Daily Archives: October 24, 2021

Negina Azimi felt shock and fear like never before when she heard that Taliban fighters had entered Kabul on 15 August. As an outspoken female artist in Afghanistan, she knew they would come for her.

We heard reports that the Taliban might raid houses. I was scared because I live in a very central neighbourhood and every room in my house is adorned with the kind of art the Taliban wont approve of, she says, referring to paintings that feature messages about womens empowerment and are critical of the Talibans atrocities.

Azimi rushed home from the studio where she worked, ArtLords, and took down all her work, carefully stashing the paintings away in places where she hoped they could not be found. But so much of our work is outside on the walls of the city, and everyone knows us, she says, referring to the ArtLords initiative of painting murals on the thick concrete anti-blast walls that cover most of the war-ravaged capital. We heard that the Taliban enquired about us to the shopkeepers and asked for our addresses. They wanted to punish us.

Azimi was one of a number of artists who made it on to an evacuation flight in the days that followed, leaving behind years of hard work and efforts to revive the Afghan art scene. From exile in refugee camps in Europe, they have watched online as the Taliban erased their murals, one after another. The hardliners had painted over many ArtLords images and replaced them with the words, Ham Watan Azadet Mubarak a message congratulating the citizens on their freedom.

I cant express how hurt I felt when I saw on social media that the Taliban had whitewashed the mural of the Afghan womens orchestra; it was my first piece with ArtLords, she says.

Top row, works by ArtLords. Above left, Fatima Wojohat, 18, who joined ArtLords four months ago. Above right, The ArtLords gallery in Kabul

Much of our art was about the 20 years of struggle for Afghan women, about justice and freedom of speech. We had chosen to portray Afghan heroes to inspire the next generation, which the Taliban erased, says another Afghan artist in exile, who wishes to be identified only as Muhajir (which means refugee in Dari).

I was forced to leave everything I built and created behind. Wherever I go now, this will always be my identity: I will always be a muhajir, he says.

Shamsia Hassani is an Afghan graffiti artist and art professor at Kabul University, who also managed to escape the Taliban. She says: My country and my art gave me an identity. The day Kabul fell, I could not believe it; my heart was on fire.

Hassani, like many Afghans of her generation, grew up as a refugee in Iran because of decades of war, and had returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Art was evolving there. The number of artists and art lovers was gradually increasing. Of course, there were still many who opposed art, but it was available for everyone and we had the freedom to be an artist, she says. We had planted a seed and were watching it grow.

Hassanis distinctive style of graffiti featuring a young woman with closed eyes appeared on many walls in the Afghan capital, a symbol of social change, empowerment and peace. Much of her work has also been erased.

The plants I nurtured with years of effort and hopes were all destroyed, she says.

I used to believe that art is stronger than war, but now I realise that war is stronger, and everything we built over 20 years could be destroyed within minutes by its darkness, she says. The reason I am still painting here is to help myself stay afloat and not sink in this darkness.

Lida Afghan is an Afghan-Dutch artist who has worked extensively in Afghanistan but is now unable to return. When I think of Afghanistan I get very overwhelmed, and lately I find myself crying a lot. The only comfort I get is through painting, which is also my way of communicating to the women in the country that you are not alone, she says.

Afghans recent pieces, which depict womens rebellion in her former home, often went viral on social media. When I draw women, I try to show how powerful they are, because often Afghan women are seen as victims and weak. I have seen women, from all parts of Afghanistan, and they are constantly fighting against the patriarchy, she says.

Art is a movement it is such a universal language that can speak to the peoples souls. And with it, I try to say to Afghan women to not give up. My hope is that when they see a piece like that they feel empowered, she says.

The artists who have fled Afghanistan remain undeterred and have been creating new work, even in the refugee camps. The ArtLords collective continues to create new pieces in exile and hopes soon to put on an exhibition of works by displaced artists.

The Taliban can whitewash all our work in Kabul, but we will always have our paint and our brush. We will fight back with that, says Muhajir.

Shamsia Hassanis imaginary graffito on the cliffs of Bamiyan, where the Taliban destroyed huge Buddhist statues from the fifth century in 2001. The picture is part of her Dreaming Graffiti series, in which she enlarges photographs of places she would like to put graffiti, then paints a mural on pictures of locations she can only dream of

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'We planted a seed': the Afghan artists who painted for freedom - The Guardian

Opinion

Securing basic voting rights should take priority over more elaborate reforms

Securing basic voting rights should take priority over more elaborate reforms

Michael Latner is a professor of political science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a senior fellow of voting rights at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Center for Science and Democracy. He is co-author of Gerrymandering the States: Partisanship, Race, and the Transformation of American Federalism (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Popular Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Charles "Tony" Smith is a professor of political science and law at the University of California, Irvine. His research is grounded in the American judiciary but includes comparative and international frameworks; its unifying theme is how democratic institutions and the strategic interaction of political actors fulfill or inhibit rights. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego, and a J.D. from the University of Florida.

Alex Keena is an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research focuses on political representation. He is co-author of Gerrymandering the States: Partisanship, Race, and the Transformation of American Federalism (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Popular Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2016). He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Irvine.

Anthony McGann is a professor of government and public policy at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He is co-author of Gerrymandering the States: Partisanship, Race, and the Transformation of American Federalism (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Popular Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and The Logic of Democracy (University of Michigan Press, 2006).

Discover world-changing science. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners.

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Electoral Engineering and the Freedom to Vote - Scientific American

After his decorated RCMP career, Jim was elected a City of Fort St. John Councillor from 2002 2005 and then, Mayor from 2005-2008.

Despite moving to Yellowhead County over 11 years ago, Jim says that he still considers the Peace Region to be home.

Ive never lived in a place as long in my life as I did in Fort St. John. Even growing up, my parents moved a couple of times. I consider this home. Every time we come here when I get to the top of the hill I say theres the Peace River, were home.

Englinski says receiving this award makes him very humble.

