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The best of both worlds? Guyana wants to be a low-carbon oil producer · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

View of the rainforest from Guyana's Kaieteur Falls. Photo by Dallas Reeves on Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0.
By Vishani Ragobeer
This post was produced with the support of Climate Tracker and originally published at Newsroom Guyana. An edited version is republished here with permission, as part of Global Voices’ coverage of COP26.
Some 200 kilometres offshore Guyana, a second oil ship sailed in this week as ExxonMobil looks to ramp up activities to extract the 10 billion barrels of oil it now estimates it can recover. On land, an area the size of England is covered in forests. The South American nation, long beset by poverty, believes it’s time to make its fewer than a million citizens rich, and thinks it can do so while keeping the forests intact and pursuing a prolific oil industry.
The idea seems plausible.
Yes, the oil industry is notorious for emitting carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases which has resulted in the climate crisis, such as rising sea levels—another reason Guyana needs the money. The coastland, where 90 per cent of the population lives and where most economic activities take place, is below sea level and a flood this year devastated the country and brought back memories of the 2005 flood that affected 230,000 people and wiped out 59 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Guyana’s leaders argue the country can still be a net-zero carbon emitter, meaning that the harmful gases released into the atmosphere by oil and other sectors can be balanced out by those which its trees suck in. The country’s forests store 21.8 billion tonnes of carbon; if the trees were cut down, all of that carbon would be released into the atmosphere, causing further harm to the environment.
For over a decade, Guyana has lobbied for a global system that pays the country for keeping the forest intact. Norway was the first to buy in, signing a deal for 250 million United States dollars, once deforestation rates remain intact—and that has been the case. Latest figures put the deforestation rate at 90 per cent lower than most tropical countries, so Guyana is looking for others—be they countries or companies—who want to offset the harmful gases their industries generate, by paying Guyana to keep its forests standing.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently announced that a US $300 million deal is being negotiated. President Irfaan Ali, meanwhile, said Guyana is not ignoring the concerns about the effects of the oil and gas sector, confirming that his government will pursue strong policies to ensure that the sector operates to international standards.
“The Government is working to eliminate flaring from oil production, except in the case of genuine emergencies,” he said in an address to the nation. All flaring is taxed at US $45 per tonne of carbon beyond the limit allowed by law. For newly-licensed production, the tax on flaring will be accompanied by legal limits on the overall amount of flaring, but the president said what the country wants is a policy that disallows flaring.
With the emergence of the petroleum sector, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the Guyanese economy will expand by 20.4 per cent—more than any other country in the Latin America and Caribbean region. ExxonMobil has so far made over 20 discoveries in the 6.6 million-acre block it was licensed to prospect for oil and develop wells.
Not all are happy with what is happening.
Janet Bulkan, environmental and human rights activist and a professor at the University of British Columbia, has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to tell Caribbean states to cease “further risky fossil fuel exploration.” Part of her presentation pointed out that the sector’s adverse impact on Guyana’s environment has already been illustrated by the excess flaring of associated gas because of a faulty compressor on the Liza Destiny, the first oil-producing ship. It produces 120,000 barrels of oil a day.
Bulkan also argued that Guyana’s developing oil and gas sector conflicts with low-carbon aspirations and contributes to the global climate crisis, including rising sea levels that contribute to worsening floods. She also emphasised that such activities threaten the “effective enjoyment” of human life.
This is not the first time such concerns have been raised, but Vice President Jagdeo, who championed the forest-saving deal with Norway, argues that there will continue to be a demand for fossil fuels and Guyana couldn’t just leave all the oil it has in the ground while other countries pursue their industries, feeding their growth and development. He added, however, that Guyana’s aim is to pursue the development of the oil and gas sector in a responsible way.
In announcing its updated Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), President Ali said his government will also continue dialogue with oil producers to ensure that, alongside the above measures, exploration and production operations will continue to explore all opportunities for lower carbon technological innovation—including the use of renewable energy in oil production, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and, when technologically viable, green hydrogen.
At a recent consultation forum to update Guyana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the United Nations’ (UN) Paris Agreement, Jagdeo said that the government intends to use oil revenues to fund the country’s transition to more renewable energy, thereby cutting emissions while improving the lives of citizens. According to him, the natural gas harnessed through the proposed US $900 million gas-to-energy project will cut emissions by 50 per cent and significantly reduce the cost of energy for the average consumer. Further, he said oil revenues can fund planned renewable energy projects, including a mega hydropower project, and he anticipates that the country will phase out the use of about 70 per cent of non-renewable fossil fuels by 2027, through the use of natural gas and renewable energy.
For Guyana, at least, flooding is one of the more apparent effects of climate change, with the country experiencing nationwide flooding only a few months ago. It is also the natural disaster that President Ali uses to emphasise the need for urgent climate action, including reduced emissions and adequate climate financing.
At a recent high-level UN debate, the president did not mention Guyana’s oil pursuits, but said that the country will continue to provide the world with “critical climate and ecosystem services,” particularly through the expanded LCDS.
The focus on the marine economy is important, since not much is known about this area. A team of young researchers spent six days offshore Guyana identifying the larger animals found there, such as dolphins and whales, as part of efforts to create a baseline for monitoring offshore activities. This is critical since Guyana’s oil is being produced from deepwater wells and there are concerns about the potential impact of this activity on the marine ecosystem. The pipeline for the gas-to-energy project is also expected to be laid on the seabed, and this may result in further interactions between the marine ecosystem and the oil sector.
With development in the oil and gas sector continuing unhindered, President Ali has pinned much of Guyana’s climate ambitions on the expanded LCDS. At COP26, this year’s UN Climate Summit, Guyana will be making its case for why the low carbon development model is an ideal one to pursue in solving the climate crisis.

author: Guest Contributor


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Turkey: new report highlights the extent of censorship online · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

A screenshot from the cover page of the report by the Freedom of Expression Association. Used with permission.
Written in 1953, the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a future where books are burned in an oppressive society. A new report titled Fahrenheit 5651: The Scorching Effect of Censorship, uses the well-known book to explain how a series of amendments made to Turkish law No. 5651 have harmed Turkish freedom of expression. The report aims “to document the extent of censorship and to ensure that the scorching effect and damage of censorship are not completely erased from the collective memory.” The 120-page document, released in October 2021, details cases of blocked websites, social media accounts, and social media content, as well as censored news articles in Turkey.
The report covers events in 2020 and is the third in a series of reports published by the Freedom of Expression Association. Set up in 2017, the association was founded “with the purpose of providing legal assistance to those whose right to freedom of expression has been violated, or is at risk of being violated.” The association produces research, engages in training, and runs national and international joint initiatives. Among its founders are prominent local lawyers, academics, and human rights activists.
The authors of the report indicate that a total of 467,011 websites were blocked by the end of 2020, followed by 150,000 blocked URLs, 7,500 Twitter accounts, 50,000 Tweets, 12,000 YouTube videos, 8,000 Facebook posts, and 6,800 Instagram posts. All the blocked content was subject to Law No. 5651 (also known as the Internet Law) and other legal provisions issued by 764 criminal judgeships of peace and other authorized institutions.
Law No. 5651 was introduced in May 2007. Titled the “Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publication,” the Internet Law is, in short, a legal provision that allows mass blocking of websites and online content.
The report also shares Turkey's poor rankings in social media platforms’ transparency reports.
In its most recent global Freedom on the Net report, Freedom House ranked Turkey as “not free”:
Internet freedom continued to decline for a third year in a row in Turkey. During the coverage period, hundreds of websites were blocked, in some instances under a new social media law. Online content deemed critical of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) or President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was removed from websites and social media platforms, and online activists, journalists, and social media users were harassed both physically and online for their social media posts.
The online news site Bianet quotes Gürkan Özturan of the the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom: “New or increased taxes, restrictions on access, deleted news content, the ability to close access to entire platforms, and most importantly, the detention or arrest of people who exercise their freedom of expression due to their critical statements on the internet, and the conviction of some of them, shows that there is a long way to go in terms of internet freedoms in Turkey.”
According to Reporters Without Borders Turkey ranks 153rd of 180 countries on the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
In July 2020 Turkey amended Law No. 5651 to add new social media restrictions, introducing a series of requirements impeding digital rights and freedom of expression in Turkey. Requirements include forcing social media companies to open offices in Turkey, storing user data in Turkey, and requiring them to abide by Turkey's strict censorship laws, including forbidding users from “insulting” the president.
In 2021 a number of government statements have signaled a further decline in media freedom. On July 21, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an interview that the ruling government was intent on introducing new regulations to combat “a terror of lies,” referring to false news spreading on social media platforms. The same day, the director of the Presidential Communication Directorate announced plans to regulate foreign-funded local media platforms “to ensure the people's access to accurate news.”
The new regulations, expected later in 2021, would likely take aim at the handful of remaining independent online news platforms in Turkey. The move was condemned by the Media Freedom Rapid Response — a project that tracks, monitors, and mobilizes against violations of press and media freedom in European Union (EU) member states and candidate countries — and partner organizations including Article 19, the Association of European Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists and others. These organizations issued a statement on July 23, 2021 claiming that the new measures are “a clear move to stifle further the free media in Turkey by controlling content.”
The authors of the new report, conclude, “the burning and destructive effect of the reinforced censorship and control mechanism will continue in the coming years.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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How Burhan’s coup could halt Sudan’s return to the international community · Global Voices
Khattab Hamad

