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Overnight music hit turns rappers into social justice heroes in Turkey · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Screenshot from the Susamam video on YouTube
Turkey woke up on Friday morning to an unstoppable musical hit that apparently struck a chord with its citizens for speaking openly about sensitive issues such as domestic violence and nepotism.
The song, Susamam [which translates as ‘cannot stay silent’], became a number one trending video on YouTube on the morning of September 6 in Turkey. Uploaded at midnight by the creator of the song, Turkish rapper Şanışer [Shanisher or Sarp Palaur], Susamam is an ode to Turkey and its most pressing social, political, and cultural issues. Within 48 hours, it has also turned into one of the most popular hashtags on Turkish social media. It proved so popular that even some local government Twitter accounts shared the song. There is now an Instagram filter that encourages you to take a picture and share it, and T-shirts are on sale whose profits will be donated to village schools.
The song brought together 20 rappers or MCs (masters of ceremonies), under one roof. Each picked one of the themes highlighted in the song. These included the environment, animal rights, education, women rights — a total of 20 “issues” presented under a separate hashtag in the video.
In an interview with BBC Turkey, Kamufle, one of the rappers involved, explains that after the issues were divided, each rapper wrote their own lyrics and filmed their part. Şanışer then put it all together with his own part, and prepared the final version of the video.
The video starts with a voice-over of a woman who says:
Günler koşuşturmakla geçip giderken
Neden var olduğunu unuttun
Neden olduğun sorunlarınsa farkında değilsin
Gülmek eğlenmek istiyorsun
Hayat zaten çok zor
O yüzden müzik seni eğlendirsin
Gerçeklikten uzaklaştırsın istiyorsun
Ama biz müziğin bir şeyler değiştirebileceğine inanıyoruz
Bizimle gel
Başlayalım mı?
As days rush by, you have forgotten why you exist
You are unaware of the problems you have caused
You want to laugh and have fun, but have no intention to find solutions.
Life is tough as it is, that's why music should entertain you.
You want music to take you away from reality.
But we believe music can change certain things.
Come with us, shall we begin?
The song goes on under the environment hashtag:
[…]İnsan en büyük parazit
Gezegene bak lan!
[…]Faturasını gelecek nesil öder
Kıyamet şur'da “mal” gibi izle!
[…] humans are the biggest parasite
look at the universe man!
[…] the next generations will foot the bill
the end of the world is here, but you just sit and watch like an idiot.
The issue of law is then addressed:
Ben bi’ beyaz Türk'üm
Yasalarım Anglosakson ama kafam Ortadoğulu
Apolitik büyüdüm, hiç oy vermedim
Kafamı tatile, gezmeye, borca yordum
Adalet öldü, ucu bana dokunana dek sustum ve ortak oldum
Şimdi tweet atmaya bile çekiniyorum
Kendi ülkemin polisinden korkar oldum
Üzgünüm ama senin eserin ülkedeki umutsuz nesil
Senin eserin bu mutsuz kesim ve bu kurşun sesi!
Sebebi nedir bilmeden hapiste çürüyen o suçsuz sefil
Seni, senin eserin, senin eserin bu korkunç resim
[…]Sesini çıkarmadın, yani suçlusun!
[…]Şimdi başına bi’ şey gelse şeh'rin hukuk mu?
Bi’ gece haksızca alsalar içeri seni
Bunu haber yapıcak gazeteci bile bulamazsın
HEPSİ TUTUKLU!
[…]Sen sustun, ses etmediğinden bindiler tepene
Haklarını elinden aldılar ve güzellikle geri vermicekler
I am a privileged Turk
My laws are Anglo-Saxon
But my mentality is the Middle East
I have been raised apolitical, never voted
I only worried about holidays, travel, and debt
Justice died while I stayed silent and I was complicit in it
Until it touched me
Now I am afraid even to tweet
And I am afraid of my own police.
I am sorry, but this country’s hopeless generation is your doing
The unhappy ones, and the bullet sound are your doing
The innocent wretch rotting in jail for reasons unknown
It is you, your doing, this ugly portrait is your work.
[…] Because you did not speak up, you are guilty
[…] If one night, you are arrested unjustly
you won’t find a journalist to write about it
because all of them are ARRESTED
[…] You have kept silence, and they have walked all over you.
They have taken your rights away from you, and won’t simply give it back to you.
Nepotism is also mentioned as one of the main issues in the song:
Paranız olmalı, ya da birileriyle aranız olmalı
Kodamanlarda numaranız olmalı
Aksaray'da bir adamınız olmalı
Bizim yatımız katımız bi’ de yalımız olmadı
Kumbaramız dolmadı da bununla doğmadım
[…]Yönetenler çağ dışı dinozorlar
Bu ormanda herkese göre rol var
Sustukça sıra sana gelecek
Aydın beyinleri bekliyor karanlık gelecek
[…]You either have to have the money or know someone
Big shots should have your number
You must know someone at the white palace
We never owned a yacht, a flat, or a villa
Our piggy bank never got full and we were not born with that[…]
Those governing us are dinosaurs from another era
In this forest, there is a role for everyone
Your turn will come if you remain silent
Dark future awaits bright minds
One of the most shared clips from the video was by singer Deniz Tekin. She is also the only woman in the video among an otherwise all-male cast. Here is the clip:
“Ben hiç öldürülmedim” sözün bittiği yer.. #Susamam pic.twitter.com/HsZeiVsJEf
— ຯ (@Yarennoktar) September 6, 2019
The song talks openly about domestic violence, an issue often dismissed in the mainstream discourse in Turkey:
Ben bilmem hiç kendimi korumak zorunda kalmadım
Bilmem ben bi’ çocuğu düşünmek zorunda olmadım
Hiç evlendirilmedim
Evde dayak görmedim
Kendi evimde kendi odama zorla hapsedilmedim
Sözlerinizi kusmadım
Yurdumdan edilmedim
Nefretinizle yanmadım
Yakılarak can vermedim
Hiç kardeşim olmadı
Hiç abimden korkmadım
Okuldan alınmadım
Ben hiç öldürülmedim
I do not know, for I have never had to defend myself
Don’t know, for I have not had to think of a child
For I was never married against my will
For I was never beaten at home
For I was never imprisoned in a room in my own house
For I never had to vomit your words
For I never lost a home
For I never burned from your hate
For I never died from getting burned
For I never had a sibling
For I never feared an older brother
For I was never taken out of school
For I have never been killed
Deniz’ powerful part is followed by the hashtags of countless women victims killed in the hands of their male perpetrators.
The creators of ‘Susamam’ are trying to raise awareness about crucial issues that are highly debated in Turkish society but not always present in the official public and media discourse. They seem to have indeed succeeded, as netizens but also mainstream celebrities share their views about the song.
Rapper Fero timed each of the issues and shared the screenshot:
Şarkı çok uzun değil, ülkenin derdi çok. #Susamam pic.twitter.com/u79Tu0NjMs
— F E R O (@benferogaliba) September 6, 2019
It's not that the song is too long, it's that we have endless problems.
Some netizens described the song as a success story in terms of cultural expression:
The best “musical cultural expression based on reality” by far….. #Susamam
— emre alkin (@emrealkin1969) September 6, 2019
Others point out the song manages to describe years of struggles in less than 15 minutes:
20 kişinin 14 dakikada anlattığını, bazı insanlar yıllardır anlamıyor.
#susamam pic.twitter.com/sYhHwgXDnd
— Optimist (@KadriyeHusrev) September 6, 2019
Translation: for years some people refused to understand what these 20 rappers managed to explain in 14 minutes
The song was also welcomed by Turkish artists at large. Prominent Turkish actor Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan wrote:
Çok güzel çocuklarımız var. #Susamamhttps://t.co/E90fOAzT0P
— ahmet mümtaz taylan (@taylan1789) September 6, 2019
Translation: we have beautiful kids
Yekta Kopan, a famous writer and actor tweeted:
Taş gibi, çok cam kırar!
Not: Deniz Tekin ağlattı.
? @sarppalaur #SUSAMAM https://t.co/rTrHIF08OF @YouTube aracılığıyla
— Yekta Kopan (@yektakopan) September 6, 2019
Translation: Like a rock. This will break a lot of windows! Note: Deniz Tekin made me cry
Another star, Hayko Cepkin wrote:
#Susamam #olay vurduuuu 2gollll olduuuu heryerinizden öpüyoooruuuum ?
— HAYKO CEPKİN (@HAYKOCPQN) September 6, 2019
Translation: #SUSAMAM scored, 2 goals, i kiss you all from everywhere
He was echoed by prominent journalist Can Dundar:
Nihayet; müzik “konuştu”.#Susamam pic.twitter.com/88yi2rvF3W
— Can Dündar (@candundaradasi) September 6, 2019
Translation: Finally: music ‘spoke’
But September 6 was not just ‘Susamam day’. Three other rappers released their songs on that day, approximately at the same time. Ezhel, one of Turkey's prominent rappers, posted “Olay” [Event] – a song about the 2016 failed military coup, Gezi Park protests and other events that have occurred in the country, while Sayedar and Onder released “Komedi ve Dram” [Comedy and drama]. The last song is less focused on social issues, the rappers say, adding the simultaneous release was not planned ahead of time.
Whether a coincidence or not, ‘Susamam’ and ‘Olay’ have certainly left a mark already. At the time of publishing, Olay song got over 3 million views. Speaking to Deutsche Welle Turkey, one of the rappers from the Susamam video said that the rappers could have used much harsher language, or used more explicit scenes, but decided not to do that in order to appeal to everyone in Turkey on the issues being raised in the song.
Jumping over 10 million views at the time of publishing, and still trending, ‘cannot stay silent’ is certainly making a deafening noise in Turkey and liberating the minds.