I had a team of people: council members, staff members, and community members that could see the same vision and for us all to work together to make Fort St. John a better community and to be recognized for that leadership role is very humbling, Eglinkski said

The Freedom of the City is the highest honour given by the City of Fort St. John and is used in exceptional cases to recognize the significant contributions the recipient has made to the community of Fort St. John.

For more information and to see past recipients of this award click here.

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City of Fort St. John honours Jim Eglinski with Freedom of the City Award - Energeticcity.ca

Attacks on freedom of expression by governments, combined with a flood of misinformation across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, have had a devastating impact on peoples ability to access accurate and timely information to help them cope with the burgeoning global health crisis, said Amnesty International today in a new report.

Silenced and Misinformed: Freedom of Expression in Danger During Covid-19reveals how governments and authorities reliance on censorship and punishment throughout the crisis has reduced the quality of information reaching people. The pandemic has provided a dangerous situation where governments are using new legislation to shut down independent reporting, as well asattack people who have been directly critical or even attempted to look into their governments response toCovid-19.

Throughout the pandemic, governments have launched an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression, severely curtailing peoples rights. Communication channels have been targeted, social media has been censored, and media outlets have been closed down having a dire impact of the publics ability to access vital information about how to deal with Covid-19, said Amnesty Internationals senior director for research advocacy and policy, Rajat Khosla.

In the midst of a pandemic, journalists and health professionals have been silenced and imprisoned. As a result, people have been unable to access information about Covid-19, including how to protect themselves and their communities. Approximately five million people have lost their lives to Covid-19 and lack of information will have likely been a contributory factor.

The government of China has a long history of controlling freedom of expression. During the early days of the pandemic, health workersand professional and citizen journalists attempted to raise the alarm as early as December 2019. However, they were targeted by the government for reporting on the outbreak of what was then an unknown disease. By February 2020, 5,511 criminal investigations had been opened against individuals who published information about the outbreak for fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information.

In one harrowing case, citizen journalistZhang Zhan travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the Covid-19 outbreak. She went missing in May 2020 in Wuhan. It was later revealed that she was detained by police, charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble and sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Numerous other countries have put in place oppressive laws, restricting the right to freedom of expression and silencing critics under the guise or in the context of the pandemic, including Tanzania, Russia and Nicaragua.

Over the past few years, the Tanzanian government has introduced a raft of laws and used them to silence journalists, human rights defenders and members of the political opposition.Under former PresidentMagufulis administration, the Tanzanian government took a denialist stance on Covid-19. FromMarch to May 2020, authorities used laws prohibiting and criminalizing false news and other measures to restrict media coverage of the governments handling of Covid-19.

While initially trying to downplay the impact of the pandemic and intimidate those raising concerns, the Nicaraguan authorities used Covid-19 to introduce the Special Law on Cybercrimes in October 2020. In practice, it enables authorities to punish those who criticize government policies and gives them ample discretion to repress freedom of expression.

In April 2020, Russia expanded its existinganti-fake news legislation and introduced criminal penalties for public dissemination of knowingly false information in the context of emergencies.Although the amendments have been described as part of the authorities response to Covid-19, these measures will remain in force beyond the pandemic.

Its clearCovid-19 related restrictions on freedom of expression are not just time-bound, extraordinary measures to deal with a temporary crisis. They are part of an onslaught on human rights that has been taking place globally in the last few years and governments have found another excuse to ramp up their attack on civil society, said Rajat Khosla.

Restricting freedom of expression is dangerous and must not become the new normal.

Restricting freedom of expression is dangerous and must not become the new normal. Governments must urgently lift such restrictions and guarantee the free flow of information to protect the publics right to health.

Amnestys report highlights the role of social media companies in facilitating the rapid spread of misinformation around Covid-19. This is because platforms are designed to amplify attention-grabbing content to engage users and have not done enough due diligence to prevent the spread of false and misleading information.

The onslaught of misinformation whether that be through social media companies or people in a position of power seeking to spread division and confusion for their own gain is posing a serious threat to the rights to freedom of expression and to health. It is making it increasingly difficult for individuals to have a fully informed opinion and make educated choices about their health based on the best available scientific facts. A variety of sources is key, as is the ability to challenge and debate available information.

As we are urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to ensure vaccines are distributed and made available to everyone around the world, states and social media companies must also ensure the public has unfettered access to accurate, evidence-based and timely information. This is a crucial step to minimize vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation, said Rajat Khosla.

So far, 6.6 billion* doses have been administered globally, yet only 2.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. With less than 75 days left until the end of the year, were calling on states and pharmaceutical companies to drastically change course and to do everything needed to deliver two billion vaccines to low and lower-middle income countries starting now but they need safe, reliable information to help inform their decisions.

Amnesty International is calling on states to stop using the pandemic as an excuse to silence independent reporting, lift all undue restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and provide credible, reliable, accessible information so the public can be fully informed about the pandemic. Censorship does not help in dealing with misinformation: free and independent media and strong civil society do.

States must overhaul the destructive business model of Big Tech one of the root causes of the spread of mis/disinformation online. Social media companies must also stop hiding their heads in the sand and take measures to address the viral spread of misinformation, including by ensuring their business models do not endanger human rights.

Notes to editors

Amnesty International launched a new campaign,100 Day Countdown: 2 billion Covid-19 vaccines now!on 22 September 2021. The organization is calling on states and pharmaceutical companies to deliver 2 billion vaccines to those who need it now, to ensure that the World Health Organizations target of vaccinating 40% of the population of low and lower-middle income countries by the end of the year is met.

*Figure correct as of 14 October 2021:Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations Statistics and Research Our World in Data

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Covid-19: Global attack on freedom of expression is having a dangerous impact on public health crisis - Amnesty International

JFCS of Suncoast appointschief development officer

The JFCS of the Suncoast has appointed Ron Katz as its new chief development officer.Katz will collaborate with JFCS leadership to enhance the agencys financial sustainability through the implementation of an annual fundraising plan and donor cultivation and stewardship.

