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Between commemoration and rage: Haitians confront a growth in fatal kidnappings · Global Voices
Jeanne-Elsa Chéry

Screen capture from the video tribute to Evelyne Sincère, published on Tele Ginen’s YouTube channel on 6 November
On October 29, 22-year-old Evelyne Sincère was kidnapped after taking her end-of-year exams. Her body was found in the Delmas 24 neighbourhood of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince on November 1. News of her death sent shockwaves across the country, raising fears about a rise in ransom kidnappings and highlighting fears that the government wasn't doing enough to stop them.
According to the United Nations, between January 1 and May 31, Haiti saw a 200 percent rise in the number of reported abductions. Among the cases reported to Haitian police were 57 males, including 11 minors, and 35 female kidnapping victims, including 8 minors.
However, according to Laënnec Hurbon, research director at the CNRS multidisciplinary research association and professor at the State University of Haiti, the official reported figures do not capture the full extent of the issue. In his opinion, Hurbon states that no fewer than 1,270 kidnapping cases were registered in Haiti between January and August, which adds up to approximately 160 abductions a month.
Ten feminist organisations, including Kay fanm, SOFA, and Neges Mawon, signed a joint letter on November 7 declaring that Sincère's murder was not an isolated incident but rather the result of a “failure to respect human rights” resulting from “the impunity and irresponsibility of the state authorities”.
Students from Sincère's school, the Lycée Jacques Roumain, took to the streets to demand justice, and “denounced the rise in acts of kidnapping in the country and the weakness of the authorities aimed at guaranteeing the safety of the population”.
Commemoration ceremonies for Sincère were organised in Port-au-Prince, and social media has been full of messages of solidarity.
Former President Jocelerme Privert condemned Sincère's murder, condemning an “outflow of insecurity sowing grief in families and killing hope in the young.”
Journalist Sindy Ducrepin comments on Twitter:
Une victime de trop. Des larmes de trop. Des coupables à jamais libres dans la nature. Des enquêtes de la Police avortées. Davantage de mauvais souvenirs qui ne partiront jamais. Une soif de justice pour toujours inassouvie. ??? #EvelyneSincere
— Sindy Ducrépin (@SindyDucrepin) November 3, 2020
Another victim too many. More tears too many. Perpetrators still at large, scot free. Police enquiries called off. More painful memories which will never go away. A thirst for justice forever unassuaged.
One of the public tributes:
In honor of her life, Haitian influencers, friends and supporters have gather at the location where Evelyne Sincere’s body was found in Delmas, to clean up, add flowers, paint, and pay tribute to her. ???? pic.twitter.com/2QnaMfyJ6a
— Lunionsuite ?? (@LunionSuite) November 6, 2020
Another in the form of wall artwork in memory of Evelyne Sincère:
Évelyne Sincere, fly high our sister ?#Haiti pic.twitter.com/f8HtwNktRW
— @HaitiMania #PetroCaribeChallenge (@HaitiMania) November 6, 2020
Many have expressed their bewilderment on Twitter:
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
Évelyne Sincère ?
— Thamzzz_The_CEO?????? (@thamzzz_luxury) November 7, 2020
“The proliferation of armed men, the uncontrolled circulation of illegal firearms, and growing insecurity touch every aspect of life in Haiti,” explains the online news site Ayibopost, which reports that official figures estimate 80 local armed groups were active in Haiti in 2019. Criminal activities in the country are also thought to be facilitated by the current government’s links with these armed groups. The rise in kidnappings is happening within a wider context of crime, impunity, political instability and economic crisis.
A new modus operandi for kidnapping seems to have developed over the last few years in Haiti with gangs now kidnapping entire public buses. Abduction victims in Haiti are targeted according to the sum the gangs can demand in ransom. Generally calculated in US dollars, these ransoms can go as high as $500,000, or even $1 million.
But kidnap victims are not all “high rollers”. “Little people, sidewalk traders, bank staff, workers, educators, or the sons and daughters of poor families” are also at risk of being abducted, claims Laënnec Hurbon.
Indeed, the kidnapper may even be part of the victim’s inner circle and not be part of a gang, as in Evelyne Sincère’s case. The abductors, who included the victim’s alleged boyfriend, had asked for a ransom of 100,000 US dollars as they believed her family was wealthy, but, by the end of negotiations, ended up accepting the sum of 15,000 dollars. It is not clear whether they received the money and Sincère was executed a day before she was supposed to be freed. Three suspects have been detained, one of which was handed over to the police by a famous gang leader, Jimmy Cérisier.
The passivity of the country’s authorities in the face of kidnapping in Haiti has been denounced, notably by the organisation New England Human Rights Organization:
Throughout the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone and in provincial cities, citizens from all social backgrounds are prey to lawless armed bandits, going unmolested and, above all, unpunished.
Public opinion has criticized the Haitian National Police (PNH)’s handling of Sincère's case. One Facebook user, for example, accuses the PNH of lying and staging Sincère’s presumed killers’ interview. On Twitter, economist and political activist Jeffsky Poincy denounced the PNH’s failure to respect civil rights and highlights the fact that a public interview was held without the presence of the suspects’ lawyers. He believes that the lack of due process for the suspects is a symptom of unstable institutions and rule of law.

author: Jeanne-Elsa Chéry


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From #BlackLivesMatter to #VidasNegrasImportam: Call to end colonial legacy of police brutality · Global Voices
Zymora Davinchi

Monument in Curaçao in homage toTula, an enslaved African man who freed himself and led the Curaçao Slave Revolt in 1795. Photo by Kattiel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The continued policing of Black bodies and the lasting structure of European colonialism and bondage is a legacy born from the Transatlantic slave trade and its aftermath in the African Diaspora.
In light of the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade in the United States, as well as the call to end all forms of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence across the African continent, Latin America, and Europe, the ties to colonial rule and slavery throughout the diaspora have become more and more apparent.
From the early 1500s to the late 1900s, up to 15 million African people were captured and enslaved by Europeans and forcibly brought to the Americas and Caribbean islands.
One of the worst and ugliest examples of human rights violations in history has created an incredibly dynamic, beautiful, and culturally diverse African Diaspora. This global community consists of people who are direct descendants of mainly sub-Saharan Africans who live primarily in the Americas as a result of this slave trade.
Black people in the Americas and Caribbean have carried on sacred and ancestral rituals indigenous to the African continent and have also created new practices and culture following the Middle Passage. This includes everything from wearing traditional braiding hairstyles or clothing from the motherland to creating new religions inspired by ones practiced in West Africa. For example, Santería and Voudou became iterations of the Yoruba religion and culture of Nigeria.
The policing of these diverse Black communities has deep historical roots that continue to reverberate into the present day, both in the Diaspora as well as on the African continent.
In the early 1700s, the US state of South Carolina established the first slave patrol police unit, which inspired almost every other state with slavery laws to follow suit. Slave patrols were responsible for hunting down escaped enslaved persons, disrupting and dismantling possible slave revolts, and punishing those found guilty of defying their masters and plantation rule.
US policies such as The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required the federal government to capture and return enslaved persons to their masters—even in free states—only helped reinforce the idea that the police serve to protect white interests and property. Police brutality continues in the US along with the fight against it through Black Lives Matter.
Today, citizens of many African countries—such as Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa—also experience high incidents of police brutality; these countries all established police departments during the peak of European colonial rule.
In Nigeria, youth activists called for the end of the Special Anti-Robbery Unit of the Nigerian police, known as SARS, in a movement known as #EndSARS. SARS has a minimum of 82 cases of human torture, maltreatment, and extrajudicial killings from January 2017—when the unit was formed—to May 2020. The Nigerian government cracked down on the #EndSARS movement with violent suppression in October.
This structural violence speaks to the legacy of British colonial rule in Nigeria. Under the British, in what would become Nigeria, the Royal Crown relied heavily on its many business ventures to conduct foreign affairs and oversee its colonies. The British Empire allowed these enterprises to establish commercial and governing rights—and military forces. Nigeria's police agencies were modeled after these systems and methods of control that sought to protect and enforce British colonial rule
Similar patterns of violence echo the colonial past in South Africa's policing framework. During apartheid, the state utilized law enforcement to preserve and impose racial segregation and execute prominent anti-apartheid figures. In turn, the police disproportionately used excessive force on non-white South Africans and created long-lasting divisions within the communities they terrorized. This oppressive, anti-Black behavior that was introduced by white colonialists continues to impact Black South African communities today.
This past summer in Johannesburg, Nathaniel Julies, a 16-year-old boy with Down Syndrome, was shot and killed by the police. Nathaniel's murder, in particular, incited protests because he was a child with disabilities and the details surrounding the case were unclear. Nathaniel's parents believe that the police shot him because he was non-speaking and could not readily answer their questions.
In Brazil, home to the largest population of Black people outside of the continent of Africa, the Rio police in 2019 murdered over 1,800 people—and nearly eight out of 10 of those killed were Black men. Bahia, a Brazilian state with an 80 percent Black population, came third to Rio in police killings last year.
Brazil received the most enslaved people in the hemisphere and was the last to abolish slavery in the Americas. Therefore, Afro Brazilian activists argue that state-sanctioned violence in Brazil is tied to the commodification of Black bodies and the Brazilian government’s role in the incomplete transition from bondage to what was supposed to be freedom.
“They kill Black people because this is the structure of Brazilian society,” explains Aline Maia, the executive coordinator of Observatório de Favelas, an institution in Rio de Janeiro that develops public policy for Brazil. “[This genocide] is something that generates money, and it produces a spectacle that makes white people feel more secure because it’s happening someplace far. It helps politicians get votes.”
Signs with #VidasNegrasImportam (literally translated from Black Lives Matter) multiplied in Brazil in February 2019 after a Black man was killed by a supermarket security guard in Rio. On November 20, 2020, another Black man was beaten to death by two white security guards at a Carrefour store in Porto Alegre, which sparked a fresh wave of protests in Brazil.
In the United Kingdom, the police are four times more likely to use excessive force against Black people, despite only making up 3.3 percent of the entire population. In addition, Black people in Britain are twice as likely to die at the hands of law enforcement.
In Canada, between 2013 and 2017, Black Canadians accounted for 32 percent of all infractions, 30 percent of excessive force cases, and 70 percent of police shootings. In Toronto alone, Black Canadians were 20 times more likely to be murdered by a police officer.
White supremacy and colonialism are not specific to the US or the African continent. Police brutality is universal, white supremacy is global, and mechanisms of colonialism continue to operate, which is why Black people every day, around the world, are being killed.
Therefore, throughout the diaspora, Black people continue to fight tirelessly for their lives, communities, and future generations. In the United States, we say #BlackLivesMatter! In Nigeria, we say #EndSARS! And in Brazil, we say #VidasNegrasImportam!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Zymora Davinchi


