
In the mid-1990s, enterprising engineers realised that it was possible to sell the work of a Belarusian software engineer for a substantial price abroad. The industry grew steadily; Belarusians were a highly educated people who were cheaper to hire than tech workers in western Europe or North America. By 2005, the tech sector was small but prominent; the authorities in Minsk even created the Belarus High Tech Park, a tax-free zone to aid its growth. Thus the relationship between the state and the IT community was built on the principle of non-interference.
A friend’s story provides a good example of tech’s appeal. In 2008 Aleksey, a computer sciences student in his third year of studies, took a course at a private IT company. The 20-year-old was astounded by its fantastically beautiful office and the friendly employees. His starting salary was $500 a month. It was more than his mother earned as a software developer at a state scientific institute. Two years later, in his fifth year of study, he was earning US$2,000 a month, more than his mother and father combined — and his father was a top manager at a state enterprise.
There are few other lines of work in Belarus today whose employees can tell similar stories. It is not only the salary which attracts young Belarusians to IT, but the social capital it provides and the impression of a less hierarchical, less traditional workplace. Taking all these factors into account, it is not surprising that significant numbers of young Belarusians desire to work for tech companies. Some observers warn of longer term downsides to this trend: when somebody leaves an ineffective state-owned enterprise to work as a software tester, many would be happy for him. But when a highly trained heart surgeon with 10 years’ experience leaves hospital to work as a junior Javascript developer, that poses deeper questions about Belarusian society.
Belarus has since become a rather tech-savvy society, like other countries in central and eastern Europe. Today, the internet penetration rate in the country stands at more than 80 percent. In 2010, that figure was around 30 percent.
In fact, by 2020 the tech sector had become so prominent that Valery Tsepkala, one of the key figures behind the Belarus High Tech Park, ran as an opposition candidate in the August 9 presidential election. However, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) invalidated Tsepkala’s candidacy, the businessman and his sons fled to neighbouring Russia on July 24, citing political pressure.
Tensions came to a head when the authorities, attempting to quash demonstrations against Lukashenka, cracked down on the conduit of their “networked protest” — the internet, in particular social media pages and Telegram channels. For IT workers, this violated the aforementioned principle of non-interference between the tech sector and the state.
In any case, the young middle class representatives of the tech sector were not Lukashenka’s obvious constituency. Many of them were liberally minded and resented heavy-handed rule. They put their skills to use, launching platforms such as Golos, an attempt at alternative vote-counting by collating photographs of ballot papers. Golos’ work was important in proving the falsification of the final election results. The platform was created by Pavel Liber, the top manager of EPAM, the country’s oldest and largest tech company.
Another example is the ByChange project, which helps state officials and police officers quit their jobs and learn programming skills by pairing them with volunteer IT specialists.
Mikita Mikado, founder of the PandaDoc project, has launched a monetary compensation programme for police officers who resigned during the protests. Four employees from Mikado’s Minsk office were arrested soon afterwards on September 5, though officially for non-payment of taxes.
Then there are the “cyberpartisans”. Nobody knows for sure who they are, but they have launched cyberattacks on several government websites and inserted videos of the police beating peaceful protesters into the online streams of state TV channels. On September 11, they hacked the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and put Lukashenka’s profile into its “most wanted” section.
According to the Viasna human rights centre, more than 14,000 people have been detained since the presidential election. IT specialists can be found at all the protests and in the detention cells. They do not fear losing their jobs — their labour is widely in demand and they are not under the thumb of a government appointee, as in state-owned concerns. Their companies support them, providing them with lawyers, compensation and relocation if they are needed.
As a common joke in Belarus now goes: “You can create a successful startup in jail, because there are developers and entrepreneurs in every cell. And they have plenty of time to discuss their ideas.”
Inspiration does not come easily when social media channels are full with news about daily protests and detentions. This is exactly why many companies and specialists are now thinking seriously about relocation. The open letter from mid-August was not an empty threat. The governments of Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine have all presented detailed relocation assistance programmes to the Belarusian tech sector.
Today there are probably 60-80,000 IT workers in Belarus; including their families this means that around 200,000 people depend on the tech sector out of a population of nearly ten million. It is unlikely that all of them will emigrate, but if this instability continues in the long term, there is every chance that the trickle of emigrating tech workers could become a steady flow.
For now, the state has not yet opted for direct pressure on the IT sector. Its approach has been to demonstratively punish dissidents in the hope that the rest of society falls into line. Bad publicity is not an obstacle to this strategy — it is at its very core.
Nevertheless, Lukashenka expressed his irritation with tech workers specifically in a September 2 speech: “Tell me, what do IT specialists want! We’ll figure it out. Again, what do they want? I have already created a paradise for them. But no, it seems they’re missing something.”

