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Mozambican football back in action with the debut of all-women referee trio · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Moçambola 22nd day Maxaquene 2 – 1 FC. Chibuto,   by @ Verdade is licensed under  CC BY 2.0
Mozambique's national professional football championship, known as Moçambola, returned to action on 16 January after being suspended for 10 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opening match, between the teams ENH Vilankulo and Ferroviário de Nacala, which ended with Vilankulo's victory, had a novelty: for the first time in the championship, the refereeing trio was composed entirely of women.
The local sports newspaper Lance recounted the three women referees’ stories:
Esta equipa de arbitragem será dirigido por Ema Paulo Novo, contando com Roda Mondlane (1º assistente) e Olinda Augusto (2º Assistente), enquanto que Mário Tembe será o quarto árbitro.
Ema Paulo Novo tem se destacado no futebol moçambicano, sendo que a árbitra internacional foi das poucas que esteve em actividade no ano passado tendo arbitrado jogos da Taça COSAFA em femininos, decorrida em Port Elizabeth na África do Sul.
This refereeing team will be led by Ema Paulo Novo, with Roda Mondlane (1st assistant) and Olinda Augusto (2nd assistant), while Mário Tembe will be the fourth referee.
Ema Paulo Novo has been prominent in Mozambican football, and the international referee was one of the few who was active last year having refereed matches of the COSAFA Women's Cup, held in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Moçambola matches will take place without a crowd until further notice, with the aim of preventing transmission of COVID-19. Mozambique has so far recorded a total of 29,396 cases and 271 deaths.
Some supporters lament the situation, such as Maria Mufume, who spoke to DW Africa in Maputo:
É triste para todo o mundo, porque não haverá adeptos e só estarão lá eles a jogarem, não terão pessoas para dar moral.
It’s sad for everybody, because there will be no fans and there’ll only be those playing, there’ll be no people to cheer.
But football players themselves recognize the importance of measures to contain the spread of the virus, as Augusto Panguane, vice-president of the high-level competition in the Mozambican Football League, said:
Naturalmente, deve existir em todos os campos a lavagem das mãos e tanques de água. Isto vai nos obrigar a criar condições para que o futebol não seja um problema sanitário.
Of course, hand washing and water basins must be available at all pitches. This will oblige us to create the conditions to ensure that football is not a health problem.

author: Dércio Tsandzana


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WATCH: ‘The Milk Tea Alliance’—Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong’s unified fight for democracy’ · Global Voices
Global Voices

Watch a replay of the second webinar in our Global Voices Insights series of live virtual events, on the “Milk Tea Alliance,” the pro-democracy social movement that emerged in several Asian nations in 2020.
Featuring Darika Bamrungchok (Thailand), Brian Hioe (Taiwan), Anna Lawattanatrakul (Thailand), and Oiwan Lam (Hong Kong), and moderated by Mong Palatino (Philippines). The session was originally live-streamed on January 29, 2021.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Global Voices


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A social media blackout persists in Uganda, weeks after the election · Global Voices
James Propa

Opposition candidate Bobi Wine's election poster seen on the streets of Kampala, Uganda. Image by James Propa and used with his permission.
Uganda witnessed a total internet shut down on the afternoon of January 13, 2021, on the eve of its presidential election.
Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, 76, who took power in 1986, following a guerrilla war — and has ruled the country since — ran for reelection.
Museveni's biggest opponent was Robert Kyagulanyi, 38, better known by his stage name, Bobi Wine, a musician-turned-politician. Wine became a member of parliament, representing Kyadondo East constituency, in 2017.
In a pre-election address, the president had announced the indefinite ban on Facebook in Uganda stating that Facebook was taking sides with the opposition when they banned accounts belonging to the ruling party's supporters.
Telecom company MTN, on January 12, 2021, issued a statement saying they had received a directive from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to switch off the internet:
The internet was partly restored on the morning of Monday, January 18, 2021, but social platforms remain switched off, with no statement on when they will be restored.
Netblocks’ cost of shutdown tool put the loss to the country at $8.9 million USD for the five days the internet was completely off.
Mutegeki Cliff, vice president of Internet Society Uganda chapter, also tweeted about the cost of digital blackout in the country:
This recent internet Shutdown cost our country a loss of $8,937,735. This money could potentially construct for infrastructure. @A4A_Internet @internetsociety @ISOC_Community @ISOCUg @ISOC_Africa @VictorNdonnang @netblocks https://t.co/5o7nyX3sDi pic.twitter.com/sWtFPAOoQA
— Mutegeki Cliff (@mutegekicliff) January 19, 2021
Ugandans are now relying on the use of VPN applications. But some VPNs have been disabled by the government, who have also threatened to arrest any Ugandan found using VPN networks.
Several Ugandans have reported that internet speeds have been greatly slowed, affecting many aspects of business, including banking.
Its been nine (9) days of the Uganda govt blocking social media. The Internet speed is so slow that making bank transactions, uploading videos, tethering laptop to phones is nearly impossible. Accessing Google Drive and Google Docs is impossible without a VPN.#KeepitOn pic.twitter.com/0grqhl2Ys7
— Kemigisa (@JackyKemigisa) January 21, 2021
Ironically, some government organizations like the Uganda Police Force are still using social media to communicate with citizens who are officially locked out from social networking platforms.
On January 26, Uganda police tweeted a statement about a murder case:
.@Patrickonyango1 “Police in Entebbe are investigating a case of murder by shooting of a one Kyeyune Erica, a boda boda rider who was shot by a yet to be identified person”.https://t.co/Tog1ohWyD5
— Uganda Police Force (@PoliceUg) January 26, 2021
Social media in Uganda is a backbone for communication among friends and family and there is a boom in digital marketing for young people running small businesses such as those dealing in food, beverage, fashion and music.
These small businesses rely heavily on social media because they cannot access mainstream media due to high advertisement charges.
Election campaign billboard of incumbent Museveni in Kampala, Uganda. Image by James Propa and used with his permission.
The election results were fully tallied and announced on the afternoon of Saturday January 16, with the incumbent President Museveni winning it with 58.4 percent, followed by Bobi Wine, with 35 percent of the 10.7 million votes cast.
The internet shutdown greatly affected the campaign efforts of Bobi Wine, who had just launched his National Unity Platform party months before the election with very few grassroots structures in place to secure his votes. Wine launched the Uvote app which was meant to be used by the netizens to document any voter fraud and upload copies of results, photos and videos of election malpractice.
Wine was confined under house arrest by the military and police until the night of January 25, following a court order that asked them to vacate his premises.
Several of his party members like musician Nubian Li are still in jail facing court martial over allegations of possessing military equipment.
Below is a political song called “Uganda Zukuka” which translates to”Wake Up Uganda,” by Bobi Wine and Nubian Li:
Bobi Wine in a statement alleged that the elections was “marred with massive irregularities including state inspired violence”:

author: James Propa


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COVID-19 vaccine in Africa: Caught between China’s soft-power diplomacy and the West’s vaccine nationalism, Part I · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

