opposition – Radio Free

New Zealand’s ‘symbolic’ sanctions on Israel too little, too late, say opposition parties

APR editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:21:29 +0000

By Russell Palmer, RNZ News political reporter

Opposition parties say Aotearoa New Zealand’s government should be going much further, much faster in sanctioning Israel.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters overnight revealed New Zealand had joined Australia, Canada, the UK and Norway in imposing travel bans on Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Some of the partner countries went further, adding asset freezes and business restrictions on the far-right ministers.

Peters said the pair had used their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution.

Israel and the United States criticised the sanctions, with the US saying it undermined progress towards a ceasefire.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, attending Fieldays in Waikato, told reporters New Zealand still enjoyed a good relationship with the US administration, but would not be backing down.

“We have a view that this is the right course of action for us,” he said.

Behind the scenes job
“We have differences in approach but the Americans are doing an excellent job of behind the scenes trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to the table to talk about a ceasefire.”

Asked if there could be further sanctions, Luxon said the government was “monitoring the situation all the time”.

Peters has been busy travelling in Europe and was unavailable to be interviewed. ACT — probably the most vocally pro-Israel party in Parliament — refused to comment on the situation.

The opposition parties also backed the move, but argued the government should have gone much further.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has since December been urging the coalition to back her bill imposing economic sanctions on Israel. With support from Labour and Te Pāti Māori it would need just six MPs to cross the floor to pass.

Calling the Israeli actions in Gaza “genocide”, she told RNZ the government’s sanctions fell far short of those imposed on Russia.

“This is symbolic, and it’s unfortunate that it’s taken so long to get to this point, nearly two years . . . the Minister of Foreign Affairs also invoked the similarities with Russia in his statement this morning, yet we have seen far less harsh sanctions applied to Israel.

“We’re well past the time for first steps.”

‘Cowardice’ by government
The pushback from the US was “probably precisely part of the reason that our government has been so scared of doing the right thing”, she said, calling it “cowardice” on the government’s part.

“What else are you supposed to call it at the end of the day?,” she said, saying at a bare minimum the Israeli ambassador should be expelled, Palestinian statehood should be recognised, and a special category of visas for Palestinians should be introduced.

She rejected categorisation of her stance as anti-semitic, saying that made no sense.

“If we are critiquing a government of a certain country, that is not the same thing as critiquing the people of that country. I think it’s actually far more anti-semitic to conflate the actions of the Israeli government with the entire Jewish peoples.”

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer . . . “It’s not a war, it’s an annihilation”. Image: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the sanctions were political hypocrisy.

“When it comes to war, human rights and the extent of violence and genocide that we’re seeing, Palestine is its own independent nation . . . why is this government sanctioning only two ministers? They should be sanctioning the whole of Israel,” she said.

“These two Israel far right ministers don’t act alone. They belong to an entire Israel government which has used its military might and everything it can possibly do to bombard, to murder and to commit genocide and occupy Gaza and the West Bank.”

Suspend diplomatic ties
She also wanted all diplomatic ties with Israel suspended, along with sanctions against Israeli companies, military officials and additional support for the international courts — also saying the government should have done more.

“This government has been doing everything to do nothing . . . to appease allies that have dangerously overstepped unjustifiable marks, and they should not be silent.

“It’s not a war, it’s an annihilation, it’s an absolute annihilation of human beings . . . we’re way out there supporting those allies that are helping to weaponise Israel and the flattening and the continual cruel occupation of a nation, and it’s just nothing that I thought in my living days I’d be witnessing.”

She said the government should be pushing back against “a very polarised, very Trump attitude” to the conflict.

“Trumpism has arrived in Aotearoa . . . and we continue to go down that line, that is a really frightening part for this beautiful nation of ours.

“As a nation, we have a different set of values. We’re a Pacific-based country with a long history of going against the grain – the mainstream, easy grind. We’ve been a peaceful, loving nation that stood up against the big boys when it came to our anti nuclear stance and that’s our role in this, our role is not to follow blindly.”

Undermining two-state solution
In a statement, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said the actions of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had attempted to undermine the two-state solution and international law, and described the situation in Gaza as horrific.

“The travel bans echo the sanctions placed on Russian individuals and organisations that supported the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

He called for further action.

“Labour has been calling for stronger action from the government on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, including intervening in South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, creation of a special visa for family members of New Zealanders fleeing Gaza, and ending government procurement from companies operating illegally in the Occupied Territories.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Despite global opposition, Trump just fast-tracked deep-sea mining

Anita Hofschneider — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:13:55 +0000

President Donald Trump wants federal agencies to fast-track applications for deep-sea mining in an effort to make the United States a global leader in the nascent industry.

Trump issued an executive order Thursday declaring that U.S. policy includes “creating a robust domestic supply chain for critical minerals derived from seabed resources to support economic growth, reindustrialization, and military preparedness.” He described seabed mining as both an economic and national security imperative necessary to counter China.

“Our Nation must take immediate action to accelerate the responsible development of seabed mineral resources, quantify the Nation’s endowment of seabed minerals, reinvigorate American leadership in associated extraction and processing technologies, and ensure secure supply chains for our defense, infrastructure, and energy sectors,” the executive order says.

Increasingly, mining companies have been eager to scrape the ocean floor for cobalt, manganese, nickel and other metals that could help make batteries for cellphones and electric cars. But scientists have warned that the process could irreparably alter the seabed, kill extremely rare sea creatures that haven’t been named or studied, and — depending on how the metals are carried up to the surface — risk introducing metals into fisheries that many Pacific peoples rely upon.

The order aims to jump-start the industry that has been spearheaded by small Pacific nations like Nauru seeking economic growth, but has been facing growing pushback from Indigenous advocates who fear the lasting consequences of mining the deep sea.

“This extraction has no thought in mind about caring for resources,” said Solomon Kahoʻohalahala, who is Native Hawaiian and has been a vocal critic of the potential seabed industry at the United Nations. On Thursday afternoon, he read the executive order while attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City, and said he was struck by the language emphasizing U.S. dominance that echoed similar language in another executive order issued last week opening up Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

“It seems that there’s no vision for what we do in the long term,” he said. “It doesn’t speak to how we’re looking to take care of resources for the generations that are unborn. That’s a very different perspective that I hold as an Indigenous person.”

Itinerant Vietnamese monk meets opposition in Sri Lanka – from a fellow monk

RFA Vietnamese — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:33:23 +0000

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk on a barefoot pilgrimage from his homeland to India ran into some unexpected opposition in Sri Lanka on the latest leg of his circuitous journey around Asia.

A witness told Radio Free Asia that when the Vietnamese monk Thich Minh Tue and his entourage were about to go to a local Hindu temple to rest, a local monk, claiming to be from the Sri Lankan Buddhist Sangha, came to the temple and asked that he not stay.

Local Sri Lankans objected, taking sides with their Vietnamese visitor.

The Sri Lankan monk then took out his phone and read the contents of a letter allegedly sent by Thich Nhat Tu, a representative of the state-backed Vietnam Buddhist Sangha – or religious association - to the Sri Lankan Sangha, to justify his demand that Thich Minh Tue leave the leafy temple compound in Giriulla, a town about 30 miles northeast of the capital Colombo.

“He pointed to the letter and read the content to prove that this group of monks are a fake monks and were violating the law,” said Nguyen Minh Chi, a Vietnamese filmmaker who witnessed the exchange.

The letter is visible in video and photos of the incident, filmed by YouTubers accompanying Thich Minh Tue.

RFA has not been able to verify the authenticity of the letter. It bears a signature and the name of Thich Nhat Tu, along with the seal of the International Buddhist Council of the Vietnamese sangha, for which he serves as deputy head.

Thich Minh Tue was eventually able to enter the temple.

He became an unlikely internet sensation last year in Vietnam, where his simple lifestyle has struck a chord. His barefoot walks went viral and well-wishers came out in droves.

Last December, he left Vietnam on a journey by foot to India, the birthplace of Buddhism. After crossing Laos, he entered Thailand with a plan to hike across conflict-wracked Myanmar, but ran into logistical and visa problems. He has since traveled to Malaysia, and a week ago arrived in Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist nation. He still hopes to make it to India.

His expedition is not without controversy. Vietnam’s state-sanctioned Buddhist sangha has not officially recognized him as a monk. At one point, before his international wanderings began, authorities in communist Vietnam, leery of his popularity, announced he had “voluntarily retired.”

A statement was posted Wednesday on two Facebook pages linked to Thich Nhat Tu, the representative of the Vietnamese sangha, denying he wrote the letter.

It includes a section calling for close cooperation between the Vietnamese and Sri Lankan sanghas on the issue of Thich Minh Tue, saying that it is a matter related to “national order and security.”

One follower of Thich Minh Tue voiced exasperation about the controversy.

“Why do people who practice Buddhism together constantly fight each other?” asked Phuoc Nghiem in a video he posted Wednesday. “We’re only practicing (religion), but they keep filing complaints.”

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Vietnamese.

Why has Tanzania’s opposition party leader, Tundu Lissu, been charged with treason?

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 08:34:55 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

PNG’s ‘chief servant’ James Marape defeats no-confidence vote

APR editor — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 11:38:40 +0000

By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has survived a motion of no confidence against him in Parliament.

During the proceedings, livestreamed on EMTV, Speaker Job Pomat announced the results of the vote as 16 votes in favour and 89 against.

In moving the motion, the member for Abau, Sir Puka Temu, nominated Sir Peter Ipatas as an alternative prime minister to Marape, and said the motion was moved on principle.

READ MORE: Other PNG politics reports

“This is not a vote of ambition, it is a vote of accountability, it is a vote of conscience. Mr Speaker what is the role of government if not to uplift its people,” Sir Puka said.

The seconder of the motion, Wabag Open MP Lino Tom acknowledged the government’s superior numbers, but said the opposition were acting in the interest of the people and challenged Marape to address them on the floor.

“He needs to tell the people because he is the chief accountable officer of this country,” Tom said.

“He can no longer blame his incompetent ministers. He can no longer blame any other person here on this floor.”

Speaker put question
The Speaker then went to immediately put the question, provoking the ire of the opposition bench with Madang MP Bryan Kramer accusing him of acting contrary to the Supreme Court order that had the House resume to hear the motion, which had initially been denied by the Parliament’s private business committee.

“Mr Speaker must be consistent with the privileges and the spirit and intent of the constitution that provide every member the opportunity to debate,” he said.

“This is a court order if you entertain this motion of ‘question be put’ then there will be contempt proceedings.”

Despite multiple points of order from the opposition calling for the motion to be debated, Pomat proceeded to put the question and the results were overwhelmingly Marape’s favour.

“Those in favour of this motion are 16 and those who are not in favour of this motion and who want the Honourable Member for Tari Pori, Honourable James Marape, to remain as prime minister are 89.”

After the vote, Marape moved a motion to address the movers of the motion, and spoke at length about the achievements of his government, while throwing jabs at the opposition MPs, many of who had served as ministers in his government at different times.

He finished by thanking all who supported him in today’s leadership challenge.

Thanks to members
“I want to say thank you for members on both sides of the House for your participation today.

“A sincere thank you to the 89 on their feet, who stood up to vote and I want to say thank you as your chief servant.

“I will try my absolute best to continue on leaving no place and no one behind as the ultimate aim of this government and should be for any government going forward into the future.”

The nominated challenger, Sir Peter, also rose to thank the opposition for nominating him, and to all the people of Papua New Guinea who reached out to him with messages of support.

He said he only accepted the nomination because so many MPs had complained about the prime minister’s performance.

Sir Ipatas challenged government MPs to stop bickering and gossiping about James Marape behind his back.

“As he rightly said, he is putting his time and effort into trying to make this country great,” he said.

Call to ‘not gossip’
“It is about our ministers and leaders and leaders of coalition partners not gossiping, but be open with the prime minister and talk about issues that we have for the country and for the people.

“This country belongs to all of us. Our people.”

Parliament is now adjourned until May 27.

Under new laws passed last month, Marape now has an 18-month reprieve from votes of no confidence.

With only two years left until the next election, RNZ Pacific understands this effectively gives him a clear run to the 2027 National General Election.

Several opposition MPs in Parliament on Tuesday urged Marape to make the most of the upcoming period of stability, and deliver some real results for Papua New Guineans.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

China told Hong Kong’s last major opposition party to shut down: members

Alan Lu for RFA — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 06:58:00 +0000

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Senior members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, the city’s last remaining major opposition party, said that Chinese officials and their proxies had warned the party to disband or face “serious consequences,” including possible arrests.

Founded in 1994, the Democratic Party was Hong Kong’s first major pro-democracy political force. It emerged from a movement that began in 1982 to oppose any erosion of freedoms from China-U.K. negotiations on the territory’s future.

In February, the party announced plans to disband amid an ongoing political crackdown under two national security laws, though it did not initially cite pressure from Chinese authorities.

But Fred Li, a Democratic Party member and former lawmaker, told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that a Chinese official had informed him the party should be disbanded before the next legislative elections in December.

Li was among five senior Democratic Party members who said they had been told in meetings with Chinese officials or individuals linked to Beijing in recent months that the party should close, Reuters reported.

Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify the report.

The report came on the same day the party held a special members’ meeting and passed a motion authorizing its Central Committee to proceed with the disbandment.

“I hope Hong Kong’s political parties will continue to work for the people,” Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei told reporters at the party’s headquarters.

“We have always hoped to serve the Hong Kong people and to do things that are good for society.”

The party is now seeking legal and accounting professionals to carry out its liquidation. Any remaining assets will be donated to local organizations working for the betterment of Hong Kong, according to party rules.

Lo didn’t specify when the dissolution would be complete, only indicating that it could happen later this year or possibly next year.

Lo Kin-hei, Chairman of the Democratic Party, attends at a news conference after an extraordinary general meeting to seek members' views on the potential dissolution of the party in Hong Kong, China, April 13, 2025.

(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

The political crackdown has already resulted in the dissolution of the Civic Party. It was disbanded in May 2023 after its lawmakers were barred from running for reelection in the wake of the 2020 National Security Law.

The pro-democracy youth activist party Demosisto disbanded in June 2020.

The government has blamed several waves of pro-democracy protests in recent years on “foreign forces” trying to instigate a democratic revolution in Hong Kong.

Recent electoral changes ensure that almost nobody in the city’s once-vibrant opposition camp will stand for election again. Dozens of pro-democracy figures have been jailed and rule changes require political vetting for candidates.

Pro-democracy candidates who stood for the last directly elected district council attracted record turnout and won a landslide victory - widely seen as a ringing public endorsement of the 2019 protest movement.

Turnout plummeted in the first Legislative Council election after the rule change and Chief Executive John Lee was given the top job after running unopposed.

Since Beijing imposed two national security laws that banned public opposition and dissent in the city, and blamed “hostile foreign forces” for the resulting protests, hundreds of thousands have fled. The territory has plummeted in human rights rankings, press freedom has shrunk and government propaganda is now widespread in schools.

Hong Kong denies entry of UK politician

Reports of Chinese pressure on Hong Kong’s Democratic Party emerged just days after media outlets revealed that U.K. Liberal Democrat member of parliament Wera Hobhouse had been denied entry to the city during a family visit to meet her newborn grandson.

The British government expressed “serious concern” over the incident after Hobhouse said she was detained at the airport, questioned, had her passport confiscated, and was sent back to the U.K. without explanation.

She is believed to be the first British MP barred from entering Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.

As a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Hobhouse believes her political role was the reason.

“Until now, I think there had been a diplomatic understanding that we might have different values, different political ideas, but there is some sort of basic rule in which we allow politicians into each other’s countries, and that sort of understanding seems to be collapsing,” she said in an interview with BBC’s Newscast.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, called on the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, to summon the Chinese ambassador and provide a full explanation. Lammy said he will raise the “deeply concerning” incident with authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

Nicaragua’s Opposition Media Welcome Trump’s New Tariffs – and Ignore How They Were Calculated

John Perry — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 05:42:13 +0000

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

Five countries in Central America, together with the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, have a free trade agreement with Washington, but this didn’t protect them from the punitive tariffs announced on President Trump’s “Liberation Day.”

A minimum 10 per cent tariff on exports to the US will hit low-income countries throughout the region. But exports from Nicaragua have been saddled with an even higher tariff of 18 per cent. Delighted opponents of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government have blamed it, rather than Trump, for the country receiving this additional penalty. However, simple examination of the figures shows that Nicaragua’s tariff was calculated in the same way as every other country’s.

Before examining the opposition media’s error-strewn reports, this article first explains the background: how the tariff was set, whether it is legitimate and how US-Nicaragua trade is changing. Then it turns to the opposition’s mistakes and explains how they are using Trump’s actions to bolster their attacks on Nicaragua’s government and people.

How the tariffs were set

Trump’s chart of tariffs has two sets of figures for each country: the “tariffs charged to the USA” and the “reciprocal tariffs” to be imposed this month. Bizarrely, the “tariffs charged to the USA” do not relate to actual tariffs charged on US imports. Instead, they are the product of a calculation based on each country’s trade gap with the US. For most countries, the value of these “tariffs charged” has been set at 10 per cent, on the basis that the US has no trade deficit with them, or only a small one. All of these countries (including Nicaragua’s neighbors) are hit with a “reciprocal tariff” of 10 per cent on their exports to the US, from this month onwards, even if they buy more from the US than they sell to it.

However, a higher “tariff charged” is calculated for countries with which the US is judged to have a bigger trade deficit. For each country, the White House looked up the deficit for its trade with the US in goods for 2024, then divided that by the total value of the country’s exports to the US. Trump, to be “kind”, said he would offer a discount, so halved that figure. The calculation was distilled into a formula.

For example, these are the figures for China:

1) Goods trade deficit (exports from the US minus imports): – $291.9 billion

2) Total goods imported to the US from China: $438.9 billion

3) A ÷ B = – 0.67, or 67 per cent

4) Half of this is 34 per cent, the new tariff being applied to China.

Based on this formula, the small African country of Lesotho was saddled with the highest “reciprocal tariff” of 50 per cent, while several major SE Asian countries were also hit with very high tariffs.

How Nicaragua’s tariff was calculated

Nicaragua’s “reciprocal tariff” was calculated in the same way. According to US trade figures, in 2024 US goods exports to Nicaragua were $2.9 billion, while US goods imports from Nicaragua totaled $4.6 billion. The US goods trade deficit with Nicaragua was therefore – $1.7 billion in 2024.

The calculation was therefore: trade deficit (- $1.7 billion) ÷ imports ($4.6 billion) = – 0.37, or 37 per cent, halved to produce a “reciprocal tariff” of 18 per cent.

This means that from April 9, there will be a new tax of 18 per cent on Nicaraguan goods sent to the US, payable as a customs duty on their arrival by the company or agency importing the goods.

How Nicaragua might contest the tariff

It seems unlikely that Trump will bend to pressure on the tariffs. However, at least in theory, there are three ways in which Nicaragua might argue that the tariff is wrongly imposed:

1) Nicaragua’s Central Bank shows a smaller trade gap with the US. According to the Central Bank’s figures for 2024, Nicaragua’s exports to the US totaled $3.7 billion, not $4.6 billion, while its imports from the US totaled $2.7 billion, giving a trade gap of $1 billion, not $1.7 billion. On the basis of Trump’s tariff formula, the result should have been a 14 per cent tariff, not 18 per cent, if Nicaragua’s trade figures are correct. (A possible explanation for the difference may be the way that goods, originating in Nicaragua, are processed in other Central American countries before arrival in the US.)

2) Although most Central American countries import more from the US than they export to it, Costa Rica also has a trade surplus with the US, amounting to $2 billion, bigger than Nicaragua’s, yet it is only being penalized by the standard “reciprocal tariff” (10 per cent).

3) Most importantly, as the Guatemalan government pointed out, under the CAFTA-DR trade treaty new tariffs are illegal (under both US federal and international law). The treaty prohibits new tariffs or customs duties between the seven member countries. Therefore, all six of the other countries that are parties to CAFTA-DR are entitled to challenge the US for breaching it.

Action by CAFTA-DR members is complicated by the fact that Nicaragua is not only worst hit by the tariffs but is also a country that the US would like to exclude from the treaty completely, a point picked up below.

Changing significance of Nicaraguan exports to the US

Nicaragua’s Central Bank divides its trade figures between “merchandise” and products from free trade zones (principally, apparel). This, as we will see, confused the opposition media. This is the breakdown:

+ Exports of merchandise (e.g. gold, coffee, meat, etc.) totaled $4.2 billion in 2024, with the US accounting for 38.7 per cent of these, or $1.62 billion.

+ Exports from free trade zones were lower ($3.5 billion) but the proportion going to the US was much higher (59 per cent, or £2.08 billion).

+ Of Nicaragua’s total exports, at $7.7 billion, $3.7 billion went to the US (48 per cent).

+ Exports provide 39 per cent of Nicaragua’s annual income or GDP.

+ Exports to the US therefore account for a significant 18 per cent of GDP.

These figures exclude services, such as tourism and transport, where trade between Nicaragua and the US is roughly in balance (unlike Guatemala and Honduras, with whom the US has a strong trade surplus in services).

Exports to the US have fallen slowly from over 50 per cent of the total two years ago, as the government looks for other markets. Exports to the Republic of China, for example, were four times higher in 2024 than in 2022, but (at $68 million) are still a small proportion. There are other growing export markets, of which the most notable is Canada (now the second biggest buyer of Nicaraguan merchandise).

The Nicaraguan government’s response to the tariffs is likely to involve continued efforts to diversify trade and keeping a watchful eye on the effects on different sectors of the economy. Producers of products like coffee and gold may be less affected as they already have diverse markets. On the other hand the apparel sector, which until this month enjoyed zero tariffs on its $2 billion exports to the US, is geared to the US market and might find greater difficulty in mitigating the tariff’s effects.

Celebration and misinformation in opposition media

Nicaragua’s opposition media, long financed by the US government, admit that they have been hit by Elon Musk’s cuts. How they are now funded is unclear. However, prominent opposition activists enjoy salaried employment in US universities and think tanks, where they call for sanctions that would hit poor Nicaraguans. Naturally, they welcomed Trump’s announcement.

Errors in reporting on the tariffs showed opposition journalists’ unfamiliarity with Nicaragua’s economy. Confidencial, in a piece translated and reproduced in the Havana Times, claimed that the tariff imposed on Nicaragua ignored a trade surplus “of $484 million in favor of the US” which “has been growing in recent years.” This completely ignored exports to the US from the free trade zones. The same error was made a day later by Despacho 505.

According to Confidencial, the reason for the higher tariff on Nicaragua (and on Venezuela, hit with a 15 per cent tariff) was to punish their authoritarian governments. In reality, the higher tariffs on both countries resulted from the application of Trump’s formula, but this deliberate misrepresentation was to be repeated.

In an “analysis” for Confidencial on April 4, Manuel Orozco painted the 18 per cent tariff as specifically aimed at the Nicaraguan “dictatorship” (again, linking it with Venezuela). Orozco is a former Nicaraguan now living in Washington, working for the Inter-American Dialogue, an NGO funded by the US government and its arms industry. It is most unlikely that he was unaware of how the tariff was calculated; misleading his readers strengthened his argument that the higher tariff was a purely political move.

Further articles in Despacho 505 and Articulo 66 also blamed political factors without explaining the arithmetic behind the tariff. In La Prensa, activist Felix Maradiaga wrongly remarked that the US accounts for over 60 per cent of Nicaragua’s exports. According to him, the supposed weakness of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government means the country will struggle to cope (he disregards its remarkable resilience in dealing with the much heavier economic consequences of the 2018 coup attempt and the 2020 pandemic).

Then, also in Confidencial, opposition activist Juan Sebastián Chamorro made the claim that the new tariffs, which of course he welcomes, are entirely compatible with the CAFTA-DR trade treaty. He argued that Washington’s action is justified on grounds of “national security.” This echoes the absurd classification of Nicaragua (during the first Trump administration, continued by Biden) as “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

Opposition media are trying to present the new tariff as the first round of the stronger sanctions on Nicaragua that they have been urging Washington to adopt. They do this regardless of their illegality under the CAFTA-DR trade treaty or wider international law. The possibility of going further – excluding Nicaragua from the treaty – was trailed by Trump’s Latin America envoy, Mauricio Claver-Carone, in January, although he was careful to note the difficulties. But if this were to happen it would delight the opposition even further.

Obsessed with promoting regime change in Managua, these anti-Sandinista activists disregard the effects of tariffs and trade sanctions on ordinary Nicaraguans. On “Liberation Day” Trump showed his indifference to the millions of people in low-income countries whose livelihoods depend on producing food and other products for export to the US. The likes of Orozco, Maradiaga and Chamorro behave in just the same way.

The post Nicaragua’s Opposition Media Welcome Trump’s New Tariffs – and Ignore How They Were Calculated appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John Perry.

Nicaragua’s Opposition Media Welcome Trump’s New Tariffs

John Perry — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 14:37:46 +0000

How the tariffs were set

For example, these are the figures for China:

Goods trade deficit (exports from the US minus imports): – $291.9 billion
Total goods imported to the US from China: $438.9 billion
A ÷ B = – 0.67, or 67 per cent
Half of this is 34 per cent, the new tariff being applied to China.

How Nicaragua’s tariff was calculated

The calculation was therefore: trade deficit (- $1.7 billion) ÷ imports ($4.6 billion) = – 0.37, or 37 per cent, halved to produce a “reciprocal tariff” of 18 per cent.

This means that from April 9, there will be a new tax of 18 per cent on Nicaraguan goods sent to the US, payable as a customs duty on their arrival by the company or agency importing the goods.

How Nicaragua might contest the tariff

It seems unlikely that Trump will bend to pressure on the tariffs. However, at least in theory, there are three ways in which Nicaragua might argue that the tariff is wrongly imposed:

Nicaragua’s Central Bank shows a smaller trade gap with the US. According to the Central Bank’s figures for 2024, Nicaragua’s exports to the US totaled $3.7 billion, not $4.6 billion, while its imports from the US totaled $2.7 billion, giving a trade gap of $1 billion, not $1.7 billion. On the basis of Trump’s tariff formula, the result should have been a 14 per cent tariff, not 18 per cent, if Nicaragua’s trade figures are correct. (A possible explanation for the difference may be the way that goods, originating in Nicaragua, are processed in other Central American countries before arrival in the US.)
Although most Central American countries import more from the US than they export to it, Costa Rica also has a trade surplus with the US, amounting to $2 billion, bigger than Nicaragua’s, yet it is only being penalized by the standard “reciprocal tariff” (10 per cent).
Most importantly, as the Guatemalan government pointed out, under the CAFTA-DR trade treaty new tariffs are illegal (under both US federal and international law). The treaty prohibits new tariffs or customs duties between the seven member countries. Therefore, all six of the other countries that are parties to CAFTA-DR are entitled to challenge the US for breaching it.

Changing significance of Nicaraguan exports to the US

Exports of merchandise (e.g. gold, coffee, meat, etc.) totaled $4.2 billion in 2024, with the US accounting for 38.7 per cent of these, or $1.62 billion.
Exports from free trade zones were lower ($3.5 billion) but the proportion going to the US was much higher (59 per cent, or £2.08 billion).
Of Nicaragua’s total exports, at $7.7 billion, $3.7 billion went to the US (48 per cent).
Exports provide 39 per cent of Nicaragua’s annual income or GDP.
Exports to the US therefore account for a significant 18 per cent of GDP.

Celebration and misinformation in opposition media

Image credit: Trump on “Liberation Day” [Photo: White House]

The post Nicaragua’s Opposition Media Welcome Trump’s New Tariffs first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by John Perry.

US so-called “Reciprocal” Tariffs Set to Take Effect, Triggering Widespread Opposition, Market Uncertainty

Global Times — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:20:50 +0000

The new US administration is set to announce its reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday local time, prompting widespread concern and opposition over the uncertainty they could unleash, according to media reports.

As the date approaches, global financial markets including the US stock market have experienced a rollercoaster ride as investors’ anxiety continues to worsen.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.28 percent higher to close at 35,725.87, and the broader Topix index closed down by 0.43 percent at 2,650.29. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.62 percent to close at 2,505.86 while the Kosdaq declined 0.95 percent to close at 684.85.

As for European markets, the benchmark STOXX 600 was trading down as of press time.

US stocks dropped Wednesday as Wall Street braced for the expected rollout of the US tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 333 points, or 0.8 percent. The S&P 500 slid 1 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite pulled back by 1.5 percent, CNBC reported.

It followed a volatile session on Monday as investors awaited clarity on US President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted on Monday their worst quarterly performances since 2022, as uncertainty around the Trump administration’s economic agenda roiled US equity markets in the first quarter of 2025. For the quarter, the S&P 500 slumped 4.6 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite plummeted 10.5 percent, Reuters reported.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.16 percent from 4.23 percent late Monday and from roughly 4.80 percent in January, the AP reported.

Gold prices on Monday surged above $3,100 per ounce for the first time as concerns around the US tariffs and the potential economic fallout, combined with geopolitical worries, drove a fresh wave of investments into the safe-haven asset. Spot gold prices hit a record high of $3,106.50 per ounce, according to a separate Reuters report.

Growing backlash‌

The tariff plan has also drawn widespread opposition from the US’ trading partners, with officials from various countries speaking out to safeguard their interests while potentially retaliating if necessary.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to fight unjustified trade actions, protect Canadian workers and businesses and build Canada’s economy, including through increased trade between Canada and Mexico as he spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday.

“With challenging times ahead, Prime Minister Carney and President Sheinbaum emphasized the importance of safeguarding North American competitiveness while respecting the sovereignty of each nation,” Carney’s office said in a statement.

Other economies have also threatened countermeasures.

The EU has “a strong plan to retaliate if necessary,” European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said on March 20 in a speech, according to the speech released by the EC on Tuesday.

“Our objective is a negotiated solution. But of course, if need be, we will protect our interests, our people and our companies,” von der Leyen said.

The sweeping tariff measures adopted by the US will not work because they are built on a flawed assumption and “completely mistaken” diagnosis on its economy, and it wrongly blames global trade for domestic struggles, which will only lead to negative consequences, Pascal Lamy, former Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

Sharp tariff hikes can indeed disrupt global value and supply chains, adversely affecting other nations while simultaneously impacting the US itself, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Experts warned that the tariffs will backfire, disrupting global supply and industrial chains and saddling US businesses and consumers with higher costs.

Lamy cautioned that the US itself stands to suffer most. “If the US triggers a trade war, it will primarily hurt the US economy by raising prices, driving inflation and likely pushing up interest rates,” Lamy said, adding that this fallout could also trigger pushback from US financial markets and the general public.

Gao noted that after tariff hikes, domestic US producers often raise prices, leaving consumer welfare unimproved.

According to Gao, studies indicate that 25 percent tariffs could raise consumer costs by $5,000 to $10,000, exacerbating uncertainty for both the US and global economies. The price of a typical car could rise by between $5,000 to $10,000 “out of the gates” due to the new tariffs, according to a March 31 estimate from Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, CBS News reported.

Gao pointed to recent market volatility, low consumer confidence and rising recession risks as evidence.

Goldman Sachs said in a report released on Sunday US local time “We now see a 12-month recession probability of 35 percent [in the US]. The upgrade from our previous 20 percent estimate reflects our lower growth baseline, the sharp recent deterioration in household and business confidence, and statements from White House officials indicating greater willingness to tolerate near-term economic weakness in pursuit of their policies.”

Tariffs are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they can suppress imports of foreign products into the US. On the other hand, tariffs do not offer as many advantages for the development of the US as Washington might imagine, Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Tariffs fuel inflation and stifle innovation among local firms. Moreover, due to potential retaliation from other countries, US exports can also be affected, and the impacts of tariffs on the US would be mostly negative, Liu said.

However, former WTO chief Lamy downplayed the tariffs’ potential to reshape global trade, noting that the US accounts for just 15 percent of world imports. “The rest of the international trading system – 85 percent of global imports, involving trade between countries like China, India, Mexico, and Canada – can remain largely unaffected,” he said.

As for China, Liu said that as the detailed measures have not been disclosed, the specific impacts remain uncertain, though it will likely target specific sectors.

Regarding China’s response, Liu said that the country is well-prepared, with ample technological, industrial and strategic reserves.

Chinese authorities, including the Foreign Ministry and the Commerce Ministry, have stated multiple times that trade and tariff wars have no winners and the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the US undermines the multilateral trading system, as well as disrupting normal international trade order.

China-US trade ties are based on reciprocal interactions. Cooperation will bring about mutual benefit and win-win, and China will definitely take countermeasures in response to arbitrary pressure, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on March 12.

The post US so-called “Reciprocal” Tariffs Set to Take Effect, Triggering Widespread Opposition, Market Uncertainty first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Global Times.

Journalists in Turkey arrested, beaten, deported amid government crackdown on opposition

CPJ Staff — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:21:44 +0000

Istanbul, April 2, 2025—In the weeks since the March 19 detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a potential challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next presidential race, along with other members of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), civil unrest has erupted in western Turkey.

The government, controlled by Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), launched a crackdown against CHP-controlled Istanbul municipalities, including two district municipality mayors and dozens of other politicians and municipality personnel, citing accusations of corruption. But authorities have since arrested thousands of protesters and have moved aggressively to tamp down media coverage of the demonstrations.

Authorities have raided the homes of at least nine journalists, detaining them along with at least four other journalists arrested while covering the protests, while hurting numerous others. Media regulators have also imposed suspensions and fines on pro-opposition broadcasters and threatened to cancel the licenses of TV channels covering the protests.

While many of the journalists arrested in the initial sweep have been released, press freedom advocates are concerned that authorities are deliberately targeting them to suppress coverage, as the government has done during times of civil unrest or protests in recent decades.

Since March 19, CPJ has documented the following press freedom violations:

Detentions

On March 19, police detained freelance reporter and TV commentator İsmail Saymaz at his house in Istanbul. Saymaz, who has worked for pro-opposition outlets such as Halk TV and Sözcü, was put under house arrest pending investigation on March 21 for “assisting an attempt to overthrow the government” based on his interviews from years ago.
On March 23, police detained Zişan Gür, a reporter for the leftist news website Sendika, from the field in Istanbul. He was released on March 27.
On March 24, police detained five photojournalists who had covered the protests during raids on their homes in Istanbul: Yasin Akgül of Agence France-Presse (AFP), Ali Onur Tosun of NOW Haber, as well as freelancers Bülent Kılıç, Zeynep Kuray, and Hayri Tunç. An Istanbul court arrested the five for “violating the law on gatherings and demonstrations” on March 25, but they were released the following day. Prosecutors had argued that they were actually protesters, citing select police camera shots of them as evidence.
On March 24, police detained freelance photojournalist Murat Kocabaş at his house in in the western city of Izmir. He was released on March 27.
On March 25, police detained freelancer Yağız Barut as he was covering the protests in Izmir. He was released on March 27.
On March 27, authorities arrested Kaj Joakim Medin, a Swedish reporter for newspaper Dagens ETC who was traveling to Istanbul to follow the protests, upon his arrival at the Istanbul airport. He was accused of insulting Erdoğan and of being a member of a terrorist organization, in relation to a 2023 investigation.
On March 28, police detained Nisa Sude Demirel, a reporter with the leftist daily Evrensel, and Elif Bayburt, a reporter with leftist outlet ETHA, at their houses for covering the Istanbul protests. They were both released the following day.

Turkey has a history of imprisoning journalists, having been ranked among the top 10 worst jailers of journalists from 2012 to 2023, and the recent drop in number of journalists behind bars may be misleading as an indicator on its own.

Deportation

On March 27, Istanbul police detained BBC correspondent Mark Lowen and deported him on a flight to London for covering the protests.

Injuries

From March 21 to 23, at least 14 journalists were injured after being beaten or shot with rubber bullets by Istanbul police, while one reporter was assaulted by the protesters, according to the local media freedom group MLSA. Police also damaged journalists’ equipment.

Censorship

Ebubekir Şahin, the government-appointed chair of the media regulator RTÜK, has threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of Turkish TV channels covering the protests and opposition rallies.
On March 27, RTÜK imposed heavy penalties on multiple pro-opposition TV channels, though the sanctions didn’t immediately go into effect since they can be challenged in court. Sözcü TV would have to stop broadcasting for 10 days if its appeal is rejected.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

How the US-backed Venezuelan opposition screwed migrants over

The Grayzone — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:40:23 +0000

This content originally appeared on The Grayzone and was authored by The Grayzone.

Trump, Musk and Their Democratic “Opposition”

Jerry Long — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 05:50:18 +0000

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

Turns out there’s a difference between living in interesting times and trying to exist amid delirium. How I envy those Trumpian Americans, their bloodstreams teeming with patriotism and microplastics, whose biggest concerns seem to be transexual athletes and paper straws. But with apologies to the 45th and 47th President and all those lying prostrate before him, I can’t help thinking the United States would be a far better country if we were willing to recognize multiple genders but only two mental states: sane and hallucinatory.

Yet it’s not Trump I find unforgivable… it’s President 47 E. Elon Musk is a repellent human being whose enormous wealth seems intent on turning his face to stone. Unlike Alexander Hamilton, an impoverished bastard child who showed up in the colonies and made good, Musk is merely a South African bastard who showed up to embellish his fortune.

Little Elon was raised in luxury amid Hitler worshippers and Apartheid proponents who taught him that empathy is “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” Sure, like any of us, the serial entrepreneur and impregnator ( 6 companies and -as of this writing- 15 acknowledged children) did know hardship as a youth. Elon’s daddy allegedly made so much money from Zambian emerald mines he once boasted that “we couldn’t even close our safe.” Maybe the trauma of enduring a money-strewn floor is what led him to crypto.

We need to be very clear about the unprecedented nature of this moment. And I’m not referring to Ukraine and Russia and funding wars and selling armaments and keeping our legions well fed. Musk himself makes open-ended billions from defense contracts. He is Boeing in a tee shirt. The business of death will be fine.

What’s unprecedented is that a pair of psychopaths, one elected the other squatting, control the Executive Branch. They govern by whim. Madness, injustice, and impracticality pore forth in endless diktats from their seldom closed mouths. Just how horrific is the potential for this co-reign? Consider. In matters of legality, ethics, and the workings of the Constitution, Donald Trump is the more grounded one.

Trump has spent his life seeing dead ends as exit ramps. But his use-by date is fast approaching, and even he must know somewhere in his tortured psyche that every inane pronouncement brings him closer to the clock striking all of the time and, at long last, having no one left to fool. When his implosion comes the only question will be the size of the debris field.

But to see Musk bounding out the door of the White House or hovering next to the Resolute Desk or semi-presiding at Cabinet meetings is to witness a cartoon level of obscenity. Our government has always existed to help the rich. But with Elon, the rich are now insisting on helping themselves. And it’s not the line between democracy and dictatorship which is being obliterated, it’s the one between Plutocracy (rule by wealth) and Kleptocracy (rule by theft of resources).

Musk’s vast wealth enables him to act from a fit of pique and portray it as a sense of principle. He bought Twitter to keep from being mocked, and purchased The Eisenhower Executive Office Building to keep from being regulated. Under DOGE, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security may all be turned over to the untender mercilessness of Private Equity by Musk’s horde of Skittles-pounding pissants. But you can rest assured that Elon’s personal sense of entitlement will emerge unscathed. For The Great Stone Face defines public service as the public servicing him.

The rich are indeed different from you and me. They suck more impactfully.

Only a fool would tell you how this will all turn out. But only someone who has given up on the study of history, politics, and human behavior would find this boring. Lincoln believed the United States could not exist half slave and half free. Yet even he might have thrown up his hands over how to save a country trying to exist half certain and half terrified.

Nations have prospered monopolizing silk or tulips or the sale of human beings. Under the reign of Trump and Musk it appears we will try to monopolize delusion. And do not expect Republicans to set a limit. They will happily allow Trump to determine psychological well being and Musk to repurpose a 200 year old Constitutional Republic as his personal startup because they are energized at this once in a generation opportunity to keep the poor from living.

And what of Congressional Democrats? As Charles “We Will Win” Schumer resoundingly proved, they remain torn between inertia and appearance, while their perpetually paid consultants flail to rephrase spinelessness as sagacity.

In the United States Of America, knowledge has never been a prerequisite for high office. But our elected officials now find it safest to be neither fox nor hedgehog. To know neither many things nor one great one. Taking shelter in a lack of complexity, they have become the simplest of organisms… bacteria.

And the Democratic Party is the least useful bacteria of all.

The post Trump, Musk and Their Democratic “Opposition” appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jerry Long.

Controlled Opposition – TEASER

Andrea Chalupa — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 14:45:00 +0000

What’s the Republican spending bill all about? It’s an extremely dangerous powergab engineered by Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and dirty lawyer who came up with the legal strategy to try to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican spending bill essentially grants legal protections to Trump and Musk’s ongoing illegal mass purge, to protect them against court orders–one of the last levers of power we have left. Any Democrat who votes for this is complicit in Trump and Musk’s tech-backed coup, illegally mass firing federal workers to replace them with an A.I. surveillance state.

This week’s episode continues our conversation with Gil Durán of the Third Reich and FrameLab newsletters on Controlled Opposition—those Vichy Democrats who refuse to stand up to the fascist Republicans in power. But why? What’s in it for them? In a dictatorship, no one is safe—not even former allies like Putin, who’ve found themselves mysteriously falling out of windows or exploding mid-air. Why are some Democrats still playing the role of complicit bystanders?

The Senate is gearing up to vote on the extreme Republican spending bill, which slashes life-saving programs like Head Start and community health centers, while funneling billions to the Pentagon and Homeland Security. At a time when Trump is threatening to invade Canada and Greenland, and ICE is denying due process to green card holders like Mahmoud Khalil, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The bill also cuts Washington, DC’s budget—an attempt to punish the city for daring to protest Trump’s corrupt regime.

But here's the thing: shutting down the government doesn’t empower Trump or Musk—it forces Democrats to get on the front lines and expose the Republican spending bill for what it really is: a power grab designed to protect Trump and Musk’s illegal tech-backed coup.

There’s hope, though. While Trump and Musk face a future of justice (their approval ratings are plummeting), we need to keep fighting back.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

The Nerd Reich https://www.thenerdreich.com/

FrameLab https://www.theframelab.org/

Chuck Schumer and Senate Dems are expected to help advance the GOP spending bill, which Republicans say would let Trump defund whatever projects he wants https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-republican-cr-budget-bill-nightmare-democrats-1235296004/

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Rep. Al Green are misreading the moment https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/al-green-trump-resistance-democracy-rcna195314

Crypto cash is flooding the 2024 election. Here’s who’s benefiting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/crypto-firms-candidates-house-senate-election-2024/

Facebook cofounder Sean Parker illegally damages redwood forest for fantasy Game of Thrones wedding https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/crypto-firms-candidates-house-senate-election-2024/

Rep. Al Green Speaking in Congress https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3ljo4v6aip223

Congressional Supporters of Al Green Sing “We Shall Overcome” in Congress https://bsky.app/profile/ariellaelm.bsky.social/post/3ljqoabwcps2i

Some Democrats Endorse Bill Allowing Elon Musk to Create His Own Currency The GENIUS Act is the first pro-crypto bill Republicans want to rush through this Congress. Thanks to industry money, several Democrats are ignoring the bill’s major problems. https://prospect.org/power/2025-03-10-some-democrats-endorse-bill-allowing-elon-musk-create-own-currency/

These 10 Democrats voted to censure Al Green https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5180324-10-house-democrats-censure-al-green/

Announcement! Are you concerned about what the broligarchy is doing with your data but feeling overwhelmed by all the tech? Do you get frustrated by the erosion of your sense of privacy and yet are unsure of what steps you, as a non-techie individual, can do?

Join us on Monday April 7th for a special edition of the Gaslit Nation salon when representatives from the Gaslit Nation Security Committee will share a plan for taking control of your data, protecting your privacy, and regaining data sovereignty in an age of surveillance capitalism.

This presentation will be geared towards non-techies and will help you prioritize steps you can take today to secure your data. Attendees will receive the following documents in a PDF: surveillance awareness self-assessment, prioritized action plan checklist, a calendar for the first thirty days of taking control of your data, and a copy of the presentation slides.

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating
March 31 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond
NEW! April 7 4pm ET – Security Committee Presents at the Gaslit Nation Salon. Don’t miss it!
Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.
Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.
Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?
Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and the first ~40 minutes are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community

This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.

“Biased” UN Report on Nicaragua Ignores Victims of US-backed Opposition Violence

John Perry — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 16:09:30 +0000

One of scores of violent barricades, or tranques, created around Nicaragua in the 2018 coup attempt

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One of scores of violent barricades, or tranques, created around Nicaragua during the 2018 coup attempt

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One of scores of violent barricades, or tranques, created around Nicaragua during the 2018 coup attempt

MASAYA, NICARAGUA – Reynaldo Urbina rides his motorbike around the streets of Masaya, Nicaragua, with agility, despite having only one arm. Nearly seven years ago, at the height of a US- supported coup attempt against Nicaragua’s left-wing Sandinista government, Urbina was one of those guarding the city’s municipal warehouse when it was attacked by around 200 armed protestors. Warned of the impending attack, the guards had been ordered to hide their weapons and not resist capture, to minimize casualties.

But Urbina was suspected of knowing the whereabouts of the city’s mayor, whom the hooligans sought to assassinate, so they threw him to the ground and smashed his left arm with a rifle butt until it was practically destroyed. Urbina escaped, but his arm could not be saved, and was later amputated.

Reynaldo Urbina el chele

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Reynaldo Urbina (left) lost his left arm after being tortured by US-backed opposition gangs

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Reynaldo Urbina (left) lost his left arm after being tortured by US-backed opposition gangs

When a team was sent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Nicaragua to collect evidence on human rights abuses a few weeks later, Urbina was among those offered by the government as a witness. But the team refused to meet him.

The UN’s 40-page report, issued in August 2018, devotes just five paragraphs to violence by anti-government factions; the rest blames the government and its supporters for practically every other violent incident, including many (like an arson attack on a pro-Sandinista radio station) that were clearly part of the coup attempt.

Some time after the coup attempt, Nicaragua’s then vice-minister for foreign affairs, Valdrack Jaentschke, described an exchange with Paulo Abrão, who was the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The IACHR was another of the bodies which had launched investigations of human rights abuses in 2018. Valdrack had asked Abrão why visiting investigators were not collecting evidence of the severe opposition violence which had taken place. Abrão gave two reasons: that human rights abuses can only be carried out by the state, and that violence by civil society groups is just “common criminality” and therefore not within the investigators’ mandate.

Israeli regime cutout hosts Nicaraguan regime change operative Maradiaga at UNHRC

This February 28 this year, when the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held a session on human rights in Nicaragua, a key witness who played a leading role in the coup against Nicaragua’s elected Sandinista government appeared by video to deliver a denunciation of his enemies in Managua.

He was Felix Maradiaga, a US government-sponsored regime change operative who was one of the main organizers of the coup attempt. As The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal reported, Maradiaga’s IEEPP think tank had been funded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from the National Endowment for Democracy, the regime change arm of the US government.

In June 2018, the Nicaraguan police charged Maradiaga with overseeing an organized criminal network that murdered several people. Relieved of this charge in a post-coup amnesty in 2019, he was arrested again, this time for treason, in 2021. Released again – this time into exile in the United States – Maradiaga was awarded a major prize from the UNHRC in 2023 as a “human rights defender.”

Blinken is defending the hooligans & oligarchs the US pays to carry out attacks on the Nicaraguan people.

Here’s Felix Maradiaga – recipient of huge US grants – with armed goons of the Viper criminal network that terrorized Managua during the 2018 coup: pic.twitter.com/uqigHnYqTu https://t.co/DK8Y9eVX5E

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 10, 2021

Maradiaga’s most recent UNHRC appearance was hosted by by UN Watch, an Israeli regime cutout which maintains a constant presence in Geneva, relentlessly attacking the UN to shield Israel’s system of apartheid. But what interest would an Israel lobby outfit have in backing Nicaragua’s opposition? The motive clearly relates to the Sandinista government’s longstanding support for Palestinian self-determination, a stance which led it to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and bring legal action against Germany in 2024 for assisting Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. (All of Nicaragua’s top opposition figures are vehemently pro-Israel).

A day before Maradiaga’s appearance, Nicaragua’s government issued a statement accusing the UNHRC of being “a platform for those who are attempting to destabilize Nicaragua and are the perpetrators of numerous murders, abductions, and violations of human rights of the Nicaraguan people.” It went on to announce its “irrevocable” withdrawal from the multilateral body.

Nicaragua’s patience had run out. Not only was the UNHRC platforming Maradiaga, but they had published a new report on alleged “human rights violations.” The report comes from the so-called “Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaraguan” (GHREN) set up by the UNHRC in 2022. It supposedly describes human rights in Nicaragua in the period from 2018 onwards, but to anyone who lives in the country (as I do) and witnessed the violent coup attempt that took place in April-July that year, it is an extraordinarily partial and biased document.

The most egregious bias is the report’s treatment of opposition figures like Maradiaga as victims, not perpetrators. It is true that there have been arrests, imprisonments and the expulsion from the country (with US agreement and facilitation) of many of those arrested. But the GHREN appears never to have asked if they might be guilty of criminal acts. The new report refers disparagingly to government statements “alleging” that 2018’s events were an attempted coup. Instead, according to the GHREN, “legitimate protests” took place and were subject to a “violent and disproportionate crackdown.”

Yet as The Grayzone reported back in 2019, the real story was very different. Of the official death toll of 253, just 31 were known supporters of the opposition, 48 were probable or actual Sandinista supporters, 22 were police and the majority (152) were members of the public, many of them attacked at armed opposition roadblocks. Simply by omitting the facts that 22 police officers were killed, some after being tortured, and that over 400 police were injured, the GHREN reveals an extraordinary bias which invalidates its report.

The GHREN members are fully aware of the real story, but they simply choose to ignore it. They quite deliberately feed Washington’s narrative, repeated by its allies and by the corporate media, that what happened in 2018 was a series of peaceful protests, not a violent coup attempt that endangered thousands of Nicaraguans and hit the livelihoods of millions.

Their first, 300-page report in March 2023 also made little reference to opposition violence, and as result it was strongly criticized in a letter to the UNHRC, organized by the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition and signed by many prominent human rights experts and by 119 organizations and 573 individuals, and accompanied by a detailed critique of the report. A separate document analyzed their error-strewn case study of Masaya, where I live, referring them to overlooked crimes such as the torture of Reynaldo Urbina. Neither the letter nor the accompanying evidence received any response, but it can be assumed that the “experts” are at least aware of that they were sent.

When the GHREN produced a second report, in March 2024, another letter of protest was submitted, again receiving no response. This was also signed by human rights experts and a large number of organizations and individuals. It was sent personally to the president of the UNHRC by Alfred de Zayas, Professor of International Law in Geneva and a former UN Independent Expert. According to de Zayas, the report was “methodologically flawed, biased and should never have been published.”

When there was again no response, a third letter was sent in September 2024, urging the UNHRC to close down the GHREN on the grounds that its reports are incompatible with UN and UNHRC resolutions, do not meet the assignment they were given, and ignored legitimate and detailed evidence submitted. Not surprisingly, there was no reply.

The intention to ignore these criticisms could hardly be more obvious, despite the GHREN’s claim to exercise “independence, impartiality, objectivity, transparency, integrity.” Or, as the letter from Nicaragua’s foreign minister puts it, the UNHRC (in publishing the GHREN’s work) “violates its own regulations.”

This is part of a well-established pattern, referred to by Cuban and Venezuelan officials at the UNHRC’s recent session as well as those from Nicaragua, in which the council listens to and records only one side of the story when investigating human rights “violations” by Washington’s enemies. In his book on “the human rights industry,” de Zayas specifically accuses the GHREN of being set up for the purpose of “naming and shaming” the Nicaraguan government, not for objective investigation.

Instead of answering criticisms, the GHREN cynically repeats an accusation made in its previous reports, that Nicaraguan authorities were given the chance to respond to its allegations but failed to do so. Had they investigated Nicaragua’s reticence, they might have uncovered the Urbina case and several others where the government tried and failed to engage with such exercises.

Notable among these was the visit in 2018 by an earlier “interdisciplinary group of independent experts” whose similarly error-strewn report, about that year’s violent “Mothers’ Day march,” also showed overwhelming partiality and anti-government bias. Soon after this visit the government made the understandable decision to refuse cooperation with future investigations by multilateral bodies, and later to deny them permission even to enter the country. Its recent withdrawal from the UNHRC itself was a logical last step.

From Washington’s viewpoint, the GHREN’s new report could hardly have been better timed. Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already branded Nicaragua’s government (along with those of Cuba and Venezuela) as “enemies of humanity.” Not only does the report bolster this view, but it even advocates the tightening of sanctions on Nicaragua that Rubio is known to be contemplating.

The GHREN specifically calls for Nicaragua to be penalized under the regional trade treaty, known as CAFTA, which enables Nicaragua to trade with its Central American neighbors and the US on favorable terms, and is of massive importance for the country’s economy and hence for Nicaraguan livelihoods. The GHREN’s recommendation is in direct conflict with one of the UNHRC’s own resolutions: UNHRC Resolution 48/5 in 2021 states that such sanctions (“unilateral coercive measures”) violate international law and human rights. Rubio said in Costa Rica on February 4 that the trade treaty’s purpose was to “reward democracy.” Visiting Central America’s right-wing governments to drum up support for tightened sanctions, he claimed that Nicaragua “…is not a democracy. It does not function as a democracy.”

The GHREN’s report, issued just three weeks after Rubio’s visit, suggests that penalties could be applied under CAFTA’s “democratic clause.” Yet the trade treaty does not have such a clause; it only has a passing reference, in its preamble, to “sustaining the rule of law and democracy.” An impartial group of “experts” in international law, such as the GHREN, ought to be aware of the need for precision in their recommendations, and certainly should avoid calling for actions that would be in breach of international law.

Clearly the GHREN has no such inhibitions. It has provided Rubio with a recommendation that he can use to damage Nicaragua’s economy and harm its working people. Members of Nicaragua’s elite classes, like Felix Maradiaga, will continue to have a voice at international forums; ordinary Nicaraguans whose human rights were permanently damaged in 2018, like Reynaldo Urbina, remain invisible.

The post “Biased” UN Report on Nicaragua Ignores Victims of US-backed Opposition Violence first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by John Perry.

China announces 7.2% defense budget hike, reaffirms opposition to Taiwan independence

Taejun Kang and Alan Lu for RFA — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 08:45:50 +0000

TAIPEI, Taiwan – China is increasing its 2025 defense budget by 7.2% to US$246 billion amid growing rivalry with the United States and tensions over Taiwan, marking the fourth consecutive year of more than 7% growth in defense spending.

As China announced its defense budget on Wednesday, Premier Li Qiang reiterated “strong opposition” to those who push for Taiwan’s formal independence and their foreign supporters.

China has ramped up military activities around self-governed, democratic Taiwan, conducting frequent air and naval incursions into the island’s air defense identification zone and staging large-scale drills near its waters. Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory and insists on eventual reunification, by force if necessary.

The 7.2% increase, announced at the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of China’s legislature, matches last year’s rate but remains significantly lower than the double-digit rises seen in previous years, reflecting an economic slowdown.

Analysts say actual military spending could be at least 40% higher due to expenditures hidden in other budgets.

China’s leadership has set a target for overall economic growth of around 5% for the year.

Since Xi Jinping became president more than a decade ago, the defense budget has ballooned to 1.78 trillion yuan (US$246 billion) from 720 billion yuan in 2013.

Xi aims to complete full military modernisation by 2035, with China’s military developing new missiles, ships, submarines and surveillance technologies.

Its military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S. and it already has the world’s largest navy.

‘Strong opposition’ to Taiwan independence

China announced the new military budget just days after sending dozens of aircraft into territory near Taiwan and briefly setting up a live-fire zone close to the island.

In his comments at the Congress, Premier Li told the nearly 3,000 party loyalists that China still preferred a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue, but “resolutely opposes” those pushing for Taiwan’s formal independence and their foreign supporters.

“We will firmly advance the cause of China’s reunification and work with our fellow Chinese in Taiwan to realize the glorious cause of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Li said.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivers a speech during the opening session of the National People’s Congress, at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China March 5, 2025.

(Tingshu Wan/Reuters)

Li’s remarks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for a top Pentagon post said Taiwan needed to increase its defense spending to about 10% of its gross domestic product to deter a war with China.

Elbridge Colby, the nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that Taiwan’s current level of defense spending was “well below 3%” and therefore far too low.

“They should be more like 10%, or at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense,” said Colby.

Taiwan’s Cabinet had earmarked $647 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$20 billion) for defense spending in 2025, equal to 2.45% of its GDP.

President Lai Ching-te later pledged to propose a special budget to raise defense spending to more than 3% of GDP, though that, too, would require legislative approval.

Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is committed to assisting Taiwan to defend itself but it has long maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

“Taiwan’s fall [to China] would be a disaster for American interests,” said Colby, explaining that he was trying to draw attention to the fact that the military balance vis-à-vis China has “deteriorated dramatically.”

“What I have been trying to do is shoot a signal flare that it is vital to enable U.S. forces for an ‘effective and reasonable’ defense of Taiwan, and for the Taiwanese and Japanese to do more,” he added.

Taiwan severs academic ties with Chinese universities, citing propaganda links

China condemns US for tweak to Taiwan reference; Washington calls it ‘routine’ update

In response to Colby’s remarks, Taiwan’s defence ministry referred to Lai’s announcement of “a significant increase in the defense budget.”

“Taiwan’s military’s force modernization plans are based on careful assessments of evolving threats, ensuring that procurement aligns with strategic needs and available defense budgets,” Minister of Defense Wellington Koo Li-hsiung said in a statement to Radio Free Asia.

Referring to the president’s announcement of significant increase in defense spending, Khoo said the focus would be on four key areas: building asymmetric capabilities, strengthening defense resilience, enhancing reserve forces, and effectively responding to “gray-zone” threats.

“Any weapon systems that can rapidly contribute to force modernization will be prioritized for acquisition,” he said.

Taiwan’s defense minister this week said the island was planning to boost military spending in the face of the “rapidly changing international situation and the escalating threats from adversaries” while increasing the scope and duration of its annual military exercise. He did not elaborate on the budget.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang and Alan Lu for RFA.

NYT: Trump Unstoppable, Opposition Futile

Raina Lipsitz — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 18:30:51 +0000

Michelle Goldberg (New York Times, 11/6/24): “Gone will be the hope of vindicating the country from Trumpism…. What’s left is the more modest work of trying to ameliorate the suffering his government is going to visit on us.”

The New York Times editorial board (2/8/25) this month urged readers not to get “distracted,” “overwhelmed,” “paralyzed” or “pulled into [Donald Trump’s] chaos”—in short, don’t “tune out.” But what good is staying informed unless there are concrete actions Trump’s opponents can take to rein him in?

Right after the election, in a column headlined, “My Manifesto for Despairing Democrats,” Times columnist Nick Kristof (11/6/24) suggested readers “hug a lawyer,” get a dog, and/or remain “alert” to “gender nastiness.”

Michelle Goldberg (11/6/24) used her post-election column, “This Is Who We Are Now,” to castigate the voters who “chose” Trump, “knowing exactly who [he] is.” “This is…who we are [as a country],” she added mournfully, despite the fact that less than 30 percent of US adults voted for Trump. She did not mention the nearly 90 million Americans who were eligible to vote but didn’t, or explore why they were so alienated from politics. Her own instinct, she wrote, was to turn inward, and she predicted the next few months would be “a period of mourning rather than defiance.”

Although she saw “no point” in protesting Trump’s inauguration, she did express a vague hope that people would “take to the streets if [Trump’s] forces come into our neighborhoods to drag migrant families away,” and that they would “strengthen the networks that help women in red states get abortions.” The work of the next four years, she concluded, would be “saving what we can” and “trying to imagine a tolerable future.” But, for the moment, all she could do was “grieve.”

Even in a column headlined “Stop Feeling Stunned and Wounded, Liberals. It’s Time to Fight Back,” the Times‘ Charles Blow (1/29/25) presented fighting back as a strangely inactive process: “People, especially young people, are simply not built to passively absorb oppression,” he wrote; they will, at some point, “inevitably react and resist.” Yet he offered few suggestions for how they might do this, defaulting instead to vague proclamations like “Confidence has to be rebuilt” and “Power and possibility have to be reclaimed.” Finally, he noted, “resistance must be expressed in opinion polls and at the cash registers,” because “the people’s next formal participation in our national politics won’t come until the 2026 midterms.”

Reinforcing disarray

Lisa Lerer and Reid J. Epstein (New York Times, 2/2/25): “Elected Democrats appear leaderless, rudderless and divided…. They have no shared understanding of why they lost the election, never mind how they can win in the future.”

While counseling patience, discipline and self-care, the paper runs several headlines per month painting opposition to Trump as pointless, ineffective, disorganized and/or pusillanimous. It is both fair and necessary to report critically on efforts to oppose Trump, and the New York Times has done that to some extent. But in headlines, framing and content, the paper often goes from reporting on Democratic disarray to reinforcing it.

