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Russians are Baffled by the United States Treasury’s Latest Sanctions List · Global Voices
Christopher Moldes

The White House in Moscow, the seat of Russia's government
Credit: Pepijn Schmitz // CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
January 29 was set to be a big day in the world of American sanctions against Russia. Earlier in 2017, United States (U.S.) president Donald Trump signed into law the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” (CAATSA), stipulating a host of new sanctions to be applied at the discretion of the White House within 180 days of passage.
CAATSA also mandated the “Kremlin Report” to single out key figures in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s entourage, along with exposing their financial holdings. Russian elites were reportedly thrown into a panic, lobbying to have their names excluded. Yet Russia’s political elite registered a collective smirk at the seemingly toothless unclassified report released on January 30.
The public version was simply a reprinted list of a Forbes’ list of the richest Russian businessmen. Names on the list of Putin’s presidential administration were clearly copied and pasted from the Kremlin’s English-language website.
The implementation of sanctions remains a hot-button issue as the Trump administration continues to grapple with accusations of Russian collusion in 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Enforcing sanctions would allow the U.S. to appear ‘tough’ on Russia. CAATSA's deadline to announce new sanctions loomed, but the White House decided to refrain, saying the sanctions already in place were sufficient.
An uproar ensued on social media, but Twitter user Brian O'Toole cautioned:
So no sanx is not an unreasonable stance since those sanx target entities *outside* of Russia for their Russian transactions. Basically everything inside Russia is already sanctioned. 5/
— Brian O'Toole (@brianoftoole) 30 января 2018 г.
Once the derivative list of Kremlin political and economic elites was published, Western observers were extremely disappointed:
That the White House found a way to not enact sanctions and put together such a ridiculously shoddy list of sanctions targets, seemingly at the last minute, is truly mind-boggling.
— Nina Jankowicz (@wiczipedia) 30 января 2018 г.
You're assuming its actually a policy, or that they tried to comply with the law and failed (demonstrating incompetence). I almost suspect this was something of a calculated snub to Congress by the WH.
— Daragh McDowell (@DaraghMcdowell) 30 января 2018 г.
Others cautioned that the current list was the unclassified version, holding out hope that the classified version reviewed by Congress would be more robust:
Much guffawing in Moscow as U.S. “oligarch list” is carbon copy of Forbes list of $1bn+ Russians. But we've only seen the unclassified version. Classified report expected to include details of Kremlin relations, closeness to Putin and potential grounds for sanctions
— Henry Foy (@HenryJFoy) 30 января 2018 г.
At a campaign event for the 2018 Russian presidential elections, Putin approached the list lightheartedly:
Путин: В списке Минфина США вся администрация президента, все правительство, весь бизнес. За каждым из этих людей стоят рядовые граждане, трудовые коллективы. Всех нас, 140 миллионов человек, занесли в этот список! ?
— Znak.com (@znak_com) 30 января 2018 г.
Putin: The U.S.A.’s Treasury Department’s list includes all of the President’s administration, the whole government, and all of business. Behind each of these people stand ordinary citizens, the workforce. All of us, 140 million people, have been included in this list!
Yet, he also expressed offense taken:
Путин о невключении его в список «врагов Америки»: Обидно, слушай! pic.twitter.com/5fGXWfsoFK
— Дмитрий Смирнов (@dimsmirnov175) 30 января 2018 г.
Tweet text: Putin, on not being included in this list of “America’s enemies”: Listen, it’s offensive!
Video transcription:
Audience member: Practically all of the country’s leadership has been declared “enemies of America”. Well, apart from you, because presumably they aren’t allowed to include you. I’ll finish now.
Putin: (laughing) Listen, it’s offensive!
Several members of the Russian Duma (Assembly) were also offended by the list and declared that they would not attend the U.S. White House Prayer Breakfast in protest.
Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy finance minister of Russia, questioned why some individuals had been included and not others possibly more deserving. In response to a list of various government and corporate actors who were not included, the author stated:
Но к составителям списков у меня есть «вопросы», которые говорят о том, что уровень понимания российских реалий в американском разведывательном сообществе опустился ниже плинтуса.
I have questions for the creators of these lists which show that the American intelligence community’s level of understanding of Russian realities has gone down the toilet.
Olesya Shmagun, a reporter and member of the Russian team working on the Panama Papers didn't mince words:
Если говорить прямо, США выставили себя на посмешище. Причем, не администрация Трампа, а либеральный лагерь, который против так называемого вмешательства России в выборы.
Просто либеральный обком обоссал собственные штаны(
— Olesya Shmagun (@Shmagun) 30 января 2018 г.
To put it bluntly, the U.S.A. has made itself out to be a laughingstock. Except not the Trump administration, but the liberal camp who is against so-called Russian interference in the elections. The liberal party committee simply pissed their pants.
A colleague of Alexey Navalny — a prominent opposition activist and a presidential hopeful now formally barred from the 2018 elections — at his “Anti-Corruption Foundation” dismissed the report but also reveled in responses from members of the ruling United Russia party:
“Putin list” вещь странная и бессмысленная, но как же приятно смотреть на вспыхивающие раз в 10 минут единороссовские жопы, давненько такого не видел https://t.co/YxEAxysU1Z pic.twitter.com/OnVxFWjR36
— Георгий Албуров (@alburov) 30 января 2018 г.
The “Putin List” is weird and pointless stuff, but it’s so good to see United Russia butts catching fire every 10 minutes, I haven’t seen this kind of thing in a while
Others found humor in the list’s lackluster content as well:
План россиянина на сегодня (и не только):
1. Проснулся.
2. Поискал свою фамилию в новом санкционном списке США.
3. Не нашёл.
4. Пошёл зарабатывать деньги на компенсацию потерь тем, кто попал в этот список.
— Санкционный фрукт (@Buddy_Judge) 30 января 2018 г.
A Russian’s plan for today (and all other days)
1. Woke up
2. Searched for their name on the new U.S. sanctions list
3. Didn’t find it
4. Went off to earn money as compensation for losses for those who did end up on the list.
Cartoonist Sergey Elkin released a new cartoon lampooning the situation, drawing on a notable scene from the classic Soviet film Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures:
https://t.co/hoFYcAssnf pic.twitter.com/YJ8iseRdOH
— Sergey Elkin (@Sergey_Elkin) 30 января 2018 г.
Trump (as a police officer): Citizen oligarchs, corrupted officials, billionaires…
Putin Press Secretary Dmitriy Peskov, with Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev at his side: Read off the whole list, please.
The list, comprised of names from directories of sitting officials, did not include former Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev who was sentenced to eight years in prison in what some say was a setup by Igor Sechin (who is on the list), Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft (an oil and gas company).
One user saw the silver-lining in Ulyukayev’s prison sentence:
когда во время соскочил pic.twitter.com/i8DHmL0OIr
— ☄?? (@UnicornPigF) 30 января 2018 г.
When you slipped off just in time
As U.S. Congress reviews a presumably more substantial classified report, the Trump administration attempts to downplay and deflect attention from the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation.


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Spanish Activist Helena Maleno’s Trial in Morocco Is ‘a Way to Intimidate’ Human Rights Defenders, Her Supporters Say · Global Voices
Elisa Marvena

