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Georgians approve of government’s COVID-19 response but fear economic downturn, survey finds · Global Voices
Maxim Edwards

Kostava Street, in Georgia's capital Tbilisi. Photo (c): Mariam Nikuradze / OC Media. Used with permission.
A new survey of public opinion in Georgia during the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed widespread support for the authorities’ response to the crisis.
When COVID-19 reached Georgia, there was initially some doubt as to how well the South Caucasus country could contain the lethal virus. The country registered its first case, a man who had returned from badly hit Iran, on February 26. Shortly afterwards, on March 11, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared a pandemic. Over subsequent weeks, the Georgian authorities imposed a curfew, locked down the country's four largest cities, and instituted strict entry restrictions.
This strict response has since been widely praised for its effectiveness, as have the three doctors behind it. Georgia was the only former Soviet republic of 15 countries to which the EU opened its borders on July 1. According to the Georgian government's official COVID-19 portal, StopCov.ge, the country has recorded 1,085 COVID-19 cases, including 16 deaths. Its neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan have fared much more poorly, with 36,162 and 28,980 cases respectively according to the Johns Hopkins University Map.
Tbilisi's response appears to have won plaudits from ordinary Georgians, too. The new survey, published today, was conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centres (CRRC) with support from the Dutch Embassy in Tbilisi. Its findings are based on six periods of data collection between April 29 and June 6, at the height of Georgia's epidemic. These featured interviews with over 6,200 people from all regions of the country under the government's control.
Importantly, the survey indicates that the vast majority of the Georgian public approve of the measures implemented by the government during the crisis. Some of these, such as wearing masks in closed areas or enforcing night-time curfews, were supported by 94 and 83 percent of respondents respectively.
Despite their support for these measures, most respondents nevertheless favoured reopening the economy rather than waiting any longer for the crisis to abate before doing so. In a country where the average monthly salary is around US$300 and there is scant to no social welfare, it is perhaps not surprising that many Georgians appear to fear deeper poverty at least as much as the pandemic. The least supported policies, though supported by the majority, appeared to be those posing an immediate and direct economic loss — such as restricting sales of certain products online and increasing fines for violating emergency rules. An exception to this trend was the negative attitude towards reopening the country to international tourists, a prospect supported by only 37 percent of respondents.
The risk of impoverishment is palpable: the share of households reporting no income whatsoever increased from around one percent before the crisis to around 13 percent during it. Approximately half of the employed population lost a job, half of which eventually returned to work by early June. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment remains low and few Georgians suggest that they would return to shopping and socialising in bars and cafes even after the restrictions have been lifted — with potentially significant repercussions for the service sector and economic recovery.
The authors of the survey note that Georgian society appears to have “rallied around the flag” during the pandemic, expressing markedly positive views of the actions of public institutions and figures.
Heated debate erupted over the Georgian Orthodox Church, which was accused of defying the government's social distancing measures when it continued to hold communal worship. Just four percent of Georgia's Orthodox Christians stated that they attended the Easter liturgy this year, down from 44 percent the previous year. Only a third of respondents stated that they approved of the church continuing to serve communion wine from a shared spoon during the pandemic, a longstanding tradition which clerics strongly defended. While Georgians may have heeded the government's advice over their priests’, these incidents did not have any statistically significant impact on public approval of the church, which remains one of the country's most trusted institutions in this Orthodox Christian-majority country.
Read more: Has COVID-19 provoked a crisis of faith in Georgia's Orthodox church?
However, the church's performance did not experience the surge in approval ratings experienced by Georgia's other public institutions. That is potentially significant given that even the least trusted public institutions experienced a growth in public acclaim: approval of the performance of the Georgian parliament and of President Salome Zurabishvili increased by 21 and 16 percent respectively.
The most remarkable change was noted in the approval of the performance of Georgia's Prime Minister Georgi Gakharia, which rose from 21 percent in November-December 2019 to 65 percent during the survey period.
Before COVID-19 struck, the political scene in Tbilisi was turbulent even by Georgian standards. Last year saw thousands of young people from opposition parties and grassroots protest movements alike take to the streets to air a number of grievances. They castigated the government for the failures of its drugs policy and demanded a stop to reforms of the electoral system, which they feared would disproportionately benefit the ruling Georgian Dream party. When the Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov addressed the Georgian parliament on June 20, a wave of protests broke out to which police responded with rubber bullets. As a result, 18-year-old Mako Gomuri lost an eye; eyepatches became a symbol of the protest movement.
Read more: Georgia's youth protesters lead 2020's political showdown
One figure who has drawn the protesters’ ire has been the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, former chairman of Georgian Dream who is widely regarded as the most powerful man in Georgia today. Yet a majority (53 percent) of respondents stated that it was acceptable for strong leaders to control the government in times of crisis provided that they were effective. This appears to form part of an inconsistent public stance towards democracy as an abstract ideal — the percentage of respondents stating that democracy was the ideal form of government increased from 49 in November-December 2019 to 60 during the pandemic period.
Although the majority of Georgians approved of and abided by measures to safeguard public health, the survey also reveals a substantial presence of mis-  and disinformation within Georgian public life. For example, nine percent of respondents believe that COVID-19 is related to 5G mobile infrastructure and over 40 percent believe that the virus was deliberately created in a laboratory. These stances conceivably influence attitudes towards vaccination, openDemocracy has reported based on the same survey.
Georgians may credit their leaders, institutions, and particularly their healthcare system, with saving them from the worst outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is hard to say whether they will remain as well disposed towards their rulers once normality — of a sort — returns. These opinions are not trivial in light of the fact that Georgia holds parliamentary elections in October.
CRRC's Research Director Dustin Gilbreath told GlobalVoices that the goodwill earnt during the COVID-19 crisis could provide the ailing Georgian Dream party with a boost at the polls in autumn:
The level of trust and performance assessments, both specifically about COVID-19 and generally, surged during the crisis. The data shows that even what had been largely unpopular institutions like Parliament experienced large gains. The electoral implications are clear — Georgian Dream, as a party, will benefit from the government’s COVID-19 response. While there is still a race for the elections and no one knows what the new parliament will look like, the response likely changed the opinions of many who had been upset with the government about the many scandals of 2019.
However, that will depend on the appearance of a second wave of the virus, which only 27 percent of the Georgian public anticipates. In any case, a lot can change in three months — from infection rates to public moods.

author: Maxim Edwards


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Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia denounce the assassination of human rights defenders · Global Voices
Estella Porras

Hermes Pete, leader of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, during the virtual press conference organized by the Association of  Indigenous Councils of Cauca, June 5, 2020. Screenshot by the author, used with permission.
On July 7, unknown assailants shot and killed Rodrigo Salazar, the indigenous governor of Llorente, a town on Colombia's Pacific coast, and a member of the Awá ethnic group. His death is one of the latest in a list of 170 murders of social leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia this year.
According to NGO Somos Defensores, the number of homicides against rights defenders has increased by 88 percent compared to the same period in 2019. During the COVID-19 quarantine, an estimated 78 human rights defenders have been killed. According to a UN report, more human rights activists have been killed in Colombia than in any other Latin American country since 2016.
These human rights defenders are members of farmers’ organizations, indigenous land reserves, and Afro-descendant associations and unions. Their work—related to the farmers’ symbolic and legal right to land, the defense of human rights, respect for ancestral culture and the conservation of water and forests—has made them the target of violence.
In a virtual meeting in May, leaders denounced the lack of resolution and coordinated actions by the Colombian government to protect their lives, especially during the COVID-19 health emergency. Likewise, Attorney General Fernando Carrillo and the United Nations agreed to repudiate the human rights’ violations.
Over the years, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities have mobilized to defend their collective territories. Indigenous, maroon (members of the black community who are descendants of escaped slaves) and farming communities organize guards whose role is self-protection and restorative justice based on tradition and community law.
In the southwestern Cauca region, indigenous guards and maroon guards have existed since 2001 and 2013, respectively, but with COVID-19 and rising levels of violence against community leaders, the guards have been working even harder.
During the COVID-19 quarantine, for example, the indigenous guards control the movement of people in their communities with biosecurity measures, and they are also in charge of supplying food to the residents.
For indigenous groups, exercising their right to self-determination has led to confrontations with local authorities, landowners, public forces and groups outside the law. So far this year, an estimated 47 indigenous leaders have been killed.
The government's response to the security situation has been to increase the military presence in at-risk areas. But, as Hermes Pete, the leader of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, said in a press conference on June 5:
La respuesta no debe ser la fuerza. La militarización del territorio genera mas pánico y zozobra. Lo que se necesita es inversión social y que se cumplan los compromisos del Acuerdo de Paz.
The answer should not be force. The militarization of the territory generates more panic and anxiety. What is needed is social investment and fulfillment of the commitments of the Peace Agreement.
Rosana Mejía, leader of the Association of Community Councils of Northern Cauca, during the virtual press conference organized by the Association of Indigenous Councils of Cauca, June 5, 2020. Screenshot by the author, used with permission.
One of the reasons for the violence in the rural areas in Colombia is dispute over land. During the 1990s and 2000s, thousands of peasants were stripped of their plots and violently displaced by paramilitary and guerrilla groups, while the state remained passive. The land belonging to landowners and drug traffickers was used in extensive livestock businesses, agro-industrial projects and mining.
At the end of 2016, the FARC—the oldest guerrilla group on the continent—and the Colombian government signed a historic peace agreement ending the bloody armed conflict that had gone on for more than 50 years. But achieving lasting peace requires compliance with the commitments of the peace agreements, said Alirio Uribe Muñoz, a human rights expert at the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, during a WhatsApp interview with Global Voices.
Victim restitution programs, support for the countryside, fair access to land, dismantling of armed groups, and participation of communities in the country's political decisions are needed, explains Uribe Muñoz.
During a press conference, Mejía, leader of the Association of Community Councils of the North of Cauca, denounced the aggression against land defenders:
Nosotros nos levantamos cada día con la noticia de que un compañero tuvo que irse o que lo han matado. Y uno piensa, ¿es la última vez para mí? Es una campaña de miedo, es una campaña de terror para callarnos.
Every day we wake up with the news that a colleague had to leave or that he was killed. And this makes you think: is this the last day for me, too? This is a campaign of fear and terror in order to silence us.
Today, illegal armed groups of drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and dissenting guerrillas are fighting to control strategic territories for drug production and trafficking. These groups see social leaders and human rights defenders as obstacles to their economic and military objectives.
Coca cultivation has been the sustenance of the farming economy in the mountainous and jungle regions that are often neglected by the state. In those areas, the social leaders, within the framework of the peace agreements, have joined and promoted programs so that the farmers substitute crops used for illegal substances with legal crops.
But, without prior consultation with the communities, the government decided to accelerate the forced eradication of illicit crops during the quarantine months. This situation has caused protests, confrontations, displacements, and more violence against social leaders and their communities.
Alirio Uribe Muñoz points out that:
…mientras los líderes [en regiones cocaleras] han convencido a cientos de familias vecinas a sustituir sus cultivos, el gobierno ha no ha apoyado el desarrollo de la agricultura local, no ha invertido en proyectos productivos o en vías para sacar sus productos al mercado.
While the leaders [in coca-growing regions] have convinced hundreds of neighboring families to substitute their crops, the government has not supported the development of local agriculture, has not invested in productive projects or ways to bring their products to market.
According to Uribe Muñoz, the leaders find themselves pressured by desperate farmers, threats from illegal drug-trafficking and paramilitary groups that oppose the substitution, and they are also harassed by the public forces sent by the government to forcibly destroy the crops.
Human rights leaders and defenders have consistently called on the government and international agencies to improve protection systems, and they have also insisted on the demilitarization of their territories, the investigation and uncovering of crimes, and compliance with the peace agreements.
Uribe Muñoz underlines that:
La protección no puede ser reducida al tema de la protección física. El gobierno responde con celulares, escoltas, chalecos antibalas, todo eso está bien, pero la gente no se puede proteger con esos esquemas individuales en el campo. La protección debe ser social, colectiva.
Protection cannot be reduced to just physical protection. The government provides cell phones, bodyguards, and bulletproof vests. That's all good, but people can't have only those individual protections in the field. Protection must also be social, collective.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Estella Porras