Days after the election, the Times (11/7/24) began a story headlined “Devastated Democrats Play the Blame Game, and Stare at a Dark Future” as follows: “A depressed and demoralized Democratic Party is beginning the painful slog into a largely powerless future.” According to a photo caption in the story, “Many Democrats are left considering how to navigate a dark future, with the party unable to stop Mr. Trump from enacting a sweeping right-wing agenda.”

From more recent stories like “‘We Have No Coherent Message’: Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump” (2/2/25), “Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash” (2/16/25) and “Democrats Fear They Are Missing the Moment to Remake the Party” (2/17/25), we learn that Trump’s opposition is “demoralized,” plagued by “second-guessing” and “fretting.”

It’s true that many Democratic voters are furious at the Democratic Party. But other reporting suggests that a functional opposition exists. Democrats’ legal strategy is slowing Trump down. His approval ratings have notably declined. A broad majority of Americans feel the president isn’t doing enough to address the high prices of everyday goods, and a slim majority (52%) say he’s gone too far in using his presidential power. This has spurred a fed-up public to lead dozens of mass protests throughout the country. And Bernie Sanders recently held massive rallies in Omaha and Iowa City to pressure the area’s Republican representatives to vote against Trump’s federal budget in March, drawing overflow crowds of more than 2,500 in Omaha and 1,175 in Iowa City.

‘I think of socialism’

Shane Goldmacher (New York Times, 2/17/25): “For disillusioned Democrats…what is needed is a deeper discussion of whether the party’s policies and priorities are repelling voters.”

Because the New York Times treats the complaints of mega-wealthy donors as more legitimate than the fury of the Democratic base, it often presents money as the best and/or only means of affecting policy. “Prominent” Democrats have “lost faith in the party’s resolve to pinpoint its problems, let alone solve them” (2/17/25), and rich donors are “furious” over “Democrats’ tactical missteps and wasteful spending”—so they’re withholding their money accordingly (2/16/25).

The Times (2/17/25) quotes wealthy donors who blame progressives for the party’s losses at length, like personal-injury lawyer John Morgan, a “major Democratic contributor…who has often backed more moderate candidates”:

When I think “progressive,” I think of the Squad…. And when I think of the Squad, I think of socialism, and when I think of socialism, I think of Communism, and when I think of Communism, I think of the downfall of countries.

The needs and policy preferences of rank-and-file voters don’t get similar attention.

Though it framed the findings differently, the Times (2/17/25) mentioned a poll that showed a slender majority of Democratic voters—six points more than the share who favor more moderation—want the party to become more liberal or stay the same, and one which shows that a large majority of Democrats across all demographics want the party to focus on economic issues like wages and jobs (63%) rather than cultural debates (31%). These views are strikingly different from those wealthy donors typically express, with different implications than the polls’ headlines suggest.

When it comes to identifying what went wrong, Democrats are more aligned than the Times has indicated. Two weeks after asserting that “leaderless, rudderless and divided” elected Democrats have “no shared understanding of why they lost the election” (2/2/25), the paper reported that there is, in fact, “almost universal agreement on a diagnosis of the party’s problem with the working class” (2/17/25). And despite the fact that far more Americans didn’t vote in 2024 than voted for Trump or Harris, the Times has expanded its coverage of undecided and Trump voters, while demonstrating scant interest in the tens of millions of Americans who stayed home.

‘No parallel in history’

Peter Baker (New York Times, 1/20/25): “Trump…opened an immediate blitz of actions to begin drastically changing the course of the country and usher in a new ‘golden age of America.’”

The New York Times’ emphasis on Democratic weakness stands in stark contrast to its treatment of Trump. While the Democratic Party struggles to define “what it stands for, what issues to prioritize and how to confront a Trump administration,” Trump is “carrying out a right-wing agenda with head-spinning speed” (2/2/25).

After years of dismissing Trump as an amateurish reality television star (6/16/15, 12/22/15, 9/16/16)—in 2015, the paper couldn’t come up with a single reason why he might win the GOP nomination, despite having “really tried” (6/16/15)—the Times now sees him as forceful and decisive, if reckless; a born leader fulfilling his mandate with impressive speed and strength. He has engineered a “remarkable political comeback” and an “audacious and stunningly successful legal strategy that could allow him to evade accountability.” He has “redefined the limits of presidential power,” his “success in using his campaign as a protective shield has no parallel in legal or political history” (11/6/24), and he has “little reason to fear impeachment, which he has already survived twice” (2/5/25).

Compared to its headlines about Democrats, the Times’ headlines about Trump could just as easily have been written by the man himself: “With Political Victory, Trump Fights Off Legal Charges” (11/6/24), “For Trump, a Vindication for the Man and His Movement” (1/20/25), ” “A Determined Trump Vows Not to Be Thwarted at Home or Abroad” (1/20/25), “Trump’s New Line of Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum” (2/7/25) and “Trump Targets a Growing List of Those He Sees as Disloyal” (2/17/25).

The overall message is that Trump is virtually unstoppable, and even high-ranking congressional Democrats and billionaire donors, let alone ordinary Americans, have no idea how to stop him. The Times has answered its own question, “Resisting Trump: What Can Be Done?” (2/10/25) with a resounding very little, aside from responding to opinion polls and meekly waiting to vote in the 2026 midterms.

Acknowledging Trump’s political savvy is partly a business decision—as the Times (1/13/25) has noted, “many reporters, editors and media lawyers are taking [Trump’s threats against the media] seriously…. He is altering how the press is operating.” Some would rather stay proximate to power than take on a vindictive, litigious and power-drunk president. It’s also a mea culpa of sorts; chastened by criticisms from both left and right, elite journalists and editors have spent years thinking maybe they were too quick to dismiss Trump’s appeal and too late to understand it.

Fighting Trump’s agenda

The New York Times‘ Jacey Fortin (12/3/24) covered successful resistance to a culture-war bogeyman in Republican-dominated Montana.

Whatever the reasoning, it does not serve readers to present Trump as a force of nature, and avenues for resistance as minimal, especially when there are plenty of examples to the contrary. Ordinary people are fighting Trump’s agenda through long-term political and labor organizing.

And the New York Times has covered elected leaders who have taken effective stands against anti-democratic bullies. When Montana Republicans barred her from the House floor in 2023 for “attempting to shame” them in a debate, state legislator Zooey Zephyr fought back to defend both “democracy itself” and the transgender community to which she belongs (New York Times, 4/26/23).

Her courage paid off. Zephyr was reelected, and in December she joined colleagues in defeating a GOP proposal to restrict which bathrooms lawmakers could use in the Montana State Capitol (New York Times, 12/3/24).

Weeks earlier, Tennessee legislators expelled two Democrats from the state House after they joined constituents in demanding stricter gun laws. An attempt to expel a third Democrat who joined the protest failed by one vote (New York Times, 4/6/23).

After being expelled, state legislators Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were quickly but temporarily reinstated, reelected several months later, and have “risen in national prominence” (New York Times, 2/2/24). Their colleague, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who survived the attempt to expel her, won Tennessee’s 2024 Democratic primary for US Senate. Johnson lost the Senate race to GOP incumbent Sen. Marsha Blackburn in November, but voters reelected her to the Tennessee House.

Even when efforts to prevent the passage of anti-democratic laws and policies ultimately fail, as they did when Texas Democrats fled the state to block voting restrictions in 2021, they inspire people to engage in politics and fight for their communities. The New York Times has a responsibility not to scold its readers for their supposed apathy, but to show them how to take on corrupt and lawless leaders like Trump. Hector a person for tuning out, and they’ll read the news for a day; show them how to use power, and they’ll civically engage for a lifetime.

You can send a message to the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com or via Bluesky: @NYTimes.com. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Feel free to leave a copy of your message in the comments thread here.

This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Raina Lipsitz.

Cook Islands opposition files no-confidence motion against PM

APR editor — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 23:18:48 +0000

By Melina Etches of the Cook Islands News

A motion of no confidence has been filed against the Prime Minister and his Cabinet following the recent fiasco involving the now-abandoned Cook Islands passport proposal and the comprehensive strategic partnership the country will sign with China this week.

Cook Islands United Party leader Teariki Heather said Prime Minister Mark Brown should apologise to the people and “graciously” step down, or else he would move a no-confidence vote against him in Parliament.

Clerk of Parliament Tangata Vainerere today confirmed that a motion of no confidence has been filed, and he had placed the notice with the MPs.

Parliament will convene for the first time this year next Monday, February 17, to consider various bills and papers, including the presentation of the supplementary budget.

Heather, an Opposition MP, is concerned with Brown’s lack of consultation regarding the passport issue, which the Prime Minister later confirmed was “off the table”, and the China agreement with New Zealand.

New Zealand has raised concerns that it was not properly consulted, as required under their special constitutional arrangement.

However, PM Brown said he had advised them and did not believe the Cook Islands was required to provide the level of detail New Zealand was requesting.

‘Handled the situation badly’
“He [Brown] has handled the situation badly. He has to step down graciously but if he doesn’t, I’m putting in a no confidence vote in Parliament — that’s the bottom line,” Heather told the Cook Islands News.

“I will move that motion and if there’s no support at least I’ve done it, I’ve seen it through.”

Heather also said that he believed the Prime Minister should apologise to the people of the Cook Islands.

“A simple apology, he made a mistake, that’s it.”

Cook Islands News asked the Leader of the Opposition Tina Browne for comment on Heather’s no confidence motion.

Browne on Sunday told PMN that residents were angry, and there was mounting pressure and strong feeling that the PM Brown “should go” (step down).

Backed by cabinet ministers
The Prime Minister has the confidence of his Cabinet Ministers, who are backing their leader and the China agreement, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Tingika Elikana.

Brown is in China on a state visit with his delegation. Yesterday marked the third day of the visit, during which he will oversee the signing of a Joint Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with China.

He is also expected to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping.

The content of the agreement and its signing date remain unknown.

“At this stage, discussions regarding the agreement are still ongoing, and it would be premature to confirm a signing date at this time. However, once there are any formal developments, we will ensure updates are shared through an official MFAI media release,” a spokesperson for the Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration told Cook Islands News.

Public protest march
A public protest march will convene at Parliament House on Monday to challenge the government’s direction for the people of the Cook Islands.

Heather is spearheading the “peaceful” protest march, rallying citizens against PM Brown’s controversial proposal to introduce a Cook Islands passport.

More than 100 people attended Heather’s public meeting last Monday evening at the Aroa Nui Hall to voice their concerns about government’s actions disregarding the voices of the people.

“Do we just sit around no. Te inrinaki nei au e te marama nei kotou te iti tangata,” Heather said.

“We have to do this for the sake of our country. This is not a political protest, it’s people of the Cook Islands uniting to protest, if you understand the consequences, you will understand the reason why.”

Although Brown has since ditched the proposal after New Zealand warned it would require holders to renounce their New Zealand one, “the damage is done”.

This has sparked heated debates about national identity, sovereignty and the implications for the Cook Islands relationship with New Zealand.

Concerns of citizens
Heather has taken onboard the concerns of citizens and argued that such a move could undermine the historical ties and shared citizenship that have long defined the relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

He has no confidence in Brown’s statement that the proposed Cook Islands identity passport is “off the table”.

“I think it is off the table for now . . . but for how long?” Heather questioned.

“Then there’s the impact of what he has done with our relationship with New Zealand so we are very much concerned about that.

“We are making a statement. The march is actually to show the government of New Zealand that we the people of the Cook Islands don’t agree with the Prime Minister on that.

“We want New Zealand to see that the people of the Cook Islands – that we love to keep our passport, that we care about our relationship as well.”

Heather said they are also concerned about New Zealand’s reaction to the Cook Islands proposed agreement with China.

‘Peaceful’ protesters welcomed
He welcomes members of the community to join the “peaceful” protest.

On Monday morning, drummers will be located on both sides of Parliament House on the main road.

At 10.45am, the proceedings will start when people start moving towards Parliament. Heather wants all protesters to bring along their New Zealand passports.

Heather would like to remind people not to use dirty language at the protest — “auraka e autara viiviii, don’t bring your dirty laundry . . . ”

First published by the Cook Islands News and republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Opposition party leader says in letter from jail he won’t appeal conviction

RFA Khmer — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 21:45:58 +0000

The leader of an opposition party who was convicted of incitement in December said he won’t file an appeal, arguing in a handwritten letter from prison that Cambodia’s court system has repeatedly shown that they can’t make independent decisions.

Sun Chanthy, the president of the Nation Power Party, said that an appeal would “be a loss of time” and not worth the effort.

“I know clearly that the present court is not independent, unjust, gravely corrupted, and does anything according to the order of the government to suppress opposition activists, human rights defenders, unionists, environmental activists, land dispute victims, and independent media,” he wrote from Pursat Provincial Prison.

The two-page letter was dated January 2025, with no specific date. Radio Free Asia confirmed its authenticity with Rong Chhun, an adviser to the party and a longtime labor activist.

Sun Chanthy was arrested in May at Phnom Penh International Airport after returning from meeting Cambodian overseas workers in Japan.

Charges against him stemmed from critical comments he made on social media about the government’s policy on issuing “poverty cards” for the poor to receive free medical treatment or subsidies.

The government said he had “twisted information” to suggest that the cards would only be distributed to those who join the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

Sun Chanthy was sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Dec. 24 to two years in prison for inciting social disorder. He was also hit with a 4 million riel (US$1,000) fine to be paid to the plaintiff –- the government –- and was banned from participating in politics for the rest of his life.

‘Obliterate’ the opposition

The Nation Power Party and Sun Chanthy’s wife condemned the conviction and sentence as politically motivated. His lawyer, Choung Chou Ngy, told reporters just after the sentence was announced that the case lacked strong evidence, adding that he would talk to Sun Chanthy about filing an appeal.

But Sun Chanthy in his letter said that the court was “gravely corrupted” and targeted him because the CPP-led government “wants to obliterate the genuine opposition voice from Cambodia.”

“I am not dispirited since I have already been prepared mentally and physically, and I knew in advance that grave dangers would happen to me since I first entered political struggles for the sake of genuine freedom, justice and democracy in Cambodia, which will not be covered by fresh roses,” he wrote.

Police arrest 3 Cambodian opposition party members

Top Candlelight Party official resigns, joins newly formed party

Choung Chou Ngy confirmed to RFA on Tuesday that an appeal won’t be filed.

Neither government spokesperson Pen Bona nor Justice Ministry spokesperson Chin Malin could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The Nation Power Party was formed in 2023 after the main opposition Candlelight Party was prevented from competing in that year’s general election.

Just days before Sun Chanthy’s conviction in December, the party was forced to move out of its Phnom Penh headquarters after the landlord was threatened by local authorities.

Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.

Cambodian gov’t official denies role in Bangkok shooting of opposition critic

RFA Khmer — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:39:25 +0000

A top Cambodian government official on Wednesday denied involvement in the fatal shooting of a former opposition lawmaker in Bangkok earlier this month.

Khliang Huot, a deputy Phnom Penh governor, told Radio Free Asia that recent statements by exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy connecting him to two suspects in the Jan. 7 attack on Lim Kimya were false.

He also denied knowing the suspects — Ly Ratanakrasmey and Pech Kimsrin — both of whom are wanted by Thai police in connection with the shooting near a busy street in Bangkok’s old quarter.

“I don’t have anything to respond to the three-generations traitor [Sam Rainsy]. He blasted my respected person — Hun Sen’s family,” he said, referring to Senate President Hun Sen and his eldest son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.

Lim Kimya, 74, a former member of parliament for the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, was gunned down just after arriving in Bangkok. He had been a frequent critic of the Cambodian government in recent years.

Thai police have charged suspected gunman Aekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai Marine who was arrested on Jan. 8 in Cambodia’s Battambang province and was extradited to Thailand on Jan. 11.

Cambodian Sam Rainsy, exiled leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, at his home in Paris, on July 27, 2023.

(Joel Saget/AFP)

Thai authorities later said they were searching for Ly Ratanakrasmey, a former adviser to Hun Sen who they believe masterminded the assassination.

They have also identified and issued an arrest warrant for Pich Kimsrin, who they said followed Lim Kimya on a bus from Cambodia to the Thai capital and acted as a so-called “spotter” for Aekaluck in the murder.

Close ties to Hun Sen

Khliang Huot is also a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s Central Committee and an adviser and personal assistant to Hun Sen — in addition to his role as deputy governor of Phnom Penh.

He also has close ties with Pich Kimsrin, Sam Rainsy wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

Sam Rainsy pointed to audio posted on a Khmer language Facebook page in September in which Hun Sen purportedly spoke to Khliang Huot about cracking down on opposition activists who had fled to Thailand.

In one audio clip, Hun Sen can be heard ordering Khliang Huot to work with his associates to return opposition activist Phorn Phanna to Cambodia, “dead or alive.”

“The working group in Thailand must work with Thai police to eliminate the group of people who are living in Thailand — one is Phorn Phanna,” he said in an audio clip posted to Facebook.

“He must be brought to Cambodia. We can’t let him be free. He is staging something to incite a movement,” Hun Sen said. “Our forces must bring him here at any cost — dead or alive.”

Thai police seek Hun Sen adviser believed linked to Bangkok killing of critic

Man wanted in Lim Kimya murder is Cambodian official’s brother, records show

Khliang Huot told RFA on Wednesday that he would be willing to travel to Thailand to speak with investigators if authorities there say they believe he was involved in the Lim Kimya shooting.

“If they summon me I will go immediately,” he said. “I don’t have any security concerns. I am innocent. I have nothing to worry about.”

Hun Manet’s comments

Last week, Hun Manet angrily denied the involvement of the government and Hun Sen and pointed to the quick arrest of the suspected gunman in Cambodia.

“If the government were behind the murder, we wouldn’t have apprehended the suspect and sent him to Thailand,” he said at an inauguration ceremony in Pursat province on Jan. 20.

A teardrop rests on Hun Sen's glasses as he reacts at the National Assembly after a vote to confirm his son, Hun Manet, as Cambodia's prime minister in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, August 22, 2023.

(Cindy Liu/Reuters)

Hun Manet’s remarks were in response to another Facebook post from Sam Rainsy, who pointed out on Jan. 19 that there have been no public condemnations of the Lim Kimya shooting from Hun Sen, Hun Manet or any other high-ranking member of Hun Sen’s family.

Sam Rainsy said the lack of a statement was suspicious and facetiously suggested that they send a letter of condolence to the victim’s family.

In Pursat, Hun Manet said the accusation that his father was behind the killing was unjust.

The opposition has “acted as police and prosecutor and Supreme Court. They have already convicted” Hun Sen, the prime minister said.

Meanwhile, family members told RFA that Lim Kimya’s body arrived in Paris on Monday and will be buried on Feb. 3. Lim Kimya held dual Cambodian-French citizenship.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.

A funeral service for former Cambodian opposition lawmaker gunned down in Bangkok | Radio Free Asia

Radio Free Asia — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 20:51:16 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

A funeral service for former Cambodian opposition lawmaker gunned down in Bangkok | Radio Free Asia

Radio Free Asia — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 20:30:17 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

Why Jimmy Carter’s opposition to Israeli apartheid failed to secure peace

APR editor — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 00:08:15 +0000

Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! As we continue our discussion of President Jimmy Carter’s legacy, we look at his policies in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular, Israel and Palestine.

On Thursday during the state funeral in Washington, President Carter’s former adviser Stuart Eizenstat praised Carter’s work on facilitating the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.

STUART EIZENSTAT: Jimmy Carter’s most lasting achievement, and the one I think he was most proud of, was to bring the first peace to the Middle East through the greatest act of personal diplomacy in American history, the Camp David Accords.

For 13 days and nights, he negotiated with Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, personally drafting more than 20 peace proposals and shuttling them between the Israeli and Egyptian delegations.

And he saved the agreement at the 11th hour — and it was the 11th hour — by appealing to Begin’s love of his grandchildren.

For the past 45 years, the Egypt-Israel peace treaty has never been violated and laid the foundation for the Abraham Accords.

AMY GOODMAN: The Abraham Accords are the bilateral normalisation agreements between Israel and, as well, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel and Bahrain, signed in 2020.

In 2006, years after he left office, Jimmy Carter wrote a book called Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, in which he compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s former racist regime.

It was striking for a former US president to use the words “Palestine,” let alone “apartheid,” in referring to the Occupied Territories. I went down to The Carter Center to speak with President Jimmy Carter about the controversy around his book and what he wanted the world to understand.

JIMMY CARTER: The word “apartheid” is exactly accurate. You know, this is an area that’s occupied by two powers. They are now completely separated.

The Palestinians can’t even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created or built in Palestinian territory.

The Israelis never see a Palestinian, except the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians never see an Israeli, except at a distance, except the Israeli soldiers.

So, within Palestinian territory, they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than they were in South Africa, by the way. And the other thing is, the other definition of “apartheid” is, one side dominates the other.

And the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people.

AMY GOODMAN: Why don’t Americans know what you have seen?

JIMMY CARTER: Americans don’t want to know and many Israelis don’t want to know what is going on inside Palestine.

It’s a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine. And there are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the Holy Land.

I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries, or to publicise the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good-faith peace talks.

There hasn’t been a day of peace talks now in more than seven years. So this is a taboo subject. And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out as I’ve just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term.

AMY GOODMAN: President Jimmy Carter. To see that whole interview we did at The Carter Center, you can go to democracynow.org.

For more on his legacy in the Middle East during his presidency and beyond, we’re joined in London by historian Seth Anziska, professor of Jewish-Muslim relations at University College London, author of Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo.

What should we understand about the legacy of President Carter, Professor Anziska?

Late former US President Jimmy Carter’s opposition to Israeli apartheid. Video: Democracy Now!

SETH ANZISKA: Well, thank you, Amy.

I think, primarily, the biggest lesson is that when he came into office, he was the first US president to talk about the idea of a Palestinian homeland, alongside his commitment to Israeli security. And that was an enormous change from what had come before and what’s come since.

And I think that the way we understand Carter’s legacy should very much be oriented around the very deep commitment he had to justice and a resolution of the Palestinian question, alongside his commitment to Israel, which derived very much from his Southern Baptist faith.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about the whole trajectory. Talk about the Camp David Accords, for which he was hailed throughout the various funeral services this week and has been hailed in many places around the world.

SETH ANZISKA: Well, I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about the legacy of Camp David is that this is not at all what Carter had intended or had hoped for when he came into office. He actually had a much more comprehensive vision of peace in the Middle East, that included a resolution of the Palestinian component, but also peace with Syria, with Jordan.

And he came up with some of these ideas, developed them with Cyrus Vance, the secretary of state, and Zbigniew Brzeziński, his national security adviser. And in developing those ideas, which came out in 1977 in a very closely held memo that was not widely shared inside the administration, he actually talked about return of refugees, he talked about the status of Jerusalem, and he desired very much to think about the different components of the regional settlement as part of an overall vision.

This was in contrast to Henry Kissinger’s attitude of piecemeal diplomacy that had preceded him in the aftermath of the 1973 war. So we can understand Carter in this way very much as a departure and somebody who understood the value and the necessity of contending with these much broader regional dynamics.

Now, the reasons why this ended up with a far more limited, but very significant, bilateral peace treaty between Egypt and Israel had a lot to do both with the election of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1977, as well as the position of Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and also the role of the Palestinians and the PLO.

But what people don’t quite recall or understand is that Camp David and the agreement towards the peace treaty was in many ways a compromise or, in Brzeziński’s view, was a real departure from what had been the intention.

And that gap between what people had hoped for within the administration and what ended up emerging in 1979 with the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty also was tethered very much to the perpetuation of Palestinian statelessness. So, if we want to understand why and how Palestinians have been deprived of sovereignty or remain stateless to this day, we have to go back to think about the impact of Camp David itself.

AMY GOODMAN: Interesting that Sadat would be assassinated years later in Egypt when Carter was on the plane with Nixon and Ford. That’s when they say that cemented his relationship with Ford, while they hardly talked to Nixon at all.

But if you could also comment on President Carter and post-President Carter? I mean, the fact that he wrote this book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, using the word “Palestine,” using the word “apartheid,” to refer to the Occupied Territories — I remember chasing him down the hall at the Democratic convention when he was supposed to speak. This was the Obama Democratic convention. And it ended up he didn’t speak. And I chased him and Rosalynn, because . . .

SETH ANZISKA: Remember that in 1977, there was a very famous speech that he gave in Clinton, Massachusetts, talking about a Palestinian homeland. And that raised huge hackles, both in the American Jewish community among American Jewish leaders who were very uncomfortable and were already distrustful of a Southern Democrat and his views on Israel, but also Cold War conservatives, who were quite hawkish and felt that he was far too close to engaging with the Soviet Union.

And so, both of those constituencies were very, very opposed to his attitude and his approach on the Palestinian issue. And I think we can see echoes of that in how he then was treated after his presidency, when much of his activism and much of his engagement on the question of Palestine, to my view, derived from a sense of frustration and regret about what he was not able to achieve in the Camp David Accords.

And his commitment stemmed from the same values that he had been shaped by early on, a sense of viewing the Palestinian issue through the same lens as civil rights, in the same lens as what he experienced in the South, which is often, what his biographers have explained, where his views and approach towards the Palestinians came from, but also a particularly close relationship to biblical views around Israel and Zionism, that he was very much committed to Israeli security as a result.

And that was never something that he let go of, even if you look closely at his work in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Some of his views on Israel are actually quite closely aligned with positions that many in the Jewish community would feel comfortable with.

The fact that people criticised and attacked him for that, I think, speaks to the taboo of talking about what’s happening or what has happened, in the context of Israel and Palestine, in the same kind of language as disenfranchisement around race in apartheid South Africa.

And, of course, as Carter said in the interview you just ran that you had done with him when the book came out, the situation is far worse in actuality with what is happening vis-à-vis Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

AMY GOODMAN: Seth Anziska, I want to thank you so much for being with us, professor of Jewish-Muslim relations at University College London, author of Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo, speaking to us from London.

This transcript article was originally published by Democracy Now! and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

January 7: former Cambodian opposition parliamentarian Lim Kimya was killed on the street in Bangkok

Human Rights Watch — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 03:00:57 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Camp David’s Failures: Jimmy Carter’s Opposition to Israeli Apartheid Wasn’t Enough to Secure Peace

Democracy Now! — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:33:06 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Camp David’s Failures: Why Jimmy Carter’s Opposition to Israeli Apartheid Wasn’t Enough to Secure Peace

Democracy Now! — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:30:10 +0000

The late President Jimmy Carter presided over a key landmark in the Arab-Israeli peace process, the 1979 Camp David Accords signed by Egypt and Israel. Carter’s lifelong interest in resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict is an analog for his complicated legacy in foreign policy and human rights. As Seth Anziska, a professor of Jewish-Muslim relations at University College London, explains, while on one hand Carter believed that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians constituted apartheid “far worse” than what he had seen in South Africa, on the other, his deep Christian faith made him fundamentally sympathetic to religious beliefs framing Israel as a Jewish homeland. “He was the first U.S. president to talk about the idea of a Palestinian homeland alongside his commitment to Israeli security,” says Anziska, who argues that the failure of the Camp David Accords in promoting lasting peace lies in their “perpetuation of Palestinian statelessness.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Cambodian opposition critic Lim Kimya refused to be silenced

Yang Chandara for RFA Khmer — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 06:05:58 +0000

The Cambodian opposition politician shot dead in Bangkok on Tuesday was a tireless government critic who refused to be cowed into silence on issues such as corruption and human rights despite the grave dangers that challenges to the powerful can bring.

Lim Kimya, a former member of parliament from the Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, was shot twice by an assassin on a street near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara temple in Bangkok’s old quarter, less than a kilometer from the Royal Palace, just after arriving in the Thai capital.

Surveillance footage showed much of the shooting and a suspect was arrested on Wednesday in Cambodia’s Battambang province.

A Cambodian government spokesperson rejected any suggestion that Cambodia could be blamed for a killing in another country.

Lim Kimya, a dual French-Cambodian citizen, won a seat in Cambodia’s National Assembly in a 2013 election that saw the CNRP put in a surprisingly good showing, winning 44% of seats, as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, lost ground though it still secured 55% of the seats.

The striking result, marred by accusations of irregularities, was the CPP’s poorest performace since 1998. Four years later, the Supreme Court made sure the CNRP would not get a chance to repeat that by banning it just ahead of a 2018 general election.

As a member of parliament, Lim Kimya didn’t hesitate to criticize the then prime minister, Cambodia’s veteran strongman Hun Sen, and his family.

At a National Assembly meeting in 2015, Lim Kimya said the Cambodian Red Cross, led since 1998 by Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany, only provided humanitarian assistance to CPP loyalists.

“The Cambodian Red Cross is biased in helping people who are affected by disasters,” he said. “If the victims aren’t supporters of the Cambodian People’s Party, they’ll definitely not receive assistance.”

An angry Hun Sen, who was present at the meeting, demanded that Lim Kimya swear that he was telling the truth.

“Do you dare to swear to be struck by lightning?” Hun Sen asked.

But Lim Kimya didn’t appear to be intimidated and brushed off the prime minister’s question.

Return from France

Lim Kimya was born in Battambang province in either 1951 or 1952. According to his Facebook page, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

As the war in neighboring Vietnam engulfed Cambodia, he moved to France in the early 1970s, finding work with the French Ministry of Economy and Finance and living with his wife, a French citizen, near Paris.

He returned to Cambodia about a year before the 2013 election and was a member of the CNRP’s executive committee.

In 2014, he was one of 10 supporters of top CNRP member Mu Sochua, who were beaten by security forces in a Phnom Penh park known as Freedom Park, a site for protests until the government banned gatherings there.

Lim Kimya was hit in the face and some journalists were also attacked, Radio Free Asia reported at the time.

In the National Assembly, Lim Kimya questioned the government’s handling of natural resources, a sector that critics say has been riddled with corruption for years, and the sensitive issue of territorial integrity.

He complained that state institutions borrowed money “to build roads, build buildings” but failed to develop the country.

“We live from day to day, without hope,” he said at one assembly meeting. “The Cambodian People’s Party has been in power since 1979 and … it has not brought our country forward.”

Another CNRP lawmaker, Men Sothavarin, told RFA that Lim Kimya believed in democratic values.

“He does clear work. He helps the people. He goes down to meet the people himself,” he said. “He says what he sees.”

Daily Facebook posts

In 2017, a private conversation between Lim Kimya and former Senate Deputy Secretary-General Hy Yoeun was posted on Facebook in which they discussed the recent death of Sok An, a top CPP lawmaker close to Hun Sen, in an exchange that CPP officials said was insulting.

Both Lim Kimya and Hy Yoeun sent letters of apology to Sok An’s family.

Later that year, after the CNRP was banned, Lim Kimya told Agence France-Presse that he would “never give up politics” and planned to stay in Cambodia, even as many of the party’s top leaders left.

More recently, Lim Kimya posted almost daily on Facebook, often about Hun Sen’s family, many of whom, like his elder son, Prime Minister Hun Manet, hold important government jobs.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court Rules to Dissolve Opposition Party

Ten Injured in Clash After Cambodian Politician’s Defiant Freedom Park Protest

His last post was on Jan. 3, when he criticized Hun Sen’s youngest son, Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, for organizing lavish public events, including a New Year celebration in Phnom Penh in which a big portrait of King Norodom Sihamoni caught fire and burned. The cause was not determined.

Lim Kimya took a bus from Siem Reap province to Bangkok early on Tuesday, along with his wife and uncle.

He was the first Cambodian politician to be shot dead in Thailand but Cambodian critics in self-exile there have been facing increasing danger of attacks and deportation, rights groups say.

Several Cambodian opposition activists say they have been attacked in Thailand because of criticism of their government and in November, six activists were charged with treason shortly after Thai authorities sent them home.

Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona dismissed any suggestion that Cambodia could bear blame for Lim Kimya’s death.

“Cambodia has no authority to be responsible for any problem that occurs on the sovereign territory of other countries,” Pen Bona told the Kampuchea Thmey newspaper, which is owned by one of Hun Sen’s daughters.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Yang Chandara for RFA Khmer.

Shot dead in Bangkok — Cambodian opposition lawmaker Lim Kimya | Radio Free Asia (RFA)

Radio Free Asia — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 22:09:26 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

Thai police: Former Cambodian opposition lawmaker fatally shot in Bangkok

RFA Khmer — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:52:37 +0000

A former opposition party lawmaker was fatally shot just after arriving in Bangkok from Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, apparently by an assassin who fired at him as street vendors and others stood nearby, then casually rode off on a motorbike.

Surveillance video footage posted to Facebook showed a tall man remove his helmet just before strolling across a busy street near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara temple in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district.

Three shots could be heard on the video, although the actual shooting was not visible. Then the man, wearing long jeans and a grey short-sleeved shirt with a bag across the front, jogs back to his parked motorbike and rides away, steering with one hand while adjusting his helmet.

The Bangkok Post reported that Lim Kimya, 74, was shot twice at around 4 p.m. and died at the scene. He had traveled by bus with his French wife and Cambodian uncle, police told the newspaper.

Police said they’ve launched a manhunt for the shooter. Thailand’s Khaosod newspaper posted two surveillance images of the suspect riding a motorbike at around the time of the shooting.

The shooting will have a “direct impact” in further intimidating hundreds of Cambodian political opposition figures, activists and human rights defenders who have fled to Thailand to escape political repression in Cambodia, said Phil Robertson, the director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates.

“This brazen shooting ... on the streets of Bangkok has all the hallmarks of a political assassination, and looks to be a significant escalation in the use of transnational repression in Bangkok,” he said in a statement.

Lim Kimya told Agence France-Presse in 2017 that he would “never give up politics” and planned to stay in Cambodia despite an order from the Supreme Court banning the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP.

Lim Kimya, a member of the National Assembly from Cambodia National Rescue Party, walks out of the National Assembly Building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 8, 2017.

(Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP)

The CNRP was founded by veteran opposition leader Sam Rainsy in 2012. It was banned by the court following accusations that it had plotted to topple the government. Many of its top leaders – including Sam Rainsy – left the country after the ruling.

“With dual French-Cambodian citizenship, Lim Kimya could have easily joined the three dozen MPs who have fled abroad,” AFP wrote in 2017. “Yet Lim Kimya refuses to quit.”

Proposal for ‘terrorist’ designation

Tuesday’s shooting came as former Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the government to pass a law allowing prosecutors to charge dissidents with terrorism.

“It is time to make a law that will define any person or group that has plans or actions to create an anti-extremist movement, cause chaos and insecurity in society, cause conflict with others, and attempt to overthrow the government as terrorists who must be brought to justice to protect peace,” he said at a public ceremony.

With no real opposition, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, coasted to national election victories in 2018 and 2023.

After 38 years in power, Hun Sen resigned as prime minister just after the 2023 election to make way for the appointment of his son, Hun Manet, who has since shown little interest in diverting from his father’s heavy-handed approach to ruling Cambodia.

Hun Sen continues to serve as president of the CPP and as Senate president.

Lim Kimya, a member of the National Assembly from Cambodia National Rescue Party, works in his office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 17, 2017.

(Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP)

Tuesday’s ceremony marked the 46th anniversary of the day that the Khmer Rouge regime was driven from power by a Vietnamese-led force. The event is celebrated annually by the CPP, which has historic ties to Vietnam and came to power after the Khmer Rouge was forced out of Phnom Penh.

In recent years, dozens of pro-democracy Cambodian activists have fled to Thailand to seek asylum as the CPP has used intimidation and the courts to neutralize the political opposition.

Several Cambodians have said they were attacked in public in Thailand in 2023 because of their activism.

Smash and destroy

Last February, Prime Minister Hun Manet met with then-Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok to discuss a crackdown on what they called “interference” in Cambodian politics by Thai-based Cambodian political activists.

In June, Hun Sen encouraged CPP supporters to “smash” and “destroy” opposition political activists in audio comments that were purportedly recorded at a party meeting and circulated on Cambodian social media.

In November, six activists associated with the CNRP and one minor were deported from Thailand to Cambodia at the request of the Cambodian government. The six adults, who escaped Cambodia in 2022, were subsequently charged with “treason.”

Cambodian activists remaining in Thailand told RFA in November that the arrests have increased their safety concerns, with one dissident saying that nearly 100 Cambodian refugees had fled their rented rooms for new housing and agreed to stop meeting up in-person.

Cambodian opposition activist flees to US amid Hun Sen threats

Government mum about Hun Sen audio calling for opposition to be ‘smashed’

Silent struggles plague Cambodian refugees in Bangkok

Robertson urged Thai authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, adding that the French government should also “aggressively pursue justice” for Lim Kimya – “no matter where the path leads.”

“Thailand’s international reputation is on the line in this case, and the Thai police and politicians should recognize they can’t just sweep this brutal murder under the rug,” he said.

International human rights groups have condemned Thailand for assisting neighbors, including Vietnam and Cambodia, to undertake what the groups say is unlawful action against human rights defenders and dissidents, making Thailand increasingly unsafe for those fleeing persecution.

Human Rights Watch has criticized what it called a “swap mart” of transnational repression in which foreign dissidents in Thailand are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.

Elon Musk’s Opposition to Gov’t Spending Bill a “Smokescreen” for His Business Interests

Democracy Now! — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:53:20 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Elon Musk’s Opposition to Gov’t Spending Bill a “Smokescreen” for His Business Interests: Robert Kuttner

Democracy Now! — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:15:00 +0000

After the Republican-led Congress passes a government spending bill but rejects a last-minute demand for a debt limit suspension from President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, we look at the richest man in the world’s growing influence, with The American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner. “At the end of the day, Musk got exactly what he wanted,” says Kuttner, referring to Musk’s influence in the removal of an anti-China trade provision in the bill. “It’s a classic case of Musk rolling Trump. … I don’t think this is going to end well.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Not Rahul Gandhi – MP who Kiren Rijiju ridicules in viral video for sleeping in House is not the leader of Opposition

Shinjinee Majumder — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:16:43 +0000

A video showing Union minister Kiren Rijiju purportedly waking up Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during a session in the Lok Sabha went viral this week. In the video, Rijiju is heard jokingly saying, “This is why I tell you, dada, don’t talk all the time—you’ll fall asleep.”

The video was shared by verified X user @SaffronSunanda who claimed that it was Rahul Gandhi who had fallen asleep. She remarked, in her post, “…Rahul Gandhi is just a Joke in Indian Politics”. (Archive)

This man sleeps during Parliament proceedings and debates and he wants to become Prime Minister of India.

Rahul Gandhi is just a Joke in Indian Politics. pic.twitter.com/paANOZnWv1

— Sunanda Roy (@SaffronSunanda) December 3, 2024

The post was then amplified by actor Paresh Rawal. Resharing the video, he wrote, “He is like a Bad joke with no Punch line!” referring to the Leader of Opposition. The post was later deleted. (Archive)

Several other Right-wing influencers amplified it. (Archives, 1, 2, 3, 4)

Upon checking, we found that this was not the first time this video went viral. In August, media outlet WION published a similar video as a Facebook reel titled, “Rahul Gandhi Caught Sleeping in Lok Sabha?”

On August 9, news channel NDTV published a video on its official YouTube channel with the title “Rahul Gandhi Sleeping In Lok Sabha | Giriraj Singh Reacts After Opposition MP Caught Sleeping In LS”. The previous day, Kerala-based media outlet Asianet News also published the same with the headline “Viral | Rahul Gandhi Caught Sleeping During Waqf Discussion? Rijiju & Giriraj Singh React”. However, neither of the videos shows Rahul Gandhi.

Click to view slideshow.

Who Was Kiren Rijiju Addressing?

Alt News found that the viral video had been been clipped from Parliamentary proceedings of Lok Sabha’s Monsoon session held on August 8 where the Union minister of parliamentary and minority affairs introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. A nine-hour-long video of the proceedings is available on news agency ANI’s YouTube channel. The chain of events seen in the viral video took place at the 4:01:13-minute mark.

Here, Rijiju was defending the Bill, against which Opposition leaders had raised concerns. “Dada was asking me if there are any Muslims in my constituency. There are many Muslim voters in my constituency…” he says just as BJP MP and Union minister of textiles Giriraj Singh, seated nearby, quips, “So gaye, so gaye…” (He has fallen asleep). This prompted laughter and ridicule from the treasury benches. Rijiju then jested, “This is why I tell you, dada, don’t talk all the time—you’ll fall asleep.”

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also commented, “If there’s a speech going on, will you go to sleep in the House?”

Rijiju further quipped, “I am not going to ask him what he was doing last night,” which led to uproar and protests from the Opposition.

During this entire exchange, not once did the camera focus on Rahul Gandhi.

In its fact-check report, Kerala-based publication Mathrubhumi contacted its Delhi bureau chief, Manoj Menon, who was present during the session. Menon said that it was senior Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy who had dozed off. However, it should be noted that the camera did not pan to any Opposition member while Rijiju spoke.

However, it is worth noting that ‘Dada’ is a term of endearment generally used for Bengali men.

Rahul Gandhi’s Clip From the Same Day

After carefully watching that day’s Parliamentary proceedings, Alt News found that the clip of Rahul Gandhi that is seen in the viral video is from same day (August 8). At the 3:17:45-minute mark of the ANI video, Rahul Gandhi can be seen sitting in the same position—head tilted to the side and arm stretched out against the backrest. In the viral clip, Gandhi’s image from this portion has been highly magnified, resulting in a noticeable degradation of image quality. This makes it hard to determine whether the Congress leader was simply looking down or asleep. Below is a screengrab of the moment.

Click to view slideshow.

Also, the three-second clip was looped repeatedly in the viral video, creating the false impression that the moment lasted longer than it actually did.

It’s also important to remember here that the camera focuses on Rahul Gandhi in the above position during Rijiju’s speech on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. However, in the viral video, the Opposition leader’s clip has been juxtaposed with Rijiju’s responses on the Bill, which actually happened later in the day. For clarity, look at the screengrabs below. The image on the left, showing Rahul Gandhi, is from 14:17 hours. The image on the right, where Rijiju and Giriraj Singh are pointing to the sleeping MP is from 15:01 hours.

So, the incidents happened at different times but were edited to make it seem like they were unfolding at the same time.

Also, Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the Opposition—a position that is often under constant scrutiny—and seated prominently at the front of the Opposition benches. It’s unlikely that him falling asleep during proceedings would have gone unnoticed by cameras in the House. We found no reports or videos since August that can conclusively show or indicate that it was Rahul Gandhi who had fallen asleep. Reports by news outlets such as The Indian Express as well as news agency ANI referred to whoever had fallen asleep simply as MP or an ‘Opposition MP’.

To sum it up, the video of Kiren Rijiju addressing and ridiculing an Opposition MP for falling asleep during House proceedings with the claim that the sleeping MP is Rahul Gandhi is misleading. A clip of Gandhi was edited into the video to create the false impression that Rijiju’s remarks against a sleeping MP were addressed to him.

The post Not Rahul Gandhi – MP who Kiren Rijiju ridicules in viral video for sleeping in House is not the leader of Opposition appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

Georgian Police Violently Detain Opposition Figures During Tbilisi Protests

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 17:33:38 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Thailand deports 5 Cambodian opposition party activists

RFA Khmer — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 05:01:33 +0000

Thai authorities deported five Cambodian opposition activists back to their country, a Thai official said, drawing condemnation from fellow activists who said they risk persecution at the hands of a Cambodian government that does not brook dissent.

The five, along with two children, were sent over the border to the Cambodian town of Poipet through the main land crossing between the countries on Sunday, Cheat Khemara, a Cambodian opposition member who is taking refuge in Thailand, told Radio Free Asia.

“I am concerned that Hun Sen will not tolerate them and if they are imprisoned, they will receive the harshest treatment,” Cheat Khemara said.

Veteran authoritarian leader Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister last year to be replaced by his son, Hun Manet.

Hun Sen retains the posts of ruling party leader and president of the Senate, while the government under his son has shown no sign of taking a more moderate line with criticism.

The five – Pen Chan Sangkream, Hong An, Mean Chanthon, Yin Chanthou and Seun Kunthea - were all members or supporters of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP, fellow activists said.

The CNRP was founded by veteran opposition leader Sam Rainsy in 2012 and dissolved by a court in 2017 after being accused of plotting to topple the government, which the party denied.

Along with the five adults was a seven-year-old grandson of Hong An and Yin Chanthou’s daughter.

Fellow activists said the deportees had been recognised as refugees by the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. The agency’s regional spokesperson did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

A spokesperson for Cambodia’s national police, provincial police and the Phnom Penh Municipal Court could not be reached for comment.

A Thai immigration official confirmed that the seven had been detained in Pathum Thani province, in Bangkok’s northern suburbs on the weekend and sent back to Cambodia.

“Based on immigration law, we had to deport them on Sunday evening,” said the officer, who declined to be identified.

Cambodia publicly shames maid deported after criticizing Hun Sen

How secure is Hun Manet’s year-old premiership in Cambodia?

‘Harassment and persecution’

International human rights groups have condemned Thailand in recent years for assisting neighbors, including Vietnam and Cambodia, to undertake what the groups say is unlawful action against human rights defenders and dissidents, making Thailand increasingly unsafe for those fleeing persecution.

Human Rights Watch criticized what it called a “swap mart” of transnational repression in which foreign dissidents in Thailand are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad.

Thailand has rejected such criticism saying it only implements its immigration laws.

Prum Chantha, a representative of the Friday Wives, a rare voice of defiance in Cambodia named for its weekly protests against repression, said authorities had told her that the five were sent to a court in the capital, Phnom Penh, but she did not know if they would be charged.

Authorities had asked her to take care of Hong An’s grandson, she said.

Soeung Sen Karuna, director of the Australia-based Khmer Democracy Organization said the Cambodian and Thai governments were collaborating in transitional repression.

“It is very inhumane that Thailand turns to collaborate with the Cambodian government to deport Cambodian opposition activists back to their homeland where they face severe prosecutions,” Soeung Sen Karun said.

“Thailand fails to honor human rights law and refugees rights as a member of the UN. I condemn the Thai authorities. They should stop such harassment and persecutions and not be judged as joining hands with the Phnom Penh government.”

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

Pimuk Rakkanam for RFA contributed to this report.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.

US-backed Venezuelan Opposition Never Tried to Win the Presidency

Roger D. Harris — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 17:00:51 +0000

“On the campaign trail, she [María Corina Machado] was received almost as a religious figure, often wearing white, promising to restore democracy and reunite families torn apart by an economic crisis and mass migration. ‘María!’ her followers shouted, before falling into her arms,” the New York Times reverently reported.

Indeed, Machado’s personally chosen surrogate to contend in last July’s Venezuelan presidential election, Edmundo González, did fall into her arms. But that was because her infirm disciple had trouble, both literally and figuratively, standing on his own two feet.

Machado was the main Venezuelan opposition figure backed by the US. Her platform of extreme neoliberal shock therapy was rejected by the electorate. Most Venezuelans oppose her call to privatize nearly all state institutions serving the people – schools, hospitals, public housing, food assistance, and the state oil company, which funds social programs. Nor is there any popular appetite for Machado’s plan to radically reorient foreign policy to subordination to Washington and support of US imperial wars in Ukraine and Palestine.

A hagiography, such as this one by the Times, includes an investigation into the life and miracles attributed to the would-be saint. The article on Machado, penned by one Julie Turkewitz, does just that and more. The article also unintentionally reveals that the far-right opposition advocates foreign intervention to overthrow the democratic will of the Venezuelan people. Its title clearly states: “Trump to Save Her Country.”

It took the US until November 19, nearly four months, to declare González as the legitimate president-elect of Venezuela. The recognition likely signals a shift in the lame-duck Biden administration’s policy from negotiation to all-out hostility towards Venezuela, paving the way for a smooth handover to the new Trump team. Previously, Washington simply called for a “peaceful transition.”

The miraculous opposition primary

Turkewitz reported that Machado won “an overwhelming victory in a primary race.” She uses the weasel-construction “a primary” rather than “the primary,” because Machado’s “primary” was not one conducted by the official Venezuelan electoral authority, the CNE. Rather, it was a private affair administered by the NGO Súmate. That NGO, as the article admits, is funded by the US.

Machado prevailed in a crowded field of 13 candidates with a miraculous 92% of the vote. When some of the other candidates called fraud, Machado had the ballots destroyed. She could do so because Súmate is her personal organization.

The Times intimates that Machado “galvanized a nation” around an opposition agenda. That is something Uncle Sam has so far failed to achieve despite a quarter of a century of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The empire’s newspaper of record reports that Machado is “wildly popular.” But that’s in the halls of the US Congress, where she was vetted and then anointed “leader of the opposition” even before the so-called primary in Venezuela. Unfortunately for Machado that popularity with the Yankee politicos did not travel as well back home. In Venezuela, even within her corner of the far-right, Machado is resented. Far from unified, the opposition in Venezuela is today ever more divided.

Contested election results

The official Venezuelan electoral authority (CNE) declared incumbent President Nicolás Maduro the winner with 52% of the vote. That outcome was subsequently audited and confirmed by the Venezuelan supreme court (TSJ).

González, the person whom the Times declared the winner, came in second with 43% of the vote, according to the official count. González claimed that he had evidence that proved he won the presidency, but he refused to show it to the TSJ, even when he was summoned to do so.

Moreover, the Times reports that the US-backed opposition has tallies from some 80% of the precincts, which were published on a private blog site. Sources supporting the Venezuelan government then published analyses showing that evidence to be bogus, while counter claims from those favoring regime change purport to confirm their validity.

The problem of privately posting evidence, while refusing to submit it to official channels, is that it leaves the Venezuelan authorities no constitutional path for accepting it even if it were valid. The question ignored by the article is: If “their team collected and published vote-tally receipts” proving its victory, why did they not settle the matter by submitting them?

The answer, not one that the Times would admit to, is that the far-right opposition and its US handlers never made a good faith attempt to win the election.

Washington’s strategy was to delegitimize the election, not to win it

The opposition’s platform could never be a winning ticket, which they knew. The only way to achieve it would be an extra-legal regime-change operation predicated on delegitimizing the democratically-elected government. And that is precisely what is being played out today in Venezuela.

There were a number of more moderate opposition figures with experience and popular followings. Had the US been interested in simply an electoral defeat of the ruling Socialist Party, they could have backed a less extreme candidate and offered to ease their punishing “sanctions” on Venezuela. Instead, Washington backed the far right, which took the supremely unpopular position of advocating for yet more sanctions on their own country to precipitate regime-change.

With nine other contenders on the presidential ballot, name recognition was important. Literally nobody had heard of González until Machado personally chose him as her surrogate. She had been disqualified from running back in 2015 for constitutionally mandates offenses.

Machado’s political party, Vente Venezuela, lacked ballot status because her party had boycotted recent Venezuelan elections in keeping with the far-right’s stance that the Venezuelan state is not legitimate. Once the party decided to again participate in the electoral arena in 2024, she could have petitioned for recognition of her party. But she didn’t bother.

González, who had been in retirement, had no political following or experience. He had been a Venezuelan diplomat to El Salvador back in the 1980s, where he had been implicated in supporting US-backed death squads.

Maduro crisscrossed the country in an all-out campaign effort, exhaustingly visiting over 300 municipalities. His ruling Socialist Party, in power since 1999, had cadre in every corner of the country who were mobilized. They didn’t need to be told that an opposition victory could mean not only loss of a job, but they might face retribution from the far right.

In contrast to Maduro’s strong ground game, the US-backed opposition was weak in the streets. González himself sat out the campaign in Caracas, while Machado barnstormed the hinterlands with a paper poster bearing his visage. Indicative of popular following were the turnouts at political rallies, both during the campaign and after, where Maduro attracted many times more supporters than González.

Forecast

The Times not only maintains that González “won the July vote by a wide margin” but he “should be taking office in January.” González, too, claims he’ll be back in Caracas for the inauguration. After the election, he voluntarily left Venezuela for Spain in a transfer negotiated with Caracas and Madrid governments.

The Times further reports that Machado predicts Maduro will voluntarily “negotiate his own exit.” Even more fantastic, the Times asserts González “garnered almost 70 percent of the vote.”

In a revealing lapse from her otherwise editorializing, Turkewitz correctly reported that Machado “has spent roughly two decades trying to remove Mr. Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, from power.” Conveniently omitted is that effort included a number of coup attempts, including the 2002 US-backed coup that temporarily deposed then President Chávez. Machado signed the infamous Carmona Decree then, which voided the constitution and disbanded the courts, the legislature, and executive.

That 2002 coup lasted less than 48 hours because the people of Venezuela spontaneously rose up and confronted the traitorous military. If Machado indeed had the backing of 7 in 10 Venezuelans, she too could have taken the presidential palace regardless of the official election report.

The Times calls her Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” for her “steely resolve.” Meanwhile Hinterlaces, reporting from Venezuela, speculates Machado has fled the country:

The failure of the insurrectionary strategy in the absence of a social explosion or a rupture in the Bolivarian civic-military alliance, the lack of convincing evidence on Edmundo González’s alleged electoral victory, since they do not really have the minutes to demonstrate it, convinced Machado to leave the country.

Nicolás Maduro will be inaugurated on January 10. As confirmed by the Venezuelan supreme court, the majority voted for him to continue Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

The post US-backed Venezuelan Opposition Never Tried to Win the Presidency first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Roger D. Harris.

Navalnaya And Other Russian Opposition Figures Lead Anti-Putin Protest In Berlin

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 18:51:49 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Georgian Opposition Politician Throws Paint Over Election Chief To Protest Vote In Tbilisi

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 12:50:19 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Cambodian opposition activist flees to US amid Hun Sen threats

RFA Khmer — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 20:31:20 +0000

A former Cambodian opposition party official who fled to Thailand several years ago has arrived in the United States days after Senate President Hun Sen ordered authorities to work with Thai officials to bring him back to Phnom Penh.

Phorn Phanna told Radio Free Asia on Friday that he flew with his wife and their two children to North Carolina last week.

“I will find new means to reveal the government and Hun Sen’s family’s bad deeds so they can return to walk along the democratic path,” he said.

In September, Hun Sen said he wanted Phorn Phanna brought to Cambodia “dead or alive.”

“The working group in Thailand must work with Thai police to eliminate the group of people who are living in Thailand, one is Phorn Phanna,” he said in an audio clip posted to Facebook.

“He must be brought to Cambodia. We can’t let him be free. He is staging something to incite a movement,” Hun Sen said. “Our forces must bring him here at any cost – dead or alive.”

Six months in Thai detention

Dozens of pro-democracy Cambodian activists have fled to Thailand to seek asylum in recent years as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, has used intimidation and the courts to neutralize the political opposition.

In February, Prime Minister Hun Manet met with then-Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok to discuss a crackdown on what they called “interference” in Cambodian politics by Thai-based Cambodian political activists.

“I’ve assured Prime Minister Hun Manet that it’s Thailand’s policy to not allow anyone to use Thailand as a platform to interfere in internal affairs or conduct harmful activities against our neighboring countries,” Srettha told reporters at a news conference after the meeting.

Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's then-Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin laugh during a news conference in Bangkok, Feb. 7, 2024.

A week before Hun Manet’s arrival, Thai police arrested Phorn Phanna and two other activists, as well as their family members.

“I am afraid that I will be deported back to Cambodia,” he told RFA from jail at the time. “The CPP were behind this arrest because the police are asking for details about other activists.”

He was held in Thai immigration for six months.

Hun Sen’s audio clip was posted a few weeks after he was released on bail and was likely prompted by online comments he made about the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development area – a decades-old economic cooperation agreement that sparked demonstrations and widespread arrests in August.

Crackdown on political activists tops Thai-Cambodian summit agenda

Silent struggles plague Cambodian refugees in Bangkok

After that, Phorn Phanna said he moved from place to place with the help of an undisclosed humanitarian organization.

“I was living from one hotel to another only a few days at a time,” he told RFA on Friday. “I felt I was living in Pol Pot’s regime, where I was being hunted by people who wanted to murder me.”

“You must smash this force to a point that they no longer disturb us, let’s make it clear,” he said.

Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister last year, a position he held since 1985, allowing his son, Hun Manet, to take over. But he retains power as the president of the Senate and head of the CPP.

The run-up to the 2023 parliamentary elections saw a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists. Some activists were persuaded to publicly switch their allegiance to the CPP.

Phorn Phanna was an official with the Candlelight Party – Cambodia’s main opposition party in 2023. Two months before last year’s election, the National Election Committee ruled that the party was ineligible for the general election ballot.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.

Turkish journalist Furkan Karabay arrested over reporting on opposition arrest

Committee to Protect Journalists — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:44:58 +0000

Istanbul, November 11, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to immediately free reporter Furkan Karabay, who was seized from his home at dawn on Friday after he published a report about the arrest of an opposition mayor.

“Journalist Furkan Karabay is the latest in a long line of journalists who have ended up behind bars in Turkey simply for publishing critical reporting and commentary,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Karabay must not waste months of his life in prison, waiting to be indicted and tried. Turkey’s constant oppression of the free press is an obstacle to citizens’ rights to access information”.

Karabay, a reporter with the independent news site 10Haber, was detained on November 8 during a police raid in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul.

The following evening, an Istanbul court transferred Karabay to prison pending trial on suspicion of “insulting a public servant,” “making targets of those who were tasked to combat terrorism,” and “knowingly distributing misleading information to the public,” according to news reports.

A court document seen by Reuters said that the allegations against Karabay related to his social media posts on X, where he named the prosecutors investigating an opposition mayor — facts that Karabay told the court had been reported by a number of media outlets.

On October 31, Karabay reported on the arrest of mayor Ahmet Özer, of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who prosecutors accused of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is banned as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

Journalists in Turkey who report on the judiciary are frequently charged with “making targets of those who were tasked to combat terrorism.”

On December 28, 2023, Karabay was arrested on the suspicion of “making targets of those who were tasked to combat terrorism” after reporting on a bribery trial. He was released pending trial on January 8, 2024.

CPJ’s emails requesting comment from the ministry of justice and the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Venezuelan Dissidents Supporting Israel Receive Human Rights Award: European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize Goes to US-backed Opposition

Roger D. Harris — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:05:58 +0000

The world’s peoples recoil in shock over the previously unimaginable barbarity of the US-Zionist assault on Palestine. The European Parliament is not impervious to what is transpiring. On the contrary, the body normalizes the cruelty by awarding its highest human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, to dissident Venezuelan genocide supporters.

This is an example of how Western “democracies” fail to respect democracy in the Global South. “Human rights” are weaponized and used to repudiate Venezuela’s right to choose its own leaders, while rewarding those who sell out their country. The US-aligned camp has a clear double standard on when and where upholding “democratic institutions” apply, considering their stances on Venezuela compared to Israel, described below.

The European Union functions as a factotum of the US empire, as is evident regarding its treatment of Venezuela. The European Parliament is a legislative body of the European Union (EU). Of the 27 member states, 23 are also members of the empire’s praetorian guard, aka NATO. The EU and NATO are official “partners” with integrated planning capabilities, closely linking security to the dictates of the US.

EU’s relationship with Venezuela

The EU is Venezuela’s fourth largest trading partner, but the relationship is abusive. The EU punishes Venezuela for being independent of the US empire when they are unwilling to do so themselves.

In 2019, the EU recognized the unelected and US-selected “interim president” of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó. In the same resolution, they imposed additional sanctions on Venezuela, hypocritically lamenting the “need of humanitarian assistance,” while making it more difficult for Venezuela to receive vital food, fuel, and medicines.

Following earlier extensions, in November 2023, the EU further extended its sanctions on Venezuela through May 2024. Then, a day before those sanctions were to expire and two months before the Venezuelan presidential election, the EU again extended their sanctions until January 2025.

The implicit message to the Venezuelan people was that they had better vote for the right candidate. Otherwise, when the new president is inaugurated on January 10, 2025, the sanctions would be extended yet again if not enhanced.

Defying foreign intervention, Venezuelans reelected incumbent President Nicolás Maduro on July 28. But from the EU’s perspective, the only possible explanation for the Venezuelans making what they viewed as the wrong choice is fraud. The EU consequently recognized the runner-up in the election, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, as the “legitimate president” of Venezuela. That individual was then awarded the EU’s Sakharov Prize. The Venezuelan opposition had itself renounced the corrupt Guaidó, who had been the EU’s earlier designated president of Venezuela.

A week later, the EU plus 33 individual countries signed a US-led “joint statement” expressing “grave concerns about the urgent situation in Venezuela” and calling for a political “transition” in Venezuela.

The Sakharov Prize

Gonzalez and his co-awardee Maria Corina Machado are typical recipients of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Such folks are usually dissidents from countries that are targeted for regime change by US – and by default echoed by the European Parliament – such as Venezuela, but also Russia, Syria, Belarus, Cuba, and China.

Previously, the “democratic opposition of Venezuela” received the award in 2017. Ajamu Baraka of the Black Alliance for Peace commented on this “bizarre example of the reactionary nature of the European left [awarding]…a group that has openly attacked journalists and burned alive two dozen people of primarily Black or dark complexions who they assumed were probably government supporters because they were poor and Black.”

This year, beating out semi-finalist Elon Musk (I’m not making this up), the award again went to Venezuelan dissidents. Machado and Gonzalez were honored as fighters for “freedom and democracy.”

Machado’s “democracy” credentials include signing the infamous Carmona Decree, which shuttered Venezuela’s parliament, courts, and executive in a short-lived US-backed coup in 2002. After President Hugo Chávez was returned to his elected post by a popular uprising, he pardoned the coup plotters, including Machado.

