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An impossible task: Serbia on the European path, hand in hand with Russia and China · Global Voices
Istinomer

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Minister of Defense of People's Republic of China Wei Fenghe, March 26, 2021. Publicity photo by Presidency of Serbia/Dimitrije Goll. Use permitted.
This story by Nikolija Čodanović, a journalist of Istinomer (Truth-O-Meter), a fact-checking initiative of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), originally appeared on Transitions. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
Serbia keeps touting the country’s progress in aligning itself with EU foreign policy, but real gains won’t happen with Kosovo on the agenda.
At the beginning of September, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić traveled to the shores of stunning Lake Bled in Slovenia to talk about the future of Europe. He was one of many leaders to appear at this year’s 16th Bled Strategic Forum and took the opportunity to complain about a lack of will in the EU for enlargement and how “the Europeans and Americans are preoccupied with China.”
Vučić confided to the media: “As soon as they move away from the cameras — and in front of the cameras, their topics are the green agenda and climate change — all that is left is China.”
But, aside from the gossip, Vučić had a chance for something more significant: to push his country’s European prospects with Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, the European Union body that brings together EU leaders to set the bloc’s political agenda. Vučić later boasted to journalists that he had told Michel that Serbia had delivered on a promise to align its foreign policy closer to the EU, while still protecting its national interests.
“What is important is that we have made our promise to raise the rate of alignment with European Union foreign policy decisions, and we have lifted it from 48.28 percent to more than 62 percent,” Vučić said, adding that “specific limitations” existed concerning “the complex binding” of Serbian interests related to Kosovo.  The  process was also “not as simple as it looks.”
Most Serbian analysts would agree with that assessment, though they would likely place the source of the complexity elsewhere. The country may, theoretically, increase its “rate of alignment” (the numbers, are, however, debatable, as indicated below) but only so much progress can be made as long as Vučić and his government put so much stock in strategic relationships with China and Russia. With both countries, the public focus is on boosting economic cooperation, especially with China, as reflected in the growth of investment in recent years.  Serbia depends on Moscow for natural gas, and some officials see potential in the free trade agreement signed in 2019 with the Russia-dominated Eurasian Economic Union. In addition, good relations with Moscow remain important to a large segment of the electorate and can be used for internal political reasons.
At the heart of the government’s goodwill toward Russia and China, however, remains Kosovo, whose independence, along with Serbia, they have refused to recognize. Belgrade clearly hopes that Beijing and Moscow will continue to have the country’s back in the UN Security Council over any resolutions concerning Kosovo.
77% of respondents in Serbia to a recent Center for Free Elections and Democracy survey thought China had a positive influence on Serbia and 72% believed the same of Russia. Only 26% thought so highly of the EU and 15% of the United States.
The first article of the Serbian Constitution sets out a European agenda for the country:
“The Republic of Serbia is a state of the Serbian people and all citizens who live in it, based on the rule of law and social justice, principles of civil democracy, human and minority rights and freedoms, and commitment to European principles and values.”
At least on paper, Serbia is taking the European path. It became a candidate for EU membership in 2012 and since then has begun negotiating 18 out of 35 accession “chapters,” but only two have been provisionally closed and no talks on further chapters have begun for almost two years.
One of the most critical unopened chapters is the one on foreign, security, and defense policy. According to the European Commission’s progress report for 2020, Serbia had achieved “some progress when parliament adopted new security and defense strategies.” However, “the alignment patterns remained largely unchanged,” and “A number of statements and pledges were made by high-level officials which went contrary to EU positions on foreign policy.”
Contrary to Vučić’s claims, the Belgrade-based International and Security Affairs Center (ISAC) recorded a minor drop in the percentage of Serbia’s foreign policy positions that followed the EU line, putting the total percentage in 2020 at 56 percent. ISAC said the lowest alignment rate in Serbia so far was 47 percent in 2017, while the highest rate stood at 66 percent in 2015.
One of the authors of the analysis, Igor Novaković, said the study demonstrated that Serbia’s position mainly contrasted with the EU when it came to EU policies related to Russia and China. He assumes that Serbia’s positions were payback for the support these countries showed in the Security Council regarding the question of Kosovo.
“If there are fewer [EU policy] statements related to Russia and China then the number of statements we support, meaning the alignment rate, increases,” Novaković said. For example, he recalled that in 2012 and 2013, the alignment was over 90 percent, but, back then, almost no EU statements had referred to Russia and China. “This explains everything,” he added, saying that just quoting percentages without analyzing which issues are conflict points reveals little.
Vladimir Međak, a former assistant director of the Serbian government’s Office for European Integration, agrees that alignment percentages are not what matters. Međak is now vice president of the European Movement in Serbia, an NGO advocating for the country’s full European integration.
“Numbers are completely irrelevant if you go to Washington and sign an agreement on relocating the embassy to Jerusalem and appoint an ambassador to Damascus, absolutely contrary to EU foreign policy positions,” Međak said, adding that Serbia “is far beyond the point where a percentage can impress anyone.” He doubts that anything can be done to improve the country’s adherence to EU foreign policy positions since so much relates to Kosovo.
Adopting an “independent” foreign policy, as the government describes it, is “the equivalent of ‘not aligned with the foreign policy of the European Union,’ ” Međak said. “What has Serbia gained by opening an embassy in Syria, as it has only created a problem with the EU?”
According to Međak, Serbia might be mouthing agreement with EU foreign policy, but the reality is elsewhere.
“We have introduced sanctions against [Belarusian President Alyaksandr] Lukashenka and supported the European Union’s reprimand of Lukashenka, and then apologized to him. That’s clearly saying, ‘We had to do that because of the EU, but we don’t really believe it.’ ”
If Serbia talks about European values and acts completely the opposite, it is only a matter of time until someone will ask if Serbia is at all compatible with the EU, he said.
“Are our values more compatible with Lukashenka and [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or the European Union?” Međak asks. “The decision on our accession to the European Union will be adopted by countries that seriously uphold human rights.”
ISAC’s Novaković also pointed out the significance of alignment for those deliberating about Serbia’s future. “By aligning, we are demonstrating that one day we will be willing to act within the political framework of the European Union and that we will also be taking account of the interests of the European Union member states,” he said.
If that does not end up happening, all will not be lost, some of Vučić’s closest collaborators believe. Current Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin, back when he was defense minister, once said that Serbia would not beg to join Europe if Europe didn’t want Serbia.
“We don’t have to be a member of anything, but we have to preserve our dignity and see what our political and economic interests are,” Vulin said. “Europe doesn’t want us? We will find a way to be wanted by other big and powerful countries.”

author: Istinomer


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When athletes get political: Support for the Uyghurs ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics · Global Voices
Kok Bayraq