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Human rights—and an actual rainbow—take center stage at Bosnia-Herzegovina’s first Pride Parade · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

The first Bosnian-Herzegovinian (BiH) Pride March in Sarajevo on 8 September 2019. Photo by Sanjin Buzo (@sanjinbuzo), used with permission.
The streets of Sarajevo were bursting with merriment on Sunday 8 September as the several thousand participants in the first Bosnian-Herzegovinian Pride March paraded through the city demanding protection of the human rights for all.
The concerns expressed during the build-up about possible violence by forces that have used homophobia as political weapon proved unfounded. Anti-Pride manifestations on the eve and the morning of the parade took place peacefully. Along the parade route, police took all the necessary security precautions, and the day passed without incident.
Activist Sanjin Bužo summed up the general feeling among the participants:
Mi smo dokaz da ova drzava, kakva god da jeste, može osigurati vladavinu ljudskih prava, kad hoće, može, bilo gdje i bilo kad!
We are a proof that this state, with all its limitations, can ensure the rule of human rights. When it actually wants, it can, any where and any time!
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) consists of two entities, the Federation of BIH and Republika Srpska; the Federation is subdivided into 10 cantons. The highest government official of the Sarajevo canton kept his promise and joined the Pride Parade.
Premijer Kantona Sarajevo @EdinForto nije iznevjerio #ImaIzać #ImaIzac pic.twitter.com/vRHHg2cz94
— Dragan Mocevic (@DraganMocevic) September 8, 2019
Tweet 1: I don't expect much from the politicians today. They mostly invoke EU values as a mix of demagogy and populism. But at least I hope some of the social-democrat ekipe (SDP, DF, NS) tweeps like Edin Forto, Srdjan Mandic and some others, while from Republika Srpska only Boislav Borenović.
Tweet 2: The Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Edin Forto didn't betray. #DoorPlease
Balkan Insight, however, reported that while top national-level Bosnian politicians “failed to attend the march, the US Ambassador to Bosnia, Eric Nelson, showed his support along with many other diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organizations in Bosnia.”
Parade participants stressed that as they fulfil their obligations toward the state, they count on the state to fulfil its obligations towards them, as it should for any other citizen.
While Sarajevo holds its landmark first #Pride parade today, Vildana from @Fondacija_CURE highlighted that institutions in Bosnia still need to do much more to ensure the rights of Bosnia’s LGBTQI community are respected.#imaizać pic.twitter.com/eZAe9021eg
— Balkan Insight (@BalkanInsight) September 8, 2019
The Pride Parade received expressions of solidarity from around the region, which included visits by members from pro-democracy groups from nearby countries. Participants used the hashtags  #bhpovorkaponosa (Bosnian-Herzegovinian Pride March) and #imaizac (“[Open the] Door, please!”) to share photos and videos as the event unfolded.
Koliko samo ponosa i srece danas u Sarajevu! @BHpovorkaponosa #imaizac pic.twitter.com/OZyUKc5P9A
— Asja Kratovic (@kratovich) September 8, 2019
So much pride and happiness today in Sarajevo!
A rainshower toward the end of the Parade produced a rainbow over Sarajevo. A number of Twitter users took photos of this serendipitous coincidence.
U Sarajevu je kiša čekala da završi šetnja. A onda smo mi čekali da se ukaže duga. Sve je bilo kao režirano. I evo je. ? photo by Nineta Popovic pic.twitter.com/L4TGyNoNaA
— Damir Imamovic (@damirimamovic) September 8, 2019
In Sarajevo the rain waited for the walk to end. And then we all waited for the rainbow to appear. It all seemed as pre-directed. Here it is! :-) Photo by Nineta Popović.
Before the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent wars, Sarajevo held the reputation of being of one of the most multiethnic and multi-religious capital cities in the federation. It was also a cradle of modernity—along with Belgrade and Zagreb, it was one of the three main engines of Yugoslav popular culture, including the grassroots New Wave of rock music. Hosting the Winter Olympics in 1984 further bolstered the city's cosmopolitan image.
But the Bosnian War and the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, in particular, seriously depleted the city's pre-war diversity and secularism. The city became divided into two sectors with homogeneous Bosniak Muslim and Serbian Orthodox Christian populations, each receiving an influx of people from rural areas who brought with them more conservative attitudes underpinned by obedience to religious authorities which officially disapprove of equal rights for LGBTQ+ people.
Yet the multiethnic urban population, located mostly in the central part of the city, still clings to the cosmopolitan traditions for which Sarajevo was once known. Some social media users commented on this aspect of the counter-protests.
Gledam sad fotke sa skupa “tradicionalnih porodica” u Sarajevu i kažem sebi: ako mi neko dokaže da je na skupu bilo više od 5 posto Sarajlija, uključujući onog nesretnog Zahirovića i mahalca Gljivu, odmah ću odjaviti svoj TW account..
— Almedin Šišić (@AlmedinSisic) September 7, 2019
I look at the photos of the gathering of “traditional families” in Sarajevo and I say to myself: if someone can prove to me that this event included more than 5% of indigenous citizens of Sarajevo, including those unfortunates Zahirović and neighborhood kid Gjiva, I would promptly shut down my Twitter account…
Two different groups organized counter-protests. The first took place on Saturday, with several thousand people marching for “traditional family values”—and getting trolled online because their choice of visual elements echoed the colour schemes of the LGBTQ+ worldwide movement.
Organisers of the ‘Family Values March’ in Sarajevo today clearly didn't realise they were inadvertently handing out balloons in the colours of the trans flag. Perfect to be used at @BHpovorkaponosa tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/YEs3aHNgtv
— EuroPride • EPOA (@EuroPride) September 7, 2019
Across the Balkans, social media users also shared a timely article by the Croatian satirical website News Bar alleging that the Islamic Community had asked the believers not to take part in Sarajevo's Pride Parade because “the tradition affirms that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and a woman and a woman and a woman”—a reference to the Koranic stipulation allowing polygamy.
The second counter-protest took place on the morning of the day of the parade in Ciglane, a working-class neighborhood. According to independent news portal Buka, it featured a group of several dozen people organized by the Muslim Association Iskorak (“Step Forward”), whose slogan is “Faith, People, State.” Participants displayed signs with homophobic slognas such as “Don't be a [slang for faggot], keep your dignity,” “LGBT are hypocritical scoundrels with sick desires,” “Keep your homosexuality between yours 4 walls,” and “Should I be ashamed for being a man and having a wife?”
For these reasons, the Pride Parade also attracted many non-LGBTQ+ participants who are simply tired of politics based on ethnic and religious divides. For many, this also was an opportunity to also express anti-fascist sentiments, which were part of the official program.
Well-known Sarajevo-based singer Damir Imamovic plays the Italian anti-fascist Partisan song Bella Ciao during the closing performance at today’s first-ever Pride parade in Bosnia’s capital.#imaizać pic.twitter.com/MSzBqSSj7t
— Balkan Insight (@BalkanInsight) September 8, 2019

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Reading Kashmir: Understanding the conflict through its fiction and memoirs · Global Voices
Rezwan

A private bus carrying armed police is covered with shields to avoid incoming stones in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Security forces have been deployed in numbers following the revocation of J & K special status by the Indian authorities. Image via Instagram by Ieshan Wani. Used with permission.
The situation in Kashmir is mostly known to non-Kashmiris through media coverage which, in most cases, is also created by non-Kashmiris. But how do Kashmiris perceive their situation? Perhaps the best place to find out is through reading books and memoirs by Kashmiris themselves.
As the region is now under a military clampdown since the Indian central government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy, Kashmiri voices are even more silenced. Thus, Global Voices reviewed a list of essential reading by Kashmiris and authors who know the region from the inside.
This is a memoir by Indian journalist and political commentator Basharat Peer,  published in 2009. The book won the Crossword Prize for nonfiction and was listed among the “Books of the Year” by The Economist and The New Yorker. In an interview with the Mumbai Mirror, Peer said:
Real security can only exist when everyone in South Asia lives without fear and lives full, dignified lives. This will truly be possible only when India and Pakistan listen to Kashmiris and find a just, equitable resolution to the dispute over Kashmir — that will free Kashmiris of the oppression, indignity, and horrors our multiple generations have now lived with. That will also free India and Pakistan from their militarist obsessions.
This is an unusual book co-written by five Kashmiri women. In 1991, a group of Indian soldiers entered two villages (Kunan and Poshpora) in north Kashmir on an anti-insurgency mission and allegedly raped more than 23 women. This is known as the Kunan-Poshpora incident. The Indian government's investigations into the incident rejected the allegations as ‘baseless'; however, international human rights organizations expressed doubts about the integrity of these investigations.
In 2012, the issue of rape became prominent in India after mass protests broke out following the rape and murder of a young physiotherapy student in Delhi. A judicial committee was set up to study and take public suggestions for the best ways to amend laws to provide quicker investigations and prosecutions of sex offenders.
The five Kashmiri women, Essar Batool, Ifrah Butt, Samreena Mushtaq, Munaza Rashid and Natasha Rather, wanted to use the momentum to remind the authorities about the mass rape in 1991 that had taken place in Kunan and Poshpora villages in Kashmir valley — who also did not get justice.
Here is an interview of the five authors taken by Global Voices’ content partner, Videovolunteers:
This collection of ethnographic essays by Ather Zia and Javaid Iqbal Bhat provides important insights to understanding the political aspirations of the people of Kashmir and the change in their perceptions since the partition of India. The stories explore the desire for azadi (freedom) of the Kashmiris as a historical and indigenous demand. The reader gains insights into how postcolonial politics shaped Kashmiri lives and aspirations and led to the current situation.
For further reading, check out the valuable booklist by Preti Taneja, at the Guardian, who has more suggestions. Hilal Mir compiled another booklist at the Hindustan Times, featuring historian Ananya Jahanara Kabir's “Territory of Desire: Representing the Valley of Kashmir and Tariq Ali's Kashmir: The Case for Freedom.”
Bijal Vachharajani recommended children's books about Kashmir on Twitter:
Children's books about #Kashmir: Okus Bokus: A to Z for Kashmiri Children by Onaiza Drabu, Weed and No Guns at My Son's Funeral, both by Paro Anand, Mission Cycle by Rohini Mohan and Jayesh Sivan. #ReadingIsThinking https://t.co/Hcts07b7L5
— Bijal Vachharajani (@bijal_v) August 14, 2019
Screenshot from Free Press Kashmir Site
Free Press Kashmir, a weekly published from the Kashmir valley, archives a number of memoirs by Kashmiris narrating events and memories from the past.
Uma Shori recalls moving away from Kashmir and the unending journey of longing for her roots:
No matter how many houses you change in life, the one where you grow up will always be the home you see when you dream.
Several journalists and authors from India and abroad are providing their commentary on the Kashmir situation. Here are quotes from some of them:
Nayeema Mehjoor, a Kashmiri politician, journalist and author of several books, wrote her first novel “Dahshatzadi” in Urdu and published it in both India and Pakistan. In 2017, she wrote “Lost in Terror,” which describes the price women have to pay in the Kashmiri conflict. She recently tweeted:
Many sick, vulnerable and children need medical attention in Kashmir. Can't reach to hospitals or doctors, do they have to die to give satisfaction to sadists? Question to 1 billion ordinary Indians n not to champions of child rights or human rights….
— Nayeema Mehjoor (@nayeema1) August 29, 2019
Saba Shafi Makhdoomi, a celebrated Kashmiri novelist and doctor, attempts to come to terms with the impact the conflict has on ordinary lives in her novel “Leaves of Kashmir”:
“This book was probably not an attempt to escape from the pain of the conflict but rather recognizing it, acknowledging it and engaging with it in a more direct way”.
She recently commented on Twitter:
A friend shares this message he got from Kashmir, knowing any word from home is a much needed balm to allay our maddening anxiety. The grace and stoic dignity only hardens the lump in my throat, he tells me. We know just what he means. ? pic.twitter.com/GZHA8PIswC
— saba shafi makhdoomi (@shafi_saba) August 9, 2019
Mirza Waheed, a London-based, Kashmiri journalist and author whose first novel, “The Collaborator”, was a finalist in 2011 for the Guardian First Book Award, describes the conflict in Kashmir on Twitter:
Do you remember any country that has kept an entire people under lockdown and a communications blackout for a full month?
— Mirza Waheed (@MirzaWaheed) September 4, 2019
Booker prize-winner Arundhati Roy has spoken out frequently about justice for Kashmir and had been threatened by the Indian government on sedition charges. In her latest novel, published in 2017, “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness,” she describes the insurgency in Kashmir through the eyes of a local resident and several of the scenes take place in Kashmir.
Salman Rushdie, who comes from a Kashmiri family, pays tribute to the region in his novel, “Shalimar the Clown,” written in 2005. The name refers to Shalimar Gardens outside Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley and the book describes changes in Kashmiri society through the eyes of the main character, who comes from the region. Rushdie recently tweeted:
Even from seven thousand miles away it’s clear that what’s happening in Kashmir is an atrocity. Not much to celebrate this August 15th.
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) August 15, 2019
In an interview with India Today in 2005, Rushdie replied to the question: “What is the idea that killed the Kashmir of your memory?”:
Ideas didn't kill that old Kashmir. Greed killed it, greed for possession, Indian and Pakistani greed.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the situation in Kashmir.

