text:
Venezuelan government stigmatizes and blames returned migrants for COVID-19 spread · Global Voices
Gabriela Mesones Rojo

Venezuelan migrant in Colombia waiting for an humanitarian bus to go back home. Photo: Joshua Collins, used with permission.
When the pandemic began in March 2020, Deisi had been living in Ecuador for four months. With $100 US dollars in her pocket, she arrived with her husband and her two children, and quickly found a job selling juice on the street. Her husband became a plumber, and both salaries allowed them to rent a room in a poor sector in the south of Quito. But three weeks after the first COVID-19 case was detected in Ecuador, the country became the epicenter of the pandemic in Latin America. Migrant communities were hit particularly hard as lockdown measures cut their ability to support themselves and their families back home. In a phone interview with Global Voices, Deisi said:
Nos sacaron de la habitación después de quitarnos el internet y el agua. Nos quedamos en la calle y tuvimos que pedir dinero para buscar comida, y con el miedo del virus que estaba por todos lados. Solo queremos ir a casa, porque cualquier cosa que nos pase nuestros hijos se quedan solos. En Venezuela tenemos familia que los puede cuidar. Pero ahora no podemos ir a nuestro propio país.
We were evicted out of our room and my whole family was left in the street. We had to roam the streets looking for food and money, afraid of a virus that was crawling everywhere. We just want to go home. If anything happens to us, our children will be left alone. In Venezuela they would be with family willing to take care of them. But we can’t. We’re not allowed inside our own country.
The Venezuelan refugee crisis, which started in 2016, has become the largest in modern history, only surpassed by Syria. Venezuelans fled what has been called a complex humanitarian emergency to other countries in the region, most of them battling their own deep social, economic and political crises. This has left Venezuelan migrants across the continent particularly vulnerable in the face of the pandemic as they depend on informal jobs, lack savings, lack social networks, and are exposed to xenophobia. They are also unable or unwilling to access public health systems because of their immigration status.
With more than 221,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants remaining in Ecuador, 400,000 in Chile, 1,4 million in Colombia, 800,000 in Perú and more than 213,000 in Brazil, Deisi is not the only Venezuelan migrant who is unable to go back home during the pandemic.
In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro’s government officially declared war against migrants, blaming them for the spread of the virus in Venezuela. During one of his mandatory national broadcasts on July 17th, he said:
Por ahi se nos han metido, por las trochas, venezolanos irresponsables y inescrupulosos; connacionales que llegan de Colombia y de Brasil, y que han contaminado a sus familias y comunidades (…) No puede ser que vengan del exterior a echarle una broma a su propria familia, a su proprio pueblo, eso no lo podemos aceptar.
They struggled in through trails, these irresponsible and unscrupulous Venezuelans; citizens who come from Colombia and Brazil, and who have contaminated their families and communities (…) We cannot accept them coming in and exposing their families, their own people.
Since the pandemic began, the Venezuelan government has focused on two narratives: “Venezuela is equipped to handle the pandemic” — even though a complex humanitarian emergency has left the country with a broken health system, little access to basic services and food insecurity — and that “the virus is spread by Venezuelans who come from abroad”.
Although “xenophobia” is the word used to describe the rejection of people in other countries, there is no word for the rejection of citizens entering their own country.
Maduro has gone as far as stating that the Colombian government is purposefully infecting returned migrants with COVID-19 to increase the infection curve in Venezuela. He called it “The Colombian Virus.”
No one lets their guard down! We are giving an intense and hard battle against the Coronavirus that I am sure, sooner rather than later, we will win with the conscience and permanent support of our beloved and dear people. Yes you can Venezuela! pic.twitter.com/TwEikUKqgb
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) July 6, 2020
NGOs, journalists and international organizations have denounced this new stigmatizing narrative, which refers to returned migrants as “bioweapons”  and “bioterrorists”.
In July, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez ordered migrants who enter their country through “illegal” paths outside to be detained in El Dorado, one of Venezuela's most violent and overcrowded prisons.
Delcy Rodriguez anuncia que trocheros serán trasladados a centro penintenciario de El Dorado https://t.co/wFsQxRVa9Z #Elecciones2020PorElCambio pic.twitter.com/n4SD2OFKIX
— Con el Mazo Dando (@ConElMazoDando) July 8, 2020
Delcy Rodriguez announces that migrants who use illegal paths will be moved to El Dorado prison
As more than 90,000 migrants have returned, sectors of the society have replicated the government's narrative, using the same hashtags, such as #trocheros, and promoting the idea that returned Venezuelan migrants are dangerous criminals and unwanted outsiders who should be punished for getting sick and returning home.
The following tweet, from the official account of the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force, asks Venezuelans to denounce returning Venezuelan migrants. The tweet has been deleted since it was posted.
SHARE FOR THE HEALTH OF OUR PEOPLE AND FAMILY!
If you know someone in your area who has entered the country via pathways, denounce them without anyone knowing it was you.
Send an email with the name of the person, describe how they look if you can and the exact address.
Journalist Luz Mely Reyes, director of the media outlet Efecto Cocuyo and the recently launched digital media site Venezuela Migrante shared a guide to refer to migrants in a safer way:
Voy a hacer un ejercicio de pedagogía de comunicación de riesgo.
1 debe evitarse etiquetar a las personas.una persona que usa una trocha no es un trochero. Es decir, esa condición no lo determina en su vida.
2 Evite jugar con las calificaciones. Nadie sabe quién está contagiado pic.twitter.com/IkLIDgHUj4
— Luz Mely Reyes (@LuzMelyReyes) July 15, 2020
I'm going to make a pedagogic game in risk-related communication:
1 avoid labelling people. a person who uses a trail is not a “trailer”. What I mean is that this condition does not determine their life.
2 avoid playing with labels. No one knows who is infected
In June, the government's criminalization of returned migrants was openly rejected by Venezuela's National Assembly, led by the opposition. They stated that Venezuelans abroad are allowed to return home and asked for effective sanitary controls at the borders so that those who come back can be tested instead of quarantined in shelters. On July 19, Maduro said, “…if anyone was offended by any expression that was said, we apologize.”
Since early June, only 300 Venezuelans are allowed through the borders each day, a reduction of 80% in the return of Venezuelan citizens to their country. Once inside Venezuela, returned these migrants face a mandatory quarantine in government-managed shelters. Migrants and journalists denounce overcrowding, lack of running water, no medical staff to help those who show COVID-19 symptoms or suffer from other diseases, rotten food as well as reprisals from authorities.
Threats to shut the humanitarian corridor between Venezuela and Colombia continue. According to the Colombian government, Venezuelan authorities further restricted the entry of Venezuelans through major avenues, such as the International Bridge Simon Bolivar.
Now, Daisi is living on a farm in Ecuador, far away from the city, working more than 14 hours a day to survive amidst a pandemic that left her and her family exposed:
“Si pudiera volver a Venezuela, lo haría para abrazar a mi familia. Pero el camino es un peligro, y más cuando llegas”
“If I could go back to Venezuela, I’d hug my family. But it’s a dangerous road back home, and it’s even more dangerous once we get there”.

author: Gabriela Mesones Rojo


text:
A conversation with Trinidadian Nneka Jones, the artist who created compelling American flag image for TIME magazine: Part I · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nneka Jones’ finished piece for TIME magazine, a hand embroidered representation of the American flag, on canvas. Photo courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
The covers of TIME magazine have often cut right to the quick of pressing issues through simple, powerful imagery that addresses both the big picture and the nuances of any given situation.
The cover for its  August 31-September 7 issue, however, was especially emotive. Headlined “The New American Revolution,” a searing image of the United States flag integrates itself into the negative space, even as it holds that space to facilitate discussion about creating a future for Black Americans that will live up to the promises of fairness and equity laid out in the country's Constitution.
The artist responsible for that image is 23-year-old Trinidadian Nneka Jones, whose stunning painting of George Floyd, which she shared on Instagram, captured the attention of TIME's art director Victor Williams. The rest, as they say, is history:
Kept this a secret but it's about @time I share that I was presented with the opportunity to create an exclusive hand embroidered piece for the cover art of TIME Magazine's recent issue “The New American Revolution” curated by Pharrel Williams (@pharrell) YES I SAID TIME MAGAZINE ??? So so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you to everyone at TIME (Especially Victor). #artyouhungry #nnekajones #time #timemagazine #thefutureisblack #thenewamericanrevolution
A post shared by  ????? ????? (@artyouhungry) on
Jones left Trinidad and Tobago for the US to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree; she graduated from the University of Tampa in May, the same month that Floyd was killed and the Black Lives Matter movement exploded not just in America, but around the world. It was a convergence of events that solidified her work as an “activist-artist.”
Jones chose to work in the embroidery medium on canvas. As Victor Williams explained:
Every time she pushes the needle through the canvas, it’s an act of intention that mirrors the marching, the protests, the push to form a more perfect union. It’s deliberate. It’s painstaking. It’s long. It’s hard. Each one of those stitches is a single person’s story, a single person’s travails. That’s why we wanted to make the stitches visible.
Even the process of making the art — Jones’ fingers were cut and sore from working so quickly on it — was an act of solidarity with those who bleed from daily injustices that come with being Black in America.
Via email, I connected with Jones and chatted with her about her art. In this, the first of a two-part interview, she shares her vision for how art and activism can change the world.
Artist Nneka Jones, hand embroidered self-portrait on canvas. Image courtesy @artyouhngry, used with permission.
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): Congratulations on your TIME magazine cover. Embroidery on canvas is such a unique medium. How did you gravitate toward it?
Nneka Jones (NJ): Thank you! My discovery of embroidery came about through an experimental painting class at the University of Tampa. The class invited the students to create a painting without using paint as the main material on the canvas. It therefore forced my classmates and I to reflect on every day and non-traditional materials that could be used. Once I had decided that I would use thread, after seeing many other embroidery artists, I was able to complete my first hand embroidered self-portrait.
JMF: It’s clearly a precise and painstaking process. What went into that TIME cover, from concept to completion?
NJ: Victor Williams reached out to me […] He was automatically drawn to my hand-embroidered work and offered for me to produce cover art for the […] issue curated by Pharrell Williams. We had decided that using the American flag would be the perfect symbolism as it is a reflection of everything happening in the nation currently.
After having only 24 hours to complete the hand-embroidered work, I was able to stencil out the flag and have the agreed upon image completed by the deadline. The incomplete ‘finish’ contributed toward the meaning of the piece, as it is symbolic of the work in progress toward a more inclusive future.
JMF: Activism is deeply entwined in your art. What has the experience of coming from multi-ethnic Trinidad and Tobago to a racially divided US been like, and what perspective has your art brought to the issues that need to be addressed?
NJ: Racism is something that exists on a global scale and every country has issues relating to some social injustices. These issues were not foreign to me before leaving Trinidad but of course, coming to a nation that is more largely populated and even more of a melting pot, they seemed to be more obvious.
As an activist-artist, I use my artwork as a tool to bring awareness to these injustices and evoke change within society. It is harder for us as humans to have these conversations without having a prompt or ‘push.’ The artwork then, is almost like a stepping stone, forcing viewers to look within themselves — but also amongst themselves — and have these conversations.
Nneka Jones’ portrait of George Floyd. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
JMF: Your portrait of George Floyd was tender and commanding at the same time. How did you feel working on that piece, what message did you want to send, and why was its photorealism important to you?
NJ: The painting of George Floyd was all very in the moment. It contradicted all my other pieces as I usually take time to plan out the content and composition of my pieces and also spend a while completing it. However, this painting was different; I wanted to capture the essence of Floyd right then and there and bring some kind of peace to the chaos that was happening in America at that time. This meant that I had to do my best to capture him as his daughter, family and friends saw him before his passing.
JMF: When the BLM protests spread worldwide many Caribbean social media users were criticised for jumping on the US bandwagon — but the reality is that every society has its own brand of racism to deal with. What role does your art play in these movements and resulting conversations?
NJ: Not many of us realize that although we come from different backgrounds, ethnicities, countries and social groups, a lot of the issues that we face are very similar and are related to overarching issues of racism, inequality and discrimination.
This is something that we can all relate to in some way and if my work is to be seen on a global scale, people would be able to identify the specific issue I am highlighting without even speaking the same language I speak. Art in itself offers a universal language and that allows me to create work that speaks out against the injustices and calls for change in all parts of the world, not just Trinidad and not just America.
In Part II of this interview, Nneka discusses the optimism inherent in her work and how social media has helped propel awareness of her art.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
From death in Syria to quarantine in Madrid · Global Voices
أيهم الساطي Ayham Al Sati

