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Illegal logging, poaching and waste dumping endanger nature in North Macedonia · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Anela Stavrevska-Panajotova, an IUCN national expert explaining the structure of the future Šar Planina National Park in North Macedonia. Photo by Aleksandar Panajotov/Natura MK, used with permission.
This story was originally published by Meta.mk. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and Metamorphosis Foundation.
As civil society organizations from North Macedonia appealed for better conservation of protected areas and for increased state support for institutions that manage them in order to preserve battered biodiversity, the country is nearing the launch of a new national park that is set to become a part of one of the largest protected areas in Europe.
Civil society organizations warn that illegal logging, poaching, dumping enormous quantities of waste and jeopardizing the wildlife are the greatest threats to the areas with the country’s greatest natural treasures.
The environmentalists used the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5), and other international days that celebrate biodiversity, like the European Day of Parks (May 24), World Turtle Day (May 23) and World Bee Day (May 20), to appeal that the protected areas need continuous conservation.
North Macedonia has great and varied, but seriously endangered, biological diversity. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list data, the world has lost hundreds of species since the 19th century due to loss of habitat, overexploitation, invasive species and climate change.
According to environmental activists, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the protected areas in North Macedonia, and most dramatically affected the income of national parks. Association Eko-svest, or Eko Consciousness NGO, warned via public announcement:
The decreasing number of tourists can generally be considered a positive influence on mitigating the pressure on the environment. Still, the change in the structure of visitors and a large number of irresponsible tourists, in combination with the manager’s inability to provide a regular presence in the areas, has resulted in more negative examples of jeopardizing the animals, destruction of biodiversity, destruction of the infrastructure in the area, enormous quantities of waste, illegal hunting and illegal logging.
Eko-svest appealed to the government to compensate for the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic by providing increased and systematic financial assistance to the protected areas, in a way similar to other countries from the Balkan region.
According to Eko-svest, today there are around 22,000 species in North Macedonia, out of which 1,000 are endemic species in the country. There are 82 species of mammals, 332 species of birds, 32 reptile species and 15 species of amphibians. There are 3,200 plant species, over 2,000 algae species and 500 species of moss. Tens of species are on the red lists, Eko-svest noted.
Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus). Photo by Wikipedia user Pierre Dalous, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The best known endangered birds nesting in North Macedonia, threatened at country level are the griffon and the Egyptian vulture, while the black and the bearded vultures are extinct.
Endangered species include four types of turtles which are all on the red list of reptiles. The most common threat is the loss of their habitats due to intensified agriculture and use of chemicals, the excessive collection of plants and their trading, and in the case of water turtles, the drying out of their habitats.
Meanwhile, an initiative for establishing a new national park on Šar Planina, or Šar Mountains, a range between North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, has been under way and is nearing  completion. The protected area, seen through by an informal group of civil society organizations, would connect with protected areas across the borders in neighboring countries, providing safer habitat for animals like the endangered Balkan lynx.
A law that ushers the creation of the national park, which is to become a part of one of Europe's biggest protected areas, has been submitted to parliament and has passed all deliberations except for the final vote of the assembly. The Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Naser Nuredini announced that they expect that the parliament would enact the law on the session scheduled for June 15.
Passing of the Šar Mountain National Park Law seems imminent, as latest reports revealed that an investor who was supposed to build a small hydro plant in the area has canceled the project. Fueled by government subsidies, there has been a boom of building small hydroelectric plants in the Balkans in recent years, severely damaging the natural habitats.
Frosina Pandurska-Dramikanin, representative of the informal group Friends of Šara Platform that supported the process of establishment of the national park by working with all stakeholders, stated on June 9:
Сметам дека прогласувањето на Шара за НП ќе отвори позитивни можности за локален рурален развој, туризам и реално ќе го подобри животот на локалното население. Денес претставниците на турстичкиот сектор потврдија дека туризмот на Шара се развива постојано во последните 10 години. Националниот парк ќе биде врската меѓу туристите, понудувачите на услуги и локалното население. Проектите што ќе се спроведуваат во идниот национален парк освен за заштита на природа ќе бидат и во насока на подобрување на меката инфраструктура, поставување на стандарди за туризам во заштитено подрачје и едукација за одржливо користење на природните ресурси во паркот. Процесот ќе биде долг но можностите за развој се огромни бидејќи со прогласувањеото на Шара ќе добиеме прекугранично заштитено подрачје од околу 240000 км2 што е добро и за природата и за луѓето.
I reckon that declaring Šara Mountain national park will create positive opportunities for local rural development, tourism and that it will significantly improve the lives of local population. Today, representatives of the tourist sector confirmed that tourism in this area continuously grows during the last 10 years. The national park will serve as intermediary between the tourists, service providers and the local population. Future projects under its administration will deal with nature protection first, while improving the infrastructure, setting  standards for tourism in the protected area, and education for sustainable use of park's resources. The process will take time, but the opportunities are huge, because we will get a cross-border protected area of over 240,000 square kilometers, which is good for the nature and the people.
Horseback riding is one of the eco-friendly tourist services planned for the future Šar Mountain National Park in North Macedonia. Photo by Aleksandar Panajotov/Natura MK, used with permission.
Anela Stavrevska-Panajotova, an IUCN national expert, explained to Meta.mk that a priority of the process was to address the need of people from the  rural areas within the confines of the soon-to-be declared protected  nature area.
Последниот Национален парк во државата бил прогласен пред шеесет и три години во едно сосема поинакво општествено уредување. Најголемиот предизвик со кој се соочуваме е недостатокот на општествена меморија за водење на целата постапка. Во овој долг но и историски процес сите локални чинители, локалното население, има ургентна потреба од одговори бидејќи живее со и од планината. Сите одговори како во иднина ќе функционира националниот парк, од сите аспекти, ќе бидат детално разработени во менаџмент планот кој моментално го подготвуваме и се очекува да биде завршен до ноември. Се обидуваме во процесот на подготовка на овој документ максимално да ги вклучиме сите засегнати страни но и да ја искористиме уникатната можност за воведување интернационални практики и иновативност кои ќе бидат пример за добро функционирање на нов современ парк.
The last time a national park in this country has been declared was 63 years ago, in a completely different political system. The biggest challenge we face is lack of institutional memory for implementing such a procedure. In this long and historic process, all local stakeholders, local population living with and from the  mountain, expressed the need for institutional response. We are now working together on preparation of management plan for the national park that will provide all these answers. It is due to be completed by November. We are attempting to include all stakeholders in the preparation, and to make use of this unique  opportunity to introduce international practices and  innovativeness that would serve as example of proper function of a contemporary national park.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


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Laos social media task force: Will it target ‘fake news’ or censor online criticism? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A computer user in Laos. Flickr photo by jonrawlinson. (CC BY 2.0)
Civil society groups in Southeast Asia are pushing back against the Laos government’s recent directives to monitor social media platforms and enforce internet registration.
On May 20, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism issued a vaguely worded order requiring all provincial governments to keep records about information published on social media platforms, websites, online news sources and Facebook pages.  The following day, the Ministry of Public Security announced that it has created a special task force to monitor “illegal online media” and COVID-19 related “fake news” content.
Both ministries said these actions are intended to prevent the spread of misinformation during the pandemic.
A local official told the news outlet Radio Free Asia that the government is targeting those who “misuse social media.”
Our job is to give advice and to lay out the rules and punishments for those who misuse social media. We’ll give a warning to first-time offenders, and then fine people for a second offence. For a third offence, we will put them in jail.
The Laos government has been intensifying control over the internet. In October 2020, it ordered social media platform operators to register with the Mass Media Department of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. The directive even included individual internet users:
Any individual, legal entity, state or private sector that continues to publish and provide information to the public via social media without permission will face measures in line with the laws of the Lao PDR.
Laos president Thongloun Sisoulith, who was elected in March 2021, has warned social media users not to destabilize the nation:
In the era of the advanced technological and modern social media, police must fight firmly and immediately against people who use social media to commit crimes, to destroy our country and to cause any disorder by undermining our unity, creating misunderstanding and creating any antagonistic parties in the country.
In response, Southeast Asia-based civil society groups formed the ASEAN Regional Coalition, and launched a campaign using the hashtag #StopDigitalDictatorship. They also signed a joint statement deploring Laotian internet directives:
The reinforcement of social media platforms’ registration and severe control of online information are another reflection of the digital dictatorship in Laos, which violates the digital rights of individuals, especially freedom of the press, freedom to access information, and freedom of expression.
They cited the case of environment activist Houayheuang Xayabouly, also known as Muay, who has been in detention since 2019 for posting a video to Facebook, in which she criticizes the Laos government’s response to a flooding disaster. Aside from Muay, there have also been several Facebook users who have been charged for commenting on corruption or abuse of power by local officials.
The groups warned that instead of tackling COVID-19 disinformation, the internet task force could be deployed to stifle free speech.
Dhevy Sivaprakasam, Asia-Pacific policy counsel of Access Now, noted that security forces will be part of the task force in charge of monitoring social media.
The fact that it will be staffed by the police and state representatives — without independent fact-checkers, civil society, or other concerned non-state stakeholders — magnifies the looming risk of attacks and harassment against individuals who should not be seen as criminals at all.
The new directives were passed after Laos Twitter users started to use the hashtag #ຖ້າການເມອືງລາວດີ (#IfLaoPoliticsAreGood) to comment on political issues. At this time Lao citizens were also expressing solidarity with Thai democracy protesters. Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia editor of The Diplomat news website, wrote that the task force could be aimed at suppressing the rise of an online opposition movement:
The new task force is an expression of the ruling LPRP’s concern that Facebook could act as an incubator of anti-government and anti-party dissent.
In 2020, Laos has 3.10 million active social media users, or 43 percent of the total population.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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‘Nothing is braver than a trans woman unafraid to die in order to live’ · Global Voices
Lucía Jiménez Peñuela

