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Hong Kong: Pillar of Shame is gone, along with the city’s freedom of expression · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The tip of the Pillar of Shame is wrapped and put inside a container. Image from the Stand New. Used with permission.
A most evocative monument to the Tiananmen Massacre, which stood in the University of Hong Kong for 24 years, since June 1997, was removed by the school administrator before dawn on December 23, 2021.
The 8-meter high concrete sculpture is part of the art series known as Pillar of Shame created by Danish artist Jens Gaischiot in 1996.
The Hong Kong pillar is composed of 50 distorted faces which represent the pain and despair inflicted on people by the bloody crackdown of the pro-democracy student movement in Tiananmen in 1989.
It was exhibited at Victoria Park on June 3, 1997 as part of the activities in commemoration of the eighth anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. After the candlelight vigil, a group of student activists moved the 2-tonne statue onto the podium of Haking Wong Building at the University of Hong Kong. Two weeks later, on June 16, it was re-erected on the spot, just 15 days before the handover of the colonial city to China.
As the pillar landed on the university campus, Jens Gaischiot commented that it would represent a touchstone of Hong Kong’s freedom of expression.
The university authorities decided to remove the pillar in October of 2021. It issued a letter to the host of the candlelight vigil, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China (HK Alliance), asking for the removal the pillar on October 13, but the now-dissolved organization replied that it did not own the statue. At the same time, Jens Gaischiot warned that he reserves the right to claim damage should the authorities dismantle the pillar.
Despite internal legal advice against the act, the authorities sought external legal advice and risk assessment and ordered the removal action on December 22. According to the university’s statement, the legal advice cited the Crimes Ordinance written in the colonial era, rather than the national security law imposed by Beijing as the legal risk:
No party has ever obtained any approval from the University to display the statue on campus, and the University has the right to take appropriate actions to handle it at any time. The University is also very concerned about the potential safety issues resulting from the fragile statue. Latest legal advice given to the University cautioned that the continued display of the statue would pose legal risks to the University based on the Crimes Ordinance enacted under the Hong Kong colonial government.
AFP’s Hong Kong correspondent Su Xinqi is one of the reporters who bore witness to the dismantling process:
The #PillarOfShame has been dismantled into two parts , wrapped , boxed and sent away . All done before dawn. pic.twitter.com/950B2aKVQ0
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) December 22, 2021
Workers started to barricade the dismantling site 11 p.m. on December 22, just days before Christmas, when the majority of students have left the campus for the winter term break. Berlin-based journalist Clifford Coonan highlighted the significance of the timing:
As they tear down the Pillar of Shame, it's worth remembering the holiday period is a busy time for the Chinese government, as it knows the Western media is on holiday — Liu Xiaobo was sentenced on Christmas Day, Hu Jia arrested on Christmas Day and Wu Gan jailed on the holiday
— Clifford Coonan (@cliffordcoonan) December 22, 2021
Jens Gaischiot described the university’s action as a disgrace in a statement:
[I]t is a disgrace and an abuse and shows that Hong Kong has become a brutal place without laws and regulations such as protecting the population, the arts and private property… And it’s even more grotesque that they use the Western holiday, Christmas, to carry out the destruction of the artwork.
Reuter's correspondence Jessie Pang showed the empty space after the pillar was removed:
The original site of #PillarofShame now looks like this: pic.twitter.com/2p0b5po1sQ
— Jessie Pang (@JessiePang0125) December 22, 2021
The pillar is currently stored in the Kadoorie Center of the Hong Kong University in Yuen Long.
On Twitter, many described the sneaky act of the university as an act of shame. Twitter user Lily Wong is among one of these voices:
Pillar of Shame: Hong Kong's Tiananmen Square statue removed – the fact that removal was done overnight says it all. This is an act of shame that the whole world has witnessed. https://t.co/52T91Am5Lx
— Lily Jones Wong (@lwong6053) December 22, 2021
However, the disappearance of the pillar will not destroy people’s memory of the past, as pointed out by Nathan Ruser, research from Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI):
Removing the Pillar of Shame from @HKUniversity does absolutely nothing to make people forget the massacre of student protesters, it just serves as a massive flag that the space for even passive remembrance has disappeared.
— Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000) December 23, 2021
Alejandro Alvarez, a journalist and photographer, believes that the removal of the pillar marks a new chapter of the purge from political acts to the artistic expressions of them:
these images are telling.
the Pillar of Shame has been housed at HKU since 1998. if it's really coming down (seems likely, with machinery being heard and a cargo container nearby) it's another chapter in the purging of the city's opposition, from politics to art. pic.twitter.com/1uaIgLQ8uZ
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) December 22, 2021
Hong Kong was once the only place in China where people could openly commemorate the Tiananmen massacre. However, the annual candlelight vigil was outlawed the first time in 2020 citing pandemic health concerns, and banned again in 2021. HK Alliance was forced to dissolve and three key organizers, Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were arrested and charged for “incitement to subversion” with their bails rejected. The trio, among other key members, were convicted of inciting and participating in illegal assemblies in 2020 and began serving their prison terms earlier this month.


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Serbian authorities accused of spying on visiting Russian citizens at behest of Kremlin · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Serbian Minister of Interior Aleksandar Vulin visits Moscow on December 2, 2021. Photo: Thumbnail image of Youtube video published by Serbian Ministry of Interior (fair use).
This story is based on original coverage by Truthmeter.mk. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and Metamorphosis Foundation.
Footage of a meeting of Russian opposition leaders taped by the Serbian Security Intelligence Agency in Belgrade in May was handed over by Serbian Interior Minister Alexander Vulin to Russian National Security Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow, Serbian portal Nova.rs reported on December 8.
Patrushev also serves as Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB. His meeting with Vulin took place on May 14.
Serbian daily newspaper Danas reported that at the meeting Patrushev thanked Vulin for the wiretaps from the Belgrade meeting held by members of the Russian opposition. It has been difficult for opposition groups to organize meetings in Russia, so they chose Belgrade as they do not need visas to enter Serbia.
Shortly afterwards, on June 31, Russian opposition leader Alexander Pivovarov was arrested in Moscow and remains in custody. He attended the wiretapped Belgrade meeting in early May with another opposition figure, journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who tweeted about the arrest.
Another Russian dissident, businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who lives in exile in the UK, also commented on Pivovarov's arrest.
Сербская охранка, оказывается, записывает разговоры российских активистов и сливает их ФСБ
История не учит, а Гаага ждет..
— Ходорковский Михаил (@mich261213) December 7, 2021
Serbian secret police, it turned out, tapes conversations of Russian activists and forwards them to the FSB.
History doesn't teach us, but the [international criminal court in] Hague awaits.
As of December 2021, Vulin had neither confirmed nor denied the connection between the alleged handover of surveillance tapes and the arrest.
As part of their coverage, Nova.rs announced that Russia and Serbia had formed a joint working group to combat the so called “color revolutions” — a term used pejoratively by Kremlin allies as part of a conspiracy theory claiming that protest movements against autocratic and populist governments have not been authentic, but driven by the West. The task of this working group is to suppress civil protests and monitor the independent media, the opposition and civil society organizations.
When asked by N1 TV reporters about the working group, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said they were “hearing about it for the first time,” adding that “[the information] will have to be checked because this has not been discussed at a Government session.”
The fact that the “color revolutions” are the subject of talks between Vulin and Patrushev is in the official statement of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior following the Serbian minister of the interior's visit to Moscow on December 3.
“На састанку је истакнуто да су “обојене револуције” постале, већ традиционални инструмент политике одређених центара моћи и земаља које имају за циљ нарушавање државности и губитак суверенитета под изговором демократизације и констатовано да се слободне земље морају томе одупрети.”
“At the meeting  it was stressed that “color revolutions” have become a traditional political instrument of certain centers of power and countries, aiming at undermining the statehood and loss of sovereignty under the pretext of democratization, and it was stressed that free countries must resist it.”
On December 9, Belgrade daily newspaper Danas reported that they had reviewed  a document related to the meeting, which included a request from Serbian to Russian authorities to provide surveillance technology to counter “mass unrest.” Serbian authorities asked Russian Federation to train Serbian police in using their technical system for tracking facilities and suspects, as well provide cyber security training, to fight the “color revolutions” more successfully.
According to Danas, the document states that the only two tasks of the Serbian-Russian working group for suppressing “color revolutions” are “normative regulation of the work of non-governmental organizations” and “consideration of ways to counter the mass riots and attempts to destabilize order.”
The Danas article also noted that the document refers to the Working Group for Countering Color Revolutions as operational, after it had been founded in May 2020. The newspaper quoted Mladen Jovanović, the director of the civil society network National Coalition for Decentralization, who stated that the working group in essence undermines the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia:
Najpre, ona služi da se na mala vrata ograniče slobode okupljanja, udruživanja, govora i mišljenja, koje su ustavom zagarantovane. Zatim, ovakav plan predstavlja zloupotrebu policije u borbi sa političkim neistomišljenicima…
First and foremost, it serves as a back-door mechanism to limit the freedoms of assembly, speech and opinion, which are guaranteed by the Constitution. In addition, this plan represents abuse of police in the fight against political opponents…
In his statement for Danas, Jovanović noted that “after the founding of the working group the Serbian authorities undertook action against journalists and civil society activists” as the Anti-Money Laundering Office of Serbia initiated unjustified investigations against them for “alleged money laundering and financing of international terrorism.”
This model of administrative and judicial pressure against civil society and independent media was developed in Russia, where such organizations are required to label themselves as “foreign agents”. It has been applied by other Kremlin-friendly regimes in the region, including Hungary and North Macedonia (2016–2017).
Also on December 9, Russian journalist and opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza addressed this close cooperation between the Serbian and Russian security forces in a statement for Radio Free Europe (RFE).
He confirmed that he and Andrei Pivovarov organized a “seminar of Russian municipal representatives” in Belgrade in May, and that two weeks later his colleague and frequent critic of Kremlin policies had been arrested in St. Petersburg, and was still in prison.
On December 7, in an article published by Radio Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow Radio) citing an earlier article in Danas, Kara-Murza claimed that the Serbian Security Intelligence Agency, as well as the Serbian Minister of Interior Aleksandar Vulin, played a role in Pivovarov's arrest.
Kara-Murza noted that Pivovarov's arrest was “in Belarus style” i.e. similar to the much more famous arrest of Belarus dissident Raman Pratasevich earlier in May 2021. Pivovarov was pulled off a taxiing airplane bound for Warsaw, just before takeoff on May 31.
In October, RFE reported that Pivovarov had been charged with heading an “undesirable” organization, an accusation that stems from a 2015 Russian law that has repeatedly been used to target critical voices.
In the longer article on the case, Radio Free Europe (RFE) provides a brief overview of Serbian-Russian relations. Serbian authorities describe relations with the Russian Federation as “excellent” and even “brotherly” as the two governments support each other's territorial claims in international bodies — the disruption of Kosovo independence for Serbia and annexed Ukrainian territory of Crimea for Russia.
As reported by the Associated Press news agency, the cooperation between Serbia and Russia to combat “color revolutions” is contradictory to Serbian aspirations for membership in the European Union (EU):
“Although formally seeking EU membership, Serbia has refused to align its foreign policies with the 27-nation bloc and has instead strengthened its political, economic and military ties with Russia and China.”
The Serbian Minister of Interior Vulin recently visited Moscow again on December 2, officially to discuss the purchase of Panzer-C1 missile systems and the opening of an office of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Belgrade. On December 3, Serbian media outlet Direktno.rs claimed the visit was to receive guidelines on how to deal with the massive protests currently taking place across Serbia.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