Sudan Military Coup: Photo credit Agence France-Presse, (CC0 1.0)
Gen Burhan — the chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council — led a military coup in Sudan on October 25, 2021. Gen Burhan has justified Monday's coup, saying it was necessary to “avoid civil war” and blamed political infighting. The forces behind the coup arrested Prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, along with many ministers and politicians.
The international community responded to the coup in several ways. The US condemned the coup and suspended 700 million US dollars in aid for Sudan. The UK and EU each condemned the military coup and The African Union suspended Sudan's membership and described the coup as “unconstitutional.”
On October 16, 2021, a splinter faction of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) — the coalition that is running the country in the transition period — calling itself the National Accord Group (NAG) signed The National Accord Charter to dissolve Sudan's transitional cabinet. The call for dissolution arose from tensions between the Sudanese government, the FFC, and some armed groups and small political groups. The signatories include the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army  led by Minni Minawi, who is also the governor of the Darfur region; the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM); Altom Hajo, a member of the Council of Partners and the leader of the middle path in the Juba agreement for Peace in Sudan; and Mubarak Ardol, the leader of the Democratic Alliance for Social Justice, and general manager of the government-owned Sudanese Company for Mineral Resources.
The NAG asked for the expansion of the transition base through the addition of the other political parties and trends- the term used to reference small established political parties in Sudan such as future trend, to the FFC coalition and government because they felt marginalized by the ruling party. They organized a sit-in beside the republican palace in Khartoum, an event that reportedly saw calls for military authority and calls to dissolve the government.
Sudanese activists noted that many of the sit-in leaders were current government officials. It was organized by Minister of Finance Gibril Ibrahim, the leader of JEM, Minni Minawi, Altom Hago, and Mubarak Ardol. Many activists took to social media to discuss this movement, wondering how governmental officials can demand reform without threatening their seats in power.
Hoshi, a Sudanese activist said:
#كلام_يمثلني| كتب هشام #ودقلبا
(جبريل) و (مناوي) أستوزروا وأصبحوا حكاماً لأقاليم وأستحوزوا على 7 وزارات وعشرات الإدارات والمجالس بحكومة الفترة الإنتقالية عبر إتفاق سلام جوبا الموقع مع (الحرية والتغيير) ، وليس عبر (الحرية والتغيير).
السؤال :
وين الإقصاء هنا ؟؟
— IBRAHIM HOSHA (@WADHOSHA) October 3, 2021
(Gibril) and (Minawi) became ministers and governors of regions and took over 7 ministries and dozens of departments and councils in the transitional government through the Juba Peace Agreement signed with (Freedom and Change), not through (Freedom and Change). The question, where is the exclusion here??
Hatim Elmadani, the founder of the Sudan Association for Investigative Media wrote on Twitter about Sudan's willingness to withdraw its mercenary citizens from Libya. Sudanese mercenaries are related to Jibril and Minawi's movements, so they're supporting the coup to fund the return of their forces from Libya because the civilian government may not fund it.  Hatim said:
Betrayal of the mercenary government: What does the taxpayer or the citizen have to do with helping cheap mercenaries?? Why are they allowed to return or even enter Sudan in the future? Now, do you know why they staged a military coup at this time?
Some activists said that Ardol is participating in this movement to protect himself from ongoing allegations of corruption. Sudanese people launched the hashtag #أردول_فاسد — #Ardoliscorrupted.
فساد وتحايل النظام البائد علي القانون يدفع ثمن المواطن في #السودان اليوم، ما قام به مبارك اردول هو الفساد بعينه وما تم اتخاذه من قررات ضعيفة جدا لاترتقي الي مستوي ان هناك شباب وشيبا ثارو ضد الظلم والفساد، لو تم السكوت عنها معناها الجاي صعب #اردول_فاسد #شركة_السودانية _للتعدين
— Sawsan Sinada (@sawsansinada) August 11, 2021
Corruption and deception of the former regime on the law is paid by the citizen in Sudan today. What Mubarak Ardol has done is corruption itself, and the decisions taken are very weak and do not rise to the level that there are young and old men who revolted against injustice and corruption. If it is kept silent, it means the next is worse.
In a tweet posted on October 31, 2021, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch said there are likely financial motivations behind the coup.
An important motive behind the coups in both Myanmar and Sudan are the vast business interests of both militaries, which they don't want to relinquish or submit to civilian control. The generals want their profits before democracy. https://t.co/yLJ8nxL9e3 https://t.co/6ip6xlRu7X pic.twitter.com/g2WNpc9aC7
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 31, 2021
Burhan firing Farouq Kambareesi, the deputy general manager of the Central Bank of Khartoum, because he refused to approve a loan for the military industry department lends credence to this.
When the Sudanese people learned of the coup on October 25, they took to the streets, rejecting the military coup. The authorities shut down all modes of communication, including the internet, phone, and SMS. Access Now and other international organizations have condemned the communication blackout.
BREAKING: Following the military coup making headlines, Sudanese authorities began shutting down access to the internet & telecommunications services today.
We denounce the shutdown & urge the authorities to restore full access: https://t.co/yFzn5W8itZ #KeepEyesOnSudan #KeepItOn
— Access Now (@accessnow) October 25, 2021
In the last couple of years, Sudanese people have experienced two major internet shutdowns that seriously hindered basic communication and exchange during politically charged periods.  Amid a revolution that eventually led to the ousting of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese government blocked social media access to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram on December 19, 2018
Similarly, one day after the current coup, authorities allowed phone calls and the internet only for online banking services. The Sudanese people continue to protest in the streets and called for a million-man march on October 30. Earlier in the morning of October 30, the coup authorities turned off phone calls and SMS again to avoid and coordination between the resistance committees. This blackout couldn’t stop the Sudanese people, as more than four million citizens took to the streets to condemn the military coup and demand the reinstatement of a civilian government, according to Sky News Arabia estimation.
Osman Ay Farah, a principal presenter at Al Jazeera commented on the march saying:
في #السودان اليوم لست مضطراً لمشاهدة التلفزيون لتعرف ما يحدث..ليس عليك إلا أن تفتح النافذة.
— عثمان آي فرح (@ayfaraho) October 30, 2021
In Sudan today, you don't have to watch TV to know what's going on. You just have to open the window.
Sudanese people throughout the diaspora went out to support their brothers and sisters in Sudan. In Washington D.C., thousands marched to support civilian rule in Sudan.
Protesters from Sudan in Washington D.C against the military coup in Sudan October 30/ 2021#KeepEyesOnSudan #مليونية30اكتوبر pic.twitter.com/BA0IWjBg4u
— Ahmed Ali (@ahmed_ali2340) October 30, 2021
The National Accord Group (NAG) confronted the peaceful protests with excessive violence. According to a report from the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD), 11 people have been killed since October 25, the day of the coup.
Central Committee Of Sudan Doctors (CCSD)
(Updated Report about injuries and deaths on October 30th demonstrations):
- Two martyrs in Omdurman Hospital, and a third in the Al-Arbaeen Hospital in Omdurman, bringing the total number of deaths documented to us to 11 since pic.twitter.com/xAns1YKj8c
— لجنة أطباء السودان المركزية-CCSD (@SD_DOCTORS) October 31, 2021
A day after the recent million-man march, Burhan freed some members of the ousted Islamist al-Bashir regime. including Ibrahim Ghandour — the current president of the dissolved NCP party who was freed then rearrested. He also released Mohamed Tabidi and Al-Shazali, who were responsible for terrorizing, imprisoning, and persecuting journalists, and Mohamed Ali Algozouli, a hardline Islamist with relations to ISIS, who was then imprisoned again after 24 hours.
Many people are questioning Burhan's thought process, as Sudan has recently been working to build positive relations with the international community after decades of sanctions. As a consequence of the coup, the World Bank froze aid to Sudan and the General Medical Council cancelled the PLAB 1 test in Khartoum meant for doctors who have qualified outside the UK and wish to practice medicine in the UK under limited registration.
The question is, Will Burhan and Hemeti abdicate this new position or will the people bring them down like they did Al-Bashir?