A passionate and progressive community leader for over 25 years, Katz has served in multiple senior leadership and consulting roles, devising strategies that have increased charitable giving for mission-driven organizations. I am so excited to make Sarasota my new home and work with an organization that does so much for the people in this region, Katz said.

Prior to JFCS, Katz served as director of advancement and external affairs at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. He increased institutional support for the museum among constituencies, volunteers, longstanding members and women aviators.Katz earned a master's degree in business administration from UConn's School of Business Administration and a bachelor's degree in international relations fromSyracuse.For more information, visitJFCS-Cares.org.

Selah Freedom,a nonprofit anti-human trafficking organization, has named Stacey Efaw as executive director andSamantha Kolb as clinical program director.

Efaw came to Selah Freedom from Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties, the second largest Habitat affiliate in the U.S. Efaw held the position of chief development officer. Efaw earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business from the University of South Florida.

Kolbgraduated from Florida State University with bachelor's and masters degrees in social work. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she has more than13 years of experience in the behavioral health field specializing in adults with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

In addition to their vast professional work experience and education, both Stacey and Samantha embody the values, integrity and moral character that are central to our organization," Selah FreedomBoard PresidentRalph Hoehne said.

Formore information about Selah Freedom, visit SelahFreedom.com.

The Florida Department of Transportations Commute Connector program is partnering with the city of Sarasota, DreamLarge, Sarasota County, and the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization for a Mobility Week event on Nov. 2.

The 2-mile ride beginsat 5:15 p.m. at the DreamLarge Yard at the corner of Central Avenue and Boulevard of the Arts (600 Central Ave.). Mobility Week,an annual initiative from Oct. 29 through Nov. 5, promotes smart transportation choices and safety.To register, visitbit.ly/2Z9yI2D. Traditional and electric bikes also will be available for those who need them. For more information, call866-585-RIDE (4733) or write to Info@CommuteConnector.com.

The Heart Gallery of Sarasota and Junior League of Sarasota are partneringon Oct. 29 at 9:30 a.m. for a children's luggage drive atJunior League headquarters, 3300 S. Tamiami Trail.

Fifty pieces of new luggage filled with toys, books and toiletries that have been collected by the Junior Leagues Done in a Day team will be donated to children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect. The Heart Gallery contributes over 400 pieces of luggage a year thanks to partnerships with organizations such as the Junior League.Visitheartgallerysarasota.orgfor more information.

TheSouthwest Florida Water Management District will be conducting prescribed burns through December at Myakka River Deer Prairie Creek Preserve and Myakka River Schewe Tract west of North Port in Sarasota County.

Approximately 400 acres will be burned in small, manageable units, the district said. Benefits include:Reducing overgrown plants; promoting new growth of diverse plants; and maintainingaccess for public recreation. The district conducts prescribed fires on approximately 30,000 acres each year. For more information, visitswfwmd.state.fl.us.

The Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply is askingcustomers in Charlotte, DeSoto and Sarasota counties to conserve water for the next 30 days. Thewater treatment facility is currently operating at 75%due to rehabilitation work that started in the spring, executive director Mike Coates said.For more information, call 941-316-1776 or visitRegionalwater.org.

The Presbyterian Church of the Covenant,7950 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, is holding its annual Fall Fair on Nov. 6 from8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. There will be a Christmas Table with collectables; a TreasureTable; a Vintage Table; jewelry; and baked goods (credit cards accepted).

Gulf Cove United Methodist Church,1100 S. McCall Roadin Port Charlotte, is offering free carry-out dinners on the first Monday of each month.The Nov.1 menu includes shepherds pie.Dinners can be picked up from 3:30-5:30 p.m.Reserve a meal atGulfCoveChurch.com; email GulfCoveUMC@gmail.com;or call941-697-1747 on Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m.-noon.

Compiled from community submissions

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COMMUNITY BRIEFS: JFCS of Suncoast; Selah Freedom; UPWC 20th anniversary; 'Mobility Week' - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Boeing employees protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Everett, WA, on Oct.15. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

One of the most confusing and troubling aspects of the coronavirus pandemic for most Americans is the refusal of a substantial minority to be vaccinated because of religion, politics or desire for personal freedom

Why would a reasonable person without a specific medical issue refuse a safe and free vaccine that could prevent death and protect their immediate family?

Its like refusing to fasten a seat belt, disabling a smoke detector, strolling on railroad tracks wearing earphones, or leaving loaded guns around the family home.

Adding to the confusion is a new advertising campaign by Irvine-based TRAFFIK to not just oppose vaccine mandates but celebrate frontline workers who refuse them.

These frontline workers are sacrificing everything by standing for freedom, and we must take steps to ensure discrimination has no place in any industry. said Anthony Trimino, CEO of TRAFFIK.

Religion, politics and freedom are important to most Americans. But none of these is a good reason to take a stand against personal safety.

Take religion. Its hard to see how a caring God would want humanity not to protect itself from a new virus, and the mainstream religions all support vaccination. There are individual religious leaders who oppose vaccination, just as there are fringe religions that support everything from witchcraft to LSD. Not all religious belief is of equal seriousness.

Political opposition to vaccination is a strange mutation of Republican thought during the pandemic. President Trumps Operation Warp Speed succeeded in rapidly developing effective vaccines. Now he hints that taking those vaccines is disloyal. Republican governors in Texas and Florida have seized on this and are working to end vaccine mandates. Its as if Republicans want their voters to die.

Freedom is the most problematic reason, and for the anti-vaxxers its a middle-school conception of freedom freedom from any constraints. This may have worked in a thinly populated early America, where your actions had little impact on your neighbors. But its a recipe for calamity in the 21st century America of 330 million people.

An unvaccinated individuals stand for freedom puts many at risk and imposes costs on others. When you catch the virus, you put others around you at risk, especially children. And if youre hospitalized, you or society if youve decided that health insurance is an infringement on freedom face hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to save your life. And then there are the exhausted, overworked healthcare workers who have to try to save you when you wouldnt make the effort to save yourself. They will not be very understanding.

Going unvaccinated isnt freedom; its dangerous self-centered selfishness.

