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Match Group, the tech company that owns Match.com, OkCupid, Hinge, Tinder and other popular dating services, has known for years which users have been accused of sexual assault and rape, but kept those reports hidden from others on the app, according to a new investigation. Match Group controls half of the world’s online dating market and facilitates meetups for millions of people in scores of countries around the world. “Match Group is aware of a lot of the scale of the harm on their apps. They actually track this on their backend,” says journalist Emily Elena Dugdale, one of the authors of the investigation produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network. “Similar to many tech companies, there’s really little regulation that requires them to actually tell you what’s going on on their apps.” We also speak with whistleblower Michael Lawrie, the former head of user safety and advocacy at OkCupid. He says he quit after his concerns about user safety went unheeded. “I was seeing a lot of stuff,” Lawrie says. “It became impossible for me to carry on working there, ethically and morally.”
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
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With a ceasefire in force in Gaza for a week, the Israeli army and settlers have intensified their attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, reports Al Jazeera’s media watchdog programme The Listening Post.
Amid the exchange of captives, images showing legions of Hamas reinforcements puncture the narratives in Israeli media.
Presenter Richard Gizbert, a Canadian broadcaster and creator of The Listening Post series, pays tribute to Palestinian journalists and critiques the failure of Western journalists to support their colleagues under fire in Gaza.
“None of which bodes well for the Palestinians who have survived Israel’s vengeful war on Gaza, including journalists, some of whom symbolically shed their helmets and flak jackets when the ceasefire was announced — only to put them back on when Israel’s attacks resumed,” Gizbert says.
“More than 200 of their colleagues have been killed, many of them targeted, a number that dwarfs the journalistic casualty figures in any other conflict in modern history.
“And there has been a noticeable lack of outcry on that from Western media outlets, a large scale failure to show solidarity.
“Of all the crimes committed against journalists during this war, the one-side pro-Israeli narratives coming out of capitals like Washington, London and Berlin, this one should stick.
‘Against the odds’
“If journalists cannot even bring themselves to defend their own, what is the point?”
Senior Palestine analyst Tahani Mustafa of the Crisis Group says: “Palestinian journalists have been indispensable, despite all the odds against them of the Israeli onslaught, or the lack of integrity of the Western media, the complete silence over the fact that their fellow journalists on the ground in Gaza are being targeted . . . ”
“This just feels like a pause in the killing machine.”
Executive director of Sarah Leah Whitson of Dawn says: “If I was working in Gaza as a journalist, I would not remove my helmet or my flak jacket. I have no doubt that Israeli military forces in Gaza will continue to gun down journalists.”
Associate professor Dalal Iriqat of the Arab American University Palestine says: “Their target is not really Hamas but the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian rights.
“That’s why they have been targeting media, they have been targeting anybody who tells the truth.”
Contributors:
Dalal Iriqat – Associate professor, Arab American University Palestine
Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project
Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine analyst, Crisis Group
Sarah Leah Whitson – Executive director, DAWN
The Listening Post programme of 25 January 2025. Video: Al Jazeera
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Pro-democracy fighters in Myanmar launched a barrage of rockets at junta facilities in the eastern town of Loikaw as the deputy of the ruling military council was visiting, a rebel group said on Wednesday.
There was no confirmation from the junta of the Tuesday night attack and the anti-junta Brave Warriors for Myanmar, or BWM, militia force said it had no information about casualties.
The group said its members fired five 107 mm rockets to the State Hall in Loikaw, capital of Kayah state, and two rockets at a regional military command headquarters in the town as junta deputy Lt. Gen. Soe Win was visiting for Kayah State Day on Wednesday.
“We want to make sure that even the deputy leader of the junta council is worried about his life, that’s why we had to attack,” an official from the militia group told Radio Free Asia.
He said his group was trying to gather information about the attack, which was organized with help from two other militia groups, the Mountain Knight Civilian Defense Forces and the Anti-Coup People’s Liberation Force.
A Loikaw resident said that he heard loud explosions and the sound of shooting on Tuesday night while some pro-junta channels on the Telegram messaging service said rockets had exploded at Loikaw’s airport and nowhere else.
