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Thierry Henry quits social media and calls for platforms to act against racist online attacks · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

“Thierry Henry” by Dan Dickinson is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
On March 26, French football legend and recently retired coach of CF Montreal, Thierry Henry, quit all social media platforms in a bold statement against online racism. Talking directly to his combined 14.8 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram before closing his accounts, he said:
Hi Guys,
From tomorrow morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright…. pic.twitter.com/gXSObqo4xg
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) March 26, 2021
For Henry, it was time to pressure the online networks to do something against racist abuse, which had spiraled out of control during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and stadium closures, moving from physical and verbal assaults—bananas being pelted on the pitch and monkey chants when Black players were on the ball—to online abuse and bullying. As a result, there has been a surge of these attacks in the second half of 2020 and continuing to 2021. In his statement, the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker wrote:
“The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There HAS to be some accountability. It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without any consequence and still remain anonymous. Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I’m hoping this happens soon.”
He added:
“I’m not saying it’s not good to have social media, I’m just trying to say that it has to be a safe place. Basically, I did what I felt and I hope it can inspire people to do the same thing if they feel the same way.”
Henry's announcement came two days after a similar decision by another public figure, American model and TV personality, Chrissy Teigen who shut down her Twitter account after facing online abuse.
Twitter stands accused of allowing insulting language against users, usually from anonymous accounts, in posts that are often racist or misogynistic, and while the networking giant has published and quoted its “hateful conduct policy,” it has not generally been swift in dealing with these cases.
COVID-19 halts sports world, racism rears its head again
In 2020, the world of sport came to a halt due to the pandemic. Many major sporting events, including the Olympic Games and the Euro2020 football tournament, were altogether postponed. During this time, a pivotal incident was the killing of George Floyd as he was being arrested in the U.S., an event that prompted protests on racism and discrimination across the globe.
As protests happened both on the streets and online, civil rights groups pushed for more action from the social media companies. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change sought an audience with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. This was due to pressure from major advertisers forcing the company to address racism and discrimination among other social injustices on the platforms. Facebook previously delayed commenting or went mute on any feedback about combating the social injustices.
With the relaxing of lockdown measures in the U.K., the English Premier League (EPL) was among the first leagues to resume playing and as a symbol of protest and solidarity players decided to take a knee before the start of all games.
In a game between Manchester City and Burnley F.C., a plane flew overhead displaying the banner, “White Lives Matter Burnley” in opposition to the players’ protest. With restrictions to football fans being at live matches, the next target became players’ social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Early this year, a number of players in the English Premier League (EPL) were targets of online racist attacks on Twitter and Instagram. Marcus Rashford was the target of an online attack following his team’s 0-0 draw against arch-rivals, Arsenal.
In a tweet published on January 30, the 23-year-old Manchester United forward said:
Humanity and social media at its worst. Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here ??
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 30, 2021
The player had recently been awarded an MBE, for his efforts in successfully campaigning to get the UK government to allow approximately 1.3 million school-going children to claim free school meal vouchers during summer holidays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In support of players, the EPL demanded social media companies put in place serious measures against racist attacks.
In a statement, the CEO of the EPL said:
“ I am appalled to see the racial abuse received by the players this week.” [February 2021] “Racist behaviour of any form is unacceptable and nobody should have to deal with it. Tackling online hate is a priority for football, and I believe social media companies need to do more.”
A tweet via the EPL's official Twitter handle called on social media platforms to take action against online abuse. The tweet which contained a joint letter to both Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg is the latest call under the #NoRoomForRacism campaign which the EPL first launched in 2019 in a bid to combat discrimination.
Football calls for social media platforms to take action against online abuse.
✍ Premier League
✍ @FA
✍ @EFL
✍ @BarclaysFAWSL
✍ @FAWomensChamp
✍ @PFA
✍ @LMA_Managers
✍ PGMOL
✍ @kickitout
There is #NoRoomForRacism ➡ https://t.co/63n2Cdmebm pic.twitter.com/4FIMFD43iQ
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 11, 2021
Elsewhere, the UK government threatened the social media companies with hefty fines if they failed to tackle racism on their platforms. Instagram announced a couple of measures to tackle online abuse following the spate of racist attacks on the Premier League footballers. The company indicated it would remove accounts being used to send abusive messages.
“TikTok-im-Chat” by Christoph Scholz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
This had been building up in 2020, and some of the social media platforms took a proactive approach, providing the guidelines for their users. Tiktok’s Eric Han, Head of Safety in the US, shared ‘Tiktok’s 5 ways to counter the hate speech’ in which the company pledged to “continue to take a proactive approach to stopping the spread of hate and known hate and violent extremist groups,” and laid out its code of conduct. As a consequence, more than 380,000 videos were removed on TikTok as well as 64,000 hateful comments, and 1,300 accounts banned in the U.S.
KickItOut.org, an organization formed to tackle racism and address discrimination in football, combined efforts with the EPL, Football Association (FA) and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) to launch a fresh look at these efforts.
“The group identified a set of common principles which will drive their working agenda moving forward. The principles include that: football and social media should be places where everyone feels that they belong; discrimination, hate and abuse towards those who play, support or work in the game is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated; online and offline hate must have real-world consequences for perpetrators and individuals should be held accountable for their actions.”
In February 2021, Republic of Ireland defender Cyrus Christie said that the high-profile cases of online racist abuse of footballers in recent months are just the tip of the iceberg. The fate of black players and those from other ethnic minority communities in the lower divisions are largely ignored despite increased public awareness.
While social media platforms have been used to share human interest stories and connect people across the world, in a 2020 article with The Conversation, Imran Awan wrote about online abuse and noted the following;
“ As Black Lives Matter continues to draw attention to racism—the trigger pushback from people using social media to express sentiments against people of colour—it’s time internet companies did more to tackle all forms of bigotry”.
He continued further saying;
“It’s important to recognise that these comments on social media reflect wider attitudes that are endemic in the offline world. Social media can appear to act as a megaphone for racists, but these opinions are much more mainstream than you think. As a society we need to grapple with how these ideas have become normalised, and challenge and expose them.
Social media companies including Facebook, Twitter and now TikTok have taken active steps to block and remove those people clearly linked with the far right. But this is only a starting point. More needs to be done to identify other individuals who are less obviously spreading hatred, often under the protection of anonymity. Only then can we try and effectively change attitudes and reduce social media’s significant capacity for harm.”
In 2018, Twitter had introduced an algorithm in an effort to tackle harassment. The system sought to use behavioral signals—how users react to a tweet—to assess if an account is adding to or detracting from conversations. The updated algorithm was meant to result in certain tweets being pushed further down in a list of search results or replies, but these tweets would not be deleted from the platform. This was not effective. In January 2020, Twitter announced they were testing new features that would allow users to control who can reply to their tweets. It seems, more still needs to be done.
In a related study on “Rising Levels of Hate Speech & Online Toxicity During This Time of Crisis,” AI-based start-up, l1ght, showed a marked increase in hate speech, with the target being Asians—more specifically Chinese, blaming them because of the origins of the coronavirus in China. This study showed the effects of more time online as countries imposed lockdowns and curfews to restrict movement during the pandemic.
More needs to be done and with the current trends of a few famous personalities quitting the social media platforms, it remains to be seen how the respective platforms will effect their codes of conduct. With more spotlight on race and online attacks, regulators may join in the conversation to make social media platforms safer spaces.

author: Richard Wanjohi


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For stateless and scattered Tibetans, a new online tool helps voters make an informed choice · Global Voices
Sonam Palmo Brunner

