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Rwanda deports American evangelical pastor accused of hate speech and visa violations · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Street scene after Sunday morning church in Rubavu-Gisenyi, Rwanda, July 12, 2012, photo by Adam Jones via Wikimedia Commons.
On October 7, Rwandan authorities arrested Gregg Schoof, an American preacher accused of broadcasting hateful sermons that called women “evil creatures” through his evangelical church's radio program.
Schoof was arrested for “illegally meeting with journalists in a public space” after he tried to hold a press conference to criticize the Rwandan government's decision to shut down his controversial evangelical radio station and refuse his appeals.
Hours after his arrest, Schoof and his family were deported after Rwandan authorities refused to renew the family's expired visas.
“We found that his purpose for staying in Rwanda was no longer valid because his church and radio were closed,” said François-Regis Gatarayiha, Rwanda's director of Immigration and Emigration.
Many Rwandans lauded the move, decrying that hate speech has no place in Rwanda, while others see the move as an attack against faith-based organizations in Rwanda under President Paul Kagame's administration.
Dear Preacher, #HateMedia has a place in other countries, but not Rwanda. Disrespecting women has a place in other countries, but not Rwanda.
— Angelo Igitego ?? (@igitegoRw) October 8, 2019
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States, Schoof led a Baptist church as well as the Amazing Grace Christian Radio station in Kigali, Rwanda. He lived in Rwanda for nearly 16 years after moving to the East African nation with his family from Indiana (USA).
Schoof's evangelical radio station broadcast sermons from preachers who called women “evil” and “prostitutes,” provoking an avalanche of criticism from feminist and human rights groups. In 2018, Rwanda Utility Regulatory Authority (RURA) shut down Amazing Grace Radio for “failure to comply” with sanctions placed on the station as a result of its incendiary rhetoric:
#RURA has revoked the broadcasting license of Amazing Grace Christian Radio after this station failed to comply with #RURA’s sanctions taken after a sermon aired by the radio on January 29, 2018 in which a radio presenter repeatedly insulted women referring to them as evil#RwOT pic.twitter.com/NjggGmMnsc
— Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority – RURA (@RURA_RWANDA) April 24, 2018
In February 2019, Rwandan authorities also shuttered Schoff's church in a sweep that targeted over 700 churches and one mosque in Kigali alone. The places of worship were accused of several violations, including “noise pollution,” according to the BBC.
The number of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Rwanda has spiked in recent years. They are “often run by charismatic preachers claiming to be able to perform miracles,” according to the BBC. Some are mega-churches while others are small, less formal structures built without following building codes and procedures.
Twitter netizen Christian Angermayer points out that these churches often preach anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ messages that can lead to serious crimes against women and LGBTQ communities:
Lunatic preachers, too loony even for the US, often move to Africa, extort the people and are responsible for hate crimes against women, the LGBTQ community and other minorities. Finally, a government stands up. Kudos to@PaulKagame @RwandaGov https://t.co/Uwi1lQoVPW
— Christian Angermayer (@C_Angermayer) October 9, 2019
The majority of Rwanda's 12 million people identify as Christians, many of whom have left the once-dominant Roman Catholic church to find comfort in other denominations:
“Since the 1994 genocide, Pentecostal churches have mushroomed across Kigali, benefitting from the tarnished image of the Roman Catholic Church, which allowed its parishes to become carnage sites for Hutu militias.”
President Paul Kagame, in an attempt to monitor and regulate the actions of these churches, approved a 2018 law that requires all preachers to hold a theology degree, report on finances with full transparency and maintain churches that comply with building codes and laws.
Twitter user Buteera John supports the government's move to deport Pastor Schoof and his family, stating that “Rwanda has no room for bad-extremist preachers”:
A good preacher unifies people, does sow division and hatred. Rwanda has no room for bad-extremist preachers. Deportations is the only favour granted to bad preachers. Rwandan justice, immigration & emigration services cannot torolate bad elements. Umubano ushingiye k'ubwubahane [“Friendship based on mutual respect” in Kinyarwanda].
— Buteera John (@ButeeraJohn) October 8, 2019
But supporters of Amazing Grace Radio posit that Kagame's crackdown on their radio station and the broader church sweep has more to do with a culture clash between Pentecostal communities and the Kagame administration, which has shifted toward a more secular stance.
In April 2019, Kagame pardoned over 350 women jailed for having or aiding in abortions, and on October 10, 2019, Kagame pardoned over 50 women convicted and jailed for having abortions — moves seen by the Pentecostal church as contrary to their religious values. Supporters also say that Schoff's outspokenness clashed with the Kagame administration, which is known to repress freedom of speech and dissent.
Gregg Schoff said in a press statement that he plans to relocate to Uganda to continue his missionary work.
Pastor Gregg Schoof according to the press release, is to move his business by next month to #Uganda because the Rwandan immigration refused to renew their Visas.. pic.twitter.com/hEKz9x0XRD
— #BakerReports (@Baker_Reports) October 7, 2019
Indeed, Uganda has its own legacy and litany of American missionaries who bring their share of fakery, extortion and miracle cures.
American pastor Robert Baldwin, from New Jersey (USA) has “given over 50,000 Ugandans a ‘miracle cure’ made from industrial bleach,” that he claimed healed a slew of diseases, including HIV, under a ministry called Global Healing. Baldwin reportedly chose to work in Uganda because “it was a poor country with weak regulation.”
Renee Bach, from Virginia (USA) pretended to be a doctor in Uganda, claiming she could cure children suffering from malnutrition. Bach was ultimately sued in the deaths of over 105 children under her care. She came to Uganda with an evangelical nongovernmental organization, “Serving His Children,” and worked as a doctor in spite of not having any medical training, to “promote evangelism” and “provide welfare for the needy.”
And for years, US missionaries have waged war against Uganda's LGBTQ community, backing Ugandan churches with massive financial resources and power to spread hateful messages that target LGBTQ activists and influence the passing of laws that violate international human rights.
Netizens on Twitter have reacted negatively to Schoof's plans to head to Uganda, calling out the pastor's behavior in the context of other missionaries who have caused more harm than good.
Global Voices’ Ugandan contributor Rosebell Kagumire responded to the news with a call for zero-tolerance against “white supremacy and Christian fundamentalism”:
Zero tolerance for white supremacy x christian fundamentalism.
Ngu “this government has taken a stand against God”
white jesusoo!! https://t.co/Ke598xtX22
— Rosebell Kagumire ♉ (@RosebellK) October 8, 2019

