text:
Protests mount over Israeli medical apartheid during pandemic · Global Voices
We Are Not Numbers

Screenshot from PBS report showing an Israeli citizen receiving COVID-19 vaccination as nearly 19 percent of Israelis have already received the immunization since mid-December.
Editors note: This post was written by Pam Bailey, founder and executive director of We Are Not Numbers, a platform that carries the voices of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, through empowering and mentoring young, local journalists.
Protests are growing as Israel becomes the country with the highest per-capita COVID-19 vaccination rate, while refusing to facilitate a supply of the lifesaving treatment for the Palestinian territories it controls.
A Change.org petition calls on the Israeli government to “assume its responsibility as an occupying power under international law and stop this blatant act of racial discrimination.”
United States Representative Marie Newman, a Democratic from the state of Illinois, tweeted:
This virus does not see or care about nationality, borders, or religion — its devastating impact is everywhere. The Netanyahu administration has a moral and humanitarian obligation to ensure that both Israelis & Palestinians have access to vaccines.https://t.co/mcD5TXLTI3
— Marie Newman (@Marie4Congress) January 5, 2021
The US activist group Codepink followed with an email to its followers, asking them to demand that their representatives “condemn Israeli medical apartheid.” And now, five human rights organizations have lodged a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the refusal of the minister of internal security to vaccinate Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Through January 11, 1,604 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories have died of COVID-19, with 441 in the Gaza Strip. According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian parliament and head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, which is an NGO, the rate of infection is much higher in the occupied territories (35 percent) than in Israel (4.5 percent).
Yet, while not even one dose of any of the approved vaccines has made it to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel has vaccinated its own population faster than any country in the world, with more than a quarter of its population receiving the vaccines so far.
“The Israeli government must stop ignoring its international obligations as an occupying power and immediately act to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are equally and fairly provided to Palestinians living under its occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” said Amnesty International in a statement.
At least 25 members of the extended family of Asmaa Tayeh, operations manager for We Are Not Numbers, have tested positive for the virus, 15 have fallen ill and three have died.
“Ever since the reports of the virus surfaced in March 2020, we’ve been paranoid,” said Tayeh:
I was scared to death and ran to the market to fetch food so we could prepare to stay home for months. I’d yell at anyone who left the house. But since we didn’t know anyone who was infected, we started feeling a little safer. Then came November and December. More and more of our relatives were infected. On top of that was the fear that we wouldn’t get good medical care, since the Israeli occupation has crippled our health care system.
Another WANN member, Nour Yacoubi, was forced to delay her wedding when her future sister- and brother-in-law were hospitalized in the ICU with COVID-19 symptoms.
Meanwhile, WANN's Gaza manager, Issam Adwan, fought to get his mother, who struggles with a heart condition, tested for the virus when she started showing coronavirus symptoms. Tests are in short supply, however, and she was initially refused the diagnostic. By the time she lost her taste and smell — a common virus symptom — and was granted the test, almost everyone in her family had been exposed, with many testing positive and several falling ill.
Dr. Ayman Elhalabi, Gaza’s general director of Medical Supportive Services – which is a division of the Health Ministry based in the West Bank -, confirms that COVID-19 testing is widely inaccessible, almost a year after the pandemic swept the world, due to shortages.
He explained:
The central laboratory of the Ministry of Health is the only place in the Strip that can perform the COVID-19 test. … The lab ran 200 to 300 tests a day in the beginning of this crisis, but now we’re doing between 2,000 and 3,000. Still, it’s not enough. So, we have to prioritize patients by the severity of their condition. Currently, I’d estimate we have enough test kits for 20 more days.
Test shortages are particularly critical since COVID-19 infections are surging after the emergence of a new variant of the virus. Between 10 percent  to 60 percent more transmissible, the mutation has been detected in 50 countries so far.
According to Dr. Elhalabi:
Gaza's hospitals are in serious crisis due to the increasing cases of COVID[-19]; it’s put a lot of pressure on our capacity to deliver other medical services. Many doctors and nurses are working overtime and they are being paid just 50 percent of their salaries. These are people who need to provide for their families.
Despite the crisis, few are hopeful that Gaza will get any of the newly approved vaccines anytime soon.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), in the West Bank, accused Israel of ignoring its responsibilities to ensure vaccines are available in occupied territory, and has struggled to obtain supplies elsewhere.
The PA has said it negotiated with British drug giant AstraZeneca to receive a first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses in March — far later than other countries and not likely to be sufficient. Most recently, it announced that it has arranged to obtain the Russian vaccine known as Sputnik V, with the first shipment expected to arrive next month. However, its resources are limited and it is unknown how much will be allocated for Gaza, since the PA is at odds with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Sky News, Israeli health minister Yuli Edelstein said Palestinians “have to learn how to take care of themselves,” adding that Israel has been “helping our Palestinian neighbors from the very early stages of this crisis, including medical equipment, including medicine, including advice, including supplies.”
Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the World Health Organization’s mission to the Palestinians, told the British newspaper The Independent that it asked Israel to provide COVID-19 vaccines to at least cover Palestinian health workers. Nearly 8,000 Palestinian medics have reportedly been infected by the virus. According to The Independent's report, the Israeli government declined, saying it must take care of its own population first.
In his Sky News interview, Minister Edelstein was quoted as saying:
I don't think that there's anyone in this country, whatever his or her views might be, that can imagine that I would be taking a vaccine from the Israeli citizen, and, with all the goodwill, give it to our neighbors.
“We’re hearing a lot of mixed news,” said Dr. Elhalabi. “Really, I think we are months away from receiving the vaccines. I call on the international and Arab communities to intervene before the situation gets out of control.”
As for Tayeh, she was not surprised. “The virus will get rid of a good number of Palestinians. This way, Israel won’t have to pay as much as it does in a war to kill us. Plus, we’ll be too distracted by sickness to fight back.”
Anas Mohammed Jnena conducted the interviews with the health workers.

author: We Are Not Numbers


text:
A Zimbabwean journalist, two opposition politicians jailed for tweets about police brutality · Global Voices
GV Sub-Saharan Africa

A police officer checks a commuter's pass before allowing her onto the bus. Since the announcement of the COVID-19 lockdown, Zimbabweans are required to carry passes which prove that they are essential workers. Image by KB Mpofu / ILO, Bulawayo, 20 April 2020 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and two opposition politicians, Job Sikhala and Fadzai Mahere, were arrested on January 8, 9, and 11, respectively for tweeting about police brutality.
Chin’ono, Sikhala and Mahere tweeted about an incident that occurred in a taxi rank in Harare, the capital, where a police officer had allegedly “beaten an infant to death while enforcing COVID-19 regulations,” as the mother carried the child on her back, the East African newspaper said.
“A video of the incident went viral with the mother wailing while holding [on]to a police officer who allegedly assaulted her baby to death,” reports the Zimbabwe Observer newspaper.
As Chin’ono and Mahere were being arrested, they respectively tweeted about their ordeal:
They say they are charging me with communicating falsehoods for tweeting that a child had been beaten up and died by a police officer! They are taking me to the Law and a order section at Harare Central Police Station.
— Hopewell Chin’ono #TheGoatWantsItsCameraBack (@daddyhope) January 8, 2021
Arrested. This regime will never break my spirit.
We need new leaders.??
— Fadzayi Mahere (@advocatemahere) January 11, 2021
Sikhala also alerted the public about his impending detention:
Alert Zimbabwe :
I have received information that the Mnangagwa regime wants to arrest me today for the offence which I don't know. They are alleging that I undermined the authority of the police by Twitting about the kid allegedly assaulted by them. I have alerted everyone.
— HON Job Wiwa Sikhala (@JobSikhala1) January 8, 2021
The police later refuted claims that the baby was killed, pointing out that the baby had gone for medical examinations and had no life-threatening injuries.
The three were charged for publishing or communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state by contravening Section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal law code, which reads:
Any person whether inside or outside Zimbabwe publishes or communicates to any other person a statement which is wholly or materially false…realizing there is a real risk or possibility of undermining public confidence in a law enforcement agency…or the Defense Forces of Zimbabwe…shall whether or not the publication or communication results in a consequence referred to (above), be guilty of publishing or communicating a false statement prejudicial to the state and liable to a fine…or imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years or both.
They face a 20-year jail term, if convicted.
Mahere was released on bail by Harare magistrate Trynos Utahwashe, on January 18, after spending seven days in state custody.
Legal think tank Veritas argues that the trio was unlawfully arrested and that their charges were unconstitutional. “Why then are the three being charged with contravening Section 31(a)(iii), which is not and has never been a valid law?” affirmed Veritas.
“It must be understood that the section did not become a nullity when the constitutional court declared it void. It always was a nullity as it contravened the former constitution; the court’s declaration was simply a statement of preexisting    legal fact,” said Veritas in a statement.
Section 3 of the former constitution stated that “the constitution is the supreme law of Zimbabwe, and if any other law is inconsistent with this constitution, that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.” Section 2 (1) of the present constitution is very much the same. “Why then are the three being charged with contravening section 31(a)(iii), which is not and has never been a valid law?” Veritas said.
Zimbabwe's old constitution was promulgated at independence in 1980. However, the referendum of March 16, 2013, approved a new constitution for the country.
Chin’ono and Sikhala were denied bail on January 14. Both are still being held in police custody, amid fears of getting infected with COVID-19.
The current pre-trial detentions, delays of proceedings & bail denials without serious charges are questionable, especially in times of #COVID19. The infection risk in jail is high due to overcrowding & lack of hygiene. We know this because we support prisons through @VSOZimbabwe pic.twitter.com/wvSPPmdZPe
— EU in Zimbabwe ?? (@euinzim) January 13, 2021
Chin’ono is no newcomer to Zimbabwe’s jail.
On July 20, 2020, he was arrested and accused by the government for inciting violence by tweeting in support of anti-government protests — a plan later squashed by security forces on July 31, 2020. Opposition MP Sikhala was later arrested on August 21, 2020, for promoting the same protest. Both were charged with inciting the public to violence.  Chin’ono and Sikhala were released on bail in September 2020.
On January 19, 2021, the European Union Mission warned against the “impunity” that has characterized human rights violations in Zimbabwe:
Two years on, investigations are lacking and impunity continues to prevail on human rights violations perpetrated in #Zimbabwe in January 2019. #NoZIMpunityhttps://t.co/zHMZDmz8aV
— EU in Zimbabwe ?? (@euinzim) January 19, 2021
On January 17, 2019, riots broke out across the country after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a sudden fuel price increase of 150 percent, resulting in days of violent demonstrations. According to Human Rights Watch, up to 17 people were killed and several others injured and arbitrarily detained after security forces used excessive lethal force:
A crackdown by security forces against protests in Jan 2019 resulted in the deaths of 17 Zimbabweans. Two years on we continue to call for accountability and on the govt to enact political and economic reforms that will benefit all Zimbabweans #ActiononReform #StandUp4HumanRights
— UKinZimbabwe (@UKinZimbabwe) January 19, 2021
The EU statement comes against a background of continued arrests of dissenting voices.
Despite a military led change of guards which resulted in the resignation of the government of the late Robert Mugabe in November 2017, the country has continued to witness a litany of rights abuse cases. This has negatively affected Zimbabwe’s image as a good investment destination.
Citizens’ hopes for a better economy and respect for human rights were raised with the ouster of Mugabe. He had long ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 with an iron fist.
However, four years after the coup, the situation has only worsened. The main opposition continues to be brutalized by state security, both through legal and extralegal methods.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: GV Sub-Saharan Africa