author: Rezwan


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Burundian refugees living in Tanzania face forced repatriation · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

Aerial view of Lusenda Burundian refugee camp, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. August 2015. Photo credit: MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh via Flickr CC BY 2.0.
Burundi’s Interior Minister Pascal Barandagiye recently visited Tanzanian refugee camps to urge Burundians living there to return to Burundi because “peace and security” have returned since the 2015 electoral crisis, when President Pierre Nkurunziza's desire to run for a third term sparked violent protests.
The United Nations has registered 340,000 Burundian refugees living in the region, with over 180,000 in Tanzania.
While Burundian authorities promote a narrative of peace and security in Burundi ahead of 2020 elections, various media in addition to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations describe how security services in Burundi continue to crack down on criticism and opposition, with many opponents, activists and journalists among those who fled.
The government resisted attempts at regionally-mediated dialogue with opponents and the resulting instability and sanctions have caused economic hardships and added to a “climate of fear,” as International Crisis Group described.
Tanzanian officials have also called for the return of Burundian refugees, echoing Burundi’s government that peace has returned. On August 25, The governments of Burundi and Tanzania announced a signed agreement that from October 1, they will begin regular, weekly returns of Burundian refugees, until all are sent back. Amnesty International subsequently reported that returns were planned to start even earlier, in mid-September, “with or without refugees’ consent”.
On August 25, Tanzania’s Interior Minister Kangi Lugola said those who hinder people returning would “face the wrath” of President John Magufuli's government.
Significantly, this agreement was signed without the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Last year, UNHCR and the two governments envisaged returning 2,000 refugees voluntarily per week, but this did not happen.
It's very unfortunate that #Tanzania is cooperating with #Burundi to deceive the international community that there's peace in later. A forceful return of refugees to unpeaceful Burundi is not only a breach of international refugee convention but cruelty to humanity. https://t.co/9FroSk188V pic.twitter.com/I79rfy5bQU
— Deogratias Munishi (@DeoMunishi) September 9, 2019
Burundi's Iwacu newspaper reported that Interior Minister Barandagiye accused the UNHCR of working opaquely and “dragging their feet” when it came to refugee returns. At a press conference on August 27, he tried to reassure respect for returning refugees’ rights, according to SOS Médias Burundi.
Tanzania’s government has been sympathetic to Burundi's narrative of “security returned”; Burundian President Nkurunziza’s first visit abroad after the 2015 crisis was just across the Tanzanian border. Refugees have also long reported pressure from Tanzanian authorities to “voluntarily” register to return.
Tanzania similarly pushed Burundian refugees to return in 2012, particularly from Mtabila camp, despite political instability continuing in Burundi.
Burundians live in three primary refugee camps in northwest Tanzania: Nyarugusu, Mtendeli and Nduta. Numerous restrictions — including on movement and selling goods — make life in the three camps more difficult.
Most who live in the camps are registered with the UNHCR. However, 45,000 are registered in country-specific programs and 42,200 have lived for decades in Tanzania and no longer receive assistance. In July, the International Organization for Migration also reported 109,372 internally displaced people in Burundi.
There are also unregistered people, more at risk of forced returns, including 15,000 in Tanzania’s camps, according to Burundi's interior minister. Thousands have returned over time, although UNHCR reports that assisted returns by bus have been lower in 2019 than 2018, and people continue to arrive.
People face tough conditions in the UNHCR camps, lacking rations and education resources. UNHCR has received only 22 percent of requested funding for this often-forgotten situation. Insecurity from unidentified attackers around the camps persists, targeting those collecting firewood, for example.
UNHCR and NGOs disagree with the pressure placed on refugees to return. UNHCR spokesperson Dana Hughes held that they will help those who want to return, but that conditions in Burundi are still not “conducive to promote returns”.
Non-refoulement is an international legal principle found in the 1951 Refugee Convention that protects refugees from forced returns to places where they are persecuted.
In September 2017, assisted voluntary repatriation officially began, in coordination between UNHCR and the Tanzanian and Burundian governments. As of today, 75,000 total refugees from the region have returned, mostly to border regions, with the “vast majority” of returns from Tanzania.
However, UNHCR said there are still hundreds of people leaving Burundi each month to claim asylum with UNHCR, for example to Democratic Republic of Congo, and UNHCR called for borders to remain open and assistance to be given.
Blogger Jean Marie Ntahimpera argued that “instead of intimidating the refugees, Tanzania should instead integrate them” to benefit them and their host country.
Political tensions, reports of rights abuses, and economic hardships make refugees wary of returning, considering the risks of escalation ahead of 2020 elections. Attacks on opposition supporters, especially of party Congrès National Pour la Liberté (CNL), and fights between members, have continued, resulting in serious injuries and deaths.
Ligue Iteka, a Burundian rights organization, reported 264 people —especially opposition supporters — were killed in 2019, with bodies often left in public, and documented 576 cases of forced disappearances since 2015. They also note how women and children are increasingly affected by political violence.
The UN Commission of Inquiry’s experts and latest report on September 4 spoke of an “illusion of calm” created by a climate of fear. Rights abuses occur with impunity against government opponents and critics, impinging on the possibility of credible 2020 elections. Security services and Imbonerakure, the ruling party youth-wing, are mostly responsible, with recently returned refugees among those targeted, according to the report. Willy Nyamitwe, the Burundian presidential adviser, dismissed it as lies told by those wishing to destabilize Burundi, a similar official reaction to other reports.
CAVIB, a lawyer’s collective defending Burundian victims of rights abuses, said it plans to take legal action at a regional level to stop involuntary returns. Burundi’s interior minister said the government would contest it and win.
Shortly after the announcement, SOS Médias Burundi reported that unsigned leaflets were distributed at the camps, calling refugees to prepare to leave Tanzania to claim asylum in another country, referencing risks of violence at home.
Among the Burundians who fled are the CNARED (National Council for the Respect of the Arusha Agreement), a struggling opposition coalition in exile. Recently, some members changed position and said they would return for 2020 elections, with safety guarantees from the government. President Nkurunziza, though, made clear that arrest warrants against 34 people in exile — which they consider politically-motivated — would remain in place.
With opponents lacking leverage and international attention elsewhere, the government does not appear inclined to compromise.

author: Liam Anderson


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Sedition charge against union leader sparks debate about freedom of speech in Trinidad and Tobago · Global Voices
Jada Steuart