Madrid during the confinement, April 2020. Photo by Mousa Mohamed, used with permission.
A Syrian refugee is searching for hope and freedom after all the difficulties he faced on his journey from Syria to Spain, only to face the unexpected: yet another confinement, but this time due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
We are not ready. We don’t have masks, nor gloves to cover those little hands or anything to sterilize them with other than some soap mixed with anxiety.
We are a little concerned about this tiny invisible being called the Coronavirus. We believe it is too small to hurt those bodies that have already endured tremendous psychological and physical suffering in their native country, Syria, then once again on the smuggling routes through Turkey and finally in an environment of instability in Spain, right down to a quarantine that was never foreseen.
“Don’t worry, this crisis will pass,” I tell my two little girls, ages five and three, “… this dark cloud will fade, and each one of us will return to our own poems.”
“Rest assured, ‘Corona’ is not a ruler who clings to power until their dying breath. It does not burn cities to ashes, nor does it kill all living beings indiscriminately without batting an eyelid. It is not obsessed with remaining on its throne, so there’s no reason to worry,” I tell them.
“After the quarantine ends, people will regain their freedom and return to their lives once more … You, too, will return to the school that you love and to the park where you played and had fun.”
With these words—not “Good morning”—I begin each day, answering their flood of questions.
“When are we leaving the house? How many nights must we go to sleep and awake before Corona disappears? What are we going to do today? What are we going to draw? What story are you going to read to us?” and dozens more of those sentences that end in a question mark.
This is how they start their days in the small apartment where we have been trapped since the start of the confinement that began last March.
At first, it was almost normal. But then it gradually evolved until the world became pale and colourless, except for the watercolours that we mix to turn our days into paintings.
We soon realized that we had to tame those days with useful activities. We started with home exercise, then breakfast, followed by learning and teaching. All in that tiny room that can barely fit a bed, decorated with sheets of papers filled with vague scribbles legible only to us.
However, the stage on which our daily actions take place is a small hall decorated with a table and a few chairs and a plant that resembles those from back home. I tell my daughters stories about letters and teach them how to pronounce them, while my wife uses her brushes to draw magical paintings, before handing them over to the girls who decorate them with the most beautiful colours.
These repetitive actions are interrupted with moments of staring out of windows to observe the few passersby as they head to food stores or enjoy a little walk with a dog—the only permissible reasons for leaving their confinement.
These moments allow us to stray towards old memories. We have been through difficult days, and survived only because we were together.
We remember harrowing memories that we do not share with our daughters. Instead, we smile while enjoying our family games. We experience good moments and hope to create new and different kinds of memories. But there is no door to contain our old memories and instead, there is a gaping space where clouds float freely.
The days of confinement may be reminiscent of times when we huddled in basements to protect ourselves from merciless bombs and missiles. Fear kicks in, but the fear here in Madrid is entirely different from the one felt in Syria.
The days spent in confinement reminds an ex-prisoner of the prison’s high walls. They remind him of those days in which he dreamt of flying freely away from the watchful eyes of those who kept him chained to those invincible walls. Nights are not similar though; being confined behind prison bars is different from being confined behind your own windows.
But the comparison is unfair. Here in Madrid, freedom is forbidden for your protection, and there in Syria, the deprivation of freedom is designed to make you die a thousand deaths. Then the world expects you to live normally, as if none of this took place.
Confinement here does not entail fleeing the home in which you were born. Here, you are meant to stay, while there you must escape to survive. Here, your home is a refuge -maybe from death; there it is a target. Yet, the similarities between them in suffering are astounding.
Our days in confinement are different from the times spent in displacement, circling borders of various countries in search of safety. Here, they tell you that you are safe.
But the feeling of instability is the same. When you live in a country where you and your family are given red asylum documents allowing you to stay for a few months it is a reminder that you are far from home and you have to leave soon. It is a reminder of your yearning for a stable home for your family, a home that will take months to find.
When you are a refugee, you leave home in the hope of turning a new page, but the old page refuses to fold.
After the confinement, we will live a new beginning full of positivity. We will fulfill all those dreams that were deferred for a decade. We will overcome these days as we overcome ones more difficult, but did we really overcome those days? Or are we still living them?We will overcome everything one day.
We will resist—Resistiré, original song by Dúo Dinámico.
Video shot in Puçol, Spain by Manuel José Gongora Aguilar, used with permission.
“Cuando pierda todas las partidas; Cuando duerma con la soledad; Cuando se me cierren las salidas; Y la noche no me deje en paz; Cuando sienta miedo del silencio; Cuando cueste mantenerse en pie; Cuando se rebelen los recuerdos; Y me pongan contra la pared. Resistiré, erguida frente a todo; Resistiré para seguir viviendo…”
“When I lose all the games. When I sleep with loneliness. When the exits are closed to me. And the night does not leave me alone. When I'm afraid of silence. When it's hard to stand. When the memories rebel. And put me against the wall. I will resist, standing tall against it all. I will resist to continue living ….”
With the words from the Spanish song “Resistiré”which became a symbol of hope during the confinement in Spain, with the increasing number of COVID-19 victims—a curtain descends to end another day of quarantine.
From the windows of our temporary home we join our neighbours and the rest of Spain in communal applause every night to thank those who are working hard to fight the virus and to break the silence of our days.
The little ones wait every evening to clap and shout from the windows, and with their cheers, they shout: We will resist!