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Hypocrisy vs history debate follows death of former Yugoslav actress Mira Furlan · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Profile photo of Mira Furlan's official Twitter profile, also used in a tweet announcing her death. Fair use.
Actress Mira Furlan died at her Los Angeles home on January 20 after a long struggle with the West Nile Virus. Her death incited a soul-searching debate across her native region of former Yugoslavia, about parts of her life story which are not common knowledge among her fans in the USA nor world over, who recall her roles in cult sci-fi works.
Simply awful news about Mira Furlan.
She turned Delenn into an SF character quite unlike any other. Imbued with a genuine quality of wisdom and compassion that clearly reflected the performer.
An truly unique person who left an ineffaceable mark on Science Fiction. pic.twitter.com/yvGa3exLdg
— Spacedock (@SpacedockHQ) January 22, 2021
Mira Furlan presented herself on her website as a “noted former Yugoslavian actress, currently best known to the western world for her portrayal of the Minbari Ambassador “Delenn” on the award-winning series Babylon 5.”
The Wikipedia article about her claims she was a Croatian actress of mixed Croatian, Jewish and Slovenian heritage, born in Zagreb. For much of Furlan's life, these two labels—Yugoslavian and Croatian—were not mutually exclusive: one could have been both.
Born in 1955, by the early 1980s she had become one of the leading movie and TV stars in Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, with roles in Academy award-nominated “When Father Was Away on Business” (made in Bosnia in 1985), and the popular anti-patriarchal “The Beauty of Vice” (made in Montenegro in 1986), as well as several evergreen TV drama series like “Velo Misto” and “Smogovci.”
A trailer for the tragicomedy “The Beauty of Vice” re-released in homage to Furlan several days after her death gives a glimpse of how most people who had the privilege of following her career at the time remember her—bursting with natural beauty and acting talent.
Both through her acting roles and as a public figure she often challenged the establishment and served as an early voice for second-wave feminism.
But as the union called Yugoslavia started to unravel, and nationalist chauvinists openly took hold of power in successor states, starting a series of wars, Furlan was declared a traitor by the media in her native Croatia.
The main ‘charges’ of the ensuing smear campaign against Furlan were that besides working at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, she also starred in a theatre production in Belgrade, and that the love of her life, and live-in partner since 1986 and later husband, film director Goran Gajić, was an ethnic Serb, also born in Zagreb.
Since the 1990s, smear campaigns in the Balkans have not been a mere exchange of opinions. Locally referred to as “media lynchings” they can be precursors to actual lynchings, perpetrated by aggravated “concerned patriotic citizens” poisoned by hate-fueled propaganda, and armed with actual weapons.
In Furlan's case, the campaign started with a character assassination through a news magazine article entitled “The Hard Life of an Easy Woman” by journalist and writer Rene Bakalović. “Easy woman” is a local euphemistic term for a promiscuous woman lacking basic morality or a prostitute. Among various libelous claims, Bakalović's text insinuated that Mira Furlan hated Zagreb because of her Jewish roots.
(This fell in line with the growing anti-semitism promoted by resurgent extreme right-wing nationalists who considered local Nazi collaborators from the Second World War as the true patriots.)
The smear campaign against Furlan quickly escalated to institutional level. She was fired from her job at the Croatian National Theatre and the Croatian state requisitioned her family's Zagreb apartment. The enormous number of death threats left on her telephone answering machine was the final reason for her decision to leave the state that offered her no protection.
On a November 1991 evening, their remaining friends threw a farewell party for Furlan and Gajić in a Belgrade flat, and they left the following morning for New York. A Nova S article commemorating the event also quoted Furlan who explained how it felt to be ostracized on both sides of the front lines. When asked who from her celebrity acquaintances disappointed her at that time, she said:
Lista bi bila preduga. Malo je tada bilo ljudi koji su stali uz mene… Malo?! Što to govorim? Nije ih bilo. Točka. Jedini ozbiljni članak o “slučaju” napisao je hrabri i jedinstveni Viktor Ivančić. Na tome sam bila i još sam mu uvijek beskrajno i zauvijek zahvalna. Nije bilo javne podrške, ni u Zagrebu ni u Beogradu, gdje sam preko noći postala “drugi”, čiji se “slučaj” više nikoga nije ticao. Ali je u Beogradu bilo nekih ljudi koji su nam prije našeg odlaska u Ameriku velikodušno dali svoje američke kontakte da nam se nađu u stranom svijetu. Među njima bila je i najveća od najvećih, ne samo po glumačkim, nego i po ljudskim kvalitetama: Milena Dravić. U takvim kriznim trenucima shvatite to je dobar čovjek.
The  list would be too long. Very few people stood by me at that time … A few?! What am I saying? There were no reactions. Full stop. The only serious article about the case was written by the brave and unique Viktor Ivančić. For that, I was and still am eternally grateful to him.  There was no public support, neither in Zagreb nor in Belgrade, where I become one of “the others” overnight, someone whose “case” was of no consequence. But in Belgrade there were some people who before going to America generously shared their American contacts who could help us abroad. Among them was the greatest off them all, both as an actor and as a human being: Milena Dravić. In such moments of crisis you realize who is truly a good person.
In the USA, Furlan proceeded with her acting career, including notable roles in the hit TV series Babylon 5 and LOST.
The sudden announcement of the passing of Mira Furlan is so sad. She was so captivating as Danielle Rousseau. A force of nature in every scene. You knew whenever her name appeared in the opening credits it was going to be a good episode. Rest in peace ❤ pic.twitter.com/LQW2WfHLzv
— LOST (@LOST_Daily) January 22, 2021
According to the testimony of her friend and colleague Rade Šerbedžija, who also worked in Hollywood at the time, she returned to Croatia in 2002 and played a leading role in Euripide's Medea, produced by Šerbeđija's private theatre company Ulysses to critical acclaim and warm audience reception.
Mira je bila velika i pravedna žena. Bila je levičarka i socijalista. Bila je briljantna glumica i osoba. Svi su je voleli, od publike do drugih glumaca i reditelja – što je i dokazala kada je otišla, pobegla od strašnog rata i uspela da u SAD napravi karijeru.
Mira was a great and just woman. She was a leftist and a socialist. She was a brilliant actress and person. Everybody loved her, the audience, the other actors and directors. She proved it when she left, when she escaped the terrible war and managed to build a new career in the USA.
Even though the “In memoriam” video by the Public Broadcasting Service HRT (Croatian Radio and Television) showing highlights from her  movies and TV series, noted that her last theatre performance was in Rijeka, Croatia, a year before her death, it also quotes Šerbedžija saying that “she never really returned.”
Renowned Croatian film director Rajko Grlić was even more blunt, and in a statement for Nova S TV said that “Mira Furlan experienced a pogrom, and Croatia never apologized.”
Moreover, after the news of Furlan's death spread, the Croatian National Theatre published an official obituary on its website, which glossed over the injustice done to the banished actress:
Odlazak u SAD 1991. godine zbog političkih razloga je bio trenutak prestanka njezinog rada u Hrvatskom narodnom kazalištu, no njezina umjetnička ostavština živi i dalje. Obožavale su je i obožavat će je generacije publike, jer je uz ogroman talent i inteligenciju bila umjetnica koja je svojim beskompromisnim stavovima postala moralna veličina.
Zbogom i hvala ti, Miro.
Her 1991 departure to the USA due to political reasons was the moment of stoppage of her work at the Croatian National Theatre, but her artistic legacy lives on. She was adored and will be adored by generations of audiences, because alongside her enormous talent and intelligence she was an artist who showed moral greatness because of her uncompromising positions.
Farewell and thank you, Mira.
This announcement led to a flurry of social media comments blaming the theatre for shameful lies and hypocrisy and attempting “forgery of history.”
The current manager of the drama department of the Croatian National Theatre, Ivica Buljan, published a personal apology to Furlan in a lengthy Facebook post, which was relayed by influential online media. Besides noting that it's too late to “apologise to the dead,” and paying homage to his former colleague, Buljan wrote:
Mnogi su objavu prokomentirali: HNK pokušao zaboraviti kako je otjerao Miru Furlan. Kao ravnatelj Drame HNK osjećam sram zbog događaja koji su Miru Furlan prisilili da napusti kazalište i Zagreb. Miro, ja te molim oprosti.
Many commented on the [official obituary] announcement as: Croatian National Theatre attempted to forget how they chased out Mira Furlan. As a manager of the drama department of the Croatian National Theatre I feel shame due to the events that forced Mira Furlan to leave the theatre and Zagreb. Mira, please forgive.
The media treatment of the news about her death in Croatia also raised accusations of hypocrisy. In one case, a post-mortem HRT TV show about her even included a statement from one of her initial “media executioners” in which he commented positively on her 2002 performance in Zagreb.
Croatian journalist Danka Derifaj responded via a Facebook post:
How sickening, pathological and downright scary. Rene Bakalović, the author of the text entitled “The Hard Life of an Easy Woman” which he used to butcher Mira Furlan at the beginning of the nineties in Globus magazine, has now been invited to talk in a news segment about her death on the HRT (PBS Croatian Radio Television) as “her schoolmate.”
Very little from these conversations have been aired outside of the region of former Yugoslavia. Remembrances of Mira Furlan by fans and colleagues in the US and the world over have been focused on her accomplishments on the international stage. The “prehistory” of regional stardom has been but briefly mentioned, and the struggle against nationalism has largely been absent from their discourse, including the obituaries in the international media.
This absence of awareness in the West might reflect Furlan's PR attitude, which was based on her complex personality, strong and fragile at the same time. It seems she refused to play both the part of complaining victim and of a show-off regarding her fame and celebrity status in her “old country” when talking to US media, unless she was specifically asked. As a survivor, she focused on her new life and career, and returning as part of public discourse in the Balkans after she had “made it” abroad, by participating in visiting projects and as a columnist for Feral Tribune and the Nova S website.
Back on the world stage, the Twitter profile of American writer J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5, became one of the focal points of the fandom that shared the feeling of loss and admiration for Furlan. In that vein, he shared a video with a parting scene from the series in which Furlan's character Satai Delenn explains why in her alien culture there's no word for goodbye.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Thai woman receives 43-year sentence for sharing audio clips ‘defaming’ the monarchy · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Anchan (right side). Source: iLaw / Prachatai
A 63-year-old Thai woman was sentenced to 87 years in prison for sharing audio clips deemed insulting to the monarchy. The prison term was reduced to 43 years and six months after the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of violating section 112 of the Criminal Code or Lèse-majesté (anti-Royal Insult law). Despite the penalty adjustment, it is still the longest prison sentence handed out to a person convicted of disrespecting the monarchy.
Anchan (pseudonym), a food seller and former civil servant, was first arrested in 2015 for sharing 29 audio clips containing content that allegedly defame the monarchy.
The videos were sourced from an underground radio channel hosted by an activist named Hatsadin Uraipraiwan, aka Banpot. Anchan did not create the clips but merely shared them on social media between November 2014 to January 2015. She was detained for more than three years before she was allowed to post bail.