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


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Deadly police raids in Guinea as President Alpha Condé clings to power · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Screenshot from a France 24 news flash about the situation in Guinea.
Police violence erupted in Guinea on October 14, resulting in the death of several people and massive arrests, following demonstrations protesting against current president Alpha Condé's plans to modify the constitution to run for a third term.
The streets of the capital, Conakry, and other cities have turned into battlefields between law enforcement forces and demonstrators.
Police forces have the advantage of new legal privileges that allow them to use deadly force if they deem it necessary for security reasons. The demonstrations have already killed six people, including one police officer, and wounded many.
Demonstrators oppose any change to the constitution seen as an attempt by the president to run legally for a third mandate. Indeed, the constitution limits the total number of presidential mandates to two in a row. Condé, now 81, should end his mandate in October 2020.
Demonstrators are particularly vulnerable as they operate in violation of the law, as Human Rights Watch reminds:
Depuis plus d’un an, le gouvernement de la Guinée interdit de fait les manifestations de rue en invoquant les risques pour la sûreté publique. Les autorités locales ont interdit au moins 20 manifestations. Les forces de sécurité ont utilisé des gaz lacrymogènes contre les personnes qui défiaient l’interdiction, et ont arrêté des dizaines de manifestants.
The government of Guinea has effectively banned street protests for more than a year, citing threats to public security, Human Rights Watch said today. Local authorities have prohibited at least 20 political or other demonstrations. Security forces have tear gassed those who defy the ban, and arrested dozens of demonstrators.
Regarding the political situation, the government is delivering conflicting messages: On October 13, President Condé welcomed a dialogue:
Alpha Condé a réitéré son appel au dialogue responsable et à la concertation permanente pour aplanir toutes les divergences et relever tous les défis qui se posent au pays.
Alpha Condé has reiterated his call for a responsible dialogue and for a permanent process of discussions in order to iron out differences and answer all the challenges the country is facing.
Yet, Ahmed Tidiane Traoré, a presidential counselor, stated the following day on October 12, —two days before the demonstrations started, — to a crowd of RPG youth [ruling Reunion of the People of Guinea party]:
Nous invitons la jeunesse du parti à la vigilance dans les quartiers. Ils [les militants de l'opposition] ont stocké des pneus usés dans les trous, nous invitons la jeunesse du parti à faire sortir ces pneus. Empêchez-les. Sortez ces pneus cachés, n’attaquent personne, ne détruisez rien, défendez-vous seulement. Tous les malfaiteurs seront dénichés et ils seront montrés au peuple
We invite the party's youth to remain vigilant in the districts. They [the opposition activists] have stocked use tires in wholes, we invite young people from the party to get those tires out. Prevent them from acting, get those hidden tires, do not attack anyone, do not destroy anything, just defend yourselves. All evil-doers will be found and shown to the people.
This double talk amongst those in power has further angered the opposition and civil society, according to the site globalguinee.info:
Ce 14 octobre 2019, sans doute un lundi sombre pour ne pas dire noir, à l’appel du FNDC, les Guinéens sont massivement sortis dans les rues pour s’opposer au projet de changement constitutionnel.
Des affrontement ont été signalés dans plusieurs quartiers de la Capitale guinéenne. Les activités au centre administratif de Kaloum ont été quasiment paralysées. Plusieurs Points d’appui (PA) des unités d’intervention de la police ont été aussi saccagés. A l’intérieur du pays, l’appel a été aussi observé dans les régions De Moyenne Guinée, Basse Guinée. En forêt et en Haute Guinée, l’appel n’a pas tellement prospéré. Mais tout de même, les villes sont restées paralysées.
October 14, 2019, is a dark Monday, if not black, responding to the call made by the FNDC [National Front for the Defense of the Constitution], Guineans took massively to the streets to oppose the project of constitutional changes.
Clashes were reported in different districts of the Guinean capital. Business in the administrative center of Kalou was almost entirely stopped. Inside the country, people also responded to the call in Middle and Lower Guinea. In the forest and in Higher Guinea, not so much. Yet, cities have been paralyzed.
Expressing himself on benbere.org, a Malian platform for youth, Malian blogger Adam Thiam writes:
Les choses sérieuses commencent en Guinée, avec ses surenchères incendiaires, ses morts presque banales de manifestants criblés de balles, les traînées de sang sur les pavés barricadés et carrefours fumant sous les pneus enflammés et les gaz lacrymogènes.
Serious things are now happening in Guinea, with incendiary escalation, almost random dead demonstrators riddles with bullets, blood trails on pavements with barricades and crossroads smoking with tires in flames and tear gas.
Netizens have denounced the violence on social media:
Twitter user Concerned Citizen®?? (@raia_husika) warns the Guinean president:
Comme Blaise Compaoré, Alpha Condé se dirige vers l’abîme. Parviendra-t-il à entendre les cris de colère de ses compatriotes ? Le très proche avenir nous édifiera. En attendant, le navire est en train de chavirer. pic.twitter.com/oRAev0qNEN
— Concerned Citizen®?? (@raia_husika) October 15, 2019
Just like Blaise Compaoré [Burkinabé politician] Alpha Condé is going straight to the abyss, WIll he be able to hear the angry shouting of his compatriots? The very near future will tell us. Meanwhile, the boat is sinking.
Hamdallaye pharmacie (#Conakry): des citoyens réveillés par les FDS [Forces de sécurité] tôt ce matin
Selon un citoyen de la zone, les FDS sont entrain de défoncer les portes et pillés le contenu des maisons.
(Image archive)#Amoulanfe #Kibaro #Guinee pic.twitter.com/xk6xax8DT0
— Bhoye Barry ?? (@BhoyeBarry91) October 15, 2019
Hamdallaye pharmacy (#Conakry): certain citizens woken up by the police forces early this morning. According to a local citizen, the police forces are breaking down doors and looting houses. (Image archive)#Amoulanfe #Kibaro #Guinee pic.twitter.com/xk6xax8DT0
S. Nkola Matamba, a writer and human rights activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, shared his bitterness:
Jadis opposant, aujourd’hui consumé par l’envie de faire changer les lois pour un 3ème mandat, pour peut-être rester sur le trône jusqu’au bout, Alpha Condé incarne l’une de ces parts sombres d’une Afrique qui n’a cesse de nous tirer vers le bas! Courage au peuple de #Guinée! ✊? https://t.co/K3DAaqaIYI
— S. Nkola Matamba??? (@Simeon_5) October 12, 2019
A former member of the opposition, and now devoured by the desire to change the law to allow a third mandate, maybe to remain on the throne till the end, Alpha Condé embodies of of the dark sides of the kind of Africa that keeps taking us down! People of Guinea, have courage!
https://t.co/K3DAaqaIYI
— S. Nkola Matamba??? (@Simeon_5) October 12, 2019
As for Cheikh Fall, from Senegal, the problem is the refusal to leave power:
#GUINÉE – C'est juste déplorable. Première journée de manifestation contre un troisième mandat de Condé et voilà qu'on publie un bilan de victimes avec des morts. Cette folie des hommes politiques à vouloir occuper le poste de Chef de l'état à vie. #Amoulanfe
— Cheikh Fall™ (@cypher007) October 14, 2019
#GUINÉE – It's simply appalling. First day of demonstration against a third mandate for Condé and here we are with an outcome of victims and dead people. This craziness of politicians who want to remain head of state for life  Amoulanfe— Cheikh Fall™ (@cypher007) October 14, 2019
#Guinée
Le @GouvGN dans le but d'affaiblir la grande protestation de ses citoyens contre le tripatouillage constitutionnel ce #Lundi14 procède à une opération de distribution des sacs de riz dans la capitale@Amoulanfe2020 @AlphaCondePRG@Cellou_UFDG@diallousmane@RFI@afpfr pic.twitter.com/T7qY6JOlzB
— Macky Darsalam (@DarsalamMacky) October 12, 2019
#Guinée
The @GouvGN [Guinean government] in order to weaken the large demonstrations of their citizens against the constitutional shaddy games have this  #Lundi14 [Monday 14th] proceeded with a distribution of rice sacks in the capital @Amoulanfe2020 @AlphaCondePRG@Cellou_UFDG@diallousmane@RFI@afpfr pic.twitter.com/T7qY6JOlzB
— Macky Darsalam (@DarsalamMacky) October 12, 2019
The Guinean opposition seems defenseless in the face of such attacks: the deputies of all opposition parties have stopped participating in parliamentary debates since October 11, 2019. Violence against these parties has taken on radical forms, as the site mediaguinee.org notes:
…au siège de l’Union des forces républicaines (UFR) de Sidya Touré, des échauffourées ont éclaté entre certains éléments de l’opposition et des militants de la mouvance qui avaient pris des dispositions la veille pour boucler toute manifestation non autorisée dans le fief traditionnel du parti au pouvoir. Des affrontements qui se sont soldés par le saccage du siège de l’UFR et l’arrestation de 6 personnes dont les identités et leurs partis d’origine restent encore méconnus du grand public.
…at the headquarter of the Union of Republican Forces (URF) of Sidya Touré district, clashes took place between certain members of the opposition and pro-government militants who had taken measures the day before to prevent any unauthorized demonstration in the stronghold of the ruling party. The clashes ended with a ransacked office of the URF and the arrest of six people whose identity and party affiliation remain yet unknown to the public.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Abdoulaye Bah


text:
India partially lifts communications blackout in Kashmir, internet still down · Global Voices
Rezwan

An Indian policeman stands near an alley in the uptown of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir. September 11, 2016. Image via Instagram by Ieshan Wani. Used with permission.
Indian authorities have partially lifted access to communication networks in Kashmir. Access to the internet, however, remains cut off.
On August 5, Srinagar, the main city in Jammu and Kashmir, went under complete lockdown as the government of India revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution that provided special autonomy status since 1950 to the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. Access to mobile, landline and internet networks were suspended and roadblocks were put on the streets and restrictions on almost all movement were enforced.
The authorities eased up the restrictions in phases. They first restored all 50,000 landlines in the region by the first week of September. On October 14, after 72 days from the lockdown, the authorities restored SMS and call services for postpaid mobile subscriptions. However, prepaid mobile connections and internet services are still suspended. According to the Telegraph India, there are about 400,000 post-paid phones connections and 260,000 prepaid connections in the region. The government did not provide an explanation as to why it restored access to call and SMS services for only postpaid subscriptions. However, this decision could be explained by the fact that users of prepaid subscriptions are harder to track and monitor since unlike users of postpaid subscriptions, they are not required to submit personal data that make it easier for the authorities to identify them such as bank details and mailing address.
Satya Pal Malik, the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir has claimed that “the situation is normal as there had been no violence since two months”. The minister defended the blackout as a measure to protect the “safety of Kashmiris” and said that access to the internet “will soon be restored”, without specifying when.
Despite the easing of restrictions, the authorities soon resorted to disrupting access to SMS services for postpaid subscriptions.
During the night of October 15, text messaging services were disrupted in Jammu and Kashmir when a truck driver was killed by suspected armed rebels who then set the truck ablaze. The services were restrored after a few hours.
Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research commented that the restrictions on mobile communications were placed to limit the activities of militants, who usually coordinate attacks over phones. However, Kashmiris are paying the price as the tourism business which depends on the internet had literally stopped. The restrictions also hamper Kashmiris’ rights to express themselves and access to information online, and prevent them from connecting and sharing with the rest of the world what is happening on the ground.
According to Internetshutdowns.in, 55 shutdowns were imposed in jammu and Kashmir in 2019. The longest shutdown was observed in Jammu and Kashmir was in 2016 when mobile internet services were suspended for 133 days.
Indian Supreme Court lawyer Nitya Ramakrishnan, and Nandini Sundar, a professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economic visited Kashmir from October 5 to 9, 2019. They mentioned in a report after their visit that Kashmiris are resisting the actions imposed by the Indian Central Government “through satyagraha or non-violent civil disobedience”. They also added that since the entire leadership is in confinement – from mainstream political parties to separatist leaders – the disobedience is entirely voluntary. They both claimed that “almost every single person wanted azadi or freedom”.
The Indian government claims that restrictions on freedom of movement have been lifted in most of Kashmir, barring a few areas and that restrictions on tourists visiting the region have been lifted. The spokesperson for state government Rohit Kansal also stated that internet facilities will be opened at “touristic spots”.
In an interview with India Today, the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said that the situation is “peaceful” and “returning to normal” in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, On Octber 15, 2019, authorities arrested 13 women for holding an anti-India protest in a park in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. They were carrying placards reading “Respect Fundamental Rights” and “Why downgrade Jammu and Kashmir”.
A group of prominent women in Srinigar, including @hawa_khan1, who peacefully protested India’s decision to revoke the autonomy of Kashmir & the brutality there have been arrested.
India is setting an example. They want to stifle all dissent in Kashmir.
Via @Junaidbhatphoto pic.twitter.com/2vdaDslmSR
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) October 15, 2019
My 80 year old aunt, Ruqayya Sayeed was arrested today and lodged in Central Jail Srinagar with scores of women activists for protesting peacefully against communication blockade in #Kashmir #Article370 pic.twitter.com/gUsoMji0ze
— Bismah Malik (@bismahmalik) October 15, 2019
These women were jailed in “normal Kashmir” The Modi govt has no end game in Kashmir pic.twitter.com/fY4nSH20sG
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) October 16, 2019
On October 3, journalists from the Kashmir Valley staged a silent demonstration in Srinagar to protest the ongoing communication blockade.
Today, we journalists in #Kashmir had to protest against the communication blockade, which has crossed two months now. It hasn't been an easy task to be a journalist working in Kashmir in these times – without phones, internet or any communication. pic.twitter.com/9LKK2xRDnM
— Fahad Shah فهد شاه (@pzfahad) October 3, 2019
Meanwhile a few sporadic protests against the clampdown were held across India:
Students at the #AligarhMuslimUniversity organized a silent protest against the clampdown in #Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/T1MNXDAnuD
— Ubair Ul Hameed (@UbairUlHameed) October 15, 2019
A recent report by the BBC quoting industry experts, suggests that the lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir has cost the economy more than $1bn losses in the past 2 months. Until the lockdown, the tourism industry was one of the main sources of Kashmir's income supporting 700,000 people. The industry was suspended during this period. Three thousand hotels in the valley lie empty, incurring daily expenses and payments of unpaid staffs. Some 400,000 migrant labours have left since the start of the lockdown creating labour shortage. Five thousand travel agents will still find it difficult to arrange tours even though the ban on tourism has recently been lifted as there is still no internet. Most of the activities in the handicraft industry and the fruit industry are suspended due to the restrictions.
From handicrafts to tourism, to fruit and other wholesale and small businesses, the lockdown in #Kashmir has cost the region's economy more than $1bn in two months.
Not to mention, the trauma, dejection, and depression that the locals are facing. https://t.co/AaGEte2pvc
— StandWithKashmir (@standwkashmir) October 13, 2019
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the situation in Kashmir.