Gonzalez’s “freedom” credentials include being implicated in the US-backed death squads in the 1980s when he was a Venezuelan diplomat in El Salvador. TeleSUR reported on Gonzalez’s “past of crimes against humanity.”

According to the EU’s announcement: “Machado won primary elections in 2023 to run as the candidate of the democratic opposition (Unitary Platform) in the 2024 presidential elections, but after she was arbitrarily disqualified by the Venezuelan regime, González became the candidate.”

Machado did in fact win a primary election, but not one conducted by the official Venezuelan electoral authority, the CNE. Rather, it was a private affair administered by the NGO Súmate, a recipient of funds from the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a CIA-cutout.

As Washington’s prechosen candidate, Machado won in a crowded field of 13 candidates with an incredulous 92%. When some of the other candidates called fraud, Machado had the ballots destroyed. She could do so because Súmate is her personal organization.

True, Machado had been barred from running, but that was back in 2015; the disqualification was reconfirmed by the Venezuelan supreme court this year. Far from “arbitrary,” she had accepted a diplomatic post with a foreign power in order to testify against her own country while serving in the Venezuelan parliament. Such treason is constitutionally prohibited in Venezuela as it is in many other countries.

For the US and its junior partner, the EU, Machado’s disbarment was a bonus. They could claim that their candidate was unfairly disqualified, when that was a given to begin with. Their intent was not to encourage a free and fair democratic process, but to delegitimize the one already in place.

Sakharov winners’ “strategic alliance” with Zionists

Venezuela’s far-right opposition, along with their international counterparts, support the US/Zionist campaign of extermination and regional domination in the Middle East.

Literally nothing is known about the political positions of Sakharov-winner Edmundo Gonzalez. Long retired, Gonzalez was personally chosen to run for the presidency by the other Sakharov winner, Maria Corina Machado. While the infirm “grandpa,” as the press dubbed him, convalesced in Caracas, Machado campaigned around Venezuela as his surrogate. After he lost the election, the EU’s designated president of Venezuela voluntarily left Venezuela for Spain.

In comparison, Machado is a well-known scion of one of the wealthiest families in Venezuela. Fluent in English, the photogenic Machado was first vetted for the Venezuelan presidency before the US Congress and given a bipartisan nod before running in her ersatz “opposition primary.”

Machado is a darling of the international far-right with close ties to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. In a leaked document signed by her, Machado requested military support from Netanyahu to overthrow the Venezuelan government in December 2018.

A month later, after Juan Guaidó self-appointed himself “interim president” of Venezuela, Machado publicly thanked Netanyahu for recognizing the US puppet and specifically called on Jews who had left Venezuela to return and help overthrow the elected government.

Machado gushed: “Prime Minister Netanyahu joins our many allies…We certainly have a common enemy with Israel: the criminal forces that undermine freedom and peace in the world.”

Later that year in an interview with the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, Machado appealed for help from Israel in “our goal of dismantling” Venezuela.

Machado’s Vente Venezuela and Netanyahu’s Likud parties publicly signed a cooperative agreement in 2020 to collude on “political, ideological and social issues.”

Venezuelan government supports Palestine

In contrast to the dissidents, the elected Venezuelan government is distinguished as a recognized world leader for, in President Maduro’s words, “unconditional support to the Palestinian cause.” Hugo Chávez cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 in response to response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza back then.

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela, perhaps more than in any other region have expressed their solidarity with Palestine. Quite the reverse, on September 18, thirteen EU countries either abstained or voted against the UN General Assembly resolution demanding Israel end its “unlawful” occupation of Palestine. Meanwhile, the preponderance of humanity, 124 countries, voted to condemn the Zionist state.

The post Venezuelan Dissidents Supporting Israel Receive Human Rights Award: European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize Goes to US-backed Opposition first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Roger D. Harris.

Chea Mony: Leader of Cambodia’s new opposition party

By Yang Chandara for RFA Khmer — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:07:00 +0000

It was in his first job as a teacher 30 years ago that Chea Mony, who last month became head of Cambodia’s newest opposition party, got involved in activism.

Together with another young math teacher, Rong Chhun — who later became a prominent labor activist — they formed a teachers' union to combat what they viewed as injustices at the school.

“We were called ‘democratic teachers,’” Chea Mony, 55, told Radio Free Asia in an interview.

“I did not like corruption. I did not like to see an exploitation of our schoolteachers’ hours,” he said. “I did not like to see the students having to cross a river to go to school, and when they did not have the money to pay the boat fares, they were not allowed to take the boats to school.”

“Because of that, we organized a protest,” he said.

Chea Mony went on to become a leader of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, or CITA, which he founded with Rong Chhun. It worked closely with the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, led by his brother Chea Vichea.

Chea Mony greets supporters after arriving at Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia, Feb. 1, 2006. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP)

After Chea Vichea, a popular union labor organizer and outspoken critic of former Prime Minister Hun Sen, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2004, the workers’ union elected Chea Mony as president.

Now, he faces the greatest challenge of his life as president of the National Power Party, or NPP, formed in 2023 to oppose the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, led by Prime Minister Hun Manet, son of longtime ruler Hun Sen.

Squashing opposition

For years, the CPP has acted to suppress any political opposition.

In 2017, the country’s top court dissolved the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party. The subsequent opposition Candlelight Party was barred from participating in 2023 elections on a technicality.

Police have arrested activists and political opponents — including Sun Chanthy, the NPP’s previous chief, who was jailed on incitement charges.

Labor leader remembered 20 years after his assassination

Candlelight Party tries to win over Nation Power Party

Government-aligned unions sue Chea Mony over ‘appeal’ for sanctions against Cambodia

“I have many years of experience as a civil society leader, and my struggle is fighting for freedom, for the benefit of justice,” he said.

”So, for me as the current leader of the National Power Party, I am not paying attention to [anything else] because my struggle is to focus on freedom and people, and it is not illegal [to do so]."

The NPP contested in Cambodia’s 2024 senate elections and the 2024 provincial elections, but none of its candidates won seats.

Humble roots

Born in Kratie province, in eastern Cambodia, Chea Mony grew up in Kandal province, which surrounds Phnom Penh, with his four brothers and two sisters.

His father was a former civil servant during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum period, also known as the First Kingdom of Cambodia from 1955 to 1970 when Prince Norodom Sihanouk ruled.

His mother, a housewife, died of an illness when he was young.

His father was killed in 1976 by the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and killed an estimated 2 million people through overwork, starvation or executions.

Cambodian Buddhist monks pray near trade union leader Chea Vichea's coffin during his funeral in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 25, 2004. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

After he graduated with a degree in chemistry from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in 1993, he taught at Hun Sen Saang High School in Saang district of Kandal province until 2000, when he transferred to Boeung Trabek High School in Phnom Penh.

That was where he met Rong Chhun, who became chairman of the teachers’ union they founded, CITA.

“Rong Chhun and I have the same character,” Chea Mony said. “We do not like oppression, exploitation and violation of rights.”

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, CITA and the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia engaged in many demonstrations to demand higher wages for teachers and factory workers, and to pressure the government to respect human rights.

Though his nonviolent activism resulted in dozens of lawsuits, authorities never arrested him.

“We are the union leaders; we have to sue for justice [for the workers],” he said. “I've always [led] strikes [by] demanding that a labor court to resolve labor disputes,” he said. “It is better to take the labor case to an arbitration tribunal.”

2017 lawsuit

One of the most significant lawsuits against Chea Mony was filed by 120 pro-government unions in late 2017.

They accused him of inciting the European Union and the United States to inflict economic sanctions against Cambodia after Chea Mony gave an interview to RFA about the impact of such sanctions on government and factory workers, if imposed.

Chea Mony (C) walks with Sam Rainsy (foreground R), head of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, during a march to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of union leader Chea Vichea, in Phnom Penh, Jan. 22, 2014. (Heng Sinith/AP)

This occurred after Hun Sen repeatedly invited the international community to immediately impose sanctions on his regime. The court proceeded quickly, deciding to summon and charge Chea Mony, who instead fled abroad to escape harassment by the court.

The case was dropped after Cambodia's Labor Ministry settled it outside the court, following intervention by the International Labor Organization and a request by major garment buyers that the government drop the charges against Chea Mony and other union leaders.

Rong Chhun, also 55, who is now an adviser to the NPP, described Chea Mony as a liberal and strong-willed advocate for democracy and respect for human rights.

“He is also a sharp advocate, strong in the face of adversity, when leading demonstrations and strikes,” he said.

Rong Chhun was granted conditional release from jail in September, but he cannot travel or participate in political meetings and must keep authorities informed of his whereabouts.

Chea Mony, who is married and has a daughter and a son, said that his new role is a heavy burden for him, but he is determined to do a good job.

Translated by Sum Sok Ry for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Yang Chandara for RFA Khmer.

At least 6 Togolese journalists attacked while covering opposition party meeting

CPJ Staff — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 17:16:58 +0000

Dakar, October 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Togolese authorities to hold accountable those responsible for attacking at least six journalists as they covered an opposition party meeting on September 29.

“Togolese authorities must urgently identify those responsible for the physical attacks on journalists Hyacinthe Gbloedzro, Godfrey Akpa, Yawo Klousse, Yvette Sossou, Romuald Koffi Lansou, and Albert Agbeko, and hold them to account,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “Covering a political meeting should not mean putting yourself at risk of violence.”

The journalists attacked included:

Hyacinthe Gbloedzro, a reporter with the privately owned Nana FM radio, who told CPJ that attackers in plain clothes threw chairs at the conference table and journalists in front of it, causing a stampede. An assailant then hit him with a chair.
Godfrey Akpa, a reporter with the privately owned Ici Lomé news website, who told CPJ that an attacker punched him in the face and that, after he fell, more than 10 others beat him, trying to take his phone. Akpa said gendarmes watched without intervening.
Yvette Sossou, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper La Dépêche, who told CPJ that she was grabbed, knocked to the ground, and punched, resulting in severe abdominal pain and headaches. The attackers also took her phone, equipment, and money.
Yawo Klousse, news director of the privately owned online website Afrique en ligne, who told CPJ that assailants hit him with chairs and took his bag.
Romuald Koffi Lansou, a reporter for the private news YouTube channel TogoVisions, who told CPJ that the assailants punched him in the back and threw his tripod and other colleagues’ phones into a nearby well.
Albert Agbeko, publishing director of the privately owned news site Togo Scoop, who told CPJ that he was hit on his back with a chair and that an attacker snatched his phone while he was filming. On October 4, an unidentified person called Agbeko and said that “they were going to hit him” for continuing to cover rallies when “they were asked to stop,” according to a recording of the call shared with CPJ.

On September 30, Togolese police announced they opened an investigation and that security forces had not taken protective measures because the rally had been banned.

When CPJ called the armed forces ministry, a representative said they had no information about the incident.

Calls and messages to Yawa Kouigan, Togo’s minister of communication, media, and culture, and spokesperson for the Togolese government, went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Austria’s Far-Right Holds Final Election Rally Amid Opposition Protests

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 22:01:07 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Azerbaijani journalist Shahla Karim forcibly detained, transferred while covering opposition candidate’s protest

Committee to Protect Journalists — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:47:46 +0000

New York, September 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a swift investigation into the September 6 detention and transfer of Azerbaijani journalist Shahla Karim, who was released several hours later.

“In yet another example of the lawlessness and harassment of media in Azerbaijan, journalist Shahla Karim was forcibly removed and transported hundreds of kilometers away from her reporting site to prevent her from covering elections and related protests,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said. “Azerbaijani authorities must quickly identify and hold those to account for detaining Karim and ensure that she gets her journalistic equipment back.”

Karim, a freelance journalist for several independent news outlets, was reporting on opposition candidate Vafa Nagi’s (Nagieva) protest of alleged election fraud in Azerbaijan’s September 1 parliamentary elections when around 10 plainclothes men in surgical masks forcibly detained the journalist, the candidate, and the candidate’s aide in the southeastern city of Neftchala. The three were driven to the capital Baku, around 180 kilometres (110 miles) away, where they were released, according to news reports and Karim, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app. Karim also posted about the incident on Facebook.

Karim told CPJ that she repeatedly identified herself as a journalist, as is audible in video she posted of the incident, and said she believed the men were law enforcement officers because uniformed police at the scene did not intervene. The men said “those were the orders” when Karim asked why she was detained, and the men seemed to be receiving orders by telephone, according to the journalist.

After around four hours, the men dropped them off in a Baku suburb and returned their phones, but kept Karim’s microphone, she said.

In a similar September 2022 incident, Baku police detained journalist Sevinj Sadygova and the wife of jailed journalist Polad Aslanov while the latter was protesting her husband’s imprisonment and released them after driving them outside the city.

Azerbaijani journalists covering the elections have reported being forcibly ejected from polling stations, having their cameras struck by election officials, and cell phones snatched by individuals allegedly committing electoral fraud. The ongoing crackdown against the press has seen 13 independent journalists charged with major economic crimes, leaving independent media unable to adequately cover the elections, said several journalists.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, which oversees the police, for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

U.S., Opposition Claims on Venezuela Election Fall Apart Under Scrutiny

Pete Dolack — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 05:58:52 +0000

Image by Planet Volumes.

Although any country that challenges domination by United States corporate or military power will inevitably be the target of a sustained demonization campaign, the lies consistently issued in a torrent against Venezuela are beyond the usual level of invective. Venezuela is the most lied-about country in the corporate press of the Global North, especially in U.S. corporate media outlets.

That Venezuela has sought to align its economy to benefit its own people, instituting an impressive array of social services, health programs and political structures to facilitate grassroots participation, has drawn the consistent ire of U.S. authorities. An unrelenting cascade of lies is necessary to generate public support for the unrelenting campaign targeting the Bolivarian Revolution.

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The post U.S., Opposition Claims on Venezuela Election Fall Apart Under Scrutiny appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Pete Dolack.

Top opposition party official arrested in Phnom Penh on incitement charge

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 20:36:56 +0000

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Khmer.

A high-ranking official with a new Cambodian opposition party, the Nation Power Party, was arrested Monday and charged with incitement, in what the party said was an attempt to intimidate government opponents.

Chin Bunnaroth, the party’s director-general of administration in southern Takeo province, was arrested by six civilian-clothes police officers in Phnom Penh on Monday, according to a National Power Party statement.

No arrest warrant was presented and it was unclear what prompted the “incitement to cause serious social chaos” charge, the party said.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, often puts pressure on police to arrest political opposition members on politically motivated charges – particularly in the run-up to elections to ensure its own politicians retain power or win new seats in contested areas.

Last May’s local elections featured a crackdown on opposition activists, including the arrests of three opposition party members on May 9.

The Nation Power Party’s president, Sun Chanthy, was one of the three. He was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from Japan, where he had addressed Cambodian supporters. He was also charged with incitement.

Another example of intimidation

Chin Bunnaroth was placed under pre-trial detention at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, according to National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun.

The Nation Power Party called on the government to unconditionally release Chin Bunnaroth. The arrest was another example of the government’s use of the courts to threaten and intimidate political activists, the party said in its statement.

Rong Chhun, a prominent labor activist and an adviser to the Nation Power Party, told Radio Free Asia that the arrest appeared to violate human rights principles.

Eventually, arresting political opponents will have a negative effect on Cambodia’s international reputation and could severely damage the investment and tourism climate, he said.

“The party’s statement is a political issue,” Chhay Kim Khoeun told RFA. “I have nothing to say. We just enforce the law by following the court’s order.”

The Nation Power Party was formed in 2023 by breakaway members of the Candlelight Party, the main political organization opposing the government under the CPP, which has ruled the country since 1979.

The party has stated that it wants to promote a truly democratic Cambodia through free, fair and equitable elections.

Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Controlled Opposition

Allen Forrest — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 15:00:16 +0000

The post Controlled Opposition first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Allen Forrest.

Free the Leftist, Anti-War, and Anti-Nationalist Political Prisoners in Ukraine

Trotskyist Platform — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:33:47 +0000

Above: Political prisoner in Ukraine, Inna Ivanochko sits in a dock in a court. Inna Ivanochko is the head of the Lviv organisation of Opposition Platform — For Life, which was Ukraine’ second largest party in parliament until it was persecuted and then banned. She is facing up to 15 years in prison for expressing her political views in the years before the war started – which the Ukrainian regime have now retrospectively deemed to have been in the service of Russia. Her supposed “offences” include allegedly participating in a September 2015 protest rally over living standards grievances and violations of constitutional rights, taking court action in 2018 against a city council decision to knock down a monument to Soviet World War II soldiers and advocating turning Ukraine into a federal state during a 2018 television interview.
Photo: Supplied

In late April 2024, the Albanese Labor government in Australia announced yet another $100 million in “aid” to Ukraine. The new “aid” package includes air-dropped bombs and drones. The package was announced by deputy prime minister, Richard Marles during a visit to Ukraine where he encouraged the Ukrainian regime to continue its war against Russia. Marles also affirmed the continued participation of Australian soldiers in an operation training Ukrainian troops in Britain. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have already been trained in this U.K.-led operation. The U.S. and European NATO powers and their allies, like the Australian imperialist regime, are prepared to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood to advance their proxy war against Russia.

As millions of low-paid workers, working-class youth, unemployed workers and pensioners suffer under soaring rents, Australian governments have failed to provide adequate funding for the public housing that could help drive down rents across the rental market. Meanwhile, governments of all stripes refuse to substantially boost the crushingly low Jobseeker payments. They say that there is a need to be “prudent” to avoid fueling inflation. Yet, when it comes to fueling death and destruction in distant lands to shore up Western imperialist domination of the world, successive federal governments have had no trouble finding large financial resources. The April announcement brings the Australian regime’s total military assistance to its Ukrainian counterparts to $880 million. Earlier announced Australian military support included the provision of armoured vehicles, six M777 155mm howitzers and artillery shells.

This military assistance is backed by all the parties in the Australian parliament, the entire mainstream media and all of Australia’s influential political think tanks. Yet despite this and the ruling class’ intense propaganda campaign supporting the proxy war against Russia, many Australians do not buy the government’s “rationales” for its military support to its Ukrainian counterparts. Indeed a poll conducted this month by the Australian government-controlled ABC news outlet found that a (small) majority of Australians actually want the government to wind back or end support for Ukraine.

One of the main narratives that Australia’s ruling class and other Western imperialist ruling classes use to justify their massive military backing of Ukraine is their claim that they are “defending a fellow democracy against an authoritarian power.” However the Ukrainian capitalist regime is no “democracy” of any kind! Fascist forces play a prominent role in Ukraine’s state organs. For example, a key part of Ukraine’s National Guard and prominent part of the regime’s ultra-nationalist folklore is the fascist Azov Assault Brigade. Formed in 2014 by neo-Nazi politician Andriy Biletsky, the Azov Assault Brigade sports Nazi regalia and trains its members in white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology. It is notorious for murdering, raping and assaulting numerous leftists, members of ethnic minorities and civilians sympathetic to Russia. The character of the Ukrainian regime can also be seen from the fact that in 2015 it made two Nazi-collaborating, anti-Soviet paramilitary groups (the UPA and the OUN), “heroes of Ukraine.” During World War II, the UPA and OUN between them murdered 100,000 Polish people and tens of thousands of Jewish people, while helping their Nazi allies to carry out the Holocaust. The Ukrainian regime has also renamed many streets after the fascist leader of the OUN, Stepan Bandera; and have also erected numerous statues and other monuments to this Nazi-allied war criminal.

Capitalism and Democracy

Of course, the Western regimes using Ukraine are hardly true “democracies” themselves. To be sure Western governments are elected and citizens are theoretically able to advance their political views. However, in practice it is the wealthy capitalists, in great disproportion to their small numbers that have the means to shape public opinion and hence steer election outcomes. It is they who own the media, establish and finance the political think tanks, provide much of the funding for political parties and political NGOs and have the financial resources to pay for expensive political advertising and lobbyists. Thus in terms of political influence, “democracies” under capitalism run more on “one dollar, one vote” rather than the nominal, “one person, one vote.” Moreover, due to their tremendous wealth and control of the economy, the capitalists are able to ensure that all the key state institutions remain tied to them by thousands of threads irrespective of which political party is elected to govern. Therefore, in all nominally “democratic” capitalist countries, the form of “democracy” masks the reality that the system is in fact just a form of dictatorship of the capitalist class. To the extent that there is any real democracy it is only that the different capitalists and pro-capitalist factions are able to freely and “democratically” debate their differences and arrive at a majority decision about which policies best serve the interests of their class. Moreover, just as in more openly authoritarian forms of capitalist rule, whenever the rule of the capitalist class faces a serious challenge, the ruling class will resort to the most brutal authoritarian repression to protect their interests.

Nevertheless, as far as the working-class and other oppressed are concerned, this pseudo-“democratic” form of administering capitalism is preferable to other forms of capitalism – like fascism, military dictatorship etc – because it allows the masses comparatively greater freedoms with which to organise resistance against capitalist exploitation. That is why in capitalist parliamentary democracies like Australia, we oppose every attack of the ruling class on the limited democratic rights that the masses do have. And as decaying, late-stage capitalism is increasingly unable to meet the needs of the masses, in nearly every capitalist parliamentary “democracy” around the world the worried capitalist class is chipping away at the political rights that it had previously conceded to the masses. Just look at the hardline anti-protest laws that have been enacted in NSW and other Australian states and the federal government’s draconian “foreign interference” laws which are aimed at suppressing expressions of sympathy for socialistic China.

Teacher from Kiev, Alla Dushkina. (Photo: Supplied). She spent three months in a Ukrainian jail for correspondence with an acquaintance from Russia, in which she expressed doubts about the correctness of Ukraine’s political course. Later, she was granted bail and managed to leave the country without waiting for the verdict. Ukrainian journalist Pavel Volkov managed to interview her. Here is an excerpt from what Alla Dushkina told the journalist:

I was arrested with my son in Khmelnitskiy [a city in Western Ukraine].
Five cars surrounded us, and then they interrogated me for 72 hours, trying to get a confession. I didn’t sign anything, we were beaten, wrapped in a black and red flag [the flag of the Nazi-collaborating OUN-UPA]. I had to confess that I made some marks [for Russian bombs and missiles] and that I had given shelter to Kadyrovites [Chechens who are fighting for Russia], whom I had never seen in my life. And they took fingerprints, and forced me to pass a lie detector, and threatened to take me in the city square with an announcement that I was putting tags [was a missile gunner] so that the mothers of the murdered soldiers would beat me. Then they realized that I wouldn’t sign anything, put bags on my son and me and started leading us somewhere. They brought us to Kiev, my son was shoved into the basement in front of me, they demanded from him to say that I had killed people, pressed on my conscience, threatened. I was taken to the SSU building on Askold Lane, then to the Lukyanovo pre—trial detention center. The jailer showed me videos on her phone every morning – as far as I can understand, she was instructed to do this – how in both men’s and women’s buildings people were beaten, dipped their heads in the toilet, bullied. They demanded a confession from me to avoid the fate of people on these videos.

Today’s Ukraine – Not Any Kind of Democracy At All

Today’s capitalist Ukraine does not even have the truncated, “democratic” form of the dictatorship of the capitalist class that exists today in Australia, the U.S., France and other so-called “Western democracies.” Political parties and activists genuinely opposed to the Ukrainian government’s policies face severe and brutal repression. Such repression greatly intensified after a 2014 far-right coup, engineered by Washington and the European imperialist powers. That coup overthrew the elected government of Viktor Yanukovych who attempted to simultaneously maintain friendly ties with both Russia and the EU. Yanukovych’s government was replaced by a rabidly Ukrainian nationalist regime that was as fiercely anti-Russia as it was pro-Western. The new regime enacted laws discriminating against the Russian-speaking populations in the east of Ukraine as well as against other non-Ukrainian minorities. When the post-2014 regime inevitably met with opposition – especially in the east and south of the country – this was met with extreme repression supplemented by the terror of fascist gangs. In 2015, the regime banned the sizable Communist Party of Ukraine and two smaller other, nominally communist parties. Meanwhile the regime jailed or threatened political opponents and journalists.

Some Ukrainians have made courageous efforts to detail the persecution that others are facing at the hands of the Ukrainian regime. Among these is Ukrainian journalist Pavel Volkov. Volkov was himself imprisoned from 2017 for thirteen months for merely writing articles critical of the 2014 right-wing coup and for sympathising with the plight of the people of the eastern, mostly Russian-speaking, Donbass region who were attacked for their opposition to the new ultra-nationalist order. For this, he was accused of “separatism,” “terrorism,” and “collaboration with the enemy”. Due to the efforts of out of court supporters and a dedicated team of lawyers, Volkov eventually proved the charges false in court. However, this was a very rare case where the Ukrainian regime’s trumped-up charges against opponents have been defeated in the regime’s courts. Most of those targeted end up in prison or worse. Pavel Volkov described what he observed in the years 2018-2020:

… people have been tried under `separatist’ and `terrorist’ articles for laying flowers at the Soviet monuments; paying taxes for DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) [a pro-Russia rebel government that was established in the eastern Donetsk region by opponents of the post-2014 far-right regime]; organizing `Pushkin Balls,’ and so on. Any activity that can be interpreted as the glorification of the Soviet past, the valorization of the Russian culture, or the recognition of the authorities of rebellious Donbass came to be acknowledged as ‘separatist’ and ‘terrorist.’

Ukrainian journalist, Pavel Volkov, in court.
Photo: Supplied

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, the Ukrainian regime has used the cover of the war and the mantra of “defending national security against treason” to persecute its opponents to a yet more extreme degree. In June 2022, the regime banned the biggest opposition party, the Opposition Platform — For Life, a party which just 17 months before had been leading Ukraine’s opinion polls. Similarly, the regime banned several other parties – accusing all of either “collaborating with Russia” or “violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine” or “destabilising the social and political situation in Ukraine”. Among the parties that the Ukrainian regime banned include Viktor Yanukovych’s former party, the Party of Regions as well as Derzhava, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Socialist Party of Ukraine and Union of Left Forces.

Anyone in Ukraine who expresses even the mildest sympathy for Russia or who advocates peace talks is targeted. Other dissidents are falsely accused of pro-Russia sympathies in order to silence them. As journalist, Pavel Volkov put it:

Today, there are thousands of civilian prisoners in Ukraine who are deprived of their liberty and human rights for ‘likes’ under ‘incorrect’ social-media posts, Internet discussions of projectile impact location, frank correspondence with relatives in Russia via messengers, performing professional duties (like teaching) in the territories occupied and then abandoned by Russia, and so on. The retreats of the Russian Armed Forces from the Kiev region, parts of the Kharkov region, and parts of the Kherson region in later 2022 were marked by mass arrests, which continue to this day. This is what the SSU [Security Service of Ukraine] calls `the stabilization measures.’ Only in the summer of 2022, as a result of these `measures’ – apartment-by-apartment sweeps – 700 people were detained in Vinnytsa and Nikolaev – two regional centers in the southern part of Ukraine bordering the Odessa region.

Although Volkov himself was forced to flee Ukraine in the latter part of 2022, he and his colleagues have since then painstakingly analysed the open source data of the various enforcement agencies of the Ukrainian regime in order to estimate the number of political prisoners there. They found that from the time of the 2014 far-right coup to the start of the Russian intervention in early 2022, the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office brought 643 cases to the court on political charges. This repression then escalated such that in 2022 and 2023 alone the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office and regional prosecutor’s offices opened up 26,821 cases on political matters of which 4,315 have already been brought to the court with an indictment. Moreover, when the cases brought by the Ukrainian National Police and the SSU secret police are also included, Volkov and Co. found that the Ukrainian regime had opened up over 74 thousand criminal cases on politically motivated charges. This means that the number of people in today’s Ukraine who are in either prison or pre-trial detention on the basis of political charges is likely to be in the tens of thousands.

Among the laws that Ukrainian regime have used to persecute dissidents is Article 436-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code which nominally prosecutes people for: justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine or glorification of its participants. Articles 110 and 110-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code also targets people for expressing dissident views but does so under the official charge of: trespass against the territorial integrity or inviolability of Ukraine or financing of such actions. Volkov’s research shows that under these three articles of the criminal code alone, Ukrainian prosecutors in 2022 and 2023 have opened up 14,411 political cases of which more than 1,400 were already brought to court during that period. Under the likes of these type of pretexts, Professor Sergey Shubin from the Nikolayev region was sentenced to 15 years in prison for merely making reflections in his personal diary on what life would be like in the region if it were occupied by the Russian army. A pensioner from Sumy region Lyudmila Vazhinskaya was sentenced to six months jail for advocating peace talks between Ukraine and Russia while talking with people in a queue for milk. In a high-profile case, Inna Ivanochko, the head of the Lviv (city in western Ukraine) organisation of Ukraine’ second biggest parliamentary party (until it was persecuted and then banned), Opposition Platform — For Life, was arrested in August 2022 and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. She is facing up to 15 years in prison for expressing her political views in the years before the war started. These include allegedly participating in a September 2015 rally against low pensions, increased tariffs and violations of constitutional rights, taking legal action in a Lviv court (!) against the 2018 decision of the Lviv City Council to knock down a monument to Soviet World War II soldiers and advocating turning Ukraine into a federal state (an idea which is branded “separatism” in contemporary Ukraine) in a television interview in 2018. Outrageously, the three lawyers who defended Inna Ivanochko have also all been arrested. The latest of her lawyers to be arrested was Svetlana Novitskaya who was seized on February 20 of this year and has been imprisoned ever since. She is accused of violating Article 436-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code, “denying the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” … for her statements in court defending her client, Inna Ivanochko! Defence lawyers imprisoned for their submissions in court defending their clients – such is the “democracy” that the Australian and other Western capitalist rulers say that they are “defending” through sending huge quantities of weapons to their proxy!

Volkov’s research found that in 2022 and 2023 Ukrainian prosecutors had also opened 3,126 cases of suspicion of “High treason” under Article 111 of its criminal code and 7,058 cases on “Collaborationism” under Article 111-1. Most of the people imprisoned under such charges are those who worked in public institutions in the areas occupied by the Russian army. After the Russian troops withdrew from some of the areas, these public sector workers have been persecuted as “traitors” and “collaborators”. People like Anatoliy Miruta, a man from the Kiev region who was jailed for 10 years for negotiating with the Russian military to take local residents to the hospital and distributing Russian humanitarian aid. Or like, Valentina Ropalo, a resident of Volchansk in the Kharkov region, who was hit with a five year prison sentence for working as the head of the housing and communal services department while the Russian army was in her city, which was deemed to be “collaboration with the enemy”. Meanwhile, Olga Galanina, Deputy Chairman of the Berdyansk Administration for Humanitarian Affairs, is facing a life sentence because she agreed to continue her work in Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region, under the Russian administration. SSU officers kidnapped her student son in Dnepropetrovsk, illegally held him in detention, forcing his mother to come to the territory controlled by Ukraine, where she was arrested.

In addition to the political prisoners in Ukraine who have either been officially sentenced to jail or are in pre-trial detention, are a large number of others who have been abducted by the regime or its fascist auxiliaries. Among them is Sergey Chemolosov, a resident of the village of Ivanovka in the Kharkov region. Chemolosov had been distributing Russian humanitarian aid and helped restore the village’s electricity supply during the stay of Russian troops there. On 7 September 2022, Ukrainian military officers kidnapped Chemolosov and took him to an unknown destination. On September 9, Kirill Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the office of President Zelensky, published on Facebook a photo in which Chemolosov, with marks showing that he was severely beaten in custody, is sitting blindfolded with his hands tied. What later happened to Chemolosov or whether he is even still alive is unknown. It is also unknown the exact number of political prisoners that the Ukrainian regime has similarly abducted and is illegally detaining at secret locations.

9 September 2022: Sergey Chemolosov, a resident of the village of Ivanovka in Ukraine’s Kharkov region, is shown in a Facebook post, celebrating his detention, made by the deputy head of the office of President Zelensky, Kirill Tymoshenko. Chemolosov is blindfolded, with his hands tied behind his back and with marks indicating that he was beaten in custody. Two days earlier, Ukrainian military officers had abducted Chemolosov and taken him to an unknown location. Chemolosov’s “crime” is that he had been distributing Russian humanitarian aid and helped restore the village’s electricity supply during the stay of Russian troops in his village. What later happened to Chemolosov is unknown.

Down With the Ukrainian Regime’s Persecution of Leftists!

The pro-Western Ukrainian regime has especially targeted avowed communists, leftists and others with sympathy for the former Soviet Union. Thus Pavel Volkov’s research shows that among the politically motivated criminal cases that Ukrainian prosecutors have opened up in 2022 and 2023 are 600 cases of suspected violation of Article 436-1 of Ukraine’s criminal code, which bans the production and distribution of communist symbols and propaganda sympathetic to communist “totalitarian regimes” (which is mostly aimed at supporters of the former Soviet Ukraine and the former Soviet Union). Already 322 people have been brought before the courts on these charges. Formally, Article 436-1 also bans Nazi symbols and propaganda sympathetic to Nazi regimes. However, that part of the law is never applied – especially since support for Stepan Bandera and his Nazi-allied OUN is a key part of the official ideology of the Ukrainian regime. Article 436-1 of Ukraine’s criminal code was indeed never meant to target neo-Nazi elements. The proscription of Nazi symbols in Article 436-1 was included purely to obscure the stridently anti-communist nature of the law.

Many of the leftists imprisoned have been prosecuted under trumped-up charges under other articles of Ukraine’s criminal code. Among them is left-wing activist from Zaporozhye, Yuriy Petrovsky who was hit with a 15 year jail term for allegedly providing assistance to the Russian military. Also imprisoned is Bogdan Syrotiuk, a leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists and who is associated with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Syrotiuk was arrested eight weeks ago on trumped charges of “treason” because of his opposition to both the Ukrainian and Russian side in the war. If convicted by Ukraine’s thoroughly biased courts, Syrotiuk is threatened with a prison sentence of 15 years to life. The ICFI have held rallies outside Ukraine embassies in several cities demanding freedom for Bogdan Syrotiuk, including a June 14 protest in Canberra conducted by the ICFI’s Australian section, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). We in Trotskyist Platform add our voice to the demand for immediate freedom for 25 year-old Bogdan Syrotiuk.

Trotskyist Platform demands the immediate release of all those imprisoned by the Ukrainian regime for expressing pro-Soviet, communist and other leftist sympathies. We say: Immediately scrap the anti-communist Article 436-1 of Ukraine’s criminal code! We also call for the immediate release of all those imprisoned in Ukraine for advocating peace in the war of for expressing sympathy for Russia or merely admiration for Russian culture. Those public sector workers branded as “traitors” and “collaborators” for performing their duties during Russian control of their villages and cities must also be immediately freed. Down with the Ukrainian regime’s mafia-style abductions of dissidents and those-branded as “Russian collaborators”! Lift the regime’s ban on the Communist Party of Ukraine! Lift the Ukrainian regime’s ban on all other leftist, anti-nationalist, anti-war and other opposition parties!

It should be noted that we support the campaign to free ICFI-associated Bogdan Syrotiuk despite our profound political differences with the ICFI and the SEP. Not least among our differences with the ICFI/SEP is our objection to their decision to “denounce the Russian military intervention in Ukraine” in February 2022 – a point which they have been reiterating of late – which undercuts their nominal position of opposition to both sides in the war and slants towards a position of partially defending Ukraine (a true defeatist on both sides stance would not have taken a position on the question of the February 2022 Russian intervention). Today, recognising that Ukraine’s war with Russia has become subordinate to the Western imperialist tyrants of the world, we in Trotskyist Platform call for the defence of Russia (despite its reactionary capitalist rulers) against imperialism and its Ukrainian proxies. In contrast, the SEP and ICFI continue to take a stated position of opposition to both sides in the war.

Ukrainian journalist, Pavel Volkov, pictured during his 13 month period of imprisonment, starting in 2017, for writing articles critical of the Ukrainian regime. Since his release, he and his colleagues have analysed open source data revealing thousands of cases of political persecution in his country. Pictured sitting on the left is defence lawyer, Svetlana Novitskaya, who herself has been in pre-trial detention since 20 February 2024. Novitskaya is being persecuted for her defence of many high-profile political prisoner cases. She is accused of violating Article 436-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code, “denying the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” during her statements in court defending her client, opposition politician, Inna Ivanochko!
Photo: Supplied

Extreme Political Repression in Ukraine a Result of the
Early 1990s Capitalist Counterrevolution

The political repression in today’s Ukraine is far more intense and brutal than any repression that occurred in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during the last four decades of the socialistic Soviet Union. To be sure, in the mid-late 1930s when the, by then bureaucratised, leadership of the Soviet worker state, under the impact of profound international defeats for the socialist movement, moved to the right in many areas – from international policy, to economic and social policies, to backsliding on Lenin’s 100% correct insistence on being sensitive to the national rights of the Ukrainian and other non-Russian peoples – the Stalin-led bureaucracy sought to muzzle potential resistance to this rightist turn with murderous persecution of the most devoted and thoughtful communists. Soviet Ukraine was especially hard hit by this repression for a several year period. However, from the late 1950s onwards, the jailing of political dissidents in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (and indeed the whole Soviet Union) became relatively rare. Moreover, the political prisoners that did exist in Soviet Ukraine during this period were largely not leftists. Rather, Soviet Ukraine’s repression mostly targeted opponents of socialistic rule – something which even a workers state operating under the ideal form of workers democracy may be compelled to do during the transition to full socialism if it is facing a world where the richest, most economically powerful countries of the world continue to be under capitalist rule.

All this is important to understand because the fanatically anti-Soviet Ukrainian regime and its imperialist masters present today’s Ukraine as “democratic” as opposed to the “totalitarian” Soviet period. Similarly, they portray the period of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as an unending series of horrors in which the Ukrainian people were supposedly “oppressed” by Russians. However, during the Soviet Union’s hey days in the late 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the masses of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic enjoyed full employment, free high-quality education, free health care and a rich cultural, entertainment and sporting life. The 1917 great October Socialist Revolution not only freed all the toilers of the former Russian empire from capitalism but it liberated the people of Ukraine from the intense national oppression that they faced in the pre-Soviet days when they were under the thumb of Russian imperialist rulers. To be sure, during certain periods of Stalin’s administration of the Soviet Union, there were bouts of partial re-institution of policies offending the Ukrainian people’s legitimate national feelings. However, from the late 1950s onwards, although there remained a degree of Russian centredness in the Soviet bureaucracy, the culture of the minority nationalities of the socialistic USSR again flourished with renewed vigour along with the economic standard of living of their peoples. It could not be said that the people of Ukraine were nationally oppressed in this period. Indeed, by the latter days of the Soviet period, the average life expectancy in Soviet Ukraine was nearly a year and a half higher than in Soviet Russia.

However, the Soviet workers state faced intense hostility from the considerably richer imperialist powers. The immense external pressure that capitalism exerted upon the Soviet Union resulted in a conservative bureaucracy being squeezed up to the top of the workers state. The rule of this bureaucracy, with its petty privileges, politically and economically weakened the workers state. Through suppressing workers democracy, the bureaucracy retarded the Soviet Union’s socialist planned economy from reaching its full and tremendous potential. Eventually, under the relentless pressure of the imperialist powers and the economic stagnation that this caused, the bureaucracy started making more and more international and domestic concessions to capitalism. This encouraged a layer of petty capitalists and speculators and highly educated, mostly younger, people – who were seduced by the promise that capitalism would bring them the standard of living enjoyed by the upper and upper-middle classes in the West along with “democracy” – to push for outright capitalist counterrevolution. They spearheaded their push under the cover of fighting for “democracy”. In Ukraine this was supplemented with virulent Ukrainian nationalism. Yet despite their promises and the massive backing they were gaining from the U.S.-led imperialists, most of the people of Soviet Ukraine did not support these counterrevolutionaries. In a March 1991 Soviet-wide referendum on whether or not to maintain the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, more than 71% of the people of Soviet Ukraine voted to maintain the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in a referendum that had a nearly 84% turnout in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, although the majority of the people of Soviet Ukraine – and indeed the whole Soviet Union – were wary of those who wanted to overthrow socialistic rule, lacking authentic leadership and being depoliticised by decades of bureaucratic rule, they were confused as to what to do and, to an extent, were even unclear about the need to forcibly resist the emerging counterrevolution. As a result, a relatively small layer of imperialist-backed counterrevolutionaries were able to destroy the greatest victory the working classes of the world have ever achieved, while the working-class masses watched on by.

A comparison of life expectancy of Ukraine and China from 1989 to 2021. In 1989, the year before Ukraine and the rest of the Soviet Union started diving rapidly towards its 1991-92 capitalist counterrevolution, the average life expectancy in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was three years higher than in socialistic China (which then still had a long way to go to catch up from the terrible poverty of its pre-1949, semi-colonial capitalist times). But after capitalist counterrevolution, the life expectancy in Ukraine collapsed along with the people’s living standards. Three decades later, in 2021 (which was the year before the war started), the life expectancy in Ukraine was still less than it was near the end of her socialistic days in 1989, despite all the advances in global medical science over the last three decades. By contrast, China, which has remained under socialistic rule has continued to see a strongly rising life expectancy. From having an average life expectancy that was three years below that of Soviet Ukraine in 1989, socialistic China’s average life expectancy by 2021 was more than eight years higher than in, now, capitalist Ukraine (it is today almost 11 years higher).
Source: World Bank

The 1991-1992 capitalist counterrevolution and the resulting conversion of collectively-owned, public enterprises into the private ownership of a few was a disaster for the toiling masses of Ukraine. Indeed it was a catastrophe for all the masses of the former Soviet Union. Unemployment soared, people were driven into poverty, industries were dismantled, the social position of women diminished and ethnic tensions intensified. And far from the “democracy” that the leaders of the capitalist counterrevolution promised, every part of the former Soviet Union saw political persecution of opponents. In October 1993, pro-Western “democratic” Russian president, Boris Yeltsin unleashed tanks against protesters and his own parliament, killing nearly 150 people.

Such political repression in all ex-Soviet countries is driven by two inter-related factors. Firstly and most importantly, the capitalist counterrevolution reduced the living standards of much of the population. Bitter about their position and having known a better life in the Soviet days, the masses could not be held back from opposing the new social “order” through propaganda and nationalism alone. The new capitalist rulers also needed to unleash brutal political repression to keep the masses in check.

Secondly, the political repression in the now capitalist countries existing in the lands of the former Soviet Union is partly connected with the particular forms of capitalism that arose from the capitalist counterrevolution. In the lands that have never been workers states, capitalism emerged from feudalism (except in some settler colonies when it was brutally imposed on first peoples often living in egalitarian hunter-gatherer type societies) as a higher, more progressive social system than the one that it replaced. Then, after having exhausted its initially progressive content, now decaying capitalism brought only suffering to the masses, social reaction, imperialism and catastrophic inter-imperialist wars; while still containing elements of its ability to develop the productive forces further than the feudalism that it had replaced. However, when capitalism was re-introduced to the lands of the former Soviet Union, it had absolutely no traces of the young, initially relatively progressive, capitalism that replaced feudalism. Instead, the capitalism that was transplanted into the lands of the former Soviet Union was entirely the decrepit, reactionary capitalism of the late 20^th century. Moreover, this capitalist rule was not replacing a still more oppressive feudalism but replacing a higher, more progressive social order – one based on collective ownership of the means of production and working-class rule. Therefore, inevitably, the new capitalist ruling classes dreamt not mainly of expanding the productive forces to boost profits but of looting the productive capacity that was already there and of making a killing by dismantling and selling off the former Soviet Union’s massive industrial base. The capitalism installed into the lands of the former Soviet Union was an especially corrupt and venal form of capitalism. Alongside the plunge in the masses standard of living caused by the reversion to a reactionary social system, capitalist restoration in the lands of the former Soviet Union led to a retrogression in the moral substance of the people. The destruction of a collectivist-based economic system and its replacement with one-based on exploitation and dog-eat-dog competition – especially in conditions of newly arisen poverty – has pushed many to abandon some of the caring, mutually aiding outlook that Soviet people were famous for in favour of a ruthless jostling for scarce jobs and assets. For all these reasons, the capitalism that arose on the ashes of the Soviet workers state has been a mafia-style capitalism, characterised by the close inter-twining of capitalists with criminal gangs and collaboration between state agencies and criminal groups. The brutality of the state organs in the now capitalist, ex-Soviet countries is then in part driven by their “need” to defend the interests of the particular capitalists-criminals that they are collaborating with by mercilessly suppressing the objections of both rival mafia capitalists and those citizens daring to challenge this corruption.

However, at the same time, more far-sighted elements within the capitalist classes in ex-Soviet countries see the need to bring order to their capitalism in order to ensure the efficiency and viability of their system. They seek a political force – typically centred around a “strongman” – to achieve this task. When such a political force is pushed into power by the dominant elements of the capitalist class, this force uses ruthless repression to make particular capitalists – and the sections of the masses that these bigwigs have brought around them – sacrifice some of their short-term criminal-linked plunder in order to ensure the overall interests of the capitalist class as a whole and the long-term survival of the capitalist order. This is the role played in Russia by Putin. The fact that he performs this function reasonably effectively is the reason why he has been backed by the majority of Russia’s capitalist exploiting class for so long – despite his occasional crackdowns on particular oligarchs. To be sure, the discipline to capitalism that such strongmen bring often does not apply to their closest friends and relatives within the capitalist class! That is why the capitalists closest to Putin are given favoured treatment – as long as they don’t drift into opposition to him (like late Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin did!).

Yet, even amongst the repressive capitalist regimes in the countries of the former Soviet Union, today’s Ukrainian one is especially brutal. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that the people of Ukraine have suffered from capitalist counterrevolution especially hard. Notably, despite all the advances in modern health science over these last three decades, Ukraine’s average life expectancy in the year before the recent war began (2021) was actually lower than it was in 1989, the year before Ukraine and the rest of the USSR started sliding rapidly towards capitalist restoration! Moreover, whereas at the end of the Soviet times in 1990, Ukraine’s GDP per capita (as determined by the more relevant PPP – Purchasing Power Parity – method) was 95% of Russia’s, i.e. basically the same despite being far more resource poor than Russia; by 2021, the year before the war began, her per capita income was less than half that of Russia’s (46% of Russia’s to be exact). By the way, this comparison alone should smash the notion that Ukraine was a “subjugated” nation in Soviet times that became “liberated” through the destruction of the Soviet Union! However, the main point for us here is that the working-class masses of Ukraine have suffered even more cruelly from the capitalist counterrevolution than the masses of Russia. Therefore, the regime enforcing capitalist rule in Ukraine has been compelled to use still more brutal repression to keep the unhappy masses in line.

The second reason why repression is particularly severe in Ukraine is because the regime there took an especially fanatical anti-Soviet turn after the 2014 right-wing coup. They began knocking down monuments to the Soviet Union and to the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. The regime even passed a law banning, under the threat of up to five years imprisonment, any singing of the Communist Internationale or the Ukrainian Soviet and Soviet anthems and any flying of the flags of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the former Soviet Union! Yet a considerable proportion of Ukraine’s population is either old enough to remember how much better life was in Soviet times or at least old enough to hear such accounts from their parents and their aunts and uncles. To people who remember fondly and are proud of the achievements of the Soviet Union and of the Red Army’s heroic victory over Nazi Germany, the extreme anti-Sovietism of Ukraine’s ruling elite and its hailing of anti-Soviet, Nazi collaborators are unbearably offensive. This is especially true for the peoples of the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, who have been less blinded by extreme nationalism than peoples in the western Galician region generally have. Thus to enforce its anti-Soviet laws, practices and ideology, the regime has had to use naked repression and intimidation against the significant percentage of pro-Soviet minded people in the country.

Thirdly, given that a significant part of Ukraine’s population speak Russian as well as other non-Ukrainian languages – including Hungarian, Moldovan and Romanian – as their first language, the post-2014 Ukrainian regime’s discrimination against the use of non-Ukrainian languages inevitably provoked strong resistance. Such discrimination is itself a result of the majority of the capitalist class realising that it could only protect itself from the wrath of the masses, discontented as they are over high unemployment and poor living standards, through diverting their anger onto Russian-speakers and ethnic minorities. Ukraine’s rulers are hardly the only capitalist ruling class to enact language discrimination in order to divide the working-class masses and prevent united multi-ethnic mass struggle against themselves. And they are hardly the only regime to face a revolt as a result of such discriminatory language policies! For example, in Sri Lanka, the majority of the capitalist ruling class, terrified by a massive 1953 general strike, which united workers from both the majority Sinhala ethnicity and the minority Tamil ethnicity, in the following years introduced language laws that ostentatiously discriminated against Tamil speakers. It was this discrimination against Tamil language speakers that in good part eventually led to the rise of the Tamil armed national liberation struggle. And similar to Sri Lanka, the Ukrainian regime’s language and other social discrimination against non-Ukraine speakers can only be enforced with brutal state repression against those who resist.

Fourth, and in good part for the above three reasons, a significant part of Ukraine’s population does not want to fight a war with Russia. Many even sympathise with Russia, which is seen as less oppressive of pro-Soviet sentiment than the Ukrainian regime as well as obviously being more tolerant of Russian speakers. Terrified by this reality, the Kiev regime unleashes hysterical repression and violence against dissidents – both real and perceived.

Political prisoner, Professor Sergey Shubin in the dock of a Ukrainian court. The Ukrainian regime sentenced Shubin to 15 years in prison for merely making reflections in his personal diary on what life would be like in his Nikolayev region if it were occupied by the Russian army.
Photo: Supplied

Fifth, the Ukrainian regime has a sizable support base of fanatical nationalists from which to launch repression against its opponents. Although a significant part of Ukraine’s population rejects the regime’s extreme anti-Soviet and anti-Russian hostility, there is also a sizable part of Ukraine’s self-employed and middle class population who have fallen for the extreme Ukrainian nationalism that they have been fed by the majority of the country’s capitalist class. They have bought the ruling class’ lying anti-Soviet propaganda. However, there is also a genuine fear amongst Ukrainian people that they will be subordinated by a new Russian empire as the Ukrainian people truly were in pre-Soviet, Tsarist times. These fears are born of the reality that today’s Russian Army is not the Soviet Red Army that liberated Ukraine from the Nazi invasion (and from Bandera and other Nazi collaborators). And today’s Russia is no longer a Soviet Russia that proclaims “Friendship of the Peoples” but a capitalist Russia whose rulers openly hail the expansionist, Great Russian chauvinist, Tsarist times. Ukraine’s capitalist rulers manipulate their people’s fear of being subjugated by Russia and inject into those legitimate fears ultra-right-wing nationalism, fanatical anti-Sovietism and loyalty to the program of Bandera and other Nazi collaborators.

In summary, capitalist counterrevolution has not brought the masses in the former Soviet lands any of the prosperity and “democracy” that the counterrevolutionaries promised – not even the token form of “democracy” that exists in Western capitalist countries. Indeed, it has brought the very opposite! This is true throughout all the lands of the former Soviet Union – and is especially true in today’s Ukraine.

Above, Ukraine, July 2022: Prime minister Albanese meets with Ukrainian leaders during a visit aimed at encouraging the Ukrainian regime to maintain their war against Russia. Albanese is here holding a model of the Antonov An-225, the world’s largest aircraft that was sadly destroyed during the early days of the war. Ukrainian officials had presented the AN-225 model to Albanese as a symbol of Ukrainian national pride. The people of Ukraine should indeed be proud of the magnificent AN-225. Except the AN-225 was not made during the period of the post-Soviet, capitalist Ukraine but was manufactured in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, with components and design also contributed by various other parts of the Soviet Union (Below: The AN-225 in Soviet times carrying the Soviet spacecraft the Buran). Yet today’s fanatically anti-Soviet, Ukrainian regime, that outlaws any use of Soviet symbols, ended up presenting to Albanese what is in reality a tribute to this marvel of Soviet engineering excellence! Inadvertently, that is an admission of how much more Ukraine achieved in Soviet times. For Ukrainian officials simply could not find any symbol of achievement from the more than three decades of post Soviet, capitalist Ukraine’s existence that was worthy of being presented as a gift to a foreign “dignitary”. For, given the extreme hostility to the Soviet Union of this Ukrainian regime, if there actually was such a symbol of achievement from post-Soviet Ukraine, they would have presented it, rather than having to claim as their own the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic’s – and broader Soviet Union’s – fabulous aircraft. In Soviet times, Ukraine was known for its aircraft manufacturing and other advanced industries, its beautiful tourist destinations and its hospitable people. In contrast, post-Soviet, capitalist Ukraine has been most known by the outside world as one of the scam capitals of the world; and even more so as a place from where large numbers of women facing poverty and lack of opportunity would seek to become “mail-order-brides” to men living in richer countries; or sex workers in the West (many of whom would end up being cruelly exploited by sex industry bosses). Capitalist counterrevolution has been an absolute disaster for most people in Ukraine and most people in all of the former Soviet Union.
Photo (top): X/Twitter @ukraine_world.
Photo (below): Peter Volek/JetPhotos.Net

Defend Russia Against Imperialism and its Ukrainian Proxies!

The Ukrainian regime’s imprisonment of tens of thousands of political prisoners blows to smithereens the claims of the Australian and other Western capitalist governments that they are backing Ukraine’s war in order to “defend democracy.” So what then is actually driving Ukraine’s war with Russia? When Russia first intervened in February 2022, the war was mostly an inter-capitalist squabble for territory. Ukraine wanted to forcibly keep lands in the eastern Donbass region where the majority of residents, mostly Russian speakers enraged at the fanatically anti-Soviet and anti-Russian character of the post-2014 regime, no longer wanted to be part of Ukraine. On the other hand, the Russian regime, encouraged by the ethnic/cultural solidarity of many of its people with the embattled Russian-speaking population in the Donbass region, wanted to not only grab the clearly pro-Russia portions of Ukraine but to gain additionally territory in regions where the majority of residents did not want to be part of Russia. Both the Ukrainian and Russian governments were driven by the needs of the respective capitalist classes that they serve to maximise the size of their guaranteed markets and the extent of raw materials under their control by maximising their country’s territory. For this reason, when Russia first entered Ukraine in February 2022, we called for opposition to both sides. At the same time, given that our “own” capitalist rulers and its U.S. senior partners were clearly backing Ukraine, we had a tilt that especially emphasized opposition to Ukraine. We demanded an end to all Western sanctions against Russia and an end to all Western military aid to Ukraine.

However, even from the first days of the Russian intervention there was another aspect to the conflict. The Western imperialist powers wanted to extend NATO to Russia’s borders in order to intimidate her. The imperialist powers wanted to prevent Russia from becoming a potential great power rival and hoped that they could instead, one day, again reduce Russia to the humiliated and dependent status that she had in the first decade after the capitalist counterrevolution. The imperial powers also hoped to pressure Russia into abandoning her friendly ties with socialistic China so that they could advance their main global strategic goal – to overthrow the Chinese workers state. Ideally, the imperialist powers hoped that through exerting pressure on Russia they could foster a “colour revolution” there that would bring to power a Western subservient regime – like the Yeltsin-Putin regime of the 1990s or the Ukrainian regime of today. Against these plans, Russia’s rulers understandably wanted to retard the encroachment of NATO to its borders.

Initially we judged that this driving force of the conflict was less a factor than the inter-capitalist squabble for territory. However, in our initial detailed coverage of the conflict, we foreshadowed the possibility that the antagonism between the Western imperialist powers and Russia could become the main aspect of the war. Within several weeks into the conflict, this is what indeed occurred. This was shown in late March-early April 2022 when Ukraine and Russia were on the verge of agreeing to a peace deal. However, that was scuttled by not only pressure on Zelensky from Ukraine’s fascist groups but by the diktats that the Western powers made to Kiev. Indeed on 9 April, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kiev where he publicly told the Ukrainian government that no peace deal should be made with Russia. The following month, the U.S. announced a package of arms to Ukraine that was on a qualitatively greater scale than earlier military backing. It had become clear that although the element of inter-capitalist squabble between Ukraine and Russia remained, this was now the minor factor in a war that had become largely a conflict between Western imperialism and Russia, with Ukraine the proxy of the former. Although Russia’s capitalist rulers themselves long to build a new imperialist empire, they currently have neither the capital to do so nor the alliance of a wealthy imperialist power that could allow them to gain a stake in imperialist lootings through acting as a military enforcer for their ally. Therefore, what we now have is a proxy war between the real imperialist plunderers of the world and a capitalist but not imperialist Russia. Therefore, we in Trotskyist Platform called to defend Russia in the conflict, headlining in an article outlining our updated position: “Don’t Let the Western Capitalist Rulers Reinforce Their Tyranny Over the World! Defeat U.S., British, Australian and German Imperialism’s Proxy War to Weaken and Stifle Russia!” As our article explained:

Such a defeat would weaken the ability of the imperialists to mobilise further predatory interventions abroad. It would also deter their plans to use Taiwan as a proxy to pressure socialistic China or even to incite a world war against the socialistic giant. Moreover, any setback for the U.S. imperialists and their allies in this proxy war would give encouragement to the resistance struggles of all those being subjugated by the U.S. and its allies elsewhere, like the Palestinian people suffering under incessant Israeli terror. More generally, a defeat for the Western powers in their Ukraine proxy war could only encourage the toiling masses of Africa, Latin America, the South Pacific and most of Asia to resist in their own lands the various Western capitalists that super-exploit labour, plunder natural resources, leach loan interest repayments, seize markets and manipulate and stand over governments. Within the Western countries themselves, a defeat for the capitalist ruling classes in their proxy war would weaken their authority. It would thus open opportunities for the working class and oppressed to wage mass resistance against soaring rents and food and fuel prices, plummeting real wages, the incessant expansion of insecure work forms and brutal racist oppression of persecuted communities.

Our updated position meant that we were no longer calling for the Russian working-class to oppose the war effort of its own rulers – we were only making such an appeal to the Ukrainian masses. But for our work in Australia, the updated line did not change our fundamental slogans on the war. What it did do is to increase the urgency to oppose Australian military support to Ukraine as part of opposing the entire U.S.-NATO-led proxy war against Russia. As part of this it is necessary to campaign to free all leftist, anti-war, anti-nationalist and other political prisoners in Ukraine. This is not only to save tens of thousands of people from terrible suffering or even torture and death but to expose the lie of the Australian and other Western rulers that they are “working to defend democracy in Ukraine”.

Free the Political Prisoners in Australia Too!

It is possible through a campaign of exposure and agitation in Australia and other Western countries to make headway in winning the release of the political prisoners in Ukraine. This is because the Western regimes ability to make their own populations accept military aid to Ukraine depends on convincing their own populations that the arms are going to “defend a democracy against authoritarianism”. Therefore, exposure of the anti-democratic nature of the Ukrainian regime could significantly embarrass their Western masters and force the latter to push the Ukrainian regime to try and improve its image by releasing some of its political prisoners. In a similar but slightly different way that is how opponents of Cold War McCarthysim, demanding freedom for pro-North Korea political prisoner in Australia, Chan Han Choi and an end to the broader McCarthyist persecution of supporters of socialistic states, ended up pressuring the Australian regime to give Choi a much shorter sentence than the regime had been planning. Since attacking socialistic North Korea and its socialistic Chinese ally over “human rights” is the key method that the Australian rulers use to mobilise their own populations behind their Cold War drive against these countries, our agitation, exposing how the Australian rulers were violating the human rights of a North Korea supporter and how this was symptomatic of both the bogus character of the regime’s claims to stand for “human rights” and of the biased, anti-working class nature of its “justice system”, was very politically damaging to them. And it is only when our struggle against the capitalist exploiting class – and the state organs that enforce their interests – does political damage to them does the capitalist ruling class ever retreat. So let us fight to win freedom for political prisoners in Ukraine by politically damaging the Australian and other Western rulers through exposing the mass incarceration of dissidents by their supposedly “democratic”, Ukrainian proxies.

We cannot call for freeing political prisoners in Ukraine without also calling to free the political prisoners in Australia. The latest of these is David McBride, the whistleblower who was last month despicably sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison for passing information to the media that had the effect of exposing a large number of horrific war crimes by Australian special forces troops in Afghanistan. The other three political prisoners here are victims of the Australian ruling class’ enthusiastic participation in imperialism’s Cold War drive against socialistic China. The latest of these political prisoners to be jailed was Di Sanh Duong. Duong was outrageously sentenced to nearly three years in prison for supposedly “preparing to conduct foreign interference” on behalf of China, because he … publicly donated money to a Melbourne public hospital charity! Additionally, many Aboriginal people in prison, although not formally political prisoners, are in practice facing a political persecution. For they have been hit with not only over-policing but with especially harsh punishments because of the enduring racist nature of the Australian regime.

So we demand: Free the Aboriginal victims of Australia’s racist “justice system”! Free David McBride! Free Di Sanh Duong and fellow Cold War prisoners in Australia, Daniel Duggan and Alexander Csergo! Free the thousands of leftist, anti-war, anti-nationalist and other political prisoners in Ukraine!

The post Free the Leftist, Anti-War, and Anti-Nationalist Political Prisoners in Ukraine first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Trotskyist Platform.

