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Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan tighten the screws on media freedom · Global Voices
Paolo Sorbello

Spyware and media control mechanisms are restricting access to information in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Photo credit: Blogtrepreneur (CC BY 2.0).
Being a journalist in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is becoming increasingly difficult. Just this month, foreign journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka was denied entry into Uzbekistan, journalists and activists were targeted by state security services in Kazakhstan, and governments used new ‘data localization’ regulations as instruments of arbitrary censorship.
Pikulicka is now back in Poland. The journalist, who was officially accredited in the country and had obtained permission to live in Uzbekistan for the past three years, was rushed to the airport by security services after being denied entry at the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border. She was listed as persona non grata and banned from the country.
The ban comes after months of pressure on Pikulicka, who works as a freelance journalist and is writing a book about Uzbekistan. In February, her accreditation renewal was denied and she publicly accused a Foreign Ministry official of sexual harassment and pressure. The ministry later backtracked, apologized, and accredited the journalist. In June, however, Pikulicka was again subject to similar pressure.
Pikulicka said this incident reflects a trend in Uzbekistan, which President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has concealed with his plans for reform. “Unfortunately, this is what the second term of Mirziyoyev's government is going to be,” she told Eurasianet.
Yet, the decision seems to be definitive. “The Uzbek authorities have not yet disclosed the reason for my entry ban, but I know that the Polish Embassy sent an official request for information, and we are still waiting for an answer,” Pikulicka told Podrobno.uz in an interview.
In her interview, Pikulicka highlighted the obstacles she faced in the lengthy, stressful process for press accreditation in Uzbekistan. In other contexts, spanning from Lebanon to Afghanistan, the authorities had been less demanding.
After the ban, she underscored the unpredictability of her fate, as she was never warned of being under scrutiny. “I was never stopped by the police — no one told me that I was breaking any laws,” Pikulicka said to Podrobno.uz.
On November 23, Apple filed a lawsuit against the Israel-based NSO Group, the software company behind the spyware that was used to target journalists, activists, and politicians around the world. The Pegasus Project investigation in July 2021 unveiled the pervasive nature of state-sponsored surveillance globally.
At the same time, Apple sent emails to its users who might have been targeted by the Pegasus spyware. Aisana Ashim, the founder of the online magazine The Village Kazakhstan, posted the email she received online, which said that “[state-sponsored attackers] are likely targeting you individually because of who you are or what you do.” Dozens of other journalists and activists reported receiving the same email from Apple.
Just weeks earlier, Kazakhstan's government claimed that it had reached an agreement with Meta, formerly known as Facebook, which will allow it to access the social media's content reporting system.
Meta, however, denied the claim, saying that their policies are consistent for all countries.
Earlier this year, Kazakhstan adopted new legislation on “data localization” that would require social media companies to remove content flagged by the local authorities as potentially harmful for children within 24 hours. Companies that fail to comply could have their services shut down.
Officials justified the draft law by claiming it would protect children's rights.
In the past, internet giants have shown resistance to such content monitoring and control measures, but crafty local laws could become insurmountable obstacles in the future.
Data localization has become a hot topic in Central Asia.
On October 24, Mirziyoyev won his second presidential election with 80 percent of the votes. Observers said the election lacked real competition and highlighted several procedural violations.
Days later, on November 3, the country's main communications regulatory agency, Uzkomnazorat, blocked access to several online services for not having a registered office in the country. Popular messaging apps and social media providers such as Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn were not accessible for about one hour.
Mirziyoyev swiftly fired the head of Uzkomnazorat for his “unilateral and erroneous” decision. Just months ago, however, the president had signed a new data localization policy into law, demanding that online service providers physically store the personal data of Uzbek citizens in the country.
While the restored access to social media was hailed as a “victory” by some observers, the incident looks more like a power move by Mirziyoyev, a way of letting the public know that he is in control of the country's communication networks and access to popular social media apps.

author: Paolo Sorbello


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A century of Etel Adnan: a mountain who leaves behind mountains · Global Voices
Raseef22

Aside from her love for mountains which were strongly present in her paintings, Etel's artworks were also bright and vibrant in colour. Image published under license CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
This article was first published by Raseef22 on November 24. An edited version is republished as part of a partnership with Global Voices.
Etel Adnan, iconic Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and internationally acclaimed visual artist, died on November 14 at the age of 96, peacefully at her home in Paris. She leaves behind her longtime partner, renowned Syrian Lebanese artist Simone Fattal.
Over a lifetime that spanned almost a century, Adnan had multiple lives, through her work in journalism, teaching, writing, painting and poetry. She had had a profound impact on a multitude of people, and an outpouring of tributes, memories and condolences continue on social media, as her life is celebrated, her memory cherished, and her loss mourned by many all over the world.
‘She Gave Us Confidence’: Gallerists, Curators, and Friends Remember the Trailblazing Artist and Poet #EtelAdnan, Who Has Died at 96 https://t.co/zhkisCCWJ0 @artnet pic.twitter.com/uptDmYRj2N
— Women in the Arts (NMWA) (@WomenInTheArts) November 18, 2021
The countless facets of her career come in part from her multiple identities, as she grew up in a mixed household in the city of Beirut – which she held dear to her heart-, with her Greek Christian mother from Smyrna (now the city of Izmir) and her Syrian Muslim father from Damascus, who was a high-ranking Ottoman officer. Her exposure to multiple languages and faiths from a very young age became a formative aspect of her identity, as did her time in Lebanon.
“Identity is also a matter of choice. It's not something hard, like a stone. We are also what we want to be. We make choices.”
RIP #EtelAdnan
— Tamsin Omond (@tamsinomond) November 15, 2021
She considered her age a “gift of the heavens” for the perspective that it offered her. In her nineties, she claimed to have a unique perspective on the country of Lebanon, because she was born in 1925, so close to the founding of the Lebanese state in 1926. In an interview with Ricardo Karam in 2019, she said she considered herself a guardian of the memories of Lebanon, recalling growing up in a cosmopolitan Lebanon, witnessing the many periods of its history. She described seeing the period of French rule, the World War, and the first generation of women who were able to swim, and who were able to work; she witnessed the liberation of the women of her generation.
RIP Etel Adnan, your memory lives in your words “Is memory produced by us, or is it us? Our identity is very likely whatever our memory decides to retain. But let’s not presume that memory is a storage room. It’s not a tool for being able to think, it’s thinking, before thinking”
— Omar Al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi) November 14, 2021
Actively engaged in the liberation of her generation, she was among the first Lebanese women to work in an office. At 16 years old, she worked at a press office, where she described seeing the end of the war.
Adnan painted liberty through her vibrant canvases, dabbing and spreading saturated colours of vitality with her palette knife. She believed that liberty was a gift that had to be earned. For her, love existed between two liberties. Her ultimate liberty was her ability to maintain her childlike spirit and her ability to dream. In the same interview, she described her dreams for a better world:
My dreams are not for me, but for my environment, I dream of a Lebanon that is at peace with itself, a Lebanon at the level of the quality of the people that live in this country.
Throughout her life and work Adnan felt a responsibility and affinity towards Lebanon and the Arab world, constructing her mountains around them.
Etel Adnan was educated in French schools in Beirut and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. She later moved to the US for  postgraduate studies in philosophy at UC Berkeley and Harvard. She taught philosophy and avidly wrote poems, essays, and plays, to wide critical acclaim.
Adnan returned to Lebanon in 1972, where she worked as a cultural editor for two cultural journals, Al Safa and L’Orient le Jour, and met Simone Fattal in Beirut. With Fattal, she fled the civil war to Paris, where she wrote her award-winning novel “Sitt Marie-Rose,” which has become a classic of war literature. Simone Fattal describes her writing as “incisive, fearless, and fierce,” also an apt description of her character and work across disciplines.
In an interview with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MoMA) in 2018, she described her first encounter with painting at the age of 20, when she went to study in France. She went to the Louvre and described being so “innocent towards art” that it impressed her beyond what she could dream of.  “I considered myself lucky not to have contact with art before,” she said. “It hit me full strength!”
Though she described loving drawing at school, it wasn’t until her mid-thirties that Etel Adnan began to paint; the visual arts at once connected with her writing. She saw writing as drawing and drawing as writing, the essence of both a form of photography of the soul, created for others in an ongoing dialogue.
Adnan felt most at home in the terrain of an urban setting surrounded by nature. She described finding beauty in the urban natural environment of San Francisco, where she would visit Redwood Forest of the Muir Woods Yosemite National Park and her mountain, Mount Tamalpais, which became a central source of inspiration for her work. It reminded her of Beirut, a capital city close to the mountains. In her writings, drawings, and paintings, mountains were sensual beings, regarded in confluence with the skies and earth, erupting in volcanoes.
The moon darkened at dawn
the mountain quivered
with anticipation
and the ocean was double-shaded:
the blue of its surface with the
blue of flowers
mingled in horizontal water trails
there was a breeze to
witness the hour
—Etel Adnan#EtelAdnan https://t.co/QL2B0jCSRG pic.twitter.com/1QSc5T8WbA
— Dr. NelofarIkram (@dr_nelofarikram) November 17, 2021
Mount Tamalpais recurred often in her paintings, each time in different colours, shapes, and forms. Speaking of Tamalpais to Simone Fattal, she said that the process of painting and writing gave her the implicit certitude of what the mountain was, of what she could see, but ascribed an autonomy of being to both the mountain and her depictions of it.
She employed a bright, rich palette that she attributed to her identity as a ‘Californian artist,’ finding joy in constructing things in colour. As a child, Adnan wanted to be an architect. Upon closer inspection, her paintings reveal what Simone Fattal called the “vocabulary of an architect,” which can be seen in her approach to carefully constructed compositions.
Through paintings, drawings, tapestries and leporellos (small booklets folded in concertina), Adnan wove stories and poems in her signature abstract language of light. In an interview with Apollo magazine, she describes evoking an internal landscape: “a landscape that is in me.” Exhibitions of her work have been mounted in institutions all over the world, including the SF MoMA; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern; Institute de Monde Arabe, Paris; and The Serpentine Galleries in London. She has exhibited at Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany; the Sharjah Biennial, UAE; and the Whitney Biennial in New York.
Adnan’s work is currently on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, in the exhibition ‘Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure’ and at Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Hamburg, in an exhibition of new works on the occasion of the 2021 Lichtwark Prize to be awarded to Adnan posthumously on November 18th.
In a sense of commitment and responsibility to the world, Adnan gave generously of her time, her gifts and herself, with an increasing sense of urgency towards her final years. She wrote of the universe, of life, death, nature and cities, and mountains and women. In the mornings after her death, the universe mourns its self-proclaimed “best friend.”
Adnan believed that memory works against death, the collective memory acting in what she described as a mad form of denial in disguise (la folie déguisée). In her interview with Ricardo Karam, when he asked her how she wanted to be remembered, she exclaimed that she wanted people “to remember that I love the world, that I loved the universe and being alive was a gift of the universe.”

