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Addressing ‘gaps in history’ through bush tea: A conversation with Barbadian visual artist Annalee Davis · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

(Bush) Tea Services at The Empire Remains Shop, London, UK, 2016. Photo byTim Bowditch. Image courtesy Annalee Davis, used with permission.
Imagine going to London, setting up a pop-up tea shop as part of an exhibition that delves into the implications of “selling back the remains of the British Empire […] today,” and using it as an opportunity to reframe the conversation about a shared, traumatic history using indigenous strains — known throughout the Caribbean as bush tea — of Britain's signature drink.
That's exactly what Barbadian visual artist and cultural advocate Annalee Davis did as part of her ongoing work into the ways in which shared historical suffering reveals itself and how this trauma — much of which remains unaddressed — is managed, on both individual and national levels.
Her exploration is deep intersectionality of art, agriculture, economics and history which, far from being relegated to plantation societies of the 17th century, have relevance in modern-day issues. In this second installment, we discuss the spillover.
Annalee Davis at Walker's Dairy, St. George, Barbados. Photo by Davis, used with permission.
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): One aspect of your bush tea concept has been a project called “(Bush) Tea Services.” How did you manage to have conversations about our shared transatlantic history by creolising Britain’s favourite drink?
Annalee Davis (AD): Commissioned by the UK-based curatorial team, Cooking Sections, for their [London-based] 2016 pop-up exhibition, “The Empire Remains Shop,” I made this in collaboration with Barbadian master potter, Hamilton Wiltshire.
Referred to as a blood-sweetened beverage by abolitionist Robert Southey, the British drank tea grown on plantations in the East sweetened by sugar grown on plantations in the West.
Dismantling the English tea set, I inlaid 18th and 19th century porcelain and clay shards unearthed from the soil, repurposing fragments from which I served unsweetened varieties of bush tea, harvested from the fields, including cerasee, bay leaf, blue vervain and lemongrass. An imperfect tea service which spills while being poured or drunk, it addresses gaps in history highlighting the inadequacy of inherited understandings about our collective past.
(Bush) Tea Services, 2016. Photo by Tim Bowditch. Image courtesy Annalee Davis, used with permission.
JMF: How do you think bush tea infusions can help us heal today?
AD: Returning to the land today can feed us, contributing to food sovereignty and the wellness sector by expanding our knowledge and use of wild botanicals and their healing properties thereby repairing and renewing our relationship to the land.
JMF: What are some of your favourite bush teas and why?
AD: I love iced lemongrass tea on a hot day and enjoy combinations of lemongrass, bay leaf and blue vervain. I’m experimenting with roots, including ginger and turmeric, both grown locally and used widely all across Barbados. Steeping them and mixing them with tamarind pulp provides a powerful detoxifier and antioxidant drink. I’m also making stains and inks from them to draw with.
(Bush) Tea Services, 2016. Photo by Mark Doroba. Image courtesy Annalee Davis, used with permission.
JMF: Given that we’re in the midst of a pandemic, what do you think these indigenous methods of self-care and healing have to teach us about interconnectivity and resilience?
AD: Since August of 2019, I have been collecting and drying what Bajans call prickly pear cactus which reportedly has healing properties, including combatting diabetes [and] cholesterol, and purifying contaminated water. This tenacious plant inspires me to consider adaptability and flexibility.
The Caribbean is a biodiversity hotspot increasingly threatened by natural disasters and the climate crisis. Taking care of ourselves means protecting, preserving and restoring the region’s declining plant life, conducting research to better understand the value of what grows in this region, investing in our botanical gardens, training professionals in botany and conservation, and educating ourselves to understand that our biodiversity is special — something to be proud of. This intraregional at-risk resource is ours to protect and we must advocate for our own well-being and that of the archipelago.
Prickly pear on studio wall. Photo by Annalee Davis, used with permission.
JMF: Barbados’ prime minister, Mia Mottley, has been very outspoken on the climate crisis and how it threatens Small Island Developing States (SIDS). How can the theories you’ve been exploring be applied to such pressing issues as we draw closer to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season?
AD: Since Hurricanes Irma, Maria and Dorian, our prime minister and other Caribbean leaders have spoken on the world stage about the unequal impact of the climate crisis on SIDS. While first world countries’ extractive practices are the main contributors to our environmental problems, we cannot ignore how resource-strained Caribbean governments pattern their own models of development on cloth cut by our colonial histories, unceasingly threatening the human and ecological well-being of this region.
For example, tropical coral reefs have been negatively impacted and depleted by chemicals used in local industrial agricultural practices. We have been remiss in effectively monitoring those practices to protect our own biodiversity. In transitioning to tourism, rather than repeating the mistakes of monocrop farming in the extractive agricultural sector, we should have interrogated elected officials to better represent our interests and those of the environment.
This pandemic forces us to rethink sustainable futures in the context of SIDS to ask how we might reconsider the potential of wild botanicals. For example, we are noticing in the Bajan slow food movement a trend in some chefs who envision inventive ways to include local wild plants into their menus. Organic farmers are selling local amaranth, pussley and fat pork at Bridgetown’s Cheapside Market, demonstrating how historically fatigued landscapes might become sites of genesis and regeneration.
The north-facing wall of Annalee Davis’ Milking Parlour Studio, adorned with dried paw-paw leaves and drying prickly pear cactus. Photo by Davis, used with permission.
JMF: With the recultivation of a relationship with the land as its foundation, where do you see your work going in the future as it relates to history, identity, gender, economic and social norms?
AD: A challenge in post-plantation economies is to foster love and care for lands from which we have felt alienated and traumatised. I am collaborating with Walkers Reserve and the Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute of Barbados on a new work, “(Bush) Tea Plot — A Restorative Apothecary,” fitting within their larger ethos of regenerative work, to offer an intimate space for more meaningful connectedness with the land, our history and the power of the feminine.
This work recognises interdependent relationships between well-being and nature, showing how wild plants remediate the landscape, offer reprieve and restoration. Cognisant that the focus of medical research on women’s health is comparatively less than that of men’s, the garden will spotlight plants used to promote women’s health and well-being, as well as for general first-aid. Complimenting the garden will be a series of drawings of the plants, made with dyes and stains from organic materials.
I have developed some of these ideas more fully in my 2019 publication, “On Being Committed to a Small Place” — [which puts forward] critical positions from Central America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas — as well as in an article titled “Beach as plot?”
In that most recent article, Davis challenges the unidimensional notion of tourism as the cure-all elixir for small island economies, and “the potential role of contemporary visual art and artists in offering other lenses through which we can see ourselves and consider our contexts.”
Part 1 of this interview is here.


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Breaking the cycle of domestic violence made more difficult during Ecuador’s quarantine · Global Voices
Belen Febres

