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A Respected Ceramicist and a Skilled Novelist: Jamaica Loses Two Much-Loved Creatives in Two Days · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A Gene Pearson sculpture near the hilltop pool at Strawberry Hill in the Jamaican Blue Mountains, March 7, 2009. Photo by Nicholas Laughlin, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Jamaican ceramicist and sculptor Gene Pearson created iconic Nubian heads. Author Garfield Ellis wrote poignant novels depicting Jamaican life. Within a few days, both creative Jamaicans passed away, leaving shock and sadness in their wake and a huge wave of online tributes.
Pearson died on March 15 in Jamaica and Ellis died on March 16, 2018 in Canada.
A celebrity in the Jamaican art world, fans admired and regarded Pearson as one of the best artists in Jamaica. His works appeared in public places, galleries, on tourism posters and in Jamaican homes. Famous collectors of his work include musician Stevie Wonder, former United States president Bill Clinton, author Maya Angelou, and former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Pearson received numerous awards, including the Musgrave Medal (Silver) in 2010. He was also honoured in the National Gallery of Jamaica's 2010 Biennial and received a National Honour Order of Distinction in 2001 which was then upgraded to ‘Commander Class’ in 2015.
Born in rural Wood Hall, St. Catherine Parish in southeast Jamaica in 1946, he was a graduate of the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts (then the Jamaica School of Art), where he later taught. Legendary teachers include master potter Cecil Baugh. Working primarily in ceramics, Pearson also created bronze pieces and was a master of the ancient Raku pottery technique.
Pearson's work resonated with Jamaicans from many walks of life. National Gallery of Jamaica noted in 2010:
Pearson’s ceramic and bronze sculptural work celebrates black beauty and dignity, which accounts for the popularity of his work in Jamaica and the African Diaspora cultural sphere. His style and subject matter are inspired by the arts of ancient Nubia, Benin and Rastafarian culture and emerged in dialogue with the visual language of contemporaries, such as Christopher Gonzalez. His style is however firmly distinguished from the latter’s moody expressionism by the silent, introverted monumentality of his sculptural and ceramic forms and is arguably among the most distinctive and recognizable of the artists of his generation.
A dedicated artist, Pearson's output was considerable:
Jamaican ceramic artist Gene Pearson, who died yesterday, once said: “I never stop. I just keep working. I continue to grow like the trees in the mountain.” In memory of the man and his monumental contribution to Jamaican art, here are 10 facts about him: https://t.co/YkG5WlJ2wb pic.twitter.com/KnINLeqPM2
— diGJamaica (@diGJamaica) March 16, 2018
Pearson's death was officially recognised by the Jamaican government. The Jamaican Senate paid tribute to him the day after his death, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, shared:
In 2016 I was honoured to shake the talented hands of #GenePearson.The Senate paid tribute to him this morning.#RIP pic.twitter.com/zE0bRHMHLd
— Hon. Kamina J Smith (@kaminajsmith) March 16, 2018
Both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Culture Minister Olivia Grange paid tribute to Pearson.
Art lovers, collectors, and artists honoured Pearson with photographs of their favorite sculptures.
The artist died suddenly on March 15, just two days after the passing of his ex-wife Jacquelyne Hussey-Pearson, who had been struggling with cancer for several years. They have a fourteen-year-old son. Human rights advocate Carol Narcisse shared:
Saluting Gene and Jacqueline Pearson. They have left so much to be cherished, protected and cared for. we must not fail them.
— Carol Narcisse (@CarolNarcisse) March 16, 2018
Garfield Ellis, affectionately known as “Jiggs”, was one of several distinguished writers from the diaspora who made regular visits to his native Jamaica.
On Ellis's homepage, he spoke to the challenges of making it as a writer in Jamaica:
It is a very difficult thing to want to be a writer in Jamaica; especially if you want to be great. It seems pretentious and ambitiously ambitious, ridiculously vain, a head-in the-air, pie-in-the-sky type of folly. Writing is not for poor people to do. It is for those of a lighter cast, white people, rich people, foreign people, but not people like me- ordinary people- for whom just growing up is a struggle. Besides, it is not something that you share with your friends. I knew no writers. There was no one to discuss it with. There was no precedent in my community, not for writing, not for any kind of success. Those who succeed, leave.
Canada-based Jamaican writer Pamela Mordecai tweeted:
Shocked to hear that Garfield Ellis, that warm man and wonderful writer, has died… Finding it very hard to believe! RIP Garfield. We will miss you… Condolences to your loved ones.
— Pamela Mordecai (@Refracting) March 17, 2018
Ellis grew up in an impoverished neighbourhood near Spanish Town (St. Catherine Parish) as the oldest of nine children. He studied engineering and worked at the Caribbean Maritime Institute in Kingston.
When one of his short stories won a writing prize from the University of Miami, he resigned from his job in Jamaica and enrolled in its Masters of Fine Arts programme as a James Michener Fellow. He was a three-time winner of the Una Marson Award for Adult Literature (1997, 2000, 2017) and the Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for Short Fiction (2000, 2005). He also won the 1990 Heinemann/Lifestyle Short Story Competition. Angels’ Share, Ellis’ last novel (2016), was launched in Toronto, Canada.
Ellis died on the morning of March 16, 2018, in Scarborough, Canada.
He was deeply respected by the Jamaican literary community, who reacted with shock. The 2015 Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James simply stated:
Garfield Ellis. I'm stunned.
United Kingdom-based writer Kei Miller paid tribute to Ellis’ non-judgmental approach to writing:
Garfield Ellis always struck me as the strangest sort of Jamaican writer. Never before had I met a writer so full of the books which he would write (and which he did write), so dedicated to not just writing but writing with ambition, so thoughtful about matters of craft, and yet so thoroughly lacking in bad-mind. There was never even the hint of it. That combination of ambition with lack of competitiveness distinguished him from us all. You could never call a writer’s name in his presence and have him turn up his nose, or look sideways or discretely sip his drink and change the conversation as I have done so many times. I think his was simply the eagerness to be in a community of writers and readers, and he would never do anything to hurt that community which he so cherished. His smile came quickly, naturally, and he spoke about all of us with such generosity. The success of other writers seemed to please him. I think he must have always seen the bigger picture: this was Jamaican Literature; Caribbean Literature – it was a broad landscape whose distance he couldn't walk by himself. He knew himself, as we all should know ourselves, as a small cog in a mighty wheel. His loss is the loss of one of Jamaica’s better novelists, but also, it is the loss of one of our greatest cheerleaders. I am going to miss him. Rest in Power my yute [youth].
Trinidad's Bocas Lit Fest shared:
We're saddened to learn of the passing of Jamaican author @Giggsellis, who has died today. A past Bocas author, his presence will be deeply missed in both the Caribbean and international literary community. pic.twitter.com/7SlB64rbHB
— Bocas Lit Fest (@bocaslitfest) March 16, 2018
Jamaican publisher, writer, and reviewer Tanya Batson-Savage tweeted:
When I read Garfield Ellis’ Such as I Have I cried and cried. I went out and bought a couple copies for friends I thought must read it, as I refused to share mine. This is the talent we lost today. My heart weeps. Walk good bredrin #RIP pic.twitter.com/ciKIvEv8xF
— Tanya Batson-Savage (@Savageinsight) March 16, 2018
Writer Geoffrey Philp was not prepared for Ellis’ death:
I was not/ am not prepared for this. Garfield Ellis is—I refuse to use the past tense—not yet anyway-a man who always made me and anyone who was around him, feel life—the life that poured out of him , his laughter—always his laughter—and the remarkable characters he created—and to rejoice in the moment for this bright brilliant existence that we share that is often too brief. God’s speed, my brother. I feel blessed to know you and to celebrate your life and career and the times we spent together.
After winning the Lignum Vitae Award for young adult literature in November 2017, Ellis expressed concern that young Jamaicans were not reading enough:
There don't seem to be a lot of young people who are reading. I don't think enough is being done to generate interest in reading. When I was in Jamaica [in 2016], I looked in the bookstores, and there are no books, and the libraries are empty. People are not writing young adult fiction. I don't think there are a lot of young people writing as a general rule in Jamaica.
Recently wrapping up the biennial Kingston Book Festival, the Book Industry Association of Jamaica shared:
Jamaica has lost two brilliant creatives in a matter of hours. Thank you #GenePearson and #GarfieldEllis ??
— BookIndustryAssnofJA (@bookindustryja) March 16, 2018
A university lecturer and blogger summed up her feelings about the passing of both Pearson and Ellis in a tweet, with a stirring piece of poetry:
Jamaica, we mourn the passing of sculptor Gene Pearson and writer Garfield Ellis. But we will celebrate them always. #RIP #themaskofgrief pic.twitter.com/mcI9ROFc71
— Riddim.Writer (@IsisSemajHall) March 16, 2018
Both Pearson and Ellis were ground-breakers.
Pearson made ceramic art accessible, popular and spiritually appealing. Ellis broke away from his humble background to bring Jamaican families and relationships to life in his writing.
Their deaths will leave a void in Jamaica's creative landscape.

author: Emma Lewis


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Ghouta’s Youth Become War Reporters to Shine a Light on Suffering Civilians · Global Voices
Mazen Hassoun

