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In Russia’s far east, a feminist theatre director comes under attack · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

“My body is not pornography!” reads the protester's placard. “Is this an Article 242?” wonders the policeman. Article 242 of Russia's Criminal Code relates to the preparation and exchange of pornographic materials. Image (c): Yulia Tsvetkova. Used with permission.
This interview was originally published by oDR, openDemocracy's section on Russia and the post-Soviet space. It is reproduced here with permission, and has been edited for length and style.
“I feel that today there are so many invisible female political prisoners: mothers, wives – women who bear an incredible burden thanks to political trials,” says Russian artist Yulia Tsvetkova, who’s been designated a political prisoner by the Memorial human rights association. “Political prisoners are heroes, but women are the invisible service staff.”
Yulia Tsvetkova outside a courthouse. Photo (c): Yulia Tsvetkova.
Tsvetkova, a theatre director, feminist and LGBT activist, has had time to reflect. In October 2019, she was interrogated in her hometown of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and in November her social media posts led to her flat and theatre studio being searched for evidence of pornography. Tsvetkova was charged with spreading pornography and has been under house arrest since 23 November last year.
As part of the investigation, Tsvetkova has been accused of spreading “homosexual propaganda” among underage people and fined 50,000 roubles (£500). Tsvetkova has run several educational projects in Khabarovsk, as well as a youth theatre, online groups on feminism and sex education for young people and a Vagina Monologues group which celebrated the power and uniqueness of the female body.
In March this year, a district council reduced the charge against Tsvetkova and released her from house arrest on the basis that she would not leave the country. But Tsvetkova is still charged with spreading pornography for publishing illustrated educational material, for which she can be given a two-to-six-year prison sentence.
We asked Yulia about how an educational project on women’s bodies resulted in a criminal case and how from being the darling of the local press she turned into persona non grata in her hometown of Khabarovsk.
Юлия Цветкова: Новостью стало, такого решения не было ни в прогнозах адвоката, ни в моих собственных. Я думаю, что частично это произошло из-за бюрократических процессов. Моим делом в течение трех с лишним месяцев занималось дознание, и буквально полторы недели назад поменялась подследственность моей статьи, вместо дознания пришло следствие. Меня должны были по новой вызвать, но этого не случилось. Судья обратил на это внимание, а прокурор, к моему абсолютному удивлению, поддержал нашу сторону.
Изначально следствие запрашивало ужесточение условий моего домашнего ареста, вплоть до запрета общаться с людьми и использовать интернет, поэтому все могло быть совершенно иначе. Я не могу назвать это оттепелью или позитивной динамикой, возможно что это совпадение, таких случае было очень много.
Yulia Tsvetkova: It was news to me – neither I nor my lawyer expected it. I think it’s been partly to do with bureaucratic processes. They took three and a half months to hold an enquiry and literally ten days ago they changed the details of the article I was charged under and held an investigation instead. They were supposed to re-arrest me, but it didn’t happen. The judge was for going ahead but the prosecutor, to my utter amazement, supported our side.
The detectives initially asked for my house arrest to be raised to a ban on any communication and on access to the internet, so things could have turned out very differently. I can’t call it a thawing or a positive dynamic; it could be just a coincidence, they’re very common.
Да, сейчас я нахожусь в статусе подозреваемой, у меня есть уведомление о подозрении в совершении преступления, за якобы распространение порнографии. Некоторые СМИ некорректно указывают, что мне до сих пор не предъявили обвинение — это происходит в самом конце следствия перед судом, когда следствие уже закончено и есть обвинительный акт, то есть сейчас мне фактически и не могут его предъявить, пока рано.
No, I’m now officially a suspect, I have a notification of suspicion of having committed the crime of spreading pornography. Some media outlets have incorrectly stated that I haven’t been charged with anything yet – but the announcement of the charge comes at the very end of the process, before a court, when the investigation is finished and there is an indictment, so it’s still early to charge me.
Во время суда следователи, запрашивая продление моего ареста, перечислили все то, что они собираются сделать в рамках дела, а именно: допросить мою маму, подписчиц группы “Монологи вагины”, проверить мои аккаунты и привлечь большое количество экспертиз: искусствоведческую, психиатрическую, компьютерную. Возможно у меня будет второй эпизод, но это пока неточно. Но очевидно, что дело закроют нескоро.
During the court sittings, the prosecution, asking for an extension of my arrest, listed everything that they would do during the case hearings: interrogate my mother and the members of my Vagina Monologues group; check my accounts and call a lot of expert witnesses’ testimonies: artistic, psychiatric, computer. I might be facing a second arrest: it’s not clear yet but the case isn’t going to close anytime soon.
Моя жизнь под домашним арестом изменилась настолько радикально, насколько это возможно. Я люблю гулять, много езжу по разным делам и внезапно оказалась запертой в четырех стенах — это серьезное испытание, и я не представляла, насколько это будет тяжело. Мой арест сильно ударил по быту. Неожиданно для меня и моей мамы, с которой мы живем в одной квартире, оказалось, что домашними делами вроде покупки продуктов занималась я, а тут вдруг я не могу, а она работает.
У меня был доступ в интернет, поэтому я писала тексты и рассказывала о своем опыте, читала книги. Почти два месяца у меня ушло на борьбу за лечение зубов, все было как в тумане из-за боли и обезболивающих. Плюс еще много юридических терминов пришлось изучать, так как в последнее время я пишу много заявлений сама, это интересный опыт.
Life under house arrest couldn’t have been more different if they tried. I like going for walks, I travel a lot for various reasons, and suddenly I was a prisoner within four walls: it was a real ordeal; I had no idea how tough it would be. My arrest had a big effect on my everyday life. I share my flat with my mother, and we suddenly realised that I had been responsible for all the housework and shopping while she went out to work – and now I couldn’t do it.
I did have access to the internet, so I wrote articles about my experiences and read books. I spent nearly two months getting my teeth fixed, living in a kind of fog from the pain and the anaesthetics. Plus, I had to get my head round a load of legal jargon, since I’ve been writing a lot of statements myself, which has been an interesting experience.
homophobic Pila protiv LGBT (Saw against LGBT) movement
Сама “Пила” существует несколько лет, с 2017-2018 года — я в тот момент еще не была в активизме — и ни одно ведомство России, включая ФСБ и Центр по борьбе с экстремизмом по какой-то причине не может найти авторов этих писем (“Пила против ЛГБТ” — гомофобное движение, участники которого предлагают нападать на ЛГБТ-активистов и получать за это гонорары — прим. openDemocracy). Искали, подавали заявления.
В первый раз “Пила” мне угрожала летом 2019 года. Тогда я вместе с другими активистами со всей России, которые были в так называемом “списке Пилы”, подала заявление, и только недавно ФСБ ответила, что состава преступления нет. Забавно, что показания по этому делу у меня брал тот же полицейский, который впоследствии стал инициатором моего уголовного и административного дела. То есть человек собирает на меня информацию для уголовного дела против меня, и параллельно ему же я должна рассказывать какие-то подробности, чтобы он меня защищал.
18 марта мне на почту пришли новые угрозы, в которых был прописан мой адрес с номером квартиры. На этот раз они вымогают 250 биткоинов до 31 марта и угрожают убийством. Из полиции (после первых угроз) пришли спустя полтора месяца и сказали, что ничего не могут сделать, посоветовали мне не выходить из дома и завести собаку. Во время разговора они спрашивали лишь о том, рисовала ли я порнографию и сплю ли я с женщинами, так что боюсь, что обращаться к ним за помощью бессмысленно. В то же время, когда на меня пишут заявления хейтеры или гомофобы, они рассматриваются за два дня. Если кто-то решил, что это какая-то смешная шутка — окей, но давайте найдем этого человека и скажем ему, что так не надо.
The “Saw” movement has been around for a couple of years, since 2017-2018. I wasn’t in activism at that time, and not a single institution, including the FSB and Centre for Combating Extremism, has been able to find the authors of the threatening letter. We searched for them ourselves, and made complaints.
The first time it threatened me was in the summer of 2019, when I, along with activists from all over Russia who were in the so-called “Pila list”, made a complaint. It’s only recently that the FSB responded that there was no charge to answer.
What was amusing was that I had to give evidence on the threats to the cop who had initiated my criminal and administrative cases in the first place. In other words, this guy was collecting incriminating evidence against me, while at the same time I was supposed to be providing him with evidence in my defence.
On 18 March, new threats, naming my address and flat number arrived in the post. This time they were demanding 250 bitcoins before 31 March, otherwise they would kill me. After the first threats, the police took six weeks to tell me that there was nothing they could do and advised me not to leave my home and to get a dog. The only question they asked during our conversation was whether I drew pornographic images and slept with women, so it would be futile to ask for help from that quarter. At the same time, when I get hate mail from homophobes, it gets dealt with in two days. If somebody thinks this is a good joke, that’s fine – but let’s find the joker and tell them that it’s not funny.
[Note from the editor: Yulia Tsvetkova reported on Facebook on 2 April that she had received new threats from the Saw movement.]
У меня часто спрашивают, чем помочь. Это действительно страшно, когда у человека в жизни происходит что-то очевидно несправедливое и он остается с этим один на один. Находясь под арестом я поняла, что самая эффективная помощь кому-то, кто находится в заключении — под домашним арестом, в СИЗО, в тюрьме — это личное общение. Ведь по сути все, что делает полиция — это лишает человека слова. Они обвиняют в преступлениях, которых человек не совершал, и никто не пытается услышать другую сторону.
Меня лично огласка спасала несколько раз, и я видела, как менялось отношение полиции ко мне в лучшую сторону, когда о моем деле начали говорить. И в этом плане активное включение людей, личное общение очень сильно помогает, но это делают далеко не все. Нужно не бояться и писать. Это урок, который я вынесла лично для себя, потому что я не последний политзек в истории этой страны, и думаю о том, что могу делать дальше, чтобы поддерживать остальных.
People often ask how they can help me. It’s really horrible when something obviously unjust happens to you and you are left alone with it. When I was under arrest, I realised that the most effective help for someone in that situation – house arrest, remand centre, prison – was simple human contact. Everything the police basically do is deprive you of your right of speech. They accuse you of crimes you haven’t committed and there’s no-one to take your side.