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Marielle Franco case remains under state police without federal interference, rules Brazil High Court · Global Voices
Giovana Fleck

Anielle Franco, Marielle's sister. Message: We will continue demanding answers. Photo: Reproduction/Instituto Marielle Franco. Used with permission.
On May 27, Brazil's High Court of Justice (STJ) ruled that the investigation of the murder of Marielle Franco, the Rio de Janeiro city councillor killed in March 2018, would remain in the hands of the state police and not be handed over to the federal authorities.
Marielle's family members and advocates have feared that moving the case to federal level would make it vulnerable to interference by President Jair Bolsonaro, whose family has links with the suspects in the crime.
Marielle was a black, bisexual, favela-born elected city councillor in Rio de Janeiro for the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL). On the night of March 14, 2018, the car she was in on her way home was shot 13 times, killing her and her driver Anderson Gomes. Marielle was 38, and Anderson was 39.
Investigation of the murders has been handled by Rio de Janeiro's Civil Police and the State Public Prosecutor's Office since. However, in late 2019, the Attorney General's Office requested Brazil's Federal Police, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, to take over the probe.
The attorney general at that time, Raquel Dodge, alleged that the investigations were likely compromised inside the state sphere given the delay in finding the assailants.
Marielle and Anderson's families immediately opposed the request. The Marielle Franco Institute launched the campaign “Federalização Não!” (“No Federalization!”) and collected 150,000 signatures of support, including from 200 civil society organizations.
The families also sent an open letter to the STJ's justices, which stated:
Muitas são as razões fáticas e jurídicas que nos levam a acreditar que a federalização do caso não é o caminho que as instituições de Justiça devam seguir para garantir a responsabilização de todos os envolvidos no bárbaro crime que tirou a vida de nossos familiares. (…) Ao contrário do alegado pela PGR (Procuradoria Geral da República), a federalização do caso revela-se justamente como a abertura do caminho para a impunidade dos responsáveis pela prática dos crimes.
There are many factual and legal reasons that lead us to believe that federalizing the case is not the path that the institutions of Justice should follow to ensure accountability of all those involved in the barbaric crime that took the lives of our relatives. (…) Contrary to what the PGR [Brazil's Attorney General's Office] claims, the federalization of the case shows itself to be precisely the beginning of the path to impunity for those responsible for committing the crimes.
The STJ eventually denied the federalization of the case. The Institute Marielle Franco celebrated the decision on Twitter:
VITÓRIA! Por 5×0 no STJ a federalização do caso Marielle e Anderson já está NEGADA! Foram mais de 150 mil pessoas e mais de 200 organizações da sociedade civil assinando contra a federalização, e inundamos as redes com a hashtag #FederalizaçãoNão
Não temos como agradecer o apoio! pic.twitter.com/A4bzeAks1I
— Instituto Marielle Franco (@inst_marielle) May 27, 2020
VICTORY! By 5 to 0 in the STJ the federalization of the Marielle and Anderson case was DENIED! Over 150,000 people and over 200 civil society organizations signed against the federalization, and we flooded social media with the hashtag #NoFederalization
We can't thank you enough for your support!
Anielle, the institute's president, spoke with Global Voices on WhatsApp in June. She said:
Foi uma vitória não só para a família, mas para todos os 154 mil companheiros e companheiras que assinaram essa mobilização da sociedade civil contra a federalização. (…) Essa votação foi unânime e importante no meio de tanto caos, de tanta interferência e de tanta dor.
It was a victory not only for the family, but for all the 154,000 comrades who signed [to support] this mobilization by civil society against the federalization. (…) This vote was unanimous and important amid such chaos, such interference and such pain.
Anielle added:
Esperamos que as investigações evoluam, finalmente. Esperamos não ter que esperar mais dois anos para descobrir quem mandou matar minha irmã. Quem sabe um dia teremos esse caso solucionado.
We hope that the investigations will progress finally. We hope we don't have to wait another two years to find out who ordered my sister's murder. Maybe one day we'll have this case solved.
In the year following Marielle and Anderson's murders, investigations made little progress. Between March and August, police discovered links between the killers and a group of militia members known as the “crime bureau“; in Rio de Janeiro, what is commonly called “militias” are paramilitary groups comprised of off-duty police officers linked to organized crime.
In January 2019, an operation by the Prosecutor's Office found that President Jair Bolsonaro's son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, employed in his office the mother and the wife of one of the “crime bureau” leaders, the former police officer Adriano da Nóbrega.
In March, two other names associated with the “bureau”, Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, were arrested for the murders. According to the police, Lessa shot Marielle while the former police officer Queiroz drove the car that pursued the councillor's vehicle. Authorities still don't know who ordered the murder.
Ronnie Lessa lived in the same residence compound as President Jair Bolsonaro, in a wealthy area of Rio de Janeiro. A doorman initially told the police that Queiroz was allowed to enter the compound on March 14, 2018, hours before the murders, by somebody in the house belonging to Jair Bolsonaro, who at that time was a federal deputy.
Days later, the doorman changed his version of events to the police, declaring in a statement that he had mistaken the number of the house.
Bolsonaro then accused Rio de Janeiro’s governor, Wilson Witzel, of manipulating the investigation to try to destroy his reputation. Witzel denied the accusations and said he would sue Bolsonaro for them.
Before the High Court of Justice's decision, Bolsonaro exchanged messages with the then Justice Minister Sergio Moro saying that he wanted more control over the Superintendence of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal Police. In a meeting with his ministers on April 22, the Brazilian president was filmed saying:
Já tentei trocar gente da segurança nossa no Rio de Janeiro, oficialmente, e não consegui! E isso acabou. Eu não vou esperar foder a minha família toda, de sacanagem, ou amigos meu [sic], porque eu não posso trocar alguém da segurança na ponta da linha que pertence à estrutura nossa. Vai trocar! Se não puder trocar, troca o chefe dele! Não pode trocar o chefe dele? Troca o ministro! E ponto final!
I've already tried to change our security people in Rio de Janeiro, officially, and I didn't manage it! And that's over. I won't wait to get my whole family screwed, by dirty tricks, or friends of mine, because I can't change somebody from the security at the end of the line belonging to our own system. They will be replaced! If you can't change them, change their boss! You can't change their boss? Change the minister! And that's it!
Moro resigned from the government shortly thereafter. He said that what triggered his resignation was Bolsonaro's demand to sack the director-general of the Federal Police, Marcelo Valeixo, a Moro ally.
After Moro resigned, the president replaced Valeixo with Alexandre Ramagem, but the appointment was soon afterwards blocked by Brazil's Supreme Court. Justice Alexandre de Moraes found that Ramagem had too many personal ties to the president's family — photos of him with Bolsonaro's sons on New Year's Eve had been shared on social media. Bolsonaro then nominated somebody linked to Ramagem, Rolando Alexandre de Souza.
One of the first things Souza did in his new role was to replace the superintendent of Rio de Janeiro's Federal Police.
Regarding the federalization of the Marielle case, the Attorney General's Office can still appeal the decision of the High Court of Justice to the Federal Supreme Court, the highest court in Brazil.

author: Giovana Fleck


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Rooftop cultural events allow Venezuelan residents to momentarily escape COVID-19 through art · Global Voices
Gabriela Mesones Rojo

