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The Caribbean’s foremost literary festival has released its 2021 longlist; Trinidad & Tobago writers dominate · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Although writers from five different Caribbean territories have been longlisted for the 2021 OCM [One Caribbean Media] Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, writers from Trinidad and Tobago have secured the lion's share of places for a prize, now in its eleventh year, that is widely considered to be the foremost literary award for Caribbean writers.
Covers of the books that made the longlist of the 2021 OCM [One Caribbean Media] Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Image courtesy Bocas LitFest, edited and used with permission.
Worth $10,000 United States dollars, the prize celebrates books in three genres—poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction—published by Caribbean authors in the preceding year. Of the nine that have been longlisted for the 2021 prize, five are by Trinbagonian writers, with the others by authors from Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Lucia.
The festival itself, which because of the COVID-19 pandemic will happen virtually for the second year in a row, will take place from April 23–25. The overall chair of this year's panel is Vahni Capildeo, winner of the 2016 Forward Prize.
The poetry longlist ranges from a debut writer to a literary veteran, with the chosen collections covering a range of topics. “Guabancex”, named for a Taíno storm deity, is the first collection by Celia Sorhaindo, a poet from Dominica. Her book was inspired by the devastating impact on the island of 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
The judges for the poetry panel, which include Jamaican poet and panel chair Opal Palmer Adisa, Trinidadian poet Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné and Guyanese-Canadian writer Kaie Kellough, felt that the form and expressions of Sorhaindo's poems captured “the vastness and the vulnerability of life on an island [by] convey[ing] a collective trauma that moves through and beyond pain and loss to what is valuable and possible.”
“The Dyzgraphxst”, the second offering by Canada-based St. Lucian Canisia Lubrin, was described by the judges as “a journey where meaning is often an unpaved road, but the ride is richly satisfying”, while “Country of Warm Snow”—the sixth book by Trinidadian Mervyn Taylor—explores the experience of living between two countries over five decades. The judges described the collection as “a rare book that reads with deceptive ease […] mov[ing] fluidly across time and borders while being rooted deeply in place.”
Wasafiri editor Malachi McIntosh chaired the fiction panel, the judges of which included Roland Gulliver, director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, and writer Tiphanie Yanique from the US Virgin Islands.
The longlist for this category included two debut novels and the latest book by a former winner of the OCM Bocas Prize. “These Ghosts Are Family,” the first book by US-based Jamaican Maisy Card, delves into the entanglements of a family over the course of several generations. The book impressed the judges for the innovative way in which it tackles “the story of Caribbean enslavement and the legacy of trauma it has passed down from generation to generation.”
The UK-based, Trinidad-born writer Ingrid Persaud was lauded for “creat[ing] characters that we truly care for” in her debut novel “Love After Love,” while her compatriot Monique Roffey, also based in the UK, made the cut with her latest offering, “The Mermaid of Black Conch,” which has been very well received and recently won the Costa Book of the Year.
No stranger to literary acclaim, Roffey won the OCM Bocas Prize back in 2013 for her novel “Archipelago.” Of her latest book, the judges said it “reads like the work of a novelist in command of her material and focused on using a mythic ‘then’ to speak to now.”
The range of work submitted for this genre, which included works spanning essays and memoirs to cultural criticism, led the judging panel— which included chair Rosamond S. King, Guyanese-American writer Gaiutra Bahadur and British author Blake Morrison—to believe that “Caribbean non-fiction is in excellent hands.”
United States-based Trinidadian Katherine Agyemaa Agard‘s memoir “of colour,” which cleverly incorporates visual material into the narrative, was deemed “boldly experimental,” while Andre Bagoo‘s “The Undiscovered Country” resonated as a “wonderfully intelligent” collection of diverse essays on everything from art to politics: “Where else would you find Trinidadian street food in the same volume as an appraisal of Thom Gunn's poetry, or Dylan Thomas rubbing shoulders with soca?”
Finally, the eminent Guyanese-born, Trinidad-based literary scholar Gordon Rohlehr‘s memoir “Musings, Mazes, Muses, Margins,” came across as an autobiography told through a split personality and a dream diary juxtaposing J'ouvert, the pre-dawn ritual that heralds the start of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, with the “gleeful frenzy” of the main Carnival stage, and the solemnity of Ash Wednesday—the official start of the Lenten season that seals off the country's annual street festival.
The shortlist for the OCM Bocas Prize will be released on March 28, with the winners being announced on April 24, during the virtual festival.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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‘This goes way beyond brutality’: Myanmar coup and the military’s violent suppression of democracy · Global Voices
Global Voices South East Asia

A freedom wall installed by anti-coup protesters. Used with permission.
This article originally appeared on the blog of a Global Voices contributor who doesn't wish to be identified. It is published here as a three-part series.
Throughout February, anti-coup protests faced constant reprisal from Myanmar's security forces. Despite the crackdown, valiant protesters still went out on the streets everyday to battle injustices, human rights abuses, and brutality through peaceful ways.
The timeline below details some of the oppressive laws and brutal crackdown of the military.
On the evening of February 8, a nationwide curfew (Article 144) and Assembly Law restricting gatherings of more than 5 persons were issued by the military council.
On February 9, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Communications, under the control of the military council, introduced a draconian Cyber Security Bill that could be used to arrest online protesters. The bill was opposed by 161 civil society organizations and Myanmar Computer Federation.
That same day, police started shooting at protesters with live ammunition and water cannons in the capital city Naypyidaw. A 19-year-old woman protester, Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, was shot in the head. She died in hospital on February 19 and became the protest movement's first martyr.
The cybersecurity law has not been passed, but on February 10 the military council amended the Laws Protecting Citizens’ Privacy, which now authorizes the police to arrest people without a warrant and detain them for more than 24 hours. And on February 13, the Ward or Village-Tract Administration Law dating back to the era of the previous military junta was reintroduced. The law requires people to register to seek permission in order to move around at night.
Starting around February 11, nighttime arrests of people participating in the civil disobedience movement began increasing during curfew time. Some of these attempts succeeded in being prevented, as community members gathered and deterred the police.
Then on February 13, the military issued warrants for the arrest of seven protest leaders and artists.
On the evening of February 14, the military attacked protesters near the electricity office in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state. Although there were no injuries, some journalists were arrested.
On February 15, a disabled person was brutally attacked by riot police during a crackdown.
On February 18, the military and police launched a violent crackdown in the capital city Nay Pyi Taw and arrested around 50 protesters. This marked the beginning of mass arrests during protests in cities across the country.
On February 20, police and the military opened fire on civilians on the Mandalay jetty after protesters tried to prevent military operatives from taking a ship on strike. Two people died on the scene and several protesters were injured. The attack in Mandalay was reportedly perpetrated by the notorious 33 Light  Infantry Division, the same group accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya in 2017.
Later that week, a video of a soldier displaying real guns and weapons and threatening to shoot people in the head was shared on social media. Meanwhile, several clips of soldiers instigating violence and threatening protesters were spread abundantly on TikTok.
On the evening of February 25, a large police force raided Tarmwe township in Yangon and arrested 15 protesters, marking the first use of force and arrests in Myanmar’s largest city.
On February 26, the military started to disband major protest points in Yangon using sonic bombs, tear gas, and live ammunition, ramping up the violent crackdown on the city. On the same day, similar crackdowns occurred in other big cities such as Mandalay and Naypyidaw. The military activity continued in Yangon on February 27 and 28, with several protesters arrested.
On February 27, the military brutally suppressed protests in the town of Monywa in central Myanmar. Two people were fatally injured.
February 28 saw the most brutal crackdown since the start of the protests: 18 people were killed across seven cities–Yangon, Myeik, Dawei, Mandalay, Mawlamyine, Bago and Pakkoku—during the nationwide Milk Tea Alliance-related protests. It was the most violent day in all of February.
As of March 2, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners,  nearly 1,300 individuals have been arrested, charged or sentenced since February 1, and 988 are still in detention or have outstanding warrants.
Among those arrested and targeted with violence have been journalists and minors.
#JournalismIsNotACrime #WhatIsHappeningInMyanmar #AungKyaw #KaungMyatHlaing https://t.co/yU6HcNZshc
— DVB Burmese (@dvbburmese) March 1, 2021
On March 3, an even bigger atrocity resulted in 38 deaths in cities of Monywa, Mandalay, Myinchan, Mawlamyine, Kalay and Yangon.
In Yangon’s North Oakkala [WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGERY] township there were reports of the military using sub-machine guns; at least 20 people died as a result. A [WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGERY] video of a protester being shot in the head while being arrested in Yangon is one of the example of footages of military atrocity widely shared on social media.
Records of human rights violations by the military, including attacks targeting medical volunteers, continue to spread on Facebook and Twitter.
This goes way beyond brutality.
? https://t.co/52x6IAUFVs
— Yanghee Lee (@YangheeLeeSKKU) March 3, 2021
As of March 3, the death toll during the protests stands at least 50. Most of those killed were shot in the head by soldiers deployed by the military council.
On March 1, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the committee formed by the ousted National League of Democracy in opposition to the junta, declared the State Administrative Council led by the coup's leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, a terrorist organization on account of the human rights violations they have perpetrated against peaceful protesters and civilians.
Myanmar's citizens have been appealing for United Nations’ support in resisting the coup staged by the Tatmadaw, the country's military, on February 1, 2021. Placards calling for intervention by the UN or even the United States can be spotted at the many protests taking place across the country.
At the first UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on February 12, Myanmar's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Myint Thu, spoke on behalf of the military council.
On February 26, however, during the second UN General Assembly in New York, Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun, took a stand and made a surprise statement appealing to the UN Security Council on behalf of the civilian government to take action against the Myanmar military. He concluded his speech in Burmese, his voice cracking, praising and thanking the Myanmar people, and held up three fingers, the gesture that has become a symbol of resistance to the junta.
The military council fired Kyaw Moe Tun the next day, calling him a national traitor, but the image of the ambassador giving the three-finger salute became a source of hope for the people.
As the violence perpetrated by the military increased in the last week in February, expectations were high among Myanmar's citizens that the UN would intervene. Messages like “How many dead bodies does the UN need to take action against the Burmese military?” appeared on social media and protest placards, as well as the darkly ironic “Shoot me if you need another dead body for UN action.”
◼ How many dead bodies are needed for the UN to take action against the Burmese military?
◼ How many dead bodies does the UN need to take action against the Burmese military?
◼ How many civilian deaths do you need before you restored  democracy here?#Feb28Coup pic.twitter.com/InxBbBdhmg
— Sithu (@Sithu1011) February 28, 2021