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Global Voices condemns the attacks on North Macedonia NGO Metamorphosis Foundation · Global Voices
Global Voices

Group photo of Metamorphosis staff taken during a September 2019 event, published on their Facebook page. Used with permission.
Since November 12, a group of online media outlets and social media accounts in North Macedonia have been waging a coordinated attack against the staff of Metamorphosis Foundation, a Skopje-based NGO. A partner of Global Voices, Metamorphosis has been doing groundbreaking work on freedom of expression and digital rights since 2004, including founding the online fact-checking service Truthmeter (Vistinomer), among other projects.
The attacks have exploited the volatile political situation that currently prevails in North Macedonia, falsely accusing Metamorphosis of colluding with Facebook to censor “patriotic” content from the social media platform. They also include calls for physical violence towards Metamorphosis staff, threats of sharing of their private information, and online harassment. Photos of Metamorphosis staff, including its journalists and managers, have been disseminated online in the style of obituaries or Wild West “Wanted” posters.
Global Voices strongly condemns these attacks on our long-standing partner. We call on North Macedonia's authorities to investigate these activities and to enforce the appropriate legal remedies against the perpetrators, as well as provide protection to Metamorphosis staff. We echo Metamorphosis Foundation's own call to local media outlets that have amplified these attacks to issue retractions as soon as possible.
Since its inception 16 years ago, Metamorphosis Foundation has stood on the frontlines of the fight for freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and protection of digital rights in North Macedonia and the wider Balkans region.
Truthmeter is a certified signatory of the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Finding Network. It has worked with Facebook under its Third-Party Fact-Checking Program since July 2020. Under this program, Facebook employs certified fact-checkers from around the world to identify misinformation circulating on its platform. Truthmeter, like Facebook's other partners, does not engage in censorship of any kind — it merely reviews and rates the accuracy and integrity of content that circulates on the platform and posts fact-checking articles that Facebook attaches to each item that is rated. Removal of content remains at the sole discretion of the company, which uses its own internal mechanisms and applies its own Community Standards in carrying out this function.
After Metamorphosis alerted Facebook about the attacks against them, the company removed posts that the company found to be in violation of its anti-harassment policy. However, investigations conducted by Metamorphosis have revealed that screenshots of such posts remain in circulation on other popular social networks.
On November 13, Metamorphosis released a statement denying the libellous claims against its staff. It also filed a criminal complaint with local law enforcement. At the time of the publication of this statement, Metamorphosis is yet to receive any response from North Macedonia's Interior Ministry.
Metamorphosis Foundation also intends to press defamation charges against media outlets who have backed the hate campaign and refuse to publish a retraction.
Global Voices joins North Macedonia's journalist associations and press freedom advocates, the Civil Center for Freedom, the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, and ambassadors to North Macedonia from the European Union and the United Kingdom in vehemently condemning those attacks. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues.

author: Global Voices


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Hong Kong pro-democracy trio defiant in face of upcoming jail sentence · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong. Image from HKFP. Used with permission.
On November 23, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were remanded in custody after pleading guilty to charges of inciting and organizing an unlawful protest in June 2019.
The protest in question took place at the beginning of the anti-China extradition movement when the demonstrations were largely peaceful. The charge carries a penalty of a maximum of five years in prison. A court is expected to hand out sentences on December 2.
The trio, all former members of the now-disbanded political party Demosisto, faces a number of different charges. Wong, along with 23 other activists, is also being prosecuted for participating in this year's candlelight vigil in tribute of the victims of Tiananmen Square, an assembly the authorities also deemed unlawful. Wong was released on bail.
Chow was arrested on August 10 on charge of “inciting secession” under the National Security Law. She was also released on bail.
More than 10,000 individuals have been arrested in Hong Kong in relation to the year-long anti-extradition protests by 28 of October 2020. 2,285 individuals have been prosecuted, with 691 charged with rioting and 403 with taking part in an unlawful assembly.
The unlawful assembly charge is based on Hong Kong’s Public Order Ordinance, which requires protest organizers to notify the police, with at least seven days notice, of demonstrations of more than 30 people. Organizers must also as obtain a “notice of no objection” from the authorities before going ahead with the demonstration. The law has been criticized by international NGO Human Rights Watch for imposing “excessive restriction” to rights of assembly.
Hong Kong's Department of Justice has historically refrained from using the law to prosecute protesters. That changed in 2014, when massive pro-democracy demonstrations broke out. In 2017, leading figures of those protests Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man were sentenced to 16 months in jail under the ordinance.
Wong was also among those prosecuted in relation to the 2014 protests. In 2019, along with 19 others, he was sentenced to two months in jail for “contempt of court” after failing to comply with a court order to clear the Umbrella protest camp in Mong Kok five years earlier. Wong's release from prison in June 2019 coincided with the beginning of the anti-extradition protests that year.
Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong met in elementary school. In 2011, at age 16 and 14 respectively, they founded the student activist group Scholarism, whose stated objective was to reform the school curriculum against “patriotic education.”
Agnes Chow joined Scholarism in 2012, when the group led a massive protest against the introduction of National Education in elementary education. Scholarism grew in prominence and became a key organization in the pro-democracy protests of 2014.
As Lam reached the age of 18, he began facing harsher persecution and punishment in comparison to his fellow activists. In 2017, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison for participating in a protest against a developmental plan in Northeastern New Territories.
After the 2014 protests, Scholarism morphed into the political party Demosisto. The party fielded Nathan Law as a candidate to the Legislative Council in the 2016 elections. At age 23 at that time, Law became the youngest-ever elected member of the Hong Kong legislature.
But Law was eventually unseated following an unprecedented ruling by Beijing's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) that targeted a number of pro-democracy legislators. When Chow attempted to run with Demosisto's to Law's vacant seat in a by-election in 2018, she was disqualified as well.
Demosisto disbanded on June 30, one day before the National Security Law came into force. Law has since left Hong Kong for London, where he continues to engage in international lobbying.
Chow, Wong and Lam have long been regarded as symbols of the generation of Hong Kong activists who have come of age after the handover of the island to China in 1997, their prosecution encapsulating the blows Beijing has delivered to Hong Kong's dreams of democracy and freedom. As Agnes Chow put it before she attended the court on November 23:
周庭：「社會的未來被奪去，我的未來都一樣被奪去」
The future of the society is deprived, so as mine too.
社会の未来を奪われた同時に、私たちの未来も奪われてしまうhttps://t.co/Ei66CBywvi#FreeAgnes #JoshuaWong #AgnesChow #周庭
(Photo by SI CC BY 4.0) pic.twitter.com/dHebQXg103
— Studio Incendo (@studioincendo) November 23, 2020
Joshua Wong also tweeted before his court appearance:
10/ Cages may lock up our bodies, but never our unwavering souls. One day our indomitable will return and make us assemble again. pic.twitter.com/iBIXzsDcUw
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) November 22, 2020
Many more have reacted on Twitter:
HK youth & students have sacrificed nearly everything to fight against tyranny & protect HK freedom. Their future is dependent of HK future, HK ppl will never give up. Hope all freedom loving countries would help HK & themselves to sanction & eliminate CCP, liberate HK.
— ALL4ONE_reborn (@All4oneReborn) November 24, 2020
#HongKongers truly respect your courage and perseverance since you led the protests against National Education in 2012. Even if you may be sentenced to imprisonment tomorrow, you still try to bring our protests to the next stage.
Thank you @joshuawongcf pic.twitter.com/g7QS9Kzzbw
— Sin Long Yin Ryan 冼朗然 (@sinlongyinryan) November 22, 2020
Their names are #AgnesChow @chowtingagnes, #JoshuaWong @joshuawongcf and #IvanLam. Arrested because they love #HongKong and fight for #Freedom. Their sacrifices and martyrdom are our duty to #StandWithHongKong ??❤??
— Arno Berg ? (@arnohb112) November 23, 2020

