Saturday, January 6, 2018

New beginnings, old challenges

Sanjana Hattotuwa-January 6, 2018, 7:08 pm

As the credit and bank statements roll in, come January, the revelry of late December gives way to sober reflection and serious resolutions. This extends to politics. The final reports, handed over to the President, by commissions appointed to look into Central Bank bonds and corruption garnered, rightfully, the most media and public attention last week. The reports are not yet in the public domain, but the President made a hard-hitting and widely-reported statement based on their findings. At the same time, a Facebook post that went viral on social media identified the current President himself, and not Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the person who brought or wanted back in mainstream politics, nominated, promoted or officially rewarded a terrible array of brutes, underworld kingpins, drug dealers and murderers. They are all named. Given the seriousness of the allegations, the incumbent President – perennially preachy in nature - ought to have made a statement on this as well. To date, however, silence.

To have entrenched within official systems and voted into power, those responsible for its flagrant abuse, have many attendant problems, including obviously significant challenges around meaningful, sustainable political reform, justice and accountability domestically, no matter what is promised in international fora. We focus feverishly around individuals and individual cases of corruption. The mainstream media, primarily because of the partisan bias of owners and fearful of losing out on advertising revenue, doesn’t contextualise or analyse what is a culture of nepotism, corruption and violence that extends deep into the leadership of the current government. The result is a lot of reporting around a small number of cases, sporadically, with the illusion, rather compelling, that attention results in action. Particularly given the electoral tests over 2018, starting in February, the two commission reports, not unlike the many, equally if not more damning COPE reports previously, will be the subject of campaign propaganda and weaponised to suit parochial agendas. Any meaningful prosecution based on judicial review and due process will be kept at bay, because those named and implicated in these recent reports are vital nodes in the fluid equations that project and predict partisan electoral advantage. This is, in effect, a re-run of a familiar, tired script, albeit in the new cinema of yahapalanaya.

If everything imaginable counter to democracy is a hallmark of our mainstream politics and its consociational foundations, holding it at bay at best is arguably only possible with those who are corrupt, or violent, to a degree acceptable to the majority in the South. The litmus test on February 10 will be around this acceptability, and to what degree the UNP and SLFP, together and individually, will be held accountable for what they promised. The choice here for us is, put bluntly or simply, whether we are partial to those currently in power who have delivered little of what was promised but are generally tolerant of and supportive of democracy, or a return to favour of those who were in power previously, and the more effective, efficient delivery of promises based on foundations of violence many in fact were fine with, in the South, as long as visible markers of development were present, the cost of living managed and they somehow benefited. Democracy in Sri Lanka is a contest of perception. It is less about the actual exercise of constitutional rule. The current government suffers from a congenital inability to communicate coherently. This is not something the worst elements of the previous government suffer from. With a President now more interested in his physical security and political survival post-2020, the centrifugal interests that gathered everyone together late 2014 in a thirst to gain power has given way to the centripetal tendencies of coalition politics and a quest to retain power. And while political theorists will mull over the electoral implications of all this, the 700,000 first time voters in February, coupled with millions of others between 18 to 34 who are young, ambitious and really fed up with politics as it is, are those that propaganda, rumour and misinformation will target the most in ways that are publicly visible as well as individually targeted. Either through the ballot or by staying away from it in apathy, both of which are electoral strategies, the political map of Sri Lanka over 2018 will be redrawn in ways that, because we haven’t studied more robustly the impact and reach of social media, many will be surprised by.

This is not all doom and gloom. The telos of electoral uncertainty over 2018 is often and only projected as a return to power by elements voted out in January 2015. The problem with this argument is outlined above – individuals who embody the violence and corruption of the previous regime, if not the very architects of it, are already in government – many with the support of no less than the President. So yahapalanaya is more about keeping in check, to the extent possible, the worst tendencies and excesses of politicians, their family members and apparatchiks, instead of the heady rhetoric of systemic reform it initially promised. Better those in government are honest about this and admit to how hard reform really is when in power – it may actually win them more votes.