Most Americans, especially in California, would agree with this. Just look at how easily Gov. Gavin Newsom beat the recall despite some of the strictest lockdowns and one of the most aggressive vaccination programs.

So if the three main reasons for refusing to vaccinate make no sense, and most Americans want to protect themselves, why are some people doing this? It all comes down to resistance to change.

For these Americans, 2020 began with everything OK. The economy was booming, Trump was President and life seemed good. Why did a pandemic have to take it all away? It wasnt fair, and some would even deny there is a pandemic.

But like it or not, a virus evolved into something deadly, just as happened a century ago in the aftermath of a disastrous world war that left many disoriented. Science didnt understand viruses in 1918, but at least recommended masks, and some Americans rebelled.

When we look back on the pandemic a decade or two from now, history wont be kind to the anti-vaxxers. They wont be remembered as heroes, but as sad, misguided figures at odds with reality.

Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego. He is fully vaccinated and received his Moderna booster on Friday.

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Opinion: Religion? Politics? Freedom? These Arent Valid Reasons to Refuse a COVID Vaccine - Times of San Diego

From my home in Beirut, I think of Hong Kong all the time. Even though Ive never been and have no real ties to it, I feel as though I have a stake in its future. I stare at news headlines that read, Hong Kong Families, Fearing a Reign of Terror, Prepare to Flee the City, and feel a strange, visceral sense of familiarity. Ive become obsessed with trying to understandto feelHong Kongers angst as their city undergoes a precipitous transformation.

Since prodemocracy protests erupted there in 2019, at the same time as anti-corruption demonstrations in Lebanon, Ive witnessed my own countrys collapse under a plethora of crises: the implosion of its economy, the enormous blast at the Beirut port, and of course the pandemic, all of it wrapped up in endemically corrupt politics and meddling by foreign powers, notably Iran. Decades of progress since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990 have been erased, and thousands of Lebanese are rushing for the exit.

Lebanon and Hong Kong have everything and nothing in common. Both are energetic creative centers of design, film, and music; refuges for those seeking freedom of thought and expression; places situated between East and West, with a culture of emigration. At one time, Lebanon was even described as Syrias Hong Kongmore on that later. But their histories, their politics, and especially their economies could not be more different.

Still, today they seem bound together by a similar feeling of lossnot as the result of a sudden war or a natural disaster, but because of the disintegration of something much more complex.

Last month, Keith Richburg, a former Washington Post foreign correspondent and the director of the University of Hong Kongs Journalism and Media Studies Centre, wrote that the old Hong Kong of raucous debate and protest, of independent-minded activists and politicians and filmmakers, is gone. At about the same time, the Lebanese writer and translator Lina Mounzer published an essay titled Lebanon as We Once Knew It Is Gone.

Elsewhere, too, others have been experiencing the end of a way of life. Just a few days before Richburgs and Mounzers articles came out, Mujib Mashal, a New York Times correspondent who was born under Taliban rule, took a bus around his hometown as the Taliban were once again closing in on Afghanistans capital. He had grown up in that interim period of hope and transformation, and reported feeling that the window on Kabul as my generation knew it was closing.

The Afghans hanging from the wheels of an aircraft, desperate to leave a country that was suddenly swallowing them alive, are nothing like the exodus out of Lebanon or Hong Kong. But in each of these places, thousands of people have to make the agonizing choice to become exiles, sometimes overnight, as the Taliban advance, as the Chinese authorities come knocking, as Lebanons ruling cartel causes yet another shortage of bread or fuel, or unleashes violence on protesters.

Afghans, Hong Kongers, and Lebanese are all victims today of a form of authoritarian intolerance. The specifics are different for each, but the dislocation within them is perhaps the most visible expression of the disappearance of a world born out of the heady days of the 1990s. In these places, people feel betrayed by their leaders, the world, the West, by their own optimism even as they watch, stunned, the erasure of the life they thought possible after decades of progressimperfect and uneven progress, but progress nonetheless. I have written about slow, surreptitious transformations, waves of change that wash over societies across decades until people wake up one day and think, What happened to us?

The question now being asked in these three placesLebanon, Hong Kong, Afghanistanis more violent, reflective of the suddenness of the change, of the shock. It is perhaps closer to What the fuck just happened?

Pervasive in all the stories out of Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Hong Kong is a deep sense of lossof hope and freedom, but also of space for liberal values and ideas, and, more literally, loss of home and of talent.

This manifests in an array of different ways, real and symbolic, that go to the core of the identity of each place: in Hong Kong, the closure of Apple Daily, the prodemocracy newspaper, and that of Club 71, an iconic bar named after a huge protest that took place on July 1, 2003, which finally succumbed to the vagaries of high rent and reduced footfall as a result of the pandemic. In Kabul, blast walls across the city once used as a canvas for colorful artwork were painted over by the Taliban within days of the groups takeover. In Lebanon, the beloved and world-renowned indie-rock band Mashrou Leila fell prey to the illiberal forces that uphold the corrupt system. Suddenly accused of blasphemy in the summer of 2019 by conservative Christians, their performances were canceled, two band members were briefly detained and questioned, and a vicious onslaught of hate on social media eventually sent the band into self-imposed exile. They continue to sing, performing with international artists such as Mika after the port explosion, putting their pain in lyrics: Did my time, toed the line / Aint seen anything yet How could you break my heart? / Already played my part / I kept my promise, man / Show me the promised land.

The promised lands where so much was possible are now producing a stream of exiles, squeezing out artists and activists, writers and dissidents, but also nurses, bankers, teachers, and engineers. In a globalized world, the educated can seek a normal life outside their homeland. Exhilarating protests in both Hong Kong and Lebanon in 2019 failed to stop Chinas systematic takeover of governance in Hong Kong or to reverse the growing stranglehold that the pro-Iran Shiite militant group and political party Hezbollah has on Lebanons politics.