Photo by Rayner Peña for EFE, used with permission.
During the COVID-19 lockdown in Venezuela, the artistic cultural group Zona de Descarga (meaning “discharge area” or “dump area”) was born. In the José Felix Ribas neighbourhood in Petare, one of the hardest-hit communities by COVID-19, the group creates spaces for art and community togetherness during the pandemic.
With more than one million inhabitants, Petare, located in a district of Caracas, is known for being one of the largest neighbourhoods in the South American continent. Due to the city's high population density and the number of residents who depend on the informal labour market to survive, this area is particularly vulnerable during the pandemic.
In Venezuela, food and job insecurity have significantly increased since March, amidst a scarcity of basic utilities in the country, including electricity, water, internet and gas.
Vecinos de José Félix Ribas organizaron la proyección de una película en una platabanda del barrio en #Petare, para que los residentes pudieran disfrutar desde sus ventanas. En este hilo le dejo las fotos que hice para @EFEnoticias. pic.twitter.com/94KJLlxFyv
— Rayner Peña R (@RaynerPenaR) May 24, 2020
Neighbors of José Félix Ribas organized a film screening on a rooftop in the #Petare neighbourhood, so that residents could enjoy it from their windows. In this thread I leave you the photos I took for @EFEnews
Jaime Pérez and his brother Jimmy Pérez, both organisers of Zona de Descarga, explain to Global Voices through WhatsApp that the group is a collaborative exercise of deep reflection that aims to connect with the community through shared cultural-historical references of the Petare neighbourhood.
Among Petare's figures who inspire the group are the painters Bárbaro Rivas, Tito Salas and Jacobo Borges, and the cultural figure Burriquita de Petare, as well as contemporary figures, including the sportsman Luis Sojo, model Isabella Rodríguez and the journalist Luz Mely Reyes.
Events from Zona de Descarga are social-distance compliant, are designed to entertain the community, and inform residents about preventative measures against the spread of COVID-19.
Un trabajo periodístico de @SoyArepita que muestra el despliegue de nuestra organización ⚡? Zona de Descarga ?? que construye espacios para la defensa de los #DDHH y la cultura de paz y no violencia.#CinePlatabanda?? #MusicaPlatabanda ?@NadalDiplo pic.twitter.com/VIjHyX2J9w
— ZonaDeDescarga (@ZonaD_Descarga) June 20, 2020
A journalistic piece by @SoyArepita that shows the development of our organization ⚡? Zona de Descarga that is creating spaces in defense of the #DDHH and of a peaceful and non-violent culture.
Disseminating event information during quarantine has been one of the biggest challenges for the Zona de Descarga team. However, Jaime explains how they succeed in informing a community that has little access to the internet, social networks, or smartphones:
Utilizamos cualquier medio de comunicación. Nuestro mayor aliado es la radio comunitaria Resplandor de Cristo, que nos ayuda los martes, jueves y sábado a promover las actividades de Zona de Descarga.
We use any means of communication. Our greatest ally is the community radio Resplandor de Cristo, which helps us on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to promote Zona de Descarga's activities.
He continues:
Hemos hecho campañas de despliegue de divulgación con pancartas y papelógrafos, grupos WhatsApp de Cine Platabanda donde mostramos nuestra programación. También tenemos redes sociales en Twitter, Facebook e Instagram donde informamos y compartimos el registro de todo lo que hacemos. La interacción con la comunidad ha sido increíble y hemos expandido nuestro equipo de voluntarios y colaboradores.
We have carried out outreach campaigns with banners and flipcharts, WhatsApp groups of Cine Platabanda where users can access our film schedules. We also have groups on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where we share updates of everything we do. Interacting with the community has been incredible and we are in the process of expanding our team of volunteers and partners.
Photo by Rayner Peña for EFE, used with permission.
At their first cinema event, “Cine Platabanda”, the group screened the Disney movie “Aladdin”, starring Will Smith, which allowed residents to escape the daily stress of quarantine and political disputes in the country. In May, the city experienced a six-day shooting that took place in the José Félix Ribas neighbourhood:
Imaginación VS Poder
? #LibroPlatabanda
Espacio para el libre debate de ideas y generación de conciencia.
La poesía se convierte en cuento para alimentar el alma fomentando en la familia la pasión por la lectura, un futuro mucho más humano y justo.#CromoPlatabanda pic.twitter.com/Z8YwnqM3Jh
— ZonaDeDescarga (@ZonaD_Descarga) June 4, 2020
Imagination VS Power
? #LibroPlatabanda
Space for the free debate of ideas and creation of consciousness.
Poetry becomes a story to feed the soul, fostering a passion for reading in the family, a much more humane and just future.
Nevertheless, violence in the area is not an obstacle for Zona De Descarga. On June 2, the team created the first Libro Platabanda (“Rooftop Book”) for which they collected more than 200 books to distribute among local communities. A group of volunteer storytellers used speakers to tell the story of “The Tree”.
The organizers also emphasize that each activity is carried out thanks to donations and support from the community, as is the case of the books that were donated by the Bárbaro Ribas library.
El #CinePlatabanda en Petare es lo mejor que he visto en las redes desde que comenzó la cuarentena. Ojalá lo repitan en otros sectores donde necesitan unas horas de escape a la crisis. Imágenes de @RaynerPenaR. pic.twitter.com/eue2n69ROs
— Daniel Blanco (@DanielBlancoPaz) May 25, 2020
The #CinePlatabanda in Petare is the best I have seen on social media since the start of quarantine. Hopefully they will repeat this in other sectors where people need a few hours to escape the crisis. Images from @RaynerPenaR.
On June 3, Zona de Descarga held its dance event, Baile Platabanda (“Rooftop Dance”), in which volunteers with dance skills participated. The week ended with a rooftop concert by local rappers and various other musicians. They also performed Ora Plantabanda (“Rooftop prayer”), to provide a community space for religious expression during the quarantine period, as congregation centres and prayer spaces remain closed.
Sarai, one of the community's 11-year-old neighbours, has attended all of the events:
Las actividades de Zona de descarga son emocionantes. No podemos salir, no podemos estudiar. Es un apoyo, es útil y divertido.
The Zona de Descarga activities are exciting. We cannot go out, we cannot study. It is supportive, useful and fun.
A post shared by Zona de Descarga (@zonadedescargaoficial)
Sarai ?? a girl from the Unión neighborhood gives us her opinion about the activity and about Zona de Descarga??❤
PETARE IS GOOD NEWS
During the interview, Jaime expressed his love for the neighbourhood and the emotion he feels at being able to help the area where he and his family have grown up:
Queremos soñar. Somos esa generación que lucha y ama su comunidad, que a pesar de los conflictos sociales y las desigualdades que sufrimos, vivimos en un constante proceso de aprendizaje ante un problema que ha tenido una carga de violencia, odio y resentimiento que empezaron hacer ruidos en nuestras conciencias. Queremos transformar la realidad con arte y cultura.
We want to dream. We are that generation that fights and loves their community. Despite the social conflicts and inequalities that we suffer, we live in a constant learning process faced with problems that are entangled with violence, hatred and resentment that can create noises in our consciences. We want to transform reality with art and culture.

author: Gabriela Mesones Rojo


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Serbia protests point to crisis of legitimacy for Vučić government · Global Voices
Christina Lee

Peaceful protest in Belgrade, 10 July 2020. Photo by Wikipedia user OakMapping, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Over the past several years, Belgrade has been the setting for mass protests demanding transparency and accountability from the government led by President Aleksander Vučić of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Protests against gentrification and non-transparent development such as the initiative Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own (Ne da(vi)mo Beograd) brought thousands to the streets and made international headlines, while mass movement “1 out of 5 million” marched for weeks on end against corruption and for free and fair elections. Yet none of these mass anti-government protests were touched by state violence—that changed in early July of this year.
On the night of July 6 and for several nights afterward, police broke up protests in front of the national parliament with tear gas, stun grenades and beatings. Witnesses like Goran Sandić, an associate at the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, saw indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force even blocks away from the parliament—violence that was caught by cellphones in several instances and was widely distributed on Serbian social media.
Kakva je ovo sramota! Zauvek obrukali srpsku uniformu! Zauvek! pic.twitter.com/PRkZ39UgkU
— Balša Božović (@Balshone) July 7, 2020
What a shame! Serbian uniform disgraced forever! Forever!
“We saw with our own eyes and on video that the police attacked people physically,” says Sandić, who attended the second night of protests as an observer. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) mapped numerous incidents of attacks against both protesters and journalists and an umbrella of NGOs has filed complaints with the public prosecutor and ombudsman calling for an investigation into the incidents.
Why did these protests, unlike the waves of mass protests during the years prior, evoke such a violent crackdown from the authorities? Observers point, on the one hand, to the nature of the protest that was initially underestimated as being mainly anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and supporters of the far-right before swelling to thousands of citizens from all different ages and backgrounds.
A vanguard group of protesters surrounded the parliament and were able to enter it before the police began to break up the scene. “The 5th of October [2000, when Slobodan Milošević's regime collapsed] was finished by entering the parliament, so it is very symbolic”, says Zdravko Janković, an activist with Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own who has attended numerous public protests in the last decade.
On the other hand, though, these protests represent a unique threat to a president voted in by a minority, plagued by accusations of corruption, and presiding over an unfolding public health and economic emergency. As Sandić notes, “This is literally a life or death situation.”
After months of a strict nationwide lockdown, President Vučić announced that the country had successfully contained the pandemic and enacted a loosening of measures in late May, coinciding with the run-up to rescheduled parliamentary elections.
OSCE's election observatory body commented on the campaign, “A notable aspect was the meshing of the SNS’s campaign with media coverage of the president and the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.” The ruling party received considerably more media coverage than any other and benefited from having their supposedly successful combating of COVID-19 repeated by all major media channels. Meanwhile, normal life resumed in some measure, and Belgrade even hosted Europe's first football derby since the lockdown, with 25,000 fans in attendance.
This made it all the more jarring when Vučić announced, a mere two weeks after highly contested elections that were boycotted by close to 50 percent of the electorate that the country would head back into a strict lockdown. This gave the impression that the lifting of the sanctions had been a political move to enable elections.
In the meantime, new information started to cast significant doubts about the government’s rush to reopen the country. An investigation by BIRN showed that authorities significantly under-reported the number of deaths from COVID-19, according to information from the government’s own database. It appeared that “they had one report for the government and one report for the public,” says Janković. Numbers on international tracking sites like the World Health Organization still reflect the government's numbers—they list a total of 491 deaths as of July 24 for Serbia, whereas the data reported by BIRN showed 632 death as of June 1.
Despite denials by the government and accusations of fake news, the report apparently managed to reach a large number of people, who felt that the government had manipulated them for political ends. “The real journalism has found its way to crawl up in the pile of rubbish journalism,” adds Sandić.
The presence of right-wingers as well as hooligans at the protests on July 6 and the days following is indisputable, but the government's claims that the protests were dominated by such forces, or even foreign agitators, are highly suspect. Attendees and observers, as well as video footage, show a wide range of protesters from all walks of life.
#NoviSad pic.twitter.com/Vpmo3lfvyj
— Goran Radojev (@RadojevGoran) July 8, 2020
“I was there to monitor and what I could see … the demographics of the protest were such that there were older people, younger people, middle-aged people with children, etc., but from the moment where the clashes started it was mostly young males, dressed in black who started provoking the police,” says Sandić. “What is clear is that there was an attribution of the scenes of violence to all citizens in the protest instead of to hooligans.”
Despite attempts by Vučić and some in the media to cast the protests as the work of anti-science conspiracy theorists and people angry exclusively (and irrationally) about lockdown measures, the scenes of police brutality and tear-gassing of journalists that were widely broadcast both on public and social media have jolted Serbian society, and apparently deeply threatened the government's ability to control the narrative about the pandemic.
The doubts over the official coronavirus numbers have reached members of the medical community, a large group of which has called for the resignation of the government task force and an investigation into possible concealment efforts by the regime. A planned reintroduction of a curfew was revoked. Suspicions over the legitimacy of the elections and the presence of irregularities continue to dog the SNS, even as they dominate the parliament with a super-majority. And long-standing suspicions of the party's connections to organized crime were re-awakened by a report by investigative outlet KRIK that caught the president's son watching the Belgrade derby together with a “football hooligan” who has suspected ties to a Montenegrin crime klan.
The continuous drip of bad news for this government undermines their ability to gain public cooperation at a moment when the country faces an unprecedented double threat of an out-of-control pandemic and roiling economic turmoil. “They are facing a problem of their legitimacy—which is quite complicated at this stage of the pandemic in Serbia,” notes Janković. The link between trust in the government and the ability to impose measures to combat these threats has been observed in other countries like the United States, but coming on top of years of anger and despair over corruption as in Serbia, it amounts to a potentially dangerous situation, particularly if the government continues to show itself unwilling to address the mounting accusations levied against it by outraged members of the public.
For observers like Sandić, the concern that the government will fight hard to maintain its grip over authority is as much a concern as the ongoing threat from COVID-19. “I am afraid that the spark that will light up the fire of change could end up in deaths, and that would be the worst scenario.”
The violence and lack of accountability bared openly for the nation to witness during July's protests after years of restraint suggest these fears may not be unfounded.

