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Georgia’s youth protesters lead 2020’s political showdown · Global Voices
Shota Kincha

A decisive return of young Georgians to politics took place on 21 June 2018 — hours after a heavy-handed response by the authorities against political groups’ attempt to storm the parliament through police lines. Photo: Mari Nikuradze/OC Media
This article is made possible through a partnership with Transitions, a Prague-based publishing and media training organisation
Well into the new year, many Georgians believe that their government isn't keeping its resolutions. Recently, those who demand that this October's parliamentary elections be “more democratic” have had two venues to engage with the ruling party. They can either attend roundtable negotiations brokered by foreign diplomats, or protest outside the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi. However, both these channels have diminished lately. No roundtable talks have been held since late December. In January, Tbilisi City Hall fenced off an area in front of parliament, a traditional spot for political protests, citing renovation works.
A difference between these venues is that Georgia's anti-government youth movement has no seat at the formal negotiations table. In fact, one appeal of the street rallies which have rocked the capital since last summer has been that they were not run by the opposition parties everybody would expect to see around that table. Two opinion polls commissioned by the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute late last year suggest that a plurality of Georgians are undecided as to their political preferences and have low trust in parliament. In short, they're eager for alternatives. With little hope of political renewal and little clarity over this year's elections, a stalemate looms over Georgian politics.
With more protests scheduled for April 5, all eyes are on country's youth driven protest movements. A burning question is what role they could play in sending a ruling party back to the opposition benches.
There’s nothing unprecedented about youth dominated protests in Georgia. What's new is that over the past year, young Georgians have come to set the agenda in these demonstrations, not just participate in them. The catalyst came during the upheaval of June 20, 2019, when the ruling Georgian Dream party invited the Russian communist politician Sergey Gavrilov and a delegation from Moscow to address Georgia's parliament. As Russian soldiers currently occupy internationally recognised Georgian territory, the move did not go down well with the public.
After fighting off several lines of aggressive protesters for several hours, police started to indiscriminately fire rubber bullets into the crowd. They injured over 160 civilians. The following footage, taken by a protester on his mobile phone, shows the attack:
Disturbingly, two young protesters each lost an eye — and became the faces of Georgia's new protest movement.
The crackdown on “Gavrilov Night” triggered even bigger rallies. Young protesters went onto the streets covering one eye with a hand to show solidarity with those injured. Their anger was predictable. But few expected that a demand as unsexy as moving from a semi-proportional to a fully party-list based electoral system would make it to the top of the young protesters’ agenda.
After all, anti-government liberal youth groups had earned a very different image.
The original name of the leading anti-government group Shame Movement — #ForFreedom (#თავისუფლებისთვის) — hints at its roots. In some ways, the movement was a spillover from the Dance for Freedom protests a year earlier that had been triggered by the authorities’ anti-drug crackdown on popular Tbilisi night clubs.
Nevertheless, it soon looked as though the protesters had scored a victory. On June 24, after four days of street protests, the chairman of Georgian Dream and ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili promised to introduce a reformed electoral system in time for the 2020 elections.
“Why did we ask for electoral reform in response to ‘Gavrilov Night'? Because we see it as the only way for Georgia to avoid single-party rule or endless political crises,” explained Shota Digmelashvili, one of the leaders of the Shame Movement, in an interview for Global Voices.  In Georgia's current mixed electoral system, 73 of the 150 members of parliament are elected in these single mandate districts, raising the incumbent party's chances to gain a constitutional majority. As this helps the incumbent build a constitutional majority, critics see this as a recipe for a potentially unaccountable concentration of power under one party.
As soon as the youth-led Shame Movement made electoral reform their top demand last June, Georgian Dream insisted that they were secretly managed by the United National Movement (UNM), which ruled the country between 2004 and 2012. The UNM remains a diminished, but influential, pro-European opposition party while its former leader Mikheil Saakashvili, who is wanted on criminal charges in Georgia, lives in exile. Ivanishvili's relationship to Saakashvili is so strained that it is regularly characterised as a vendetta.
Digmelashvili, who campaigned against the UNM before 2012, dismisses these accusations. “[On June 20] we literally had to organise a human chain around the main stage to block party leaders from taking over the protest,” he recalls. Digmelashvili adds that the protesters later allowed a speaker from each political party to address the crowds from the stage, provided that they “shared the protesters’ three demands and were pro-Western.” These demands included reforming Georgia's electoral system, the release of detainees arrested during 20 June rally, and the resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
Iago Kachkachishvili, head of Tbilisi-based Institute of Social Studies and Analysis, does not entirely dismiss the idea of links between the young protesters and opposition parties. As the Shame movement “are directly involved in opposition political processes, they would not have been able to afford not to coordinate their efforts with the parties’,” he explains. “Another issue is whether they are part of some specific opposition force. I don't think that the current protest energy of youngsters can be reduced to narrow party interests.”
Another round of protests was sparked in November, when Georgian Dream failed to garner a parliamentary majority to vote in support of its own proposed changes to the electoral system, as Ivanishvili had promised. It was widely regarded as a broken promise, and protesters gathered outside parliament to protest yet again. And again, police responded with water cannon.
Some young activists from the Dare (Georgian: Gabede), Change (Georgian: Shetsvale), and other groups took things further by targeting offices of members of parliament from the ruling majority. This sometimes resulted in arrests for “petty hooliganism” and “disobeying the police.” Beka Natelashvili, a protest leader in his early 20s who co-founded Dare after the controversial parliamentary vote, told Global Voices that police had detained 15 of their members in November.
Dare, which unites the youth wings of ten political parties alongside independent activists, claim they have also been targeted online by pro-government trolls. The Shame movement shares these concerns.  Following Facebook's announcement in December that its staff had taken down a network of fake accounts run by Georgian Dream,  it vowed to “fight against government propaganda” even more.
“We believe what we are doing now is best for our cause. We create digital content online and try to counter false narratives… but we will also renew protests in the traditional sense,” says Salome Barker, one of the leaders of the Shame movement.
The window for reconciliation is getting smaller by the day, if it is not already closed. According to Barker, the rapidly changing circumstances over the last eight months have made her movement resourceful and prepared for what comes next. When its members are not at mass rallies, they organise everything from flea markets to open air political discussions.
A rally in Tbilisi demanding the release of five anti-government protesters. Tbilisi, February 25. Photo (c): Shota Kincha / OC Media. Used with permission.
But none of their three key demands have been met.
Georgia still does not have a fully proportional electoral system. Five protesters are still in pre-trial detention. Instead of resigning for overseeing excessive force against protesters, Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia was promoted to prime minister last September.
Moreover, a number of prominent opponents of Georgian Dream have been prosecuted in recent months on charges including, but not limited to, organised group violence and an alleged “attempt to overthrow or seize state power” on the night of June 20.
Among those indicted are former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili, UNM MP Nika Melia, and Nika Gvaramia, director of pro-opposition TV channel Mtavari. Most recently, on February 10, the leader of European Georgia Gigi Ugulava was sentenced to three years and two months in jail.
A large portion of critics of the current government say that they would not vouch for the innocence of each and every one of these figures. Nevertheless, they argue that something bigger is at stake.
“I know for a fact that some of these opposition leaders and former government officials did commit crimes and their sentences are long overdue. The problem we see now is selective justice; the timing speaks for itself about the political nature of these judgments,” says Tinatin Khidasheli, former defence minister and director of the Tbilisi-based think tank Civic IDEA.
In recent months, Georgia’s western partners, including US lawmakers, have stepped up their pressure on Tbilisi over these politically motivated prosecutions and its U-turn on reforms. On Twitter, Georgian Dream’s General Secretary Kakha Kaladze recently assured western partners they are ready to negotiate, which Sergi Kapanadze, an MP from the opposition party European Georgia, fiercely contested:
Opposition leaders are still in jail, cases against others still ongoing, and we have not heard a proposal, which would get #Georgia to the proportional (or close to it) system. GD still maintains they should rule with only 30% popular support. Shows how genuine the offer is :)
— Sergi Kapanadze (@sergikap) February 19, 2020
Most observers believe that Georgian Dream will never acquiesce to protesters’ demands. Iago Kachkachisvili “almost rules out” the party returning to its chairman's promise of creating an entirely party list dependent electoral system. “At best, they might arrive at a compromise to strike a balance between majoritarian and party-based mandates,” he concludes.
At the time of writing, Georgian Dream's latest offer to the opposition stands at slashing the number of majoritarian MPs from 73 to 50.
Kornely Kakachia, director of the Georgian Institute of Politics, a Tbilisi-based think tank, also believes it highly unlikely that the ruling party will give in “unless there is some unexpected major crisis ahead.” Due to their unpopularity, he continued, the ruling party will have a hard time reaching out to anybody.
Importantly, in the months ahead, this political turbulence does not only have the capacity to harm Georgian Dream.
“There's not much chance of Georgian Dream changing its decision, but the only issue that brought [the opposition] together is a united front for proportional elections,” states Khidasheli. “As we move closer to the election date, there will be less and less coordination and even less of a unified heard from the opposition front. I'm not optimistic,” she concludes.
Georgian Dream's success in maintaining power is in part thanks to its regular reminders to voters about the abuses of power and “authoritarian tendencies” under the previous UNM government. But a new generation of Georgians, many of whom were children when Georgian Dream came to power, are receiving a political education on the streets. Together with an array of angry opposition parties and concerned partners in the west, these young protesters have one common demand to Georgia's rulers: to safeguard the country from virtual one party rule by reforming the electoral system.