People take precautions in Mali against COVID-19. Image by World Bank/Ousmane Traore, March 18, 2020, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Editor’s note: This is a two-part analysis on the politics behind Africa’s procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. The continent appears forced to look toward China, rather than the West. Read Part II here.
The Nigerian government, on January 5, signified interest in procuring COVID-19 vaccines from China.
Geoffery Onyeama, Nigeria’s foreign minister, stated that Nigeria is “engaging with China” to access COVID-19 vaccines for the country, during a press conference with Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister in Abuja.
Today, i held a bilateral meeting with Wang Yi, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister. Signed an Agreement to establish an intergovernmental committee to coordinate cooperation between our two countries. ???? @China_emb_ng @MFA_China @NigeriaGov @NiyiAdebayo_ pic.twitter.com/vPemaQvomW
— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) January 5, 2021
Onyeama’s announcement was significantly interesting as it offered an official stamp on many African countries moving toward Beijing — rather than the West — to acquire the coronavirus vaccine for their populations. Kenya has also signaled interest in China’s vaccines.
As of January 29, Nigeria had recorded 127,024 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 100,858 recoveries and 1,547 deaths. In December last year, Africa’s most populous nation recorded “a sharp increase” in COVID-19 related cases and fatalities, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
Why are African nations turning to China for vaccines? For one thing, China has assured African nations of deep discounts, whereas the West is mired in market-based systems linked to private pharmaceutical companies, with vaccines that come with big price tags.
But China's willingness to distribute vaccines to Africa as a priority — and at a discount — has analysts wondering about its use of “soft-power diplomacy” on the continent.
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., emeritus professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, describes soft power as “the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or payment.”
Yangzhong Huang, director of global health studies at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations told The World that the “soft power” diplomacy in Africa using the COVID-19 vaccines is not only improving China’s image but also reframing the narrative about China’s handling of the global pandemic. Consequently, China has also “portrayed itself as a benign global power,” says Huang.
On the other hand, the West’s vaccine nationalism approach leans on private companies and the free-market system to determine who gets the vaccine.
As of mid-January 2021, more than 7 billion vaccine doses had been purchased globally. However,  a small group of rich countries — comprising just 16 percent of the world’s population — have acquired “4.2 billion doses” which translates to 60 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Duke University’s Global Health Institute (DUGHI).
Canada has already preordered enough potential doses “to cover more than five times their population” and other high-income countries, like the United States, have more than enough vaccines to “cover their populations several times over,” states the DUGHI.
The West’s vaccine nationalism has left the rest of the world — especially African countries — scrambling for alternatives.
Two Chinese companies, Sinovac and Sinopharm, have produced coronavirus vaccines. Sinovac’s CoronaVac is considered an  inactivated vaccine that employs “killed viral particles to expose the body's immune system to the virus without risking a serious disease response.” Sinopharm also produces an inactivated vaccine that works similarly.
Moderna and Pfizer (messenger) mRNA vaccines, on the other hand, injects an attenuated coronavirus into the body, thereby triggering “an immune response” that “produces antibodies” inside the body, which “protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies,” according to the Center for Disease Control.
Sinovac and Sinopharm, like all inactivated vaccines, are better situated for most African climates because they can be stored in a standard refrigerator temperature, between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires cold, deep-freezer storage at minus 80 degrees C.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine “arrives frozen to the ordering facility between minus 25 degrees to minus 15 degrees Celsius,” but can be stored at “standard refrigerator temperatures, of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, for 30 days.” Hence, it is also suitable for most rural areas in Africa.
But the efficacy of Sinovac’s CoronaVac is wrapped in confusion.
On January 13, CoronaVac had a 50.4 percent efficacy rate, following phase III clinical trials conducted by Brazil’s Butantan Institute, reports the South China Morning Post online newspaper.
This was a significant shortfall from data released a week earlier by the Brazilian government, which gave a 78 percent effective pass mark to the vaccine after a late-stage trial.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine's efficacy is 52 percent after the first dose and rises to 95 percent after the second dose, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.
Each dose of the Moderna vaccine costs between $32 to $37 USD, while the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine goes for $20 USD per dose. Both vaccines are given in two doses. There seems to be varying costs of CoronaVac — 200 yuan (about $30 USD) per dose in China, and between $5 to $38 USD per dose in Southeast Asian countries.
A number of countries, including Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Indonesia, have authorized the COVID-19 vaccines produced by China for emergency use. https://t.co/PATO90Xedg
— FANG Qiu (@AmbFangQiu) January 13, 2021
The Chinese vaccines have been adopted in Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines and Turkey — where they are also anticipated to be produced.
Arrival of medical supplies at OR Tambo International Airport donated by the People's Republic of China to South Africa to help with the fight of Covid-19. Image by GCIS, April 13, 2020, (CC BY-ND 2.0)
China’s medical cooperation in Africa started in 1963, when they sent out their first medical team to Algeria, in northern Africa.
Over 20,000 Chinese health professionals have been working in different parts of Africa since 1963, and about 200 million Africans have been beneficiaries of Chinese medical interventions in the continent.
China's health aid to the continent has “grown substantially” through increased accessibility of medical services, public health systems and building “the capacity of health workers in African countries,” asserts Dr. Garrison Daly, and six other public health scholars.
Kris Lancaster and two other colleagues from the US-based foreign policy think tank, the Council for Foreign Relations, described  the “health silk road” as the Chinese effort “to recast itself as a responsible global health leader” by promoting a “widespread public diplomacy campaign and sending medical aid worldwide.”
The health silk road is an extension of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries.
But this health aid has been described as “opportunistic” or a manifestation of Chinese “soft power” or as an attempt to exploit the “natural resources” or curry “political favors” from African countries, according to a study conducted by Dr. Shuang Lin, a family medicine specialist in El Cajon, California, and others.
This perception persists until today. It has, however, been amplified with the COVID-19 pandemic, following China’s magnanimous assistance to African countries to mitigate the spread of the virus.
This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into competing narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and explores how societies and communities hold differing perceptions of potential benefits and harms of Chinese-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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COVID-19 vaccine in Africa: Caught between China’s soft-power diplomacy and the West’s vaccine nationalism, Part II  · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nurse Nosipho Khanyile dons her PPE before entering the “Red Zone” at the special COVID-19 Field Hospital in Nasrec, Johannesburg. Image by IMF Photo/James Oatway, July 24, 2020, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Editor’s note: This is a two-part analysis on the politics behind Africa’s procurement of the COVID-19 vaccines. The continent was forced to look towards China, rather than the West. Read Part I here.
China has deep historical roots when it comes to medical aid in Africa.
For example, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in February 2014, China sent medical supplies, health aid and workers to those troubled African countries. This assistance from Beijing drew the appreciation of then-President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who reportedly said, “China has always stood with Liberia as a true friend.”
When the Ebola virus broke out, US closed embassies, evacuated diplomats and their citizens from the affected areas.China sent anti-epidemic materials as soon as possible, and sent more than 1,000 medical personnel to the areas with the worst epidemic.https://t.co/AroWhWSNW0
— ShanghaiPanda (@thinking_panda) February 7, 2020
History seems to be repeating itself — this time, with some African countries looking toward China for the vaccine to curb the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.
China has offered COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria and other African countries “first [and] free of charge.” Also, in December 2020, Beijing offered to build a coronavirus vaccine logistic hub in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while manufacturing centers for vaccine production in Egypt and Morocco.
If China can pull this off — providing a cold-chain logistics supply in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, where climatic hot temperatures and high humidity reigns supreme — it will give them a competitive edge in this market.
Besides the commercial merit for Beijing, this intervention will positively impact the health sector on the continent, by providing the logistics for a cold-chain medical supply for the future.
China seemed to be on the forefront of helping African countries in fighting the coronavirus scourge, long before the African Union announced plans to procure the coronavirus vaccine for the continent from Pfizer, a Western pharmaceutical company.
But Beijing’s move is being viewed with suspicion and skepticism by many.
John Campbell, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, described Beijing’s COVID-19 “vaccine diplomacy” as a “continuation of China’s efforts to frame itself as the solution to — rather than the cause of — the pandemic.”
The United States Department of State recently blamed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “deadly obsession with secrecy and control” as the root cause of the pandemic. The US government alleged that the CCP failed to disclose that Wuhan laboratory researchers, experimenting with a virus genetically similar to the coronavirus, had displayed COVID-19 like symptoms as far back as autumn 2019.
China has rejected this accusation, saying that the United States is trying to shift the blame for its poor handling of the outbreak at home.
The World Health Organization recently sent a delegation sent to investigate the origins of the virus in Wuhan, after several months of tense negotiations. They were initially denied entry but later allowed to enter a week later. The WHO group of 10 scientists will interview staff of the Wuhan research institutes and hospitals linked to the initial outbreak.
R. Maxwell Bone and Ferdinando Cinotto, African studies scholars at the University of Cambridge, assert that coronavirus diplomacy is conducted through three Chinese core actors: the government, state-owned organizations and private firms already doing business across the continent.
These three protagonists, the scholars assert, are united in their mission to “divert attention away from the origin of the virus within China,” and lay the “groundwork for commercial deals.” But most importantly, ramping up the CCP’s narrative “that Beijing is assisting its partners during a global crisis that it successfully responded to, while countries in the West face rising death tools and case numbers,” maintains Bone and  Cinotto.
The CCP’s narrative about handling the coronavirus better than the West is debatable. While Wuhan, in Hubei province, celebrated its virus-free status one year after its first case was detected, Chinese authorities recently ordered a lockdown in Anxin, near the capital Beijing, after a surge in COVID-19 cases.
China itself has  purchased 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BiTech vaccine, to be used with locally sourced vaccines, to boost immunization for its large  population.
Meanwhile, W. Gyude Moore, former Liberian minister of public works, told CNN that “the promises concerning [the Chinese] vaccines in Africa have been really vague. There has been no timetable, only promises…I am not aware of any African country that’s taking delivery of Chinese vaccines.”
A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine being prepared to be administered at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md. Image by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II, December 21, 2020 (CC BY 2.0).
Western governments and analysts may have a point in holding China accountable for its opaque operations that exacerbated the global coronavirus crisis, followed by their use of soft-power diplomacy when it comes to vaccine distribution in Africa.
However, the West should be equally held accountable for creating the tough market conditions that precipitated African engagement with China, lacking viable alternatives for equitable vaccine access in the West.
Hence, it is hypocritical to heckle China for their soft-power COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy while Western governments conveniently pursue vaccine nationalism, putting their citizens first before thinking about global, equitable vaccine distribution.
The implication  of vaccine nationalism is evident in the case of South Africa, where the government is  paying 2.5 times more than their European counterparts for the same amount of doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine, simply because South Africa did not invest in research efforts that went into its development.
This confirms that vaccine nationalism — in which the West cares more about  bottom lines  than fair and equitable access — is not just propaganda. More or less, developed countries are punishing less-developed ones for lacking the economic means to invest in COVID-19-related research and development.
Marco Hafner, an economist, along with four RAND Europe researchers, defined vaccine nationalism as “a situation in which countries push to get first access to a supply of vaccines” by “potentially hoarding key components for vaccine production.”
The high global demand for a coronavirus vaccine has pitched most African countries behind in the vaccine race. High-income countries have adopted vaccine nationalism by snatching up “doses at the expense of those with less means,” according to Patrick Ho, senior counsel at the New York-based International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a global health nonprofit.
The investigation by Hafner and others revealed that COVID-19 vaccine nationalism will result in an inequitable allocation, which will eventually “cost the global economy up to $1.2 trillion [USD] a year in GDP [gross domestic product].”
In April 2020, WHO, along with the European Commission and France, launched COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility), to ensure fair and equitable access to a coronavirus vaccine across the globe.
The Geneva-based public–private global health partnership GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance), on behalf of the COVAX facility, is responsible for the provision of “manufacturer-specific contingent volume” of vaccines that meet WHO-led specifications.
But the COVAX program can only cater to 20 percent of the most vulnerable populations in 150 participating countries. This means that African countries, with a population of over 1.3 billion people, and with at least 2 doses of the vaccine per-person, the continent will need “at least 1.6 billion doses to meet its 60 percent vaccination target.”
This underlines the frustration of African governments in trying to secure COVID-19 vaccines, as most Western manufacturers have already sold billions of doses to rich countries who have the means to pre-order vaccines.
African countries may not “not gain full access to affordable vaccines until after the rich world has vaccinated its people, probably past 2022,” noted Kenyan journalist John Muchangi.
Tom Fowdy, a British political and international relations analyst, asked: “Why should Africa have to wait? And why should rich countries come first and put Africa last?”
Meanwhile, COVID-19 mortality rates in the continent are showing no indication of slowing down. Hence, Africa needs a solution now.
This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into competing narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and explores how societies and communities hold differing perceptions of potential benefits and harms of Chinese-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.