Photograph by the author, Lucía Jiménez Peñuela, used with permission
Once upon a time, a girl was born. But only when she became an adult could she start living.
Lucía, who was screaming at me all my life to see the light. Lucía, who made me see myself. And so I came to light in 2018, after more than a decade of teaching and becoming a proud mother.
There is nothing like looking in the mirror and recognizing yourself. Not seeing someone else, but your own self. Gazing at your reflection, and proclaiming, “This is me.” Discovering who you are, and repeating it to yourself because you know how soothing it is to live being yourself. I believe it is the definition of happiness: to live in peace with who you are, not with the person you were assigned to be. Happiness is being able, from dawn to dusk, to be yourself, Lucía.
But becoming the woman I am made me realize, for the very first time, the danger of stepping a foot outside of my home. Since then, not a day has gone by when I am not insulted, mocked by strangers, and faced with the tangible reality of the saying “to run for your life.” Being forced to move to a new neighborhood, because you can no longer live in the same places as you did before. Even your workplace becomes a violent environment.
In the parents’ and teachers’ eyes, I am a bad influence on their children. I am the “homosexual aberration,” the indoctrination of the “gender ideology,” a pervert that has to be dragged out. You hear your colleagues, the very teachers who used to be your friends, say they would rather their children became thieves or drug addicts than something like you. But you do not only hear it from them. It comes up frequently in the conversations of people you do not even know, the “good people,” who make you the subject of their reprobation when you happen to walk in front of them.
I do not know when I ceased to be a human being, a mammal, an animal, a prokaryote—when I became something less significant than bacteria and more dangerous than a virus. You hear things being said about you. About how you supposedly “take it from behind,” about how depraved you are, about how you must be making millions with that mouth of yours that is only good for blowjobs. It is amazing to notice when you pass in front of mechanic shops, police stations or street vendors, how obsessed those men are with sex and phallus-related topics.
Photo taken and edited by the author
I always try to adapt, to survive, and if possible, to die of old age. My skin is getting stronger and stronger. It does not mean that I am no longer affected, only that I seek to turn the page, to move on to the next chapter, and if possible, to write my own life until the end.
It becomes very difficult when you live in a country where women are considered spoils of war. At any moment, you can be raped at a police security post or killed at an army checkpoint.
Not only are you addressed with a name and a gender that do not apply to you. Parents and teachers make comments about how they will withdraw their sons from the school because they fear your presence will turn them gay. The art teacher tells you that you look like a Scottish man in a skirt. The PE teacher, the same teacher who blamed you for turning his son gay, yells at you in front of the students, over and over again, and stops you in the hallway, pretending he is going to beat you, then calling you a “faggot” when you report it to the administration. But the administration's response is always the same: they cannot do anything.
When you present yourself as the woman you are, most people consider themselves entitled to have an opinion and make decisions about your life. Everyone has an opinion: your colleagues, the occasional relative who still speaks to you, or even a Christian pastor from Costa Rica who visits your profile to make fun of your photos. Your managers and colleagues with whom you are still on talking terms ask you to give them time and to ignore the verbal and physical aggressions that you brought on yourself for “being like that.” Because you are nothing more than a dress, a thing, a problem.
Now that the months have turned into years, I know that the problem is not merely ignorance that will fade with time. The abuses continue and even worsen. The root of the problem lies deeper, and it has to do with respect.
The lack of respect within patriarchal societies has internalized through its media the view that certain lives are not worth living, and what is even worse is that it has permeated our families.
It has been decided that men's lives are more valuable than women's lives. That if you like people of the same sex you have to move out of your neighborhood, and if you dare to go out wearing women's clothes, you have to beat it. A side note to my female friends: remember that, on this scale, I am worse than the worst. In other words, by the standards of the society I was born into, I should have died a long time ago.
We are people, we are humans, we are sentients. Just like you. We are women just like your mother or your daughter. We are mothers, daughters, single and married women, and as it should be for any woman, we are free to create our families, to live our lives according to what we think is right for us without harming others.
Stop hating and allow us to live past 25 years old, to have jobs that are not limited to prostitution or hairdressing, not because there is anything wrong with those professions, but because what is wrong is that we cannot choose.
We chose life. We are not women because of some birth documents issued by doctors, but we are women because we chose to be women, in spite of hatred and death.
Our construction as women is superior because it is conscious and not imposed because it does not rely on specific genitalia. Like other people, we were born with penises, vaginas, intermediate organs, in different stages of development, but we, in addition to being born women, have had to fight for it sometimes at the cost of our lives, which is something that the majority of people, who feel comfortable with the gender that was assigned to them at birth, will never have to face. Simply because we have different genitals under our skirts or our pants.
This girl, woman, mother and teacher who writes to you hopes to be able to continue growing in the midst of hatred and denial. For all these reasons, she dares to proclaim that there is nothing braver than being a trans woman and living, even if you die trying.

author: Lucía Jiménez Peñuela


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Tokyo Olympics: A symbol of the divide in Japanese society · Global Voices
Kazuki Ichida

Using Twitter's public API, Global Voices analyzed more than 2.5 million Japanese-language tweets to gauge public sentiment around the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are to be hosted this summer. Image: “Tokyo 2020 Olympics/Paralympic Games.” by Dennis Amith, from Flickr. License: CC BY-NC 2.0
Despite the best efforts of the Japanese government and other supporters to boost excitement for this summer's Tokyo Olympics, with less than two months to go, most Japanese people want to cancel the Games, according to public opinion polls and a torrent of comments on social media.
Rising infections in Japan with no end in sight have influenced public opinion against holding the Olympic Games. By late May 2021, more than 700,000 people in Japan had tested positive for COVID-19, with significant outbreaks in the Tokyo and Osaka regions during a “fourth wave” of rising infections this spring.
In a poll conducted by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun in April 2021, when a rising wave of infections triggered a state of emergency in Japan, 69 percent of respondents indicated they wanted to either cancel or once again postpone the Tokyo Olympics, which commence on July 24.
A month later, in May, a different poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper indicated that 63 percent of respondents wanted to cancel or postpone the Olympics. A TV Asahi poll conducted at the same time indicated that 80 percent of Japanese people want to postpone or cancel the Olympics.
As Japanese politicians have vowed to press on with the Games, the public has perceived little progress being made with vaccinations. There have also been recent reports that scarce supplies of vaccines have been diverted from the elderly to Olympic athletes, while a senior medical advisor has expressed serious concerns about holding the Games as planned.
Discussion about whether or not to hold the Olympic Games this summer has raged on social media as well. Using Twitter's public API, Global Voices analyzed more than 2.5 million Japanese-language tweets that included the terms “オリンピック” or “五輪” (common Japanese terms for the Olympics) between May 9 and May 16, 2021. We wanted to find out what ordinary Japanese thought about plans to continue with hosting the Olympics.
We observed that Twitter opinions reflected the sentiment revealed in public opinion polls, but the social media comments revealed more nuances than could be reported from public opinion research.
Of the more than 2.5 million tweets between May 9 and May 16 containing the words “オリンピック” or “五輪”, about 79.25 percent were retweets. This high number of retweets indicates Twitter users were familiar with, and highly interested in, the Olympic conversation.
We also discovered that just 1,924 of the most retweeted tweets accounted for 50 percent of all tweets covering the Olympics. So, we decided to focus on this relatively small number of popular tweets.
We categorized the 1,924 most retweeted tweets into tweets that supported hosting the Olympics, tweets that opposed hosting the Olympics, and “other tweets.” Eighty-four percent of tweets opposed the Olympics, and were retweeted more than 1 million times in total.
Using Twitter's public API, Global Voices analyzed more than 2.5 million Japanese-language tweets, and then examined the 1,924 most-retweeted tweets, which accounted for more than 50 percent of the tweets in our dataset. We categorized these retweeted tweets into tweets that supported hosting the Olympics, tweets that opposed hosting the Olympics, and “other tweets.” Eighty-four percent of tweets opposed the Olympics, and were retweeted more than 1 million times in total.
In our dataset, there were only 15 highly popular tweets in support of the Olympics. These 15 tweets were retweeted 6,529 times, and focused mostly on the positive aspects of the Games, including discussions about popular Olympic athletes.
Still, the volume of tweets in support of the Olympics represented less than 1 percent of our dataset. Very few people were talking about the bright side of Olympics on Twitter, indicating negative attitudes in Japan towards the Games.
As well, based on data provide by Twitter's API, people from a variety of occupational backgrounds tweeted about the Olympics. People working in cultural industries tweeted the most:
Global Voices analyzed more than 2.5 million Japanese-language tweets, and then examined the 1,924 most-retweeted tweets, which accounted for more than 50 percent of the tweets in our dataset. People from a variety of occupational backgrounds tweeted about the Olympics.
Another insight from our dataset was that the most retweeted tweets linked the Olympics with COVID-19 and related topics. Among the related topics, many tweets in opposition to the Olympics include criticism of the Japanese government's response to the pandemic.
An example of this is the most retweeted tweet in our dataset, which had been retweeted more than 18,000 times during the research period, and more than 36,000 times as of early June.
私達は子供の運動会やお遊戯会を見たかったり、友人達とディズニーランドや遊園地に行きたかったり、推しのライブやイベントに行きたかったり、日々の疲れを癒す為に旅行に行きたかったり、そんな日々の為に我慢していたのであって、オリンピックの為に自粛してきた訳じゃないんですよ。
— ひつじ (@hopstepsheepp) May 14, 2021
What we want to see happening again are school sports meets and school fairs being held again. We want to go with friends to Disneyland again, or to amusement parks, go to concerts and events, and just do things that make lives enjoyable. [Over the past year and more of the pandemic] we've put up with so much to somehow do all these things again, not to sacrifice ourselves for the Olympics.
The tweet references the fact that, due to various lockdowns and states of emergency, many events and activities have been canceled to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At the same, the Japanese government appeared to encourage Olympics-related public gatherings with plans to bus in 800,000 students and tens of thousands of other spectators for the Olympics.
Other popular tweets opposing the Olympics in our dataset point out the sheer burden of hosting the event compared to the everyday life people long to return to once the pandemic is over:
高橋洋一氏が「五輪がダメなら他のスポーツもダメなのか」と言う旨の稚拙な妄言を吐いているけれども、民間のスポーツイベントは1万人の医療従事者を寄越せと言わないし、500人の看護師や200人のスポーツドクターにタダ働きで協力しろと言わないし、そもそも1兆円も血税を浪費しない。
— 異邦人 (@Narodovlastiye) May 10, 2021
[Economist, Japanese cabinet advisor, and professional pundit] Takahashi Yoichi pouts and says, “If you cancel the Olympic Games, then you may as well cancel every other sport.” Yet, private sporting events do not require 10,000 medical workers and 500 nurses and 200 sports doctors to cooperate for free. They do not waste a trillion yen of blood money in the first place.
While anger and other sentiments towards the Games can be difficult to quantify, other popular tweets demonstrate the consequences of public opposition to the Games. For example, this tweet, about news about shortage of volunteer staff for Olympic, was retweeted 4,802 times between May 9 and May 16:
【五輪看護ボラ7割辞退 茨城会場】https://t.co/IPI3ZXQvG9
東京五輪サッカー競技会場の茨城県立カシマサッカースタジアムや練習会場で、医療ボランティアとして活動する予定の看護職の約7割が辞退していたことが判明。五輪への医療従事者の人員確保が難しくなっている実態が浮き彫りになった。
— Yahoo!ニュース (@YahooNewsTopics) May 13, 2021
About 70 percent of the nurses who had been anticipated would work as medical volunteers [ during the Olympics] at the Ibaraki Prefectural Kashima Soccer Stadium, the practice venue of the Tokyo Olympics soccer competition venue, have declined to so. It has become clear that it is becoming difficult to secure medical staff for the Olympics.
Article title: 70 percent of volunteers decline to participate in Olympics
Finally, there is a serious divide on Twitter between those who support and those who oppose the Games. For example, some of the most retweeted tweets are not from credible news sources, and make claims without a basis in facts or expertise.
For example, the most retweeted tweet in support of the Games during our research period, was by Takahashi Yoichi, a pundit who advises the Japanese government on economic policy, and has no particular expertise in COVID-19, infectious diseases, or public health:
日本はこの程度の「さざ波」。これで五輪中止とかいうと笑笑 pic.twitter.com/Q6JvZCOTUa
— 高橋洋一（嘉悦大） (@YoichiTakahashi) May 9, 2021
[Compared to other countries] the pandemic in Japan is just a ripple. You want to cancel the Olympics over *this*? LOL LOL
Based on a sample of 2.5 million tweets, in May 2021 the Japanese public was generally opposed to holding the Tokyo Olympics this summer, if at all. This opposition to the Games is likely based on poor public perception of how the government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as plans for public events that contradict lockdown rules aimed at halting the spread of infections.
It was hard to find positive tweets in support of the Games. Instead, most of the popular supportive tweets typically attacked opponents of the Games, or were from sources of dubious credibility. Even those who support the Olympics the most seem to have little positive to say.
Nevin Thompson contributed to this article.