Noor and Alaa filming the destruction caused by Syrian regime air strikes in Eastern Ghouta. Used with permission.
The following is a series of testimonies from Eastern Ghouta. It comes following two testimonies from Eastern Ghouta (in the suburbs of Damascus) by a nurse and a dentist, published on February 20 and March 4, 2018, respectively, and published by the Act For Ghouta collective. Global Voices has also published testimonies from Damascus, which you can read here.
Controlled by anti-regime rebels, Eastern Ghouta has been under siege by the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and its allies since the end of 2013. But in recent weeks, the violence intensified drastically. In the two weeks between the evening of February 18 to the evening of March 3, the medical data by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reveals 4,829 wounded and 1,005 dead or 344 wounded and 71 dead per day. Civilian infrastructure has also been severely damaged, with more than 25 hospitals and health centers hit, some more than once in four days.
Two sisters from Eastern Ghouta, 12-year-old Noor and 8-year-old Alaa, have taken to Twitter in a joint account to speak for themselves about the ongoing siege.
The girls and their mother, Shams Al-Khateeb, saw tens of orphan and homeless children left without care after losing their parents. Al-Khateeb created the Twitter account for her daughters hoping that people would see what was taking place in Ghouta and demand action.
Global Voices (GV) got in touch with young Noor, who talked about why she wanted to become a journalist:
I want to be a journalist to convey the innocents’ suffering or study chemistry to make medicine to the people.
Despite the siege, Noor used to go to school and was one of the school's most brilliant fifth-grade students. But recently her school was bombed by jets allegedly launched by the Assad regime and the ongoing military campaign prevented her from attending other schools.
Now, Noor and her family spend most of the time at home.
They survived an air strike that targeted their neighbours in which Alaa suffered relatively mild injuries.
Sometimes, the sisters walk the streets or visit shelters to film and talk about the deepening humanitarian crisis. Speaking to GV their mother Al-Khateeb said they have become desperate:
Most of the time the girls stay close to me and hug me and start crying when an air strike hit nearby. We don't have much food, only some herbs like parsley, nor water to drink or shower.
The aftermath of the strike on February 22, 2018, was filmed and posted on Twitter. Warning: the video is graphic.
For God's sake help us!#SaveGhouta #Ghouta#Syria pic.twitter.com/9QXVypUSrA
— Noor And Alaa (@Noor_and_Alaa) February 22, 2018
In the video, Noor cries:
Why is he bombing us? What have we done to him? And what does he want from us?
Noor and Alla, like other children, want the bombing to stop so they can return to school and resume a normal life, their mother Al-Khateeb reports to GV.
The Syrian war is often noted as the most documented conflict in history, due to Syrians themselves who have documented it.
When 20-year-old Mahrous Mazen was sitting in his class seven years ago, he never thought he would become a photojournalist covering the suffering of the people of his home city, Douma, one of the towns in Eastern Ghouta.
But due to the horrors of war inflicted in Syria, Mazen decided to become a photographer.
Mahrous Mazen holding a camera and filming the air raids by the Syrian regime. Source: Twitter
Mazen takes his camera out every day to photograph the destruction, the dead and the injured following bombing campaigns by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally.
Mazen posts daily photos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or sends them to news agencies “so that the world sees these horrors,” he tells GV.
Photographer covers the human dailylife in the besieged #Eastern_Ghouta, based in #Douma
Please support the account
Thanks to all ❤? pic.twitter.com/igENwU3n05
— MAHROUS MAZEN© (@Mahrous_Mazen2) March 14, 2018
Mahrous told GV that his father was killed in an air raid by regime jets in 2014. He lives today in a shelter in Ghouta along with his family and neighbours.
The shelters are just normal basements lacking the proper equipment to protect civilians from air strikes.
Every shelter hosts 30 to 40 family, I've visited one in Arbin that hosts 120 families.
Mazen continues:
It's very hard to get an internet connection in order to upload the photos and videos because of intensive shelling. Many families are still buried under the rubbles and can't be reached by White Helmets.
Mazen tells GV that he refuses to leave Ghouta. He fears the total destruction of Ghouta, referring to the city of Aleppo, which was devastated in 2016. Mazen doesn't trust the current regime's claims that it will guarantee a safe evacuation given how frequently it violates these agreements.
He also points out that even the United Nations (UN) in Syria have been targeted when jets hit locations near UN aid trucks while they were delivering food. Medical supplies bound for Ghouta were also seized by the regime on March 5.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mazen Hassoun


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“Africa and the Poetry of News”: Global Voices Hosts a Twitter Chat for World Poetry Day · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa Twitter Chat celebrates World Poetry Day on March 21, 2018.
To honor World Poetry Day on March 21, 2018, the Global Voices sub-Saharan Africa team will be hosting a Twitter conversation on the theme of “Africa and the Poetry of News.”
In 1999, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared March 21 World Poetry Day stating: “poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings.”
Around the world, poets, cultural workers, writers, linguists, and language lovers everywhere will be celebrating the day with readings, conversations, publications, recitals, and workshops to promote and celebrate the power of poetry to affirm a shared humanity.
Global Voices sub-Saharan Africa Community Manager Nwachukwu Egbunike will moderate the conversation with discussants Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein (United States/Zanzibar), Njeri Wangari Wanjohi (Kenya) and Dami Ajayi (Nigeria).
Lichtenstein (@travelfarnow), a freelance writer and poet, has worked on a variety of literary arts advocacy initiatives in Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and the United States. Wanjohi (@kenyanpoet) is a prolific Kenyan poet and journalist. Ajayi (@ajayidami), a Nigerian medical doctor, recently published his second collection of poems entitled A Woman's Body is a Country. Egbunike, also from Nigeria, is a published poet with a recent poetry collection entitled Blazing Moon.
The chat begins at 7 p.m. (West Africa Time, GMT +2) on Wednesday, March 21 on Twitter using the Global Voices sub-Saharan Africa handle @gvssafrica. The conversation will center around links between journalism and poetry with a special focus on the continent of Africa.
Are poets merely guardians of poetry or are they possessed by a muse? For many, the poet is a servant of beauty. Yet, others assert the poet as a prophet.
What's the use of fine and flowery words when poets and their communities remain in tyranny's chains? Poets who side with the oppressor do not take advantage of poetry to serve the common good. In a continent dominated by despots, the poet as a truth-teller is not a luxury.
Perhaps the poet is complex: a vessel of beauty as well as an agent of truth.
Can poetry be of service to journalism? In a world of fastidious headlines, how can poetry humanize the news? What can journalists learn from poets, poetry, and ‘poetic thinking'?
Image from Stone Town, Zanzibar. Photo credit: Pernille Bærendtsen. Used with permission.
Across the continent of Africa, organizations like Chimurenga and Badilisha Poetry X-Change (South Africa), Soma: Leisure, Culture, and Learning (Tanzania), Kwani Trust (Kenya), The Port Harcourt Book Festival, Ake Book Festival, Lagos Book and Art Festival (Nigeria), Hargeysa International Book Fair (Somaliland) and Writivism (Uganda) are just a few examples of organizations across the continent dedicated to the promotion of language, literature, and a reading culture.
The last ten years have seen a rise in the number of workshops, festivals, readings, publications and seminars designed to create more robust literary cultures across the continent. Poets and writers actively acknowledge poetry's deep roots on the continent and its unique power to strengthen democracies, challenge the status quo, and advocate for freedom of speech.
Recently, ‘poetry and the news’ made its own headlines with media outlets and organizations exploring the intersection of the two: Nieman Storyboard: Poetry and Narrative Journalism and NPR: NewsPoet: Writing the Day in Verse.
Journalists continue to return to the idea of ‘the poet as witness’, conveying deeper, more nuanced and emotional qualities of stories behind headlines and breaking news.
This and much more will be discussed during the Global Voices sub-Saharan African Tweet Chat.
Note: Amanda and Nwach are part of the Global Voices community as editors and contributing writers.

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


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Anti-Islam TV Spot in the Netherlands Has Dutch Calling for More Love, Less Hate · Global Voices
Tori Egherman

