text:
‘If a dirt, a dirt’: COVID-19 and the reopening of the Jamaican economy · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Floyd's Pelican Bar, Black River, Jamaica. Photo by Karl Stanton (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
The original version of this story was published on Petchary's Blog.
“If a dirt, a dirt.”
There is a fatalistic streak in the Jamaican psyche. The point is sometimes reached where people shrug their shoulders and say, “Suh it guh” (that is how things go).
In this COVID-19 era, this tendency has kicked in. “Dirt” refers to death. As the saying above suggests (there are many others among old Jamaican proverbs), you have to die sometime. Whether you die of hunger due to economic collapse, or from the virus itself, it’s the same thing. The consensus among some is, “Let’s take a chance and face the virus. At least we will have some money coming in. If we die, we die.”
I get the sense that the Jamaican government reached a similar conclusion a little while back, and has been edging towards it. The Holness administration is, after all, between the devil and the deep blue sea. It has been attempting to “balance lives and livelihoods,” as the COVID cliché would have it. But for a number of reasons, it cannot keep Jamaica’s bustling, hustling economy, especially its substantial informal sector, on hold forever. There will be anger, even riots, perhaps. One feels the desperation. I am sure political representatives are being told this every day – “Wi hungry!” This is blunt, this is real. And then there are elections on the horizon. So, the “balance” has tipped.
So, the press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on the night of May 12 was critical and may have serious implications. It seems we have reached the point where the economy, and in particular, our small and micro businesses, cannot hang on any longer. No matter what, we must tentatively “open up,” and let the chips fall where they may. Although, in actual fact, we never really closed completely, though small and micro-businesses, vendors, taxi drivers, and many others living on the edge of poverty or in poverty, have continued to suffer inordinately.
This is the current situation, which will soon change: places where people gather have closed, apart from supermarkets and the especially blessed “BPOs” (call centres). The tourism industry is comatose, as are related businesses. Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett said at the press conference that he would shortly announce a re-opening date. This would, of course, need to be coordinated with the re-opening of our borders. The tourism shutdown was forced on our reluctant government by the closure of the travel industry, which remains 95 per cent shut down, along with airlines and cruise ship sailings.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness was allotted about five or ten minutes of the press briefing, with the Chief Medical Officer, as usual, exuding calm and clarity. The remainder of the two-hour event was devoted to the prime minister’s detailed explanation of the boundaries of the quarantined area in rural St. Mary in and around the town of Annotto Bay; another complex explanation of the curfew hours, which have been relaxed (from Wednesday evening we will have two extra hours of freedom in the evening, and an extra hour in the morning – that is, from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.); and the Finance Minister’s usual thorough explanation of arrangements for the distribution of assistance to the most vulnerable communities. The questions from the journalists reaped a great deal more useful information, and some evasive answers.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness then announced that, having met with church leaders, he has decided to open churches and also bars, for a “probationary period” of two weeks. Well, they do say that in Jamaica, next to every church is a bar (or vice versa).
It is clear that efforts to enforce social distancing have not been very successful, and two places where people generally move around and socialize just as they please are churches and bars, which, after all, are major social meeting points. According to the prime minister, there are at least 10,000 bars in Jamaica (and I am sure that is an under-estimate) and God knows how many churches across the island. I’ve heard it is around 2,00-3,000. Again, it could be more.
There are so many trivial—and yet not trivial—questions that spring to mind: How are people going to have a drink while wearing masks? Don’t some bars have kitchens, where food is cooked and people sit down and eat? Are people really going to resist the urge to sit down for a game of dominoes? Are churchgoers really not going to hug or do that peace thing, shaking hands? Who is going to stop them, if they do? Who is going to monitor these many thousands of establishments, and who is going to enforce the Orders, several of which, in terms of human behaviour, have already been consistently ignored by the general populace?
At locations like markets and outside the Western Union offices in various towns across the country, for instance—remittances from abroad are a lifeline for many Jamaicans—people continue to huddle in crowds. And if I were to take a wild guess, based on what I have seen anecdotally on television reports and on my rare excursions out of the house, only about 30 per cent of the population wears face masks. Those who do often wear them incorrectly.
All the Government can do now is “implore” and “suggest” that Jamaicans behave responsibly and sensibly and adhere to the rules so that we can all learn to “live with COVID-19” while getting on with our lives. However, many of us cannot, or will not, hear or listen to these admonitions. Orchestrating behaviour change is a long, frustrating, and also highly technical process. It’s not going to happen overnight. Simply telling people to behave themselves at a press briefing that half the population was probably not even watching is not going to have any effect.
Once things have “opened up” it will be back to normal. I don’t believe it will be a “new normal”—just normal. We are almost there now.
There was a lot of talk about “managing” the virus. Well, Mr. Holness et al, I have news for you. One thing that we have learned from around the world is that humans don’t manage the virus—the virus manages us. All we are doing is trying to keep up, to adjust, to react — and at times, we are just winging it, on a hope and a prayer. Even President Trump, who really believes he is some kind of god or king, now has the virus running through his White House, and there’s not a thing he can do about it.
We might have all the plans in the world, and think we are in control. But “things and time will tell,” as Jamaicans say.
Meanwhile, let’s reflect on a placard held up outside the Florida State House today during a protest: “A corpse is not a customer.”


text:
Monumental differences: Prague, Moscow trade barbs over World War Two · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

May 13, 2020 view of the former Marshal Konev monument with it statue removed. The sprayed text on the wooden structure reads “Koněv = vrah” which translates as “Konev = assassin” Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission
The buildup to the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, marked earlier this month, has exacerbated a longstanding row about how contested historical figures should be perceived in both the Czech Republic and Russia.
In Prague, one of those figures — a controversial Soviet Marshal — was abruptly removed from a prominent square last month, amid furious objections from Moscow. Another figure, meanwhile, saw his own geopolitically contentious monument unveiled on May 9, the anniversary of the war's end.
Key to the standoff between the two countries is the argument over the liberation of the Czechoslovakia in 1945, which helped usher in almost half a century of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Czech Republic and Russia enjoy a rich yet often conflictual relationship in which 20th century history looms large.
From 1948 to 1989, then-Czechoslovakia was officially communist and joined the Warsaw Pact military alliance in 1955. The first major crack in the Moscow-Prague axis occurred in August 1968 when the Soviet Union sent troops to Czechoslovakia to crush a political spring that rejected communist orthodoxies.
After this bloody episode, official relations normalised. In fact, by the time reformist Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow in the 1980s, it was Czechoslovak leaders who resisted the need for political change.
But change could only be resisted so long.
After perestroika eventually reached Prague, previously unimaginable developments followed. First Soviet troops left Czechoslovakia. The iron curtain collapsed, reopening Europe.
In 1993, Czechoslovakia itself split into two entities — the Czech Republic and Slovakia — both of which joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. From 1989 to 2003, the Czech Republic was led by former dissident and outspoken critic of communism Václav Havel.
From Moscow's perspective, this all meant a huge loss of influence and prestige.
In 1999, Prague completely turned its back on its former ally, by joining NATO.
During this period, the Czech national history heavily censored by the Communist Party line for over four decades was being vigorously reevaluated.
The view held by Moscow — and Prague until 1989 — is that the Soviet Red Army, led by Marshal Ivan Konev, played the main role in Prague's liberation, chasing away the remnants of the German Wehrmacht.
Today this idea is endorsed by the revisionist Communist Party of Moravia and Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), a Czech party that counts over 33,000 members and is typically supportive of incumbent President Miloš Zeman
This history is still celebrated in monuments across the country that were erected during the communist period.
But since 1989, other interpretations of the event have portrayed the Soviet Red Army as having played at best a minor role in the liberation.
These accounts stress instead the role played by a group of Russians who were recruited by Nazi Germany to fight the Soviet Union — the “Vlasovtsy”, named after their leader Andrey Vlasov — but who later rebelled against the Germans.
The debate remains remarkably passionate and is easily harnessed in modern-day geopolitics.
For Moscow, it is part of the “ungrateful Europe” narrative according to which Central and Western Europe underplay the Red Army's liberation of Europe.
This sentiment was recently reinforced in Russia, after a European Parliament resolution adopted on September 19, 2019, blamed the Nazi-Soviet pact signed by Berlin and for World War Two.
In the Czech Republic, tensions surrounding the liberation of Prague and the general perception of Russia have been stirred by recent political developments.
In March 2019 monument to Marshal Konev was splattered with red paint, and sprayed with the following words: “No to the bloody Marshal! We won't forget.” Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.
The statue of Marshal Konev, standing in Prague 6, a district of the Czech capital, was regularly defaced with paint. Citing effort and expenses spent cleaning it up, district mayor Ondřej Kolář proposed to remove it. Konev has iconic status in Soviet and Russian history.
On April 3, in the middle of the state of emergency declared by the Czech authorities to fight COVID-19, the statue was promptly removed.
The Russian embassy expressed outrage via its Facebook page:
Очевидно, что своими провокационными действиями инициаторы войны с памятниками добиваются ухудшения всего комплекса российско-чешских отношений. Снос памятника маршалу И.С.Коневу не останется без соответствующей реакции российской стороны.
Clearly, the initiators of the wars on monuments, through their acts of provocation, are causing a worsening of Russian-Czech relations. The removal of Marshal Konev's monument will not be left unanswered and Russia will react.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Řeporyje, a small town of 4,000 inhabitants that is part of Prague's 13th district, Pavel Novotný, announced he would erect a monument celebrating the positive role played by the Vlasov Army in his town.
The monument was inaugurated May 9, and includes a quote from Soviet dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:
Zdali všichni Češi pak pochopili, kteří Rusové zachránili jejich město?
Did in fact all Czechs then realize what kind of Russians saved their city?
Photos of the monument were shared on Twitter:
Pomník ruským protistalinským vlastencům, “vlasovcům”, kteří v květnu 1945 účinně přispěli k obraně Prahy proti jednotkám SS.
Zabránili tím mnoha dalším obětem v řadách českých povstalců a zařadili se po jejich boku k hrdinům Pražského povstání.
Čest i jejich památce! pic.twitter.com/i7YEh6peAL
— Ondřej Hladík (@HladikOndra) May 9, 2020
The monument to the anti-Stalinist patriots, the Vlasovtsy, who successfully participated in May 1945 in the defense of Prague against SS troops. They prevented many victims among the Czech resistance, and joined the ranks of the heroes of the Prague Uprising. We salute their memory.
The battle over monuments follows another symbolism-packed dispute over the name of a square in Prague where the Russian Embassy is located.
Prague's mayor Zdeněk Hřib, who represents the opposition Pirate Party, and often speaks out in favor of human rights in Russia and China, supported the February 24 decision of the city to rename the square called Pod kaštany (literally ‘Under the chestnuts’) after Boris Nemtsov, the Russian rights activist and opposition politician assassinated in Moscow in February 2015.
During the February 27 opening, Hřib posted a photo of the new square sign on his Twitter account:
Dnes u příležitosti smutného pátého výročí vraždy Borise Němcova jsme po něm přejmenovali původní náměstí Pod Kaštany. A to za účasti jeho dcery Žanny Němcovové. pic.twitter.com/gyEP5NoJHk
— Zdeněk Hřib (@ZdenekHrib) February 27, 2020
Today on the sad occasion of the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov we [renamed this square] after him, in the presence of his daughter Zhanna Nemtsova.
Moscow seems prepared to respond to these perceived slights with slights of its own.
On April 17, it informed the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it had changed the official postal address of its Prague Embassy to another street, called Korunovační, as the large compound occupies a space in which the Boris Nemtsov Square is only one side of its location.
On April 16, a group of officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense sent a proposal to Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu to rename Moscow's “Prague” subway station to the Marshal Ivan Konev station as a reaction to Konev's statue getting dismantled in Prague.
The proposal is a recommendation and has as yet not triggered an official response from the Russian government.
As tensions escalate between Moscow and Prague, the Czech police confirmed in May that all three Czech mayors — Hřib, Kolář and Novotný — have been granted special police protection.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Filip Noubel


