Daily Archives: July 18, 2021

Thousands of protesters took to the streets all over Cuba in recent days to lash out against rapidly deteriorating conditions under their communist-socialist system of government.

Watching this from the U.S., I couldn't help but wonder if Democrats in this country were confused by the large presence of American flags at a rally against government oppression.

After all, this is the party of "oppression mongers," like Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who celebrated the 4th of July by tweeting,"When they say that the4th of Julyis about American freedom, remember this: the freedom theyre referring to is for white people.This land is stolen land and Black people still arent free."

Lightthe sparklers!

CUBAN ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS WAVE AMERICAN FLAGS DURING MARCH

The good news is we've finally found a place where people still respect what the American flag stands for. The bad news is tyrannical communism.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also gave America a birthday beat down on "The Twitter," accusing our great nation of not living up to its promise that all men are created equal.

These criticisms seem lost on protesters in Cuba, who, unlike Reps. Bush and Waters, are keenly aware of just how lucky Americans are to live in a free and capitalist country. You'll have to forgive thetwo congresswomen perhaps they spent too much time with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who hates our capitalist systemso much, he's bashed it from all three houses he bought with the millions he's made selling books.

REPUBLICANS SPOTLIGHT CUBA AS SOCIALISM FAILURE AS PROTESTS ERUPT AMID HISTORIC ECONOMIC CRISIS

Back when I was a New York City taxi driver an attorney prepared me for a traffic hearing by sharing an old saying from the legal profession:"When you have the facts, you pound the facts. When you have NOTHING, you pound the table."

Democrats have been pounding the table on oppression in the U.S. for years,but when you contrast the quality of life between our country and a place like Cuba, you quickly realizeAmerica doesn't have an "oppression" problem, it has a "stupid" problem.

AOC SILENT AS DSA APPEARS TO BACK CUBA'S COMMUNIST REGIME OVER PROTESTERS

It may sound harsh but we have millions of people living in this country who are too dumb to appreciate just how fortunate they are to have actual FREEDOM. For all the identity politics messages we get besieged with on a daily basis, everyone living here has a unique American privilege that puts them in the world's "one percent" in terms of opportunity and the right to pursue whatever type of happiness suits us.

Far too many people take our freedoms for granted as well as our good fortune in that unlike Cuba, we are not struggling with major food shortages. We live in a country that puts itspets on diets. Im not sure you could explain that to Cubans, nor could you tell a people facing societal bankruptcy that your government isso oppressiveit's paying citizens more money to stay home than it is to return to work thanks to enhanced unemployment benefits.

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So many Americans seem to have lost their perspective in this country. After all, but we do we have a freedom of speech guarantee that allows an obscure Olympic hammer thrower like Gwen Berry to gain fame by disrespecting our national anthem and being cheered for her bravery by fellow American haters. This,despite the fact that history has shown bashing this "oppressive country" can be the quickest way to a lucrative sneaker deal, ala Colin Kapernick.Again, if an athlete bashed the Cuban government on an Olympic podium, you wouldn't get a sneaker deal, youd be lucky to get a plea deal so you didn't spend the rest of your life in prison.

My point is, bashing America may be considered courageous in some circles in an era where it seems like just about every government and corporate institution is encouraging you to do so.

But think again.

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No, real courage is what they're doing in Cuba right now by taking to the streets at the risk of being jailed or even killed by an authoritarian government that, in the words of Cuban American Sen. Ted Cruz,R-Texas,"has brutalized and denied freedom to generations of Cubans, forcing many including my family to flee or be murdered, and over the coming days will widen its violence to try to suppress the brave protesters in the streets."

The America of 2021 is not an oppressive country in any way, shape or form. If you believe it is, I've got a bridge I wanna sell you in Cuba. Be sure to packplenty of food if you visit.

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Jimmy Failla: Cuba protests and the American flag why are Dems so clueless about what it represents? - Fox News

The gap between the Biden administration and the Trudeau government this week on Cubawas wider than the straits that separate Havana from Key West.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States"stands firmly with the people of Cuba as they assert their universal rights. And we call on the government of Cuba to refrain from violence in their attempt to silence the voices of the people of Cuba."

The protests which sawthousands of Cubans marchthrough cities across the island are a "clarion call for freedom," said Biden.

When CBC News asked for one,Global Affairs Canada issued a statement through spokesperson Ciara Trudeau on the protests in Cuba. The departmenthasnot posted it with other statements on its website.

The statement declares support for "the right to freedom of expression and assembly" but doesn't point fingers at the regime in Havana. Instead, it callson"all parties to uphold this fundamental right."

"Global Affairs Canada urges all sides to exercise restraint and encourages all parties involved in the crisis to engage in peaceful and inclusive dialogue," says the statement.

The "all sides" language was jarring to Cuban exile Michael Lima Cuadra, who came to Canada as a political refugee in the 1990s and is a member of the newly-formed Council for a Democratic Transition in Cuba.