author: Christina Lee


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Yanomami mothers fight for the right to bury their children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil · Global Voices
Amazônia Real

A man shows a burial site for the indigenous children. To the mothers, their children were missing. Photo: Emily Costa/Amazônia Real
This article was written by Emily Costa and Kátia Brasil for the Amazônia Real. It is republished by Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
On July 1, a mother of Yanomami ethnicity, and member of the Sanöma subgroup, received her daughter's body in Onkopiu village, in Brazil, after a two-month wait. The baby died of hydranencephaly and septicaemia in a state hospital at Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state. According to the state's Medical Legal Institute, the body was kept all this time in a cold storage facility.
The reason for the delay, according to a document by Brazil's Indigenous Health Secretariat (Sesai), to which Amazônia Real had access, was that the mother had contracted COVID-19 and been hospitalized. The mother recovered from the illness. The child, though, was not infected, which would make the transfer to the village for the funeral ritual safe.
In another part of the document, Sesai informed that it could not make the transfer because there was no “flight scheduled to enter the territory of the relatives of the deceased”.
The situation is similar to that of other Yanomami mothers seeking the right to bury their children according to their traditions, faced with the funeral restrictions in place all over Brazil due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
Another three Yanomami babies, who died between April and May as a result of COVID-19, were buried in a private cemetery in Boa Vista without the consent of their mothers. For them, their children's bodies were missing — they were located during Amazonia Real’s investigations for this report.
Junior Hekurari Yanomami, president of the Yanomami District Health Council, an agency attached to Sesai, said the Sanöma mother was aware that the child's body was in the Medical Legal Institute and had asked to have the funeral ritual in their village.
“Even the communities are questioning it, calling, asking us to send [the body] as soon as possible,” he told Amazônia Real the day before the body was taken to the mother's land.
Amazônia Real's reporters found information about the body of the Sanöma baby at the Medical Legal Institute of Roraima. Photo: Emily Costa/Amazônia Real
Amazônia Real asked Sesai for an explanation of why the child's body had remained at the IML for two months, but received no answer.
The head of the agency, Robson Silva, visited the Yanomami land on July 1 with General Fernando de Azevedo Silva, the defense minister in Jair Bolsonaro's government, and representatives of the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai). On Brazilian Air Force planes, they brought medical care, medicines, supplies, as well as teams of international journalists to the Yanomami communities.
On the same day, the child's body was taken to the Onkopiu village, at 11 a.m., by plane — the journey took less than 2 hours from Boa Vista. The transfer only happened because the child did not have COVID-19, according to the Yanomami District Health Council.
Asked about the community's reaction to receiving the body of the Sanöma child, Junior Yanomami said it brought them some comfort, but the whole community was in mourning.
This is not the first time health authorities have failed to inform Yanomami parents about their children's burials in Boa Vista’s cemeteries.
The first case of the new coronavirus in the ethnic group was a 15-year-old boy in the town of Alto Alegre, also in Roraima, a region where there are a lot of rogue miners around the Uraricoera River. Although he had symptoms since March 18, he was only tested on April 6. Three days later, the young man died in a hospital in Boa Vista.
At the time, Dario Kopenawa Yanomami, director of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, said officials lacked respect and knowledge of traditional ceremonies of indigenous culture. The case was denounced at the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
“The parents [even though they were in Boa Vista] were not informed of the funeral, this is wrong and we are questioning it,” he said.
For the French anthropologist Bruce Albert, burying a Yanomami victim without the consent of relatives shows a lack of ethics and empathy from the authorities. “Moreover, dealing with a dead person without traditional funeral rituals constitutes, for the Yanomami, as for any other people, an inhuman and therefore ignominious act”.
The Federal Prosecution opened a procedure to ensure the identification of the Yanomami bodies and subsequent return to their indigenous lands when it is sanitarily safe and if desired by their community of origin. Speaking with Amazônia Real, the office said it has been holding meetings with indigenous leaders and health representatives to discuss the burial of indigenous victims of COVID-19. The objective, it said, is “to align protocols with the objective of having greater communication, information and follow-up with indigenous people, but respecting the communities’ health to avoid risks”.
On June 30, Dario Kopenawa Yanomami said that the mothers were only informed where the babies’ bodies were “after a lot of criticism” and that “they were notified very late”.
On July 2, he travelled to Brasilia and met with Brazil's Vice President, General Hamilton Mourão, and the indigenous legislator Joênia Wapichana. As well as talking about the Yanomami peoples’ fight against the pandemic, they also discussed the invasion of their territory by 20,000 miners.
Amazônia Real's reporter searched Boa Vista's private cemetery for three days. Photo: Emily Costa/Amazônia Real
As well as the baby who was at the Medical Legal Institute, the report found the graves of three other Yanomami children for whom the mothers were searching. They are at the private cemetery Campo da Saudade in Boa Vista.
These three Yanomami mothers are still waiting for answers about when they will receive their babies’ bodies, so as to perform their funeral rituals in their villages. The babies died with suspected infection by the new coronavirus.
Sesai confirmed the cause of the deaths. One of the babies, a boy, died on April 29 in a hospital under the management of Roraima’s government. The mother also tested positive for COVID-19. The baby's body was not buried until three weeks after his death, on May 20, according to documents accessed by this report.
The other two babies, two boys from the Sanöma subgroup, died on May 25 and were buried next to each other. One of them was two months old and died of acute renal failure and suspected COVID-19 infection in a hospital managed by Boa Vista city. The other was three days old and died after contracting an infection.
The risk of contamination because of the pandemic prevents the bodies from being removed from the cemetery at the moment. “It's only possible to retrieve buried bodies by judicial means or by waiting for the minimum period before exhumation, which is three years for adults and two years for children and newborns,” said Anselmo Martinez, the manager of the cemetery where the children's bodies are.
Since the first case of COVID-19 appeared among the Yanomami people, in April, more than 200 others have been contaminated in their territory, which lies in the Brazilian states of Roraima and Amazonas. Sesai's most recent epidemiological report, dated July 15, reported that 262 Yanomami have been infected by the virus. Four deaths have been confirmed: the three babies and the 15-year-old.

author: Amazônia Real


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Sri Lankan wildlife threatened by poaching during the pandemic · Global Voices
Rezwan