The cycle of violence. Photo from the ‘Casa de Refugio Matilde’ women’s shelter in Quito, Ecuador. Used with permission.
This article is part one of the author's report on women with violent partners during lockdown in Ecuador. Click here to read part two.
Elisa, whose name has been changed for her protection, is a 41-year-old Ecuadorian businesswoman in an abusive relationship. Although almost half of all women in Ecuador have endured this type of violence at least once in their lives, Elisa believes that abusive relationships are not really understood by the general public. In a phone interview with Global Voices, she explained:
Me dicen: ‘Solo déjalo’, pero no funciona así. Quien no ha pasado por esto no siempre entiende por qué es tan difícil dejar a una pareja violenta, y estos comentarios solo hacen que me sienta juzgada y deje de contar lo que me pasa. Yo he intentado separarme de mi pareja algunas veces, pero él se convirtió en el centro de mi universo. Por eso, a pesar de todo, sigo con él.
People say to me: “Just leave him”, but it doesn’t work like that. People who haven’t been through this don’t always understand why it’s so hard to leave a violent partner. Comments like that just make me feel like I’m being judged and I stop telling people what’s happening to me. I’ve tried to leave my partner a few times, but he became the centre of my universe. That’s why, despite everything, I stay with him.
Esteban Laso, a psychotherapist and social psychologist, explains that the difficulties Elisa describes are common; it is a complex process that can take many years and an average of 5 to 7 attempts. According to Laso, this is because ending any relationship (whether it is violent or not) is always hard, but violence introduces certain factors that make separation even more difficult.
Care protocol for female victims of domestic violence. Shared on the Surkana Ecuador Facebook page.
These difficulties can increase in crisis situations, such as the pandemic that we are living through now. Ecuador has been under lockdown for over a month, with a curfew from 2pm to 5am. Lily Rodríguez, President of the Ecuadorian Centre for the Empowerment and Advancement of Women (CEPAM), says that domestic violence can increase because there are fewer opportunities to seek help or to offer support to women during the lockdown.
Rodríguez adds that emotional separation is essential to achieving physical separation, but this is made more difficult when victims are permanently living with their partners. Elisa says that this emotional dependency is the main reason that she is still with her partner:
Se piensa que solo es cuestión de tomar la decisión, pero no. Yo he decidido irme algunas veces, y he estado en terapia mucho tiempo, pero los hombres violentos son excelentes manipuladores y tienen mucha experiencia en hacer que te aferres a ellos. Esto hace muy complicado deshacer el lazo emocional que te ata a esa persona. Tú sabes que lo que te están haciendo está mal y que estás en peligro, pero tu dependencia hacia ellos es más fuerte.
People think that it’s simply a matter of making the decision, but it’s not. I’ve made the decision to leave many times and I’ve been in therapy for a long time, but violent men are excellent manipulators and they are very experienced in making you depend on them. This makes it very hard to undo the emotional link that ties you to that person. You know that what he is doing to you is wrong and that you are in danger, but your dependency on him is too strong.
Laso points out that we tend to believe that our decision-making process is guided by reason. However, this assumption is wrong:
El fundamento de las relaciones humanas es el amor. Sin amor nos morimos, entonces haremos lo que haga falta para evitar la pérdida de relaciones afectivas importantes, incluso si esto implica sacrificarse uno mismo. Por eso, la primera pregunta que se hace una mujer en una relación violenta no es si la debe abandonar o no, sino si su pareja puede cambiar.
The foundation of human relationships is love. We die without love, so we do whatever it takes to prevent the loss of important emotional relationships, even if that means sacrificing ourselves. Therefore, the first question that a woman in a violent relationships asks herself is not whether she should leave him, but whether her partner can change.
Soledad Ávila, clinical psychologist and academic director of Fundación Azulado in Ecuador, adds that abuse often starts with psychological violence. This type of abuse is harder to recognise and affects the victim’s self-esteem, thereby prohibiting her ability to leave the relationship. In addition to this, according to Ávila, the aggressor is not violent all the time. He also has his “good moments” in which he professes his “undying love” and offers to change. This cycle creates patterns that are difficult to break.
Recommendation from CEPAM Facebook page.
The fear that the violence will get worse when deciding to leave the relationship also hinders the process. This anxiety may increase during quarantine, in which restrictions on movement make it harder to seek and offer help against a threat. However, Rodríguez explains that in Ecuador people are allowed to leave and ask for help when faced with an imminent threat during lockdown.
Ávila adds that the cultural norms that underpin a structure of violence also have an influence:
Se promueve una posición pasiva de la mujer. Esto nos lleva a aguantar y pensar que, con paciencia, vamos a lograr que nos traten bien. Muchas veces no notamos estas ideas porque están muy arraigadas en la sociedad.
Women are encouraged to be passive. This leads us to endure certain situations and believe that, if we’re patient, eventually they'll treat us well. A lot of the time we don’t notice these ideas because they’re so entrenched in society.
These cultural norms are intertwined with economic and structural factors. For example, existing inequalities place women in a disadvantaged position of financial dependency. This often means that they cannot leave the relationship if they do not have enough money for themselves and their children, given that responsibility for childcare usually falls on women. Quarantine makes it increasingly difficult for them to generate this necessary income.
What’s more, despite Ecuador’s existing rules and protocols of care for victims of violence, Ávila identifies a lack of awareness by professionals in healthcare and the judiciary about this issue. This was the case for Elisa, who told GV:
Aparentemente tienes apoyo legal, pero existen muchas trabas que te desaniman. Cuando mi pareja me pegó por primera vez, fui a denunciarlo, pero fue terrible. El abogado me dijo: “Si vas a poner la denuncia tienes que seguir hasta el final y no puedes volver con él”. Yo no estaba lista para eso. Lo que te deberían decir es: “Tu vida está en peligro. Vamos a poner la denuncia juntos y vas a tener un acompañamiento psicológico y legal para que tú culmines este proceso”, pero te asustan en vez de darte este soporte.
You seemingly have legal support, but there are a lot of obstacles that put you off. When my partner hit me for the first time, I went to report him, but it went terribly. The lawyer said to me: “If you are going to report the crime, then you need to see it through to the end and you can’t go back to him”. I wasn’t ready for that. What they should say to you is: “Your life is in danger. We’re going to report the crime together and you’re going to have psychological and legal support to help you through to the end of this process”, but they scare you instead of offering you this support.
Rodríguez concludes that overcoming these challenges requires a combination of efforts, which has been highlighted by the quarantine:
Es fundamental que las mujeres no se sientan solas en el confinamiento; que sepan que estamos unidas de diferentes maneras, y que esta unión nos fortalece. Así, seguimos tejiendo hilos de solidaridad que aumentan nuestra resistencia colectiva hoy y siempre.
It’s vital that women do not feel that they’re alone during lockdown; that they know that we’re united in many different ways, and that this union makes us stronger. We therefore continue weaving the threads of solidarity that increase our collective resistance for now and for the future.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Belen Febres


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COVID-19-themed Global Voices story stars in Czech translation competition · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Jan Faber moderating the online awards ceremony for winners of the European Delegation contest for best translation into Czech. Screenshot from a YouTube video.
For the second year in a row, a Global Voices article was selected as the reference text for an international translation competition into Czech organized by the Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies (ÚJOP) — part of Prague’s Charles University and the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission (DGT).
In 2019, Global Voices (GV) was selected for the first time as the sole text provider for the competition. Back then, the article selected for the 4th edition of the contest was a 2018 report about an all-female flight crew in Mozambique written by Global Voices author Dércio Tsandzana.
A Slovenian entrant who was one of the two winners in last year's competition told GV:
I chose Czech as a ‘rare’ language at my University in Ljubljana because I was a fan of Czech literature: the Brave Soldier Švejk, but also Kundera and Hrabal. Last year I participated in the competition and our text was the Little Red Riding Hood tale, so I did not expect a story about Mozambique!
This year, an article from Meta.mk, a news outlet owned by GV's partner from North Macedonia, the Metamorphosis Foundation*, was selected by the organizers of the competition.
The article describes how a Moldovan pop-rock group adapted an older song it entered into the 2017 Eurovision contest in order to educate people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year's winners are Gergana Dragoeva, from Bulgaria, Michał Patycki, from Poland, and Natalia Khonskaya, from Belarus.
Global Voices got in touch with Jan Faber, field officer at the DGT local office in Prague and coordinator of the event, to find out how the 2020 edition progressed.
Filip Noubel (FN): How many participants took part in the competition and from what countries and languages?
Jan Faber (JF): Pokud jde o statistiky, letošní pátý ročník byl skutečně rekordní. Přihlásilo se nám celkem 20 pracovišť ze 13 zemí (Čína, Argentina, Jižní Korea, Egypt, Japonsko, ČR, Polsko, Slovinsko, Severní Makedonie, Bulharsko, Maďarsko, Francie, Itálie). Studenti, kterých se zúčastnilo 75, překládali z 18 jazyků (korejština, bulharština, slovinština,  maďarština, italština, makedonština, srbština, francouzština, arabština, ruština, ukrajinština, běloruština, španělština, čínština, polština, japonština, angličtina a chorvatština).
Jan Faber (JF): Regarding statistics, this year's fifth edition was really a record one. Twenty institutions from 13 countries took part in the competition. We had participants from China, Argentina, South Korea, Egypt, Japan, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, France and Italy. Seventy-five students of Czech participated, translating from 18 languages (Korean, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Serbian, French, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Japanese, English and Croatian).
FN: This year, you chose a story about Europe but also about COVID-19. Why did you choose this article? How did the pandemic affect the organization of the competition, participation and the awards ceremony?
JF: Článek se nám líbil jednak proto, že byl aktuální, byl o solidaritě, hudbě. A také přirozeně proto, že byl o jazycích – vždyť písničku, o které článek pojednává, zpívají interpreti ve dvou jazycích a navíc má anglické titulky. Navíc také svou délkou a stylem odpovídal požadavkům na soutěžní text. Navíc slovy překladatelského nástroje Trados: “Perfect Match”.
Účast v soutěži byla vyšší než loni, asi díky tomu, že se hodně věcí rušilo bez náhrady, což my jsme nechtěli. Bylo to samozřejmě náročnější organizačně – příspěvky musely být buď online nebo nahrané předem. Složité je také zasílání cen a diplomů, které by si normálně studenti převzali osobně.
JF: We liked the article because it was very timely — it talked about solidarity and music. And naturally because it relates to languages — the song described in the story is sung by the performers in two languages and includes subtitles. It also answered our requirements in terms of length and style for the competition text. In other words: “a perfect match”.
The level of participation was higher compared to last year, probably thanks to the fact that many things were cancelled without replacement. It was of course harder to organize the event — the sessions had to be online only or needed to be pre-recorded. Another challenging thing is the sending of awards and diplomas, which the students would usually have picked up in person.
FN: Why do you think people from so many places, including some very far away from the Czech Republic, decide to invest so much time and energy in learning what is considered a rather difficult language spoken only in one country by 10 million people?
JF: Důvody, které lidi vedou k tomu, aby se rozhodli pro studium „malého, zdáleného, exotického jazyka” bývají různé. Často jde o rodinnou historii, zamilovanost – ať už do osoby českého pohlaví nebo do české kultury, historie nebo sportu či třeba hudby. Znám případ studenta, kterého ke studiu přivedla písnička Ivana Mládka Jožin z Bažin a dnes je z něj nadějný maďarský bohemista.
JF: The reasons why people decide to study a “small, far-away, exotic language” are many. It is often related to family history, or a love story — with a Czech person, or with Czech culture, history, sport or even music. I know the case of a student who came to study Czech because of a song by Ivan Mládek [a country music singer and famous humor comedian] called Jožin z Bažin, and today he is a promising Hungarian expert on Czech language and culture.
FN: What are the typical mistakes non-native speakers of Czech make when they translate into Czech?
JF: Mezi typické chyby patří “nečeský” slovosled, který je ve srovnání s jinými evropskými jazyky poměrně volný. Také samozřejmě dělají problémy koncovky, i když zrovna v soutěžních překladech mnoho chyb v koncovkách nebylo. A pak samozřejmě někdy až přílišná doslovnost, hlavně ustálená slovní spojení a předložkové vazby dělají problémy.
JF: A typical mistake is a non-Czech-sounding word order. Czech has a very free flowing order of words, compared to other European languages. Of course word endings [Czech, like most Slavonic languages flexes nouns, adjectives and verbs], although in the competition's translations we didn't have many of those [issues]. And sometimes, translations that are too literal, particularly for established phrases and prepositional constructions.
FN: You are yourself a translator. What are your thoughts about the future of non-literary translation? How do you see the relation between human translators and artificial intelligence (AI) evolving in the next five years?
JF Odborný překlad čeká další technologizace, nicméně si myslím, že stroje překladatele nenahradí. Spíše ulehčí a urychlí jejich práci. Strojový překlad se však nehodí na všechny typy textu. Navíc neupravený strojový překlad není okamžitě použitelný a vyžaduje důkladnou redakci zkušeného překladatele. Myslím si, že se dobrý překladatel bez výborné znalosti zdrojového a cílového jazyka neobejde ani v budoucnu – bez ohledu na pokrok v oblasti strojového překladu, který, a tady si troufnu hrát na proroka, nikdy nebude překládat stejně kvalitně jako překladatel z masa a kostí.
JF: Professional translation will see further use of technology yet I think machines will not replace human translators. Machines help their work, make it faster. Machine translation is not adequate for all types of texts. Besides an unedited machine translation is not immediately usable, and requires thorough editing by an experienced translator. I think that a good translator will not make it unless they have a good command of the source and target languages in the future, regardless of the progress made in the area of computer-assisted translation. If I may play prophet here, [I predict] it will never be able to deliver the same quality as a translator made of flesh and bones.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.

