text:
2021 in review, from a Caribbean point of view · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean sunset image by Arthur T. LaBar on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0, adapted with free Canva graphic elements.
Like the rest of the globe, this year saw Caribbean nations focused on dealing with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, against a backdrop of rising infection rates, a steady stream of variants, and strong vaccine hesitancy—but while it was a primary concern, it was far from the only story that affected the region in 2021.
COVID-19 illustration by Prachatai on Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
While 2020 will forever be known as the year COVID-19 made its global presence known, 2021 saw the vaccines designed to combat the virus being rolled out en masse. Prior to this, many Caribbean nations had closed their borders, with Trinidad and Tobago's staying closed for one of the most lengthy spells, even restricting its own citizens via a travel re-entry system that left many feeling demoralised and challenging whether the process was infringing upon their rights.
Curiously, although the arrival of vaccines in the region was initially welcomed with hope and optimism, vaccine hesitancy would soon become quite pervasive. Attempts by various regional governments to make vaccination mandatory for some sectors resulted in street protests, including one in which the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, was injured.
Discussions about vaccine equity were also common, as was vaccine misinformation—peddled by both regular social media users and by celebrities.
If there was a silver lining to the COVID-19 cloud, however, it regional creatives’ innovative response to the pandemic, evident in everything from fashion, art and literacy, to how they reimagined in-person festivals like Carnival—although St. Lucia has been the first regional territory to announce its intention to hold a “vaxxed” event come 2022.
A solitary bee draws nectar from what is locally known as ‘rabbit grass,’ at the Carmel Valley Estate in Trinidad. Photo by Monique Johnson, used with permission.
Apart from our extensive coverage of the eruption of St. Vincent's La Soufrière volcano, environmental stories constituted an average of 25 per cent of our regional coverage this year, from a landmark ruling that could pave the way for environmental transparency in Trinidad and Tobago to displays of activism that helped save a century-old tree in Guyana.
Of course, environmental activism wouldn't be necessary if there weren't various environmental threats, which came in the form of quarrying and bauxite mining activities, pollution of waterways, poaching of protected animal species, and potential damage to marine areas from the oil industry, the effects of climate change and overfishing.
As the first significant storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season arrived, concerns about the effects of the climate crisis on the region persisted, even as tourism developers appeared immune, despite opportunities for more sustainable approaches.
By the time the COP26 summit rolled around in the final quarter of 2021, the region was speaking out for its own survival, and questioning whether some regional territories were actually walking their environmental talk. At the conference, Caribbean representatives advocated for certain parameters when it came to issues of loss and damage, and of major polluters—many of which did not attend the conference—to (literally) pay for their transgressions, which adversely affect Small Island Developing States (SIDS). All this, despite the fact that Guyana, a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member, is poised to become a major supplier of fossil fuels.
Women at a protest at Woodford Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 2016. The protest came after then mayor of the city, Raymond Tim Kee, victim-blamed Japanese steel plan player Asami Nagakiya, who was found murdered on February 10, 2016. Photo by Janine Mendes-Franco, used with permission.
This year was certainly not the first that the issue of gender-based violence reared its head in the region. In fact, the issue has been such a recurring one that people were growing weary of its impact.
Trinidad and Tobago, southernmost in the Caribbean archipelago, used this year's International Women's Day to speak out against gender-based violence, even as Jamaica, to the north of the island chain, struggled with both the physical abuse of women and a spate of femicides.
Jamaica also grappled with an increased murder rate, in general, leaving its citizens to debate whether or not states of emergency are effective in stemming violent crime, especially in a society where the relationship between “uptown” and “downtown” is so complex.
The trial (and second conviction) of former Surinamese president Desi Bouterse for a series of dissident murders that took place after he came to power in a 1980 coup—and the award-winning Surinamese author Astrid Roemer controversially defending him—spoke volumes about the culture—at times state-sanctioned—of violence and gender in the region.
It is a culture that Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley spoke out against as it pertains to violent lyrics by some of the country's dancehall performers, explaining, “There has to be a zero tolerance approach to gun violence in this country.” Barbados also made headlines this year for becoming the world's newest republic, as well as the first country to establish an embassy in the metaverse.
Jovenel Moïse with Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau in Lima, Peru, April 14, 2018. Photo by Peru's Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Ever since its violent street protests in February 2019, Haiti had been experiencing unrest, revolving around issues of corruption and socioeconomic instability. However, President Jovenel Moïse always seemed to land on his feet.
That all changed on the morning of July 7, when Moïse was shot to death by a group of unidentified men, the country's first political assassination since the tumultuous “Baby Doc” era. As the region watched to see not only how the political situation would play out, but if and when the perpetrators would be brought to justice, it was not until October that one of the main suspects in Moïse's murder was held—on immigration charges, no less—in Jamaica.
To add insult to fatal injury, 2021 also saw Haiti experiencing an even stronger earthquake than the one that devastated the country back in 2010, but as always, the Haitian people have proved themselves resolute and innovative in overcoming challenges.
Bermuda's Flora Duffy leads a pack of elite triathletes at the 2012 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup. Photo by Sangudo on Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The Tokyo Olympics took place in the midst of the pandemic, giving athletes who had trained so hard amid such uncertainty a chance to compete.
As far as medal opportunities went, the highlights for Caribbean sporting fans included the outstanding performance by the Jamaican women sprinters, who copped all three medals in the much-anticipated 100-metre final—especially on the heels of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce making her mark as the fastest woman alive—and the emotional win for triathlete Flora Duffy, whose victory gave Bermuda the distinction of being the least populous country ever to win Olympic gold.
Jamaican dub pioneer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Photo by Preetam Slot on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
In a year already punctuated by so many deaths due to the global pandemic, the region had to say its goodbyes to several of its giants this year.
In the realm of arts and culture, these included Jamaican reggae icons Bunny Wailer, Lee “Scratch” Perry and Robbie Shakespeare; the first woman dub poet Jean “Binta” Breeze, and Bert Rose, a driver of Jamaica's independence era dance movement.
Trinidad and Tobago also lost a dance pioneer, Torrance Mohammed, who died in May after falling victim to a violent street robbery. Steelpan arranger Lennox “Bobby” Mohammed (no relation) passed away on the same day, while later in the year saw the deaths of percussionist Peter Telfer, who pioneered the use of African drums in church, and Brother Resistance, who brought the country's unique brand of rapso music into the mainstream. Trinidadian master artist LeRoy Clarke also died this year, 31 years to the day that the country faced an attempted coup, the leader of which would pass away just three months later.
On National Heroes Day, Jamaicans paid tribute to the first Black US Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, who died on October 18 due to complications from COVID-19. Powell's parents were Jamaican immigrants.
In the field of advocacy, the region paid its respects to Trinidadian writer and LGBTQ+ advocate Colin Robinson; Brandy Rodriguez, one of Trinidad and Tobago's most outspoken transgender and LGBTQ+ activists; and Jamaica-based attorney Nancy Anderson, who dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of the region's most vulnerable.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
A certificate for grazing cattle: Empowering Bolivia’s Aymara people by recognizing their work · Global Voices
Ruben Hilari

Photo taken by Ruth Quispe Mamani on August 13, 2021 in Walata Chico, Bolivia, during a certification ceremony for Elias Hilari Mamani, a Walata resident and native authority. Photo used with permission.
In Walata Chico, an Aymara community near La Paz in Bolivia, elder Bernabé Mamani asked one of the technicians in Aymara during a ceremony to award certificates of competence: “jilata, jichhat uksarux titulunikit uywanakx awatxañäni?” which in Spanish means “Brother, this means from now on we will only graze cattle if we have a certificate?”
In September 2020, the Ministry of Education officials announced that from 2008 to August 2021, 68,106 certificates had been issued to people in Bolivia who had never received a formal education but had gained many years of experience in various occupations. In Walata Chico, most people are engaged in agriculture, grazing, trading, making native musical instruments, weaving, and selling and preparing medicinal herbs, among other activities. The certificates are a fair recognition of their work.
Bolivia is a multinational state with several Indigenous communities, such as the Aymara, Urus, Chiquitanos, Guarani, and others, with approximately 62.2 per cent of the population identifying as Indigenous. The Aymara nation has about three million people who live in Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
Although it may seem unusual to award certificates to people who have never had any academic degree, I argue that the certificates contribute to empowering vulnerable populations.
An Aymara producer of tunta (dehydrated potato). Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
First of all, these certificates help improve the communities’ self-esteem by valuing the experience the people have gained in life. Moreover, with these certificates, the residents can access jobs, establish different associations, and apply for bank loans.
The Indigenous peoples have only been able to attend school since the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, and they still do not have access to technical higher education in their communities. Those who want to study have to migrate to the city or travel to distant places. A high percentage of the Aymara population and other native nations did not attend technical or higher education schools and centers but have acquired knowledge and experience.
This type of program exists not only in Bolivia but in several countries in Europe, Latin America, and other continents. In many of these countries, these certificates are awarded from a capitalist perspective, as they only focus on employment in a company and on the employer-worker relationship. Meanwhile, in Bolivia, the certification system has its own approach and benefits the entire population that has been excluded in its own country for centuries. For example, there is no such direct employer-worker relationship in awarding certificates in the Walata community, although this does not preclude certification in many places for work.
Photo taken by Ruth Quispe Mamani on August 13, 2021 in Walata Chico, Bolivia, during a certification ceremony for Faustino Lazo and Juana Hilari Lazo. Photo used with permission.
From our perspective, production does not only refer to something material, as in other countries where modern civilization considers a product only something that is tangible. Production is actually creation, both material and intellectual, for example, the production of a chair and also poetry.
The Bolivian Education Law emphasizes that education is:
productiva  y  territorial,  orientada  a  la  producción  intelectual  y material, al trabajo creador y a la relación armónica de los sistemas de vida y las  comunidades  humanas  en  la  Madre  Tierra,  fortaleciendo  la gestión territorial  de  las  naciones  y  pueblos  indígena  originario  campesinos, las comunidades interculturales y afrobolivianas.
productive and territorial, oriented to intellectual and material production, creative work and the harmonious relationship of life systems and human communities on Mother Earth, strengthening the territorial management by indigenous farming nations and peoples, intercultural communities and Afro-Bolivians.
This law points out that educational practice is based on harmony with living systems and communities to”live well.” This is an Andean concept that focuses on the harmonious balance of the human being with the community, nature, spirituality, family, mind, and body.
The certification process allows a community that was valued before colonization to be revalued in order to be self-sustainable and for the reproduction of “life systems.” This living and inhabited space is the space where jiwasa (us), a human collective, defends and reproduces the life of living beings and nature. In this sense, the economic and political work supports the ownership and valorization of humans.
It is a vital and strategic space to build social and territorial subjects, which is important for the empowerment of the original peoples, who have been excluded in many ways since the invasion of the Spaniards and up to the present time.
Photo taken by Ruth Quispe Mamani on August 13, 2021 in Walata Chico, Bolivia, during a certification ceremony for Emiliana Paulina Cocarico de Mamani and Eusebio Mamani Colonel Mallku. Photo used with permission.
The Regional Plans for Productive Education are also being developed based on the experience of the Ayllu school in Warisata, which integrates the school and the community for production aimed at living together in the community. It is a project that many educational social spaces want to apply, but its feasibility and implementation have not yet been achieved. The multilingual intra- and inter-cultural approach is another characteristic of the educational model that has yet to be fulfilled.
The certification process integrates the territory, its vocations, productive potentialities, and cultural identity, which refers to the way people understand production and social mobilization. This is why we use the word jiwaspacha, which means empowerment, or “ourselves.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ruben Hilari