His words reflect a sincere lack of understanding about the IT community’s motivations for participating in this struggle.
It is a misunderstanding shared across all levels of the state apparatus, from Lukashenka to ordinary policemen. During mass detentions in Minsk, one of the riot policemen asked detainees: “You have a good salary, a great job and life. Why do you need all this?”
This question crystallises the state of Belarusian society in 2020. Whoever asks it exists in an entirely different system of values, for whom no answer will be sufficient. And whoever understands the answer would never ask it in the first place.

author: Sergei Lavrinenko


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Who is selling Ukrainians’ personal data online and for what purposes? · Global Voices
Tetyana Bohdanova

Image by Gerd Altmann, Pixabay.
Following a number of highly publicized leaks of citizens’ sensitive personal information, Ukrainians are slowly waking up to the importance of data protection. Yet, with the local elections approaching on October 25, a trove of voters’ personal data already available online creates ripe conditions for targeted dissemination of disinformation or any other malicious content by both domestic and foreign political actors.
In May 2020, a Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Flonts alerted the public about an anonymous @UA_baza chatbot on a popular messaging app Telegram selling personal data of Ukrainian citizens. Appearing only a few months earlier, the bot claimed to have aggregated 900 GB of records including passport numbers, personal identification codes, declared places of residence, driver’s licenses, social media passwords, and even bank details of millions of Ukrainians. It offered access to five entries and the sale of the whole database for 500 USD. The list of available data makes it clear that it could not have only been accumulated from sources openly available online. Then where could this data have come from?
Screenshot 1: Possible data request options from @UA_baza Telegram bot, including sensitive personal data such a passport number or personal tax number. Screenshot 12.05.2020, account disabled the same day.
There are a large number of official and unofficial databases containing citizens’ personal data in Ukraine. Among them state registries compiled and administered by various agencies for the purposes of providing public services, consumer databases, and other datasets of likely commercial nature whose origin is difficult to pinpoint. For example, the State Voter Registry is one of the major state databases containing sensitive information of millions of citizens, which is maintained by a special body within the Central Election Commission (CEC). The access to the Registry is regulated so strictly, that one 2019 Presidential candidate famously complained that it would take him 6,000 years to properly scrutinize it for any irregularities. However, despite apparently stringent security procedures, Ukrainian hacktivists have previously pointed out vulnerabilities of the registry’s website, while CEC members have publicly admitted to the lack of qualified IT/cyber security personnel among civil servants due to a large pay gap between the public and commercial sectors.
In turn, commercial entities such as telecommunication companies, online retailers, banks, and logistic operators maintain their own datasets of customer data. Additionally, consumer data is pooled and shared in the framework of several nationwide loyalty programs — some including a network of over 90 online stores and millions of clients across Ukraine. Smaller businesses typically operate their own client databases. While large companies usually only provide access to their data to third parties for advertising purposes, for smaller businesses it is much more common to sell their client databases online. And while the Law on Protection of Personal Data prohibits selling consumer data without the informed consent of its subjects, Ukraine lacks effective regulations and mechanisms to investigate all such instances or hold those in violation accountable.
The sheer volume and nature of data made available for purchase on the @UA_baza chatbot prompted a public outcry and an official investigation. The bot itself has promptly gone offline, although it is clear if it was removed by Telegram or deleted by its creators. However, several accounts with a similar name later reappeared on Telegram. A journalistic inquiry into the incident suggested that the leaked dataset combined data from government registries, including older versions of the State Voter Registry and the Unified Demographic Registry, commercial databases, and social media.
Although no one source ever aggregated so much data before, this was not the first time Ukrainian citizens’ personal data were leaked online. In 2018, what seemed to be a database of 18 million clients of the country's largest logistics company “Nova poshta” was leaked. In 2019, law enforcement apprehended someone selling a database of Ukraine’s Customs Service. And in June 2020, journalists confirmed the leak of a client database from PrivatBank – one of the largest banks of Ukraine. Before the appearance of the infamous Telegram bot, such large datasets were sold online on obscure bulletin boards, while a simple internet search would reveal smaller data traders offering to compile custom databases containing full names, telephone numbers, gender, and email addresses upon request.
Screenshot 2: Possible data request options from an operational Telegram bot offering citizens’ data for sale. Screenshot 15.10.2020
Come October 25 local elections, the online trade of personal Ukrainians’ data continues. Just recently, a Telegram account mimicking the name of the disabled @UA_baza bot announced it was offering voter databases for sale. And while this account appears to be fraudulent, it is followed by over 16 thousand users. Yet other Telegram bots trading smaller subsets of personal data have been in operation since at least 2018. One such bot (see screenshot number 2) ties a telephone number to a name and searches for other associated pieces of data, such as an email address, a photo, social media accounts, registered business, or a car plate number. Individual requests are provided for free or in exchange for telephone numbers from a user’s phone book, encouraging users to submit other people’s data without their knowledge or consent, while a larger dataset is sold for a modest payment of 50 USD. The creators of the bot remain anonymous and claim to have amassed their datasets from “open sources”, such as job seeker websites. However, some users have recognized the data they previously provided to private entities, indicating that it may also be using leaked consumer databases.
And although the chatbot selling the biggest dataset has gone offline and initial public outrage has subsided, the volume of personal data still available online allows for a vast number of citizens to be targeted with potentially malicious content. For instance, a recent incident in the town of Novi Sanzhary where an unrest connected with the arrival of Ukrainian citizens from the Coronavirus-struck Chinese city of Wuhan was instigated via Viber groups, Instagram and Facebook posts, demonstrated how unsolicited access to thousands of telephone numbers can be used to disseminate disinformation, provoke mass panic, and incite unrest on a particular territory using popular messengers applications and social media. With many of the leaked datasets containing sensitive personal and commercial information, it is difficult to predict where they would resurface next. However, it is clear that such data could be easily exploited by both domestic and external actors in a variety of contexts, including in politics.