Getting myself heard saved me several times, and I saw that the cops’ attitude changed towards me when people started talking about my case. In this situation, active intervention and individual communication with other people is very helpful, but not many people get involved with this. You need to be unafraid and to write. This is a lesson that I learned for myself, because I’m not the last political prisoner in this country, and I think about what I can do to support the rest.
По факту для меня ничего не изменилось, не было такого, чтобы я заснула и проснулась другим человеком. В самом начале ареста я читала книгу Олега Навального “Три с половиной” про то, как он сидел в колонии. Я удивлялась, как такой интеллигентный, культурный человек может погружаться в тюремную повестку и чуть ли не восхищаться ей. И буквально через два месяца я везде говорю про себя как про политзаключенную, пишу друзьям “С арестантским уважением, с сестринским теплом”. Я считаю, что тут нет никакого выбора, кроме как принять это и сделать частью себя.
Для меня стало сюрпризом, что в среде некоторых активистов есть зависть к статусу политзека. Сейчас это является гарантом качества что ли, меня это пугает и расстраивает. Если человек преследуется по политическим причинам, значит он хороший, значит он какой-то супер правильный. Конечно, это лучше, чем осуждение или молчание, но я считаю, что не нужно идеализировать этот статус.
Nothing has basically changed for me – it’s not like I fell asleep and woke up a different person. Early in my arrest situation I read Oleg Navalny’s book Three and a Half, about the time he spent in a prison colony. I was amazed how such an intelligent, cultured person could become engrossed in prison life and almost enjoy it. And after literally two months I now always talk about myself as a political prisoner and end letters to my friends, “With an arrestee’s respect and sisterly warmth”. And I don’t see any other option to accepting this and making it part of me.
I was surprised to discover that some activists are jealous of the status of political prisoner. It’s become a sign of quality or something, but it scares and unsettles me. It’s like, if someone is persecuted for political reasons, it means they’re a good person, someone super-correct. It’s better, of course, than condemnation or silence, but you don’t need to idealise this status.
У нас патриархальная страна, и логично, что в женщинах не видят достаточно силы и угрозы режиму. Я слышала очень много высказываний в свой адрес, мол, как-так, ты же девочка, тебя здесь тут закрыли, а должны были закрыть меня, потому что я крутой и сильный мужик.
В то же время, оказавшись внутри ситуации я узнала, что по близким заключение ударяет очень сильно, может быть даже сильнее, чем по самому заключенному. Это как в моем случае — пока я сижу дома и праведно страдаю за дело, всю нагрузку по быту, по юридическим вопросам и жизни несет моя мама. Мне кажется, что у нас в стране сейчас очень много невидимых женщин-политзаключенных: это матери, жены, те женщины, которые из-за политических процессов несут на себе дичайшую нагрузку. Про них особо не говорят и не пишут, а если и пишут, то как про “чьих-то мам”, “чьих-то жен”. Политзеки — это герои, а это так, невидимый обслуживающий персонал.
Да, эти женщины не являются официально признанными политзаключенными, но без их помощи продержаться невозможно. Если государство преследует детей, оно преследует и матерей этих детей. В этом плане они точно такие же жертвы системы, и здесь еще можно поспорить, кто больше.
We have a patriarchal country here, and it’s logical for women to be seen as less powerful and less of a threat to the regime. I’ve heard a lot of people saying, “You’re just a girl, they knocked you down here, but they should have tried bashing me, because I’m a smart, strong bloke”.
At the same time, as someone in this situation I discovered how hard prison is for families – even harder, perhaps than for the prisoner themselves. Look at my own situation: here I am sitting at home and suffering for the cause while my mother has to bear our entire domestic load, as well as legal issues and life in general. I feel that today there are so many invisible female political prisoners: mothers, wives – women who bear an incredible burden as a result of political legal processes. People don’t talk or write about them, or if they do, it’s in terms of “somebodies’ mums, somebodies’ wives”. Political prisoners are heroes, but women are the invisible service staff.
These women are not officially recognised as political prisoners, but they are an essential part of the situation. If the government persecutes children, they are also persecuting the mothers of those children. They too are victims of the system, and who’s to tell who are the greater victims?
Я тот человек, которого начали преследовать из-за спектакля про гендерные стереотипы “Розовые и голубые”, который я ставила в качестве режиссера в театре “Мерак”. Мне кажется, это уже о многом говорит.
Я считаю, что очень многое зависит от культуры, точнее от ее отсутствия. Например, ко мне во время ареста приезжала скорая, и во время осмотра фельдшеры расспрашивали меня о моем уголовном деле, о том, правда ли я педофилка. Это не плохие люди, они не злые, это просто бескультурье. Людям любопытно — я могу это понять, в нашем городе мое дело абсолютно беспрецедентное. Из-за стрижки меня раза четыре спросили на улице мальчик я или девочка. В этот момент я испытываю шок и растерянность, люди просто не понимают, что мне становится некомфортно, что волосы не определяют половую принадлежность.
Почти на каждом допросе в полиции возникает вопрос моей ориентации. Например, необходимость провести обыск у меня был связан с тем, что я лесбиянка. Что касается моего дела, то тут действует убеждение, что женское тело является общественной собственностью. Я слышала от тех же полицейских, что, мол, как же так, нужно детей рожать, а она здесь вагину выставила. Даже если бы мне захотелось выставить свою вагину, это мое право, это моя вагина.
Самое интересное, что это убеждение одобряется на государственном уровне, взять те же поправки в конституцию о браке как союзе мужчины и женщины, не говоря уже о навязывании родов — это все создает определенный культурный пласт. Сейчас все говорят про коронавирус, и никто не говорит про эпидемию ВИЧ. Я не знаю, сколько лет упорной работы нужно будет, чтобы поднять эту проблему на государственный уровень, чтобы ввести в школах уроки сексуального просвещения.
I am the person who they started persecuting when I created The Pink and the Blue, a show about gender stereotypes which I put on at the Merak theatre. And I feel that this already says a lot.
I believe that a lot depends on culture, or rather, lack of it. For example, I needed an ambulance after my arrest and the medics that examined me asked about my case and also, whether I was a paedophile. These aren’t bad people; they just lack culture. People are curious – I can understand that: my case is unprecedented in our city. Because I have short hair, I’ve been asked four times on the street whether I’m male or female. When that happens, I feel shock and embarrassment. And people just don’t see that I’m embarrassed and that haircuts don’t define gender.
The question of my sexual orientation comes up at nearly every police interrogation. The need to physically examine me, for example, is all to do with the fact that I’m a lesbian. And as for my case, there seems to be an idea that the female body is public property. I’ve heard cops going on about how we should be having kids, not displaying our vaginas. But even if I wanted to display my vagina, it’s my right and my vagina.
The most interesting thing is that this idea is approved at government level: look at the amendments to the Russian Constitution about marriage being a union of a man and a woman, not to mention the necessity of childbirth – all this creates a certain cultural stratum. Now everyone is talking about the coronavirus – no one mentions the HIV epidemic. I don’t know how much hard effort it will take for this issue to be raised at government level, to introduce sex education in Russian schools.
Есть те, кто меня поддерживает, но в основном это люди, которые знают меня лично. Слова поддержки это не то, что здесь можно часто услышать, больше осуждения и неприятных вещей. Сейчас я в городе персона нон грата, про меня нельзя говорить, обо мне нельзя писать, меня нельзя публично защищать. Многим здесь не нравилось то, чем я занималась, но масштаб был совсем другой.
Наш город очень маленький и закрытый, темы феминизма или ЛГБТ здесь никогда не были приятными. У нас было много инициатив помимо секспросвета, например, мы делали экологический проект — фотографировали мусор в городе и выкладывали все это в паблики. Нас обвиняли в том, что это неправда и проблема преувеличена. Любая честная вербальная позиция сталкивается здесь с негативом.
У нас нет политического активизма как такового. Даже девушки, которые называют себя феминистками, боятся организовывать мероприятия и, честно, я не могу их за это винить, находясь под тремя делами и только-только сняв браслет с ноги. Сейчас некоторые выходят на одиночные пикеты против поправок в конституцию, но они точно так же сталкиваются с преследованием, хейтом и давлением полиции.
Я прекрасно понимаю всех, кому страшно. Мне повезло работать в частных структурах, но если человек работает на предприятии и занимается активизмом или протестной деятельностью, его увольняют в два щелчка — это еще один фактор, который сдерживает людей от проявления инакомыслия даже в каких-то мелочах. В городе приняли ничего не видеть и ничего не говорить.
Some people support me, although most of them are people who know me well. I certainly don’t hear many words of support: it’s more about judgment and unpleasant remarks. I’m now persona non grata in my home town, my name is never mentioned, no one can write about me or publicly defend me. A lot of people here didn’t like what I was doing, but the scale was very different.
Our town is very small and closed: no one ever had a good word to say about feminism and LGBT issues. We engaged in a lot of initiatives as well as the sex education project – we ran an environmental project, taking photos of rubbish on the streets and posting them on Facebook. We were accused of lying and exaggerating the situation, and any honest discussion just encounters negative attitudes here.
We don’t have political activism as such. Even the young women who call themselves feminists are scared to organise any events and I honestly can’t blame them, busy with three jobs and only just having removed the leg-iron from their ankles. Some people are now doing single-picketing against recent amendments to the Constitution, but they also encounter persecution, hate and police pressure.
I understand people being frightened. I have been lucky to work in private businesses, but if someone works at a firm and gets involved in activism or protest activity, they can get fired in an instant – another factor holding people back from showing any dissidence in even the smallest ways. People here have taken a vow to see nothing and say nothing.
У меня нет соображений насчет будущего, все же есть шанс, что меня закроют на срок от двух до шести лет. Деятельность мою здесь уничтожили на корню. Всего, что я делала последние два года, больше нет. Сейчас у меня такой период, когда у меня нет чего-то прошлом, но еще нет чего-то в будущем. Есть некоторые наметки, проекты, которыми бы я мечтала заняться, но сейчас это нереально. Однозначно я хочу заниматься театром и правозащитой в России или за ее пределами.
I’ve no idea what I’ll be doing – there’s still a chance that I’ll go down for two to six years. My activity here has been cut off at the root. Everything that I’ve done over the past two years has gone, and I still don’t have anything ready for the future. There are a few notes and projects that I would love to pursue, but it’s not realistic at present. But I certainly want to be involved in the theatre and human rights activism in Russia or elsewhere.

