As the MRAs end, the UPS workers who are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are not accepting these wage cuts without a fight. The Teamsters Joint Council 7, Local 553, Local 315 and Local 623, among others, have held rallies, petition drives, and parking lot meetings to organize members around the issue. Matt Hermann has gone as far as filing labor charges against the company over unequal implementation of bonuses.
As the omicron-fueled fifth wave of COVID-19 disrupts schools, grocery stores, airports, and hospitals, construction across King County has come to a standstill as well, albeit for different reasons. For nearly eight weeks now, drivers and workers have been striking at Gary Merlino Construction and the region’s five major concrete suppliers. As a result, many of Puget Sound’s largest construction projects — including affordable housing and the Federal Way Link light rail extension project in the South End — are now on hold.
Bangkok, February 8, 2022 – Myanmar military authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Thurin Kyaw and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On February 2, Thurin Kyaw, founder of the independent outlet Media TOP 4, was beaten by unidentified attackers while he covered a rally in support of the ruling military junta in Yangon, according to newsreports.
The following afternoon, authorities in Yangon’s Insein township arrested Thurin Kyaw at his home, according to those reports, which said that two other unidentified individuals were also arrested alongside him.
CPJ was unable to immediately determine where Thurin Kyaw is being held or whether any charges had been filed against him.
“Myanmar authorities must release journalist Thurin Kyaw immediately and stop harassing reporters for doing their jobs covering the news,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must allow independent journalists to cover events of vital importance to the public without fear of reprisal.”
Media TOP 4 is a Facebook-based outlet that has covered local politics and news stories, including multiple bombings in early February at the one-year anniversary of the military’s democracy-suspending coup, according to CPJ’s review of its Facebook page, which has about 86,000 followers. The page has not posted any new content since February 2, and states that it has “permanently closed.”
CPJ emailed the outlet and sent a request for comment to its Facebook page, but did not immediately receive any reply.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
CPJ’s latest prison census, published in December, ranked Myanmar as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China.
Groups opposed to war rallied outside the White House to condemn the Administration’s role in a military buildup in Europe and warned war between superpowers would come at great cost. Speakers questioned why the U.S. is involved in yet another conflict less than a year after the end of the Afghanistan War — its most recent and the longest war it ever fought — while many families can not afford adequate housing, food and healthcare, and communities buckle under crumbling infrastructure.
Around 5000 people marched in protest here February 5, to demand justice for Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man murdered by police on February 2. Police were carrying out a no-knock search warrant on the apartment where Locke was sleeping and shot him three times, nine seconds after they snuck open the door. Protesters demand jail, prosecution and murder charges for the officer who shot Amir and those who planned the raid; an end to no-knock warrants; and the resignation of the Minneapolis Police Chief Huffington and Mayor Frey.
Progressive sections in the city of Amersfoort, Netherlands took to the streets demanding affordable housing on January 30. Activists from various youth & student groups, feminist groups, trade unions and political parties marched for housing rights on the call of #Woonrevolte Amersfoort, a housing rights coalition. Different housing coalitions have announced protest actions in other cities of the Netherlands in the coming days and weeks.
Folks are three weeks into the tent demonstration in so-called Boise, Idaho. Lasting through multiple police raids, attacks from local fascist groups, and a whirlwind of misrepresentation in local media; folks are war weathered but are regaining strength and pressing forward.
In the early morning hours of Friday, February 4th, 2022 folks began to hear the soft and eerie hum of police drones flying overhead, followed by the invasion of 40 Idaho state police filling the area. Cops started opening tents and grabbing whatever they could find that could be used to sustain warmth for the protesters who have been occupying the space. They stole more blankets, sleeping bags, people’s clothing, harm reduction items (clean sharps, sharps containers, narcan – harm reduction items kept at camp in case anyone stops by or comes through that needs safer items for addictions/substance use) chairs, heaters, and propane and put it all in a trailer they parked nearby.
A court in the city of Manzini granted bail to Colani Maseko, the president of Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) on Friday, February 4. The student leader had been arrested on January 31 and charged with sedition. His bail came a day after the SNUS marched to the Manzini regional police headquarters and held a demonstration on February 3. A cross section of Swaziland’s pro-democracy forces, including the banned political parties, trade unions, and youth organizations, attended the action. Outside the police headquarters, protesters at the demonstration openly threatened to render the kingdom “ungovernable” until the release of Maseko and all other political prisoners of Africa’s last absolute monarchy. Students reiterated the call for the overthrow of King Mswati III to make way for multi-party elections.
On Sunday, roughly 200 activists demonstrated outside Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office in Jerusalem against the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) tree-planting project in al-Naqab, maintaining the forestation is an attempt to displace the indigenous Bedouin population.
Contracted by the Israeli government, the JNF razed fruit trees and seeded fields in al-Naqab in January to “make the desert bloom” with non-native plants. The purported environmental project has been met with fierce protest from the local villagers, with more than 60 Bedouin arrested in the last few weeks.
On January 13, campaigners announced that, after years of popular pressure and direct action, Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems had decided to bite the bullet and sell its factory located in Oldham in the northwest of England. A week later, there was another victory for the anti-war activists, as a British judge dismissed the case against three members of the group Palestine Action who were on trial for occupying Elbit’s factory in Shenstone, 60 miles to Oldham’s south. Today, The Watchdog speaks to three key members of the campaign to force Great Britain to divest itself from aiding in war crimes around the world.
With a caravan of dozens of cars, protesters in St. Paul continue to demand justice for George Floyd as the federal trial begins for the three former Minneapolis Police officers who assisted Derek Chauvin while he murdered Floyd. Thomas Lane, Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, all fired from the Minneapolis Police Department, face federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Opening statements began Monday, January 24.
Neoliberal peace — if it can be called peace at all — reflects the state’s commitment to protecting the flow of capital. In Buenaventura and throughout much of Colombia’s Pacific coast, neoliberal peace corresponds to what Ruth Wilson Gilmore and David Harvey have called “organized abandonment.” That is to say that Buenaventura’s problems do not reside in the absence of the state, per se. Rather, the state’s presence materializes in the promotion and protection of the neoliberal economic model through investment in large-scale infrastructure and agricultural projects along with militarization to protect private economic interests. Even in its multicultural guise that supposedly affirms the rights of Black and Indigenous peoples, neoliberal peace remains firmly invested in racial capitalism.
As The Canary has consistentlyreported, the US-backed coup attempt in Venezuela has been degenerating into an increasingly pathetic and embarrassing spectacle. Now, in one final gasp of desperation, Juan Guaidó has called for a fresh round of protests next month. But it looks like he and his dwindling band of followers’ hopes of toppling the government will soon be dashed. Because there are now growing calls for his prosecution for crimes including treason.
Washington and its mouthpieces in the corporate-owned media will surely crow that this somehow constitutes ‘proof’ of the Venezuelan government’s authoritarian nature. But the reality is that the US is, if anything, even less tolerant of the kind of behavior that its proxies in Venezuela have engaged in as part of their attempt to seize power.
Another call to the streets
On 23 January, Guaidó called on his supporters to hit the streets on 12 February to protest president Nicolas Maduro’s government. Guaidó has been the leader of an ongoing coup attempt since early 2019. In January of that year, then-US president Donald Trump declared him Venezuela’s ‘interim president’. In the early months of the coup, most of the US’s major Latin American and European allies recognized Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader.
But as time went by, his support from abroad began to decline. As The Canaryreported at the time, in January 2021 the European Union withdrew its recognition of his claim to power. Guaidó derived this claim from his position as leader of Venezuela’s legislature, the National Assembly. But because he and his party boycotted the National Assembly elections the previous year, he no longer even held a seat in the body. This therefore voided the premise behind his claim to power even on its own terms.
Pledge for peacefulness undermined by violent past
It’s in the context of this increasingly desperate situation that Guaidó has called for this fresh round of protests against Maduro’s government. He has indicated that the demonstrations should be peaceful. But his past involvement in violent street protests casts doubt on his sincerity.
In his younger years, Guaidó was a member of one of the street gangs that led the ‘guarimba’ protests. In 2014, these protests left over 40 people dead. Then in 2017 the ‘guarimberos’ returned. And, according to Dan Cohen and Max Blumenthal, they were responsible for “causing mass destruction of public infrastructure, the murder of government supporters, and the deaths of 126 people”.