Screenshot from a SmartVoteTibet channel YouTube video encouraging Tibetans living in exile to participate in the upcoming Tibetan elections.
For Tibetans, a nation that remains stateless and scattered around the globe, and is yet committed to a democratic process for electing its representatives, cyberspace is the only space available where they can make an informed choice before casting their votes.
There are an estimated 6.5 million Tibetan people in the world. While the majority live in Tibet, there is also a large exile community in India, Nepal as well as in Western countries, issued from the Tibetans who fled their homeland following the 1959 annexation by China. While Tibetans in occupied Tibet are ruled by a government that is not elected, the Central Tibetan Administration based in India's Dharamsala has a leadership elected every five years. Even though the Tibetan government in exile is not officially recognized by any state, for Tibetans and particularly those living in exile, it represents a legitimate entity. Since the spiritual and political leader the Dalai Lama stepped down from his political leadership role in 2011, April 2021 will mark the third time Tibetans are able to elect their members of parliament and their president.
Given the reality that the Tibetan diaspora is truly global, the main challenge is the reach-out that is further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tibetan election process takes place in two steps: preliminary elections, to select short-listed candidates to the parliament, that took place on January 4, 2021 with a 77 per cent turnout of the exile electorate. Those with the highest vote are then able to run for the main general elections, which will take place on April 11, 2021. On that date, the voters will vote for a new President and for the 45 members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile.
Such transnational elections require considerable logistics for voting, but perhaps even more importantly, for campaigning, so that Tibetans can make an informed decision on the voting day. In order to overcome this challenge, a group of Swiss Tibetans came up with the idea of creating a reliable online platform to allow candidates and voters to communicate effectively.
Inspired by the advantages of the Voting Advice Applications (VAA), and with support from the Swiss organisation Politools that created a VAA called ‘Smartvote’ in 2003 for Swiss elections, the group built a smartvote Tibet application. The main concept comes in two steps: first, the candidates answer online questions on topics such as environmental or social policy, and then the voters answer the same questions, in the end the matches determine which candidate seems to agree the most with the voter's own political stance.
VAAs can be powerful because they not only have a positive impact on knowledge levels, but on voter turnout too. But perhaps more importantly, such platforms can help rebalance power relations between less advantaged candidates and privileged ones.
The main goal of the smartvote Tibet platform is indeed to support the voters during the opinion-forming process to get a picture of the candidates. The political positions of candidates are communicated in a transparent and comparable way so that they can not only be contrasted, but also held accountable later.
The team in charge of the platform developed a comprehensive questionnaire to accompany the formation of political opinions for a society relatively new to democracy. To increase diversity, Tibetan civil society was invited to submit questions to the project, with the help of an international advisory panel to maintain balance and objectivity. One of the main advantages of the system is that candidates can not skip a question, and need to express their opinion, including on issues that might be sensitive in Tibetan society, such as same-sex marriage for example.
As can be seen from this screenshot of the application below, future voters can get immediate information about the opinion of any candidate on specific and key questions, including identity, or  language. The black and white emoji represents a future voter's answer, while the orange color represents the opinion of a running candidate (showing alignment or differences visually):
But making sure that candidates and voters are able to use the platform comfortably and see its value remains a challenge. Indeed various problems arise, ranging from a lack of IT skills to a lack of understanding of the basic idea of the project. Indeed, some candidates could not see why it would be useful for them to fill in the online questionnaire and make their positions known transparently.
Another challenge is to make the platform known within the electorate: How can the older voters be reached? How can the tool be advertised in different countries? A considerable part of the Tibetan diaspora lives in simple conditions in settlements in India and Nepal where the infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired or, as in the case of Nepal, the long arm of China’s censorship can be felt.
The implementation of smartvote in a new context also shows the limitations and risks of such online voting tools. Highly standardised and simplified questions do not allow for detailed answers. Both the provider and users must therefore be aware of the opportunities and risks of such Voting Advice Applications.
Despite the many challenges, the experiment shows interesting results: for the preliminary January election around half of the candidates created a smartvote profile. With around 80,000 people registered for the elections, the tool had already given over 7,400 election recommendations as of April 7.
The application is also discussed over social media, by members of the exiled Tibetan community:
Find candidates that share your opinions! https://t.co/qRydZ2jZyq via @smartvoteTibet
Many congratulations to Project Democracy!
— Thubten (Sam) Samdup (@thubtensamdup) December 18, 2020
This being said, initial evaluations show a bias in participation towards Tibetans living in the West, presumably because of easier internet access. It is still too early to see whether and to what extent the use of smartvote Tibet can actually increase knowledge of the candidates’ positions and boost the willingness to go to the ballot boxes. But what is clear is that this bottom-up project brings new insights into the research areas of elections, democracy, diaspora and VAAs. Besides, it contributes to lively, fact-based, discussions within the Tibetan exile community.
DISCLAIMER: Sonam Palmo Brunner, the author and Dechen Pemba, who helped to translate from the original German into English, are both members of the smartvote Tibet team. None of the members of the smartvote Tibet team are running as candidates in the Tibetan elections.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sonam Palmo Brunner


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Income, age and obesity: South Asia’s advantages in the COVID-19 pandemic · Global Voices
Ian Inkster

Image by soumen82hazra, under license from Pixabay
Since the beginning of the pandemic of COVID-19, all major media, but especially those of the Western nations, have postulated accelerating disaster for South Asia. Poverty, lack of public medical facilities, lower levels of adult literacy, and lesser amounts of medical expertise would, it was assumed, work strongly against the ability of South Asia to weather the COVID-19 storm. In fact, as several of my earlier columns on Global Voices argued, this was, indeed, not the case at all.
From early weeks it seemed that South Asia was already benefitting from key income and age distribution features. Columns B, C and D of Table 1 below clearly show the associated data on incomes and age structures in South Asia, to which is added the two heaviest affected high-COVID Western nations and, as a data check, the large and significant middle-income systems of Iran and Turkey and estimates for the world overall.
Very clear are the ultra-low Covidity levels in South Asia as measured by cases per million and deaths per million in Column A. All South Asian Covidity is significantly lower than the world averages, much lower than the middling-income nations Iran and Turkey, and a world apart from the high-income exemplars U.S.A. and Britain—the U.S. cases rate is over 10 times that of India, its mortality 15 times that of India. It is possible that there are as yet undiscovered explanations here, but the seeming arbiter of Table 1 is the combination of income and age distributions (B-D). Lower per capita real incomes, as measured by purchasing power parity estimates that adjust for cost-of-living differences and yield the most accurate perspectives on real spending power, give rise to much lower Covidity levels.
The main reason for this correlation is that low incomes mean a high proportion of youngsters in the population (the low median age) and a tiny proportion of folk over 65 years. So, the cruelly low per capita income of Afghanistan is associated with the lowest COVID-19 cases data on the table and very low mortality. It also yields an extremely low median age (a high number of young people) and a very small proportion of older people. The characteristics of COVID-19 in all its variants today is that it generally travels around the young without serious illness but hones in on the old, commonly causing death, often associated with severe respiratory problems.
Knowing nothing else, we might be sensible in arguing that income and age differences are determining differences in Covidity levels. Iran and Turkey confirm this, their higher incomes giving higher Covidity, a slightly older population, but retaining a small proportion of older people over 65 years. They lie in an intermediate position. But the rich nations demonstrate the high extreme: exceptionally high COVID-19 levels, high incomes, fewer young people, more older folk.
On this basis we might expect that, however horrible the impacts of the epidemic are in many South Asian cities and villages, it remains likely that the final estimates for the pandemic will leave South Asia far less damaged in health and economy than previously hazarded and more ready to take some advantage of economic growth elements engendered by what will emerge as the faster economic recovery of East Asia.
There is as yet no other such underlying force at work explaining what at first seems counterintuitive—large poor nations surviving the pandemic better than rich Western countries. There is the possibility that varieties in policy or in “objective” factors such as degrees of air pollution, crowded frontiers or uncontrollable borders might also be at work in the same direction as income and age, but these are not yet obvious in any research work.
My own earlier findings for South Asia and elsewhere are that different COVID policy packages work to differentiate like-for-like; that is, superior policies in Japan or Germany might well have reduced Covidity more than did policies in say the U.S.A. or Britain, or within South Asia there might be some policies working better in one place that are absent in another. Until we know that population density, air pollution, climate or any such factors operate as systematically in this pandemic as do income and age, then such possibilities remain hypothetical.
However, with particular regard to South Asia, it is worth noticing another variable that tends to vary with age and income and might well be conditioning the overall Covidity results. This is the variations in levels of obesity between nations and, to an extent, between everyday cultures of nourishment and health. Thus, Column E of Table 1 shows extremely high levels of obesity in the richer nations of the U.S.A., U.K., Iran and Turkey. Higher income means higher Covidity and greater obesity.
An important paper by East Asian academics published in the major journal “Metabolism” in December 2020, illustrated that high obesity was strongly associated with high Covidity cases, serious illnesses and mortality. The paper was published on September 28 and has since been followed up by a great amount of scientific research and critical surveys.
Using standard body mass indexes in conjunction with estimates of accumulated visceral adipose tissue as the measure of obesity, examining some 45,650 participants from 33 studies, the gist of the summary findings seems to be that significant correlation exists between high obesity and serious COVID infection from hospitalisation through ICU admissions, IMV treatment, to death. It would seem to be increasingly clear that obesity increases the large number of COVID victims who progress to very serious conditions such as pneumonia and respiratory failure. It is—by deduction—more likely to impact mortality rates than cases per se, but this remains empirically unclear.
Evidently, South Asia again benefits. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that on average worldwide obesity is around 13 per cent, and Column E shows this to be very significantly above obesity levels for all major South Asian nations. Startlingly, the move to higher incomes in Iran and Turkey has given a more than proportional rise in obesity to reach the levels of rich nations such as the U.K. and U.S.A. in our table. It might be that if the extension of the pandemic is linked to the evolution of new varieties of the virus, then low obesity levels might help in future protection from the worst illnesses of the pandemic, reducing in particular serious illness and mortality.
Finally, given that for Iran and Turkey the rise in incomes during the present generation (growing each at around 5 per cent GDP per annum since 2013) is associated with higher Covidity but has altered age distributions only modestly, while seemingly exerting a massive effect on obesity levels, it could be that in certain national situations the obesity effects of income outride the age distribution effects of income in the generation of Covidity levels.
None of this is to deny the disastrous effects of the pandemic in South Asia. But it is to give hope that the obvious and insidious and unforgiving impacts of poverty and lack of public medical facilities might continue to be offset by processes related in a measurable association through income, age and diets and lifestyles.

author: Ian Inkster


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WATCH/LISTEN: Breaking the taboo on abortion · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Last December, the world's eyes were riveted on Argentina as abortion was legalized in that country. But to what extent are girls and women being forced to become mothers in other parts of the world?
Watch or listen to this edition of Global Voices Insights (originally live-streamed on April 7), in which our Latin America editor Melissa Vida is joined for an engaging conversation about reproductive rights with the following specialists and activists:

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Algerians’ speech freedoms strained by media laws passed under COVID-19 pretext · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Screenshot from France24 YouTube channel showing images of Hirak demonstrations in Algeria.
Algeria has been in turmoil since early 2019. A popular anti-government street protest movement, called Hirak, gathered massive support across different ethnic and social segments of the society and is still ongoing. To this, the government has responded with laws and measures that limit freedom of expression, and has often justified that by the need to fight the pandemic.
The Hirak movement started on February 2019, a few days after president Abdelaziz Boutefikla, in power since 1999, announced he would run for a fifth mandate. The people of Algeria reacted with the largest peaceful street demonstrations since the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. Eventually, Boutefikla conceded defeat and resigned on April 2, 2019.
Yet, his resignation did not bring changes expected by a majority of Algerians. They therefore continued to protest peacefully every single Friday across the country to press for significant political changes and an end to large-scale corruption.
As this twitter account that monitors the Hirak movement explains, the issue at play is the mindset of the government which is perceived as using various arguments, including the pandemic, to justify its grip over society:
#Algeria military-oligarchic-junta uses cover of COVID-19 to strangulate the popular uprising. The #hirak‘s central demand for a civilian and not a military state is designed to fight this precise mindset and its inherent repressiveness. #Algeriehttps://t.co/TpoTNF3PgN
— Algeria Revolt (@AlgeriaRevolt) May 11, 2020
The authorities did eventually respond to the movement by holding presidential elections in December 2020, which were won by Abdelmajid Tebboune. Yet, the vote was largely boycotted, reflecting little confidence within significant parts of the population in his candidacy as many Algerians did not see him as much different from his predecessors.
Indeed, while Tebboune had initially expressed support to the Hirak movement, he eventually changed his views and supported the passing of legislation restricting digital freedom of expression in Algeria. And so, protests continued.
The first significant change happened in April 2020. The Algerian parliament and senate voted amendments to the Penal Code which introduced heavier sentences in the context of peculiar situations, including times of pandemic. Village de la justice [Justice Village], a online publication established by legal experts, explains this in its article:
Le nouveau Code pénal prévoit ainsi une peine d’un à trois ans de prison, et une amende pouvant aller jusqu’à 300 000 dinars algériens (1900 euros) à l’encontre de « toute personne jugée coupable de propagation de fausses informations » Les peines peuvent être plus lourdes, de trois à cinq ans de prison « si ces actes sont commis durant les périodes de confinement sanitaire ou d’une catastrophe naturelle, biologique ou technologique ou de toute autre catastrophe.
The new Penal Code includes sentences of one to three years in prison, and a fine of up to 300,000 Algerian dinars [US$ 2 261] against “anyone found guilty of spreading false information”. The penalties can be heavier, from three to five years in prison “if these acts are committed during periods of sanitary confinement or of a natural, biological or technological disaster or any other disaster”.
In Algeria, state media comes under strict control and censorship, delivering information that has to be first approved by the authorities. In that context, independent platforms such as private media, social media, satellite television and other overseas media represent the main alternative source of information.
Interviewed on the phone by GV, El Kadi Ihsane, who owns several independent media outlets, explains the overall context:
Le système a depuis huit ans extrêmement réglementé les moyens de financements des médias, au point de les mettre en péril. Aujourd’hui, nous traversons une période critique, il n’y a aucun modèle qui est capable de fournir une information de qualité par manque de moyen car ces restrictions ne permettent pas de garantir un modèle économique viable et de se projeter, on est dans une précarité totale.
The system has for eight years now severely regulated the means of financing media, to the point of endangering it. Today, we are going through a critical period, there is no model that is capable of providing quality information for lack of means because these restrictions do not make it possible to guarantee a viable economic model and to envision the future, we are in a state of total precariousness.
Subsequently, internet penetration surged by 12 percent between 2019 and 2020, reaching over 52 percent of the population.
Following the April 2020 amendments to the penal code, Tebboune's government adopted in December 2020 its first ever decree governing electronic media. The decree presents new restrictions for operating digital media in Algeria and reflects the mindset of the government as explained in this article by the Minister of Communication:
Ce décret, premier du genre en Algérie, constitue l'une des priorités du plan d’action du secteur dans le cadre de l'intérêt accordé par le Président de la République à la généralisation du numérique et au contrôle de la presse électronique qui renferme des avantages et des inconvénients principalement liés à la mauvaise utilisation de ce type de médias modernes pour porter atteinte aux individus et aux institutions en diffusant des rumeurs, des fake news et des  vidéos truquées
This decree, the first of its kind in Algeria, constitutes one of the priorities of the action plan of the sector as the result of the attention paid by the President of the Republic to the overall digitalization and the control of online media. Such media has advantages and disadvantages, the latter happening when media is used to harm individuals and institutions by spreading rumors, fake news and faked videos.
Among the changes brought by this decree, Algerian media outlets are for example required to register on a .dz internet domain, in a clear attempt to control their content given strict censorship laws in Algeria. Indeed, most, if not all, opposition sites are registered outside of Algeria to preserve the safety of their contributors, who often use nicknames to protect themselves and their families from state harassment.
While Algerian authorities released a number of political prisoners on February 18, 2021 in an effort to prevent further massive demonstrations to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak movement, the most outspoken voices defending and embodying freedom of expression have all together paid a heavy price for daring to claim their rights.
An example of such is Walid Kechida, creator of Facebook page called “Hirak Memes” with almost 15,000 members, in which he displays humorous images criticizing the government and supporting the Hirak movement. He was arrested on April 27, 2020 on charges of “offending the President”, a crime that is mentioned in the April amendments of the Penal Code in the context of online publications. He was eventually released on January 31, 2021, after nine months in prison.
Similarly, Khaled Drareni, one of the most outspoken journalists during the Hirak movement , was released on February 19, having spent almost one year in prison for allegedly “inciting unarmed gatherings”.
As, Amira D., a student and activist, who did not want to give her full name, told GV:
Ces deux jeunes qui ont réussi à mettre à genoux un système juste avec un stylos et un téléphone, sont le visage de la jeunesse algérienne, ils nous ressemblent, dans la diversité qu’est notre jeunesse. Le système à travers la justice veut nous faire peur.
Those two young men managed to bring a system to its knees simply with a pen and a phone, and represent the face of the Algerian youth, they look like us in the diversity that is embodied by our youth. The system wants to scare us by using the legal system.
This article is part of a series of posts examining interference with digital rights under lockdowns and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic in nine African countries: Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Algeria, Nigeria, Namibia, Tunisia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

author: Global Voices MENA


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Residents prepare for possible evacuation as St. Vincent’s La Soufrière volcano heats up · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The volcano crater of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ La Soufrière in dormant times. Photo by Dave Brown, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
A disaster alert has been issued in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a result of heightened activity in La Soufrière, a volcano in the north of the island of St. Vincent and its highest point.
Categorised as an active volcano, La Soufrière's conical shape has been built up by layers upon layers of hardened lava and now, with the alert level having been elevated to Orange (the third highest of four levels), residents have been informed of the possibility of evacuation. An Orange Level alert suggests elevated seismic activity, with possible eruptions occurring with less than a day's warning:
The National Emergency Management Council has been activated as our country prepares for a possible disaster involving the La Soufriere volcano. The alert level remains orange, but we must be prepared in the event that an evacuation order is issued. pic.twitter.com/XR87nfdvZE
— Ralph Gonsalves (@ComradeRalph) April 8, 2021
Some areas directly surrounding the volcano have already begun to feel its effects:
A swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes at the La Soufriere volcano began this morning before 7am. Several are strong enough to be felt by communities on the flanks of the volcano. We have had reports of earthquakes being felt in Fancy and Sandy Bay. pic.twitter.com/J4ISYu19pV
— NEMO SVG (@NEMOSVG) April 5, 2021
Trinidad and Tobago-based journalist Wesley Gibbings, who has worked extensively throughout the region, shared on Twitter:
Residents near La Soufriere #volcano in St Vincent have been asked to prepare for “evacuation at short notice” should current conditions escalate. There have recently been numerous earthquake “swarms” and, today, an increase in “steaming/smoking”.
— Wesley Gibbings (@wgibbings) April 8, 2021
The popular microblogging platform is the channel through which the Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies and St. Vincent's National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) have been posting regular updates:
Substantial prospect of disaster. Level 3 declared by Prime Minister. NEMO boss tells residents to “be ready, get your things in order.” #lasoufriereeruption#beready
— NEMO SVG (@NEMOSVG) April 8, 2021
Both official sources like @uwiseismic and social media users have been posting photos and videos of the volcano's rumblings:
Early morning view of La Soufrière volcano from the Belmont Obs by @VincieRichie. The white low-lying cloud cover over the volcano and partly over the sea is due to a sustained period of volcanic gases and steam being emitted from the dome which was carried westwards by the winds pic.twitter.com/ZWCF1GAz1v
— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 8, 2021
Prayers for our Caribbean brothers and sisters in #StVincent & Grenadines where #Soufriere Hills #volcano is rumbling & spewing.
???????? pic.twitter.com/cMbZ1WtooT
— Marcia Forbes (@marciaforbes) April 8, 2021
At the time of publishing, no evacuation order has as yet been issued, but the volcano's activity continues to be closely tracked, and several of the country's Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbours have already pledged to assist should there be an eruption, in which case, as many as 20,000 people may have to be immediately evacuated.
La Soufrière has erupted on several occasions in the past. Most notably, the eruption of 1902 killed many Indigenous Black Caribs, who had been banished by the British colonial government to live at Sandy Bay in the shadow of the volcano. Most modern-day residents of the island's northern area have Indigenous roots, and identify as Kalinago or Garifuna.
The most recent eruption happened in April 1979. There was no loss of life in that incident, as the country had ample warning. In November 2020, renewed activity was noted at the crater, with a seismic event being recorded in December of that year, perhaps as a result of the formation of a new dome inside the volcano. On December 27, a NASA satellite detected a hotspot in the crater.
Update: Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves this afternoon issued an evacuation order for the area around La Soufrière and all homes in the areas designated as the Red Zone on the northeast and northwest of St. Vincent. At an emergency press conference, Dr. Gonsalves said the decision was based on advice from volcanologist Professor Richard Robertson who said that the situation had deteriorated significantly.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Turkish university students ‘can’t breathe’ under police brutality · Global Voices
Sevgi Yagmur Bulut