author: Rezwan


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Journalists faced obstacles covering elections in Mozambique, regional observer said · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Photo of newspapers published in Mozambique | taken by Dércio Tsandzana and used with permission of the author – 23.08.2018
Journalists faced obstacles in covering the election campaign this year in Mozambique, according to the Institute for Media in Southern Africa, Mozambique chapter (MISA).
Mozambique held elections for president, provincial governors, and members of the Assembly of the Republic on 15 October. Partial results results point to a victory by the ruling party FRELIMO.
In a note shared by email on 12 September, MISA said journalists were prevented from covering political events by party members. The message said
Todos os casos foram registados na província de Nampula. O primeiro foi notificado na cidade de Nampula, na semana passada, quando um jornalista da Rádio Encontro foi impedido de cobrir a campanha eleitoral da Frelimo no Mercado da Antiga Gorongosa.
No dia 10 de Setembro, dois repórteres do grupo Soico, também em Nampula, foram ameaçados e impedidos de captar imagens da campanha da RENAMO, numa actividade de campanha eleitoral no Posto de controlo de Muahivire-Expansão. Os membros da Renamo alegaram que aqueles profissionais captavam imagens que no entanto não eram exibidas ao público.
All the cases were registered in Nampula Province. The first was signalled in Nampula City last week when a journalist from Radio Encontro was prevented from covering Frelimo's election campaign in the market of Old Gorongosa.
On 10 September, two reporters from the Soico group, also in Nampula, were threatened and prevented from taking pictures of RENAMO's campaign, at an electoral campaign event at the Muahivire-Expansão control centre. The Renamo members claimed that these professionals took photos that were not, however, permitted to the public.
After the accident that killed ten people at a FRELIMO rally in Nampula on 11 September, the police allegedly prevented journalists from taking photos and videos at the scene:
Reports of media ban in aftermath of a stampede that killed 10 people during President Nyusi election rally in Nampula. Apparently a reporter was forced to hand over his camera after being threatened with a gun. This is unacceptable and a grave attack to freedom of the press.
— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) September 11, 2019
Jornal Notícias, a public information body partially funded by the state, highlighted that the RENAMO party prevented some journalists from covering their campaign in Manica province, in central Mozambique.
According to the newspaper, at an event Alfredo Magumisse, the party's candidate for the post of provincial governor, said:
Vieram para aqui, porque estão a ver que não temos muita gente. Onde temos tido muita participação, não aparecem. Mas quando são outros partidos, mostram à população. Orientei muitos comícios, onde havia muita gente, mas vocês não vieram. Podem regressar. Não vos queremos aqui.
They came here because, you can see, we don't have a lot of people. Where we've had high participation, they don't show up. But when it’s for other parties, they show the crowds. I organized many rallies, where there were many people, but you didn't come. You can go back. We don't want you here
MISA Mozambique’s 2018 report on press freedom in the country had already highlighted obstacles to journalism. There was a focus on Cabo Delgado province, hit by an Islamist insurgency.
Last year, journalist Estácio Valoi was arrested in the area while covering the conflict. The Amnesty International investigator David Matsinhe and his driver were also arrested.
O cerco foi apertado; a imprensa e a sociedade civil ficaram cada vez mais encurraladas, limitadas e com as liberdades controladas. A liberdade de imprensa e de expressão ficaram limitadas, tornando-se ariscado o seu exercício, através da instauração de um clima de medo, violência e temor contra os jornalistas e cidadãos.
The limits were tightened; press and civil society were increasingly cornered, restricted and had freedoms controlled. Freedom of the press and freedom of expression have been restricted and its exercise made more risky through a climate of fear, violence and anxiety against journalists and citizens.
It should be noted that in August 2018, new legislation increased the taxes paid by international and local media. The move that was criticized by NGOs and professional associations, who've seen it as an attempt to stifle journalist activity.
MISA's email note adds that the current electoral period comes with other challenges to media work:
O MISA Moçambique tomou conhecimento da existência de jornalistas que estão envolvidos activamente em actividades de partidos políticos sem que tenham renunciado às suas funções jornalísticas, o que os coloca numa clara situação de incompatibilidades.
É universalmente consensual que o exercício da profissão de jornalista é incompatível com o desempenho de: a) Funções de angariação, concepção ou apresentação, através de texto, voz ou imagem, de mensagens publicitárias; b) Funções de marketing, relações públicas, assessoria de imprensa e consultoria em comunicação ou imagem, bem como de planificação, orientação e execução de estratégias comerciais; c) Funções em serviços de informação e segurança ou em qualquer organismo ou corporação policial; d) Serviço militar; e) Exercício de cargos em órgãos de soberania ou de outros cargos políticos, de deputados ou membros das assembleias municipais f) Funções executivas, em regime de permanência, a tempo inteiro ou a meio tempo, em órgão autárquico.
MISA Mozambique has become aware of the existence of journalists who are actively involved in political party activities without having renounced their journalistic roles, which puts them in a clear conflict of interest.
It is universally agreed that the exercise of the profession of journalism is incompatible with the practice of: a) Roles of fundraising, design or presentation, through text, voice or image, of advertising messages; b) Roles of marketing, public relations, press office, and communications or image consultancy, as well as planning, directing and implementing commercial strategies; c) Roles in information and security services or in any police organisation or body; d) Military service; e) Exercise of positions in governing bodies or of other political positions, of deputies or members of municipal assemblies; f) Executive functions, on a permanent basis, on a full-time or part-time basis, in a municipal body

author: Dércio Tsandzana


text:
The only two black coaches in Brazil’s top-tier football league take a stand against racism · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