Authorities in Tanzania have cracked down on the political opposition party Chadema

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 11:39:22 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Who Are the Venezuelan Opposition? Leonardo Flores & Alejandro Velasco Debate Election Aftermath

Democracy Now! — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 14:26:46 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Who Are the Venezuelan Opposition? Leonardo Flores & Alejandro Velasco Debate Election Aftermath

Democracy Now! — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 12:44:36 +0000

Turmoil continues in Venezuela after July’s contested election, in which both President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition claimed victory. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, but the opposition has released thousands of vote tally sheets online that, if authenticated, suggest a landslide win for Edmundo González. Maduro has tasked the country’s Supreme Court with verifying the electoral results, though critics question the court’s impartiality. Meanwhile, dueling protests have taken place in Caracas and other parts of Venezuela as international rights groups have denounced a crackdown against demonstrators by government forces, including some 2,000 reported arrests. But Maduro and allies say it is the opposition that has led widespread attacks, causing the deaths of at least 25 people during protests after the July 28 election. For more on the crisis in Venezuela, we speak with Leonardo Flores, a Venezuelan political analyst, activist and founding member of the Venezuela Solidarity Network, and Alejandro Velasco, associate professor at NYU, where he is a historian of modern Latin America.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court upholds opposition leader’s prison sentence | Radio Free Asia (RFA)

Radio Free Asia — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 19:45:39 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court upholds opposition leader’s prison sentence | Radio Free Asia (RFA)

Radio Free Asia — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 19:42:49 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

Jailed Cambodian opposition leader’s final appeal denied

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 17:57:00 +0000

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld a three-year prison sentence handed down last year to Thach Setha, a senior leader of the country’s embattled opposition, for “inciting” social chaos.

The longtime opposition figure was in October sentenced to prison on charges of discrimination and incitement for remarks about the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument and the January 7 holiday, which marks Vietnam’s 1979 overthrow of the Pol Pot regime.

Cambodian opposition leader sentenced to 18 months

Cambodia’s top court hears appeal from convicted opposition figure

Thach Setha was filmed meeting with Cambodian workers in South Korea and discussing Vietnam’s 1979 invasion of Cambodia, which replaced the Khmer Rouge with a new communist regime that later became the currently ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

Thach Setha’s wife, Thach Sokborany [center], and supporters stand outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Oct. 18, 2023. (RFA Khmer Service)

Following the Supreme Court’s upholding of the sentence Friday, Thach Setha’s wife, Thach Sokborany, told reporters her husband had done nothing except exercise his right to freedom of expression.

“The court officials sleep comfortably under the air conditioner, their children go to good schools, so I ask why do they not pity us?” Thach Sokborany said. “Are they happy? I am in so much pain every day.”

Thach Setha also had a heart condition and high blood pressure, she added, and was not getting adequate care in an overcrowded prison.

‘Intimidation’ of opposition activists

Thach Setha was already in prison when his three-year sentence was handed down in October, having previously been sentenced to 18 months behind bars in January 2023 for writing bad checks – a charge his lawyer argued lacked evidence and was politically motivated.

But an appeal against that verdict was denied in May this year.

Thach Setha’s arrest came in the lead-up to the July 2023 national election, from which his Candlelight Party was excluded on dubious administrative grounds. It marked the second successive national election in Cambodia without an independent opposition party.

Thach Setha, left, a prominent vice president of the country's main opposition of Candlelight Party, hugs a boy in front of the Prey Sar main prison outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 10, 2021. (Heng Sinith/AP)

The septuagenarian had served as the Candlelight Party’s vice president, and its exclusion allowed the CPP to win nearly all the seats in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Hun Sen then handed over power to his son, Hun Manet, in the month following the vote.

Repression of the Candlelight Party has continued under Hun Manet’s government, though, with three party activists reportedly arrested Thursday in Takeo, Kampong Cham and Battambang provinces.

A party statement urged authorities to release the activists and to stop “intimidating” others, noting a recent campaign of harassment.

At least one of the activists was arrested for incitement to commit crimes, according to a statement from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, but a court spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Alex Willemyns.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Jewish Progressive Leaders Push Back Against “Lie” That Opposition to Shapiro for VP Is Antisemitic

Newswire Editor — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 15:41:58 +0000

“Opposition to putting Josh Shapiro on the ticket is not about his religion, it’s about his political positions,” Jewish leaders of RootsAction.org said today. The leaders of the group, which has 1.2 million supporters online, labeled as “an emerging lie” the claim that opposition to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro becoming the Democratic vice-presidential nominee is a manifestation of antisemitism.

RootsAction co-founder Jeff Cohen, national director Norman Solomon and political director Sam Rosenthal – all three of them Jewish – cited Shapiro’s notable record of antagonism toward protesters urging a ceasefire in Gaza. They also noted positions he has staked out that are out of sync with the party’s mainstream and Kamala Harris herself, including supporting tax subsidies for private schools and major tax cuts for corporations.

Alan Minksy, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, who is also Jewish, said this: “I vehemently oppose all forms of antisemitism anywhere it appears anywhere in the world. It has absolutely nothing to do with why I oppose Shapiro as the vice-presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.”

Yet some advocates for Shapiro are trying to paint criticism of the prospective vice-presidential nominee as antisemitism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Objections to Shapiro are principled and rooted in his past record. Among the candidates reportedly in contention for the VP spot, Shapiro stands alone in his hostility toward those who’ve protested against Israel’s killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. (Details below.)

Simply put, Shapiro is the pick most likely to shatter the momentum and unity the Democratic Party is currently enjoying with Harris as the new nominee. The goal of defeating Trump will require the get-out-the-vote efforts of large numbers of young activists, racial justice organizers, and Arab American and Muslim leaders. It is Shapiro’s record, not his religion, that could leave many activists on the sidelines:

In 2021, after Ben & Jerry’s (a company founded and led by Jewish Americans) refused to sell its products in Israel’s illegal settlements, then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro threatened the company by urging Pennsylvania state agencies to enforce a constitutionally suspect law targeting advocates of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel over its discriminatory policies. Shapiro smeared such advocates by claiming that “BDS is rooted in antisemitism” – although the effort has wide support globally, including from many Jews, as a thoroughly nonviolent tactic in advancing Palestinian rights.

After the horrific Hamas attack of October 7, several dozen Pennsylvania-based Muslim groups wrote a letter protesting Governor Shapiro’s one-sided comments: “Not only did you fail to recognize the structural root causes of the conflict, you chose to intentionally ignore the civilian loss of life in Gaza.” Responding to the letter after Israeli bombs and missiles had killed more civilians in Gaza than had been killed by Hamas in Israel on October 7, the governor’s spokesman said: “We all must speak with moral clarity and support Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Last December, after he amplified the Capitol Hill demagoguery of MAGA Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Gov. Shapiro contributed to the firing of the University of Pennsylvania president. Referring to UPenn’s president, Shapiro said: “I thought her comments were absolutely shameful. It should not be hard to condemn genocide.” By then, after two months of Israeli bombing, more than 17,000 Gazans had been killed, mostly women and children – and later that month, Israel was charged with violations of the Genocide Convention in South Africa’s filing at the International Court of Justice.

In early April, after Democratic governors in other states had called for a ceasefire in Gaza, Muslim leaders in Philadelphia criticized Gov. Shapiro for his refusal to do so.

Beginning in late April, Gov. Shapiro and his office repeatedly prodded campuses to “restore order” and take action against student encampments, including the University of Pennsylvania Gaza Solidarity Encampment which called on the college administration to provide greater transparency on university investments, divest from Israel, and reinstate the banned student group Penn Students Against the Occupation. On May 9, Shapiro invoked student “safety” in demanding the encampment be shut down. Police shut it down the next day, arresting 33. In two different interviews, Shapiro seemed to compare campus ceasefire activists, many of whom are Jewish or students of color, to “white supremacists” and “people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia making comments about people who’re African American.”

In May, as activism continued to grow over Israel’s lethal violence against civilians in Gaza, Gov. Shapiro issued an order aimed at Israel’s critics that revised his administration’s code of conduct to bar state employees from “scandalous or disgraceful” conduct – a vague and subjective directive criticized by the legal director of Pennsylvania’s ACLU as a possible violation of free speech protections.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

Tuvalu joins growing Pacific tide of opposition to deep sea mining

APR editor — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 23:08:42 +0000

Asia Pacific Report

Tuvalu has added its voice to the growing tide in the Pacific against deep sea mining, highlighting the momentum against this destructive industry, says Greenpeace.

The Tuvalu government’s call for a precautionary pause on deep sea mining took place at the 29th session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica.

Greenpeace head of Pacific Shiva Gounden congratulated the government of Tuvalu over its “commitment to protecting our oceans”.

READ MORE: Other reports on deep-sea mining

“Tuvalu joins a growing chorus of Pacific nations calling for a ban on deep sea mining to safeguard our Moana, which gives and sustains life for millions of people across the Pacific and around the world,” he said in a statement.

“This announcement is courageous and historic, as the proud island nation of Tuvalu again shows global leadership on ocean protection just like they have on climate protection, something we Pacific people see as deeply interconnected.

“The momentum growing against the destructive deep sea mining industry is undeniable.

“For too long, profit-hungry corporations have plundered and exploited the ocean and high seas at the expense of the communities who depend on them, and whose lives and cultures are intrinsically linked with our oceans.”

Pacific says ‘no more’
Gounden said the message was loud and clear — “Pacific Island nations say, no more”.

Tuvalu’s announcement follows statements from the Pacific nations of Vanuatu and Palau at the ISA, with both governments supporting a pause on deep sea mining to protect the oceans for generations to come.

A total of 31 countries, including the UK and Germany, have committed to a moratorium.

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) welcomed the decisions by Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Palau.

“Pacific peoples are standing up and saying no to deep sea mining. Deep sea mining will do nothing to benefit the people of the Moana but will instead exacerbate the climate and biodiversity crises,” she said.

“Extractivism is just continued colonisation of our heritage lands and waters, livelihoods and ways we see the world, and deep sea mining is no different.

“The intrinsic links to the Moana that Pacific Peoples speak about is valuable matauranga.

“There is so much in Pacific knowledge and culture that can teach us how to live connected to the ocean while also taking care of it.

“After hundreds of years of extraction causing climate disaster and biodiversity loss, governments are now resisting and turning toward Indigenous leadership and today we’ve seen some in the Pacific leading the way.”

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Venezuela: Maduro Claims Victory, Accuses Opposition of Coup Attempt Following Disputed Election

Democracy Now! — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:41:20 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Venezuela: Maduro Claims Victory, Accuses Opposition of Coup Attempt Following Disputed Election

Democracy Now! — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 12:41:50 +0000

Protests erupted on Monday in Venezuela after sitting President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s presidential election despite the opposition’s accusations of election fraud. Maduro has countered by accusing the opposition of attempting to stage a fascist coup. We go to Caracas for an update from Venezuelanalysis reporter Andreína Chávez, who says the opposition’s claims are still unsubstantiated. We also hear from Venezuelan historian Alejandro Velasco, who lays out how Venezuela’s economic crisis, fueled in part by U.S. sanctions, has generated rising social upheaval.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Venezuelan Opposition Cries Fraud; People Reelect President Maduro

Roger Harris — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 05:58:32 +0000

Photo: Roger Harris.

July 29, 2024, Caracas, Venezuela.

Shortly before midnight, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, announced the re-election of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Like the proverbial boy who cried wolf, the US-backed and funded far-right opposition cried fraud.

Maduro won with 51.2% of the vote. His nearest rival, the far-right US-backed candidate Edmundo Gonzalez trailed by 7 percentage points.

While the US corporate press refers to the “opposition” as if it were a unified bloc, eight other names appeared on the ballot. Unlike the US, where most of the electorate is polarized around two major parties, the fractious opposition in Venezuela is split into many mutually hostile camps whose dislike of the ruling Socialist Party is matched by their loathing for each other. And this is despite millions of US tax-payer dollars used to try to unify a cabal that would carry Washington’s water.

Sore losers

In the quarter century since Hugo Chavez initiated the Bolivarian Revolution when he was elected president in 1998, the Chavistas have won all but two of over thirty national contests. The far-right opposition celebrated when they won a national referendum along with the 2015 National Assembly contest. But every other time, the sore losers cried fraud.

Yet every one of these contests employed the same electoral system of multiple public audits, transparent counting, and an electronic vote backed with paper ballots. The system is incontrovertibly fraud-proof. Former US President Jimmy Carter, whose electoral monitoring organization had observed over ninety elections – including Venezuela’s – had declared the South American country’s system the best in the world.

Beyond the accusations, concrete proof of fraud had not been forthcoming in the past even though the data were publicly available.

I was one of 910 internationals representing over one hundred countries who had been invited to Venezuela to accompany this election. Yesterday, I visited polling stations in the state of Miranda.

I observed long but orderly lines of people going to the polls. At each one of the individual mesas (rooms at a polling station), representatives of political parties sat to monitor the process. I spoke to representatives of Maduro’s Socialist Party (PSUV) as well as other parties. All expressed confidence in the fraud-proof nature of their electoral system. In fact, they are very proud of their system regardless of political affiliation.

According to news reports, there were cyberattacks on the electoral system. At some polling stations, far-right opposition elements reportedly attacked electoral workers in attempts to disrupt the process.

But my experience visiting the polls could only be described as festive. Seeing our international invitee credentials, which we wore on lanyards around our necks, we were universally greeted with shouts of bienvenida (welcome), V-signs, and applause. These were clearly a people with great civic pride.

This reception was the same in “popular” Chavista neighborhoods as well as wealthier ones. Some hoped for “change” and others for continuing the Bolivarian Revolution. But all freely and enthusiastically participated in the electoral process.

The perennial accusations of fraud, trotted out every time the far-right gets rebuked by the voting public, were not reflected by the actions of the people on the ground as evidenced by their wholehearted participation.

July 25, the last day of official campaigning, was marked by the final political rallies. The far-right drew an estimated 100,000. I attended the Maduro rally of some one million. As far as I could see, people had jammed the main boulevards of Caracas. Clearly the Chavistas have a vast and dedicated base.

And they are wildly supportive of their current president Nicolas Maduro, who is seen as carrying on the legacy of the deceased founder of the Bolivarian project, Hugo Chavez, whose birthday is the same as this election day.

But it goes deeper than that. As the slogan yo soy Chavez (I am Chavez) indicates, the base sees the Bolivarian project not simply as one of their political leadership but more so as a collective endeavor.

The real electoral interference

Far greater than any accusation of fraud manufactured by the far-right opposition is the much more significant interference in the electoral process by Washington.

The vote for continuing the Bolivarian Revolution represents a mandate for national sovereignty. Venezuelans went to the polls knowing that a vote for the incumbent meant no relief from US unilateral coercive measures. These so-called “sanctions” have been part of Washington’s failed regime-change campaign explicitly designed to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy and turn the people against their government.

This shout-out of, in Maduro’s words, “we are not anyone’s colony” was indeed heard around the world.

Roger D. Harris is with the US Peace Council and the 39-year-old human rights organization Task Force on the Americas.

The post Venezuelan Opposition Cries Fraud; People Reelect President Maduro appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Roger Harris.

Cambodian court rules top opposition official must pay US$1.5 million

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 19:52:27 +0000

The president of Cambodia’s leading opposition party was ordered on Thursday to pay the government US$1.5 million in a defamation case that stemmed from critical comments about Prime Minister Hun Manet.

Teav Vannol’s comments to Nikkei Asia during a trip to Japan in February included the statement: “There is no democracy in Cambodia.”

He added that Prime Minister Hun Manet’s administration was “getting worse in terms of democracy.” Government lawyers filed a lawsuit in April.

The interview with Nikkei Asia took place about six months after Hun Manet was named to the government’s top post following the July 2023 parliamentary election that saw the ruling Cambodian People’s Party win 120 out of 125 seats.

The election was held without any candidates from Teav Vannol’s Candlelight Party. The government’s National Election Committee ruled the party ineligible in May 2023, citing inadequate paperwork.

Hun Manet is the son of former prime minister Hun Sen, who was often criticized for his government’s human rights abuses – including violations of freedom of speech and the shuttering of independent media outlets.

Teav Vannol wasn’t in the courtroom on Thursday for Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Hok Pov’s ruling. His attorney, Choung Chougny, said Teav Vannol has been living and working outside of Cambodia and may appeal the decision.

Political debate discouraged

Officials from the United States Embassy, the European Union, civil society organizations and human rights groups were present in the courtroom for the verdict.

Teav Vannol’s comments to the newspaper were merely expressions of his true opinion and shouldn’t have been the subject of a defamation lawsuit, Choung Chougny told reporters afterward. Critical comments among politicians are normally protected free speech, he said.

Opposition party leader Teav Vannol burns incense sticks during a Buddhist ceremony in Phnom Penh on July 6, 2017. (Heng Sinith/AP)

Freedom of expression is guaranteed by Cambodia’s Constitution, but Thursday’s judgment could cause people to be more wary of expressing their opinion, said Kim Piseth, a senior official with human rights group Adhoc.

Ideally, political matters should be resolved through political debate, he said.

“It is very important that politicians discuss things to a certain extent in a specific manner, and open up opportunities for citizens, as well as people in society, to discuss their interests,” he said.

A spokesman for the Cambodian government couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about the court’s decision.

Previous cases

The lawsuit was just the latest in a long line of defamation cases brought by powerful officials in Cambodia.

In February, Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, sued Adhoc’s spokesperson, Soeng Senkaruna, after he told a media outlet that the party has used its influence with the courts to put pressure on political opponents.

CPP lawyers have demanded 2 billion riel (US$500,000) in damages.

Last year, the Supreme Court upheld a US$1 million defamation judgment against Son Chhay, the Candlelight Party’s vice president.

A lower court in 2022 ordered Son Chhay to pay the amount to the CPP and the National Election Committee following comments he made about local commune elections, which he said were marred by irregularities.

Additionally, another Candlelight Party vice president, Thach Setha, was found guilty of incitement in October 2023 and – in a separate verdict in September 2023 – of writing false checks.

He was arrested in the incitement case for comments he made about the CPP’s historical ties to Vietnam and the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument, which was built in Phnom Penh in 1979.

His bad check conviction has been criticized as politically motivated by human rights groups and party officials.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

📢 Political opposition is not a crime 📢

Amnesty International — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:13:34 +0000

This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

📢 Political opposition is not a crime 📢

Amnesty International — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:13:34 +0000

This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

In Venezuela, restrictions and self-censorship diminish media coverage of opposition ahead of July 28 vote

Committee to Protect Journalists — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:08:57 +0000

Antonio Di Giampaolo has hosted his popular radio news program En el Aire, Spanish for “On the Air,” for nearly 40 years On May 17, Di Giampaolo planned to broadcast an interview with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, but executives at the station Éxitos 93.1 FM in the western city of Maracay nixed the plan with no explanation, according to the journalist.

“I had already recorded the interview, but they told me it couldn’t be broadcast,” Di Giampaolo told CPJ, adding that it would have been the first radio interview with González since becoming the opposition’s front-runner.

Di Giampaolo believes the radio station, which is waiting for state regulator Conatel to renew its license, did not want to risk offending President Nicolás Maduro, who will face González at the polls on July 28 in a critical presidential election.

The National Commission of Telecommunications (CONATEL) in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 16, 2017. (Photo: Marco Bello/Reuters)

In a video posted to his social media accounts, Di Giampaolo announced that he had abruptly quit Éxitos 93.1 with “sadness and deep indignation,” and he published his conversation with González on his Instagram page. Speaking by phone from the city of Maracay, Di Giampaolo told CPJ that he “preferred to leave the station while standing than to remain there on my knees.”

The episode typifies how government control of the media and self-censorship has distorted election coverage in Venezuela and deprived voters of vital information about the presidential candidates, according to journalists and press freedom groups who spoke with CPJ,

They said that TV and radio stations that reach nearly every Venezuelan household provide a barrage of ruling party propaganda and Maduro campaign rallies while mostly ignoring the opposition. By contrast, news about González and his opposition partner María Corina Machado is largely confined to independent news websites, many of which are blocked in Venezuela, and to social media like X, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and WhatsApp.

Appearances by opposition politicians in the mainstream media are so rare that when González spoke to TV station Venevisión in April, the resulting commentary on social media ignored the candidates presidential plans and largely focused on the channel’s startling decision to broadcast the interview at all

“This was treated like an extraordinary event when, in reality, it should be the obligation of a TV station to cover the opposition,” said Marco Ruíz, secretary general of the National Union of Journalists.

Yet for Ruíz and other veteran press watchers, none of this comes as a surprise. They point out that the Maduro government has spent its 11 years in power closing TV and radio stations, blocking news websites, confiscating newspapers and fomenting fear and self-censorship.

The result is a kind of news desert. Indeed, the long-running attack on independent journalism has been so effective that the government has not felt the need to engage in a major media crackdown in the runup to this month’s election.

“The regime has closed 200 radio stations over the past two years, which means there are fewer stations that they need to close now,” Ruíz said.

According to a report by Venezuelan free press group Espacio Público, there have been at least 14 radio stations closed in the country this year. Additionally, at least 297 radio stations from 2003 to 2023 were forced to close for various reasons in connection with the renewal of their broadcast licenses.

Fredy Andrade, who founded Radio Minuto in 1989, in the western city of Barquisimeto, said he received no explanation when state regulator Conatel did not renew the station’s license, forcing it to shutter on April 26. But he pointed out that his daily news programs included reports about the opposition, including polls that showed González with a huge lead over Maduro.

“González is going to win this election, and I think the government feared we would go on the air on July 28 and announce an opposition victory,” Andrade told CPJ. “They wanted to silence us. This was a preemptive strike.”

There was no response from Maduro’s press office nor from Conatel to CPJ’s requests for comment.

People walk past a poster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election campaign on July 11, 2024, as the country prepares for the presidential elections, in Caracas. (Photo: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)

Due to the closure of so many media outlets, budget problems for those that remain in operation, and the lack of visas for foreign correspondents, there are relatively few journalists covering this election, said Carlos Correa, director of Espacio Público.

Independent Venezuelan news sites such as Efecto Cocuyo and El Pitazo provide detailed coverage and analysis of both the Maduro and González campaigns. But these two sites and more than 40 others have been blocked in Venezuela by state and private internet service providers, according to the internet watchdog group Venezuela Sin Filtro.

Determined newshounds can circumvent the blocks and access these sites through virtual private networks (VPNs), but Ruíz said most internet users lack the know-how, patience, and money to set up VPNs.

As a result, nearly all the news about the opposition comes from social media. These sites are flooded with video clips of speeches and campaign rallies by Machado, the popular opposition leader who has been banned by the Maduro government from running for president and by González who has replaced her on the ballot.

“Social media does not compensate for government censorship but there is no other way to get news about the opposition,” said Ibis León, a former journalist who now works for the Caracas-based Venezuela Electoral Observatory.

But relying on social media brings a new set of challenges for accessing information in Venezuela.

Power outages are common, internet connections are slow and often unavailable in rural areas, and the service is expensive in a country where poverty has jumped amid a deep economic crisis. Moreover, with Maduro facing a battle for reelection, his government is inundating X, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp groups with propaganda and fake news.

“For the government, this is war,” said Marianela Balbi, director of the Caracas-based Institute for Press and Society. “State TV, Conatel, the Communications Ministry, the ruling party and the military are all getting involved in slandering the opposition.”

Last month, Machado denounced false reports posted on X by military officials that claimed the Venezuelan Armed Forces would be eliminated should the opposition take power.

In response to so much disinformation, Efecto Cocuyo has produced a chatbot to help readers weed out lies and distortions while they can also go to the factchecking website Cazadores de Fake News (Fake News Hunters).

Correa of Espacio Público warns that social media sites remain a poor substitute for curated election news that used to come from radio, TV, and newspapers, because most information is fragmented and lacking in context.

“What kind of a candidate proposals and debates can you have on WhatsApp?” he said. “These sites are just not the same as a national TV station dedicated to covering the election.”

Yet Correa admits that the flood of campaign information on X, Facebook, Instagram and other social media has helped the opposition offset the government’s dominance of traditional news media. Judging by Maduro’s poll numbers, it appears that fewer Venezuelans are being swayed by his propaganda.

“The government’s message is unconvincing,” Correa said. “But it remains unclear just how well-informed Venezuelan voters will be on election day.”

González, the opposition candidate, is promising to fully respect press freedom which has inspired new hope among Venezuelan journalists. Speaking of a possible González victory, Di Giampaolo, the former Éxitos 93.1 journalist, said: “I hope better times are coming for journalism and for Venezuela.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

In a pivotal election, Georgia’s opposition must look past Russia vs EU

Hans Gutbrod — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 11:13:01 +0000

October’s elections could shake eastern Europe. Opposition parties must offer proper statehood and competent governance

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Hans Gutbrod.

‘The Design of These Systems Keeps People in Opposition to Each Other’: CounterSpin interview with Hatim Rahman on algorithms and labor

Janine Jackson — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:10:42 +0000

Janine Jackson interviewed Northwestern University’s Hatim Rahman about algorithms and labor for the July 5, 2024, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

Janine Jackson: Many of us have been bewildered and bemused by the experience of walking out of a doctor’s appointment, or a restaurant, and within minutes getting a request to give our experience a five-star rating. What does that mean—for me, for the establishment, for individual workers? Data collection in general is a concept we can all grasp, but what is going on at the unseen backend of these algorithms that we should know about to make individual and societal decisions?

University of California Press (2024)

Hatim Rahman is assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He’s author of the book Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers, forthcoming in August from University of California Press. He joins us now by phone. Welcome to CounterSpin, Hatim Rahman.

Hatim Rahman: Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

JJ: The book has broad implications, but a specific focus. Can you just start us off explaining why you focused your inquiry around what you call “TalentFinder”? What is that, and what’s emblematic or instructive around that example?

HR: Sure, and I want to take you back about a decade ago, when I was a graduate student at Stanford University, in the engineering school, in a department called Management Science and Engineering. And at that time, when I was beginning my studies, there was a lot of talk about the future of work, and how technology, specifically algorithms and artificial intelligence, are going to lead us to the promised land. We are going to be able to choose when to work, how often we want to work, because, essentially, algorithms will allow us to pick the best opportunities and give us fair pay. And from an engineering perspective, there was this idea that it was technically feasible.

But as I began my studies, I realized that the technical features of algorithms or artificial intelligence don’t really tell us the whole story, or really the main story. Instead, these technologies really reflect the priorities of different institutions, organizations and individuals.

And so that’s kind of the through line of the book, but it was playing out in what a lot of people call the “gig economy.” Many of us are familiar with how Uber, Airbnb, even Amazon to a large extent, really accelerated this concept and the idea of the gig economy. And so you mentioned, I found this platform, which I use a pseudonym called TalentFinder, that was trying to use algorithms to create an Amazon for labor. What I mean by that is, just as you pick a product, or maybe a movie or TV show on Netflix, the thought was, if you’re looking to hire somebody to help you create a program, write a blog post, any task that you can think about that’s usually associated with knowledge work, that you could go onto this platform and find that person, again, as I alluded to earlier, just as you find a product.

And the way they were then able to do that, allow anybody to sign up to work or to find somebody, was with the use of these algorithms. And what I found, though, the reality of the situation was, that as the platform scaled, it started to prioritize its own goals, which were often in conflict, or were not shared, with workers on these platforms.

JJ: So let’s talk about that. What do you mean by that, in terms of the different goals of employers and potential workers?

HR: Sure. So it kind of went to the example you started with, that one of the thoughts was—actually, I’m going to take you back even further, to eBay. When eBay started, we take it for granted now, but the thought was, how can I trust that this person I don’t know, I don’t even know them. How can I trust that the images that they’re showing, the description that they put on, is true?

JJ: Right, right.

(via Reddit)

HR: And so eBay pioneered, really, or at least they’re the most famous example of the early company that started, like, “Hey, one way we can do this is through a rating system.” So I may take a chance and buy a product with somebody I don’t know, and if they send me what they said, I’m going to give them a five-star rating, and if they don’t, I’ll give them a lower rating.

And so since then—that was in the mid-’90s—almost all online platforms and, as you mentioned, organizations and—sorry, it is a small tangent: I was recently traveling, and I saw an airport asking me for my ratings for my bathroom experience.

JJ: Of course, yes. Smiley face, not smiley face.

HR: Exactly, exactly. Everyone copy and pastes that model. And that is helpful in many situations, but it doesn’t capture, a lot of times, the reality of people’s experiences, especially when you think about the context that I talked about. If you hired me to create a software program, and we work together for six months, there are going to be ups and downs. There are going to be things that go well, things that don’t necessarily go well, and what does that mean if you gave me a 4.8 or 4.5, right?

And so this was something that workers picked up on really early on in the platform, that these ratings, they don’t really tell the whole experience, but the algorithms will use those ratings to suggest, and people will use the search results that the algorithms curate, to make decisions about who to hire, and so on and so forth.

The problem that I traced, over the evolution of the platform, is that once workers realized that it was really important, they found out ways to game the system, essentially, to get a five-star rating all the time. And from speaking to workers, they felt this was justified, because a lot of times in an organization that hires them, they mismanage the project….

And so, in response, what the platform did, and now again almost all platforms do this, they made their algorithm opaque to workers. So workers no longer understood, or had very little understanding, of what actions were being evaluated, how they were being evaluated, and then what was the algorithm doing with it.

So, for example, if I responded to somebody faster than the other person, would the algorithm interpret that as me being a good worker or not? All of that, without notice or recourse, became opaque to them.

I liken it to, if you received a grade in class, but you don’t know why you got that grade. And, actually, many of us may have experienced this going through school; you hear this “participation grade,” and it’s like, “Wait, I didn’t know that was a grade, or why the professor gave me this grade.”

So that does happen in human life as well. One of the points I make in the book is that as we turn towards algorithms and artificial intelligence, the speed and scale at which this can happen is somewhat unprecedented.

Jacobin (2/20/18)

JJ: Right, and I’m hearing Taylorism here, and just measuring people. And I know that the book is basically engaged with higher-wage workers, and it’s not so much about warehouse workers who are being timed, and they don’t get a bathroom break. But it’s still relevant to that. It’s still part of this same conversation that’s categorically different; algorithm-driven or determined work changes, doesn’t it, the basic relationship between employers and employees? There’s something important that is shifting here.

HR: That’s correct. And you are right that one of the points that I make in the book, and there’s been a lot of great research and exposés about the workers that you mentioned, in Amazon factories and other contexts as well, that we’ve seen a continuation of Taylorism. And for those who are less familiar, that essentially means that you can very closely monitor and measure workers.

And they know that, too. They know what you’re monitoring, and they know what you’re measuring. And so they will often, to the detriment of their physical health and well-being, try to conform to those standards.

And one of the points I make in the book is that when the standards are clear, or what you expect them to do is comparatively straightforward—you know, make sure you pack this many boxes—we will likely see this enhanced Taylorism. The issue that I’m getting at in my book is that, as you mentioned, we’re seeing similar types of dynamics being employed, even when the criteria by which to grade people or evaluate people is less clear.

So, again, for a lot of people who are engaged in knowledge work, you may know what you want, but how you get there…. If you were to write a paper or even compose a speech, you may know what you want, but how you’re going to get there—are you going to take a walk to think about what you’re going to say, are you going to read something unrelated? It’s less clear to an algorithm whether that should be rewarded or not. But there is this attempt to try to, especially in trying to differentiate workers in the context that I mentioned.

So the problem with everyone having a five-star rating on eBay or Amazon, or on TalentFinder that I studied, is that for people who are trying to then use those ratings, including algorithms, it doesn’t give any signal if everyone has the same five-star rating. In situations and contexts where you want differentiation, so you want to know who’s the best comparatively to other people on the platform, or what’s the best movie in this action category or in the comedy category compared to others, then you’re going to try to create some sort of ranking hierarchy. And that’s where I highlight that we’re more likely to see what I call this “invisible cage” metaphor, where the criteria and how you’re evaluated becomes opaque and changing.

JJ: I think it’s so important to highlight the differentiation between workers and consumers. There’s this notion, or this framework, that the folks who are working, who are on the clock and being measured in this way, somehow they’re posed or pitted against consumers. The idea is that you’re not serving consumers properly. And it’s so weird to me, because consumers are workers, workers are consumers. There’s something very artificial about the whole framework for me.

HR: This is returning to one of the earlier points that I mentioned, is that we have to examine what in my discipline we call the “employment relationship.” How are people tied together, or not tied together? So in the case that you mentioned, many times consumers are kept distant from workers; they aren’t necessarily even aware, or if they are aware, they aren’t given much opportunity.

So generally speaking, for a long time, like Uber and Lyft—especially in the earlier versions of the platform; they change very rapidly—they don’t necessarily want you to call the same driver every time, [even] if you have a good relationship with them. So that’s what you mentioned, that the design of these systems sometimes keeps people in opposition with each other, which is problematic, because that’s not the technology doing that, right? That’s the organization, and sometimes the laws that are involved, that don’t allow for consumers and workers, or people more broadly, to be able to talk to each other in meaningful ways.

And in my case, on TalentFinder as well, I spoke to clients, consumers or people who are hiring these workers, and a lot of them were just unaware. They’re like, “Oh my gosh.” I highlighted in the book that they designed the rating system to say, “Just give us your feedback. This is private. We just want it to improve how the platform operates.” What they don’t tell them is that if they were to give them something slightly less than ideal, it could really imperil the workers‘ opportunity to get a next job.

We sometimes refer to this as an information asymmetry, where the platform, or the organizations, they have more information, and are able to use it in ways that are advantageous to them, but are less advantageous to the workers and consumers that are using these services.

JJ: And part of what you talk about in the book is just that opacity, that organizations are collecting information, perhaps nominally in service of consumers and the “consumer experience,” but it’s opaque. It’s not information that folks could get access to, and that’s part of the problem.

Hatim Rahman: “If you are a worker, or if you are the one who is being evaluated, it’s not only you don’t know the criteria, but it could be changing.”

HR: That’s right. It goes to this point that these technologies, they can be transparent, they can be made accountable, if organizations, or in combination with lawmakers mandating, take those steps to do so. And we saw this early on on the platform that I study, and also on YouTube and many other platforms, where they were very transparent about, “Hey, the number of likes that you get or the number of five ratings you get, we’re going to use that to determine where you show up in the search results, whether we’re going to suggest you to a consumer or a client.”

However, we’ve increasingly seen, with the different interests that are involved, that platforms no longer reveal that information, so that if you are a worker, or if you are the one who is being evaluated, it’s not only you don’t know the criteria, but it could be changing. So today, it could be how fast you respond to somebody’s message. Tomorrow, it might be how many times did you log into the platform.

And that’s problematic, because if you think about learning, the ability to learn, it fundamentally relies on being able to establish a relationship between what you observe, or what you do, and the outcome that leads to. And when that becomes opaque, and it’s so easy to change dynamically—sometimes even, let’s put aside day-to-day, maybe hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute—those really kind of supercharge the capabilities to what I call enable this dynamic opacity.

JJ: And not for nothing, but it’s clear that in terms of worker solidarity, in terms of workers sharing communication with each other, put it simple, workers need to communicate with other workers about what they’re getting paid, about their experience on the job. This is anti all of that.

HR: In related research, for my own and others, we have tried to examine this as well, especially gig work; the setup of this work makes it very difficult for workers to organize together in ways that are sustainable. Not only that, many workers may be drifting in and out of these platforms, which again makes it harder, because they’re not employees, they’re not full-time employees. And I talk to people in the book, I mentioned people, they’re between jobs, so they just want to kind of work on it.

So in almost every way, from the design of the platform to employment relationship, the barriers to create meaningful, sustainable alternatives, or resistance or solidarity, becomes that much more difficult. That doesn’t mean workers aren’t trying; they are, and there are organizations out there, one called Fairwork and others, that are trying to create more sustainable partnerships, that will allow workers to collectively share their voices, so that hopefully there are mutually beneficial outcomes.

I talked about this earlier; I mean, just to connect again with history, I think we can all agree that it’s good that children are not allowed to work in factories. There was a time when that was allowed, right? But we saw the effects that could have on the injuries, and just overall in terms of people’s development. And so we need to have this push and pull to create more mutually beneficial outcomes, which currently isn’t occurring to the same extent on a lot of these gigs and digital platforms.

JJ: Finally, first of all, you’re highlighting this need for interclass solidarity, because this is lawyers, doctors—everybody’s in on this. Everybody has a problem with this, and that’s important. But also, so many tech changes, people feel like they’re just things that happen to them. In the same way that climate change, it’s just a thing that’s happening to me. And we are encouraged into this kind of passivity, unfortunately. But there are ways to move forward. There are ways to talk about this. And I just wonder, what do you think is the political piece of this, or where are meaningful points of intervention?

Consumer Reports (5/07)

HR: That’s a great question. I do like to think about this through the different lenses that you mentioned. What can I do as an individual? What can I do in my organization? And what can we do at the political level? And, briefly, on the individual consumer level, we do have power, and we do have a voice, going back to the past, right? Consumer Reports. Think about that. Who was that started by? And that had a very influential difference on the way different industries ran.

And we’ve seen that, also, for sustainability. There’s a lot of third-party rating systems started by consumers that have pushed organizations towards better practices.

So I know that may sound difficult as well, but as I mentioned, there’s this organization called Fairwork that is trying to do this in the digital labor context.

So I would say that you don’t have to do it on your own. There are existing platforms and movements, as individuals, that you can try to tap onto, and to share these what we call again third-party alternative rating systems, that we can collectively say, “Hey, let’s use our economic power, our political power, to transact on platforms that have more transparency or more accountability, that are more sustainable, that treat workers better.” So that’s one, on the political level.

Maybe my disposition is a little bit more optimistic, but I think that we’ve seen, in the last few years, with the outsized impact social media has suggested it’s had on our discourse and politics, that politicians are more willing than before, and I know sometimes the bar is really low, but still, again, on the optimistic side, that they’re at least willing to listen, and hopefully work with these platforms, or the workers on the platforms, because, again, I really fundamentally feel that ensuring that these technologies and these platforms reflect our mutual priorities is going to be better for these organizations and society and workers in the long term as well.

We don’t want to just kick the can down the road, because of what you talked about earlier, as it relates to climate change and CO2 emissions; we’ve been kicking it down the road, and we are collectively seeing the trauma as it relates to heat exhaustion, hurricanes….

And so, of course, that should be warning signs for us, that trying to work together now, at all of those different levels, is necessary. There’s not a silver bullet. We need all hands on deck from all areas and angles to be able to push forward.

JJ: I thank you very much for that. I co-sign that 100%.

We’ve been speaking with Hatim Rahman. He’s assistant professor at Northwestern University. The book we’re talking about is Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers. It’s out next month from University of California Press. Hatim Rahman, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin.

HR: Thank you for having me.

This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Janine Jackson.

Government mum about Hun Sen audio calling for opposition to be ‘smashed’

By RFA Khmer — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 01:38:00 +0000

Former Prime Minister Hun Sen encouraged supporters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to “smash” and “destroy” opposition political activists in audio comments that circulated on Khmer social media this week.

The Cambodian government has neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of the audio, which circulated widely on Facebook and other social media. Listeners say it sounds like the veteran leader, who currently serves as Senate president. It was purportedly recorded at a party meeting last week.

“Please all city, capital and provincial presidents of the party, be informed that in the past few weeks I sent a decision pertaining to a group of people who are experts in destroying the grassroots,” Hun Sen says in the audio.

“You must smash this force to a point that they no longer disturb us, let’s make it clear,” he said. “While we destroy their forces, we can persuade them to join us.”

In August, Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister, a position he held since 1985, allowing his son to take over. But he retains power as the president of the Senate and head of the Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

The run-up to the July 2023 parliamentary elections saw a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists. Some activists were persuaded to publicly switch their allegiance to the CPP.

Additionally, the National Election Committee ruled that the main opposition Candlelight Party couldn’t appear on the ballot, citing inadequate paperwork. The decision paved the way for the CPP to win 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Cambodia also held Senate elections in February and local provincial, municipal and district elections in May.

Care for the new ‘brothers and sisters’

In the audio, Hun Sen urged CPP officials to work on persuading opposition activists to defect now – instead of waiting to act months before the next round of elections.

Cambodia has local commune council elections scheduled for 2027. Its next parliamentary election is set to take place in 2028.

Supporters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party participate in a campaign rally in Phnom Penh on July 21, 2023. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP)

Efforts should include incorporating party switchers into the CPP’s party structure and encouraging them to recruit more defectors, Hun Sen said.

“I ask the provincial party and local party offices to expeditiously administer these brothers and sisters [defectors] so they do not feel left out, or that there is a lack of care for them by the local party branches,” he said.

“Let’s declare the incorporation [of the defectors] into the party from now,” he said. “Let’s break their grassroot bases now so that they do not have base support.”

Hun Sen is an avid social media user, with 14 million followers on Facebook and 925,000 on TikTok.

RFA messaged Hun Sen on Facebook on Wednesday to verify the audio, but he hadn’t responded by Friday. RFA was also unable to reach government spokesman Pen Bona for comment.

‘Psychological threat’

Eng Chhai Eang, a former opposition lawmaker who now lives in the United States, said the audio was forwarded to him last week after a CPP official had sent it to opposition activists in Cambodia.

He told RFA he believed the audio was real and reflects Hun Sen’s longtime approach to political opponents.

Eng Chhai Eang continues to serve as the vice president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which was the main opposition party until it was banned by the Supreme Court in 2017.

“His vicious deeds started after the CNRP dissolution,” he said. “He ordered attacks against those who refused to defect. Any activists were attacked.”

The audio was probably intended as a “a psychological threat,” according to Rong Chhun, a prominent opposition activist who is an adviser to the opposition National Power Party, which was founded last year.

Translated by Yun Samean and Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

PNG ‘no dictatorship’, says opposition leader Nomane over foiled vote

APR editor — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 02:39:30 +0000

By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea’s opposition leader James Nomane says Parliament needs to be recalled immediately as the gravity of Wednesday’s actions to adjourn Parliament to dodge no-confidence vote “is something that cannot be taken lightly and can’t be dismissed”.

“This is not a dictatorship but a democratic country,” he said.

“If you say you have the numbers, why didn’t you allow the Vote of No Confidence to go ahead and you test your numbers, because the minute that happens, the PM will be disposed and we will have a new PM,” Nomane said, addressing Prime Minister James Marape.

READ MORE: Other PNG politics reports

He said Papua New Guineans lived in a country governed by the rule of law — the most important law governing the country was the constitution.

After the constitution, there were Organic Laws, Acts of Parliament, and the rules and regulations.

“The constitution is supreme, the Vote of No Confidence comes from Section 145 of the Constitution and it comes from the supreme law. Members of Parliament and dealing with the [no-confidence vote] need to take it very seriously on both sides of the house.”

‘Completely rejected’
“You have already heard from the last couple of motions we have submitted and it has been completely rejected by this Private Business Committee comprising of members of Parliament,” Nomane said.

He said the PBC is checking if the ‘tees’ and the ‘ayes’ have been crossed

“They have been nitpicking,” Nomane said,

“We brought our numbers, the office of the Prime Minister belongs to the people of Papua New Guinea.

“It is not the private business of one province, one district.

“There is no accountability.”

The government, using its numerical strength, voted 69-0 to adjourn Parliament until September.

Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

A Setback for the “Cult of Modi”? Indian Opposition Faring Surprisingly Well in Early Election Count

Democracy Now! — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:10:45 +0000

Preliminary results from the world’s largest election suggest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP party will have a reduced majority in Parliament, with the opposition alliance known by the acronym INDIA doing better than expected. During India’s six-week election, voters and poll workers endured deadly heat waves, and vocal critic Arvind Kejriwal was sent to prison on corruption charges. This comes as Modi’s opponents have accused the prime minister of using hate speech after he described Muslims in India as “infiltrators.” Meanwhile, journalists who are critical of Modi have been expelled, investigated and raided by his government. The “massive reduction” in power, despite holding “one of the most undemocratic elections,” demonstrates “the anti-Muslim rhetoric has not quite worked for Modi,” says Indian journalist Rana Ayyub in New Dehli. “This election result, it might still give Modi a third term, but it has punctured the hubris around Modi.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Ugandan opposition leader’s bodyguards assault, harass three journalists

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 22 May 2024 16:34:12 +0000

Kampala, May 22, 2024—Ugandan authorities should thoroughly investigate and hold to account those responsible for attacking journalists Zainab Namusaazi, Gertrude Mutyaba, and Magaret Kayondo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On May 18, the private bodyguards of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, harassed and assaulted the three journalists who were covering the funeral of a prominent businessman in the central region district of Lwengo, according to media reports, a statement by the local press rights group the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, and the journalists who separately spoke to CPJ. The attack happened just after Kyagulanyi, who is president of the National Unity Platform (NUP) political party, arrived at the burial grounds and greeted mourners, according to media reports and the journalists.

“Ugandan journalists must be allowed to work without fear of violence,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Authorities should ensure accountability for the assault and harassment of these three journalists, and NUP opposition party officials must take concrete steps to ensure that their private security personnel do not pose a threat to the media.”

Kayondo, a reporter with the privately owned Radio Simba, told CPJ that she was filming Kyagulanyi’s arrival when two bodyguards attacked her, pushing her to the ground. The journalist said one of bodyguards repeatedly slapped and punched her in the back. Kayondo said she was treated at a local hospital for a nosebleed and general body pain, adding that her mobile phone and sweater were stolen during the attack.

Namusaazi, a reporter with the privately owned Next Media Services, told CPJ that she witnessed the attack on Kayondo, shouted for the bodyguards to stop, and told them that Kayondo was a journalist. Namusaazi said that the two bodyguards then turned on her, punching her on the knee and breaking her camera. Namusaazi said that she recognized the man who broke her camera as Achileo Kivumbi, a known member of Kyagulanyi’s security detail. Namusaazi did not suffer injuries requiring treatment.

Mutyaba, a reporter with the privately owned Nation Media Group, told CPJ that Kivumbi grabbed her camera and tried to confiscate it but was ordered to return it by Edward Ssebuwufu, the head of Kyagulanyi’s security detail who is also known as Edwward Mutwe.

On May 20, the Greater Masaka Journalists Association (GREMAJA), a local journalist umbrella body, issued a two-day ultimatum for an apology and compensation from Kyagulanyi’s party and warned they would pursue litigation. Namusaazi and Kayondo filed cases at Kiwangala Police Station, in Lwengo district.

On May 21, Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, the NUP party deputy spokesperson, told CPJ in a telephone interview that the party has conducted internal investigations and said the accusations by the journalists are baseless.

In a separate telephone interview on May 21, NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi told CPJ that the party believes journalism is not a crime, and they are investigating the incident. Ssenyonyi also serves as opposition leader in Parliament, which is a constitutional position appointed by the largest opposition party in Parliament. Ssenyonyi said that he had interviewed some of Kyagulanyi’s private security personnel, who provided an account of events at the funeral that did match the journalists’. Ssenyonyi said the bodyguards accused Namusaazi of insulting them and claimed that she did not have a camera. Ssenyonyi said that once investigations were concluded the party would act in the event of any wrongdoing, including by barring those culpable from future events.

On May 21, Twaha Kasirye, the Greater Masaka Regional police spokesperson, confirmed to CPJ that Namusaazi and Kayondo had filed cases with police and had been requested to provide additional information, upon which investigating authorities will determine how to proceed.

The incident is the latest of several CPJ documented cases where journalists covering public events in Uganda have been targeted with robberies, detention, and assault.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Cambodia’s top court hears appeal from convicted opposition figure

By RFA Khmer — Mon, 20 May 2024 19:43:42 +0000

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Monday heard an appeal from Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha who asked judges to overturn a lower court’s false check conviction that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence.

The opposition figure told the court that the five bad checks presented as evidence in last year’s trial weren’t issued by him.

Additionally, lawyers for Thach Setha argued that the lower court only saw photocopies of the five checks – not the originals.

“A photocopy is not a check because it cannot be used to cash money, but the court and the Court of Appeal relied on the photocopy to punish my client,” one of the lawyers, Chou Chou Ngy, said after Monday’s hearing.

Thach Setha hugs a boy in front of the Prey Sar main prison outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 10, 2021. (Heng Sinith/AP)

Thach Setha’s arrest in the case in January 2023 was seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists ahead of last year’s general election.

The arrest followed a lawsuit filed by a Phnom Penh pawnshop that said Thach Setha borrowed US$20,000 in 2011 and 2012. The shop is owned by Hay Van Rin, who is known to be close to the family of former Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

Thach Setha’s lawyers said that the debt has been almost completely repaid. Prosecutors have said that the bad checks were part of the effort to pay back the loans.

Last September’s conviction was criticized as politically motivated by human rights groups and party officials.

Thach Setha shows handcuffs from inside a car as he is transported from the Supreme Court to Prey Sar Prison on June 19, 2023. (VOA)

In December, the Supreme Court rejected a bail request by Thach Setha amid the appeal effort. On Monday, the court said it would announce its decision in the appeal on May 31.

Thach Setha is also serving a three-year sentence he received in an unrelated case in October 2023 after his conviction on two separate charges of incitement. That case stemmed from a comment he made last year about the history of the CPP.

Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Georgian parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ law despite widespread opposition

Committee to Protect Journalists — Tue, 14 May 2024 15:40:41 +0000

Stockholm, May 14, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled that as thousands of protesters waited for the results amid a heavy police presence equipped with water cannons and riot gear, the Georgian parliament voted Tuesday to adopt the controversial Russian-style “foreign agents” law that would target foreign-funded media.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said she would veto the bill, but the ruling party controls a large enough majority to override her.

“The passage of ‘foreign agent’ legislation by the ruling Georgian Dream party, despite significant public opposition, is set to stifle media freedom in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections in October,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Georgian authorities should not advance the Russia-style bill any further unless they want to throw the country off the path to the European Union and into the Kremlin’s embrace. European and international leaders must convey to the Georgian government that the country cannot move forward in its EU aspirations if the law goes into force.”

The law — reintroduced by the ruling party in April following widespread protests that led to its withdrawal last year — would require nonprofits and media outlets receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power” and submit detailed annual financial accounts. Authorities would be granted as-yet unspecified powers to monitor their activities.

Organizations that fail to register or to provide required data would be subject to fines of 25,000 lari (US$9,500) and monthly fines of 20,000 lari ($7,500) for continued non-compliance.

In a speech on April 29, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party and a billionaire who is alleged to maintain close business and political ties with Russia, attacked the West and promised legal reprisals and “punishment” against opponents if the party wins the October elections.

Amid renewed mass protests of the proposed law in recent weeks, CPJ documented police violence against multiple media workers and a coordinated intimidation campaign targeting dozens of government-critical journalists.

On May 10, CPJ and 17 partner organizations sent a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze urging him to withdraw the draft law and guarantee journalist safety.

In April, Kyrgyzstan enacted similar foreign agent legislation.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Police arrest 3 Cambodian opposition party members

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 09 May 2024 20:56:34 +0000

Cambodian authorities arrested three opposition party members on Thursday — one leader from a new party and two members of an older party — ahead of a range of elections on May 26, activists told Radio Free Asia.

Sun Chanthy, 44, president of the National Power Party, formed last year, was questioned by police after being arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from Japan, where he addressed Cambodian supporters.

Charged with incitement, he was detained at Phnom Penh Municipal Police headquarters.

Chea Mony, vice president of the National Power Party, traveled with Sun Chanthy to Japan and witnessed the arrest, saying it had to do with upcoming provincial, municipal, district and Khan council elections.

Chea Mony said that during the visit to Japan, Sun Chanthy did not make political statements that would have disrupted Cambodia's social order or national security.

“There was no effect on national security according to accusations by the court,” Chea Mony told Radio Free Asia. “The council election is coming. We don’t need to explain, [but] this is a threat ahead of the election.”

“This is a repeated action to scare the pro-democrats,” he said. “The party doesn’t have any plans to incite anyone.”

New party

The National Power Party was formed in 2023 by breakaway members of the Candlelight Party, the main political organization opposing the government under the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

The CPP has ruled the country since 1979, often arresting political opposition members on politically motivated charges ahead of elections to ensure its own politicians retain power or win new seats in contested areas.

In response to the arrest, the National Power Party issued a statement calling on the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to release Sun Chanthy without any conditions and to restore political space so that the party can participate in the democratic process.

Adhoc staffers Ny Sokha, (foreground, C), Yi Soksan, (rear C) and Nay Vanda arrive at an appeals court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 13, 2016. (Heng Sinith/AP)

In the arrest warrant issued on May 7, Chreng Khmao, prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, ordered police to bring Sun Chanthy to the internal security office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police before May 23 for questioning on the “incitement” charge.

But the warrant didn’t mention what Sun Chanthy said during his Japan visit that brought about the charge.

The Ministry of Justice issued a statement saying authorities arrested Sun Chanthy for incitement to provoke social chaos because he blamed the government of being biased and discriminatory with the distribution of poverty cards for the poor and that he twisted information.

Candlelight Party members arrested

Also on Thursday, police arrested two members of the Candlelight Party in Kampong Cham province — Dum Khun, second deputy head of Ampil commune in Kampong Siem district in Kampong Cham province, and Sim Sam On, commune councilor of Ampil — said former Candlelight Party leader Ly Kim Heang.

They are being detained by Kampong Cham provincial police, she said, adding that authorities have not yet told their families the reasons for their arrest and have not allowed them to see the two men.

The Candlelight Party issued a statement saying that the arrests constituted a threat aimed at eliminating legitimate political activities, and called for their release.

Since the beginning of 2024, more than 10 members of the Candlelight Party have been detained by authorities, including six officials from Kampong Cham province.

Ny Sokha, president of Adhoc, Cambodia’s oldest human rights group, warned that the government's reputation would deteriorate and that it would face more pressure from the international community if it continued to arrest opposition party members.

“This will affect the government’s reputation on the world stage,” he said.

Translated by Yun Samean for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Georgian Opposition Members Were Beaten Amid Government Crackdown Over "Foreign Agent" Bill Protests

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Thu, 09 May 2024 17:04:48 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Zambian police detain 2 journalists, make them delete interviews with opposition

Committee to Protect Journalists — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:20:05 +0000

Lusaka, April 22, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called on Zambian authorities to thoroughly investigate a police assault on journalist Rodgers Mwiimba and his two-hour detention, alongside a second journalist, Innocent Phiri.

On April 13, police officers arrested the two television journalists at Matanda Grounds, a public space in the town of Kafue, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, Lusaka, where the opposition United Kwacha Alliance planned to hold a political rally, according to news reports and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ. Authorities banned the rally on the grounds that the recently formed opposition coalition was not registered.

Mwiimba and Phiri, who work with the privately owned Millennium TV and KBN TV respectively, told CPJ that they were filming an altercation between police officers and two opposition party leaders on their phones when about three other officers grabbed Phiri, and forced him into an armored police vehicle.

Mwiimba said that four other officers confronted him, kicked him to the ground, and bundled him into the same vehicle, even though he showed them his Millennium TV employee ID card to prove that he was a journalist.

“I was traumatized. I have never experienced anything like this before,” Mwiimba said via messaging app. “They kicked me all over my body. One police officer even stepped on me for just trying to collect news.”

Mwiimba and Phiri told CPJ that they were taken to Kafue Police Station, where they were questioned on suspicion of conduct likely to breach the peace and an officer ordered them to delete the footage shot at Matanda Grounds from their phones. The journalists said they were released without charge about two hours later.

“In reporting on the activities of the opposition, Rodgers Mwiimba and Innocent Phiri were fulfilling their duties as journalists and the police should never have harassed or acted violently towards them,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Zambian authorities should investigate why and how these journalists were arrested. If the officers involved are found guilty of misconduct, they should be held to account to send a warning to others that Zambia does not tolerate attacks on the press.”

Mwiimba told CPJ that although his body ached, his injuries were not severe enough to require medical treatment.

Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said in a statement that the journalists were arrested for filming and conducting interviews with two politicians in “the venue for the intended UKA rally which was not lawfully sanctioned.” The politicians were also arrested, he said.

Hamoonga told CPJ via messaging app on April 13 that the journalists were arrested for crossing a police cordon. Hamoonga said he was not aware that Mwiimba was assaulted or that the journalists were forced to delete their footage at the station and promised to “check and revert.” As of April 22, Hamoonga had not provided additional comment to CPJ.

In 2022, Phiri and another journalist were arrested for filming police officers preparing to arrest an opposition leader and detained for 21 hours. They were freed after signing a document admitting that they were guilty of disorderly conduct and paying a small fine.

Press freedom is constitutionally guaranteed in Zambia but state-owned outlets usually support the government, police have arrested journalists for reporting critical stories, and political activists have attacked reporters.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Cambodian-Australian opposition supporter assaulted in downtown Battambang

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 18:16:15 +0000

A Cambodian-Australian opposition supporter known for criticizing Cambodia’s government on social media was severely beaten by unidentified assailants in Battambang province in what he says is a case of politically motivated violence.

At around 5:50 p.m. on the evening of April 10, Sun Bunchhay, 43, was about to enter his car after leaving the ABA Bank in downtown Battambang when as many as six motorcyclists wearing masks and helmets attacked him from behind with bamboo sticks, he told RFA Khmer in an interview.

“As the assailants were beating me, two of them blocked the door of my car to prevent my wife, children and relatives from getting out to help me,” he said. “These guys violently attacked me, even though there were two security guards stationed in front of the bank and about 20 people entering and leaving the building.”

After the assailants began beating him, the ABA Bank security guards shouted at them several times and they escaped on their motorcycles, Sun Bunchhay said.

The ABA Bank branch is located near Battambang Provincial Hall and the Svay Por Police Station, but no one came to his aid, he added.

The attack left him with a bleeding head wound and bruises over his entire body. He required eight stitches in his head when he went for treatment at a nearby hospital.

Sun Bunchhay, his wife and young daughter reside in Australia, but had been visiting his hometown in Battambang province for six days to observe the Cambodian New Year, which runs April 13-16. Instead, after briefly recovering from the assault, Sun Bunchhay and his family returned to Australia on April 12.

Sam Rainsy supporter

A former professor of economics and outspoken supporter of exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, Sun Bunchhay regularly posts comments on social media calling for reconciliation between Cambodia’s politicians in the interest of the nation.

Sun Bunchhay has taken part in several protests of the CPP in Australia along with his wife and three siblings, including one of former Prime Minister Hun Sen in July 2023 and of Hun Sen’s eldest son and Cambodia’s current Prime Minister Hun Manet during a state visit in March this year.

Speaking to RFA during his recuperation, Sun Bunchhay said there are reasons why he believes the attack was politically motivated.

Immediately after the assault, as he arrived at the hospital and before he spoke with anyone about the incident, local police visited his family home and informed his mother of what had happened.

Sun Bunchhay, following a beating in downtown Battambang when as many as six motorcyclists wearing masks and helmets attacked him from behind with bamboo sticks April 10, 2024. (Sun Bunchhay via Facebook)

The officer said that his boss had advised him to check in because he was “worried about Sun Bunchhay’s safety” and wanted to know “where he is staying after being beaten.”

Sun Bunchhay said that senior officials with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, had contacted him several times in the past to have “a friendly meal” and try to lure him to the party, but he had always refused, making them angry.

Additionally, he said, his family took part in anti-government protests in Australia prior to the July 2023 election, which the National Election Committee barred the opposition Candlelight Party from competing in, citing inadequate paperwork. The CPP handily won the election, which was criticized by the international community as neither free nor fair, taking 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Sun Bunchhay told RFA he had already filed a complaint with the Battambang City Police and suggested that the case would be a slam dunk, if authorities were willing to proceed.

He noted that there were several witnesses to the attack and said security cameras would have been able to capture clear images of the perpetrators and the license plates on their motorcycles.

However, he expressed doubt that he would receive justice.

Investigation underway

When questioned about the attack by RFA, Battambang Provincial Police Commissioner Sat Kimsan claimed that municipal authorities were conducting a search, having already identified the suspects’ motorcycle license plates through security camera footage.

He said three suspects were involved in the assault, but authorities have yet to identify them because they were wearing helmets.

“I can’t comment on the case because authorities are conducting an investigation,” he said. “No matter what the case is, as long as it happens in my province, I always seek justice for all victims.”

In a statement posted to its Facebook page on April 12, the Battambang Provincial Police detailed the attack and said the motivation was unclear. The police department urged anyone with information about the assault to report it and vowed to “bring the suspects to justice in accordance with the law.”

Tak Meng Heang, an ethnic Khmer Australian lawmaker, called the attack on Sun Bunchhay a “complete threat to political freedom and expression” and said Cambodian authorities must respect the right of expression of the Cambodian people, “no matter where they live.”

“If this is a real political assault, we can’t ignore this violent act,” he said, adding that Sun Bunchhay should file a complaint with the Australian Federal Police.

Translated by Yun, Samean. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Musk Is Consistent in His Opposition to Internet Democracy

Ari Paul — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:21:34 +0000

“We can’t go beyond the laws of a country,” Musk has said (Wall Street Journal, 4/8/24)—unless, of course, he doesn’t like the government making the laws.

Elon Musk, the right-wing anti-union billionaire owner of Twitter (recently rebranded as X), has cast his defiance of a Brazilian judicial ruling as a free speech crusade against censorship. Such framing is, of course, bullshit. It is instead a political campaign by a capitalist to use social media to reshape global politics in favor of the right. And it’s important that we all understand why that is.

As Reuters (4/7/24) reported, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered “the blocking of certain accounts” on Twitter, prompting Musk to announce that Twitter would defy the judge’s orders “because they were unconstitutional.” He went on to call for Moraes’ resignation.