author: Shota Kincha


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In Pakistan, petition to ban prominent women’s march stifles feminist voices · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

“Aurat March” 2020 posters. Image by Shehzil Malik. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated worldwide every March 8 to highlight the women’s rights movement. In Pakistan, the celebration has become prominent since 2018, when a platform of Pakistani feminist organisations called Hum Auratien — We are Women in Urdu — organised marches in three different cities. In 2019, they successfully held marches in additional cities throughout Pakistan.
This year, however, Hum Auratien faces a challenge: A petition filed by advocate Mohammad Azhar Siddique, in the Lahore High Court on Monday, February 24, 2020, seeks a permanent ban on the march, deeming it “anti-state” and “un-Islamic.”
On March 5, 2018, a group of feminist and social organisations — namely, The Feminist Collective, Women's Collective and Girls at Dhabas — united under Hum Auratien and announced that an “Aurat March” or “Women's March” will be held on March 8 in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, to demand economic, reproductive and environmental justice for women.
Poster of Aurat March 2020, Image by Shehzil Malik. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Over the past two years, women rallied across Pakistan to raise awareness of women's issues and demand their rights as equals. They held marches in major cities in which women, girls and also men of all ages participated. The marchers held and displayed placards with messages denouncing patriarchy.
Aurat March Pakistan has a manifesto that speaks to inclusivity for feminist women, transgender individuals, non-binary persons and gender and sexual minorities who stand against patriarchal structures that leads to sexual, economic and structural exploitation of women.
The court accepted Siddique's petition, which stated that International Women's Day should be to “recognise and appreciate women for their achievements as well as [display] solidarity … but not to cross all limits or criticize and abuse the men.”
In the petition, he further mentioned that Aurat March is a “misdirection and a failed attempt to raise grave issues commonly faced by women,” as “there are always offensive messages through placards.” The petition also claims that “various anti-state parties [are] funding this so-called ‘Aurat March’ with the sole purpose of spreading anarchy among the masses. Their hidden agenda includes spreading anarchy, vulgarity, blasphemy and hatred against the very norms of Islam.”
UNCENSORED | Chairman Judicial Activism Panel, @AzharSiddique explains why he filed a petition against @AuratMarch at Lahore High Court.
Watch full conversation in the link below.https://t.co/ubdAPhamlG
— M Azhar Siddique (@AzharSiddique) February 29, 2020
Aurat March has once again faced backlash on social media. When the petition was filed in the LHC, many netizens celebrated it:
This is good news!!
More than anti-state, they are anti-Islam!
As a Muslim country, all marches and campaigns against Islam must be banned!
Kudos to the person who filed the petition to stop this vulgarity! Well done!!
Ban #AuratMarch2020 #BanAuratMarch https://t.co/KNROqjXAPo
— Junaid S. Hayat (@JunaidSHayat) February 24, 2020
Supporters of Aurat March condemned the backlash, stating that holding a peaceful protest is a democratic right:
“Why didn't LHC just throw the petition out? We're not violent, we've done nothing illegal, we're only demanding the rights that the constitution has already promised us”, @shmyla responds to petition filed in LHC against #auratmarch2020
Watch full: https://t.co/CM2aVei7Rt pic.twitter.com/iQFEYLSwn0
— NayaDaur Media (@nayadaurpk) February 24, 2020
Every time I think I understand how fragile masculinity is, I find myself re-educated. Filing a petition in the high court to prevent #AuratMarch2020 from taking place is so telling. #thisiswhywemarch , jackasses.
— Aisha Amir Ahmed (@bardophile) February 24, 2020
Hearing the petition February 27, Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Mamoon Rashid Sheikh said, “restrictions could not be put on freedom of expression,” according to a report from Dawn media.
The hearing was attended by lawyers and human rights activists, among whom senior lawyer and rights activist Hina Jillani was also a part. She responded to various questions and spoke in defense of Aurat March. The judge asked both parties to file their replies by the next hearing and sought responses from security agencies and civil society to assess security arrangements and potential threats.
Jilani, speaking to media after the hearing, said:
Hina Jilani schooling on what decency means #AuratMarch2020 #AuratMarchLahore pic.twitter.com/Tnm3q9EWdZ
— shmyla #AuratMarch2020 (@shmyla) February 27, 2020
As far as decency is concerned, we know more about decency than these petitioners. We learn it from our parents; these people will not tell us about our values; we know what our social values are. These are just dirty mindsets that seek out obscenity in everything.
Organisers of Aurat March in Sukkur, Sindh, were threatened by religious-political parties, which was condemned by the Karachi chapter of Aurat March.
Head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) Sindh Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro said in a video message that Aurat March was aimed at spreading vulgarity and nudity. He also said that the JUI-F supported rights granted to women by Islam, but cannot allow slogans like “Mera Jism Meri Marzi” (“My body, My Choice”).
While addressing a rally in Karachi, Sindh, on February 29, 2020, Maulana Fazlur Rehman urged party workers to make sure that Aurat March does not take place:
Wherever you see such elements, ask the law [enforcement authorities] to stop them, but if the authorities provide protection to such protests, then get ready for any sacrifice. We cannot let religion and our cultural values be bad-named.
In a recent development, a woman named Rubina Jatioi presented a petition in Sindh High Court on February 28, 2020, against slogans at Aurat March. She urged in the petition that “immoral slogans” at the march should be banned and Aurat March “does not help women get any rights”. While the SHC said that there was no solid ground to file a petition as she did not have documents to back her claims, she was asked to come prepared at the next hearing.
As the day of the 2020 march draws closer, all eyes are turned to the Lahore High Court to rule on the merit of the petition — to see if the law upholds the rights of women to demonstrate peacefully or surrender to the very forces against whom they are raising their voices.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: R Umaima Ahmed


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Internet shutdowns in 2019: India continued to top list of worst offenders · Global Voices
Waleed Tariq

India internet shutdown map, January 2010 – March 2017. Created by National Law University Delhi and the Centre for Communication Governance (CC BY)
India topped the list of countries that shut down the internet in 2019 with a staggering 121 shutdowns, more than half the 213 events recorded around the world, according to digital rights advocacy group Access Now.
Globally, 33 countries switched off access as compared to 25 in 2018, the #KeepItOn report on internet shutdowns in 2019 said.
1/ In collaboration with the #KeepitOn Coalition, we have been documenting #internetshutdowns since 2011. Today we launched our 2019 report. Below are some of the trends we observed ⬇ https://t.co/pJdCf3em2J pic.twitter.com/F2FMLJgOuX
— Access Now (@accessnow) February 25, 2020
The shutdowns in 2019 were longer, geographically more targeted and included slowing down access to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Following India, Venezuela was a global leader for shutdowns, blocking access to social media platforms at least 12 times.
After Venezuela, Yemen, Iraq, Algeria, and Ethiopia were the countries with the most shutdowns.
Pakistan had five incidents of mobile or broadband services being switched off while Indonesia experienced three.
Myanmar imposed the year’s longest internet shutdown in its Rakhine and Chin states where 500,000-600,000 Rohingya Muslims reside.
Authorities in Bangladesh also shut down mobile internet connections in refugee camps where mostly Rohingyas reside. The shutdown has been imposed since early September 2019 and it is still ongoing.
Governments justified their actions by claiming they were meant to help ensure public safety, increase national security and to stop the spread of fake news, among others.
After scrapping the special provisions from its constitution regarding the Jammu and Kashmir state, the Indian government banned public gatherings, detained local leaders, cut off telephone lines and imposed a complete blackout of the internet for 175 days — the second-longest shutdown globally in 2019.
It was also among the longest shutdowns recorded in India to date.
Some of these restrictions were lifted after India’s Supreme Court criticized the shutdown, termed indefinite internet blackouts unconstitutional and asked authorities for a policy revisit.
The ruling, however, failed to provide any immediate relief.
As of now, residents in India-administered Kashmir are only allowed to access slow 2G internet connections, are blocked from accessing most social media platforms, and can only visit white-listed websites that are vetted by the government.
Besides Kashmir, #KeepItOn documented incidents of internet shutdowns in other Indian states “to stifle dissenting voices.”
Petitions were launched across high courts in different Indian states challenging the shutdowns ordered following nation-wide protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens in Assam.
While a court in Gawuhati city forced the Assam state government on December 20, 2019, to restore internet connectivity, which was disconnected on December 11, 2019, after demonstrations in 10 state districts, a court in Kerala also ruled on September 19, 2019 in favour of a petition requesting right to internet access in a girls’ hostel at night.
“Shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir comprised about 68% of the shutdowns in India, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal,” Access Now said.
The most common government rationale for shutting down the internet in India was “precautionary measure” or restoring public order.
The network restrictions, the report said, have served to hide a series of egregious human rights violations in Kashmir such as detaining and beating children, and restricting travel and access to the disputed region.
The full report can be accessed here.