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Lebanon to deport Bahraini opposition Al-Wefaq members in unprecedented move · Global Voices
Raseef22

This article was first published by Raseef22 on December 17. A translated and edited version is being republished under an agreement with Global Voices.
Once an authorized opposition group whose members got elected as lawmakers, Al-Wefaq [is this the name?] Society members are now being punished even outside Bahrain for calling for political reforms and human rights. Image used under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Merely a week after Bahraini authorities protested a human rights conference that was organized by the Bahraini opposition Al-Wefaq Society in Beirut, when Lebanese Minister of Interior Bassam al-Mawlawi ordered the deportation of its non-Lebanese members of the society.
According to the interior minister's media office, his request came due to Al-Wefaq's press conference, held on December 11, being an “offense to Lebanon’s relationship with the sister Kingdom of Bahrain, [that] caused harm to the interests of the Lebanese state.” Prime Minister Najib Mikati also asked the Office of the Public Prosecution to “immediately investigate” the conference, following Bahraini authorities’ official protest in this regard.
In a statement by the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country expressed its “deep regret and denunciation that the Lebanese capital, Beirut, hosted a press conference by elements classified as hostile, and supportive as well as sponsors of terrorism, for the purpose of broadcasting and promoting abusive and malicious allegations against the Kingdom of Bahrain.”
Al-Wefaq  Islamic National Society is the largest Shiite opposition group in the tiny kingdom, but was dismantled by a court order in 2016, accursed of disrespecting the law and being an “incubator for terrorism, extremism and violence” — allegations that its members denied and international human rights groups saw as intensified crackdown on dissent in the country. Since 2011, Al-Wefaq has played an instrumental role in protests calling for political reform in Bahrain, which prompted a Saudi-led force to intervene to quell the demonstrations.
Unprecedented violations
At the conference, Al-Wefaq organizers spoke, as they regularly do, about human rights violations that opposition members and human rights defenders faced in the kingdom in the preceding two years. Since Bahrain's version of the Arab Spring erupted in February 2011, the society has been holding these press conferences in Beirut.
While the society rejects claims that it seeks to overthrow the ruling regime in Bahrain, it does call for political reform, amending the constitution, increasing parliament's power, and making the people the source of authority instead of the ruling family.
Commenting on this, Al-Wefaq told Raseef22: “The issue is internally Lebanese.” Raseef22 tried to communicate with a number of its members, even those outside Lebanon, but they refused to make any statement.
Head of the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, Baqir Darwish, told Raseef22 that the decision “is a violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” adding that:
The Bahraini authorities continue to create political repression, and exports forms of this repression outside Bahrain's borders, through security hunts, as the authority that cannot tolerate some letters on Twitter wouldn't stand scenes from a press conference addressing its grave violations, even if it was from outside Bahrain.
On December 13, Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling for the release of “everyone imprisoned for exercising their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression, including human rights defenders, opposition activists, and journalists.”
The National Commission for Human Rights wrote:
(٢/١) “إن إدراك الحكومة اللبنانية المحتمل لنقل أعضاء الجمعية قسراً إلى مملكة البحرين، أو قبولها الضمني به، إنما يشكل انتهاكاً جسيماً لمبدأ عدم الإعادة القسرية”. وقالت الهيئة في بيان صحفي: “تحظر اتفاقية مناهضة التعذيب، والتي يعد لبنان طرفاً فيها #لبنان #البحرين #ترحيل #قسري
— National Human Rights Commission – Lebanon (@nhrclb) December 16, 2021
The Lebanese government's awareness of the possible forcible transfer of the association's members to the Kingdom of Bahrain, or its tacit acceptance of it, constitutes a grave violation of the principle of non-refoulement. The commission said in a press statement: “The Convention against Torture, in which Lebanon is a signatory, prohibits compulsory expulsion.”
A member of the commission told Raseef22 that “the Minister of Interior took his decision in light of the silence of other government agencies, most notably the Ministry of Justice,” noting that there is no government agency specialized in human rights issues to be consulted on this issue.
In comments made to Raseef22, Amnesty International noted that “Al-Wefaq Society was a legal and licensed opposition in Bahrain, and held seats in the legislative assembly for many years, that the Bahraini authorities even negotiated with it a number of human rights issues.”
Devin Kenny, from Amnesty, also told Raseef22, that “remarks that are not in line with the interests of the government, or deemed hostile to relations between governments, criticizing governments on the basis of human rights, and holding press conferences; these are all activities that fall under internationally-protected freedom of expression.”
All these activities, he added, do not constitute a valid reason to deport anyone, and those deported will be subjected to serious human rights violations if they are arrive to Bahrain. Kenny further said that the Lebanese government's decision to deport Bahraini opponents, because of their critical expression of opinion on the Bahraini government, “contradicts its obligations under international law.”
The decision to deport members of the Bahraini opposition is a precedent in Lebanon, and may be passed on to other Arab opponents. In this regard, Ali Yahya, a journalist specializing in Gulf affairs, told Raseef22:
The decision of the Lebanese Minister of Interior violates several standards and laws. It initially violates Lebanon's historical role as a headquarters for Arab opposition movements, and violates the Lebanese constitution, which emphasizes the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, and not to punish anyone because of their opinions and beliefs.
Intensifying crackdown
This unprecedented incident comes not only amidst a Lebanese-Gulf crisis, resulting from critical comments made by Lebanon's former minister of information George Kerdahi on Saudi Arabia's role in the war in Yemen, but also in the context of an ongoing process of prosecutions against activists and journalists that increased in frequency after the October 17, 2019 uprising. Some of those activists were asked to appear before the military court on accusations of committing so-called “crimes” that took place years ago.
This happened with activist Tawfiq Braidy, better known as Tufalik, when the security authorities at the airport confiscated his passport. After Braidy appeared before the Public Security Information Division for investigation on December 14, he was told that he was accused of insulting the Lebanese passport and offending the Presidency of the Republic, because the passport was issued in its name.
During this year, the Beirut-based Center for Media and Cultural Freedom documented more than 71 violations of freedom of expression and the press in Lebanon, with a remarkable increase in recent months.
On December 8, the Lebanese General Security released the American journalist, Nada Homsi who was held for 23 days although the Prosecution office  ordered her release, which was rejected by the General Security Directory. On November 26, the military court sentenced journalist Radwan Mortada in absentia to 1.5 years in prison over accusations of “disparaging the military establishment” after he held the Lebanese army responsible for the Beirut port explosion.
Last August, Reuters announced that the Lebanese General Security had deported its correspondent in Jordan and Syria, Suleiman Al-Khalidi, to Amman, after questioning him upon his arrival at Beirut airport on a press assignment. They also asked him to hand over his computer and mobile phone, but he refused.
Once viewed as the Arab world's most liberal country for having a higher tolerance to dissent and harbouring pan-Arab opposition figures fleeing oppression in their homelands, Lebanon's horizon for freedoms and rights keep shrinking amidst prolonged political crises.