Screenshot taken from an interview of Helena Maleno by Javier Sánchez Salcedo for online media Mundo Negro. Available on YouTube and on their website.
On January 31, Spanish human rights activist and researcher Helena Maleno is scheduled to appear in court for the second time in Morocco, accused of participating in a human trafficking network for her work helping migrants who find themselves adrift in the Mediterranean.
Maleno is a member of the non-governmental organization Caminando Fronteras (Walking Through Borders), which supports groups of migrants mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa. The accusation against her is based on the calls she has made to Maritime Rescue, alerting them to the presence of dinghies at risk.
The numerous media outlets that have interviewed her in recent days often highlight how Maleno always has her phone at hand, receiving calls constantly from people endangered at sea. “My phone is available to them. I don't know who most of the people are who call me. They give my phone number to one another and they call me when there's an emergency,” Maleno told Spanish newspaper El País.
The case against Maleno started in Spain, where a court of law concluded in 2017 that there was no crime in Maleno's work. However, the government of Morocco, where she has worked for 16 years, reopened the case as a response to a claim made by a department of the Spanish police called the Central Unit Against Immigration Networks and Document Falsification (UCRIF, in Spanish), the same unit behind the Spain-based complaint.
In an interview with El País, Maleno expressed her trust in the Moroccan legal system, but also her concern for the criminalization of humanitarian response and her surprise for the Spanish authorities’ strategy:
Lo que no entiendo es por qué la policía española envió a Marruecos un expediente donde se me acusa de tráfico de seres humanos cuando un fiscal en España ya ha dicho que el caso está cerrado. No podemos abrir un precedente donde se persiga a quienes hacen un trabajo humanitario.
What I don't understand is why the Spanish police sent the file in which I'm accused of human trafficking to Morocco when a prosecutor in Spain has already closed the case. We cannot establish a precedent in which people doing humanitarian work can be harassed.
That same concern has been shared by many activists and organizations who support Maleno's work, such as the leadership team of porCausa Foundation, a group of researchers and journalists dedicated to the question of how migrants are represented in the media.
In an article written collectively by porCausa in El País, some of the members warned that if Maleno is convicted, the consequences will be grave, not only for her and Caminando Fronteras, but also for human rights advocates who work to protect those crossing the Mediterranean Sea:
…la personificación de una ofensiva política como la que realiza Marruecos contra Helena Maleno es un modo de amedrentar a todos aquellos que quieran hacer algo parecido. Esto debilitará aún más las escasas redes de protección de los migrantes que utilizan esta ruta […] La posibilidad de que el Ministerio del Interior español –o algunos de sus miembros- haya trasladado a Marruecos la ofensiva que no tuvo éxito aquí [en España] reviste una gravedad tan extraordinaria que debe ser aclarada cuanto antes.
[…] a political offensive like the one taking place in Morocco against Helena Maleno is a way to intimidate those who want to do something similar. This will weaken the already scare networks of protection helping migrants that use this route even more […] The possibility of the Spanish Interior Ministry — or some of its members — redirecting an attack that didn't work here [in Spain] has such a level of gravity that it needs to be cleared up at once.
They continued:
…la frontera Sur de España es el escenario de muchas ilegalidades, ninguna de ellas relacionada con la actividad de Maleno: devoluciones en caliente (sancionadas por el Tribunal de Estrasburgo), vulneración de otras garantías de protección internacional, detenciones arbitrarias, malos tratos e ignorancia de los derechos de los menores, por citar solo los delitos más gruesos. Pero la involucración en un hostigamiento tan feroz a los defensores de derechos humanos sería cruzar un punto de no retorno.
[…] the southern Spanish border is the stage for a lot of illegalities, none of them related to Maleno's activities: collective expulsions (sanctioned by the European Convention of Human Rights), infringement of other legal international protections, arbitrary detentions, mistreatment and disregard of children's rights, to name just the worst offenses. However, such a fierce harassment of human rights defenders would mean crossing a point of no return.
The collective expulsions, or on-the-spot deportations, mentioned above refer to the forceful deportation of migrants who arrive to Spanish soil, a practice that disregards protections established by international law.
Maleno’s case is not unique. According to reports by Amnesty International, José Palazón, the president of the non-governmental organization Pro Derechos de la Infancia (Pro Rights for Children), was unfairly attacked by some media outlets in the autonomous Spanish city Melilla, located on the north coast of Africa and by the social welfare department counselor. The verbal disapproval sought to undermine Palazón’s work, claiming that is was nothing more than a “personal battle” that benefited no one.
At the same time, a general attitude of rejection towards migrants arriving in Europe is becoming normalized across the European Union. Meanwhile, the danger remains for those who seek refuge in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean: since the beginning of 2014, 14,000 people have died at sea.
Maleno has received resounding support from around the world, and the show of solidarity is visible on social media.
A petition, created on the Oxfam Intermón platform and circulated alongside the hashtag #DefenderAQuienDefiende (#DefendThoseWhoDefend), demands that the Spanish government step up to help Maleno.
At the same time, members of more than 20 organizations took to the streets to show their support in the Spanish city of Granada:
Ayer, desde accionenred Granada, junto a más de 20 organizaciones sociales y partidos políticos, quisimos mostrar nuestra solidaridad y apoyo a @HelenaMaleno y la labor solidaria que realiza. #SolidaridadMaleno#DefendiendoAMaleno#Defenderaquiendefiendepic.twitter.com/jjxAqH5oHz
— accionenred granada (@nrdgranada) January 30, 2018
Yesterday, from accionenred Granada [Action Online Granada], together with more than 20 social organizations and political parties, we wanted to show support and be in solidarity with @HelenaMaleno and the solidarity work she does. #SolidarityMaleno #DefendingMaleno #DefendThoseWhoDefend
Through their alert system, Maleno and Caminando Fronteras have collaborated to rescue hundreds of people who have embarked on journeys across the Mediterranean under incredibly precarious circumstances. Maleno also helps to provide migrants with a better quality of life and fights for the recognition of their fundamental human rights.
As a result of her efforts as an activist and as a vocal opponent of social injustice, Maleno was given an award by the General Council of Spanish Lawyers in 2015.
At the core of what Maleno and Caminando Fronteras do is humanizing those who make their way to Europe. Part of this can be seen in the materials they create to educate European citizens about the resilience of the people who are arriving at their borders and the circumstances which lead them there. As she explains in the interview below:
No quiero que haya una devoluciones en caliente […] No porque tú seas de Guinea Bissau, no es porque seas negro, es porque no quiero que el mundo haya devoluciones en caliente […] porque hoy eres tú y mañana seremos nosotros […] Esto puede cambiar puede dar la vuelta en cualquier momento […] Todos estamos en la misma patera […] si esto se hunde nos hundimos todos.
I don’t want collective expulsions. […] Not because you are from Guinea-Bissau, not because you are black, it is because I don’t want the world to have collective expulsions. […] it’s because today it’s you and tomorrow it will be us.[…] This could change at any moment. […] We are all in the same boat […] if it sinks, we all sink.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Elisa Marvena


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After a Top Model is Sent to a Mental Hospital, Vincentians Fear Politics and Patriarchy Are in Play · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Screenshot of former Vincentian model Yugge Farrell, taken from a public video uploaded to Facebook, in which she refutes claims of blackmail by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and his son, Camillo, the country's current Minister of Finance.
A young reality TV star in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has spent much of January 2018 in a mental hospital at the order of a local court. Her stay there was the result of a series of events which began with the former model allegedly calling the wife of Vincentian Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves a “dirty bitch.”
Prosecutors are pursuing obscenity charges against 22-year-old Yugge Farrell, a runner-up in the 2015 season of the Caribbean's Next Top Model, who claims to have had a sexual affair with the minister. After Farrell pleaded innocent to the abusive language charge, the court, unconvinced by her fitness to plead, ordered her to spend two weeks in a mental hospital, undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
On January 6, two days after the initial incident, Farrell posted a series of video rants on Instagram — which have since been taken down — claiming that Gonsalves had a sexual relationship with her.
To make matters more complex, Gonsalves’ father is Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of the island nation.
Prime Minister Gonsalves has advised his son not to comment on the matter, but the Gonsalves family is holding to their assertion that Farrell is mentally ill. They also claim that Farrell has threatened them and that the “back story” will eventually come to light.
After Farrell completed two weeks at the Mental Health Center of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, she reappeared in court, only to be sent back to the psychiatric institution for additional observation, as per a medical report that said she was unfit to enter a plea.
Local media outlet iWitness Network reported that the prosecution provided no evidence showing that Farrell was mentally incapacitated, and has suggested that “all Vincentians must be worried” by the trajectory of events.
Online and off, the political controversy comes with the backdrop of the global #MeToo movement, the similar Caribbean regional #LifeinLeggings hashtag, and Jamaica's #TambourineArmy, whose #SayTheirNames hashtag encouraged victims of sexual abuse to break the silence by publicly outing perpetrators and demanding justice against rape.
One solidarity statement called Farrell's situation a “gross human rights violation”, and condemned “the persecution and mistreatment of Ms. Yugge Farrell by the legal, medical, and political authorities of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
But the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association noted that the court has the power to make such psychiatric evaluation orders, and therefore acted within its rights.
The case lays bare inequities in reputation, gender norms, and access to justice. With the inference being that Gonsalves has much more influence in Vincentian society, netizens are discussing whether or not the political family has used its power to try and intimidate Farrell.
At least one opposition politician is painting the controversy as a modern-day David vs. Goliath story. In an interview with iWitness, MP Daniel Cummings said:
This incident speaks to so many wrongs in our society […] the inability of ordinary folk to access the fairness of our judicial system, to have equal opportunity to get treatment across the board, as if for king and peasants. It demonstrates in a very clear way that those in authority feel that the laws do not apply to them and they can do as they like.
On January 17, the country's leader of the opposition called for Camillo Gonsalves to either clear the air on the matter or resign.
Farrell's mother subsequently gave an interview, posted on Facebook, in which she claimed to have met with the prime minister to discuss her daughter's alleged relationship with his son. iWitness also reported that Mrs. Farrell served jail time after being convicted of causing the death of her son, and that both Yugge's parents are currently facing charges of arson and attempted murder.
But these knotty sub-plots are not stopping social media users from speaking out in Yugge's defense. In one YouTube video, Allan P called the situation “an abuse of political power”. A female vlogger, meanwhile, thought that Farrell's time at the mental institution was an “excessive” punishment, and found the situation concerning, especially in light of past sexual harassment allegations against the prime minister himself.
Prime Minister Gonsalves has since stated that “blackmail letters” — allegedly from Yugge — threatened the Gonsalves family, but Farrell refuted this claim.
Facebook user Holly Bynoe described the imbroglio as follows:
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS going on in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, via the ABUSE OF POWER, dictatorial politics, misogyny and patriarchal allowance that permits these men in power to obliterate the life of a young woman.
She added that it was time for women to speak out:
I am beyond SICK to my stomach, disgusted, and angry about how they are dealing with Yugge Farrell’s case. And, of course, wondering who’s next, which one of us- ‘unstable, hysterical, mentally challenged, irrational, crazy, deranged women’ – are going to be the next on the chopping block? […]
It isn’t hard to do the right thing. It is however hard to resist against this violence, hatred and continuous betrayal and oppression. But like every season, the times are changing and it is time for us to speak our truths. It is time to RESIST and revolt against this abuse. […] we aren’t chattel, we are not your property. We are not here for your pleasure. We are not here for your good time.
We are not here for be a repository for your anger and disappointment. We don’t exist to support your fragile egos. We are not here to make you feel better. We aren’t here to protect your vulnerability.
We will not disappear.
If Yugge doesn’t have access to justice, what makes us think that any of us are protected?
#yuggefarrell #iamcrazytoo #resist #endgenderviolence
Yugge's image and the hashtag #IAmCrazyToo have been plastered on t-shirts and images in support of Farrell's cause, activists are speaking out on her behalf, and some Vincentians are asking whether the country's constitution is being trampled upon.
While it has not been cited in the legal case against Farrell, the country's Cybercrime Act has been at top of mind for netizens amid controversies like this. On August 12, 2016, Gonsalves’ government passed the Act in parliament — it allows up to two years’ jail time for netizens found guilty of online defamation. Back then, the Act sparked concern among opposition politicians and human rights organizations, who cited threats to freedom of expression.
Section 16 (3) of the Act, for example, states: “A person who, intentionally or recklessly uses a computer system to disseminate any information, statement or image; and exposes the private affairs of another person, thereby subjecting that other person to public ridicule, contempt, hatred or embarrassment, commits an offence”, for which he can be given a jail sentence of up to five years or made to pay a fine of Eastern Caribbean (EC) $200,000 (just over US$ 74,000).
The director of Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) in the United States, Delphine Halgand, took issue with some of the clauses in the Act, which she called “extremely damaging to the free flow of news and information and to public debate”.
The SVG Human Rights Association did, however, allude to the Cybercrime Law, in a statement on Farrell's case, noting that “the general public refrain from the publication and re-publication of material which is likely to attract liability either criminally, under the Cybercrime Act or civilly, subject to the laws of defamation”.
Yugge Farrell's next court appearance has been scheduled for almost a full year later, on December 17, 2018. It is unclear why the court date has been postponed as such.
Much of what has been reported about Yugge's case, the responses of the Gonsalves family, and the legal implications of the actions on both sides have been difficult to confirm. However, what is abundantly clear is that the story has touched a deep nerve in Vincentian society.