"The language is very neutral," he said. "And there is a saying by Desmond Tutu that if, in times of oppression, you choose to be neutral, you are taking the side of the oppressor."

Global Affairs'statement went on to discuss shortages of food and medicine in Cuba strongly implying that hungry bellies and a lack of vaccines drove the protests, rather than any desire for political change.

In that sense, it aligns closely with the spin the Cuban Communist Party has put on events, saidCuban-Canadian Fannia Brito of Gatineau, Quebec.

"The Cuban people are not asking for medicine, or for COVID treatments," she said. "The Cuban people have taken to the streets, with tremendous valour, to demand the end of the dictatorship, the end of the oppression. That is what the Cuban people are demanding."

Video of the protests clearly shows the crowds shouting slogans such as "Freedom!" and "Down with Communism!".

The GAC statement departs fromthelanguage Canada typicallyuses when talking aboutother authoritarian regimes in theregionin that it contains no call for a return to democracy no suggestion that it's time to endCuba's 62-year-old one-party state.

When asked about Cuba this week,Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that "we have always called for greater freedoms and more defence of human rights in Cuba, and we'll continue to be there to support Cubans in their desire for greater peace, greater stability and greater voice in how things are going."

That's not nearly good enough, saidLima Cuadra.

"We urge the government of Canada to listen to the demands of people, to support them in their peaceful struggle for democracy, and to condemn openly condemn the repression, the wave of arbitrary arrests, the intimidation, in the same manner they have done with the regimes in Venezuela and Belarus," he said.

"It's very important that when people are struggling for democracy, democratic governments take a public stand. That's what gives those movements support and legitimacy. Without the voices of democratic governments, those movements cannot subsist. They need Canada."

The Trudeau government consistently hastreated Cuba in a markedly different fashion than it hasother authoritarian regimes, such as those of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Belarus. It was at the forefront of calls for the removal of the Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuelaand was the second government in the world to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's president.

The Trudeau government has sanctioned Venezuela repeatedly, as it did the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaraguaand the Lukashenko regime in Belarus.It has cited flawed elections, therepression of protestsand thesuppression of politicaloppositionto justify those sanctions.

Canada's position is that the Maduro regime lost democratic legitimacy on January 10, 2019, after he and his mentor Hugo Chavez had held power consecutively for 20 years. Long before Canada declared Maduro's legal mandate over, it routinely condemned his government's democratic transgressions.

Such language is absent from current Canadian government statements on Cuba,where there are no real elections, no vestiges of independent courts, noopposition legislators, mayors or governors all of which are still hanging on in Venezuela.

For Cuba, there are no Canadian sanctions, but rather professions of loyalty,friendship and commercial interest.

"Canada and Cuba have a well-established, significant and growing commercial and investment relationship," says theGlobal Affairs website. "Cuba is Canada's top market in the Caribbean/Central American sub-region."

The public highlight of Justin Trudeau's visit to Cuba in November 2016 was a Q&A session with a group of students at the elite University of Havana.

Trudeau sat flanked by the outgoing leader, Raul Castro, and his protege Miguel Diaz-Canel, the man who leads Cuba today. (Raul Castro, 90, is retired.)

Canada would be "a steadfast and unflinching friend to Cuba," Trudeau told the Communist Party leaders. "We disagree with the approach the United States has taken with Cuba. We think that our approach is much better of partnership, of collaboration, of engagement," he said, describing Cuba at one point as an "ally" of Canada.

Trudeau's hopes of meeting the dying Fidel, stoked to the last minute by the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa,were foiled when he was told the maximum leader was too ill.

In lieu of an audience with Fidel himself, three of his sons delivered Trudeau a photo album showing the Castro and Trudeau families together.

Then-U.S.president Barack Obama, who had visited earlier in the year, had set out conditions for his visit to Cuba.

Two months before he travelled, Obama said that if he were to visit Cuba,"then part of the deal is that I get to talk to everybody" including dissidents.

Trudeau laid out no public conditions for his visit and the civil society group he met with did not include the kind of dissidents Obama met some of whom had spent decades in prison or hadundergone hunger strikesopposing one-party rule.

Instead, thecivil society representatives who met withTrudeauwere selected for their opposition to sexism, homophobia and racismideologically comfortable terrain for the CubanCommunist Party.

That same day,across town, Trudeau's wife Sophie was praising Cuban leaders' "very open-minded and open-hearted" commitment to gender equality.

Absent from the Trudeaus' comments on Cuban soil were suchwordsas "democracy," "rule of law" and "elections."

When Fidel Castrofinally died ten days later,Trudeau paid tribute "on behalf of all Canadians" to the "larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century."

"A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation," the prime minister said.

"While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro's supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for 'el Comandante'".

Those remarks kicked off a short-lived string of parodies.

Trudeau also praised Fidel Castro as "Cuba's longest-serving president" not a difficult achievement, since Cuba's last free election was in 1948.