The whiplash has been painful in both places. Living standards in Lebanon went from being similar to those in Greece or southern Italy to something akin to Venezuelas within a year. Traumatized by past conflicts and turmoil, a sizable portion of the Lebanese population has second passports, as a Plan B. As I read more about Hong Kong, I learned that many of its people also had second passports, obtained ahead of Britains handover of the city back to China in 1997. I wondered why, given that Hong Kong had not suffered war or shortages. I had forgotten for an instant what I know to be truethat economic prosperity and stability cannot replace the need for freedom of thought and expression, for governance and the rule of law.

The population of Hong Kong has dropped 1.2 percent this year. The initial departures after the 2019 protests were of activists and prodemocracy lawmakers, but subsequent waves have involved middle-class professionals. Lebanon does not yet have official numbers on emigration, but as an indicator, the authorities have been renewing 32,000 Lebanese passports a month since January, up from 17,000 a month for the same period in 2020. By 8 a.m. on most days this summer, Beiruts passport offices had already received the 400 requests they can process daily. (Regional offices elsewhere have been similarly overwhelmed.) An estimated 40 percent of Lebanons doctors and 30 percent of its nurses have left, while the American University of Beirut has lost 15 percent of its faculty. The airlift of more than 100,000 Afghans who did not dare stay to find out whether the Taliban had changed will deprive that country of many of its best and brightest. This exodus will change societies from within in all three places. (The key difference is that Hong Kong remains a wealthy place, while the economies of Afghanistan and Lebanon are crumbling.)

Different generations are experiencing this loss differently. If youre in your 20s, youre losing the only world youve ever known. Afghans under 25 make up two-thirds of the population; those living in cities grew up surrounded by blast walls and foreign troops, but also with elections, rising literacy rates, music, girls in schools, women in Parliament, and chess games in cafs. If youre in your 40s, youre losing the world you were promised as you came of age, a world where, if you were a Hong Konger, you could march for freedom and democracy, and score some real victories, even if you couldnt elect your leader. If youre in your 60s, youre losing the world you helped build, or tried to. Friends of mine who were deeply involved in the Middle East peace process during the 1990s, the reconstruction of Beirut after the civil war, or the push for reforms and governance across the region today ask themselves what they have to show for all their efforts.

(Of course, a parallel group of people exists for whom the tumult is neither an ending nor a betrayal: In Afghanistans rural areas, far away from university campuses, wedding halls, and hip cafs, there is relief that nighttime raids by occupying troops will end. In Hong Kong, some will benefit economically from greater integration with China. In Lebanon, if you belong to the pro-establishment and pro-Hezbollah camp, this is an existential battle for the survival of a system that serves you.)

Driving around Beirut at night is now a hazardous and slightly depressing endeavor. Endless power outages mean that most street lights or traffic lights are off. The city looks desolate, forlorn, emptied of many inhabitants who were traumatized by the port blast or crushed by the deprivation. Garbage piles up on street corners because municipal workers arent being paid and groups of beggars and homeless people sit on sidewalks, more of them every day as the countrys population slides into ever greater poverty. I have flashbacks to my childhood during the civil war. Then, too, the streets were dark at night, the traffic lights had long stopped working, and garbage collection was an occasional event. But in between, we had three decades of reconstruction, a growing middle class, a sense of hope, an exhilarating creative energyand new traffic lights that we had to relearn to obey.

On his trip around Kabul, Mashal, the Times correspondent, met a lawyer who had been working to complete a competitive two-year process to become a judge. Suddenly, there were new masters in town with a different understanding of the law. Twenty years of effort, the man said, and all for nothing.

Was all that apparent progress an illusion?

As strange as it may sound, Lebanon was once described as Syrias Hong Kong. Lebanons civil war, in which regional and international powers all played a role, ended on October 13, 1990, with a final outburst of unparalleled ferocity, when Syrian troops invaded an enclave of the country that had so far escaped their control. The Assad regime had long had designs on Lebanon, and Pax Syriana now meant that a repressive, socialist, nationalist regime was in control of a vibrant society with a free press and a market economy, much as was the case with Hong Kong.

As postwar reconstruction took off, Lebanon became a poster child of capitalism gone wild: Borrowing skyrocketed, highway and hotel construction surged, music festivals hosted international artists, and elections were held, all as Syrian officials talked up the idea of Lebanon being their Hong Kong. They even described it as one country, two systemsthe same turn of phrase Beijing uses to characterize Hong Kongs place within China. Lebanon was Syrias window onto the world, a playground for its officials and the goose that laid golden eggs to feed into Syrias Soviet-style economy. In exchange, Lebanon could be free, or allowed to think it was, within the limits of an occupation.

In 2005, Rafiq Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister and the man who helped resurrect the country, was assassinated as he was asserting his distance from Damascus. Syrian troops withdrew in the face of huge protests, leaving behind a system of entrenched corruption that serves them and their allies, including Hezbollah and Iran, to this day. What strikes me most as I think back to those years under occupation is how often people posited that Syria would become more like Lebanon, that the Assad regime would open up and liberalize.

The parallels with Hong Kong are remarkable. There, too, observers long believed that the handover of Hong Kong to China, and then Beijings accession to the World Trade Organization, presaged Chinas becoming more like Hong Kong. By joining the WTO, China is not simply agreeing to import more of our products, President Bill Clinton said in March 2000 as he rallied support for Chinas membership in the WTO. It is agreeing to import one of democracys most cherished values, economic freedom. Clinton continued, When individuals have the power not just to dream but to realize their dreams, they will demand a greater say.

It is easy in hindsight to say this approach was a mistake. But at the time, there appeared to be no alternative to allowing China into the WTO (and the benefits to the world economy have undoubtedly been tremendous). Perhaps the same logic can apply to Syrias takeover of Lebanon: The Cold War was ending, the civil war in Lebanon was dragging on, and President George H. W. Bush wanted the new world order to start. In exchange for Syrias token participation in the liberation of Kuwait, the U.S. turned a blind eye to Syrias full occupation of Lebanon. There were further benefits for the U.S., such as Damascuss help in releasing Western hostages held in Lebanon by pro-Syria and pro-Iran militias, permission for Syrian Jews to leave the country and move to Israel, and Syrias participation in several rounds of peace talks with Israel.