author: Waleed Tariq


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Nigerians wear black to mourn latest victims of terrorist attacks · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screenshot from SaharaReporters of Nigerians dressed in black on a street protest.
On Wednesday, February 26, many Nigerians dressed in black as “a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country,” reports Legit, an online news portal.
The national mourning was complemented with street protests on March 1, by Catholics in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, the BBC reported. There was a similar protest in Sokoto, northwestern Nigeria, on February 26.
On Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020, the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto in NW #Nigeria, led by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of @KukahCentre, marched in memory of all the victims of #Nigeria‘s killing fields.#NigeriaMourns pic.twitter.com/ywtytEGnXn
— Chidi Odinkalu (@ChidiOdinkalu) February 29, 2020
Although #BlackWednesday was initiated by the Catholic Church as part of Ash Wednesday, civil society groups and netizens also participated in the black attire symbolic protest.
It has been a death too many in the past few months in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.
The deteriorating security situation has been made worse with kidnapping and terrorist attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group that began in northern Nigeria, with ties to al-Qaeda, an Islamic militant group with roots in Afghanistan.
Since 2011, Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria have resulted in 37,500 deaths, 2.5 million displaced people and nearly 244,000 Nigerian refugees, according to the Council of Foreign Relations’ 2020 Global Conflict Tracker.
Enough is Enough, a civil society movement in Nigeria, tweeted that the government should “live up to its responsibility of protecting Nigerians”:
Nigerians today will don black attires as a sign of mourning & solidarity with the victims of violent crimes.
We demand the government of President @MBuhari live up to its responsibility of protecting Nigerians. #Nigerianlivesmatter. #BlackWednesday#Nigeriamourns pic.twitter.com/VLbRobcqvt
— EiE Nigeria (@EiENigeria) February 26, 2020
Netizen Murtala took the time on Twitter to remember the schoolboys murdered by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, in 2014:
On this day in 2014, Boko Haram attacked Federal Government College in Buni Yadi and murdered 59 male students.
May their souls continue to rest in peace Amen. pic.twitter.com/XnGVq8Mxx1
— Murtala (@Murtalaibin) February 25, 2020
Journalist Chxta called on netizens to “honour the dead”:
#EndTheKillings #BlackWednesday #Nigeria Please wear black today to honour the dead. pic.twitter.com/cEQD3w0ie2
— Chxta (@Chxta) February 26, 2020
“Our land has seen enough blood,” writer Slyva Nze Ifedigbo lamented:
Today we mourn.
For all who this land has eaten.
Stained by terrorists, butchered by bandits, abandoned to their fate by govt.
Today we state our displeasure at the state of things.
Our land has seen enough blood. We don't want to live this way. #blackwednesday pic.twitter.com/HPg0YXv10z
— Sylva Nze Ifedigbo (@nzesylva) February 26, 2020
Since January 2020, several violent deaths have particularly shaken the soul of Nigeria.
Reverend Lawan Andimi, local chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika, Adamawa State, northeast Nigeria, was abducted by Boko Haram on January 2, Punch newspaper reported. The 58-year-old Andimi was a father of nine children.
Screenshot of Rev. Lawan Andimi
Michika town, about 200 kilometers from Yola, the capital city of Adamawa State, was attacked by Boko Haram insurgents at around 6 p.m. on January 2, according to the Cable, an online newspaper.
On January 6, journalist Ahmed Salkida posted a video on Twitter in which Andimi plead to the government to help release him from Boko Haram kidnappers: “I have never been discouraged because everything is in the hands of God. God who made them take care of me and leave me alive will touch them,” he can be heard saying.
CAN CHAIRMAN, ABDUCTED, CRIES OUT FROM BOKO HARAM CAMP
In a short recorded video Rev. Andimi declared that if its pleased God that he be released, he would be out, but if God decides not to get him out that they should look after his children. https://t.co/UHJKJVPVPJ pic.twitter.com/idbOlQRWYY
— Ahmad Salkida (@A_Salkida) January 5, 2020
On January 21, Lawan Andimi was murdered by Boko Haram insurgents. The Nigerian Guardian quoting Dami Mamza, an official of CAN, stated that the terrorists were “offered 50 million Naira” [about $140,000 United States dollars] as a ransom for Andimi, which they rejected. Rather, “they called his wife, informing her that they would be beheading him [Andimi]…”
Andimi's wife lamented to Channels Television that her life has been devastated by this loss.
Screenshot of Dalep Dachiya from CIN Naija YouTube video
Dachiya from the town of Jing in the Pankshin area of Plateau State, in north-central Nigeria, was traveling to resume school when he was abducted on January 9 by Boko Haram insurgents, reports PM News, a Nigerian daily. Dachiya was a second-year student at the University of Maiduguri.
A video [WARNING: Graphic content — viewer discretion is advised] of Dachiya's gruesome murder was released by Boko Haram on January 22.
The family’s cry for justice and anguish for the Nigerian government “to fish out the killers” of Dachiya remains unanswered.
Michael Nnadi. Image from Omokugbo Ojeifo and used with permission.
On January 8, some “men in military uniform” invaded the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna, northeast Nigeria, and kidnapped four young seminarians: Pius Kanwai, 19; Peter Umenukor, 23; Stephen Amos, 23; and Michael Nnadi, 18, according to news reports by the ACI Africa.
Three weeks later, three of the four kidnapped seminarians – Kanwai, Umenukor and Amos – were released by their abductors.
On February 1, Nnadi, the youngest of the abducted students, was killed by his abductors. Fr. Joel Usman, seminary registrar, confirmed to Channels Television that “the body of the seminarian was found dead inside a bush.”
While Boko Haram has not claimed responsibility for these kidnappings, the techniques and patterns used are similar to those of Boko Haram.
Nnadi and his twin brother Raphael had been living with their grandmother since their mother’s death six years ago.
Public intellectual and Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Rev. Hassan Matthew Kukah, delivered a scathing homily at the burial of Nnadi that sums up the frustration of Nigerians about the security situation:
Nigeria needs to pause for a moment and think. No one more than the president of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, who was voted for in 2015 on the grounds of his own promises to rout Boko Haram and place the country on an even keel.
Kukah referred to Buhari's speech on at the Policy Think Tank, Chatham House in London, England, when Buhari told his audience that Nigerian soldiers are “capable and they are well-trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty.” Buhari promised:
If I am elected president, the world will have no reason to worry about Nigeria. … We will improve intelligence gathering and border patrols to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels. We will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes…We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester. And I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front.
Kukah therefore concluded:
…There is no need to make any further comments on this claim. No one could have imagined that in winning the presidency, General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary security agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Philippine media groups celebrate as tech companies accused of cyber attacks pledge to promote press freedom · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Members of Altermidya and other media groups during the filing of a civil case against tech companies accused of cyber attacks. Source: Facebook
Several Philippine media groups settled a case with tech companies accused of providing infrastructure for cyberattacks. The companies have signed an agreement that includes a pledge to protect press freedom.
In December 2018, independent news websites Bulatlat, Altermidya, Kodao, and Pinoy Weekly reported that they were targeted with distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). They accused state-backed groups of initiating the attacks which they claimed were meant to intimidate and silence media groups. They linked the shutting down of their websites as a result of these attacks with the decline of press freedom under the government of Rodrigo Duterte who became president in 2016.
Qurium, a Sweden-based media foundation, helped in stopping the DDoS and identifying tech companies IP Converge and Suniway as the source of the cyber attacks. IP Converge is a Philippines-based Cloud Services Provider, while Suniway Group of Companies Incorporated, registered both in Hong Kong and the Philippines, provides “network support to Chinese and Filipino companies in the Philippines.’’
In March 2019, a civil case was filed by the beleaguered news websites against IP Converge and Suniway.
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines supported the filing of the suit:
This civil action sends a clear message to those who seek to silence the independent Philippine media: Not only will you fail, we will fight back. We will fight back because we cannot allow you to deprive our people of their right to the information they need to chart their individual and collective futures, we cannot allow you to deprive them of their voice. We will fight back because no less than democracy and our basic freedoms are at stake.
The companies refuted the allegations and filed a countersuit against their accusers for besmirching their reputation.
During the pre-trial conference in September, IP Converge admitted that it leased 64 IP addresses to Suniway, which were earlier traced by Quirium as the source of the attacks.
In February 2020, the case was settled with all parties expressing commitment to protect press freedom. Here’s an excerpt from their joint statement issued on 24 February:
[The parties] express their utmost respect and full support of press freedom as a constitutional guarantee and a tenet of a democratic society.
…..defendants commit to support a free press. Effective mechanisms to combat such attacks shall further be improved to prevent a repeat of this kind of situation.
Bulatlat issued a statement describing the outcome as a victory for press freedom:
This is a small victory in our fight for press freedom. We call on all tech companies not to allow their infrastructure to be used by enemies of the truth.
We will remain vigilant in countering cyber attacks and other forms of violations to our right to publish news and analyses relevant to the Filipino people.
In an interview with Global Voices, Butlatlat editor Ronalyn Olea mentioned the relevance of the case in the campaign against media-related cyber attacks.
The civil case filed by alternative media groups is the first case filed in relation to cyber attacks against the media. The parties to the case have pledged commitment to uphold press freedom and ensure mechanisms to prevent their infrastructure from being used by enemies of the truth. This also serves as a warning to cyber attackers that they cannot hide behind their VPNs forever.
Olea added that they have legal remedies to ensure compliance in preventing cyber attacks:
The joint agreement is a binding agreement and we have submitted it to the court handling our case. It does not tie our hands from filing future cases if similar incidents happen again.
“The filing of the civil case is just one aspect of the campaign,’’ Olea said, before adding:
The overwhelming support from press freedom watchdogs, digital rights advocates, fellow journalists, among others greatly helped in our campaign to uphold our right to publish
.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Lost in translation: Why Google Translate often gets Yorùbá — and other languages — wrong · Global Voices
Aremu Adeola, Jr.