Screenshot of the political spot created by Dutch anti-Islam party PVV from YouTube.
On Friday afternoon, March 16, 2018, many people in the Netherlands found themselves watching a campaign commercial for the Party for Freedom (PVV). Red block letters flashed against the screen to the sound of a booming musical score. “Islam is discrimination,” the first sentence read. To the sound of ominous drumbeats, “discrimination” is then replaced with words like “violence,” “terror,” “Jewish hate,” and “Christian hate.”
The Netherlands hosts local elections on March 21. The video from the PVV was aired on public broadcaster NPO in a time slotted for political messages. Almost immediately, complaints to the public station began to pour in. Many were shocked that such a video could be aired at all. Others complained that it was aired in the afternoon.
On Facebook, Abdelkarim El-Fassi of Zouka Media wrote:
…Je bent als kijker boos, verbolgen, woedend en verbaasd over hoe zoveel rabiate haat primetime via de NPO binnen heeft kunnen komen. In de ruimte waar je je het meest veilig waant: je eigen huiskamer. Midden op de dag. En de kans is groot dat je kleine het heeft gezien. Of je neefjes en nichtjes die mijlenver van je vandaan wonen en niet hebt kunnen beschermen tegen zoveel woede. Dat was mijn reactie althans; wat als Hamza, Yassin, Romaissa en Imraan hiernaar gekeken hebben?
As a viewer, you are angry, bent out of shape, furious, and surprised about how so much rabid hatred can come through NPO. In the room where you feel safest: your own living room. In the middle of the day. And with the big chance that your little one has seen it. Or your nieces and nephews that live miles away that you were unable to protect from so much anger. That was my reaction at least; what if Hamza, Yassin, Romaissa, and Imraan saw this?
In response to complaints, the NPO ombudsman stated that public television has no influence on political messages:
Waar de grens ligt van wat toelaatbaar is, is in ons vrije land aan de rechter.
In our free country, the border of what is permissible is up to the judge.
For his part, Prime Minister Rutte stated:
Ik geloof dat ik hier het overgrote deel van Nederland representeer als ik zeg dat ik dit onsmakelijk vind.
I believe that I represent most of the Netherlands when I say that I find this is distasteful.
Sylvanna Simons, the founder of the anti-racist political party Bij1, had this to say about the video:
Ik ben nog onverminderd misselijk van de haatpropaganda die de NPO gisteravond uitzond namens de PVV op een tijdstip dat ook argeloze kinderen ermee geconfronteerd kunnen worden.
En wat schetst mijn verbazing?
Geen nationale verontwaardiging?
Geen “onze joods-christelijke waarden die onder druk staan?”
Geen woord in de late night talkshows?
Helemaal niks.
Oh wacht. De afzender van het haatspotje mocht vanmorgen gezellig mee presenteren bij de ochtendshow van slapend Nederland.
Over poesjes en dierenliefde.
Meer dan ooit is mij duidelijk: in Nederland is de ene Nederlander de andere Nederlander niet.
I am still sickened by the hate propaganda broadcast on NPO last night on behalf of the PVV at a time when unsuspecting children could also see it.
And what does my surprise paint?
No national outrage?
No “our Judeo-Christian values are on the line?”
Not a word from the late night talk shows?
Nothing at all.
Oh wait. The presenter of the hate spot could be all cozy with the sleeping Netherlands as co-presenter of a morning talk show.
Talking about kittens and animal love.
More than ever, it is clear to me that in the Netherlands one Dutch person is not like the other Dutch person.
On Twitter, interfaith activist Chantal Suissa-Runna wrote:
Ik ben al ziek maar mijn koorts springt hier spontaan een graad van omhoog… de PVV spotjes. Islam is slavernij, dodelijk, dierenleed… wtf? Als Jodin tolereer ik dit niet. Veel Joden zijn het zat gebruikt te worden door populistische partijen als stok om moslims mee te slaan!
— Chantal Suissa-Runne (@CASuissa) March 16, 2018
I’ve been sick, but my fever has gone up another degree… the PVV ads. Islam is slavery, deadly, animal abuse…wtf? As a Jew, I do not tolerate this. Many Jews are being used by populist parties as a stick with which to beat Muslims.
Controversy is nothing new for Geert Wilders and the party he leads.
Wilders has been brought up on criminal charges of discriminatory speech twice already. The first time was for a series of incidents that included articles, videos, and public speaking and was alleged to spread hatred of Moroccans, Muslims, and other non-Western minorities. The second criminal charge was the result of public event where he led his campaign supporters in anti-Moroccan chants.
In the above video, Wilders tells his supporters that there are three questions that define the PVV. The first question he asks is, “Do you want more or less of the European Union?” His supporters chant, Minder, minder, minder (Less, less, less).
The next question is whether his supporters want more or less of the labor party. Prior to asking the third question, Wilders states that he knows that he will be criminally charged because of what he is about to say, but he values “freedom of expression” too much not to say it. He then goes on to ask, “Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and this country?” In a 2016 trial, he was, indeed, found guilty of incitement and encouraging discrimination.
Will history repeat itself for Wilders this time round? The party Islam Democrats shared on Facebook their intention to file a complaint against him for the recent TV spot:
“Wij roepen een ieder in dit land, moslim en niet-moslim, op om stelling te nemen tegen moslimhaat, xenofobie en andere vormen van onverdraagzaamheid.”
We call on everyone in this country, Muslim and not-Muslim, to take a stand against Muslim hate, xenophobia, and other forms of intolerance.
Not everyone agrees with filing a complaint. Abdelkarim El-Fassi of Zouka Media wrote on Facebook:
Er is in ieder geval één ding wat ik niet ga doen. En dat is aangifte. Been there, done that. Ik gun hem die rechtszaal niet meer. Ik gun hem geen podium waarmee hij uit de schaduw van (die andere engerd) Baudet kan stappen. Ik gun het bovenal logge instituties niet om over mijn lot te beschikken. We kunnen veel meer doen dan we denken. Door nieuwe verhalen te creëren, en met elkaar in gesprek te blijven. Gisteren was ik bij een debat. Vandaag gaf ik les aan scholieren. Ik zag in beide ruimtes hoe haat die ruimtes in kampen heeft verdeeld. Politici vlogen elkaar net niet in de haren. Scholieren voelen zich niet veilig om voor hun mening uit te komen.
Er is niets makkelijker dan een boodschap van haat via de treurbuis te projecteren op de samenleving. Maar het is toch echt aan ons om alle scheurtjes in de samenleving te stuken. Gewoon door dag in, dag uit, onze buren, wijk- en stadsgenoten tot nieuwe inzichten te brengen. Soms, door gewoon te zijn. En soms, door de spiegel voor te houden.
Dat is de grootste middelvinger die we hem kunnen geven. We doen het eigenlijk al. En moeten dat blijven doen. Elkaar elke dag weer vertellen dat zijn haat niet opgewassen is tegen de intrinsieke behoefte naar vrede; om samen te leven; om elkaar niet te haten; maar lief te hebben.
Er is geen andere weg.
There is at least one thing I will not do. And that is file a complaint. Been there, done that. I will not give him [Geert Wilders] that courtroom anymore. I am not going to to give him a platform to help him step out of the shadow of Baudet (that other creep) [Thierry Baudet is the founder of a competing anti-Islam and racist populist party]. Above all, I do not want to turn my fate over to institutions. We can do much more than we think. By creating new stories and continuing dialogue. Yesterday I was at a debate. Today I was teaching students. I saw in both rooms how hatred had polarized those spaces. Politicians seemed about to tear each other's hair out. Students did not feel safe to state an opinion.
There is nothing easier than using the boob tube [television] to broadcast a message of hatred. But it is really up to us to all to fill the cracks in society. Day in, day out, we must bring new insights to our neighbors, neighborhoods, and fellow citizens. Sometimes, just by being normal. And sometimes, by holding up a mirror.
That is the biggest middle finger that we can give him. We are already doing that. We have to continue to do so. Everyday we need to tell each other that their hatred will be defeated by the intrinsic need for peace; to live together; not to hate each other; but to love.
There is no other way.
While the extreme message of the PVV video is easy to condemn, everyday racism is no novelty in the Netherlands. In 2011, Prime Minister Rutte said:
We gaan er gewoon voor zorgen, dames en heren, dat we dat prachtige land weer teruggeven aan de Nederlanders, want dat is ons project!
Ladies and gentleman, we are going to ensure that we return this beautiful land to the Dutch, because that is our project!
What many understood from his words was that being “Dutch” excludes immigrants or even second, third, or fourth-generation descendants of non-white immigrants.
Dr. Halleh Ghorashi has written about the resistance to talk about racism by Dutch society in “Racism and ‘the Ungrateful Other’ in the Netherlands”:
Every reaction that acknowledges the insecure feelings of the “native Dutch” justifies the critique of migrant culture as well. Here we can observe a clear double standard: It is OK for the “native Dutch” to feel defensive and to protect their culture, but migrants are criticized for defending theirs. Migrants are seen as the ones who need to adopt or even assimilate into the new culture. Not many people would consider this asymmetric approach racist, since it is believed that the discussion is about culture and not about race (see also Schinkel on this). This begs the question of why the discussion of the culture of migrants focuses on how it needs to change, yet discussion of the culture of the “native Dutch” recognizes the reasons for a defensive attitude.
In her book “White Innocence,” Dr. Gloria Wekker talks about the way racism permeates Dutch society, yet remains unspoken and unacknowledged. She states that Dutch society sees itself as progressive and tolerant, and this blinds many to the racism inherent in the system:
In that story we are a very progressive country. We are the champions of women’s liberation, liberation of gays and lesbians. We also like to tell ourselves that we are color blind and anti-racist. The thing is, if you ask people from the colonies or from Morroco or Turkey, this does not conform to their experiences.
In this short talk, she discusses the ways in which racism manifests itself the Netherlands.
On Sunday, March 18, an estimated 13,000 people in Amsterdam braved the cold to demonstrate against racism. What is clear is that more and more people affected by racist policies are creating platforms for discussion and debate, as well as engaging with the political process.

author: Tori Egherman


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From Sydney Biennale Installations to Film Screenings, Ai Weiwei Highlights Treatment of Global Refugees · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Ai Weiwei, Law of the Journey, 2017 Installation view (2018) 21st Biennale of Sydney – Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photo: Document Photography
During a visit to Australia, Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has blitzed the media with his concerns about the global treatment of refugees.
He is the headline artist with two major installations at the Biennale of Sydney that runs until June 2018. One, called “The Law of the Journey” located at the Cockatoo Island, features a black rubber, inflatable boat and figures. They were made with the same material used to produce the hazardous boats that some asylum seekers and migrants travel in while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
SBS News (Special Broadcasting Service) posted a video about the work on its Facebook page that has generated a lively discussion. Bean Javin's comment echoed the sentiments of many Australians:
It's really embarrassing when you meet people from overseas and even they know how poorly we treat refugees. Making me ashamed to even admit I am Australian in some cases. It's a greater worry that Australia's method/stance has impacted how other countries treat the refugee crisis right now too.
As explained in earlier Global Voices posts about the issue, Australia has a controversial policy to deal with asylum seekers who arrive by boat, either housing them in offshore detention centres for lengthy periods of time, or turning them back on the spot. They are not permitted to settle in Australia.
Paul Brady clearly disagreed:
Obviously he has no clue about the facts around asylum seekers to Australia. His art work reflects what is happening in the Mediterranean not Australia.
Since 2014, more than 1.7 million people fleeing conflict and insecurity, such as the war in Syria, have arrived to Europe by sea, according to the United Nations. The journey is dangerous: in that same time, about 16,000 perished or went missing in the attempt.
Ai Weiwei's second installation, Crystal Ball, is a glass sphere sitting on life jackets collected from the Greek island of Lesbos, a main entry point for asylum seekers and migrants who cross the Mediterranean:
Another piece by @aiww – Crystal Ball, at Artspace, sits on life jackets discarded by refugees on the shores of Lesbos. The jackets are so poorly made that rips expose the inner foam and they quickly fill with water. pic.twitter.com/x0vPB6yn4B
— Mireille Juchau (@MireilleJuchau) March 13, 2018
Ai also spoke at the Cinema Nova for the Melbourne opening of his documentary “Human Flow”, which features the stories of refugees in 23 countries in 2016.
Ai Weiwei's HUMAN FLOW documentary, an Amazon Studios release. Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios.
The Amazon Studios press kit shares Ai Weiwei's experiences in making the film:
Day by day, there were endless stories. But what most impressed me was the determination of the refugees. There’s very little complaining even with nobody taking care of them, with no clear future or knowing what will come next. Their treatment to me is very, very inhuman.
He has recently been very critical of Australian government policies towards refugees. He condemned a deal to swap asylum seekers in offshore detention on Manus Island and Nauru with refugees in the United States as, “exactly like slave trading”.
Ai was thanked on Twitter by one of the Manus Island asylum seekers, Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani:
It’s great that Ai Weiwei is speaking out about how the Australian government is treating people in Manus and Nauru. We refugees in Manus thank you @aiww for your support and invite you to visit us here.#Manus
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) March 12, 2018
Kon Karapanagiotidis from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre conducted a live interview on Facebook and Twitter that has since attracted nearly 10,000 viewers:
We’re live with human rights defender Ai Weiwei on our shared humanity. Join us at https://t.co/XQNbklfL8i https://t.co/LPZhmMz56S
— ASRC (@ASRC1) March 14, 2018
Ai told Karapanagiotidis:
I don’t have a place I can call home […] home is where your family is, your memories. […] How we deal with the refugees reflects on how we look at ourselves. We sacrifice our values when we give up the fight.
Hanan Ahlam appreciated the opportunity to hear Ai's views:
Thank you @aiww @ASRC1 for raising matters that matter. Ai Weiwei says, “We must go back to humanity as one”, and @ASRC1 CEO @Kon__K asks “How do we go from a darkness where we have dehumanized refugees and militarized responses, to one where we reclaim a shared human identity?” pic.twitter.com/p09C6OekDL
— Hanan Ahlam (@HannanAhlam) March 14, 2018
Australian Broadcasting Corporation talkback radio host Raf Epstein was only one of many people who shared a selfie with the artist:
I now have a genuine @aiww taken selfie in my phone. Very excited pic.twitter.com/bv7CXX1OPB
— rafael epstein (@Raf_Epstein) March 14, 2018
His interview with Ai starts at 1:17 here. When Epstein asked about the issue of making beautiful pictures out of human misery, Ai responded:
I think even the misery has beauty there. Because it's all about human dignity. […] I have suffered a lot in my life. I still appreciate those moments, maybe more appreciate the moment, than today living in expensive hotels or taking business trips [which] are not as precious as my early struggles.
Audience members at Cinema Nova were also chuffed to meet him:
What an honour to meet Ai Wei Wei (@aiww) at the @cinemanova screening of his beautiful and important film, #HumanFlow. pic.twitter.com/bjR8W9A5q6
— Kate Pattison (@katepatto) March 14, 2018
Human rights lawyer Leanne Smith was clearly captivated by both Ai's film and the Q&A:
in awe listening to Ai WeiWei on his personal journey as an exile and his refugee documentary, Human Flow pic.twitter.com/SbNpzezeey
— Leanne Smith (@ms_leanne_smith) March 16, 2018