Leopard on Brown Trunk Tree. Image by Pixabay via Pexels. CC0.
The wildlife diversity in Sri Lanka is remarkable for an island nation measuring just 65,610 km2 (25,330 sq mi). Despite being crucial to the country's tourism industry, animals have long been threatened due to deforestation, loss of natural habitats and poaching. While the country has been successful in controlling the spread of COVID-19 when compared to its South Asian neighbours, it has also seen increased cases of poaching as unemployment continues to rise during the lockdown.
Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide lockdown on 20 March which continued until 29 June. As many as 500,000 people have been left jobless during the pandemic, with the unemployment rate hit a 10-year high.
Initially, the lockdown had a positive impact on wildlife in popular national parks such as Yala, Udawalawe, Minneriya, Kaudulla and Horton Plains, which have long complained about over-visitation. However, as visitors dwindled, these parks became an attractive hunting ground for poachers.
On 22 April, forest ranger Pradeep Bandar was shot dead during an anti-poaching raid in Gal Oya National Park in eastern Sri Lanka. Poaching for bush meat (mostly wild boar, spotted deer, and sambar deer) is fueled by demands from domestic tourists who treat it as an exotic delicacy.
According to environmentalist Nayanaka Ranwella, an estimated 600 wild animals have been killed by poachers per day since the lockdown began. The country’s Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) arrested around 40 people in April this year, most of them for poaching.
Hemantha Withanage, an environmental scientist and founder of the Centre for Environmental Justice, noted that in most of these cases, people were not engaged in organized poaching, but were doing so “to find food” or earn money as they did not have any other job to sustain themselves.
Groundviews author Anya De Saram-Larssen interviewed founder and president of Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society Ravi Corea about poaching during the COVID-19 pandemic:
One of the most insidious impacts of the pandemic on wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka has been the rise in poaching during the lockdown, as well as illegal logging and gem mining. Reports in the local media estimate that around 600 wild birds and animals have been killed each day since the beginning of the lockdown. The lack of food security and loss of employment are among the reasons for the rise in poaching. With no one out there to protect it, wildlife is more vulnerable than ever. Poachers are able to move brazenly within national parks and protected sites; spotted deer and porcupines are among the most poached animals.
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered animal with an estimated 700–950 population as of 2015. A number of leopards have also been killed using snares in the past few months.
Researcher Amantha Perera tweets:
Yet another brutal death of a #SriLanka wild leopard – 7th such killed due to snares in #SriLanka Central Hills, at least 3 rescued – මන්දකට අසුව තවත් දිවියෙකු මරණයට (GRAPIC IMAGES) – Details – https://t.co/dUtTt96wF3 @WWF @slwcs_org @NatGeo pic.twitter.com/0FNY59exSI
— Amantha (@AmanthaP) July 21, 2020
Political analyst and activist Thilanka Rathnayake blames government inaction for the leopard's death:
It's very clear government doesn't give a damn about wildlife, environment or anything. Wildlife ministry and relevant authorities sleeping. There should be serious & severe punishment for the this. Otherwise after few years leopards will extinct in #SriLanka ?? ? https://t.co/4F7ktKKUCw
— Thilanka Rathnayake (@rathnayake27) July 20, 2020
Following the public outcry, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered a probe to conduct an immediate investigation into poaching in late July.
Despite this, the situation does not seem poised to change anytime soon. The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) doesn't have enough staff dedicated to tackling illegal activities in protected areas, which span a combined 12% of Sri Lanka’s total land area. Ravindra Attygalla comments on Facebook:
If there were “Proper and caring” persons in the department (DWC), this would not happen. The people who are responsible to protect the nature and habitat haven't taken proper steps. Very soon we will lose everything that belongs to nature.

author: Rezwan


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Zimbabwe governance crisis: Arrests over COVID-19 corruption and planned protests · Global Voices
GV Sub-Saharan Africa

Health workers queue for a bus into Bulawayo City from Nketa, Zimbabwe. Many of Zimbabwe's essential workers lack PPE clothing but have been reporting to works nonetheless, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, April 20, 2020.
Credit: KB Mpofu / ILO via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The arrest of two prominent figures in Zimbabwe signal new levels of crisis in governance as the nation heads toward unprecedented economic decline and social unrest.
Jacob Ngarivhume, leader of a small opposition party called Transform Zimbabwe, and Hopewell Rugoho-Chino’ono, a journalist, are both accused of inciting violence in their calls to end corruption at the highest levels of government, and allegedly participating in plans for an anti-government demonstration scheduled for July 31.
Ngarivhume appeared in court on July 22, facing charges for planning to incite public violence. He was arrested on July 20, tied to tweets deemed provocative by the state. He remains in state custody at Harare Remand Prison with no possibility of bail. Ngarivhume is accused of organizing anti-government protests  based on tweets such as:
I stepped forward to add my voice to the growing calls for corruption to end and the govt doesn't like- this is the free Zimbabwe. 26 years ago Nelson Madela gave the South African people their freedom and demanded nothing in return. This is our time #31July pic.twitter.com/5D1FsxAf9T
— Jacob Ngarivhume (@jngarivhume) July 18, 2020
Hopewell Rugoho-Chino’ono was hauled before the courts in handcuffs on July 22 and July 23, after close to a dozen state agents raided his home on July 20 and seized some of his belongs. He was arrested for allegedly planning to incite public unrest based on several tweets. His Twitter account was taken down on the day of his arrest. Hopewell was also denied bail and his case was deferred to August August 7.
Both were arrested in connection with allegations of violating Section 187 (1) (a) as read with Section 37 (1) (a) (i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23, “incitement to participate in public violence,” and both face up to 10 years in jail if convicted.
Tendai Biti, vice president of the biggest opposition movement, the MDC Alliance, tweeted soon after court proceedings were adjourned:
As we feared both Jacob & Hope will spend a further night in prison after they were both respectively remanded overnight in custody. In Hope s case court adjourned due to Mnangagwa s curfew rules . In Jacob s case the court said it will now hand down its ruling tomorrow #Shame pic.twitter.com/xxRoijp3W8
— TENDAI BITI (@BitiTendai) July 22, 2020
On July 22, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a curfew and a raft of other measures curtailing people’s movement, purportedly to stem the spread of COVID-19 infections in the country. Activists charge that this move was clearly aimed at stopping planned anti-government protests on July 31.
Due to the curfew, courts close early.
Lawyer Doug Coltart tweeted that the courts deemed Ngarvihume a “danger to the public” due to COVID-19 restrictions:
Jacob Ngarivhume has been denied bail on the basis that the he is a danger to the public because if he is released he will incite people to break COVID-19 Regulations on #31July.
Hopewell’s bail hearing will continue this afternoon at 2:30 pm.#FreeHopewell #FreeJacob
— Doug Coltart ✊??? (@DougColtart) July 23, 2020
On Saturday, the government strongly defended these arrests, claiming both were plotting to “overthrow the government.”
Chino’ono extensively reported on a corruption scandal involving millions of dollars worth of COVID-19 funds meant to benefit Zimbabweans.
The procurement scandal led to the sacking of former health and child welfare minister, Obadiah Moyo, who awarded contracts at inflated prices for personal protective equipment (PPE) and medicine worth over $60 million United States dollars.
Following the corruption exposé, Chino'ono used social media — primarily Twitter — to echo a clarion call for protests next week against corruption. His cameras and computers were seized by police, without any search or arrest warrants. It is unclear who is responsible for removing his Twitter account.
Government spokesman Nick Mangwana expressed the state’s position on the matter in a tweet:
There is no profession which is above the law.
-Journalists are not above the law.
-Lawyers are not above the law
-Doctors and nurses are not above the law.
-Politicians & bankers are not above the law.
Anyone suspected to have commited a crime should be subjected to due process.
— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) July 20, 2020
Embassies in Zimbabwe have roundly condemned the arrest of Chino’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume.
Activists Hopewell Chin’ono, @jngarivhume, #MDCTrio, @VOANews’ @FrankChikowore & @263Chat’s @takawirasam answered @edmnangagwa’s call to end corruption. Yet, the govt prosecutes them instead of the culprits. Every dollar lost to corruption is #ADollarStolen from the Zim people. pic.twitter.com/1koJ3d7OmZ
— U.S. Embassy Harare (@usembassyharare) July 22, 2020
Netizen Nicole Hondo promptly responded:
Hopewell and Jacob were arrested for inciting people to remove a constitutionally elected Government on 31 July. If Zimbabwe was America, they would currently be going through torture at Guantanamo Bay. pic.twitter.com/c3QLdDBpzC
— Nicole Hondo ?? (@nicolehondo) July 22, 2020
Netherlands ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi Hellemond tweeted:
Not walking the talk @edmnangagwa promised ‘impartiality’, ‘no sacred cows’ and ‘zero tolerance’ in @Zimbabwe’s fight against corruption @euinzim @263Chat @ZLHRLawyers @ZACConline https://t.co/3Y7fppNI2a
— NLambassadorHarare (@bvanhellemond) July 22, 2020
The European Union expressed concern at the arrest of Hopewell:
We are concerned by the arrest of @daddyhope this morning and call for his immediate release. Journalism is not a crime, but a crucial pillar of any democratic society & of the fight against corruption. Journalists and freedom of expression deserve protection. #EU4HumanRights pic.twitter.com/m6RIiFI86W
— EU in Zimbabwe ?? (@euinzim) July 20, 2020
The Canadian mission to Zimbabwe tweeted:
Journalists must be allowed to report facts freely & independently. That is why today's arrest of @daddyhope, and other recent apprehensions of journalists doing their work is so concerning. Media has an important role in defending & advancing truth. #mediafreedom #humanrights pic.twitter.com/83smcJ5E4A
— Canada in Zimbabwe (@CanEmbZimbabwe) July 20, 2020
But netizen Chido Matamba had a different view:
Journalists must be objective and stop inciting people. Some Journalists have their hidden agenda of inciting people to remove a constitutuonally elected Gvt.These journalist r being used and are getting paid handsomely to revolt against e Gvt in power.
— Chido Matamba (@ChidoMatamba) July 21, 2020
Zimbabwe is undergoing an unprecedented time of economic decline with inflation hovering above 737 percent and acute food, foreign currency and fuel shortages. A local currency—RTGS dollar— introduced last year, replacing official use of a stable foreign multicurrency system, has rapidly fallen in value against the US dollar.
Bankers, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals have joined the call to be paid in US dollars to cushion them from the cost of living and a depreciating local currency, but Mnangagwa’s government will have none of it.
The stock exchange has been closed since June 28, a first in the country’s turbulent history.
As a result, citizens are growing increasingly agitated by economic hardships and the government is concerned about the possibility of mass protests — which could unseat Mnangagwa — as happened to the late former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

author: GV Sub-Saharan Africa


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Journalist’s abduction raises concerns about media freedom in Pakistan · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