The greater danger than a return of, simplistically put, the Rajapaksa regime, is the real and perceived erosion of public support around constitutional reform and accountability, not necessarily in that order. Those partial to the status quo don’t need Gotabaya Rajapaksa to come back into power to derail efforts to bring about a new constitution, so urgently needed, or efforts to keep alive what may well be multi-generational process to hold those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable for their actions. The old regime as well as individuals in the present government just need to seed doubt, anxiety and fear - relatively easily engineered with saffron robe donned brutes on demand, protests that turn violent and online hate - to keep meaningful reform at bay and give those at the helm of government an excuse to pause, and even falsely project an essential timidity as a government sensitive to the wishes of the electorate.

Asked if he is optimistic, the Leader of the Opposition, in an interview published in The Hindu newspaper last week, said he isn’t pessimistic. The captures so well, in what is said and left unsaid, Sri Lanka’s tryst with democratic reform over 2018 and beyond. At risk of insulting Mr. Sampanthan, our elder statesman, one wish for the New Year could be to live a life as long as richly textured as he has, and yet not be witness to as many broken promises. We all know what needs to be done and without delay. One risks disappointment to hope that the New Year brings with it better angels to secure a democratic, prosperous and just future for us all, across the political and social spectrum.

Sri Lanka: How to use Chinese Colombo complex

Colombo complex can benefit all parties using Indian Ocean shipping lanes

( January 6, 2018, Beijing, Sri Lanka Guardian) “While many have been focusing on the Chinese “label” on a $1 billion project near Sri Lanka’s main port of Colombo, less attention has been paid to the economic logic behind this investment,” the mouthpiece of the ruling communist party in Beijing, the Global Times, noted.

The report published in the Global Times further elaborated as follows;

China plans to put $1 billion into the construction of three 60-story buildings as part of a proposed financial city located next to Sri Lanka’s main harbor, media reports said recently. To take advantage of its strategic location, Sri Lanka is overhauling its transport, logistics and financial sectors, trying to realize its ambition of becoming a financial center in the Indian Ocean comparable with Singapore.

The project will bring new momentum to the South Asian nation, where the economy remains sluggish. Due to the severity of the drought Sri Lanka experienced last summer, large-scale investment is urgently needed to make sure any economic recovery takes hold.

Sri Lanka will not be the only beneficiary of the megaproject. The country’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean has been noted by traders who use some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes connecting Europe with East Asia.

In 2017, the Port of Colombo reportedly handled more than 6 million 20-foot equivalent units of containers and served as a transshipment hub for cargo from countries like India. Improved financing, logistics and consulting networks in Colombo can cut logistics costs and improve trade efficiency, benefiting all the countries along the shipping lanes.

As the costs of improving its infrastructure have increased, however, Sri Lanka has felt an increasing financial strain. In response, it has sought to attract foreign investment.

That’s where China comes in. Chinese companies are in the midst of a boom in outbound investment, and their investment in Sri Lanka should be seen as normal commercial activity.

It doesn’t really matter where the money comes from. If the megaproject can benefit both Sri Lanka and countries along the shipping lanes, it shouldn’t be criticized just because the project was financed by companies from China, instead of the US or India.

Some observers have claimed that China seeks to boost its influence in the Indian Ocean by building the huge complex. But exaggerating the impact of the project just serves to fuel the “China threat” theory.

If India or other countries feel uneasy about the Chinese investment, they can perhaps comfort themselves by persuading their companies to open offices in these buildings.

Magampura Port debacle continues Port workers stage Satyagraha after 48 days on the street

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan in Magampura-2018-01-07

Two-Hundred-and-Forty-Eight (248) Port workers, who were 'evicted' when 85% stake of the Magampura Port in Hambantota was handed over to the Chinese, on 9 December 2017, on a 99-year lease, have now commenced a Satyagraha campaign.

These workers are highly concerned that they would soon be replaced by new recruits now that the China Merchants Port Holdings and its two allied local companies had taken over operations.

Soon after the takeover, the Chinese were busy refurbishing the 13-storey administration building Sayurupaya, located adjacent to the Magampura Port entrance.

The 'evicted' workers claim that the authorities kept avoiding them for the last 48 days, despite their many attempts to seek a solution to their plight.