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Homages to Stephen Hawking in Latin America’s Media Show How Mourning for the Scientist Transcends Borders · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Stephen Hawking. Image shared on Flickr by user Lwp Kommunikáció, used under license of CC BY 2.0.
News of Stephen Hawking's death, announced on 14 March 2018, caused sorrow throughout the world, and Latin America was no exception.
Hawking, 76, was known in the scientific community for his advanced theories on the radiation emitted from black holes, as well as for his studies into the origins of the universe and the Big Bang theory.
However, the British theoretical physicist and cosmologist had achieved fame among the public too, through his efforts to bring science to a more generalized audience and raise awareness about various, often little understood, phenomena. These include advances in artificial intelligence and the survival of the human race.
Hawking also dealt with what some would regard as highly controversial subjects, such as the existence of a divine being in the context of the creation of the universe.
The Spanish-language website Sopitas published the news like this, using an interesting wink at the possible existence of parallel universes:
No sabemos si en otros universos, pero al menos en éste, ayer el gran Stephen Hawking murió y, con la triste noticia millones de internautas salieron a expresar su admiración por tan genial personaje… y cuando decimos genial, no sólo hacemos referencia a su presencia y personalidad, sino a su trabajo como astrofísico que, incluso para quienes poco/nada saben de ciencia, no deja de parecer fascinante.
We don't know about other universes, but in this one at least, the great Stephen Hawking died yesterday. With this sad news, millions of internet users came out to express their admiration for such an amazing person. When we say amazing, we are not just referring to his presence and his personality, but also his work as an astrophysicist that never failed to fascinate, even those who know little or nothing about science.
On another note, Raúl Morales put his reaction to Hawking's death in this way on a Spanish-language site dedicated to climbing, mountaineering and other sports:
El físico y divulgador británico falleció […] después de más de medio siglo superando el pronóstico que daba la enfermedad que le aquejaba, y llevando a la humanidad varios pasos adelante en la exploración mayor a la que aspiramos: aquella que describe la realidad misma.
Si para descubrir cumbres empleamos la escalada, lo mismo que la espeleología para adentrarnos en cuevas, para explorar el universo utilizamos la ciencia, que no es más que la sistematización racional del mismo espíritu humano que nos hace cruzar un río o ir a ver qué hay detrás del cerro. Y sus practicantes son, al igual que un montañista, exploradores, pero de cumbres distintas, cumbres que, con frecuencia no se encuentran en nuestro planeta o, en el caso de Stephen Hawking, ni siquiera en nuestro espacio-tiempo.
The British physicist and scientific figure died […] after over half a century outliving his prognosis for the illness he suffered from, and taking humanity forward toward the most important discovery to which we aspire: that which explains reality itself.
If we climb to reach a summit, go caving to discover the caves, then we use science to explore the universe, which is no more than the rational systemization of this same human spirit which makes us cross a river, or go see what is on the other side of the mountain. This work is like that of a mountaineer, an explorer, but of different summits, summits which we don't often find on our planet or, in the case of Stephen Hawking, not even within our spacetime.
In a piece entitled “Stephen Hawking's laboratory was the universe”, which appeared on a Puerto Rican newspaper called El Nuevo Día, the complexity of Hawking's theories was described like this:
Todo el mundo conocía la brillantez cósmica de Stephen Hawking, pero pocos podían comprenderla. Ni siquiera astrónomos de primera línea.
Everybody knew about Stephen Hawking's cosmic brilliance, but few understood it. Not even first-class astronomers.
Furthermore, on the same site they created a compilation of some of Hawking's famous phrases, including this one:
Si los extraterrestres nos visitan alguna vez, creo que el resultado sería parecido a cuando Cristóbal Colón llegó por primera vez a América, lo que no salió muy bien para los nativos americanos.
If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans
On Twitter, users reacted like this:
Hemos perdido a uno de los científicos mas brillantes que ha dado la humanidad, comparable quizás solo con Sir Issac Newton; descanse en paz Stephen #Hawking
— Lartenostra (@lartenostra) 14 de marzo de 2018
We have lost one of the most brilliant scientists humanity has ever seen, comparable perhaps only to Sir Isaac Newton. Rest in peace Stephen #Hawking
Mexican news presenter Carmen Aristegui remembered when Hawking played himself in American TV show “The Big Bang Theory,” quoting one of the lead actresses Kaley Cuoco:
“Nos hizo reír y nosotros a él. Su vida y su carrera profesional han aparecido en The Big Bang Theory y todos somos mejores por ello https://t.co/booK907DL2
— Aristegui Noticias (@AristeguiOnline) 15 de marzo de 2018
“He made us laugh and we made him laugh. His life and career workings have been many a subject matter on The Big Bang Theory and we are all better for it.”
Twitter user Isma shared the following curious piece of information:
Hawking murió un 14 de marzo: Día de Pi (π) y cumpleaños de Einstein. A un día del aniversario del descubrimiento de Urano.
— Isma (@ismael_0_0) 15 de marzo de 2018
Hawking died on 14 March: Day of Pi (π) and Einstein's birthday. Also one day off the anniversary of the discovery of Uranus.
Hawking, science's brightest star, was recognised in his lifetime with numerous awards. Among others, the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University (a position which Sir Isaac Newton had in his time) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded by Barack Obama in 2009), the highest civilian decoration awarded in the United States. The medal has also been awarded to other scientists, such as Mexican chemist Mario J. Molina, who received it in 2013.

author: J. Tadeo


text:
Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female President Claims Her Role as ‘Humble First Servant’ · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