author: Khattab Hamad


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The Zhang Gaoli sexual assault scandal: Political power struggle or #Metoo? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A screenshot from Hong Kong CitizenNews‘ video report on Youtube.
Content notice: this article contains mentions of sexual assault that some readers might find disturbing.
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai made allegations that Zhang Gaoli, the former vice-premier of China, sexually assaulted her two times in the last ten years. The revelation triggered social media discussions, which were then removed from Chinese social media in under one hour as censors hastily blocked any content related to the sexual assaults.
Discussions quickly moved outside China's Great Firewall to Twitter, where Chinese netizens came up with two theories on Peng's exposé. Some see it as part of an internal power struggle within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while others believe that Peng's courage comes from the Chinese #MeToo movement.
The unverified testimony of 35-year-old professional tennis player Peng Shuai was reportedly published on her Weibo account on November 2 around 10 pm. It was removed in about 20 minutes, but her followers had already screenshotted the post and circulated it. Emily Feng from NPR posted Peng's testimony on Twitter:
Unverified post from Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, taken down from Weibo within minutes, in which she claims (again unverified) that she was assaulted by former Vice premier Zhang Gaoli, before willingly becoming his mistress. Highest public #MeToo allegation in China pic.twitter.com/lPU8fQ9vbx
— Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) November 2, 2021
The testimony said that the first sexual assault had taken place more than ten years ago when Peng was in her twenties, and the most recent assault was about three years ago. She described being “terrified” and lured to the politician's home under false pretenses of playing tennis. Peng's wife was present when the assaults took place. After the first assault, she felt pressured to become his mistress.
Peng Shuai has remained silent since the post was uploaded to Weibo.
Zhang Gaoli, 75, was the vice-premier of China from 2013–2018, a member of the standing committee of the CCP from 2012–2017, and the party secretary of Tianjin from 2007–2012. While there have been many sex-related scandals involving government and party officials, Zhang is the highest-ranking official to be implicated.
Although the details of the allegation can’t be verified, many Chinese netizens view it as authentic, as pointed out by Chinese human rights activist Yaqiu Wang:
Peng's account of events can't be verified. Even whether it is from her is not verified. But reading the essay, one can feel the authenticity, because we are all familiar with this dynamic involving unaccountable power, secrecy, abuse, and exploitation. https://t.co/hdZpRlsiPr
— Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 (@Yaqiu) November 3, 2021
As expected, the incident has triggered some of the most rigorous censorship seen in recent years. All online discussions on major social media platforms about Peng Shuai’s allegations were deleted in China, including posts that used homonyms or coded words to replace the involved parties’ names. William Yang, a journalist, and Alexander Boyd, a former NGO volunteer, shared their observations on the rigorous censorship on Weibo:
Just tried to leave a “hi” under Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s Weibo account and this is what pops up: “Because the content contains messages violating Weibo’s community rules, it can not be processed.” #China’s censorship in play. pic.twitter.com/nTLOeIvZN1
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) November 3, 2021
A list of censored terms AND emojis related to Peng Shuai's post about Zhang Gaoli:
- 诸葛亮 Zhu Geliang
– 张国立 Zhang Guoli
– 菩萨 Bodhisattva
– 巨型瓜 Gigantic Melon
– 网球 Tennis
likely far more… but both hunted (melon-eaters) and hunter (Weibo censors) have ran past me
— Alexander Boyd (@alexludoboyd) November 2, 2021
Some netizens are debating whether this event is being used as a tool in the CPP's internal power struggle. Cai Xia, a retired professor of the CCP Central Party School who resides in the US, believes that the Chinese censor intentionally kept Peng’s post online for more than 20 minutes, just enough time for the scandal to spread:
中共網管極為嚴密，前常委等人名字都可以是敏感詞，直接點名道姓的爆瓜丑聞，一般根本發不出去，而彭帥微博文居然存活了20分鐘，多麼奇妙的20分鐘！這就是讓子彈飛……飛一會兒。
20分鐘足夠傳開，於是封閉微博……這是典型的網絡操控過程，即要打擊對手又不能動搖中共極權統治……
The CCP has an extremely strict censorship practice. The names of former standing committee members are often flagged as sensitive terms. Exposés that involve real names, could trigger an automatic blockage and could not be published in most circumstances. But Peng Shuai’s Weibo post survived for 20 minutes. This 20-minute time is quite magical. This signals an intention to let the bullet fly… fly for just a moment.
20 minutes was just enough time for the scandal to spread, then the censors stepped in… This is a quite typical censorship practice when cracking down on opponents, they have to contain the damage to prevent undermining the CCP dictatorship.
Sumerian, another mainland Chinese dissident based in the US, developed a more elaborate theory:
显然是习包示意抛出的桃色新闻。不然针对政治局常委的长微博能在网上停留这么久，以致维基百科也已更新该消息。
六中全会只剩几天了，习包需要在会上定调明年二十大，实现再次连任、长期执政的宏大皇帝梦，所以放出不太听话的人、或被杀鸡儆猴的人的负面消息，让他们自顾不暇自乱阵脚，最终俯首认命。 https://t.co/5DE1qdPOwi
— Sumerian ?? (@Sumerian0) November 2, 2021
Obviously this is a sex scandal under the instruction of Xi. Or else the Weibo post could not survive for that long. Now even Wikipedia has updated the related entries. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee will start in just a few days. Xi will present his plan for the 20th Party Congress in 2022 so that he will be re-elected again and fulfil his dream of being the Great Chinese Emperor. That’s why he has to release some negative news targeting those who are not loyal to him as an act to “Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.” His opponents are now in chaos and they will have to surrender to their fate.
As a result of the scandal, the stock prices of Xinyin Solar Holdings and its related subsidiaries, which are controlled by Zhang Gaoli’s daughter-in-law, dropped nearly nine percent on November 3.
However, many have rejected the conspiracy theory. Exiled Chinese dissident Wen Yunchao is one of those who voiced the need to stand by Peng and take her account as it is:
看热闹不嫌事大的权斗解读，只宜用于权威势相当的双方。若事件当中的一方当事人显见弱势，绝不宜作权斗解读。权斗解读，模糊了强势一方的过错，对弱势一方的当事人亦可能构成二次伤害。真相未明之前，建议站在鸡蛋一方。 #张高丽 #彭帅
— Wen (@wenyunchao) November 2, 2021
Many have interpreted the incident as a power struggle. But in any power struggle, the power between the two parties are more or less equal. When one side is powerless, we should not take it as a power struggle or we have downplayed the harm that the powerful had inflicted upon the weak, causing more pain to the victim. While the truth is still unclear, we have to stand with the eggs (the powerless).
In fact, many Chinese feminists believe that Peng’s exposé is a result of the #MeToo movement. Lu Ping, a prominent mainland Chinese feminist, wrote a series of tweets about the significance of Peng’s exposé. A blogger, Sara Liao, compiled Ping’s comments and translated them into English here.
2.因为大家都知道那一定是真的。其实他们一直都是那样腐烂堕落，包括一直都在剥削女性，只是总隐在黑幕之后。所以，“说出来”太重要了。这是米兔，也不仅关于米兔。我赞美米兔，米兔真的太厉害了。它三年积累效应才走到今天。这不是说它的重要性取决于被揭发者的权力地位，而是说可以看到…
— 吕频Lü Pin (@pinerpiner) November 3, 2021
I will comment on the Peng Shuai incident in a series of tweets. 1. The Peng Shuai’s exposé is crucial. It reveals the real life of top Chinese leaders and lets people have a glimpse of their hypocrisy, corrupt lifestyles, excessive power abuse, and fear underneath their moralistic masks. We used to imagine the truthful side of powerful people, now it is publicly unveiled by a real person.
People know that the exposé is authentic. They [the top leaders] have always been rotten and corrupt. They have always exploited women but have managed to do that in the dark. That’s why it is so important to “voice it out.” This is a #MeToo moment, but much more than that. But I give the credit to the #MeToo movement, it is so powerful. It took us three years to reach here…

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Belarus authorities block access to more independent media added to extremist list · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Image: access denied by Creative Stall from the Noun Project. CC-BY 3.0.
Local independent media in Belarus have faced considerable pressure over the past year, following sustained unrest after the disputed presidential election. Multiple outlets have seen their journalists detained and arrested, their websites and social media channels blocked, and their assets seized, after being declared “extremist”.  Now, Belarusian authorities are also targeting foreign independent media outlets covering Belarus, as well as media audiences.
On October 28, the Belarusian Information Ministry blocked access to the websites of Deutsche Welle, Germany's state-backed international broadcaster, and Current Time, the Russian-language network run by U.S. government-funded RFE/RL in cooperation with Voice of America. Along with the website of Belarusian newspaper Novy Chas, the websites were blocked for allegedly spreading material containing links considered “extremist” by Belarusian courts. First Deputy Information Minister Andrey Kuncevic told state news agency BelTa that the government “intends to continue making decisions aimed at protecting the country's information space”.
Deutsche Welle Director-General Peter Limbourg called the blocking “absolutely ridiculous”, while RFE/RL President Jamie Fly also condemned the move to block Current Time.
On October 29, the Belarusian government also declared three of the country's most popular social media opposition channels on Telegram, run by NEXTA, as extremist. NEXTA, a grassroots initiative run from Poland, responded to the designation with a jaunty tweet, greeting its readers with a “Good morning, extremists” message.
1.4 million more extremists appeared in Belarus today
Ministry of Internal Affairs recognized telegram channels NEXTA, NEXTA Live and LUXTA as “extremist formations”. This means that criminal cases can be opened against creators, administrators and subscribers in #Belarus. pic.twitter.com/nVLdlXPvID
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 29, 2021
On November 3, the Belarus Interior Ministry announced that the Poland-based independent BelsatTV channel and all of its employees, as well as users “united with the help of Belsat online resources”, have been recognized as an extremist formation and “banned from conducting their activity in the Republic of Belarus”. The vague designation likely refers to the subscribers of Belsat's social media channels or the readers and viewers of its website, suggesting any of these individuals could be prosecuted for sharing or distributing their content. Belsat's website was designated as extremist earlier this year, in late July 2021.
Franak Viačorka, senior advisor to opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said that the crackdown was evidence of the media outlet's popularity and success in Belarus.
For the first time in history, the regime labeled the whole TV channel – @Belsat_TV – an extremist group. The label extends to both viewers & journalists. 940k people in total. On the one hand – it's a threatening tool, on the other – it's proof of the channel's success. pic.twitter.com/Y1SDjNSLoJ
— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) November 3, 2021
Belarusian journalists are already being sanctioned for their engagement with news outlets designated as extremist. On November 1, Belarusian courts convicted two journalists, Iryna Slaunikava and Syarhei Niarouny, on charges of spreading extremism over their alleged interactions with the Facebook pages of Belsat and Tut.by media outlets, both banned in Belarus. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), itself banned in the country, Slaunikava was sentenced to 15 days of detention, while Niarouny was issued with a fine of 580 Belarusian rubles ($235).
Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator for Committee to Protect Journalists, said the new repressive measures were “a new low, even considering Belarusian authorities’ long campaign against the independent press”. CPJ has called on the Belarusian authorities to “cease their practice of banning news outlets” and to stop sanctioning journalists and citizens for engaging with their content.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Days after COP26 agreement, Indonesian officials renege on anti-deforestation pledge · Global Voices
Sydney Allen