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Global Voices South East Asia


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How India’s new internet regulations will change social media, online news and video streaming · Global Voices
Rohith Jyothish

Image by Internet Freedom Foundation. CC-BY
India introduced on February 25 broad new regulations to social media, online news websites, and streaming platforms, which experts say could seriously change the way Indian citizens experience the internet.
Among other things, the IT Rules 2021 require social media platforms to deploy AI-based technology to identify sexually explicit content, trace the originator of encrypted messages, introduce a “voluntary verification system” for its users, and hire local teams to respond to both Indian users’ and government's complaints about content. Regulations for platforms with more than 5 million users will be even tougher.
Meanwhile, streaming services and digital news outlets will from now on be regulated by India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, rather than India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeytY). What this means in practice is that services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, for example, will have to comply with the same regulations as Indian television channels.
If failing to comply with the Rules, social media platforms could lose intermediary immunity, as enshrined in India's Information Technology Act of 2000, and could be prosecuted for content posted by its users. The rules also empower the government to require video streaming services to broadcast disclaimers, warning cards, and even censor content.
The new rules come in the wake of months of nationwide farmers’ protests in which hundreds of people have been arrested, including for things they have posted online. In February, the Indian government made a request to Twitter to suspend accounts that had used the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, with which the platform temporarily complied.
On a blog post, the Internet Freedom Foundation, an Indian digital liberties organization, has done a deep-dive into the Rules and their possible impact on Indian internet users’ lives. We'll highlight below two major points of concern of the new guidelines.
This is a provision that will only apply to platforms with more than 5 million users, which the Rules designate as “significant social media intermediaries.”
Platforms that offer end-to-end encryption messaging such as WhatsApp and Signal must be able to identify the originator of a piece of content if required by a court order or a competent authority.
The competent authorities, as defined by the previous IT Rules of 2009, is the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the central government level, or the Secretary in charge of the Home Department at the state level.
While the rules clarify that such orders will only be issued in cases of serious offenses, some types of offenses in India are very open-ended, IFF says on its blog.
“For instance, ‘public order’ grounds are relatively broad in operation and can give rise to many demands,” the organization states.
SSMIs must enable tracing originators of info in case of serious offences. See this graphic on why this IS an end-to-end encryption issue despite not being presented as such.
They must also deploy tech to identify sexual violence content, which leads to function creep.
7/n pic.twitter.com/Iyt86bYmy9
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) February 27, 2021
A whole section of the rules deals with online news outlets and video streaming platforms. As these services will be regulated by India's Ministry of Information and Broadcast, they will come under the same set of rules that apply to offline media, such as newspapers and television.
For example, streaming services will be required to introduce age-classification labels to their content as well as an age-verification mechanism for their users (many streaming services already have such a mechanism as well as age-appropriate labels).
Both streaming services and online news will also need to abide by a Code of Ethics that is annexed to the Rules, which dictates, among other issues, that they should “exercise due caution and discretion” when depicting activities of racial and religious groups.
“This is likely to have a chilling effect on speech as it provides formal validity to the concerns which have been raised by certain groups against artistic content,” IFF says.
Another major concern pointed by IFF when it comes to online news media is that the Rules do not designate a size threshold as it does with social media intermediaries. The Rules will be applicable to anything and anyone who publishes “news and current affairs content” online, as long as they have a presence in India.
“The Intermediaries Rules will arguably seek to regulate a large number of internet users that engage in producing similar content on a very small scale,” IFF says.
A number of experts have said the new rules are anti-democratic and unconstitutional. Noted political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot considers the rules to be an extension of executive control over digital entities.
An official spokesman of the opposition party Indian National Congress condemned the new guidelines stating that they have been brought out without legislative discussions.
The regulations related to digital news media have been challenged by independent online portals The Wire and Newsminute in the Delhi High Court.
Delhi High Court to hear a petition challenging the new IT Rules made by the Central Government to regulate intermediaries, OTT platform and digital news media.
The Petition has been filed by @thewire_in @dhanyarajendran and @mkvenu1
@GoI_MeitY@thenewsminute #ottguidelines pic.twitter.com/epZRIth7nl
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 9, 2021
On March 11, the Digital News Publishers Association, a group with some of the largest media conglomerates in India, met with Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar to discuss how they ought to be treated differently from digital news outlets as they already adhere to multiple regulations under the Cable TV Network Act and the Press Council Act.
To those wondering who the members of DNPA are:
India Today Group, Dainik Bhaskar, NDTV, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Times of India, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Eenadu and Malayala Manorama. https://t.co/P3ACoI8IzK
— meghnad ? (@Memeghnad) March 11, 2021
For now, major United States’ tech companies such as Google and Twitter haven't commented on the new rules.

author: Rohith Jyothish


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An interview with a blogger who connects Myanmar and Hong Kong’s dream for democracy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image from Yangon.design. Free use.
Ben Crox, a Hong-based BarCamp curator, has been visiting Myanmar regularly for the past ten years, promoting new technology and new media communication skills.
“I have made a lot of friends, both young and [old]. Most of them are active on Facebook, where they post about their life and news about Myanmar,” Crox told me via email. During the pandemic, he started learning Burmese, which led him to pay extra attention to stories coming out of Myanmar.
And when a military coup took place in Myanmar on February 1, he began posting — on social media and various online platforms — news and information about the ensuing protests.
I interviewed Crox about his efforts in enhancing communication between the two countries and his observations on the political situation in Myanmar. His responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Oiwan Lam (OL): Why do you feel the urge to bring news and information about the ongoing protests in Myanmar to Hong Kong netizens?
Ben Crox (BC): Myanmar is not very connected to the world. Even though Hong Kong is a major trade partner with Myanmar, most of my peers in Hong Kong never talk about Myanmar. But in recent years, the country has been a new tourist site for young Hongkongers. For a few, they may also travel to Myanmar for religious retreat or for causes related to humanitarian aid.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Myanmar hard and I have been donating to help some of my Myanmar friends. But when the military suddenly takes over, the money wiring channels are blocked. The only thing I can do is to help Myanmar people spread their voice and news.
I believe what has happened in Myanmar would echo in the minds of many Hongkongers, because our rights, our freedom, our hope for the future are also being deprived by similar institutionalized state violence.
The protest scenes in Myanmar look similar to Hong Kong. Many of my Burmese friends are eager to learn from Hong Kong’s protest experience and they have been trying to link with the Milk Tea Alliance, an online network of pro-democracy netizens coming from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and India.
People from many Asian countries share the dream of establishing a clean and democratic government, with which fair opportunities and variety will be ensured. And I share this dream as well.
OL: The internet in Myanmar has been disrupted since the military coup. How do you get the latest updates? How do you make sure that the information is reliable?
BC: The internet in Myanmar has been disrupted, but it has not been completely cut off. The Junta want to keep the foreign factories and facilities running. At the same time, a lot of small businesses also heavily rely on the internet. In the first phase of disruption, only the mobile network was affected, while wifi and some fibre networks were still functioning. We later learnt that the mobile internet has been filtered with some old version of Chinese-style Great Firewall. But that has not stopped people from connecting through VPNs. Recently, the military is trying to set a new norm with a complete shutdown of the internet after midnight from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. But internet access during office hours has not been compromised yet.
So I can still receive a lot of instant updates from multiple sources. Most are shared on Facebook groups, personal feeds of my connections. Many English-speaking Myanmar netizens, especially those with journalistic background, also use Twitter as a civilian reporting channel.
Myanmar people are well aware of the Junta tactic of spreading disinformation. Quite frequently, they would warn each other against the so-called “psy-war” — the term refers to the psychological effects of disinformation. Most people are willing to take down the news if others have expressed doubts. I have also edited or taken down information on my social media timeline upon getting messages from my Burmese friends. If possible I would share videos that could be verified with other videos taken with different angles on the same spot from different sources. Usually, such verification process only takes a few minutes since many protesters recorded or live-streamed the protest scenes with their smartphones.
OL: In the past few days, reportedly the Myanmar military government has open fired and killed more than 50 protesters. How do you feel about the situation? Do you think the protests will still go on?
BC: Bloodshed happens every day. Some stringent sources have estimated over 50 martyrs, while hearsay said the figure was double. Videos and photos circulating online have proven that the military crackdown was extremely bloody and brutal. However, such a bloody crackdown is not new in the history of Myanmar and people are not backing off.
I still remember in January 2017, one day right after I landed in Yangon, Ko Ni, a prominent Muslim lawyer and an advocate of constitutional reform, was fatally shot outside the airport. A few of my friends were close to Ko Ni and were hit by the loss of a dear friend and a great leader. But they live with the pain and take it as drive for their continuous fight for a better future. They were not ruined in 2017 and now their ire is turning into fire.
In addition, Myanmar Generation Z is fearless and they have full support from the older generation. The junta cannot stop them and now the younger generation is joining them. The solidarity among protesters is invincible.
OL: You have participated in several rounds of discussion on Myanmar protests on social media platforms such as Clubhouse. What has been accomplished through this cross-border dialogue?
BC: During the discussion I tried to help people from outside of Myanmar to better understand the country’s situation. I shared with them what I had learnt from my friends and my working experience in Myanmar and tried to explain the historical and political context of the protests. I also explained the relationship between the protests in Hong Kong, Thailand and Myanmar, in particular on how Myanmar protesters were eager to be connected with the Milk Tea Alliance and other pro-democracy movements in Asia.
I believe that Hongkongers can help Myanmar’s protesters and bring more international media attention to the situation in Myanmar. While a huge amount of visual images about the military coup and people’s protests have been circulating on Twitter and Facebook, the stories behind the images need to be told and explained. Hongkongers can play a good role in distributing and bridging the information.
OL: You have been paying close attention to protests in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Myanmar. How do you compare the pro-democracy movement in the three countries? Do you observe any interactions among protesters or pro-democracy activists across the three regions? Will such interactions bring positive changes in Asia?
BC: Protests in Hong Kong, in Thailand and in Myanmar are quite different as the three regions have different political systems, but protesters from the three regions share common goals. Exchanges among activists could help reflect on the inadequacy of local protests and develop a wider horizon in understanding the significance of the pro-democracy movement in Asia.
For example, the divide between pro-independence and moderate democrats in the Hong Kong protest movement has destroyed the internal communication of strategies and tactics within the movement to the extent that no one could bargain or negotiate with the government. The pro-democracy sector in Myanmar used to have a lot of racial conflicts. But now more than 90 percent of people are united against the coup, that's their advantage.
I believe that protesters in Asia can learn, inspire and support each other in future struggles for democracy. The democracy movement against authoritarian regimes in Asia is up and evolving, a new generation of activists has shown their determination and capability. The future is on their side.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Exiled activists launch the ‘2021 Hong Kong Charter,’ a vision for the future of the pro-democracy movement · Global Voices
The Stand News

8 activists announced the 2021 Hong Kong Charter on an virtual press conference. Image from the Stand News.
This post was originally published in Chinese on the Stand News on March 15, 2021. This translation is published on Global Voices via a content-sharing agreement.
A group of eight exiled Hong Kong activists launched on 14 of March the “2021 Hong Kong Charter,” a pledge to continue the pro-democracy movement for Hong Kong and a framework for international advocacy work.
On a virtual press conference, Nathan Law, Ted Hui, Glacier Kwong, Sunny Cheung, Brian Leung, Ray Wong, Baggio Leung, and Alex Chow urged Hongkongers living abroad to connect with other pro-democracy movements around the world against the expansion of totalitarian regimes.
Against the background of China’s latest moves in arresting the majority of pro-democracy leaders and rewriting election rules in Hong Kong, the group — who comes from a range of pro-democracy movements — stressed the importance of building a nonpartisan front among diasporic Hongkongers.
Nathan Law, a former lawmaker who escaped from Hong Kong after the National Security Law was enacted on July 1, 2020, explained the goal of the 2021 Charter (quote via William Yang on Twitter):
We are here to show solidarity and encourage people fighting against political suppression of the CCP to not give up. We also hope that our overseas community can continue to uphold Hong Kong’s basic values of democracy, freedom and our love for the city.
The charter begins with “the belief of the diasporic Hongkongers,” outlining the duty of those living overseas:
Diasporic Hongkongers shall speak what cannot be spoken in Hong Kong now, utilizing the precious freedom we have, to voice out for those silenced by the rule of terror in Hong Kong, […] stay united and not fall into the trap of internal conflicts.
The second section stresses the uniqueness of Hongkongers’ identity and their rights to determine the future and affairs of Hong Kong. It pledges to continue the international campaign for the abolition of the draconian National Security Law and for a genuinely democratic system in Hong Kong, free from China’s control.
The third section defines the abolition of the “one-party dictatorship” in China an essential step in the realization of democracy and freedom. The international Hong Kong pro-democracy movement pledges to join others against the Chinese Communist Party’s digital totalitarianism, cultural cleansing, and genocide in Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, and against other ethnic minorities, as well as military intimidation against Taiwan.
In its final section, it states that the Hong Kong movement will actively connect democracy, freedom, social and environmental justice advocates around the world to promote the universal values of freedom, autonomy, fairness, diversity, equality, and democracy against the expansion of totalitarian regimes.
Nathan Law sees challenges in building solidarity across the Hong Kong diaspora, as he explained in the conference:
The disaporic Hongkongers are very diverse, some left Hong Kong after 1989, some after the 2014 protests and some after the 2019 protests. Some have spent their efforts on community building, some on political lobbying, some are working in the business field. All these people have different imaginations of the future struggle in Hong Kong.
The eight initiators stressed that solidarity is crucial to sustaining the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, and that the Charter can provide a common vision for those who will continue the struggle overseas.
Glacier Kwong, an activist now based in Germany, pointed out that the CCP political oppression is not confined to Hong Kong and hoped that the future international campaign can connect with pro-democracy struggles in other countries.
Brain Leung who is now studying political science in the U.S. shared a similar view:
During the 2019 protests, Hongkongers asked the world to listen to their voices. Now we have to dialogue with the world and understand the context of people's struggles in other parts of the world.
Leung says that, in the next 10 to 20 years, the most important agenda for the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement will be to connect with international civil society, find inspiration from each other, and contribute to policymaking in other countries.
Alex Chow, who is studying urban geography in the U.S., says that overseas Hongkongers must engage in a variety of global struggles, including environmental justice and human rights, and lobby other countries to change diplomatic relations with China. He says that the Hong Kong story will not be a tragedy as long as people continue their struggle:
Hongkongers, whether in Hong Kong or overseas, are capable of overriding the script written by the state and instead write their own story.

author: The Stand News


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How a youth movement is challenging the political old guard in Namibia · Global Voices
Lisa Plank

The Lutheran Christ Church (or Christuskirche) is a historic landmark in Windhoek, Namibia. Image by Henning Supertramp, December 9, 2016 (CC BY 2.0)
A little more than six years ago, on November 10, 2014, a few young men made their way to a vacant piece of municipal land in the Namibian capital city Windhoek, put up signs and declared the plots occupied.
The men—led by activists Job Amupanda, George Kambala and Dimbulikeni Nauyomamade—cited inequality and injustice in getting access to land as the reasons for the land grab. The response that followed could hardly have been greater: most Namibian media reported the incident, even President Hage Geingob reacted.
On November 25, 2020, one of those young men, Job Amupanda, was elected mayor of the Namibian capital Windhoek in the local elections.
On this day 6 years ago, the stage was set and we never looked back.
We may not have the POWER and the MONEY but we have IDEAS, powerful IDEAS – something they don't have. We have Spirit, Energy, Talent, Rhythm. POWERFUL ideas on their way! @nauyomadee @Shipululo @ArNamibia pic.twitter.com/J2QsLVSQH6
— George Kambala (@G_Kambala) November 9, 2020
Amupanda, 33, is a former senior lecturer and deputy dean at the University of Namibia and holds a doctorate degree in political studies. At the time of the land grabbing, he was information secretary for the SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL).
The protest by the activists gave rise to the radical left-wing movement Affirmative Repositioning, which morphed into a political party in 2020. The action was not limited to the land-grabbing protest: Shortly after the movement was founded in 2014, more than 14,000 people heeded their call in November 2014 to submit land applications. By March 2015, more than 35,000 Namibians had applied for land. This spike in land applications was a reflection of the prevailing inaccessibility of land in the country.
The three activists blamed the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO), the ruling party in parliament, for not fixing the prevailing inequalities in Namibia, hence, their action to find solutions on their own and mobilize society.
For decades, SWAPO fought for Namibia's independence against colonial rule. The tenacity of SWAPO, founded in 1960, as freedom fighters, gained them United Nations recognition in July 1966, as the sole representative of the Namibian people.
In the first free and equal elections in 1989 (before then, only whites could vote) SWAPO’s leader Sam Nujoma was elected the first president of independent Namibia. Since then, SWAPO has remained as the dominant party in the country, but in the 2019 national elections, it lost around 30 per cent of the vote.
The voters’ turning away from the once revered independence fighters was not without any reason. The consequences of colonization and apartheid are still visible in Namibia.
In the cities, the different population groups still live largely segregated from one another and housing costs are high, especially in Windhoek where access to land is excruciatingly difficult and exorbitantly costly. This problem persists because 70 per cent of the commercial farmland in Namibia is still owned by the white minority, three decades after this southern African country gained independence in 1990.
Social inequality in Namibia is, therefore, among the highest in the world, with a large number of citizens suffering from poverty and homelessness. For many Namibians, independence has barely improved their standard of living. The colonial legacy is still palpable. Thirty years after independence, disappointment is spreading within Namibian society.
By distancing himself from SWAPO, Amupanda circumvented the scepticism that Namibians harbour towards the ruling elite. This likely contributed to his rise to power. He has continued to talk about addressing the prevailing inequalities in Namibian society. This was evident in his first speech as mayor of Windhoek, given in December 2020, in which he promised to focus on service delivery and not party politics: “Know that your responsibility is in management. Not the political leadership, but the administration of the city”, he was reported to have said.
Job Shipululo Amupanda at a youth protest on land in Windhoek. Image by ShopLeft, April 21, 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0
Amupanda promised to tackle the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness that had characterized the municipality's poor service delivery for years. On March 2, the city administration cut off the water supply to five ministries for their inability to settle an accumulated water bill of 47 million Namibian dollars (about $3.1 million USD):
JUST IN: The City of Windhoek on Wednesday cut the water supply of five ministries. City spokesperson Lydia Amutenya confirmed the cut-offs this morning and said the ministries have a combined N$47 million in unpaid water bills. pic.twitter.com/OF0tm3jC9Z
— The Namibian (@TheNamibian) February 25, 2021
The measure had an immediate impact: The government paid up. As a result, the municipality was equally able to pay its debts to the water and energy suppliers NamPower—for the first time in decades.
Another example is an urban gardening project. Namibia is mostly dependent on food imports from South Africa and as such, Amupanda’s administration wants to produce food on a 2,000-hectare city-owned farm.
Given the situation, promoting modern ways of domestic agriculture is an act of self-empowerment for Namibian citizens.
Amupanda’s Affirmative Repositioning grew from a youth movement into a political party. SWAPO also morphed from freedom fighters for independence into a political party.
The future will determine if Amupanda and his party will keep delivering on promises. Otherwise, they risk the same fate that befell the once-dominant party in that southern African nation.

author: Lisa Plank


text:
In Tajikistan, online critics land behind bars as alleged ‘extremists’ · Global Voices
Ozoda Nurmakhmadova

Tajikistan's presidential palace — The Palace of Nations — Rudaki Avenue, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, April 3, 2012. Photo by Rjruiziii, via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.
This article is part of UPROAR, a Small Media initiative that is urging governments to address digital rights challenges at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
In the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, voicing criticism about authorities online is often equated with terrorism — largely due to legislation with vague definitions for hate speech.
As a result, several outspoken bloggers and activists have been sent behind bars and online freedom of expression is seriously curtailed.
Tajikistan’s criminal code provides a long list of cases under which netizens can be prosecuted for their activities on the internet.
For example, online insults of officials — including police officers — can lead to up to two years in jail. Similarly, online insults or slander of the president of Tajikistan is punishable with two to five years behind bars. The hardest sanctions are aimed at online calls for the use of violence to change an elected government and the constitutional order, punishable with up to 15 years in prison.
As a predominantly Muslim society with a population of over 9 million, Tajikistan still supports a laic state — partially maintaining its Soviet heritage that does not allow political Islam to develop. In 1992, when civil war broke out around regional and religious issues, 100,000 were left dead and others went into exile. This led to state concerns about the role that Islam plays in daily life.
Over 500 people have been imprisoned in the last few years alone. Authorities justify these arrests to prevent young people from getting involved in terrorism and extremism, as well as to quell the growing interest in an active practice of Islam among younger generations. They usually refer to official statistics to show these connections.
As one of the world’s least developed countries, Tajikistan has limited internet penetration and speeds and it often blocks networks.
Authoritarian president Emomali Rahmon, in power since 1992, changed the nation’s constitution to obtain the official title of “The Founder of Peace and National Unity—Leader of the Nation,” which includes a lifetime ability to serve as president. Rahmon regularly points to the internet as a great threat to youth and national security and obliges officials to establish tight control of it.
Tajikistan is known for “closed” trials. Almost all political cases are unofficially labeled “semi-secret” or get official secret status to prevent public interference and forbid journalists from entering trial halls.
For example, in 2018, 32-year-old Alijon Sharipov was sentenced for “public calls for violent change of the constitutional order of Tajikistan using the media or the internet.” Alijon Sharipov, while working as a labor migrant in Russia, liked and shared a video of exiled Tajik opposition leader Muhiddin Kabiri on his Facebook page.
It was enough to imprison him for nine and a half years. During the process, Alijon Sharipov admitted that he watched and shared the video, but he didn’t know that it was illegal. Presiding judge Temur Boizoda commented: “Not knowing the law doesn’t relieve people from responsibility.”
Well-known journalist Daler Sharipov (unrelated to Alijon Sharipov), 32, was also sentenced in March 2020, for “arousing national, racial, local, or religious hatred.” In an official press statement, the general prosecutors’ office stated that between 2013 and 2018, Daler Sharipov published more than 200 “extremist” posts on his social media accounts and also made 100 copies of a manuscript he wrote in support of the Muslim Brotherhood ideology.
This case wasn't labeled “secret,” but was still kept behind closed doors with no media presence. Court officials explained that they were following World Health Organization guidance for preventing the spread of COVID-19. The first case of COVID-19 was officially documented in Tajikistan more than a month later.
The extremist label can be also applied to whistleblowers.
Prominent lawyer and human rights defender Abdulmajid Rizoev may face up to five years in prison for “public calls for performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the internet,” according to Frontline Defenders.
An ongoing trial prosecutor accused Rizoev of posting two “extremist” posts on his Facebook page on March 2, 2020, the day following parliamentary elections in Tajikistan. In the first post, Rizoev wrote that he made his own little survey, among people he personally knows, and just a quarter of respondents said they went to vote in elections, while the other 75 percent ignored the event. (The official turnover showed 86.4 percent).
In the second post, Rizoev commented on a banner in a polling station that says: “Participation in elections is an attribute of political intellect,” sneering at its implication that those who don't vote in elections “do not have political intellect.”
Front Line Defenders, an international human rights organization, points out that the accusation lodged against Rizoev is linked to his work providing legal support for residents whose houses are being demolished in Dushanbe, the capital.
On trial, Rizoev said a construction company had offered him $25,000 United States dollars in an envelope so that he would cease “interfering” with their business. When he refused, he was reportedly threatened with jail time.
A new law aimed at “countering extremism” was introduced in Tajikistan in January 2020 — replacing a previous 2003 version — that allows state agencies to have full control over internet traffic and citizens’ social media activities.
According to the new law, Tajikistan considers the internet a public space that enables the state’s communication services to block social networks and websites without a court order.
Article 307 (3), 2020 Countering Extremism Law: Engagement in activities of political, religious, public, or other organizations, which were liquidated or prohibited due to conducting extremist activities by a final decision of the court, as well as assisting in their activities using the media, the internet or in any other way, shall be punished by imprisonment for five to eight years.
The state's Communication Services is a very well-known organization that holds immense power thanks to its director, Beg Zukhurov, who has made absurd comments about who deserves internet access and who does not.
In 2012, Zukhurov tried to call a meeting with Facebook officials to discuss how to control critical posts, asking journalists: “Does Facebook have an owner or not? Can he come to Tajikistan?”
A few days later, an activist made a prank call to Zukhurov and introduced himself as “Sergey Brin, interpreter of Mark Zuckerberg.” During the call, Zukhurov claimed Facebook had been blocked but promised to reopen access. Later, he told Russian media that he had spoken with Zuckerberg and that Facebook would be accessible in a few days.
Zukhurov, who now goes by Beg Sabur, is no longer allowed to speak with the media, but he still holds immense power over Communications Services, which also holds a monopoly on the internet.
Private internet service providers in Tajikistan are obliged to buy internet and route all the traffic through the “unified switching center,” introduced in 2018 and controlled by the agency. Theoretically, the state can access any device connected to the internet in Tajikistan.
The new extremism law empowers state law enforcement agencies — together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — to seek out those living in Tajikistan who are internationally recognized as extremists, but definitions of extremism remain vague.
In April 2020, the supreme court banned Prague-based Akhbor media, accusing it of  collaborating with banned extremist organizations within Tajikistan. Freelance journalists who cooperated with Akhbor were questioned and persecuted. By November, Akhbor management announced that the website ceased its operations, saying it was nearly impossible to work due to the ban.
All of these restrictions have a strong impact on youth, many of whom are socially active, educated people seeking ways to live abroad and connect with others via the internet. Others seek out better business opportunities in the digital sphere.
According to the 2021 Speedtest Global Index, Tajikistan ranked 129 among 140 states on mobile data speed, which stalls the development of ecommerce.
This deepens the problem of brain-drain and migration.
Millions of Tajik labor migrants are leaving home to seek livelihoods elsewhere and more and more often don’t want to return.
Meanwhile, experts and international organizations anticipate Tajikistan authorities to continue with restrictive policies in the digital sphere — despite all possible losses — to protect the regime above all else.

author: Ozoda Nurmakhmadova


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The ‘tree of life’ that’s under threat in Trinidad · Global Voices
Cari-Bois News

