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Why Huawei was almost excluded from the 5G race in Brazil · Global Voices
Giovana Fleck

5G is 20 times faster than 4G and can reach speeds of 1 Gigabit per second, which would facilitate the connection between everything that can have access to the network. | Image: Giovana Fleck/Global Voices
Despite a long history of doing business in Brazil, the Chinese technology company Huawei was in danger of being shut out of the bidding process for the development of 5G communications networks in the South American nation, due to opposition from President Bolsonaro’s government.
Bolsonaro backed off from this position in January 2021, although his supporters continue to spread misinformation and agitate against Huawei, making Brazil a more hostile market for Chinese technology.
In March 2021, the Brazilian government announced that 5G would be deployed in all state capitals by July 2022. This has been a long time coming, as the Bolsonaro administration had already delayed the auction of the radio frequencies that will carry 5G networks in Brazil.
Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, authorized guidelines that enable the government to award spectrum for 5G service deployment, and is now awaiting a report from the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU). The court is scheduled to complete its evaluation of the tender in the first half of 2021.
The global infrastructure for 5G is provided primarily by three companies: Huawei, the Swedish company Ericsson, and the Finnish company Nokia. During the Trump presidency Huawei was a main target of US diplomacy. The Trump administration advocated a worldwide ban on the company, which it alleged functions as a spying arm of the Chinese Communist Party, with Trump himself becoming a vocal opponent of both China and Huawei. This view is supported by the ideological wing of the Brazilian government.
Since 5G broadband networks began being deployed worldwide in 2019, countries have been negotiating ways to implement the technology. 5G promises more rapid connectivity for phones and other devices that connect to the internet—the so-called “internet of things”—and has the potential to provide data speeds a hundred times faster than those of its predecessor 4G, according to some experts.
In Brazil, this could mean easier access to the internet for communities living in remote areas, better integration between public services, and improvements in the delivery of education, among other things in both the public and private spheres.
Huawei has been a major technology provider in Brazil for the past 22 years. The country's biggest cellphone operator, Vivo, reportedly uses Huawei's 3G and 4G technology in 65 percent of its networks. Claro, the second largest operator, acquires 55 percent of its equipment from Huawei, and Oi, the third largest, 60 percent.
Despite this long relationship, in December 2020 the Bolsonaro government was reported to have been searching for a legal way of barring Huawei from building 5G networks in Brazil. The idea was to limit Huawei's influence by allowing them to participate only in local 5G auctions, not national ones. The motivations behind this thinking are unclear, but Bolsonaro's strategic alignment with the Trump administration may have played a part.
President Bolsonaro eventually realized that attempts to block Huawei from on 5G were self-defeating. If Huawei were barred from participating in the auction, the company would have to stop providing 3G and 4G equipment to Brazilian companies, resulting in potential billion-dollar losses. Also, with the departure of President Trump from the White House, Bolsonaro lost an ally in the 5G dispute.
As the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo also pointed out, as China is Brazil's largest trading partner and Huawei would compete on cost, Bolsonaro would have faced opposition from the technology industry and within his own government, including from Vice President Hamilton Mourão. Mourão represents Brazil on the Sino-Brazilian Commission on High Level of Consultation and Cooperation (Cosban) and enjoys a closer relationship with the country than the president, often smoothing the relationship between China and Bolsonaro supporters.
In China, this shift was seen as a sign that the Brazilian market has adopted a relatively open attitude towards 5G development.
In an interview with the Chinese media company Yicai, Yue Yunxia, director of the Economic Research Office of the Latin American Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, responded to the announcement of the new 5G auction rules, saying: “The release of these rules provides conditions for Huawei to participate in Brazil’s 5G construction in the later period. As the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil’s choice is also a stepping stone for the Latin American market”.
Yue also said that Brazil's actions showed that the impact of the “noise” surrounding China and 5G, such as US influence and concerns over national security, had weakened.
Back in June 2019, Brazil's vice president said that the government was unlikely to block Huawei's involvement in the country's 5G deployment. According to Anatel, Huawei had met the same security requirements as Nokia and Ericsson, and if the telecoms agency had decided to ban the company it could result in a protracted legal dispute with the country's own telecommunications companies.
But Bolsonaro's main associates, including his son Eduardo, who is a congressman, continued to condemn the Chinese company, citing probable interference in the company from the Chinese government. In an interview with the newspaper O Globo, Eduardo Bolsonaro asked the question:
Para uma parceria militar com os Estados Unidos (…) como é que vão poder confiar [na Huawei] se houver interferência chinesa?
For a military partnership with the United States (…) how can they [Huawei] be trusted if there is Chinese interference?
An example of the post circulating in Facebook Groups. The caption could be translated as:”Bolsonaro SURPRISES the world once again/First, was the vaccine factory's built-in ABSOLUTE CONFIDENTIALITY/And now with another FANTASTIC SURPRISE, also in secrecy, a 5G TECHNOLOGY factory appears on Brazilian soil, frustrating and ending the controversy that Brazil would adopt HUAWEI CHINESE 5G./How can we not support the Messiah?” Photos: screenshot from Facebook
But even though the debate about Huawei appeared to have been settled at government level, Bolsonaro's supporters have continued reinforcing anti-Huawei narratives on social media.
In April 2021, a viral message spread on Facebook groups, Twitter, and Instagram, claiming that President Jair Bolsonaro had “surprised the world once again by creating a 5G technology factory in Brazil.” Some versions of the claim said the plant would be built by Ericsson.
This supposed development was said to have taken place in absolute secrecy and ended the “controversy” about the adoption of Huawei's products in Brazil. The rumor, however, did not mention where in Brazil the factory would be located, or offer any other details about it.
This rumor, in fact, is a distortion of old information. The Swedish company Ericsson had not opened a “new 5G factory” in Brazil but had inaugurated a production line for 5G infrastructure equipment inside its existing factory operation in São José dos Campos in the state of São Paulo.
There was also no secrecy involved: these plans had been announced publicly in 2019, nor had the project received funding from the federal government.
Canaltech, a Brazilian website focused on technology, interviewed a series of consultants, executives, and experts in communications technology, all of whom stated unanimously that Huawei had a technological advantage over its competitors, as it had been investing in the development and research of 5G for a longer period, and holds a much larger number of patents than the other companies participating in the Brazilian auction.
If all goes to plan, companies should start offering 5G in Brazil's state capitals and in the Federal District by July 2022. Full deployment is scheduled to happen by December 2029, with 100% of the inhabited national territory having access to 5G networks.
This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into competing narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and explores how societies and communities hold differing perceptions of potential benefits and harms of Chinese-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.