The statement was condemned in the Cuban diaspora and raised eyebrows around the world.

Canadian tourists are critical to Cuba's economy.More than twice as many Canadians enter Cuba every year than the citizens of any other nation including Cuba itself.Canadian tourist dollars and Canadian investments are important for the survival of Communist Party control.

Some Cuban-Canadians worry that, just as change appears possible, Prime MinisterTrudeau's personal and family history will influence the actionsof a country that weighs heavily in Cuba's future.

In 1960, duringthe earliest days of the Castro regime, Pierre Trudeau was rescued in the Straits of Florida while trying to paddle to Cuba. He was later derided by John Diefenbaker in the House of Commons for conducting his "love affair" with the Cuban Revolution "by canoe."

In 1964, the elder Trudeaucame back to tour the island. He returnedwith his familyin 1976. That famous visit which featuredTrudeau shouting "Viva el primer ministro Fidel Castro!" on television was a propaganda coup for the regime. PierreTrudeau was the first leader of a NATO nation to visit the island since the communist takeover.

Justin Trudeau, who has spoken of making private visits to the island during his younger years, was visibly moved by Castro's presence at his father's funeral in Montreal. Fidel was given the role of honorary pallbearer.

Fannia Brito said Trudeau's obvious emotional attachment toCastro's legacy makes Cuban-Canadians suspect his motives. She saidcalls,emails and requests for meetings by her community are being ignored by Liberal Party politicians.

"It's incredible that the government has not pronounced itself either for or against, but has almost complete silence," she said. "It demonstrates the complicity of this government with the dictatorship.

"We want an answer, we want a public response. And we're not going to stop until we get it."

Read more here:

As Cuba erupts, Cuban-Canadians accuse the Trudeau government of turning its back - CBC.ca

WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, Senator Rick Scott spoke on the Senate floor in support of the Cuban people peacefully protesting against the oppressive, communist government of Cuba and calling for the freedom, liberty and basic human rights they deserve.

See more in the video HERE or below.

Earlier today, Senator Scott released the following statement supporting the Cuban peoples fight for democracy, and demanding that the Biden administration aggressively hold the communist Cuban regime accountable and support the cause of freedom across Cuba:

Senator Rick Scott said, Today in Havana, the Communist Cuban regime is shaking with fear as the people rise up to denounce the oppressive communist rule that has brought ruin to their nation for more than 60 years. I stand proudly with the heroic freedom fighters across Cuba that have taken to the streets determined to regain their freedom and put an end to the Castro dictatorship. The message from the Cuban people to Daz-Canel and Raul Castro has never been more clear: your time is up.

Now, the Biden administration must lead the freedom-loving nations of the world in loud and unequivocal denouncement of the brutal communist Castro regime, and in support of the liberty, democracy and human rights the Cuban people call for and rightfully deserve. We must be clear, for decades Cuba has been the root of instability in Latin America and represented a terrible threat to the national security of the United States. Today, the American people must join freedom-loving Cubans in saying the oppression ends now. We cannot return to Obama-Biden appeasement policies. We cannot lift sanctions or restore diplomatic relations with the Cuban dictatorship. I urge the Biden administration to impose further sanctions on the tyrannical Cuban regime. We cannot let up. There must be consequences for this heinous oppression and attacks on peaceful protesters.

To the people of Cuba: You are not alone, I stand with you in this fight. Florida stands with you in this fight. The United States of America stands with you in this fight. The freedom of Cuba is closer than ever and we are not going to stop until we see a new day of freedom, democracy and Patria y Vida in Cuba.

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VIDEO RELEASE: Sen. Rick Scott on the Senate Floor: We Stand with Those Demanding Freedom in Cuba | SENATOR RICK SCOTT - Senator Rick Scott

The WDET Book Club is reading the U.S. Constitution this summer to understand how it still shapes our lives today, more than two centuries after its inception. Professors Kim Forde-Mazuri and Michele Gilman discuss the idea of equality in the Constitutionfrom a modern-day perspective, and how there is still a long way to go until all Americans aretrulyequal.

Its an ongoing fight and struggle the founders didnt have an inclusive view of equality, but we can. Michele Gilman, University of Baltimore School ofLaw

Kim Forde-Mazrui is a professorat the University of Virginia Law School. He says the Constitution is not wholly responsible for shaping Americaslandscape of equality.We tend to focus on Supreme Court decisions because those decisions tend to place certain limits on what the other branches of government can do. The Supreme Court has evolved over time both in the text of the Constitution and their interpretation. Mazrui says equality purely based onConstitutional amendments is unlikely to take shape.I dont think well ever have perfect [constitutional equality] we are all subject to the culture of our time and we still believe as a society there are certain people who are harmful or immoral or a threat we are continuing to always struggle to draw that line between who gets included and who doesnot.