Screenshot of file footage of Trinidad and Tobago's Public Services Association leader, Watson Duke, taken from a YouTube video of a news story about his arrest on charges of sedition.
On August 26, 2019, Watson Duke, president of Trinidad and Tobago's Public Services Association (PSA) and the minority leader of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), was arrested for statements he made in a speech he made back in 2018 that are in violation of the country's Sedition Act. Though Duke is no stranger to controversy, his arrest has spurred a widespread public debate on the legislation itself.
The fact that the Sedition Act originates from laws made under the British colonial government has caused many to question whether it impinges upon citizens’ freedom of speech. After Duke was released from police custody on August 31 — Trinidad and Tobago's Independence Day — his attorney said that his client may well join others in challenging the act.
Designed to protect against rebellion against the state's authority by punishing insurrectionary acts or declarations and suppressing iconoclastic publications, the Sedition Act remained in place even after the country became independent from Great Britain in 1962. In fact, it was amended in 1961, 1969, 1971 and 1976, and criminalises any person or publication deemed to be carrying out seditious acts or communicating with seditious intent.
As defined by the Act, sedition is “to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against the Government or the Constitution”. Duke was charged with seditious intent under section 4(1)(b) of the Act — “communicat[ing] any statement having a seditious intention” — over a speech he gave on November 16, 2018, at the country's national telecommunications company, TSTT.
At the time of the speech, there were rumours of possible mass retrenchment at public companies which included the national water company, WASA.  During the speech to union members, Duke discussed the possible extreme actions members of the union would have to take “for what they believe in” and to protect their rights as public servants.  He said the following:
So when America was fighting Japan […] America retaliated with one big bomb and that was it. We could march from now every day, every day, every day. What marching does is call attention to the nation as to your problem, which I believe the nation already know[s].
[…]
And we have to be aware that we must be prepared to die, folks. You know why? This is your belief. This is your family, and I tell you the message is clear, yuh know. [Let] Rowley [the prime minister] [and them] know that the day the [has] come for us in WASA [the country's water and sewerage authority], we are prepared to die, and the morgue will be picking up people, because when men and women are prepared to die, people does recognise [the] level of a conviction, trust me.
[…]
We have to become people of conviction. I doh support, forgive mih language, jackass behaviour. I am king march. I love to march. Buh you see me, I looking for a bomb, something to end the fight”.
At the time, many found his statement to be outlandish, but there was no immediate reaction from the police service:
Yall Watson Duke really said the day they touch WASA is the day “they must prepare the morgues for us” because union leaders must prepare to die
Lmao! Seriously Watson? Which union keader prepared to die for workers in Trinidad? Is this man serious???♀
Also good story @missywil
— cherisse moe (@cherissemoett) December 14, 2018
This is not the first time that the Act has been carried out in recent years. In April 2019, police searched a radio station owned by Satnarayan Maharaj, the secretary general of the country's most high-profile Hindu organisation, on suspicion of possible sedition. He was not charged; nevertheless, he launched a case to challenge the legislation, which he claims infringes on citizens’ rights to freedom of thought and expression, freedom of the press and expression of political views.
Similar sentiments have been shared by many of Duke's supporters. Members of his political party have said that the legislation is “totalitarianism enshrined in law”, while the National Workers Union (NWU) has said that Duke's arrest was “meant to intimidate and cower, not only leaders of the trade union movement but all who, in the eyes of the political elite, pose a threat to their continuing to reap the fruits of office”.
Raffique Shah, a former trade union leader and mutineer who now works as a columnist, suggested that while aspects of the law may still be necessary to maintain social order as well as ethnic and religious tolerance, the legislation should be reviewed to ensure it doesn't compromise freedom of speech.
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) also issued a statement saying that the Act had to be reviewed and possibly repealed, as it is “incompatible with citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of expression”. MATT members also discussed what they saw as the legislation's potential threat to the country's journalists, media houses, activists and social media users:
Yes, I think this will be an exciting challenge as this is just one of oh so many colonial era laws that I personally thinks need revising. One man's sedition is another man's freedom of speech, in my view. https://t.co/nhMUbyqaLR
— sean douglas (@DouglasNewsday) August 31, 2019
Meanwhile, law enforcement has remained unified, saying that the law is the law and citizens must abide by it unless and until it is changed — but Minister of National Security Stuart Young has said that revising the Sedition Act is not a current priority for the government, adding that once a law is on the books, the police can utilise it.
Commissioner of Police Garry Griffith echoed this view, saying that the police have to be fair and impartial, no matter the law or the person being charged.
The fact that Duke is currently before the courts on other charges, including rape, indecent assault and disorderly conduct, has brought even stronger public focus to the sedition charge. Some social media users felt that Duke was wallowing in the attention:
Watson Duke head already swell with pride. Imagine his head now that this sedition charge puts him in the company of CLR James and Uriah Buzz Butler. We will never hear the end of it. I blame allyuh
— Single Tear GIF (@kwameweekes) August 30, 2019
Duke being a polarising figure aside, the discussion about revising the Sedition Act is one that many feels needs to be addressed; whether Duke is the one to lead the charge is another debate.
Duke has since announced that he will resign as leader of the PSA at the end of November. His next court appearance is scheduled for December 13, 2019.

author: Jada Steuart


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Singapore prime minister sues independent news website for defamation · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A copy of the writ of summons issued to The Online Citizen chief editor Terry Xu. Source: Facebook page of TOC
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is suing Terry Xu, chief editor of independent news website The Online Citizen (TOC), for defamation in relation to a news article published by the latter which tackled the leader’s public feud with his siblings. Critics said this is another example of the government’s harsh treatment of independent media and other groups which report about dissenting views against the country’s authorities. In Singapore, defamation is an offense that carries a maximum penalty of a two-year prison sentence and a fine.
On 15 August 2019, TOC published an article titled “PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”, which was also posted on Facebook. It notes the irony of Ho sharing an article about toxic family members:
Although there’s nothing particularly wrong with the article and the points raised by the author, but the irony of Madam Ho sharing the article is what’s interesting and amusing to us. This is because everyone knows that she has a sour relationship with her husband’s family members – particularly her brother-in-law Lee Hsien Yang (LHY) and sister-in-law Dr Lee Wei Ling (LWL).
The TOC article quoted previous public statements by LHY and LWL who accused their brother of going against the wishes of their late father, Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. LHY and LWL said their family house at Oxley Road was supposed to be demolished after the death of their father in 2015 but they claimed that their brother wanted to keep the house intact “to inherit (Lee Kuan Yew’s) credibility”. The prime minister denied this and told the parliament in 2017 that his father was open to how the property would be preserved or developed for the public interest.
On 1 September, Sunday, the prime minister’s press secretary Chang Li Lin sent a letter to Xu asking him to remove the article from the TOC website and Facebook page since it “contained statements that are false and baseless and were calculated to disparage and impugn PM Lee as well as his office as the Prime Minister.” The letter stated that the article repeated “several false allegations against PM Lee” that were previously made by his sister. The letter also explained why the prime minister is demanding an apology from TOC and why he is pursuing legal action on this matter:
PM Lee’s restraint in suing his siblings should not be misinterpreted by others as free licence to repeat and spread false and defamatory allegations against him, as the Article and Post have done. He has to rebut and deal publicly with such scurrilous attacks on his integrity and character, if necessary through legal action. This is especially as such attacks are also directed at his fitness to hold office as Prime Minister and to lead the Government.
TOC responded by removing the article on its website while reviewing the implications of the letter they received from the prime minister. But they restored the article and asserted that it is not defamatory and constitutes ‘fair comment’. Xu wrote back to the prime minister to explain his side, clarify some points in the article, and affirm the TOC commitment to speak truth to power.
Although I do fear that the cost stemming from the possible legal suit from you may be hefty, that is a price that I am willing to pay to not only uphold my principles, but also to uphold my obligations to Singapore and my fellow Singaporeans.
On 5 September, Xu was served a writ of summons by the prime minister’s lawyer. Xu has eight days to answer the defamation charge.
Some activists said this is a ‘crackdown’ on online critics. Journalist and activist Kirsten Han echoes the question of many commentators about the prime minister’s decision to run after other people who are merely repeating statements made by his siblings:
If the comments are so harmful to his reputation, why is he not suing his siblings and allowing their comments to remain up online? If those comments can remain publicly available, why is it that repeating them will attract a lawsuit claiming that one has harmed his reputation?
Filmmaker Lynn Lee questions the appropriateness of using the prime minister’s office in this legal case:
As a private citizen, Lee Hsien Loong can of course choose who he wants to sue. But as PM of Singapore, he shouldn’t have one standard for his family and another for the rest of us. And if LHL is acting in his personal capacity, he shouldn’t be using PMO resources. All this mixing of private and public is deeply disturbing.
This is not the first time that Xu and TOC face legal trouble because of their reporting on the government. In December 2018, they were charged for criminal defamation after they published a letter accusing top officials of corruption. The prime minister also previously sued bloggers who made ‘defamatory’ comments against him or shared Facebook articles that allegedly maligned his reputation.

author: Mong Palatino


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Why we must keep shining a light on Turkmenistan · Global Voices
Ruslan Myatiev