She was hoping for leniency from the court after pleading guilty to the charge, considering that she already served time in prison. Prior to her conviction on January 19, Anchan talked to iLaw, a non-profit organization, about what she was hoping from her trial:
My only hope is that the court has compassion for me. I was charged with 29 counts of violation of the law. I have been imprisoned for nearly 4 years. Even though all I did was share clips.
If I have to go back to prison, as a society, we have to ask, where is the standard of enforcing the law?
But the court decided otherwise:
Is sharing audio clips a crime worth 87 years of jail? In #Thailand the Court seems to think so as it sentenced Anchan, 63-year old woman to that punishment, claiming she violated 112. This is the longest, harshest & most cruel sentence EVER under #ม112 #ยกเลิก112 #saveอัญชัญ pic.twitter.com/Kf20j7e3Ye
— Manushya Foundation (@ManushyaFdn) January 20, 2021
Her appeal for bail was also denied the following day. The court cited the “trauma” caused by Anchan's actions in denying her bail request:
After the bail application of #Anchan, defendant in Art.112’s case imprisoned for 29 ys and 174 mos, was submitted to the Court of Appeal to adjudicate, today the court ruled to dismiss the application, citing serious offenses /causing trauma to those loyal to the Thai monarchy. pic.twitter.com/sv4csNX434
— TLHR / ศูนย์ทนายความเพื่อสิทธิมนุษยชน (@TLHR2014) January 21, 2021
The bail rejection elicited criticism from civil society leaders:
?Thai Appeal Court denied #bail for Anchan who’s been unfairly sentenced to 43 years in jail for #LeseMajeste ?
Is her entire life less important than feelings of royalists who claimed 2B traumatized? NO
❌ it’s CRUEL
❌ It violates #FreedomOfExpression#SaveAnchan #ยกเลิก112 pic.twitter.com/I5P9SekqrK
— Emilie Palamy Pradichit (@EmiliePradichit) January 22, 2021
Anchan’s guilty verdict and the long prison sentence she received alarmed human rights groups in Thailand. It reflected the increasing use of Lèse-majesté law to silence critics of the military-backed government.
#Thailand anti-government protest leaders like @paritchi @mike_rayong @PanusayaS saying they're worried about 112/#Lesemajeste charges given how court just sentenced a woman on Tuesday to 87 years jail for insulting #monarchy. But adds they're now beyond being fearful #ยกเลิก112 pic.twitter.com/Fb6OrbOXm2
— May Wong (@MayWongCNA) January 20, 2021
In 2020, massive protests mobilized young Thais who demanded the restoration of democracy, including the need to reform the monarchy. The government used emergency decree measures and the Lèse-majesté law to threaten activists with arrest if they continue to organize protests during the pandemic.
As of January 19, at least 54 people have been charged or summoned by the police to hear Lèse-majesté charges within the last few weeks.
Recently, a Lèse-majesté complaint was filed against an opposition leader for questioning the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Allegedly, a company involved in the planned distribution of vaccines is funded by the monarchy.
Several students, activists, and protest leaders were arrested by the police this month in connection to Lèse-majesté charges.
Any better things to do than bullying kids ? @prachatai_en @PravitR @suranand @G_Garachon @NuttaaBow @Piyabutr_FWP @AbbottKingsley @AbbottKingsley @sanitsuda @Thai_Talk @fishmyman @suthichai pic.twitter.com/RqyLg1ie9T
— stephff cartoonist (@stephffart) December 31, 2020
Manushya Foundation criticized the “cruel” sentence received by Anchan
Although her sentence was reduced to 43 years, it’s still too harsh & unnecessary cruel. Should a defamation case land someone several decades in jail? It's time for us to talk about #ม112 & urging for it to be repealed!
Journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk wrote that Anchan’s case might push more Thais to action:
When a law ceases to become just in the eyes of enough people, it loses its efficacy. It draws more criticism and not just against the law, but the government and the monarchy as well.
At that point, the use of an unjust law will in fact become counter-productive. (I think it’s already the case.)
This tweet by a BBC journalist sums up the reaction of many observers of Thai politics:
This sums up the madness of lese majeste, and the warped reasoning it produces. How many royalists were ‘traumatized’ by the podcasts this lady posted? How many even heard them? Does the judge know? Any why ‘traumatized’ simply by critical comments about the monarchy? https://t.co/Rc9jTXcL0V
— Jonathan Head (@pakhead) January 22, 2021
Anchan is awaiting the result of her appeal.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Why can’t women be marriage registrars in Bangladesh? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Image by Dhilruba Akter Surovi from Pixabay used under a Pixabay license.
A January 10 court ruling in Bangladesh, which stated that women cannot be marriage registrars, also known as Qazi in Islamic law, has become the talk of the country as women and human rights activists have questioned the basis of the judgement.
A Dhaka High Court bench, that included a male and a female judge, issued the controversial ruling based on the Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act (1974), enumerating a number of alleged physical, social and practical obstacles to women being appointed to the position.
The initial case was brought to the court by Ayesha Siddiqua, a woman from the Phulbari municipality in Dinajpur district in North Bangladesh. In 2012, she applied for the position of marriage registrar in her municipality. After her interview, the results were sent to the law ministry for approval but she was later refused the position on the ground that she is a woman.
Bangladesh: Ayesha Siddiqua Denied License For Marriage Registrar For Being A Woman #Islam #Muslims #women https://t.co/P5VBOgM1oz New Age Islam pic.twitter.com/3AD11a2Prv
— New Age Islam (@NewAgeIslam) January 19, 2021
Siddiqua vowed to challenge the decision. She filed a writ petition in the High Court (HC) in June 2014, challenging the government's decision to not employ her based on her gender.
More than six years later, she was issued a final verdict on January 10, 2021, in which the Bangladesh High Court commented that women experience a physical disqualification at a certain time of the month, in an obvious reference to menstruation, which  doesn't allow them to enter mosques and other religious institutions. The court added that “since marriage is a religious function, given this reality, it is not possible to perform the duty of marriage registrar with women in Bangladesh.”
The verdict has since sparked numerous protests on social media, especially since menstruation was cited as ground for disqualification, among other things.
Writer and poet Mujib Mehdy wrote on Facebook:
আমার মায়ের মাসিক হয়েছিল বলেই আমার জন্ম সম্ভব হয়েছে; অথচ এই আমিই কিনা মায়ের প্রতি অকৃতজ্ঞতাবশত তাঁর নিকাহ্ রেজিস্ট্রার বা কাজি হবার অধিকারকে খর্ব করলাম স্রেফ মাসিকের দোহাই দিয়ে!
Because my mother had menstruation, my birth was possible. Whereas, I am now denying her the right to be a Nikah (traditional Muslim marriage) registrar citing menstruation as a disqualification.
A user commenting on the Facebook page of Meye [Woman], a network of feminists, lashed at the verdict:
ঘোষণাটিতে পিরিয়ডকে শারীরিক অক্ষমতা বলা হয়েছে, দেখেই বমি পেয়েছিলো। এই যুক্তিতে তাহলে সকল নারী যারা ঘরে থাকেন বা বাইরে কাজ করেন তাদের সবাইকে পিরিয়ড চলাকালীন সময়ে তাদের কাজগুলো থেকে অব্যাহতি দেয়া হবে কারণ তারা শারীরিকভাবে অক্ষম? এই প্রথা তো আগে প্রচলিত ছিলো, এমনকি পিরিয়ডের সময় বাড়ির বাইরে স্থান হতো মেয়েদের। তাহলে কি আমরা পেছনের দিকে হাঁটছিনা?
I almost vomited reading the verdict, which called the menstruation cycle as a physical disqualification. According to this argument, should women who work at home or outside will be exempted from their jobs during the menstruation cycle, because they are physically disabled? This sort of argument was prevalent in the middle ages, however, even during those times, women were allowed outside the house. So aren't we walking backwards?
Screenshot from the Facebook page Earki
The verdict also prompted several memes being shared on social media. Popular satire page Earki (joke) shared:
নারীজীবনে পিরিয়ড একটি স্বাভাবিক জৈবিক প্রক্রিয়া। পিরিয়ড হওয়া কোনো অস্বাভাবিকতা নয়, বরং না হওয়াটাই অস্বাভাবিক। এই স্বাভাবিকতাকে সাথে নিয়েই নারীরা এগিয়ে যান নিজ নিজ কর্মক্ষেত্রে, অর্জন করেন আকাশচুম্বী সাফল্য, কিংবা টিকে থাকার সংগ্রাম করে চলেন নিরন্তর।
Menstruations or Periods are a normal biological process in a woman's life. This is not an abnormality, but very natural. Women move forward in their respective fields of work carrying this natural uniqueness, they succeed, or continue to struggle for survival.
(translation from the memes)
During their menstruation cycle, Bangladeshi women can:
* serve in the armed forces and fight during wars
* be doctors and perform operations
* conquer mountains
* cook and feed others
* serve as a day labourer
* fly an aeroplane
* be a bodybuilder or other professional athlete
* can be in leading positions in the country – like the Prime-Minister, leader of the opposition, Speaker of the parliament, a minister or a judge.
But they cannot be a Qazi/marriage registrar.
Marriage laws in Bangladesh – which is a secular state according to its Constitution – are based on a combination of old religious and civil laws. Religious communities such as Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians follow different systems of practices and laws for their marriage, but they have to obtain a marriage registration certificate under the state laws to validate their union.
For Muslims, the Qazi operates as “Nikah Registrar”, and is appointed by the government to register marriages under the Muslim Marriages and Divorces (Registration) Act, 1974, and the Muslim Marriages and Divorces (Rules), 1975.
Mohammed Badrul Islam, a Bangladeshi freethinker, questions the government's ban on women being Qazi in one of his tweets:
বিয়ে পড়ানো এবং রেজিস্ট্রি দুটি আলাদা বিষয়। প্রতিটি বিবাহ তাদের নিজ নিজ ধর্মের নিয়ম অনুযায়ী হয়ে থাকে কিন্তু রেজিস্ট্রেশন হয়ে থাকে সরকারি আইন অনুযায়ী। রেজিস্ট্রেশন এর সময় একটি ফরম পূরণ করা হয় এবং বর কনে ও সাক্ষীদের স্বাক্ষর করতে হয়। এ ক্ষেত্রে মাসিক কি করে বাধা হতে পারে? pic.twitter.com/Vn4zaA9VNa
— Md.Badrul Islam (@MdBadru15756647) January 14, 2021
Performing the marriage ceremony and registering the marriage are two different tasks. Each marriage is performed by a religious leader or elders using the respective religious laws, but the registration is done as per the state laws. Both the bride and groom have to fill out a form and sign to register the marriage. How can menstruation impede this?
It is also important to distinguish the specific meaning and function of Qazi in the context of Bangladesh, as the term can have different meaning across the Muslim world. In Islam, the term Qazi usually means a magistrate or judge in a Sharia court with vast judicial power. However, in Bangladesh, a Qazi is merely a registrar, who does not perform other judicial functions as per the old Islamic laws.
Iftekhar Jamil, a Muslim religious scholar, sheds some light on the popular belief that women cannot be Qazi in Bangladesh according to Muslim religious schools of thoughts, quoting examples of Muslim traditions that indeed allow women to serve as Qazi:
নারীরা কি কাজি হতে পারেন? হানাফি মাজহাব মতে হুদুদ-কিসাস বা ফৌজদারি অংশ ছাড়া বাকি বিভাগে হতে পারেন। ইমাম তবারির মতে সব বিভাগেই হতে পারেন।
রেজিস্ট্রির লেখক বা রাষ্ট্রীয় এজেন্ট যাই বলেন না কেন, একজন মহিলার এই দায়িত্ব পালন করতে কোন বাঁধা দেখি না। নারীরা এসব দায়িত্ব পালন করলে পর্দা রক্ষা করতে হবে, সেটা তো সবাই জানেন। পাশাপাশি পিরিয়ড থাকুক বা না থাকুক মসজিদের বাইরে থেকেই দায়িত্ব পালন করতে পারেন।
Can a woman be a Qazi? According to the Hanafi school of Islam [the majority of Bangladeshis are Sunni and they follow the Hanafi Islamic jurisprudence], a woman can be a Qazi except for being a judge in criminal proceedings. According to Imam Al-Tabari, women can also perform as Qazi for criminal proceedings.
Whatever you call a Qazi in Bangladesh – a ‘marriage registrar’ or a ‘state agent’, I see no obstacle for a woman to perform this duty. It is a given that a woman has to be modest and follow Purdah if they perform these duties. Even during the period of menstruation, they can perform their duties outside a mosque [given that as per Islamic regulations, women having their periods are not allowed inside mosque].
Meanwhile, Ayesha Siddiqua has filed an appeal against the High Court verdict and has vowed to keep fighting against the ruling that deprives her of accomplishing her dream.