author: Filip Noubel


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Following COVID-19 closure, Ghibli Museum posts mini-tours online · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Totoro ticket booth” at Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo. By Flickr user chopperkuo. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
After closing temporarily because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one of Japan's most beloved tourist attractions is offering short virtual tours on YouTube.
The Ghibli Museum is located in Mitaka, a leafy suburb about twenty minutes west of central Tokyo by train, and is devoted to recreating not only the animated worlds of Studio Ghibli, but also the artistic process of the studio itself.
Studio Ghibli's films, which include “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki are popular with audiences all over the world. Each year the museum attracts thousands of visitors, and admission is limited. Only a certain number of visitors can enter the museum each day, and tickets typically must be reserved months in advance.
The museum has been closed since February 25. After sharing free-to-use backgrounds for web meetings to help people who must now work from home, Ghibli Studios have launched short video tours of the Ghibli Museum.
The five video tours begin with the museum exterior, before continuing on to various rooms and exhibits.
The room “Where a Film is Born” showcases “inspiration for what will go on to the blank piece of paper on the desk to become the origin of an actual film.”
All five videos can be viewed on Studio Ghibli's official YouTube channel.
YouTuber CocoTak has posted a slightly longer tour of the Ghibli Museum, including the journey from Mitaka Station:

author: Nevin Thompson


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Stranded Nepali migrant workers protest to return home, Nepali government drags its feet · Global Voices
Saprina Panday

All Glitter and No Glory — A migrant worker wipes sweat off his forehead after a long day of housekeeping work at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image by Student Media Grantee Puru Shah documenting the plight of labor migrants in the UAE and Nepal. Via Flickr account of Conflict and Development of Texas A&M. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
When Nepal went into a nationwide lockdown on March 24, it closed its borders to all incomers from high infection countries — including Nepali citizens. In April, the Nepali Supreme Court passed an order mandating that the government repatriate Nepalis living abroad; however, the government has yet to take action.
As stranded Nepalis wait for news about their repatriation, a group of migrant workers in the UAE are protesting against their employer, claiming that the COVID restrictions mean they are not getting paid. Faced with dwindling resources, the Nepali workers are asking to come home.
Without work and salary, Nepali migrants protest in Covid-hit UAE – The Kathmandu Post : https://t.co/wIwimul2DA
— News of Nepal (@NepNews) May 18, 2020
Around 500 workers at a hotel in Abu Dhabi claim they have not been paid for the past two months nor given work, and instead are being left to languish in crowded rooms. On their Facebook group, Nepalese living the UAE, one Nepali claims that they are being abandoned by both their employer and the Nepali government:
We have been waiting for so long to hear from the government, our two months of unpaid leave has ended, whatever little money we had with us is all finished now. The company is asking us to arrange our needs by ourselves from the first of June and has taken our signatures on resignation letters. Many Nepalese are facing problems. We have been calling the embassy but it is unreachable. The concerned authorities need to pay attention to us as soon as possible.
Ramesh Budhathoki, a Nepali migrant worker in UAE told The Kathmandu Post:
We are ready to stay in quarantine for as long as the government wants us to. They can put us in the jungle, far away from human settlements. We don’t want to spread Covid-19 in Nepal. We just don’t want to die in this desert.
The governments of India, France and Germany have organized charter flights for their own citizens, including those stranded in Nepal. For Nepalis, no such aid has been provided.
@PM_Nepal we are stranded abroad. please repatriate us or at least lift international flight ban for certain window. we can't sustain ourselves for much longer. covid19 is not going away soon, it will take long time for vaccine. so are we to suffer in foreign land until then?
— Shristi rai (@Shristi42261138) May 10, 2020
Living in an Emirati Workers quarter. In some workers’ quarters in the Musaffah industrial area of Abu Dhabi, up to 12 men live in a single room of approximately 100 square feet. Image by Puru Shah. Via Flicker account of condev.org. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Nepal has one of the highest levels of remittances as a share of GDP in the world (25.4 % in 2018-2019), and nearly 50% of every household in Nepal has at least one person living abroad. In an interview with the Kathmandu Post, Former labor minister Gokarna Bista accused the current government of abandoning the very workers who have long sustained the country's economy:
Many have lost their jobs. They are struggling with a shortage of food and proper accommodation. But the Nepal government has said that these workers cannot be brought home. While the host countries are asking them to go, the Nepal government is not willing to bring them home. These workers have for long given their blood and sweat to sustain the country’s economy. If the government does not show its responsibility and provide its guardianship to these workers, it is a serious issue.
However, the process of repatriating the huge numbers of migrants from around the world is a daunting task. The government will have to prioritize where to begin the repatriation process, and then upon arrival, where to quarantine the returnees. At present, the government is only too aware of the precarious state of the healthcare system which is ill-equipped to handle a large number of cases and where test kits are also limited.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, echoed this observation in March:
Nepali authorities have made little provision for returning citizens because they have few facilities to quarantine them.
Human rights groups like Amnesty International have maintained that the government must implement measures to protect people whose health and livelihoods are at risk and request international cooperation and assistance from the international community to ensure it can do so in an adequate and timely manner.
In April, Amnesty International called out the Nepali government for not doing enough to help its citizens:
Instead of proactively reaching out to Nepali migrant workers, the government seems to have limited itself to a weak information-sharing role. Last month, the foreign minister and the labour minister instructed Nepali missions in the Gulf to ‘remain in regular contact with Nepali nationals’, advising them to stay safe and take precautions, following the health protocols outlined by their host governments. They are not being supported as they contend with the prospect of contract terminations, delays or non-payments of salaries, forced unpaid leave, or being forced to work in hazardous conditions that put them at greater risk of contracting the virus.
In the meantime, lawmakers have suggested a phased approach to repatriation whereby the most vulnerable are returned first. It is estimated that 127,000 will return immediately, mostly from Qatar, although a date has yet to be fixed.
The UAE, which had previously shown a willingness to bear the cost of repatriating migrant workers, has been waiting on Nepal's permission to do so. Now that the protests have erupted, it is uncertain whether they will continue to wait.

