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Decolonising and demystifying Central Asian literature through translation · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Detail from cover of the book “A life at Noon,” translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega. Photo used with permission.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a Seattle-based translator of Uzbek and Kazakh literature, as well as a certified Russian to English translator. Her translations have been published in a number of leading English-language magazines, and three translations of books by Uzbek and Kazakh authors are coming out later this year. As Central Asian literature remains scarcely known outside the region, Shelley is not just a translator but also a cultural ambassador.
I asked her to reflect on those roles, and what the future holds for Central Asian literature in translation. What follows is an abridged transcript of our conversation.
Filip Noubel: How did you get involved in Central Asian literature and languages, which is a rather rare occurrence among literary translators in the English-speaking world?
Shelley Fairweather-Vega: It is too rare an occurrence! It was really an accident: the University of Washington, where I did my graduate studies, bundled Central Asian Studies in with Russian Studies. I began studying Uzbek under the guidance of Ilse Cirtautus, a legendary scholar and promoter of Uzbek literature. Later the Uzbek writer-in-exile Hamid Ismailov convinced me to work on some of his books, and introduced me to other Central Asian writers, which is how I met Zaure Batayeva, a tireless promoter of Kazakh literature.
My knowledge of Uzbek isn’t perfect, and my knowledge of Kazakh is scanty, but even the amount I do know is enough to give me a different perspective on translating the literature from that region – different from translators and readers who work only with Russian.
FN: Tell us about the books you have recently translated and those that are due to be published. Did you pitch those titles to publishers yourself?
SFV: Two of them are by Hamid Ismailov, the ones I agreed to translate back in 2015. “Gaia, Queen of Ants” captured the imagination of an editor at Syracuse University Press when I sent it to them.
It’s a fascinating but disturbing tale of exiles trying to find their way in the world: a young man who is traumatised by ethnic conflicts in his childhood, in a country that must be Uzbekistan; an old woman who, it turns out, may have been the instigator of those conflicts; and an Irish woman who escaped the Troubles only to land in the middle of a war zone in Serbia and then a Central Asian prison. As you might expect, it doesn’t end well.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega
Ismailov’s other novel, “Of Strangers and Bees”, is a homage to the Sufi literary tradition stretching back many centuries. One of its central characters is Avicenna, or Ibn Sino as the Uzbeks call him, who appears as a wandering stranger in different countries and centuries. That means the book is full of different story-telling styles, making it a challenge to translate. That one is coming out from Tilted Axis Press, which also produced Ismailov’s most recent novel in English translation, “Devils’ Dance.”
But the next one to come out, on October 1, is a Kazakh novel, “A Life At Noon”, by Talasbek Asemkulov. The author was a scholar of Kazakh history and culture, a musician who played the Kazakh string instrument, the dombyra. The novel is a slightly fictionalised retelling of his own life story. He grew up on the stories old men told over tea in the 1960s, and in the book, we all get to hear those stories. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
FN: How challenging is it to translate from Central Asian languages and cultures, particularly when it comes to local cultural terms or proverbs?
SFV I’m not sure it’s more difficult than translating from any other language, although Turkic languages like Uzbek and Kazakh have a structure extremely different from English. The culture behind those languages is less familiar to English-language readers because we just haven’t read much from that part of the world. Translation is always a strategic balancing act. A translator can alter the whole tone of a story just by choosing how to handle words such as dastarkhan or jigit. Do we explain those words, and if so, how much and how often? Italicise them? Do we leave no comment at all?
Because Central Asian languages use different alphabets – sometimes more than one different alphabet – there’s also the question of spelling. I’ve already mentioned Avicenna and Ibn Sino. And is it jigit or dzhigit? We have to consider at least three aspects when answering those questions. First, how will English-speaking readers pronounce the word, and will that be close to correct? Second, is there a spelling people already know and expect, and is there a good reason to violate those expectations? And third, how Russian is the spelling we’re considering? Because when we call the musical instrument, for example, a dombra, that’s the Russian spelling; Kazakhs pronounce and write it more like dombyra.
My spelling choices can inadvertently label something a Kazakh or a Russian phenomenon. We can’t avoid the Russian influence and perspective on Central Asia altogether, but we also need to be careful of making the Russian experience there the central, primary, and only lens through which we perceive these stories.
All these decisions determine how exotic the translated text will seem to the reader and how comfortable or uncomfortable readers might feel experiencing the story. But how comfortable do we want them to feel, anyway? The answer is different for every work, every author, and every publisher.
FN: How do you think English-speaking audiences and media interpret these literatures?
SFV: It might be too soon to tell. Central Asian literature is still an exotic beast, a curiosity. I get the sense that people are more likely to appreciate it for its rareness than for its actual literary merits – but the art, the stories, are what I like best, and what I hope people will pay attention to. I’d love to move readers away from thinking, “how unusual!” to thinking “how beautiful!”
FN: Are Central Asian governments or institutions doing enough to promote their countries’ literatures in translation?
SFV: We’re seeing more efforts along these lines lately, but still nothing like Russian writers have with the Institut Perevoda [a Russian state-sponsored institute for literary translation] and active literary agents. Unfortunately, Central Asian countries have inherited Soviet-style bureaucracies that extend to the literary world and come with opaque rules governing who gets attention. In Kazakhstan, the government decided last year to fund the translation and publication of a volume of poetry and a volume of prose to promote Kazakhstan’s culture abroad. But rather than translators, publishers, and readers, it was mainly bureaucrats who made the decisions about what to include.
I haven’t heard of any government-led efforts in Uzbekistan. In 2018, I had the privilege of helping to judge a contest for translators of Uzbek literature, and I was excited to see what young Uzbek translators picked to translate. Out of dozens of samples I reviewed, there were only about six authors whose work was represented, all men who wrote in the early decades of the Soviet era. Those stories seem to have been the only ones these young translators thought deserved their attention. If that’s what they’re spending time on, how are readers from outside supposed to discover anything else?
I’d love to see governments and cultural organisations in Central Asia promoting not just the classics, which do remain too little known in the West, but also exciting new writing by a more diverse group of authors.
FN: Which authors from Central Asia would you like to recommend to readers, whether translated into English or not?
SFV: I’m glad you asked! The biggest deal right now is that an English version of a Kazakh historical saga, Rollan Seysenbayev’s “The Dead Wander in the Desert”, is coming out soon, translated by John Farndon and Olga Nakston. Seysenbayev's book addresses some of the same themes that “A Life At Noon” does, though from a different point of view. Furthermore, J. Kates has translated a volume of poetry by Aigerim Tazhi called “Paper-Thin Skin.”
Right now I’m working with some less known Kazakh authors who have written amazing things. Zaure Batayeva and I are compiling an anthology of recent short stories by women who write either in Kazakh or Russian. One of those authors, Lilya Kalaus, has a hilarious, touching novel called “The Last Hope Foundation” about love, ghosts, and the operations of a western non-profit in present-day Central Asia. Kalaus worked with another of those authors, Zira Naurzbayeva, to write a very good pair of children’s adventure stories based on Kazakh myths and legends. And Dastan Kadyrzhanov, following a career in Kazakh politics, has written a novel in free verse about the spiritual crisis in his country after the collapse of the Soviet political system, which is surprisingly funny and erudite.
I’d love to help them share their insights and their creative work with a wider audience. That’s the best part about being a translator.

author: Filip Noubel


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Hong Kong’s unauthorized protests end with riot police storming subway stations with batons and pepper spray · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