text:
In Afghanistan, the war does not spare newborn babies inside maternity wards · Global Voices
Ezzatullah Mehrdad

Afghan Security Forces stand guard on the site of the attack on newborn babies and new mothers in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 12. Photo by Ezzatullah Mehrdad, used with permission.
When Afghans woke up on the morning of May 12, and found out about two new terrorist attacks, they were reminded that the ongoing war had reached new levels of brutality: this time, not even newborn babies and their mothers were spared.
That day, three militants stormed a maternity ward run by the Doctors without Borders NGO in Kabul's western neighborhood of Barchi. Global Voices was able to speak to several witnesses of the events, including the family of Soraya Ibrahimi, a 31-year-old pregnant woman, who had been taken to the clinic on May 11 at 11 PM. Soraya gave birth to a baby at 1 AM, and as her family was waiting for her return, a neighbor informed them the clinic was under attack.
The family rushed to the clinic where the militants had entered the premise and started killing babies, some who had not even seen their mother. Her baby survived, but Soraya was killed.
“The guards of the clinic were unarmed and the militants entered without trouble,” Habibullah Amiry, an eyewitness, told Global Voices. “It took 30 minutes before the police arrived at the scene. They went on killing for 30 minutes without resistance.”
As many of the doctors and nurses knew about safe rooms in the clinic, they were able to escape, but newborn babies, pregnant women, and other female patients could not hide from the bullets. Three women and one kid were shot in the hallway; seven women were killed in their beds; two women were fallen on the floor of the surgery room; one woman who had her baby in her arm was fallen and a nurse was burned, according to journalist Anisa Shaheed.
“Why we could not take all those mothers to safe rooms,” Wahida Mukhtar, a staff of the clinic, wrote in her Facebook post, “This sorrow will kill me.” One woman who was brought to a safe room gave birth inside the safe room while militants were killing people outside.
The militants exchanged fire with the Afghan security forces for four hours, leaving hundreds of people outside of the clinic worrying about the fate of their loved once trapped inside. The Afghan Health Ministry reported 24 women and newborns were killed in the assault.
Elsewhere in the eastern Nangarhar province of the country, a suicide bomber walked among 500 people who attended the funeral of a local police commander, Sheikh Akram. The imam had asked people to line up and just announced the beginning of the prayer when the blast tore apart the crowds, killing nearly 30 and wounded 70 others.
“The body of Sheikh Akram was close to the explosion,” Naeem Jan Naeem, an eyewitness, told The New York Times. “His body was wounded after he had died.”
The attacks have taken place in the context of a fragile peace process involving the Taliban and the United States who signed a deal on February 29, with the hope of bringing the war closer to an end. The deal was expected to reduce violence in the country and promote talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Yet the deal faced a major deadlock over the issue of release from prison of 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The Afghan government refused to release such a large number, eventually, only a small number was released.
Despite international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, the Taliban have continued to wage a war in rural areas. The Afghan government has blamed the Taliban for attacks on the hospital in Kabul and the suicide bombing in Nangarhar. President Ashraf Ghani has now ordered Afghan forces to leave their previous “active defense” and go on the offensive against the Taliban.
In response, the Taliban said in a statement that the government was derailing the peace talks and blamed the government for the attacks on the hospital. The Taliban said that they were ready for a war against the government.
As Deborah Lyons, head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan wonders:
Who attacks newborn babies and new mothers? Who does this? The most innocent of innocents, a baby! Why?  Cruelty has no followers from the humanity. https://t.co/ebsGl4bY5p
— Deborah Lyons (@DeborahLyonsUN) May 12, 2020
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Nangarhar, but no group has claimed responsibility for the shooting of mothers and newborn babies in Kabul's Barchi neighborhood, an area predominantly inhabited by the Hazara- Shiite community that has been a target of high profile attacks against civilians since 2016, when it had claimed responsibility.
Previous attacks against the community included suicide bombs inside a mosque, educational center, sports venue, and wedding hall. The suicide bombing killed each score of civilians that gathered to celebrate, mourn, and learn.
“The incident is beyond painful; it is a catastrophe,” local resident Amiry told Global Voices. “Our teenagers are massacred in the education center; we are killed in the wedding hall, no mosque is left safe and this time a hospital. We are the most helpless people. Our hands are cut from the sky and our legs are cut from the ground.”