Matiullah Jan, a renowned journalist and critic of the Pakistan Military. Screenshot from YouTube video by Naya Daur TV.
On the morning of July 21, Matiullah Jan, a renowned journalist and critic of the Pakistan military, was abducted in Islamabad by unidentified persons. He was released about 12 hours later in the city of Fateh Jang, about 46 km away from Islamabad.
The journalist's family have accused state security agencies of being responsible for the kidnapping.
About a week before Jan's abduction, on July 15, the Supreme Court of Pakistan initiated legal proceedings against him for contempt of court over a “derogatory” tweet against the same court and its judges. In the July 13 tweet, Jan criticised seven of the country's ten Supreme Court judges after they dismissed the presidential petition accusing their colleague, Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, of misconduct and living beyond his means.
The day after he had been kidnapped, July 22, Jan was scheduled to go to court to answer the contempt charges arising from his tweet.
Matiullah Jan had just dropped his wife to the school where she teaches when his car was intercepted. The incident, which was captured by the school's CCTV system, shows that there was a brief tussle, during which Jan threw his cellphone into the school's premises. His kidnappers were able to retrieve the phone, however, after which he was taken to an undisclosed location.
Once news of the kidnapping broke, Jan's brother and friends went to the school, retrieved the CCTV footage and released the video on social media. In short order, hashtags like #BringBackMatiullah, which called for the journalist's safe return, were trending on Twitter.
There were also pleas to end state interference in freedom of the press. Journalist Amir Mateen denounced pressure from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and other agencies.
I say this on record but our media activists are so scared of saying this in public. Come on guys! Say it. We are being controlled by agencies. We get calls from Ispr what we can say and what we can’t. I am jobless because I said No. Will you say it https://t.co/NnbqLmgLtd
— Amir Mateen (@AmirMateen2) July 21, 2020
Twitter user Naila Inayat reminded her followers about the disturbing frequency of other forced disappearances:
CCTV footage of journalist Matiullah Jan being taken away. Enforced disappearances are used by Pakistan as a weapon to silence dissenters. From Saleem Shahzad, Umar Cheema to Matiullah, it continues with impunity. #BringBackMatiullah pic.twitter.com/lkdeFUD3gr
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) July 21, 2020
Tweeting from his father's Twitter account, Jan's son demanded that the government bring him back, and that state agencies be held accountable for his disappearance:
Matiullahjan, my father, has been abducted from the heart of the capital Islamad. I demand he be foundُ and the agencies behind it immediately be held responsible. God keep him safe.
— Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) July 21, 2020
Speaking to the media, Jan's wife Kaneez Sughra said that when she called him around 1 p.m., one of his cellphones was switched off and he wasn’t answering the other one. “Everyone knows who picked him up,” she said, referring to state security agencies. She added, “It is no secret about those who have been after him for years.”
In 2017, Jan was attacked in Islamabad, but escaped unhurt. He and his children had been travelling to Bhara Kahu, 18 km away from Islamabad, when two motorcyclists coming from the opposite direction smashed the windscreen of his car by throwing a rock at it.
Jan's abduction has caused a stir in Pakistan, with the Islamabad High Court calling for an inquiry into his disappearance.
During a National Assembly session on July 21, opposition parties and journalists covering the proceedings staged a walkout as a sign of protest, and announced that they would continue to boycott all sessions of the lower house until the government discloses where Jan had been taken and identifies those responsible for it.
The boycott has now ended, although those questions remain unanswered.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said on social media that she found Jan's kidnapping “very disturbing”, but was bashed by her followers, who saw it as her duty to ensure that Jan was rescued, not just tweet about it.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Human Rights, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, tweeted that the Inspector General of Police would have to brief the committee on the incident:
As a matter of grave urgency and unquestionable importance, IG Islamabad has been asked to brief the Human Rights committee tomorrow on abduction/disappearance of renowned journalist Matiullah Jan pic.twitter.com/Dxgg8EVMSm
— Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar (@Mustafa_PPP) July 21, 2020
However, Senator Sherry Rehman, a member of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), suggested that this “nonsense” of Twitter condemnations by ministers needs to stop: “Don’t take appeals on Twitter to condemn it; you have to either act or resign.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, along with rights activists and journalism organisations, condemned the abduction and expressed concern over increasing attempts to control the media:
We are deeply concerned at increasing attempts to control the media, suppress independent voices, & curb political dissent, thereby creating an environment of constant fear. @Matiullahjan919‘s abduction is an act of cowardice & warrants immediate redressalhttps://t.co/54HwzBdga2
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) July 21, 2020
Jan's kidnapping also prompted a small protest by journalists in Islamabad:
Update: We journalists are gathering outside Islamabad press club demanding #BringBackMatiullah #MatiullahJan @Wabbasi007 @awaheedmurad pic.twitter.com/g0faqi9js3
— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) July 21, 2020
Attorney Shahid Abbasi, Jan's brother who is also acting as his legal counsel, said that he received a call from an unknown number informing him to pick up Jan from Fateh Jang. Jan later tweeted his gratitude for everyone who raised their voices in support of him:
I am back home safe & sound. God has been kind to me & my family. I am grateful to friends, national & int. journalist community, political parties, social media & rights activists, lawyers bodies, the judiciary for their quick response which made it possible.
— Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) July 22, 2020
In his court hearing, which went ahead as scheduled on July 22, Jan directly linked his abduction with his contempt of court charges, saying, “On one side, people are not allowed to speak and on the other hand, those who dare to speak are being served contempt of court notices.”
At his court appearance, Jan was given two weeks to prepare his defence.
While the Supreme Court directed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police to submit a report on Jan's abduction and subsequent release, it also asked,”What are the state institutions doing? No agency or institution has the right to take matters into its own hands.”
In its 2020 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Pakistan 145th out of 180 countries, quite an indictment on the state of press freedom in Pakistan.
Jan's kidnapping is not the first time that a journalist has been manhandled or abducted; in fact, Prime Minister Imran Khan's government has been accused of attempting to silence dissent. Several media houses have experienced a financial squeeze, which has resulted in several publications going out of print and a large number of media professionals losing their jobs.

author: R Umaima Ahmed


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The long and winding road to Guyana’s 2020 election results · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Court of Appeal hearing regarding Guyana's elections recount case, which took place on July 25, 2020. Screenshot taken from the Stabroek News livestream of the hearing.
Guyana's general election took place on March 2, 2020, a year after it was constitutionally due, but although the ballots have long been counted, the country still has not declared a winner.
It's been an extraordinarily slow road to get to this point, with developments happening in almost imperceptible increments. When ExxonMobil announced on June 30, 2016, that it had made a “world-class discovery” of oil offshore Guyana, the news changed, in one fell swoop, both the country's economic outlook and its political stakes.
By December 2018, Guyana's parliament had voted “yes” to a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition People's Progressive Party (PPP) against the governing coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC). Despite the government launching a legal challenge to the parliamentary vote, it was deemed valid, and all eyes turned to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as it prepared for the impending election.
The latest twist in the ongoing controversy — which has pivoted around the integrity of the election results coming out of Region 4, a stronghold area for the governing coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) — involves the re-verification of votes.
After many false starts, a recount was finally underway by May 6, but it was slow going, with many inconsistencies and accusations of stalling.
More than a month later, on June 9, the Stabroek News ran a story in which several presiding officers from Region 4 polling stations said their deputy returning officers had instructed them not to place certain key documents in the ballot boxes. By then, the recount had been completed and the results confirmed that Clairmont Mingo, Region 4's returning officer, had increased the government's numbers and reduced the votes for the opposition PPP.
It seemed a fait accompli that the revelation would result in GECOM having to declare the PPP, with 33 seats, the winner. Guyana has a total of 65 parliamentary seats — the recount showed that the APNU+AFC secured 31 of these, while a group of other parties got one seat — but things were about to get more complicated.
In Guyana's proportional representation electoral system, there are several steps to ensure voter legitimacy on election day. Voters must provide photo identification in order to gain access to the voting booth. In casting their vote, the “X” denoting their preference must be clearly located next to the candidate/party of their choice, and each ballot paper must be stamped on both sides with a six-digit code. When votes are being counted, these criteria ensure validity.
Though the recount did unearth some differences in voting numbers, they were not significant; the final count was similar to the information listed on the Statements of Poll, the data by which election results must be verified. The initial results declared by Mingo had been read from a spreadsheet.
According to Guyanese law, the validity of votes can only be challenged through an election petition after the overall election result has been declared and a government is in place — at which point, an investigation will be done and the case tried in court based on the evidence presented. Such a challenge cannot be made during the process itself.
However, an APNU+AFC supporter challenged the interpretation of the term “validity” laid out in Article 177 (4) of Guyana's Constitution, an action which questioned the credibility of GECOM's recount results.
The argument hinges on Article 177 (2b), which says that where there are two or more presidential candidates,  if more votes are cast in favour of one than the other, the chair of GECOM shall declare the candidate with the greater number of votes to be president, “acting only in accordance with the advice of the Chief Election Officer.”
Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, however, — despite instructions from GECOM Chair Claudette Singh to include all the votes that were in keeping with the Statements of Poll — is of the opinion that a number of ballot boxes were corrupted. Contrary to what the law allows for, he has said that he's not prepared to include them in the count.
It is unclear how Lowenfield concluded that hundreds of thousands of votes were invalid, and accusations abound that this is another attempt by GECOM to rig the elections in favour of APNU+AFC. The court action contends that the constitutional parameters surrounding the election of a president allow for the term “votes cast” to be interpreted as “valid votes cast,” and seeks to limit the final declaration of results to only the votes that Lowenfield validated.
Guyana's Court of Appeal agreed with the interpretation that the wording in the Constitution reading “more votes are cast” means more valid votes are cast.
Based on the court's decision, Lowenfield prepared a new report, comprising votes that he deems to be valid. As many as 115,000 votes that had been counted as valid during the recount process were then subtracted, a move that paved the way for the governing coalition to claim victory.
This decision is at loggerheads with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling. As Guyana's final appellate court, the CCJ was asked to determine whether Guyana's Court of Appeal “rightly assumed and/or acted within the jurisdiction conferred by Article 177 (4) of the Constitution.” Its decision read:
Unless and until an election court decides otherwise, the votes already counted by the recount process as valid votes are incapable of being declared invalid by any person or authority. By the unnecessary insertion of the word ‘valid’, the Court of Appeal impliedly invited the CEO to engage unilaterally in an unlawful validation exercise. This trespassed on the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court established by Article 163. It was inconsistent with the constitutional framework for the CEO or GECOM to disenfranchise thousands of electors in a seemingly non transparent and arbitrary manner, without the due processes established in Article 163 and the Validation Act.
Citing the CCJ ruling, Guyana's acting CJ has since declared that only the results derived from the recount can be used to make a final declaration. Lowenfield was asked for a new report reflecting the same. He refused, and was given another written instruction to comply.
Instead, another applicant, Misenga Jones, approached the court to have the recount figures discarded and Mingo's original declaration for Region 4 used for the preparation of Lowenfield's report.
The rationale for this motion appears to be that in its ruling, the CCJ said the recount order itself was “in tension” with the Constitution and therefore couldn't stand — in which case, Mingo's declaration (along with the declarations for Guyana's nine other regions) would be the only other figures upon which to base the Chief Election Officer's report in accordance with Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act.
The CJ, however, ruled that those declarations were no longer valid since they had been overtaken by the recount figures. She also ruled, with regard to the validity of the recount itself as well as the constitutionality of GECOM having the ability to issue the recount order, that these matters were “res judicata” — a matter that had already been decided upon by both the Court of Appeal and the CCJ, and therefore could not be raised again in court.
Attorneys representing the opposition PPP have insisted that Jones’ challenge of the recount can only be approached through an election petition. As such, they have suggested that the Court of Appeal “respectfully step aside” and allow GECOM to finalise and declare the results of the election.
However, the court heard Jones’ appeal on July 25. A ruling is expected within the coming week.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Documentary exposes the threat of facial recognition surveillance in Serbia · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