Growing calls to bring Guaidó to justice
But irrespective of the sincerity of his commitment to non-violence, Guaidó might soon find himself behind bars anyway. Members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV in its Spanish initials) have been increasing their calls for Guaidó’s prosecution. During an event commemorating the overthrow of Venezuela’s general Marcos Pérez Jiménez’s murderous dictatorship in the 1950s, president Maduro assured supporters that “justice will definitely come”.
Meanwhile, a majority of PSUV National Assembly members have petitioned Venezuela’s attorney general to take action against Guaidó. He currently stands accused of treason and fraud by the Assembly’s Anti-Corruption Commission. And he also faces criminal charges of “treason, money laundering, embezzlement, and ties to Colombian-based paramilitary gangs”.
Like their puppet masters in Washington and cheerleaders in the corporate press, Guaidó and his supporters will also presumably characterize this as ‘proof’ of the Maduro government’s inherent authoritarianism. But it should be pointed out that though PSUV members are leading the calls for Guaidó’s prosecution, it’ll be Venezuela’s independent judicial system, not the government, that tries him. Moreover, there’s ample evidence to suggest that Guaidó is guilty of all the crimes for which he stands accused.
Overwhelming evidence of guilt
To take the most obvious example, colluding with a hostile foreign power (the US) that’s imposing unilateral sanctions on his own country (in flagrant violation of international law) seems a cut-and-dry case of treason. The sanctions have been responsible for the deaths of over a hundred thousand people. Yet Guaidó continues to use them as a bargaining chip in negotiations. He recently said during an interview with Reuters, for example, that the offer to withdraw sanctions as part of a peace deal with the government “is not indefinite”.
This kind of behavior is criminalized in most countries, not least in the US where treason is a capital crime. The fact that Guaidó has largely continued his coup attempt unmolested by Venezuelan authorities shows that, if anything, Venezuela is more tolerant of political dissent than the US. After all, given all the fuss over (alleged) Russian influence in the 2016 US election, we can see how powerbrokers in Washington do not tolerate even comparatively minor (alleged) interference in their own country’s internal affairs.
Looting gold and rubbing shoulders with Colombian death squads
There’s also considerable evidence to support the charges of fraud and embezzlement. As The Canary has extensivelyreported, Guaidó attempted to get access to gold belonging to the Central Bank of Venezuela that was being held by the Bank of England. The Bank of England unilaterally froze the assets on the bogus grounds that Maduro was no longer Venezuela’s rightful leader. Maduro’s government is currently taking legal action in the UK to recover these stolen assets.
Likewise, evidence to support charges of ties to Colombian paramilitaries is substantial. In September 2019, the Guardianreported:
Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan politician fighting to topple Nicolás Maduro, is facing awkward questions about his relationship with organised crime after the publication of compromising photographs showing him with two Colombian paramilitaries.
Clearly, the days Guaidó has left to continue this ridiculous charade are numbered. It may not be long before he finally faces justice for his murderous and destabilizing coup attempt – one that’s plunged Venezuela into ever-greater chaos and turmoil.
Today, January 27, 2022/25th Sh’vat 5782, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, where so many of our ancestors were incarcerated and enslaved, raped and robbed, maimed and murdered.
We are an anonymous collective of Jewish New Yorkers who are striking this day, across the five boroughs of NYC/across occupied Lenapehoking, in solidarity with the hunger strikers at Rikers Island and with all who are resisting this genocidal regime.
Around 500 Palestinians currently incarcerated in Israel under the illegal policy of administrative detention have been boycotting Israeli military courts to protest their detention since January 1. The detainees have since refused to appear for court hearings and sessions regarding the approval or renewal of their administrative detention orders. They are also boycotting appeal hearings, including those in higher courts. According to Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups, among those participating in the boycott are three minors and one woman. All of them are being detained without charge or trial by the Israeli authorities.
Throughout the pandemic journalists have played a crucial role informing the public about the risks of COVID-19. The global situation continues to evolve, and many countries are increasing or relaxing travel restrictions and safety measures as coronavirus variants of concern are identified, and as the COVID-19 vaccination program gathers pace.
Basic COVID-19 mitigation
Consider getting a COVID-19 vaccination, if available, in advance of any assignment. You may still be able to transmit the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Try to work in well-ventilated areas with a fresh air flow whenever possible.
Stay two meters or six feet from others whenever possible to observe social distancing.
Face masks should be worn if social distancing cannot be maintained for a prolonged period. Additional personal protective equipment is sensible in higher risk areas.
Wash your hands regularly.
Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel as necessary.
Sanitize all equipment regularly.
Try and limit the number of people you are exposed to through work.
Digital security
Journalists have faced a range of challenges communicating with sources and colleagues during the pandemic, including insecure remote offices. Many journalists who report on public health measures such as vaccinations and mask requirements have encountered hostility online from people who oppose them.
For a more secure home working environment
Update your devices regularly.
Use a password manager and turn on two-step verification.
Think about where you are storing your documents and try to separate work and personal accounts.
Use an end-to-end encrypted messaging app, such as Signal and WhatsApp. Turn on disappearing messages when needed.
Copy or back up content from your messaging apps on a regular basis.
India is scheduled to hold legislative assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur in February and March 2022.
Media workers covering any of these elections should be aware of the potential risk of physical attack, intimidation, and harassment; online bullying; arrest and detention; and government restrictions on reporting, including access to the internet. Five journalists in India died as a result of their reporting in 2021, topping CPJ’s global records for the year; seven were imprisoned in relation to their work as of December 1, 2021. Hundreds in India’s media fraternity have died after contracting COVID-19, according to adatabasecompiled by the Network of Women in Media India. Amid sectarian tensions journalists have faced reprisals for their religion, gender, and identity and been accused of spreading communal disharmony for reporting on religious violence.
As Vijay Vineet, a former Jansandesh newspaper editor now freelancing for the website Newsclick in Uttar Pradesh, told CPJ via phone, “No organization in Uttar Pradesh provides any safety training or does enough for protection of their reporters.”
“In a closely fought election, as we are realizing it has become, there is a potential for violence,” he said.
CPJ Emergencies has updated its safety guide for journalists covering the elections, containing information for editors, reporters, and photojournalists on how to prepare for the legislative assembly elections, and how to mitigate digital, physical, and psychological risk.
Contacts and resources
Journalists requiring assistance can contact CPJ Emergencies via emergencies@cpj.org or CPJ’s Asia program via researcher Sonali Dhawan at sdhawan@cpj.org or India correspondent Kunal Majumder at kmajumder@cpj.org.
Editors and newsrooms may assign journalists to stories at short notice in the run-up to, during, and after the legislative assembly elections. This checklist includes key questions and steps to consider to reduce risk for staff.
Staff considerations
Are selected staff experienced enough for the assignment?
Do any selected staff fall into the COVID-19 vulnerable categories or have family members/dependents who rely upon them?
If reporting from a potentially hostile event (e.g. an election protest), does the profile, sex, religion, or ethnicity of any staff member make them a possible target?
Are selected staff fit enough for the assignment, and have you discussed any health issues that could affect them during the assignment?
Does the specific role of any selected staff put them at more risk? For example, photojournalists who work closer to the action.
Equipment and transport
Have you discussed the risk of COVID-19 exposure with selected staff, and provided them with good quality face masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizer?
If violent protests are likely, have you made available special protective equipment such as safety helmets, safety goggles, body armor, tear gas respirators, and medical kits? Do staff know how to use such equipment properly?
Are selected staff driving themselves, and is their vehicle roadworthy and appropriate?
Have you identified how you will communicate with the team and how they will remove themselves from a situation if necessary?
General considerations
Have you recorded and securely saved the emergency contact details of all staff being deployed?
Do all selected staff have the appropriate accreditation, press passes, or a letter indicating they work for your organization?
Have you considered the level of risk attached to the story that your team may be exposed to? Is the level of risk acceptable in comparison to the editorial gain?
Is the team correctly insured and have you put in place appropriate medical cover?
Have you identified the local medical facilities in case of injury and made team members aware of the details?