Ceylon Today visited the Magampura Port last week and witnessed the protest that has entered 48th day today (Sunday).

The entire place is more of a 'closed' area due to the apparent 'challenges' the Chinese are facing from the locals over their presence in the country.

The security is tightened and no information whatsoever could be obtained from them. The guards did not even allow photographing the main administrative building of the Magampura Port.

The protesters commenced the Satyagraha yesterday (6) opposite the Magampura Port entrance and the Sayurupaya administration building. The workers hinted the Satyagraha will lead to a hunger strike soon, if no action is taken to resolve their issue.

The workers are demanding job security after the majority stakes were given to the Chinese.

It was revealed that as of now there are nearly 50 local drivers and supporting staff of around 170 employed at the Deep Southern Port, and the rest are now on the street protesting.

At Sayurupaya there are about 30 Chinese and less than 20 Sri Lankans working at the moment, reliable sources said.

Sources also revealed that workers of ZPMC Lanka Company (Private) Limited, which is a Board of Investment of Sri Lanka approved company, a joint venture between Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited of China, are offering the maintenance services at the Magampura Port too.

There is also a main housing complex, which has been earmarked for the Chinese workers, and some of them who began operations at the Port way back in 2010 under China Harbour are living inside the compound with facilities offered to them.

However, the protesters claim that they were the first batch recruited when the first phase of the Port was opened in 2012.

Having received proper training on Port affairs their job was secured well enough that several years later many of them have obtained bank loans to upgrade their living conditions which is part of the development of the country and its people's standards of living.

The workers who were seated under the makeshift tin sheds said that they were 'forced out' on 30 November 2017, after they expressed the wish to remain under the flag of Sri Lanka Ports Authority. However, as 85% stake of the Port is with the Chinese, they were urged to adhere to the new terms and conditions, which they refused.

Workers' woes

"Five years of service from the day one the Port came into operation and now we are on the road," laments G. Buddhika Prasad (27), who is the spokesperson for the protesting workers.

"The SLPA is 'mum' as they seem to have no say on this."

He said at the Colombo Port they received 18 months training in handling a Port before they were dispatched to Magampura.

Prasad, a Management Assistant who was working at the 13-storey Sayurupaya administration office, says, "Nearly 100 local workers from the office have been denied jobs, which is completely unacceptable."

It is also alleged that these protesters were 'aligned' with the thinking of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who also denounced handing over of the Port to the Chinese on a 99-year lease.

"We are apolitical, and what we want is job security." Prasad went on to say that on 30 November 2017 when they went to work, they were stopped and urged not to enter the premises and the gate was shut on them.

The major issue of the workers is that they had obtained bank loans up to Rs 3 million and many have signed as guarantors for each other.

However, the SLPA has promised each worker Rs 250,000 as compensation. "This compensation is a pathetic settlement," noted the protesters.

The workers are demanding that they should be reinstated in their former positions at the Magampura Port or transfer to another State-run Port in the country. "We demand our rightful jobs or compensation should be not less than Rs 5 million," the protesters demanded.

The irate protesters also said that they were granted their last month salaries with no overtime or other allowances, which is affecting the repayment of the loans they had obtained from various banks.

At the beginning of December, the SLPA obtained a Court order to halt workers of the Hambantota Port from entering its premises and a petition was filed in the Hambantota District Court against the Magampura Port Workers' Union (MPWU), the Union Secretary and the Magampura Port Management Company Ltd., with the intention of preventing workers from causing harm to property.

The workers asked why they would damage the Port that supported their lives. They also said that this case was filed when Labour Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne referred their case to arbitration.
Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and State Minister of Mahaweli Development, Mahinda Amaraweera, who hails from Hambantota and Minister of Labour had agreed to look into the issue as they have recognized that the workers are part of the Magampura Port, the protesters noted.

The next Arbitration taken up by S. Virithamulla will be heard on 25 January, the workers said. They also alleged that the eviction comes as part of the plan laid by the SLPA Chairman, who executed it along with Magampura Port Chairman Sugath Handunge.

China debt trap

The Port of Hambantota, having approximately 800 hectares (8 km2) of ample lands for an industrial zone, is going to be one of the biggest Port related industrial zones in the South Asian region, according to the Sri Lanka Port Authority.