A news presenter on Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr TV channel, reporting on the latest feats of president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Turkmenistan has one of the world’s worst records on media freedom. From Watan Habarlaty’s YouTube video on 28 August 2019.
My country is one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world.
Turkmenistan, an arid country in Central Asia, is ruled by a narcissistic president known for bizarre publicity stunts and vanity projects, alongside a truly appalling human rights record. He presides over a state that, despite having a wealth of natural resources, is in deep economic crisis. The situation for ordinary Turkmens is dire, with rising unemployment and food shortages. As the queues outside stores grow, fights break out over bread.
Unsurprisingly, the authorities are not eager to publicise these hardships. The country was recently ranked at the very bottom of Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 World Press Freedom Index, “beating” North Korea and Syria. Independent media is non-existent and communication between citizens is severely restricted, so if news travels at all, it travels covertly. That’s where I come in.
I am the founder and editor of Turkmen.News, a Netherlands-based news site launched in 2010 under the name Alternative Turkmenistan News. We publish news and analysis on the country’s economic, social, and political environment. My work has taught me that the task of getting objective information out of Turkmenistan is as difficult as it is crucial.
This past July, I participated in an event in London hosted by the Foreign Policy Centre, a UK think tank. In collaboration with academics, researchers and politicians, we launched a report that aims to bring international attention to the situation in my country. Entitled Spotlight on Turkmenistan, the report shines a light on one of the world’s most autocratic and corrupt regimes.
State institutions in Turkmenistan are both corrupt and dysfunctional. I recently reported on Turkmen prisons, where disease is rife, and the guards have developed their own sophisticated systems of extortion to allow prisoners access to basic necessities. The country practises medieval torture methods, enforced disappearances and annually showcases one of the world’s most egregious examples of forced labour during the annual cotton harvest.
The report highlighted an internal business environment rotten to its core. My recent exposé of a $2.3bn infrastructure contract handed to the president’s brother-in-law is just one example of the networks of profit which exist solely to ensure the stability of the regime. The panel in London noted that foreign investments in recent years have been derailed through the unpredictable repudiation of contracts and licences; several clients, including Russian telecom operator MTS and Belarusian construction company Belgorkhimprom, are now lining up to sue Turkmenistan’s government.
Ordinary citizens in Turkmenistan have no access to such news, either from domestic or foreign sources. All foreign media is banned. This relates not only to western outlets such as Reuters, the BBC and Deutsche Welle, but also Russian language websites (both pro-Kremlin and oppositional) including Meduza, TASS and Ekho Moskvy. Although several different Turkmen papers exist, their reports are formulaic, and all glorify President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
The inability to share news or express discontent is compounded by an almost total ban on social media: Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and the Russian social networks Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, among other, are all forbidden. As the situation In Turkmenistan deteriorates, the state tightens its hold over any independent voices.
But even in such darkness, there is a flicker of hope. Projects dedicated to reporting the daily sufferings of the Turkmen people are being created outside the regime’s reach, such as the Vienna-based Chronicles of Turkmenistan. Sites such as these are the only form of reliable information about the country. My site Turkmen.News works with a network of brave Turkmens who smuggle news out of the country through encrypted messaging systems. They do so at considerable risk to themselves and their families. Several journalists in Turkmenistan have already been arrested or, like me, forced to flee the country.
Gaspar Matalaev was one of our reporters, monitoring the use of forced labour during the cotton harvest. In 2016, he was arrested on trumped-up charges of fraud and bribery and sentenced to three years in prison. On September 6, 2019 he was finally freed after having served his prison term in full. Another of our journalists, Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2015 for allegedly possessing illegal substances. Both Matalaev and Nepeskuliev have received support from the international human rights community and a UN working group. After his release in May 2018, Nepeskuliev left Turkmenistan for good in March this year.
Turkmen journalists Gaspar Matalaev (left) and Saparmamed Nepeskuliev (right), both freed this year after lengthy prison sentences. Image courtesy of Turkmen.News. Used with permission.
But others still languish in jail; families receive little information about the health or whereabouts of their loved ones. The Prove They Are Alive campaign tracks 121 disappearances within Turkmenistan’s prison system, although the real number is undoubtedly higher. One political prisoner, Gulgeldi Annaniyazov, has been imprisoned for over 10 years; in that time his family has received only basic information regarding his status.
The gravity of the risks involved permeates my work as editor of our publication. As Turkmenistan’s government employs sophisticated surveillance techniques to track its population, it is dangerous to publish any content that could be traced to a specific time or location that would identify the source. We take our responsibility to our journalists very seriously, even if this limits our ability to report “breaking” real time news.
Although the Turkmen regime appears unconcerned about its international reputation, the landlocked country’s stability is dependent on the cooperation of, and trade with, its outside partners. And as the international media turns its attention to the country, the confidence of these partners, or prospective investors, will wane. An increasing focus in the international business community on sustainability and ethical business practices means that publications like ours are ever more important.
The reporters who risk their freedom with each piece of information they send us ensure that no corporate entity or government doing business with Turkmenistan can claim ignorance about the nature of the regime in Ashgabat.
The Foreign Policy Centre’s event was the perfect stage for human rights figures and politicians alike to call for a reevaluation of the UK Government’s policy towards Turkmenistan. As the regime tightens the screws, we call for this policy to be extended wider, to trade and industry bodies throughout the EU and the international community, and all those who seek to engage with a government that persecutes its citizens and betrays its investors.
As we force Turkmenistan to take care of its image, we will force them to change their behaviour. This increasing attention gives us a platform from which to demand the quality of life that all Turkmen deserve.

author: Ruslan Myatiev


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Death of a kangaroo at Trinidad zoo reignites loud fireworks debate · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A screenshot taken from a video uploaded to the Emperor Valley Zoo's Facebook page, titled “In Memory of Joey”. The 18-month-old kangaroo died, allegedly as a result of the trauma experienced from Trinidad and Tobago's Independence Day fireworks display.
On September 6, a kangaroo, aptly named Joey, died in a Trinidadian zoo, apparently as a result of trauma he experienced from explosive noises. Joey's death has reignited a heated discussion on the controversial nature of zoos as well as noise pollution.
All over the world, zoos — originally conceived to showcase wild animals for human entertainment — are a controversial topic. Yet, most countries have zoos; in Trinidad and Tobago's case, the Emperor Valley Zoo was founded on April 23, 1947. It lies on seven acres adjacent to the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain, the capital, and displays both exotic and native species of mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.
The zoo acquired four red kangaroos in August 2019, all bred in captivity and reared especially for this location. When Joey died, the zoo laid the blame squarely on the explosive noise of the country's Independence Day fireworks display, which took place within close proximity to the zoo on August 31:
We have already spoken about the loud noise levels and close proximity to the zoo of this year’s Independence night fireworks. This has affected not only our animals but animals and their families across Port of Spain. We have heard numerous stories. Within a short time of the fireworks starting, we observed the intense fluttering of some of our smaller birds who died within minutes and several other animals were visibly traumatized. We have worked to stabilize those affected animals but unfortunately we are sad to announce that one of our small male kangaroos did not recover from the shock and trauma experienced. On the night and since then we did our best with our animals. Now we must do more. We make a public call for a complete ban on fireworks in Trinidad and Tobago. Our animals and the families they are part of cannot continue in this way.
Supporters of zoos maintain that they play an important role in education, breeding and conservation of animal species, but zoo living conditions are often cramped and depressing compared with their natural habitat. In addition, captive animals can experience loneliness and sometimes, even abuse. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which strongly advocates against zoos, reports that caged animals can develop a condition called “zoochosis”, in which they “rock, sway, or pace endlessly, and some even resort to hurting themselves”.
While some social media users push backed on the zoo's fireworks explanation and questioned whether the quality of the kangaroos’ enclosure was to blame instead, the majority of netizens seemed to agree with the zoo and began agitating once more to ban fireworks.
Fireworks have become increasingly popular in Trinidad and Tobago and — despite restrictions on their use laid out in the Summary Offences Act — are often set off by private citizens on special occasions. Contrary to the requirements of the Act, most people who set off fireworks (the decibel levels of which are in clear contravention of noise pollution rules) do not have the required permissions. While the Independence Day fireworks displays are public events with clear start and end times, they take place in city centres, so their effects are both far-reaching and magnified. The setting off of fireworks at Christmas and New Year's Eve, however, is mostly done in residential areas and often lasts for hours.
A new online petition in circulation says that the noise from fireworks has an adverse effect on people and animals alike, and that — in the context of local banks clamping down on foreign exchange limits — it is also “a complete waste of FOREX for Trinidad & Tobago”. As of this writing, the petition had garnered over 1,500 signatures. A previous petition to put an end to fireworks displays attracted over 3,500 supporters, not counting efforts made by animal rights groups over the years.
Facebook netizens were appalled by Joey's death. Caroline Taylor thought that “noiseless fireworks [and] better noise pollution are so sorely needed”, while Caroline Lewis commented, “How sad that humans will not learn about nature and animals before inflicting unnatural living conditions on these beautiful creatures taken out of their […] natural habitat!”
Facebook user Kerry Boyce asked whether the zoo could be relocated to a more suitable location, but DK Persad noted:
It's not just Port of Spain. There were fireworks in [south Trinidad] also. It's every event that people feel requires fireworks; Divali, Christmas, New Years, Carnival etc. I fully support the ban unless they use silent ones.
By September 8, local media reported that a private company proposed an offer of 40 acres of land in central Trinidad on which to relocate the zoo, which garnered mixed responses.
Facebook user Son Du said:
Not a fan of keeping animals in captivity, but if there must be a zoo, this is a less offensive possibility. And the sanctuary idea is best. Moving an expanded version to Central would also create jobs there. Win-win. I could only hope that the unnecessary death of a defenseless baby kangaroo could drive people on all sides of this to put their egos and agendas aside, but I ent holding meh breath.
Maria Rivas-Mc, in a private status update republished here with permission, focused more on the need to ban the fireworks:
A matter for serious consideration? How hard is it to ban loud fireworks? To not give a noise variation. To not sponsor it? You are all culpable.
That apart, I’m sure there was talk years ago of moving the Zoo and creating a nature reserve of sorts.
Sarita Rampersad, on the other hand, quipped:
So it’s easier to build another zoo and relocate the animals than ban fireworks.
Man I wish I was so rich that gov’t policy bent around me.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Cameroonian parents fear sending children back to school in midst of armed conflict · Global Voices
Ekonde Daniel