Have you considered and discussed the possibility of long-term trauma-related stress?
For more information about risk assessment and planning, see the CPJ Resource Center.
A man wearing a facemask as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus speaks on his mobile phone at a market in New Delhi on January 11, 2022. (AFP/Sajjad Hussain)
Digital Safety: Online harassment and misinformation campaigns
Online harassment, including targeted online campaigns, are likely to increase during the election period, especially in Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest state. Recent, sophisticated examples include the app, Tek Fog, which encouraged mass distribution of offensive messages about specific journalists. Hate speech in English, Hindi and Bengali spiked on Facebook during the pandemic, The Wire reported, with women and minorities as popular targets, some being offered for sale through demeaning fake auctions. Media workers are often targeted by online attackers who want to discredit the journalist and their work. This can often involve coordinated harassment and misinformation campaigns that leave the journalist unable to use social media, essentially forcing them offline. Protecting against online attacks is not easy, however there are steps that journalists can take to better protect themselves and their accounts.
Account security
Online harassers will often use personal information from your social media accounts to target and harass you. Take the following steps to better protect your accounts and your data:
Create long and strong passwords for your accounts. These should be 16 characters or more, and unique for each account. Consider using a password manager, which is currently the most secure way of managing passwords. This will help to prevent accounts from being hacked.
Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for accounts.
Review your privacy settings for each account and make sure any personal data, such as phone numbers and date of birth, is removed. Check who has access to your personal data on social media sites and tighten your privacy settings.
Look through your accounts and remove any photos or images that could be manipulated and used as a way to discredit you. This is a common technique used by online harassers.
Monitor your accounts for signs of increasing harassment or for indications that a digital threat could become a physical threat. Be aware that certain stories are likely to attract higher levels of harassment.
Speak with family and friends about online harassment. Abusers often obtain information about journalists via the social media accounts of their relatives and social circle. Consider asking people to remove photos of you from their sites or lock down their accounts.
Speak with your media outlet about online harassment and have a plan of action in place if abuse becomes serious.
During an attack
Try not to engage with online harassers as this can make the situation worse.
Try to ascertain who is behind the attack and their motives. The online attack may be linked to a story you have recently published.
Journalists should report any abusive or threatening behavior to the social media company.
Document any comments or images that are of concern, including screenshots of the activity, the time, the date, and the social media handle of the abuser. This information may be useful at a later date if you need to show it to your news organization, editor, organizations that defend freedom of expression, or the authorities.
Be vigilant for signs of hacking. Ensure that you have strong, long passwords for each account, and that two-factor authentication is on.
Inform your family, employees, and friends that you are being harassed online. Adversaries will often contact family members and your workplace, and send them information/images in an attempt to damage your reputation.
You may want to block or mute those who are harassing you online. You should also report any abusive content to social media companies and keep a record of your contact with these companies.
Review your social media accounts for comments that may indicate that an online threat is about to turn into a physical threat. This could include people posting your address online (known as doxxing) and calling on others to attack you and/or increased harassment from a particular individual.
Consider coming offline until the harassment has died down.
Online harassment can be an isolating experience. Ensure that you have a support network to assist you. In a best case scenario, this will include your employer.
Digital Safety: Basic device preparedness
While covering an election, journalists are likely to be using their mobile phone for reporting and filing stories as well as being in contact with colleagues and sources. This has digital security implications if journalists are detained and their phones are seized or broken. Before going out on assignment it is good practice to:
Know what information is on your phone or computer and how that could put you or others at risk if you are detained and your device is taken and searched.
Before going out to report, back up your phone to a hard drive and remove or limit access to any sensitive or personal data, such as family photos, from the device you are carrying.
Log out of any accounts and apps that you will not be using while reporting and remove them from your phone. Log out of browsers and clear your browsing history. This will better protect your accounts from being accessed should your phone be taken and searched.
Password protect all your devices and set up your devices to remote wipe before going out to report. Remote wipe will work only with an internet connection. Avoid using biometrics, such as your fingerprint, to unlock your phone as this can make access to your device easier should you be detained.
Take as few devices with you as possible. If you have spare devices, then use them and leave personal or work devices behind.
Consider turning on encryption for your Android phone. New iPhones have encryption as standard. Please check the law with regards to encryption use.
Where possible use end-to-end encrypted messaging services, such as Signal or WhatsApp, to communicate with colleagues and sources. Set messages to delete after a certain timeframe.
Install a VPN to help access sites if they become blocked. Research the law around using a VPN and also look into which VPN provider has previously worked best during a partial internet shutdown.
Have a plan for how and when you will contact others should there be a complete internet shutdown.
Be aware that spyware including Pegasus has allegedly been used against journalists in India, according to research by Citizen Lab and CPJ interviews. Once installed on your phone, sophisticated spyware will monitor all activity, including encrypted messages. [Israel-based NSO Group says it markets Pegasus as a surveillance tool only to governments for law enforcement purposes, and has repeatedly told CPJ that it investigates reports that its products were misused in breach of contract.]
It is important to have good protocols around the storing and securing of materials during election times. If a journalist is detained, their devices may be taken and searched, which could have serious consequences for the journalist and their sources. Devices can also be broken or stolen while out covering the election, which may lead to the loss of information if it is not backed up.
Review what information is stored on your devices, including phones and computers. Anything that puts you at risk or contains sensitive information should be backed up and deleted. There are ways to recover deleted information, so anything that is very sensitive will need to be permanently erased using a specific computer program, rather than just deleted.
When reviewing content on a smartphone, you should check information stored on the phone (the hardware) as well as information stored in the cloud (Google Photos or iCloud).
Check the content in messaging applications, such as WhatsApp. Journalists should save and then delete any information that puts them at risk. Be aware that WhatsApp backs up all content to the cloud service linked to the account, for example iCloud or Google Drive.
Think about where you want to back up information. You will need to decide whether it is safer to keep your materials in the cloud, on an external hard drive or on a flash drive.
Journalists should regularly move material off their devices and save it on the back up option of their choice. This will ensure that if your devices are taken or stolen then you have a copy of the information.
It is a good idea to encrypt any information that you back up. You can do that by encrypting your external hard drive or flash drive. You can also turn on encryption for your devices. Journalists should review the law in the country in which they are working, to ensure they are aware of any legalities around the use of encryption.
If you suspect that you may be a target and that an adversary may want to steal your devices, including external hard drives, then you should keep your hard drive in a place other than your home.
Put a PIN lock on all your devices. The longer the PIN, the more difficult it is to crack.
Set up your phone or computer to remote wipe in advance. This function allows you to erase devices remotely, for example if authorities take them. This will only work if the device is able to connect to the internet.
Digital Safety: Safer communications
Knowing how to communicate more securely with others is an important part of your digital safety, especially as more journalists are working remotely due to COVID-19. Journalists and editors are increasingly using conferencing platforms instead of meeting in person, and taking steps to secure who can access these calls or webinars is essential for protecting employees and sources.
If needed, ensure that you protect your account with a long and unique password and have two-step verification turned on.
If you are able, use your work email to sign up for an online conferencing account instead of using your personal email. This protects your personal data, such as your contact lists, from being revealed either by the online conferencing service, or by other attendees.
Do not publish information about online conferencing events on social media unless these are public events and you are happy to have no control over who attends.
Ensure you are using the latest version of the conferencing platform service.
If you need to speak to only a small number of people over video, less than 10, consider using WhatsApp or Signal instead.
Using Zoom
To better protect yourself when using Zoom, consider the following guidelines:
Zoom creates a personal ID number for each user which you should not make public; for example, do not post it on social media.
Set up a password for people to access your meeting.
Enable the waiting room function. This will ensure that only people who have been invited will attend your event. You will also be able to view who is waiting and remove anyone that has not been invited or who is unknown.
Lock the meeting room once all your invitees have arrived.
You can manage the participants in the room by turning off video and sound and controlling who can share their screen.
You can remove anyone at any time from the Zoom call and also block them from returning to the room.
Ensure that you are using the latest version of Zoom and have enabled end-to-end encryption.
Maintaining physical distancing at any election event or related protest will be challenging. Large crowds are commonplace, members of the public may not wear face coverings/face masks, and media workers could be confined to a particular area in close proximity to other journalists. Such confinement could potentially expose them to virus droplets, as well as verbal or physical attack from hostile members of the public, who could deliberately cough or sneeze over them.
