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Nagorno-Karabakh: An old conflict in a new geopolitical context, says South Caucasus expert Tom de Waal · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Screenshot from a  BBC video explaining the geography of the conflict
For over three decades, the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has been mostly dormant, with long periods of stalemate punctuated by flare-ups of armed confrontation, leading to death on both sides. The most recent outbreak of violence began on September 27. This time, both combatants and analysts are predicting that the conflict will escalate, with unknown and potentially dangerous consequences.
To understand why, I spoke with Tom de Waal, a Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe and expert the geopolitics of the South Caucasus, Russia and Ukraine. De Waal has traveled extensively in the region, and wrote an authoritative book on Nagorno-Karabakh, “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War”.
We have seen violations of the 1994 ceasefire before, we’ve even seen small bouts of fighting, but we haven’t seen a sustained military offensive by Azerbaijan since the war ended in the 1990s. This is new, and so is the geopolitical context: Russia looks strangely impotent and seems unable or unwilling to impose a cease fire, while Turkey has dropped any pretense of neutrality and is now playing an active role. Finally, the US, which has had a strong role in this has been an extremely weak voice so far.
FN Both leaders are said to be both prisoners to the conflict, but also exploiting its narrative to fight opposition at home and ride a wave of populism. Would you agree?
This is correct, but this is true of any leader: the whole nation is involved in this conflict, those two modern nations [following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991] were built starting in the 1990s around the claims on Karabakh, so a leader is bound to be a leader of this national idea around Karabakh as well. It is also useful in terms of domestic politics. This is more true on the Azerbaijani side, because it is an authoritarian society, so now the opposition has to go quiet. Indeed the opposition figures are supporting the army and being very patriotic and supportive. Azerbaijan had a lot of problems this year: falling oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic, problems with political prisoners, yet now it unites behind this call. But this is also very tricky: if there is no success on the battle front, the nation can turn against its leader, and indeed two previous Azerbaijani leaders, Ayaz Mutalibov and Abdulfaz Elchibey lost power in large part because of failure on the Karabakh front.
FN During this escalation, Armenian authorities restated that they could recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. If this were to happen, what could be the consequences?
In military terms, we are far from being in a full scale war. Most operations are concentrated in three regions around Karabakh, using long-range weaponry. To retake the territory lost is literally an uphill battle because Armenians control the mountainous terrain. This could mean heavy losses on the Azerbaijani side, which is not something the Azerbaijani leadership would want, nor their society tolerate. That is a restraining factor, but this [fight] could go on for a long time. Russia doesn't seem to be able impose a ceasefire, thus there are many ways this could escalate. One is Armenia recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh. Then we would have more of a Cyprus situation, with no possibility to agree. Another one could be the use of heavy weapons to attack cities, which would be disastrous. Or if Turkey were to increase its involvement: for now it is not sending troops, it is helping at the edges. In the least bad scenario, the current fighting would continue for a few days, then both sides would be exhausted, claim some success, and agree to a ceasefire. But I am not holding my breath for that.
FN Turkey’s support is unprecedented. What do you make of the Turkey-Russia relationship, which has been swinging from sworn enemies to allies in the past few years on several regional issues, including the Syria conflict?
Erdoğan and Putin are happy to have a fight using proxies, which is why I hope Turkey will avoid any incursion which would cross into Armenian territory, which Russia would have to respond to under its military obligation with Armenia. So I don’t think they will come under direct conflict. Russia’s hands are really tied. They are the main mediator, they value their relation with Baku and Yerevan, so if they get too involved on one side, they would lose the other side. Russian can only provide support discreetly to Armenia, and there are reports of Moscow sending weapons via Iran.
FN What about the roles of Georgia and Iran, two other neighboring countries?
Georgia has a strong interest in this situation not escalating. It shares borders with both countries. It also has ethnic minorities of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis who have lived in peace for decades. But Georgia is very dependent on Azerbaijan economically. It has also expressed solidarity with Azerbaijan on the concept of territorial integrity [Georgia itself has parts of its territory that have declared self-proclaimed independence and are no longer under Georgian control: Abkhazia and South Ossetia]. Georgia has offered to be a mediator, but it would not be regarded as an honest broker by Armenia. And Russia certainly wouldn’t want Tbilisi to be involved [Russia and Georgia fought a war in 2008]. Georgia could provide a neutral space for both sides to meet, and should be more involved but there are limits to their capacities.
Iran was a mediator in 1992, but then was shut out. But it has borders with both states as well. It has enormous stakes and any future negotiations in an international format must include Iran, despite US opposition.


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Artists from around the world bid farewell to the creator of Mafalda · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

Quino visits an exhibition for the 50-year anniversary of Mafalda in September 2014. Photo by Argentina's Ministry of Culture/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
On September 30, 88-year-old award winning Argentine cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón passed away. He is better known as Quino, the creator of the famous comic strip character Mafalda—the revolutionary, feminist, environmentalist and humanist girl who conquered the hearts of several generations.
Quino's death occurs one day after the 56th anniversary of Mafalda's first publication. The news immediately reached all corners of the world and inspired heartfelt tributes from countless media outlets, artists and public figures.
The Mafalda strip became one of the best known Spanish-language cartoons and was translated into more than 30 languages, including the native language Guaraní. Its messages on politics, society, the environment and feminism are universal, and still relevant in present times.
A classic strip of Mafalda with its keen political humor. Photo by “¡¡¡!!!”/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)  In the comic strip: “DEMOCRACY (from Greek demos, people, and kratos, authority). Government whereby the people exert sovereignty.”
Like much of Quino's work, Mafalda was highly controversial for her time. With her subtle humor, she managed to outwit the censorship of the Argentine dictatorship, although she was banned by the dictator Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
In addition to print media (cartoons, magazines and books), Mafalda and her friends starred in their own television series. In just nine years (between 1964 and 1973), she conquered the entire world and became a “universal symbol of rebellion and faith in a better world”.
Following the news of Quino's death, social media was flooded with his comics and tributes from other graphic artists from Argentina and the world.
This message is from Liniers, an Argentine cartoonist currently living in the United States:
??? pic.twitter.com/9wImYi6vPR
— Liniers (@porliniers) September 30, 2020
Luly, another illustrator from Buenos Aires, also expresses her gratitude and condolences:
A post shared by Luly Ruiz (@lulydibuja) on
Children's cartoon illustrator Nik emphasizes that Mafalda is now an “orphan”:
Se fue el más grande de todos. ? pic.twitter.com/T26JhtlLW4
— Nik (@Nikgaturro) September 30, 2020
He was the greatest of all.
The artist Horacio Altuna from Cordoba also expressed his grief:
pic.twitter.com/UPUlMFP7o5
— Horacio Altuna (@HoracioAltuna) September 30, 2020
The well-known graphic humorist Tute (the son of famous cartoonist Caloi) says his farewell to Quino with a drawing for him:
Hoy se nos fue Quino, a quien tanto quería. Maestro de maestros, inolvidable. Gracias por tanto, Quinito ♥
(Ahora estoy haciendo un dibujo para despedirlo). pic.twitter.com/4B351C4thE
— Tute (@Tutehumor) September 30, 2020
Today, Quino, whom I loved so much, left us. A master of masters, unforgettable. Thank you so much, Quinito ♥
(I'm making a drawing to say farewell to him).
Artists from around the world also paid their respects to Quino. The Greek cartoonist Panos Zacharis created this illustration:
A post shared by Panos Zacharis (@panos.zacharis) on
Colombian artist Nani, who had the opportunity to meet Quino personally, expresses her farewells with regret:
Tuve el honor de conocer a Quino, era un ser excepcional, sencillo, cercano, cariñoso. Por eso la grandeza de su trabajo, Magola está inspirada en Mafalda, siempre fue mi maestro, reconozco que no le llego ni a los tobillos, ahora las dos, las tres lloramos su ausencia pic.twitter.com/81JjIY6RJP
— tira cómica Magola (@naniopina) September 30, 2020
I had the honor of meeting Quino, he was an exceptional, straightforward, approachable and affectionate human being. That is why his great work (Magola is inspired by Mafalda) was always my teacher, but I admit that I am not at his level; now, the two of us, the three of us, mourn his absence.
From Brazil, Carlos Ruas said:
Quino vai fazer falta para o mundo. Agora, ele está no panteão dos deuses dos quadrinhos, e seu legado é simplesmente inegualável. Se eu sou crítico em meu trabalho hoje, é porque ele me ensinou isso em seus livros. pic.twitter.com/RtBffCquvf
— Carlos Ruas (@sabadoqualquer) September 30, 2020
The world will miss Quino. Now he's in the pantheon of the comic strip gods, and his legacy is simply unmatched. If I am so critical of my work today, it is because I learned from him.
The Chilean cartoonist Nagú showed her appreciation for Quino's legacy:
Gracias por tanto Quino. pic.twitter.com/4pI79VJCDg
— Nagú (@nagu_cl) September 30, 2020
Thank you so much, Quino.
Frenchman Fred Sochard praises the rebellion of the little girl Mafalda, while also referring to a recent debate about the dress of high school students:
En guise d'hommage à Quino… avec Mafalda, une jeune fille qui n'a pas sa langue dans sa poche ! pic.twitter.com/rNYHQowuCh
— Fred Sochard (@FredSochard) September 30, 2020
Honoring Quino … with a drawing of Mafalda, a young woman who does not remain silent.
In the image: “We, girls, dress how we want.”
The Venezuelan cartoonist EDO Ilustrado shares the impact Mafalda had on generations of children:
Chau Quino. Mafalda y todos los niños vivimos en un mundo mejor, gracias a ti. #Quino #joaquinsalvadorlavado #mafalda pic.twitter.com/1dHG84D3VQ
— EDO (@edoilustrado) September 30, 2020
Good bye, Quino. Mafalda and all the children live in a better world thanks to you.
And Honduran illustrator Allan McDonald conveys his pain in the image of Mafalda:
pic.twitter.com/lhcYpk2C1Z
— mcaricatura@gmail.com (@ALLANMCDONALD) September 30, 2020
Do not go! I promise to eat the soup.
This is the tribute by Italian cartoonist Mauro Biani:
Per #Quino pic.twitter.com/zLIpwc5aku
— Mauro Biani (@maurobiani) September 30, 2020
En la imagen: “Dice el mundo que ya te extraña. Vuelve”.
In the image: “The world says it already misses you. Come back!”.
There is no doubt that Quino's legacy and his teachings will live on forever in people's hearts, and his work will continue to delight generations to come.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Romina Navarro