Mazrui says Constitutionaldistinction based on race or gender is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesnt justify discrimination. A key change the court made is a move toward prohibiting the government from making distinctions based on race and in large part thats a good thing I think unfortunately the court has gone too far in mandating color blindness. He says in the law, its necessary to take into account the historic inequities faced by people of color, rather than this idea of court color blindness.Once youve had centuries of systematic oppression and then simply stopping discrimination doesnt correct for the economic realities that have happened because of thatoppression.

Once youve had centuries of systematic oppression and then simply stopping discrimination doesnt correct for the economic realities that have happened because of that oppression. Kim Forde-Mazrui, University of Virginia LawSchool

Michele Gilman is a professorat the University of Baltimore School of Law. She says the Constitution was designedto overcome its flaws.One thing the framers did well was to have the foresight to know that things change over time and they did provide for ways our constitution could be amended. Gilman says though the Constitutioncan be revised, that alone wont lead to equality in America.Were about to celebrate the 101-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment we still have a long way to go. A constitutional amendment on its own doesnt do all the heavy lifting and so today when we think about what it means to have full gender equality, we are not thereyet.

Gilman says other facets of American government, and the private sector,must influence gender equality. The Constitution is a living document and a lot of the meaning we ascribe to it is the meaning Supreme Court justices have given to it we cannot expect the Constitution to solve all these problems. It protects us against government overreach but it doesnt get to private action. Gilman says formal equality as stated in the Constitution doesnt do the work we need to have a more substantive definition as a society.Its an ongoing fight and struggle the founders didnt have an inclusive view of equality, but wecan.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

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How the Constitution Shapes Equality and Inequality in America in 2021 - WDET

In addition to the individual hardship, there are also significant structural issues at play. There are more than 200 government blacklists in use in the Netherlands. Blacklists like these could soon be turbo-charged through technology: in December, a legislative proposal was adopted by the Dutch parliament that would give the government algorithmic-profiling powers that exceed the preventative fraud detection system (SyRI), which was designed to detect false benefit claims and which the courts declared in violation of human rights only a year ago. Allowing for data sharing between government and private companies, it would be an Orwellian nightmare come true. A parliamentary inquiry has been scheduled for the summer of 2022, which will likely be too late for any learnings from the tax benefits scandal to feed into the discussion on the draft law currently ongoing in the Senate.

The automation and further entrenchment of institutional racism is not just happening in the Netherlands, but across Europe and the world. It is happening in all areas of life imaginable. From social welfare to racist predictive policing tools to assigning organs for transplant on the basis of race, sex and class, and the classist, prejudiced system that was used to assign A-Level test results to students in the UK after their exams were cancelled due to COVID: technology is a part of every aspect of our lives.

The urgency for civil society to further step up its efforts to address issues of automating racism and discrimination is therefore greater than ever. Public awareness raising, advocacy, and litigation will need to go hand in hand with in-depth engagement with policy makers and legislators. An instrument like the recent EU draft regulation on Artificial Intelligence, for example, does not sufficiently take into account that context matters just as much as the technology itself when it comes to the detrimental impact it can have. No matter how much we are promised that the tech is accurate, its deployment in and of itself can have a negative impact on especially marginalised and racialised individuals. Even a perfectly working tool of oppression is still a tool of oppression.

When this negative impact materialises, the groups and individuals that are affected will need to be able to seek redress directly. This means that concrete enforcement actions for human rights violations resulting from the use of technology currently missing from many regulatory initiatives, including the draft regulation should be possible. This will make possible the kinds of strategic legal cases that civil society can unite around to bring about change and lead to increased protection of human rights in the digital context for everyone.

While technological development can sometimes feel like an unstoppable rollercoaster, this is a false narrative. Technology is developed by humans. We decide what we create, where we deploy it, and how we regulate it. The only urgency we should feel is in the realisation that the decisions we make now will have consequences for generations to come.

Continue reading here:

Government algorithms are out of control and ruin lives - Open Democracy

Cuban-born residents and others connected by a common heritage ended a week of protests of the island nation's political and economic turmoil on their knees Sunday, praying.

Another separate group of protesters coalesced at Cleveland and Grove avenues waving flags and calling for freedom for their friends and relatives still in Cuba.

The several dozen people taking part in Cape Coral gathered in the parking lot at The Shops at Surfside offVeteran's Parkway before making their way to the Target parking lot off Pine Island Road and then on to parade around downtown Fort Myers.

In Collier County: Cuban-born Naples man wants freedom for countrymen

Previously: Naples, Fort Myers demonstrators flood downtown area in support of freedom for Cuba

And:'Individuals who have lost their fear,' Cubans continue to fight for their freedom

"We don't agree with the government," Pedro Mirabal, a Cuban who has been in the United States for 34 years, said at the Cape Coral gathering site. "They are killing our people in Cuba."

Mirabal, who still has the scars on his arms and legs from the small inflatable raft on whichhe said he managed to float his way to the United States.