Roger Machado and Marcão, the only two black coaches in Brazil's top-tier football league. Photo: Observatório Racial do Futebol/Used with permission
When Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã stadium was built for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, it aspired to be a football temple. Those hopes were somewhat dashed after Uruguay beat Brazil in that tournament's final. Reeling Brazilians were quick to blame goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa for the defeat. A black man, he was turned into a scapegoat; there was no shortage of pundits arguing only white players were suitable for goalkeeping.
Almost 60 years after that fateful day, the stadium was again the scene of a memorable moment for Brazil's football. On October 12, before the match between Fluminense FC and EC Bahia, both teams’ coaches, Marcão and Roger Machado, shook hands and posed for pictures while wearing t-shirts of the Racial Observatory of Brazilian Football, an organization that monitors discrimination in the sport. The two men are the only black coaches in Brazil's main football league, called the “A series”, and contested by 20 clubs.
The lack of black representation in Brazil's football management is astonishing when considering the country's demographics. Over 55,8 percent of Brazil's population identifies either as black (9,3 percent) or brown (46,5 percent). Brazil was the largest importer of African slaves in the Western world between the 16th and 19th centuries, as well as the region's last to abolish slavery (in 1888).
✊? Mais uma vez, vestimos a camisa do @ObRacialFutebol! Não deveria ser assim, mas o jogo marca o encontro dos dois únicos técnicos negros da Série A #ChegaDePreconceito #BBMP pic.twitter.com/48iJpgfBCC
— Esporte Clube Bahia (@ECBahia) October 12, 2019
Once again, we wear the @ObRacialFutebol t-shirt! It shouldn't be like that, but the match marks the encounter of the only two black coaches in the A series
In a press conference after the match, Roger Machado, who has been vocal in the past about discrimination in football, talked about how Brazil's structural racism is perpetuated by those who hold power and privilege. A video of his speech went viral on social media. He said:
Para mim, essa é a prova que existe preconceito, porque é algo que chama a atenção. À medida que a gente tem mais de 50% da população negra e a proporcionalidade que se representa não é igual. Acho que a gente tem que refletir e se questionar. Se não há preconceito no Brasil, por que os negros têm um nível de escolaridade menor que os dos brancos? Por que a população carcerária, 70% dela é negra? Por que quem mais morre são os jovens negros no Brasil? Por que os menores salários são para os negros? E entre as mulheres brancas e negras, são para as negras? Por que entre as mulheres as que mais morrem são as mulheres negras? Há diversos tipos de preconceito. (…). Negar e silenciar é confirmar o racismo.
To me, this is the proof that there is prejudice, because [this meeting] is something that draws attention. More than 50 percent of our population is black, but representation is disproportional. I think we ought to think about it and question it. If there is no prejudice in Brazil, why do black people are less educated than white people? Why is 70 percent of our prison population comprised of black people? Why are young black men killed more often than any other social group? Why is black people's income the lowest? And among white and black women, why are black women paid less? Why do black women die more often than white women? There are several types of prejudice. (…) To deny this and to silence about is to confirm the racism.
Roger Machado, técnico do Bahia mandou bem demais ao discorrer sobre o racismo estrutural brasileiro ao comentar sobre a ação contra discriminação racial realizada no jogo entre @ECBahia x @FluminenseFC pic.twitter.com/aDpOsRslKJ#ChegadePreconceito
— Observatório Racismo (@ObRacialFutebol) October 13, 2019
Roger Machado, Bahia's coach, set the record straight when speaking about Brazil's structural racism and and supporting actions against racial discrimination before the match between @ECBahia x @FluminenseFC
The photo-op was suggested by the Racial Observatory of Brazilian Football, an organization created by Marcelo Carvalho who spoke with Global Voices via WhatsApp:
Alô @ECBahia e @FluminenseFC nós temos um sonho!
Que tal no próximo jogo onde os dois únicos técnicos negros da Série A se encontram eles vestirem nossa camiseta? Os dois já falaram sobre a questão racial e será uma ótima oportunidade de ir além. Que tal?#ChegadePreconceito pic.twitter.com/Khgp5oPdD9
— Observatório Racismo (@ObRacialFutebol) October 11, 2019
Hello, @ECBahia and @FluminenseFC, we have a dream! What if, in the next match, the only two black coaches of the A series met wearing our T-shirt? Both have talked about racial issues before and it will be a great opportunity to advance the debate. How about it? #EnoughOfPrejudice
Carvalho said he had the idea after Fluminense hired Marcão to coach its football team on October 4. Many reporters, according to him, started to ask the Observatory for data on black coaches working at main league clubs over the past five years. Marcelo says the answer is four, with usually only two or three employed at the same time.
In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there was only one black coach leading a national team: Senegal's Aliou Cissé, who is also outspoken about racial issues.
Marcelo says:
Como disse o Roger, chamou a atenção de todo mundo, da mídia esportiva principalmente, a presença dos dois treinadores negros. [Viram que] tem apenas dois e os dois iam se enfrentar. Isso não deveria ser um espanto, deveria ser normal.
As Roger said, it caught everyone’s attention, especially in the sports media, that we had two black coaches present. [They realized] that there were only two of them and they would face one another. This shouldn’t be a reason for surprise, it should be normal.
Last year, EC Bahia hosted the launch of the Observatory’s 2017 report, which listed 43 cases of discrimination on that year — an increase of 72 percent from 2016. It was also the first year in which Bahia, the Brazilian state home to largest Afro-Brazilian population, registered an incident. From January to September 2019, the Observatory counted 39 cases of discrimination in football championships in Brazil.
Marcelo says that what explains the increase is Brazilian society's rising intolerance with racism, which pushes clubs and players to speak up. He adds:
Acredito que o futebol brasileiro já vem prestando atenção na questão racial de uns dois anos para cá. Cada vez que a gente lança um relatório com o crescimento dos números de casos [de racismo], cada vez que a gente ganha mais visibilidade de mídia e consegue denunciar os casos, isso está gerando uma repercussão cada vez maior, entre jornalistas, torcedores e, talvez, jogadores também (estes a gente não tem certeza). Mas vem gerando uma conscientização no mundo do futebol.
I believe that in the past two years Brazilian football has paid more attention to racial issues. Every time we release a new report that shows an increase in [racism] cases, every time we receive more media coverage and report new cases, it’s raising more awareness among journalists, fans and, maybe, players (we don’t know about that one for sure yet). But it is raising awareness in the football world.

author: Fernanda Canofre


text:
Bulgaria’s far-right is attempting to shut down the country’s oldest human rights NGO · Global Voices
Pavlina Simonoska Arsikj

Logos of political party VMRO-BND and the civic organization Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.
The Bulgarian far-right nationalist party VMRO-BND, a member of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s ruling coalition, requested the country's chief prosecutor to cancel the registration of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), a leading local human rights NGO.
On a press release dated September 30, the party argues that the BHC is “interfering with the judiciary” by organizing seminars and other educational events with prosecutors and judges, as well as by representing clients in the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts.
The press release adds that the BHC “has been engaging in anti-constitutional, illegal, immoral and openly anti-Bulgarian activities” and that the NGO's work is “apparently in the defense of human rights, but has, in fact, repeatedly put at risk Bulgarian citizens, as well as the good name of Bulgaria before international institutions.’’
Another accusation listed by VMRO-BND is the role of BHC in the case of Jock Palfreeman, an Australian citizen who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for stabbing a Bulgarian citizen to death and injuring another in Sofia in 2007. The BHC has litigated in favor of Palfreeman, who maintains he acted in self-defense. He was granted parole in September 2019 after serving 11 years of his sentence, sparking street protests and a media outcry. VMRO says in the press release that the BHC “provides procedural protection for certain persons in cases presided over by the same magistrates it trains… through the seminars it seeks to exert pressure and influence in the resolution of cases of direct [national] interest.”
The request to dissolve the NGO was submitted by Angel Dzhambazki, deputy chairman of VMRO-BND and member of the European Parliament, and by Alexander Sidi, a Bulgarian MP with the same party.
A member of the European Union since 2007, Bulgaria took a turn to the far-right in 2017 when PM Borisov's center-right party GERB allied itself with a small coalition of nationalist parties, including the VMRO-BND — the so-called “United Patriots.” They mostly espouse socially conservative values, with varying shades of Euroscepticism, anti-globalism, Islamophobia, and Russophilia, as well as a shared aversion for human rights.
Founded in 1992, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is the oldest human rights organization in Bulgaria and a member of the pan-European Civil Liberties Union for Europe. It offers legal help to the victims of human rights abuses free of charge and its annual reports provide a public record about the state of human rights in Bulgaria. It regularly supports projects of human rights education and also gives the Human of the Year Award to individuals and organizations that contribute to the promotion and advancement of human rights in the country.
The BHC responded to the accusations on a Facebook post in which they also remembered previous attempts by VMRO to undermine them.
This is not the first time that this extremist party of a manifestly neo-totalitarian type undertakes such action. In October 2017, they wrote to the Prosecutor General to initiate prosecution against the President of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Krasimir Kanev for “sabotage”. In 2014, the same party wrote to the National Revenue Agency to initiate an investigation.
In a statement sent to Meta.mk, a news agency from North Macedonia and content partner of Global Voices, BHC President Krasimir Kanev said:
These are purely Stalinist methods. It is terrible to see that for 30 years after the democratic changes in Bulgaria, an attempt has been made to impose such Stalinist methods, to interfere with state institutions and to try to pressure civil society.
More than 80 Bulgarian and  40 foreign and international NGOs, through a coalition called Civic Solidarity Platform, expressed their support for the BHC and called for the Bulgarian government to distance itself from the threats. Their statement says:
The developments are of particular concern in a country where intolerance is on the rise, and where the safety of those who work for the protection of minorities and the most vulnerable groups of the population can no longer be taken for granted. There is currently no human rights organization in Europe that has been banned. Despite repressive measures in a number of front-line democracies in Europe, no European country has so far allowed itself to ban citizen organizations. Bulgaria should not set a dangerous precedent.
In December 2018, unknown perpetrators vandalized the bulding that houses the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee with insulting graffiti calling them “freaks, fascists, garbage, slime.” They responded with this photo, published on their Facebook page with a caption “Hate is easy, love takes courage.”
Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Massimo Moratti also signed a statement:
This is an unprecedented attempt to silence independent and critical voices by the authorities in Bulgaria. As a member of the European Union, Bulgaria has a responsibility to uphold the rule of law, and we expect the Prosecutor General to firmly reject the request for dissolution. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is the most respected human rights organisation in Bulgaria. Their work providing capacity-building for judges and prosecutors and legal services to people in need is crucial. Attempts to deregister them for their work are a direct assault on freedom of expression.
In 2016, the UN Human Rights Office expressed concern after two men physically attacked Kanev on a Sofia street.
Bulgarian human rights researcher Iveta Cherneva wrote for EuroNews that she doesn't “want to see the country follow the example of Hungary, where human rights NGOs and universities are pushed so hard by the authorities that they have to close and move. That is not the right path to follow.” She adds that the closing down of the BHC “would be a blow to Bulgarian leadership and its human rights record. This will be not only a test for the Prosecutor’s office but for all Bulgarians and the EU.”

author: Pavlina Simonoska Arsikj


text:
From dictatorship to democracy: All eyes on The Gambia’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review · Global Voices
IFEX