author: Kazuki Ichida


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Vaccine hesitancy in smaller Caribbean islands benefits larger neighbours with high COVID-19 rates · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Glass bottle with Sars-Covid-19 vaccine label attached. Photo by Cindy Shebley on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Going hand in hand with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic was the vaccine development required to combat it. In the Caribbean, there has been a lot of discussion around vaccine equity, with many regional territories signing up for the COVAX facility, whose mandate is to ensure that every country in the world—regardless of its means—has equitable access to vaccines.
In the Americas, the procurement agent for vaccines distributed by COVAX is the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Revolving Fund, through which, Jamaica was the first Caribbean nation to receive 14,400 doses out of its full 124,800-dose COVAX allocation (about four percent of its total population).
Still, getting the vaccines is one thing; getting people to take them is another. On May 19, Trinidad and Tobago's foreign affairs minister, Dr. Amery Browne, in announcing the receipt of 16,000 additional doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, noted that many smaller regional territories are experiencing vaccine hesitancy. Rather than have the doses expire, regional governments have been donating part of their allocations to larger Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbours who need them.
Regional journalist Wesley Gibbings confirmed this in a May 27 tweet:
Noting the impact of vaccine hesitancy in some Eastern #Caribbean states resulting in surplus supplies with tight expiry dates – Grenada, St Vincent and St Kitts. Vaccine-scarce #TrinidadandTobago has already benefited from this.
— Wesley Gibbings (@wgibbings) May 27, 2021
Launched on February 17, a Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) survey aimed at determining the willingness of the region to be vaccinated, found that anywhere from 32 to 62 per cent of adults in several Caribbean countries were sceptical about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. CARPHA's executive director, Dr. Joy St. John, noted that there must be “wide uptake, acceptance, and trust” in order for vaccination programmes to be successful.
Since the start of the pandemic, Jamaica has recorded close to 50,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 1,000 deaths. In mid-April, just as 75,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine—received from the government of South Africa via the Africa Medical Supplies Platform—were about to expire, a successful vaccination drive ensured that all doses were delivered. Jamaica has thus far vaccinated at least 177,889 people, an estimated three percent of its total population.
With an ageing population to consider, Jamaica's minister of finance, Dr. Nigel Clarke, noted that data from the country's ministry of health showed that 75 per cent of those who died from COVID-19 up to June 5 were aged 60 and over, adding:
The COVID-19 restrictions exist to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. Given the data above, the pandemic does not end in Jamaica until most of the over 60 population are fully vaccinated.
— Dr Nigel Clarke (@drnigelclarkeja) June 8, 2021
His ministry, therefore, decided to incentivise the vaccination process:
The GOJ will therefore provide an incentive of $10,000 to every Jamaican 60 and over who is fully vaccinated.
— Dr Nigel Clarke (@drnigelclarkeja) June 8, 2021
Ten thousand Jamaican dollars works out to about 67 United States dollars per person. The portal to access the financial incentive will be operational from July 15.
Global Voices reached out to Jamaica's health ministry for data and was told that so far, 43,346 people who are 60 and over have received their first dose, and 9,880 have been fully vaccinated. Seniors have been Jamaica's main target group for inoculation, although, since May 13, candidates over 50 are eligible to receive their jabs.
At the southern end of the Caribbean archipelago, Trinidad and Tobago received its first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines via COVAX on March 30, about two weeks after Jamaica. Initial rollout targeted healthcare workers, those 60 years and older, and those with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which put them at higher risk. From there, the plan was to extend access to frontline workers and eventually, anyone 18 and older who wanted to get the vaccine.
According to Dr. Avery Hinds, director of the epidemiology division at the Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago's COVID-19 statistics began to show a week-on-week case increase in March, reaching as high as 64 per cent towards the end of the month. Further increases came in April, with the P.1 variant—a more contagious strain with the potential to cause more deaths in populations with low vaccination rates—detected in COVID-19 samples taken on April 22.
As Trinidad and Tobago's case numbers and death rate began to climb, the government imposed stricter lockdowns, complete with curfews. Despite vaccine misinformation—and at times disinformation being peddled—dissemination of the WHO-approved Sinopharm vaccine began on May 21.
By June 9, after it was announced that health centres across the country would be facilitating walk-ins, citizens seemed to have got over any vaccine hesitancy: videos of lines—not all of them adequately distanced—snaking outside clinics were being shared on social media channels, with people on WhatsApp groups expressing concern that the mass congregation could potentially lead to another uptick in cases. In certain areas, the police were called in to disperse the crowds.
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh soon issued an apology and advised that an alphabetical system for vaccinations will be adopted. He reiterated that the walk-ins were intended for those 60+ and patients with NCDs rather than the general population, but said that the long lines were an indication of people's desire to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) is concerned that senior citizens—in rural communities in particular–have limited access to COVID-19 vaccinations. There has also been an education-based effort to combat the social stigma associated with COVID-19 within the region. Jamaica is expecting delivery of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in August; it will be interesting to see whether the prospect of a single-dose vaccination will affect uptake.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Pro-Beijing lawmakers in Hong Kong slam Gay Games as ‘disgraceful’ · Global Voices
The Stand News