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In Sudan, women and minorities targeted by online harassment lack legal protections · Global Voices
Mohamed Suliman

Alaa Salah has become a symbol for the role of women in the uprising against Sudan’s autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted by the military. Footage of her singing traditional songs at protests in Khartoum went viral on social media, where women and minorities in Sudan often face intense online harassment. Screenshot via VOA/YouTube, April 16, 2019.
Over the last few years, the internet in Sudan has played an increasingly important role in politics and society. During the Sudanese revolution in 2019, protesters and activists turned to social media to communicate, organize and document violations.
Their efforts eventually toppled Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.
Despite these achievements, online harassment continues to be a major problem in Sudan, where internet penetration is estimated at 31 percent. The harassment  — including doxing, cyberbullying, stalking, and hate speech — particularly impacts women and minorities.
Various campaigns have tried to address these violations, but harassment online requires more attention and reform —  including the enactment of strong legislation.
In July, a Sudanese Facebook page reshared photos of Weam Shagi, a known Sudanese women's rights activist, that showed her experiencing torture during the dispersal of a sit-in by security forces in the capital, Khartoum. Shagi had earlier shared these photos on her own Facebook page. A number of commenters used body-shaming language to attack her.
This is just one of many examples of online harassment in Sudan.
Mocking people based on their geographical region is also common. In August, a known Facebook page with 170,145 followers called “Sudanese Screenshot” shared a post that mocked girls from Omdurman, commenting that the girls should be used as a tool to stop the deadly Nile floods currently sweeping through Khartoum and Bahri. The comments insinuate that these girls are less valued and less beautiful, based on their region of origin. When the post was reported, Facebook responded that the post did not violate its community standards.
Facebook found that a post whose author mocked girls from Omdurman, saying that they should be used to stop the Nile floods, did not violate its community standards. Screenshot taken by the author, September 23.
Online harassment is not exclusively practiced by individuals. The military has also previously engaged in malicious online behavior. In June, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, “army personnel threatened a young woman protester who appeared on a widely circulated social media clip chanting against the military. She and her family received several calls from men who identified themselves as military officers threatening a lawsuit against her for ‘use of curses against the army.’”
In some cases, online harassment has been used as a tool to intimidate political activists by the former regime.
According to the 2018 Freedom on the Net Sudan Country Report, “over 15 female activists were doxxed on the fake Facebook page “Sudanese Women against the Hijab,” where their private pictures were posted without their consent alongside fabricated quotes about being against the veil and religion.” The page was later removed by Facebook after many reported it as a violation of the platform’s community standards.
In the past few years, Sudanese women employed a number of tactics to protect themselves against continuous online harassment. For example, a group of women created a Facebook group called “Inboxat,” a tweak of the English word “inbox,” to expose their harassers by sharing the messages they sent.
Despite the group’s relative success, some criticized them for sharing their harassers’ screenshots of abusive content because it possibly violated their privacy.
Hashtags have also been used to call out online harassment. For example, the “expose a harasser’’ hashtag is still actively used by Sudanese women to share their personal stories. The hashtag morphed into a tool for online discussions about the nature of harassment and the pros and cons of exposing it, though some argue this might also invade privacy and could lead to defamation.
Online harassment can lead to major psychological consequences such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, yet it remains an under-investigated topic. According to published research by Amnesty International in 2018, women polled in eight countries reported feeling physically unsafe and experiencing anxiety and panic attacks because of online harassment.
Online newspapers also engage in online harassment. In December 2016, Sudafax, an online Sudanese newspaper, published a series of articles about Ethiopian immigrants living in a Khartoum neighborhood, in which they cited complaints by residents that were riddled with abusive, racist language.
The articles featured hateful headlines such as “The colony of Ethiopians,” and “Sudanese Addis,” stoking anti-immigrant sentiments toward Ethiopians in Sudan.
Many readers in the comments section criticized the newspaper for publishing such hateful speech online, but until now, the newspaper has not taken any action to address these concerns and Sudafax does not have an official content policy.
An analysis of 25 Sudanese news websites, online forums, and magazines shows that only a few publish content policies regarding harassment and hate speech. Sudaneseonline, a well-known online platform, shares its content policy that promises to remove spam or abusive language but fails to address harassment. Many other platforms do not share policies related to content moderation at all, even though some share rules related to users’ privacy protection.
Sudan currently does very little to protect women and other at-risk groups and communities from harassment, threatening to diminish their ability to exercise their fundamental rights online, along with their well-being and mental health.
In December 2016, the Sudanese government published a national strategic framework to protect children and youth online. The strategy included a 2018-2020 work plan and explicitly addressed harassment targeting children, legal shortcomings — and the need for awareness-raising.
The Sudanese legal system itself does not directly use the term “harassment,” but other vague terms that fall under the category appear in various legal documents.
For example, the 2007 Cybercrime Act prohibits behavior such as “intimidation,” “incitement” and “blackmailing.” The Act also prohibits sending material that violates the “sanctity of private life.”
By contrast, the 2018 IT Crimes Law prohibits the use of “any communications or information means, to incite hatred against foreigners, causing discrimination and hostility.” However, the final draft of this law has not been shared with the public and it was passed by the deposed regime.
In June 2018, the Sudanese parliament passed an amendment to the 2009 Press and Journalism Law that added online journalism to its content. Article 26 of the law prohibits journalists from disseminating racist content online.
To address — and stop — online harassment, lawmakers must reform current legislation to include clear definitions of all types of harassment such as doxing, cyberstalking, discriminatory speech and threats of violence.
Legal reforms should also be enacted in accordance with international human rights standards and should not be used by the government as an excuse to undermine the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
This process should also involve vulnerable groups such as women and minorities who are often left out of this discourse, yet are the most affected. Previous cases should serve as examples to understand the complexity and evolving nature of this problem.

author: Mohamed Suliman


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WhatsApp is the new tool for Venezuelan feminists during the pandemic · Global Voices
Gabriela Mesones Rojo