However, the situation at Hambantota Port proved to be rather pitiful as in 2015 only 19 ships were handled. But, as of 2017 it appears to be picking up, despite the annual loan repayment commitment for SLPA was around Rs 9.1 billion.

By the end of 2016, the cumulative loss suffered by the Port was over Rs 46.7 billion, the SLPA noted.

The Cabinet of Ministers agreed to execute another strategic plan to give away the Port almost fully to the Chinese, in order get out of the massive debt trap.

Under the renewed contract, the public-private operations in Hambantota Port is carried out on a transactional value of US$ 1.4 billion while all immovable and movable properties will be transferred to two Sri Lankan companies such as the Hambantota International Port Services Co. (Pvt) Ltd. (HIPS) and Hambantota International Port Group (Pvt) Ltd. (HIPG) which directly works under the flagship of the China Merchants Port Holdings that runs the show.

According to the agreement, the Government will have the sole power and be the authority over activities involving military personnel, type of activities of military nature whether on land, air or or sea, on shore or offshore within the territory of Sri Lanka.

Vice Chairman of China Merchant Port Holdings Dr. Hu Jianhua, recently said 60 years of Sri Lanka-China came to rescue Sri Lanka when there was a global recession.

It was at that time that former President wanted some projects in Sri Lanka.

Rajapaksa told this paper in an interview recently that he asked India to help but they took no notice of the situation and at the projects when the country wanted." India has its own way of handling its bureaucracy usually a very slow in process and it was the Chinese who came to our rescue," he told this paper.

Sri Lanka is located on the East West shipping line – a strategic maritime location high in demand.
"This demand should always be in favour of Sri Lanka and not let others rip off the wealth to sustain other countries' goals above Sri Lanka and its people," the workers urged.

"We denounce everything that is going on. Giving away the land, manpower and the control of the Port just to get away from the debts is surely not a clever plan because we have a demand and it should be a 50-50 deal. That is the right deal," the workers said.

Ceylon Today attempted contact the Chinese Embassy and the SLPA, to learn their response to the plight of the 248 workers. However, those attempts fell on deaf ears.

When Ceylon Today sought permission to enter the Magampura Port, the Chinese Embassy responded with an email that the officials were 'so busy these days after the handover of the Port to them, therefore they have to ask approval from the head office in China about any visit'!
amiesulo@gmail.com

Video: Police break 4 teeth of youth

January 6, 2018

A group of policemen that had gone for an inquiry has assaulted a youth breaking four of his teeth say reports.

The group of policemen had tied legs and hands of Chandana Rupasinghe, the youth from Ankumbura in Kandy, before assaulting him inhumanly.

The police team had arrived at his residence on a complaint by the youth’s sister-in-law who had had a row with the youths brother. The youth had been assaulted when he protested the police removing the belongings of eh sister-in-law.

SriLankan Airlines – Total Privatization Or Liquidation?

By Rajeewa Jayaweera –January 7, 2018

As customary since April 2008, national carrier SriLankan Airlines received its regular cash transfusion by way of a government negotiated loan package of USD 200 million from Credit Suisse, USD 150 million on long-term and USD 50 million on a short-term basis.

The company’s accumulated loss since September 1979 amounts to Rs 169.755 million (USD 1.095 million). The cumulative loss of USD 3.2 billion announced by Prime Minister Wickramasinghe in April 2016 probably includes the yet unpaid total cost of Airbus purchases.

According to State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, the loan was expected to strengthen the Government’s guarantee for the ongoing discussions with several investors to run as SriLankan a Public-Private Partnership PPP). He has further stated; “the government did not intend to liquidate the national carrier under any circumstances.”

The carrier operated without Treasury handouts during the period 1989-93 when it owned most of the aging fleet and charges for three leased aircraft were low and during 1998-2008 when Emirates managed the airline. Several recent claims speak of profits of Rs 4.4 billion earned in 2007/8, the last year of Emirates management. Note 17.1 of annual accounts state; “Profit on disposal of Property, Plant & Equipment included the gain on sale and leased back of three Airbus A340-300 aircraft amounting to Rs 5.4 billion in the financial year of 2007/8.” If not for the sale of three aircraft, the company’s loss for the year would have amounted to Rs 1 billion.