One of the thousands of cameras conducting video surveillance in the streets of Belgrade, Serbia's capital. Photo by SHARE Foundation, used with permission.
This story is based on reporting by Global Voices’ content partner Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation.
A civic initiative called #hiljadekamera (‘thousands of cameras’ in English), has been raising concerns about the deterioration of privacy in Serbia resulting from the introduction of video surveillance system with advanced facial recognition in the capital Belgrade. As part of the campaign, a documentary with the same title, was released.
The Serbian government in cooperation with the Chinese technology company Huawei have been actively working on the implementation of the surveillance project, called Safe City, in Belgrade since 2019. This project involves the installation of thousands of smart surveillance cameras with object and facial recognition features. The cameras were procured as part of a bundle that included an artificial intelligence system used to analyse the feed captured by them.
Hiljade Kamera is led by SHARE Foundation, the leading Serbian digital rights group established in 2012 and a member of European Digital Rights network (EDRI). On its website (hiljade.kamera.rs), launched in May 2020, the initiative describes itself as ”a community of individuals and organisations that advocate the responsible use of surveillance technology.” It is pushing for the respect of the right to privacy and accountability in relation to the government surveillance program through a number of tactics, including crowd-mapping, community building, research, advocacy and content production.
SHARE Foundation produced a concise documentary summarizing the situation. The documentary is available in Serbian language, with English subtitles.
In the video, experts and representatives of the initiative and the Serbian National Data Protection Authority, raised concerns about the surveillance project.
Bojan Perkov, a policy researcher at SHARE Foundation noted in an article published on May 19, that the governments of Serbia and China have been working on “technical and economic cooperation” since 2009, when they signed their first bilateral agreement. Several years later, a strategic partnership forged between Serbia’s Ministry of Interior and Huawei, paving the way to the implementation of the project “Safe Society in Serbia”. Over the past several months, new cameras have been widely installed throughout Belgrade.
Perkov further questioned the legality of the program's implementation:
Even though the Ministry was obliged by law to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) of the new smart surveillance system, it failed to fulfil the legal requirements, as warned by civil society organisations and the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection.
The  documentary includes a contribution by Ella Jakubowska from European Digital Rights (EDRi), the leading network fighting for digital rights in Europe, who stressed the risks emanating from massive surveillance:
There’s a real sense of empowerment from being able to express yourself differently and suddenly, if you’re forced to conform, this composes a real threat to your identity. It really challenges your sense of dignity and who you are as a person and who you’re allowed to be in your society in a way that’s very dangerous.
This segment is part of an extensive interview conducted by SHARE Foundation which provides wider context of the threats of biometric mass surveillance to human rights and freedoms.
In surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition software, facial features are captured and analysed to identify an individual by matching the data on existing databases.
Ms Jakubowska noted:
Any society that looks to stratify people based on how they look, based on their health, based on their data and things about them, is an incredibly authoritarian and sinister society. The societies throughout history that have tried to separate and stratify people based on data about them are the sort of authoritarian societies that we want to stay as far away as possible from…
EDRI representative stressed that “the people need to hold those in power to account, to be calling out surveillance when they see it and contributing to civil society organisations and the activists that are trying to reveal these secretive rollouts.” Collaboration of all stakeholders and demand for public debate are key to preventing situations in which the power to decide is taken from citizens, and lies only in the hands of private companies or police forces, she added.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


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Iranians and Hongkongers connect through online campaign against China-Iran deal · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture of the comments on LIHKG's Instagram page. From LIHKG's facebook.
Using the hashtag #China_get_out_of_Iran, a large number of Iranian Instagram (IG) users have reached out to the IG page of Hong Kong's Reddit-like website LIGHK, drawing Hongkongers’ attention to a 25-year trade and military deal with Iran that China is proposing to sign.
Transcending language and cultural barriers by engaging in conversations with Iranian netizens, LIGHK users helped promote the campaign on various social media platforms.
Earlier this month, several media outlets reported that China and Iran had settled on the terms of a 25-year partnership — a deal that Forbes magazine suggested could be worth up to 400 billion United States dollars.
According to a draft of the agreement obtained by The New York Times, China will invest in infrastructure for Iran — including banking, telecommunications, ports, and railways — while Iran will provide a heavily discounted oil supply to China. The deal could have a tremendous impact on international relations and geopolitics, since it would allow China to establish its influence in the Middle East and Eurasia, thereby potentially threatening American interests.
Perhaps because of the Iranian government's heavy suppression of freedom of expression, as well as the language barrier between the two countries, very few media outlets have reported on how Iranian citizens have reacted to news of the partnership.
Yet, Iranians still try hard to speak out, primarily via social media avenues. LIGHK posted a screen capture of some of the comments on Twitter:
People from Iran are seeking help with #china_get_out_of_iran on our IG page.
●來源：#LIHKG#Iran #China #oil pic.twitter.com/1hGG1by3Tm
— LIHKG 討論區 (@lihkg_forum) July 23, 2020
Iranian Twitter user @h.vahidel tried to explain the deal between Iran and China to Hongkongers:
An island in Iran has been bought by China’s government and oil operation for 25 years. This is a kind of colonization.
Another Iranian social media user, @dearlostkarma, added:
Hey, iranian here. First i must apologise for some of the misunderstanding, the iranian officials are going into a contract with ccp that gives them military and land access for 25 years including ports and maritime routes, they have also agreed that china may occupy some islands in Persian Gulf. Fellow iranians who have protested against this deal with ccp were attacked by the 五毛 [WuMao are pro CCP trolls] and as they struggled to find ccp related forums they resorted to spam this message here…
The islands to which the Iranian netizens refer to are Kish and Qeshm. In 2016, China initiated a joint venture with Iran to construct an oil terminal in Qeshm. Some critics also believed that China planned to establish a military presence in the area by renting Kish Island.
In response to Iranian netizens’ plea to focus attention on the issue, LIHKG users called for actions of solidarity on social media by using a list of hashtags that included #فروش_ایران_ممنوع (meaning Iran is not for sale), #چین_برو_گمشو (meaning China get away), #No2IRChinaTreaty, and #China_get_out_of_Iran.
One Twitter user responded to the call and urged followers to join the online campaign:
Qeshm, an Island of Iran, is going to be occupied by China. Many brave Iranians are seeking for help from international. Therefore please help them! They are also victims of CCP's tyranny.#No2IRChinaTreaty #china_get_out_of_iran #فروش_ایران_ pic.twitter.com/kcA1Hl3JRw
— Fight for Freedom ?? (@camelohk50) July 24, 2020
Hong Kong pro-democracy district councilor Jordan Pang wrote:
Meanwhile, people in Iran are calling for #china_get_out_of_iran
China gave you Coronavirus, and now you are giving China your oil, come on Iran.
//When China Met Iran https://t.co/E2ZNXbH2XX
— Jordan Pang 彭家浩 (@kahosaiwan) July 23, 2020
Hong Kong student activist Sunny Cheung explained the deal:
1. Iranians are calling for a halt on Iran's economic and security deal with #China. China is cashing in on the economic distress of Iran with its debt-trap dimpolmacy. The experiences of HK people is proof that the #CCP never tends to honor its promises.#china_get_out_of_iran pic.twitter.com/qw6VsYxaEi
— Sunny Cheung 張崑陽 (@SunnyCheungky) July 24, 2020
Across both blogospheres, Hongkongers and Iranians were talking to each other, united on the issue:
Thank you. We stand with you ??
China tyranny wants to take over the world. The free world should stand united and be against China. #china_Get_out_of_Iran
Don’t forget to #BoycottChineseProducts pic.twitter.com/fc5BcpYH05
— Flora Chan ✈ 好想去旅行啊 (@FloraChanhkhk) July 24, 2020
Support Iranians! The world should stop the colonialism of China!#china_Get_out_of_Iran #No2IRChinaTreaty
— ?The Fruit of Hong Kong?? (@FruitHk) July 24, 2020
Currentlythe details of the 25-year partnership agreement have not been officially revealed as Iranian officials say they are still in the process of finalizing the details of the deal.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Satirical comedy skit lands four Ugandan comedians in jail · Global Voices
James Propa