‘It is U who taught me that peaceful marches are useless.’ Photo: May James/HKFP.
This post is a round-up of a series of posts – Violence erupts across Hong Kong as police fire ‘warning shots’ on September 1 and HKFP Lens: Hong Kong police crackdown with water cannon, tear gas as protesters hurl Molotov cocktails at gov’t HQ and Hong Kong police water cannon truck fires blue-coloured water as protesters besiege gov’t HQ – published on Hong Kong Free Press between 31 August and 1 September 2019. It is republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Violent clashes erupted across Hong Kong after tens of thousands defied police bans and joined the “unauthorized” weekend rally on 31 August 2019.
The rally was initiated by the Civil Human Rights Front to reiterate the demands of the anti-extradition campaign and to denounce Beijing’s intervention in Hong Kong’s political reform. The date is significant as 31 August marks the fifth anniversary of a decision made by the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress which sought to impose a screening mechanism for the future election for Hong Kong’s chief executive.
Although the CHRF was forced to cancel the official planned march after police refused to issue a permit, thousands of people defied the police ban and joined a “prayer walk for sinners” at Southorn Playground in Wan Chai.
Christopher Yeung, a Catholic who was leading the march, told HKFP that the march was not a protest but a religious gathering. Under the Public Order Ordinance, religious activity does not require police endorsement as long as there are less than 30 participants.
But thousands appeared at the Southorn Playground and walked towards the police headquarters in the early afternoon, then moved on towards Admiralty and Central. More people joined in resulting in the halting of traffic on major roads from Causeway Bay to Central. Police officers raised yellow flags at various spots warning crowds that they were breaching the law and could be prosecuted. But people kept on walking in the streets.
Water cannon with dyed water to identify protesters. Photo: May James/HKFP.
Majority of the protesters left around 5:30 pm and violent clashes broke out as more radical protesters attempted to besiege the Legislative Council. Riot police fired tear gas and launched water cannons while protesters hurled objects at police lines, including Molotov cocktails.
Saturday’s outpouring comes a day after mass arrests of prominent activists and political figures for offences related to inciting, organising or attending an unauthorised assembly. Those rounded up included pro-democracy lawmakers Cheng Chung-tai, Au Nok-hin and Jeremy Tam, as well as activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and founder of banned pro-independence Hong Kong National Party Andy Chan.
As night fell, riot police advanced along Hennessy Road. Near police headquarters, protesters built a huge fire, which was eventually put out by the fire brigade.
Huge fire set near police headquarters. Photo: May James/HKFP.
At around 9:30 pm police started arresting protesters. Undercover police officers fired two warning shots as they were outnumbered by the protesters when they attempted to conduct arrests in Causeway Bay.
As protesters dispersed, violence spilled over around Kowloon’s Yau Tsim Mong district as police deployed tear gas in Prince Edward. Clashes also broke out in Kwun Tong and Lam Tin.
Upon receiving reports from the MTR on a clash inside a train carriage as about 3-4 passengers stopped the protesters from entering the carriage with metal rod and hammer while the protesters fought back with umbrellas and a fire extinguisher. Riot police officers then charged onto the platforms of Mong Kok and Prince Edward MTR station to conduct arrests.
TV news footage showed riot police beating people with their batons inside train carriages at Prince Edward station and deploying pepper spray, with many passengers seen to be cowering and bleeding.
In a statement, the government claimed that protesters were vandalising stations and attacking members of the public, and officers had entered MTR stations to “stop all violent acts and arrest offenders.”
However, video footages shows that riot police were beating up people who were not acting violently. Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Party Lo Kin Hei described the police violence on the subway train as an authorized version of mob attack on 21 of July in Yuen Long:
The horrible scene at Prince Edward Station where Police Raptors rushed into the MTR train cart, and beat up anyone in there with totally no harm & no sign of defiance. Just the same as the 7.21 Yuen Long Attack carried out by mobs. pic.twitter.com/nTfBb1ehG4
— LO Kin-hei 羅健熙 (@lokinhei) August 31, 2019
The hospital authority reported that 41 were hospitalized and 5 suffered from serious injuries during the weekend clashes.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Nigerian journalist charged with treason after criticizing governor for corruption · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Agba Jalingo, the publisher of CrossRiverWatch, an online newspaper, was arrested in his residence in Lagos, Nigeria, at around 2 p.m. local time by the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS) of the Nigerian police on August 22.
Agba Jalingo [image from Jalingo's Facebook wall].
CrossRiverWatch reported that FSARS invaded the Lagos bakery of Violet, wife of Jalingo, where they “seized the phones of all staff present and ordered them to show to them Jalingo’s residence”.
On August 23, police transferred Jalingo to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Jalingo's transfer to Calabar was allegedly on the request of Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State.
Abuja-based online daily Premium Times stated that Jalingo was, on August 30, charged with treason, terrorism, cultism and public disturbance in a Federal High Court in Abuja, for “working with the #RevolutionNow movement”—founded by detained human rights activist Omoyele Sowore to protest bad governance in Nigeria— to ”undemocratically’ force the government of Ayade to end through violent means.”
If convicted, Jalingo risks life imprisonment, fine or both.
Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Cross River State Governor Benedict [Ben] Ayade, is an opposition politician with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ayade's greatest headache has been from the African Action Congress (AAC), a political party founded by the #RevolutionNow movement protest leader Omoyele Sowore.
Jalingo, who also doubles as the state chairman of the AAC, has regularly criticized Ayade's governance of Cross Rivers State. Ayade had allegedly threatened that Jalingo will “face prosecution for misinformation.”
Ayade was re-elected as for a second term of four years in the February 2019 elections, where he beat his closest rivals from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
It is not certain if the AAC fielded a candidate during the governorship elections. The breakdown of the 2019 governorship elections results by the BBC only showed three parties: Ayade's PDP, the APC and SDP.
On July 17, Jalingo wrote a critical story about an alleged diversion of 500 million naira (about $1.4 million United States dollars) meant for the establishment of Cross River state Micro-Finance Bank. Jalingo stated that “eight months after the opening of the bank,” Ayade had failed to to release the money meant for the start-up of the state-owned bank:
Governor Ayade will do Cross Riverians a whole lot of good by coming public to tell the people of Cross River State, where the 500 million [Naira] he released for the Cross River State Micro-Finance bank is, because the money is certainly not in that bank.
On August 14, the Cross River State Command of the Nigerian Police invited Jalingo for questioning on the allegation of “conspiracy to cause unrest and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace”:
This office is investigating a case of conspiracy to cause a breach of peace, reported by Cross River Microfinance Bank, Calabar, in which your name is mentioned. To facilitate our investigation, you are kindly requested to interview the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, Calabar, on Monday, 19 August 2019, at [7:00 p.m.] 1400hrs, to state your side of the case.
However, Jalingo was arrested in Lagos on August 22, four days before the scheduled date to honour the police invitation.
The arrest and subsequent charge of Jalingo for treason have ignited reactions from Nigerians online.
Ada Campbell, a digital consultant, cut through the murky waters of journalism in Nigeria, where “criticizing [government] is now treason”:
“A Nigerian journalist, Agba Jalingo, who has been in police detention for over a week, over a report about an alleged diversion of N500 million by the Cross River governor, has been charged with treason.”
Criticizing govt is now treason. https://t.co/AdKWewIZFJ
— Ada Campbell (@Adacampbell) September 1, 2019
Writer Gimba Kakanda said that linking Jalingo with Sowore was a diversion because the government “[wasn't] going to win”:
He was arrested for writing that the Cross River state Governor diverted N500M. He sued the police for illegal detention and, knowing they weren’t going to win, they accused him of supporting Sowore — of treason, terrorism, cultism and public disturbance.https://t.co/1h9zS3FWo4
— Gimba Kakanda (@gimbakakanda) September 1, 2019
Abdul Mahmud, a lawyer and human rights activist, asks if a charge of treason can be sustained “against a citizen for allegedly planning to topple a governor” under the Nigerian constitution.
FRN v Agba Jalingo.
Lawyers, can the charge of treason be sustained by @policeng against a citizen for allegedly planning to topple a governor? Is treason a state or federal offence? Is the governor a sovereign or a federal agent?
This country confuses the Great Oracle o!
— Revolutionary Oracle (@AbdulMahmud01) September 1, 2019
The “assault against free speech in Nigeria is alarming”, quipped Nafiu:
Agba Jalingo, a journalist, charged for treason for daring to criticize the Cross River State governor
The assault against free speech in Nigeria at the moment is alarming
Any politician who is unwilling to subject himself or herself to public scrutiny has no place in politics
— Nafiu T (@nafeezi) September 1, 2019
Darlington Edem, chairman of the Association of Cross River Online Journalists, stated that Jalingo's arrest has only shown that “the media in Cross River State is caged and controlled.”
Similarly, the Lagos-based International Press Centre (IPC) has called for the unconditional release of Jalingo. IPC condemned “the growing crackdown on freedom of expression” in Nigeria as evident in the frequent “molestation of journalists and the media by security agencies.”