author: أيهم الساطي Ayham Al Sati


text:
India’s Odia language added to Google and Microsoft translation services · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Collage of Odia Book Covers. Image via Flickr by Erin Mclaughlin. From the Flickr set Odia Book Covers. CC-BY 2.0.
While open-source initiatives are still underway, Google and Microsoft have both added the Odia language of India to their respective machine translation engines this year — Google Translate in February and Microsoft more recently on August 13.
Odia is the official language of the Indian state of Odisha and the second official language in the state of Jharkhand. It's spoken by about 35 million native speakers and as a second language by about 4 million people. It is also classified by the Indian government as one of the country's classical languages based on a set of requirements that includes a literary tradition of more than 1,500 years.
However, Odia's digital presence is limited. For instance, the Odia Wikipedia, which is one of the largest repository of textual content, currently has only 15,858 articles after being revived in 2011 following a nine-year-long hiatus. In contrast, Malayalm, which is spoken by about almost the same number of speakers as Odia, has about 70K articles on Wikipedia. Content in Odia used to be available online in the form of image and PDF for a very long time — some including the Odisha state government-run magazine Utkal Prasanga still continue to publish in a combination of image and PDF. Late adoption of Unicode has made content less searchable.
Machine translation significantly contributes to increasing the digital presence of languages by making content more searchable and more accessible to non-speakers.
Microsoft-operated cloud services, including Microsoft Translator app, Office, Translator for Bing, and through the Azure Cognitive Services Translator, will now all support translations from Odia. Both Microsoft Translator and Google Translate (available both on the web and as an app) allow translation of text copied directly into the input field.
Additionally, these platforms also support the translation of text documents, websites, and of live-chats. The Google Translate mobile app has additional features, including offline translation, handwriting recognition, scanning, translating and reading text from images, and using voice command to speak to a foreign-language speaker. A feature called “tap to translate” allows a user to directly translate a typed text inside any app. One can also hear how a text in a supported language is pronounced using Google’s speech synthesis.
The addition of Odia was thus well-received by the Odisha state government. The Office of the Chief Minister of Odisha tweeted:
#OdiaTranslation has now been added by @Microsoft to its @mstranslator, becoming the 12th commonly used Indian language to be added. This will facilitate access of global information in #Odia and promote inter-language interactions. https://t.co/O4dZgZhbrs
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) August 17, 2020
The Electronics and Information Technology Department of the Government of Odisha also reacted:
Used by millions across the world, @Google Translate has now added #Odia to its list of supported languages. A major step towards promoting digital literacy in our native language & to help millions of non-speakers embrace it. #OdiaOnGoogle @CMO_Odisha https://t.co/lfSskvxSjR
— E&IT Department Odisha (@EIT_Odisha) February 28, 2020
Machine Translation
Machine translation is used to translate the text or speech of the source language to a target language. The translation that Google uses relies on the Neural Machine Translation, a computational system that uses a technique called artificial neural network where large datasets consisting of translation of phrases (from source to target language) are used for training.
With the inclusion of Odia, Google Translate and Microsoft Translator now support 11 Indian languages each. In total, Google supports 109 world languages while Microsoft supports 73.
Meanwhile, open-source initiatives are yet to create successful machine translation projects in Odia.
At least one open-source community-led project is in development — MTEnglish2Odia is training a machine translation engine by collecting translation pairs from existing sources such as Odia-language Wikipedia and crowdsourcing from user contributions on Twitter.
In addition, there are some research and resources that can be used for building machine translation engines by other organizations.
The technology used by Google Translate or Microsoft Translator is complex from social, legal, ethical, and rights aspects.
A machine translation platform can be of great use for many people, including journalists to quickly access news from multiple languages, or students desiring to learn from multilingual resources.
Similarly, voice synthesis support helps persons with a disability, especially blindness, to access and share information more easily.
Education, media, and the entertainment industry also benefit from the potential of Google Translate to translate vast amounts of content in a short period of time.
On the other hand, machine translation can contribute to spreading misinformation, while voice synthesis facilitates fraudsters who look to prey on people by communicating with them in their language.
There are over 6,000 documented languages around the world, and only a minority of them have established writing systems. Those are the languages that get to be included in machine translation projects such as Google Translate and Microsoft Translator.
The availability of online content, as well as the number of internet users who speak a given language, are major factors for-profit corporations consider when deciding which languages to include in their systems. The more languages a corporation supports, the more targeted content it can deliver to users — and the more revenue it generates from ads.
In addition, there are ethical questions of attribution and remuneration in projects such as Google Translate, which has a contributor community structure to review existing translations (that helps engineers regularly improve the tool).
While Google is a for-profit company with many paid products — including a cloud translation service — neither the individual volunteers nor the numerous public sources from where the machine learns are attributed or remunerated.
The use of private communications for improving machine learning and artificial intelligence are also controversial from a privacy standpoint — though Google has been working towards anonymizing such data.
In a country like India, where the creation of multilingual content faces bottle-necks due to costs, products such as Google Translate and  Microsoft Translator can revolutionize the Indian content economy. They can make a difference for projects such as Wikipedia, which currently exist in 23 Indian languages, or StoryWeaver, a multilingual online children’s literature platform that heavily relies on volunteer work.
With many Indian languages disappearing rapidly, and with the added challenge of illiteracy and digital accessibility, the communications pathway needs more innovation in voice and visual technology. Machine translation can be a viable tool to stop language extinction — but in India, it still has a long way to go.
Disclaimer: The author has been involved with Odia Wikipedia as a volunteer since 2011 and with MTEnglish2Odia since its early stages.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


text:
A conversation with Trinidadian Nneka Jones, the artist who created compelling American flag image for TIME magazine: Part II · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Artist Nneka Jones working on the commissioned cover for TIME magazine's “The New American Revolution” issue. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
The cover of TIME magazine's August 31-September 7 issue, titled “The New American Revolution,” boasts an embroidered image of the American flag, with a needle stuck into the thread of one unfinished end — a story that is still unfolding, especially for people of colour in the “land of the free.”
The cover art was designed by 23-year-old Trinidadian Nneka Jones. TIME's art director, Victor Williams, was impressed by her photorealistic painting of George Floyd, which he spotted on Instagram, and invited her to create the cover for this special issue.
The project fits perfectly into Jones’ creative identity as an “activist-artist.” In this, the second part of my interview with Jones, we discuss that identity, as well as other difficult issues she has tackled as she strives to use her art as a bridge to understanding.
Trinidadian artist, Nneka Jones. Photo courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): It’s so fitting that an image created by a “foreigner” is the symbol for TIME magazine’s exploration of America’s current reality: fierce nationalism in a country built by immigrants, unresolved issues around race, exploding gun violence, vast inequity. What did your reassembly of the US flag strive to accomplish?
Nneka Jones (NJ): This hand-embroidered flag was created with the intention of signifying optimism and hopes that we can all work together to build a brighter future. This nation has a great impact on many other countries around the world, and so it is important that we understand the importance of equality. Currently, Black people and people of color are calling for the opportunity to excel in higher level positions and with the push to elevate the Black entrepreneurs, visionaries and creatives like myself, it allows for inclusivity and can hopefully bring about a better America and better world.
JMF: How difficult was the ombré effect to achieve and what was the significance of blending the colours in that way?
NJ: Given that I was limited to 24-hours to complete this piece, it was definitely a challenge to ensure that the ombré effect was up to my standard of work. It was also important as this effect was particularly symbolic of a more hopeful future and the shift and transition to allowing black people and people of color a voice, a space, and a chance at achieving greatness.
JMF: You’ve been living outside of Trinidad for some time now, yet the visual language of T&T is strong — almost defiantly so — in your work. Tell me about the impact of those beginnings and that identity on your art. It’s like you’ve turned Granny’s familiar, comforting embroidery on its head and repurposed it for the frontlines of battle.
NJ: While living in Trinidad, I was always influenced by the flamboyant colors and vibrant culture that we have, and had always incorporated this in my work as it was a reflection of the Trinbagonian spirit. However, as I have grown into my artistic skin, I am able to use these same colors to draw attention, as well as communicate symbolic meaning in my pieces. The colors that I use now are very intentional especially as seen in my most recent series, ‘Targets Variegated,’ where I use the colors of a traffic light to tell a story of Black women and children reclaiming their rights.
A piece from Nneka Jones’ ‘Targets Variegated’ series. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
JMF: That ‘Target’ series is one of your most startling pieces of work. It's aimed at raising awareness about sexual abuse and human trafficking. The use of condoms around the images of these girls and women is disturbingly provocative. Tell me about the ways in which you use your art to engage in discussion and effect change.
NJ: [The] series is a call to everyone to look closer and pay attention to what is currently happening in society. It highlights the statistics where [most] sex trafficking victims are young, beautiful, innocent girls of color. Hence, the series features hundreds of condoms on each canvas, layered in a ‘target’ pattern, drawing the viewer’s eyes to the eyes of the victim. It is a very striking image, one that forces you to realize the harsh reality and help speak out against it so that this ends, and other young girls and women are not targeted.
JMF: Do you have a particular piece that’s close to your heart?
NJ: Right now, I do not have a favorite piece; however, the piece that has been a huge milestone so far in my art career would be the TIME magazine cover. Not only did I get to produce hand embroidered artwork, but I was also able to create as an activist artist in under 24 hours and it is a piece that has changed my life.
JMF: Who has inspired you as an artist?
NJ: My high school art teachers and professors continue to be huge inspirations and influencers in my life. A lot of people make fun of art teachers or joke that most art majors don’t ever really become an ‘artist.’ However, my art teachers have brought me to where I am today; without their guidance and support, it would take me a much longer time to realize my potential and act on it, and I am truly grateful to have had them for my foundation.
Another piece from Nneka Jones’ ‘Target’ series. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.
JMF: How has the internet and social media helped you?
NJ: In 2017, I decided to start my art blog on Instagram and named it @artyouhungry. People often found it difficult to pronounce my name and so I wanted something that was easy to pronounce, remember and fun! I did not know where this blog journey would lead, but I am so happy that I stuck to it as I am able to share the process of my work with hundreds of people, and also get feedback when needed. This has allowed me to make connections with other artists and even galleries, and I look forward to developing my brand on social media as I elevate in my art career.
JMF: You’re still so young and have your whole career ahead of you, with all its inherent dynamism and change — but right now, in this weighty moment, if your art could accomplish one thing, what would you want that to be?
NJ: I would hope that my art could cause someone to reflect within themselves — almost like a mirror to society — and truly ask how they are contributing to what is currently taking place, and what they can do better to improve the world we live in.
Part I of this post is here.


text:
The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the environment · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