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Hong Kong to launch real-name registration of mobile SIM cards · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image by Andrey Metelev/Unsplash. Use is free.
The Hong Kong government kickstarted on January 29 a public consultation on a legislation proposal that would make real-name registration of mobile SIM cards mandatory.
Hong Kong's Under-Secretary for Security Sonny Au Chi-kwong said in a press conference that the bill aims to curb mobile scams and other crimes, such as human trafficking and terrorist attacks.
The bill mandates all mobile phone users in Hong Kong, including those with pre-paid SIM cards, to provide full name, date of birth, and a copy of their identity card to the service provider. Commercial users of pre-paid SIMs would have to register with a business license.
If passed, mobile companies would have a deadline of four months to set up a database with their subscribers’ data. They would also be required to store the data for at least 12 months after the card has expired.
Law enforcement agencies in principle would need a court warrant to access the database, but they'd be able to bypass that requirement under “emergency circumstances” and with approval from an officer with the rank of superintendent or above.
Currently, there are 20.9 million active mobile subscriptions in Hong Kong, of which about 11.8 million are anonymous pre-paid SIM card users. The rest are contract plans which already require registration. Hong Kong's population is of 7.5 million.
During the anti-extradition protests in 2019, many protesters used separate mobile phones with pre-paid SIM cards in order to protect their identities. Overseas visitors to Hong Kong also tend to use pre-paid cards.
While the plan is being advertised as a public consultation, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau has already said that “maintaining the status quo is not an option.”
Many Hongkongers are skeptical of the government’s statement that the bill aims to fight crime:
In a significantly more oppressive step, HK gov looking at introducing real name registration on SIM cards.
Given the undermining of basic law protections on privacy by the NSL… This is a clear step towards greater mass communications surveillance. #StandWithHongKong https://t.co/EgZm1zljM4
— Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 (@XunlingAu) January 29, 2021
Real name SIM registration is a another significant step down the path towards Mainland level authoritarian control in #HK. Hard to imagine won't have #GreatFirewall equivalent internet controls within a year or so followed by the #SocialCreditSystem. https://t.co/BC5M7eGqqy
— Matthew Chapple 南丫華哥 (@LammaMatthew) January 29, 2021
Mandatory real-name registration for SIM card users in China began in 2010 and authorities have been gradually ramping up enforcement ever since. Since 2017, all internet service providers and internet platforms are required to verify their users’ identity by another set of regulations.
Macau, another city under the One Country, Two Systems model, also introduced real-name registration of mobile phone users in December 2019 with the enactment of the Cybersecurity Bill.
In Hong Kong, the new rule would affect not only citizens but also tourists and mainland Chinese users who use pre-paid SIM cards to circumvent internet censorship via data roaming:
Many mainland Chinese activists already buy burner HK SIM cards, now they will also have to look at other avenues.
Although many countries have similar policies, one can look across the border to see why this could be detrimental to ppl’s rights https://t.co/ZfjIJNX0e8
— Pak Yiu (@pakwayne) January 29, 2021
As overseas SIM cards are exempted from registration, it is anticipated that many Hongkongers will begin using data roaming through those.

author: Oiwan Lam


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What happened in Myanmar on the first day of the coup · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Soldiers at the capital Naypyitaw. Photo by Radio Free Asia. Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. https://www.rfa.org.
Myanmar’s newly elected parliament members were supposed to convene a session on February 1 to select the country’s president and vice president. Instead, the military seized power, imposed a year-long state of emergency, and detained key leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
The NLD won 396 parliamentary seats in the November 2020 general election, while the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) took only 33 seats. The NLD also defeated the USDP in the 2015 election.
Since the election, the military has been contesting the results, citing alleged massive irregularities in voter lists. Election officials, in turn, have disputed the military's claim.
According to news reports, the military has vowed to hold a new round of elections once it has implemented electoral reforms.
For many in Myanmar, the coup triggered memories of the decades-long junta era which ended after political reforms led to the partial restoration of civilian rule in 2010. Despite the USDP's election loss in 2015, the military retained influence in parliament and other branches of government, as guaranteed under the 2008 Constitution drafted by the army.
Reports about military activity in the capital were being shared on social media in the early morning of February 1, until phone service and TV channels were suddenly cut off.
My TV right now. Both international channels and of course state channels have been closed. BBC not working either. pic.twitter.com/OiENSmorHt
— Winnie Thaw ?? (@ThawWinnie) February 1, 2021
Physician Møe Thìt posted the following on Facebook early on the morning of the coup:
We, Myanmar citizens need the world to know what's happening in Myanmar right now before our wifis are cut off.
They already cut off TVs broadcasting lines, phone services in order to prevent us reaching to the world.
It was only after communication lines were restored at noon that the rest of the public learned of the arrest of NLD leaders. Among those arrested were Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint
Army and police troops were deployed in public areas:
Myanmar soldiers on guard in Naypyidaw after the army overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi in a military coup. pic.twitter.com/dcdlEWRXCd
— Matthew Tostevin (@TostevinM) February 1, 2021
Myanmar soldiers deployed at City Hall in Yangon after a military coup and the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi pic.twitter.com/GqZfHNdpt2
— Matthew Tostevin (@TostevinM) February 1, 2021
Long queues formed at markets and banks in major cities. Banks were forced to suspend operations because of the disruption in the communication networks.
Many people line-up ATM machines in Yangon, panic under army coup in Myanmar photo credit: Khit Thit Media #coupdetat #Myanmarcoup #Burma #SaveMyanmar #Tatmadaw #PanicBuy pic.twitter.com/hAhu24frXH
— Wa Lone (@walone4) February 1, 2021
Saw some people stocking up on food downtown. Here’s a crowd buying rice under a banner declaring support for Aung San Suu Kyi pic.twitter.com/eKoz1GFadw
— Andrew Nachemson (@ANachemson) February 1, 2021
In addition to NLD leaders, activists and other critics of the military were reportedly also detained:
Filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi was taken by army at 3.30am at his home in Yangon. So they are going beyond political figures. They are rounding all major critical figures up. (He had previously been recently imprisoned for criticism of army) pic.twitter.com/u1IuRkRv29
— Rangoon (@Rangoon_Film) February 1, 2021
Some social media users posted images of pro-military supporters waving flags in the streets:
Military supporters parading around Yangon today #Myanmar pic.twitter.com/hvWX53Z8Df
— Andrew Nachemson (@ANachemson) February 1, 2021
Global Voices reached out to some foreign workers in Myanmar, who shared the following observations of the situation:
Today at around 6am electricity was cut off. Telephone and internet are not accessible. Myanmar people did not expect this will happen. Military said last Saturday they will not stage a coup. People are worried. But since communication lines are off, they do not know of development yet.
Another expat shared their story:
People are disheartened by the news and mostly sharing information about each other’s whereabouts and safety measures. We have all seen this coming but it’s surreal when it actually happens.
Communication networks are back since around 12 pm in my area. I’m used to disrupted signal so it was not a complete shock, though such a long blackout is unusual.
Some foreign residents expect to be evacuated soon, but some, like Yangon-based Global Voices community member Annie Zaman, highlighted the fact that evacuation is not always a simple matter:
Now we are discussing: “How to evacuate our pets?” We can’t leave our kittens behind ???#ExpatsWithPets #CoupInBurma pic.twitter.com/5duAPT7jKx
— Annie Zaman အန်နီ (@Natrani) February 1, 2021
There were no reports of violence in the streets, but a journalist was reportedly attacked by a supporter of Buddhist nationalists with close ties to the army.
Thinzar Shunlei Yi summed up the sentiment of many activists:
I condemn the coup and on going rataliations using armed power. Our generations have suffered through hardship all our lives since 1962 military coup and its so dissapointing to see history repeats now.
However, Democracy we witnessed over these past 10 years was FAKE. And we were largely in illusions dreaming of federal democratic nation under military-drafted 2008 constitition. So I am saying all these fake democractic shows and dramas drafted by Military is now revealing its own true color.
Justice for Myanmar, a human rights group whose website was censored in 2020 for publishing reports exposing the anomalous business transactions of the military, identified Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the main beneficiary of the coup:
Justice For Myanmar notes he is due to retire in June 2021, which threatened his political power and the business interests of he and his family. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has exploited his position as Commander-in-Chief for his personal gain, and today’s coup extends that power and privilege.
As one scholar put it, the last thing Myanmar needs today is another coup:
While everyone's thinking about Myanmar politics please also think about Myanmar's poor. Over 2020 lives of tens of millions have been descending into disaster w/ poverty rates soaring from 16 – 60%. Myanmar urgently needs vaccines and an equitable economic recovery (not a coup).
— Thant Myint-U (@thantmyintu) February 1, 2021

author: Mong Palatino


text:
‘Women’s role in science is vital’: An interview with Ecuadorian scientist Patricia Castillo Briceño · Global Voices
Belen Febres