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Once celebrated by Homer, Turkey’s Mount Ida is losing trees and going bald · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Forests on Mount Ida, photo used with permission under CC 3.0 license
As Turkey is rapidly increasing large-scale mining, a major operation of deforestation led by a Canadian company has sparked protests. Activists are now joined by leading Turkish artists to raise awareness, but can the cutting of nearly 200,000 trees stop the government from allocating more mining licenses?
Infographic created by Arzu Geybullayeva
Keen on expanding its mining sector, Turkey has developed a policy of inviting foreign investors and offering them special conditions to develop what it sees as a strategic economic priority. In 2000, the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) and the Ministry of Energy started mapping mineral deposits. In 2004, the government also amended the Law on Mines granting exploration licenses to companies, reducing taxes and allowing operations in previously protected areas. Finally, in 2010, it began converting exploration licenses into operating licenses.
One of the foreign companies present on the Turkish market is Alamos Gold, a Toronto-based company that had been scouting land since 2010. According to the company's website, it acquired multiple projects on January 6, 2010, from another Canadian company, Fronteer Development and Teck Resources for a lump sum of USD 90 million. Alamos Gold received its operating permit from the Turkish Department of Energy and Natural Resources in March 2019.
It immediately started operating, despite numerous demands by the local municipality of Canakkale to stop the process from further endangering the local environment and the people's livelihoods.
A traditional method used by gold-mining companies is heap leaching — a process that dissolves the gold and extracts it from its ore with the help of cyanide. Environmental activists, as well as locals, fear that Alamos Gold intends to use some 20,000 tonnes of cyanide, a deadly chemical that can harm surrounding flora and fauna in case of a spill. If leaked, the deadly chemical could pollute the local dam, which provides water to over 180,000 people and irrigates over 5,000 hectares of land.
United under the hashtags #KazdağınaDokunma [Don’t touch the Kaz Mountains] and #KazDağlarıHepimizin [The Kaz Mountains belong to all of us], scores of activists, politicians, representatives of non-governmental organizations have stormed social media platforms to express their concern. On July 26, they also started organizing large scale protests. As a result, there is now a 24-hour camp set up in the vicinity of the construction site keeping the “watch for water and conscience”, as can be seen in this article.
While the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said in a statement that no cyanide would be used, that is not what Alamos’ own website states:
A dilute cyanide solution will be applied to the crushed ore over a 90 day leaching cycle with the pregnant solution collected and processed through the adsorption-desorption-recovery (“ADR”) plant where gold and silver doré bars will be produced.
In an interview with Reuters, Alamos CEO John McCluskey dismissed any criticism adding that the area shall return to its previous state after the six years envisaged for the project. “In six and a half years, the whole focus of this area will be to replant. And in a decade, maybe a bit more than that, it will look like a forest again,” he said. McCluskey also said it was not the company that cut the trees but the government authorities. But a forest planted by humans and left to nature's own devices takes some 100 years to mature, as experts explain.
Bianet, a local independent online news platform, reported in August that contrary to CEO McCluskey claims, Alamos was indeed cutting down the trees through a subcontractor, Dogu Minga Mining. In fact, the news site states that the company has been cutting trees since 2017. At this point, the issue is no longer about who cut them, but how to prevent it from happening again, as 500 acres of land has been leveled and all of the natural habitat has been destroyed.
So far, authorities have been adamant to look into the claims. The motion to investigate the construction of the mine carried to parliament by 26 deputies from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was voted down by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
One of the country's leading organizations with a focus on protecting natural habitat, TEMA (Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats) released a video with two trending hashtags: #altindaolumvar (there is death in gold) and #KazDaglariHepimizin (Kaz mountains belong to all of us):
TEMA has also launched a petition to stop the mining operations. At the time of writing this post, the campaign gathered over 500,000 signatures.
The protesters were also joined by several leading Turkish artists and writers. “An insult to the heritage of our world” is how renowned Turkish writer and musician Zülfü Livaneli described the crisis in an open letter penned to UNESCO. A former UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Livaneli asked the institution to help “create international public awareness about this horrible attack on our historic Ida mountain and on the local people of Ida”.
Another cultural celebrity, pianist Fazil Zay, gave a concert in late August at the site of the protest:
In an interview with Bianet, the mayor of Canakkale Ulgul Gokhan said that there are more mining contracts being signed in the region. Once they have become operational, he adds, more destruction will follow.
Others have taken to social media platforms calling on the Canadian government to pay attention to the issue:
Dear Mr Trudeau, we need your help a canadian mining company Alamos gold is destroying our trees in Mount Ida #KazdağınaDokunma
— Yoyo (@YelizYoldas) August 23, 2019
Kaz Dağları ülkenin ve bölgenin akciğeridir,bölgede müthiş bir ekosistem mevcut.Ormanlarımızın rant,yağma ve talanına duyarsız ve sessiz kalmayın.#Kazdağınadokunma bu ülke hepimizin pic.twitter.com/uS54kr6fKQ
— Wilma Çakmaktaş (@wilmakedi) August 18, 2019
Kaz Mountains are the lungs of our country and the region. There is a phenomenal ecosystem in the region. Don't stay silent when our forests are being destroyed. #Kazdağınadokunma this country belongs to all of us.
We are still in Mount Ida/ #kazdağları #Kazdağınadokunma #suvevicdannöbeti #mountida pic.twitter.com/tqoWiyg8Vd
— berfin damla (@berfindamlaa) August 21, 2019
Nefesine
Sahip Çık !!
??????????#KazDağlarıVatanToprağıdır #KazdaglariHepimizin #Kazdağınadokunma #FazılSayKazDağlarında pic.twitter.com/PZ4sA5LrgS
— ⒺⓢⓂⓡⓎ ツ (@UkAlAcAdI_) August 18, 2019
Stand up for your breath.
Although local authorities have claimed in the past they care for and pay attention to environmental issues, there is little evidence to take their word for granted. In Turkey, rule of law often tends to go hand in hand with government interests. While different people may be claiming ownership of Kaz Dağlari, it belongs to nature in the first place, and is sacred, as Homer once said.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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‘Sacrifice by Fire’: The first translation of ‘Holocaust’ into Cambodia’s Khmer language · Global Voices
VOD

A woman holds a copy of Sovicheth Meta’s Khmer translation of Hédi Fried’s book “Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust” in Phnom Penh on July 19, 2019. Photo by Matt Surrusco.
This article by Matt Surrusco is from VOD News, an independent news site in Cambodia, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. The article mentions the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. At least 1.7 million people were killed when it was in power.
A Cambodian translator has coined a new Khmer term for the word “Holocaust” for use in new Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) publications, including her Khmer-language translation of a memoir by a Holocaust survivor that was released in Phnom Penh on 19 July 2019.
Sovicheth Meta is a 21-year-old translator and researcher at DC-Cam, which catalogues historical materials from the genocidal Khmer Rouge period from 1975 to 1979. She said she translated “Holocaust,” which refers to the mass murder and genocide of more than 6 million Jews by the German Nazi regime in the 1940s, as the Khmer “bochea phleung,” which means to “sacrifice by fire.”
According to Meta:
The [term for] Holocaust used in the book as well as on the cover of the book is the first-ever that has been translated into Khmer. And this is also the first time this specific book about the Holocaust has been translated into Khmer.
The book is the 2017 memoir “Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust” by Hédi Fried, a survivor of the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps who settled in Sweden after World War II.
Meta translated Fried’s book of 44 questions and responses to Khmer from Alice E. Olsson’s English translation of the original Swedish text. Some of the questions include “How could an entire people get behind Hitler?”; “What was it like to live in the camps?”; and “Did you dream at night?”.
While there have been other Khmer translations of books about the Holocaust, including DC-Cam’s Khmer version of “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, “right now, there is no word for Holocaust in the Khmer dictionary,” Meta told VOD.
In other Khmer-language books, translators have typically written the word in Khmer script based on the English sound; or literally described the term as the killing of Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II, Meta said.
Her term is not a newly created Khmer word, but a new Khmer translation based on the Greek origins of the word, she said.
Jean-Michel Filippi, a professor of Khmer linguistics at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, said that to his knowledge, apart from the Khmer word for “genocide,” Meta’s phrase was the first and only Khmer translation of “Holocaust,” although he found it inadequate.
Filippi said the expression “renders well the original meaning of Holocaust” — “an offering completely burnt on an altar” — but he questioned the translator’s reliance on the word’s Greek etymology.
The modern meaning of “Holocaust” equates to the “Shoah” — Hebrew for “catastrophe” — referring to the Nazi genocide of Jewish people and has been so popularized that “almost no one would track back this meaning to the original ‘fire offering,’” Filippi said.
In other words, the usual meaning of the word doesn’t rely on its etymology and ‘Holocaust’ became a kind of a proper noun.
He suggested using either “Holocaust” or “Shoah” in Khmer “without any attempt to translate it further” beyond providing an explanation or definition.
For Chhang Youk, DC-Cam’s executive director, the new term was accurate and reflected “the relationship of the Holocaust and genocide in Cambodia.”
Youk told VOD he hoped the Khmer version of Fried’s book would help eliminate prejudice among people “so that we can prevent such crimes from happening again and again.”
“Words matter and require a proper understanding when you use them,” he added.
DC-Cam’s soon-to-be-published research book, “Comparative Genocide and Mass Atrocities in World History,” will use the new term, “bochea phleung,” with an explanation of its meaning in a chapter on the Holocaust, said So Farina, DC-Cam’s principal deputy director.
The Education Ministry has accepted the book’s text and plans to use selections in secondary school textbooks, beginning later this year or next year, Farina said.
Three hundred free copies of the book, Meta’s first translated work after about a year working and volunteering at DC-Cam, were offered to a few dozen university students and others on 19 July 2019.
The translator said she hopes every Cambodian, especially youth, will be able to read the book and learn about Europe and Cambodia’s similar histories with an aim toward preventing future genocides:
When there are no more survivors to talk about what happened, we still need to learn and teach and talk about it on their behalf.

author: VOD


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This heavyweight contender from Cameroon fights his way to the big screen in ‘Fast and Furious 9’ · Global Voices
Ekonde Daniel