author: Flora Thomas


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Exclusion and Judgement Won’t Solve Crime in Trinidad & Tobago · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Debris strewn across the road in Beetham Gardens, Port of Spain, Trinidad. The 2012 photo is by BBC World Service, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Beetham Gardens, a low-income community within the area of Laventille on the outskirts of Trinidad's capital city, is a study in contradictions. It has a proud history of innovation and creativity as the birthplace of the steel pan, the country's national instrument, and several successful musicians and entertainers hail from the area. But Laventille has also been labelled a “hotspot” by politicians, with the inference that violent crime and gang activity thrive in the area.
While some social media users are content to buy into those labels, others are challenging them.
Back in 2011, when the then United National Congress (UNC) government, led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, declared a limited state of emergency — ostensibly due to the country's escalating crime rate — scores of black men (many of them from the Laventille area) were arrested and detained in what felt to many like state-sanctioned racism. Many were subsequently released. Still, this image of the area persists, often feeding into deeply embedded racial and social stereotypes.
A 2014 Vice News documentary titled ‘Murder and Corruption in Trinidad’, which highlighted crime in the Laventille area, didn’t help to change this widely held perception; however, it suggested that certain politicians and business people are not only complicit — they may very well be calling the shots. Unsurprisingly, the “big fish” operate with impunity while the street level criminals get the bad rap. This is the result of decades of abuse and neglect in the area, ostracism of the people who live there, and lack of concern for their hardship. Trinidadians have often been accused of not standing up for injustice until it directly affects them.
Meanwhile, the people of Laventille contend with poor air quality (Beetham Gardens is situated opposite to the country's biggest landfill), economic hardship, and violence.
On November 23, 2017, some residents of Beetham Gardens, which borders the main carriageway in and out of Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain, had had enough. They launched a protest by throwing rocks at approaching motor vehicles, firing gunshots and blocking the roadway with old appliances and other debris. There were some accounts of robberies.
Their actions were prompted by the arrest of two “community leaders” (a term that is widely understood to be a euphemism for alleged gang leaders) in the area, Kenneth “Spanish” Rodriguez and Ancel “Chemist” Villafana. University lecturer Rhoda Bharath, who keeps her eye on political issues, added context to the situation by linking to the Vice News feature, which described “Spanish” as “the only one in the community bringing jobs and social services to the impoverished neighbourhood”. The two men were subsequently released.
During the protest, citizens who were trapped in the rock hurling comess quickly turned to their mobile phones to record various incidents that were taking place. They then uploaded the videos, and their experiences were widely shared on social networking sites like Facebook and on messaging platforms like WhatsApp.
Back then, there was an immediate outcry from social media users. Words like “fed up” and “incensed” were all over people's timelines, with some even suggesting violent retaliation against the protestors. Voices like Wired868's Akins Vidale, who warned of the dangers of a “them and us” society, faded into the background.
In an effort to understand and highlight root causes of the situation, rather than simply cry out in frustration, Vidale recently published another blog post about the issue. Noting that in November 2017, the government's response to the incident “was one of stern condemnation” and “‘no one will hold this country to ransom’ posturing”, he asked:
Nine days passed. Has authority addressed the problem?
“Nine days” is a local expression that basically means the topic is now old news. However, the “problem”, though complex, was summed up in this perspective by Facebook user Lisle Waldron:
Y’all are a trip. […] Y’all feel unsafe when you see, hear, and feel the criminal Beetham element. Y’all outraged because Beetham dare crawl out from their holes and gutters.
Y’all weren’t up in arms when the criminals in the opposition inconvenienced you by screwing up the central bank. Y’all weren’t mad when the criminals in the opposition put Jwala [former Central Bank governor] there to assist in the largest transfer of wealth in our nation’s history. Y’all weren’t this upset when the criminals in opposition paid off reporters, shut down SAUTT [Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago] […] paid off gang leaders and cartels with construction contracts, and the rest. Y’all weren’t even mad when UNC voters protested after [it lost the 2015] elections up to the other day – blocking roads and burning tires.
Y’all weren’t mad. But I guess it’s maddening when poor people of color step out and do the same things. Cause they have the county crime full. They have the USD short. They gave themselves the handouts and contracts to build police stations. They arranged the 400 million payouts in life sport [a corruption-riddled sports programme run by the previous government].
Y’all weren’t mad. Y’all were complicit. Take a look at self oui. Rest and reflect. The country not in a mess because the UNC’s spin agents say so on your WhatsApp message. It’s in a mess because they did as they pleased and y’all NEVER ONCE GOT MAD.
November 2017 was not the first time that Beetham residents have protested, but criminologist Renee Cummings observed that “the Beetham playbook has never been updated”. Cummings was talking in terms of crimefighting, but it could also be argued that the approach to the Beetham community — by successive governments, the media and the general public — has not evolved either.
Take, for instance, a recent guest post at Wired868, which referred to such criminals as “pests” and offered advice “to those who have given birth to these damn annoyances”:
Keep your blasted legs closed because you are giving birth to unwanted children who become burdens to society. If you don’t want them, you think society will?
The post attributed many of these societal problems on sexual liberation and a “disregard [for] biblical principles”. The author, Akilah Holder, continued:
Of course, there are other factors contributing to crime, such as a corrupt Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, an inefficient judiciary and an incompetent government. But sexual freedom plays a big part.
I have no empirical evidence but my feeling is that a lot of these criminals are the products of young, unwed mothers who don’t have a clue what they are doing.
Opinions like these are not uncommon. Back in November, right after the Beetham Gardens protests, Jill Lian Goddard explained:
Many progressive, less damaged people understand when an abused woman ends up killing her abuser of many years against whom the police did nothing even though they saw cuts, burns, broken bones […]
Yet we don't feel the same way when a group of people who have the [worst] schools in the country so there's no hope of escaping anything through education, breathe air so bad from the burning of the national garbage next to their homes that their children sometimes can't leave home, have no real natural community of trees, animals and open spaces, have insanely stressed existences with bullets and crime which no one knows how to manage, receive just enough services to keep them alive (like the abused woman), have little access or exposure of the things required to make one's life more comfortable, suddenly lash out […] we yet trivialize what it takes to uproot oneself with few resources and no family support. […] Us as a community not understanding why we are where we are, bringing judgement to others, doesn't make it easily solvable.
Which brings us full circle to Vidale's assessment of the situation in January 2018:
The State has to respond to such incidents and the full effect of the law must be brought to bear; however, there must also be a process which seeks to prevent recurrences, inclusive of addressing the core problems which led to particular kinds of protests in the first place. […]
The fact that I sought to explain what I thought had happened did not in any way imply condonation of what had happened. […]
But I want to add that I am also well aware that if there are communities where there are more gangs than sport and recreation clubs for young people to join, then something is fundamentally wrong.
He added that the reason he brought up the country's colonial history in November 2017 was because “if we could go about our business while there are enslaved people who make up the society, then ‘lesser’ transgressions against sections of the society can also be ignored and, worse, rationalised”:
My fundamental point is about us. It is neither about the politician nor about colour of skin nor texture of hair; it is about the character and quality of the individual we are calling Trinbagonian. Individualism, selfishness and greed are not traits exclusive to our poster boys for crime. For many of us, unless there is transgression into our immediate space, we doh business [we aren't concerned]. […]
The reality is, however, that increased security in our homes is not a solution to crime; we are simply compensating and adapting. As a population, we are inflicting wounds on ourselves; the more we adapt, the less we recognise progressive resistance.
Do not be surprised if pretty soon, we find ourselves petitioning the government in unison to trade our freedom for peace.