author: Oiwan Lam


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Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert freed from Iranian jail in prisoner swap · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Kylie Moore-Gilbert after her release from prison in Iran. Screenshot SBS News video November 20, 2020.
The release of British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert after over 800 days in an Iranian prison has been greeted with joy and relief in Australia and internationally. Her release came as part of an exchange for three Iranian prisoners.
Dr. Moore-Gilbert had been held in Iranian prisons for alleged spying since September 2018. Reports circulated that Moore-Gilbert was detained and charged with spying for Israel after Iran learned of her relationship with an Israeli citizen.
The University of Melbourne, where Moore-Gilbert was an academic, shared their relief at the news of her release:
We're delighted and relieved that Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released from jail in Iran. VC Prof Duncan Maskell said Dr Moore-Gilbert is safe and well and in strong spirits, and the University’s first priority is her ongoing health and wellbeing. https://t.co/OQcT6ryF6m
— University of Melbourne (@unimelb) November 25, 2020
Her support group of friends and colleagues also tweeted:
We are over the moon that our amazing friend and colleague Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert is on her way home after 804 days in prison in Iran. An innocent woman is finally free. Today is a very bright day in Australia indeed! 1/
— Free Kylie Moore-Gilbert (@FreeKylieMG) November 25, 2020
Global Voices reported on her case in August 2020: Melbourne academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert remains a ‘political hostage’ inside Iran’s Qarchak prison
There is a well-placed concern for Moore-Gilbert’s wellbeing once in Australia. Jason Rezaian, who spent 544 days imprisoned in Iran, shared his thoughts:
I am thrilled to see that Dr. Kylie Moore Gilbert is finally free after over 2 years as a hostage of the regime in #Iran. As happy as I am, I know the trauma and bewilderment in her face all to too well. I wish her health, recovery, privacy and patience. pic.twitter.com/SxakqDf5eh
— Jason Rezaian (@jrezaian) November 25, 2020
He was also amongst those calling for an end to so-called hostage diplomacy:
It’s far past time for democratic allies — indeed all responsible governments — to work together to end state sponsored hostage taking once and for all, beginning with #Iran, long the world’s most egregious offender of this barbaric practice.
— Jason Rezaian (@jrezaian) November 25, 2020
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in welcoming her release, claimed some credit for using quiet diplomacy, which has been criticised by some of her friends and colleagues. He refused to comment on any negotiations or other governments’ involvement. He stated that no prisoners in Australia were to be swapped.
The Iranian prisoners being swapped are believed to be three men convicted and held in Thailand on charges related to an attempt to kill Israeli diplomats. There have been the inevitable concerns about rewarding hostage diplomacy and undertaking terrorism-related negotiations:
Thread. Thrilled as we all are to have Kylie Moore-Gilbert released, there should be no illusions: #Iran‘s hostage-taking was just rewarded, yet again, with the release of proven killers, notably #IRGC‘s Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, responsible for a terror spree against Jews in 2012 https://t.co/Jv3nMAPduS
— Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) November 25, 2020
The role of the Israel government has also been questioned:
Did the Australian Govt discuss the prisoner swap with Israel, given the three Iranians released in exchange for Kylie Moore-Gilbert's freedom were imprisoned over a plot to assassinate Israeli diplomats? FM @MarisePayne: “I'm not going to comment on diplomatic discussions”
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) November 26, 2020
Many Australians have raised other human rights issues, which they believe should be addressed by Scott Morrison's government. Delia Quigley was one on those on social media reminding the Australian government of its treatment of asylum seekers, especially the use of long term detention:
There is no doubt that it is wonderful that Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released from arbitrary imprisonment in Iran.
It all just seems a bit hypocritical as our govt celebrates this whilst they hold in detention those who legally sought asylum from places like Iran ?
— Delia Quigley ?? (@DeeQuigDJQ) November 26, 2020
Karyn H, a campaigner for the release of another Australian, Julian Assange, linked the two cases. She called on the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, to step up on his behalf:
I am happy to hear of the release of Kylie Moore-Gilbert. I also look forward to the release of Australian citizen Julian Assange. His courage and tenacity is a real inspiration. It would be expected that you would work just as hard in your efforts to release Julian. pic.twitter.com/0qggIImJyx
— Karyn H⏳? (@H11Karyn) November 25, 2020
Moore-Gilbert thanked the Australian government and praised the Iranian people in a statement after her release:
I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for the great nation of Iran and its warm-hearted, generous and brave people. It is with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to. I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions, and depart Iran with those sentiments not only still intact, but strengthened.
She is currently in COVID-19 quarantine at an undisclosed location.

author: Kevin Rennie


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This Giving Tuesday, Donate to Global Voices · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

This Giving Tuesday, donate to Global Voices: https://globalvoices.org/donate/
What a year 2020 has been—and it’s not over yet.
In the midst of it all, we at Global Voices have continued to publish nuanced stories from the four corners of the globe, bringing our readers unique global perspectives on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the movement for racial justice, protests in countries such as Belarus and Thailand, and much, much more.
The Global Voices community of bloggers, authors, journalists and digital rights activists have been working for the past 16 years to build bridges across countries and languages and to defend the independence of the media, the openness of the Internet, and the right of everyone, everywhere, to free expression.
Our work and our international community of contributors is proof that human connections across lines of difference can change how people understand the world.
Please donate today to help us continue this important work.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Exemplary governance: Which countries should high-COVID nations follow? · Global Voices
Ian Inkster

Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay
By Ian Inkster
As much of America, Europe and many anglophone nations face the welter of possible choices of action available to them as they enter what is understood to be a “second wave” of COVID-19, their media repeatedly mention a small group of nations that might best be copied—examples of good COVID governance.
Two points at the outset. For some time now it has been unclear whether this new wave was a direct function of mutation among the many DNA of the virus itself, or mainly a man-made cycle following the ups and downs of civil societies’ adherence to the regulations. Are the spikes resulting from civil laxity? The second point follows from this civil laxity argument—it may well be claimed that a nation’s ability to dampen COVID incidence and mortality is a sign of its existing power of governance. Good COVID management then becomes a measure of strength and scope of policies, of a government’s firmness in convincing its citizens to adhere to regulations, and of its own power to adapt to externally induced changing circumstances. From this, it may be argued that good COVID results act as an indicator of how well a government will lead its nation into post-COVID economic recovery. So, there can be quite a lot at stake here.
Thus, choosing the best example may well reflect an underlying belief among large numbers of people that a particular country has high status among the comity of nations. That is, successful COVID results may be seen by many people throughout the globe as exemplifying both successful governance and a firm moral economy. Contrariwise, failure over COVID in the “second wave” may now be considered a sign of a failing state. We have witnessed the ousting of Donald Trump.
Clearly enough, notable exemplars cannot be so small as to be clearly outliers, else such varied places as the Falklands or Greenland would take the lead. This puts to the side nations that have, indeed, been applauded, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. This applies also to isolated islands and vast territories with very low population densities such as Iceland, Madagascar, Finland, or even Norway. On more direct reasoning, those seeking exemplars should surely omit nations that do not report tests per million, such as Burkina Faso with a population of over 24 million and impressive Cm (cases per million) of 122 and exceptionally low Dm (deaths per million) of only 3, but which does not report test numbers. Of course, there will be nations that have actually had so few hospitalised cases or deaths that they have not instituted tests at all, but they are difficult to clearly separate from ones where cases would be high if thorough testing had been instituted.
Table 1 below lists details for 10 nations, 5 of which are quite commonly exemplified across the world, and 5 others that are not, but whose records are worth serious consideration. World data is included in the last row. Coronavirus Worldometer
Table 1 offers a great many cautionary tales. Cm measures total COVID cases per million, Dm total deaths per million, D/C is deaths as a proportion of total registered cases, which we take as a good indicator of the effective mortality rate; Tests/m is the number of tests for COVID per million of the population. Figures are derived from totals for the period from January 13, 2020, the day of the first confirmed case in Japan, to November 11, 2020.
The five common exemplars are in bold, and they in fact offer very varying COVID experiences according to their own official registered data across the whole period. It seems clear that Germany and Sweden are exemplars, especially in Western nations because they have good records in fighting COVID-19 in comparison to other major European nations (e.g., the UK or Belgium with Dm figures of 719 and 1,112, respectively) and the USA (a Dm of 734). They also have highish results for tests per million, especially Sweden. But the latter’s principal drawback as an exemplar is its much smaller size of population, and the unusual characteristics for Europe of its relative spatial isolation when compared to high-COVID nations such as Italy. In addition, Sweden’s D/C or mortality rate at 3.6 per cent is actually the highest of the 10 nations in this table, despite a high testing rate. This could suggest either a fault in the procedures for effective hospitalisation after tests prove positive, resulting in greater mortality, or it could be a result of its relatively high proportion of older citizens—at 20.3 per cent of its population over 65, compared to say around 16 per cent for Australia and the USA. However, this case is severely weakened when we note that Germany has a ratio of 22.2 per cent of its population in this older grouping, and Japan an even greater proportion of 28.2 per cent. Both have D/Cs of 1.7 per cent. Given the small population of Sweden, this would throw some doubt on it as an obvious exemplar in terms of actual COVID results to date.
Within Europe, this leaves Germany as probably the better case, especially as, unlike Sweden, it is bordered by high-COVID nations such as Belgium, France, and the Netherlands (Dm measures of 1,185,  651, and 484, respectively).
But at first glance, neither of the European contenders can match the non-European Australia, Japan and Taiwan, each with exceptionally low Dms (Taiwan with its unmatched 0.3 per cent) and much lower Cms. The seeming weakness of the Japanese and Taiwanese cases is their low levels of tests per million. Other things being equal, this means that lower numbers tested leads to lower “cases registered” if a nation is relying on test results as its principal COVID source, rather than official collections of data from hospitals and general practitioners of patients diagnosed as having the virus. This is not a resounding rejection by any means. It is very possible, certainly understandable, that a nation with actual low covidity would not feel the same need for mass testing as nations with obviously severe problems. It is notable that both the USA and the UK have the highest proportional testing ratios of any large nations—at around 50 per cent of their respective populations tested. Given that numbers of tests say little of the quality of the testing procedures there seems some good reason for holding Taiwan and Japan in high regard as exemplars.
Australia has no such problem, its rates of testing being amongst the highest in the world and notably above those of Germany. Its Dm is exceptionally low. The only problem area here is the unusual character of its demography (a huge proportion of the population live on the massive coastlines), its absence of land borders, its overall relative isolation from all high-COVID hot-spots, and its ability to close itself off despite high numbers of tourists and business connections. These features cannot simply be emulated, yet they may be more determinate of its success as a dampener of the virus than any single element of policy or of any special sequence of official interventions.
There is more to be said about why some nations appear as exemplary and others not, despite their directly COVID-related data. This is broached in three rows of Table 1. Pol-FrR provides an indicator of political freedom within nations, as measured over the years since 1973 by Freedom House, Washington, DC. The figures are an Index with 100 (Sweden) at the top among all major nations. Our Table 1 also indicates—with an * by the names of the 10 nations—all those that are labelled by Freedom House as “electoral democracies,” and it can be seen that all 5 of the major exemplary nations are in this category, and each is highly ranked on the Pol-FrR index, ranging between 93 and 100.The exemplary 5 are a free democratic group, sharing a series of status markers, attributes of a political culture, with many of the nations that regard them as exemplary.
Even though Taiwan with its amazing COVID history is not officially recognised as an independent nation by the other 4 within this select group, its characteristics fit perfectly with those of that group, as a whole. The PPP column shows that these nations are among the richest, most established industrial nations in the world, and estimates of their exemplary character by the major media outlets of the world must surely reflect something of a cultural club. The PPP column is a World Bank measure of purchasing power parity per capita, which adjust simple per capita income comparisons to account for cost-of-living differences by replacing normal exchange rates with those designed to equalise the prices of a standard “basket of goods” and services.
The index is based on the USA as 100. It seems clear enough that the chosen exemplars are seen as ones appropriate to emulate—democratic and free—and this is what is fastened on by the media that create the mantras of “lessons to be learnt,” or “following the science,” and so on. This is confirmed in column Econ-Fr, which provides an index of political freedom for 2020 calculated by the Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC,  in its huge and freely available 2020 Index of Economic Freedom, where Singapore tops the world at 89.4, Australia appearing 4 with 82.6, Sweden appearing at rank 22 with 74.9, and so on. That is, this group is considered exemplary, despite the great differences in COVID performance within it, on grounds of a global culture in which, through an international media, market-based liberalism at high incomes is awarded the highest status among the nations of our world. With status comes notions of veracity, probity and high trust, the secondary rewards of high income.
It may thus be argued that the notion of what might be an exemplary nation in a COVID world, is not principally founded on the COVID record but on some evidence of COVID achievement plus much evidence of high national status among the other nations of our world. So, despite all the caveats and drawbacks noted in this paper, it would appear that the seemingly very different nations of the group will persist as exemplary.
Our other 5 nations are a different cup of tea altogether. Although Poland and India are both parliamentary democracies, they share with this second group much lower income per capita, with Ethiopia being one of the most impoverished nations on earth. They all have lesser degrees of economic and political freedom, but they all also have very good COVID performances as measured in columns Dm and D/C, and generally reasonable numbers for tests per million (the worst being Angola which actually exceeds the figure for Taiwan!). These are not small countries demographically, and to that extent deserve some attention as possible exemplary cases.
With its large Cm measure, Poland looks at first an unlikely candidate, but note that its figure is equal to that of Sweden, and much lower than those of Spain (29,692), or France (26,769), or the huge Belgian figure of 42,547. Its tests per million exceed those of Japan. Its D/C ratio is very low, much below those for the UK, Italy, France, and even Germany. It borders 7 nations of high or uncertain covidity, such as the Czech Republic. And, of course, it is European. We might suggest that it has never been seen as exemplary in the West because of its cultural distinction of having low per capita income, equal to that of Malaysia, and its lower degrees of economic and political freedom than those found among the accepted exemplary group. And, of course, the same must be said of Ethiopia and Angola. The most likely causes of their low COVID measures is a lack of the infrastructure for effective testing and the low number of the elderly in their populations, primarily a result of low incomes. As noted already, this alone would tend to bring down the mortality rates. India and Malaysia are by far the more likely examples for others to follow. India’s massive population and extreme poverty, both noted in Table 1, has not inhibited low Cm and especially low mortality measures. As a well-established parliamentary democracy, India has a relatively high level of political freedom, although its determination to continue to plan high economic growth (an annual growth rate of GDP of over 7 per cent from 2012) means that government does not let market forces rule the production and distribution of goods and services. Aided by its age distribution but remembering the enormity of its population, India might well be seen as among an exemplary group of low-COVID nations.
As an exemplary case in many senses, Malaysia has been the most neglected by international mass media commentators. Yet with highish levels of economic freedom, it has achieved remarkable COVID statistics based on a reasonable level of testing. In this, it has been aided by being bordered by nations of low covidity, such as Indonesia (Dm of 55) or Thailand (Dm of 0.9 and total cases of only 3,861!). Its Dm and D/C levels are remarkable. Moreover, its history of COVID defence shows a great deal more alacrity and intelligence than most nations in the West. Screening was adopted at all airports after the first case in Thailand was made public on January 13, and Malaysia only reported its own first case on January 25–well after Japan, South Korea, the USA and Taiwan. Thermal scanners were adopted early. Under the Movement Control Order of March 18, the government, with good cooperation from the media, actively spread the “#stayhome” instructions, NGOs and prison inmates fabricated PPE for those on the frontline, and initial financial stimulus to prevent full economic downturn had been initiated in February. Very early on, Malaysia accepted that China had proved that by isolating the infected group of individuals and practising social distancing, the pandemic could be contained. In order to fund new hospitals and create stocks of medicines, the Ministry of Health and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) established an “action coalition” to obtain financial aid from corporate companies, government-linked companies (GLCs), and other organizations in Malaysia, a form of private-public sector funding that the West has yet to truly exploit. Government dampened any division between private and public sectors, enlisting help directly from the social media, and NGOs (not private companies) were used early on to provide protective masks, disinfection chambers, and to educate citizens on COVID-19. By April 11, Malaysia had reported a total of 4,346 cases and a total of 1,830 recovered, a proportion of 42 per cent. Today the numbers are 32,969 and 45,095, a proportion of 73 per cent.
Far quicker than countries such as the UK, the Malaysian authorities recognised the key problem of the elderly in care homes. As early as March 27, the Malaysian government introduced the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) with RM 25 million allocated to provide assistance for aged care homes, including cash disbursement, food supply and healthcare items, as well as an RM 250 one-off payment for government pensioners. Malaysia was directing a much higher proportion of its very limited resources to helping the elderly than did most of the Western nations and at a much earlier date, and this was evidently rewarded through its very low Dm and D/C statistics.
The Malaysian example details the variety of positive responses that have been made in nations not hitherto considered exemplary yet showing very superior COVID results over far more wealthy nations. In itself, this sort of evidence cannot pick an exemplar for all. Picking an exemplar by looking at single cases is unlikely to help very much. But what seems clear is that global exemplars do not have to look the same in terms of political structures, incomes, or economic ideology. Better that any nation looks at its own circumstances and selects elements considered appropriate. The best option might be to consider the more global picture but allow especially for differences in income and age distributions, the character of borders, densities and levels of urbanism, and degrees of air pollution. Such elements may guide selection towards countries or a country of similar circumstance, and the best COVID performer amongst them may well be your best exemplar. But just do not jump too soon!
Elements such as age structure or borders may be reasonably recognisable and objective measures. Political systems and policies are quite the opposite, these alter with regimes (we can look forward to developments in the US). The only way out of the seeming conundrum is to first admit that COVID incidence and mortality is only very partially related to any one nation’s official management policies. In fact, to date, only the dimmest light has been shed on what is the relationship between illness, death and governance in a COVID world. For this reason alone, a great COVID exemplar may not be a great example of political and civil life, especially as defined by decision-makers in parliamentary democracies. Perhaps choosing between Australia and Japan, between India or Malaysia, ought not be so normative. Perhaps it should carefully weigh up seeming COVID performance in the context of all the elements, admitting that the policies of governance may not be foremost amongst them.
Professor Ian Inkster is a global historian and political economist at SOAS University of London, who has taught and researched at universities in Britain, Australia, Taiwan and Japan. He is the author of 13 books on Asian and global dynamics with a particular focus on industrial and technological development, and the editor of History of Technology since 2000. Forthcoming books are Distraction Capitalism: The World Since 1971, and Invasive Technology and Indigenous Frontiers. Case Studies of Accelerated Change in History, with David Pretel. Follow him on Twitter at @inksterian