Francis Ngannou, a heavyweight championship fighter from Cameroon, heads to the big screen. The photo was taken in 2017 by X2o via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0.
As a sand quarry worker 20 years ago in his native Batié, in western Cameroon, Francis Ngannou did not know he would one day feature in one of America’s most popular film series.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter has been included in the “Fast and Furious 9” cast and is set to become the second African to appear in the franchise, after Beninese American, Djimon Gaston Hounsou.
“I had waited for a long time after auditioning for the role and I was a bit stressed and nervous to get the news,” Ngannou said in a phone interview. “Then, they [Universal Studios] confirmed to my team [UFC] that I have been given a role, because if you look at my post [on Twitter] that was from Universal Studios,” Ngannou said.
The future is in the made!!!
Fast and furious nine will be my first movie appearance and I can't wait for this?. pic.twitter.com/VkTzQWCfsa
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) August 15, 2019
Ngannou’s unprecedented success in mixed martial arts contributed to his starring in the film, expected to be released in May 2020. He’s won 14 of his 17 fights in the MMA.
32 years old Cameroonian Heavyweight Athlete; Francis Ngannou(@francis_ngannou) set to make his acting debut as cast on the American Movie Franchise ‘Fast & Furious 9′
Congratulations ?#BetaTinz #BetaTinzGist #CamerCelebs pic.twitter.com/m3xnYOX59I
— Beta Tinz?? (@beta_tinz) August 16, 2019
Ngannou, who hails from hardship, poverty and struggle in Cameroon, revealed: “You know, when you wait for something and you’re very excited about it, and at the end, they are just like ‘yes you get the role,’ he explained, “ you get a little confused; you are happy but you don’t know what to do…you are happy but you don’t know how to express it,” said Ngannou, who left Cameroon six years ago for a better life in Europe.
Born from a family of street fighters, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry at the age of 12 and unluckily never received a good education.
Fourteen years later, the man nicknamed the “Predator” decided to embark on a dangerous journey to Europe.
“I left Cameroon at the age of 26… I spent a year in Morocco before moving to Spain – it was hell.” — Francis Ngannou, heavyweight championship fighter
“I left Cameroon at the age of 26, and it took me more than a year to make it to France because I went by road; from Cameroon to Nigeria, to Niger where I crossed Algeria and Morocco through the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. I spent a year in Morocco before moving to Spain – it was hell,” Ngannou said.
Cameroon has faced a series of protracted conflicts stemming most recently from the presence of the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram since 2013, and the ongoing Anglophone crisis since 2016, when English-speaking Cameroonians held protests against the French-speaking government, claiming discriminatory, marginalizing and repressive policies.
According to the United Nations, the Mediterranean Sea is “one of the world's deadliest sea crossings,” where “an estimated 2,275 individuals drowned or went missing” in 2018, according to one UN report.
Ngannou maintained it was worth it, however. “That was kind of a hard part of my life and something not great to think about. But that was the sacrifice that needed to be done to get here,” he added.
Ngannou was homeless in Paris when he first arrived. One day, he “wandered into Paris’ MMA Factory” and the owner gave him a chance to sleep at the gym while he trained as an MMA fighter. He eventually made his professional debut in 2013 and his fighting career kicked off from there.
After hoping to return to his village one day to uplift children’s dreams, the UFC athlete established the first mixed martial gym in Batie in January 2019.
Going back soon to where I'm from ?#batie #cameroon #tradition #outfit #styles #sandboy pic.twitter.com/FoV5FxuYzz
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) July 8, 2019
The initiative, named the Francis Ngannou Foundation, entrusts children to pursue professional training in gyms and can hold up to 100 trainees.
Midnight Mania! Watch @Francis_Ngannou teach children martial arts in Cameroon https://t.co/L5XXiwNrXv
— MMA mania (@mmamania) August 31, 2019
“I am empowering kids to help them believe in themselves, like I did,” the 32-year-old said. “I still believe that the faith that I have, gave me the power to pull through despite the misery. That’s what I wish to give the children.”

author: Ekonde Daniel


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As Hurricane Dorian devastates the Bahamas, a cry for the Caribbean to face up to the climate crisis · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

The eye of Hurricane Dorian. Image by Cayobo, CC BY 2.0.
Just like its most famous namesake — Dorian Gray, of the famous Oscar Wilde novel — Hurricane Dorian has taken on a very nasty character. As the peak of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season approaches (typically in mid-September), Dorian has rapidly intensified, wreaking havoc on the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands and slowing down dangerously over Grand Bahama to the point where the National Hurricane Center in Florida is predicting “extreme destruction”.
Several sections of Florida’s east coast have also started to feel the storm's effects, but forecasters suggest the mainland United States may be spared the worst.
“The monster is here,” said a reporter for the Bahamas’ ZNS News, which had been broadcasting live footage, calls for help and emergency numbers continuously on Facebook. A combination of extreme storm surge (high waves up to 20 feet that have breached sea walls), “king tides” and continuous rain is resulting in unprecedented flooding; winds have been roaring at up to 185 miles per hour.
Although experts are debating whether or not climate change has been contributing to an increased number of hurricanes, they agree that higher sea levels and temperatures are ramping up their intensity. This is, in large part, due to the release of high levels of greenhouse gases from environmentally destructive practices like deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
Chief Curator at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas in Nassau, Holly Bynoe, shared her thoughts on Facebook. Her message was that Caribbean governments and citizens need to address the reality of global heating with clear eyes and focus:
The Bahamas will lose so very much in the coming days, much more than any of us have ever imagined or undoubtedly wanted to bear witness to.
This collective trauma and loss, in time, and sooner rather than later has to be accounted for. Prime Minister [Hubert] Minnis said […] that they will now look into putting legislation in place for mandatory evacuations and that he hopes that there is no backlash from the opposition.
This is not a political or bipartisan issue; this is a human rights necessity in the face of Global Climate Collapse. The Bahamian public should not be used as leverage or pawns to further any political agenda.
Bynoe noted that — accustomed as the Bahamas are to hurricanes, Dorian is the most powerful storm ever to make landfall there:
After Matthew and Irma, there has been little by way of public discourse around innovation and charting/designing the new countries that we need to build to survive for the coming decades, and centuries ‘if’ we make it. The Bahamas is, after all vulnerable, in that it will be one of the first places to be swallowed by the seas in this Climate Collapse. The rest of the Caribbean might look at this with their volcanic/mountainous lushness and say, ‘hmm, we might have some more time,’ but this is not true. We all need to innovate, advocate and start that journey of investing now! […]
Our entire Caribbean is becoming another testing ground for climate injustice. Mix some good old politics in there, and people's lives are held in checks and balances. […]
The keywords for the coming day or two are PREPARE and SURRENDER.
The word right after is FIGHT.
Let's make sure we get this right.
In September 2017, several small islands in the eastern Caribbean, as well as Puerto Rico, withstood two strong hurricanes in quick succession: Irma and Maria. Many islands, such as the devastated island of Dominica, have still not fully recovered. Nevertheless, one Dominica-based naturalist shared a message of support on Facebook:
A tribute dance for the people of Abaco, Bahamas from Dominica as Hurricane Dorian devastates them. As hard as it is; in all things give thanks and rest assured help is on its way. […]
Many of us are surely remembering where we were and what we did on 18th September 2017 when Hurricane Maria made landfall on Dominica.
It is sad that we the Caribbean islands have to pay; facing the full effect of climate change. But regardless of the odds, we must carry-on. Let’s rally round the people of Bahamas and let us reach out in whatever way we can possible.
[…]
Each year, Caribbean islands await the beginning of the hurricane season, wondering what it will bring —  and which territories will be affected. In the past four years, five Category 5 storms have occurred, including Dorian.
While some countries are doing what they can to prepare and mitigate risk — the climate change division of Jamaica’s government, for example, will be participating in yet another regional seminar on climate resilience — the time for the Caribbean to fight the climate crisis with more determined action and greater support is, perhaps, long overdue.

author: Emma Lewis


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At a floating village in Cambodia, children drift away from schooling · Global Voices
VOD

Children leave the floating Kbal Taol Primary School in Battambang province’s Koh Chivaing commune by boat.
This edited article by Saut Sok Prathna is from VOD News, an independent news site in Cambodia, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In Kbal Taol, a floating village in Battambang province's Koh Chivaing commune, most families depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Children, some from a young age, are enlisted to help their families catch fish and many drop out of school to contribute to the family trade.
Kheng Tikhea said he wanted to pursue higher education but had dropped out of school four years ago at grade 7 to fish. Tikhea, now 18-years-old, said his classes had been somewhat haphazard, with students missing school for months at a time depending on the season.
Some children can’t catch up with other students and decide to stop and go to work. I dropped my studies because of the poor living conditions of my family.
Yi Rith, 43, said only two of her six children went to school. One was in grade 7 and the other grade 12, both studying in Siem Reap under the sponsorship of a Korean organization.
My other four children don’t go to school. They scavenge — even my little 7-year-old boy.
There was only a primary school locally, and “we don’t have the means to send our children to school,” she said.
Leng Kheng, Kbal Taol’s deputy village chief, said the issue was widespread in the village due to poverty.
According to figures kept by Koh Chivaing commune, Kbal Taol has a population of about 3,000, and more than 1,000 are children aged between 6 and 17.
The village is predominantly Khmer, unlike many floating villages around the country populated by ethnic minorities.
Tiv Piseth, the director of the Kbal Taol Primary School — which has two floating schoolhouses — said there were more than 500 primary school-aged children in the village but only 262 were enrolled.
Currently, he had only 10 students in grade 6 and expected few would go on to secondary school. According to Piseth, most years just two or three Kbal Taol Primary School graduates continued their schooling, and some years none did.
In recent years, Cambodia has made strides to raise nationwide school attendance rates, from 82 percent enrolled at the primary school level in 2007 to 90 percent nationwide in 2017. But rural areas continue to see many children dropping out, particularly once they finish primary school.
According to the 2017 Socioeconomic Survey by the National Institute of Statistics-Ministry of Planning, rural areas saw 89 percent enrollment for primary school, but just 44 percent for lower secondary school and 24 percent for upper secondary school.
The numbers are nevertheless an improvement from 81, 25 and 8 percent for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, respectively, for rural areas in the 2007 Socioeconomic Survey.
Education Ministry spokesman Dy Khamboly said the ministry provided educational opportunities for all and promoted schooling across the entire population. But he acknowledged that school dropout rates were still a problem, despite recent progress:
We’ve reduced dropout rates a lot as well as the rate of students being held back a grade. Compared to previous years, they are really small percentages.
A Transparency International survey from 2014 said school access had become easier for almost all respondents thanks to increasing numbers of schools and teachers and, to a lesser extent, better roads, more encouragement from parents and easier enrollment processes.
San Chey, executive director of the Cambodia-based Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, said some demographics remained vulnerable to under-education, notably families who migrate and those who live in poor, remote areas. Floating villages, frequently inhabited by ethnic minorities, were especially vulnerable.
It was important to assess and address the root causes behind children being kept out of school, he added:
There needs to be serious conditions imposed on parents to guarantee they will not take their children out of school to work as child laborers.
Hok Ranoa, a teacher at Kbal Taol Primary School, said that even his enrolled students were always in and out of class because they were busy with fishing, making it tricky to follow a fixed curriculum.
The school year would often start with very few students, and as more joined the classes, they would already be behind, he said.
“Sometimes they can catch up and sometimes they can’t,” he said.