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Portraits of a pandemic: Films on the unequal impact of COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific · Global Voices
EngageMedia

One of the films in the playlist featured Filipino activist Reina Mae Nasino, whose detention and the death of her three-month-old baby became a symbol of political repression in the Philippines during the pandemic. Photo by Kodao Productions, a content partner of Global Voices, used with permission
This playlist is from Cinemata, a platform for social and environmental films about the Asia-Pacific. It is a project of EngageMedia, a nonprofit that promotes digital rights, open and secure technology, and social issue documentary. This is edited and republished as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose huge global and local challenges, greatly affecting groups in vulnerable situations, including frontline workers, people living in poverty, political activists, and indigenous communities. Since the start of the crisis, marginalised groups have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s health, social, and economic impact. As year two of the global outbreak draws to a close, these issues remain unaddressed. It becomes even more necessary to continue capturing and documenting the times we are living in.
EngageMedia curates a collection of short films that magnifies the daily struggles of individuals and communities during these challenging times, and reflects the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic in ways that are both apparent and invisible.
“Portraits of a Pandemic” holds space for stories that portray with care and nuance the effects of the COVID-19 crisis in the Asia-Pacific. The 10 films from the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Cambodia cover stories on a range of human rights abuses during the pandemic, the impact of harsh lockdown measures, curtailment of media, inadequate health care and food insecurity for marginalised communities.
Before stepping into the new year, there is no better time to ask ourselves: How do we move forward from here? How do we rise and build a better society going forward? We hope that these films would encourage people to reflect on the unequal impact of the pandemic on various segments of society, and inspire collective action and advocacy.
Check out these films:
Through fragments of black and white images, poet and photographer Asma Beethi reflects on isolation, confinement and life during the pandemic.
“Inside Out” is part of the “Tong Isolation Diary” series featuring works from filmmakers from Bangladesh as they portray different characters and their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic. The film has also been released in a UK-based online film festival called “Once a Week.”
Facing discrimination and relying on the kindness of strangers, a group of indigenous Badjao in an Agusan del Sur town in Mindanao island, Philippines, struggles to survive the pandemic as quarantine measures are heightened.
“Nasaan sila, Nasaan ang Virus?” means “Where are they? Where is the virus?”.
Indigenous people like the Badjaos face disproportionate risks during health emergencies, prompting them to seek their own solutions and rely on traditional knowledge and practices to survive.
With the theme Bilang Nilalang (Reduced to Numbers), The 4th Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health highlights the stories and experiences of Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuniyah worked in a company that produces asbestos products for many years. The company did not require its workers to wear the respirator masks appropriate for asbestos exposure. In 2004, she was diagnosed with asbestosis. With the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia, victims like Tuniyah are at high risk.
Filmed during the lockdown by their co-workers, family members, and the survivors themselves, Victim Diaries documents the situation of occupational and environmental victims under the pandemic.
Women's rights activist Reina Mae Nasino was arrested by Manila police on suspected trumped-up charges a month into her pregnancy. In one of the world's most crowded prisons, Reina endured a difficult pregnancy and gave birth to River Emmanuel. Local courts turned down pleas to allow mother and child to stay together. Denied her mother's care, baby River died at only three months old.
“River of Tears and Rage” is a film culled from Kodao Productions’ Facebook Live coverage of baby River's wake and burial. Amid a raging coronavirus pandemic, a dead three-month-old infant became a symbol of political repression by a regime denounced worldwide for its crimes against the people.
In a strange world, Ronnie, a talented dancer, forgets his name and realises his identity was reduced to a set of numbers. Amidst ill-planning by Philippine health authorities, he and his lover struggle to come to terms with the devastation caused by COVID-19.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect Cambodia, a father joins a birthday celebration with friends without taking precautions, possibly putting the safety of his family at risk. Gone and Back is a timely short film produced by Sunflower Film Alliance (a volunteer team operated Sunflower Film Organisation) that reminds viewers about the perils of ignoring health protocols during this public health crisis.
Through JP’s narration, we get a glimpse of the collective histories and experiences of the voiceless that are struggling to survive the onslaught caused by both the pandemic and a nation state that is indifferent to the people’s collective sufferance.
“Yawyaw ni JP” (Murmurs of Discontent) encapsulates the lamentations, rants, and bewilderment of the marginalised enmeshed through the narrative voice of its central character, JP. In a society where freedom of expression is suppressed and the culture of impunity thrives, acts of murmuring serve a social purpose — they lead the disenfranchised and disembodied towards liberation and social emancipation.
During the early days of the pandemic, in a city recovering from the wrath of a siege, confusion arose while fake conspiracies and hearsay caused panic and mass hysteria, particularly in the Amai Pakpak Medical Center. This is the story of health workers of Marawi, a province in the Southern part of the Philippines, and the near-death experiences from misinformation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Almost two months into the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon Island, uncertainty and fear loomed over the streets of Manila as dissatisfaction with the Philippine government’s COVID-19 pandemic response grew. President Duterte continued to threaten quarantine violators and critics of his government, and was called out for human rights abuses stemming from the lockdown.
Against this backdrop, video journalists like JL Burgos take risks and pursue stories from marginalised communities to create films that call for a better society after the pandemic. JL is a video for change practitioner who uses video to contribute to social change.
“Ngayon ang Panahon” is an anthem against the rise of tyranny and the intensifying fascism in the Philippines amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also a response to the recently enacted Anti-Terrorism Law that threatens to curtail the basic rights and freedoms of Filipinos, especially those critical of the government.
Written and produced by Ean Aguila (Ang Bandang Shirley), Jam Lorenzo (The Geeks), and RJ Mabilin (The Axel Pinpin Propaganda Machine), the song is a massive collaboration of over 30 musicians from different groups in the local indie music community.
“Ngayon ang Panahon” calls on the Filipino people to act and let their voices be heard against oppression and injustice.

author: EngageMedia


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Twitter ignores Malaysian government’s request to censor Tweets about flood response · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An aerial view of a flooded area in Klang during the December 2021 Malaysian floods. Screenshot was originally uploaded on YouTube by AiMediaMY under (CC BY 3.0)
The Malaysian government has asked Twitter to censor posts criticizing its disaster response to record flooding as they allegedly violate the country’s laws. Twitter acknowledged the request yet refused to instantly delete the posts, citing its commitment to uphold freedom of expression.
On December 17, torrential rains triggered Malaysia’s worst flooding in recent years. The floods left 41 dead and displaced more than 61,000 people.
The government was accused of being slow in conducting rescue and relief efforts. Internet users commented on the lack of preparation of agencies despite an early advisory about the threat of flooding. On Twitter, the hashtag #DoNotDonateToGovernment and the phrase ‘do not donate to government’ trended in Malaysia after several officials initiated a fund drive for relief operations. Twitter users questioned the need for donations when citizens are already paying their taxes.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) reacted to the criticism by saying ‘obscene’ tweets related to the flooding disaster violate Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998 since they harm the ‘national interest’.
Soon, several Twitter users received notices from the legal team of Twitter that their posts were flagged for deletion by the Malaysian government. Twitter informed them that the posts will not be removed for now but advised them to make appropriate action for their legal protection and safety.
I received the same email too from twitter legal. this clearly shows that the government has just lost it. its time for us rakyat [the people] to voice out and fight back. fight for our rights.#KerajaanBangsat #KitaJagaKita #KerajaanGagal #KerajaanPembunuh https://t.co/N5ikSh8L2t pic.twitter.com/sCI9yRMrPF
— Sriithar (@Sriithar_26) December 22, 2021
The tweet mentioned ‘rakyat’ which means people in Bahasa.
Tweets that criticized the donation drive and the comment of authorities about the eligibility of flood victims in claiming aid were reported by MCMC to Twitter.
Some users ended up deleting tweets to avoid legal trouble.
Some of you may be wondering where my tweet about one of the shelters discriminating foreigners went. Just want to update here that I’ve received a warning from Twitter and MCMC asking me to remove my tweet as I’ve violated malaysian laws. #KerajaanGagal #KitaJagaKita
— ✨ (@cheryltanxr_) December 21, 2021
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) criticized the MCMC for “being used as a shield to protect government failures.” It also has a message to authorities:
Focus public resources towards providing timely and accessible updates and information on the flood and ongoing flood relief work, instead of cracking down on those being critical or dissenting towards alleged flood mismanagement by the State.
CIJ added that it’s time to overhaul the CMA which has been abused by authorities to suppress legitimate dissent.
Charles Santiago, a Member of Parliament (MP), praised Twitter for refusing the request of the Malaysian government:
2/3
Kudos 2 Twitter 4 refusing 2 censor legitimate voices of dissent against a govt tt has failed its pple. Tens of people ar dead in a flood that cld have been prevented & govt response was slow. But MCMC,more concerned abt painting a rosy pic of the govt? Shameless
— Charles Santiago (@mpklang) December 23, 2021
Lim Kit Siang, another MP, urged the prime minister to punish MCMC officials for trying to censor tweets:
The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri should reprimand the MCMC and declare that he will not stop Malaysians from exercising their constitutional right to free speech to criticise the government and his Ministers.
In fact, Ismail should order a full inquiry into the MCMC action asking Twitter to remove posts critical of the government’s response to the recent flood disaster, and even remove the MCMC officials responsible.

author: Mong Palatino


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Indian migrant workers fight for their right to get paid in Serbia · Global Voices
Unbias The News