author: Rezwan


text:
In Tanzania, full-throttle COVID-19 denial leaves citizens without access to public health information · Global Voices
GV Sub-Saharan Africa

A man looks at his mobile phone in Tanzania, December 9, 2018. Photo by Riaz Jahanpour, for USAID Tanzania / Digital Development Communications via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
The novel coronavirus was first reported in Tanzania in mid-March 2020, but, after recording up to 509 cases and 21 deaths in late April, the nation announced its status as “coronavirus-free” in June.
That same month, Kassim Majaliwa, the country’s prime minister, told parliament there are only 66 active coronavirus cases in the country, but did not provide further details.
Since then, government has been silent on the coronavirus with a strong politic of denial and no data released to the public on infections or deaths.
Today, most activities continue business-as-usual, including Tanzania's tourism industry, attracting thousands of visitors to its airports with few public health protocols in place.
The airport in Zanzibar received the lowest 2-star rating on COVID-19 health and safety measures by Skytrax COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating, the world’s only assessment and certification of airport health and safety measures during the pandemic. According to their report, “new cases of the South African virus variant were confirmed in two travelers flying into Denmark on January 19, from Tanzania.”
The highly anticipated annual African music festival, Sauti za Busara, will take place in mid-February in Zanzibar, with support from the European Union in Tanzania and several European embassies, despite the risk of highly contagious new coronavirus variants circulating in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.
On January 24, the Catholic Archdiocese of Arusha issued a letter warning congregants of the existence of COVID-19 in Tanzania, and urged members to follow all necessary public health measures to prevent the spread of the virus in churches.
While Tanzania’s recorded cases are moderate compared to other countries, the government’s silence about COVID-19 data raised grave concerns among public health experts and human rights activists, who are forbidden from speaking or talking about COVID-19 in digital spaces.
The country updated its 2018 Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations in July, prohibiting any “content with information with regard to the outbreak of a deadly or contagious disease in the country or elsewhere without the approval of the respective authorities.”
Despite initial restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, schools, colleges, offices and other social activities are back to normal, even as the virus continues to spread in the region.
President John Magufuli had cast doubt on the credibility of laboratory equipment and technicians after secret tests allegedly performed on papaya and a goat gave positive test results. The president said releasing this data was causing unnecessary panic and soon after, fired Nyambura Moremi, director of the national health laboratory, for allegedly botching the testing results. The ministerial COVID-19 information team was dissolved.
In June, Magufuli thanked God for eradicating the virus from Tanzania, following three days of national prayer. He made this announcement publicly during a Sunday service, amidst a praising congregation, making claims that God had answered their prayers. He also praised congregants for not wearing face masks, despite calls from the World Health Organization to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
Magufuli, nicknamed “the bulldozer” for his tough anti-corruption stance, was reelected for a second time in October 2020 during an election that was highly criticized for stifling dissent and opposition.
Just before the elections, Tanzanians experienced an internet shutdown with access denied to all the major social media platforms including Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter. To date, many Tanzanians cannot access Twitter without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Over the last five years, the Magufuli administration has narrowed democratic and civic spaces and has cracked down hard on freedom of expression and access to information in digital spaces.
With the government’s strong denial stance, Tanzanians are not allowed to release any COVID-19 data that the government has not verified, which means that ordinary citizens as well as journalists and medical professionals are barred from commenting on COVID-19 in digital spaces, or accessing information.
Access to COVID-19 information has become an “elite privilege,” according to one doctor from the national hospital who spoke to Global Voices on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.
Unlike other countries with established COVID-19 information response teams who give daily updates on COVID-19, Tanzania simply offers a website with limited and outdated COVID-19 information.
The denial has been so convincing that it’s now widely accepted by Tanzanians, including medical experts, who disregard basic safety measures like wearing face masks and social distancing.
Global Voices visited major hospitals such Muhimbili, the government referral hospital in Dar es Salaam, the cultural capital, as well as Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in Dodoma, the political capital, and witnessed very few measures taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease.
People are allowed to enter hospital premises without wearing masks, there are few working hygiene and washing facilities and those that do exist lack water or are broken, which was witnessed, for example, in the pregnant mothers’ clinic at Muhimbili.
While the Magufuli administration has shown little concern about the impact of the virus on everyday citizens, many government ministries and departments acknowledge that COVID-19 still exists.
Tanzania's minister of finance urges ministry staff to take all precautions against the coronavirus, while also saying COVID-19 is not an issue in Tanzania. Screenshot from Mwananchi newspaper.
For example, when Magufuli was sworn in for the second time last year, authorities did practice COVID-19 prevention measures, requiring all attendees to have their temperatures taken and wash their hands at hygiene stations with hand sanitizer provided.
On January 25, Tanzania's Minister of Finance Dr. Philip Mpango urged his staff to take precautions against COVID-19 while at the same denying its existence in Tanzania, during a meeting in Dodoma, the capital.
Most in-country experts are afraid to speak up, fearing retaliation.
Global Voices spoke with one medical expert who believed Tanzania may be experiencing a second wave of the outbreak but that this information was kept secret from the public. The expert did not want to be named, fearing reprisal.
Another medical expert told Global Voices under the conditions of anonymity that people must know their COVID-19 status so that they can take measures to prevent its spread in their communities. He said that leaving people uninformed makes their job very difficult and hopes that all Tanzanians will try to protect themselves by taking all precautions advised by WHO. He told Global Voices:
Politicians have taken over the whole COVID[-19] issue and they are playing a dangerous game, but when people will start dying they will start sacking medical staff.
Another doctor who spoke to Global Voices anonymously said that although there is some hope in getting a vaccine, Tanzania’s denial may slow down access to it, as the government has not taken any steps to acquire it on the global market, opting instead to invest in herbal remedies.
In December 2020, Health Minister spokesman Gerald Chamii cast doubt on global vaccines, telling the East African:
It takes not less than six months to find a vaccine or cure for a certain disease. We have fared on our own since the pandemic spread, I am not sure if it is wise to have a vaccine imported and distributed to the citizens without undertaking clinical testing to approve if it is safe for our people.
Access to information is essential to democracy and development. Tanzania’s cyber laws have been abused to target dissenting voices and those who have spoken out against Tanzania’s handling of COVID-19.
Freedom of expression, including the right to access, receive and impart information, is enshrined in international law. In Tanzania, the right to be informed, and to access and disseminate information, is recognized in Articles 18(1) and 18(2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Nevertheless, these rights are more cosmetic than based in reality.
With full-throttled COVID-19 denial and laws in place to prevent the open exchange of information and opinions on the disease on- and offline, Tanzanians are left with severely limited access to information and many are afraid to speak out.
This article is part of a series of posts examining interference with digital rights under lockdowns and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic in nine African countries: Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Algeria, Nigeria, Namibia, Tunisia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).