A forestry worker, wearing a face mask for protection against coronavirus, gathers fallen wood from a tropical area, in Guinée, Africa. Photo courtesy Aboubacarkhoraa Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
COVID-19 lockdowns have yielded dramatic scenes of natural recovery: smog disappearing from the skies of India, waterways of Italy becoming clear for the first time in memory, wild mountain goats roaming the streets of Wales, sea turtles returning to the beaches of Brazil. Many people, while confined to their homes, have had time to think about these revelations. Stories about everyday life brought to a standstill provide unique insight and allow for a reflective pause. Is this also a window of opportunity? Global Voices contributor Andrew Kowalczuk is a green technology engineer and former biomedical researcher. We interviewed him on implications for health, wildlife, and climate change in the post-COVID future.
Kevin Rennie (KR): We have seen the spectacular reappearance of animals in habitats and urban areas during lockdowns in the COVID-19 crisis. What are the new opportunities for or threats to wildlife?
Andrew Kowalczuk (AK): The resurgence of wildlife holds a powerful appeal, for several reasons. People, confined to these eerie quiets, find out they’re closer to nature than they had ever realized. And that is very hopeful, an atavism, or fascination with biodiversity, as contrast to urbanized living. The reverse side, however, is that humans are custodians of rare animals. Globally, eco-tourism is by far the number-one source of funding for national parks, wildlife reserves, and conservation initiatives. COVID travel restrictions directly caused the collapse of tourism, and therefore the economies, of those destinations. In Africa, Central America, and other locales, there has unfortunately been an increase in poaching. Desperation gives the motive, and absence of ranger patrols in wildlife preserves gives the opportunity. Hopefully, media attention will translate to better protection of vulnerable animals after COVID subsides.
KR: COVID-19 appeared in China in winter 2019, but there is still controversy about its exact origins, and whether that outbreak was preventable. How do these viruses get from the natural environment into humans?
AK: Historically, all of the largest pandemics were zoonotic. Meaning, a natural pathogen already present in animals, usually in mammals, jumped that gap between animals and humans. The Plague of Justinian, and the bubonic plagues in the Middle Ages, were a bacillus, originally from rodents. The 1918 influenza pandemic, that time was viral, by recombination of several mammalian viruses, from food livestock. Now with COVID-19, the difference today is that human overpopulation keeps encroaching further into natural environments, into more contact with previously exotic animals. That’s the lesson. Among coronaviridae, several closely related ones found in bats can cause human disease. SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing COVID, is again genetically very similar. And there were previous, recent warnings, in the form of the outbreaks of SARS-1 and MERS, in 2003 and in 2012. So, in theory, yes, COVID-19 could have been prevented, by curtailing those human-versus-nature transgressions in the first place.
KR: There has been speculation about the new coronavirus having been created or altered in a lab. Is that at all possible?
AK: Good question, actually. That’s what many people still want to know. SARS-CoV-2 definitely was not created de novo in a laboratory, that is not possible. So instead, let’s look at the more realistic possibility of deliberate genetic modification. Evidence found by mapping the DNA sequences and phylogeny makes that also very unlikely. The novel nucleotide inserts, found in the spike protein domains of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, are not something genetic engineers would logically do, in gain-of-function experimentation. Now, that doesn’t rule out the scenario of a naturally occurring strain, with features of clinical interest, having been isolated in a lab, then escaping. If that were so, history will tell that tale soon enough. What matters is that, in any case, prevention of future epidemics will depend on environmental responsibility. New viruses will continually emerge in nature.
KR: Some natural habitats are disappearing, as they are consumed and degraded by humans. Does slowing down by the pandemic buy time to reconsider those activities?
AK: Not necessarily, for example, deforestation in the Amazon basin in Brazil. The expectation was that lockdown would slow destruction of rainforests. Actually the opposite is the case, a sharp increase in deforestation by clearance of land beginning around April of this year as seen by direct observation and in satellite imagery. There’s a double-edged effect. First, Brazilian government choosing not to enforce environmental law, and even giving an amnesty for illegal logging. Next, tycoons whose legal businesses became unprofitable in lockdown turning their attention to the Amazon. The people directly cutting rainforest trees are impoverished laborers in a shifting, informal economy who know it’s illegal, often feel remorse, but have few other options for subsistence. Besides losing carbon dioxide sequestration, more intense fire seasons will result. And the loss of biodiversity is analogous, or synonymous, with the wildlife conservation question.
KR: Improvements in air quality have been reported around the world during lockdowns. How can we build on these?
AK: That aspect has been most remarkable to the most people, since smog occurs over dense urban areas. If suddenly, skies are more blue, and citizens breathe more freely, they realize a more healthy and sustainable life is within reach. COVID lockdowns were the largest restriction of population movement in human history. And that curtailed industrial and other sources of pollutants, particulates, and greenhouse gases. Global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 will have had the largest annual percentage decrease since the Second World War, the effect is gigantic. Some major cities, such as Milan and Brussels, do intend to reclaim urban spaces from automotive traffic. And there’s an unprecedented baseline from which to estimate what it would be like without combustion vehicles. Compliance would otherwise be low, so yes, jurisdictions will take this opportunity to push through measures for improved air quality.
KR: Finally, what climate change challenges will we face in the post-COVID world? How can we best meet these?
AK: Well, thank you, and to all our Global Voices authors, for having taken such a comprehensive overview of the issues. In the short term, diplomacy on climate change policy has been somewhat interrupted by COVID. As for the economics, many gigawatts of renewably sourced electricity, which would have gone online in 2020, have been delayed in deployment. That said, the United States is expected, for the first time, to produce more electricity from renewables than from coal. Renewable energy can stimulate economic growth in the recovery from recession, in any nation. Especially as its production is decentralized. In science, the intense work on deciphering coronavirus genomics, epidemiology, and vaccines, has given more urgency and openness to international cooperation than ever before. That same model will be needed for climate change mitigation. So, there you have it. Thanks for the forethought in these questions and coverage, and in your foresight for the future.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Bangladesh battles the country’s longest-running floods since 1998 · Global Voices
Samaya Anjum

Flood-prone lands at an embankment in Bangladesh. Image from Flickr by Rezwan. Used with permission.
The monsoon season has arrived in South Asia and has already ravaged large swathes of farming and urban areas, leaving millions who were already suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in financial ruin.
Approximately 10 million people in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal have been affected by monsoon floods in 2020, the worst flooding since 1998. Over 550 people have died as a result, while over a million have been displaced or marooned.
One-third of Bangladesh was underwater after torrential rains caused 53 rivers to overflow in June, when Bangladesh was just beginning to recover from the devastation left by Cyclone Amphan in May.
Expat Bangladeshi M. Jubair Ahmed posted some images of flooding in the southern parts of the country:
Flood in Southern part of Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/iEdQOrkVCl
— M. Jubair Ahmed (@MJubairAhmed1) August 21, 2020
Journalist Rafiqul Islam Montu wrote on the GainConnection website that:
Villagers lost their livelihood and have found no work, hence no income. Unemployment is rising. Cyclone affected families are struggling to get their daily food. There is an acute shortage of drinking water as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse, as relief supplies are affected. The west coast of Bangladesh is facing multiple disasters.
The voluntarily repaired #embankment was washed away by the pressure of the tide. People are floating in the water again. The embankment that collapsed in Cyclone Ampan was repaired at the initiative of the villagers. Picture of the west. #coastofBangladesh.@third_pole pic.twitter.com/EJMgN5qgcp
— Rafiqul Montu (@ri_montu) July 24, 2020
According to Bangladesh's Ministry of Agriculture, BDT 13.23 billion (US$ 156 million) worth of crops have been damaged, and approximately 257,148 hectares of farmland submerged by floodwaters, affecting over one million farmers.
According to UNICEF, more than 3.3 million people in Bangladesh, among whom 1.3 million are children, have been rendered homeless or are living in hazardous, unsanitary conditions.
The devastation comes at a time when emergency and health services are overwhelmed with responding to the COVID-19 epidemic.
India has built over 5,000 dams and embankments on transnational rivers, with many of these affecting the flow of water o Bangladesh. In the dry season, rivers such as the Teesta are reduced to narrow streams.
When India opens its floodgates during the monsoon season, the added pressure causes erosion on river banks, affecting nearby settlements. Bangladesh has several longstanding issues with India around the sharing of water. The latest agreements signed in 2019 between India and Bangladesh have been met with criticism from Bangladeshi citizens who say the arrangements favor India, which possesses a natural advantage as rivers headwaters are located within its borders.
Experts blame India for prolonged flood in Bangladesh https://t.co/LYeeiY73Gk pic.twitter.com/w4kWWydjdd
— South Asian Monitor (@S_A_Monitor) August 17, 2020
This year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) worked with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) to implement a new model of anticipatory humanitarian action that aims to distribute humanitarian aid to potentially affected populations before a disaster strikes.
The program has a two-step trigger system — a pre-activation trigger, based on the GloFAS forecast, and an activation trigger, based on the Government of Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC). After the two triggers have been activated, the government distributes allocated funds accordingly.
It's finally happening! They call it #anticipatory #humanitarian #action. Interesting.. but what happened to Disaster Risk Reduction #DRR as a term?
Faster than floods: How to prevent a double disaster in Bangladesh https://t.co/vZt0WQucbi
— Minna (@MinnaAja) August 19, 2020
On July 4, severe flooding was forecast for the approaching weeks along the Jamuna River.
The United Nations promptly released US$ 5.2 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for distribution among the communities most likely to be affected by the floods.
Recipients of the funds can then prepare by purchasing food, medicine, and reinforcing their homes before the flooding occurs.
Raquib Rony, who works at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Bangladesh office, tweeted:
81179 tube wells were damaged by the on going #floods in #Bangladesh. With the support of @IFRC, @BDRCS1 started to provide tube well disinfection services where the water receded. Families do not need to worry to go other places to collect drinking water.?BDRCS #Jamalpur Branch pic.twitter.com/cl3QaFTyfk
— Raquib Rony (@RaquibRony) August 20, 2020
Climate activist Greta Thunberg announced in a July 28 tweet that she will donate 100,000 euros to BRAC, ActionAid Bangladesh, and other humanitarian organizations in Bangladesh and India working in the field:
Right now millions are suffering from extreme flooding fuelled by the climate crisis in India and Bangladesh – already hit by the devastation of cyclone Amphan and COVID-19.
My foundation will donate €100.000 prize money to BRAC, Goonj, Action Aid India- and Bangladesh. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/oOMZ3jrhsV
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 28, 2020
Since July, Bangladeshi students have been participating in a digital campaign in partnership with Fridays For Future — Bangladesh, the national chapter of Thunberg's climate movement, posting portraits of themselves holding placards with demands and slogans such as “no future under water” and “mother nature shouldn't be drowned.”
#RT @GretaThunberg: RT @FFF_Bangladesh: Today's, FFF Barishal has addressed the biggest problem facing Bangladesh right now in their online strike. They want Permanent solution & recovery for flood affected people. @GretaThunberg @Fridays4future #Digi… pic.twitter.com/VL2TbluCWK
— Travis 4 Climate? (@Travis4Climate) August 15, 2020
For many Bangladeshis, however, such tragedies have become normalized, cyclical events that people endure every year:
“Every time a flood comes, it destroys our house, crops and takes the lives of many. Everything is washed away by the mighty river Padma, leaving us without shelter, food or livelihood. But life goes on.”https://t.co/RyUoCMet45
— The Third Pole (@third_pole) August 15, 2020