author: Saprina Panday


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Fighting and writing for Moldova’s place in the pantheon of world literature · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Iulian Ciocan's novels in Romanian and in Czech and French translations.  Photo (c): Filip Noubel. Used with permission.
Moldova lies on cultural, linguistic, and geopolitical faultlines.
Until 1991 this eastern European country of around three million was part of the Soviet Union, where Russian was considered the language of prestige. Upon declaring independence, Moldova quickly reestablished strong cultural ties with Romania, its large neighbour to the West. Moldova was part of Romania between 1918 and 1940, and the two countries’ languages are entirely mutually intelligible — whatever speakers may call them.
Under Soviet rule, Moldovan was decreed a separate language from Romanian, and unlike Romanian was written with the Cyrillic alphabet. Today, both languages are written in the Latin alphabet. Many speakers in Moldova now consider this distinction artificial, and refer to their language as Romanian.
Iulian Ciocan holds translations of his novels in French and Czech. Chișinău, March 2018. Photo (c): Filip Noubel. Used with permission.
But Moldova's divisions are also (geo)political: as the Soviet Union collapsed, the country's eastern regions on the left bank of the River Dniester declared independence as Transnistria, where a predominantly Russian-speaking population looks at Moscow favourably.
Moldova's turbulent history and myriad identities has fascinated its artists and writers, who have sought to make sense of their country's self-perception and its place in the world.
One of them is Iulian Ciocan, a prominent journalist, literary critic, and author. Ciocan writes in Romanian and, like many Moldovans, speaks Russian fluently. He is one of the country's most acclaimed writers and has gained international recognition; in 2011 he spoke about his work at the PEN World Voices festival in New York. Ciocan was born in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău in 1968. Much of his work, including novels such as ‘Before Brezhnev Died’ and ‘The Realm of Sasha Kozak’, attempts to make sense of Moldovans’ daily lives, hopes, and dreams during the Soviet period.
His latest work, ‘The Queen of Hearts’, concerns the absurd fate of a corrupt official working in Chișinău's city hall — a fate which quite literally swallows him, and his country, whole. The gallows humour of Ciocan's novels has won him accolades; his work has been translated into over seven languages, including English. In 2018, he won the Coup de Coeur prize at the Salon du Livre des Balkans.
I asked Ciocan about his work, sources of inspiration, and the state of literature in Moldova today. The interview has been edited for brevity.
Filip Noubel Today, you are one of the most renowned and widely translated Moldovan authors, but that was a long journey. What were the main challenges you met on the way?
Iulian Ciocan: The first and biggest problem is that the Republic of Moldova is almost unknown. I write in a language which, although beautiful, is not widely used internationally. I assume that in the West, Moldova is less known than [North] Macedonia, Kosovo or Albania, which has the famous writer Ismail Kadare. Once, a foreign magazine sent me a parcel, but it had trouble reaching me, because it had been sent to the Maldives. Hence there is a certain distrust from foreign publishers regarding the literati of this small and little known place. Can they really write something remarkable? Of course they can, because your location is not what matters the most.
Yet it is very difficult to convince them, to make them really look at your texts. When I started writing prose at the age of 38, I couldn't even imagine having books published by foreign publishers. And even now I don't have that many. My ninth novel will soon get published abroad, but, believe me, many Moldovan writers cannot even dream of such a thing. I have never had a good literary agent, so it's not easy to interest foreign publishers. In stark contrast to this, all my translators are excellent and have often helped me to find my way to the publishers.
There are many problems, but if you keep complaining, you will not succeed. You have to write your stories, produce high quality texts. Then the problems will decrease.
English language translation of Ciocan's “Before Brezhnev Died,” published in 2019.
FN: What is the state of literature and publishing in Moldova today? Does the state offer any sort of support?
IC: The situation isn't very good. Reading [printed books] remains the privilege of a very small group of citizens: only around 12,000 people regularly buy books in Moldova, according to data circulated by publishers. Only two euros (US$2.20) are invested in books per capita per year, as opposed to 75 euros ($85) in Germany. The vast majority of writers write in Romanian and Russian, but I have the impression that the share of Moldovan writers on the Romanian market is higher than on the Russian market. As there aren't many readers, private publishers often rely on children's books or textbooks to get state grants.
FN: You share a language with Romania, as well as many cultural ties. Is this closeness an advantage or a challenge for Moldovan literature?
IC: Of course it's a big advantage. In fact, Romanian-language literature from Moldova is part of Romanian literature. The simple fact that they can publish their books in publishing houses in Romania and appear on a larger market is a great opportunity for writers in Chișinău. Of course, competition is more serious in Romania, but if you have something to say, if you have value, you have nothing to lose. I'll tell you a secret. I conceive my novels, even the dystopian ones, not only as a Bessarabian Romanian writer [Bessarabia is a historical region in eastern Europe encompassing Moldova and parts of Ukraine — ed.], but also as a writer who has experience of the Soviet past, as a man who lived on the Latin periphery of the Soviet empire. Thus there is no risk of being confused with Romanian writers.
FN: Moldova is not only known for its wine and textiles, but also for its mass emigration and endemic corruption. These issues feature prominently in your texts. Your latest novel, Dama de cupă (Queen of Hearts), starts with a description of corrupt schemes by state officials in Chișinău. What is the role of corruption in Moldova today? Is it changing?
IC: Corruption is, in my opinion, Moldova's biggest vice. Cynics and politicians here are not tired of stealing or taking bribes. And my feeling is that nothing changes. The anaemic civil society is also to blame; there is no sense of belonging to a community. But I want to make it clear that corruption is only one dimension of this particular novel. The pit that gradually swallows Chișinău appears as a result of a tiny, insignificant sin, although the protagonist has much greater sins, including the fact that he is corrupt to the bone. ‘The Queen of Hearts’ is a novel in which I tried to say something essential about the world we live in today. It is a dystopian novel, but also a metaphysical and political adventure.


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In Tunisia, women stand on the frontlines of targeted hate speech online · Global Voices
Yosr Jouini

A woman shouts into a loudspeaker at a protest in Tunisia, August 2013. Photo by Amine Ghrabi via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0.
In 2011, an uprising in Tunisia toppled the 23-year-rule of autocratic president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Since then, the Tunisian digital space has witnessed unprecedented, heated debates about politics and society.
This highly politically charged period — shaped largely by social media — has fueled tense online discussions that include harmful content, hate speech and verbal attacks against women.
These online campaigns often target women activists, journalists, and politicians in particular.
In February 2020, the Monitoring Unit of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) reported a drop in physical assaults against journalists. But the SNJT monitoring unit also warned of increased online attacks against journalists.
“There are fewer attacks compared to December 2019, but there is more violence on the internet and social media,” the SNJT monitoring unit said.
Frequently, the SNJT publishes statements condemning the spread of attacks and defamation campaigns against journalists on social media. In March, they  warned against using social media as a “field for campaigns of defamation and incitement against gender identities.”
In its statement, the union referred to campaigns that targeted two female journalists: Fadwa Chtourou and Malak al-Bakari.
Chtourou, who works with the public broadcaster, Wataniya 1, was targeted in a campaign on Facebook that bullied and mocked her for covering the aftermath of a terror attack on March 6 without wearing makeup. Supporters of Chtourou launched countercampaigns in her defense and women journalists from Tunisia and the region posted photos of themselves without makeup in solidarity.
Bakari, who works with the privately-owned Attesia TV channel, was targeted after appearing in a TV show wearing a short dress.
Many women activists and politicians have faced campaigns of gender-based attacks since 2011.
In 2017, a report authored by the Committee of Individual Liberties and Equality — created in 2017 by the late president Beji Caid Essebsi — recommended a set of legal reforms to enhance individual freedoms such as the decriminalization of homosexuality and equality in inheritance. The committee's president, Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, who is also a former Tunisian member of parliament, was subjected to hate speech campaigns on social media. The content became so violent that some commenters called for her murder.
“Almost every ten minutes, there is a publication that calls for murder and spreads rumors to raise a popular and violent movement against our work,” said Bochra Bel Haj Hmida in an interview published by NouvelObs in June 2018.
The late blogger and human rights defender Lina Ben Mhenni also endured attacks online as a well-known feminist figure. On a panel discussing violence against women online during Tunis Forum on Gender Equality 2019, Mhenni recounted her experience with online defamation campaigns, stating that in her case these attacks extended beyond Facebook comments to continuous stalking.
The Tunisian political scene online is also filled with racist speech. Jamila Ksiksi, a member of the Tunisian parliament, was subject to racist comments published by another member of parliament on his Facebook page. During a plenary session devoted to examining the 2019 Supplementary Finance Bill, Ksiksi called the deputies of PDL, Free Destourian Party, “bandits.” Following this incident, Saleh Neji, a PDL deputy, posted insults on his Facebook page that targeted Ksiksi with racist connotations, referring to her as a “slave” and a “monkey.”
A study on violence against women online conducted by the Tunisian Center for Research, Studies, Documentation and Information on Women (Credif), found that women react to their perpetrators in various ways. The most common first step is the immediate removal of perpetrators from friend lists. Some opt for silence while others respond directly to their perpetrators. Some report the harmful exchanges to relatives or file a legal complaint.
In an interview with Global Voices, feminist activist Feryel Charfeddine spoke about a series of Facebook posts that attacked her and her activist work in 2017. She told Global Voices:
As a victim of online hate speech myself, I reported the harmful content attacking me to Facebook. The platform was only responsive when I proceeded and followed the reports with the help of Access Now’s helpline. I recognize that I had a privilege compared to other victims. This is why many victims choose to leave Facebook. It’s not a safe place for women.
The digital rights organization’s helpline “provides rapid-response emergency assistance and digital security help for individuals and organizations around the world.’’
A number of activists and civil society organizations express fears that countering hate speech may be used as a pretext to exclude political opponents and restrict freedom of expression.
“As an advocate against prison sentences, I couldn’t proceed with legal procedures against my aggressors, however, I respect the decision of those who chose to do so,” said Charfeddine.
International human rights standards enshrine the rights to freedom of expression and opinion. However, these standards allow for limited and non-arbitrary restrictions to freedom of expression for ‘’legitimate’’ purposes. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Tunisia is a state party, allows restrictions if they are “provided by law” and “necessary” for “the respect of the rights or reputations of others.” While the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination calls for a ban on “all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred.”
In a similar context, in December 2019, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) filed a complaint about defamation, insults and gossip at the primary court in Tunis, against a man who attacked one of the association’s activists, Wafa Fraoues, via Facebook.
Fraoues works with Beity, a nonprofit organization that seeks to end all forms of discrimination against women and supports women victims of domestic violence.
The subject of the complaint was a Facebook post explicitly using Fraouses’ name and profession to insult her and publish accusations. The man who posted it later removed her name. He wrote that a man paid Fraoues for sex. He also wrote that this man's wife had received support from Beity after she was physically abused by him.
In March 2020, the first instance court sentenced the perpetrator to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine for the post.
In a published joint statement, the ATFD and Beity described the court’s decision as:
…[a]n appropriate judicial response to the demand of feminists and women in the necessity of stopping the impunity and it may be an incentive for women victims of violence, including digital violence, to resort to the judiciary in cases of moral, sexual, economic, political or physical abuse that affects them, regardless of their perpetrators.
The organization previously called on authorities to implement Law No. 58 of 2017 on countering violence against women “to protect women and specifically women human rights defenders from violence, and combat impunity.”
In 2017, Tunisia adopted an organic law on the elimination of violence against women which mandates the state’s engagement in prevention, prosecution of perpetrators and providing support for victims. In an unprecedented ruling, on May 8, a Tunisian court pronounced a protection order in favor of victims of online harassment that turns into stalking based on Article 33 of the law, which allows family judges to issue restraining orders.
In October 2018, the Tunisian parliament passed the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Act — a law that defines and criminalizes racial discrimination.
This new legislation — in addition to the 2014 constitution that guarantees freedom of conscience and thought as well as freedom of expression — provides a strong legal framework against hate speech.
However, most of this legislation does not explicitly cover cases of harassment and attacks on the basis of gender and race that takes place online.
Government and nongovernmental actors must ensure that magistrates are aware and properly educated on the implementation of legal provisions and appropriate referrals for cyber-hate speech victims.
Political parties can also play a role in raising awareness among citizens on their human rights online. Last year, during parliamentary and presidential election campaigns, a number of civil society organizations including Article 19 and the Tunisian League for Human rights (LTDH) called on candidates to “raise [their] voice in favor of minorities and vulnerable groups and to condemn hate speech and any other discriminatory actions against them.”
Gender-based violence and hate speech online takes a major toll on victims’ mental health.
Combatting this kind of harmful content online is the responsibility of multiple stakeholders:  Beyond the legal and technical solutions, targeted victims must receive ample support to deal with the serious consequences to their mental health and well-being.
This article is part of a series called “The identity matrix: platform regulation of online threats to expression in Africa.” These posts interrogate identity-driven online hate speech or discrimination based on language or geographic origin, misinformation and harassment (particularly against female activists and journalists) prevalent in digital spaces of seven African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

author: Yosr Jouini


text:
Meet the Uzbek activists using apps to connect gay men to HIV testing and care · Global Voices
Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska

Illustration (c): Inge Snip. Used with permission.
Dima* takes a sip of beer and his eyes fill with tears. He rarely talks about why he decided to put his activism on hold. He remembers that it was a rainy day in 2017 – the kind of day when residents of usually sunny Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, prefer to stay at home.
He had been planning to visit a local infectious diseases clinic with a man he had been in touch with. This man, a well-known Uzbek musician, had been feeling unwell for a long time, and Dima had promised to support him in getting his first HIV test. This was part of Dima’s activism. He had been using dating apps to offer support and advice to fellow gay men in Uzbekistan who felt they might be HIV positive – a journey of fear and despair that he’d gone through himself some years before.
But on that particular rainy day, he decided to stay at home and postpone the meeting. One day’s delay, he thought, would change nothing. Dima rang the musician the following morning. But he was no longer there to pick up the phone.
“I know that even if we had met that day, he probably would have died. He was very ill,” Dima says, staring at the pint in front of him. “But I could no longer do this. I had no more strength. Just like that, I reached my limits.”
He requested anonymity for this article for fear of retribution. He is one of the few activists in Uzbekistan encouraging gay men to get HIV tests and supporting them through the process.
Even before COVID-19 social distancing rules, Dima explains, gay Uzbeks did not form public or organised communities. They don’t have gay clubs or organisations that support them like shelters. They don’t gather in large groups in public places.
“Very few are willing to live openly,” says Shukhrat*, another gay man who grew up in the conservative city of Kokand and is now an entrepreneur who lives in Tashkent. “We live in a ‘dictatorship of society’,” he told me.
Uzbekistan is one of only two post-Soviet countries (the other is Turkmenistan), where male homosexual acts are still illegal. (Lesbian relationships are, however, legal). If caught, gay men face up to three years in prison under the infamous Article 120. While this law is rarely used in practice, rights activists say that criminalisation contributes to anti-LGBT stigma.
Since the current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, came to power in late 2016, Uzbekistan has been praised for its liberal reforms, releasing more than 50 high-profile political prisoners and allowing citizens to criticise the government openly.
But the gay community was not granted freedom. In 2018, Uzbek officials accepted a number of UN recommendations to improve the country’s human rights record, including eradicating the use of torture. The anti-gay law, however, stayed intact. Hostile attitudes towards gay people are also widespread in Uzbek society, with sometimes brutal consequences. In September 2019, a 25-year-old gay man, Shokir Shavkatov, was murdered in his apartment days after he came out on Instagram.
Read more: In Uzbekistan, where homosexuality is illegal, LGBTQ+ people must hide to survive
The number of people in Uzbekistan living with HIV has been increasing year on year according to UNAIDS, and while there is no specific data on the prevalence among LGBT people in the country, men who have sex with men are a key patient population globally. Uzbek rights advocates say that many gay men, particularly in small towns outside the capital, refuse to take regular HIV tests out of fear that medical professionals might discover and disclose their sexual identity, or HIV status, to their employers or families. Many people also lack knowledge of how HIV is transmitted. There is no compulsory sex education in schools. In 2010, activist Maxim Popov was sentenced to seven years in prison (since released) for raising awareness of HIV – deemed disrespectful of the national culture.
Under COVID-19 emergency measures, which include a full lockdown of major cities, HIV centres and therefore tests are even more difficult to access, especially outside the capital.
Irina* knows these challenges well. She supported HIV-positive patients as a social worker between 2011 and 2018, when her project finished and she lost her job. But she could not abandon the work itself. “The salary was gone, the work was gone, but people remained. You cannot throw them away like a piece of trash,” she says.
“I know what to do when a person is standing in front of me. The doctors diagnose him, they tell him ‘You have HIV’ – and then they leave him in the office. He stays alone with me. There are usually four reactions. Tears, hysteria, fainting, cold laughter. He is told that he is positive, he sits and laughs. This is the hardest moment.”
And so Irina registered a profile under a male pseudonym on online gay dating platforms and wrote in her description that she provides HIV counselling and support.
“They know me by the name of Nikita”, she says. “Many people write to me. I send them to places where they can get tested for HIV, and if they need further help I support them as much as I can. Someone has a friend who needs help – he brings him to me.”
With some other activists, Irina also created a channel on Telegram, one of the most popular apps in Uzbekistan, for people to find out more about HIV prevention and treatment.
Read more: How Uzbeks learned to love (and live) on the Telegram messenger app
On the channel, she provides advice on how to access HIV medication. Until summer 2021, such treatment – currently paid for by the Global Fund and the Uzbek government – is free. (After that, it’s unclear whether patients will still be able to access free treatment.)
Irina is also active offline, volunteering in clinics to help ensure that medical professionals treat patients seriously and provide them with accurate information.
Though it’s not illegal to treat gay people in Uzbekistan, and doctors must protect their patients’ identities, she says, homophobia often gets in the way of professional responses.
She describes what happened to one young man. “He went to a clinic to get tested anonymously and left his phone number. Soon after, a nurse called him saying that if he does not return that same day, she will have to call the police. He was shocked. First, because this is how he found out about his status. Second, because of the nurse’s attitude.”
He did not tell his family at home, she adds, “I got him registered and he received treatment. But his relatives somehow managed to find out and said he should be taken to the mosque, because there is a ‘shaitan’ [demon] in him. Homosexuality is often treated in mosques.”
Some families are more accepting. Dima lives with his boyfriend, and says both of their parents accepted the relationship. He came out at work too, but says that for many gay Uzbeks, especially those outside the capital, living openly is out of the question.
In this context, he argues “any change should start from below.” To this end, both Irina and Dima continue their hidden activism. For Dima, this now means supporting the gay men that he already knows in his community. Irina is still active online.
But both of these activists conclude that without support from public authorities, a nationwide information campaign about HIV, sex education in schools and decriminalisation of homosexuality, their work and its impact will remain limited.
It will also be hard to bear. “You face it every day. The person is looking at you. He already weighs only 40 kilos, his lymph nodes are huge, his temperature is just under 40°C, the diarrhoea does not stop, and he asks you: ‘Am I going to survive this?’” Irina says. “Of course you will, I answer, but I never really know myself.”
*Names have been changed.
This article was originally published by 50:50, openDemocracy's section on LGBTQ+ and women's rights. It is republished here with permission, and has been edited for style.

author: Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska


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Nepal’s first 360 degree virtual contemporary art exhibition · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Screenshot of the Museum of Nepali Art webpage.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 outbreak that has engulfed the world has not only affected Nepal's health sector but it has also brought all cultural activities to a halt.
Nepal extended its lockdown measures until June 2, and all cinema halls and theatres are closed. However, for art enthusiasts forced to spend most of their time at home, Nepal’s first virtual art exhibition can be explored from the comfort of their homes.
First MONA exhibition – never thought it would happen in such unimaginable times. But creativity flourishes more when times are difficult. Here are the best expressions of life during Corona in Nepal. Hope you all reflect and enjoy !! #museumofnepaliart #tangentialstress  #firstexhibition #onlineart #kathmanduguesthouse
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Created by 19 renowned Nepali artists, the artwork is being showcased in an online virtual exhibition named ‘Tangential Stress’ by the Museum of Nepali Art (MoNA). By definition, it means a force acting in a generally horizontal direction especially, invisible energy that produces mountain folding and over thrusting. The original versions of the artwork in the collection can be seen at MoNA’s gallery in Kathmandu Guest House.
‘Tangential Stress’ features work by leading Nepali artists such as Batsa Gopal Baidya, Erina Tamrakar, Rajani Singkhwal, Manish Lal Shrestha, and more. A full list of the artists involved can be found here.
First MONA exhibition – never thought it would happen in such unimaginable times. But creativity flourishes more when times are difficult. Here the best expressions of life during Corona in Nepal. Hope you all reflect and enjoy !! #museumofnepaliart #tangentialstress  #firstexhibition #onlineart #kathmanduguesthouse
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According to Rajan Sakya, the exhibition curator and director of MoNA:
Most people [facing the stress due to COVID-19] have absorbed and tolerated these unseen energies, coping and reacting accordingly. These energies have emitted in many ways for many people; some have gained weight, some have lost weight, some have exercised, some have become couch potatoes, some have become selfish, some have helped other people, and these “Nepalese ARTISTS” have expressed themselves in colors, strokes and mediums.
This exhibition, entitled “Tangential Stress”, is a paroxysm of emotions, hoping we become less complacent, more appreciative of our nature and life, and teaching us humility.
Why did it take a pandemic to make us realize who the real life heroes are ?? People have been blindly idolizing celebrities and influencers with a few thousand social media followers. The superficiality of it all !!! Medics don’t even have time to be on social media … they are busy doing the “real work.” . . “This painting is a portrayal of a real-life female doctor who shouldered the responsibility of saving lives. A mother of a 6-month-old child leaves the safety of her house and her love for her newborn, to save someone else’s. What do we call this kind of selflessness? The artist, Pramila Bajracharya dedicates this painting to all the fearless health workers who risk their life for someone else’s.” . . Covid 19 has made us realize to NOT idolize people who are working only to boost themselves all the time …but to give more RESPECT to those selfless souls serving humanity … . . Do look at the first online MONA exhibition presenting Covid lockdown expressions from Nepal’s top contemporary artists. . . insta – @museum_of_nepali_art  FB – Museum of Nepali Art visit www.mona.com.np for 360 virtual tour !!! ……Thank you !!! #museumofnepaliart #tangentialstress  #firstexhibition #onlineart #kathmanduguesthouse
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In the foreword for the exhibition, Dr. John Clarke, curator of the Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art and Victoria & Albert Museum in the UK, writes:
The local cost of the virus and lockdown to the people of Nepal are echoed in several works yet the global nature of the pandemic is also often featured.
One of the participating artists, Ranju Yadav, conceived her second child last October, and has been struggling to protect herself and her baby from the coronavirus. She mentioned:
[…] millions of pregnant women, including me, have been in a close fight with the Corona Virus [sic] by shielding and taking care of their own wombs.
As a pregnant artist, I depict the above-mentioned idea in my Mithila artwork. The pregnant woman in the artwork is protecting her unborn baby by covering the womb by her hands. She dares not to wear a mask because she has to take double breathe [sic] for herself and her baby. […]
When will audiences visit cultural spaces, art galleries, and theatres again? No one has the answer to this question yet. But, in this time of uncertainty, these Nepali artists are just a click away.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