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Artist Jasmine Thomas-Girvan taps into the ‘eternal connections’ of Black Caribbean ancestry · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

An art enthusiast takes in a piece in Jasmine Thomas-Girvan's Turntable Series, during her solo exhibition at at Kunstinstituut Melly in The Netherlands, October 2021. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
The lush, tree-filled backyard of Jamacian-born, Trinidad-based artist Jasmine Thomas-Girvan‘s urban childhood home was to have an impact on her creative process that she could never have imagined when she first received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the groundbreaking Parsons School of Design in the 1980s. Over the course of her long career, her work has expanded from amazingly intricate jewellery pieces to large-scale installations that merge sculpture with elements of multimedia.
In her latest solo exhibition at Kunstinstituut Melly in The Netherlands, “Bathed in Sacred Fire,” Thomas-Girvan takes those natural elements that made such an impression on her in her youth and uses them to launch a discussion about Caribbean identity. Her art deftly strips bare the region's traumatic colonial past, presenting it in such hauntingly beautiful and empowering ways that you dare not look away, lest you miss a precious and powerful detail.
An art enthusiast takes a photo of Jasmine Thomas-Girvan's “Real Princess”, which features a cedar chest combined with plexiglass, mirror, antique crystal, pig bones, coconut shells, paper and lace. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
Neither is her commentary monolithic. Instead, it oozes the kind of magical realism that allows us to connect with experiences of indigenous Africa, with the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery, all the way to postcolonial sociopolitical issues and race relations at play in the Americas. None of it feels preachy; instead, each piece portrays tangibility and truth in a very personal way. It's a raw, tender examination of ancestry with a distinctly contemporary artistic approach.
Thomas-Girvan's love of literature adds further context to the exhibit, as quotes by poets like Olive Senior and Octavio Paz hover on the wall space behind certain pieces. Via email, I interviewed the artist about her vision for this exhibit and what she wants people to take away from it.
Artist Jasmine Thomas-Girvan (in black with headtie) in conversation with Annalee Davis (in red) and Holly Bynoe (far right) of the contemporary art collective Sour Grass, which curated the exhibition. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): One of the things I love most about your art is that it’s fearless. You’re not afraid to experiment and take risks, whether it be with materials, subject matter, or even how you combine them to make a statement. Where does that come from and how does it inform your art—especially when you’re trying to say something difficult?
Jasmine Thomas-Girvan (JTG): James Hillman said, ‘The great task of any culture is to keep the invisibles attached.’ Trying to locate the ‘invisibles’ excite me! There are so many questions for which I am seeking understanding and so this is my work. I want to rigorously delve into this challenge. I am interested in the insidious psychic dissonance of the colonial project and, as a believer in lifelong learning, being satisfied with the status quo for me is to surrender to fear. If you only create from a comfortable familiar place you don’t grow. Without taking risks and pushing boundaries, my art would remain stagnant and my creative spirit would have been wasted on my fears.
This curiosity feeds my experimentation.I feel frustration with the gulf in my knowledge of our heritage. My most recent work considers the indigenous heritage of the wider Caribbean, particularly Taino and African cosmology. This work is a tool for reflection, exhuming the forgotten mysteries of the Indigenous and African presence by creating visual poetry in sculpture that is saturated with metaphors, motifs and materials that celebrate our First Peoples. I purposefully use materials [feathers, shells, stone, gourds, seeds, wood, bones and architectural detritus] that I find in the environment to reinforce my connection to specific geography.
Jasmine Thomas Girvan's ‘Terra Preta,’ which uses an array of materials, including Queen Palm fronds, macaw feathers, bicycle wheels, wood, silk, recycled cast iron, bronze, ribbon and an ostrich egg. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
JMF: You see artistic potential in found or natural elements, combining hard and soft materials in a breathtaking way and skilfully making seemingly dissonant materials bend to your will. Tell us about the process of working with such a disparate range of elements.
JTG: I often feel I am bending to the will of the materials, as often the materials present themselves in alignment with my practice. Over time, I have learnt to be patient and to allow works to evolve organically. This comes from a deep respect for materials, process and the acceptance of failure as an integral part of this process. The use of seemingly disparate materials is faithful to our hybrid stories. I believe the ‘dissonant’ material choices help magnify these complex narratives. Audre Lorde‘s words, “[…] for the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house,” come to mind. I am always looking for alternative implements to communicate things which are idiosyncratic, ephemeral, enigmatic and incomprehensible to ‘rectify the wilful blindness of colonialism.’ I seek appropriate materials to resolve my investigations. […] I have learnt to respect the integrity of disparate elements and to trust their innate offerings. […] Our history is dissonant, so the redeeming/redreaming of it should reflect this tension—a tension demanding us to change the context by reshaping the interpretation of historical truths.
Jasmine Thomas-Girvan's ‘Dreaming Backwards’ table, with its glass centrepiece. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
JMF: As a Caribbean person, the subject matter feels familiar to me. How much do regional folklore and oral tradition contribute to this, and what have non-regional audiences been taking away?
JTG: Yes, the work has its taproots in Caribbean history, folklore, spirituality and music. The colonisers tried to annihilate anything that posed a threat to their dominion, ruthlessly eliminating our culture in overt and covert ways. But we not only survived, but thrived. This was possible through remote realms over which they had no control—[traditions and rituals that] help[ed] to preserve our culture. Though the details are specific to the Caribbean, the archetypes are replicated across cultures and geographies, so people identify with the universal themes […] in the pieces. Maybe that is the point: that people will see the similarities, appreciate the differences and emerge with a better understanding of self and humanity. I see the work as a trigger of experience, and my hope is that viewers will be motivated to seek out further information.
JMF: Which is your favourite piece in this exhibit and why?
JTG: I was going say I have no favourites, but on reflection I would have to say the three sculptures: ‘Scanning every horizon,’ ‘The Field Beyond,’ and ‘Inside the Labyrinth-Gyan Chaupar.’ These wax models were very badly damaged in transit to the foundry and seemed beyond redemption! But I could not allow many months of work to be negated by Babylon! I was determined to complete the series. The process by which they came into being gave deeper significance to the title ‘Bathed in Sacred Fire.’ The reimagining, remaking, reconstituting the pieces conjured up Derek Walcott‘s words from Fragments of Epic Memory: ‘Antillean Art is the restoration of our shattered histories, our shards, our vocabulary, our archipelago becoming a synonym for pieces broken off from the original continent.’
The possibility of seeing beyond the immediate catastrophe and bringing all energies to bear on repair and wholeness, literally piecing together the shattered fragments that represent the Epic memory—our heritage, in the present reaching into the past for healing—was profound. As I sat working in the busy foundry workshop in Tiel, the radio was blasting European pop music until suddenly, I was reassured by the mystical, familiar voice of Bob Marley singing, ‘Don’t worry bout a ting […] every lickle ting gonna be alright,’ mysteriously reaching out over the airways, through time and space, connecting past and present, the natural mystic, the balm of ancestral guidance. I will never forget the synchronicity of [that] moment!
Holly Bynoe views Jasmine Thomas-Girvan's ‘Ancestral Anguish.’ Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
JMF: Your piece “Ancestral Anguish,” for instance, has beauty and power in pain. In a region that finds it difficult to talk productively and dispassionately about colonialism and its effects, how can we use art and its spaces to begin to have useful discussions that carry through into how we operate in Caribbean societies?
JTG: There are many deeply entrenched attitudes from our colonial past that continue to poison how we view ourselves and our citizenry. ‘Ancestral Anguish’ speaks specifically to the disappearance of young girls in Jamaica. Who is preying on these young ones? Some things have not changed and the trafficking of black bodies continues. We need to not only honestly interrogate these exploitative systems but courageously situate ourselves within it. ‘The Table’ exposes the exploitation of blackbodies in the context of the luxury that it afforded slaveowners. The rise of European economies was only possible because of the vulgar profits derived from Plantation Slavery. As colonial subjects, our tastes and aspirations are still intimately tethered to the habits of the plantation [and] our addiction to a particular lifestyle […] continue to enable those exploitative systems.
Students examine Jasmine Thomas-Girvan's ‘Dreaming Backwards’ table. Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn, courtesy Kunstinstituut Melly, used with permission.
JMF: Your use of glass fascinates me. There’s one photograph of “The Table,” which shows the glass figure bent forward at an angle where her head appears to be cut off—but the head in the centre of “Ancestral Anguish,” directly behind it, dramatically fills this negative space with a rippling red aura. The crystalline nature of the glass offers an almost eternal connection and continuity between the two pieces, yet it is also fragile. Are there parallels here with the bigger discussion of the colonial legacy?
JTG: This is what really charges an Art work—when the viewer animates it with their own eyes, presence and heart tapping into those ‘eternal connections.’ The glass figure is bowed looking inwards, suggesting introspection. Under the skirt is a delicate glass web under which Anansi is sheltering. The glass represents our fragile but formidable selves, where Anansi prevails. What you are describing is the replacement of the individual head with that of our ancestors, a potent magnetic field emanating into infinity. This rippling aura that you describe is for me ‘all the restless wayward spirits of all the aeons’ that Wilson Harris speaks of so eloquently in Palace of the Peacock.
[He says they] ‘are returning to roost in our blood. And we have to start all over again where they began to explore. We’ve got to pick up the seeds again where they left off. […] We’ve got to face it. Or else it will be too late to stop everything and everyone from running away and tumbling down. And then all the kings and all the kings’ men won’t be able to put us together again. This new independence is insubstantial top-soil; the real battle is below.’
JMF: This is not a sugar-coated exhibit, but it does feel hopeful. How do you believe we will overcome?
JTG: The real battle is below and within.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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As shorebird populations drastically decline in the French Caribbean, hunting traditions persist · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