author: RuNet Echo


text:
Serbian government revokes controversial COVID-19-related decree used as pretext to arrests journalists · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Building of the Government of Republic of Serbia in Belgrade. Photo by Wikipedia user Matija, CC BY-SA 3.0.
This story is based on reporting by Global Voices content partner Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation. Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić announced on Thursday, April 2, that her government will revoke the decree [an executive order] for centralized informing in regard to the novel corona virus, after on Wednesday (April 1) a journalist was arrested for “spreading panic and inciting unrest.”
Brnabić stressed that the decree will be revoked at request of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, while she took the blame for the “stupid” emergency regulation, claiming it was all her doing.
Moja je glupost i moja krivica što smo nešto ovako doneli, moja je glupost što to nisam obrazložila i što bacamo senku na zaista fantastičan posao koji smo do sada uradili, o tome kako smo do sada i kako ćemo nadalje informisati građane i o tome ko daje informacije.
It was a result of my stupidity and I am the only one to blame for enacting of this [decree], I turned out stupid for not explaining it properly and allowing for this to cast a shadow on the actually fantastic job we did so far, about the way how we had been informing the citizens and how we are going to do it in the future, and about who is supposed to provide information.
Brnabić stated that she believed the decree would protect the citizens from unverified information, while Vučić feared negative effects on the overall information sphere.
The decree, formally titled Conclusion of the Government, came into power on March 31, stipulated that the only entity in charge of informing the public about the situation and consequences of the pandemic is the Crisis Headquarters headed by the prime minister, while spreading information by unauthorized persons must not be considered accurate or verified, and threatened legal consequences for spreading disinformation during the state of emergency.
Ana Lalić, a journalist of the portal Nova.rs was released on April 2, after spending the night in jail, following her arrest after the Clinical Center of Vojvodina based in Novi Sad pressed charges against her with the prosecutor and the police for upsetting the public and harming the reputation of the institution. Prior to that, the hospital expressed “bitterness due to inaccurate, unverified and malicious  reporting by the Nova.rs portal about the work of this health institution.”
In her article published on April 1 and titled “Clinical Center of Vojvodina at breaking point: Nurses without protective gear,” Lalić described the “chaotic” situation at the hospital and reported about the chronic lack of basic equipment – personal protective gear, sanitary material and medicines. The Center did not respond to her questions about claims by whistle-blowers she mentioned in her story.
After her arrest, Ana Lalić was sentenced to 48 hours of detention, however the authorities revoked the decision before the deadline.
The arrest provoked reactions by Freedom House, Article 19 and other organizations advocating the right to work of journalists, particularly under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Domestic political parties, civic organizations like the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina and media outlets from Serbia also reacted to the arrest, with many citizens expressing revolt via the social networks.
Ovo je novinarka Ana Lalić iz Novog Sada. Noćas je uhapšena zbog svog teksta o KC Vojvodine.
Pretresli su joj stan, oduzeli mob i lap-top.
TRAŽIĆE IZVORE! Kao hijene. Iako ima pravo da ih štiti i ne otkrije!
Ako do 15h ne bude puštena, ovo je jedino pitanje na KZN! Do besvesti! pic.twitter.com/lVGhaGIX6j
— Marinika Tepić (@MarinikaTepic) April 2, 2020
Tweet: This is Ana Lalić, journalist from Novi Sad. She was arrested tonight because of her text about Clinical Center of Vojvodina.
They've searched her apartment, confiscated her mobile phone and laptop.
THEY WILL SEEK OUT HER SOURCES! Like hyenas. Even though she has the right to protect them and not reveal them!
If she's not released, this should be the only question [every journalist should ask] at press conferences! Ad nauseam!
Photo: Ana Lalić holding a sign reading “Stop fascism!”
Lalić's case was not the only one. The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, criticized the arrest of three journalists in Serbia in the space of a week and called on authorities to ensure the COVID-19 pandemic does not hamper the ability of the media to report freely.
The charges against Lalić have not been dropped and investigations are ongoing, Vladimir Radomirović, of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), told IPI. “This is the second case of a journalist being arrested in a week,” he added. “It’s very worrying.”
On March 26, a TV crew of the KTV station was arrested for allegedly failing to undergo mandatory disinfection while trying to enter an administrative building to conduct an interview.
“We welcome Brnabić’s decision and call on the authorities to fully respect the ruling,” Oliver Money-Kyrle, IPI Head of Europe Advocacy and Programmes, said. “We also urge the government of Serbia to ensure that journalists are able to go about their work without fear of arrest. Accurate and updated reporting from journalists will be an essential ally of governments in tackling the pandemic.”
According to an April 3 interview with Lalić made by her media outlet Nova.rs, even though she had been released, and her laptop and mobile phone were returned, the process against her is ongoing. The charges based on the revoked decree had not been dropped, as the Criminal Code of Serbia also includes a provision on “inciting panic and unrest” in Article 343. The charge carries a prison sentence of 6 months to 5 years.
Serbian daily Danas informed on April 2 that as a mitigation measure for the scandal with the arrest of Ana Lalić, the Clinical Center of Vojvodina (CCV) invited Reuters reporters to film their emergency unit, “so the foreign journalists would make sure that everything is in order.”
On April 2, the video filmed by Reuters was then promoted by state media in Serbia as proof of government's denial of Lalić's reporting, alongside a statement by the Provincial Secretary for Health for Vojvodina Zoran Gojković demanding that “journalists should not publish unverified information.”
According to Danas, this was a PR-stunt, intended as a snub against the local media community.
U ovom slučaju nije „zaustavljen Rojters“, nego Ana Lalić, a preko nje su i svi domaći novinari i mediji dobili šamar od uprave KCV.
In this case, the state didn't “stop Reuters,” but Ana Lalić, and through her all domestic journalists and media received a slap in the face by the CCV management.
The catchphrase “Stop Reuters” is part of the history of journalism in Yugoslavia. It was uttered in 1980 by a frustrated official Xhavid Nimani, when he was told that Reuters is still informing about the unrest in Kosovo at the time when the state attempted to impose censorship over all domestic media.
According to covid19.rs, the official government website on the pandemic, by April 7 the total number of infected people in Serbia increased to 2020, with 58 documented deaths.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


text:
COVID-19 on the frontline: Insights from an Australian humanitarian nurse · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Helen Zahos teaching school children about hygiene in Odede, Kenya March 2020 (Photo courtesy Helen Zahos)
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Helen Zahos is an Australian emergency nurse and paramedic who is currently working at the Gold Coast University Hospital intensive care unit with COVID-19 patients. She has extensive experience as a humanitarian volunteer overseas responding to disasters and emergencies, and with refugees. Global Voices first spoke to her in 2016 when she had just returned from helping in Greece. Most recently she joined the Nurses in Action Program in rural Kenya.
This author interviewed Helen after her return to Australia.
Kevin Rennie (KR): Please tell us some of the key things you have taken away from your recent volunteer stint in Kenya with the Nurses in Action Program?
Helen Zahos (HZ): That the disparities in health care between developing countries and developed countries are ever present and that volunteer programs have to maintain a focus on sustainability and involve community members so they are empowered. That education and sharing your knowledge is an integral part of humanitarian nursing, as it is through sharing your skills and knowledge that you empower local Kenyan nurses. In turn they educate the locals in the community and encourage them to access the care they need.
KR: How is it similar or different from your earlier experiences working with refugees overseas?
HZ: The experience was very different. The refugee crisis was a slow-moving disaster. It overwhelmed specific countries that could not cope with the influx of people and it exceeded the capabilities of existing resources and infrastructure. The refugees were on the move and fleeing conflict, they were not living in homes but in refugee camps. Health care issues included chronic conditions but also physical and emotional trauma.
While Kenya is one of East Africa’s most advanced and richest countries, poverty is common. Deeply seeded systemic issues in health care mean that many people lack access to medical facilities or they cannot afford to seek treatment. There are endemic diseases such as malaria and HIV affecting many people. With limited funding or resources, it is often up to civil society to fill in the gaps and assist.
KR: You have returned to critical care nursing in an Intensive Care Unit in Australia at an incredibly difficult time. Have you experienced the impact of COVID-19 as yet?
HZ: My hospital has COVID-19 patients and the Intensive Care Unit does as well. It can be daunting as you approach the area where you get changed and approach the area that is separated from the COVID-19 patients because of the seriousness of this virus and how easily it spreads. It is hot under the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the masks are tight and claustrophobic and it is hard to talk to patients.
Preparing for COVID-19 patients – Gold Coast University Hospital Intensive Care Unit staff training April 2020 (Photo courtesy Helen Zahos)
KR: What are the most pressing priorities for the Australian hospital system? For nurses and other health workers?
HZ: To source more staff; have them trained and ready; source equipment and increase supplies. To put into practice the guidelines for pandemics. We have been preparing for the worst.
Integration and communication are vital: training and preparing all staff involved in the hospital system, transparency and sharing of information to assist other countries and standardising triage and treatment systems to cope with an influx of patients. Conducting mass screening and testing in the community by running fever clinics have been essential for early detection.
KR: What about the challenges facing indigenous communities at this time?
HZ: The possibility of a pandemic spreading to and affecting our remote indigenous populations is really concerning and very possible. Our indigenous people have higher co-morbidities and lower life expectancy than non-indigenous Australians. We could see the demise of entire indigenous communities if COVID-19 spreads to these remote areas, where large families live in close proximity, there are mass gatherings for cultural practices and they tend to be nomadic.
The Northern Territory has led the way by closing its borders and access to remote areas, important steps in stopping the spread of the virus. Remote area health centres need to be vigilant and detect any cases early, to educate indigenous people about the virus and to conduct health promotion on hand washing and social distancing.
KR: Any advice for the rest of us? or suggestions for how we can help?
HZ: Accept that you have no control over this situation. What you do have control over is how you respond. Stay at home, wash your hands and practice social distancing. If you are self-isolating use this time in a positive way. Limit yourself to the news or to the daily updates as it can be distressing. Take time for self-care which is difficult when you are exhausted mentally. If you are isolated from family there are many social media groups that have been created; if you are unable to get out to access groceries or pick up a script there are people in the local community volunteering to help.
Write a diary of how you are feeling, the events unfolding and take photos of what is happening. This is vital for debriefing and looking back at this time, years down the track.
KR: Congratulations on being chosen as Nurses in Action Ambassador 2020 for World Youth International. How do see your role during the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife? During the pandemic?
HZ: The The International Year  means a lot to me; I was there when they announced it at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. I remember feeling really proud to be a nurse. Then came the announcement that I was to be an ambassador for Nurses in Action for World Youth International and I was excited to partner up with them. I will cherish the trip to Kenya forever. I had plans to travel throughout Australia sharing my experiences and insights from the trip to Kenya. The celebrations and conferences have been cancelled with the current uncertainty.
There are countries, where people cannot buy soap and do not have access to running water, that will suffer the most. It is these vulnerable populations that will need nurses to volunteer again one day to help in their recovery.
I never imagined that the year of the nurse would take on such a different meaning.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Impact of COVID-19 containment measures on human rights and civil liberties in the Middle East · Global Voices
Gulf Center for Human Rights