The most critical and fundamental issue requiring attention is; ‘does Sri Lanka need an airline.’ It need be a rational business decision rather than an emotional decision based on archaic concepts of ‘national / flag carrier.’ Nor should it be in the context of the welfare of its 7,000+ employees. More important is that every citizen carries a debt burden of more than of Rs 8,000 on behalf of the national carrier and it is still growing.

Archaic concept of a national (flag) carrier

Except for USA who operated a CIA funded airline (Air America 1950-76) primarily for non-commercial purposes, most other western nations owned and operated national carriers. BOAC, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Sabena, Swiss Air, and Iberia were some of the better-known carriers. Pan American, TWA (both American) and UTA French Airlines were privately owned airlines with a global reach.

Ceylon, along with many nations gaining independence in the post-WWII period, ‘aped’ the west by launching their national carriers. It was a matter of national pride for emerging independent countries. Air travel was limited to the elite and affluent. Airlines were small. Managing airlines was not complex. High airfares ensured profitability.

The 1973 Arab Israeli war followed by the OPEC oil embargo changed the world of aviation. Ballooning costs and resulting losses swamped airlines. Western governments met the challenge by privatizing national carriers and diluting government ownership by assuming the role of minority shareholders. Professional and competent non-governmental directors replaced government directors.

Freed of the burden of loss-making state-owned airlines, western governments deregulated the industry and encouraged private airlines. It helped to cater to the increasing demand for air travel albeit at cut-rate ticket prices. Deregulation resulted in the liberalization of traffic rights and the concept of ‘open skies,’ broadly considered healthy for competition, was born.

Sri Lanka, along with its neighbors Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan and several African countries stubbornly stuck to the ‘national / flag carrier’ concept. Misplaced national pride prevented governments from visualizing the negative impact of diminishing airfares, increase in the cost of fuel, aircraft and manpower, the resulting losses and burden on their economies. Almost all such airlines became politically rather than commercially driven. Suffice to state, besides SriLankan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, Air India, Nepal Airlines, PIA, Kenya Airways and South African Airways are all loss-making concerns today and a severe burden to their respective national treasuries. Nigerian Airways ceased operations in 2003.

Sri Lanka Navy, Police recover over 100 kg of Kerala ganja and other illegal drugs

Sat, Jan 6, 2018, 08:37 pm

Jan 06, Colombo: Sri Lanka Navy and police in separate operations have recovered over 100 kilograms of Kerala ganja (cannabis) and other illegal drugs in Valvettithurai in Jaffna peninsula.

Following intelligence information received, during a raid carried out Saturday morning, naval personnel attached to Northern Naval Command have recovered the stocks of drugs carefully packed in containers and hidden in Valvettithurai coastal line.

The recovered stocks contained 90 kilograms of cannabis, 4 kilograms of opium and 4 kilograms of hashish and estimated to be worth 30 million rupees. It is suspected that the consignment has been kept hidden for sale.

The drug lot is due to be handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) Police in Jaffna for further legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the STF personnel in Jaffna acting on intelligence information, have recovered another 18 kilograms of Kerala cannabis near the Thondamannaru Bridge in Valvettithurai this evening.

Three years after Charlie tragedy, death still threatens “blaspheming” journalists

January 5, 2018

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores the fact that dozens of journalists worldwide are still the targets of calls for their execution or are sentenced to death because they are deemed to be guilty of blasphemy or apostasy.

Writing or talking about religious matters continues to be delicate, to the point that you can risk losing your life. Three years after 12 people were killed at the Paris headquarters of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015, those who censor in the name of God still pose one of the gravest threats to the freedom to inform almost everywhere in the world.

From one continent to the next, calls for the deaths of journalists accused of blasphemy circulate widely on social networks. In France, anonymous Internet users call for more attacks on Charlie Hebdo. In Bangladesh, calls are being made for Shyamal Dutta, the editor of the daily newspaper Bhorer Kagaj, and his staff to be publicly hanged because a 23 December article said a book about the Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) that had been published by a government entity contained “vulgarities.”