RFA tried to telephone the junta spokesman for Kayah state, Zar Ni Maung, but could not get through.
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Anti-junta forces have on several occasions used short-range 107 mm rockets in actual or planned attacks on junta leaders, including its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
It was not the first time that Lt. Gen. Soe Win has been in the vicinity of an insurgent attack.
On April 8, 2024, anti-junta fighters used drones to attack the Southeast Regional Military headquarters in Mawlamyine town when he was visiting.
There was speculation at the time that he had been hurt in the attack and he was not seen in public for about a month afterwards, fueling rumors he had been wounded.
Military-controlled media on Wednesday made no mention of any rocket attack in Loikaw but newspapers did carry a Kayah State Day statement from the junta chief, in which he called for people to reject the armed opposition and blamed the democracy supporters and foreign countries for “terror acts.”
“The current instability and terror acts occurring within the country are the result of individuals claiming to be promoting democracy, but instead, they have resorted to electoral fraud to unlawfully seize state power,” he said, apparently referring to Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, which won elections in 2015 and 2020. He made no mention of any attack in Loikaw.
“Rather than resolving issues through lawful democratic methods, they have chosen armed terrorism approaches,” he said.
The military complained of fraud in the 2020 polls, despite there being no evidence of any major cheating, organizers said, and ousted Suu Kyi’s government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. She and many others have been locked up ever since.
Min Aung Hlaing also accused foreign countries of “supporting dictatorship disguised as democracy.”
“Some foreign countries, which claim to be defending democracy, are also supporting and encouraging armed terror attacks that are directly or indirectly against the democratic system,” Min Aung Hlaing said. He did not identify any countries.
While Aung San Suu Kyi and her government attracted diplomatic and economic support from Western countries and some Asian neighbors, no foreign governments are known to have supported any anti-junta forces.
The military gets most of its weapons from Russia and China.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn
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Five years after riot police besieged Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University and trapped protesters fought back with catapults and Molotov cocktails, four people who were there say they were trying to stand up for their promised rights and freedoms in the face of ongoing political encroachment from Beijing.
The 10-day siege of PolyU began on Nov. 18, 2019, after around 1,000 protesters occupied the university as part of an ongoing series of actions to achieve the movement’s key demands: fully democratic elections; the withdrawal of plans to allow extradition to mainland China; greater official and police accountability; and an amnesty for detained protesters.
The protesters were then trapped on campus as riot police encircled the area, prompting nearly 100,000 people to turn out to battle riot police across Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and other parts of the Kowloon peninsula.
Four young people who were among the besieged protesters spoke to RFA Cantonese on the fifth anniversary of the siege, which ended Nov. 19, 2019, and proved to be one of the last major standoffs between black-clad protesters and riot police after months of clashes sparked by plans to allow extradition to mainland China.
A former protester now living in democratic Taiwan, who gave only the nickname Kai for fear of reprisals said he had been in the siege of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from Nov. 13-15, 2019 before responding to a call for help defending PolyU against riot police just a few days later.
He never expected the police to prevent the protesters from leaving, or that the siege would last 10 days.
“I never thought the police would adopt a siege approach,” Kai said. “They cut off our supply lines, and even cut off the water, which was inhumane.”
“Any supplies we had were brought in by older helpers from outside,” he said.
When the protesters did try to leave, they were outflanked by police on both sides, he said.
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“Soon after we ran out, we were intercepted by police in front of us, who forced us to run in another direction before we could move forward, but then after we’d run for a bit, we realized we were outflanked on both sides,” he said.
“All the police in front of us had their guns ready, and were waiting for us, so we had to go back to PolyU and plan our next move,” Kai said.
Kai managed to avoid arrest at the time, but left Hong Kong soon after learning he was on a police blacklist.
He said the political crackdown that followed the 2019 protest movement has shown that the protesters were right to fear Beijing’s encroachment on their city’s promised autonomy.
He said many young protesters were motivated by a desire to burn their home city to the ground rather than acquiesce in its transformation into another Chinese city under Communist Party rule.
“Nowadays, the Chinese Communist Party is no longer hiding its authoritarian tendencies, and has been sanctioned by the international community, while the Hong Kong economy declines by the day,” Kai said.