Photo courtesy of Patricia Castillo Briceño, PhD.
Women’s contribution to science has historically not received due recognition. On this occasion we interviewed Ecuadorian marine biologist Patricia Castillo Briceño, who is also co-director of the EBIOAC Equatorial and Ocean Acidification (BIOMA, in Spanish) project and co-founder of the Ecuadorian Network of Female Scientists (REMCI).
REMCI is now a strong community for women scientists in Ecuador. It builds collaboration among women instead of competitiveness, raises awareness against sexual harassment in universities, and normalizes science as a career for girls and women.
Belen Febres: I’d like to start with the contribution your work has made. Can you tell us a bit about your research?
Claro. Yo investigo cómo el funcionamiento de los organismos marinos se ve modificado por factores ambientales. Actualmente estudio la acidificación de los océanos, que es parte del cambio climático y es causada por el exceso de CO2 que genera el uso masivo de combustibles fósiles, lo cual altera la química del agua con repercusiones para la vida marina.
Desde que regresé a Ecuador en 2014 estoy aplicando lo aprendido durante mis estudios de posgrado para evaluar cómo las condiciones de acidificación afectan a especies nativas del país, incluyendo peces, moluscos y crustáceos. Esto es muy importante porque Ecuador es una de las zonas con mayor riqueza en biodiversidad marina y también uno de los puntos más propensos a los riesgos derivados de la acidificación oceánica. El que no existan datos locales limita nuestra capacidad para responder a estos riesgos, por ello he dedicado gran parte de mi trabajo a posicionar el tema para el desarrollo de investigaciones y para promover la toma decisiones basada en evidencias científicas.
I study how environmental factors change the functioning of marine organisms. I am currently looking at ocean acidification, which is a part of climate change. Ocean acidification is caused by excess CO2 generated by massive human use of fossil fuels, which in turn alters water chemistry and has repercussions for marine life.
Once I completed my graduate studies, I returned to Ecuador in 2014 and began applying what I learned to evaluate how acidification conditions affect Ecuador’s native species, including fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. This is very important because Ecuador possesses some of the richest marine biodiversity in the world. At the same time, these are also some of the most at-risk areas for ocean acidification. There is a lack of local data that limits our ability to respond to these risks, which is why I have dedicated much of my work to positioning the issue for research development and advocating for policy decision-making based on scientific evidence.
Photo courtesy of Patricia Castillo Briceño, PhD.
BF: How did you become interested in this topic and in marine biology in general?
Mi interés empezó cuando me mudé desde mi Quito natal en la sierra ecuatoriana a Manta, en la costa del país. Ahí descubrí los animales acuáticos y la energía impresionante del mar con toda su inmensidad. Esto me motivó a estudiar biología marina en Ecuador, luego viajé a España y Francia para mis estudios de postgrado y posdoctorado. En 2014, regresé porque siempre mi objetivo fue aportar a mi país.
My interest began when I moved from my hometown of Quito in the Ecuadorian highlands to coastal Manta. There I discovered aquatic animals and the sea’s impressive, immense energy. This inspired me to study marine biology in Ecuador. I then traveled to Spain and France for my postgraduate and postdoctoral studies. I returned because my goal has always been to contribute to my country.
BF: Did you encounter any difficulties in this process?
Al inicio no fue fácil ser extranjera, vivir con otras reglas y estilos de vida, a veces en otros idiomas como en Francia y UK; pero esas experiencias enriquecen y además son oportunidades para investigar a muy alto nivel. De regreso en Ecuador la difucltad estuvo al arrancar la investigación porque nadie trabajaba en este tema y el acceso a fondos y tecnología es limitado, pero ha sido gratificante, pues logramos hacer cambios en política pública relevantes en esta área en el país.
At first it was not easy being a foreigner living among other customs, lifestyles, and sometimes other languages, like in France and the UK. But these are enriching experiences and provide very high level opportunities for research. Starting the research investigation back in Ecuador was difficult because there was no one working on this issue yet, and there is limited access to funds and technology. It’s been gratifying for us, however, to be able to make relevant changes in public policy in this part of the country.
Photo courtesy of Patricia Castillo Briceño, PhD.
BF: You also created the Network of Ecuadorian Women in Science (REMCI).
Sí. Nuestra iniciativa nació en 2016 cuando algunas científicas comenzamos a hablar vía Twitter sobre la necesidad de crear espacios que fortalezcan la participación de mujeres en ciencias y de posicionar este tema en la agenda nacional. Luego, vimos que una forma de consolidar nuestros esfuerzos era el trabajo en redes y creamos REMCI. Ahora seguimos ampliando y diversificando nuestra red, siempre desde la sororidad y el apoyo para combatir esa idea impuesta de que necesitamos competir entre nosotras para sobresalir.
Yes. Our initiative started in 2016 when a few scientists began a Twitter discussion about how badly Ecuador needed encouragement and recruitment for women’s participation in science, and how crucial it was to place this issue on the national agenda. We
Porque el ser mujer influye mucho. No es común escuchar que una niña sueñe con ser científica, y esto se debe a que la educación y la sociedad establecen roles de género desde muy temprano. Marcan tu camino con las materias que te enseñan, con los “cumplidos” que te dan (te dicen que eres bonita, nunca inteligente), y con los modelos a seguir que te presentan. Yo tuve la suerte de que mi mamá es bioquímica, entonces crecí jugando con su microscopio portátil y sabiendo que las mujeres pueden estar en la ciencia. Pero crecí también con la idea de que hay una sola ruta: naces, creces, te casas, te reproduces (siempre en ese orden), y mueres. Hasta que un día me pregunté: “bueno, ¿y por qué?”, y decidí seguir mi propio camino.
Because being a woman matters a lot. It’s uncommon to hear of a girl who dreams of being a scientist, and this is because education and society establish gender roles very early. Your path is carved with what subjects you are taught,”compliments” you are given (telling little girls they’re pretty, instead of smart), and with female role models that are presented to you. I was lucky my mother is a biochemist, so I grew up playing with her portable microscope and knowing women can be in science. But I also grew up with the idea that there was only one route: You are born, you grow up, marry, reproduce (always in that order), and die. Until one day I asked myself “Well, why?” And decided to go my own way.
Muchísimo. Podemos motivar a las niñas desde pequeñas a considerar diversas opciones de vida, e incentivarlas a estudiar y avanzar en su carrera. Tenemos que explicar que el camino de la ciencia no siempre es fácil para que cuando una científica joven se encuentre con situaciones fallidas no piense que hay algo mal con su trabajo o con ella y se desanime, sino que sepa que esas dificultades son parte normal del proceso. También hacer públicas las preguntas impertinentes hasta que dejen de ocurrir. Por ejemplo, en una entrevista para la que te preparas con todas las respuestas científicas y técnicas sobre tu trabajo, te preguntan si vas a tener hijos y qué opina tu esposo sobre lo que haces; cosas que a los hombres nunca les preguntan. Las siguientes generaciones no deberían pasar por esto.
También hace falta un cambio estructural desde las políticas públicas y la educación formal. En los libros deben aparecer científicas nacionales e internacionales, porque sí las hay, solo no se habla de ellas. Así podremos lograr que tanto niñas como niños crezcan sabiendo que las mujeres somos igual de capaces y que nuestro trabajo científico es igual de importante para el avance del conocimiento. Además, debemos repartir las tareas del cuidado, tradicionalmente destinadas a las mujeres. En todo el mundo, incluso más en países como Ecuador donde la investigación hace tanta falta, resulta absurdo perder la mitad del talento por falta de equidad de género; es un lujo que no nos podemos permitir. Necesitamos todos los cerebros trabajando en conjunto.
Finalmente, los museos y  los medios de comunicación deben jugar su rol clave generando otros patrones de pensamiento, visibilizando sesgos e injusticias, y resaltando el trabajo de las mujeres en distintos campos, incluyendo todas las ramas de la ciencia.
A lot. We can begin by inspiring girls at a young age to consider more options in life, and encourage them to study and advance in their career. We must make it clear that a path in science is not always easy, so when a young scientist encounters unsuccessful situations, she doesn’t think there’s something wrong with her or her work and gets discouraged. She instead must know that difficulties are a normal part of the process. We also need to bring inappropriate questions to public scrutiny so they’ll stop happening. For instance, let’s say you prepared for an interview with scientific and technical answers, but instead you’re asked if you plan on having children and what your husband’s opinion is about your work. Men are never asked things like this. Next generations shouldn’t have to go through this.
Public policies and formal education are also in dire need of structural change. National and international scientists should be featured in books. They aren’t mentioned, as if there weren’t any! In this way, we can ensure that both girls and boys grow up knowing that women are equally capable, and that our scientific work is just as important for the advancement of knowledge. In addition, we must equally share the unpaid labor of housework, traditionally the burden of women. It is absurd to lose half our world’s talent due to lack of gender equality, and even more so in countries like Ecuador where scientific research is sorely needed. That is a luxury we cannot afford. We need all of our brains working together.
Finally, museums and media must assume a key role in promoting different patterns of thought by making biases and injustices visible and by highlighting the work of women in different industries, including all branches of science.