author: Ian Inkster


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Newly-found vintage playing cards shine a light on post-war occupied Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“It is with the children of any foreign country that the American soldier first makes friends.” A U.S. soldier hands out candy to Japanese children early on in the Allied occupation of Japan. Screencap from “Japan: Our Far East Partner Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 – 05/15/1984).” Public domain, hosted on YouTube by Nuclear Vault.
A chance find in Japan provides a glimpse at how children experienced the country's post-war occupation.
Author and broadcaster Matt Alt tweeted on November 21 that he had discovered a set of karuta (playing cards) dating back to the Allied occupation of Japan, likely just following the end of the World War II. He told Global Voices that he found the set while browsing at the popular Kobo-ichi monthly flea market in Kyoto,
Used in menko, a traditional Japanese card game played by children, the vintage playing cards feature what was arguably the most prominent figure of daily life in early post-war Japan: the American soldier.
I found a rare set of karuta (collectors’ cards) with US military motifs printed by a Japanese toymaker during the Occupation (1945-1952). With toys scarce, kids began to idolize US soldiers; the first English words many learned were “hello,” “give me chocolate,” and “Jeep.” pic.twitter.com/lO8LSD3cnF
— Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) November 21, 2020
Originally from the United States, Alt is the former host of popular NHK television program about Japanese pop culture Japanology Plus. He is also the author of a popular new book, “Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World“, and, with Hiroko Yoda, the author of a popular series of books about Japanese monsters called “Yokai Attack!“. Yoda and Alt recently translated 12,000-plus pages of Doraemon, one of Japan's most beloved manga series.
Following the country's defeat in August 1945, Japan was occupied and governed by Allied forces until 1952 (the islands of Okinawa would be governed by American forces until 1972). The U.S. military played a prominent role in the occupation of Japan.
While occupation forces had first sought to demilitarize Japan, the devastation, starvation and social upheaval in the country quickly turned soldiers into nation-builders. In a war-shattered country, American soldiers offered chocolate and candy, and became an omnipresent part of local life as they directed traffic, stood guard outside public buildings, or distributed relief aid.
That is probably why occupation forces were featured in children's card games.
Also known as “menko,” they often featured numbers on the back that seem to have represented the “power” of the given card in schoolyard games. A precursor of even more popular card games to come, like Pokémon. pic.twitter.com/t9pPTvOUHj
— Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) November 22, 2020
Some cards featured even more noteworthy icons recognizable to everyone around the world.
I don't think I've seen a MacArthur (perhaps that would have run afoul of censors?) but I have seen other military motifs, such as generic generals, bombers, artillery, and even nuclear weapons. PTAs were none too pleased by this stuff. pic.twitter.com/rDWUTNZbPk
— Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) November 23, 2020
Translation of text on card: “Hydrogen bomb”
NOTE: The “PTA” would be the “parent-teacher association”, which still plays an important local community role in education in Japan.
Karuta card games have a centuries-old history in Japan. Video game juggernaut Nintendo is itself famous for getting its start with card games and other novelties for children. Tarin Clanuwat, a researcher and computer scientist specializing in character recognition, machine learning and Japanese literature (and better known as @tkasasagi on Twitter), recently posted a series of tweets that investigated the history of Nintendo and playing cards:
Photo of Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto in 1889 (Meiji era) when it’s just established by a Karuta card craftsman Yamauchi Fusajiro. The word Nintendo is commonly assumed to mean ‘leave luck to heaven’, but there are no historical records to validate this assumption. pic.twitter.com/8AqCdMafVI
— tkasasagi?@バリキャリ熊 (@tkasasagi) September 21, 2020
Hanafuda card template (I think. It’s printed block testing) in Meiji era by Nintendo. pic.twitter.com/L6HKEMQ2qK
— tkasasagi?@バリキャリ熊 (@tkasasagi) September 21, 2020
For a detailed look at the history of card games in Japan, the former Mitsuke School in Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture, features an extensive collection:
There’s a great museum/Old elementary school in Iwata-Shi that had a bunch of these on display. I have more photos but replies are 1 per tweet ??? pic.twitter.com/EaArc2jbjq
— ??Ian ➖ イアンです????? (@IanGoesToJapan) November 22, 2020


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Angolan police repressed anti-government protests on Independence Day · Global Voices
Simão Hossi

Young Angolans protesting in the capital Luanda – Euro News YouTube (screen capture)
Demonstrations by young Angolans in several cities across the country on November 11, this year's 45th anniversary of Angola's independence, were marred by incidents of police violence.
As in the protests of October 24, sparked by the postponement of local elections, the November demonstrations were called by civil society and were supported by the opposition parties União pela Independência Total de Angola (Union for the Total Independence of Angola, known by its Portuguese acronym UNITA) and Bloco de Democrático (Democratic Bloc).
As well as holding local elections, the demonstrators demanded the 500,000 jobs promised by President João Lourenço during his election campaign in 2017. There were also calls for the dismissal of Edeltrudes Costa, the head of the president's cabinet embroiled in a corruption scandal.
The November protests took place in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Huambo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Moxico, Cabinda, Uíge, and Huila, as well as among the diaspora such as in Brazil, the United Kingdom and Portugal.
In Angola, the demonstrations were heavily repressed. There have been reports of arrests and injuries. In the capital Luanda, at least one demonstrator died. Inocêncio Matos, 26, was wounded in the head with a heavy object, according to Augusto Manuel, a doctor at the Américo Boavida Hospital where the young man was treated, speaking to Deutsche Welle Africa.
Initially, the young man was thought to have been shot with a firearm. Manuel rejected the possibility of shooting. A video widely shared on social media shows Matos wounded and unconscious in a public street. The provincial commander of the National Police, Eduardo Cerqueira, told media that the protestor “fell when he ran away from police actions aimed at dispersing people”.
Angolans protesting in the capital Luanda. Euro News report, YouTube (screen capture).
The protests had been banned by the authorities on the grounds of the state of emergency, decreed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prohibits gatherings of more than five people in public spaces. The organizers rejected the ban, arguing that the restrictive measures could not infringe on the fundamental right of assembly.
In Luanda, there was a police presence in several areas of the city, conducting searches of citizens on foot and preventing vehicles from circulating. Demonstrators were also dispersed during a morning protest in a car park of the Santa Ana Cemetery, as shown in the video below:
Many voiced their disapproval of the repression. For example, journalist Sousa Jamba, who is in southern Angola, wrote on Facebook::
As imagens que circulam pelo o mundo, para marcar o onze de Novembro, dia da indecência de Angola, são dos confrontos entre a polícia e os jovens manifestantes nas ruas de Luanda. O problema com isto é que inibe o investidor sério.
O problema de Angola é que tem-se a grande ilusão de que o mesmo pessoal, com mesma cultura organizacional e métodos de trabalho, poderá um dia ser capaz de resolver os mesmos problemas que eles pensam não existir!.
The images that are circulating around the world, to mark November 11, the day of independence in Angola, are of the clashes between police and young demonstrators in the streets of Luanda. The problem with this is that it deters serious investors.
The problem in Angola is that one has the big illusion that the same people, with the same organisational culture and working methods, will one day be able to solve the very problems they think do not exist!
Angolans protesting in the capital Luanda. Euro News Report YouTube (screen capture)
Similarly, the journalist Víctor Hugo Mendes, who lives in Portugal, made a live broadcast on his Facebook page addressed to the president, João Lourenço, urging him to initiate a dialogue, open to all, on the concerns expressed by these young people.
UNITA member of parliament Paulo Lukamba also turned to Facebook to call attention to the urgency of dialogue:
É muito importante e urgente encontrar-se um mecanismo com vista ao DIÁLOGO com os jovens que vão para a rua como forma de reivindicação dos seus direitos consagrados na Constituição da República de Angola.
Para estes jovens, Angola é um País Independente, em paz e democracia. Um País com um potencial económico extraordinário. Eles querem apenas usufruir de tudo isso. Eles na sua maioria nasceram no princípio da década de 90. Há por isso muitos antecedentes políticos que não são do seu interesse.
Eles ganharam consciência cidadã já na era da proclamação de Angola como um Estado democrático e de Direito. Não há como parar a irreverência que é uma característica intrinsecamente ligada àquela faixa etária.
Eles querem ver as coisas acontecerem, estão cheios de energia para além das suas grandes
expectativas em matéria de projectos pessoais.
It is very important and urgent to find a mechanism aimed at DIALOGUE with the young people who are taking to the streets as a way to demand their rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola.
For these young people, Angola is an independent country, in peace and democracy. A country with extraordinary economic potential. They simply want to avail themselves of all this. Most of them were born in the early 1990s. There are therefore many political histories that are not of their interest.
They developed their understanding of [what it is to be] a citizen in the era of Angola being proclaimed a democratic state under the rule of law. There is no stopping the characteristic irreverence intrinsically linked to that age group.
They want to see things happen, they are full of energy beyond their great expectations for personal projects
The activist Hitler Samussuku said the protests are a sign of the end of the ruling party's reign::
THE MPLA AND THE END OF THE PARTY
The wave of protests taking place in Angola comes after an address to the nation in which the president of the republic described a political, economic and social situation that did not match the reality experienced by Angolans, the reason for [the protests being] to end the high cost of living and the fact that the local elections were postponed indefinitely and in an arrogant way, which appeared to have no commitment to improving community development.
The Angolan people have been proving to the MPLA since October 24 that we are in a new era and that this implies respect for the voice of the people.
The MPLA is arrogantly defying the people's demands, accusing them of being rioters and spreading the transmission of COVID-19, but a suffering people like us is not worried about the virus because with or without corona, we die of yellow fever, we die of malaria and even die of hunger.
On Twitter, there were messages denouncing the police, as well as messages of solidarity with demonstrators:
Com luto ficou marcado o dia que se deveria celebrar a independência de #Angola
Estou muito preocupada porque vários dos nossos companheiros não entraram em contacto ainda. Esperamos que estejam todos bem.
De #Moçambique vai o nosso calor. A luta continua #manif11 #manif11nov pic.twitter.com/7N2nQqCUdy
— Cídia Chissungo (@Cidiachissungo) November 11, 2020
Mourning has marked the day that should celebrate the independence of #Angola
I am very worried because several of our friends have not made contact yet. We hope they are all well.
Our warmth is coming from #Mozambique. The fight goes on
Por um lado #policias e do outro lado #ambulancias
O governo angolano sabe bem o que faz. Contigente militar para reprimir manifestantes. Isto não vai acabar bem #manif11nov #manif11 pic.twitter.com/Q9kK9Dh2kU
— Cídia Chissungo (@Cidiachissungo) November 11, 2020
On one side # police and on the other side #ambulances
The Angolan government knows full well what it is doing. A military force to repress demonstrators. This will not end well
Assassinos SIM. A polícia angolana matou um jovem desarmado com um tiro na cabeça. Assassinos. Essas imagens serão difícil esquecer #manif11nov #manif11 pic.twitter.com/ML6d14pi9k
— Cídia Chissungo (@Cidiachissungo) November 11, 2020
Murderers YES. The Angolan police killed an unarmed young man with a shot to the head. Murderers. These images will be difficult to forget
As a response to the death of Inocêncio, students at the Agostinho Neto University decided to dress in black in his honour, which was forbidden by the university’s authorities, according to a page created in his name:
The rectorship of Agostinho Neto University issued a statement in which it PROHIBITS the wearing of BLACK CLOTHES in organic facilities except the Science facility where Inocêncio de Matos was a student.
It also forbade the minute of silence that was planned in memory of the murdered student. It is obvious that I will not comply with something as ridiculous as this.
Yes, I will go in BLACK.
The tribute at the university was preceded by a religious vigil. A group of rappers released a song entitled “Homage to Inocêncio.”
The page of one of the largest civil society collectives, Central Angola 7311, changed its profile photo in tribute to the young man.
Um ano depois, a Central Angola 7311 volta a trocar a foto de perfil, substituindo o nosso herói Carbono Casimiro pelo mártir de 11 de Novembro Inocêncio Matos.
Morto pela Policia Nacional quando protestava pela Cidadania, pelo fim do elevado custo de vidas e por autarquias em 2021 sem rodeios, morreu ajoelhado, gritando “violência não”.
One year later, Central Angola 7311 changes its profile photo again, replacing our hero Carbono Casimiro with the martyr of 11 November Inocêncio Matos.
Killed by the National Police when protesting for Citizenship, for the end of the high cost of living and for local elections in 2021 without reason, he died on his knees, shouting “no violence”.