text:
Japanese skincare company faces online backlash and boycott after CEO’s racist remarks · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Captions: “I will not buy DHC products,” “DHC: Hate speech hall of fame.” Image widely shared on Twitter.
Calls for boycott of prominent Japanese cosmetics firm DHC are entering its third month since its CEO published a blog post loaded with anti-Korean slurs on the company's official website in November 2020 — for which the company has yet to apologize.
Critics are also drawing attention to the DHC's connections to the Japanese far-right and its efforts to distribute conspiracy theories online.
DHC offers various high-end skincare products that are popular in Japan and around the world, as well as “diet supplements” that supposedly help maintain or lose weight.
In November 2020, its CEO Yoshida Yoshiaki described the models featured in the advertisements of rival company Suntory as “chontory” on a blog post on the company's website. The word, a portmanteau, combines “chon” (チョン), a derogatory Japanese-language slur for Koreans, and the company's name, Suntory.
Yoshida says in the blog post that DHC is a “pure” Japanese company, that only uses “pure” ingredients and “pure” Japanese people in their commercials. The CEO was responding to the fact that Suntory had been named the top seller of supplements in Japan.
Redditor u/isolilili translated the entire post to English, including the racist epithet:
サントリーのCMに起用されているタレントはどういうわけかほぼ全員がコリアン系の日本人です。そのためネットではチョントリーと揶揄されているようです。DHCは起用タレントをはじめ、すべてが純粋な日本企業です。
Suntory hires almost only Korean-Japanese people for their commercials. That's why on the internet, they've been called “chontory”. From the celebrities we have hired down to our very roots, we are a pure Japanese company.
Following news reports about the blog post, the hashtag “I will not buy DHC products” (#差別をするDHCの商品は買いません) trended on Twitter in mid-December, along with #BoycottDHC.
And in January, demonstrations were organized in Tokyo to raise awareness of a boycott of DHC products.
【#差別をするDHCの商品は買いません】1
Jan.24th,2021
at.Shinjuku,Tokyo,Japan#BoycottDHC #DHC불매 @nonewsjyoshi pic.twitter.com/WguxXsMX3Z
— さくら? (@Sacklaver) January 24, 2021
#I will not buy DHC products
Demonstration march on January 24, 2021
The backlash, however, isn't limited to the CEO's remarks on the company's blog.
Critics have noted that many prominent far-right media personalities regularly appear on DHC's news-like programs which it broadcasts on its official channels on YouTube, Daily Motion and other video platforms. Those programs, such as “News Girls” (ニュース女子) and “Toranomon News” (虎ノ門ニュース), typically present a far-right, ultra-conservative viewpoint that is anti-Korean and anti-Chinese.
Observers have noted that DHC TV's Toranomon news program, in particular, has played a key role sharing pro-Trump and QAnon conspiracies in Japan, including the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden stole the United States’ election from Donald Trump.
Hyakuta Naoki, a popular commentator and a regular host at DHC's programs, has repeatedly told his 467,000 Twitter followers that Joe Biden “stole” the 2020 US elections. He also stated in January he would quit writing if Trump is no longer president.
The Okayama chapter of Japan's Counter-Racist Action Collective (C.R.A.C.) highlighted DHC's connection to JAnon-like conspiracy theories in the call to boycott products by the company:
DHCは自身が経営するテレビ番組でアメリカ大統領選挙のデマを拡散し続けています。差別企業のDHCを放置することは、人として許せないし、社会にとって大きなリスクです。日本を陰謀論の溜まり場にするな。#差別をするDHCの商品は買いません #アメリカ大統領選挙デマ拡散企業DHC#boycottdhc #DHC pic.twitter.com/vU2yUSX6Dk
— C.R.A.C. Okayama (@crac_cgk) January 24, 2021
DHC continues to spread hoaxes about the US presidential election on its broadcast programs. Speaking as human beings, it is unforgivable to continue to allow DHC to allow such a risk to society to continue. Don't make Japan a hangout for conspiracy theories.
# “I will not buy DHC products”
# “DHC spreads hoaxes about the US presidential election”
#BoycottDHC
#DHC
The far-right has long been overlooked or tolerated by mainstream broadcasters in Japan. Popular entertainment acts may sport Nazi-inspired uniforms, while Holocaust deniers such as Takasu Katsuya, a popular billionaire cosmetic surgeon, are regularly invited onto prime-time television.
Money may explain the presence and influence of racist and far-right views in mainstream media in Japan. Katsuya, for example, contributes significant advertising revenue to broadcasters in Japan.
DHC has also infiltrated media in this way, regularly paying for sponsored articles and other advertising in Japan and around the world. Faced with declining advertising revenue, Japanese media may be forced to ignore or tolerate hateful content.
DHC TV's Toranomon News program (虎ノ門ニュース) includes many far-right and ultranationalist media personalities, including Kent Gilbert (top left), Arimoto Kaori (bottom row, second from left), Hyakuta Naoki (center of image), and Suda Shin'ichiro (top right). Screencap from DHC TV Daily Motion news channel, circa 2016. Image widely shared online.
At the same time, hate speech against ethnic Koreans is a long-running and significant problem in Japan. A 2017 survey by the Japanese government found that 40 percent of non-Japanese residents of Japan have encountered discriminatory speech online, while 20 percent of survey respondents refrain from using the internet to avoid hateful content.
Some discussion has focused on whether or not DHC could be prosecuted for hate speech because of its blog post.
Speaking with the Tokyo Shimbun, Morooka Yasuko, a prominent expert on hate speech in Japan, stated:
ヘイトスピーチそのものだ。蔑称を用いてコリアンルーツの人を侮辱し、社会から排除することを扇動している。大企業の代表が公式サイト上で文章を公表しており、その扇動の社会的悪影響は大きい。
Hate speech is what its name suggests. [In the case of the DHC blog post] it is the use of derogatory terms to insult Korean heritage to incite others to exclude this group from society. If the representative [like DHC CEO Yoshida Yoshiaki] of a large corporation publishes such statements on an official website, the social negative impact of their language is significant.
In June 2016, the Japanese central government passed a law aimed at eliminating hate speech online. However, the law delegates municipalities to ensure measures to target hate speech, resulting in a patchwork of local regulations.
In 2019, Kawasaki became the first city to enact an ordinance criminally punishing hate speech with fines of up to 500,000 yen (5,000 USD). DHC, however, is based in Tokyo.
For now, activist groups seek to continue a boycott of DHC, and not just by consumers in Japan. Twitter user @yoox5135, of the C.R.A.C. anti-racism collective, has attempted to call out the official Japanese Twitter account of Peanuts Worldwide LLC. The American company is partnering with DHC to sell chapstick:
@Snoopy @SchulzMuseum Are you aware that the chief director of #DHC , Japan’s cosmetics company which sells products in collaboration with @snoopyjapan , frequently uses derogatory terms against Korean and has not apologized. Please don’t promote racism by doing this. #BoycottDHC https://t.co/mieQgxX93x
— ゆーすけ (@yoox5135) January 7, 2021
[Translation of linked tweet]  The ever-popular “DHC medicated lip balm” the will be released this year with ever-popular Snoopy branding. It's a playful, modern and chic 3-piece cosmetic set for adults! Protect your lips with a smooth veil, which tends to dry out in winter, as well as rough lips caused by mask rubbing.
As of the time of publication of this story, Yoshida's blog post remains published on the DHC website. A screenshot has also been uploaded to Imgur, and the original Japanese text has been preserved in an anonymous blog post.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Settlement pacts in Syria’s Daraa: A hunt for dissidents · Global Voices
عقبة محمد - Mohammed Okba