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Hong Kong Legislative Candidate’s Disqualification Is Criticized as ‘Anti-Human Rights’ · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Agnes Chow. Photo: Demosisto.
This post is a compilation of a number of reports from Hong Kong Free Press by Kris Cheng, Karen Cheung and Jason Ng . It is published on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
On January 26, Hong Kong's government barred pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow from running for a seat in the upcoming Legislative Council by-election for her political affiliation with Demosisto, a group which advocates self-determination for Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.
The by-election, which is scheduled for March 2018, is meant to fill four of the seats left vacant after six pro-democracy lawmakers were disqualified in July 2017 for having modified their oaths of allegiance to China during their swearing-in ceremonies. Two of the appeals are still being processed by the court
In order to win back the seats, the pro-democracy political camp (also known as pan-democrats) held a primary to choose the candidates in the Western Kowloon and Eastern New Territories districts. As for the Island District, through internal coordination, Agnes Chow was selected as a primary candidate, with Au Nok-Hin as the second choice.
However, Chow was subsequently disqualified from participating in the by-election by an election officer upon consultation with the justice secretary.
In a statement issued on January 27, the Hong Kong government explained why they viewed her affiliation with Demosisto as problematic:
‘Self-determination’ or changing the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] system by referendum which includes the choice of independence is inconsistent with the constitutional and legal status of the HKSAR as stipulated in the Basic Law [as Hong Kong's mini-constitution is called], as well as the established basic policies of the [People's Republic of China] regarding Hong Kong.[…]
The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting ‘self-determination’ is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR.
It is true that Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Demosisto, once argued that “independence should be one of the options inside the self-determination referendum.” However, Chow herself has stressed  on various public occasions that supporting self-determination is different from supporting outright independence. She clarified her stand again in an interview with Hong Kong Free Press on January 25:
Demosisto advocates self-determination, which is about civil liberties, universal suffrage, and the ability to make life choices and not follow rules made by big businesses working in cahoots with the government. It’s completely different from advocating independence.
It is not the first time election officers have invalidated a candidacy. However, in most instances the candidates were given chances to clarify their political stances. In 2016, an election officer barred Edward Leung from running in the legislative election for his public statements and Facebook posts in support of Hong Kong's independence from China.
In Chow's case, the election officer in charge did not point to any specific public speech or act that violated the Basic Law, but simply said that the decision was informed by the interpretation issued by Beijing in November 2016 of Hong Kong's Basic Law Article 104, which describes oath-taking.
In that interpretation, Beijing emphasized that public officers must pledge allegiance to the People’s Republic of China and “its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” and those who fail to do so, do so falsely, or break the oath will be legally responsible.
As Chow had not personally expressed any pro-independence sentiments in public, the decision to bar her from election based simply on her political affiliation with Demosisto “effectively strip[s] the rights of all members of the group to run in elections,” Demosisto said in a statement January 27:
The government’s removal of the right to stand for election is virtually a permanent stripping of Hong Kongers’ political rights. The [United Nations Human Rights Council] points out that one’s political positions should not be the basis of whether one can participate in the democratic process. The decision is therefore an unconstitutional, anti-human rights one.
Thousands protested outside the Legislative Council on January 28 against the government's decision. Joshua Wong said in the gathering that though Demosisto is effectively barred from the legislature, they would carry on:
封殺我地參政之門，我地會開另一道門，為香港民主運動搵到出路。
The election path is blocked, we will open another path and find the exit for the Hong Kong democracy movement.
Chow stressed:
年輕人唔係因為想做議員而去參選，佢地係想貫徹自己嘅政治理想，爭取更好更公義嘅香港，選擇一條更艱難嘅路。[…]面對咁多卑鄙嘅人，我地更加要企得硬淨，唔好俾卑鄙嘅政府打低。
Young people run in the election not for the sake of becoming a lawmaker, but for enacting our political beliefs to stand for justice and a better Hong Kong. This is a difficult path. […] There are so many dishonest and contemptible people out there [blocking our way], we have to stay firm and strong. We won't be beaten down by the dishonest and contemptible government.
The legal sector also slammed the government’s decision. Hong Kong elects its top leader, known as the chief executive, not by popular vote, but by a 1,200-member committee, partly made up of different “subsectors” representing various industries. In a joint statement on January 29, all of the members of legal subsector criticized the decision as unreasonable, unlawful and unconstitutional:
In disqualifying Ms Chow Ting by virtue of her participation in an organisation which holds certain political views found unacceptable by the Administration, the Decision has used political opinion or affiliation as a ground to deprive her of the right to stand for election – which is unreasonable, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The European Union’s spokesperson also issued a statement on January 29 accusing the Hong Kong government of jeopardizing Hong Kong’s international status as a free and open society.
However, Chief Executive Carrie Lam defended the administration’s decision and told the press on January 30:
if certain political ideologies clearly fall into – with a clear factual basis – violating the Basic Law, not complying with the spirit of One Country, Two Systems – or, even more seriously, advocate Hong Kong independence or self-governance, or allow independence or self-governance of a place to be an option – then this does not comply with the legal requirement I discussed.
“One Country, Two Systems” refers to the legal set-up in which Hong Kong enjoys more economic and personal freedoms, even though it is a part of China.
The pro-democracy camp now turn to another candidate, Au Lok-hin, to replace Agnes Chow for the Island District.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Jamaicans Call for Tougher Anti-Crime Measures as Yet Another Police Commissioner Resigns · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) pull over a car. Photo by Jason Lawrence, CC BY 2.0.
Nearly two weeks after the Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness announced a state of public emergency in the parish of St. James — which has now been extended until May 2, 2018 — the debate on the country's soaring crime rate continues to rage.
Only two murders have taken place in the parish since the state of emergency began, and government officials affirm that all is going smoothly. However, other parts of the island continue to struggle with rising murder rates, recording a 17% increase over January 2017.
Meanwhile, news broke that the current police commissioner will be taking pre-retirement leave effective February 1, 2018. Jamaica's 29th commissioner of police since the country's independence from Great Britain in 1962, Commissioner George Quallo took office just nine months ago. At the time, he was little known by the general public and expressed surprise at his appointment.
He had initially denied plans to leave the post earlier than his official retirement date in August 2018, but now that he has, the Police Services Commission (PSC) faces pressure to appoint a new commissioner. In the interim, Deputy Commissioner Clifford Blake is expected to act in the role. In a similar scenario, Quallo's predecessor Carl Williams resigned in early 2017 after just over two years in office.
Facebook user Dahlia Harris questioned the high turnover rate of policemen in the top job:
Since claiming Independence in 1962, the longest serving Police Commissioner in Jamaica has been Francis Forbes 1996-2005. Of the 16 including Quallo, 13 have served 4 years and less. Ricketts('84-'91) and Langdon('64-'70) did about 6 years each. Interesting no true?
One editorial cartoon showed Robert Montague, the Minister of National Security, on board a sinking Titanic that has hit a ‘crime iceberg’ while the commissioner swims away:
RT JamaicaGleaner: Today's #LasMay editorial cartoon. See more cartoons: https://t.co/hAj01fr7mP. pic.twitter.com/8jqsByQELc #VOCRadio
— VOC Radio (@vocradio1) January 28, 2018
Radio talk show host Mark Wignall summed up the options:
Next Commissioner. A general or a school principal?
1. Jamaica now finds itself buried deep in a violent-crime quagmire.
2. With Quallo out, who will be his replacement? Will it be an Adams style general or, will we opt for a professorial-style thinker and pacifier?
3. In any of the two options, the nation cannot afford another failed experiment. At some stage the people are going to respond politically and the Holness administration will be put under pressure to demit office.
4. And if that occurs and violent criminality continues under a PNP administration, what then?
5. The people of this country want IMMEDIATE RESULTS and nothing suggests that any action either way will get those results.
6. All eyes will be on the Police Service Commission as it prepares Jamaica for an uncertain future.
Wignall refers to retired Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams, the controversial head of the long-disbanded Crime Management Unit (CMU). Adams was allegedly involved in a series of extrajudicial killings, including his acquittal in the murder of four citizens at a house in rural Jamaica in 2005. Since retiring in 2008, Adams has regularly expressed strong opinions on security issues in the media and has maintained a cult-like following.
The “bring back Adams” call is usually raised when crime rates spike. Back in the limelight, Adams said in an interview that he would need just six months to set criminals running for their lives.
One Twitter user was all for it, even changing his profile photo to one of Adams in full battle gear:
Let's see if Mr Holness will give the people who they want to fight crime. Mr Adams is the best hero for the job, been saying that years now.
— Corve DaCosta (@corvedacosta) January 30, 2018
But human rights activist Susan Goffe emphatically rejected the “bad policeman” model embraced over a decade ago:
Glamorization of bad man police mirrors glamorization of bad man don. Neither is a real solution. Neither can take Jamaica where it needs to go.
— Susan Goffe (@suezeecue) January 28, 2018
However, many Jamaicans still see “hard policing” and “tough crimefighting” as the solution, as outlined in this letter to the editor:
Only deterrence will work. How do you get deterrence? Through fear. How do you engender fear?
1. Severe punishment. If you import illegal guns into Jamaica and you are caught, you should be put to death. Malaysia puts you to death for mere possession. Japan gives you life in prison for discharge.
Given our crime situation, what are the politicians waiting for?
2. A high probability that you will be caught. Drone surveillance, CCTV cameras, enormous (private sector-contributed) rewards for information leading to conviction, a robust, well-funded and efficient judicial system, and NIDS [National ID System]!
3. You must inject randomness and unpredictability into the process. Unmarked police cars, plainclothes detectives, sting operations, multiple arrests for small crimes, leading to information on larger crimes, and (working with telecom companies) extensive wiretapping.
In the capital city of Montego Bay, large groups of citizens (mostly young men) have been detained during the state of emergency. Prime Minister Holness accompanied Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry to address the detainees in person and expressed alarm at the detainees’ conditions.
Holness tweeted a plea for patience:
Yesterday I spoke to concerned relatives at the Barnett Street Police station where some of their loved ones were detained. I implored them to be patient with police who are not acting arbitrarily in detaining them & have a duty to follow due process before they can be released. pic.twitter.com/fetSchiF4M
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) January 28, 2018
St. James (population 185,000) has seen two shooting deaths since the operation began, one at the funeral of an alleged gang leader in the parish. Numerous arrests and several gun and ammunition seizures have also been made:
UPDATE: Police have seized 2 assault rifles and over 120 rounds of ammunition in Granville St. James. The parish remains under a State of Public Emergency. pic.twitter.com/vEeObNr00g
— Abka Fitz-Henley (@AbkaFitzHenley) January 27, 2018
The “Take Back St. James” Twitter account has urged the public to assist with information:
The type of weapons being found in St James demonstrates the type of fire power that murderers and criminals possess. We are appealing to the citizens of St James to help us in the fight to take back St James!! Together we are stronger. Call 837-8888
— Take Back St James (@takebackstjames) January 27, 2018
Jamaica's tourism industry grapples with the ‘state of emergency’ while putting up a brave front as gang activity increases in areas such as Spanish Town, Linstead in St. Catherine, and the small community of August Town, near the University of the West Indies campus in Kingston.
Netizens have expressed frustration and bafflement as crime inexorably rises, and many no longer feel safe. Jamaican Clyde Williams tweets his hope for solutions-focused dialogue:
Respectfully, repeating stories about murder, mayhem & simply saying it has got to stop & railing with righteous indignation will not lead to an ease or reduction. If you speak of advocacy around our security issues & discussing solutions or coping mechanisms fine, I am on board.
— Clyde Williams (@ClydeWilliams46) January 25, 2018
The government has been communicating regularly about the situation in St. James and posting prompt responses to specific concerns on social media. Holness's high-profile visit to Montego Bay was widely covered via social media to inform and reassure Jamaicans.
Despite these efforts, many Jamaicans remain jittery with fear and confusion, wondering “where do we go from here?”