author: Simão Hossi


text:
Controversy over Thanksgiving celebration in a Chinese university highlights a growing culture of political snitching · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screenshots of a 2019 ad for China's National Security Day (left) and the group chat that led to the Thanksgiving controversy on the Harbin University of Technology in 2020.
What seemed like a harmless gesture by a dormitory supervisor in a campus of Harbin Institute of Technology, a university located in Heilongjiang province, sparked an uproar on Chinese social media after a student interpreted the act as “Western” propaganda.
In a screenshot of a group chat that went viral, dormitory manager Wang says that, for the occasion of the United States’ holiday of Thanksgiving (celebrated this past Thursday), she was going to distribute chocolates to students. It would be her way to express gratitude to those who had been supportive of the dormitory's management team, Wang said in the chat.
A few minutes later, a student in the group replied:
宣傳這種西方節日，作為宿舍輔導員，非常不妥，尤其在哈爾濱工業大學，作為官方代表，公開搞洋節慶祝活動，不考慮影響嗎？請生活輔導員和公寓方立刻停止該活動，否則我將向學校有關部門舉報。
The propagation of such Western festivals is very inappropriate for dorm assistants, particularly in Harbin University of Technology. As a representative of the school authorities, haven’t you considered the adverse effects of organizing celebratory activities for Western festivals? Please stop such activities or I will report the incident to the authorities in the school.
Wang promptly apologized. The screenshot of the exchange was shared widely on Chinese social media, in which a discussion over both parties’ behaviour ensued. While some have defended the student, others have accused him of “political bullying” towards a “kind grassroots worker.”
On November 27, in an attempt to cool off tempers, the university administration posted on its official Weibo account a statement supporting both the dormitory supervisor and the student who threatened to report her:
经调查了解，公寓阿姨派发巧克力是出于好心，学生留言提醒阿姨也是出于善意。学校不提倡有宗教色彩的“洋节”进校园，坚决禁止宗教活动进校园。
After an investigation, [we have found that] the dormitory supervisor's decision to distribute chocolate was an act of kindness, and the student’s words on the chatroom was a friendly reminder. The school will not encourage religious Western festivals on campus and is determined to prohibit religious activities on campus.
The school's statement received backlash for not defending the supervisor enough. Angry comments poured in the comment section of the school's Weibo post:
您是怎么做到把威胁举报和出于善意这四个字打等号的？
How can you describe a threat to report as a “friendly reminder”?
阿姨整天为你服务，还要借着洋节给你发礼物表示感谢，但凡有点人性也干不出这白眼狼的举动，官方就别和稀泥了。这和过不过洋节没有关系
The dorm lady serves you all year long and she takes the Western festival as an opportunity to express her thanks. Anyone with a bit of conscience would not do such a wolf-like act. The school authority should not step in to defend the student, this has nothing to do with the Western festival.
礼拜天就是宗教色彩的洋节，你们以后别过？？
Sunday is a Western thing, you shouldn’t take a day off, right?
以前我在九公寓的时候，王阿姨就是我们的宿管阿姨，王阿姨人特别好，端午节给我们包粽子煮鸡蛋，中秋节给我们发月饼，元宵节给我们煮汤圆，感恩节发个巧克力怎么了？这个同学就是上纲上线，找存在感，工大怎么出了这么个的东西。
I used to live in the number 9 dorm and auntie Wang was our dorm supervisor. She is such a nice person, gave us rice dumplings on Dragon Boat Festival, mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, sweet rice dumplings on Lantern Festival. What’s wrong with chocolate on Thanksgiving? The student is just finding an occasion to perform his political duty. It’s a shame that the university has this kind of political animals in it.
爱国教育的后患这才刚刚显现
The side-effect of patriotic education is just starting to emerge.
Angry comments were seen on Twitter as well:
哈工大这帮杂碎！感恩节是洋节你们就抵制，你这工科大学里的高数、物理等所有自然学科都是西方的，都是洋的，你们怎么不抵制？你们倒是天天背四书五经呀[发怒] pic.twitter.com/uDLpkTXBj6
— 沉默的力量The power of silence (@2mmbPkM00IJwIUV) November 28, 2020
A bunch of bastards at Harbin University of Technology. You want to boycott western Thanksgiving, look at your cirrcumulum, advanced mathematics, physics, natural science, all are Western, why don’t you boycott these? Why don’t you study the Chinese classics?
Twitter user @XIJlNPING posted a 2010 photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping with Santa Claus to mock the school's words:
我是哈工大学生，请问该去哪jvbao习近平？? pic.twitter.com/Wzthcdwz5g
— 璃洛音尘 (@XIJlNPING) November 27, 2020
I am a student from Harbin University of Technology, anyone pls tell me where to report on Xi Jinping?
Under Xi Jinping's presidency, national security has become central to China's education system.
In 2013, the government instituted April 15 as “National Security Education Day.” Students are actively encouraged to report dissenting behaviour by teachers and fellow classmates to school authorities. In the past, President Xi said in a speech that ideology is a “matter of life and death” for the survival of China's Communist Party.
In 2019, the campaign slogan of the national security education day was “there could be spies in your circle.” and it encouraged citizens to report suspicious acts by their acquaintances to the authorities.
The 2020 national security day campaign is called “A comprehensive view on national security”. “Cultural security” is one of the key components in the comprehensive view and hence patriots are supposed to safeguard Chinese culture against Western intrusion.
In recent years, several Chinese universities have banned Christmas decorations, for example. While it is still common in China for people to hold social gatherings during the Christian holiday, some fear that, as restrictions tighten, social acceptance of such celebrations will also diminish — as exemplified by this year's Thanksgiving debacle.
Indeed, in the social media platform Douban, which is popular with art enthusiasts in China, some users suggested that the dormitory supervisor could be a spy.
@big_ear_cat screen-captured some of the discussions on that platform and posted on Twitter, with a comment:
哈工大官微上说举报的学生是出于善意，评论翻车，难得看到不是护校蛆占领，不少学生学长表示以学校为耻。反而是豆瓣出现这种评论，就快暗示宿管阿姨接受境外反华资金赞助了，真是倒过来了。 pic.twitter.com/4rEVlgNKGb
— 大耳朵猫妹 (@big_ear_cat) November 27, 2020
The [university's] official post resulted in a backlash. It is good to see that popular opinion is not led by the university authorities, as many students and alumni have spoken out against that shameless act [the student's threat]. On the other hand, on Douban, I have seen comments suggesting that the dormitory lady was sponsored by foreign anti-China forces. It is such a confusing world.
The comments on the screenshot say:
軍工院校還是很重視關於意識型態這块兒的，而且哈工大在航天這個領域應該是全國最強的學校了，敏感一點不是壞事，總好過學生畢筆了蠢不拉幾的泄密當間諜吧
Universities related to the military industry have to be very careful about ideological matters. Harbin University of Technology is leading in the development of aerospace technology, it is good that they are being sensitive so that their graduates won’t be stupid enough to leak state secrets or act as spies.
我搜了一下費列羅384粒要1125，就感覺怪怪的，很難不讓人多想
I've searched the chocolate brand Ferrero, 384 pieces costs RMB 1125 (170 US dollars), the whole thing is very strange and invites speculation.
我覺得大媽本來就很奇怪，國內沒幾個人過感恩節的，她這麼做怎麼總感覺馬上就要傳教了
The old lady acted strange. Very few people would celebrate Thanksgiving in China. Her act gives off the impression that she was about to preach.