The Hudsonian Godwit, one of the species of particular concern when it comes to shorebird hunting in the French Caribbean. Photo by Tom Benson on Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Some traditions die hard, even when times and circumstances change. On some Caribbean islands, shorebird hunting, which dates back to the colonial era, is one of these long-standing customs, particularly in the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The practice also takes place—albeit to a lesser extent—on the English-speaking island of Barbados, in the eastern Caribbean, while on the South American mainland, shorebird hunting is most prevalent in French Guiana and Suriname.
Shorebirds come in all shapes and sizes, from the stately Whimbrel and the leggy Black-necked Stilt, to the tiny Least Sandpiper and the elegant Stilt Sandpiper. However, many shorebirds are extraordinary in one particular way: they are long-distance travellers. Aerodynamically designed, a number of species have been recorded making flights longer than 5,000 kilometres, non-stop. They rest and refuel in Caribbean wetlands and coastal areas during their autumn migration. The wetlands also provide shelter and, for some, a home for the winter. Yet, thousands are shot by hunters for sport during this time.
In the French Caribbean, the journeys of many come to a tragic end. Regional NGO BirdsCaribbean tells the sad story of Machi and Goshen, two birds who were tracked via satellite. Having successfully avoided Hurricane Maria during their migration, the pair were shot dead in the same swamp in Guadeloupe. This was a wake-up call to conservationists across the Americas:
Machi and Goshen were two Whimbrels fitted with satellite tracking tags by scientists at the Center for Conservation Biology. We learned that these two sturdy birds took detours around the violent tropical storms of 2011 and made their way further south through the eastern Caribbean. Machi, in particular, had taken some extraordinary trips in his lifetime, clocking many thousands of miles since he was first tagged in 2009. But in 2011 – just ten years ago now – a sad fate awaited them. News broke that Machi had been shot by hunters at a swamp in Guadeloupe. The news of Goshen’s death, in the same area, swiftly followed. They had weathered the storms, only to end their lives at the barrel of a gun.
Soon after, BirdsCaribbean and others organised a letter-writing campaign to decision-makers in the French government, with hundreds calling for increased regulation of hunting in the French Caribbean. This effort was fairly successful, in that it resulted in tighter restrictions in Guadeloupe, including hunting regulations that now include bag limits for each species. These regulations are now reviewed, adjusted and set by decree for each French overseas territory, annually.
This year, an alliance of conservation groups came together in opposition to the 2020-2021 decrees on hunting in the French islands. Over 1,000 letters from concerned scientists and the general public were sent in, requesting the suspension of hunting of the Hudsonian Godwit—a species of particular concern—in Guadeloupe. They also asked for the hunting of 10 shorebirds and four songbirds, all with poor conservation status, to be suspended in Martinique. A judge partially upheld the requests.
BirdsCaribbean recently produced a video (WARNING: it is, at times, distressing to watch) in English, French, and Spanish, highlighting the problem.
The situation in Barbados is better for the birds and those who care for them since shorebird hunting has been in decline since the 1990s. The island has few remaining natural wetlands, and most of the “shooting swamps” developed by hunters in the early days have closed. According to BirdsCaribbean, it appears that younger Barbadians are not interested in hunting, which is also becoming costly. In addition, the Barbados Wildfowlers Association has been self-regulating with harvest limits. The island's first “no shooting” wetland refuge, the Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge, was established in 2008. Efforts are also being made to rehabilitate the Graeme Hall swamp as a nature sanctuary and the island's first national park.
Still, BirdsCaribbean has expressed deep concern:
Here are two facts that are indisputable: Firstly, shorebirds are declining at an unprecedented rate. Taking the example of the Lesser Yellowlegs, its numbers have fallen by 60-70 percent since the 1970s!
Secondly, we believe that we can make a difference if conservationists and hunters work together to build a well-managed, sustainable hunting program. Historically, hunters have played an important role in conservation; for example, the nonprofit Ducks Unlimited has worked with landowners and federal and state agencies to conserve, restore, and manage millions of hectares of wetland habitats for ducks, other wildlife, and people. The dialogue among all stakeholders must continue. We all know that regulations and monitoring are essential, going forward, or the steady decline in shorebirds, most of which are migratory, will continue with disastrous results. So, enforcement of the laws that already exist, and development of future ones, is vital.
There is always a considerable human dimension to conservation. Caribbean shorebirds, whose numbers are declining so precipitously, already have enough man-made pressures to contend with: chief among them is climate change, accompanied by pollution and habitat destruction through tourism and other coastal developments. Hunting is, at least, one challenge that can be curtailed, with greater cooperation and changes in attitudes.
Disclaimer: The author is an avid birder and the secretary of BirdsCaribbean.

author: Emma Lewis


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Digital panaceas for an analog world · Global Voices
Khabar Lahariya

Daily updates and status reports of the Covid-19 situation had to be uploaded via an official Government app. Photo by Meera Devi for Khabar Lahariya. Used with permission.
This article was written by the Khabar Lahariya staff based on investigative reports by Chambal Media, supported by Check Global. Video reports by Meera Devi.
Digital panaceas for a still analog world has been the Indian government’s favourite way of ceding culpability for crisis situations. Fleeting and one-size-fit-all policies and technologies are put in place without considering existing inequalities and the unintended impact on different communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a greater reliance on digital technologies and an increased emphasis on digitisation in India. Several basic services moved online. The urban-rural divide in digital adoption is stark and obvious, but it is worse in rural areas, especially for rural women, who are often marginalized within mainstream discourses on law, policy, and the media.
Manikpur, UP: Kol adivasis travel to nearby cities via train to sell firewood, a primary source of their livelihood, which took a major hit during the nationwide lockdown. Photo by Meera Devi for Khabar Lahariya. Used with permission.
The local population of over 40,000 Kol Adivasis of Manikpur block in Chitrakoot district of Bundelkhand primarily depend for their livelihoods on gathering firewood from the forests and selling it in nearby urban centres. Kol women carry heavy bundles of chopped firewood on trains that are the lifeline of this trade.
The wood is sold by the women in the nearby markets of Allahabad, Banda, Karwi, and Atarra, all towns and commercial centres in Uttar Pradesh.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit India in March 2020, train services came to a halt, disrupting thousands of livelihoods and the flow of income, food, medicines, and other essential supplies to the most vulnerable populations of the region. In spite of the trains resuming their services in November 2020, the situation on the ground did not improve for the Kol women. In an attempt to jumpstart activities, the government mandated that all train bookings be conducted only online.
When trains resumed in November, Kol adivasis found it difficult to adapt to the online booking system without smartphones and the digital know-how to navigate the system. Photo by Meera Devi for Khabar Lahariya. Used with permission.
But this effort renders invisible the plight of the Kol community, for whom the online booking portal is as inaccessible as it is nightmarish. Most people from the community did not have a smartphone to book tickets online, and, if they did have a phone, they lacked the technological know-how. Data shows that less than 3 in 10 women in rural India have ever used the internet in their lives. Alternatively, if they wanted to purchase a physical ticket from the counter, they had to travel first from their homes to Bargarh or Manikpur station by public transport and travel to these stations cost them INR 60 (USD 0.80) and at least 2–3 hours of travel time.
Meera Devi from Khabar Lahriya, an independent feminist grassroots news network, reports that the advent of the online booking system has severely disrupted the daily schedule of Koi Adivasis like Rajkumari. She must walk 10 km in one direction to attempt to book a ticket, failing which she must resume the long walk home, only to repeat the whole process again the next day.
“The travelling ticket examiner, on each train, says that I am stuck in my old ways, but what am I supposed to do when I don’t have a phone? If we aren't able to sell the wood, we sit hungry,” laments Bhondi, a woodcutter from Rampuria village in the same area.
The Kol women woodcutters of Manikpur get INR 120–150 (USD 1.6–2.0) per bundle of wood, each of which weighs around 40–45 kg. Their labour is severely undervalued and ends up costing them more than it's worth, especially when aggravated by their additional tussles with the new online ticketing system.
Since the procurement of smartphones was delayed due to the pandemic, ASHA workers without one had to borrow phones from their family members in order to complete their daily tasks. Photo by Meera Devi for Khabar Lahariya. Used with permission.
The local ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and Anganwadi workers of Banda district in Bundelkhand are grappling with how fast their own jobs are evolving in the government’s push for Digital India. ASHA and Anganwadi workers are the backbone of India’s rural health and care services and the primary points of contact for public health concerns within communities. This voluntary workforce of poorly paid, semi-literate women is India’s first line of defense against any local health crisis. In a context where the rural women’s workforce in India is shrinking from the impact of COVID, it seems counterintuitive for the state to push for alienating technologies that further disenfranchise these women. Within Banda district alone, there are over 1,705 Anganwadi centres and over 1,400 ASHA workers. With the COVID-19 surge across the country, ASHA and Anganwadi employees saw an increase in the demands of their job as last-mile healthcare providers and caregivers.
In another Khabar Lahariya report by Meera Devi, Renu Maurya tells us about her life as an Anganwadi worker during the pandemic:
We would start early in the morning, do house calls. They were giving us a daily target of twenty house calls. We would note down the details and bring back the data to the office. Apart from paying for the travel, I wasn't getting anything else. They didn’t care whether I ate or not.
In this case house calls refer to telephonic conversations with local people in villages for COVID-19 inspection, to check for symptoms and if they needed to be tested.
Gudiya, an ASHA worker in Banda tells us that they were called by authorities for briefings on how to manage quarantines in the village but were not given a mobile phone though it had become essential to the work of these centres during the pandemic. “They told me to manage on my own. I would use my husband or my son’s phone.”
“We have to send daily lists, send reports of any deliveries, and any and every kind of paperwork needs to be sent to our superiors using our phones. I borrow someone else’s phone. I have no other option, what can I do?” says Maya Devi, an ASHA worker from Chitrakoot.
Apart from an increase in workload, ASHA and Anganwadi workers had to face a lot of issues around limited data and connectivity. Photo by Meera Devi for Khabar Lahariya. Used with permission.
While some centres provided their employees with smartphones, even that process was not hassle-free. Renu Maurya says, “I pay for the phone from my own pocket. Now the data has become so expensive that I have to pay at least INR 200 (USD 2.66) for 28 days.”
Rukmini Devi, an Anganwadi worker, says: “For INR 5000 (USD 67) I can either buy a smartphone or feed my kids. There’s only so much I can do with INR 5000.”
Rukmini Devi’s choice between her children and a smartphone is not metaphorical: women are often forced to make the literal choice between diverting resources towards their own employment opportunities, or their families. Predictably, they are often forced to sacrifice their autonomy in favour of the household. This choice spells the end of any sort of financial independence for many women.
In several cases, these barriers to entry — albeit ‘digital’ — can mean the end of employment, education, and freedom for the already alienated women of rural India. While hurtling towards an increasingly digitised present, it's critical that we do not lose sight of those for whom both the past and future appear precarious.