The moriche palm, also known as the “tree of life.” Photo by Linton Arneaud, used with permission.
This article was originally published on Cari-Bois News. An edited version is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
The majestic Mauritia flexuosa, commonly called the moriche palm, was also dubbed the “tree of life” by the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt at the beginning of the 1800s, thanks to the role it played ecologically, as a nest site for birds and a food source for both animals and humans; and socio-economically, as a source of raw materials.
Centuries later, the moriche palm still grows in several South American countries, including Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil, as well as—in somewhat of a restricted range—on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, which once formed part of the South American continent. Its local populations, however, are becoming increasingly vulnerable because of unregulated human impact.
A well-distributed species throughout the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, the palm is thought to have been brought by early civilisations from the Amazon to Trinidad, which formed the northern limit of its range. Today, naturally occurring moriche palm populations exist in only six locations in Trinidad.
They are a keystone species in the Aripo Savanna and Nariva Swamp environmentally sensitive areas where they provide important ecosystem services. Since these locations have densities of adult trees higher than 1,000 per square kilometre, the ecosystems have evolved to depend on them.
The palm is also found in the Arena and Valencia Forest Reserves, and the Erin Reserve and Los Blanquizales Lagoon along the island's south coast. The lagoon's population has fewer than 100 trees per km, while the densities of all the other populations are fewer than 50 per km.
Because the country's economy is still heavily reliant on the energy industry, as well as the fact that its main moriche palm populations exist only in environmentally sensitive areas, the species is not cultivated for economic purposes in Trinidad. However, palms are believed to have been utilised by early human civilisations. As fire became integral to human evolution and existence, the moriche palm, believed to be pyrophilous in nature, made the species even more compatible with human settlements. Some societies still depend on these palms for their survival today.
In Peru, for instance, moriche palm ecosystems or “Aguajals” as they are called locally, comprise 1 per cent (7,000 km) of the Amazonian valley forest and contribute millions of United States dollars to the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP). Products made from the palms include frozen sweets, wines, oils, crafts, jewellery, footwear and toys, as well as sunscreen, deodorant and pharmaceutical items.
The Moriche Palm Diet concept, developed in Brazil, which claims to “accentuate the shape of a woman's figure naturally,” has increased commercial demand for the vitamin-rich fruit.
Fallen fruit from the moriche palm. Photo by Linton Arneaud, used with permission.
Humans, however, are not the only ones dependent on the palm. In Trinidad, local indicator bird species such as the fork-tailed palm swift, moriche oriole, sulphury flycatcher, and red-bellied macaw depend extensively on moriche palms to provide both food and habitat for their survival. In this way, the existence of Trinidad's moriche palms is directly related to the richness and diversity of the country's bird species.
On the ground, the red-rumped agouti hoards the moriche's fallen fruit, retrieving them during food-shortage periods. The scaly, dark red fruit is a rich source of nutrients, fats and polysaccharides, and helps ensure the survival of the agouti population during times of famine.
Moriche palms felled in Trinidad's Aripo Savannas and Arena Reserve for the purpose of poaching red-bellied macaw chicks. Photo by Linton Arneaud, used with permission.
During my surveys throughout the island, I have recorded several threats to the palms, squatting and land clearance being the most serious. Of pressing concern is that the swamp and marsh forests containing moriche palms in the Aripo Savannas, Valencia Reserve and Los Blanquizales Lagoon are being cleared to build shanty houses and to acquire land.
Moriche palms are also being destroyed as a result of slash and burn farming. In the Los Blanquizales Lagoon and Valencia Reserve, for instance, palms are being cut down to propagate short-term crops like dasheen, eddoes, pumpkin, corn, cucumber and pigeon peas.
Poachers for the illegal pet trade cut down dead palms in the Aripo Savannas and the Arena Reserve to acquire red-bellied macaw chicks, destroying valuable nest sites and other palms in the process. If such threats are not addressed soon, there could be dire consequences to Trinidad's moriche palm populations, particularly within the Valencia Reserve along the east-west corridor, and Los Blanquizales Lagoon to the south of the island.
Moriche palms cut down in Los Blanquizales Lagoon along Trinidad's south coast for squatting and agriculture. Photo by Linton Arneaud, used with permission.
A small team of researchers from the University of the West Indies—Dr. Mike Oatham, Dr. Aidan Farrell and myself—are currently conducting research into the population dynamics of moriche palms in Trinidad, in the hope of addressing the existing scarcity of data.
With respect to conservation, frequent patrols by law enforcement agencies on a roster system may be part of the answer to successfully protecting moriche palms in Trinidad. However, the designation of the Los Blanquizales Lagoon as a forest reserve is long overdue.
It is also advisable for the government to partner with local communities to protect this palm species, by enlisting active organisations located near palm populations to help ensure that they are not destroyed. Several villagers and squatters living in proximity to palm stands have indicated their support for the erection of proper signage, directly in front of diminishing stands, forbidding the removal of palms. This would be both an effective and cost-efficient investment for the government.
An iconic symbol of Trinidad's natural savannahs and freshwater swamps, the moriche palm is home to many species, including several birds which nest almost exclusively in it. If properly managed and utilised in a sustainable manner as is the case in other countries, moriche populations may even have commercial applications. In Trinidad, the “tree of life” is worth saving.

author: Cari-Bois News


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Twitter could be fully blocked in Russia within the next month · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Twitter could soon go from throttled to completely blocked in Russia. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.
The microblogging service Twitter could be fully blocked in Russia within the next month, according to Russian state media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor.
The regulator said on March 16 that the platform continues to ignore its demands to remove allegedly illegal content. If the offending posts remain online, Roskomnadzor indicated it is prepared to fully block the service, making it inaccessible for users in Russia.
Vadim Subbotin, Roskomnadzor's deputy head, told the state news agency TASS that they would take a month to “watch Twitter's reaction to the issue of removing banned information” and would then “make decisions accordingly,” depending on the company's response:
Если Twitter не исполнит требования Роскомнадзора, требования российского законодательства, соответственно, будем рассматривать вопрос о полной блокировке сервиса на территории России.
If Twitter does not satisfy the demands of Roskomnadzor, and the requirements of Russian legislation, we will, accordingly, consider the question of fully blocking the service on Russian territory.
As reported previously, on March 10 Russian censors began throttling Twitter loading speeds in the country using DPI (deep-packet inspection) equipment that Russian internet service providers are required to install as part of its new “sovereign internet” strategy.
At the time, Roskomnadzor defended the move as the first warning after multiple requests to take down offensive content, which Twitter is said to have ignored. The platform was also recently issued a fine for failing to remove “calls for participation in unsanctioned mass rallies aimed at minors,” which it has yet to react to.
Ironically, digital rights experts point out that a wholesale block of Twitter would likely be easier to implement in Russia than effective throttling of access speeds. Vladislav Zdolnikov, who runs the Telegram channel “IT and SORM,” thinks that Twitter is a fairly safe platform for the state to block as “it has relatively few users in Russia” and could serve as “a scarecrow for Google” and others without causing much public outrage:
Твиттер будет заблокирован в течение 15 минут с момента принятия решения об этом.
Телеграм не удалось заблокировать не потому, что РКН криворукие, а потому что он вложил в это огромное количество ресурсов — как финансовых, так и уникальных скиллов.
Заблокировать сайт не составляет никакой сложности. Если приложение не сопротивляется блокировкам, оно тоже будет заблокировано.
Twitter will be blocked within 15 minutes of a decision being made about this. They didn't manage to block Telegram not because [Roskomnadzor] is hapless, but because [Telegram] committed a lot of resources–financial ones and unique skills.
Blocking a website is not that complicated. If an app isn't counteracting the blocks, it will also be blocked.
Other commentators, however, remain skeptical that internet giants such as Google could face similar threats, as they are too important to the RuNet ecosystem. Mariëlle Wijermars, a Dutch researcher studying cybersecurity and digital rights in Russia, thinks that Google's many services, including YouTube, are “too deeply ingrained” in the country's digital economy:
Google is an infrastructural actor (e.g. Android) while the scope of Twitter is confined. Blocking the latter may lead to some public annoyance, but meddling with Google is sure to result in gov & business interruptions, massive public resentment, undermining of state propaganda
— Mariëlle Wijermars (@Marielle_W_) March 16, 2021

author: Tanya Lokot


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Women ‘don’t have to fit themselves into someone else’s perception,’ says Turkish aerospace engineer · Global Voices
Sevgi Yagmur Bulut