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Pressure mounts on Egypt to release prominent human rights defenders · Global Voices
Dahlia Kholaif

Karim Ennarah, a prominent human rights defender in Egypt, marks his 37th birthday in prison. Photo used with permission from Free Karim Ennarah.
As Karim Ennarah, the head of the criminal justice unit in one of Egypt’s leading human rights groups, spent his 37 birthday on Monday behind bars, calls for his release, along with his detained colleagues, have intensified and gained momentum from sympathizers worldwide.
Ennarah was arrested on November 18, on charges of terrorism, as well as two other senior members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), one of Egypt’s most prominent human rights groups and among the few remaining after years-long, relentless government attacks on civic space. Their detention, which raised concerns even from Egypt's allies including the US, France and the United Kingdom, came days after their meeting with 13 Western diplomats in which they discussed the situation in the Arab country.
On Monday, Ennarah’s wife, Jesse Kelly, appealed for pressure to keep mounting on Egyptian authorities for his release:
Karim and me on his birthday 4 years ago. Karim turns 37 today but instead of celebrating with me he's in prison. Plz visit https://t.co/V7vjWBpP4J to find out what you can do to help secure his release. @EIPR #FreeKarimEnnarah #freeEIPRstaff pic.twitter.com/hI1chBbQol
— Jess Kelly (@Jeky_Kelly) November 30, 2020
A petition that has been launched and circulated on social media has also drawn support worldwide for the activist who was taken in while on vacation in a Red Sea resort.
A good person very wrongly imprisoned. Find out more here – https://t.co/RSmPCesSPB #FreeKarimEnnarah #FreeEIPRstaff @EIPR @jeky_kelly pic.twitter.com/jHfJv6WFvL
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) November 30, 2020
Emma Thompson adds to the stellar cast of famous faces wishing Karim a happy birthday.
Please go to https://t.co/G2evUCkwFe and sign the petition. #FreeKarimEnnarah pic.twitter.com/rA5UPaKNtw
— Free Karim (@freekarimnow) November 30, 2020
In a statement issued in response to the global outcry, Egypt's foreign ministry rejected what it described as “any attempt to falsely influence the investigations that the public prosecution conducts with Egyptian citizens who face charges.” An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson added in the statement that the Egyptian state “respects the principles of the rule of law and equality” and that the freedom of civil society to operate is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution and the law.
However, human rights advocates challenge the Egyptian state's claim of upholding the law and respecting human rights. Ennarah, along with EIPR’s administrative chief, Mohammed Basheer, who was detained on November 15, have had no access to their families since their arrest. They were first seen since their detention on Tuesday, when they were brought before a terrorism court in the Police Constables Institute, for an asset freeze decision ordered against EIPR by the public prosecutor the day before.
In a tweet posted on Sunday, EIPR said its lawyers had requested that the Supreme State Security Prosecution allows the families of Ennarah and Basheer to visit them, since neither “have appeared, nor have been seen or heard from since their arrival to Tora Investigations and Liman Tora prisons respectively,” referring to the two detention centers where the activists are held.
EIPR’s executive director, Gasser Abdel-Razek, upon his arrest on November 19, was held in solitary confinement in a cold cell, denied warm clothes and had his head shaved. Amnesty International said in a statement on November 24, that it feared “the veteran human rights defender and father of two is being deliberately held in poor conditions to punish him for his human rights work.”
Acting director of EIPR Hossam Bahgat said on November 28 that it was only after mounting pressure on authorities that Abdel-Razek’s detention conditions improved.
Your outcry paid off Gasser is no longer hungry and cold please don’t stop ? https://t.co/a13FUAKWLR
— hossam bahgat (@hossambahgat) November 28, 2020
Terrorism charges — which the trio face — have been leveled against scores of human rights advocates by the Egyptian authorities over the past years, and has seen many of them languish in prison. The Egyptian state denies holding prisoners on political grounds.
“It is absolutely abhorrent to retaliate against human rights defenders from one of Egypt’s last functioning human rights NGOs, simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression by discussing Egypt’s human rights situation,” UN human rights experts said in a statement issued on November 27, following EIPR’s arrests.
EIPR and its three detained staffers have been at the forefront of speaking out for human rights in Egypt for 18 years. They have stood up for thousands of detained opposition members in overflowing Egyptian cells since 2013, when the overthrow of the country’s only freely elected president marked the start of an unprecedented campaign against the opposition.
“These arrests underline the very grave risks human rights defenders face in Egypt every day while carrying out their legitimate work,” the UN experts’ statement said.
In February, EIPR’s gender rights researcher, Patrick Zaki, was arrested upon his return to Egypt from Italy where he was studying. He remains in pre-trial detention on charges relating to terrorism and incitement.

author: Dahlia Kholaif


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Student protests in Philippine universities hit government for bungled Typhoon disaster response · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Students, faculty, and education workers gathered last November 16, 2020, to declare a strike at the University of the Philippines. Photo by All-UP Academic Employees Union, used with permission.
In the wake of successive typhoons that hit the Philippines in November, student protests have erupted in some of the country’s top universities to condemn what they call the “criminal negligence” of the government’s disaster response. President Duterte has also been criticized for his absence from the public eye when the typhoons caused massive devastation in several regions of Luzon Island.
Student strikes and calls for academic breaks are aimed at helping students affected by the typhoons to recover and allow the re-channeling of their energies from remote classes to relief operations and protest actions.
The student strike wave in the Philippines began at the Ateneo de Manila University, an elite Jesuit-run institution, where 150 student strikers called on their fellow students to not submit academic requirements until the “national government heeds the people’s demands for proper calamity aid and pandemic response.”
This initial number multiplied to hundreds of signatories just a day after the strike paper was first circulated online on November 14.
ADDENDUM: As of press time, the statement and list of signatories are only accessible with an OBF email account.
Read the full statement included in the petition here: pic.twitter.com/CLceyBpUqp
— The GUIDON (@TheGUIDON) November 14, 2020
In the week that followed, students from other universities and colleges also expressed their demands to stop classes with students from the De La Salle University, another exclusive Catholic school, demanding that “either the national government act now or step down.”
Professors from the University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s premier state university, under the umbrella of the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy, joined the strike calls:
We halt our classes and academic work to amplify our call for justice and for the ouster of Duterte.
The UP Center for International Studies also concluded classes in solidarity with the student strike movement:
My academic unit is now officially one with the Academic Strike! Here's our position. #YouthStrikePh #OneBigStrike pic.twitter.com/P7GDAPV2p2
— jinky doo (@jinkydoo) November 23, 2020
A statement by concerned UP faculty calling for the end of the semester contended that the abrupt shift to online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic had been encumbered by problems from the very beginning. The statement claims there had been no significant state support for students lacking access to devices and stable internet connectivity while anxiety and economic hardships have left an impact on student mental health. It goes on to say that these problems have been compounded by the devastation caused by the recent typhoons and floods in many provinces, including parts of the densely populated national capital region.
Student strikers outside of Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City re-enact the satirized image of a sleeping Duterte to emphasize his inaction in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating typhoons. Photo by the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy, used with permission.
The Duterte government has responded by denying any problem caused by the pandemic and recent typhoons on the education system while branding the strikers as “enemies of the state”. Reacting to the strike action in another of his late-night televised speeches, Duterte himself threatened to defund the University of the Philippines which he labeled as a “training ground” of armed communist rebels.
Anti-communist organizations composed of parents organized and coordinated by the Duterte government picketed UP, Ateneo, and other major universities around the national capital against the student strikes.
This took place in the context of accusations that the Duterte government is systematically campaigning to red-tag or link civil society organizations as part of a communist-led armed underground movement in order to legitimize the repression of rights advocates.
But dissent has not been cowed by the Duterte government’s red-tagging. Thousands of protesters gathered at University Avenue on the UP Diliman campus on November 30 on the occasion of the 157th anniversary of Andres Bonifacio‘s birth. Bonifacio is the founding leader of the 1896 Philippine anti-colonial revolution against Spain.
HAPPENING NOW: Progressive youth groups march to University Avenue to condemn the recent spate of red-tagging activities on the 157th birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio. #YouthStrikePH#NoToRedtagging#OustDuterte pic.twitter.com/MgJQ9y4f2K
— Tinig ng Plaridel (@tinigngplaridel) November 30, 2020
Traditionally a hotbed of protest, the UP campus in Diliman, Quezon City served as a hub for relief operations and protest activities throughout the month of November.
The Quezon Hall building in UP Diliman served as a protest and relief operations center in November 2020. Photo by All-UP Academic Employees Union, used with permission.
On November 23, Ateneo students penned a full-length strike manifesto detailing their demands. They were able to secure a commitment from their university administration reaffirming the right to protest and avoiding the imposition of penalties to striking students. Over 800 Ateneo alumni also came out in support of the strike.
This is a VICTORY for the brave students who risked themselves by striking against state criminal negligence amid pandemic and disaster!
Edgar Jopson, himself an Atenean student leader turned militant workers’ strike organizer, would be proud of you all today.#YouthStrikePH https://t.co/DndalX7Zz6
— Teo (@teo_deza) November 22, 2020
The student strikes have also gained support from over 80 international educators, scholars, and students from 16 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the USA. Their solidarity statement heaped praise for the current strike wave in the Philippines while condemning red-tagging and threats of state repression:
Contrary to conservative naysayers, strikes are in-themselves education processes happening outside the formal classroom setting where participants are taking direct action through relief work, immersion in impoverished communities, and collective action in solidarity with other sectors against social injustice. This counteracts the dog-eats-dog neoliberal orthodoxies of rugged individualism and resiliency narratives.
The Philippines has a long history of student activism, which particularly gained prominence during the dark years of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the Diliman Commune, a historic event when students supporting striking jeepney drivers barricaded UP Diliman and declaring it a liberated zone from February 1-9, 1971 in response to military incursions in the campus.
With only 2 weeks left until the end of the academic semester, student strikers from Ateneo and UP are hoping their example will snowball and inspire strikes and protests in different universities and colleges across the country.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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World AIDS Day 2020: How has the Caribbean dealt with HIV during COVID-19? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A red ribbon sits in a woman's hand in support of World AIDS Day. Image by Marco Verch Professional Photographer on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
In a year that continues to test everyone's resilience, the theme of World AIDS Day, marked annually on December 1, is “Global solidarity, shared responsibility.” Several Caribbean-based nongovernmental organisations and youth groups are lending their voices to the cause of eradicating the disease and marking the occasion in various ways.
On November 22, just ahead of World AIDS Day, the Jamaican Network of Seropositives, which advocates for the rights of those living with HIV and AIDS, hosted a virtual church service to honour those who have been affected. Like many other Caribbean societies, Jamaica is deeply religious, so it was an interesting approach to use prayer as a vehicle for unity in a country where religion is often used to ostracise LGBTQ+ and HIV+ people.
Barbados’ Ministry of Health and Wellness, meanwhile, noted that a multisectoral response to HIV/AIDS has become even more critical amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
Threatened livelihoods, disruption in supply chains, changes in health care delivery which affected access to health care are but some of the challenges that people living with HIV […] face in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Although the Caribbean has made great strides in reducing AIDS-related deaths (from 11,000 in 2010 to 6,900 in 2019) and new HIV cases (from about 18,000 to 13,000 annually), disease management is still a key public health issue in a region where sex education is typically omitted from the school curriculum, and where social stigma around the disease still persists.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has advocated for self-testing kits to be made readily available throughout the Caribbean:
The United States Embassy in Barbados focused on some of the progress being made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including the establishment of the Best Dos Santos Laboratory, which helps high-risk people access HIV tests early so that they can immediately undergo life-saving treatment.
Dr. Rosmond Adams, the director of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), noted that regional restrictions being imposed as a result of COVID-19 have had an impact on the ability to deliver HIV-related services, including educational and prevention measures, treatment and laboratory tests.
However, several countries have taken stop-gap measures. Belize has put its wider social worker network to good use by using civil society organisations to carry out a needs assessment of people living with HIV. Jamaica has accessed grants that help with nutritional and financial support. Barbados, in addition to offering virtual medical consultations, has arranged for the delivery of food and medication to patients.
The Facebook group Queer Caribbean History didn't miss the significance of the fact that this year's World AIDS Day was being marked in the middle of a pandemic:
[…] we remember the origins of this pandemic during the silent epidemic years, and how in spite of the impact on our region, we remain resilient.
Youth Ambassadors TT added:
COVID-19 is showing once again how health is interlinked with other critical issues, such as reducing inequality, human rights, gender equality, social protection, and economic growth.
As part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals agenda, the Caribbean hopes to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Join our online conversation on ‘Combating misinformation in under-resourced languages’ · Global Voices
Rising Voices