“This shows that our idea that we would all burn together was right on the money,” he said.
Around 1,300 people were arrested, with around 300 sent to hospital for injuries related to water cannon blast, tear gas, and rubber bullets, as protesters wielding Molotov cocktails, catapults and other makeshift weapons from behind barricades beat back repeated attempts by riot police to advance into the university campus.
Small groups of protesters continued to make desperate bids for freedom throughout the siege, many of them only to end up being arrested and beaten bloody by police.
Police also deployed tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets against a crowd of thousands trying to push through towards Poly U from Jordan district, with hundreds forming human chains to pass bricks, umbrellas, and other supplies to front-line fighters.
“I took part in a lot of protest-related activities from June [of that year] onwards, although I never considered myself a front-line fighter,” a former protester living in the United Kingdom who gave only the pseudonym Kit for fear of reprisals, told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview. “But I felt that if I wasn’t prepared to take it further, then we really would lose the rule of law in Hong Kong.”
The 2019 protests started out as a wave of mass public resistance to a legal amendment that would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts, a move that was generally seen as undermining the city’s status as a separate legal jurisdiction with an independent judiciary.
The movement later broadened to include the “five demands,” that included fully democratic elections, an amnesty for arrested protesters and greater official accountability.
The young protesters, hundreds of whom were minors, soon found themselves running out of food, and faced with a growing hygiene problem, and many tried to leave, only to be tear gassed, fired on with water cannon, or beaten up and taken away by police.
“We made three attempts to break out, but they all failed, so we went back to PolyU,” Kit said. “Everyone was scared, but we couldn’t come to any conclusion.”
“I later tried to get out by myself … but I was arrested by the police,” he said, adding that the movement had soon fizzled under the impact of coronavirus measures introduced by the government in early 2020.
“The government used people’s fear of the virus to make the protests disappear,” Kit Jai said. “The outlook is pretty grim right now, but I still hope that the people of Hong Kong … will keep its culture alive.”
A former protester living in Japan who gave only the nickname Tin for fear of reprisals said he also remembers the three failed attempts at breaking out, and the desperate mood that descended on those inside PolyU after those inside realized they were trapped.
“What impressed me most was that some of the protesters used a homemade catapult to launch Molotov cocktails, which set fire to the police armored vehicle, forcing it to retreat,” he said. “Everyone cheered when that happened.”
“Actually, the situation inside PolyU was total chaos, with a lot of misinformation coming in, and nobody really knew what to do,” he said.
Tin said he had fled Hong Kong and wound up in Japan after traveling to several other countries first.
“I’ve had good and bad experiences over the last five years, but I’ve survived,” he said.
A former protester now living in Germany who gave only the nickname Hei for fear of reprisals said he went to PolyU on Nov. 17 to try to persuade his fellow protesters to leave while they still could.
Before he knew it, he was trapped inside.
“I wanted to persuade them to leave, because the situation was critical, with helicopters flying overhead,” Hei said. “But they refused to leave.”
Hei never thought he’d be stuck there for as long as he was.
“When it became clear at around 9.30 that evening that those of us left inside weren’t going to be able to leave, things got pretty dark,” he said. “One guy told us to make a written statement pledging not to commit suicide.”
So he stayed behind to resist the advance of the riot police.
“The police offensive was really intense,” he said. “I was on the platform of A Core for the entire night.”
“Just below us were the frontline fighters, and the police water cannon truck, which sprayed us on the platform with blue water from time to time,” Hei said. “Then at about 6.00 p.m. on the 18th, the police suddenly launched an offensive and fired large numbers of tear gas rounds and rubber bullets from a high altitude at the Core A platform.”
“I opened my umbrella and squatted down next to a tree, and the bullets kept cracking on the umbrella,” he said. “We lost the position pretty quickly, but I was able to make it back to PolyU luckily.”
Inside, rumors were swirling that the police would burst in to arrest everyone, so Hei managed to escape by following a lawyer who had come in to try to help the young people inside.
He had a lucky escape. Anyone arrested during the siege was eventually charged with “rioting,” with some receiving jail terms of up to 10 years.