author: Khabar Lahariya


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Jamaicans mourn the passing of human rights defender Nancy Anderson, who worked to assist the island’s most vulnerable citizens · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Jamaican Shanique Myrie at the Caribbean Court of Justice, with her attorney Nancy Anderson in the background. Anderson represented Myrie in this high-profile human rights abuse case, which she won. Photo by the Jamaica Gleaner, used with permission.
United States-born human rights activist, educator, and attorney-at-law Nancy Anderson died on November 29 in Kingston, Jamaica, after a short illness. A graduate of Michigan State University, the University of London, and the Norman Manley Law School, Anderson first came to Jamaica as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in 1969, spending a year as a teacher with the Ministry of Education. She stayed on, the island became her home and she eventually became a Jamaican citizen. She was admitted to practice as an attorney in Jamaica in 1981.
Attorney Nancy Anderson at an embassy workshop a few years ago in Jamaica. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
Perhaps in keeping with her life and legacy, Anderson passed away on International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, part of the 16 Days of Activism. One of Anderson’s key achievements was to help make legal services more widely available to the poor in Jamaica, as director of the Kingston Legal Aid Clinic from 1990 until her passing. After a stint in private practice, she became the executive director of the Legal Aid Council at Jamaica’s Ministry of Justice in 2002.
Making her mark as a compassionate and determined human rights advocate, Anderson served as legal officer at the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights—Jamaica's oldest human rights NGO—from 2003 until her death. In 2020, following a wave of public concern after reports of a large number of mentally ill inmates who had not been released from prison, she joined the Chief Justice's committee charged with resolving the issue in partnership with the Ministry of National Security:
(1/2) Yesterday, we officially opened the Medical Centre Infirmary at the Tamarind Farm Adult Correctional Centre. This facility is the first of its kind and is to house approximately 20 bed-ridden and infirmed inmates who are not eligible for release. pic.twitter.com/dsuoww3KkI
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) October 31, 2021
(2/2) This new facility follows a commitment made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. Horace Chang after the death of Noel Chambers at the Tower Street Adult Correction Centre (TSACC) in January. pic.twitter.com/YFLw15PKvt
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) October 31, 2021
In 2017, Anderson was physically attacked by a mentally ill inmate but said this would not deter her from her work; the year before, she received Jamaica's Order of Distinction.
Anderson participated in a number of major human rights cases in local and regional jurisdictions. She represented Shanique Myrie, who successfully sued the Barbadian government for unlawful detainment, in a high-profile case heard at the Caribbean Court of Justice. In addition to serving as counsel in the Appeal Court of Belize, having been admitted to practice there in 2015, Anderson assisted in compiling law reports for Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean, and had been due to appear in the Jamaican Court of Appeal on the day of her passing.
Lawyer and radio talk show host Jodi-Ann Quarrie shared how, as a young lawyer, Anderson opened her eyes to the plight of prisoners deemed “unfit to plead,” who were left in the prison system—including the highly publicised case of Noel Chambers:
It was Nancy Anderson that allowed me to even know that such horrors existed. She took me to Tower Street to meet with 1 such man. It was a defining moment in my life. I've worked with her for years since then. Rest in eternal peace, Ms. Anderson. ??? https://t.co/AZ64HnUbx2
— Jodi-Ann Quarrie (Yoo Need More Jodi) (@yooneedmorejodi) November 29, 2021
A group of women’s rights advocates paid tribute to Anderson via WhatsApp, recalling her networking activities with several lobby groups, as well as her support for women’s rights, disability rights, and mental health. Prominent attorney, women's activist and former Jamaican high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Aloun N’Dombet Assamba, told Global Voices:
I met Nancy in 1979 when I went to Norman Manley Law School. She had been in Jamaica for a few years by then. She was associated with [attorneys] Crafton Miller & Co. as a Legal Clerk all through our law school days, and joined his firm on being called to the bar […] I used to see her in London, as she always took her moot court team to visit me on their way back to Jamaica after their matches […] She was so proud of her work tutoring the team as part of her job at the law school. She was a very proud advocate for human rights […] She applied to become a Jamaican as she loved the country and had no intention to go back to live in the U.S.
Anderson was very involved in other areas, including election monitoring. She served as a director of Citizens’ Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) from 2000. CAFFE tweeted their tribute to her, observing:
Miss Anderson was never afraid of taking on difficult tasks or reluctant to give her services free of costs to the poor when the need existed and the cause was worthwhile.
Anderson's willingness to serve—and to share her knowledge—knew no bounds. She served on advisory boards and review tribunals related to HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and witness protection, and was part of the Justice Training Institute, chaired by the Chief Justice, from 2010 to 2016.
One young lawyer expressed his admiration for Anderson's life of service:
Nancy fought relentlessly for poor people and dedicated her life to service … what a way to be remembered man
— Less (@_lessismaur) November 29, 2021
Mentoring students became one of Anderson's great passions. She taught advocacy and ethics at Norman Manley Law School from 2009 until her death, and was especially involved in the school's moot court team, which met with great success as the global winner for four successive years. She served as a judge at the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition in Geneva in 2017, and at the Jessup Competition of the International Law Students Association in 2018 and July, 2021.
On Twitter, there was an immediate outpouring of emotional tributes from Jamaicans, especially from young lawyers whom she had mentored and inspired. Many simply remembered her as kind and selfless.
Norman Manley Law School students tweeted:
The NMLSSA extends our deepest condolences to the Family and Friends of Ms. Nancy Anderson.⁰
Time can never fade the memories we have created with Ms. Anderson. She has touched our lives abundantly. We will never forget her invaluable impact. pic.twitter.com/A5uLlhHjjv
— Norman Manley Students Assoc. (@NMLS_Students) November 29, 2021
One media practitioner paid tribute to her determination:
Nancy Anderson was the attorney on the 1st case I heard of someone spending decades in Jamaican prison w/o trial and she didn't stop until that woman was released. I admired her selflessness. She'll be missed. https://t.co/VEh0H3GptV
— YT: News2me (@mediagirlpro) November 29, 2021
A young Jamaican from a low-income community shared:
You taught me so much. Your kindness and stellar service continues to live on in the minds and lives of so many young attorneys and people from the hardened streets in Jamaica. #RIP #NancyAnderson https://t.co/twd20gOelj
— Anthony Williams (@Mr_Suave_Jez) November 29, 2021
Political scientist and women’s rights activist Leanne Levers noted:
When I took an interest in human rights as a teenager, Nancy took me under her wing, took me to the prisons, gave me research opportunities, and my first real internship. And always kept in touch. I owe so much to Nancy Anderson. This country owes so much to her. ?
— Leanne Levers (she/her) (@LeaLevers) November 29, 2021
Anderson was unassuming, never one to grandstand. One Jamaican summed her up simply:
When me seh PURE heart, Nancy Anderson to a T.
— Anti Jo (@Jodieolivia) November 29, 2021
Although Anderson was not born in Jamaica, her love for and dedication to helping the most marginalised of Jamaicans‚ in addition to guiding and encouraging many young lawyers—endeared her to many, by whom she will be deeply missed as a champion of human rights.