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Bangladesh cuts access to mobile phone services for the Rohingya · Global Voices
Zara Rahman

Life in a Rohingya Camp in Cox's Bazar. Image via Flickr by Mohammad Tauheed. CC BY-NC 2.0.
Following protests on August 25, on the second anniversary of what many Rohingya are calling ‘Genocide Day’—the day thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s armed forces in 2017—the Bangladeshi government has ordered telecommunications companies to block cell phone access at Rohingya camps on the pretext of protecting ‘national security.’
The government cited a series of violent crimes in the camps in recent weeks which were reportedly coordinated using cellphones.
All mobile operators have been given urgent instructions to ensure that no SIMs are sold and mobile facilities in the Rohingya camp within the next seven business days.BTRC pic.twitter.com/nTnlRbhTrz
— Sam Saif (@SamSaif76025979) September 2, 2019
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been ordered to verify the mobile users in the camps within the next seven days, where reportedly 9,000 mobile connections are regularly used, by confirming names and addresses used to register each SIM card. Telecommunications operators have also been requested to throttle, or weaken their networks in the border areas with Myanmar, as well as to cut off service completely in the Rohingya camps, and curtail the sale of mobile phone products and services to Rohingya refugees.
To stop #Rohingya refugees from using mobile phones, the BTRC and carriers decided to halt sale of SIM cards in Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas of Cox’s Bazar until further notice. They also decided to suspend 3G and 4G services in the upazilas between 5:00pm and 5:00am every day.
— Ali Ahmad Mabrur (@Mabrur00) September 3, 2019
The consequences of the ban are far-reaching and have serious negative impacts for the Rohingya. A Rohingya leader quoted in the Asian Correspondent said the ban would “would hugely affect Rohingya life, disrupting communications between different camps scattered across the border district of Cox’s Bazar.” The leader also mentioned the ban's negative impact on the financial wellbeing of the many Rohingyas who depend upon remittances sent by family members in other parts of the world.
Blocking mobile phone service to areas where Rohingya camps are located, namely Cox’s Bazar, will also affect more than just the Rohingya, notably humanitarian aid providers, other residents of the district, and those needing to contact people inside the camps.
In 2017, the Bangladeshi government banned telecommunications companies from selling SIM cards to Rohingya entirely. At the time, the ban was criticised by human rights groups  such as Freedom House, who said “the lack of internet access threatens to keep an already isolated community of refugees cut off from information and communication technologies that would help them obtain services in Bangladesh and stay in touch with family.” The Bangladesh government has installed free telephone booths for the refugees’ use, but hardly anyone uses them. The Bangladeshi press has reported that some telecommunications companies continued providing mobile phone services to Rohingya despite the ban.
Sprawling Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. Image via Flickr by Mohammad Tauheed. CC BY-NC 2.0.
This week's decision to cut of mobile access stands in direct opposition to the widely-accepted ‘communication is aid’ approach of humanitarianism, which acknowledges that communication and information can help to alleviate suffering and can help those affected by crises to make informed decisions. Cutting internet or mobile access has been widely condemned by human rights groups who consider access to information a fundamental human right, citing negative consequences for emergency responders, businesses and the public.
In 2017, the Bangladeshi government also moved to prohibit the sale of SIM cards to Bangladeshi citizens who don’t have national ID cards, and began demanding biometric data from anyone purchasing a SIM card, on the grounds of ‘national security.’
Reports say the August 25 protests were organised via cellphones, so the decision to cut off cell phone service is being perceived as an attempt at quelling future protests.
The decision also takes place in the context of a second failed attempt to repatriate the Rohingya back to Myanmar, for which nobody in the Rohyingya refugee community signed up.
Reports of violence within the camps have also increased in recent weeks, with police reporting that a fourth refugee was shot on Sunday.

author: Zara Rahman


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Citizens rally to protect natural area in Mexico · Global Voices
Elvira Herrera

Peña Colorada. Photo by Federico Orozco, Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Recently, the governor of Querétaro, a state located in the north-central region of Mexico, posted a video in which two children, María and Mateo, call for state and federal authorities to decree conservation status for Peña Colorada.
Peña Colorada is an area comprised of more than 12,000 acres, located northeast of Querétaro's capital, Santiago de Querétaro, and one of the most ecologically rich areas of the city. It is home to 257 plant species and 171 animal species, 16 of which are classified to be at risk
Besides, it's one of few areas in Querétaro remaining from urban expansion, and it's crucial for replenishing and supplying water, controlling soil erosion, and climate regulation. Its faults provide a natural buffer against earthquakes; without them, the city would be vulnerable to seismic activity.
Los niños nos dan ejemplo de lo que nos debe ocupar.
¡ Peña Colorada Reserva Ecológica Estatal !
?????
solo juntos podemos darles un mejor futuro .
¡ apoyémosles ! https://t.co/Eecg33npIO
— Arboles de Querétaro ¡NO A LA TALA! (@arbolqro) August 2, 2019
The children give us an example of what we should be doing.
¡ Peña Colorada State Ecological Reserve !
?????
only together can we give them a better future .
let's support them !
#Video ?? ¿Ayudarías a estos dos niños a proteger la zona ecológica Peña Colorada, en Querétaro?
Su intención es hacer llegar este mensaje a @lopezobrador_. Apóyanos a compartirlo ⬇ pic.twitter.com/2y0xxaol6s
— EL UNIVERSAL Qro (@universalqro) 29 de julio de 2019
#Video ?? Would you help these two children protect the Peña Colorada ecological zone in Querétaro?
Their goal is to get this message to @lopezobrador [the President of Mexico]. Help us by sharing [the video]
Para entender la importancia de #PeñaColorada en la ciudad de #Querétaro hay que leer este imperdible texto de Social Shorthand #DecretoEstatalYa #PorqueSePuedeHoy #ConservemosPeñaColorada https://t.co/AzM8lH5tb3
— Viraviendo (@Viraviendo) August 2, 2019
To understand the importance of #PeñaColorada in #Querétaro city, one must read this important text by Social Shorthand #StateDecreeNow #BecauseTodayWeCan #ConservePeñaColorada
The fight for the preservation of Peña Colorada dates back two decades, but it was only in 2014 that the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) started proceedings to turn it into a Natural Protected Area (Área Natural Protegida, or ANP). Five years later, however, there are no signs that the proceedings are moving forward.
ANP is a legal status defined as an area, terrestrial or aquatic, that hasn’t been altered in significant ways and that is ecologically valuable. Currently, Peña Colorada is protected by three different legal dispositions, two on the municipal level and one on the regional level. By turning Peña Colorada into an ANP, it would be granted the highest legal protection on the federal level.
Mexican law establishes eight categories of ANP. A CONANP document from 2014, quoted in an article by Juan José Arreola for Shorthand Social, recommends Peña Colorada is decreed an “Area of Protection of Natural Resources,” which only permits human activities related to its preservation.
The recent call to action received an immediate and persistent response, as Peña Colorada is constantly being stalked by real estate developers who buy land in the area.
Ya se están moviendo, ya hablaron, ahora a cumplir!!! #ConservemosPeñaColorada #QroOrgulloDeMx #NoTeMetasConMisArboles ?????https://t.co/2xnPeMBjuj
— Federico (@Fomouret) July 29, 2019
They're already moving, they already talked, now it's time to finish!!!
#ConservePeñaColorada #QuerétaroPrideOfMexico #Don'tMessWithMyTrees
?????
Nos informa @PanchDominguez que el trámite de decreto de #PeñaColorada como ANP se inició hace 4 años ante la CONANP, sin que hasta ahora haya podido concretarse.
Ayudémosle a encontrar alternativas a nivel local hasta en tanto se define la resolución federal. #Queretaro pic.twitter.com/9idzCLP4IY
— Ana Muchow (@AnaMuchow) August 2, 2019
@PanchoDominguez informs us that the process of declaring #PeñaColorada as a [Protected Natural Area] began 4 years ago by the [National Commission of Protected Natural Areas], which has not been able to be achieved until now.
Let's help find alternatives at the local level until a federal solution is reached. #Queretaro
Brillante explicación de América Vizcaino sobre lo que está en juego detrás de #PeñaColorada #Querétaro #OrgulloDeMéxico #DecretoEstatalYa #ConservemosPeñaColorada https://t.co/WSVqG9oLtP
— Rebeca (@rebetdc) August 3, 2019
Brilliant explanation by América Vizcaino about what's at stake for #PeñaColorada #Querétaro #PrideOfMexico #StateDecreeNow #ConservePeñaColorada
Conscious of the time that proceedings at a federal level will take, and in addition to concerns about arson, deforestation, and illegal logging that Peña has suffered in at least 29 acres, local activists and ecologists are proposing to turn Peña Colorada into a protected area under federal jurisdiction.
A petition seeks to get authorities to establish federal protection before the next change in government and thus preventing political manipulation, which this issue has been used for in the past.
Such an act would give the natural area immediate protection without complicating or impeding its future federal protection under CONANP.
Using the Twitter hashtag #ConservemosPeñaColorada (#Let'sConservePeñaColorada), citizens are asserting “because you can today” throughout its networks:
Pancho te apoyamos decreta PEÑA COLORADA
como Reserva Ecológica Estatal https://t.co/zkYsP4kpUc
— Pamela Siurob (@pamelasiurob) August 2, 2019
Pancho we support you in decreeing PEÑA COLORADA a State Ecological Reserve
Hay que accionar mister pancho, el mundo esta lleno de buenas intenciones, los ciudadanos requerimos de hechos no palabras
— Ambientalistas SJR (@Ambient35114425) August 1, 2019
It's time to act mister pancho, the world is filled with good intentions, we citizens require actions not words
Acompáñenme a ver esta triste historia: El interminable vaivén administrativo por Decreto de #PeñaColorada Trámites truncos, voluntades a medias, obtáculos dolosos, promesas incumplidas… https://t.co/ICkG334hBz
— merlina unicornia ? (@sritaunicornia) August 2, 2019
Join me in looking at this sad history: The endless administrative flip-flopping for the #PeñaColorada Decree[.] Incomplete procedures, half-hearted wills, deceitful [obstacles], unfulfilled promises…
Peña Colorada is a key part of reversing Querétaro's ecological disaster. Its value not only lies in its air quality, but Peña Colorada also serves as a comprehensive regulator for the entire metropolitan area. The urbanization of this area would cause, as environmentalist América Vizcaíno cautions, the city's urban, environmental, and hydrological collapse.
Project Citizens Reforesting Querétaro, a grassroots organization founded in May 2019 that advocates for the protection of existing greenbelts and the planting of native trees in the area, posted a video on Twitter urging the government to declare Peña Colorada a federal ecological reserve as soon as possible:
Pancho porque se puede
Hoy decreta Peña Colorada RESERVA ECOLÓGICA ESTATAL
Hoy, hoy, hoy
Confiamos en ti, Señor Gobernador #ConservemosPeñaColorada @PanchDominguez pic.twitter.com/8QrSvPWTZL
— J. Antonio Zorrilla (@toniozorrilla) 2 de agosto de 2019
Because you can, Pancho
Decree Peña Colorada as a STATE ECOLOGICAL RESERVE
Today, today, today
We trust you, Mr. Governor #ConservePeñaColorada
@PanchDominguez