author: Emma Lewis


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Lebanon’s Scapegoating of Refugees Did Not Start With Syrians, but With Palestinians · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Screenshot from “Life In The Shadows – Palestinians in Lebanon”. Source: ‘MedicalAidPalestinians’
This is the second part of a series written by Global Voices contributor Elias Abou Jaoude and Global Voices Middle East and North Africa (MENA) editor Joey Ayoub in which they explore refugees in Lebanon, a controversial topic that is often misunderstood by the Lebanese population–and the world at large. You can read part one here.
Ever since violence erupted in Syria following the 2011 revolution, neighboring Lebanon has become (alongside Turkey and Jordan) the primary country of destination for Syrians desperate enough to flee their homes. As such, there are about 1 million registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon as of 2018 (although the actual number is larger).
They haven't always been welcomed with open arms. These refugees soon found themselves scapegoated by the media and by politicians and religious figures for Lebanon's problems, which pre-date their arrival.
This has followed a pattern that is familiar to another group of refugees in Lebanon: Palestinians, who are often unfairly blamed for Lebanon's 15-year-long civil war, between 1975 and 1990, or treated as demographic threats.
Lebanon has hosted Palestinian refugees since 1948, the year of the Nakba (“Catastrophe” in Arabic) when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes by Zionist militias as the state of Israel was created. In 1948, to quote Palestinian academic Rashid Khalidi, “half of Palestine's… Arabs were uprooted from their homes and became refugees”.
Seventy years later, the basic rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are curtailed in a number of ways. And according to the United Nations’ relief and works agency, more than half live in camps, where poverty is common and housing conditions are poor.
This, wrote Lebanese researcher Bassam Khawaja in 2011, is no accident. Reflecting a popular sentiment, Palestinian journalist Yasser Ali believes that the government wants “Palestinians to give up, despair and emigrate. That's the main goal.”
As mentioned in part one of this series, an Instagram photo uploaded by Lebanese Foreign Minister (and the president's son-in-law) Gebran Bassil in August 2017 captures this attitude toward Palestinian refugees in relation to the influx of Syrians. The photo shows Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian Refugee Camp in the south of the country in the 1960s; the caption reads, “Do not accept [refugee] camps [for Syrians], oh Lebanese” followed by the hashtag “So that the country remains ours.”
The message was simple: If Syrians get too comfortable, they will want to stay like the Palestinians and cause trouble like the Palestinians supposedly have (never mind the fact that the Palestinian right of return was always denied at the source, the state of Israel).
Screenshot of the image posted by Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on August 24, 2017. Source: Instagram.
The photo taken of the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian Refugee Camp was not long before the start of the Lebanese civil war. If various social, political and religious issues plaguing the country were the fuse, one event, sometimes euphemistically referred to as the “Ain el-Rammaneh incident,” is widely seen as the spark.
On April 13, 1975, following a wave of tit-for-tat fighting, militiamen belonging to the Phalange party opened fire on a bus carrying mainly Palestinians, killing 28 passengers.
Thereafter, subsequent waves of violence would then engulf the country and lead to a war involving multiple armed groups comprising Lebanese and non-Lebanese (notably Palestinians), as well as invasions and occupations by both Israel and Syria which, while different in nature, lasted until 2000 and 2005 respectively.
But that is significantly simplifying the situation. If there is one thing that can be said about the Lebanese civil war, it is that it cannot be explained by simplistic narratives as the shift of loyalties often defied sectarian, ethnic or ideological rationales.
To give one example: The primary adversary of the Maronite Christian warlord and current President Michel Aoun was another Maronite warlord, Samir Geagea, the current head of the Lebanese Forces party. So violent was the rivalry between them towards the end of the civil war that it was referred to as “the war of elimination.”
Palestinian armed factions, collectively becoming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), were driven out of Jordan following ‘Black September‘ in 1970, the conflict between the Jordanian Armed Forces and the PLO. Jordan allowed the Fedayeen, as they are called in Arabic, to make their way to Lebanon via Syria. This was facilitated by the 1969 Cairo Agreement between Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO at the time, and the Lebanese army commander General Emile Bustani, an agreement which was brokered by Egypt's Nasser. (The agreement was declared null and void in 1987 by the Lebanese parliament).
Under the agreement, the PLO would be allowed to operate in the south of Lebanon against Israel and control over the 16 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon passed from the Lebanese Armed Forces to the Palestinian Armed Struggle Command.
This in turn came two years after the 1967 war between Israel and a number of Arab states (notably Egypt, Syria and Jordan), which ended in an Israeli victory and lead to the occupation of the Palestinian East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza as well as the Syrian Golan Heights, a reality which continues to this day. The violence would result in about 250,000 Palestinians fleeing to neighbouring Jordan and, to a lesser extent, Egypt, in addition to between 80,000 and 100,000 Syrians fleeing the Golan Heights. Many of the 1967 Palestinian refugees were already refugees from 1948.
To get back to Lebanon, by 1975 tensions had risen between the PLO and the Phalangists until the so-called ‘spark’. For a simplified version of a timeline of events before and after 1975 and until 2009, the following is a list provided by Sami Hermez in his book ‘War is Coming: Between Past and Future Violence in Lebanon‘. As with any list attempting to list key events in a country, it cannot go through them all. One event missing, important for our purposes, is the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon following the Israeli invasion in 1982.
Pages from “War is Coming: Between Past and Future Violence in Lebanon” by Sami Hermez. Source: Google Books. Brief quotations used for citation allowed by University of Pennsylvania Press. Click for larger image.
In post-1990 Lebanon, however, the complexities of wars are often ignored and the narrative that “the Palestinians collectively started the war” never went away. No distinction is made between armed factions and civilians either.
When Lebanon's civil war ended, the warlords who had engulfed the country in a 15-year conflict found themselves in government. Some have been in power since the 1990s, while others came back to the political scene later on.
With a lot of incentives to turn the attention away from their roles in the war and towards something else, Palestinians found themselves an all-too-easy target. As Khawaja wrote:
The [Palestinian] refugee presence provided a common enemy that sewed as a crucial unifying factor in postwar Lebanon.
The influx of Syrians have thrust this tendency once again in the spotlight. For example, a few years ago Lebanese member of parliament Nayla Tueni wrote in her family's newspaper An-Nahar that Palestinian-Syrians (Palestinian refugees in Syria) seeking refugee from the Syrian war in Lebanon:
…will lead us to find ourselves facing a new reality, and new settlers, and a new burden, returning to our memories of the Palestinian nightmare in Lebanon [in the 1970s].
Another way Palestinians are trotted out as a boogeyman has to do with demographics.
The Palestinian population is widely accepted as standing at 450,000, often rounded up to 500,000. This figure, however, was recently debunked following a census by the government's Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee, which revealed that there are 174,422 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
But since 1990 in particular, the 500,000 number has been used by Lebanese politicians and religious figures seeking to stir up xenophobic sentiment to prevent any discussion on the rights of Palestinians in the country.
The widespread politicization of Palestinian refugees could best be summed up by a 2014 interview with the head of the Maronite Church, Boutros Al-Rahi, in which he said:
Now you want to throw at us the million and a half Syrians. These equal one third of the Lebanese population. And with half a million Palestinian, that’s 2 million, that’s equal to exactly half the Lebanese population.
Echoing a common trend in Israeli politics, that of viewing Palestinians as demographic threats, Gebran Bassil even said in 2012, “When we say we do not want displaced Syrians and Palestinians, it is because they want to take our place.”
Given that most Palestinian refugees are Sunni Muslim, the idea of giving them basic rights is often publicly avoided or outright opposed on the ground that it would disturb the balance between the country's sects.
Lebanon has what's known as a confessionalist system (better known as sectarianism) that distributes power based on religion: the president has to be a Maronite Christian, the speaker of parliament has to be a Shia Muslim, and the prime minister has to be a Sunni Muslim. Each sect also has a number of seats allocated in the parliament. AJ+ has a good video explainer of how this works below:
To supporters of this system, it allows the country’s three most populous sects to feel represented. The country itself is estimated to be roughly 27% Sunni, 27% Shia, 40% Christian (of which half are Maronites) and 6% Druze, in addition to a small number of Jews and other religious groups.
One important factor to remember is that the aforementioned numbers are not taken from any official state census as there hasn't been one since 1932. And in the absence of formal numbers, perceived ones can be (and often are) politicised.
For example, a sectarian interpretation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni, being a patron of the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee would be that, as a Sunni, he wants Palestinians to become citizens as it would benefit Sunni politicians at the expense of Shia and Christians.
This has contributed over the years to popular resistance to the integration of Palestinian refugees into Lebanese society, whether via naturalisation or via increased rights. But it doesn't mean that no Palestinian was ever naturalised. Whereas no official numbers are available, it is estimated that around 60,000 Palestinians were made Lebanese citizens as of 1996.
(Disclaimer: The grandfather of one of the authors, benefiting from the relative ease for Palestinian Christians to be naturalised, is among those naturalised in the 1950s)
But naturalisation was, perhaps unsurprisingly, painted with the language of sectarianism. To give an example, below is an excerpt of a 1996 paper from the US-based Middle East Report:
In the first round [of naturalisation] in 1994, most were Shi'a from border villages who had Palestinian refugee status; the rest were Sunnis who, for reasons not made public, were naturalised in 1995, perhaps to balance out the Shi'a naturalisation. Maronite protest ensured that the few remaining Palestinian Christians without Lebanese citizenship were then naturalised.
In other words, whether the topic is naturalization or increased rights, it is the subject of sectarian negotiations rather than considered on the basis of basic human rights.
The next article in this series will focus on the biased attitudes and discriminatory labour laws faced by Palestinians in Lebanon.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Malaysiakini News Site Will Appeal Defamation Case by Gold Mining Firm, Thanks to Crowdfunding by Readers · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysiakini office. Flickr photo by fuzheado (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Malaysia’s Court of Appeal ruled on January 12 that news website Malaysiakini had defamed Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM) in a series of articles about the health risks associated with living near a mine.
The independent news site was ordered to pay 90,000 USD for damages and legal costs. The ruling was criticized by various human rights groups, who see the case as an attack on press freedom.
As part of an effort to appeal the decision before a higher court, Malaysiakini has successfully raise funds for its legal battle by asking for donations from its readers.
Malaysiakini is one of the most widely read news sites in the country and has received awards for its coverage from the International Press Institute, Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists. The news site has been attacked in the past, with both legal and technical threats, particularly during times of political uncertainty.
RAGM filed the defamation case after Malaysiakini published three news reports and two video clips on September 5, 2012 about the health concerns of residents in the central state of Pahang, where RAGM was operating a gold mine.
In 2016 Malaysia’s High Court dismissed the case. But on January 12, 2018, the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling after reviewing the coverage of Malaysiakini. The ruling said that the news site was ‘reckless’ for failing to get the side of the mining firm. During the initial trial, Malaysiakini said it merely covered a press conference by local groups about the destructive legacy of mining in their area.
Malaysiakini has vowed to appeal the ruling. For its part, while RAGM maintains its position, the company has entered liquidation procedures after suffering financial losses. It is unclear whether this has created additional motivations for RAGM to pursue the case.
The ruling alarmed many groups, as it could set a precedent for large companies to pressure independent media who seek to cover their activities.
Ban Cyanide Action Committee was one of those which criticized the ruling:
We express our worries that the high sum of the claim by RAGM could drive media away from critically investigating and reporting issues of public interest that involved big corporations. This will further shrink the media freedom in the country.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) insisted that the work of media should not be criminalized:
It is completely unacceptable and disproportionate that journalists should be the target of judicial proceedings just for attending a press conference serving the public interest.
Some believe the ruling is politically-motivated. Sarawak Report suggested that it is intended to harass Malaysiakini and other independent media outlets:
It threatens to destroy Malaysia’s most established, successful, best known and extensive independent online media operation just weeks before the prime minister launches his re-election bid in the midst of massive corruption scandals, involving billions of dollars of thefts of public money – by him personally.
Malaysia’s ruling party has been in power since the 1950s. Prime Minister Najib Razak has been accused of pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars through the anomalous transactions of a state-owned investment firm. Najib once sued Malaysiakini for allegedly allowing libelous comments to be posted on its website.
Writing for Asia Sentinel, Mariam Mokhtar noted how the ruling can be considered as punishment and “warning to other newspapers to tread warily” when reporting on issues that can affect the ruling party.
Some think RAGM has powerful political connections that allowed it to appeal the case, despite the ruling of the High Court in 2016.
Source: Facebook
After the announcement of the verdict on January 12, Malaysiakini immediately appealed for public donations to be used for its defense fund. About 2,175 supporters contributed to the defense fund in just 12 days.
Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran thanked all those who supported the company:
It was amazing that the sum was raised in just 12 days. It showed that the public supported our efforts to report community issues.
On behalf of Malaysiakini's staff, I would like to thank all contributors and everyone who supported us in spirit.
Premesh Chandran and Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan vowed never to disappoint their contributors:
There were no tycoons, no corporate sponsorship. Only people like you – wage earners, the self-employed, retirees – giving their hard-earned money to the fund. It is this spirit which we promote among those who work in Malaysiakini. And it is this spirit that we want to see among our supporters and among all Malaysians.
Malaysiakini said it will appeal its case before the Federal Court.