In Bangladesh, as in Pakistan, fundamentalist groups and religious extremists tolerated by the authorities threaten journalists and bloggers with complete impunity, when they don’t abduct them or hack them to death*. It was exactly one year ago, on 7 January 2017, that the Pakistani blogger Samar Abbas disappeared. He was the founder of Civil Progressive Alliance Pakistan, a group that posted articles online defending religious freedom. Four other bloggers were abducted around the same time.

After they went missing, a massive online smear campaign began accusing them of blasphemy, which carries the death penalty in Pakistan. Four of the five bloggers were released after several weeks but none of them dared to identify their abductors. The threat received by the family of one of the victims was explicit: “You who have blasphemed deserve death. You are out of Islam and should be ready for a painful punishment, which will be remembered by your generations to come.”

In Algeria, Abdou Semmar, the editor of the investigative online newspaper Algériepart and host of “L’Emission Impossible,” a programme on privately-owned Beur TV, has been reduced to hoping that he and his colleagues do not have to pay the highest price for the programme broadcast on 22 December, a debate about religious fanaticism that angered radical Islamists.

“Ever since then, we have been subjected to a major campaign of threats and harassment,” he said. A video accusing them of attacking Islam, that was broadcast on the Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera, served to fuel the outrage. “The fanatics are using it to attack us, and our families are beginning to be very afraid for our lives.”

“In many parts of the world, reporting the facts is regarded as heretical behaviour,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Fanatics do not just harass and threaten cartoonists, subjecting them to extreme violence. They also target journalists who cover religious matters and even just social issues and public affairs. The prohibitions that these extremists try to impose extend far beyond the religious domain".

“The charge of blasphemy cannot, under any circumstances, justify an exception to the freedom to inform. This is contrary to international law and we therefore call for the repeal of all legislation that restricts the freedom to inform in the name of religion.”

Charlie Hebdo continues to be at the front line of the unequal battle between fanatical censors and satirical journalists or cartoonists. Just two months ago, the magazine’s front page that showed Tariq Ramadan – a Swiss Islamic scholar accused of sexual assault – declaring himself to be the “6th pillar of Islam” triggered a virulent campaign of insults and death threats on social networks.

The continuing threats against Charlie Hebdo have a cost. A high one. In its latest issue, the magazine reported that the proceeds from more than one of every two copies that it sells have to be used to pay for protecting its headquarters and the journalists who work there. Freedom of expression “is in the process of becoming a luxury product,” publisher Riss said in an editorial.

“Three years after the tragedy, solidarity with Charlie Hebdo is still a moral obligation,” Deloire added. “The lives of its employees and the magazine’s economic survival must be defended because Charlie is a symbol that we cannot abandon without accepting defeat at the hands of religious intolerance.”

70 countries still have blasphemy laws

It is not just anonymous religious extremists who want blasphemy and apostasy to be punishable by execution or other drastic penalties. No fewer than 71 countries still had laws penalizing blasphemy at the start of 2017, according to a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Since then, only one of these countries – Denmark in July – has repealed its blasphemy legislation. Some countries envisage reinforcing their laws in order to punish blasphemers more severely.

They include Mauritania. “Any Muslim, man or woman, who mocks or insults Allah or His Messenger (Mohammed), peace be upon him, His angels, His books or one of His Prophets, is punishable by death (...) even in the case of repentance,” says a law approved by the Mauritanian government on 16 November.

It was because he repented that the death sentence imposed on the blogger Mohamed Ould Mkheitir for a “blasphemous” post had been commuted to two years in prison just four days earlier. Now repentance is no longer possible. Mkheitir qualified for release on 9 November but his fate is still highly uncertain. The authorities are holding him in a secret location, officially for his own safety. But friends fear that he is being held to give the supreme court time to reconsider his case and parliament time to make the new law retroactive.