Screen capture from Gay Games HK promotion video.
The following post is an English-language version of two Chinese-language reports published on the Stand News on June 10, 2021. It is published with modifications on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers in Hong Kong are demanding local authorities disassociate themselves from the city's preparations for Gay Games Hong Kong (GGHK) in 2022, echoing the Chinese Communist Party's growing preoccupation with gender and sexual orientation.
The Hong Kong LGBT community in 2016 won a bid to host the Gay Games – an international sporting and cultural event that promotes tolerance towards sexual diversity.
If the event goes ahead it will be the first time the games have been held in Asia in the four decades since they debuted in San Francisco.
Several government departments including Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Tourism Board have thrown their weight behind the plan. That is mostly because the games involving 12,000 participants from countries around the world are expected to bring in around HK$1 billion ($129 million) in benefits to the city.
Organizers expect up to 75,000 spectators from around the world for GGHK.
Notwithstanding these arguments, lawmakers Priscilla Leung and Junius Ho made clear their distaste for the event in a June 9 session of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco).
Junius Ho said:
…residents who support me oppose same-sex marriage. It is your business what you do in your own room, but if you go out and do it in public, it’s disgraceful…after the Gay Games their next step will be legalization of same sex marriage. Officials should not get involved in this. It's civil society’s business if they want to do it, but it’s wrong [for government] to throw money at this. I don’t want to earn such dirty money, it doesn’t matter if we earn HK$1 billion.
Priscilla Leung, concurred, noting that the games were less about sport and more a campaign for promoting LGBT rights, which she said might divide society.
Their comments came after Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, another lawmaker, called on the government should to do more to help the Gay Game organizers to secure the venues they need. Ip has expressed support for the bid since 2016.
Liberal Hong Kong, but not for long?
Surveys in Hong Kong in recent years show a majority of people supporting same-sex marriage and legal protection of LGBT rights.
But the pro-Beijing lawmakers’ supporters in Hong Kong are in favor of more conservative values with heterosexual relations and reproduction at the core of social organization. Such views are in lockstep with Beijing's gender education policy in recent years.
Earlier this year, the Education Ministry authored a policy proposal to promote masculinity in young men, amid a state-led discourse decrying the “feminisation” of this demographic. State and pro-government media have regularly complained about the popularity of male music and film stars known for their “delicate” good looks.
While there has been no indication so far that Hong Kong decision-makers will seek to block the holding of GGHK, the organizers are facing clear logistical challenges.
Thus far, GGHK has only managed to find half of the 56 sites they need for the games.
Without the help of government funded national sports associations, GGHK is only allowed to book sport venues six months in advance, rather than 12 months.
Up until last year, Hong Kong boasted East Asia's only openly gay legislator – independent lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, who entered the Legco in 2012. But Chan Chi-chuen quit the body last year in opposition to what he saw as Beijing's attempts to manipulate the body. He is currently in police custody on subversion charges.
The mass resignation of pro-democracy legislators last November over Beijing's decision to unseat four of their colleagues has left the Legco completely shorn of opposition voices.
support for gay marriage in hk as at an all time high but since we dont actually have a chance at having lawmakers that actually represent the people anymore, the discussion is now on the level of literally calling gay people ‘dirty’ https://t.co/q6fk0sUFf6
— nic (@NicMakesStuff) June 9, 2021
HK prosecuting & jailing its most internationally respected & progressive politicians while promoting governance by “patriots” like Junius Ho who spout hate like this is just so on-brand for the City Formerly Known As Asia’s World City right now. https://t.co/fGPVDJEckX
— Antony Dapiran (@antd) June 10, 2021
Local LGBT+ groups have joined social media in slamming the pro-Beijing lawmakers’ comments.
In an interview with Hong Kong Free Press, Director of the Hong Kong Pride Parade Wylie Yeo said:
The civil society is really supportive, citizens really support LGBT…We have never had so many businesses supporting Pride Month as this year… it’s just the people remaining in the Legislative Council who is out of touch… they are the ones dividing Hong Kong. The situation now is that because they have turned and twisted the LegCo election system into entirely ‘one country, one system,’ homophobic garbage like them are the only ones remaining in the LegCo.
Ricky Chu, chairperson of the government's Equal Opportunities Commission, pledged that his body would continue to offer assistance to organizers, and urged the public not to stigmatize the games.

author: The Stand News


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Remembering Asia’s first Pride march in Manila · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Participants of Manila Pride in 1994. Source: Facebook
Asia’s first Pride march took place on June 26, 1994, when more than 30 members of Philippine-based LGBT+ groups Progressive Organization of Gays and the Metropolitan Community Church Philippines organized a protest in Quezon City (QC) commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. QC is part of the Philippines’ National Capital Region.
Dubbed ‘Stonewall Manila’, the action was inspired by the 1969 protest in Stonewall, New York which became one of the key events that shaped the global LGBT+ liberation movement.
Two of the organizers of ‘Stonewall Manila’ shared their reflections about the protest.
Murphy Red wrote on Facebook in 2019 about the political issues they raised during the protest:
Dalawampu't limang taon na ang nakalilipas ngayong araw, bilang pag-alala sa ika-25 anibersaryo ng pag-aalsang Stonewall sa New York, USA, nagpasya kami, mga lesbyana, bakla, bisekswal, transgenders at mga kaibigang heterosekswal, na isigaw sa lansangan ang dindaranas na sistematikong diskriminasyon, karahasan, pang-aapi at pagsasamantala.
Sa naturang kilos-protesta noong Hunyo 26, 1994 na tinawag naming “Stonewall Manila,” sa dahilang hindi hiwalay ang pakikibaka ng LGBTQ sa pakikibaka ng mamamayan, isinigaw din namin ang iba pang pabor sa kapitalista at kontra-mamamayang mga patakaran ng Estado na nagpapahirap sa aming hanay at sa buong sambayanan.
Twenty-five years have passed since we – lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgenders, and heterosexual friends, – decided to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York, USA, by shouting in the streets against the systematic discrimination, violence, and oppression which we are experiencing.
During the protest on June 26, 1994 which we called “Stonewall Manila”, we also protested against the pro-capitalist and anti-people policies of the state that made our lives and the lives of fellow Filipinos more miserable; because the struggles of the LGBTQ are not separate from the people’s struggle.
A year later, activist LGBT+ group Bahaghari wrote on Twitter:
In 1994, Pro-Gay—a national democratic organization of queer individuals in the Philippines—and MCCP, organized the very first Pride March in the Philippines, and in the entire Asia-Pacific.
It was dubbed Stonewall Manila, in honor of the Stonewall Riots exactly 25 years prior. pic.twitter.com/rv4PHAxdFj
— Bahaghari ?? ?⚧#TransLivesMatter (@Bahaghari_PH) October 31, 2020
Edgardo Tolosa, another organizer of ‘Stonewall Manila’, also wrote on Facebook in 2020 about how the Pride protest astounded the public, especially the police.
Sa kabila ng banta at pananakot ng PNP na huhulihin ang mga lalahok sa kilos Protesta, magiting na nagmartsa Mula Quezon Avenue patungong Quezon Memorial Circle ang mga LGBT upang ipaglaban ang Karapatan bilang Bakla at Tomboy.
Despite threats and PNP [police] warning of arrests against those who will join the protest, the LGBT bravely marched from Quezon Avenue to Quezon Memorial Circle to fight for gay and lesbian rights.
Tolosa added in a Facebook message sent to this author in June 2020 that the first Pride in 1994 articulated the everyday concerns of ordinary citizens:
Ang inspirasyon namin sa paglulungsad ng 1st gay Political Pride March ay Ang Pakikibaka ng Mamamayang Pilipino na baguhin Ang Bulok na sistema ng lipunan, tumindig at lumaban sa mga batayang isyu Ng mga LGBT na diskriminasyon, dahas at pagkakakilanlan. At Hindi hiwalay Ang LGBT sa isyu ng Mamamayan dahil apektado rin ang mga LGBT Lalo na Ang mga mahihirap na LGBT sa mga isyu tulad Ng VAT, oil price increase, demolition, natl ID system, tuition fee increase, poor health system, job opportunity atbp.
Our inspiration in launching the first gay political Pride march was the struggle of the Filipino people to change the rotten system in society, rise up and fight for our identity and the basic rights of the LGBT against discrimination, and violence. LGBT issues are not separate from the issues affecting the masses because the LGBT, especially those who are poor, are also burdened by Value Added Tax [increase], oil price increase, demolition [of homes], national ID system, tuition increase, poor health system, job opportunity [losses].
A local news report featuring the 1994 action can be accessed on YouTube. It covered the protest organized by LGBT+ groups and leaders, which was unprecedented during that time, especially in a country with a Catholic-majority population.
STONEWALL MANILA: First Gay Pride March in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific
On June 26 of 1994, 30 brave gays and a lesbian marched in the streets of Quezon City in Metro Manila, Philippines to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of… https://t.co/2eSSQoPy8n
— MurphySCRed #OustDuterteNow (@MurphySCRed) June 13, 2019
After young Pride protesters were arrested in June 2020, Red and Tolosa issued a statement in support of the LGBT+ activists:
Twenty-six years after Stonewall Manila, nothing substantially changed for the LGBTQ+; the same old systemic discrimination and homophobia remain, the same unjust structures persist. Things turned to worse however when [President] Duterte took power and foul-mouthed things into nothing better than jokes.
Tolosa concluded their Facebook post with a message addressed to the new generation of Pride participants:
Ipagpatuloy ninyo ang sinimulan ng unang pampulitikang pagkilos noong June 26, 1994
Hindi pa tapos ang pakikibaka ng mga LGBT laban sa Diskriminasyon, pagka-alipin, kahirapan ng buhay at iba pang batayang karapatan.
Ang paglaya ng LGBT ay kasabay ng ganap na paglaya ng mamamayang Pilipino.
Continue what the June 26, 1994 political action started.
The LGBT struggle against discrimination, oppression, poverty, and human rights violations is still unfinished.
The LGBT liberation will take place together with the liberation of the Filipino people.
After 1994, Pride became an annual gathering to promote LGBT+ rights. In 2019, the Pride event in Manila was attended by 70,000 people.


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Cash or Bitcoin? El Salvador’s small business owners speak · Global Voices
Eddie Galdamez

Business owner Ernesto Vásquez will take Bitcoin if his clients request it. Photo taken by the author.
On Tuesday, June 8, Salvadoran Congress passed a new law making El Salvador the first country in the world to classify bitcoin as a legal currency. The lawmakers, with 62 out of 84 votes, approved President Nayib Bukele's proposal to embrace cryptocurrency.
The Salvadoran government believes Bitcoin will mean fewer fees for family remittances, more foreign investment, and a path to becoming an innovative, technology hub. Cryptocurrency fans and business media around the world applauded the historic decision.
In El Salvador, however, many people are against it; this includes Leonor Selva, the executive director of El Salvador's largest organization representing the private sector, who has criticized the currency's volatility. She writes that the vendor may never be sure how much they earn from a transaction.
Salvadoran Legislative Assembly. Photo by @AsambleaSV
Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency, so it does not depend on any authority or central bank and is sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.
One of the main critiques is that the law will force businesses to accept bitcoin as a form of payment.
So, what does this new Bitcoin Law mean to the average Salvadoran or the small business owner? To get a better sense of the idea of the on-the-ground reaction, I went to Sensuntepeque to get some answers.
Sensuntepeque, located near the Honduran border, is similar to most cities in the country. It has a small tourist industry and about 25,000 residents, many of whom receive remittances from relatives in the U.S.
I spoke to 20 local small businesses about the new law. The ones willing to answer my questions told me that they only accepted cash as a form of payment and had no plans to use bitcoin. These 20 businesses have a physical space, yet more than 75 percent are not registered as business entities, meaning they do business outside the formal economy.
All in all, in El Salvador, less than a third of businesses are registered, so only a few could benefit from the currency at the time being.
Ernesto Vásquez, a local business owner, is taking a wait-and-see approach regarding Bitcoin. Vásquez runs a construction and renovation business in the town. He explained that over 70 percent of his clients are Salvadorans living abroad who own property in the area. He said:
La mayoría de las personas para las que trabajo viven fuera de El Salvador; me envían el pago mediante remesas. Ahora, si alguna de ellas quiere pagarme en bitcoins en el futuro, quizás voy a tener que aceptarlo. Sin embargo, iré inmediatamente a un lugar y la convertiré en efectivo. No me quedaré a especular en el valor futuro de esta moneda.
Most of the people I work for live outside El Salvador; they send me payment via remittances. Now, if any of them wants to pay me in bitcoins in the future, I might have to accept it. However, I would immediately go and convert it to cash. I will not keep it and speculate the future value of this currency.
The banking sector is expected to suffer from the introduction of Bitcoin, as the new currency could disrupt the remittances industry. Annually, more than $6 billion – about a fifth of El Salvador's GDP — enters the country via family remittances. As most people who receive this money do not have bank accounts, they have to pay high fees to financial institutions to get the money in cash.
In Sensuntepeque, I met Oscar Barrera, a small business owner who owns a computer and cell phone repair shop. He is a Bitcoin supporter and plans on using it.
Especular sobre el valor futuro de Bitcoins es algo que la gente como yo, que entienden de Bitcoin, hará. Otras empresas o personas que reciben Bitcoins lo convertirán inmediatamente en efectivo; ellos necesitan ese dinero para hacer negocios al día siguiente o para sobrevivir.
Speculating on Bitcoin's future value is something people like me, who understand Bitcoin, will do. Other businesses or individuals who receive bitcoins will immediately convert it to cash; they need that money to do business the following day or to survive.
Private citizens were hesitant to share their views on Bitcoin with Global Voices. Since El Salvador has a big problem with extortion, most individuals are unwilling to talk about their finances. However, a great majority of the eleven people who accepted to talk with me said that they will not be using bitcoin, most of all because of a lack of knowledge about the currency.
President Nayib Bukele tweeted that the law was made as simple as possible and that the government would guarantee the exchange rate. According to the law, the Salvadoran government will “promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions.”
La #LeyBitcoin es ambiciosa, pero sencilla, además está bien estructurada para que tenga riesgo 0 para quienes no quieran asumir riesgos.
El Gobierno garantizará la convertibilidad al valor exacto en dólares al momento de cada transacción.
— Nayib Bukele ?? (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
The #BitcoinLaw is ambitious, but simple, plus it is well structured to have zero risk for those who do not want to take risks.
The Government will guarantee convertibility to the exact dollar value at the time of each transaction.
On top of price volatility, critics have pointed out Bitcoin's use in illegal transactions, insecure exchanges, and its large carbon footprint, due to the amount of electricity the digital currency needs to be created. To address this issue, Bukele said he plans to use clean geothermal energy, from volcanoes, to lessen the currency's carbon footprint.
Some Salvadoran economists pointed out that bitcoin could open the door to corruption and money laundering, given that bitcoin is a digital currency that leaves no trace of the transactions made. This sparks concern as the Salvadoran government has been signaled as increasingly authoritarian and opaque.
The Bitcoin cryptocurrency was already in use in El Salvador. The small surfing beach towns of El Zonte and El Tunco have been using it for over a year.
Si una señora vendedora de minuta en la playa El Tunco puede manejar el #BITCOIN y tu que eres de la capital estás preocupado y no sabes que es el BITCOIN !!! ???♂?? pic.twitter.com/SX3sG4LAwc
— JℹⓂⓂy F⛎en✝es (@IsaiasOF_NI) June 9, 2021
A lady selling minuta on the beach of El Tunco can handle #BITCOIN but you who are from the capital are worried and do not know what is BITCOIN !!!!???♂??
Michael Peterson, the creator of the Bitcoin Youth Program in El Salvador, argues that educating people on the advantages and drawbacks of accepting Bitcoin is the way forward. He wrote:
I think the key for Bitcoin adoption is just getting people in the door. Once they see how well it works, then they are willing to put the effort in.

author: Eddie Galdamez


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More internet security for many, not for Central Asians · Global Voices
Paolo Sorbello

Photo credits: mizoguchi.coji (CC BY 2.0)
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are among the few countries that will not enjoy a new privacy tool unveiled by US giant tech company Apple for its users.
Apple's focus in 2021 is privacy. On its website, the company states that “Privacy is a fundamental human right.” Yet this policy comes with certain exclusions.
For customers in China, Belarus, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Uganda and the Philippines the new “private relay” feature will not be available.
The feature, available to paid subscription customers this autumn with the release of the new operating system, allows users to browse the web more securely, through an encrypted communication channel that ultimately hides the internet activity from everyone but the user. The new service is, essentially, a proprietary virtual private network (VPN).
Screengrab from Apple's website
With “private relay,” Apple tackles one of the many issues that concerns what kind of data users give to both providers and third parties while they surf the web or use certain services.
The countries that were excluded from the new feature all have a long history of internet censorship and snooping into users’ online activity. The only exception is South Africa, which boasts the highest ranking among African countries in last year's Freedom House's Freedom of the Net report.
Kazakhstan, which ranks towards the bottom of the charts, has demonstrably hindered internet access, snooped on users’ traffic, and sentenced people for their opinions online. After a slanderous social media attack on certain banks in the wake of the devaluation of the national currency in February 2014, the government passed a decree that made “the spread of false information” a criminal offense.
Since web resources have been treated as mass media since the passage of a 2009 law, Kazakhstan applies a strict code of integrity to anything that is published online and is ready to block access to any resources that fail to comply with its laws.
Authorities in the country have repeatedly tried to force users to install “security certificates” that would have opened the door to man-in-the-middle attacks, a typical way for hackers – and security forces – to eavesdrop.
The latest attempt, in July 2019, was rebuked by US tech companies, which said they would block the root certificate if it was imposed.
In Turkmenistan, the legal system and the security apparatus have ring-fenced internet freedoms to a bare minimum: a wide range of websites and social media platforms are blocked or inaccessible, due to bandwidth throttling.
Rachel Gasowski, researcher focusing on Central Asia at International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) told Global Voices that internet freedom is under constant threat in both countries:
Internet freedom in Kazakhstan is hampered, and periodic blocking of news sites and social media, or even internet access, is common. Internet access in Turkmenistan is limited, slow and expensive compared to global standards, and the authorities use internet censorship as part of their relentless campaign against dissent.
In February, the Turkmen government reduced subscription prices for internet access, in an attempt to expand coverage to the population. Still, internet prices remain higher than the regional average.
Naturally, Apple is only one among a handful of the mobile devices that are used in Central Asia. And its campaign focused on privacy will selectively benefit only some of its customers in the region.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International showed its disappointment towards the selective exclusion of some countries.
Apple’s decision to not make its new “private relay” available in several countries including China, Saudi Arabia, & Kazakhstan, is yet another example of authoritarian & oppressive govts monitoring & restricting free speech by influencing technology companies & their products.
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) June 10, 2021
Apple's press team did not answer our question as to why such a “fundamental human right” would not apply to its customers in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
“Apple has clearly been forced to comply with legal regulations in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Apple should apply their principles of privacy and human rights equally to all their users – regardless of what countries these users are in,” Gasowski wrote in an email to Global Voices.

author: Paolo Sorbello


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Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange detainees and critical information in breakthrough diplomatic deal · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

“EU Grunge Flag” by Free Grunge Textures – www.freestock.ca is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/c28b0e8e-c18a-467a-b836-a697a7656275
On Saturday, June 12, Azerbaijan released 15 Armenian detainees in exchange for maps showing locations of nearly 100,000 landmines that Armenian forces had planted in the territory that Azerbaijan retook in the last year’s bitter war between the two nations.
The deal was brokered by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, acting Assistant Secretary of State Phil Reeker, European Council President Charles Michel, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
European Council President Charles Michel hailed the new agreement on Twitter:
I applaud Azerbaijan’s & Armenia’s parallel humanitarian gestures – releases of detainees and maps of mined areas
First step towards renewing confidence @presidentaz & @NikolPashinyan
The EU has supported this process and will continue to offer assistance to enhance progress.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) June 12, 2021
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry also released a statement praising the agreement, saying that “Obtaining mine maps will save the lives and health of tens of thousands of our citizens, including demining workers, and accelerate the reconstruction projects initiated by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, in Agdam and the return of IDPs.”
Confirming the new deal, Armenia's acting prime minister Nikol Pashinyan shared a photo of 15 Armenian detainees on his Facebook page, plus a full list of the names of soldiers, apologizing to families whose relatives have not yet returned.
Following the end of the second Karabakh war fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan last year, the return of detainees and landmine maps were among the most critical issues discussed. The six weeks of fighting ended with a Moscow-brokered ceasefire on November 10, 2020, with Azerbaijan regaining control over some parts of Karabakh and seven adjacent districts previously occupied by Armenia.
Earlier this month, Azerbaijan reported the deaths of two journalists and one government official, and at least four people wounded as a result of a mine explosion. These incidents brought the death toll from land mines to 20.
Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, said he was “deeply saddened” at the news of the explosion and the reported casualties:
Deeply saddened to learn that 3 Azerbaijani civilians, including 2 journalists have been killed in a landmine blast in #Kalbajar district of #Azerbaijan.
We call on #Armenia to hand over minefield maps. Every day they continue to refuse this request, more lives are endangered!
— Jeyhun Bayramov (@bayramov_jeyhun) June 4, 2021
The number of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees still in Azerbaijani custody remains unclear, as Azerbaijani authorities consider some of the detainees captives. Since the end of the war, some 69 POWs and other detainees have been turned over by Azerbaijan. On June 8, acting prime minister Pashinyan said he was ready to exchange his son for the remaining POWs.
Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova welcomed the new development on her Telegram channel, while Georgian Foreign Minister David Zakaliani said in a statement that diplomats in Tbilisi had been working on the deal for months.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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‘Lying down flat’ as passive resistance in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Viral internet meme screen capture from a 1994 Chinese TV drama “I love my family”.
A new viral term promoting slow living has taken China’s cyberspace by storm, and authorities are moving quickly to stamp it out.
Tangping (躺平), or “lying down flat” is a counter-culture philosophy championing minimalism and anti-consumerism.
The “lying down flatist” believes that people are more than mere extensions of capital. The “lying down flatist” is in open rebellion against the hard-working, credit-hungry, striving existence promoted from the top down in China.
The idea originated from a short post, “Lying down flat signifies justice”, published on a mainland Chinese forum, Baidu Tieba, in April.
The now deleted post said:
兩年多沒有工作了，都在玩，沒覺得哪裡不對，壓力主要來自身邊人互相對比後尋找的定位和長輩的傳統觀念，它們會無時無刻在你身邊出現。你每次看見的新聞熱搜也都是明星戀愛、懷孕之類的『生育周邊』，就像某些『看不見的生物』在製造一種思維強壓給你，人大可不必如此。我可以像第歐根尼只睡在自己的木桶裡曬太陽，也可以像赫拉克利特住在山洞裡思考『邏各斯』，既然這片土地從沒真實存在高舉人主體性的思潮，那我可以自己製造給自己，躺平就是我的智者運動，只有躺平，人才是萬物的尺度。
I haven’t been working for two years, I have just been hanging around and I don’t find it a problem. Pressure mainly comes from comparisons with your own peers and the conventional values of the older generation. These pressures keep popping up…Messages about “fertility” are pressed upon you by an “invisible organism”. But, we don’t have to abide by these (norms). I can live like Diogenes and sleep inside a wooden bucket, enjoying sunshine. I can live like Heraclitus in a cave, thinking about the “logos”. Since this piece of land had never had a school of thought that upholds human subjectivity, I can develop one on my own. Lying down flat is my philosophical movement. Only through lying down flat can humans stand at the center of the universe.
Very quickly, the term went viral with a flood of online memes:
躺平…… pic.twitter.com/MdvKZ4FA1A
— เฉียนโม่เป็นทองคำ (@chengyoung1130) June 1, 2021
躺平吃草… pic.twitter.com/T2mna7DFyb
— The Walking Dracula III (@Capricorn0900) May 29, 2021
躺平！ pic.twitter.com/oKvrxJrKwH
— Meng jin (@Mengjin77828045) May 26, 2021
Chinese netizens are seizing on the philosophical moment to promote “Tangping” as a strategy of resistance for “garlic chives” (韮菜).
The chives, in the language of the Chinese internet, are people whose working existence has helped fuel China's economic revolution, whilst predatory rent-seekers with connections to the political elite “harvest” the fruits of their labour.
躺平快板，朗朗上口，而且重要的是躺着唱的? pic.twitter.com/3LggGMgF7X
— 新闻/真话 (@TuCaoFakeNews) May 29, 2021
Lying flat – a fast beat on “Tangping”.
In the TikTok video embedded in the tweet above, the woman says:
Lying down flatists. Who says that Lying down flat means giving up on future? Property prices keep surging, in response I lie down flat. Life keeps repeating itself through a 996 working hour system. I am better suited to foot-dragging.
The man in the video rebukes the woman: “Lying flat is a dead end.”
The woman responds:
If you don't lie down flat, you will die suddenly during work. If you don't lie down quick enough, you will become garlic chives to be harvested by Capital. If you lie down flat enough, you will win back your life.
Lying down flatists are also targeting “involution” — an anthropological term appropriated by Chinese netizens to describe a political-economic system pushing itself to its outer limits rather than seeking to evolve.
The term became popular after the outbreak of COVID-19 and amid China’s worsening diplomatic relations with the West.
Chinese president Xi Jinping stated that China will rely more on “internal circulation” for boosting its economic growth – a comment that was interpreted as meaning that China will have to boost its own domestic demand to reduce reliance on overseas markets.
In China's case, key features of involution are the 996 working hour system (workers work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days per week) vicious competition that results in an highly exploitative working environment, growing living costs, reliance on credit and an education system that puts extreme pressure on students to pass exams.
With the political system blocking all channels for bottom-up changes, passive resistance such as Tangpingism has become the only way to express discontent.
As one Weibo poster wrote:
不能站，又不想跪，只有躺平了
You can’t stand up, but you don’t want to kneel down. Then you can only lie flat.
This online discussion soon caught the attention Chinese authorities.
On May 20, a commentary on the state-affiliated Nanfang Daily slammed Tangpingism as “poisonous chicken soup” that injects negative energy into the Chinese youth.
The article was republished by the state-owned Xinhua information service on May 28.
On May 30, at least four Tangping study groups on Douban, a popular social media platform that appeals to youth in particular, were deleted. The next day, the same platform flagged Tangping as a sensitive keyword and censored it, as a large number of netizens used the term to mock Beijing's new three-child policy.
China is rolling out “3 child birth policy” to enable more cheap labor for its economy stability while “躺平 lie down flat” （refusing fighting for money）just becoming the slogan for its Z generation now. pic.twitter.com/MEdJFvxHXE
— 巴丢草 Badiucao (@badiucao) May 31, 2021
With “Tangpingism” memes remaining popular, some Internet users are concerned that the government's efforts to combat it will spread from the realm of information to the realm of lawmaking.
As Twitter user @chnechenzh noted, laws of this kind have been deployed in the past by other communist governments:
just saw that this Soviet law “against persons who avoid socially useful work and lead an antisocial parasitic way of life” from 1961 is called the USSR's 反躺平法 on CN social media ? https://t.co/36XaVpsyFJ pic.twitter.com/XbdvzN3xc5
— Chenchen Zhang??♀ (@chenchenzh) May 30, 2021

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Spate of attacks against LGBTQ+ people in Azerbaijan · Global Voices
OC Media

Photo by niiicedave, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
In the last week, there have been three separate attacks against members of the queer community in Azerbaijan. The victims all said that they were attacked because of their sexuality.
The most recent attack took place on the night of June 2, when an unknown person attacked a queer person in the Bilajari settlement of Baku.
The victim of this attack, who asked OC Media not to reveal his name, said he was accosted by a stranger while walking in the street. According to the victim, the stranger told him to “act like a man” and used homophobic slurs before sharp object and attacking him with a sharp object. The victim said he was cut on the arm, but he resisted, and the attacker fled.
The victim has said he would contact the police in connection with the incident.
Another homophobic attack took place on 30 May in Fountain Square in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.
“As I was walking, he suddenly grabbed me by the neck and punched me in the left kidney,” the victim, Herman Turan Javadzadeh, told OC Media.  “I could not see his face in shock. I got up to defend myself and ran away.”
Javadzadeh said he did not go to the police. “Two days ago,” told OC Media, “another friend of mine was also attacked. When he called the police, the police officer told him, ‘If I could, I would burn homosexuals myself’.”
On June 1, in the Yasamal district of Baku, two masked men attacked another member of the queer community, Pariz Abdulayev. Abdulayev told OC Media that the men pushed him and then cut his arm with a wine bottle opener.
“As I was walking along the road, two boys called after me. I tried not to pay attention. Then they approached me and began to pull on my shirt. Both wore masks. I was attacked and I began to resist,” Abdulayev said. “I stumbled and fell to the ground. They fled.”
Abdulayev said he was traumatised after the incident but thought it was useless to call the police.
“I did not go to the police because they are not interested in any issue related to us [members of the queer community]. When we go to them, they ask us personal questions that are not related to the subject,” he said.