Saudi women's rights activist Loujain Alhathloul is one of many human rights defenders who remain in jail in the Middle East, despite multiple calls to release them amid COVID-19 fears. Photo credit: Loujain Al-Hathloul via OTRS system / CC BY-SA.
This post was written by Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), an independent, nonprofit organisation that promotes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the MENA region.
COVID-19 cases in the MENA region have led governments to institute containment and other measures to slow the spread the highly contagious coronavirus.
These measures have especially targeted some of the most vulnerable groups such as human rights defenders in prison, migrant workers and independent media.
The Gulf Center for Human Rights has tracked how some of these measures have seriously impacted the overall human rights situation in the MENA region.
Many of these unfair actions violate international law. Migrant workers and detained prisoners, for example, who often live in substandard living conditions, are actually protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 25:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Below is GHCR's brief human rights review of COVID-19's impact on the MENA region:
Bahraini human rights defenders Nabeel Rajab (right) and Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja remain in prison, despite calls to release them and all political prisoners in the Middle East. Photo credit: Bahrain Centre for Human Rights / CC BY-SA.
The reality is that most human rights defenders are still in prison in the MENA region at a time when governments including those of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt released some prisoners as part of preventive measures to contain the spread of the virus. With the spread of COVID-19, the lives of jailed human rights defenders are at imminent risk in countries such as Iran, Egypt, Kuwait, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and other countries that have crowded prisons lacking minimum health standards.
Among those currently imprisoned are Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and Nabeel Rajab, founding directors of the GCHR, serving a life sentence and five years in jail, respectively. In the United Arab Emirates, Ahmed Mansoor has been held in solitary confinement for three years, serving a 10-year jail sentence for his human rights activism, including peacefully expressing his views on social media. In Saudi Arabia, women's rights activist Lujain Al-Hathloul also remains in prison.
Most governments in the MENA region are not releasing the actual numbers of cases of those infected with the virus and also making it very difficult for journalists to have access to reliable information about the spread, treatment, and the victims of COVID-19. Also, journalists who are providing factual information about the crisis to citizens are at risk.
For example, in Yemen, on March 23, 2020, Muammar Al-Aryani, the minister of communications in the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, issued a decree bearing the number (6) for the year 2020, which stated in its first article, “The issuance of government newspapers and private ‘paper’ newspapers will be suspended and only electronic copies will be issued.” This is for the period from March 25 to April 12, 2020, as stated in Article (2) of the decree therein, as part of the package of preventive and precautionary measures taken by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In Oman, on March 22, 2020, the Supreme Committee for Dealing with COVID-19 ordered all newspapers, magazines, and other publications to cease printing and circulating, according to the Times of Oman, which published the committee’s order. The order also prohibited the sale and circulation of newspapers, magazines and publications imported into the country.
In Morocco, that same day, the minister of culture, youth and sports, Hassan Abyaba, announced in a statement the suspension of the publication and distribution of print newspapers until further notice.
Also, in Jordan, on March 17, 2020, the Jordanian Council of Ministers suspended the publication of all newspapers for two weeks, according to an official statement by the Jordanian Communications Minister Amjad Adaileh. Newspapers continued to be suspended due to the quarantine and the government's demand for citizens to stay in their homes.
Draft law No. 29/2020 on amending Articles 245 and 247 of the Penal Code provisions were submitted to the Tunisia parliament on March 29. The bill, which was withdrawn a day later following the outcry from civil society groups and citizens, sought to criminalise the ”disclosure of any false or questionable speech among users of communication networks and social media platforms, which may be insulting to individuals, groups or institutions.”
The bill was a blatant contradiction with Articles 31, 32, and 49 of the Tunisian Constitution, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by the Republic of Tunisia. If adopted, it would have inevitably canceled several Articles of Decree Law 2011-115 of 2 November 2011 on freedom of the press, printing and publishing, as it contains comprehensive legal provisions for the offenses of publishing false news (Article 54) and calumny (Article 55 and 56).
On April 1, 2020, the Gulf News, a daily English-language newspaper based in Dubai, published an article that says that “people who circulate rumours may be jailed for one year if they spread false information.” It is now possible that COVID-19 could be used as a pretext to imprison some of the bloggers and Internet activists who are targeted by the State Security Apparatus (SSA).
Some Gulf states such as Bahrain are using location-tracking technologies which would enable the full detection of the movement of citizens. There are concerns that the use of these applications in countries widely known for gross and documented violations of human rights will allow them to place greater restrictions on personal freedoms.
In Kuwait, in an interview on March 31, 2020, actress Hayat al-Fahad called for migrant workers to be thrown out of the country as it faces the COVID-19 crisis.
On March 10, 2020, after a picture was published of a Saudi Aramco migrant worker dressed as a giant bottle of sanitiser, the oil company came under fire for such inhumane ill-treatment of the worker, which could be classified as racist. The company later apologised.
Reports that GCHR received from various Gulf countries confirmed that migrant workers are not given equal access to medical care and they are facing some difficult time at the moment, as many of them already live and work in poor conditions.
Authorities across MENA could help stop the spread of COVID-19 by freeing all human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience because they do not pose a risk to the public — but rather are at great risk themselves. While detained, authorities must uphold the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners to provide basic healthcare and sanitation for all. It is also important to allow visits from UN experts and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

author: Gulf Center for Human Rights


text:
India’s COVID-19 lockdown leaves vulnerable populations to fend for themselves · Global Voices
Rohith Jyothish

Image by Rajesh Balouria from Pixabay. Used under a Pixabay License.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
On March 24, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the country to lockdown for three weeks. The emergency protocol shuts down public places and curbs transport facilities — leaving the policing of restrictions to state governments.
The announcement has triggered an exodus of migrant workers hoping to flee cities for their rural homes after losing their jobs to the COVID-19 shutdowns. This mass movement of people is causing fears that contagion of the virus will be even harder to stymie.
From walking more than 200 km to get home to being sprayed with chemicals, here's how the 21-day lockdown has been for a major section of our population. https://t.co/p9bfq8NAXp
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) April 4, 2020
In the last three decades, India's economy has seen millions of people leave agriculture for the cities. The construction sector was one of the booming economic areas which employed close to 50 million workers. Many of them working outside of legally enforceable contracts at low daily or weekly wages. The sudden break in all forms of economic activity due to the lockdown has left these workers jobless, and some without access to food. Many of them thronged railway and bus stations to leave the city. But the suspension of public and private transport without adequate warning has left them without a way to get back home. It also puts them at an increased risk of contracting the infection.
When the entire city is in a lockdown, why not railways have a better crowd management, an information system, more personnel, some food & provisions for these over 1000 stranded workers. Here instead, a handful of police men were tasked to struggle without a strategy or masks pic.twitter.com/xETluYZTnd
— Arun Janardhanan (@arunjei) March 22, 2020
Delhi: Migrant workers in very large numbers at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus terminal, to board buses to their respective home towns and villages. They have walked to the bus terminal on foot from different parts of the city. pic.twitter.com/IeToP3hX7H
— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2020
Due to the transportation shutdown, many migrant workers across the country started walking back to their hometowns.
देश में लॉकडाउन है,बस,ट्रेन,प्लेन सब बंद है इस लिए पैदल ही कई किलो मीटर अपने घर की और निकल पड़े है ये लोग तस्वीर है नागपुर- चंद्रपुर की रोड की – भयानक है ये pic.twitter.com/KnmhJX9mw5
— rounak kukde (@rounakview) March 27, 2020
There are also reports of migrants dying from starvation, exhaustion and heart attacks.
Deaths due to lockdown in India. A thread:
— Kanika (@_kanikas_) March 29, 2020
Amidst this crisis, the Modi government announced a belated relief package of a reported $23 billion, but it failed to mention the affected migrant workers. Meanwhile, social media has been awash with images of police brutality against people for violating an order by the Modi government issued in response to television reports of the mass movement of migrants.
Punjab police style in India during Corona virus lockdown. Do you agree police should treat people this way? #PunjabPolice #CoronavirusLockdown #coronavirus @PunjabPoliceInd pic.twitter.com/uFs3MemicF
— Surinder singh (@surinders86) March 24, 2020
LOCKDOWN CRACKDOWN
New video shows police in India beating people with sticks,slapping them ‘n forcing calisthenics for allegedly violating the newly-enacted nationwide lockdown as the nations tries to beat back the coronavirus pandemic through social distancing.#COVID2019 pic.twitter.com/lcuWeLI9Yi
— Anak Kolong™ (@AnakKolong___) March 25, 2020
This is shameful ,@budaunpolice . Instead of offering water, some solace to these migrant workers returning home amid the #Lockdown21 , your men are punishing them like this ? What is their fault if their factory owners are kicking them out ? @upcoprahul please intervene ! pic.twitter.com/nyFZgQwtoD
— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) March 26, 2020
Yet another outcome of an unplanned lockdown has been disruption to the food supply of poor and marginalised populations. While the government has guaranteed essential services to be exempt from the lockdown, poorer sections of the population that depend on subsidised food rations have been left in the lurch — even in the capital.
FPS no. 7157/60 in Krishna Nagar (East Delhi) – No stock since 1 April.@CMODelhi – How is this still happening despite your repeated assurances about provision of ration entitlements to the people? pic.twitter.com/ITk8bGBPRE
— Right to Food, India (@rozi_roti) April 5, 2020
Delhi Police at India Gate. Image from Flickr by Veeresh Malik. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The human cost of the lockdown pic.twitter.com/Cgf4YuZb3w
— Road Scholarz (@roadscholarz) April 5, 2020
As the deadline for the end of the current lockdown is less than a week away, authorities are planning for a phased resumption of various transport services. The biggest challenge arguably remains the clusters of infections that have formed in densely populated poor areas in Mumbai's suburbs and Nizamuddin in Delhi. The World Health Organization has advised that maintaining social distance is one of the most effective strategies to prevent human to human transmission of this infectious disease. However, it is easier said than done in a country where almost 70 percent of the population live in dwellings with only one to two rooms or are homeless.