An empty classroom in Cameroon, June 17, 2007, via Pixabay CC BY 2.0.
Over the summer, officials in Cameroon launched a mass campaign to reopen schools in the country’s crisis-hit northwest and southwest regions, amidst rising tensions between Francophone government forces and Anglophone separatists.
Most schools, especially in rural areas, have been closed since 2016, when Anglophone separatists began a movement to create a breakaway state called Ambazonia, from the country’s largely dominated French-speaking majority. They called for a school boycott as part of their effort to protest against injustices in the Francophone-led education system, according to The Guardian.
Anglophone Cameroonians claim the Francophone-led government systematically discriminates against their regions, language and culture.
Anglophone rebels insisted there would be “ghost towns” starting September 2 – the date for the start of the new academic school year, if schools attempted to reopen, implying their boycotts against French-speaking Cameroon will continue. This comes on the heels of the life imprisonment of separatist leader, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and nine others at the Kondengui prison in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé.
But the governor of Cameroon’s southwest region, Bernard Okalia Bilia, has assured the population of safe and effective school resumption.
“Security measures have been put in place. We can take the example of last year; we succeeded to organize exams in this region, and many successful candidates celebrated. You know, security can be maintained by every individual in this region; if you don’t collaborate with the forces of law and order, security will not be guaranteed,” Bilia told Global Voices in an interview in August, during a school resumption campaign in Buea, Cameroon.
Bilia’s counterpart in the northwest, Adolf Lele L’Afrique, also downplayed the armed conflict in a similar fashion. “Security measures have been taken, so children should go to school on Monday,” L’Afrique told public media Cameroon Radio TV (CRTV).
Despite the government's pledge, the troubled regions have seen nearly 80 percent of their schools shut down as a result of separatist threats and attacks. The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF reports more than 4,400 schools have been closed down, depriving more than 600,000 children of education in Cameroon.
Secessionist fighters have reportedly killed and kidnapped teachers in the English regions as part of their movement to keep schools closed as leverage for their movement.
A southwest delegate for secondary education, Hannah Etonde Mbua, told CRTV on August 28:
Many of our teachers were kidnapped and taken to the bushes; they were only released after ransoms were paid. A good number of them were shot in their offices, some died and others were amputated. Students and staff were so frightened because of these. But we succeeded to have some children in classes, thanks to the education ministry.
Civil society and government officials continue to campaign for nationwide school resumption on TV and radio shows and social media. Anglophone Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute set the tone in May when he visited the crisis-hit regions and delivered a speech in Buea, that was broadcast on the radio:
I am a prime minister today because my father sent me to school. Is that not so? If my father did not send me to school, I wouldn’t have become prime minister.
Governor Bilia said people in his region are poised to start learning:
The entire population in the southwest region are determined to resume school [this September]. … Three years of sacrificing our children’s generation should stop.
However, Anglophone separatists, who see the school boycotts a way of pressurizing the government, have warned parents — often through social media — not to send their children to school.
In one post, Tapang Ivo Tanku, who lives abroad, wrote on Facebook:
More bullets have been ordered to protect our civilians [of Ambazonia] as they boycott schools next week. If you dare their rights to boycott, you will face forces.
Concerned netizens also raised questions about reopening schools in what Twitter user Rebecca Enonchong described as a “war zone”:
We all want our children to go to school. The height of hypocrisy is this government launching a ‘back to school’ campaign in a war zone while killing continues daily and where the root cause of crisis isn’t dealt with and in fact has been exacerbated. #Cameroon.
— Rebecca Enonchong (@africatechie) September 1, 2019
In response, Derick Deci tweeted:
On carrying out a back to school campaign last week, I met this mother who told me (in pidgin) “I rather have an illiterate child than a dead child”. This statement made me rethink what I was doing. We need peace, mutual understanding and #InclusiveDialogue first b4 #backtoschool
— DERICK (@DerickDeci) September 1, 2019
One of the people standing in the middle of the uncertainty is Matanga Hans Hilary Hamza, a father of two children and a tutor, who wants dialogue to resolve the impasse so that his children can safely attend classes.
Hamza spoke with Global Voices late last month, during Eid al-Adha, when over 100 English-speaking Muslims gathered in Buea, to call for peace.
Hamza told Global Voices:
I am begging both parties to understand the importance of education. Our children are not animals, so they have to go to school.

author: Ekonde Daniel


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A beloved Trinidadian vendor regains his rightful place selling nuts at cricket matches · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screenshot of “Jumbo the Nuts Man,” who is used to selling his fresh and roasted peanuts at sporting events like West Indies cricket. Image is taken from a YouTube video entitled, “Support for JUMBO de Nuts Man”, uploaded by Brian Bartholomew.
The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a short-form regional cricket tournament held annually since 2013. Commonly called Twenty20 cricket, the 2019 tournament began on September 5 at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital, and the final will take place on October 12, quite fittingly at the stadium in south Trinidad named after cricket great Brian Lara — but this year, it is not the athletes who are taking centre stage — it is a “Nuts Man”.
Food blogger TriniGourmet describes the proverbial Nuts Man as “a fixture on the street food scene and at sporting events”:
Sometimes he moves around with a cart, other times with a tray around his neck. […] people line up, prepared to wait, if a particular vendor’s reputation has dubbed his roasting style worthy. You can get your nuts plain, salted, or honey roasted.
Nuts vendors are an important part of the Caribbean cricket scene. As cricket fans flock to the matches to watch the play and other spectators show up just to soak in the party-like atmosphere, people get hungry, and nuts (traditionally peanuts and cashews) are a good away to quell a rumbling stomach without having to leave your seat.
As far as cricket goes, perhaps the most well known Nuts Man — at least at the Queen's Park Oval — is Keith “Jumbo” Martin. Known for his flamboyant style of tossing packets of nuts with great accuracy to spectators scattered all over the stands, Jumbo has been a fixture of Caribbean cricket since 1971.
No sooner had the 2019 CPL tournament started, however, than he put out a video, widely circulated on social media channels, which registered his discontent at being told he could not sell his nuts at the event because Sunshine Snacks, a local conglomerate, was the official sponsor:
Social media erupted in support of him, with some posts entreating the Oval to “reinstall this landmark”.
Facebook user Rhoda Bharath mused:
[The] Thing is, fellas like Jumbo and Nuts Landing [another nuts vendor] have a grassroots ad campaign that would destroy SS [Sunshine Snacks] in the Oval in an open market…which technically is what capitalism claims to be based on. So when SS wants to lock down rights to an event…that isn't a free and open economy.
Perhaps the most creative expression of support, though, came in the form of a YouTube video uploaded by Brian Bartholomew, whose son performed an extempo verse (an improvised form of calypso):
The message got through. Four days after the first CPL 2019 match, Sunshine Snacks announced that it had partially waived their rights of exclusivity in order to allow independent nuts vendors to sell their products at the tournament.
General Manager Kristine Thompson explained:
When the cricket fans spoke out in favour of all nuts sellers being there as a critical part of the Oval Cricket Culture and the game experience…we simply decided to put our hearts ahead of our strict sponsorship rights.
Social media users widely commended the company's gesture, but not everyone was in support of Jumbo's tactics. On a public thread, some Facebook users felt that his methods were at odds with the sponsors’ paid rights; others questioned whether Jumbo had gone through the proper procedures which might have granted him the privilege of selling at the event and one Queen's Park Cricket Club insider, who spoke with Global Voices via WhatsApp but preferred not to be named, felt that compromise should have come from both sides.
As Aarti Gosein summed it up:
If it wasn't for those big businesses and their sponsorship money there may not have been any cricket
In the end, the inclusivity of the Caribbean cricket experience prevailed, leaving enough room for everyone.


text:
As Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners, the RuNet reacted · Global Voices
Eilish Hart