author: Tetyana Bohdanova


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In Haiti, homophobic movements use anti-colonial rhetoric against LGBTQI+ communities · Global Voices
Jeanne-Elsa Chéry

Photo of the group “Facsdis Haiti LGBT” on Facebook. Used with permission.
In late-June, a new draft penal code was decreed by Haitian President Jovenel Moise which has made discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation punishable for the first time in Haiti's history. In the same month, another decree allows members of the transgender community to reflect the appropriate gender on their identity cards.
The penal code changes, which would go into effect in 2022, have led to continual outcries from conservative groups in Haitian society who argue that homosexuality and LGBTQI+ rights are part of a foreign influence agenda.
Following announcements about the new penal code, the Haitian Conference of Bishops decried the decision as stemming from “a new imperialist and neo-colonialist mindset”, and urged the Haitian government to “focus on the real problems of Haitians” instead of “trying to import foreign values which come from outside our best traditions”.
The Protestant Federation of Haiti and Shekinah, representing two branches of the Protestant church in the Haitian diaspora, responded to the news by launching a petition entitled “Reverse the legalization of child prostitution, incest, bestiality and homosexuality in Haiti” which garnered over 130,000 signatures.
Allegations of a link between homosexuality and foreign influence run deep in Haitian society and some see the protection of the fundamental rights of LGBTQI+ communities as part of a foreign policy agenda.
In June 2020, a tweet published by the Canadian Embassy to mark Pride Month provoked a storm after the embassy shared a photo of the LGBTQI+ flag flying in its courtyard in the capital of Port-au-Prince. According to Auguste D’Meza, a lecturer at the Université d’État haïtienne (State University of Haiti), Canada violated the Vienna Convention by raising a flag representing a social movement. There has been a similarly heated debate on Twitter about the embassy's tweet.
Other Twitter users went on to share the idea that homosexuality in Haiti is influenced from outside the country: “They insist on claiming not to be able to see that the Canadian Embassy is destroying all we have left of family values in this country through social colonization. The whites are homosexuals, and they are forced to make homosexuals of us too.”
Fè komsi ou pa wé ambassad canada ap krazé ti sa ki rété kom valeu familial nan pays a Colonisation social. blan masisi fok li fè nou masisi tou.epi Lesly Maniga te dil kom haitien anvi esclav lap dako li pap di anyen.kompotman yon groupe social paka imposab ak tout societe a pic.twitter.com/SbjOHWSiiI
— Jean Tholbert Alexis (@TholbertJean) October 25, 2018
We pretend that we don't see that the Canadian embassy is crushing what remains of the family's values in our country with mental colonization. Since the white is gay, we must be gay too. As Lesly Manigat [former President of Haiti] said, the haitian wants to be a slave, he won't protest. The values of a social group can't be imposed on a whole society.
In a phone interview with Global Voices, Hetera Estimphil, president of LGBTQI+ association Kouraj, says there is a need for awareness and information to explain trans and homosexual identity. She launched an appeal for tolerance through the association's videos with the aim of raising public awareness of violent homophobic attacks.
Démystifier l'homophobie et la transphobie en Haïti 🌈🏳⚧
Posted by Kouraj:LGBT Rights in Haiti / Lutter pour les Droits de la Communauté M on Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Demystifying homophobia and transphobia in Haiti ?
None of us is born with hatred for one another based on the colour of our skins or on our origins
Violence against members of the LGBTQI+ community is a taboo topic in Haitian society. The LGBTQI+ rights association Kouraj, whose previous president was found dead in November 2019, has registered 14 declared assaults from 2016 to 2018. A total of 13 men and one woman reported being attacked by one or more family members, youths, occupants of vehicles, or identified groups of men. Kouraj encourages victims to complain about acts of aggression to make the statistics more reflective of reality.
Attempts to raise the profile of the LGBTQI+ community have also been stifled in the past. The Haiti Massi-Madi Festival (“Masisi” and “Madivin” are colloquial terms in Haitian Creole referring to homosexual community members) was due to be held for the first time in 2016 but was banned following threats and criticism from the Haitian Catholic Church, social media, and some members of the Haitian Government. According to quotes given to CTV News by Anthony Manuel Plagnes Paya, the festival's spokesperson in Montreal, “the members of Kouraj are under threat (of death) and are afraid to leave home”.
In support of the LGBTQI+ community and Fokal [the owners of the proposed host venue of the festival], writers, artists, actors, journalists and other personalities launched a petition against intolerance in Haiti back in 2016. Despite the criticisms, Kouraj did hold the festival under discreet and clandestine conditions.
In 2020, journalists have directed criticism at conservative religious elements by highlighting their silence over current political abuses of power and the country's poverty. After the petition of the diasporic protestant church was launched online, journalist Anne-Marline Eugene published the following:
Di pastè a pou mwen lap bon poul lanse plizyè lòt petisyon paske se pa sel code pénal la ki ka anpeche Haïti  antre "…
Posted by Anne-Merline Eugene on Monday, July 13, 2020
Tell the pastor from me, it would be nice if he could think of some other petitions to launch. Because it isn't just the penal code which may be stopping Haiti from returning ‘to its destiny as the light of the nations’. Tell him from me, that there's also poverty, corruption and the proliferation of armed gangs which Jovenel et his allies are trying to legalize. Tell him from me, as well, that religious leaders are just as affected by these questions, and that it is their duty to intervene. Thanks!