A YouTube screenshot Bizonto Comedians appearing in the skit that got them arrested.
The Ugandan police arrested four comedians of the Bizonto Comedy Group at Radio Simba, where they work, on Friday, July 24.
The arrests came after the comedians released a YouTube comedy skit on July 15, that satirized ethnic and regional appointments in Uganda, and went viral on social media with over 20,000 views. In the video, they criticized the imbalance in government's appointments to top security, electoral and financial governance positions in the East African nation.
The comedians’ jab at lopsided, ethnically motivated government appointments caused a stir within some government circles when they noted that key security and finance positions are occupied by Ugandans from the Western region — and President Yoweri Museveni hails from the same region.
In a statement, the police accused the comedians of sectarianism and for “causing hatred and unnecessary apprehension.” The police also described the video as an “attack on government” and the comedians as “errant characters” capable of “grave threats to the security and stability of the country.”
All four comedians —Julius Sserwanja aka “Kidomoole,” Mbabaali Maliseeri aka “Uncle Luyuugumo,” Ssaabakaaki Peter aka “Omuzinyuuzi” and Gold Ki Matono aka “Opeto,” are currently detained at the Uganda Police Criminal Investigations Department, without charges and expected to be presented in court the week of July 27, when their charges will be read and their fates will be determined in terms of bail or prison time.
NTV Uganda reported on the case, with testimonies from Radio Simba employees who witnessed the arrests:
In the skit, the comedians began by criticizing Jane Ruth Aceng, Ugandan health minister, who was captured on camera speaking without a mask during a political rally on July 11, in the northern Uganda district of Lira, where she plans to run for a seat in parliament. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni made wearing masks in public mandatory due to the coronavirus and has banned all public gatherings like political rallies, religious gatherings and schools, to mitigate its spread.
The comedians satirically stated that they would be taking time to teach children about the leaders of their country and encourage them to pray as the country approaches the general elections slated for February 2021.
They specifically highlighted prominent security positions including Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi David, presidential security adviser Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Head Security Services Gen. Elly Tumwine, Head of Prisons Dr. Johnson Byabashaija and Deputy Inspector General of Police Sabiiti Muzeyi. They also went after finance positions such as Bank of Uganda Governor Mutebile Emmanuel, and the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance Muhakanizi Keith. The comedians also spoke about the Chairman of the Electoral Commission Byabakama Simon.
The four comedians asked Ugandans to educate their children about these people. They also encouraged citizens to pray for these leaders since they have a huge task ahead of organizing a free and fair election. The Bizonto Comedy Group satirically joked that these key government officials may have the daunting task of advising President Museveni to relinquish power should he lose in the upcoming elections.
Their arrest comes at a time when the government has also passed regulations to control the creative arts industry. These regulations have been perceived as punitive, wilting down a vibrant creative industry where Uganda's biggest opposition leader, Kyagulanyi Robert Sentamu, known by his stage name, Bobi Wine, got his start.
Bobi Wine has been denied the right to perform on stage for two years, ever since he won a seat in parliament. Wine is one of the major contenders against President Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for the past 35 years.
Ugandans have commented about the arrest of the four comedians online.
Bobi Wine described their arrest as hypocritical:
In Uganda, those who practice tribalism are arresting those who talk about tribalism and charging them with promoting tribalism. Hypocrites!#FreeBizonto#FreeTheArts
— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) July 24, 2020
Other comedians recorded a parody skit where they place the different leaders highlighted by Bizonto in different regions of the country to simply send out a message that the Bizonto comedians never lied in their skit.
Twitter user Segawa shared a collage showing the people that Bizonto talked about to further indicate that there were no lies or wrongdoing.
TRIBALISM: This is a rare picture #Bizonto‘s charge sheet. #FreeBizonto pic.twitter.com/pveieqWyxm
— National Unity Platform (@IAmSegawa) July 24, 2020
Twitter user Solomon Ayebare feels that leaders do let people speak up on regional imbalance in top government positions:
Problem is; my fellow westerners are scared of talking about regional imbalance yet they’re also suffering.
My friends, the people holding & controlling this country are less than 20. Just speak ba dear.#FreeBizonto
— Solomon Ayebare (@AyebareSolomon1) July 24, 2020
Twitter user Buffalo Soldier recalls how he was tortured because of his tribe:
“I was tortured by high-ranking security officers from W Uganda on account of my tribe; nothing was done to my torturers. It can't be that when I speak against or expose tribalism, I’m in the wrong. If you don't want us to speak against tribalism, don't practice it.”#FreeBizonto pic.twitter.com/XQrLeZ6Ww5
— Buffalo Soldier? (@BuffaloSoldierA) July 24, 2020
Media personality Douglas Lwanga also tweeted:
☝ one last thing before i say gdnite. On behalf of the Art Industry please #FreeBizonto pic.twitter.com/wZKgTMYBRJ
— Douglas Lwanga (@DouglasLwangaUg) July 24, 2020
In Uganda, it is common to beat up and arrest journalists, ban radio and TV shows, close media houses and attempt to shut anybody that comes out to speak against the wrongdoings of the current government.

author: James Propa


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Angolan pastors break away from the Universal Church of Brazil · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

The matter started in November 2019, when a group of Angolan pastors spoke out against the manner through which the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), one of the largest evangelical congregations in the world, managed its Angolan branch.
The Universal Church of Angola wants to separate from its Brazilian counterpart [YouTube TPA Screenshot] – 27 June 2020, taken by Dércio Tsandzana
At that time, Angolan pastors signed a manifesto accusing their Brazilian counterparts of corruption, racism, and denouncing their enforced vasectomy policy.
In June 2020, a group of Angolan pastors formally broke ties with the Brazilian Universal Church, forming the Universal Church of Angola. The group claims to have assumed control of 42 percent of the country's temples.
BBC Brazil reported that the Angolan branch of the Universal Church reacted with an official statement about the events:
Alguns templos no país foram invadidos por um grupo de ex-pastores desvinculados da Instituição por práticas e desvio de condutas morais e, em alguns casos, criminosas e contrárias aos princípios cristãos exigidos de um ministro de culto.
Some temples in the country have been invaded by a group of ex-pastors who have broken away from the Church by disregarding moral conduct which, in some cases, is criminal and against the Christian principles demanded from a ministry of worship.
The Angolan police was called to reinforce security in churches in various cities, and the Angolan authorities launched an investigation into the events.
On the June 23, pastor Agostinho Martins da Silva, spokesperson for the Founding Committee of the Universal Church in Angola, told the Jornal de Angola newspaper:
Os angolanos continuam a testemunhar actos de discriminação racial, castração, abortos forçados às esposas dos pastores angolanos e usurpação das competências da assembleia geral de pastores.
Tivemos uma reunião com a liderança brasileira, que prometeu fazer reformas em relação ao racismo, evasão de divisas, bem como a inserção de pastores angolanos e das respectivas esposas em postos de maior destaque na igreja, mas sem sucesso.
Os nacionais parecem estrangeiros e os estrangeiros tomaram o lugar dos nacionais no nosso próprio território.
Há pastores angolanos há mais de 18 anos na obra e com 40 anos de idade impedidos de casar por recusarem a vasectomia.
Angolans are still witnessing acts of racial discrimination, castration, enforced abortions of the wives of Angolan pastors, and the removal of power from the general assembly of pastors.
We had a meeting with the Brazilian leadership, which promised, without success, to bring about reforms relating to racism, the erasure of autonomy such as the inclusion of Angolan pastors and their respective wives in notable senior posts in the church.
The ones from this country are excluded, and the ones from abroad will take their place on our home turf.
There have been Angolan pastors in this job for over 18 years, who are 40 years old and prevented from getting married because they refused to have a vasectomy.
The group claims that the Angolan branch of Universal will be taken over by Bishop Valente Bezerra Luiz, who is the vice president of the Church, according to the group of angry pastors.
On June 26, the dissidents stated that churches would be closed throughout the country due to a lack of security for the pastors and congregations.
In a video published on Twitter on June 28, an Angolan pastor claims that Brazilians are promoting acts that violate human rights and the Constitution of the Angolan Republic:
Jovem da igreja universal Angola ??esta a reivindicar a reforma na igreja . pic.twitter.com/np7eFMcj8S
— Nelson fragão (@NFragao) June 27, 2020
A young man from the Angolan universal church ?? demands its reform pic.twitter.com/np7eFMcj8S
— Nelson fragão (@NFragao) June 27, 2020
Pastores da Igreja Universal expulsos dos templos em Angola.
Foram colocados pra correr, muitos estão na rua.
Querendo voltar para Brasil.
É né, charlatões pic.twitter.com/5qRJBupAM0
— Pя๏ƒэ†ล ʟʊɨʐǟ̃օ ☭ (@NeloSohn) June 27, 2020
Pastors from the Universal Church are expelled from Angolan temples. They were prepared to leave, many are in the street. Hoping they go back to Brazil. Charlatans pic.twitter.com/5qRJBupAM0
— Pя๏ƒэ†ล ʟʊɨʐǟ̃օ ☭ (@NeloSohn) June 27, 2020
On July 6, Agência Pública, an investigative journalism organisation from Brazil, outlined that Edir Macedo attributes the “coup” in Angola to two Brazilian ex-bishops:
Em uma live anunciada como “meditação com pastores” publicada nas redes sociais no sábado, 27 de junho, o líder máximo da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD), Edir Macedo, culpou os ex-bispos brasileiros João Leite e Alfredo Paulo por um “golpe” em Angola, que teria levado, há 15 dias, religiosos africanos a se rebelar e assumir o controle de 220 dos cerca de 300 templos da instituição no país.
In a stream referred to as a “meditation with pastors”, and broadcast on social media on Saturday June 27, the highest leader of the Universal Church (IURD), Edir Macedo, blamed the Brazilian ex-bishops João Leite and Alfredo Paulo for the “coup” in Angola, which is estimated to have led religious Africans to rebel [against the church] and take control of 220 of the almost 300 of the institution's temples in the country 15 days ago.
Founded in Brazil in the late 1970s, the Universal arrived in Angola at the beginning of the 1990s and is today one of the largest religious congregations in the African country.
Universal owns RecordTV, a Brazilian communications network with branches in 150 countries, including Angola.
In 2013, Universal had its activities suspended in Angola during February and March after ten people died from asphyxiation after being crushed during a service at the Estádio da Cidadela football stadium, which was significantly over-capacity.
In 2019, researcher Teresa Cruz e Silva reported that the Universal Church entered Mozambique in 1992 in a context of crisis after the civil war, which contributed to the large number of people joining the church.
Similarly, other conflicts are known to be taking place in other Portuguese-speaking African countries such as in Mozambique and São Tomé e Príncipe.

author: Dércio Tsandzana