“They only took my ID details,” said Hei, who wasn’t arrested, and who later left Hong Kong for Germany.
He said the siege taught him how hard it is to stand up to an authoritarian regime.
“But I have no regrets, because anyone with a conscience or any sense of justice would have chosen to stand up,” he said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
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We go to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where we get an update from Arwa Damon of the humanitarian organization INARA on “deteriorating conditions” as Palestinians are “slowly exterminated” by disease and starvation caused by Israel’s brutal siege. A special U.N. committee has found that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.” Palestinians in Gaza feel that “they are living through their own annihilation,” says Damon. “There is actually a real sense that the worst is yet to come.”
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Three years ago, Erin Primer had an idea for a new summer program for her school district: She wanted students to learn about where their food comes from. Primer, who has worked in student nutrition within California’s public school system for 10 years, applied for grant funding from the state to kick off the curriculum, and got it. Students planted cilantro in a garden tower, met a local organic farmer who grows red lentils, and learned about corn. “Many kids didn’t know that corn grew in a really tall plant,” said Primer. “They didn’t know that it had a husk.”
The curriculum, focused on bringing the farm into the school, had an effect beyond the classroom: Primer found that, after learning about and planting ingredients that they then used to make simple meals like veggie burgers, students were excited to try new foods and flavors in the lunchroom. One crowd pleaser happened to be totally vegan: a red lentil dal served with coconut rice.
“We have had students tell us that this is the best dish they’ve ever had in school food. To me, I was floored to hear this,” said Primer, who leads student nutrition for the San Luis Coastal district on California’s central coast, meaning she develops and ultimately decides on what goes on all school food menus. “It really builds respect into our food system. So not only are they more inclined to eat it, they’re also less inclined to waste it. They’re more inclined to eat all of it.”
Primer’s summer program, which the district is now considering making a permanent part of the school calendar, was not intended to inspire students to embrace plant-based cooking. But that was one of the things that happened — and it’s happening in different forms across California.
A recent report shows that the number of schools in California serving vegan meals has skyrocketed over the past five years. Although experts say this growth is partly a reflection of demand from students and parents, they also credit several California state programs that are helping school districts access more local produce and prepare fresh, plant-based meals on-site.
Growing meat for human consumption takes a tremendous toll on both the climate and the environment; the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that livestock production contributes 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, cattle and other ruminants are a huge source of methane. Animal agriculture is also extremely resource-intensive, using up tremendous amounts of water and land. Reducing the global demand for meat and dairy, especially in high-income countries, is an effective way to lower greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the rate of global warming.
The climate benefits of eating less meat are one reason that school districts across the country have introduced more vegetarian — and to a lesser degree, vegan — lunch options. In 2009, Baltimore City Public Schools removed meat from its school lunch menus on Mondays, part of the Meatless Mondays campaign. A decade later, New York City Public Schools, the nation’s largest school district, did the same. In recent years, vegan initiatives have built upon the success of Meatless Mondays, like Mayor Eric Adams’ “Plant-Powered Fridays” program in New York City.
But California, the state that first put vegetarianism on the map in the early 20th century, has been leading the country on plant-based school lunch. “California is always ahead of the curve, and we’ve been eating plant-based or plant-forward for many years — this is not a new concept in our state,” said Primer. A recent report from the environmental nonprofit Friends of the Earth found that among California’s 25 largest school districts, more than half — 56 percent — of middle and high school menus now have daily vegan options, a significant jump compared to 36 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, the percentage of elementary districts offering weekly vegan options increased from 16 percent to 60 percent over the last five years.
Student nutrition directors like Primer say the foundation that allows schools to experiment with new recipes is California’s universal free lunch program. She notes that, when school lunch is free, students are more likely to actually try and enjoy it: “Free food plus good food equals a participation meal increase every time.”
Nora Stewart, the author of the Friends of the Earth report, says the recent increase in vegan school lunch options has also been in response to a growing demand for less meat and dairy in cafeterias from climate-conscious students. “We’re seeing a lot of interest from students and parents to have more plant-based [meals] as a way to really help curb greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. A majority of Gen Zers — 79 percent — say they would eat meatless at least once or twice a week, according to research conducted by Aramark, a company provides food services to school districts and universities, among other clients. And the food-service company that recently introduced an all-vegetarian menu in the San Francisco Unified School District credits students with having “led the way” in asking for less meat in their cafeterias. The menu includes four vegan options: an edamame teriyaki bowl, a bean burrito bowl, a taco bowl with a pea-based meat alternative, and marinara pasta.