Illustration by Mohamed Anwar via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
This article was originally written by Yamuna Matheswaran, edited by Ankita Anand and published in Unbias The News. An edited version is republished in two parts by Global Voices as part of a content sharing agreement.
Indian migrant workers have been targeted to work at mega construction projects in EU-candidate state Serbia. A group of workers is not willing to give up fighting for their salary, despite the legal loopholes that a company registered in America has used to contract them for work in Serbia.
When Boobalan Dhanapal, 41, arrived in Serbia in July 2019, he was eager to work and send money back home. He was joined by fellow construction workers from Chennai, a coastal city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Boobalan, who has a degree in civil engineering, was recruited to work as a construction foreman for a monthly salary of EUR 440 (approx. INR 38,500), inclusive of food and housing. At the time, it sounded like a good deal.
In 2019, over 150 men from various Indian states began working for GP Nikolić, a Serbian construction company, on a number of infrastructure projects across the Balkan country.
These included the Surčin-Obrenovac motorway, the viaduct in Chortanovci, and apartments for military personnel in Kraljevo. Their contracts, however, weren’t signed with GP Nikolić but its parent company, Idea Capital LLC, registered in Miami, Florida. This detail would go on to play a key role in the workers’ struggles and the Serbian government’s response. Notably, both companies are linked to the same person, Nina Nikolić.
Once in Serbia, the Indian workers say they had to deal with irregular or non-payment of salaries, which ranged from around EUR 320 to UR 500 (USD 363 to USD 567), in addition to what they describe as poor working and living conditions. Boobalan, who worked in Belgrade and then in Kraljevo, says his issues with getting paid began in March 2020, and that he is still awaiting four months’ worth of wages.
“My family faced a lot of troubles when they didn’t receive the money,” he says via Zoom, speaking in Tamil. “It was a struggle to even pay my children’s school fees.”
Boobalan adds his pay in Chennai is INR 35,000 (about EUR 400/USD 454) per month but that in his interview with Nikolic he was told the pay he was being hired at would be increased by EUR 200 (USD 227) in three months. But that never happened.
Over 150 men left India to work in Serbia in 2019. This is their reality. Graphic via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
Mukhtar Ahamad, on the other hand, says he stopped receiving his salary of EUR 320 (USD 363) from the third month onwards, and that Idea Capital owes him four months’ worth of back pay. Despite the employer’s assertions that they would get paid, workers say the payments never arrived.
Ponkumar Ponnuswamy, president of Tamizhaga Kattida Thozhilalargal Mathiya Sangam (TKTMS), a Tamil Nadu-based construction workers’ trade union, states that on average GP Nikolić owes each aggrieved worker anywhere between EUR 1100 (USD 1247) and EUR 2200 (USD 2495). “Taken as a whole, it is a very large sum of money,” he says.
With citizens increasingly choosing to emigrate in search of better opportunities, countries in the Balkans are facing a demographic crisis. Goran Rodić, vice-president of Serbia’s Chamber of Construction Industry, has stated in the past that Serbia is grappling with a serious shortage of skilled and unskilled workers. At the same time, the Serbian government has been steadily acquiring funding for new infrastructure projects that are in need of a workforce.
Obtaining construction permits, too, became significantly easier as a result of the seven-year USAID Business Enabling Project. Serbia is currently the second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment among transition economies, after Russia.
Jasmin Redzepović from the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), a global federation of trade unions, notes workers from the Balkans are increasingly emigrating to the European Union, Western Asia and Russia. At the same time, countries such as Turkey, China and Azerbaijan have been obtaining contracts for projects and bringing their own workforce to Serbia.
“And then you have companies from Serbia, Croatia and other Balkan countries that are hiring workers through some agencies for daughter companies,” he says. “So we have a variety of instances where Indian, even Nepalese and Filipino workers—not [just] workers from Romania or neighboring countries—are entering [the region].”
- Jasmin Redzepović, Building and Wood Workers’ International
Photo by Boobalan Dhanapal via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
Over the past decade, China has become increasingly invested in the Western Balkans through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Among other sites, the Indian migrants were engaged on the Surčin-Obrenovac section (A2 motorway) of the ambitious Corridor 11 project set to link Belgrade and Bar, Montenegro. The contractor for the Surčin-Obrenovac motorway, of which 85 percent is financed by loans from the Chinese Export-Import Bank, is the China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC). GP Nikolić is one of several subcontractors.
In 2018, the Serbian government signed a bilateral deal with China waiving the application of Serbian labor law for Chinese nationals working in Serbia. In recent times, reports of the exploitation of Chinese and Turkish construction workers in Serbia have been brought forth by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Radio Free Europe respectively.
“There is no political will in Serbia to solve the problem with foreign workers in favor of those workers—on the contrary, foreign labor markets are seen as an ideal source of cheap and completely unprotected labor,” says Mario Reljanović, a research associate at the Institute for Comparative Law in Belgrade.

author: Unbias The News


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Russian censors block website of legal aid non-profit OVD-Info · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

OVD-Info representative Denis Shedov speaks at an online round table on “foreign agents”, November 22, 2021. Screenshot from OVD-Info / YouTube, CC BY 3.0.
OVD-Info, a prominent Russian legal aid and human rights organisation, announced on December 25 that its website had been blocked by Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet and media regulator.
Though the state registry revealed that the website was blocked due to a December 20 verdict from a Moscow-based district court, no information about the reasons for the block was provided. A day later, Roskomnadzor also contacted several social media platforms with a request to block OVD-Info's accounts. Russia's top search engine Yandex also removed OVD-Info's website from its search results following the blocking, according to independent news website Mediazona.
Roskomnadzor representatives told state-run agency Interfax that blocking OVD-Info's pages was necessary because they allegedly contained “banned” information classified as “propaganda of extremism and terrorism”, though the regulator did not specify which content violated Russian laws.
In a statement, OVD-Info's co-founder Grigory Okhotin stressed that the court verdict did not mean that the organisation itself was recognised as “extremist” as it was not a defendant in the court case (and wasn't even invited to the court hearing).
OVD-Info is an independent media project aimed at defending legal and human rights and focusing on political persecutions in Russia. Its mission is to “aid those persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of assembly and other basic political rights”. The organisation's staff provide assistance to those detained during protest actions and collect detailed information on administrative and criminal cases stemming from political and protest-related activity.
In September 2021, Russia's Justice Ministry labelled OVD-Info a “foreign agent”, justifying its decision by noting that OVD-Info was partially financed through the Memorial Human Rights Centre (which also received a foreign agent designation and is facing closure in Russia). Prosecutors who appealed to the Justice Ministry at the time also claimed that OVD-Info had published “instructions on avoiding sanctions for extremism-related legal violations”.
OVD-Info's Okhotin said the state's actions did not come as a surprise:
Мы оцениваем это как продолжение атаки на гражданское общество со стороны государства. Нет ничего удивительного в том, что сейчас под прицел взяли именно ОВД-Инфо, так как на сегодняшний день наш проект, вероятно, — самый крупный правозащитный проект в России. Мы не можем сказать, что эта атака стала для нас неожиданной, так как мы понимали, что после атаки на ПЦ «Мемориал» и предъявления к нему аналогичных претензий, мы станем следующими. […]
Кроме того, ОВД-Инфо — основной драйвер кампании за отмену законодательства об «иноагентах»: после публикации соответствующей петиции нас включили в список «иноагентов», после подачи в Госдуму законопроекта — заблокировали сайт. Так власти осуществляют консультации с профессиональным сообществом.
We see this as a continuation of the state's attack on civil society. It is no surprise that the attack is now focused on OVD-Info, since today our project is probably the largest human rights defense project in Russia. We can't say this attack was unexpected, as we understood that after the attack on the Memorial Human Rights Centre and similar accusations, we would be next. […]
Besides, OVD-Info is the main driver of the campaign for abolishing the “foreign agent” legislation: after we published the related petition, we were added to the “foreign agent” list; after we submitted the bill [abolishing the law] to the State Duma (parliament – GV), our website was blocked. This is the authorities’ way of consulting with the professional community.
At a press briefing, when asked by an Echo of Moscow radio station reporter about cases against Memorial and OVD-Info, President Putin's press-secretary Dmitry Peskov said he did not see these “as a trend”:
Это отдельные случаи, какие-то менее резонансные с общественной точки зрения, какие-то более резонансные, но мы не считаем, что это какая-то массовая тенденция. Мы не видим тут какой-то тенденции.
These are one-off cases, some are more resonant from a public point of view, some are less prominent, but we don't think this is some kind of mass trend. We do not see any trend here.
Okhotin and OVD-Info have vowed to continue their work in Russia and use all available legal means to prove that “all our information is credible and does not violate any laws”.
Даже если все наши соцсети будут заблокированы, мы все равно будем оказывать правовую помощь людям, которых преследуют по политическим мотивам, и найдем способ доносить до вас нужную и важную информацию.
Even of all of our social network pages are blocked, we will still continue to provide legal aid to people persecuted for political reasons and we will find a way to share necessary and important information with you.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Exploitation of Indian migrant workers in Serbia continues · Global Voices
Unbias The News