author: Belen Febres


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Musician Chantal Esdelle on how the pandemic is bringing Trinidad & Tobago Carnival back to itself · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian musician Chantal Esdelle (centre) and her band Moyenne have been reimagining the Carnival space not only via their music, which melds jazz, calypso and steelpan, but also through the ways in which COVID-19 has forced them to innovate. Photo courtesy Esdelle, used with permission. Photographer: Maria Nunes.
It's no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of Trinidad and Tobago's 2021 Carnival celebrations. What is surprising to some Carnival stakeholders is that the National Carnival Commission (NCC), the state body that oversees the festival, has advised that it will not be hosting any virtual events, despite the fact that other world-famous Carnivals, most notably the one in New Orleans, will be taking the celebrations online come February 15 and 16.
Winston “Gypsy” Peters, former calypsonian turned politician who is now the NCC chair, has defended this position by saying that Carnival is “a contact sport” that needs to be “peopled.” Instead, the NCC proposes to do a retrospective on 100 years of the national festival. Peters added Carnival is a money-earner for the country and that he had to ensure that any taxpayers’ dollars spent would provide a return.
His stance sparked criticism, not only from the artists, designers, musicians and performers whose livelihoods depend in large part on Carnival events—many of whom are hosting both virtual and COVID-19-compliant, in-person events on their own—but also from those who understand the national festival to be much deeper and more significant than a mere contributor to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
One of those artists is musician Chantal Esdelle. Soon after the pandemic hit, she and her band Moyenne, a Trinidad and Tobago-based jazz group that is firmly rooted in the country's calypso and steelpan tradition, began offering performances via podcast, under the name of their studio, the Ethnic Jazz Club. Esdelle has also been using her blog to discuss how people can reconnect with Carnival in much more meaningful ways now that the pandemic has upended the status quo. Through both email and phone, we discussed the possibilities.
Musician Chantal Esdelle. Photo courtesy Esdelle, used with permission. Photographer: Maria Nunes.
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): Trinidad and Tobago would ordinarily be in the throes of Carnival fever by now. How is the absence of the festival this year affecting you?
Chantal Esdelle (CE): On the surface, [I feel] numbness, which could translate to mean I feel a sadness and loss. My Carnival is in steelband … Panorama and J’ouvert. It is a place where I meet up with decades-old friends, plan, inspire, meet younger [musicians] and rekindle warmness with elders. I am missing that deeply.
JMF: In your blog post, you observe that the practice of Carnival is “being met in the same way many of the tenets of Carnival originally were, with restrictions and repression.” How does your Backyard Jam concept fit in?
CE: In the post I was suggesting that the Backyard Jam is how we [are] celebrating this year, and this and all might be shut off, just like many other Carnival yards were banned in the earlies. I say this with no citations of any sources. The way it influenced me, though, is to look at how Carnival creativity is engendered in a close (relationship-wise) space, and then vibrates out. This further propels me to continue the model we have of a studio that produces work for our patrons, but now spirals out by showing [what we do] to a wider audience by broadcasting video recordings of it.
The Backyard Jam is word of mouth, [based on] contributions not fees, and participation in an activity—not consumption of a product—which is where Carnival is currently at, so … it is a return.
JMF: You mention “a return to an awareness of self and a restoration of cultural confidence” emanating from this fresh understanding of Carnival’s purpose.
CE: Cultural confidence … you kinda have to have it in a small space 'cause you can’t bullshit people when they are in close range, so you have to clearly decide what you're doing and this always requires a bit more reflection and remembrance. So for me, it is a restoration and I hope that broadcasting it will result in some people catching it, just as the music of Andre Tanker and Boogsie and Ralph McDonald’s music in concerts and even on TTT [Trinidad and Tobago Television, the state-owned media house] clips would have caught me … or arrangements from Earl Rodney and Clive Bradley as I unawarely heard them on the radio or being played on pan.
JMF: How are artists innovating within their own little pockets and what effect do you feel it will have on Carnival in the long run?
CE: Artists are mostly doing their own thing and streaming it online … a lot of people use Wack’s service. Hopefully, this will encourage folks to continue doing independent work and lead to a more diverse festival rather than the one we have, that is centred around three or four major competitions.
JMF: We like to call it “the greatest show on earth,” but a lot of the spectacle has fizzled precisely because of the commercialisation of the festival. Do you think this pandemic offers an opportunity to reset so that Carnival can once again become the great equaliser, even while showcasing our creativity and offering enjoyment/release?
CE: We definitely get to reset, 'cause in this situation, if it lasts more than just this Carnival, we get to focus on how we want to make it work for us again: activity and participation rather than production and consumption. It doesn’t mean no resources will be exchanged … emotional, physical and monetary currency will still be exchanged, but the motivation would be different. It needs to happen for more than one Carnival, though.
JMF: What’s your favourite Carnival memory and why do you think it’s important to keep the festival alive?
CE: The Panorama semi final of 1989 … the excitement and most importantly, the people. It was electric; the panorama tune of choice was ‘Somebody.’ I felt magic and connection. Carnival cannot actually die. I think this year, we can do things to remind us of that by just doing and also feeling … feeling how much we are connected to each other when we celebrate in this feast.
JMF: Across the world, this pandemic has proven how reliant people are on the work of creatives. What are some tangible ways in which we can better value our artists?
CE: I think people do [value artists] but our system is not set up to support the arts industry, so some thought [has to go into] setting up infrastructure for that. The internet and social media have helped tremendously during this time. It is the way we have kept in touch and have shared our work since the start of the pandemic: podcasts, online concerts and notices on our website.
JMF: What’s your vision for 2021 Carnival and beyond?
CE: This Carnival, for us to do whatever we can manage that will rekindle our spirit. Beyond? Do work for us, not for outside consumption — a balance between sustenance and creativity.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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10 women football stars whose talent and activism are changing the game · Global Voices
Romina Navarro, Violeta Camarasa, Laila Le Guen, Atsushi, Lully Posada, Lara AlMalakeh, Ardi Pulaj, Ardita Osmani, Rohith Jyothish, Sanjib Chaudhary