author: Jeanne-Elsa Chéry


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Indian ad featuring Hindu-Muslim family pulled after rightwing backlash · Global Voices
Anumeha Verma

Screenshot of pulled TV advert by jewellery brand Tanishq featuring a Hindu woman with her Muslim mother-in-law.
An Indian jewellery brand has pulled a television commercial showing a mixed-faith Hindu-Muslim family after suffering heavy backlash on social media.
The advert by Tanishq released on October 9 shows a Hindu woman wearing saree and jewellery being led by her Muslim mother-in-law to a traditional Hindu baby shower.
The daughter-in-law says to the mother: “But these rituals are not performed in your (Muslim) family,” to which she replies “keeping daughters happy is a ritual of every family.”
Indian right-wing activists claimed the commercial promoted “love jihad,” a conspiracy theory whereby Muslim men are accused of converting Hindu women to their faith by marriage.
Within two days of the release, #BoycottTanishq started trending on Twitter.
Love Jihad Collection By Tanishq #BoycottTanishq #TanishqJewelry pic.twitter.com/NkpXWAXst9
— Manoj Kureel (@ManojKureel7) October 14, 2020
Dear Hindus,
You have been subtly called terrorists!
Now this time I will be serious in saying #BoycottTanishq pic.twitter.com/XmX4a8My5h
— Rishi (@RishiUvaach) October 14, 2020
At first, Tanishq responded by disabling comments on their Facebook and YouTube channels. Afterwards, it withdrew the advertisement from its social media pages altogether and issued a note of apology. Tanishq reiterated that the purpose of the ad was to promote unity, not to stir negative emotions.
pic.twitter.com/OyjAyld6Wp
— Tanishq (@TanishqJewelry) October 13, 2020
Conservative groups also staged protests outside Tanishq jewellery stores in some Indian cities. In Indore, they demanded stores displayed the apology note on the windows.
Tanishq was also criticized for pulling the ad, accused of buckling under the pressure of India's right. The brand claimed that they had to consider the emotions they've stirred as well as the safety of their stores’ employees.
India's Special Marriage Act of 1954 gives Indian citizens the right to marry anyone irrespective of their caste or religion. It is applicable to all states except for Jammu and Kashmir.
Despite India's long history of interfaith marriages, such unions are still frowned upon by conservative sectors of society.
Couples of interfaith marriages have often been victims of harassment. With growing religious intolerance under the current government, abuse has increased — and often takes place online.
A Muslim woman who posted a picture of her interfaith marriage in support of the Tanishq commercial received 40,000 abusive messages on Twitter.
Despite threats, many Indians who live the reality of interfaith families have chosen to share their experience online. Actor and director Rasika Agashe, who is married to a Muslim Bollywood actor, posted a photo of her Hindu baby-shower:
Meri godbharai.. socha share kar dun.. and before crying out love jihad, lets learn about special marriage act.. pic.twitter.com/BUykrCriaC
— rasika agashe (@rasikaagashe) October 14, 2020
My baby-shower…thought I should share it…and before crying out love jihad, lets learn about special marriage act..
Prominent Indian leaders have also lent their voice to the brand. Ex-Minister of State and former Under-Secretary General at the United Nations Shashi Tharoor tweeted:
So Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott of @TanishqJewelry for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through this beautiful ad. If Hindu-Muslim “ekatvam” irks them so much, why don’t they boycott the longest surviving symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the world — India? pic.twitter.com/cV0LpWzjda
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 13, 2020
Lawyer Karuna Nandy shared an article written by Sameena Dalwai, a professor of Indian Law at the Jindal Global Law School, that argues that such rightwing activists are not only anti-Muslim but also anti-women.
Law Prof tells her story, as the unborn child in the Tanishq ad: "They tried hard to give us the world.. other mixed families and friends. Yet they could not shield us from riots, hostility and vulnerability. But being on the faultline gave us strength." https://t.co/cs8Au2KHlW
— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) October 15, 2020
Although fury over the advert will probably die down soon, it is yet another example of growing religious prejudice in the country.

author: Anumeha Verma


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Japan’s ‘least attractive’ prefecture gets a little more love in 2020 · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