A scene of deforestation in the Riau Province of Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo by The Rainforest Action Network. CC BY-NC 2.0
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), the largest climate conference of the year, has drawn politicians, environmentalists, and activists from all over the world, all eager to create concrete, impactful solutions to help combat the climate crisis. One such solution was a pledge to end deforestation by 2030, which was announced on November 2 and signed by 131 nations. Among those nations was Indonesia, home to about one-third of the world's rainforests.
Less than two days after the deal was announced, Indonesian officials seemed poised to back out of the deal.
Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar has dismissed the plan as “inappropriate and unfair” and took to Twitter to share her opinion.
Memaksa Indonesia untuk zero deforestation di 2030, jelas tidak tepat dan tidak adil. Karena setiap negara memiliki masalah-masalah kunci sendiri dan dinaungi Undang-Undang Dasar untuk melindungi rakyatnya.
— Siti Nurbaya Bakar (@SitiNurbayaLHK) November 3, 2021
Forcing Indonesia to zero deforestation in 2030 is clearly inappropriate and unfair. Because every country has its own key issues and is covered by the Constitution to protect its people.
Bakar went on to note that in underdeveloped regions, a ban on deforestation could mean continued isolation, as no trees could be removed for roads or other infrastructure. She argued that Indonesia's context is quite different from that of the UK, Europe, or Africa, so it should not be held to the same standards.
She also praised the increased development projects during President Joko Widodo's tenure, saying: “The massive development of [President Joko Widodo's] era must not stop in the name of carbon emissions or in the name of deforestation.”
All of her comments are available in English on this Facebook post.
The country's deputy foreign minister, Mahendra Siregar, took a similar stance and seemed to dispute that the agreement was aimed at halting deforestation at all, saying “there is absolutely no terminology ‘end deforestation by 2030′” in the pledge. He also emphasized the importance of prioritizing the economy: “With the pace of globalization, we must ensure that our position in the global supply chain is appropriate to achieve economic benefits,” implying that Indonesia would focus more on “managing deforestation” than preventing it.
The multi-billion-dollar deforestation plan will funnel resources to end industrial deforestation. Indonesia will receive about 405 million US dollars to help support “transformative further action in the  interconnected areas of sustainable production and consumption; infrastructure development; trade investment; and support for smallholders, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, who depend on forests for their livelihoods and have a key role in their stewardship.”
Immediately following Siti's tweets and the government's apparent position reversal, critics took to social media to deride the decision.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Jokowi administration. We are going to prioritise development over preventing deforestation, as the minister of environment said. #COP26 #Indonesia https://t.co/MZl9UsISSV
— Febriana Firdaus (@febrofirdaus) November 4, 2021
If we destroy the world, how can we complain when floods and other natural disasters occur? pic.twitter.com/8BXeWAQW37
— tempo dulu (@tempodulu) November 4, 2021
The hashtag #MosiTidakPercaya (motion of disbelief) has been trending on Indonesian social media as many expressed shock at the government's turnabout.
Kiki Taufik, head of Greenpeace's Indonesian forests campaign, said, “The statement is profoundly disappointing and completely at odds with the declaration.”
On November 5, Batu City experienced deadly floods that resulted in five missing persons. Taufik took to Twitter to express disbelief that amid the increasing number of climate disasters, the government is still willing to prioritize the economy over the environment.
Semoga korban banjir selamat dan segera ditemukan.
Apakah bu @SitiNurbayaLHK menteri LHK masih juga bertahan utk membiarkan deforestasi demi pembangunan besar2an di era @jokowi ? Masih perlu berapa banyak bencana supaya sadar utk menghentikan perusakan hutan?#MosiTidakPercaya https://t.co/K85Vpaj8pX
— Kiki Taufik (@k1k1taufik) November 5, 2021
I hope the flood victims are safe and found soon. Does Mrs. @SitiNurbayaLHK, the Minister of LHK still persist in allowing deforestation for the sake of massive development in the era of @jokowi? How many disasters still need to wake up to stop forest destruction?#MotionofDisbelief
Indonesia, Brazil, and Congo account for 85 percent of global deforestation.
According to Hans Nicholas Jong of Mongabay News, “The country lost 115,459 hectares (285,300 acres) of forest cover in 2020, an area the size of Los Angeles.” This was its lowest rate of deforestation since the 1990s and is largely due to increasingly strict deforestation rules and regulations from the government. However, it should be noted that an estimated 73 percent of deforestation in Indonesia is done illegally, with no government oversight.
In October 2020, protests erupted around the archipelago after officials passed the wildly unpopular Omnibus law, which many saw as an effort to boost the economy at the expense of workers’ rights and the environment. The law removed many environmental protections and made it easier for foreign and domestic investors to develop forests and grasslands.
Despite these setbacks, the country has set numerous ambitious climate action goals, including turning its forests into a carbon sink by 2030, reducing deforestation and increasing reforestation, and becoming carbon neutral by 2070. Though experts say it is currently unlikely to meet any of these goals.
Most deforestation in Indonesia is to clear land for palm oil plantations — the country's largest export. Palm oil plantations are notorious for disrupting fragile ecosystems, displacing local communities, polluting the environment, and leading to uncontrollable wildfires as developers clear land through illegal slash and burn methods.
In a June 2021 report, Human Rights Watch released a report criticizing the Indonesian government for allowing palm oil companies to ravage the environment. It reads:
The Indonesian government is failing to protect the rights of communities living on or near peatland converted to commercial agriculture. It is also permitting the widescale destruction of one of the world’s most important carbon sinks.
The report continued by advising the nation to take stricter control of illegal palm oil developments.
The national land agency in conjunction with the Presidential National Agrarian Reform Team should investigate and sanction any palm oil company that fails to meaningfully consult and compensate affected communities,” Nnoko-Mewanu said. “Indonesia is harming the rights of people in those communities, and exacerbating climate change. Everyone suffers when the government fails in its oversight.
As Indonesia struggles to balance development and environmental protection, many are waiting to see whether the UN's plan to revive the world's rainforests can be effective without the nation's full cooperation.

author: Sydney Allen


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#HandsOffOurLibraries: Scholars protest removal of ‘subversive’ books from Philippine universities · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Filipino scholars, librarians, and students take a stand against the removal of ‘subversive’ books in university libraries. Source: Twitter
Libraries in the Philippines are under threat as the Duterte government's anti-communist task force, the NTF-ELCAC, have been removing books deemed “subversive” from library shelves. But such assaults on academic freedom, which drew comparisons to Nazi book burnings, have also sparked opposition from the academic community.
Last 1 September 2021, policemen and soldiers forced a librarian to remove “radical” books from the Kalinga State University library in Tabuk City, 458 kilometers north of the capital Manila. A week later, Isabela State University, in the northern Luzon province of Isabela, “voluntarily” turned over “communist” books in its library to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
The Aklan State University on the central Philippine island of Panay followed by “surrendering” so-called “mentally unhealthy” books in its library after the Aklan Police Provincial Office reached out. Similarly, the University of Antique told the anti-communist task force in Panay Island that it has “no subversive books” in its libraries.
These intrusions into universities occur as the Duterte government intensifies its counterinsurgency war against the longest-running communist rebellion in the world. Students, faculty, and academic institutions have been targeted by vicious red-tagging or accusations of being “communist rebels” — a label that is often the prelude to arrests on trumped-up charges or, worse, extrajudicial killings.
Faculty, librarians, researchers, and other members of the academic community have banded together in several initiatives to push back against the Duterte administration’s extension of its “anti-communist” crusade into academic spaces.
The Academics Unite for Democracy and Human Rights (ADHR), an alliance of Filipino teachers, researchers, school administrators, and other education professionals, launched an online petition that had gathered 422 signatures as of this piece's publication.
An attack on the library is an attack on the very heart of the University itself. It is an attack on the freedoms of thought and expression which are the very foundations of academic freedom.
Please sign our here petition: https://t.co/WhZ2H8zqnn#HandsOffOurLibraries pic.twitter.com/UfS6qfgdnk
— k. (@OneDividesToTwo) October 2, 2021
Peace advocates under the Citizens’ Alliance for Just Peace (CAJP) say the Duterte government's book censorship will have a negative impact on potential future peace negotiations as a means to end the armed conflict:
In the guise of “protecting youth and students from being deceived and recruited by communists”, the NTF-ELCAC is actually stifling critical thought and open-minded study into the socio-economic roots of armed conflict. Just when this divided nation needs to grow the next generation of peace builders instead of warmongers, school administrations are lured into agreeing to outright censorship and thought control.
Book designer Karl Castro, also a lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, observes in a Rappler commentary:
Ideas that change the world often gain ground through books and the spaces that house them. Books arguing that the sun is the center of our solar system, as in tomes by Copernicus and Galileo, or even for the very idea of a Filipino nation, as in the novels of Rizal, were once reviled as heretical and subversive. What prevailing order then, is now being “subverted” by the idea of respecting human rights, or the idea that another order is possible, nay, even necessary?
A screenshot of “Aswang sa Aklatan” website accessible here
The ADHR also launched the “Aswang sa Aklatan” (Aswang in the Library) website on November 1, 2021. The aswang are feared Filipino mythical creatures that disguise themselves as ordinary townsfolk by day but feed on human flesh at night.
Speaking during the website's launch, Dean Mary Grace Golfo-Barcelona of the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) points out the real aswang as those who attack libraries and the exchange of ideas:
Ang mga aswang na dapat katakutan sa aklatan ay hindi mga sulatin na nagsusulong sa malayang pag-iisip at kaalaman bagkus mga bagay na sumusupil sa malayang kaalaman at kalayaang intelektwal ng bawat nilalang na pumapasok sa loob ng aklatan.
The aswang that we should be afraid of are not the writings that advance free thinking and knowledge but those who repress the free information and intellectual freedom of everyone who enters the library.
The new website features updates on the #HandsOffOurLibraries campaign, including links to news articles covering the military's book censorship spree and a compilation of statements by different sectors on the issue.
Compilation of statements and call to action in the Aswang sa Aklatan website
The website also hosts the online archive that provides “free and easily accessible resource of endangered books and materials,” including peace talk primers and radical books on the military's blacklist as well as references about Marcos’ dictatorship era.
Among the books that had been seized by the military are booklets of the peace agreements between the Philippine government and the National Democratic of the Philippines, including, among others, “The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law” (CARHIHL). Also confiscated were books by Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The online repository is dubbed “Multong Aklat” which in English means the “Spectre of Books” alluding to the opening line of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's Communist Manifesto.
Link to the “Multong Aklat: Digital Archive of Endangered Books” in the “Aswang sa Aklatan” website
The #HandsOffOurLibraries campaign continues to resonate as assaults on freedoms intensify, the latest episode being the Commission on Higher Education's (CHED) defense of the removal of “communist-terrorist” books from libraries as an “exercise of academic freedom.”
CHED’s office at the Cordillera Administrative Region issued a memo earlier calling on all universities and colleges to surrender so-called “subversive” books and materials to authorities.
Yet as the Duterte government seeks to tighten its control over the free exchange of ideas and critical thinking, more and more are joining the call to defend libraries and academic freedom.
LOOK: Librarians, professors, researchers, and students from the University of the Philippines and other SUCs take a stand against book censorship and attacks on academic freedom! #HandsOffOurLibraries!
“The library is the heart of the university.”#DefendAcademicFreedom! pic.twitter.com/TDKYlzNo98
— CONTEND UP #NoToRedTagging #JunkTerrorLaw (@CONTEND_UP) October 29, 2021
Disclosure: The author is a member of the Academics Unite for Democracy and Human Rights.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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The mysterious origin of the name of Armenia city in Colombia · Global Voices
Kelly Chaib De Mares