Be aware that people shouting or chanting can result in the spread of virus droplets, therefore increasing media workers’ level of exposure to coronavirus infection.
COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings in India vary according to each state, and may change with little or no notice. Always research any restrictions in place, noting that numerous journalists were attacked or detained by police for allegedly violating restrictions in 2020.
If travelling internationally or from another state to cover the elections you may be required to provide evidence of a recent COVID-19 test, and/or need to quarantine on arrival. A useful state by state guide can be found here
The use of a good quality face mask is essential at any crowded event or protest (i.e. N95 / FFP2 standard or higher). Be aware that fines can be levied by the authorities for not wearing a face mask.
Ensure you wash your hands regularly, properly, and thoroughly as often as feasible throughout the assignment. Ensure hands are dried in the appropriate way. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer regularly if you can’t wash your hands, but try not to make this a substitute for a regular hand washing routine.
All clothing and shoes should be removed before re-entering your home and washed / cleaned with hot water and detergent where possible.
All equipment should be thoroughly cleaned post-assignment.
Rakesh Tikait, a leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union, one of the largest farmers’ unions, holds the Indian national flag as farmers vacate a protest site at Ghazipur near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, India, on December 15, 2021. (Reuters/Anushree Fadnavis)
Physical Safety: Reporting from election rallies and protests
During elections, media workers frequently attend crowded rallies, campaign events, live broadcasts, and protests.
To help minimize the risks at such events, media workers should consider the following safety advice.
Political events and rallies
Ensure that you have the correct accreditation or press identification. For freelancers, a letter from the commissioning employer is helpful. Have it on display only if safe to do so. Avoid using a lanyard around your neck, but clip it to a belt or in a transparent velcro pouch around your bicep instead.
Wear clothing without media company branding and remove media logos from equipment/vehicles if necessary.
Avoid wearing sandals or slip-on shoes. Instead wear sturdy footwear with hard soles, laces, and some kind of ankle support.
Park your vehicle in a secure location facing the direction of escape, or ensure you have an alternative guaranteed mode of transport.
Have an escape strategy in case circumstances become hostile. You may need to plan this on arrival, but try and do so in advance. Ensure you identify all available exits from the location.
Gauge the mood of the crowd. If possible, call other journalists already at the event to assess the mood. Consider going with another reporter or photographer if necessary.
Inside the event, report from the allocated press area unless it is safe to do otherwise. Ascertain if the security or police will assist if you are in distress.
If the crowd/speakers are hostile to the media, mentally prepare for verbal abuse. In such circumstances, just do your job and report. Do not react to the abuse. Do not engage with the crowd. Remember, you are a professional even if others are not.
If spitting or projectiles from the crowd are a possibility and you are determined to report, consider wearing a hooded, waterproof, discrete bump cap.
If the atmosphere becomes hostile, avoid hanging around outside the venue/event and do not start questioning people.
If the objective is to report from outside the venue, working with a colleague is sensible. Report from a secure location with clear exits, and familiarize yourself with the route to your transportation. If an assault is a realistic prospect, consider the need for security and minimize your time on the ground.
If the task was difficult/challenging, do not bottle up your emotions. Tell your superiors and colleagues. It is important that they are prepared and that everyone learns from each other.
Protests
Planning
Across India the police have used live ammunition, rubber bullets, pellet guns, tear gas, lathi sticks, and truncheons to quell protesters in the past. If violence is anticipated, the use of protective safety goggles/glasses, helmets, tear gas respirators, and protective body vests should be considered. For more information see CPJ’s personal protective equipment (PPE) guide here.
Know the area you are going to by researching the layout of the location in advance. Work out in advance what you would do in an emergency and identify all potential safe escape routes.
Individuals should not be expected to work alone at protest locations. Try to work with a colleague and set up a regular check-in procedure with your base, family, or friends. Working after dark is riskier and should be avoided if possible. For more information please see CPJ’s advice for journalists reporting alone.
Take a medical kit if you know how to use it and ensure you have a full battery on your mobile phone.
Avoid wearing loose clothing, political slogans, media branding, military patterns, politically affiliated colors, and flammable materials (e.g. nylon).
Wear footwear with hard soles, laces, and some kind of ankle support.
Tie long hair up to prevent individuals from pulling you from behind.
Limit the number of valuables you take. Do not leave any equipment in vehicles, which are likely to be broken into. After dark, the criminal risk increases.
Awareness and positioning
Consider your position and maintain situational awareness at all times. If feasible, find an elevated vantage point that might offer greater safety.
Always plan an evacuation route as well as an emergency rendezvous point if you are working with others.
Identify the closest point of medical assistance.
If working in a crowd, plan a strategy. Keep to the outside of the crowd and avoid being sucked into the middle, where it is hard to escape.
Continuously observe and read the mood and demeanor of the authorities in relation to the crowd dynamic. Police can become more aggressive if the crowd is agitated (or vice versa). Visual cues such as the appearance of police dressed in riot gear or throwing of projectiles are potential indicators that aggression can be expected. Pull back to a safe location, or plan a quick extraction when such “red flags” are evident.
Photojournalists generally have to be in the thick of the action so are at more risk. Photographers in particular should have someone watching their back and should remember to look up from their viewfinder every few seconds. To avoid the risk of strangulation, do not wear the camera strap around your neck. Photojournalists often do not have the luxury of being able to work at a distance, so it is important to minimize the time spent in the crowd. Get your shots and get out.
All journalists should be conscious of not outstaying their welcome in a crowd, which can turn hostile quickly.
If tear gas is likely to be used by the police
The use of tear gas can result in sneezing, coughing, spitting, crying, and the production of mucus that obstructs breathing. In some cases, individuals may vomit, and breathing may become labored. Such symptoms could potentially increase media workers’ level of exposure to coronavirus infection via airborne virus droplets. Individuals who suffer from respiratory issues like asthma, who are listed in the COVID-19 vulnerable category, should therefore avoid covering crowd events and protests if tear gas is likely to be deployed.
In addition, evidence suggests that tear gas can actually increase an individual’s susceptibility to pathogens such as coronavirus, as highlighted by NPR.
For further guidance about dealing with exposure to and the effects of tear gas, please refer to CPJ’s civil disorder advisory.
Physical assault
Protesters have previously assaultedjournalists in India and in October 2021, CPJ documented the death of freelancer Raman Kashyap from injuries sustained while covering a protest by local farmers that turned violent. When dealing with aggression, consider the following:
Assess the mood of protesters toward journalists before entering any crowd, and remain vigilant for potential assailants.
Read body language to identify an aggressor and use your own body language to pacify a situation.
Keep eye contact with an aggressor, use open hand gestures, and keep talking with a calming manner.
Keep an extended arm’s length from the threat. Back away and break away firmly without aggression if held. If cornered and in danger, shout.
If aggression increases, keep a hand free to protect your head and move with short deliberate steps to avoid falling. If in a team, stick together and link arms.
While there are times when documenting aggression is crucial journalistic work, be aware of the situation and your own safety. Taking pictures of aggressive individuals can escalate a situation.
If you are accosted, hand over what the assailant wants. Equipment it is not worth your life.
Paramilitary troopers and Punjab Police personnel patrol in a market area, ahead of the state assembly elections in Amritsar, India on January 10, 2022. (AFP/Narinder Nanu)
Physical Safety: Reporting in a hostile community
Journalists are on occasion required to report in areas or communities that are hostile to the media or outsiders. This can happen if a community perceives that the media does not fairly represent them or portrays them in a negative light. During an election campaign, journalists may be required to work for extended periods among communities that are hostile to the media.
If possible, research the community and their views in advance. Develop an understanding of what their reaction to the media will be, and adopt a low profile if necessary.
Secure access to the community in advance. Turning up without an invitation or someone vouching for you can cause problems. If you are not familiar with the area or are perceived as an outsider, consider hiring or obtaining the input of a local facilitator, community leader or person of repute in the community who can accompany you and help coordinate your activities. Identify a local power broker who can help in case of emergency.
If there is endemic abuse of alcohol or drugs in the community, be aware that the unpredictability factor increases.