RSF laureates convicted of blasphemy

Blasphemy and apostasy are also punishable by death in Iran. Soheil Arabi, an Iranian photographer and citizen-journalist who was awarded the RSF Press Freedom Prize in 2017, has been held for the past four years for his alleged role in creating a Facebook network that “blasphemed” Islam and criticized the regime. After being sentenced to three years in prison and 30 lashes, he was retried a few months later and was sentenced to death. The death sentence was eventually overturned and in 2015 he was finally sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. What with being mistreated and recently going on hunger strike for 52 days, he is now in very poor physical and psychological health.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, a 2014 RSF Press Freedom laureate, has spent the past five years in prison for “insulting Islam.” Arrested for criticizing and mocking the religious police on his online discussion forum, called the “Liberal Saudi Network,” he was sentenced to ten years in prison, 1,000 lashes, a fine of 1 million riyals and a ban on leaving the country for ten years after his release. As in other cases, the sentence is out of all proportion to the alleged offence.

Blasphemy charge used to censor critics

Far from protecting what is sacred, these laws are mostly used in practice to stifle dissent, harass journalists and prevent any form of criticism of the system of government and those in power. Vague concepts serve as tools for persecuting dissident or minority views, as in the case of Sudanese journalist Shamael al-Nur last February.

For writing in a column in the independent newspaper Al-Tayyar that, “Islamic regimes are preoccupied with matters of virtue, women’s dress, appearance, more than health and education issues,” she was threatened with violence and with prosecution for apostasy, a charge punishable by death under the Sharia law in force in Sudan since 1983.

In a December 2013 report entitled “Blasphemy: Information sacrificed on altar of religion,” RSF examined the impact of the use of blasphemy charges against journalists worldwide, in particular the danger that they pose when used to restrict freedom of expression.

“Stones, slingshots and organizing”: Recalling the first intifada

The first intifada began 30 years ago last month.

It was carried through unified, collective action and the emergence of popular committees. Palestinians organized general strikes, opened underground schools, engaged in mass boycotts of Israeli goods and sheltered fighters wanted by the Israeli army.

The momentum that the first intifada created in those first few weeks was a historical Palestinian achievement, explains Ziad Abbas, a journalist who now works with the Middle East Children’s Alliance in Berkeley, California.

The main weapons Palestinians used during the first intifada were “the stones, the slingshot and organizing,” Abbas tells The Electronic Intifada Podcast.

Messages contained in leaflets, authored and distributed in secret to communities across Palestine by a unified political leadership, were written onto walls and listed the schedules for daily strikes and protests.

“The walls in the refugee camps, in the cities, in the villages, became the newspaper, the magazine,” Abbas says. “It organized the people.”

Abbas, who grew up in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, describes the mood across the occupied West Bank in the early days of the first intifada.

He remembers the distinctive sound of the stores locking their doors each day during general strikes and remarked on the spontaneous, collective resistance to the Israeli army’s daily invasions and violence.

As a journalist, Abbas says that it took creativity in order to circumvent Israel’s heavy censorship of Palestinian reportage.

“The Israelis were censoring every letter, every word in our newspapers,” he tells The Electronic Intifada Podcast.

An excerpt of an interview with Abbas is part of The Electronic Intifada Podcast. Listen to the full, hour-long interview with him via the media player below.

“Nostalgia”

“As someone who was born after the start of the first intifada, part of my memory growing up and listening to stories from people who lived through the first intifada, who were active during the first intifada, it always brings nostalgia to me,” says Jerusalem-based journalist Budour Youssef Hassan.

The first intifada was inclusive to Palestinians across “all walks of life,” Hassan tells The Electronic Intifada Podcast. “But there also was a significant dimension of class consciousness and a gender dimension to it.”

Women were acting “as foreign ministers,” Hassan explains, due to the organizing that they did inside and outside of their homes – and because of the mass numbers of arrests that targeted men during the uprising.

Hassan compared the strategies and tactics in organizing during the first and second intifada – which began in 2001 – and how the lessons learned during both uprisings influence today’s popular resistance movements against Israel’s ongoing colonization and occupation, especially in Jerusalem.

“We should not copy what happened in 1987 – we should look with an attempt to learn and to discuss opportunities” for the future, Hassan says.

“Sense of hope”

“Palestinian collective action gave everyone a sense of hope,” writes Jennifer Bing of the American Friends Service Committee in an article for The Electronic Intifada, about her time in the West Bank during the first intifada. Bing reads her piece for The Electronic Intifada Podcast.