author: Rohith Jyothish


text:
Will the rejection of Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s murder appeal make him ‘even more of a martyr’? · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Screenshot of Vybz Kartel taken from the official YouTube video of his song “World Government”.
On the morning of April 3, 2020, the constant flow of news about COVID-19 took a slight pause — at least in Jamaica — as the local appeal court handed down judgment on the murder charges against dancehall deejay Vybz Kartel (Adidja Palmer).
Also known by the moniker “World Boss”, Palmer and his three co-accused (Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John), were convicted of the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams in 2014. They appealed their sentences in July 2018.
Exactly six years to the day after Kartel was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole before 35 years, the Court of Appeal upheld the murder convictions, but has reserved its judgment on the sentencing. The next step, say defence lawyers, is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jamaica’s final appellate court.
In contrast to the frenzy surrounding the lengthy and dramatic murder trial, the atmosphere for the appeal was subdued, with only a small group of fans gathered outside the Kingston court as they awaited the verdict.
The 44-year-old recording artist hails from the low-income community of Waterford in suburban Portmore — a housing scheme for former inner-city residents nicknamed “Gaza” — where he built his crew of dancehall artistes.
Anticipating that Kartel's appeal would be successful, a planned celebration in his community, which is one of the areas currently under a State of Emergency was cancelled. His despondent supporters argued that he was not given a fair trial in Jamaica and hoped his appeal would have a better chance in the UK.
Kartel's 2014 murder conviction was not his first run-in with the law. He had been acquitted of the 2011 murder of local promoter Barrington Burton on July 24 of that year but had remained in custody pending the second case.
During this period, he and two others were accused of perverting the course of justice by trying to introduce evidence that Williams was still alive, although that case was discontinued. Meanwhile, a juror was charged with trying to bribe his peers to return a not-guilty verdict — a trial that is still pending. Williams’ body has never been found.
The rejection of the appeal appeared to shock both fans and Kartel's defence lawyers, who had earlier expressed confidence that his sentence would be overturned.
Queen’s Counsel Valerie Neita-Robertson, a member of Kartel's high-powered legal team who had predicted a win to the deejay’s fans on Twitter, later suffered a backlash from disappointed followers. When retired appeal court judge Seymour Panton criticised her actions, the attorney responded:
My right to my view must also be respected. I hold the view that EVERY Jamaican is entitled to a fair trial & deprecate your view that attorneys pander “to the criminal underworld”. What we do sir is to give hope and expectation to all our clients based on our assessment of (3/6)
— Valerie Neita – Robertson QC (@Neita4You) April 5, 2020
Pointing to the acquittal of an uptown businessman in a controversial murder case, one of the attorney's Twitter followers expressed the not-uncommon view that there is one law for the rich and one for the poor:
Jamaica have two system.
1. The law which governs the lower class
2. The law that keeps the rich in power!
It was easy for the man who shot the kc yute to walk away without a charge!
— sawj (@sawj20) April 4, 2020
Ironically, Kartel's “ghetto yute” [youth] image has translated into a wildly successful musical career, with all its financial benefits.
While Kartel's lawyers complained about the length of time the judges took to reach a decision, Jamaica's director of public prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, called the trial a “very complex matter” and the ruling a “critical and seminal one”, with implications for the wider Caribbean.
A noticeable feature of the case was the admission into evidence of cell phones, voice notes, text messages and audio recordings. Many regional territories, including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, have been wrestling with cybercrime legislation, trying to balance elements like privacy, safety and freedom of speech.
Interestingly, social media has helped keep the “World Boss” in the public eye, a trend that will likely continue. Kartel has maintained a fairly consistent social media presence despite his incarceration, although it's not clear whether he is making the posts himself.
Moreover, questions have repeatedly been raised as to whether he has been making new recordings in jail, which would be against protocol. Despite his denials, “new” recordings regularly appear; his record label insists any fresh releases would have been recorded before his incarceration. Yet, just before his appeal judgment, Kartel had reportedly made a brief “live appearance” on the Instagram account of Kingston-based record producer and collaborator Tarik “Rvssian” Johnston.
Donna P. Hope, professor of culture, gender and society at The University of the West Indies, and founder of the Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative, commented that Kartel’s popularity is not likely to wane:
Anything he puts out, even if it’s just one line or a sound, it’s going to be even bigger. One of the things that has made him so popular is that people see him as a victim, and that kind of anti-hero figure is very popular in Jamaican music, and remember he’s behind bars so that will make him even more of a martyr…He’s going to be held up as a victim of the system. That is what the music is going to say about him and people will feel a connection, especially now. He will continue to get a lot of support from people because he continues to represent as someone who rejects the status quo and is still seen as persona non grata to many. And even though he’s older than this generation, he still manages to plug into it, and that has kept his fan base alive and growing.
Kartel may in fact “plug in” a little too literally. In the week before his court appearance, prison officers confiscated a mobile phone from his cell.
While police investigate the incident, public discussion continues: Is Vybz Kartel a victim of the system? A brilliant lyrical genius? A dangerous influence on the nation’s youth? A product of oppression or simply another criminal “don”?
Whatever Jamaicans think, no one will be indifferent to Kartel's fate, which will likely be decided within the next year and a half as his lawyers prepare for the final round at the Privy Council.

author: Emma Lewis


text:
Cameroon battles COVID-19 alongside separatist war and strained health care system · Global Voices
Ekonde Daniel

A young drummer walks through the streets of Yaoundé, Cameroon, wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 outbreak, March 14, 2020. Photo by Ekonde Daniel, used with permission.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
On March 6, Cameroon recorded its first case of the highly contagious novel coronavirus known as COVID-19: a French national who arrived in the country from France.
A month later, the number has jumped to 730 people with 60 who have recovered and 10 deaths, as of April 9, 2020. Cameroon has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in West Africa.
Cameroon shut down its frontiers and banned gatherings of more than 50 people on March 17 for 15 days and extended the exercise a few days ago, yet there are concerns about how the virus is being tackled with relative nonchalance, with a threadbare healthcare system and a separatist war along its western border.
In the central business district Yaoundé, the capital, a giant LED board appears with the words: “If you are sick, stay at home and use a surgical mask in the presence of other people.” That message has not seemed to go down well with Yaoundé residents.
A large LED sign encourages Yaoundé, Cameroon residents to stay at home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Photo by Ekonde Daniel, used with permission.
“We hear of many deaths in Italy and Spain,” Abel Mbock, a street seller in Yaoundé told Global Voices on March 29. “But it is not serious here because people walk freely on the streets and do whatever thing they want to do. I think our hospitals are stronger,” he said.
Meanwhile, Marou Souaibou, who sat in a local café, was still completely in the dark about the seriousness of COVID-19. “Coronavirus is for white people. It doesn’t interest me in any way because here, in Africa, our immune system is stronger than that,” he told Global Voices on March 29.
Conversely, those who arrived in the country from highly infected nations are reported to have slept with sex workers in their quarantine center, while others have evaded the isolation process – acts government has blamed for the increased number of cases.
However, most people have started adjusting to the reality of the virus as the number of  cases and deaths climb in Cameroon:
CAMEROON has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in West and Central Africa. What really happened? Is it due to Administrative recklessness? Failure to close the borders on time? Refusal to Lockdown? Failure to test the high and mighty who came from abroad? We shall conquer! pic.twitter.com/o5vP2x3K07
— Agbor Nkongho (@AgborNkonghoF) April 5, 2020
Southern Cameroon Defense Force (SOCADEF), one of the groups fighting for independence in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, accepted a call for a ceasefire from the United Nations so that people can be tested for the coronavirus.
Page 2 of Southern Cameroon Defense Force statement of ceasefire commitment in response to COVID-19 crisis.
In a March 25 statement, SOCADEF, headed by Dr. Ebenezer Akwanga, said it acknowledged the UN’s “urgent appeal to allow for concerted worldwide action against the coming Coronavirus pandemic.”
The suspension of hostilities — to last for 14 days — started on Sunday, March 29.
Though other rebel groups have not regarded Antonio Guterres’ call, human rights lawyer Agbor Felix Nkongho told Global Voices on March 26, it was a positive gesture from SOCADEF.
“I think that if you are really fighting for the interest of a people — now that we have a pandemic, you will need to find a way for the people to be tested or for them to avoid spreading [the virus],” Barrister Nkongho said by phone.
“People cannot be without having hand sanitizers, soap and water. I think a ceasefire is the best thing now.”
On January 21, 2020, the United Nations reported 679,000 people have fled from their villages and are dire need of healthcare as over 40 percent of health centers have folded due to violence in the troubled regions.
On March 24, Global Voices spoke with Dr. Ebongo Zacchaeus, head of health in the region, who confirmed that three people had already tested positive in the southwest region, one of the embattled regions. The number is now four in that region alone.
Dr. Ebongo also said that samples from the coronavirus tests can only be confirmed in Yaoundé, where there is a proper testing center.
“You have to send [tests] to Yaoundé, that’s the standard now. The whole country has to send [tests] to Yaoundé,” Dr. Ebongo told Global Voices.
The government said it will create other testing centers in Douala and Bafoussam, towns that have COVID-19 patients, but fears remain that the spread may not give them the window to do so.
Authorities in the southwest region have banned people from sitting in restaurants and drinking spots in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus. This coupled with the government’s nationwide 6 p.m. curfew, has laid off many people in the informal sector.
A business center closed around 5 p.m. near the French Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon, under COVID-19 measures to close down by 6 p.m. at the latest. Photo by Ekonde Daniel, used with permission.
Ngando Boris is a bartender in Buea, the regional headquarters of the southwest region.
“I have not received salary for a month now since the government banned the opening of public places from 6 p.m. Our employer sent us home because we can’t work in the evening. I am just managing from what I saved,” he told Global Voices by phone on April 4.
“After the [separatist] crisis, now is the coronavirus. It is worse!”

author: Ekonde Daniel


text:
COVID-19 diaries from Wuhan: ‘Our action has brought us hope’ · Global Voices
Winston Chiu

People like to enjoy the sun during the lockdown. (Photo credit: Guo Jing)
The following post is the fifth in a series of diaries written by independent filmmaker and feminist scholar Ai Xiaoming and feminist activist Guo Jing. Both are living in Wuhan at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are the links to the first, second, third, and fourth part of the series.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
This fifth installment was written between February 17-19, 2020. The original Chinese diaries are published on Matter News.
小区很小，能晒到太阳的地方也很少，我只能在两座楼的间隙里长50米的地方来回走。…终于我们都被指定监视居住了。指定监视居住一般是针对犯罪嫌疑人的，而现在很多人都在“享受”此待遇。
在湖北某县城的朋友说她那里戒严程度已经成了不能出户，有亲戚转发个视频，显示有人出门晒衣服都被抓走了。
有人说恒大房产发了特大优惠通知，2月18日至2月29日期间，全国各在售楼盘可享受75折优惠。这是很大的优惠，可是买不起的人依然买不起。现在全国高速公路免费，可是现在多少人还能开车上高速呀？
有钱人通过买房子增值，一般人只能通过买大米保命。有些便宜是普通人享受不到的。
小区的群里开始发起各种团购，买菜的、买肉的，团购要达到一定份量才送。我昨天进了小区的群，群里偶尔在接龙买东西，我一开始很抗拒。风尘前，我都是在网上买菜，现在我极度渴望可以自己去买菜。今天，我终于还是参与了群里的团购接龙。
Our residential district is very small, and we only have a little public space where we can enjoy sunlight. I can only walk back and forth in a 50-meter space between two buildings …We are all under home surveillance. Usually only suspected criminals are put under home surveillance, but now many people are ‘enjoying’ this special treatment.
I have a friend living in a town in Hubei Province. She told me they are living under martial law, and no one is allowed step out of their homes. Her relatives sent her a video, showing someone was taken away by the authorities when they went outside to hang their clothes.
Someone said that Evergrande Real Estate announced a huge discount from February 18 to February 29. They will give a 75% discount on their properties all across the country. This is a huge discount, but still not affordable. Now all highways are free of charge, but how many people can still get on the highway right now?
The wealthy ones can increase their fortune by buying houses, but an average person can only buy rice for their survival. Some ‘discounts’ will never be enjoyed by the average person.
People started to initiate group buying for vegetables and meat on online chat rooms. Delivery service is only available for bulk order. I joined a community group yesterday and people would invite each other to place group orders. At first I resisted. I was used to doing online shopping for food before the lockdown, but now I am eager to go out to buy food by myself. But today, I finally joined the group.
这几天，我有一种在沼泽地前行还被背后捅刀的感觉。我以为风尘已经很糟了，可是接下来还有封小区，从三天出一次门到不能出门。我没有反对这些措施的权利。这些措施是否必要也不重要，只要疫情会过去，它们就可以是有利措施。
人们现在不得不被集体化，个人消失了。
团购只能顾及大家的一般性需求，没法考虑到每个人的特殊需求。有人在小区群里发了个蔬菜配送，有两个套餐：A套餐，50元，有冬瓜、芹菜、娃娃菜、茼蒿、土豆，5个品种，约13斤；B套餐，88元，豌豆、玉米、胡萝卜、红薯、茄子、青杭椒，6个品种，约13斤。
这是强制配的套餐，没法考虑到每个人的喜好。A套餐里我会不想要娃娃菜，B套餐里我又不喜欢豌豆。而且，看似有两个选择，其实没有选择。
别人选什么，我就要跟着选。套餐里也没有调味料。我是一个无辣不欢的人，幸亏自己囤了几瓶辣酱，不然吃饭就很痛苦。除了食物，人们还有很多日常需求，可能有人家里没有牙膏了，可能有人要买卫生纸。
我们谈到甘肃女护士被剃光头，而合照的照片中唯一的一个男性则是短发，很多女性在被剃头的时候极不情愿，甚至有人哭了。头发关乎的不只是外貌，而是尊严。剃头是否必要？是否经过同意？女性的身体从未真正属于自己，总是有人比女人自己更有权力处置女人的身体。
These days, I felt like being stabbed on my back while walking in a swamp. Locking down an entier city is very bad, but now we are trapped in our residential districts and can only go out once every three days. I do not have any rights to oppose these measures. Whether these measures are necessary or not is no longer an important question. As long as the pandemic will end, these measures are considered good.
We are forced to be become a collective; the individual has disappeared.
Group buying can only take care of our general needs, and it cannot serve individual special needs. Someone initiated a group buying of vegetables, we can only choose between Plan A and Plan B. In Plan A costs RMB 50 yuan (US$ 8 dollars) and it is consists of five kinds of vegetables that weight 13 catties (6.5 Kg): winter melons, celeries, white cabbage, chrysanthemum greens, and potatoes. Plan B costs RMB 88 yuan (US$ 14 dollars) and it is consists of six kinds of vegetables that weight 13 catties: peas, corns, carrots, sweet potatoes, eggplants, and green peppers.
We cannot consider individual needs with these mandatory plans. I do not want white cabbage in Plan A, and I do not like peas in Plan B. Although it looks like we have two choices, in fact we do not have our own choice.
I need to choose what other people choose in group buying. I cannot find sauce in these plans. I love spicy food. Fortunately I have stored several bottles of spicy sauce, or I will lose all the joy in eating. Besides food, we have other needs. Maybe some people run out of toothpaste. Maybe some people need to buy toilet paper.
We talked about the news that female nurses from Gansu were shaving their heads. The only man in that group photo still had his short hair. Many female nurses were very reluctant when their hair was shaved off, and some of them cried. Chinese people see hair as more than appearances, it is about our dignity. Is it necessary to shave their heads? Did they have the consent from those women? Women’s bodies never really belong to us. It is always someone else overpowering women and making decisions about what to do to women’s bodies.
While it is no sure if the female medical workers were willing to shave their hair, the incident had resulted in an online uproar with many accusing the state owned media outlets of using women as tools for propaganda.
Female workers from Gansu had to perform their “sacrifice” in the fight against COVID-19 by shaving their heads. Screen capture from a video from Radio Free Asia's Facebook.
下午六點半，天氣也像戴了口罩，灰蒙不爽。七點後，小區依然處於武漢最嚴管制中，人車限行。因為有抗疫指揮部的放行證明，我們得以出了小區。
這天的工作是接收來自北京的一車物質: 女性衛生用品。 根據一周前報道，截至2月 11 日，武漢有超過 9 萬的醫護人員奮戰 在疫情防控一線，至 2 月 14 日，來自全國的醫療界支援醫護已近 2 萬。在這些醫生中，女性占多少比例我沒有統計，但是護士中百分之九十以上是女性。
女性經期用品的缺口有幾個原因，1、本地醫護人員被緊急召回上崗，隔離工作，缺乏後援。2、武漢封城後市場停業，物品斷供。3、外地醫護人員馳援武漢，未及準備。
即使在發出呼籲後有了社會捐助，還有運送和接收困難，一方面，有院方男性負責人不認為這是迫切需要。另一方面，女性衛生用品不算醫療物質，不能享受綠色通道。但在相關報道發出後， 「姐妹戰疫安心行動」在微公益平台和為愛聯合勸募平台(微信)開啟公募連接， 一天內籌得善款兩百三十多萬。此後全國婦聯所屬中國婦女發展基金會這一國家級公益組織也募集了 225 萬元，用於援助一線女性醫務人員物品。
司機來自山東，他說昨天晚上 6 點從北京出發，夜裏在邢台休息。今天一大早連續趕路，開了十多個小時到達武漢。也是本地志願者為他聯系並發去本地區防疫指揮部的通行證，他才得以進入武漢市內。
卸貨後，司機離開。他說今天他只吃了一餐飯。我說這麽晚了，街上也沒有地方賣吃的，怎麽辦？他說他車上還有泡面。
At 6 PM, the sky was grey as if masked. After 7 PM, my community was still under the strictest controls, neither human nor car were allowed to go out. But we were allowed out becaus of a pass from COVID-19 Command Center.
Our work today is to receive a truck of supplies from Beijing: feminine hygiene products. According to a report last week, there were more than 90,000 medical personnel working at the frontline in Wuhan on February 11. On February 14, the number of medical personnel coming from other parts of the countries to Wuhan exceeded 20,000. I do not have the statistics showing what percentage of the healthcare workers are female. However, I know more than 90% of the nurses are female.
There are some reasons for their lack of feminine hygiene products: first, the medical staff from Wuhan were called to work with short notice, and they have been working in isolation without much support; second, most stores were closed after the lockdown, and there is no place to buy things; third, the medical staff from outside Wuhan did not bring sufficient items with them when they were called to help.
Although we have received a lot of donations after we made a public call for help, we still have issues with transportation and delivery. On the one hand, some male directors of the hospitals do not think this is a serious need. On the other hand, feminine hygiene products are not medical supplies, and we cannot deliver them directly to the medical institutes.
However, as reports about female medical workers’ needs emerged, an online crowdfunding campaign “Action to support our sisters fighting the pandemic” was launched on WeChat and collected more than 2,300,000 Chinese Yuan in one day. After that, China Women's Development Foundation, a national charity organization belonging to All-China Women's Federation, also raised 2,250,000 Yuan for buying products for those female medical staff on the frontline.
Our truck driver is from Shandong. He said he departed at 6 PM yesterday from Beijing and took some rest in Xingtai last night. He had driven for more than 10 hours since this morning before he arrived Wuhan. He could enter Wuhan because Wuhan volunteers had asked the local COVID-19 Command Center to issue a pass for him.
After the driver unloaded the packages, he departed again. He told me he only had one meal today. I asked him what he can eat so late at night without any stores or restaurants open? He told me he has some instant noodles in his truck.
Donated supplies were stacked outside the hospital. (Photo credit: Ai Xiaoming)
今天上午先去到工地，和那裏的朋友一起分別送醫院。
小袁打電話過去，得知我們的接收人在武漢市中心醫院的南京路院區，於是繼續啟動車輛前往。
我們在在靠江邊的老街巷繞行，終於到達武漢市中心醫院行政辦公樓的門前。
一眼望去，路面上堆滿了大大小小的包箱。
我觀察了一下，主要是各地的捐贈物質…這些千里萬里、破疫而來的捐贈，凝聚了多少同胞手足的情誼；又有多少人徹夜不眠，傳遞信息，捐資采購，找車找人，聯絡對接……無數志願者一路協調，終於落地醫院大門口。
This morning I went to a construction site to meet my friends, and then we delivered packages to different hospitals. Mr. Yuan called the hospital. He got the information that we should deliver the packages to the Nanjin Road campus of Wuhan Central Hospital, so we headed there.We drove through some old streets along the river. After a while, we arrived at the front door of the administration building of Wuhan Central Hospital.
Even from far away, I could see a lot of packages stacked on the road. I checked those packages out. They are mainly donated supplies from other places. These donated supplies were transported from thousands of miles away, and they represent the love among us all. We could imagine how many people skipped sleep to forward messages, donate money, buy these supplies, find the trucks and cars, find volunteers, and contact people in charge of different things. After numerous volunteers worked together, we could see these supplies in front of the hospital.
尽管我们的处境极其被动，人们依旧在其中寻找主动性。有一天我看到一个采访，在一线救治病人的医生说：“总想能再做点什么。”这十分令人感动。不止医护人员是这么想，很多志愿者也在这么做。
疫情中，有肺炎感染病人和疑似患病的人在网上求助，有一些志愿团体会收集网上的求助信息，联系当事人，确认需求，有志愿医生帮病人看CT，协助判断病人的病情，有人协助联系社区和医院。有人关注慢性病人的求医需求，有人关注医护人员的就餐问题，有人关注到女性医护人员的需要，有人关注环卫工的工作状况，有人组成志愿车队……
封锁也给这些志愿工作带来了阻碍，大家并没有轻易放弃。救援物资曾被红➕字会拦下来，他们就想别的办法，尽管不确定能不能成功，但他们都尽力去做。人们不是因为有希望而行动，而是在用行动创造希望。
Although we are caught in a passive situation, we try to be proactive. I saw an interview the other day, a doctor working at the frontline said, “I always want to do more.” This is moving. Both the medical staff and the volunteers share the same thought.
In the pandemic, patients and suspected patients with COVID-19 are seeking help online. Some volunteers would collect related information and reach out to those in need. Some doctors volunteer to read the CT images and give advice. Some connect the patients to hospitals and community workers. Some reach out to people with chronic diseases. Some take care of meal services for the medical staff. Some pay attention to female medical workers’ needs. Some care about the working conditions for cleaners. Some help arrange cars for volunteers.
Although the lockdown brings difficulties to their volunteering work, they did not give up easily. Though donated resources and supplies had been blocked by the (Chinese) Red Cross Society, they will find another way. No matter what, they will do their best. Hope is not our driving force. But our action has brought us hope.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the Global Impact of COVID-19.