text:
Burundi voted — but will the political situation change? · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

A person votes in Burundi elections in the northern province of Kirundo, Burundi. Photo by Brice Blondel via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Burundians voted on May 20 in the first round of presidential, deputy, and councilor elections — with most attention on the president.
President Pierre Nkurunziza, with the ruling Council for the Defense of Democracy — Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party, returned for a controversial third term in 2015. But after 15 years in power, he did not run again.
Throughout the entire election process, ongoing concerns over security continue to loom.
Several violent incidents were reported on election day. A member of the opposition party National Freedom Congress (CNL) was found dead in Rumonge district, and various CNL polling station monitors were arrested.
Burundi has registered 5.1 million voters but citizens abroad were unable to vote. Refugees were also not able to vote due to a lack of identification. According to the United Nations, there are 330,000 registered refugees plus 87,000 otherwise recorded in the region.
RFI reported a high turnout and Iwacu newspaper showed long queues to vote early in the morning. There were some reports of voter registration irregularities and the withholding of voter cards.
However, outgoing President Nkurunziza, and Évariste Ndayishimiye, presented as Nkurunziza's “heir,” said that the elections went well.
Partial results from 12 percent of the districts were unexpectedly announced on May 21, giving around 80 percent of the votes to Ndayishimiye.
Opposition CNL party candidate Agathon Rwasa rejected these initial results as “fanciful,” saying there was proof of fraud, including ballot-box stuffing, and that he would appeal. Contested results could further deepen tensions.
Many expect ruling party candidate Ndayishimiye to become president in an even more powerful position after the 2018 constitutional changes — with a seven-year term.
The results are expected within a week.
Social media was blocked early on May 20 until the following evening. With the restrictive media environment and a lack of independent electoral observers, Reporters Without Borders criticized elections as occurring “behind closed doors”:
⚠ Alert: Social media and messaging apps disrupted in #Burundi on election day; real-time network data show Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp unavailable via leading network operators; incident ongoing ?
? https://t.co/lPlbogsFLZ pic.twitter.com/T9CGP2wPB8
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) May 20, 2020
The government highlighted its financing of these elections independent of aid. However, the International Crisis Group (ICG) described the “voluntary” public collection of funds as a “confiscatory and arbitrarily administered system of forced contributions.”
Some opponents questioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), criticizing the over-representation of ruling party supporters among polling station monitors, and not publishing the list of registered voters. The Council for the Defense of Democracy party (CNDD) withdrew from elections, criticizing irregularities and closed political space.
Ahead of elections, Iwacu newspaper lamented politicized violence, while Burundi Human Rights Initiative described a “facade” of peace, with systematic repression, uninvestigated deaths and international “inertia.”
Ruling party candidate Ndayishimiye said the elections would be secure, speaking after clashes between security forces and gunmen in February. Despite this narrative of calm, though, the UN Commission of Inquiry warned of a “spiral of violence.”
Days before the election, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ruling government kicked out World Health Organization country representatives.
Human Rights Watch wrote:
As the government kicks out the @WHO team and elections approach, a perfect storm is brewing in #Burundi. New dispatch for @hrw https://t.co/FBdSa3vsSK
— Lewis Mudge (@LewisMudge) May 14, 2020
Despite a few reported cases of COVID-19, there are concerns over limited measures and underreporting. During campaigning, distancing measures and the topic itself was reportedly forgotten.
East African Community members were called on as election observers. However, on May 8, officials required a 14-day quarantine on arrival, due to COVID-19, making it unworkable. CENI said there were some observers from various embassies.
CENI initially rejected four out of the ten submissions for presidential candidates. On appeal, ex-president Domitien Ndayizeye was accepted as the seventh candidate with the Kira-Burundi party.
While there are seven candidates and numerous parties, Iwacu observed the ruling CNDD-FDD and opposition CNL parties remain the political centers of gravity.
Several smaller parties, some effectively ruling party CNDD-FDD “satellites,” supported their candidates.
The ICG said the final result was not completely certain, given the successful campaign of opposition CNL candidate Agathon Rwasa.
ICG also noted that CNDD-FDD candidate Ndayishimiye has to manage party factions and Nkurunziza’s lasting influence.
Kira-Burundi party and UPRONA with candidate Gaston Sindimwo (current first vice-president), suffered splits. Opponents in exile boycotted this time, but they are also weakened by divisions and the failure of mediated dialogue.
Analyst Thierry Vircoulon argued that the ruling party benefits from the existence of opposition voices but only to give an appearance of democracy. Change appears unlikely with the new candidate because the “council of generals” within the ruling party remains the locus of power.
The campaign officially ran between April 27 and May 17. SOS Médias Burundi, though, reported Imbonerakure (CNDD-FDD party youth) campaigning beforehand and using intimidation tactics — even entering people's houses, notably in “opposition” neighborhoods. They also reportedly coerced people to show support, including moto-taxi drivers and school children.
Many were also frustrated by delayed voter cards, even after the deadline was extended, and some CNL supporters accused Imbonerakure of withholding their cards.
Iwacu and RFI described a campaign marked by violence, including murders, kidnappings, fights and interference in rallies. These acts are disproportionately committed by CNDD-FDD supporters, often with complicity from police, although all campaigns were affected.
Opponents criticized arbitrary arrests, including over 200 CNL supporters and several candidates. Analyst Julien Nimubona told Iwacu that the CNL's popularity provoked a repressive reaction from the CNDD-FDD government.
CENI’s president said the campaign went well and CNL supporters were not targeted. Police spokesperson Pierre Nkurikye even blamed CNL supporters for most incidents, although the Burundi Human Rights Initiative said this lacked credibility and neutrality.
Most candidates focused on economic development in their messaging, and independent candidate Dieudonne Nahimana focused on youth. Political language often became confrontational, though.
In CNDD-FDD ruling-party candidate Ndayishimiye's speeches, he referred to the 2015 crisis and said his party could not be stopped from winning again as they had a “divine mission.”
CNDD-FDD speeches often evoke god, protecting them from enemies, including Rwanda and Western states. They often denounce critics as imperialists to discredit them, positioning itself as a “liberator.”
Ndayishimiye likened opponents to supporters of the colonial-era Parti Democratique Chretien and said opponents provoked CNDD-FDD supporters.
CNL's Rwasa said people would not accept electoral fraud, and he argued CNL supporters should not be held responsible if they defend themselves. A police spokesperson and interior minister then accused him of inciting violence. Rwasa reiterated that they did not want conflict.
Leonce Ngendakumana, the Sahwanya-Frodebu party candidate, also criticized the CNDD-FDD’s rule. Francis Rohero, an independent candidate, said he viewed Rwasa and Ndayishimiye similarly — both ex-rebels focused only on their supporters.
The new president will face pressing questions on international relations, political and media space, inclusive economic policies, and impunity.
After the 2015 elections, protests and a failed putsch followed, which triggered repression of opponents, media and civil society, rebel attacks and economic strife. Several hundred thousand fled the political and economic crisis as refugees.
International relations deteriorated, and Burundi unprecedentedly left the International Criminal Court after it began investigating rights abuses.
The now-banned rights group Ligue Iteka recorded “hidden crimes” of 549 forced disappearances since 2015 and 67 killings between January and March 2020.

author: Liam Anderson


text:
From counterterrorism to counter-COVID-19, governments use crises to impose continuous states of emergency in the Middle East · Global Voices
Saoussen Ben Cheikh