text:
China’s top propagandist Hu Xijin steps down as The Global Times’ chief editor · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image from Hong Kong Citizen News. Used with permission
Hu Xijin, China’s most well-known and influential propagandist who had been editor-in-chief of the state-run tabloid Global Times for 15 years, announced on Weibo that he had retired from his position on December 16.
For months, Hu had been attacked by his fellow nationalists on Chinese social media leading some to believe that he was compelled to leave for his failure to follow the party spirit.
A number of social media outlets in mainland China revealed that upon Hu’s departure, Global Times would be restructured and two extra positions would be added: news director and executive director. Hearsay among mainland Chinese journalists on WeChat said Fan Zhengwei, 41, former chief editor of the People’s Daily’s commentary section will replace Hu as Global Times’ secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Fan would also take up both the roles of news director and executive director.
As for the position of editor-in-chief, it would be taken up by Wu Qimin, former deputy director of the People’s Daily’s international news section.
Hu Xijin’s profile on Weibo has already changed from Global Times’ chief editor to contributing writer.
Global Times is a daily tabloid newspaper, a subsidiary under the Chinese Communist Party's flagship media outlet, the People's Daily. It publishes about international issues, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, from a nationalistic point of view.
As the party secretary and the paper's editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin was in charge of the paper's day-to-day content and management. It is anticipated that after the restructuring, Fan Zhengwei, would represent the party to oversee the paper's day-to-day operation while the new chief editor will be responsible for content with Fan's supervision.
Rumors about Hu's departure have been circulating among journalists for months. and some have speculated that Hu, 61, may have been forced to retire.
Hu was attacked by many online patriots in May after he criticized a viral Weibo post on an official Central Poli-Legal Commission account that compared a picture of a Chinese rocket launch with a picture of COVID-19 funeral pyres in India with the caption: “China lights a fire VS. India lights a fire.” Hu said the comparison was inappropriate, and backlash poured in. While the offensive Weibo post was deleted, he was attacked by numerous online patriots who called him 聖母婊 (a pretentious “bitch”) or a pretentious public intellectual 公知, terms used to refer to liberals who believe in universal value which are fundamental to human rights.
A more recent controversy surrounded Hu’s attempt to defend computer enterprise Lenovo against allegations made by another nationalist propagandist, Sima Nan, about the company's “cheap” sale of state-owned assets. Hu’s point of view was slammed as an “ideological mistake” and a failure to uphold the party’s spirit because, under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “profound revolution,” the party has to strengthen its control over the private business sector.
The debate later turned into a personal attack with some online commentators suggesting that Hu had made huge personal gains by riding on Global Times’ influence and turning himself into a profitable opinion leader.
Hu reportedly owns a luxurious mansion in Beijing and has a son who emigrated to Canada. Some Chinese patriots consider it offensive and unpatriotic when Chinese citizens move abroad — particularly to Western nations. But Hu denied the relationship and stressed that he only has a daughter who lives in Beijing.
The announcement of his retirement on Weibo attracted sarcastic remarks, with some mockingly suggesting that his retirement plan is to emigrate to the US or another foreign country.
And there are a few serious attacks, too. For example, a popular patriot writer, Liu Jiming, recommended that the propaganda authorities should take over all of Hu's social media accounts:
胡锡进宣布退休了，他的微博、微信公众号、今日头条等自媒体平台并没有退休，是否随着退休，全都“合理合法”地变成了他的个人资产？这些自媒体所拥有的巨大流量和粉丝量，也就是巨额钱财，是否全都变成了胡锡进的私产？胡这些账号从性质上来讲属于国有资产，占有这些资产与贪腐并没有什么本质区别…
Hu Xijin has announced retirement. Yet, his Weibo, Wechat public account, social media outlets such as Today Headlines are still operating. Does it mean that all these outlets would become his personal assets legally after his retirement? All these media outlets have a huge number of followers which can be turned into cash. So these assets are going to be privatized by Hu Xijin? Hu’s accounts should be owned by the state, their privatization is no differ from corruption…
Hu’s critics on Twitter are more moderate, despite his tendency to pick fights with foreign journalists and diplomats through his shocking, aggressive tweets. His retirement was packaged as “breaking news” among journalists and quickly reported by a number of international media outlets.
As pointed out by independent journalist Timothy McLaughlin, Hu’s level of fame is quite remarkable: “Hu Xijin’s retirement getting global coverage pretty unlike anything a media worker or journalist has received in recent memory. In the English language world, this level of fame was only made possible by US social media platforms.”
The news spotlight is on  Hu’s contribution to the mobilization of China’s online patriotism and wolf warrior diplomacy,  an aggressive style of coercive diplomacy:
“Hu Xijin was a pioneer, he was a wolf warrior before there ever were wolf warriors,” said Manoj Kewalramani, author of the Tracking People’s Daily newsletter. “The approach that he first adopted has permeated across the propaganda system.” https://t.co/7yMHPqszfu
— James Griffiths 🇭🇰🏴🇨🇦 (@jgriffiths) December 16, 2021
Many talked about his notorious writing style. Theresa Fallon, a scholar on Euroasia studies, noted some of his more creative insults on Twitter: “Hu Xijin likened Australia to ‘chewing gum stuck on the sole of China’s shoes’ after Canberra joined Washington’s call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, and called the UK a ‘bitch asking for a beating’ after British warships sailed through contested waters last summer.”
His strategy was seemingly successful as his inflammatory tweets usually attracted a large number of comments and much criticism. However, contrary to his colleagues from the propaganda authorities, Hu seldom blocks users or deletes critical comments, even on Weibo — a platform famous for its censoring practices.
And he does have a sense of humor, as CNN reporter @Nectar_Gan pointed out:
As we bid farewell to Hu Xijin, here is proof that he does have a sense of humor.
Photos from Hu's Weibo, apparently taken during his trip to New York back in 2018.https://t.co/89MuOwRbjT pic.twitter.com/35Gpq4tJar
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) December 17, 2021
Hu’s departure is unlikely to change the course of China’s wolf warrior diplomacy, but after the restructuring of Global Times, many expect the paper to become even more aligned with the “party spirit.”