author: Ezzatullah Mehrdad


text:
Mali holds elections despite COVID-19 pandemic and terrorist threats · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Screenshot of France 24 on YouTube.
On April 19, 2020, Mali held the second round of legislative elections despite uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as ongoing threats from Islamist terrorism in the country.
After voting in the first round on March 29, Malians went to the polls for the second round to replace members of parliament elected in 2013. The five-year legislative term was due to end in 2018, but the elections were postponed on two separate occasions.
Malian journalist Kané Illa, explains the latest postponement in a column for the Anadolu news agency:
Le gouvernement a expliqué ces reports par la grève des magistrats -entamée depuis plus de deux mois en contestation des conditions financières et de travail, qui “a empêché l'acquisition par les candidats de certains documents nécessaires pour postuler aux législatives”.
Dans une déclaration publiée le 26 septembre dernier, l’opposition malienne avait demandé le report des législatives, soutenant “qu’aucune élection régulière, transparente et démocratique ne peut être organisée sans la correction de graves insuffisances et la mise à plat du système de fraude organisée, qui a marqué la dernière élection présidentielle“.
The government explained that these postponements were due to a strike by judges, which lasted more than two months to contest the financial and working conditions, and ‘prevented candidates from obtaining some of the necessary documents for registering in the legislative elections.’
In a statement published on September 26, 2019, the Malian opposition had called for the postponement of the legislative elections, emphasizing ‘that no legitimate, transparent and democratic election could be organized without rectifying the serious shortfalls and examining the organized fraud system, which affected the last presidential election.’
According to local observers, the elections were held within the rules while including the new public health measures concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 26, 2020, there were 370 COVID-19 cases including 21 deaths.
Drissa Traoré, president of the Coalition for Citizen Election Observation in Mali (COCEM), a platform of civil society organizations, stated the following during a press conference on Election Day, April 19, 2020, to provide an update on the initial observations:
Les observateurs de la Cocem ont constaté le renforcement des mesures préventives contre la propagation de COVID-19 par le gouvernement telle que la mise à disposition du gel, gants et des masques pour les agents électoraux et des électeurs dans certaines localités, des unités de lavage des mains dans certains centres de vote. Cependant, des telles mesures auraient pu être effectives dans tous les centres et bureaux de vote, tel que recommandé par la Cocem dans sa déclaration préliminaire du premier tour…
Et il ressort pour l’instant que 95% de bureaux de vote observés ont ouvert à l'heure (avant 8h15) et 5% des bureaux observés ont ouvert entre 8h15 et 9h30.
COCEM observers have noted the strengthening of preventive measures by the government against the spread of COVID-19, including the availability of gel, gloves and masks for election officials and voters in some towns as well as hand washing units in some polling stations. However, such measures could have been in operation in all polling stations, as recommended by COCEM in its opening statement of the first round…
And for now, it appears that 95 percent of the observed polling stations opened on time (before 8:15 a.m.) and 5 percent of the observed stations opened between 8:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Following these elections, Ibrahima Sangho, head of the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) held a press conference, among a synergy of other civil society organizations, on the outcomes of these elections.
An article reiterates:
Selon la Synergie des organisations de la société civile et de la CNDH (Commission nationale des droits de l’homme), le taux de participation global à la clôture était de 23,22%. En outre, la mission a noté que 53,87% des votants étaient des femmes.
According to the [coalition] Synergy of civil society organizations and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the overall participation rate was 23.22 percent by the close of the election. The mission also noted that 53.87 percent of voters were women.
These civil society organizations had deployed more than 1,200 observers in the 55 electoral districts.
However, the rates provided by Boubacar Alpha Bah, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, are different:
Le 19 avril, très peu d’électeurs ont effectué le déplacement dans les centres de vote pour élire leurs députés : 2.363.827 votants sur les 6.691.305 inscrits, 2.311.920 suffrages valablement exprimés, soit un taux de participation de 35,33%. Ces chiffres ont été communiqués, hier, par le ministre de l’Administration territoriale et de la Décentralisation, Boubacar Alpha Bah. Les résultats seront soumis à la Cour constitutionnelle qui a le dernier mot. Si cette institution valide les résultats compilés par le ministère de l’Administration territoriale et de la Décentralisation, l’Assemblée nationale ne changera pas fondamentalement de configuration.
On April 19, very few voters made the trip to the polling stations to elect their members of parliament: 2,363,827 voters out of the 6,691,305 registered, 2,311,920 votes legitimately cast, which is a participation rate of 35.33 percent. These figures were shared by the minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Boubacar Alpha Bah, yesterday. The results will be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which has the final say. If this institution validates the results compiled by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, the National Assembly will not fundamentally change configuration.
The rate provided by the minister is closer to the participation rates in the 2013 legislative elections, which had 37.24 percent and that of the second round of the presidential election that took place on August 12, 2018, which was 34.54 percent.
According to journalist Abdoulaye Ouattara, the Constitutional Court has already validated the results of the first round on April 9, 2020:
Au terme de son audience, la Cour a déclaré 22 députés élus dès le premier tour dans 11 circonscriptions électorales. Les 125 autres sièges seront attribués à l’issue du second prévu pour le 19 avril 2020.
At the end of its hearing, the Court announced 22 elected members of parliament from the first round in 11 electoral districts. The other 125 seats will be allocated following the second round, scheduled for April 19, 2020.
These elections were held under unique circumstances: On the one hand, Islamist terrorism has led to the killing of villagers and members of the Malian armed forces. On the other hand, there are restrictions set by the government to stop the spread of COVID-19.
K. Richard Kouassi, a writer for the Afrique Sur 7 website, recalls the latest murderous Islamist terrorist attacks which took a heavy toll:
Le Mali connaît actuellement un moment douloureux. Et pour cause, le lundi 6 avril 2020, le pays a subi une attaque perpétrée par des djihadistes. Selon l'AFP (Agence France presse), le bilan fait état de vingt soldats tués par les assaillants…
Vingt et neuf soldats maliens avaient été tués et cinq autres ont subi des blessures, avaient annoncé les Forces armées maliennes dans un communiqué. Cette attaque était la plus meurtrière qu'a connue le Mali en quatre mois.
Depuis près de dix ans, le pays est sous la menace de groupes armés qui endeuillent les populations et causent d'énormes pertes dans l'armée malienne.
Mali is currently going through a painful time. The reason for this is that on Monday,  April 6, 2020, the country suffered a jihadist attack. According to the AFP press company [Agence France Presse] there were 20 soldiers killed by the attackers…
The Malian armed forces announced in a report that 29 Malian soldiers had been killed and 5 others were injured. This was the most murderous attack that Mali had experienced in four months.
For almost 10 years now, the country has been under the threat of armed groups that bring mourning to the population and cause great losses in the Malian army.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project on armed conflict locations and events has tracked the increase in terrorist attacks, as reported by Independent Mali:
Détérioration de la situation sécuritaire dans le nord et le centre du Pays: Plus de 1000 morts dont plus de 300 civils depuis janvier 2020
La révélation a été faite par ACLED [Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project], une organisation non gouvernementale spécialisée dans la collecte, l’analyse et la cartographie des données de conflit. Selon cette organisation, malgré la propagation du COVID-19, l’intensité des violences armées au Mali n’a pas baissé d’un cran. Parmi les victimes qui en paient le plus lourd tribut figurent les civils, essentiellement dans les régions dites du Centre.
The worsening of the security situation in the North and center of the country: More than 1000 deaths since January 2020, including 300 civilians.
This revelation was made by ACLED [Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project], a nongovernmental organization that specializes in collecting, analyzing and mapping conflict data. According to this organization, the intensity of the armed violence in Mali has not decreased despite the spread of COVID-19. Civilians, mainly in the so-called central regions, are among the victims who are paying the heaviest price.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


text:
Banned for 30 years, Singapore’s only martial arts film is now on YouTube · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

One of the scenes in the movie Ring of Fury. Screenshot from YouTube.
Singapore’s first and only martial arts film, “Ring of Fury,” is now available for viewing on YouTube.
The film was made in 1973 but was not approved for public screening because of its “portrayal of gangsterism and vigilantism at a time when Singapore was aggressively ‘cleaning up’ its national public image,” according to the Asian Film Archive (AFA).
It was finally shown at a local film festival in 2005 and restored by the AFA in 2017.
Despite its limited distribution, it is recognized as “a gem of Singaporean genre cinema.”
The film was inspired by Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury” which was released in 1972. It tells the story of a noodle seller who learned kung fu to avenge his family and fight a gang of thugs.
This is historically significant in the story of Singapore film *and* a ton of fun. Bone-crunching combat, masks under masks, dogs looking at the camera, Satay Club in colour, Jurong Bird Park, sleazy gangster parties – it’s got it all! Thanks @AFA_archive !!! https://t.co/1EBOZLTB9t
— ben slater (@gonetopersia) May 7, 2020
The main actor is Peter Chong, a real karate master who kept the only copy of the film inside a refrigerator before it was restored.
Asian Film Archive’s archivist Chew Tee Pao interviewed the movie’s co-director James Sebastian in 2019 about the challenges in producing “Ring of Fury.”
The archivist wrote:
As a film that portrayed gangsterism in 1970s Singapore, the filmmakers encountered real gangsters just like those who intimidated the local hawkers on set and had to tread carefully not to overstep certain boundaries. Filmed in a guerilla manner, the filmmakers did not obtain official permits to shoot at all the locations.
The actor Peter Chong explained in a 2017 media interview why censors rejected the film in 1973:
It's a real story of Singapore in the late 1960s when we still had gangs around collecting protection money. (But the censors) said that you can't take the law into your hands.
Singapore became independent from Malaysia in 1965. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has been in power since the founding of the state up to the present. PAP is credited for turning Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world, although it is also accused of employing strict social controls that undermine free speech and democracy.
Some of those who watched the restored film in 2017 immediately recognized the cultural significance of “Ring of Fury.”
Commenting on the Letterboxd, a global social network for grassroots film discussion and discovery, a user called celeste noted that the film offers a surreal version of Singapore, far removed from its present.
some really incredible cinematography and surreal shots of 60s/70s singapore, a place that is almost another country to me.
this had the makings of a classic… it's such a huge piece of sg chinese cinema history
a real tragedy that it was banned on release until 2005, can you imagine the iconic status this film would have now.
Writer Ben Slater explained how the film might have affected Singapore's movie industry had it not been censored:
…it's an attempt in the early seventies to make a commercial genre film. It was kind of like other things happening in Hong Kong. And it didn’t work because it was banned, obviously didn't get a chance in Singapore. And I think, if let’s say in a parallel universe, the film had been released and it had been a huge commercial hit, there could have been 20 or 30 martial arts films that came out of Singapore. It could have, who knows, kickstarted a new studio or whole proliferation of other filmmaking that could have happened at that time. It's very very sad, in fact, in some ways a great tragedy that it didn’t.
A reviewer for The Last Word described the film as entertaining in its absurdity:
As a film “Ring Of Fury” is terrible but as something that you can sit back and laugh at the pure absurdity that is being displayed on screen, the film is great. Everything about the film was outdated and over the top, from the training montage to the villain, but to be honest I had a blast watching it.
And the review ended with an important question:
…the film shows the viewer a completely different side of Singapore. It’s almost as if the film is a time capsule into Singapore’s past. After watching the film one question still remained. Why was the film only being shown to us now?