Woman uses cellphone during a blackout in Caracas. Photo by Cristian Hernández. Used with permission.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, feminist collectives in Venezuela and international NGOs have warned about the rise of domestic violence during the strict quarantine measures implemented in most Venezuelan cities. International children's rights organization Save The Children, reported a 33 percent increase in demand for support for gender-based physical, sexual, and emotional violence in Venezuela since the beginning of the pandemic in March. In the first eight months of 2020, 172 women have been murdered in Venezuela — one femicide every 43 hours.
In order to compensate for the perceived lack of government assistance, civil society organizations and feminist groups have turned to WhatsApp as a tool to support women facing violence during the pandemic. Global Voices interviewed the leaders of four projects that aim to help women who face violence during the pandemic through WhatsApp.
Before the pandemic, members of the Caracas-based feminist group Uquira would often take to the streets to denounce government negligence, the culture of gender violence, and machismo in Venezuela. After the pandemic, Uquira has been forced to rethink their work dynamic. They have turned to organizing interactive conferences on WhatsApp, called foro chats. Uquira member Melanie Arguinzones told Global Voices:
WhatsApp es una herramienta genial para el contexto venezolano. Hay muchas mujeres que no tienen computadora o una conexión estable de internet, así que les cuesta entrar a una reunión de zoom, por ejemplo. Para muchas esta puede ser la única y la forma más económica de compartir información, experiencias y pedir ayuda. […] Los foro chats se convirtieron en una buena herramienta para invitar a expertos a que compartan información de temas relacionados a género. Esta nueva dinámica es mucho más inclusiva, porque nos permite acercarnos a mujeres que están fuera de Caracas.
WhatsApp is a great tool in the Venezuelan context. Most women don’t have a computer or a stable internet connection to attend Zoom meetings. For many this can be the only way, and cheapest way, to share information, share experiences, and ask for help. […] Foro chats became a great way to invite experts to share their knowledge on a subject related to gender. This new dynamic is also more inclusive, because it allowed us to reach women outside of Caracas.
Since the pandemic started, Uquira has organized four public foro chats about the fundamentals of feminism, feminist self-care, and debunking conspiracy theories about LGBTQ communities. The last forochat, about sexual politics, was a private course for members of Uquira.
In these forums, participants register in a Google doc and then receive links to enter a WhatsApp group. On the day of the talk, moderators greet participants, share group rules, and introduce the invited guests. Then, the guests discuss the topic through photos, texts, and audio messages while the rest of the participants are blocked from sending messages. At the end, the moderators open up for a round of questions for about 40 minutes.
Experience has taught Uquira to take security measures, like mandatory registration and keeping the group closed before the questions round. “At first we got some trolls who got inside the groups to insult us and send obscene pictures. Still, it’s a necessary space for us. We want to use as many communication channels as we can because we want our message out there,” Arguinzones said.
When Ketsy Medina’s mother was murdered in 2018, she knew she had a long path ahead of her to find justice. Indeed, the legal process to find her mother’s killer has been slow and challenging. Soon, she realized it wasn’t worth fighting Venezuela’s legal system alone. She created a WhatsApp support group called “#JusticiaParaTodas” (Justice for all) for women going through the same ordeal as her. By phone call, Medina said:
Creamos este grupode apoyo  para que las familias de las víctimas pudieran construir un espacio para compartir información, actualizaciones de los casos y  buscar apoyo. Presionamos a las instituciones a través de las redes sociales con la información que recopilamos; pero el grupo ofrece algo fundamental para curar una herida tan grande como el feminicidio de un ser querido: compañerismo, comprensión y apoyo.
We started this group so families of victims could build a space to share information, updates and support. We pressure institutions through social media with the information we gather; but the group offers something that’s fundamental to heal a wound as big as a femicide of a loved one: companionship, understanding, and support.
Ketsy explained that the group’s name is the same hashtag they use on social media to denounce gender violence and state negligence:
En Venezuela es común ver denuncias de feminicidio en Twitter. Usan el nombre de la víctima: #JusticiaParaGreicy, #JusticiaParaAngela, #JusticiaParaKarla. Nosotras usamos la etiqueta #JusticiaParaTodas, porque juntas somos más fuertes ”.
In Venezuela, on Twitter it’s common to see femicide complaints. They use the victim’s name: #JusticiaParaGreicy, #JusticiaParaAngela, #JusticiaParaKarla. We use the #JusticiaParaTodas, because together we are stronger.
In 2019, Daniella Inojosa, founding member of feminist collective Tinta Violeta saw the need for a women's helpline. She explained via WhatsApp:
Cuando comenzó la pandemia, empezamos a pensar: ¿Qué tipo de apoyo tienen las mujeres si son víctimas de violencia? ¿De dónde obtienen ayuda, atención y un espacio para denunciarlo? Lamentablemente, en Venezuela no hay.
When faced with the pandemic, we started thinking: What sort of support do women have if they are victims of violence? Where do they get help, attention, and a space to denounce it? Sadly, in Venezuela there are none.
So, Tinta Violeta made the phone numbers of some of its members public and created a helpline on WhatsApp. Volunteers work from 6am to 10 pm support, listen, and advise women living with their abusers during the lockdown.
“We started to invest time in our support project in 2019 because we wanted to understand how to support women in alternative ways during a situation of violence,” she said. Inojosa also explained that a big percentage of the women that have called or written them have already denounced aggressions by their partners to the pertinent legal institutions. “They are abandoned by the system,” she continued.
Inojosa describes the experience as a big responsibility resting on the team’s shoulders. “We have to deal, at a distance, with pretty violent and distressing situations,” Inojosa said. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Tinta Violeta has supported 215 women, and 500 people in total. “We also support direct or indirect victims of violence, which is usually the case of children”.
It was no surprise for soup kitchen Alimenta la Solidaridad to learn that their cooks are also fundamental pillars of their communities. “They are trusted women, in contact with many families from the communities through the comedores comunitarios [‘community dining rooms’],” Mariana Luengo told Global Voices through a phone call. She is a volunteer psychologist for what became chat forums on gender violence organized by Alimenta la Solidaridad. The goal was to support the cooks in helping victims of abuse. “[The cooks] were also eager to learn how to help and advise women and children who confessed violence at home,” Luengo continued.
Alimenta la Solidaridad invited psychologists and lawyers from the Catholic Andrés Bello University to chat with the cooks on how to best assist the community. Luengo continued:
La experiencia fue particularmente enriquecedora por las preguntas que las cocineras traían a la mesa: cada uno tuvo un enfoque muy particular después de haber escuchado a los vecinas hablar sobre sus experiencias de violencia y haber vivido situaciones de abuso en un momento u otro de su vida. Las mujeres estaban particularmente enfocadas en la idea de ayudar a los demás, y les ayudó mucho contar con un equipo de psicólogos y abogados para entender cómo apoyar y asesorar sobre qué hacer contra los abusadores.
The experience was particularly enlightening because of the many questions they had; each had a very particular approach after having heard neighbours talking about their experiences of violence and having lived abusive situations at one point or another in their life. The women were particularly focused on the idea of helping others, so having a team of psychologists and lawyers helped them understand how to support and advise on legal measures against abusers.

author: Gabriela Mesones Rojo


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Hunger-striking surgeon struggles to reform Nepal’s inadequate health care system · Global Voices
Benju Lwagun

Dr. Govinda KC on the 13th day of his eighth hunger strike at the Institute of Medicine, Maharajganj. Image by Esushant via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
On September 14, activist and retired surgeon Dr. Govinda KC — who has been routinely leveraging his own well-being to demand reform of the country's health care system — began his 19th hunger strike at a temple in Ranichaur, a village in Nepal's Jumla district.
Doctorstory Nepal, the collaborative social media account of several Nepali doctors, tweeted:
beloved ones without access to health service. He has spend his 150 days in hunger to bring justice to people. He is in his 19th fast onto death and we call him “Pagal”
I wish I could be pagal like him. But I don’t have such strength. But why not support him and his cause,
— Doctorstory Nepal-सेवा नै धर्म होl (@DocstoryNepal) September 25, 2020
“Pagal” is a term meaning “mad” or “crazy” in Nepali.
Dr. KC's demands include providing timely treatment to both COVID-19 patients and those with general ailments, putting an end to the country's lockdown, and preventing a surge of infections by taking safety precautions. He is also advocating for medical services to be free and accessible to the public, and wants those involved in corruption in the medical sector to be exposed.
On September 22, as Dr. KC's health began to deteriorate, Nepal police forcibly took him to the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu, where he refused all treatments. Instead, he went to the Maharajgunj Teaching Hospital, where he continued his hunger strike.
In a press conference on October 1, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali urged Dr. KC to end the strike, saying that some of his demands have already been met and the government is working to fulfill the rest.
A former senior orthopedic surgeon and professor at Nepal's Tribhuwan University Teaching  Hospital, Dr. KC retired in October 2019, after 26 years of service. In the wake of several natural disasters, he was part of international humanitarian missions to India, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Haiti. In Nepal, he has used his own savings to visit remote villages and provide free medical treatment for the poor.
Despite the fact that Dr. KC has waged several hunger strikes over the past nine years, there has been limited progress. On each occasion that the government negotiated with him and reached an agreement, he would end his strike — but the government never implemented the promises it made.
In an interview with Image channel in October 2019, Dr. KC explained:
In the beginning, I thought politicians were unaware of the challenges people in remote villages face; I later realized that politicians are not here to serve the country, but to serve their own personal agenda and make money. That's the reason I have to return to my hunger strikes, again and again — they compelled me to do so.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put additional pressure on Nepal's already shaky public health system, which lacks infrastructure, resources and transparency.
Staff and resources are spread so thin that many people are losing their lives in the absence of timely medical attention. The Ministry of Health has come under fire for making what many feel are irresponsible and unethical decisions with regard to the pandemic, including its decision to expand the use of ineffective rapid test kits. There have also been irregularities in the purchase of certain medicines.
Although stories of the government's positive actions occasionally make headlines, public hospitals in Nepal are generally poorly equipped and still centralised, making access difficult for citizens in remote areas.
In contrast, private hospitals — which are often owned by political leaders and other powerful people — are unregulated, expensive, and free to operate without government interference.
Most wealthy Nepalis, including politicians, travel overseas for medical treatment, raising questions about whether public funds are used to pay for these trips.
In a tweet addressing the unreliability of care in private hospitals, netizen Sudin Sayami, who posted a graphic in solidarity with Dr. KC, noted:
मेरो छिमेकी कोर्ना भएर वयोदा अस्पतालमा ७ दिन सुतेको ५ लाख सकायो, निको भयो।
अर्को छिमेकी टेकु अस्पतालमा ६ दिन सुत्यो पैसाको नामै लिएन, निको भयो
एकजना आफन्त ग्राण्डी अस्पतालमा ८ दिन सुतेको १५ लाख तिर्यो र मर्यो। बिरामी हेर्न नि दिएन, लाश पनि हेर्न दिएन
यसैको लागी लड्दैछ पागल बुढो pic.twitter.com/Ki15X5g2R1
— सुदिन ?? (@SudinSayami) September 29, 2020
My neighbor had corona; he spent seven days in Voyoda Hospital and spent 500,000 Nepali rupees [4,270 United States dollars]; he recovered. Another neighbor who spent six days in Teku Hospital recovered and was not charged for his treatment. A relative who spent eight days in Grandi Hospital paid 1,500,000 rupees [US $12,810] died. No one was allowed to see either the patient or the dead body. That's what the crazy old man is fighting for.”
Thousands of Nepalis who have followed Dr. KC's journey — including medical doctors, politicians, celebrities and members of the public — believe that his demands are legitimate. They have therefore taken to social media platforms to support the cause, using hashtags like #IAmWithDrKC, #WearewithDrKC, and #SaveDrKc to speak out and call for action:
सरकार कम्तीमा हामी ३ करोड नेपालीको लागि भए पनि डा. केसीको माग पुरा गरी जीवन रक्षा गर ! यस्ता चिकित्सक शायद अब फेरी जन्मिदैनन ! #IAmwithDrKC #SaveDrKC pic.twitter.com/BVV9CQqC9u
— Punya Bhandari (@PunyaBhandari1) September 30, 2020
[The] government should fulfil Dr. KC's demands and save his life, at least for the sake of 30 million Nepalis! Such doctors may not be born again!
The National Human Rights Commission has also urged the government to protect Dr. KC's life and make public the details of agreements signed with him in the past. In addition, it has asked for a progress report on the government's implementation of the agreed-to demands.
Despite the challenges, Dr. KC's efforts have brought about some positive changes — most notably, the passing of the National Medical Education Act, which finally paved the way for reforms and standardisation efforts in medical education.
This new legislation means that issues like admissions, examinations and fees will be decided by the country's Medical Education Commission. Scholarship quotas for medical education and the monitoring of university faculty have also been increased.
Dr. KC's ongoing journey, however, indicates that there is still work to be done: his protests aren’t being fully heard and pressing issues in the country's health care sector are still not being given the attention they deserve. Until they do, Nepal will continue to fall behind global health standard and Dr. KC will, quite likely, continue his hunger strikes.

author: Benju Lwagun


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News website faces police probe in Singapore for boosting Facebook posts during elections · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A template of an online postcard expressing support to New Naratif. Source: New Naratif
The Singapore Elections Department, which is under the Prime Minister’s Office, has filed a police report against independent news website New Naratif for publishing paid advertisements during the campaign for the general election held in July 2020.
New Naratif boosted a total of 13 election-related news and feature stories on Facebook from June 30 to July 10. Authorities said the Facebook boosting is tantamount to “publishing paid advertisements that amounted to the illegal conduct of election activity.”
The posts, which are all part of New Naratif's election coverage, are mainly about the policies of the ruling party, the state of transparency in the government, critique of the ‘anti-fake news’ law, and racial discrimination in society.
Under Singapore's election law, an election activity “requires prior written authority signed by a candidate or his election agent.” The election department said that  “neither New Naratif nor its representatives or agents were authorised by any candidate or election agent in this General Election to conduct election activity.”
The police report was filed on September 18. New Naratif’s founder and managing director, Dr Thum Ping Tjin, appeared at a local police station on September 21, where he was questioned for four and a half hours. The police later accompanied him to his home and confiscated his laptop.
The news website “believes that the Prime Minister’s Office is abusing the law to attack New Naratif and that this is part of a long-standing campaign of intimidation and harassment against New Naratif by the Singapore government.” It added:
This police report is a continuation of the PAP [People's Action Party] government’s attempts to intimidate independent media, and is an abuse of the PEA [Parliamentary Elections Act] designed to strike fear into the hearts of the government’s critics and citizenry.
We condemn the abuse of the law to harass independent media and critics. We denounce the lack of independence of the Singapore Elections Department.
New Naratif said other Singapore media outlets, including those partly owned by the government, also boosted election content on Facebook but are not facing any legal action.
PAP has been Singapore’s ruling party since 1965. It is credited for turning Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world, although it is also accused of employing strict social controls that undermine free speech and democracy.
PAP dominated the general election in July but with a reduced majority.
Several political groups and media freedom advocates have expressed solidarity with New Naratif. They also criticized the overbroad definitions of ‘election activity’ and ‘election advertising’ under the Parliamentary Elections Act, used by the authorities to label any information and reporting by critics and the independent media as illegal.
For example, “election advertising” is also defined as “such material shall be election advertising even though it can reasonably be regarded as intended to achieve any other purpose as well and even though it does not expressly mention the name of any political party or candidate.”
Meanwhile, “election activity” includes any activity “which is done for the purpose of promoting or procuring the electoral success at any election for one or more identifiable political parties, candidates or groups of candidates; or prejudicing the electoral prospects of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates at the election.”
An attempt to silence independent journalism in Singapore is indeed a shame. We are in solidarity with @NewNaratif to continue their important work in providing thorough and critical journalism to help advance freedom and democracy in Southeast Asia. https://t.co/8JJh40vbwV
— Suara Peranakan (@suaraperanakan) September 21, 2020
Red Dot United, a local political party, noted that it’s time to review legislation that hinders public participation in politics:
If the content it has put out can be deemed ‘election advertising’, then it may be time to review if the legislation should be amended instead of criminalising citizen participation in politics.
The Government should refrain from using overly broad laws, oppressive regulations, and litigation to severely curtail freedom of speech and assembly in Singapore, which are legitimate and essential components of our democracy.
Human rights groups also highlighted how the law can be arbitrarily used to criminalize political speech:
The provision is so vague that it does not allow for individuals to be able to adequately predict what activity could fall foul of the law, while allowing the Elections Department to control, censor and potentially criminalize any political speech and discussion during the election period.
Several academics in Asia sent a letter to the Singapore government expressing concern about the investigation being conducted against New Natarif:
We consider New Naratif to be an important and innovative contribution to Southeast Asia’s media landscape. Free discussion of social and political issues is essential for a healthy society and to allow political leaders to respond to the concerns of the people.
Singapore’s media freedom is already limited in many ways, and the use of the Parliamentary Election Act to harass New Naratif will only restrict it further.
Singapore Unbond, a cultural group, warned about the impact of stifling free speech in society:
To function properly as a deliberative democracy, we need different perspectives and critical voices. To survive as a country, we need independence of thought and the courage of one's convictions. By harassing and intimidating its critics, instead of debating them, the People's Action Party is setting Singapore on a course of decline in order to maintain its grip on power.

author: Mong Palatino


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Policing the digital frontiers: Is India weaponizing technology to silence civil society? · Global Voices
Ayesha Khan

Gmail on Laptop in Dark. Image via Flickr by Image Catalog. Public Domain.
On June 15, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign that targeted nine Indian human rights defenders between January and October 2019.
In the world’s largest democracy, these types of incidents are a concern especially when viewed alongside the government’s broader crackdown on dissent. Under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, India has gained global notoriety for silencing critical voices through frivolous defamation suits, arrests, and detentions of citizens engaging in peaceful protests, and the imprisonment of journalists.
The activists were sent multiple emails, containing links to malicious software, disguised as important communications. If downloaded, the software would infect a user’s phone or computer with NetWire, a piece of commodity malware designed to cause extensive damage to data and systems or to gain unauthorized access to a network.
Eight of the individuals targeted had been calling for the release of those indicted in the Bhima Koregaon case dating back to 2018 when, in the wake of violent attacks against Dalit communities in Maharashtra, police arrested several activists known for their advocacy work on behalf of these communities.
Three of the individuals targeted with NetWire were also targeted earlier in 2019 in the now infamous NSO WhatsApp hack, a spyware attack in which at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India were targeted with Pegasus, a spyware that can extract a user’s private data, including passwords, contact lists, calendar events, text messages, and even voice calls. Some variants of it can even turn on a phone’s camera and microphone to capture activity in the phone’s vicinity.
The individuals were informed about this attack by Whatsapp, who contacted and alerted them that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period in May 2019. This hack was part of a wider attack that targeted at least 100 members of civil society around the world and led to Whatsapp suing the NSO group in a US court.
Following the revelation of the Pegasus attacks in November 2019, NSO defended itself saying that it only sells its technology to “licensed government intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Consequently, several of those targeted in India wrote to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asking whether the government had authorized the use of this spyware. The Indian government’s Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Information Technology refused to give a straight answer to this question, only claiming that “no unauthorized interception” had taken place. Subsequently, the government sought to shift the blame on Whatsapp, insinuating that the tech platform had allowed the breach to take place and had not informed it about it. Embarrassingly, Whatsapp responded stating that it actually had informed the country’s nodal cyber response agency when the attacks had first taken place.
Illegally intercepting or accessing computer devices is recognized as a criminal act under international law and India’s Information Technology Act. If the hackers were private actors, it is concerning as to why the Indian government has not yet released details of any criminal investigations against them, despite sufficient evidence of a crime having been committed against its own citizens. The alternative scenario, if it happens to be true, is doubly concerning. State surveillance through the use of spyware not only violates India’s own laws around the interception of private communications but also poses a huge threat to free expression, privacy and freedom of thought.
While less invasive forms of surveillance have been used by different ruling powers through the decades in India, the BJP’s measures are excessive, to say the least. In December 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs gave ten agencies blanket legal authority “to intercept, monitor or decrypt information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer.” This order was challenged in the Supreme Court to which the government responded with a statement that “the veil of privacy can be lifted for legitimate state interest.” The order continues to be enforced, pending a final judgement by the apex court.
In May 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting floated and closed a bid for a tool to provide “fact verification and disinformation detection on social media platforms.” According to media reports, this was the eighth attempt by this government, since it came into power in 2014, to “explicitly and directly monitor social media”. This latest attempt at mass surveillance is currently being challenged in court by the Internet Freedom Foundation. Given the Supreme Court’s 2017 ruling on privacy being a fundamental right, there is hope that this attempt too will be thwarted.
It is important to note that these attempts to monitor citizens’ lives are being made in the absence of a personal data protection law, which if enacted in line with international human rights standards, could offer some protection against these repeated attempts at surveillance. The data protection bill introduced by the BJP-led government in 2019, which is currently undergoing joint parliamentary review, fails to meet such standards. It seeks to give the government unrestricted access to personal data on vaguely worded grounds of sovereignty, violating key legal safeguards around necessity and proportionality, as enshrined in international law and recognized by the Indian Supreme Court as intrinsic to safeguarding the right to privacy. There are further concerns that this is a backdoor attempt to provide legislative backing to the State’s passive surveillance activities online, which are currently conducted outside the remit of the law, merely through executive action, and thus escape meaningful oversight. Understandably, the bill has faced massive pushback from civil society, and even the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Privacy has expressed concern.
These attempts to monitor and police digital spaces are not unique to India alone – digital authoritarianism is on the rise around the world, especially in countries where rising nationalism, combined with weaker rule of law has emboldened governments to crackdown on dissent, increasingly with the aid of technology supplied by dubious corporations eager to make a quick buck.
Spyware, one of the most invasive surveillance tools, has managed to evade regulation at the international level so far, largely because surveillance is a topic that governments are not keen to discuss, mostly due to diplomatic, political and national security reasons. Consequently, the lack of an international framework to regulate its production, sale and use coupled with an increasing interest by repressive regimes in the private lives of their critics, has led to an uptick in the use of spyware, as tracked by Citizen Lab. Concerned by this troubling trend, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression released a report, calling on governments to “establish an immediate moratorium on the global sale and transfer of private surveillance technology until rigorous human rights safeguards are put in place to regulate such practices and guarantee that governments and non-State actors use the tools in legitimate ways”. The US State Department has also released guidance to “assist U.S. companies seeking to prevent their products or services with surveillance capabilities from being misused by foreign government end-users to commit human rights abuses.”
These are steps in the right direction, which have taken effect largely due to the tireless advocacy done by civil society organizations who are bravely calling out human rights abuses, pushing for rights-respecting legislation and engaging in strategic litigation. Countries seeking to prevent the decline of democracy must support these groups, in India and elsewhere, by engaging them as trusted partners in the fight to keep the internet equal, open and free.

author: Ayesha Khan


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Supergirl and Vieršnica: Symbols of revolution and gender equality in Belarus · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Meme of Belarus version of Supergirl facing police cordon with a text calling citizens of Belarus to offer aid and hope against evil. Parody photo by Capitaine Biélorussie, based on an image by Warren Louw. Fair use.
In addition to photos of real-life people who exemplify collective heroism, digital artists who support the protest movement in Belarus also use iconic images of female empowerment which are part of the global culture, and combine them with images from Belarus historic heritage.
From the early days, women have stood at the forefront of the protests in Belarus, whether on the streets or as leaders of the opposition movement. That's why, among many others, artist Daria Sazanovich referred to the current protest movement in Belarus as “the revolution with a female face.”
Belarus protest is aesthetically attractive and conceptualized. People wear white-red-white clothing (traditional Belarus colors that appeal to ancient Belarus tradition). White color dominates over the crowd (vs police black). And powerful women that make this protest astonishing pic.twitter.com/DgoYjH2iEl
— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 30, 2020
In addition to various forms of artwork, photographs, and other artistic expressions used until now during protests in Belarus, there is also an altered image of the superhero character Supergirl. It first appeared in announcements for protests in August.
Protests in Belarus to follow this weekend:
?Saturday: Women March, 16:00, Start at Pieramohi Square
?Sunday: March for Peace and Independence, 14:00, Independence Sq.
Crackdown and detentions possible.
For journalists: Be very cautious. pic.twitter.com/jWciGeFivb
— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 28, 2020
Known by the pseudonym Capitaine Biélorussie, the artist who started using this image was inspired by the work of American comics artist Bob Oskner. Global Voices spoke with Capitaine Biélorussie, who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, about the comic and the idea behind the character:
Meme of Belarus version of Supergirl carrying OMON members (special police force notorious for brutality against protesters) with a text “Time to take out the thrash!” Parody photo by Capitaine Biélorussie, based on an image by Derrick Chew for DC Comics. Fair use.
The idea of Captain Belarus was born from both my interest in comic art and my desire to create a symbol of our revolution, a 100 percent positive character who represents the whole Belarusian nation, as heroic, fair and brave as it is — and its struggle against the cruel dictator.
There are several reasons for choosing Supergirl. First, and most important is that she is a girl. This revolution indeed has a woman's face — its  flame was sparked by women and is now supported by women across the country.
The second reason is that Supergirl is a well-known superhero whose face is already associated with noble goals and heroic deeds. I also thought about using Captain Marvel but she doesn't seem as popular as Supergirl in the region.
I think I even saw a similar image of a Supergirl wearing our flag's colors on one of the posters used by protester, which proves that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Plus — and that is the last reason I can think of – Supergirl's costume is easier to transform into Captain Belarus’. And she wears a cape. Everybody loves superheroes with capes.
American artist Jamal Yaseem Igle has gained an international reputation as the penciler, inker, and colorist of DC and Marvel comics, including critically acclaimed and fan-favorite issues of Supergirl.
In a statement for Global Voices given via online chat, Igle explained the universal appeal of the character:
Artist Jamal Yaseem Igle, a Supergirl expert. Courtesy photo, used with his permission.
The idea of a superhero character is partially based in the power fantasy dynamic. Superheroes allow us to go beyond our own imaginary limitations. We live, we die, we breath with them.
Supergirl was initially created during the teen sidekick heyday of the 1950's (in Action Comics #252), and for a while in the comics her presence was kept secret from “the outside world” acting as Superman's “secret weapon”. During the first few years of inception, she garnered her own fanbase. She became a central point in the book “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan and sparked even more discussions about women's independence. So much so that she finally was “revealed” to the DC Comics universe, nearly 3 years later (Action Comics #285 in February 1962).
Supergirl, from her first appearance became a bit of a cultural icon for young women at the time and continues to be so. During the 1960's and 70's, she like Wonder Woman began to embody the Independent Woman and the embrace of the Equal Rights Amendment movement. Supergirl continued to become more and more an individual voice, rather than an appendage of Superman and his comic book mission. She began to represent a sense of agency that young female comics fans could embrace as well.
These things are important. Especially now with so much international strife as well as local strife. Capitaine Biélorussie, taking it's obvious inspiration form the spirit of Supergirl and superheroes in general, shows the global reach of the character. It also shows a need for heroes in these challenging times as Belarus contends with a contested election, and a strongman who wants to stifle the voice of the people.
Supergirl is not the only iconic female image used by the protesters in Belarus. Vieršnica is a female version of the historical coat of arms known as Pahonia or Pogonia, in which a male knight on a white horse is replaced by a long-haired woman. It was designed by Ales Plotka and Julia Halavina in 2015, and due to popular demand, they've recently posted print-quality versions online, available for free.
Front page of the magazine Naša Niva featuring the first appearance of Vieršnica in 2015.
Plotka, a singer and civic activist from Belarus, currently based in Prague, explained the history of the image in an interview for Global Voices:
The image appeared as a cover of my first poetry book “Baisan” and caused a scandal in 2015. A painter who pretended to be a co-author of the coat of arms standard, introduced in 1991, threatened to start a court case against me and Julia Halavina as Vieršnica authors, as well as against other artists, for “desacralizing the sacred.”
It turned into a real Brazilian soap opera: In the finale the sister of a real standard author Jauhien Kulik spoke after years of silence to describe the story of stolen co-authorship and blessed the future life of the feminized symbol. That was a crucial moment for me personally in this story. The symbol was used for the first time at a traditional spring protest march in March 2016, but needed some time to be widely recognized.
Plotka explained why women are so prominent in the ongoing protests in Belarus:
The female triumvirate of the 2020 movement has weakened Lukashenka’s rhetoric against his rivals. His traditional alpha-male style of blaming his opponents with vitriolic attacks no longer worked, so he switched to messages of stability and lurking omnipresent external enemies that allegedly kept Belarus from achieving that promised stability. The trio has shown they agree quickly and give messages fast, which is what helped them gain respect of the people who have grown tired of years of ineffective round tables discussions. Our political rules changed and that had nothing to do with gender  but with the quality of communications they introduced.
You see, revolution is a temporarily thing, and calling it just “female” is tricky. I would say Belarus is a country with a female face. A country where humanitarian values are the core, and in times of changes, a non-violent transfer of power is goal number one. As long as men adopt and support women and vice versa, it can be achieved. The speed of change in the wider region shows one thing clearly: each scenario is unique and everything is possible.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Trinidad & Tobago loses a fount of cultural knowledge with the passing of comedian Dennis ‘Sprangalang’ Hall · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Comedian and cultural storyteller Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall on stage during the Kaiso Laugh Riot at Tropical Paradise in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by Gentle Benjamin.
Comedic genius and cultural historian Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall died on October 2, 2020, two days after his 71st birthday. He had been ailing for some time and his passing — which comes just five months after the death of his brother, Trinbagonian playwright Tony Hall, and about two weeks after the death of actor Nigel Scott, a stalwart of local theatre — leaves a gaping hole in Trinidad and Tobago's artistic community.
Best known for his portrayal of Draxi, a character on the “Cultural Sprangalang” segment of “Gayelle”, a cultural magazine series that helped local television forge a strong Caribbean identity during the mid-1980s, Hall was passionate about passing on knowledge of the history and culture of Trinidad and Tobago.
Upon learning of his passing, Wired868 republished a 1994 interview Hall did with journalist Vaneisa Baksh, which revealed the genesis of his most enduring character:
Hall was responsible for a quiz segment about Trinidad and Tobago [on ‘Gayelle’] and they had to find a name for it.
At an arts seminar [several theatre stalwarts, including Dennis’ brother, Tony Hall] jumped out of a coffin to dramatise their grievances. At the same time, there was a midnight show called Dracula and the star was called ‘Draxie’.
Gayelle’s quiz character became Draxie. He would step out of an upright coffin, dust himself and ask his questions—but the segment still needed a name.
‘One night some fellas […] playing basketball, tell me they in a party—they drink, they smoke, they eat till they head was sprangalang.’
The segment became Cultural Sprangalang until the character took over and was rechristened.
Though Sprangalang would become “a national figure”, Hall also starred in various theatrical plays and other productions, including director Frances-Anne Solomon's feature film “A Winter Tale” and the Canadian sitcom “Lord Have Mercy!”
Although rumours about his death had been circulating online a few days before he actually passed, social media users were still shocked at losing him.
On Facebook, media producer Nigel Thompson remembered Hall as a “great comedic mind [and] even greater intellectual and historian [who] embodied everything Trinidad and Tobago needed in this moment”. Photographer David Wears added also in a Facebook post:
He claimed [Trinidad and Tobago] as his home by teaching us WHO we are, and those who listened learned so much.
The value of Hall's contribution was not lost on actor and Rapso musician Wendell Manwarren, who noted in a Facebook post:
Cultural Sprangalang was a national treasure, a master storyteller and a philosopher of the highest order. He was a living walking repository of our stories and our history and he was possessed of a searing honesty and a sense of humor beyond compare. He dared to be true to himself and afforded us the opportunity to grapple with hard truths while laughing hard and shaking our heads in knowing. Thank you Dennis Sprangalang Hall for the example and the knowledge and wisdom over the years. A true hero, a real Griot and a Giant of a man. Rest In Everlasting Peace my brother ?. Your stories will live on.
A griot is a storyteller in the West African oral tradition.
The National Drama Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NDATT) also mourned his passing, describing Hall's cultural contribution as “vast and invaluable”. The Trinidad Theatre Workshop, meanwhile, recalled how Sprangalang could “tell a story”:
He had the facts, he articulated the ideas in a vernacular way of thinking and talking […] He was our identity, he was a creole griot. A historical raconteur who spoke the nation language in a way that was universal. A comedian who made us think. He was our [Richard] Pryor without the cussing. He lit up a space with an intelligent wit and a respect for our heroes.
Niala Maharaj, who worked with Sprangalang on the “Gayelle” programme, paid tribute to him on Facebook:
Our show had launched him onto the national stage. He was brought in to do a regular feature, named it ‘Cultural Sprangalang’, and the rest is legend. […] He saw and perceived things in a completely original way. We often had to stop a Gayelle shoot because the cameraman was laughing so hard he couldn’t keep the camera straight. Funny things poured out of Dennis’ mouth in a constant stream, like water out of a natural spring.
Dennis’ very life has been a challenge to conventional wisdom. He seems to completely inhabit the quasi-vagrant, slippers-dragging, towel-shouldered Sprangalang persona he invented. But he comes from an educated middle-class family: his father was vice-principal of Naparima College, its Classics master, teaching Latin and Greek. And Dennis himself draws on a rare store of knowledge he carefully garners. You can’t predict which direction his mind will take at any given moment.
Maharaj confessed to always being a bit intimidated by Hall, but when, on one occasion, he defended her in a production meeting, she realised that “inside the vagrant persona was a knight in shining armor”, ready to stand up for whoever and whatever he thought was right.
His mind was lightning quick: he would silence hecklers as easily as he would take clever swipes at cultural promoters who profited off of artists like himself, but never gave them their due.
In that vein, writer and activist Tillah Willah wrote of his passing:
The full story of Sprang’s contribution has not been told and so we grasp the few fragments of his genius that can be found online. And in the absence of a nine nights we seek out those timelines that have stories of encounters with this giant of a man. […]
Imagine, if models like Gayelle and Banyan had been given the support to thrive, what could have been. Every death is an unknowing, every loss is a library burnt to the ground by our piecemeal and contemptuous approach to legacy preservation. How many young people under 20 know Sprang’s name or see the connection between their generation and people like him? Who cares about finding new ways to make this information accessible? Who is paying to digitise the archives? What a wealth of information that is at risk, under threat, that we continue to deem unworthy of our oil and gas millions. Meanwhile the same institutions that refuse to invest in heritage preservation are circling cobos [vultures] wailing about lost icons. […] It’s like losing him twice.
Those who did understand the full measure of Sprangalang's legacy, however, deeply mourned the loss. His longtime friend, sound engineer Robin Foster, posted a tender farewell:
Thank you for the pure joy of all the laughs, all the roaming Trinidad talking shit and limin’ [hanging out]. Thanks for all the Kaiso [calypso] and cultural stories. Thanks for single handedly keeping T&T [Trinidad and Tobago] sayings and language alive. Thanks for the archiving of Trini music and stories. Thanks for keeping up all the Oral traditions and the social [commentary]. But most or all Thank you for being my friend. Keep Looking up Dennis, Walk Good.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Child activist Licypriya Kangujam leads India’s movement against climate change · Global Voices
Anumeha Verma

Licypriya Kangujam addressing the UNESCO Partners’ Forum (Biennial Luanda) in Angola on September 20, 2019. Image by Dilanlekamge via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Two days before she turned nine, climate crusader Licypriya Kangujam — who has more than 93.4K followers on Twitter, over 20K followers on Facebook, and 18.6K-plus subscribers to her YouTube channel — tweeted:
I’m appealing to all the people of my birth state Manipur to plant one tree ? each on 2nd October.
If 2.8 millions people of Manipur plant 2.8 millions trees on this day then it will help to fight the global climate crisis.
Receiving overwhelming great response. ?? pic.twitter.com/0ljyUiuXkg
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) September 30, 2020
Kangujam uses these popular social media channels to champion the cause of climate justice not just in India, where she is from, but across the world. The response to her call is testimony to the support she has garnered online for her cause:
Today trees ? plantation by 4 communities viz Wabagai Kadajit, Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal, Wabagai Mayai Leikai & Sangaiyumpham part 1 for my birthday ?.
Thank you everyone ?????????❤❤❤#1TreeForLicyBirthday pic.twitter.com/lSsYCaPntx
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) October 2, 2020
Many of Kangujam's followers, like Nandini Dixit, a plant lover from Chhattisgarh, often take her ideas even further:
Pre birthday wishes for licypriya
Guys let's follow this suite and plant a tree on @LicypriyaK‘s birthday on 2nd October but But on the birthday of all your dear ones . Like my grandmother's birthday is also on 2nd October so I will plant more trees on that day. https://t.co/bBX2WlVELq pic.twitter.com/zzqqWBSR9x
— Nandini Dixit (@Nandini72113762) September 28, 2020
They also lend support to the young climate activist in other tangible ways. On September 24, for instance, climate crusaders accompanied Kangujam as — true to her promise on Twitter — she sought to enter the Indian parliament in an effort to urge lawmakers to pass bills on climate change. Although the group was not given access, members staged a peaceful rally outside the parliament building in Delhi:
Several national and regional dailies in India covered Kangujam's attempt to engage lawmakers and quoted her as saying that laws against carbon emissions and greenhouse gases can go a long way in creating climate consciousness.
Kangujam is also a fervent supporter of introducing climate change education in schools, an intervention promoted by several activists who believe that inculcating climate consciousness at a young age can be effective in reducing activities that are detrimental to the environment.
Born in Manipur in northeastern India, Kangujam now lives in Noida, a satellite town near Delhi, the capital. She took up the cudgels against climate change at the tender age of six and hasn’t given up since. Attending the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in July 2018 piqued her interest in the impact of climate change; her experience there encouraged her to become more involved in saving the planet.
After returning from the conference, she set up Child Movement, an India-based initiative aimed at raising awareness about climate change and tackling disasters in order to protect the planet's future.
Since then, she has been actively organising rallies in different parts of the country and adding her voice to initiatives across the globe, visiting more than 30 countries so far. Kangujam even addressed world leaders in Madrid, Spain, at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Though she and Greta Thunberg are “good friends”, Kangujam has categorically refuted comparisons to the young Swedish climate activist, preferring to forge her own identity. In an interview with WION News, she explained:
People call me ‘Greta of India’, but truly I am ‘Licypriya of India’.
Given the poor air quality in Delhi and surrounding areas, Kangujam says that living in Noida has made her more climate-conscious than ever. Each winter, residents’ lungs are subjected to the merciless attack of pollutants released into the atmosphere from burning stubble, adding to the already overwhelming emissions from factories and vehicles:
In 2019, India wear single face mask ? to protect from air pollution.
In 2020, India needs to wear double face masks ? to protect from both air pollution & COVID19.
Last 9 months, pin drop silent & now started on media to fight air pollution.
No way now. It’s too late. ??
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) September 29, 2020
When it comes to climate change, she wants the problems of the Global South — including India — to be recognized, without being lost in the conundrum that the rest of the world faces. She explained her position in a talk she gave at the TEDxSBSC (Shaheed Bhagat Singh College in Delhi) earlier this year:
The efforts of young Licypriya Kangujam — not to mention her huge following on social media — goes to show that youth are not ambivalent towards the issue of climate change, and that many people, of all ages, relate to the cause. It's a silver lining that suggests hope is not lost and the world still stands a chance.

author: Anumeha Verma


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Facebook denies accusations of fuelling hate speech and pro-BJP bias in India · Global Voices
Namita Singh

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg in the USA (2015). Image from Flickr by Narendra Modi. CC BY-2.0.
On September 16, Facebook India’s chief issued a statement denying accusations that the social media giant is making profits by giving a platform to hate speech in India. The clarification comes weeks after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the tech giant refused to take down posts by members of India’s ruling party—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)— which flouted its hate speech rules.
Facebook has been embroiled in a controversy of fuelling hate speech in India after the WSJ reported that the company chose to look the other way, even after an anti-muslim post by a member of the right-wing BJP was brought to its notice. This, WSJ reported, was done to protect its business interests in the country.
The BJP leader in question is T Raja Singh, a legislator from the Indian state of Telangana. The WSJ report highlights the posts by Singh wherein he labelled, Muslims as ‘traitors’ and reportedly said that Rohingya Muslim refugees in India should be ‘shot’. These posts were not taken down due to opposition from Ankhi Das, the head of public policy at Facebook India, according to the same source.
Das opposed designating Singh as a ‘dangerous individual’ on Facebook. She reportedly argued that ‘violations by the politicians from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party could hurt the company’s business interests in the country.’
After facing severe backlash from opposition parties in India over its alleged bias in favour of the ruling party, thereby promoting violence and hate speech on its platform, the social media company banned Singh earlier in September. Explaining the delay in banning the politician from its platform, Facebook told CNN, ‘the process of evaluating the potential violator is extensive and that is what led us to our decision to remove his account.’
However, Singh claimed that he has not had a Facebook account since April 2019, and therefore, there is no question of banning him. Singh further added that he had written a letter to the state’s cybercrime department on October 8, 2018, informing them that his official verified Facebook page was hacked.
In a statement to the Times of India, Ajit Mohan, Managing Director of Facebook India said that the company does not profit from hate speech of any kind. He further added that there is no constituency that benefits from hate speech and that Facebook tries its best to enforce its community standards. Mohan also offered a clarification on the role of Ankhi Das. He said that Das leads a public policy team which is separate and independent from the content policy team. He added that, in this specific case, the public policy team in India was not a decision-maker.
On September 2, Mohan also appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee of India which is headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to address questions on ‘’safeguarding the rights of the citizens’’ and ‘‘the misuse’’ of the platform.
Facebook is also facing a probe from New Delhi’s legislative assembly. The government committee of New Delhi was formed to investigate the role of hate speech on the social media platform and its link to the Delhi riots. The social media giant, however, moved to the Supreme Court of India, seeking exemption from appearing before the legislative assembly on the ground that it has already appeared before the parliamentary panel of the country and that the regulation of tech giants falls within the ‘exclusive authority of the Union of India.’
Meanwhile, the demand to probe Indian leadership of the tech giant has also been raging. However, there is no information in the public domain as to whether Facebook has set up a high-level inquiry to investigate whether it is indeed making profits by giving a platform to hate speech from members of the ruling party.

author: Namita Singh


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Trinh Ba Phuong: A video portrait of a Vietnamese land rights activist · Global Voices
The 88 Project

Trinh Ba Tu and Trinh Ba Phuong (right) holding signs saying: “Freedom for my Mother” at a praying mass for victims of injustice. Source: Facebook Trinh Ba Phuong
This article is from The 88 Project, an independent news site covering Vietnam, and was edited and republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
This interview with land rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong was conducted shortly before his June 2020 arrest. This intimate video covers a variety of topics, ranging from his background to his relationship with his wife – “She’s very caring. And she doesn’t know how to lie,” he jokes – to his dreams and aspirations for Vietnam.
Phuong is a charismatic and family-oriented person. “I think I’m pretty easy going, not the picky type,” he says when asked to describe himself. Even the public security officer who has been assigned to follow him for years says he’s a nice guy, he jokes when talking to the interviewer. In response to the question “What are your dreams?”, Phuong grins and responds: “I’m just an ordinary person.” He longs for health for his family and a stable job working with his hands.
His parents, Can Thi Theu and Trinh Ba Khiem, as well as his brother, Trinh Ba Tu, are all activists. In the video, Phuong explains how his parents’ arrests in 2014 launched him into the world of activism. His goals revolve around justice for wronged communities like Duong Noi District, an area located in Hanoi, where he is from, and Dong Tam Commune, also part of the extended boundaries of Hanoi. “Ever since my parents were wrongly jailed, and our villagers were suppressed and had their land stolen, I wanted to help them get their property back,” he explains. Phuong was 19 when his parents were first arrested.
In recent years, Phuong has been harassed and surveilled by public security agents, especially so after he tried to publicly share news about the early-morning police raid in Dong Tam Commune in January 2020. The raid left Le Dinh Kinh, a local land rights leader, and three police officers dead. On June 24, authorities surrounded and stormed Phuong’s home and arrested him; Theu, his mother, was also later arrested at a different residence, as well as his brother Tu. They were charged under Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code for “propaganda against the state.” All three remain in pre-trial detention at the time this video is released.
This interview paints a deeper picture of Phuong than what observers may see through bits of his social media posts, state media articles, and the rare international news piece, and allows Phuong to tell his story in his own words.
The 88 Project aims to showcase the multi-faceted lives of activists in order to press for their release and pass on their wisdom to a larger audience. We hope that viewers will understand the critical societal and personal reasons why Phuong and other political prisoners should be freed.
In 2008, the authorities released an announcement on land acquisition in Duong Noi Village and the compensation payment, which was extremely low. There were 356 households who refused the compensation and together participated in a prolonged protest. In 2014, Phuong’s parents were both arrested and sentenced to 18 and 15 months in prison, respectively while filming land-grabbing by the government. His mother was again arrested in 2016.
In February 2018, Phuong was put under surveillance during the Lunar New Year. In early October 2019, he was prevented from leaving home on China’s National Day, a period of enhanced surveillance as protestors often gather at that time to protest against China's claim in the South China Sea. Phuong was one of the most fervent supporters of the Dong Tam villagers after the raid on their village in January 2020.
He met with US Embassy officials in February to discuss the incident. While meeting with them, he also shared a handwritten letter from Le Dinh Kinh’s wife, Du Thi Thanh, with personal testimony. Phuong and Thanh both called for an independent investigation into the raid and the application of measures similar to sanctions that are currently part of the Global Magnitsky Act on Vietnamese government officials involved in the planning of the attack.
Watch the full interview:

author: The 88 Project


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Ignored by the Pope, Hong Kong cardinal leaves Rome vowing to protest appointment of Beijing-blessed bishop · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image by the Stand News. Used with permission.
Vocal Beijing critic Cardinal Joseph Zen returned to Hong Kong from Rome on September 28 after failing to meet Pope Francis, to whom he intended to object the possible appointment of a pro-Beijing bishop to lead the Hong Kong diocese.
The Hong Kong Bishopric has been vacant since the death of Bishop Micheal Yeung in January 2019. While retired cardinal John Tong Hon serves as interim bishop, the pending appointment of the permanent position has been engulfed in tension as Beijing tightens its grip on the semi-autonomous territory.
Yeung's Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha, who holds favorable views towards Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, is the favorite choice of local Catholics. In February, however, the media reported that the Vatican intended to nominate Reverend Peter Choy for the position, who is notably pro-Beijing.
After facing criticism from Hong Kong's Catholic community, the Vatican deferred the announcement of the new bishop. But as the Holy See normalizes relationships with Beijing, many Hongkongers fear that Choy's appointment will soon become reality.
China severed relationships with the Holy See in 1951 after the latter established ties with Taiwan, but have warmed up to it since 2018 with an agreement that allows the Vatican to appoint bishops in the country. The agreement, whose details were never made public, expired in September 2020, but renewal is in progress.
Currently, the Holy See’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is trying to arrange a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in what would be an unprecedented development between the two governments. Furthermore, the Vatican allegedly has plans to open a Beijing office.
The Holy See's agreement took a whole new significance for Hong Kong with the enactment of the national security law, which has faced opposition from broad sectors of Hong Kong society, including the Catholic community. A day after the law entered in force, the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo published a statement saying the law “seriously weakens Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and Hong Kong’s autonomy” and “radically changes Hong Kong’s identity.”
It is against this background that Zen, who is 88 years old, decided to take the journey to Rome. Despite failing to meet with Pope Francis, he managed to deliver a letter to one of the Pope’s special secretaries.
Diane Montagna, an Italian correspondent in the Vatican City, posted an English translation of a story by Italian reporter Aldo Maria Valli about Zen’s visit:
CARDINAL ZEN IN ROME: “I asked for an audience with Francis, but not even a nod from Santa Marta” https://t.co/UGVKdFFVsy
Aldo Maria Valli sits down with ++Zen during visit to Rome, where he hoped to speak with @Pontifex.
Translation below with kind permission of AMV. pic.twitter.com/1fAk5yoeWe
— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) September 27, 2020
In the interview with Valli, Zen said:
The idea was to appoint Bishop Joseph Ha, the auxiliary. Now instead the odds of Monsignor Peter Choy’s — he is one of the four vicars, who is too close to Beijing — are increasing. In the letter, I warned the Pope: appointing Choy will be a disaster. I remained [in Rome] for the time permitted, but not even a nod from Santa Marta.
Zen also criticized the secret deal between China and the Holy See:
It is inconceivable that it has remained secret even for those who deal closely with these matters… in Beijing not everyone wants the accord to be ratified. There is one component of the [Communist] Party that does not want agreements: they are the most hardline, those for whom the Church must simply be controlled and, if necessary, crushed, without agreement of any kind…Thinking one can make deals with Beijing is folly. You don’t make a deal with the devil. You just fight the devil! The Church does not take orders from governments, and this applies everywhere.
And he also shared photos of the trip on Twitter after returning to Hong Kong:
Visiting Rome to see the Holy Father Pope Francis. pic.twitter.com/NoXD01uJ16
— Joseph Zen (@CardJosephZen) September 28, 2020
Meanwhile, interim Bishop Tong Hon is receiving criticism for his stances on Beijing's policies for Hong Kong.
In June, when Beijing first revealed its plans to by-pass the Hong Kong legislature and enact the national security law, Hon said in an interview with a Catholic newspaper that he “understood” Beijing’s decision and believed that “the law will not affect freedom of religion in Hong Kong.”
The interview was published only a few days after Hon attended a closed-door meeting organized by Hong Kong's China Liaison Office in which Beijing officials urged religious leaders to express support of the national security law.
In August, the education committee of Hong Kong's Catholic Church sent a notice to all primary and secondary Catholic schools urging administrators to prevent politicization on campuses, as well as educate students on the national security law, the national anthem law, and raise awareness on national security.
Hon also issued a letter to the parish's priests on August 28 asking them to withhold personal political opinions during service, and stressing that it is “absolutely inappropriate” to deliver speeches that are “offensive or incite hate and social instability.”
On the same day, the Church instructed its affiliated NGO Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese to stop a crowdfunding campaign to publish on Apple Daily News “a prayer to Hong Kong,” which the Church considered “politicized.”
All those gestures have been perceived by Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp as serving the interests of Beijing rather than the local Catholic community.
In a more recent interview, when asked what he would do if the Vatican proceeded with appointing Peter Choy as the new Bishop, Joseph Zen described what his last act of protest would be:
“My last act of protest will be to do just that, to now disappear w/everyone knowing why. I put this in my last will and testament-that my bones shall not be placed in the cathedral, I do not want to be buried with such men..”
–Cardinal Joseph Zen
https://t.co/zLwinQyin5
— Sidge S. Mondo ن (@Prof_Pownd) October 3, 2020

author: Oiwan Lam


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Post-election protests spark another revolution in Kyrgyzstan · Global Voices
Aigerim Turgunbaeva

Mass protests on Ala-Too Square, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, October 5, 2020. Photo (c): Aigerim Turgunbayeva. Used with permission.
Mass protests against electoral fraud in Kyrgyzstan have overthrown the country's government.
On October 4, this Central Asian country of 6.3 million voted in parliamentary elections. Kyrgyzstan is known for its fractious politics; some 16 parties competed for 120 seats in the country's unicameral parliament. But opposition voters were in for a disappointment. The Central Electoral Commission's (CEC) preliminary results counted 1,942,609 votes and indicated that just four of these 16 parties had passed the threshold of seven percent: Unity (24.9 percent), My Homeland Kyrgyzstan (24.27 percent), Kyrgyzstan (8.89 percent), and United Kyrgyzstan (7.19 percent). The final turnout was 1,980,240 people, or 56.2 percent of those included in voter lists. A manual vote count conducted on October 5 showed much the same results, although a fifth party, Mekenchil, also entered parliament with 7.26 percent of the vote.
All the remaining parties still got less than seven percent of the vote.
The parties which managed to clear the threshold were all pro-government parties linked to powerful figures in Kyrgyzstan's ruling political elite. For example, Unity is associated with President Sooronbay Jeenbekov and his brother is among its candidates. My Homeland Kyrgyzstan is linked to former Deputy Head of Kyrgyzstan's customs service Raimbek Matraimov, who is at the centre of an international investigation into the withdrawal of almost US$700 million from the country.
These elections also marked the tenth anniversary of Kyrgyzstan's transition to a semi-parliamentary republic. Erica Marat, an Associate Professor at the International College of Security Affairs in Washington DC, noted that despite this change, the most influential political parties tended to dominate elections. They were strongly associated with their patrons, internally divided, and had no substantial ideological distinctions, she explained:
By then it was also apparent that a representative parliament =/= more democratic legislature. Lots of laws limiting civic and economic freedoms were passed
Atambayev and then Jeenbekov were seizing more political control, often capitalizing on parties’ lack of internal cohesion
— Erica Marat (@Ericamarat) October 5, 2020
Opposition supporters felt cheated. The Social Democrats were the first opposition party to announced that they refused to recognise the result of the election, announcing a protest on the night of October 4. The Republika and Ata-Meken parties then held a joint briefing and asked their supporters to join the demonstrations.
Accusations of electoral fraud were raised widely across social media. Many of these were connected with so-called Form No. 2 votes, which the head of the CEC Nurzhan Shaildabekova described as “a progressive norm which allows the voter to vote not at their place of registration, but wherever is convenient for them”. Shaidilabekova stressed that 481,950 such applications were registered ahead of the October 4 vote. Lawyers sounded the alarm at this large number and appealed to the CEC, Prosecutor Generals's office and law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter. “Every case of mass registration of citizens in Form No. 2 and every report of voter bribery should be the subject of a thorough, objective, and prompt investigation,” the lawyers stated in an open letter.
Reports that political parties were bringing voters from regions or villages and registering them at polling stations in Bishkek had started to appear online as far back as early August. One voter told journalists of 24.kg that he was promised 4,000 Soms (US$50) to vote for My Homeland Kyrgyzstan. He continued that he was told to submit an application via Form No. 2 in order to change his electoral address, then handed a completed form and brought by minibus to a polling station located in a school.
On election day, social networks were full of complaints by voters about bribery by Unity and My Homeland Kyrgyzstan. Voters claimed that they were offered between 1,500 and 5,000 Soms ($19-63) for voting “correctly”.
For many voters, electoral fraud may have been the last straw. In recent years, the country has been rocked by incessant corruption scandals and political instability. People's discontent grew and accumulated. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kyrgyzstan, which peaked in July this year, President Jeenbekov's popularity declined sharply, although even before the pandemic, his actions and team were often criticised. The country had one of the highest per capita death COVID-19 rates in the world, and the quarantine cut a fifth of the budget. Civil society accused his government of inaction, and some even called for the president to be impeached.
Read more: Kyrgyzstan's civil society mobilises to fight COVID-19
All this meant that the opposition's calls for change found a sympathetic audience.
On October 5, supporters of eleven parties gathered in Ala-Too square in central Bishkek to voice their anger at the official results. By three o'clock in the afternoon, there were more than 4,000 of them. As the crowd grew, leaders of 11 parties signed a statement to the CEC to demand a re-run of the election.
As the night progressed, the crowd grew in size and ambition. Some protesters attempted to climb over the fence of the White House, the office of Kyrgyzstan's President. Law enforcement took this as a sign to crack down. Thus the peaceful rally turned into violent clashes between citizens and security forces, turning the centre of Bishkek into a battlefield. Shots rang out alongside the cries of wounded people for help. Well over 70 injured people were admitted to various hospitals in the capital, among them opposition candidates.
Despite the police use of rubber bullets and tear gas, protesters eventually prevailed. By 3 o'clock in the morning, they had seized the White House, parliament, and various other administrative buildings.
Protesters are inside President Jeenbekov's office.
Photo credit: @Azattyk_Radiosu reporters @BakytTorogeldi, Aybek Biybosunov pic.twitter.com/wegc65BmZS
— Bermet Talant (@ser_ou_parecer) October 5, 2020
President Jeenbekov had left the building an hour before the invasion.
Some of the protesters have also freed imprisoned politicians, such as ex-president Almazbek Atambayev, ex-Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, and former parliamentary deputy Sadyr Japarov.
Japarov has since replaced Kubatbek Boronov as interim Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, as part of a coordination council. The speaker of the Kyrgyz parliament Dastan Jumabekov has been replaced by Myktybek Abdylbaev of the Bir Bol opposition party. The mayors of Osh and Bishkek, the two largest cities in the country, have resigned.
For his part, Jeenbekov is staying in office — for now. In an October 6 interview to the BBC, he stressed that he was the legitimate President of Kyrgyzstan but insisted that the way forward had to be led by peaceful negotiations. Jeenbekov had strongly criticised the protests, but recently told Kyrgyz media that he had ordered security services not to open fire on demonstrators.
On the evening of October 6, the CEC announced that it had officially cancelled the election results “to prevent tension”.
In the chaos, a power vacuum has opened up, hardly for the first time in this country's history. The country now watches to see who will step into the brink.

author: Aigerim Turgunbaeva