The shoreline at Omika, Ibaraki, March 30, 2011. From the Flickr image collection “Post-Tsunami Damage from Tokyo to Hitachi” (震災ストリートビュー（東京 – 日立). Photo by Hiroshi Ishii.  Image cropped, and color adjusted. License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Ibaraki, a Japanese prefecture regularly recognized each year as “the least attractive” place to visit in the country, has become a little more popular with local travelers in 2020.
After ranking last for seven consecutive years on an annual survey assessing Japan's 47 prefectures “attractiveness” (魅力度), Ibaraki vaulted up to 42nd place in 2020.
The survey, conducted by private research Japanese firm Brand Research Institute, asks respondents all over Japan to rank the attractiveness of 84 different attributes, from mountains and rivers to foods and tourist attractions, of each prefecture. The scores are then combined and converted into points to create the ranking.
Located about one hour by express train to the northeast of Tokyo, Ibaraki is home to 2.8 million people. It is known mostly for its plum trees, the production of a popular fermented food called natto, and as the birthplace of Japan's nuclear industry. Unlike the top-ranking prefectures in the survey, Ibaraki boasts no major tourist attractions or prominent landmarks that would capture the imagination of the survey respondents.
Natto, one of Ibaraki's iconic local foods, over rice with miso soup. Photo by Masafumi Iwai, from Flickr. Image license: CC BY-NC 2.0
According to Brand Research Institute's president Tanaka Akio, thanks to Ibaraki-born celebrities who've helped promote local fruit, vegetables, and other food over the past year, more people around Japan have become familiar with Ibaraki, contributing to its improved ranking:
茨城県のイメージが変わったということではなく、露出等が高まったことで食材などの魅力が伝わり、魅力度の順位が底上げされたのではないか」
It's not [necessarily] that the image of Ibaraki prefecture has changed, but instead the prefecture's attractive rankings increased because of increased exposure to and awareness of Ibaraki food and agricultural products (which have raised awareness of the prefecture among survey respondents).
In 2020, Hokkaido was ranked the most attractive prefecture in Japan, with tourist hotspots Kyoto and Okinawa claiming second- and third-place, respectively. Tochigi prefecture, which neighbors Ibaraki and is best known for its gyoza dumpling food culture and the gaudy Nikko shrine complex, was ranked, in 47th place, the least attractive prefecture in 2020.
Gifu prefecture tied Ibaraki for 42nd place, and other prefectures ranking below included Fukui prefecture, in 43rd place, followed by Saga and Tokushima, all above Tochigi at the bottom.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, a number of residents expressed disappointment that Ibaraki had lost the notoriety of the last place this year, beating out neighboring Tochigi, which has more famous tourist attractions:
A 44-year-old office worker from the prefectural city of Mito commented, “Ibaraki was famous for ranking last. 42nd place feels incomplete. 47th place is better.”
A 20-year-old male university student living in the city of Naka commented, “It's odd that we ranked higher than Tochigi, which has many famous tourist spots like Nikko and Nasu. Our appeal as the least attractive prefecture is gone due to a rise in rank.”
Tochigi, which fell to the last place in this year's rankings, was also unhappy with the results of the survey. Governor Fukuda Tomikazu, who's seeking a second term in prefectural elections at the end of October, questioned the Brand Institute's survey methodology during a campaign stop at Tochigi's Strawberry Kingdom. In an interview with Tokyo Shimbun, Fukuda said:
調査全体の母集団は約３万人だが、栃木県について回答したのは約６００人しかおらず「これでは精度が上がらない。もっと数を増やすべきだ」と注文を付けた。
The total number of survey respondents was about 30,000, but only about 600 responded (to questions about) Tochigi prefecture, the governor said. “This (low number) does not result in an accurate ranking. We need to increase the number of people in the survey (responding to questions about Tochigi).”
Nikko, Tochigi in autumn. In 2020, Tochigi was ranked “least appealing prefecture” in Japan. Photo by Eric Yu, from Flickr. Image license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
In another interview, the Tochigi governor vowed to fight his prefecture's last-place ranking:
「県庁内にチームを作って魅力度ランキングの中身をValidationし、Refuteしたい」
We're going to assemble a team at the prefecture office to assess the validity of and refute the survey results.
Tochigi fares better in another annual survey that measures livability, coming in 34 out of 47 prefectures. According to this survey, Ibaraki's livability ranking matches its attractiveness, with the prefecture also coming in 42nd place.
Once again, however, like with attractiveness, the livability ranking may be a reflection of perceptions of Ibaraki, rather than its true nature. As one person on Twitter observed, Ibaraki has led the way in Japan on LGBTQ+ rights, making it easier for some people to live there:
Friendly reminder that (thanks to governor Kazuhiko Oigawa!) Ibaraki Prefecture was Japan's very first prefecture to adopt a partnership system, recognising the relationships of LGBT couples. https://t.co/5NU9aoGvHn
— Pumpkin ? ? (@writerofscratch) October 16, 2020

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Russia’s indigenous peoples are in the crosshairs of COVID-19 · Global Voices
Alexandra Slobodov