Wikimedia User Group Nigeria, October 2018 via Wikimedia Commons CC.BY.2.0.
The English language has dominated online discourse as the “universal” language of communication since the inception of the internet. As of February 2020, over half of the websites on the internet are in English, according to WebTech3.
But as more people get online who speak different languages, it has sparked a linguistic digital revolution — immediate access to English translations of multiple languages with the click of a button.
Many tech companies have recently put effort into documenting non-English words on the internet, paving the way for the digitization of multiple languages. Google, Yoruba Names, Masakhane MT and  ALC are examples of companies and start-ups that have been trying to marry technology with non-English languages.
In late February 2020, Google announced that it would add five new languages to its Google Translate services, including Kinyarwanda, Uighur, Tatar, Turkmen and Odia, after a four-year hiatus on adding new languages.
A man looks perplexed while reading a text online. Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile, open-source via Pexels.
But have you ever clicked on the translation option and realized that the English translation is, at best, just OK? And at worst, not accurate at all?
There are many controversies and difficulties when it comes to doing this kind of language translation and access work.
Twitter offers Yorùbá language translation into English via Google Translate as much as possible, and usually, the outcome isn’t totally bad — perhaps a few words are correct.
The reason for these challenges is that tech companies usually collect their linguistic data for English translation sourced from the internet. This data may work for some languages, but languages like Yorùbá and Ìgbò, two main languages from Nigeria, are challenging, due to the inadequate or inaccurate accent marks to indicate tones on these words.
In response to why it has taken Google four years to add five new languages, a company spokesperson explained:
Google Translate learns from existing translations found on the web, and when languages don’t have an abundance of web content, it’s been difficult for our system to support them effectively. … However, due to recent advances in our machine learning technology, and active involvement from our Google Translate Community members, we’ve been able to add support for these languages.
Also, most people are not so good with the orthographies — or spellings — in these languages. As a result, good translations don’t compute because these errors are not flagged as inadequate.
Most translations done by machines render some words wrong, especially words that are culturally nuanced. For example, Yorùbá words ayaba and obabìnrin have their meanings situated in a cultural context. Most machines translate both words as “queen.” However, from a traditional-cum-cultural vantage point, it is essential to note that the meanings of ayaba and obabìnrin are different: Ọbabìnrin means “queen” in English while ayaba is “wife of the king.”
Even with these translation complications, technology has helped with the advancement of  African languages in digital spaces, spurring the coinage of new words. African languages have grown with the influx of new gadgets like smartphones and tablets, as new words are coined to name these new technological tools and concepts. This process has thus expanded the usage and functionality of these languages.
With the emergence of new technologies, the vocabularies of many African languages have become more sophisticated. For instance, the Yorùbá language has some tech-influenced words such as erọ amúlétutù (“air conditioner”), erọ Ìbánisọ̀rọ̀ (“phone”) and erọ Ìlọta (“grinder”). Similarly, the Igbo language has words such as ekwè nti (“telephone”) and ugbọ̀ àlà (“vehicle”). These societies have given these gadgets names based on the functions they perform.
In courses on broadcasting and advertisement in Yorùbá, students learn that most people call TV erọ Amóhùnmáwòrán. This coinage generates many questions and opinions — some students argue that video cameras and recorders can also be called erọ amóhùnmáwòrán based on their functionalities.
These linguistic challenges in the tech space are healthy for languages — it stimulates critical thinking for both linguistic and tech advancement.
In 2019, Google opened its first AI research center in Accra, Ghana, focused on improving “Google Translate's ability to capture African languages more precisely,” according to CNN. Research scientist Moustapha Cisse, who heads Google's AI work in Africa, believes that “a continent with more than 2,000 dialects deserves to be better served,” as reported by CNN.
Mozilla and BMZ recently announced their cooperation to open up voice technology for African languages. With initiatives like this, there is more to show in the future with regards to studies in African languages.

author: Aremu Adeola, Jr.


text:
Caribbean tourism threatened by the region’s first cases of COVID-19 · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A Carnival cruise ship docked at the Jamaican resort town of Ocho Rios in 2018. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
As anxiety grows over the spread of COVID-19 outside China, the Caribbean region is becoming increasingly nervous. As of March 3, 2020, three cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in St. Martin and St. Barthélémy, and another in the Dominican Republic — small nations that remain vigilant as authorities fine-tune already existing response measures.
There are concerns, however, that some island territories are ill-equipped to deal with an outbreak on the scale of COVID-19. As at the time of publishing, there were 95,079 known global cases, with 51,432 recoveries and 3,249 deaths, but the figures are constantly changing.
On Twitter, journalist Jacqueline Charles, who reports for the Miami Herald, wondered whether Haiti could cope with the fallout should the virus spread across the border from the Dominican Republic:
The arrival of the #coronavirus in the #DominicanRepublic — a Caribbean nation of 11 million that shares a border with #Haiti — opens up a new front in the fight to contain the virus. https://t.co/mp5MTDTxth
— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) March 1, 2020
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not limited to the health sector; despite the silver lining of massively reduced carbon emissions from China since the lockdown over the illness, there have also been negative repercussions for international trade, travel and the global economy.
On February 28, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) upgraded its coronavirus risk for the Caribbean from moderate to high, urging health authorities of CARPHA member states to shift their mindset from preparedness to readiness and rapid response and continue to do everything necessary to strengthen their capacity to respond to the possible importation of cases. Member states were also encouraged to increase their surveillance capacity and urgently adapt national pandemic preparedness plans to deal with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which represents 15 member states and five associate member states, had planned a special emergency meeting in Barbados to discuss a regional strategy, but since the confirmation of the three COVID-19 cases, a virtual meeting took place instead. During the session, which was streamed live on Facebook on March 1, CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley announced a regional protocol to handle the virus, following advice from two earlier meetings among regional health officials.
The Caribbean cruise industry experienced a boom year in 2019. In Jamaica, cruise ship passengers made up over 1.5 million of the 4.3 million visitors to the island, but now the industry is beginning to struggle with the fallout from COVID-19. Jamaica's Ministry of Tourism has reportedly downgraded its projected earnings.
Several cruise ships have either been delayed in ports or turned away altogether, because of concerns over passengers showing symptoms that could be associated with the virus. In other cases, passengers from “high-risk” countries have not been allowed to disembark.
On March 4, a cruise ship carrying hundreds of passengers who boarded in St. Martin (where at least one case has been confirmed) was allowed to dock at Port Royal — a port near Kingston, which received its first cruise ship with much fanfare back in January. News reports are hinting at some developing tension between the country's health and tourism ministries over the issue, with Minister of Health Christopher Tufton stressing in a radio interview that the government “will not take any unnecessary risks”.
There is so much at stake for the cruise line industry that representatives attended the March 1 CARICOM meeting to help ensure that the agreed protocols embraced security and health concerns, and that there would be structures in place to facilitate proper communication between regional governments and cruise operators.
Some cruise lines, however, are beginning to push back against the interim regulations imposed by Caribbean governments. MSC Cruises, which had a ship turned away from both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, finally docked in Mexico, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador commented: “We cannot act with discrimination.” Passengers turned out to have simply had the flu.
Jamaica’s tough stance on cruise ships has also upset operators like Carnival Cruises, who withdrew stops in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands over the past week.
However, many social media users agree that the restrictions are warranted under the current circumstances, as public health comes first:
And when they bring the virus to the island who is going to help when it spreads. The healthcare system cannot manage an outbreak and deaths. Tourism money is good but not if its going to be a health devastation to the citizens.
— FASHION SIZZLE (@fashionsizzle1) March 3, 2020
The nerves continue. Another Jamaican tweeted:
The coronavirus has the world at a standstill. Jamaica cannot handle it. It’s not if it will breach our borders, it’s when. Our people and economy will get hard hits. It’s so terrifying. ?
— Kingsley Morgan (@kingsleymorgan_) March 2, 2020
Given the situation, Caribbean Airlines, the main regional carrier, is also reviewing its health and safety measures. In Trinidad and Tobago for instance, passengers from flights originating in countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reported having to pass through an infrared scanner before being allowed to enter the country.
Caribbean citizens have begun, somewhat reluctantly, to limit social contact and avoid the customary hugs or kisses of greeting between friends and family, and handshakes between colleagues and business associates. Well-known Jamaican broadcaster Fae Ellington declared:
Listen nuh, please don't insist on shaking my hand, hugging me or kissing me. Putting all those greetings on hold ‘until such time’.
This isn't a joke. #Preventionbetterthancure
— Fae A. Ellington (@FaeEllington) March 1, 2020
Meanwhile, the overall economic impact on small island economies remains to be seen. Despite assertions by Jamaica’s Minister of Finance, Nigel Clarke, that there were no cancellations of tourist bookings from the United States (which represents approximately 75 percent of Jamaican visitors), Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, did not appear sanguine in a radio interview towards the end of February. Private sector representatives — who are expecting price rises — also do not appear confident. The many small businesses and attractions on the ground that depend on cruise ship business are particularly anxious, with one noting that the major losers “are the people of Jamaica, the taxi drivers, the vendors”.
One Jamaican Twitter user expressed anxiety over COVID-19's potential impact on tourism, a major earner of foreign exchange for the island:
Those who consistently criticize & demonize the tourism industry are going to get a rude lesson in reality. Only a matter of time before this COVID-19 puts a damper on things and Americans drastically reduce their overseas travel. Then the naysayers will see the industry’s value.
— Jack Mandora⚖ (@Zemi66) March 1, 2020
Another shared:
So the government and @themohwgovjm should be commended for their work RE: C19 so far. But what steps are being taken regarding insulation from from any economic fallout that may affect us?
— Duane Patten (@docpat10) March 3, 2020
As the Caribbean braces itself for additional cases of COVID-19, however, economic impacts are not the priority. The region is not taking any chances with the illness, which has, thus far, already claimed thousands of lives across the globe.
the global impact of COVID-19