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With Ukraine’s Kyiv Post shut down, journalists launch new independent media outlet · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The day Kyiv Post was no longer in print. Image by SaveKyivPost on Twitter, used with permission.
Kyiv Post, Ukraine's top English-language newspaper that had operated for over 25 years, suddenly stopped operations on November 8, 2021.
On the day, a cryptic update appeared on the newspaper's website, titled “Kyiv Post closes on Nov 8 for a short time.” In the update, owner Adnan Kivan thanked the newsroom team for their service and said he “hope[d] to reopen the newspaper bigger and better.”
Soon after, Kyiv Post journalists reported that the whole newsroom, with editor Brian Bonner at the helm, had been fired and said Kyiv Post “has been killed.” One of the reporters, Illia Ponomarenko, tweeted a statement from the editorial staff.
BREAKING!@KyivPost has been killed.
As simple as that.
Today is officially the last day of Ukraine's only major English-language newspaper. We are all fired.
This is what we all have to say about this situation.
Please, please share to spread the word arond. pic.twitter.com/yFjnuAH6NS
— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) November 8, 2021
In the statement, reporters accused Kivan of seeking to limit their editorial independence by appointing a “hand-picked” editor to head the proposed Ukrainian-language expansion of the newspaper. They claimed that Kivan's plans to “reorganize” the newsroom amounted to “the owner getting rid of inconvenient, fair and honest journalists.”
Kivan, an Odesa-based construction tycoon who bought Kyiv Post in 2018, had previously promised to protect the newspaper's editorial independence.
Polina Sadovskaya, Eurasia program director for free expression advocacy group PEN America, cautioned that the closure of Kyiv Post served as “a warning signal about the state of independent journalism in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian journalists expressed solidarity with the Kyiv Post staff, highlighting their outsized role in covering Ukraine for English-language audiences. Myroslava Petsa, a reporter with BBC Ukrainian service, tweeted:
. @KyivPost is not just another media. It’d served as a window on Ukraine for the entire English-speaking world. KP was a No1 source for news from Ukraine for far too many outside UA. It showed real narratives and was a powerful tool in war on fake news. A void impossible to fill
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) November 8, 2021
Writing for New Europe, Igor Kossov, former Kyiv Post news editor, said:
Even the death of a relatively small publication like the Kyiv Post makes independent media poorer, investigations less frequent, checks to power more dilute.
On November 12, former Kyiv Post journalists and allies launched a new Twitter account and campaign, @savekyivpost, to rally against the unjust disbanding of their newsroom, and said they were exploring the idea of a new independent media outlet.
Today is the first time in the Kyiv Post’s 26-year history that a print or digital issue has not been published.
On Nov. 8, the Kyiv Post’s owner, Adnan Kivan, shut down the paper and fired all its staff after a dispute over editorial independence.#SaveKyivPost. pic.twitter.com/D9yHq8ilcm
— #SaveKyivPost (@savekyivpost) November 12, 2021
On November 15, the former newsroom team announced they were launching a new publication, with former deputy editor Olga Rudenko at the helm, and in partnership with Jnomics, a British-Ukrainian media consultancy company founded by two Kyiv Post alumni, Jakub Parusinski and Daryna Shevchenko.
.@savekyivpost staff they are launching a new publication in English about Ukraine. It will be headed by the former deputy editor in chief Olga Rudenko. They also said the paper faced pressure from the General prosecutor's office
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) November 15, 2021
Finally, November 22 saw the official launch of the new media outlet, The Kyiv Independent, founded by the exiled Kyiv Post reporters and editors. The team also launched a Patreon campaign to solicit crowdfunding support for the new publication.
We were fired by the newspaper owner for defending the editorial independence. But we won’t be silenced. Ukraine needs on-the-ground English-language journalism of the highest quality and our readers need a source they can trust.
That’s why we are launching The Kyiv Independent! pic.twitter.com/RqdVqTOkkV
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) November 22, 2021
By November 29, the newly launched Patreon already had over 500 subscribers who signed up to support the independent newsroom and consume its newly launched newsletter, Ukraine Daily.
We have reached 500 patrons just a week after starting our Patreon account. Thank you for your support of press freedom in Ukraine.
We now offer you two products: our Ukraine Daily newsletter, and a podcast with our origin story, Media in Progress. ?? pic.twitter.com/LEfsqdzlcy
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) November 29, 2021
The Kyiv Independent reporters also released a podcast, Media in Progress, documenting their work of building a new media outlet from scratch.
What happened to Kyiv Post. Great inside look at the closure of the oldest English language newspaper in Ukraine from talented Elina Alem. Thank you the team for keeping a good fight for freedom of the press in Ukraine ! https://t.co/eshxbMtezt
— mgongadze (@MGongadze) November 25, 2021

author: Tanya Lokot


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Armenia and Azerbaijan pledge progress as leaders meet in Sochi · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Screenshot from the Euronews video report.
On November 26, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in the Russian city of Sochi to discuss bilateral relations, in a meeting organized by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The meeting took place, almost two weeks after the worst fighting broke out since the war the two ex-Soviet Caucasus republics fought last year, which Azerbaijan won.
Commenting on the meeting, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the leaders reached agreements on some of the key issues and that the meeting was overall positive.
In a joint statement issued following the meeting, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to establish a bilateral commission on delimitation and demarcation of the border.
At their Russia-hosted summit in Sochi, leaders of #Azerbaijan and #Armenia agreed to look into possibility to establish a BILATERAL commission that will study issues related to the state border. Not #Russia-mediated as it was discussed before. pic.twitter.com/Vam0bAvj9T
— Olesya Vartanyan (@Olesya_vArt) November 26, 2021
Both leaders thanked the president of Russia, and the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces on the ground for the work carried out since last year's war.
In his statement, President Ilham Aliyev said:
Today we have had a very detailed and I would say sincere talk on all these issues. We openly discussed our plans that cause concern of both parties, and I think the key is that the decisions we made regarding settling arguments and disputes will contribute to making the situation in the South Caucasus safer and more predictable.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also thanked the Russian president for the efforts to maintain stability in Nagorno Karabakh, adding:
I think that if our talks gain momentum based on this meeting, we can expect real results.
I reaffirm the readiness of Armenia and the Government of Armenia, which got its mandate from the people of Armenia, to usher in the era of peaceful development for our country and for our region. We are committed to that and today’s meeting clearly contributed to the implementation of this agenda.
A list of decisions taken during the meeting will be announced in early December, following the meeting between Russian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani deputy prime ministers in Moscow.
Aliyev and Pashinyan are scheduled to meet next on December 15, in Brussels, on the margins of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit. According to the press statement issued by the European Council, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to “discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which the EU supports.”
In an interview with OC Media, political analyst and the director of Regional Studies Center, Richard Giragosian said the meeting in Sochi was “significant” even if not “producing concrete commitments.”
The meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders offered an essential return to diplomacy over force of arms.
Giragosian also stressed the role of Russia as a mediator in the conflict, especially ahead of the upcoming summit in Brussels. “Putin sought to preempt the EU and used Sochi to reassert Russia’s role as the initiator and enforcer of the 2020 Russian-imposed ceasefire.”

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Armenia’s ex-president Serzh Sargsyan faces bribery charges · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

“Serzh Sargsyan” by More pictures and videos: connect@epp.eu is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Former president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan was charged with taking a bribe during his time as a president, in what the ex-president's lawyer describe as an an attempt to divert attention from the ongoing political and military crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On November 22, Marina Ohanjanian, a spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption Committee, confirmed the allegation. The ex-president appeared before the committee the same day.
The charges are part of an investigation that started three years ago, into events in March 2008, when police and protesters clashed over disputed presidential election results that took place in February of that year. The ongoing investigation alleges that the government officials — Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, former presidents Sargsyan and his predecessor Robert Kocharyan — took bribes in a scheme facilitated by businessman Samvel Mayrapetyan.
According to Radio Liberty, the current case brought forward against Sargsyan is linked to the testimony of a businesswoman from Armenia named Silvia Hambardzumyan. In 2018, Hambardzumyan said she bribed state officials, “in order to secure permission to start a business in the mining industry.”
At the time, the testimony resulted in charges against Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan; his chief of staff; Armen Gevorgyan, opposition member of the parliament; and businessman Samvel Mayrapetyan. According to OC Media, while Hambardzumyan also said she bribed Sargsyan, the ex-president “has not faced criminal charges in the case until now.”
Sargsyan's lawyer Amram Makinyan dismissed the newly emerged accusations in a statement on November 22. “It’s ridiculous that after [moving] Silva’s testimony [back and forth] for three and a half years only today they ‘decided’ that she’s also bribed Serzh Sargsyan, when two years earlier he was already questioned under the same case as a witness and so far no circumstance has changed or added legally,” he said.
This is Sargsyan’s second set of major criminal charges. The first concerns embezzling some USD 1 million from state coffers. “Sargsyan was charged alongside businessman Barsegh Beglaryan and three former Agriculture Ministry officials, including former Minister Sergo Karapetyan,” reported OC Media. The former president has denied these accusations too.
More recently, the ex-president's name was also mentioned in an investigative report published in September 2021 that revealed president's frequent trips to Germany's Baden-Baden where his “official presidential airplane flew high-ranking officials,” between 2008 and 2017, during the former leader's time in office.
The former president has denied the accusations and has signed an affidavit not to leave the country.