Ideally, work in a team or with back up. Depending on the risk levels, the backup can wait in a nearby safe location (shopping mall or petrol station) to react if necessary.
Think about the geography of the area and plan accordingly. Consider the need for security if the risk is high. A local hired back watcher to protect you/your kit can be attuned to a developing threat while you are concentrating on work.
Park your vehicle ready to go, ideally with the driver in the vehicle.
If you have to work remotely from your transportation, know how to get back to it. Identify landmarks and share this information with colleagues.
Know where to go in case of a medical emergency and work out an exit strategy.
Always ask for consent before filming / photographing an individual, particularly if you do not have an easy exit.
When you have the content you need, get out and do not linger longer than necessary. It is helpful to have a pre-agreed cut off time and to depart at that time. If a team member is uncomfortable, do not waste time having a discussion. Just leave.
Wear clothing without media company branding, which should be appropriate and respectful. Remove media logos from equipment/vehicles if necessary.
Take a medical kit if you know how to use it.
Be respectful to the individuals and their beliefs/concerns at all times.
Limit the amount of valuables/cash that you take. Will thieves be attracted by your equipment? If you are accosted, hand over what they want. Equipment is not worth your life.
Avoid working at night: the risk increases dramatically.
Before broadcast/publication consider that you may need to return to this location. Will your coverage affect your welcome if you return?
On the face of it, there seems to be little in the way of connection between the treatment of Novak Djokovic by Australian authorities and the cooling of the Serbian government towards Rio Tinto. The Anglo-Australian mining giant was confident that it would, at least eventually, win out in gaining the permissions to commence work on its US$2.4 billion lithium-borates mine in the Jadar Valley.
In 2021, Rio Tinto stated that the project would “scale up [the company’s] exposure to battery materials, and demonstrate the company’s commitment to investing capital in a disciplined manner to further strengthen its portfolio for the global energy transition.”
The road had been a bit bumpy, including a growing environmental movement determined to scuttle the project. But the ruling coalition, led by the Serbian Progressive Party, had resisted going wobbly on the issue.
Then came the maligning of the world number one tennis player in Australia. Djokovic had been tormented by a brief spell of confinement in quarters normally reserved for refugees kept in indefinite detention, and eventually defeated in the Full Court of the Federal Court. During the course of events, he saw his visa cancelled twice, first by a member of the Australian Border Force, the next time by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke. Along the way, lynch mobs were thrilled that “Novaxx” Djokovic, that great threat to Australia’s vaccinated innocence, was finally on a flight home.
The Serbian government attempted to intervene. President Aleksander Vučić made a plea to the Morrison government to resist cancelling Djokovic’s visa; the Australian Open was the Serbian tennis player’s favourite tournament, one he had won numerous times.
A diplomatic incident, more murmur than bark, was sparked. “In line with all standards of international public law, Serbia will fight for Novak Djokovic,” promised the Serbian premier. But for an Australian government that has flouted international law and fetishized border control, the call mattered little.
In Serbia, Rio Tinto then faced a rude shock. The Vučić government, having praised the potential of the Jadar project for some years, abruptly abandoned it. “All decisions (connected to the lithium project) and all licenses have been annulled,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić stated flatly on January 20. “As far as project Jadar is concerned, this is an end.”
Branabić insisted, somewhat disingenuously, that this decision merely acknowledged the will of voters. “We are listening to our people and it is our job to protect their interests even when we think differently.”
This is a bit rich coming from a government hostile to industry accountability and investment transparency. The same government also decided to begin infrastructure works on the jadarite mine before the granting of an exploitation permit. Such behaviour has left advocates such as Savo Manojlović of the NGO Kreni-Promeni wondering why Rio Tinto was singled out over, for instance, Eurolithium, which was permitted to dig in the environs of Valjevo in western Serbia.
Zorana Mihajlović, Serbia’s mining and energy minister, preferred to blame the environmental movement, though the alibi seemed a bit forced. “The government showed it wanted the dialogue … (and) attempts to use ecology for political purposes demonstrate they (green groups) care nothing about the lives of the people, nor the industrial development.”
Rio Tinto had been facing an impressive grass roots militia, mobilised to remind Serbians about the devastating implications of proposed lithium mining operations. The Ne damo Jadar (We won’t let anyone take Jadar) group has unerringly focused attention on the secret agreements reached between the mining company and Belgrade. Zlatko Kokanović, vice president of the group, is convinced that the mine would “not only threaten one of Serbia’s oldest and most important archaeological sites, it will also endanger several protected bird species, pond terrapins, and fire salamander, which would otherwise be protected by EU directives.”
Taking issue with the unflattering environmental record of the Anglo-Australian company, numerous protests were organised and petitions launched, including one that has received 292,571 signatures. Last month, activists organised gatherings and marches across the country, including road blockades.
Djokovic has not been immune to the growing green movement, if only to lend a few words of support. In a December Instagram story post featuring a picture of anti-mining protests, he declared that, “Clean air, water and food are the keys to health. Without it, every word about health is redundant.”
Rio Tinto’s response to the critics was that of the seductive guest keen to impress: we have gifts for the governors, the rulers and the parliamentarians. Give us permission to dig, and we will make you the envy of Europe, green and environmentally sound ambassadors of the electric battery and car revolution.
The European Battery Alliance, a group of electric vehicle supply chain companies, is adamant that the Jadar project “constituted an important share of potential European domestic supply.” The mine would have “contributed to support the growth of a nascent industrial battery-related ecosystem in Serbia, contributing to a substantial amount to Serbia’s annual GDP.” Assiduously selective, the group preferred to ignore the thorny environmental implications of the venture.
The options facing the mining giant vary, none of which would appeal to the board. In a statement, the company claimed that it was “reviewing the legal basis of this decision and the implications for our activities and our people in Serbia.” It might bullyingly seek to sue Belgrade, a move that is unlikely to improve an already worn reputation. “For a major mining company to sue a state is very unusual,” suggests Peter Leon of law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. “A claim under the bilateral treaty is always a last resort, but not a first resort.”
Another option for punters within the company will be a political gamble: hoping that April’s parliamentary elections will usher in a bevy of pro-mining representatives. By then, public antagonism against matters Australian will have dimmed. The Serbian ecological movement, however, is unlikely to ease their campaign. The age of mining impunity in the face of popular protest has come to an end.
About 1,100 coalminers in Alabama have entered 2022 still on strike, more than 10 months since they walked out back in April last year, making it the longest strike in the US since the Covid-19 pandemic began and the longest in Alabama’s history.
Workers started the unfair labor practice strike over claims of bad faith bargaining by Warrior Met Coal over a new union contract. In the previous contract settled in 2016, miners accepted several concessions, including a $6-an-hour pay cut and reductions in health insurance and other benefits as the mines switched employers in the wake of a bankruptcy.
New York, January 25, 2022 – Authorities in Burkina Faso should ensure that journalists can report freely, safely, and without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On Sunday, soldiers at the Sangoule Lamizana military camp outside Ouagadougou, the capital, briefly held freelance reporter Henry Wilkins and Associated Press reporter Sam Mednick, according to both journalists, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and Wilkins’ comments on Twitter and to the BBC.
The journalists were photographing and filming the camp when some soldiers aimed their guns at them and others fired into the air. The soldiers confiscated their equipment, took them inside the base, and then released them and returned their equipment, according to Wilkins and Mednick, who said that the incident lasted about 30 minutes.
On Monday, members of the military announced on state broadcaster RTB that they had suspended the constitution, disbanded the government, and closed the country’s borders.
“People in Burkina Faso and around the world are only able to know what is happening in the country if journalists are permitted to do their jobs without fear of arrest or harassment,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Attacks on the press are never justified, and authorities should maintain internet access and ensure reporters can work safely and distribute the news without fear.”
Separately, Ibrahim Compaoré, a reporter with the local La Chaîne au Coeur de l’Afrique (LCA) broadcaster, was struck in the arm by a teargas canister while filming protests on January 22, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ over the phone, a post on LCA’s Facebook page, and localmedia reports. Compaoré told CPJ that the canister broke his left arm and he had received medical attention.
The same day Wilkins and Mednick were held, local and internationalmedia and the digital rights group Access Now reported internet disruptions in the country, following similar disruptions in early January and in November 2021.