The Gambia's President Adama Barrow speaks at a conference “Shaping The Gambia's Future: How to Build a Path to Sustainable Progress,” April 18, 2018. Photo by Chatham House and used with permission via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Editor's note: This article by Reyhana Masters is republished through a partnership between Global Voices and IFEX and originally appeared here.
Ahead of The Gambia's Universal Periodic Review, IFEX regional editor Reyhana Masters asks: What issues are at the top of civil society’s agenda?
Saikou Jammeh, with the Gambian Press Union, Vivian Affoah, with Media Foundation for West Africa, Alieu Sowe, with the Give1 Project and Demba Kandeh, an associate professor at the University of The Gambia, share their thoughts on the country’s progress and remaining challenges, in Geneva, Switzerland, ahead of the upcoming Universal Periodic Review Process in November:
“I am hopeful…” “We hope…” “There’s a lot of hope…”
This cautious note can be traced back to the trauma of living under the tyrannical rule of former President Yahya Jammeh. The residue of the abusive and autocratic 22 years of his rule remains embedded in the people of The Gambia. The change of leadership in 2017 heralded a new administration that brought change, but not memory loss.
Saikou Jammeh, secretary-general of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), explained:
The things that happened under Jammeh are currently living with us. The human rights violations remain with us. It requires a lot of work to fix what has been damaged. … The biggest challenge that we are facing is that we have a president who does not see himself as a transitional president. As long as he sees himself in a permanent role, he will be making political decisions and not moral and honourable decisions. Those political decisions may not be favourable to the demand for justice for those violations.
“The things that happened under Jammeh are currently living with us. The human rights violations remain with us. It requires a lot of work to fix what has been damaged.” — Saikou Jammeh, secretary-general, The Gambia Press Union
The dramatic entry of the mild-mannered, soft-spoken Adama Barrow into the political landscape of The Gambia was considered temporary. It was always the plan that with support and backing from seven of the opposition political parties, Barrow would take over the helm as president for three years, carry out the immediate reforms needed for an enabling environment for free and fair elections — and then step down.
His reluctance to do that has given birth to a grassroots movement — “Three Years Jotna” or “Three Years Enough” — which has resolved to dispute his continued leadership through protests in December.
The hopes people have of Barrow and his government going into this third cycle of the UPR process are high, specifically because the state response to the first and second cycles of the UPR was so disappointing.
Whether their hopes will be realized is not clear. Jammeh summed it up this way:
There is no doubt that this government will be more cooperative in accepting the recommendations. It remains to be seen whether they will be more cooperating in terms of implementation of the recommendations.
Former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, September 2003. Photo courtesy IISD/Earth Negotiations Bulletin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Every member country of the United Nations goes through a five-year intense human rights review cycle that incorporates three stages. The compilation of the report ahead of the UPR review is the first critical step, and civil society organizations, human rights institutions and UN agencies are all part of the process.
Vivian Affoah, Media Foundation West Africa, Matt Redding, IFEX, Sabrine Baáboura, RIDH, and Sheriff Bojang Jnr from The Gambia Press Union, in Geneva, Switzerland, October 8, 2019. Photo courtesy of IFEX.
“In the 2010 review, The Gambia rejected all recommendations … aimed at addressing issues of press freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of information, the safety of journalists and impunity,” recalled Vivian Affoah, freedom of expression program manager at the Media Foundation for West Africa. “The state supported 68 recommendations in 2010, and these were primarily the non-controversial issues.”
The Gambia was absent during the adoption of its UPR report at the Human Rights Council (HRC) on March 28, 2015. Instead, they provided a written response to the 171 recommendations, indicating their acceptance of 93 and “noting” 78, essentially, rejecting them. “This was a remarkable improvement in terms of the state’s responses, but why there was a change of position remains a mystery,” Jammeh said.
The GPU, the MFWA and IFEX were recently in Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with members of the diplomatic community, ahead of the UPR, scheduled for November 5. The adoption of the recommendations to the submitted report will take place during the Human Rights Council’s regular session in March 2020:
As part of the advocacy towards improving the freedom of expression and media development in The Gambia, @gmpressunion , @IFEX and @TheMFWA is undertaking a Mission in Geneva to talk to Diplomatic Missions on the country’s upcoming UPR pic.twitter.com/1dKtPteNau
— Vivian Affoah (@vaffoah) October 8, 2019
President Barrow began his presidential term with promise, and freedom of expression benefitted the most. “Gambians are more vocal on issues of legitimate public interest — and even those that are not,” highlighted Jammeh:
There has been a kind of a media boom after the dictatorship. We now have about four television stations, compared to only one. Radio stations now review newspapers in English and in local languages. The print media journalists are bold, and online media presence is huge. There is pluralism and diversity and the people are taking advantage of a multiplicity of platforms, including through voiceover internet protocols — to express views and opinions.
On the other hand, Affoah pointed out:
The financial obligations imposed on the media are prohibitive, and taxes imposed on newspapers and imported newsprint and exorbitant broadcast license fees curbed the growth of the media.”
In June 2017, the Daily Observer — one of the most widely read papers and one considered to be Jammeh’s mouthpiece — was closed down by the Gambia Revenue Authority for non-payment of taxes. The newspaper temporarily resumed operations, but two weeks later was shut down again, after its failure to pay outstanding taxes of over $360,000 USD.
Honing in on digital inclusion, Alieu Sowe, The Gambia country director with Give1 Project, underscored the high cost of access to the internet as a fundamental issue of freedom of expression and access to information in The Gambia:
Just one gigabyte of data costs five US dollars, yet many people are living on less than one US dollar a day, making it impossible for the majority of people and marginalized groups to pay for access.
One of the recommendations being made in a joint submission by groups involved in the Internet Freedom in Africa/UPR project speaks directly to this issue:
…providing equal access to technology and communications to all citizens, including disadvantaged and marginalised groups of the population, by removing barriers to access and improving affordability, as well as expanding infrastructure and desisting from internet disruptions.
The stakeholders responsible for the submission include Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), Small Media, The Gambia Press Union, Give1 Project Gambia and the  YMCA Computer Training Centre, and Digital Studio.
Critics and activists acknowledge that the initial enthusiasm and speed of improvements has declined. “There has been some reluctance and a slowdown on some of the tangible reforms,” says Demba Kandeh, an associate professor at the University of The Gambia.
Jammeh agreed with this sentiment:
The current administration continues to drag its feet, yet there are a number of laws governing speech that have not been reformed. These include [laws relating to] sedition and false news — or even speech conducive to breach of the peace
Jammeh and Affoah said their organizations will continue advocating for the implementation of progressive laws. “The government needs to pass legislation such as the Right to Information, as well as broadcasting regulations that will enhance the enjoyment of freedom of expression rights,” Affoah said.
Jammeh noted:
This regime is almost as cryptic as its predecessor in terms of accessing information critical for purposes of accountability, transparency and meaningful participation. But rather than legislating in favour of more systematically sharing information relating to abuse of power and corruption, the government is thinking of taking drastic measures to address the leaks.
With respect to the transformation of the state broadcaster, professor Kandeh believes that even if it does not come up in the UPR process, it should be encouraged:
Under Jammeh, the broadcaster was just a mouthpiece of the government. This should not be allowed to creep back. It should be independent.
Both Sowe and Kandeh emphasize the lack of protection for whistleblowers. “The law is extremely draconian in The Gambia, with a potential 30-year sentence for leaking “official secrets”. The vague definition of what is considered secret means any random memo from one official to another could be claimed to fall under this definition, explains Kandeh.
“The law is extremely draconian in The Gambia, with a potential 30-year sentence for leaking ‘official secrets'”. — Demba Kandeh, professor, The Gambia
“You can’t safely expose corruption and people are still afraid of the law on this, even under the new government,” Sowe said.
President Barrow and his administration are applauded for the ongoing constitutional process, designed to lead to the drafting of a new constitution.
Seen as a relic of the Jammeh government and his autocratic rule, the 1997 constitution had been subject to numerous amendments and contained provisions that gave significant power to the president.
“The CRC is an attempt by the government to show they are committed to reviewing the constitution to include provisions that respect human rights and is in tandem with their international obligation,” said Affoah.
In the country's second UPR cycle in 2014, the government received a recommendation to withdraw criminal laws sanctioning homosexuality and take action to combat violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. There are, however, concerns that the new constitution, drafted through what many consider a democratic and inclusive process, will still exclude protective clauses for LGBTQ rights.
Kandeh explained:
There was a backlash. Government rejected it and there was a huge stink, domestically. There was some concern and fear in civil society about the impact on the LGBTQI community. As a result, civil society has gotten quieter. They are reluctant to talk about this openly, for fear of social repercussions, harassment, and violence.
“If recommendations are going to be made around LGBTQI issues, the framing will be very important. Gambian society is sensitive and not yet necessarily accepting, so rejection is likely,” Sowe added.
In working toward repairing The Gambia’s fragmented society, the most progressive undertaking has been the establishment of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), through an Act passed in December 2017 and assented by President Barrow a month later.  Promoted under the catchphrase “Never Again,” the TRRC hearings have been accessible throughout the country and are considered a critical step toward justice.
“It is through this TRRC process that we have come to know the people that were behind the crimes and the injustices that were meted out against journalists. In our recommendations, we are saying that justice for the violations against journalists has to be pursued. Even though the violations were sanctioned by the previous regime, justice has to be taken up by this government,” Jammeh said.
Hope continues to be tempered with caution. In closing, Jammeh reiterated his concern:
The things that are wrong in the country now work to the advantage of anyone sitting in power as president, so the recommendations made through the UPR process are not a priority.

author: IFEX


text:
How bad is African swine fever for the pork supply crisis in China? · Global Voices
越界問答