A child plays near his house, destroyed by Syrian jets, in the city of Daraa. Photo by Okba Mohammed. Used with permission
“Listen, this settlement of yours is worthless. It's just a smart way for the State to distinguish civilians from armed militants.”
These were the last words an officer in the Special Tasks branch at Mazzeh airport in Damascus said to activist Zaid al-Haraki (who uses this alias to conceal his identity from the Syrian regime) before the officer began torturing him.
After the war ended in South Syria, members of the opposition agreed in July 2018 to the terms of a settlement sponsored by the Russian Military Police, which supports Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad. Left with no other choice, they thought that doing so would protect them from the regime's security forces, which had recaptured the region.
According to the settlement, displaced Syrians could return to their cities and the Syrian regime was obliged to release hundreds of detainees, address mandatory military service issues, reduce arrests and violations, as well as improve services in those areas. Under the settlement, members of the opposition and defectors from the regime would also have the right to remain in Daraa and other regions, provided they surrendered their weapons.
However, more than two years after the agreement, the settlement has failed to achieve its goal of ridding the towns bordering Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories from any regime-supporting Iranian presence. Moreover, regime forces have failed to fully enforce its influence in the governorate of Daraa.
The city, which was the cradle of the Syrian revolution, continues to experience chaos and insecurity as clashes between regime forces and the remaining opposition pockets continue, with multiple assassinations, instance of torture incidents and other violations being committed against the opposition, and a complete absence of protective measures or supervision over the parties’ implementation of the terms of the agreement.
Al-Haraki, a native to Daraa, told GV: “I was headed to the city of Izra'a on 14 April 2019 carrying the settlement card which I thought was an official document that allowed me to move around freely and safely. Suddenly, a vehicle of the Syrian regime's Air Force Intelligence department kidnapped me in Al-Hirak city, East of Daraa.”
Al-Haraki continues: “I was taken to the Special Tasks branch located at Mazzeh airport in Damascus. There, they interrogated me about my connection with the Free Army factions of the opposition and about my activism.”
Al-Haraki added that when he said he was part of the settlement and that he carried its card, which made his arrest “arbitrary, and the interrogation illegal or legitimate,” he was given the aforementioned response. “It was a clear statement by the officer that the Syrian regime is using this settlement at this stage to punish those who opposed it or carried arms against it once it gets a proper security grip over the area.”
ِA picture showing the widespread destruction of residential buildings in the Sadd Road neighborhood of Dara'a city in July 2018, after being hit by air shelling and missiles by Syrian regime forces over the past years. Photo by Oqba Mohammed. Used with permission.
Al-Haraki described one of the methods of torture to which he was subjected: his arms were bound in metal chains attached to the ceiling, and he was left suspended for several hours.  During his nine months of detention, he witnessed the deaths of three fellow detainees as a result of psychological and physical torture. One of them, Mohammed Mahmoud Badran from Douma, was accused of liquidating prisoners from Syrian regime forces during the eastern Ghouta battles between the regime and opposition factions in 2018.
On December 18, 2019, Al-Haraki was released by the Syrian regime under an amnesty issued by the Security Committee in Damascus. He was subsequently conscripted into military service in the regime army.
Al-Haraki says: “I was sent to the fronts in northern Syria with a number of my colleagues. We received orders to liquidate everyone. They made us believe we were fighting IS only to find out that we were fighting civilians.”
Al-Haraki wanted to defect but did not succeed, until he received news that his brother, a defector from the regime's army who had agreed to the 2018 settlement, had been killed under torture in Saydnaya prison in Damascus on June 29, 2020.
Al-Haraki says: “I was shocked and almost lost my mind. I applied for leave of absence to go home, and that's when I decided to defect and never return to my unit.”
In a report titled “On the Ruins of the Second Settlement” published on 8 January, the “Daraa Martyrs’ Documentation Office” (DMDO) reported the assassination of 83 military dissidents who had accepted the settlement, in addition to 31 others who did not agree to it. One of the report's authors, Syrian activist Abu Ghayas Al-Shara's, says:
مكتب توثيق الشهداء في #درعا – #على_أنقاض_التسوية : يبلغ عدد شهداء محافظة درعا خلال العام 2020: 275 شهيد بما يشكل 1.7 % من اجمالي عدد الشهداء منذ انطلاق الثورة وبارتفاع نسبته 25 % عن اعداد الشهداء خلال العام الماضي 2019.
— ابو غياس الشرع (@aboghias1) January 8, 2021
The Martyrs’ Documentation Office in #Daraa – #On_the_Ruins_of_the_Settlement: number of martyrs in Dara'a governorate during 2020 : 275, this is 1.7% of the total number of martyrs since the start of the revolution and an increase of 25% from the number of martyrs in the previous year 2019.
While similar to the agreements signed in the same year in the eastern Ghouta in Damascus countryside or the northern countryside of Homs, Daraa's agreement had one main difference, which was, according to Syrian journalist Basil Al-Ghazawi, the regime's reliance on figures considered to be in the opposition at the time, to promote these pacts.
Al-Ghazawi, who is native to Daraa, told GV: “The regime had deceived everyone. Some of those who were on the fronts fighting the regime had come to see the settlement as their only safety raft. But less than a month later, everyone felt deceived as detainees were not released; defectors’ settlement was not respected; mandatory military service issues were not addressed; services were not provided, and regime abuses did not end as arrests continued.”
Al-Ghazawi added:
إن الاغتيالات والاعتقالات والانتهاكات أفعالاً ليست جديدة على النظام، إنما هي حاضرة قبل وبعد التسويات، فأهالي درعا قتلوا بقصف جوي واستخدمت أسلحة محرمة دوليا ضدهم كالنابالم الحارق واعتقل الآلاف منهم، أما الجديد هو الموت الصامت الموت تحت شعارات الالتزام بالعهود والمواثيق.
Assassinations, arrests and violations were not new to the regime, as they have always happened, before and after the settlements. People of Daraa have been killed by air shelling, internationally banned weapons, such as napalm, and thousands were arrested. What is new now is their silent death; death under the banner of treaties and conventions.
The DMDO echoed Al-Ghazawi's testimony, saying in its report:
شهد العام 2020 استمرارا لسقوط الشهداء والضحايا وارتفاعا كبيرا جدا في وتيرة عمليات الاغتيال بالتزامن مع استمرار عمليات الاعتقال والإخفاء والتغييب القسري للمدنيين ومقاتلي فصائل “التسوية” وأيضا للمنشقين المنضمين للاتفاقية،
2020 witnessed the demise of many martyrs and victims and a significant increase in the frequency of assassinations in conjunction with the continued arrests, forced disappearances of civilians and fighters of the “settled” factions as well as defectors who joined the settlement.
During the interview, Al-Ghazawi listed the regime's most significant violations of the agreement since 2018. These included the erection of over 40 check-points for the Fourth Division West of Daraa, although the agreement stipulated the army's withdrawal to the pre-2011 barracks. Added to this was the non-disclosure of the fates of pre-settlement detainees, the barring of thousands of employees from returning to their jobs, the security forces’ harassment of people, and the recruitment of the young men of Horan—the province where Daraa is located—into militias of the security branches of the regime.
Lawyer and jurist Asim Al-Zoubi, Director of the Documentation Office at the Ahrar Horan Assembly foundation, said in an interview with Global Voices that his local organisation had documented the arrest of 1,293 people by Syrian regime forces since the beginning of the settlement through October 2020. Of those, 183 were arrested while trying to illegally migrate to opposition areas in northern Syria to escape the Syrian regime's failure to comply with the settlement agreement.
“The Office also documented 528 operations and assassination attempts that resulted in 378 deaths and left 230 wounded, most of whom were former members and leaders of opposition factions. Syrian regime intelligence is behind the majority of these operations. We revealed this in an investigative report we had published,” Al-Zoubi said.
On 7 December, following criticism of the settlement, Syrian regime forces concluded a new settlement in Daraa. Similar to the 2018 pact, the new agreement guarantees that those wanted by the regime would not be prosecuted, and removes the names of men who did not join the compulsory or reserve military service from the lists of regime checkpoints in the area.
Omar Al-Hariri, an independent journalist and rights activist from Syria who member of DMDO, wrote on his Twitter account:
هام / قوات النظام توسع تسوية درعا الجديدة و بدأت تشمل عدد من ابناء درعا المعتقلين منذ عامين في الأفرع الأمنية تعسفيا و الذين لم يتم ادانتهم او محاكمتهم بأي تهمة .
الموقوف المطلق سراحه يوقع على ورقة تسوية مماثلة للتي يوقع عليها من ينضم للتسوية في درعا .
لا معلومات أكثر حتى الآن
— Omar Alhariri (@omar_hariri_dr) December 7, 2020
IMP / regime forces expand the new Dara'a settlement to include a number of Daraa's sons who have been arbitrarily detained for two years in the security branches and who have not been convicted or tried on any charges.
The released detainee signs a settlement paper similar to the one signed by those who join the settlement in Dara'a.
No further information yet
The new settlement followed an upsurge in clashes in Daraa after the assassination of opposition leader Adham Karad and the Syrian regime's disregard of the commitments set out in the agreement.
It was the outcome of meetings between the central committee that is authorized to negotiate on behalf of Daraa's people, officers from the Syrian regime, and Russian forces, under direct supervision of representatives from the National Security Office in Damascus, which is considered the highest security department in the Assad regime. A judge from the regime's side, present during the signing of the new settlements, is tasked with handing over new settlement documents sealed by the Ministry of Justice, allowing their holders to move across checkpoints without being prosecuted, under Russian guarantee.
In an interview with Global Voices, a senior member of the central committee responsible for negotiating with Russian and regime forces in Dara'a, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, said:
عدم الحصول على نتائج ملموسة من التسوية الأولى كان الدافع لإجراء التسوية الجديدة ولا يوجد نتائج حتى الآن حيث لم يتم شطب الملفات الأمنية لكثير من الأشخاص، وكذلك الكثير لم يعودوا إلى وظائفهم وأيضا لم يتم حل ملف المنشقين عن نظام الأسد وتم إجراء التسوية الجديدة لسد هذه الثغرات ومعالجة هذه الملفات لكن للأن لا توجد نتيجة ملموسة.
The lack of tangible results from the first settlement was the motivation for the new settlement. There are no results so far as the security files of many people have not been written off yet. Moreover, many have not been returned to their jobs and the file of the dissidents of the Assad regime has not been resolved yet. The new settlement was concluded to cover those gaps and address these dossiers; but we are yet to see any tangible outcome.
This view was shared by Omar Al-Hariri, who commented on the new settlement:
توضيح حول التسوية الجديدة في درعا :
انتهى التوضيح .
— Omar Alhariri (@omar_hariri_dr) December 3, 2020
Clarifications on the new settlement in Dara'a:
Same old settlement, same results.
Clarification over.
In recent days, tensions have escalated as the regime pursues six individuals it says are connected to ISIS. The regime has given Daraa's central committee till Thursday January 28 to hand them over, failing which it will launch airstrikes against the region in collaboration with Russian fighter jets.
According to opposition figures, the wanted six are free from these accusations, and the regime's threats are a violation to the settlement pacts, both old and new.

author: عقبة محمد - Mohammed Okba


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Indigenous-led telecommunications organization wins historic legal battle in Mexico · Global Voices
Jacobo Nájera