author: Giovana Fleck


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As tourists party, citizens under COVID lockdown ask: Are there ‘two Jamaicas’? · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Tourists gathered at the popular Rick's Café on Negril's western cliffs in January 2011, well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Chris Ford on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Having seemingly emerged from its second wave of COVID-19, the Jamaican government is making significant efforts to minimise the number of new cases and keep infection rates low. After warnings from health officials that the island would not be able to cope with a third wave, Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently announced more stringent protocols, including tighter curfews and limitations on gatherings. Yet, at least one in a week-long series of widely advertised, tourist-targeted parties was allowed to proceed, in blatant disregard of COVID-19 protocols.
When video of a Mocha Fest Jamaica event held at Rick’s Café—an establishment famed for its lively atmosphere and stunning clifftop sunset views—emerged on social media, the images of hundreds of maskless revelers partying in close quarters prompted a wave of anger across the local blogosphere.
Since the first case of COVID-19 arrived in March 2020, Jamaica has been suffering. Tourism is down, and the island’s normally vibrant entertainment sector has had to severely cut back. Major international music festivals like Reggae Sumfest have been curtailed by tight curfew hours, and Monday, May 24, the national Labour Day holiday, was designated a “no movement” day, with a curfew imposed from 2:00 p.m. on Sunday until 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mocha Fest—which dubs itself “The Wildest Urban Festival on Earth”—was advertising an event comprising eight parties over five days, all taking place at different locations over the period May 24-31. The party at Rick's took place on May 27, prompting reactions such as this:
4 days ago I couldn’t leave my house…not to work on a Labour day project, grab brunch w/friends, pick up a few things at a supermarket or visit my grandmother. Full lockdown.. 14 mos of curfew, revenue loss, mental exhaustion & fear yet this was Negril today 3.5hrs away. Wow! pic.twitter.com/IkfB3lMIyA
— Playin It Fair (@taraplayfair) May 28, 2021
In a radio interview, one aggrieved Jamaican promoter said:
If they have found a solution on the resilient corridor, whatever that solution is for the entertainment industry to reopen for tourists, why can't we find a solution for locals? It's just ironic and it's a slap in the face for citizens who are being arrested, who are being charged for partying, while if you're a tourist you can come on the island and be partying, and based on the videos I'm seeing, no social distancing, no mask wearing.
“Resilient corridors” refer to areas put in place by the tourism ministry to ensure safe movement by tourists along two stretches of coastline, including Negril.
Tourism officials were apparently aware of Mocha Fest.  After being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year’s event was widely advertised on the festival’s website and social media pages, offering hotel packages and excursions and advising guests to book early. The event also appeared in the events section of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s “Visit Jamaica” website (the entire events page has since been removed), and promotional material for Mocha Fest bore the tourist board’s logo, as shown in this tweet from an overseas-based deejay who participated in the event:
Up next Memorial Day weekend we taking the show to my favorite place Jamaica ?? .Who’s ready for @MochaFest ? https://t.co/URuhPUiD6L #ThePartyKingpin #QuickSilva #QuickSilvaShow pic.twitter.com/RJvUOF7wib
— THE PARTY KINGPIN !! (@DJQUICKSILVA) May 10, 2021
Senior advisor and communications specialist at the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright, responded to a tweet regarding the removal of the advertisement from the JTB’s website, saying that no such endorsement had been given:
We are appalled! Full investigation…Calendar should have been updated a long time ago. Quite regrettable! JTB gave NO undertaking for sponsorship &/or endorsement of such activities since the start of pandemic. We have supported virtual events so far…More details soon!
— Delano Seiveright?? (@DelanoSeiv) May 28, 2021
There was a flurry of press releases as social media outrage grew louder. Rick's Café issued an apology and the Ministry of Local Government, which is responsible for adherence to COVID-19 protocols on the ground, announced that Rick's would be closed for seven days over breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act.
One newspaper columnist suggested that Rick's Café is the least of the problem:
There are only two logical options here. Either Rick's Cafe is certifiably insane or felt it was protected. Either way Rick's isn't the problem because insane operators shouldn't have been licensed in the first place
— Gordon Robinson (@TheTerribleTout) May 28, 2021
Cynicism continued to deepen. Tech guru Ingrid Riley tweeted:
The fake outrage.
Promise of investigations.
The hypocrisy is glaring.
Hundreds of people fly in, picked up by tour buses, taken to hotels and Rick's Cafe is FULL and Tourism officials pretend not to know about an event listed on its website? Spare us the BS about #MochaFest.
— Ingrid Riley (@ingridriley) May 28, 2021
Even veteran dancehall deejay Beenie Man, who was recently hit with a substantial fine for breaching COVID protocols by advertising a party then publicly apologised for his lack of judgement, commented sourly:
I guess my apology was not good enough. I am not above the law, but some people are. #Jamaica #DoubleStandard
— Beenie Man (@KingBeenieMan) May 28, 2021
As various government agencies continued to engage in damage control, Prime Minister Andrew Holness commented on the concerns by referring to the “unequalness” [sic] of Jamaican society:
There is a particular situation which has come on our radar this morning […] that I have to pay careful attention to, because it throws up something that we are always contending with: the unequalness in our society, the haves and the have nots. Why is it that some people are allowed to party and others are not? […] This government has a duty to ensure that the law is equally applied, both to those who have not and those who have. […] Government will have to ensure that it was not complicit in any breach of its own law, and I have asked for a report […] if there is any breach, the full application of the law will be guaranteed.
Many Jamaicans agree on the inequality issue. One cited an oft-used proverb:
Jamaica has always been an island of double standards… See it everyday.
Donkey seh worl’ nuh level. That donkey knows di runnings and called it like it is.
— TWill?????? (@TWill876) May 29, 2021
Another quoted from George Orwell's “Animal Farm”:
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” #mochafest
— Andrew D (@anju876_) May 29, 2021
Another suggested that Jamaicans are second-class citizens in their own country:
Jamaica is for tourists. How dare I stay here and tek up space
— kim (@kmberleey_) May 28, 2021
While citizens await promised investigations into how Mocha Fest managed to take place, the overwhelming sense among Jamaican netizens is that there are, indeed, two Jamaicas, something which former prime minister Edward Seaga referred to in a 2012 parliamentary sitting.
But in the time of COVID-19, the “haves” are the tourists, and ordinary Jamaicans are the “have nots”.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Emma Lewis


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Colombian students set up humanitarian camp to resist police crackdown · Global Voices
J. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo

The student camp in Popayán, Colombia. Photo taken by the author.
In the southwest of Colombia, in Popayán, the capital of the Cauca province, students have set up a humanitarian camp near the public hospital in May as a grassroots response to the repression against protesters in a national strike that began April 28. Large makeshift signs made of cloth welcome visitors, while Colombia’s national strike marks one month of anti-government protests.
Sofía Preciado, one of the camp's members, told Global Voices that the camp was born out of necessity due to repression by the police and special forces for riot control (ESMAD, in its acronym in Spanish). She said injured people did not have a safe place to stay and could not return home due to injuries and the risks of being hurt again at night during the strike. A health brigade nurses them and refers them to the hospital when needed.
Since protests began in April, protestors have been violently confronted by police forces. More than 60 people have been killed. In Popayán, Sebastián Quintero Múnera was reportedly killed by a stun bomb thrown by ESMAD.
Preciado studies history at Cauca University. But at the camp, she is a member of the logistics committee. Other students take care of cooking, security, cleaning, and nursing to guarantee the proper functioning of the camp, while their university remains closed because they are on strike.
The camp is full of tents. Signs on the walls are allusive to the strike and national resistance. A few dogs run around while students make breakfast and lunch in the olla comunitaria (soup kitchen). The food is made of donations and shared with neighbors.
Sarah Klinger, member of the camp. The sign reads: “We raise our voices for our LEADERS. We rebuke the STIGMATIZATION of social leaders.” Photo taken by the author.
The camp initially catered to student demonstrators, but later diverse social groups joined the space. Johny Obando, another student and member of this camp, explained to Global Voices that:
The strike belongs to society, people, the neighborhoods. The University should get closer to society to transform it; the University should go towards the community. Here we have people from different social organizations, farmers, LGBTQ members, and homeless people united pursuing transformation.
One of these people is Bremmen Hinestroza, an artist who joined several protests including the national strike in Popayán. Hinestroza speaks on behalf of the homeless, Sinai Eco-neighborhood (an area with recycling process and a community orchard), and a local school for peace where they engage with people around social issues.
He believes that art is critical for the demonstrations:
Art plays an important role because it protects the life of those who are stigmatized. It sends a message that we are not vandals, we are organized demanding our rights. It is a peaceful way to protest and a useful channel for pedagogy.
The camp is near a traffic light where they speak to people in cars stopped in traffic. Jesús Velasco, an engineer student, explains:
We explain to people that we continue to strike against the labor reform, the militarization of certain areas in the country and in favor of public education, among other reasons.
Students sleep there and wake up at 6 a.m. every day to organize activities such as assemblies, theater plays, concerts, dance shows, and film projections. People bring donations and, especially, messages of gratitude for their restless effort. Their neighbors wrote “heroes” on hand-made posters for them.
On May 22, students demonstrated against the government by chanting in favor of the strike and the need to pursue further changes. They marched a few blocks from the camp.
Despite the general acceptance from the community, there are still security issues such as people taking pictures and watching them from outside. Their safety concerns have historical roots within the student movement.
On June 8, 1929, law student Gonzalo Bravo Pérez was killed in Bogotá by police after leading a protest against the 1928 Bananeras Massacre, a slaughter of thousands of strikers for labor rights from the U.S. company United Fruit Company at the hands of state forces. Twenty-five years later, on June 8, 1954, student Uriel Gutiérrez and 11 of his classmates were killed by police forces led by the dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla while marching for university reforms. More than three decades later, six young communist students were murdered in Medellín on December 26, 1986 when armed assailants – who remain unknown – attacked the offices of the organization Colombian Communist Youth (JUCO for the Spanish acronym).
But violence is not an issue of the past. State repression is happening during the strike. In a joined press release on May 9, the NGOs Radio Temblor and the Institute for Development and Peace (Indepaz) expressed their concern about the repression against youth: “In Cali, 35 young people have been murdered, while there has not been a single homicide of members of the National Police.” They argue that police violence, usually justified on the basis of self-defense, is therefore excessive.
The number of murders, sexual assaults, injuries, and disappearances grow. Radio Temblor and Indepaz reported 61 civilian deaths, 46 eye injuries, and 22 sexual aggressions, and the death of two police members as of May 28. The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the excessive force used by armed forces in Colombia.
But no matter the risk of organizing and leading a social movement, young people and students are committed to Colombian society. Sarah Klinger, a 24-years old political science student and member of the Colombian Association of University Students, is one of them.
This is not her first strike. She actively participated in 2018, when students led another demonstration requesting an increase of the public budget for higher education during the administration of Iván Duque, whose administration had a disapproval rate of 76 percent.
Klinger belongs to a family that encourages engagement on social issues and they support her despite the risks. On May 12, she was detained by police for a few minutes; she claims that her role as a member of a human rights group that helps those injured or detained while demonstrating, helped her get released.
As I write, students are on the streets informing society about the strike through music, dance, arts, community assemblies, and printed pamphlets. After ten years of activism, Klinger reflects on her work:
We belong to the people and responded to the call for a massive mobilization. Thanks to our capacity to discuss politics within the university, we have an overwhelming task, and we should assume a leading role during the mobilization. Our call is to be united; we are willing to communicate the paths of unity. That's why we set up this camp.

author: J. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo


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Colombians ‘save the evidence’ as they denounce social media censorship of protests · Global Voices
Isabella Barroso