Indian migrant workers holding a hunger strike in front of the Kraljevo mayor's office. Photo by Boobalan Dhanapal via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
This article was originally written by Yamuna Matheswaran, edited by Ankita Anand, and published in Unbias The News. An edited version is republished in two parts by Global Voices as part of a content sharing agreement. Read part 1 of this report here.
Indian migrant workers have been targeted to work at mega construction projects in EU-candidate state Serbia. A group of workers is not willing to give up fighting for their salary, despite the legal loopholes that a company registered in America has used to contract them for work in Serbia.
In 2019, over 150 men from various Indian states began working for GP Nikolić, a Serbian construction company, on a number of infrastructure projects across the Balkan country.
The process of emigration for migrant workers from India is a long and hard one, even before they board a flight. To secure the job in Serbia, Mukhtar Ahamad, a worker from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, says he shelled out the equivalent of about EUR 680 in recruiting fees to an unregistered agency, “Shakti Tread Test Centre,” run by Muktinath Yadav. Yadav did not respond to Unbias the News’s calls or messages to confirm.
When they arrived in Serbia, the Indian workers found that their accommodations consisted of prefabricated containers, with four people cramped in a small room. “We didn’t get proper food, and the rooms were very small,” says Boobalan. “It was very difficult to stay in that cramped place. Human rights organizations visited, even took videos.” In addition to unsanitary living conditions, workers and union members state that there was minimal or no heating in the lodgings.
Since most migrants hailed from warm places in India, like Chennai, they were ill-prepared for sub-zero Serbian winters and paid out-of-pocket for proper winter clothing.
Graphic via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
A report by the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), a global federation of trade unions, which has been directly involved in this case, notes the migrants worked for 10–12 hours a day, and six days a week on average. Boobalan states the maximum he worked was eighteen hours a day, from 6 a.m. until midnight. “We worked every day, did not have a single day off,” he says, adding that when payment issues eventually arose, the company “put it off saying, ‘yes you’ll get it soon, you’ll get it soon,’ and that continued for four months”.
Jasmin Redzepović from BWI describes how his organization learned about the Indian workers at the end of 2019. It was when a member of a Serbian road workers’ trade union noticed a group of foreigners working on the Surčin-Obrenovac road construction project and notified his union. Eventually, ASTRA, a Serbian organization dealing with cases of trafficking and labor exploitation, got involved.
At their office in Belgrade, Srna Ignjatović of ASTRA explains the employer had also confiscated the passports of the group working in Surčin, until the workers took it upon themselves to complain to the police. ASTRA members also visited the accommodation facilities and found the living conditions were abysmal. “It was so cramped and dirty,” she recalls.
Job advert from Shakti Tread Test Centre, an unregistered agency in Uttar Pradesh recruiting workers for Idea Capital. Originally published on the news site Istinomer. Image via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
“Every month they had to fight for their salary,” says Ponkumar from BWI-affiliated Thamizhaga Kattida Thozhilalargal Mathiya Sangam (TKTMS). Eventually, the workers went on strike to demand payment, and “the company cut off the electricity and water facility. They were not able to use toilet also,” he adds.
Following the intervention of labor unions, ASTRA, and Indian government officials, the first group of workers from Surčin was repatriated to India in January and February 2020. According to Ponkumar, around 50–70 others, including Boobalan, stayed behind. When asked why they chose to stay, Boobalan explains that, unlike the group working in Surčin, they were still receiving their salaries at this point. However, their troubles with getting paid began soon afterward, compounded by the harsh realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boobalan recounts the ways in which he and his fellow workers tried to get their voices heard. “[The company] didn’t understand our financial distress. They just didn’t respond to us properly,” he says. “We went on strike—sat in our rooms for five days. Then I went to the Kraljevo mayor’s office, and complained at the police station.”
Letter from Boobalan Dhanapal to Kraljevo Police. Image via Unbias the News. Used with permission.
“Finally, we staged a hunger strike in front of the mayor’s office. That’s when the Indian Embassy called and told us to end our strike, and that they will settle the issue.” The workers asked to be paid and sent home. Eventually, they were repatriated in August–September 2020, but without their pending wages.
In a response to the BBC in August 2020, GP Nikolić’s owner Nina Nikolić claimed that there were no issues with the lodgings, that the workers themselves terminated their contracts in March, and that the company does not owe them any money. Nikolić also stated that, despite this, the company was still taking care of their health insurance. However, Boobalan and BWI members note that a worker who had sustained a leg injury neither had access to the healthcare system nor received any support from the employer. “The road union called the health workers’ union, and they got one of their members to treat the worker,” says BWI’s Redzepović.
A January 2020 report by Serbian publication Danas quoted Nikolić as saying that only the November salary was delayed since “our business partners owed us money,” and that the company purchased the workers’ flight tickets and paid them 5000 Serbian dinars each (about EUR 42) for travel expenses. Nikolić did not respond to calls and multiple email inquiries about the allegations against her company.
GP Nikolić, the Serbian company the Indian migrants were working for, is a subsidiary of Idea Capital LLC, registered in Miami, Florida, with a branch in Kraljevo. Documents available through the Florida Department of State website show that Nikolić founded Idea Capital in 2013. She is also the owner of GP Nikolić, a family-owned business founded in 1991 by the late Dragan Nikolić.
Despite working for GP Nikolić, it was with Idea Capital that the workers had signed contracts. They were brought to Serbia by means of a technical cooperation drafted between Nikolić’s two companies.
“This was the major problem in the case of the Indian workers in Serbia because their contract was with a so-called US-based company,” says Jasmin Redzepović from BWI.
Citing this as a reason, the Labor Inspectorate declared that as the contracts were signed with a company registered in Miami, the case falls under the responsibility of the relevant authorities and regulations there. Article 2 of Serbia’s Labor Law, however, stipulates all employees working on Serbian territory are protected by the country’s labor laws.
During the process of repatriation in August 2020, a number of workers signed agreements with the employer, brokered by the Indian embassy. Unbias the News has viewed the agreement. Jasmin Redzepović of BWI says that the company agreed to provide a small sum of money (“too small”), a COVID-19 test, and a flight ticket back to the workers’ homes. In exchange, the workers gave up all claims against the company.
In reality, many of the workers did not receive the full amount (USD 400) stated in the agreement.
Here is a video featuring a conversation with lawyer Raavi Birbal on the relevant Indian laws about the Indian migrant workers and whether there are provisions for protecting their rights if they face violations of their rights outside India:
Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, there is a new call, dated July 2021, for workers needed in Serbia. Conditions of the job include 10-hour workdays, six days a week, plus overtime. When asked about the identity of the company looking to hire workers, the agency that advertised the job, Rainbow Consultant, declined to say who it was.


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Indigenous community radio operators win court case against the Guatemalan State · Global Voices
Prensa Comunitaria

Photo of the Ixchel Estéreo radio stations, used with permission.
This article was published by Prensa Comunitaria and has been edited and republished by Global Voices with permission.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) announced on Dec. 17 that it has found the State of Guatemala responsible for violating the rights to freedom of speech, equality before the law, and participation in the cultural life of several Indigenous Mayan peoples by preventing them from operating their community radio stations.
The Indigenous groups affected were the Kaqchikel peoples from Sumpango, the Achí peoples from San Miguel Chicaj, and the Mam peoples from Cajolá and Todos Santos Cuchumatán. The Court, which is the independent judicial body of the Organisation of American States (OAS), also ordered reparations for the affected communities.
In its ruling, based on a case originally filed in 2012 by Guatemalan grassroots organizations supported by Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Clinic at Suffolk University Law School, the Court found that the country’s regulatory system of radio broadcasting results in a de facto, almost absolute ban on Indigenous peoples’ right to freedom of speech and, at the same time, prevents them from exercising their right to participate in cultural life.
According to a statement from the Court, at least 43.6% of the population of Guatemala is Indigenous and approximately 80% of the Indigenous population lives below the poverty line.
Ixchel Estéreo, one of the petitioning radio stations, wrote on its Facebook page that this ruling will be a “turning point for community radio stations in Guatemala.”
According to the Court’s statement, “there are 424 radio stations in the country at FM frequency and 90 stations at AM frequency. However, only one of these is an Indigenous community station. Furthermore, there are many community radio stations operated by Indigenous people that are unable to obtain a state license. The Ixchel station in Sumpango and the Voz del Pueblo station in San Miguel Chicaj, in particular, were subjected to raids and two of their volunteers were prosecuted.”
In Latin America, community radios are non-profit radio stations that aim to promote the development of a local community. They are operated by people from the community and can be found mainly in rural areas. They provide information services, education, entertainment, and defend the community’s rights against potential violations from the State.
In Guatemala, just like in other parts of Latin America, human rights defenders have condemned the persecution of community broadcasters and their historical exclusion from the radio spectrum.
The Ixchel and Uqul Tinamit la Voz del Pueblo radio stations, from the towns of Sumpango and San Miguel Chicaj in Guatemala’s Baja Verapaz department, were raided by the authorities under court orders issued in the framework of criminal proceedings in 2006 and 2012, respectively. Their broadcasting equipment was seized and some of their operators were criminally prosecuted.
The Court found that these raids and seizures of equipment from the Ixchel and Voz del Pueblo radio stations were illegal and restricted their freedom of speech, which goes against the American Convention. The Court, therefore, concluded that Guatemala is responsible for the violation of this right.
The Court ordered several reparation measures to compensate for these violations. These included: adopting the necessary measures so that the Indigenous communities identified as victims can operate their community radios freely; adapting internal regulations that recognise community radio stations as separate forms of media; and regulating their operations by establishing a simple procedure for obtaining licences.
Furthermore, the ruling states that the State should reserve part of the radio spectrum for Indigenous community radio stations, refrain from prosecuting their operators, raiding the radio stations, and confiscating the broadcasting equipment, and overturn convictions against individuals from Indigenous communities who have been convicted for using the radio stations.
In the ruling, the judges recognised that, in addition to allowing Indigenous communities to fully participate in public life, these radio stations are essential for the conservation, transmission, and continued development of these cultures and languages.
“Community radio stations are a way for Indigenous peoples to exercise their right to freedom of expression. Having access to their own stations is essential for promoting the identity, language, culture, self-representation, and collective rights of Indigenous peoples,” the Court’s statement reads.
For this reason, countries within the OAS are obliged to adopt the necessary measures to allow Indigenous communities access to the radio spectrum of community radios.

author: Prensa Comunitaria


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The untold story of a young Colombian Indigenous reporter, guardian and hairdresser · Global Voices
J. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo

Floresmiro Campo at the grave of his son near the family house. Photo by Willian Jairo Mavisoy, used with permission.
Editor's note: this profile is part of wider coverage of threats against Indigenous reporters in Cauca (Colombia). The first story covers impunity regarding crimes against reporters, and the second, the context of Indigenous’ fight to report on community land struggles; the third, the legacy of María Efigenia Vásquez at Kokonuco reserve.
A large fence protects the remains of Eider Arley Campo Hurtado next to the family home, where his laughter once echoed in the house. A photo of him, multicolored flowers and a message in his memory mark the resting place where his father kept him.
Eider's father “planted” his son's body, as Indigenous people call the act of dying and returning to Mother Earth, on March 5, 2018. His son had become one more Indigenous communicator killed on their land. He had not reached 22 years of age.
Eider Arley Campo Hurtado was a member of the Nasa Indigenous guard and the Indigenous intercultural radio station of the Pioyá reserve. He also dabbled in music and was a hairdresser. In Colombia, Indigenous guards are unarmed Indigenous men, women, and children who monitor and protect their ancestral lands in coordination with their traditional authorities and communities.
The Pioyá Reserve is located in the ancestral territory of Sath Tama Kiwe. As the Nasa people write in a press release, liberating the land from large landowners and now the multinationals is paramount and therefore they risk their lives in its defense.
A man, who was allegedly involved with FARC-related illegal activities in the region, had escaped the local town hall of the reserve where he was detained. Informed by the local radio, and as members of the local guard, Eider's father, Floresmiro Campo, and himself tried to re-capture the fugitive and those who helped him. Eider took a different route with some of his friends, while Floresmiro patrolled in a different area.
Floresmiro told Global Voices that he had heard a gunshot and listened to someone on the walkie-talkie saying that a person was injured. When Floresmiro asked who it was, the voice on the radio said: “Chico.” His heart rate jumped since this was the nickname of his son. However, he thought it could be another person. So he insisted. “Which Chico?” They replied, “the hairdresser.” At this point, he knew the victim was his son. He went to the place where Eider was shot and killed.
A few hours later, Nasa community members captured the fugitive and his accomplices. The price paid was high: a life had been taken. A life full of energy, an Indigenous unarmed guard protecting the land, a hairdresser, and an Indigenous communicator was silenced forever.
After Eider's murder, the Attorney General Office published a press release informing that eight alleged FARC dissidents were captured. They were condemned according to Indigenous law, and sentenced by the community between 20 to 40 years in prison at the San Isidro Penitentiary in Popayán, located three and a half hours away from the reserve.
The person who killed Eider asked for forgiveness, but Eider's father rejected his request. The condemnation did not alleviate release his pain, even though he believes they must pay for what they did.
A message in memory of Eider Arley, a reporter and indigenous guard at Pioyá reserve. Photo by Willian Jairo Mavisoy, used with permission.
The bullets silenced the voice of a Nasa Indigenous man who had fallen in love with the radio station at the heart of his reserve. He first started going a couple of hours a day, and later joined the team of Indigenous communicators.
The radio station was created for two needs: faster communication within the community, which lacks phone signals, and exercising territorial control by informing about strange and illegal activities within the reserve.
The radio station also helps keep Nasa culture alive thanks to content produced in their own language, Nasa Yuwe, as Iván Campo, a member of the radio, explained.
Having their own communication channels is critical for the Indigenous people of Colombia's Cauca region. These channels are made by them and for them, respect their traditions, pursue the goal of “freeing Mother Earth” from external actors who dispute the land for legal and illegal businesses, and aim to recover harmony in
Jorge Campo, the current governor of the Pioyá reserve. Photo by Willian Jairo Mavisoy, used with permission.
the region.
By helping to recapture a man who had broken the equilibrium of the land through illegal activities, Eider was killed. Defending their land from illegal actors such as drug traffickers, paramilitaries and the guerrilla is risky not just for Indigenous reporters, but also for ancestral authorities such as Sandra Peña, who was killed in April 2021.
Jorge Campo, the current governor of the reserve and ancestral authority, said that extortions and thefts are increasing while Nasa people peacefully resist the growing illegal crops of coca and cannabis.
In spite of the risks, Nasa people will continue to defend Mother Earth through Indigenous communication, Indigenous guardianship, and culture before those who harm their traditional land.

author: J. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo


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Ukraine to get support from Apple with conducting national census in 2023 · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Officials from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and representatives of Apple Inc. sign a memorandum of understanding on 30 November, 2021, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy present. Photo from president.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0.
Ukraine is gearing up to be the second country in the world, following the United States, to enlist tech giant Apple's help with the national census, slated to be held in 2023.
Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation signed a memorandum of understanding with Apple Inc. and Apple Ukraine LLC on November 30. The document was signed by Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation, and Mark Lennon, Director of Liaison with Public Authorities of Countries and Regions at Apple Inc.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also present for the occasion and later tweeted that cooperation with Apple was a logical extension of the country's digitisation strategy. In the official news release about the memorandum, Zelenskyy was also quoted as saying that for Ukraine, “one of the main priorities is to digitize all public services, the work of public authorities”.
I am proud that 🇺🇦 will be the second country in the world to conduct a census in collaboration with @Apple. An important Memorandum of Understanding was signed today between @mintsyfra and this technological giant. Digitization is an unconditional priority for our state. pic.twitter.com/47jSFiRLe9
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 30, 2021
Apart from the state census, Apple aims to support Ukraine in several other ways, including raising digital literacy levels among citizens and working with teachers who use the iOS platform. Ukraine's cooperation with the California-based company will also focus on developing paperless state services for citizens, currently represented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation's flagship project, the Diia portal and app, as well as introducing digital technologies into the healthcare sector.
Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov noted that the memorandum symbolized not only future digitisation plans, but also a recognition of Ukraine's achievements to date:
We are grateful to Apple for constant cooperation with our ministry and the opportunity to implement the world's best solutions to achieve our most important goal – turning the state into a convenient and efficient service that you want to trust.
Ukraine's last national census was held in 2001, and was also the country's first post-independence after the fall of the USSR in 1991 (see the census website here). The next iteration of the census has been postponed several times: originally planned for 2010, it was postponed until 2011, 2013, 2016, 2020 and finally, until 2023, with officials citing high costs and organisational challenges.
In the years following the momentous Euromaidan protests and turbulent political and social transformations, Ukraine has made strides in reforming state services for citizens and digitising a number of state systems, including state procurement and tax reporting.
In 2020, the Ministry of Digital Transformation launched the revolutionary mobile application Diia (Ukrainian for “action”), a cornerstone of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s campaign promise of making public services convenient and easily accessible via the internet. Today, the app is used by over 6 million Ukrainians and provides over 50 state services in digital format, including access to digital versions of vaccination certificates, passports, driver's licenses and other citizen documents and data.
Though Diia has been hailed as a massive success, it has also faced criticism for its lax data security policies and lack of transparency around safeguards for citizens’ digital identities. In May 2020, activists discovered about 900 GB of citizens’ personal data, including passport numbers and driver's licenses, being traded by an anonymous chatbot on the popular messaging platform Telegram. While journalists and researchers were able to confirm that part of the datasets had come from Ukrainian government registries, no evidence implicating Diia directly has been found.
Still, few disclosures were made about the security of citizens’ personal data on the app, and security specialists cautiously noted that not enough was known about Diia's security testing or any independent audits. The app's first public bug bounty program was not launched until December 2020. Despite this, the government continues to experiment with citizen data, granting various Ministries the power to aggregate and cross-verify data from multiple state registries while lacking comprehensive legal safeguards ensuring citizens’ right to privacy.
Although the news of cooperation with Apple is a massive boon for Ukraine, the tech giant has struggled to cement its image as a privacy-loving company and an advocate for end-to-end encryption. Most recently, it endured controversy around plans to introduce a system that would scan image hashes (unique numbers attached to encrypted images) uploaded to its iCloud storage for content featuring child exploitation and reporting those to the US authorities.
Privacy advocates criticised the system, suggesting Apple could be pressured by foreign governments to, for instance, repurpose the system to quash political speech. Online freedom group Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the move a “backdoor” providing governments with a way to access encrypted data.
Using a popular tech solution such as an iOS-based app in a census comes with its own challenges. In an April 2020 CNET report on the US census which Apple supported with helping to develop the app for canvassers using iPhone 8, Stephen Moore, chief security strategist at Exabeam, a California-based cybersecurity company, said that unsanctioned access to census data was one “movie plot scenario” that could compromise census security and shift perceptions among citizens:
That'll erode the competence of the system and it'll decrease participation, which may be the goal of some foreign adversary, and that's a risk.
In the US case, these dangers were mitigated by developers through “multifactor authentication, the use of security tokens and end-to-end encryption“, as well as limiting the iPhone functionality so canvassers could not browse the internet or download other apps. Even so, a February 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office recommended that the US census bureau conduct more testing and assessments “to improve system performance and scalability”.
It is as yet unclear which of these solutions will be implemented in Ukraine's census scenario and how the census-specific software and hardware will interact with the existing Diia framework to ensure citizen's data remain secure.