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Hong Kong sees record-low voter turnout in its ‘patriot-only’ Legislative Council elections · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Photo taken at the central polling station. Image from Stand News. Used with permission.
Hong Kong had a record low 30.2 percent voter turnout in its first “patriot-only” Legislative Council elections on December 19, 2021.
Electoral rules imposed by Beijing on March 5 2021 barred all opposition parties from running in the elections; thus, as anticipated, the pro-establishment parties took all the 20 seats in the 10 district direct elections.
The new patriot-only Legislative Council is composed of 90 seats, of which 20 are directly elected, 30 are elected from functional groups, and 40 are mutually elected among the 1,500 members in the election committee.
Ten individuals were arrested before election day, including two people accused of sharing information on election boycotts and casting blank votes.
Despite the crackdown on election boycotts, only 30.2 percent among the city's over 4.4 million registered voters took part in the direct election on Sunday. The turnout rate is the lowest since 1991 when Hong Kong had its first direct Legislative Council election under the British colonial government.
Among all the 1,350,680 votes cast, more than 27,000 are invalid, about 2.04 percent of the total — the highest invalid voting rate in the city's direct election history. David Webb, a share market analyst and retired investment banker, sums up the result in a table and points out on Twitter that the actual voting rate is less than 30 percent:
Total valid votes in #HK LegCo Geographic Constituencies were 29.58% of the electorate. 2.04% of the turnout cast invalid ballots. 70.42% of electorate either didn't show, or cast invalid ballots. pic.twitter.com/fgtR3MmeSB
— Webb-site (@webbhk) December 20, 2021
Online independent media, Stand News, compared the voter turnout rate in 2021 with other direct elections in recent years:
The hourly voter turnout rate in 2021, 2019, 2016, and 2021. Image via the Stand News. Used with permission.
The 2021 turnout rate was 41 percent below the 2019 District Council Elections when a majority of pro-democracy candidates won 86 percent (389 seats) of the total 448 seats. The turnout also dropped by 28 percent compared with the 2016 Legislative Council Elections when the pro-establishment camp won the most votes.
When deducting the number of invalid votes and votes that support the independent and pro-democracy candidates, the pro-establishment party drew about 1,260,000 voters, which is 50,000 more votes than their count in 2019. Yet, given that there has been a net increase of 340,000 registered voters in that time, the 50,000 surplus votes only constitute 15 percent of the first-time voters.
To facilitate mainland China-based voters to cast their ballots, in an unprecedented move, the Hong Kong government set up three border polling stations wherein more than 17,500 votes were collected. The arrangement is highly controversial as members of the public and media were not allowed to monitor the voting process, leading some to believe that it would facilitate vote mongering. As seen from a screenshot of a news report from TVB, the city's most popular free-to-air terrestrial television channel, posted by Twitter user Chris Fung, some border voters wore a standardized red mask with a bauhinia flower on it when they cast their ballots:
Look at this TV update on FAKE election of HK …… Voting at border without verification ? all border's “voters” have the same CCP mask ….#CCPChina is really PUSHING for %, all CCP enterprises forced staff to vote… Ridiculous.#ReleaseMyCandidate @SolomonYue @lukedepulford pic.twitter.com/iPgFwUn3G8
— Chris Fung (@cktfung) December 19, 2021
Chief Executive Carrie Lam described the ballot as a “vote of confidence” for Hong Kong's new electoral system and the city's future when she cast her vote on election day.
As part of the measures to boost the turnout rate, the Hong Kong government offered free public transportation to all citizens. Yet, instead of going to the polling stations, many took the opportunity to travel around the city.
Crowds appeared in several country parks and suburban tourist sites such as Tai Tong, a popular walking trail lined with red maple trees in the Western New Territories:
Crowds at Tai Tong walking trail on the December 19 election day. Image from the Stand News. Used with permission.
While long queues could be observed in subways and bus stations all around the city, the majority of polling stations had very few people. In one of its election reports, Stand News compared the queues outside various polling stations in 2019 and 2021.
@Stand_with_HK, a Twitter-based activist account, compared two photos capturing scenes outside Tuen Mun polling stations in 2019 (left) and 2021 (right) and interpreted the record low voting rate as a form of protest against the “patriot-only” election rules:
2019 Election vs 2021 “Election”
This is Hong Kongers’ way of saying 𝐍𝐎 to this election, this regime, and this “democracy” https://t.co/lVh6NOV2AQ pic.twitter.com/WrfComlMJQ
— Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong. 重光團隊 (@Stand_with_HK) December 20, 2021
State-run media outlets, on the other hand, saw the elections as a great success. For example, the state-owned China Daily headline is “HK gripped by election enthusiasm.”
I actually LOL'd and wondered when Hong Kong got a satirical news website that was actually funny. Then I realized that it was China Daily and LOL'd even harder. h/t @docmartinhk https://t.co/AbXwOWSrv8
— Laurel Chor (@laurelchor) December 19, 2021
Hong Kong-based state-funded Takung Pao used the 98 percent voting rate of the 1,500 voters only election committee constituencies to prove that the patriot-only elections had “made history.”
#CCPChina propaganda claimed that it was 98% voting rate on this LegCo General Election on 12/19/2021 whereas it was actually less than 30% of voters (1.3 voters out of 4.4 registered HK voters). Shameless lies! pic.twitter.com/mA1wVKwWUv
— nevergu2019 (@nevergu2019) December 20, 2021
Human rights activist Johnson Yeung from Amnesty Internation believes that China is taking Hong Kong as a testing site for its version of despotic democracy:
9⃣ #China is trying to redefine democracy, the HK patriots-only election illustrated what Chinese gov's vision of democracy means: suppression, pre-screened, bend the rules, gerrymandering, and Controlled. And of course, Party-led.
— Johnson Yeung 楊政賢😷 (@hkjohnsonyeung) December 20, 2021


text:
Russian peacekeepers promise to oversee return of all Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Armenian PoWs on trial in Azerbaijan. Video report by Civilnet.
This article was first published on JAM News. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
On December 4, 2021, Azerbaijan returned ten Armenian prisoners of war (POW) captured in November 2021, in exchange for maps detailing landmine locations, according to a statement issued by the Azerbaijan State Security Service.
The November clashes were reportedly the worst since the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. Seven Azerbaijani and six Armenian soldiers were killed during the renewed fighting on November 16, 2021. Armenia also reported that more than 30 Armenian servicemen were captured as prisoners of war.
Commenting on the most recent exchange, Deputy Commander of the Southern Military District, Rustam Muradov, said, “the work on the return of captured Armenian soldiers is ongoing at the moment. There are positive signs. There is an understanding. I believe this issue must be completely resolved. And the Russian peacekeepers will bring this matter to an end.”
Muradov oversaw all of the previous prisoner exchanges, even after leaving the post of commander of the peacekeeping contingent. The Russian general also said that he regards returning prisoners “as a civil duty of peacekeepers.”
“As a military man, I understand who the prisoners of war are, what they experienced while in captivity. I remember the first flight, when we left Baku, and the faces of those servicemen when they flew to Yerevan, to the Erebuni airfield. Tearful, they could not believe they made it home,” said Muradov.
Repatriating prisoners of war is a painful issue in Armenian society. According to the ceasefire signed on November 9, 2020, both parties pledged to return all prisoners. However, while Armenia returned all Azerbaijani prisoners, the number of Armenian POWs still in Azerbaijan remains unknown.
Although Azerbaijan has returned more than 100 prisoners so far, according to some estimates, roughly 40–140 Armenian soldiers remain captive in Azerbaijan. Following the clashes in November, the nation captured another 32 soldiers (though ten of them were returned in a recent exchange). The remaining captives are considered “saboteurs” and are subject to Azerbaijan's domestic laws.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, discussed the issue on December 9, saying that within the framework of the peacekeeping operation on the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, the Russian military personnel is now focused on repatriating the prisoners, implementing infrastructure projects, and solving other humanitarian issues.
“The Russian Armed Forces continue to carry out peacekeeping tasks in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than a year ago they managed to stop the bloody war and create conditions for the restoration of peace in the region. In order to reduce tension and observe the ceasefire regime, Russian peacekeepers have organized duty at observation posts and patrols in the area of the peacekeeping operation,” Gerasimov said.
Back in Armenia, the sentiments over remaining prisoners differ. In an interview with Eurasianet, Siranuysh Sahakyan, a human rights activist who is representing the prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights, said, “Our [Armenian] authorities should have understood that the return of prisoners of war isn't subject to negotiation, it's demanded by international law.” Sahakyan also said that the official Yerevan position on the current exchange process has “created an environment that allows Azerbaijan to solve the issue by demanding concessions from Armenia.”
According to reporting by Ani Mejlumyan for Eurasianet, the Armenian government has come under fire recently over the issue of prisoners of war. In a secret video recording distributed on an anonymous Telegram channel that was leaked on December 7, Alen Simonyan, the speaker of parliament and a close ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reportedly said he considered the remaining soldiers deserters.
Although Simonyan later dismissed the video saying it was edited out of context, it did trigger a wave of protests across several cities in Armenia. In Gyumri, Armenia's second-largest city, relatives of some of the soldiers currently in captivity gathered outside the local government building demanding that the government responds. “Alen Simonyan needs to answer us,” one woman said. “We have waited patiently, but our patience has run out now you will see what happens.”
Similar demands were made in the capital Yerevan. “We need our children back. What did Alen Simonyan do yesterday? He sent a message to the Turk [a derogatory term used to refer to Azerbaijanis], saying we have no prisoners of war — to slaughter them. Is he gifting our children to Azerbaijan? I'll put a red ribbon on him and gift him to Azerbaijan,” one of the parents told Armenia's TV Channel 5 reporters.
In an interview with Eurasianet, Benyamin Poghosyan, the head of the Yerevan think tank Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies, said the government might be intentionally portraying remaining prisoners as deserters and criminals in case they can not secure their return in order to prevent “public outrage.”
“They could be doing this because there are no more maps to give and nothing left to trade,” Poghosyan told Eurasianet.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


text:
The International Court of Justice orders Armenia and Azerbaijan to prevent racial hatred · Global Voices
OC Media