An image of Trinidad and Tobago's new president, Paula Mae Weekes, widely shared on social media. Original photograph by Mark Lyndersay, used with permission.
On March 19, 2018, Trinidad and Tobago swore in its sixth president, Paula-Mae Weekes, making history as the island's first female head of state since becoming a republic in 1976.
An attorney by profession, Weekes worked in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for more than a decade before going into private practice. She was appointed first to the bench and thereafter to the Court of Appeal where she served until her retirement in 2016.
Weekes’ appointment attracted major attention on social media and many netizens consider her to be an excellent choice for the position. Maxine Williams, a Trinidadian who is the Head of Diversity at Facebook posted:
Congratulations to President Paula-Mae Weekes, the first woman to hold the office in Trinidad and Tobago. The thing about ‘firsts’ is that they are bitter sweet. It finally feels like the narrow vision of the past has broadened to include more people on their merits, and yet we are reminded in this moment of how long it took and what a heavy burden of expectations the first one to push through carries. Wishing her and all the others who will walk through the now-open door, well in their humble service.
Former temporary independent senator Dr. Kriyaan Singh suggested:
Her Excellency Paula Mae Weekes is the change this nation needs I believe.
Anthony Carmona, Weekes’ predecessor, was a controversial figure. At his inauguration in 2013, he made a cryptic speech about his powers under the Westminster system of governance: “Powers you think I have… I do not. Powers you think I do not have… I do,” he said.
Those words came back to haunt him.
Allegations of impropriety in public office plagued Carmona following the release of the 2015 Auditor General's Report on the Public Accounts, made public on April 29, 2016. The report noted financial irregularities which came to the attention of civil society.
Rhoda Bharath, a university lecturer, used social media to challenge the former president regarding his acceptance of a $28,000 Trinidad and Tobago Dollar TTD (just over $4,000 USD) monthly housing allowance over a two-year period while living in state-funding housing, contrary to the rules.
A senior attorney in the United Kingdom who examined Bharath's documents concluded: “The case is finely balanced but I believe that there are at the moment reasonable grounds to suspect that the offence of misconduct in public office has been committed.”
Just over a year ago, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service announced that its anti-corruption unit would launch an investigation into the presidential housing allowance, but no further updates on the status of the investigation have been issued.
Netizens openly expressed satisfaction with Carmona's departure.
On Facebook, Ian Michado Royer posted:
Today is a historic day as H. E. Justice Madam Paula Mae Weekes becomes the first female President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
While I have bought ‘Cyat in Bag’ [cat in bag] before with many a political figure in the Republic, Her Excellency's career, deportment and media interviews thus far has given me hope that she will be a great office holder. Hopefully her first act in office would be reclaim some dignity to the office by allowing a full investigation into the actions of her predecessor on the many allegations levied towards him.
One of many citizens who attended Weekes’ inauguration, Rhoda Bharath branded her posts with the hashtag #PaulaMaeDay, which was quick to catch on. She later quipped:
[…] It is #PaulaMaeDay
May she never abuse her #StrenkAndPowaz.
#Overdue
Having been burned by the Carmona experience, some netizens were not so convinced. On Facebook, Nyssa Pear explained:
I’m not listening to or watching the swearing in. I’m still traumatized by the last speech that bamboozled an entire nation and I still have questions like WHERE DE MC MONEY DAWG??! I do, however, wish Justice Paula Mae Weekes the absolute best and hope she does right by all of us.
Weekes’ swearing-in ceremony — and her maiden presidential address, in particular — was well subscribed. Weekes’ inaugural speech identified her role as “humble, first servant, with a mandate to render service with enthusiasm”.
She addressed pressing issues facing the country including “crime, corruption, racism, abysmal public services and an ineffective judicial system.”
Weekes explained:
We have but two choices […] lament, blame, criticise and allow a miasma of despair to overwhelm us, or […] consciously and intentionally choose the alternative […] mobilise forces and resources to step out boldly, to make Trinidad and Tobago a better place for us and for our children.
Weekes expressed interest in meaningful meetings and encouraged citizens to approach her “armed with your ideas, your feasible projects to improve our quality of life”, saying,”Nothing will catch my attention faster than a man or woman with a plan.”
In that spirit, Facebook user Keith Francis joked:
Is it too early for #FixItMadamPresident?
Rhoda Bharath added:
In light of the theme of empowerment President Weeke's inaugural address at her swearing in, we can be empowered by her ordering a comprehensive audit into expenditure at the Office of the President from March 15th 2013 to March 18th 2018 and making the audit public.
#PaulaMaeDay
Netizen Patricia Worrell admitted:
I didn't find Her Excellency's address very inspiring, to be honest. But I did find it very down to earth, and clear-sighted about issues we face as a country. And perhaps we need that right now, more than high flown rhetoric.
(Also, she didn't claim any powers she mightn't have. And that's always good!)
Tanya Carr was pleased that the new president “threw some serious shade” in her inaugural address, adding:
And she very clearly stated, in response to the overblown expectations of many, that it was not her responsibility alone to fix things….and I am sooo glad she did, she is not a superhero sent to save TT from itself, we need to lose that tired rescue narrative ….
President Weekes’ alma mater, Bishop Anstey High School, was bursting with pride over the historic election and “Hilarians” (Bishop's graduates) were not holding back. Tanya Carr, a former Bishop's pupil, quipped:
Just warned a male friend of mine to avoid direct eye contact with Hilarians today as they be on fyah [fire] living their best lives right now …. I am so here for this ….
The school's alumnae association of Washington, DC (United States) paid President Weekes a tribute:
We send our heartiest congratulations to the President-elect and to our Alma Mater, Bishop Anstey High School….non sine pulvere palmam. With pride and hope for our nation…
Hilarian or not, the fact that Weekes is the nation's first female president made her swearing in a landmark event for many.
Vasant Bharath, a former minister of trade, noted:
As a proud people, we congratulate Paula-Mae Weekes as today we join 27 countries globally with current female Heads of State/Government; thereby contributing to the increasing number of women world leaders. […]
Women have made great strides in creating political space and fighting for equal opportunity, but one thing continues to worry me as we celebrate this auspicious day, and that is the continued prevalence of violence against women. […] This has to stop. I encourage my male counterparts to stand in support of women and continue to be good fathers, brothers, husbands and sons to the women of our land.
Congratulations to Paula-Mae Weekes on her appointment. Her sterling career in the Judiciary will have prepared her well for this major role at a difficult time in our history. I know that she will make us proud.
Nylah Ali had a different view:
I am too much of a feminist to have to condone references […] as the ‘first female President’, the ‘first woman President’, the ‘first Lady President’ and other such trite categorisations.
If a man was being sworn in, no one would comment that this is the ‘sixth male President’.
I also don't want to hear or read […] about women's rights and issues. That is for a separate forum. Let's stick to the occasion and the person being sworn into office.
The majority of Trinbagonians seem to agree that President Weekes is qualified and capable. Now they look forward to seeing how she delivers.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
What Were Global Voices’ Readers up to Last Week? · Global Voices
L. Finch

Photo by Flickr user Carlos Perez. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
At Global Voices, our community researches, writes, edits, and translates stories with a mission to support human rights and build bridges of understanding across countries, cultures, and languages.
We don't publish just to grab clicks or follow a news trend. We do, however, like to keep track of the ways in which our hard work has impact around the world.
To that end, one useful metric is how readers respond to our stories and translations. So let's take a look at who our readers were and what caught their attention during the week of March 12-18, 2018.
Last week, our stories and translations attracted readers from 208 countries! The top 20 countries represented across all of Global Voices’ sites were:
1. United States
2. Brazil
3. France
4. Mexico
5. Japan
6. Spain
7. Peru
8. Colombia
9. United Kingdom
10. Italy
11. Germany
12. Taiwan
13. Philippines
14. Russia
15. India
16. Bangladesh
17. Canada
18. Argentina
19. Indonesia
20. Madagascar
But that's only a small slice of the diversity of our readership. Let's use the True Random Number Generator from Random.org and take a look at a few other countries on the list:
187. Sierra Leone
207. Turks & Caicos Islands
180. Monaco
99. Ghana
176. Belize
The English-language site is where the majority of original content is first published at Global Voices. The top five most-read stories of last week were:
1. Trinidadian Man Transforms Pothole Into a Hot Tub in Humorously Effective Protest
2. City Councillor and Leading Rights Activist Shot Dead in Downtown Rio de Janeiro
3. Citizenship, Surveillance and Taxes: A Dystopian Tale
4. From Graffiti to Politics, Anti-Semitic and Neo-Nazi Speech Is Becoming More Visible in Eastern Europe
5. Is Censorship Coming Back to Tunisia? Court Order Bans ‘Blue Whale’ Online Game
Lingua is a project that translates Global Voices stories into languages other than English. There are about 30 active Lingua sites. Below is last week's most-read story or translation on each active language site.

author: L. Finch


text:
Encounters with Caribbean Genius: Derek Walcott, Wilson Harris, Aubrey Williams · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Clockwise from top: Aubrey Williams ‘Tumatumari’ by Aubrey Williams, which is part of the Timehri series of murals at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons); Wilson Harris’ novel “Palace of the Peacock”; a Swedish postage stamp commemorating Derek Walcott's 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature.
By Ian McDonald
Sparks from the central fire—I was lucky to be near enough to feel the blaze these men ignited in the world.
WALCOTT
(23 January 1930–17 March 2017)
The St. Lucian poet Derek Walcott, or rather his poetry, entered my life when he was 20 and I was 17. I had read poems in the English Classics on my parents’ bookshelves earlier in my life. And a great teacher, John Hodge at Queen's Royal College in Trinidad, had introduced me—outside the set curriculum—to the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, which had flared like a torch in my mind. But this was the first time I knew immediately and deep down that great poetry could be written by one of my own West Indians. Somehow (I think it was from the Public Library but it may also have been from the hands of John Hodge) I had come upon the very slim booklet “Twenty-Five Poems”, Walcott's first book. I remember taking it with me to the savannah grounds of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (now the UWI St. Augustine campus) where I used to go to run and train for tennis tournaments. And after a run I sat down on the stone steps leading into the main College building and read this small book. Its poems were a revelation which has lasted throughout my life.
Since then I have read all of Walcott's books as they have come out. The last, “White Egrets”, contains poems as magnificent as any Derek—who died just over a year ago—ever wrote.
I cannot recall the titles of all the books; they flow into a blur of beauty, but they have been incomparably important in my life. I remember “A Letter from Brooklyn” from the early book “In A Green Night”, a poem which made me think at the time that a perfect piece of writing was possible. I think of the book-length poem “Another Life”, which I believe is the single greatest poetic creation of the last century—and Professor Eddie Baugh’s annotated edition of that book the greatest work of scholarship in West Indian literary studies. And all the other Walcott books down through the years. So much to praise and cherish forever as long as forever ever lasts.
Over the years I met Derek many times, the last occasion being at Carifesta in 2009 when he and the then president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, had a memorable exchange of views about the value and place of writers and artists in a nation. I wish my friendship with Derek had been closer and our conversations longer. Perhaps my reverence for his work was too intense to permit the closer friendship which thrives on accepting frailties as much as on appreciating genius. But always there has been the poetry and myself forever caught in the web of its light and its beauty.
HARRIS
(24 March 1921–8 March 2018)
Soon after I arrived in Guyana (then British Guiana) in 1955, I met Wilson Harris. The poet Arthur Seymour had introduced me to his writing by giving me a copy of Wilson’s strange and powerful poem “Eternity to Season”. Wilson was a  professional surveyor and spent much of his time in Guyana's forests and savannahs, whose great spirits invaded his imagination forever. When he was in town I used to meet him at Martin Carter’s home.
Wilson had a smile which crinkled his face until his eyes nearly closed, and a very distinctive, slow, quiet tone of voice. But when he was inspired by the ideas teaming in his mind his low voice would rise and rise, as he read out loud passages he had written to express his thoughts, and his utterances would become a sort of chant and soon he would be raising his hand to strike Martin or me on the arm or knee quite hard, then harder to punctuate and emphasise what was tumbling out of his mind. “You see!” he would say. “You see! You see!” I might not have always seen. But I felt. Some passages he read were incomprehensible to me. Some I remember being as beautiful and clear yet shadowy as forest rivers. At the time he may have been composing that extraordinary, visionary, wholly original work later published in England as “Palace of the Peacock” – so I like to think those passages he beat upon my knee may have been the first announcements of his genius!
After Wilson went to London I did not see much of him. But I sent him copies of my own books of poetry written over the years and he always replied with a kind and thoughtful handwritten note. And whenever I visited him in his London home he and his beloved wife Margaret were the very soul of courtesy and kindness. He would explain to me the latest of the strange paths his thinking had taken towards truth and eternity, but I could seldom follow him very far down those mystic paths. In one meeting he said that the findings of the quantum physicists were beginning to enter into his thinking. But I was always left at the end of our times together with the sense that my own imagination was being stressed and stretched to the very edge of joining him beyond the ordinary world we live in, to find the age-old spirit and greater power that guides our immortal selves, and shapes our universal destiny.
WILLIAMS
(8 May 1926–17 April 1990)
I once went fishing in the Lama Conservancy with Aubrey Williams. I caught nothing, but Aubrey caught a couple of good-sized lukanani. Their colours shone as they lay dying at the bottom of the boat, but by the time we got back to the Lama guesthouse, the beautiful life-colours of the lukanani had faded in death. Aubrey made me a comparison. The paintings he composed in his imagination gleamed with the colours of heaven, but by the time he got them on to the canvas they had grown dull and he was woebegone. He tried mightily to preserve the originals that hid in his imagination but mostly he failed. Composition was a sort of death. This seemed astonishing to me. To me and others, his great series of paintings blaze with the undying fire of genius.
I found Aubrey the most overwhelming physical presence I ever encountered. His joy and laughter and praise of all the earth was an elemental force which lifted everyone around him. He told me when he went into the deep forest he and the friends with him would seek out a giant forest tree and embrace it with their joined arms until they sensed its spirit enter them like light or a thunder in the heart. This was not a game. This was how he worshipped and prepared his mind for work. He summoned Gods to preside. Whenever I met Aubrey and talked with him, and when he gave me his huge hug before leaving my home, I felt afterwards that it was not good enough to live an ordinary life.
Ian McDonald is a poet, writer and editor who has described himself as “Antiguan by ancestry, Trinidadian by birth, Guyanese by adoption, and West Indian by conviction.” His novel “The Hummingbird Tree” is considered a classic of Caribbean literature.