TIC design. Used with permission.
On January 13, after a nearly three-year legal battle, the First Chamber of Mexico's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Indigenous Community Telecommunications (Telecomunicaciones Indígenas Comunitarias, TIC) organization, exempting them from paying for a concession license to use radio spectrum.
This decision allows TIC to offer affordable cell phone services to indigenous communities in the country. The court case also set a legal precedent for local communities to operate their own telecommunications services for free under social use concession licenses — drawing a line between commercial and community providers.
?¡Excelentes noticias! Con una votación unánime se emitió una sentencia favorable a TIC A.C. y en general al sector de las #telecomunicaciones protegiéndose los #derechosíndigenas para la operación de medios de comunicación propios. ¡Un logro de las comunidades y organizaciones! https://t.co/2c6jrTqwIV
— Redes AC México (@redesac_mx) January 13, 2021
Great news! Following a unanimous vote, a favorable ruling was issued to TIC A.C. and in general to the telecommunications sector, protecting indigenous rights for the operation of their own communication media. This is an achievement of the communities and organizations!
According to a 2010 census, indigenous communities in Mexico represent nearly 10% of the country's population; however, they are severely underrepresented as mobile service users. The Indigenous Peoples Mobile Service Coverage Diagnosis report states that only 16 out of 66 indigenous peoples had 100% mobile service coverage as of 2018.
TIC, the fourth-largest mobile operator in Mexico, is a non-profit organization made up of 16 indigenous communities from Oaxaca that began in 2013. In 2016, these same communities were granted the first indigenous social telecommunication concession to manage and operate their own cell phone networks. At the end of 2019, they received a second concession for the 10 GHz band, which will be used to change their current 2G network to 4G. These were the first steps for indigenous communities to take charge of their own media.
TIC members setting up antennas in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo by Javier de la Cruz, used with permission.
In 2018, the national telecommunications regulator required indigenous concessionaires to pay 1 million pesos (equivalent to more than 50,000 USD) for the use of rights of radio spectrum resources in the operation of its cellular telephone network. The provisions of the law did not differentiate between a community provider and a commercial one.
This payment endangered the existence and viability of TIC, which provides affordable cell phone and internet services in rural areas. At that time, Rodrigo Huerta Reyna, coordinator of the legal department of the Indigenous Community Telecommunications, pointed out the distinction between their services and those offered by commercial entities:
Damos servicio a comunidades que no son viables económicamente, obviamente un cobro de estos es impagable, además de que no tenemos el ánimo de lucro que los operadores comerciales.
We serve communities that are not economically viable, so obviously the charges can not be repaid, in addition to the fact that we do not have the profit motive of commercial operators.
The same year, TIC initiated a legal battle arguing that its operations are not-for-profit and, therefore, there is no commercial exploitation for which it must pay. They finally reached the First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and won in January 2021.
TIC design, used with permission.
TIC currently provides mobile phone services to around 60 localities of 18 indigenous communities with approximately 15,000 inhabitants, according to Erick Huerta, who participated in the design of the legal strategy.
He adds that the impact of the court ruling goes beyond these communities:
Va más allá de resolver nuestro asunto con el pago de derechos. Marca un criterio válido para cualquier obstáculo legal para los medios indígenas.
It goes beyond resolving our issue with the payment of rights. It marks a valid criterion for any legal obstacles for indigenous media.
The same view is expressed by the former commissioner of the Federal Telecommunications Institute, Alejandra Labardini:
existe una obligación constitucional de asistir a los pueblos y comunidades indígenas con acciones afirmativas tanto en las condiciones de adquisición como de operación de las concesiones, las cuales se han regulado especializadamente en su favor como sociales y de uso indígena.
…there is a constitutional obligation to assist indigenous peoples and communities [through] affirmative actions both in the conditions of acquisition and operation of the concessions. These have been specially regulated in their favor for social and indigenous use.

author: Jacobo Nájera


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Landmark ruling opens the way for environmental transparency in Trinidad and Tobago · Global Voices
Zico Cozier

Civil society representatives in Trinidad and Tobago advocating for their country to sign the Escazú Agreement to guarantee access to information and public participation in environmental matters. Photo courtesy Omar Mohammed, used with permission.
This article was originally published on Cari-Bois News. An edited version is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago now have unhindered access to critical information about the environmental and social impacts of development projects on their communities.
This follows a major win for environmental transparency by the watchdog group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), which successfully mounted a legal challenge against the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) in order to gain full access to the findings of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
The EMA’s website describes an EIA as “a study which identifies the likely effects a specific project may have on the environment and society.” In explaining to the court why they believed that information generated by these studies should not be accessed in full by the public, the EMA claimed that third party copyright restrictions limited them to sharing only 10 per cent of the results of each EIA with parties seeking copies.
High Court Justice Devan Rampersad rejected this premise and ruled in favour of FFOS, labelling the EMA’s claims as “unreasonable, irrational and improper.”
It was determined that the EMA could not deny access to full copies of EIAs to the public, as it is obligated to facilitate access to information for effective public comment and participation to meet its statutory duty as outlined in the Environmental Management Act. Judge Rampersad also determined that the EMA’s policies and procedures were inconsistent with international best practice.
The judgement establishes a precedent that will allow civil society to play a role in decision-making processes by advocating for sustainable development and seeking the interests of fence-line communities affected by industrial activity.
During the course of the High Court’s deliberations, 16 such civil society organisations from across Trinidad and Tobago collectively wrote a letter to the High Court supporting FFOS’ assertions that free and unfettered access to EIAs must be upheld as a matter of national public interest.
Cari-Bois News reached out to some of the groups that contributed to the letter to learn how they felt about the victory. Ryan Allard, corporate secretary of Environment Tobago, said his organisation was overjoyed by the successful outcome, saying, “Environmental data and information are critical to sustainable development in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Roma Price, manager of the Toco Foundation, shared that sentiment and said she now feels “change is on its way”, and the president of the Valencia Village Council, Eron Melville, described the judgement as an important reminder that activists aren’t fighting a losing battle all of the time. “This will give us the confidence we need to keep pushing back against multi-million dollar corporations when they come into our communities,” he added.
However, When Cari-Bois News contacted FFOS corporate secretary Gary Aboud by phone, there was a sombre touch to his celebratory tone as he warned of a bittersweet side to the victory. “It’s sad and disheartening that we should be forced to defend such a basic preliminary right to access public information for the public good,” he said.
Aboud’s disappointment stems from the fact that the judgement represents a return to normal rather than a new advancement in environmental transparency. Prior to 2018, EIAs had always been accessible to the public upon request. The EMA decided to change this policy, limiting access to 10 per cent of an EIA, based on copyright restrictions. This led to a standoff with FFOS, who refused to back down, branding the restriction as “another attempt by the government to silence civil society.”
Aboud was nevertheless optimistic that the momentum created by this victory could bolster other ongoing efforts by civil society to advocate for greater environmental transparency. “We can use this as an opportunity to encourage the government in the spirit of access to public information and public participation in the environmental decision-making process to sign and ratify the Escazú agreement of which we were a major negotiator and drafter,” Aboud explained.
Escazú is a regional agreement encompassing the Caribbean and Latin America, and the first human rights treaty that speaks directly to ensuring access to information, citizen participation and justice in environmental matters. Trinidad and Tobago has not yet acceded to the treaty.

author: Zico Cozier


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Critics warn Malaysia’s state of emergency could undermine democracy · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during a parliament session in 2020. Photo uploaded on Wikipedia by Hasrolhashim. Source: Screenshot of a YouTube video
Malaysia’s declaration of a state of emergency in response to the surging COVID-19 cases in the country is being described by various groups and the opposition as a threat to democracy.
The ordinance containing the emergency declaration was released on January 14.
The Malaysian government claimed it had prevented the spread of COVID-19 in the first half of 2020 but an outbreak was recorded during a local election in one of the states in September.
The emergency measure imposed not just movement restrictions but also a ban on political activities. Parliament sessions have been suspended and elections are prohibited. The armed forces are also provided with police powers to enforce the law.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin clarified that no curfews will be enforced and that the emergency declaration should not be equated with military rule.
But human rights groups and opposition parties questioned the basis of the emergency declaration. They accused Muhyiddin of using the pandemic to cling to power by preventing the parliament from convening and determining if he still has the majority to form a government.
Around 75 civil society groups known as CSO Platform for Reform issued a statement expressing alarm over the unchecked powers of the Muhyiddin government:
While we think the public health crisis must be handled urgently through powers under other laws such as MCO [Movement Control Order], the overreach of executive power without the need for Parliament or state assembly oversight is a tragedy of governance.
The Centre for Independent Journalism lambasted the threat of authorities to arrest social media users and citizens who will interfere with the implementation of the emergency measures:
Why such an immediate impulse to silence critics? This foretells a possibility that this emergency is likely to be used to justify arbitrary arrests and investigations that infringe on freedom of expression and other fundamental liberties. This also shows the possibilities of heightened military presence and attempts to further curtail our liberties, which must not be undermined during a public health crisis, and especially not under the guise of an emergency.
Zaid Malek, coordinator for Lawyers for Liberty, urged the government to reconsider giving powers of arrest to the armed forces.
There is legitimate concern that allowing military personnel to arrest civilians may lead to excessive use of force or other abuses that infringe the civil liberties of the public.
Members of the public should not be treated as enemies and be dealt with by military personnel.
Human rights group Aliran said the state of emergency “smacks of Muhyiddin wanting desperately to hang on to power when it has become clear he has lost his wafer-thin majority in Parliament.” It noted that the new restrictions will hurt the lives of many:
…no financial and other means of support have been proposed by the regime for the many industries that are still struggling to recover and for the many more Malaysians who have lost their jobs and are now suffering. How are people meant to survive?
It listed the following demands to the government:
Aliran opposes the abuse of parliamentary democracy in this way. We call for the swift revocation of this emergency declaration, the reinstatement of parliamentary sittings and rule, and the return of power back to our representatives.
Activists and civil society groups enjoined netizens to oppose the emergency declaration by using the hashtag #BantahDaruratMuhyiddin or Malay for “protest Muhyiddin’s emergency”.
Opposition politicians also opposed the emergency declaration. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said it “removes the last vestige of democratic rights of the people.” He elaborated on his blog:
…Can the Prime Minister with his power to jail people for up to 10 years and impose a fine of five million Ringgit (1.2 million US dollars) reduce the number of cases?
The problem caused by the pandemic are very many and do not lead to easy solutions. Can the enhanced power of the Prime Minister tackle these problems?
On January 26, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has filed a petition asking the court to conduct a judicial review of the emergency declaration.
Unless revoked by authorities, the emergency declaration is effective until August 2021.