Stewart theorizes that school nutrition directors are also increasingly aware of other benefits to serving vegan meals. “A lot of school districts are recognizing that they can integrate more culturally diverse options with more plant-based meals,” said Stewart. In the last five years, the nonprofit found, California school districts have added 41 new vegan dishes to their menus, including chana masala bowls, vegan tamales, and falafel wraps. Dairy-free meals also benefit lactose-intolerant students, who are more likely to be students of color.
Still, vegan meals are hardly the default in California cafeterias, and in many places, they’re unheard of. Out of the 25 largest school districts in the state, only three elementary districts offer daily vegan options, the same number as did in 2019. According to Friends of the Earth, a fourth of the California school districts they reviewed offer no plant-based meal options; in another fourth, the only vegan option for students is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I was surprised to see that,” said Stewart.
Making school lunches without animal products isn’t just a question of ingredients. It’s also a question of knowledge and resources — and the California legislature has created a number of programs in recent years that aim to get those tools to schools that need them.
In 2022, the state put $600 million toward its Kitchen Infrastructure and Training Funds program, which offers funding to schools to upgrade their kitchen equipment and train staff. This kind of leveling up allows kitchen staff to better incorporate “scratch cooking” — essentially, preparing meals on-site from fresh ingredients — into their operations. (The standard in school lunch sometimes is jokingly referred to as “cooking with a box cutter,” as in heating up and serving premade meals that come delivered in a box.) Another state program, the $100 million School Food Best Practices Funds, gives schools money to purchase more locally grown food. And the Farm to School incubator grant program has awarded about $86 million since 2021 to allow schools to develop programming focused on climate-smart or organic agriculture.
Although only the School Food Best Practices program explicitly incentivizes schools to choose plant-based foods, Stewart credits all of them with helping schools increase their vegan options. Primer said the Farm to School program — which provided the funding to develop her school district’s farming curriculum in its first two years — has driven new recipe development and testing.
All three state programs are set to run out of money by the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Nick Anicich is the program manager for Farm to School, which is run out of the state Office of Farm to Fork. (“That’s a real thing that exists in California,” he likes to say.) He says when state benefits expire, it’s up to schools to see how to further advance the things they’ve learned. “We’ll see how schools continue to innovate and implement these initiatives with their other resources,” said Anicich. Stewart says California has set “a powerful example” by bettering the quality and sustainability of its school lunch, “showing what’s possible nationwide.”
One takeaway Primer has had from the program is to reframe food that’s better for the planet as an expansive experience, one with more flavor and more depth, rather than a restrictive one — one without meat. Both ideas can be true, but one seems to get more students excited.
“That has been a really important focus for us. We want [to serve] food that is just so good, everybody wants to eat it,” Primer said. “Whether or not it has meat in it is almost secondary.”
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline More schools than ever are serving vegan meals in California. Here’s how they did it. on Oct 15, 2024.
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Vietnam has denounced what it called the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement personnel who it said beat and injured Vietnamese fishermen on a boat intercepted near the Paracel Islands.
Vietnamese media said the Chinese attackers boarded the fishing boat near an atoll in the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Sunday and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them. They told Vietnamese authorities the men smashed the boat’s equipment and took away its catch.
China denied the accusations saying “on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found.”
Both countries, as well as Taiwan, claim the islands but China occupies them entirely.
What are the Paracel Islands?
Known as Xisha in China and Hoang Sa in Vietnam, the archipelago consists of some 130 reefs and small coral islands, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of central Vietnam and 350 km (220 miles) southeast of China’s Hainan island. They are 760 km (472 miles) north of the Spratly Islands, the other main disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
The South China Sea is a strategically important shipping route with an estimated US$3.4 trillion worth of trade cruising through its waters every year.