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Barbados becomes the world’s newest republic · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados and UK grunge flag images by Nicolas Raymond on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
November 30 has long been marked as Independence Day in Barbados, but the 2021 celebrations will forever have special resonance, as it is the day the Caribbean island nation finally replaced the monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, as its head of state.
At the stroke of midnight, Britain's reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state and Dame Sandra Mason, Barbados’ former governor-general, became the country's first president, as the Royal Standard was lowered in Bridgetown's packed National Heroes Square:
The Royal Standard lowered for the last time in Barbados, folded up, ready to be given back to the British Crown. All to the familiar tune of “Auld Lang Syne”. #barbados #republic pic.twitter.com/QIgzzETXsN
— Richard Gaisford (@richardgaisford) November 30, 2021
In September 2020, Dame Mason had stressed that becoming a republic was a necessary step in Barbados’ journey to self-autonomy:
The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.
Barbados’ former colonial masters appear genuinely happy for the country: the queen sent her congratulations, and Prince Charles, who enjoys a good working relationship with Prime Minister Mia Mottley, was in attendance at the ceremony:
Congratulations ? to the people of #Barbados ?? for becoming #Republic and removing #British ?? Queen Elizabeth ii as the head of the state after 400 years of colonial rule.
Prince Charles joins the inauguration of President elect Sandra Mason who will be new head of state. pic.twitter.com/ipWRieREXN
— Sajid Dar ? (@Beingsajiddarr) November 30, 2021
For some, like local columnist Suleiman Bulbulia who wrote this piece for the UK Guardian, the move was a “seminal” one, at last representing the opportunity for the island to cast off the moniker of “Little England.”
For Prime Minister Mottley, though, it was as simple as understanding that “the president of Barbados is now someone that any Barbadian child can aspire to be—and that's so powerful”:
As #Barbados prepares to become a #republic, I spoke to @miaamormottley to find out what the transition means for the country. We’ll have lots more coverage on @BBCNews & @BBCWorld pic.twitter.com/pucTaPDMna
— Cele (@CelOlulode) November 29, 2021
As if in an effort to announce itself to the world and highlight what Barbadians are capable of accomplishing, star power was on full display with the attendance of pop icon Rihanna, who was bestowed with the title of National Hero:
Amid the pomp & ceremony, @rihanna has just been made a “National Hero of Barbados” #barbados #republic pic.twitter.com/fQ6OpInJdH
— Richard Gaisford (@richardgaisford) November 30, 2021
Local social media users were delighted at the country's new status:
Welcome to the Republic of Barbados, after more than 200 years of slavery and 55 years of independence Dame Sandra Mason is now our President and Head of State. #Barbados #Republic #Independence pic.twitter.com/FRY05lwhjV
— Michelle Welch (@michelle_welch1) November 30, 2021
Some, however, made the point that it was a natural—and long overdue—progression:
I remain amazed at why our move to become a #republic is attracting this much fascination internationally. It is nothing more than the logical conclusion of our decolonisation process and frankly a move that should have happened at independence. #Barbados https://t.co/S4R3YPxGlY
— Alicia Nicholls (@LicyLaw) November 29, 2021
Regional netizens, meanwhile, sent their congratulations, while others hoped their own countries might follow suit:
Barbados taking a huge step and doing the right thing. I hope the Bahamas follows suit someday. ? #Barbados #Bahamas #Republic https://t.co/Gf9QV1YwCM
— islandboy242 (@Bert02497787) November 30, 2021
According to poet Winston Farrell, who read at the ceremony, “Some have grown up stupid under the Union Jack, lost in the castle of their skin.” On November 30, 2021, Barbadians declared themselves free.


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Colonial prejudices and vaccine nationalism drive COVID-19 African travel bans · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike, Lisa Plank, Rosemary Ajayi, Pernille Baerendtsen

A mother getting vaccinated in South Africa. Image by USAID/South Africa, taken on September 3, 2021 (CC BY-NC 2.0).
On November 25, South African health minister Joe Phaahla announced the detection of a new COVID-19 variant in the country’s Gauteng province. The B.1.1.529 or Omicron COVID-19 variant was first sequenced in Botswana by Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, a Zimbabwean scientist based there.
Since then, Western nations have re-echoed colonial labeling of Africa as a diseased continent by racing to ban flights from what they perceive as COVID-infested Southern Africa. At the same time, the entry requirements for people from Western nations remain the same — even if they have significantly higher case numbers than African countries.
These prejudices towards African countries caused outrage from African governments and citizens.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described them as “unjustified and unfairly” discriminatory. The flight bans on African countries have only reinforced the dominant Western narrative that “only disease and chaos comes from Africa,” insists Dr. Yolande Bouka, an assistant professor of political studies at Canada’s Queen's University. This is despite the fact that “the continent has fared better despite vax apartheid and limited resources. And most importantly erasing Africa’s contribution towards fighting COVID-19,” Bouka tweeted.
Western outlook on health services in Africa remains the same as it was in the 19th century, a “project of colonial conquest and domination,” according to historian Jessica Pearson-Patel. Journalist Samira Sawlani further asserts in a tweet that, “Colonialism was built on and reinforced through the idea that the west is superior to those in countries they colonised. That hasn’t changed. It just looks & plays out a little different.”
Not only did travel restrictions themselves earn criticism, but also the language used to describe the discovery and spread of the new virus variant. In a tweet, South African citizen Graeme Codington points to the role of media and how “lazy journalists” get it wrong. “It is not a surprise that our medical system is one of the first to identify new Covid variants. (…) What is a surprise is how lazy journalists write headlines,” Codington writes.
The United States’ double standard was most obvious. On the one hand, the U.S. Secretary of State said that South Africa's transparency in sharing information about the Omicron variant “should serve as a model for the world.” Yet, the U.S. was one of the first Western nations to ban flights from southern Africa, ostentatiously backed by “science,” according to a November 26 tweet by President Joe Biden.
After two cases of the new variant were detected in the UK, six African countries were placed on their red list. Two days later, four other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were red-listed. People from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola are now banned from entering the UK.
countries banned because of the omicron variant
vs.
countries with confirmed omicron cases pic.twitter.com/7HAxx03KfE
— Trevor Branch (@TrevorABranch) November 28, 2021
One day later, the EU followed the UK. “The European Commission has today proposed to member states to activate the emergency brake on travel from Southern African and other affected countries. All air travel to and from these countries should be suspended until we have a clear understanding of how serious the mutations of this new variant are,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU commission.
Since then, Australia and Thailand joined the U.S., Brazil, and Canada in imposing travel bans from the southern African countries. Japan, Israel, Morocco, Oman, and Jamaica have followed suit.
Meanwhile, the numbers of infections in Europe are at their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic. This surge is driven by a mix of factors, including vaccination refusal, the Delta variant, and relaxed restrictions. Even though the new variant was detected in several European countries, and in Canada, Israel, Australia, and Hong Kong, travel bans are so far only imposed on African countries.
Similar categorisation of Africa as the seedbed of disease was manifested at the height of the Ebola epidemic in 2014. This was exemplified by the Newsweek magazine cover which featured a photo of a chimpanzee with the headline: “A Back Door for Ebola: Smuggled Bushmeat Could Spark a U.S. Epidemic.”
But this was not just a gaffe. Rather, it represents what Washington Post journalists Laura Seay and Kim Yi Dionne, describe as the “long and ugly tradition of treating Africans as savage animals and the African continent as a dirty, diseased place to be feared.”
Not much has changed in 2021.
It is ironic that a red alert has been placed on African countries who lead the global effort in identifying this variant, particularly when several African countries imposed stricter measures, including the compulsory wearing of masks in public, to curb coronavirus. These measures were already being enforced in most parts of Africa while the U.S. was embroiled in partisan ideological politics to wear or not to wear masks. A joint report from the House of Commons science and health committees affirmed that the UK performed “significantly worse” than many other countries at the early days of the pandemic due to “group-think” among scientists and government officials, leading to over 150,000 deaths.
While Europe and the U.S. blame Africa for spreading the virus, their policies undermine the global COVID-19 response. The West’s vaccine nationalism emphasizes the exclusive reliance on private companies with patents to the COVID-19 vaccine together with the dynamics of a free-market system to determine who gets the vaccine. In simpler terms, this means that countries with more money will get the vaccine.
The U.S. and EU successfully placed advance orders for millions of the vaccine, leaving very little for less developed countries. The consequences, as now evident with the Omicron variant, is that Europe and the U.S., which scrambled to inoculate most of their population ahead of less wealthy countries will continue struggling to contain the virus until other countries are fully vaccinated as well.
Despite the vaccine nationalism of Western countries, Africa seems to have fared better in curtailing the spread of COVID-19. As of November 29, Africa has recorded 221,635 deaths as compared to the 1,104,494 in Asia, 2,341,205 in the Americas, and 1,491,599 in Europe according to the European Centre for Disease Control. In addition, “the case-fatality ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 in Africa is lower than the global CFR” going by a study conducted by the Partnership for Evidence-based Response to COVID-19 (PERC), explains why the fatality rate was lower in the continent.
A study by public health scholars Dr. Itai Chitungo and Dr. Mathias Dzobo asserts that it is “not accurate to offer limited testing capacity, poor health systems, and under-reporting as the only explanations for the lower numbers of COVID-19 cases reported in Africa.” The continent’s young population, favourable climate, and quick action contributed to stemming the tide against the pandemic.
Another explanation for the low COVID-19 fatality rates in the continent was given by Dr. Olúwatómidé Adéoyè, a drug development scientist based in Lisbon, Portugal. Adéoyè told Global Voices via Twitter DM chat that blood tests known as serological surveys that were conducted in south-eastern, south-western and north-western Nigeria “suggest about 25 to 50% already got COVID. When you map this on age and comorbidity with adjusted risk of death or hospitalisation, it makes sense that we [Nigerians] have not been that affected.”
The rate of vaccine administration by continent shows Africa trailing with 2.98 percent, while Asia (67.9 percent), Europe (11.9 percent), and North America (9.4 percent) top the chart.
The rate of vaccine administration by continent as at November 2021. Image credit: Our World in Data.
Dr. Ayoade Alakija, member of the African Union’s Vaccine Delivery Alliance, blamed the West for hoarding vaccines and refusing to waive patents. “It is a result of hoarding by high-income countries of the world and quite frankly, it is unacceptable. These travel bans are based in politics and not in science,” Alakija said.
As of March 2021, COVAX, whose mandate was to ensure the fair and equitable rate of coronavirus vaccination in every country, allocated more than 500,000 doses to the UK which has already achieved a high rate of vaccination coverage. On the other hand, Botswana, which had not started its vaccination drive, was assigned a meager 20,000 doses of vaccine.
African countries face challenges distributing vaccines due to storage problems, government bureaucracy, hesitation to take the vaccine, and mis/disinformation about the vaccine. But the hesitation to take COVID-19 vaccines is not exclusive to the continent. A study showed that vaccine hesitancy is higher in wealthier nations like Russia and the U.S. This position was confirmed by another study by pathology professor Malik Sallam, which showed that Italy, Russia, Poland, the U.S., and France had low rates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.
The U.S. president's claim that his African travel ban was based on “science” is contradicted by many reputable scientists.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is still “not yet clear” if Omicron spreads faster or causes more severe disease than the Delta COVID-19 variant. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Associated Press that the “knee-jerk” travel ban by Western politicians was counterproductive because countries already have rapid tests and vaccines.
Caroline Colijn, a mathematician and epidemiologist at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, asserts that “the omicron variant has already been detected in countries outside of the targeted region.” On November 29, six Scottish nationals with no travel history tested positive for the Omicron variant. Similarly, the new variant was already present in the Netherlands by November 19, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.
A guy who tweeted the following when Trump banned travels from Europe/China now bans travel from African countries. The irony is the so-called ‘liberal media’ provides ‘scientific context’ for Biden's decision while presenting Trump's decision as a racist. Journalism is broken pic.twitter.com/FF1SAPQ14X
— Endalk (@endalk2006) November 27, 2021
Rather, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have shown that the country that first reports the result of COVID-19 sequencing on the new variant “may not be the origin.” Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University further asserts that “penalizing countries that report variants may have a chilling effect on surveillance for variants.”
Besides, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that  “imposing bans on travelers from countries where a new variant is reported has not yielded a meaningful outcome.” Consequently, it is “naive” of countries like the U.S. and the UK to believe that imposing travel restrictions will “prevent the importation” of the new Omicron Covid variant, vaccinologist Professor Shabir Madhi told Channel 4 News.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO chair affirms that “the more we allow the COVID-19 virus to circulate, mutate and become potentially more dangerous,” the less safe our world becomes, irrespective of the location, rate of vaccination, and affluence of the country.