What could not have been predicted was how circumstances would change. Without the rise of Xi Jinping, Chinas trend toward economic liberalization may well have continued, perhaps allowing Hong Kong a degree of freedom. Without the rise of Bashar al-Assad, intent on proving he was more cunning and ruthless than his father, whom he succeeded in power, the strangling of Lebanon may not have come to pass. But flaws and loopholes were baked into each overture and compromise, to which the West remained oblivious because of navet or hubris.

As it turns out, democracy is fragile and can come under attackeven in America. In the end, each in its own way, neither Lebanon nor Hong Kong was able to withstand being smothered by its authoritarian big brother. Afghanistan today, a result of invasion and nation building, is perhaps more a function of American delusion, but the chain of events that led to the Talibans August 15 takeover of Kabul also originates in the optimism of the 1990s, when the U.S. believed itself invincible. Few could conceive then that the mess of a faraway wreck of a country could impinge on the inexorable progress toward democracy.

Now the Taliban have retaken Kabul, Lebanon is collapsing, and China is completely refashioning Hong Kong. Are we back to square one?

Many in Lebanon today say that things are worse now than during the civil war. Back then, queues for petrol, bread, and water were typical, but shortages of medication were rare, banks never closed, and U.S. dollar bills were available in ample supply. Lebanese met over fancy dinners despite snipers, attended school in between bouts of shelling, and went clubbing to the sounds of the Bee Gees and Queen. And yet, 150,000 people were killed during the war, 900,000 people left, Beirut was under Israeli siege for more than two months in 1982, and Syrian soldiers looted and raped their way into various parts of Lebanon. How could anyone feel that things are worse today?

Perhaps because worse than war or occupation is tasting freedom and prosperity and having it yanked away. Lebanons rapid regression has left its people shell-shocked and depleted, unable to take on the heartbreaking, even Sisyphean, task of starting anew. For Afghans, the sudden return to Taliban rule after two decades of relative freedom is a devastation of a different magnitude than coming under their yoke after a war. In Hong Kong, from a perspective of freedom and governance, life today is worse than after any of the setbacks experienced over the prior two decades, because Chinas moves carry a sense of finality.

The loss of hope and freedom extends well beyond the three places in this story. The week Kabul fell to the Taliban, I spoke with a friend who grew up in Tbilisi and had returned to the Georgian capital a few years ago with her husband and kids. She had been born there when Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union. There, too, democratization and liberalization had brought a sense of possibility, halting but ongoing. She told me of Russian and Belarusian journalists who had been hiding from Vladimir Putin in Tbilisi, the last spot in the region where they thought they would be safeuntil Georgia and Belarus signed a security-collaboration agreement that came into force, by coincidence, just as Kabul fell.

As American troops withdrew from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said that the goal was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy in the country. But democratic spaces, where pluralism, liberal values, and freedom of thought can flourish, are crucial. These spaces can exist and even expand in imperfect countries such as Afghanistan and Lebanon. Bidens Summit for Democracy in December should not be limited to participants from democracies but should include people working to uphold governance and pluralism in countries where democracy is threatened and pushing to maintain freedom where it is disappearingbecause if everyone leaves places that are in turmoil, who rebuilds them?

Despite the exodus, manyin Afghanistan, in Lebanon, in Hong Kongare staying in the hope of preserving what they can, building on what was achieved in the past three decades. The progress may have been tenuous but it was not an illusion. The slate is not blank.

On days when I despair at the state of Lebanon, or the future of Hong Kong, I think of the Berlin Wall. For 40 years, those living in its shadow, on either side, could not imagine a life beyond the division it enforced, even while many strove to bring it down. Until, one day, the wall fell. And there was an opportunity for a new world. Then, we were naive about the inevitability of the victory of liberal values. We must learn from those mistakes as we work to stop more walls from going up and the darkness from spreading.

Originally posted here:

What Lebanon, Hong Kong, and Afghanistan Have Lost - The Atlantic

Woe Is Me! is a series in which The Swaddle team indulges your pity party with advice youll probably ignore.

Im 19 and my privacy is pretty much a sham. My mother is religious, questions everything from what I read to what I wear, and doesnt let me go out with non-sanksari friends. After my father died, log kya kahenge? has hijacked everything. I yearn to have a home where I can just be. Now, relatives constantly bring up marriage and I just want to flee. To think that marriage would be my only way out is frightening.

Longing For an Escape

RN: If youre married off in haste, things may just become worse than better, or stay the same. If you have someone you trust or you find a partner you can live on equal terms and be free with, that could be a way to escape this situation and subvert the traditional notions of marriage. Unfortunately in our country, it does happen to be one of the few things that can allow a freer life, with the huge caveat that youre privileged and lucky enough to find someone who aligns with your goals and desired lifestyles. But this is a rarity and could take some time. Until then, going off to college away from home could be your best bet.

But can I also ask whether its possible to try and have an honest conversation with your mother about how restricted you feel? It could be possible that there is a shared experience underlying your dynamic here she feels restricted/compelled by prying and interfering relatives who make it their business to dictate terms to a now single mother after the man of the house passes. Is there something common you could draw from, to show her that you share her pain, and how you can support one another through this rather than be adversaries? You dont necessarily have to shock her with talk of love, sex, or boys, but there might be something to be said for trying to reach into a part of her that probably feels just as lonely and trapped as you do.

This doesnt justify what shes doing, and its sad that you need to bear the brunt of everyones problems at just 19. And that said, its totally fine and understandable if you dont want to take this on, and would prefer finding ways to move out instead. Whatever you decide, I hope you find a way to your dreams.