author: Samaya Anjum


text:
Concerned citizens petition Timor-Leste authorities to drop planned revival of defamation law · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A protest was held on August 3 against the planned revival of the criminal defamation law in Timor Leste. Photo from the Facebook page of Association Journalist Timor Leste (AJTL), used with their permission.
On August 25, a petition was submitted to Timor-Leste’s Minister for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers asking for the rejection of the proposal to restore criminal defamation in the country’s penal laws.
The petition was from the Movement Against the Criminalization of Defamation and Injury (MKKDI) which consists of representatives of civil society organizations, the Timor-Leste Journalist Association (AJTL), the Press Council, academics, and university students.
They were opposing the draft law presented by the Minister of Justice on June 5 reviving the offense of criminal defamation that was removed when the government adopted a new Press Code in 2014.
READ MORE: Timor-Leste plans to restore criminal defamation law amid concerns about its free speech impact
MKKDI noted in their petition that public consultation about the proposal was done in just one week in June.
This author emailed MKKDI spokesperson Alberico Junior about the petition and got this response:
…the movement thinks that this proposed law is to protect those in power from criticism when they commit any act of corruption and any other acts of crime. We do not want this law to be applied in the country as we do not want to be back to Indonesia's authoritarian regime and Portuguese colonial time, this law is actually the product of colonialists, which was used to ban the Timorese people from criticizing the government at that time.
Timor-Leste was a colony of Portugal from 1702 to 1975. Indonesia occupied the territory from 1975 until 1999.
After receiving submissions from the public about the draft law, the Ministry of Justice announced on July 19 that it removed a provision which would double or triple the penalty for those found guilty of defaming a public official or if this was done through the media, including social media. The provision was removed in response to public criticism that it could be used to stifle free speech.
But the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said this claim was misleading because the provision criminalizing defamation is still intact. Jim Nolan, the pro-bono legal counsel of IFJ Asia-Pacific, wrote:
Upon scrutiny, the only ‘concession’ offered by the Ministry of Justice, turns out to be no concession at all. All it achieves is a clumsy attempt to blunt the serious and well-founded criticisms levelled by civil society groups. The substance of these criticisms has been left unanswered by this present proposal.
Jonas Guterres, former advisor to the Office of Commissioner at Anti-Corruption Commission of Timor-Leste warned about the possible impact of the draft law in combating corruption:
…the move by the government of Timor-Leste to criminalize defamation is against the national interest, and will likely undermine efforts to curb corruption, by suppressing to a greater or lesser extent the voices
of whistleblowers and the media. If anything, there is a need instead for anticorruption efforts to be strengthened even further, by enhancing whistleblower protections and asset recovery processes.
On August 3, journalists organized a protest action condemning the draft law.
On August 11, civil society group La’o Hamutuk met with Timor-Leste President Francisco Guterres. During the meeting, the president reportedly expressed his preference for education, instead of criminalization, in dealing with the issue of defamation. He also added that the draft law is not a priority of the government.
Timor-Leste’s parliament is on recess and will resume its sessions in the second week of September.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Livestream of Australia’s penguin parade brings smiles around the world · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Phillip Island, Penguin Parade August 2019 – Photo courtesy Flickr user Larry Koester (CC BY 2.0)
Some good news to lift spirits in Australia and the world during COVID-19 related shutdowns and other travel restrictions. Travel, hospitality and entertainment website Time Out Melbourne explained:
It’s a rite of passage for most visitors to Melbourne – make the two-hour drive down to Phillip Island and see Australia’s largest colony of friendly, frolicking fairy penguins.
[…]lucky for us, Phillip Island Nature Parks is making sure we can see those scurrying little creatures from home.
Their pun tagline ‘It’s a peng-win’ has several associations. Peng can mean: a mythical Chinese bird; an abbreviation for penguin; or Jamaican slang for high-quality marijuana.
People from around the globe looked forward to watching. Australia’s ambassador to Cyprus was one of them:
How can you not love ?? Every sunset, more than 3,000 Little Penguins waddle up to their beach homes on Phillip Island ??. @PhillipIslandNP will live stream the daily #PenguinParade at 1100am ?? time from 25 Aug. Check out FB/YouTube below https://t.co/XTMejMt7td
— Australia In Cyprus (@AusHCCyprus) August 24, 2020
Lisa Simpson hoped to join in from London:
Happiness is the daily #PenguinParade @PhillipIslandNP!
How can these little penguins not make you smile? ??? https://t.co/gLQBXbbM7D
— Lisa Simpson (@lisajaynegeyer) August 24, 2020
Jag Bani, a Punjabi language newspaper in India, shared this with its Twitter followers:
ਆਸਟ੍ਰੇਲੀਆ : ਦੁਨੀਆ ਭਰ ਦੇ 7.70 ਲੱਖ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੇ ਆਨਲਾਈਨ ਦੇਖੀ ‘ਪੇਂਗੁਇਨ ਪਰੇਡ’https://t.co/thXaoFumLD#Australia #PenguinParade #Online pic.twitter.com/KxZyFjLjdC
— Jagbani (@JagbaniOnline) August 27, 2020
Australia: 770 thousand people worldwide watch ‘Penguin Parade’ online
The presenter gives a running commentary, explaining aspects such as the Little Penguin being the smallest species. It is also known as the Fairy Penguin. Questions could also be posed in comments on the livestreams. Thousands have obliged. Waddling has been a popular topic.
In May, BBC sports commentator Andrew Cotter had created this send-up:
Anyway, it was high tide when the penguins landed at the Phillip Island Nature Parks’ viewing area when the photo at the top was taken. It was during the second sunset livestream at 18:00 EST or 07:00 UTC. The visitor centre is currently closed due to lockdowns in the State of Victoria.
Thanks to everyone who tuned into our big launch night of Live Penguin TV! We had over 771,000 viewers last night from across the world. If you missed out or tuned in late, not to worry because we're back again tonight! 6pm AEST on Facebook or YouTube ?? #LivePenguinTV pic.twitter.com/o0RlGfCmx6
— Phillip Island Nature Parks (@PhillipIslandNP) August 26, 2020
Over one million viewers tuned in on the first two nights. 602 penguins crossed the beach on the second night. Yes, someone has the job of counting them.
Phillip Island penguin parade – Author's photo of livestream 26 August 2020
While it’s available, you can watch the livestream on YouTube or Facebook.
You can also watch a recording of the event:
There is also a penguin colony in a Melbourne inner-suburb at the St Kilda Pier, a favourite haunt of local jogger Spiderman. The public viewing area is also closed during the lockdown.


text:
Anonymous group hack reveals hidden government data about COVID-19 cases in Nicaragua · Global Voices
Melissa Vida

Photo: Max Pixel, under CC0 Public Domain license.
On August 17, the decentralized cyber hacking group Anonymous attacked Nicaragua’s Health Ministry archives. The 400 leaked files revealed a surplus of 6,245 positive COVID-19 cases in Nicaragua that were previously unknown to the public. The announcement was made on Twitter by a self-identified Anonymous member, Lorian Syrano.
Nicaraguans on Twitter replied enthusiastically to the hack through the hashtag #OpNicaragua. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nicaragua's authorities have been singled out for their opacity about COVID-19 data and its refusal to introduce a lockdown.
Anonymous revealed that in May, the known number of positive tests for COVID-19 was 98.80 percent higher than what the official Ministry reported: 1332 cases instead of 16. The tendency continued for the following months. By July 24, it appears that a total of 6,245 positive cases were left publicly unreported.
It also appears that the rate of positive cases per test is one of the highest in the world, with nearly 56 percent of tests returning positive for COVID-19. The former director of epidemiology at the Health Ministry, Álvaro Ramírez, explained in an interview with Confidencial that it is due to the fact that the tests are primarily performed on hospitalized people or those presenting symptoms.
Already before the leak, suspicion about the accuracy of official COVID-19 data was growing. For example, a volunteer citizen observatory made up of medical experts, researchers, engineers, computer scientists and communicators, reported that the number of suspected COVID-19 related deaths is nearly twenty times higher than the data shared by the Health Ministry.
For Álvaro Ramírez, the leaked archives confirm that the government was hiding the data on purpose. He said :
…el hecho de que esta información estaba ahí, que llegaba todos los días a la presidencia, y que por cualquier razón, que no la vamos a entender fácilmente, ellos (Daniel Ortega y Rosario Murillo) decidieron mentir a la población, y cambiar los datos, y poner datos diferentes.
…the fact that this information was there, that it came every day to the presidency, and that for whatever reason, which we will not easily understand, they (Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo) decided to lie to the population, and change the data, and put different data.
The government, led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice-President Rosario Murillo, had affirmed in May that people were suffering from pneumonia instead of COVID-19. In May and June, alarming reports about hidden burials multiplied. Journalist Lucydalia Baca Castellón hopes that the conditionality of international loans will soon force the Nicaraguan government to take “responsible and transparent” measures with regards to COVID-19.
On August 16, Anonymous shared a teaser to the leaked files:
#Anonymous #OpNicaragua #SOSNicaragua #Nicaragua
Greetings to the Dictatorial regime of Ortega. We may have been off the radar for a while, but our fight for freedom has never stopped.
The Nicaraguan ministry of health (MINSA) has been #Hacked! Leaked data download coming soon pic.twitter.com/jjlOPDQySj
— CyberWare – Anonymous (@LiteMods) August 16, 2020
Anonymous, like many government opponents, commentators and Nicaraguan media, refers to Ortega's government as “dictatorial” due to its authoritarian traits, censorship practices, and corruption. According to the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, Ortega committed crimes against humanity against political opponents during anti-government uprisings in 2018.
On August 21, Lorian Synaro shared the link where they claim that the entire database of the Nicaraguan Health Ministry and other 400 files can be downloaded:
#Anonymous #OpNicaragua #SOSNicaragua #Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan ministry of health (MINSA) has been hacked! Tons of private data, documents and the whole database leaked! The government lies will not remain secret anymore.
Download —> https://t.co/e5knY4mw0y
*Read post below pic.twitter.com/SSxTWK9Qll
— Lorian Synaro ? (@LorianSynaro) August 21, 2020
#Anonymous #OpNicaragua #Nicaragua #SOSNicaragua
The Central bank of Nicaragua, the ministry of economy and the UAF government website have all been taken #Offline!https://t.co/EbKGPTs3qMhttps://t.co/dBiIKebLawhttps://t.co/tomII3AMat pic.twitter.com/n8OOZqnjaC
— Lorian Synaro ? (@LorianSynaro) May 14, 2020
El 19 Digital, the largest digital news media with close ties to the government, has not reported on any of these incidents, even though reports abound on other Ministry of Health's latest news. The Ministry of Health did not respond to the attacks, either.