Screenshot from Cumhuriyet TV video capturing the detentions and police intervention, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejuGDnQHZfc
Protests at one of Turkey's most well-known institutions Boğaziçi University, continue well into the fourth month, triggered by the appointment of a new unelected rector Melih Bulu.
Bulu, who took office on January 1, has ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, thanks to decree law from 2016 which authorized the president to directly appoint rectors to universities.
Students at Boğaziçi University have faced police violence since the first day of protests against Bulu’s appointment. As of February 7, the Boğaziçi Solidarity platform announced that at least 560 students were detained (and while they have all been released, their prosecution is on-going), 25 were sentenced to house arrest and 11 were arrested on charges of ‘degrading or provoking the public to hatred and hostility’, ‘resisting policy authority’, ‘violating the law on demonstrations’, and ‘resisting to prevent public duty’. At least five students were reportedly detained for carrying LGBT flags on March 25. Others were handed travel restrictions and judicial controls requiring they sign in at the nearest police station on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, Bulu claimed he defends LGBT individuals’ rights and freedoms, adding that he dreamt of holding this position for a long time and said he wanted Boğaziçi to become among the world’s top 100 universities. On February 3, he told reporters“We will bring Boğaziçi University to a much better point.” So far, his decisions fall short of his aspirations. In April, Bulu shut down the University's Commission on Prevention of Sexual Harassment, sending its coordinator Cemre Baytok on unpaid leave. In March, Bulu announced new reassignments within the key positions of the university, including the Vice Rectors,  who are all male, with some responsible for more than one position.
According to Human Rights Watch, dozens of students were placed under disciplinary investigation, on the grounds of  ‘insulting campus security personnel’ and ‘organizing unauthorized protests on campus,’ which could result in temporary or permanent expulsion from the university.
A group of students and academics across Turkey and abroad have expressed solidarity with Boğaziçi University's students since January. Some have issued support letters, others have joined protests across the country as well as in Istanbul. The most recent protest took place on April 1. Students gathered in Kadikoy district of Istanbul demanding the release of their friends, Anıl Akyüz and Şilan Delpata, who were arrested while attending Boğaziçi protests on February 2 in Kadikoy.
Reports from the scene showed police using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, as well as excessive force, throwing students on the ground and grabbing them by their throats. According to the Boğaziçi Solidarity Group, at least 35 students were detained. All were released after testifying.
Tüm öğrenciler serbest bırakıldı #direniskadıkoeyde pic.twitter.com/LaBmkplzLZ
— Avukat Dayanışması (@avdayanismasi) April 1, 2021
All students are released
The evidence of police violence reminded many of citizen George Floyd’s death at the hands of US police officers, causing the Turkish translation of “I can't breathe”, which Floyd uttered before his death, trend in Turkey.  Social media users created the #NefesAlamiyorum hashtag in protest, sharing photographs attesting to  government intolerance  for demonstrating students.
Turkey has its own “I can't breathe” moment after these insane photos of police grabbing protesters by the neck #NefesAlamıyorum https://t.co/vV8HVy88is
— Vanessa H. Larson (@vanessahlarson) April 2, 2021
Gücünü, haklı mücadelesi için direnen bu ülkenin öğrencisine, gencine uygulayan hükümet polisinden manzaralar!
Bir Kıvılcım Gibidir Özgürlük Direnerek Kazanacağız!!!#DirenişKadıköyde#NefesAlamıyorum
?:@Kilicbil pic.twitter.com/TT6GGYu6IG
— Boğaziçi Dayanışması #0 (@boundayanisma) April 1, 2021
Scenes of the government police, using their power against students and young people of this country who are resisting for their just struggle. Freedom is like a spark, we will win through resistance.
#DirenişKadıköyde#Turkey#bogaziciuniversity
Students protests against the president Erdogan's appointment of a party member as rector of Boğaziçi University.
police battered and detained several Boğaziçi University students in the Kadıköy district https://t.co/TxxzcOYPBU
— 8marchturkey (@8marchturkey) April 1, 2021
This is how university students are treated and taken into custody when they peacefully protest in Turkey.
A number of disturbing scenes as such filled my feed. #Nefesalamıyorum #direnişkadıköyde https://t.co/Y0sOLQuQZj
— Inci Öykü Yener-Roderburg (英吉) (@Inci_Oyku_YR) April 1, 2021
Turkish police kneel on a student's neck during peaceful protest of Boğaziçi students. “I can not breathe” #NefesAlamıyorum #BogaziciDireniyor pic.twitter.com/D11SMB898g
— Serkan (@Serrrkany) April 2, 2021
On April 2, both Şilan and Anıl were released. The court also ordered the release of all the other students. However, the trial process continues.
Mahkeme kararını açıkladı. Tutuklu üniversiteliler Anıl Akyüz ve Şilan Delipalta tahliye edildi#ŞilanaAnılaÖzgürlükhttps://t.co/Lc1MSyqVI8 pic.twitter.com/C8ZLmdCqpW
— sendika.org (@sendika_org) April 2, 2021
The court announced its decision. Arrested university students Anıl Akyüz and Şilan Delipalta released
Back on campus, resistance by the faculty members against appointed rector continue. For the last two months the academics have stood outside the rectorate building, with their backs turned against the building in protest.
Boğaziçi Direnişi 93. gününde devam ediyor | Boğaziçi Üniversitesi'ne atanan kayyum rektöre karşı başlayan direniş, 93. gününde de devam etti. Akademisyenler, nöbetlerinin 67. gününde kayyumluk binasına sırtlarını döndü.
Tüm kayyumları gönderene kadar direnişimiz devam edecek! pic.twitter.com/ovb2NBV9HZ
— Hergele Postası #0 (@HergelePostasi) April 6, 2021
Boğaziçi Resistance continues for its 93rd day. The academics turned their backs on the trustee building on the 67th day of their watch. Our resistance will continue until we send all the trustees!

author: Sevgi Yagmur Bulut


text:
Women of colour endure discrimination in Austria’s gynecological care · Global Voices
Fausia S. Abdul

Photo by CCNull, remixed by Global Voices (CC BY 2.0 DE)
Abortion is legal in Austria within the first three months of pregnancy after consultation with a doctor. And every year, around 30,000 abortions are performed in Austria. Women of colour make up for more than a third of those who undergo an abortion, and nearly half of them were not born in Austria. Why is this?
According to a report by Austrian gynecologist Dr. Christian Fiala, 40 per cent of immigrants use effective prevention methods in comparison to 58 per cent of people born in Austria. It is considered the first, and to date, the only, representative study on the topic of sexuality and prevention in Austria for people aged between 16 and 49 years old.
Dr. Fiala states in the report:
Abortion rates would therefore be more common among women with a migration background. In general, because of hormone scepticism and a misconception of fertility, unwanted pregnancies are more common.
From 2012 to 2019, the use of the birth control pill dropped from 60 per cent to 44 per cent among women. According to Dr. Christian Fiala's 2019 Contraception Report, repeated misinformation regarding the pill increases skepticism towards it, which may lead to more unwanted pregnancies as the pill is one of the most effective contraceptives. Only a small percentage of people have replaced the pill with another effective contraception method.
However, another gynecologist, Dr. D. Jalali, believes that the misinformation may come directly from doctors. She told me via Zoom:
The survey of Dr. Fiala does not define whether this has to do with their own misconceptions (about fertility) or whether it has to do with being misinformed by their doctor. I can’t even start describing the number of women, mainly women with a migration background, who have received the wrong information regarding their fertility and anticonception. Often, these young women already have a long history of being mistreated in gynecological issues, which results in an unwanted pregnancy with harmful health complications, leaving no other option than going through an abortion, whether wished for or not.
On top of that, many claim that sexual education classes—which lack adequate teachers—are under threat by conservative groups in the country, and the pill is not covered by state insurance. If the costs were covered, more than half of the women surveyed in a thorough study from GynMed, a clinic for pregnancy and family planning, say they would switch to some method of prevention.
The “morning-after pill,” which is an emergency contraceptive, is, on the other hand, easy to buy if women overcome its stigma. The pill has been sold at Austrian pharmacies without a prescription and without age restriction since January 2014. In practice, however, women say they are asked to present a prescription at pharmacies.
Since 2020, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement has sparked more awareness of racial discrimination in Austria. For example, the historian, anti-racism expert, and journalist Vanessa Spanbauer explained to local media that “medicine is often aimed at white people.” Doctors appear to be influenced by—often unconscious—prejudices about ethnicity, resulting in certain population groups receiving less care than others.
Studies have also shown that women from different ethnic backgrounds react differently to diseases, for example, Polycysteus Ovarium Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS, whose symptoms include the forming of cysts, hormone imbalances, weight gain, and infertility affects one out of 10 women. Yet, it appears that the disease impacts women of Arab and Asian cultures differently from Western women, which in turn might influence its diagnosis. Obesity, for example, may be perceived as a “sign of prosperity rather than a negative impact in some cultures,” according to the study on “Ethnic-Specific PCOS.” Therefore, in some cultures, people with PCOS may not think anything is wrong if they put on weight.
But it's not only about culture. The study asserts that ethnic differences lead to more or less prevalent symptoms and different responses to treatments. For example, South Asian women with PCOS will have a greater risk of developing diabetes and have more severe symptoms by the age of 25 than white Europeans. “Differing genetic predisposition, as well as environmental differences, commencing in utero,” the research says, might explain this.
In a Facebook group of more than 16,000 (international) women in Vienna, members regularly post complaints regarding discriminatory gynecological care based on ethnicity. Some say they have been to doctors for two years for an issue which was solved by the right gynecologist in 20 minutes with complete healing after two weeks, or they have been diagnosed with a mental disorder several times instead of having their physical ailments acknowledged. Patients of colour who believe they are affected by this “white gaze” in the Austrian healthcare system suffer, in addition, from mental health issues because of discrimination.
Vice covered the topic for neighboring Germany. In it, Jasmine, a 33-year old patient, said, “These racist experiences in hospitals and doctors’ offices made me feel like I was worthless. As if I were disturbing and exaggerating and keeping the doctors away from their ‘real’ patients.”
Parissima Taher, a psychologist, commented on this regarding the practice of psychology: “In psychotherapy, I was told that I have to accept difficulties in my relationship. Because the men here [in Austria] want white women and it will be difficult to find a man other than my partner who finds me beautiful,” she told me, before adding, “and this is unfortunately still true, currently. I experience it on a regular basis in my work with my clients [who have faced discrimination by other psychologists].”