SS: Jumping from a claustrophobic family to marriage is like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. I do know of some people who married to get away from their abusive families and that has brought them a sense of relief in a lot of ways. But in their cases, they had a very loving partner and super supportive in-laws who encouraged their autonomy and freedom. So, you have to recognize that these cases do exist, but theyre a rarity. Id say, take some time to look for a job, earn some money, and find a way to get out of your house. Money is a great negotiation tactic for women. Once you have some level of financial support from yourself, you will feel more powerful in these situations because the dependency will reduce. Maybe this in itself will change some dynamics within your family. But my crucial advice is: get a part-time job, earn some money, start saving for an exit plan.

PB: Oof. I empathize I know very few peoplewho wont. This collectivist bullying that goes on in most Indian families is a purgatory that our society believes to be essential to turn young adults into proper citizens. If logical discourse is a possibility(I sincerely hope it is), then Id put forth the argument that a womans purpose, independence, and survival should be her prerogative and forcing talks of marriage on you is unacceptable.As to leaving it behind, if you have the means, and are currently pursuing higher education, then Id advise you to push through it until then. Someday youll find a new place to be. Hopefully, you have supportto help you friends and some family that are understanding people you can speak to. I assure you there will always be a second way out. If its invisible now, perhaps itll show itself in time with patience.

You yearn to move out, and thats completely understandable. Work towards your own home, perhaps a few years down the line. As the Billy Joel song goes Vienna waits for you.

DR: The feeling of being trapped, distressed has made you want to pack my things and move to another country, right? So, radical idea: how about you do just that? If you can just fly off to another country, by all means, please do.If not, you can move to another Indian state or even a different city.And then, well, go either low-contact or no-contact with the people trying to dictate your life. For your relatives, Id strongly recommend the latter treatment. In the meantime, if you can bring your mother around to accept your views, or at least, to see things from your perspective, that would be great. Its helpful to have some semblance of emotional support with the family. But hey, not everyone is lucky enough to have that. So, if you cant, well, youll know you tried. Please dont perform too much emotional labor in the process though; it probably wont be worth it.

Look, I know some challenges come with both parts of the plan I suggested first, there is quite a bit of socio-economic privilege required to just move out at the drop of a hat. So, I know it might not be easy, and it may take a while too. However, for the sake of your mental health, and your freedom, I think its really important for you to move no matter how long it takes.Second, I know its not easy to cut off contact with ones kin even the most distant ones given how so many people love espousing family values while meaning: be a doormat. If they cant treat you as an adult person, well, hard luck for them! Grow your wings and fly away, my child. Marriage (most likely) wont be your key to freedom. Why? Cuzyouare that key. Now, go be.

SK: I think you know the answer already. You realize marriage is a frightening option; especially if you have to pick between the confines of your own family vs the restrictions of someone elses. In case you do ever consider that option, I hope you do it for reasons other than just wanting to escape the toxic atmosphere of your family.

Which means you might have to stick with what youve got for now. Privacy is important for your mental peace and the way you understand yourself, so I urge you to keep fighting for it. Start with talking to your mother? The cultural/generational shift is hard to navigate, but maybe try relating to the collective prejudices you face from a societal lens? Tell her of your ambitions, of your desires, of what you like, dont like. Simultaneously, keep looking for options to free yourself. A college in another city/state, scholarship opportunities to fund yourself, more reading (try swapping out book covers or balancing between book themes!), and focusing on making yourself financially independent. I realize its a tall claim to make, but not having to rely on your family economically is wildly liberating. If youre worried about succumbing to others expectations, keep a diary or a list of things you want to do/be. Keep giving yourself that reality check. All of this will take a while though I hope there is patience and strength in your heart.

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Woe Is Me! I Have No Freedom While Living at Home. Is Marriage the Only Way Out? - The Swaddle

A coalition of over two dozen press freedom and human rights organisations has called on the Biden administration to drop all charges against Julian Assange. This is ahead of a US appeal that will be heard next week, challenging a British court decision that blocked the WikiLeaks publishers extradition.

The statement, delivered last week to Bidens Attorney General Merrick Garland, reflects the widespread popular opposition to the attempt to prosecute Assange in the United States for exposing US-led war crimes, surveillance operations and global diplomatic intrigues.

It also expresses the increasingly crisis-ridden state of the US campaign against Assange, which is widely viewed as an assault on core civil liberties. This is even more so since revelations last month of gangster-like plans by the Trump administration and CIA to kidnap or kill the Australian journalist while he was a political refugee in Ecuadors London embassy.

Signatories to the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the Knight First Amendment Institute, along with 20 other well-known advocacy organisations.

The same coalition appealed to the Biden administration to end legal action against Assange shortly after Bidens inauguration, but the request was rebuffed in another demonstration of the bipartisan character of the assault on Assange, WikiLeaks and democratic rights more broadly. The Democrat administration has not only continued the vendetta against Assange, but has played the lead role in crafting an appeal aimed at securing his dispatch to the US and life imprisonment.

The latest statement warns: [T]he proceedings against Mr. Assange jeopardize journalism that is crucial to democracy. In our view, a precedent created by prosecuting Assange could be used against publishers and journalists alike, chilling their work and undermining freedom of the press.

The signatories note: [J]ournalists routinely engage in much of the conduct described in the indictment: speaking with sources, asking for clarification or more documentation, and receiving and publishing official secrets. News organizations frequently and necessarily publish classified information in order to inform the public of matters of profound public significance.

The organisations involved in the initiative note that they were motivated to restate their call for an end to the prosecution of Assange with even greater urgency, in light of a recent story in Yahoo News describing alarming discussions within the CIA and the Trump administration before the indictment against Assange was filed. The Yahoo News story only heightens our concerns about the motivations behind this prosecution, and about the dangerous precedent that is being set.

The Yahoo News report, published late last month, reviewed in detail discussions within the Trump administration and the top levels of the CIA, about taking extreme measures against Assange in 2017.

Based on interviews with more than 30 former US officials, the story outlined the frenzied response of the government and the intelligence agency to WikiLeaks publication of Vault 7, a vast trove of leaked CIA documents.

The documents exposed the agencys vast cyberwarfare capacities, including its extensive use of malware, and capabilities to place tell-tale markers on its own hacks, aimed at ascribing them to foreign powers such as Russia and Iran. Vault 7 demonstrated that the CIA was engaged in mass surveillance, including through smart phones and televisions, and was discussing the development of capabilities to remotely take over the computing systems of modern cars.