A journalist working in Ouagadougou, who asked to remain anonymous due to security concerns, told CPJ via messaging app Monday that angry mobs have harassed and chased journalists to prevent them from recording events on the street.
“As soon as you step out with a camera mobs will form,” the journalist said. “Local journalist[s] and foreign alike… People will start chasing you, with sticks. One guy was about [to] throw a rock at me today.”
CPJ was unable to immediately determine authorities to contact for comment on events surrounding the coup.
Reached via messaging app, Guy Hervé Yé, director of communication and public relations of the Burkina Faso gendarmerie, told CPJ he was not aware of the specific circumstances involving Compaoré’s case, but said that journalists filming demonstrations were at risk of teargas being deployed to disperse crowds.
He said journalists should remain farther back from protests to avoid being caught between security forces and demonstrators.
Previously, in April 2021, Spanish journalists David Beriain and Roberto Fraile were abducted in eastern Burkina Faso and killed. In late November 2021, security forces and protesters also attacked and harassed journalists working to cover demonstrations over insecurity and calling for a change in national leadership, according to a statement of condemnation by the Association of Journalists of Burkina Faso.
On 28, 29, 30 January 2022, we call for a global mobilization in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their steadfast resistance against Israel’s forced displacement in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, in Al-Naqab, the Jordan Valley, the southern Hebron Hills and beyond.
These Global Days of Action are in response to the call by the Bedouin-Palestinian community of Al-Naqab for international solidarity to support their struggle against Israel’s ongoing Nakba.
On Tuesday, January 18th, tree-cutting was reported on social media in the Atlanta Forest, an area of highly contested green-space where both a movie studio and the local police are attempting to clear-cut trees to build expanded studio lots and a state of the art police training facility, which will include a “mock city for first responders to train in.” Over the past year, resistance to the project has taken many forms, from militant marches, community forums and BBQs, protests against those funding and helping to carry out the project, to a campaign to pressure local politicians to block the devastation of the forest. The campaign has brought together a wide variety of movements, groups, and communities, each fighting to save the forest and stop an encroaching arm of the expanding police state, known in Atlanta, as “Cop City.”
Stockholm, January 20, 2022 – Authorities in Kazakhstan must stop jailing and summoning for questioning journalists who covered the recent nationwide protests, and allow the press to work freely, the Committee to Protest Journalists said today.
Since January 7, Kazakh authorities have sentenced at least three journalists to periods of detention ranging from 10 to 15 days, and summoned at least six journalists for questioning in connection with their coverage of nationwide protests that broke out on January 4, according to multiplenewsreports, a preliminary report on violations of journalists’ rights during and after the protests by independent local free speech organization Adil Soz, an unpublished document from the Kazakh Ministry of Information on incidents involving journalists shared with CPJ, and CPJ interviews with local journalists.
“It is unacceptable that Kazakh authorities should jail journalists for reporting and commenting on events of huge public importance, and outrageous that journalists should be questioned about links to so-called ‘extremist’ organizations simply for doing their jobs,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Investigations into the protests must not be used as a pretext to settle scores with critical journalists. Authorities should immediately release detained journalists Daryn Nursapar and Nurzhan Baimuldin, quash their convictions and that of journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov, and cease summoning members of the press over their presence at the demonstrations.”
In addition to the January 7 sentencing of critical independent journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov to 10 days’ detention, as previously documented by CPJ, CPJ is aware of the following journalist convictions:
On January 7, law enforcement officers in the eastern city of Ust-Kamenogorsk arrested Daryn Nursapar, editor of state-owned local news website Altaynews.kz, and charged him with participating in an illegal demonstration, Adil Soz reported, and on January 9, a city court sentenced the journalist to 15 days’ detention. Management from the news site’s parent company had forbidden its journalists from attending the protests, but Nursapar felt it was his professional obligation to cover the protest, and postedvideos in Ust-Kamenogorsk on his Facebook page on January 5, according to Adil Soz.
On the morning of January 12, Kokshetau police arrested Nurzhan Baimuldin, chief editor of independent news agency Kokshetau-Asia, for comments the journalist posted on Facebook suggesting that President Qasym-Zhomart Toqayev “reported to” Russian President Vladimir Putin, and charged him with inciting public order violations during a state of emergency, according to newsreports and a post on Baimuldin’s Facebook page. That evening, a city court sentenced the journalist to 10 days’ detention, but on January 17, a Kokshetau city appeals court reduced the sentence to five days, at the prosecutor’s request, and freed him, according to an Adil Soz report, which also stated that the journalist plans to appeal the conviction.
Separately, Makhambet Abzhan, the author of Telegram channel Abzhan News who was reported missing by his family on January 6, announced today on the channel that he is alive, well, and has been in hiding for the last two weeks for reasons he “will explain later,” adding that he was questioned yesterday by police, according to reports. Authorities opened a criminal case against Abzhan, the journalist told CPJ via messaging app but said he was unable to provide more details as he signed a non-disclosure agreement with investigators.
Abzhan actively covered the initial stages of the protests on his Telegram channel and commented on events for Russian television, before announcing on the night of January 4 that plainclothes police had surrounded his apartment, switched off the electricity, and were preventing him from leaving, as CPJ previously reported. The Interior Ministry of Kazakhstan this week denied a criminal case had been initiated against the journalist, according to those same reports.
In addition, since January 11 CPJ is aware of the following incidents of police summoning journalists for questioning:
On January 11, police in the northwestern city of Aktobe summoned Zhanalyk Akhash, a correspondent for broadcaster KTK–reportedly owned by a foundation set up under the name of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev–and questioned him for around an hour about why he was at protests in the city and whether he was a member of various organizations, including opposition group Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), according to the Adil Soz report. DVK is banned as an extremist group in Kazakhstan but has been declared a peaceful opposition movement by the European Union.
On the evening of January 11, police in the western city of Atyrau summoned Ainur Saparova and Farkhat Abilov, reporters who covered the protests for Ak Zhayik, a local independent newspaper known for its criticism of local authorities, and questioned them for around two hours about why they attended the protests and who told them to do so, according to the Adil Soz report and Abilov, who spoke to CPJ by telephone. Abilov told CPJ that police demanded his photos and videos of the protests, including photos of a protester who died from a bullet wound, but he refused to hand them over, adding that before and after the interrogation, unknown individuals called and messaged him, threatening to kill the journalist, and demanding he hand over his recordings. Abilov has since fled Kazakhstan for his safety.
On January 12, Aktobe police summoned Zhanagul Zhursin, a correspondent who covered protests in the city for U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kazakh service, known locally as Radio Azattyq, and questioned her for around three hours as a witness “with a right to a lawyer” in an unspecified criminal case, according to a report by the journalist’s employer, which stated that witnesses with such a status often become suspects. Zhursin’s colleague Darkhan Omirbek told CPJ by messaging app that investigators refused to inform the journalist which article of the criminal code the case was based on. Investigators asked Zhursin why she attended the protests, who she spoke to there and what they said to her, as well as what her views are on DVK and the movement’s leader Mukhtar Ablyazov, this report stated.
Also in Aktobe on January 12, police summoned and interrogated Dmitry Mateyev, a correspondent covering the protests for independent news website Ratel.kz, according to the Adil Soz report and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by telephone. Mateyev told CPJ that investigators questioned him for around three hours about why he was at the protests and whether he has links to DVK before demanding that he give them videos and photos taken at the protests, which he refused.
The same day, Aktobe police summoned and interrogated Zhanar Kozhanova, a correspondent covering the protests for independent broadcaster 31 Kanal, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by telephone. Kozhanova said that police questioned her for around an hour about why she was at the protests.
In a separate incident, on January 6 police in the northern city of Kokshetau arrested Baqyt Smaghul, chief editor of independent local newspaper Bukpa, and later that day a court sentenced him to five days’ detention on charges of organizing a peaceful gathering during a state of emergency, according to a January 13 Adil Soz report and Smaghul, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Smaghul had been appointed by local authorities to a committee formed to prevent youth from violently protesting, he told CPJ. On January 6, the journalist saw a crowd of youth gathered in the city and approached them, both as a journalist and a committee member, and tried to calm them, when police arrested him alongside the protestors.