author: Melissa Vida


text:
Calls for unity as Trinidad & Tobago celebrates Independence Day · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

White Hall, which serves as the Office of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Photo by Dan Lundberg on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Trinidad and Tobago celebrated its 58th anniversary of independence from Great Britain on August 31, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the occasion was not marked by a parade — only the third time in the nation's history that this has happened. The fireworks display, which traditionally takes place in the evening and draws large crowds of spectators, has also been cancelled.
With the country currently experiencing community spread of the virus, there are restrictions in place regarding public gatherings. Social distancing measures are also being encouraged and new legislation, which makes mask-wearing mandatory in public spaces, went into effect on Independence Day.
In his Independence Day address to the nation, Prime Minister Keith Rowley noted that COVID-19 represents an “immediate and serious” challenge. Calling people's efforts to prevent the spread of the virus is “an act of patriotism”, he added, and that “the threat of COVID-19 […] is literally in your hands.”
However, educator and columnist Debbie Jacob, though impressed with how the government handled the pandemic in its early stages, was disappointed by the way in which the two main political parties hosted large rallies in the lead-up to the August 10 general election, without mandating that supporters must wear masks and be properly distanced:
Both parties let us down and endangered us with their lackadaisical attitude in these political gatherings. You can’t expect us to listen to what you have been preaching about safety and then ignore what you did with senseless political meetings. […]
The least you could do now is admit you set a bad example while you complain daily about those not complying with your COVID-19 rules.
In his address, the prime minister also referred to the racist narratives that were being peddled during the election campaign, an issue that also caught the attention of educators, social commentators and political scientists.
Instead, the prime minister said, these times called for unity:
This is a time for coming together, a time for being responsible and being our brother’s keeper. This is a time for love.
President Paula-Mae Weekes also dealt with the subject of racism in her Independence Day address:
The General Election 2020 flipped Trinidad and Tobago over and exposed what can be described as its ugly underbelly […] laid bare seething tensions that have simmered between ethnicities, in particular Indo-Trinbagonians and Afro-Trinbagonians, albeit below the surface. […]
We would all have noticed the recent reduction in acrimonious cyber traffic, but the underlying issues and feelings have not magically disappeared. They have only been driven back underground to smoulder and foment continued bitterness until the next explosion.
Our only hope of treating with this scourge once and for all is to attack it at the root, recognising that it is the result of our histories—our origin, our arrival, our incorporation into the society and our politics.
Referring to a symposium titled “Understanding and Reconciling Race Relations in Trinidad and Tobago”, which the University of the West Indies live-streamed on August 30, the president called such initiatives “a good start”, but suggested that “a practical and sustainable programme under the umbrella of a national framework, must be developed with all urgency”:
A foundation of accurate, historical information is critical and safe spaces need to be created to facilitate the conversations, which ought to be cross-generational. […]
As disturbing as it was to witness the regrettable outpouring of hatred and intransigence over the last six weeks, it has afforded us the opportunity to bring intolerance out of the shadows and deal with it decisively.
Without blaming and shaming, let us at every level—personal, institutional, political, governmental, social—commit to consciously, resolutely and patriotically ridding our society of this divisive affliction.


