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Bloggers, journalists and creatives in the crosshairs of the Belarusian state
Belarusian journalists under pressure (left to right): Katsiaryna Andreyeva, Darya Chultsova and Katsiaryna Barysevich. Image courtesy of Human Rights Center “Viasna”. Belarusian authorities have now fixed their sights on bloggers, journalists, and the creative class amid the ongoing repression of the 2020 protests against long-time President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Since last August, thousands of protesters have been detained, many of whom have received fines and even criminal sentences for “breaching public order,” and among them are those who have received harsh punishment for online posts a...
Global Voices
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Arrest of Indian climate activist Disha Ravi over protest ‘toolkit’ draws backlash
Disha Ravi in a protest. Screenshot from YouTube Video by Mojo Story. The arrest of 22-year-old Indian climate activist Disha Ravi in Delhi over her alleged involvement with a “protest toolkit” has drawn widespread criticism in India and worldwide. A student in Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, Ravi is the founder of the Indian branch of Fridays For Future, a climate movement started by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Ravi was arrested on February 13 in connection with a viral online document that lists resources for activists and sympathizers looking to support the months-long farmers’ prot...
Global Voices
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Freedom of expression in a downward spiral in Southern Africa, says new study
Youth pose for a photo at a conference in Namibia. Image credit: Yusuf Kalyango Jnr. (CC BY-SA 2.0) A recent study by the coalition of the African Declaration of Internet Rights and Freedoms (AfDec) reviewed extant legislation and its impact on the right to freedom of expression in seven countries in Southern Africa— Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The 102-page report had seven contributors, including Dércio Tsandzana, Global Voices’ Lusophone Editor. A summary of the findings for each country is discussed below. Malawi Section 35 of Malawi’s 1994 Con...
Global Voices
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Myanmar introduces ‘draconian’ cyber security bill amid growing anti-coup protests
Anti-coup protests have been organized across Myanmar despite the ban on mass gathering. Photo supplied to Global Voices, used with permission Civil society groups in Myanmar are opposing the draft “Cyber Security Bill” which was introduced amid growing opposition to the military government. The bill was sent by the Ministry of Transport and Communications to local telecommunication companies for their review on February 9. The document was leaked online, and this allowed the public to study its content. The bill has 76 sections which contain provisions that empower authorities to order websit...
Global Voices
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Nigerian protesters arrested for resisting reopening of the Lagos Lekki toll gate
Screenshot of arrested protester from a video by the CableNg online newspaper Nigerian police today arrested several people who were protesting the reopening of the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria—the center of #EndSARS protests last October—Channels TV reported on their website. Some of the protesters, allegedly detained Saturday, February 13, 2021, at the Adeniji-Adele Police Station, in the commercial city of Lagos, were said to be “beaten and tortured”: Arrested protesters at Adeniji-Adele Police Station are being beaten and tortured@jidesanwoolu — Dele Farotimi #EndSARS, #EndSWAT, #EndI...
Global Voices
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Is Mozambique trying to expel a foreign journalist?
Tom Bowker speaks with South Africa's SABC news in December 2020. Image: YouTube screenshot from SABC's channel. British journalist Tom Bowker was verbally ordered to leave Mozambique at the end of January, one month after authorities revoked his foreign correspondent accreditation. Bowker is the founder of the news website Zitamar News, which reports Mozambican politics and economics in English. In recent years, the website has been praised for its coverage of the armed conflict in the Cabo Delgado province through the Cabo Ligado project. According to the newsletter of veteran Mozambique chr...
Global Voices
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Security concerns and legal ambiguities threaten the future of Ukraine's ‘State in a Smartphone’
The “state in a smartphone” project is one of the most ambitious developments of the current Ukrainian government. Photo by JESHOOTS-com on Pixabay. One year ago, the Ukrainian government released the revolutionary mobile application Diia (Ukrainian for “action”), a cornerstone of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s campaign promise of making public services convenient and easily accessible via the internet. The Diia mobile app — and its accompanying online e-services portal — allows citizens to digitize their national ID and biometric passport, personal tax number, student ID, and more, and the di...
Global Voices
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Turkey reins in social media — one platform at a time
An Alstom tram set on Istanbul line T1 crossing the Galata Bridge, northbound, December 5, 2013, Istanbul, Turkey. Photo by Mark Ahsmann via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. When Turkish President Recip Erdoğan became a grandfather for the fourth time last year, his daughter and son-in-law (then-Minister of Finance) announced the birth of their child over Twitter. In addition to many celebratory tweets from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) followers, the couple received insults, too. The tweets were eventually taken down and the account was deleted. But these insults led to Erdoğ...
Global Voices
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Indian farmers’ protests: Twitter withholds, then restores, prominent accounts by government order
Indian farmers’ protest in December 2020. Image via Wikimedia Commons by Randeep Maddoke. CC0 Public Domain. On February 1, Twitter temporarily blocked people in India from viewing more than 250 accounts that appeared to express support to the farmers’ protests that have rocked the country for the past four months. The accounts were restored around six hours later. Twitter then told news agency ANI that it withheld the accounts in response to a request from India's Ministry of Electronics and IT to block accounts that had tweeted the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide for making “fake, provoc...
Global Voices
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Google’s plans for Saudi-based Cloud is ‘dangerous,’ says digital right advocacy group
A screenshot from a Google Workplace video showing the inside of a Google data centre. Tech giant Google plans to establish a new Google Cloud region in Saudi Arabia. Access Now, a nongovernmental digital rights organization, has raised alarm and requested the immediate halting of the plan, referring to the country's “appalling human rights record.” The organization issued a statement on January 26, with the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), a public interest technology law clinic based at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. The statement wa...
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