Demonstrator in discussion with anti-riot police in Medellín, Colombia, on April 28. Photo by ‘Humano Salvaje’ on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
This story was originally published on Meedan, and an edited version is re-published on Global Voices.
Colombian protesters have denounced social media platforms’ censorship of their posts about the country's “paro nacional” (“national strike”)—ongoing anti-government demonstrations. This includes internet disruption in Cali, one of the major sites of the protests. To strike back at this censorship, a number of initiatives have emerged that aim to preserve the memory of this historic moment; this is crucial as it guarantees the independence of the historical content from platforms’ servers and content moderation policies.
The #paronacional protests started on April 28 in several cities in Colombia as the population rejected the tax reform presented by President Ivan Duque. The proposal favored the Colombian elite, making the lower and middle classes responsible for paying off the country's debts acquired in recent years, including efforts to combat COVID-19. The presidential response was to deploy the military and police forces to quell the civilian protesters, resulting in 61 deaths as of press time. After the first weeks of the protests, the proposed tax was withdrawn, the Colombian population is still protesting.
Records of the rebellion taking place on the streets have been largely shared on social networks, and comments emerged from protesters declaring that they were being censored on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The Fundación de Libertad de Prensa (Colombian Press Freedom Foundation) also released a strong statement about the censoring of content as well as the violence against journalists during the protests and digital rights group, Fundación Karisma, also demanded more explanations from social media companies for the removals.
In response, Facebook stated that its AI technology was trained to remove content that was violent and that it had a team of 30,000 content moderators on the platform. It’s important to understand the impact of these platform rules, as it’s unclear how much of the content had been wrongly labeled and how much was restored. To accomplish this, a record of incidents is needed as well as a report from the platforms.
Several tweets of protesters commenting on content being erased from Instagram. “Did anyone else have issues with instagram when trying to view stories about the strike?” “Why is Instagram deleting content?” “All my stories from yesterday about Colombia were deleted. Did this happen to anybody else?”
During this short time, initiatives were created to address the preservation and documentation of the content being censored on social media.
Karisma Foundation is collecting content that is being removed from Instagram, Twitter and Facebook through a questionnaire shared on social media via activist groups. For the foundation, these content takedowns indicate a violation of freedom of expression and dissemination of information.
The University of Chile created a Twitter bot called @ArchivaColombia and the hashtag #AseguraLaEvidencia (“Save the Evidence”). Content that has that hashtag on Twitter will be automatically saved on their servers and can also be sent via a Telegram channel.
Image showing how the Twitter bot works. Once someone posts on Twitter, a user can reply to it with the hashtag #AseguraLaEvidencia and the content is saved on Telegram and the user can receive it as well.
There is power in being connected and sharing micro and macro political learnings through social media. Associations, journalists and civil society have been enhancing democratic ecosystems and networks by doing so.
In Colombia, activists observed that military violence increases at night, so the protests should happen only in daylight and withdraw when it is dark. “Be water, my friend” is a famous saying from martial artist Bruce Lee and has been a slogan for resistance strategy adaptation in this case. This slogan has also been a part of the 2019 Hong Kong protests against the extradition bill, as protesters changed the patterns of where they would gather in the city, confounding policing efforts and succeeding in self-organizing publicly.
Yet, even if the protestors evade the military, they have limited opportunities to evade social media's content moderation policies. Last August, several Latin American civil society organizations came together to propose ways to regulate large platforms from a Latin American perspective, recommending transparency, processes, co-regulation, defense, and appeal mechanisms.
An example of this is the proposed text for the Terms of Service of social media platforms, specifically about how content moderation could be implemented with the user´s freedom of expression in mind (translated from Portuguese):
“For any other measure of prioritization or restriction to expression and other content generated by its users that the platform can consider—for reasons commercial or other—“offensive,” “inappropriate,” “indecent” and vague definitions or similar measures that may illegitimately affect freedom of expression, large platforms must provide mechanisms and warnings for users—voluntarily and based on their moral, religious, cultural, political or other factors—that decide which content they want to have access to and which they do not. Such content should not be prohibited, excluded or reduced in any way if they do not meet the tripartite test of legality, necessity and proportionality, since this would disproportionately affect the right to freedom of expression of users.”
In the absence of practical responses from the platforms, civil society in other countries in the region has taken this matter to the courts. In April 2021 in Brazil, for example, Google was found guilty of committing “prior censorship” when they removed a video from YouTube of the Collective Intervozes. They were fined 10,000 United States dollars, which set a national precedent for such cases. In the sentencing, the judge, José Carlos Ferreira Alves, said, “The fact is that whoever must impose content removal and therefore restrict/limit freedom of expression for the protection of rights is the State, through the Judiciary,” implying that this is not the role of a private company.
An example of the online response to Instagram censorship during the protests was a digital action organized by the Bogotá based NGO Temblores. In setting up S.O.S Maps the organization aimed to “show the world the true reality of the country.” They created a step-by-step call to action for people to add their photos and videos of what is currently taking place in Colombia to Google Maps’ most visited tourist sites. For Temblores, this is a way for #soscolombia to be seen and heard on all five continents.
Another internet comeback is a meme that was shared on Twitter portraying content moderators as nuns. It connected social media companies, and their content moderators, to colonial, state, and religious powers that have historically been responsible for cultural and political censorship in the region:
Image shows nuns sitting in front of computers. Text: “the Facebook team that is dedicated to blocking you for 30 days.”
Tweets, videos, pictures, and memes are digital artifacts that are both individual historical records and a part of the collective memory of countries and communities. In Latin America, repression and erasure of resistance movements are shared by every country as an inheritance from the colonial and military periods. In Colombia, the press has also been systematically censored by both the government and the drug trafficking realm. During the 1960s dictatorships, the censors were state representatives who worked within the newsrooms and regulated what was published daily. Similar censorship happened in Chile in 2019 during the protests, and at the time, the responses from the platforms varied from content labeled as terrorism to copyright violations.
These examples only highlight the importance of online spaces that guarantee freedom of expression, access to information, and to document human rights violations. It showcases the importance of archival work in the region that focuses on community resistance, political dissidents and activist work. Recordkeepers of the Resistance is an envisioned response to highlighting this issue and raising awareness of how this happens systematically in the region. Meedan not only looks at dissenting voices during political protests but also representations of diverse bodies and sexual expressions online.

author: Isabella Barroso


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Czechia’s Muslim women celebrated Ramadan with mixed experiences · Global Voices
Elmira Lyapina

Ramadan in Prague's Al Firdaus Center. After Eid prayer in the room provided exclusively for women. Photo by Elmira Lyapina, used with permission.
On May 13, the Muslim world including the Czech Muslims celebrated Eid Al-Fitr, or the feast of breaking the fast of Ramadan. In Czechia, where Muslims account for less than 0.1% of its 10.7 million people, Islam is often at the centre of much debate and criticism. On the occasion of Eid, female observers spoke of how they see their lives in Czechia as Muslims, and of how they spend and celebrate their holy month.
Like every year, Muslims in the Czech capital of Prague celebrated Eid in the mosque, which is more of a prayer house in the Islamic centre Al Firdaus. In Prague, there is no classical-style mosque. In fact, there is only one minaret in the whole of Czechia, which serves an aesthetic purpose through adding an oriental component to the landscape of the historical castle in Lednice, rather than fulfilling a religious role.
However, there is a number of Islamic community centres that serve as mosques in Czechia, mostly in Prague and Brno, or smaller prayer rooms in other cities. These centres also run educational and charitable activities.
Islam and Islamophobia in Czechia
Although, in principle, it follows European Christian values, Czechia is the second most agnostic state in the European Union. Here, Islam has historically been associated with something alien and even dangerous.
Nowadays, some politicians increasingly use anti-Islam propaganda in their populist speeches, often converging Islamophobia with phobia of migrants, although Muslims in Czechia include local citizens who embraced the religion. Examples of such speeches are ones made by Tomio Okamura, co-founder of right-wing political parties Úsvit and SPD, as well as the Islam v ČR nechceme movement, which translates to “We Don’t Want Islam in the Czech Republic”. These entities participate, organize, or support different events, including writing online articles and blogs, that aim to defame Muslims and Islam.
In 2017, rhetoric incitement of violence led to an attempted terrorist attack against Muslims, when a citizen caused two passenger trains to derail, and vied to blame it on Muslim immigrants. Fluctuating in momentum, Islamophobic views and ideas remain prevalent in Czechia, with Muslim women being the usual main targets for hate speech and attacks since wearing hijabs displays their faith. Anti-Islam attackers often justify their behavior by alleging that they protect human rights values, and are attempting to ‘save’ Muslim women who they say are oppressed and forced into wearing hijab.
“My body – my choice, I am oppressed by those who [dare to] tell me what to wear,” ethnic Russian Muslim Katya Novoselova stated. She has been living in Prague for more than 10 years, and has been wearing hijab for over eight years after embracing Islam.
When asked how they felt being Muslim in Czechia, Muslim women offer varied answers. Some Czech converts say they have been accepted by society. Some immigrants, like Turkish photographer Serap Sönmez, agree. When comparing Czechia with other European states, particularly France, she said:
I feel more free and safe here, and no one is judging – nobody asks why do I wear or not wear hijab.
But others said they've experienced verbal attacks, hate speech and feel uncomfortable. Local media reported incidents of Islamophobia on daily basis, such as hate speech towards women wearing headscarves and online attacks, including ones that went to court.
An example of such is the famous 2016 case of the Somalia student who wore hijab to class, and was pressured by the school's principal to take off her headscarf or face expulsion. The principal received support from Islamophobic movements and political parties, and was even awarded a medal in 2018 by the right-wing Czech president Zeman for being “a brave woman in the fight against intolerant ideology, for services to the state”.
The girl's case was dealt with through the court system. Initially, court of first and second instances decided to back the principal's position, emphasizing the Czech's stance as following the “western liberal ideals”. However, in 2020, the Supreme Court affirmed the Muslim student's right in donning the hijab, stating that the “prohibition of hijab was not following the legitimate aim”.
Despite the ruling not being final since the principal plans to appeal, people from Czechia's Muslim community consider it to be a positive development, not only in the clash between Islam and Islamophobes, but also within a democratic system at its best, with politicians versus judicial system.
Despite all this, the word Islamophobia cannot be fully used to describe Czechia, since such incidents remain isolated cases, rather than a systematic approach.
Moreover, sentiments of hostilities against Muslims in the country vary depending on political circumstances. Furthermore, local Muslims invest much effort in increasing public understanding of their community. They organize and participate in different events, open dialogues, write blogs and articles to educate people, as well as invite them to the celebrations of Islam holidays home or to the mosque.
“Female Ramadan”
Ramadan in Prague, sharing prepared food. Photo by Elmira Lyapina, used with permission.
Throughout the month of Ramadan, women of different ages, social class, and origins come to the mosque at the time of iftar – or sunset, which is the time Muslims break their daily fast – and sit together at the same table.
Some of them come to the mosque every day, while others choose not to. During daytime, they go about with their normal daily lives, studying or working, then come to the mosque for late night prayers. Others spend the whole day at the mosque, studying in the small classroom, or reading Muslim's holy book, the Quran.
Zulfira, a Tatar girl from Moldova who has been living in Prague for over 4 years, explained:
This year, I went to the mosque for Iftar almost every day, 3-4 times a week. This gives me strength and patience in fasting, because not eating or drinking all day is not easy. And you need somehow to motivate and encourage yourself. People here are very nice: they fast too, and observe, which is very inspiring.
Celebrating Eid Al-Fitr starts for many women days in advance as they buy gifts and prepare for the occasion. The night before Eid is usually spent in cooking.
On the day, the imam who leads the prayers begin the recitals at 8.00 am on the first floor, and his voice is heard through the loudspeakers all over the second floor, where female worshippers pray in rows. In comparison with many other places like the Balkans or Russia, where males attend prayers and females mostly stay at home, in Czech mosque, families come together: husband, wife and children who wish to participate.
Later, community members exchange greetings and gifts, as well as meals and recipes. The dishes served mirror the diversity among Muslim women here. Alongside Arabic and Turkish cuisines, Czech convert Šárka prepared Czech pancakes, while Katya, a Russian convert, made traditional Russian salads and cakes, as well as other national meals from all around the world.
If Eid meals vary worldwide, Eid rituals across the global Muslim community are quite similar. After prayers, family and friends come together. Photographer Sönmez shared her memories:
In Turkey, children receive many sweets, especially “baklava” or “kadaif”. Relatives and neighbors come, and we exchange the gifts. Younger generations visit the elderly people.
Jacquiline, a women of mixed Czech and Sudanese origin who celebrates Ramadan in both countries, usually bakes cookies called “Ka’ak”,
In Czechia, not much time is spent in preparing food compared to Sudan. So women in Czechia spend more time in worshiping Allah.”
When asked how she feels being Muslim in Czechia, Jacquiline said:
“I wear hijab and I'm satisfied. Although sometimes there is some criticism, it can be withstood”.
Mindful of the effects of the pandemic, and of the conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, as well as the school shooting in Tatarstan, and the suffering of Uyghur community, Muslims’ celebration of Ramadan 2021 was impacted. While the most favorite message of the holiday month is sharing joy with family and friends, the celebration of the end of the month focused on faith, humility and renunciation. In this sense, the spirit of Ramadan along with the philosophy of Islam teaches patience.
As Kamila, a Czech Muslim, puts it:
“Islam actually shows the true nature of a person”.