author: Elvira Herrera


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Global Voices is seeking a part-time editor for Spanish-speaking Latin America · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Screen grab from a video taken on January 25, 2015 at the Global Voices 2015 Summit in Cebu, Philippines. Video by Global Voices and PR Works.
Note: We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
Are you a writer and editor with a deep understanding of and curiosity about all facets of Spanish-speaking Latin American societies? Are you excited about shaping ideas into stories, social media posts, and other editorial outputs in collaboration with a diverse community?
If you answered Yes to the questions above, you might consider applying for the position of editor for Spanish-speaking Latin America.
The editor will be responsible both for editing stories written by Global Voices’ volunteer contributors, and for writing stories. GV stories focus on topics such as internet culture, freedom of speech online, technology and digital rights, human rights, diversity and representation, and language diversity.
The editor will also work with a diverse community of contributors who write stories, or share ideas for stories, and who set the editorial agenda for the region—proposing ideas, sharing knowledge, and providing leads.
The editor will:
• Closely follow alternative sources of information in the region, including citizen media, citizen-created content, content from leading opinion-makers at the crossroads of technology and information, and other news and stories in Spanish-speaking Latin America
• Write articles about the region in collaboration with the regional team
• Facilitate weekly virtual editorial meetings to collect and develop ideas and leads about happenings in the region
• Provide input during the pitching process to determine courses of action for ideas and leads (stories, social media posts, etc.)
• Edit and publish final versions of articles in both Spanish and English
• Work closely with media partners to select and repackage stories adapting for a global audience, and promote and       republish Global Voices stories on partner sites
• Stay engaged with the Global Voices newsroom and larger community to participate in cross-regional projects
• Work in accordance with Global Voices community and editorial guidelines, mission and culture
Successful candidates for the position will:
Global Voices is a global, virtual organization supported by the paid and volunteer efforts of people on every continent. The engine of the Global Voices newsroom is a team of part-time editors who work with volunteer authors around the world to highlight stories and perspectives that are underrepresented in international mainstream media.
Candidates must be comfortable setting their own schedules and working in a wholly virtual environment, and be prepared to do some international travel. The person selected for this position will report to the Global Voices Managing Director.
We strongly welcome candidates from outside North America and Western Europe and encourage people currently contributing to the Global Voices project to apply.
The position is half-time, and is treated as a freelance contract.
To apply:
Submit a résumé and a cover letter in English that highlights your work and explains why you would be a great fit for Global Voices to jobs@globalvoices.org. Please include your name and “Latin American Editor” in the subject line. The application deadline is 11:59pm EST (GMT -4) on September 21, 2019.


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Hong Kong netizens dub protester airport evacuation ‘Hong Kong’s Dunkirk’ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hundreds of protesters retreated from the airport. Photo from the Stand News. Used with permission.
Thousands of protesters took public transportation to the city’s International airport on 1 September in an attempt to paralyze the airport. However, their disruptive action left them stranded on the airport island located 35 kilometers away from downtown.
As the police started making arrests, protesters decided to make their way back on foot along the highway and hundreds of private vehicles came to their rescue. Some netizens called the incident the “Dunkirk evacuation” of Hong Kong.
@hker posted the photo showing the long queue of pick up cars on the airport highway:
Dunkirk evacuation in hong kong
those braking night are the driver who volunteering pick up the demonstrator who were trapped in highway as gov shutdown all the public transport between airport and downtown #HongKongProtesters #HongKongPolice #antiELAB #HongKong #FreeHongKong pic.twitter.com/f7zy68RuFk
— Hker (@Hker75931672) September 1, 2019
The Dunkirk evacuation refers to the evacuation of 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers who were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, France during World War II.
#HKdunkirk
9.01 Airport Rally have been compared to Little Ships of Dunkirk, when 850 private boats sailed to rescue over 336,000 soldiers.
Tdy hundreds of protestors walked on Lantau Hwy from airport. Numerous altruistic citizens showed up in cars to drive them safe back home. pic.twitter.com/QL3IQQ5elR
— #AntiELAB Fight for Hong Kong (@Fight4HongKong) September 1, 2019
The anti-extradition campaign has evolved into anti-government disruptive actions as the government continues to refuse a complete withdrawal of the bill and an independent investigation into police brutality. The latest airport action was triggered by the violent clashes between protesters and riot police after the unauthorized rally on 31.
Previously, protesters mobilized a 5-day peaceful sit-in at the arrival hall until August 13 as the High Court issued an injunction on protests. As the injunction does not cover areas outside the airport, protesters attempted to jam airport traffic and paralyze the airport.
On 1 September, hundreds of protesters arrived at the airport at around 1 pm and gathered at the bus terminal. The radical ones took action to block airport entrances with obstacles.
Some protesters attempted to block airport entrance. Photo from the Stand News. Used with permission.
Riot police soon arrived and bus service was suspended. The Metro company also suspended train service from Hong Kong Island to the airport in order to prevent more protesters from arriving at the airport.
According to a detailed timeline of the protester's action and police operation from the Stand News, at around 4 pm the riot police were set to begin making arrests. To escape, protesters decided to walk 5 kilometers to Tung Chung, a nearby suburban residential district with subway and bus connections. Along the way, some set up barricades to stop riot police from chasing after them. A few of them also threw objects and iron bars to the subway rails, and the Metro company further suspended trains running from the Airport to downtown.
Thousands of protesters walked to Tung Chung from the airport. Photo from the Stand News. Used with permission.
As all public transportation at the airport ceased operating, ordinary citizens, tourists, and airport workers had to walk half an hour to Tung Chung. However, when they arrived, the Metro company suspended the Tung Chung subway service. Outraged protesters vandalized the station.
Without the subway, there are only a few options to leave Tung Chung — either taking a ferry to Tuen Mun or bus to Mui Wo where there is a ferry to Central. However, these options were too risky as the riot police would be waiting for them at the piers. Hundreds of protesters decided to walk another 12.6 kilometers to Yan O station or 23.6 kilometers to Lantau Toll Plaza, where bus service was still available.
To prevent police vehicles from going after the protesters, some private vehicles drove slowly to block the road and jam the traffic while others picked up protesters along the way.
Hundreds of protesters walk from Tung Chung to Yan O or Lantau Toll Plaza. Photo from the Stand News. Used with permission.
About one-third of the protesters got into private vehicles on the highway. Others continued their walk to Yan O and Lantau Toll Plaza, where private vehicles drove to pick them up.
Hundreds of vehicles joined the rescue action and the majority of them were coordinated through Telegram groups.

author: Oiwan Lam


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The plight of Kuwait’s stateless community: Silenced and deprived of human rights · Global Voices
Gulf Center for Human Rights