"What's happening is really sad," he said. "Over here we have free speech. Peoplein Cuba are not doing anything, just talking. But since they are talking, (the government is) killing (them)."

To get efforts started Sunday, the Rev. James Haynos a Catholic priest from Sanfordheld an impromptu prayer session in the Shops at Surfside parking lot.

Haynos huddled with Jorge Roque of Punta Gorda, displaying a rosary andlarge Cuban flag and recited a Catholic litany.

The priest and Roque said they were praying "for all the people who are missing," in Cuba.

Protests in Cuba began July 11, and it'sconsidered the country's biggest anti-government movementin the past 30 years. There has been reports of government violence but communications have been curtailed.

Mirabal's voice was hoarse, he said from speaking his mind during the protests in Southwest Florida for the past week.

"The world doesn't know what's going on," Mirabal said. "They give that to us so we can tell what's going on."

But Cubans in the U.S. do know what's happening, Miriam Sardinas said, and they are staying in touch with friends and relatives on the island.

"They have no communication between cities, like Fort Myers and Cape Coral," she said. "They don't know how big this is unless we tell them."

July 14 video: 1,000 or more people "Walk for Cuba" in downtown Fort Myers

Sardinas came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1970 when she was 4 years old.

Her brother, Agustine Sardinas, who was 14 when he came along in 1970, said it was time for his adopted country to do something to help.

"If the United States doesn't want to do anything then step aside and let us," he said. "I know what communism is, I know what oppression is. I lived there until I was 14."

Along Clevelandnot far from Edison Mall a boisterous and passionate crowd cheered and waved to vehicles.

"We just want our voices heard," protest organizer Maria Davila said. "We're not asking for the U.S. to give money for Cuba. We want to get some justice and liberty for Cuba."

She said the group's Facebook site,EU Cuba SOS Cuba,displays graphic images of the current situation on the island nation.

She said Cubans, many very young,are being attacked by dogs and by government agents for speaking out.

"They are attacking those who protest," she said.

Davila said the protests in the Fort Myers area like Sunday's and another one Saturday in Sanibel, will continue for the future. She called the actions "A Cry of Justice and Liberty and Freedom for All."

"We will protest everyday," she said. "Monday we will be downtown, Tuesday we will be at the Edison Mall."

Connect with breaking news reporter Michael Braun:MichaelBraunNP (Facebook),@MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or mbraun@news-press.com.

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Fort Myers, Cape Coral protests supporting Cuba end week of action with prayer and a cry for freedom - News-Press

Bilal Malik is nearing the end of a roughly 15-day, 380-kilometre 'Freedom March' from Toronto to the steps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Bilal Malik/The Canadian Press

By putting one foot in front of the other, sometimes slowly and sometimes with quicker strides, Bilal Malik says he desperately hopes the government will listen to what he has to say.

The 36-year-old is nearing the end of a roughly 15-day, 380-kilometre Freedom March from Toronto to the steps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

He wants to persuade Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government to pronounce the systemic abuse and human rights violations against ethnic Muslim Uyghurs in China a genocide.

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Malik is one of several Canadians who are currently walking hundreds of kilometres uphill and downhill, through cities, and past towns and farms to send a message.

I hope the walk will have even a little bit, even one per cent difference They have to do something, said Malik, who hasnt been able to reach his family for three years since he moved to Canada from Chinas northwest province of Xinjiang.

China has faced international criticism and sanctions since reports surfaced of mass detention of more than one million people and forced sterilization.

In February, Parliament voted to declare Chinas treatment of its Uyghur minority a genocide. The motion was supported by all Opposition parties, but Trudeau and most members of his cabinet abstained.

Malik says his walk is all he can do to honour his family, educate Canadians and to persuade Trudeau to do the right thing.

Peaceful dissent through walking has been happening for decades, said Ronald Stagg, a history professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Its somebody saying, I have to do my part. I feel that I have to say something. I feel I have to protest against this or in favour of this, so Im just gonna do it, said Stagg. Even if it doesnt do anything.

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Malik said conversations he has had with Canadians along the way have made every second of his walk worth it.

Its not a big sacrifice. Its a symbol. We have to do something for our community.

Stagg said sometimes the walks people make focus on a specific issue. At other times they highlight general grievances from marginalized groups who have been subjected to oppression throughout their history.

Lorraine Netro and Jacqueline Shorty Whitehorse are also walking. Their 2,000-kilometre trek from Whitehorse, Yukon, to Kamloops, B.C., is to honour what are believed to be the remains of hundreds of Indigenous children at former residential school sites.

A residential school survivor from Prince Albert, Sask., is more than halfway through her journey to Parliament Hill. In June, Patricia Ballantyne began her Walk of Sorrow. She plans to reach Ottawa this month.