author: Elmira Lyapina


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Greenpeace report highlights extent of European nations’ dumping of waste in Turkey · Global Voices
Doga Celik

A burning pile of waste in Adana, Turkey. Photo from the Greenpeace report.
Published on May 17, Greenpeace's latest report, “Trashed: How the UK is still dumping plastic waste on the rest of the world,” has revealed that the UK exports most of its waste to Turkey. The report documents how trash from Britain was found in ten dumping sites around Adana, a city on Turkey's southern coast.
The second part of the report focuses exclusively on Turkey, noting that “exports of plastic waste from the UK to Turkey increased by a factor of 18 in 4 years, from 12,000 tonnes in 2016 to 210,000 tonnes in 2020.” Almost 40 per cent of the UK's waste ends up in Turkey.
Some the waste found in Turkey is of quite recent vintage. Used COVID-19 antigen test kits have been found in Turkish dumps, in addition to packaging from UK brands such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer. But the UK is not the only European country exporting garbage to Turkey: the EU itself sends 241 truckloads of plastic to Turkey every day.
Turkey's infrastructure, however, is woefully inadequate when it comes to waste recycling; among OECD members it has the lowest recycling rate, at 12 per cent.
Nihan Temiz Ataş, biodiversity project lead for Greenpeace Mediterranean told the UK's Evening Standard that “plastic waste coming from the UK to Turkey is an environmental threat, not an economic opportunity.” According to Ataş, “uncontrolled imports of plastic waste do nothing but increase the problems existing in Turkey’s own recycling system.”
In Turkey, environment-friendly practices such as controlled landfills and composting is not the norm; leaving trash out in the open or burning it is far more common. The open waste dumps create environmental pollution and harbor stored gases which may cause explosions. INTERPOL deems waste fires and uncontrolled landfills illegal and a danger to humans.
Another country mentioned in the report is Germany. According to Greenpeace's findings, the European nation has exported 136,000 tonnes of plastic waste to Turkey and is also guilty of sending 16 per cent of its plastic waste overseas even after claiming it had been recycled. Manfred Santen, a chemist at Greenpeace Germany has said that:
It is appalling to see our plastic in burning piles on the side of Turkish roads. We must stop dumping our plastic waste on other countries. The heart of the problem is overproduction. Governments need to take control of their own plastic problems. They should ban plastic waste exports and reduce single-use plastic. German trash has to be treated in Germany. Recent news talk about 140 containers full of plastic waste from German households sitting in Turkish ports. Our government has to take them back immediately.
Following the release of the report, Turkey removed polythene plastic, used in shopping bags, shampoo bottles, and numerous other kinds of packaging, from the list of imported polymers. Polythene was found in the recent 198,000 tonnes of garbage from the UK.
The decision, which was announced by Turkey’s trade ministry, will take effect on July 3, 2021. To ensure its enforcement, Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said that “customs would conduct constant checks to enforce the ban, which follows a block on mixed plastic imports.”

author: Doga Celik


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Hong Kong authorities warn of 5-year prison term for attending Tiananmen Massacre vigil · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Poster on the 32nd anniversary of June 4. Image from HK Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement of China
Following the ban by Hong Kong's police on the annual candlelight vigil held at Victoria Park to commemorate victims of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Security Bureau warned Hongkongers against taking part in this year’s vigil on June 4, or the commemorative long-distance run Sunday, May 30.
It said in a statement issued on May 29:
The relevant meetings and procession are unauthorised assemblies. No one should take part in it, or advertise or publicise it, or else he or she may violate the law.
The bureau warned that under the Public Order Ordinance, offenders will face up to five years in prison for attending, or one year for promoting, the vigil.
The statement also cited Hong Kong National Security Law in listing potential offences:
If anyone attempts to challenge the law, including the Prohibition on Group Gathering, Public Order Ordinance, Hong Kong National Security Law, etc., the Police will deal with it seriously in accordance with the law.
Four pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, were handed four to 10-month jail sentences on May 6 for attending last year’s vigil in Victoria Park. A dozen more pro-democracy activists are still awaiting trial for attending, inciting or organizing the vigil.
Hong Kong had held candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre for over 30 years—since 1990—until the police banned the event for the first time last year, citing “public health concerns.”
This year, the Hong Kong police also using the COVID-19 pandemic restriction on public gatherings to justify its decision. In a letter issued on May 27 to the event’s organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (HK Alliance), the police claimed that the event would threaten public health.
As daily cases of COVID-19 subsided to single digits in May, restrictions on social distancing were relaxed and crowds have emerged in shopping malls and beaches in the past week. This lead HK Alliance to file an appeal to the police objection but this failed and the organizers have to stop all promotion of the vigil:
“We have to apologise to the public … HK Alliance can no longer organise the candlelight vigil this year in a lawful manner. We will stop promoting the vigil. On that day, we won’t, as an organisation of members of HK Alliance, appear and join,” Richard Tsoi said. pic.twitter.com/Xp1ZC7CtBi
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) May 29, 2021
However, the HK Alliance also stated:
The Alliance firmly believes that Hong Kong people will never forget June 4, and we also ask Hong Kong people to mourn June 4 with perseverance and wisdom, under lawful, safe, peaceful and rational circumstances, in their own way, at the right time and place. May the truth prevail!
Last year, thousands of Hongkongers spontaneously lit candles in more than a dozen public spots, including Victoria Park to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre, despite the police ban.
It is anticipated similar activities will take place all over Hong Kong. The Catholic Church has stated that it will continue its tradition of hosting a “Mass for the Dead” on June 4 at seven of its churches across Hong Kong.
Whether the police will press charges on such decentralized gatherings will be worth observing:
…will press for prosecuting those who protest in this way. BUT they may next criminalize the sale of candles!! 2/2
— Jerome Cohen 孔傑榮(柯恩) (@jeromeacohen) May 29, 2021
This year, Hong Kong's ban on the vigil came two days after Macau's, which had explicitly cited national security as a reason for the ban. The former Portuguese colony returned to China under the “One Country Two Systems” policy in 1999, two years after Hong Kong.
The Macau police told the event organizer, Macau Union of Democratic Development, that slogans such as “end one-party rule” or “stop political persecution” would constitute instigating subversion of the existing system, and harm public confidence in the authorities. Last year the Macau police banned the vigil citing pandemic concern, and on June 4 had deployed more than 100 police officers to disperse individuals who attempted to display slogans or light candles in major public spots.
The political “red line” in Hong Kong is on a similar track in following Macau. Prior to the official ban, a number of pro-Beijing public figures in Hong Kong said that the HK Alliance should be deemed illegal under the National Security Law because the organization's mission is to “end one-party rule” and that the annual June 4 vigil would undermine Beijing's authority.