author: Winston Chiu


text:
‘Export restrictions’ prevent US ventilators from reaching Barbados — but citizens question tactics · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

COVID-19 masks; image by Prachatai on Flickr; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries face a growing need to access critical medical supplies like test kits, personal protective equipment and ventilators — much of which has to be imported.
The rush to secure resources has prompted moves by powerful governments like the United States, whose recent restrictions regarding such equipment has sparked controversy.
In a press conference on April 5, Barbados’ minister of health and wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, said (at 33 minutes in the timeline) that 20 ventilators bound for Barbados had been “seized in the United States.”
He did not provide further details.
There was initially some confusion over whether the ventilators in question were the same machines that had been donated by Barbadian-born pop star Rihanna, but it was later confirmed that these were a different batch.
Despite the setback, Minister Bostic maintained that Barbados had enough ventilators to meet the island's current demand (not counting the more than 150 secured from various other sources) — and that the government had an “open cheque” for the purchase of critical supplies.
The island currently has about 48 available ventilators; as of April 5, only three of the country’s 56 COVID-19 patients needed to use them.
Despite this, the move to bar the export of the ventilators did not go down well with Caribbean netizens:
More barbarism from the United States.
Sickening #ventilators #Barbados https://t.co/jWdoZBLYiT
— Alex Rupert (@alexanderupert) April 6, 2020
While there have been acts of philanthropy during the COVID-19 pandemic (China, for instance, donated thousands of test kits to Trinidad and Tobago), such humanitarian gestures are counterbalanced by what some are interpreting as acts of selfishness.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for instance, threatened retaliation after the Trump administration, on April 2, 2020, reportedly instructed healthcare equipment manufacturer 3M to stop its export of protective masks to Canada and Latin America.
The US government was able to do this by triggering the Defense Production Act, which — in addition to allowing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to secure any medical supplies it deems necessary — can also force private-sector manufacturers to give the government precedence when fulfilling orders.
3M, however, pushed back, saying that clamping down on exports achieves the “opposite” effect and has far-reaching humanitarian consequences.
Several other countries have also voiced concerns about the United States’ approach to dealing with COVID-19 supplies.
Even US hospitals have been reporting that federal agents have been “seizing orders,” and medical staff has complained about the lack of transparency surrounding the process.
The US government, however, says it is employing a data-based approach to determine where supplies should go.
Shortly after the Barbados health minister spoke at his press conference he went on record to suggest that “‘seize’ might not have been the correct word”. He explained, “It has to do with export restrictions being placed on certain items.”
For clarification on what these restrictions entail, Global Voices reached out to the Barbados Government Information Service, which referred our questions to a representative of the minister; at the time of publication, there has been no reply.
The Barbados government has not announced how it plans to respond, but discussions are reportedly ongoing between Barbados’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United States Embassy.
On April 9, however, Barbados Today reported that the public affairs officer at the US Embassy, Larry Socha, said his office hadn't “received any updates from the Government of Barbados regarding the alleged incident.”
The embassy says it is awaiting those details in order to continue to work with the country in defeating COVID-19.
The incident didn't stop people from labelling US tactics as modern-day piracy:
Bluntly said, this is pure piracy. Wild west times are back!!! #coronavirus #COVID19 #Barbados #US #USA. Radio Havana Cuba | U.S. seizes #ventilators destined for #Barbados: https://t.co/9drbihU2j6
— Damian Donéstevez (@DamianDonestvez) April 6, 2020
US Embassy spokesperson Socha also weighed in on this “unfortunate” aspect of the narrative, suggesting that it “is being propagated by certain individuals and organisations to divide the international community”:
There is nothing more important right now than the international community coming together and those individuals and organisations that are promoting a narrative of division are doing the citizens of their own countries and other countries a disservice.
Facebook user David Coulthrust, however, saw an opportunity for the Caribbean region:
Can a very brilliant engineer in Barbados make ventilators? I suggest we act now. Can the UWI [The University of the West Indies] accept this challenge?
Such a move wouldn't be without precedent, as one Twitter user was careful to remind people:
In this time of great need for #ventilators, take some time to reflect on the early apparatus pioneered by Henry Edmund Gaskin Boyle, a son of the soil of @Barbados #Barbados ??https://t.co/zxUV8OzgRi #coronavirus #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Rs8HcGeZnZ
— Leslie Deane MBBS, MS, FRCSC, FACS (@lesdeane) March 28, 2020
One Jamaican scientist, for example, is reportedly awaiting patent approval for a cannabis-based drug to help treat COVID-19 symptoms.
In desperate times, however, many regional governments are surely hoping that the lesson of COVID-19 will not be one in which “might is right:”
Barbados’ Minister of Health just indicated in a press conference that ventilators destined for the island had been “paid for but seized in the United States”. It's every country for itself out here and the small ones will be the biggest losers.
— Lisa Harewood (@islandcinephile) April 5, 2020

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Kyrgyzstan’s civil society mobilises to fight COVID-19 · Global Voices
Aigerim Turgunbaeva

Volunteers in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, display food packages ready for distribution to needy people under lockdown. Photo (c): Bakhtiyar Kubatbekov and Mikhail Dudin / National Headquarters. Used with permission.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Even before the first patient with a positive result appeared, people in Kyrgyzstan have been watching closely as the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the world. They had good reason: their small mountainous country in Central Asia borders China, where the outbreak began.
Kyrgyzstanis on social media networks expressed concern about how the virus would hit the country's weak economy. People in the service sector worried whether it would affect the 2020 tourist season; shopkeepers and farmers wondered whether it would interfere with spring planting, and therefore the harvest.
However, most people in Kyrgyzstan simply cannot afford to lock themselves away and wait until the crisis is over. The country now searches for a middle ground between a strict quarantine and a functioning economy, fearing that otherwise more people may die from hunger than from the coronavirus.
That recognition has led Kyrgyzstanis across the country to take matters into their own hands, volunteering to help their neighbours and fellow citizens however they can.
Some cynics might say that's because they never had much faith in the government's response. So just how prepared were the authorities in Bishkek when the coronavirus came to Kyrgyzstan?
At the time of writing there are 270 confirmed coronavirus cases in Kyrgyzstan, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus map.
As the coronavirus has spread, many countries have imposed restrictions on public life. They have closed borders and schools, and introduced quarantines. Kyrgyzstan was no exception, although the government's response was a little delayed. Until early last month, the authorities only recommended the cancellation of public events, and rejected proposals to close schools and universities.
That all changed on March 12, when the government officially restricted all mass events. Two days later, an entry ban on citizens from seven countries came into force, applying to China, Italy, Iran, Korea, France, Germany, and Spain. Foreign citizens who have visited these countries or passed through them in the past 30 days are prohibited from entering Kyrgyzstan
On March 16, Kyrgyzstan fully closed schools and universities and restricted large family events and funerals. On March 18, the country reported its first positive case of coronavirus. Or rather, cases. The virus was detected on three people who had arrived in the country on March 12 after performing the small Hajj, or Umrah, pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, 135 Kyrgyz citizens arrived on the same flight, 90 of whom were placed in isolation.
These first cases were identified in the Jalal-Abad Region of southern Kyrgyzstan. This was where Kyrgyzstan declared its first state of emergency. Restrictions were placed on entering and leaving the region, with exceptions made for state officials.
Within a week, there were 44 confirmed coronavirus cases in Kyrgyzstan. The youngest infected person was not even a year old, and the oldest 86. This figure has increased every day as the pandemic spreads to more regions of Kyrgyzstan. On March 25, the authorities declared a state of emergency in Bishkek, Osh, and Jalal-Abad, the country's three largest cities, as well as many districts.
A curfew is now in force in Bishkek. As of today, Kyrgyz citizens may not leave their homes without good reason, such as going to the doctor or going shopping for food or medicine.
With a nation in lockdown, Kyrgyzstan's government has had to consider how to make life easier for struggling citizens.
Deputy Prime Minister Erkin Asrandiyev estimated in a press briefing on March 26 that Kyrgyzstan has already lost between 27 and 28 billion Som ($347-360 million) due to the closure of borders and economic downturn in recent months. The same day, the IMF's board of governors approved a US$120.9 million loan requested by Kyrgyzstan's President Sooronbai Jeenbekov. This was the first such request for urgent financial assistance made by an IMF member state since the pandemic began.
Furthermore, on April 3 the president ratified a law aimed at stabilising the economic situation during the pandemic. These temporary measures, which last until October, include an allowance for businesses to defer their tax returns and payment of taxes until 2021.
But many Kyrgyzstanis remain sceptical – social networks are full of accusations that the government was poorly prepared for the pandemic. Ordinary people are trying their best to survive and help each other, they say, while the country's leadership lives in a parallel reality. How else can they explain the authorities’ decision on April 1 to announce a referendum on the country's system of governance? The referendum, proposed by deputy Kurmankul Zulushev to be held in October, would further empower the presidency.

President Jeenbekov's decision to fire Deputy Prime Minister Altynay Omurbekova and Minister of Healthcare Kosmosbek Cholponbayev on April 1 has also been the cause of much speculation. The previous day, Jeenbekov had criticised members of the government for what he called insufficient efforts to combat the coronavirus. The blogger and media manager Gulnura Toralieva criticised the move on Facebook:
Все держалось на Алтынай Омурбекова (экс-вице-премьер-министр), в такой кризисный момент – это опасное решение освободить ее от должности! И да, никогда не хвалите чиновника, который хорошо работает, уволят
Everything depended on (former deputy prime minister) Altynai Omurbekova in this moment of crisis; it's a dangerous decision to remove her from office. So, yeah, never praise an official who works hard — they'll be fired.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan would likely be much worse without citizens’ self-organisation. One example is the People's Headquarters in Bishkek, in for which I also volunteer. It's easy to do so; potential volunteers must simply join the movement's Telegram channel.
More than 2,000 volunteers work at its headquarters in Bishkek. The movement has more than 500 volunteers in the field, helping poor families, people with disabilities, the socially vulnerable, and single mothers at this difficult time. The organisers say that they receive hundreds of requests for assistance every day; the People's Headquarters also offers help spontaneously. Eldar Shabanov, one of the group's coordinators, said the following to GlobalVoices:
Идея народного штаба появилась из-за страха, что нашим гражданам будет очень тяжело, если введут карантин. Еще 10 марта я писал пост, где уже выражал озабоченность. Тогда еще не было у нас вируса и карантина. Было страшно за людей, которые перебиваются изо дня в день – водители такси, маршруток, низкоквалифицированный персонал, которые получают оплату ежедневно. В случае карантина они протянут максимум три-четыре дня. Эта мысль не давала  покоя и уже тогда было твердое решение – помогать нуждающимся в случае объявления карантина. Позвонил другу – поделился идеей, он  без замедления поддержал.
The idea of the people`s headquarters appeared because of the fear that it would be very difficult for our citizens if they were quarantined. On March 10, I wrote a post where I already expressed concern. We didn't have the virus and quarantine back then. I was afraid for the people who only just get by – taxi drivers, minibus drivers, low-skilled staff who receive payment every day. In the case of quarantine, they will last a maximum of three to four days. I couldn't shake off that thought, so decided that if a quarantine was announced, we would have to help people in need. I called a friend and shared the idea, and he immediately supported me.
The volunteers are also helping medical staff, providing them with protective suits and masks and delivering hot meals to staff working at quarantine centres. The suits, purchased by donations, are made by a local company in Bishkek and reportedly cost 240 Som ($3).
Сшито более 300 защитных костюмов для медиков продолжаем шить, роздано более 5000 порций горячей еды, обеспечены более 200 семей только в Бишкеке и его окраинах продуктами питания. Корзина продуктов формируется из расчета на полторы две недели семье из пяти человек. В кассе имеется достаточно денег, чтобы обеспечить еще 1000 семей. С каждым днем желающих оказать помощь растет. Активную работу ведут наши единомышленники почти по всей стране. Есть штабы в Караколе, Токмаке, Канте, Кара-Балте, Оше и Джалал-Абаде. Статистику по другим городам, к сожалению, на данный момент не успеваем собирать.
We have sewn more than 300 protective suits for medics and continue to do so, we have distributed more than 5,000 portions of hot food, provided more than 200 families with food in Bishkek and its suburbs alone. The basket of provisions we offer is calculated to last one and a half to two weeks for a family of five people. There is enough money in the till to provide for another 1,000 families. Every day, more and more people want to help. Like minded people across almost the entirety of the country are actively doing the same. There are headquarters in Karakol, Tokmak, Kant, Kara-Balta, Osh, and Jalal-Abad. Unfortunately, we don't have time to collect statistics for other cities at the moment.
This movement is growing. Every day, updates appear on its Twitter feed under the hashtags #ЭлдикШтаб (People's Headquarters in Kyrgyz), #НародныйШтаб (People's Headquarters in Russian), and #БизБарбыз (“We are” in Kyrgyz)
Мы – #ЭлдикШтаб, Народный штаб по противодействию коронавирусу – верим, что наше общество должно помогать государству в сложной ситуации. Присоединяйтесь к нам! pic.twitter.com/OSvPKsEVl3
— EldikShtab_kg (@eldikshtab) March 26, 2020
We are the #ЭлдикШтаб, the national headquarters for combating the coronavirus. We believe that our society should support the state in this difficult period. Come and join us!
Kyrgyz migrants abroad have also started to raise funds for medical workers. On March 25, an advertisement appeared on the online fundraising platform GoFundMe. Its founder has since received $23,000. It pointed out that Kyrgyzstan's doctors are in desperate need of personal protective equipment (PPE):
Урматтуу кыргыз элим! Кыргызстандагы даарыгерлерибиздин абалы Covid-19 убагында абдан кыйын болуп жатат. Маскаларды оз акчасына сатып жумушка такси менен келип жатышат. Айлык акчасын дагы кыскартыптыр. Сюжетная книга и книга о том, как учить ишта жатышат. Чогулуп биз ушундай убакта врачтарыбызды колдоп кетели. Канча бере алсанар, кошулгула. Даарыгерлерибиз буттан тайса бутту дей бер. Чогулалы!!!
Dear Kyrgyz people! During COVID-19, the situation of our doctors in Kyrgyzstan is dire. They have to come to work by taxi and buy masks with their own money. Their salaries have been reduced. This is a grim tale about how hard work can be. If they slip up and get infected, it's the end for them. So let's come together and support our doctors at this time. Let's unite!!!
This Twitter user praised the initiative, pointing out that the large number of Kyrgyz citizens who have emigrated are still dedicated to their homeland:
Со всеми этими сборами и организацией, убедилась насколько кыргызстанцы любят и переживают за страну. Люди могут сколько угодно критиковать уехавших, но я вижу здесь столько людей которые потеряли работу, еле держатся и все равно стараются помочь когда речь идёт о наших там. ?
— Peri Adan (@Peri_Adan) April 2, 2020
All these donations and all this organisation has convinced me of just how much Kyrgyz people cherish and care for their country. People can criticise those who have left as much as they want, but I see so many people [overseas] who have lost their jobs and are barely holding on but still try to help our people over there [in Kyrgyzstan].
To be fair, businessmen, politicians, and larger companies have not remained on the sidelines and are playing their part. Despite its loan from the IMF, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Finance also opened an account on March 12 to collect donations to support the state's fight against the coronavirus. As of April 9, the account has received over 121 million Som ($1,556,000).
Despite all this assistance, the National Headquarters is receiving more and more calls for help from single mothers, disabled people, and those without any means of support. Many of these people previously made their living at the markets, which are now closed down.
According to Eldar Shabdanov and two other coordinators of the movement Urmat Nasykulov and Tilek Toktogaziyev, some doctors have even been calling the helpline to request help:
Мы открыли номер для анонимного обращения врачей и за пару дней поступило более 300 обращений. Просят защитные костюмы, горячую еду, транспорт для перемещения по городу. Стараемся оказывать помощь им анонимно, так как в самом начале нашей кампании, когда врачи открыто благодарили нас, им объявляли выговор. Волонтеры, которые доставляют им горячую еду, говорят, что у врачей чуть ли слезы в глазах не заворачиваются. Было одно сообщение, что врач, который живет выходит из дома в 4 утра и идет пешком на работу около 4 км, и возвращается домой голодной.
We opened a phone line to communicate with doctors anonymously, and in one day we'd received over 300 appeals. They ask for protective suits, hot food, and transport to move around the city. We try to help them anonymously, because at the very beginning of our campaign, doctors who thanked us publicly were reprimanded. Volunteers who deliver them hot food say that the doctors almost have tears in their eyes. We heard one report of a doctor who leaves their house at four AM and walks about four kilometres to work, and returns home hungry.
This suggests that in Kyrgyzstan, as in many other countries, volunteers are now having to stand in for the state. The same coordinator stressed that the country's poor may struggle even more than in the pre-pandemic era:
Картина с малоимущими более трагична. Отправляют множество фотографий с половиной куска хлеба, с пустым холодильником, с последними 20 сомами в кошельке. Несмотря на то, что выделен единый номер для обращений, много граждан звонят на личные номера координаторов днем и ночью. Недавно мне звонила одна женщина три дня подряд днем и ночью. У нее 9 детей и свекровка инвалид, им есть нечего. Друзьям рассказали, что у одной многодетной женщины из-за того, что дети несколько дней не ели, один ребенок уже не встает с постели и мучается от боли в животе. Это все очень эмоционально тяжело сопереживать. Помощь нужна прямо сейчас и ее надо много.
The picture of the poor is more tragic. They send a lot of photos with half a piece of bread, an empty refrigerator, and the last 20 Som in their wallet. Despite the fact that a single number is allocated for these appeals, many citizens call the personal numbers of coordinators day and night. Recently, a woman called me three days in a row, day and night. She has nine children and a disabled mother-in-law, they have nothing to eat. Friends were told the story of one woman with many children; one child no longer gets out of bed and suffers from abdominal pain due to lack of food. It's all very emotionally difficult. We need help right now and we need a lot of it.
The movement and its volunteers now receive thousands of these messages every day. For a small mountain country with a population of six million, one wonders whether that is a little or a lot.
In any case, this solidarity is showing a brighter side of Kyrgyz society. When Kyrgyzstan gets through this, we will have plenty of reasons to hug each other again. Though perhaps still at a two metre distance, as the WHO recommends.

author: Aigerim Turgunbaeva