This post was written by Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, an independent, nonprofit organisation that promotes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the Gulf region and its neighbouring countries.
Statless Kuwaitis protesting for their rights on 30 March 2019. Photo via Wikimedia by users Bedoon [CC BY-SA 4.0]
An estimated 120,000 people belong to Kuwait's Bidoon community and hold no government identification papers. Bidoon translates roughly to “without” in English and the term is used to describe stateless communities throughout the Gulf region.
The Kuwait government deprives them of their basic rights, especially to citizenship, education and health care. Although the Bidoon were living in Kuwait when it gained independence from Britain in 1961, and some defended their land during the Iraq invasion in Kuwait in 1990, they continue to live without the means to access their full civil and human rights.
Instead of embracing them as reliable citizens, Kuwait authorities have created many obstacles to isolate them from society and showed no real desire to change their conditions. While some stateless Kuwaitis have engaged in peaceful human rights work to demand their rights, others despaired enough to take their own lives, such as Ayed Hamad Mudath, a 20-year-old man, who died by suicide on 7 July 2019 due to his frustration with a lack of identification papers that he could use to study, work and obtain public services.
The government of Kuwait established the Central Apparatus for Illegal Residents’ Affairs by Decree No. 467 of 2010, ostensibly to fairly and expeditiously address the chronic problems of the Bidoon community, but this government body has failed to reform the situation and protect Biddon peoples’ civil and human rights years after its establishment.
Meanwhile, security services spare no effort to eliminate the Bidoon community's human rights movement. In recent years, security services have targeted Bidoon activists and thrown them into prison on fabricated charges solely for their peaceful human rights activities in which they exercise their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful protest, as guaranteed by the Kuwaiti constitution.
On 11 July 2019, a series of arrests of Bidoon activists began without any judicial order issued by relevant authorities. The arrests targeted activists and protesters for holding demonstrations demanding recognition of the stateless community's rights following Mudath's death by suicide.
Fifteen Bidoon activists remain in prison as a result of participation in the demonstrations. They are: Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli, Ahmed Al-Onan, Awad Al-Onan, Abdullah Al-Fadhli, Mutaib Al-Onan, Mohammed Khudair Al-Anzi, Yousif Al-Osmi, Nawaf Al-Bader, Hamid Jamil, Yousif Al-Bashig, Jarallah Al-Fadhli, Ahmed Shaya Al-Anzi, Hamoud Al-Rabah, Khalifa Al-Anzi and Reda Al-Fadhli.
Those arrested were initially in the custody of the State Security agency, which rejected their repeated requests for transfer to a public prison, even after interrogations ended. Fears persist that the authorities keep activists detained away from official government prisons until signs of ill-treatment and torture disappear, as official prisons only accept new inmates after a medical examination.
It is worth mentioning that the public prosecution has, on repeated occasions, refused to refer Bidoon activists who alleged being victims of torture to the forensic medicine department to investigate. Some employees claimed that it was not within their competence to make this transfer — a blatant violation of Kuwaiti law that protects the perpetrators of torture, mostly security services members.
On 25 August 2019, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Magistrate's Court renewed the group's detention until 4 September 2019, where they face three main charges: misuse of their phones, calling for an unauthorised gathering, and joining an unauthorised gathering.
The imprisoned Bidoon activists ended their hunger strike on September 2 Infographic by Visualizing Impact illustrates the physiological effects of a hunger strike [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0].
These activists began a hunger strike on 22 August 2019, demanding their immediate and unconditional release, that charges against them be dropped and that the civil and human rights of the Bidoon community in Kuwait be respected. They continued their hunger strike despite the authorities’ attempts to force-feed them through tubes, lawyers and family members told the GCHR.
After some experienced deteriorating health conditions, they ended their hunger strikes on 2 September. Others are suffering from chronic diseases and all need proper health care.
The detained activists exercised their peaceful rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and they should be immediately and unconditionally released. Instead of locking them up, the Kuwaiti authorities should acknowledge their legitimate grievances and take action to improve the situation of the country's Bidoon community by fully recognising their civil and human rights including their right to citizenship.

author: Gulf Center for Human Rights


text:
A web comic from Colombia discusses surveillance and gender in Latin America—to the rhythm of salsa · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

“…Well, cameras are everywhere.” A scene from Tour Delirio: Salsa y Vigilancia (Tour Delirio: Salsa and Surveillance). Image taken from Archive.org and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Cities are spaces governed by technology. This is not just true for smart cities, which continue to raise concerns about people’s privacy, but also for many urban areas. In such areas, nowadays, security cameras and ‘smart’ transport and energy infrastructures are rapidly proliferating, while the general population is increasingly adopting communication technologies that keeps them online everywhere and all the time.
Unfortunately, these trends reflect an issue that is at the forefront of the fight for human rights: government and corporate surveillance. And the issue becomes even more urgent when approached from a Latin American and gender perspective.
This led María Juliana Soto to create a multimedia project entitled Tour Delirio: Salsa y Vigilancia (Tour Delirio: Salsa and Surveillance), a webcomic that encourages dialogue about internet surveillance — set to the rhythm of salsa music.
I spoke with María Juliana Soto about surveillance in Latin America and the implications of state, corporate, and social surveillance from a human rights perspective. She says:
Promover el tema de la seguridad digital y la privacidad en internet ha sido un reto para mí. […] Las corporaciones nos han ganado, lo tenemos todo muy naturalizado. […] Pues tienen a su favor la facilidad de los servicios que ofrecen, por ejemplo, WhatsApp, la narrativa de lo gratis, de lo necesario, de lo indispensable. Mis amigas me miran raro cuando les digo que hablemos por Signal, por ejemplo. Tenemos que hacerle más preguntas a esas narrativas que naturalizan que entreguemos nuestros datos e información a terceros.
Raising awareness of online security and internet privacy has been a challenge for me. […] Corporations have tricked us into normalizing their practices. […] Because the services they offer work in their favor. For example, WhatsApp, which supports the narrative of the free, the necessary, and the indispensable. My friends look at me weird when I tell them to use Signal, for example. We have to ask more questions to those companies that normalize how we deliver our data and information to third parties.
Tour Delirio is an effort to bring the conversation to the people. As the comic’s creator indicated, there is a need to raise awareness about the importance of cross-examining services like Facebook and Google, which have faced criticism for collecting huge amounts of data about their users and then using it in not-so-transparent ways.
Con Tour Delirio lo que quiero es despertar esas preguntas, esa curiosidad de saber adónde van nuestros datos, o si alguien lee nuestras conversaciones. Despertar la curiosidad, y un poco la malicia frente al uso de tecnologías. […] Como ciudadanos nos falta más curiosidad y más perspicacia. […] A la tecnología le hemos creído todo.
What I want with Tour Delirio is to raise those questions about where our data is going or if someone is reading our conversations. Arouse curiosity, and a little savvyness toward the use of these technologies. […] As citizens we lack curiosity and deeper insight. […] We’ve bought into everything about technology.
Surveillance is an issue present within several problems that are not new to Latin America. Hence the importance of discourse that questions surveillance and privacy:
No se habla mucho de finalmente a quién se vigila. Hay comunidades que se vigilan para que no les pase nada, y hay otras a las que se les vigila para tenerlos controlados. Es un secreto a voces que a unos se les cuida y a otros se les controla. La vigilancia ha sido equiparada con seguridad. En estos días cualquier candidato político habla de cámaras de vigilancia y de aumentar el uso de dispositivos tecnológicos para mejorar la seguridad en las ciudades. A pesar de que existen estudios y posturas críticas que demuestran la ineficacia de estas estrategias y el riesgo en el que ponen el derecho a la privacidad. Sin embargo, no hay una exploración crítica ni se cuestionan estas propuestas.
There isn’t much talk about who is being monitored. There are communities being actively monitored for safety purposes, and others that are monitored for control. It is an open secret that some people are taken care of and others are controlled. Surveillance has been equated with security. These days any political candidate talks about security cameras and increasing the use of devices to improve security in cities. Although there are studies and critical stances that demonstrate the inefficiency of these strategies and the risk they pose to privacy rights. Regardless, there is no serious widespread critical exploration and these proposals continue to go unquestioned.
The conversation then turned to what privacy might mean within a Latin American context:
¿Qué es la privacidad en un barrio popular de una ciudad como Cali, en Colombia? Donde las casas son de puertas abiertas, donde familias numerosas comparten una misma casa, donde la gente está afuera, en el barrio, contándose todo. Hay una idea de privacidad que se rompe todo el tiempo. Otras culturas son mucho más distanciadas. Así se arman las comunidades en estos territorios. Muy de puertas pa’ fuera. Lo que queda adentro es mucho menos en comparación a otras sociedades. En este contexto, hablar de la importancia de la privacidad supone un esfuerzo distinto, una estrategia distinta.
What is privacy in a popular neighborhood of a city like Cali, in Colombia? Cali is a place where people keep their front doors open and large families live together, where people spend a lot of time outside in the neighborhood, conversing. There is an idea of privacy that breaks all the time. People are much more distanced from each other in other cultures. This is how our communities assemble in these places, there’s very much an “open door” policy. We stay inside much less than other societies. In this context, talking about the importance of privacy is a particular effort, a directed strategy.
All of the people in Tour Delirio are women. The intersection of spying and women—or gender issues—along with differences in social classes and ethnic discrimination are core issues in a broader conversation about surveillance and privacy:
El tema de género apareció con la música. Yo empecé jugando a hacer una playlist con una amiga, con canciones que podrían habernos dedicado Google o las oficinas de vigilancia de Estados Unidos. Era un juego. Pero escuchando las letras caímos en cuenta de que había algo más. Estas canciones hablaban de mujeres. Más allá del chiste de que “every breath you take” parece escrita por la NSA [National Security Agency, por sus siglas en inglés], nos dimos cuenta de que esto es sobre un hombre que vigila a una mujer. Y de ahí pasamos a la salsa, que es la música que nos conecta más fuertemente con nuestra ciudad, con Cali. En la salsa encontramos una representación del amor como una relación de propiedad. Por generaciones hemos cantado y bailado canciones que dicen que somos propiedad de alguien y en esa medida, somos susceptibles a ser vigiladas.
Estas relaciones culturales entre violencia y género han sido un tema abordado por las feministas desde hace rato. En cuanto a la música, las críticas y los análisis se han enfocado, especialmente, a revisar el reggeatón. ¿Pero y la salsa? Ahí le pusimos más cuidado a las mezclas y a la playlist. Hemos usado un montón de metáforas para hablar de privacidad y vigilancia: el gran hermano, por ejemplo o el panóptico… Pero estos son imaginarios heredados, de activismos que han surgido en Europa o en Estados Unidos y en consecuencia, no tenemos la misma conexión con ellos. Tour Delirio propone utilizar metáforas que salen de acá, de nuestro contexto cultural. Un contexto en el que además de ser sujetos de vigilancia, si se es mujer esto puede ser muchísimo más peligroso y constante. Las historias de vigilancia que cuenta Tour Delirio son historias cotidianas que nos invitan a reflexionar sobre la relación que tenemos con nuestros teléfonos, con las cámaras de seguridad en las ciudades o con las redes sociales que usamos a diario. Además, nos invitan a cuestionar las prácticas de vigilancia social que existen en nuestro contexto latinoamericano y que se reflejan en expresiones culturales como la salsa.
The gender theme appeared with music. I created a playlist with a friend with songs that Google or the US surveillance offices could have dedicated to us. It was a game. But when we listened to the lyrics, we realized that there was something else. These songs talked about women. Beyond the joke that “every breath you take” seems like it could be written by the NSA [the United States’ National Security Agency], we realized that this is about a man that spies on a woman. And from there salsa came along, which is the music that connected us more strongly with our city, with Cali. In salsa we find a representation of love as ownership. For generations we have sung and danced songs that tell us that we are the property of someone and to that extent, we become more susceptible to being controlled.
These cultural relations between violence and gender have been a topic addressed by feminists for a long time. As for music, criticism and analysis have focused especially on reggaetón. But what about salsa? Here we put more care into the mix and the playlist. We’ve used a lot of metaphors to talk about privacy and surveillance: Big Brother, for example, or the panopticon… But these are inherited imageries, passed down from activism that sprung from Europe or the US, and consequently we do not have the same connection with ours. Tour Delirio proposes to use metaphors that spring forth from here, from our own cultural context. A context that, aside from being subjects of surveillance, if the subject is a woman, she can be subjected to much more persistent dangers. The history of spying that Tour Delirio tells are daily tales that invite us to reflect about the relationship that we have with our phones, with security cameras throughout the city or with social media we use daily. Besides, we invite them to question the social surveillance practices that exist in our Latin American context and that are reflected in cultural expressions like salsa music.