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Cameroon’s 3-year separatist crisis: Online threats, attacks on identity and freedom of expression · Global Voices
Ekonde Daniel

A park located at Warda junction near Mfoundi waterfalls in Cameroon. “Cameroon united forever,” reads the sign. Photo by Simbanematick via CC BY 4.0.
In November 2016, protests against French majority rule in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions broke out. Protesters amplified demands by Anglophone lawyers and teachers to have the Common Law and the English education system in their regions.
Cameroon's English-speaking minority makes up 20 percent of the country while the French-speaking majority makes up the other 80 percent.
These protests relied on social media  — especially Facebook — to mobilize and inform.
The Francophone government's crackdown on these protests led to a three-year separatist war — largely driven by identity and language politics — known as the Anglophone crisis.
Throughout this crisis, online attacks and identity-driven hate speech continue to stifle freedom of expression.
Clashes between separatist groups and state police and military have led to at least 2,000 deaths and about 500,000 people displaced. English-speaking separatist groups in southern Cameroon seek to break from French-majority Cameroon and create Ambazonia, a new nation.
In October 2016, a month before the protests began, the government had come under intense criticism on social media for the way it managed a train accident in the small town of Eseka, central Cameroon, that claimed the lives of more than 80 people and injured 600.
In response, the government unleashed a campaign against the dangers of social media. The state-controlled newspaper Cameroon Tribune said social media was “fast becoming a threat to peace and a secret instrument of manipulation,” advancing “character destruction, destabilization of public opinion and deformation of facts among others.”
By January 2017, the West African nation shut down the internet in its English-speaking regions for more than a year. The internet blackout — which lasted until March 2018 — occurred after stockpiles of images of torture and death appeared online that the government wanted to suppress.
This did not only starve internet users of information — the majority of whom are young people — but it also contravened a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in 2017 on the ‘’the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet.’’
The resolution condemned disruptions to internet access and ‘’affirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online,” in particular freedom of expression.
For decades, Cameroon has been locked into numerous, heated debates on how both English and French-speaking cultures and languages can be more equitably represented in public spaces.
The country merged with English and French languages and cultures after World War I, when Britain and France took over the then-German colony, after expelling Germany from the territory through the war.
French Cameroon attained its independence in 1961 as La Republique du Cameroun (Republic of Cameroon) and British Cameroon voted to join the republic to form the two-state Federal Republic of Cameroon in 1961.
Nevertheless, the first President of Cameroon Ahmadou Ahidjo, who ruled from 1961 to 1982, dissolved the federal system in 1972.
The result is 10 regions comprising Cameroon today, with eight French-speaking and two English-speaking.
“We have a WhatsApp group about sports news in Cameroon,” Samuel, a sports journalist told Global Voices on March 5 in Yaoundé, the capital. Samuel is an English-speaking Cameroonian from Southwest, an Anglophone region, who asked Global Voices to withhold his full identity for fear of repression:
Often we get official documents from federations in French. When my English colleagues ask why it is like that, most French colleagues hit back, saying tu dois etre bilingue [‘you need to be bilingual’] – le Cameroun est bilingue [‘Cameroon is bilingual’]. The funniest thing is that they can’t even read documents in English. We will quarrel and even lose track of the essence of the document at times – that’s how English journalists struggle for our identity in this country.
Last year, lawmakers in Cameroon pushed for a bill to reinforce the equal use of English and French as seen in Article 1(3) of the country’s constitution.
According to the law, court orders can be rendered in either of Cameroon's two official languages, English and French, — subject to the choice of actors involved. But some English-speaking lawyers fear this may lead to assimilation. Instead, Anglophone citizens want English in Common Law courts across their regions.
Journalists in Cameroon have had to be very careful about reporting on atrocities related to the country's long-running separatist war. Appearing to side with separatists or the government too strongly can lead to attacks by online trolls on either side.
“I have received a number of attacks on Facebook because of my work,” said Kehdinga Fabrice, a journalist with The Guardian Post in southwest Cameroon, who spoke with Global Voices on March 6. “An issue of The Guardian Post was posted [on Facebook] and somebody came and commented and I reacted to the person’s comment. He insulted me on the platform and even wrote me a private message describing me as a ‘government agent’,” Kehdinga said.
Facebook, where close to half of the country’s 8 million social media users have accounts, is a site where online attacks occur most frequently.
Kehdinga told Global Voices:
It’s a normal phenomenon … if a frontpage newspaper gives a positive side of separatists, we are attacked — it’s the same scenario if we write on the side of the government. People send me messages [to my] inbox and even threaten me. Now I just read Facebook posts without commenting to be on the safe side.
In February 2020, Cameroon held its annual race on Mount Cameroon in the town of Buea, an English-speaking city in the southwest region of the country.
Runners from the northwest region, the second of Cameroon's two Anglophone provinces, competed against Fako people, an ethnic group in the southwest, who worship the deity Epas’a Moto.
Most of the winners of the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope hailed from the northwest.
Editors from The Median newspaper posted a banner on Facebook with the headline: “Mt. Cameroon Race of Hope: NW Athletes Rubbish Epas’a Moto, Carry Away Tens of Millions.”
The headline implies that competitors from the northwest outsmarted Fako athletes and despised their deity Epas'a Moto, to win big.
The word “rubbish” did not go down well on Facebook: Many readers saw the headline as an abusive jab toward Fako people and their beliefs. It provoked numerous negative comments:
John Ndumbe commented:
Idiot! Do you know that NW [northwest] has 100 tribes? If they win the mountain race so what? Has Manyu [another tribal group] ever won a trophy despite their Nyankpes and leopards?
Eileen Tabuwe Akwo commented:
Was Epas’a Moto in competition or against the athletes? All gods as we know are impartial and defend the pure of heart. By allowing this headline, The Median is supporting a wrongful insult. Let’s rethink our journalism.
Facebook's Community Standards mandate taking down posts that incite hate speech and abuse. The post, however, remains online. Additionally, at the government level, there’s no clear follow-up on social media abuse.
In response to increasing hate speech online, the parliament prepared a bill on hate speech and tribalism in November 2019 and President Paul Biya legislated the bill into law in December 2019. Defaulters will be fined about 3 million Central African Francs or approximately $5,000 United States dollars and could serve three years in prison, depending on the gravity of the crime.
However, the government only cracks down on violators when it concerns its institutions or personalities, according to human rights lawyer Barrister Felix Agbor Balla, who was charged with terrorism in the wake of the Anglophone crisis.
Agbor Balla told Global Voices on March 27:
The problem with government is that they politicize it – they use it when it is convenient for them. When people use [hate speech] against people who are against the government — nobody cares.
By January 2019, Cameroon was ranked among the top 15 users of Facebook in Africa which means the majority of its population uses the popular social media platform.
“Cameroon needs a robust agreement with Facebook —  for them to be a watchdog that any message that is an attack is pulled down,” Agbor Balla said.
This article is part of a series called “The identity matrix: platform regulation of online threats to expression in Africa.” These posts interrogate identity-driven online hate speech or discrimination based on language or geographic origin, misinformation and harassment (particularly against female activists and journalists) prevalent in digital spaces of seven African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