author: Emma Lewis


text:
France24 headline about COVID-19 in Africa irks netizens as racist · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screenshot of France 24 March 01, headline for France24 COVID-19 story
On March 1, 2020, France24, a French news portal, reported on the low incidents of COVID-19 in Africa with this problematic headline” “With only three official cases, Africa's low coronavirus rate puzzles health experts”:
Whether it's a matter of faulty detection, climatic factors or simple fluke, the remarkably low rate of coronavirus infection in African countries, with their fragile health systems, continues to puzzle – and worry – experts.
The story interrogated the reasons behind the apparently low rate in Africa of COVID-19 disease that causes the deadly, contagious disease. However, many netizens read the headline as problematic because it echoes what history professor Melissa Graboyes describes as the stereotypical portrayal of Africa as a disease-ridden continent.
As of March 3, out of 90,892 reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide, China leads with 80,303 cases, followed by South Korea with 4,812, Italy with 2,038 and Iran with 1,501 cases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO's situation report also shows that Algeria has five cases, Tunisia and Morocco have one case each while Egypt has two COVID-19 patients. On February 27, Nigeria became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to confirm a COVID-19 disease, followed by Senegal. The index patient in Nigeria is an Italian man; the first patient in Senegal is a French citizen and the index case in Morocco is a Moroccan living in Italy.
“Why will anyone be worried that a killer virus is not spreading?” queried Nigerian netizen Oluniyi:
I read this and it said. It is not only “puzzling” which we can chalk up to scientifical curiosity on their part, it is also “worrying” that corona virus is not spreading faster in Africa. Why will anyone be worried that a killer virus is not spreading? https://t.co/ZXr4OF9HSg
— Olóyè Olúníyì Gates (@OluniyiGates) March 1, 2020
Dr. Furaha Asani decried this turning of the “humanity of a people” into “story props”:
When you fail to acknowledge the humanity of a peoples, they only serve as your story props. That is why you cannot even fathom how they could dare to be better or more advanced in anything. Because ultimately, you still feel and believe you are superior.
— Furaha Asani (@DrFuraha_Asani) March 2, 2020
It annoyed Nimah, from Nigeria, that Africa would be interrogated for not having enough COVID-19 cases:
Watching the International community “interrogate” African countries for not having some many #COVIDー19 cases annoys me so much!
What the hell?!?!
— Nimah A (@MsNemah) March 1, 2020
Ghanaian Mac Jordan described the news report as racist:
Are these so-called “health experts” for real? This headline is troubling.
Lemme fix the headline for them:
“CoronaVirus Update: With only three official cases, Africa's low coronavirus rate puzzles RACIST White health experts.” https://t.co/TmcOx4AHKf
— @MacJordan (@MacJordaN) March 2, 2020
COVID-19 was carried into Nigeria by an Italian. The irony of which smacks in the face of transferring diseases from developed nations like Italy to “shithole” countries like Nigeria.
The first case of Corona Virus in Nigeria was an Italian traveler to Nigeria, and US has more recorded cases than Mexico.
Let's get rid of the assumption that “poor nations always infect rich nations with diseases”.
— Onye Nkuzi (@cchukudebelu) March 1, 2020
European colonialism has long served as a conduit for transferring diseases into African countries.
Dr. Sam Okuonzi, writing in the Ugandan daily New Vision, stated that in 1839, “six infectious diseases accounted for almost all deaths in Britain,” — tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and smallpox. There was “no record or history” that these diseases existed “outside Eurasia before the advent of European adventures.”
Smallpox was introduced to West Africa by Portuguese colonizers in the 15th century, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Global Black History, a digital repository of African history, notes that Cattle Rinderpest disease was introduced to Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa in the early 1890s by Italian traders. Global Black History further asserts that the introduction of “slave trade in East Africa produced new patterns of settlement” that triggered the breading of tsetse flies responsible for the death “some 200,000 people” due to “sleeping sickness” from “the Congo, to Lake Tanganyika and eventually Zambia.”
The framing of news stories around major catastrophes by mainstream global media easily falls into stereotypical, superficial labels. In the face of constant, negative news about Africa, it is easy to conclude that nothing good happens within the continent.
The COVID-19 virus has not yet spread within the continent — as experts have feared — for various reasons. A major one — that does not fit the bias of Africa as a disease-ridden continent — is that African health professionals are more ardent in fighting infectious diseases.
As of 2012, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, accounted for more than 50 percent of polio cases worldwide with about 200 children paralyzed by the disease, according to WHO.
By 2014, WHO affirmed that no single case of wild polio-virus had been reported in Nigeria and “all laboratory data confirmed” no new cases. Consequently, in 2015, WHO formally removed Nigeria from the list of polio-endemic countries.
Nigeria attained this historic feat by “interrupting the transmission of wild polio-virus for a period of 15 months,” — an achievement that surpassed WHO's targets.
Dramatic changes like these do not happen overnight. It took some level of expertise to attain.
The protocol developed for polio eradication was deployed in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Nigerian health workers traced those infected by the index patient, which was described as an outstanding piece of epidemiological detective work by WHO.
As a result, the African Union deployed about 250 Nigerian health professionals to other countries within West Africa to fight Ebola. Also, “medical experts from the US and around the world” studied Nigeria’s triumph over the Ebola outbreak to replicate the same results in their countries, as reported by UN-supported ReliefWeb.
Lest we forget, the cure for Ebola was discovered by an African scientist, Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum of Democratic Republic of Congo.
It was no surprise that Muyembe-Tamfum’s discovery was not as widely shared as news about deaths from the Ebola disease in Africa.
Don't expect anything different this time around with COVID-19:
I totally get why scientists around the world are puzzled by Africa reporting only 3 coronavirus infections. Maybe we hold the solution to it as well.
— Mark Amaza (@amasonic) March 2, 2020
COVID-19 is a pandemic that will affect everyone around the world: It's time for the West to learn one or two things from counterparts in Africa who have so far stalled COVID-19 from running amok in the continent.
the global impact of COVID-19


text:
Moldova’s youth hope for change from afar · Global Voices
Cătălina Dumbrăveanu