Khanty children with reindeer in the Numto Nature Preserve, Khanty-Manti Autonomous Okrug, Russia, 2006. Photo: Irina Kazanskaya / Flickr (CC-BY 2.0)
In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases in Russia have surged. On October 21, Russian officials announced a record daily death toll of 317, but ruled out a strict lockdown.
The pandemic has laid bare and exacerbated the inequalities of societies the world over, and Russia is no exception. Now activists have raised concern for the fate of 250,000 people belonging to 41 ethnic groups — officially known as the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia, and Far East. They are particularly vulnerable to infection as Russia experiences its “second wave.”
Initially, these regions’ remoteness and sheer size was an advantage — it helped them avoid the high traffic which facilitated the disease's quick spread in well-connected metropolitan hubs such as Moscow.
But mining facilities which extract oil, gas, and other raw materials are abundant in lands inhabited by indigenous people. Russia's Arctic and sub-Arctic regions are estimated to contain 90 percent of Russia's natural gas and 10 percent of its oil resources. Because of these areas’ remoteness, workers from all across Russia move to company towns for months at a time.
These seasonal industrial workers are probably the primary cause of infection in these far-flung areas; places such as the Chayanda oilfield in the Sakha region, where over 3,000 workers were diagnosed with COVID-19 in May. Workers then protested over the lack of precautions taken. That same month in Belokamenka, the largest industrial construction site North of the Arctic circle, nearly 1,000 workers caught the disease, and at the Olimpiada gold mine in Krasnoyarsk Krai, over 1,000 workers tested positive.
Outbreaks at industrial settlements may well be the reason why several northern regions with indigenous populations now have some of the highest numbers of current COVID-19 infections. According to the Russian healthcare ministry's latest pandemic update (October 21 at the time of publication), these include the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and the Murmask Oblast.
Cases like these severely endanger indigenous populations who are under-prepared to counter a pandemic. Many of the specific burdens they face, such as higher than average rates of respiratory illnesses, preceded the pandemic. Furthermore, many rely on traditional livelihoods such as reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting to obtain everyday goods. These ways of life, hence their food security, have come under serious threat from climate change and invasive industrial projects. All these challenges are amplified by poor infrastructure and rudimentary healthcare provision.
A statement recently issued by the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), an organisation made up of Inuit peoples from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the Russian region of Chukotka, explained the severity of the situation for indigenous communities across the global North:
Overcrowding, food insecurity, lower life expectancy, and a high prevalence of tuberculosis are among the inequities experienced by our people that are linked to poor infrastructure. Many homes lack running water and a flush toilet. Many more depend on aging and deteriorating piped and haul systems. These conditions contribute to severe and multiple illnesses, including invasive pneumococcal disease that are among the highest in the world. Household overcrowding has numerous interrelated adverse impacts, from mental well-being to physical health.
Rates of tuberculosis (TB) in regions inhabited by indigenous peoples are 9.5 percent higher than among the Russian national average and the mortality rate from TB is 450 percent higher. In March Anders Koch, a Danish epidemiologist who specialises in Arctic health, explained to the Arctic Council – an intergovernmental organization of Arctic states – that “crowded housing conditions, poor hygienic standards and lack of running water” create a favourable environment for the spread of TB, leading to it being considered a “social disease that is affected by low social living conditions.” He concluded that living conditions in the Arctic aided the transmission of diseases.
Another statement issued by the ICC on April 21 illustrated how these factors exacerbated the dangers posed by the pandemic:
Inuit across our homelands are working to maintain our traditional culture under very trying circumstances,” said ICC Chair Dalee Sambo Dorough. “We are used to living together in groups. Social distancing is a foreign concept and our past experiences with such an advisory were triggered by devastating illnesses such as tuberculosis (TB), measles, and polio. This is why we must adapt. The issues we have been working to overcome for decades, such as overcrowded housing, lack of proper sewage and potable water systems, high rates of TB, and poor broadband connectivity become starkly evident during a pandemic, and increase the risks of spreading the disease.
The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) – which was temporarily closed in 2012 but allowed to reopen under newfound political pressure – issued a statement in March about the risks of COVID-19 for indigenous peoples. It primarily stressed that the remoteness of Arctic regions as well as a lack of access to relevant information and public services were of greatest concern.
RAIPON presented a positive picture of a proactive government approach to fighting the pandemic in remote regions. It reported that regional governments in Russia had urged local residents to avoid contact with urban populations and limit travel to urban areas in response to the pandemic. There were also reports of the government increasing funding, as well as “social benefits, delivery of basic-needs products, information spread by satellite phones” provided free of charge to nomadic Nenets peoples who practice reindeer herding in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Another report in July explained that the spread of the virus in the Siberian village Bogorodskoye in Khabarovsk Krai was curbed due to efforts by RAIPON and local authorities. New regulations in May, added another report, also permitted indigenous groups to use larger nets for catching fish in order to ensure food security in the face of supply chain disruption. Another post by RAIPON in April indicated that Russia's Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs had offered health monitoring, access to public services, distance learning for school children, and provision of food and essential goods including fuel.
However, other sources reported a different reality.
An August 16 report conducted by NGOs Aborigen-Forum, Center for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Arctic Consult, and the Batani Foundation indicated that some of those requiring medical attention in Chukotka were located between six and twelve hours away from the nearest hospital. (Aborigen Forum is managed by Dmitry Berezhkov, a former RAIPON leader who now lives in exile in Norway — ed.)