“International Court of Justice at The Hague” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
The United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has ordered Armenia and Azerbaijan, to work to “prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred” following last year's 44-day war. The order was issued on December 7, 2021, and involved “officials and institutions” in Azerbaijan and “organizations and private persons” in Armenia according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) reporting.
The two South Caucasus countries announced court proceedings against one another in September 2021. Both accused the other of racial discrimination in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
“CERD is one of the few treaties to which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are both parties, making it a rare international forum in which they could potentially find legal support for the various post-war grievances they hold against one another,” reported Joshua Kuchera for Eurasianet on the recent court decision.
The court also ordered Azerbaijan to protect Armenian cultural sites on its territory from “vandalism and desecration” and to “punish” perpetrators.
The court also called on both countries to “refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.”
The international court did not rule according to the specific requests made by Armenia and Azerbaijan. While it ordered Azerbaijan, “to protect from violence and bodily harm” all Armenian prisoners of war, and “to ensure their security and equality before the law,” it stopped short of ordering their release.
At the same time, the court did not order Armenia to prohibit the use of landmines or require it to hand over landmine maps to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s legal team has argued that Armenia had used landmines in “a longstanding campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
The court ruled that Azerbaijan did not provide evidence proving Armenia’s use of landmines with “the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing” of the rights of Azerbaijani ethnicity or nationality.
“It is unclear what the practical impact of the provisional measures will be, as neither side acknowledges that it is promoting racial hatred,” wrote Joshua Kuchera in his analysis following the court's decision, adding, “the court is likely to take years to weigh in with a final ruling on the claims,” and that, “there is in effect no enforcement mechanism to ensure that the sides carry out the measures ordered of them,” by the court.
Government officials in both countries declared that the rulings vindicated their respective positions.
Following the publication of the Court’s decisions, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which they said that Azerbaijan is “committed to its obligations under international conventions” and that it “will continue to demand that Armenia be held accountable for violations of international law.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, stated that “Armenia will consistently pursue Azerbaijan’s compliance with the Court’s orders, and will inform the Court of any violation.”
According to reporting by RFERL, “The ICJ orders came days after Azerbaijan announced on December 4 that it had freed 10 Armenian soldiers captured during deadly border clashes in mid-November. In return, Armenia handed over maps detailing the location of minefields.”
On November 26, leaders of both countries, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan pledged to ease tensions at a meeting in Sochi.
The two leaders met again on December 15 in Brussels in a meeting hosted by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel where the EU President “welcomed the recent release of ten Armenian detainees by Azerbaijan and the handover of all remaining mine-maps by Armenia,” according to a statement issued after the trilateral meeting.

author: OC Media


text:
The Turkish Lira continues to lose value at a breakneck pace · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

‘Spiral Of Turkish Lira’ by jeffdjevdet, on Flikr (CC BY 2.0)
“Türkiye is the breakout star of the global economic system that is being restructured with the pandemic,” declared Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on December 8. A week later, the lira (TRY), the country's national currency — which was already spinning out of control — tumbled past 17 versus the US dollar. The most recent decline followed the Turkish central bank's fourth interest rate cut in four months.
After the central bank's move, and in what is believed to be an attempt to boost support from his voter base, Erdoğan announced a 50 percent hike in the minimum wage. The monthly net minimum salary will be TRY 4,250 (USD 275) as of 2022. The current minimum wage is TRY 2,826, a figure that converted to USD 380 at the start of the year but has fallen to USD 186, with the lira’s 51 percent depreciation, as reported by online newspaper Gazete Duvar English. On December 17, the minimum wage decreased by another USD 10 according to Gazete Duvar English.
In an interview with The Guardian, Gunay Akil, an Istanbul resident said, “Everything is expensive right now, we barely make ends meet. My family has moved in with my father-in-law to avoid paying rent.”
Financial analysts say, that due to the steep inflation increase, which recently passed 21 percent, the new minimum wage will hardly accommodate rising costs for basic goods and products. Economists are predicting that the inflation rate will jump to near 30 percent next year because of increasing import prices.
Marek Drimal at Societe Generale said in an interview with Reuters that the increase “will fuel inflation pressures further, together with the cumulative impact of the lira's weakness.”
On December 17, “Turkey’s benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index sank 8.5% Friday in its worst day since March, triggering two circuit breakers that halted trades,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The same day, the lira plunged past 17 to one US dollar, the lowest point ever.
On December 18, Turkey's largest business group, TUSIAD urged Erdoğan's government “to abandon a monetary policy based on low rates that has prompted a crash in the lira,” and called for “a return to rules of economic science.” The group added:
As a result of the instability we have been experiencing in recent times, it has become clear that goals under this economic programme that [are] being attempted will not be achieved.
On Sunday, December 19, President Erdoğan responded to the letter as an “attack on the government,” adding, “our government's economic policy is advancing exactly as we determined, apart from temporary volatility in exchange rates.”
Seeing their national currency lose value so drastically, some Turks took their frustrations to Twitter, where dark humor eased some pressure.
Turkish Lira right now #dolar15 #Dolar16TL #asgariucret #ÖğretmenedeYüzde50zam #faizkararı pic.twitter.com/6tRqfyNXZR
— Mohammed Sekouty (@MohammedSekouty) December 16, 2021
Turkish Central Bank ⬇ pic.twitter.com/NPxE0hpfyA
— Can Okar (@canokar) December 17, 2021
On December 19, in a televised comment, President Erdoğan pledged to continue lowering interest rates as required by nas, an Arabic word for Islamic teachings. “We're lowering interest rates. Don't expect anything else from me. As a Muslim, whatever (Islamic teaching) requires I will continue to do that,” he said vowing to lower the inflation rate back to 4 percent. Currently, the inflation rate is hovering around 21 percent and economic analysis predict it will reach 30 percent next year.


text:
Top human rights court finds that the Georgia government violated the European Convention on Human Rights · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

“European Court of Human Rights” by Katrinitsa is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17, 2013, some 50 queer rights activists were confronted in the capital Tbilisi by thousands of counter-demonstrators led by Georgian Orthodox priests. Despite heavy police presence in the area, counter-demonstrators arrived, some carrying rocks and metal gratings, and eventually broke through police lines to attack and chase queer rights activists, hurling rocks and eggs. Over eight years later, the European Court of Human Rights has finally condemned the attacks on queer citizens and the government's inaction.
Remembering the attacks and the hostile environment from that day, Giorgi Kikonishvili, one of the protest participants, wrote for OC Media:
I couldn’t believe it, are they throwing stones at us? Are they stoning us alive? I found myself rushing to the yellow evacuation buses. I looked back at the square and saw tens of thousands of people approaching like a tsunami aiming to destroy us. I couldn’t scream, I was just running and had one phrase in my mind: ‘We are too young for this to truly happen!’
Despite demands to investigate the attack, the local authorities in Georgia failed to do so.
In November 2013, a group of 27 people lodged a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights alleging that the authorities failed to protect them from the mob or carry out a proper investigation afterward. The applicants complained that the government violated the European Convention on Human Rights Article 11  (freedom of association) in conjunction with Article 14 (protection from discrimination).
On December 16, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that there had been a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) in conjunction with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 11 (freedom of association) in conjunction with Article 14 of the convention.
The Court noted:
The Court called into question the independence and impartiality of the investigation into the violence against the applicants, noting that it had been carried out by the same unit of the Ministry of the Interior which had been responsible for ensuring safety at the rally.
Furthermore, even if two separate criminal cases had been opened, no tangible results had been achieved in either.
Such protraction exposed the authorities’ long-standing failure – perhaps unwillingness – to investigate homophobic and/or transphobic violence. It was imperative that the authorities investigate the possibility that discrimination played a part in the commission of an offence, given the well-documented hostility against the LGBT community in Georgia at the time.
It therefore held that the domestic authorities had failed to conduct a proper investigation into the hate-motivated ill-treatment of the 27 applicants, in violation of Article 3 read together with Article 14 of the Convention.
Tsiala Ratiani, a lawyer from the Women's Initiative Support Group (WISG) who represented 16 of the applicants in Strasbourg, hailed the ruling. In an interview with OC Media, Ratiani said, “In this particular case, the Strasbourg court found that the state had failed to ensure the safety of the people. There was both torture and discrimination against queer people.”
The recent ruling comes five months after a planned queer pride march in Tbilisi was called off when violent homophobic protesters once again took to the streets. At least 53 journalists were injured while covering the protest. One journalist, Aleksandre Lashkarava, 37, died a week later as a result of injuries sustained during the demonstrations.
In an interview with OC Media, Ana Subeliani, the co-director of Tbilisi Pride, the organizers of this summer's canceled pride march, said the top human rights court's decision was “historical.”
“It proves that, unfortunately, we have a systemic failure in Georgia regarding LGBT issues and that the situation in this regard is deteriorating with each year.”
The Court ordered the Georgian government to distribute EUR 195,000 (USD 220,000) among the victims.