author: Ekonde Daniel


text:
Former Yugoslavia’s brutalist architecture shines in new Star Wars fan film · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story. Scene shot in the catacombs under Tašmajdan park in Belgrade. Photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
At the end of last year, a Star Wars fan film with a difference enjoyed its online premier.
Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story is a 25-minute short movie made by a volunteer crew composed of around fifty professional filmmakers, film students and members of Serbia's Star Wars fan community.
It is written and directed by the award-winning Serbian filmmaker Stevan Filipović.
The film was shot on locations near the Serbian capital Belgrade.
The futuristic Monument to the Fallen Soldiers of the Kosmaj Partisan Detachment from World War II atop Mount Kosmaj and the Monument to the Unknown Hero of World War I atop Mount Avala were both successfully transformed into Jedi landmarks.
The apocryphal story is set before the real Star Wars movie The Force Awakens and depicts the demise of the Jedi order perpetrated by Kylo Ren.
Global Voices got in touch with Filipović to talk about the movie.
Global Voices (GV): Your movie received very positive media reviews, and was lauded by local StarWars fans. Fan fiction rarely sees this level of production. How did you manage it?
Stevan Filipović (SF): I think one can easily underestimate how much Star Wars means to people around the globe. It's a crucial part of our identities, much more than some local cultural phenomena, at least for a lot of people of my generation. I think we could never do something like this — get a completely professional film crew, and such amazing actors, for a non-profit fan film — if we all didn't share a lot of love and respect for this fictional universe George Lucas has created.
Left to right: Darko Ivić, Stevan Filipović and Slaven Došlo on the set of Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story. Photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
But, the other key was the story. I didn't set out to make a fan film, I wanted to make this really personal story, that happens to be set in the Star Wars universe. I think people reacted to that, saw the raw emotions and the potential of it, very early on. Darko Ivić, who plays Nol in the film, was there with me from the very start when I started dreaming about this film.
And then Slaven Došlo went to Disneyland, and brought me a gift — Yoda's lightsaber, and I knew I wanted him to portray the younger brother, Kess. He has this mix of naïveté and pain that I thought was integral to the character.
Jana was selected through casting, but the moment she walked in, we thought — that's Mala.
The rest of the crew was something of a filmmaker's dream. We had great support from Hypnopolis, the company that has produced all of my films. Basically, everybody who volunteered to help was listed as a co-producer, since we didn't have a budget.
In the end, with almost no resources, with shared love for Star Wars, and connections from my previous three feature films, we got quite literally the top Serbian film crews in all fields: from stunts to world-class visual effects, professional color grading, award-winning sound designer, through amazing creatures and prosthetic make-up effects, insane music (available on our YouTube channel), and — of course — great help from the students of the Academy of Arts, where I teach.
A scene from Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story. Photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
GV: Artists from the Balkans, like Zoran Cardula from North Macedonia, have in the past explored visual similarities between Star Wars iconography and the brutalist architecture of former Yugoslavia. Your film has brought this connection to a whole new level and through a completely new medium. How did you decide on those particular monuments?
SF: There is something very deeply ‘Star-Wars-esque’ in the stories and legends of former Yugoslavia, or, rather – vice versa. The epic exodus and rebirth of WWI, and then — chaos, civil war, Tito's rebel partisans from all nations who overcame their differences to fight a great evil (the Nazis), their victory, peace, the creation of this New Republic, which leads to another rise in nationalism and the fall of the Republic… It's hard to separate our actual history from a synopsis of the entire Skywalker saga!
Jedi Temple in Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story, photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
So, these relics from our past were perfect to create the atmosphere of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy — built after the wars, on the ruins of the bygone era — they represent the history which Nol and Dust never had a chance to learn from, yet which shaped their destinies. So, Ivan Meštrović's masterpiece, the Mount Avala Monument to the Unknown Hero became a Jedi shrine, and the Mount Kosmaj WWII monument became ancient Jedi ruins.
From a filmmaker's perspective, the Brutalist ex-Yugoslavia architecture was very modern, created in an age where we were looking to the stars, to the future, for inspiration. That makes it stand out today. Both of these locations had mystery and majesty, and I really feel they add something unique to the film. We were very fortunate to get permissions to film there.
GV: The main characters of Breaking Point are commoners. In the official Star Wars movies, members of two ‘genetically superior royal families’ (to paraphrase David Brin) and their entourages tend to run the show. Rogue One (2016) is perhaps an exception. Do you consider your short a part of a trend anticipating ‘democratization’ of that universe, with stories that explore wider social issues through the experiences of people from all social classes?
SF: Yes, well, there's that famous quote from Clerks, about all the workers who built the Death Star and their untold stories. But, seriously, I think Star Wars mythology is now so rich and detailed that it can be compared to many of the existing, historical, myths around the globe, at least in scope and sheer level of detail. The place of the pop-culture in our modern societies is yet to be analyzed by historians and social anthropologists, but, I think it's safe to say that these modern pop-cultural myths occupy a very important place in our lives. In that respect, I feel Star Wars is now more than just another franchise, it's an integral part of global cultural heritage.
So, it was interesting to me to try to find a local angle, to try to add to this mythology from our own point of view. We could never make something like The Crown here, but that doesn't mean we don't have amazing stories of our own to tell, and we sure as hell can make films like Dirty Dozen or Rogue One. And class is an important part of that. So we made the entire backstory of Breaking Point about class, in a way. It was interesting for me to imagine — could a poor kid, with no education, and no family, who grew up in the mean streets of Serbia in the 90s become a Jedi Knight, this zen warrior-monk? Or do the wounds that we all have, from the wars, the politics, crime, make us emotionally unstable, unfit? How can we escape that?
Jana Milosavljević as Mala in Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story. Photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
The protagonists of our film had really tough childhoods. They were separated, the older one became a drug dealer to survive. The younger one was sold to slavery to the same Dickensian crime boss who once owned Han Solo – Lady Proxima. Mala, the Twi'lek girl, was a sex worker from her early teens.
They were then rescued by Luke Skywalker, and now they are training to be Jedi, but they have these gaping wounds in their hearts, all of them. These wounds are the weaknesses that the Dark Side exploits through Ben Solo, the future Kylo Ren.
But, it's not Ben Solo who turns them against each other — it's their own fears and weaknesses and old wounds that make the brothers go for each other's throats. In short, they represent the history of the conflicts that led to the breakup of former Yugoslavia.
Brothers, killing each other, over past wounds and revived nationalism. That rise of toxic nationalism in the former Yugoslav countries has a striking resemblance to the revival of the Empire that Ben Solo was rooting for, and that is a major political point in the sequel trilogy. I'm sorry they didn't elaborate on this backstory as seriously as George Lucas did when he was creating Star Wars films. Especially in the contemporary world, where we see the reemergence of politics that we all thought defeated so many years ago, and that have caused so much pain and suffering.
Final scenes of Breaking Point: A Star Wars Story. Photo by Tamara Antonović. Used with permission.
GV: Critiques of Breaking Point focused on length of the film. They wanted more. Do you plan any sequels?
SF: The ending was supposed to be mysterious, poetic, kind of elusive, like a dream. Kess dies, finding his faith again, because of the only pure thing in his life — his love for Mala. So, it's a completed story for us, and we don't plan to make a sequel. But making a prequel would be really interesting — Nol, Kess and Mala living on Corellia, before Luke Skywalker rescued them. On the other hand, perhaps it would be too dark for Star Wars. I don't know… We'll see. Difficult to see, the future, as Yoda once said.
GV: Science fiction and fantasy had been integral parts of mainstream culture in former Yugoslavia, currently very few authors from the region work in these genres. As a feature film director, you have been an outlier in this sense, with the successful fantasy film Shaitan's Warrior in 2006. In Next to Me (2015), you tackled the intersection between new technologies and society. Do you see potential for more sci-fi production in Serbia, or the wider the Balkans region?
SF: I don't care much about “genre” or “sci-fi” or other labels. I think the obsession with “genre vs. arthouse” is a very weird European phenomenon (much like the formulaic obsession with genres is a weird American phenomenon), and it kinda makes us lose focus on what really matters — telling good stories, writing from the heart, creating compelling characters that matter to the audiences.
I think we have here the potential to dream about anything we want, but we often choose not to dream, and rather to create films made to fit European financing strategies and schemes. This results in movies that feel more like a product than your average Hollywood fare, minus the virtue of being watchable. And this is the reason people are more inspired by quality TV and games than movies these days. So, in short, yes — I think we can do pretty much whatever we want, but we need to fight for a different financing system to enable it and different standards to realise the potential of thinking “outside the box”.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
In Burundi, four journalists jailed for months await appeal · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

The Press House in Bujumbura, from which independent radios were blocked access. 19 May 2010. Photo by DW Akademie – Africa via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Four journalists — Agnès Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi, Térence Mpozenzi and Egide Harerimana — were charged with attempting to undermine state security and were sentenced in January 2020.
The four, who all work with Iwacu newspaper, adamantly reject the charges. They now await an appeal decision on their prison sentence, after their hearing on May 6.
Antoine Kaburahe, Iwacu founder who now lives in exile, wrote:
(1)Urgent/ Fin de l'audience à Bubanza. La défense de @iwacuinfo est satisfaite.Les accusations contre les journalistes ne tiennent pas.Les journalistes ne faisaient que leur métier:informer.Quel soulagement! L’affaire a été mise en délibérée, verdict dans max 30 jours.Courage! pic.twitter.com/PYRXSJOhIp
— KABURAHE (@AntoineKaburahe) May 6, 2020
Breaking: End of court hearing in Bubanza. Iwacu’s defence is satisfied. The accusations against the journalists do not hold up. The journalists were only doing their job: reporting. What a relief! The case is under consideration, verdict in max 30 days. Stay strong!
On October 22, Burundian security forces battled with an armed anti-government group — reportedly RED-Tabara, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo — around the Kibira forest border area. Armed groups have often used this area to move through the region. In the battle, 14 insurgents were said to be killed, while security forces suffered about 10 casualties.
Later that day, police detained the four Iwacu journalists and their driver, Adolphe Masabarakiza, when they went to report at the Musigati commune, Bubanza province, to speak to people who had fled the fighting. At first, they were detained without charge, and Christine Kamikazi was reportedly hit when arrested. Police confiscated their phones and materials and the intelligence services demanded account passwords in order to search their phones.
The journalists were then transferred to other cells with deplorable conditions. On October 26, in Bubanza province, they were finally charged with “complicity in threatening state security.” On October 31, the public prosecutor confirmed this and accused them of having information on the insurgents’ attack.
Various organizations promptly called for their release, including Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Journalists, Olucome, African Journalists’ Federation and the Association Burundaise des Radiodiffuseurs. However, the National Communications Council said at the time that it could not discuss the matter. Iwacu criticized this reaction, recalling that they were first held without charge and that the council is supposed to support journalists.
Many people expressed support online and signed a petition. International media discussed it as a threat to press freedom, while Iwacu continues to follow the situation closely.
Journalist Esdras Ndikumana tweeted:
Burundi: 4 journalistes de Iwacu (et leur chauffeur) accusés de “complicité d’atteinte à la sécurité intérieure de l’état” pour avoir couvert une incursion rebelle dans Bubanza croupissent dans la prison de cette province (Dessin de Yaga) pic.twitter.com/CmRw0BPwHY
— esdras ndikumana (@rutwesdras) October 31, 2019
Burundi: 4 Iwacu journalists (and their driver) accused of “complicity in threatening the interior security of the state” for having covered a rebel incursion in Bubanza languish in the this province’s prisons (Drawing by Yaga)
After appealing the decision on their detention, the date for their court hearing was set for November 18, To their surprise, they were summoned on November 11, to appear before judges for questioning — but without lawyers. They refused to answer without legal assistance, asking why their lawyers had not been informed beforehand, and then returned to detention, to be heard on November 18.
On November 20, the decision came that the four journalists would remain in detention, but the driver was provisionally released. The prosecution originally called for a 15-year prison sentence.
President Pierre Nkurunziza said during a press conference on December 26 that he wanted a fair trial but he could only intervene as a last resort, even though he could use his power to grant a presidential pardon.
On January 30, in Bubanza, the four journalists were sentenced to two and a half years in prison and a fine of a million francs each ($521 United States dollars) under Article 16 of the Penal Code, while the driver was acquitted.
The prosecution could not prove any actual link or contact with the rebels, so the charge was changed to “impossible attempt at the complicity in undermining state security,” that is — that they intended to threaten state security but it was not possible.
Iwacu pointed out that the reporters went to the area after authorities had publicly mentioned the incident, were accredited, and there were no restrictions on the area.
The key element used as evidence against the journalists was a WhatsApp message sent by one of the reporters to a friend, which said they were going to “help the rebels.” They argued it was clearly a dry joke —  the government has often conflated critics, political opponents, and armed groups to justify generalized crackdowns. But the text was taken literally as evidence against them.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the journalists should be able to report on sensitive topics without fear of reprisals, particularly ahead of Burundi's May 20 election. They made a petition calling for their release, which had almost 7,000 signatures in early May.
European Union deputies, the European Parliament, and UN human rights experts are among those who called for their release.
On February 20, the journalists appealed, questioning the quality of the legal process, including the change to the original charge without proper notification. On May 6, the journalists appeared at an appeal hearing, after approximately six months in jail.
Responding to the accusation based on the WhatsApp message, the defense noted that in another message, one journalist said the rebels were coming to “threaten the peace.” RFI quoted their defense lawyer, Clément Retirakiza, saying there was an absence of evidence against them, and they wanted to show it was a purely professional trip.
Iwacu has long been an independent voice that criticizes politicized violence — it is one of the last independent media outlets following the 2015 crackdown.
After controversial 2015 elections — in which Nkurunziza returned for a third term that many argued as unconstitutional — there was a failed putsch. The media environment quickly deteriorated. Several radios stations — the most relied upon for information in Burundi — were closed and some were attacked. Dozens of journalists fled and some suffered torture, such as Esdras Ndikumana.
Numerous journalists have also experienced violence from security forces, particularly when reporting on topics deemed “sensitive” by the state. In late 2015, cameraman Christophe Nkezabahizi was killed by police along with three family members, in an operation against protests after the contentious election.
In July 2016, Jean Bigirimana was forcibly disappeared, reportedly arrested by intelligence services (SNR), with a limited police investigation.
This year, on January 16, reporter Blaise-Pascal Kararumiye with Radio Isanganiro (Meeting Point Radio) was arrested following a report on local government finances. On April 28, journalist Jackson Bahati was hit by a police officer while reporting.
International media have not been spared, with BBC and VOA banned in 2019. RSF ranked Burundi 160 of 180 countries for press freedom — down 15 from 2015.