Armenia, Quindio, Colombia. Photo by Luis Alveart/Flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Throughout the Americas, it is common to find cities with European names, but one, in particular, has generated controversy: Armenia in Colombia. Colombia has 43 geographical locations called Armenia. However, it is the capital of the Department of Quindío that sparked a debate about the reasons behind its name.
In the national collective imagination, there is the idea that the name Armenia commemorates the Armenian victims of the Ottoman Empire. When a foreigner learns about a city called Armenia in Colombia, he may assume that its name is due to the presence of diaspora or the origin of its colonizers. But scholars say none of these theories are true.
The Armenia at the center of this misunderstanding is located near the central mountain range of the Colombian Andes, about 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. It has about 300,000 inhabitants and a pleasant 20°C temperature throughout the year. Before the Spanish colonization, it was the main city of the extinct Quimbaya civilization. After its Spanish founding, the city was at the epicenter of the Colombian coffee bonanza, which lasted until the end of the 20th century.
Transportation by donkey. Courtesy of Carlos Alberto Castrillón
This Armenia has a very different history from that of the country of Armenia in the South Caucasus. This country is located in the mountain range between Europe and Asia. For centuries, Armenians were under the rule of different empires (Ottoman, Persian, and Russian), but they managed to maintain an identity with their millennial language, the early adoption of the Christian religion, and, more recently, the struggle for the recognition of the genocide of which they were victims.
The Armenian genocide refers to the killing and expulsion of about one million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. More than 30 countries acknowledge the genocide, but Turkey, the country currently located in the former territory of the Ottoman Empire, never admitted the systematic annihilation of the Armenian people. It argued that the relocation of Armenians was a legitimate state action in response to the Armenian revolutionary movement that threatened the empire during the war. Although Colombia does not recognize the genocide either, the city of Armenia approved a decree commemorating the centenary of the genocide in 2017.
Armenian historians and the media did not miss the opportunity to attribute the existence of this Colombian city to Armenian compatriots. For example, Armenian historian Hovhannes Babesian had initially written that “the city was founded by a group of Armenian immigrants in the 19th century.”
This theory by the Armenians was further promoted by Zavén Sabundjián, another historian, who, in 1983, commented that a monument had been erected “in memory of the founders of the city and its compatriot martyrs.” Later, the Yerevan Magazine even stated that “it is a symbolic monument that evokes the Armenian victims of 1896.” This is a reference to the emblematic Monument to the Founders (located in the park with the same name) which consists of an ax, a symbol of the work by the Antiochians who built the city by cutting down the thick jungle.
Monument to the Founders in Armenia, Colombia. Public domain photo.
It is understandable to assume there is an Armenian diaspora in Colombia. The violent expulsion or death of almost all Christian Armenians in the Ottoman Empire created the second-largest diaspora in the world, after the Jewish people. It is estimated that about three million Armenians live in the current Republic of Armenia and the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, while other ten million are spread around the world.
Various waves of Armenian migration have been recorded in Latin America since the 19th century, and the vast majority have escaped the genocide. The largest diaspora is in Argentina, where there are approximately 150,000 Armenians, but the most noteworthy relationship is with Uruguay, which is the first state to recognize the Armenian genocide. No Armenian diasporas settled in Colombia. On the contrary, by the decree of 1937, this country banned the entry of several immigrants carrying Egyptian, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian, Syrian and Turkish passports. Later, in 1954, the Armenian bishop Cirilo Zohrabián visited Colombia and observed that “in all of Colombia there is not even the shadow of an Armenian.”
The origin of the name of the Colombian city of Armenia is not due to the origin of its founders. What is known as a true fact is that the city of Armenia was founded on October 14, 1889, by settlers from the older state of Antioquia, who established hamlets at this intermediate point between eastern and western Colombia in search of fertile land, opportunities for the extraction of rubber, and the need to move away from the battlefield of the civil wars from 1876 to 1899.
In 1896, the massacre of more than 300,000 Armenians shocked the world at a time when the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, commonly known as Dashnaktsutyun, was advocating for a free, independent, and unified Armenia, or at least greater autonomy and protection of their rights as a minority in the Ottoman Empire. However, the city of Armenia in Colombia was founded almost a decade before these events, and twenty years before the genocide.
In support of this theory, historian Miguel Ángel Rojas Arias from Quindío argues that “it is very likely that the priests in their pulpits mentioned Armenia, the first nation to adopt Christianity as the official religion, and a place known as the Paradise on Earth or as the landing port for Noah's Ark. This name would remain in the minds of the first settlers.”
But there is not consensus on the origin of this name attributed to the church, either. In his article, “Notes for a toponymy of Quindío,” Professor Carlos Alberto Castrillón from the Spanish and Literature Program at the University of Quindío explains that the use of foreign names in the department is due to the mystery and allure surrounding foreign place names, as well as the opportunities for a new life for the settlers in these lands.
View of the mountain range near Armenia, Colombia. Photo by McKay Savage/Flickr. (CC BY 2.0)
In an interview with Global Voices, Castrillón said: “None of the well-known texts from that time mention anything related to religious traditions. When analyzing the main toponymy of the region, no religious names are found, unlike other places in Colombia. The founding settlers defined themselves as freethinkers and educated men, which explains the abundance of names taken from universal history or literature.”
There is even a city in the Department named in reference to another Caucasian nation. One of its founders, a renowned freemason, proposed changing the ordinary name of the land “La Plancha” to a more exotic one: Circassia.
But more importantly, by the time the city was founded, the name was already used in the region. The sales contract for the settlers’ estates mentions the property as located in the village of Armenia. Consequently, Carlos Alberto concludes: “Relating, as some do, this name to the story of Noah seems pure historical imagination or post-toponymic explanation; if there was a religious motivation, it was for naming the village.”
Little has been said about the origin of the name of the hamlet where the city was later founded, which at some point it was attributed to settlers from the city of Armenia in Antioquia.
With no consensus, the motivations for the city's name remain a mystery.

