Posts

venice

Activists Are Trying To Redirect Venice Film Festival Focus To Crisis In Gaza 

/in , , /by

This week, dozens of A-listers will be attending the Venice film festival. This year, however, activists are trying to redirect the energy and media attention from the celebrities to the humanitarian crisis occurring in Gaza.

Read more

Two Journalists Receive Two Years In Prison For Live-Streaming Belarus Protest 

/in , /by

Journalists Darya Chultsova, 23, and Yekaterina Andreyeva, 27, have been sentenced to two years in prison for live-streaming a demonstration in Belarus. The two work for the independent Belsat TV channel and were detained back in November while covering a protest that was in memory of an opposition activist who died in Minsk a few days prior. 

Roman Bondarenko was a local media activist who apparently died from injuries sustained after being beaten by riot police. The Prosecutor General of Belarus announced this week that an investigation into his death is already being launched but “the involvement of employees of the internal affairs bodies in causing Bondarenkp bodily harm has not been established.” 

This Thursday the courts ruled that both Chultsova and Andreyeva were guilty of “organizing a demonstration that grossly violates public order.”

Embed from Getty Images

Investigators revealed that the two journalists allegedly gathered protestors “by talking about it on air, which then led to interruptions of public transport in the area.” The two are maintaining their innocence on the matter. 

“I have everything: youth, a job that I love, prominence and, most importantly, a clear conscience. I want to devote all my energy to the creation of Belarus without political repression. I demand an acquittal for myself, for my colleagues and for hundreds of political prisoners,” Andreyeva said at a previous court hearing, according to local media.

Viasna is a Belarussian human rights group that designated the two young journalists as political prisoners and claimed the charges against them are being enforced because of their work as journalists. Belsat is a politically independent TV channel that’s based in Poland. The channel primarily reports on Belarus and it’s budget relies on Polish state subsidies. 

Embed from Getty Images

Ever since its presidential elections in August of 2020, Belarus has been taken over by mass protests. Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994, and when he secured his sixth term last summer, claims of a rigged election began flooding media outlets and independent observers who were commentating on the manner. 

Tens of thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Belarus, demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. Riot police have since cracked down on the protests, beating and detaining thousands of protestors. Some media outlets have reported that the detention centers these protestors are being held at are riddled with abuse and torture. 

“Just look at Darya and Yekaterina, strong, smiling, and saying goodbyes to their loved ones through bars. Lukashenka can’t break us,” Belarussian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said in a tweet on Thursday. As of right now the two journalists will begin their sentence in the coming weeks.

Protests

Escalation of Protests Threatens Citizen Unity in Hong Kong

/in , /by

Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have been ongoing for several months now, and show no signs of stopping, as government officials continue to push back against protestors’ demands and demonstrations only escalate in size and frequency. The protracted duration of these protests, however, is leading to a fracturing among activist groups, as some protestors are changing their tactics in response to continued inaction from elected officials and China. Incidences of property destruction and even violence are becoming more frequent as some activists see this behavior as a necessary response to a realization that peaceful protests have not been effective. However, not all protestors are onboard with this approach, as many activists continue to insist upon continuation of non-violent civil disobedience. As such, there exists a divide in the philosophical approach of Hong Kong activists, and while the two factions tolerate each other’s tactics for the moment, the lack of unity among protestors threatens the movement overall.

It’s worth noting that the majority of violence during Hong Kong protests comes from the local police, who use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse what they call “riots.” Though Hong Kong is generally considered safe, with low rates of violent crime, increasing amounts of violence during protests make visiting Hong Kong currently a dangerous proposition. Police action against protestors is non-lethal, but water cannons and other methods of crowd control still have potential to cause serious injury. Additionally, protest leaders are at risk of being jailed, leading protestors to use encrypted apps like Telegram to communicate and organize, and causing protestors to adopt a more decentralized approach. While this approach makes it harder for the Hong Kong and Chinese governments to stop protests, it can also lead to a divergence of tactics among protestors, as some protestors prefer a more destructive approach than others.

Embed from Getty Images

These protestors commit acts such as using makeshift battering rams to break into legislative buildings, destroying computers and vandalizing the walls with graffiti. Additionally, protestors have moved from throwing umbrellas and water bottles at police to throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails, in addition to petrol bombs. Protestors who resort to these tactics view them as a necessary evil, and consider their actions non-lethal and a response to the escalation of violence committed first by police. Angry mobs of protestors have even gone so far as to detain Chinese officials, and prevent ambulances from providing first-aid to injured people. Police, on the other hand, have claimed that they don’t resort to violence unless it is initiated by protestors, but in the chaos and confusion of a violent protest it can be hard to determine who is at fault for initiating dangerous and harmful conduct.

Embed from Getty Images

A survey conducted by Chinese academics in June indicated that roughly half of protestors felt that non-violent protests were no longer effective. Now, after several months have passed and the government has not budged, that percentage is even higher, even though protestors who favor violence threaten to alienate their fellow pro-democracy citizens. Many of the protestors are students and young people, who are more prone to engaging in reckless behavior and endangering their own safety and the safety of others. But young people also have the most to lose if protests are not successful, as control of Hong Kong is set to return to Beijing in 2047, when these teenagers will still be fairly young.

Protestors have adopted various elements of popular culture as symbols to express their discontent. A phrase from the popular Hunger Games series of books, “if we burn, you burn with us,” has been used to describe the philosophy of many protestors, who feel that maintaining their freedom is so important that it is worth risking destruction. A popular meme references Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series of films, where the word “bill” is a pun referring to the controversial extradition bill which initiated the recent protests in Hong Kong. And protestors in the streets have sung the song “Do You Hear the People Sing,” featured in the musical Les Miserables.