Trechelle Bunn, 21, organized a daylong walk for about 70 people earlier this month. They walked 23 kilometres from the former Birtle Indian Residential School to Birdtail Sioux First Nation, about 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, to relive the journey hundreds of Indigenous children would have made as they ran away from the residential school.

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It was a really powerful moment to go back to the spot that my grandparents were taken and then also for myself and the survivors to walk away from the school, she said.

The Canadian Encyclopedia says walking as a form of peaceful dissent became popular in the 20th century when Mahatma Gandhi advanced a doctrine of non-violent civil disobedience to defy British rule. He walked for 24 days along Indias countryside.

Decades later, Martin Luther King Jr., inspired by Gandhi, led 250,000 walkers from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., risking arrest and violence, as they tried to secure voting rights for Black people.

In Canada, Stagg noted, hundreds of people regularly gathered, and sometimes walked, to protest the Vietnam War. Similar to the 1960s, the last two decades will be remembered for its walkers and protesters, he said.

Were living in a time of great social upheaval and all sorts of things are becoming known.

For Bunn, the walk she organized was less about defiance and more about healing.

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That was a very empowering and healing journey for everyone that took part. To walk home and make it home to our community, something that so many of our survivors and so many children were denied it gives me chills thinking about it.

With files from The Associated Press

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Faced with injustice, these Canadians are walking the talk to raise awareness and find healing - The Globe and Mail

In Kazakhstan this week, the film director Oliver Stone presented his latest documentary, Qazaq: History of the Golden Man, an eight-hour hagiographic ode to the autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayeva particularly grotesque move in a country where the government has been systemically stifling media ever since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Today, Kazakhstan has only a handful of independent traditional media outlets left, which lack the ability to cover the countrys vibrant sociopolitical life, something that has thrived despite authoritarianism. The gap, however, is now being filled by alternative media: Scores of bloggers are using YouTube, Telegram, and Instagram to report on events and to contradict the narrative served by pro-government traditional media. Alternative journalism is blooming, raising questions about how far it can go before the Kazakh government pulls the plug.

Things werent always bad for Kazakhstans traditional media. Throughout the first half of the 1990s, the Kazakh government issued broadcasting licenses to anyone willing to pay a small fee. By 1996, the number of issued licenses reached 200, and Kazakhstan had 47 independent TV and radio channels. The 1990s, until 1997, were a renaissance for Kazakh media. Until 1997, the government, of course, regulated the media market, but things were simpler, more liberal, said Vyacheslav Abramov, the general director of Vlast, an independent online publication he helped found in 2012.

1997 was a watershed: That year, in an attempt to exert more control over the narrative around the countrys second presidential election, Nazarbayevs regime announced that broadcasting outlets needed to reapply for their licenses and to prove that they had enough content and capacity to keep operating. The broadcasting license fee skyrocketed to $150,000 for TV channels and $50,000 for radio channelsa mind-boggling amount in an economically stagnant country. Thirty-one channels lost their licenses, many of them famous for their critical reporting.

Freedom of the press only degenerated from there.

In 1999, the government removed any limits on monopolies, opening the gates for consolidation of outlets in the hands of pro-government figures. In 2001, the government instituted a registration system for mass media. After the 2005 presidential election, the government empowered tax and law enforcement agencies to audit any media outlet without warning. Since 2017, journalists must receive permission from people whose personal and financial information they intend to publish, which has severely limited the medias ability to investigate corruption and malfeasance. Finally, this March the government amended the rules of accreditation for journalists, requiring them to work with a hostan intentionally loosely defined termwhen covering government events.

All these new media regulations were repressive, although the government always presented them as liberal and democratic reforms, said Lukpan Akhmedyarov, the former editor in chief of Uralsk Week, one of the last independent traditional media outlets left in Kazakhstan. [Because of these regulations] most of the current media field in Kazakhstan is essentially a government propaganda machine.

Today, the countrys administrative code includes 40 different clauses regulating mass media. Violation of any of the clauses usually results in suspension of print or blocking of websites. Adil Soz, an international freedom of speech foundation, estimates that between 2010 and 2015, five to nine media outlets were sanctioned annually, with 2012 marking 43 cases of sanctions against media outlets. In 2021, Kazakhstan ranked 155th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders annual World Press Freedom Index.

The traditional media landscape was ruinedbut the resulting gap created an opportunity for unconventional journalism.

In 2018, the court suspended the online outlet I was working at for 19 months. By the time the outlet resumed its work, I decided to move on, Vadim Boreyko said. A journalist with 40 years of experience, Boreyko spent a year after his employers suspension publishing minor journalistic investigations on Facebook before deciding to open a YouTube channel. Two years later, his channel has nearly 75,000 subscribers, 7.7 million views, and a couple of notable successes.

In late 2017, the government decided to turn part of the Ile-Alatau National Park just outside Kazakhstans biggest city of Almaty into a ski resort. Boreyko started investigating the businessmen tied to the project, first for the online outlet he worked at and then on his YouTube channel. His reporting contributed to the mobilization of civil societys opposition to the project and its cancellation in 2019.