text:
Japan reacts to tennis star Naomi Osaka’s protest in support of Black Lives Matter · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Naomi Osaka on leading tennis to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake.” Screencap from August 28, 2020, from ESPN official YouTube channel.
On August 27, Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka briefly suspended her participation in the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament in the United States following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Osaka's “new voice” against racism drew accolades and, predictably, criticism in Japan.
Jacob Blake's shooting in Wisconsin on August 23, 2020, part of a historical pattern of violence against Black and BIPOC people by police in the United States, has provoked massive criticism and civil disobedience across the United States.
Numerous athletes and sports teams staged wildcat strikes to protest Blake's shooting. In a tweet on August 27, Osaka stated she would withdraw from the Western & Southern Open tournament to “get a conversation started in a majority white sport” (tennis):
pic.twitter.com/miKzgSdGxY
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 27, 2020
Following Osaka's announcment, tournament organizers announced a pause in play on Thursday, August 27, with play to resume on Friday, August 28. Osaka then announced she would rejoin the tournament, returning to the tennis court wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
Statement made.
Quite the 48 hours from @naomiosaka ✊? pic.twitter.com/0hPzDWLNWC
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 28, 2020
In a statement to multiple news outlets, Osaka said:
As you know, I pulled out of the tournament yesterday in support of racial injustice and continued police violence. […] I was (and am) ready and prepared to concede the match to my opponent. However, after my announcement and lengthy consultation with the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and USTA (United States Tennis Association), I have agreed at their request to play on Friday. They offered to postpone all matches until Friday and in my mind that brings more attention to the movement.
Naomi Osaka, widely considered the top women's tennis player in the world, is a Japanese citizen with both Japanese and Haitian heritage, who grew up in the United States speaking Japanese and Creole. In order to conform with Japanese citizenship requirements, which do not permit dual-nationality, and represent Japan in the 2018 Olympics, Osaka relinquished American citizenship.
Osaka is a popular figure in Japan, thanks to her winning record on the tennis courts, and her playful online persona. However, Osaka has endured racist online attacks, sometimes for seemingly innocuous tweets, at other times for supporting and raising awareness about #BlackLivesMatter in Japan.
One popular Twitter user, who describes herself as a “Japanese-American Hapa” (a person who is partially of Asian or Pacific Islander descent), in a tweet shared tens of thousands of times rounded up the various criticisms made against Osaka in Japan:
大阪なおみさんの試合ボイコットに対する日本語コメントが最悪すぎる。
「やっぱり日本人じゃなかった」
「スポンサーに対して迷惑」
「こんなことしても無駄」
「警察に殺されるようなことをした本人が悪い」
全て拾いきれない。本当に酷い。
— あんな (@annaPHd9pj) August 27, 2020
The Japanese-language comments about Naomi Osaka's decision to boycott her tennis matches are absolutely terrible:
“I guess she isn't really Japanese, after all.”
“Think of the hardship her sponsors are facing.”
“Boycotting the matches doesn't do anything.”
“The guy who got shot by police deserved it.”
Yamaoka Tetsuhide, a prominent ultra-conservative commentator, chided Osaka in English, going so far as to use the diminutive and condescending honorific “chan” when addressing the global tennis superstar:
Naomi Chan, I know what you must feel but I think it’s a totally separate issue. You can freely express your concern by all means but please don’t walk away from tennis court as you are professional tennis player we love.
@naomiosaka https://t.co/eFJX6FQPbG
— 山岡鉄秀 (@jcn92977110) August 27, 2020
However, many more people in Japan showed their support of Osaka, including Fukuyama Kazuhito, a prominent lawyer and mayoral candidate in Kyoto.
大坂なおみさん
「私はアスリートである前に、黒人女性です。そして、私がテニスをするのを見てもらうより、もっと大事なことがあると思っています」
おそらく苦渋の選択だったと思う。私は支持する。 https://t.co/LwXxbOitnu
— 福山和人 (@kaz_fukuyama) August 27, 2020
Ms. Naomi Osaka:
“Before I'm an athlete I am a black woman. And as a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.”
Probably a tough choice. I support Naomi Osaka.
Huffington Post: “Naomi Osaka announces boycott of match to protest police shooting black man”
Ishigaki Noriko, a municipal councilor from Sendai and member of a prominent opposition party in Japan:
大坂なおみさんの抗議の意思表示と行動があって、大会が「人種差別や社会的な不公平に抗議するため」として試合を見合わせました。
大会側が彼女の主張に呼応したのだから出場に応じるのは何ら矛盾はありません。
構造的なあらゆる人種差別への抗議に連帯します。https://t.co/A3ew5hcIar
— 石垣のりこ (@norinotes) August 28, 2020
Thanks to Naomi Osaka's protest and activism, the tournament was postponed by tournament organizers as a “statement against racism and social injustice.” Osaka is not contradicting herself when she agreed to resume participation, since the tournament responded (to Osaka's message).
I stand in solidarity with the protest against all structural racism.
NHK article: “Naomi Osaka resumes participation in tennis tournament.”
When Osaka resumed play on Friday, August 28, she was forced to quickly withdraw once again, due to a pulled hamstring.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Beijing’s security law keeps transforming Hong Kong · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam at a press conference on August 18, 2020. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
This post, written by Jennifer Creery, was originally published by Hong Kong Free Press on September 1, 2020. The following version was lightly edited and is published via a content partnership with Global Voices.
Hong Kong’s national security law has thrown a city scarred by months of political unrest into further uncertainty, as millions continue to adjust to a new normal. Two months after its enactment, pro-democracy activists been rounded up and government officials targeted with tough sanctions amid an increasingly hairy diplomatic dispute between superpowers.
Below is a summary of key developments in August, two months after the new legislation that criminalises subversion, secession, foreign interference and inference with transportation and other infrastructure, came into effect.
In one of the boldest punitive actions yet, Washington imposed, on August 7, sanctions on 11 individuals accused of undermining Hong Kong’s “autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly of the citizens.” Chief Executive Carrie Lam, police chief Chris Tang, ex-police commissioner Stephen Lo, security secretary John Lee and justice secretary Teresa Cheng were among those listed, in a move designed to bar them from the US financial system.
Beijing hit back three days later, sanctioning 11 Americans – including senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – over “gross interference” in domestic affairs.
Weeks later, US authorities officially axed three bilateral agreements with Hong Kong on extradition and tax exemptions, while demanding exporters label their goods “Made in China” instead of “Made in Hong Kong” following the cancellation of the city’s special trading status.
France joined a growing list of countries suspending their extradition treaties with Hong Kong in light of the security law. Previously, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand – part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance – decided to do the same. Germany, meanwhile, halted their agreement due to the city’s decision to push back its legislative election by one year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August, Australia also introduced new visa arrangements for Hong Kong passport holders, making it easier for students, temporary graduates and skilled workers to gain permanent residency status.
Flooding into the offices of the maligned pro-democracy tabloid Apply Daily, hundreds of police officers conducted their most daring raid yet under the security legislation. They also nabbed owner Jimmy Lai, his two sons and four top staffers during the August 10 operation.
Local media reported that the Next Digital media mogul was arrested on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces – an offence under the new law – as well as fraud. Next Digital’s CEO, Cheung Kim-hung, CFO Royston Chow and COO Chow Tat-kuen were among those apprehended. Executive Mark Simon, who is overseas, remains wanted.
Later in the evening, the force arrested 23-year-old Agnes Chow – an ex-member of the now-disbanded political group Demosisto – and two former student activists, including a freelancer for the UK’s ITN Wilson Li also on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.
Multiple pro-democracy figures complained of being tailed by unknown individuals in August. Sunny Cheung, a former spokesperson of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation, wrote in a now-deleted post that he suspected three of his alleged stalkers were national security personnel.
Agnes Chow wrote on Facebook that “suspicious men” had appeared around the clock outside her house, filming using their phone and appearing to work in shifts.
Police tackled Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui to the ground after he confronted people inside a vehicle he believed had been following him. Beijing-funded Ta Kung Pao later confirmed the men were reporters for the newspaper.
Vice-Convener of the Civil Human Rights Front Figo Chan also complained of two men wandering around a radio station where he and fellow convenor Jimmy Sham were recording a programme on August 14.
Amid increased scrutiny of overseas military training, the UK announced it would temporarily halt its military training arrangement with the Hong Kong Police Force. A spokesperson for the ex-colonial power cited coronavirus restrictions but also highlighted Westminster’s concerns over the effect of the security law on civil liberties.
Six publishers revised the content in eight sets of Liberal Studies textbooks following a voluntarily screening by the Education Bureau, prompting censure from the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, which accused publishers of censoring sections on civil disobedience objectives.
The Catholic diocese also asked its primary and secondary schools to enhance students’ awareness of the security law and cultivate “correct values on national identity,” while guarding against campus politicisation.
Meanwhile, the city’s public broadcaster RTHK removed an interview with exiled ex-lawmaker Nathan Law, citing concerns over publishing material relating to an interviewee reportedly “wanted” on suspicion of violating the security law. There are no laws or regulations which state that the press cannot interview activists sought by police.
Foreign nationals hoping to work in Hong Kong have suffered months-long visa application delays and fewer approvals, often without explanation. The city serves as the Asian headquarters for many overseas companies and international news organisations.
Both Stand News and The Standard cited sources as saying work visas for journalists were being vetted by a new national security unit within the Immigration Department, stoking press freedom concerns.
Hong Kong Free Press last Thursday was denied a work visa for established journalist and incoming editor Aaron Mc Nicholas following an almost six-month wait. The Immigration Department’s rejection was handed down without an official reason.
In July, Hong Kong authorities refused to renew the work permit of The New York Times correspondent Chris Buckley, who was ousted from China amid a diplomatic dispute. The US newspaper also cited uncertainty over Hong Kong’s prospects as a regional hub in its decision to move half of its operations in the territory to the South Korean capital of Seoul.
The practice of denying or issuing short work visas to journalists is often seen in the mainland, where tighter reporting restrictions exist.
At around 9 a.m. on August 23, China’s marine police detained 12 people believed to be Hong Kong activists on a speedboat headed to Taiwan near Ninepin Islands, according to the Guangdong Coast Guard’s official Weibo account. It said the individuals were suspected of unlawfully crossing a national border.
Local media reported that activist Andy Li was among those seized. He was arrested under the national security law on August 10 during a round-up. All onboard the vessel were criminally charged – including in connection with homemade bomb cases – and had been released on bail.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
Serbian cartoons expose political manipulation about COVID-19 vaccines from China and/or Russia · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Panel from a cartoon by Miloš Dragojević (Stripom Protiv Diktature), depicting Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, used with permission.
Cartoonist Miloš Dragojević has been using the Facebook page Stripom protiv Diktature (Comics against Dictatorship) to make satirical commentaries on the political situation in Serbia. Several of his latest comics discuss the government’s lack of transparency about the source of vaccines against COVID-19 and the population’s reactions.
In a statement to Global Voices, he explained why he started to produce the digital cartoons:
Sa radom na kreiranju strip tabli na Stranici “Stripom protiv diktature” počeo sam tako što sam tražio način da izrazim bunt i iskažem neslagsnje sa stanjem u svojoj zemlji. Istovremeno želeo sam da što više ljudi vidi taj moj izraz. Tako sam našao efikasan način da kroz strip satiru ismejem, ali istovremeno i ukažem na loše pojave u društvu. Pre svega medju političirama.
I started the work on the comics for the page Comics against Dictatorship because I wanted to express my rebellion and disagreement with the situation in my country. At the same time, I wanted as many people as possible to be able to see that expression. I found that satirical comics is an effective way to both ridicule and expose bad developments in society, in particular those perpetrated by politicians.
While at first the Serbian government led by President Aleksandar Vučić downplayed the danger from the pandemic, after elections in June, there was a change in tone and the president took on the role of protector of the people from COVID-19. On July 15, Vučić announced that he is was in contact with a certain country that had already developed a vaccine and that it would be available in Serbia before the end of 2020.
When journalists inquired about which country the vaccine would be imported from, Vučić refused to disclose that information. He would only say that “soon we'll be signing a protocol for cooperation, but I can't tell you the name of the country.”
However, two weeks later the Serbian president announced that he had met with the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, Chen Bo, and “reiterated his gratitude for the support that Serbia received from China and President Xi Jinping, especially for the help rendered during the coronavirus epidemic,” noting that getting a vaccine was one of the topics of the meeting.
Since the clinical trials necessary for proper testing of vaccines take more than a few months, and can even take years, a large portion of the public was skeptical about the quality of such medical products. This skepticism was reflected in the following cartoon, featuring a caricature of supposed statements by Vučić and Xi.
Comics about the supposed use of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines in Serbia by Miloš Dragojević (Stripom Protiv Diktature), used with permission.
On August 11, Russia announced that it had produced a vaccine against COVID-19. Pro-Russian media, politicians and social media users in the Balkans started praising the controversial development, in particular, repeating the announcement that one of Putin's daughters had received the vaccine.
The same day the Serbian president reacted to the news about the Russian vaccine with a statement that he is “ready to be the first to receive the Russian vaccine,” as reported by Russia Today via Twitter.
The following comics from August 14 depict the change of position by elderly people, who are considered most susceptible to Russian influence and that of domestic populists who collude with Russia.
Comics about two typical pensioners discussing COVID-19 vaccines by Miloš Dragojević (Stripom Protiv Diktature), used with permission.
As Putin memes related to the vaccine flooded social media, one group from the Balkans remained uncharacteristically silent—the anti-vaxxers. Macedonian social media influencer Sloboda Jakoski commented on that aspect of the situation via Twitter.
Со радост констатирам дека некои од моите познаници антиваксери цело ова време биле само антизападњаци. Спасибо Русија!
— Slobodan Jakoski (@FlavrSavr) August 11, 2020
I acknowledge with gladness that some of my anti-vaxxer acquaintances were, in fact, just anti-Western all this time. Thank you, Russia!
In May 2020, the Serbian government announced that all adult citizens were eligible to receive a government grant of 100 euros (about 120 U.S. dollars) in one-off financial assistance. Opposition politicians noted that this redistribution of taxpayers’ money coincided with the continuation of the campaign for snap elections, rescheduled for June 21.
The issue was controversial, with some public personalities announcing they wouldn't take the money, usually saying they already had enough and that the aid should go to people who were more needy. Still, according to statements by government officials, the number of citizens who applied to get the 100 euros (6.2 millon) surpassed the number of citizens living in Serbia, implying that even many living abroad had applied.
The last cartoon by Miloš Dragojević caricatured the overwhelming reversal of positions by ordinary people, with the prospect of a state grant for recipients of the vaccine.
A comment on the U-turn on COVID-19 vaccines when money is involved, by Miloš Dragojević (Stripom Protiv Diktature), used with permission.
Miloš Dragojević spoke further on why he considers his comics activism important:
Ovo mi je važno iz ličnih razloga jer imam tu nekakvu potreba da ljudi čuju moje mišljenje i moj stav, a da to ne bude puko iznošenje mišljenja nego na jedan duhovit i pre svega direktan način. Dakle snažnom i kratkom porukom. Takodje pored ličnih razloga rukovodio sam se i željom da na neki način osvestim društvo. Da prodrmam ljude i nateram ih da počnu misliti svojom glavom, ali isto tako i da ne nasedaju na razne teorije zavera kojih su prepuni mediji i koje možete čuti na svakom koraku. Ljudi su u današnje vreme zbunjeni velikom količinom različitih i kontradiktornih informacija. Kada govorimo o vakcini protiv korona virusa to je posebno izraženo. Ja sam kroz svoje stripove pokušao dočarati koliko lako ljudi menjaju svoj stav o toj temi u zavisnosti od sopstvenih predrasuda koje su opet proizvod propagande kojoj su svakodnevno izloženi. Takodje hteo sam ukazati i na momenat manipulicaje i jeftinog skupljanja poena političara na ovoj ozbiljnoj temi koja nikako ne bi trebala da služi u te svrhe.
This work is important to me from personal reasons, as I have a need for people to hear my opinion and positions. I didn't just want to say it plainly, but to come across in a witty and direct way, with a strong but short message. I also have a personal urge to bring awareness to society in some way—to shake the people and make them think on their own, as well as not to buy in to various conspiracy theories promoted by the media and word of mouth. Today, people are confused because of the large amount of different and contradictory information. This is especially notable with regard to the vaccine against the coronavirus. I tried to use my comics to show how easy it is for people to change their positions depending on their own prejudices, which in turn results from the daily exposure to propaganda. I also wanted to denounce the manipulations by politicians, the cheap collecting of political points via this serious issue which, ethically, should not be abused in that way.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Young Cubans capture beauty and resilience with photographs of the COVID-19 lockdown · Global Voices
Periodismo de Barrio

