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New Age communities are driving QAnon conspiracies in Brazil · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

A popular image of Ashtar Sheran, an alien according to some New Age beliefs. Image by www.angels-light.org. The owners of the website encourage the dissemination of their library of illustrations.
Some two dozen people dressed in yellow and green gathered at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach on August 23, in what seemed like yet another pro-Bolsonaro protest, commonly held to praise Brazil’s president since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
But when a young man wearing a T-shirt with a skull-shaped image of the US flag began to speak, it became clear that there was something different — and slightly odd — about this gathering.
“I’m going to use code for a few words so social media doesn’t censor me,” the young man says in a video of the event he posted on Facebook. He shows the group a poster with the heading “To Research,” bearing a list of terms most likely unknown to many Brazilians—“New World Order,” “Pizzagate,” “Operation Storm.”
These terms all relate to QAnon — a US-born conspiracy movement that postulates that US President Donald Trump is fighting a global elite that runs a centuries-old pedophilia ring through a secret operation called “Storm.”
The movement evolved out of the 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which claimed that Democratic Party officials, including Hillary Clinton were running a secret child trafficking scheme run in the basement of a pizza parlor in Washington, DC. About a year after the theory was debunked, an anonymous user identifying as “Q Clearance Patriot” posted a cryptic message on the 4chan imageboard suggesting Clinton would be arrested in the following days — which never materialized.
“Q” has subsequently posted several times claiming to have critical intel, and in the past three years, Q's anonymous followers have coalesced into a global collective delusion who puzzle over QAnon “drops,” with a presence on every major social media platform.
QAnon emerged in the US, but its plasticity makes it easily adaptable in a Brazilian context. President Bolsonaro — a Trump-worshipping, coronavirus-skeptic — rode to power on the promise of ridding Brazil of corruption, leftism, and other evils, and whose legion of highly-connected supporters vehemently distrust traditional media.
It isn't surprising that QAnon terms would eventually be slapped onto protest signs at a pro-Bolsonaro gathering in Copacabana beach. What is perhaps somewhat surprising is the name of one YouTube channel, written on one of the signs amid a list of must-follow QAnon YouTubers: “Ensinamentos da era de Aquário,” or “Teachings of the age of Aquarius” in Portuguese.
Although that name doesn't immediately signal QAnon lore, this is one of the largest YouTube channels that openly supports QAnon in Brazil. Its owner, Luciano Cesa, has amassed a legion of 200,000 subscribers in less than two years, and his success signals a growing interest — especially among Brazilian New Age groups — in the movement's beliefs.
These spiritual and pseudoscientific communities, which encompasses a range of practices such as shamanism, crystal healing, reiki, yoga, and numerology, are playing a prominent role in introducing and domesticating QAnon narratives to non-American audiences.
Luciano Cesa explains the meaning of a famous David Dees illustration on QAnon to his Brazilian followers. More about Dees here and here.
Long before Luciano Cesa became a QAnon adherent, he founded a music label called “New Age Music,” producing over 15 albums. Cesa has played in various bands, weddings, and public schools around his home state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost.
In November 2018, Cesa posted one of his first videos with spiritual content called, “The divine intersection in Brazil’s liberation,” in which he praises Bolsonaro’s recent victory and then shares a slew of New Age and self-help content.
On April 7, Cesa published a video with direct QAnon-related theories called “Armed forces in action in the whole world,” claiming that Trump was preparing to conduct “mass arrests worldwide.” His channel exploded — the video attracted tens of thousands of views (over 197,000 to this day), compared to other videos that barely passed the 10,000-view mark.
The data below, generated by social media analytics tool Popsters, shows the exact moment of the explosion:
Data from social media analytics tool Popsters on the channel “Ensinamentos da Era de Aquário.”
From that moment, Cesa has published a plethora of specifically QAnon-related videos, which frequently attract more than 100,000 views.
In late May, Olavo de Carvalho, a former astrologer largely credited with being Bolsonaro’s ideological guru, shared a video by Cesa.
In June, Cesa began offering live broadcasts to give his viewers updates on QAnon-related theories, supported by PowerPoint slides with information allegedly received from “privileged sources.” Cesa takes questions from the audience through live chats and solicits donations through YouTube Giving.
Cesa serves up a version of the usual QAnon menu: COVID-19 is a false crisis created by the “dark elite,”  interchangeably referred as “reptilians,” “deep state,” “the Illuminati,” and “the New World Order”; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Senator Bernie Sanders, and US actor Angelia Jolie, among other personalities, have been arrested and charged with child trafficking and their images that appear in the media are clones or doppelgängers; Recent earthquakes in Central America were caused by explosions in the “secret tunnels” used to smuggle children; one of those secret tunnels is underneath the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.
Cesa did not reply to requests for comment on his work by Global Voices.
In one significant sign of domestication of QAnon theories, Cesa claimed, on live broadcasts on August 23 and August 26, that João de Deus, Brazil’s disgraced spiritual leader arrested in 2018 after more than 500 women accused him of sexual assault, had accepted a plea bargain deal in which he would reveal that he used to organize orgies with minors for Brazil’s Supreme Court Ministers (Brazil's Supreme Court is seen as an enemy of Bolsonaro by his supporters).
Deus did not negotiate any plea bargain deal with authorities, according to fact-checking agency Aos Fatos.
Still, Cesa presented a single tweet by Alan Lopes, a Bolsonarista influencer, as evidence. The baseless claim spread virally on WhatsApp in Brazil via memes claiming that Deus was “the Brazilian Jeffrey Epstein.” Cesa has since deleted the two mentioned videos, but they were both re-uploaded by another account — likely one of his followers. Lopes has since deleted his tweet, but Google cache has preserved it.
Luciano Cesa shares a tweet by Alan Lopes as evidence that João de Deus, a spiritual leader who was arrested following accusations of sexual assault, would implicate Brazil's Supreme Court justices’ on a plea bargain deal. Deus has never signed any plea bargain deal with the authorities. Screenshot from YouTube.
Cesa’s videos stand out for the spiritualist, supernatural spin. He often offers live meditations for his followers. His worldview is underpinned by the idea that Trump, along with allies such as Bolsonaro, is a member of an “Earth alliance” who is helping a cohort of benign aliens to clean up dark forces and ultimately “transcend” to the Age of Aquarius, a period of enlightenment. While all of this might sound to many like something out of a space opera script, it’s recognizable to those familiar with decades-old UFO conspiracies.
“It’s difficult to map these communities,” says Vitor Campanha, a researcher of sciences of religion at Federal University of Juiz de Fora, who studies UFO movements, “because people who gravitate toward what we call ‘New Age beliefs’ will never identify themselves as new agers. What some of them will say is that they have an independent spirituality.”
Campanha told Global Voices that one way such communities describe themselves is as “searchers” — searchers for truth, for self-improvement. “These are also strong sharing cultures, so, if a person does a course of, say, shamanic cures, it’s likely they will also teach their own course. That’s why there is so much decontextualization, sometimes of ancient practices, in those so-called New Age circles.”
As such, New Age communities have a few things in common with QAnon members, who often describe themselves as “researchers” open to new truths. QAnon conspiracies are often presented in incomplete tidbits — collections of loose terms and concepts which potential adherents are invited to explore on their own, and which they decontextualize and remix as they share their findings.
The idea of a secret government that rules everything from the shadows is also rife in New Age circles. “Those are communities that distrust institutions, such as conventional science and dogmatic religions,” Campanha says, “so, I can definitely see this culture easily transferring themselves to those conspiracy ideas, with politicians who portray themselves as “outsiders,” such as Trump and Bolsonaro, being seen as antagonists against this shadow government.”
Mara Carvalho, 60, is a psychologist, numerologist, floral therapist, tarot reader, spiritualist writer, and up-and-coming YouTuber from Santo André, Brazil. Together with her friend, Márcia Rodrigues, she runs a small YouTube channel named “Tips for a good ascension.” The pair have published 614 videos over the course of 12 months, attracting a little over 1,200 subscribers.
In the late 1990s, Mara Caravalho discovered the “Great White Brotherhood,” a theosophical concept referring to a group of enlightened beings (in many New Age communities, this is often used interchangeably with the Ashtar Command, a group of benign aliens).
“I see myself as a disciple of the brotherhood, who don’t require rituals. It’s a direct connection I have with the masters, and I’ve had this connection for the past 22 years,” she told Global Voices.
A majority of Mara Caravalho and Rodrigues’ videos feature them reading aloud texts about New-Age related topics. But in March 2020, with the start of the pandemic, they began to reference QAnon, in the form of mentions of “the cabal that rules the world,” and QAnon concepts like “the global reset.”
Then, on June 6, Mara Caravalho published a video titled “Q, the plan to save the earth.” In it, she reads a text she says is “the most important I’ve ever read on this channel.” She is apparently unaware that the text she is reciting is a Portuguese translation of the seminal QAnon video “Q, the plan to save the earth,” originally uploaded in June 2018 by “Joe M,” one the most famous QAnon accounts on the internet.
A few days later, Carvalho published a video called “Operação Storm,” referring to the QAnon belief in a massive clean-up of evil forces. In both videos, she references Luciano Cesa, who she says both she and Rodrigues follow closely because he gives “a spiritual dimension to that operation.”
“After following Luciano Cesa, we got access to information about this undoing of the pedophile network. And one day, the spirituality told me that I had to talk about those things as well, even though I didn’t want to initially,” she said. “We are in the third world war, a war with biological weapons and information and counter-information.”
When asked to describe her understanding of QAnon, she said: “For me, it’s a group that works for the light — that is helping to bring the truth to people.”
There are many New Age channels and pages similar to Cesa and Carvalho in Brazil, which freely share QAnon conspiracies, such as the following:
YouTuber Gledison de Paula, on his channel Ascenção Planetária (Planetary Ascencion in Portuguese), recites a “channeled text” (how UFO believers designate messages received from aliens) explaining how the Pleiadians (a group of benign aliens, according to the conspiracy) are involved in “operation storm.” De Paula also runs a 12,000-member Facebook group and a Telegram channel.
Vilma Capuano, with 25,000 followers, is interested in shamanism, numerology, reiki, among others. She claims in this post that COVID-19 stands for “certificate of vaccination with artificial intelligence,” a widely debunked conspiracy theory. The text received over 800 reactions and 153 comments and is likely a translation of an English-language text.
With 80,000 members, “Start da 5a dimensão” (Start of the 5th dimension) is likely one of the largest New Age pages in the Portuguese language on Facebook. In this post, the administrators announce that Facebook deleted their parallel QAnon group, and advertise the creation of a new group. QAnon hashtags and symbols fully present here.
It is easy to dismiss such communities as essentially harmless. But, as seen above, those groups have consistently helped spread COVID-19 disinformation. And even more worrying are the several cases of violence carried out by QAnon supporters throughout the world.
In February, a gunman in Hanau, Germany, opened fire in two shisha bars, killing nine people. He left behind a digital trail of worship of US President Donald Trump and beliefs about QAnon’s child trafficking conspiracies.
New Age communities, international in scope, provide a safe avenue for QAnon theories to spread from the US and adapt to contexts such as Brazil, while tapping into an audience that may or may not be part of Bolsonaro's main support base.
In fact, it is precisely communities who claim to be apolitical, such as New Agers, who are especially vulnerable to the influence of fascist movements.
On August 20, at a White House briefing, Donald Trump was asked directly about QAnon for the first time. “I don't know much about them, except that they like me very much,” he said. When a reporter followed up with an explanation that the crux of the theory was that the US President was fighting a cabal elite of child abusers, he answered: “I don't know about that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing?”
Trump's clever reply — which simultaneously evaded the question while appearing to express support for the movement — highlighted the challenges that both reporters and society at large face when confronting conspiracy theorists.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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The Caribbean’s ‘double standard’ on the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screenshot of the introductory section of Trinidad and Tobago's Public Health Regulations, 2020, as they relate to COVID-19.
Across the Caribbean, the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap of social inequity — including the various treatments of citizens who flout safety regulations.
In Trinidad and Tobago, COVID-19 restrictions should apply to everyone, but several recent instances reveal a stark difference in the way police regulate violations depending on class and status.
Based on updated public health ordinances, authorities prohibit public gatherings of more than five people, and face coverings and physical distancing are required.
Yet, at a birthday party with over 20 guests at a communal pool area at Bayside Towers, an upscale residential high-rise, no one wore masks. The property managers reportedly asked attendees several times to comply with the COVID-19 protocols; when the guests refused, they called the police and advised them as such. By the time officers arrived, the few remaining guests got off with a warning, despite the fact that they breached several public health ordinance violations, including being in a public pool for recreational purposes, and failure to social distance or wear face masks.
The consequences of not adhering to these safety requirements involve hefty fines and possible imprisonment for up to three days.
The loophole, according to Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith, appeared to be that although the gathering was in a common area, the property itself is private — a rationale that did not go over well with social media users who accused law enforcement of perpetuating a double standard when it comes to the enforcement of COVID-19 regulations.
Back in April, under similar public health ordinance guidelines, police detained 27 youth  — many of them minors — who were congregating in larger groups than was allowed in the low-income community of Sea Lots. A video showing police making the group lie on their stomachs on a rocky beach and apologise to Griffith as guns were trained on them, went viral.
Compounding the issue was Griffith's apparent backpedaling on statements he made in April, when he claimed the police had the authority to stop house parties. The Bayside pool party, he said, was a “gray area,” suggesting that there needs to be clarification on what defines a private and public space.
Opposition Minister of Parliament Dinesh Rambally expressed support for Griffith, calling the legislation itself “vague, uncertain and imprecise.” This, he maintained, leads to arbitrary and inequitable enforcement.
While Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh confirmed that the existing regulations “more or less speak to public spaces,” he added, “We don't need a constitutional argument to tell people that how you conduct yourselves in your private premises will capsize the whole thing.”
In a post at Wired868, Lasana Liburd called out the hypocrisy of it:
Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith tried to turn the table on persons critical of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s handling of a pool party in Bayside Towers, by suggesting that they were the ones with a ‘hang-up’ on race and class—and not his lawmen. […]
Nobody was charged, although the public health ordinance carries a TT$1,000 fine [US$148)] for failure to wear masks — even if it is in your own vehicle alongside a single family member.
To date, the TTPS has charged 179 persons for failure to wear masks. So […] did the police choose not to hold someone accountable at Bayside Towers because it is an affluent neighbourhood?
Griffith noted that under his leadership, the TTPS has conducted raids in affluent areas as proof that he was above bias.
At a press conference, however, one journalist questioned why the police visit to Bayside wasn't filmed and uploaded to social media by the TTPS when other raids had. Griffith admonished the media for “nitpicking.”
When members of the media persisted, Griffith replied that he did not have the details of what happened, but that investigations were continuing. He also said that some of the guests may not have been Trinidad and Tobago nationals and that the police would check their documentation.
Media outlet Wired868, however, scoffed at the attempt to reframe the issue:
Griffith did not explain why the deportation of Venezuelan refugees — whose reason for being at the Bayside Towers event is uncertain — might be considered a suitable response to an arrogant, reckless Bayside resident’s failure to show due consideration to COVID-19 regulation.
On Facebook, Ian Y. Dass echoed similar sentiments:
So let me get this straight…
A party with 40 persons at Bayside Towers is not a breach of the public health ordinance because it's in private property. I'm pretty sure all these persons aren't living under the same roof. And I'm pretty sure they will be mingling with the public at some point in the near future.
Meanwhile, if a family who lives in the same house is seen in their PRIVATE vehicles not wearing masks, they get charged $1000 (inclusive of children over the age of 8).
Make. It. Make. Sense.
You see, I have no problem with there being laws in place to help reduce the spread of the virus. BUT…these laws should be ACROSS THE BOARD. I guess in sweet T&T, some are above the law. Injustice and unfairness in big daylight. Right in front we eyes.
But we like it so.
The memes and spoofs were quick in coming, but underneath it all, social media users were well-aware of the gravity of the issue, underscored by another incident in which a young woman claimed that the legislation — which deems it an offence to “be found at or in any beach […] or similar body of water” — doesn't apply to her or her family because they are on their “private” property. Private beaches do not exist in Trinidad and Tobago.
Even though COVID-19 regulations differ throughout the Caribbean, scenarios like these have been playing out in comparable ways.
In Jamaica, social media erupted after superstar athlete Usain Bolt celebrated his birthday by throwing a large party on August 21. Event videos showed little regard for Jamaica's COVID-19 protocols, but weeks later, police confirmed that Bolt had received a permit. Authorities are, however, still waiting to hear whether several high-profile guests who had arrived from overseas to attend the party adhered to the required quarantine protocols upon their arrival.
The government has already said that Bolt will not receive any special treatment, and investigations are continuing into possible breaches of the country's Quarantine Act.
Jamaica, like Trinidad and Tobago, is currently experiencing community spread, and government officials continue to review and update COVID-19 protocols as required, through amendments to the Disaster Risk Management Act, which are gazetted in parliament.
Three days after the party, Bolt tested positive for COVID-19, forcing several of his guests into quarantine themselves.
Jamaica is a popular destination for celebrity visitors. Pop icon Madonna and her entourage arrived during the pandemic to celebrate her 62nd birthday. Videos and photos posted on social media showed that although the birthday party was held outdoors, guests did not adhere to social distancing or mask-wearing.
On the other hand, with case numbers rising, Jamaican police have arrested several citizens for not wearing masks in public places. On September 1, several young men were stopped in the busy Half Way Tree area of Kingston — actions that are now being questioned by some lawyers, since — unlike Trinidad and Tobago — public safety measures like mask wearing have not been passed into law, but are recommendations.
However, Jamaica's Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has made it clear that fines of up to a million Jamaican dollars (just under seven thousand US dollars) or six months imprisonment can be imposed on those who defy COVID-19 protocols.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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World Shorebirds Day in the Caribbean: The beauty of wetlands and the birds that visit them · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Least Sandpiper at Great Pedro Ponds, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. This very small sandpiper spends the winter in South America, via the West Indies. Photo courtesy Ann Haynes Sutton, conservation ecologist, with permission.
Not only do birdwatchers the world over love looking at birds, they also love to count them: lists and data factor into the pastime in a big way. In the Caribbean, these “citizen scientists” play an important role in documenting the presence and the movements of island birds — there are special dates on which they spring into action, and one of these is World Shorebirds Day, which was recognised this year on September 6.
In honour of the occasion, regional birds were counted, photographed, and recorded in the eBird Caribbean database between September 3 and 9.
Many shorebird species in the Caribbean are migratory, often stopping off in different islands on their way to somewhere else. The chunky Red Knot, for example, is an incredible long-distance flyer. In its ongoing series of online colouring book pages, the nongovernmental conservation organisation (NGO) BirdsCaribbean noted:
Red Knots breed in the far north, the Arctic. They can spend the winter as far south as the southernmost tip of South America. This means they make some amazing migratory journeys of tens of thousands of miles overall! Red Knots gather in large groups in some places during autumn and winter; this makes them vulnerable to threats like sea-level rise and hunting.
BirdsCaribbean also shared a useful Shorebird ID guide, as many of these charming little birds can be deceptively similar:
BirdsCaribbean's guide to identifying common Caribbean shorebirds.
Members of BirdLife Jamaica — much fewer in numbers this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions — trekked in ones and twos to their favorite viewing sites. One member, on arriving in Old Harbour Bay after heavy rains the day before, found the location overwhelmed with mud:
Watching seabirds often involves large quantities of mud. Photo courtesy of Ian Gage, with permission.
Many shorebirds have an amazing range. The Short-billed Dowitcher, for example, flies from Alaska to Canada, winters south in Brazil and spends time in the Caribbean, too:
Short-billed Dowitchers in Great Bay, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Photo courtesy Ann Haynes Sutton, Conservation Ecologist, with permission.
The Grey or Black-bellied Plover is a global nomad. It breeds in the Arctic tundra and winters south, spreading virtually worldwide. This one decided to make a stop in Jamaica:
The Grey or Black-bellied Plover feeding along the water's edge near Black River, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Photo courtesy Emma Lewis, with permission.
There were more sociable events on the calendar. The NGO SusGren (Sustainable Grenadines) shared photos of an educational trip to the newly-restored Ashton Lagoon on Union Island:
In celebration of World Shorebirds Day 2020, SusGren in collaboration with Environmental Attackers conducted educational outreach for some students of the Stephanie Brown Primary school. The high-spirited students, who were out of their beds as early as 5:30 a.m for the session, were engaged in activities such as bird labeling, bingo, and bird identification. […]
In Trinidad, a huge and diverse array of wetland species was on display. The Whimbrel, an elegant shorebird, is another Caribbean migrant that is still fairly widespread globally:
Whimbrel, Trinidad. Photo courtesy of Jerome Foster, with permission.
The Black Skimmer, however, is quite an unusual sight in the Caribbean. This bird literally skims the surface of calm coastal waters and lagoons:
Black Skimmer, Trinidad. Photo courtesy Jerome Foster, with permission.
The beautifully named Laughing Gull is fairly common across the Caribbean, where it breeds. It spends winters in northern Brazil:
Laughing Gulls in Trinidad. Photo courtesy Jerome Foster, with permission.
Some shorebirds, of course, do stick around. The Brown Pelican, for example, is a regular sight, cruising along the shorelines and further out to sea. Its local name in Jamaica is “Old Joe”; it is a common, year-round resident of the larger islands, gliding low over the waves or doing spectacular dives for fish:
Brown Pelican, known as “Old Joe,” in-flight at Palisadoes, Kingston Harbour, Jamaica. Photo courtesy Ian Gage, with permission.
Another charming Jamaican resident, whose numbers may be augmented by migrants from North America in winter, is the Black-necked Stilt. This noisy bird, on its spindly red legs, nests on the ground near water's edge:
Black-necked Stilts in flight in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica. Photo courtesy Ian Gage, with permission.
For Jamaican birders, the highlight of World Shorebirds Day was perhaps the appearance of an adorable family of West Indian Whistling Ducks, captured on video by Damion Whyte, biologist, birder and a passionate social media educator on all things environmental. The location — a sewage pond in Portmore, St. Catherine, — was perhaps not so beautiful, but a good birding spot nonetheless:
The West Indian whistling duck (Dendrocygna arborea) is a whistling duck that breeds in the Caribbean. It is protected by law and it is illegal to capture or hunt these birds in #Jamaica. #Roostersworld @Birdlifejamaica @BirdsCaribbean @ebird pic.twitter.com/q2xA3qf218
— Roosters_World (@Roosters_World) September 6, 2020
Species such as this beautiful bird are declining in numbers throughout their range in the Caribbean. Large tourism developments, including hotels, marinas and other projects, continue to be built along the islands’ coastlines, resulting in the destruction of vital mangroves and wetlands in which these birds rest along their migratory flyways. Currently, three tourism projects under way in Grenada threaten wetlands that shelter several endangered species, including turtles.
On some islands, especially in the French Caribbean, hunting and plastic pollution are major threats.
World Shorebirds Day in the Caribbean is not only a celebration of the birds themselves, but of the beautiful places they call home, even if only temporarily for many of them.

author: Emma Lewis


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African Union turns to biosurveillance tech to curb COVID-19 · Global Voices
Kofi Yeboah

Travelers cross the border between Ghana and Togo, West Africa, on January 25, 2016. Photo by Enock4seth via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
African leaders have taken decisive, early actions to curb the spread of COVID-19. In fact, the Africa Centers for Disease Control (ACDC) created its COVID-19 task force on February 5, before the continent had a single case.
Today, Africa is currently the least impacted region in the world, with 1,293,048 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far and a remarkable 1,031,905 recoveries, according to the Africa CDCP. The continent has less than 5 percent of reported cases and less than 1 percent of all deaths.
Now, as African countries — led by the African Union —  ease COVID-19 restrictions and prepare to reopen their economies and borders, many governments are employing innovative technologies.
A need for a unified, pan-African technology that can track the spread and connect COVID-19 testing centers across the continent has led to the use of PanaBIOS, an African Union-backed biosurveillance technology.
PanaBIOS provides a mobile and web-based app that uses algorithms to track and trace persons facing potential health threats and track and keep records of test samples from their origin to in-country labs.
The technology was developed by Koldchain, a Kenyan startup, and funded by AfroChampions, a public-private partnership designed to galvanize African resources and institutions to support the emergence and success of the African private sector.
Ghana is currently the only African country using PanaBIOS technology as it reopens its borders. PanaBIOS ensures that travelers are able to use test results from one country to satisfy port clearance requirements in another country through their personal PanaBios app or by adding a system-generated SMS/USSD passcode to another travel document.
Port health officials use the enterprise version of the app to validate health declarations in a uniform manner across countries.
The African Union and the Africa CDCP are encouraging member states to integrate the mobile-based PanaBIOS platform that would allow results from facilities across the continent to be centralized. However, digital health interventions have raised a lot of questions regarding data access and data privacy.
Government-implemented surveillance and control can instill fear and threaten civil liberties, especially in a continent where only 27 countries out of 54 in Africa have fully functioning data protection and privacy laws.
Some African countries, such as Ghana, have triggered new legislation giving the president emergency powers to fight the pandemic by ordering telecom companies to provide it with personal customer details such as subscriber database, subscriber cell reference data, uncashed subscriber mobile money transfer data, mobile money merchant codes, and addresses.
To ensure data protection and privacy, all machine learning techniques used by PanaBIOS are on aggregated data. That is — data gathered is summarized for statistical analysis — not personal data used to target individuals — unless it’s for contact tracing purposes, where it would be required to reach out to suspected or infected people.
To ensure the prevention of privacy infringement, the African Union, PanaBIOS, and its partners must propose how it will comply with various country-based data protection laws to protect privacy, ensure data consent and avoid data sharing for commercial use.
The app currently does not have a privacy policy available to the public, in which it explains to users its data collection and sharing practices.
The challenge is how such data privacy policy will meet the various, continental, national, and regional data protection laws such as the African Union’s Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection, the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) model law on data protection, Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Supplementary Act A/SA.1/01/10 on Personal Data Protection Within ECOWAS and the East African Community’s Framework for Cyberlaws.
In addition to PanaBIOS, various African nations have activated tech-based responses to the COVID-19 crisis to mitigate its spread.
For example, scientists from Senegal developed a $1 COVID-19 test kit and 3D ventilators for patients. Wellvis, a Nigerian startup, created the COVID-19 Triage Tool, a free online tool to help users self-assess their coronavirus risk category based on their symptoms and their exposure history.
The South African government used Whatsapp to provide an interactive chatbot that can answer common queries about COVID-19 myths, symptoms, and treatment. And in Uganda, market women used the Market Garden app to sell their goods from their homes through the app, and then motorcycle taxis deliver the goods to customers.
Africa’s successful control and management of the spread of COVID-19 has been attributed to its younger population, limited testing capacity and mortality tracking, and the possible presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies found in some Africans.
However, it is clear that Africa’s tech-based innovations are a major contributing factor to its success in controlling COVID-19, in addition to decisive leadership early on in the pandemic.
Solomon Zewdu, deputy doctor with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation summarized how, in January, even as many Western nations hesitated, Ethiopia began intensive screening at Addis Ababa airport. Rwanda became the first African nation to lock down on March 21, and many other African countries soon followed: South Africa implemented its comprehensive lockdown when it had only 400 cases and two fatalities. (With a similar-sized population, Italy had more than 9,000 cases and 400 deaths when it acted.)
In contrast, the number of infected cases and deaths in the US is six times that of Africa. Public health experts predicted that the pandemic would horribly affect the continent with bodies lying in the streets.
Clearly, Africa has proven otherwise.

author: Kofi Yeboah


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Al Jazeera Balkans crew attacked at a right-wing opposition party protest in Skopje · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Reporter Milka Smilevska, Al Jazeera Balkans correspondent from Skopje, North Macedonia. Photo used with her permission.
This story is based on reporting by Global Voices’ content partner Meta.mk News Agency, a project of the Metamorphosis Foundation.
During a protest organized by right-wing opposition party VMRO-DPMNE on September 9 in the center of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, two Al Jazeera Balkans journalists were attacked and obstructed in doing their work.
While the reporter Milka Smilevska and cameramen Jorde Angelovik were taking a statement from one of the protesters, the attacker—another participant in the protest—approached them and first asked Smilevska whether she reports for Al Jazeera Balkans and then pushed her, forcing her to drop her microphone on the ground.
The journalist immediately reported the incident to a police officer who was standing nearby, and led them to the perpetrator who was in the crowd of protesters. The police then detained him.
Screencap from the video the journalist posted on Facebook depicting the attacker. Fair use.
Smilevska described the violent incident in a public Facebook post containing two videos that recorded what happened.
Dečkoto na prvoto video što go prijaviv na policaecot, ne napadna so kolegata Jorde i mi go butna mikrofonot dodeka snimav izjava, prethodno me praša dali sum od Al Jazeera i toa beše povod za napadot. Policijata go privede i kje mu podnese prijava. Jas nema da go tužam. Na vtoroto video se sluša koga mikrofonot pagja. Koga go privede policaecot ne sakaše da se legitimira.
Nema potreba od agresija, borbata treba da e so argumenti i dela. Demokratijata znači i različni mediumi, ako nekoj ne vi se dopagja ne go gledajte ili čitate, ne go napagjajte fizički.
I reported the lad shown in the first video to the policeman because he attacked me and my colleague Jorde, pushing my microphone while I was taking a statement. He previously asked me if I'm from Al Jazeera and that was the pretext of the attack. The police have detained the perpetrator and will press criminal charges. I will not sue him for damages. In the second video you can hear the sound of the microphone dropping to the ground. When the police approached the man, he refused to identify himself with an ID.
There's no need for aggression, the [political] struggle needs to take place with arguments and deeds. Democracy means [the presence of] different media, and if you don't like some of them, don't watch them or read them, don't attack them physically.
The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers condemned the attack on the Al Jazeera crew and called on the Ministry of Interior to sanction the attacker whose picture is publicly available. They issued a joint press release stating the following:
Ваквиот однос кон новинарите кои се на работна задача на терен е неприфатлив и потребно е да биде строго казнет од страна на Министерството за внатрешни работи затоа што насилството кон новинарите не е дозволив во демократски земји. Доколку ваквите инциденти се толерираат во иднина има ризик да се охрабрат нови посериозни насилства кон новинарите, а со тоа дополнително да се загрози нивната безбедност, правото на слобода на изразување како и правото на информирање на граѓаните.
This behavior towards the journalists who are on duty is unacceptable and it should be sanctioned by the Ministry of Interior because violence towards journalists is not allowed in democratic countries. If these incidents are tolerated there is a risk of encouraging new and more serious violence against journalists in near future, and that will additionally jeopardize their safety, freedom of expression and the right to inform the citizens.
The protest’s organizer VMRO-DPMNE also issued a press release, in which it condemned any type of violence and obstructions of the work of journalists. They called on the authorities to clear out the circumstances about the incident at the protest.
The ruling party SDSM also issued a press release condemning the attack, blaming the organizer for “bullying and degrading relations towards journalists,” and claiming they didn't apologize for the incident to the attacked female journalist.
In a column for the investigative reporting portal Prizma published on September 11, journalist Milka Smilevska, described the incident in detail and also added that the organizers phoned her to apologize directly. She pointed out to the additional hardship journalists face when they have to deal with subsequent political manipulations related to such incidents.
Токму поради ваквата ситуација и ваквите реакции, новинарите се обесхрабруваат да реагираат бидејќи не сакаме етикети, кои секако ни ги лепат. Не сакаме да нè ставате ни во едни, ни во други табори, ние сме само новинари повеќето од нас во нашата работа сме водени од јавниот интерес.
Се надевам дека ова ќе биде добар пример за сите новинари и медиумски работници, дека без оглед на сѐтреба да реагираме и да не молчиме кога некој ќе нѐ нападне на терен.
Precisely this kind of situation and such reactions discourage journalists to react to this kind of incidents, because we don't want to be labeled as partisan, even though we'll be labeled anyway. We don't want to be put in neither party camp, we are just journalists, and most of us are guided by the public interest in our work.
I hope this case will serve as a good example for all journalists and media workers, that regardless of circumstances we need to react and not keep silent when someone attacks us on the field while we are in the line of duty.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


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Millions of Indian students sit university entrance exams after government disregards protests to postpone them · Global Voices
Vishal Yashoda Manve

End of the year exams (maths, 10th class) in Mahatma Gandhi Seva Ashram, Jaura, India. All the students are grouped on a compound out of the school. Photo from 2010. By Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA.
Around 2.8 million Indian students sat university examinations from the end of the August to September 13 as the country approaches the grim milestone of 5-million total COVID-19 cases.
Despite pleas from civil society to defer examinations, including by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, a Supreme Court ruling on August 17 gave the government the green light to keep the original schedule for the engineer and medical colleges entrance exams.
The JEE and the NEET, how university exams for those two careers are called, are India's most competitive — they sprawl industries of their own, with preparation courses generating millions of dollars annually.
The court bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that “the career of the students cannot be put on peril for long and a full academic year cannot be wasted.” The court will not hear any further petitions regarding postponing future exam dates.
Journalist S Poorvaja tweeted:
Students are being sent out of the centre after the exam in batches. #NEET2020 @THChennai pic.twitter.com/McnRO1de89
— S Poorvaja (@_poorvaja) September 13, 2020
The Union Cabinet Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal tweeted:
NTA informed me that around 85-90% students appeared in #NEET exam today. I sincerely thank all Chief Ministers and @DG_NTA for proper arrangements made to facilitate student participation. #NEET participation reflects the tenacity and grit of young #AtmaNirbharBharat .
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) September 13, 2020
According to the Ministry of Education, 74 percent of the students registered to the first of the JEE took the exam, while an above 80-percent attendance was observed for the NEET exam.
Students are now gearing up for the second stage of the JEE (the JEE Advanced), which will take place on September 27. Protests against the exam date have dwindled since the Supreme Court decision.
In addition, Indian schools outside of containment zones are preparing to resume offline classes starting September 21, despite protests from parents, teachers and activists to also postpone school reopening.
Containment zones are geographical areas, usually of a three-kilometre radius, where a high number of COVID-19 cases have been reported. Most activities are restricted in the containment zones, with only essential services being allowed to function.
The schools allowed to resume classes will have to follow guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, including mandatory mask-wearing, physical distancing, and enhanced cleaning of facilities.
India's schools have been closed since March when the central government imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns.
During the month of August, protests against the government's maintaining of university examination dates erupted in pockets across India.
A post shared by Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom)
Students’ concerns ranged from possible agglomeration in test centres and means of transportation to them. Many suburban and rural areas are also under containment zones, where transportation is restricted.
Besides, the states of Bihar, Asam and Gujarat were heavily struck by floods in recent weeks, affecting the students’ ability to prepare for the tests.
The National President of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) N Sai Balaji tweeted on August 22:
#INDIAunitedtoPostponeJEE_NEET
Students are begging for life and you are rigid to take exam. No “logic” can win over “Life” .
Consider your decision, they do not want to risk their family lives @DrRPNishank
Join tomorrow one day hunger strike #SATYAGRAH_AgainstExamsInCovid
— N Sai Balaji | ఎన్ సాయి బాలాజీ (@nsaibalaji) August 22, 2020
Protests also happened online as social distancing measures were still in place in large parts of India.
The hashtag #StudentLivesMatter has been trending in India since July, and #JEENEETpostpone since August.
Online protests often used satire, with memes and elaborate videos arguing that students should not be forced to risk theirs and their families’ health in order to sit the exams.
Celebrities and social media influencers also joined the campaign to postpone the exams.
Some students have pointed out the irony of the Supreme Court ruling that obligated students to sit exams amid the pandemic was made via conference call.
Students also mass disliked a video by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on YouTube in which he praises the educational system for “raising to challenges” posed by the pandemic and the government's response overall. Modi doesn't address the JEE and NEET issue in the video.
A post shared by VICE India (@viceindia)

author: Vishal Yashoda Manve


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Nigerians demand names of politicians slammed with US visa ban · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

US President Donald J. Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks, April 30, 2018 (public domain).
Nigerian politicians responsible for undermining the democratic process in general elections last year were slapped by visa restrictions imposed by the United States Department of State on September 14.
However, their names remain classified — both the US and Nigerian governments have yet to release the list of offenders’ names.
Nigerian elections held last year on February 29 was won by incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, with 15 million votes. Buhari defeated his closest rival, businessman and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party, who garnered 11 million votes.
In a State Department statement, US officials condemned the 2019 election’s acts of “violence, intimidation and corruption that harmed Nigerians,” and warned ahead of off-cycle elections to “uphold the tenets of democracy and facilitate genuinely free and fair elections, conducted in an appropriately transparent and non-violent manner.”
While this statement did not contain any specific details on how they determined who to add to this offenders’ list, past pronouncements reveal clues.
On January 24, 2019, the United States Embassy in Nigeria, on the heels of the general elections slated for February, warned that it was “paying close attention” to the actions of Nigerian politicians who “instigate violence against the civilian population before, during, or after the elections.”
The US Mission in Nigeria also emphasized that visa restrictions will be applied to perpetrators and their family members. The US State Department reiterated this threat on July 23, 2019.
Henry Okelue thinks that keeping the names classified serves no purpose:
It really does not serve any useful purpose if the identities of those allegedly “slammed” with a visa ban by the US is classified. For all we know it might be nobody.
— HENRY Okelue ?? (@4eyedmonk) September 15, 2020
Twitter user Cheta advocates “further sanctions” in addition to the visa ban:
Good move on the surface, but doesn't really serve its intended purpose as a deterrent without further sanctions.
The US Dollar is still the world's reserve currency. Prevent them from accessing USD, and watch their behaviour REALLY begins to change. https://t.co/7shT2P9MpF
— Chxta (@Chxta) September 15, 2020
Twitter users, Temisan Okomi and Ugo are curious about the US’ process to determine the offenders:
This US visa restriction on election riggers; is it those Nigerian courts convict or those the US used drones to monitor?
I'm a bit confused…
— Temisan Okomi (@temiokomi) September 15, 2020
@feathersproject how's the US going to determine the election riggers? I've been wondering since you put am that link. Is it the people the government say are riggers or those they determine are election riggers?
— Ugo (@Hugo_simbaa) September 15, 2020
SaharaReporters, an online news platform, allegedly claimed that four Nigerian politicians were among those slammed with a visa ban.
However, Global Voices could neither confirm nor deny this report through contact with the Nigerian US Embassy and Consulate on Twitter.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari campaign sign on the side of the road, on February 28, 2015. Photo by Clara Sanchiz/RNW via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Another possible source for the offenders’ list may be found in the report by 72 local and 16 international election monitoring teams, who were invited by Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
About 47 people were killed on February 23, on presidential election day, according to the Situation Room, a Nigerian civil society group of local election observers.
Some deaths were caused by clashes between rival political groups or over allegations of vote fraud.
The European Union (EU) electoral observer mission, in Nigeria from January 5 to April 7, 2019, was one of several monitoring organisations during the 2019 election.
The EU electoral observer mission confirmed that Nigeria’s 2019 general election was “marred by violence and intimidation” of voters in a June 2019 report. Nigerian security agencies also allegedly connived with politicians to unleash violence.
EU observers present during the collation of the presidential results “directly witnessed or received reports of intimidation of INEC officials in 20 states.” EU observers were deployed in Abuja, the federal capital, and the 36 states of Nigeria.
The EU report was collaborated by the findings of the joint Nigeria International Election Observation Mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), both US-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit organisations.
The NDI/IRI observation mission emphasized that the 2019 elections lacked transparency as “candidates be imposed by party leaders through undemocratic means.” This resulted in “further fragmentation of political parties or in intra-party violence,” which essentially alienated voters.
The NDI/IRI team also noted that the unscheduled postponement of the presidential and national legislative elections to February 23, a few hours before the commencement of polling on February 16, shattered public confidence in INEC’s integrity.
Election violence by Nigerian politicians is fueled by a culture of impunity.
Great to hear that the U.S. has imposed visa ban on Nigerian politicians responsible for undermining our democracy.
It’s pivotal that Europe follows suit.
A ban by Europe will hurt even more as their kids study in Europe and it’s their prime destination for holiday & medicals.
— Bulama Bukarti (@bulamabukarti) September 15, 2020
Nothing hits Nigerian ruling elites more than prohibited travel abroad with their families. The US visa ban may even promote transparency and force Nigerian elites to fess up.
But it still falls short.
Unless perpetrators of election violence, voter intimidation and rigging are named and shamed, it will be business as usual in the upcoming off-cycle elections in Edo and Ondo states.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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China’s persecution of Muslim minorities: An Uyghur student living in Turkey shares her story · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Screenshot from a YouTube video shot in one of the Miraj restaurants in Urumqi.
The identity of the author of this story has been kept anonymous for safety reasons.
Since 2017, China's northwestern region of Xinjiang has seen a drastic rise in the incarceration of its ethnic minority citizens, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Hui.
The United Nations, along with international human rights organizations, estimates that over 1 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained in internment camps, which the Chinese government calls “vocation training centers.”
The Chinese government's secrecy around those camps makes numbers difficult to assess, but sources estimate that hundreds have died while detained.
Other forms of persecution in the region have also been widely reported, such as bans on religious rituals and restrictions on freedom of movement or use of minority languages.
This situation has pushed many young Uyghurs to leave China, mainly for Europe and the Middle East.
Global Voices interviewed Fazilat Abdureshit, a 23-year-old from Atush in western Xinjiang, who ended her first cycle of studies in 2015 and applied for a scholarship in Turkey the same year. She is now studying Islamic theology at the Bursa Uludağ university in western Turkey.
This interview was conducted over the phone in English and edited for brevity.
Photo of Fazilat Abdureshit, used with permission
Global Voices (GV): When you left for Turkey in 2015, everything was fine with your family. What has happened since?
Fazilat Abdureshit (FA): I went home once a year to visit, the last time was in January 2017 when I spent two weeks with my family, before returning to Turkey. My aunt joined me as she had planned to spend some time with me before going back to Xinjiang. But in May 2017 my father called and told us not to come back to Xinjiang, without giving any clear explanation. We got scared, so my aunt just stayed with me in Turkey.
In August of that year, my brother sent us some money from Xinjiang to provide for my aunt's living expenses. After that, I lost contact with him. Finally, in October 2017 I got a message from my grandmother, telling me that my brother, Rezaidin Abdureshit, had been arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending us money. My brother is 32 years old and has two children, a 5-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son.
We were so shocked by the news. By this time I was also unable to contact my other siblings, who had deleted me from their social media, and didn't answer my calls.
FA: Until May 2018 I was able to stay in touch through short messages on WeChat, once every three months. But after that, I couldn't reach him at all. I learnt later that he had been sent to an internment camp.
In June 2020 I received news about my father, who is now 64 years old, informing me he had been sentenced to 17 years in prison. Since I learned this through indirect channels, I have no more information about the verdict. I know my father is a law-abiding citizen, so my guess is that he was targeted because I, as well as one of his brothers, live in Turkey.
FA: Yes. In June 2020 I also learned that my father's brother, Ablimit Hoshur Halis Haji, a businessman and prominent philanthropist, and my aunt's husband Shanshidin Haji, who is an oncologist at the Tumor Hospital in Urumqi, were each sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Shanshidins Hajis’ brother, Imin Haji, who heads a major construction company, has also been sentenced to 20 years. His sister Nurgul Rahmitulla got a 15-year sentence. Imin Hajis’ son Adiljan is in prison too, I don't know for how long.
My father's younger brother, Ahmatjan Haji Muhammad disappeared three years ago. He came to visit us in Turkey in February 2017, and was taken by the authorities on his return to China. I have no further information about him.
My sister's husband, Adiljan Imin, has been detained for three years now. My sister Mukaddas Abdureshit was also taken in 2018, but was later released since she was pregnant.
My father's cousin Amrulla Abdusami, a businessman, was taken three years ago and I have no information about what happened to him. He has four children, his eldest son Elijan Amrulla, who is 23, was also sentenced to eight years, probably for studying the Koran. This happened to the son of another of my father's cousins, Ilham Hayrulla, who was arrested five years ago for studying the Koran.
My family has been doing business in China for a long time. They ran a three-branch restaurant in Urumqi called Miraj, which was closed down by the authorities, allegedly for promoting the Uyghur cultural identity. In that process, my father's business partners were also detained.
FA: I really want to ask them why my father and other relatives were sent to prison. And why my family members cannot contact me. I came to Turkey in a legal way, on a passport issued by the Chinese authorities. So why did they punish my family? What is their crime? They all know the Chinese language and have committed no crime. My father is a good man, well-known in our society. I demand the truth about what happened to them.

author: Guest Contributor


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How a young photographer puts modern Mongolia in focus · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Men wear Khadags as blindfolds. The Khadag (Katak in Tibetan) is a ceremonial silk scarf symbolising purity and compassion which Buddhists offer as gifts during important ceremonies such as births, funerals, and weddings. Photo (c): Kush Zorigt, used with permission.
Contemporary art isn't the first thing which comes to mind when one thinks of Mongolia.
Nevertheless, today the country has its own vibrant gallery scene. Mongolian artists are exploring modern art, fashion, literature, and visual arts from around the world, sometimes mixing them with their own traditional art forms. Most of these contemporary artists are based in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, which is home to half of the population of this vast country of three million.
Ulaanbaatar is known for its outlying districts where traditional ger [the Mongolian yurt] tents cluster together on the edge of the steppe, their inhabitants attracted by a newfound wealth largely driven by the mining industry. But Ulaanbaatar's rapid growth has also led to new social divides, alongside dangerous levels of pollution for which the capital has become notorious. This commercial boom has also given birth to an ultra-modern urban landscape no different from those of Seoul, Tokyo, or Beijing.
This is precisely what the Mongolian photographer Kush Zorigt aims to capture in his photos which document the urban landscape, the urban experience, and those who inhabit it.
The interview has been edited for brevity.
Kush Zorigt. Photo (c): Blgunee Hiroshi, used with permission.
Filip Noubel (FN): You are a multi-talented artist who started out as a traditional musician, then a jazz musician and singer, then a journalist and now a photographer. Why have you chosen photography?
Kush Zorigt (KZ): I am on a journey of self-exploration. I found photography to be much closer to myself. I was not a visual person initially, I wasn't drawn to films or photography and had little knowledge when studying music. I did explore a new genre with jazz, but I grew up in a traditional family: my parents are professors of classical Mongolian music, my younger brother is a composer, and I was trained for years to play the morin khuur, our traditional stringed instrument. When I started working as a journalist, I was was interested in covering the arts, so about six years ago, I interviewed people working in fashion. Three years ago, I moved to another media outlet, working on photo essays as an editor, and part of my job involved hiring photographers. This is when I realised the impact of visual art. So two and a half years ago I bought a camera, trained myself, and last year I started thinking about storytelling with photos.
FN: Your current exhibition in Ulaanbaatar at the Red Ger Creative Space explores the themes of winter and urban pollution. Could you describe your relationship to the city?
KZ: I wanted to focus on three things with this photo essay in five parts, which was inspired by the music of the contemporary German-British composer Max Richter. The first is beauty: I want to seek out beauty in the city throughout the year. Except for the short summer, Ulaanbaatar is quite dark, but there is something behind these images of long and cold winters that last four to six months. Winter is interesting because the air is thick, and really really cold, down to minus 40 degrees Celsius sometimes. I wanted to show that light and cold blue that I portray in some of my photos. I want people to feel it.
The pollution and chaos is another thing. The pollution comes from the Ger district [most people use coal to survive the winter inside their tents – ed.] around the city and from too many cars. Last year the pollution situation did improve, but the city is still overpopulated, which is something we have gotten used to and now see as normal. Thus that's something we somehow fail to see, so I want to portray that as well. I made a conscious choice of excluding the Ger district, because it has its own narrative, and I want to to tell another story about this city. The more time passes, the closer the city becomes for me.
Read more: For LGBTQ+ people in Mongolia, stigma is a fact of life
This woman in Ulaanbaatar wears a mask not because of COVID-19 but because of extreme pollution. Photo: (c) Kush Zorigt, used with permission.
FN: An important part of your photo work, also visible on your Instagram account, is about the body and gender identity. Can you tell us more about this work and the way it's perceived in Mongolia?
KZ: Queerness is not something I can articulate well in words, it is much easier to do in pictures. For me they are a more natural way of describing it. I am indeed more interested in portraying male bodies and portraits. In the photoessay called Spring, there is an expression of queerness: there are five young, vulnerable, pure, blooming young men who are also blind [they are blindfolded in the photos – ed.] and hidden.
They don't know they are blooming, which is a reference to my personal story of hiding and showing.
I also work as a fitness trainer: I wanted to have this type of body, so I trained for 10 years, then studied to become a personal trainer. I also want to have a professional and scientific approach to this line of work. But I noticed that people are intimidated by overall masculine photos, which is a feeling I share. So I thought of giving a different image of health and fitness, something much friendlier. So my photos I use to promote my work as a fitness trainer are also much more on the artistic side.
FN: The general perception from the outside is that Mongolia is an isolated country, squeezed between two giants, Russia and China. How does this location influence the development of contemporary art, whether visual, performance or other forms?
KZ: We shared a lot with China until the early 20th century, in our culture, music, architecture, and history. From our 1921 independence to the 1990 democratic revolution, we lived under a strongly Soviet-style system with a clear ideology, but it helped us advance in [western]  classical music. Those two neighbours certainly impacted us culturally. Now we have had a 30 year period of democracy in which we are still trying to define our cultural identity. Today we have jazz which attracts international performers and researchers alike. It's something very new. We have photography classes. But photography as an urban art is very new: most Mongolian professionals are landscape, wedding, or fashion photographers. Now we have a new wave [in photography] thanks to Instagram, so if you check the hashtags of #instameetulaanbaatar or #ubeveryday, you will see a lot of photos. This is why I want to focus on artistic photography. Last year I worked on a short film, and I want to focus on urban stories, on world citizenship, and hope to show my work outside Mongolia too.
Follow Kush Zorigt's Instagram account here

author: Filip Noubel


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In Bolivia, indigenous Aymara question Bolivia’s Independence Day celebrations · Global Voices
Ruben Hilari

August 11, 2020 in Achacachi, Bolivia. Aymara provincial assembly, known as the ‘Red Ponchos’. Photo by Elias Hilari Quispe, used with permission.
August 6 marked the 195th anniversary of Bolivia's Independence Day; it also drew criticism from indigenous Aymara netizens about alleged corruption in Jeanine Añez's transitional government as well as its neglect of healthcare and education issues. Many also questioned the relevance of Bolivia's Independence Day for the native peoples of the region.
About 3 million people who identify as Aymara live in four Andean countries: Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. In Bolivia, approximately 62.2 percent of the population identify as indigenous.
After independence from colonial Spanish rule, abuse of power against the Aymara and other native peoples continued until the national revolution of 1952 when universal suffrage and agrarian reform, among other rights, were achieved through social struggles. However, inequality and racism against native peoples continue to this day.
Research about Aymara history, technology, agriculture and political organization by Ayamara scholars presents an opposing perspective to the narratives written about the Aymara by non-indigenous scholars. Aymara leaders and teachers continue to assert that Creoles (or non-indigenous people) have hidden or downplayed knowledge derived from the Aymara nation in their own publications about the history of Bolivia.
Elias Ajata Rivera, an Aymara linguist, manages the Aymara language and culture Facebook page “Aymar Yatiqaña” where he shared his critique about celebrating Bolivia's independence day:
Screen shot from Aymar Yatiqaña Facebook page.
The image reads, “Akanx janiw aka markanakan urupax amtatäkiti ¿KUNATA?” which translates to “On this page, we do not celebrate the Independence Day of these countries. WHY?”. Ajata goes on to say:
Porque los días en que estos países celebran su independencia no fueron independencia para los aymaras. Las condiciones de explotación continuaron o empeoraron para nosotros.
Because the independence that is celebrated in these countries does not represent independence for the Aymara. The conditions of exploitation continued or even worsened for us.
Ajata explains that, during the post-colonial period, the Aymara were forced to work as “pongos” (indigenous domestic workers and farmers), they were massacred “at the whim of their masters,” and had to pay “indigenous taxes“. He writes:
La independencia de estos países donde vivimos los aymaras no fue la liberación del aymara, fue un cambio de “amo”, pasamos de los abusos de los españoles a los abusos de sus hijos.
The independence of these countries where we, the Aymara, live did not mean our liberation. For us, it was just a change of “master”, from the abuse by the Spanish to the abuse by their descendants.
According to Ajata, Bolivian history lessons glorified Creole leaders like Simón Bolivar and Antonio José de Sucre as liberators; however, the survival of the today's Aymara people was actually thanks to indigenous leaders like Tupak Katari, Zarate Willka, and Santos Marka T’ula. Simón Bolivar, the founder of the republics of Gran Colombia and Bolivia, thought indigenous people were “…more ignorant than the vile race of the Spaniards.”
In another commentary criticizing Bolivian Independence Day celebrations, Aymara researchers Pablo Mamani and David Quispe shared the following message on their Facebook pages:
Bolivia es inviable sin los indios, salvajes, alteños, masistas…195 años de la republica neocolonial no enseñó nada?
Posted by Pablo Mamani Ramirez on Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Bolivia could not survive without the indians, savages, alteños, masistas…
Did the 195 years of neocolonial republic not teach anything?
The term “Alteño”  refers to the inhabitants of the La Paz adjacent city of El Alto with its majority Aymara and Quechua population. “Masistas” is the name for the followers of Evo Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism party (MAS), which is currently associated with Aymara and Quechua communities who do not agree with the current transitional government of Añez. These terms have been used in the media to refer mainly to the Aymara and Quechuas. Mamani and Quispe believe that Bolivia would not be the same without indigenous peoples.
These are just some of the views that question the idea of “Bolivianity” (“Bolivianidad”) or the condition and sentiment of being Bolivian, which some critics say is oppressive to other cultures within the country.
This criticism of Bolivianity is supported by Aymara social leader and university professor Felipe Quispe Huanca, also known as “El Mallku” (“condor of the Andes”). During a television debate, he made strong statements against the political structure of Bolivianity:
“No soy boliviano… soy del Qullasuyu, de la nación aymara…tengo idioma, religión, territorio, filosofía…no me gusta vivir bajo la manga del opresor”
I am not Bolivian … I am from Qullasuyu, from the Aymara nation … I have a language, religion, territory, philosophy … I don't like living oppressed.
These words drew criticism from conservative Christian politicians and the media that see him as an “instigator of hatred among Bolivians.” On the other hand, he is supported by many in the native population.
On his private Facebook page, one of the former vice-rectors of the Public University of El Alto (UPEA), Qhisphiyir Qhisphi, explained:
“Nada que celebrar 195 años de bolivia, continúa la masacre y el genocidio llegados hace 488 años a estas tierras con la invasión, ejercidos con la colonización, practicados en la república… continuados en el estado. osan decir “independencia”, pero hay extranjeros gobernando con dictadura y tiranía.”
There is nothing to celebrate for the 195th anniversary of Bolivia. The massacre and genocide that the invasion brought to these lands 488 years ago, carried out during the colonization, practiced in the republic … and continued by the state. They dare to say “independence”, but there are foreigners ruling with dictatorship and tyranny.

author: Ruben Hilari


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Peru’s state TV broadcasts 23 hours in Spanish daily but only 1 hour in indigenous languages · Global Voices
Jermani Ojeda

Screenshot of the TV Perú channel program. Photo by Carlos Molina Vital, used with permission.
The title of this article summarizes the attitude of the state channel TV Perú towards indigenous peoples, while also reflecting the colonial history of the country. At the threshold of the bicentennial anniversary of the nation-state of Peru, the space that the indigenous peoples have in the country is reflected in the poor representation they have on the state television channel. Quechua and Aymara activists are leading a call for action for the recognition and sovereignty of indigenous peoples in regard to the use of their native languages.
Some years ago, the TV programs in Quechua and Aymara began to be broadcast for just one hour a day, from 5:00 to 6:00 am when the audience numbers were the lowest. In early August, the TV channel's management planned on broadcasting these programs at 4:00 am, but the time was changed back to 5:00 am after indigenous activists petitioned and protested on social media against the decision. One of the justifications put forward by Eduardo Guzmán Iturbe, who is responsible for the TV Perú's programming, was that the indigenous Quechuas and Aymara people wake up at 4:00 in the morning, unlike those viewers who live in cities. This argument contradicts the data from the last census in 2017 that shows that the largest number of indigenous language speakers live in cities; for example, in Lima, more than 700,000 residents have Quechua as their mother tongue. Guzman's statement is an example of the discourse throughout the 200-year history of the Republic of Perú, that “indigenous people belong in the past and live in the countryside.”
Most Quechua speakers of Peru live in cities as a result of internal migration. Yet, they do not have access to public services using their mother tongue. Instead, they have to adapt to the country's colonial policy which promotes assimilation to Spanish in state institutions, such as education, health, and other government services. Even in remote regions such as Cusco and Apurímac, where most of the inhabitants speak Quechua, public services are in Spanish, except for some isolated initiatives. This is how the Republic of Perú was founded and very little has changed in its almost 200-year history. When “multiculturalism” and “interculturalism” are displayed, it is only to disguise this deeply colonial, racist, and discriminatory country. This colonial attitude is propagated not only from the capital city but also by the powerful local elites who believe that the more Spanish is spoken, the more developed or modern the country is, reflecting what Rivera Cusicanqui (2010) calls “colonial thought.”
The commercial media corporations in Peru still do not have a program in Quechua, showing us once again that the country has reached its bicentennial as if Spanish were the only language we speak in Peru. This situation reveals the attitude of the mainstream media owners towards the indigenous peoples, using them at certain times only to display an image of “cultural wealth” of the country, attractive for tourism. When one of these corporations has a program in Quechua, it will be a milestone for the recognition of the “Others” who are also part of this country. Those “Others” are the indigenous peoples who have been inhabiting this territory long before the creation of the Republic of Perú and the arrival of Europeans.
In this way, we continue to repeat the attitude and colonial policy of that nascent republic of Perú in 1821, which promoted the assimilation and the exclusion of the indigenous people. Let us remember that the new republic caused the number of Quechua language speakers in the country to decrease from approximately 70 percent (in 1870) to approximately 30  percent (in 1970). Different strategies and policies were used to promote the learning and use of Spanish in education and other state services. According to government data, currently, 13 percent of Peruvians are Quechua-language speakers.
Just as the state channel schedules the very early morning hours for indigenous languages, the country's indigenous people have simply been ignored or seen as a problem to be solved. State authorities only talk about us when there is a disaster, a social conflict, when we need to be part of the country's army, or when tourism is promoted. Those few times when the indigenous people are acknowledged are due to compassion and the need to protect those who are considered less than others. Neglect and compassion are often confused; they do not mean treating those “Others”—be they runes (Quechua word for “people”), or any other indigenous group in the country—as people. During the other 23 TV hours and throughout the years, this republic still considers that the indigenous people do not exist and have not existed in its history.
For this reason, it is more necessary than ever for the indigenous peoples of Perú to gain greater sovereignty in the use of our languages and our presence in the media. This means having a media network, a television and radio station, and virtual platforms for journalistic production from our experiences as indigenous, and led by us. If we look at the experiences of other indigenous peoples in the world, such as in Australia and New Zealand, we will see that they managed to create their own networks and media platforms. How can we, too, achieve this? We are already many Quechuas, Aymara, and Amazonians who have had local radio stations for many years and have been involved in radio, television, and print journalism. We need to strengthen our networks, occupy new platforms, and lead the communication processes in media.

author: Jermani Ojeda


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Barbados declares intent to recognise same-sex unions and remove British queen as head of state · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Composite image created using screenshots of elements of a public domain image of the Barbados flag by Cezary Biele on Wikimedia Commons, and from an image of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II wearing her Coronation robes and regalia by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, with changes being made to the photo via its appearance in the composite image.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Barbados has been garnering the reputation of being one of the most progressive Caribbean nations.
Mottley's administration has spoken out on behalf of the region on the issue of climate change and its effects on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), pledged to make the country's education system more relevant and equitable, and  — given the economic hit that the tourism-dependent island is taking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — introduced a visa programme through which remote employees can live in and work from Barbados for up to a year.
Now, Barbados may well be poised to become the first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state to recognise same-sex civil unions. The Cayman Islands, which is an associate member of the community, enacted legislation making same-sex civil partnerships legal on September 4, 2020.
The island nation also plans to terminate its status as a Commonwealth realm, whereby the head of the British monarchy also functions as the sovereign country's head of state.
Saying it was “time to end discrimination in all forms,” Barbados’ Governor General Dame Sandra Mason announced the news at the opening of the country's new parliamentary term on September 15.
While the country will recognise same-sex civil unions, Dame Sandra said the matter of same-sex marriage would be put to a public referendum and that the government would “accept and be guided by the vote of the public”:
My government will do the right thing, understanding that this too will attract controversy. Equally, it is our hope that with the passage of time, the changes we now propose will be part of the fabric of our country’s record of law, human rights and social justice.
Barbados is typically a conservative society, but the governor-general noted that other pieces of legislation — considered controversial at the time — were successfully passed because it was the right thing to do. The examples she used include giving women the right to vote, ensuring that secondary education was free to all nationals, and ending risky backstreet abortions through the country's Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Nevertheless, Barbadians like artist Annalee Davis got the impression that the move has mostly been prompted by economic factors and pressure from the international community. The island has increasingly found its human rights record rated below par because of its attitude to homosexuality and same-sex relationships, which has a negative effect on funding and other foreign investment. Regardless of the motivation, however, Davis felt it was still something to be celebrated.
It remains to be seen how public opinion will go on this issue once the referendum takes place, but many are expecting religious bodies to speak out against it. An opposition senator has already accused the government of trying to “sneak through” the legislation, which he said “[doesn't] speak to the morals of this country,” and on Instagram, a commenter suggested the move was about “going after the gay tourist dollar.” Back in January, one Barbados bishop made it clear that the Anglican church — not just in Barbados, but region-wide — would not bless same-sex unions.
This, despite the fact that the courts of several regional territories have handed down judgments that the criminalisation of sodomy — still on the law books in many Caribbean countries including Barbados — is unconstitutional.
Barbados celebrated its first gay pride parade in 2018.
Another critical matter on which the country is pivoting involves removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. A former British colony, Barbados achieved independence in 1966, but maintained a connection to Britain via its status as a Commonwealth realm.
As of 2020, nine CARICOM territories — Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines — still recognise the queen as head of state.
There has long been a push to remove “all vestiges of colonialism and white supremacy” from Barbadian society, and the governor-general has now put a timeline on when that will happen:
Barbados to become republic, remove Queen Elizabeth as head of state by November 2021 when nation marks 55th anniversary of independence, announces Dame Sandra Mason, Governor General and the Queen's domestic rep, in outlining upcoming priorities of @miaamormottley admin. pic.twitter.com/M5YIAWXrsV
— Jovan Johnson (@jovanthony) September 15, 2020
In her explanation about the decision, Dame Mason quoted Barbados’ first prime minister, Errol Barrow, who “cautioned about loitering on colonial premises” — a message she said is as relevant now as it was when the island secured its independence:
The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.
Once the change is made, Barbados will become a republic, which means that power is held by the citizens via their elected representatives and that a president — rather than a monarch — is head of state. This decision is not expected to be put to a referendum.


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Border row, trade turmoil and rising Chinese influence send Indo-Nepal ties to lowest ebbs · Global Voices
Vishal Yashoda Manve

India-Nepal border at Sonauli. Image via Flickr by Axel Drainville. CC BY 2.0.
Bound by cultural ties and religion, the once-friendly India-Nepal ties have significantly deteriorated in the past 10 months after a series of spats over a decades-old border dispute and rising China influence in the region.
Relations began to turn sour in November 2019 when India published a revised map that included territories in Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura, which both countries claim.
That dispute dates back to the Sugauli Treaty that followed the Anglo-Nepal War (1814-1816), which designates all areas east of Kali River as the nation-state of Nepal. India defends that the Kali river starts at Lipulekh, while Nepal claims Limpiyadhura as its source.
Kathmandu responded by sending a diplomatic note to New Delhi, which the latter ignored. On May 20, the Nepalese government published a new official map of the country incorporating the disputed territories.
Things escalated further in May when India inaugurated a road in the Kalapani area. In June, Nepal amended its constitution to incorporate the country's new map with Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed this decision, calling it an “artificial enlargement… not based on historical facts and evidence”.
Nepalese Prime Minister K.P Sharma Oli has been soliciting talks with New Delhi — while at the same time pushing the officialization of Nepal's new map forward.
With support from both Houses of Parliament and the President's approval, the new map incorporating the territories in the Kalapani region is now officially part of Nepal's constitution and its national emblem.
Kathmandu also sent its new political map to the United Nations and Google in June.
Nepalese actress and author Manisha Koirala tweeted:
Thank you for keeping the dignity of our small nation..we all are looking forward for a peaceful and respectful dialogue between all three great nations now ? https://t.co/A60BZNjgyK
— Manisha Koirala (@mkoirala) May 18, 2020
[Quoted tweet by Pradeep Gyawali, Nepalese Minister of Foreign Affairs]: Decision of the Council of Ministers to publish the map of Nepal featuring 7 provinces, 77 districts and 753 local level administrative divisions including Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani. The official map is being made public by the Ministry of Land Management soon.)
India's Ministry of External Affairs said in June:
“It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India.”
When Indian TV channel Zee News broadcast, in July, a commentary show accusing PM Oli of having been influenced by the Chinese ambassador, Kathmandu ordered a nationwide ban of all Indian news channels.
Former Indian Diplomat Krishan Chander Singh angrily tweeted:
Nepal Bans Broadcast of Indian News Channels, Cites ‘Baseless Propaganda’ against Govt and PM Oli. Oli breaches neighbourly coexistence now. Goodwill he had abandoned earlier. Sign he feels danger to his gov is over, with Chinese blessing. https://t.co/Y24RatFDlJ
— K. C. Singh (@ambkcsingh) July 9, 2020
India responded by banning all of Nepal's FM radios in the border region, claiming those radio channels were broadcasting propaganda backing Kathmandu's claim to the disputed territories.
In September, Nepal's ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya met Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval to “minimize misunderstanding caused by the recent border row,” which experts have interpreted as a sign that both sides were willing to resolve the issues.
The ongoing friction has put border traders on alert. In Banbasa, an Indian town located at the border, traders have told The Hindustan Times that 80 percent of their businesses depend on Nepali customers. The friction is also worrisome for Nepal, whose 68 percent of all of its exports are destined to India.
Nepal is key to China's transcontinental infrastructure Belt and Road Initiative. In recent years, China has invested in airports, highways, and hydroelectric projects in Nepal's Himalayan region, and Chinese diplomats have become increasingly closer to Nepali politicians.
In turn, China and India's relations have been at its worst in decades. Border clashes around Ladakh since June has led India to ban 150 Chinese and raised fears of a full-on trade war between the two countries.
In this context, right-wing Indian media, including Swarajya and Republic, accused Nepali officials of revising the country's map to please China. Kathmandu denies those accusations.
Indranil Mukherjee, a photojournalist from Mumbai, tweeted:
A Prime Minister and the Pretty Ambassador – Why is Nepal PM Oli giving the Chinese ambassador absolute powers? https://t.co/1o6L2vEt0j #india #IndiaChinaBorder #Nepal #china #indianepalborder
— Indranil Mukherjee (@thisisindra) July 3, 2020
Sujeev Shakya writes in Council on Foreign Relations:
Disputes require talks for resolution, and therefore, the sooner India engages in discussion, the better. Nepal also needs to learn from its own mistakes, such as not being well-prepared for talks due to the lack of thorough research, and failure to communicate well.
Achyut Wagle writes in The Kathmandu Post:
Neither party is likely to gain from the current deadlock in Nepal-India relations. The present resigned approaches evident on both sides does not contribute to elevating the age-old relations from, perceivably, now at their lowest point in history. If the Indian establishment is testing its strategy of making Nepal realize the putative ‘small country predicament’ in diplomacy, it will have a greater unforeseen cost.
India and Nepal are scheduled to hold a meeting at the level of foreign ministers in October. The last meeting between the two foreign ministers was in August 2019, in Kathmandu.
Nepal might have found itself in the crossfire of the China-US trade war and the Indo-China border conflict. It remains to be seen if diplomatic discussions can smoothen frayed ties between those two traditional allies.


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Brutal murders in Guyana seen as ‘continuation of earlier ethnic upheavals’ · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The two cousins, Joel and Isaiah Henry, who were killed in a brutal attack on September 6, in the community of Cotton Tree, located southeast of Georgetown, Guyana, on the west bank of the Berbice River. Screenshot taken from a news report posted to YouTube by HGPTV.
Like many other regional territories, Guyana's politics have historically been race-based — a reality that was on display during the country's recent election impasse, in which the incumbent government, predominantly appealing to Afro-Guyanese voters, was accused of trying to rig the results in its favour.
Although the dust has settled and the opposition People's Progressive Party (PPP), which has a primarily Indo-Guyanese support base, has taken office, many pressing issues are still being painted with the broad brush of race — from the arrest of Clairmont Mingo, the election officer accused of fraud in the election process to the gruesome murder of two Black youth who were found chopped to death on September 6.
Joel and Isaiah Henry, who were cousins, were allegedly killed by an Indo-Guyanese farm owner whose coconuts they were picking. Seven people have since been arrested. Ever since the details of the double murder have come to light, villagers from the boys’ community have been calling for justice and staging protests by blocking roads and setting debris on fire.
Guyana's home affairs minister, Robeson Benn, criticised statements from “leading political persons” and “agitators” who were alluding that the attack on the boys was racially motivated.
By September 8, several civil society groups noted that the killings have exacerbated the country's already charged political race relations, and called on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), which works in the interest of racial harmony and justice, to help ease mounting racial tensions.
Pointing to “the mental racial violence that is being perpetrated on social media,” the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G), established under the previous administration under the auspices of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent, called the murders “another manifestation of the festering division, ethnic strife and utter contempt for the lives of those from other ethnic groups.”
The Society for African Guyanese Empowerment (SAGE) put a political and racial spin on the murders, saying the attack emphasised “the need to rally and defend African Guyanese against aggression by the newly installed PPP government.”
The very next day, September 9, Haresh Singh, the 17-year-old grandson of one of the murder suspects, also died after being found with head injuries and chop wounds.
In a separate incident, Chatterpaul Harripaul, 34, fired his shotgun toward a crowd of protestors, who retaliated by beating him to death.
The country's newly installed president, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has called all four deaths “barbaric” and said the violent protests had “nothing to do with standing up for justice.”
The president, as well as other political players, criticised the divisive statements of the country's opposition leader, Joseph Harmon, who framed the incident not as “a struggle between the races,” but as “a struggle against oppression […] a struggle against fraudulent government.”
The opposition's politicisation of the issue, according to Home Affairs Minister Benn, is exacerbating the situation with the protests and compromising security in the area of West Berbice, where most of the unrest is taking place.
Meanwhile, organisations like the Muslim Youth Organisation of Guyana (MYO) have spoken out against the murders, and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has approached the country's United Nations resident coordinator to ask that international forensic experts help with the murder investigations.
The acrimony that has come to the surface after the double murder and its resultant revenge killings is uncomfortably reminiscent of the country's history of race-based violence.
In a statement, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) noted that “the prevailing poisonous political atmosphere has penetrated the society to the point where public trust in an impartial investigation is virtually non-existent.”
In calling for racial reconciliation, the GHRA made the point that “both sides are quick to see [the murders] as a continuation of earlier ethnic upheavals” and that the country's “electoral saga […] precipitated this tragic event.”
Guyana, perched on the edge of a major economic windfall thanks to the discovery of oil and gas reserves, cannot afford the kind of racially motivated violence it saw in the 1960s when the United States played an active role in keeping Indo-Guyanese politician Cheddi Jagan, who had Marxist leanings, out of office. Hundreds of people were killed and many who were spared fled the country, resulting in a massive brain drain, economic and social instability.
The mushrooming tensions between the country's two main ethnic groups intensified under the rule of the People’s National Congress, led by Forbes Burnham from 1964 until his death in 1985. Burnham often used state-sanctioned violence to quell dissent, the most infamous example of which was the murder of Black political activist Walter Rodney, although Indo-Guyanese routinely experienced discrimination during his tenure.
Racial tensions once more resulted in violence in the early 2000s when 400-plus citizens, most of them Black, died at the hands of criminal gangs linked to the two main political parties and allegedly supported by security forces.