Collage courtesy of Violeta Camarasa.
From the United Arab Emirates to Thailand, Chile or Nigeria, football is the most popular sport on our planet among men and women.
Nearly 30 years after the first Women's World Cup took place in China in 1991, prejudice towards women playing football is “continuous across many regions of the world,” according to a recent report by world players’ union Fifpro. Women are challenged by adverse labor conditions, discrimination, sexual harassment, and unequal pay.
Despite these challenges, women's football began to be taken seriously in recent years, and not only because of the talent on the field. Women have been speaking up about sexism in their profession, news media stories on women's football have multiplied and corporate sponsors have started to pay attention. Luxury magazine Business Destinations wrote:
Women’s football has been taken to another level, with the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup signalling a new era of professionalisation.
Here is a short list of female footballers from around the globe who are changing the rules of the game through their talent and activism:
Last November, while the world devoted tributes to the late football legend Diego Maradona, a young Spanish footballer raised some eyebrows. Twenty-four-year-old Paula Dapena refused to pay homage to the adored Argentinian player before a match in Pontevedra, Spain, arguing that his skills as a footballer were not enough to wipe away multiple allegations of abuse and violence against women. Her gesture was rewarded in Spain with the award of Cidade de Pontevedra 2020, and she became a new symbol of feminism, but it came at a cost: she became a target of harsh online harassment, which included death threats.
Around the world, women who stand out in any sports often suffer from online harassment and trolling.
A post shared by Paula Dapena (@paulads14)
Unfortunately, online harassment is not the only form of abuse women football players face. Sexual harassment has also been well documented. As a player of the Afghan Women National Team, Khalida Popal raised her voice in 2019 to add to the anonymous sexual abuse allegations made against the president of the Afghan football federation, Keramuddin Karim. FIFA barred Karim from the sport for life, yet the team had to stop training because of the scandal.
After a career-ending injury, Popal founded the Girl Power organization, which uses sport to help motivate and empower minorities in Europe. She is also event director of the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team as well as an ambassador of Street Child World Cup.
A post shared by Khalida Popal (@khalidagirlpower)
Megan Rapinoe, winner of the Ballon d’Or Féminin and Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2019, has gained worldwide recognition both for her career on the football field with the US women’s national soccer team and for her anti-racist, feminist and LGBTQ+ activism in sports. She was included in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
Together with the US squad, Rapinoe joined the calls in 2019 for equal pay, which led to an ongoing lawsuit against their federation. In an interview with the BBC, the player shared her message to other women:
“Don't settle for anything less, go for equal, go for more.”
Disparities of pay between women and men football players has been studied in Chile, Colombia, United States and Argentina, where many women footballers are not paid at all, as they play as amateurs. In places such as Australia and the US, working conditions, which are arguably better than in other regions, are the result of the players joining unions that represent their professional interests. In September 2020, Brazil announced that it will become one of the few countries to give equal pay to their women's and men's football teams.
A post shared by Megan Rapinoe She/Her ?? (@mrapinoe)
In September 2020, Yuki Nagasato, a 33-year-old Japanese 2011 World Cup winner and a prominent forward for Chicago Red Stars at the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), caused a sensation in Japanese society by announcing her temporary transfer to men’s amateur team Hayabusa Eleven.
In an interview for FIFA, Nagasato said she could compensate for physical differences with her fast decision-making skills. “I want women to be respected and seen for their talents first, not their gender,” she added.
Japan Football Association is set to launch the first-ever women’s professional league in Japan in autumn 2021, the Women Empowerment League, which aims not only to develop women's football in Japan and encourage female participation but also to enhance diversity in general in Japanese society.
A post shared by YuKi Nagasato (@yuki_nagasato)
Iranian-American Katayoun “Kat” Khosrowyar is the first female coach in the Iranian National Women’s League. The 33-year-old moved to Iran from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was born, to join the national football team at the age of 17. She went on to become a coach for 14, then eventually 19 teams.
In a country where women face barriers to move, dress and train freely, Khosrowyar scouted girls from rural areas and pushed to put the team in international competitions.
In 2011, her team was disqualified from a second-round Olympic qualifying match because of the competition's ban on wearing the hijab, the headscarf which is required wear for women in Iran. FIFA had previously accepted headgear, but the hijab covers the neck as well, which was deemed unsafe, although there was no evidence for this health hazard. After three years of campaigning, women were allowed by FIFA to wear a “head covering for religious reasons,” and so “Kat” and her team finally got permission to compete internationally again.
A post shared by Kat Khosrowyar (@kat.khosro)
“I never had proper gear or boots or even a ball. I grew up playing football with a ball made out of socks,” said Sabitra Bhandari, the highest-scoring woman footballer in Nepal, in an interview with The Kathmandu Post. “But it is because of the lessons that the sock ball taught me that I’m where I am today,” she said. “My father and mother tried to discourage me from playing with the boys, but I managed to convince them.” Today, Bhandari is the highest-scoring footballer in the Indian Women’s League. She and Anita Basnet were the first Nepali women to play in the Indian Women’s League.
A post shared by Routine of Nepal (RONB) (@routineofnepalbanda)
Nadiya Nighat, 24, is the first female football coach from  Jammu and Kashmir. Choosing to play football was not easy for Nighat, who grew up in a middle-class Muslim family in a conservative neighborhood. In spite of her determination, the lack of a state women’s football team in Jammu and Kashmir meant that she had to give up her dream of representing India in a major tournament. Instead, at the age of 19, she chose to start her own football academy so that she could coach young girls who would eventually have a chance to represent their country. She has earned her AFC D & C coaching licenses and is set to apply for her B-license next time around. An A-license will qualify her to be a coach of the national women’s football team. At present, Nighat is coaching Kashmir’s first all-women’s football team Real Kashmir FC.
A post shared by Nadiya Nighat (@nadiyanighat)
In December 2020, Mara Gómez debuted as the first trans player in a women’s national football tournament in Argentina. She is not a global first, as there are other trans footballers in American Samoa, Spain, Canada, and England. Gómez set this precedent in a country where football is entwined with national identity.
Gómez joined the club Villa San Carlos (VSC) in January 2020 but because of the pandemic lockdown she had to wait months for the Argentine Football Association's authorization as a professional player. On November 28, when she finally signed her contract with VSC, she shared on her Instagram account:
It’s been a long journey, too many obstacles, too many fears and sorrows.
What once made me think that I would never be someone, that I would never have a chance, today is reversed, today I’m fulfilling one of my biggest goals in life, the one I thought essential and that would never happen.
Today I am officially a player in the top division of female football in Argentina.
A post shared by Mara Stefania Gomez (@maragomez.oficial)
On her FC Barcelona profile, Asisat Oshoala is introduced as one of Africa’s best players, and with good reason: Among other accolades, the captain of Nigeria’s national team, the Super Falcons, was named Africa’s best woman footballer of the year in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Growing up in Ikorodu, a neighborhood of Lagos, Oshoala started her career locally with FC Robo, before joining Rivers Angels sports club, a prominent Nigerian football team.
In 2015, she signed with Liverpool where her international career took off. She’s also played for Arsenal and Dalian Quanjian FC before joining FC Barcelona Femeni in 2019, becoming one of the top goal scorers on the team.
Things haven’t always been smooth-sailing for Oshoala. In several interviews, she opened up about her struggle to convince her family that football was a suitable career choice:
“No, my parents never supported me at the initial stage because I was exceptionally good in my academics. I had to drop out of school to the chagrin of my parents. It was not an easy decision but with the benefit of hindsight, I think it was the right one.”
Today, through the Asisat Oshoala Foundation, she supports young girls in Lagos who aspire to follow in her footsteps. The foundation's goal is to encourage their self-confidence in the face of great obstacles and to give them a leg up in finding a club.
A post shared by Asisat Oshoala (M.O.N) (@asisat_oshoala)
Delphine Cascarino is a 24-year-old right winger playing for Olympique Lyonnais in France’s Division 1 Féminine. According to Foot d'Elles, a project dedicated to promoting football played by women, she blends organization and instinct with technique and athleticism.
Cascarino tasted World Cup glory at the U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2012. At the age of 22, Cascarino already had 10 major trophies to her name with Lyon; 3 Champions League, 3 Coupes De France and 4 French League titles.
She was nominated Player of the Match after Lyon's 3-1 triumph over Wolfsburg in the Union of European Football Associations Women's Champions League final in 2020.
A post shared by Delphine Cascarino (@delphine_cascarino)
À la prochaine Cascarino.
Ne joue pas juste pour montrer au monde ce que tu peux faire. Joue pour montrer aux filles qui t’entourent ce qu’elles peuvent faire.
Ce maillot est pour toi.
See you next time, Cascarino.
Don't play just to show the world what you can do. Play to show the girls around you what they can do.
This jersey is for you.


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Citizens launch civil disobedience campaign on second day of Myanmar coup · Global Voices
Global Voices South East Asia

Doctors at Yangon General Hospital’s Emergency Department staged a Red Ribbon Campaign at the hospital to show their solidarity with the ousted National League for Democracy government as part of an ongoing civil disobedience campaign against the military coup. Photo and caption by Htet Wai (The Irrawaddy is a content partner of Global Voices)
Candlelight protests, the banging of metal vessels, honking of car horns, a boycott of military-owned businesses, and the resignation of some medical frontline personnel were among the actions launched by Myanmar citizens to demand the restoration of civilian rule following the military coup on February 1.
The country's military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, seized power, declared a year-long state of emergency, and detained leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) which won a second term in office in the November 2020 election. The military said the coup was “inevitable,” citing concerns about supposed election fraud which they claim tainted the credibility of the recent vote. Election officials have disputed these allegations.
Netizens protested against the coup on social media. Many have made their Facebook profiles red, the color of the NLD party, or displayed stickers with the image of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's iconic leader.
At 6pm on February 2, many residents in the former capital Yangon lit candles as a symbol of resistance against the coup.
And at exactly 8pm, residents of many neighborhoods around Yangon banged loudly on metal vessels in protest, as shown in the video below.
During the protests people chanted “Downfall to the military dictatorship” and “May ‘Amay (mother) Su (Aung San Suu Kyi)’ be well”.
Yangon is banging devils out.
People in downtown Yangon banging pots and honking to against the coup. #Myanmarcoup pic.twitter.com/j2fSl5PxYn
— Aung Naing Soe (@AungNaingSoeAns) February 2, 2021
The pot-banging protest has been labelled the Than Pone Tee Campaign. One protester told Global Voices the meaning of the term:
Than Pone means iron bucket. Than Pone Tee means Playing Iron Buckets. In our tradition, playing Iron Buckets means casting out evil spirits.
Nay Phone Latt, an activist and former member of parliament, was inspired by the peaceful protests:
ပြည်သူကတော့ အာဏာရူးစစ်အစိုးရကို သံပုံးတီးပြီး တောထုတ်နေပါပြီ။
သေနတ်ပြပြီးအနိုင်ကျင့်တဲ့ စစ်အာဏာရှင်ကို ရသလောက်အားနဲ့ တုံ့ပြန်ကြတဲ့ ပြည်သူတွေကိုကြည့်ပြီး ရင်နင့်ရပါတယ်။
စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကျဆုံးပါစေ။
#Myanmarcoup
#SaveMyanmar
#CivilDisobedience
People are banging the metal pots to oust the military government which is hungry for power. It’s so heartbreaking to look at the people who use whatever means they can muster against the military dictator who use guns. Downfall to the military dictatorship.
Meanwhile, medical associations and hospitals across the country have been releasing statements asking doctors to engage in civil disobedience by not going to work starting on February 3.
A Facebook page titled Civil Disobedience Movement set up to coordinate doctor's boycott has already gained more than 150,000 followers. Student groups are also supporting the campaign.
Some medical officers have sent in their resignation letters:
“We had a government that we elected. We cannot allow the military to form a government,” said a doctor and lecturer at the University of Medicine 2 in Yangonhttps://t.co/InNfVfD2Qw
— Frontier Myanmar (@FrontierMM) February 2, 2021
The Justice for Myanmar organization has also asked people to boycott the military-owned telecom service provider MyTel, and other businesses with military affiliations. The boycott has been gaining traction on the ground.
Myanmar was ruled by a military junta for several decades, until a democratic transition led to the formation of a civilian government in 2010. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), lost the 2015 general election to the NLD, but the 2008 constitution drafted by the military guarantees that certain positions in the cabinet and parliament be reserved for the military appointees.

author: Global Voices South East Asia


text:
In Trinidad & Tobago, where women are under siege, sometimes even words feel futile · Global Voices
Shivanee Ramlochan