NBA player Enes Kanter, back row centre, stands surrounded by Uyghur, Tibetan, Taiwanese and Hong Kong activists during a rally in Washington D.C.. Screengrab from the Talk East Turkestan YouTube channel.
Why would there be a connection between certain sports celebrities and the Uyghur genocide? As China continues to crack down on dissidents and the non-Han Chinese population in its western Xinjiang region, activism and media attention is rising on the Uyghur question, while the Chinese government is adopting textbook propaganda measures to dismiss claims of systemic violence. Reports say that more than one million people are detained in so-called “re-education camps.”
Athletes have increasingly used their platform to shift the public’s attention and influence the agenda of international issues. Despite the perks of wealth and attention, some of the most famous sports stars cannot be at peace when they learn of a tragedy of such a scale.
Enes Kanter, a U.S. basketball player of Turkish descent, is one of them. Now playing in the NBA for the famed Boston Celtics, Kanter used his social media platforms to publicly call for an end to the Uyghur genocide in East Turkestan (the name that Uyghurs prefer for “Xinjiang,” which they consider a Chinese colonial term) with a post and a video on Twitter and Instagram.
Heartless Dictator of China,
XI JINPING and the Communist Party of China.
I am calling you out in front of the whole world.
Close down the SLAVE labor camps and free the UYGHUR people!
Stop the GENOCIDE, now!#FreeUyghurs pic.twitter.com/eEoiw5Uz2K
— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) October 22, 2021
In the video, Kanter said:
There is a genocide happening right now. Right now, as I speak this message, torture, rape, forced abortions, sterilizations, family separations, arbitrary detentions, concentration camps, political re-education, forced labor … this is all happening right now to more than 1.8 million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China.
Former NBA star Royce White, German footballer Mesut Özil, French NBA player Rudy Gobert, and French footballer Antoine Griezmann have also spoken out on the same case.
In July, White stated:
Two million ethnic minorities in East Turkestan, China, are in concentration camps. It’s something we got to talk about, you know? I’m always going to talk about the real thing.
More vigilance, courage, and dedication are required, he added:
When it doesn’t suit anybody to talk about justice and freedom, that’s when you should talk about it.
In Kanter's video message, he also called on other Muslim athletes to take a stance. He singled out Egyptian professional footballer Mohamed Salah, ex-NBA star Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, British professional boxer Amir Khan, asking them to “say something, do something, speak up!”
In his video message, Kanter reflected on the plight of the Uyghurs, pointing the finger towards the Chinese government.
The Chinese government has been taking sweeping measures to crack down on the Uyghur people, simply because they embrace their own religion, their own culture, language, history, and identity. The Uyghur region has become an open-air prison and surveillance state, where freedoms are non-existent for the Uyghur people. The Chinese government has sent Uyghurs along with Kazakhs, Tajiks, and other Muslim groups to concentration camps for simply applying for a passport, for texting someone overseas, or for believing in anything that does not align with the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda.
In recent years, Uyghurs were able to report their plight on social media platforms, such as TikTok, using secret codes, such as posting photos with their missing relatives in the background and showing the number of missing family members by holding up their fingers. Some tried to expose the tragedy through emojis, a jarring landscape of disintegrated families. Only a few months ago, a video posted across various social media platforms showed an Uyghur teenager who lost her father shouting, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddyyyyyyyy!!!” With just one word, she voiced the grief of so many.
All of these messages were swiftly deleted by state censorship and the account holders were not seen online again. Activists fear they could have been transferred to re-education camps.
The day after Kanter's public criticism, the NBA’s Chinese broadcast partner Tencent erased all highlights and live streams of Celtics games. China’s foreign ministry accused him of “clout-chasing.”
In 2019, Mesut Özil, a German football player of Turkish descent, paid a high price for his position on the Uyghur issue. At the time, Özil was playing for Arsenal, in the English Premier League. One bold statement meant that he was effectively blacklisted from his team and football merchandising. On his personal pages on Twitter and Instagram, he wrote:
Qurans are being burnt. Mosques are being shut down. Muslim schools are being banned. Religious scholars are being killed. Brothers are forcefully being sent to camps.
Arsenal immediately distanced itself from Özil’s comments, and Chinese state broadcasters China Central Television and PP Sports responded two days later by removing the match between Arsenal and Manchester City from their TV schedules. Özil’s name and character were removed from Chinese Internet providers and the gaming platformeFootball PES 2020. The Chinese Football Association deemed his comments “unacceptable.” Some have suggested that Özil's eventual release from the Arsenal squad was related to his support for the Uyghur cause.
Some stars prefer to remain silent or profess their ignorance of the Uyghur situation to ensure continued profits from the large Chinese market. In May, former U.S. wrestler and actor John Cena apologized to China for unknowingly referring to Taiwan as a country, contradicting the “One China” policy. Cena gave his apology in both English and Mandarin during the promotional campaign for the film F9.
For years, the NBA, like many other for-profit sports federations, has courted the Chinese market, where it organized games, player visits, and at least one controversial training camp in Xinjiang, with which it cut ties in 2019. NBA players are bound by a contract with the organization, which also affects their public statements. Going against NBA policies could mean a fine for players, staff, or franchise owners.
In 2019, the management of the NBA and Houston Rockets‘ star James Harden apologized to the Chinese government after the team's general manager, Daryl Morey, expressed support for Hong Kong protesters.
Adam Silver, the head of the NBA, said in a radio interview that his organization follows U.S. foreign policy when it comes to its relationship with China.
At the end of the day, we’re a U.S. company and we’re going to follow, you know, American policy towards China.
Today, the Uyghur genocide is no secret: the stories of those detained can be found in several leaked documents and camp survivors’ memoirs.
Although sparse and tightly controlled, the information is out. Why is there no widespread, strong opposition to Beijing hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics? The reason seems straightforward: There are more John Cenas than Enes Kanters in the world of professional sports.
The choice between standing alongside the Uyghurs and participating in the Beijing Olympics is a striking example of an age-old dilemma—athletes must choose between money and the truth.
Superstars may not able to stop a genocide, but they contribute to silencing opposition to it by distracting the world’s attention and, as in the Uyghur case, by apologizing to the oppressor and participating in their propaganda—and attending the Winter Olympics.
In July, Uyghur leader Rabiye Qadeer expressed her gratitude for the stars who voiced their desire to stop Uyghur genocide:
China is preparing for the Olympics on the one hand, and on the other hand, committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Some are turning a blind eye to the Uyghur genocide just because they are afraid of losing money and glory from the Olympics, and some are afraid of displeasing China. It’s up to the conscience of the people not to take it, but [to] stars like Royce White … [who] has done his job as a star and a human being in the face of a human tragedy today, I congratulate them.
Uyghur activists and those who work to stop the genocide would benefit from the support of world-class athletes joining in their cry for freedom.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kok Bayraq


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Indonesian official tries to silence Greenpeace activists, changes course amid criticism · Global Voices
Sydney Allen

“Kalimantan deforestation and degradation 3″ by DFAT photo library is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Indonesian environmentalists were embroiled in conflict this week after the Legal Mafia Eradication Committee, led by Secretary Husin Shahab, reported two Greenpeace Indonesia activists to the police for criticizing President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) deforestation and environmental policies. Shahab claimed their criticisms were untrue and violated Indonesia's controversial Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law).
The ITE law is famously broad and allows the government to regulate online information in the name of stopping so-called misinformation.
The controversy started on November 2 during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), where 141 (as of November 12) signatories, including Jokowi, signed a pledge to end deforestation by 2030. Within days, Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the nation would prioritize economic development over the environment and called the pledge unfair, seemingly backtracking on Indonesia's commitment.
That same day, President Jokowi gave a speech at the conference in which he seemed to downplay Indonesia's deforestation history and environmental impact, “Indonesia deforestation data 2019–2020 has been becoming the lowest level since the last two decades,” said Jokowi. “Such achievement is undeniable.”
Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner M. Iqbal Damanik responded by saying, “It can be said that Jokowi's claims are all nonsense.” And the Greenpeace Indonesia Instagram account released numerous reports and posts debunking Jokowi's claims and contrasting them with long-term data, noting that deforestation more than doubled in the last two decades, going from  2.45 million hectares of forest between 2003–2011 to 4.8 million hectares from 2011–2019.
A post shared by Greenpeace Indonesia (@greenpeaceid)
STOP DEFORESTATION
New research reveals how deforestation threatens the lives of all of us. Regency. Berau, East Kalimantan witnessed a significant increase in temperature during 2002-2018 due to deforestation.
Land clearing and extractive development models have accelerated the impact of the Climate Crisis around us. The option that must be chosen immediately is to protect the remaining forests in Indonesia.
Serious commitment from the government is needed to evaluate policies that occur in natural forest areas. It's time to stop destroying the last stronghold of tropical forests in the world.
#Climate Crisis #Deforestation #HutanKalimantan
In response, Shahab reported the chairmen of Greenpeace Indonesia, Leonard Simanjuntak and Kiki Taufik, to the Polda Metro Jaya, Jakarta's regional police force. He told CNN Indonesia: “Criticism if it's true, it's accurate, it's just criticism. If it's not true, it can be fake news. Yes, (reported using the ITE law) because there are several groups who also feel aggrieved.”
The move drew much criticism online.
Shameful act.
Deforestation esp in Kalimantan is so real, every Indonesian knows. Just wait there's more and more floods on the way.
— Nia (@holidinafiha) November 15, 2021
After the announcement, the Greenpeace activists had to report to the police station. Greenpeace Indonesia campaigner Asep Komarudin told Tempo Indonesia:
We’ve heard about this report from our media partners, and there has been no call from the police. We will deal with this, even though we are now focusing on the climate crisis which requires concrete action from the government.
Shahab has since withdrawn his report to avoid “politicization” and the insinuations that the government does not welcome criticism.
In a press conference, Director of General Criminal Investigation of the Polda Metro Jaya, Tubagus Ade Hidayat, said, “After discussions, finally the police report that was made was revoked, it was stopped.” He continued, “He doesn't want this to be politicized, he doesn't want this to be seen as a form of anti-critical government, he doesn't want that problem to happen.”

author: Sydney Allen


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More leeway to the ship recycling industry from the environmental authorities in Bangladesh triggers criticism · Global Voices
Rezwan