Oleg Sentsov, the Crimea-born activist and filmmaker, with his daughter at Kyiv airport after his release on September 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of Christopher Miller. Used with permission.
When the 35 Ukrainian prisoners arrived at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport on Saturday, September 7, their family and friends were already waiting to welcome them home. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky shook hands with each of them as they stepped off the plane, while journalists scrambled for interviews and photos. Meanwhile, 35 prisoners released from Ukraine touched down at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport with much less fanfare.
Before the arrival of the exchanged prisoners, journalists arrived at the respective airports ready to broadcast their homecoming. On social media, journalists, politicians, friends, family members and even the prisoners themselves shared photos and updates of the events. Ukraine’s President Zelensky tweeted simply “ours are home!”
The group returning to Kyiv consisted of 24 Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia during the Kerch Strait incident last November, as well as 11 Ukrainian political prisoners arrested between 2014 and 2018. Among them were high-profile detainees such as Crimean-born filmmaker and activist Oleg Sentsov, Crimean Euromaidan activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, the Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko who was arrested on spying charges while visiting relatives in Moscow in 2016, and 21-year-old Pavlo Hryb, who was abducted in Belarus as a teenager. Sentsov attracted the most media attention as he reunited with his family on the runway, hugging his 17-year-old daughter Alina, who was 12 at the time of his arrest.
In comparison, the Russian media’s coverage of the swap was more low-key. The former prisoners came off the plane in Moscow carrying their own bags. And although there were 34 others being returned, the spotlight was trained on Kirill Vyshinsky – the former editor-in-chief of Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency in Ukraine. Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine in 2018 on charges of treason, but was released pending trial on August 28 after serving a year and three months in prison.
Margarita Simonyan, an editor of RT, lauded Vyshinsky’s homecoming in a Telegram message.
В моем рейтинге прекрасных мужчин сегодня один Кирилл Вышинский. Не дрогнул, не прогнулся, даже не качнулся. Бровью не повел. Отсидел 470 дней с перспективой вообще никогда не выйти из тюрьмы – и вот вернулся. Счастливый, спокойный, благодарный всем, кто помогал. Мужчины должны быть именно такими.
In my ranking of attractive men today [there is] only Kirill Vyshinsky. He didn’t flinch, he didn’t bend, he didn’t even sway. He didn’t raise an eyebrow. He served 470 days with the prospect of never getting out of prison at all – and here he is, returned. Happy, calm, grateful to everyone who helped. This is exactly how men should be.
— Margarita Simonyan, Telegram, September 7, 2019
Some Russians following the events seemed a little uncomfortable with the focus on Vyshinsky:
Обидно немного за других. Смотрю прямой эфир и все скачут вокруг одного Вышинского. Не красиво, очень не красиво. Других тупо не замечают. Те даже пытаются в кадр не попадать, чтобы не испортить кадры.
— Сергей Юрьевич (@sergeinemo) September 7, 2019
It’s a bit of a shame for the others. I’m watching the livestream now and everyone is clamouring around Vyshinsky. It’s not nice, really not nice. They just don’t even notice the others. [The others] are even trying to keep out of the frame, so as not to mess up the shots.
— Sergei Yuryevich (@sergeinemo), Twitter, September 7, 2019
The other released Russian prisoners might have had a good reason to keep out of the spotlight.
Although a full list of who was returned to Russia had not been revealed at the time of the exchange, this did not stop photos of the prisoners from appearing online. When Simonyan shared a group photo of some of the prisoners on Twitter, Runet users were quick to point out that many of their faces were blurred, and wondered what the men might have to hide. Others speculated that the men’s involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine could still cause them problems travelling overseas in the future. In any case, the Russian Embassy in Ukraine shared an uncensored version of the photo later that day.
Some prisoners even took to social media to share photos of themselves prior to their departure from Ukraine. Igor Kimakovsky, a Russian volunteer fighter who was detained in eastern Ukraine by the Ukrainian authorities in 2015, wrote that “Kirill Vyshinsky and Vladimir Tsemakh are on board our plane! We’re flying home!” in one of his pre-departure posts on his Telegram channel, Zhelezny Zek.
When asked why the Russian president did not greet the released prisoners up their arrival in Moscow like Zelensky did in Kyiv, Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told the TASS News Agency on September 9 that it “wasn’t the head of state’s prerogative” and that Putin had done his part by ensuring that the exchange took place. Ilya Barabanov, a Russian journalist working with the BBC, reflected on the lack of fanfare in Moscow on his Telegram channel:
Тех, кого выдали Москве, встречает только толпа журналистов у закрытых ворот Внуково-2 и фсбшные автобусы внутри. Собрать родственников встречать близких или хотя бы просто их предупредить, никто не удосужился. Все утро был на связи с дочкой Владимира Цемаха и мамой Виктора Агеева, новости они узнавали либо от меня, либо из телевизора.
Those who were handed over to Moscow were only met by FSB buses inside the Vnukovo-2 airport and a crowd of journalists outside its gates. Nobody bothered to gather relatives so they could meet their loved ones, or even warn them [that they were coming.] I was in contact with Vladimir Tsemakh’s daughter and Viktor Ageyev’s mother all morning; they only heard the news from me or from the television.
— Ilya Barabanov, Telegram, September 7, 2019
While many are heralding the successful return of Ukrainian prisoners as a political win for president Zelensky, the exchange has been anything but uncontroversial.  The decision to release Tsemakh, a former air defence commander for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and suspect in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over the Donbas in July 2014, has attracted a lot of criticism. Dutch prosecutors and members of the European Parliament urgently appealed to Kyiv not to hand Tsemakh over to Russian custody, arguing that he is a key witness in uncovering the truth about a tragedy which claimed the lives of 283 passengers. In the government’s defence, Zelensky told the press that Tsemakh had been thoroughly questioned before he was exchanged.
As Svitlana Zalishchuk, a Ukrainian civil society activist and journalist who was recently elected as a parliamentary deputy for Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, noted:
Witness #Tsemakh release may worsen Ukraine's relations with partners, whose citizens died in MH17, and may impact other Ukrainian lawsuits against Russia in the International courts. https://t.co/60qJEmSpXS
— Svitlana Zalishchuk (@svitlanaza) September 5, 2019
Furthermore, Ukrainian political scientist Anton Shekhovtsov criticised the Ukrainian security services’ conduct in the arrest of Tsemakh. “Instead of quietly transferring Tsemakh to the Netherlands, the SBU childishly boasted about his arrest and made him a person of great interest to the Russians who are rightly afraid of what Tsemakh can potentially tell the investigators. […] And now the Russians are apparently threatening to cancel the exchange of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners if the Ukrainians do not give up Tsemakh,” wrote Shekhovtsov on Facebook on September 30.
However, the fact that the exchange happened at all came as a relief after the events of August 29, when it was falsely reported that the exchange had already taken place. The family members of the Ukrainian political prisoners flocked to Kyiv’s Boryspil airport, only to leave disappointed hours later. Incorrect information about the day and time of the prisoners’ arrival began to spread online due to a now-deleted Facebook post from Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Rouslan Riaboshapka, in which he shared another post from Ukrainian lawmaker Anna Islamova. Islamova’s post, announcing that the exchange had been completed, has also been removed from Facebook but is still circulating in screenshots online.
On the morning of August 30, the office of the Ukrainian president dispelled any confusion about the status of the exchange on Telegram, stating: “The process of mutual release of detained persons is ongoing. The information about the completion is false.” It then stressed the importance of combating disinformation in such cases:
Вже не вперше ми бачимо інформаційний хаос, спричинений посиланням на непідтверджену інформацію та численні «джерела». Ми закликаємо розуміти наслідки дезінформації: це гра з емоціями суспільства. Коли взаємне звільнення утримуваних осіб завершиться, Офіс Президента повідомить про це на офіційних каналах. https://t.me/OP_UA/316
This is not the first time we’ve seen information chaos caused by references to unconfirmed information and numerous “sources.” We urge [everyone] to understand the consequences of misinformation: it’s a game with the public’s emotions. When the mutual release of detainees is complete, the Office of the President will report on this on official channels.
— Office of the President of Ukraine, Telegram, August 30, 2019.
Maria Romanenko, managing editor of the independent Ukrainian news portal Hromadske International, stated that the episode reflected very badly on the new Ukrainian government:
#Ukraine‘s new gvrnmnt's lack of political experience is evident from their carelessness in manipulating information. 1st someone on Zelenskyy's team shares incorrect information about the resignation of the President's Chief of Staff, now new PG posts about release of 24 sailors
— Maria Romanenko (@rommari) August 30, 2019
Following the exchange, Russia’s President Putin had a phone conversation with President Zelensky. According to a Facebook post from the President of Ukraine’s Office, the two sides were “satisfied with the implementation of the results of the agreement” and saw it as a “first step on the path to the normalisation of dialogue.”
As the conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to simmer, it is unlikely that this will be the last such exchange between Kyiv and Moscow. In fact, on September 13, president Zelensky told participants of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Forum in the Ukrainian capital that he was “waiting for the next phase of the exchange.”
“We’re preparing our lists,” said the Ukrainian president.

author: Eilish Hart


text:
Cameroonians with HIV face ‘a death sentence’ as Global Fund threatens to pull antiretroviral drugs · Global Voices
Ekonde Daniel

“Know your HIV status” sign seen in Zambia. Photo by Jon Rawlinson via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0.
Global Fund has warned it will withdraw its international aid to fight HIV with free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in Cameroon, should the country continue to dodge its own share of financing.
Cameroon is supposed to pay 20 percent of the cost to get the drugs but has now accumulated $47 million debt for the funding, according to the BBC on September 4.
A source working with the country’s national HIV/AIDS program who wished to remain anonymous told Global Voices, “We were told from Yaoundé [the capital] to check the stock of the ARV [and] to be aware of the situation.” The government has not issued an official response, however.
Global Fund, which also funds fights against malaria and tuberculosis across the globe, is set to discontinue its contract with Cameroon beginning in January 2020. At that point, those living with HIV will have to pay for the vital drugs that allow for a normal life.
One woman told the BBC that a lack of access to these drugs “will be a death sentence to people with HIV.” A doctor who runs a clinic told the BBC that ARV supplies have diminished since June. She used to be able to provide up to three months of ARV treatment but now she can only provide a month at a time, due to a lack of supplies and concerns that supplies could run out.
Cameroon has made good progress in fighting HIV AIDS but now patients may start buying ARV drugs which have been given free of charge for over a decade due to a default payment by the government to Global Fund
— Ikote Brian (@IkoteBrian) September 4, 2019
A representative of Cameroon’s health ministry, Ebongo Zacchaeus, told Global Voices that there is cause for concern.
“There’s going to be an important meeting at the Ministry of Health to discuss the issue. The minister is doing everything possible to ensure that there’s no discontinuity,” Ebongo said, dispelling fears of lack of availability of ARV drugs in Cameroon.
“There are no stockouts; ARVs are available in hospitals — we only have problems in distributing them to crisis-hit areas,” he said.
Ebonge is referring to Anglophone northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon that have been hit by armed conflict between Anglophone rebels and the Francophone military as part of an Anglophone separatist movement. As a result of the protracted conflict, the United Nations estimates at least 1,800 people killed and more than 530,000 displaced, with more than 1.3 million people in need of assistance.
With a drop in the HIV prevalence rate from 4.3 percent in 2011 to 3.4 percent in 2018, according to the BBC, this move would set back Cameroon's significant progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
With the ongoing crisis in the northwest and southwest regions, there's a high risk of “rapid increase in new HIV infections after interruptions of ARV medication”:
Humanitarian situation is fast deteriorating in Cameroon's North & South-west regions
-1.3M pp in need of assistance
– 437,000+ pp fled their homes
– 80%+ of children no longer go to school
– high risk of rapid increase in new HIV infections after interruption of ARV medication pic.twitter.com/sYpM9m9bsg
— Hajer Naili (@H_NAILI) February 21, 2019
In 2013, Global Fund and Cameroon announced a new program for HIV treatment; the former announced a $20 million fund while Cameroon pledged to strengthen the partnership by making it a priority in its state budget.
Now, over half a million people living with HIV in Cameroon face uncertainty:
Uncertainty looms the around the survival of more than half a million persons living with HIV in Cameroon https://t.co/wu7tAP0z1d pic.twitter.com/2ge6nI73y3
— Shabir Moosa (@ShabirMoosa) September 1, 2019


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‘Glory to Hong Kong’: The anthem of a protest movement · Global Voices
The Stand News

