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Taking down statues: France confronts its colonial and slave trade past · Global Voices
Jade Dussart

Statue of General Faidherbe in Lille, Northern France. Photo by Fred Romero via Flickr  CC BY 2.0.
While action against racism scales up across the world, France has been divided for several weeks over what to do about statues of historical figures connected to slavery and colonialism.
The death of George Floyd on May 25, in the United States, as well as the worldwide resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, have reignited the debate on systemic racism toward Black people in Western societies.
Recent BLM protests in France have revived calls for justice for Adama Traoré, a Frenchman originally from Mali, who was killed following police questioning in 2016. But the question of controversial statues has received little media attention in France, despite this former colonial power's contested heritage.
Now, global BLM protests have amplified and accelerated the quest to tear down contested figures in French history.
This follows on the heels of contested figures falling throughout the world. On June 7, Black Lives Matter activists took down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in the English port of Bristol, a major slave trade site in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Belgium, several statues of King Léopold II, responsible for major atrocities against the Congolese people between 1885 and 1908, were vandalized throughout June and are now subject to a petition calling for their removal.
The French empire was established between the 16th and 20th centuries and spanned a total of 12,000,000 square kilometers across all continents at one point, leaving no shortage of controversial historical figures.
In Lille, the “Faidherbe Must Fall” movement focuses on General Louis Faidherbe, a serviceman praised for his accomplishments in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, but was also a “key actor in the conquest of Senegal,” and led bloody “pacification” campaigns in the mid-19th century.
In Paris, activists have also targeted the statue of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a minister under King Louis XIV in the 17th century, which now sits in front of the French National Assembly. Colbert, the author of “Code Noir,” or “Black Code” for the French West Indies, published in 1685, outlined slave owner rights over slaves, describing them as êtres meubles or “chattel.”
Slavery was then banned in mainland France but still practiced in the colonies.
In 2017, Louis-George Tin, president of the Representative Council of France's Black Associations (CRAN) stated: “Colbert was the enemy of liberty, equality and fraternity” [the motto of the French Republic]. More recently, former French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for places bearing his name to be renamed.
A statue of Georges Cuvier, a 19th-century naturalist and anatomist, is also displayed in several French towns. Cuvier, holding racist scientific theories of the time, endeavored to dissect the body of Saartjie Baartman, known as the “Hottentot Venus,” after her death. The Black Autonomous Action Coordination is particularly critical of this controversial figure:
“La France n'est pas raciste” il faut vraiment être né avant la honte pour le penser et le dire dans un pays où l'apologie d'esclavagistes est partout: rues, statues et bâtiments.
Du 8 au 30 juin sortons les de leur anonymat confortable! #EsclavagistesPartoutRéparationsNullePart pic.twitter.com/fjCBIQbuF0
— C.A.A.N Coordination Action Autonome Noire (@ActionNoire) June 15, 2020
“France isn't racist”. You would really have to have been born before the shame to think and say this in a country where slave-traders are praised everywhere: streets, statues and buildings.
From 8 to 30 June, let's get rid of their comfortable anonymity!
Anatomist and Naturalist. Scientific racism theorist. Dissected the body of Sawtche, Sarah Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus.
SLAVE TRADERS EVERYWHERE. REMEDIATION NOWHERE.
In overseas former French colonial territories that still have ties to France, the issue remains especially fraught.
On May 22, in Martinique, local authorities took down two statues of Victor Schoelcher (1804-1893), an abolitionist in favor of compensating colonial slave owners. In French Guyana, local authorities have placed his statue under police protection:
⚪ #Guyane : Une nuit à la place Victor #Schoelcher de Cayenne où la statue mémorielle de l’abolitionniste est sous protection policière depuis plus de 24 heures, à l’aube des commémorations locales de l’abolition de l’#esclavage pic.twitter.com/8BNFuBJKBs
— Journaleuse en Katouri (@jielem__) June 10, 2020
⚪ #Guyane: One evening in Victor #Schoelcher Square, Cayenne, where the memorial statue of the abolitionist has been under police protection for more than 24 hours, at the beginning of local commemorations for the abolition of slavery.
In the French overseas territory of Reunion, located in the Indian Ocean, citizens have called for the replacement of the statue of the island's former governor, Mahé de La Bourdonnais, who profited from slave trading and used slaves for public works.
Moi j’ai une vraie question : quand est-ce qu’on renverse la statut de Mahé de La Bourdonnais ? Qu’on enlève cette merde.
— zenfan larényon?? (@Laroussoly) June 10, 2020
I have a serious question: when can we knock down the statue of Mahé de La Bourdonnais and get rid of that garbage?
While some activists are calling for the outright removal of statues connected to colonization and slavery, others argue that preserving them with signs offering historical explanations might help to contextualize these figures.
For a long time, Karfa Diallo, director of the Memories and Sharing Association, advocated for the contextualization of colonial street names. On France's Inter Radio Network, he said:
[Nous demandons] que quelques symboles tombent et que le reste des rues soit accompagné d'un dispositif explicatif qui permette de sauvegarder la mémoire que nous avons de ce crime contre l'humanité.
[We are calling for] some symbols to come down and for the remaining streets to be given an explanatory feature, which will make it possible to safeguard the memory we have of this crime against humanity.
As for the Faidherbe Must Fall  movement, it all depends on contextualization:
Si c’est pour raconter que le colonialisme a des aspects « positifs », […] pas sûr que cela soit la solution. S’il s’agit en revanche d’indiquer clairement, sur ces statues elles-mêmes, ce qu’est fondamentalement le colonialisme, à savoir un crime abominable dans son principe même, alors une telle solution pourrait se défendre.
If this is about saying how colonialism has some “positive” aspects,  […] then we're not sure that this is the solution. If, on the other hand, it's about clearly stating what colonialism fundamentally was on the statues, which is an abominable crime in its very principle, then such a solution could be defended.
Some citizens defend these statues on the basis that removing them is a form of censorship. For historian Dimitri Casali, tearing down historical statues is not a solution. In 2017, he wrote:
On ne réécrit pas l'Histoire. Déboulonner les statues de nos Grands Hommes c'est ouvrir la boîte de Pandore du révisionnisme historique. […] L'Histoire, on doit l'assumer. C'est autant glorieux qu'honteux.
We cannot rewrite history. Taking down statues of our Statesmen would be like opening up Pandora's box of historical revisionism. […] We must accept history. It's as much glorious as it is shameful.
However, decolonial feminist activist Françoise Vergès argues that removing these statues is a matter of “memorial justice,” and “has nothing to do with erasing history.” Interviewed by Histoires Crépues, she explained that figures displayed in French towns are the result of “political choices”:
According to Françoise Vergès, taking down racist and colonial statues is a matter of MEMORIAL JUSTICE. Public monuments are not “history.” They are memorials of political choices. Choices we have the right to question. The calls for statues to be taken down are part of a significant anti-racist fight, which must be supplemented by better teaching of our colonial history.
In a televised address to the nation on June 14, French President Emmanuel Macron's clearly stated:
La République n’effacera aucune trace ni aucun nom de son histoire. Elle n’oubliera aucune de ses œuvres, elle ne déboulonnera pas de statue. Nous devons plutôt lucidement regarder ensemble toute notre histoire, toutes nos mémoires.
The Republic will not erase any trace or any name from its history. It will not forget any of its artworks and it will not take down any statues. We should instead look clearly at our history and memories together.
Meanwhile, French netizens are promoting the #JeVeuxUneStatueDe (“I want a statue of”) hashtag, to advocate for black historical figures they would like to see in public places.
Woke Witch writes:
#JeVeuxUneStatueDe Anarcha, l'esclave noire exploitée sans anesthésie par le médecin américain James Marion Sims, inventeur du spéculum. pic.twitter.com/1iKOhFgbUe
— Woke Witch (@stoner_fem) June 15, 2020
I want a statue of Anarcha, a black slave who American doctor James Marion Sims, inventor of the speculum, experimented on without anesthesia.
And Black Lullaby says:
#JeVeuxUneStatueDe Suzanne Belair dite Sanite Belair,
femme qui s'est battue contre le rétablissement de l'esclavage en Haïti. Elle fut capturée, jugée par un tribunal colonial et décapitée. pic.twitter.com/VenBg2s5BX
— Black Lullaby (@MyWords_JustMe) June 15, 2020
I want a statue of Suzanne Belair known as Sanite Belair,
a woman who fought against the reinstatement of slavery in Haiti. She was caught, tried by a colonial court and decapitated.

author: Jade Dussart


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Network marketing in Tanzania turns billionaire dreams into nightmares  · Global Voices
GV Sub-Saharan Africa

The city of Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's cultural and business capital, where big dreams can turn into nightmares with network marketing schemes. Free photo via NeedPix.
Everyone desires financial stability, but young people often want to quicken their path to a successful life — and this is exactly what network marketing companies promise.
Over the last five years in Tanzania, network marketing companies, also known as multi-level marketing, have mushroomed in the East African nation. These companies lure young people with “get-rich-quick” dreams that depend on person-to-person sales of products purchased upfront by the seller. Many schemes also rely on the seller's aggressive recruitment of other independent sales associates.
While technically legal, their interactions with potential customers raise concerns about how these companies prey on vulnerable youth and their billionaire dreams.
“I can assure you, the products are very expensive, which do not reflect the lives of third-world communities,” Traves Msangule, a former network marketer in Dar es Salaam, told Global Voices by phone.
Msangule was a university student in 2013 when a close friend convinced him to join Forever Living Products, a health and wellness company, to help him make some extra money to pay for his studies. Msangule did not have a government loan to cover his school fees, so he agreed to join.
To get started, Msangule had to buy a package of products worth about $320 United States dollars that he then had to re-sell in the hopes of doubling his profit.
The gospel of network marketing schemes is that recruiting new customers will increase earnings — but this is no easy task.
“Take an example: If a toothpaste from the package is sold at $12 USD, while [in reality] there is a toothpaste sold at $1.20 USD, who is going to buy yours? Though the products are of high quality, it’s very difficult to compete,” Msangule said.
Network marketers promote smart, fake lifestyles to persuade people of their success, while in reality, very few people are “eating the cake” of network marketing.
Msangule explained his stressful ordeal in aTwitter thread:
So Wakati napanda hicho cheo nilipaswa kukamilisha points (mauzo ya bidhaa) Mimi pamoja na timu. Pale tulikuwa tunawekewa Mindset ya ku-push KWA KILA NAMNA Hadi kieleweke na kutokata tamaa. So ikabidi nianze kupiga simu kukopa hela that night. Deadline ilikuwa ni saa 6 usiku?
— Eagletraves? (@TravesSenior) February 13, 2020
So, when I climbed to that rank, I had to complete points (product sales) for myself and the team. There we were put on a mindset to “push up” in every way until it was understood not to give up. So, I had to start calling to borrow money that night. The deadline was midnight.
Msangule told Global Voices:
These guys, first of all, are trained to discourage formal employment and small business [self-employment]. They will keep [asking] you: When will you get enough money? The only alternative is this part-time job, which deals with chatting with people, and you can earn millions in just a few weeks and you will be financially stable.
Unfortunately, in 2017, Msangule had to postpone his studies for a year because this “chatting with people” business consumed his time. With over $750 invested in these products, he had to make sure to earn his profit. When he realized this was not going to happen, he quit.
Network marketing companies that thrive in Tanzania, such as AIM Global, Forever Living Products, Oriflame, QNet, Avon and Edmark, are part of a $200 billion USD global industry as of 2015.
In 2017, QNet, one of the largest direct-selling companies in the world based in Hong Kong, expanded its operations in East Africa, with an agency office in Dar es Salaam, the cultural capital of Tanzania. Thousands of Tanzanian citizens “have registered to market and promote QNet online products…” according to BusinessForHome, an industry website.
AIM Global, based in the Philippines, took hold in Tanzania in 2019 and just celebrated its one-year anniversary with over 4,000 independent distributors.
Many of the companies say they offer extensive professional training, coaching and education to ensure success, including conferences and reward point systems for top sellers.
Top-selling products in Tanzania include health and wellness products, household goods and luxury products.
On June 21, the famous actor and comedian Idriss Sultan took to Twitter with a video explaining the ills of network marketing in Tanzania, detailing how these companies exploit young people toiling hard with “sweat and blood” to improve their lives.
He opens with the phrase, “Good morning future billionaire, good morning business partner!” a famous network marketing line:
Hii video nimechukua one take na sijakata part yoyote. Kwa wote itakaowaelimisha nashukuru na watakaokasirishwa nayo basi sina budi kusema “Waacheni wananchi wanaotafuta pesa zao kwa jasho lao wafaidi matunda ya pesa zao na sio nyie na watoto wenu”. pic.twitter.com/nbcPJx5zsc
— Idris Sultan (@IdrisSultan) June 21, 2020
This video I've done in one [single] take and I haven't cut any part out. It will educate everyone and to those who may get offended by it, fine then, I have no issue, but to say: “Let the citizens who earn their money by their sweat benefit from the fruits of their money and not you and your children.”
Without naming a specific company, Sultan says the mushrooming of the network marketing model in Tanzania, — with their various colorful, flashy names — is a threat to young peoples’ lives.
Youth often fail to resist these ploys because they have respect for those who pressure them to join. These companies also use famous people to promote their brands who wield a lot of influence and power.
Sultan said in his video:
…Young people are working very hard, their money is a result of very, very hard work, so it is unacceptable to allow someone from nowhere to come with this system that exploits people.
Other netizens wrote about their own experience with network marketing:
Kuna Madada fulani wapo Dar ni Marafiki zangu walisumbua sana kuhusu kuniunga na hizi Biashara yaani ni kama Mungu sikukubali Haraka maana sikuweza kuelewa zinafanyika vipi? Nikawa Nahofia kuingiza hela yangu humo Pia nilipiga hesabu nikaona Faida yao……
— Mkurya! (@Gervasmgaya3) June 21, 2020
Certain women’s groups in Dar, — they were my friends — and they bothered me a lot to join these businesses, but I did not agree to join quickly, meaning, I was not able to understand what were they doing exactly? I was afraid to invest my money and also, I calculated what they really earned…
A lack of information and a thirst for shortcuts can be a dangerous mix for young people who hustle and work hard to improve their lives in Tanzania, where the average monthly income is about $150-$215 USD. A 2017 study by Theobald Francis Kipilimba on the effect of pyramid schemes on the economy in Tanzania revealed:
…most Tanzanians are very naïve when it comes to pyramid schemes, with very scant knowledge about these schemes. Many do not know if they have participated in these schemes but in those instances that they had, they suffered huge financial losses. …
As to the reasons as to why they participated in these schemes in the first place range from pure naivety, personal greed and peer pressure.
The Tanzanian government has allotted 10 percent of total revenue toward interest-free loans for youth, women and people with disabilities but these groups remain vulnerable to predatory promises posed by network marketing companies.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: GV Sub-Saharan Africa


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In Brazil, COVID-19 death rate for black community is higher than for other populations · Global Voices
Agencia Pública

Photo by Pedro Conforte in Plantão Enfoco, used with permission.
This article was first published in Portuguese on May 6, 2020, and translated into Spanish by our Brazilian partner Agência Publica. It was then republished and edited by Global Voices with their permission.
The number of black people who have died from COVID-19 in Brazil increased fivefold over a period of two weeks. From 11 to 26 April, the number of federally confirmed deaths rose from just over 180 to more than 930 among black Brazilians infected with the coronavirus. The number of black patients hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by the coronavirus increased 5.5 times.
For the white Brazilian population, the rise in deaths during these same two weeks was significantly smaller: deaths increased three times and the number of hospitalizations increased by a similar proportion.
By 18 June, the total number of deaths from the coronavirus in Brazil had risen to 46,842. Since the beginning of the pandemic, President Jair Bolsonaro has minimized the seriousness of COVID-19 and argued for keeping the economy open. Quarantine rules have been decided by regional governors. Today the country has the second-highest number of cases in the world.
The large increase in the number of black people who have been hospitalized or have died due to COVID-19 has highlighted issues of racial inequality in Brazil. Among the black population, one in three patients has died from complications due to the virus compared to one in 4.4 deaths among white Brazilian patients.
[Translators’ note: Below, the graphs include “branco”, referring to white people and “preto” and “pardo”, referring to black and mixed-black people. For the English translation, we will refer to the latter group as black people.]
Deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil increase more among black people. Graph used with permission.
The percentage of deaths among white people has decreased, while among black people it has increased. Graph used with permission.
Deaths caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Graph used with permission.
These data have been taken from an analysis carried out by Agência Pública based on epidemiological reports from the Ministry of Health which contain information on race in hospitalisations and deaths from coronavirus. The federal government published these updated figures on 26 April.
Graves are opened in the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery, which serves the community of Brasilândia, a neighbourhood in São Paulo where black people comprise half of the population and have the highest number of deaths from COVID-19. Used with permission.
São Paulo, the country's biggest city and the one with the highest number of deaths from COVID-19, has registered increased death rates in neighbourhoods where the black population is larger. According to Agência Pública, of the ten neighbourhoods with the highest death rate from coronavirus, eight have a larger percentage of black residents than the São Paulo average.
The neighbourhood with the highest number of deaths is Brasilândia, where 103 coronavirus patients have died. Nearly 50 percent of the residents in this area identify as black (the average in São Paulo is 37 percent). In contrast, Moema, the neighbourhood with the lowest percentage of black residents (less than 6 percent), registered 26 deaths.
When adjusting the figures proportionally, the two neighbourhoods still have different realities: compared to the number of residents in Moema, Brasilândia has approximately 25 percent more deaths. Agência Pública used data from the last census (2010) to analize the population size and residents’ race.
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COVID-19 data for black residents in Brasilândia and Moema. Graph used with permission.
In Jardim Ângela, the neighbourhood with the highest percentage of black people in the whole city, deaths from coronavirus almost tripled in about two weeks. In other neighbourhoods with a majority black population, such as Grajaú, Parelheiros, Itaim Paulista, Jardim Helena, Capão Redondo and Pedreira, deaths from COVID-19 more than doubled during the same period.
The spread of the coronavirus in São Paulo’s suburbs has slowed down in wealthier neighbourhoods where the first cases of COVID-19 appeared. On 17 April, neighbourhoods with fewer black people than the city average had 13 percent more deaths than areas where more black people live. Two weeks later, that difference fell to 3 percent. If the trend continues, deaths from COVID-19 in neighbourhoods with a majority black population will exceed those in neighbourhoods where fewer black people live.
The areas with denser populations of black people are the areas where the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) — which calculates longevity, education and income — is at its lowest. The ten neighbourhoods with the worst MHDI in São Paulo are where more black people live than the city average. The ten neighbourhoods with the best MHDI are where fewer black people live. In the ten neighbourhoods with the highest number of deaths, eight have an average MHDI below 0.8. The percentage of black people in these eight neighbourhoods is higher than the city average.
In Rio, increasing cases of COVID-19 in neighbourhoods where there are more black residents than the city average have led to these areas recording more and more deaths. Used with permission.
In Rio, neighbourhoods with more black people than the city average already have already seem more deaths in absolute numbers than neighbourhoods with fewer black people.
Currently, Campo Grande, which has more than 50% black inhabitants, is the neighbourhood with the most deaths. The neighbourhood overtook Copacabana, which previously had the highest number of deaths from COVID-19. After Copacabana, Bangu and Realengo, two neighbourhoods with a majority black population are the third and fourth most affected in the city.
Neighbourhoods with most COVID-19 deaths in Rio de Janeiro. Graph used with permission.
In Rocinha, the city's largest poor neighbourhood, there were nine deaths according to official data at the time of the investigation. Doctors working in that community questioned the number and pointed out that there were already 22 deaths in the favela.
The relationship between the number of confirmed cases and deaths is also quite different between the rich and poor neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro, which may indicate difficulties to get tested for residents of favelas and suburbs.
In Amazonas state, where the public health system has collapsed, black people are dying in higher numbers than white people who are severely affected COVID-19 patients. According to Agência Pública, one black person dies for every 2.4 patients in serious condition, while among white people there is one death for every 3.2 seriously ill patients.
COVID-19 data from Amazonas. Graph used with permission.
The state of Amazonas, which was the first to reach its maximum capacity of intensive care units for patients with COVID-19, has recorded a more significant increase among black people severely affected by COVID-19 than among white people. At the end of April, the number of seriously ill black patients doubled.
In Amazonas,13 black people died for every white person who died. The health department had registered about 850 black patients with severe coronavirus infections and over 340 deaths. Among white people, there were 81 serious cases and 25 deaths. The data on race was updated on 29 April.
In Manaus, the first Brazilian city to have its public health system collapse, more than 13 black patients died per one death of a white patient. Used with permission.
Despite data that shows a greater increase in deaths in the black population and more deaths among hospitalized patients, the Federal Government does not release details about this information. For example, there is no information available about how many cases were confirmed by race, nor the number of tests done on black people, white people, and other populations.
The lack of official data on race has a long history in the country, says lawyer Daniel Teixeira, director of the Centre for the Study of Labour Relations and Inequalities (Ceert). According to Teixeira:
There are several factors that may explain the high lethality [of COVID-19 among the black population]. Indeed, having more information means that we can even confirm or exclude the importance or relevance of each of these factors, as the case may be. That's where the importance of the data lies.
Teixeira believes that the gap is not only in the area of health and that it is widespread in the country.
The lack of this type of data could prevent people from having public policies that take into account this situation which, historically, ignores the factors of structural inequalities in Brazil.
The Report was originally published by Agência Pública.

author: Agencia Pública


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India’s digital ID system deepens exclusion of vulnerable communities amid pandemic · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Banner image credit: Corona crisis in Kolkata 14. Indrajit Das (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This post was first published at Yoti as a part of Subhashish Panigrahi's Digital Identity Fellowship. It has been edited for Global Voices.
Before Indian society had the chance to recover from the hardship of both a financial slowdown and the controversial amendment to the Citizenship Act, it got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of reporting, 16,568 Indians have died of COVID-19 and 554,386 have tested positive. By mid-May, 24 people, mostly migrant workers who were desperately trying to return to their own houses, were also reported to have died recently because of the lockdown. Most of them died in an attempt to walk hundreds of kilometres, in hunger and illness, and some as a result of indiscriminate attacks.
However, a curated database maintained by open data community Datameet suggests that more 882 Indians have died of non-coronavirus reasons (mostly starvation and financial distress, exhaustion, accidents during migration, lack or denial of medical care, suicides, police brutality, crimes, and alcohol-withdrawal) during the lockdown. Many marginalized communities were already struggling to survive poverty, hunger and systemic exclusions, and life got even harder due to social distancing and lockdown regulations.
India's digital identification system—which faced scrutiny over privacy concerns and exclusion— has further put marginalised communities at a greater disadvantage during the pandemic.
There have been concerns that fingerprint-based authentication (as used by Aadhaar, India’s national biometrics-based digital identity program) can increase the risk of further spreading COVID-19, and India’s Public Distribution System (or PDS, India's social welfare service) predominantly uses Aadhaar for authentication. The state of Kerala identified this risk early on and suspended the use of all biometric authentication systems. This, and all the other social, political and transactional risks linked to Aadhaar — because of COVID-19 — have put marginalized communities at much higher risk, and furthered calls for a revised look at the digital ID ecosystem. While migrant workers in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Surat desperately try to return back to their native homes, many struggle to get the COVID-19 relief and regular support of food grains and rations that they are entitled to – all because PDS is yet to be made universal to ensure an equitable public benefit.
The use of Aadhaar-based authentication – or linking the use of Aadhaar with essential social services – makes exclusions more likely than ever.
A 68-year-old disabled woman from the Indian state of Odisha with missing fingers was denied enrolment in Aadhaar, and as a result, she received no food grains for 11 months. Another disabled person was denied rations for three years, and a five-member family, including an elderly couple, have been in a similar situation for the past six months. There are over 100 such individuals from one tiny administrative region in the same province who did not receive the food grains or rations that they are entitled to.
Harshabati Kheti of Lachipur, Sonepur distt., Odisha was denied of Aadhaar first for not having fingers intact. She hasn’t received any food grains or other ration for 11 months, or #COVID19 relief. https://t.co/LXCZYwcyKo @Food_Odisha @rajaaswain @CMO_Odisha #MarginalizedAadhaar pic.twitter.com/W4sC2VduAO
— Subhashish P. ସୁଭ (@subhapa) April 30, 2020
India is in the middle of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), an effort to identify and build a database of “legal citizens” which, in the first rollout in the state of Assam, declared 31 million people out of a total population of 33 million as “legal” while leaving 1.9 million, mostly Muslims, as stateless. The government has plans to implement NRC across the country.
The use of personal data lies at the centre of everything — from identifying protesters using facial recognition, or selectively-identifying vehicles owned by Muslims from a government database during a communal pogroms, or even tracking people who have travelled to a coronavirus-affected country. The government is reportedly in the process of developing a geofencing app that can alert local authorities if a person in COVID-19 quarantine or isolation attempts to ‘escape’, using the affected person’s cell tower location.
Attempts to deal with COVID-19 have also resulted in a provincial government agency sharing personal data publicly — including legal names and complete addresses — of 19,240 individuals who were under home-isolation post-foreign travel. Lawyer Rahul Matthan cites the lack of appreciation of personal privacy by the government as a reason for this. Aadhaar plays a key role in most large-scale identification initiatives. A recent three-part investigation report reveals that the Indian government is planning to build an “all-encompassing, auto-updating, searchable database to track every aspect of the lives” of all 1.2 billion residents. The shift from Aadhaar being an identity in its initial design to a system for bettering public welfare to its use in mass surveillance is worrisome. In 2016, India’s then finance minister Arun Jaitley even renamed the Aadhaar Bill of Indian constitution “Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act”.
The civil rights of individuals can become compromised when a securitarian state – with a Hindu right-wing political party in power – requests Muslim Aadhaar-holders to prove their citizenship. Prior to the pandemic, there were large-scale protests around the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), a controversial amendment to the 1955 citizenship law that promises citizenship to some undocumented migrants on the basis of their religious faiths, while denying Muslim immigrants and several other minorities the same right. The fear of statelessness and another Rohingya-like situation led to nationwide protests lasting for 100 days in which 65 people were killed.
Special Hospital for Corona patients, photo credit: Government of Odisha (CC-BY-4.0)
The Indian government maintains that Aadhaar-based biometric authentication (ABBA) has helped reduce errors and corruption in the distribution of benefits. However, a recent study by academic researchers suggests otherwise. The study found that the use of Aadhaar adds an additional financial burden of 17% that the beneficiaries had to incur to collect their benefits, with 10% of genuine PDS holders denied their benefits because of false authentication errors.
The use of Aadhaar by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), a government scheme for direct-to-bank-account transfer, also resulted in a failure of 690 million INR (9.08 million USD) worth of transactions, according to Indian news agency Economic Times.
Apart from the authentication failures, cases of stolen fingerprint casts being used for fraud have also surfaced — these did not exist before Aadhaar-based authentications were rolled out on such a scale. Also, considering the uncertainty of a return to normality post-COVID-19, it might be wiser to avoid physical contact by using alternative methods of authentication — instead of fingerprint scanning where the forced use of Aadhaar for public welfare payments would be problematic. Many isolated indigenous communities may not have immunity to even the most common diseases and extra precautions need to be taken in case of non-indigenous persons involved in the distribution of resources. Lack of access to emergency healthcare information in native languages also remains a huge obstacle.
To learn more about marginalisation and exclusion caused by digital identity in India, listen to MarginzalizedAadhaar, a podcast by the author in which he interviews human rights lawyer and researcher Dr. Usha Ramanathan rights.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


text:
Milada Horáková: 70 years after her sham trial and execution, Czechs reflect on their communist past · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

A large billboard representing Milada Horáková and a slogan beneath reading “Zavražděna komunisty” (Murdered by communists) hanging on Prague Old Town Square. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.
June 27 marks a special date in the Czech Republic: Remembrance Day for the victims of the communist regime (Den památky obětí komunistického režimu).
This year, it was commemorated with particular force because exactly 70 years ago, on June 27, 1950, Milada Horáková, a lawyer, politician and Nazi resister, was hanged along with others after a show trial under the orders of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Remembrance Day was inaugurated in 2003 with the date chosen to honor the memory of Milada Horáková.
Comics released in 2020 to mark the 70th anniversary of Milada Horáková's death, by Zdeněk Ležák and Štěpánka Jislová. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.
Milada Horáková‘s biography reads like a Hollywood movie: She was born in 1901, in what was then still the Austrian-Hungarian Habsburg Empire, into a middle-class family. She managed to study law at a time when very few women did and became active in women's emancipation movements.
Czechoslovakia, which emerged in 1918 from the Habsburg Empire, allowed women's vote as early as 1920, ahead of many other European states, thanks to Senator Františka Plamínková, the founder of the Women's National Council for whom Horáková started working in 1924.
From 1927, she worked in the social welfare department, promoting reforms aimed at women's equality. During World War II, she entered the resistance movement against the Nazis, along with her husband, but both were arrested in August 1941.
Horáková, who spent four years in camps and prisons, managed to represent herself at her own trial, and therefore avoided the death penalty. She returned to her work in 1945, and agreed to run as a member of parliament for the Czech National Socialist Party. She quickly became a target of the communists for her outspoken criticism of their agenda to curb democratic freedom in post-war Czechoslovakia.
She was eventually arrested on September 27, 1949, along with her husband and others, and charged with treason in June 1950 in a sham trial that was meant to show that the new regime would not stop at anything — including sentencing women to death — to impose its policies, with zero tolerance for the slightest criticism. The trial was scripted on similar parodies of justice already carried on in the Soviet Union.
She gave her final speech on June 8, 1950, during her trial, in which she refused accusations of treason with strong determination. Here is a segment of her speech in this video in Czech:
She was eventually sentenced to death. On June 27, she was given 20 minutes to see her sister and her daughter before she was hanged. She was cleared of all accusations posthumously in 1991, when she was awarded by President Václav Havel the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the highest state honor made for outstanding contributions to the development of democracy, humanity and human rights
In 2017, an English-language movie was made about her life by David Mrnka:
After communism collapsed in Czechoslovakia in 1989, authorities faced a difficult choice when justice for victims of the previous regime surfaced. Eventually, they opted for a process of non-judicial lustration — the purge of government officials — that prevented all employees of communist-era state security from holding office in the higher levels of civil service, including the judiciary, until at least the year 2000. In Czechoslovakia, this status lasted until 1992, and from January 1, 1993, in the Czech Republic.
The government also allowed the Communist Party to continue to function. The Party, renamed the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (known in Czech under its acronym KSČM), remains small during elections but plays a key role in tipping alliances and voicing support for Moscow and Beijing influence in the Czech Republic. It now holds 15 out of 200 seats in parliament.
A number of political forces and civic movements have recently stepped up their criticism of KSČM and the communist legacy in Czech society. This year, the civic movement Dekomunizace (De-communisation) launched a visual campaign across Prague, the capital, hanging large size billboards with images of Horáková and strong messages such as Zavražděna komunisty (“Murdered by communists”).
While some higher education institutions and political forces support the campaign, others have described it as offensive and divisive by reopening old wounds.
The most outspoken critic has been KSČM, which stated in a Facebook post:
Krajský výbor KSČM Praha důrazně protestuje proti zkreslování a přepisování historické pravdy a proti rozdmýchávání antikomunistické nenávisti, která je opět vyvolávána v hlavním městě.
Současná agresivní kampaň zaměřená proti KSČM zapadá do scénáře usnesení Evropského parlamentu „O významu evropské paměti pro budoucnost Evropy“, přijatého v září 2019. Toto usnesení staví na stejnou úroveň komunistickou a nacistickou ideologii, socialistické a nacistické režimy.
The regional committee of KSČM for Prague strongly protests against the distortion and rewriting of historical truth and against the spread of anti-communist hatred, which is again fomented in the capital. The current aggressive campaign against the KSČM fits into the scenario of the European Parliament resolution ‘On the importance of European memory for the future of Europe,’ adopted in September 2019. This resolution puts communist and Nazi ideology, socialist and Nazi regimes on an equal footing.
Journalist Petr Šabata wrote in a column published on the portal of Seznam Zprávy on June 26:
Ano, Milada Horáková byla zavražděna komunisty. Ale zúžit vzpomínku na ni jen na komunisty by bylo vůči této nezlomné ženě znovu nespravedlivé. Protože Milada Horáková byla bohatá originální osobnost a její osud má několik vrstev a nabízí mnoho inspirace.
Yes, Milada Horáková was murdered by communists. But to reduce the memory of her life to the communists would be once again unfair to this unbreakable woman. Because Milada Horáková had a rich and original personality and her life has multiple layers and provides a lot of inspiration.
For Michal Gregorini, the official representative of the movement Dekomunizace, the aim of the movement is to prevent the loss of historical memory, as he explained in an interview to the news portal iRozhlas on June 22:
Proč Milada Horáková? Ono je to teprve sedmdesát let. Zdá se to, jako kdyby to bylo strašně dávno, v minulém tisíciletí, ale moje máma to pamatuje, takže je to hrozně nedávno. Proto připomínáme Miladu Horákovou.
Why Milada Horáková? It was just 70 years ago. It might seem as being a very long time ago, in the previous millenium, but my mum remembers it, so it is actually in the very recent past. That is why we remind everyone about her.
The campaign also included an “audio-collage” as sound segments of her trial were broadcast in Prague metro on June 27.

author: Filip Noubel


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Netflix picks up ‘Resgate,’ the first Mozambican film to appear on the platform · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Resgate (Redemption) featured on Netflix (screenshot by Dércio Tsandzana).
For the first time, a Mozambique-made independent film will be shown on Netflix. The feature film “Resgate” (translated in English as “Redemption”) was written and directed by Mickey Fonseca, who is from Mozambique, and will premiere on the platform in July.
“Resgate” was partially financed via crowdfunding and was filmed in Mozambique in 2017. The film's plot was summarized by the Portuguese newspaper Público:
Resgate centra-se na história de Bruno, que quer mudar de vida depois de ter passado quatro anos na prisão e conhecer finalmente a filha bebé que partilha com Mia.
Tenta encontrar, primeiro sem sucesso, um trabalho como mecânico, a profissão em que se especializou. A tia, irmã da sua recém-falecida mãe, arranja-lhe um emprego numa garagem.
Mas este novo plano de vida cai por terra quando, sem aviso, o banco ameaça despejá-lo da casa da mãe se não pagar o empréstimo, por ele desconhecido, que ela contraiu antes de morrer. E é aí que vai ter de voltar ao mundo do crime.
Resgate focuses on the story of Bruno. After spending four years in prison, Bruno wants to change his life and finally get to know the baby daughter he shares with Mia.
He tries to find work as a mechanic, a job he is familiar with, and is initially unsuccessful. Eventually his aunt, who is the sister of his recently-deceased mother, gets him a job in a garage.
But Bruno's new life is unexpectedly blown apart when the bank threatens to evict him from his mother's house if he does not pay back the loan that she, unbeknownst to him, took out before she died. He then returns to a life of crime.
Resgate had a commercial cinematic release in Mozambique, Angola, and Portugal in 2019. It was also shown at festivals in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe.
In the same year, the film won the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMA Awards) for Best Screenplay and Best Production Design. The awards are held annually in Nigeria and are the most prestigious in the world for African cinema. It was also awarded the Courageous Film Award at the Film Fest Zell in Austria.
Fonseca told the Mozambican Ministry of Culture that he feels honoured to see his film broadcast by one of the biggest online streaming services in the world:
“Resgate” foi muito bem recebido a nível nacional e isso foi emocionante para nós, porque fizemos o filme com muito sacrifício e meios próprios. Estamos a levar o filme para o resto do mundo, de modo que todos possam ver.
Resgate was really well received on a national level, which was exciting for us because we sacrificed a lot and used our own means to make the film. We're bringing the film to the rest of the world in an accessible way.
The film will be available on Netflix with English dubbing, which was well-received on Mozambican Twitter:
? BOAS NOTÍCIAS! ?
A NETFLIX decidiu avançar com a dobragem do RESGATE para língua inglesa, para que o filme tenha maior alcance mundial! ?????
O lançamento do RESGATE na plataforma de streaming irá acontecer em Julho, mas não no dia 01.
Atentem às novidades! pic.twitter.com/UoKUTSsGUm
— Resgate (@Filme_resgate) June 23, 2020
GREAT NEWS! NETFLIX gave the go-ahead to dubbing RESGATE in English so the film can reach a wider global audience!
RESGATE will be released on the streaming platform in July, at some point after the 1st of the month. Look out for updates!
Todos estamos felizes por ter resgate no Netflix
Nós podemos fazer parte duma revolução artística, imaginem todas outras indústrias a crescer, música, artes visuais etc. Acreditem na nossa arte, temos muito a oferecer e vocês só tem de acreditar e dar UMA CHANCE. Não é difícil
— MICHALUK ? (@Michaluk_) June 18, 2020
We are all happy that resgate is on Netflix.
It allows us to be part of an artistic revolution! Just imagine how other industries will evolve – music, visual arts etc. They believe in our art and we have a lot to offer, so all you have to do is believe in us too and give us A CHANCE. It's not hard.
African productions have recently been featuring more prominently on Netflix. The selection includes the South African series “Queen Sono”, which is the first Netflix original series to be produced entirely in Africa.
Other African highlights in the platform's catalogue are the cartoon “Mama K's Team 4“, which is also South African, and Nollywood classics such as “Lion Heart” and “Chief Daddy”.

author: Dércio Tsandzana


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Protest art in the streets of Tripoli: An interview with Lebanese artist Batool Jacob · Global Voices
Marta Closa Valero

Batool Jacob. Photo taken with permission from her Instagram.
Since the demonstrations against the Lebanese government began on 17 October 2019, street art has increasingly become another form of protest. Artist and activist Batool Jacob, together with a group of artists from Tripoli, took her artwork to the streets as urban art spread across walls in unison with the voices protesting across cities.
Last October, when the Lebanese government wanted to implement a tax on the WhatsApp call service and other social media platforms, thousands of Lebanese people went out to protest in different cities. For them, this new measure disproportionately affected the poor majority. Although the government withdrew the measure, protests continued, denouncing political corruption, the sectarian system that establishes fixed quotas for seats based on religion, the economic crisis, as well as defending the rights of women and minority groups, including Syrians. The government fell on 29 October, but when a new government was formed in January 2020, it was received with fresh protests. Since the protests began, the government detained more than 450 people, many of whom have reported being tortured.
The city of Tripoli and its northern area, home to a predominantly Muslim population, played a central role in the protests. Previously these areas had experienced a lack of media coverage, and so protests in Tripoli have also contributed to erase stereotypes related to poverty and instead highlighted the community's artists, spokespeople, youth, and the unity of its people.
Within this context, GV author Marta Closa Valero interviewed Batool Jacob, a self-taught artist from Tripoli. Batool, who painted street-art during the protests in 2019, now continues to make art from her home as the country eases the lock-down due to COVID-19.
Art of change ” in Beirut. You have done similar work in Tripoli, how has this movement emerged?
Batool Jacob: Street art is a new technique for me, the first job I did was in January together with my friends Ghiath Al Robih, a Syrian Palestinian artist living in Tripoli, and Nagham Abboud, also a Tripoli artist. It's interesting because its the first time in the city that a group of artists have come together for a common cause, to show the revolution and to fight for freedom of expression. Before, each area had its own art exhibitions but there wasn't unity.
“The fall of the Lira”, by Batool Jacob, Ghiath Al Robih and Nagham Abboud. Photo by Joao Sousa, used with permission.
MCV: What was the motive for doing the first artwork together? What did you want to show?
BJ: The work was mostly Ghiath's idea. It consisted of a 3D painting on the ground in the square of the Tripoli revolution. We represented the Lebanese pound falling into the abyss. It is a simple way of portraying what we were living through in real time, we were losing the value of state currency without the government doing anything to save the situation.
BJ: Our main topic is the revolution, to show how people are oppressed and the harsh conditions that we live in, the Lebanese government does not provide us with basic rights. For this reason, as artists we are looking to do something that cannot be underestimated, that is, we want to put on record the demands of the protests and ensure that our voices are heard. We don't want to lose our right to express ourselves, we have a responsibility to do everything that we can to express our message.
Photo credit to @pixmotion in the Instagram account of Jacob. Used with permission.
MCV: Considering that the street is a masculinized space, have you ever felt that it is more difficult to make street art as a woman?
BJ: Being a woman and wanting to make street art or any other artistic discipline that involves performing on the street is more difficult for a woman. In Lebanese society there are different mentalities, and oppression towards women does exist. Society thinks of women as being confined to the home, cooking and taking care of children. In this way our outlook diminishes considerably. It is this mentality that does not accept a woman on the street painting or performing other forms of art, such as dance. As a woman you are allowed to make art at home and then take it to a gallery, since it does not carry negative consequences because there is no public display. However, when it translates into street art, there is a public exhibition and then you can find yourself in negative situations, with lewd eyes, intimidation and people with a bad opinion of you. This leads many women to not make the leap to street art. Despite these aspects, I would like to give courage to all Lebanese women to take to the streets and carry their skills with them.
Photo from Jacob's Instagram. Used with permission.
protests
BJ: The latest protests have emerged as a result of the rapid increase in the cost of living, the prices of basic products have increased a lot. People no longer have anything to lose, so they are projecting their anger towards the banks, since they are at the top of the institutions that rob the citizens. Personally, I do not think that this reaction is favorable to recover our money. I do believe in the union of the entire Lebanese population to put pressure on the government and to stifle this chaos.
Photo credit @ahmed_photo86, shown Instagram account of Batool. Used with permission.
BJ: The current situation does not make me feel good for the future. I want to have hope but reality shows us that the situation is getting worse. The surge of COVID-19 cases and the lack of preventative measures on the part of the people can make the situation even worse. Despite this, I wish Lebanon freedom and stability, with my art I will continue to do as much as I can to help raise awareness and transmit the messages of our protests.

author: Marta Closa Valero


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Students arrested for demanding internet facilities in Balochistan · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

Kids in Balochistan. Image via Flickr by Beluchistan. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Students across Pakistan have been protesting against the online classes organised by colleges and universities in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. It's not that they don't want to learn, but that they lack access: many areas in Pakistan do not have reliable internet service and most students can't afford to buy devices that facilitate online learning.
Nationwide protests on June 23 featured slogans advocating for justice and free internet for all. However, in Quetta, Balochistan, a number of students — many of them female — were manhandled, baton-charged and arrested, with many being dragged into police vans:
Picture 1: Students from Balochistan climbing a mountain to get signals for attending a class
Picture 2: Students in Quetta being arrested for demanding termination of online classes and provision of internet
Welcome to Naya Pakistan!#ReleaseAllStudents#SayNoToOnlineClasses pic.twitter.com/OK6B4XIcbX
— Nazar Mohammad Domki (PSF) (@nazarbaloch07) June 24, 2020
As a result of the spread of COVID-19, Pakistan's Higher Education Commission asked educational institutions to shift to online classes from June 1. The countrywide closure of schools forced students living in hostels back to their homes, many of which are located in remote areas where 3G/4G internet connection are not available.
The lack of access had students coming out in their numbers to protest in every province, roundly rejecting the introduction of online classes:
There was zero work done on anything called “Online Class” in Pakistan. AND all of the sudden all school wants to go online …. despite they know the internet system of the region….???
.
.#Onlineclass
— Farah Jaffar (@FarahGojali) June 20, 2020
All students should have equal opportunities to get their money’s worth of education. Online classes cannot deliver that in the context of Pakistan. Poor students cannot afford Internet and facilities to take online class.
#wewant3G4G
#StopOnlineClass https://t.co/mvUm3t13fI
— Abdullah Gul (@WaxirAbdullah) June 21, 2020
Arrests, however, only took place in Balochistan where human rights violations have drawn concern in the international community. For years, several thousands of people were subjected to enforced disappearances and their fate is unknown. The news soon went viral on social media, with the hashtag #ReleaseAllStudents trending, resulting in widespread condemnation of these incidents:
BREAKING:
Around 70 students arrested in Quetta for protested against online classes. Convenor of Students Action Committee, Muzammil Khan, BSO’s @jiandbaloch5 and @MahrangBaloch5 among the arrested ones. Police also used brutal force against the studnets. pic.twitter.com/Qx1oquKTVS
— Haider Kaleem (@HaiderKaleemB) June 24, 2020
Mahrang Baloch, a medical student actively involved in student politics, posted videos of her being arrested by the police:
I am arrested along with other Peaceful students .we were protesting against online classes.police has beaten and arrested male and female students.This barbaric state doesn’t changed its behaviour towards oppressed nations .#SayNoToOnlineClasses pic.twitter.com/2VLfcQTG2E
— Mahrang Baloch (@MahrangBaloch5) June 24, 2020
According to police reports, the students were charged with organising a rally during a lockdown. Section 144 of Pakistan's Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has allowed for a complete ban on gatherings  as a result of COVID-19.
The spokesperson for the Government of Balochistan, Liaqat Shahwani, stated, “Students have temporarily been detained for their own safety against COVID-19 and will be released soon.” The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan, however, tweeted that government did not order the police to arrest the students and that they should all be released immediately. All students were released subsequently.
Amnesty International South Asia also condemned the arrests.
Meanwhile, Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party raised the issue of online classes in Balochistan in the National Assembly, because there was no 3G or 4G service in the province.
Access to the internet is a fundamental right — but according to DataReportal, there were only 76.38 million internet users in Pakistan. The country's population, as of January 2020, was 212 million.
In fact, 3G/4G services are not available in many parts of Pakistan, including tribal areas, nor can everyone afford a laptop or smartphone. The divide is also gender-based: compared to men, fewer numbers of women have internet access.
Nighat Daad from Digital Rights Foundation tweeted about the importance of “internet for all”:
Would you scale a mountain to get access to Internet? Some students in former FATA do this every day in order to attend online classes. May be IT ministry should first focus on providing internet to all during pandemic instead of focusing on enacting new laws? #InternetForAll pic.twitter.com/soJqHwL5Nt
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) June 22, 2020
In the second week of June, students across Pakistan organised an online campaign under the hashtag #OnlineJaloos (online procession). Voicepk.net, an open platform dedicated to highlighting human rights concerns within Pakistan, created the hashtag in an effort to show the challenges students faced in attending online classes — including climbing mountains just to catch a signal.
Students living in the tribal areas of Pakistan also raised their voices to gain the government's attention on this issue:
Speaking at the #OnlineJaloos, Amir Ali from district Chiniot says he cannot benefit from online education because he does not have a laptop or any access to the internet at home. He demands a more inclusive education policy from @Shafqat_Mahmood.#RightToEducation pic.twitter.com/7C45M3UMNJ
— Voicepk.net (@voicepkdotnet) June 9, 2020
Haris Shinwari from Khyber district says internet services have not been restored in his area since June 2016 despite promises and announcements by @IMMahmoodKhan. They are still forced to take online classes which is impossible for them.#OnlineJaloos #RightToEducation pic.twitter.com/V4S9s7jA8S
— Voicepk.net (@voicepkdotnet) June 9, 2020
On June 16, students in Islamabad held a protest outside the Higher Education Commission (HEC) office to express their concerns about the closure of educational institutions and the resulting switch to online classes and exams.
HEC officials held a meeting with student representatives at its headquarters and assured them that the commission would look into their concerns. However, one of the meeting's attendees reported that even as an HEC official at the meeting assured the students that their issues would be resolved, he insisted that exams cannot be cancelled.

author: R Umaima Ahmed


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What is it like to be a mainland Chinese living in Hong Kong and supporting the protests? · Global Voices
The Stand News

Image from the Stand News.
As Hong Kong marks a year since the beginning of the anti-China extradition protests, Hong Kong online media outlet Stand News curated a series of articles to reflect on the opposition movement. In the following report, Stand News interviewed a number of mainland Chinese who faced threats and stress as a result of their support for the Hong Kong protests. The original Chinese report below was published on June 16 2020. The following edited version is translated by Winnie Ko and published on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Huaming (a pseudonym), is a mainland Chinese who arrived in Hong Kong as a student in 2014  — the same time that massive pro-democracy protests, better known as the Umbrella Protests, were exploding.
Since then the city’s political environment has undergone radical changes. His study in Hong Kong gave him the opportunity to experience a unique social movement. He regularly shared observations about everyday and political life in Hong Kong via his Weibo account.
On the morning of November 17, 2019, when the Hong Kong Police Force decided to seal off the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Campus, Huaming woke up and he noticed his Weibo account was full of comments. One person scolded him for being “pro-Hong Kong independence” and “young trash”. Another threatened him: “Dude, when are you returning to China? I will pick you up from the airport.”
Since July last year, many mainlanders who expressed support or sympathy for Hong Kong’s anti-China extradition law movement were doxxed and reported to schools, employment units, party branches and even police authorities.
This process has seen their names, family pictures and telephone numbers publicly disclosed. Cyber-bullying can turn into real life harassment. In some cases, they were called on by the Chinese Public Security after they returned to China, while their families in China were also interrogated by the authorities. The malicious comments on his social media led Huaming to conclude that he had been reported.
I did a search on my user account on Weibo and found a user with hundreds of thousands of followers had screenshotted one of my posts and exposed me as a mainlander studying in Hong Kong. (The user's post noted) that I support the demands of young people while making no contribution to (Chinese society).
Huaming deactivated his account immediately  and the online harassment died down after a few days. He also changed the public name of his WeChat account, deleted nearly all the articles he had written and sorted through his contact list:
I blocked about 300 to 400 accounts with suspicious names, those with the Chinese flag as profile pictures and people with a warrior-like tone.
He then changed his name on Facebook, edited the privacy settings and deleted all texts and pictures related to the Hong Kong protests.
In the past year, stories about mainlanders who support Hong Kong’s anti-China extradition movement having their personal data exposed by colleagues, friends or even relatives on social media, have become commonplace.
Quite often, conversations on personal timelines or chat rooms were screenshotted as evidence of their “political betrayal” of the “motherland.”
Under Weibo's official hashtag “motherland’s anti-Black clad operation” (祖國反黑), there are many doxxed posts and numerous “cockroaches lists” (Hong Kong Police called protesters “cockroaches”). These posts are often shared tens of thousands of times.
The most popular doxxing outlets on Weibo are “Dawn Cicadas” (孤煙暮蟬), with six million followers, and “God’s eagle” (上帝之鷹), with 2.2 million followers. Huaning said:
Once they set you as target, their followers dig up all your personal information.
Yunqi Wang, a mainlander using a pseudonym, describes a “suffocating” existence. Wang came to Hong Kong in 2015. She graduated from university and enrolled in a Law PhD program just as the anti-extradition movement began.
The majority of her fellow students come from the elite class in the mainland. They considered it normal that Beijing should project supreme power over Hong Kong despite “One Country Two Systems.”
While she disagrees with such views, she could not express her opinion in class:
Because it is safer not to speak up. You pay a high price for expressing your views. What if they took a picture and reported you?
She increasingly feels that there is a wall between herself and her friends and family.
There is a big information gap between us. Many people learned about the events in HK because the journalist from (Chinese state-owned) Global Times was beaten up. They would ask, how can you turn a blind eye to such violence? A good friend from secondary school scolded me, I deleted friends one by one — it hurt.
In November, wracked by emotional stress, she decided to suspend her studies.
My mental status has been affected by the movement and I haven't been well. I attended the remembrance event of the university student Tsz-lok Chow after he passed away. The siege of the Chinese University of Hong Kong came on top of everything else and my emotions reached a tipping point. I felt that I couldn’t hold on anymore.
Many involved in the protest movement have experienced mental health challenges. But for mainland allies, these feelings have been amplified by incidents of discrimination.
Some pro-protest shops specified that they would not serve customers from the mainland after the outbreak of COVID-19:
I don’t know what the definition of a Hongkonger is. If they refer to someone residing in Hong Kong and speaking Cantonese, that is me! Glory Café [a famous pro-protest restaurant] made it clear that it doesn’t serve customers from the mainland or those who speak Mandarin. This made me think — I treat Hongkongers as comrades, but do they treat me as one of them? I wasn’t actually accepted…I am not patriotic in China, I hate the nation and the party, but in the eyes of Hongkongers I am a Chinese. My identity is vague, whether as a Chinese or as a Hongkonger.
Conflicts between the mainland and Hong Kong are not new. Liqi Zhou (pseudonym) moved to Hong Kong with his parents while he was in high school and has experienced the ups and downs in mainland-Hong Kong relations over the past two decades.
Zhou said these relations worsened gradually, and attributed this to the varying degrees of repression imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong since the handover.
Unfortunately, he said, resentment that should be targeted at the regime is often heaped onto individuals.
Last November, Zhou started collecting anonymous articles from the Facebook page “Mainland students who support Hong Kong protests.” This has widely become known as the “Tree Hole Project”.
We know that there is more than one voice in China, we care about the minority who are between the gaps, speaking Mandarin and from the mainland, yet feel connected with Hong Kong, and therefore feeling its pain. We know you face pressure from the friends and relatives, omnipresent propaganda, persecution, doxxing, punishment and the spread of antagonism inside Hong Kong. Life is tough. We know you find it difficult to join the front lines and peaceful protests — even saying something publicly comes with immense pressure. This Tree hole is to let everyone know, no one is an island nor an outsider.

author: The Stand News


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Beijing’s national security law to enter force in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

National Security Law coming to Hong Kong. Image from the Stand News.
The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in Beijing has unanimously approved a national security law for Hong Kong — a move many expect to effectively end the autonomy the city enjoyed under “One Country, Two Systems.”
Throughout the legislative process, Beijing has refused to reveal to the public the draft of the law that will take effect in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020, the 23rd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China.
Sources in Beijing have briefed media that under the new law, individuals convicted of “collusion with foreign forces” will face a lifetime in jail.
During the past few weeks, public figures within Hong Kong's establishment, such as university intellectuals, have been pressured to express their support for Beijing’s imposition of the national security law on the city.
Pro-Beijing groups claim that they have collected 2.9 million citizens’ signatures supporting the controversial legislation.
Yet this so-called support is blind faith — none of these supporters have even seen the draft text.
Washington D.C.-based organization, the Hong Kong Democracy Council highlighted this “absurdity” on Twitter:
It cannot be overstated the absurdity that the CCP Standing Committee just voted to approve the new #NationalSecurityLaw at a special meeting – NO ONE – not even HK's Chief Exec has seen the texts of the new law.
Text is expected to be published AFTER it is already in effect. pic.twitter.com/cvYTqeioGg
— HKDC – Hong Kong Democracy Council (@hkdc_us) June 30, 2020
While the draft law was not disclosed to the public, the NPC revealed some of the details to the media in a briefing on June 20:
The latest source information from NPC suggested that breaking the law will carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
For the last two days, rumours have been spreading online that media tycoon Jimmy Lai and political activist Joshua Wong will be arrested as soon as the law is enacted on July 1:
Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong to be arrested as soon as National Security Law is passed on 30th June, sources https://t.co/LSvJxg1wrz
— Dimsumdaily Hong Kong (@dimsumdaily_hk) June 28, 2020
At the same time, a fake video of an internal meeting of Wong's pro-democracy group Demosisto has circulated widely on Weibo and other social media platforms.
It claims that the organization combined with the government of the United States to overthrow the Chinese Communist party. This has led to a general belief that Joshua Wong and other key members of Demosisto are prime targets of the new security law.
Soon after the law was passed on June 30, four keys member of Demosisto — Wong, Nathan Law, Jeffrey Ngo and Agnes Chow — announced their resignation from the organization on social media. The group has reportedly disbanded and will cease all operations.
Former Hong Kong Chief Executive and current vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Leung Chun-ying moreover has invited people to report and facilitate the arrest of suspects and “fugitives” who have fled Hong Kong:
1/2 Ex-#HongKong leader Leung Chun-ying has offered bounty of up to HK$1m from the 803 Fund to encourage people to report & facilitate the arrests of those who violate the national security legislation. https://t.co/v14oZLwtbC pic.twitter.com/1hETXCQ6hn
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@HongKongFP) June 30, 2020
Hong Kong police has banned the annual July 1 rally organized by Civic Human Right Front (CHRF), citing pandemic control regulations — the same pretext used to ban the candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen square crackdown on June 4.
Despite the ban, pro-democracy activists continue to mobilize for the rally, while CHRF has filed an appeal against the ban.
On June 29, a day before the national security law was passed, Raphael Wong, chairman of the League of Social Democrats urged Hongkongers to overcome their fear and carry on protesting on July 1.
Wong said that Chinese authorities “want the activists to go exile, so that they lose their moral authority and political impact.”
唔使諗咁多，威照示，街照上，票照投，睇吓邊個人多，佢話293萬人撐佢，我哋就有392萬人反對佢。35+也好，35-都好，總之總票數多過佢，上街嘅人多過佢，就令佢嘅所有威嚇成為笑話！香港人，撐到拫！
So just leave the fear aside and do what needs to be done: protest, vote. See which side has more support. They said they have 2.93 million people supporting them, we will show that we have 3.92 million people say ‘no’ to the law. Whether we manage to get more than or less than 35 seats in the upcoming Legislative Council election, we will get more votes. If we have more people in the street, their threats will become a joke. Hongkongers, carry on!
The details of the July 1 rally are as follows:
#71Rally
FIVE DEMANDS, NOT ONE LESS
RESIST NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
Date｜1st July 2020, Wednesday
Starting Point｜Victoria Park
Assemble｜2PM
Start｜3PM
End Point｜Tim Mei Avenue, Admiralty
*Letter of No Objection Pending pic.twitter.com/jikKDUc11o
— Civil Human Rights Front 民間人權陣線 (@chrf_hk) June 25, 2020
CHRF has hosted the July 1 rally since 2003 and this is the first time the police has banned the event. On June 4, thousands of Hongkongers defied a police ban and spontaneously gathered at Victory Park for the vigil to remember the Tiananmen victims.
The rally on July 1, when the national security law will already be in effect, will be the strongest test yet of Hongkongers’ determination to resist an incoming authoritarian regime.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Has COVID-19 provoked a crisis of faith in Georgia’s Orthodox church? · Global Voices
Teona Kakhiani

Georgian Orthodox priests spray holy water on the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, on March 17. Photo (c): Mariam Nikuradze / OC Media. Used with permission.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world highly unevenly; Georgia has surprised the world with its success in the fight against the virus.
There are different explanations for that success, including accusations that the true scale and real statistics are being hidden (according to the Johns Hopkins University Map, on June 29, the country had 926 confirmed cases and 15 deaths). Whatever the real story turns out to be, the first wave appears to be waning, providing an opportunity to reflect on the response of important actors and institutions in this country in the South Caucasus.
The Georgian Orthodox Church has immense social and political influence in Georgia, where 83.4 percent of the population are members. Repressed under Soviet rule, the church has received extensive financial support in the form of public funds and property restitution, which a 2016 report by local NGOs revealed was worth several tens of millions of Lari (these financial privileges have since been challenged by the country's constitutional court).
It commands widespread respect in Georgian society — a study by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and CRRC-Georgia published this January found that in November-December 2019, 50 percent of the population trusted the church implicitly. However, this indicator has been steadily dropping for several years — this figure stood at 64 precent in July 2019, and was even higher in previous years.
This means that the church's actions during the pandemic are particularly worthy of scrutiny. Now, some observers are wondering whether those actions will harm the church's popularity even further.
Georgie officially recorded its first COVID-19 case on February 26. The first reaction from the Georgian Orthodox Church came on March 17, when clergy sprinkled holy water along the central streets of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. Archbishop Shalva Kekelia explained the act as a way of asking the Lord for help in protecting the country and the people from the virus. Three days later, the Patriarchate issued a statement calling on parishioners with health problems to stay away from others until they had completely recovered, and suggested performing church services in the open air to avoid large crowds gathering in small spaces.
As the number of COVID-19 cases grew, Georgia declared a state of emergency on March 21 which banned any gatherings of more than 10 people. When asked by reporters from On.Ge whether the ban also applied to church services, Prime Minister Georgi Gakharia responded that it “applies to everything and everyone.” Public discussion ensued about the safety of attending church services, leading the patriarchate to issue an announcement on March 25 reaffirming that while church services would continue, it supported the state's crisis control measures. The statement noted that some media had described the situation in such a way as to suggest that the church could be blamed for the consequences of the virus's spread.
The authorities’ attempts to find a common language with the church and the faithful came to a head in early April, when Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday approached. Gakharia said that he would be watching the easter service on television from home, while Minister of Healthcare Ekaterina Tikaradze added that people should pray from home, as “God is everywhere,” not just in church.
Nevertheless, the Georgian Orthodox clergy was unwavering and said that church services would continue. However, they stressed that they had enforced social distancing guidelines within churches, urged parishioners to listen to sermons outside over loudspeakers, and ordered that places of worship be disinfected. The church was less flexible on other rituals: for example, the use of a shared spoon to serve communion wine at church services. “It is completely unacceptable for members of the church to doubt the mystery of the sacrament and to demonstrate that with their actions, such as refusing to share a common spoon as a source of infection,” read a church statement after a March 20 synod meeting.
When reacting to the synod's decision Giga Bokeria, an opposition politician from the European Georgia Party, suggested that the church should not have expected special treatment and that restrictions had to apply to all institutions and citizens equally.
მორწმუნე ადამიანებს, ან მათ ნაწილს უფლება აქვთ, არ სჯეროდეთ მეცნიერების, ან მიიჩნევდნენ, რომ მათი მნიშვნელოვანი რელიგიური რიტუალის დროს მეცნიერება არ მუშაობს, როგორც ახლა გვესმის, თურმე, კოვზით ზიარებისას დაავადება არ გადავა ადამიანებზე, რაც ჩემთვის არის აბსურდი, მაგრამ მათ აქვთ უფლება, რომ ამის სჯეროდეთ. თუმცა ეს უფლება სამოქალაქო სეკულარულ სახელმწიფოში მთავრდება იქ, სადაც იწყება სხვების უსაფრთხოება
Believers, or at least some believers, have the right not to believe in science, or to believe that science does not apply to their important religious rituals as understood. It is absurd to me that when sharing a spoon, the disease won't spread to humans, but they have the right to believe that or not to believe it. However, in a civil, secular state, that right ends where the security of others begins.
Therefore, part of Georgian society still looked towards easter with unease. On March 7, the Georgian theologian and former priest Basil Kobakhidze gave an interview to Pirveli TV in which he attacked the patriarchate for “fanaticism” over its approach to COVID-19. Kobakhidze, who lives in France, argued that the church has become a “state within a state” and could contribute to the spread of the disease. At the same time, he stressed, the country's political elite and high-ranking members of the clergy were not in any danger as they would not face problems getting medical treatment.
And although the government declared a lockdown of Georgia's four largest cities (Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, and Rustavi) on April 15, preparations for a large easter vigil continued. Tikaradze remarked very delicately that all members of Georgian society, including the church and individuals, had to share responsibility with the government in order to beat the virus.
Father Shalva Kekelia, priest at the Church of the Transfiguration in the Tbilisi district of Vake, said that he intended to set up a temporary structure for worshippers that evening — although social distancing measures would be respected within, it was supposed to accommodate 2,000 people. It would allow worshippers to remain on the church's premises overnight, thereby avoiding curfew violations. Similarly, Metropolitan Iakob of Bodbe, one of the church's most influential clerics, stressed in an interview with InterPressNews that the church had not ordered anybody to attend services and that “Christians must be responsible for themselves.”
On April 17, Kobakhidze declared in another interview that the patriarchate's commitment to holding large services amounted to a serious threat to public health. But it was not just prominent critics of the church who appeared to support his words. The same day, 13 clergymen signed an open letter stating that they temporarily refused to participate in the liturgy:
ქრისტესთან ჭეშმარიტი ურთიერთობა, მასთან ზიარება მხოლოდ ტაძარში სიარულით არ გამოიხატება. ჩვენ სხვაგვარადაც შევიქნებით ქრისტეს ჭეშმარიტი ტაძარნი, როგორც მისი სხეულის ნაწილნი (ეფ. 5,30) და მის წმიდა სხეულს ჭეშმარიტად თანაზიარნი. ვინც დღეს ეპიდემიის გამო თავს იკავებს ღვთისმსახურებაზე შეკრებისაგან, არათუ ქრისტეს ღალატობს, პირიქით, ცდილობს მოცემულ ვითარებაში აღასრულოს სულიერი ლიტურგია მოყვასის მსახურებისა. მოშიშება ყოველთვის სიმხდალეს არ ნიშნავს, ხანდახან იგი დიდი საქმის საფუძველი ხდება.
True communion with Christ is not just about attending church. We can create a true temple of Christ in other ways, as partakers of His holy body. Those who today refrain from gathering in prayer due to the epidemic are not betraying Christ; on the contrary, they are trying their best to perform the spiritual liturgy with their neighbour in mind, given the current situation. Fear does not always mean cowardice; sometimes it can be the basis for great acts.
Yet in the run-up to easter and Good Friday, the Georgian Orthodox clergy appeared to pick and choose which restrictions to obey. Under Georgia's lockdown, the movement of vehicles was prohibited from 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Nevertheless, on April 17 the patriarchate stated that the ban had not been agreed in advance with the patriarchate, and that the clergy, members of church choirs, and ushers would be free to move around by car to attend services.
So the easter liturgy was held with a smaller number of worshippers than in previous years; many of those attending were relatives of the clergy.
Hundreds of parishioners across the country attended the services on April 18, despite the authorities’ calls to stay at home. In Tbilisi's Sameba Cathedral, Reuters reports, all were wearing face masks and generally respected social distancing. The virus had struck fear into many people, said Patriarch Ilia II in his easter speech, which had turned their minds to God. “We should not be afraid of temptation, the Christian takes problems with gratitude and sees God’s hand in everything … and at the same time tries to find the right solution in the current situation,” continued the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Although there have been some cases of clerics testing positive for COVID-19, such as one employee at a church in Tskneti outside the Georgian capital, it is hard to say whether public prayers were ultimately responsible. Tikaradze, Georgia's Minister of Healthcare, stated on May 5 that the authorities had not yet identified any “church cluster” of COVID-19 cases.
Whether worshippers were infected or not may be beside the point. For some in Georgia, the church's reaction to the state's COVID-19 restrictions has revealed how the clergy regard their relationship to the state — and wonder if the lessons of the pandemic might provoke a crisis of faith in the Georgian Orthodox Church's role in society.

author: Teona Kakhiani


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In the Czech Republic, controversy over a newly re-erected Catholic monument ends in flames · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

View of Prague Old Town Square with the newly rebuilt Column. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.
Prague's Old Town square is one of the most iconic locations in the Czech Republic, that embodies the heart of the well-preserved historic city center, with monuments and buildings going back several centuries. But for Czech people, the square is foremost a stage for their history, where several key political and religious events took place.
Now, with the surprising return of the Marian Column — a religious column erected in 1650 but destroyed in 1918, — controversy has ensued. Why is the return of the Catholic Marian Column to Prague's Old Town so controversial that some people would attempt to set it on fire?
When World War I ended and the new state of Czechoslovakia was formed, its leaders were eager to eliminate as many signs as possible of its former colonial masters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including prominent Catholic symbols like the Marian Column, depicting the Virgin Mary, that was erected to celebrate victory against a Swedish invasion.
However, beginning in the late 1990s, after communism ended in 1989, several groups signed petitions demanding the restoration of the Marian Column. Prague City's government regularly refused to consider rebuilding it.
Therefore, it came as a surprise in January 2020 when the city announced the reinstatement of Marian Column to its original location, following a vote in favor by the Prague City government, where a political alliance of different parties in favor of the return of the monument managed to obtain a majority.
Woodcut of the execution of the 27 Czech leaders in 1621, by Eduard Herold, from Wikipedia in the public domain.
To understand the controversy, one needs to go back to the 17th century, when the Holy Roman Empire fought a long religious war and ended up crushing the reformist movement led by the Czech Hussites, pre-Protestant Christians, who followed the teachings of Jan Hus, a Czech theologian and philosopher, in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.
As a result, 27 leaders of the insurgency were executed in Prague Old Town Square on June 21, 1621, to send a final message that opposition to Catholic rule would not be tolerated.
Since that episode, Czech historical conscience has been marked by a powerful narrative opposing, on one hand, the forces of foreign occupation associated with German language and the Catholic Church, and on the other hand, the idealized Hussites, playing the role of Czech patriots fighting for cultural, linguistic and religious independence.
And while today, the Czech Republic is among the least religious countries in Europe, the symbolic references have retained their power. A very large number of public places – streets, squares, subway stations are named across the country after Hussite heroes.
In this regard, the Old Town Square has been and continues to be a highly contested ground for opposite representations of religious symbols.
In 1650, a Marian Column was erected in the middle of the Old Town Square to mark the victory against a Swedish invasion of the city. Yet in 1915, a monument to Jan Hus, who had been promised protection by the Catholic Church only to be burnt at the stake in 1415, was built on the same square, about 300 meters away from the Column, to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. At the time, Prague was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Habsburg Empire that strongly resisted the emancipation of a number of its many nations, including the Czechs.
Eventually, with the end of World War I, the empire collapsed and a new state was born in October 1918, called Czechoslovakia, which was eager to eliminate as many signs as possible of its former colonial master — and that included the Marian Column which was taken down and destroyed by an angry crowd on November 3, 1918, led by a leftist writer, Franta Sauer. The new president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Masaryk, who left the Catholic Church and became a protestant, was himself a supporter of the Hussite narrative.
On June 4, a major part of the column was inaugurated, standing 15-meters high. The column will be completed by mid-August. This video shows the process of making and transporting the impressive column:
On June 21, just 17 days after the inauguration of the column, a group of men tried to set the column on fire, as seen in this video posted on Twitter:
Děkujeme @MP_Praha za rychlý zásah při dnešním pokusu o zapálení Mariánského sloupu.
“Na obnovený Mariánský sloup může mít každý svůj názor, ale primitivní projevy vandalismu nebudou v žádném případě tolerovány,” říká starosta Petr Hejma. pic.twitter.com/DbRB5OcIS6
— Praha 1 (@prahajedna) June 21, 2020
We thank Prague Police for their quick intervention following today's attempt to set fire to the Marian Column. ‘Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the Marian Column, but we will not tolerate primitive acts of vandalism,’ says Mayor Petr Hejma [of Prague.]
So far, no groups have claimed responsibility for setting it on fire and police have offered no explanation regarding the identity of the arsonists, but their actions have reignited a debate over the column and overall perceptions of Czech history and identity.
In general, people who are opposed to the column say they perceive it as a sign of intolerance and foreign intrusion.
On a more humorous note, a group of activists created a Facebook group called Klub za znovustržení Mariánského Sloupu (Club for the re-demolition of the Marian Column), with over 1,000 members, that posts memes and texts calling for the monument's demolition.
In an op-ed column called Mistr Jan a Marie (Master Jan and Marie) that came out June 6, Marek Švehla, deputy editor of Respekt, an influential weekly, wrote:
Ještě nedávno jsme si mysleli, že křivdy vzal čas, ale asi nevzal. Potomci jako by si je šetřili, a když to šlo, vytáhli je ven. Sloup je zpět a na náměstí se vlastně vrací dojem tolerance: Jan Hus a o kus dál sloup. Mistr Jan tohle nové partnerství jistě unese, jeho stoupenci by mohli taky.
Not so long ago, we thought that time had helped overcome all grievances, but it seems it didn't. Descendants kept them hidden and when it became possible, came out with them. The column is back and a sense of tolerance returns to the square: Jan Hus and a few meters away is the the column. Master Jan can certainly take in this new partnership, and his supporters should be able to as well.


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Mexican feminists and workers’ rights defenders faced wave of arrests in June · Global Voices
Mercedes Matz

Susana Prieto, Claudia Hernandez and Kenia Hernandez. Montage made by Global Voices, of photos by IM-Defensoras and a screengrab from a video by Milenio.
The health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished the threat of intimidation and violence faced by Mexican activists, human rights defenders, and journalists. The month of June saw cases of assault, death threats and arrests of some of these human rights defenders on potentially trumped up charges.
On 8 June, Susana Prieto Terrazas, a lawyer committed to defending workers’ rights in the factories of Matamoros city in northern Mexico, was arrested by local police on charges of “rioting, threats and assaults on public servants”. Prieto Terrazas was involved in creating a labour movement called Movimiento 20/32. At the beginning of 2019, this movement started a strike with thousands of workers to demand a salary increase and better working conditions.
Various organizations in Mexico, such as trade unions and human rights defenders, consider her a political prisoner who is being punished for exposing irregularities and corruption by transnational companies. Currently, Prieto Terrazas remains in prison waiting for clarification on her legal status.
Two days before Prieto Terrazas was arrested, on 6 June, feminist activist Kenia Hernández was arrested after being stopped by police in the state of Mexico and detained along with three minors who were traveling in her vehicle.
“During the arrest, Hernández and her three companions were forced out of the car in which the defender was being driven. She was held at gunpoint and her companions were beaten. They all had their belongings taken away and were not informed of the reason for their arrest,” said the Zapata Vive Collective, to which the activist belongs. Kenia Hernández was also imprisoned, although five days later she was released from jail to attend the proceedings against her under probationary measures. In her statement broadcast online, Kenia said:
Ni siquiera pudieron montarme el delito (…) Cuando me detuvieron después de una manifestación no me dijeron el porqué.
“They couldn't even frame me (…) When they arrested me after the demonstration they didn't tell me why”.
#EnVivo: Posicionamiento sobre la liberación y situación jurídica de #KeniaHernández https://t.co/clld4fiGWF
— Cencos (@cencos) June 12, 2020
#Live: Statement on the release and legal status of #KeniaHernández
A day earlier, on 5 June, human rights defender Claudia Hernández was arrested by agents of the San Luís Potosí state police while participating in a demonstration to protest the extrajudicial killing of Giovanni López. López was a young worker who lost his life after being restrained by police who arrested him for allegedly not wearing a mask while outside his home.
According to a statement by the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders, Claudia attended the demonstration to conduct observation and mediation work during the march. After being arrested, she was held incommunicado. Like Kenia Hernández, Claudia was released, but subject to proceedings with probationary measures.
??? #AlertaDefensoras MÉXICO / Detienen ilegalmente, torturan y criminalizan en San Luís Potosí a la defensora Claudia Hernández por participar en protesta por el asesinato de Giovanni López
?Más información➡https://t.co/PWWsMw93mg pic.twitter.com/b2My8YLzhF
— IM-Defensoras (@IM_Defensoras) June 8, 2020
#Defenders’ Alert MEXICO / Defender Claudia Hernandez illegally detained, tortured and criminalized in San Luis Potosi for participating in protest against the murder of Giovanni Lopez
More information
During the month of June, threats and intimidation extended to organizations as well as the individuals mentioned above. On 15 June, members of Consorcio Oaxaca, a feminist organization that promotes women's rights and gender equality, found a black bag containing pieces of meat (apparently an animal head) with a threatening and misogynistic message at the door of its premises. State actors, like in previous cases, are accused of the threats.
According to the organization, there have been several incidents of intimidation since they launched a campaign to demand justice for femicides committed in Oaxaca state.
In this case, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) urged Mexico to clarify the incidents against Consorcio Oaxaca. It has pushed for the adoption of protective measures for the organization as well as Soledad Jarquín, a feminist journalist who is part of Consorcio Oaxaca and mother of María del Sol, a victim of femicide. Jarquín has received threats for years while demanding justice for the murder of her daughter.
La #CIDH urge a #Mexico a esclarecer los hechos, considerando como primera hipótesis la labor de defensa que realiza @consorciooaxaca y a adoptar las medidas necesarias para proteger a la organización de amenazas y en especial a Soledad Jarquín y su familia. #DDHH 3
— CIDH – IACHR (@CIDH) June 19, 2020
The #CIDH notes that @consorciooaxaca has connected the act of intimidation to their struggle for justice in the femicide of #MaríadelSolJarquín in Juchitán, Oaxaca in 2018, which has implicated Oaxacan state officials. #Women #HumanRights
The #CIDH urges #Mexico to clarify the facts, considering as a first hypothesis the advocacy work carried out by @consorciooaxaca and to adopt the necessary measures to protect the organization from threats and especially Soledad Jarquín and her family. #HumanRights
In 2019, Mexico ranked fourth in Latin America for the killings of human rights defenders, after Colombia, Honduras and Brazil, with 23 manslaughters. On June 29, a UN expert urged Mexico to guarantee protection for women human rights defenders.

author: Mercedes Matz