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10 stories on Black and Indigenous identity from Latin America in 2021 · Global Voices
Melissa Vida

Illustration by Isela Xospa, under copyright and used by Global Voices with permission.
In 2021, Global Voices’ Latin American contributors focused on first-hand coverage and essays on Indigenous and Black identity, journalism, and human rights. Other contributors have also reported on Indigenous representation in the media and their concern for the environment.
About 50 million people belonging to 500 different ethnic groups identify as Indigenous in Latin America. According to UNESCO, 8 percent of the region's population is Indigenous, although estimates vary. In 2009, U.S. Congress research estimated that 27.7 percent of Latin America's population was of African descent.
Along with Indigenous people, Afro-Latinos have been historically marginalized in society and the media. See these 10 stories from Spanish-speaking Latin America.
Bolivian Aymara writer Ruben Hilari told the story of Felipe Quispe Huanca, known as “El Mallku”, and his legacy for the Indigenous peoples in Bolivia as he passed in January 2021.
A screenshot of the video tribute to Felipe Quispe from the ‘Videos Bolivia‘ on YouTube, remixed by Global Voices. The original photographer is unknown.
Black and Maya artist from Honduras, Samaria Polet Carias Ayala, wrote about how to overcome the erasure of Indigenous peoples in Central America. “It starts with loving our Brown skin,” she wrote.
Painting by Samaria Polet Carias Ayala, used with permission.
There are some 7,000 languages in the world, but only 10 dominate the internet. That is why Indigenous language activists from Mexico and Australia gathered online in July 2021 to talk about how to increase the representation of their languages and worldviews on the internet. This story sums up the key conclusions of that discussion.
Illustration by Isela Xospa, under copyright and used by Global Voices with permission.
Afro-Salvadoran writer Carlos Lara had been invited by El Salvador's Ministry of Culture to celebrate the National Day of Spain on October 12, a day also known as “Colombus Day.” He replied that “The ‘National Day of Spain’ is a mockery and offense to our Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples.” He explained why in an essay for Global Voices.
‘Day of the Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance.’ Illustration by Carlos Lara
Global Voices’ Bolivian media partner Muy Waso reported on Germinda Casupá's story, an Indigenous woman who fights for the endangered environment of the Chiquitania, the largest tropical dry forest in the world.
Germinda Casupá during an interview for Muy Waso. Photo: Esther Mamani
Mexican author Jacobo Nájera reported on how an Indigenous-led telecommunications organization won a legal battle to continue to provide affordable cell phone access to local communities in Oaxaca.
TIC design. Used with permission.
Colombian reporter Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo reported on the importance for the Kokonuco people in Colombia to have their own communication channels, namely non-profit community radios, as Indigenous reporters are often discriminated against in journalism circles.
“Micrófono en mano”: A painting on the wall of the indigenous radio station in Corinto, Cauca. Photo by Willian Mavisoy Muchavisoy.
Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo also reported on the Misak, Awá, Kokonuco, and other Indigenous peoples who joined the historic protests for more equality and healthcare in Colombia. They drew on their historical experience of resisting discrimination and unfair treatment.
Claudia Pai and other Awá women participating in Colombia's Minga and demonstrations. Photo courtesy of Clever Bolaños, used with permission.
Using the analytical methodology of Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory, researcher Isolda Morillo delved into the controversial investments of China's largest oil company in Peru's Amazon Forest. Indigenous and advocacy groups developed strategies to ensure that Chinese investment in their communities includes them in the decision-making process.
Photo from DAR activists showing maps of Block 58, used with permission.
Salvadoran author Eddie Galdamez interviewed Petrona Xemi Tapepechul, whose work vows to unite two marginalized communities: the Nawat language speakers of El Salvador and transgender people.
Petrona Xemi Tapepechul. Photo published with permission.
Thank you for reading Global Voices this year as we continued to highlight underrepresented voices from Latin America and around the world.

author: Melissa Vida


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2021: A fruitful year for Indigenous communities in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

A screenshot from “Seqalu: Formosa 1867″ via PTS’ Youtube channel. Actor: Camake Valaule
Despite the ongoing global hardships this year, 2021 was a uniquely fruitful year for Indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Indigenous community members won Olympic medals, received prestigious musical awards, and explored their history through a major TV drama.
Indigenous peoples in present-day Taiwan are descended from the Austronesian peoples and have been living in the Taiwan archipelago for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century onward, Indigenous peoples in this region were faced with an onslaught of military conflicts as newcomers, including Dutch and Japanese colonizers, invaded their land. After the Kuomintang (KMT) settled in Taiwan in 1949, they faced forced cultural assimilation and 40-years of oppression under martial law. Due to this history, Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples have been deprived of employment and educational opportunities and their cultures and languages are severely endangered.
In recent years, particularly after President Tsai Ing-wen issued a formal apology over past injustices, there has been a greater awareness of the plight of Indigenous peoples, and efforts to reverse the trend by saving the Indigenous languages and mainstreaming their cultures and history.
All these efforts have finally begun to bring the attention and recognition these groups deserve.
#Taiwan‘s Kuo Hsing-chun has won a gold medal in the women's 59kg weightlifting competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Photo: Chris Graythen/AFP. pic.twitter.com/QkXQSNfc2N
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) July 27, 2021
This year, among the 68 Taiwanese athletes in the Tokyo Olympics, 13 are from indigenous communities. Kuo Hsing-Chun, whose Amis‘ name is Tana, broke three Olympic records and won the Olympic Weightlifting Women’s 59kg champion.
Yang Yung-Wei, a Paiwan, took the silver medal in the men's 60-kilogram judo final. Yang's Paiwan name is Drangadrang.
🇹🇼 "Yang, of Paiwan Indigenous background, won the first Olympics judo medal for Taiwan at the Tokyo Olympics this year, which earned him the nickname 'Judo male god'."
Via @Focus_Taiwan https://t.co/Pux4ZkQuIs
— Anthony DIAO (@anthony_diao) November 21, 2021
Taiwan's indigenous peoples have also managed to preserve their music through the cultural ceremonies of their tribes, despite the history of oppression and colonization in the region.
While many indigenous singers, such as diva A-Mei (張惠妹) and Ayal Komod (張震嶽), have built their careers by singing popular Mandarin songs, many have insisted on writing indigenous songs and music. And quite often, these indigenous singers are more willing to speak out on cultural and environmental issues.
Earlier this year, when Puyumaian singer Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw received the Best Indigenous Language Singer and Album of the Golden Melody Awards, he raised concerns over the construction of a solar farm near his tribe:
我的部落，知本部落，現在正面臨土地的議題，希望大家可以關心；希望土地的正義，環境的正義，可以站在我的部落跟台灣每個角落，也希望大家能支持還沒被正名的西岸原住民族，能回到自己的土地。
My tribe, the Jhihben tribe, is facing an environmental problem, and I hope you can spare some time to look into it. I hope we will have land justice and environmental justice for my tribe and for every corner in Taiwan.
The solar farm construction site is located in a wetland area in Taitung where the ancestors of Katratripulr tribe lived. In addition to environmental concerns, there is also controversy about the ongoing dispossession of indigenous land in the name of development.
Panai Kusui's parents are Amis and Puyuma. She is a singer and a land-justice activist. This year, when she received the Jury's award of her record “Love, and yet” in the Golden Indie Music Award in Taiwan, she urged the public to pay attention to the referendum about the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant:
有一天我們都會死，我們要留一個什麼樣的世界給我們孩子？我們做音樂、我們做創作，到底要做什麼？現在你做音樂不會有錢了，如果你還沒有辦法誠實地說出你心裡的話，為什麼要做音樂？我們一直吶喊、一直吶喊，為什麼今天都沒有人談核四要不要同意？當然不同意啊！12月就要公投了，為什麼沒有人談這些事情？這是非常重要的！
We will die one day eventually, and what kind of world do we want to leave for our children? We make music and art, but what exactly do we make music for? Nowadays we do not earn much money through making music. If we cannot tell people what is in our mind, why do we make music? We are shouting. Keep shouting. Why didn’t anyone talk about the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant today (in the ceremony)? Of course we should not agree to reopen this nuclear power plant! We will have a referendum about it in December. Why didn’t anyone mention about it? This is an important issue!
On 18 December, Taiwan held a referendum seeking to unseal and restart work on Taiwan's Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Eventually, a majority of 52.3 per cent voted against the proposal.
Historical drama “Seqalu: Formosa 1867” produced by @ptstaiwan has been wowing #Taiwan🇹🇼 audiences since its August release. The 12-part series set in the country's south depicts the complex ties between indigenous & settler communities. (📸 via PTS) ▶https://t.co/4Y9GL8KSoD pic.twitter.com/SB0UUlOlaN
— Taiwan Review (@Taiwan_Review) October 4, 2021
The historical drama “Seqalu: Formosa 1867″ produced by Taiwan Public Television Service has attracted a lot of comments as it told the history of Taiwan from the perspective of the indigenous peoples.
A screenshot from “Seqalu: Formosa 1867″ via PTS’ Youtube channel.
The drama explores the shipwreck of an American merchant ship, the Rover, in 1867, which led to small armed conflicts between the US and the Seqalu tribe alliance in southern Formosa (Taiwan). Eventually, the groups reached a peaceful resolution after the American Consul Amoy Charles William Le Gendre and the Chief of the Tribe alliance Tokitok signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
All the major Seqalu characters in the historical drama were performed by Paiwan actors without much acting experience. Tokitok, the chief of Seqalu tribe alliance, was performed by Camake Valaule, a teacher in a Paiwan alternative school. His greatest passion in life was collecting, singing, and teaching traditional Paiwan ballads to younger generations of Paiwan. He shared what he learned from the drama in an interview after the filming
我們沒辦法回到150年前，也沒有辦法去改變150年前的那個樣子。可是我們可以決定我們想要長出來的樣子是什麼。不管是求和還是應戰，有沒有更好的辦法。能夠在堅定自己的立場當中，然後在維持和平，然後維持所有的共榮、共存、分享、分擔、分憂的這樣的一個概念之下，能夠一起為這片土地做努力的那個卓杞篤。我希望能夠把這樣的精神，能夠去傳遞給更多的人，更多更多在這片土地上面成長的台灣人、成長的排灣族人、成長的原住民。
We cannot go back to 150 years ago, and we cannot change what happened 150 years ago. However, we can decide what we will become. Whether the choice is to surrender, to fight, or to find better way out, what the Chieftain Tokitok tried to do is to live by his values and keep peace, so all the people can grow, live, and share and work for this land together. I hope to bring this spirit to more people, more Taiwanese, and nurture the Paiwan people and other indigenous people.