Image from inmediahk.net
The project Chinese Cross-Border Question and Answer, sponsored by the Hong Kong NGO Culture and Media Education Foundation, reports on common concerns from Chinese communities in mainland China and abroad. The following post was originally written in Chinese and published on various websites, including inmediahk.net and matters.news. It's republished by Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
In September, just weeks before the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government began releasing strategic reserves of frozen pig meat to meet the demand for pork in its domestic market. The measure came after an epidemic of African swine fever killed a huge portion of China's pig population, which caused a shortage in the pork supply. Some even went so far as to comment that Beijing sees the current pork supply crisis as far more severe than the Hong Kong protests and the U.S-China trade war.
The Cross-Border Q&A team explained the scale of the crisis and its political implication in question and answer format.
Q: How big is China’s pork market?
A: China’s demand for pork meat makes up nearly half of the world's total output. For an average Chinese family, pork accounts for two thirds of their meat consumption, and on average, a Chinese person consumes 120 pounds of pork annually. The whole country consumes annually 700 million pig stock. China is almost self-sufficient in terms of pork supply. In 2016, imported pork was equal to 4 percent of the country’s domestic consumption. But this figure was equal to 26 percent of the world’s export output.
Q: How did the African swine fever (ASF) spread to China? Why did it spread throughout the whole country so quickly?
A: There is no official explanation coming from Chinese authorities on the question yet. Related discussions online were censored quickly. However, Dirk Pfeiffer, expert on animal health and epidemiology believed that ASF originated from smuggled pork coming from Russia. In March 2017, there was an outbreak in Irkutsk, Siberia. The city is just 1000 kilometers away from China. ASF is commonly spread across countries through pig feed which is composed of uncooked food scraps that are infected with the virus.
In general, small pig farms are more vulnerable to ASF. In 2017, 90 percent of China’s pig farms were small in scale and they produced one third of the country’s pork supply. In most of the cases, small pig farms fed human leftover food to pigs and they did not have an epidemic control system.
However, big pig farms in China also have outbreaks as well. This may be due to the failure to follow epidemic control protocol as pointed out by Caixin investigative report.
According to the official report, the first ASF outbreak happened in August 2018 in Shenyang in northeastern China. As opposed to other countries, the Chinese outbreak was not confined to a geographical location but quickly spread to other provinces.
An investigative report from The Initium traced the reasons behind the spread of ASF epidemic to the selling of inflicted pigs in the market, the inappropriate dumping of dead pigs and the transportation of livestock across provinces.
Q: How serious is the African swine flu epidemic?
A: According to official data in September, China had killed more 100 million pigs within one year. The total output of pork had dropped about one third of the total average. But this figure does not reflect reality as many small pig farmers did not file reports to the agricultural authority. In fact, in July, the official report stated that only 1.16 million pigs had been culled. The figure was amended after the central government announced an emergency state of pork supply. Unofficial estimation of inflicted pigs was up to 200 million.
The World Organization of Animal Health's report on ASF indicated the Chinese outbreak has spread to nearby countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and South Korea.
Q: What are the measures taken by China to control ASF from spreading? Are they effective? Is the epidemic under control now?
A: China’s ASF epidemic control system is not really difficult from other countries. It has an epidemic report and compensation system for sculled pigs. However, quite often, pig farmers complained that they did not receive full compensation and hence some did not file reports to the authorities.
China also banned the transportation of pigs across provinces since August 2019. Some local governments had banned pig farms near urban areas and the number of outbreaks from June-July 2019 was lowered. However, as the central government announced the emergency state of pork supply, many pig farms were re-opened.
The Chinese Academy of Agriculture Science announced in September 2019 that it had made significant progress in developing a vaccine. However animal experts were not optimistic as the virus could mutate in the process.
Dirk Pfeiffer pointed out animal epidemic control is not just about the animal, it is about people and whether the pig farmers have epidemic control awareness. It is also about the system, such as whether or not the media could effectively monitor the authorities in releasing the compensation and inform the public about the virus during the early stages of the outbreak.
Q: Why some China-watchers commented that the pork crisis in China is more severe than Hong Kong protests and China-U.S trade war?
A: This August, the market price of pork was raised by about 46.7 percent. In some regions, the price almost doubled. Even if the government was able to control the price, people would not find pork in the markets. On the internet, a large number of videos appeared mocking the rocketing pork prices and the issue replaced the Hong Kong protests and the US-China trade war as the top search terms on social media. People were particularly outraged by the spread of propaganda which stated that eating less pork makes people healthier.
Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua took the issue of pork supply as a crisis which could undermine social stability and hence ordered local governments to help pig farmers re-open their farms. The central government also decided to release the strategic reserves of pork to make sure that the supply of pork be no less than 95 percent of the average supply during the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China.
The strategic pork reserve system was established in the 1970s to stabilize domestic meat prices during emergency times, such as natural disasters and wars. China has about 100 thousand tons of frozen pork reserves.
Moreover, China announced on September 13 that the country would take out soy beans and pork from the additional tariff list. Earlier, on September 1, China had announced a 72 percent tariff on U.S imported pork and Chinese meat traders were forced to cancel their orders. As the 70th anniversary of the PRC was approaching, the Chinese government took a U-turn. As China defines human rights as people’s rights to happiness, the issue of pork supply, which has affected people's dining table is hence viewed as more important than the Hong Kong protests.
Below is a video showing how people were fighting over a piece of pork in a supermarket back in August:

author: 越界問答


text:
How Ethiopia’s ruling coalition created a playbook for disinformation · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

A young man in Ethiopia works at a desktop computer. Photo taken on November 28, 2011, via UNICEF on Flickr.
This story is the first in a two-part series on online disinformation and politics in Ethiopia. You can read the second part here.
A deep split that exists within Ethiopia's ruling coalition — the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (the EPRDF) —was made evident over the last few weeks when a Facebook row broke out between two major political party members who disagreed on the historical accounts of Ethiopia as a modern state.
The row revealed how party members within the EPRDF use social media — through posts and memes — to manipulate public opinion and spread misinformation and incendiary content.
The EPRDF is a coalition of four ethnically-based parties. Members from these four parties: Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM) and Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), currently make up Ethiopia’s top leadership.
Until 2018, the TPLF was the dominant party in the coalition, holding absolute power for over 25 years. ADP and ODP have joined forces to put an end to the supremacy of TPLF, yet its members continue their rivalry, with infighting that usually goes under the radar. Tensions have risen steadily since April 2018, when Abiy Ahmed of the ODP was sworn in as prime minister.
On October 4, ODP-ADP infighting burst out into the open when members and supporters of ADP and ODP started to bicker over a remark made by the vice president of Oromia Regional State, Shimeles Abdisa, in Addis Ababa, on the eve of Irreecha (an annual celebration marking the beginning of spring).
In his remarks, Abdisa hailed the Irreecha celebration in Addis Ababa, which he described as the very place where Oromos were defeated and humiliated by the old regime:
The Oromo people were defeated right here, our humiliation started right here.
In his speech, Abdisa struck a triumphant tone and marked the day's celebration in Addis as a turning point in the struggle of the Oromo people. He used the Amharic word neftegna (“riflemen” in English) to refer to the ruling class established in the wake of Emperor Menelik II's conquest in southern Ethiopia in the late 19th century.
Today, many ethnic Amahras view Emperor Menelik II as a symbol of triumph and defiance of European colonialism, while many Oromos consider him the root cause of their social and cultural subjugation.
Abdisa’s use of the term neftegna prompted backlash given that it is often used to refer to members of Emperor Menelik II’s army after TPLF came to power in 1991.
The following day, in a Facebook post, Asemahegn Aseres, a top ADP member, accused Abdisa of employing coded language to intimidate the Amhara people and, in turn, drew the ire of Taye Dendea, a top ODP member, who saw Asemahegn’s accusation as a denial of the historical social and cultural subjugation the Oromos suffered.
Dueling statements made by Aseres and Dendea exemplify the differences in interpretations of Ethiopia’s historical events among the country’s elites. While the ADP considers the formation of a modern Ethiopian state as faultless and virtuous, the ODP understands its formation as a process that led to the subjugation and humiliation of Oromos at the hands of Ethiopian emperors.
Aseres and Dendea have several things in common: They are young politicians who aspire to long political careers and whose parties, the ADP and ODP, — have banded together to bring down the supremacy of TPLF in April 2018.
Their row on Facebook bolstered their popularity and ushered an intense wave of political polarization freighted with misinformation.
A screenshot of Aseres's post on Facebook. Screenshot taken on October 16.
Their spat led to an outpouring of support on their respective Facebook pages, feverishly gathering up reactions, comments, and shares.
A screenshot of Taye's Facebook post. Screenshot taken on October 16.
Taye’s page, with 56,432 followers, racked up about 5,000 shares and generated 3,500 comments, while Asemahegn’s page, with 45,565 followers, mustered about 3,000 shares and 2,500 comments — just within 24 hours of their posts.
These numbers aren’t enough to gauge the extent of this political divide among Ethiopian citizens. However, it shows how two distinct nationalist discourses on social media struggle for primacy in the debate over Ethiopia’s past events and political future.
The heated exchange not only tests the tactical alliance of ADP and ODP, but it also exerts a “contagion effect” by galvanizing sympathizers by employing misinformation, inflammatory stories, memes and videos on social media.
For years, members of the EPRDF have used social media to manipulate public opinion on social media for their benefit. In 2017, when a series of EPRDF top-secret documents were leaked online, an army of paid Facebook personalities and bloggers was deployed to produce disparaging comments and misinformation about critics of the Ethiopian government.
However, as the internal power struggle and the ideological battle intensified among EPRDF members, misinformation tactics are shifting from targeting critics of the Ethiopian government to targeting each other and building allies from opposition groups.
For example, on September 3, 2019 Aseres made a little-noticed interview with EthiopianDJ, a Facebook page with about 1.1 million followers, known for spreading fake news, incendiary memes and conspiracy theories including one that says Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed somehow was part of the plot that killed the country's top military officials and leaders of the Amhara region in June 2019.
In another incident, EthiopianDJ posted images that purported to show security officers confiscating green, yellow and red flags from followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, during an annual Meskel celebration, while tolerating the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) flag. (The green, yellow and red flag is associated with Ethiopia’s past emperors while the OLF flag represents Oromo resistance.)
The images are authentic, but they are misleading. The images were actually taken from two different celebrations, Meskel and Irrechaa, held a week apart — albeit in the same venue. During these celebrations, security officers seized and removed flags considered unlawful by the Ethiopian government.
Most often displaying flags associated with opposition groups and old Ethiopian regimes during public events such as Meskel and Irreechaa are considered illegal.
There is no indication that EthiopianDJ has received money from EPRDF, but it offers a fresh example of the misinformation tactics of the disintegrating party.
Screenshot of a post by EthiopianDJ Facebook page taken on October 16. The post alleges that the police were allowing Oromos to fly their resistance flag.
EthiopiaDJ's post with these images was shared about 1,000 times and generated 782 comments.
No empirical data shows that automated accounts or bots may have generated these comments, but signs of social media manipulation exist in hundreds of sham Facebook accounts with numerous made-up names that regularly post, like and share incendiary content.
Manipulation tactics used by EPRDF members against each other in their internal power struggle serve as a blueprint for opposition groups to attack their opponents and the government.
Over the last two weeks, Ethiopian netizens witnessed repeated, deliberate disinformation around public holidays and political events that often led to unintentional misinformation.
In one high-profile incident, well-known opposition activist, Eskinder Nega, tweeted a two-line poem purportedly written by famed poet and actress, Meron Getenet, which takes a swipe at the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. But the poem was subsequently found to be taken from an imposter Facebook page that used Meron’s name. The poem, a sharp and direct takedown of Abiy Ahmed’s leadership (without mentioning Abiy's name), characterizes his administration as “directionless.”
A fact-checking journalist reported the poem attributed to Meron was wrong, but Nega’s original message had already been retweeted over 76 times and his tweet has not yet been deleted.
In another online incident, Oromo activist Jawar Mohammed, who has more than 1.7 million followers on Facebook, questioned the integrity of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), after its communication adviser tweeted a question to Addis Ababa’s mayor (an ODP member) when the Irreecha holiday-related road closures will end.
In what has become one of his most high-performing posts, Jawar shared the screengrab of the tweet along with a statement questioning the integrity of NEBE on his Facebook page.
Given the intense political polarization around the celebration of Irreecha in Addis Ababa, some consider the tweet from NEBE's communication adviser insensitive. But Jawar's Facebook post is also misleading.
These incidents of mis- and disinformation and misinformation fuel pre-election suspicion as Ethiopia plans to hold highly-anticipated general elections in about ten months.
A screenshot of post by Jawar Mohammed questioning the integrity of the election board.
This article is part of a series of posts examining interference with digital rights through methods such as network shutdowns and disinformation during key political events in seven African countries: Algeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

author: Endalkachew Chala


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Is Trinidad & Tobago’s LED lightbulb initiative a bright idea or a shot in the dark? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