author: Oiwan Lam


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South Asian examples show the centrality of nature in indigenous art · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Rice sheaves artistry from southern plains of Nepal. Photo by CK Kalyan. Used with permission.
This article by Sanjib Chaudhary was first published on The Record (Nepal) and an edited version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In 2014, I was contacted by a Nepalese scholar who wanted me to take a closer look at a photo of a minutely carved door from the Chitwan district in southwestern Nepal. Although I was able to easily recognize the 30 or so figures on the small door panels—elephants, camels, oxen, cobras, donkeys, cranes, leopards, monkeys, deer, and horses, along with humans—the writing, although legible, didn’t make much sense.
This beautiful decorative door dating back to the 19th century was eventually revealed to belong to an indigenous Tharu household of elephant handlers. All the animals, except for the camels and the only bird depicted on the door, were from Chitwan, and the writing was eventually translated by the scholar himself to be the names and professions of the elephant handlers who lived in that home. The unique icons, motifs, colours and style spoke of the people’s local, living reality. More importantly, they depicted an age-old human relationship with nature—the trees, animals and birds—and its conservation. It’s a relationship that still persists, despite modernity’s intrusion into indigenous lives, and one that indigenous artists still attempt to recall through their work.
Every element in indigenous art tells a story. “The taproot of indigenous aesthetics,” says Cherokee writer Daniel Justice, “is our stories, families, lands, artists, ceremonies, and language.”
In the plains of northern India and southern Nepal, women have, for generations, taken time out from their daily chores to paint the walls of their homes with artwork featuring decorative motifs, birds, animals and trees from their surroundings.
The Kochila Tharu women, for example, decorate their houses, granaries and verandahs with motifs of recurring geometric and floral patterns, along with birds and animals—peacocks and elephants, in particular. Peacocks feature prominently because they are regarded as symbols of luck.
“The work is one moment in the continuum of time,” write Kurt W Meyer and Pamela Deuel, who spent four years exploring Tharu art in nearly 300 villages across Nepal, in an article for Asian Art, an online journal. “The anonymous artist borrows from the elders, makes some changes, is free to improve on it, within the constraints set up by the culture, and this culture belongs to all.”
Many indigenous people in Nepal depict nature in their art. For example, during the Hindu festival Krishnashtami, the Tharus of western Nepal adorn their adobe house walls with Ashtimki paintings. Basing their work on the Tharu folk epic Gurbabak Jalmauti, the artists start drawing from the bottom of the wall and move towards the top in the order, according to Tharu folklore, that the elements and creatures were created by Gurbaba, the creator of Earth: water, fish, crab, tortoise, crocodile, and other water creatures, along with a boat carrying Gurbaba, his disciples, and his books. Tharus believe that during a past apocalypse, Gurbaba (accompanied by his disciples and books) sailed to a sanctuary and created the new world.
The centre stage in an Ashtimki painting is occupied by the Kadam tree, with Kanha, or Krishna, on top of its canopy, along with the sun, moon, monkeys, and images of Ravana, Draupadi, and the Pandavas from the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. In it, the artists include creatures like elephants, horses, camels and peacocks.
By adding auspicious figures and observing austere rituals while creating Ashtimki paintings, the artists imbue their work with religious significance. But Ashtimki has also evolved beyond religion to include quotidian details that are part of modern Tharu life. “While much of this art is rooted in devotional activities, today’s artist seldom knows the significance of the designs, but still clings to the graphics of the elders, occasionally introducing contemporary designs such as a bus or aeroplane,” added Meyer and Deuel.
Much of the subcontinent’s indigenous art still draws inspiration from how things were in the past, when man and nature coexisted far more intimately. They are informed by an ethos that, for instance, coloured the 10,000-year-old cave paintings in Central India’s Bhimbetka, which depict birds, animals, and human beings living in harmony. Man’s relationship with nature was of prime importance in the ancient cave paintings of South Asia, and it continues to be a central theme in indigenous wood carvings, house murals, and even rice-sheave artistry.
Sometimes, indigenous arts’ relationship with nature can be difficult to decipher. In Nepal’s southern plains, the tradition of making plaited rice sheaves probably derives from a tradition of giving thanks to birds, especially after harvests. People originally hung the plaited rice sheaves, called Jhutti, to provide food for birds and also to conserve the seeds of each species of rice harvested. The rice sheaf art pieces are shaped to represent various animals and household elements.
Today, indigenous art is also used to convey a more urgent message about conservation. Mithila art, or Madhubani painting, made by the women from Bihar, India, and Nepal’s eastern Terai, is known for its brightly painted geometric patterns and flowers, birds, animals, plants and deities. The widely popular art form has not only made its passage from house walls to handmade paper and cloth but has also been deployed in conservation campaigns. In 2012, artists in Bihar created Madhubani paintings depicting Hindu deities on tree trunks to save the trees from being cut down.
One way to regard indigenous art is to view it as a lesson in living. Its lineage extends far back in history and through the ages, it has documented mankind’s symbiosis with nature and taught us to revere that relationship. The indigenous artist’s notion of what nature comprises includes, beyond nature in its untouched state, the ecosystems that humans, animals, and plants jointly occupy and the indigenous people’s attitude towards nature’s providence. As is the case with all other art forms, indigenous art has continued to evolve in response to the changes that have occurred in its subjects’—that is, the indigenous people’s—lives. It’s thus not surprising that today’s indigenous art also includes particulars from the modern world. But it is also an art form that continues to place unwavering faith in the value of learning from nature, and respecting and conserving it. And that is a lesson in wisdom modern man truly needs.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Two transgender women in Cameroon sentenced to five years in jail for ‘attempted homosexuality’ · Global Voices
Leocadia Bongben

On May 11, two Cameroonian transgender persons, Njeukam Loic Midrel (Shakiro) and accomplice, Mouthe Roland (Patricia), were sentenced to five years in jail and 200,000 CFA francs (370 USD) for “attempted homosexuality, indecent dressing and lack of identification papers”, reports the BBC.
From left to right: Njeukam Loic Midrel (Shakiro) and Mouthe Roland (Patricia). Image credit: Shakiro/Facebook
Shakiro, 23, and Patricia, 27, were arrested on February 8 in a restaurant in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.
Popular Cameroonian crossdresser, Shakiro, one other sentenced to 5 years in prison for ‘attempted homosexuality’ https://t.co/JLLmvpt34z pic.twitter.com/ZG2DOEUEVx
— Linda Ikeji (@lindaikeji) May 12, 2021
Failure to pay the fine attracts an additional sentence of one year in prison.
Shakiro and Alice Nkom in court. Image used with permission.
Alice Nkom, a human rights lawyer and the lead defense counsel for Shakiro and Patricia, posted a seemingly infuriated note on a Facebook, on May 12: “Which law punishes trans [women] for wearing a skirt for five years? Nobody should be imprisoned for a simple suspicion; this opens the door to imprisonment without proof?”
Nkom maintained that her clients are innocent according to the Cameroonian penal code, which outlaws “sexual relationships between same-sex people, and only if caught in flagrante delicto [in the very act of committing the misdeed]”, according to the Penal Code's Article 37.
In 2016, Cameroon tightened the law by criminalizing homosexuality in the penal code. One of the changes includes, framing the law in gender neutral terms. Hence, it can be applied to “sexual relations between men and between women”, according to UK-based civil society, Human Dignity Trust.
Another aspect of the 2016 law is that the police can legally debase the dignity of LGBTQ+ persons in their custody with “forced anal examinations” with the “objective of finding ‘proof’ of homosexual conduct”, asserts the Human Rights Watch.
The punishment prescribed is a jail sentence from six months to five years in addition to a fine of 20 to 200,000 CFA francs (40-400 USD).
In Cameroon, Courts of First Instance have civil jurisdiction in cases where charges do not exceed 500,000 CFA francs (about 1,000 USD) fine.
Richard Tamfu, human rights lawyer and member of the defence team for Shakiro and Patricia, told Global Voices on May 17 that Shakiro and Patricia will appeal the sentence. However, a hearing might take between a month or a year, depending on how fast the appeal procedures move through the court, according to Tamfu.
The ruling has attracted international condemnation from rights groups, with conversations overflowing on social media.
Minority Rights Africa described the ruling as “an increasing clampdown on gay and transgender people”:
Transgender women sentenced to prison for “attempted homosexuality.” 23-year-old Shakiro and 27-year-old Patricia have received a five year jail term in Doula, Cameroon, where there has been an increasing clampdown on gay and transgender people. pic.twitter.com/iqPfSnFO7L
— Minority Africa (@MinorityAfrica) May 20, 2021
African Women in Dialogue shared an online petition to get Shakiro and Patricia released:
Arrested for being Trans in Cameroon and facing a 5 year sentence.
Please sign the petition to get Shakiro and Patricia released! @AllOut https://t.co/rkU3E97oiE
— African Women in Dialogue (@AfWIDafrica) May 17, 2021
This Twitter user asserts that “LGBT rights = human rights”:
#Cameroon#LGBT ??
“She was a transgender social media star. Now she faces 5 years in prison”, via @washingtonpost https://t.co/LI3Uoilqrv
Shakiro and her friend Patricia, 2 transgender women arrested in Feb in Douala, should be urgently released.
LGBT rights =human rights. pic.twitter.com/4Nhr0VtteZ
— ilaria allegrozzi (@ilariallegro) May 17, 2021
The United States embassy in Cameroon called on the government to ensure that individuals enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms:
We are concerned about the 5 year sentence for 2 transgender women and the increase in arrests of LGBTQI+ persons in Cameroon. It is essential that governments work to ensure all individuals can freely enjoy the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are entitled.
— U.S. Embassy Yaounde (@USEmbYaounde) May 14, 2021
Njeukam Loic Midrel (Shakiro). Image credit: Shakiro/Facebook
On a popular YouTube video from last year — which attracted about 26,000 views — Shakiro says that she feels “good as a woman.” As a social media celebrity, with about 5,000 Facebook fans, it was not surprising that her arrest, nine months later, made headlines.
But this media attention to her case has also increased the threats to Cameroon’s LGBTQ+ community.
On a phone interview with Global Voices conducted on May 16, O.S. (real name omitted for security reasons), 25, expressed concerns for his safety: “We are exposed to insults, violence, and deprived of free movement, making life difficult for us. We are not as joyful as before, we are hiding,” he said.
“The hate environment is a threat to our lives coming from reactions after the condemnation of Shakiro and Patricia. We don’t feel like normal people, we need help to get out of this country”, O.S. added.
It was not until she left Cameroon that popular LGBTQ+ rights defender Bandi Kiki could openly express her sexuality.
In February 2021, the BBC reported the murder of three LGBTQ+ persons and 27 arrests in Cameroon.
Though there have been issues of shame around the families of LGBTQ+ persons, Shakiro’s father, Nguekam, a retired civil servant, has accepted his child's sexuality and has been supportive.
“My child does not deserve this kind of punishment and has not done anything wrong to be locked behind bars”, the father said in a phone interview with Global Voices.