In response to COVID-19, governments around the world have declared states of emergency, allowing them to take exceptional measures to contain the pandemic.
A municipal worker disinfecting surfaces in the capital Tunis, Tunisia. Photo credit: Lost in Tunis blog [Used with permission].
Liberal democracies from the United States, Canada to European countries, Malaysia and South Africa imposed emergency measures that restricted mobility under lockdowns. Likewise, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), authorities declared states of emergency and imposed exceptional measures such as curfews and home confinement.
In a region plagued by decades of instability and conflict, authorities have long used exceptional and temporary emergency orders to justify repression and curb human rights. Based on this precedent, a number of governments are now using the coronavirus crisis to further crackdown on human rights — particularly freedom of expression.
When faced with an imminent threat such as disease or natural disaster, states can legally declare a state of emergency that allows authorities to temporarily exercise exceptional powers. This may include the suspension of basic human rights and freedoms such as restriction of movement or banning public gatherings.
However, “governments must inform the population of its exact substantive, territorial and temporal scope and the related measures,” when activating these measures, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR):
Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, even perpetuate their time in power. They should be used to cope effectively with the pandemic, nothing more, nothing less. says @UNHumanRights Chief https://t.co/xUufH1WJGc pic.twitter.com/LC40UJk1ut
— Inter Press Service (@ipsnews) May 3, 2020
Under international human rights law, there are limits to what a state of emergency grants governments. The OHCHR recommends that “all measures taken during emergency rules to be proportionate and limited to those strictly required by the exigencies of the situation. (…) The military should not conduct policing functions.”
Certain basic human rights cannot be suspended. These include “the right to life, the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, the prohibition of discrimination, and freedom of religion, as well as the right to a fair trial and freedom from arbitrary detention and the right to judicial review of detention,” said Human Rights Watch on March 20, in response to Jordan's declaration of a state of emergency.
In the MENA region, governments were quick to react and exercise full powers, even when there were only a few COVID-19 cases.
On March 5, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a 30-day state of emergency after coronavirus cases were reported in the city of Bethlehem. On March 13, Mauritania followed suit and declared a state of emergency after the first case in the country was reported.
On March 16, it was Sudan’s turn to declare a state of emergency, following the death of a COVID-19 patient. The next day, Jordan’s King Abdullah II issued a royal decree granting his prime minister sweeping powers, including the ability to “monitor the content of newspapers, ads, and any other method of communication prior to publication, and to censor and shut down any outlet without justification.”
In Morocco, on March 20, King Mohamed VI declared a state of emergency, allowing the government to “take all necessary measures to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.”
Governments were able to quickly adopt exceptional measures, imposing general lockdowns and curfews, banning gatherings, shutting down schools, businesses and courts by decrees without parliamentary or judicial oversight.
While these measures may be justified to contain the spread of the virus, emergency powers carry an inherent risk of undermining the rule of law.
In MENA in particular, governments and authoritarian regimes have a record of abusing the state of emergency status to suspend democratic institutions and human rights over long periods.
For example, a number of governments in the region have previously exploited the “war on terror” to extend their powers, turning what was supposed to be a temporary state of emergency into a permanent one lasting for decades.
Algeria was under emergency rules for nearly 20 years following a brutal conflict with Islamist militants in the1990s. Peaceful protests were barred, political freedoms were repressed, the media was censored and arbitrary detentions were common. It was only lifted in the wake of the Arab spring in 2011.
Egypt was under a continuous state of emergency for three decades following the 1981 assassination of former President Anwar al-Saddat. Protesters demanded to lift the emergency status during the Arab Spring and finally succeeded in 2012. However, in January 2013, emergency law was reintroduced by the late President Mohamed Morsi — ousted in a military coup in 2013 — to curb renewed unrest.
Since then, Egypt has alternated between periods of non-emergency and emergency rule, regularly extended since 2017, when terrorist attacks on two churches occurred. These emergency measures resulted in systematic abuses of power used to restrict public gatherings, media freedom and detain people for any period of time and for virtually any reason.
Egypt remains at the bottom of most human rights indexes, ranking 166 in the World Press Freedom Index, for example.
Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since 2015, following a terrorist attack against a bus carrying presidential guards. It has since been continuously extended, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in 2017 to declare it a violation of international law.
Across the MENA region, the military has played a key role in enforcing emergency COVID-19 measures and crackdowns on freedom of expression have increased.
In March 2020, authorities in Jordan, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen issued decrees banning print newspapers until further notice, despite a lack of correlation between newspapers and COVID-19.
Various governments also adopted broad cybercrime laws to criminalize disinformation and fake news. In April 2020, the Algerian government passed a law criminalizing “fake news” deemed harmful to “public order and state security.”
Countering disinformation has been used in the region as a rationale for criminalizing anyone who posts content that challenges the official state narrative. Morocco has detained and prosecuted at least a dozen people for “spreading rumors” or disseminating “fake news” about COVID-19 on social media.
Even as countries curb the spread of the virus, they are still enforcing states of emergency without giving an indication of a timeline to return to normal. Jordan and Tunisia continue to impose a nightly curfew, even though the coronavirus is “contained,” on the basis of concerns of a potential second wave.
In the Middle East, fighting terrorism used to be the umbrella under which states of emergency were justified and maintained. Now, COVID-19 serves as a new justification for sweeping powers.
Finding a balance between national security and fundamental rights is a grey area that leaves ample room for interpretation.
The temptation to abuse powers when citizens are most vulnerable and need protection is real. A strong system of checks and balances must protect fundamental rights during an emergency. Ultimately, “the test of every nation is how it treats its citizens in times of crisis,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

author: Saoussen Ben Cheikh


text:
Labour, migrant rights under spotlight as Thailand wrestles with COVID-19 impact · Global Voices
Prachatai

Workers in Thailand change shifts at a fish cannery that employs 6,000 mostly Burmese migrant workers. Photo by Solidarity Center/Jeanne Hallacy. 2014. Flickr. (CC BY-ND 2.0)
This edited article by Thammachart Kri-aksorn is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, and is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The Thai Ministry of Labour has invoked an Emergency Decree to prohibit labor strikes and lockouts during the COVID-19 outbreak. Any labour disputes will be now be transferred to the Labour Relations Committee appointed by Chatumongol Sonakul, the Minister of Labour.
The order entered force on May 6.
Under normal circumstances, Thai law allows strikes and lockouts for irreconcilable disputes, except in essential infrastructure industries. The government can intervene only when the country is under martial law or an emergency decree, or when the Minister of Labour rules that labor disputes may affect the economy or public order, such as is the case at the moment.
The order was issued in an attempt to mitigate surging unemployment resulting from government measures taken to control COVID-19. On May 13 the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare called for business owners to consider labour relations principles before laying off employees, including alternative cost-cutting and improved human resources management.
Anusorn Tamajai, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Rangsit University, questioned whether government intervention has helped. On May 10, Anusorn expressed concern that the prohibition on strikes may increase lay-offs and worsen working conditions as business owners struggle to cut costs. The problem cannot be solved by more prohibition, but by more protection, said Anusorn.
In his advice to the Ministry of Labour, Anusorn suggested that in order to slow lay-offs, the Ministry should amend the Labour Protection Act and extend compensation for all unemployed persons for two months, regardless of how long they were employed for.
The Ministry of Labour said that as of May 10, a million people have registered for unemployment compensation. This surge  has overwhelmed the system, resulting in delays processing money transfers.
These delays have deepened economic hardship. On May 12 a group of unemployed gathered at the headquarters of the Office of Social Security and threatened to jump off a building unless the compensation money was transferred by May 15.
Dr Duangrit Benjathikul Chairungruang, Deputy Minister of Labour, said that from April 20 to May 11, the Office of Social Security had transferred 3,997 million baht (125,500 US dollars) to 706,633 unemployed.
Whether employers close businesses themselves or by order of the government, the unemployed will get 62% of their daily salary for a maximum of 90 days.
Those who do not get approval to receive compensation can file an appeal to the Office by May 18.
There was much debate about whether the Office of Social Security should increase the amount of compensation from 62% to 75% of daily salaries.
The Office, however, rejected the proposal, claiming that the increase will make the Social Security system unsustainable in the long run.
On May 13, Theanrat Nawamawat, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, revealed that a 30-year-old, four-months pregnant Myanmar migrant worker came to the Ministry to request help. Wa Wa Thuay had worked in Nakhon Pathom for four years with registration documents. After her employer closed the business due to the outbreak of COVID-19, she had nowhere to go.
Her husband was also working in Thailand, but had to go back to Myanmar to renew his work permit.
He was prevented from coming back to his wife when the Thai-Myanmar border was closed due to COVID-19. Lacking a job, money or relatives in Thailand,Wa Wa Thuay wanted to go back to her husband and family in Myanmar.
The Ministry coordinated with the Myanmar Embassy’s labour attaché to return Wa Wa Thuay to her homeland. Ministry officials will accompany her to the border at Mae Sot, Tak Province, and facilitate paperwork for her to get home.
Despite a positive conclusion to the case, structural problems remain. So far, Thailand's policies towards foreign migrant workers have focused more on prevention and containment of COVID-19. The Thai government started to close its land borders on March 23 and allowed foreign migrant workers to extend their stay until May 30. Leaflets, masks, and hand-sanitizing gels have been distributed. Checklists and screening procedures have been imposed in workplaces.
According to the Ministry of Labour, there were 2,814,481 registered foreign migrant workers in Thailand as of March this year.
The Office of Social Security reported in April last year that 1,017,732 foreign migrant workers have social security.
More than half of all migrant workers, therefore, seem to lack state protections.
Some migrant workers arrived in Thailand under MOUs that the Thai government reached with neighbouring countries to facilitate labor migration.
Others come to Thailand through different channels, both legal and illegal. Usually, all of them require the help of employers or brokers to process documents for them. The fundamental problem is that the system is badly designed.
Johnny Adikharee, the leader of a Myanmar labour union in Thailand, believes that 95% of migrant workers do not know about the benefits of social security. Even for those who do know about it, procedures are too complicated.
Suthasinee Keawleklai, Coordinator of the Migrant Workers Rights Network, said that in order to ask for compensation for lay-offs, a migrant worker not only has to ask for a letter of approval from the employer but must go through both the Department of Employment and the Office of Social Security.
Most of the time, a migrant worker needs to hire a lawyer to get through the process.
Suchat Pornchaiwiseskul, Director-General of the Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour, insisted that there is no discrimination since the Thai government applies the same law to both Thai and migrant workers.
If there is unfair treatment, they can ask the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare for support.
Migrant workers who have no access to social security tend to work in seasonal agriculture and fisheries. Although they have no social security, employers tend to buy health insurance for them.
Still, the Ministry of Labour should improve the system to make it more accessible, said Sompong Srakaew of the Labour Rights Promotion Network.
Sompong said that at present, the system forces migrant workers to pay significant sums to navigate the documentation process. It also makes migrant workers heavily reliant on employers.
Sometimes, an employee pays an employer every month [to cover] social security, but the employer does not pay their social security. Or in the case of MOUs, where the Thai government attempts to legalise all foreign migrant workers, processing documents themselves or through middlemen is expensive. Workers have no money for it, like 1,900 baht (59.6 US dollars) for a 2-year visa. Some just become illegal workers, and then they get exploited by the brokers, the employers, or even the officials.