LED lightbulb. Photo by Mycatkins, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, read the country's 2019/2020 National Budget in parliament on October 7, 2019. The minister's presentation contained some encouraging economic performance information and new fiscal measures — pensions for daily paid public workers and an increase in the minimum wage, for instance — but the initiative that is getting a curious amount of attention is one involving LED (light-emitting diode) lightbulbs.
Minister Imbert proposed the removal of taxes and duties on LED bulbs and related accessories, as well as the free replacement of incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient, longer-lasting LEDs in as many as 400,000 households across the country.
Budget Hightlights #Budget2020 @TriniTweets #Trinidad pic.twitter.com/Jt1D4kwEcN
— Arlene M. Holman (@SunbeamTT) October 8, 2019
The budget also contained other environment-focused initiatives. Minister Imbert proposed, for instance, banning the importation of Styrofoam for use in the food service industry and requiring food container manufacturers to make their products biodegradable. The minister also said that government agencies would set the example when it came to changing behaviour: come January 1, 2020, public servants will no longer be allowed to use plastic water bottles in government offices. Single-use plastics are also to be phased out, though an exact timeline was not given.
Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar referenced the initiative in her initial comments on the budget, dismissing it as nothing but “breadcrumbs and bulbs” — somewhat ironic, considering that her administration spearheaded a similar programme back in 2013. But fiscal and economic experts have deemed the light bulb program beneficial for both the general public (reduced electricity costs) and the environment (recyclable, low wattage, reduced heat emissions).
The response in Trinidad and Tobago to the climate crisis has not been as urgent as it, arguably, needs to be, considering that Small Island Developing Nations (SIDS) are often at greater risk from the adverse effects of global heating. In terms of where the country is at regarding its achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a January 2019 report illustrated a focus on seven areas of priority related to climate change over specific timescales.
The country derives derives a significant portion of its revenue from hydrocarbons, and unlike some of its neighbours further to the north, has not borne the brunt of hurricanes in recent times. In the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which rates country performance on high-priority environmental issues, it snagged the top regional ranking, but slid from the second spot worldwide in 2016 to 35th place, which suggests that air quality has dropped. The country also loses millions of dollars each year as a result of seasonal flooding.
The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce noted, however, that the budget's environment-focused measures as a way of reducing the country's carbon footprint and living up to its commitments under the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The reaction on social media, however, included with all manner of memes, satire and videos, including the old saw about “How many politicians does it take to change a lightbulb?” In response, Facebook user Chris Chinapoo shared an infographic on the benefits of the initiative and commented:
[A]fter the most dumb political meme was sent to my inbox this morning re the lightbulb initiative which in my view is the most simple, relevant, cost effective and high impact potentiality measure in the budget. Yes a bulb can improve resilience, improve the economy and help advance social equity. A bulb can shine that light.
Not everyone was convinced of the initiative's worth, however. One Letter to the Editor outlined many of the concerns that were being expressed:
Why does anyone think it’s a good idea to give everyone — citizens, non-citizens, illegal immigrants, tax payers, free loaders, pensioners, people earning millions per month — free light bulbs?
And the obvious question is: who stands to benefit? I mean really benefit, like the ‘friends’ of the government who will be supplying the bulbs ‘free of charge’.
But there’s nothing like a free lunch. Those of us who pay taxes will foot the bill.
Unease over the potential for corruption is not unfounded. Back in 2007, a regional corruption case known as the Cuban Light Bulb Scandal, first came to light after the distribution of energy saving light-bulbs, donated by the Cuban government, ended up costing Jamaica JA $276 million (about US $2.5 million).
Questions were also being asked as to why the government hadn't yet put forward a more holistic policy regarding the climate crisis. The day after the budget was read in parliament, various areas of the country — including Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital — suffered flooding due to heavy rains, making the issue all the more pertinent:
In light of [the] lack of any significant climate action initiatives in the 2020 budget (no, light bulbs are not included), and […] the absence of any T&T representatives at the UN Climate Action Summit last month, […] What is the Government's plan to address how the climate crisis is impacting our country? (Again, note that light bulbs and dredging rivers ad infinitum are not considered legitimate responses).
When is the government going to speak frankly to citizens about how the flooding, storms, and extreme weather conditions are related to the climate crisis? […] And when are we going to add our country's voice to the regional demands for climate action?
We simply do not have the luxury of ignoring the impacts of the rapidly changing climate.
Facebook user Jason Augustus Riley wondered how well the initiative was even thought out, given the wider context of cultural disregard for the environment. Comparing the LEDs to the former administration's controversial laptop programme, which was “introduced in secondary schools without teacher preparation”, Riley mused:
I give you a laptop with zero information and guidance. Then you can not appreciate it.
I give you an energy saving bulb with zero information and guidance then it’s just a bulb!
His comment fed into the wider discourse over whether or not the initiative is, in fact, more “give a man a fish” in spirit than “teach a man to fish” — or this case, offering lightbulbs as opposed to promoting a more holistic approach to energy conservation.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
The Indian state of Odisha publishes online dictionaries in 21 indigenous languages · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Screenshot from the Odisha Virtual Academy Website.
In 2018, the government of the Indian state of Odisha published 21 dictionaries in the state's 21 provincial indigenous languages. The dictionaries were developed in collaboration with native-speaking communities for planned implementation in multilingual primary education programs. The trilingual dictionaries, with indigenous language translations into English and Odia (the official language of Odisha), have been uploaded in August 2019 for public use in an online education portal managed by the government.
On October 17, all the dictionaries were relicensed by online education portal Odisha Virtual Academy under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
We appreciate the efforts of @Saileshpat to have there repositories CC licence for greater and wider reach of these valuable resources.
— E&IT Department Odisha (@EIT_Odisha) October 17, 2019
Sailesh Patnaik, a volunteer Wikipedia editor from the Creative Commons and Wikimedia affiliated Odia Wikimedians User Group communities contributed largely in working closely with the government departments to make this happen. Patnaik was also involved in the earlier efforts of migrating copyright to Creative Commons licenses for several social media accounts and websites run by the government.
Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution provides the basis of the use of a group of 22 Indian languages in governance, education and cultural promotion. It also provides guidelines for the public services examinations to be conducted in these scheduled languages. The languages in the current list are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Being listed in this list also helps the provinces to officially recognize those languages that are spoken locally for education and governance. There are requests to add 38 more languages to this list.
This is not the first time that the Odisha government has allowed its online resources to be shared under a free Creative Commons license. In 2017, the Odisha government made headlines as the first Indian state government to relicense eight of its social media under a free license. This allowed for the use of content to be used on openly-licensed platforms like Wikipedia and its other sister projects like Wikimedia Commons (multimedia library), Wikisource (online free library) and Wiktionary (online free dictionary). Eventually, Jnanaranjan Sahu, a Wikimedian from OWUG created a tool to easily migrate openly-licensed images from relicensed social media handles to Wikimedia Commons so that the images can be used on Wikipedia.
Subhashish Panigrahi from Rising Voices interviewed Ranjana Chopra who heads the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department of the Odisha government to learn about this project.
To provide some background to the development of the dictionaries, Chopra shared how the need for the bilingual indigenous-language dictionaries to provide multilingual education was the driving force behind this work. As there are 21 distinct indigenous languages that are spoken in the state and grassroots-level workers required trilingual proficiency, they faced immense obstacles because of the lack of such resources. Some of key organizations that were involved in the compilation were the Academy of Tribal Languages and Culture (ATLC), Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI) and Special Development Councils (SDC) — all government entities of the state. The Museum of Tribal Art and Artifact in Odisha's capital city, Bhubaneswar, remains a resource center for visitors to learn about the indigenous peoples in Odisha and their languages and cultures.
Rising Voices (RV): Many of the languages are not well documented. How did you collaborate with the speaker communities to collect and compile the words? How did existing dictionaries help in this process?
Ranjana Chopra (RC): It is a fact that the indigenous languages have not been properly documented in the [Odisha] state although some sporadic attempts have been made over the years. Indigenous languages are full of dialectical variations. However, despite the variations, there are ‘nucleus’ areas where the “core language” is referred/spoken, although with some mixtures. While preparing bilingual dictionaries and trilingual proficiency modules, resource persons from the various nucleus areas were invited to work on the texts with a well-organized non-overlapping time plan. The ‘nucleus’ area and the relevant resource persons were identified through conducting workshops in respective language localities.
RC: As stated earlier, the texts prepared on the indigenous languages are meant to strengthen ongoing interventions in multingual education including such activities in the Bonda language. Language teachers engaged from the same language speaking communities are supposed to facilitate formal education through their native languages. These language texts (bi-lingual dictionaries and trilingual proficiency modules) would help them in delivering the requirements.
As Academy of Tribal Languages and Culture was in charge of developing these dictionaries and trilingual proficiency modules, it has already dispatched copies of these resources to relevant authorities and pockets where different development activities are going on. Copies are also provided to native-language teachers and front-line workers of line departments including the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) who work in creating awareness among citizens for health planning and use of existing health services, and the Anganwadi Workers who educate people living in rural areas about basic health education including contraception and nutrition, also provide pre-school education.
The author also reached out to Secretary of the Odisha government's Electronics and Information Technology Department Manoj Kumar Mishra about their plans to make the resources available in Unicode. According to Wikipedia, “Unicode is a computing standard that is used for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text in most of the world's writing systems.” Before Unicode was made available, many scripts, especially in India, used legacy encoding standards which can make web search almost impossible whereas text typed in Unicode helps make searching and sharing text universal.
RC: As you might have noticed already, the content of the dictionaries are readable but not searchable yet. Is there a plan to also release them in Unicode so that they are universally discoverable, irrespective of devices and operating systems?
Manoj Kumar Mishra: We are committed to bringing all the resources available on any of the [Odisha] government websites under Unicode, so that the content would be searchable on the web and will reach to every single citizen of the state, residing anywhere. Currently, we are working to improve the infrastructure required to make the text and the Odia font to be compatible and readable on different devices. Over the coming months, we will work to bring the dictionaries searchable on the Internet. We are also exploring to add these files to Odia Wikisource, where the community resource will convert it to Unicode, and will automatically become searchable on the web and thereby making the rich treasure of our written heritage accessible to all
The dictionaries are useful for linguists and ethnographers to further develop resources for languages that do not have a written form. They will also be used to create multimedia content aimed at helping younger generations make more use of the language. India is home to more than 780 languages and approximately 220-250 languages have died over the last 50 years.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