author: Mong Palatino


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Building Resilience: Responding to Cyber Violence in Sri Lanka · Global Voices
GroundViews

Featured image by Deshan Tennekoon via Groundviews
This post written by Raisa Wickrematunge accompanied by photographs by Deshan Tennekoon, originally appeared on Groundviews, an award-winning citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
She strikes a pose for the camera; arms akimbo, looking determined, her gaze locked into the distance. Watching her, the group laughs and shouts words of encouragement. The atmosphere is light and supportive. Yet, just five minutes later, one of the girls being photographed talks about the anxiety she feels whenever she posts photos of herself online.
Deshani Dharmadasa says:
I feel like everyone’s watching everything you’re doing. Even what you wear… it sends a message. It just adds to my anxiety.
Groundviews interviewed a group of Sri Lankan women, including marketing executive Deshani Dharmadasa, who have been targeted online, often through vicious commentary on their appearance.
The term “cyber-harassment” has varied definitions. The European Institute of Gender Equality steers clear of defining it noting that there are no accepted definitions they can point to. Recent surveys by Pew Research Center found that Americans were often divided over what constitutes online harassment — be it the public sharing of private messages or sending unkind messages.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has focused on the issue as it relates to violence against women. APC advocates for the recognition of harassment online as a component of violence against women as a whole because it impacts women offline as well.
However, while speaking to the group a little further, another commonality emerges – each person has found their own way to cope and, when possible, push back against the hate they have received. Some use humour, others use direct confrontation. Dharmadasa, for instance, periodically posts screenshots of the unsolicited comments she receives on Facebook and Instagram – even with privacy settings enabled, she says she receives an average of 1 to 3 messages a week. Taking care to obscure their identities when posting, she often follows up by messaging them privately to take them to task for their behavior.
Dharmadasa explains:
I often tell them I have a brother and I would be ashamed if he treated and spoke about women the way they do. I want to try and make them think about the comments they post.
Dharmadasa has never once received a response to the messages she sends.
Image by Deshan Tennekoon. Via Groundviews
However, Dharmadasa is honest about her own complicity; in the past, she used to laugh off these comments for fear of being branded humourless or bossy:
“Don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t stay silent,” she says.
At the 2017 Lanka Comic Con event, young female cosplayers found themselves ridiculed and body-shamed, with photos from the event even used to make mocking memes that went viral. For the women and girls who participated in cosplay, the pushback came as a complete shock.
Amaya Suriyapperuma initially didn’t know about the memes – her friends tried to hide it from her, as it was her birthday. However, she was taken aback by the viciousness when she did see them. Amaya had chosen to cosplay as Wonder Woman – many of them had said she was ‘too skinny’.
Image by Deshan Tennekoon, via Groundviews.
As a psychology student, Amaya found herself trying to analyse the meaning behind these comments:
“My first question was, ‘Why would anyone want to do this?’ It could be a lack of self-esteem. Maybe they don’t have a platform to express themselves.”
In addition, Amaya pointed out, cosplaying was relatively new to Sri Lanka.
In the aftermath, Amaya found herself unexpectedly placed on a pedestal. Members of the Geek Club of Sri Lanka (who are also the organisers of the Lanka Comic Con event) banded together and reported some of the Facebook pages. One person tweeted a photo of her, tagging the Director of the Wonder Woman movie, Patty Jenkins, and actress Gal Gadot, who played Wonder Woman. Both retweeted the photos and expressed their support.
For Amaya, this was overwhelming; some people then said she “thought she was Wonder Woman” and was just looking for her 15 minutes of fame. She began wondering if she really deserved the outpouring of support. A college class dealing with degrading memes was unexpectedly distressing.
I suddenly realised… hey, this happened to me.
Ultimately, Amaya reminded herself of why she enjoyed cosplay.
It’s important to remember why you did it, and to know yourself too. That helps a lot when people criticise.
Amaya had chosen to cosplay as a method of coping with ongoing struggles with anxiety and depression, while also paying tribute to her favourite characters. The comments and memes ended up building her resilience, she says.
She has another message too:
If you have anything to say that could cause harm to others, to their mental health or self esteem…don’t say it!
Shamindri De Sayrah, a writer who cosplayed as Supergirl, was also targeted at the same time as Amaya, with many commenters body-shaming her. After Gal Gadot’s supportive tweet, many avoided attacking Amaya, but distressingly, continued to go after the other cosplayers at the event.
Shamindri said she was outraged when she saw the first memes targeting Amaya:
I couldn’t help but wonder, what’s to stop them from targeting me as well? We cosplayed our favourite characters because we love them. If you look in the mirror and think, ‘I’m beautiful, and I like the way I look,’ nothing the bullies say can ever get to you.
Image by Deshan Tennekoon, via GroundViews.
Law student Humaiza Thassim also cosplayed as Supergirl. She found out her photos were being shared while at the second day of Comic Con. Unaware of the comments, she was wearing a costume on that day too. Humaiza spoke of her humiliation on discovering that her photos had been shared and mocked online, entirely without her knowledge.
Image by Deshan Tennekoon, via Groundviews.
As a Muslim woman, Humaiza also received additional criticism, with many members of the Muslim community telling her she was being “un-Islamic”.
Humaiza said:
“Just because we have a fundamental right to freedom of expression doesn’t mean you can just say whatever you want. Just think about whether what you’re saying will harm that person, and whether you even know this person. That applies not just to cyber-bullying but offline as well.”
Artist Vicky Shahjahan faces a different kind of harassment to the rest of the group. Identifying as androgynous, Vicky initially faced push back from the conservative community of Slave Island, who had never met or interacted with an androgynous person before.
Many members of the community felt that Vicky’s expression of gender identity was a sure sign of promiscuity. Any interaction with male or female friends was seen as proof cementing this. However, Vicky responded humourously to this commentary. Through sustained interaction, especially through art, Vicky was able to change these perceptions. Although the hate continues, neighbours and community members now stand up for Vicky more often.
This is not to say that Vicky doesn’t encounter the same hate online. The use of gendered terms as insults is something Vicky feels strongly about and often speaks out on.
To those who might be struggling with the expression of their gender identity, Vicky encourages them to be strong.
Wherever you go, you will meet people who will judge you and question you… You have to prepare yourself.
The calls for resilience reflect a much deeper problem – the lack of proper avenues for redress, when harmful comments, images or videos are posted online without consent. As Amaya pointed out, the cosplayers were lucky as they had the support of the Geek Club of Sri Lanka, who banded together to mass report pages, and provide moral support. An ordinary woman or girl whose photo was shared without consent would not have the same support system. What’s more, she would have limited opportunities for redress. Sri Lanka’s existing law on defamation doesn’t adequately cover social media, and the reporting bodies often don’t respond, or respond far too slowly to complaints.
Even Facebook’s reporting mechanism often doesn’t work, due to language constraints. For the cosplayers, it took the official event photographers reporting their images as being stolen for Facebook to take the offensive memes down – reporting the content itself didn’t work, as many of the memes were in Sinhalese, the most widely spoken language is Sri Lanka, which is written in a non-Latin script.
Amaya says at the end of our interview:
You have to fight for yourself. Sri Lanka’s law governing online harassment is not strong in any case, and it doesn’t cover social media, so there’s no point [in pursuing legal action].
“That’s sad,” she adds, trailing off.
These stories echo those of other women and girls whose photos are leaked online, or who are mocked. Often, they have to rely on their own resources and contacts in order to receive any kind of response or action. The issues facing the group discussed here chime with the research we are currently conducting on technology-based violence against women. These incidents are not isolated, but form a larger atmosphere of misogyny and sexism online, when talking to and about women in Sri Lanka.
If you would like to report an instance of cyber-bullying, please read this quick guide by Bakamoono for next steps.