Gökçin Çınar/used with permission
According to UNESCO data (2014 – 2016), only around 30 percent of all female students worldwide choose STEM-related fields in higher education.
It is well-documented how gender biases and harmful stereotypes, often instilled in children from a very young age, contribute to such inequity.
Gökçin Çınar, a 30-year-old aerospace engineer from İzmir, Turkey, is among the minority of women who've pursued a career in a STEM.
She's currently a researcher at the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), in Atlanta,United States. Her work focuses on novel aircraft designs and technologies that could help make aviation more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
On YouTube, Çınar and her husband run a popular channel about science and engineering. The couple frequently encourages young women to follow their passions and dreams.
I've spoken to Çınar on March 4, ahead of International Women's Day via phone and e-mail about her career, her field, and her adventures on YouTube.
Sevgi Yagmur (SY): How did you become interested in aerospace engineering?
Gökçin Çınar (GÇ): As a child, I have always been fascinated by the concept of flight. I remember wanting to become a pilot from an early age. I also loved building stuff. I don’t think there is a single event or person who inspired me, but the engineering part definitely comes from the men in my family. My father is a very hands-on and creative person. I’ve always enjoyed helping him design and build things from scratch. When I was a little girl, I had my own little hammer that I used to build wooden airplanes with my grandpa. All I had to do was to combine my passion for flight and space with my interest in engineering. I guess it was meant to be.
SY: Did you face any gender stereotypes when choosing your area of studies?
Aerospace engineering was the only profession I ever wanted in high school. My parents and I were overjoyed when I got my university entrance exam scores, that placed me into the top schools,and most importantly, my dream field.
Little did I know about all the criticism I’d get from my extended family, teachers, or even total strangers. Many people didn’t think I’d have a future in aerospace engineering. Some thought I “wasted” my exam score by not choosing to study medicine, which apparently was more suitable for my gender, others thought if I wanted to study engineering, I should have chosen something that was more “girly”, whatever that meant. But I didn’t listen to any of it. I was sure of myself and I knew what I wanted so at the end of the day it didn’t have even the tiniest impact on my life. My parents supported me all the way, so I feel I’m privileged in that sense.
SY: What excites you the most about your work?
My research focuses on novel aircraft designs and technologies that can make aviation more sustainable and environmentally responsible. Although the global aviation industry by itself is not a major contributor to climate change right now, we expect its share to grow rapidly as the demand in aviation increases. There are many design solutions, technologies, and operational improvements that can help reduce the amount of fossil fuel necessary to fly an aircraft. I did my Ph.D. in one of the most promising and most radical solutions: electrified aircraft. With the recent technological advances in electric machines and batteries, we can now talk about electrifying the aircraft propulsion system. Electrified aircraft propulsion is a novel technology that has the potential to significantly reduce, and even fully eliminate fuel consumption and aircraft emissions while allowing for more affordable and quieter flights. Of course, it also comes with many challenges that we engineers have to overcome. My current research projects funded by the US government, including NASA, are focused on finding the right solutions to these challenges.
SY: As a foreign female engineer, did you face challenges as a result of your gender and ethnicity? What did you do to overcome them?
I think, in the US, we live in a transition era where diversity, equity, and inclusion is becoming more and more important in both every day and professional life. But we are not there yet. Especially those of us in STEM have a very, very long road ahead of us. I am lucky that my current working environment supports diversity, but obviously, I don't always stay within my bubble. As a foreign female engineer working in a white-male-dominated field, I have had many unpleasant experiences over the years.
Recently, I was told by a source of authority that I should change my name to be more successful because it was hard to pronounce. We are expected to deal with such daily micro-aggressions, with a smile, looking our best without trying hard. And although there is a rising awareness to be more inclusive, there are still not many female engineers in high-level positions. There are not many female academics in the aerospace engineering departments of top universities. Most panels are still male-dominated. And as many of my other female colleagues do, I try to overcome such challenges by excelling in my field, working harder and putting more effort into everything I do.
SY: You mentioned you work with NASA and other aviation giants such as Boeing and Airbus. How does your work feed into the industry?
I joined the Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL) at Georgia Tech as a Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant eight years ago. ASDL is a very unique lab. It consists of a very large and multidisciplinary group of students and faculty. The close relationship we at ASDL enjoy with the industry allows us to work on real-world problems and make a significant research impact in our field. The findings of our research in academia are being utilized in real-world applications and informing the decision-makers in the government and the industry, which is the most exciting part of my job.
SY: You also have a YouTube channel focusing on STEM and a series called #kadındediğin [a woman, you say]. What made you decide to start both the channel and the series and what is the main purpose?
Back in 2016 when I was a grad student at Georgia Tech, I came up with an idea to combine my passion for acting and engineering. My then-boyfriend and now-husband liked the idea and together we created Biz Siz Onlar [Us, You, Them], our YouTube channel.
We made videos about various engineering fields where we interviewed each other and our friends with STEM degrees. I wanted these videos to help break the gender stereotypes that I experienced back in high school. I wanted to encourage young women to follow their dreams and choose their professions according to their passions, not according to society’s expectations. Shortly after releasing these interview videos, I started to receive messages from high school students from around Turkey. This helped me realize all the challenges some of these young, brilliant girls have to overcome. Their stories about suppression and their admirable resilience against it are the main reasons why I will never stop advocating for equality and social justice. My goal is to show them that they don’t have to fit themselves into someone else’s perception of who they should be, how they should behave, what they should dream and achieve. I think showing the younger generation that it is possible to live your life outside the boxes that their society might try to put them in is a powerful inspiration.
SY: What's next for you?
Many things! The more steps I climb, the higher I’d like to go. I wouldn’t be able to list all the things I’d like to do here even if I wanted to. But my top two goals in the near future are to become a successful academic faculty member and get my private pilot’s license.

author: Sevgi Yagmur Bulut


text:
Myanmar’s anti-coup protesters include DIY shields, women’s sarongs in their defensive arsenal · Global Voices
Global Voices South East Asia

Shields made by anti-coup activists and used on the frontlines of protests. They featured the image of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to discourage security forces from attacking protesters. Photo by author.
This edited article originally appeared on the blog of a Global Voices contributor who doesn't wish to be identified.
The death toll of Myanmar's protesters had already reached more than 217 by Wednesday, March 17 as the military ramped up its violent crackdown on the anti-coup resistance.
The Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, staged a coup on February 1 and replaced the civilian government with a “military council,” having accused elected leaders of the National League for Democracy of committing massive fraud in the November 2020 election.
The military has been conducting nightly raids and arbitrary arrests. Many people have died during these detentions from beatings and torture—acts of terror intended to instil fear. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there were 1,873 confirmed political prisoners as of March 14.
Despite the intensified violence unleashed by security forces in recent weeks, young pro-democracy protesters continued to show no signs of fear or slowing down their peaceful protests across the country. They even came up with different physical and psychological defence strategies to deter the riot police.
In Yangon, people set up protest stations in their own neighbourhoods with makeshift defence barriers, rather than going to a massive gathering point as protesters had done in February. The barriers, made of local resources such as sandbags, large trash bins, concrete blocks, bricks and even large PVC pipes, were meant to slow down the soldiers while protesters retreated to safety.
Yangon – 40th day of protests on March 13
Ongoing protests in Hlaing and Kamayut Townships on March 13.#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/y3y6rp0XyX
— ElevenMyanmar (@ElevenMyanmar) March 13, 2021
Frontline protectors, mainly local youths, are often the first line of defence. This is a dangerous spot since their DIY shields, made of plastic, wood, or iron from recycled barrels, do not protect them from live ammunition. Wearing DIY vests and construction hats, they risk their lives to buy some time for other protesters to escape before the arrival of police and military forces. The riot police are mostly soldiers dressed in police uniforms. Many frontline protesters were violently beaten [Warning: VIOLENT IMAGERY] or tortured [GRAPHIC IMAGERY] during detention.
Tear gas bombs are defused by frontline protesters by using wet blankets and water bags that have been prepared by residents of the neighbourhood. They also use improvised gas masks, goggles, and other protective gear.
Young protesters showing defiance everywhere in Yangon. It’s clear that the fear tactics of the terrorist junta have failed to intimidate the young people, who show relentless determination to resist the military rule.
Photos: Kamayut Media pic.twitter.com/si7lGjVIJ4
— Civil Disobedience Movement (@cvdom2021) March 4, 2021
Protesters have been placing pictures of Min Aung Hlaing on the streets or on the ground in front of defence barriers based on the belief that soldiers stepping on the face of their leader could be accused of showing disrespect. This tactic aims to slow down the soldiers because they would have to remove the pictures first before attacking protesters. Some protesters put pictures of the general on their shields hoping that soldiers would not shoot directly into the face of their leader.
The tactic worked for a few days as soldiers tediously removed images of the general before advancing toward the protesters. As more crackdowns happened, the tactic has become less effective as riot police ignored the images. The footage of a soldier deliberately goose-stepping on the general's face has become viral.
In Myaung Mya and other cities people placed pictures of the general on tombs as a way to demoralize the coup leader.
ထဘီခံတပ် (“Hta-main-khan-tat”), which means “women’s sarong defence line,” draws from the superstition that male soldiers who go under a clothesline used for women’s clothes, particularly women’s sarongs (ထဘီ/hta-main) and underwear, would fall in battle.
The idea comes from the deep-rooted misogyny within Myanmar's military that regards women or women’s bodies as being inferior or impure. Myanmar's military subscribes to the patriarchal superstition that women's sarongs impair the virtue of men (ဘုန်း or “Hpone”), and thus, soldiers will lose protection in battle.
Indeed, soldiers stopped and tried to remove the clotheslines of women’s sarongs on the streets before they moved forward.
In some cities, protesters have gone as far as publicly putting Min Aung Hlaing’s pictures on women’s underwear as well as menstrual pads.
While these moves are welcomed as effective ways to slow down, people were also urged not to promote misogyny. A Twitter user pointed out that while battling against the violent military, protesters must also battle against internalized sexism.
အကြမ်းဖက်သမားတွေရဲ့ အစွန်းရောက် ဖိုဝါဒီကို အသုံးချပြီး ထမီတန်းကို အသုံးပြုတာ မိုက်တယ်။ ဒါပေမယ့် ထမီတန်းက လူတွေကို အကာအကွယ်ပေးပြီး ထမီတန်းဟာ မယုတ်ညံ့ဘူးဆိုတာကိုတော့ ကိုယ့်အချင်းချင်းလည်း နားလည်ဖို့ လိုမယ်။ #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/3Qvk7ALaXk
— Khin ✊? (@malkhin) March 4, 2021
It is awesome that we are using sarong clotheslines to fight back the extreme patriarchy of the terrorist [military council]. But we must also understand among ourselves that sarong clotheslines are there to protect people and they are not there to be inferior.
On March 8, International Women’s Day, Myanmar women protesters marched in front of a rally holding up sarong flags to fight both the military dictatorship and society’s misogyny.
ငါတို့ ထဘီ၊ ငါတို့အလံ၊ ငါတို့ အောင်ပွဲ
Our Sarong, Our Flag, Our Victory
Women SARONG Revolution aganist masculine dictatorship in Myanmar.
Bravo to our sisters at @womenofburma at Phekon, Kayah State. #WomensDay #WomensHistoryMonth #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar pic.twitter.com/oI3nUGJgbe
— Thinzar Shunlei Yi #WhatshappeninginMyanmar (@thinzashunleiyi) March 8, 2021
On social media, young men also posted pictures of themselves wearing women’s sarongs on their heads and holding up three fingers to symbolize their rejection of the idea about ဘုန်း (“Hpone”) or male virtue.
An activist, Aung Myo Min, wrote about the opportunity to fight both the dictatorship and misogyny.
ငယ်ငယ်က အဖွားပြောပြောနေတဲ့ မိန်းမတွေကို အထင်မသေးနဲ့.. ထမီအလံထူပစ်မယ်ဆိုတဲ့ စကား လက်တွေ့ဖြစ်လာပြီ….
ထမိန်ဆိုတာ ယုတ်ညံ့တယ်…
အမျိုးသမီးဆိုတာ ပျော့ညံ့တယ်ဆိုတဲ့အတွေးအခေါ်ဟောင်းတွေကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်နဲ့အတူ ရိုက်ချိုးပစ်တဲ့နေ့…
ဒီနေ့…
အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာအမျိုးသမီးများနေ့
၈-၃-၂၀၂၁
The words that my grandma used to say when I was young now became true. She said “don’t low down on women. We will raise our hta-main (sarong) flag.”
This is the day we break down both the military dictatorship and the beliefs that sarongs are inferior and women are weak.
Today..
International Women Day
08–03–2021
In some cities like Myitkyina, Nyaung Oo and Dawei, protesters picked unusual times such as five or six in the morning to avoid the riot police. Night-time prayers and protests have also been organized across the country. Some cities also tried “guerilla protests” in which protesters evaded crackdowns by showing up on different streets from where riot police were deployed.
Meanwhile, some held protests in rivers where protesters rode on boats, or in farms, while others climbed mountains to protest.
In some cities, a “peopleless protest” was done by leaving placards and other protest materials on the streets. In Mindat, a “completely silent protest” took place where nobody came out on the streets and markets were closed for the whole day.
?AyeYarWaddy Division, Myanmar
Karen youths held no-human strike in Ayeyarwaddy. Protest Smart ?
LOCOMOTIVE XYZ#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Mar14Coup pic.twitter.com/YNh4B1FxR3
— Milk Tea Alliance Burma ?? (@ZtozM) March 14, 2021
In some states, ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) stepped in to protect the protesters. One of the EAOs, the Karen National Union (KNU), has announced that it will protect civilians from the military.
ကယားပြည်နယ်၊ လွိုင်ကော်မြို့မှာ မတ် ၁၃ ရက်နေ့ စစ်အာဏာရှင်ဆန့်ကျင်ဆန္ဒပြတဲ့ ပြည်သူတွေကို ကရင်နီလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံပြည်သူ့လွတ်မြောက်ရေးတပ်ဦး (ကလလတ) က ဝန်းရံပေးနေတာဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ pic.twitter.com/viNFzraLEl
— RFA Burmese (@RFABurmese) March 13, 2021
Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front (KNPL) came and protected the protesters in Loikaw, Kayah state, on March 13.
Despite the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military, protesters have not resorted to retaliation as the majority continued to uphold the non-violent principle of the movement.
However, with the alarming rise of the daily death toll of protesters, some have called for the formation of a preemptive strike force like a civil defence force to fight back against violent oppression. Since March 13, protesters in Yangon and Taunggyi have raised black flags as a sign to retaliate or strike back if violent crackdowns continue.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which was established by ousted elected members of parliament, announced on March 14 that protesters and civilians, in general, have the right to lawfully use other means of defence against the armed terrorists, i.e. the military.