author: Guest Contributor


text:
Hitting a Low Point in the Low Countries · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Interior of the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, by Emanuel de Witte. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
By Karen Kao
When I moved to the Netherlands, my Dutch husband and I had just married. I promised to stick it out for a year. He promised, if I still hated Amsterdam at that point, to go back to the States.
My husband did all he could to prepare me for the transition. He gave me books to read before the move— a list that hit all the high and low points in Dutch history. The Golden Age. The colony of Batavia. German occupation during WWII. Modern-day Amsterdam.
Little did I know that these books were teaching me the Dutch creation myth that the Low Countries were founded on a bedrock of religious tolerance.
When the scrappy Dutch won their independence from Catholic Spain in 1648, the first wave of refugees came from Spanish Netherlands seeking freedom to practise their Protestant faith. Successive waves followed. Jews expelled from Portugal and Protestant Huguenots from France. Anne Frank, a German Jew who fled to Amsterdam from the Nazis, is a national symbol of Dutch tolerance.
In all my years living in the Netherlands, I’ve rarely heard Dutch people speak of that past. The fact that those refugees were needed to bolster a burgeoning economy. The fact that the vast majority of those Jews died in concentration camps, including Anne Frank. It could be that the Dutch have forgotten their history, content to bask in the afterglow of their historical tolerance.
These days, however, the far-right xenophobic Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) is the second largest political party in the Netherlands. Its leader, Geert Wilders, has single-handedly succeeded in shifting the political spectrum to the right and coarsening the public debate. It is now common to hear Dutch politicians talk about closing the borders to the Netherlands.
The Dutch have long had a fractious relationship with their immigrant communities, the so-called allochtonen. The definition of “immigrant” used by the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) is a person with at least one parent born abroad. According to this definition, it is irrelevant whether the person in question was born in the Netherlands. The child of an allochtoon is also an allochtoon.
On the street, the term allochtoon has a different meaning. The term refers almost exclusively to persons of Turkish or Moroccan descent. It applies to all generations, foreign and native-born. It is such a derogatory term that I have been repeatedly advised not to identify myself as such. In 2016, the Dutch government formally abandoned its use of the term allochtoon and its counterpart for natives, autochtoon. All the same, the CBS continues to distinguish between western immigrants (US, Canada, EU, Indonesia, Oceania and Japan) versus the rest. The former are ok, the latter are not.
So even if the borders were to be closed, the far-right would still not be satisfied. Approximately 800,000 migrants of Turkish or Moroccan descent live in the Netherlands. Dutch politicians on the far-right and the center see this group as problematic.
The Forum for Democracy (FVD) is a new political party that burst onto the Dutch scene during the 2017 national elections. Its leader, Thierry Baudet, is the type Americans would call “frat boy”. He’s got the kind of pedigree and education that sits comfortably with the upper-middle class of the Netherlands. He’s one of us. Some analysts call the FVD “PVV lite”. Xenophobia hidden under a thin veneer of social politesse.
Baudet’s shtick is to appeal to nationalist pride. He worries that the Dutch, in all their tolerance, have lost touch with their own magnificent cultural heritage. Baudet believes it’s time to reclaim those roots before outsiders eradicate it completely. Stop accommodating those people. They are a threat to us.
They are the Turks and Moroccans. They are all presumed to be Moslem, practising or not. You see them on the streets. Women wearing headscarves or, even worse burkas. Men with unkempt beards (by hipster standards) who wear “soup dresses” as the Dutch call them.
At dinner the other night I listened to a friend rant about all those Muslims. Our friend felt that we had done enough to accommodate them. He offered, as evidence of Dutch tolerance, the fact that women in head scarves staff most grocery stores these days. But, our friend says: enough is enough. Ban the burka, because you never know who or what might be hiding inside.
The Dutch are certainly not unique in their new wave of intolerance. France, Austria and Hungary all have their own forms of xenophobic leaders. Not to mention the United States. My point is not that the Dutch are worse than the Americans. It’s that they are no better.
And so crumbles the creation myth of a republic founded on religious tolerance. It’s been 29 years since I first made that deal with my husband. Obviously, I like it here. I became a Dutch citizen in 2013 because we may very well stay here for the rest of our lives. And, in that case, I want to be able to vote.
But I’ve also become Dutch in more insidious ways. I am now intolerant. I cannot accept Islamophobia in the name of cultural preservation. Nor am I willing or able to swallow the creation myth of the open-minded, tolerant Dutch persona. These days, I’m ready to leave a dinner table or abandon a friendship when push comes to shove. It’s a new low point for me here in the Low Countries.
Karen Kao is a poet, fiction writer and essayist based in Amsterdam. This essay was originally published on Inkstone Press.


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On World Poetry Day, Some Verses Straight From Persia’s Heart · Global Voices
Salam Aleik

Azerbaijani folk art based on the Layla and Majnun novel by Nizami Ganjavi. CC BY 3.0.
How might someone in Tajikistan, the only Persian-speaking republic in the former Soviet Union, describe a beautiful and lively night spent in the company of family and friends?
Perhaps he or she would use the word dilafruz, which literally means ‘firing the heart’.
If that person spent the night alone in a depressed state, however, the word chosen might be diltang, which would indicate a ‘narrowing of the heart’.
In a country where poetry runs in the blood, falling in love can be described in a dozen different ways. One can be dil bastan (heart-tied), or have a dil gum zadan – a racing heart.
Correspondingly, the person that triggers this state might be called a dilrabo (heart stealer), while freezing someone's heart is dil khunuk shudan, a somewhat dramatic take on getting dumped.
The Tajik language is closely related to the Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Iran (Farsi) and Afghanistan (Dari). In Farsi, the literary word for heart is closer to del in pronunciation. Dari's dil is like the Tajik.
World map adapted by Mani1 to show areas where Persian is spoken. Creative Commons.
Moreover, across the Eurasian sub-region indicated above, dil (written “дил” in the Cyrillic alphabet Tajikstan still uses) is the heartbeat of a rich poetic tradition stretching back at least as far as the first milennium AD.
One of the most famous proponents of this tradition was Jalaluddin Rumi, the roaming 13th century wordsmith and philosopher beloved by all Persian-speaking peoples.
Ҳар чӣ дар дил дорӣ аз макру румуз,
Пеши мо расвосту пайдо ҳамчу рӯз
Whatever secret and lies you have in your heart,
We see them all like a day with our eyes,
Rumi's romanticism is eclipsed however by Nizami Ganjavi, a bard writing in the century before him.
Ganjavi hailed from Ganja (his name literally means Nizam of Ganja) which is part of modern-day Azerbaijan.
Here are some couplets from his epic Khosrow and Shirin, in which the Sasanian ruler (Khosrow) engages in a poetry battle with his love rival Farhad over the heart of an Armenian princess, Shirin.
Бигуфт: Аз дил шудӣ ошиқ бад-ин сон?
Бигуфт: Аз дил ту мегўӣ, ман аз ҷон.
Бигуфто: Ишқи Ширин бар ту чун аст?
Бигуфт: Аз ҷони ширинам фузун аст!..
Бигуфто: Дил зи меҳраш кай кунӣ пок?
Бигуфт: Он гаҳ, ки бошам хуфта дар хок…
Бигуфт: Аз дил ҷудо кун ишқи Ширин.
Бигуфто: Чун зиям бе ҷони ширин?
Asked: Did you fall in love from the heart?
Answered: You talk about the heart, I talk about the soul.
Asked: When will you clean your heart from her love?
Answered: When I will be under the ground.
Said: Kick Shirin’s love out of your heart!
Asked: But how would I live without my dear soul?
Rudaki monument in Tajikistan. Creative Commons Flickr image by Julian Galbert.
Going back even further (858-941 AD), there is Rudaki of Panjikent (modern-day Tajikistan), considered by some as the Godfather of Persian poetry.
Бар ишқи туям на сабр пайдост, на дил,
Бе рӯйи туям на ақл бар ҷост, на дил!
Ин ғам, ки марост кӯҳи қоф аст, на ғам,
Ин дил ки турост, санги хорост, на дил!
Your love took patience and heart from me,
Your beautiful face drove my mind and heart to distraction.
The sadness I have in my heart, is like a mountain,
The heart you have under your chest is like a stone.
In the 21st century, the internet and social networks have led to a vast increase in the number of published poets that once part of Persia's empire.
Firdaws Azam, a 21st century Tajik poet, often uses Facebook as a space to post stanzas such as these:
Рӯзе миёни хотираҳо гумном мешавам,
Аз чашми хотирот бигирӣ суроғи дил.
Хилофи майли худам аз баҳор дил кандам
Ки додаанд ба пойизи сард пайвандам.
One day I will lose myself among memories,
Look for heart in the memories, dear.
I cut my heart out of spring against my will,
Because, (they) glued me to a cold autumn.
In 1999 that the United Nations decided World Poetry Day should be marked on March 21, a date that also marks the celebration of the Spring Equinox across much of Eurasia.
It is unlikely that this decision was a coincidence. A key to the UN's thinking on the day comes in former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova's comment that “poetry embodies the creative energy of culture, for it can be continuously renewed.”
For members of the Persian-speaking world, Nowruz is one of the most important dates of the year. Thus, the fact that the poetic tradition to which it has contributed so greatly is also recognised on the same day, feels deeply symbolic.
As one saying goes, “a heart finds its way to a heart”.