It isn’t clear which accounts are being targeted, but the judge is investigating “‘digital militias’ that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.” He’s also probing “an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.”

The AP (4/8/24) then reported that the judge opened up an inquest into Musk directly, saying the media mogul “began waging a public ‘disinformation campaign’ regarding the top court’s actions.”

Musk claimed that he’s doing this in the name of free speech at the expense of profit, saying “we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there” (Wall Street Journal, 4/8/24). He added that “principles matter more than profit.”

Michael Shellenberger (Public, 4/8/24), an enthusiastic pro-Musk pundit, was less restrained, saying the judge “has taken Brazil one step closer to being a dictatorship.” To Shellenberger, it’s “clear that Elon Musk is the only thing standing in the way of global totalitarianism.”

‘Par for the course’

Verge (1/25/23): “The documentary’s ban isn’t an example of Musk violating a vocal ‘free speech absolutist’ ethos. It’s a reminder that Musk has always been fine with government censorship.”

Anyone with a memory better than Shellenberger’s will recall that Musk’s Twitter has been all too eager to censor content at the request of the Indian government, including a BBC documentary that was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Verge, 1/25/23). India under Modi, who heads the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP party, has seen a steep decline in press freedom, worrying journalists and free speech advocates (New York Times, 3/8/23; NPR, 4/3/23; Bloomberg, 2/25/24). At the same time Musk was pretending to defend free speech in Brazil, he was bragging about traveling to India to meet with Modi (Twitter, 4/10/24).

Musk suppressed Twitter content in the Turkish election in response to a request from Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, saying the “choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?” This move, he insisted, was “par for the course for all Internet companies” (Vanity Fair, 5/14/23). Turkey, with its laws against insulting the Turkish identity (Guardian, 11/16/21), is a country that is almost synonymous with the suppression of free speech—it ranks 165 out of 180 on Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index. Yet Musk didn’t seem to feel the need to intervene to save democracy through his social media network.

The impact of Musk’s decision to censor Twitter when it comes to Turkey and India isn’t just that it exposes his duplicity when it comes to free speech, but it robs the global public of vital points of view when it comes to these geopolitically important countries. In essence, the crime is not so much that Musk is hypocritical, but that his administration of the social media site has kept readers in the dark rather than expanding their worldview.

Grappling with balance

AP (10/25/22) reported that Brazilian social media posts claimed that Lula “plan[ned] to close down churches if elected” and that Bolsonaro “confess[ed] to cannibalism and pedophilia.”

The context in Brazil is that in the last presidential election, in 2022, the leftist challenger Lula da Silva ousted the incumbent, Bolsonaro (NPR, 10/30/22), who has since been implicated in a failed coup attempt that closely resembled the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol (Reuters, 3/15/24). Ever since, tech companies have bristled at Brazil’s attempt to curb the influence of fake news, such as a bill that would put “the onus on the internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal material” (Guardian, 5/3/23).

Brazil experienced a flurry of disinformation about the candidates in the run-up to the election, inspiring the country’s top electoral court to ban “false or seriously decontextualized” content that “affects the integrity of the electoral process” (AP, 10/25/22).

The Washington Post (1/9/23) reported that social media were “flooded with disinformation, along with calls in Portuguese to ‘Stop the Steal,’” and demands for “a military coup” in response to a possible Lula victory. And while these problems existed in various online media, a source told the Post that this occurred after Musk fired people in Brazil “who moderated content on the platform to catch posts that broke its rules against incitement to violence and misinformation.”

While Turkey and India are brazenly attempting to suppress opinions the government doesn’t like, a democratic Brazil is grappling with how to balance maintaining a free internet while protecting elections from malicious interference (openDemocracy, 1/3/23).

Despotic future

Brazilian Report (4/9/24): “Billionaire Elon Musk joined this week a campaign led by the Brazilian far-right to characterize Brazil as a dictatorship.”

Lula’s victory, in addition to being a source of hope for Brazil’s poor and working class (Bloomberg, 4/25/23), was seen as a blow to the kind of right-wing despotism espoused by people like Bolsonaro, who represents a past of US-aligned terror-states that use military force to protect US interests and suppress egalitarian movements in the Western Hemisphere (Human Rights Watch, 3/27/19). As Brazilian Report (4/9/24) put it, Musk has joined a “campaign led by the Brazilian far right.”

Indeed, the Wall Street Journal (4/10/24) noted that Musk’s tussle in the Brazilian judiciary was an extension of his alignment with the Brazilian right:

Supporters of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who gave Musk a medal during his visit in 2022 to announce plans to install satellites over the Amazon rainforest, have reveled in Musk’s defiance, declaring him a “hero,” as the dividing lines in Brazil’s culture wars deepen.

Erdoğan and Modi represent more successful iterations of neo-fascist ideology over liberal democracy. The dystopian societies they oversee make up the political model that the MAGA movement would like to impose in the United States, where a caudillo is unchecked by independent courts, the press and other civil institutions, while rights for workers and marginalized groups are eviscerated.

Musk isn’t simply displaying hypocrisy when he pretends to fight for free speech in Brazil while Twitter censors speech when it comes to India and Turkey. If anything, he is being consistent in his quest to use his corporate wealth to alter the political landscape against liberal democracy and toward a dark, despotic future.

The post Musk Is Consistent in His Opposition to Internet Democracy appeared first on FAIR.

This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Ari Paul.

From Prison to the Presidency in 3 Weeks: In Senegal, Pan-Africanist Opposition Figures Take Office

Democracy Now! — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 14:47:50 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

From Prison to the Presidency in 3 Weeks: In Senegal, Pan-Africanist Opposition Figures Take Office

Democracy Now! — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:49:41 +0000

Senegal has inaugurated the youngest elected president in Africa. Newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye nominated Ousmane Sonko to be his prime minister this week, capping a remarkable three-week period that saw the two opposition figures go from prison to ruling Senegal, vowing to fight poverty, injustice and corruption. Faye and Sonko were released from prison in mid-March after previous President Macky Sall had attempted to delay the vote, sparking fears of an anti-democratic election process. Faye’s ultimate triumph, running on a platform of pan-Africanism and reform, has been a cause for celebration among many Senegalese, including former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, who says “democracy prevailed,” giving the country’s younger generation a long-awaited opportunity to “shake up the system,” adds the Senegalese lawyer and political analyst Ibrahima Kane. Both join the show from Senegal’s capital Dakar.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Russia detained journalist Antonina Favorskaya for 2 months for reporting on late opposition leader Navalny

Committee to Protect Journalists — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 17:28:28 +0000

New York, March 29, 2024—Russian authorities must release journalist Antonina Favorskaya, drop all charges against her, and refrain from persecuting members of the press in retaliation for their reporting on late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Wednesday, authorities did not release Favorskaya, a journalist with independent news outlet Sota.Vision, after her 10-day detention for allegedly disobeying a police officer. That same day, police in Moscow detained two journalists waiting for Favorskaya’s release and at least two other journalists while searching Favorskaya and her parents’ apartments.

On Friday, a court in Moscow, during a closed-door hearing, ordered Favorskaya to be held until May 28 pending investigation on charges of allegedly participating in an extremist group, according to media reports. The journalist said in court that she believed she was prosecuted for writing about Navalny, specifically for a March 6 report titled “How Alexei Navalny was tortured by the court and the Federal Penitentiary Service.”

“The domino-like detentions of journalists who came to support their colleague Antonina Favorskaya and cover her groundless persecution is a grim illustration of the Russian repressive machine, unleashed against those who dared to report on the fate of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Russian authorities should immediately release Favorskaya, drop all charges against her, and refrain from prosecuting any journalist who reports on Navalny.”

Favorskaya covered Navalny’s court hearings and prison conditions, and shot the last video of him before his death. She also reported on his funeral and how Russian people mourned the politician. A Sota.Vision representative told CPJ under the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, that Favorskaya was “persecuted for her journalistic activities.”

On March 17, around seven law enforcement officers in Moscow detained Favorskaya and Anastasia Musatova, another Sota.Vision journalist, in a café near the cemetery where Navalny is buried. The journalists had laid flowers and taken pictures of the grave a few hours earlier.

Police claimed Favorskaya tried to escape and refused to show her identity documents, which the journalist denied. Musatova was released without charge three hours later.

On Wednesday, police detained Musatova and Alexandra Astakhova, a freelance photojournalist with independent news outlet MediaZona, as they came to meet Favorskaya. The police searched the journalists’ homes, seizing a laptop, a phone, flash drives, as well as a poster, badges, pictures, and leaflets with Navalny’s face from Astakhova’s home, she told Sota.Vision. Astakhova and Musatova were later taken for questioning and released as witnesses in the case against Favorskaya.

Police detained Sota.Vision journalist Ekaterina Anikievich and Konstantin Zharov, a journalist with independent news outlet RusNews, while they reported on the search at Favorskaya’s apartment, according to those reports. Zharov was beaten by an unspecified number of police officers during the detention.

“They beat me with their feet, put a foot on my head, twisted my fingers, mocked me when I tried to stand up, demanded to show my backpack as if it might contain explosives,” he told RusNews, adding that he was in pain “all over” his body.

Both were released without charge and taken by an ambulance to the hospital, where Zharov was treated for “a broken skull, bruises, dislocated fingers, sprains,” he said, adding that he believed the officers attacked him because he was filming near Favorskaya’s home. RusNews chief editor Sergey Ainbinder told CPJ on Thursday that Zharov was “alert.”

On Thursday, human rights news website OVD-Info reported that Favorskaya was charged with participating in Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which the authorities banned as “extremist” in 2021. Authorities accused Favorskaya of collecting material, and making and editing videos and publications for the organization.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson, denied in a Thursday post that Favorskaya published anything on the organization’s platforms, saying, “even if we set aside the falsity of the accusation, its essence remains—the journalist is accused of engaging in journalism.”

Separately, on Thursday, a court in the western city of Ufa ordered RusNews journalist and activist Olga Komleva to be held for two months for allegedly participating in the FBK after law enforcement questioned her on Wednesday.

Komleva, a former volunteer at Navalny’s regional campaign office in Ufa before the network was banned as “extremist” in 2021, covered protests in the southwestern Bashkortostan region for RusNews, including the January 2024 protests in Baymak.

“I think the regime’s jaws have clenched again after the active coverage of the events in Baymak and the subsequent trials of activists…” Ainbinder told CPJ.

CPJ did not receive a response to its emails to the Basmanny Court in Moscow and the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa requesting comment on the journalists’ arrests.

Editor’s note: The thirteenth paragraph was updated to clarify Yarmysh’s role.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Kyrgyz Prosecutor Seeks Conviction Of Opposition Leader But No Sentence, Citing Statute Of Limitations

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:22:44 +0000

PRISTINA -- Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says he will not suspend a move by the central bank to ban the circulation of the Serbian dinar in parts of the country with Serbian majorities but will accept the forming of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities once Belgrade agrees to sign a basic agreement on bilateral relations.

The basic agreement for the normalization of relations with Serbia was reached in February 2023, and includes the formation of the association, which is expected to more adequately represent predominantly ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo.

Kosovo is not a member of the European Union or its common currency area, the eurozone, but it unilaterally adopted the euro in 2002 to help bring monetary stability and to simplify and reduce transaction costs inside and outside the country.

Serbia, which has never acknowledged its former province's 2008 declaration of independence, still pays many ethnic Serbs at institutions in Serb-dominated parts of Kosovo in dinars. Many also hold their pensions and get child allowances in dinars.

"Regarding the Serbian-dinar-versus-euro issue, it is Kosovo's central bank that decides and they have already decided on December 27 last year," Kurti told RFE/RL's Balkan Service in an interview on March 19, arguing that the ban, which came into force on February 1, was meant to fight financial crime and terrorism.

"We have, thanks to them, a new regulation that is going to enhance the integrity of the financial system to fight illicit activities financing terrorism," Kurti said in Pristina on the same day top Serbian and Kosovar negotiators were holding bilateral meeting in Brussels with EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak.

The Serbian dinar ban was reported to be high on the agenda, although no joint trilateral meeting has been confirmed so far.

The ban ratcheted up already high tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and threatened to scupper efforts by Washington and Brussels to get the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade back on track.

"The dinar is not banned in Kosovo, but the euro is the only means of payment," Kurti told RFE/RL, echoing the central bank's line that the ban doesn’t stop anyone from accepting money from any country, it just means the money is converted into euros.

Still, the conversion adds a layer of cost and complication to the daily lives of ethnic Serbs still tied to the dinar.

"We cannot allow bagfuls of dinars in cash to enter our country. (It can happen) only through official financial channels with full transparency, who sends money to whom and for what purpose," Kurti said, adding that any disparities on the ground would have time to be smoothed out over the three-month transition period.

"Serbia can send dinars, we will exchange them into euros and Serbs in Kosovo can benefit from that financial aid," Kurti added.

However, the U.S. envoy to the Western Balkans last week warned that the ban had caused problems for some citizens in the region and challenges for the U.S.-Kosovo relationship.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar told RFE/RL on March 14 that Kosovo's controversial decision on the dinar was "an issue that we need to address immediately."

Escobar said that the issue had presented challenges in the bilateral relationship, although Washington remains Kosovo's most reliable ally.

The U.S. envoy also said that his proposals for resolving the issue had been rejected by Kurti during their meeting.

"It's not me as prime minister to decide about this thing," Kurti told RFE/RL when asked about why he refused Escobar's solutions.

"We're a democracy where powers and duties are separated. Therefore, I can only help the central bank to affect a smooth transition," Kurti said, declining to elaborate on Escobar's proposals.

"Let those who made the proposals speak," he added, reiterating that he cannot cancel the decision of an independent institution.

"No suspension will come out of talking to me, because the bank is an independent institution," he said, adding that its governor reports only to parliament, not the government.

Asked whether he would at least advise the bank to extend the transition period, Kurti replied: "I cannot also advise the central bank of Kosovo. The governor has his own advisers."

Referring to the basic agreement, Kurti said it was Belgrade that was hampering its implementation.

"I want the normalization of relations and I think that the signing of the basic agreement and its implementation annex can certainly cancel previous violations on one hand and, on the other hand can bring legal certainty for the future.

"The problem is that eight out of 11 articles of the basic agreement have been violated by Belgrade," Kurti said, mentioning a letter sent by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to the European Union, in which, according to him, her government said they were withdrawing their pledge to the deal "because they will never recognize independence of Kosovo, never accept Kosovo's membership in the United Nations, and likewise they are not going to respect the territorial integrity of our country."

Referring to the forming of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, which is mentioned in Article 7 of the basic agreement, Kurti reiterated his government's statement from October 27, which blamed Serbia for refusing to sign the document endorsed by the leaders of France, Italy, and Germany.

"What more can I do? We are leaders who are supposed to turn the text that we have agreed upon into signed agreements. Obviously, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic initially said yes to the agreement without intending to sign it and then regretted saying yes, as Mrs. Brnabic's letter explained," Kurti said.

"I believe that whoever mentions an association of Serbian-majority municipalities outside the basic agreement or before it serving Serbia's quest to turn Kosovo into Bosnia," he said, adding that such an association has to be established withing the framework of the Kosovar Constitution.

"In Brussels I said one cannot serve coffee without a cup. If you ask for coffee without a cup, I will show you an empty cup. The cup is the Republic of Kosovo. What is the legal framework of the association? Is it the constitution of the Republic of Kosova or that of Serbia? If I'm there, it's the constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. No coffee without a cup.

"This is crucial to understand. Belgrade wants to put the cart before the horses. It's not possible. There will be no movement as we have seen since February and March last year," he said, adding that he was ready to go to Brussels again together with Vucic.

Referring to the frustration voiced by the United States and the European Union because of the lack of progress toward the Serbian dinar and the municipalities association, Kurti said that while they are indispensable partners, sometimes differences may arise.

"I consider United States an indispensable ally, friend, and partner. But this does not mean that we have an identical stance toward official Belgrade. As the prime minister of Kosovo, I cannot regard Belgrade through the eyes of the State Department...they do not see Belgrade as I see them. We do not have an identical stance. We have a different experience and history," Kurti said.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Exiled Cambodian opposition leader meets with US officials | Radio Free Asia (RFA)

Radio Free Asia — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 20:21:57 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

Navalnaya, Russian Opposition Figures Call For Election Protests Against Putin

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:46:01 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Opposition MP Allan Bird claims his ‘life under threat’ after PM nomination

APR editor — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:31:35 +0000

RNZ Pacific

A Papua New Guinea MP who is being touted by the opposition as the next prime minister of the country says “my life is under threat”.

East Sepik governor Allan Bird said that since his nomination, he had been advised of this by a deputy police commissioner, who said they were monitoring the situation.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Bird claimed “senior government ministers” told him his phones had been illegally tapped.

“All the apparatus of state have been put on full alert to hunt down the most dangerous criminal in PNG: his name is Allan Bird,” he wrote on Facebook.

“This is not the country I was born into, this is not the country the founding fathers envisioned.”

He said “reliable sources” had told him various state institutions had been instructed to try and find anything illegal on him, and charge and arrest him.

Last week, Bird told RNZ Pacific the country needed to decentralise power to deal with its challenges.

He said PNG had “very serious challenges”.

“Anyone who fixes these problems will be hated just like Sir Mekere [Morauta] did 25 years ago. Doing what needs to be done is not pretty, but it has to be done. Someone has to be willing to do the hard things.

“Many countries have problems, but not many countries have all those challenges all at the same time. PNG does so right now.

“If the problems aren’t fixed quickly then they will continue to get worse. Most of our people experience these problems every day now. It’s a struggle for survival.”

Part of Governor Bird’s FB posting about threats to his life on 9 March 2024. Image: Screenshot APR

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

“Alexei Navalny Taught Russia’s Opposition How to Mobilize”: Historian on Putin’s “Dictatorship”

Democracy Now! — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:37:37 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“Alexei Navalny Taught Russia’s Opposition How to Mobilize”: Historian on Putin’s “Dictatorship”

Democracy Now! — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 13:35:03 +0000

Thousands gathered Friday in Moscow for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on February 16. The funeral was live-streamed on Navalny’s YouTube channel to millions of his supporters, who suspect President Vladimir Putin is behind the dissident’s death. “We live in an open dictatorship where any forms of public disobedience are forbidden,” says Russian historian and political theorist Ilya Budraitskis, who says Navalny’s death has galvanized public opposition for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. With the war enabling the Kremlin to suppress political freedom, Budraitskis says Russian leaders are “ready to continue” their invasion and are openly advocating for the dismantling of Ukraine. “If Ukraine will be not supported from the West, Russia will continue its offensive and realize its final goal: the elimination of Ukraine as a state.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Polls Close In Belarus Elections Called A ‘Sham’ By U.S. And ‘Farce’ By Opposition

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 09:12:53 +0000

Polls have closed for Belarus's tightly controlled parliamentary elections, which were held under heavy security at polling stations and amid calls for a boycott by the country's beleaguered opposition.

The February 25 elections were widely expected to solidify the position of the country's authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Only four parties, all of which support Lukashenka's policies, were officially registered to compete in the polls -- Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice. About a dozen parties were denied registration last year.

Polls opened for the general elections at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 8 p.m.

According to the Central Election Commission, as of 6 p.m., voter turnout was 70.3 percent.

Results are expected to be announced on February 26, the commission said.

Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has claimed her victory over Lukashenka in the 2020 presidential election was stolen, described the elections as a "farce" and called for a boycott.

"There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part," Tsikhanouskaya said in a video statement from her exile in Lithuania, where she moved following a brutal crackdown on protests against the 2020 election results. "We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice."

In a separate message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tsikhanouskaya said on February 25 that her video address to the Belarusian people about the elections and Russia's invasion of Ukraine had been displayed on 2,000 screens in public spaces throughout Belarus. The action, she said, was organized by a coalition of former police and security forces officers.

The U.S. State Department blasted what it called a "sham" election, held amid a "climate of fear."

"The United States condemns the Lukashenka regime's sham parliamentary and local elections that concluded today in Belarus," it said in a statement.

"The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic. The regime continues to hold more than 1,400 political prisoners. All independent political figures have either been detained or exiled. All independent political parties were denied registration."

"The Belarusian people deserve better,” it said.

The general elections were the first to be held in Belarus since the 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term in office. More than 35,000 people were arrested in the monthslong mass protests that followed the controversial election.

Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on people to "boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice."

On the occasion, Lukashenka told journalists after voting that he plans to run again for president in 2025.

"Tell them (the exiled opposition) that I'll run," the state news agency BelTa quoted Lukashenka as saying.

Ahead of the voting in parliamentary and local council elections, the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced a record amount of early voting, which began on February 20. Nearly 48 percent of registered voters had already voted by February 24, according to the CEC, eclipsing the nearly 42 percent of early voting recorded for the contentious 2020 presidential election.

Early voting is widely seen by observers as a mechanism employed by the Belarusian authorities to falsify elections. The Belarusian opposition has said the early voting process allows for voting manipulation, with ballot boxes unprotected for a five-day period.

The Vyasna Human Rights Center alleged that many voters were forced to participate in early voting, including students, soldiers, teachers, and other civil servants.

"Authorities are using all available means to ensure the result they need -- from airing TV propaganda to forcing voters to cast ballots early,” said Vyasna representative Pavel Sapelka. “Detentions, arrests, and searches are taking place during the vote.”

The Belarusian authorities stepped up security on the streets and at polling stations around the country, with Interior Ministry police conducting drills on how to deal with voters who might try to violate restrictive rules imposed for the elections.

For the first time, curtains were removed from voting booths, and voters were barred from taking pictures of their ballots -- a practice encouraged by activists in previous elections in an effort to prevent authorities from manipulating vote counts.

Polling stations were guarded by police, along with members of a youth law-enforcement organization and retired security personnel. Armed rapid-response teams were also formed to deal with potential disturbances.

Lukashenka this week alleged without offering proof that Western countries were considering ways to stage a coup and ordered police to boost armed patrols across the country in order to ensure "law and order."

For the first time, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were denied access to monitor the vote in OSCE-member Belarus.

In the run-up to the vote, rights organizations uncovered violations pertaining to how local election committees were formed. An expert mission organized by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Viasna said in late January that the lower number of local election committees and their compositions could indicate higher control by the authorities over the election process and an effort to stack the committees with government loyalists.

Following the vote, Belarus is expected to form a new, 1,200-seat All-Belarus Popular Assembly that will have broad powers to appoint judges and election officials and to consider amendments to the constitution. The new body will include elected local legislators, as well as top officials, union members, and pro-government activists.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Russian Opposition Figure Khodorkovsky: ‘Putin Afraid’ Navalny Funeral Could Spark Protests

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 12:08:37 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Exiled Cambodian opposition leader quits party to lead new organization

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 00:21:57 +0000

Exiled opposition leader Mu Sochua announced her resignation from the banned Cambodian National Rescue Party and said she will lead the newly formed Khmer Movement for Democracy, an organization aimed at promoting democracy and the rule of law in Cambodia.

“We are very worried about the critical situation in Cambodia such as the Chinese military presence, cybercrime, corruption, forced evictions, territorial integrity, lack of court independence,” the former parliamentarian told Radio Free Asia from Japan, where she met with Cambodians living there.

“We must seek solutions and this movement is a solution,” she said.

The Khmer Movement for Democracy was founded in Washington DC in September. Its website says it’s open to Cambodians of every political affiliation.

“Decades of corruption and authoritarian rule have left our people impoverished, our democracy dismantled, and our natural resources plundered,” the organization said. “The democratic space inside Cambodia has been simply shut down.”

Mu Sochua said the group won’t transform into another opposition political party. Instead, it’s a way to organize and unite Cambodians around the world.

Until her recent resignation, Mu Sochua was vice president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP. It had been the country’s main opposition party until it was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017 after it made substantial gains in local communal elections.

The Khmer Movement for Democracy will largely be funded by donations from Cambodians, Mu Sochua said. It currently has enough funding for one year.

As the organization’s president, she recently traveled to Australia, New Zealand and South Korea to meet with Cambodian workers and exiles.

“The immediate goals within the next six months are to send messages to people to stop their fear, to work with NGOs, to do work to urge the Paris Agreement signatories to fulfill their duties and to initiate people to stand up and stop crying and being afraid,” Mu Sochua said.

The 1991 Paris Peace Agreement formally ended decades of war in Cambodia and paved the way for parliamentary democracy.

Arrested, fled or co-opted

In the years since the CNRP’s dissolution, all of Cambodia’s independent media outlets have been forced to close and pro-democracy activists have either been arrested, fled the country or have been co-opted by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.

In last year’s national election, the CPP won 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly. Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister in August, paving the way for his eldest son, Hun Manet, to take over as head of the government.

The CNRP still exists as an organization in Cambodian communities in Australia, the United States and elsewhere.

The party’s leader, Sam Rainsy, lives in France and has been convicted in absentia several times since 2016 in cases opposition officials have criticized as politically motivated.

In October, a Cambodian court sentenced Mu Sochua, Sam Rainsy and 10 other activists to prison terms in a case connected to social media comments made in 2021.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Li Sokha also issued an arrest warrant for Mu Sochua, Sam Rainsy and two other CNRP leaders, all of whom live outside of Cambodia. Mu Sochua lives in the United States.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Wife Of Jailed Russian Opposition Politician Vladimir Kara-Murza Says She Fears For His Life

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:36:42 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Cambodian authorities say opposition activist can’t participate in campaign

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:52:17 +0000

The National Election Committee said opposition activist Rong Chhun and his newly formed political party are banned from campaigning ahead of this Sunday’s Senate election, citing his 2021 criminal conviction.

Rong Chhun campaigned in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province and met with hundreds of supporters of the Nation Power Party in Kampong Speu and Kampong Chhnang provinces over the last week.

The prominent labor activist and the former vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party announced in November that he would join the Nation Power Party as a senior adviser.

His recent campaigning prompted the National Election Committee, or NEC, to remind provincial election committees that he can’t legally engage in campaign activity because of the 2021 conviction, NEC spokesman Hang Puthea told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

Rong Chhun was sentenced to two years in prison for a conviction that stemmed from his criticism of the government for not addressing border disputes with Vietnam.

He was freed from prison in 2022, but the government has said he can’t campaign for candidates or participate in other political activities for a five-year period after his release.

Election committees in a number of provinces, including Kampong Speu and Kampong Chhnang, followed up with notification letters sent to the Nation Power Party on Monday.

“His internal actions are his internal affairs,” Hang Puthea told RFA. “But the provincial election committees have had to remind the party to avoid any confusion in regard to Rong Chhun.”

Voters will choose 58 senators from eight constituencies in Sunday’s election.

In May, the NEC ruled Rong Chhun ineligible for the ballot ahead of the July 23 national election. He would have been listed as the Candlelight Party’s top candidate in Kandal province, opposite then-Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Later in May, the NEC ruled that the Candlelight Party couldn’t field any candidates for the National Assembly in the July election, citing inadequate paperwork.

That led to Rong Chhun’s decision to join the Nation Power Party, which he called a “party for youths and the younger generation.”

Rong Chhun told RFA he should have the right to conduct political activities despite the criminal conviction. He said the party will review the NEC’s statements on his case before taking any action.

“To restore the country’s reputation, the government must allow politicians and people to have full freedom in order to welcome the international community,” he said. “If the government continues to restrict people’s freedom and politicians, the national community will condemn [the government].”

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Belarusian Opposition Activist In Serbia Urges Belgrade To Reverse Extradition Ruling

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:51:29 +0000

European Union foreign ministers in Brussels provided strong public backing to the exiled widow of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, vowing additional sanctions against Moscow to hold it responsible for the death of her husband in a remote Arctic prison.

"The EU will spare no efforts to hold Russia's political leadership and authorities to account, in close coordination with our partners; and impose further costs for their actions, including through sanctions," the EU’s top diplomats said in a joint statement following their meeting with Yulia Navalnaya on February 19.

Navalnaya, who has become a vocal Kremlin critic in her own right over recent years, vowed to "continue our fight for our country" as she traveled to Brussels to seek backing from the 27-member bloc, whose leaders have expressed outrage over Navalny's death in custody last week and Russian authorities' refusal to allow his mother and lawyers to see his body.

"Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Aleksei Navalny," Yulia Navalnaya said in a two-minute video post on X, formerly Twitter.

Navalnaya, who along with their two children lives abroad, was already in Munich for a major international security conference when reports emerged on February 16 that Navalny had died at a harsh Arctic prison known as Polar Wolf, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for alleged extremism that Navalny and Kremlin critics say was heaped atop other convictions to punish him for his anti-corruption and political activities.

"I will continue the work of Aleksei Navalny," Navalnaya said. "Continue to fight for our country. And I invite you to stand beside me."

She called for supporters to battle the Kremlin with "more fury than ever before" and said she longed to live in "a free Russia."

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell emerged from that meeting expressing "the EU's deepest condolences" and confidence that Russian President "Vladimir Putin & his regime will be held accountable for the death of [Aleksei Navalny]."

"As [Navalnaya] said, Putin is not Russia. Russia is not Putin," Borrell said, adding that the bloc's support is assured "to Russia's civil society & independent media."

An ally of Navalny, Ivan Zhdanov, said in a post on Telegram that an investigator had stated that tests on Navalny's body will take 14 days to complete.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insisted earlier that the EU must "at least" sharpen sanctions against Russia following Navalny's death.

The EU has already passed 12 rounds of Russian sanctions and is working on a 13th with the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching later this week, with member Germany pressing for more.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had said Berlin would propose new sanctions on Moscow at the meeting with Navalnaya, but the outcome remained unclear.

The German Foreign Office said it was summoning the Russian ambassador over Navalny's death to "condemn this in the strongest possible terms and expressly call for the release of all those imprisoned in Russia for political reasons."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office called separately for clarification on the circumstances and for Russian authorities to release Navalny's body to the family.

The Kremlin -- which for years avoided mention of Navalny by name -- broke its official silence on February 19 by saying an investigation was ongoing and would be carried out according to Russian law. It said the question of when his body would be handed over was not for the Kremlin to decide.

It called Western outcry over the February 16 announcement of Navalny's death "absolutely unacceptable."

The Latvia-based Novaya Gazeta Europe said on February 18 that police were securing a local morgue in the Siberian city of Salekhard as speculation swirled around the location of the 47-year-old Navalny's body and whether it showed signs of abuse.

Navalny is the latest on a significant list of Putin foes who have ended up dead under suspicious circumstances abroad or at home, where the Kremlin has clamped down ruthlessly on dissent and free speech since the Ukraine invasion began.

Political analyst Yekaterina Shulman told Current Time that Navalny "possessed incomparable moral capital" in Russia but also well beyond its borders.

"He possessed fame -- all Russian and worldwide," Shulman said. "He had moral authority [and] he had a long political biography. These are all things that cannot be handed down to anyone and cannot be acquired quickly."

She cited Navalny's crucial credibility and "political capital" built up through years of investigations of corruption, campaigning for elections, and organizing politically.

"Perhaps this apparent political assassination will become a rallying point not for the opposition -- the opposition is people who run for office to acquire mandates [and] we are not in that situation -- but for the anti-war community...inside Russia," Shulman said.

Navalny's family and close associates have confirmed his death in prison and have demanded his body be handed over, but authorities have refused to release it pending an investigation.

Mediazona and Novaya.gazeta Europe said Navalny’s body was being held at the district morgue in Salekhard, although officials reportedly told Navalny's mother otherwise after she traveled to the remote prison on February 17 and was denied access.

A former spokeswoman for Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, claimed Navalny's mother had been turned away again early on February 19.

Yarmysh tweeted that Russia's federal Investigative Committee had told his mother and lawyers that "the investigation into Navalny’s death had been extended. How much longer she will go is unknown. The cause of death is still 'undetermined.'"

"They lie, stall for time, and don't even hide it," she added.

The OVD-Info human rights group website showed more than 57,000 signatories demanding that the Investigative Committee return Navalny's body to his family.

WATCH: Court documents examined by RFE/RL reveal that medical care was repeatedly denied to inmates at the prison where Aleksei Navalny was held. In one case, this resulted in the death of an inmate. The revelation comes amid questions over how Navalny died and as his body has still not been handed over to his family.

The group noted that a procedural review process could allow authorities to keep the body for at least 30 days, or longer if a criminal case was opened.

Since the announcement of his death on February 16, Russian police have cordoned off memorial sites where people were laying flowers and candles to honor Navalny, and dispersed and arrested more than 430 suspected violators in dozens of locations.

Closely watched by police, mourners on February 19 continued to leave flowers at tributes in Moscow to honor Navalny. Initial reports suggested police in the capital did not intervene in the latest actions.

The Western response has been to condemn Putin and his administration, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying there is "no doubt" that Putin is to blame for Navalny's death.

The British and U.S. ambassadors laid tributes over the weekend at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to repression that has emerged as a site to honor Navalny.

U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said she was honoring "Navalny and other victims of political repression in Russia," adding, "His strength is an inspiring example. We honor his memory."

The French ambassador also visited one of the memorials.

With reporting by Reuters

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

PNG’s opposition bloc confident of ousting Marape leadership

APR editor — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 21:15:49 +0000

By Gorethy Kenneth in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has vowed to remove Prime Minister James Marape and his government from power.

During a media conference held last Friday, alternative prime minister Allan Bird shed light on the multitude of unresolved issues accumulated over the past four years under Marape’s leadership, assuring the public that they would address these concerns once elected.

Bird expressed optimism, saying: “Definitely, we are obviously in discussions, we have friends.”

This remark implied the formation of a substantial coalition aimed at challenging the current government’s authority.

Former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill further fuelled the opposition’s determination, proclaiming: “If we were not confident, we would not be handing in the motion.”

This sentiment was echoed by Sinasina-Yongomugl MP Kerenga Kua, who offered an unprecedented wave of positivity.

“I have never felt this optimistic in a situation like this. We are very confident,” Kua said.

Bird highlights challenges
Bird highlighted the pressing economic challenges faced by the country, drawing
attention to the recent rioting and looting on “Black Wednesday”, an expression symbolising a profound financial crisis.

He emphasised the immense pressure on the government to find solutions due to their governance and control over the nation’s finances.

“The current state of our economy, particularly as demonstrated on Black Wednesday, is unprecedented,” Bird said.

“This alone exerts immense pressure on the government,” Bird said.

“They must propose solutions because they hold the reins of power and are responsible for managing the country’s financial resources, among other obligations.”

Bird concluded his remarks by urging the Marape administration to relinquish power and allow another party to navigate the existing challenges.

‘Time to hand over control’
“It’s time to hand over control and let someone else guide us out of the quagmire we find ourselves in,” he said.

The opposition’s unwavering confidence and determination signify a significant shift in the political landscape.

“With numerous outstanding issues at the forefront and an expanding support base within Parliament, the battle for leadership in the country is poised to intensify in the weeks ahead,” he said.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – February 16, 2024 Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies in prison, world leaders condemn Vladimir Putin.

KPFA — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies in prison, world leaders condemn Vladimir Putin.
New York judge order Trump organization to pay $355 million in civil fraud trial verdict.
Madera city council approves Gaza ceasefire resolution.
San Francisco General Hospital workers demand higher staffing levels.

The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – February 16, 2024 Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies in prison, world leaders condemn Vladimir Putin. appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

Kazakh Man Serving Life For Murdering Opposition Leader In 2006 Asks President For Retrial

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 18:47:04 +0000

U.S. President Joe Biden has called for the House of Representatives to quickly pass a bill that would provide billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, challenging Republicans lawmakers to take a stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin and vote in favor of the spending package.

Biden urged immediate passage of the bill in comments at the White House on February 13 after House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) sharply criticized the $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and other countries, casting serious doubts on its future just hours after it passed the Senate.

"I urge speaker Johnson to bring it to the floor immediately, immediately," Biden said, adding that it is "critical" for Ukraine.

Johnson said in a statement late on February 12 that the bill was “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country" -- border security provisions that Republicans had insisted be included in the bill, casting doubt on its chances of passing the House.

Biden didn't mention border security in his comments from the White House but reminded Republicans that the United States "stands up for freedom" and stands strong for its allies.

"We never bow down to anyone, certainly not to Vladimir Putin, so let's get on with this," Biden said. "We can't walk away now. That's what Putin is betting on."

Biden, a Democrat, warned Republicans in the House who think they can oppose funding for Ukraine and not be held accountable that "history is watching" and a failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment "will never be forgotten."

He also criticized recent comments by former President Donald Trump about NATO as "dangerous" and "shockingly un-American."

Biden reiterated Trump's claim that he told NATO allies that if they didn't spent enough on defense, he would encourage Russians to "do whatever the hell they want."

"Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that?" Biden asked. "No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Let me say this as clearly as I can. I never will," he added.

He accused Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican party's presidential nominee, of looking at NATO as if it were a "burden" and failing to see an alliance that "protects America and the world." To Trump it is a "protection racket," and he doesn’t understand that NATO is built on the fundamental principles of freedom, security and national sovereignty, he said.

The U.S. president also stressed that the bill also provides funding for other U.S. national-security priorities in the Middle East, where the U.S. military has launched numerous attacks against militias backed by Iran, and money to help defend Israel in its fight against Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU.

It also provides funding to support U.S. national-security goals in Asia, Biden said, saying this is the "responsibility of a great nation."

In Kyiv, Ihor Zhovkva, deputy director of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, told RFE/RL that the bill's passage by the Senate was "a very serious signal," and a "strong decision" was expected from the House of Representatives.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 70-29, and Zhovkva said the approval of 70 senators will make it difficult to find reasons for not voting for the bill.

"We have every reason to hope that the corresponding strong decision will be approved in the House of Representatives," Zhovkva noted.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Washington Promotes Opposition Candidate Setting the Stage for Delegitimizing the Venezuelan Presidential Election

Roger Harris — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 07:00:26 +0000

Photo by Bel Pedrosa – CC BY-SA 2.0

Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution marks its 25^th anniversary this month, despite continuous US-led hybrid warfare to overthrow the socialist project. The Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro has successfully forced the US to de facto engage with it, although Washington still maintains the fiction that the defunct 2015 National Assembly is the “last remaining democratic institution” there.

The US has been relegated to vetting candidates for the upcoming Venezuelan presidential election. While still egregiously interventionist, the imperial power has failed to achieve outright regime change. The appearance of Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado before a US congressional committee is the latest in the empire’s quest for a trustworthy confederate. Hopes are high among Republicans that she is the right collaborator. The Democrats may have another but complementary game plan.

The opposition to the ruling Venezuelan socialist government is composed of many small and fractious sects, usually associated with a dominant personality, such as Machado’s Vente Venezuela party. The US spends millions each year meddling in the internal affairs of Venezuela in what it euphemistically calls “democracy promotion.” USAID alone pledged $50M to “push” the presidential elections, scheduled for later this year.

Washington’s efforts to force a unified opposition have been so far unsuccessful in Venezuela. But that has not deterred the Yankees from imperiously vetting the candidate they think ought be Venezuela’s leader.

Farewell to Venezuelan “interim president” Juan Guaidó

The last contender for the role of the empire’s factotum was the now disgraced Juan Guaidó. Despite his popularity abroad as the “interim president” of Venezuela, the hapless security asset was not as well received at home and was dismissed by his own opposition bloc in 2022.

The US and its allies gave illegally seized Venezuelan assets such the Monómeros agrochemical complex in Colombia and the Citgo oil franchise in the US to Guaidó and his cronies. They used the enterprises to grossly enrich themselves while running them into the ground. According to the Venezuelan attorney general, an estimated $19B was embezzled by Guaidó’s “fictious government.”

With his deer-in-the-headlights visage and stilted oratory, Guaidó appeared every bit like a puppet. In the case of Mr. Guaidó, appearances did not deceive. In contrast, the new contestant is photogenic and with a quick wit. Besides, Machado speaks fluent English.

Machado auditions before the “bipartisan roundtable”

The February 7^th House Foreign Affairs Committee “bipartisan roundtable” was entitled “The Fight for Freedom in Venezuela.” Streamed live, committee chair Maria Salazar (R-FL) gushed in support of featured guest María Corina Machado as the sole opposition presidential candidate. Salazar asserted that no other opposition candidate will be tolerated: “There is no plan B!”

In what amounted to an audition, Machado painted a dire picture of today’s Venezuela as the “largest torture center in Latin America.” She accused the Maduro government of “intentionally destroying the quality of life.”

When asked how she would solve Venezuela’s problems, Machado said she would “open markets.” Not mentioned was that the very US economic sanctions, which she had championed, had closed the markets and imposed an asphyxiating blockade immiserating Venezuela’s less fortunate citizens. Machado comes from one the richest families.

Alluding to current president Nicolás Maduro and National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, Machado said she would not be for “a system of impunity” when she’s president.

Although no one else had brought Nicaragua up, she pledged to work for a “transition” there too. Statements like this prompted the Perú Libre party, reflecting leftist sentiment throughout Latin America, to warn that Machado “constitutes a threat to continental peace.”

Machado’s political baggage

Machado comes with considerable political baggage. In 2002, she signed the infamous Carmona Decree, establishing the short-lived coup government that temporarily deposed Hugo Chávez. Machado received amnesty for supporting that coup, but has continued to be associated in coup attempts. She was active in promoting the violent guarimbas in 2014 and 2017 to overthrow the elected government and has called for a US military invasion.

In 2014, she was barred from running for public office, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution, when she served as a diplomat for Panama in order to testify against Venezuela before the Organization of American States. She had initially refused to contest her barring before the supreme court (TSJ), which she regarded as illegitimate. But when Washington wanted to use her electoral disqualification as an excuse for reimposing some sanctions, she obediently complied. She lost her case and still remains barred.

Other congressional initiatives

Last December, Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced House Resolution 911 designating Machado as the “official presidential opposition candidate.” This blatant interference in the internal affairs of another country is tone deaf to the opposition in Venezuela, which does not recognize Machado as the sole legitimate candidate.

On January 30, after Machado lost her appeal to have her electoral eligibility reinstated, Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and Bill Cassidy sent Biden a letter urging him to immediately reimpose sanctions on Venezuela in order to maintain US “credibility.” That same day, the Biden State Department issued a statement revoking sanctions relief on Venezuelan gold sales and threatened to do the same on gas and oil.

Four days before, the Congressional Research Service reported that US sanctions on Venezuela have “failed” to achieve regime change but have caused profound human suffering. This is the same “humanitarian crisis” that Machado claims was deliberately precipitated by the Venezuelan government.

How popular is Machado off of Capitol Hill?

Most knowledgeable analysts identify Machado as the opposition politician in Venezuela with the greatest name recognition and the single most popular one. But she does not command the unanimity of support in Venezuela that she is receiving inside the beltway.

Venezuelan sociologist Maria Paez Victor, now residing in Canada, reports that Machado is deeply resented by most in the opposition. “She is a hated figure among the people because of her enthusiastic support and plea for more sanctions that have caused such suffering.”

To begin with, Machado’s much vaunted opposition primary was problematic. Machado swept a crowded field of contestants with a suspicious 92%. The October contest excluded some opposition parties, while others chose not to contend and still others participated but subsequently claimed fraud.

The primary was not conducted by the national election authority (CNE) as they usually are, but was a private affair run by Machado’s own non-governmental organization Súmate, which has received NED funding. Some of the polling places were in private homes rather than public venues such as schools. And after the ballots were counted manually, they were destroyed so that there was no way to verify the validity of the count.

Reflecting the primary’s questionable nature, the US press usually refers to it as “an” opposition primary rather than “the” opposition primary, although a close and critical reading is needed to detect the weasel-word usage. Due to the irregularities, the Venezuelan supreme court subsequently suspended the primary results.

Machado’s prospects

Although Maduro has yet to announce his candidacy, it is widely believed that the incumbent president will be his party’s choice. For her part, Machado declared, “there can be no elections without me.” The European Union agreed, saying they will not recognize the election unless Machado runs.

The Orinoco Tribune reported that the White House does not especially care who the opposition candidate is in Venezuela. According to Biden official Juan González, “the process and not the candidate” is most important.

This may translate to the White House anticipating a Maduro victory and, accordingly, planning to not recognize the election. In the last Venezuelan presidential election, the US took no chances when it declared the contest fraudulent a half a year in advance and even threatened opposition candidate Henri Falcón with sanctions for running.

The manufactured drama around Machado’s electoral eligibility has a purpose that has little to do with the far-right opposition politician. Washington knew with near certainty that she would not be allowed to run for political office due to manifest past transgressions. That is precisely why she was not named in the Barbados Agreement’s electoral roadmap negotiated between the US and Venezuela. Rather, the charade is being played out to cast doubt and calumny on the upcoming election. If Maduro wins, the US will likely pronounce the contest illegitimate.

The post Washington Promotes Opposition Candidate Setting the Stage for Delegitimizing the Venezuelan Presidential Election appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Roger Harris.

Washington Promotes Opposition Candidate Setting the Stage for Delegitimizing the Venezuelan Presidential Election

Roger D. Harris — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:10:40 +0000

Despite continuous US-led hybrid warfare to overthrow the socialist project, this month marks the 25th anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution. The Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro has successfully forced the US to de facto engage with it, although Washington still maintains the fiction that the defunct 2015 National Assembly is the “last remaining democratic institution” there.

While still egregiously interventionist, the imperial power has been relegated to vetting candidates for the upcoming Venezuelan presidential election, having failed to achieve outright regime change. The appearance of Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado before a US congressional committee is the latest in the empire’s quest for a trustworthy confederate. Hopes are high among Republicans that she is the right collaborator. The Democrats may have another endgame.

Washington’s efforts to force a unified opposition have been so far unsuccessful in Venezuela. But that has not deterred the Yankees from imperiously selecting the candidate they think ought be Venezuela’s leader.

Farewell to Venezuelan “interim president” Juan Guaidó

The US and its allies gave Guaidó and his cronies illegally seized Venezuelan assets such the Monómeros agrochemical complex in Colombia and the Citgo oil franchise in the US. They used the enterprises to grossly enrich themselves while running them into the ground. According to the Venezuelan attorney general, an estimated $19B was embezzled by Guaidó’s “fictious government.”

Machado auditions before the “bipartisan roundtable”

The February 7th House Foreign Affairs Committee “bipartisan roundtable” was entitled “The Fight for Freedom in Venezuela.” Streamed live, committee chair Maria Salazar (R-FL)

gushed in support of featured guest María Corina Machado as the sole opposition presidential candidate. Salazar asserted that no other opposition candidate will be tolerated: “There is no plan B!”

Alluding to current president Nicolás Maduro and National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, Machado said she would not be for “a system of impunity” when she’s president.

Machado’s political baggage

Other congressional initiatives

Last December, Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced House Resolution 911 designating Machado as the “official presidential opposition candidate.” Besides being a blatant interference in the internal affairs of another country, the resolution is tone deaf to the opposition in Venezuela, which does not recognize Machado as the sole legitimate candidate.

How popular is Machado off of Capitol Hill?

The primary was not conducted by the national election authority (CNE) as they usually are, but was a private affair run by Machado’s own non-governmental organization Súmate, which has received NED funding. Some of the polling places were in private homes rather than public venues such as schools. And after the ballots were counted manually, they were quickly destroyed so that there was no way to verify the validity of the count.

Machado’s prospects

Although Maduro has yet to announce his candidacy, it is widely believed that the incumbent president will be his party’s choice. For her part, Machado says, “there can be no elections without me.” The European Union agrees, saying they will not recognize the election unless Machado runs.

The Orinoco Tribune reports that the White House does not especially care who the opposition candidate is in Venezuela. According to Biden official Juan González, “the process and not the candidate” is most important.

This translates to the White House anticipating a Maduro victory and, accordingly, planning to pronounce the election fraudulent. In the last Venezuelan presidential election, the US took no chances when it declared the contest fraudulent a half a year in advance and even threatened opposition candidate Henri Falcón with sanctions for running.

The post Washington Promotes Opposition Candidate Setting the Stage for Delegitimizing the Venezuelan Presidential Election first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Roger D. Harris.

PNG opposition numbers grow ahead of expected no-confidence vote

APR editor — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 03:04:21 +0000

RNZ Pacific

A total of 12 MPs in the Papua New Guinea government of Jame Marape have now switched sides, joining the opposition ahead of an expected vote of no confidence in Prime Minister James Marape.

Governments in PNG have 18 months’ grace after an election when opponents cannot bring motions for votes of no confidence.

That period, in place since August 2022, expires this weekend.

RNZ Pacific correspondent in PNG, Scott Waide, said the latest resignations came yesterday with the East Sepik Governor Allan Bird and Sam Basil Jr, who holds the Bulolo Open seat, strongly criticising Prime Minister Marape.

“Both expressed that they were disappointed in the performance of the Prime Minister and they decided to move, Sam Basil Jr in particular expressing that he was disappointing in the manner in which resources were being distributed for MPs on both sides of the House,” he said.

Waide said Bird raised concerns about Marape’s alleged involvement in controversial payments to lawyer Paul Paraka — something Prime Minister has strenuously denied.

There are now 23 MPs on the opposition benches but a successful vote would require the backing of 60 members in the 118-seat Haus Palamen.

No motion has yet been filed, though the possibility of a motion is being widely discussed in PNG.

Meanwhile, Marape became the first Pacific Island leader to address the Australian Federal Parliament yeterday, when he stressed PNG’s desire to become an economically independent nation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

How Pakistani Opposition Uses AI and WhatsApp to Outsmart Rivals After Founder Imran Khan Was Jail

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 10:43:36 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Navalny Calls On Russians To Flock To Polling Stations At Noon During Election To Show Opposition To Putin

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:10:26 +0000

Leaders from the European Union unanimously agreed to a four-year 50 billion-euro aid package for Ukraine as Hungary, which vetoed the deal in December, fell into line with the other 26 member states, ending weeks of wrangling over the move.

"We have a deal.... This locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine. The EU is taking leadership & responsibility in support for Ukraine; we know what is at stake," European Council President Charles Michel wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after the deal was reached rapidly after the start of a special summit in Brussels on February 1.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion nears the two-year mark.

In a video address to EU leaders after the deal was agreed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the move as "a clear signal that Ukraine will withstand and that Europe will withstand."

"It is also really important that the decision was made by all of you, all 27 member states, which is another clear sign of your strong unity," Zelenskiy told the EU leaders.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the only EU leader who maintains warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had been repeatedly at odds with the other leaders of the bloc over measures to help Ukraine since Russia's invasion.

Orban, a right-wing populist who has been in power since 2010, has faced criticism that his opposition to EU aid for Ukraine amounts to an attempt to blackmail the bloc into disbursing billions of euros in EU funds for Hungary frozen by Brussels over rule-of-law and democracy concerns.

In December he vetoed the package, and ahead of the February 1 summit in the Belgian capital he appeared on track to try and do the same again.

But a deal was swiftly announced on February 1 after Orban held talks with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"He gave some ground," one European diplomat told AFP. "He saw that people were growing irritated, that there was a line not to cross," said the diplomat, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

All of the bloc's 27 members must unanimously vote in favor of the aid package from Ukraine that would come from the EU's common budget.

"A good day for Europe," von der Leyen wrote on X, formerly Twitter after the deal.

"Once again, Europe has delivered," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said on X.

In a video on Facebook, Orban put on a brave face, presenting the move as a victory for Hungary, saying that a review mechanism accompanying the aid package would “guarantee the rational use of the funds.”

"Hungarians’ money cannot be given to Ukrainians," Orban said. "We will not take part in the war, we will not send weapons, we continue to stand on the party of peace!"

An unnamed EU source said the leaders agreed that the European Commission would propose a review of the Ukraine aid package in two years, if needed, but such a move wouldn't include a veto right for Budapest.

Following the agreement, Ukraine said it expected to receive the first tranche of 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) from Brussels next month.

Ukrainian leaders have been warning for months that they are desperately in need of fresh supplies of weapons and ammunition as Kyiv's counteroffensive stalls.

In his video address to the summit, Zelenskiy also warned that Ukrainian forces were in a race against the clock with the Russian invaders as intelligence reports confirmed that Russia was receiving 1 million artillery shells and missiles from North Korea.

"Meanwhile, the implementation of the European plan to supply 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine is being delayed," Zelenskiy said, adding that this was "a competition Europe cannot afford to lose."

Adding to the urgency, a supplementary spending bill that includes $61 billion in aid to Ukraine has been stalled in the U.S. Congress amid opposition from Republican lawmakers who want any spending package to also include sweeping changes to border protection policy in the United States.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Cambodian opposition leader appeals 27 year sentence

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 03:01:00 +0000

Cambodia’s Court of Appeal began hearing former opposition party leader Kem Sokha’s bid to overturn his 27-year sentence for treason on Tuesday.

One international human rights group is calling on Cambodian authorities to release the 70-year-old immediately, calling his sentence “baseless.”

Sam Rainsy, the exiled acting leader of Sokha’s Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), also called for the verdict to be quashed.

“There's no way forward for #Cambodia until Kem Sokha is freed and allowed his political rights,” he wrote on X.

Security was tight at the courthouse, with checkpoints outside and reporters barred from the building.

Kem Sokha was arrested in September, 2017, and charged with colluding with a foreign power.

After his arrest, he spent a year in a prison near the border with Vietnam.

He was transferred to house arrest in Phnom Penh in October 2018. More than a year later, the court eased some of the restrictions, allowing him to travel inside the country but banning him from participating in politics.

Sokha’s trial was delayed for more than a year due to restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. When he was finally sentenced in March 2023, he was placed under house arrest, barred from politics and banned from meeting with non-family members without the court’s permission.

Ahead of the appeal, Amnesty International demanded his release, saying the treason conviction showed the Cambodian authorities’ disregard for human rights and the rule of law.

“Anyone who dares to speak out against the government is at risk,” said Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer.

“Cambodian authorities must respect, protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of everyone in the country, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and end the increasing restriction of civic space.”

Kem Sokha has always denied the charges, which led to his arrest a few months after his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) made large gains in local commune elections.

The charges against him relate partly to a video recorded in 2013 in which he discussed a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington was trying to interfere in Cambodian politics.

Shortly after his 2017 arrest, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved and outlawed the CNRP, paving the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to take all 125 National Assembly seats in the 2018 general election.

Then-Prime Minister Hun Sen used similar tactics in last July’s election, barring the main opposition Candlelight Party from fielding candidates, allowing his party to win 120 National Assembly seats.

A month before the 2023 election, Hun Sen refused to pardon Kem Sokha, saying he made the decision because foreigners were trying to interfere in Cambodia.

Hun Sen stepped down following his party’s election victory, his son Hun Manet becoming prime minister last August.

Earlier this month, Kem Sokha’s daughter Monovithya lashed out at Western nations such as France for meeting Cambodia’s new leader in the hope of improving relations, calling it “lazy and ineffective.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Serbian Opposition Holds New Protests Against Last Month’s National, Municipal Elections

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 20:47:05 +0000

KYIV -- Ukrainian officials on January 27 said Russia had intensified attacks in the past 24 hours, with a commander saying the sides had battled through "50 combat clashes" in the past day near Ukraine's Tavria region.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and Moscow continued to dispute the circumstances surrounding the January 24 crash of a Russian military transport plane that the Kremlin claimed was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Kyiv said it has no proof POWs were aboard and has not confirmed its forces shot down the plane.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, the Ukrainian commander in the Tavria zone in the Zaporizhzhya region, said Russian forces had "significantly increased" the number of offensive and assault operations over the past two days.

"For the second day in a row, the enemy has conducted 50 combat clashes daily,” he wrote on Telegram.

"Also, the enemy has carried out 100 air strikes in the operational zone of the Tavria Joint Task Force within seven days," he said, adding that 230 Russian-launched drones had been "neutralized or destroyed" over the past day in the area.

Battlefield claims on either side cannot immediately be confirmed.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military said 98 combat clashes took place between Ukrainian troops and the invading Russian army over the past 24 hours.

"There are dead and wounded among the civilian populations," the Ukrianian military's General Staff said in its daily update, but did not provide further details about the casualties.

According to the General Staff, Russian forces launched eight missile and four air strikes, and carried out 78 attacks from rocket-salvo systems on Ukrainian troop positions and populated areas. Iranian-made Shahed drones and Iskander ballistic missiles were used in the attacks, it said.

A number of "high-rise residential buildings, schools, kindergartens, a shopping center, and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed or damaged" in the latest Russian strikes, the bulletin said.

"More than 120 settlements came under artillery fire in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolayiv regions," according to the daily update.

The General Staff also reported that Ukrainian defenders repelled dozens of Russian assaults in eight directions, including Avdiyivka, Bakhmut, Maryinka, and Kupyansk in the eastern Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukrainian military intelligence, said it remained unclear what happened in the crash of the Russian Il-76 that the Kremlin claimed was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were killed along with nine crew members.

The Kremlin said the military transport plane was shot down by a Ukrainian missile despite the fact that Russian forces had alerted Kyiv to the flight’s path.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told RFE/RL that it had not received either a written or verbal request to secure the airspace where the plane went down.

The situation with the crash of the aircraft "is not yet fully understood,” Budanov said.

"It is necessary to determine what happened – unfortunately, neither side can fully answer that yet."

Russia "of course, has taken the position of blaming Ukraine for everything, despite the fact that there are a number of facts that are inconsistent with such a position," he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted Ukraine shot down the plane and said an investigation was being carried out, with a report to be made in the upcoming days.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the creation of a second body to assist businesses in the war-torn country.

Speaking in his nightly video address late on January 26, Zelenskiy said the All-Ukraine Economic Platform would help businesses overcome the challenges posed by Russia's nearly two-year-old invasion.

On January 23, Zelenskiy announced the formation of a Council for the Support of Entrepreneurship, which he said sought to strengthen the country's economy and clarify issues related to law enforcement agencies. Decrees creating both bodies were published on January 26.

Ukraine's economy has collapsed in many sectors since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Kyiv heavily relies on international aid from its Western partnes.

The Voice of America reported that the United States vowed to promote at the international level a peace formula put forward by Zelenskiy.

VOA quoted White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby as saying that Washington "is committed to the policy of supporting initiatives emanating from the leadership of Ukraine."

Zelenskiy last year presented his 10-point peace formula that includes the withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity, among other things.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Kazakh Opposition Activist, Detained Ahead Of Toqaev Visit, Sentenced To 15 Days

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:12:15 +0000

Ukraine and Russia have contradicted each other over whether there had been proper notification to secure the airspace around an area where a military transport plane Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs crashed, killing them and nine others on board.

Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov told deputies in Moscow on January 25 that Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane entered the Belgorod region in Russia, near the border with Ukraine, and that Russia had received confirmation the message was received.

Kartapolov did not provide any evidence to back up his claim and Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov reiterated in comments to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that it had not received either a written or verbal request to secure the airspace where the plane went down.

Yusov said Ukraine had been using reconnaissance drones in the area and that Russia had launched attack drones. There was "no confirmed information" that Ukraine had hit any targets, he said.

"Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons for S-300 systems," he told RFE/RL.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

There has been no direct confirmation from Kyiv on Russian claims that the plane had Ukrainian POWs on board or that the aircraft was downed by a Ukrainian antiaircraft missile.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for an international investigation of the incident, and Yusov reiterated that call, as "there are many circumstances that require investigation and maximum study."

The RIA Novosti news agency on January 25 reported that both black boxes had been recovered from the wreckage site in Russia's Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case into what it said was a "terrorist attack." The press service of the Investigative Committee said in a news release that preliminary data of the inspection of the scene of the incident, "allow us to conclude that the aircraft was attacked by an antiaircraft missile from the territory of Ukraine."

The Investigative Committee said that "fragmented human remains" were found at the crash site, repeating that six crew members, military police officers, and Ukrainian POWs were on board the plane.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on January 25 called the downing of the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane a "monstrous act," though Moscow has yet to show any evidence that it was downed by a Ukrainian missile, or that there were Ukrainian prisoners on board.

While not saying who shot down the plane, Zelenskiy said that "all clear facts must be established...our state will insist on an international investigation."

Ukrainian officials have said that a prisoner exchange was to have taken place on January 24 and that Russia had not informed Ukraine that Ukrainian POWs would be flown on cargo planes.

Ukrainian military intelligence said it did not have "reliable and comprehensive information" on who was on board the flight but said the Russian POWs it was responsible for "were delivered in time to the conditional exchange point where they were safe."

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's commissioner for human rights, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that "currently, there are no signs of the fact that there were so many people on the Il-76 plane, be they citizens of Ukraine or not."

Aviation experts told RFE/RL that it was possible a Ukrainian antiaircraft missile downed the plane but added that a Russian antiaircraft could have been responsible.

"During the investigation, you can easily determine which system shot down the plane based on the missiles' damaging elements," said Roman Svitan, a Ukrainian reserve colonel and an aviation-instructor pilot.

When asked about Russian claims of dozens of POWs on board, Svitan said that from the footage released so far, he'd seen no evidence to back up the statements.

"From the footage that was there, I looked through it all, it’s not clear where there are dozens of bodies.... There's not a single body visible at all. At one time I was a military investigator, including investigating disasters; believe me, if there were seven or eight dozen people there, the field would be strewn with corpses and remains of bodies," Svitan added.

Russian officials said the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew members, and three escorts.

A list of the six crew members who were supposed to be on the flight was obtained by RFE/RL. The deaths of three of the crew members were confirmed to RFE/RL by their relatives.

Video on social media showed a plane spiraling to the ground, followed by a loud bang and explosion that sent a ball of smoke and flames skyward.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

NZ opposition parties urge PM Luxon to shut down ‘erase treaty’ bill

APR editor — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 10:06:08 +0000

RNZ News

New Zealand’s opposition parties have seized on a leaked ministerial memo about the coalition government’s proposed Treaty Principles bill, saying the prime minister should put a stop to it.

ACT is defending the bill, while National has repeated its position of supporting it no further than select committee.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi posted a screenshot of part of a page of the leaked document on social media on Friday, saying it showed the government’s “intentions to erase Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.

How 1News TV reported the Treaty “leak” on its website. Image: 1News screenshot APR

1News also reported that it had a full copy of the leaked report, which it said warned the proposal’s key points were “at odds with what the Treaty of Waitangi actually says”.

Ministry of Justice chief executive Andrew Kibblewhite confirmed the leak “of a draft paper seeking to include the Treaty of Waitangi Bill in the Legislation Programme for 2024” would be investigated.

“We are incredibly disappointed that this has happened. Ministers need to be able to trust that briefing papers are treated with utmost confidentiality, and we will be investigating the leak as a priority.

“All proposed Government Bills are assigned a priority in the Legislation Programme. The draft paper was prepared as part of that standard process, and had a limited distribution within the Ministry of Justice and a small number of other government agencies.

“We will be keeping Minister [of Justice Paul] Goldsmith informed on our investigation and will not be making any further comment at this stage.”

ACT: ‘That is what I believe our country needs’
The bill was an ACT Party policy during the election, which National in coalition negotiations agreed to progress only as far as the select committee stage. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Parliament last year said “that’s as far as it will go”.

Party leader David Seymour defended the bill.

“Over the last 40 years, the principles of the Treaty have evolved behind closed doors with no consultation of the average New Zealander, no role for them to play in it whatsoever,” he said.

ACT leader David Seymour . . . people in the bureaucracy had become set in that way of thinking about the Treaty. Image: RNZ/Angus Dreaver

That referred to the courts’ attempts over the last few decades to reconcile the differences between the English and reo Māori texts of the Treaty, based in part on the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal — an independent body set up by a previous National government to examine the Treaty’s role in New Zealand.

Seymour said people in the bureaucracy had become set in that way of thinking about the Treaty, but that it had made the country feel more divided by race.

“And when ACT comes along and says, ‘hey, we need to have an open discussion about this and work towards a unified New Zealand’, you expect that they’re going to be resistant. Nonetheless, there’s the band aid this government has, and that is what I believe our country needs.

“I believe that once people see an open and respectful debate about our founding document and the future of our constitutional settings, that’s actually something that New Zealanders have been wanting for a long time that we’re delivering, and I suspect it might be a bit more popular than the doomsayers anticipate.”

In a statement, he said the party was speaking for Māori and non-Māori alike who believed division was one of the greatest threats to New Zealand.

“We’re proposing a proper public debate on what the principles of the Treaty actually mean in the context of a modern multi-ethnic society with a place in it for all.

“ACT’s goal is to restore the mana of the Treaty by clarifying its principles. That means the New Zealand government has the right to govern New Zealand, the New Zealand government will protect all New Zealanders’ authority over their land and other property, and all New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and duties.”

He said they would be consulting all New Zealanders on it, and once it got to select committee they would have a chance to recommend changes to the bill, which would then be put to the public as a referendum.

Te Pāti Māori: ‘The worst way of rewriting the Tiriti’
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told RNZ News she was not surprised to see ministry officials warning against the bill.

“The extent and the depth of the erasing of Tangata Whenua, the arrogance to assume to rewrite a Treaty based on one partner’s view — and that was a partner who only had 50 rangatira sign — is really alarming.”

She said she did not trust Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would not support the bill any further than the select committee stage.

“It’s the worst way of rewriting the Tiriti we could ever have expected, it’s made assumptions that don’t exist and again has highlighted that they rate the English version of te Tiriti.

“I’m not quite sure when the last time you could believe everything a prime minister said was factual,” she said.

“The prime minister has been caught out in his own lies . . . the reality is that a clever politician and intentional coalition partner will roll anyone out of the way to make sure that something as negatively ambitious as what this rewrite is looking like can happen.”

She said one of Māoridom’s biggest aspirations was to be a thriving people “and ensure that through our whakapapa te Tiriti is respected”, she said, criticising Luxon’s refusal to attend this weekend’s national hui.

“He didn’t have to be the centre of all the discussions, a good leader listens,” she said.

Labour: ‘A total disgrace and a slap in the face for the judiciary’
Labour’s Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson however said the bill was a “total breach” of the Treaty, its obligations, and the partnership between Māori and the Crown.

“It’s a total attack on the Treaty and the partnership that we have, that Māori have with the Crown, and it continues the negative themes from this government from day one.

“The reality is that the Treaty principles — in terms of what’s been drawn up in terms of the ‘partnership’ — was already a compromise from Māori. That’s why the judiciary wrote up the partnership model — so if they want to go down this track they’ll open up a can of worms that they’ll live to regret.”

He said the government should not be pushing ahead with the bill.

“Absolutely, absolutely not, and Luxon should show some leadership and rule it out now. This is a disgrace, what ACT are doing, a total disgrace and a slap in the face for the judiciary and all the leaders who in past years have entrenched the partnership.

“You’re talking about National Party leaders like Jenny Shipley, Jim Bolger, Doug Graham, John Key. This is just laughable and idiotic stuff that is coming from Seymour, and Luxon should shut this down now because it goes in the face of legal opinion, legal history, judiciary decisions since 1987, prime ministerial decisions from National and Labour.

“All of a sudden we’ve got this so-called expert Seymour who thinks he knows more than every prime minister of the last 40 years and every High Court judge, Supreme Court judge — you name it … absolute rubbish and it should be thrown out.”

He said Seymour was “trying to placate his money men . . . trying to placate some of his extreme rightwing mates”.

He did not trust the government to do as Luxon had said it would, and end support for the bill once it reached select committee.

“I mean surely this government would be the last group of people you’d trust right now wouldn’t you think? These are people that are going to disband our magnificent smokefree laws to look after their tax cuts.

“They also must be told in no uncertain terms that there can be no compromise on the Treaty relationship.”

Greens: ‘All of the kupu are a breach’
Green Party Māori Development spokesperson Hūhana Lyndon also said the government should not proceed with the bill, arguing all the words proposed by ACT for replacing the principles were a breach of the Treaty itself.

“All of the kupu are a breach to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and this is the choice of the National government to allow this to go ahead into select committee. There’s been no consultation with te iwi Māori or the general public.

“The government shouldn’t proceed with it. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is Te Tiriti o Waitangi — and those words need to be given effect to by the government, any changes to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is between hapū, iwi and the Crown.”

She said the new words proposed to assert a specific interpretation of te Tiriti and its historical context “does not give effect to te Tiriti and does not honour the sacred covenant that our tūpuna signed up for”.

“Ultimately, as we can see, even the government advice is cautioning strongly that the proposed words in the Treaty principles bill will be contentious, and could splinter — and, in fact, undermine — the strong relationship of te iwi Maori with the Crown to date as we have our ongoing conversation around how we honour te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“As we’ve seen with this government thus far, they are rushing through bad legislation under urgency, and this is no different to what we saw before Christmas.”

The Hui-ā-Iwi at Tūrangawaewae marae near Hamilton today . . . a touch point for Aotearoa New Zealand’s future. Image: RNZ

National: ‘It’s just a simple coalition agreement’
National’s Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith repeated to RNZ the party’s stance was to only progress it as far as the select committee, and no further.

“That’s what the prime minister has indicated,” he said. Asked why the government was even supporting it that far, he said it was part of the coalition agreement.

“Look, it’s just a simple coalition agreement that we have with the ACT Party, we agreed to support it to the select committee so that these matters can be given a public hearing, people can debate it. And so that was the agreement that we had.

“The process that we’ve got will introduce a bill that will have the select committee hearing, lots of different views on it and its merits.”

Asked about National’s position on whether the Treaty principles needed to be defined in law, he said their position was very clear, “that we support this piece of legislation going to the Select Committee and that’s as far as our support goes”.

He rejected Waititi’s suggestion it was an attempt to erase the Treaty.

“Look, I think there’ll be a lot of inflamed rhetoric over the coming weeks, and I’m not going to contribute to that . . . there’s no intention whatsoever to erase the Treaty and that’s not what this bill would do.”

When asked about the memo’s author saying the bill would be in opposition to the Treaty itself, he said the memo was a draft and the matter would be debated at select committee.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Kazakh Opposition Party Leader’s Appeal Against Prison Sentence Rejected

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 13:57:40 +0000

CHISINAU -- Moldova has paused a recruitment effort to funnel construction workers to Israel, alleging that Israelis have put Moldovans in "high-risk conflict zones," withheld passports, and committed other abuses while plugging gaps in their workforce brought on by the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The Labor Ministry confirmed to RFE/RL's Moldovan Service this week that Chisinau had "temporarily postponed" the latest round of recruitment under the bilateral agreement following the accusations by Moldovan citizens, but said it could resume once Israel confirmed the practices were stopped and "security and respect" for Moldovan nationals were ensured.

Israel has faced an acute labor squeeze since hundreds of thousands of reservists and other Israelis were called up to fight and thousands of Palestinians were denied access to jobs in Israel after gunmen from the EU- and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas carried out a massive cross-border attack that killed just over 1,100 people, most of them Israeli civilians, on October 7.

"As a result of the deterioration of the security situation in the state of Israel, workers from the Republic of Moldova were employed to work in high-risk conflict zones, some citizens had their passports withheld by employers, complaints were registered about the confiscation of workers' luggage, as well as Israeli authorities carried out activities of direct recruitment of Moldovan workers, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, which is contrary to the provisions of the agreement," the ministry said in a January 17 response to an RFE/RL access-to-information request.

The ministry did not accuse the Israeli state of perpetrating the abuses. It said Moldovan officials have reported the "violations" to Israel and asked it to put a stop to them and "ensure the security and respect of the rights of workers coming from the Republic of Moldova," one of Europe's poorest countries with a population of some 3.4 million.

The Moldovan Embassy in Tel Aviv said some 13,000 Moldovans were in Israel before the current war broke out. Many work at construction sites or provide care for the elderly, inside or outside the auspices of the recruitment agreement.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment on the Labor Ministry's accusations.

Since the war erupted in early October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has sought to extend worker visas and attract more foreign labor from around the world, including by raising its quota on foreign construction workers by roughly half, to 65,000 individuals.

It appealed publicly for 1,200 new Moldovan workers for the construction sector, including blacksmiths, painters, and carpenters.

Speaking in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, the director of the Foreign Workers Administration, Inbal Mashash, named Moldova, along with Thailand and Sri Lanka, as countries where Israeli hopes were highest for more guest workers.

The bilateral Moldovan-Israeli agreement on temporary employment in "certain sectors" including construction in Israel was signed in 2012 and has been amended on multiple occasions, including in December.

In addition to setting up training and procedures to regulate and steer labor flows, it imposes restrictions that include a ban on Israeli companies recruiting on Moldovan territory.

In its decade-long existence, some 17,000 Moldovans have worked in Israel under the auspices of the agreement through 28 rounds of recruitment. At the last available official count, in 2022, there were about 4,000 participating Moldovans.

"The [29th] recruitment round will resume once the above-mentioned irregularities are eliminated and we receive confirmation from the Israeli side of the necessary measures being taken to ensure security and respect for the rights of employed [Moldovan] citizens on the territory of the state of Israel," the Moldovan Labor Ministry said.

From the early days of the current war, Moldovans have spoken out about family concerns and the pressures to pack up and leave Israel, but most appear to have stayed.

As rumors spread of pressure on Moldovan construction workers to stay in Israel after a January 5 pause announcement, Labor Minister Alexei Buzu confirmed there were problems but focused on the accusation that Israeli firms were improperly recruiting Moldovans outside the program or for repeat stints.

A failure to comply with some provisions brings "a risk that other commitments will be ignored [or] will not be delivered at the time or according to the expectations described in the agreement," he said.

Buzu stopped short of leveling some of the most serious accusations involving Moldovan workers being sent to work in 'high-risk conflict zones" or having their passports or belongings taken from them.

Reuters has reported that the worker shortage is costing Israel's construction sector around $37 million per day.

Moldova's National Employment Agency (ANOFM) is responsible for implementing the Israeli-Moldovan recruitment agreement. The Labor Ministry said the agency had already lined up construction recruits and scheduled professional exams for the end of December before the postponement.

The ministry said a similar agreement on the home-caregiver sector between Moldova and Israel -- the subject of negotiations in December -- had “not yet been signed."

The Hamas-led surprise attack on October 7 sparked a massive response from Israel including devastating aerial bombardments and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the latest fighting displaced most of them.

The Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza say 24,700 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting and 62,000 more injured.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Kyrgyz Opposition Party Member Gets Three Years In Prison For Online Post

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 13:31:54 +0000

UFA, Russia -- A court in Ufa, the capital of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, has sentenced eight men to up to 14 days in jail for taking part in an unprecedented rally earlier this week to support the former leader of the banned Bashqort movement, Fail Alsynov, who has criticized Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

The Kirov district court on January 18 sentenced activists Salavat Idelbayev and Rustam Yuldashev to 14 and 13 days in jail, respectively, after finding them guilty of taking part in "an unsanctioned rally that led to the disruption of infrastructure activities and obstructed the work of a court" on January 15.

A day earlier, the same court sentenced Ilnar Galin to 13 days in jail, and Denis Skvortsov, Fanzil Akhmetshin, Yulai Aralbayev, Radmir Mukhametshin, and Dmitry Petrov to 10 days in jail each on the same charges.

The sentences were related to a January 15 rally of around 5,000 people in front of a court in the town of Baimak, where the verdict and sentencing of Alsynov, who was charged with inciting ethnic hatred, were expected to be announced. But the court postponed the announcement to January 17 to allow security forces to prepare for any reaction to the verdict in the controversial trial.

On January 17, thousands of supporters gathered in front of the court again, and after Alsynov was sentenced to four years in prison, clashes broke out as police using batons, tear gas, and stun grenades forced the protesters to leave the site. Several protesters were injured and at least two were hospitalized.

Dozens of protesters were detained and the Investigative Committee said those in custody from the January 17 unrest will face criminal charges -- organizing and participating in mass disorder and using violence against law enforcement.

Separately on January 18, police detained two young men in Baimak on unspecified charges. Friends of the men said the detentions were most likely linked to the rallies to support Alsynov.

The head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, made his first statement on January 18 about the largest protest rally in Russia since Moscow launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, saying he "will not tolerate extremism and attempts to shake up the situation," and promising to find the "real organizers" of the rallies.

It was Khabirov who initiated the investigation of Alsynov, accusing him of inciting ethnic hatred as well as calling for anti-government rallies and extremist activities and discrediting Russia's armed forces.

In the end, Alsynov was charged only with inciting hatred, which stemmed from a speech he gave at a rally in late April 2023 in the village of Ishmurzino in which he criticized local government plans to start mining gold near the village, as it would bring in migrant laborers.

Investigators said Alsynov's speech "negatively assessed people in the Caucasus and Central Asia, humiliating their human dignity." Alsynov and his supporters have rejected the charge as politically motivated.

Bashkortostan's Supreme Court banned Alsynov's Bashqort group, which for years promoted Bashkir language, culture, and equal rights for ethnic Bashkirs, in May 2020, declaring it extremist.

Bashqort was banned after staging several rallies and other events challenging the policies of both local and federal authorities, including Moscow's move to abolish mandatory indigenous-language classes in the regions with large populations of indigenous ethnic groups.

With reporting by RusNews

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Jailed Kazakh Opposition Party Leader’s Appeal Against Sentence Denied

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 16:28:27 +0000

Ukraine's priority this year is to regain control over its skies, the country's foreign minister said, as Russia continues to use aerial attacks to pound its neighbor as the Kremlin's full-scale invasion nears its third year.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Ukraine's Western backers to provide advanced weaponry, including long-range missiles and F-16 fighter jets, to help Kyiv "throw Russia out of the sky."

Ukraine has been subjected to a series of unusually intense Russian air strikes since the start of the year that has put its air defenses under massive pressure amid dwindling stocks of ammunition and equipment.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

"In 2024, of course the priority is to throw Russia from the skies," Kuleba said during a panel discussion. "Because the one who controls the skies will define when and how the war will end."

Kuleba's comments echoed remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said a day earlier at the forum that his country “must gain air superiority.”

"Just as we gained superiority in the Black Sea, we can do it. This will allow progress on the ground.... Partners know what is needed and in what quantity," Zelenskiy said.

Russian missiles later on January 17 struck a town outside Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing one person and damaging an educational institution, the regional governor and the military said.

Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram there were two strikes on the town of Chuhuyev. A female employee of a heating and power plant was killed and another person was injured. A military source, also reporting on Telegram, said the attack involved S-300 missiles.

Russian troops attacked Kharkiv with two S-300 missiles on January 16, wounding 17 people, including 14 who have been hospitalized.

The Ukrainian military also said it destroyed six Iranian-made Shahed drones over the Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions late on January 17.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 17 said the Biden administration was "working very hard" to secure additional funding for Ukraine from Congress, warning that failure to do so would be a "real problem."

"If we don't get that money, it's a real problem. It's a real problem for Ukraine. I think it's a problem for us and our leadership around the world," he said.

President Joe Biden convened top congressional leaders at the White House to underscore Ukraine's security needs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) and other Republicans used the meeting with Biden to push for tougher border security measures.

"We understand that there's concern about the safety, security, and sovereignty of Ukraine," Johnson told reporters after the meeting "But the American people have those same concerns about our own domestic sovereignty and our safety and our security."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) stressed that Biden had repeatedly said he is willing to compromise on certain border measures. He told reporters that there was a "large amount of agreement around the table" on both funding for Ukraine and border security.

The German parliament meanwhile rejected a motion put forward by the conservative opposition that called for the government to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Nearly all lawmakers from the three-party governing coalition -- Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP) -- opposed to the motion on January 17.

The Greens and the FDP have been pushing Scholz for months to send the missiles, but lawmakers from the two parties said they voted against the proposal because the conservative opposition had linked it to a debate on the annual report on Germany’s military.

As Kuleba made his comments in the Swiss ski resort, Ukrainian authorities were declaring an air-raid alert for the whole country.

The Ukrainian Air Force warned on Telegram that a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet had taken off from the Mozdok airfield in Russia's North Ossetia, while Telegram monitoring channels reported that an Il-78M refueling plane was also airborne.

Earlier on January 17, a Russian drone attack on Odesa wounded three people and caused damage to civilian residential infrastructure, prompting the evacuation of 130 people, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

The Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine said separately that it shot down 11 Iranian-made drones during the attack on Odesa, with the vast majority of the debris falling into the sea.

"Air-defense units worked for almost three hours.... The main efforts of the enemy were concentrated on attacks on Odesa," the military said in a statement.

The latest Russian attacks came as the United Nations said the past several weeks have seen a steep increase in civilian victims in Ukraine due to unusually intense missile and drone strikes.

In December alone, 101 Ukrainian civilians were killed and 491 were wounded in Russian strikes, amounting a 26.5 percent month-to- month increase in verified casualties, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a report published on January 16.

In Brussels, the chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Bob Bauer, said on January 17 that the alliance would keep supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Photo Gallery:

Russia Targets Ukraine's Civilian Infrastructure In Overnight Attacks

Russia launched a late-night attack on January 16 that struck the city center of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, as well as the Black Sea port of Odesa early on January 17, wounding civilians and causing widespread destruction to residential buildings.

“Today is the 693rd day of what Russia thought would be a three-day war. Ukraine will have our support for every day that is to come because the outcome of this war will determine the fate of the world,” Bauer said at the start of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers.

“This war has never been about any real security threat to Russia coming from either Ukraine or NATO,” Bauer added. “This war is about Russia fearing something much more powerful than any physical weapon on Earth: democracy. If people in Ukraine can have democratic rights, then people in Russia will soon crave them too.”

Bauer also urged a fundamental overhaul in the conflict readiness of the 31-member alliance.

“In order to be fully effective, also in the future, we need a war-fighting transformation of NATO,” he said.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Says Democracy At Stake As Protests Over Elections Resume

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 16:15:57 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Awami League wins Bangladesh polls boycotted by opposition

BenarNews staff — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 16:25:12 +0000

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party will return to power for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in Bangladesh after being declared the winner of Sunday’s general election, which drew a low turnout amid an opposition boycott.

Early Monday (local time), preliminary results released by the Election Commission showed the Awami League had won at least 222 out of 300 parliamentary seats, enough to form a super majority and again govern the South Asian nation of 170 million people.

With more than 294 seats declared, the Jatiya Party – an ally of the ruling party and the only other notable party contesting the election – won only 11, while independent candidates aligned with the Awami League secured victories in 61 parliamentary constituencies.

The result effectively rubber-stamped an outcome that had been predicted long before, after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies declared they were boycotting the country’s 12th general election. Thiers was an act of protest against Hasina’s refusal to give in to their demand that she step aside to allow a neutral caretaker administration to oversee the election.

Polling centers closed at 4 p.m. Sunday, and BenarNews reporters visiting voting sites observed a slow trickle of voters, with ruling party activists standing guard outside.

“The election result was a formality; we all knew what was coming. The big question now is how a supercharged political environment is impacted,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Wilson Center in Washington, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

“Reconciliation seems unlikely given the current climate, but concessions – such as the release from jail of some BNP leaders – could help reduce tensions.”

Meanwhile, there was confusion about the actual turnout rate when Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced at a post-poll press conference that it was “about 28 percent” – only to be quickly corrected on the spot by his own officials.

The initial estimate of 28% was in line with another announcement that the turnout was 27% an hour before the polls closed. However, after being corrected, a visibly confused Awal said the estimated turnout would be 40%.

“This 40 percent is reliable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Netra News, a Sweden-based news outlet focusing on Bangladesh, claimed to have obtained videos of the real-time dashboard screens from the Election Commission hours after polls closed, showing that the turnout rate was indeed about 28%.

However, the BNP and other parties have criticized the preliminary turnout figure of 40%, calling it a “sham.”

In the 2018 election, where the BNP participated, voter turnout exceeded 80%. Ruling party officials had earlier suggested that a high turnout rate would dispel criticisms about the election being rendered a pointless exercise due to the BNP’s boycott.

The BNP, which had called for nationwide strikes over the weekend, previously stated that the opposition boycott had succeeded.

In a social media post, Tarique Rahman, the de facto leader of the BNP, thanked the public for “securing a victory without even participating in the sham election.”

In the Gopalganj-3 constituency, Sheikh Hasina won by securing about 250,000 votes, more than 86% of the total eligible voters. Her nearest rival got only 460.

In several polling centers where Hasina was a candidate, the turnout rate was an improbable 99-100%.

Even in an election where the ruling party was poised to retain power, instances of ballot stuffing were not uncommon. According to a BenarNews review of local reports, authorities arrested individuals or suspended polling officials for aiding ballot stuffing in at least 12 districts.

Hasina, 76, cast her ballot at Dhaka City College Center in the capital as soon as polls opened at 8 a.m.

“Your vote is very valuable,” she said after voting, accompanied by her daughter and sister. “We fought a lot for the right to vote, and I hope that all the people of the country will come to vote at the polling centers. Bangladesh will continue its democratic trend.”

Scattered incidents of violence were reported across the country on Sunday.

Police said Zillur Rahman, a 40-year-old supporter of the Awami League, was killed by supporters of a rival independent candidate outside a polling center in Mirkadim municipality, south of Dhaka. Another man, Nawab Al, 60, reportedly died in a scuffle outside a voting station in Debidwar, Comilla district.

Elsewhere, three people were injured by a homemade bomb detonated at a polling center in the Dhaka neighborhood of Hazaribagh, said Bachchu Mia, a police official.

Some 800,000 police and armed forces personnel have been deployed to safeguard law and order for the general election.

On Saturday, the eve of the vote, readers found the websites of several news outlets, including Daily Manab Zamin, Samakal, and Voice of America, inaccessible. Digital rights activists told a BenarNews reporter that the websites appeared to have been blocked by authorities.

‘Sacrificial lamb’

The Jatiya Party, aligned with the government and the only other competitor in the election, won just 11 seats – fewer than half of the 23 seats it had held. The victories were out of the 26 seats where the Awami League withdrew its official candidates to support Jatiya. However, independent candidates, also linked to the Awami League, remained in the race for those seats.

Earlier, almost all of the Jatiya candidates outside the 26 seats withdrew their candidacies, alleging unfair elections.

“We feared being used as a sacrificial lamb to legitimize what would be a one-party system,” G.M. Quader, the embittered leader of the Jatiya Party, told reporters. “Despite assurances, the Awami League repeated its old strategy of manipulating elections by taking over polling stations forcibly.”

To create the appearance of competition in the polls after the opposition’s boycott, the Awami League allowed its members to run as independents if they weren’t formally nominated.

In most cases, these independents served as mere placeholders to save the ruling party from the embarrassment of its official candidates winning without even any token rival. However, in other areas, some independent candidates demonstrated a stronger presence.

The parliamentary election, which is the 12th since Bangladesh fought a bloody war for independence from Pakistan in 1971, had been overshadowed by political unrest and mass arrests in the run-up to the vote.

Tens of thousands of opposition leaders and activists – including the BNP’s secretary general and other top leaders – have reportedly been arrested since Oct. 28 alone, when the party staged the last in a series of rallies demanding a neutral caretaker government be put in place to oversee the polls.

At least 39 people – mostly from the opposition – have died in political violence since then.

‘No point’

Abdus Sattar, a resident of Dhaka’s Shaheenbag neighborhood, said he was not casting a ballot on Sunday because the election was uncompetitive.

“I came here to see how the vote is going,” Sattar told BenarNews. “I will not vote as there is no point. The ruling party is already the winner.”

But others took the opportunity to vote.

Kakoli Begum, 55, from the Dhaka-16 constituency, said voting was the only way to change the government.

“The election commission assured us that there would be fair polls. So I came here to vote,” she told BenarNews. “There is no violence, but the presence of voters is very thin.”

In recent months, the United States and other Western countries have ramped up calls to demand that free and fair elections be held in Bangladesh. Washington threatened visa restrictions on Bangladeshis whom it suspected of undermining the legitimacy of the vote.

But Hasina, the daughter of the country’s founding father, has largely ignored the pressure.

Since 2009, she has presided over a crackdown on dissent, notably against opposition parties and civil society.

Under her watch, local and international advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented alleged abuses by Bangladesh authorities, including mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread repression.

For many voters, the cost of living was a key concern. Food inflation has been stubbornly high in recent months, while power cuts and fuel-price hikes have added to consumer woes.

Until relatively recently, Hasina had presided over one of the region’s best-performing economies, largely on the back of the country’s booming textile and garment industry.

But Bangladesh’s post-pandemic recovery stuttered, and it was forced to approach the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

Sunday’s one-sided election sets the stage for more violence in the post-voting period because of growing discontent with the incumbent government and high inflation, the International Crisis Group said in a report on Thursday.

“For both political and economic reasons, Hasina doesn’t benefit from unrest and political violence. And responding with force could put her back in the possible crosshairs of Western sanctions.” Kugelman said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BenarNews staff.

Jailed Tajik Opposition Politician Dies In Prison, Family Says

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 13:47:50 +0000

One person was killed and another injured in a Russian attack on an agricultural enterprise in the Kherson region, the head of the regional military administration said as Ukraine claimed its forces had carried out a successful operation on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Oleksandr Prokudin said a rocket attack on January 5 on the agricultural enterprise in Kherson killed a 35-year-old man and injured a 60-year-old resident.

Prokudin said "four targeted strikes" also destroyed buildings and equipment.

Russian troops regularly shell the de-occupied part of the Kherson region. Despite evidence and testimony to the contrary, Moscow denies targeting civilians.

In a rare admission of its military operations in Crimea, Ukraine has admitted it carried out attacks on a Russian military command post and a military unit in separate strikes on the Russia-occupied peninsula, saying it had inflicted "serious damage" to Russia's defense system.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

Nataliya Humenyuk, the spokeswoman of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, said on January 5 that "really powerful combat" operations took place earlier this week, hitting Russia's military operations in Crimea especially hard.

"Not only one command post was affected," she said in a rare detailing of Ukrainian operations to repel the full-scale invasion Russia launched in February 2022.

"Now they have the same hysteria with movement again. They are trying to maneuver and position both the defense systems themselves and the objects they protect in other places," she added in an interview on the show Social Resistance.

It was not possible to verify Humenyuk's claims.

The attacks on Crimea come after an intensification of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine.

Russian hypersonic and other missile attacks combined with drone strikes blanketed Ukraine on December 29 and again on January 2, killing more than 40 people and injuring dozens more. Ukraine hit back with attacks in southern Russia on December 30. Authorities in the Belgorod region said 25 people were killed.

The risk of air attacks continued on January 5 as sirens rang out three times across the Crimean city of Sevastopol on January 5, though there were no reports of explosions or impacts from drones or missiles.

In the early hours of January 5, the Russian city of Belgorod also was targeted by another round of Ukrainian shelling, officials said, hours after schools in the region were ordered to extend their holiday closures due to the risk of further attacks.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also gave residents an opportunity to evacuate to safer areas. Residents will be helped to move to temporary accommodations in the other cities.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak on January 5 joined the United States in saying that Russia has hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time since launching its full-scale invasion.

Podolyak's statement came after the governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv said that it had been struck by missiles fired by Russia that were not Russian-made.

"There is no longer any disguise. The #Moscow regime is no longer concealing its intentions, nor is it trying to pass off a large-scale war of aggression as mythical 'denazification,'" Podolyak said on X, formerly Twitter.

Russia "is attacking Ukrainians with missiles received from a state where citizens are tortured in concentration camps for having an unregistered radio, talking to a tourist, watching TV shows," he added.

He did not provide evidence for the missiles being North Korean, but his statements come a day after U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House on January 4 that recently declassified intelligence found that North Korea has provided Russia with ballistic-missile launchers and several ballistic missiles.

Russian forces fired at least one of those missiles into Ukraine on December 30, and it landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhya region, Kirby said. Russia also launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles on January 2 as part of an overnight attack, he added.

Kirby also said Russia is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran. A deal has not been completed, but the United States is concerned that negotiations "are actively advancing.”

With reporting by Reuters

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Eccentric Kyrgyz Opposition Politician Dies In Pretrial Custody

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:14:09 +0000

Oleksandr Prokudin said a rocket attack on January 5 on the agricultural enterprise in Kherson killed a 35-year-old man and injured a 60-year-old resident.

Prokudin said "four targeted strikes" also destroyed buildings and equipment.

Russian troops regularly shell the de-occupied part of the Kherson region. Despite evidence and testimony to the contrary, Moscow denies targeting civilians.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

"Not only one command post was affected," she said in a rare detailing of Ukrainian operations to repel the full-scale invasion Russia launched in February 2022.

It was not possible to verify Humenyuk's claims.

The attacks on Crimea come after an intensification of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also gave residents an opportunity to evacuate to safer areas. Residents will be helped to move to temporary accommodations in the other cities.

Podolyak's statement came after the governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv said that it had been struck by missiles fired by Russia that were not Russian-made.

Kirby also said Russia is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran. A deal has not been completed, but the United States is concerned that negotiations "are actively advancing.”

With reporting by Reuters

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Tajik Farm Chief Sent To Prison For 5 Years After Watching Opposition Media Outlet

News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 11:46:02 +0000

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has given a lengthy interview in which he discusses what he sees as the origins of the "Bloody January" protests of 2022 as well as the threat of dual power systems.

Speaking to the state-run Egemen Qazaqstan newspaper, which published the interview on January 3, Toqaev said the protests that began in the southwestern town Zhanaozen on January 2, 2022, following a sharp rise in fuel prices and which quickly spread to other cities, including Almaty, were instigated by an unidentified "rogue group."

Toqaev's shoot-to-kill order to quell the unrest led to the deaths of more than 230 protesters, and the Kazakh president has been criticized for not living up to his promise to the public to answer questions about the incident.

The Kazakh authorities have prosecuted several high-ranking officials on charges that they attempted to seize power during the protests, with some removed from office or sentenced to prison, and others acquitted.

Many were seen to be allies of Toqaev's predecessor, long-serving Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbaev.

When asked what caused the unrest, Toqaev initially cited "socio-economic problems accumulated over the years," which had led to stagnation and undermined faith in the government.

However, Toqaev then suggested that "some influential people" did not like the changes to the country's political scene after he was appointed as acting president by Nazarbaev in 2019 and later that year elected as president.

Toqaev said the unknown people perceived the change "as a threat" to the power structure after decades of rule by Nazarbaev, and then "decided to turn back the face of reform and destroy everything in order to return to the old situation that was convenient for them."

"This group of high-ranking officials had a huge influence on the power structures and the criminal world," Toqaev alleged. "That's why they decided to seize power by force."

Toqaev, citing investigations by the Prosecutor-General's Office, said the unidentified group began "preparations" about six months before the nationwide demonstrations in January 2022, when the government made what he called "an ill-conceived, illegal decision to sharply increase the price of liquefied gas."

From there, Toqaev alleged, "extremists, criminal groups, and religious extremists" worked together to stage a coup. When the protests broke out in January 2022, Toqaev claimed that 20,000 "terrorists" had entered the country.

Experts have widely dismissed suggestions of foreign involvement in the mass protests.

Aside from about 10 members of the fundamentalist Islamic group Yakyn Inkar -- which is considered a banned extremist group in Kazakhstan -- who were arrested in connection with the protests, no religious groups have been singled out for alleged involvement in the protests.

The goal of the alleged coup plotters, Toqaev said, was to set up a dual power structure that would compete with the government.

"I openly told Nazarbaev that the political arrogance of his close associates almost destroyed the country," Toqaev said, without expounding on who the associates might be.

Toqaev had not previously mentioned speaking with Nazarbaev about the mass protests.

Toqaev also suggested that Kazakhstan, which has come under criticism for its imprisonment of journalists and civil and political activists, does not have any political prisoners.

When asked about political prisoners, Toqaev said only that "our legislation does not contain a single decree, a single law, a single regulatory document that provides a basis for prosecuting citizens for their political views."

For there to be political persecution, according to Toqaev, there would need to be "censorship, special laws, and punitive bodies" in place.

Toqaev also appeared to subtly criticize Nazarbaev, who became head of Soviet Kazakhstan in 1990 and became Kazakhstan's first president after the country became independent in 1991.

Nazarbaev served as president until he resigned in 2019, although he held the title of "Leader of the Nation" from 2010 to 2020 and also served as chairman of the Security Council from 1991 to 2022. Nazarbaev has since been stripped of those roles and titles.

While discussing Nazarbaev, Toqaev said that "everyone knows his contribution to the formation of an independent state of Kazakhstan. He is a person who deserves a fair historical evaluation."

But the current Kazakh president also said that "there should be no senior or junior president in the country."

"Go away, don't beg!" Toqaev said. "Citizens who will be in charge of the country in the future should learn from this situation and stay away from such things and think only about the interests of the state and the prosperity of society."

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Leader On Hunger Strike Against ‘Stolen Elections’

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 18:07:31 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Alleges Provocation As Postelection Protest Turns Violent

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 13:12:15 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Alleges Provocation As Postelection Protest Turns Violent

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 12:22:39 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Cambodia’s high court rejects opposition official’s conviction appeal

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 20:31:11 +0000

Cambodia’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha on Friday, a decision that means he’ll serve the remainder of his 18-month sentence on a bad check conviction.

Thach Setha, 70, is also serving a three-year sentence he received in October after his conviction on two separate charges of incitement. That case stemmed from a comment he made in January about the history of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

The unrelated September conviction on a false check charge has been deemed politically motivated by human rights groups and party officials.

Officials from the European Union, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia, and human rights NGO Licadho were in the courtroom for Friday’s verdict.

His wife, Thach Sokborany, was also present and spoke with emotion to reporters afterward about his serious heart condition.

“My husband said his health is not good because the doctor asked him to have a checkup every six months,” she said. “But the court did not release him.”

She called on the government to ease the country’s tense political climate by releasing her husband and other prisoners of conscience – a suggestion made previously by human rights activists.

Thach Setha’s arrest in January was seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists ahead of July’s general election.

His lawyer, Son Chum Choun, told RFA on Friday that he believes Thach Setha’s health issues and the lack of evidence in the original trial should have been enough for Supreme Court Presiding Judge Nil Nonn to order a release.

“If we study [the case], he did not act as alleged,” Son Chum Choun said, referring to Thach Setha. “If we study the case deeper, I think this is something to consider whether this is unfair to him or not?”

Translated by Yun Samean for RFA Khmer. Edited by Matt Reed and Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Serbian Opposition Leaders Continue Hunger Strike Over What They Say Were Falsified Election Results

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 14:57:12 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Coalition Protests, Says Election Results Were Falsified

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 15:23:08 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Kazakh Journalist Runs For The Release Of Opposition Figure Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:47:10 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Serbian Opposition Calls For Street Protests, Says Ruling Party Engaged In Election Fraud

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:19:46 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

6 opposition leaders freed from jail after they pledge CPP support

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:21:00 +0000

Six officials from the opposition Candlelight Party have been released from jail after writing a letter of apology and agreeing to join the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, an opposition activist told Radio Free Asia.

Authorities in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey released the six activists on Wednesday, according to former Candlelight Party secretary Suon Khemrin.

“They were released last night,” he told RFA on Thursday. “They have submitted their resignations and defected to the ruling party before they were released.”

In September, police arrested 23 Candlelight Party activists for hosting a rally to collect fingerprints, a necessary step to register new parties. Seventeen activists were released after 30 hours in custody, but six leaders remained in custody.

Authorities detained the activists until this week even though they had already obtained authorization from the Ministry of Interior to form a new party they called the Panha Tumnerp – or Intellectual Modern – Party.

“There has been criticism from both civil society and the international community that the persecution against political activists is politically motivated and it is not about enforcing the law,” said Soeng Senkaruna, the spokesman for the Adhoc human rights group.

“They should be treated fairly before the law,” he said.

According to the Law on Political Parties, any Cambodian citizen who is aged 18 or older and is a permanent resident of the country has the right to form a political party simply by notifying the Ministry of Interior.

The law states that in order to be valid, political parties must apply for registration with at least 4,000 members, depending on the province where the party is based.

The Candlelight Party had gathered enough support in recent years to become the country’s main opposition party. But its candidates were kept off the July general election ballot by the National Election Committee, which cited inadequate paperwork.

With no real opposition, the CPP won 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Efforts by Candlelight leaders to regain official status after the election failed, which has led opposition activists to seek other parties certified by the ministry or consider forming new parties.

Thach Setha’s appeal

Meanwhile, the Candlelight Party’s 70-year-old vice president, Thach Setha, asked the Supreme Court to overturn his September conviction on false check charges at an appeals trial on Friday.

Human rights groups and party officials have called the conviction politically motivated. His arrest in January was seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists ahead of July’s general election.

Thach Setha was brought to court wearing an orange jumpsuit. Diplomats and officials from the U.N. attended the trial, and about 20 supporters stood outside the court to show their support.

“He told the court that he is not well,” his wife, Thach Sokborany, told RFA. “In general, he is innocent. I want the court to release him to have his freedom and get treatment.”

Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Seng Heang asked the panel judges to uphold the verdict.

Thach Setha’s lawyer, Son Chum Chhuon, told RFA after the hearing that the municipal court used unfounded evidence in the September trial. He said he hopes the Supreme Court judges will also consider his client’s age and declining health in deciding to set him free.

Because the charges were politically motivated, the judges could consider that releasing Thach Setha would have a calming effect on the country’s political environment, according to Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho.

“Releasing political activists will ease political tension, improve human rights and democracy,” he said.

The court is scheduled to announce its decision on Dec. 25.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

6 opposition leaders freed from jail after they pledge CPP support

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:21:00 +0000

Authorities in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey released the six activists on Wednesday, according to former Candlelight Party secretary Suon Khemrin.

“They were released last night,” he told RFA on Thursday. “They have submitted their resignations and defected to the ruling party before they were released.”

“They should be treated fairly before the law,” he said.

The law states that in order to be valid, political parties must apply for registration with at least 4,000 members, depending on the province where the party is based.

With no real opposition, the CPP won 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Efforts by Candlelight leaders to regain official status after the election failed, which has led opposition activists to seek other parties certified by the ministry or consider forming new parties.

Thach Setha’s appeal

Meanwhile, the Candlelight Party’s 70-year-old vice president, Thach Setha, asked the Supreme Court to overturn his September conviction on false check charges at an appeals trial on Friday.

Thach Setha was brought to court wearing an orange jumpsuit. Diplomats and officials from the U.N. attended the trial, and about 20 supporters stood outside the court to show their support.

“He told the court that he is not well,” his wife, Thach Sokborany, told RFA. “In general, he is innocent. I want the court to release him to have his freedom and get treatment.”

Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Seng Heang asked the panel judges to uphold the verdict.

“Releasing political activists will ease political tension, improve human rights and democracy,” he said.

The court is scheduled to announce its decision on Dec. 25.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

The Carnage in Gaza Cries Out for Repudiation and Opposition. Maybe Poetry Can Help.

Norman Solomon — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 06:54:27 +0000

Photograph Source: Wafa (Q2915969) – CC BY-SA 3.0

Two centuries ago, Percy Shelley wrote that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Yet elite power has routinely vetoed their best measures. Still, the ability of poetry to inspire and nurture is precious, including when governments are on protracted killing sprees.

In Gaza, more than 11,000 civilians have been killed since early October. Children are perishing at an average rate of 10 deaths per hour. The ongoing slaughter by Israeli forces — supported by huge military aid from the United States — follows Hamas’s atrocities on Oct. 7 in Israel, where the latest estimate of the death toll is 1,200 including at least 846 civilians in addition to some 200 hostages.

But numbers don’t get us very far in human terms. And news accounts have limited capacities to connect with real emotions.

That’s where poetry can go far beyond where journalism fails. A few words from a poet might chip away at the frozen blocks that support illegitimate power. And we might gain strength from the clarity that a few lines can bring.

Stanley Kunitz wrote:

In a murderous time

    the heart breaks and breaks

        and lives by breaking.

It is necessary to go

    through dark and deeper dark

        and not to turn.

“In a dark time,” Theodore Roethke wrote, “the eye begins to see.”

Bob Dylan wrote lines that could now be heard as addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden:

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
While the young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

June Jordan wrote:

I was born a Black woman
and now
I am become a Palestinian
against the relentless laughter of evil
there is less and less living room
and where are my loved ones?

In the United States, far away from the carnage, viewers and listeners and readers can easily prefer not to truly see that “their” government is helping Israel to keep killing thousands upon thousands of Palestinian children and other civilians. “I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty / to know what occurs but not recognize the fact,” a poem by William Stafford says.

From Pink Floyd:

Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away

. . . .

Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?

Franz Kafka wrote: “You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.”

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Norman Solomon.

Taiwan’s opposition parties join forces in presidential race

By Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:56:30 +0000

Two key opposition parties in democratic Taiwan have joined forces to fight forthcoming presidential elections, in a late bid to deliver candidates who will likely focus on the island’s future amid growing military incursions from Beijing.

The main opposition Kuomintang, which lost the presidency to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's Tsai Ing-wen for two successive terms amid ongoing fears of Chinese Communist Party infiltration, and the Taiwan People's Party agreed to run a joint campaign in a political breakthrough on Wednesday that has ended months of deadlock over an opposition platform that will likely promise better relations with Beijing amid ongoing military tensions.

The deal came after a two-hour meeting between Kuomintang presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih, Taiwan People's Party chairman and presidential nominee Ko Wen-je, Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu and former Kuomintang President Ma Ying-jeou.

A recent opinion poll put incumbent vice president Lai Ching-te at about 29.7%, followed by Ko Wen-je at 25.6% and Hou Yu-ih at 21.1%, ahead of the Jan. 13, 2024 poll.

From left Taiwan People's Party chairman, TPP chairman and presidential nominee Ko Wen-je, former president Ma Ying-jeou, KMT presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih and KMT Chairman Eric Chu hold up a joint statement in Taipei, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2023. Credit: KMT via AP

In a joint statement, the parties said they would decide jointly on which candidates to field for president and vice president after running a nationwide opinion poll.

"Polling statistics experts will review and evaluate the poll results ... from Nov. 7-17, and the Kuomintang and the People's Party will each provide the results of the internal reference poll," the statement said, adding that three polling experts would be recommended, one each by Ma, the KMT and the People's Party.

"Witnessed by former President Ma, the Kuomintang and the People's Party hereby promise to establish a model for Taiwan's third wave of democratic reforms, and must form a coalition government," it said, adding that defense matters, foreign relations and the cross-strait relationship with Beijing would be the preserve of the president, should they win the January 2024 election.

Other ministerial posts would be distributed among the two parties according to the number of seats their candidates hold in the legislature, it said.

The poll results will be formally announced on Nov. 18.

"No matter the outcome ... [we] will work together to make the land and people of the Republic of China safe," Hou told journalists on Wednesday, using the formal name of the Taiwanese government that dates back to the 1911 republic founded by Sun Yat-sen after the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

Hou later commented that he hopes the two parties can work together to "unite Taiwan."

"We should follow public opinion ... remove the corrupt and incompetent Democratic Progressive Party and ensure peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and peace of mind for our people," he said.

A sense or urgency

Yet Ko and the Kuomintang appear to make uneasy bedfellows.

Ko, who has previously quipped that the things he hates most are "mosquitoes, cockroaches and the Kuomintang," was asked at a youth forum why he has now chosen to work with the party.

"I have an answer to this," Ko told the students who challenged him on the move. "I hate the Democratic Progressive Party even more."

He said there is now a sense of urgency around peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, citing the topic as a key item on the agenda when Chinese leader Xi Jinping meets with U.S. President Joe Biden in the United States.

"Taiwan is the place where war is most likely to happen," Ko said.

"War in Taiwan isn't an impossibility," he warned, adding: "The risk is there."

Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je speaks to the media in Taipei, Taiwan November 15, 2023. Ko has previously quipped that the things he hates most are "mosquitoes, cockroaches and the Kuomintang." Credit: Ann Wang/Reuters

Ma, who facilitated the negotiations, told the media that the agreement had made political history.

"I believe this is a very memorable day for Taiwan and for our two parties, and we will go all out, in accordance with the cooperation agreement," he told reporters.

The agreement comes amid growing concerns over the Kuomintang's appetite for ever-closer ties with Beijing, as a local media outlet reported that Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen attended the Beijing Forum hosted by Peking University at the Diaoyutai Hotel, during which time he met with senior officials of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.

Hsiao later denied meeting with Taiwan Affairs Office director Song Tao, or attending any activities organized by his staff.

Tung Li-wen, an advisory committee member of a Taiwanese think tank, said he doesn't believe Ma was motivated by unity in brokering the deal.

"It seems that Ma Ying-jeou's most important consideration is the relationship with Beijing, which also involves his positioning in cross-strait relations after the election," Tung told Radio Free Asia. "It is not about his positioning within the Kuomintang."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

Montenegrin Opposition Slams Deal Over Parliament Speaker

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 13:55:17 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Cambodian court convicts opposition figures for Facebook comments

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:42:02 +0000

A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced exiled opposition leaders Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and 10 other activists to prison terms in a case connected to social media comments made in 2021.

The remarks were made in an early 2021 Facebook discussion about whether Cambodians should temporarily stop paying loans as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed business activity around the country.

Another set of Facebook comments stemmed from a news story about high-ranking officials buying citizenships in Cyprus, a European Union member state where a highly lucrative citizenship-by-investment scheme has attracted some rich Cambodians seeking a second passport.

Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua, Eng Chhai Eang and Ho Vann – all former parliamentarians from the now banned the Cambodia National Rescue Party – were sentenced to eight year prison terms, fined 4 million riel (about US$966) and banned from running for political office for five years.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Li Sokha also issued an arrest warrant for the four CNRP leaders, all of whom live outside of Cambodia.

The CNRP had been the country’s main opposition party until late 2017 when the Supreme Court dissolved it after it made substantial gains in local communal elections.

The party’s leader, Sam Rainsy, lives in France and has been convicted in absentia several times since 2016 in cases opposition officials have criticized as politically motivated.

The CNRP’s vice president, Mu Sochua, lives in the United States, as does Eng Chhai Eang and Ho Vann.

‘This is not a crime’

Defense lawyer Sam Sok Kong told Radio Free Asia that his clients only expressed their political views in the Facebook discussions. He added that the judge never summoned his clients back to Cambodia to testify before the court.

“This is about freedom of speech for public figures,” he said. “This is not a crime. This is a right guaranteed by the constitution and international law.”

The other activists in the case received five year prison sentences, although one defendant who defected to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party earlier this year – Roeun Veasna – had his five-year prison term suspended.

All 12 defendants were convicted of incitement and conspiracy to commit treason.

Just one of them, CNRP activist Voeung Samnang, was in the courtroom on Tuesday. He screamed out that the verdict was politically motivated just before guards escorted him back to jail.

His wife, Teang Chenda, told RFA that the verdict was meant to hurt an innocent person who wants democracy for Cambodia.

“The court didn’t have concrete evidence but still convicted him,” she said. “The verdict has impacted my children psychologically.”

She added that her husband was also convicted on a separate set of charges related to his political activism and is facing a total of 11 years in prison.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Cambodian court convicts opposition figures for Facebook comments

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:42:02 +0000

A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced exiled opposition leaders Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and 10 other activists to prison terms in a case connected to social media comments made in 2021.

The remarks were made in an early 2021 Facebook discussion about whether Cambodians should temporarily stop paying loans as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed business activity around the country.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Li Sokha also issued an arrest warrant for the four CNRP leaders, all of whom live outside of Cambodia.

The CNRP had been the country’s main opposition party until late 2017 when the Supreme Court dissolved it after it made substantial gains in local communal elections.

The party’s leader, Sam Rainsy, lives in France and has been convicted in absentia several times since 2016 in cases opposition officials have criticized as politically motivated.

The CNRP’s vice president, Mu Sochua, lives in the United States, as does Eng Chhai Eang and Ho Vann.

‘This is not a crime’

“This is about freedom of speech for public figures,” he said. “This is not a crime. This is a right guaranteed by the constitution and international law.”

All 12 defendants were convicted of incitement and conspiracy to commit treason.

Just one of them, CNRP activist Voeung Samnang, was in the courtroom on Tuesday. He screamed out that the verdict was politically motivated just before guards escorted him back to jail.

His wife, Teang Chenda, told RFA that the verdict was meant to hurt an innocent person who wants democracy for Cambodia.

“The court didn’t have concrete evidence but still convicted him,” she said. “The verdict has impacted my children psychologically.”

She added that her husband was also convicted on a separate set of charges related to his political activism and is facing a total of 11 years in prison.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Cambodian court convicts opposition figures for Facebook comments

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:42:02 +0000

A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced exiled opposition leaders Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and 10 other activists to prison terms in a case connected to social media comments made in 2021.

The remarks were made in an early 2021 Facebook discussion about whether Cambodians should temporarily stop paying loans as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed business activity around the country.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Li Sokha also issued an arrest warrant for the four CNRP leaders, all of whom live outside of Cambodia.

The CNRP had been the country’s main opposition party until late 2017 when the Supreme Court dissolved it after it made substantial gains in local communal elections.

The party’s leader, Sam Rainsy, lives in France and has been convicted in absentia several times since 2016 in cases opposition officials have criticized as politically motivated.

The CNRP’s vice president, Mu Sochua, lives in the United States, as does Eng Chhai Eang and Ho Vann.

‘This is not a crime’

“This is about freedom of speech for public figures,” he said. “This is not a crime. This is a right guaranteed by the constitution and international law.”

All 12 defendants were convicted of incitement and conspiracy to commit treason.

Just one of them, CNRP activist Voeung Samnang, was in the courtroom on Tuesday. He screamed out that the verdict was politically motivated just before guards escorted him back to jail.

His wife, Teang Chenda, told RFA that the verdict was meant to hurt an innocent person who wants democracy for Cambodia.

“The court didn’t have concrete evidence but still convicted him,” she said. “The verdict has impacted my children psychologically.”

She added that her husband was also convicted on a separate set of charges related to his political activism and is facing a total of 11 years in prison.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Cambodian court convicts opposition figures for Facebook comments

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:42:02 +0000

A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced exiled opposition leaders Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and 10 other activists to prison terms in a case connected to social media comments made in 2021.

The remarks were made in an early 2021 Facebook discussion about whether Cambodians should temporarily stop paying loans as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed business activity around the country.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Li Sokha also issued an arrest warrant for the four CNRP leaders, all of whom live outside of Cambodia.

The CNRP had been the country’s main opposition party until late 2017 when the Supreme Court dissolved it after it made substantial gains in local communal elections.

The party’s leader, Sam Rainsy, lives in France and has been convicted in absentia several times since 2016 in cases opposition officials have criticized as politically motivated.

The CNRP’s vice president, Mu Sochua, lives in the United States, as does Eng Chhai Eang and Ho Vann.

‘This is not a crime’

“This is about freedom of speech for public figures,” he said. “This is not a crime. This is a right guaranteed by the constitution and international law.”

All 12 defendants were convicted of incitement and conspiracy to commit treason.

Just one of them, CNRP activist Voeung Samnang, was in the courtroom on Tuesday. He screamed out that the verdict was politically motivated just before guards escorted him back to jail.

His wife, Teang Chenda, told RFA that the verdict was meant to hurt an innocent person who wants democracy for Cambodia.

“The court didn’t have concrete evidence but still convicted him,” she said. “The verdict has impacted my children psychologically.”

She added that her husband was also convicted on a separate set of charges related to his political activism and is facing a total of 11 years in prison.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Pilot opposition suggests no meaningful census for Myanmar polls

By RFA Burmese — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 19:46:30 +0000

Public opposition to a pilot census program conducted by Myanmar’s junta this month has been so strong that the likelihood of a meaningful survey ahead of planned elections is extremely slim, according to experts.

The junta hopes to carry out a survey to get an accurate headcount in the lead up to polls it wants to legitimize its grip on power following the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat, but critics say any vote would be neither free nor fair.

Earlier this month, pro-junta media reported that a pilot census was being conducted from Oct. 1-15 in 20 townships in Naypitaw and 14 regions and states around the country.

But members of the public told RFA Burmese that they have other, more pressing concerns on their minds, while the anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF, paramilitary group has vowed to do whatever it takes to stop it.

“People aren’t interested [in the census], because it is being done by the junta,” said Tun Myint who, like others interviewed for this report, used a pseudonym due to security concerns. “People are struggling to earn a living, so they are interested in neither elections nor a census.”

The resident of Yangon region’s Dagon Myohit township said junta authorities had been going door to door during the pilot program, taking the names of the heads of households and questioning occupants about whether or not they live there.

“Regardless, the people are not cooperating,” he said.

Prior censuses have been conducted by respective ward administrators, sources said, but this time, only a handful of staff from the census bureau have been interviewing residents, along with junta soldiers in plain clothing.

San Oo, of Mandalay’s Pyi Gyi Tagon township said that while his area was on the list for this year’s pilot census, he hasn’t seen anyone conducting it there.

“In 2022, they already carried out a headcount, but now they are saying they will do it again,” he said. “[Last year] the heads of wards timidly went from house to house to take the lists [because they knew no one wanted to take part] … This year, there has been no household survey yet [because of the strong opposition].”

PDF attack on pollers

While the public is rejecting the newest census effort, the PDF has said it will take action to prevent it.

On Oct. 6, PDF forces attacked a group that traveled to Monywa city’s Tha Pyay Taw village to conduct a survey as part of the pilot project. The attack left one police officer dead and another one wounded, residents told RFA.

Workers collect census data in Yangon, Myanmar, on Jan. 11, 2023. Credit: RFA

Attempts by RFA to contact Myint Kyaing, the junta’s minister of immigration and population, for comment on the pilot census and the public reaction went unanswered Tuesday.

But Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers, told RFA that it is a “normal process” for the junta to conduct the pilot census, as accurate population data is needed to hold elections.

“There is a normal process that the census will be taken once a year and [authorities will] ensure it is accurate if an election is to be held,” he said. “People are only criticizing it because the process and the election are nearly overlapping.”

Thein Tun Oo dismissed the attack on the pilot census group in Monywa and the PDF’s vow to disrupt any would-be headcount as the actions of “those who do not want stability for the country.”

‘We will block it’

It’s not clear when the junta plans to hold elections, if at all.

The military regime originally planned a poll for this year, but last month, junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing told his cabinet that it wouldn’t take place until after a national census in October 2024, which implies that an actual vote wouldn’t happen until 2025 at the earliest.

Bo Galone, a PDF official in Sagaing region’s Yinmarbin township, said there will be no census if his group has anything to say about it.

“We will block it using all possible means,” he said. “They recently conducted the population survey for the first time in [Sagaing’s] Pale township. We launched an attack while they were carrying it out. Since then, they have not taken any more surveys.”

Myanmar’s military carried out its first coup in 1962 and an election was finally held in 1990 – the results of which the then-junta dismissed. The results of the country’s 2015 election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a supermajority of seats in parliament, were the first to be generally accepted.

Min Aung Hlaing has said that he will hand over control of the country to whichever party wins in the polls.

Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

Daughter: Health of jailed Cambodian opposition official declining

By RFA Khmer — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:41:56 +0000

The daughter of an opposition party official who was detained just after the July parliamentary elections said her father has grown seriously ill and needs outside treatment.

Chao Veasna, the Candlelight Party’s executive chairman in Poipet city near the Thai border, has been suffering from constipation for several days and had difficulty eating and sleeping, his daughter told Radio Free Asia on Monday.

“He is facing a lot of illnesses that affect his health,” Chao Ratanak said. “I am not sure that the prison officials will take responsibility for his health, because they have not expedited his treatment.”

Chao Veasna was detained by Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities on July 25 – two days after the ruling Cambodian People’s Party swept an election that didn’t include any Candlelight Party candidates.

In May, the National Election Committee disqualified the party – the only serious contender to the CPP – because it couldn’t produce its original registration form. In response, many opposition activists urged voters to destroy their ballots as a form of protest.

Police arrested Chao Veasna just after he posted a photo of his spoiled ballot on social media, according to Chao Ratanak. He’s been charged with incitement to commit a crime and inciting discrimination.

Chao Veasna has denied the allegations. He remains at the provincial prison and his health issues could become life-threatening if he isn’t taken to a hospital outside the prison soon, she told RFA on Monday.

Previous 5-year sentence

Prison officials have so far ignored requests from family members and civil society organizations, she said.

RFA attempted to contact provincial prison director Ung Siphan on Monday for a response to Chao Ratanak’s request.

Chao Veasna was previously sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 for “incitement to violence” in a case that stemmed from a 2015 protest in which transportation workers – angered over import taxes – hurled rocks at the Poipet Customs Department building.

He maintained that he was only observing the protest in an official capacity and did not incite workers, while NGOs called his conviction “politically motivated.”

Chao Veasna suffered from fevers and other chronic conditions including skin disease, liver problems and stomach ulcers during his time at Phnom Penh’s notorious Prey Sar Prison. He was released in 2022 after completing his sentence.

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Cambodian opposition official gets 3-year sentence for incitement

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 19:40:00 +0000

A Phnom Penh judge on Wednesday sentenced the vice president of Cambodia’s main opposition party to three years in prison on an incitement to provoke social chaos and discrimination charge.

The case against 70-year-old Thach Setha stemmed from remarks he made in January about the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s historical ties to Vietnam and the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument.

The verdict adds to an 18-month sentence he received in a separate case last month. That conviction on a false check charge was deemed politically motivated by human rights groups and party officials.

Thach Setha has been detained since January in a move seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists ahead of the July general election.

“Please help democracy in Cambodia,” he said on Wednesday to Western diplomats and U.N. officials in the courtroom as he was being led away by guards. “You have seen with your own eyes and ears about the type of democracy Cambodia has.”

Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Seng Heang questioned Thach Setha in court last month and later said he considered the remarks in January to be aimed at provoking hatred toward the CPP and the government.

‘Difficult to accept’

Thach Setha’s lawyer, Son Chum Chuon, told Radio Free Asia that he had hoped that Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhun Davy would drop the incitement charge.

“Let the people judge whether the verdict is just or unjust,” he said. “I am not happy and it is difficult to accept it.”

Thach Setha’s wife, Thach Sokborany [center], and supporters stand outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: RFA Khmer Service

Thach Setha’s wife, Thach Sokborany, said her husband has worked in Cambodian politics for 40 years and only wants what’s best for the country.

“He speaks the truth but in return he was thrown in jail,” she said. “It is very unfair. He won’t be defeated. He urged the family not to be defeated.”

Cambodia’s repression of Candlelight Party officials has apparently stayed the same under Prime Minister Hun Manet, said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

“No one should be fooled that his government will be any better than what we saw under his father’s oppressive rule,” he said, referring to Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for several decades before stepping down as prime minister in August.

“Cambodian officials and their allies in the international community who are trying to spin that Hun Manet is a kinder, gentler version of his father simply don’t have any facts on their side,” Robertson said.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Russian Opposition Figure Khodorkovsky Says Israel-Hamas War ‘Is Helping Putin’

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 17:55:28 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

CPJ urges Uganda to investigate assaults on journalists covering opposition leader Bobi Wine

Committee to Protect Journalists — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 18:46:09 +0000

Nairobi, October 6, 2023–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an investigation into reports that Ugandan security personnel assaulted and detained multiple journalists covering the return home of opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, commonly known as Bobi Wine.

At least 14 journalists, who were reporting on Wine’s return to Uganda from an overseas trip on Thursday, were briefly detained and several were also assaulted and had their equipment damaged or confiscated by the officers, according to media reports.

“It is a great shame that Uganda’s security sector repeatedly treat reporting on the political opposition as a criminal offense,” CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo, said on Friday. “Police should drop any pending investigations into journalists arrested while covering Bobi Wine’s return home, investigate reports that security personnel assaulted journalists, and ensure that those responsible are held to account.”

Wine competed against Uganda’s long-serving President Yoweri Museveni in elections in 2021, and at least 50 people died in protests over the pop star-turned-politician’s arrest ahead of that vote.

After citing security concerns over plans by Wine’s party to hold a one-million strong welcome march, security personnel arrested Wine upon arrival at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport and drove him home, where he said he was being held under house arrest.

Journalists said they were targeted by both police officers and people they believed were military personnel, according to a statement by the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda. The Ugandan press freedom group said some journalists recorded statements with the police “though the charges [against them] remained unclear.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Both Opposition to and Support for Ukraine Aid May Be Less Than Polls Show

David W. Moore — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:45:29 +0000

Last month, the Biden administration requested an additional $24 billion to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia. Some Republican leaders are skeptical or outright opposed to new funding, prompting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to urge his fellow legislators, “It’s certainly not the time to go wobbly.” That sentiment, of course, was reinforced by President Joe Biden during Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent visit to the United States.

At first glance, however, support among Republican voters appears to be wobbly already. Late last month, Daily Kos (8/31/23) headlined a story that noted declining support among Republican voters for supporting Ukraine: “McConnell Abandoned by Post-Trump Republican Electorate.” And three recent polls suggest that rank-and-file Republicans are indeed negative toward aid to Ukraine.

But all three polls wildly overstate how engaged Americans, including Republicans, are in this issue. Opposition, as well as support, is probably far lower than what the media tell us.

Polls report GOP opposition

“It’s odd that the party who cheered loudest when Rocky took down Drago in the ’80s is now more reticent to stand up to Russian aggression abroad, but that’s the new reality,” says Fox pollster Daron Shaw (8/17/23).

The most recent poll by CBS/YouGov (9/10/23) finds support for aid to Ukraine among Americans overall, but a decline in support among Republicans since last February.

Overall, 64% of Americans are positive about support for Ukraine—saying the Biden administration is either “handling things as they should be” (38%) or should be doing more (26%). Only 36% say it should be doing less. Among Republicans, 56% say the administration should be doing less.

An earlier poll by Fox (8/17/23) reports similar figures. Overall, 61% of registered voters have positive views about US support for Ukraine—40% who believe the US is giving the right amount of aid, and another 21% who want the US to do even more. Just 36% say the US should be doing less. Among Republicans, 56% believe the US should be doing less, the same figure CBS found.

The most negative results about aid to Ukraine are found in last month’s CNN poll (8/4/23), which reported that a majority of Americans overall believe the US has “done enough to assist Ukraine” (51%) and “should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine in its war with Russia” (55%). Among Republicans, 59% say the US has done enough, and 71% are opposed to additional funding.

Wording makes a difference

When CNN (8/4/23) asks if the US “should do more to stop” Russia, do respondents think that means continuing aid or increasing aid?

So all three polls report a majority of Republicans opposed to additional funding for Ukraine. But two of the polls, by CBS and Fox, find a net positive view of aid to Ukraine among Americans overall, while only CNN finds majority opposition.

The difference between CNN‘s and the other two polls is largely because of CNN’s tendentious wording:

CBS: Do you think the Biden administration should be doing more to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, should it be doing less, or is it handling things about as they should be?

Fox: Do you think the United States should be doing more to help Ukraine in its war with Russia, should be doing less, or is the US doing about the right amount to help Ukraine?

CNN: Do you think the United States should do more to stop Russian military actions in Ukraine, or has it already done enough?

(Note: Both CBS and CNN randomly rotated their response options.)

The CNN question gives just two options, compared with three in the other two polls. By itself, that is not a problem. What makes that question tendentious is that it provides a reason not to do more for Ukraine (because the US has “already done enough”), but provides no reason to do more (like, say, “the Russians refuse to stop their aggression”).

Also, the question is somewhat ambiguous: What does it mean for the US to do “more”? Does CNN mean more than the US has been doing, or does it mean to continue to provide aid at the same level? The other two polls make the issue clear—“more” means more than the US is doing now, because the middle option in those two polls (“doing the right amount” and “handling things as they should be,” respectively) essentially says the US should continue providing aid at the level it is currently doing. (The US has given Ukraine $77 billion so far over a year and a half of war, though it’s unclear how many respondents are aware of that.)

Given the problems with the CNN question wording, I’m inclined to discount its results in favor of the other two polls.

An idealized public

Still, even the other two polls have credibility problems. All three describe an idealized citizenry that is utterly at odds with reality. CBS suggests that 100% of Americans/voters have an opinion about the level of aid the US/Biden administration is providing Ukraine. For CNN, the comparable number is 99%. For Fox, 97%.

Such high responsiveness reinforces what two researchers have called the “folklore theory of democracy.” This notion of democracy posits that the vast majority of voters are well-informed and engaged on policy issues, so that when election time comes, they can make a sound judgment as to how well their elected leaders reflect the will of the people.

The reality, of course, is far different. As those authors make clear, the political science literature is replete with studies that describe widespread public ignorance of policy issues, as well as a lack of basic knowledge about the American government.

The illusion of public opinion

So, how did the three polls show virtually all Americans with an opinion on aid to Ukraine? Two major techniques.

First, they ask “forced-choice” questions, which give respondents positive and negative options to choose from, but do not provide an explicit “unsure” or “don’t know” option. Respondents feel obligated to give some answer, regardless of whether they have actually developed any opinion about it.

Second, the respondents are all “performing” for the interviewers. There is an implicit understanding that the respondents are there to answer questions. That is their “job.” If they didn’t want to answer questions, they wouldn’t be taking the poll. If the interviewer (or if the electronic form that respondents fill out online) explicitly offers the option of “no opinion,” then the respondent would feel free to choose that option. But with the forced-choice questions, respondents understand that they are expected to provide an answer.

CNN actually follows up volunteered “no opinion” responses by asking respondents if they “lean” toward one option or the other, thus ensuring they get close to 100% responses.

Unreliable results from unengaged citizens

Seventy-six percent of the respondents whose opinions Pew (6/15/23) cites say they are not paying “very” close attention to the Ukraine War.

How reliable are responses from people who are relatively uninformed? Again, political science research has long answered that question, and the answer is—not very. As one researcher explains:

The consequences of asking uninformed people to state opinions on topics to which they have given little, if any, previous thought are quite predictable: Their opinion statements give every indication of being rough and superficial…. [They] vacillate randomly across repeated interviews of the same people.

How many people are “uninformed”? That’s a bit tricky to measure, because it’s not a simple matter of informed vs. uninformed. People have varying degrees of knowledge. Pollsters avoid the problem by mostly ignoring it. But now and then, pollsters do try to measure how much people know about a given issue.

Last June, for example, a Reuters/Ipsos poll (6/28/23) reported that only 18% of Americans were following stories about the Russian invasion of Ukraine “very closely.” Another 39% said “somewhat closely,” leaving 43% saying not closely (or they didn’t know).

An earlier poll by Pew (6/15/23) also found few people paying particular attention to the war in Ukraine: 9% saying extremely closely and 15% very closely. Another 35% said somewhat closely. Again, 42% said not too, or not at all, closely (or they didn’t know).

Of course, people with little to no knowledge on an issue can still express an opinion about it, and sometimes even feel strongly about it—probably because they see the issue linked to something else they do feel strongly about, like party identification, or perhaps a political leader with whom they closely identify.

Still, if the poll question provides respondents with an explicit “don’t know” option, people who don’t know much about an issue will often choose that. And respondents who express an opinion, but don’t really care one way or the other, are likely to admit it if asked.

Few with strong feelings

We can see this dynamic in a Pew poll last June (6/15/23), which—unlike the three polls described earlier—explicitly provided respondents with a “not sure” option. The result: Overall, 24% chose “not sure,” and another 1% did not respond.

Even that level of participation—75% expressing an opinion—may overstate the public’s level of engagement. It could reflect the “job” that respondents have taken on, to answer poll questions, regardless of how much they’ve really thought about the issue.

Evidence for this idea is found in the question asked of Pew respondents immediately prior to the one about continued aid: “Do you approve or disapprove of the Biden administration’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?” Options allowed respondents to express intensity of opinion.

As the table makes clear, overall just 30% of the respondents express a “strong” opinion: 13% who approve, 17% who disapprove.

Another 44% express mild opinions: 26% approve, 18% disapprove. Another 26% have no opinion.

What to make of the respondents who “somewhat” approve or disapprove?

Andrew Smith and I presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research in 2010, which included research showing that respondents who expressed mild opinions (characterizing their feelings as “not strongly” or “somewhat”) also said in a follow-up question that they would not be “upset” if their opinion did not prevail.

The conclusions we drew were that large numbers of respondents who express an opinion on a “forced-choice” question, like the ones in the CBS, Fox and CNN polls, are not really invested in their own responses. They are simply not engaged enough to care strongly one way or the other.

Using that criterion, the Pew poll suggests that overall, about 7 in 10 Americans are unengaged in the issue of US aid to Ukraine. Among Republicans, about 65%; among Democrats, 72%.

Among people who are engaged, Republicans are clearly quite negative, by a margin of 31% who strongly disapprove to 4% who strongly approve. Engaged Democrats are more positive: 23% strongly approve, while just 5% strongly disapprove.

Had the other three polls also provided an explicit “unsure” option, and then measured intensity of opinion, the percentage of Republicans who strongly disapprove would no doubt be considerably below a majority. By the same token, the percentage of Democrats who approve would also be considerably below a majority. Most people are simply unengaged in this issue.

Performative vs. realistic polls

As a general rule, news media are not fans of polls that reveal how disengaged the public is on most issues. They prefer what I call “performative polls,” because such polls give the illusion of an attentive and informed public that is consistent with our general conception of how US democracy should work.

More importantly, reporting on polls that regularly show large segments of the public unengaged on the issues would call into question the utility of conducting the polls in the first place. Perhaps the media should spend more effort to keep the public informed on current issues than on performative polls that do little to enlighten.

The post Both Opposition to and Support for Ukraine Aid May Be Less Than Polls Show appeared first on FAIR.

This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by David W. Moore.

Cambodian opposition leader sentenced to 18 months in bad check case

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 21:09:00 +0000

Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party was dealt two more blows on Thursday, one to a prominent leader and another that once again blocked it from competing in future elections.

First, Thach Setha, the 70-year-old party vice president, was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison on a false check charge that human rights groups and party officials called politically motivated.

Second, the Ministry of Interior denied the party’s request to reissue a registration letter so that it could participate in future elections. That document had been lost in 2017 when the offices of a previous opposition party were raided by government agents. Without it, the party cannot compete in elections, leaving the country with a main opposition party.

“This goes beyond just a technical issue,” Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith said. “It is a political issue. Therefore, even if we ask a few thousand times, we will not get approval.”

In May, the National Election Committee had disqualified the party – the only serious contender against the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in July elections – because it did not have the original registration form issued by the interior ministry.

Five party representatives, led by acting chairman Sok Hach, met with Secretary of State Bun Hon and other ministry officials for one hour. But the officials repeated previous refusals given just after the NEC’s decision.

According to the meeting’s minutes, Bun Hon said the ministry has the authority to allow the establishment or registration of political parties but cannot re-issue original registration documents because no law governs that procedure.

Legal scholar Vorn Chanlot told Radio Free Asia that this interpretation is just an excuse to prevent the Candlelight Party from participating in future elections.

“From a legal standpoint, the relevant ministry cannot refuse to issue other certificates that are proportional or equivalent to the original letter,” he said. “It must facilitate such a procedure so the party can participate.”

Monitored

Thach Setha’s trial on Thursday was monitored by embassy officials from the United States, Germany and the European Union.

He had been detained since January in a move seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists.

His lawyer, Son Chum Chuon, said prosecutors didn’t present enough specific evidence to place the burden on his client.

In addition to the sentence – which also included two court fines totaling US$2,000 and an order to pay $33,400 to the company that brought the lawsuit – Thach Setha will stand trial next month on charges of incitement to social unrest and incitement racial discrimination base.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Seng Heang questioned him at Thursday’s hearing about comments he made on Jan. 13 at a forum for Cambodian workers in South Korea about the history of the CPP and the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument.

Seng Heang said he considered Thach Setha’s remarks to be aimed at provoking the people to hate the CPP, the government and to seek political gain before the July election.

Former history teacher

Thach Setha said that as a politician and a former history teacher, he had to speak about the nation’s history. Thach Setha said he was attempting to enlighten younger Cambodians about the CPP’s relationship with Vietnam – a sensitive political topic in the country.

If Cambodia forbids people from criticizing the ruling party and the government, it would be better to officially change Cambodia back to a communist country, he said

Judge Chhun Davy set Oct. 18 as the date for the verdict in the incitement case. After the judge adjourned the proceedings, Thach Setha walked away quietly as his wife and daughter began crying.

His wife, Thach Sokborany, said last month that he is in poor health and has been having trouble walking. On Thursday, she told RFA that the sentence on the false check charges didn’t reflect the facts in the case.

“Drop the charges, release him, let him be free to see his wife and children, because for a few months without him our family has had difficulty,” she said.

Thursday’s conviction and sentencing was rooted more in political persecution rather than law enforcement, according to Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho.

“The first indictment of Mr. Thach Setha, followed by the second two charges – we see these as an additional burden or additional persecution on Mr. Thach Setha because he is the vice president of the Candlelight Party,” he said.

RFA couldn’t immediately reach court spokesman Plang Sophal and Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin for comment on Thursday.

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

S Korea assembly approves opposition leader arrest amid polarization

By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 10:41:00 +0000

South Korea’s National Assembly passed a motion to arrest its opposition leader for bribery on Thursday, as the progressive opposition bloc’s approval ratings sank to new lows and with just a few months before the general election in April.

More than half of 295 lawmakers who voted – 149 – backed the arrest of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, outnumbering the 136 who opposed the motion. Six were abstention votes while four were counted as invalid.

The outcome is rare, given that the National Assembly is currently controlled by the DP, and showed that some members of Lee’s own party were in favor of the arrest of their leader.

Lee has been accused of breach of trust, bribery and other charges in connection with a scandal-ridden real-estate development project and involvement in a company’s illegal cash remittance to North Korea.

Prosecutors see that Lee has unjustly offered preferential treatment in the Baekhyeon neighborhood development in Seongnam city when he was the mayor, and also was allegedly involved in a transfer of funds to North Korea by the Ssangbangwool Group.

The opposition leader himself has dismissed the allegations, asserting that he is being unjustly targeted by the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol, whom he contested against in the last presidential election.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party, speaks during his election campaign rally in Seoul, South Korea March 8, 2022. Credit: (Kim Hong-JI/Reuters)

The passing of the arrest motion could intensify political allegiances in both the conservative and progressive camps. Conservatives, viewing Lee as a symbol of corruption, will likely rally even more cohesively in the run-up to next April’s general election. Similarly, progressives, recognizing the need for stronger internal cohesion before the upcoming election, are also expected to unite and strategize to rebuild the party.

The deepening polarization in South Korean politics may affect the U.S. ally’s long-term stability of policy and governance, eroding the middle ground for dialogue and compromise.

South Korea has long grappled with exceptionally divisive politics. Notably, South Koreans, alongside Americans, represent the highest percentage of people who perceive strong partisan conflicts in their societies, according to a Pew Research study released in November, to an extent where its domestic politics become unstable.

The stability in South Korea’s domestic politics is crucial as the nation plays a pivotal role in geopolitics in East Asia, amid the U.S.-China competition. A polarized political landscape may translate into South Korea’s challenge in forming cohesive and sustainable stances on crucial policies on North Korea and China, as well as its partnerships with the Western allies, potentially influencing broader regional and global strategies.

A divided political environment can hinder the passing of crucial legislation, including its new ‘spy bill’ that would enable South Korea to prosecute foreign agents in the country. It also potentially risks stalling policy initiatives that are vital for national progress, and a unified foreign policy including that on North Korea, Russia and China across administrations.

Experts note that such a political division could slow down South Korea’s aspirations on the global stage.

“The biggest problem of South Korean politics is the absence of genuine ‘politics’,” said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in Seoul. “At its heart, politics revolves around compromise. Dialogue and mutual concessions are necessary to yield tangible outcomes.”

“To pave the way for lasting bipartisan policies, we must first rejuvenate ‘politics’ first.”

The outcome of Thursday’s vote has taken the DP by surprise. “We are both surprised and shocked by this outcome,” its spokeswoman Lee So-young told reporters. “We’re going to have an emergency meeting to discuss our possible next steps.”

The approval rating of the DP has been hovering at its lowest for months, with its latest rating marking 32%, and 1% behind Yoon’s People Power Party, according to a Korea Gallup survey released on Friday.

This figure is seen as surprisingly low for the DP, especially when about 60% of South Koreans disapproved of Yoon, which also indicates that the opposition party has been ineffective in capitalizing on this discontent to their political advantage.

Earlier in February, an attempt by the prosecution to detain Lee over similar allegations was thwarted following parliamentary disapproval.

A DP spokeswoman Kang Sun-woo criticized Yoon on Wednesday over his endorsement of the arrest motion made the day before, likening it as “issuing a death warrant for a political opponent.”

Under South Korean law, rooted in a past marked by authoritarian rule, lawmakers are granted immunity from arrest while the parliament is in session. This provision aims to safeguard freedom of speech for legislators and prevent potential abuse of prosecutorial powers, ensuring that powerful figures cannot silence their political rivals.

Thus, the prosecution must obtain parliament’s consent to detain lawmakers.

Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

6 Khmer opposition leaders charged with incitement

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:33:00 +0000

Cambodia has charged six members of the opposition Candlelight Party with incitement for attempting to form a new political party – and after they refused to defect to the ruling party, a senior party official told Radio Free Asia.

Earlier this month, police in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey arrested 23 Candlelight Party activists for hosting a rally to collect fingerprints, a necessary step to register new parties.

Rights groups lambasted the arrests as the latest bid by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to eliminate its political rivals by using tactics that include bureaucratic obfuscation, legal technicalities and intimidation.

Though 17 of the Candlelight members were released after 30 hours in custody, the six leaders – Sin Vatha, Tep Sambath Vathano, Long Lavi, Tuot Veasna, Chhum Sinath Van Siw– remained in detention for “further questioning,” former Candlelight Party secretary Suon Khemrin, who was among the 17, told RFA Khmer on Tuesday, two days after his release.

Ly Meng Keang, a member of the board for the Banteay Meanchey branch of the party, told RFA Thursday that the six leaders were charged with incitement and remain in detention because they refused to take the local government’s offer to defect to the ruling party.

"They were pressured and threatened,” he said. “This is an awful act of the court and the authorities to try to convince members of another party to defect to their party. … .This shows that Cambodia has no freedom or democracy."

The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court has sent the six activists to pretrial detention. RFA was not able to reach court spokesperson Roeun Lyna for comment Thursday.

Seung Senkaruna, the spokesperson for the local Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association NGO, said authorities can't legally force people to defect to the ruling party. He said it is yet another example of Cambodia’s government walking away from democracy.

"This is a violation of political rights which is guaranteed by the constitution that allows people to freely engage in politics,” he said. “Please stop [intimidation] and allow freedom and opportunities for people to participate in politics without intimidation and restrictions."

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

EU ambition shows exiled Belarus opposition is out of touch

Paul Hansbury — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 15:18:28 +0000

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s EU aspirations could further divide opponents to Alexander Lukashenka

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Paul Hansbury.

Papua New Guinea opposition seeks Supreme Court review of US defense pact

By Harlyne Joku and Stephen Wright for BenarNews — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 04:47:11 +0000

Papua New Guinea’s opposition leader has sought a Supreme Court review of the legality of a recently signed defense cooperation agreement with the United States, highlighting continuing unhappiness about the pact in the Pacific island country.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Papua New Guinea’s Defense Minister Win Bakri Daki signed the agreement in May, which once ratified would give the U.S. military unrestricted access to six air and sea ports in the island nation. The U.S. would also have criminal jurisdiction over American military personnel in Papua New Guinea.

The agreement “has sparked unprecedented protests and opposition all over the country,” opposition leader Joseph Lelang told BenarNews on Monday. “The issue of sovereignty and constitutionality of that agreement is now being tested.”

The agreement has been criticized by some analysts and groups such as the PNG Trade Union Congress as overly accommodative to Washington and entangling Papua New Guinea in the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States. Its signing sparked student protests at campuses in Papua New Guinea.

The U.S. has sought to bolster its already significant military presence in the Pacific and East Asia in response to China’s claims to the South China Sea that impinge on several Southeast Asian countries’ waters, its belligerence towards Taiwan – which Beijing considers a rebel province – and other activity.

Aside from Papua New Guinea, the U.S. has strengthened its defense ties with the Philippines, which is embroiled in territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.

The U.S. and the United Kingdom are also working to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines by next decade, under the AUKUS pact – another source of concern for some Pacific island nations that fear being dragged into superpower competition.

China’s military spending has grown rapidly for the past two decades but remains much smaller than that of the U.S. and its allies.

Lelang said the defense agreement case was submitted to Papua New Guinea’s top court on Thursday and a date for hearings to begin has yet to be decided.

A statement from Lelang said the government has the right to enter into agreements with other countries, but must do so without breaching the constitution or any other laws.

“As leader of the opposition it is my duty to ensure that all lawful checks and balances are strengthened or are available and that at all times, PNG’s sovereignty is not unnecessarily compromised,” he said.

Lelang said the opposition’s lawyers are also preparing a challenge to the shiprider agreement signed with the U.S. in May.

The agreement provides the basis for personnel from the Pacific island country to work on U.S. coast guard and naval vessels, and vice versa, in targeting economic and security challenges such as illegal fishing.

The Pacific island country’s courts are independent and are empowered to shape society rather than be judicial bystanders, according to constitutional law expert Bal Kama. The Supreme Court, which is the final judicial word on interpretations of the constitution, in 2016 ordered the closure of an Australian detention center on Papua New Guinea soil that was used to hold refugees and asylum seekers.

Papua New Guinea is among the poorest nations in the Pacific and its central government struggles to exert control over vast tracts of remote mountainous territory that frequently erupt in fatal tribal violence.

Prime Minister James Marape has previously said the defense agreement would help Papua New Guinea develop a robust economy, without giving details of how that would be achieved.

Mihai Sora, a Pacific analyst at the Lowy Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, said Marape probably has enough influence to ensure political support for the defense agreement.

However, the window of stability for his administration is closing, Sora said. A grace period that prevents no confidence motions in the first 18 months of a government will end in February.

“I think fundamentally the benefits of the defense cooperation agreement for Papua New Guinea are yet to be realized or even satisfactorily explained,” Sora said.

“This is the U.S.’s problem more than Marape’s problem. It should be their main priority in PNG right now,” he said.

The U.S.-PNG agreement and the AUKUS security pact are part of the new regional security architecture of the so-called Indo-Pacific, a U.S. strategic concept that combines the Indian and Pacific oceans and which analysts say aims to contain China.

Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa said in March that it was disconcerting to be lumped into a new super region without any consultation.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Harlyne Joku and Stephen Wright for BenarNews.

Vanuatu Supreme Court rules in favour of opposition in Parliament majority case

APR editor — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 10:37:22 +0000

By Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific journalist in Port Vila and Christine Persico

The Vanuatu Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the opposition, which contested a ruling by the parliamentary Speaker regarding what constitutes an absolute majority in Parliament.

The court case followed a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister being defeated under a technicality of the rules as interpreted by the Speaker.

Former prime minister Sato Kilman, who is now in the opposition, said the judge had ruled an absolute majority in Parliament was 26, so the opposition won the case.

READ MORE: Other Vanuatu no-confidence vote reports

But he said the judge had stayed the case until 3pm on Monday to allow any appeal.

“We are glad, because we believed that we were right from the start, and that is why we lodged the application to the court,” Kilman said.

Sato Kilman, a former Vanuatu prime minister . . . “We believed that we were right from the start.” Image: Kelvin Anthony/RNZ Pacific

Earlier this month the opposition, in seeking to remove Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, won 26 votes in the 52-member House, while the government got 23 votes.

There was one abstention — from the Speaker — one seat is vacant and one is empty due to that MP getting medical treatment overseas.

Vanuatu’s constitution states that an absolute majority is needed to oust a prime minister and this has been interpreted to mean 27 MPs in the 52-member Parliament.

Legal precedent
Kalsakau said there was legal precedent to support this position.

In the judgment released today, the judge said the court “concludes that the actual number of members of Parliament when this vote was taken is the relevant number on which an absolute majority should be based”.

“It is the view of this court that the applicants have shown that their Constitutional rights, as set out in the application filed on 17th August 2023, have been infringed by the 1st respondent,” the judgment said.

“They are entitled to relief sought.”

It also said an order would be issued about that relief, but the order would include a stay to allow an appeal before any further steps are taken to enforce the order.

Supreme Court has just ruled that the vote of 26 MP’s to oust the PM last week was valid and that the PM was voted out by an absolute majority of 26 in a Parliament with 51 members. So we are still only in Government due to a stay order granted to allow us time to appeal.

— Ralph Regenvanu (@RRegenvanu) August 25, 2023

Cathy Solomon, 64, who lives in Port Vila, said the majority of people in Vanuatu were suffering because of “unfair and sad” politicians who were only thinking of self preservation.

She said the country’s politicians had failed in their purpose as elected representatives of the people.

She said it was time for more women to get into Parliament so they could challenge and change Vanuatu’s precarious political situation.

Hendon Kalsakau, 65, a chief of the Coconut Tribe on Ifira island, said the situation was “affecting deeply” the ni-Vanuatu people.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

PNG opposition calls for emergency over Highlands naked body killings

APR editor — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 05:39:27 +0000

PNG Post-Courier

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

“I strongly urge the Prime Minister to recall Parliament for us leaders to come together as one and discuss the possibility of passing an Emergency Act as allowed for by the Constitution to address this serious issue,” he said.

“These gruesome images of human beings been murdered, stripped naked and lined up next to the highway by their enemies or criminal elements, especially in the upper Highlands provinces of Enga, Hela and Southern Highlands, is becoming a regular activity and the government and elected leaders must not take this lightly, its human lives we are talking about.

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

‘Killings too frequent’
“We as elected leaders shouldn’t be taking long breaks — these killings are becoming too frequent and we should be addressing them head on during Parliament sessions.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

“The spillover effects of what is happening up in the upper Highlands region will be felt everywhere — in Mamose, New Guinea Islands and the Southern Region. So as mandated leaders we must do something.”

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

PNG opposition calls for emergency over Highlands naked body killings

APR editor — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 05:39:27 +0000

PNG Post-Courier

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

PNG opposition calls for emergency over Highlands naked body killings

APR editor — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 05:39:27 +0000

PNG Post-Courier

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

PNG opposition calls for emergency over Highlands naked body killings

APR editor — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 05:39:27 +0000

PNG Post-Courier

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Health of detained Cambodian opposition leader is declining, wife says

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 19:47:28 +0000

The wife of detained Cambodian opposition leader Thach Setha said he is in poor health and is having trouble walking as a Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge in his false check case adjourned a trial on Wednesday to allow lawyers to submit more evidence.

Thach Setha’s health is deteriorating partly because he is being held in a small detention cell where he is unable to move around, his wife told Radio Free Asia.

“There is no justice for my husband because the case has been delayed almost eight months,” Thach Sokborany said. “I want the court to release him on bail so he can monitor his health. His health is bad, but he is trying.”

Thach Setha is the vice president of Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party. He was arrested in January on charges of issuing bad checks from his bank account.

He’s denied the allegation. The Candlelight Party has said that the charges were part of a campaign of intimidation and threats against the opposition leaders and activists ahead of last month’s parliamentary elections.

The Candlelight Party – the only major party that could challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party – wasn’t allowed to compete in the July 23 election after the National Election Committee disqualified the party, citing inadequate paperwork.

Preliminary results show the CPP winning 120 of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

Additional charge

In April, an additional “incitement to provoke social chaos” charge was added to Thach Setha’s case over remarks he made in a speech last year while visiting Japan.

NGO and Candlelight Party officials have accused the court of deliberately attempting to keep him detained so that he couldn’t campaign in the runup to the election.

Thach Sokborany said Judge Chhun Davy refused to allow her husband’s lawyers a chance to argue his side of the case at Wednesday’s trial.

But his defense lawyer, Son Chum Chuon, told RFA that the trial was adjourned to an unspecified date to allow both the defense and prosecutors to submit additional materials.

“As a defense team, we will fight justice for my client. I want the court to drop charges against my client,” he said.

RFA couldn’t reach court spokesman and Deputy Prosecutor Plang Sophal for comment on Wednesday.

Srey Sohorn, the working group chief for Candlelight’s Kandal province office, went to the court on Wednesday to express support for Thach Setha. He said the case has been politically motivated since the start.

“The bad check story was an old case and shouldn’t be revisited. It should be resolved with the plaintiffs,” he said. “The case should be dropped but instead the court added another charge.”

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Opposition to Government Regulatory Mandates And Funding Contributed to Hawaii Wildfire Disaster

Bill Wolfe — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 05:57:33 +0000

Neoliberal Anti-Government Austerians Strike Again The following is based on official reports by the Hawaiian government. Links and excerpts provided below. Hawaiian and federal government officials were fully aware of wildfire risks and the fact that current wildfire prevention and response programs were totally inadequate to protect public safety from increasingly frequent and severe wildfires. More

The post Opposition to Government Regulatory Mandates And Funding Contributed to Hawaii Wildfire Disaster appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Bill Wolfe.

Can “Vote No” on the UPS Contract Win? What’s Driving the Opposition to the UPS/Teamster’s Deal

Joe Allen — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 05:57:04 +0000

Photograph Source: Ryan McKnight – CC BY 2.0

On August 3^rd, ballots were mailed to Teamster members covered by the union’s national contract at United Parcel Service (UPS). Nearly 320,000 UPS Teamsters, both fulltime and part-time, will potentially cast their votes online on the single largest private-sector contract this year. Two independent contracts covering UPS Teamsters in the greater Chicago area will also be voted on following the ratification of the national contract.

A Tentative Agreement (TA) between the UPS and the Teamsters was reached on July 25. It was hailed as a “historic victory” by Teamster leaders Sean O’Brien and Fred Zuckerman. However, it has been greeted with less enthusiasm, if not outright hostility by a sizable minority of rank and file UPS Teamsters. Even the mainstream media, notable for its fawning profiles of Sean O’Brien has picked up on this. “A lot of us are frustrated and disappointed,” Jose Francisco Negrete, a part timer and twenty-five year veteran of UPS in Anaheim, California, told CBS News.

Negrete, who also works part-time as a classroom assistant, is part of a small network of activists among UPS part timers called Teamsters Mobilize pushing for a new $25 hourly minimum for newly hired part-timers. “$21 is still poverty pay — it’s $1.50 more than the In-N-Out, which is a two-minute drive away,” he said. “Is that really going to move the needle for you? Are you still going to be working two or three jobs? Are you still going to be on government assistance?”

But, opposition is not confined to part timers. Greg Kerwood, a longstanding Teamsters activist and package car driver, whose credits include being a union steward in Local 25 and a member of the steering committee of the longstanding reform group Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), recently came out against ratification. “I personally cannot vote yes on this contract,” he recently announced on Dave Allen’s popular Roswell Hub YouTube channel.

While Kerwood developed a social media profile as an advocate for Sean O’Brien, he has also been an early and consistent supporter for a national strike at UPS. Kerwood hit the nail on the head during his last contract review broadcast, he said:

“This company owns us. It owns us fourteen hours a day. And we are not willing to accept that anymore. As one driver put it to me the other day, ‘I want to have a life. I want to do things outside of work.’ The way I judge a contract. The day the contract goes into effect. How is my day-to-day existence in this company going to change. I just don’t to see those items I can’t point to and say these are the things that are going to change for you.”

While Kerwood clearly told his audience that he was not telling them how to vote, his stance will have some influence, but at the same time it is always hard to judge the direct impact of social media.

MRAs

Discontent, however limited, has popped up in the Teamster officialdom. Fourteen of the 176 local unions with UPS members failed to show up in Washington, D.C. to endorse the national contract on July 31, according to Sean O’Brien. Representatives from Local 89 in Louisville, Kentucky, the home local union of General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, voted not to endorse the TA. One attendee told me that people were shocked by their no vote. Local 89 soon after made it clear in a public statement, “This was NOT a vote against the contract itself.”

Within a few days quickly reversed its position and endorsed the TA. The source of conflict was over the status of the Market Rate Adjustments (MRAs), the above union scale wages UPS has been paying newly hired part timers since the beginning of the Covid -19 Pandemic. Local 89 posted:

“Nearly half of our local’s 12,000 UPS Teamsters currently benefit from MRAs. As a result of this information gathering, we can now say with confidence that our existing seniority members who currently enjoy MRAs will also receive general wage increases on top of their MRA rates under the new tentative agreement. UPS would be acting in bad faith and violating the National Master Agreement if the company attempted to reduce MRA wages in the future.”

Bad faith, however, is a hallmark of UPS’s labor relations. If UPS sees an opportunity it will seize it. Disputes and an avalanche of grievances over MRAs and general wage increases await stewards and union representatives across the country. Despite widespread media belief that Teamsters have ended a two-tier wages at UPS, the current TA will actually increase the number of tiers among part time workers, and will do nothing to close the wage gap between part time and full time workers.

Dennis Fritz, a Chicago-area UPS part timer, posted recently:

“Warehouse workers hired under the terms of the new TA would start out at $21 an hour. After FIVE LONG YEARS of sweating and straining and slaving away loading and unloading trucks, their pay would top out at $23 an hour. A $2 an hour raise for five years of service. Meanwhile, under the terms of the same TA, UPS drivers would top out at $49!

Can “Vote No” win?

Organizing a Vote No campaign is always difficult, especially at such a large and far-flung company like UPS, but there has been success over the last decade. In 2013, UPS Teamsters nearly defeated the national contract. It passed with only 53% of the vote, while eighteen supplements were voted down. In 2018, UPS Teamsters voted down the national contract with a 55% no vote. The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) were central to these two campaigns.

Now that they are part of the leadership of Teamsters, along with several leading members on the paid staff of the Teamsters, they have placed themselves in the unenviable position of selling the contract—warts and all.

This is quite a role reversal from just a handful of years ago. But this was an inevitable outcome of TDU’s decision to uncritically endorse the Sean O’Brien and Fred Zuckerman’s “OZ” slate for the leadership of the union in 2019. Since there is no well-rooted national network of rank and file activists among UPS Teamsters, Vote No campaigners face a steep uphill climb to defeat the contract.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joe Allen.

Peace activists rally in Bay Area to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; San Jose fast food workers go on strike; Zimbabwe opposition supporter stoned to death, ahead of national elections – August 4, 2023

KPFA — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

Wisconsin voting rights groups sue to stop political gerrymandering of congressional districts.
Florida bans some gender references in higher education.
San Jose fast food workers go on strike.
Peace activists rally at Livermore Laboratory for nuclear disarmament, ahead of 78th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima.
Peace activists rally in Palo Alto to mark the 78th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
United Nation’s warn this years El Nino season’s impacts on human health.
Zimbabwe opposition supporter stoned to death, weeks ahead of national elections.

Photograph of the “Atomic Cloud Rising Over Nagasaki, Japan,” from the National Archives, Records of the Office of War Information.

The post Peace activists rally in Bay Area to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; San Jose fast food workers go on strike; Zimbabwe opposition supporter stoned to death, ahead of national elections – August 4, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

Senegalese journalist Pape Alé Niang arrested over broadcast about opposition politician

Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 16:47:58 +0000

Dakar, August 4, 2023—Senegalese authorities must unconditionally release journalist Pape Alé Niang, who began a hunger strike on July 29, and cease all legal proceedings against him related to his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Tuesday, August 1, Niang, editor of the privately owned news site Dakarmatin, was charged by the examining magistrate in Dakar, the capital, with calling for insurrection, and acts or maneuvers likely to compromise public security, according to Moussa Sarr, the journalist’s lawyer, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and news reports.

Niang has been on hunger strike since he was arrested at his home on Saturday, July 29, and is being held in a special pavilion for sick prisoners at the Aristide Le Dantec hospital due to his fragile health.

“Senegalese authorities must end their sustained legal harassment of journalist Pape Alé Niang and ensure that he is released unconditionally and that all charges against him for his work are dropped,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in Durban, South Africa. “Senegal’s recent spiral of arrests and harassment against the media, as well as disruptions to internet access, are deeply concerning, especially as the country heads toward elections next year.”

Gendarmerie officers arrested Niang for allegedly calling for insurrection in a broadcast on his outlet’s YouTube channel on July 28, according to Sarr and news reports. In the video, Niang discussed the latest arrest, earlier that day, of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko, who is popular with young voters ahead of Senegal’s elections, scheduled for February 25, 2024.

Insurrection—a charge also laid against Sonko—is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison, according to Article 85 of Senegal’s penal code. Maneuvers and acts likely to compromise public safety or cause serious political unrest are punishable by three to five years imprisonment.

Sonko’s arrest and the dissolution of his party sparked fresh protests on Monday, when two people were killed. Sonko’s conviction in June on separate charges of corrupting the youth led to clashes in which at least 23 people died.

The government shut down the internet on Monday in response to “the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages on social networks,” according to a statement by Communications Minister Moussa Bocar Thiam, as well as internet traffic analysis by the online security company CloudFlare, and news reports.

In a statement shared in media reports, Thiam also suspended TikTok on Wednesday “until further notice,” saying the social media app was “favored by malicious people for spreading hateful and subversive messages threatening the stability of the country.”

CPJ, as a member of the #KeepItOn coalition, a global network of over 300 organizations, denounced the weaponization of internet shutdowns by Senegal’s government in response to the recent political unrest.

Senegal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Aissata Tall Sall said on Wednesday at the government’s weekly press conference that Niang, like any other journalist, had never been arrested for his work as a journalist, but only because of criminal statements that he had made.

Niang’s lawyer Sarr told CPJ that Senegalese law barred him from sharing details about the search of the journalist’s home and what, if anything, authorities seized because the investigation was ongoing.

Police previously arrested Niang in November and charged him with harming national defense over a video report published by Dakarmatin; he was released in mid-December on bail, and rearrested days later for allegedly breaching his bail conditions. Niang was freed in January, after going on hunger strike to protest his detention.

Niang’s case led to Senegal appearing on CPJ’s 2022 annual prison census of jailed journalists for the second time since it began in 1992.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

Senegal’s gov has dissolved PASTEF, the main opposition party, and arrested leader Ousmane Sonko

Human Rights Watch — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:49:11 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Senegal’s gov has dissolved PASTEF, the main opposition party, and arrested leader Ousmane Sonko

Human Rights Watch — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:49:11 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Bangladesh elections: 800+ opposition members were arrested ahead of a demonstration on July 29

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:57:11 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

The mysterious death of Transnistria’s last opposition politician

Evghenii Ceban — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 12:08:07 +0000

The murder of Oleg Khorzhan has thrown a spotlight on Moldova’s breakaway region and its struggle against oligarchy

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Evghenii Ceban.

Hun Sen deletes Twitter post linking Thai election to Cambodian opposition

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 20:40:00 +0000

Prime Minister Hun Sen has removed a Twitter post that attempted to connect the Cambodian opposition to a Thai politician’s failure this week to win enough parliamentary votes to become the country’s next prime minister.

Pita Limjaroenrat and his Move Forward Party fell short of the 375 votes needed to clinch power in an initial round of voting on Thursday.

Hun Sen tweeted that Pita’s setback was also “a major failure” to Cambodia’s exiled opposition activists. He was most likely referring to Sam Rainsy, the former head of the now-disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party who fled to France in 2015.

“These traitors always expected that when Pita becomes the prime minister of Thailand, they would use Thai territory to do a campaign against the Royal Government of Cambodia,” Hun Sen wrote in the tweet.

“Now the expectations of the brute opposition group have vanished like salt in water,” he said.

In May, Sam Rainsy told Radio Free Asia that if a new pro-democracy Thai government is formed, he would look into traveling to Cambodia through neighboring Thailand.

Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party was the top vote getter in the May 14 general election. It heads a pro-democracy coalition trying to unseat an administration with deep military ties that has ruled Thailand for almost a decade.

Hun Sen has asked Thailand to arrest Sam Rainsy if he travels there. Last month, he publicly threatened to attack Sam Rainsy with a rocket launcher if he led workers from Thailand into Cambodia.

“Do not do politics that depend on somebody else,” the prime minister wrote in Thursday’s deleted tweet. “This is my goodwill message for the extremist groups.”

Move Forward Party leader and Thailand prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat speaks to the media in Thai Parliament after the parliamentary vote for the premiership in Bangkok on July 13, 2023. Credit: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP

Online reaction

After it drew angry online comments, Hun Sen removed the post from Twitter.

“Absolutely ludicrous,” wrote Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director.

Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk tweeted that the 70-year-old Hun Sen is “a political dinosaur comfortable in the company of dictators.”

“When he looks at Pita, he sees the [political] liberalization & reform he fears might some day come to Cambodia,” he wrote.

Hun Sen posted another message on both Twitter and Telegram on Friday, writing that he doesn’t oppose Pita’s candidacy for prime minister.

“I respect the decision of the Thai people and I will not interfere in the internal affairs of Thailand,” he wrote. “I am ready to work with Thailand’s leader, regardless of who or which party.”

He added that Cambodian opposition activists should stop using Pita’s name – “who does not know he is being used” – to oppose the Cambodian government.

Finland-based political commentator Kim Sok said the first message made it seem like Hun Sen doesn’t understand diplomacy and politics, even though he served as Cambodia’s foreign minister during the 1980s.

“Normally, a leader of a country uses good words and avoids bad words to other countries’ politicians, especially those who win the election,” he said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Friday.

Translated by Chandara Yang. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Police raid home of opposition party member who refused switch to ruling party

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 20:19:26 +0000

About 30 police officers raided the Phnom Penh home of an outspoken opposition party member in what appears to be retaliation for not defecting to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party ahead of the July 23 election.

Khem Monykosal, the Candlelight Party’s chief for Pailin province, told Radio Free Asia that he wasn’t home on Tuesday when police conducted the two-hour search. Police left a handwritten note that said a mobile phone was taken by order of a prosecutor.

“I have not committed any wrongdoing. Why do they pursue me from Pailin province to Phnom Penh?” Khem said. “They neither showed the search warrant nor stated any reasons.”

The raid comes just two weeks before a parliamentary election that Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party is expected to sweep.

The Candlelight Party – Cambodia’s main opposition party and the only one capable of mounting a challenge to the CPP – has been blocked from appearing on the ballot. The National Election Committee ruled in May that it submitted inadequate paperwork.

Even so, Hun Sen and his government have continued to pursue Candlelight Party supporters in recent months. He’s persuaded dozens of opposition activists to switch their allegiance to the CPP, while others have been threatened with legal action.

Pailin proposal

Four ruling party officials who hold senior positions at Pailin’s provincial health department recently asked Khem Monykosal to join the CPP in exchange for reinstatement to a civil servant position at the department, he told RFA.

When he declined, the CPP officials threatened to have two pending court cases reviewed, Khem said.

One case relates to a Facebook post during the COVID-19 lockdown in which he criticized local quarantine officers. In the other case, he said on Facebook that a village chief in Pailin had tried to persuade Candlelight Party activists not to work as election observers during the 2022 commune election.

The Pailin court has yet to take any action on the cases.

Candlelight Party member Thol Samnang was arrested in Bangkok last week after criticizing Hun Sen and the Cambodia People’s Party on Facebook in the weeks leading up to his departure from the country, his mother told RFA. Credit: Thol Samnang Facebook

The lack of a warrant for Tuesday’s raid of Khem’s home was a flagrant violation of the law, ADHOC President Ny Sokha said.

“A court warrant should have been shown and read aloud before such a search,” he told RFA. “They cannot violate this procedure.”

RFA attempted to reach Boeung Raing administrative police station chief Bun Pros, Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sokseyha and National Police General Commissariat spokesman Chhay Kimkhoeun for comment on the raid on Wednesday.

Khem told RFA that he is taking refuge at a safe location and remains a firm supporter of the opposition.

‘I still feel terrified’

A Candlelight Party member who was arrested last week by Thai authorities on the streets of Bangkok had also posted critical comments on Facebook about Hun Sen and the CPP, and was also the target of a home raid.

Thol Samnang fled Cambodia on July 4, a day after police and government authorities visited his home in Kandal province seeking to detain him without a warrant.

The 34-year-old was arrested on July 7 by men in plainclothes as he made his way to the office of the United Nations refugee agency. He was being held at an immigration detention center in the Thai capital and could face deportation to Cambodia.

“Hun Sen is taking an opportunity of the transition government of Thailand to collude with his old conspirators to arrest and deport democrats who are hiding in Thailand,” said Meng Sotheara, an opposition activist who lives in Thailand.

So Dara, a former bodyguard of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, said he is worried he will also be arrested by Thai authorities and deported to Cambodia, where he could face a long imprisonment.

“I still feel terrified and dare not even leave my room,” he told RFA. “All other political refugees dare not go out either.”

Translated by Sovannarith Keo and Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Jailed Georgian Opposition Journalist Released After Presidential Pardon

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:30:23 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

People vs. Fossil Fuels, 255+ orgs, and 50,000+ Individuals Deliver Petition to U.S. Department of Justice: End Opposition to Youth Climate Case

Newswire Editor — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 19:05:40 +0000

Today, the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition digitally delivered an online petition to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding that Attorney General Garland end the DOJ's opposition to the children’s climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, proceeding to trial. John Beard, Founder and CEO of the Port Arthur Community Action Network and member of the People vs. Fossil Fuels Steering Committee, and youth leader Zanagee Artis, Founder and Executive Director of Zero Hour, co-delivered this petition on behalf of the coalition, more than 255 organizational sponsors, and more than 50,000 individuals across the United States and around the world who signed the petition.

The petition was delivered shortly after Federal Judge Ann Aiken, of the U.S. District Court in Oregon, on June 1, 2023, granted the young plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint, putting their case back on track to trial. After eight years, evidence that indisputably proves the federal government’s knowing perpetuation of the climate crisis will come to light, in open court, and Judge Aiken will rule whether the U.S. energy system violates the youth’s constitutional rights.

People vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of over 1,200 climate justice, Indigenous, Black, Latino, social justice, economic justice, progressive, youth, faith, and other organizations, spearheaded this petition effort in support of the Juliana youth plaintiffs and their landmark constitutional climate case. This petition is led by climate, public health, children’s, legal, labor, minority, business, faith, human rights, and environmental justice organizations - including Amnesty International USA, Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, GreenFaith, Greenpeace USA, Hip Hop Caucus, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sunrise Movement, and 350.org. The petition was launched last June with over 160 tweets in just a few hours from individual supporters and key organizations, including the Indigenous Environmental Network and Center for International Environmental Law, that rallied via a tweetstorm standing in solidarity with the youth plaintiffs and urging individuals to sign the petition.

The petition notes that “For seven years, these 21 young people, from across the United States and including 11 Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth, have waited for their day in court, delayed again and again by tactics employed by the Department of Justice to impede or dismiss their case. And for almost seven years, young people like these 21 young Americans have suffered from increasingly severe climate harms.”

“Judge Aiken’s ruling has affirmed what we’ve long known: that these children are bringing constitutional claims that deserve to be heard and the evidence of how their own government has knowingly caused and worsened the climate crisis, harming these young people and violating their rights, should be considered by a judge in open court,” stated Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust. “However, for several long years, these 21 youth plaintiffs have experienced delay tactics from the Department of Justice under three different presidential administrations. This is a moment for the DOJ under President Biden to change course and end its opposition to this case proceeding to trial. These children deserve their day in court.”

Olson concluded, “Today, we are grateful for the support of people around the world who have signed this petition to urge Attorney General Garland to end the DOJ’s opposition to this case proceeding to trial. As these thousands of people across the United States and around the globe have demanded, their voices loud and clear: Let the Youth Be Heard!”

“Today, I am proud to deliver a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice in support of the 21 young plaintiffs in Juliana v. U.S. On June 1st, Judge Aiken issued a long-awaited ruling that finally puts their case back on track to trial! Frontline Gulf Coastal communities of color in my own part of the country, and young people across the nation, especially youth living within environmental justice communities, continue to suffer the impacts from the climate crisis, including pollution, and social and environmental injustice. Today, we send a message to the Biden DOJ - These young Americans have the right to be heard by their nation’s courts. Justice deferred, regardless of age, is justice DENIED. End the DOJ’s campaign to deny these youth access to justice,” stated John Beard, Founder and CEO of Port Arthur Community Action Network, on behalf of the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition.

“While our government continues to take actions that worsen and accelerate climate change, the youngest generations of Americans continue to endure record-breaking climate disasters at an increasing rate. Young people fear when the next devastating flood, wildfire, drought, heatwave, or other climate disaster will be. It’s long past time for the Department of Justice to end its opposition to the Juliana plaintiffs and youth climate justice. Young Americans have the right to be heard by our nation's courts, the branch of our government that has a duty to protect our constitutional right to a livable planet,” said Zanagee Artis, Founder and Executive Director of Zero Hour.

With the ruling released, the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, in coordination with Our Children’s Trust, has launched a new action urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ to not use an extreme legal tool - a petition for writ of mandamus - to try to further delay justice. The coalition and supporters from across the world continue to join the Juliana 21 in solidarity by also calling and tweeting the DOJ.

Represented by attorneys at the nonprofit public interest law firm, Our Children’s Trust, Juliana v. United States was originally filed in 2015. The Juliana plaintiffs argue in their complaint that their federal government has directly contributed to the climate crisis more than any other government on the planet -- including creating a fossil fuel energy system that causes and worsens climate change -- and thus is harming the youth plaintiffs, violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failing to protect essential public trust resources and the children’s rights of equal protection of the law. The youth plaintiffs are now between the ages of 15 and 26.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

Opposition group denounces Russia’s assistance to Myanmar’s junta

By RFA Burmese — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:56:27 +0000

An advisory group of political parties and civil society organizations opposed to Myanmar’s military junta have condemned the Russian government’s political support and continued sale of weapons to the regime.

The statement compared Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to the mass killings and atrocities in Myanmar that followed the junta’s seizure of power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat.

“Russia blatantly supporting and advocating for the terrorist regime is prolonging the sufferings of the people of Myanmar,” the June 10 statement from the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) said. “The support and advocacy for the terrorist regime by Russia is not to solve Myanmar’s political issues but only to further Russia’s geopolitical interest.”

The NUCC includes representatives of the National Unity Government, or NUG, civil society groups, ethnic armed organizations and civil disobedience groups. The NUG is the parallel civilian government of Myanmar made up of opponents to the junta.

Since the coup, junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia three times, purchasing modern Russian-made jet fighters, helicopters and military equipment. The two countries have also signed an agreement to build a small-scale nuclear reactor in Myanmar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 7, 2022. Credit: Valery Sharifulin/Sputnik/AFP

In February, Min Aung Hlaing wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he appreciates Russia’s support for Myanmar. The message was sent to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In a message sent in response, Putin said he believes the relationship between Russia and Myanmar’s junta will help the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.

NUCC’s statement called for the immediate end of Russia’s support for the reactor project, saying it would create political instability for Myanmar and the region.

“The diplomatic and military support provided by Russia is the basis for the terrorist Min Aung Hlaing group to totally disregard the agreements developed within the ASEAN, and also creates difficulties for other nations to work on solving Myanmar’s political issues,” the statement said.

Russia cooperation likely to continue

Radio Free Asia called junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for his comment on the NUCC's statement, but his phone rang unanswered.

Simply condemning Russia, which apparently doesn’t even care about international sanctions, won’t work, said Aung Thu Nyein, a Thailand-based researcher of Myanmar issues.

Russia’s veto power at the U.N. Security Council, its military assistance and the recent visit to Myanmar of the Russian parliament’s deputy chairman show that cooperation with the junta will continue – with or without criticism, he said.

But NUCC’s statement needed to be made, and similar objections should also be made against China, political analyst Than Soe Naing said.

“NUCC needs to reveal and condemn Russia’s blatant support and assistance to the Myanmar military junta,” he said. “That is what it is supposed to do.”

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

Hun Sen threatens to arrest backers of exiled opposition figure

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 20:42:00 +0000

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday warned supporters of opposition leader Sam Rainsy that they will be prosecuted if they continue their association with him.

The longtime leader also said that supporters living in exile were welcome to return to Cambodia as long as they renounce Sam Rainsy, one of Hun Sen’s most prominent critics and rivals.

“The movement of the opposition party members who left the party is like a broken dam,” the prime minister said at a meeting with factory workers in Kampong Chhnang province.

“We are welcoming all parties’ inclinations to live with the CPP,” Hun Sen said on Friday, referring to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. “But I won’t accept just one person: the traitor,” referring to Sam Rainsy.

“Anyone who disassociates with him, I will pardon them but those who are associated with him will be prosecuted,” he said.

Hun Sen and the CPP have neutralized the political opposition ahead of the July 23 parliamentary election by threatening or co-opting activists.

Additionally, members of the main opposition Candlelight Party have been arrested in several provinces in recent months, including two senior party officials in Tboung Khmum province who were charged this week with incitement.

Some detained activists have received pardons, were released from prison and given government positions after they publicly switched their allegiance to the CPP. Some have made claims that they were cheated by Sam Rainsy.

Cambodia’s exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy talks to the media outside Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Nov. 12, 2019. Credit: Associated Press

Thailand and Vietnam

Once the head of the now-disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Sam Rainsy fled to France in 2015 to avoid a series of charges that his supporters say were politically motivated.

His recent visit to Kuala Lumpur – where he spent time with Cambodian political activists living in Malaysia – angered Hun Sen, who threatened to attack him with a rocket launcher if he led workers from Thailand into Cambodia.

In May, Sam Rainsy told Radio Free Asia that if a new pro-democracy Thai government is formed, he would look into traveling to Cambodia through Thailand.

Hun Sen has asked Thailand to arrest Sam Rainsy if he travels there. This week, he said he has received information that Sam Rainsy has also considered traveling on a French passport to Vietnam, where he could walk across the border to Cambodia.

Last week, the prime minister threatened to arrest anyone who took part in a planned demonstration in Phnom Penh to protest against the National Election Committee’s decision – citing inadequate paperwork – to keep the Candlelight Party off the ballot for next month’s elections

“Please try me if you dare, you can come out now,” Hun Sen said. “I will handcuff you immediately and I won’t keep you in Phnom Penh.”

‘It is hard to accept’

Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith said party officials are working to collect information on this week’s arrests in Tboung Khmum and will provide defense lawyers.

“It is hard to accept [the arrests],” he told RFA. “The Candlelight Party can’t participate in the election and now many important activists have been arrested without proper reasons.”

Hun Sen is obviously worried that Sam Rainsy will return to Cambodia, where he continues to have support, said Duong Chantrea, an opposition party activist who fled Cambodia and is living in Bangkok.

He said he won’t accept Hun Sen’s offer and will continue to associate with Sam Rainsy.

“People are struggling for freedom and a better economy like other countries,” he told RFA. “They won’t follow Hun Sen. They are waiting to get a good chance to change the dictatorial regime.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Hong Kong opposition party activists protest account closures at HSBC head office

By Lee Yuk Yue for RFA Cantonese — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 14:30:00 +0000

Opposition party activists staged a protest outside the iconic headquarters of HSBC in Hong Kong this week after the bank shut down their party's accounts.

Five League of Social Democrats members gathered by the lion statues outside the bank's headquarters in Hong Kong's Central business district on Tuesday, holding up a banner that read: "Dollar signs in their eyes – aiding and abetting tyranny."

"Cancellation of bank accounts is soft political persecution!" the protesters, who included party chairwoman Chan Po-ying, chanted. "Everyone is at risk in this international financial center!"

"Don't trample on our rights of association!" they shouted, watched closely by around a dozen police officers.

The protest comes amid a citywide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under the 2020 national security law, which has included the freezing of politicians’ assets by Hong Kong banks.

Party leader Chan Po-ying, who was arrested at the weekend on a downtown shopping street carrying an electric candle and a yellow paper mourning flower on the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, said the move had stopped the party's operations in their tracks.

"The closure of the League of Social Democrats' bank accounts for no reason affects our day-to-day operations, but also our survival as a political organization," Chan told journalists at the scene. "We were dependent on digital transfers from people's bank accounts, because we're not allowed to raise money on the street."

"We may live in an international financial hub, but we lack access to even the most basic banking services," she said.

Vice chairman Dickson Chau said he had received an initial notification from HSBC in February that the bank would be closing down the party's three bank accounts, which were held at different branches of the bank, but without explaining why.

At least four other members of the party have had their personal accounts shut down, too.

"Based on our political stance, but without explaining the reason, HSBC unilaterally and recklessly canceled our accounts, affecting the day-to-day running of our organization," Chau told journalists at the protest.

"We believe that this is part of the systematic suppression of Hong Kong people's freedom of association and freedom of speech," he said.

He said the bank's actions had affected the party's ability to raise funds of its jailed former chairman Leung Kwok-hung, who is one of 47 political activists and former lawmakers currently standing trial for "subversion" after they organized a democratic primary in the summer of 2020.

Veteran activist Tsang Kin-Shing [left], a member of the “League of Social Democrats,” speaks during a protest outside the headquarters of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) in Hong Kong on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Credit: AFP

Chau said the League had been forced to return "thousands of Hong Kong dollars" in donations due to the move by HSBC, adding that he wasn't optimistic that the party would be able to open new accounts anywhere in Hong Kong.

A security officer from HSBC received a letter from the protesters at the scene.

But requests for comment from the bank had met with no response by the time of writing.

The protest came after the London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch accused banks including HSBC of perpetrating a “brazen asset grab” by withholding up to U.S.$2.4 billion in the pension pots of Hong Kongers who have emigrated to the United Kingdom under its British National Overseas visa scheme.

The group called it a form of "punishment" for leaving amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent, and singled out HSBC for criticism, saying the bank had been supportive of a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the Communist Party from July 1, 2020.

In January 2021, HSBC came under fire for freezing the accounts of self-exiled former opposition lawmaker Ted Hui and his family after he said he was resettling in the U.K., as well as that of a Hong Kong church that had helped protesters during the 2019 pro-democracy movement.

Police watch as the “League of Social Democrats” protests outside the headquarters of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) in Hong Kong on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Credit: AFP

Former finance channel chief at i-CABLE News Joseph Ngan said such actions damage Hong Kong's image as an international financial center.

"Before, [this would only happen in the case of] illegal activities like money-laundering, which would have been explained and understood," Ngan said.

"But this is purely a case of targeting a political party, an organization that is legally registered in Hong Kong, yet it is still being restricted."

Ngan said it was unclear whether the political pressure on the bank was coming from the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, or the Hong Kong government.

He said HSBC had a responsibility to explain "in a clear and reasonable manner," why it was restricting customers' access to banking services.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Paul Eckert.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Yuk Yue for RFA Cantonese.

Cambodia’s leader tells garment workers that opposition is pushing for sanctions

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 21:12:56 +0000

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged thousands of garment workers to speak out against the opposition Candlelight Party and its efforts to bring international sanctions against the country’s garment industry.

“Workers must dare to point to any opposition party officials who have urged foreigners not to invest in Cambodia and buy products from Cambodia,” he said during a public event in Kampong Chhnang province attended by local garment factory workers.

“You need to say, ‘You are the person who destroys us,’” the prime minister said. “Other opposition parties are opposing the government but they don't urge foreigners not to buy products."

Cambodian workers at a garment factory in Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 23, 2017. Credit: Heng Sinith/AP

Hun Sen’s speech comes almost six weeks before the July 23 parliamentary election.

The Candlelight Party has gathered support over the last several years with a policy platform centered around improving social welfare benefits and raising the minimum monthly wage for garment workers and civil servants.

But the National Election Committee last month blocked it from appealing on the ballot, citing inadequate paperwork. Several foreign embassies have criticized the ruling party for undermining Cambodia’s democracy.

The European Union in March threatened to raise tariffs if Cambodia doesn’t improve its human rights record and hold free and fair elections this year.

An EU resolution said Cambodia risks further suspension of its participation in the regional bloc’s “Everything But Arms” scheme, or EBA, which allows Phnom Penh access to the European market without tariffs.

The EU already withdrew about 20% of the EBA scheme in 2020, equivalent to about US$1.1 billion of Cambodia’s Europe-bound exports.

Hun Sen said in March in response to the resolution that Cambodia doesn’t need foreign aid or preferential trade agreements because its economy is strong enough to survive on its own.

On Thursday, he said that international sanctions could result in the loss of garment factory jobs.

Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen should blame himself for any sanctions because he has destroyed the opposition party and democracy in Cambodia.

“Hun Sen is worried that he will get international pressure after the election that will worsen the workers’ situations,” he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Main opposition party delays election protest following threat from Cambodia’s leader

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 19:56:23 +0000

Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party has canceled plans for a demonstration following a public threat from Prime Minister Hun Sen to jail the party’s vice president and other members.

Organizers had hoped that 10,000 people would march through the streets of Phnom Penh to protest against the National Election Committee’s decision to keep the party off the ballot for the July 23 parliamentary elections.

But top party officials decided on Friday to delay submitting a permit request to municipal authorities, according to Candlelight Party Vice President Rong Chhun, who disagreed with the decision.

“We need to respect the majority,” he said. “But if we do nothing, we will have zero result. If we protest we will have another option. If we stay still, no one will hand over a champion.”

On Wednesday, Hun Sen accused Rong Chhun of being the mastermind behind many protests over the last few decades.

“When Hun Sen speaks, he acts,” the prime minister said at a bridge inauguration ceremony in Phnom Penh. “Please try me if you dare, you can come out now. I will handcuff you immediately and I won’t keep you in Phnom Penh. I will send you to be detained in a remote province.”

The prime minister also sarcastically urged Rong Chhun to get married so that his children will lead protests in the future.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen displays his ballot at a polling station on June 5, 2022. Credit: Heng Sinith/AP

The right to peacefully assemble

In response, Rong Chhun told Radio Free Asia that everyone should respect the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, which is guaranteed by Cambodia’s Constitution.

He said the protest will be peaceful and he urged Hun Sen to be an open minded leader who respects the opinions of others when they don’t agree with government decisions.

The NEC last month blocked the Candlelight Party from appearing on the ballot, citing inadequate paperwork. Party members cried foul, pointing out that the party was allowed to compete in last year’s local commune elections with the same documentation.

The Constitutional Council upheld the committee’s decision on May 25, a ruling that means the ruling Cambodian People’s Party won’t have any major challengers on the ballot.

“The election consists of 18 parties and will proceed smoothly,” CPP spokesman Sok Ey San told RFA. “The Candlelight Party is walking backward. It is its own fault but it blames others.”

Members of the Constitutional Council of Cambodia announce the election disqualification of the Candlelight Party for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Phnom Penh on May 25, 2023. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters

United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said at Wednesday’s noon briefing in New York that Cambodia should hold an inclusive election “in which a plurality of views and voter choices is represented so that there is “confidence in the electoral process.”

The executive director of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition, Ros Sotha, urged the government to intervene with the NEC to resolve the Candlelight Party’s status. The government should listen to the international community and Cambodians who want the opposition party to take part in the election, he said.

“There should be a solution. This is a collective Khmer issue,” he said. “We’ve been having political issues for many years, what we need is long term peace and development.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Public hearing in American Samoa underscores opposition to marine sanctuary plan

By Joyetter Feagaimaali'i for BenarNews — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 08:45:21 +0000

A public hearing in American Samoa about U.S. plans to expand a Pacific marine sanctuary has failed to assuage fears of tuna cannery job losses and further economic decline in the territory, according to workers, business owners and political leaders.

After a decade of lobbying by the Hawaii-based Pacific Remote Islands Coalition, the U.S. government earlier this year said it could double the size of the protected area around uninhabited U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean, making more ocean area off-limits to fishing fleets.

But the proposal has been greeted with dismay in American Samoa, where residents fear a heavy blow to the economically crucial tuna industry. Dozens of placard-wielding employees of the StarKist cannery in American Samoa protested outside a recent hearing held in Pago Pago by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees protected marine and coastal areas.

“I have seven children between the ages of two and 17, they are all in school, and I have been supporting my family working for StarKist Samoa,” Tanielu Malae, the sole breadwinner for his family, said at the May 25 hearing. “Do the people in Hawaii that made this proposal know what it is like for people like us that did not have proper education if we lose our jobs.”

Employees of the StarKist cannery in American Samoa are fearful about losing their jobs if the marine sanctuary plan goes ahead. Credit: Joyetter Feagaimaali'i/BenarNews

American Samoa’s Lieutenant Governor, Talauega Eleasalo Ale, who said he was at the hearing as a resident rather than representing the territory’s government, made an emotional appeal to “brothers and sisters” in Hawaii.

“What you are doing is unnecessary and it is painful and mean because you are not gaining anything extra by this proposition, but you are hurting us and cannery workers in this room that live off this land and rely on the fish that is coming from those islands,” he said. “If you really believe that we are your brothers and sisters you have to let this go.”

American Samoa’s governor and other politicians have voiced their opposition to the sanctuary expansion and criticized lack of consultation with the territory.

‘Fight against biodiversity loss’

The total area of the expanded sanctuary would be 2 million square kilometers (770,000 square miles), larger than the Gulf of Mexico, compared with about 1.3 million square kilometers (495,000 square miles) now.

It encompasses waters around several islands, atolls and reefs that the oceanic administration says are “home to some of the most diverse and remarkable tropical marine life on the planet.”

The tropical waters are also ideal for skipjack tuna which travel the equator in search of schools of small fish to feed on.

Tuna fishing provides about 5,000 jobs in American Samoa – where the South Korean-owned StarKist tuna cannery is the territory’s largest business – but the industry has been in decline. The American Samoan islands, located to the south of the marine sanctuary, are home to less than 50,000 people after suffering a shrinking population for at least the past decade.

“There are roughly 5,000 indirect and direct jobs that will be impacted,” said Taotasi Archie Soliai, Director of Marine Wildlife Resources in the territory.

“Think about that number,” he said at last week’s hearing. “These are underserved marginalized stricken disenfranchised minorities and indigenous communities that will continue to suffer because of these types of Federal policies driven by people who do not care.”

This October 2018 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows birds at Johnston Atoll within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/AP

Advocates of marine sanctuaries say they are crucial for the survival of endangered species and the health of the oceans.

The Pacific Remote Islands Coalition, which includes activists, scientists and nonprofit organizations, said that expanding the Pacific marine sanctuary will “meaningfully protect” the interconnected land, reef, sea and deep ocean environments.

The coalition also wants to rename the sanctuary “through a culturally appropriate process that honors the cultural, historic, and ancestral significance of the region.”

“Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. Intact natural ecosystems such as the Pacific remote islands are more resilient to the effects of climate change and can help in the fight against biodiversity loss,” the group said in its 250-page submission to the U.S. government.

Questionable benefits for tuna stocks

For tuna, which have large ranges, it’s unclear if protected areas can produce an increase in their numbers.

Research published in January in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science predicted “weak to non-existent” benefits for skipjack and bigeye tuna numbers from marine protected areas. The study’s modeling was based on Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area and hypothetical sanctuaries making up about one third of the western and central Pacific Ocean.

Businessman Vince Haleck, who owns three long-line fishing vessels, told the Pago Pago hearing that an expanded marine sanctuary is meaningless without proper policing of American Samoa’s own waters to prevent unregulated fishing by China-flagged vessels.

“Literally thousands of vessels, my boats, our boats see them all the time, catching our fish and selling it to us,” he said.

Despite talk of U.S. Coast Guard assistance, “nothing has happened,” he said. “The Chinese will continue to fish in our waters, and we can’t seem to have the political will from Washington to be able to address this issue.”

Haleck said a possible consequence of the expanded sanctuary is that purse seiner vessels, which trail vast nets to scoop fish from the ocean, will find it more economic to take their catch to Mexico than American Samoa.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also held public hearings last month in Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Joyetter Feagaimaali'i for BenarNews.

Cambodian opposition leader’s brief visit to Malaysia sets off Hun Sen

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:10:07 +0000

A recent visit to Malaysia by Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has strained ties between the two countries.

Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in Paris, arrived in Kuala Lumpur with his wife on Monday for a two-day private visit, Malaysian Parliamentarian Wong Chen said.

It included a one-hour meeting with three non-executive members of parliament who are interested in human rights and free and fair elections, but not a visit with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian officials said.

The visit angered Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Sam Rainsy is one of Hun Sen’s most prominent critics and rivals. He was head of the disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, but fled to France in 2015 to avoid a series of charges that his supporters say are politically motivated.

“Anwar Ibrahim told me clearly that he wouldn’t allow Sam Rainsy to visit, and I told him that if he allows Sam Rainsy, the two governments can’t work together,” Hun Sen said at a bridge inauguration ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday

A pro-Cambodian government website said Sam Rainsy was kicked out of the country – but Malaysia-based CNRP activist Morn Phalla said that wasn’t true.

Wong said the stopover was made on Sam Rainsy’s way back to France from Indonesia and Australia.

“We have been close friends for almost six years,” he said. “Originally, I had no intention of posting the above as it was a private visit. However, since the matter has garnered some media attention, I hope the above clarifies what actually transpired.”

Malaysia’s foreign ministry said Anwar wasn’t wasn’t aware of Sam Rainsy’s recent trip, and that the two men did not meet.

Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy speaks during a press freedom event at the Gran Melia Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 19, 2023. Credit: Reuters

‘I will shoot you’

Hun Sen also threatened to attack Sam Rainsy with a rocket launcher if he led workers from Thailand into Cambodia.

“Sam Rainsy boasted that he stepped on Malaysian soil, and now he’s boasting about going to Thailand,” Hun Sen said on Wednesday.

Sam Rainsy last week told RFA that if a new pro-democracy Thai government is formed, he will look into traveling to Cambodia through Thailand.

“The Thai government can’t allow you – the non-interference internal policy,” Hun Sen said, referring to ASEAN’s principle of non-interference between its member nations. “If you cross the border from Thailand … I will shoot you. You don’t want to create chaos.”

Sok Ey San, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, told RFA that he doesn't believe Sam Rainsy dares to return to the country. He also said he doesn’t believe many people will welcome Sam Rainsy.

“Why doesn’t he come if people are welcoming him?” he said. “He is conducting political propaganda for his political business.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

NZ’s opposition ‘need to go back to school’ over bilingual sign attack

APR editor — Sat, 27 May 2023 09:14:29 +0000

By Rayssa Almeida, RNZ News reporter

New Zealand’s Māori Party co-leader says the opposition National Party should go back to school if it thinks including te reo Māori on road signs is confusing.

In a transport meeting yesterday in Bay of Plenty, National’s spokesperson Simeon Brown said introducing the language to road signs would make them “more confusing” and they “should all be English”.

On Monday, Waka Kotahi said its He Tohu Huarahi Māori Bilingual Traffic Signs programme was going out for public consultation.

READ MORE: Other Te Reo Māori reports

If successful, the programme would include te reo Māori in motorway and expressway signs, destination signs, public and active transport signs, walking and cycling signs, general advisory and warning signs.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said having the language included on road signs will help those in the process of learning te reo.

“This is an environment where there’s more non-Māori learning reo than we ever had in the history of Aotearoa. It’s important that we embrace our nation hood, including our indigenous people and our language.”

“We spent a long time trying to make sure we don’t lose our language, so having our culture in our roads is not just about helping those who are fluent Māori speakers, but so those who are in our education system learning reo can see it reflected around our environment.”

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer . . . “It’s never too hard to understand the official languages of Aotearoa.” Image: RNZ

‘Make an effort’
She said Brown should go back to school if he thought te reo Māori on road signs was confusing.

“It’s never too hard to understand the official languages of Aotearoa. Whether it will be making an effort to understand te reo or sign language, for example.

“These are all a critical part of our nation and if he [Simeon Brown] needs to go back to school or take some time off Parliament to be able to understand our language so be it.”

There had been Māori traffic signs, Māori names, in this nation for a very long time, Ngarewa-Packer said.

“I’m not so sure why he [Simeon Brown] is so confused now.”

The Te Pāti Māori co-leader said Brown’s comments were separatist.

“I think it’s a real ignorant alarmist way to be politicking.”

“Twenty percent of our population is Māori. If we see a large [political] party basically trying to ignore 20 percent of this population, then can we expect them to do that to the rest of our multiculture, diversity and languages that we see coming forward in Aotearoa?”

She said most New Zealanders would enjoy seeing multilingual road signs.

“I think we are a mature and sophisticated country and generally, most of us, actually really enjoy not only seeing our indigenous language but also other languages.

“[Not having bilingual signs] It’s an attempt to take us backwards that I don’t think many are going to tolerate.”

‘They should be filling pot holes’ – National
National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown said Waka Kotahi should be filling pot holes instead of looking into including te reo Māori in road signage around the country.

“NZTA should be focusing primarally in fixing the pot holes on our roads and they shouldn’t be distracted by changing signage up and down our country.”

“Most New Zealanders want to see our roads fixed, it’s their number one priority.”

Brown said the National Party was open to bilingual information, but only when it came to place names signage.

“When it comes to critically important safety information the signage needs to be clear and understandable for people in our road, most of whom who speak English.”

“It’s important to keep the balance right between place names, which we are very open for bilingual signage, and critical safety signs where is really important people understand what the sign is saying,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Constitutional body rejects Cambodian opposition party’s ballot appeal

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 26 May 2023 01:51:17 +0000

Cambodia’s Constitutional Council rejected an appeal from the country’s main opposition party to be allowed to register for the upcoming parliamentary elections, a decision on Thursday that leaves the Candlelight Party without options and some observers questioning whether the July vote will have much credibility.

The National Election Committee’s decision earlier this month to block the Candlelight Party from appearing on the ballot was deemed correct and based on the law, council spokesman Prum Vicheat Akara told reporters.

The ruling means Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won’t have any major challengers on the ballot on July 23.

The decision is a setback for democracy in Cambodia and will disenfranchise thousands of people who have recently become supporters of the Candlelight Party, according to Rong Chhun, the party’s vice president.

The French foreign ministry echoed that, saying it was “a troubling signal that undermines the democratic nature of the vote.”

“France calls on the appropriate authorities to take the necessary measures to allow the Candlelight Party to participate in this important democratic exercise,” it said in a statement.

The NEC said on May 15 that it wouldn’t accept a statement from the Interior Ministry confirming the party’s registration in 1998. The committee said it required the original certificate issued by the ministry, which was lost in 2017 when the offices of a previous opposition party were raided by government agents.

Candlelight Party members have cried foul because the party was allowed to compete in last year’s local commune elections.

Public protest promised

Party officials had hoped the Constitutional Council, a judicial body that examines election disputes, might overturn the NEC’s ruling.

But the Constitutional Council – just like the NEC – was simply acting according to Hun Sen’s wishes, Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok said.

Son Chhay, second from right, deputy leader of the opposition political Candlelight Party, arrives at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Oct. 7, 2022. Credit: Associated Press

“Hun Sen can’t find any solutions so he already threatened foreign diplomats,” he said. “He is afraid of a demonstration after the election results. He is afraid of the Candlelight Party and other social injustice issues.”

The Candlelight Party has two choices, said Australia-based social development researcher Seng Sary. One is to seek some kind of foreign intervention. Another is to persuade France-based opposition figure Sam Rainsy to return to the country for the first time since 2015.

“The Candlelight Party can call for a small protest, but if Sam Rainsy returns, there will be a bigger movement,” he said. “If Sam Rainsy is in the country, there will be a bigger force.”

Party officials will organize a public protest of the Council’s decision soon, Rong Chhun said.

However, Hun Sen recently warned against holding any protest, saying a demonstration could lead to violence and mass arrests. He has ordered prisons to prepare their cells for opposition party members.

Activists and party officials targeted

Authorities have arrested several top Candlelight Party officials in recent months. Some activists have complained of a campaign of intimidation, while others have been persuaded by the promise of a government position to switch their allegiance to the CPP.

Cambodia's Candlelight Party supporters wave flags before marching during an election campaign for the June 5 communal elections in Phnom Penh, May 21, 2022. Credit: Associated Press

The Candlelight Party has attracted support over the last several years with a policy platform centered around improving social welfare benefits such as offering free check-ups and treatment at public hospitals and raising the minimum monthly wage for garment workers and civil servants.

Eng Sokha, a voter in Phnom Penh, said the CPP must be afraid of competing with the opposition’s popularity. It’s well-known that Candlelight’s paperwork was valid enough for it to compete in the 2022 commune elections, she said.

“So there is no reason that the party can’t join this election. I am disappointed,” she said, adding that she might not vote.

CPP spokesman Sok Ey San dismissed any concerns about the election’s validity. If Candlelight Party supporters don’t vote, then the CPP will continue to lead the country, he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Journalists harassed, 1 beaten after opposition protest coverage in Pakistan

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 24 May 2023 18:00:33 +0000

New York, May 24, 2023—Pakistani authorities must cease harassing journalists covering the country’s political unrest and respect the media’s right to report freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

Since May 16, police have visited the homes of at least three journalists who reported from the scene of a May 9 protest and attack on an army corps commander’s residence, according to news reports, a statement by the Lahore Press Club reviewed by CPJ, and journalists who spoke to CPJ.

On Tuesday, May 23, the Lahore High Court ordered authorities to cease harassing journalists and media workers who reported from the May 9 protest following a joint petition, according to news reports and one of the petitioners, freelance journalist Shahid Aslam, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

“Pakistani authorities must abide by the Lahore High Court’s order and immediately end the harassment of journalists who reported on recent political gatherings,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “It is crucial for journalists to keep the public informed about the country’s political situation. Authorities must ensure journalists are safe to do so without the fear of surveillance and harassment by law enforcement.”

Following the arrest of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, PTI supporters demonstrated outside the army corps commander’s residence in eastern Punjab province’s capital city of Lahore, broke through the gates, and set fire to the premises.

Shahid Aslam

Police were stationed outside Aslam’s Lahore apartment from May 16 to May 22, he told CPJ, adding that officers asked his roommate at least three times about the journalist’s whereabouts and looked through his windows to check if he was present while he was away reporting in Islamabad, the capital.

Aslam reported on the May 9 protest for his political affairs YouTube channel Xposed with Shahid Aslam, which has over 55,000 subscribers. He told CPJ that a senior Lahore police official informed him that he was not wanted in any specific case and had been identified through geofencing, the practice of identifying all active mobile phone numbers in an area.

Jahangir Hayat

On the evening of May 17, two men in police uniforms and six in plainclothes arrived at Hayat’s home in Lahore, according to Lahore Press Club President Azam Chaudhry and Hayat, chief reporter for the privately owned newspaper Daily Business, both of whom spoke with CPJ by phone. The men did not present a warrant but claimed the journalist was wanted for serious criminal offenses, including murder and kidnapping. They then punched his face, breaking his front teeth, and hit his hand with an iron rod, Hayat told CPJ, adding that the men also shoved his 13-year-old son, leading him to hit his head on a motorcycle, and pushed his wife in the chest.

Hayat, who reported about the protest on his political affairs YouTube channel BoldNews42, which has more than 5,000 subscribers, told CPJ that the men took him inside his home after the journalist appeared faint, and he then managed to escape and take refuge in the Lahore Press Club.

On May 18, while Hayat and his family remained at the press club, authorities raided the journalist’s home searching for him and broke down its iron doors, he said. Hayat and his family returned home on May 21 after Chaudhry contacted multiple senior Lahore police officials, one of whom informed him authorities would open an inquiry into the attack, the two journalists told CPJ.

Sarfraz Ahmed Khan

Between May 21 and 23, police made about 10 visits to the Lahore home of Khan, deputy bureau chief of the privately owned broadcaster GNN. They searched the premises and police officials repeatedly called Khan to tell him an arrest warrant had been issued for him under the Anti-Terrorism Act, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Officers also searched the nearby home of Khan’s friend on May 21, claiming the journalist was hiding there.

A police document reviewed by CPJ showed that the journalist was present at the May 9 protest and was identified using facial recognition software. The document also listed personal details, including his address, and was leaked online, leading the journalist to fear for his safety, he told CPJ.

On May 22, the Punjab police posted a statement on Twitter claiming that Usman Anwar, inspector-general of the Punjab police, had given orders that no innocent citizen, including journalists, would be punished for the attack on the army corps commanders’ residence, and that the issue with Khan had been resolved.

However, on the evening of May 23, police again arrived at Khan’s home, but left after confirming that a senior Lahore police official had issued an internal letter protecting the journalist from harassment, Khan told CPJ.

Separately, on Tuesday, police failed to present journalist Imran Riaz Khan at the Lahore High Court for a third time following his May 11 arrest. The journalist has been missing since May 11 after police claimed to have released him, his lawyer Azhar Siddique told CPJ by phone.

CPJ’s calls and messages to Punjab Police Inspector-General Usman Anwar and Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Kamyana received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Journalists harassed, 1 beaten after opposition protest coverage in Pakistan

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 24 May 2023 18:00:33 +0000

Shahid Aslam

Jahangir Hayat

Sarfraz Ahmed Khan

CPJ’s calls and messages to Punjab Police Inspector-General Usman Anwar and Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Kamyana received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Timor-Leste’s opposition party wins election ‘punishing’ ruling Fretilin coalition

APR editor — Tue, 23 May 2023 23:00:30 +0000

ABC Pacific Beat

Timor-Leste independence hero Xanana Gusmao has won the parliamentary election, but the country’s first president may contest the count after his party fell short of an outright majority.

The result of Sunday’s election paves the way for a return to power for the 76-year-old, Timor-Leste’s first president, if he can form a coalition.

Fellow independence figure Dr Mari Alkatiri’s incumbent Fretilin party, formerly the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, won only 25.7 percent, according to the Electoral Commission.

Dr Andrea Fahey from the Australian National University said the results signalled a desire for political change from the people of Timor-Leste.

“The management of the covid pandemic and the fact the government closed down, it was a big punishment vote on the government for that,” she said.

“For Dr Alkatiri, maybe it’s time to pass the torch.”

If there is no outright winner from the election, the constitution gives the party with the most votes the opportunity to form a coalition.

The next government will need to decide on allowing the development of the Greater Sunrise project, which aims to tap trillions of cubic metres of natural gas.

Dr Fahey said Gusmao was expected to move forward with engaging the Australian government on the project.

There are also growing calls for Timor-Leste to join the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which could owe to its cultural connections to the region.

“It’s kind of the bridge between both regions,” Dr Fahey said.

“Timor-Leste would be a positive addition to the Pacific Forum, and could bring a loud voice [since] Timor has a strong international presence.”

Republished from the ABC Pacific Beat with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

West Failed to Depose Erdogan Despite Openly Backing Opposition

Ahmed Adel — Tue, 16 May 2023 12:55:13 +0000

Although Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory in the second round of the presidential election in Turkey is almost assured ahead of the second round of votes, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in case of victory, would alter the country’s foreign policy and put the relationship with Russia into a framework that is acceptable to the US. The question surrounding Kilicdaroglu is whether he would introduce sanctions against Russia or turn Turkey away from its newfound independent foreign policy.

Turkey is heading to the second round of the election after Erdogan achieved a better-than-expected result in the polls and has a significant lead over his rival, but not enough to win in the first round. Neither Erdogan nor the opposition candidate received 50 per cent and will face off again on May 28.

The second round was expected, but Erdogan still surprised everyone by achieving a figure of nearly 50 per cent, precisely 49.51% against Kilidaroglu’s 44.88%. Erdogan gained much more than the polls gave him credit for. Still, the pollsters often fail, especially in Turkey, because they do not include many groups of people, such as the diaspora, those who work in the state bureaucracy, nationalists, young people, and pensioners.

American President Joseph Biden did not influence the elections in Turkey, this to the disappointment of the entire West who openly expressed dissatisfaction with Erdogan’s increasingly independent foreign policy. Erdogan is responsible for transforming Turkey from Kemalist ideology to a more Islamist one, and one not entirely beholden to the West, as has been the situation since the country became a NATO member in 1952.

Erdogan’s candidate rival has received much adulation from the West, which is constantly growing and will probably be connected to the constant effort to compromise Russia as an international actor. The current Turkish president never questioned the country’s membership in NATO because he did not want Turkey to be just a regular member of the Alliance but rather a partner with independent interests that must be respected. This will characterise Ankara’s relations with the West even if Kemal Kilicdaroglu eventually prevails.

Kilicdaroglu’s statements about loyalty to NATO were made only in terms of electoral support because any criticism and belittling of Turkey would not be supported. The opposition leader will have to come to terms with the fact that Turkey is not the same as it was 20 years ago when Erdogan first became ruler of the country, but that now it is an independent regional power and that the Alliance is only one source of support it receives.

Even supposing that Kilicdaroglu eventually wins the election, he would be advised to maintain many elements of Ankara’s current official policy, such as Turkey’s relationship with the US and not changing military partnerships. Instead, the opposition leader would not help Russia too much to get out of isolation, like the oil hub, and there is still the question of whether he would introduce sanctions because it would be counterproductive for Turkey.

One of the crucial issues related to these elections is the economic crisis that has hit Turkey. The bad news for Turkey is that inflation is almost 60 per cent, even if a large gas field has been reportedly discovered in the Black Sea.

Erdogan is attempting to remedy this situation, something he has already experienced twice. The main difference, however, is that previous economic crises were not before an election. To try and deal with the economic crisis, he raised the interest rates at which the state borrows money. This means that money was withdrawn from the market, which affected the poor the most. Today, Erdogan is looking for innovative solutions, but people are still determining how it will turn out.

What is visible is that Kilicdaroglu needs to make a statement on the matter. The political program of the opposition is 250 pages long and full of ambiguities because Islamists, liberals, pro-Kurds, and nationalists are all cooperating. Effectively, the opposition leader can only hope to reach some saving arrangement with the West.

On the eve of the second round, the question arises regarding whom the third-placed Sinan Ogan will support, especially since he received 5.2 percent of the voters’ support in the first round. Ogan’s family are Azerbaijani, and he is essential in promoting pan-Turanism/Turkism. He also leads the anti-immigrant coalition, so neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu suits him. However, he will have to pivot to one side, and it will be interesting to observe who he chooses.

With Kilicdaroglu representing the West and its interests, Erdogan represents independence and sovereignty to make decisions without interference. It is this dichotomy that Turks must choose between, and for now it seemingly appears that they are once against choosing Erdogan.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Ahmed Adel.

Cambodia’s top opposition party officially blocked from July elections

By RFA Khmer — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:43:00 +0000

Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party was officially rejected by the National Election Committee on Monday and won’t be allowed to compete in the July 23 parliamentary elections.

The decision deals an enormous blow to opponents of Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which now looks like it will sail to an overwhelming victory in the vote.

It also repeats what happened before the last election, in 2018, when the Supreme Court dissolved the previous main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which was perceived as a threat to Hun Sen’s decades-long grip on power. The ruling CPP went on to win all 125 seats in the assembly.

The election committee’s decision wasn’t surprising, and it came down to an apparent problem with paperwork.

The Candlelight Party had submitted its application to register for the election, but the committee warned last week that it wouldn’t accept a statement from the Interior Ministry confirming the party’s registration in 1998. It said it required the original certificate issued by the ministry, which was lost in 2017, when the CNRP offices were raided by government agents.

On top of that, the committee needs that document certified by the Phnom Penh Municipality.

Candlelight Party members cried foul because the party was allowed to compete in previous local elections.

“Some problems are politically motivated, and that makes it a bit difficult for our country,” Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith told Radio Free Asia.

“Legally, we have documents certified by the Ministry of Interior, which is good enough for us to be able to participate in the coming election because we, the Candlelight Party, were already allowed to join last year’s commune election and then the recent city/provincial/district election,” he said.

“So we don’t know what else to do,” he said.

Appeals

The party has five days to file a complaint with the Constitutional Council, a judicial body that examines election disputes. Candlelight officials have also tried to meet with Hun Sen to seek his intervention, but he wouldn’t agree to meet until after the election, Kim Sour Phirith said.

Exiled opposition figure Sam Rainsy said opposition parties that emphasized democratic values won seats in Phnom Penh in the 2003 and 2013 parliamentary elections – and Hun Sen was probably worried that Candlelight Party candidates on the ballot from Phnom Penh would also perform well.

“The big thing is that Hun Sen wants to transfer power to his son, Hun Manet, to become prime minister after the election,” he told RFA. “And Hun Manet is standing as first candidate for election in Phnom Penh.”

The election committee should explain why it recognized and allowed the Candlelight Party to participate in two recent elections, but not this one, said Kang Savang, a coordinator with the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel).

“Why does the NEC not accept the Ministry of Interior’s declared recognition of the CLP?” he asked. “This seemingly means that the NEC does not acknowledge the legal existence of the Ministry of Interior.”

The party’s registration for last year’s commune elections and the recent city and provincial elections seemed to go smoothly, legal scholar Vorn Chanloth said.

“So, I think we should keep using that procedure,” he said. “Any new procedure should be flexible too. That means that if a political party isn’t able to fulfill the new requirement, it should be allowed to follow the old workable procedure.”

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Thailand’s top opposition parties agree to join forces after big electoral win

Harry Pearl for BenarNews — Mon, 15 May 2023 17:12:00 +0000

Thailand’s two largest opposition parties agreed Monday to enter a coalition after inflicting a resounding election defeat on the pro-military establishment, though analysts say it is far from certain they will be able to take power.

The progressive Move Forward Party won the highest number of seats in Sunday’s vote, beating expectations and edging out the more favored Pheu Thai Party – the populist vehicle of the billionaire Shinawatra family.

Because they lack a parliamentary majority between them, the two parties will need the support of several smaller parties and some senators to overcome election rules enshrined in the constitution that, critics say, gives the military-backed ruling bloc an upper hand in forming a government.

Speaking on Monday, Pita Limjaroenrat, the 42-year-old leader of Move Forward, said he had invited five opposition parties to form a coalition, including Pheu Thai, and he was ready to be prime minister.

The six parties together could muster about 309 out of 500 seats in Parliament’s lower house, he said – well short of the number needed to govern in the bicameral legislature, but giving them a box seat in post-polls negotiations.

Pita said he was “not worried but not careless” about forces including in the upper house Senate that may try to get in the way.

“It would be quite a hefty price to pay for someone who is thinking of abolishing the election results or forming a minority government,” he said at a press conference in Bangkok.

To minimize economic and political risk, a transition team would be formed to ensure a new government as soon as possible, Pita said.

Pheu Thai Party prime ministerial candidates Paetongtarn Shinawatra (left) and Srettha Thavisin address the media at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, May 15, 2023. Credit: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP

The ruling Palang Pracharath Party and the United Thai Nation Party were trounced in Sunday’s election. For many Thais, the question now is whether the military-backed establishment will accept the opposition mandate.

“Theoretically speaking they have legitimacy – but this is Thailand,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University. “We have to wait and see what kind of reaction will come from the current coalition.”

After coming to power in a 2014 coup, and prior to the 2019 general election, the junta led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha changed the country’s constitution to allow 250 senators appointed by the ruling party to vote for the next prime minister.

As a result, a party must be able to win at least 376 seats out of 750 to secure a majority in both houses.

The identity of the next prime minister might not be known until weeks or months after the vote, as Thailand’s electoral system allows up to 60 days for the release of official results, and parliament convenes two weeks later to vote for the nation’s leader.

Experts say some of Move Forward’s liberal campaign promises, including reforms to the constitution, military conscription and Thailand’s strict royal defamation law, known as Lèse-Majesté, could prove a problem with conservative-minded senators.

“Given Move Forward’s position on issues such as the Lèse-Majesté law, it remains to be seen whether conservative senators can stomach voting for a Move Forward prime minister,” said Ken Mathis Lohatepanont, a Thai political science researcher at the University of Michigan.

Amending the Lèse-Majesté law, which human rights groups say that the current government has used to silence dissent, could be divisive even within the opposition coalition.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 36-year-old daughter of self-exiled former PM Thaksin, said on Monday that Pheu Thai did not support changing the law, only discussing it in Parliament.

Her party also congratulated Move Forward on its win.

[We] support Move Forward, who won the biggest votes, in forming a coalition government,” Paetongtarn said.

“We together as a party wish Khun Pita the best of luck in becoming PM of Thailand and forming the coalition government,” Srettha Thavisin, one of the Pheu Thai’s three prime ministerial candidates, who sat alongside Paetongtarn at a press conference in the capital Monday.

“The people believe in democracy and they want major change – that is the message that the people have given to all of us.”

As of Monday morning, 99.18% of the vote had been counted with a record turnout of 75.22%, the Election Commission said.

The election signaled an appetite not just for a change of government, but also political reform in Thailand after nearly two decades of military dominance that included two coups, in 2006 and 2014.

In Sunday’s polls, Move Forward rewrote the electoral map in Bangkok, winning all but one district and scoring victories around the northern city of Chiang Mai, the political stronghold of the Shinawatra dynasty.

“The victory of Move Forward has a lot to do with its ability to communicate with people, and not just young people,” Titipol, the analyst, said.

“But if we look at their policies, they have been speaking in the same language as people’s demands. That is why they won in this election.”

Nontharat Phaicharoen and Wilawan Watcharasakwej in Bangkok, and Kunnawut Boonreak in Chiang Mai contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Harry Pearl for BenarNews.

Top opposition leader kept off ballot in Cambodia

By RFA Khmer — Tue, 09 May 2023 17:36:03 +0000

Cambodia’s election committee on Tuesday rejected a top candidate from the country’s main opposition party and said the party must correct several things before its candidates can be allowed to run in the July 23 parliamentary elections.

The decision comes a day after Monday’s deadline for parties to submit applications to participate in the vote that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party is widely expected to win.

The CPP already controls all 125 seats in the National Assembly – a stranglehold that the opposition Candlelight Party hopes to crack at least a bit.

But authorities are making it difficult for the Candlelight Party to run for the election. The National Election Committee has not approved its application to field candidates in July.

On Tuesday, Rong Chhun, the party’s vice president and a prominent labor activist who joined the Candlelight Party in January, was barred from being listed as the party’s top candidate in Kandal province due to a prior conviction, said the committee’s secretary general, Tep Nytha.

In August 2021, Rong Chhun was sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the government’s failure to address disputes over Cambodia’s shared border with Vietnam. He was later ordered to serve for 15 months, with the remainder of the sentence suspended with a three-year probation.

“He was convicted and has not been rehabilitated,” Tep Nytha wrote in a statement.

Versus Hun Sen

Rong Chhun would have been on the ballot opposite Hun Sen, who is running as the CPP’s top candidate in Kandal, which surrounds the capital of Phnom Penh.

Rong Chhun said he was allowed to vote in last year’s commune elections. If that wasn’t a probation violation, then running as a candidate this year also shouldn’t be a problem, he told Radio Free Asia.

The party will have no option but to remove him from its candidate list, said spokesman Kim Sour Phirith.

“It is sad that the NEC won’t allow him to run,” he said. “Election law says Rong Chhun can run, but this was just an excuse.”

The Candlelight Party submitted its application to the election commission on Saturday after the Ministry of Interior issued a statement recognizing the party.

The party had lost its original statement from the ministry during a 2017 raid on the offices of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which at the time was the country’s leading opposition party before it was shut down by the Supreme Court. The party had received 44 percent of the votes in the 2013 general election, but was unable to run in the 2018 elections.

The election commission still needs a copy of the Ministry of Interior's statement and has asked that the party also provide a copy of the receipt showing it paid 15 million riel (about US$3,600) to register.

Another key opposition figure, Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in France, urged the international community not to recognize the results of the July 23 election, which he said would be a sham.

This year’s election is “shaping up along the usual lines” compared to 2018, the Sam Rainsy wrote in an op-ed for Nikkei Asia on Tuesday.

“There will not be any surprises when the votes are counted,” he wrote. “The presence of a small symbolic opposition allows Hun Sen to present a facade of democracy to dampen international criticism.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Top opposition official says he’s not worried about court’s arrest warning

By RFA Khmer — Thu, 04 May 2023 19:42:19 +0000

The vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party said he’s not concerned about being arrested sometime before the July 23 election – a comment that follows a pro-government newspaper’s report that warned of a possible arrest if he’s found in violation of his court probation.

Rong Chhun, a prominent activist who has held several top labor roles in Cambodia, joined the Candlelight Party in January, saying that he supports the party’s platform of “freedom, human rights, justice and democracy.”

His decision came amid a wide-ranging crackdown by authorities against the Candlelight Party, with Prime Minister Hun Sen repeatedly attacking his opponents in public forums.

Those actions have continued in recent months, with some party activists facing harassment and threats at the provincial level while more senior members of the party have been targeted with arrests and lawsuits. Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have also persuaded a number of activists to switch their allegiance to the CPP.

Rong Chhun is expected to submit his application with the National Election Committee on Saturday to be listed on the ballot as Candlelight’s top parliamentary candidate in central Kandal province. That would put him in direct competition with Hun Sen, who is running as the CPP’s top candidate in Kandal.

“Hun Sen must be open to my candidacy and to having a fair and just competition,” he told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.

“It is not worth it if you win without competition,” he said. “If we are competing and you’ve done bad things against competitors, the world will think that it is worthless to win.”

‘It will backfire on them’

In 2021, authorities sentenced Rong Chhun to two years in prison for criticizing the government’s failure to address disputes over the country’s shared border with Vietnam in 2020. He was later ordered to serve for 15 months, with the remainder of the sentence suspended with a three-year probation.

The court said he is required to tell authorities of any changes in address or employment or any plans to travel abroad. He must also appear for meetings with court officials when summoned.

On Thursday, the spokesman for Phnom Penh Municipal Court told the Fresh News newspaper that Rong Chhun would be arrested if he’s found to have disregarded any of the probation requirements.

Rong Chhun told RFA that he hasn’t been banned from voting and has the right to run for any office in the July 23 general election. Also, the Ministry of Interior has already recognized him as the Candlelight Party’s vice president, he said.

“I have nothing to be worried about because I've done nothing wrong. There is no ban that says I can’t involve myself in politics. If I am arrested and people think it is not correct, it will backfire on them,” he said, referring to the CPP.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

More opposition defections lift Cambodia’s ruling party ahead of July election

By RFA Khmer — Mon, 01 May 2023 20:27:00 +0000

A string of recent defections and public apologies by opposition party officials and critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen has given the longtime leader a boost less than three months before July’s parliamentary elections.

The high-profile defections to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party are just the latest – at least nine opposition party officials have switched their allegiance to the CPP since November 2022 as the party works to co-opt and silence opposition figures.

On Sunday, the president of the little-known Khmer Win Party was appointed to be the secretary of state of the Council of Ministers. Suong Sophorn has been a fierce critic of Hun Sen and once served as the youth movement leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the country’s main opposition party before it was banned in 2017.

“I, Suong Sophorn, have made a clear decision to join my political life with the CPP,” he said in a pre-recorded video addressing both Hun Sen and the prime minister’s son and presumed successor, Hun Manet.

“I love my nation and love my people dearly. However, being in the opposition, I appear to think that I have contributed so little to the nation and our homeland, so I have made a clear decision to join the government so that I may use my abilities to serve our people directly.”

Cambodian army chief Hun Manet, center, a son of Prime Minister Hun Sen, attends a ceremony of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces at the Defense Ministry in Phnom Penh, on April 20, 2023. Credit: Heng Sinith/AP

‘I was too young’

The video was posted on Hun Sen’s Telegram channel. On Monday, the prime minister posted on the same channel a handwritten apology letter and a pre-recorded video from the deputy chief of the opposition Candlelight Party’s organization in Takeo province.

Ir Channa, a Norwegian citizen and a former outspoken border critic, was arrested last year after he returned from exile to support the Candlelight Party in last year’s local commune elections.

Speaking from jail, he apologized for information he shared on Facebook in 2020 regarding the possible return to Cambodia of a top opposition leader.

“I admit all these mistakes and leniently beg you to accept my apologies,” he said. “I pledge to always comply with the national laws and the constitution of Cambodia.”

He was released later on Monday, and Hun Sen posted another video clip in the evening of Ir Channa thanking him. Ir Channa did not mention whether he would defect to the CPP in exchange for his release.

Another critic, Kean Ponlork, also issued a hand-written apology letter and a pre-recorded video on Monday in which he asked to join the CPP.

The former CNRP official was in charge of the party’s training department and has also served as the secretary-general of the Federation of Cambodian Intellectuals and Students.

“I, Kean Ponlork, would like to apologize to Samdech Hun Sen for having joined hands with the opposition and civil society, and for providing interviews to Radio Free Asia, Voice of Democracy and The Cambodia Daily to attack your leadership that causes confusion on your legitimate government,” he said. “I was too young to be able to fully understand the depth of Cambodian politics.”

Hun Sen responded on Telegram: “I warmly welcome Mr. Kean Ponlork. Since he is residing in Takeo province, the Takeo provincial CPP committee is requested to make proper arrangements for Mr. Kean Ponlork in accordance with the party procedures.”

‘Positions, benefits and titles’

Last month, former CNRP youth leader Yim Sinorn was appointed secretary of state for the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. Just weeks before that, he was in jail.

Yim Sinorn was arrested in March after posting a comment on Facebook that seemed to highlight the political powerlessness of King Norodom Sihamoni. Another opposition activist, Hun Kosal, was also arrested at the same time for similar remarks.

They were both released after posting their own online apologies to Hun Sen. Afterward, Yim Sinorn met with the prime minister at his home in Kandal province, where he and his family posed for photos as Hun Sen sat at his desk.

Hun Kosal also recently received a government appointment – undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning.

Um Sam An, a former CNRP member of parliament, said he’s not worried about the possibility of more opposition defections in the coming months. The politicians who share a genuine belief in the future of the nation won’t take Hun Sen’s bait, he said.

“Both positions, benefits and titles will not be essential for us. What we really want is for a positive change in Cambodia, a true respect of human rights and democracy,” he said.

The recent defections will help clean the “rubbish” politicians away from the true democrats, said Seng Sary, a political commentator who lives in Australia.

“I accept the fact that some defectors are successful in their political life after defections,” he said. “However, 95 to 99 percent among those defectors have lost their political lives and their reputations in Cambodian politics.”

CNRP Vice President Eng Chhai Eang, who lives in the United States, told Radio Free Asia last week that Hun Sen has, in the past, made serious overtures to him about joining the CPP and the government.

But last week, the prime minister grew angry after Eng Chhai Eang made critical comments online following the news of the defections of Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal.

“He posted a comment to mock me,” Eng Chhai Eang said. “He said, ‘If you want to get the government positions, first you must join the opposition party. If you want, I will pardon you and appoint you to a position in the government.’”

Translated by Keo Sovannarith. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Court gives Cambodian opposition leader additional charges as election nears.

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 21:36:57 +0000

A Cambodian court on Friday gave additional charges to a detained opposition leader, a move that will likely prevent him from campaigning ahead of July’s general elections.

Sporting a shaggy white goatee he grew while in detention, Thach Setha stepped out of the prison van wearing orange prison garb. The 69-year-old smiled and waved to reporters and supporters as he entered the Phnom Penh Municipal court to finish his bail hearing.

In July, he was charged with writing false checks. On Friday, Thach Setha, vice president of Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party, was charged with “incitement to provoke social chaos” over remarks he made in a speech last year while visiting Japan, his lawyers told Radio Free Asia.

NGOs said the charges are politically motivated and accused the court of deliberately attempting to keep Thach Setha detained so that he is unable to campaign in the runup to the election if not missing it altogether.

It’s the latest example of the Cambodian government targeting political opposition to the country’s strongman leader Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party, ahead of the July 23 election.

If convicted, the new charge can imprison Thach Setha between six months to two years.

The additional charges will undoubtedly force Thach Setha to remain in prison longer, as they constitute a more serious crime than the previous charges, said Ros Sotha, executive director of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition.

He urged the ruling party to allow free and fair elections, saying, “I would like the politicians to consider their people. they have been suffering for many months already.”

The case against Thach Setha is politically motivated, Y Soksan, a senior officer in the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA. He said that Thach Setha has attempted to repay the checks that bounced but the recipients are refusing so that his detention can be prolonged.

"The case should be resolved, but instead it will be dragged out," said Y Soksan

Thach Setha's wife Thach Sokborany told RFA that she hopes the court will release her husband on bail so that he can be treated for various health issues including diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

"I ask the court to have clemency on him. He has a heart condition,” she said. “Please have clemency … so he can reunite with his family.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Eugene Whong.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Cambodian opposition parties delay registering for election due to intimidation

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:51:49 +0000

Several opposition Cambodian political parties have not registered to participate in July’s general election and will wait until the last minute to take action because intimidation, threats and attacks have made it dangerous to do so, domestic civil society groups said.

Seven parties, including Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, or CCP, already have registered and submitted their candidate lists for the July 23 election to elect members to the National Assembly, which is currently dominated by the CCP.

Political parties can submit candidate lists to the National Election Committee from April 24 to May 8.

The main opposition Candlelight Party is having difficulty recruiting candidates because of intimidation and physical assaults against its activists. Some supporters are afraid of publicly campaigning for candidates.

"Activists, especially those in Phnom Penh, were physically attacked,” said Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith. “They are being threatened emotionally. It is not good for our country that one party is discriminating against its opponent.”

He said the party is reviewing candidates and will try to register them with the NEC before the May 8 deadline.

Other parties also are experiencing difficulties recruiting and registering candidates due to political discrimination, said Sam Kuntheamy, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for free and fair Elections in Cambodia, an organization that monitors elections.

Attacks on activists have tarnished Cambodia’s election environment, he said.

“I don’t want to see any violence against political activists because at this stage, the parties are preparing to participate in the election,” said Sam Kuntheamy. “Political violence should be avoided.”

Recent attacks

Over the weekend, four assailants on motorbikes assaulted a Candlelight Party activist as he was traveling to the capital of Phnom Penh, striking him several times with a metal baton. Another party activist said her car was intentionally rammed by an unknown assailant. Six other opposition party members have reported attacks in the past months.

Hang Puthea, spokesman for the NEC, which oversees voting in the country, told Radio Free Asia that the body is reviewing the applications submitted by the seven political parties and will notify them of their status after May 8.

The NEC has created an app for all parties to register their candidates to avoid duplication and to prevent fraud, he said.

So far, more than 40 political parties have been officially recognized by the country’s Ministry of Interior, which regulates the formation of parties.

Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Belarusian Opposition Marks Chernobyl Anniversary In Vilnius By Protesting Russian Nukes

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 19:04:22 +0000

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Weekend attacks in Cambodia’s capital target two more opposition party members

By RFA Khmer — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 20:47:42 +0000

Two more opposition party activists were assaulted over the weekend as they traveled in Phnom Penh – the latest in a series of similar attacks in recent months that members of the Candlelight Party insist are all politically motivated.

Thun Chantha, who has worked for the main opposition party for several years, was attacked during the day on Sunday by four assailants who surrounded him on their motorbikes, struck him several times with a metal baton and left him with bruises all over his body.

“They followed me along the road and crashed into my motorbike,” he said. “Then they pounced on me.”

Another Candlelight Party activist, Thy Sokha, said her car was intentionally rammed into on Saturday night by an unknown assailant who drove a black 470-series Lexus.

Thy Sokha is widely known as “Peypeyly” on social media. She and her husband weren’t seriously injured, but the front right part of her car was completely damaged. The assailant wore a bodyguard uniform and ran toward a waiting car, she said.

“If I was not lucky enough, I would not have a chance to do this livestream about this incident so that our people may know the truth. I am really horrified by this threat against my life,” she said just after the incident.

‘Every repressive tool’

The Candlelight Party is expected to be the top competitor to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in the July parliamentary elections.

The CPP is stepping up its pressure on political opposition members in advance of the election, just as Prime Minister Hun Sen warned would happen during a speech in Kampong Cham province earlier this year, Human Rights Watch noted.

“You have two options, first we could use the court,” Hun Sen said on Jan. 9. “Secondly, we can go to hit you at your home because you don’t listen. Which option do you prefer? The second? Don’t be rude.”

Candlelight Party activist Thy Sokha, known as “Peypeyly” on social media, talks on a Facebook livestream on Saturday after her car was intentionally rammed by an unknown assailant. Credit: RFA screenshot from Facebook

There have been seven reported acts of violence that have targeted six opposition party members in recent months – not including the two attacks over the weekend, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Monday.

Attacks on four of the six activists had multiple similarities, the New York-based organization said.

“All four attacks were carried out by two men in dark clothes with dark motorcycle helmets riding a single motorbike, with the driver remaining on the bike while the passenger assaulted the victim,” the organization said.

“In three attacks, the assailants used an extendable metal baton as a weapon. In two attacks, the victims could hear the attackers confirming the victims’ identity moments before they were assaulted. No money or valuables were stolen.”

All of the activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they believe they were targeted because of their work with the Candlelight Party, the organization said.

Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said Hun Sen is using “every repressive tool at his disposal” to rid the country of political opposition, including prison sentences on politically motivated charges.

“Foreign governments should send a clear public message that dismantling opposition parties and disqualifying, assaulting, and arresting their members before election day means that there won’t be any real election at all,” he said in the statement.

‘Failure’ to bring justice

Katta Orn of the government-backed Human Rights Committee said the Human Rights Watch statement was politically targeted at the government.

“It is customary for Human Rights Watch to state something baseless, without proper observations, data or information,” he told Radio Free Asia. “They disseminate the issues to the international community with an aim to put pressure on the royal government.”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San and National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun couldn’t be reached for comment on Monday.

Soeung Senkarona, spokesperson for the Cambodian rights group ADHOC, voiced concerns over the Cambodian government’s repeated failure to bring any perpetrators to justice in the attacks.

“I am concerned that such failure by the Cambodian government to comply with its international obligations may bring further pressure from the international community,” he said.

Translated by Keo Sovannarith. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Top opposition party youth leader switches allegiance to Hun Sen’s ruling party

By RFA Khmer — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 20:17:19 +0000

A former opposition party youth leader who was recently jailed after he posted comments on Facebook about the government and Cambodia’s king announced on Friday that he was joining the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Yim Sinorn met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday at his home in Kandal province, where he and his family posed for photos as the longtime leader sat at his desk.

The defection of a prominent and outspoken opposition activist comes as the CPP continues to work to silence, intimidate and co-opt opposition figures ahead of the July general elections.

Yim Sinorn has been a close ally of Kem Sokha, the leader of the now-banned Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) who was sentenced to 27 years for treason last month in a decision widely condemned as politically motivated.

On Friday, Yim Sinorn blamed officials from the opposition Candlelight Party for ignoring him while he was in detention last month and for accusing him of being a double agent.

“Samdech Hun Sen, I want to see Cambodia to have a strong democratic system based on Cambodia’s standard and to comply with the Constitution,” he wrote on his wife’s Facebook page, using an honorific title.

“It is my duty to be committed to protect peace and prevent any attempts to destroy the country. I have little education and experience but I want to serve the country and her people,” Yim Sinorn wrote. “If Samdech gives me a chance I would like to join the CPP to be able to serve the people and the country.”

Messages from the coffee shop

Yim Sinorn was once the head of the CNRP’s youth movement in South Korea, where nearly 50,000 Cambodians work, mostly as factory workers. In 2019, he helped organize a demonstration of workers against the Hun Sen government in Gwangju.

Later that year, he and nine colleagues were charged in Phnom Penh Municipal Court with conspiracy and inciting serious social unrest in Cambodia and elsewhere. In September 2021, he wrote a letter to Hun Sen saying the charges against him were unfair and that he never supported leading opposition figure Sam Rainsy.

Hun Sen was apparently satisfied with the letter and the court dropped all charges against him and the other nine defendants. Yim Sinorn returned to Cambodia in January 2022.

In March, he was arrested after posting a comment on Facebook that seemed to highlight the political powerlessness of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is required by Cambodia’s 1993 Constitution to reign as a national figurehead.

“According to the people at the coffee shop, today we clearly know who is truly the king,” Yim Sinorn wrote.

He was released a week later after he posted a video and a statement from prison apologizing for the message.

“I take this occasion to ask for forgiveness from the king and apologize to Samdech Hun Sen publicly with honesty,” he said at the time.

‘A core person to Kem Sokha’

In February, Radio Free Asia reported that environmental workers and opposition party members are being offered jobs in the government by the CPP as a way of weakening any competition ahead of the July general election.

Political analyst Seng Sary said Yim Sinorn’s switch to the CPP makes it even more likely that opposition party activists will continue to defect to the CPP in the coming months.

“Yim Sinorn was a core person to Kem Sokha,” he said. “I think there might be more people defecting [to the CPP]. This defection is like a pandemic.”

Yim Sinorn said on Facebook that he asked Hun Sen to release his colleague Hun Kosal, who was also arrested last month after posting similar comments about the king. Hun Kosal hasn’t apologized to Hun Sen and is still in jail.

Yim Sinorn’s wife, Sophat Makara, posted photos of Friday’s meeting with Hun Sen on her Facebook page, calling the prime minister “my Samdech father.”

“My husband and family will try our best to work hard and won’t disappoint my father,” she wrote. “I can survive because of my father and mother.”

CPP spokesman Chhim Phalvorun said Yim Sinorn has his political rights and can choose any party that he likes. He said the CPP will look into his request and his qualifications.

Hun Sen made no comment on his Telegram account about the latest news, but he did repost an article from the pro-government news site, Freshnews, about his meeting with Yim Sonorn.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

House Republicans vote to ban transgender students from women’s and girl’s school sports; Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su faces Republican opposition at confirmation hearing; Federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Antioch and its police department: The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 20, 2023

KPFA — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

House Republicans approve bill banning transgender athletes in most women’s or girl’s school sports
Julie Su’s nomination to serve as Labor Secretary faces opposition from Republicans and big business — and maybe some Democrats
Attorney John Burris files federal civil rights lawsuit against Antioch and its police department
Attorney Generals in 17 states want a recall of Kia and Hyundai cars because they’re too easy to steal

The post House Republicans vote to ban transgender students from women’s and girl’s school sports; Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su faces Republican opposition at confirmation hearing; Federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Antioch and its police department: The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 20, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

Cambodian court orders arrest of opposition party officials

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:03:41 +0000

A provincial court ordered the arrest of two senior Candlelight Party officials on fraud charges, the latest such charges – which critics called politically motivated – that stem from political party registration documents filed last year.

Seng Visal, the Candlelight Party’s finance officer in Prey Veng province, and Bin Chhong, a commune council member in Prey Veng, were arrested and charged with submitting fraudulent documents to the Ministry of Interior for last year’s local commune election candidate lists.

The two officials were members of the National Heart Party at the time. They have since switched their allegiance to the Candlelight Party – the main opposition party and the biggest threat to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

The CPP filed the complaint against the two officials as a way of intimidating opposition party activists ahead of the July parliamentary elections, said Dim Yun, the executive director for the Candlelight Party in Prey Veng.

“I am very disappointed with the arrest. This is very inappropriate. During the election, the government should allow more political parties and not arrest any party’s activists,” he said. “This is not about criminal offenses, it is a politically motivated case to intimidate opposition party officials in Prey Veng.”

Four other Candlelight Party officials have been arrested on similar charges in recent weeks.

In previous similar cases, the Ministry of Interior has said that the National Heart Party collected several hundred forged thumbprints on documents it filed when it registered ahead of the 2022 commune elections.

Seng Visal and Bin Chhong ahead of their arrest on fraud charges at Prey Veng Provincial Court. (Image grab from a Citizen journalist video)

Aimed at intimidation

But any problems that the ministry had with last year’s candidate lists should have already been resolved, said Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho.

“These arrests will lead to criticism saying the arrests were aimed at intimidating the opposition party officials who will compete in the election,” he said.

Seng Visal and Bin Chhong were questioned at Prey Veng provincial court for four hours before their arrest, their lawyer Sam Sokong told Radio Free Asia. They are being held without bail even though their alleged crime is minor and they have full-time jobs, he said.

“According to the law, they have permanent jobs – particularly Bin Chhong, who is a commune councilor – so they should be safe to be released on bail,” he said.

Outside the courthouse, about 50 supporters gathered to show solidarity with the officials before they went inside the court for questioning.

After the questioning, Presiding Judge Hem Krishna ordered the arrests and that Seng Visal and Bin Chhong be detained while they await trial. Later, Prey Veng Provincial Prison Department officials refused to allow a defense lawyer and party officials to see them.

Court spokesman Ath Sokhon refused to comment when contacted by RFA.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Philippine govt, opposition slam Chinese envoy for comments on Manila’s Taiwan policy

Camille Elemia for BenarNews — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:39:34 +0000

The Philippine government and opposition have slammed the Chinese envoy for his statements on Manila’s policy on Taiwan and its workers on the neighboring island, saying they will not brook any attempts at intimidation by Beijing.

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian last week criticized the Philippines granting the United States greater access to military bases fronting Taiwan, advising Manila to “unequivocally oppose” the island’s independence if it cared about the 150,000 Filipinos working there.

Opposition Philippine Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to call on Beijing to immediately recall its envoy for his “disgraceful statements,” which she called a threat to Filipinos working in Taiwan.

“How dare he threaten us. The [Presidential] Palace should tell Beijing to recall their representative in Manila as soon as possible,” Hontiveros said in a statement on Sunday.

“He has no business being a diplomat if he is unable to engage with us in a respectful and dignified manner. He, along with his country’s ships and artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea, should pack up and leave,” she said, referring to the disputed South China Sea territory within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

Akbayan, a local political party which counts Hontiveros as a member, said Huang’s remark was a “statement of a hostage taker” not an ambassador.

“We call on the Marcos administration to immediately declare the Chinese ambassador persona non grata and expel him from our country,” Akbayan said in a statement on Monday.

The Philippines is “an independent and sovereign country with the freedom to form alliances and partnerships with other nations,” Akbayan added.

Speaking on Friday at a forum hosted by a pro-Beijing local group, Huang said the Philippines may be “stoking the fire” by offering the U.S. access to military bases near the Taiwan Strait.

Huang said China would not abandon the use of force against Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.

‘DND takes exception’

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday said it was committed to the security of all Filipinos overseas.

“We assure the public that contingency plans are in place in all places where there are high numbers of OFWs,” it said in a statement using an acronym for Overseas Foreign Workers.

The Department of National Defense issued a similar statement on Saturday where it criticized Huang for fueling alarm.

“The DND takes exception to the statement of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian that the Philippines is meddling in the internal affairs of China concerning Taiwan,” spokesman Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.

“We observe the One China Policy and subscribe to the ASEAN principle of non-interference in approaching regional issues. Our primordial concern in Taiwan is the safety and well-being of the more than 150,000 Filipinos living and working on the island and we take grave exception to any effort by guests in our country to use this to fear-monger and intimidate us.”

Andolong also said Huang was wrong to liken the Taiwan situation to the one in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, where the government had for years faced an insurgency.

“We wish to emphasize that the issues are different from each other,” he said.

“The whole context and rich experience of our peace process in Mindanao, which allowed the participation of the international community … is aligned with the Philippines’ position of resolving disputes peacefully,” Andolong said.

On Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said Huang’s remarks were reported incorrectly despite the media citing quotes from a copy of the speech provided by the embassy.

“Unfortunately some misquoted or misinterpreted Ambassador Huang’s remarks or simply took part of the ambassador’s words out of context,” the embassy said in a statement on its Facebook page on Sunday.

Marcos has yet to weigh in on Huang’s speech.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Camille Elemia for BenarNews.

Poignant final defence speech of jailed Russian opposition politician

Thomas Rowley — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 10:00:11 +0000

Vladimir Kara-Murza gave this speech to a Russian court before receiving his 25-year sentence for ‘treason’ and other charges

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Thomas Rowley.

Opposition says police haven’t investigated attacks on them

By RFA Khmer — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 19:18:05 +0000

Two attacks on opposition activists over the last week have prompted leaders of the opposition Candlelight Party to renew calls for police investigations into suspected political violence, which appears to be increasing ahead of July’s parliamentary elections.

The two incidents are the latest in what party officials claim have been dozens of similar violent attacks on their activists in the capital, Phnom Penh, and elsewhere over the last few years. No suspects have been arrested or charged in any of the incidents, they said.

Last Thursday, Thorn Chantha, president of the party’s youth movement, was struck by a baton by two assailants who then chased him to his car and smashed the driver’s window with a rock.

“This violence is to intimidate opposition party activists who dare to conduct political activities ahead of the election,” Thorn Chantha said.

The attack happened on the streets of Phnom Penh as party activists were planning a demonstration in front of its headquarters – the first in several years.

A couple days later, Keat Sokchan, a member of the Candlelight Party’s youth movement, told Radio Free Asia that he was beaten by two suspects who used a steel baton to hit him about 10 times on his arms, shoulders and head.

He said earlier this week that he was still being treated at a hospital.

“My arms are so painful that I can’t lift them up,” he said. “I want the authorities to imprison the suspects for the sake of youth safety across the country.”

No follow-up from police

Party organizers have also faced threats, harassment and arrest on what they say are trumped-up charges as they prepare for July’s parliamentary elections.

Authorities still haven’t followed up on Thorn Chantha’s complaint, he told RFA.

“I don’t have any confidence that police can find any suspects in my case and other cases,” Thorn Chantha said on Tuesday. “So far, they can’t find any suspects.”

Another activist, Nol Pongthirith, told RFA that he was struck on the head in July 2022. He said he also hasn't received any information about an investigation.

“If the suspects are not brought to justice, political parties’ activities will be reduced due to security concerns,” he said.

National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khouen has previously told RFA that police have been unable to find any suspects because victims haven’t cooperated with authorities. RFA couldn't reach him for comment this week.

The spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, Sok Ey San, denied that there have been politically motivated attacks. In some cases, police have just needed more time to gather evidence, he said.

“I guarantee you that there is no difference between an investigation to the ruling party and the opposition party,” he said. “Authorities investigate all incidents.”