author: GroundViews


text:
Burundi’s Opposition Says Only ‘Yes’ Campaigning Is Allowed on Referendum to Extend President’s Rule · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma (left) alongside President Pierre Nkurunziza (right) while on a visit to Burundi. 25 February 2016. Photo by Flickr user GovernmentZA. CC BY-ND 2.0
In 2015, Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza won a third term in office, despite the constitution being widely understood to hold a two-term limit. His controversial re-election sparked protests, a failed coup. and sporadic rebel attacks, leading great numbers of Burundians to flee as refugees, alongside many opposition members, activists, and journalists.
The government is now moving towards a referendum, scheduled for May, on constitutional changes which could allow Nkurunziza to remain in power until 2034. Elections are slated for 2020.
The amendments would allow the incumbent president two more terms, extend the length of presidential terms from five to seven years, and reduce the parliamentary majority to pass legislation. They would also possibly ban coalitions of independent politicians, a significant move, as in 2015 the Amizero y’Abarundi independents coalition was the major opposition.
Critics see the proposed changes and the upcoming elections as the culmination of efforts by ruling party hardliners, including Nkurunziza, to consolidate control over the state. In a letter, several parties called for international action, and the CNARED opposition coalition called for a boycott and for the project to stop.
However, officials dismiss this as manipulation, arguing it is a democratic exercise to update the constitution.
Furthermore, opponents have been complaining of intimidation and arrests to stifle campaigning in support of a “no” vote on the referendum.
In 2014, similar changes to the 2005 constitution narrowly failed passing parliament. Afterward, ministers stated that Nkurunziza's first term, from 2005 to 2010, did not count regarding the constitution's two-term limit as he was indirectly elected by lawmakers, not the people, and that the 2015-2020 term would be his last.
The Constitutional Court, reportedly under intense pressure – the court's vice-president, Sylvère Nimpagaritse, fled the country – validated this in May 2015, ahead of the election which Nkurunziza won with nearly 70% of the vote.
In October 2017 ministers announced this referendum, saying the changes were the people’s recommendations from government-run dialogue sessions. However, the Belgium-based non-governmental organization International Crisis Group called these sessions a “sham” that mostly echoed official positions, given the “climate of fear” around political discussion, as Human Rights Watch described.
Like many opponents, CNARED spokesperson Pancrace Cimpaye had tough words. He argued the changes would damage both the constitution and the Arusha Accord, the agreement that was key to ending the 1993-2005 civil war, but which ruling CNDD-FDD party leaders are sceptical of:
#Burundi Le Lancement du projet d’enterrer l’Accord d’Arusha et la Constitution par Nkurunziza est une déclaration de guerre au peuple burundais. Entre Nkurunziza et le peuple burundais qui gagnera?@MagufuliJP @KagutaMuseveni @PaulKagame @MichelKafando @WMkapa @rutwesdras
— Cimpaye Pancrace (@Cimpaye67) 12 décembre 2017
The launch of the project to bury the Arusha Accord and the constitution by Nkurunziza is a declaration of war on the Burundian people. Between Nkurunziza and the Burundian people who will win?
Meanwhile longer-term questions, from transparency to economic inclusion, remain unanswered.
The referendum’s popular legitimacy may be a struggle given ongoing diplomatic divisions, ineffective dialogue, and the 400,000 Burundians still in refugee camps (government ministers dispute the United Nations’ refugee agency numbers, though, accusing it of manipulation).
As well, since 2015 numerous reports have also documented assassinations, torture, and rebel violence, as well as systematic repression of dissent and media.
In December 2017, President Nkurunziza warned that campaigning or acting against the proposals before the campaigning period was a red line, and Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo said it would “sow disorder”. The government’s current campaigning, however, is framed as simply “explaining” the changes.
The open campaigning period will be 14 days before the referendum, and any campaigning before is illegal, Prosper Ntahorwamiye, spokesperson for the Independent National Election Commission (CENI), stated. However, he also said CENI is unable to prevent officials campaigning alone for “yes” before the authorized period.
And official voices have already backed “yes”, including the Interior Ministry’s Thérence Ntahiraja, and Ombudsman Edouard Nduwimana. SOS Médias Burundi, an “underground” journalist collective, reported that provincial Governor Gad Niyukuri warned against “detractors” and threatened arrest for those campaigning “no”.
Agathon Rwasa, National Assembly vice president and an opposition leader, has denounced intensified harassment of opposition supporters. In fact, numerous of his own supporters were arrested, accused of planning to campaign for “no”. In a letter Rwasa criticized demonizing labels such as “anti-sovereignty” used to label those opposed to the proposed amendments.
On 5 January, civil society organizations – all of them officially delisted, suspended, or unrecognized in Burundi, including Aprodh, Ligue Iteka and Focode – launched a counter-campaign from exile called “Teshwa ute”, which Iwacu newspaper translated as “stop, do not dare”. The Interior Ministry rejected it as misinformation based on mendacious reports.
Just as contentious, a ruling in December 2017 announced citizen “contributions” to election finances – “crowdfunding”, as Yaga blogger Alain Amrah Horutanga remarked. It is described as voluntary, but contribution amounts were set according to employment categories, and civil servants were called to submit explanatory letters if not contributing.
#Burundi Le Ministre de l’intérieur et de la formation patriotique Pascal Barandagiye lance officiellement le cadre légal organisant la contribution aux élections de 2020. Les citoyens contribueront en fonction de leur statut… https://t.co/dL9Vd0CqMn pic.twitter.com/h3JJ7w2teD
— RTNB (@RTNBurundi) 12 décembre 2017
The Minister of the Interior and Patriotic Education Pascal Barandagiye officially launches the legal framework organizing the contribution to 2020 elections. Citizens will contribute according to their status
Opponent Léonce Ngendakumana said it seemed obligatory, and there have reportedly been forced election “contributions”. Trade unions signed a letter protesting the government taking “contributions” directly from salaries.
Foreign donors withdrew from the controversial 2015 elections, and the president has since said self-financing elections demonstrates independence. This comes, though, while insecurity and sanctions have hit everyday life, from inflation to petrol shortages and austerity government budgets.
Whether sovereign democratic exercise or authoritarian power-grab, the proposed constitutional changes and referendum process currently risk reinforcing the divisions underpinning the ongoing insecurity.

author: Liam Anderson


text:
Supporters of Bulgaria’s Pirin National Park Protest for Its Protection With Music, Meditation, Running and Even Soup · Global Voices
Stanislava Koparanova