Join Global Voices and its Rising Voices initiative in collaboration with First Draft on Thursday 10 December 2020, for a free online conversation on the topic “Combating misinformation in under-resourced languages.”
The session will explore the impact of misinformation on some linguistic and ethnic minorities in Africa and Asia, and how certain members of these communities are gearing up to deal with it.
The coronavirus and elections are merely two examples of topics where providing credible information to citizens poses a challenge. While access to reliable information is a right, credible, fact-checked information often reaches only certain sectors of society, most likely those that speak more dominant languages. Are we doing enough to monitor how misinformation is impacting linguistic and ethnic minorities and speakers of languages where media literacy resources are scarce, and how it spreads among these communities?
Our aim for this webinar is for it to be a place where journalists and fact-checkers can meet some of the people fighting for accurate information to be made available in local, regional, or under-resourced languages, can gain an understanding of their issues, and also learn from their experiences and specific techniques.
The panelists at this session will be:
The session will be facilitated by Marie Bohner (First Draft) and Eddie Avila (Global Voices).
Register here to join us on Thursday 10 December 10 at 14:00 UTC (click here to convert to the time zone in your location).

author: Rising Voices


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Journalists at Hong Kong TV station resign en masse after 40 colleagues fired · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Several journalists handed in their resignation letters in protest against i-Cable's mass firing of newsroom staff. Image by the Stand News. Used with permission.
Over a dozen journalists resigned on December 1 from Hong Kong Cable Television Limited, a major subscription-based TV station in Hong Kong, in protest after the media company fired 40 editorial staff in what is perceived as a political crackdown.
Those laid off include the head of the China desk and the entire team of the award-winning News Lancet program. The broadcaster cited financial reasons for the layoff, a claim the newsroom staff rebukes.
The entire China desk, a total of 12 people, has since resigned in protest, along with the heads of the international and finance desks and the newsroom's chief assignment editor.
Also known as i-Cable, Hong Kong Cable Television Limited is known for delivering high-quality investigative reporting about both Hong Kong and the mainland. At the time of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, it was the only Hong Kong outlet with correspondents in the city. The newsroom has also been praised for its coverage of the anti-extradition protests in 2019-2020.
News Lancet has investigated various incidents of police brutality during the protests, including the Yuen Long subway mob attack on July 21 last year. The program's most recent episode, aired on November 24, focused on questionable opinion polls conducted by pro-Beijing research firms. One of the firms admitted that it had used WeChat, a social media platform widely boycotted by pro-democracy Hongkongers, for collecting responses.
The layoffs were sudden and took immediate effect — those who were sacked were told to leave the office on the same day. In shock, members of staff gathered outside the room of the news director demanding an explanation. @galileocheng posted photos of the moment:
.@icablenews fires 40 news department staff. Staff now bargaining with executives. (Supplied photo) pic.twitter.com/nGESqAS44X
— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) December 1, 2020
Among those laid off is Wong Lai-ping, former deputy news editor at the China desk. On a radio interview aired on December 2, she rebuked the management's claim that the decision was made out of financial difficulties, remarking that  in August, the management fired the then-executive director Fung Tak-hung and replaced him with four new managers.
竟然會炒咗一個馮德雄換四個人返嚟？呢四個人人工點低，你都唔會抵得上一個馮德雄啦？
To fire one Fung Tak-Hung in exchange for four senior management? How could the add-up salary of the four be more than Fung’s salary?
Wong said that the new management often made editorial requests, such as live broadcasts of China's foreign minister regular press conference, or modifying headlines. According to Wong, the newsroom staff refused to comply with such requests.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association commented on the layoffs:
Given the [New Lancet] team’s coverage of the police and the administration, it’s difficult not to see this as minimising sensitive reporting in the name of cost-cutting.
AFP's Hong Kong correspondent @XinqiSu tweeted:
Now with the loss of News Lancet and to-be loss of iCable China News, the remaining investigative TV news programmes in HK are:
RTHK – HK Connection (producer prosecuted)
NOW TV – Now Report (only 4 yrs old)
TVB – News Magazine & Sunday Report (summative more than investigative)
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) December 1, 2020
Cartoons and memes criticizing the layoffs were widely shared too:
The lay-off is obviously political. The journalists and the team used to report China's corruption and lies. #CCP doesnt want people to know the truth, and the lay-off turns i-Cable TV into one of those China propaganda machines. pic.twitter.com/V2oNvl8Re1
— 日常放空 (@reallyr58683722) December 2, 2020
Credit: 阿塗 誰最怕刺針#政治打壓 #新聞刺針 #專業打壓 #有線電視 #新聞自主 #新聞自由 #染紅 #文宣 #StandWithHongKong pic.twitter.com/itTmb8FEbb
— ??自動文宣人偶?HK Protest Art? (@AutoProtestDoll) December 2, 2020
Credit: Ah To “Who is scared of Lancet?”


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Court ruling gives Trinidad & Tobago green light to deport a Venezuelan minor · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A group of Venezuelan asylum-seekers arrive for the second time on Trinidad soil, on November 24, 2020. The group had a scheduled habeus corpus hearing in Trinidad and Tobago. Screenshot taken from a Trinidad and Tobago Newsday video of the landing, which was posted to the newspaper's YouTube channel.
The public discussion around refugees and migration continues in Trinidad and Tobago, following the state's decision to deport 16 Venezuelan minors and 11 adults on November 22, shortly before they were scheduled to have a habeas corpus hearing. The group was returned to Trinidad and Tobago on November 24, as a result of a court order.
Now, High Court Judge Frank Seepersad has refused to grant an injunction preventing the state from deporting an 11-year-old girl who was among those repatriated. In his judgement, he explained:
[…] the Court is not satisfied that having regard to all of the outlined circumstances, that the reliefs sought in the substantive claim are so clothed with the likelihood of success that the court should adopt the exceptional course of restraining the State from enforcing what appears to be applicable domestic law.
The rationale for Seepersad's decision hinged on the fact that the child's legal submission was based on the 2014 Draft Policy on Refugees and Asylum Seekers, a document that has been approved by Cabinet, but not by Parliament. This, he said, meant that the government had the full authority to adapt national policy as needed.
National Security Minister Stuart Young has gone on record as saying the initial decision to deport the group was based on safety concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, reiterating that the country's borders have been closed since March. It is a position that, in the words of Seepersad's ruling, “does not strike the Court […] as an irregular or unreasonable policy shift.”
Evan as Seepersad chided the state for the unsafe manner in which the group was deported, he also chastised the child’s mother (who does not have documented status in Trinidad and Tobago) over what he called “the brazen and bold disregard for the immigration laws of this Republic,” and her failure to properly consider the child’s welfare as required by the same UN Convention upon which her lawyers are basing her case:
There are many citizens in this Republic who are faced with difficult economic circumstances and they too may wish to go to another country where the economic prospects are brighter, but these citizens should not be entitled to be refugees or asylum-seekers seeking status under the 1951 Convention.
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”
Judge Seepersad's ruling differs from those of the two other judges — Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams and Justice Joan Charles — who heard submissions from the group, a dissonance which speaks volumes about how the wider public feels about the issue.
In fact, the December 2 editorials of two local newspapers landed on opposite sides of the discussion. The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday suggested that the government appeared to have “sidestepped” the court:
[…] the sheer number of people deported and the timing of the announcement suggested the actions of a State content to appear in defiance of the Supreme Court, international law and basic human compassion.
The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, on the other hand, noted that Justice Seepersad was clear about the state's “right to deport illegal migrants”:
As citizens, we need to consider whether we really want to open ourselves to a flood of migrants at a time when the country is hard-pressed enough to meet the needs of its own citizens.
On the same page as the Guardian opinion, however, appeared a column by journalist Wesley Gibbings, which argued that there was “no ‘other take'” — no perspective to be had on the issue other than a humanitarian one.
Trinidad and Tobago's attorney general, Faris Al Rawi, said of the most recent court ruling:
Whilst it is certainly a very clear legal victory, I take no comfort in [it], in particular because of the human factors involved […] but I am duty-bound […] to uphold the laws of Trinidad and Tobago.
He added that it was possible for Venezuelans to apply for visas to enter the country legally, and that such visas “are not denied as a matter of course.”