author: Fausia S. Abdul


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‘Explosive eruption confirmed’ at St. Vincent’s La Soufrière volcano · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Photo of the Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent posted on the UWI Seismic Research Centre's social media accounts.
Seismic experts’ prediction that the consistent spewing and gurgling of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ La Soufrière volcano would culminate in an eruption has come to pass.
At 8:52 a.m. (GMT-4) on April 9, the country's National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) tweeted just three words—”Explosive eruption confirmed”—an update that was shortly followed by the following tweet:
La Soufriere has moved into an explosive state. Plumes up to eight kilometers. Ash fall expected within five minutes#svgeruption2021#
— NEMO SVG (@NEMOSVG) April 9, 2021
Following an emergency meeting on the afternoon of April 8, the government began to evacuate around 20,000 people living close to the volcano in the north of the island, approximately 18 per cent of the country's entire population.
As of six o'clock on the morning of April 9, NEMO confirmed that “evacuation from the Red Zone to [the] safe area” is ongoing. Evacuations have been taking place by both land and sea, with several regional territories, including St. Lucia and Barbados, offering to receive displaced people.
The University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Centre yesterday posted a photo of the dome taken just before sunset shrouded in an ominous glow:
Latest images of the dome taken before sunset from the summit camera by @VincieRichie shows the dome now glowing and the height is now estimated to be above the southern crater wall. Follow us and @NEMOSVG for more info. #volcano #svg #lasoufrière #redalert pic.twitter.com/t498dx6fWr
— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 8, 2021
By dawn, the images showed considerably more activity:
The start of a new day. Long exposure photo taken by volcano seismologist Roderick Stewart at the Belmont Observatory early this morning. You can clearly see the glow from the new dome. @NEMOSVG and the Centre continues to monitor and provide updates. #lasoufrière #volcano #svg pic.twitter.com/8QfwjXlIcZ
— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 9, 2021
Latest images from the summit of La Soufriere. The dome can be seen from the wharf at Chateaubelair.
Photo: UWI Seismic Research Centre.#lasoufriere #svg #redalert pic.twitter.com/8SNSNX9Vmf
— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 9, 2021
Thus far, ashfall is being recorded as far as Argyle International Airport, which is located about 19.2 km away from the volcano.
Many social media users shared photos and video of the eruption while imploring others to get to safety:
Just released video of La Soufriere St.Vincent. Get to safety NOW ? pic.twitter.com/t1dCVdDjYd
— ?The Wife?? (@SpicyWifee) April 9, 2021
Did they get everyone out of the Red Zone before La Soufrière erupted a few minutes ago???
This is simply terrifying. ?
— Tenille. (@tenilleclarke1) April 9, 2021
Another view from on the ground #LaSoufrière pic.twitter.com/NjWR0lMnj1
— Heidi Badenock ?? (@heidibadenock) April 9, 2021
One Twitter user noted that this eruption comes just three days prior to the 42nd anniversary of the volcano's last flare-up:
My God I need to call my dad! It’s even his birthday today -82 yrs?. My phone has gone mad. Messages. Ppl panicking – La Soufriere has erupted just shy of its 12 April 1979 anniversary when I was a toddler in St Vincent. Have mercy Lord ?? #LaSoufriere ? pic.twitter.com/CXo8dLn7iO
— ?The Wife?? (@SpicyWifee) April 9, 2021
The majesty that is #LaSoufrière is awake in all her terrifying glory. https://t.co/2rnbZg1baM pic.twitter.com/ZBYgS6mHcT
— Heidi Badenock ?? (@heidibadenock) April 9, 2021
Even as prayers went out on social media for the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, some netizens were concerned about whether La Soufrière's eruption could trigger other activity in the region, a question @uwiseismic addressed in this tweet:
VT's often impact the area around the volcano. Most are shallow and small in magnitude so the impact is not far reaching. The volcanoes in the EC are not connected, they all have independent magma chambers so an eruption at one is unlikely to trigger another one.
— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 9, 2021
Others attempted to predict the path of the volcano's emissions:
If a lateral eruption at La Soufriere would occur I would suspect it would follow this area to the South west instead of going straight south. There's no way to know this right now, however. pic.twitter.com/WOLKYqP1kF
— Bowl Of Cereal (@MikePKtwat) April 9, 2021
One volcanologist, Dr. Jazmin Scarlett, who was praised for sharing regular updates on Twitter, noted that St. Vincent's turbulent history inspired her career path. The La Soufrière eruption of 1902 killed many Indigenous Black Caribs who had been banished by the British colonial government to live at Sandy Bay in the shadow of the volcano:
I don’t care that I don’t have a job in volcanology, this is why I became a volcanologist, to help my family and friends in St. Vincent. I’ve read and listened to what happened to my indigenous and enslaved ancestors. No one or nothing is going to stop me doing what is right.
— Dr Jazmin Scarlett (wear a mask!) (@scarlett_jazmin) April 9, 2021
Even today, most residents of the island's northern area have Indigenous roots. The hope with this most recent eruption, however, is that history will not repeat itself.


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Kenyan activists intimidated as irked citizens stage online protest against IMF loans · Global Voices
Njeri Wangari

Mr. Henry K. Rotich, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury speaking at the Governance Gap forum hosted by the World Bank Group in 2016. “100616_Governance Gap_MC Atrium” by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Kenyans online have, for the last three days now, been holding online protests against the decision by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve a $2.34bn loan facility for Kenya urging the multilateral agency to review its decision.
Using the hashtags #StopLoaningKenya and #StopGivingKenyaLoans, Kenyans rejected the loan and expressed their frustrations with the IMF for approving additional debt in what they see as another national debt repayment burden, at a time when corruption and misuse of public funds has escalated. This current loan is intended to fund a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kenyans on FB and Twitter rejection of IMF lending Kenya government’s more money is a fascinating sign of things to come in global finance. Government might not care, but IMF is definitely sensitive to bad PR.
— Grant (@GrantBrooke) April 5, 2021
In the past 12 months alone, Kenya has received $6.4bn in the form of grants and loans for COVID-19 response, according to a list compiled by Mary Mukami, an accountant by profession and a social media user, from press coverage.
704 Billion in just one year for COVID Response? Kenyans demand an explanation from GOK!!!! Lazima #Kijulikane pic.twitter.com/Wam5K4vbtP
— Hustler 031 (@_Hustler031) April 5, 2021
While many directed their frustrations towards the IMF, most were angry at President Uhuru Kenyatta and his government for continuing to burden Kenyans with bad loans and pushing the country deeper into debt, despite increased corruption and lack of accountability. Using screenshots of newspaper headlines, many users on Twitter gave their numerous reasons and evidence why IMF should stop loaning Kenya.
#StopGivingKenyaLoans #ImpactOfTheLoans
Need we say more pic.twitter.com/7bUXkbtJUs
— Cathyy (@yo_njeri) April 7, 2021
On 7th April, as online protests continued, Kenyan activist Mutemi Kiama was arrested for allegedly creating and publishing a poster warning the IMF against giving President Uhuru a new loan  Kiama, who tweets using @MutemiWaKiama and @WanjikuRevolt, published a public notice poster  on his twitter handle with a disclaimer from Kenyan citizens cautioning global lenders against transacting with the president and his vice president.
???#UnlockOurCountry #StopLoaningKenya! pic.twitter.com/LFE0IyG83t
— Mwarimū Mūtemi wa Kīama (@MutemiWaKiama) April 6, 2021
The following day, Kiama was presented in court facing charges of contravening various provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, including false publication. However, Kenya’s high Court dismissed the case made by the state prosecution, and declined to grant 14 days to gather evidence. Despite the absence of any cause to retain him, the court ordered the release of Kiama on a cash bail of $5,000USD.
COURT GRANTS activist Mutemi Kiama Sh500,000 cash bail; orders him to report daily to the investigating officer for the next 10 days.https://t.co/76mRXJLqfD pic.twitter.com/1gOT206sTt
— Nation Breaking News (@NationBreaking) April 8, 2021
Fellow Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, called to question the decision by the Kenyan High court, describing it as a “loud threat” to all Kenyan social media users against criticizing the government.
The police don't have any evidence that Kiama committed any crime, they're still investigating. How then does a magistrate ask Kiama to post a cash bail of 500,000?That bail is a loud threat to all Kenya social media users,criticise the government at your own risk!Dark days ahead pic.twitter.com/B3kKpxqIr6
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) April 8, 2021
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) also condemned the unjustified targeting of activists calling for an end to it.
The high court has dismissed an application by the prosecution for continued detention of Mutemi Kiama for 14 days over the frivolous charge of posting an anti -IMF loan poster.
He has been released on a cash bail of Ksh 500,000.
Unjustified targeting of activists must end. pic.twitter.com/acvCPX01Rs
— KHRC (@thekhrc) April 8, 2021
As virtual protests entered their second day, a section of Kenyans hijacked the comments section of  IMF's ongoing Facebook Live series that air press conferences and webinars on the World Economic outlook, and posted the message “STOP LOANING KENYA”, in a bid to further petition the lender to withdraw the facility. Posts published on IMF's Facebook page since the online protests began have garnered an average of 2K comments, all from Kenyans pleading with the IMF.
Kenyans hijacked an online IMF session ???? pic.twitter.com/sa5F0V2gbQ
— Kuira Brian (@kuirab) April 7, 2021
On 4th April, Jefferson Murrey, a concerned Kenyan citizen, created an online petition to the IMF to cancel the Kshs. 255 billion loan to Kenya. A section of his petition details reads:
The news that the IMF recently approved a Kshs. 255 billion loan to the Kenyan government has left many Kenyans shocked and very disappointed. This is due to the fact that previous loans to the Kenya government have not been prudently utilized and have often ended up in mega corruption scandals. These scams have not deterred the ruling Jubilee government's appetite for more loans, especially from China. Right now, Kenyans are choking under the burden of heavy taxation, with the cost of basic commodities such as fuel skyrocketing, and nothing to show for the previous loans. Our President, Uhuru Kenyatta, is even on record lamenting that Kshs. 2 billion is lost daily to corruption in Kenya. The same President recently approved a luxury car grant bribe to get junior lawmakers to pass controversial changes to the Constitution, punching another hole on an already shoestring budget.
At the time of filing this story, over 230,000 Kenyans had so far signed the petition with many sharing the link on their social handles.
The Kenyan Twitter community, also known as KOT, has become a force to be reckoned with. Due to the ubiquity of low-cost cell phones, a huge cross-section of Kenyans are online and for many, platforms such as Twitter have become an important avenue to not only air their opinions but also to organize and rally behind a common cause. A recent article written by this writer for Global Voices reported how the Kenyan government and Police are cognizant of the power that the Twitter platform yields.
With Kenya going into an election in 2023, activists such as Boniface and many others are warning social media users to “Brace themselves” for an increase in the arrest of bloggers and activists as the state doubles down its misuse of the anti-cybercrime legislation to muffle dissent.
Update: We had erroneously indicated that the bail  posted for Kenyan Activist Mutemi wa Kiama was $500USD, the correct bail amount was $5,000USD. This error has been rectified.

author: Njeri Wangari


text:
Macedonians race to buy ‘Euro 2020′ sticker album for local footballers’ collection · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Pages with the national team of North Macedonia in the Euro 2020 sticker album. Photo: Emilija Buraliev, published with permission.
This story was originally published by Meta.mk. An edited version is republished here via a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and Metamorphosis Foundation.
For the first time after the breakup of Yugoslavia, football stickers collectors in North Macedonia have a chance to see their national football team in a sticker book for a European championship.
Judging by the reactions on the social networks and the swarms at the stores and news stands, the most recent sticker album “Euro 2020” by the Italian publisher Panini has caused quite a sensation, building on the revelry of the Macedonian national football team's recent victories.
The sticker album is dedicated to the European football championship that was supposed to happen in 2020, but was postponed by UEFA to the 11th of June of this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, without changing its name.
The distribution of the sticker book and the stickers in North Macedonia began with April. During working hours on Saturday, people of all ages queued in front of the “World Press” store in the center of the capital Skopje, waiting patiently to buy the sticker book and the stickers.
Fans queued up in front of the store waiting patiently for their chance to buy the sticker book. Skopje, 3rd of May 2021. Photo credits: Meta.mk
One Skopje resident, Emilija Buraliev, told Meta.mk how collecting stickers became a family tradition from the time when her son started playing football at the age 6. Since then, they have been collecting stickers for both UEFA Euro championship and FIFA World cup albums.
Секоја втора година купувавме албуми и секогаш ги полневме. Највозбудливо беше менувањето сликички пред фонтана и споменикот на Мајка Тереза. Јас имав улога на шофер, а синот се менуваше. Сега има 14 години, не игра фудбал, ама сепак се собираат сликички. Оваа година со поголем кеиф бидејќи игра Македонија. Овој пат сигурно поради короната ќе нема менување на фонтана, ама ќе се снајдеме некако – онлјан.
Every second year we would buy albums and managed to fill them all. The most exciting part was participating in public meetings of collectors who swapped spare stickers in the city park and in the center of Skopje near Mother Teresa monument. I had the role of the driver while my son did the exchanging. He's now 14 and stopped playing football, but we still collect the stickers – this year with special gusto, because of Macedonian participation. This year I don't expect large meetings of collectors due to the coronavirus, but we'll manage somehow – online.
On social networks, the people who have managed to purchase stickers are sharing their impressions, especially those who have managed to find stickers of domestic football players, especially the team captain Goran Pandev.
братот пандка и џимоти меланија лоли pic.twitter.com/o1jq3ObuUa
— krojanbojan (@krojanbojan) April 3, 2021
Brother Pandev and [the cat] Dzhimoti Melanija Loli
The tradition of collecting and swapping the self-adhesive cards is part of the common culture in the former Yugoslavia. In the 70s and the 80s, all across the former Yugoslav federation, there was great interest in domestic stickers books, like “Životinjsko carstvo” (Animal Kingdom) from the Croatian confectionery company Kraš, in addition to the imported sticker books from Panini. There were sticker albums on a wide range of interests, from sports to comics, from TV series to educational content.
In 2006, the Macedonian computer programmer Goran Shlakeski founded the slikicki.com web site, (“slikički” is the Macedonian term for stickers). Over the years it was available in Macedonian, English and Slovene, and has become a meeting place of the online community of sticker collectors. On this not-for-profit web site, the collectors publish their collections and arrange barters.
With the advent of social networks, some of these meetings become quite huge, with hundreds of collectors gathering at the Fountain, the popular meeting point at Skopje City Park, which Global Voices reported about in 2014.
Apart from the network of news stands and other shops, the stickers “Euro 2020” can be also bought through the slikicki.mk web site, run by Dipres dooel – Skopje. The price of one sticker is 8 denars  (15 US cents), but they are sold in packs of five, for the price of 40 denars (0.77 dollars) . To fill out the sticker album, the collector has to find a total of 654 unique stickers.
The monetary value of a full sticker album is about 110 dollars, which is quite pricey for a book in North Macedonia. Collectors usually end up spending much more, as often they can't swap the spare stickers. However, they claim that the passion driving them makes the process worthwhile, particularly this time, when having their own national team in the album makes them feel they are a part of both sports and the country's history.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


text:
‘Our homeland is where the money is’: pragmatic citizenship in Tajikistan · Global Voices
openDemocracy Russia

Builders working on a site. Podolsky district, Moscow region. Photographic mission to Russian Federation, 22-29 September 2006. Image by Marcel Crozet / ILO. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
“Sister Irina, write down the name of the airport close to your house. We’ll come and visit you,” said my Tajik host brothers, calling from South Korea. “It doesn't matter where you are. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands. We obtained Russian citizenship, remember? We have the right to enter!”
Every year, thousands of Central Asian citizens try to overcome the restrictions attached to the citizenship they acquired at birth and apply for a Russian passport – just like my host brothers from Tajikistan, whom I met in 2012 when their family started hosting me during research trips.
A Russian passport eases work in Russia, but that’s not the only incentive – it enhances one’s mobility in general. In a country such as Tajikistan, acquiring a second citizenship has become commonplace, with the number of Tajik citizens receiving Russian passports increasing significantly in the past few years. In 2020 alone, more than 63,000 Tajiks obtained Russian citizenship, second only to Ukrainians.
These recently released numbers spurred an intense debate on Tajik social media. “If this trend continues, no one will be left in the country,” some said, while others shared their wish to obtain Russian citizenship too. “If it were easier to get Russian citizenship, we would also be ready… Our homeland is where the money is.”
The fact that acquiring another citizenship can enhance someone’s livelihood is not unique to Central Asia. It’s a strategy employed elsewhere too. Different terms are used to talk about obtaining a second citizenship – instrumental, strategic, affective citizenship – which all refer to the benefits a second passport may afford, whether in security, economic or social terms. Yet tensions and contradictions remain: naturalised citizens continue to identify with their country of origin, and can also face prejudice, intolerance and racism in their new country of citizenship.
For Tajiks, whose country remains bereft of economic opportunity, these choices are all too pragmatic. Many regard the need to leave as crucial, driving some, who have faced deportation from Russia, to change their Tajik name and appearance. A second passport is, however, often a much more secure and legal way to cross borders.
My two host brothers were born and raised in a rural district of Tajikistan’s south-western Khatlon region, around 50km from the capital Dushanbe. They acquired Russian citizenship in 2016. The eldest studied for five years at the Islamic University in Moscow, working for a construction company on the side to finance his education. Earning a diploma enabled him to get Russian citizenship relatively easily, which meant that his younger brother – who had joined him in Moscow in 2015 – could also acquire it. Back in Tajikistan, his children automatically became Russian citizens, and his status also eased the procedure for his wife and father.
After working in Russia for two years, the brothers moved to South Korea on their Russian passport in 2018, joining the ranks of other Central Asian migrants toiling in the country. Russian citizens can enter South Korea visa-free as tourists and stay for up to two months. Some overstay this period and hope for an amnesty to remain and continue working in the country; others shuttle back and forth.
While labour migration from Tajikistan to South Korea is a relatively new phenomenon, labour migration to Russia has become crucial for the Tajik economy since the breakdown of the Soviet Union
After entering as tourists, my host brothers obtained a multiple-entry resident visa, valid for a period of three years, which allows them to work with few restrictions, and benefit from some social protection schemes. To date, Tajik citizens without a Russian passport cannot enter South Korea easily, and must instead apply for a tourist, work or business visa.
Like many others, my two host brothers had first heard about South Korea on the internet. Information on citizenship constantly circulates online, such as in this video by Migrant’s Voice, a Tajik NGO providing support to migrant labourers, in which a Tajik labourer in South Korea addresses his fellow countrymen in front of the camera:
Hello to all Tajik people. If you are coming to Korea, welcome, come! There is work for all! Don’t think that there is no work. In Korea there is work everywhere, any kind of work. The work is heavy. But the money, the money is good.
Average wages tend to be higher in South Korea than in Russia. My host brothers earn between $80-100 per day in the construction sector, paid in cash on the spot.
As one of them explained, there are no Central Asian intermediaries or other complex labour recruitment networks involved on the work site, as in Russia. The two men work hard and regularly receive phone calls from their father, mother and sisters with urgent requests for money. At the same time, they enjoy less parental and state control, as well as the relatively better living and working conditions of South Korea. When a metal construction recently fell on the eldest brother, fracturing his legs, his employer provided full healthcare coverage, while an older Korean lady looked after him for several weeks. The two brothers’ hard work is reflected in the improved living standards of their close relatives in Tajikistan. In preparation for the oldest son’s return, their father built an eye-catching two-storey ‘European style’ house in the middle of the village among Tajik-style loam-built homes.
As a result of dual citizenship, figures on international mobility and travel, including labour migration and resettlement, do not necessarily reflect people’s place of birth.
For instance, according to a recent report by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, the South Korean government issued a total of 102 work visas to Tajik citizens between 2016 and 2019. It is impossible to assess to what extent these figures are accurate, but they seem to be at least slightly underestimated. While one Tajik labour migrant in South Korea told me that around 60 to 70 Tajik people work in his company alone, another claimed that there are not that many Tajik people in South Korea, as the country remains difficult to enter. In the capital city of Seoul, he estimated, there would not be more than 100 Tajiks.
While labour migration from Tajikistan to South Korea is a relatively new phenomenon, labour migration to Russia has become crucial for the Tajik economy since the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991.
According to data from Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 1.1 million Tajiks entered Russia for work in 2019, a figure that excludes people who entered illegally or informally, without registering for work. Labour migration to Russia has come to be seen by many in Tajik society as part of a man’s social becoming. “My two boys [who haven’t reached school age yet] will study and then work in Russia,” a young Tajik mother recently told me. There is little doubt in her mind that her household will develop via the accepted routine of labour migration to Russia.
A Russian passport can greatly help to ease the process of migration, though many Tajik people hold ambivalent feelings towards Russia
These migrant workers provide a lifeline for many of the country’s rural and urban households. Remittances enhance people’s ability to pay for healthcare and education, as well as diversify consumption patterns. For farmers suffering from a lack of liquidity, money remitted home allows for the purchase of equipment and seeds, or provides a safety net when the harvest fails. In 2013, Tajikistan ranked as the most remittance-dependent country in the world, with remittances equalling around 50% of GDP.
Under COVID-19 restrictions, labour migrant mobility to and from Russia markedly decreased in 2020, with remittances severely dwindling as a consequence. In some cases, families in Tajikistan were even forced to send money back to Russia. According to the Russian Central Bank, remittances sent to Tajikistan during the first nine months of 2020 were 30% lower than in the same period in the previous year. Signs in supermarkets stating “We don’t provide [shopping on] credit” are quite common in Dushanbe these days.
But with few opportunities at home, labour migration from Tajikistan to Russia remains resilient. However, limited returns from Russia to Tajikistan in 2020 should partially be explained by the fact that rumours started circulating in Tajikistan in summer 2020 that Tajiks without a Russian passport leaving Russia under COVID-19 restrictions could be deported and even banned from reentering the country for up to ten years. Whether this was true or simply an excuse by Tajik youth in Russia who were not eager to return home remains to be seen; it was, however, taken for granted by several families in rural Tajikistan. High travel expenses also constituted a substantial barrier for migrants to return.
Thus, a Russian passport can greatly help to ease the process of migration, though many Tajik people hold ambivalent feelings towards Russia. On one hand, they enjoy the freedom abroad and facilities that are absent in rural Tajikistan; on the other, they often experience racism and xenophobia, giving rise to resentment toward Russia. “If I have to go to Russia to assist a Chinese client, I don’t speak Russian. I try to speak English so that they do not notice my Tajik accent,” a young Tajik who works as a broker for Chinese companies told me. “If they understand I am Tajik, they will treat me with disdain.”
As a result, personal identity and legal citizenship must be set apart. Most labour migrants who have obtained Russian citizenship continue to identify as Tajik, while enjoying being exempt from having to acquire residence and work permits, as well as being included in the Russian social security system. This is one reason why elderly Tajiks, with an employment history in the Soviet Union, apply for a Russian passport nowadays – though they have no intention of leaving to work in Russia. While a Tajik pension amounts to around $10-20 per month, a Russian pension is no less than 10,000 roubles, or about $130. As one of my friends in Dushanbe jokingly put it, referring to one of her neighbours who receives a Russian pension: “That old man is now supporting his children on a monthly basis, instead of his children supporting him!”
The idea of ‘pragmatic citizenship’ captures the fact that most Tajik labour migrants would not easily identify themselves as Russian, even after many years of residence. This is seen in other migration trajectories elsewhere, where the motherland remains at the core of one’s identity, as is the case of Palestinians in Athens or Asian immigrants to Australia.
Pragmatic citizenship is employed to overcome limitations attached to one’s passport and the constraints people face at home, since, for citizens of some countries, borders are harder to cross than for citizens of others. Yet, only by crossing these very borders can this second ‘pragmatic’ citizenship be obtained, leaving Tajiks constantly split between the place they call home – but which doesn’t provide for them and their families – and another that continues to see them as foreign, yet allows them to build a better life for themselves and their loved ones back home.

author: openDemocracy Russia


text:
Serbian freelancers protest new taxation law that threatens to push thousands into poverty · Global Voices
Tamara Petrovic

Protest of freelancers in Belgrade, April 8, 2021. Banners read “We refuse to relinquish our future!” and “Yes to Taxation ! No to Robbery!” Photo by Association of Internet Workers, used with permission.
Around two thousand citizens of Serbia took to the streets of Belgrade on April 8 to protest a new tax scheme that would require digital workers – or those who work as freelancers over the internet- to pay exuberant retroactive taxes for the previous five years. They warn that if the government goes through with its plan, over 100,000 individuals now taxable will slip over the edge of poverty.
The protesters, many coming from other cities across Serbia, set up a camp of tents in front of the parliament during the evening of April 7. The next morning, campers were joined by protesters in a 2-hour walk on the main Belgrade streets, stopping by government buildings to “greet” ministers of finance and labour, and the premier. They finished their walk with a promise to return in two weeks if the Serbian Parliament passes the law they strongly object to.
Protest frilensera. pic.twitter.com/2IpY4Y2zc8
— Marko M. Dragoslavic (@DragoslavicM) April 8, 2021
Freelancers’ protest.
Background music: “Sistem te laže” (The System is lying to you) by Beogradski sindikat.
The protests are organized by the Association of Internet Workers, or Udruženje radnika na internetu, an organization formed through a Facebook group with over 13 thousand members. Besides expressing their rejection to the new taxes, the protests were to debunk the government's claim that these taxes have the support of freelancers.
On March 29, the Association held its third round of negotiations with the government, and like previous attempts in February, talks failed as the government refused to change most of their terms.
To add insult to injury, the government announced on March 31 that they have come to terms with another organization that claims to represent the freelancers. This came as a bit of a shock to the digital community, since the organization in question was never part of the negotiation process nor organized any activities towards finding a solution for digital workers, but rather kept silent over the past six months, or voiced out their support to Association of Internet Workers demands.
“No taxation without legislation.” Protesters camping in front of Parliament of Republic of Serbia, April 8, 2021. Photo by Association of Internet Workers, used with permission.
The Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić visited the camp before the April 8 protest started, offering “a cup of tea” to the campers who spent the night in freezing weather. They responded that they want new negotiations and a halt to the parliament's procedures of adopting a new tax law.
For years, digital workers have been excluded from laws and regulations in Serbia. They have had no right to pension plans nor healthcare, and no way of defining their employment status legally.
They were only mentioned in an amendment made to the Pension and Disability Law in December 2019, that allowed them to add part of the income to their personal pension funds starting 2020, and then only if they were officially employed elsewhere. In the years before October 2020, upon inquiry, the Serbian tax authorities claimed that the line of work of people who earn their living by outsourcing services to foreign employers was not regulated by law, and that they had no framework for taxation.
Miran Pogačar speaking at April 8 protest of freelancers in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo by Association of Internet Workers, used with permission.
As freelancer and activist Miran Pogačar explained the situation in an interview with People’s Dispatch:
Even though Serbia ranks fourth in Europe based on its market share in the global digital workforce, for years, digital workers in Serbia were invisible when it came to laws and regulations. They had no right to a pension or healthcare, and no way of defining their employment status legally.
As the unemployment rates in Serbia are sky-high, the National Unemployment Office even recommended finding work with foreign companies. It even subsidized courses for digital workers without mentioning any obligations that come with freelance work.
At the same time, Serbian tax authorities had been misinforming citizens who inquired about their tax obligations. They claimed that our line of work wasn’t regulated by law, that they had no framework for taxation, and they sent out the same message: we weren’t supposed to pay anything, and we couldn’t if we wanted to.
However, in the year of the pandemic and the devastating economic crisis, instead of amending the labour law and regulating Internet and freelance work, the authorities exploited an obscure legal loophole in the 2001 Personal Income Taxation Law, enabling them to initiate a sudden tax revision.
Subsequently, on October 13, 2020, the Tax Administration demanded that all private individuals who had received money from abroad pay their taxes and social contributions for the preceding 6 years in a single instalment, including accrued interest.
This was the first time the Tax Administration had ever informed or warned digital workers of their alleged obligations, and did so through a Facebook post calling them to “declare income from abroad at their  own initiative.” According to the Tax Administration’s data, 99.7% of all those affected by the 2001 law had not paid taxes or contributions. Abruptly, the authorities demanded a payment of taxes and contributions in the future and retroactively for the last five years.
“The system didn't work, but we did. Who's to blame?” banner at April 8 protest of freelancers in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo by Association of Internet Workers, used with permission.
Threatened digital workers responded by organizing two large peaceful protests on December 30 and January 16.
After the first protest, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić issued a conciliatory statement, saying that while everyone should pay taxes, the state authorities were indeed partially to blame and that he asked the government not to request payment for that period.
Ja mislim da je tim ljudima potrebno omogućiti da rade. Sad je jasno kakav porez treba da plate, ali nemojte da im naplaćujete retroaktivno.
I think that those people should be allowed to work. Since now it's clear what kind of tax they should pay, please don't charge them retroactively.
After the second protest, the government then accepted the freelancers’ offer to negotiate. The authorities proposed an interest write-off, and a reduction of the taxable sum to 57% of the total, although the latter was not guaranteed. The government also proposed a ten-year payment plan.
The freelancers estimated that combined with current taxes and contributions, the monthly sum would amount to over 50% of an individual's total income, provided that their income remains constant for the next ten years.
Due to the volatile and precarious nature of their work, this would push many of the  digital workers into extreme poverty. In case a single income is late, it could result in whole families becoming homeless. Moreover, they claim the government's offer is unconstitutional, violating Article 91, Section 3 of Serbian Constitution which states that the obligation of paying taxes and other dues shall be general and based on the economic ability of taxpayers.
The freelancers unanimously agree that taxes must be paid. However, they consider the current rates are not only unjust but downright oppressive and unsustainable. The state is demanding that they pay for social benefits while denying them the means to exercise them.
“No taxation without legislation,” and “Stop the robbery of internet workers” banners from April 8, 2021 protest in Belgrade. Photo by Association of Internet Workers, used with permission.
The digital workers also find it unjust to impose taxation retroactively, because the market price of their work could not be adjusted in that period to include even possible taxation. Using digital tools and surveys, freelancers came to a joint decision that they can’t accept the government’s proposal.
In January 2021, the Association contacted the Serbian Ombudsman, which asked the Tax Administration to supply documentation regarding its activities related to digital workers and private individuals for the period of five years. The documentation could prove that the Tax Administration had failed to meet its obligations and misinformed digital workers for years.
The association is a growing group of mostly young people that includes designers, teachers, translators, media specialists, programmers, and content creators (among others), who use protests and social-media campaigns to fight their way through the government-controlled media where they were essentially portrayed as tax-evading criminals.
By using the internet, and by talking to relatives and friends, the freelancers managed to reshape public opinion about their situation in less than two months, and largely gained the sympathy and understanding of the general public. Nevertheless, Serbian authorities still refused to take into consideration the evident humanitarian issue at hand.
Freelancers vow to continue protesting until a just solution is reached. They reiterate that they would be willing to pay taxes, but not in a way that would plunge them and their families into poverty, or rob  them of over half of their projected income for the next decade.
“I don't want to leave [my homeland]!” protester holding a banner in front of Serbian parliament. Photo by Association of Internet Workers. Ued with permission.
Since the prime minister refused the protesters’ demands, they decided to continue camping until April 10 and join in solidarity a protest by environmental activists scheduled for Saturday.
The author is a member of the Association of Internet Workers.