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Armenia’s PM calls for early elections in June in bid to de-escalate crisis · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Screenshot, Prime Minister addressing the crowd of gathered supporters. https://youtu.be/GxaTJ4u9ghE
Armenia's incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on March 18 snap parliamentary elections to be held on June 20 in an attempt to defuse an escalating political crisis.
Breaking the news via Facebook, the prime minister said the decision was agreed with the leader of Prosperous Armenia, the largest opposition party.
The president has faced increasing calls to resign since November when he signed a peace deal ending the six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh, which many Armenians say disproportionally favored Azerbaijan.
The Moscow-brokered deal conceded to Azerbaijan control over one-third of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave as well as seven districts surrounding it. While the area is located in Azerbaijani territory and is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, it had been under the control of ethnic Armenians since 1994.
The agreement also prescribes the presence of Russian peace-keeping forces in the demarcation lines for at least five years.
Many Armenians aren't very satisfied with such a deal, and mass anti-government demonstrations have been taking place in the streets of the capital Yerevan and smaller cities. In his defense, the embattled PM says the deal was the only way to stop hostilities and the adversary from making further advances into the enclave.
In late February, 40 high-ranking members of Armenia's military signed a letter calling for Pashinyan to step down. In response, the PM fired the deputy chief of the military's general staff, Colonel Onik Gasparyan, describing the letter as an “attempted coup”.
And on March 15, Ter-Petrosian, the first president of Armenia from 1991 to 1998, joined calls for the PM's resignation in an article published on ilur.am news website. The former leader said Pashinyan should step down “in the interest of the nation,” while a nonpartisan deputy prime minister takes interim charge to oversee snap parliamentary elections.
Talks of early elections have been floated around since December. While Armenia's ruling party My Step Alliance initially dismissed the possibility, last week current president Armen Sarkissian and Pashinyan hinted at it.
According to early reports, Pashinyan intends to run in the newly-announced June elections. Previously, the opposition insisted that any early vote should only take place after Pashinyan had stepped down and the current parliament had been dissolved.
Earlier this month, at a rally in his support, Pashinyan said, “let's go to elections to see who the people are calling to resign. Only the people can decide who will stay in power.”

author: RuNet Echo


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Jordanians protest a year under a defense law with no gains, as COVID-19 cases spiral · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Hundreds of protestors from cities across Jordan have taken to the streets since Saturday, March 13 demanding accountability over the health sector’s negligence, the repeal of the draconian Defense Law, and a change of government.
The Jordanian government's easing of a strict curfew last year led to the rapid spread of COVID-19, yet economic hardships continued. This graffiti, captured on a wall in Amman, reads: “Feed me [reads as “Vaccinate me”]. I’m hungry.” Image by Flycatchr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Anger at the government had been brewing for months because of conflicting policies and political confusion. What prompted the protests, however, were the deaths of nine people, including COVID-19 patients, because of oxygen-supply failures at a public hospital.
The protesters were met with teargas, followed by mass detentions.
Local journalist Nidal Salama shared this clip of the clampdown:
تفريق المحتجين في العقبة بالغاز pic.twitter.com/R1V98LopzK
— الصحفي نضال سلامه (@nidal_news) March 13, 2021
[Police] dispersing protestors with teargas in the city of Aqaba
During the protests, as participants broadcast the events live on various social media channels, users across the country experienced slow internet connectivity and outages of specific features, including Facebook live streaming. Network throttling has become common practice with every instance of social unrest. Most local media outlets also failed to cover the uprisings as they were happening, resulting in a media blackout.
الشعب يريد اسقاط الدفاع
#يسقط_قانون_الدفاع pic.twitter.com/p7ce8XjF7v
— Abood_road (@AboodRoad) March 14, 2021
People demand the repeal of the defense [law] #Repeal_the_Defense_Law
The protests coincided with the first anniversary of the enactment of Jordan’s infamous Defense Law, which gave the government broad powers to issue orders under the pretext of helping contain the spread of the virus. But the law has proven to be futile: Between mid-March and the end of September, Jordan recorded a cumulative total of 61 deaths and 11,825 cases from COVID-19. On March 17, exactly a year after Jordan enacted the Defense Law, the kingdom recorded 56 deaths and 9,535 cases in just one day.
The country that was once praised for its handling of the pandemic is today reaching maximum capacity in its public and private hospitals, another reason protesters have been rallying across the kingdom.
The ineffectiveness of the Defense Law was one thing that stoked the public’s anger. With the country’s economy badly hit by the pandemic, and unemployment rates nearing 25 per cent, the selective application of the crippling law has been a liability.
In early October, the parliament came to the end of its four-year term, leading to its dissolution, followed by the routine resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet, as stipulated by the constitution. A new prime minister,  the King’s former aide, Bisher Al-Khasawneh, was appointed and he announced the following day that the country would go under a four-day total lockdown. Many questioned the government’s insistence to proceed with the elections despite rising COVID-19 cases.
In mid-November, a new parliament was sworn in, shadowed by the pandemic. As voting drew to a close, the four-day lockdown began. However, as results came out, election winners breached the lockdown and gathered in the streets en masse to celebrate with songs, dance, and gunfire. This sparked public outrage, leading the prime minister to order the newly elected minister of the interior to resign, and security personnel to quickly disband the mass gatherings.
Twitter user Salma Nims:
سؤال: بما انه فيديوهات الاحتفالات تدفق علينا من كل حد وصوب، ممكن لو سمحتوا اسمحولنا نمشي بالحارة مع اولادنا!؟
— Salma Nims سلمى النمس (@Salmanims) November 11, 2020
Question: now that we’re receiving videos of the [post-election] celebrations from everywhere, would you please let us walk around the neighbourhood with our children?!
Another Twitter user mocked PM Al-Khasawneh's apologetic response to criticism:
https://t.co/DnNQkCyeIO pic.twitter.com/jHnXGJz2bv
— Bob L'eponge *fungi on hiatus* (@Fungidelic) November 12, 2020
We apologise to the citizen that abided by the law [and didn’t breach the lockdown]
With COVID-19 being declared in June 2020 by the previous health minister as having “shriveled up and died,” the new government kept weakening lockdowns throughout January and February. Cases were rising but the government continued easing restrictions, opening up sectors such as schools and gyms, and removing the Friday lockdown. In mid to late February, as cases were rapidly rising, the government made an overdue announcement assuring nightly curfews, and the Friday lockdowns were reinstated.
The new cabinet was hit by another failure soon after. On February 28, 2021, Minister of Justice Bassam Talhouni and Minister of Interior Samir Mubaideen were made to resign following a scandal: The two ministers had attended a dinner party with more than six people sitting at a table, effectively breaching the health and safety orders put in place to limit the virus’ outbreaks.
Soon after, the King appointed Tawfiq Kreishan and Ahmad Ziadat as acting ministers of the interior and justice, respectively. Mubaideen had been appointed only in late November, after Tawfiq Halalmeh was made to step down for failing to properly enforce a post-election lockdown.
On March 7, another government shake-up took place to accelerate IMF-guided reforms. Prime Minister Khasawneh reshuffled his cabinet and appointed new ministers, among them a new interior minister, Mazen Faraya. Before being appointed as Minister of Interior, Faraya was the Vice-President of the National Center For Security and Crisis Management which is among the government units managing the pandemic. It remains uncertain whether Faraya still holds the position of vice-president.
In mocking the rapid turnover and recycling of governments and cabinet members, Jordanian Twitter users retweeted this comment, which dates back to 2012, but which they see as valid today:
So three Jordanians walk into a bar. The king removes the Prime Minister & dissolves the parliament. That's how all stories finish in Jordan
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) October 5, 2012
The newly-formed cabinet of ministers quickly announced stricter curfews to contain the rapid spread of the virus and the worrying increase of hospital staff and ICU bed occupancy, effective from March 13.
مرة اخرى تفاجئنا الحكومة بقرارات آخر لحظة.
الاختلاط والتدافع الذي سنشهده في اليومين القادمين يعنيان المزيد من الإصابات والأسبوع القادم سنحتاج المزيد من التضييق على المواطن بسبب هذا التزايد.
ندفع ثمن التخبط بشكل متكرر.
— Hadeel A. Aziz هديل (@hadilaziz) March 10, 2021
Once again, the government surprised us with its last-minute decisions. This will result in an increase of contact between people and the stampedes that we will witness in the next two days will mean more COVID cases. And next week further restrictions will be imposed on the citizen to contain this mass spread. We pay the price of this floundering all too frequently.
Early Saturday, March 13, news broke out that people had lost their lives as a result of a two-hour-long oxygen outage in the wards of the public hospital in the city of Al-Salt, West of the capital Amman. Among those who died were COVID-19 patients.
Earlier this morning, news came in that my dear aunt passed away from #COVID19. Shortly after, news of a governmental fiasco in Jordan broke. She was one of several patients who passed away due to oxygen shortage at the Salt General Hospital.https://t.co/DYGcNiMgJl
— Sandra Hiari ساندرا (@sandra_hiari) March 13, 2021
Nationwide uproar ensued, triggering a maddening chain of events. First, the King fired the health minister, Nathir Obeidat, and appointed Faraya, the minister of the interior and vice president of the National Center For Security and Crisis Management, as acting Minister of Health. An investigation is currently undergoing to determine the causes behind the failure to adequately supply oxygen to the hospital on time.
A Jordanian Twitter user posted sarcastically on PM Faraya's reaction to the government's chaotic handling of the pandemic and deaths:
https://t.co/pjoqhjgiKM pic.twitter.com/cFo97Fw5rW
— Abuhawash (@Abuhawash10) March 14, 2021
Faraya: We’re appointing an administrator in all hospitals whose job is to solve problems
Following a year of lockdowns and curfews with little to no socioeconomic relief offered to citizens, the country is not in a good position for longer-term recovery from the pandemic. With stricter measures on the horizon, public fury on the rise and Ramadan approaching, there’s great uncertainty as to what’s going to happen.
According to journalist Basil Alrafaih:
ستذهبُ السلطةُ إلى مزيدٍ من القسوة، تعبيراً عن تفاقم أزمتها، وإفلاسها، وعجزها عن اجتراح الحلول. لن تواجه المعضلة، ستحرصُ على إنكارها، والتصدي لمظاهرها.
— باسل رفايعة Basil Alrafaih (@basilrafayeh) March 16, 2021
The authority will resort to more brutality, as an expression of the aggravation of its crisis, its inefficiency, and its inability to find solutions. It will not face the dilemma, it will be careful to deny it and confront its manifestations.