author: Liam Anderson


text:
Nigerian pastor spreads COVID-19 conspiracies and disinformation · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

The Cathedral Church of Christ Marina, Lagos, is the oldest Anglican Cathedral in Nigeria. Image by dotun55, March 25, 2015, via CC BY-SA 2.0.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
When it comes to spurious information and the coronavirus, it has been an open season with some Nigerian evangelical pastors. As purveyors of disinformation, several pastors have pushed back against government lockdowns that would impact church closures.
As of May 13, Nigeria has 4,971 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 164 deaths and 1,070  recoveries.
Screenshot of a YouTube video of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of LoveWorld Incorporated (also known as Christ Embassy), in Lagos, Nigeria, has made some wild comments since the pandemic began in the country.
The flamboyant prosperity pastor preaches from the prosperity theology or gospel — a belief held by some evangelical Christians that financial blessings are manifestations of God’s purpose for them. Oyakhilome is worth $30–50 million United States dollars and his church has about 13 million members within and outside Nigeria.
On April 8, Oyakhilome delivered a sermon with over 12,000 views on YouTube in which he claimed that the introduction of 5G technology was responsible for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. He also alleged that the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will be used as a ruse to enthrone a “new world order” led by the anti-Christ.
The 5G is a fifth-generation wireless communications technology supporting cellular data networks.
Two other Nigerian pastors, Sam Adeyemi and Matthew Ashimolowo, debunked Oyakhilome’s claims.
Ashimolowo dismissed the claims as “conspiracy theories that had nothing to do with the anti-Christ,” reports the Premium Times, Nigeria’s online newspaper. “It has always been the nature of Christian leaders to plant fear in their members” in the face of “major world occurrence,” Ashimolowo said.
Pastor Sam Adeyemi killing ignorance and powerpoints and misinformation in just over 2 minutes with a simple internet search and reading about a previous pandemic. If only people did their own research before jumping on conspiracy theories… ? pic.twitter.com/9Aq88IlaeX
— ✨? DaddyMO?✨ (@therealdaddymo1) April 8, 2020
Adeyemi, the senior pastor of the Daystar Christian Centre, noted that the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic also adversely affected Nigeria, and resulted in the shutting down of churches, mosques, schools and markets.
A week later, Oyakhilome backtracked, claiming that he was only opposed to the “health risks” of the 5G network.
The public health implication of peddling these conspiracy theories has great ramifications. Already, the Nigerian senate has started an investigation on the status of 5G and its potential health impact on citizens.
Sadly, like most of the 5G-related COVID-19 theories, there is simply “no hierarchy of plausibility,” writes journalist Amy Davidson Sorkin of the New Yorker. Coronavirus is a virus transmitted from human to human through droplets like saliva.
Radio waves used in 5G are non-ionizing radiation, which, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency has “enough energy to move atoms and cause them to vibrate,” but does not have the amount of energy “to remove the electrons from the atoms.”
Consequently, the 5G radio waves are incapable of generating enough energy to heat up the human body or weaken the immune system. “The idea that 5G lowers your immune system doesn't stand up to scrutiny,” Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told the BBC.
But fanatics like Oyakhilome keep recycling these fallacies.
Chris Oyakhilome has been all kinds of messy this Covid-19 season. Irresponsible to the point of deranged. A train wreck. An absolute disgrace. For those still programmed or deluded enough to worship his talcumed face, his affected accent, we present to you – the demystification. https://t.co/tlXn5rsM6b
— Molara Wood (@molarawood) May 7, 2020
Apparently, the coronavirus, 5G and anti-Christ conspiracy did not discourage Oyakhilome from amplifying more disinformation.
In the video above, Oyakhilome described wearing face masks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as “embracing to science.” At the beginning of the outbreak, he reminded followers that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said that “masks will not work.” He believes that “Wearing [masks] is politics, it’s okay. But no one should lie to us [that] it's science… In fact, scientifically, it's dangerous to health. This is the truth.”
At first, there was confusion about the advantages of wearing face masks in public. However, that period was short-lived.
Several leading scientists including Camilla Rothe and associates from the University Hospital LMU Munich, Germany and Lirong Zou and others from Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China, all recommend the wearing of masks or face cloths to limit the spread of the virus.
Based on this scientific evidence, on April 13, the CDC recommended wearing masks or “cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), — especially in areas of significant community-based transmission” [emphasis by the CDC].
Similarly in Nigeria, the NCDC encouraged the wearing of cloth masks “as an additional layer” of prevention against the transmission of coronavirus.
Oyakhilome omitted all of this advice from his narrative.
In addition, he contradicts himself by asserting that, “If [mask wearing] is science, then it’s open to debate.” A rather irresponsible inference — as though scientific evidence are mere opinions and therefore debatable.
Not entirely surprising — his unsubstantiated claims are nothing new.
In 2004, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation banned the airing of “unverified” miracles on national networks. Two years later, Oyakhilome reframed the ban as “a plot by the Almighty God and his angels” who blocked his efforts to get his miracles verified.
The Nigerian government issued stay-at-home orders for 14 days in two key states, Lagos and Ogun, and in Abuja, the capital, on March 30 — which was later extended to April 13, for an additional two weeks. In addition, there was also a restriction on large religious and social gatherings in Nigeria.
On May 4, President Buhari announced a relaxation of lockdowns in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja. However, places of worship remain closed.
On April 30, Oyakhilome kicked against the continual lockdown because the church is “a place of healing:”
So, those of you who love to run around government officials to get your validation, come and get COVID-19 compliant registration for your church. That is the last day Jesus will be in that church. But that is coming.
However, Oyakhilome is not alone. David Oyedepo, presiding bishop of Living Faith Worldwide, also questioned why markets were opened while churches have remained closed.
Bishop Oyedepo sharing some thoughts on the recent partial relaxation of the Lockdown.
What say you? pic.twitter.com/UdZNfX1mxI
— Naija (@Naija_PR) May 6, 2020
In the video, Oyedepo described how the continued lockdown on churches is a demonic attack: “I can smell a rat. The forces of darkness are influencing people at various levels because the growth of the church is the greatest headache of the devil,” he said.
Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel has branches in over 300 cities in the country. The church’s headquarters in Otta, Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, hosts a 50,000-seat auditorium, reputed to be one of the largest church auditoriums in the world.
Reputed to be one of Nigeria’s wealthiest pastors, Oyedepo is the founder of he faith-based Convent University.
It is significant to note that not all economic activities have been restored.
Also, the claim that the lockdown is targeted at churches is not exactly true. Social gatherings and schools — which equally attract a lot of people — remain suspended.
Meanwhile, many Christians in Nigeria have been able to fulfill their spiritual needs through online services. It is only reasonable — rather than exposing people to unnecessary risk.
Preachers that should be working with the local, state and federal governments to make sure people are complying with government orders are moving mad? What is their problem?
— Jola (@Jollz) May 7, 2020
It seems these pastors need this wise counsel from their colleague, Ignatius Kaigama, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, who emphasised that pastors should lead their flock to heaven “whether coronavirus is active or not.”
Elsewhere, church leaders have expressed Christian love for the most vulnerable and dying in different ways. For example, the Catholic Church donated 425 hospitals and a Lagos-based evangelical church donated its auditorium to the government to be used as isolation centers.
This is more worthy of emulation than peddling conspiracy theories, disinformation and confusion during a global health crisis.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


text:
Russia’s World War Two diplomacy scores a win in North Macedonia · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Memorial of Victory Over Fascism Day, May 9, 1945 in Centar Municipality, Skopje, North Macedonia, donated by  the Russian Embassy on May 9, 2020. Photo by Meta.mk, used with permission.
This story is based on reporting by Global Voices’ content partner Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation.
Google “Russian Embassy”, “World War Two” and “monument” and you will most likely be drawn into the high-drama historical standoff bedevilling relations between Moscow and the Czech Republic.
More on that, here.
But this month also saw a much quieter example of Russian World War Two diplomacy, as countries across Europe marked 75 years since the Nazi surrender.
On May 9, the mayor of the municipality of Centar (one of ten municipalities in the Macedonian capital Skopje), and the ambassador of the Russian Federation in North Macedonia unveiled a new memorial honoring the “Day of Victory over Fascism.”
The site of the new granite slab monument is a sleepy street in a residential neighborhood of Skopje that was named “9th of May” (9 Maj) decades ago.
The high-relief image on the monument — redolent of socialist realism in style — depicts a soldier in a cloak holding an iconic Soviet submachine gun PPSh-41.
The text on the monument is in the Macedonian language:
Оваа улица е именувана во чест и спомен на 9 мај 1941 година, Денот на победата над фашизмот во Втората светска војна. Вечна слава на хероите – борци од антихитлеровата коалиција кои го победија нацизмот и ги ослободија европските народи!
This street has been named in honor and memory of 9 May 1945, the Day of Victory over Fascism in Second World War. Eternal glory to the heroes, the fighters of the anti-Hitler coalition who vanquished Nazism and freed the peoples of Europe!
Russian Ambassador Sergei Bazdnikin said that the model for the memorial was a monument to Soviet soldiers in the Russian city of Rzhev, near the site of bloody historic battles in 1942 and 1943 where almost 400,000 Red Army soldiers perished.
Mayor of the Centar Municipality Sasha Bogdanovikj noted that the Municipal Council welcomed the embassy's initiative and had voted unanimously to approve the monument.
This is not the first time in recent years that the embassy has helped the Republic of North Macedonia, a successor state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commemorate Soviet achievements.
Monument to Yuri Gagarin built in April 2015 in Karposh Municipality, Skopje, North Macedonia. Photo by Meta.mk, used with permission.
In 2015, another Skopje municipality, Karposh, erected a similar granite bloc in honor of the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in a ceremony attended by then-Ambassador Oleg Scherbak.
In recent years, geopolitical controversies related to Victory Over Fascism Day have abounded, as countries blame each other for politicizing celebrations and distorting historical facts for propaganda purposes.
In Russia, it is a major national holiday that this year was widely celebrated, even under lockdown.
However, citizens in neighboring countries such as Ukraine and the Czech Republic are often more inclined to view the Soviet Union and the Red Army in a negative light.
Russian influence in the Republic of North Macedonia intensified after May 9, 2015, when then-President Gjorgje Ivanov attended the Victory Day Parade hosted by Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
NATO had recommended its members and allies to boycott the parade in protest over Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The Macedonian leader's 2015 snub of NATO's call for solidarity placed in doubt the country's strategic goal of joining join NATO and the European Union.
In the years that followed, North Macedonia managed to become a member of NATO, in spite of obstructions put up by Ivanov's right-wing political party VMRO-DPMNE.
The party lost power after the 2016 elections, despite receiving unprecedented support from Russia via diplomacy, political proxies, pro-Moscow media outlets, and troll armies.
Nevertheless, the pro-EU and pro-NATO government led by the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) that came to power at the end of May 2017 has been careful to avoid antagonizing Moscow.
Skopje's cordial tone towards Russia has been even more notable in the face of provocations, such as in 2018, when ex-ambassador Scherbak declared that the country would be a “legitimate target” for Russian retaliatory attacks in the case of any conflict, if it chose to join NATO.
Bogdanovikj, who oversaw the unveiling of the monument with Ambassador Bazdnikin, is a member of SDSM, along with most of the municipal council that supported its installation.
The Day of Victory over Fascism is celebrated in most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, where the Red Army dominated liberation efforts, on May 9.
This is because the document of surrender was signed well before midnight in Berlin, but came into force after midnight, Moscow time.
In the Western-allied countries, the anniversary is celebrated on May 8, and is known as Victory in Europe Day, since for these countries, World War Two ended in August, with the Japanese surrender.
Despite sharing a timezone with Berlin and Paris, North Macedonia began celebrating Victory Day on May 9 as part of the then-Yugoslavia.
Unlike some other parts of the Yugoslav federation, including the capital Belgrade, Macedonian territory was liberated without direct intervention from the Red Army, in November 1944 by local partisans.
During the war, Macedonian anti-fascists had fought together with brothers in arms from neighboring Kosovo and Serbia, and other allies.
Yugoslavia soon defected from the Soviet bloc but didn't change the date of the celebration, which became a traditional minor holiday during socialism, overshadowed by other celebrations such as May Day and Federation Day, as well as Uprising Day and Army Day.
In fact, Yugoslavs often used to note that the war in the country didn't actually end on May 9, but a week later, since remaining Nazi and collaborationist forces tried to fight their way out of the country in order to surrender to Anglo-American forces in Austria.
This breakout attempt resulted in additional atrocities.
In North Macedonia, Victory Day is celebrated together with Europe Day, a celebration of European peace and integration promoted by the European Union, which isn't a feature of the Russian calendar.
Top officials and activists alike often join the two days conceptually:
If there was no #VictoryInEuropeDay there would have been no Europe Day. Withouth #EuropeDay, Victory would have had a no meaning.
Happy and prosperous day to all! pic.twitter.com/T9sctR804X
— Andreja Stojkovski (@andrejas_mkd) May 9, 2020

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


text:
Truck drivers blamed for spread of COVID-19 in East Africa · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Truck with Kilimanjaro beers parked in Karatu town in Tanzania. Photo: Pernille Bærendtsen, used with permission.
The number of coronavirus cases remains relatively low in East Africa, but health officials note that border crossings— through which truck drivers pass daily with essential goods — have become hot spots for coronavirus contagion.
While most of East Africa has been under varying degrees of lockdown, truck drivers are the heartbeat of regional trade who trek frequented routes in the region as essential workers.
Borders between East African countries including Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya have become sites of confusion, chaos, traffic queues and protests as truck drivers face an onslaught of new, temporary COVID-19 restrictions.
Kenya has implemented mandatory COVID-19 testing at the Namanga border with Tanzania, causing massive delays and leaving drivers stranded with perishable goods.
TESTING THE TRUCKERS
Testing of truck drivers arriving from Tanzania enters day two
Drivers urge officials to reduce time it takes for test #CitizenWeekend pic.twitter.com/b0NIfg1Yx9
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) May 10, 2020
As of May 14, least 33 truck drivers have tested positive at the border between Tanzania and Kenya in the town of Namanga.
#Kenya dispatches an emergency medical team to #Tanzania border to undertake mandatory testing for truckers at the #Namanga crossing as concerns mount over #Covid19 transmissions from the neighbouring country. pic.twitter.com/kMftcxIXrf
— Dommy Ameti ?? (@dommyametiKE) May 13, 2020
Kenyan truck drivers who tested positive were allowed to enter Kenya and self-isolate but Tanzanian drivers were denied entry and were forced to return home. It is unclear whether they were taken to health facilities to self-quarantine for 14 days or were expected to self-isolate at home.
Signpost for The First & Last Hotel in Namanga, on the Tanzanian side of the border with Kenya. Border transit towns in East Africa are often busy communities, which apart from immigration and customs, also provide other services such as bars, restaurants and lodges. Photo: Pernille Bærendtsen, used with permission.
Kenya's health minister Mercy Mwangangi said that aside from porous borders, “truck drivers are becoming the other weak link in the fight against the virus,” as reported in The Citizen, a Tanzanian daily.
Truckers from Kenya must now present a certificate to prove that they are coronavirus-free before leaving or entering Kenya at entry points.
Kenyan officials are considering closing the border with Tanzania to curb the spread of the virus, but no decisions have been made at this time.
In early May, Tanzanian truckers were not happy when they arrived at Rwanda's Rusumo border with essential goods and were told to hand over their trucks to new drivers upon arrival.
This “relay” measure was put in place by Rwandan authorities who saw an increase in virus cases among truck drivers. The directive led to reported bursts of violence at the Rusomo border, which was later debated on Twitter:
If this is true, then #Rwandan truck drivers in #Tanzania are not safe. @PSF_Rwanda @RwandaTrade #covid19Tanzania https://t.co/b8Iv684axQ
— Richard Kwizera (@Muzungu4) May 5, 2020
This Twitter user called out the tension as xenophobia:
Somebody save our drivers from this xenophobia
— Frank Kigenza (@Rwakigenza) May 5, 2020
Over 90 percent of Rwanda's goods are imported through Tanzania's cultural capital of Dar es Salaam via the Rusomo border, and this is where many of Rwanda's coronavirus cases have been reported, with the highest number recorded in a day.
Most drivers do not ride with any form of personal protective equipment like face masks or gloves, noted Abdul Ndarubogoye, chairman of the Rwanda Truckers Association.
For landlocked countries like Uganda and South Sudan, truck drivers are critical lifelines for transporting essential goods inland from coastal port cities like Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Mombasa, Kenya.
Uganda was one of the first countries to enforce strict testing protocols at its borders — drivers must register at mandatory stops for testing and vehicle disinfectant.
John Wanjiku, a driver from Kenya, said that he faced up to 11 screenings in a single trip from Nairobi to the Ugandan border, facing an 18-mile traffic jam. Drivers reported fears of running out of food and theft at night.
Speak FM, in Gulu, northern Uganda, a transit town for trucks going to South Sudan, has repeatedly reported on the situation of truck drivers. On May 9, it reported 13 positive virus cases from a mass screening of 2,421 truck driver samples tested at border points, while samples from the community tested negative.
On May 14, 21 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed from 1,593 samples of truck drivers in Uganda, bringing the total number of virus cases in the country to 160.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu directed the Zambia-Tanzania border to close temporarily starting on May 11, while the border town of Nakonde was locked down.
After testing over 900 people between May 13-14, Zambia's Ministry of Health reported a total of 654 cases as of May 15. Out of these, 398 cases were people residing in Nakonde, working in immigration, customs as well as truckers and sex workers.
Both Tanzania and Zambia are part of the Southern African Development Community (SADEC), and the border crossing is central for Zambia's export of copper and cobalt, and fuel imports.
On May 15, the border was reopened for cargo — not people — and the lockdown was lifted but is expected to be enforced again with further testing.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, truck drivers have faced an onslaught of stigma in East Africa. Media and government authorities have referred to them as “vectors,” “superspreaders” and “the weakest link” in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.
Sex workers, closely linked to truck drivers through communities typically formed around border transit towns in East Africa, have also attracted media attention as health authorities target, test and track them along truck driver routes.
In an unusual move, Uganda's Ministry of Health collaborated with Ugandan socialite and self-proclaimed sex worker Bad Black, who in a video message addressed sex workers to stay away from truck drivers.
Many netizens have questioned whether or not governments are doing enough to help protect truck drivers and border communities as a whole.
On May 12, EAC leaders agreed to joint interventions to tackle COVID-19 and acknowledged the need to improve conditions for truck drivers.
But Evelyn Lirri tweeted her doubts about the EAC and expressed concerns for the drivers:
Since the #EAC is asleep, or may be closed shop many moons ago, what are the companies that hire these #truck drivers doing to minimise the drivers’ risk of being infected with #COVID19? Or have they been left to the elements? https://t.co/gTtXfGqa15
— Evelyn Lirri (@Elirri) May 15, 2020
Rosebell Kagumire agreed, raising questions about occupational health and safety for truck drivers:
Great question! What does occupational health and safety look like for truck drivers among whom the highest cases of #covid19 are happening in East Africa?
We tend to see them as vectors these days with every update saying truck drivers truck drivers truck drivers https://t.co/oSO8ljBdkD
— Rosebell Kagumire (@RosebellK) May 15, 2020
These recent border tensions highlight larger policy issues within the East African Community (EAC) in terms of regional integration and sustainable, intraregional trade.
The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in East Africa “could result in welfare gains amounting to USD 1.8 billion for East Africa, boosting intra-African exports by more than USD 1.1 billion and creating more than 2 million new jobs,” says a new report.

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


text:
Women journalists in Uganda carry ‘double burden’ with online attacks and harassment · Global Voices
Sandra Aceng

Ugandan journalist Gertrude Uwitware Tumusiime has experienced the “double burden” of working as a woman journalist in Uganda. Screenshot from “The Other Side: Gertrude Uwitware Tumusiime” on YouTube.
In Uganda, female journalists who embrace digital tools to report, share views and access information face attacks and harassment for investigating and publishing sensitive political content.
Online harassment has become a new form of censorship. Women journalists carry the double burden of gender-based abuse online in addition to potential threats related to political reporting. These ongoing threats have led women journos to withdraw from public discourse — leaving the journalism profession dominated by men.
Joy Doreen Biira, journalist. Photo by Wazabanga via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 3.0.
In November 2016, Ugandan journalist Joy Doreen Biira, who was working at the privately-owned Kenya Television Network (KTN) in Kenya, returned home to Uganda for a traditional ceremony.
While Biira was home, Ugandan security forces clashed with members of the traditional Rwenzururu kingdom in the Rwenzori region of western Uganda, and their palace was burned to the ground. The gunbattle resulted in 62 deaths, including 16 policemen.
Biira reacted to the military raid by posting her thoughts on Facebook on November 27:
It’s so sad what I’ve witnessed today with my own eyes — part of the palace of the kingdom I’m from, the Rwenzururu Kingdom, burning down. It felt like watching your heritage deplete before my eyes.
That same day, Biira was arrested and accused of “circulating graphic photos of the aftermath of a deadly battle between security forces and the regional king’s royal guard of the Rwenzururu kingdom … to a widely subscribed WhatsApp group,” according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She also posted an “Instagram video of the king's palace burning and wrote about it on Facebook,” CPJ reported.
Uganda security officers allegedly forced Biira “to delete social media posts” and her “digital tools were also confiscated,”  according to a 2018 Freedom House report.
Biira was charged with abetting terrorism for illegal filming of a military raid on a regional king’s palace — an act punishable by death under the Anti-Terrorism Act if convicted. However, a day later, she was released on bail.
Biira’s ordeal sparked condemnation on social media through hashtags such as #FreeJoyDoreen and #JournalismIsNotaCrime.
This netizen criticized Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s tendency to silence journalists:
#FreeJoyDoreen President @KagutaMuseveni should stop silencing journalists.That is total impunity in our continent pic.twitter.com/SGUX985cM0
— KIPLETING MANUELA LE MAGICIAN (@ItsKipleting) November 29, 2016
Biira’s lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo, posted a tweet of Biira’s official charges:
Copy of Joy's police bond – charged with abetting terrorism (ridiculous!) #journalism is not terrorism @KTNKenya @KTNKenya #FreeJoyDoreen pic.twitter.com/g5v7cgGryn
— Nicholas Opiyo (@nickopiyo) November 28, 2016
Opiyo told Global Voices that Biira’s case was dropped and closed in March 2017 after authorities investigated it and found no evidence to charge her in a court of law.
“Like many such cases, one is reviewed to be free but left with a sense of unfairness, injustice, and pain,” said Opiyo, who is also the executive director of Chapter Four Uganda, a human rights organization. Opiyo added that spending a few days in jail and enduring the pain of being locked up never leaves you.
Women journalists who experience abuse online rarely see justice and often struggle to have their complaints taken seriously and properly investigated.
In April 2017, Gertrude Tumusiime Uwitware, a news anchor at NTV Uganda, defended Stella Nyanzi, an outspoken professor who criticized the Museveni administration for failing to fulfill a campaign promise to distribute sanitary pads to poor girls.
Authorities forced Uwitware to delete her Twitter and Facebook posts with comments in support of Nyanzi. She received threats on Facebook and was then abducted by unknown assailants for at least eight hours, according to a 2017 Uganda human rights report. Her kidnappers allegedly interrogated her about her connection with Nyanzi, badly bit her and cut her hair.
Uwitware was later found at a police station in Kampala. However, authorities have not released any updates on the investigation into her kidnapping.
Political journalists — especially those who cover opposition politics — often experience threats more than any other kind of journalism. But women journalists have it worse because the government believes they are weaker and easily intimidated, according to Mukose Arnold Anthony, Secretary for Media Safety and Human Rights of the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA), who spoke to Global Voices via WhatsApp on April 3.
When it comes to sexual harassment online, “female journalists fear to open up…although a few … disclose — the majority end up dying silently,” Anthony said.
Women journalists may face extra psychological harm, breach of privacy, loss of identity, limitation of mobility, censorship, and loss of property as a result of their work, according to a UNESCO study on freedom of expression in Africa published in 2018.
And, according to a Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda 2018 study, 12 percent of women journalists have suffered abuses and violations, including death threats and arrests. Three-quarters of women journalists suffered violations at the hands of state agents such as the police, resident district commissioners and other security operatives.
Ugandan journalist Bahati Remmy has faced attacks and harassment on the job as a female reporter. Photo via Bahati Remmy Paydesk public account, used with permission.
Bahati Remmy, a Ugandan female journalist who now works in the United States, told Global Voices that she quit reporting news in Uganda because she felt jaded after her horrific ordeal while covering the elections in Uganda in 2016.
Ugandan police arrested Remmy while doing a live broadcast for the privately-owned NBS TV to cover the house arrest of opposition politician Dr. Kizza Besigye in the town of Kasangati.
Remmy told Global Voices:
The police engaged in a running battle not to allow any journalists to cover the story concerning Besigye.
Police fondled her breasts in the police van, undressed her at the station and exposed her naked body to a camera, according to Remmy.
She was also followed and harassed by a police officer on Facebook because the Ugandan government thought she had connived with Besigye to taint the country’s image. She told Global Voices that anonymous notes left at her door threatened to kidnap her if she refused to reveal Besigye’s exit route from his house.
In the aftermath of Remmy’s arrest, Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda took a poll to gauge public opinion about the ordeal. They asked: “Uganda police claimed that NBS TV reporter Bahati Remmy disobeyed lawful orders and also obstructed police officers on duty hence her arrest? Do you agree?”
Magambo Emmanuel wrote:
It is a lame excuse and total lie because there is video footage that shows how Bahati was arrested. Police should stop shifting their problems to innocent journalists.
Davide Lubuurwa wrote:
…Whoever tries to let the people know how the state is standing is to be arrested. A very big problem is coming to Uganda soon. What bothers me most is that whoever tries to say something that is not in support of the current regime is taken to be a rebel so the Ugandan people must wake up.
Many women journalists in Uganda have stopped reporting stories that are critical of the government because they fear attacks and harassment by the state. Media practitioners have said that government and security agents occasionally call editors and instruct them to “not to publish stories that negatively portray the government.”
These attacks often go unreported — especially for women — which has also made it difficult to understand the full scope of this problem.
Remmy dragged the Ugandan government to the Uganda Human Rights Commission, but until today, there has been no update on her case. The commission lacks the required independence to rule in favor of those who submit complaints against the government. Its seven members, including its chairperson, are appointed by the president, with the parliament’s approval. “They are biased,’’ Remmy said, adding: “They have a huge backlog and most of the cases they want to hear are cases brought in by the government.’’
Many threats faced by women journalists online are closely linked to abuse offline.
Remmy believes that the right, plight and dignity of female journalists should be upheld at all times because attacks on women silence the media as a whole.
As Uganda plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2021, attacks and harassment of women journalists by the state need to stop because it affects access to information, freedom of expression and democracy rights of Ugandan citizens.
“Press freedom remains an undermined child in the country’s system,” Remmy told Global Voices.

author: Sandra Aceng