A man walks past a painting of anxiously waiting parents in Moldova's capital Chișinău, 2014. Photo: Misha_Tokyo / Flickr. CC BY 2.0
This article is made possible through a partnership with Transitions, a Prague-based publishing and media training organisation
The Republic of Moldova is blessed with a mild climate, bucolic landscapes, popular wine, and empty villages. Moldovans are leaving en masse; their country now has one of the fastest shrinking populations in the world. Poverty, constant political upheaval, and deeply embedded corruption have convinced many to buy a one-way ticket. Some become seasonal economic migrants, returning for a few months every year. Others, many of them highly educated, prefer to leave for good. According to a UNFPA study from 2016, if no effective measures are taken by Moldova's government to improve the quality of life, in 15 years the country's population, estimated at just under three million, could decline by 24 per cent.
It's hard to establish the precise number of Moldovans living and working abroad. The National Bureau of Statistics estimates around 800,000 but the number could be as high as two million when counting those who left the country using another other passports. Moldova recognises multiple citizenships, and many Moldovan citizens can claim an EU passport from neighbouring Romania (both countries were united between 1918 and 1940.)
Almost 80% of those who emigrate are between 18 and 35 years old, increasing pressure on the local economy as the working-age population declines. According to the World Bank, 40% of those who migrate have a higher education, contributing to the country's “brain drain.” Much like the country's geopolitical situation, Moldovans’ migration preferences are divided between East and West; 80% of Moldovan migrants are concentrated in three states: the Russian Federation, Italy, and Portugal.
In light of recent political changes, now is a good time to consider the effects of this mass emigration on Moldova's domestic politics. Are young Moldovans abroad still committed to fighting for a better future in a country they have left behind? Was emigration for them a sign of resignation in hope of change at home? And does the emigration of the youth rob the country of its chances to push out a discredited elite and achieve lasting change? I spoke to several Moldovans living overseas to understand their perspectives.
“I am sometimes a bit jealous of these young people in the West who were never confronted with the idea of leaving their countries because they didn't have any future there… I guess it's difficult for them to understand us,” says Ana (pseudonym), a 33-year-old Moldovan citizen who has spent the last decade of her life in Greece.
Ever since losing her mother to cancer at the age of nine, Ana dreamed of becoming a doctor. Years of hard study paid off when she was admitted to the College of Medicine in Chișinău, the Moldovan capital. “I was used to hardship, so didn't expect this new stage to be easy,” recalls Ana, whose two younger siblings remained in her home village. “I still had to take care of them, as my Dad had left for Moscow to support us. I used to work as a nurse for a while, but with a salary of 2,000 Lei (about €100), it was impossible to save anything. So I decided to go abroad.”
Ana's decision to emigrate came several years before Moldova secured a visa-free regime with the EU in 2014. “Getting a work visa for a western country was a hassle, and there were fewer agencies dealing with this sort of issue compared to today. I considered myself extremely fortunate when I got a summer job in Greece. I wasn't doing anything related to my studies but I was paid much more than when I was a nurse in Moldova, so I decided to stay longer and save more. I knew I would become an illegal immigrant but, at that point, I couldn't see any chance of survival back home. Neither do I now, 13 years later,” concludes Ana with a sad smile.
This grim outlook, widely shared among Moldovan emigres, has repercussions for their country's electoral politics. According to Denis Cenusa, a political science researcher at the Justus-Liebig-Univerität in Giessen, Germany, “emigration is ageing both the labour force and the pool of voters. Consequently, the political choices and the electoral behaviour of the older voters shows more reluctance towards progressive views and politicians. Moreover, the growing emigration of the youth affects the political activism of the remaining young population, which concentrates its efforts to a search for opportunities abroad rather than improving the situation at home through higher civic or political activism or participation.”
Vadim Pistrinciuc, a public policy expert at the Chișinău-based Institute for Strategic Initiatives, agrees: “the fact that most young people migrate, and that the Moldovan diaspora is composed of active, working people, creates a deficit of votes for parties pledging European values, anti-corruption, and engaged economic policies. Thus newly emerged parties struggle much more to get their ideas taken by society. It would be much easier for young politicians and parties to get their ideas heard and voted for if more young people remained in the country… Left-wing, social populism is more easily sold to the ‘remaining’ ageing population,” explained Pistrinciuc, who until last year was also a parliamentarian from the Liberal Democratic Party.
Nevertheless, some young people have decided to remain, or even return, to fight for a Moldova with better prospects. Twenty-six-year old Dorin Frăsâneanu is one of them.
“When I left, I didn’t want to come back. But, in time, I learned to never say never,” begins Frăsâneanu, who first left Moldova ten years ago to study in the UK on an HMC scholarship, before studying in France and Russia. His travels put him in contact with members of Moldova's large diaspora, particularly in Russia and Israel. “I heard many horrible stories,” remembers Dorin, who decided in Christmas 2018 that he wanted to do something to change them. Frăsâneanu eventually briefly returned to Moldova to run as a candidate for the pro-European opposition bloc ACUM in the February 2019 parliamentary elections. Dorin run as a candidate in Constituency 51, representing citizens living in countries due East of Moldova (the country's parliament includes three such seats, reserved for the diaspora). He eventually took 27.15% of the vote, coming second after Gheorghii Para, candidate of the pro-Russian Socialist Party (PSRM).
Torn by the sense of letting his constituents down by not winning the election, Dorin does not regret fighting in their name. The experience simply made him more curious about returning to Moldova one day, in order to work in public service. He says he'd just be cautious about the circumstances.
The circumstances changed shortly after that election when the ACUM and PSRM parties unexpectedly voted together to kick out the unpopular ruling Democratic Party of Moldova (DPM). They formed a ruling coalition under Maia Sandu, who declared as prime minister that Moldova's biggest challenge was that “people don't believe in this country and leave.” Accordingly, Sandu's government attempted to attract members of the diaspora back to public service in Moldova. In November 2019, the pro-European government led by Maia Sandu was dismissed on a no-confidence motion initiated by the PSRM over a failure to implement judicial reform. The current government, formed mostly of former advisors to President Igor Dodon, is now gearing up for his bid for reelection in 2020. As he did in the 2016 presidential elections, Dodon will most likely face Maia Sandu who came second with 47.82% of the overall vote but with a distinct majority among the Moldovan diaspora, excluding Russia.
“The diaspora could provide the deciding votes in the 2020 presidential elections. This group of the electorate is more important to the opposition than to the ruling party, which uses public investments to persuade voters at home,” explains Cenusa. “For the 2020 presidential elections, the ruling party may try to stimulate political activity among Moldovan working migrants in Russia to counterbalance the votes supplied by the diaspora in the West.” he elaborates.
It remains to be seen whether these overtures to Moldovans overseas will pay off. What is certain is that they can only grow in importance if the country's trend of youth emigration continues.
Accordingly, Pistrinciuc stresses that the youth still play an important role in Moldovan politics, wherever they may be. “They are the door-knockers; they are very visible online, particularly on social media and new media outlets, where they make waves. They also send messages urging their parents and grandparents to vote, which was quite visible in recent elections when pro-European parties or candidates won important regions or localities which nobody expected… Today's parliament is much younger than the previous one, showing that voters want the youth to be part of the political process. They want something new,” he concludes.
“People have become tired of the political situation,” summarises Dorin. “The continuous postponement of reforms makes it very difficult for people to trust politicians. There was an optimistic moment [last year] when the government of the oligarch [Vlad] Plahotniuc was replaced, but then… what happened next was disappointing. I choose to remain optimistic. I think,” he adds with a cryptic smile.
In contrast, Ana is reluctant to speak much about politics. Even though she has never met Dorin and their life trajectories could not have been more different, she shares his concerns. “I follow the news but, to be honest, I care much less than before. [Politicians] do whatever they want over there. I would like to come back to Moldova one day; I am deeply homesick but I don't want my children to grow up in a corrupt country which doesn't care about its people,” she declares.
Moldova’s political turmoil

author: Cătălina Dumbrăveanu


text:
From Sweden to Mexico, indigenous people explain why their languages are disappearing · Global Voices
Anette Eklund

Indigenous Scandinavian peoples. Photo credit: Pixabay, under CC license.
Every language represents a distinct way of seeing reality. Language is the vehicle through which the ideas, traditions, customs, stories, and feelings of a community take form. Protecting them is crucial to preserve the identity of their speakers.
Today, however, approximately 3,000 languages throughout the world are in danger of becoming extinct, according to UNESCO.
For example, Yagán, the language of a nomadic tribe in Patagonia, in the far south of Argentina and Chile, has only one remaining speaker. In Mexico, at least 64 languages are at risk of becoming extinct, according to the country's National Institute of Indigenous Languages (Inali). In Europe, more than twenty languages are on the verge of being lost.
Languages around the world are threatened, and Europe and America are no exception.
Languages die out because the conditions in which indigenous communities live are not conducive to cultural prosperity, according to linguists and activists Yásnaya Elena Aguilar, from Mexico, and Sofia Jannok, from Sweden.
In a talk delivered at TEDx, Jannok, who is a child of indigenous Sami people, describes the constant attacks that those communities are subjected to:
This is how things are in my community, and in every indigenous community around the world. A handful of big corporations, run by people whose main interest is money, are invading our homes and forcing us to move, or simply trying to get rid of us.
Many indigenous groups around the world condemn the dispossession of their land and the abuse of their human rights. In Mexico, the murders of ecologist Rarámuri Julián Carrillo in October 2018, who defended the forests of the Sierra Madre from illegal logging and spoke against mining concessions granted by the Mexican state, and of Berta Cáceres in March 2016, a member of the Lenca community in Honduras who opposed the building of a hydroelectric dam, made headlines around the world.
Such cases, which frequently go unpunished, continue to occur: On February 24 this year, an indigenous activist from the Brörán community in Costa Rica was killed by an armed mob. Activists have been critical of the governments’ failure to react.
In a declaration made to the Mexican Congress of Deputies in March 2019, Yásnaya Aguilar claimed that:
Indigenous languages aren't dying. They're being killed by the Mexican state.
In April 2019, Aguilar transcribed her speech in Mixe and translated it to Spanish for Global Voices. In it, she reflects on how the disappearance of indigenous languages is “intimately connected to the loss of land.”
Young girl from the Chatino community in Mexico. Photo credit: Pxfuel, under CC license.
Similarly, the NGO Global Witness and activists such as Eva M. Fjellheim, a member of the Sami community in Norway, claim that agribusiness and mining are the main activities connected to the killings of indigenous environmental defenders. Latin America has seen the largest number of such attacks. As Fjellheim told Pikara magazine:
In the last ten or fifteen years, the pressure on our land has grown considerably, and in particular the focus on exploiting energy resources. We've come to realise that we don't have any real rights that protect us in any way.
There are also those who believe that a significant part of the problem is the discrimination to which indigenous communities are subjected. Speaking at the International Book Fair in Lima in 2017, the Peruvian author and Quechua-speaker Pablo Landeo said that:
Social structures dictate the state of indigenous languages, and this is where discrimination comes in, the feeling of shame that is attached to these languages because they are seen as old-fashioned and backward.
The lack of diffusion and promotion are other aspects of discrimination. In many countries such as Mexico, very little state funding is made available for indigenous cultural projects in literature or art. In Sweden, English, Finnish or German are more often taught as a second language than native languages.
Despite the thousands of kilometers that separate Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, and Finland from Mexico and Peru, they all seem to share a legacy of segregation of indigenous languages and destruction of the identity and collective memory of the peoples who speak them.
Member of the Sami community in Finland. Photo credit: Flickr/Youngbrov, under CC license.
As the International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019 drew to a close, the United Nations declared an International Decade of Indigenous Languages which will begin in 2022 in order to promote and revitalize them.
#Today, following the conclusion of #IYIL2019, #UNGA adopted the resolution on the rights of #IndigenousPeoples ?https://t.co/6cQ1S5vWah which includes, inter alia, proclamation of 2022-2032 as International Decade of #IndigenousLanguages The work continues! #WeAreIndigenous pic.twitter.com/0sid5PAH3a
— UNPFII (@UN4Indigenous) December 18, 2019