author: Kelly Chaib De Mares


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Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley’s defence of Small Island Developing States at COP26 makes her a regional rock star · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, speaking at the 16th Raúl Prebisch Lecture in Geneva, Switzerland, September 10, 2019. Photo by Timothy Sullivan, via UNCTAD on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley's representation of and advocacy for the Caribbean region at the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, has captured the attention of world leaders and regional netizens alike.
Mottley's environmental star has been on the rise ever since her address at the United Nations’ Climate Event Summit on September 23, 2019, when she warned of mass migration if the climate crisis was not solved. Similarly, her speech at the opening of the #COP26 World Leaders Summit on November 1 made no attempt to sugar-coat the grim reality that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like the Caribbean—which are on the frontline of the adverse effects of climate change despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions—are facing.
She called the failure to provide critical climate finance, which dropped by as much as 25 per cent in 2019, “immoral” and “unjust”:
The pandemic has taught us that national solutions to global problems do not work. We come to Glasgow with global ambition to save our people and to save our planet. But we now find three gaps. On mitigation, climate pledges or NDCs—without more, we will leave the world on a pathway to 2.7 degrees, and with more, we are still likely to get to 2 degrees.
Calling out China and Russia, two major contributors to greenhouse gases that were noticeably absent from the conference, Mottley continued:
Do some leaders in this world believe that they can survive and thrive on their own? Have they not learned from the pandemic? Can there be peace and prosperity if one third of the world literally prospers and the other two thirds of the world live under siege and face calamitous threats to our wellbeing? […]
The central banks of the wealthiest countries engaged in $25 trillion of quantitative easing in the last 13 years. […] Of that, $9 trillion was in the last 18 months to fight the pandemic. Had we used that $25 trillion to purchase bonds to finance the energy transition or the transition of how we eat or how we move ourselves in transport, we would now today be reaching that 1.5 degrees limit that is so vital to us. […] An annual increase in the SDRs of $500 billion a year for 20 years, put in a trust to finance the transition, is the real gap […] that we need to close, not the $50 billion being proposed for adaptation. And if $500 billion sounds big to you, guess what? It is just 2 percent of the $25 trillion.
The Barbadian prime minister later told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that countries like hers, which contribute less than a percentage point to global emissions, have been facing the impacts of the climate crisis for some time now: water supply problems, coral reef degradation, saltwater intrusion, and the influx of sargassum, not to mention flooding and hurricanes.
Those who need to make the decisions, she said, “are kicking can down the road—and they believe that they can because they're not seeing us—they see themselves”:
They don't reach that period of peril probably for another 15, 20 years […] four degrees to Shanghai and Miami to be eradicated. Well, it's 1.5 and 2 for us. […]
They're waiting for it to hit them and we really are hoping that […] they'll recognise that no one is safe until everyone is safe—and if the episode with vaccines hasn't shown us that, then we will never learn.
Her stance went over exceptionally well, with many regional netizens applauding her gumption and determination. Her example inspired some to wonder what it would be like if women ruled the world:
THIS… is WHY we NEED you there @miaamormottley #mashupdatrassboysclub pic.twitter.com/EYtrSDPP2m
— Rachel Allen (@brownin007) November 3, 2021
Global netizens, meanwhile, expressed a longing to have leaders of the same ilk:
Can we have Mia Mottley as our PM? Where are Australia’s inspiring leaders? What a speech. https://t.co/57sGTqX5B2
— Jane Caro (@JaneCaro) November 2, 2021
They weren't the only ones. Across the Caribbean archipelago, Mottley was leaving social media users star-struck:
Barbados, you have a prize
Her audacity
Her authenticity
The truths she dares to speak with such courage
The power of her voice, and the keenness with which her counterparts listen
Caribbean people have NEVER been more proud ? https://t.co/ZVEkLT4KlS
— My Word for 2021 is FOCUS (@yaneekpage) November 2, 2021
Trinidadian Abigail Hadeed, in a public post, said:
She is just Amazing ? so articulate and humble, you can only stop and listen to her. She commands the attention of the world press and leaders! Just goes to show what we lack in Trinidad […] we have leaders and opposition who hate our environment […] judging from their politics and policies.
Her compatriot, Bobbi Gail Xavier, added:
While we care about our skyline, Barbados walks the talk. Ranking 5th in the world per capita in solar power use. Almost half the households use solar energy.
Robert Dumas also felt a sense of regional pride:
Barbados you must be proud, well said. 1.5 to stay alive #CaribbeanVoice
One Twitter user gushed:
how does Barbados feel about PM Mia Mottley? Because the rest of the Caribbean feels as though y’all won the lottery in the PM dept. An authentic Caribbean woman who leads with courage and LOGIC.
— BLJ (@BLJLEE) November 2, 2021
From Jamaica, another added:
Mia Mottley, in just a few years, has solidified herself as a voice of authority on the world stage. In contrast, Jamaica has cowardly omitted to comment/vote on certain issues and has relegated itself to being but a shadow in the realm of diplomacy and international issues. https://t.co/aLf2WeNlmy
— Jose (@crypticbel) November 1, 2021
With all the fanfare, several opposition politicians, from Jamaica to the north of the island chain, to Trinidad and Tobago to the south, tried to use the goodwill Mottley was generating against their respective incumbent governments.
Jamaica's opposition People's National Party (PNP) claimed to be legitimately expressing concerns over local environmental policies:
The Opposition People’s National Party says the inconsistencies between the words of Prime Minister Andrew Holness on the world stage and his actions at home are quite stark and should concern us all.https://t.co/QOgYaMcoYc
— Jamaica Observer (@JamaicaObserver) November 3, 2021
Still, the government made a point of defending itself, with one high-profile government councillor responding:
It has ALWAYS been about UNITY.#ignorethenoise pic.twitter.com/4xTxUuAHNV
— Andrew Bellamy (@andrewbellamyja) November 4, 2021
Meanwhile, Trinbagonians poked fun at the disparity between Mia Mottley's large audience and the sprinkling of attendees at the speech of their own prime minister, Keith Rowley, prompting Emir Crowne to quip:
Well if all yuh like Barbados so much, jus leave nah!
Despite the fact that the region is not a monolith, with every territory having its own specific culture and customs, the fact remains that Caribbean citizens are always quick to support one another and celebrate each other's successes, and to a region on the frontline of the climate crisis, Mia Mottley's message at COP26 definitely feels like something to rally around.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Behind the success of the Kenyan Twitter disinformation campaign to discredit the Pandora Papers · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Hackathon at iHub, a technology incubator in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo by Erik Hersman via Flickr, June 5, 2010 (CC BY 2.0)
Nairobi-based digital researchers for the Mozilla Foundation, Odanga Madung and Brian Obilo, have revealed how Kenya’s flourishing disinformation industry worked to discredit the Pandora Papers, which leaked the secret assets of the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family. Their findings are compiled in a report titled, “How to Manipulate Twitter and Influence People: Propaganda and the Pandora Papers in Kenya.”
Since 1999, Kenyatta and six members of his family were linked to 13 offshore investments with “stocks and bonds” to the tune of $30 million USD. The BBC reports that these investments are domiciled in “Panama, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other tax havens.”
When the news of the leaks first broke, Kenyan Twitter users were outraged that their president was implicated. However, online conversations soon morphed into support for Kenyatta.
“Like clockwork, an alternative sentiment quickly emerged, supporting the president and his offshore accounts. Some of the tweets promoting this alternative sentiment included outright lies,” asserts Madung, lead author of the report.
Despite the leak, there has been a near media blackout of the news by Kenya’s leading local media. Kennedy Wandera, Swahili Voice of America correspondent and chair of the Foreign Press Association, told African News that most of Kenya’s local media “are owned by politicians” who effectively “gatekeep or allow what gets out of that gate.”
This media silence created an information vacuum that exacerbated the Twitter disinformation campaign.
The research conducted by Madung, a Kenyan data journalist, and Obilo, a cybersecurity analyst, includes interviews with disinformation influencers.
Influencers are social media users with a considerably high number of followers. In some African countries like Nigeria, these digital information influencers drive political propaganda or frame political news, which are then amplified by their followers, especially during elections. Consequently, these digital media amplifiers that disseminate false news are called disinformation influencers.
The Mozilla Fellows researchers also collated a trove of screenshots, memes, and hashtags. Their mixed research methodology also included a qualitative analysis of thousands of tweets using Twitter’s Firehose API.
However, the researchers could not determine the funders of this campaign. Madung who spoke with Global Voices via email asserts that “attribution is very hard for us to claim on this with the current evidence we have.” This is because “the people we spoke to [in course of the research] also let us know that the money they receive likely changes hands many times before it arrives at them. The account operators are also very aware which side they tweet for even if they aren't sure where the money is coming from,” Madung said.
The researchers found that astroturfing — the act of masking the real source of a political campaign to make it appear authentic — was employed by hired Twitter disinformation influencers who employed sophisticated tactics that successfully manipulated Twitter’s trending algorithm. This was achieved by trending two hashtags (#phonyleaks and #offshoreaccountfacts) in support of President Kenyatta. However, further investigation by the researchers showed that some Twitter handles repeated the same tweets, with similar words, for days. One influencer told the researchers that he’s been getting paid to do this for six years — and has never been caught.
In addition, it was discovered that some of the astroturf content was a mixture of propaganda and misinformation. The aim, the report notes, was to “fabricate consensus — specifically, the consensus that most Kenyans support Uhuru Kenyatta and distrust the Pandora Papers.”
Similarly, Twitter handles mimicking Kenyan celebrities were also created and used in this campaign of lies. For instance, the identities of two local Kenyan celebrities, Diana Marua and Lillian Ng’ang’a, were employed in amplifying disinformation for the #offshoreaccountfacts campaign. The researchers “reached out to them and both denied any association with the accounts we identified,” says the report.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the report is how easily these disinformation influencers were able to effectively manipulate Twitter's algorithm to push a trend and amplify disinformation. According to a disinformation influencer who was interviewed in the report, “Twitter is easy.”
Twitter guidelines prohibit the manipulation of hashtags by state or state-linked political actors. Consequently, “inauthentic engagements” that artificially trend content or “influence conversations through the use of multiple [or] fake accounts” violate the September 2020 Twitter policy.
However, this policy cannot sufficiently curb the Twitter disinformation campaigns that have gradually morphed into the norm in Africa's political landscape.
In Kenya, digital disinformation industry rates “range from $15 per day to $25 per hashtag,” affirms Madung in an email to Global Voices. Nonetheless, in the 2017 Kenyan elections, some disinformation vendors earned as high as “$25 per hashtag per day, [and] sometimes they would end up running 6 of them.” Madung further asserts that the spike in remuneration implies “a possible surge of business and pricing in election seasons.” In a country where most citizens earn less than KES50,000 Kenyan Shillings (about $449 USD) per month, digital disinformation is a very lucrative business.
In addition, disinformation influencers thrive in the continent because the Twitter algorithm emphasises popularity over truth. “The root of the problem is that political conversations take place on platforms built for viral advertising,” notes journalist Liesl Pretorius in an article on Africa Check, an independent fact-checking organisation. The whole concept of trending hashtags is built around popularity — the number of people engaging in that conversation.
Another reason disinformation thrives is that tech companies like Twitter don't prioritise the expansion of their fact-checking capacity in the continent. Tessa Knight, a South Africa-based digital researcher who spoke to Africa Center for Strategic Studies in October states that these scant resources result in the insufficient “understanding of the African countries they are operating in and their varied information and political landscapes.”
Rosemary Ajayi, disinformation and social media manipulation lead researcher at Digital Africa Research Lab asserts that “it is not illegal to manipulate Twitters’ trends,” even though the practice violates Twitter rules. For instance, “there are violations of multiple rules occurring in a single trending campaign” within the past five years in Nigeria. Yet they were all “overlooked” by Twitter, Ajayi noted. “Twitter has the ability to put an end to this practice but appears to lack the will to do so,” Ajayi said in an email to Global Voices.
Although the Kenyan Twitter disinformation campaign manifests at a level of alarming sophistication, Kevin Zawaki, communications manager at Mozilla Foundation, said in an email to Global Voices, that this case points to the more worrying fact of “Twitter’s unwillingness to address problems outside the Western world.”

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


text:
In Guatemala, ancestors are remembered with food, marimba, and ‘flowers of the dead’ · Global Voices
Prensa Comunitaria

Photo from Estuardo Tunche for Prensa Comunitaria
This story is a merger and republication of two articles, by Elías Oxom and Joel Pérez, in Prensa Comunitaria.
Guatemalans across the country celebrated All Souls’ Day this November 1 and 2 with different religious and cultural expressions to remember their ancestors and ancestresses, their departed loved ones. Photographs, flowers, food, and water were placed in cemeteries and homes for the deceased saints.
The altars were decorated with pacaya and Oq'ob’ leaves (also called leaves of the liquidambar tree) and adorned with tutz’ (marigold, which is the “flower of the dead“). Fruits, different types of food, candles, scented pine leaves, and the tree resin copal pom were also displayed.
These practices were carried out with great solemnity by those who still follow them because it is something that has been lost over the years. Yet, despite the fact that some cemeteries were restricted to visitors, people continued to celebrate life. The pandemic has left a lot of pain because of the deaths caused by Covid-19.
Photo from Guadalupe Figueroa for Prensa Comunitaria
For example, before the COVID-19 pandemic, every November 2, hundreds of families would traditionally visit the municipal cemetery of Ixcán, Quiché in northwestern Guatemala, where the Catholic Church would also celebrate mass.
Photo from Prensa Comunitaria, Ixcán, Quiché
Although the health authorities announced that during November 1 and 2 the entrance to the municipal cemetery would be restricted, it was evident that there was no major control. So, some families arrived on November 2 to visit the remains of their loved ones at the cemetery.
Photo from Prensa Comunitaria, Ixcán, Quiché
In Alta Verapaz, this cultural expression brought families together and the activity became a family gathering. In addition to sharing the sacred food, people share a drink of sugar cane juice (b'oj) and pray to those who have passed away. The Maya Kaqchikel people of San Pedro Sacatepéquez celebrated the Day of the Dead in the central park where an altar was made in honor of the deceased. There was also live marimba, violins, and an art exhibition.
Photo from Feliciana Herrera for Prensa Comunitaria
Likewise, in the Maya Ixil territory, in the municipal capital of Nebaj, families visited their deceased from October 28 to 30, since the cemetery was closed on Sunday. In several communities, they remembered their ancestors and ancestresses with marimba and food. They held family and community activities.
Similarly, in the Nuevo Horizonte Cooperative, in the northern Petén territory, from early in the morning, families decorated the tomb of their deceased with colorful flowers and also placed sweets and food that their deceased liked. In San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango in central Guatemala, Doña Zoila Girón's family prepared “fiambre,” a traditional Guatemalan dish made with cured meats and vegetables. They emphasize that it is a family cooking tradition on All Souls’ Day. In the municipality of Todos Santos Cuchumatán near the border with Mexico, a traditional horse race was held.
Although two years of the pandemic affected family visits to cemeteries, many communities continued to commemorate their ancestors and celebrate life.