The Paracels are believed to sit on top of large reserves of natural gas and oil though the extent is not known, as there has been little exploration of the area, partly due to territorial disputes over the islands.
The archipelago is surrounded by rich fishing grounds that generations of Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen have worked.
History of the Paracel Islands
Both Vietnam and China say that the Paracels are mentioned in their ancient texts. The name Paracel, however, was adopted in the 16th century after Portuguese explorers named the islands “Ilhas do Pracel”. “Pracel”, or parcel, is a Portuguese term used by navigators to refer to a submerged bank or reef.
France claimed the archipelago as part of the French Indochinese Union in the 19th century and put it under the same colonial administration as Vietnam’s southern mainland, known at the time as Cochinchina. The Chinese nationalist Kuomintang, now one of the main political parties in Taiwan, claimed the Paracels as territory of the Republic of China in January 1921.
Japanese forces occupied the archipelago between 1939 and 1945. Disputes over the islands continued in later years between the governments of the then South Vietnam, which annexed some reefs, and the People’s Republic of China.
On Jan. 19, 1974, Chinese troops attacked and defeated South Vietnamese forces deployed on the islands, killing 74 South Vietnamese sailors and soldiers in the so-called Battle of the Paracel Islands. Chinese troops then occupied the whole archipelago.
China’s construction
In 2012, China established Sansha City, headquartered on Woody Island, the largest Paracel island, which China calls Yongxing. The administrative headquarters is in charge of all of the features China claims in the South China Sea, including the Paracels and the Spratlys to the south.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative think tank, China has at least 20 outposts in the Paracels. Three of them have harbors capable of handling large numbers of naval and civilian vessels and five have helipads. China opened the civil-military Sansha Yongxing Airport in 2014.
Woody Island has been developed into a complete urban hub protected by HQ-9 surface-to-air missile batteries. It is home to a growing civilian population of at least 2,300.
Upgrades of island facilities have included a kindergarten and primary school in 2015. The island also has a courthouse, a cinema, banks, hospitals, post offices and a stadium, according to a report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post in May 2023.
Vietnam’s claim
Vietnam has not abandoned its claim over the Paracel islands, which it officially classifies as a district of Danang City, called the Hoang Sa District, established in 1997.
In its complaint about China’s treatment of the fishing crew, Vietnam’s foreign ministry referred to the islands as Vietnamese.
“Vietnam is extremely concerned, indignant and resolutely protests the brutal treatment by Chinese law enforcement forces of Vietnamese fishermen and fishing boats operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam,” foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement on Oct. 2.
Confrontations
In one of the most serious escalations of the dispute between Hanoi and Beijing over the archipelago, in May 2014 China moved an oil-drilling platform into waters near the Paracels, leading to a three-month standoff. The crisis triggered an unprecedented wave of anti-China protests in Vietnam, until China withdrew the oil rig a month earlier than scheduled.
Fishing crews from central Vietnam operate around the Chinese-occupied reefs and are often subjected to harassment by Chinese maritime militia and law enforcement personnel, fishermen say.
In 2020, a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat. Vietnam lodged an official protest, saying: “The Chinese vessel committed an act that violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago and threatened the lives and damaged the property and legitimate interests of Vietnamese fishermen.”
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Luna Pham for RFA.
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The 2014 Umbrella Movement was a 79-day pro-democracy civil disobedience campaign in Hong Kong. The protesters, many of whom were teenagers and university students, used umbrellas as protection from police pepper spray and tear gas, giving the movement its nickname.
Key figures in the movement continued to advocate for democracy in Hong Kong long after the initial protests ended. Here’s what they’re doing now.
NATHAN LAW
Then: Student leader during Umbrella Movement
Now: London-based activist
After 2014
ALEX CHOW
Then: A main organizer of the Occupy Central campaign. Leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. Organizer and speaker during Umbrella Movement
Now: U.S.-based activist
After 2014
JOSHUA WONG
Then: Convenor and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism
Now: In prison
After 2014
AGNES CHOW
Then: Founding member of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism.