author: OC Media


text:
China’s wandering elephant herd show. Not as ‘lovable’ as it looks. · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from Xinhua's video.
Fifteen Asian elephants have become China's latest internet celebrities and the most successful ambassadors of the new “lovable” image that the government is trying for. But as conservationists have explained, what looks like a beautiful story is actually a consequence of ever-expanding economic activity.
The elephant herd left its habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which is located near the border of Myanmar and Laos in China’s Yunnan province, in mid-April.
Ever since they have been escorted by a dozen drones and police officers. From May, China Central Television (CCTV) has been live-streaming their daily activities.
No one knows where the elephants want to go.
The herd trumped north for more than 500 kilometers until it reached the outskirts of Kunming city on June 6. Then, lured by fruit provided by their escorts, they took a U-turn and began heading south.
Elephant herd's journey in Yunnan province. Screen capture from CCTV's news report.
For the past two weeks, footage of the herd’s meal times, mud baths and afternoon naps has flooded Chinese social media, earning pickups from prominent overseas media.
The elephant story is more than a spontaneous social media craze.
A viral post on Sina pointed out that the live-streaming of the wandering herd has been China’s most successful propaganda coup in recent years:
中国人这样善待动物，还怎么中国威胁论？[…]如果在其他国家，这会发生什么？譬如，在印度，野象进村的事件就经常发生，看到有报道，野象遭到村民放火驱赶，有村民甚至将轮胎烧着扔向野象……但中国真没有。中国人看着大象，就像看着自己的孩子。
对很多外国人来说，正是看着这15头大象，他们才终于知道，以前知道的中国，至少是不全面的 […] 这种变化，在当前西强我弱的国际舆论环境下，可能是1000篇檄文、1万次怒骂，都达不到的效果。[…]
Chinese people’s kindness towards the animals will nullify theories about China’s threat […] What would happen if this had taken place in other countries? Let’s say in India. I have seen reports that villagers would use fire to drive the wild elephants away…China has not done this, Chinese people treat the elephants like their own children. […]
When foreigners look at the 15 elephants, they realise that their perception of China has been biased […] Such changes of perception cannot be achieved via 1,000 strong statements, nor 10,000 verbal confrontations.
The writer concluded that “even elephants know that China is a good country” and that such a story is a perfect answer to Chinese president Xi Jingping’s call for a “lovable” image for China.
On June 2, Xi signaled a shift in the Chinese Communist Party's diplomatic approach when he told senior CCP officials to present an image of a “credible, loveable and respectable China”.
No wonder then, that China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying was among those posting videos of the elephant mud bath on Twitter:
Playing mud & enjoying in the rain.
The 15 escaped wild elephants of #Yunnan is now on their way back. The continuing rain in recent days offered them the opportunity of mud bath. pic.twitter.com/GdigoVw4ED
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) June 12, 2021
Yet some Weibo users questioned whether the elephant story would be a happy one in the long run:
云南的大象下山，人们不是驱赶大象，还给大象投食投水，疏散村民。实际这种做法是不对的，以后大象习惯了，会经常下山扰乱人们的正常生活与生产，甚至造成人员伤亡。应该对大象进行驱赶，让大象觉得下山是危险的…
As the elephants left the mountain, people were not driving them away but giving them water and food. Villages were evacuated to give way to the herd. Such practice is incorrect. If the elephants get used to this, they will enter villages whenever they like and may cause damages or even fatalities. People should drive the elephants away and let them know it is dangerous for them to leave the mountains…
At present the elephant herd has ruined more than 842 mu or 560 square kilometers of farmland and RMB 6.8 million yuan economic damages. The Chinese government has promised to shoulder the villagers’ loss, according to a report on the state-affiliated Phoenix Television channel.
Back in 2017, scientists raised the problem of the displacement of natural forests due to the expansion of plantations in forestry regions including Xishuangbanna and Pu’er.
In addition to rubber plantations, the growth of the Pu’er tea industry since 2003 has led to the expansion of commercial forest plantations and an increase in human-elephant conflicts.
Professor Zhang Li, a field biologist who works on Asian elephants, explained that the wandering herd is trying to find a new natural habitat to settle down.
He told the state-owned People’s Daily that in the past two decades, the expansion of commercial forest plantations has reduced Asian elephants’ scattered habitats by 40 percent.
During the same period, the population of this protected species in China has grown from 193 to 300 individuals.
In a Weibo post, Zhang  elaborated:
大象为什么离家出走？光讲政治是解决不了问题的，要尊重科学！首先要肯定保护取得的成效，随着人们保护意识的不断提高亚洲象种群在稳步增长；但是不容忽视的是地方经济快速发展对野生动物栖息地丧失和破碎化造成的严峻现实。绿水青山就是金山银山，健康完整的生态系统才是经济可持续发展的基石……
Why are the elephants running away from their home? Propaganda could not solve the problem and we have to respect science. While we have to note the achievements that we have made in conservation, and that the population of Asian elephants has grown, we can’t neglect the reality that rapid economic development has led to the disappearance and fragmentation of wildlife habits. Green water and mountains are as precious as gold. A healthy ecological system is fundamental to sustainable development…
Zhang stressed that in order to stop elephants wandering into human villages, it is necessary to establish a national park system that strengthens conservation efforts by expanding and connecting the natural forests where wild animals reside.
Many of the responses to Zhang's post focused on what will happen to animals once media interest has died down.
@big_ear_cat on Twitter said:
这么多天了，终于有权威人士出来指出象群北迁的原因了。当地官员为了掩盖真实原因，不是说象群迷路了，就是颠倒黑白说森林发展得太好大象增加太多，并一路官媒配合娱乐化。
我都不敢看这些象，它们已经没有家了?当大家看腻以后它们的命运是什么，尤其现在被揭破了，有关部门会希望它们赶紧消失吧。 pic.twitter.com/ZcO1xFgSs7
— 大耳朵猫妹 (@big_ear_cat) June 13, 2021
Finally an expert has provided an explanation about the herd’s northbound journey. Local officials avoided addressing the truth. They either said that the herd had lost their way or that the nature reserve is working so well that the elephants are overpopulated. All the official media outlets have taken an entertainment-first approach. I dare not look at the elephants. They have lost their home. After the public has lost interest watching the herd, what will their fate be? Now that someone has spoken the truth, the authorities probably want the elephants to vanish from the media spotlight.


text:
Alleviating hunger in Bangladesh during Covid-19 restrictions · Global Voices
বিজয়

Iftar meals which will be served to to orphaned children, rickshaw-pullers, street vendors, and people from other marginalised sections of society who have become unemployed during lockdown. Image by Liza Asma Akhter, Mehmankhana. Used with permission.
Bangladesh is experiencing its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with rising infection rates and deaths since April 2021, however, as of June 2021, the situation is starting to gradually improve. The pandemic has resulted in a significant rise in unemployment and particularly affected day labourers and other low-income groups from the informal sector who have not had any work due to prolonged Covid-19 restrictions and business closures.
Due to an inadequate government social safety net, there is a food crisis among lower-middle-class and low-income families and many cannot afford three meals a day. In response to this, several government and civil sector efforts, mostly funded by the general public, corporate social responsibility initiatives and charities, are ensuring that the hungry are fed.
After confirming the first COVID-19 cases in March 2020, Bangladesh imposed a general holiday (lockdown) on March 26, 2020, closing all businesses and institutions except the service sector and emergency services. Thousands of people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their rent in urban centres, which forced many of them to return to their family villages though no job opportunities existed. The lockdown was relaxed in June 2020 and the economy started to recover. However, this had an impact on the lives and livelihoods of low-income people.
Bangladesh's second wave of coronavirus started in March 2021, and the countrywide lockdown restrictions started on April 5. Although this wave has not been as catastrophic as neighbouring India's, low-income people and day labourers took another economic hit due to the lockdown, although it has been relaxed in recent weeks.
To help those facing increased hunger due to the pandemic, there have been many governmental and non-governmental initiatives to deliver food to those in need.
The a2i program of the Information and Communication Technology Division of the Bangladesh Government has had a citizen service & information call centre ‘333’ since 2018. Since April 2020, the services have been extended for COVID-19 information, telemedicine, and emergency food assistance for people in need. Many lower-middle-class families who had previously been able to support themselves, lost their resources during the pandemic and found it difficult to seek assistance from others.
How the helpline works has been highlighted in a status on its Facebook page:
খাদ্য সহায়তা পাওয়ার জন্য ৩৩৩ তে ফোন করুন। ৩৩৩ তে ফোন দেওয়ার পর ৩ চাপুন । প্রকৃত সেবাপ্রার্থীরা যেন তাদের সেবাটি সঠিকভাবে পেতে পারেন, সেজন্য আইভিআর সিস্টেমের মাধ্যমে প্রাথমিকভাবে একটি স্ক্রিনিং প্রক্রিয়া পরে কলটি এজেন্টের কাছে পাঠানো হয়। তারপর আপনার সমস্যার কথা বলুন আমাদের এজেন্টের কাছে । আমাদের এজেন্ট সংশ্লিষ্ট উপজেলা নির্বাহী কর্মকর্তা কাছে আপনার তথ্যটি পাঠিয়ে দিবেন। সরেজমিনে যাচাই-বাছাই করে প্রকৃত অভাবী মানুষের বাড়িতে খাদ্য সহায়তা পৌঁছে দেওয়া হবে।
Call 333 (and press 3) for emergency food assistance. To ensure that the actual service seekers can get the service, the call is sent to an agent after an initial screening process through the IVR system. Then speak to your agent about your problem. Our agent will send your information to the concerned Upazila Nirbahi Officer, an executive of the local administration. Dry food aid will be delivered to the homes of needy people after a spot check and confirmation.
The Emergency Response Center of the Department of Disaster Management collects the required food aid information from the field administration and allocates the food to those in need. In April 2020 alone, the helpline responded to over 46,600 families’ calls for food assistance. Emergency food assistance service for the hungry is still available during the latest round of lockdown despite some complaints.
For example, when a man from Narayanganj called ‘333’ for emergency food assistance in May 2021, authorities found out that the person owns a house and a business and he was fined to provide 100 low-income people with food as a punishment. However, later it was found out that despite owning a house, the person wasn't able to work due to partial disability and lost his business. So he really needed the assistance.
Bidyanondo Foundation's relief effort. Image via Bidyanondo. Used with permission.
The Bidyanondo Foundation led by IT professional turned activist Kishor Kumar Das started their work in 2013 to provide education to thousands of underprivileged street kids of Bangladesh. It started the One Taka Meal program in 2016 to feed and assist the street kids and other marginalised communities. The price of the food is significantly discounted to one Bangladesh Taka (1.18 US cents), a symbolic amount meant to reduce any stigmas about needing food assistance.
During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020 and 2021, the Bidyananda Foundation started providing food and other assistance on a large scale not only in the capital Dhaka but all over Bangladesh.
A Volunteer carrying containers full of food aids to bring a smile to the hungry people. Image via Bidyanondo. Used with permission.
This post by Bidyanondo on Facebook shows the tireless efforts of its volunteers to supply food aid to the hungry.
তীব্র গরমও যেন থামাতে পারেনা তাঁদের। এভাবে সুপার ম্যানের মতো প্রতিটি স্বেচ্ছাসেবক এগিয়ে যায় হাত ভর্তি খাবার নিয়ে, আর নিশ্চিত করে শত শত পরিবারের মুখের হাসি।
Even the heat and humidity could not stop them. Like a Super Man, every volunteer marches ahead with a handful of food containers, ensuring smiles on the faces of hundreds of needy families.
Government forces like the Police and the Border Guards assisted the Bidyananda Foundation in delivering food aid to remote areas. According to a report shared on Bidyanondo's Facebook page on May 1, 2020, the relief provided by Bidyanondo Foundation was distributed among 1,000 unemployed families in the border areas of Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts.
This year, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan started during the lockdown period in April. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and typically break their fast with an Iftar meal. A large number of day labourers in the capital Dhaka, such as rickshaw pullers, were stuck at home because of the movement restrictions. It became difficult for them to get two meals during the day including a nutritious Iftar meal. A charity organisation called Mehmankhana lead by Theatre worker Liza Asma Akhter and her friends has been providing meals since April 2020 for orphaned children, rickshaw-pullers, street vendors, and people from other marginalised sections of society. They provided Iftar meals to over 1,500 people per day during Ramadan this year.
Journalist Ayesha Akhtar Keya shared on Facebook:
এই রমজানে প্রতিদিন সন্ধ্যায় লিজা আপুর বাসা থেকে পাশের রাস্তাগুলোতে দু সারিতে সারিবদ্ধভাবে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকা রিকশার এক মনোরম দৃশ্য আপনার দৃষ্টি কাড়বে অনায়াসেই। [..] স্বেচ্ছাসেবকগন ব্যস্ত, খাবারের প্লেটগুলো ভ্যানে উঠিয়ে যতদ্রুত সম্ভব মেহমানদের হাতে পৌঁছে দিতে। অসাধারন এ দৃশ্য যে কাউকে আন্দোলিত করতে পারে অমোঘ মানবপ্রেমে।
Every evening this Ramadan, you will see the wonderful view of rickshaws lined up in two rows on the nearby lanes starting from Liza's house. [..] Volunteers are seen taking food containers from a van and handing them over to the guests as soon as possible. This extraordinary scene can stir love for human beings in anyone.
Bangladeshi Food reviewer posts a review of the initiative on YouTube:
The initiative is not funded by big corporate donors but ordinary citizens, said Syed Saiful Alam Shovan, social worker and volunteer. But there is only that much they can do because of their organization's limited size:
সকাল বেলা ফুটপাতের চেয়ারর উপর কেউ চাল, ডাল, চিনি, চিড়া, খেজুর রেখে যান। সামাজিক যোগাযোগ মাধ্যম, ব্যক্তিগত যোগাযোগ, আত্মীয়, বন্ধুবান্ধব সবাই মিলে দিন শেষ এ সংগ্রহের উপর ভিত্তি করেই, আমরা বিনয়ের সাথে অনেকের বড় বড় অনুদান ফিরিয়ে দেই।
People leave different ingredients like rice, pulses, sugar, dates on the sidewalk chair in the morning. We collect funds via social media, personal contacts, relatives, friends and at the end of the day, we politely return big donations (thinking of our capacity).
Shovon wishes Mehmankhana could expand to other locations around the city.
Nafisa Anjum Khan is a brand specialist working for a multinational company in Bangladesh. She joined a campaign managed by a local NGO called Cholo Sobai whose mission is to feed the hungry. Nafisa hops on a CNG-driven three-wheeler to deliver food aid to the doorsteps of the people in need who contact her on the phone. She has received support from celebrities like Cricket Star Tamim Iqbal who drew attention to her efforts.
Nafisa Khan distributing food using Autorickshaw during the Covid-19 pandemic. Image via her Facebook page. Used with permission.
She went to many cities within Bangladesh like Narayanganj, Netrokona and Jamalpur, to reach out to more people in need and she shares regular updates in her Facebook page. She also collects food aid through her Facebook page, e.g. in this post on Facebook on April 11, 2021:
ইতিমধ্যেই ঢাকার ৬টি এলাকা থেকে ২১১টি পরিবারের ফোন কল,মেসেজ পেয়েছি যাদের খাদ্য সহযোগিতা প্রয়োজন।যার ঘরে যা আছে-চাল,ডাল,আলু,পেয়াজ আমাকে দিতে পারেন আমি সঠিক পরিবারকে পৌঁছে দিব।আপনাদের সকলের সহযোগিতা একান্ত কাম্য।
I have recently received phone calls and messages for food aid from 211 families spanning six areas. You can share dry food from your home such as rice, Dal, Potato, onion etc. and send them to me. I will deliver them to the right families (who are in need). I am anticipating your sincere cooperation.
Bangladesh is a populous country and government efforts alone may not be adequate in stemming rising hunger rates, but efforts such as these are providing much-needed food to the hungry and keeping up the hope for humanity.