Screenshot from Youtube.
The following post is the English version of a Chinese feature story published on the Stand News, a Hong Kong independent news outlet, published on 11 September 2019. It is published on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
1 October is the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. While the Hong Kong government is preparing for the official ceremony, tens of thousands of Hongkongers are performing a new protest song in the streets and in shopping malls across the city.
The song, “Glory to Hong Kong”, has been dubbed Hong Kong's anthem by netizens and many different versions have been circulating online. Below is a classical orchestra presentation of the protest song presented by a group of Hong Kong musicians and artists dressed as protesters:
The song was first released to the public on 31 August and went viral soon after as the lyrics captured the sentiment and spirit of the protests [Note: The English version below is copied from the officially released translation]
何以　這土地　淚再流
何以　令眾人　亦憤恨
昂首　拒默沉　吶喊聲　響透
盼自由　歸於　這裡
何以　這恐懼　抹不走
何以　為信念　從沒退後
何解　血在流　但邁進聲響透
建自由　光輝香港
在晚星 墜落徬徨午夜
迷霧裡 最遠處吹來　號角聲
捍自由　來齊集這裡　來全力抗對
勇氣智慧 也永不滅
黎明來到　要光復　這香港
同行兒女　為正義　時代革命
祈求民主　與自由　萬世都不朽
我願榮光歸香港
We pledge: No more tears on our land,
In wrath, doubts dispell’d we make our stand.
Arise! Ye who would not be slave again:
For Hong Kong, may Freedom reign!
Though deep is the dread that lies ahead,
Yet still, with our faith, on we tread.
Let blood rage afield! Our voice grows evermore:
For Hong Kong, may Glory reign!
Stars may fade, as darkness fills the air,
Through the mist a solitary trumpet flares:
“Now to arms! For Freedom we fight, with all might we strike.
With valour, wisdom both we stride!”
Break now the dawn, liberate our Hong Kong,
In common breath: Revolution of our times!
May people reign, proud and free, now and ever more,
Glory be to thee, Hong Kong!
The composer behind the city’s anthem is a local musician in his twenties known simply as “Thomas”. He is a member of a local band, and although he has composed many pop-rock songs before, this is his first classical piece.
The idea behind the song was to create a piece that could capture the spirit of Hong Kong protesters and united them. The composer looked to other national anthems and battle music, including Battle Hymn of the Republic and Gloria in Excelsis Deo, as a reference for his song.
On 26 August, Thomas released his demo on the Reddit-liked LIHKG forum, inviting users to give feedback.  He amended the melody and lyrics such as adding protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of the times” and asked LIHKG members to help recording the song. Three days later, more than 20 LIHKG members appeared at a studio for the recording.
Through the song, the composer wants to deliver the following message:
香港人正在打的，是一場捍衛人民良知自由公義的持久戰，戰場唔單止喺街頭，唔再係立法會入面一條條例撒唔撒，而係思想上、道德價值上，有一大班香港人唔再係利益行先，發現有啲嘢比金錢重要，甚至比性命更重要。
Hong Kong people is now in a battle in defense of people’s conscience, justice and freedom. It will be a long battle and the battlefield is not restricted to the streets, nor in the Legislative Council over a certain law. It is about people’s values and morality. Hong Kong people are no longer defined by utilitarian interests, there is something more important than money and even above life.
Thomas has taken part in a majority of the protests over the past two months but he was not on the front lines. He sees music as his best protest weapon:
音樂係一樣好重要的工具，好似前蘇聯，佢哋係控制音樂控制得好嚴謹，因為佢知道音樂好容易鼓動到人心，比起文字、口號、圖片，更有感染力。
Music is a very important tool. In former USSR, the government had strict control over music because it knew that music could connect people’s hearts and touch people more effectively than words, slogans and images.
Since its initial release, tens of thousands of people have participated in flash mob performances in major shopping malls all across Hong Kong. Below is one of the performances at TaiKoo City Plaza on 9 September:
Just now at #TaiKoo—#HongKong Fight Anthem sang by Hong Kongers in Cityplaza shopping mall. So beautiful!#聽出耳油
Video via Telegram#AntiELAB #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/ZZZLPDosqJ
— #AntiELAB Fight for Hong Kong (@Fight4HongKong) September 9, 2019
When the Chinese national anthem was played at the World Cup qualifier match against Iran on 10 September, it was booed. During a break, Hong Kong football fans sang “Glory to Hong Kong” instead:
Audiences sang our HK National Anthem “願榮光歸香港” “Glory to Hong Kong” at HK stadium when hk take on Iran in World Cup qualifier.
We are #hongkong #HKprotest #HKprotesters #FreedomHK #FreeHK #FightForFreedom #standwithhk #standwithhongkong #WorldCupQualifiers #glorytohk pic.twitter.com/hOqZ3kN2OD
— Pegs (@Peggy_fung) September 10, 2019

author: The Stand News


text:
Hong Kong protesters vandalize the city’s subway amid rumours that three protesters are ‘missing’ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

People offer flowers to “three missing protesters” outside an exit of the Prince Edward Station. Photo from inmediahk.net CC: NC-AT
For over a week, Hong Kong protesters have been vandalizing the city’s subway stations in response to what they see as excessive police aggression and the transit authorities’ cooperation with riot police. The latest destructive act took place on 8 September when protesters burned a subway exit at the Central station after the Mass Transit Railway Corporate (MTRC) shutdown down the station, leaving tens of thousands of peaceful protesters vulnerable to arrest.
Protesters began vandalizing the city subway after a large number of riot police stormed the Prince Edward station with batons and pepper spray on 31 of August. More than 50 civilians were arrested and seven were hospitalized, three of them were left in serious condition. Soon after, a rumor that three protesters were missing went viral and protesters began directing their anger at the subway authorities.
On 1 of September, angry protesters stormed the Tung Chung subway station after the MTRC shut down the subway line as the police took action to arrest protesters who attempted to paralyze the international airport.
The latest subway vandalism took place on 8 September, during a peaceful demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Central district calling for the US Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Once passed, the law would require the US government to assess Hong Kong’s level of political autonomy annually to determine whether it should continue to have a special trade status. Tens of thousands of protesters attended the assembly which was granted a permit to rally from 2 pm to 10 pm.
??9/8 Real-life video in front of the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong.
Questions: Where is the water cannon? Where's tear gas? Where's black HK Police?? This should be the most peaceful demonstration. It seems that ccp is afraid of the US!??? pic.twitter.com/vqaTLhsJ5u
— Lillian (@ThePearlvogue) September 8, 2019
At around 4 pm, riot police began arresting individuals accused of vandalism inside the Central station. The MTRC then announced the shutdown of the Central station and passengers inside the station began running to exits to escape. The operation was a deja vu of what had happened on August 31 and September 1.
Meanwhile, at 4:30 pm, police authorities began demanding that the rally outside the U.S. consulate dissolve within 45 minutes, which implied that the police would begin making arrests at around 5:15 pm. However, as the MTRC had already shut down service, there was no transportation available for the huge crowds to leave. Making matters worse, the MTRC also shutdown the Admiralty, Wanchai, and Causeway Bay stations, forcing protesters to walk for more than four kilometers to get subway service. Radical protesters vandalized a number of stations and set a fire outside a Central subway exit to express their anger.
#HongKongProtests #AntiElab Central MTR entrance destroyed by protesters. (Telegram) pic.twitter.com/KLLlCraoGg
— Free Mind (@FreeMindHK) September 8, 2019
Such scenes were in sharp contrast with the earlier months of the anti-extradition protests when protesters saw subway stations as safe places and war-free zones. Protesters would line up at ticket vending machines to buy tickets, and residents living near the stations helped ensure that protesters arrive home safely by leaving coins and clean clothes inside the stations.
In fact, many train captains and platform assistants also expressed sympathy with the protesters. More than 700 employees of the MTRC issued a joint signature statement demanding the leaders of the subway authority resist police requests to assist their operations.
However, the relationship between protesters and the transit authorities took a turn when CCP affiliated media outlet The People’s Daily published an editorial on 22 August slamming the MTRC for assisting the “rioters”. The criticism came after the MTRC arranged an extra train to help the crowd leave a mass protest in Yuen Long on 21 August.
In view of Beijing's sanction of Cathay Pacific, the MTRC tightened up their internal policy — people are no longer allowed to leave coins and clothes inside the stations. Moreover, in the past two weeks, the MTRC has been fully cooperating with police operations as indicated by the massive arrests that took place at the Prince Edward Station on 31 August.
On the night of 31 August, police were granted access to the Prince Edward train platform after a clash between a few protesters and pro-government passengers broke out in the Yau Ma Tei- Kwun Tong Line around 10:40 pm. However, according to various investigative reports and witness accounts put together by the Stand News, as the riot police entered the station, they did not go to the carriage where the conflict took place but started pepper-spraying and beating up young people who wore masks in the opposite Central-Tsuen Wan Line.
Police took control of the scene and evicted journalists and first-aiders from the station by 11 pm. It wasn't until 1:42 am that the police allowed ambulances from the Fire Service Department (FSD) to pick up seven injured people from the Lai Chi Kok station, three of whom were in critical condition. Lai Chi Kok is two stations away from Prince Edward.
However, between 12:15 am and 1:02 am, the FSD had made several rounds of headcounts and the number of those injured was between 15 to 10 with 6 injuries in labeled in red as serious conditions. But eventually, 3 of those that were red labeled were removed from the injured list. The discrepancies in the number of reported injuries led to the spread of a rumour about the three missing protesters, some believing that they were killed.
Footage from independent media outlet Soc Rec showed a number of injured protesters. Many people are asking why the police had to evict the voluntary first aiders and reporters, and why it took more than 2.5 hours for FSD ambulances to pick up those who were injured.
The rumor about three missing protesters led to a peaceful protest outside the Prince Edward Station last week. On 6 September, a silent protest started by one girl ended up bringing together thousands of people to demand that authorities release closed-circuit TV footage to the public.
Amidst worries over possible deaths of protesters in Prince Edward MTR station on 31/8, a young girl started a silent strike of one, early this morning, kneeling down in the subway station in a request for the footage from surveillance cameras to be disclosed to public. pic.twitter.com/T44M5T4vk9
— Denise Ho (HOCC) (@hoccgoomusic) September 6, 2019
People also brought flowers to the station to express their grievance and anger:
The makeshift memorial at Prince Edward MTR station has grown even bigger since I was here yesterday. Flowers now cover the entrance gate and one banner reads 「天理難容」”heaven cannot tolerate this” pic.twitter.com/apPxGnlHk6
— Aaron Mc Nicholas (@aaronMCN) September 7, 2019
Eventually, the MTRC released 26 screenshots of the CCTV footage on 10 September. The MTR Chief of operating said:
With regards to claims that there was a fatality at Prince Edward Station, there was no death reported that day, according to the station’s record.
But the transit authorities refused to release all the footage citing privacy concerns. In the eyes of protesters, the MTRC is protecting the riot police by hiding the evidence of their brutality.
People’s resentment against the MTRC is reflected in its new nickname: CCP rail (黨鐵). Public sentiment has begun to see the MTRC as no longer serving Hong Kong residents, but rather as an accomplice of gangster and police attacks on civilians.
#MTR stand for Most Terrible Railway
黨鐵： Communism Railway
#HKprotests pic.twitter.com/GCa53zorzC
— Helchlie (@cowcowhc) September 2, 2019

author: Oiwan Lam