The report also includes the words of an indigenous medical worker from Yamal, Ekaterina Khudi, who described her experience contracting COVID-19 and the great lengths she had to go to in order to receive any treatment.
“I begged doctors to start a course of treatment, but as we received once again the negative tests for COVID-19, they said that we were not subjects for treatment. So they sent me back home even though […] I felt terrible and could only drink water.”
Following June 12, Khudi was required to return to work despite a high fever, a loss of smell and intense body aches. However, after she developed a fever of 39.4 degrees and started to vomit, she was taken to the hospital. There, she underwent tests which showed that she was positive for COVID-19 and that she had lung damage. She expressed concern about her future, as she had developed partial paralysis in her legs and lost some of her speaking ability, adding:
“How long [will] all this shame […] continue in our hospital? All people know what terrible things are going [on] at our hospital but everybody [is] silent.”
In addition to the devastating effects on the health of indigenous communities, the pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity already prevalent due to clearcutting, forest fires and poaching. The Arctic Council reported that the pandemic disrupted “trade and supply relations” which allow indigenous groups to obtain tools, ammunition, fuel and clothing for their households. This was exemplified by the cancellation of the annual “Reindeer Herder Days” event which runs from March to April and serves as a celebration of indigenous traditional livelihoods where nomadic groups are able to stock up on critical food supplies.
Indigenous communities are also subject to quotas that restrict the amount of fish or wild animals they are able to catch without a fishing or hunting permit in order to avoid excessive fishing or poaching. In Khabarovsk Krai, which holds the third-largest population of indigenous people in Russia, there was a limit imposed on the total amount of salmon that the communities were permitted to catch along the Amur River in 2020. Because these groups rely on traditional hunting and fishing to sustain their livelihood, quotas and restrictions create further food insecurity. As one resident of the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug, Nina Yadne, told Ura.News on April 21:
Где гарантия, что люди в тундре не умрут с голоду? Еще неизвестно, какое лето будет, то есть как [будет] с оленями, погодой и болезнями? Хорошо, если вирус туда не дойдет!
Where is the guarantee that people in the tundra won’t die of starvation? Who knows what the summer will bring, given the situation with reindeer, weather, and diseases? We will be fortunate if the virus doesn’t reach [the tundra]!
In April, indigenous groups within the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region further stressed that climate change had aggravated food and gas shortages – as many remote communities rely on rivers to freeze solid in the winter in order to create trade routes – making the pandemic’s effect even more acute.
Consequences like these are exactly why indigenous people continue to struggle against large-scale resource extraction, and have continued to do so during the pandemic.
In June, work began on Kuznetskiy Yuzhny, an open-pit coal mine, in the area of Cheremza, a village in the Kemerovo Oblast largely inhabited by ethnic Shor people. The mine itself is planned to be located two kilometres from the village in southern Siberia, with the railway transporting the coal planned to be just 400 metres away. The development of this project sparked protests by environmental and indigenous activists. One Shor protester Alexey Chispiyakov, explained the situation in a video released on the International Day of Indigenous People:
Наши кристально-чистые горные реки стали черными. Наши огороды покрыты угольной пылью. Наши дома, ежедневно, по несколько раз в день сотрясаются от взрывов. Зверя и рыбы не стало. Дикоросы отравлены отходами разрезов. Мы лишены традиционных источников дохода и это способствует миграции села в город. В городе – мы растворяемся. В городе исчезает наша культура, наш этнос. Шорцев в Кемеровской области осталось всего 4 процента от общего числа жителей и этот процент постоянно снижается.
Our crystal-clean mountain rivers turned black. Our gardens are covered in coal dust. Our homes are shaken by explosions daily. Game and fish are gone. Wild plants are poisoned by coal waste tailings. We are deprived of traditional sources of income and this facilitates migration from the village to the city. In the city, we disappear. Our culture and our ethnic identity disappears in the city. The Shors people make up only 4 percent of residents in Kemerovo Oblast, and this number is constantly going down.
Furthermore, the catastrophic Norilsk oil spill of May 29 has added a renewed urgency to indigenous protesters’ agendas. Valeria, an indigenous woman from the Taimyr peninsula, protested the impact of industrial companies and the oil spill on her community and their traditional way of life. Speaking to 7×7, an independent publication focusing on the Russian regions, she said the following:
Нас становится всё меньше и меньше. Наши исконные земли захватывают промышленные компании. Мы с трудом выживаем на своих территориях. Поэтому мы вышли, чтобы на нас посмотрел весь мир и увидел, в каких условиях мы находимся.
There are fewer and fewer of us. Our native lands are being taken over by industrial companies. We are barely surviving on our own territories. That is why we came out: so the whole world would look at us and see the conditions we find ourselves in.
As people like Valeria and Alexey Chispiyakov see it, their livelihoods and their rights were already under serious threat before the COVID-19 pandemic began. It has merely accelerated the threat of near extinction. One report by RAIPON, released in June, even suggested that the pandemic threatens the existence of indigenous languages which are primarily spoken by community elders – those most at risk of serious COVID-19 infections.
The future prospects of Russia’s indigenous peoples can be understood by applying the words of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in April:
The committee is considering how to bring forward the lessons learned from this pandemic to ensure future preparedness, and identify strategies and priorities to fully close the existing gaps and end the disparities. Since our initial call to governments to close the infrastructure gaps throughout Inuit Nunaat through major new investments in our communities, prioritizing basic infrastructure such as housing, water, and sewer and broadband connections, we are seeing similar demands being echoed by other Indigenous peoples across the globe. Social and economic equity, and supporting population health, and reducing vulnerability to virus[es] and disease is critical. Our concern has only increased because we see the compounded threats to our basic health and well-being manifesting themselves in a very real way.
Russia's indigenous peoples have coped with many threats to their way of life in recent decades. Tragically, it seems likely that for some of them, COVID-19 could prove one struggle too many.