author: বিজয়


text:
Final verdict against war criminal Ratko Mladić brings relief, denialism, but not closure · Global Voices
Mirza Hota

Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, on trial at ICTY in May 2014. Photo by the ICTY, CC BY 2.0.
Last week brought the final guilty verdict in the case against Ratko Mladić, the Commander of the General Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) – the rebel Bosnian Serb army. Bosnians have hailed the decision, while pointing out that many of Mladic's victims have still not been found and given proper burials. In Serbia and  Republika Srpska, the conclusion of the case has seen another alarming spike in denialism, which populist administrations have done little to arrest.
Mladić was first indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – ICTY back in July 1995, less than two weeks after troops under his command had carried out the biggest act of mass slaughter on European soil since World War Two, following the fall of UN “safe area” Srebrenica.
General Mladić had officially been on the run since 1996, however he was protected by both the Bosnian Serb army and security services as well the then-Yugoslav army and their security services.
He moved fairly freely and lived a normal life in Serbia, at least before the fall of Slobodan Milošević, and was a prominent presence on military bases, including Topčider on the outskirts of Belgrade.
On May 31, 2011, Mladić was finally extradited to the ICTY to stand trial for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In November 2017 he was found guilty on 10 of the 11 initial charges, including genocide in Srebrenica, extermination of non-Serbs, murder, persecution and deportation of non-Serb civilians throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, unlawful attacks on civilians and terror, for the VRS campaign of sniping and shelling of Sarajevo as well as hostage-taking, including UN personnel in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The ICTY formally ceased to exist in December 2017, and its residual functions, including oversight of sentences and consideration of any appeal proceedings are under the jurisdiction of a successor body, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).
On June 8 the IRMCT rejected Mladić's appeal against the convictions for genocide and crimes against humanity, meaning the 78-year-old will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Leaders to welcome the affirmation of the original verdict against Mladić included U.S. president Joe Biden, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu said:
The decision to uphold Mladić's convictions by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as well as his sentence of life imprisonment, provides historical certainty and finality for victims and survivors…It also sends a hugely important message throughout the Western Balkans where we see genocide denial and the glorification of convicted criminals such as Mladić not only persisting but increasing.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, activists and NGOs representing the survivors and relatives were mostly content with the decision. Tuzla-based activists from the organization Women of Srebrenica said that while they were happy with the verdict, nothing can bring back their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers.
“If he had any humanity him, he would not have slept peacefully, but should have admitted the genocide he committed and apologized,“ Vasvija Kadić stated in an interview with the Klix.ba outlet.
Survivors have also pointed to the fact that the areas around the killing fields are still an active crime scene and that the remains of over a thousand victims are still unaccounted for.
A large number of survivors and relatives live in hope of being able to bury the remains of their loved ones.
Many survivors had gathered at the memorial center at Potočari to watch the final verdict.
One of them told reporters that they expected the affirmation of guilt but that it had taken too long to bring Mladić to justice.
Očekujemo ovu presudu, ali smatramo da je već sada i kasno, Mladić je mnogo ranije trebao biti osuđen, ali opet očekujemo i nadamo se da će pravda biti zadovoljena.
We expect this verdict, but we think that now it's too late. Mladić should have been convicted a long time ago, but we still expect and  hope that justice will be done.
The verdict also demonstrated once more that the culture of denial is deeply rooted in both Serbia and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina that suffered most from Mladić´s onslaught – Republika Srpska.
In Trebinje, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, a large poster with the image of Mladić and writing “Hero!” appeared after the verdict.
Another went up at an overpass in Banja Luka declaring: “We don't care about verdicts from the Hague you're the hero of the Serb Republic.”
Current Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said that the ICTY was guilty of “selective justice.”
Trobojka s Mladićevim likom i natpisom “Heroj” osvanula na zidinama u Trebinju https://t.co/0VibEnbwMR pic.twitter.com/bYOtV65mFL
— Senzor.ba (@Senzor_ba) June 9, 2021
Tricolor [Serbian] flag with the image of Mladić and the word “Hero!” placed on the Old Town fortress wall in Trebinje.
Pro-government tabloids in Serbia praised Mladić as a Serb hero and said that he was convicted “despite the fact that there was no evidence against him.” Others called him “brave and stubborn”, and characterised the trial as a huge injustice.
Front pages of Serbian tabloids after final verdict for Ratko Mladić. Objektiv: “Secret of Mladić's ring: Courage and Defiance”; Kurir: “Hague injustice for Mladić, life sentence confirmed: Don't touch our live wound! His relatives died of grief”; Informer: “All the Hague verdicts are in vain: Mladić Serbian hero forever!”. Fair use.
Official reactions in Belgrade were more subdued but far from encouraging. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said that there is no doubt that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was a “political court” with an anti-Serb bias.
A prominent minister in Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić´s government, Aleksandar Vulin, said the verdict was not about justice but “revenge.”
Many pointed out that Vučić himself was a staunch supporter of Ratko Mladić.
Indeed, Vučić once proclaimed the Serbian Assembly to be a safe house for Mladić and another Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadžić.
He also posted signs along the Zoran Đinđić Boulevard (named after Serbian prime minister and Milošević opponent assassinated in 2003) that read: “Ratko Mladić Boulevard.”
Remember, in 2007 Vucic praised Ratko Mladic. The facts didn't change, there was no secret about the crimes Mladic committed. Vucic supported him BECAUSE of the crimes he committed. What changed were the opportunities for Vucic.
. https://t.co/TZLXOBGegC pic.twitter.com/wJ3UAhLufY
— Florian Bieber (@fbieber) June 8, 2021
[In the photo, then-MP Vučić is holding a sign “Safe house for Ratko Mladić” in Serbian parliament.]

author: Mirza Hota