Smaghul said he believes the police and court ignored his rationale of acting as a committee member because Bukpa covers topics that state-owned newspapers avoid, such as corruption. CPJ did not include this case in the total number of journalists detained for their protest coverage, as CPJ was unable to confirm that Smaghul was detained in direct connection with his journalism.
CPJ emailed the Interior Ministry and the office of the prosecutor-general of Kazakhstan for comment on the detentions and questioning of journalists, and requesting details about the charges against Abzhan, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Capitol Police arrested progressive lawmaker Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-New York) after he joined a demonstration for voting rights at the Capitol on Thursday, according to his office.
“Today, Congressman Jamaal Bowman joined a voting rights non-violent direct action at the North Barricade of the U.S. Capitol Building and was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police,” said Marcus Frias, Bowman’s director of communications. “We will provide more information and updates as we gather them.”
According to police, protestors had begun to block one side of a barricade. The department claims it has arrested over two dozen people in relation to the protest. Un-PAC, the organization behind the protest, said that many of those arrested are young protesters, and that police have arrested them before for similar demonstrations.
Bowman, who is Black, had visited protesters on Wednesday ahead of a crucial vote to amend Senate rules in order to pass legislation to expand and protect voting rights. “Our democracy is on the line, and the Senate must act and pass voting rights immediately,” he wrote. “We’re outside the Senate steps sounding the alarm.”
Bowman is one of a string of other Black Democratic lawmakers who have been arrested in demonstrations for voting rights over the past year. Representatives Al Green (Texas), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Hank Johnson (Georgia) and Joyce Beatty (Ohio) were arrested in separate voting rights protests last summer.
Bowman had joined strikers on the eighth day of their Hunger Strike 4 Democracy on Thursday when he was arrested.
“Today’s action was a means of making a statement and taking a stand against political corruption. Despite 52 of our senators standing aside as our democracy crumbles, we will not,” Shana Gallagher, executive director of Un-PAC, told Truthout.
“Young people don’t have a choice but to keep organizing to fix our broken democracy by getting big money out of politics, banning partisan gerrymandering, and protecting our freedom to vote,” Gallagher continued. “We will remember which side of history our Senators stood on, and which of them worked to deliver for their constituents, rather than for their ultra-wealthy mega donors and special interests.”
Twenty-eight protesters for voting rights were arrested earlier this week.
This is the second hunger strike for voting rights by Un-PAC demonstrators. Last month, the Hunger Strike 4 Democracy demonstrators traveled from Phoenix to D.C. after striking in front of the capitol building of their home state to no avail. The group, made up of university students, expressed frustration that Congress has failed to act on voting rights. Their first hunger strike lasted 15 days and was extremely taxing for the protesters.
The goal of the strike is to push Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act. The bill would overhaul current election laws by making voting more accessible across the country with mail-in ballot expansions, implementing automatic voter registration and increasing transparency around campaign finance. Lawmakers had proposed a filibuster workaround to pass the legislation, but conservative Democrats Senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) joined Republicans in blocking the effort on Wednesday night.
“My question for Senator Manchin is: what is it going to take for you to actually represent your constituents?” said hunger striker and West Virginia University student Rylee Haught in a statement. “[W]e are desperate to end political corruption and for a functional, accountable democracy. Yesterday, you failed to deliver that, Senator Manchin. You are standing aside as our democracy crumbles. I will not give up on West Virginia like you did.”
New York, January 19, 2022 – In response to the sentencing of Belarusian journalist Aliaksandr Ivulin to two years imprisonment on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation:
“Belarusian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Aliaksandr Ivulin and let all members of the press work freely and safely,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said. “Ivulin’s case shows that authorities will use any excuse to punish members of the press who dare to cover protests or other newsworthy events that the government prefers be kept quiet.”
Ivulin covers soccer for Tribuna, Belarus’s largest independent sports news website, and also runs the soccer-focused YouTube channel ChestnOK, which has about 75,000 subscribers, according to Tribuna director Maksim Berazinsky, who spoke to CPJ in late 2021, and CPJ research.
Berazinsky told CPJ he believed ChestnOK’s interviews with athletes who supported the 2020 protests against Aleksandr Lukashenko, coupled with Ivulin’s popularity on the channel, prompted his June 3, 2021, arrest.
Ivulin was initially sentenced to 30 days in prison for allegedly participating in protests in Minsk that he was covering as a journalist; on his 29th day in detention, authorities declared that he was a suspect in a criminal case, and on July 9 charged him with organizing violations of public order, according to media reports from the time.
His trial at the Soviet District Court in Minsk began on Monday, January 17, 2022, and concluded Wednesday; Ivulin was found guilty of organizing “activities blatantly aimed at disrupting social order” and was sentenced to two years in prison, according to news reports and the Belarusian Association of Journalists, an independent advocacy and trade group.
Belarus held at least 19 journalists behind bars for their work at the time of CPJ’s most recent prison census on December 1, 2021.
New York, January 19, 2022 – Sudanese authorities must immediately release all detained journalists and stop arresting and assaulting members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Since January 12, Sudanese military forces in the capital Khartoum have detained, and later released, at least six journalists and media workers, and on January 13, military forces assaulted a freelance journalist and attempted to run over at least two other journalists with military vehicles.
All of those journalists were targeted while covering protests against Sudan’s military rulers, which have been ongoing since Sudanese military head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan overthrew the country’s joint civilian-military transitional government in an October 2021 coup d’état.
Also, on January 16 the Sudanese Ministry of Culture and Information said it had withdrawn the broadcast license of Qatari satellite channel Al-Jazeera, according to a report from the outlet and Radio Dabanga. According to Al-Jazeera, the ministry also withdrew the accreditation of two of its journalists, Khartoum correspondent Mohamed Omar and photographer Badawi Bashir, in response to the network’s alleged “unprofessional coverage” and reporting that “damaged the social fabric” of Sudan, according to the ministry’s statement included in the report.
“By arresting and assaulting journalists and withdrawing the licenses of Al-Jazeera and two of its reporters, Sudan’s military rulers are showing their contempt not just for a free press but for the Sudanese people and their demands for a transition to democratic rule,” said Justin Shilad, CPJ’s senior Middle East and North Africa researcher. “Sudanese military authorities must immediately release all detained journalists, allow the media to report freely, and stop their attacks on the press.”
On January 12, military security forces arrested Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency photographers Mohamed Khidir and Majdi Abdallah and took them to a military base in the neighboring city of Omdurman, according to the Sudanese Journalists Network, a local press freedom group, and Radio Dabanga, a local independent media outlet.
Local freelance journalist and press freedom advocate Abdelgadir Mohamed Abdelgadir told CPJ that both journalists have since been released; Abdelgadir alleged that they were mistreated in custody but was unable to provide further details. CPJ was unable to determine how long they were held or how they were treated in custody. CPJ emailed Xinhua seeking comment but did not immediately receive a response.
On January 13, security forces surrounded the Khartoum office of Al Araby TV, a London-based broadcaster funded by a Qatar company with military vehicles, stormed the building, and arrested reporter Wael Mohammed Alhassan, office supervisor Islam Saleh, camera operator Mazen Onour, and his assistant Abu Baker Ali, according to an official statement sent by the channel to CPJ via messaging app, another statement posted on the channel’s website, an Al-Araby TV article, and a statement from the Sudanese Journalists Network. The channel’s crew was filming the protests from the rooftop when the raid occurred, according to the Al-Araby TV article, adding that the soldiers beat Saleh with batons while arresting him. In a separate article, the channel reported that the four employees’ whereabouts during detention and reasons for their arrests were unknown, and their colleagues’ attempts to contact them by phone were unsuccessful.
In a tweet later January 13, Al-Araby TV said the team had been released; CPJ was unable to independently verify how long they were held.
Around 4 p.m. on January 13, Shamael Elnoor, a freelance journalist who has written for newspapers, including Al-Tayyar and Al-Shorooq, was covering the protests in an area around the El Qurashi Gardens when a group of military transport vehicles drove into a crowd of protestors, according to the Sudanese Journalists Network, a Facebook post by Elnoor, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.