A mural from Guatemala's Safe Cities Programme, for which UN Women commissioned the images as part of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in 2017. Photo by UN Women/Ryan Brown on Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Editor's note: Trinidad and Tobago has been experiencing an upsurge in femicides and gender-based violence for several years, some of which appears to be linked to an increase in human trafficking. On November 29, 2020, teenager Ashanti Riley was abducted by the driver of a Private Hire (PH) car; she was later found dead. Two months later, to the day, 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt was kidnapped, last seen in a taxi she had hailed to take her home after work on January 29. Since then, social media users have been sharing their anger, frustration and prayers asking, begging, for her safe return.
Trinidadian poet Shivanee Ramlochan, who wrote about both these young women and the wider issue of gender violence in a Facebook post, offers deep insight into how unsafe women are feeling. Her piece is republished in full, below.
I write poems. There is a space where the poem feels futile. That space is the several days of Andrea Bharatt’s abduction. The language of the kidnapping is its own severe metre:
“They searched the forest for the woman.
She was not found.”
Sometimes, the cruelty of the world renders the instrument of a poem mute. I wanted to write a poem for Ashanti Riley, and I could not. The kind of poem I want to write about Andrea Bharatt is a poem of return, not a poem of dreadful sorrow.
“A young woman gets into a taxi.
The taxi bears false ‘H’ plates.”
When life is hard and men are brutal, you can build a poem out of nothing but the facts. The poem writes itself around the ransom calls, the threats of severed ears, the ticking clock.
“My daughter has a rare skin condition.
I am begging, I’m begging.”
I don’t want to write anything but a series of messages to my family and my friends saying that Andrea Bharatt has been found. If I could write whatever I wanted, I would be able to say that Ashanti Riley has been unkilled, brought back to life to visit her grandmother without fear.
Instead of that, I am holding my breath. Instead of that, I refresh my Google Search throughout the day. Every time I type in ‘Andrea Bharatt’, Google suggests I add ‘found’ to my inquiry, suggesting that around our twin islands, people are typing ‘Andrea Bharatt found’ with frequency, with urgency, with desperate hope. I wish our collective hope was not desperate, but it is. It feels desperate. I don’t think I can write a poem or an essay or anything that can help against that. Then I am reminded that one of the earliest functions of poetry is prayer.
My prayer is simple.
Please may Andrea Bharatt be safe.
Please may Andrea Bharatt be unharmed.
Please may Andrea Bharatt be found.
What I want is a world where we are unkillable. I want an island where we wake up and board taxis with the certainty that we will not be abducted, that our cell phones, bank cards and toiletries will not be found in the homes of our abductors. I would like to live here and not be afraid. I want that for you, too. For you to stop getting up at three am and looking out your apartment windows into the streets where cctv can only tell people how you were hurt, not help you during the hurting. I want you not to clutch your keys like talons. I want all of this, our hundreds of disappeared countrypeople, not to make you bitter and vengeful.
I want to tell you I have answers, but I don’t. Only poems, and sometimes, lately, not even those.
May you sleep well, and deeply, where you lay your head tonight.
May the taximan whose car you enter tomorrow morning be known to you, be safe as your every breath.
Update: On February 4, police confirmed that the female body found down a precipice in the Heights of Aripo, is that of 23-year-old, Andrea Bharatt.

author: Shivanee Ramlochan


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Nearly a hundred Kurdish activists detained by Iran’s security forces in 2021 · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A collage by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network showing some of the arrested Kurdish activists. Global Voices given permission to use it.
With the turn of 2021, the Islamic Republic of Iran has unleashed the latest chapter of repression against its Kurdish population, carrying a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting Kurdish civil society activists.
According to reports, since the beginning of 2021, at least 91 Kurdish citizens, including human rights activists, environmentalists, and artists, were arrested or, in other words, “disappeared by security forces,” in different cities from Tehran to Sanandaj, the capital of Iran's Kurdistan province.
A joint letter initiated by the Switzerland-based Kurdistan Human Rights-Geneva (KMMK-G) and published on February 3, said a few detainees have been released but 89 others remain behind bars, and at least 40 have are being subjected to enforced disappearance.
More than 50 Kurdish activists have called on the Iranian state to immediately release those detained.
The state of Iran has long persecuted its Kurdish minority. A 2008 Amnesty International report cited examples of “religious and cultural discrimination against the estimated 12 million Kurds who live in Iran and form around 15 percent of the population.”
Global Voices interviewed Taimoor Aliassi, co-founder and executive director of the Switzerland-based Association of Human Rights in Kurdistan (KMMK-G), in order to understand what is driving the regime's crackdown this time.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What are the reasons for the recent arrests?
Before answering this question, it's necessary to note that the causes and scale of repression and violence in Iran against Kurdish people and other minorities are inherent to the inception of the Islamic Republic.
In August 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s then supreme leader, declared a holy war against Kurdish people and framed the Kurds as anti-Islam and anti-revolutionary because they simply were in favour of establishing a secular and democratic state in Iran. Since then, the Kurds have been stigmatized, marginalized and excluded from any participation in public life and perceived, and treated, as a hostile group by the Iranian state and its media.
Answering your question, since the beginning of January, along with the recent coordinated crackdown and mass arrests of Kurdish citizens, we are also witnessing a campaign of intense stigmatization, demonization, and criminalization of Kurdish citizens by Iranian media (Seda va Sima and Fars News). The Islamic Republic of Iran’s system of government heavily relies on violence and the spread of fear.
Given the internal political, economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and health crisis facing the regime and its incapacity to solve the Iranian challenges, we believe that the regime is fearing to lose control over its people, and the best way to show that it’s still on the reign and to keep on top, is the intensification of violence and repression, especially in the ethnic and marginalized territories. As such, since January, 16 Baluchi citizens were executed and five Ahwazi-Arabs prisoners are at imminent risk of executions.
Are there any organizational links between the arrested individuals? Were they involved in a common project for example?
The detainees are members of civil society and they include students, environmentalists, cultural activists, musicians, and academics. For instance, five of the female detainees are all members of a Kurdish female musical group from the city of Kermanshah called “Gelaris”.
Do you have any information about the detainees and about the charges? Have they been able to contact their families or contacted the lawyers?
The fate and whereabouts of 51 of the detainees are yet unknown. During the arrests, the houses of 31 detainees were searched and the belongings of five of them were confiscated by security forces. Five others were victims of physical assaults during their arrests.
Families of the 51 persons subjected to enforced disappearances have been subjected to continuous threats by the Revolutionary Guard when they seek information about their loved ones, and are told to avoid any communications with the media and UN agencies. They are also told that the detainees are not allowed to have access to a lawyer during investigations, which increases the risks of extracting confessions under torture. The families are extremely concerned about the fates and whereabouts of their loved ones and the Iranian authorities have refused to provide information about the detainees.
Such state measures constitute a clear violation of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a party, as they severely limit access to lawyers and legal defense. Beatings, ill-treatment, torture, incommunicado detentions, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests of the detainees are all infringements, not only of the ICCPR, but also the Iranian law.
A group of Kurdish civil and political activists wrote a statement protesting this wave of mass arrest. Have other non-Kurdish Iranian activists joined this protest?
Currently, we have initiated and published on February 3 a joint statement, supported by 36 civil societies and human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), calling for the international community's urgent attention to the ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances by the Iranian authorities, targeting scores of people from Iran’s disadvantaged Kurdish minority.
According to this joint letter, few detainees have been released, but “89 individuals remain detained, at least 40 have are being subjected to enforced disappearance.”
What impact do you think these international organizations can have on this situation?
We hope that pressure from the UN, EU, and the international community pushes the Iranian authorities to stop their campaign of demonizing and intensified repression against Iranian ethnic and religious minorities, as well all Iranian citizens.
The Kurdish minority has been under pressure and faced persecution for decades. Last year, hundreds of Kurds got arrested. Is there any difference between this wave of arrest with precedents?
Since 2020, we have observed a new pattern of persecution and the executions of Kurdish political prisoners in Iran by squad firing, group executions and disappearances of the prisoners and their bodies, and denial of the last visitation of the family before execution. This pattern was common in the 1980s.
The secret execution and enforced disappearances of Mr. Hedayat Abdollahpour, a Kurdish political prisoner, on 11 May 2020, in a military base in Oshnavieh, West Azerbaijan Province by squad firing, despite the UN human rights experts’ multiple calls and concerns raised with the Iranian authorities, as well as the group execution of Mr. Saber Sheikh Abdullah and Diako Rasulzadek, exemplifies this new pattern of executions of prisoners belonging to ethnic groups and others in Iran.
The recent crackdown on Kurdish civil society activists indicates this new pattern of persecution and cycle of violence against members of ethnic-religious groups in particular, and in Iran in general. This requires a tougher position from United Nations and Western countries on Iran and the question of  respect for human rights and minority rights in Iran needs to be a main part of EU-Iran new round of negotiations.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Supreme Court steps in after sexual assault verdict leads to public outcry in India · Global Voices
Anumeha Verma