author: Tamara Petrovic


text:
Slander campaign threatens Serbian civil society and independent media · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

The team of CRTA (Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability), an independent, non- partisan civil society organization committed to developing democratic culture and civic activism in Serbia. Photo: CRTA, 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. CRTA is Global Voices content partner.
During recent weeks, Serbian politicians and pro-government media have waged a vilification campaign against leading civil society organizations (CSOs) and independent media in Serbia.
The Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, CRTA, which runs the oversight initiative Open Parliament and the fact-checking outlet Istinomer, has been the target of this high profile slander campaign, along with the investigative reporting outlet KRIK, which runs anti-disinformation site Raskrikavanje.
In early March, two members of parliament from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Aleksandar Martinović and Vladimir Orlić, verbally attacked CRTA and accusing it of supposed involvement in an attempted coup d’état and assassination of the president. These accusations came after the organization submitted a complaint to the relevant parliamentary board against Orlić, on account of violating the code of conduct for parliamentarians by promoting discrimination, animosity and violence against newsrooms of certain media outlets.
On March 13, in response to the accusations, CRTA filed a request to the state prosecutors office to initiate investigation about the claims. The prosecutors are yet to respond to this demand and initiate a process in which the MPs would publicly testify (as witnesses) and explain the accusations against the organization as an accomplice in a conspiracy against the state.
These grave accusations against CRTA and KRIK are but one form within the trend of institutional attacks against civil society and independent media which raise public interest issues of accountability of state officials and institutions through evidence-based advocacy and professional journalism.
As pro-government tabloids and politicians continue to increase tension in Serbian society, many observers fear that the witch-hunt initiated in the parliament can spread on the streets and endanger the safety of journalists, civil society activists and all other critics labeled as ‘enemies of the people’ or ‘enemies of state’.
Since MPs enjoy immunity from criminal and civil responsibility for claims they make within parliament chamber, an investigation of their allegations about supposed conspiracy is the only way that they could be made to testify on the record and substantiate their claims.
CRTA noted that if Orlić and Martinović have any incriminating evidence about supposed high crimes, they must immediately cooperate with the prosecutors.
In practice, the attacks continued with increased intensity, as reported by investigative outlet Insajder. At the parliament session of March 17, MP Martinović again issued a range of accusations against independent media and CSOs claiming that they are “criminal organizations which don’t pay taxes in Serbia and run nontransparent projects” on behalf of foreign governments. That time, the MP also issued a range of accusations and implied threats against CRTA Program Director Raša Nedeljkov and CRTA Director Vukosava Crnjanski, including claims about knowing where she lives, how her apartment looks like and what kind of automobile she drives.
Without providing any evidence, MP Martinović also claimed that CRTA and KRIK editor Stevan Dojčinović are involved in money laundering of millions of dollars. Defamation was followed by death threats over social media.
CRTA reacted to the threats that also entail incitement of violence by ruling party supporters or other people who are egged on dealing street justice to citizens labeled traitors to the state and criminal profiteers.
Manje je važno što je Aleksandar Martinović iz @sns_srbija danas u Skupštini brojao kvadrate naše direktorke @vukac, opasno je što je siledžijski poručio – Znamo gde živiš. #StopNasilju
— CRTA (@CRTArs) March 17, 2021
The counting of square meters of the apartment of our Director Vuka Crnjanski by Aleksandar Martinović from SNS today in parliament pales in comparison with the bullying message – ‘We know where you live.’
International organization Civil Rights Defenders issued a demand to members of Serbia’s ruling party to refrain from threatening civil society organizations and called upon the Public Prosecutor to investigate recent threats against CRTA at the National Assembly.
The slander campaign also attracted the attention of the European Parliament, which adopted an amendment to the European Parliament resolution issued on 25 March 2021, on the 2019-2020 Commission reports on Serbia (2019/2175 (INI)), condemning the attacks of MPs and tabloid media against KRIK, the Open Parliament initiative and CRTA. This condemnation has become an integral part of the official European Parliament resolution on Serbia, which:
39. Stresses that abusive language, intimidation and slandering campaigns against political opponents and representatives of the media carried out by MPs in the plenary of the National Assembly represent a breach of democratic practice and fundamental democratic values that should be strongly condemned and sanctioned in line with the rules of procedure; is appalled by the recent orchestrated attacks carried out by several MPs and pro-government tabloids against investigative journalists and members of civil society, including those from the independent media network KRIK and NGOs such as CRTA and the Open Parliament, portraying them as associates of organised criminal groups and as coup plotters, which is in gross violation of their own recently adopted Code of Conduct for MPs;
The representatives of the international community in Serbia also condemned the slander campaign at a number of meetings with civil society representatives.
I spoke with @CRTArs Director @vukac to express solidarity and support after recent attack. Civil society plays an important to inform and keep all accountable. It needs outmost respect.
— European Union Ambassador to Serbia (@FabriziSem) March 19, 2021
Highest public official in Serbia commented on the European Parliament resolution, disputing its veracity. President Aleksandar Vučić said that he will tell his party supporters to cease issuing threats and to cease publicly revealing addresses or phone numbers of CRTA and KRIK staff, but that he retains a very negative opinion about their work. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić stated that the claims from the EP resolution are completely false.
At the opening of the conference “Citizens have the power” on April 8, CRTA Director Vukosava Crnjanski responded to a question by the moderator about whether they have expected attacks of such brutality from the forces that had performed ‘state capture,’ Serbin daily Danas reported.
Vukosava Crnjanski, Director of CRTA. Photo: Dalibor Danilovic.
“The reaction by the European Parliament and the international community showed that there are limits which they would not allow to be crossed [by the regime], even though we, the activists, cannot afford to rely on their support only. The issue here is the right to activism and the right of citizens and activists to fight corruption,” Crnjanski noted.
She said that CRTA’s peril is less important than the threats against whistleblowers like Aleksandar Obradović and Marija Lukić, as well as against local activist organizations like the Red Badges from Smederevo and Defend Tesla from Pančevo.
“It is important to show that we are not afraid and that we stand by the citizens,” Crnjanski concluded.