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Georgian Communications Commission levies fines on TV channels for ‘political’ content · Global Voices
OC Media

Screenshot from Mtavari Arkhi video report.
This article by Tata Shoshiashvili was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
On November 25, the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) issued a statement announcing fines for several television channels including Mtavari, Imedi, Studio Maestro and Kartuli Arkhi.
GNCC fined Mtavari Arkhi TV, Georgia’s largest opposition-leaning channel, GEL 112,000 (USD 35,000), which is 1 percent of its annual revenue, for airing three “political commercials.” Imedi, which leans pro-government, and Studio Maestrowere each fined GEL 2,500 (USD 800) while Kartuli Arkhiwas given a warning.
#Georgia: the gov.ment critical @MtavariChannel fined $36,000 for airing clips supportive of @SaakashviliM deemed ‘political propaganda outside of the allocated period’. @RSF_inter denounces a tool for censorship and a crippling sum & calls the regulator to revise its decision. pic.twitter.com/6xDJcynYTO
— RSF (@RSF_inter) November 26, 2021
Nika Gvaramia, the head of Mtavari, condemned the fine, describing it as “censorship” and said that the channel has no plans to pay the fine and will appeal it in court.
According to the GNCC, Mtavari was fined for airing three video clips between 17 and 18 November. One of the videos featured photos of senior officials of the Georgian Penitentiary Service and justices involved in the arrest of Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Some of the photos were captioned  #FreedomforMisha. According to Civil.ge, the voiceover narrating the video, said, this person was “killing [Saakashvili],”after each photo. The video ends with the narrator calling for the “release [of] Mikheil Saakashvili.”
The second clip contains excerpts from statements made by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, leaders of the Georgian Dream party, and party MPs about Saakashvili's detention and hunger strike. Each statement was then accompanied by a similar voice-over narration as in the first video.
The third clip, created by the Shame Movement, an opposition liberal activist group, featured photographs of the leaders of Georgian Dream and the party symbol morphing into the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Activists with the Shame Movement staged protests outside the GNCC following the announcement of the decision:
According to a 2012 amendment to the GNCC regulations, broadcasters are “obliged not to allow pre-election [political] advertising and pre-election agitation at any time other than the time interval allocated for this purpose.”
Mtavari was also fined GEL 58,000 (USD18,000) for the same alleged violation.
Studio Maestro, Kartuli Arkhi, and Imedi were fined for failing to broadcast political debates during the pre-election campaign for the 2021 municipal elections.
Speaking to OC Media, Natia Kapanadze, coordinator for the Coalition for Media Advocacy, a local media watchdog, said that the GNCC has shown a tendency to levy much heavier fines on opposition-leaning media.
“[Thursday’s] decisions make it clear that the commission treats broadcasters differently and, unfortunately, this different treatment is due to different editorial policies,” she said.
She added that, by interpreting the clips aired by Mtavari as part of an electoral campaign, the Communications Commission may endanger “the freedom of civil activism” and may entail a “restriction of editorial independence.”

author: OC Media


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Protest in support of jailed opposition activist in Baku turns violent · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Screenshot from Turan News Agency video report from the protest.
On December 1, a group of protesters gathered in the capital Baku to call for the immediate release of jailed opposition activist and political prisoner Saleh Rustamov. According to local reports, police resorted to violence and detained some of the protest participants.
Saleh Rustamov is a member of the opposition Popular Front Party (AXCP). He was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to seven years in jail in February 2019 on bogus money laundering charges. According to a Human Rights Watch country report, “The charges stem from allegations that Rustamov illegally used his company’s funds to support imprisoned party activists and party activities. Authorities held Rustamov incommunicado for 17 days and denied him access to his lawyer for a month.”
The local authorities claimed at the time of the trial that Rustamov made a total of USD 420,000 in transfers to a bank account connected to the AXCP. Rustamov denied the charges and said, although he has supported the party in the past and provided financial assistance to families of political prisoners, the transfers did not exceed USD 10,000 in total.
The activist's family and friends say the charges leveled against Rustamov are politically motivated, while the local human rights organisations have recognized Rustamov as a political prisoner.
The political activist announced his hunger strike on November 6, three days after the parliament received a draft resolution on mass amnesty list for 16,000 prisoners. The list did not include any political prisoners. According to the national rights monitoring groups, there are currently 38 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In an interview with OC Media, Novella Jafaroglu, a member of the monitoring group, said although there were no political prisoners on the general amnesty list, the group has been advocating for a separate amnesty bill, for  New Year's Eve.
On the 25th day of his hunger strike, Rustamov's family and lawyer say the activist is looking weak, having lost weight and is refusing to end the strike. Despite the calls by local human rights groups to release Rustamov, the authorities have not budged.
The unsanctioned protest organized on December 1, was an attempt to further escalate his case. “We believe that Saleh's arrest was carried out on the basis of a political order and political bias. Under no circumstances should the government use its power against its opponents in an unconstitutional manner,” said the statement circulated by the organizers of the protest, as reported by Turan News Agency.
Scores of activists were detained as a result, including former political prisoner Tofig Yagublu. His daughter, Nigar Hezi, shared pictures of her father, who was beaten during this detention.
This what Azerbaijani police made of Tofig Yagublu https://t.co/MVVvoK2FM3
— Cavid the Self-Orientalist (@cavidaga) December 1, 2021
Major Elshad Hajiyev, head of the Media and Public Relations Department of the Interior Ministry's press service, denied allegations of torture  but promised investigation anyway according to reports by Turan News Agency. Hajiyev also denied the detention of women despite video reports from the scene showing otherwise.
#Azerbaijan: Today, a rally demanding the release of Saleh Rustamov – who has been on hunger strike for 26 days – was held. During the arrests, police ordered other officers to “keep them in a bad condition.” One of the protester's head was heavily injured. pic.twitter.com/r6WBQDaGwU
— Ulviyya Ali (@UlviyyaAli) December 1, 2021
⚠ Baku, today. Police forcefully detain elderly protester in #FreeSalehRustamov protest.
© @SANCAQpro
⚡ 30+ protesters were detained by the police and taken in unknown directions by bus.
❗ Rustamov, imprisoned activist, is on 26th day of his hunger strike. pic.twitter.com/oEhi1kj7OF
— Mikroskop Media in English (@MikroskopEng) December 1, 2021
Another statement issued by the Ministry of the Interior said the protest was unsanctioned and was organized in violation of quarantine measures.
Hours after the protest was dispersed, several activists were reported missing, among them, Rustam Ismayilbeyli, Ilham Huseyin, and Seyyad Guliyev.
We still have no news about Ilham Huseyn, Guliyev Seyyad, and Rustam Ismayilbeyli.