Bombay High Court building in Mumbai, India. Image by A. Savin (Wikimedia Commons). Free Art License.
A judgement by the Bombay High Court of India on January 27, 2021, ruling that groping a minor, without skin-to-skin contact, could not be considered sexual assault was stayed by a Supreme Court judge who cited the judgement as disturbing.
Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in Mumbai modified a ruling given by the Sessions Court, in which the accused, a 39-year-old man, was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced on January 19, 2021 to three years under the Section 8 of the Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. Section 8 of POCSO stipulates that, “Whoever, commits sexual assault, shall be punished with imprisonment of either punishment for the description for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to a fine.”
According to court records, the man was accused of taking the 12-year-old girl to his house in December 2016, when he allegedly gripped her breasts and tried to remove her clothes, for which he was sentenced by the Sessions Court. On appeal at the Bombay High Court, Justice Ganediwala found the accused not guilty because there was no skin-to-skin contact as the man did not remove the victim's clothes.
The Free Press Journal quoted the judge as saying, “The act of pressing the breast of a child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside her top and pressed her breast, would not fall under the definition of ‘sexual assault.'” The court then ruled that the man was guilty only under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which regards the offence as intent to “outrage” a woman's modesty, but not the more serious crime of sexual assault; he was then sentenced to one year in prison.
The verdict took the nation by storm leading to a public outcry. Journalist Dharmendra Jore highlighted recent controversial verdicts of female Justice Ganediwala:
[POCSO Acquittals] Supreme Court Collegium withdraws recommendation to make Bombay High Court judge permanent. Justice Ganediwala had handed down three acquittals under the POCSO Act in three separate cases, all within a week.
https://t.co/OQjYfuqaWS
— Dharmendra Jore (@dharmendrajore) January 30, 2021
Many citizens and activists said the January 19 verdict showed a lack of concern about the plight of minors who experience all types of sexual abuse, including groping, in public places and in their own homes.
Mishi Chaudhary, a legal professional, tweeted:
Who hasn't faced this in India?
Casually brushing, groping leaving young children shocked, confused and in trauma.
I faced this so often in India. Book fairs, weddings, markets. The fact that I was accompanied by a parent didn't matter to the pervs. https://t.co/U0O93V6bwv
— Mishi Choudhary (@MishiChoudhary) January 25, 2021
While some women, who experienced this type of assault as children were angry and disappointed at Justice Ganediwala's ruling, others considered the likelihood that such judgements would give offenders a free hand to continue.
Expatriate Indian music student Medha Nair said:
I didn’t get groped in middle school at 13 years old just for someone to say that groping with clothes on isn’t sexual assault. India, do better.
— Medha Nair #BLACKLIVESMATTER (@nairmedhaa) January 25, 2021
Another expat Indian Naz Iraj tweeted:
So a judge in India ruled out sexual assault because groping “over” clothes can’t be considered sexual assault?????
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY WOMEN WILL NOW BE SUBJECTED TO SOMETHING THAT IS CLEARLY SEXUAL ASSAULT?????
— Naz Iraj (@nazthepoet) January 26, 2021
Shobha De, a well-known writer and columnist also took umbrage with the verdict, with her words giving rise to responses from well-known psychologists, journalists and activists.
He who gropes, goes free. Breasts can be freely squeezed with zero consequences. So long as the groper does not penetrate! Ladies … prepare for a groping epidemic! Remember, only skin-to-skin counts.
Thanks, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) January 25, 2021
As the outrage continued, the Attorney General of India prepared to move a petition against the order and requested the Supreme Court take a Suo Moto cognizance on the matter. The Suo Moto cognizance allows courts in India to take up a case on their own, without a petition being filed by any party.
Following the request, a bench comprising three judges of the Indian Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, stayed the order on the basis of the nature of the verdict. The Attorney General considered the original ruling a dangerous precedent, where perpetrators of sexual assault might use it as a defence strategy after targeting minors.
The POSCO Act, 2012, was established to protect minors from sexual predators. The mood of the public showed that many felt Section 8 would be rendered toothless if skin-to-skin contact had to be established:
Law student Yash Kapasiya tweeted:
This Bombay High Court judgement will give many perverts a chance to fight in the court to be charged with a less serious offence of molestation (Section 354 of IPC) instead of sexual assault (Section 8 of POCSO). I understand the argument given. But can't understand the need. https://t.co/LIYlfc9ePR
— Yash Kapasiya?? (@Yash4Kapasiya) January 24, 2021
Feminist collective WhereAreTheWomen? tweeted:
#JusticePushpaGanediwala got this totally wrong. #POCSOAct Sec8 says: All physical acts for example-stalking, showing porn/sexual content, touching private parts of a child etc attracts imprisonment not less than 3-5yrs, also liable to fine.https://t.co/Ia6LDFMzKe
— WhereAreTheWomen? (@wherearewomen1) January 24, 2021
The rise in sexual assaults on minors in the country gave the public more cause of concern. Data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2018 showed that 109 children face sexual abuse every day in the country—22 per cent more than in 2017. However, this jump could also indicate that more such cases are being reported, which may be considered a positive shift.
While staying the judgement by the Supreme Court is a welcome move, sexual exploitation of minors remains a sensitive subject and the role of the judiciary in setting an example by meting out justice will remain crucial to protecting the vulnerable.

author: Anumeha Verma


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What Kyrgyzstan’s hasty transition to presidential governance says about the state of its democracy · Global Voices
Aigerim Turgunbaeva

Giant size poster of current Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, taken in Bishkek days before the January 10th referendum and presidential election. The slogan in Kyrgyz and Russian says “Serving the future!”. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission
In January 2021, the citizens of Kyrgyzstan voted through a referendum to change its political system, opting for a presidential form of governance that stands to boost the power of its newly elected president, Sadyr Japarov.
While some argue this move could bring stability to the deeply divided society, others point out that it could also mark the beginning of a shift away from the openness that earned the country its reputation as the freest society in Central Asia
2020 was a particularly eventful year for Kyrgyzstan: in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the country experienced unrest that resulted in its third revolution and the fall of the Soorinbai Jeenbekov government in October 2020. A new interim government, led by Sadyr Japarov, was rapidly installed, before a regular presidential election on January 10, 2021 confirmed Japarov as president-elect.
On January 10 Kyrgyz voters were also asked to choose via referendum whether they wanted a presidential or a parliamentary form of governance, or neither of the above. Voter participation was low, at around 30 percent, for both the referendum and the presidential vote, of which 1,133,485 voters—or 81.3 percent—voted in favor of the presidential form of governance. Another referendum to decide on specific details of this reform is scheduled for the spring of 2021.
Since 1993—the year Kyrgyzstan adopted its first constitution as a sovereign country following its departure from the Soviet Union in 1991—Kyrgyzstan's Basic Law has been changed through nine referenda. Each time, the debate has centered on the balance of power between the president, who is elected directly, and the Jogorku Kenesh, the Kyrgyz parliament.
In almost all versions of the constitution up to the 2010 edition, the president has held more power than the parliament, controlling the courts, the prosecutor's office, the security agencies, the army, and the heads of state administrations, as well as having the final say in matters of foreign and domestic policy.
The powers of the Jogorku Kenesh have always included the adoption of laws, as well as approving the president’s appointment of judges, the Prosecutor General, and the chairman of the National Bank. In the entire history of Kyrgyzstan, there has never been a case of the parliament not approving appointments made by the president. The main reason for this is that political forces backed by the president have always managed to impose their decisions within the parliament.
In 2010, following the second revolution and ethnic clashes in the south of the country that led to the departure of the strongman president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a constitutional reform sought to rebalance power between the president and the parliament, in the hope of avoiding more of the violence that marked the country that year.
Under the post-2010 system, the parliament approves and controls decisions made by the government: the president appoints judges, the Prosecutor General, and the head of the National Bank only with the approval of the parliament. Meanwhile, the president still controls appointments to the security agencies, the anti-corruption service, the army, and the heads of state administrations.
One of the first things then-interim Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov did in October 2020 was to propose yet another constitutional reform. The changes he proposed included reducing the number of deputies from 120 to 90, switching from a proportional to a majority system, and strengthening the role of the president. Those amendments were enshrined on November 17, 2020, when the Jogorku Kenesh submitted a new draft of the constitution that significantly expanded presidential powers:  the president would be able to single-handedly appoint the government, judges, and the Prosecutor General, and would adopt acts that have the force of law. In contrast, the reduced parliament would have only a legislative function. Finally, a new 750-member body called the Kurultai, or Assembly of the People, would be established as an “instrument of dialogue between the people and the government.” The Kurultai, whose exact role remains to be defined, would meet once a year and is a project largely driven by Saparov himself.
The very process by which the parliament hastily submitted the new draft of the constitution has been called into question by a number of experts as well as lawyers and civil society actors, who point out that the parliament does not have the right to propose and suggest public amendments to the constitution in its prorogation period.
Regardless, voters were called to cast their ballot on January 10, 2021 in a referendum regarding the form of governance.
Now that the referendum has taken place, to be followed by another in the spring to lay out the details of the new presididential system, coupled with new parliamentary elections, what could the consequences be for Kyrgyzstan, a political anomaly in a region where countries—such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China, Iran and Russia—have traditionally had strong, increasingly authoritarian, presidential systems.
While some make the claim that a strong president is best for such a young democracy and can bring stability, Kyrgyzstan’s recent history suggests the opposite. Erica Marat, a professor at the National Defense University in Washington, notes in a series of posts on Twitter that:
This [call for a presidential model] is the beginning of another yo-yo moment of top-down authoritarianism, suppression of free speech and nationalist, as well as consolidation from the bottom — now by urban activists and regional politicians. It won't end well, there will be more protests, both peaceful and violent. The past decade showed that however imperfect, the parliamentary system allowed all major politicians/business interests settle competing interests on the parliament floor, not streets….Like Trump, he [Japarov] is supported by economically disadvantaged [people] and corrupt elites. When his economic policies inevitably fail (the man doesn't even know branches of government), he'll have to resort to a toxic mix of nationalism and suppression. He may lose some of his base and anger his opponents. There may be violent flair ups, unfortunately.
The pressure is definitely now on Japarov to deliver quickly and effectively before the next referendum and parliamentary elections, as the country deals with the consequences of the pandemic and the return from Russia of many labor migrants whose remittances have kept many families afloat. According to Emil Juraev, a professor of political science at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Academy in Bishkek, what will happen in 2021 was largely predetermined by the events of the end of 2020:
The year 2021 begins with early presidential elections, followed by local elections, a referendum on the adoption of a new Constitution, and new parliamentary elections in an as – yet-undefined sequence and time frame. This series of votes will take place against the backdrop of an extremely worrying economic situation, and the little-predicted situation with COVID-19. A number of opposite behaviors will be demanded from the citizens of Kyrgyzstan – activity in the political field, patience and restraint in the economic field, and caution in the epidemiological field. Whether all these processes will go smoothly and lead to the necessary and creative results by the end of the year is a big question that will hang over the whole of 2021.
Now that Japarov is in place, the coming months before the spring voting season are seen as a real test: how will Japarov and his team present the details of the new presidential system? Will they be able to convince more than 30 percent of the electorate to vote, unlike last time? And what will be the mindset of the 70 percent who did not vote last time?

author: Aigerim Turgunbaeva