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Google’s plans for Saudi-based Cloud is ‘dangerous,’ says digital rights advocacy group · Global Voices
Dahlia Kholaif

A screenshot from a Google Workplace video showing the inside of a Google data centre.
Tech giant Google plans to establish a new Google Cloud region in Saudi Arabia.
Access Now, a nongovernmental digital rights organization, has raised alarm and requested the immediate halting of the plan, referring to the country's “appalling human rights record.”
The organization issued a statement on January 26, with the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), a public interest technology law clinic based at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.
The statement warned against the “dangerous” implications of Google's plans to store Snapchat data on Saudi-based servers, which it said would “place millions of the Snapchat users’ personal information under the jurisdiction of a government with a longstanding record of surveillance.”
“Saudi Arabia and human rights safeguards, historically, do not mix,” said Marwa Fatafta, Middle East and North Africa policy manager at Access Now:
A new Google Cloud region in the kingdom is dangerous, and it is imperative that Google outlines, in no uncertain terms, how they plan to protect data and people’s rights from the prying eyes of the Saudi regime.
The government of Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record includes silencing activists, human and women’s rights defenders, and journalists and violating the basic rights of its citizens through extrajudicial killings, detention and torture, and the use of spyware to track and censor.
This troubling history, the statement says, “raises serious concerns about the possibility of facilitating and whitewashing future human rights abuses.”
Notably, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, Inc., has been named as one of the anchor tenants for the new Saudi-based cloud services. Considering the application’s prevalence in the region with over 17 million users, the potential for government demands for content data or metadata — and the increased opportunity to control online discourse — are both of particular concern.
“This directly places millions of people at risk, the consequences of which could be deadly,” said Vivek Krishnamurthy, CIPPIC director.
Through open letters addressed to Google's Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, and Snap Inc. Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel on Tuesday, January, 26, Access Now and CIPPIC asked both companies to address a a set of questions, including whether a due diligence has been conducted, including on potential human rights impacts, with respect to establishing the cloud region and hosting Snapchat data in Saudi Arabia; what applications or other clients use this centre to store their data, as well as what user data is being held or processed there and from which countries, and what security measures are in place to protect this data.
The letters also inquired about the legal standards which Google Cloud and Snap consider as necessary for secure and sustainable operations and how the kingdom meets those indicators, in addition to any existing understandings between the Saudi government and the companies on government access to data.
According to the statement, the companies have been asked to respond publicly by Tuesday, February 2.

author: Dahlia Kholaif


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Pandemic soca: How COVID-19 is shaping the sound of Trinidad & Tobago’s cancelled Carnival · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screenshot from Farmer Nappy's ‘Backyard Jam’ video, via JulianspromosTV | Soca Music on YouTube.
The soundtrack of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, especially where calypso music is concerned, has traditionally been topical, dealing with national or even global issues that have captured people's interest. The annals of Carnival songs, therefore, double as historical milestones, with the power to orient you in time and space, from politics to world wars.
Soca music, a portmanteau derived from the “soul of calypso,” is to fetes what calypso is to social commentary, but with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, this hugely popular form of the genre, with all its subsets (including chutney soca), sometimes follows calypso's lead, while putting its signature party vibe on it.
Despite the fact that Trinidad and Tobago's physical 2021 Carnival festivities have been cancelled, performers have still been releasing new material, many of them COVID-related. Here's a look (and a listen) to some of the best offerings so far.
Okay, so this song technically doesn't mention the pandemic. Like much soca fare, it extolls the virtues of a woman's wining ability—the suggestive dancing that is a trademark of the festival—described as “rocking like a boat at sea.” That said, the song's title is something anyone who has been in COVID-19 lockdown can identify with; the tune (and fun-loving video, shot on a cruise ship) simply puts a better spin on it.
“Somebody get horn in the quarantine; if it's one thing that is guaranteed is horn”: “Horn,” (i.e. infidelity) is an evergreen theme in soca music, so to make it current, why not examine the cuckoldry that goes on despite the recommended social distancing measures?
To its merit, the song goes on to advise the broken-hearted to handle their “horn” with maturity and not do anything rash, perhaps a conscious acknowledgement of the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has been experiencing an upsurge in gender-based violence, and also a nod to soca's calypso roots in using the music to address pressing social issues.
Arguably the most successful soca artist in the world, Machel Montano knows how to reinvent himself. With this tune, he invites all Carnival lovers to embrace the change the pandemic has brought and enjoy the festival in a different way: “I'm partying right home, give me the passcode […] the living room is my playground, ah watch it turn to the stadium.” In other words, bloom where you're planted (or, in pandemic speak, party where you're quarantined).
The pandemic has, in many ways, brought the national festival back to basics, summed up in this catchy, feel-good tune that captures all the nostalgia of how simple and authentic the celebration used to be: “We don't need no big promoter, the neighbours go be we sponsor.” It's an ode to the flexibility and resilience of local culture and those who understand that Carnival is so much more than a revenue earner.
This tune addresses resilience and reimagining in one fell swoop: “You confined in your mind? What happen to your imagination? […] Even if is me alone, Carnival never stop!” It's testimony to the fact that the national festival lives inside each Trinbagonian, a flame that the pandemic cannot extinguish.
Tabanca, or a longing for what's been taken away, is something many Carnival enthusiasts are struggling with this year. Part of what makes the annual festival so vital is that it is a channel of release from the pressures of everyday life. This video, which depicts a COVID-positive Iwer George struggling with medical staff as he's carted off to hospital, taps into that culture of enjoyment at any cost: “We do what we have to do, but hear what I want to do! If I had one wish, I'd mash up de place, one more fete and I'll mash up de place!” It's a brilliant comedic commentary on the discipline the pandemic requires, during a season that is, by its very nature, bacchanalian.
With the entire world still battling the pandemic, it's difficult to imagine life post-COVID-19, but this song offers hope for the future: “Better days are coming, coming … change your ways; don't let this moment pass you by and remain the same.” In the same vein, Swappi's ‘God Is Ah Trini’ uses a common local saying to anchor his message that things will look up, and Trinidad and Tobago—and its Carnival—will be all right.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Famed Serbian film director arrested after former students accuse him of rape · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Serbian actress Milena Radulović (25). Wikipedia photo by Track and Field Serbia, CC BY-NC-SA.
Serbian film and theatre mogul Miroslav Mika Aleksić was arrested on January 16 after six women filed a complaint with Serbian police accusing him of raping them when they were pupils at his acting school.
A Serbian court has ordered the 68-year-old film and theater director to remain in custody for 30 days while police investigate the matter, according to Serbian media. The women accuse him of committing eight acts of rape and seven acts of sexual molestation between 2008 and 2020. Aleksić hasn't been charged.
The veteran director, actor and screenwriter has an extensive resumé in the local film and theatre industries. He is the founder and director of the prestigious Belgrade acting academy Stvar Srca (meaning “matter of the heart” in Serbian), attended by around 3,000 children and teenagers over the past years. Students’ entry age range between 6 and 13 years old.
Blic Daily reported that dozens have answered to the police's public call for former sex abuse victims at the school to come forward. Additionally, Serbian tabloid Alo reported that a family friend of Aleksić have recently filed a suit against him, alleging that Aleksić sexually molested his daughter.
On January 26, Aleksić's spouse Biljana Mašić announced that Stvar Srca would be shut down, according to Serbian state news agency Tanjug.
Among the group of six women who filed the initial complaint, only professional actors Milena Radulović and Iva Ilinčić have spoken publicly about the assaults they claim to have suffered.
In a January 16 interview with Blic Daily, Radulović, now 25, said she started attending Aleksić's acting school at the age of 11, and that she was 17 when Aleksić, who at that time was 61, raped her. She testified for five hours in the Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade on January 20.
“The worst part of this scheme was that the grounds were prepared in advance since early childhood, by a monster. We cannot allow more children to suffer the same torture,” Radulović said.
Aleksić's harsh teaching methods discipline methods have been well-known in Serbia. A former student of his, Zorana Minčić, told Dnevno.rs that he ran the drama department at Radio Belgrade “like a cult, with him as the top guru.”
The scandal has captured the Balkans’ social media conversation in recent weeks. The hashtag #NisiSama (“you are not alone” in Serbian) has been trending on Twitter, and a Facebook page called “Nisam tražila” (“I didn't ask for it”) has been set up. The administrators of the page, which garnered over 36,000 likes in just a couple of days, post anonymized stories of sexual assault that they receive via email by Facebook users.
As is to be expected in cases such as this, the actors who have spoken out have been facing an onslaught of attacks on social media. Activist, writer and translator Rumena Bužarovska, one of the initiators of the Macedonian #MeToo movement in 2018, suggested that many of these reactions “adhere to the gaslighting model of DARVO,” an acronym that stands for “deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.”
Some Serbian media outlets have also attempted to undermine the victims’ testimonies. Serbian nationalist daily Pravda published an article heavily quoting a talk show host who says that the actors are “high priests of the occupation,” the “occupation” in this case being one in which Serbia's values are gradually “replaced by those of the United States.”
Meanwhile, a video of a Serbian news anchor delivering a monologue in support of the victims has gone viral in the region, as well as referencing past scandals in the country. Below is a translation and explanation of the references made:
Ćutanje…
Neprijatno je, ali mi smo navikli da ćutimo na mnoge bitne stvari.
Ćutimo kada ne bismo smeli i zato nemojte nikada više pitati žrtve zašto su ćutale, nemate pravo, nego ih podržite da progovore kad god da su spremne!
Uvod u #PregledDana sa Jelenom Obućinom. pic.twitter.com/7AqvgXcBiS
— Newsmax Adria – Srbija (@NewsmaxAdriaBG) January 18, 2021
Tweet: Silence…
It's uncomfortable, but we are used to keep silent about many important issues.
We keep silent when we shouldn't, so don't ever again ask the victims why they kept quiet, you don't have that right, but support them to talk whenever they are ready.
Intro for the daily news segment with Jelena Obućina.
Video: Good evening. [16 seconds of silence]
It's uncomfortable, but we are used to keep silent: when our salaries are late, when we have to buy diapers for 300 euros [referring to workers in foreign investment factories with severely limited bathroom breaks], when we have to photograph our ballots [referring of a blackmail scandal in which the ruling party forced voters to prove they cast ballots for the right candidate], when the pilots are declared alcoholics [referring to a deadly helicopter crash in 2015 that resulted in death of 7 people, fo which no one has been arrested], when we lack drinking water, when our rivers are poisoned, when there are no available beds in hospitals, when we get beaten during protests, when the [justice-seeking] father of a worker who died in a line of duty is booed, when [Serbian politician accused of sexual assault] Jutka receives applauses, when some complete idiots demolish part of a city, when an aunt sends money from Canada, when pyrotechnics take place on rooftops during lockdown [as part of pro-government counter-protests], when [opposition politician Boško] Obradović gets demonised, when Jovanjica flourished, when video recordings from a tool booth and Kosovska Mitrovica disappear, when we get lied to about the coronavirus, when they create quarrels with our neighbors in our name…
We keep silent, when we should not have been silent.
And because of that, don't ever ask the victims why they kept silent. You don't have that right. Support them to talk, whenever they are ready.