“Returning to the sea fills me with strength and peace.” (Photo by Josué Corujo, used with permission).
This article was originally published by Periodismo de Barrio and edited by Global Voices. This is the link to the original article.
Cuba entered a partial lockdown at the end of March and began relaxing restrictions on July 20. After a new wave of infections in Havana in August, the country once again canceled international flights and closed beaches, restaurants, and bars. So far, the death toll on the island is 91.
During the first lockdown, in mid-June, elTOQUE ’s newsroom and Periodismo de Barrio launched the “After April” Online Photography Workshop with the aim of creatively documenting life on the island while the April lockdowns were in full swing.
For almost a month, young Cubans exchanged skills and knowledge about photography. Through social networks and a group on the platform Telegram, they formed a community of around 70 people who taught and learned collectively, while sharing photos and experiences.
Among the photographs in the workshop, there were portraits, landscapes, and building façades that had an impact on the memory of the participants.
Although the workshop is officially over, the After April group is still active on Telegram. So far, around 570 photos have been shared and 45 were submitted for the call. In this gallery, we published 13 of the 24 photographs that were included in the final selection.
A teenager wearing his face mask with the word ‘COVID’ written like a brand name. (Photo by Randy B., used with permission).
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, I met these angels. Due to the deterioration of the statue, it seems that it sheds a tear. (Photo by Raimel Fernández, used with permission).
Returning to the sea fills me with strength and peace. (Photo by Josué Corujo, used with permission).
“During the lockdown, I tried to photograph a hummingbird. When I succeeded, I was struck by how nature follows its rhythm, apart from the human being.” (Photo by Randy B., used with permission).
She learned the skill as a child and she still remembers it. (Photo by Roger TM, used with permission).
“It's a joy for me to photograph my grandmother. Having her around these months is an immense gift.” (Photo by Josué Corujo, used with permission).
“As I was missing my trips to the countryside, nature decided to visit me.” (Photo by Gabriela Molina, used with permission).
“The months of lockdown were harder for those of us who did not have beautiful views from our windows. Or maybe that's what we believed.” (Photo by Amarilis Magaña, used with permission).
“Conversation. Always at the beginning and at the end of the day.” (Photo by Roger TM, used with permission).
“Being locked up at home sometimes felt like looking into a bottomless well.” (Photo by Gabriela Molina, used with permission).
“In the Japanese Garden, we were the same group of friends always enjoying the trips.” (Photo by Luisma del Valle, used with permission).
“This is a personal photo because these are my girlfriend's feet. We pretend it rains (using a hose with water) and the image represents her walking and me always behind her, regardless of life's difficulties.” (Photo by Randy B., used with permission).
“The colorful sunset, but without colors.” (Photo by Roger TM, used with permission).

author: Periodismo de Barrio


text:
Youth-led protests in Thailand get support from citizens demanding ‘real democracy’ · Global Voices
Prachatai

People gathering around the Democracy Monument during the August 16 protest. Photo and caption from Prachatai
This article is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, edited and republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The mass protest at Democracy Monument in Bangkok on August 16 has now been dubbed the largest protest in Thailand since the 2014 coup. More than 20,000 people joined the demonstration which started at 3 pm and went on until around 11 pm.
On the main stage, speakers took turns giving speeches about many issues from violations of human rights in schools, gender equality, and labor rights to the issues facing people in the southern provinces. They also continued pressing for the three demands made at the mass protest on July 18: stop harassing citizens, draft a new constitution, and dissolve parliament.
The group also added that the demands are made on the conditions that there must not be a military coup or a national unity government and that there is “one dream,” in which they hope to see a democracy with the monarch under the constitution.
Prachatai spoke to a number of participants who attended the demonstration.
Members of three student organizations from Chulalongkorn University — the Faculty of Political Science Student Union, the Faculty of Arts Student Committee, and the Student Government of Chulalongkorn University — joined the protest as observers, setting up a table on the footpath along Ratchadamneon Road to hand out raincoats, water, and snacks to protesters.
One of the students said that they did not meet any resistance from their lecturers or university administration in deciding to come to observe the protest. She said that the lecturers have been helpful, telling the students that they can give them a call if they need help, but they did not show their support openly.
The standpoint of all three organizations is always to support democracy, therefore, whatever we do, we will stand on the side of democracy, and help those who share our ideology here.
A family with a young child came from Pathum Thani [central Thailand, north of capital Bangkok] to join the demonstration, holding a sign saying “Here for our child’s future”. When asked about their dreams of the future, the parents said that they would like to see a more equal world and a new government.
While there is an impression that protesters are often students, the couple noted that they also notice working people and older people joining the protests. They also said that the protesters were friendly and were there because of something they believe in.
It’s time that change needs to happen. Right now, frankly, we’re not here for our own future, but for our child’s future. He shouldn’t have to grow up with something like this, so we have to join and show our power. Even if we’re just a small voice, we want to come and encourage everyone.
A senior citizen protester holding a placard at the Democracy Monument. Photo from Prachatai.
A senior citizen was seen at the Democracy Monument holding a sheet of paper with the message: “We need real democracy.” When asked why he joined the protest, he said:
I came to the protest because I have never seen any prime minister lie to the people this much in my life. He lied to other countries that we don’t have violations of rights. He lied that he will listen to the young people, but people still get harassed. What I would like to see the country change is that it has to follow the students’ 10 demands. Those 10 demands are the best. If we could do it, then the country will really be a democracy.

author: Prachatai


text:
Nigeria’s Abubakar Idris Dadiyata still missing, one year after abduction · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Abubakar Idris Dadiyata, image used with permission from The SignalNg.
Abubakar Idris Dadiyata, a lecturer and fierce critic of the Nigerian government, was abducted from his home on August 1, 2019,  in the Barnawa neighbourhood of Kaduna, in northwestern Nigeria.
One year after his abduction, Dadiyata has not been found.
Abubakar Idris (Didiyata) was abducted from his home in Kaduna state, Nigeria. His whereabouts still not known. His family and friends are demanding answer to the question: where is @dadiyata? Abubakar is a victim of enforced disappearance. #DayoftheDisappeared #FreeDadiyata. pic.twitter.com/3DtPxMVK3C
— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) August 30, 2019
Dadiyata taught at Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State. As a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Dadiyata often sparred with members of the ruling All Progressive Congress party on social media.
Dadiyata was forcefully taken by abductors at about 1 a.m. as he arrived at his home, a year ago on August 1, 2019, Premium Times reported.
Kadija, Dadiyata’s wife recalls in an interview with BBC that her husband was “making a phone call, his car was still running,” when he was seized by his abductors. Although Kadija could not hear what “ensued over the phone or who he was talking to,” she recalled that her husband's abductors “had followed him, they even came into the house.” Dadiyata’s wife watched from her room as they drove her husband away.
Sadly, there’s still no information about Dadiyata’s whereabouts. “It is painful,” Kadija told the BBC, as their children keep asking about their missing father.
Rather than finding Dadiyata, Nigerian security agencies are absolving themselves from any form of guilt or blame for his disappearance.
Nigeria’s Department of State Security (DSS) had in January denied having Dadiyata in their custody. The state security agency stated that since Dadiyata “was taken away from his house by some armed men does not suggest that those men were DSS staff.”
Similarly, Aisha Dikko, the attorney general of Kaduna State, denied knowing the “whereabouts” or of being involved “whatsoever” in Dadiyata’s abduction. “Anything to the contrary is a vile assertion that seeks to stretch the fact that he was abducted within Kaduna State to mean the involvement of the state government,” said Dikko.
However, these denials by DSS and Kaduna State Government neither mitigates the agony of Dadiyata’s wife and their two children — nor does it restore his liberty.
The plea for Dadiyata’s release still echoes on Twitter in this hashtag #OneYearWithOutDadiyata, as Nigerians demand his release.
Bulama Bukarti lamented about the “trauma” that this “kind of impunity” has caused Dadiyata's family:
It’s unfathomable how a Nigerian would disappear just like that. We must continue to do everything we can to get Dadiyata reunited with his family. There must be no place for this kind of impunity. Those that abducted Dadiyata will pay the price. If not now, definitely later.
— Bulama Bukarti (@bulamabukarti) August 1, 2020
This Twitter user was “shattered” on hearing Dadiyata's wife interview:
I was shattered to hear Dadiyata’s wife speak to @bbchausa, this morning.
All she is demanding is for his holders to forgive him and let him come back to his family; especially his little children. #OneYearWithOutDadiyata
— Anders (@Ameenu_Kutama) August 1, 2020
Akin Akíntáyọ̀ cannot understand how Dadiyata can “disappear without a trace for a year:”
One question, how can Dadiyata and his car disappear without trace for a year in Nigeria and the government be just so nonchalant about it, seeking exculpation rather than taking full responsibility for finding him, especially when they were a target of his criticism? https://t.co/pIvl5q6vgt
— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ ?? #European (@forakin) September 1, 2020
Unfortunately, it seems as if nobody cares about finding the critic.
Rather “both the state and federal agencies are busy” avoiding blame and “doing nothing” states human rights activist Professor Chidi Odinkalu in an interview with Vyral Africa:
Besides saying that they don’t know where he is. Nobody has really made the effort to tell us what they have done to find him and how it is that they can’t account for him. It tells you how so little we matter as citizens. The least we can do is ask where Dadiyata is and why can’t our government find him.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike