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Climate change in the Pacific: “The time is now” to avoid catastrophe · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Pacific Island Represent Fiji Action ahead of the Climate Vulnerable Forum — Suva, Fiji 2018. Photo courtesy © Kurt Petersen / Greenpeace. Used with permission.
The message of “Te Mana o te Moana: the State of the Climate in the Pacific 2021” climate report is uncompromising — “THE TIME IS NOW.” According to the report, the Pacific island countries and their peoples “are facing some of the most severe climate impacts anywhere on earth.” It was launched the same day as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis.”
In the coming years, island nations could face rising sea levels, higher king tides, increased flooding, eroding coastlines, ocean acidification and increasing water table salinity, habitat destruction, and village relocation.
The Greenpeace Australia Pacific report identifies who is responsible for creating the crisis and who must change course to avert disaster. Based on 2018 data, the top 15 greenhouse gas emitters in the world produce 72.21 percent of global emissions, while the Pacific Islands account for 0.23 percent. Australia ranks as the world’s 15th largest emitter.
Its assessment of Australia’s climate inaction contains a strong warning:
…as an influential ‘middle power’, Australia also has potential to act as a fair broker at international climate summits and leverage its diplomatic influence with its allies to achieve more ambitious emissions reduction agreement outcomes, and a fairer result for Pacific Island Countries. This is all the more pressing, as runaway global heating will force Australia to bear the cost of resulting regional instability, including a new category of climate refugees.
Moreover, in an earlier assessment, the United Nations gave Australia the wooden spoon (last place) for its efforts to meet the climate sustainable development goal (SDG 13):
Australia ranks last on #climateaction in UN #SDGs report “ranking is based on 4 indicators: per capita emissions from fossil fuel combustion,per capita CO2 emissions embodied in imports, per capita CO2 emissions embodied in exports & carbon pricing score” https://t.co/i7gng2qbD5
— sam mostyn (@sammostyn) August 9, 2021
The country's progress in reducing carbon emissions is highly contested. The Australian government has claimed that greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 19 percent since 2005 — a figure that draws much skepticism. One estimate claims there has been a 7 percent rise in emissions over the same time frame.
Midnight Oil lead singer and former Australian environment minister, Peter Garrett, joined an online chorus of demands that Prime Minister Scott Morrison take decisive action against climate change:
Today blazing fires smash Greece. Tomorrow, catastrophe, with next UN/IPCC report. The planet is overheating badly. A global pandemic is very hard, a global #ClimateEmergency much, much worse. We can still act but @ScottMorrisonMPs’ refusal to get serious on climate is criminal.
— Peter Garrett (@pgarrett) August 8, 2021
The 2015 Paris Agreement requires countries to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) towards meeting the goal “to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).”
The NDCs are supposed to be updated every 5 years. None of the 15 countries has pledged reductions consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree limit, with India the only one with a 2.0-degree compatible goal.
The report highlights the plight of the people of the Fijian village of Vunidogoloa. They were forced to move two kilometers inland in 2014. Their story is not unique as 80 other Fijian communities face future relocation, according to a 2019 article in The Conversation, as do many others in the Pacific:
Sadly, it's just the beginning. Climate change forced these Fijian communities to move – and with 80 more at risk, here's what they learned https://t.co/7zgry5DP9N via @ConversationEDU
— Prof. Peter Doherty (@ProfPCDoherty) April 30, 2019
The Fijian Attorney-General and Minister for Climate Change, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, shared his views in a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He stressed the need for affordable finance to be able to build “resilience in our infrastructure, to be able to adapt.” He also called on Australia to “walk the talk.”
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was blunt:
The new @IPCC_CH report puts Pacific Island nations 0.4 degrees Celsius away from existential catastrophe.
We know what's coming. More importantly, we know how to stop it. By @COP26, we need:
‼ Dramatic cuts in emissions by 2030.
‼ Net-zero emissions by 2050.
❌No excuses.
— Frank Bainimarama (@FijiPM) August 9, 2021
The report also includes several case studies of community activists and advocates in Vanuatu and Kiribati. Community mobilizer from Vanuatu, Leiwia Poki Yavions, called for the strongest response from global governments:
I want to say to the leaders of the world, please use your voices, your positions of power, to assist in stopping emissions and other activities that contribute to climate change. We are facing the effects of climate change every day, in every place in the world, but especially here in the Pacific.
The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), one of the regional organizations supporting local efforts, tweeted:
The world must not only muster the resources at its disposal to work to reverse some of these climate crisis impacts but it must also muster the courage and political leadership to put words into action. #EndFossilFuels #NoMoreCoal #ClimateActionNow https://t.co/Z72coLAIGp
— Pacific Islands CAN (@CANPacificIs) August 11, 2021
Finally, Edward Morgan, a climate researcher at Griffith University, shared this message from Enele Sopoaga, former Prime Minister of Tuvalu:
“I ask everyone who reads this report to take time to reflect carefully on the data and the science. And then to look into the eyes of the first child they see. Climate change is more than just reports and data-it is first and foremost a question about our humanity”
— Edward Morgan (@DrEdMorgan) August 9, 2021
Enele Sopoaga's preface to “Te Mana o te Moana” (The Spirit of the Sea) continued:
We in the Pacific are more than just sinking islands, broken seawalls and cyclones — we are your brothers and sisters. I want everyone to look into the child’s eyes and imagine what those eyes will see in ten or twenty years. Will they see Dantes’ hell or will they see a sustainable planet?

author: Kevin Rennie


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#FreeRebecca: Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa condemns the arbitrary arrest and detention of Cameroon’s tech leader Rebecca Enonchong · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Rebecca Enonchong. Image by UNCTAD Photo/Jean Marc Ferré, via Wikimedia Commons, April 3, 2019 (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa team is distraught to learn that Rebecca Enonchong (@africatechie), one of Africa’s most influential female technology entrepreneurs and digital rights activist, was arrested and detained on August 10, 2021 at the Légion de Gendarmerie Dla in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital. No warrant for her arrest was issued by a judge, and the charges against her have not been made public.
Enonchong is the founder and CEO of AppsTech, and an outspoken advocate for technology, digital rights, democratic governance and respect for human rights as a foundation for good business in Africa. She is one of the most followed and trusted sources of African tech news on Twitter, with over 122,000 followers. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the 2014 Forbes list of 10 Female Tech Founders To Watch In Africa.
Founded in 2004, Global Voices is an independent news platform that connects bloggers and citizen journalists across the world, using the internet as a tool to build global communities across language and culture barriers. Global Voices also supports digital rights, freedom of expression and human rights around the world.
Enonchong shares Global Voices’ Sub Saharan Africa team's values of respect for human and digital rights in the continent.
Enonchong’s treatment by the Cameroonian Gendarmerie constitutes a violation of her right not to be arbitrarily arrested or detained.
Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa demands the unconditional release of Rebecca Enonchong from detention.
Furthermore, we ask the Cameroonian government to fulfill their duty under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among which is to protect and respect the rights of their citizens against unlawful arrest and detention.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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In Turkey, a social media battle amid ongoing blazes · Global Voices
Doga Celik

The image and hashtag were used millions of times.
Turkey has been facing the worst forest fires in decades. Since the first blaze was started on July 28, over 200 fires have raged through Turkey's southern coast, killing 8 and burning down at least “three times the area affected in an average year.” Amid ongoing criticism against the ruling government's response, one hashtag gained momentum amongst disgruntled citizens. Following President Erdogan's visit to one of the damaged areas, where he was seen tossing packages of tea to fire survivors, the hashtag #HelpTurkey spread across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, with over 2.7 million shares across the platforms. The cry for help was accompanied by a message:
I am calling all the countries which can help us. We are perished and devastated with the total of 112 fires. The ones that we can’t stop are still going so strong. We don’t have enough fire fighting planes to stop it. We lost 8 people, so many animals and our forests. Please help us. We need planes urgently. We only have one world.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was caught off guard by the blaze and hadn't stocked up on fire fighting equipment. It also refused to accept foreign help, until it became clear that without it, the fires would be impossible to stop given the absence of local fire-fighting planes. However, it's one thing for the government to accept help and another for citizens to beg for it. #HelpTurkey was the latter.
As a result, shortly after the hashtag gained momentum, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the campaign and those who shared the message accusing them of spreading “anxiety and fear.”
Technical examination, revealed that some individuals and groups are trying to create anxiety, fear and panic among the public and insult the state and government of the Republic of Turkey in an organized way through real or bot accounts.
According to reporting by Hurriyet Daily News, the prosecutor launched the probe against the persons who coordinated fake accounts and circulated the posts containing “criminal elements,” on charges of “insulting a public employee,” “insulting the president,” insulting the government and the state,” “creating concern, fear and panic among the public” and “inciting hatred and enmity.”
The announcement of the probe came shortly after the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) — the chief government censor of media — warned local media platforms to reduce their negative coverage of the fires, or face fines. The letter said, that “ignoring” the fires that were “successfully extinguished” and “insistently broadcasting only burning areas is the type of broadcasting desired by those who expect an atmosphere of chaos.”
Addressing journalists after Friday prayers, on August 6, President Erdogan, who was heavily criticized the campaign said, “In response to this, there’s only one thing we can say: Strong Turkey. A terror of lies is being spread from America, Europe, and certain other places.”
The president repeated his position in a televised interview with journalists on August 4 calling the Help Turkey campaign a lie and a product of jealousy.
Responding to the probe, the opposition Republican People Party (CHP) Deputy Group Chair Ezgin Özkoç claimed it was a witch hunt.
#HelpTurkey etiketiyle yapılan tüm paylaşımların verisi, ağ analizleri elimizde mevcut. Bu cadı avında Vatansever, masum bir vatandaşımızın canı yanarsa, CHP sonuna kadar avukatıdır… https://t.co/uuEh13N8sr
— Engin Özkoç (@enginozkoc) August 5, 2021
We have all the network analysis and data available about the #HelpTurkey hashtag. If any of our innocent, patriotic citizens get hurt in this witch hunt, CHP will be their advocate until the end…
To counter the trending #HelpTurkey the government responded with its own hashtags #StrongTurkiye and #WeDontNeedHelp.
However, neither reached the same popularity, though numerous officials tried to promote the hashtags, including the Communications Director Fahrettin Altun:
Ülkemizi etkisi altına alan orman yangınlarıyla devletimizin tüm imkanları seferber edilerek mücadelemiz devam etmektedir.
35 ilimizde 129 yangının 122'si kontrol altına alınmıştır.
Türkiyemiz güçlüdür!#StrongTürkiye
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) August 1, 2021
We are using all the resources at our disposal to take the widespread fires in our country under control, and our struggle is still continuing. Out of the 129 fires in 35 cities, 122 are under control. Our Turkey is strong!
This is not the first time Turkish citizens used Twitter hashtags as a way to express their discontent. During the Gezi Protests in 2013, the #occupygezi hashtag and similar Gezi-related hashtags were used 2 million times in only 24 hours. Images of the police using excessive force and tear gas were included under the hashtags.
What makes the recent hashtag war different is the way they emerged.
According to social media analyses, all three hashtags were created by automated accounts that were later removed. The hashtags were then picked up by genuine users that helped the hashtags spread organically and gain traction. Speaking to Al-Monitor, Director of German Marshall Fund in Ankara, Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, said:
[The] #HelpTurkey hashtag was likely initially intended to highlight the government’s perceived mismanagement. This is what the government is reacting to, but in a democracy, citizens have the right to make such rhetorical statements; it’s freedom of speech. This is a fight between the government and the opposition on perception management.

author: Doga Celik


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Belarus court labels independent media outlets Tut.by, Zerkalo.io as ‘extremist’ · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

TUT.BY Portal logo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Remixed by Tanya Lokot.
Minsk Central district court has designated Belarus’ most popular independent news website, Tut.by, and Zerkalo.io, a news outlet set up by ex-Tut.by reporters, as ‘extremist’. The ruling applies to every single piece of content on the websites, as well as to all content posted on their social media channels.
According to independent news site Mediazona Belarus, he court's decision is based on a June 2021 complaint from the Belarusian Ministry of Interior, requesting that Tut.by's reporting and social media presence be recognized as extremist in nature. The complaint is based on “internet monitoring” by the Ministry in February 2021, which found “materials interfering with the interests of the Republic of Belarus” which were found to show “signs of extremism”.
Belarusian researcher Mariya Rohava explained that the new ‘extremist’ designation could have far-reaching consequences for the media outlets and their readers.
The major independent news platform TUTby, which was revived as Zerkalo, and its social networks are now labelled “extremist” in #Belarus. It means that storing, reposting any content on social networks could lead to an administrative fine or arrest https://t.co/s0X3kAsi6f
— Maryia Rohava (@MRohava) August 13, 2021
Tut.by's main website was blocked in Belarus on May 18, 2021, while the media organisation's bank accounts were frozen following accusations of tax fraud. A criminal investigation was launched against the media outlet's managers, and 15 employees were detained. Many of them remain behind bars.
On 28 June, Tut.by removed all of its social media posts for the past 18 months to protect its remaining staff and readers from the ongoing state crackdown on independent media. A number of newsroom staff managed to avoid detention and arrest, and a smaller team subsequently founded Zerkalo.io in July 2021, vowing to “continue” Tut.by's mission of providing independent reporting on Belarusian news and events.

author: Tanya Lokot


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China’s wavering COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy in Turkey · Global Voices
Emre Demir

Illustration: Giovana Fleck/Global Voices
In Turkey, as in many countries, China initially emerged as an important supplier of COVID-19 vaccines. But due to Turkey's historically negative perceptions of China — which strengthened with the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan — many citizens have questioned the efficacy and reliability of China-made vaccines.
Though some are concerned China’s vaccine efforts may be as much about public image as public health, it has nonetheless been an active contributor to worldwide efforts to combat the virus.
But despite their contributions, they have been unable to overcome longstanding negative perceptions in Turkey. To complicate matters, China has failed to deliver millions of promised vaccine doses to Turkey, forcing Ankara to seek alternatives like the German-made Pfizer-BioNTech and Russian Sputnik vaccines.
China sought to control the spread of COVID-19 domestically at a very early stage. It has presented its containment methods as a model for other nations to emulate. Starting in March 2020, Beijing sent medical teams and supplies to other countries to help them fight the coronavirus, marking the first stage of its coronavirus diplomacy efforts.
The second stage has been centered around vaccines. Beijing has so far delivered 597 million doses of vaccines worldwide, of which 38 million were donated.
These efforts have been part of the revitalization of China's Health Silk Road. First announced by President Xi Jinping in 2016, the Health Silk Road is the health branch of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Turkey was among the very first countries to purchase China-made vaccines. When the deal was made, CoronaVac, produced by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, was not yet approved anywhere, even in China. Turkey, Brazil, and Indonesia were test sites for Phase 3 trials of CoronaVac. Turkey’s participation significantly contributed to China’s vaccine diplomacy and international prestige.
During a press conference of the Coronavirus Scientific Committee on November 25, 2020, the Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca announced Turkey would procure 50 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from China. Sinovac promised to provide 10 to 20 million doses in December 2020, 20 million doses in January, and the rest in February.
In March 2021, Koca stated that by the end of May 2021, Turkey was to receive a total of 100 million doses of CoronaVac.
However, these promises never materialized in full or on time as China postponed the delivery of vaccines numerous times. According to Bridge Beijing, by August 10, 2021, Turkey had received only 31.4 million vaccine doses from China.
Many politicians and Uyghur activists living in Turkey speculated about the reasons behind the delays. Some pointed to a treaty for the extradition of Uyghur Turks signed between Turkey and China in 2017 as a potential reason for the delay. That treaty was ratified by China in December 2020 but has not yet been ratified by the Turkish Parliament.
Yıldırım Kaya, an MP from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), submitted an inquiry to parliament asking whether the delay of China's vaccines could be linked to delays in the ratification of the extradition treaty. Instead of answering the question, Koca blamed the opposition for the delays in deliveries. In May, Koca claimed those questioning delivery delays “were trying to disrupt our relations by scratching open sensitive issues between us and China. I can't say they were successful, but they sure did damage.” Good Party (İYİ Party in Turkish) Leader Meral Akşener disagreed with Koca’s statement:
Shame on Mr. Koca, by scratching open the sensitive issues between us and China, that is to say Uyghurs, Muslim, Turkish women – our Muslim Uyghur brothers are being raped, are being massacred – is to scratch open sensitive issues between us.
Chinese officials said the delays were not political and instead were due to China’s decision to prioritize domestic vaccination to achieve herd immunity.
According to Associate Professor Ceren Ergenç from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Turkey has done China a favor by procuring Sinovac vaccines at a very early stage. This might have softened China’s insistence on the extradition of Uyghurs from Turkey.
The Turkish government’s initial decision to only acquire what many in Turkey pejoratively call the “Chinese vaccine” caused heated debate in Turkish society.
In December 2020, Health Minister Koca stated that the method by which vaccines were produced mattered more than their origins: “Chinese vaccine, German vaccine, English vaccine, American vaccine… We can’t handle the issue like that. The first thing we need to consider is the method by which the vaccine is produced… Vaccines produced by the inactivated method are more reliable… [the Chinese vaccine] is produced by the inactivated method.”
Regardless of official statements, different surveys showed that the overwhelming majority of Turkish citizens did not trust vaccines from China.
According to Marmara University professor Çağdaş Üngör, this is related to Turkish society’s prejudices against China. Due to cultural and moral judgments, Turkey's nationalistic historiography, and the Uyghur issue, many Turkish people already have negative views on — and even feelings of enmity toward — China. Public opinion polls support this claim. According to a poll conducted by Kadir Has University, only 27 percent of Turkish society regards China as a friend. This could be why the government has struggled to push the vaccine from China.
Turkish society’s hesitant approach to China's vaccine has been reflected on social media as well. On Twitter, some users derided the vaccine by sharing photoshopped pictures of Koca, which made it seem as if receiving a shot would turn him into China’s President Xi Jinping:
Sinovac Aşısı Öncesi ve Sonrası
https://twitter.com/ibrahimcanguler/status/1349441724037406720?s=20
— İbrahim Can Güler (@ibrahimcanguler) January 13, 2021
Sinovac Vaccine Before and After
In May 2021, Turkish citizens Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, the owners of BioNTech, offered the country a lifeline. Following December 2020 talks between BioNTech and Turkey, by April 2021, Turkey was to receive 4.5 million doses of the mRNA vaccine, which, according to research, produces 10 times more antibodies than CoronaVac.
On May 20, 2021, during a video call between Şahin and Minister Koca, the two agreed that 120 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines would be delivered throughout the summer.
The summer delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines led to a sharp increase in Turkey's vaccination rate. According to the Turkish Ministry of Health, as of August 10, 2021, a total of 78,245,805 vaccine doses had been administered, as can be seen here.
Source: ourworldindata.org The Economist
Turkey ranks ninth in the world for total vaccines administered. Yet despite the government’s vaccination efforts, only 45.9 percent of the population has received at least one jab.
In Turkey, those under 18, which makes up 27.2 percent of the population, cannot yet be vaccinated. Many citizens also refuse vaccination. On July 25, 2021, Koca stated that 23 million people over 18 were still to be vaccinated and that almost 9 million vulnerable people need to get a third dose.
The vaccine rollout in Turkey illustrates the challenges to China's Health Silk Road initiative. Skepticism of China's vaccines, coupled with China's inability to deliver vaccines to Turkey, has pushed Ankara officials to other nations for solutions. The Health Silk Road languishes as a result.
This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into competing narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and explores how societies and communities hold differing perceptions of potential benefits and harms of Chinese-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.

author: Emre Demir


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The decline of Occitan: A failure of cultural initiatives, or abandonment by the state? · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Screen capture from a video on YouTube explaining the history and current extent of the Occitan language.
Of the twenty-odd so-called regional languages spoken in metropolitan France, six are classed under the heading of Occitan or Langue d’Oc. Despite being spoken by over half a million people, and being supported by educational, media and cultural actions, Occitan is seeing a drop in the number of its speakers. Who's to blame?
Occitan (pronounced “outsita” in Occitan) derives its name from a division in the Romance languages descended from Latin based on the pronunciation of the word for “yes” (“oui” in modern French) along a line splitting France into two. To the north, ‘yes’ takes the form of the word “oïl” whereas to the south it becomes “oc”,  giving rise to the terms ‘langue d’oc’ et ‘Occitan’ which are also used to describe the geographical and cultural zone of Occitanie which represents the greater part of the south of France.
There is evidence of Occitan as a written language going back to the 10th century, and the language functioned as a literary, judicial and oral language until the 18th century. From the 19th century onwards, it becomes mainly a spoken language which remains the dominant language of the population of Occitanie, many of whom do not know French.
The number of Occitan speakers is subject to various interpretations, reflecting different definitions of the command and use of a language.
Today, the estimates vary: a language survey carried out in 2020 among 8,000 people over a wide area of Occitanie by the Office de la langue occitane,  a public body created in 2016 and covering 22 départements (French counties), indicates that on average 7 percent of the population speaks Occitan. This population represents more than half a million speakers.
Today, six principal varieties of Occitan are distinguished according to the region where they have most of their speakers: Gascon, Languedocien, Provençal, Auvergnat, Limousin and Vivaro-Alpin.
Outside France, two other countries recognise Occitan as a statutory regional official language: Spain in the region of the Val d’Aran, and Italy in the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and Liguria. Monaco also reports 15 percent Occitan speakers.
In France, the average Occitan speaker is a man of 66 living in the countryside and using the language mainly within the family and among friends and neighbours. More details from this survey are available in this video on YouTube:
It is worth noting that no monolingual Occitan speakers are thought to remain. The speakers of the language can be divided into two categories: a population aged over 60 that speaks Occitan because the language has been transmitted through the family, and a second group, which could be described as Neo-Occitans, who are learning the language in Occitan-medium schools, and whose parents and family members do not always speak Occitan.
As far as school education is concerned, Occitanie contains several Occitan-medium schools called Calandreta. Occitan is also offered as an optional subject in schools and taught in the universities where it is possible to obtain a higher degree in Occitan language and culture.
At the level of the media, there exist the following: an Occitan-language television channel, OcTele; several radio stations, generally bilingual in Occitan and French, and a raft of regional information sites in Occitan. The role of the media is essential as it validates a language and contributes to its transmission to future generations by anchoring the language in modernity and digital culture.
Culture is a means on the one hand of conserving the heritage of the past, while, on the other, avoiding its reduction to folklore or museum exhibit. In this sense, the Occitan world has the advantage of several cultural institutions which play their part in the prestige of the language: literary academies like that of the Jeux Floraux which date from 1694, the Félibrige foundation which dates from 1854, the Permanent Congress of the Occitan Language, the Occitan Language Office already referred to, and Occitan publishers.
Some of these initiatives, like some media outlets, benefit from the financial support of the State, while others are private.
All the above initiatives are positive and bear witness to a certain level of renewal, yet one fact remains incontestable: the number of speakers continues to fall. It doesn't seem that a lack of cultural initiatives is to blame.
The phenomenon of decline is of course related to the ageing of the traditional Occitan-speakers whose generation is gradually disappearing. But to reduce the problem to a purely demographic explanation would be simplistic.
In fact there are political factors that are just as vital. One of the principal reasons is the imposition of French, which has built up for three centuries the judicial arguments to prevent more extensive use of Occitan. Thus, as long ago as 1802, it was forbidden to speak anything other than French in a public school. This ban was later reinforced by punishments and maintained until the 1950s, at which point certain regional languages started to be taught.
The debate is far from being over; witness the latest polemic to date over the so-called Molac law of 2021 concerning ‘immersive’ (minority-language only) teaching in public schools as the state remains fiercely wedded to article 2 of the French Constitution which declares that “The language of the Republic is French.”
The regional language communities and their representatives — activists, and political and cultural figures — appeal in vain to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; Paris refuses for the present to ratify the charter, despite having signed it.  This repeated suspicion of regional languages explains the difficulty in promoting an appreciation of Occitan in the younger generations and, especially, on a wider scale.
Thus, as Jean-Christophe Dourdet, a researcher in Occitan languages explains in an article from 2020:
La question de la revitalisation des langues est avant tout une question sociolinguistique. Plutôt que de demander une reconnaissance officielle des langues, d’autres approches de « revitalisation » visent à revendiquer des droits linguistiques pour les locuteurs et groupes de locuteurs de ces langues. Cette approche ne fonctionne que s’il existe une conscience linguistique suffisante pour permettre une revendication de groupe. En France, les locuteurs des langues de France ne présentent en général qu’une très faible conscience linguistique étant donné qu’ils considèrent leurs idiomes comme des « patois » au sens d’objets dépréciés. Cette idée est le fruit de décennies de politiques linguistiques françaises niant toute diversité linguistique au profit du tout français comme langue universelle d’émancipation.
The question of the revitalisation of languages is above all a sociolinguistic question. Rather than demand an official recognition of the languages, other “revitalisation” approaches seek to claim language rights for the speakers and speaker groups of these languages. This approach works only if there exists a sufficient language consciousness to underpin a group claim. In France, the speakers of the languages of France in general present only a very weak language consciousness, in view of the fact that they consider their idioms as “patois” in the sense of objects of low value. This idea is the fruit of decades of French language policies denying any language diversity to the benefit of French alone as the universal language of emancipation.
The situation can therefore develop in the direction of an active re-appreciation only in the context of unequivocal political support which does not see the regional languages as a threat. On this subject, the European Charter is very clear in the definition of its objectives:
The Charter is based on an approach that fully respects national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It does not conceive the relationship between official languages and regional or minority languages in terms of competition or antagonism. Development of the latter must not obstruct knowledge and promotion of the former. According to the Charter, each language has its rightful place.
James Costa, a British researcher working on the Occitan and Scots languages among others, summarises the situation well in recalling that the demand for more rights for Occitan is located in an open vision turned towards the future:
In that sense, language revitalisation isn’t about regenerating pre-existing groups, but about inventing new ones, on new terms, while drawing on a construction of those groups as timeless or ancient.

author: Filip Noubel


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Eleven years after its last devastating earthquake, an even stronger one hits Haiti · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A reading of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti at 8:29 a.m. on August 14, 2021, from a seismogram taken at the Mount Denham seismic station in Jamaica. Photo by James St. John on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
At 8:29 a.m. local time on August 14, Haiti once again felt the brunt of a powerful earthquake. The strength of 2010's tremor, which caused tremendous loss of life and damage to property, had been 7.0; this latest quake was estimated to be at least 7.2 in magnitude, with an epicentre 12 km north-east of Saint-Louis du Sud, primarily affecting areas along Haiti's southern Tiburon Peninsula.
At this time, 225 people are confirmed to have died and 1,500 injured. President Ariel Henry has declared a state of emergency.
Not only was the force of this tremor more intense than the 2010 event, it was also 3 km closer to the surface, at a depth of just 10 km, and was followed by several substantial aftershocks, prompting a tsunami alert in the region.
For anyone who needs it: there was a large earthquake a little while ago. Here's the location. pic.twitter.com/gGLoQlTiEe
— Brooklyn Cybele (@brooklyncybele) August 14, 2021
The effects of the quake were felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti, as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Jamaica, prompting the Jamaica Observer newspaper to immediately ask:
“It a shake, it a shake”
Did you feel that?
— Jamaica Observer (@JamaicaObserver) August 14, 2021
One Twitter user responded:
Very powerful. Woke me from deep sleep, bed, mirrors, doors, could actually feel the movement of the building while bracing in the doorway!- Hughenden Kingston
— Fayona (@Fayona81405377) August 14, 2021
Her experience underscores the intensity that Haitians must have felt when the quake hit, as Kingston, Jamaica is 479 km away from the Haitian capital.
A Haiti-based Global Voices contact shared various WhatsApp videos taken by Haitian netizens soon after the earthquake. They show tremendous amounts of rubble from collapsed homes and destroyed buildings, as well as residents fleeing.
The citizen journalist doing the filming in the above video is saying, “Friends, this is live, live!” Confirming that the earthquake just happened and that it was a strong one, he adds, “Luckily for me, the place where I am [living] didn't fall down. […] Thank God it didn't fall down.” He says he ran from the scene and is thankful he is okay.
The above footage shows scenes of a hotel that collapsed with— according to the videographer—”a lot of people underneath … a lot of people.”
This scene shows the panic of people evacuating the area through streets that were already beginning to flood.
This video, which shows scenes from a market, appears to be taken in a town called Pestel. Saturday is the traditional market day in Haiti when many people go out to buy their supplies for the week ahead. The voice-over on the video says, “There are people injured, houses flattened, and there are people who died […] It happened so quickly.” Much of the testimony repeats the Haitian Kreyòl phrases “kraze net” and “kraze plat”, meaning “totally flattened.”
The Église Sacré Coeur des Cayes, the Church of the Sacred Heart, located in the seaport town of Les Cayes on the country's south coast, also collapsed. The overall Les Cayes area was particularly hard-hit:
#Haitiearthquake please HELP NOW !!! Cayes @Pwoteksyonsivil @RedCross pic.twitter.com/5b0Gkfq5Jj
— Henry Beaucejour (@HBeaucejour) August 14, 2021
The timing of the earthquake only adds to Haiti's woes. Not only is the country still reeling from the assassination of former president Jovenel Moïse and the political and socio-economic instability that prevailed even before his death, but in the midst of the Atlantic hurricane season, Haiti has also been under tropical storm warnings.
High numbers of casualties are being predicted, and the damage is already significant. On Twitter, however, structural geologist Dr. Judith Hubbard hoped that because the quake occurred in less densely populated areas than in 2010, there might be fewer fatalities:
The updated focal mechanism for the earthquake from GFZ indicates the rupture was on land, and oblique thrust – similar to the overall 2010 event, which combines a mostly strike-slip mainshock with a cluster of smaller thrust earthquakes.#tectoplot #haitiearthquake pic.twitter.com/cr7w7nD5qn
— Dr. Judith Hubbard (@JudithGeology) August 14, 2021
Yet, there have been confirmed deaths in Les Cayes, and the area of Jeremie is also reported to be badly affected. Footage of people being rescued from under the rubble is being circulated, including this one, where a young woman and child were pulled out of a collapsed house:
While much of the narrative around this latest natural disaster defines Haiti as “the poorest country in the western hemisphere,” some Twitter users reminded people exactly why that was the case. Meanwhile, Haitians themselves banded together to find solutions in the immediate aftermath, forming rescue teams and helping one another, showing their strength, resilience and determination to overcome—yet again.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Queer resilience and activism in Bosnia and Herzegovina · Global Voices
Balkan Diskurs

A participant of the 2019 Sarajevo Pride March holds a Pride flag in the air. Source: BH. Povorka Ponosa, used with permission.
This story by Taylor Whitsell was originally published on Balkan Diskurs, a project of the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). An edited version is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In 2019, queer activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) organized the country’s first-ever Pride March in Sarajevo. The event received international coverage and was widely acclaimed for its significance. Academic research has even shown that it helped improve public opinion toward queer people among residents of Sarajevo.
Yet the fight for equality extends far beyond the coordination of annual, high-visibility pride marches. Not to mention, the state of the world has changed dramatically since 2019, most obviously as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. How have queer people and activists in BiH built upon the momentum of the 2019 Pride March while navigating the newfound challenges caused by the pandemic?
Since the 2019 Pride March, queer activists have observed a changing political, legal, and social environment, and have achieved some key successes. In an interview with the author, Dajana Bakić, executive director of the Tuzla Open Centre (TOC), an LGBTQI+ activist organization in BiH, emphasized that Pride constitutes the “most visible tool used to place a spotlight on the issues and needs” of the queer community. This, in turn, helps change public perceptions of queer people and what Pride actually is—a protest for equality, rights, and freedom.
Queer activists argue that this form of visibility has placed LGBTQI+ rights more effectively on the public agenda. In an interview with the author, Branko Ćulibrk, member of the Organizing Committee of the BiH Pride March, said:
Violence and discrimination issues directed towards the LGBTI community and individuals are more and more often a topic of debate and we have seen an increase in reporting hate crimes. Moreover, from a normative standpoint, the pending Draft Law on Same-sex Partnerships in FB&H has become a hot topic, but also an Action Plan for LGBTQI+ equality at the state level is underway. These are all small steps that lead to a brighter future for this country, for all of us.
Bakić adds that activists were “included in different kinds of working group discussions about the laws of freedom of assembly,” allowing them substantive input on the processes of forming these new laws, particularly in the Sarajevo Canton and the Tuzla Canton governments.
Pride cannot, in and of itself, generate institutional change, but activists can harness the visibility and public awareness that Pride brings to amplify queer issues, to be taken seriously by political actors, and to be included in reform processes. As Bakić emphasizes, “Lives are not changed by one Pride. We still have the same laws. We still face violence and discrimination. But, the March was a huge step in changing how pride is perceived. Also in the legal framework, things started to move a bit.”
These small victories are important but have also been endangered by the pandemic. The aforementioned Draft Law on Same-sex Partnerships has been taken up by an inter-ministerial working group at the Federation of BiH, which was formed in February 2020. This was certainly a positive development. Darko Pandurević of the SOC noted that “the working group is mostly comprised of people who are willing and open to do their job, who approach the assignment professionally, and who do not have preconceived notions or attitudes about the subject. They also saw the Sarajevo Open Centre as a partner in the entire process, which dispelled some initial concerns that the work itself and our involvement in the working group would be a battle with windmills.”
But the working group’s progress, already relatively slow, languished throughout the rest of the year. Ultimately, only one meeting was held in 2020. This slow progress has not deterred activists from pursuing the legal path to equality. For instance, Pandurević also highlighted the SOC’s continued use of strategic litigation to advance queer rights through the judicial system.
Responding to slow institutional progress through strategic litigation is just one example of how queer activists have navigated challenges to progress in BiH: through creativity and a willingness to adapt. This mindset has been a crucial tool in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ćulibrk said, “Our struggle must have continuity, despite current circumstances, where we are forced to conquer public space in new and imaginative ways.” In other words, the pandemic did not deter queer activists, but rather emboldened them to devise unique ways to accomplish their objectives.
Ćulibrk provided several specific examples of how queer activists creatively worked to promote visibility:
Although we were forced to cancel the Pride last year and it was not held in the form of a protest march, we were still present in public spaces, working on the [visibility of the] LGBTI community and other issues the entire time. This year we had several activities, and one of them was the celebration of May 9, Victory Day, where we, in cooperation with other organizations from BiH, held street actions in five cities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, we created the campaign ‘Behind Margin Walls’, which arose from the need to provide an open space for sharing LGBTI experiences in their day-to-day lives. Our goal is to enhance the visibility of the wide spectrum of experiences that the community is going through, to fight against the neglect and ignorance of those experiences. In short, to give a voice to those who go unheard by the general public.
Activists also developed new ways of connecting with and providing direct support to the queer community in BiH. Bakić explained the TOC’s approach: “We asked people to write us stories, send us photos, and share their concerns and voices about what they were going through in the pandemic. We also made a publication focused on queer art during self-isolation, and [published a book] of [various] queer stories. We did a small questionnaire with the LGBTQI+ community on what their needs were. Did they need money or did they need any help? Most of the answers that we got were related to a lack of gathering because usually our workshops and our parties are the only safe space for them.”
The ability of queer activist organizations to serve as safe spaces for the queer community in BiH has been a fundamental part of addressing the newfound challenges that the pandemic has created for queer people all over the world. In particular, social distancing and lockdown measures have resulted in many queer people spending more time in potentially unwelcoming or unaccepting home environments. Naturally, this can have a severe negative impact on the mental health of queer people. This has made the work of queer organizations in BiH that much more important, as their role extends beyond what most people associate with activist organizations, like political advocacy and public awareness campaigns. Their function as a key support network manifests both in their ability to offer important services, like counseling and sexual education, but also to provide a place for queer people to gather and to find refuge in one another.
An attendee dances at a queer-organized, inclusive social event in Sarajevo. Photographer: Erin Brown, used with permission.
For instance, this summer, the SOC and TOC organized “Kvirhana,” a queer arts festival that featured films, exhibitions, and drag performances. The festival also included time for queer individuals to socialize and get to know one another. In an interview with Radio Free Europe, the Executive Director of SOC, Emina Bosnjak, emphasized that Kvirhana was intended to constitute a space where “queer people… [could] not only be what they really are, but also celebrate their identities.”
Bakić places this year’s Kvirhana in context, saying that “what was different from previous years of organizing the International Queer Film Festival Merlinka—this was our seventh festival—is that most of the people there were from the LGBTI community. Usually, it was supporters and allies [attending], as people are afraid to go to public events because of possible labels and security reasons. People were crying after the festival ended because they felt so happy and free and accepted, so being able to provide that kind of space and support and change for their lives … that’s our mission.”
A queer woman who interviewed with PCRC’s Love Tales Project explained the impact of having these spaces on her own life. “In Sarajevo, there is the SOC Association and the CURE Foundation. Without these associations, we would be nowhere. We would remain invisible. It’s a small group of people. I know them all. I hang out with them. I’m really grateful that there is someone who does something for us,” she said.
Queer activists have persevered through the pandemic, sustaining and expanding their efforts to achieve greater visibility, motivate political and legal reform, and improve the wellbeing of queer Bosnians. Nevertheless, it is important not to minimize the obstacles that continue to affect their work.
For one, the pandemic has also proven a convenient tool for authorities looking to restrict queer activism. In the past, authorities have used a flurry of stringent bureaucratic measures, including requiring queer organizations to take on the cost of expensive security barriers, as a method of disincentivizing them from planning events. This trend appears to have continued with the pandemic. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network cites Mirza Halilcevic, a queer organizer, who said at a Pride-related webinar, “it is symptomatic that under the excuse of security or pandemic issues, gatherings that have an LGBTQI+ prefix are being forbidden. It is a reminder of all those other excuses when we were rejected for this or that reason. When you find yourself in a situation with a similar pattern, where you have already experienced that your gatherings or requests have been rejected, it requires deeper research and questioning of the reasons—did we postpone the march because it had become a security issue, or was this just another of those homophobic challenges that we need to overcome? I believe it is both.”
Next, increased visibility can be a double-edged sword. While necessary to place LGBTQI+ rights on the public agenda, queer visibility can trigger backlash, particularly in the form of hate speech and hate crimes. The SOC found that “since the First B&H Pride March took place in 2019…the increase in threats and violence in public places and/or online sphere/social networks tripled.”
Finally, the strength of ethnonationalism and the political dysfunction embedded in BiH institutions creates perhaps the most difficult barrier to progress. Pervasive ethnonational narratives have negatively painted the struggle for queer rights which differ from the identities that political elites in BiH extol for electoral success. However, some research does indicate that activists’ efforts may be piercing through these narratives, at least to some extent. Nevertheless, particularly rule-of-law institutions often fail to take violations of LGBTQI+ human rights seriously. Ćulibrk argues that “it is a huge responsibility of institutions that are not ready to take a public stand and say that they will do everything in their power to protect LGBTI people from violence, to call for cooperation and to report cases of hate crimes.”
Rainbow colors shimmer across the surface of the Miljacka River in Sarajevo. Photo by Nina Kolarzik, used with permission.
When asked what people should know about the status of the LGBTQI+ movement in BiH today, Ćulibrk emphasized, “The fact that the fight for LGBTI rights is not exclusive, but rather inclusive—we are more than open and ready to provide support in all cases of injustice to various groups.” He continued, “In this sense, the BH Pride is one of the tools to create a free and fair society where all citizens are equal. Understanding and compassion are key components to creating such a society, even when we don’t see eye to eye, we should accept that differences exist and that LGBTI people are just as important as anyone else in this society.”
Queer Bosnian activists achieved something remarkable when they organized the first Pride March in 2019. The second Pride March will be held in person on August 14, and this will hopefully serve as an important marker of visibility for queer people in BiH once again.
What is equally important to acknowledge is the dedication and determination that queer activists display each and every day. While this work cannot always be easily encapsulated by an international headline, it is a necessary ingredient for the construction of a just society in which queer people can not only publicly exist, but prosper. Each new challenge has spurred queer people and activists in BiH to leverage their creativity and ingenuity to expand and magnify their efforts to achieve progress.
The experience of the pandemic, in particular, demonstrates that against all odds, queer people and activists display incredible resilience in BiH. As Bakić put it, “We are queer. We are proud. Our lives are tough and it’s quite challenging, but we are brave enough and ready to challenge the system and fight for our freedoms and rights.”

author: Balkan Diskurs


text:
Bhutan’s COVID-19 vaccination success a “beacon of hope” for South Asia · Global Voices
Rezwan

People of Bhutan. Image via Flickr by prbuckley1. CC BY 2.0.
The Kingdom of Bhutan, the tiny South Asian country in the Eastern Himalayas, has pulled off a rare feat: as of the end of July 2021, it had managed to administer two doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 90% of its adult population.
Compared with other countries in South Asia—such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh—which are struggling to source vaccines and inoculate their massive populations, Bhutan has the advantage of a small population of only 780,910. The country has also managed the COVID-19 pandemic well compared to its neighbours and even helped Nepal by sending them 230,000 vaccines from its excess stock.
Bhutan's sound management of the pandemic despite limited resources is already being applauded as a “success story” and a “beacon of hope” for other countries in the region.
Bhutan's first case of COVID-19 was reported on March 6, 2020, when a US tourist tested positive. The country immediately put in place strict measures, including tracing 300 possible contacts of the tourist and quarantining them. The country banned tourists, closed schools and public institutions, postponed international conferences and took additional measures to prevent local transmission in high-risk areas.
The democratic government engaged in campaigns asking citizens to wear face masks, wash their hands, and practice physical distancing. Even the much-revered King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck trekked by foot and on horseback to remote locations to oversee various mitigation measures, as journalist Tenzing Lamsang noted on Twitter in June:
His Majesty The King trekked 5 days in Bhutan’s eastern border areas through forests, rain, high passes & leeches to check on border posts put up to check illegal crossings to prevent COVID-19.
This is his 14th or 15th trip since pandemic started.
Accompanied by PM this time. pic.twitter.com/bh2acXkSll
— Tenzing Lamsang (@TenzingLamsang) June 14, 2021
Bhutan had only around 350 doctors and 3,000 health workers when the pandemic started, and so far it has engaged around 30,000 citizen volunteers to help with different COVID-19 prevention measures.
A US$19 million relief fund provided some respite for more than 34,000 Bhutanese whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic restrictions, and a country-wide registry for vulnerable citizens facilitated the provision of care packages to more than 51,000 Bhutanese over the age of 60.
The results have been exemplary, as the numbers attest: as of August 15, 2021, Bhutan has recorded only three deaths from COVID-19 and there are currently 32 active cases out of a total of 2,566 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Bhutan received a donation of 150,000 AstraZeneca Covishield vaccines from India in January 2021, and 400,000 more in March 2021. In April 2021, the country made headlines when it completed administering the first dose of the vaccine to over 85% of its 548,000 eligible adults (over 18 years old) in just one week.
But the country faced vaccine shortages after India banned the export of COVID-19 vaccines in late March. Reportedly, the deadline to give the second dose of AstraZeneca was within 12 weeks to 16 weeks of the first dose.
Bhutan engaged in diplomatic efforts to get vaccines from other sources, and in June, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering announced that the country was ready to mix and match COVID-19 vaccine doses to complete the vaccination of its population.
On July 12, 2021, the first batch of 500,000 Moderna vaccines from the United States through the COVAX program arrived in Bhutan. The country also received more than 350,000 AstraZeneca shots from Bulgaria, Croatia and Denmark, and 50,000 Sinopharm doses from China in July 2021.
Chart by Our World In Data. CC-BY
The program to administer the second dose of the vaccine started on July 20, 2021. Within a week, almost 90% of the adult population had received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. As of August 12, 69% of the total population had received at least one dose and around 61% of the total population had received two doses. The authorities were also citizens to offer citizens a choice between the Moderna and AstraZeneca shots. Bhutanese journalist Namgay Zam reported on Twitter that the campaign received a favourable response:
Amazing turnout on Day 1 of national booster rollout at several vaccine centres in various districts including #Thimphu. This was not expected of Day 1, at least not at the centre I was at (Jigme Namgyal LSS).
Makes me happy & grateful as a citizen.
?? pic.twitter.com/zak7GVUIlM
— namgay (@namgayzam) July 20, 2021
Another factor in Bhutan's successful vaccination campaign was the use of the Bhutan Vaccine System (BVS) developed by the country’s Ministry of Health with support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The digital system features an online registration system that generates vaccination schedules, monitors stocks, and produces real-time reports and vaccine certificates.
Chart by Our World in Data. CC BY
Bhutan's high altitude, the remoteness of some of its mountain villages, and its extreme weather make delivering vaccines across the country challenging. Namgay Zam observed that reaching those vaccination centers in remote locations was an amazing feat by the health workers:
Behind #Bhutan‘s successful vaccination campaign are a lot of unsung heroes like the three in this story.
Thank you to our frontliners who did this and will do this over the next few days. ?? https://t.co/VfDq3QfODx
— namgay (@namgayzam) July 27, 2021
The vaccination of children aged 12-17 commenced in Bhutan on July 29. Health Minister Dechen Wangmo tweeted:
#COVIDVaccination; Today across the country our 12-17 years old are getting their 1st dose of #Moderna vaccine through our school based program. Always a pleasure catching up with young minds. pic.twitter.com/Gy1nZUvEJr
— Dechen Wangmo (@DechenwangmoM) July 29, 2021
After the success of inoculations in the country, Bhutan donated 230,000 shots of AstraZeneca vaccines to its neighbour Nepal, which had earlier sought vaccine support from Bhutan after learning about its excess stock. Only around 16% per cent of Nepal's 29 million residents has received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and only around 10% have been fully vaccinated.
Chhedup Sangay, a government employee from Bhutan, tweeted his approval of the donation:
I'm amazed. Love this one!
Bhutan sends 230,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Nepal, today.
This is following a request from the Nepalese government seeking vaccine support from Bhutan. Bhutan has fully vaccinated more than 95 per cent of its eligible population.
— Chhedup Sangay (@ChhedupSangay) August 6, 2021
Journalist Namgay Zam posted a reminder that:
230,000 may be a small number for Nepal, but it is HUGE for Bhutan. It is half of the vaccine eligible adult population of my country.
— namgay (@namgayzam) August 6, 2021
The success of the vaccination drive prompted Bhutan to reconsider opening for tourists. The country resumed issuing tourist visas from August 5, 2021, though the mandatory 21-days quarantine is still in effect.

author: Rezwan


text:
New homophobic attacks in Kazakhstan rally support behind activists · Global Voices
Paolo Sorbello

An anti-LGBTQ+ mob in Karaganda. July 29, 2021. Screengrab from Kazakhstan's Police YouTube channel.
Feminist and LGBTQ+ activism in Kazakhstan is no easy task. Those who fight for their rights are constantly under pressure both from the government, which often fails to protect them, and from nationalist conservative groups, which are proliferating online and offline.
During their travels across Kazakhstan, Zhanar Sekerbayeva and Gulzada Serzhan, two spokespeople of the Feminita group, founded in 2015, have faced resistance at every stop. Feminita is a collective of LGBTQ+ activists that has repeatedly tried to register as an NGO, but had its applications rejected several times.
In May 2021, Sekerbayeva and Serzhan traveled to the southern city of Shymkent to organize a meeting to discuss queer rights. Despite arranging the logistics ahead of time, the activists were refused entry by the owner of the hotel where the conference would be held. As the disheartened group left the hotel to move the assembly into a nearby cafe, a group of conservative nationalists attacked them.
In the aftermath of the scuffle, police arrested Sekerbayeva and Serzhan “for their own safety” and brought them back to Almaty, the city where they reside, in a minivan the following day.
A similar angry mob met Sekerbayeva, Serzhan, and other activists during their visit to Karaganda, an industrial city in central Kazakhstan, on July 28. The police cordoned off the meeting place and brought the activists to the police station, where they were identified. None of the anti-LGBTQ+ protesters was questioned by the police.
Once the situation was calmer, the authorities sent Sekerbayeva and Serzhan to Almaty via train.
Both activists and anti-LGBTQ+ groups seem relentless in their efforts. On August 8, in the north-eastern city of Aktobe, more than 100 people gathered to protest another small event that Sekerbayeva and Serzhan were organizing for August 13.
Importantly, in Kazakhstan, the police generally disperse any rally that has not received approval by the city administration. In Karaganda and Aktobe, the authorities watched the rallies, but did not take action to disperse them.
On the same day, another anti-LGBTQ+ episode occurred, as parliament member and entrepreneur Kairat Kudaibergen launched a boycott campaign against Qańtar, an illustrator from Aktobe. Kudaibergen reposted one of Qańtar's drawings of same-sex subjects kissing while wearing traditional Kazakh garments. But his message was one of hatred, rather than support.
Screengrab from a deleted post on instagram by Kairat Kudaibergen, posted on August 8, 2021. Sent by Qańtar, used here with permission.
Қазақтың ар-намысы мен салт-дәстүрін таптатпайық! STOP
Let’s not let them trample on the honor and traditions of the Kazakh people! STOP
Qańtar flagged the issue and asked her supporters to report this bullying, which came from the same man who hailed an anti-LBGTQ+ action involving the popular Pop-It toy, in which one Kazakh blogger burned the widespread rainbow-colored toy because to him it symbolized “gay propaganda.”
????? pic.twitter.com/YfZT8Dd1dj
— Qańtar ? (@obobro300) August 8, 2021
Reached by Global Voices, Qańtar voiced her frustration and disappointment in the direct attack by Kudaibergen and the messages of hate that ensued after his post went viral.
There has always been homophobia. Now we are talking more about our rights and the homophobic masses don't like this. They want to return the time when we were completely silent and invisible.
When asked about her artwork, which had circulated in the past, Qańtar said that “it was just a sketch, not even fully developed art,” highlighting how just about any pretext would be used for attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
As attacks multiply both on social media and on the streets, feminist activists have also managed to engender the idea that the struggle for equal rights can stir up support as well. The messages of solidarity that Qańtar, Sekerbayeva, and Serzhan received are a sign that the feminist discourse is taking root in Kazakhstan.

author: Paolo Sorbello


text:
China: Parents and teachers are divided amid crackdown on private tutoring · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An image of a middle school classroom in China from Flickr user Rex Pe. Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0)
China is furthering its nationwide crackdown on the private education industry by encouraging citizens to report schools that host extracurricular tutoring classes as well as public school teachers who earn extra income through private tutoring.
The reporting system has stirred up debate on social media as reflected in a recent viral story about a parent's complaint about a teacher's private tutoring sessions.
According to the Weibo media outlet, Shenyang Headline News, a parent from Shenyang wanted her two twin children to get a good score on the high school entrance examination. An acquaintance connected the parent to a public school teacher who provided private physics tutoring to her children for RMB 100 yuan [about 15 US dollars] per student per class. Her kids attended 15 sessions and she paid the teacher a total of RMB 6,000 yuan for the supplementary course.
However, after her two children had been admitted into the target school, she reported the teacher to the authorities, accusing the teacher of breaking the new education regulations. She presented an audio recording of the private class and screenshots of the payment transfer as evidence. As a result, the teacher had to refund all the tutoring fees and pay an extra RMB 2000 yuan [308 US dollars] in exchange for a letter of understanding from the parent. The teacher might lose their teaching license if the authorities find the complaint is valid.
The story was originally circulated in a private chatroom by someone who claims to know the teacher. The exchange was screenshotted and republished by various online media outlets on August 9. Within 24 hours, the story had gone viral with a number of hashtags such as #MakeUpClassScam (#补课仙人跳#) and #TwinsReportTeacherOnMakeUpClass (#双胞胎补课却把老师举报#).
Many on social media were outraged by the parent’s acts. One Weibo user, ‘sheep’s life’, summed up the ethical issue in a few lines:
家长自己找的老师补课，这是明知故犯
补完课孩子考上高中了就举报，这是过河拆桥
威胁老师不减钱就去举报，这是敲诈勒索
拿了两千钱还去举报，这是言而无信
The parent took the initiative for the make-up class, she was the first to violate the rule
She reported to the teacher only after her children were admitted by the target school, she is like a scorpion stinging a frog upon crossing a river.
She blackmailed the teacher by taking the advantage of the education authority’s reporting system.
Upon receiving the extra RMB 2,000 yuan [308 US dollars], she did not retract her report as promised. Such a person has zero credibility.
A mother who is running a homeschool facility made a similar comment on Weibo:
真是什么人都能做家长，自私自利到了极致。这种行为就是过河拆桥，忘恩负义！虽然老师违规补课确实不对，那也轮不到你去举报！人老师辅导你家孩子，你不仅不感激，还为了要回补课费，败光了自己的道德底线。…
我会远离这类人，也会让我的孩子远离这类人。
How can such a selfish person be a parent? Such behavior is like persecuting someone who did you a favor. It is a betrayal of trust. Even if the teacher has violated the regulations, you should be the last one to report them. The teacher assisted your kids. Instead of being thankful, you trod on your morality just to get back the tuition fee… I suggest people stay away from such human beings. I will keep my kids away from this kind of human being.
This is not an isolated incident. China released a ‘double reduction’ education policy in July. The objective is to reduce parents’ expenses and students’ academic burden in both public and private education systems. Under the new policy, private tutoring businesses have to restructure as non-profits. They are banned from being listed on the stock market and prohibited from offer tutoring classes on weekends and school holidays. Public school teachers are prohibited from making extra income through private tutoring.
Yet, there is a strong demand for private tutoring in China as education resources are concentrated in a small number of prestigious schools which are mostly located in big cities. In addition, thanks to China's one-child policy, many mainland Chinese families are willing to spend a lot of money on their child’s education to pave their way to success. Regardless of the new education policy, many parents have continued looking for private tutors and some private schools have gone underground.
To ensure that the policy is fully enforced, the education authorities have encouraged parents and students to report practices that violate the policy guidelines. In some regions, the authorities have gone so far as to raid the underground private tutoring classrooms.  The following video showed a raid on an underground classroom in Hanshan County, Anhui province on August 5:
In the video, the teacher was dragged out of a classroom by law enforcement officials as if he was a criminal.
Guangdong province has received 161 complaints so far about institutions offering tutoring classes during the summer holidays or teachers accepting money or gifts for private tutoring. One complaint emerged after some students from a high school in Jiujiang city complained that their school had organized paid make-up classes during the summer holiday. The school principal explained that the classes were not compulsory and they were organized to meet parents’ demands.  He said that complaints were filed by students who did not enjoy attending school. Eventually, the school was forced to suspend the summer class.
The reporting system has strained the relationship between teachers and parents. Some criticized the parents in a comment thread of a news report about the Guangdong complaint hotline:
能不能给个热线，举报家长贿赂老师，说了不要送东西，非要强硬要求别人收，恶意陷害老师的。
Can you provide a hotline for the public to report parents who bribe teachers with gifts — forcing them to take the gifts and then reporting them?
我也想问能不能给个热线，举报家长私下偷偷找老师有偿补课老师拒绝很多次还要一直三更半夜打电话来骚扰人。补课本就双向的事，抓到就罚老师算什么呢？
I also want to ask if the authorities can set up a hotline to report parents who snoop around for teachers to give private tutoring. Even though the teachers say no, they kept making phone calls late at night. Private tutoring involves two parties, why do they only punish the teachers?
But some insisted on blaming the teachers:
觉得对自己不公平就别做 要做就做好 如果为了赚钱连基本的几节课都不讲重点 不好好讲 那就别做 别害祖国的花朵 做老师的一点师德都没有 一身铜臭味就别污蔑了老师这个名词
Don’t be a teacher if you feel its unjust. Don’t hurt our country's offspring by refusing to teach properly at schools so that you can earn the extra income outside schools. Teachers without a moral baseline are a disgrace to the profession.
真心好好做一个称职的老师，肯定受大家爱戴，但是你搞小动作，课堂不教或者讲一半，另外一半开小灶，这也算老师？
People will love and respect you if you are a devoted teacher. If you withhold your knowledge in class to pave your way to earn extra income outside the classroom, you can’t call yourself a teacher.
A few pointed out that the education sector and teachers, in particular, has become a scapegoat for a series of policy failures:
现在别人不愿意生，房价不敢跌，医疗便宜不了，唯有教育可以搞，合着老师就是最好被欺负的呗。一堆巨婴家长不去搞，把教育行业搞成服务行业，牛逼了。
People are unwilling to give birth to more children, the crackdown on property price cannot be too harsh, the cost of the health sector cannot be lowered. The only sector that they [the authorities] can tread on is education. They can unite [frustrated people] to bully the teachers. They dare not touch giant-baby-like parents. They just want to show their muscles by turning education into service.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Code Red: climate crisis is inflaming extreme weather disasters · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

An Australian bushfire in 2019: Screenshot from ABC Four Corner video ‘Black Summer’ February 3, 2020
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) recent report declaration that we are facing a ‘code red for humanity’ should be no surprise. Millions have suffered during extreme weather events in recent years, and many have speculated about possible links between global warming and the annual increase in natural disasters.
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (AR6 ) leaves no room for doubt that humans are behind the uptick in disasters, based on current science.
The IPCC’s analysis is quite clear. According to the AR6 Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers:
Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014.
Widespread observed and projected increases in the intensity and frequency of hot extremes, together with decreases in the intensity and frequency of cold extremes, are consistent with global and regional warming.
(AR6 Chapter 11.1.4 23)
Meteorologist Eric Holhaus agreed:
To me, the most important part of this week's big IPCC climate report is that science has now established a direct causal link between fossil fuel burning and extreme weather.
“climate change doesn’t just alter extreme weather — it changes everything.” https://t.co/eiOsvriv3p
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) August 12, 2021
Since the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, our planet has experienced numerous extreme weather events with increased frequency and intensity. Global Voice's video ‘Global Weather Disasters 2020–2021′ presents just a small fraction of those events. It includes droughts in Africa and North America; floods in Europe, China and India; and heatwaves and wildfires in Australia, North America and the Mediterranean.
According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), overall climate-related disasters went up from 3,656 between 1980–1999 to 6,681 between 2000–2019 — an 83 percent increase.
Moreover, the World Meteorological Organization has concluded that: ‘A clear fingerprint of human-induced climate change has been identified on many of these extreme events’.
A number of scientific organisations have examined whether particular events can be attributed to the climate crisis. The Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS) journal examined the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires and identified ‘a connection between climate change and fire weather’:
…climate change has induced a higher weather-induced risk of such an extreme fire season. This trend is mainly driven by the increase of temperature extremes.
…we find that heat extremes have become more likely by at least a factor of 2 due to the long-term warming trend. However, current climate models overestimate variability and tend to underestimate the long-term trend in these extremes, so the true change in the likelihood of extreme heat could be larger, suggesting that the attribution of the increased fire weather risk is a conservative estimate.
Additionally, a World Weather Attribution study concluded ‘that the extreme rainfall and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Imelda [in Texas 2019] was made more likely and intense due to global warming’.
They also found that the 2020 Siberian heatwave ‘would have effectively been impossible without human-induced climate change’.
News outlets around the world are taking notice of the effects of climate change. The Guardian published a video snapshot at the beginning of August titled ‘NATURAL DISASTERS this week from 01-07 August 2021 Climate changе!’ which detailed the climate disasters from that week.
The AR6 report features an Interactive Atlas with in-depth regional data and projections such as: atmosphere and ocean temperatures, rainfall and sea-level increases. They include near-, medium- and long-term scenarios for 1.5, 2.3 and 4 degrees Celcius increases.
This image from the atlas shows temperature projections for the Mediterranean region based on a 2 degree Celcius increase scenario:
Temperature projections for the Mediterranean region. Screenshot from the IPCC Interactive Atlas
Vox has created a useful explanation of how to use the Interactive Atlas mapping tool. AR6 also created downloadable Regional Fact Sheets.
This Sky News UK twitter thread captures the extreme weather situation in mid-August 2021.
Here are the consequences of the extreme weather that’s happening around the world right now ???
?? In Turkey’s Black Sea region more than two dozen people have been killed after heavy rain caused floods and mudslides.
? Bozkurt, Turkey#DailyClimateShow
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 13, 2021
The United Nations will consider climate change progress at the Glasgow COP26 Conference in November 2021. To see how your country's environmental commitments and action plan is rated, please visit Climate Action Tracker.
Thanks to Emma Lewis for her help in researching this story.


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Dissecting the ‘win-win’ of Chinese investment in Greece · Global Voices
Andreas Bloom

Illustration: Giovana Fleck | Global Voices based on a photo under CC BY-NC 2.0
On the surface, Sino-Greek economic relations, largely centered around shipping, are seen as a ‘win-win’ for both countries. In Greece, this narrative holds particular sway with governments from across the political spectrum. The narrative, however, becomes more complex if one looks more closely at Greek media and political actors.
Chinese exports to Greece have risen sharply over the past two decades, from 693.8 million USD annually during 2001, to 7.04 billion USD during 2020. The export of Greek goods to China has also been rising steadily, from 58.5 million USD in 2001 to 773.1 million USD in 2020. Fifteen years since the start of the Integrated Strategic Partnership agreement between Greece and China in 2006, both sides want to maintain their cooperation. In 2019, during a visit to China, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from the governing conservative party New Democracy, said of the economic collaboration between the two countries:
Θα είναι win-win λύση για Έλληνες παραγωγούς, για τα κινέζικα ναυπηγεία και για τους Έλληνες πλοιοκτήτες φυσικά, οι οποίοι θα εξακολουθούν να ναυπηγούν τα πλοία τους στην Κίνα.
It will be a win-win solution for Greek producers, for Chinese shipyards and of course for the Greek shipowners who will continue to build their ships in China.
Mitsotakis made this statement after visiting COSCO's headquarters in China. COSCO owns 51 percent of Piraeus Port Authority (or PPA), the company managing the port of Piraeus, for a period of 35 years starting in 2016. The scale of the port and the volume of goods shipped through it annually, make it the pinnacle of the relationship between the two countries.
This is largely reflected in coverage by the Greek media: According to an analysis by the Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER) focusing on Greek and Chinese print and TV media coverage over the 2020-2021 period, 90 percent of stories in Greece on Sino-Greek relations were about Piraeus. However, recent mentions in both the media and the Greek parliament go beyond the usual ‘win-win’ narrative.
For the first time since taking over the port, COSCO is facing sustained criticism. As the IIER report argues, critical views in Greek media peaked in late 2020:
These disputes feed into a growing debate in Greece on whether or not the indisputable strategic importance of the Piraeus port translates into proportionate benefits drawn by local stakeholders and the Greek economy at large.
COSCO is also facing growing and more vocal opposition in parliament. The company is currently behind schedule on some of its investment commitments in Piraeus, which would normally hinder it from acquiring an agreed-upon additional 16 percent of PPA. But, in July 2021, Greece's privatization fund approved revisions to the concession agreement with COSCO, which would allow the company to increase its stake and earn a few more years to complete pending works, while providing some form of guarantee. A group of parliamentarians from the main left-wing opposition party SYRIZA immediately reacted, arguing that the agreement overlooks COSCO's contractual obligations, at the expense of the public interest. It is worth noting at this point that, when in government, it was SYRIZA that presided over the final parliamentary procedure transferring the port to COSCO in 2016.
Dockworkers in Piraeus also have their misgivings. In an interview from 2017, Giorgos Gogos, general secretary of the Piraeus dockworkers’ union argued that COSCO's payment of 280 million euros (or 312.51 million USD) for the controlling stake of PPA was too little: it was making profit, and had invested about 500 million (or approximately 618 million USD) over a span of 20 years. In an interview to GV, Gogos reflected on the the term ‘win-win':
Είναι ο Πειραιάς το μεγαλύτερο λιμάνι εμπορευματοκιβωτίων στην Μεσόγειο; Είναι για την COSCO, αλλά όχι για την τοπική κοινωνία του Πειραιά ή την Ελλάδα. Έχουν γίνει επενδύσεις, οπότε υπάρχει μία ανάπτυξη των παραγωγικών υποδομών του λιμανιού, ωστόσο δεν το βλέπουμε σαν καλή συμφωνία: Ο ΟΛΠ ήταν ήδη κερδοφόρος πριν την ιδιωτικοποίηση, και συνέχισε να είναι κερδοφόρος αφότου ιδιωτικοποιήθηκε, για να δημιουργήσει, ας πούμε, χίλιες κακοπληρωμένες και επισφαλείς θέσεις εργασίας, εκ των οποίων πολλές είναι μερικής απασχόλησης. Και δεν θα έπρεπε να λαμβάνουμε υπόψη μόνο τις αμοιβές των εργαζομένων, αλλά και το τί θα λάβουν πιο αργά στη ζωή τους: Χαμηλότερες απολαβές, σημαίνει λιγότερη κοινωνική ασφάλιση, το οποίο σημαίνει χαμηλότερες συντάξεις.
Is Piraeus the largest container port in the Mediterranean? It is for COSCO, but not for the local community of Piraeus or for Greece. There have been investments, so there is an increase in productive infrastructure, but we do not see it as a good deal: PPA was already profitable before privatization and continued to make profit after that, only to create, say, one thousand very precarious and poorly paid positions, a great many of which are part-time. And we shouldn’t only consider workers’ salaries, but also what they will receive later in life: Lower payments means fewer social security contributions, which means lower pensions.
Gogos goes on to compare Piraeus's experience with COSCO with that of Valencia, Spain:
Στην Βαλένθια, όπου η COSCO διαχειρίζεται το λιμάνι, οι συνθήκες είναι πολύ καλύτερες. Αντίθετα με αυτό που συμβαίνει στην Ελλάδα, εκεί όλοι οι εργαζόμενοι έχουν πρόσβαση σε συλλογικές συμβάσεις εργασίας. Οπότε δεν πιστεύουμε ότι η επένδυση της COSCO στην Ελλάδα είναι win-win.
In Valencia, where COSCO is operating the port, conditions are much better. Unlike in Greece, all workers there have access to collective bargaining agreements. So we do not think COSCO’s investment in Greece is a ‘win-win’.
Meanwhile, the Greek shipping sector, a powerful group that likely catalyzed the deal over the past two decades, are also not of one voice on the subject. Business interests in the area's ship repair zone, who have made their voices heard through both the media and the parliament, claim that COSCO would threaten their industrial activity if it went on to build a shipyard in the area and perpetuate monopoly-style practices.
On the environmental front, COSCO is facing a prolonged standoff with activists, which has culminated in a Supreme Administrative Court case over expansion works that the company's opponents say will cause great damage to the port city and the maritime ecosystem. This legal battle has also partly stalled the port's expansion, contributing to the delays at the root of the settlement between the privatization fund and COSCO.
The expansion in question concerns the creation of a new cruise shipping port, which is not only environmentally contentious but, according to some, presents serious issues in terms of financing and the local economy.
A 2020 report released by the Urban Environment Lab of the National Technical University of Athens argues that COSCO made a series of errors: it overestimated the commercial viability of a new cruise terminal, it committed to financing only a fraction of it (the lion's share of the funding comes from the European Union), it did not deliberate with the local community, and it followed poor licensing practices. All of the above, the authors argue, will negatively affect the natural and urban environment of the area, as well as the local economy. But the report does offer COSCO a recommendation:
Είναι ο περιορισμός των μεγεθών, ο απόλυτος περιβαλλοντικός έλεγχος και μία νέα περιβαλλοντική στρατηγική για τη λιμενική λειτουργία, το άνοιγμα του λιμανιού στην πόλη και οι συνέργειες με την τοπική οικονομία, καθώς και η αναβάθμιση στην κατεύθυνση της ανάδειξης ενός ελκυστικού φυσικού, αστικού και αρχαιολογικού περιβάλλοντος.
Limiting the scale [of the project], conducting a comprehensive environmental assessment and having a new environmental strategy for the port’s operation, opening up of the port to the city and promoting synergies with the local economy, and upgrading towards an attractive natural, urban, and archaeological environment. (GV's translation)
Relations between the two countries go beyond Piraeus and Greek ships in Chinese shipyards. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has made significant inroads in Greece. Today, economic ties extend to banking, a very large investment by China's state-owned power corporation in the Greek power grid operator, and the collaboration of the Greek telecommunications operator with Huawei.
On that last point, we may expect a lot more media coverage in the coming years. Throughout the pandemic, Greece and its telecommunication operators have found themselves in a balancing act between maintaining Huawei's Greece-based activities and responding to US demands for a “Clean Network,” which would suggest limiting Huawei partnerships in Greece.
Other aspects of Sino-Greek relations, such as the trade in goods, have received little media coverage in Greece. Greek businesses in China—exporters or otherwise—have little visibility in the Greek media, and this makes it difficult to assess how their progress is seen. The little coverage there is on this subject shows that some Greek products are now protected in China (an outcome of a 2019 agreement between China and the EU), but also includes occasional complaints from specific actors, such as olive oil exporters who argued back in 2017 that exports were too low.
It is likely that relations between China and Greece will continue to flourish as long as they focus on shipping either in China or in Greece. Greek officials and politicians are likely to keep using “COSCO,” “Piraeus,” and “shipyards” as buzzwords to frame this relationship. Even so, if COSCO continues to clash with local interests, it won’t be long before new narratives emerge, despite the Greek government’s support.
This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into competing narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and explores how societies and communities hold differing perceptions of potential benefits and harms of Chinese-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.

author: Andreas Bloom


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Déjà vu as bauxite company pollutes an iconic Jamaican river, yet again · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

The Rio Cobre in St. Catherine, the second-longest river in Jamaica, rambling through Bog Walk Gorge. Photo credit: Paul Williams/The Jamaica Gleaner, used with permission.
Named Xaymaca, “the land of wood and water”, by its native Tainos, not only has Jamaica been facing a major threat to its woods through deforestation, but the quality of one of the island's major water resources, the Rio Cobre, has also been severely compromised by a recent spill of caustic effluent from the nearby bauxite plant.
The operation, which is run by the West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco), and owned by UC Rusal Jamaica Limited, a Russian company, is situated near the Rio Cobre. The river runs through the picturesque, limestone Bog Walk Gorge, via which the first road to the area was cut in 1770. Two historic bridges—the Flat Bridge located in the gorge, and the Spanish Town Cast Iron Bridge—span the river, which has several legends and myths attached to it, and holds considerable environmental and cultural significance.
Over the Emancipation Day weekend on August 1 and 2, the community of Kent Village, situated parallel to the river along the main road, were met with a strong stench emanating from a dark brown river that frothed and foamed, spewing dead fish along the river banks. Over the next few days, residents staged protests, angrily holding up the poisoned fish for passers-by to see, and partially blocking the main road. Parliamentary member Natalie Neita Garvey who, during a similar incident in 2019 had threatened legal action against Windalco, supported their efforts.
On this occasion, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which is responsible for monitoring and implementing environmental regulations, issued an enforcement notice on August 4, requiring rehabilitation of the area within 48 hours. This involved removal of the dead fish, as well as neutralisation of the water and sediments which would have received the discharge and transported it into the Rio Cobre. The NEPA team visited the area the following day and confirmed that the river's pH readings had been restored to reasonable levels.
Windalco immediately issued a statement conceding that “as a result of sustained heavy rains over the past week, there was a spill of the effluent holding pond […] on August 1, 2021.” However, even as the company referenced the measures taken to contain the spillage, it denied liability for the poisoned fish:
Based on our monitoring data and the preventative measures we employed, we are confident that the spillage did not have any deleterious impact on the environment.
We do not accept liability for the fish kill; however, we are mindful of the importance of the river to residents … and have taken measures to restore normalcy to the river inclusive of the removal of dead fish.
Apart from the environmental devastation and loss of livelihoods, residents—many of them farmers—were deprived of water for several days, as the National Water and National Irrigation Commissions were forced to lock off the area's water supply for the rest of the week:
#NewsRecap: Corporate Public Relations Manager at the National Water Commission (NWC), Andrew Canon, says there will be a restoration in the water supply soon, however, the water pressure might not be high. More details here: https://t.co/CKGFjmtW1B#CVMTV #News
— CVM Television (@CVMTV) August 8, 2021
Meanwhile, the local health department warned against using the water or consuming fish from the river:
Health department warns against Rio Cobre water, fish consumption | Loop Jamaica https://t.co/0peybFzEl7
— SERHA Jamaica (@theserhajm) August 6, 2021
The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) expressed its disgust at the incident, pointing out that it was not the first time. Windalco, they stated, is a repeat offender:
This is a long-standing problem. Over decades and under different management/ownership, Windalco has received multiple breach notices and are currently the defendants in a legal case filed by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) over a 2019 discharge into the river which resulted in a massive fish kill and several persons falling ill.
After preliminary tests, NEPA has stated that Windalco is likely responsible for Monday’s fish kill in the Rio Cobre. They have said that Windalco is in breach of the Wild Life Protection Act and the Agency is contemplating legal action against them. The repeated nature of these offences suggests a lack of respect for Jamaica’s environmental laws and regulations and the human rights of those who have been negatively affected.
Fines for such offences under the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act are quite low—50,000 Jamaican dollars [323 United States dollars] for a breach of permit, and just twice that under the Wild Life Protection Act. Noting that this fails to deter companies that earn annual revenue in the millions, JET suggested that the company's license to operate should either be suspended or revoked, accommodations for which are made in the NRCA legislation, especially “given the recurring nature of the offences”.
According to one report, since 2010 NEPA has served Windalco with eight enforcement notices, two breach notices, a warning notice, and a notice to suspend for pollution of the Rio Cobre. One such enforcement notice, currently the subject of legal action, was issued on October 18, 2019, and is set for mention in court in October 2021. Now, it appears that Windalco may have another lawsuit on their hands.
Residents remain deeply concerned that this may happen again, as such events are a regular occurrence, especially after heavy rains. The region is currently in the midst of the Atlantic hurricane season.
The Rio Cobre in Bog Walk Gorge is prone to flooding in heavy rains. Photo: Junior Dowie/The Jamaica Gleaner, used with permission.
Before the river's 2019 and 2021 pollution events, a tributary of the Rio Cobre was also polluted by the same caustic discharge in July 2018, at which time NEPA had stated:
The containment ponds, known as the ‘east’ and ‘west’ pools, which were designed to collect and return storm water to the plant during periods of rainfall, failed to contain the contaminated water. This resulted in an overflow from the containment pools, which entered two natural gullies that lead to the tributary of the Rio Cobre in Byndloss.
On Twitter, Jamaicans expressed their displeasure, demanding greater accountability and more stringent action against the company:
them not going to stop polluting the Rio Cobre until we start locking up people from Windalcohttps://t.co/kdzq86PTR5
— Ricardo Gizzada (@RDD2XE) August 7, 2021
One Jamaican environmental activist lamented the fact that bauxite companies can seemingly do no wrong in Jamaica, and are too often let off the hook:
Decades of this specific problem. I will not even speak of the pollution before we get to Rio Cobre. Bauxite cyaah do wrong a Jamaica an a dat a wi problem. Come back when wi serious. https://t.co/M6a8bMSUbd
— Emme! (@TeraLepido) August 4, 2021
Speaking with Global Voices via email, CEO of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, expressed several concerns:
It is not known if studies have been done to determine how long it takes for the fish population to return in the River [after] the spill event. So there is no real understanding of the true impact on the fisherfolk who depend on the river for their livelihood. It is very important that a compensation mechanism be in place to deal with issues such as this.
Reiterating that stricter penalties and enforcement are required, Rodriguez-Moodie also advocates for studies to be undertaken to determine the long-term effects of these repeated pollution events on the river’s ecosystem. Moreover, JET believes there should be the possibility of civil lawsuits being filed in such cases, if supported by adequate scientific evidence.
Meanwhile, Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change Pearnel Charles Jr claims that tougher penalties are on the way.
But what of the future, and Windalco’s aims to conduct further bauxite mining in the adjoining parish of St. Ann? Whether those licences will be granted in light of the company's repeated breaches of environmental laws is another concern of the Jamaica Environment Trust.
As stakeholders await the results of NEPA’s investigations, questions have resurfaced about the environmental impacts of bauxite mining in Jamaica on the whole. While the industry is an important earner of foreign exchange, is it worth it if it destroys the environment and people's health and livelihoods? Would stricter regulations solve the problem? The only way forward, according to Rodriguez-Moodie, is “to look at the issue in a holistic way”.

author: Emma Lewis