Bing says that amidst failed peace processes and Israel’s escalating violence, it is critical to advocate for Palestinian children subjected to systematic abuse, including torture and solitary confinement, in Israel’s military detention system.

Bing, who leads the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign along with Defense for Children International - Palestine, explains that three decades after she began advocating for children on Capitol Hill, there is finally an indication that US lawmakers are considering the rights of Palestinian children.

Since the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act was introduced into Congress in November, the number of sponsors has doubled.

“Perhaps it is too soon to say that an uprising on Palestinian human rights is taking place in Washington,” Bing writes.

“But for certain, we are beginning to shake off the silence that typically existed when calls for accountability were asked of members of Congress.”

Listen to Jennifer Bing, Ziad Abbas and Budour Hassan via the media player at top.

Theme music and production assistance by Sharif Zakout

Music: “Arrozona” by Sabah

Image: Palestinian women confront Israeli soldiers, Jabaliya refugee camp, Gaza, 1988. (Robert Croma / Flickr)

North Korea accidentally hit one of its own cities with a missile, says report

A complex of industrial or agricultural buildings is thought to have been destroyed

The Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile is believed to have crashed into the city Tokchon, which has a population of 200,000STR/AFP/Getty

Samuel Osborne -2 January 2018

A North Korean missile reportedly crashed into one of its own cities after it failed just minutes following its launch.

US officials said the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was initially thought to have disintegrated mid-flight after it was fired on 28 April last year.

However, new data suggests it landed in the city of Tokchon, around 90 miles north of the secretive communist country’s capital, Pyongyang. Tokchon has a population of around 200,000.

North Korea TV shows video of ballistic missile launch

The missile likely exploded on impact, causing significant damage to a complex of industrial or agricultural buildings, The Diplomat magazine reported, citing a US intelligence source alongside satellite imagery.

After its launch from the Pukchang airfield, the missile flew approximately 24 miles to the north-east, the report stated, adding that it flew no higher than around 43 miles.

A US government source said the missile’s first stage engines failed around a minute after it was launched.

Satellite images taken after the test show a cleared area where a building once stood (centre right) and damage to a greenhouse, beneath the cleared area (Google Earth)

Liquid-fuel missiles can cause massive explosions when they fail, and satellite images from Google Earth taken after the test show a cleared area where a building once stood and damage to a greenhouse caused by debris.

However, as the publication pointed out, it is impossible to verify whether the accidental strike caused any deaths due to the secretive nature of the North Korean regime.

The report highlights the danger of another North Korean missile test failing at the wrong time. If the missile fell towards Japan, its trajectory may resemble an attack.

The hermit kingdom, which has launched ballistic missiles over Japan since August 2017, gives no warnings before its tests, leaving nearby countries and the United States little time to determine whether missile launches are a test or a legitimate attack.

The report also warned that the North’s newly constructed tunnels, hangars and storage sites mean its missiles won’t be “sitting ducks” easily targeted on known launch pads.

The Diplomat article comes as Japan’s Prime Minister warned that the security situation facing his country is the most perilous since the Second World War because of North Korea’s “unacceptable provocations”.

Shinzo Abe says Japan will work with South Korea and the US on pressuring North to stop nuclear tests

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the security environment surrounding Japan is at its severest since World War Two,” Shinzo Abe said, as he vowed to bolster the country’s defences and protect the Japanese people.

“By raising pressure on North Korea, together with the international community, I intend to do my utmost to solve North Korea’s nuclear, missiles and abduction issues.”

Earlier this week, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the US was hearing reports North Korea might be preparing to fire another missile.

A ballistic missile launch was “possible, if not likely, in the coming days”, military officials told NBC News. One official said a possible launch could happen mid-week, while another called the timeline “short term”.

Donald Trump also mocked Kim Jong-un by saying he had a “bigger and more powerful” nuclear button than the North Korean dictator.

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times’. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” the US President tweeted.

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An employee of Book Culture book store unloads copies of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by author Michael Wolff inside the store in New York, U.S. January 5, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

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