The apoplectic response, spearheaded by then CIA director Mike Pompeo, rapidly involved discussions about illegal actions against Assange. These included meetings, involving Pompeo and Trump, about the prospect of kidnapping Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy, instigating a shoot-out in London if he sought to flee the building and even assassinating the WikiLeaks founder and his European-based colleagues.

The discussions were not of a hypothetical character. The statement, delivered last week to Bidens Attorney General Merrick Garland, reflects the widespread popular opposition to the attempt to prosecute Assange in the United States for exposing US-led war crimes, surveillance operations and global diplomatic intrigues. Employees at the building have testified that discussions about poisoning or allowing for Assange to be violently removed from the embassy, filtered down to the ground level, involving UC Global staff.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Assanges fiance Stella Moris outlined the impact of the UC Global operation. She noted that with pervasive spying, the placement of restrictions on Assanges communications and visitors and dirty tricks operations, including an attempt to secretly take DNA from one of Assanges children, the security firm and its American paymasters had effectively created a black site in the middle of London. Complete lawlessness.

The Yahoo News revelations exposed not only the criminal character of these extra-legal operations, but also the quasi-judicial attempt to prosecute Assange. The indictment against Assange was prepared amid the discussions about assassinating him, with Yahoo reporting that it was in part motivated by concerns from within the Justice Department that there be charges if Assange were brought to the United States, i.e., kidnapped by the CIA.

The Biden administration has said nothing about the extraordinary criminality of the actions taken by its predecessor, with its spokespeople instead directing media inquiries about the reports to the CIA. Pompeo has issued weak denials of the worst of the allegations, while stating that pieces of the Yahoo story are true and calling for the former officials who spoke to the outlet to be prosecuted for speaking about classified activity.

In a belated attempt at damage control, Democratic Party representative Adam Schiff stated that the US House Intelligence Committee was seeking information on the reports about the Trump-CIA plot against Assange. He claimed to have been completely unaware that anything was afoot, despite serving as the ranking Democrat on the intelligence panel in 2017.

The professions of ignorance have no credibility, given that the Democrats embraced Pompeos description of WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence organisation, a designation that placed the publishing organisation in a category akin to terrorists or hostile spies. In 2017, the Senate formally included the description of Assanges media outlet in its annual Intelligence Authorization Act, with the overwhelming majority of Democrats voting in favour.

The Yahoo report follows the revelation by Icelandic weekly Stundin that Sigurdur Siggi Thordarson, a key witness in the US indictment against Assange, admitted that almost all of his testimony consisted of lies proffered in exchange for immunity from US prosecution for fraud and other criminal activities.

Taken together, the information demonstrates that the case against Assange should have been thrown out of the British courts as soon as it was presented. Despite this, the UK High Court granted US prosecutors the right to appeal an earlier judgement blocking Assanges extradition.

That earlier verdict, in a District Court, upheld all of the substantive arguments of the prosecutors, including the right of states to pursue journalists for exposing material that they deem to be classified. It ignored the explicit ban on extraditions for political offenses contained in the British-US extradition treaty.

Instead, Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assanges extradition would be oppressive, given the draconian conditions in US prisons and the likelihood that he would commit suicide. In light of the Yahoo reports, it appears likely that Baraitsers ruling was motivated by fears within the British state apparatus of the widespread opposition that would ensue were Assange to be killed by the American authorities after having been extradited.

Despite the complete exposure of the US case as a frame-up and a dirty-tricks operation, the record of the British judiciary means there can be no confidence that it will reject the US appeal when it is heard on October 27 and 28.

The recent revelations have again demonstrated that the pursuit of Assange is linked to broader political issues, including a turn to authoritarianism by governments around the world, in response to mounting social and political opposition. The Trump officials who plotted Assanges murder and kidnap and initiated his prosecution would go on to lead a fascist coup attempt on January 6. The Biden administration is proceeding with the discredited legal case, as it pursues let it rip pandemic policies in the interests of the corporate elite, and ratchets up preparations for a catastrophic war against China.

The record has demonstrated that the fight for Assanges freedom and the defence of all democratic rights can only go forward through the building of an independent political movement of the international working class against war, inequality and authoritarianism.

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Press freedom groups call for charges against Assange to be dropped ahead of US appeal - WSWS

In light of the Cuban governments negative response to requests from civil society to hold a Civic March for Change, planned for 15 November, to call for the release of activists detained for exercising their rights, including following the historic protests of 11 July, as well for human rights to be respected and for differences to be resolved through dialogue, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

Groups of people from various provinces around the country have been submitting requests in recent weeks to different local governments asking for authorization to carry out peaceful marches, organized in a clearly defined way in a legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression. Instead of guaranteeing these rights, President Miguel Daz-Canels government has declared these civil society marches illegal and unconstitutional, once again violating the right to peaceful protest in Cuba.

The international community must not forget the hundreds of people detained during the historic protests on 11 July 2021 simply for peacefully exercising their right, as well as the six people named prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International shortly afterwards

Amnesty International has received reports that activists have been arbitrarily detained and that people who have responded to the Archipelago groups calls to demonstrate have been harassed, intimidated and put under surveillance by members of the security forces. This response by the authorities is consistent with the policy of repression, applied for decades in Cuba, which criminalizes peaceful protest and imprisons and ill-treats Cubans from all walks of life solely for expressing their opinions. We will be monitoring the actions of the authorities, to denounce any act of repression against protesters.

The international community must not forget the hundreds of people detained during the historic protests on 11 July 2021 simply for peacefully exercising their right, as well as the six people named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International shortly afterwards, as a symbolic gesture towards the many hundreds more who likely deserve this designation, who must be released immediately and unconditionally.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Duncan Tucker: [emailprotected]

Continued here:

Cuba: Rejection of request to protest is yet another example of intolerance of freedom of expression - Amnesty International