author: I-fan Lin


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Barbados prime minister calls a snap election, the first poll for the island as a republic · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Barbados prime minister, Mia Mottley, speaking at the 16th Raúl Prebisch Lecture in Geneva, Switzerland on September 10, 2019. Photo on Flickr by Timothy Sullivan, UNCTAD, (CC BY-SA 2.0)
For the first time in the island’s history, women leaders will take Barbados’ two major political parties into the arena as the island prepares for a snap general election. Incumbent prime minister, Mia Mottley, head of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will face off with attorney-at-law Verla De Peiza and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) at the polls set for January 19, 2022.
This will also be the first general election to take place since the island became a republic at midnight on November 30.
Prime Minister Mottley made the election announcement in a televised broadcast on December 27. Within 24 hours, posters were already going up across the island. The nomination of candidates will take place on January 3.
Polls were due to take place in 2023 and Mottley's reason for calling early elections, she said, was because Barbados should not start the New Year “as a divided nation.” She said her party, the BLP, was “willing to take the risk” of losing the election to ensure unity. The BLP had a resounding victory in 2018, emphatically defeating the DLP.
Quoting from an upbeat popular song “This is who we are,” tapping into patriotic sentiments and quoting from the Bible, Mottley asserted that “Barbados is special,” but expressed concern that Barbadian society was changing, and not for the better—including “a gradual deterioration in national reasoning, national focus …” She added, “I do not like what I see,” as she stressed the need for unity and a sense of purpose, frequently addressing Barbadians as “my friends.”
Verla De Peiza, leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), speaking at a Social Partnership on COVID-19 meeting on March 10, 2020 at the Hilton, Barbados. Photo in the public domain.
The BLP holds 29 out of 30 seats in parliament. However, there remain concerns in some quarters over a new Constitution and other legal matters relating to Barbados’ new-found republican status.
A popular Barbadian news account broke the news on Twitter:
#BREAKING – SNAP ELECTION: #Barbados PM Mia Amor Mottley announces Bajans will vote in their General Elections as a Republic on:
🔔Wednesday, 19th January 2022 🔔#DecisionBIM🇧🇧 pic.twitter.com/8FCrtzzG07
— Kevz Politics 🇧🇧 (@KevzPolitics) December 27, 2021
Adding:
#DecisionBIM: For the 1st time in Barbados’ history, both major political parties will be led by women.
Mia Mottley leads Barbados Labour Party
Verla Depeiza leads Democratic Labour Party (DLP)#Barbados will vote in its 1st election as a republic on January 19th 2022 pic.twitter.com/hE6Ac9Wprv
— Kevz Politics 🇧🇧 (@KevzPolitics) December 28, 2021
The main opposition responded to the announcement, citing COVID-19 uncertainties:
#BARBADOS: The main opposition Democratic Labour Party has blamed a non-caring Prime Minister Mia Mottley for calling a snap general election in the midst of a pandemic and urged supporters to boot the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) out of office on January 19 next year. pic.twitter.com/Zhex75AqyX
— CaribbeanNewsNetwork (@caribbeannewsuk) December 28, 2021
And accused the BLP of panicking:
De Peiza: Panic behind election call https://t.co/7HSUkpdgAz #MeAndMyNation #YourNewsYourTimeYourWay #TheSourceMatters #Barbados #BarbadosNews pic.twitter.com/Tt0dKp0X8U
— NationBarbados (@NationBarbados) December 28, 2021
To some Barbadians, the announcement was no surprise:
I am surprised some people are actually shocked that elections have been called early…The writing was on the wall for weeks! #barbados #elections
— Alicia Nicholls (@LicyLaw) December 27, 2021
The announcement was met with approval by many Caribbean commentators, who saw this as a bold move and smart political strategy by Mottley.
Barbadians on Twitter commented with considerable humor. While COVID-19 numbers have been decreasing on the island and roughly half of the population is fully vaccinated, some felt concerns about the Omicron variant may have been one factor in the decision to hold elections:
#holdmyscarf #barbadoselections pic.twitter.com/DjcntRyW5J
— Barry BarMan Hill (@itsthebarman) December 27, 2021
Another tweeted:
Barbados tuned in to hear if Omarion (omicron) performing in Bridgetown but instead got the election bell 😭🤣
— Joel Manning 🇧🇧 (@joelmpm1) December 27, 2021
While one Barbadian quipped:
From Mary, Jesus and Joseph to Mia, Verla and Joseph in less than 48 hours. #Barbados #Elections #Scripted
— Stephanie Bishop (@StephiBi) December 28, 2021
The second Joseph she referred to is the opposition member in parliament Bishop Joseph Atherley, a minister of religion, representing his People’s Party for Democracy and Development since June 2019.
Others were enthusiastic:
Every day @miaamormottley leaves me in absolute awe.
Look at women in politics nuh! Look at leadership!
Snap election for Barbados 🙌🏽…Bajans go to the polls on January 19th, 2022.
Great is Mia! pic.twitter.com/oIdbi5Vu96
— Tedra Kirby (@TedraKirby) December 27, 2021
Including an expat in Barbados:
#Barbados An election has been called in Barbados for January 19th. There is no one more qualified to run Barbados than @miaamormottley . I remember the days with no garbage pick up, sewage in the streets, no buses working. She has turned Barbados around. She has my vote 💯
— 🇨🇦 fully vaxed and wearing a mask 🇧🇧 (@heatherpulooza) December 28, 2021
One Trinidadian, noting Mottley’s call for unity, observed that his own society was “divided”:
T&T cannot say as Barbados that “we're currently divided”: T&T, because of its racial composition and consequent politics, has ALWAYS been a divided society; therefore, calling an election in T&T to bring people together to foster a ‘united nation’ will forever be a pipe-dream😞!
— Ormonde Henrl (@HenrlOrmonde) December 28, 2021
And from Curaçao, a suggestion that there are constitutional issues in which Barbadians have had no say to date:
Peace, is there an opportunity for the people in Barbados during elections to vote for new bills, amendments, citizens initiatives, new decolonized electoral system, reparatory justice referenda etc?
— sablikatriumph (@sablikatriumph) December 28, 2021
She was responding to a tweet pointing to the weakness of the Barbadian opposition:
Someone needs to start writing a book about political developments in Barbados between 2017-2027.
Is this a story of democracy in peril or the tale of Barbados’ rise to social and economic glory?
Either way, the opposition parties need urgently to awaken from their slumber.
— Kareem Smith (@ksmith_official) December 27, 2021
Mottley has amassed a large personal “fan club” in Jamaica. Wooed by her stirring and hard-hitting speeches on the international stage, on climate change and other issues, many Jamaicans were deeply impressed by the declaration of Barbados as a republic, wondering aloud why was it taking such a long time for Jamaica to decide on the issue. However, there remain conflicting views on the benefits of becoming a republic.
One Jamaican broadcast journalist opined:
I find PM Mottley is an excellent political communicator. The tone of the national address lastnight was very good. It felt like a chat between friends.
— Ricardo Brooks (@Ricaaduh) December 28, 2021
So what was behind the snap election announcement? One Jamaican surmised:
I am too, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking that this is to give the people a chance to choose a new government to lead them into the new republic. On the flip side of that coin, it's probably a power grab because the entire opposition is in a shambles.
— Christopher J. Nurse (@ChrisJNurse) December 27, 2021
Another Jamaican was also sceptical:
Bajan national euphoria over Barbados new Republic status plus Rihanna's elevation to National hero coupled with “tax free” Christmas shopping holiday = time to call snap elections! Duh!!! This is 2 year plan. The end result will be a ‘Fait accompli'🙄
— Sheryl Bromfield🇯🇲 #staywoke (@BromfieldSheryl) December 28, 2021
While one commentator and civil society activist observed:
Snap elections always watch worthy, so too language. Even as we have to take in the whole context of what is said, in this case, the references to ‘ divisiveness’ and needed unity to face expected Omicron wave etc..
— Carol Narcisse (@CarolNarcisse) December 28, 2021
On other Caribbean islands that still have the British monarch as head of state, public consensus on the issue of a republic is not so clear (unlike Barbados, Jamaica and other islands require a public referendum). One Grenadian commented:
Good luck with that lol…cause Grenadians… https://t.co/Kgjpp58Pvt
— Krissy 🇬🇩 (@KrissyLionz) December 24, 2021
There was even a hearty endorsement from far-flung Kenya:
President Kenyatta’s strategic ally & first female PM of Barbados Mia Mottley demonstrate leadership & remarkable political brilliance by taking a risk associated with only few in history.She called for a snap elections on Jan 19,week’s after walking her gvt out of the UK shadows pic.twitter.com/nfyItPsLH4
— SAM ‹‹‹‹‹‹🚴🏾♂ (@The_Optics) December 28, 2021
While there are no predictions or opinion polls as yet, 2022 should be an interesting year politically for Barbados, and for the Caribbean.

author: Emma Lewis