“Save Pirin” written on a roundabout in the Bulgarian city of Ruse, while protesters dance a traditional horo in a round, on January 25, 2018. They used leftover bags from one of their regular cleanups of the nearby Danube river for the writing. Photo by Yavor Michev Aerial Photography, used with permission.
Protests to save Bulgaria's Pirin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from construction activities have continued within Bulgaria and around the world in new and creative ways to get their message across.
In December 2017, the Bulgarian government approved a plan to allow construction in 48% of the park, which is home to numerous threatened flora and fauna species and considered one of the country's natural treasures.
The controversial decision, which opens the door for the expansion of a ski resort there, sparked widespread criticism, with environmentalists arguing that it violates the park's status as a protected space.
Thousands of Bulgarians have hit the streets of Bulgaria's capital Sofia every Thursday to demand that the park be protected. The protests have attracted environmentalists, mountaineers, families with their children and pets, and people who practice winter sports, as well as a variety of artists including traditional musicians, samba musicians and circus performers.
Thousands of people block Sofia's center on January 4, 2018 to demand that Pirin be saved from construction. The banner reads “Citizens against mafia”, and the few balloons behind it have the letters of “Bansko” to illustrate the ski resort that threatens to spread further within the park. Photo by Stratospheric Productions, used with permission.
Some participants have shown up wearing traditional costumes, while others have sported provocative makeup and even three-meter-tall butterfly costumes.
The actions aren't limited to Sofia, but continue to pop up in different cities each Thursday across Bulgaria and abroad, including Stockholm, Sydney, Skopje and Glasgow, mostly organized by Bulgarian nationals in diaspora. An online map shows visually these spots of active citizen mobilizations, where anyone can add their own point of support geographically.
From Australia to Tanzania, people support the preservation of Pirin. Photo on the left by Ekaterina Stefanova, used with permission. Photo on the right by Yana Barzova, used with permission.
Those rallying to protect Pirin National Park, citizens and organizations alike, have employed artistic means to express their displeasure with the Bulgarian government's decision. For example, international NGO World Wildlife Fund prepared 21 jars to representing the “last bits of clean air” from the park:
21 буркана с последния чист въздух от Пирин за всеки министър на България! #SavePirin #СпасиПирин pic.twitter.com/xVBlfwBDE3
— WWF Bulgaria (@wwf_bulgaria) 24 януари 2018 г.
21 jars with the last bits of clean air from Pirin, one for each Bulgarian government minister! #SavePirin
This was not the only creative act in the rising wave of opposition. People have made use of music in a variety of ways.
Bulgaria's national anthem actually references Pirin:
Slantse Tkrakiya ogriava,
Nad Pirina plamenei
Over Thrace the sun is shining,
Pirin looms in purple glow.
The verse now adorns the cover pictures of many Bulgarians’ Facebook accounts, not so much as a sign of patriotism, but rather as a riot against their own government.
A video by camera artist Vasil Ganev, immerses the viewer in the wildernesses of the Pirin Mountains and in the demonstrations that took place in Sofia to protect them:
Playing in the background is the famous song “You are beautiful, my forest,” which is often associated with environmental protests in the country. The haunting piece, sung a capella, tells of the sadness of losing beloved nature and never getting to see it again.
And in Prague, protesters even used the public piano of the railway station to deliver their message using music:
In one of Bulgaria's cities, Razgrad, a local group of runners and bikersregularlycomes together in evenings to practice their sport. They did it once again on a cold January Thursday, but this time, they wore messages to save Pirin on their clothes.
A larger relay marathon titled “Run for Pirin” is in the works to connect some of the towns protesting in the country, carrying their messages in the relay itself. Its creator, Ognyan Hristonev, found inspiration in Romania's recent wave of anti-corruption protests that brought hundreds of thousands people to the streets – amongst whom were walkers who had traveled from the other side of the country. He noted:
Groups of Romanians walked up to 450 km on foot to call for a just leadership of their country, one that would truly serve its people. This effort of theirs inspired so many other people to get out of their couches and go protest.
I may not be in my best shape now, but I would run and even crawl to get to Plovdiv [one of the towns protesting to #SavePirin, more than 150 kilometers away] and pass on the relay.
A bit to the west, in the town of Pleven, people gathered together to cook and eat soup together and watch a live concert, all in support of #SavePirin. The event was inspired by the international movement and film HumanSopa.
A demonstration for Pirin in Burgas, Bulgaria, on January 18, 2018. Protesters created an illuminated “forest” with green papers and their flashlights or light torches, to visually speak for the old-growth forests of the mountain. Photo by Iva Lambova, used with permission.
Even more spiritual was an initiative taken up by nature lovers, who chose to use meditation. They set a date and time for a “Group visualisation for the protection of Pirin and consciousness on Earth“; regardless of where people were located, at the same time they directed their thoughts and positive messages towards the preservation of the mountain range's nature.
Hristo Valchev, an activist in environmental education who is affiliated with Naturalistichno.org, is at the heart of this visualisation. He wrote:
We know our roots with the Earth and understand our part of the whole ecosystem of the planet. We wish and send best vibes so that everyone else understand their roots and part of the Gaia-Earth. […] We hope that you will understand us and join the action for the holy good of all!
All of these different actions are examples of grassroots movements that citizens are undertaking in a system they feel doesn't respect their will. Of course, many other behind-the-scenes moves are needed if an effort like this is to be successful, such as filing legal objects or invoking other institutional resources.
But the statements and street demonstrations of support not only give strength to the frontline activists fighting to protect the park, but they also increase public attention to ensure that the not-so-visible actions don't end up buried in a drawer somewhere.

author: Stanislava Koparanova


text:
Gambian University Instructor Detained for Newspaper Interview, Then Released · Global Voices
Demba Kandeh

People waving in a protest against president Yahya Jammeh in the Gambia in 2017. Screenshot from YouTube video.
Authorities in the West African state of the Gambia arrested political scientist Ismaila Ceesay and charged him with “incitement to violence” on January 31, over an interview that he gave to a local newspaper. He was released without condition on February 1.
Ceesay's arrest was in connection to a newspaper interview in which he said the presence of ECOMIG sub-regional forces in the Gambia will not prevent long-term security risks.
The Economic Community of West African States Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) was part of efforts to enforce the December 2016 presidential election results, which took long-time leader Yahya Jammeh out of power.
Despite the election results, Jammeh refused to step down from office for several days following the scheduled transition of power. The current president, Adama Barrow, was thus forced to remain outside of the country, in neighboring Senegal, until Jammeh finally relented and departed from office.
In the interview in question, Ceesay told The Voice newspaper that long-term security will not be restored “if the president [Adama Barrow] does not win the trust of the [Gambian] army.”
I thought using hashtags to demand release of citizens whose basic rights were being violated in #Gambia was over from 20Jan2017.
Until 31Jan2018 Ceesay detained for his opinion & here we are #FreeDrCeesay.
We voted for a change of SYSTEM
NOT JUST a President  — Aisha Dabo™ (@mashanubian) January 31, 2018
The Barrow administration has been hailed for restoring respect for fundamental human rights, a direct departure from the brutal dictatorship of former president Yahya Jammeh.
Shortly after assuming office, Barrow freed hundreds of prisoners and detainees. Since then, a series of investigations and prosecutions for alleged human rights violations under the Jammeh regime has commenced.
But the fragile security state following the political impasse still remains a major stumbling block for the full enjoyment of civil liberties.
Dr is release with all charges drop and an apology from the police. #FreeDrCeesay #FreedomOfExpression #NewGambia pic.twitter.com/eVM2ySM7M8
— Haddija Jawara (@kadza) February 1, 2018
Secretary General of the Gambia Press Union Saikou Jammeh (who has no relation to former president Yahya Jammeh) condemned the arrests and warned against sliding back into the dark past.
#Gambia.We must all stand up & speak up for Dr Ceesay. His arrest & detention indicates a backstepping on our democratic gains. This is a threat to the rights & freedoms we have come to know, to cherish & appreciate after been suppressed & oppressed for 22 plus yrs #FreeDrCeesay
— Saikou Jammeh (@saiks2) January 31, 2018
Ceesay, a political science lecturer at the University of The Gambia (UTG), is a regular political commentator for local media.
Rights activists have condemned Ceesay’s arrest and detention and have called for his immediate and unconditional release. (Photo taken from Facebook)
In a statement posted on Facebook, the university staff association described Ceesay's arrest and detention as “a blatant affront and a threat to academic freedom and freedom of expression” and called for his immediate and unconditional release.
Statement from UTGFSA
Following the arbitrary arrest of Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Political Science lecturer UTG and President of the University of the Gambia Faculty and Staff Association (UTGFSA), over an article published in a local newspaper, the entire UTG community under the umbrella of the UTGFSA strongly condemn the said arrest as a blatant affront on his civic right and a threat to academic and freedom of expression in the country.
The change that Gambians envisaged in December 2016, is a nation where citizens can express their opinion on national issues such as development, education, security, and democracy without fear of harassment from anyone. The Gambian people did not sacrifice their lives for a change of face in the December 2016 Presidential Election but a change that guarantees all and sundry to enjoy their rights and liberty in their country with dignity. Therefore, the arrest of our colleague, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, is a violation of his constitutional right to freedom of expression and an attempt of provocation on the resolve of UTGFASA to protect its members’ rights at all costs. As academics and citizens of the Gambia, we will not sit by and watch the security personnel or anybody else trample on our rights with impunity. We therefore demand the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Ceesay.
If the authorities fail to unconditionally release Dr. Ceesay, the UTGFSA executive hereby calls on all her members to sit at home and refrain from taking part in all university functions and activities including orientation ceremonies starting from Thursday 1st February, 2018. However, the UTGFSA executive will use all available means to secure Dr. Ceesay’s release. The executive shall inform members through the UTG platform as to what our next move is.
A Senghore
(Asst. Secretary General UTGFSA)
Ceesay was briefly charged under section 59B of the Criminal Code of the Gambia. Had he been convicted, he could have faced imprisonment for a term of three years. But following intense pressure from staff and students of the University of the Gambia, he was released unconditionally.

author: Demba Kandeh