text:
Turkey announces new steps to normalize ties with Armenia · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu at a joint press conference in Moscow, March 14, 2018. Photo by МИД России/MFA Russia on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 )
During his address to the national parliament, on December 13, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that Turkey was ready to normalize ties with Armenia. The new breakthrough includes mutually appointed envoys, and the resumption of charter flights between Istanbul and Armenia's capital, Yerevan, according to the foreign minister. The December 13 announcement comes just months after a series of positive diplomatic signs between Turkey and Armenia.
The steps could signal an end to the icy relations that have plagued the two nations for over 30 years. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during the first Karabakh war in a show of solidarity with its long-time ally Azerbaijan. But it was not just the closed borders that hindered the ties between the two countries. According to Talha Köse, an Associate Professor in the Ibn Haldun University Political Science Department, “bilateral historical mistrust, negative perceptions, geopolitical confrontations during and after the Cold War and the lack of trade cooperation” also had a role to play. The two countries never even exchanged ambassadors.
The day after Cavusoglu's remarks, Armenia's foreign ministry spokesperson, Vahan Hunanyan, confirmed their readiness for dialogue:
Armenia has always been and remains ready for the process of normalization of relations with Turkey without preconditions, which is enshrined in the program of the Government of Armenia. In this regard, we assess positively the statement of the Foreign Minister of Turkey on the appointment of a special representative for the normalization of relations, and confirm that the Armenian side also will appoint a special representative for the dialogue.
Ankara said it was appointing Serdar Kilic as its envoy while Armenia has yet to name one.
Some regard the move as an attempt to improve Turkey's desperate economic situation and also bolster its relations with the US, which have been strained since Turkey purchased defense missiles from Russia — but others disagree.
Veteran journalist, Cengiz Candar wrote recently that the country's decision to change its course with regard to Armenia had nothing to do with reaping foreign policy or economic benefits. Candar wrote that it was “the shift in the balance of power in the South Caucasus” that “has driven Turkey and Armenia to normalize their decisions.”
Turkey and Armenia were close to finding some common ground in 2008 after representatives from each nation met in Zurich and agreed to a series of protocols designed to normalize relations between the two countries.
Following the meeting, Turkey's then-President Abdullah Gul traveled to Yerevan to watch the first of the two qualifying World Cup matches between Turkey and Armenia. A year later, then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, traveled to Turkey's province of Bursa to watch another football game between the two national teams. These visits were described at the time as “football diplomacy.”
The negotiations eventually fell through after Turkey withdrew due to mounting pressure from Azerbaijan. Armenia formally declared the protocols null and void in 2018.
Now, the chances of Azerbaijan interfering are slim. “Before Armenia's withdrawal from this region, Baku saw Turkey's opening of the borders as a betrayal and harshly criticized it. Now, after the truce, this issue is off the table and it won't be a surprise to see a milder tone from Azerbaijan than in 2009,” said Ankara-based political analyst Hasan Selim Özertem in an interview with Eurasianet.
“Establishment of diplomatic ties and unlocking the borders are of critical significance for Ankara to realize its strategic aspirations in the South Caucasus and beyond,” wrote Turkish journalist Fehim Tastekin for AlMonitor recently.
But this is also a “painful topic,” in Armenia, according to reporting by the regional news platform JamNews. The issue of Turkey not recognizing the events of 1915, the absence of diplomatic relations, and Turkey's support of Azerbaijan during the 2020 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh War, makes it impossible for many Armenians to view Turkey as an ally.
When addressing the parliament, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey would consult Azerbaijan at every step, conveying a clear message that, unlike the 2009 Zurich protocols, Ankara will not keep Baku in the dark, wrote journalist Amberin Zaman for AlMonitor on December 15. “In so doing, Ankara is effectively linking progress in its own dealings with Yerevan to progress between Azerbaijan and Armenia to strike a comprehensive peace deal of their own, which is far from assured,” wrote Zaman.
The involvement of Azerbaijan is something that is received with caution in Armenia. “Most Armenian analysts and officials believe that Yerevan should pursue normalization with Ankara one on one, without Russia, Azerbaijan, or anyone else getting involved. Turkey, meanwhile, appears to be more interested in pursuing normalization in the framework of its proposed “3+3″ platform, a regional body made up of the South Caucasus states and their neighbors: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, plus Iran, Russia, and Turkey,” wrote journalist Ani Mejlumyan for Eurasianet.
Beyond the diplomatic framework, Turkey is also interested in the potential economic prospects. According to the final point of the trilateral deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and co-signed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in November 2020, “all economic and transport connections in the region shall be unblocked.”
“At issue is a series of transport routes that have been closed since the early 1990s, cutting off Armenia and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan from international access. If these closed routes are all ‘unblocked,’ as the agreement stipulates, the most noticeable impact will be a reactivated north-south route that runs from Russia to Armenia and Iran via Azerbaijan,” wrote Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. “A new good-quality rail network with minimal border controls would also boost east-west trade, especially if the Armenia-Turkey border, closed since 1993, is reopened,” noted de Waal.
The fragile Turkey-Armenia normalization process could be derailed at any moment, though Candar suggested the following steps could further strengthen the process:
First, the Armenian and Turkish special envoys will meet to discuss the opening of the land border. The process will probably be followed with the Turkish flag carrier’s landing on the tarmac of the international airport in the Armenian capital. The following step might be the appointment of ambassadors. If all of these are achieved, the railroad link between Armenia and Turkey, linking the latter with Azerbaijan, could be expected.


text:
In Russia, an ongoing battle for the future of science · Global Voices
openDemocracy Russia

Moscow Lomonosov State University, aerial view. Image by I.s.kopytov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
This analysis article by Anna Rara-Avis appeared on OpenDemocracy on December 15, 2021. It is republished as part of a content-sharing partnership and has been edited to fit the GV style.
In an attempt to improve the life of Russian universities, the government and the ministry of education are creating new projects and programmes, issuing more orders, introducing additional rules and releasing new grants. Just two or three more government decisions, it seems, and we will find ourselves on target: Russian universities and scientific institutions will break into the international rankings, and attract the world’s leading professors and students.
But something is going wrong. Experts usually say that underfunding is the main problem for science and education in Russia. As UNESCO recently noted, the share of Russian state spending on science has declined in recent years: it was 1.07 percent of Russia’s GDP in 2014, but 0.99 percent in 2018. While there are plans to raise spending (to 1.2 percent of GDP by 2024), Russia’s state audit chamber notes that countries with developed scientific and technological capacities spend more than 3 percent.
But there is another problem that is fundamentally hampering Russian science, and it is barely mentioned. A serious lack of freedom of speech hampers the work of Russian researchers and university staff.
Polls asking whether people are afraid to express their opinion in public happen rarely in Russia. But in a country where hundreds are prosecuted every year for making political statements online or taking part in protests, such data can be illuminating.
The last high-profile study on this topic was published in 2016 by the polling organisation Levada Center. A quarter of respondents (26 percent, of which 6 percent were ‘definite’) said they were afraid to express their views on the state of affairs in Russia in opinion polls, 23 percent in conversations with colleagues, and 17 percent with relatives and friends.
The majority of respondents (56 percent) explained their wary attitude to polls by citing possible negative consequences for themselves. It’s difficult to say how this dynamic has changed as there has been no further research, but political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya has argued that “caution” is “the new norm of social behaviour” in Russian society.
Russia’s so-called “syndrome of public silence” applies not only to the ‘average citizen’, but also to the country’s universities. Even staff who are supposed to communicate directly and openly with different audiences (for example, vice-rectors who need to work with students) prefer to minimise public discussions and not express their opinion.
Yet teachers are silent not only in the classroom. They are also quiet in administration meetings, academic councils and surveys conducted by senior management – and even on social media. It is deemed appropriate to share information about your successes and achievements, but unacceptable to talk about problems or to criticise management decisions.
To an extent, Russian academia’s public silence is the result of university regulations on the principles of professional conduct. These can restrict or shape comments made in public by employees (including on social media). Universities can write these regulations in different ways, but, in general, the main argument is that a university should focus on science and leave politics alone.
Thus, the head of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, believes that banning students and employees of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics from making public statements, including signing open letters, is not a restriction on freedom of speech. According to Fadeev, this ban is only “an attempt to minimise politicisation and attacks” on the university, which is ranked among the top 25 in the world, and has found itself at the centre of political scandals in recent years.
However, these regulations are not always prohibitive. University staff often engage in self-censorship. In November, I surveyed members of a Facebook group dedicated to Russian higher education issues (with almost 10,000 members). I asked an open-ended question similar to the one that was asked by the Levada Center in 2016: “Do you think your colleagues, representatives of the field of science and education, are afraid to publicly express their views on the current situation in the country?”
This is the answer that received the most ‘likes’:
Definitely yes. You’re always looking over your shoulder when you write your opinion on a particular issue. It is not even discussed. It’s really scary to write and you can’t write the whole truth. This is due to the general political situation in the country. Nobody wants to go to prison for approving of someone’s opinion or expressing your own. It’s also about a lack of understanding of the rules of the game, what can and what can’t be said. Even to write this post now is scary…
Other responses included:
It seems to me that before Perestroika [the wave of economic and political change that swept the Soviet Union during the 1980s] it was easier. The rules of the game were much clearer. To criticise the authorities in public was simply prohibited. But now it’s not clear, sometimes you read [a post online] – and think, surely this person will go to prison. And sometimes you find out that someone just ‘liked’ some silly post online and now they’re being prosecuted.
One commenter noted:
After the collapse of the judicial system in January/February this year [following countrywide protests against the jailing of opposition politician Alexey Navalny], I stopped expressing my opinion in public, since you can be jailed even for reposting a joke.
Another group member said:
We don’t have any opposition people at our university. But we do see the opposite. There are some teachers (obviously ‘plants’) who discuss how good it was in the Soviet Union or how bad the US is with students. And they do it very aggressively, to the point where students sometimes make complaints about them.
This kind of extreme caution hinders the development of Russian society. Views, ideas and opinions that could be expressed by educated, intelligent people and conveyed to the general public fail to find their audience. Those who used to be called ‘the elite’, those who used to shape public opinion, are forced to remain silent.
It is not entirely clear why representatives of the humanities, sociologists, political scientists – whose tasks include a critical understanding of reality – are needed in Russian society any more. But it is no easier for those who work in the technical sciences, where people have been accused of disclosing state secrets.
Russian academics’ silence is also bound up with their increasingly precarious employment status. First, people on short-term contracts – a common feature – may find that their contracts are simply not renewed. Grounds for dismissal are usually tied to formal indicators, but they are also a convenient tool for putting pressure on employees who indulge in excessive freedom of speech or acts of political solidarity.
Second, precarious employment is characterised by weak social protection. In most Russian universities, if you lose your job, you are threatened with long-term loss of employment. When there is only one university in a city, it is almost impossible to move jobs – unless you change your career trajectory by getting a job in a completely different profession. Income is unstable: at most universities, the grounds for paying bonuses are extremely volatile and not always realistic. A quote from our survey illustrates this well:
Now it is very dangerous to say what you think, how things really are. In universities, external approval does not mean anything. People are just really afraid. Losing a job now in some cities, especially small and medium-sized ones, is almost equivalent to physical death.
One consequence of this insecurity is that university staff will acquiesce to unreasonable demands, such as the number of academic publications, and don’t make the slightest attempt to defend their rights. Some universities, along with the need to publish a certain number of articles, have also introduced citation requirements. At the beginning of the academic year, employees must declare how many times their articles will be mentioned in other publications over the next 12 months. It is not uncommon for university staff to add the name of their rector to all their scientific publications. As a result, staff fake scientific publications, scientific citations – science in general – without offering any resistance to these unethical practices.
Unfortunately, in pursuit of quantity over quality of publications, Russian universities regularly reward their employees with bonus payments for almost any violation of ethics: for plagiarism; for articles that are, in fact, rubbish; and for articles they have bought online. A researcher can simulate publication activity in a variety of ways, and in most cases this practice will be supported, because universities have to report back to government ministries on their publication numbers.
The lack of freedom of expression also makes it impossible to express professional solidarity. The recent arrest of Sergey Zuev – rector at the Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences, a leading sociological centre – showed that it’s not just brave and respectable people who can express public support in difficult situations. It’s also whether you have enough status to protect yourself.
External constraints and self-censorship are not the only reasons that university staff cannot afford to express solidarity; they’re in a vulnerable position where their main challenge is to keep their jobs. As a result, they look unkindly at those who call for change, because even the little that they have will be taken away.
Managers rejoice at having these kinds of subordinates. There’s no whining, no criticism, just continuous approval, and, if you don’t delve into what is going on, there is an appearance of activity. This is how the management cycle is formed: cautious people recruit cautious people to work for them, and caution becomes the main ‘value’ in higher education.
One way to reduce the precariousness of scientific work is through reliable and transparent funding – preferably from different sources. However, many foreign foundations have been forced to leave Russia, and cooperation with those that remain carries risks – you could obtain funding and then be declared a “foreign agent”. This means that the current system of public procurement and grants only increases the dependence of university staff on the Russian authorities. Our survey responses echo these findings:
I know about a real case when a professor went to a rally, and the ministry decided to stop funding a grant he was working on (note: as part of a team of scientists). To discourage others.
It is worth mentioning Russia’s system of state procurement in science and education, specifically for research and development and analytical reports – which tend to not have clear final assessment results. The final assessment often comes down to the opinion of an expert, where the word of one expert can be put against the word of another. This makes these kinds of contracts prone to corruption, as it is unclear which ‘experts’ can be trusted – and a police investigation usually decides (based on their own ‘expertise’). In such cases, corruption investigations are immediately initiated, often leading to the arrest of university staff on suspicion of embezzlement.
Indeed, it seems that grants and public procurement are gradually becoming a lever of pressure. Scientific work is now organised so that it is not possible to receive foreign grants, only Russian state grants and state tenders – and taking them makes you a hostage.
Is change for the better possible? Undoubtedly. We must start with the decriminalisation of disputes relating to public procurement and grants; a tolerant attitude towards freedom of speech; and an increase in the status of scientists in our country, and their social protection. To achieve this, political will is needed, but also courage, and a willingness to look not only at reports, but also at facts.
As long as the Russian government is afraid of science and tries to force it to remain silent, science in Russia will not advance. To raise Russian science and education to positions of global prominence, we need people who can adapt and survive, but also people with their own opinions, secure in their knowledge and self-esteem. We don’t need people who waste their potential on generating unnecessary reports and faking scientific activity.

author: openDemocracy Russia


text:
Malawian scientist who forewarned about Omicron-type variant speaks out · Global Voices
Steve Sharra

Dr. Gama Bandawe. Photo credit: Malawi University of Science and Technology. Used with permission.
In August 2021, Dr. Gama Bandawe, a Malawian scientist, warned of the likelihood of a coronavirus variant that could result from huge numbers of people not accessing coronavirus vaccines.
I just want to go on record to say that the large numbers of unvaccinated people in many parts of Africa make it extremely likely that there's going to be a deadly variant that will emerge from the continent that will cause lots of further drama across the globe.
Thank you
— Gama Bandawe 🇲🇼 (@GamaBee) July 31, 2021
Bandawe's prediction came to pass four months later. On Nov. 25, South African health minister Joe Phaahla announced the detection of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country’s Gauteng province, which is more transmissible than past variants, although Dr. Bandawe explains that scientists still don't know how lethal it is once someone is infected.
In this interview, Dr. Bandawe explains the science behind viral mutations and the naming of viruses, comments on the futility of government policy actions, and describes Malawi's capacity to detect variants, including Omicron.
Dr. Gama Bandawe. Image used with his permission.
Dr. Gama Bandawe is a medical virologist and head of the Department of Biological Sciences in the Academy of Medical Sciences at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, where he is a senior lecturer. He holds a Ph.D. in medical virology, from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is currently doing basic research into COVID-19 in Malawi, and sits on the Diagnostics Subcommittee of the Presidential COVID-19 Taskforce as well as the Malawi Genomic Sequencing Committee.
On Dec. 5, 2021, Global Voices caught up with Dr. Gama Bandawe at the Malawi University of Science and Technology and asked him to explain to non-specialist audiences the science behind the warning he gave in his Aug. 1 tweet. We were curious if the “deadly variant” he warned the world about was the same as the Omicron variant. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Gama Bandawe (GB): So at the time, I was quite frustrated that while there were some scientists and collaborators of mine that were interested and were actually taking action on the issue of vaccine inequality, there was still a kind of reluctance by many to pay attention to the issue and locally as well, people didn't really seem to see the urgency of the situation.
It's really simple. The virus mutates when it infects someone. So each new infection is a chance for the virus to pick up new mutations and become a new variant. The more infections there are, the more likely it is that a variant will emerge and the less vaccination there is, the more infections you will get. Also, when an unvaccinated person is infected, there is more virus and for longer, so chances are just higher that these new variants will emerge. Now when you actually take a closer look, you will see that the virus has picked up pieces of genetic material found in viruses that cause the common cold (another coronavirus) and even HIV probably because it was in someone who was infected by these viruses at the same time. The virus is basically being given free range to explore new combinations, mix and match with other viruses and just evolve further.
So yes, Omicron is definitely the type of thing I was warning about, although I want to be clear that it may not even be the main one because we don't know where it emerged. It may not even have emerged in Africa for all we know.
Dr. Bandawe's tweet received 133 retweets, 16 quote tweets, and 316 likes. However, this did not reveal the kind of reaction he received from fellow scientists or policymakers.
GV: Was there any interest in doing something practical about the problem?
GB: It was very interesting the reaction I got. A few people I know and interact with retweeted it initially and it was only when someone retweeted in the wake of the discovery of Omicron that it really got any traction. So it was nice to be vindicated in some ways but there's a lot more I see coming which isn't great. I think the issue might be a little tricky for some global scientific leaders to handle to be honest because when discussing this issue many seem to feel that the real interesting story is figuring out what the immune reaction to the virus is all about rather than the emergence of variants. I think both issues are equally important because they play such an important role in the future of vaccination.
Perhaps I'm a little biased because my background has been so much in looking at viral diversity. But to answer your question, yes, there are so many efforts people are putting together to tackle this issue, even here in Malawi. We always wish we had much more resources and capacity but kudos to those people in positions that are doing all that they can. I do think that we can do a whole lot more to inform people and encourage people to get vaccinated and increase access to vaccines from our political leaders. I hope that the vaccine hoarding, withholding of vaccine IP and the blatant racism and lack of sense in some of the responses we are seeing to Omicron will help us really see that we really can't rely on anyone to act and do things for us, we have to get organised and make a big noise if we are to stand any chance.
The Malawian scientist also explained what goes into naming viruses and their variants:
GB: This has an interesting history and the issues related to this still persist. If you recall, the former U.S. president [Donald Trump] tried as hard as he could to label SARS-CoV-2 the “China virus” and the variants that were the first to emerge were called the UK, Brazil and South African variants. This is obviously problematic because people will always try to use this situation for political mileage and there is an awful lot of fear mongering, racism and other such stuff going on. Actually in virology, naming of viruses has been a constant issue since it is a field that is uncovering new viruses and variants constantly.
People disagree on the naming, or name the same thing differently depending on who claims to have seen it first, etc. So there is actually a committee called the ICTV (International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses) that settles matters relating to virus classification and naming and I think they were involved in the initial naming of the virus as SARS-CoV-2. Variants were named after lineages as described depending on the tools used to assign the lineages but these numbers and letters were often ignored and the viruses were named after the places they were described at first.
The WHO and others decided that with the expected continued emergence of variants it would be better to name them after the letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid any stigmatisation if the naming was related to location. Also, and this is important, being the first to identify and name a variant does NOT mean the variant emerged in that particular location. In this case for example, South Africa is being punished for being so good at finding and detecting variants. The country has an amazing infrastructure built up over the years from fighting HIV and TB so it's better at detecting variants than most “big” science countries actually.
Global Voices further inquired how the scientific community could collaborate with the policymaking community to deal with this new variant, in ways that are not being done already:
GB: Well I think that scientists really need to help the policymakers do the actual things that will help us deal with the pandemic rather than push their own particular agendas. What we are seeing will continue I'm afraid and so far, our responses have been very selfish and nationalistic and therefore very short sighted in my view. I think everything that can be done has already been suggested, I don't have any clever new idea to share but I do wish we would listen a bit more to the experts.
Dr. Bandawe also weighed in on the effectiveness of the travel bans announced by governments in dealing with this pandemic:
GB: Total waste of time. This variant has been around for many weeks and is already being found in the very same places that are banning others. There is also no real sound logic or reasoning behind many of the bans. It really is just an excuse to be racist and xenophobic for many. Now we are seeing things like Canada saying they will no longer accept a negative PCR result from countries like Malawi and South Africa. I mean, that is just completely ridiculous and unhelpful to anyone. We have blatant attempts by some in the Global North to make COVID an African disease and this sort of myopic approach just helps absolutely nobody. I wish I could say I was shocked but back in March 2020, as I first started to really contemplate the world we now find ourselves in, I warned that we can expect to start to see this sort of thing pretty soon.
The best and worst-case scenarios that might unfold in the coming weeks, with regard to the Omicron variant, and the coronavirus:
GB: It's really hard to predict but I would say that at best, we will find that Omicron is really mild and that the virus is tempering its pathogenicity. This would mean that with time, the infection will be much less severe and harmful and we will slowly learn to deal with it.
The worst case scenario would be if the variant is very pathogenic and causes severe disease but also escapes vaccine induced immune responses. This would make the vaccines less effective and also force us to reevaluate the vaccines we have. This issue remains a threat with each subsequent wave and emergence of new variants. I know that it seems that the risk of reinfection with this variant is already shown to be high. This is not a good sign.
But once again here, we can take lessons from what we have been trying to do with HIV which mutates so much faster than this virus. We need to design a vaccine that is based on all the bits of the virus spike protein that do NOT change and effectively get a variant proof vaccine. I know that some of the leading groups are already hard at work on this issue. So there may be some good hope but it is clear to me that we will have to overcome a lot of selfishness, political interests, global geopolitics, inequality and racism as well as economic and social unrest along the way.

author: Steve Sharra


text:
Turkish pop star angers the public with tone-deaf comments on current economic crisis · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Hulya Avsar speaking to reporters. Screenshot from TV100 video report.
“If they have to, they will eat simit,” said Turkish pop star Hülya Avşar in an interview with local media about Turkey's current financial crisis. Simit is a Turkish bagel, a common street food across the country. But even simit costs have spiked in December after prices for a kilogram of sesame seeds went from TRY 13 to TRY 35. The singer faced an immediate barrage of criticism, and her comments reminded many of the infamous expression, “let them eat cake.” Marie Antoinette was briefly trending on Turkish Twitter.
“Let them eat simit!” pic.twitter.com/ExPreP86gC
— Can Okar (@canokar) December 20, 2021
“Let them eat simit” – Marie Antoinette pic.twitter.com/zqDrcG0xWy
— Akademik Ahlak Türkiye / Academic Integrity Turkey (@AcademikAhlak) December 19, 2021
Turkey's national currency has been losing value at a breakneck pace as inflation reached 20 percent this month, with analysts predicting another 10 percent spike next year.
Avşar was caught on camera answering reporters’ questions about the lira's crash and increasing poverty when she reportedly said, “The economic crisis has certainly an impact on everyone and every fraction. [Now people are saying], ‘Are we going to eat simit now?’ If necessary, it will be eaten, but we will get through these days easier. People should handle it now individually.”
Many Turks are struggling to afford basic goods such as bread, with long lines reportedly forming outside subsidized bread kiosks. In an interview with The New York Times, one Istanbul resident, Sengul Essen, 57, said, “People cannot manage. I worked 21 years as a cleaner at the university, and now I am waiting in a bread queue.” Another resident, an electrician, said his family can hardly make ends meet on his 2,900 lire per month salary, which at the current exchange rate totals to USD 207.
Back on Twitter, some called Avşar out of touch and criticized her lavish lifestyle.
Gerekirse botox yaptırmayacağız ama bu süreci kolay atlatacağız. Hülya Avşar .
— Gönül Yılman Saygan (@GonulSY) December 20, 2021
If there is need, we won't do botox but we will overcome this period.
Some users alluded to the TRY 55 million island that the singer bought last year for her daughter.
Hülya Avşar;Gerekirse simit yenecek,diyor
Ya utanmıyorsunuz da,bari susun!
Geçen yıl 55 milyona ada, üç gün önce 5 milyona araba alan bu kadın,simitin ekmekten daha pahalı olduğunu,bebeklerin sekerli su ile ıslatılan bayat ekmekle beslendiğinden habersiz
pic.twitter.com/NCvjCd0Sj6
— Salim Şen (@Saliimsen) December 20, 2021
Hülya Avşar says that if necessary, simit will be eaten. If you have no shame, at least shut up! This woman, who bought an island for 55 million last year and a car for 5 million three days ago, is unaware that bagels are more expensive than bread and that babies are fed stale bread soaked in sugar water.
Back on the street, the sentiments of Turks tell it all. Speaking to The New York Times, one street vendor who sells simits was stunned by the price hikes, saying, “I think the end of the world is coming.”


text:
Not just ‘Jingle Bells:’ Listen to these Christmas songs from Latin America · Global Voices
Melissa Vida, Fabiola Gutiérrez, Belen Febres, Lully, Fernanda Canofre, Kelly Chaib De Mares, Gabriela Mesones Rojo, Talita Fernandes, Aza Delgado Orduño, Luis Rodriguez

Freepik/Freepik License
What is known today as Latin America is a very diverse region in terms of languages, cultures, peoples, and music, including Christmas songs. Here we selected eleven songs that you can't miss for Christmas and New Year's Eve festivities.
Some are for dancing, others for reminiscing, and yet others include political demands (and sometimes it's all three at once). Some come from the Anglo-Saxon world, and others reflect local cultures. Some showcase Catholic sentiments and many are the product of European colonization, globalization, and syncretism.
Listen to Global Voices’ Christmas playlist with songs from Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil.
In Mexico, families often come together at Christmas to remember the moments when families were more united and without empty seats at the tables during the Christmas dinner. That's why, in order to pay respect to absent relatives, we play the music they liked during the Christmas holidays. Performers such as Tony Camargo and Luis Miguel are among the most listened to singers in Mexico during festivities; the song “El Año Viejo” is iconic for its lyrics and rhythm, and also reveals the cultural union of Latin Americans, since the author is Colombian.
During the 1950s, the group La Sonora Matancera became very popular in Cuba. Among the most outstanding and notorious voices of the group were the singer Celia Cruz and her husband, trumpeter Pedro Knight.
At that time, Christmas was celebrated in Cuba as in most of the countries of the Western Hemisphere where Christian sentiments were deeply rooted in the population. With the arrival of the Cuban Revolution and communism, state atheism was imposed and traditions such as Christmas were prohibited.
It would not be until 1998 with the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba that Christmas celebrations resumed, but even in the strongest decades of communism on the island, the vast majority of Cubans listened to those unforgettable Christmas songs discreetly. Families enjoy the typical roast suckling pig at the end of the year, seduced by the melodious Cuban sounds.
The vallenato, Colombia's native musical genre that blends European, Indigenous, and African influences, enlivens every Colombian gathering, and the holiday season is no exception. Guillermo Buitrago, one of the pioneers of its popularization, was the creator of this immortal tune: La Víspera de Año Nuevo (New Year's Eve).
Like many songs, it tells the story of forbidden love, but in this special case, it is about a couple of young lovers who decide to escape from their families to celebrate New Year's Eve together. The song included in this list is the version of Los 50 de Joselito, an orchestra that was born 23 years ago to rescue the vallenato music of the '50s, and which every December, without fail, releases a new version to make Colombians dance no matter where they are in the world.
La Grey Zuliana is one of the hymns of the gaita zuliana, a style of Venezuelan music named after the state where it comes from and quintessential Christmas music. The song speaks of the devotion to the Virgin of Chiquinquirá and the struggle of the people of the state of Zulia for the state to be recognized and taken into account by national politicians.
Although the gaita zuliana was born in northern Venezuela, in the state of Zulia, its genre became popular throughout the country and has been declared a heritage of cultural and artistic interest. Some consider that the first gaita music from around 1660 was religious; others consider that the beginning of the gaita was the protest music of the early 19th century. However, it was not until 1960 that the first record was commercialized in Venezuela with the collaboration of Ramón Bracho Lozano and José Mavárez.
The soundtrack of a Bolivian Christmas includes cumbia carols and Anglo-Saxon music. It is common in supermarkets to hear the catchy sounds of deep-voiced, English Jingle Bells songs. This contrasts with the high-pitched voice of the cumbia-like versions in Spanish of Mi Burrito Sabanero, a Venezuelan carol played on public transport.
Both songs have been included in the Navidad Camba playlist, another example of how different cultures coexist in Bolivia as a result of colonization, globalization, and syncretism. This playlist contains fifteen Christmas songs played by Banda Chiquichá, a typical Bolivian lowland musical group that includes percussion and wind instruments.
In El Salvador, as in many Latin American countries, cumbias from past decades are a must during the end-of-the-year celebrations. In this case, the famous Salvadoran orchestra Los Hermanos Flores narrates the melancholy of many Salvadoran families separated by decades of forced migration, but with a danceable and joyful rhythm that reminds us of the need to accept the range of emotions that accompany the Christmas season. And so they toast to “the one who is absent, may he be present next year, let's wish him good luck, and may God keep him from death.” With these cumbias, Salvadoran families celebrate each New Year's Eve by eating elaborate turkey buns (panes con pavo), throwing small firecrackers in the street, and as is customary, going to greet neighbors.
The Brazilian Portuguese version of John Lennon's “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” divides opinions and people love to hate it in Brazil, but it is the song that announces that the Christmas season has arrived in the country, amid jokes and memes. The version of Simone was released in 1995, within an album titled “25 de diciembre.“
The memes often joke with the song's opening lines, “So it's Christmas, and what have you done?”. In 2020, Veja magazine asked the singer how she dealt with the jokes, and Simone replied:
“Few people know that it's called Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and that it was composed by John Lennon. With him, everyone thinks it's beautiful. If John Lennon can do it, why can't I? Respect me. I've been in my career for 47 years.
In Colombia, this song became very famous in 1970, when it was interpreted in the voice of Marco Tulio Aicardi Rivera, better known as Rodolfo Aicardi, with the orchestra he founded, Los Hispanos. Year after year, Adonay is an inspiration for parties and events and is a must every December.
Although his music is festive and encourages dancing and joy, his lyrics lead us to think about nostalgia and the love that could not be. The musician said that he met a woman named Adonay, to whom he proposed romance, but one day he never saw her again. Part of the lyrics are: “Adonay, why did you marry, Adonay, Adonay, why didn't you wait for my love (…)”.
This danceable hit still generates great curiosity among Colombians, who repeat the author's question about the reason why Adonay got married to someone else. So don't be surprised if you see users on social media posing this question as well.
Some of the best-known Christmas songs in Ecuador are attributed to national composer Salvador Bustamante Celi and performed by Luis and Juan Trujillo, also known as “Los Pibes Trujillo.” Many of these songs were recorded in the 1960s, and most of them talk about the birth of Jesus.
“The baby boy is about to come, playing among the flowers, and the little birds are singing to him with love” or “Sweet Jesus, my adored child, sweet Jesus, my adored child, come to our souls baby boy, come, don't take so long” are some of the most sung lyrics during this time of the year in Ecuador.
However, Ecuador is home to 18 peoples and 14 nations, and many of Ecuador's Christmas songs also represent this richness and the syncretism of cultures and beliefs, such as La Llegada del Niño Montubio (The Arrival of the Montubio Boy) by Jhony García Coque.
In Brazil, one of the most popular musical attractions is the “Roberto Carlos Special,” a musical concert that singer Roberto Carlos, known as the “King,” performs at Christmas time and which is broadcasted by the country's largest television network, TV Globo. An icon of the Brazilian cultural movement of the 1960s known as Jovem Guarda (Young Generation), Roberto Carlos and his songs have influenced generations with their rock influences and romantic and nostalgic lyrics.
Emoções (Emotions) is one of his best-known songs, as it deals with the appreciation of the present moment while addressing good memories, as well as the importance of experiencing all emotions, from crying to laughing.
The Toribianitos are a children's choir from the Santo Toribio school in the Rímac district of Lima. Their voices are everywhere at Christmas time, and for some, they are a bit tiresome. In this title, the word “cholito,” a word with a wide variety of meanings and means “Indigenous” in this context, is used as a term of endearment and should not be taken as derogatory as it is sometimes used. The child Manuelito is the name given to the baby Jesus in various parts of Peru, especially in the Andean area. It comes from Emanuel, which means “God with us.”
Listen to these and more on our Spotify playlist:


text:
‘The Club,’ Netflix’s new hit TV series, braves Turkey’s troubled past · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

A screenshot from the trailer of the Netflix series The Club.
Non-Muslim communities have long been present in Turkey but have also been historically sidelined from social and political life. Enter “The Club,” a new Netflix mini-series that tells the stories of the Sephardic Jews, Armenians, and Greeks who called Istanbul home in the 1950s. The show has garnered praise worldwide for its inclusive, thoughtful portrayal of these often overlooked groups.
Much of the show takes place in Istanbul's Istiklal Caddesi and Galata neighborhoods. The show is one of the first Turkish series that dives into the not-so-distant past of Istanbul, where non-Muslim sentiments were high [spoiler alert, for season two of the series], culminating in the Istanbul riots that took place in 1955. “The Club,” Kulüp in Turkish, takes viewers on a journey through Turkey's history, building on memories of cultures, rituals, and languages that are now nearly lost in the fabric of the city and the country as a whole.
A screenshot from the trailer of the Netflix series The Club.
During the Ottoman Empire, more than half of Istanbul's residents were non-Muslim citizens. “This ratio shifted towards an overwhelmingly Muslim majority from the First World War onwards and the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. By the 1950s, a substantial Greek and Jewish minority, among others, remained, but discriminatory policies further diminished the total non-Muslim population,” wrote journalist Omer Faruk Gorcin for the Middle East Eye.
This is the period the six-episode period drama focuses on.
The protagonist is Matilda Aseo (played by Gökçe Bahadır), a Sephardic Jew from Istanbul. Newly released from jail after 17 years, Matilda is determined to leave Istanbul for Israel. But the plot thickens as she decides to make amends with her estranged 17-year-old daughter who lives in an orphanage. There is also the Club and its patrons, a lavish nightclub in the heart of Istanbul, which the show is named after. The manager Orhan, his assistant Çelebi, and the staff come to represent the various non-Muslim communities in Istanbul.
A screenshot from the trailer of the Netflix series The Club.
In addition to a well-designed period drama set, the storylines, and characters, the show also shed light on a tumultuous time in Turkey's history. During the 1940s, nationalist fervor was high, and the country's many non-Muslim community members faced crackdowns. The show also addresses the controversial 1942 Wealth Tax. This is how Matilda's once-wealthy family loses everything and both her father and brother end up in labor camps. The tax law mainly targeted non-Muslims, including Jews, Armenians, and Greek Christians, to wrestle away their wealth.
“The wealth tax is the main reason behind the migration of the majority of the Turkish Jewish population to Israel,” said Ozgur Kaymak, a lecturer and researcher on ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey, in an interview with the Middle East Eye. “The interviews I conducted with people who were affected in this period showed that this tax left a deep wound in both the individual and collective memories of non-Muslims communities in Turkey.”
According to journalist Umar Farooq who wrote about the show for AlJazzera:
Of the roughly 350 million Turkish lira raised by the time it was repealed under international pressure in 1944, at least 290 million came from non-Muslim citizens, in many cases people who were ordered to hand over more than 200 percent of all their assets within 15 days. Those who could not pay the full amount – by some estimates thousands of people – were sent to labour camps where historians say a few dozen people even died.
In addition to the Tax Law, there is also the story of the government's “Turkification” plans, which means replacing “good secular Muslim Turks for Istanbul's Greeks, Jews and Armenians.” In the show, this plays out when Orhan, the owner of the Club, is offered the “Turkish Businessman of the Year” title following the success of the nightclub. He quickly learns that if he accepts the title, he will have to fire all his non-Muslim staff.
The show has been lauded by critics and viewers for its inclusive portrayals and diverse cast.
“This is the first series that has touched upon Turkey's Jewish community without succumbing to victimization, caricaturization of Jews as evil bankers or greedy money-lenders or succumbing to rose-scented nostalgia on how multi-ethnic neighbors lived together all in harmony around the Galata Tower in the good old days,” said Ozgur Kaymak, in an interview with Al-Monitor.
“From the discussion of Shabbat rules, to the tradition of kissing a mezuzah when entering a room, to the scenes shot in Turkish synagogues, many Turkish Jews have found the show a revelation — especially given the fact that Jewish characters are usually relegated to stereotypes in Turkish productions,” wrote David I. Klein for the Jewish Telegraph Agency.
The show has been further praised for incorporating a variety of languages, as nearly all of the diverse cast converse in their mother tongues.
Yesterday I watched #TheClub (#Kulüp #Netflix). Since released days ago its taken over Turkish audiences w/its depiction of Jewish life in Istanbul in the 1950s. I admit hearing Ladino and seeing a life that once was brought tears to my eyes. Indeed its a beautiful story as well. pic.twitter.com/tiQsnBmJwg
— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) November 8, 2021
But not all reflections and feedback on the show have been positive. Some have questioned the stereotypical depiction of non-Muslim women. Speaking to AlMonitor, Professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis Nikos Michailidis and historian Axel Corlu said, “the representation of the Greek woman as a person of low ethical standards who sleeps with various men, or more broadly the stereotype of a Sunni man having an affair with a non-Sunni “easy” woman. And these stereotypes are of course constitutive of the imaginary of mainstream Turkish nationalism and rhetoric.”
But at the end of the day, “The Club” is not a documentary or historical piece. It is multiple stories intertwined, exploring characters who are each searching for their place in this world, navigating the complicated web of politics, history, memory, and belonging.