author: Leocadia Bongben


text:
Omanis stage rare protests demanding jobs and end to corruption · Global Voices
Dahlia Kholaif

Screenshot from a video shared on Twitter, showing one of the protests in Oman. Demonstrators carried signs and chanted in demand of jobs and better living conditions.
Groups of protesters rallied in a number of cities in Oman over several days in late May, demanding jobs and better living conditions, and showing a rare display of dissent in the Gulf country—the first for its new ruler, Sultan Haitham.
Amidst low oil prices, and with COVID-19 weighing on the Gulf state's coffers, Oman's hydrocarbon-dependent economy suffered a double blow, shrinking by 6.4 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Thousands of Omani workers faced job loss or reductions in salaries under COVID-19, prompting the Ministry of Labour to hold negotiations with dozens of employees in an attempt undo the damage, but many still suffered. Unemployment in Oman is around 20 percent among youth, who account for nearly half the Omani population of roughly 2.7 million people.
This drove Omani protesters, from Sohar in the north through to Salalah in the south, to take to the streets starting on Sunday May 23, chanting demands like the ones made at rallies a decade ago, when Oman experienced its own small version of the so-called Arab Spring.
Protests took place in the cities of Ibri, Nizwa, Rustaq and Sur as well, according to posts on social media.
#Oman : Amid rare protests a young man says he doesn’t want to destroy anything – he just wants a job #صحار_الآن pic.twitter.com/kNpBf26hn6
— sebastian usher (@sebusher) May 25, 2021
While rallies on Sunday and Monday were met with a heavy security presence and police firing tear gas and arresting demonstrators, Tuesday's marches were peaceful, with social media posts showing images of police officers distributing water bottles among protesters braving the summer heat.
#صحار_الان this is oman?. pic.twitter.com/cyntiGdiHw
— M ???? (@meem70058405) May 25, 2021
Protests continued in the sultanate through Friday, with demonstrators occasionally vandalising public property, and police making arrests.
The protests are the first for Sultan Haitham, who took the helm in January 2020 following the death of his cousin Sultan Qaboos, who assumed leadership of Oman in 1970 and was at the time of his death the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East and Arab world. Along with the throne, Sultan Haitham inherited economic challenges that have made Oman one of the most vulnerable economies in the Gulf. Unlike the millions of other Arabs across the region who took to the streets back in 2011, Omanis are calling not for a political and economic makeover, but rather jobs and an end to corruption.
While richer Gulf countries stepped in in 2011 with generous aid packages to Oman to alleviate living conditions and placate the populace, it remains unclear whether similar support will be provided now, as Muscat's political views have put it at odds with its neighbours, who are also grappling with their own economic problems.
In response to security forces’ dispersal of the protests, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and (GCHR) Omani Association for Human Rights (OAHR) urged the authorities in a joint statement “to respect freedom of expression and assembly”, adding that “the authorities attempted to restrict the media from reporting about demonstrations.”
The two human rights groups said:
The Omani government should immediately end the policy of silencing and restricting public freedoms, including freedom of peaceful protest and freedom of the press. The authorities in Oman must respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression and opinion, on and off the Internet. The security forces must fulfill their duties to protect citizens, not to oppress them, while they peacefully demand their civil and human rights
Citing reliable sources, the two groups said that a number of protesters were arrested on May 23 and their whereabouts remained unknown after a crowd gathered in front of the General Directorate of Labour in Sohar was surrounded by security forces on foot and in cars.
شاهد: #أحداث_صحار٢٠٢١ لحظة اعتقال بعض المتظاهرين من #المسرحين_العمانيين و #باحثون_عن_عمل_يستغيثون315 في #صحار وتهديدات عبر رسائل نصية بملاحقة كل من يقوم بالتصوير وتوثيق هذه الأحداث #صلالة_تتضامن #تجمع_سلمي #صحار_تنتفض #عُمان #حق_التجمع_السلمي pic.twitter.com/RTZZqBkc9O
— Oman HR (@HR_OMN) May 24, 2021
Watch: The arrest of some protesters who were laid off their jobs and those seeking employment, and threats via text messages against filming or documenting these events.
The hashtag #الحريه_لعبدالعزيز_البلوشي, or #Freedom_to_Abdulaziz_AlBalushi was heavily used in support of a protester whose speech went viral.
justice for Abdulaziz Al Balushi✊?
#الحريه_لعبدالعزيز_البلوشي pic.twitter.com/IcUqojhbBm
— وعّد. (@iiiiw98) May 27, 2021
Social media users reported that Abdulaziz was released days later.
According to the organisations’ joint statement:
Reliable sources in Oman stated that a strongly worded circular was issued by higher authorities to all media outlets, including daily newspapers, not to address the issue of peaceful assembly in Sohar, Dhofar, Salalah and the rest of the Omani regions, otherwise permits will be withdrawn. The authorities were forced to backtrack on this decision later after many international media reported on these events.
Since then, reports on social media have confirmed the release of most of those who were taken in.
?انتهاء آخر وقفة احتجاجية في #عُمان في مدينة #صلالة في محافظة #ظفار، مع توقيف عدد من المشاركين فجر الجمعة، والإفراج عنهم في وقت لاحق، والسلطات توقف عدد من المشاركين للتحقيق بالقرب من ميدان الاحتفالات ظهر اليوم، وفق شهادات من أهاليهم.
— تركي البلوشي | Turki Albalushi (@Turki_albalushi) May 28, 2021
The last of the stands in Oman's city of Salalah, in Dhofar province, came to an end, with several participants being arrested early Friday, and most of them released at a later hour. Authorities questioned a number of demonstrators near Ceremonies Square this afternoon, according to their families’ testimonies.
The state's response to people's demands was quick. On Tuesday, Oman's official website reported:
#عاجل
جلالة السلطان المعظم – حفظه الله ورعاه – يسدي توجيهاته الكريمة للجهات المعنيّة بسرعة تنفيذ المبادرات التشغيليّة بتوظيف ما يزيد عن (32) إثنين وثلاثين ألف فرصة عمل خلال هذا العام. pic.twitter.com/CAYXSEN4lI
— وكالة الأنباء العمانية (@OmanNewsAgency) May 25, 2021
His Majesty the Sultan – may God protect him – gave his generous directions to the relevant authorities to quickly implement the job-offering initiative by employing more than (32) thirty two thousand job opportunities during this year
The following day, the official news agency reported that the ministries of defence and labour, based on the Sultan's instructions, were ready to receive job applications.
However, some Omanis doubted that the jobs created would be enough. Commenting on job ads circulated by the Omani military, a Twitter user wrote:
خلال ١٢ ساعة من فتح التسجيل:
بدرجات الدبلوم فقط!
العمر لا يتجاوز ال ٢٥ سنة!
وللذكور فقط!
(أكثر من ١٧ ألف متقدم)!
تخيلوا عدد الباحثين عن العمل الحقيقي!
تخيلوا كم شخص بيقبلوه أساسا!
شفتوا حجم المعاناة يا وزارة العمل @Labour_OMAN؟@BusaidiNaser@5alfan1#صحار_العز_والفخر pic.twitter.com/5pqcYNnmt5
— iStorm ⚡ (@i_Stormer) May 27, 2021
Within 12 hours of opening the registration:
Diploma holders only!
No more than 25 years old!
Males only!
(More than 17 thousands applicants!)
Imagine what is the real number of job seekers!
Imagine how many will actually be accepted!
Do you see the scale of the struggle, Minister of Labour?
Another tweet said:
Following the uprising in 2011 too, #Oman government absorbed 1000s into armed forces and police.
News reports reveal that now also the same is happening.
Providing jobs in armed forces is not a solution for unemployment. #sohar #Soharprotest #Oman
— Rejimon Kuttappan (@rejitweets) May 29, 2021

author: Dahlia Kholaif


text:
Twitter vs India: The battle of BJP and Congress over a ‘fake toolkit’ on COVID-19 · Global Voices
Rezwan