author: Salam Aleik


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#SayNOto66d: Documenting the Surge of Online Defamation Cases in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Photo of a person looking at the website of #SayNOto66d. Used with permission.
Several advocacy groups in Myanmar have launched a website containing information about online defamation cases in the past five years, as part of a campaign calling for the repeal of Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law which criminalises online defamation.
The #SayNOto66d website was initiated and developed by local tech hub Phandeeyar. It was inspired by the work of the Movement for the Telecommunications Law Reform and Art.66D Abolishment, a coalition composed of 22 civil society organizations.
It highlights a study by Free Expression Myanmar which monitored 66(d) cases between 2013 to 2017.
Article 66(d) has been controversial since 2013 because it was used mainly by authorities to intimidate critics and journalists. Its vague wording and harsh penalty have been abused to silence ordinary citizens. Here’s the exact text of Article 66(d):
66. Whoever commits any of the following acts shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine or to both. (d) Extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network.
In 2017 the government amended Article 66(d) which allowed respondents to post bail, reduced the prison term, and prohibited the filing of a case if the accuser is not directly involved in a defamation incident.
But human rights groups insisted that these amendments failed to address the concern of many people about the draconian features of the law.
Free Expression Myanmar warned that the amendments would not stop the rise of defamation cases:
The small changes made to the Telecommunications Law will not stop cases coming to court. Journalists, Facebook users and human rights defenders continue to face the risk of being prosecuted under 66(d) for vague reasons and at the behest of powerful individuals and institutions.
In order to inform the public about the dangers of Article 66(d), the #SayNOto66d website uploaded all the essential information pertaining to the 106 defamation cases filed between 2013 to 2017.
It summarized the findings of Free Expression Myanmar:
1. The majority of cases under 66(d) are powerful people complaining about those who criticise them.
2. Defendants are always convicted and sentences are disproportionately harsh.
3. People with legitimate complaints, such as women who are facing gender-based violence online, are forced to use this inappropriate law because no other exists.
The #SayNOto66d website also published several infographics showing that majority of the defamation cases were filed by members of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) which came to power in 2016.
This disappointed many activists in and outside of Myanmar because NLD was part of the pro-democracy movement which challenged the junta for many years. Instead of reversing or repealing repressive laws by the junta, the NLD-led government allowed military officials, politicians, and other powerful individuals to use laws like 66(d) to harass and prosecute their critics.
Another infographic also showed that the majority of complainants are linked to the state.
Screenshot from the website of #SayNOto66d
Aside from providing the public with information about the 66(d) cases, the website also advocates the repeal of the law by encouraging visitors to sign an online petition, lobby the parliament, and report 66(d) cases which are not yet part of the database.
In an interview with Global Voices, Khin from Phandeeyar underscored the main objective of the website:
The aim of the website is to provide fact-based advocacy to inform everyone about 66(d) especially the total number of cases and highlight how the cases filed to the people were closely related to the criticism of the state. Journalists and researchers will be able to use the data available on the website to contribute and make the movement stronger.
Various groups are pushing for the decriminalization of defamation and the adoption of a law on gender-based violence.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council has already called attention to the Myanmar government about the role of 66(d) in undermining free speech in the country.

author: Mong Palatino


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The Dystopian Reality of Being an ‘Accidental American’ · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Photo by Pablo Guerrero on Unsplash.
The United States is one of only two countries in the world with citizenship-based taxation, a practice that has disrupted the lives of US citizens who choose to leave their country and live overseas.
For one particular population, however, this system and its draconian measures of enforcement have proven even more devastating. Known as “Accidental Americans,” they are citizens of other countries who also hold US citizenship, either because they were born in the US or received it from a parent. They may not realize that they are considered US citizens until later in life, when they begin to suffer the consequences of US taxation.
Kevin P. is one of these Accidental Americans. After reading a recent piece on Global Voices about the “dystopian” injustices that the US taxation system metes out to emigrants, he was inspired to reimagine the story based on his own experience. An edited version is republished below.
Imagine that you are a young member of the active population. You don’t possess much yet, but you are full of potential to make a good life for yourself and your loved ones.
One day, you need a bank account. But wherever you try to open one, you are sent back home with nothing. You are confused. They tell you it has to do with the place of birth listed on your ID.
You don’t understand what’s happening; you've never had any problem until now. You have lived all your life in Europe. Your parents are Belgians. You are Belgian. You speak French and don't know much about the US except for what you've learned from all the movies coming from over there.
At this point, your life is stuck, so you investigate. What you discover is the dystopian reality of how the US treats its citizens abroad: double taxation, bulk data collection, and a presumption of guilt. A bank is no longer just a bank, and a country no longer just a country. Both have also become reporting agents for the US tax office.
With negative emotions crossing your mind, you still don’t get it. After all, you are not really American. You haven’t lived, studied or worked in the US. You only know a few words of English and your French accent is just ridiculous.
That’s when you discover that in this dystopian world, you occupy a special place.
You are not an American overseas, like the other 9 million. You've never had any relationship or communication with the US authorities. You don’t have any US paper except your birth certificate.
Your parents happened to enjoy themselves while in the US, and so you were born there, but you returned to Belgium while still a baby. You grew up in Belgium, studied in Belgium, and became an active member of Belgian society.
Belgium is a sovereign country with borders that are supposed to mark a place on Earth where its citizens can expect to be protected from foreign governments. With that in mind, you contact your country’s authorities to get help. Full of hope, you imagine the upcoming conversations to be with smiling and compassionate compatriots who will do everything to help you.
How naive you were.
All of your conversations start with the other person stating that your problems couldn't possibly exist. Citizenship-based taxation is a concept that does not fit in the mind of a normal person outside of the US. And so, you have to do your best to convince them of the reality that you face.
After you manage to alter their perspective comes the first slap in your face: they tell you that the problem is not theirs to fix, and thus you are on your own. At this point, the situation turns from dystopian to Kafkaesque. Your mind pictures a lost soul with no nation.
Then comes the second blow, from an underpaid official, a minister or an ambassador, who tells you this simple truth: that because it’s the US, they won’t do anything.
Still dizzy from before, you remember yourself imagining the smiling and compassionate compatriot, but here you are. They are smiling at you, except it’s not out of compassion. It's because you are inconveniencing them, and their eyes tell you that the sooner you leave, the better their life will be.
And so you go back home.
Time passes. You discover you are not alone in this situation. You meet groups of people suffering to a lesser or greater extent from US citizenship-based taxation. Sharing your feelings with them, and seeing that there are people here and there working to improve the situation, makes you feel better. (Thanks for that, fellow sufferers.)
But you are changed forever. You have realised that your country does not protect its citizens. You look at its flag and you see a symbol of hypocrisy. You look at the US flag and you see a symbol of pain.
In this dystopian world, there is no place for you. Not in the US, not in your homeland. Your country is just a US dog, and you are worth less than a flea on its back.


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Uncertainty Surrounds the Upcoming Election in the Democratic Republic of Congo · Global Voices
Alassane ndoumbe

Peaceful march in DRC via Congo réformes CC-BY-20
For nearly two years, President Joseph Kabila’s regime has managed to cling to power in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) despite pressure from the country's opposition and the international community. Now, to prevent a crisis, these groups are pushing the president to accept the holding of presidential elections. Under the 2006 constitution, the President is directly elected to a five-year term – renewable only once. The first President to have been elected under these provisions is incumbent president Joseph Kabila in the 2006 elections. Elections should have been held since 2016 but Kabila has pushed back on organizing them.
Kabila's refusal to step down has numerous analysts concerned that the situation in the DRC could degenerate. The mounting opposition has denounced the state of political stagnation and continued its mobilization efforts. On February 25, a march in the streets of the capital Kinshasa was organized by the Lay Coordination Committee (“Comité laïc de coordination”, or CLC in French). Leading opposition politician Moîse Katumbi, currently in exile in Brussels, called on Congolese “lovers of justice and peace” to join the movement.
Authorities cracked down hard on the peaceful, multi-religious march; three people were shot and killed by the forces of order. An infant is on the brink of death after inhaling tear gas. For Women’s Day on March 8, women dressed in black to “honor the martyrs of democracy, fallen under the bullets of Kabila's police.”
The opposition is multiplying their protests. Their spokesperson, Lambert Mende, claimed not long ago that the ruling party would announce a candidate would be designated in July 2018. Kabila, however, proved to be rather imprecise. In early February, Lambert Mende went back on his statement and explained to a journalist:
Je n'ai pas dit qu'au mois de juillet le président Kabila va se choisir un dauphin. J'ai plutôt déclaré que conformément au calendrier électoral, au mois de juillet, nous allons connaître les différents candidats.
I didn’t say that President Kabila would choose a successor in July. What I meant was that in July, in conformity with the electoral calendar, we would learn who the candidates are.
Questioned numerous times at official outings, Kabila has systematically refused to answer queries regarding his possible candidacy and even seems to enjoy keeping it a secret.
In a revealing and comical scene, the president mysteriously placed his index finger on his mouth while a journalist from Radio France Internationale pressed him on the question.
However, his support abroad is progressively weakening while the pressure on him is intensifying. NGOs are now calling for the French and other foreign governments to suspend cooperation with his government. Belgium, a historic ally of the DR of Congo (and its neighbor the Republic of Congo), recently cut off bilateral relations with the regime. In mid-January, the European Parliament approved a resolution demanding that Kabila organize democratic elections. Numerous associations, with the support of the European Parliament, have come together to submit a petition to the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into the acts of violence committed by the regime in the region of Kasaî.
More recently, the American ambassador to the DRC reported on the potential risk of electoral fraud associated with electronic voting machines. The diplomat explained that:
Utiliser ces nouvelles technologies pour une élection aussi cruciale constitue un risque énorme
Using these new technologies in such a crucial election would constitute an enormous risk
Many observers worry that the regime could try to influence the election. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of peacekeeping operations at the UN, declared that:
Le gouvernement doit prendre des mesures pour ouvrir un espace de discussion politique et créer un environnement qui permettra une élection crédible, libre, honnête, et transparente
The government has to take measures to create space for political discussion as well as a suitable environment for credible, free, honest, and transparent elections
In its annual report on cyber-crime, the CLUSIF described a global increase in fraud and election hacking in 2017 and informed international institutions of the necessity of developing watchdog organizations for electronic voting.
The risk that the election could fail is very real, especially since the regime has often employed tactics to this end. Eight NGOs situated in the Haut-Katanga province say they were the victims of such machinations. They accuse telephone operators of colluding with the government to conduct regular Internet outages “for political purposes.” For example, on January 20, the day before an anti-Kabila protest organized by the Lay Coordination Committee was to take place, both Internet access and SMS messaging were cut off.
Authorities do not only violently repress protests, as seen with the six protesters who were killed by police fire in Kinshasa on January 21. They also make regular attacks on the leaders of the opposition, and Moîse Katumbi is at the head of that list.
After being wounded in police violence during a political trial, he was sentenced to 36 months of prison and made ineligible to run for office on what he and his supporters say are trumped-up charges of real estate despoilment. He now lives in political exile in Europe.
According to the judge who sentenced him, Ramazani Wazuri, the president himself orchestrated this judicial persecution. She also confirmed having been harassed and physically threatened. The culprits? Representatives of the regime, notably Kalev Mutond, the all-powerful chief of intelligence services. Today, the judge is an exile in Europe and is under the protection of the International Federation for Human Rights.
Katumbi, who is the former governor of the province of Katanga, is the favorite in election polls. He is popular and was made the candidate for a group of seven opposition parties. He has been attempting to escalate international pressure on Kabila with the support of London, Paris, and Brussels.
The coming months should, therefore, prove critical. Will Kabila respect the established electoral calendar? Will a real democratic election be allowed to take place? Will Katumbi be able to safely run for office? The answers to these questions will determine the future of the DRC over the next few years.