author: Anette Eklund


text:
Making sense of Moldova’s ‘depopulation crisis’ · Global Voices
Maxim Edwards

Villagers await a funeral procession in Orac, Moldova, February 2019. Photo (c): Maxim Edwards. Used with permission.
“Officially, around five hundred people live here,” said the Președinte of the electoral commission in Orac, a small village in northern Moldova during parliamentary elections on a frosty morning in February 2019. “But even with a 100 percent turnout, we wouldn't see more than 300 of them today.”
Half an hour later, a funeral procession passed by.
Such scenes are commonplace in rural Moldova. Emptied villages now feature in almost every depiction of the country; in 2019, the country's plummeting population decline even made the front page of the New York Times. The latest census, taken in 2014, recorded a population of 2,998,235 — a decline of 11 per cent compared to the previous census in 2004. International and local researchers have made dispiriting predictions: according to UN projections from 2018, Moldova has the third fastest shrinking population on the planet. Moldovan demographers such as Olga Gagauz concur, and predict a 19 percent decline in the population by 2035.
These outcomes are driven in part by endemic poverty and corruption which push the country's youth abroad, primarily to the European Union which lies on Moldova's doorstep. Like many of its neighbours in eastern Europe, Moldova's ageing population is also blighted by a high mortality rate and poor living standards, particularly outside major cities. The social and political repercussions are many, and they are potentially quite severe. With prolonged brain drain, how can a state staff its ministries or run its schools, hospitals, and social services? When more families depend on remittances from abroad, how vulnerable does a country become to shocks in overseas labour markets? And last but not least, what does mass emigration do to the social contract and citizens’ trust that their state can ever offer a better future?
During a recent visit to the Moldovan capital Chișinău, I spoke to Petru Negură, a sociologist and professor at the International University of Moldova, about the consequences of the country's demographic crisis.
Maxim Edwards: Where do Moldovans go to seek a better life? And how do they choose their destination?
Petru Negură: Depopulation can be stratified in many different ways. There is the migration of poor people from the most rural areas, mostly to Eurasia: Russia, Ukraine, and so on. Those who are a bit better endowed economically and with other forms of capital would rather go to Europe: to France, Spain, and Germany. It's important to note that there is more male emigration to Moscow and other Russian cities, working on construction sites and so on, whereas there are more women than men in Italy and other EU countries, where they perform domestic labour.
I would say that those who opt for this survival strategy are not the poorest: in order to migrate and be capable of meeting the ordinary challenges related to migration, you have to have at least a small amount of money or assistance. Some people can't even afford to emigrate, and don't have a very big social support network such as relatives to can help them.
ME: These days, the global super-rich can easily obtain multiple citizenships. But in Moldova, that option is open to the poor: there are many overlapping nationalist claims on the country's complex history. Ordinary people can claim multiple citizenships based on place of residence or ethnicity. How is this tendency understood?
PN: In a way, some see it as a devaluing of Moldovan nationality. There is a discourse among the educated classes that Moldova is a failed state because so many people are trying to get foreign citizenship. But from a legal point of view, the many Moldovans who have Romanian passports can simply be counted as Romanians who are returning to their home country, rather than leaving Moldova behind. Moreover, most Moldovans who get Romanian citizenship do not target Romania as their destination, but countries further West like Italy, Spain, or Germany.
ME: How do Moldovans make sense of depopulation and mass emigration? How does that differ from foreigners’ depictions?
PN: I don't want to generalise too much, but Russian-speaking journalists and intellectuals tend to see the high number of Moldovans working in Russia as a reason for why the country should reorient itself towards Moscow. At the same time, pro-Romanian and pro-western intellectuals cite Moldovans’ emigration to western countries as proof that we are looking for our model of development in the West — even though, statistically speaking, more go to Russia than western countries.
For foreign media, depopulated villages are the most revealing image. They in particular are interpreted as a kind of social tragedy and political failure, even though medium-sized towns are depopulating, too. This discourse around emptying villages started a long time ago in Moldova, particularly during perestroika when there were worries about rural areas losing their “authentic” traditional lifestyle. Rural depopulation, after all, started with urbanisation during the Soviet period. And remember that Moldova has one of the highest percentages of rural population in this part of the world: around 55% of Moldovans live on the land. In Romania, one of the most rural countries in the EU, it's 45%. With such a strong urban-rural divide, ongoing urbanisation is understandable. But many people explain it with the collapse of the Soviet Union and death of collective farms, even though successful farms today wouldn't require as many people. In the Soviet era, Moldova was one of the most rural Soviet republics with the most intense urbanisation trend.
ME: How does this public debate impact the need for an accurate census? Are there any accurate statistics?
PN: The last census, from 2014, is known as the least accurate census in Moldovan history. The results were published three years after the census was conducted, with some quite visible errors. Against this background, many say that the census inflated the number of residents of Moldova. There is a need for a more accurate census, but there are also demographic surveys conducted with big sample groups which do allow us to estimate the number of residents. Those show a clear decline and allow us to make pessimistic predictions.
ME: Even Moldovans who emigrate for good don't seem apathetic towards politics back home. After all, the diaspora represents a lot of voters, and even has reserved seats in parliament. What does the rest of Moldovan society make of that? Is there resentment?
PN: Within the political elite there is resentment. Among the [former ruling] Democratic Party in particular, because they don't have very strong support from the diaspora. The western diaspora, or at least 90% of them, tend to support [ACUM opposition leader] Maia Sandu. In Russia they tended to support [PSRM politician and president Igor] Dodon. So usually when pro-Western intellectuals say that we have to give more rights to our diaspora and see Moldovans overseas as an asset, they usually only mean the western diaspora, not those in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
But yes, in general there is quite a prominent discourse in society which says to emigres: “You fled for a better life and abandoned your country, you don't have the legitimacy to criticise us or present any solutions to our crises. Come back first, then you can solve things.”
ME: When reporting on elections in Moldova, I have heard on several occasions that the issue of parliamentary representation and number of polling stations for the diaspora is highly politicised…
PN: Absolutely. But there is another side of the story, and I must be subjective here: the western diaspora tends to be much more politically and civically active than the Russian. This is also related to the social background of those who go to Russia compared to Moldovans in the West. But even then, Moldovan migrants doing domestic labour in Italy often had a higher education in Moldova — they were teachers or even doctors. So their emigration represents an obvious downwards social mobility as much as it does financial advantages. If you look at the profession people had in Moldova and that which they have abroad, whether in Russia or the EU, the dissonance is quite obvious. It's about status.
ME: In several eastern European states, conservative and far right “solutions” to demographic decline have been proposed. These range from state support for larger families to the banning of abortion or LGBT rights. Is anything similar underway in Moldova?
PN: I think most Moldovans blame the government, rather than any minority groups. And I'd stress that many of them blame the fall of the Soviet Union; they try to explain what's happened here, the poverty which followed the fall of the Soviet Union, with the fact that the union disappeared. They weren't completely wrong, in that a whole system ended and another one arose, or failed to arise. In the 1990s and 2000s, many blamed the nationalist intelligentsia and their demands, given that the collapse happened after the rise of perestroika.
But you're right, here in Moldova as well, there is nevertheless a conservative and ultra-conservative discourse that puts the blame on feminism and LGBT rights for the current demographic crisis, although the main demographic concern should be the emigration of the most active Moldovan people and not the “crisis of the traditional values.”
ME: Meanwhile, Moldova's high emigration is accompanied by very low immigration. Could immigration be a solution?
PN: Moldovans, like other eastern Europeans, are quite opposed to that. It has been used in electoral campaigning, for example in 2016 when supporters of Dodon suggested that Maia Sandu would let thousands of Syrian refugees settle the country. I've tried to discuss it with people, inviting them to explore all possible solutions. Even students, who have travelled more than other generations, are quite reluctant to consider it. They don't see it as an option.
Similarly, internal migration to repopulate emptying areas doesn't seem popular. I've spent a lot of time working on homelessness in Moldova, and once asked some homeless people in Chișinău why they didn't move to villages, where there are at least empty houses. And they asked me “what could I find there? I need to make a living, not just find a roof over my head.”
ME: Several Moldovan governments have tried to encourage emigres to return, with mixed success. Is return migration a false hope?
PN: Yes, but false hope for whom? You often hear stories about people who returned from abroad and weren't able to run a successful business here, because of obstacles in bureaucracy and so on. I studied France and I also had Canadian permanent residence, but I decided to come back. I feel that my vocation is to be here and try and do something. But it hasn't always been easy. I'm soon moving to Germany for a research fellowship, but still strongly feel that one can help his or her country from abroad.
So this is also part of the story: people return but don't find a place for themselves immediately. Or they need to carve out a place for themselves. People here in Moldova are often quite surprised when you come back, that things don't always work out abroad. In short, they don't expect people who leave to ever come back.
Moldova’s political turmoil

author: Maxim Edwards


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A cancer treating yew tree is critically endangered in Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