Photo by Solen Feyissa from Pexels. Used under a Pexels License.
On May 24, police visited two offices of Twitter in Delhi and Gurgaon, an action that escalated the feud between the government of India and the social media giant over new IT rules announced last February. According to the Delhi police, the visit was made to serve a notice to Twitter, part of an inquiry into a complaint about an alleged toolkit shared on Twitter that blamed the government for “COVID-19 mismanagement.” The government also sought clarification about why a tweet by Sambit Patra, the national spokesperson of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been flagged as “manipulated media.”
In a statement to the Indian government on Thursday, May 27, Twitter expressed concern about the “use of intimidation tactics by the police” and “the potential threat to freedom of expression” for the Indian users.
The government objected to the statement, saying that Twitter was trying to hide its own “follies.” Journalist Roobina Mongia tweeted the letter:
#Breaking: Government condemns #Twitter‘s statement, calls it an attempt to dictate terms to India, seeking to undermine legal system.
Calls for the company to disabuse of grandiosity and calls for ‘constructive dialogue’, and follow the laws. pic.twitter.com/Ykrk5e05VL
— roobina mongia (@roobinam) May 27, 2021
The Delhi police have also lashed out at Twitter, saying that the social networking service was “trying to act as both investigator and judge,” though it had no legal power to do so.
Delhi police registered preliminary inquiry at the complaint filed by the representative of the Indian National Congress. Hence, efforts by Twitter that portray it as an FIR filed at the behest of the Government of India is wholly and completely incorrect: Delhi Police
— ANI (@ANI) May 27, 2021
To understand what led to this situation, let us look at the events that transpired in the previous week.
The controversy started on May 18 when Sambit Patra and other BJP leaders started sharing screenshots of a toolkit on COVID-19 mismanagement, allegedly prepared by the leading opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC). They claimed the toolkit targeted the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it called the new strain of coronavirus the “Modi strain.”
Friends look at the #CongressToolKit in extending help to the needy during the Pandemic!
More of a PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” & “Influencers” than a soulful endeavour.
Read for yourselves the agenda of the Congress:#CongressToolKitExposed pic.twitter.com/3b7c2GN0re
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) May 18, 2021
However, Indian National Congress denied creating any COVID-19 related toolkits and instead accused the BJP of creating a fake toolkit and spreading disinformation.
BJP leaders then tried to substantiate their claim by presenting alleged evidence showing metadata properties. The documentation comprised two parts, including a four-page “toolkit” mentioning COVID-19 mismanagement and another four pages of research concerning the controversial Central Vista redevelopment project, an ambitious government mega-project that is opposed by many of the country's political leaders and environmentalists.
The project involves redeveloping a 3.2-km area called the Central Vista in the heart of Delhi, the nation's capital, which will demolish several iconic landmarks to rebuild offices and construct a new parliament building. The project is estimated to cost 2.8 billion United States dollars and the research document highlighted environmental and ethical concerns and suggested ways the government could divert these resources towards COVID-19 pandemic management.
Rajeev Gowda, a member of INC's Research Wing, claimed that the BJP showed the metadata of a genuine research document about the Central Vista project and attributed it to a fake one alleging Modi’s mismanagement of the pandemic.
There have been numerous independent efforts to inspect the alleged toolkit:
In this investigation, we will reveal how a pro-BJP Twitter handle talked about a ‘new toolkit’ 10 days before the ‘toolkit’ attributed to Congress was made public by BJP leaders. | @free_thinkerhttps://t.co/GMU60OSLEW
— The Wire (@thewire_in) May 23, 2021
According to reports, the “toolkit” claims by BJP were shared by several ministers and dozens of BJP MPs and leaders, who attacked the opposition Congress (INC) party. Following a detailed investigation citing independent fact checks, Indian National Congress wrote to Twitter on May 19 seeking suspension of the accounts of several BJP leaders. Rohan Gupta, chairman of the social media department of the INC, tweeted:
We've formally written to @Twitter seeking suspension of Twitter accounts of BJP leaders who are indulging in spreading forged documents attributing to Congress.
While an FIR has already been lodged, the independent fact-checkers too have blown the lid off BJP's propaganda. pic.twitter.com/DeVUO585l3
— Rohan Gupta (@rohanrgupta) May 20, 2021
The INC had also lodged a complaint with the Delhi police against several BJP leaders for propagating a fake “toolkit.”
On May 21, Twitter added the label “Manipulated Media” to Sambit Patra’s tweet. Within a few hours, the Ministry of Electronics and IT wrote to the global team of Twitter asking to remove the tag, stating that an investigation by a law enforcement agency was pending after a complaint had been made by a concerned party.
The letter claimed that the tags to certain tweets were “affixed prejudicially” and that the “investigation will determine the veracity of the content, not Twitter.”
Twitter defended its decision by saying that warnings are applied to posts that have been “deceptively altered or fabricated.”
This battle was closely watched by Indian citizens, both by followers and critics, who engaged in lengthy debates. Journalist Rana Ayyub tweeted:
Inquiry against Twitter, targeting international publications & their coverage of Covid 19 in India, veiled threats to journalists who have been reporting the unadulterated truth from the ground. All signs of a Government that finds itself on shaky ground having lost credibility
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 28, 2021
Cartoonist Pen Pencil Draw tweeted:
Unsocial. pic.twitter.com/Nkr7a2MhYm
— PenPencilDraw (@penpencildraw) May 27, 2021
Sushant Sareen, a fellow of Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation, commented:
Twitter is the new East India Company…pretending to defend us natives from our elected govts and then selling us to the largest bidder. It’s above the law. It decides what law to follow, what to defy & what laws will be made. In short, Twitter will decide how India should be run
— sushant sareen (@sushantsareen) May 27, 2021
Journalist Ajit Datta said:
Up until now, Twitter was trying to frame the debate as if it had a choice. India has done well to shatter that illusion.
— Ajit Datta (@ajitdatta) May 27, 2021
On February 25, India introduced new regulations for social media, online news websites, and streaming platforms which required them to implement several systems to moderate content, including hiring local teams to respond to both Indian users’ and government's complaints about content within 24 hours. In a nutshell, these regulations will give the government more power to police online content and to help with police investigations, including identifying the creators.
International social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, were given three months to comply, with a deadline of May 25.
Twitter is yet to comply and has asked for a time extension, while Facebook, WhatsApp and Google have already sent the required information to the IT Ministry.
According to the Twitter Transparency Report for January-June, 2020 period, India sent 5,877 information requests specifying 19,805 accounts and Twitter complied only in eight per cent of cases. In the same period, India produced 5,464 legal demands for content removal citing 29,213 accounts, only 12 per cent of which were accepted by Twitter.
It remains to be seen what action India will take on social media platforms that do not comply with the requirements of the new IT rules.