text:
Tweeting South Asian art · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

Pakistani truck art. Image via Flickr by Carol Mitchell. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
A hashtag, #SouthAsianArtists, recently took Twitter by storm. This is the third year running that artists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been showcasing their work under this hashtag in an effort to do something about the lack of Asian representation in online creative spaces.
Fatima Wajid, a second-year Visual Communication Design student at the National College of Arts in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, initiated this idea of celebrating the work of South Asian artists:
(RT to spread the word!) #SouthAsianArtists is coming back this weekend on Oct 12-13! Rules are simple: share a little about yourself with your work! Local and diaspora artists welcome!! Please share to get the word out✨✨✨ pic.twitter.com/ZuGl0MP84Z
— fatima ♡♡♡ (@fatimajpeg) October 10, 2019
Her fellow artists immediately heeded the call:
hi I’m a Bengali artist that loves paintings Bengali women. I also dabble in some hand lettering and even some Arabic calligraphy #SouthAsianArtists pt4 pic.twitter.com/9OqNicy4Y3
— NM (@nmdiariesx) October 17, 2019
Speaking with Global Voices, Wajid explained how the hashtag began:
Three years ago, Annabelle Hayford, an illustrator based in Los Angeles, started the hashtag #DrawingWhileBlack to highlight and celebrate Black artists all over the globe. This sparked a realization in me that in most social media spaces and art forums, Desi artists are absent. The lack of South Asian representation in online creative spaces really bothered me, so in collaboration with Annabelle, I started #SouthAsianArtists with the purpose of celebrating and highlighting South Asian artists to audiences all over the world. It is, for the most part, an online event, as the internet and social media help break down borders and allow people from all over the globe to connect in an instant. Many local and diaspora talent connected because of the convenience, availability and online nature of the event.
In Wajid's experience, most local communities harbour a stigma against the creative arts, which hinders people from pursuing their artistic passions. She says this lack of encouragement or appreciation from the wider community has had a negative effect on artists’ creativity and process: “Positive representation of Desi artists is incredibly necessary to create a progressive, culturally evolving society.”
Her hashtag, therefore, is designed to showcase the work of artists of both genders from all countries in the region.
Umair Najeeb, of Pakistan, is currently working on creating a comic series with local cultural superheroes:
Hey, I’m Umair. A Pakistani illustrator and animator. I’m currently working on a comic book of local superheroes! #SouthAsianArtists pic.twitter.com/MyH25epxgw
— umair. (@UmairNajeebKhan) October 13, 2019
Shehzil Malik, a designer, illustrator and feminist who is passionate about design for social change, tweeted:
Hi I'm I'm Shehzil, a Pakistani illustrator and I like drawing women through my feminist pov! ???
Also this tag is the best one to discover amazing art!#SouthAsianArtists pic.twitter.com/M2aA8Hyu2J
— Shehzil Malik (@shehzilm) October 13, 2019
Des, an artist from Kashmir, uploaded some amazing work:
#SouthAsianArtists
Hey party people!
I’m Des and I’m Kashmiri! I’m a professional screen printer and I draw lots of skulls, monsters, and wild characters! pic.twitter.com/ADwBYoFY65
— ?CrypticTeeth? (@CrypticTeeth) October 12, 2019
Sarika, an Indian-American visual development artist, also took part:
Hi, I’m Sarika! I am an Indian-American visual development artist. I design for PBS Kids/Amazon shows. In my free time, I draw superheroes and ballerinas. #SouthAsianArtists pic.twitter.com/ANmrsy7mwz
— Sarika M (@mynabirdy) October 12, 2019
Esha, a budding artist from Bangladesh, was one of the youngest artists:
Hiya,I'm Esha/Mai, I'm a 16 year old from Bangladesh ??!! I love drawing people, especially pretty girls!! I mostly do traditional pencil art, but dabble in digital sometimes!! #SouthAsianArtists pic.twitter.com/JoUBrE1o4P
— আলুর চিপ//Mai (@iwantsyrniki) October 12, 2019
While both genders were represented in the artwork that was shared under the hashtag, the majority of artists who participated were female — proof that despite cultural norms which tend to confine women to specific fields (and in some cases, behind four walls), women are now claiming their place in the arts and other creative endeavours. The fact that so many women shared their artwork has inspired Wajid even more:
Women artists are not given many opportunities to showcase their work, so to see so many talented Desi women use the hashtag to promote themselves has been an incredible experience. I plan to properly archive the activity in the near future and include the artists featured in #SouthAsianArtists in more creative projects.
This is the other benefit of the hashtag. Raising online awareness about the work of South Asian artists is an innovative and low-cost way to connect with people globally, and allow them to showcase their work. It steers them away from traditional art exhibition avenues, democratizing their art and making it accessible to a much wider audience, often bringing them much-needed attention without the cliché of artists having to suffer for their fame.

author: R Umaima Ahmed


text:
First Thai female Theravada monk named one of BBC’s 100 most influential women · Global Voices
Prachatai

Dhammananda Bhikkhuni (Source: thaibhikkuni.com)
This article is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first Thai woman to be ordained as a Theravada monk and current abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, has been listed as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2019.
While Thailand has around 300,000 Buddhist monks, women are still mostly barred from being ordained on Thai soil. In 1928, after the attempted ordination of two women, Prince Bhujong Jombunud Sirivaḍḍhano, then the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, issued an edict forbidding monks from ordaining women as monks or novices. The Sangha Supreme Council of Thailand also issued two rulings in 1984 and 1987 forbidding the ordination of women. However, the Sangha Act of 1962, the secular law governing Thai monastics, and the 1992 amendment do not prohibit the ordination of women.
Moreover, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) ruled in 2015 that the Sangha Supreme Council’s prohibition of the ordination of women is a violation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Thailand is a state party. NHRC also ruled that such prohibition is in violation of the Thai Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both of which protect freedom of religion.
Dhammananda’s efforts to re-establish the Theravada bhikkhuni lineage in Thailand have been met with resistance from both the laity and monks who are against ordaining women, most of whom have claimed that the ordination of women is not possible as the Theravada bhikkhuni lineage has already died out. ‘Bhikkhuni’ refers to a fully ordained female monastic. Despite the lack of secular law prohibiting the ordination of women, bhikkunis are seen as a foreign tradition and the two main Buddhist orders in Thailand have yet to officially accept ordained women as part of the Sangha – the Buddhist community of monastics.
Dhammananda is currently the abbess of the Songdhammakalyani Monastery in Nakhon Pathom, founded by her mother Voramai Kabilsingh, who was ordained as a monk in the Taiwanese Dharmaguptaka lineage in 1971, receiving the religious name Ta Tao Fa Tzu. The monastery is currently Thailand’s only all-female temple. Varanggana Vanavichayen, the first woman to be ordained as a monk on Thai soil, was ordained at the Songdhammakalyani Monastery in 2002.
However, the Thai authorities do not recognize the monastery as a Buddhist temple, and when Dhammananda and other monks from the monastery went to pay respect to the late King Bhumibol at the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall, where his body lay in state, they were denied entry. The officials claimed that they were turned away on the grounds that it is illegal for women to wear the saffron robe under Thai Buddhism. 22 other female monks and novices were also turned away after being told that they would be only be allowed to pay their respect to the late King if they removed their robes and wore the regular black clothing of laypeople.
The BBC’s 100 Women list includes those who “had made the headlines or influenced important stories over the past 12 months, as well as those who have inspiring stories to tell, achieved something significant or influenced their societies in ways that wouldn't necessarily make the news.”
The theme for 2019 is “the Female Future” and the list also includes Kuwaiti women’s rights activist Alanoud Alsharekh, who works on the abolition of Kuwait’s “honour-killing” law; Japanese model and author Yumi Ishikawa, founder of the #KuToo campaign against the requirement for women to wear high heels at work; sumo wrestler Hiyori Kon, who fought to change the rules which barred women from competing professionally in sumo; US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever to serve in the US congress; Filipino journalist and press freedom advocate Maria Ressa, an outspoken critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’; and Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, whose school strike protests mobilized millions of young people around the world, forming the ‘Fridays for future’ movement.

author: Prachatai