author: Prensa Comunitaria


text:
Why can’t Japan’s opposition parties win? · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Higher expectations for quality of life. Working together to unlock the future.” Japan Communist Party election poster from 2019. Photo by Nevin Thompson. Image license: CC BY 3.0
Despite a struggling government, stagnant wages, and a surge in COVID-19 cases over the summer, Japan's incumbent governing coalition, in power since September 2012, enjoyed a solid victory in the country's October 31 general election. Opposition parties, even after an all-out effort to coordinate campaign activities, once again failed to gain traction with voters.
The election saw all 465 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house of Japan's bicameral parliament, called the National Diet, up for grabs. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surpassed the 233 seats needed to govern, securing 261 in total. The Komeito party, its longtime political partner, secured an additional 32 seats, providing the governing coalition with a comfortable majority.
The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), formed only since the last general election in 2017—yet still the largest opposition party in terms of number of seats held prior to the October 31 vote—did not do as well. Although it collaborated with other opposition parties so as not to compete for the same seats, the CDP only managed to win 96. Its main collaborator in the election, the Japan Communist Party (JCP), actually lost seats, leaving some election observers to suggest that the decision to avoid running competing candidates in some constituencies may have backfired.
Tokyo resident Derek Wesseman, who has worked as a parliamentary aide in Japan's Diet, observed that the CDP, unlike its election partner or even its political opponents, lacks local, on-the-ground connections with voters—but in the attempt to not split votes, the JCP, with its strong ground game, did not contest some seats it may have actually had a chance at winning.
Only 45 women, two fewer women than in the previous election, were elected in 2021, occupying less than 10 percent of the 465 seats in Japan's lower house.
In the lead-up to the election, some political observers predicted the result would be closer than normal. With unpopular prime minister Suga Yoshihide being replaced by Fumio Kishida in early October, the governing coalition appeared to be the underdog going into the election, frantically attempting to shore up votes in the face of a revitalized opposition.
Main opposition parties attempted to attract voters by focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing married couples to adopt different surnames, recognizing same-sex marriage, and revitalizing a sluggish, low-wage economy.
However, some observers suggested that Japanese voters really only care about a strong economy, which the incumbent governing coalition based its campaign on. There is evidence that economic management rather than social issues such as marriage equality resonated with younger voters, who tended to vote for the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party.
Nojo Momoko, an activist who focuses on promoting voting among Japan's youth, referred to an election day exit poll that illustrated what issues mattered to voters of different age groups:
この結果が与野党の両方に良いメッセージとなれば嬉しいな〜〜〜 どんな政権であれ、ジェンダー平等・人権への取り組みは大事だと思うし… 「ジェンダー平等推進を最も重視すると答えた割合は、10代は8.3％、20代は6.5％、30代は2.5％、40代1.5％、70代以上は0.6％」
The percentage of respondents who place the highest priority on promoting gender equality is 8.3% for teens, 6.5% for 20s, 2.5% for 30s, 1.5% for 40s, and 0.6% for people in their 70s and above.
Commenting on Nojo's tweet, blogger Hikosaemon suggested that Japan's opposition parties, campaigning on a socially progressive platform that included gender and marriage equity, encountered deeply entrenched attitudes in Japanese society:
Here's the sad truth – it's easy to blame Japan's poor gender equality ranking on the LDP being out of touch, but truth is that there's very little interest in the issue across all age groups and genders, but particularly among elderly voters. In the end problem is societal https://t.co/6zWsTFw63o
— Hikosaemon (@hikosaemon) November 1, 2021
As if to underline the perceived threat united opposition parties seemed to pose to the government, some politicians attempted a “red scare” tactic, warning of ruin if the Japan Communist Party were to get into government.
The most prominent, center-left opposition parties, meanwhile, cooperated during campaigning. For example, Yamamoto Taro, head of the small opposition party Reiwa Shinsengumi, campaigned on behalf of Ikeuchi Saori, a JCP candidate and LGTBQ+ activist who was seeking reelection in a Tokyo constituency:
#池内さおりを押し上げよう❗
れいわ新選組 #山本太郎 候補からメッセージ✨
「この人を送らなきゃ始まらない、多様性の象徴 #池内さおり」
「国会でしっかり戦って汗を流してくれる、そんな候補者を持っているこの誇り。必ず #東京12区 で勝たせてください」
フルVer.▶https://t.co/PSVk2VNfOe pic.twitter.com/AuSkphDFRR
— Tokyo12HAUS?池内さおり事務所（公式）? (@saorijimusyo) October 29, 2021
#VoteForIkeuchiSaori!
A message from Reiwa Shinsengumi's Yamamoto Taro:
Vote for this candidate and send a message of diversity! Take pride in sending a candidate like this to the Diet who will fight hard on your behalf! Let's help her get elected!
Despite Yamamoto's help on the campaign trail and perceived opposition party momentum, Ikeuchi was not re-elected. In fact, her party lost two seats, and its campaign partner, the CDP, also performed poorly—perhaps no surprise, given the low voter turnout of 55.79 percent.
There was some criticism that, with the number of polling locations being reduced over the past twenty years, it has become increasingly more difficult to vote in Japan. Since 2000, there are 7,000 fewer voting locations across the country, a decline of 13 percent. Others maintain, however, that the voting experience is easier overall.
Just as confusingly for voters, both the Constitutional Democratic Party and its rival Democratic Party use the same abbreviation in Japanese—but the reason that opposition parties in Japan just cannot seem to win an election may have much more to do with the churn and fragmentation they have been experiencing for the last four years.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Political and social crises to blame for the ‘COVID-19 disaster’ in Bulgaria · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

Security staff checks COVID-19 passes of visitors to the Mall of Sofia, November 6, 2021. Photo by Ruslan Trad, used with permission.
One would think that the political crisis, lack of a government, and the holding of the third consecutive parliamentary elections in a year are hard enough situations for Bulgaria, but on November 1, the country with a population of nearly 7 million, hit a tragic new COVID-19 record—over 6,000 new cases and over 300 deaths. Honestly, I, and I'm pretty sure others in the country, don't even know how to describe the failure, tragedy, and stubbornness that led us here.
Bulgaria has the EU’s lowest vaccination rate, while widespread vaccine hesitancy fueled by misinformation and a lackluster awareness campaign comes amid political turmoil. As the COVID crisis unfolds and affects more and more sectors of the economy and society, the Bulgarian state is making a transition from more than a decade of rule by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) party. Borisov stepped back after nearly a year of anti-corruption protests, marked by police violence and wiretapping of political opponents, and even protesters.
This toxic situation was preceded by impunity scandals linked to the Prosecutor General, Ivan Geshev, for refusing to investigate a number of Bulgarian politicians and businessmen who were sanctioned by the U.S. government in June under the Magnitsky Act for links to corruption and human rights abuses. The scandal has become one of the main topics dividing the political elite, and while the caretaker government published a list of 33 companies and 21 individuals connected to blacklisted moguls, the judiciary has not yet taken action against them. Incidentally, Bulgaria is the only European Union member state whose citizens are included in this list.
Fast testing of COVID-19 offered to visitors of Mall of Sofia, Nov 6, 2021. Photo by Ruslan Trad, used with permission.
While Bulgaria initially reacted quickly by taking strong measures against COVID-19 in March 2020, Borisov's subsequent handling of the pandemic has drawn sharp criticism because the country was severely affected during the autumn months after a loosening of restrictions over the summer. The interim ministers appointed by President Rumen Radev, with whom Borisov has had a long feud, fared no better—the statistics are grim: 3,117 people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for COVID-19 died in October 2021; 100,330 is the number of new cases for one month, the Sofia Globe reported. November can be even harder with all the anti-measures protests going on.
At the time of writing, the whole territory of Bulgaria is already in so-called “dark red zones,” as the cases of COVID-19 infections have passed over 800 per 100,000. A partial lockdown is expected if the number of new cases increases to 1,000/100,000 level, which is already a reality in some of the provinces in the western part of the country, including the capital.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people, seven-day rolling average for Bulgaria, European Union and Europe. Graph by Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0.
In the background of increasing disinformation and spreading of fake news, as of the beginning of November, there are over 7,000 people hospitalised. In most municipalities, there are no intensive care unit (ICU) beds available. A doctor who works in one of the busiest COVID-19 wards in Sofia told me on October 28:
“Ruslan, I don't know when I will return home – probably not this week.”
While restaurant owners protest against COVID-19 certificates, in Bulgaria's countryside the situation is grim, and there are no available beds in many hospitals.
In the northwestern part of the country, in the provinces of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, and Lom, there is a lack of hospital staff. Ambulances rushing to regional hospitals can often be seen on the roads. The situation is similar in other parts of Bulgaria. However, the majority of the people are still resisting vaccinations.
My cousin is a doctor near Tarnovo, she's already in her 70's and still working. Yes, Bulgaria needs to get more people vaccinated, the doctors are suffering.
— nana (@nsc_nana) October 29, 2021
As I mentioned before, the political situation is contributing to the crisis, as the country has been continuously in-between elections for over a year.  There is an intensification of fake news and disinformation, including dozens of sham sites and social media accounts using the stolen personal information of medics. Several investigations are underway, with no clear results so far. Political parties do not take decisive positions on vaccination at this crucial moment, and according to the doctors I spoke with, we can already talk about “a COVID-19 disaster.”
Instead of creating a unified campaign to explain the situation and why it is important for people to be vaccinated, politicians of all colors of the political spectrum are competing in their silence and dubious statements. With the November 14th parliamentary and presidential elections approaching, no one doubts that these positions will remain the same, because of fear of losing voters. Low voter turnout is expected, fueled by apathy and frustration in general, and the COVID-19 crisis is further contributing to this situation.
“Each day Bulgaria loses the equivalent of one plane crash.” Bulgaria has the highest death rate in the world, yet its leaders don’t seem to want to do anything about it as the November elections draw closer.
My latest for @euronews:https://t.co/RPfSnKLRfd
— Aleksandar Brezar (@brezaleksandar) October 29, 2021
Furthermore, one of the police unions in Bulgaria announced last month that it opposed the introduction of COVID-19 certificates. The police insist on an awareness campaign and a “grace period” while only 30 per cent of law enforcement officers have been vaccinated so far.
The use of the COVID-19 crisis for political dividends has led to more severe manifestations. In late October, interim Education Minister Nikolai Denkov was attacked by supporters of the ultra-nationalist political party Vazrazhdane (Revival), one of the main forces behind the protests against COVID-19 measures. Fortunately, the minister was not seriously injured, but the case is indicative of tensions and how an unresolved crisis could lead to serious consequences.
Supporters of Vazrazhdane, whose leader is also a presidential candidate and is accused of having strong links to the Kremlin, sometimes use social discontent to gain visibility. For example, the attack on Minister Denkov took place during a protest by medics.
Another nationalist group is also involved in provoking social tensions in the background of the COVID-19 crisis. At least one vaccination center was attacked in the past few months, while medics were threatened for doing their job.
The Bulgarian paramilitary group “BNO Shipka” attacked and closed a vaccination point in Varna, Bulgaria today (https://t.co/w43oy1zbKm). A couple years ago @ruslantrad & @avramovok published an article on this organization's “patrols” targeting migrants.https://t.co/RhtLAI6yOk
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) September 20, 2021
Meanwhile, the black market price for a fake vaccination certificate or negative PCR test just hit 350 euros. In September, the going rate was between 200 to 300 euros, as reported by Balkan Insight.
Portugal, the most vaccinated country in the EU, has a 14 day covid death rate of 0.6
Bulgaria, the least vaccinated country in the EU, has a 14 day covid death rate of 26.5#COVIDVaccine #COVID19
— Covid Data Check (@CovidDataCheck) November 2, 2021
The whole situation is indicative of the social problems in Bulgaria which have been developing for years without receiving the necessary attention, not only from within but also from abroad.
A Bulgarian shop requiring use of Green Pass, the EU Digital COVID Certificate, in Sofia, Bulgaria, Nov 6, 2021. Photo by Ruslan Trad, used with permission.
The lack of a quality political life also affects the general apathy and reluctance of people to comply with recommendations when they come from institutions and the government. The decline in confidence in leaders, politicians, and authorities, is currently reflected in the attitude to the COVID-19 crisis. As some analysts commented, some of the social links among people are falling apart because of the polar division on a number of topics, and this is one of the worst consequences of the crisis.
However, there are some good examples. Local mayors in municipalities are doing everything possible to encourage residents to get vaccinated and some are succeeding. Organizations are trying to deliver food and essentials to the medics in the ICU wards; some do so completely voluntarily.
If there is any positive development, it will be not because of the situation in the country, but despite it, and thanks to efforts by dedicated individual citizens.