author: Laura Vidal


text:
Painting the fears inside us all: A conversation with Syrian artist Rashwan Abdelbaki · Global Voices
Omid Memarian

“Number 7″, by Rashwan Abdelbaki. 31.49 x 61.02 inch. Acrylic On Canvas. 2016.
While the portrait of Syria has been painted in the media mostly with images of war and destruction, Syrian artist Rashwan Abdelbaki has sought opportunities to challenge stereotypes and perceptions that ignore or disregard a country that “has provided much to enrich human civilization” and “represents a wonderful mosaic of more than 18 religions.”
Born in the southern Syrian city of As-Suwayda and now living in New York, Abdelbaki, 35, began showing interest in the arts from his teenage years. In 2003, he found his way to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, where he received a bachelor’s degree in printmaking techniques.
His works explore some of the most pressing issues of our time including immigration, racism, religion, and politics, with vivid colors and dynamic interactions creating an ongoing conversation and capturing the imagination of his audiences.
“Last Supper”, by Rashwan Abdelbaki. First Wall. 78.74 x 129.92 inch. Acrylic On Canvas. 2017.
In September 2016, Abdelbaki received a one-year fellowship from the Institute of International Education’s Artist Protection Fund (IIE-APF) that led to his becoming an affiliated fellow at the American Academy in Rome. In January 2017, a week before President Donald Trump unveiled his “travel ban” restricting people from mainly Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, Abdelbaki arrived in New York to continue the IIE-APF fellowship, hosted by ArteEast and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts.
Since July 2018, Abdelbaki has been a member of the artist-at-risk program at the Westbeth Artists Community, which provides affordable live and workspaces. The program was created by the New York City Safe Residency Program and is led by a coalition of groups supporting freedom of expression.
In an interview with Global Voices in New York, Abdelbaki said that he uses painting, etching, engraving, digital art, installation and video to express what he sees as the “negative effects of racism, religion, and politics that are all striving to divide us and destroy our faith in humanity.”
I had the opportunity to interview Abdelbaki in August 2019. Excerpts from the interview follow:
Omid Memarian: How have years of war in Syria influenced and affected Syrian artists, and you in particular?
Rashwan Abdelbaki: The war has had a negative impact on everyone, especially economically and security-wise, prompting many to leave the country in search of new opportunities. After my graduation from college in Syria, my primary interest was music, exploring the relationship between the musician and the instrument. At the time, my art was filled with music, joy, light, and theater. But in 2011, I started to feel the changes that war brought to my country. On a personal level and as an artist, the war confused a lot of ideas within me, and my vision of things changed. I began to think more about the dangers that threaten our common humanity. My focus shifted to questions regarding the negative effects of racism, religion, and politics that are all striving to divide and destroy our faith in humanity.
“Emptiness”, by Rashwan Abdelbaki. Acrylic On Canvas. 120 x 150 cm. 2016.
OM: What differences do you see in the body of work you created prior to migrating to the U.S. and after you moved here?
RA: Before I came to the U.S., my paintings were focused on human environments and the relationships between different groups of people, sometimes the full body in paintings like Wedding Night and Early Marriage. The first painting I created in New York was Last Supper, First Wall. This painting was in response to Executive Order 13769 [President Trump’s travel ban] that limited my mobility and later became worse by requiring me to either leave or stay. Jesus asked that we all act with and honor humanity. Our response has only been to continue to build walls between us. Then I began to focus more on the face, the open eye, and physical lines that represent our abilities and freedom in paintings like One Line, Crossed Line, and Safety Line. In these works, there is a clear, physical line above the human who looks like he is drowning but still holding on to hope.
OM: In many of your paintings, people have one eye and in general, the face seems disfigured. What do these figures say about your understanding of the human condition and the important issues of our time?
RA: In the portraits, I am speaking to the fear inside us all that keeps us awake, even when we want to close our eyes and sleep in peace. But because of what we are witnessing now—violence, wars, and racism—we need to keep one eye open to know what’s happening around us, to be ready for any shocks or surprises. I put a circle around the open eye in my portraits to draw attention to the eye. These people, like all people, are also prisoners of their own beliefs, so I paint them with striped garments in empty cells. They cannot see beyond the space of their beliefs. This is the current state of our world and humanity today due to religious conflicts, corrupt politicians and their misuse of power, as well as discrimination.
” Women”, by Rashwan Abdelbaki. Acrylic On Canvas. 150 x 150 cm. 2016.
OM: In many of your paintings and sketches, there seems to be a sense of curiosity and searching for the relationship between individuals and their surroundings. The direction of heads and eyes, and interactions with others in Love, as well as Last Supper, First Wall and Number 7 creates an overarching theme embedded beneath your use of vivid colors. What inspired you to create these works?
RA: It's true, in the very beginning I was trying more to identify the character (one open eye, one eye closed) through physical relationships and empty spaces—to represent a scene, sometime, somewhere. You can see that in Last Supper, First Wall and Number 7, where groups of people are gathering as if on doomsday, enclosed in interior spaces and with transfixed gazes, as if they are staring outwards but at nothing in particular.
But in the painting Love, and the paintings Safety Line, Whisper, and Hope, there is something specific: man and woman, in a moment of love, with lines and barriers. They both have just one eye open and the other closed, like all the characters in my paintings, but the special characteristic here is that together they have two open eyes, and the whole scene becomes clearer, like they are protecting one another.
The colors in all these paintings are impressionistic or abstract sometimes, like what's happening around the world. I use them to refer to different political parties or religions, and you can see that in these characters and their stripes. But I also use them to create a vision of hope that I am looking for and want to give to others.
OM: The color palette you use is appealing and inviting, but some of the concepts you deal with are unsettling, like Music on Paper 4 or Emptiness. What was your thought process in creating these situations?
RA: I understand what you mean by “unsettling.” In the prints that come from other concepts than what Emptiness came from, there’s an insistence on reduction of elements, so we are looking at a symbolic representation of the thing rather than the thing itself. Likewise, in these paintings there’s a strong stylization, a canonization of formal elements to essentialist tropes. There are always one or two figures in a room within a garish color palette that appears to suggest confinement and violence. I think I am personally not far from all this. In many cases, I reflect my “unsettled” state from that feeling I had back in the days when I was working on music, to process that unsettled feeling of fear that I’ve had in the last couple years. I want to understand the illusion created by this fear within me, and how to defeat it.
“This is My Place”, by Rashwan Abdelbaki.. Acrylic On Canvas. 150 x 200 cm. 2016.
OM: How has living for the past two years in New York changed you as an artist? Are there things that you see differently now regarding art and identity issues as well as geography and politics?
RA: Traveling and living in New York has helped me become acquainted with new civilizations, cultures, languages, music and so on. I was unable to learn about them in my motherland except through the internet or news. Here I learned more about my artistic mission by interacting with people in the U.S. and Europe. When they saw the face with one open eye and one closed eye, it touched them, and from their comments I felt their need for safety, peace, and love.

author: Omid Memarian