author: Rezwan


text:
China’s new three-child policy gives birth to ironic jokes on social media · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image from the Stand News. Used with permission.
If people won't have two children, will they consider having three?
China has decided to relax its two-child policy to a three-child policy after the country saw a steep decline in the birth rate in the 2020 census. The move has been greeted by a wave of ironic commentary on social media platforms.
China's controversial “one-child policy” was enforced from 1980 but was eased in 2015 as the government anticipated problems supporting an ageing population.
While the shift to a two-child policy initially lifted the number of births from 16.55 million in 2015 to 17.86 million in 2016, this trend was not sustained.
Since then, China’s birth rate has declined. In 2020, just 12 million babies were born.
The decision to introduce a new third-child policy was made on May 31 at China’s Politburo Committee, overseen by President Xi Jinping. It was presented to the public in lieu of Children’s Day on June 1.
The policy was introduced with a package of supporting measures – restrictions on marriage dowries, protections for women's employment rights, maternity leave improvements and insurance, taxation and housing benefits.
Nevertheless, a poll posted by state-owned Xinhua News on Weibo, saw 90 percent of respondents indicate that they would not consider having a third child:
Screen capture of Xinhua's deleted poll
The now-deleted poll attracted more than 2,000,000 responses.
Many asked the question: is the state going to pay child-rearing expenses?
Public sentiment was summed up in @littlecrazyca’s comment on Twitter:
一早起来，看到三孩政策的消息满屏飞。就在想：全世界没有哪一个国家，分文不出，几十年在女人的子宫口开会，说开就开，说闭就闭。曾经是逼着做绝育，甚至罚款单位开除什么的，现在又让你生仨，简直了！以前的罚款是不是给人家退了，该恢复什么都给人恢复了呢？
— 西小疯? (@littlecrazyca) May 31, 2021
My mobile phone screen is flooded with news about the third child policy this morning. I don’t think anywhere else in this world can order a woman's uterus to function through decades of policy meetings rather than incentives. In the past, women were forced to sterilize or they would have to pay a fine and be dismissed by their work unit. Now they want you to raise three [children]! Are you going to reimburse them or give them back their jobs now?
As serious online criticism of state policy can be censored or even punished, dark humor reigned.
Some speculated on the burden that three children would place on couples from the single-child generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, who have no siblings to help them look after their parents.
哈哈哈哈哈，80﹑90後，獨生子女這兩代人，一對夫妻養4個老人，再拉扯3孩子。然後幹到65歲，還沒領上退休金，就挂了…
Hahahaha, for the single-child generations who were born in the 1980s and 1990s, a married-couple would have to feed 4 elderly parents and 3 kids. They would have to work until 65. By the time they could get their pensions, they would be dead…
Other netizens called such a life model “the life of garlic chives”, in reference to a popular online meme depicting ordinary Chinese as exploited by a political and economic system premised on rent-seeking.
One viral post on Weibo that this author republished on Twitter mocked: “I wish you a long life so that you have to take care of nine grandchildren at the age of 65.”
pic.twitter.com/9OJVskLw7z
— oiwan (@oiwan) June 1, 2021
The policy’s socioeconomic implications for women also earned a lot of attention.
國家提倡生三胎
醫院又提倡順產和母乳喂養
專家建議孩子不要讓老年人帶
孩子渴望媽媽隨時陪伴
老公又希望媳婦貌美女花也能賺錢養家
公婆希望兒媳婦照顧好老公教育好孩子
社會又提倡女人要經濟獨立
一個女人，竟要她活成千軍萬馬…
The state advocates for three children
The hospitals suggest natural labour and breastfeeding
Experts advise that elderly people should not take care of kids
Kids want their mother to be available all the time
Husbands expect wives to keep looking pretty and shoulder the family burden
Parents-in-law expect their daughters-in-law to take care of their husbands and educate their grandchildren
Society encourages women to have economic independence
A woman is like a solider in a battlefield …
#三孩生育政策来了#三胎必然深化女性职场歧视，试想下一个企业会期望女的放三次产假么？虽然愿意生三胎的是少数，但受歧视的将会是整个女性群体。要么就男的陪产假和女性等长，不然女性三胎如何解决职场歧视，你不建议或者不推荐都没用，因为用不用是企业的事，你如何限制？
#Three child policy has come# Three children will definitely strengthen discrimination in employment. Will corporations now expect female staff to take three maternity leaves?  Though only a minority of women will choose to give birth to three children, all women will be discriminated against. Unless men’s parental leave is made equal with that of women, the problem of employment discrimination will not be solved. Employment decisions are made internally within corporations. How would we intervene?
#三孩生育政策来了#国家这是要把女性往死里整呐…看了个分析如果一个女孩儿遵循国家的政策来，基本上她自己的人生从结婚那天就结束了，一直到50多岁才能有空做自己，我的建议是不结婚不生，先把自己活明白了。
#Three child policy has come# The state is pushing women to the edge… just read an analysis, if a woman has to follow the policy, from the date when she gets married, she has to [serve the family] until she reaches 50, then she has time to become herself. My suggestion is not to get married and not to give birth. Just figure out what you want first.
Some tried to apply the logic of the policy to other real life situations:
A: 我沒錢吃飯
B: 沒事，我們餐廳現在延長營業時間了
A: 我說我沒錢吃飯！
B: 你要是不滿意的話，我們也可以24h 營業
A: 我 tm 說我沒錢吃飯！！
A: I don’t have money to buy a meal.
B: It’s OK, our restaurant has extended our opening hours.
A: I said I don’t have money to buy a meal!
B: If you are not satisfied, we can extend our opening times to 24 hours!
A: I f**king said I don’t have money to buy a meal !!
在我們老家，豬如果不下崽兒了，養豬的老會去看看到底是哪裡出了問題，是豬圈不夠大﹑衛生條件差還是豬壓力太大了，導致杏玉下降了，找到問題了解決問題，豬自然就下崽兒了，沒有成天下文件給豬看一直逼著豬下崽兒的。
Back in our villages, if the sows did not bear piglets, the farmers would find out what were the problems – whether the farm was too small, the hygiene was too bad or the sows were under too much pressure. Once you attended to these problems, the sows would give birth to piglets. Nobody would hand down a document to force the sows to give birth.
Some netizens fretted that more coercive government policies might emerge if the three-child policy failed to stimulate population growth:
單身稅的日子盼著盼著就近了。
It seems that the day a single-people tax will be introduced is getting closer


text:
LIVE on June 17: “Beyond the Protest Square,” a conversation with Tanya Lokot · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In her new book, “Beyond the Protest Square: Digital Media and Augmented Dissent,” media scholar Tanya Lokot argues that “the augmented reality of protest goes beyond the bodies, the tents, and the cobblestones in the protest square, incorporating live streams, different time zones, encrypted conversations, and simultaneous translation of protest updates into different languages.”
Join us on June 17 at 4pm GMT for the latest episode in our Global Voices Insights webinar series, in which Global Voices’ executive director Ivan Sigal sits down with Tanya for a conversation about the book, which is based on interviews with protest participants and ethnographic analysis of online content from Ukraine and Russia.
Tanya is an Associate Professor in Digital Media and Society in the School of Communications at Dublin City University, as well as Global Voices’ Eastern Europe Editor.
The session is free and open to the public and will be live streamed on YouTube. Please register to receive a reminder about the event:
We look forward to having you join us on Thursday, June 17 at 4:00pm GMT (click here to convert to your local time zone)!

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
New report highlights ongoing pressure on Ukrainian activists and rights defenders · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Ukraine Women's March 2019, Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo by UN Women/Volodymyr Shuvayev on Flickr, CC BY-NC 4.0.
In the years following major civic and political upheaval, Ukraine has made modest progress in exposing corruption and digitizing government services for the public, though not without a few stumbles along the way. Despite these successes, the country's civil liberties and human rights status remains precarious.
A new monitoring report by ZMINA Human Rights Center, focuses on the ongoing persecution of activists and human rights defenders in the government-controlled part of Ukraine. It chronicles the key trends and highlights the most high-profile cases of pressure on civil society in January-March 2021.
The report, prepared in partnership with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and funded by the European Union, notes that a total of 30 instances of persecution for civic activities were recorded in the first quarter of this year, compared to 26 cases for the same period last year.
In the context of decentralization, mobilization of efforts in solidarity struggle with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, socio-economic perturbations, the issue of persecution of activists and human rights defenders, as well as impunity for such persecution, becomes increasingly important for promoting and upholding human rights standards and protection of public interests.
Physical attacks, property damage and intimidation are among the key threats to activists in Ukraine. Infographic by ZMINA, screenshot from Monitoring Report on zmina.ua.
Among the incidents that occurred in the first three months of 2021, the most common were physical assaults, destruction or damage to activists’ property, and attempted intimidation (six cases in each category). In addition, ZMINA recorded five cases of smear campaigns, three attempts to obstruct a peaceful assembly, two incidents of legal prosecution, one case of violation of privacy and one case of search without legal grounds.
Which activities are the most risky? Infographic by ZMINA, screenshot from Monitoring Report on zmina.ua.
The report notes some of the more risky activities that rights defenders were persecuted for relate to work on anti-corruption issues, LGBTQ rights and women’s rights. ZMINA recorded three cases of persecution in each category, the authors admit it is “difficult to identify one activity of activists as the most risky” as they often overlap. One incident of activist persecution each was recorded for opposing illegal construction, protecting the environment, supporting and protecting the rights of patients, and protecting the rights of journalists.
The report also documents a number of digital threats to civic activists and journalists. The Digital Security Lab, a non-profit digital rights organisation in Ukraine which monitors such incidents and provides assistance to victims, recorded 25 separate incidents in the first three months of 2021: six in January, twelve in February, and seven in March.
The monitoring recorded 10 phishing attacks (one of which was a large scale one, carried out on Telegram in January); seven cases of stealing, resetting or reusing activists’ account passwords; three cases of text message interception (commonly used to get around two-factor authentication), two cases of website hacking, as well as content blocking or temporary blocking of accounts in social networks. Several activists also reported receiving intimidating messages or threats through digital channels.
The ZMINA report singles out several key types of actors obstructing the work of civic activists and human rights defenders. These include lawmakers debating or passing legislation that is discriminatory against civil society, e.g., bills that equate advocacy with lobbying, introduce Russia-style “foreign agent” designations, or threaten the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. A number of cases in the report concern law enforcement and, in particular, the disproportionate response of police forces during peaceful protest rallies.
There are also numerous reports of judicial pressure, namely investigations and trials of high-profile criminal cases involving human rights defenders and civic activists, initiated by state prosecutors or private individuals. On the other hand, the researchers highlight the impunity of attacks on rights defenders: long-standing investigations of several high-profile cases of attacks against activists (such as Kateryna Handzyuk or Iryna Nozdrovska, both of whom lost their lives) have remained unresolved for years.
One of the authors of the ZMINA report, Anastasia Moskvychova, told public radio service Hromadske Radio that impunity remains a key obstacle to the work of human rights activists in Ukraine.
At the moment more attention is being drawn to the attacks on activists, so this may be why the number of reports is growing. But the statistics are very disappointing.
Moskvychova believes it is all the more important to raise awareness of the threats and obstruction of activist work in Ukraine as “the point of the persecution is to silence the activists and to get them to stop their activity”.
Read the latest ZMINA report in full here.

author: Tanya Lokot