author: Alassane ndoumbe


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Netizen Report: Network Shutdowns Threaten Communities in Syria, Venezuela, Pakistan · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Residents of Afrin protest against Turkish military operations on 19 January 2018. Photo by Voice of America Kurdish [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
With Facebook and Cambridge Analytica dominating the headlines this week, personal data and data breaches have been at the top of mind for many internet users. But for many others around the world, their greatest challenge to their online rights is their inability to access the internet at all.
Syria
When Turkish-backed forces took control of the northern Syrian town of Afrin on March 18, civilians found themselves without internet access for several hours, and then reported severely weakened internet connections. The Syrian war has taken a severe toll on telecommunication networks, leaving many Syrians without internet access, sometimes due to intentional network disruptions or website blocking by the government, but in other cases due to physical damage brought on internet infrastructure by bombings.
Writing for SMEX, Asser Khattib explained that residents of Afrin, which lies just south of Syria’s border with Turkey, have increasingly resorted to using Turkish internet infrastructure due to the degradation of their own country’s networks.
“Network disruptions during violent conflict, including the seven-year Syrian war, exacerbate the effects of war, making it more difficult for people to access emergency services, document human rights abuses and war crimes, and stay in touch with loved ones far from battlegrounds,” he wrote.
Venezuela
Seventeen states in Venezuela were affected by intermittent or prolonged internet outages in just the first two weeks of March 2018. The Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) in Venezuela has been collecting reports of outages and built a map tracking the cuts in service. The non-profit group reports that these service outages, in conjunction with full-on electricity cuts, are causing permanent damage to Venezuela’s telecommunications networks.
Pakistan
In late February, the Islamabad High Court declared mobile network shutdowns illegal. But after the ruling was contested by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom the court granted the claimants an interim stay. This week, Digital Rights Monitor received multiple reports of mobile network outages in parts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Reporters at the New York Times reported that data mining and analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested the personal data and profiles of 50 million Facebook users and used this data to develop ad targeting techniques used to support Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Analysts have argued that Facebook’s business model is to blame, and urged Facebook users to review which apps they’ve allowed access to their data.
The article also suggests that Cambridge Analytica conducted experiments abroad in countries throughout the Caribbean and Africa where privacy rules are less restrictive than in the US and EU. The company has publicly tauted its work in Kenya, where it worked for incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013 and in the most recent, highly contested election. In 2013, Cambridge Analytica conducted 47,000 on-the-ground surveys which it then used to create a profile of the Kenyan electorate. The resulting strategy, which the company described on its website, was “based on the electorate's needs (jobs) and fears (tribal violence),” leaving many Kenyans concerned that the company had sought to exploit ethnic tensions in order to increase support for Kenyatta’s campaign.
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo announced she is talking with the President of the National Assembly to review the regulation of social networks in Nicaragua. Murillo said that social media are “negatively influencing” Nicaraguans, and is considering revision of the Penal Code, along with the Children’s Code and Family Code (TK), to prevent “false news”.
Murillo’s remarks suggest plans to extend the country’s media regulations into the still relatively open online sphere. Opposition political groups have expressed concern that the proposal is most likely a means to silencing government critics.
The Qatari government is going after its critics in the U.S. On 16 March, the government’s communications office filed a lawsuit with a New York state court against the administrators of a website called QatarExposed and the social media accounts linked to it for posting false news about the government, Reuters reported.
A top Russian court upheld a demand from state security service FSB that the messaging app Telegram share its encryption keys with state authorities. After refusing to do so, Telegram was issued a fine and ordered to provide the keys within 15 days or face being blocked in the country. Founder Pavel Durov asserted that “threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won’t bear fruit.” The app has been criticized for several security issues, including an infrastructure that allows the storing of keys in the first place, which messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal do not.
Police in North Carolina, US asked Google to provide data not only for specific suspects in a crime scene area, but from the mobile phones of all people in the area – in one instance, a zone ranging 17 acres. Google has not revealed whether or not it complied with this request.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced that the video platform will soon introduce new features to prevent the spread of misinformation, including inserting links to Wikipedia pages beside videos that support “conspiracy theories.” The hope, it seems, is that Wikipedia’s neutrality standards will help to give consumers more balanced information about the issue or incident in focus.
A citizen journalism project in Puerto Rico is working to spread news about hurricane recovery across the island. Through a dedicated Facebook page called Information as Aid, a team of twelve citizen journalists are working to gather and spread news about recovery information to other residents.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Marianne Diaz, Mohammed ElGohary Rohith Jyothish, Karolle Rabarison, Talal Raza and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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The Sterilization War In India That Never Stops · Global Voices
VideoVolunteers

Screenshot from YouTube Video
This post is a compilation of three articles written by Madhura Charkraborty and Alankrita Anand which originally appeared on Video Volunteers, an award-winning international community media organization based in India.
India has a dark history of state-sponsored population control targeting the poor and underprivileged. Since 1975, the year of “The Emergency” when 6.2 million men were forcibly sterilized in a widely criticised move, the burden of reducing fertility has squarely been on the shoulders of women. Video Volunteer community correspondents report on the growing cases of sterilization of poor women in government health centers without consent.
In 2013-14, 4 million sterilizations were performed across India, of which only 100,000 were performed on men. It is important to remember that India spends 85% of its total family planning budget on sterilization. In 2014, 15 women in the state of Chhattisgarh died due to botched sterilization in government camps.
In 2015-16, 82% of women who got sterilised did so at a govt-run centre. Of those who used contraceptive pills, more than half (54%) went to a pvt. facility. For family planning, govt. allots 85% funds to sterilisation, 13.5% to equipment, salaries, 1.5% to other methods
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) March 21, 2018
The information above paints quite an overall picture of how the Indian government views and treats women. Over 20 years since the Beijing platform for action hosted by UN Women, which saw a paradigmatic shift from “population control” to a discourse centered around “choice” and “reproductive health”, nothing much has changed on the ground for women in India. In 1991, Deepa Dhanraj made her documentary Something Like A War, taking a camera inside hospital rooms where doctors nonchalantly boasted about performing hundreds of sterilizations per day and women, given little anesthesia, were held down and gagged to prevent them from screaming as the doctors sterilised them.
However, one thing has certainly changed since then — the schemes for population control now come under the guise of ‘maternal health’ which masquerades as women’s ‘choice’ in reproductive health as a part of the Janani Suraksha Yojana. The recipients of these schemes are still poor women living below the poverty line in villages and slums, many of whom belong to minority communities like the Dalits and those who cannot afford private healthcare.
Video Volunteers community correspondent Usha Patel reports:
In the above video, it is discussed that a negligible 0.3% men undergo sterilization whereas 36% women undergo the procedure. The reasons? Nandu, a 35-year-old, from Uttar Pradesh, believes that men should not undergo sterilization because they perform “hard” tasks whereas women perform “normal” tasks. His wife, Manju, seconds this.
This video shows the appalling condition of Indian maternal healthcare where 5 women die in childbirth every hour.
In 2015, a journalist reported on the condition of a labor room in one of the premier government teaching hospitals in Kolkata, a metropolis. Women in labor pain were routinely berated and slapped for making noise by both doctors and nurses. The problem in targeting marginalized women for everything from institutional deliveries to sterilization and uninformed Depo-Provera birth control shots is that many similarities can be drawn between India’s attitude to reducing fertility and the past forced sterilization camps under Sanjay Gandhi. Many feel that Indian policies expose a tendency to only control the number of children the poor have.
And there are instances of shocking violation of women’s reproductive rights. In India, the use of male contraception has continued to decline drastically over the past decade, with condom usage falling by 52 percent. And yet, women-centric contraception continues to be pushed by the government in policies like the National Health Mission and on the ground.
Video Volunteers community correspondent Bikash Barman reports that most pregnant women in the Kalpani village of North Bengal’s Cooch Behar district avoid going to the hospital, fearing forcible insertion of intrauterine devices.
In the video, one of the 30 women who delivered in the local government health facility and was forcibly implanted with intrauterine contraceptive devices said:
No, I was not willing to have a copper-T inserted.
Research shows increased female autonomy, for instance, has better health-seeking behavior among women. Incentivising delayed pregnancy is more effective than sterilization in bringing down fertility rates. But all of this involves changing patriarchal attitudes towards women and how society as a whole views them. Changing this attitude at home and in institutions is a mammoth task that can’t be documented with numerical goal posts like maternal deaths can. And until we can effect this change in our policy language, women will continue to be treated like guinea pigs.

author: VideoVolunteers