author: Ruslan Trad


text:
Rooppur: Little Russia in Bangladesh · Global Voices
Rezwan

A graphical depiction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant being built in the Rooppur village in Pabna district of Bangladesh. Screenshot from YouTube video by ‘Touch Your Mind’ channel. Fair Use.
Russians on the streets, in restaurants and in shopping malls, as well as signs written in Russian alongside Bengali billboards all beg the question: “What does a slow-paced village in the Ishwardi region (called an Upazila) of Bangladesh's Pabna District have common with the world's largest country?”
The answer is that the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation is building key infrastructure for a 2.4 gigawatt nuclear power plant in Rooppur, including the installation of two VVER-1200/523 nuclear reactors. Starting in 2016, the project's rapid pace of development—along with the presence of a few thousand scientists and technical professionals, most of them from Russia—has largely propelled Rooppur's massive transformation:
Rooppur NPP.#Rooppur #VVER pic.twitter.com/BLziOYlxdX
— Syndrome of Atom (@Syndroma3) November 3, 2021
As a result, the landscape of the area has completely changed. The landscape now consists of high-rise buildings, new shopping malls and schools, as well as world-class hotels, restaurants, and resorts near the Padma river. Local shop owners are learning the Russian language in order to sell their products to Russian expat workers with ease, and signboards are increasingly being written in both English and Russian. Rooppur has grown to be a little Russia within Bangladesh.
Bangladesh needed a solution to meet rapid energy demand growth, which is linked to its GDP. In 2008, China offered to fund a nuclear power project, but just two years later, Bangladesh entered into a 12.65 billion United States dollar nuclear power deal with Russia, 90 percent of which is being funded by a loan from the Russian government to ensure cheap energy production.
The Russian state company Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) has been financing and building reactors across many countries in order to increase Russia's geopolitical influence and generate financial profits for the country. Under the agreement, ROSATOM has been constructing the 1,062-acre plant in Rooppur under its build, own and operate (BOO) model; thus far, 40 percent of work has been completed.
Having commenced groundwork in 2016, the two power generating units are projected to become operational by 2023/24. Russia will provide nuclear fuel to run the operations. It has also agreed to train local professionals and take back the used nuclear waste for disposal.
The power plant project has radically transformed the outlook of small villages like Rooppur, Sahapur and Notun Hat near Ishwardi, improving the livelihoods of the locals.
One of the first changes people noticed was a 20-storey housing development in a remote area of Notun Hat, which was completed around 2018. Travel bloggers began visiting and sharing their experiences, as seen in this vlog from Global Entertainment, posted on YouTube in 2020:
Cultures have become so integrated that the area's demographics also look very different. Approximately 4,000 employees from Russia, India, Ukraine, Belarus and other former members of the USSR have become part of the local workforce for the project. More than 20,000 people work in the plant and related infrastructure projects, and there are over 3,000 Russian-speaking workers whose presence has made a huge impact on the local population. These foreign workers often share their lives in Rooppur on social media:
Of these, perhaps the most notable vlog is Olga Totckaia's Little Russia in Bangladesh, which was featured in an October 2021 BBC Bangla report:
In the video, Totckaia notes that in addition to the businesses located close to where the foreign workers live, many local shopkeepers in the nearby town of Ishwardi have picked up the Russian language in order to interact, prompting Ayesha Siddika to comment:
This is the most impressive video I have ever seen. I love this little Russian city. I want such a small Bengali town to be built in Russia too. Let the Russians know about the Bengali language and culture.❤❤❤????
A student of Dhaka University tweeted:
Seems like I might have to cancel my #Russia trip in future:)
Russia is here my friend, in Pabna, #Bangladeshhttps://t.co/Ka87Om3XQ8
— Esha (@esha2509) October 22, 2021
On his blog, Anowar Nurul Islam wrote about this exchange of language and culture:
দেড় দুই বছরের ব্যবধানে বদলে গেছে অনেক কিছুই। সেখানে সেলুন থেকে সুপারশপ, ফলের দোকান কিংবা মাছ-মাংসের বাজার, সব সাইনবোর্ডেই আছে রাশিয়ান ভাষা। এমনকি আবাসিক এলাকা, রেস্টুরেন্ট কিংবা চায়ের আড্ডা সবখানে স্বতঃস্ফূর্ত উপস্থিতি রাশিয়ানদের। দোকানদারদের সাথে তারা যেমন কথা বলছেন বাংলায়, ঠিক তেমন‌ই অনেক দোকানদার‌ও এখন আয়ত্ত করেছেন রাশিয়ান ভাষা। স্থানীয়দের কেউ কেউ লিখতেও শিখেছেন রাশিয়ান ভাষা। তারই প্রমাণ হাতে লেখা কিছু সাইনবোর্ড।
A lot has changed in the space of two and a half years. From local saloons to super-shops or malls, fruit shops or fish and meat markets, most of them have Russian letters in the signboards. There is a spontaneous presence of Russians in the restaurants and tea-houses near the residential areas. There is also a cultural exchange happening as the foreign workers try to interact with the shopkeepers in Bengali and many shopkeepers are learning the Russian language. Some of the locals have also learned to write in Russian. Proof of this is the handwritten signboards.
A signboard in Russian in Ruppur, Ishwardi, Bangladesh. Screenshot via YouTube Video by Olgesh.in.Bangladesh. Fair use.
It is an exchange the Russian expats are happy to be a part of. IA Tupilov, director of the Russian Atomstroyexport (ASE) in Bangladesh, told The Daily Sun that “the population treats Russian specialists quite well.”
Despite everyone's enthusiasm, certain things may be lost in translation—including the pronunciation of the town's name. In a thread on the ROSATOM South Asia Facebook page, Shoaib Nury quipped:
Rooppur or Russpur? Check again the current unofficial name. Russian expatriates gave the town a new name already. ??❤??
Naturally, as part of the support system for such a large project, there has been massive infrastructural development in the surrounding areas. Several shopping malls, super shops, resorts, hospitals and quality hotels have been built in Pakshi, Sahapur, Rooppur and Ishwardi, all catering to the daily needs of foreigners—and thousands of local people, many of whom had previously been unemployed, have found jobs in many of these new businesses. A new 27-kilometre railway, a river port and 100 km of paved roads have also been constructed in the Upazila.
As Shaukat Akbar, project director of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, put it:
কোনো ওয়ার্কার এখন সাইকেলে আসে না। অধিকাংশের এখন বাইক আছে। রাশিয়ানরা বলেছিল যেদিন প্রকল্পের কাজ শেষ হবে কতিপয় ওয়ার্কারের চার চাকার গাড়িই হবে। রূপপুর দেশের প্রথম পারমাণবিক বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্র। এই প্রকল্প ঘিরে আবর্তিত হচ্ছে বহু মানুষের জীবন জীবিকা। উন্নত হচ্ছে জন-জীবনের মান।
Most local workers no longer come to work riding on a bicycle. They have graduated to motor-bikes. The Russians said when the project is completed, some workers would own cars. Rooppur is the first nuclear power plant in the country. This project is transforming the livelihoods of so many people. The quality of life is improving.

author: Rezwan