Boreykos work is a prime example of alternative media that are rapidly filling in the gap left by the crisis in traditional media in Kazakhstan. Scores of people across Kazakhstan have turned to YouTube, Telegram, and Instagram in the past five years to conduct journalistic investigations, discuss and analyze events in the country, report on political protests ignored by pro-government media, and push against the governments narrative.

Most big players in the media market are associated either with the government or with big business, which is often the same thing in Kazakhstan. But now there are more alternative media popping up, said Dmitry Dubovitsky, whose YouTube channel Theyre Coming After Us today boasts 292,000 subscribers and more than 62 million views. Dubovitsky is arguably one of the pioneers of Kazakhstans YouTube-based alternative media: Every single YouTube blogger interviewed by Foreign Policy for this piece called Dubovitsky an inspiration, a mentor, a project partner, or all of the above. While his political videos critical of the countrys government are some of the most popular on YouTube in Kazakhstan, Dubovistky prefers to highlight his coverage of suicide, mental health, and other social issues and rejects the label of a dissident. If common sense is considered opposition in Kazakhstan, then consider me a member of the opposition, he said. But I am no politician and no activist. I merely react to the events in the country. People in Kazakhstan have a lot of questions for the authorities, and we try to ask those questions.

Despite Kazakhstans authoritarianism, it has a vibrant and contentious politics. The protest tracker by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs has reported more than 1,200 protests in Kazakhstan since January 2018by far the highest number among the Central Asian countries. Protests over government policies around social welfare are especially common. And while the government persecutes the groups that are explicitly antagonistic and oppositional to the countrys current regime, theres a whole range of political, social, and youth movements active in the country, such as the pro-democracy youth movement Oyan, Qazaqstan.

Kazakhstans youth are often the target audience of the countrys nontraditional media projects. I realized in 2017 that Kazakh youth was absolutely apolitical. I set a goal of attracting the youth to politics, said Murat Daniyar, whose YouTube channel Jurttyn Balasy has 227,000 subscribers and 21 million views. And I think Ive reached my goal. Go to any bar and youll hear the youth openly discussing politics without being afraid.

Our typical follower is a recent university graduate who maybe just recently found a job and who is wondering why things are bad in the country, why his pay is low. The 18-35 [age] group makes up 80 percent of our followers, said Adil Zakenov, one of the administrators of the satirical Instagram account Le Shapalaque.

Both Daniyar and Zakenov were alienated by the governments oppression and its refusal to address the daily problems of people in Kazakhstan. So was Assem Zhapisheva: In 2019, when she was a freelance journalist, Zhapisheva livestreamed a large protest in Almaty, after which she was blacklisted by most traditional media outlets in the country. Her previous articles were scrapped, and no one would accept her pitches. Dubovitsky urged her to open a YouTube channel. Today, Zhapisheva breaks down the news stories that government-funded media ignore, explaining the connections between events and the roots of everyday problems people face.

While Zhapishevas channel is relatively small, she plays an important role by intentionally focusing on Kazakh-language content in a country where Russian-language media has traditionally dominated. It is much easier to become popular by producing Russian-language content, she said. But this is why it is necessary to produce Kazakh-language content. So many good articles and investigations dont reach the Kazakh-speaking public.

Kazakhstan is the worlds ninth-largest country by area, with many of its regions too remote to be regularly covered by major media outlets that cater primarily to Russian-speaking urban residents and dont produce quality journalism in Kazakh. And while the Kazakh-speaking population is growing, rural regions are too impoverished to support traditional local journalism.

Now, alternative media are stepping into this linguistic and geographic gap, often provided by locals, which Akhmedyarov calls more authentic, with a feel for Kazakh-language content and a unique perspective.

In 2020, residents of Stepnogorsk, a town 120 miles northeast of Kazakhstans capital of Nur-Sultan with a population of just 60,000, started protesting the decision to use the town as the site for utilization of 300 metric tons of hazardous waste. The local YouTube blogger Artyom Sochnev started covering these protests, and another local blogger, Maxim Ponomaryov, discovered violations of hazardous waste utilization regulations. Together, these bloggers managed to attract the attention of larger traditional media outlets. Abramovs Vlast ended up covering the events in Stepnogorsk.

These nontraditional media projects are actively gaining an audience and, more importantly, influence. These projects react to events quicker and they spread information quicker than us in traditional media, Akhmedyarov said.

So why hasnt the Kazakh government clamped down on this new nontraditional media thorn in its side?

For one, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who stepped into the role in March 2019, has been presenting himself as a reformer willing to transition the government away from repressive tactics. Cracking down on grassroots media projects would only hurt the image of the president amid the regimes fight for legitimacy. This isnt the worst moment [for the rise of alternative media] because we have a president who wants to appear as a reformer, and he is surrounded by people who are trying to give him that image. This creates certain opportunities for people to be louder and to demand certain things from the government, Abramov said.