author: Alexandra Slobodov


text:
Ali Banisadr and the art of ‘visual thinking’ · Global Voices
Omid Memarian

Red, 2020, Oil on Linen, 48 x 60 inches, courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery
Ali Banisadr’s MATRIX 185 exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the Iranian-American artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the US. The exhibition opened on October 22, 2020, and will run through February 14, 2021.
Ten paintings and two prints by Banisadr join a selection of works from the Wadsworth collection chosen by the artist, as well as a video collage that Banisadr created to show additional works from the museum’s collection. The visual and narrative content of his works is shaped by his exposure to war, pop culture, cinema, graphic novels and European painting. He told The Met that he paints the sounds and sights of war.
Banisadr was born in Tehran in 1976, and moved to the United States when he was 12, during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). In 2000, he moved to New York, earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, and later his Masters from the New York Academy of Art.
At 44, he is one of the most promising and successful artists in the US, and his paintings are collected by major museums around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and The British Museum in London.
The Caravan, 2020, Oil on Linen, 66 x 88 inches, courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery
Banisadr’s paintings are aesthetically beautiful and conceptually mesmerizing and multilayered. They invite the viewer to visit an imaginary world with familiar and unfamiliar elements that create a labyrinth of meaning, form and color. His paintings might also be reminiscent of giants like Francisco Goya, Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch, although in many ways his energy, symbolic language, environments and characters, as well as the cryptic and coded world he creates, make him stand alone. He creates a magical combination of harmony and chaos that keeps the viewer outside the door, and invites a personal and unique interpretation.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
Ali Banisadr: When I begin a new painting, it becomes a very involved process. Once I start a painting, we open up a dialogue that leads to a lot of research, reading, looking at art works in relation to the painting in progress, etc. My mind becomes very much occupied by the painting and if I opened another dialogue with another painting, it would just become overwhelming.
AB: It's hard to say. Of course, everything you experience in some way affects your work. One thing I can say is that it is helpful to be able to think about things through the lenses of two different cultures at once. Instead of having just one point of view, you can listen to different voices which may sometimes be in opposition. I feel it's a healthy way to understand the world and I've always liked the idea of multiple points of view. There is never just one way or a single answer.
The Prophet, 2020, Oil on Linen, 66×88 inches
AB: When I went to school I was ready to learn as much as I could. I was thirsty for it because I had spent a lot of time experimenting on my own to get an understanding of what lies inside of myself and what it wants. Then I just had to learn some structure to be able to unveil it.
AB: When I am painting, my goal is to turn off my rational thinking—”the voices of others,” as Guston has said—and to think in a different way—visual thinking. So I don't think these external forces factor into my practice of painting.
AB: Each work should be better than the last one; each work should teach me new things.
Only Breath, 2020, Oil on Linen, 16 x 20 inches, courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery
AB: In this case, I would just refer to the paintings themselves. It is a hard thing for me to try to break down words; one has to simply look at the paintings, and all those traces of past, present and future can reveal themselves, but they come and go like dreams, not easy to grasp and pin down.
AB: It is a very interesting way to be able to tell a story; what I like about it is that they are worlds within worlds. You can have the same person shown in the story when they are young and then when they are old. It's a bit like a time machine, which I appreciate and think about within my own work.
AB: Music goes inside of my body and it turns into visual worlds. Novels and poetry can also provoke powerful imagery but also create a musical orchestra. Films can have a combination of sounds and imagery, but also movement. They are all a point of reference that comes and goes as I am painting. Since I don't use any references, they sort of become a part of my visual vocabulary to refer to when I am working.
AB: Each time I start working, it's like a dive into the abyss and the unknown. When I am not painting, I am doing a lot of research based on the content I am interested in at the time—this can be triggered by a current event topic, but I am not just satisfied with that immediate topic. I like to research its history, see echoes of it in the past, in books written about the subject, art which was made about the subject, so, in a way, I fall into a rabbit hole of research with each painting and these contents may or may not work their way into the painting.
Fields of Energy, 2019, Oil on Linen, 66 x 88 inches, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
AB: I was always interested in how imagination, memory, dreams and hallucinations work. All these elements have shaped our world and connect us with things that go beyond our rational thinking. This fascinates me.
AB: The title refers to George Orwell's 1984 novel which I have been thinking alot about lately, such a prophetic novel, especially for our time!
Ali Banisadr has also curated part of the Wadsworth's collection (Goya, William Blake, Hiroshige, Max Ernst, etc). He has a solo show coming up at the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, from November 3 until January 30, 2021, and also has an upcoming monograph, published by Rizzoli, to be released next spring, to coincide with an exhibition at Kasmin Gallery in New York.
Photo Credits: Jeffrey Sturges and Adam Reich

author: Omid Memarian