author: Prachatai


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‘One Country, Two Systems’ on the line as national security law looms over Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Street banner: Hong Kong stays firm. Red characters: National security law. Yellow characters: One Country One System. Image from Stand News, Globalvoices’ content partner.
A resolution tabled at China's National People’s Congress (NPC) is threatening to derail the freedoms that distinguish Hong Kong from China and override what remains of the city's autonomy.
On May 22 at the NPC in Beijing, the most important event in China's political calendar, a draft was tabled entitled “The NPC’s decision on establishing a sound legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong special administrative region.”
The so-called “sound legal system and enforcement mechanism” could bypass Hong Kong legislation and empower the Standing Committee of the NPC to insert the national security law into ANNEX III of the city's mini-constitution, as written in article 6 of the draft decision:
…the NPC Standing Committee makes the decision to include relevant laws into Annex III of the Basic Law of the HKSAR, and the HKSAR promulgates and implements them.
Phoebe Kong, East Asia Correspondent for DW News posted the official documents on Twitter:
#Breaking thread: Official doc of #HongKong national security law resolution revealed by souces – the new law will prohibit secession, subversion of state power, terrorism & foreign interference. It'll be listed under annex 3 of basic law, bypassing scrutiny of local legislature. pic.twitter.com/nAqX4lenlY
— Phoebe Kong 江穎怡 (@phoebe_kongwy) May 22, 2020
Annex III in Hong Kong's basic law originally contained a set of five national laws including the National Flag and Emblem Law that were directly enforced in Hong Kong following its handover from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.
Beijing's move to insert a new national security law there sets a worrying precedent through which Annex III can be used to impose other Chinese laws, such as the Cybersecurity Law, onto Hong Kong.
In addition to the direct application of the national security law in Hong Kong, the NPC decision allows Beijing to set up security agencies in Hong Kong, local public broadcaster RTHK reported on Twitter:
Mainland departments involved in defending national security will be able to set up in #HongKong, under the legislation Beijing is planning to add into Annex 3 of the Basic Law.
Full story: https://t.co/ooEf5GUENO pic.twitter.com/s6BAVXFhV9
— RTHK English News (@rthk_enews) May 22, 2020
The decision also requires the Hong Kong government to enact its own national security law according to Article 23 of the Basic Law, which would provide the legal basis for the expansion of related law enforcement units.
Under the law, Hong Kong's Chief Executive will be required to report regularly to the Central Government on the city’s performance in safeguarding national security, implementing national security education and forbidding acts endangering national security.
The national security law has been a controversy since the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.
Article 23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law, requires Hong Kong to enact laws on its own to prohibit “any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.”
A national security bill was henceforth tabled at the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2003. But the bill triggered a giant city-wide protest and was dropped, despite insistence from the mainland.
Beijing's efforts to introduce a controversial China extradition bill via its proxies in the LegCo last year meanwhile sparked the biggest anti-government protests in Hong Kong's history, which forced the bill's withdrawal.
Despite Beijing labelling the protests as acts of terrorism — all the more notable in the context of the looming legislation — the results of district elections held in the city last year indicated strong popular support for pro-democracy, pro-autonomy politicians. This is notwithstanding the negative economic impact of the year-long demonstrations.
At the NPC, Wang Chen, the vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee cited the Hong Kong protests as a national security risk that “challenged the bottom line of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle, harmed the rule of law, and threatened national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Wang stressed that acts undermining national security should be “punished” and blamed troublemakers and “external hostile forces” for the city’s failure to pass its own national security law.
The NPC, which exists to rubber stamp important government legislation, will finish its work on May 28.
In Hong Kong, the NPC’s decision is being widely interpreted as the end of “One Country, Two Systems” — a concept to safeguard the ex-colonial city's political autonomy, which was written into the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Distinguished journalist Melissa Chan was disheartened to see such a development:
Hong Kong as we understood it has died. If you know anyone from Hong Kong, or whose family came from Hong Kong, understand today is a day like no other, and that a part of our hearts have died. If you're in a position to, send them your love, support, and courage.
— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) May 21, 2020
Hong Kong’s real estate and financial markets were roiled:
Real estate companies and financials were among the biggest victims in a stock market sell-off in Hong Kong on Friday after China submitted a security law proposal for the city that has fanned fears of fresh protests. https://t.co/yBkFHFvZu9
— Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy) May 22, 2020
Local search engine data showed a rapid surge in searches involving “national security law”（國安法）and “emigration” (移民) after news about the resolution was first reported on the eve of the NPC opening.
Despite the bleak political situation activists in Hong Kong remain resilient.
Joshua Wong, a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party, who advocated for the enactment of Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the U.S., said that he and other activists would “stand firm”:
The Chinese Communist Party is definitely trying to wipe out Hong Kong’s connection with the international community with a catch-all tactic. But no matter what, I have the duty to stand firm with my position. There is no reason to give up on fostering possibilities for gaining international support. I never regret pushing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act forward. Even though this could someday incriminate us and be the excuse to wipe us out, Demosisto takes pride in our devotion to connect Hong Kong and the world.
Nathan Law, a former lawmaker who was disqualified following an oath-taking scandal in 2017 said:
One of the major reasons the Chinese Communist Party has opted for doing it now is to restrain the international community from standing with Hong Kong, but we must strive for the world’s support. Using Twitter, Facebook, sharing news, personal commentary, signing petitions, raising concerns are basic freedoms on the Internet. If the autocracy unreasonably stifles Hongkongers’ mildest acts, it will definitely fuel resistance…
We need the strongest determination to confront the most evil era in history.
Kevin Yam, a lawyer and activist, said that he believed Hong Kongers would survive the assault on its autonomy.
I understand the high emotions over what’s happening to #HongKong. But #HK is NOT dead. We have some of the most nimble, resilient, resourceful, pragmatic people on this planet. Our way of life may soon be circumscribed but we will find a way to survive and prosper through this.
— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) May 22, 2020

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Slovenian protesters channel Katie Melua to explain anti-corruption bicycle movement · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Slovenian bicycle protesters including a man with banners reading “Death to fascism” and “Freedom to the people.” Photo: Screencap from video by Bajk Štrajk/YouTube.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
А Slovenian protest song with a mellow melody uncharacteristic of its genre has gone viral across the Balkans.
The song's authors describe it as:
Protestna pesem proti korupciji, proti zlorabi moči, proti nasilju nad državljankami in državljani, proti nasilju nad demokracijo in različnostjo.
A protest song against corruption, against abuse of power, against violence against female and male citizens, against violence against democracy and diversity.
Thousands of cyclists have been riding out weekly protests on the streets of the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, and other towns to protest against the new administration, which took office on March 13.
The song “10,000 bicycles in Ljubljana” by Prešerne Misli, which has Slovenian and English language versions, was published on the Bajk Štrajk (Bike Strike) YouTube channel.
The government of the Republic of Slovenia is headed by controversial Prime Minister Janez Janša, who has made a political comeback after spending six months in jail on bribery charges in 2014.
His Slovenian Democratic Party is part of an informal and illiberal alliance of populist and pro-autocratic parties headed by Hungaria's ruling party Fidesz.
PM Janša's government announced a new “anti-Corona law” on April 30, to protect the health of their citizens and “revive the economy — especially the building sector.”
However, the government snuck in measures to completely undermine environmental safeguards, causing environmental organizations to protest.
According to BirdLife International:
This new law is so outlandish, it has been sent to Slovenia’s Constitutional court for review. Parts of it may be in direct violation of both the Slovene Constitution and the Aarhus convention.
The protest song also targets the divisive populist policies practiced by the ruling party, including promotion of hate speech by affiliated media.
Nehajte nas deliti že na pol
Kot zareza
Desnica ali levica
Ta razdor vam služi le kot pretveza
Dear government please stop dividing us in half,
right and left.
It doesn't matter any more.
All that matters is for you to show respect.
On March 27, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)  and six other press freedom organizations warned that Slovenian investigative journalist Blaž Zgaga had been targeted by a hate campaign fueled by the government on social networks and in the media.
The campaign began after Zgaga sent an official Freedom of Information Request on the COVID-19 pandemic to authorities in Ljubljana.
International and local civil society organizations have urged the European Commission to do everything in its power to guarantee Zgaga's safety and to ensure that death threats and attacks against him are treated with the utmost seriousness by the Slovenian authorities.
Protestiramo v miru
Z maskami čez obraz
Kljub epidemiji
Treba reči, da dovolj je na glas.
We'll protest in peace,
with masks on our faces.
And we'll keep distance.
We won't let our health system collapse.
The Slovenian bicycle protest song is a cover of the song “Nine Million Bicycles” written and produced by Mike Batt for the Georgian-British singer-songwriter Katie Melua in 2005.
Slovenians are fiercely proud of their cultural heritage, in particular their language as expressed through poetry and other literature.
The name of the band — Prešerne misli — can be interpreted “Bold thoughts of good will” and is also associated with the name of France Prešern, an acclaimed 19th century poet, whose works are considered European classics, and were required reading in the educational curricula of former Yugoslavia.

author: Filip Stojanovski