The government might also understand that these grassroots nontraditional media serve an important pressure valve function, relieving public discontent before it boils over. That has caused some worries among the journalists themselves. Some people do indeed think of us as a tea kettle that allows people to spill out negative emotions and rebel in the comments before ultimately calming down and moving on. Id hope, though, that we help educate people, Dubovitsky said.

The government hasnt been entirely hands off. Temirlan Ensebek, the administrator of the satirical Instagram page Qaznews24, was detained and interrogated in May over his parodies of the fawning toward Nazarbayev. Qaznews24 garnered more than 5,000 followers before Ensebek deleted the page due to the continuous threats from anonymous accounts. While the official reason for his detention was dissemination of false information, some believe it to be an excuse used by the regime to target its critics.

The countrys regime also learned to mimic nontraditional media outlets using copycat projects that further complicate the media landscape in the country. They have created several pseudo-oppositional media channels, Zhapisheva said. My friends have a very popular Instagram page, Rukh, that was one of the few covering anti-government protests. And then theres Azattyq. So [the government] have created Azattyq Ruhy, which publishes pseudo-oppositional material but is actually a pro-government media. These copycat projects include YouTube blogs, social media pages, Telegram channels, and even entertainment shows like Oyan, Qazaqstan, which intentionally shares its name with the pro-democracy youth movement.

For now, the internet remains a flexible and less regulated environment that gives the representatives of traditional media hope. That may not last. Akhmedyarov said: I am sure that by the end of 2021 there will be either amendments to the existing regulations or a new law that would regulate the bloggers. Similarly, Zhapisheva expects a new law regulating blogging to be drafted during the next parliamentary session in September.

But until then, Kazakhstans alternative media will continue to challenge the government.

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Kazakhstan's Alternative Media Is Thrivingand in Danger - Foreign Policy

Collier County Cuban community hold rally in support of their Cuban countrymen

Collier County Cuban community hold rally in support of their Cuban countrymen

Jon Austria, Naples Daily News

Nearly 30 years ago, Amanda Benitez's parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba searching for freedom.

Her father, Jorge Benitez, fled Cuba by boat with his family and friends without the permission of the Cuban government, risking their lives to be free. Her mother, Elizabeth Benitez, was able to make the trip by plane, and didn't know Jorge Benitez at the time.

Both settling in Miami, a place many refer to as the haven for Cuban exiles, the two met and now live in Cape Coral with their family.

It's been 30 years since they fled their country longing for the freedoms the United States had to offer, and now Cubans have taken to the streets of their cities protesting their government to get that same freedom.

Protests in Cuba began July 11, and it'sconsidered the country's biggest anti-government movementin the past 30 years.

Almost immediately,Cuban-Americans and supporters across Southwest Florida stoodwith their friends, family and countrymen from the island some200 miles to the south by holding demonstrations of their own.

The demonstrations in Southwest Florida are said to continue for as long as protests continue in Cuba.

Read: 'We will keep coming out until something happens': Cuban community continues to show support in Collier

Read: 'Patria y Vida': Naples, Fort Myers demonstrators flood downtown area in support of freedom for Cuba

Amanda Benitez, 19, a University of Florida student, strives to one day be a lawyer practicing international law.

Cuban people are realizing they have potential and it is being waisted in a county that doesn't allow them to succeed, Benitez said.

"The dream is to be as successful in their nation as they can be elsewhere," she said.

The protesting in Cuba isn't something that started out of no here. They have been living in oppression and silence for 62 years, but Benitez believes a multitude of factors contributed to Cubans speaking up and fighting back now.

They have lived under a dictatorship for decades and they are seeing how other nations live, realizing their way of life doesn't make sense, Benitez said.

Once COVID-19 struck, itexacerbated Cuba's issues, she said. Their food and medicine became even more scarce.

From what Benitez can tell, the protests started city by city and there hasn't been a proclaimed leader or movement.

"I see an entire nation of individuals who have lost their fear because they will already lose their lives to the conditions," she said.

She hopes Cubans don't give up protesting because it is a fight worth fighting.

So many people have already died and been murdered, children have been abducted from their homes and forced to fight against the protesters. And if Cubans who live on the islandrefuse to battle back against protesters, it is punishable by death,Benitez said.

The protesters are fighting with rocks and sticks because they have hadno weapons since Fidel Castro ruled Cuba from1959 to 2008. Castrodied in 2016.

She hopesthe United States and other nations help the Cuban people by giving them real resources like military intervention since they'refighting a heavily armed military.

Since the protesting began, there has been power outages and limited access to internet, another resource Benitez hopes the U.S.can provide to Cuba.

"Internet access has been shut off so information can't disseminate throughout the people and so people can't see what's going on there," Benitez said.

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'Individuals who have lost their fear,' Cubans continue to fight for their freedom - News-Press