author: Global Voices MENA


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Kenya police turn to Twitter PR as the arrest of a blogger goes against public opinion · Global Voices
Njeri Wangari

Kenya Police. Image by DEMOSH/Global Panorama on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0 ).
Kenya police have taken to Twitter in an effort to gain the population's trust but their handling of the arrest of a high-profile blogger has instead brought on the fury of public opinion.
On March 4, the official Twitter account of The Directorate of Criminal Investigations—Kenya @DCI_Kenya published a thread confirming the arrest of blogger Edgar Obare, for allegedly seeking to defraud and extort 10,000 U.S. dollars from a Kenyan politician.
In a Twitter thread that contained a series of salacious posts, including photos of the blogger and his alleged accomplice, the DCI accused Obare of outright blackmail. The posts alleged that he was a serial fraudster:
In a case of outright blackmail by fraudsters who intend to benefit financially from prominent personalities, by tainting their images online & demanding money not to post ‘scandalous’ information about them, detectives have once again arrested serial fraudster, Edgar Obare. pic.twitter.com/9jiJQXQpdn
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) March 4, 2021
His actions were deemed by the DCI, via the same Twitter thread, to be in violation of Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018, which states that;
A person who knowingly publishes information that is false in print, broadcast, data or over a computer system, that is calculated or results in panic, chaos, or violence among citizens of the Republic, or which is likely to discredit the reputation of a person commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or to both.
If charged and convicted, Obare could face up to 10 years in prison.
This current arrest is not Obare’s first brush with Kenyan authorities, however. In July 2020, he was arrested and questioned for his titillating exposés of scandals involving well-known Kenyan personalities shared via his Instagram Stories.
Since Section 23's assent into law in May 2018, many bloggers have been arrested and charged under the Act for alleged hate speech, spreading false information about the COVID-19 pandemic, or criticizing the government online.
According to Bowmanslaw.com, the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) filed a petition in the High Court challenging the constitutionality of 26 sections of the Act, including Section 23, prior to the commencement of the Act. BAKE argued that the Act infringed on freedom of expression and the right to privacy. In February 2020, the petition was dismissed and the suspension on the contested sections lifted.
The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) case challenging the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018 has been dismissed after High Court Judge James Makau declared that the law is valid in its entirety. https://t.co/qhTvv9wfkJ#CybercrimesLawke
— BAKE Kenya ?? (@BakeKenya) February 20, 2020
Although BAKE has since appealed the ruling, the effect is already being felt. Bloggers and internet users have faced increasing intimidation and violence for their online activities in recent years.
As the country heads to a presidential election next year, there have been similar cases of Kenyan bloggers and social media users being arrested under the Act for spreading false information about politicians. With over a year to go until August 2022 when Kenya goes to the polls, there are already increased concerns over the spread of misinformation on social media which analysts say could undermine democracy.
Kenyans on Twitter expressed their anger following the publication of the thread and accused the DCI of intimidation and framing Obare. One user thought Obare could sue the DCI:
I remember on the insta story edgar obare assured alfred he will volunteer to be a witness now imegeuka ni the suspect??? Like how??? @DCI_Kenya edgar can sue you for calling him serial fraudster without evidence #freeedgarobare
Translation
I remember on the insta story edgar obare assured alfred he will volunteer to be a witness now suddenly he has become a suspect??? Like how??? @DCI_Kenya edgar can sue you for calling him serial fraudster without evidence #freeedgarobare
— Eivans Mwangi (@Ghentohgraph_RG) March 4, 2021
Another wondered about others wrongly detained:
Edgar Obare situation shows how they can frame you to fit a crime .Imagine how many innocent people are behind bars because of some privileged person taking advantage of their power .#FreeEdgarObare
— Becky Moraa (@BeckyMoraa_) March 5, 2021
Yet another person called into question the Directorate’s priorities in the face of other high impact unsolved crime cases:
So the DCI has the energy and resources of arresting Edgar Obare our “tea master” over nonsense but when he reported the underage sex rings they did nothing, Absolutely nothing!#freeedgarobare
— Nyambura wa Githegi (@conniegithegi) March 5, 2021
A recent feature by the Washington Post revealed that the Kenya police see Twitter as their main PR tool in a bid to change the public’s perception about the work that they do:
“To become known as crime fighters, not killers”
Speaking to the Post, the director, George Kinoti explained why:
“For a very long time in Kenya, police have been thought of as killers. See a policeman? You run. Nothing good could come of it,” he said. “If we want the public’s confidence, we have to show them we are not all like that—we do work for them.”
Violence is the hallmark of Kenya policing. In April 2020, Human Rights Watch released a report on police brutality during dusk-to-dawn curfews imposed in March 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19. According to the report, within the first 10 days of the curfew, six people died from police violence. Eleven months into the curfew, 20 people had been killed.
Kenya Police has a long history of using excessive force, often resulting in unnecessary deaths. According to Moina Spooner of The Conversation, various factors including its beginnings under British colonial rule, poor recruitment policies, corruption and poor accountability, have greatly contributed to this. Kenyans no longer think of the police as a service.
Somehow, the DCI believes that PR, and specifically “live-tweeting,” will change Kenyans’ perception without bringing about the much needed reforms within the force.
Since September 2020, the official Twitter account for The Directorate of Criminal Investigations-Kenya @DCI_Kenya has been sharing appalling stories of arrests on its profile in a bid to demonstrate to Kenyans that they are indeed crime solvers and not just killers who use excessive force.
A screenshot of the hashtag #FreeEdgarObare among the trending topics on Twitter in Kenya (Screenshot captured on March 5)
According to the Washington Post article, the DCI hopes that its increased engagement on Twitter will help it fight crime.
The DCI’s PR efforts might just turn them into victims of their own success, however.
Following Obare’s arrest on March 4, Kenyans on Twitter started using the hashtag #FreeEdgarObare to call for his release. As of 10:00 hours GMT+3 on the same day,  the hashtag was among the top trending hashtags in Kenya.
As one user noted,
The president said on live radio that every day two billion is stolen from the government, you haven't arrested those one, you are after Edgar obare, a digital gossiper,.. Wrong priorities menh!!!
— Foreverivy (@Foreverivy3) March 4, 2021
Update: Edgar Obare was released on bail on March 6 and has claimed that the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is being used by powerful people to unfairly target him.

author: Njeri Wangari