Two other journalists covering the protests, Osman Fadlalla, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Siyasi, and Bakri Khalifa, were nearly run over by the military vehicles, according to the Sudanese Journalists Network, Radio Dabanga, and a Facebook post by Fadlalla. Neither were injured and CPJ could not immediately determine which outlet Khalifa was working for at the time of the incident.
When the vehicles stopped, several soldiers armed with batons exited and began beating protesters, seemingly at random, according to Elnoor. Then, three soldiers began beating Elnoor with rubber hoses and continued beating her as she tried to run away, the journalist told CPJ, adding that she was in pain and suffered bruises and swelling all over her body because of the assault.
CPJ emailed the Sudanese Ministry for Justice for comment on the arrests and whether the assaults would be investigated but did not immediately receive a response. CPJ attempted to contact the Sudanese Ministry of Information about the license and accreditation suspensions through a contact form on their website, but it would not accept the message. CPJ was unable to find other contact information for the ministry.
New York, January 18, 2022 – Angolan authorities should ensure the safety of journalists covering protests and investigate recent incidents of assault, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On January 10, six reporters working for news outlets TV Zimbo and TV Palanca were assaulted by unidentified people and forced to flee to safety while reporting on a nationwide strike by taxi drivers in the capital Luanda, according to mediareports and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ by telephone.
The nationwide strike was in protest of COVID-19 restrictions, poor state of roads, demands for social security benefits, and a call for the end to alleged extortion by police, according to mediareports.
TV Zimbo reporter Telmo Gama and his cameraman Justino Campos, and TV Palanca reporters Anselmo Nhati and Orlando Luís and cameramen António Luamba and Daniel Lutaka, were covering the protest when some people among the protestors turned on the journalists and called the TV Zimbo crew ‘sellouts,’ the journalists told CPJ. The protest quickly turned violent, and they were forced to leave.
The secretary general of the Journalists Syndicate, Teixeira Cândido, told CPJ over a phone call that public media journalists are increasingly becoming the targets of people’s anger because of the perceived bias toward the government and ruling party. TV Zimbo and TV Palanca were nationalized by the Angolan government in mid-2020, as documented by CPJ.
“As shown by the recent attack on the TV Zimbo and TV Palanca news crews, reporters appear to be scapegoats for some citizens’ perceived anger toward the state,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “CPJ is increasingly concerned that the environment for media freedom in Angola is deteriorating as the country approaches elections later this year. The press should be allowed to do its work free from intimidation and risk of assault, so that all Angolans can enjoy their right to a diversity and plurality of news and information.”
Around 7 a.m. on January 10, Campos was first to arrive at the main taxi rank in Luanda’s suburb of Benfica, as the drivers began preparations to block roads, he told CPJ. Initially, demonstrators welcomed the media attention, saying they should report on what was happening, however, attitudes changed when he began filming the vandalism and arson attack on a building owned by the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party.
“Someone started to shout that we were ‘sellouts,’” Campos said, adding that he and Gama left the scene to try and find a safe spot to do their reporting. Gama told CPJ that he was holding a microphone with the Zimbo TV logo while Campos held the camera when they were again confronted by protesters and street vendors who joined them in pushing the journalists and yelling insults.
Protestors set documents and equipment from the trashed office on fire; Campos was punched at least four times on his left shoulder and a burning MPLA T-shirt was thrown at him, according to Campos.
“I wasn’t seriously harmed physically, but I feared for our lives when I realized petrol was thrown at our backs, as we were rushing towards the nearby police station,” Gama said.
About five protestors tried to protect them by escorting Campos and Gama to the police station, just a few meters away, while telling the other protestors that the journalists were merely doing their jobs, the journalists told CPJ. Campos and Gama said there were no police at the scene of the protest.
Around 9 a.m., Luis and his Palanca TV crew arrived at the scene and positioned themselves to film the burning office and vandalism, Luis told CPJ. People in the crowd of protestors began throwing rocks at a Ministry of Health bus before setting it on fire, forcing passengers to flee for their lives, he said.
Luis and his crew were punched by people who tried to take their equipment, Luis said, adding that someone soaked him with petrol and when he turned around, he saw someone lighting a match. “I was lucky the match fell to the floor when someone bumped into him, and before he could throw it at me,” Luis told CPJ.
Nhati told CPJ that he was grabbed from the back, had an arm wrapped tight around his neck for about 30 seconds, and was kicked in the legs by an unidentified man who tried to take him to the ground. Nhati tried to flee but became entangled in his microphone’s long cable. Luis grabbed the mic while Nhati tried to pull free, and when one of the attackers tripped and fell, Nhati was able to escape, he told CPJ.
Luis said he was saved by a transit policeman who put his arms around the reporter’s head, as seen on video footage reviewed by CPJ. The policeman escorted him and Nhati to the police station as bottles and other debris were thrown at them.
Luamba and Lutaka told CPJ they saw their colleagues pelted with bottles and petrol, so they ran for safety to a nearby petrol station with private security guards, in the opposite direction, adding that they were unharmed.
Luamba and Lutaka joined Nhati and Luis at the police station, where they for around two hours before returning to their office to work on their reports, according to Nhati.
Luis said he covered the taxi drivers’ strike the week before, interviewed the organizers, and did not believe the taxi drivers were to blame for the violence, but instead “politically motivated people” who were taking advantage of the protest. Manuel Faustino, president of the Luanda’s Taxis Association, agreed on a phone call with CPJ, adding that the strike was about “workers’ rights,” and the association “vehemently condemned” the violence.
The National Police said “the moral instigator” of the vandalism and assault of a Palanca TV journalist is in detention, according to a news report. None of the journalists laid charges with the police, who have arrested at least 29 protesters accused of vandalism and damage to property, according to newsreports.
Contacted by telephone, Nestor Goubel, spokesperson for the national police in Luanda, declined to comment on CPJ’s request for information on the demonstrators who attacked the journalists, instead referring CPJ to his earlier interviews on the subject before hanging up.
There is one last hope for the United States. It does not lie in the ballot box. It lies in the union organizing and strikes by workers at Amazon, Starbucks, Uber, Lyft, John Deere, Kellogg, the Special Metals plant in Huntington, West Virginia, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the Northwest Carpenters Union, Kroger, teachers in Chicago, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona, fast-food workers, hundreds of nurses in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
The crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Sudan continued on Saturday, January 15, as security forces detained more anti-coup protesters. The protesters had been injured during the January 13 demonstrations and were leaving the Royal Care Hospital in Burri in eastern Khartoum when they were arrested.
The injured protesters, along with their companions, were reportedly seized outside the hospital by men in civilian clothes and taken away in vehicles with no number plates to unknown locations.
Berlin, January 18, 2022 — Albanian authorities should swiftly and thoroughly investigate police attacks on journalists covering a recent demonstration, hold those responsible to account, and ensure that reporters can cover events of public interest without fear of injury, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On January 8, in Tirana, the capital, hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Albania’s main opposition party amid an internal battle over the party’s leadership, and riot police fired tear gas and water cannons that hit at least nine journalists, according to news reports and a journalist at the scene who spoke with CPJ.
“Journalists in Albania must be able to cover protests without fear that they will be attacked by police,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Albanian authorities must investigate the recent police use of tear gas and water cannons on journalists covering a demonstration in Tirana, and ensure that the officers responsible are held to account.”
Seven employees of the privately owned broadcaster Ora News—camera operators Ermal Noka, Esmerald Jahelezi, and Alban Xhokaxhi, and reporters Everest Dedaj, Fjorela Beleshi, Sonila Musaj, and Edison Vatnika—sustained burns to their eyes and had breathing problems after police fired a “disproportionate amount” of tear gas at them, according to Ora News and news reports.
Police also fired a water cannon at a reporting team for the local broadcaster Fax News, according to a report by the outlet and camera operator Majklen Sinka, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.
Sinka told CPJ that he and other journalists at the scene were identifiable as members of the press, and that he was wearing clothing with Fax News’s logo, but police “clearly targeted [us] with water cannons and tear gas.” He added that his equipment was also damaged in the attack.
Freelance photojournalist Felix Bilani told private TV channel NOA that he had to receive medical treatment after police fired tear gas at him during the protest.
CPJ emailed the Albanian Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the police, for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.