Huge ship carcasses pollute the environment: Shipwreck seen in Chattogram, Bangladesh. Image from Flickr by Stéphane M. Grueso. CC BY-SA 2.0
What happens when a ship dies? They are sent to hazardous graveyards in places like India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan to be dismantled and sold as scrap. However, the process is labour intensive and lacks safety measures, making it one of the world's dangerous industries.
The environmental authorities in Bangladesh recently downgraded the status of the ship recycling industry from red to orange, meaning that ship-breakers will no longer be required to obtain an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) outlining the impact of the industry on soil, water, air and human health. This has drawn criticism from environmental activists.
Each year around 700 of the approximate 45,000 ocean-going ships in the world go out of commission and are sent to ship breaking yards. The ship breaking industry was mainly concentrated in industrialist countries until the 1960s and 1970s, but they began to move to take advantage of the cheap labour in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, most of the 150 shipbreaking yards are located near the port city of Chattogram (formerly Chittagong) on the Bay of Bengal. The industry has created employment for the poverty-stricken locals and meets a majority of the country's iron demand for both raw materials and finished products.
In the past few years, Bangladesh has secured the top position by dismantling almost half of the ships scrapped in the world and it remains on top in the first three quarters of 2021. The reason for the growth is the local demand for steel and relaxed environmental regulations. Bangladesh, like India, has almost no iron mines and depends on steel for their growing manufacturing industries.
About 50,000 people work in the shipyards in Chattogram, and the majority of the labour (over 40 percent) in this industry are between the ages of 18 and 22. Each year, dozens of workers die due to work-related accidents.
Ship breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh has unusually high number of work related fatalities and injuries.
Due to extreme poverty and political situations in Chittagong hill tracts many Jummas also working in ship breaking yard and carrying out such dangerous jobs.
(Thread) pic.twitter.com/Y9stZqYbKu
— The Silenced Voices of CHT (@SaveCHT) June 23, 2021
The activities of ship breaking include removing all types of furniture, fittings, gears, engines, all the way to cutting down and recycling the ship's steel structures. The workforce in Bangladesh is mostly uneducated, untrained and malnourished and they do these tasks manually without protective equipment of any kind.
THREAD: #Shipbreaking in Bangladesh. Wealthy western companies maximise profits while abusing the right to life of impoverished workers, dumping toxic hazardous 1/16 pic.twitter.com/UWu5GoCK8H
— Leigh Day (@LeighDay_Law) July 24, 2020
According to Shipbreaking Platform, an NGO focused on the perils of ship breaking, the concerns about the industry in Bangladesh include hazardous working conditions, fatal accidents, exploitation of child workers, and severe pollution of soil and water as well as the dumping of hazardous wastes.
Several studies, including this one done in 2015 by M. I. Talukder, A. N. M. Fakhruddin and M. A. Hossain confirm the presence of various types of heavy metals several times above the safe limits in the shipyard area, its adjoining agricultural lands, and the ocean. These harmful metals are entering the human body through the crops produced in the land and causing cancer and other terminal illnesses.
Manual ship breaking in Chattogram, Bangladesh. Image via Flickr by Adam Cohn. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
In a landmark verdict in 2009, a Bangladeshi High Court ordered the Department of Environment (DoE) to stop all ship breaking yards operating without environmental clearance following litigation by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA). The court further ordered that no vessel for dismantling that is not pre-cleaned of hazardous materials be imported by Bangladeshi ship breakers.
There are several laws in Bangladesh related to the recycling of the ships — such as the Shipbreaking and recycle rules (2011), Bangladesh Ship Recycling Act (2018) — which stipulate several measures and requirements to address the challenges of the industry and the safety of the workers and the environment. However, most of them are not being implemented.
In April 2016, a Bangladesh High Court issued a contempt ruling against top government officials and the president of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association for not implementing its March 2009 directive on forming a committee for the impartial supervision of ship breaking activities and ensuring the safety of workers and protection of the environment. As per a report by online news portal Bdnews24.com in November 2016, there were only 12 applications for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted for the over 190 ships that arrived in that year.
According to the Environment Conservation Rules-1997, the industries categorised red have the highest obligation to comply with environmental guidelines requiring the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a prerequisite for ship breaking activities. Over the years, there has been a lot of lobbying and pleas from the entrepreneurs of the industry demanding the cancellation of the requirement of the EIA, citing delays in getting the certificate, which usually takes months. The October 10 downgrading of the status of the ship breaking industry from red to orange can be seen as giving in to this demand.
On the Daily Star Facebook page, Md Robel comments on the news:
পরিবেশের বারোটা বাজিয়ে নিত্য নতুন আইন!! বা খুব সুন্দর!!!
A new law damaging the environment!! Oh very nice!!!
Mujahid Hoque Tuhin commented on the same thread:
দিন দিন অধিদপ্তর গুলো এতো ক্ষমতা হারাচ্ছে কেন? কেন সব প্রকার মালিকদের কাছে অধিদপ্তর গুলো জিম্মি??? টাকাই কি সব নাকি ভিতরে ভিতরে অন্য কোন………………??
Why are the authorities losing power day by day? Why are they held hostage by all types of owners??? Is money behind all or (there is) any other reason ……………… ??
On November 14, 2021, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association served a legal notice on the authorities concerned seeking the cancellation of the status change. It remains to be seen how the authorities and the court react to this.

author: Rezwan


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‘Strollout’: Australia’s word of 2021 alludes to the slow vaccine rollout and delayed climate action · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison receives the COVID-19 vaccine.  Screenshot ABC news video February 2021
The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) has chosen ‘strollout’ as its 2021 word of the year in an apparent dig at Australia's slow vaccine rollout. The choice has stirred much controversy online, as many question the politically charged nature of the word.
Our Word of the Year for 2021 is ‘strollout': the slow implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program in Australia. Read more about our choice and the shortlist here: https://t.co/2pLBnuYkIO pic.twitter.com/IzU5dfFLK0
— ANDC (@ozworders) November 16, 2021
The leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, has been credited with using the word publicly for the first time in May 2021.
We don’t have a vaccine rollout, we have a vaccine strollout.
Aged and disability care workers were all meant to be vaccinated by now. They are not. It’s less than three weeks until winter – where is the urgency?
— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) May 13, 2021
Sally credited Assistant Secretary Liam O'Brien for originally using the word, though it's since taken off in pop culture and social media. Comedian Charlie Pickering used it in a satirical video in April, mocking the nation's underwhelming COVID-19 response.
Despite the widespread responses when Sally McManus first tweeted the word in May 2021, some are claiming to have never heard it used, including some high profile media personalities:
I doubt any of Scotty’s media mates have used the word ‘strollout’ because they never criticised the rate of vaccine rollout!https://t.co/wTB3OXewju
— LSB ? (@shakantala) November 16, 2021
Many blamed Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the low vaccine supply, especially during the first half of 2021. Morrison also drew widespread criticism for suggesting the rollout was ‘not a race’, essentially condoning the lackadaisical vaccine rate.
Since then, some of his other policies have been described as a strollout on social media, including his perceived lack of real action over carbon emissions:
Think ‘Strollout’ is a fabulous addition. It describes everything the #Morrison #government does to delay and divert attention from #failure, #discrimination and #crime. The biggest ‘strollout’ is the current fantasy #ClimateAction pamphlet presented at @COP26 by @LiberalAus https://t.co/r72dVdNcE1
— ??Kate Crawford ? (@kate_eviva) November 17, 2021
Cartoonists thrive on this kind of stoush (an Australianism for fight or argument). Veteran Peter Broelman led the way. His alternative (compound) word of the year, ‘The government is a bunch of heartless climate-denying rorting crooks who only look after themselves’ was too long to fit on a page’, is certainly a mouthful:
My word! #auspol #strollout pic.twitter.com/3ae9fENohN
— Peter Broelman (@Broelman) November 17, 2021
The 2020 word of the year was also COVID-19 related. The word, ‘iso’, short for the isolation that comes with lockdowns, aptly described the bleak tone of 2020. ANDC Researcher, Mark Gwynn, explained:
Our fondness for abbreviating words in Australia, and a natural human inclination to make the unknown and scary familiar, quickly saw the descriptive term ‘self-isolation’ shortened to iso in March this year.
Some have taken this to heart and even shortened Prime Minister Scott Morrison's name to Scomo, which his critics have twisted into the Twitter hashtag #Slomo.
This isn't the first time Australia's word of the year has dipped into political territory. The 2016 winner’ democracy sausage‘ was very popular — though not without its share of controversy for being a compound phrase. The ANDC defined it as ‘A barbecued sausage served on a slice of bread, bought at a polling booth sausage sizzle on election day’.
The revised hardcopy edition of the dictionary was published in 2016. It was only the second edition. The first was published in 1988 and is available online.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Legislating repression: Libya’s new cybercrime law · Global Voices
SMEX

The laws passed by legislatives on October 26 are seen to restrain digital rights. Source from SMEX.
This piece was originally published on November 12 by SMEX. This edited version is published as part of a partnership with the Global Voices.
On October 26, 2021, the Libyan House of Representatives passed a “Cybercrime Law”, one day after approving the “E-Transactions Law.”
In practice, cybercrime laws in the region only serve those in power. These laws are often repressive and impose many restrictions on freedom of expression while legitimizing government control and censorship.
This new Libyan Cybercrime Law is no exception. It blatantly undermines freedom of expression in cyberspace by imposing ambiguous provisions that allow for full control over the public and the press without any judicial authorization. Some Libyans see this law as repressive, especially as it punishes those who publish content online.
Under the new Libyan Cybercrime Law, the National Information Security and Safety Authority is granted the freedom to block websites and “unwanted” content in the absence of any judicial authorization.
In several articles, the Law mentions general expressions that leave judges with a lot of room for interpretation and a broad discretionary power in relation to evidence and criminalization.
Libyan legislators have also expanded the law’s scope of enforcement to include crimes committed outside the country “if their impact and consequences extend to Libya.” This forces a form of self-censorship on citizens outside Libya, especially if they are considering returning to their homeland.
The timing of promulgation, with the presidential elections just around the corner, has left many people wondering about the purpose behind such a move. After the law was passed, the media advisor of the House Speaker announced that “the Cybercrime Law is concerned with cybercrimes that affect the State, among other aspects, but it does not contradict freedom of expression. The Law tackles crimes or the wrongful use of electronic technology in relation to the State, the person, or any other entity, including counterfeiting and spreading rumors.”
Libyans fear that with the approach of the elections, this Law will be used to restrict freedom of expression and stifle new political voices, especially amidst the many doubts around its promulgation and adoption. It is important to note that in the past two years, the Libyan House of Representatives has only passed what it deemed as highly necessary legislation, which makes their current efforts to impose this law even more suspicious. In a blog post, Libyan digital tights activist Amjad Badr raised the the concerns of Libyans regarding this Law and their weariness about its timing, stating that the Law is being weaponized to criminalize rights, such as the encryption of conversations, and to repress free speech under the pretext of protecting intellectual property and combating terrorism.
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Under the new law, the National Information Security and Safety Authority is authorized to block websites and “unwanted” content in the absence of any judicial authorization.
In several of its articles, the cybercrime law uses generalized language that leaves judges with a lot of room for interpretation and broad discretionary power in relation to evidence and criminalization.
Libyan legislators have also expanded the law’s scope of enforcement to include crimes committed outside the country “if their impact and consequences extend to Libya.” This forces a form of self-censorship on citizens outside Libya, especially if they are considering returning to their homeland.
The timing of promulgation, with presidential elections just around the corner, has left many people wondering about the purpose behind such a move. After the law was passed, the media advisor of the House Speaker announced that “the Cybercrime Law is concerned with cybercrimes that affect the State, among other aspects, but it does not contradict freedom of expression. The Law tackles crimes or the wrongful use of electronic technology in relation to the State, the person, or any other entity, including counterfeiting and spreading rumors.”
Libyans fear that with the approach of the elections, the cybercrime law will be used to restrict freedom of expression and stifle new political voices, especially amidst the many doubts around its promulgation and adoption.
It is important to note that in the past two years, the Libyan House of Representatives has only passed what it deemed as highly necessary legislation, which makes their current efforts to impose this law even more suspect.
In a blog post, Libyan digital tights activist Amjad Badr raised the concerns of Libyans regarding this law and their suspicions about its timing, including concerns that the Law is being weaponized to criminalize rights such as the encryption of conversations, and to repress free speech under the pretext of protecting intellectual property and combating terrorism.

author: SMEX


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Once more, Jamaicans debate whether states of emergency are an effective crime-fighting tool or a band aid · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Jamaican police patrol a community affected by a state of emergency on May 27, 2010. Photo by the BBC World Service on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
On the morning of Sunday, November 14, Jamaicans were surprised with the news that Prime Minister Andrew Holness would be holding a press briefing on “matters of national importance.” Some media houses were quick to speculate that the focus would be on crime.
Holness’ announced that states of public emergency had been imposed that morning in seven police divisions, including in Montego Bay and two other parishes in the west of the island, and four police divisions in the capital, Kingston. The restrictions cover approximately one-third of the country and will remain in force for two weeks, after which time they will have to be reviewed by parliament.
States of emergency in Jamaica are nothing new. Between 1962, when the country became independent from Britain, and January 2018, the government imposed six major states of emergency. Two of the six were in response to natural disasters, the others to crime.
In April 2019, states of emergency were declared once again for the same three western parishes currently under lockdown but were lifted ahead of the country's 2020 general elections.
At the briefing, the prime minister noted that murder rates in the affected areas had increased between 16 and 57 per cent this year. Major Antony Anderson, the commissioner of police, added that as of November 12, Jamaica had recorded 1,240 murders for 2021, COVID-19 curfews and lockdowns notwithstanding. The four Kingston divisions accounted for 32 per cent of that figure, with 392 murders. 272 people had been killed in the three western parishes, making up 22 per cent. Anderson stressed that these numbers did not include the 11 murders that had taken place in the previous 24 hours, nine of them in areas that had been placed under states of emergency. Anderson also noted that a surge in gang-related murders and reprisal killings, fueled by extortion, scamming, and the guns for drugs trade with Haiti, accounted for a little over 70 per cent of homicides.
While Prime Minister Holness pointed out—not for the first time—that Jamaica's murder rate was three times the regional average and eight times the global average, the presentation was not all about numbers. In what was at times an emotional address, Holness stressed the psychological impact of escalating murders on Jamaican society:
Every Jamaican would have recognised that the nature and frequency of the violence have evolved to a level of barbarity and a level of savagery; it is almost a competition for cruelty; the worst of the worst. It appears to be designed and properly calculated to drive fear into the citizenry of the country and panic in communities.
Holness was referring to a recent spate of grisly murders that had sparked anxiety among the public in recent weeks.
These latest emergency measures are being imposed against an interesting legal backdrop: In September 2020, Jamaica's Supreme Court ruled that the detention of five young men during a previous state of emergency in the summer of 2019 was unconstitutional. The human rights group Jamaicans For Justice called it “a historic victory for Jamaican human rights,” but the government appealed the ruling.  The case is still before the Court of Appeal.
In a tweet posted three days after these latest states of emergency were imposed, Jamaicans For Justice called for “legitimate and sustainable crime-fighting strategies,” stating:
This comes on the heels of the government’s newly imposed states of public emergency. pic.twitter.com/DHxPKB2ckv
— Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) (@JAForJustice) November 17, 2021
The prime minister responded to such critiques during his November 14 address. “Should the government be crippled by an academic debate about the constitutionality of the measure while people in Jamaica are dying?” he asked, adding that “every society must have powers to deal with exceptional circumstances and emergencies.”
Holness went on to note that his administration was, in fact, reviewing current anti-crime legislation and expressed regret that “the government has to jump through hoops” and that “it takes too long” to implement stronger measures. He also claimed that ongoing “political debates” and “consistent ambivalence” had stymied previous efforts to make the states of emergency work.
University of the West Indies lecturer Damien King took offense at the prime minister's “academic” reference, tweeting that:
The PM's reference to his govt not wanting to be detained by “academic discussions on the constitutionality” of his actions should be put right up among the most disturbing statements ever made by a PM, right beside PJ Patterson's “Sometimes you can't be shackled by the law.”
— Damien King (@DamienWKing) November 14, 2021
King also refuted the argument of public commentator Kevin O’Brien Chang:
Not merely wrong, but fundamentally and profoundly wrong. Constitutions exist precisely for the purpose of protecting the rights of the people against majorities and popularity-seeking governments. Otherwise, there would be no need for constitutions. https://t.co/ZWDbc7AirC
— Damien King (@DamienWKing) November 14, 2021
Responding to a question from the press about human rights concerns, Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte said that “substantial” changes had been made to the regulations in response to concerns raised since 2018, and not everyone detained during a state of emergency would be charged with an offence.
One social worker, highlighting the country's endemic “societal inequalities,” echoed comments by the opposition that the upper classes were not affected or inconvenienced by such measures:
The first time a gun was pointed in my face it was by a shotta police. The second, third and fourth times, it was by one of them. All these times I was in my high school uniform. Children of privilege are shielded from this. https://t.co/ng8PCIhHOq
— Monkey Lane, Grass Piece, Belfield (@gavinmyaz) November 17, 2021
The Opposition People's National Party pointed out that there was much legislative work to be done to address crime and violence:
#LegislativeAgility pic.twitter.com/NGeUccHsEP
— PNP Jamaica (@JamaicaPNP) November 18, 2021
While the private sector cautiously welcomed the measures, one well-known psychiatrist noted on Twitter that a state of emergency was not a sufficient response to Jamaica's culture of violence:
Everything about our culture is violent. 1) our history 2) the language 3) child rearing 3) the music 4) policing 5) the media 6) politics. We need a mindset change to tackle violence. Not just SoE. pic.twitter.com/w0eCnWxTQv
— Wendel Abel (@wendelabel) November 18, 2021
Ironically, just 48 hours later, an attack on participants attending a violence reduction workshop in one of the areas under a state of emergency, underlined the intractability of the problem. UNICEF Jamaica tweeted:
UNICEF strongly condemns today's brutal attack on community members participating in a workshop to reduce family violence. We are distressed by the loss of life and will provide support to those affected by this tragic incident.#SpotlightENDviolencehttps://t.co/7Qu43zSYGT
— UNICEF Jamaica (@UNICEFJamaica) November 16, 2021
And European Union and United Nations representatives in Jamaica issued a joint statement reaffirming their support for government violence-reduction programmes such as the Spotlight Initiative, which tackles gender-based violence.
Touring the parish of Westmoreland on November 18 following the murders of a police constable and others, the prime minister asserted that, despite these incidents, the states of emergency have already “dampened” crime, leaving some to hope for more thoughtful dialogue on crime:
need a bit of humility from both the administration and opposition, both have failed us with crime. An apology and then a coming together.. lay it bare and invite everybody to the table ..what has worked, what can work and the support of the ppl
— the Agenda (@er_sean) November 15, 2021
Although bipartisan discussions have taken place over the years, they have yielded little results to date.
The fundamental concern among Jamaicans remains: Do states of emergency actually work? This tweet from Jeanette Calder, director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal, appeared the sum up the reactions of many in the country:
Hands can't be folded but question… Are curfews and SOES working? Or are we just feeling better THINKING that something is being done?
— Jeanette Calder (@jayceejm) November 15, 2021
A Jamaica Gleaner editorial also suggested that the current measures represented “a damp squib that carries the risk of being thrown out by the courts, which, ultimately, leaves the country in a somewhat precarious position.”
Over the next two weeks, the Jamaican public will wait and see. In spite of the short-term dampening effect noted by the prime minister, expectations for the long term do not currently appear optimistic.

author: Emma Lewis


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Political dynasties and billionaires hijack ‘democratic’ party-list system in the Philippines · Global Voices
Siegfred Deduro

Bayan Muna (People First) party-list representatives join a protest condemning human rights violations of the Rodrigo Duterte government. Source: Facebook
The “party-list” system, originally designed to provide space for the democratic representation of marginalized sectors in the House of Representatives of the Philippines, has been taken over by political dynasties.
The inclusion of the party-list elections in the electoral system was a result of the political struggle against the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship which was toppled by the People Power Revolution in 1986. Before the constitutional amendment that enabled the party-list system, it was almost impossible for the marginalized sectors to be represented in Congress. Elected positions from the municipal up to the national levels were monopolized by political dynasties as, historically, elections were won by those who had “guns, gold and goons.”
Article II Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution declares that the “State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” However, to this day, no anti-dynasty law has been promulgated by the Congress, which is dominated by political dynasties, though a bill nearly succeeded in being approved in the 15th Congress. The bill passed the first and second readings but failed to make it in the final plenary voting. With the enactment of the Party List law in 1995 marginalized sectors gained space in the elite-monopolized Congress. This allowed sectors such as women, workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, and cooperatives to come together, and build coalitions to participate in government. Foremost among the successful party-list organizations were Left-leaning groups, for example, Bayan Muna (People First). Though outnumbered by members of political dynasties, party-list representatives became “fiscalizers” of the people within the legislature.
Some political observers suggest that the party-list system favors a more democratic representation. For instance, among 53 democracies around the world where there are single-member districts, only 7.3 per cent of legislators are women, but in legislatures elected entirely by a party-list, women make up 17.2 per cent of members. But not in the Philippines. Instead, political dynasties saw this system as a backdoor entry to Congress, a means to broaden their turfs and get access to pork-barrel benefits. For example, the son of former President Gloria Arroyo has served in Congress as a party-list representative. Political dynasties-sponsored party-lists win by cheating, vote-buying and patronage politics.
Aside from political dynasties, even billionaires have become legislators by registering as representatives of marginalized groups. For three years now, the country's richest congressman has been Rep. Michael Romero of party-list group 1-Pacman or One Patriotic Coalition of Marginalized Nationals. His main family business develops and operates port facilities in the country, including the Manila North Harbor.
Veteran lawmaker Edcel Lagman, one of the principal authors of the Partylist System Act, emphasized that:
The purpose [of the system] is to afford and guarantee the marginalized sectors of having representation in Congress which they cannot win in the traditional district elections.
But in 2013 the Supreme Court decided that the party-list was not a reserved-seat system for particular sectors but a system of proportional representation where all types of organizations, including political parties, could participate.
Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban noted that the current party-list system can be “manipulated” to serve the interests of a select few. He called for the urgent revision of the law.
Clearly, the most urgent need of the hour is for legislation to be passed to revise the partylist act and install permanent safeguards to prevent abuses and misuses of the system.
Political science Professor Jorge Villamor Tigno of the University of the Philippines Diliman observed that the inadequacies and conflicting features of the party-list system law can be traced back to its key designer—Congress—whose members may have looked upon the party-list organisations either as potential competitors or useful platforms in their quest to retain their positions of power and privilege. Either way, the lasting effect of the party-list system can be regarded as one that undermines (rather than reinforces) the legacy of People Power.
In the coming 2022 party-list elections, party-lists of the marginalized sectors face formidable challenges. On October 8, the last day of filing of Certificates of Candidacies (COC), a total of 270 party-lists filed their COCs, the overwhelming majority of which are controlled by political dynasties.
Furthermore, the government propaganda network has shifted focus from attacking “drug addicts” to activists, many of whom are party-list members. Online information operations against activists and progressive groups take off from the Rodrigo Duterte government's drug war playbook—attack online, then kill.
Bayan Muna Iloilo city coordinator Jory Porquia was gunned down by suspected state agents on April 30, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On August 10, 2020, activist land rights defender and Anakpawis Party-list chairman Randall “Randy” Echanis, 72, was killed inside his home in Quezon City. His body bore multiple stab and gunshot wounds. Echanis had been active in opposing a new anti-terrorism bill, which the President signed into law in July 2020.
Human rights activist Zara Alvarez was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Bacolod City on August 17, 2020. She had been receiving death threats for more than a year. Alvarez was a  former campaign and education director and paralegal in Negros for the human rights group Karapatan. Amid the pandemic, she had been coordinating and conducting relief operations as part of a community health programme. She was the 13th member of Karapatan to be murdered since Rodrigo Duterte came to power in 2016. Other Negros Island-based activists reportedly received threatening messages through their social media accounts saying, “You’re next.”
The government has even moved to disqualify activists from joining the party-list race by branding them as legal fronts of the communist movement. Against forbidding odds, genuine party-lists of the marginalized sectors have to rely on effective campaign strategy, their organized mass base and support of opposition allies to overcome and neutralize the formidable advantages of the party-lists of political dynasties in the coming 2022 elections.
On September 27, the Fifth National Convention of the progressive Makabayan Coalition elected a mixture of seasoned legislators and first-time congressional candidates for its official slate in the 2022 election.
From the party-list groups forming the Makabayan bloc—Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Gabriela, and Kabataan—six candidates for the 19th Congress are former lawmakers who held party-list posts.
The coalition has vowed to mobilize its constituency nationwide to launch a strong electoral campaign that adapts to current state-instigated terrorism and restrictions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

author: Siegfred Deduro


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Ukraine marks anniversary of Euromaidan protest on Day of Dignity and Freedom · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

#Euromaidan protesters fill central Kyiv on Dec. 1, 2013. Photo by Alexandra Gnatoush. Used with permission.
On November 21, Ukraine marks the eighth anniversary of the Euromaidan protest—a grassroots civic upheaval that began on this day in 2013 and led to seismic transformations for the country's inhabitants. Today the protest events in November 2013-February 2014 have come to be known as the Revolution of Dignity, reflecting the protest's evolution from a small pro-European rally to a huge expression of discontent, transcending borders and timezones, and encompassing struggles against a corrupt government and police brutality, as well as aspirations for political and social change.
??✌Happy Day of Freedom and Dignity
On this day the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity in 2013 began.
Freedom and dignity are worth a winter on fire. pic.twitter.com/fv1UFWN8kl
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) November 21, 2021
Global Voices covered the Revolution of Dignity extensively in 2013 and 2014, featuring the multitude of citizen voices as captured by our authors. We invite you to relive some of the key moments of Euromaidan by exploring our dedicated Special Coverage section.
Since 2014, our volunteer contributors have also reflected on the aftermath of Euromaidan and on how the Revolution of Dignity has changed Ukraine and Ukrainians. Read some of these stories below:

author: Tanya Lokot


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Invisible scars result from patriarchal tolerance of gender-based violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina · Global Voices
Balkan Diskurs

Photo by Luis Villasmil/Unsplash, free to use under the Unsplash License.
This story by Amina Sejfić was originally published on Balkan Diskurs, a project of the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). An edited version is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Due to the deep-rooted patriarchal structure of society in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), domestic violence is often perceived as a corrective measure of the strong over the weak, which must not go beyond the boundaries of the home. As society shut its eyes to this increasingly pronounced problem, silence screams behind closed doors, leaving victims to fight the perpetrators on their own.
Gender-based violence in public discourse has a recognizable form — bruises, bloody wounds, cut lips, tousled hair, broken bones, deep stares, downcast eyes. But some bruises are not visible; they are wounds that only one person knows, a look disguised in normal life.
Although there is a somewhat satisfactory legal framework for prosecuting gender-based violence in BiH, in practice, things are not moving in the right direction. Inadequate protection, mistrust in the work of competent institutions, the lack of a unified system for collecting data on victims of gender-based violence, and non-acceptance and non-reporting of violence often takes victims on a journey with no return.
The four most well-known types of violence that constitute gender-based violence are physical, psychological, sexual, and economic violence. Economic and psychological violence, which are relatively recently recognized categories of violence, have long been neglected and are often overshadowed by physical and sexual violence since they are the most visible.
Violence is much less visible in the form of full or partial control of money, prohibition of work, sabotage of attempts to find or keep a job, and verbal diminution of a woman’s value.
Nura* (53) says that her life with her parents was extremely difficult and that they married her off when she was less than 18 years old. That’s when her nightmare began.
“When I got married, he immediately told me that the woman’s place is in the house. I took care of both him and his parents, but he was too stingy to give me one Bosnian mark. He also used to hit me, but the real chaos started after his parents’ deaths. I was never good enough for him after their death. He blamed me for everything, and the beatings and humiliation became more frequent.”
Nura is not alone in her story. Many young girls and women share her fate. Ajla Aljić (24) is one of them.
“I first experienced violence after I got married at 20. My husband was the one to do it, but at the beginning, I was not aware what was happening,” says Aljić, emphasizing that she believed that things would change, but they only got worse over time. “If he failed to confront me with words, he would resort to physical harassment,” she said.
According to an OSCE study published in 2019, psychological violence appears to be the most widespread form of violence against women — out of approximately 640,000 women who participated in the research, as many as 36% were victims of psychological violence, and 12% of them were victims of economic violence.
The incidence of these two forms of violence is higher among women living in economically poorer households, among women who approve of patriarchal attitudes, and among women whose partners have problems with alcohol and drug consumption.
The traditional role of women
“When a man cannot fulfill his role as the breadwinner of the family, he takes out his frustrations through domestic violence,” explains Lejla Mušić, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo.
Psychological and economic violence are punishable forms of violence, according to the law in BiH. They are also recognized as punishable forms of violence by many international treaties ratified by the state. But these two types of violence are not often recognized by the public due to the patriarchal structure of society, which implies that it is the man who controls the money and supports the family. Although women’s status in BiH today is more favorable than in the recent past, it is still not satisfactory.
“Women face various challenges in all spheres of society, and they still have traditional roles, particularly in rural areas, where they are often exposed to multiple forms of domestic violence,” says Sanja Sahačić, a psychologist and coordinator of the Safe House in Sarajevo.
Nura shared, “He forbade me to see my relatives. I only saw my parents if he let me. Everything he would earn, he would spend on alcohol, and I was expected to put lunch on the table every day,” adding that she had no way out because her husband’s violence was “her shame.”
When Ajla decided to turn her back on the life she had lived for four years with her two children (her two-year-old daughter and one-month-old baby), she had no permanent job, no apartment, and no car. But she had to do it for her children.
“I began to enslave myself and turn into someone I am not. He made me a very depressed person, and I let him do that. I decided it was too much for the kids. I didn’t want them to grow up thinking that this was normal,” says Aljić, emphasizing that we owe our children a beautiful life with love, education, and security. “Your children are not safe if you are not safe — if they watch their father abuse you.”
Centuries of a mentality molded around the fear of the unknown have pushed gender-based violence under the rug. Sahačić emphasizes the media’s critical role in responding to this problem because “women should be encouraged to report violence, and citizens should remain sensitized to gender-based violence.”
Women victims of violence often suffer from feelings of insecurity, guilt, fear, and feelings of loss — they also crucially lack information about whom they can ask for help. Violence against women is often declared a “woman’s problem,” both due to inadequate media coverage and the systematic failure of the state’s response.
Ajla Aljić points out that she reported her husband to the police, but they were “cold and disinterested.”
Economic and psychological violence are based on the control of another person. Fully or partially controlling someone’s finances is economic violence. Due to the survivors’ economic dependence on the perpetrators, they cannot easily get out of the relationship, especially if they have no one else to turn to. Economic violence is often accompanied by manipulation, verbal insults, blackmail, and threats, usually leaving them without support. Vulnerability in the labor market also increases this vulnerability in partnerships.
The Safe House (Shelter) in Sarajevo, which has housed 2,138 beneficiaries since its establishment (771 women, 1,013 children, and 354 girls), carries out various economic activities to empower women. Sahačić emphasizes that reducing the inequality of women and men in the labor market necessarily contributes to women’s empowerment.
The Center for Women of the Foundation of Local Democracy provides training for women to help them develop entrepreneurial ideas, and women there are often financially supported.
Considering all the disadvantages the labor market already has for woman — the inability to find a job because you are a woman, overtime, underpaid work, non-affirmative perceptions in society about women — no form of violence that exists should remain private.
According to Professor Mušić, the non-affirmative image of women present in public discourse diminishes the women’s value to their physical beauty; that patriarchy succeeds when only a few women are in power.
*Nura is a pseudonym used to protect our interlocutor’s identity.

author: Balkan Diskurs


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‘Neglect at home, profits abroad’: Cuba’s medical system · Global Voices
Connectas

Illustration by Connectas
This article is an excerpt from an investigation by Diario de Cuba and CONNECTAS, republished in Global Voices.
Cuba's million-dollar health business is based on two pillars: a high-quality service on the island for foreigners, and the massive exportation of health professionals through medical missions. This lucrative model has allowed the government to spread propaganda and sell an altruistic façade, while Cubans have to endure hospital collapse and the doctors who are taking part in these missions are subjected to all kinds of violations of their rights.
The pandemic caused by the coronavirus gave way to an ideal situation to relaunch the promotion of Cuban medical services, which had suffered a decline between 2018 and 2019 after the end of Cuba-allied governments in Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In addition to reviving overseas contracting, the pandemic served as a framework for Havana to revive the propaganda surrounding the medical missions, which included a campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize for the group of professionals sent to work to contain Covid-19.
In October 2021, Cuba's deputy health minister, Dr. Regla Angulo Pardo, announced that 57 teams made up of 4,982 health professionals had collaborated in the fight against Covid-19 in 41 territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe.
The dream of the Nobel Prize did not prosper. Instead, Cubans became weary, and their demonstrations made the front pages of the world's major media. The collapse of the healthcare system and medicine shortages were some of the triggers of the historic protest on July 11, 2021. The protest was also fuelled by the uptick of Covid-19 infections and deaths since mid-April of this year.
The renewed Cuban propaganda was not enough to silence the irregularities surrounding the country's medical missions model for years, nor to distract from the crumbling health system. Diario de Cuba and Connectas investigated and compiled numerous testimonies of professionals who have participated in such missions in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and even Saudi Arabia, and who denounce human rights violations.
The testimonies also reveal the current landscape of the health system in Cuba: the contrast between the health service for Cubans — whose deterioration has been going on for years but has accelerated with the pandemic — and the “health tourism” for foreigners, which continues to be internationally renowned.
According to the World Bank, Cuba has 8.4 doctors per thousand inhabitants, more than powers such as Germany (4.2), Sweden (4), the U.S. (2.6), or Japan (2.4). Yet Cuba experienced a 64 percent reduction in doctors from 2010 to 2017 from more than 36,000 to about 13,000.
In 1984, the Cuban government created the Family's Doctor and Nurse program (Programa del Médico y la Enfermera de la Familia), with the objective of providing health coverage to the entire population of the island. Although the program became a world reference, the fall of the Soviet Union and the crisis that ensued in Cuba showed that it lacked a plan for sustainability.
Then, salvation came with the rise to power of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. On Oct. 30, 2000, Cuba and Venezuela signed an agreement by which the Cuban side pledged to send doctors who would offer free services in places where health coverage was deficient and to train Venezuelan personnel. Venezuela, for its part, committed to sending 53,000 barrels of oil per day.
In 2011, the Cuban government carried out a series of privatizations following the Russian model, in order to make the state-owned economy fit into a free-market world. Thus was born the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, the corporation that took over the business of exporting health personnel. Through this entity and thanks to the alliance with Venezuela, it was possible to export Cuban specialized labor on a massive scale, as well as to fulfill a dream dear to Fidel Castro: to export the revolution and expand its influence worldwide. In this way, in addition to being an economic asset, the medical missions also became a diplomatic asset.
The massive exportation of health professionals also solved a problem: the lack of employment opportunities for such an excessive number of doctors in Cuba. But what was a solution for the Cuban government has been an ordeal for many of the participating doctors. Testimonies gathered in this journalistic investigation, such as that of Dr. Elisandra del Prado Torres, reveal that the Cuban professionals were not allowed to meet and practice their religion or choose a romantic partner.
In addition to being victims of violations of their freedoms and fundamental rights, Cuban health professionals denounce having been forced to engage in political lobbying. A doctor who was head of an Integral Community Health Area (Área de Salud Integral Comunitaria) in Venezuela recounted how they had to meddle in local politics. “I was in charge of the Asic Caribe River, Arismendi Municipality, Sucre State. There I was forced to support the mayor in the reelection campaign. Every day I participated in meetings to map out strategies. All this with a Cuban security advisor named Miruslava. We practically had to tell the mayor how to act.”
Despite the pressures placed on professionals who participate in these missions, the alternative of not going is even worse. The difference in salary between staying in Cuba or joining a mission is so significant that even though healthcare professionals have to pay more than 75 percent of their salary to the authorities when they choose to work outside the island, it is still considered a more profitable option. In addition, anyone who refuses to go on a mission can be branded as counterrevolutionary and be punished, such as being assigned to a job in a distant town. Moreover, anyone who escapes from a mission is forbidden to return to Cuba for eight years.
The model that was first implemented in Venezuela was reproduced in several countries but was especially promoted in Brazil with the Mais Medicos program, in which at least 18,000 Cuban professionals participated over a period of five years.
Where do the substantial resources collected from these missions go? During the first half of 2021, the government allocated 45.5 percent of the budget to business services and real estate activities focused on international tourism, while only 0.8 percent went to public health.
Meanwhile, the health situation for Cubans is dire. The lack of medicines, oxygen, gasoline for ambulances and the general deterioration of the system is already widespread in the country. Social networks have become the stage where citizens complain about this situation, even those who are followers of the regime.
The contradictions in the Cuban healthcare system have worsened during the pandemic, the same one that enabled the government to relaunch its missions around the world. While the most basic medicines are scarce, more vaccines against Covid-19 are being developed in Cuba than in any other Latin American country. Yet millions of these doses have been sold to other countries when only 40.3 percent of the Cuban population was fully vaccinated.
In other words: business and politics abroad, neglect at home.

author: Connectas


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Chinese tennis star reappears after #WhereisPengShuai campaign sparked global outcry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

One of the three photos posted on Peng Shuai's WeChat update. Image via Shen Shiwei on Twitter.
Chinese Tennis star Peng Shuai, who was missing for over 10 days after making a sexual assault allegation against former Chinese Communist Party leader Zhuang Gaoli, has reappeared on a number of video clips released by Chinese state-owned media outlets and recently had a video call with key members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The meeting took place after the #WhereIsPengShuai? campaign sparked a global outcry, with many prominent sports stars demanding to know the whereabouts of their colleague.
According to the IOC press release, the half an hour video call, which took place on November 21, 2021, was attended by IOC president Thomas Bach, the Chair of IOC Athletes’ Commission Emma Terho and IOC member in China Li Lingwei. In the video meeting, Peng Shuai thanked the IOC for its concern about her well-being and explained that she is safe and well at home in Beijing. She asked to ‘have her privacy respected’.
The IOC seems to believe that Peng Shuai was not coerced into taking the call. Emma Terho was quoted in the press release:
I was relieved to see that Peng Shuai was doing fine, which was our main concern. She appeared to be relaxed. I offered her our support and to stay in touch at any time of her convenience, which she obviously appreciated.
Before this video call, several state-owned Chinese media outlets had attempted to prove that Peng Shuai was safe.
On November 18, China-owned cable TV CGTN published an email (see attached tweet below) allegedly written by Peng Shuai, who rebuked the description of her testimony on Weibo as a sexual assault allegation. Yet, given CGTN's notorious record of airing forced TV confessions made by human rights activists on crimes they did not commit, the news has invited skepticism. Twitter user @Superode1 used a typical scam email written by  another “Peng Shuai” to mock at CGTN:
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai just sent me an email. What should I do? pic.twitter.com/dooP0NJl8Q
— Ode (@Superode1) November 17, 2021
Steve Simon, chairman of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), was not convinced that the email came from Peng and said it “only raises” his concerns about Peng's safety. WTA issued a statement on November 14 calling for an open and transparent investigation into Peng's sexual-assault allegation. They said Peng's well-being is ‘bigger than business’ and threatened to withdraw all tournaments from China unless the matter was appropriately investigated and Peng's safety was assured.
After publishing the unconvincing email, on November 19, Shen Shiwei, an editor from CGTN, reported on Twitter that Peng had uploaded three photos on her WeChat to prove that she had a ‘happy weekend’. Yet, some netizens had a different reading of the photos as Twitter user @Lucky_clover highlighted:
Peng Shuai彭帥 used this photo to imply that she is being controlled by the Kung Fu Panda功夫貓熊 (according to one of the CCP’s mouthpiece Global Net環球網 on May 25, 2020, Kung Fu Panda=CCP-China).
Winnie the Pooh (known all over the world = Xi Jinping) is the one behind it. pic.twitter.com/C2scO6Wuqh
— 幸運草 Lucky clover (@lucky_clover_tw) November 20, 2021
Xiong Mao or panda 熊貓 is an acronym for the National Security Police as both are called Guobao (國保 or 國寶), which can mean national protector or national treasure.  Netizens often refer to the Chinese President Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh.
Then Hu Xijin, the chief editor from the Chinese state media outlet Global Times, answered the call, releasing video clips (see attached tweet) showing Peng Shuai having a meal with her coach and friends on November 21 (Beijing time). But as pointed out by Peter Dahlin, a Swedish human rights activist who had been tortured in China and forced to falsely confess to a series of crimes on television, the video clips cannot prove anything:
And here is lawyer #WangYu having tea in a garden cafe in her own CCTV-aired “free talk”, except, of yeah…, it was a forced TV confession secure via months of torture, while disappeared and held incommunicado at a secret location… @HuXijin_GT pic.twitter.com/hsqF4PG1wt
— Peter Dahlin (@Peterinexile) November 20, 202
Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu is another victim of forced TV confession. Wang was detained in 2015 and was charged with state subversion, a political crime that could lead to life imprisonment. In August 2016, she was released after she confessed in a video that she was being used by foreign forces, which was published via Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV and Oriental Daily news.
Hu Xijin released more videos showing Peng smiling in public on November 21:
Can any girl fake such sunny smile under pressure? Those who suspect Peng Shuai is under duress, how dark they must be inside. There must be many many forced political performances in their countries. pic.twitter.com/2oDOghBTvA
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) November 21, 2021
The half-hour video chat with the International Olympic Committee was another attempt to prove that Peng Shuai is alive and healthy. But a WTA spokesperson told the press via an email that the videos did not alleviate their concern:
It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don't alleviate or address the WTA's concern about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion…This video does not change our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.
Meanwhile, many took aim at the IOC, after representatives claimed they were ‘relieved’ after the 30-minute video call with Peng Shuai:
This is dodgy move. We already know that #PengShuai is alive. But she can not talk about her allegations freely. And the #IOC is being heavily criticized for awarding the #Beijing2022 Olympics to China. I would consider Bach's video call a form of whitewashing of the Xi regime. https://t.co/LyYSrQyWHF
— Andreas Fulda (@AMFChina) November 21, 2021
The IOC probably would've accepted a cardboard cutout of Peng Shuai and an AI voice if it would mean the Beijing Olympics could move ahead without controversy https://t.co/jZvOZX4yv5
— Robyn Urback (@RobynUrback) November 21, 2021

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Could Jamaica’s ‘wickedest city’ become a UNESCO World Heritage Site? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Port Royal from Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, ca.1875-ca.1940. Photo by unknown author via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Jamaica is on a mission to get “the wickedest city on earth”—the sunken city of Port Royal—listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a move some think is long overdue.
Located at the end of the Palisadoes, the sandbar that shields Kingston Harbour from the open sea, Port Royal, as a 17th-century shipping and trade centre, was once the Caribbean's largest city—until it was levelled by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on June 7, 1692. The tsunami which followed caused further destruction, leaving many to ascribe the events to divine retribution for the city's sinful ways.
Aerial shot of #PortRoyal in #Kingston #Jamaica. ?? ? pic.twitter.com/iJmzHvffXb
— Club Kingston (@ClubKingstonVIP) November 21, 2017
Back then, Port Royal was one of the busiest and wealthiest in the Americas, and the resulting goings-on earned it its moniker as a city of ill repute, full of privateers and pirates (including the infamous Henry Morgan), booze and bacchanalia. Because of its precarious location on Jamaica's southeastern coast, however, ensuing years also brought damage, thanks to hurricanes and another severe earthquake in the early 1900s.
If Jamaica's application for Port Royal's World Heritage inscription is granted, it would become only the third sunken city to receive such a designation, following Alexandria, Egypt and Baia, Italy, though it would be the only one in the Western hemisphere. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage pledges to protect such heritage; evidence of sunken human civilisations that are more than a century old qualify.
UNESCO explained the significance of Port Royal by noting that it “falls into the category of ‘catastrophic sites,’ places that are devastated by some natural disaster and in the act of destruction, preserved ‘in situ'”:
Port Royal […] is distinctly different from most archaeological locations. Generally archaeological excavations represent a long period of time where buildings were constructed, renovated, added, fell into disrepair, were abandoned, collapsed and perhaps built over. In contrast, after just 37 years of existence, the bustling city of Port Royal literally sank into the harbour in a matter of minutes, remaining perfectly preserved as it was on the day of the earthquake.
UNESCO's assessment of Port Royal's “outstanding universal value” was also highlighted:
The underwater assemblage of excavated buildings in the sunken city is an excellent example of an architectural ensemble representing everyday life in a colonial port town. Combining the cache of historical documents with the underwater excavations has allowed a detailed reconstruction of this significant stage in human history to emerge.
Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Jamaica's culture minister, believes that the World Heritage Site designation “will have a tremendous impact on our heritage tourism product.” On her Facebook page, Grange posted several photos of the diving expedition headed by archeologists from Mexico and Japan, who have been assisting the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) with the Heritage Impact Assessment Study that is required as part of the application process.
The team is attempting to digitally map the sunken city through photogrammetry, and some of the findings have been quite astonishing: Silvanus Walters, deputy technical director of archeology at the JNHT, which is spearheading the exercise, told the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) that Fort James—which was thought to have been completely destroyed by the 1695 earthquake—remains intact.
The PBCJ report also noted that apart from the fort, the digital mapping was able to discern walls, streets, and artefacts sitting on the ocean floor. Should Port Royal be granted World Heritage Site status, the small fishing village will eventually find itself attracting much more attention, as the sunken city becomes linked with other aspects of the area's heritage tourism.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
The ignored, unwanted, and unforgiven · Global Voices
OC Media

Victory Day celebration in Baku. Screenshot from Azernews video report.
This article by Bahruz Samadov was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
During the Victory Day celebration on November 8 — a new annual holiday meant to commemorate Azerbaijan's victory in the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War — a crowd in downtown Baku was filmed cheering as they burned Armenian flags. The gathering of such a large and rowdy crowd in the center of the capital is almost unimaginable in authoritarian Azerbaijan — but just as it was during the war itself, this form of mass self-expression was not only tolerated but encouraged.
The creation of Victory Day as a public holiday was meant to capture and simulate the public mood during wartime when the whole nation was intensely politicized against a foreign enemy. Victory Day reframes this energy to celebrate Azerbaijan's victory in the war. Meanwhile, narratives that don't conform to the celebratory mood are carefully pruned.
And yet, while the positive narrative surrounding Victory Day has been successful in dominating public discourse, it has not been without its limits.
Non-conforming, non-celebratory narratives are connected with real constituencies and grievances that will not easily be forgotten. And while the government may have successfully sidelined the opposition through the holiday, recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan show it is less capable of using this narrative to mobilize the public for further military conflict.
Victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War vindicated an already popular belief that peace talks with Armenia were not adequate and that war was an unavoidable necessity. As a result, the war was not unexpected, nor was its human cost particularly traumatic for most Azerbaijanis.
It shouldn't be surprising then that the relatives of those who died during the war have remained mostly invisible since the end of the war. The presence of bereaved parents, children, and spouses would provide a much too embarrassing contrast to the state-sponsored public jubilation.
The dissatisfaction of veterans, common to post-war societies, has also been sidelined in the Victory Day narrative. These men, who are abstractly praised in songs, speeches, and public ceremonies often feel personally ignored and underappreciated both by the state and society at large. Indeed, there has been a deluge of videos, posted online and mostly shared on opposition pages, of veterans asking for donations and other material aid to help make ends meet.
One video that went viral on TikTok on Victory Day is an archetypical example of this phenomenon. The video, shot by a bystander, shows a veteran in a uniform seated in his car and arguing with police officers who asked that he move his car as a gathered crowd watches on.
After the video's wide dissemination, the State Traffic Police even issued an official statement on the matter, commenting that while they are “proud of our veterans” in some behaviors, “they [the veterans] overshadow this status.”
Even if the opposition continues to criticize the post-war settlement as an “incomplete victory” because of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, for the ordinary people the Victory Day narrative has won. As far as the public is concerned, the war is over, and justice has already been restored.
In the nationalist afterglow of this victory, there are no signs that the public has the desire for a continuation of military operations — despite the enduring hatred for Armenia. Precisely for this reason, the fierce clashes near the border did not receive even a fraction of the support of the war a year ago. Instead, the fighting caused incomprehension and only raised new questions.
While the Azerbaijani government might flirt with wild irredentist narratives, such as claiming Yerevan or threatening to open a corridor through southern Armenia by force, one can find few echoes of this among the public.
And so, the new clashes that broke out only one week after Victory Day were not met with patriotic fervor but instead with a great many voices speaking out against the possibility of war. Despite the spectacular and deeply felt celebration on Victory Day, much of the public has realized that the economy dipped following the war, and the institutional changes that the civil society hoped for did not happen.
That is not to say that these “anti-war feelings” come from some new mass sense of humanism or empathy. Videos of recently captured Armenian soldiers being hit and berated elicited only silence from Azerbaijani “human rights defenders.” Azerbaijani society may be tired of war, but Armenians remain a hated “other.”
Excepting the state-sanctioned mass politics of victory commemoration, Azerbaijan has entered into a heretofore unprecedented state of public depoliticization.
Opposition parties, no matter how nationalist they may be, have never been weaker or less relevant. For instance, the ongoing hunger strike of Saleh Rustamli, a veteran of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a political prisoner, and an opposition Popular Front Party (PNFA) activist has elicited almost no public support or sympathy.
Meanwhile, more and more opposition figures are ending up behind bars. At the beginning of November, Agil Humbatov, another PNFA activist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on questionable charges of armed assault. A month before that, Niyammed Ahmedov, yet another party member and a committed supporter of PNFA's leader Ali Karimli, was sentenced to 13 years on alleged charges of financing terrorism.
For now, the Azerbaijani government has reached new heights of popular legitimacy and power — but it fears that someday that may very well change.
Ultimately, the Victory Day narrative is nearly suffocating in its widespread permeation of Azerbaijani society, but it is also fragile. The violence of the war it claims has ended, re-erupted within days of the holiday. Many veterans, abstractly lionized by the state, in reality, simmer with resentment. The public, content with a restoration of national pride on the battlefield, seems unwilling to sacrifice any more blood.

author: OC Media


text:
Introducing Undertones, Global Voices’ media analysis newsletter · Global Voices
Civic Media Observatory

To fully understand events and trends — say, a controversial election or a new meme — we need to read between the lines.
This is where the Civic Media Observatory comes in. We identify key narratives of urgent public interest, delving deep into context and subtext of local, vernacular and multilingual media.
What are people really saying?
This newsletter will help you understand the nuances — the undertones — of seemingly chaotic media ecosystems.
In each newsletter, we'll pick an event, emerging trend, or a complex story. For the data nerds, Undertones also offers an entry point into the public datasets that underpin our Observatory work.
Over the last two years, the Civic Media Observatory has explored complexity in media ecosystems in two dozen countries, on topics ranging from elections to COVID-19, from protest movements to civil wars, from China's soft power influence around the world, to disinformation tactics by authoritarians. Global Voices researchers are experts in reading and explaining the nuances of the stories, trends and narratives in their countries. We are steadily adding new research topics, public datasets and analysis, which you can find on the Observatory home page. Current active projects for 2021 and early 2022 include observatories about Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey.
See the first edition of Undertones, which focuses on Nicaragua. Welcome!

author: Civic Media Observatory


text:
Protests sweep Turkey as Lira plummets to an all-time low · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

A screenshot from a BBC Turkish news report video.
Protests erupted across several cities in Turkey in the evening hours on November 23 after the Turkish national currency hit a record low against foreign currencies earlier in the day. Residents took the streets, calling for the government to resign after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to keep interest rates low despite high inflation a day earlier. On Twitter #AKPIstifa [AKP resign] was trending along with #Dolar12TL.
It was the lowest plunge for the national currency in 20 years, “briefly plunging past 13 per dollar for the first time ever,” reported Bloomberg.
The national currency has lost about 40 percent of its value since January 1, 2021, reported AP on November 23.
Commenting on the current economic environment and ruling Justice and Development policies, Kerim Rota, head of economic policy at an opposition Future Party told Bloomberg, “It is as if they put a child in charge of a nuclear power plant.”
In his defense, President Erdoğan called the ruling party's economic policies “an economic war of independence” in a televised address to the nation on November 22. He said:
As a country with great knowledge and experience in financial crisis management just like in every area, we are determined to make use of the opportunities offered by the critical period the world is currently going through. We see the games those who seek to push our country out of the equation play over exchange rates, interest rates and price hikes as they used to do in the past, and we display our will to move forward with our own game plans.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, opposition leader, accused the president of turning the national currency “into a discredited currency.” The opposition leader also criticized the Central Bank, which has been closely following President Erdoğan's demands to keep rates low. “The institution which is responsible for price stability cannot bring about price stability,” said Kilicdaroglu about the Central Bank's lack of power and decision making.
President Erdoğan has replaced three Central Bank governors since 2019, demonstrating his grip over the Central Bank and its monetary policies. The most recent replacement occurred through an overnight decree published by the Official Gazette in March 2021, when Naci Agbal, a former finance minister was replaced with Sahap Kavioglu, a banking professor and columnist in a government newspaper. While there were no official explanations for this replacement, pundits said the sudden replacement was linked to Agbal's decision to raise interest rates, which goes against President Erdoğan's unorthodox theories about monetary policy and its impact on inflation. Agbal was in his position for just four months before getting replaced by Kavioglu, who happens to share the president's monetary policy views. Under Agbal, the Turkish lira was indicating a recovery as he raised the interest rate to 19 percent from 10.25 percent since taking over the office in November 2020.
Meanwhile, the country's former prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu warned the president to switch course before it is too late for the economy.
In response to the growing currency crisis, and fearing further price hikes, people took their frustrations onto streets across multiple neighborhoods and cities. Some brought out their pots and pans.
Tencere tava havası: The sound of neighborhood protest after a brutal day for Turkey’s economy. pic.twitter.com/NWvPrI5TXJ
— Jennifer Hattam (@TheTurkishLife) November 23, 2021
People in Ankara took to the streets in call for government’s resignation after Turkish lira crashed to historic low. pic.twitter.com/pAl5FEt5cd
— Gönül Tol (@gonultol) November 23, 2021
Meanwhile, a presenter on the pro-government TV channel TGRT tried assuring viewers that the spike in the exchange rate has reduced minimum wage, which is a good thing because it is making labor force very cheap in Turkey.
A pro-government channel news banner in Turkey:
“We're the country that will work the cheapest.” Complete with plummeting minimum wage. Ok. https://t.co/FCHvuzcJV9
— Lisel Hintz (@LiselHintz) November 23, 2021
Students were also among the protesters. In Ankara and Istanbul, students from the Middle East Technical University (METU) and Bogazici University were seen organizing on campus and on the streets.
? ODTÜ'de öğrencilerin eylemi devam ediyor
A4 kapısı girişinde önleri kesilen ODTÜ'lü öğrenciler çevik kuvvet polislerine karşı AKP istifa, hükümet istifa
sloganları ile eylemini sürdürüyor.#dokuz8/@tokatesraa pic.twitter.com/WLe17YHEHz
— dokuz8haber (@dokuz8haber) November 23, 2021
The protests by ODTU students continues. They continue changing “AKP resign,” “Government resign” at campus door A4 where police prevented them from leaving.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi öğrencileri de sokakta: “Ya hep beraber, ya hiçbirimiz!”https://t.co/krwUZliHV8 pic.twitter.com/uMkHqUld0P
— T24 (@t24comtr) November 23, 2021
Bogazici University students are also on the streets, chanting “Either all of us together, or nobody at all.”
Speaking to BBC Turkish Service, director of research at Teneo, a consultancy firm, Wolfango Piccoli, said, “Turkey is discovering the hard way, on how currency crisis, might take longer to materialize and anticipated but when it happens it can accelerate very quickly and can become very difficult to control.”
Turkey's financial future has plunged into uncertainty and it is impossible to make any projections at this point, said economist Arda Tunca in an interview with BBC Turkish Service. “I have witnessed the crisis in 1994, in 2001, and the global financial crisis in 2008. In each of those crises, there was uncertainty but at least at the time, it was possible to make projections about the right steps to take and where they would come. But currently, it is impossible to manage the current uncertainty. We are living at a time when we are beyond economic rules.”

author: Arzu Geybullayeva