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Pakistan shuts art installation depicting extrajudicial killings · Global Voices
Quratulain Tejani

A father awaits justice. Screenshot from the documentary: ‘The Killing Fields of Karachi’ – by Pakistani artist Adeela Suleman.
On October 27, Sunday, plainclothes members claiming to be from a Pakistani intelligence agency ordered the closure of an art exhibit titled ‘Killing Fields of Karachi’ at the Karachi Biennale 2019. The installation of 444 tombstones and a video by contemporary Pakistani sculptor and artist Adeela Suleman portrayed an emotionally charging experience showcasing the alleged 444 extrajudicial killings by the police officer Rao Anwar, in the past decade.
Victims of Rao Anwar – Before & After
‘Killing Fields of Karachi’ #RaoAnwar #AdeelaSuleman #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/7Xi4ZtdU9p
— Hamad Kafeel (@Hamadkafeel) October 28, 2019
Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan is a Pakistani retired police officer, who served as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Malir District of Karachi. A Daily Dawn investigation by Fahim Zaman and Naziha Syed Ali published in March this year detailed his involvement in the murders of hundreds of people in staged encounter killings between 2011 and 2018. He was suspended from the police force on January 20, 2018, after the death of Naqueebullah Mehsud, which gained national prominence and caused countrywide protests.
Adeela Suleman's video installation, ‘The Killing Fields of Karachi,’ illustrates the story of 27-year-old aspiring model Naqeebullah Mehsud. On January 3, 2018, Naqeebullah was detained along with two of his friends by Rao Anwar's men in Sohrab Goth, Karachi. Naqueebullah was kept in captivity, tortured, and then killed on January 13 in a staged shootout  in which he was shot twice in the back. A subsequent police inquiry found that Anwar had attempted to paint the murder as a successful elimination of a ‘terrorist’.
Here is Adeela Suleman's short documentary, featuring the father of the victim Mehsud, uploaded to YouTube by Shamoon Saleem:
Adeela Suleman's art exhibit, housed in Frere Hall in Saddar Town, Karachi, consisted of 444 tombstones – each marking a victim of Rao's execution.
To date, Naqeebullah’s case has failed to get justice among numerous others, while Rao Anwar is still at large.
Karachi Biennale is a movement aimed at employing art and artistic expression to discuss and provoke Karachiites on issues of public concern. It was started in 2018 and has gained traction ever since its inception. The program attracted an international audience and has been lauded in the local and the international arena alike.
On Sunday, October 27, a few hours into the opening, a portion of the installation was sealed and the rest vandalised by unknown persons after law and enforcement agencies came.
The organisers of the Karachi Biennale supported the move of the law enforcement agency in a statement to Dawn.com: “With regards to the exhibit in question, we feel that despite the artist’s perspective, it is not compatible with the ethos of KB19 whose theme is ‘Ecology and the Environment’.”
In which the Karachi Biennale organisers wholeheartedly endorse censorship of critical art, supporting the taking down of an art installation they commissioned because it was critical of how law enforcement works in Pakistan. https://t.co/kjxnvJx2B2
— Asad Hashim (@AsadHashim) October 29, 2019
Pakistani liberals and leftists protested the operation through a series of castigating tweets and social media reactions. The state’s selective backing of art and silencing of artworks it does not approve of has bothered activists.
Our state loves to promote art that benefits them or doesn’t challenge their false narratives.
First picture is from a musical show at ISPR HQ islamabad, neelam muneer’s patriotic thumkay. The 2nd and 3rd picture are from an exhibition about 444 people encountered by Rao Anwar. pic.twitter.com/ZECSqoXknz
— anastipu (@teepusahab) October 28, 2019
More power to the artist, more power to Art! #adeelasuleman‘s poignant installation and video, ‘Killing Fields of Karachi’ upsets the authorities and they sealed the lower hall. Glad to have watched the video this morning before the place was raided. Do we live in a democracy? pic.twitter.com/uzJxmavKzb
— Rumana Husain (@husain_rumana) October 27, 2019
Adeela Suleman’s installation The Killing Fields of Karachi unacceptable to the authorities. This is the true interface of art and society. Luckily saw the film and sculptural work, constructed gravestones and wilting flowers in copper / steel (?) . Most compelling work at KB19 pic.twitter.com/UktaYnQ1MA
— amra ali art critic (@amraalikhi) October 27, 2019
Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer Mohammad Jibran Nasir expressed concern over the issue through his powerful Vlog live from Frere Hall, the location of the exhibit. “If for some the artwork yesterday by #AdeelaSuleman only represented the oppression by #RaoAnwar, the destruction of the artwork today represents state oppression”, he said.
Jibran later organised a press conference at Frere Hall to protest and shed light on the security officers’ actions:
The moment we mentioned that Intel Officers harassing us since morning are surrounding the Press Conference this man introducing himself as DG Parks barged in threw down mics of media, ripped a mic off my collar and tried to get physical. All for #RaoAnwar #RiyasatKaLaadla. pic.twitter.com/7HVpEpUHXl
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) October 27, 2019
This has not been the only instance of suppressing debate and accountability around extra-judicial killings. Last week, the acquittal of all accused in the Sahiwal Massacre, where Punjab’s counter-terrorism department officials killed a family of innocents due to bad intelligence, outraged people from all walks of life.
“The installation has nothing that is not already out there. It is documented by media and details into cases are readily available”, expressed Adeela Suleman, the curator of the exhibit. Art, in its truest form, serves the purpose of whistle-blowing and extracting civic action through thought-provoking material.
Brad Adams, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch said in a statement:
The closure is both an attack on free expression and an attempt to sweep under the rug a longstanding human rights problem.
This isn’t the first time Pakistani authorities have censored freedom of expression and art. In 2016, the documentaries Besieged in Quetta (a film on the persecution of the Hazara community of Quetta) and Among the Believers (a production on the so-called headquarters of extremism in Pakistan, the Lal Masjid) were banned and couldn’t be screened publicly or distributed, even via social platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
According to the reports and additional coverage, both films had alleged “anti-state elements”. Later, Among the Believers was made available on Netflix Asia region but it is not available now for unknown reasons.
The remaining part of the ‘Killing Fields of Karachi’ installation has again been vandalized by the authorities on Monday, 28th of October. Journalists, anchors, activists, and civil society are collectively shaming such heinous acts.
After disrupting Karachi Biennial art exhibition yesterday they again came and vandalized the art work of Adeela Suleman. Just for protecting #RaoAnwar #ArtUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/YHWYm9NZNt
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) October 28, 2019
After the exhibit was vandalized, members of the artist community, civil society, and the general public gathered to restore whatever they could of the rubble as a symbolic gesture, standing against tyranny and oppression.
RESISTANCE….Art students trying to restore the art work vandalized by LEAs #RaoAnwar pic.twitter.com/8v6wpGg4JX
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) October 28, 2019

author: Quratulain Tejani


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Protesting domestic violence, Azerbaijani women take to the streets and social networks · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Women protest against domestic abuse in central Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo by Najaf Ruslanoglu, used with permission.
On September 19, 18-year-old Seljan Yagmur logged onto Facebook and told the world about her father's domestic violence. In her post, she publicly shamed her father for his violent behaviour towards her, her sister, and their mother. The post was widely noticed: Seljan's father Fuad Gahramanli happens to be a prominent opposition activist and the deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front party. Half of those who left comments under Seljan's Facebook post believed she did the right thing, while others suggested she was mentally ill for calling out her father's behaviour.
Members of her father's political party tended to see Gahramanli as the victim.
This is because in conservative Azerbaijan, domestic violence is seen as a strictly private concern — by no means should it leave the household, no matter the cost. With her post, Seljan had broken several stereotypes: a daughter had gone against her father, spoke of those who told her mother to keep it quiet and shamed the leader of her father's party for not publicly addressing the matter. In this case, not only did the victim raise the subject openly but sparked a nationwide conversation.
In a rare case of victory, Gahramanli has since resigned as deputy chairman of the party — though he has not yet publicly apologized for his behaviour towards his family. But the post did more than just that: it prompted a larger conversation about violence against women in Azerbaijan and how it is perceived.
Over a month after Seljan's post, multiple reports of cases of domestic violence have started making headlines in Azerbaijan. Over the space of just five days in early October, Azerbaijani media reported on 12 separate cases of domestic abuse against women, each citing a police report. Four women died in these cases. Furthermore, the independent news outlet Mikroskop reported that from January to September 2019 alone, 118 cases of violence and abuse against women have been reported by Azerbaijani media; 33 of the victims died as a result of sustained injuries, while the rest were hospitalised from their injuries. Stabbing is the leading cause of injury.
Read more: How one journalist sparked Armenia's #MeToo moment
Azerbaijanis are now speaking out about domestic violence online and in the media. Women are sharing their stories under the hashtags #qadınaşiddətəson (“end violence against women”) and #Leylaüçünsusma (“don't stay silent for Leyla” a reference to a recent case where a woman in Baku was stabbed more than a dozen times.) And they're also taking to the streets. On October 20, a group of civil society activists organised a public demonstration in Azerbaijan's capital Baku under the slogan “Don't tolerate it! March!” (#DözməYürüşEt). In its description, the group wrote:
Son günlər Azərbaycanda qadınlara qarşı saysız-hesabsız zorakılıq halları və qətllər baş verməkdədir. Ailəsi tərəfindən döyülən, öldürülən, intihara sürüklənən qadınlar, maşın yolunda öldürülən süpürgəçi qadınlar barədə hər gün xəbərlər oxuyuruq. Baş verən bu vəhşiliklərə qarşı gəlmək üçün, qadınlara qarşı zorakılığa yox demək üçün, ictimaiyyətin və dövlətin bu problemə diqqətini cəlb etmək üçün biz […] Xurşudbanu Natəvan heykəlinin […] doğru yürüş keçiririk. Yürüşün sonunda bəyanat səsləndiriləcəkdir. Yürüş bu problemlərə biganə qalmayan hər kəs üçün açıqdır.
Recently, countless cases of domestic violence and murders of women have been noted in Azerbaijan. We've read stories of women who are beaten, killed or forced to commit suicide by their family members, or run over by cars. Therefore, we will be marching from the statue of [the Azerbaijani poet and daughter of the Khan of Karabakh] Khurshudbanu Natavan […] to raise our voices against this atrocity, to say no to violence against women, and to draw the attention of society and the state towards these problems. At the end of the march, we will make a statement on the issue. The march is open to all who are not indifferent. One of the main slogans of the march will be “don't be silent against violence, don't tolerate violence!
This was not the country's first progressive protest march this year on women's rights. The first was held on International Women's Day on March 8 and raised awareness on violence against women, underage marriages, and sex-selective abortions in Azerbaijan.
But when a small group of Azerbaijani women and some men marched and called for an end to violence against women on October 20, they were themselves met with police violence. Some of these scenes can be seen in the following video report by the BBC's Azerbaijani service:
The sad irony was not lost on protesters:
Here I am, learning to fly on Torgovaya Street [where the arrests took place]
No comment
Participants in the protest also demanded that Azerbaijan sign the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Azerbaijan has not yet signed the convention, which calls on governments to protect women from all forms of violence, combat domestic violence, and proactively promote equality between women and men. It also obliges them to design a comprehensive framework and policies to assist the victims of gender-based violence and engage in international cooperation to that end.
But the protest has changed something. One day later, possibly due to the harsh public criticism of the aggressive police response, the Azerbaijani government's Committee for Family, Women, and Children's announced that they had submitted a proposal on the Istanbul Convention to parliament. However, the committee did not specify exactly when they had made the proposal, nor what exactly it contained. The committee also claims, despite not having ratified the Istanbul Convention, that they are actively working to promote women's rights alongside other governmental institutions.
But is it enough? It is worth bearing in mind that although Azerbaijan's law on domestic violence, adopted in 2010, mandates the government to fund and create shelters for victims, that has still not happened. In fact, the women's shelters that do operate in the country at present are established and run by various NGOs. The spokesman of the government committee told Mikroskop that the main reason for the lack of state-funded shelters is a lack of resources.
Ultimately, while signing the Istanbul Convention would be a step in the right direction, it will not be enough to end domestic violence by itself. Entrenched social norms and gender stereotypes will also have to change. As Michelle Milford Morse, Vice President of the UN Foundation's Girls and Women Strategy, said in a recent interview: “Violence against girls and women occurs because of long-standing, systemic gender inequality in countries all over the world. It’s rooted in discrimination, power differentials, and harmful social norms. And that’s why it continues today.”
Azerbaijan is no exception. The disturbing numbers reported by Mikroskop are just the tip of the iceberg. It is very likely that there are many, many more crimes committed against women which we do not yet know about — in Azerbaijan, women are often encouraged to keep silent and never report any instances of domestic abuse. According to the aforementioned committee's records, there are at least 800 cases of various violent “crimes and administrative offenses” every year, but they fear that even these numbers do not reflect the real situation, nor what proportion of them are incidents of domestic violence.
And yet, in a country where violence against women is such an acute issue, a march to raise awareness to the problem is subject to aggressive police crackdown. Perhaps that answers the question as to why victims are afraid of going to the police in the first place.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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The Hong Kong protests are becoming more violent because justice is not being served · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Mobs stormed the Yuen Long Subway station on 21 of July 2019. Screen capture
Johnson Yeung Ching-yin, author of this post, is a human rights advocate in Hong Kong, an exco member of Amnesty International, and former convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front. The post was published by Hong Kong Free Press on 26 October 2019 and is republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement, as well as with the consent of the author.
I want to tell a story about me and violence.
On July 21, I was dragging my body back home at midnight after a long day of protests. I lay in my bed. My partner was asleep, and I scrolled up and down the screen of my phone in the dark. My newsfeed was awash with footage of mobs wielding metal rods and hitting train passengers indiscriminately in Yuen Long.
These thugs, later confirmed to have triad backgrounds and links to a pro-Beijing lawmaker, were beating people while the police stood by and watched. Some were escorted personally by riot police to safe havens.
I barely slept that night; the adrenaline in my body kept me awake. My mind kept rehearsing how I would defend the passengers if I had been on the train.
The next day, an atmosphere of terror overcame Hong Kong. Shops and malls were closed early, in fearful anticipation of another attack. During lunch, a colleague invited me to a protest at the area where the thugs were based. I agreed immediately, finished my lunch in five minutes, and grabbed a PVC pipe and put it in my backpack.
I was ready to get into a scuffle. Not only was I prepared to fight—I was also looking forward to encountering the thugs so I could mete out justice to them.
In the end, I didn’t encounter any thugs that day, but I still remember the impulse to use violence.
Are the Hong Kong protests becoming more violent? Certainly. And although the demonstrations are largely non-violent, the use of force against the police, vandalism and vigilantism are becoming more frequent. And I have a clear sense of why this is happening: it is because justice has not been served over the past four months.
The police have been systematically violating rights and hurting people. More than 1,000 people have been injured; a journalist will more than likely lose her sight in one eye; one man’s arm was broken during an arrest; others say they were sexually abused by law enforcement.
A protest banner on Hong Kong Island on October 6. File photo: May James/HKFP.
A reporter has been hospitalised after a thug stabbed her in one lung; a teenager could spend his whole life in a wheelchair because hired gangs cut his tendons. And a few days ago, a young girl was injured by a taxi driver who appeared to deliberately run over some protesters.
Will these thugs be brought to justice? I doubt it, as I have seen the police work side by side with them multiple times.
Now, 80 per cent of the population are demanding an independent inquiry into police brutality, according to a Ming Pao poll, and the government has responded by invoking emergency powers and banning people from wearing masks.
And keep in mind, we didn’t choose the government. The emergency powers have destroyed the very last of the checks and balances that prevent Hong Kong from turning into a truly authoritarian city. It has shut down every single potential peaceful channel to resolve the political crisis.
The people are not just going to sit there and be butchered. They will resist. Remember how Hobbes describes the state of nature? No government, no laws, no common power to restrain. Sound familiar? That’s Hong Kong nowadays: people concede to the state a monopoly on violence because they trust the state will use violence according to the law—but this social contract has been burnt to ashes by the government.
On many occasions, I feel the impulse to throw a petrol bomb. I have pictured in my head how to wrest a pistol from an officer’s holster. And do you know what is stopping me from doing so? It’s because I am representing my organisation, which is committed to non-violence, and because I believe a largely non-violent movement has a better chance of success.
Most importantly, I have convinced myself that justice would be served in the long run. That doesn’t mean everyone can and should think as I do.
I feel impatient. And there are people who believe seeking justice within the system is a joke. For them, vandalising a store owned by a crony of the government, or hitting a pro-government supporter who attempts to attack others, is a way to find some justice.
The violence should not be condoned—it should be stopped, starting with state violence. Hong Kong is in a state of emergency, and the law that was once respected by its citizens is melting away.
I am not asking you to tolerate violence, I am asking you to understand it. Martin Luther King once said, “Riot is the language of the unheard.” Without understanding where it comes from, you are not hearing what the people are saying. Justice is what we are entitled to, and it should be returned right now.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Zanzibar zooms in on the future of visual arts in Africa · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Hamad Mbarouk Hamad, artist and director of the Cultural Arts Center, leads a tour for students at the “Hapa Hapa Now” visual arts exhibition in Stone Town, Zanzibar, October 25, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
The historic city of Stone Town met with the future of visual arts in Africa during the inaugural, seven-day Visual Arts Festival Zanzibar (VAFZ), which took visitors by surprise with its epic range of work showcased by artists from Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, Haiti, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, among other countries.
Under the banner “Hapa Hapa Now,” or “Here We Are Now,” VAFZ organizers wanted to “widen creative discourses” in Zanzibar, by connecting local and international, emerging and established artists together during the festival that ran from October 21-27, 2019.
While Zanzibar has a robust art market, artists often tend toward safe, predictable forms established by Tanzanian masters like legendary Edward Said Tingatinga, for instance. But the works on display at the VAFZ varied in form, style, medium and subject matter — a major departure for Zanzibar.
VAFZ put out a call for submissions to artists in Africa in August and worked around the clock to select a range of artists, with leadership from Vijana Vipaji Foundation, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Cultural Arts Center (CAC), based in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
“Everything we are has been formed by our heritage, histories and herstories, but we are here building and creating today. The ‘we’ in our festival focuses on collaboration and participation with others within Zanzibar and wider Africa as we invite … a conversation about visual arts,” said VAFZ organizers, according to their press release.
The inner courtyard of Hifadhi House/Kukutana Hub, Kiponda, Stone Town, Zanzibar, October 25, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Despite the unusual rain for the season, residents and travelers alike made their way to Kukutana Hub of Hifadhi Zanzibar, — a historic heritage building restored for multi-purpose cultural and social events — to experience the mixed media showcase, talks, panels and meet-ups.
The heritage building itself was an exquisite visual treat. But the visual arts on display — from contemporary painting, drawing and photography to mixed media, craft, time-based art and fashion, offered a surprise at every turn.
Emerging artist Nayja Suleiman, from Zanzibar, offers a brilliant, vibrant take on women in portraiture:
Artwork by Najya Suleiman, an artist from Zanzibar, on display during the inaugural Visual Arts Festival Zanzibar, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Award-winning, veteran artist Lute Mwakisopile, from Tanzania, tackles the arduous labor and role of artists in contemporary society:
Artwork by Lute Mwakisopile, an artist from mainland Tanzania. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
And emerging photographer Ouattara Moussa Idriss Mahaman, from Senegal, presents a moving series called “Black Culture”:
Photography by Ouattara Moussa Idriss Mahaman, from Senegal, in the series “Black Culture.” Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
During the weeklong festival, scores of Zanzibari students wandered through the exhibition space with awe and wonder. For nearly all of the students who visited from nearby elementary and secondary schools, this was their first time viewing contemporary art in a gallery space, said Hamad Mbarouk Hamad, the director of the Cultural Arts Center, who is also a professional, working artist.
“There is no syllabus for visual arts of any kind in our schools,” said Hamad. “A school may have an art club, but that's about it. Everything else that a young person learns about the visual arts depends on their own path — and it's often a struggle, as mine was,” he continued.
Hamad Mbarouk Hamad, artist and director of the Cultural Arts Center in Stone Town, Zanzibar, leads a tour of the “Hapa Hapa Now” visual arts show for students from Kiponda Secondary School, October 25, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Hamad and his team offered tours and hands-on art workshops to student groups during the festival, hoping to inspire the next generation of artists and build a stronger community of visual artists in Zanzibar.
“Art is life, it's everything we do. Your life is a work of art, even! Life itself is art. And it's a form of self-analysis. Art requires huge concentration,” said Hamad. The challenge is educating the wider public about the intrinsic value of art as a form of individual expression and not just its commercial potential.
Hamad Mbarouk Hamad explains a wood sculpture by prominent Tanzanian artist Mwandale Mwanyekwa, known as “Big Mama,” to a group of Kiponda Secondary School students at Kukutana / Hifadhi House, Stone Town, Zanzibar, October 25, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Hamad Mbarouk Hamad explains a painting called “Immigration,” by artist Haji Chilonga, to Kiponda Secondary School students, Kukutana / Hifadhi House, Stone Town, Zanzibar, October 25, 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Farhat Shukran Juma, 23, always knew she was drawn to the arts but didn't realize she could pursue it seriously until she stumbled upon the CAC in Stone Town, and walked inside. She started studying art techniques with Hamad and today, Juma paints her own abstract works and also produces natural soaps to sell in the shop. Juma led a recycled paper workshop during the festival to a group of 30 students.
The road to becoming an artist hasn't been easy for her.
“Most people here — they talk a lot about you, especially if they don't understand what you're doing, or if you're doing something different. They really don't understand abstract art,” she said, pointing to one of her works. “[Many] are not educated and they may see the recycled paper as ‘dirty’ and wonder why I'd choose this material. They have no idea that making art has its benefits,” Juma explained.
Farhat Shukran Juma, 23, (left) sits with her colleague preparing handmade artisan soaps at the Cultural Arts Center in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Juma is an artist who led a recycled paper workshop during the VAFZ 2019. Photo by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, used with permission.
Juma's parents were supportive of her choice to pursue the arts, but exhibiting artist Evarist Chikawe, of the Vijana Vipaji Foundation, said his father discouraged his early interest in drawing and painting.
“I believe I was born an artist,” Chikawe said. “My father was angry with me when he saw me drawing and drawing and destroyed so many of my artworks, but my sister — she saw something in me, and started giving me [art] materials and buying my paintings.”
With tears in his eyes, Chikawe recalled how his now-deceased sister took him to his first teacher's house in his late teens. “My sister is the one who made me an artist,” Chikawe said, emphasizing how advocates play a critical role in an artist's life path.
Visual artist Evarist Chikawe stands by his painting, “Happy Hour,” during the inaugural Visual Arts Festival Zanzibar, October 25, 2019.
For Hamad, who has worked tirelessly to advocate for the arts in Zanzibar, often with very little resources, seeing visitors from Zanzibar's Ministry of Education and the Baraza la Sanaa la Zanzibar (Zanzibar Arts Council) at the exhibition signaled hope for the future of visual arts on the archipelago.
But for now, beyond the festival buzz, Hamad returns to the CAC every day as his “happy place.”
“I have no time for TV or sitting on the baraza [public bench]. Seeing my students achieve in the arts gives me the greatest joy. It gives me a purpose. Young people need spaces to talk, learn, exchange ideas. Young people crave creativity.”

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


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Beijing constructs an “independence” plot for Hong Kong protests through information operations · Global Voices
Weiboscope HKU

Protester's placard says: Five demands, Not one less. Image from the Stand News.
This article is based on a Chinese transcript of a public talk delivered by Dr. Fu King-wa of the Journalism and Media Studies Center of the Hong Kong University on independent platform Matters.news.
New research by the Journalism and Media Studies Center of the Hong Kong University unveiled that disinformation spread on social media by China framed the 2019 Hong Kong protests as a separatist movement.
Since August 2019, China’s information operations on Hong Kong protests have been unveiled internationally. This was brought to the light after a number of social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, discovered the existence of coordinated network activities by China that were spreading disinformation about Hong Kong protests. Twitter said that the aim of these operations was to undermine the protest movement’s “legitimacy and political positions.”
As Twitter and Facebook’s reports had not addressed the nature of disinformation in the operation, a research team headed by Professor Fu King-wa of the Journalism and Media Studies Center of the Hong Kong University conducted follow-up research and ran data analysis on content from 640,000 Twitter user accounts which actively posted Hong Kong-related news since June 2019. The research is still ongoing.
The initial analysis shows that about 20 percent of the 640,000 Twitter users were bots, this percentage is much higher than previous research about information operations in other countries. For example, the percentage of bots in Russia’s information operations [pdf] regarding Ukraine was just about 8 percent according to a research on Russian social media influence published by RAND corporation in 2018.
Inside China's Great Firewall, disinformation spread on social media was mainly aimed at constructing a separatist or “pro-Hong Kong independence” frame for Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement. Everything related to Hong Kong protests on China’s Weibo was labeled as acts of “pro-Hong Kong independence” by social media news outlets. For example, a Hong Kong actor and an ex-cop, Wong Hei（王喜）, who is in sympathy with the protesters, has been labelled a “pro-Hong Kong independence” actor by Chinese social media entertainment news outlets and celebrity fan communities. Hong Kong students’ class boycotts were labelled “pro-Hong Kong independence” acts on both official and commercial social media public accounts.
Even the pro-Hong Kong protests comments that are made outside the Great Firewall on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, once they are spotted by mainland Chinese netizens and reported on Chinese social media platforms, the individual users could face tremendous pressure, in particular if they have social and business connections with China. The most well known example was the NBA saga regarding Daryl Morey's tweet about Hong Kong.
Hong Kong tycoon, Li Kar Shing is the most unexpected victim of the such political labelling. On Chinese social media, including Weibo and WeChat, he was accused of sponsoring the pro-Hong Kong independent protests by a number of pro-Beijing online opinion leaders and HK-related Chinese social media news outlets. What he had advocated for in his political advertisement was the peaceful resolution of the current conflicts. However, views that criticize both parties— the protesters and the government —i were considered politically incorrect in the eyes of the Chinese government.
Moreover, pro-Beijing violent acts had been praised on mainland Chinese social media as heroic acts. For example, the Lennon Walls, a public art space which has been set up spontaneously by local residents in many districts for free expression, are labelled “pro-Hong Kong independence” sites and those who have taken action to destroy the walls are depicted as the righteous ones. Since August, many protesters have been attacked by pro-Beijing thugs near the Lennon Walls. On August 20, a female journalist was stabbed on stomach at Lennon Wall in Tseung Kwan O tunnel. The journalist was in critical condition. Two weeks ago, on October 29, a teenage boy was stabbed by a mainland Chinese tourist on his neck and stomach at Tai Po Lennon Wall. The attacker reportedly took down pro-democracy posters on the wall and shouted Hong Kong is “part of China” before he attacked his victim who was handing out flyers.
However, “Hong Kong independence” is not even an agenda of the Hong Kong protesters, who have been taking to the streets since March 2019. The five demands of the protests are complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, which would authorize Hong Kong to extradite crime suspects to mainland China for trial, independent investigation into police operations, the dropping of all riot charges against the protesters, amnesty for arrested protesters, and universal suffrage to the Legislature and the Chief Executive. None of these demands include calls for Hong Kong independence.
When exactly did the “pro-Hong Kong independence” framework emerge? The research team analyzed data from their existing Weiboscope social media data collection project and found out that the term “pro-Hong Kong independence” was barely used before July 21 because it was a politically sensitive term. Under the mainland Chinese censorship system, politically sensitive terms are either blocked or heavily censored and only Chinese government and party affiliated news outlets and celebrities could use these terms.
However, on July 22, the term, “pro-Hong Kong independence” was uncensored and resulted in a surge in the use of the term on Weibo. Below is a chart showing the timeline of the frequencies of three key terms related to Hong Kong protests: Hong Kong independence (港獨); Demands (訴求); Fugitive (逃犯).
Between 1 of May and 30 of September, the research team collected 210,000 Weibo posts which included the term “Hong Kong independence”. The data shows that the term spiked on July 22 from an average of daily 100 posts before July 22 to more than 2000 on that day.
On July 21, the Civil Human Rights Front organized a rally starting from Causeway Bay to Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. After the peaceful protest, a large number of protesters continued to march forward to the Beijing Liaison Office in the Western District. One of the protesters managed to throw ink and taint the China national emblem outside the Liaison Office Building. On the same night, a large group of pro-Beijing thugs rushed in the Yuen Long subway station, attacking protesters who returned from the peaceful protests to New Territories. Many were seriously injured.
On the next day, Beijing’s state and Communist party (CCP) affiliated media outlets ran commentaries on the protest outside the Beijing Liaison Office and in particular framed the tainting of the national emblem as an act of “pro-Hong Kong independence”. The once politically sensitive term was now widely used on Chinese social media.
The second spike was recorded on August 9 when more than 6000 posts mentioned the key term “Hong Kong independence”. The background of the spike was related to the first press conference of the by China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on July 29 which expressed its strong support to the Hong Kong government and police action.
On August 5, protesters led widespread strikes and the aviation workers’ strike had led to the cancellation of more than 200 flights at the Hong Kong International Airport. On August 9, China's aviation regulator stepped in and demanded Hong Kong's flag carrier Cathay Pacific to dismiss employees who took part in the protests.
The greatest spike took place on August 13 after CCP affiliated media outlet Global Times’ reporter, Fu Guohao’s encounter with Hong Kong protesters at the city's international airport. A number of protesters took hold of Fu Guohao at the airport after he had been spotted taking close shot photos of the protesting crowds. They found on Fu’s backpack a blue T-shirt with “support Hong Kong police” logo—  pro-Beijing mobs who attacked Hong Kong protesters on August 11 in various districts wore the sameT-shirts. The protesters questioned Fu’s identity and in the process, Fu yelled out: “I support Hong Kong police, you can now beat me up!” Some protesters did respond with their fists, while others tried to protect him.
Fu’s encounter with the protesters, which was later described as an “outstanding performance”, came after Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office’s press conference on August 12, during which a Beijing representative claimed Hong Kong protests have shown signs of terrorism. The press conference took place after the city-wide protests on August 11 when anti-government protesters were brutally repressed by the Hong Kong police on the one hand and attacked by pro-Beijing mobs wearing Fu's style of blue T-shirts on the other hand.
Fu Guohao’s incident had gone viral overnight on Chinese social media. In the majority of the comments, Fu was viewed as a hero defending national dignity while Hong Kong protesters were standing in opposition to the Chinese nation.
However, as the 70th anniversary of the People Republic of China was approaching on October 1, the “Hong Kong independence” frame faded out on Chinese social media.
Who was involved in establishing such “pro-Hong Kong independence” framing? According to the data set, approximately 13 percent of the posts which contained the keyword “Hong Kong independence” were directly re-posted from People’s Daily and Global Times. If including the copy and paste re-posts, the percentage would be even higher.
The research team will continue to dig further into the data for a more elaborate analysis of China’s information operations in relation to the Hong Kong protests. However, initial findings strongly suggest that the Chinese Communist party and state media apparatus have played a key role in spreading information framing the protests as a “pro-Hong Kong independence” movement. Such attempts are intended to mislead China’s public opinion that the discontent is part of a separatist political plot to undermine the “integrity of Chinese territory” – a phrase repeatedly used among mainland Chinese online patriots.

author: Weiboscope HKU


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Celebrating “Mundane Halloween” in Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Man awakened at 3AM by a nosebleed” costume, part of Japan's annual Mundane Halloween event. Screencap from YouTube.
Since 2017, an event called “Mundane Halloween” ( 地味ハロウィン, “sober”, “plain”, “boring” or “mundane” Halloween) has become an October tradition in Japan. Participants dress up in plain outfits that are intended to be the drolly humorous antithesis of the often elaborate or cliched costumes everyone else wears on Halloween.
This year, Mundane Halloween took place on Sunday, October 27 in Tokyo. The gathering was hosted by Rakuten, the popular online shopping portal, and live-streamed on YouTube. Images of the costumes were almost immediately shared by thousands of people on Twitter, using the hashtag (#地味ハロウィン, Jimi Halloween), and the Japanese website Daily Portal published many of the best ones. Many of the costumes parodied current trends, such as tapioca tea, which underwent a boom all over Japan earlier this summer.
地味ハロウィン始まりましたー。今年はタピオカを飲むのがめっちゃ下手なインスタグラマーだよ。 #地味ハロウィン #dpz pic.twitter.com/5gpppImcGS
— べつやく　れい (@betsuyaku) October 27, 2019
Mundane Halloween has begun! This year I'm going as an Instagrammer who doesn't know how to drink tapioca tea.
Many of the costumes incorporated drily witty conceptual humour.
インク漏れ #地味ハロウィン #DPZ pic.twitter.com/lkjozxre2L
— デイリーポータルZ (@dailyportalz) October 27, 2019
“Leaking pen in pocket” costume.
顔変換アプリが別のところに反応しちゃった人 #地味ハロウィン #DPZ pic.twitter.com/JTG2DYmA8x
— デイリーポータルZ (@dailyportalz) October 27, 2019
“Face-swap app chooses wrong face to swap” costume.
Halloween night in Tokyo has become contentious in recent years, as massive drunken crowds have sown mayhem in Shibuya, a popular gathering space. One costume referenced the troubles caused by some Halloween revellers in 2018.
someone dressed as the truck that was overturned last year#shibuyahalloween #渋谷ハロウィン #地味ハロウィン #halloween2019 pic.twitter.com/6nOFKUCRJT
— ?サクサナちゃん? (@39sakusana) October 31, 2019
Mundane or sober Halloween also seems to be spreading outside of Japan. Twitter user @cheryll has posted a number of great photos, including this one:
We did a small version of Japan's Sober/Simple Halloween yesterday, here's “Guy Who Refuses to Take More than One Trip from the Car” #地味ハロウィン pic.twitter.com/AC7buqSSQH
— Scare All Hell Rosario (@cheryll) October 31, 2019
More Japanese mundane Halloween costumes from 2019 and past years can be seen on the Twitter account of Mulboyne, a prolific blogger in Japan, and on Kotaku.

author: Nevin Thompson


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End Impunity, Free Expression! · Global Voices
IFEX

The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is observed on November 2. Image by IFEX.
This op-ed was written by Annie Game, Executive Director of IFEX, the global network promoting and defending freedom of expression and information. It is republished through a partnership arrangement between Global Voices and IFEX. The article originally appeared here.
Imagine a world without impunity, where everyone is free to exercise their right to freedom of expression and information and able to access, generate and share ideas and information in any way they choose, without fear. We do.
Two weeks ago, the UN General Assembly voted to declare 28 September the International Day for Universal Access to Information. This was a significant victory, following a decade of sustained advocacy by numerous civil society groups, including many African members of the IFEX network.
Some people — though probably no one involved in the struggle to promote and defend freedom of expression — might have greeted this news of a new UN Day with a shrug. But they should think again, for our right to information is inseparable from our right to expression, and both are increasingly under attack.
Threats to information are coming in many forms, from attacks on journalists, to deliberate disinformation, to the obstruction of newspapers, and their impact is far-reaching: preventing people from receiving the information they need to engage with the issues they care about, exacerbating political polarisation, and undermining democracy.
Let’s take a recent high-profile example of the power of expression, and its reliance on access to information.
Last month, an estimated 6 million people took to the streets in response to the climate change crisis. The creativity of their protests inspired many as they marched; expression in action, emboldened by facts. Swedish climate activist Greta Thurnberg implored us to “listen to the scientists.” But what if the voices we need to listen to are silenced, directly or indirectly?
Voices can be silenced through censorship, or drowned out in a sea of disinformation. But in a growing number of instances, the silencing tactic used is murder. Murder without consequences. Murder with impunity.
A comprehensive study released in August 2019 revealed that killings of environmental activists have doubled over the past 15 years. In 90% of those cases, no one has been convicted — a shocking level of impunity.
As we mark another International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, this deadly form of censorship is never far from our thoughts.
UNESCO’s list of journalists who have been killed around the world — over a thousand since 2006 — is a sobering reminder. The proportion of women among fatalities has also risen, with women journalists facing increased gender-specific attacks.
Of the 207 journalists killed between January 2017 and June 2019, more than half were reporting on organized crime, local politics and corruption.
Their right to expression was ended, forever, to stop them from sharing information.
Every time such a crime goes unpunished, it emboldens others. Those who would share information in the public interest rightfully ask themselves: is this worth my life? Is it worth putting my family at risk? And if they decide that it is not, who can blame them? The ripple effects of impunity are endless.
That is why, for over eight years, the IFEX network has campaigned to end impunity for crimes against journalists and all those exercising their right to freedom of expression.
It's not work that lends itself to quick successes. As the expression goes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The work does not end with finding the perpetrators; states must be held accountable for allowing or encouraging a climate of impunity in which such crimes flourish.
We embrace every win, large and small. The good news is that at IFEX we are seeing creative, collaborative, and powerful new strategies, and tangible progress.
In the past 12 months, we’ve seen the truth finally coming to light in The Gambia about the 2004 killing of journalist Deyda Hydara; a landmark ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that found the government of Colombia culpable in the 1998 murder of Nelson Carvajal Carvajal; and the historic decision by the Inter-American Commission to take to the Court the case of the brutal attack in May 2000 that nearly took the life of investigative journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima.
Just two weeks ago, we welcomed the decision by Kyrgyzstan to re-open the 12-year-old case of the murder of journalist Alisher Saipov, following sustained pressure by IFEX and its local members the Media Policy Institute and Public Association Journalists.
Imagine, these cases represent a combined 66 years of impunity.
So let those responsible for — or contemplating — violence against journalists, hear this loud and clear: long after the world’s attention may have moved on, you may think you have gotten away with murder. No. Those of us committed to fighting impunity are persistent. We do not give up. So you can never rest easy.
For us, the culture of impunity surrounding attacks on journalists represents one of the single greatest threats to freedom of expression worldwide. The progress we have made toward ending impunity would never have been possible without the resilience, persistence, and tenacity of those who fight it.
We must use our freedom of expression, to defend it. We must use it to call out crimes against journalists, and end impunity.

author: IFEX


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For the first time ever, a doctoral dissertation was defended in the Quechua language in Peru · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Screen shot from Roxana Quispe Collantes’ dissertation defense.
On Monday, October 15, 2019, Roxana Quispe Collante obtained her doctoral degree in Peruvian and Latin American Literature from the National University of San Marcos of Lima (UNMSM). Her doctoral dissertation received a grade of 20, the highest grade allowed in the Peruvian educational system. But what made this dissertation defense newsworthy was that it was defended entirely in the Quechua language.
Quechua is a family of languages from the Central Andes that extends all over the Western part of South America spanning seven countries. According to 2018 data from the Peruvian National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, 13.9 percent of the Peruvian population, around four million people, are Quechua speakers.
This was, however, the first time a doctoral dissertation was defended in that language. Watch the full dissertation defense in the following video:
On the university's website the event was called historical, and provided some additional information about Quispe's dissertation:
Hito histórico para lengua quechua. Por primera vez en el Perú, se sustentó una tesis en dicha lengua para obtener el grado de Doctor en Literatura Peruana y Latinoamericana por la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), que Roxana Quispe Collante aprobó con nota de 20 (excelente), en un hecho de gran trascendencia para la reivindicación de las lenguas originarias del país.
Su investigación, titulada “Yawar Para, Kilku Warak’aq, Andrés Alencastre Gutiérrezpa harawin pachapi, Qosqomanta runasimipi harawi t’ikrachisqa, ch’ullanchasqa kayninpi” (“Lluvia de sangre, transfiguración y singularidad en el mundo poético quechua del harawi cusqueño de Andrés Alencastre Gutiérrez, Kilku Warak’aq”), no solo buscó reconocer el valor literario del mencionado poeta andino y reinterpretar su poemario Yawar Para, sino devolver el vigor al quechua para fortalecerlo fuera de todo prejuicio lingüístico y cultural.
A historical milestone for the Quechua language. For the first time ever in Peru, a dissertation in that language was defended to obtain a doctoral degree in Peruvian and Latin American Literature from the National University of San Marcos (UNMSM), and Roxana Quispe Collante received a grade of 20 (excellent), in an highly transcendent event for the revindication of native languages of the country.
Her reserarch, titled “Yawar Para, Kilku Warak’aq, Andrés Alencastre Gutiérrezpa harawin pachapi, Qosqomanta runasimipi harawi t’ikrachisqa, ch’ullanchasqa kayninpi” (“Rain of blood, transfiguration and uniqueness in the Quechua poetic world of Cusquean harawi by Andrés Alencastre Gutiérrez, Kilku Warak’aq”), had the aim of acknowledging the literary value of the aforementioned Andean poet and reinterpretating his collection of poems called Yawar Para, but also to envigorate Quechua to strengthen it, free of all linguístic and cultural prejudice.
The recently graduated Doctor Quispe Collantes hails from the city of Cusco and is a university lecturer and Master in Linguistics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. The blog K@wsay shares some information about her academic and professional career:
[Roxana Quispe] Habla y redacta en quechua e inglés. Además, vive interesada en estudios e investigaciones de literatura, lingüística, educación intercultural bilingüe, antropología, arte y en manifestaciones de la diversidad y el legado de la cultura quechua.
Durante su exposición, Quispe Collantes admitió que tuvo […] que “viajar a las provincias altas de Canas (al sur del Cusco) para lograr la traducción y el significado para toponimias que no encontraba por ningún lado. Les preguntaba a mis papás, a mis abuelos y docentes y no daban (con el significado)”.
[Roxana Quispe] speaks and writes in Quechua and English. In addition, she's interested in literature, linguistics, intercultural bilingual education, anthropology, art studies and research, and in expressions of the diversity and the legacy of Quechua culture.
During her presentation, Quispe Collantes admitted she had […] to “travel to the highland provinces of Canas (Southern Cusco) to obtain a translation and the meaning of toponymy she could not find anywhere. I asked my parents, my grandparents and teachers and they weren't able (to find the meaning)”.
The panel of judges was made up of Doctor Isabel Gálvez, lecturer of Quechua at the National University of San Marcos; Gonzalo Espino, Deputy Dean of Research and Liberal Studies, who was her dissertation advisor; and professors Mauro Mamani, Rómulo Monte Alto, and Dorian Espezúa.
At the end of her dissertation defense, Roxana Quispe expressed her satisfaction, which was shared by many mainstream and online media in Peru:
Me siento muy emocionada por representar a las mujeres quechuahablantes orgullosas de su cultura. Busca que el Runa Simi no solo se hable en sus comunidades, sino que acceda a la academia.
I feel really excited to represent Quechua-speaking women who are proud of their culture. My aim is that Runa Simi [“the people's language”, and the autonym of the Quechua language] is spoken not only in their communities, but also for it to have a place in academia.
The news was also highlighted in international media, such as Spain's El País and the United Kingdom's The Guardian. On the other hand, Twitter users also shared their feelings about this news:
?En los últimos 468 años nadie había escrito una tesis doctoral en alguna de nuestras lenguas indígenas en nuestro país.
?Roxana Quispe lo hizo este año. Y quiere seguir impulsando el #quechua en los ámbitos académicos ➡ https://t.co/ynROL4rjM5#CompartiendoCalidad
— Sineace (@SineacePeru) October 26, 2019
In the past 468 years, no one had ever written a doctoral dissertation in any of our country's indigenous languages.
Roxana Quispe did it this year. And she wants to keep promoting Quechua in academia. #SharingQuality.
this is of huge importance. Many thanks to Roxana Quispe Collantes for being the first to write and defend her doctoral dissertation in quechua
Student in Peru makes history by writing dissertation in the Incas’ language https://t.co/PBYqiPE02V
— monique d'hooghe ♿ (@moniquedhooghe) October 27, 2019

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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‘Everybody is looking for authenticity’: A conversation with South African artist Siwa Mgoboza · Global Voices
Omid Memarian

Siwa Mgoboza, Les Etres D’Africadia IV, Inkjet Photographic Epson on Natural Paper, 59.4cm X 42cm
Siwa Mgoboza, 26, a South African native and a multidisciplinary visual artist, is one of the most dynamic  emerging artists on the African art scene.
Siwa grew up in Peru and Poland, returning to South Africa at the age of 18 to pursue a Fine Arts degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, where he majored in painting. He graduated in 2015 and has been working as an artist ever since.
Siwa’s works have been presented regularly in art fairs and galleries, including the 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fair in Morocco, Paris’ Loft Gallery, and galleries in London and New York.
In an interview with Global Voices, he discussed the use of Shweshwe (a printed, dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional South African clothing) in his recent body of work, his relationship with art school, and working as an artist in South Africa.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
Les Etres D'Africadia IV Pajarina Fantina. Photographic Print. 59.4 x 42 & 180 x 144 cm. Ed of 10 + 3AP (1)
Omid Memarian:  What’s your thought process in working with Shweshwe?
Siwa Mgoboza: The reason I started working with textiles was that I wanted to do something that felt authentic, realistic, and personal to me. I started looking towards myself, my culture, and this is something I wasn’t really exposed to growing up overseas. I came back to South Africa when I was 18. I had no idea what it truly meant to be black or an African, and to add to the complexity, being gay in Africa. The work started to feel imaginary, a space where I could exist peacefully.
South Africa is advertised as a country that is united in its diversity, but actually we’re not. There was  much fighting, divisions. So it became a way to start talking about the things that I was experiencing on a daily basis without making it seem sad. What I particularly enjoy about the work is the way people relate to it with fondness and celebration.
OM:  Your artworks are very imaginative, interpretive, colorful and very different than what you were trained to do at art school. What inspired to choose your current artistic path? And how did your education contribute to it?
SM: I’m inspired by other artists. I had lectures pushing me in different directions. I had peers who were helping me. So, for me, it became a way to start negotiating exactly what it meant to be me.
The school was disappointing. I was thinking, because I was studying in a school in Africa, that I’d be taught African art history and about artists on the continent, but it was not that at all.  It was instead the same stuff that I was taught overseas: learning about the Western artists. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the movement called FeesMustFall. That’s the movement that began in South Africa which essentially was about the curriculum and how we were taught. So that, for me, began a need to study and start investigating outside of the school and starting to read on my own, independently, to essentially decolonize myself as well in terms of what we were being taught. Because I wasn’t being taught a particularly African curriculum. In my final year, when I get to work on a specific body of work, I dedicated my entire time to making sure that I questioned everything that I was being taught.
THE DEPARTMENT OF AFROCORRECTIONAL SERVICES IV 2016 Archival ink-jet print on Hahnemuhle Photorag 90 x 70 cm Edition of 6
OM:  How have your challenges with your art school’s curriculum and the lack of representation been reflected in your work?
SM: First of all, I work with African references, but I use Western references as well because people know those works and they’re instantly recognizable and iconic and actually it allows me to add another layer of significance to these particular works, and make the work universal. That’s why the work feels so tense. It’s almost like collaging. So I’m trying to take all these different things that I have with me, put them together, and share a story.
OM:  What role does optimism play in your work?
SM:  Well, you need the optimism because otherwise I’d be depressed the whole time. I’d never be able to get on trains and be able to come and engage with people like you. To choose to look at the positive is, in itself, a form of resistance. My generation in South Africa now has decided to take it upon themselves to change things in our lifetime. We want to see spaces that are inclusive and that are actually united in the diversity that South Africa is speaking about.
OM:  There has been serious paid attention to African art in the past few years. How do you view that?
SM:  It’s great, because the craft is there, the skill is there, the quality of the work is there. It was just that our work was considered less, and galleries weren’t looking to Africa as the next exciting space for art. In t recent years we have been trying to establish an identity, not just in Africa as Africans, but everyone around the world is suddenly now looking for that authenticity.
The Ticking Bomb. (From The Ancestor Series). 2016. Shweshwe (Three Cats Cotton), tulle, magazine clippings on paper. Aprox 40 x 40cm
OM: Do you think this burgeoning of African art has always been there and has just been discovered, or is there is a renaissance, an explosion of African expression that we are seeing now that we haven’t seen before?
SM:  I think it’s, it’s a little bit of both. They feed into each other. Artists like El Anatsui, who have been working for decades. And to give you an example of a South African artist, like William Kentridge, who I believe has been working around the same time, but their success levels are very different. Kentridge is revered and it probably has something to do with the fact that he’s a white male, and that itself has its own privilege that opened spaces for him that wouldn’t for a black artist. And they’re the younger artists who have been producing art in the last 20 years, especially around when apartheid started ending in South Africa and freedom of expression became more widely accepted. Then people started to be like, “I am going to express what is actually happening in South Africa and I don’t care what happens, because we have the constitution now which protects me, which says I have the right to freedom of speech and I can express myself in the form of artwork that isn’t harming the society or the people around me.”
OM: It seems that we're seeing similar forms appearing in the African art we see in recent art fairs  in Europe and the U.S., such as photographing a person with an exotic background. Is that inspiration or copying?
SM:  Well, inspired, yes, and influenced, because I think no one makes work in a vacuum. That’s why you can always relate it to something.  That’s the beautiful thing about art history; you can chronologically go back and look at a history just in terms of like where visuals and everything {are} depicted. It’s influence. It’s sharing ideas. It’s because of all of the differences and the commonalities that we are all going through in this world. Sometimes, there is a confusion and people say, oh, everything in Africa is the same, because there seems to be a single narrative that the whole world has.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian writer, speaks about the danger of “a single story”. So, if you see one thing and were taught one thing your whole life, it becomes your reality. You start to believe. You can’t imagine anything else, and that’s the problem that the world has with Africa. Because they only see one.

author: Omid Memarian


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Will collective farming by artists save one of Manila’s remaining urban fields? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Artists and volunteers participating in a land cultivation activity. Source: Facebook, used with permission
In the Philippines, a group of artists and volunteers have turned themselves into farmers to cultivate a piece of land situated in the heart of the larger metropolitan area of Manila as part of a campaign to prevent evictions of land tillers. The group, which belongs to the Alliance for Genuine Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, an organization known locally as SAKA, advocates for peasant rights in the Philippines.
In an interview with this author, SAKA leader Angelo Suarez explained what motivated the group to organize what is called a a bungkalan, a collective land cultivation in Quezon City, one of the sixteen cities making up Metro Manila whose total population reached nearly 13 million in the last 2015 census.
As peasant advocates who advance agroecology, we wanted to participate in agricultural production.
In the spirit of bungkalan, we thought this was a great chance to start participating in production and learning the rudiments of both organic agroecology and organizing a community for the assertion of people’s rights.
Suarez related the complicated history of this specific piece of land: initially used as farming land, it was grabbed from peasant communities in the 1930s to become a territory of the newly established Quezon City. Its status changed again in the 1950s when it was donated by the government to the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP), the country's premier state university.
The land then remained underdeveloped over the next five decades despite the rapid urbanization of Quezon City. In the mid-2000s, the local peasant community successfully petitioned the government to put the land under the coverage of the agrarian reform program but UP contested this notice of coverage by ‘colluding’ with the Quezon City local government in rejecting the terrain’s agricultural classification. Indeed UP plans to build a parking lot in the community.
Yet Suarez is adamant the land should be considered as an agricultural area, as he explained:
It is a bit strange that a farmland can exist in what appears to be a highly industrialized city. But given the reality of uneven development, there does exist a large farmland in Quezon City that resembles nothing of its urban surroundings. Sure, it’s not agricultural on paper—but all it takes is a quick visit to the actual site to determine there’s nothing industrialized about this part of Quezon City at all. In fact, it is so bereft of industrialization that much of the work carried out on the farm is done by hand. The farmers cannot even afford the fuel needed by their rusty old hand tractor to make it work. Even threshing unhusked rice is done manually. What SAKA does is help maintain—and eventually prove—the agricultural status of this farmland by keeping it productive.
Suarez said SAKA started working in the area in early 2019.
We sought permission from the local peasant community to let us till the few square meters they had left unkempt for its difficulty to till. We worked the land for months, till it’s finally able to yield eggplant, okra, pechay [a form of cabbage] , string beans, and other vegetables. We are yet to devise a more efficient system for portioning out the produce among those who’ve worked on it, but for a good span of time all produce was for anybody’s taking: primarily the resident farming community, then the SAKA volunteers who’ve worked on it.
But the group now faces a series of challenges:
The first challenge is the fact that, being artists, literally none of us is a farming expert. Once in a while we get volunteers who have experience in urban gardening and amateur organic farming—but this land is the real deal, we’re practically starting from scratch on actual agricultural land.
Another setback is our lack of experience in organizing. Many of us in SAKA are new activists, and while we are guided by seasoned peasant organizers, many of them spend more time in the countryside where most of our peasant communities are.
Suarez reported how a series of rains flooded SAKA’s little portion of the farm, thus they started digging a makeshift canal system to get rid of excess rainwater. This project has become their number one priority and will remain so in the next few months:
We’ve been digging canals to jumpstart another massive till; the makeshift trenches we’re making should prevent another flooding from killing our crops. Ka Toto, one of the resident farmers and an active member of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) partylist group, reminds us that the last quarter of the year is a great time to plant, a season conducive to growth. So we have to work double-time in gathering volunteers to join us. To do this, we have been actively campaigning in different forums, talking about bungkalan as a nation-wide mass movement that plays a significant role in the peasant struggle, as well as about bungkalan itself as an urgent intervention in UP’s forthcoming eviction of resident peasants.
It is unclear if the law signed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on August 2019 allowing UP to sell portions of the farming land to the Quezon City government would resolve the dispute. But initiatives like the bungkalan organized by SAKA are helpful in raising awareness about the need to preserve this farmland in the center of Quezon City, and to resist the eviction threat against residents in the community.
Below are more photos from SAKA’s bungkalan activities:
Farming in the city with a high-rise in the background. Source: Facebook, used with permission
Planting activity organized by SAKA. Source: Facebook, used with permission
Volunteers of SAKA. Source: Facebook, used with permission

author: Mong Palatino


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A divided Bolivia in crisis: Sources that can help you understand the conflict · Global Voices
Fabiola Gutiérrez

Foto por Eduardo Montaño Photography y utilizada con permiso.
Following the presidential elections on October 20, 2019, intense protests in Bolivia — some involving civic strikes and blockades of roads in major cities — have generated much uncertainty. The protests have also resulted in violent clashes between supporters of incumbent President Evo Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party and citizens mobilized by the annulment of the presidential elections and suspected fraud to defend their voting rights.
On the night of October 20, with the preliminary vote count showing Morales with a narrow lead over Civic Community's (CC) Carlos Mesa, the transmission of vote count announcements was abruptly suspended for more than 20 hours. When the announcements resumed the next day, in what the Organization of American States (OAS) called an “inexplicable” shift, the results showed Morales clearly in the lead.
On October 24, Morales declared victory, after a vote count that showed him to have received 46.83 per cent of the vote to Mesa's 36.7 per cent—slightly greater than a 10-point lead—thus avoiding a runoff election. Mesa rejected the result, and five senior members of the Plurinational Electoral Body (EPO) resigned in protest, following about 30 others who had resigned before the elections. After analyzing publicly available electoral data from the EPO, a group of computer professionals led by systems engineer Edgar Villegas presented evidence in the press alleging electoral fraud.
The electoral audit initiated by the OAS on October 31 was accepted by Morales’ administration, but not by Mesa, who demanded that the election be annulled. He took the opportunity to remind the public that, according to the Political Constitution of the State, and in light of Bolivian citizenry's refusal, in a February 2016 referendum, to agree to modify the constitution, it was, in fact, illegal for Morales to seek a third term in office.
This situation left Bolivian society politically polarized. Protesters in the streets, members of neighborhoods and communities, as well as the leadership of the police and armed forces found themselves divided between allegiance to the government and opposition to the alleged electoral fraud.
Por Pablo, uno de los heridos en #Cochabamba. Salió en moto a trabajar como repartidor y terminó golpeado por una horda violenta de ya saben quiénes. pic.twitter.com/jyDXnJnHvG
— Marcelo Durán (@bithumano) October 31, 2019
For Pablo, one of the people injured in #Cochabamba. He left home on his motorcycle to go to job as a deliveryman and was beaten up by a violent horde of you know who.
With no possibility of reconciliation or dialogue in sight, the leaders of both sides have staunchly maintained their positions and have made use of state support to bolster them. Morales has sought the backing of his peasant base, who are escorted by police to blockade points and protected by them in clashes, and are allowed to use explosives prohibited by law in demonstrations. The opposition, on the other hand, has said that it will only end civic strikes and mobilizations when the elections are annulled, and it has the support of departmental and municipal authorities of the city of Santa Cruz that have arranged shared pots of food for the protestors.
To understand the complexity and keep abreast of the situation in Bolivia, here is a list of Spanish-language media outlets and social media accounts we suggest you follow:
LaPublicaBO — the independent news outlet La Pública has been organizing Google Hangouts each night featuring guests who share their perspectives on the current conflict.
MuyWaso — this feminist collective has been disseminating information and announcements.
La articulación de feminismos en Bolivia va tomando cuerpo y sumando voces. Desde Santa Cruz, te compartimos el manifiesto de la Asamblea Feminista y Diversa, resultado de una larga deliberación colectiva.
¡Esperanza feminista! ✊?? https://t.co/MYTyiBgK6y
— Muy Waso (@MuyWaso) October 29, 2019
The articulation of feminisms in Bolivia is taking shape and adding voices. From our base in Santa Cruz, we present the manifesto of the Feminist and Diverse Assembly, the result of a long collective deliberation.
Feminist hope!
Guardiana Bolivia — Cochabamba-based media outlet covering human rights.
InfoTarija — media outlet based in the city of Tarija specialising in coverage from the south of Bolivia.
Chris Eguez — feminist trans activist providing analysis of the role of women and of social diversity from a historical perspective.
No entiendo xq tantos gays se sienten convocados a las manifestaciones bajo las consignas del regional-catolicismo cruceño con los factores machistas, racistas y homofóbicos que lo sustentan. Como marica prefiero estar articulando con feministas, resistiendo en la disidencia ❤
— CHRIS EGUEZ (@Eguez_chris) October 30, 2019
I do not understand why so many gays feel drawn to the demonstrations under the rubric of the regional-Catholicism of Santa Cruz, considering the macho, racist and homophobic elements that sustain it. As a fag, I prefer to be associating with feminists, resisting dissent.
María Galindo — Bolivia-born Latin American feminist icon. Her movement has attracted feminists and others who do not see themselves represented at the extremes of confrontation in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. She has a radio program (also broadcast on Facebook) entitled “Don't Kill Us for a Chair.”
Santiago Espinoza — arts and culture journalist and editor in chief of the Sunday magazine La Ramona.
Chequea Bolivia and Bolivia Verifica are two verification platforms launched before the elections, and now working to verify messages, images, and rumors being shared on social networks and messaging apps.
#EsFalso Ley decreta servicio de Internet únicamente para instituciones estatales #ChequeaBolivia https://t.co/PaDqFTfAhG pic.twitter.com/B080KcbNH8
— ChequeaBolivia (@ChequeaBolivia) October 31, 2019
#It'sFalse Law decrees that internet service only for state institutions #ChequeaBolivia https://t.co/PaDqFTfAhG
Los Tiempos — this Cochabamba newspaper has been documenting and sharing on its social media accounts mobile phone videos of the unrest in the streets.
#ParoEnBolivia
En #Cochabamba cientos de personas se concentran en la plaza principal 14 de Septiembre, donde se realiza un cabildo, en el marco de la novena jornada de paro en #Bolivia por el polémico conteo de votos de las Elecciones Generales.
? Nelson Peredo pic.twitter.com/yxVdasEaXd
— Los Tiempos (@LosTiemposBol) October 31, 2019
#StrikeInBolivia In Cochabamba hundreds of people have converged upon September 14 Square where a council is being held in the context of the ninth day of the strike in #Bolivia against the controversial vote count in the general elections.
El Deber — the country's largest newspaper covers not only the city of Santa Cruz, but also publishes national and regional news.
María Silva Trigo – this online journalist from El Deber shares eyewitness news as she roves around Santa Cruz as the city is paralyzed by blockades.
Otro día me tocó con un productor de quesos que tenía el vehículo repleto de queso fresco y los llevaba al Abasto. Me dio una canasta para llevar en las faldas porque no tenía espacio. En un punto de bloqueo anterior le habían pedido un queso a cambio de dejarlo pasar.
— maria silvia trigo ? (@arena_ms) October 30, 2019
The other day I ran into a cheese producer whose vehicle was full of fresh cheese for delivery. He gave me a basket to put on my lap because there was no room. At one roadblock the people had asked for some cheese in exchange for letting him pass.
Tuffí Aré — the former journalistic corporate head of the newspaper El Deber is a reliable source of information shared through his social media accounts.
Mónica Salvatierra — current head of journalism at El Deber.

author: Fabiola Gutiérrez


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Amidst denial, Pakistan’s smog issues pose serious health risks to the city of Lahore · Global Voices
Quratulain Tejani

Screenshot from the IQ Air Visual website. November 5, 2019.
In the first week of November 2019, several South Asian cities struggled with air pollution and smog, according to a real-time air quality ranking report by IQ Air Visual. The smog is generally caused by smoke from brick kilns and factories, farmers burning crop stubble, vehicle exhaust, and waste burning.
On November 1, Delhi, India became the most polluted city in the world with an Air Quality Index (AQI) rate of 529. Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, didn't trail so far behind with an AQI of 300. The news updates of smog and air pollution from Lahore made the rounds on news websites and social media. #LahoreSmog became a trending topic on Pakistani Twitter for a week.
Driving into the smoke chamber that is Central Lahore.#LahoreSmog pic.twitter.com/uYHKDkzuQj
— Dawar Butt (@thelahorewala) November 1, 2019
actually feel like at this point i’ll be dead in a few years (Allah na karay) considering how terrible the air is in lahore. living in this city is literally impossible. #SaansLenayDo
— manal (@ccatastrophicc) October 29, 2019
Translation: Allah na karay = God forbid, #SaansLenayDo = Let us breathe
The smog situation has been a recurring issue in the past decade and poses severe health threats to the population. It has become such an issue that it has been named the Indian Ocean brown cloud, or Asian brown cloud, which describes the layer of air pollution that recurrently covers parts of South Asia, especially in the northern Indian Ocean, India, and Pakistan.
The Air Quality Index runs from 0 to 500, where 0 is the lowest measure of air pollution and 500 is the highest level. Any reading between 0 and 50 is an indicator of good air quality while anything above 300 is deemed hazardous.
Screenshot from the Airnow.gov website
The Pakistani government uses the Met Department and SPARCO’s meter.
Amnesty International, along with other international players, has declared a health emergency in Punjab province of Pakistan. It reported:
Prolonged or heavy exposure to hazardous air can result in severe health issues including asthma, lung damage, bronchial infections and heart problems, and shortened life expectancy – putting at risk people’s rights to life and to health, as well as the right to a healthy environment.
Abid Omar at TEDxLahore digs deep into the air pollution of Lahore, revealing that bad air quality is a problem almost all year round.
Studies show that the poor and the lower middle class bear the brunt of the smog's hazardous impacts as they have to work out in the fields and in the open. They also shoulder the most severe consequences, both economically and health-wise.
However, Malik Amin Aslam, the Pakistani Prime Minister’s advisor on the environment, rejected the AQI readings of the international monitors: “The air quality index (AQI) of Lahore was much better than that of New Delhi.”
Pakistan’s Minister of Climate Change Zartaj Gul even mentioned that the Azadi March led by Pakistan’s politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman was the top source of smog in Lahore and has negated the ratings of international organizations.
“The influx of cars and vehicles coming to the city is the major reason of smog in Lahore”, she said in an interview with media.
Social media users clapped back hard at the politicians and the State, accusing them of downplaying the impact of environmental degradation and climate emergency.
Environmental depts in Pakistan hiding air quality data to make public believe smog isn’t real
Trump had ‘climate’ scrubbed from US govt websites to pretend we are not responsible for crisis
Public is paying attention & won’t fall for #fakenews #SaansLenayDo #ClimateJustice https://t.co/CUyxMMG80v
— Tabby ❤✊?✨?♂????? (@TabbySpence8) November 2, 2019
Social media activists, civil society members, and environmentalists have started campaigning against what they see as the Punjab government’s negligence with the campaign #SaansLenayDo (#Let us breathe). Some are also calling out corporations and demanding they cease their operations.
The industrial units on Sheikhupura Gujranwala road continue to function 24/7
Godown/Industrial Unit#1
Name of owner: Malik Ahsan
Location: https://t.co/NiyNfEvutM#Gujranwala #smog #SaansLenayDo @rafay_alam @thelahorewala @ChAmirZkhan @DCGRW @EPD_Punjab pic.twitter.com/wteWQ1lODK
— Usman Asghar Wahla (@UsmanAWahla) October 30, 2019
Who has a vested interest? People/kids with asthma, bronchitis, vulnerable lungs? The elderly? People who will see healthcare costs soar? This is absolutely disgraceful behavior. No place for this in a representative democracy. #Lahore #Smog #LahoreSmog #AirQuality #SaansLenayDo https://t.co/IiRbgde086
— Waqqas Mir (@wordoflaw) November 1, 2019
These monitors set up by @PSCAsafecities in Lhr should counter false info being peddled by some ministers abt the #LahoreSmog We're breathing #ToxicAir in #Lahore #Faisalabad #Islamabad #Karachi & other cities. Demand the govt. to declare this a public emergency! #SaansLenayDo https://t.co/z2zG4tgVyh
— Marwah Maqbool Malik (@MarwahMaqbool) October 30, 2019
Concerns over the air quality in Lahore have had a snowball effect. Citizens from Karachi, Islamabad, and Peshawar have started questioning the air quality in their cities and are demanding action too.
The visibility of air pollution depends on the composition of the particulate matter in the air at any given time.
Karachi's air quality – despite the resumption of our sea breeze – is still fairly atrocious, as these readings from various times today show. pic.twitter.com/QXSz4WOlMR
— Mahaul 021 (@mahaul021) October 31, 2019
While most people are tweeting and expressing concern over the grave situation, some are trying to find ways to mitigate the risks.
Since most pharmacies in Lahore are out of masks, you can order them from @darazpk Just make sure it’s a N95 mask. #Smog pic.twitter.com/fNMc3LrhNe
— Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) November 4, 2019
How we might be able to get out of this mess from @third_pole#SaansLenayDohttps://t.co/OAgMdnn9eI
— Hassaan Khan (@Khana_Hassaana) November 4, 2019
A petition, created by environmentalists, scientists, and medical professionals, is floating around on the internet demanding the government to take corrective action.
There are well over a thousand signatures on the petition of medical professionals, scientists and researchers, started by our public health and smog subcommittee.
To sign: https://t.co/U7tQtN2ch7
Please RT#PublicHeathEmergency #SaansLenayDo
— Climate Action Now! → Pakistan (@ClimateActionPk) November 1, 2019
A group of children have filed a petition in Lahore High Court on November 5, 2019, demanding truth and pressing the government to share the severity of the situation.
Children filed a petition in the Lahore High Court asking the govt to tell the truth about the severity of air pollution in Lahore. The EPA and AG have been summoned for next Tuesday for a response. pic.twitter.com/h5UKxxe8t1
— Aysha Raja (@aysharalam) November 5, 2019
Many Pakistanis are wondering when the Pakistani government will realize the magnitude of the degradation of air quality in Pakistani megacities and take steps to solve it.


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Protests in Guinea spark Pan-African solidarity against president’s plan to run for third term · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Two non-Guinean activists give their support to Guineans who oppose any extension to President Alpha Condé's term during a protest in Paris on 26 October 2019 in a KumpitalTV video
The Guinean government remains vague about the timetable for legislative elections and possible changes to the constitution that could extend Alpha Condé's presidency, but protesters continue to mobilize throughout the world against it. As various Pan-African comments online indicate, the political dialogue appears to be at a complete standstill.
For several months now, Guinea has been gearing up for two decisive dates: the legislative elections and the presidential elections in October 2020. In both cases, the government maintains a position of political ambiguity that is polarizing Guinean society: Although the legislative elections were first announced at the end of 2018, then planned for 28 December 2019, they have now been postponed without a real explanation and, above all, without an announcement of a new date.
Even more worrying is the government's actions toward a possible change to the constitution that would enable Condé to run for a third presidential term. According to the current constitution, Condé, aged 81, would have to end his term in October 2020 and would not be able to run again.
This is the latest concern of the last several weeks that has driven protesters who oppose Condé onto the streets across the country. As the Guineepolitique website points out, the protesters have had enough:
Après la semaine de manifestation meurtrière qu’a connue le pays, les Guinéens ne veulent rien lâcher. Mercredi [23 octobre], alors que les femmes ont défilé en blanc pour dire stop aux violences policières, le pays est entré dans une dangereuse effervescence.
Jeudi, les opposants ont pris le relais dans les rues de la capitale Conakry et d’autres villes du pays. Vêtus de rouge (la couleur du sang des victimes), ils étaient bien des centaines de milliers de personnes selon des journalistes locaux – un million selon les organisateurs, 30 000 selon le gouvernement – à marcher sur plusieurs kilomètres aux cris de « amoulanfe » (« ça ne passera pas » dans la langue locale) ou « à bas la dictature », sans heurts malgré une forte et discrète présence policière.
Following the week of deadly protests that the country experienced, Guineans don't want to give up on anything. On Wednesday [23 October], while the women marched in white to say stop to police violence, the country entered into a dangerous turmoil.
On Thursday, the critics took over in the streets of the capital city, Conakry, as well as other towns across the country. Dressed in red (the colour of the victims’ blood), there were hundreds of thousands of people according to the local journalists — a million according to the organizers and 30,000 according to the government — marching several kilometres with cries of ‘amoulanfe’ (‘this won't be accepted’ in the local language) or ‘à bas la dictature’ (‘down with the dictatorship’), without clashes, despite a strong and discreet police presence.
The opposition to any constitutional change also occurs online, as highlighted by Afriques Connectées, the African social media monitoring website based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire:
Depuis le 14 octobre, forte vague de mobilization des Guinéens contre le projet de changement de constitution du Président Alpha Condé. Plus de 18 000 tweets reprennent le hashtag #Amoulanfé (“Ça ne passera pas” en langue Soussou) qui fédère les opposants à un 3ème mandat #Kibaro pic.twitter.com/KKm3g88ODZ
— Afriques Connectées (@AfriquesConnecT) October 25, 2019
Since 14 October, there has been a powerful wave of mobilization of Guineans against President Alpha Condé's plan to change the constitution. More than 18,000 tweets used the #Amoulanfé hashtag (“This won't be accepted” in the Soussou language), which unites those who oppose a 3rd term #Kibaro pic.twitter.com/KKm3g88ODZ
— Afriques Connectées (@AfriquesConnecT) October 25, 2019
Facing this wave of protests, Condé appears to challenge any form of criticism by stating to the French newspaper Le Monde that:
“Dans les autres pays où il y a de nouvelles Constitutions, il y a eu beaucoup de manifestations, il y a eu des morts, mais ils l’ont fait [la réforme constitutionnelle]”.
“In other countries where there are new constitutions, there were many protests, there were deaths, but they did it [the constitutional reform]”.
This statement has galvanized the opposition who view it as a challenge and above all, a risk of increased violence in an increasingly divided country.
Malian journalist, Mamadou Dian Baldé, who lives in Guinea, scrutinized these words in an interview on the alternativeguinee.com website:
Pour ses détracteurs, ces propos d’Alpha Condé confirment encore si besoin en était, que chez l’homme, seul la fin justifie les moyens. En clair, le chef de l’État serait dans une logique de « ça passe ou ça casse ».
C’est le lieu de dire que le discours du chef de l’État polarise de plus en plus l’opinion et fait craindre le pire.
For his critics, these words of Alpha Condé further confirm, were it needed, that with the man, only the end justifies the means. In other words, the head of state would be in a “make or break” mindset.
This is the place to say that the discourse of the head of state is increasingly polarizing opinion and making you fear the worst.
Some leaders of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) were arrested and sentenced even before the planned protest on 14 October — and which took place as planned.
The Bloggers Association of Guinea published a news release regarding the arbitrary arrests:
Nous condamnons fermement les arrestations arbitraires et les scènes de violence qui ont fait une dizaine de morts et plusieurs blessés principalement à Conakry et à Mamou. Nous exigeons qu’une enquête soit diligentée afin de situer les responsabilités dans ces tueries. Nous dénonçons l’instrumentalisation, l’acharnement de la justice contre les défenseurs de l’alternance démocratique et son inaction contre les véritables criminels.
We strongly condemn the arbitrary arrests and scenes of violence that caused about ten deaths and several being injured mainly in Conakry and Mamou. We demand that an inquiry be launched in order to locate those responsible for these killings. We condemn the instrumentalization and armement of the law against the defenders of democratic alternance and its inaction against the real criminals.
This wave of indignation has reached beyond Guinea's borders as a form of Pan-African solidarity and global protest.
Si Alpha Condé réussissait à briguer un troisième mandat, il fera des émules dans des pays comme la Côte d’Ivoire d’Alassane Ouattara, le Sénégal de Macky Sall et le Mali d’IBK. Qu’attendent les oppositions de ces pays cités pour soutenir celle de la Guinée afin que le vent de la contamination ne souffle en leur direction ? Pourquoi celui qui a chanté pour le prisonnier Condé devient subitement son opposant ?…
If Alpha Condé were to succeed in running for a third term, it will be emulated in countries, like Alassane Ouattara's Ivory Coast, Macky Sall's Senegal and IBK's Mali. What is the opposition from these listed countries waiting for in supporting that of Guinea to ensure that the wind of influence doesn't blow in their direction? Why is the one who sang in favor of prisoner Condé suddenly becoming his critic?…
His position brought about violent reactions to the extent that he had to refute the rumor of his death on YouTube and reiterate his support for the FNDC. He invited the young people who responded to his appeal to get more involved in politics. The artist also used Twitter to make his refutation:
Suite à la rumeur concernant mon décès sur les réseaux sociaux, je vous rassure, je vais bien et je suis en tournée!
La lutte continue!
La suite de la vidéo sur ma page Facebook #tikenjahfakoly #Africa #Guinee pic.twitter.com/ER2gpC2s2I
— Tiken Jah Fakoly (@TJFofficiel) October 26, 2019
In response to the rumor on social media concerning my death, I assure you that I'm OK and I'm on tour!
The fight continues!
The rest of the video is on my Facebook page #tikenjahfakoly #Africa #Guinee pic.twitter.com/ER2gpC2s2I
— Tiken Jah Fakoly (@TJFofficiel) October 26, 2019
Protests in support of the FNDC have also taken place in several countries including France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Canada and Senegal.
While the rest of the events remain unpredictable, Dieretou, a Guinean blogger who lives in France sums up the state of mind of a significant number of his fellow citizens:
Les Guinéens ne veulent pas renverser Alpha Condé. En realité, ils sont épuisés des putschs et périodes troubles qui s’en suivent.
Ils veulent uniquement qu’il termine tranquillement son dernier mandat puis s’en aille. Et que le jeu démocratique suive son cours. https://t.co/5fB8PJPKyB
— Dieretou (@dieretou) October 24, 2019
Guineans don't want to overthrow Alpha Condé. In reality, they are tired of the coups and the ensuing turbid periods.
They simply want him to peacefully end his last term then go. And that the democratic process runs its course. https://t.co/5fB8PJPKyB
— Dieretou (@dieretou) October 24, 2019
This concern for maintaining a democratic transition unifies the majority of Guineans beyond its borders and transcends political or ethnic differences.
The signal had already been given in September 2019 during President Condé's involvement in the United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA: On this occasion, a protest brought Guineans together to protest against any constitutional change. One protester, Abdoulaye Soumah, stated:
“C’est la Guinée dans sa diversité qui se mobilise. Ici, vous retrouvez les compatriotes de tous les âges, sexes, de toutes professions et couches sociales. Nous sommes tous confondus, unis et déterminés à donner la chance à notre cher pays de choisir librement et démocratiquement un nouveau dirigeant. Et ce, dès 2020.”
This is Guinea mobilizing in all its diversity. Here you find fellow citizens of all ages, genders, professions and social classes. We are all together, united and determined to give our dear country the chance of freely and democratically choosing a new leader. As early as 2020.

author: Abdoulaye Bah