A Taxus mairei sapling. Photo by Sanjib Chaudhary. Used with permission.
With less than 500 mature trees remaining in the wild, Taxus mairei (or Maire's Yew tree) is critically endangered in Nepal. While yews have been used in Nepal as traditional medicine for years, T. mairei is one of the major sources of the anticancer drug, Taxol. According to estimates, a ton of T. mairei’s leaves can produce about 550 grams of 10-DAB-III which is used as a chemical intermediate in the preparation of the anticancer drug paclitaxel (Taxol).
The tree's high commercial value has created a leaf harvesting business; however, T. mairei is only found in the wild in three districts in Nepal, and as its numbers dwindle, the need for a responsible and sustainable conservation plan is more important than ever.
Paclitaxel, sold under the brand name Taxol, is one of the most successful and widely used anticancer drugs developed in the past 50 years. This anticancer drug was first found in the bark of the Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew tree). All the species of Taxus are known to produce Taxol. Apart from T. mairei, another two species of yew namely T. wallichiana and T. contarta are also found in Nepal.
Besides the Sindhuli, Kavreplanchok, and Makwanpur districts of Nepal, T. mairei has been found in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and India’s Meghalaya. In an interview with Kumar Paudel, co-founder of Greenhood Nepal, Paudel spoke more about T. mairei in the wild:
There are less than 500 mature T. mairei trees (more than 30 cm diameter at breast height (dbh). If we include saplings (less than 10 cm dbh) and poles (10-30 cm dbh) then the total number is around 2000 in Nepal.
A study led by Kumar Paudel and Reshu Bashyal of Greenhood Nepal, funded by the Conservation Leadership Programme and Kate Stokes Memorial Award, estimated the population of T. mairei in the wild and drafted a sustainable harvesting guideline to assist the harvesters.
Did you know that yew trees produce a chemical that is used to treat cancer? @bashyalreshu and @kmrpaudel are working with me and @verissimodiogo through @CLPawards to look at the impact of this trade in Nepal #EndWildlifeTrade #IWT18 pic.twitter.com/uHr0XTdbz8
— Amy Hinsley (@orchiddelirium) October 11, 2018
According to the study, Nepal exports an average of 25 kilograms of 10-DAB-III annually which requires about 45,454 kilograms of leaves. Local communities collect the leaves, dry them and sell them to local nurseries or local businessmen at a rate of NPR 50 – 240 per kilogram (1 USD = NPR 117). This a jump from the NPR 10 – 30 that was fetched for the leaves in 2002.
Considering the importance of yew trees, the nursery business has seen remarkable growth and the demand for yew saplings has increased throughout the country. Usually, the nurseries prepare saplings through a cutting technique. However, growing thousands of trees this way means that all the new saplings are the same gender and have the same genetic quality of a single tree. As yews are dioecious (they have separate male and female plants),  for fertilization purposes both the male and female trees should be in the vicinity. Hence, it is necessary to raise the trees in a nursery scientifically and plant them in their natural habitat to conserve them.
Yews have been used for multiple purposes for generations in Nepal. Their branches and leaves are used as bedding for livestock and an offering to gods. Their wood is used as timber and for making furniture and agricultural tools. Yews have also been used by indigenous people as traditional medicine for fevers, cough, asthma, and indigestion.
However, since there are no specific guidelines and methods for the collection of yew leaves, the local communities depend on their own experience. Instances of totally denuding the trees are common. To cater to the high demand for leaves, many trees have been cut down as well in the past.
In addition, the T. mairei species is found at lower altitudes than other Taxus species and they face encroachment from human settlements as well as other challenges like habitat destruction, grazing, forest fires and illegal logging.
I think this opportunity is crucial for us as the harvesting communities to use this harvesting guidelines to ensure future viability of Taxus mairei along to educate them about more about it. Thank you Kate Stokes memorial award. #weareclp https://t.co/n8e4pTxxlq
— Sabitri Rai (@RaiSabitri) August 23, 2019
If done right, the increasing trend of cultivating these cancer-treating trees is a positive step towards conserving T. mairei's numbers in the wild.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Bhutan deals with its first COVID-19 case by temporarily shutting down borders · Global Voices
Rezwan

Image by iXimus from Pixabay.
On March 6, 2020, a press release from the Prime Minister's office in Bhutan announced that one positive case of COVID-19 in Bhutan was confirmed at 11 pm the previous night. The government immediately put a ban on all incoming international tourists for 14 days.
COVID-19 Update: Drukair has placed travel restriction on all incoming tourists with immediate effect for the next two weeks. The airline announced that it will continue to provide full refund affected by the COVID-19.
— Kuensel (@KuenselOnline) March 6, 2020
- After detection of 1st coronavirus case, Bhutan imposes a two-week restriction on all incoming tourists “with immediate effect”.
– All international conference & seminars postponed for next 2 weeks.
– Schools & institutes in Thimpu, Paro & Punakha closed for 2 weeks. #covid19
— Devirupa Mitra (@DevirupaM) March 6, 2020
According to a press release posted on the Facebook page of the Prime Minister's Office:
The patient is a 76-year-old from the United States of America, who had come to Bhutan as a tourist. He had entered the country from Paro International Airport, after embarking Drukair flight KB241 from Guwahati, India on March 2.
At the Paro International Airport, the patient’s health declaration form was assessed. He had indicated “negative” against all conditions. He did not have a sign of fever.
On March 2, upon arrival in Thimphu, the patient visited the medical outpatient department at the National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH), the main hospital in Bhutan, complaining of dyspeptic symptoms and nausea. But he did not have flu symptoms and was released with medications. The patient traveled to Punakha, a Himalayan town about 85kms from Thimphu, and stayed at a boutique resort.
When he returned to Thimphu on March 5, he visited the National Referral Hospital again with flu symptoms and was admitted for observation. He samples were collected and sent to the Royal Centre for Disease Control (RCDC) and was confirmed to be infected by the novel coronavirus. The patient's partner, the driver, the guide, and the eight Indian passengers that were with him were also quarantined.
The press release also mentioned that Bhutan is adhering to the National Preparedness and Response Plan, and His Majesty The King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk personally oversaw the responses and implementation of the strategy. Earlier the government mentioned that it is fully prepared to tackle the pandemic.
Over 90 contacts with the patient have been traced so far by health officials.
On March 6, the government announced the closure of schools and institutes in Thimphu, Paro and Punakha districts for two weeks. All international conferences and seminars scheduled in the country are also postponed for the next 14 days.
Tshering Zang Mo, a commenter on the Facebook post by the Prime Minister's Office warned that Bhutan may not have the proper facilities to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak:
The airport failed, the government failed and now the people will face the consequences. Bhutan doesn't have advanced medical facilities like in other countries, even the other countries are losing their people at a crazy rate despite having advanced facilities.
Another commenter Vick Cash Rai said:
Now the question here is, how many people have already been infected???? Our government have been saying that they are well prepared, now let's see their preparation. Poor people of Bhutan will face the consequences because of the government's ignorance.
Sangay Thinley comments:
Hopefully, isolation and quarantine are well maintained… Doctors and health workers please don't be clumsy while treating them… I salute every health workers dealing the situation right now..stay safe.
Yan Seen Gazmer commented:
Now our country's GNH is going to fall. We had been posting that both outsiders or Bhutanese Citizen should not become a reason for someone's death. Now, the time has arrived. We the public of Bhutan wrote that not to allow inflow of outsiders for a few months until the case of coronavirus gets settled down.
Now, we have to face anyway.
However, representatives from the private-sector asked the government how they can help, and offered food and logistics during the quarantine time.
Journalist Namgay Zam asked Bhutanese people to stay calm:
Best to remain calm at this point. Please don’t hoard hand sanitisers and masks. Our medical professionals and sick people need it more! ??
And wash your hands frequently.

author: Rezwan