Now: In exile in Canada
After 2014
BENNY TAI
Then: Occupy Central movement co-founder. University of Hong Kong law professor
Now: In prison
After 2014
REV. CHU YIU-MING
Then: Occupy Central co-founder
Now: In exile in Taiwan
After 2014
CHAN KIN-MAN
Then: Occupy Central co-founder. Sociology professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Now: Researcher at Academia Sinica focusing on the Umbrella Movement
After 2014
LESTER SHUM
Then: Deputy leader of Hong Kong Federation of Students
Now: In prison
After 2014
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Myanmar insurgents launched mortar bombs at the junta’s top leader during his visit to a military base in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state, an official from the anti-junta group told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.
RFA could not independently verify the report of an attack on Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday as he visited Loikaw’s Regional Command Headquarters in the state capital, Loikaw.
The junta has not released any information on an attack but its media reported on Thursday that Min Aung Hlaing had discussed the security situation and an upcoming census during his visit.
RFA telephoned Kayah state’s junta spokesperson Zarni Maung for confirmation but he did not answer calls.
A spokesman for the ethnic minority Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, or KNDF, said its fighters launched two 120 mm mortar bombs at the military base when the junta chief was believed to have been visiting.
“We received the information that he was coming to Loikaw, so we ordered our heavy weapons team to get ready and fire,” said the spokesman, who declined to be identified for security reasons.
“We heard that personnel in the Regional Command Headquarters were injured but we don’t know exactly how many yet.”
Karenni guerrillas and junta forces have been confronting each other in a divided Loikaw for months this year, with the military regaining ground there since June.
Juna forces responded to the attack with sustained attacks, including airstrikes, on KNDF positions on Thursday, the rebel spokesman said.
The junta leader also delivered provisions to nearby junta militias in Shan state’s Hsihseng township, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Loikaw, where they frequently clash with anti-junta forces, media reported.
The KNDF says it has captured 65 junta camps, including 12 military bases near Loikaw, and eight towns since it launched an offensive late last year.
The junta also launched airstrikes in other parts of Kayah state on Thursday, including Nan Mei Khon village in Demoso township where one person was killed and buildings were damaged, said the deputy secretary of the state’s anti-junta Interim Executive Council, Banya Khun Aung.
“The military bombed two places at around 10 a.m. killing one person and injuring seven,” he said.
A Demoso resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons said the victims were policemen working for a rebel-backed department. Their police station was damaged.
More than 500 civilians have died in junta custody or been killed in shelling and airstrikes in Kayah state since the military seized power in a coup in 2021, rights group the Progressive Karenni People Force said in a statement on Sunday.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.
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At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 30 more wounded in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has launched its largest military operation in two decades. Israeli forces have simultaneously raided four cities and refugee camps in the north, with hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones. Much of the violence has been centered on Jenin, a frequent target of raids by Israeli forces, but this latest military operation is the largest since the Second Intifada. Ahmed Tobasi, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, says Israel’s tactics are about “punishing the people, punishing the civilians,” with an ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing. “They want Palestine empty from Palestinians.” He also calls on the U.S. public to speak out against continued military support for Israel, saying the killings in both Gaza and the West Bank are only possible because Israel has “the green light from the U.S. government.”
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Eman Abdelhadi speaks at the Bodies Against Unjust Laws march in Chicago on Sunday, August 18. Photo by Steel Brooks
Eman Abdelhadi’s speech from the “Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws” demonstration on Aug. 18 in Chicago.
Chicago, we all know why we are here.
We are drowning, and our hearts are broken.
We are drowning in debt. In medical bills. In rising rents. In inflation.
We are under attack in this country. The Right has declared war on people of color, on trans people, on women. They are trying to dismantle our systems of education, trying to criminalize teaching Black history and the realities of racism, oppression and exploitation in this country.
They openly call for mass deportations and want to strip Black people of voter rights.
Demonstrators on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Photo by Steel Brooks.
Every year, the climate crisis kills more people of heat, of floods, of fires. Every year, the number of climate refugees at home and abroad climbs and climbs.
And in this moment of absolute disaster, of absolute crisis.
The American ruling class —the people descending on this city for the Democratic National Convention — have seen fit to spend our money on killing children in Gaza.
They have provided an infinite supply of bombs to destroy Gaza’s homes, its schools, its hospitals, its playgrounds, its mosques, its churches, its croplands, its infrastructure.