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Turkey’s Medical professionals call for better working conditions · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

A screenshot from the video published by the Turkish Medical Association YouTube channel.
Turkey has been rocked by a series of protests in recent weeks amid a plummeting national currency and continuing gender-based violence. Last week, another group took to the streets as part of the White March organized by the Turkish Medical Association (TMA). Health care workers marched from Istanbul to Ankara to draw attention to the harsh working conditions medical workers faced during the pandemic, including mobbing, long shifts, and economic hardships. The White March began on November 23 in Istanbul and reached its destination, the capital Ankara, on November 27.
Founded in 1953, the Turkish Medical Association is an independent medical and health professional association. One of its top goals is to protect and promote public health in Turkey as well as physicians’ rights. Some 88 percent of the country's physicians are members of the group. Since the first reported case of COVID-19 on March 14, 2020, the TMA has been a vocal critic of the government's policies, particularly the daily data provided by the Ministry of Health. The TMA argued the real numbers were much higher than the data reported by the Ministry. Gathering data from its provincial offices, the TMA was the first to publish COVID-related data in Turkey, when the Ministry of Health would not.
Çağrım şudur: Türk Tabipler Birliği, bugünkü hassas dönemde, insan ve toplum sağlığı hakkında asılsız şaibe ve şüpheleri körüklemektedir. Bu nedenle sadece adında Türk bulunan Tabipler Birliği derhal ve gecikmeksizin kapatılmalıdır. Yöneticileriyle ilgili adli işlem yapılmalıdır.
— Devlet Bahçeli (@dbdevletbahceli) September 16, 2020
I call for this: The Turkish Medical Association is fueling unfounded doubts and suspicions about human and public health during these sensitive times. For this reason, the Medical Association, with ‘Turkish’ only in its title, should be shut down immediately and without delay. Legal action should be taken against its leadership.
Bahceli implied the association was working against Turkey's interests. His sentiments echoed those of President Erdoğan, who said in October 2020, “we should immediately take away privileges from those who do not deserve to have Turkish in the titles,” speaking at his party's meeting at the parliament. The president made similar remarks in 2018, suggesting they should remove the word “Turkish” from the medical association's name because it opposed Turkish military involvement in Syria.
Back at the White March, association members were determined to raise awareness of the challenges that medical staff face. They noted that the pandemic has driven many medical professionals to the brink as they continue to receive low salaries in the face of a sinking national currency, heightened hours and stress due to the pandemic, and increased instances of violence against healthcare workers.
In an interview with Balkan Insight, Vedat Bulut, a professor of medicine and board member of the association said, the number of cases where medical workers face violence continues to grow. As a result, “medical doctors are resigning for better jobs in the private sector and also jobs abroad. We told the Turkish Ministry of Health that incentives and better policies should be implemented to halt the trend, but nothing has been done,” said Bulut. Every month, the Union of Healthcare and Social Service Workers (Sağlık-Sen) publish a report of monthly cases of violence. According to its October report, at least 19 health care workers were subject to violence that month. But the overall number of doctors physically and verbally assaulted in the last eleven years is well over 100,000.
Another point raised during the White March was about a recent Ministry of Health decision that reduces medical examination time to five minutes at family health clinics and public hospitals. “This will lead to more doctors resigning or moving abroad as well as more health issues, diseases and violence within the healthcare sector,” the doctors who took part in a protest organized by the Medical Association in October 2021, said according to Gazete Duvar reporting.
On November 26, as the White March reached the province of Bursa, the Bursa Medical Chamber Chair Alpaslan Turkkan said, “We want our weekly working hours to be rearranged and reduced; we want safe and healthy working environments in the face of violence and diseases; we want COVID-19 to be recognized as an occupational disease; as a patient cannot be examined in five minutes, we want this imposition to be abandoned; we want wages that we deserve, that affect our pensions and ensure a humane life.”
? #CanlıYayın#BeyazYürüyüş‘ümüz Ankara'da!
?https://t.co/mg9DEoxnKf
— TürkTabipleriBirliği (@ttborgtr) November 27, 2021
Live. Our White March is in Ankara.
On November 27, after arriving in Ankara, the march participants reiterated their demands. The Ministry of Health has yet to respond.


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Artist collective rekindles Argentine folklore from a queer perspective · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

Still from the music video Mujer, a BAGNER production.
A young couple dances to the sound of Argentinean folk music known as “chamamé,” their steps synchronize, their bodies touch tenderly, their gazes meet and break, they hold each other, kiss and merge in a harmonious cadence, in an atmosphere of dreamlike eroticism. It seems like the perfect romantic date, but with an uncertain ending, which suggests awkwardness, like the ups and downs of romantic relationships that have just begun, when they are just getting to know each other.
All the complexities of this romantic story come together in the video for the song Mujer, the first single by the subversive artist collective Bagner. The minute and a half video that combines eroticism and romance with Argentine coastal folklore is an ambitious project to save from oblivion the sounds, emotions, and traditions with a renewed and diverse perspective.
What is chamamé? It is a cultural expression of music and dance typical of northeastern Argentina, mainly in the province of Corrientes, but also in Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Bolivia, and Brazil. It combines Guaraní, Afro-American, and European elements, and is a fundamental component of the regional identity.
On Dec. 16, 2020, UNESCO included chamamé in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Mujer was released on the same day. For producer Steven Bagner, it was a wonderful coincidence, as he feels chamamé is very close to his roots. Steven Bagner tells Global Voices:
Each province of Argentina has different rhythms, with their own characteristics and their own regional flavor. And that is what we are defending, and above all, making it our own and deconstructing it, to include and show diversity.
Steven Bagner. Picture by Cotton, copyright Bagner, used with permission.
Steven Bagner is the name of the producer, and Bagner is also the name of the multicultural collective of dissident artists, mainly belonging to the LGTBI+ community, working on various musical and audiovisual projects.
The key players of Bagner are Steven, Argentinean musician and producer; Zara Taylor, Canadian singer; and Lilith Mogilat, creative director, of Argentinean origin but based in Russia since her childhood. Other artists and occasional talents who participate in different projects are also part of the team.
A native of Morón, a town west of Buenos Aires, Steven defines the collective as an organization that is more horizontal than pyramidal. It seeks diversity of ideas and people by prioritizing a vision outside the mainstream social point of view and outside the capital where resources are concentrated. Bagner says:
Hiring and paying people from trans collectives, from our modest position, we can generate work, we can be inclusive, we can generate diversity, there are things to do. We are artivists and we seek to generate discomfort through art, so that the viewer can re-think. We believe that music is not only for entertainment, it can help to re-think.
Lilith (right) on the set of Mujer. Picture by Cotton, copyright Bagner, used with permission.
Mujer was filmed inside an apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia. One of the models is trans, but it is not specified which one. It is only at the end of the movie that we can read the line “So you are FTM”. It touches on the source of the awkwardness associated with assuming a person's gender based on their appearance and the difficulties of addressing sexuality in an intimate encounter.
The video is censored in Russia because it is deemed to go against the legislation prohibiting “homosexual propaganda.” Perhaps that is why it is even more important for the Russian actors of Mujer to be part of the project and to know that they are visible outside their own country:
As she travels back and forth, Lilith could see in a very distinct way the differences. For example, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the laws have been progressively advancing the visibility of the LGBT community. But in Russia, it's all going backwards. So for these young people to be able to participate in the video…. I can't explain with words the value it holds.
Thanks to new historical research, it is now known that women played a fundamental role in the origins of chamamé and that, over time, they were made invisible and relegated to the background. Mujer reclaims womanhood in folklore:
In all the popular and traditional dances, at least in Argentina, the patriarchy is the backbone. This means that women are always the weaker ones, the ones to mold, to control. Men are the virile and strong ones. And I think it is part of our roots. But we also invite to question if this is still what we want.
Queer tango also reclaimed the original roles and questioned the vision of heterosexuality as the only valid model of sex-affective relationships, and today it is a movement that has become popular and attracts LGTBI+ people from all over the world to visit Buenos Aires.
Such affirmation of the feminine is best appreciated in Bagner's second single, La Rosa Cruz, a highly symbolic tango that addresses a more personal issue for Steven:
It has to do with a frustrated, dejected musician who only finds empowerment when he recognizes the feminine part of himself. […] Once I embraced all that I am, I was able to start building something that was important for others and create these cultural alliances. It seemed to me that I could say, with pride, I am South American, I am from the countryside, it was the best role I could play.
Both the lyrics and the name express the beauty born from pain; the symbolic burden that weighs on his body like a cross; the rebirth and empowerment. It also has a religious and spiritual charge: “To separate the religious from the State, to live the religion and spirituality from another side, is very present in what we do.”
In contrast, there is no known precedent of LGTBI+ or “queer chamamé.” Mujer is a pioneering project that touches on traditions deeply rooted in the regional culture, and although there were inevitable adverse reactions from traditionalist voices, in general, the balance has been positive, with good reception among young audiences.
We knew that what we were going to do within Argentina and within Argentine folklore was a big challenge. The otherness is greatly invisible. We knew that we were putting, as they say here, “all the meat on the grill.” We were pouring all our ideology. We were showing ourselves genuinely, showing ourselves openly. […] We build on the tradition, also we do it with a lot of respect. […] The folklore, if it continues to remain so closed, so structured… will eventually disappear.
Bagner's work was well-received not only in Argentina but also in neighboring countries, from where he continues to attract people to collaborate in new projects in order to rescue other folkloric forms of expression in the region.
We continue to work and see how we can weave networks that will help us culturally to connect and generate more diversity. We are investigating, experimenting and recording a lot of genres and musical traditions, not only from Argentina but also from other countries. A new single will be released very soon.

author: Romina Navarro