As the most powerful country on earth, they have bullied the rest of the world in the name of protecting a far-right government openly committing a genocide.
And now …
Now they want our votes.
They say they have earned them by showing a little more empathy towards those poor Palestinians they happened to kill.
Vice President Harris, we hear your shift in tone.
But …
Your tone will not resurrect the dead.
Your tone will not shelter the living.
Your tone will not pull bombs out of the sky.
Your tone is not enough.
Genocide Joe would still be on the ticket if it were not for this movement, for all of us. Our movement is one of the main reasons that you are now the Democratic candidate for President in the most powerful country on the planet.
You, Vice President Harris, get to run for office because we ousted your predecessor right here in these streets. But it was never just about him. It was about the 40,000 Palestinians he helped kill.
And now we are telling you that “Not the other guy” is not a platform.
We are telling you that you actually have to earn our votes.
And we are telling you exactly how to earn them.
We are telling you we want a weapons embargo.
We are telling you we want a permanent ceasefire.
And we are telling you that we want them NOW.
You keep telling us that democracy itself is on the line.
You keep telling us that fascism is knocking at the door.
You keep telling us that Trump would be worse.
But the majority of Americans, in poll after poll, say they disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Study after study shows that a weapons embargo would earn you more votes, would secure you this election.
Vice President Harris, why are you risking the end of democracy, the rise of fascism, the return of Trump to protect Netenyahu’s war on children?
You are not the protector of democracy.
We are the protectors of democracy.
If you want to see democracy, look to Chicago’s streets this week. We are democracy speaking back to power, saying we will not be ignored.
We want to house our unhoused.
We want to feed our hungry.
We want to heal our sick.
We want to guard our planet.
We want to build our future, not rob Gaza’s children of theirs.
You may think that the people who make it into the United Center today are the ones who get to shape the future of this country.
That’s not true.
We make the future of this country. We make it where we’ve always made it, right here on the streets.
Vice President Harris, you have a choice. You could join a movement for justice. You could make a place for yourself in history. You could be a leader who chose to listen to her people rather than the interests of the war manufacturers. Or you could aid and abet a war criminal.
Vice President Harris, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, WE ARE SPEAKING.
Hear us. We will not be placated by tone.
We need you to act — and we will not leave the streets until you do.
This piece was published in collaboration with In These Times.
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Gunfire, explosions, flames, and death haunted Lee in his internally displaced persons camp almost daily.
“One night, explosions erupted near the camp, along with the sound of fighter jets,” recounted Lee, whose surname is being withheld due to security concerns.
“My parents woke me and we rushed to hide in the ditch outside. When it was over, we learned a bomb had damaged the community center. Worse, someone died that night.”
Lee, 18, became a refugee in his own state of Kayah (Karenni) following Myanmar’s Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that toppled the elected National League for Democracy government, and sparked an ongoing civil war.
The result: More than one million internally displaced persons in Myanmar, according to authorities.
A BenarNews photographer was allowed to travel across the border to the camp from Thailand, under an agreement that its location and the date of the visit would not be disclosed to ensure the residents’ safety.
Lee lived in a bamboo hut with a thatched roof built by his father in the camp. The encampment lacks electricity and water and houses more than 100 people in dozens of shelters.
“Every morning, we walk to bathe and collect water from the camp well,” Lee said. “On Friday evenings, we trek four hours to a camp near the Thai border to charge all our devices for the week ahead.”
The camp has a basic clinic and a barebones school sitting on a hillside with bamboo classrooms topped by tin roofs where children can continue their education despite the circumstances. The teachers, refugees themselves, are paid 1,500 baht (US $42) monthly. Most school supplies come from international non-profit organizations.
“I dream of going to university,” Lee said. “I wish for a safe country to welcome my family – any country ready to accept refugees like us.”
Shortly after speaking with BenarNews, Lee’s dream came true. He and his family relocated to a new country where he has a chance to pursue his educational aspirations.
The hut Lee’s father built is occupied by another young man from Kayah state whose mother was killed in the civil war.
He lives there with just his guitar as company.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Nattaphon Phanphongsanon for BenarNews.
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