This
photo taken on September 30, 2019 shows people travelling on a road
along the beach of Kyaukphyu, Rakhine state, where Muslim residents have
been forced to live in a camp for seven years after the inter-communal
unrest tore apart the town. Ye Aung THU / AFP
21 November 2019
Maung sits down to lunch, sharing a bowl of traditional noodle soup
with old friends, an ordinary act that has become extraordinary in
Myanmar’s Rakhine state — because he is Muslim, and they are Buddhist.
They used to live side by side as neighbours.
But now he can only visit them under a strict curfew enforced by armed
guards before he must return to the muddy camp where he and the rest of
Kyaukphyu town’s Muslims have been confined for seven years.
In 2012 inter-communal unrest swept through swathes of western Myanmar,
including Htoo Maung’s home town, after allegations spread that a
Buddhist woman had been raped by Muslim men.
Mobs ransacked homes and police rounded up Muslims for their “own safety” to sites that would later be turned into camps.
More than 200 died, tens of thousands were displaced and the stage was
set for the bloody purge of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in
northern Rakhine five years later.
Many fear the enduring deep sectarian suspicions and religious divisions
are irrevocable and authorities claim any attempt to reintegrate
communities could trigger new unrest.
But some Muslims in Kyaukphyu have managed to maintain a cautious
relationship with Buddhist friends, raising hopes that old communal
bonds may not be completely severed.
“The people from the town didn’t attack us,” Htoo Maung says, suggesting outsiders were to blame.
Kyaukphyu ethnic Rakhine MP Kyaw Than insists his town is ready to
welcome the Muslims back, but can only do so with the government’s green
light.
“Everyone in the camp is a citizen,” he says, decrying the “lack of humanity” shown to the town’s Muslim population.
‘We are not illegal’
But there is no forgetting the new social order.
Htoo Maung, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, and the
other Muslims from the camp are only permitted to visit town for two
hours at a time under the chaperone of weapon-wielding police.
He is bereft at the loss of his old life.
“I feel so sad — I never imagined this could happen.” Htoo Maung tells
AFP, as he looks at the overgrown patch of land where his house once
stood.
He adds: “We are not illegal.”
He and many others in the camp are Kaman Muslims. Unlike the Rohingya,
they are an officially recognised minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
But their status did little to help them as the unrest spread.
This photo taken on October 3, 2019 shows a Muslim woman cooking in her
tent in Kyauktalone camp in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine state. Ye Aung THU / AFP
Before the attacks, some were teachers, lawyers and judges, while others
fished or drove ox carts transporting cargo and people between the
shore and the wooden boats that moor off the working beach.
Those jobs in the town are now exclusively carried out by ethnic Rakhine
Buddhists, who have also taken over any still-intact homes of Muslims.
Saw Pu Chay leads a women’s rights group in a downtown building that served as a mosque before 2012.
Cavities in the wall where Islamic symbols were gouged out stand testament to the 2012 violence.
The 53-year-old defends using the building, saying local Muslim friends
sometimes stop by to see her on their way from the camp to the market.
“I know them well as we’ve lived alongside them since we were young.
They’ve lived here for generations,” she says, while making it clear she
considers the Rohingya further north as unwelcome outsiders.
Kyaukphyu camp residents are desperate for a chance to rebuild their lives.
“It’s just like a prison,” says camp leader Phyu Chay of his current
‘home’, adding: “There are no jobs and we struggle to get hold of proper
medication.”
‘Unacceptable and criminal’
Some 130,000 Muslims, the vast majority Rohingya, are languishing in various camps in central Rakhine.
Hundreds of thousands more fare little better, trapped in villages with virtually no freedom of movement.
Amnesty International brands the “institutionalised system of
segregation and discrimination” so severe it constitutes “apartheid”.
They continue to lack access to education, healthcare and work — a
situation Amnesty’s Laura Haigh describes as both “unacceptable and
criminal”.
This photo taken on October 3, 2019 shows a woman walking in Kyauktalone
camp in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine state, where Muslim residents have been
forced to live for seven years after the inter-communal unrest tore
apart the town. Source: Ye Aung THU / AFP
Many have been forced to accept a controversial National Verification
Card (NVC), a limbo status offering few rights until holders “prove”
their claim to full citizenship.
Rights groups condemn the NVC as a discriminatory tool foisted on many
Muslims — particularly Rohingya — who they say should already be treated
as full citizens.
Few have successfully negotiated the convoluted bureaucratic path to obtain full ID.
Authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
Under international pressure, the government has announced it will close all the camps.
But in the current plan, those “freed” would not be allowed to return to their former homes.
Instead they would be resettled in new accommodation close to the former camps with continuing heavy restrictions on movement.
The UN, NGOs and rights groups fear the strategy simply “risks
entrenching segregation” and urge the government to grant Rakhine’s
Muslims the full freedoms they deserve.
Amarneh lost his eye to a 0.22 caliber Ruger rifle bullet.
Colloquially, the bullet is known as the “two-two.” It is a sniper
bullet whose use by the Israeli military to control and suppress
Palestinian crowds has been increasing for years.
The particular bullet that took Amerneh’s vision was fired at some point on 15 November. According to his own testimony, the bullet hit a nearby object, exploded, and fragments flew into his left eye.
His injury sparked a solidarity campaign involving thousands of media
professionals and supporters, hoping to raise awareness of the very real
and present dangers that beset Palestinian journalists.
Dozens of journalists have been injured and two have been killed covering demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza since last year.
Amarneh, a 31-year-old photojournalist from the Dheisheh refugee camp in
Bethlehem, had also been working when he was injured. He was covering
confrontations between Palestinians and the Israel Border Police during a
protest against an expansion of an Israeli settlement in the village of
Surif in the Hebron district of the occupied West Bank.
He was wearing a blue flak jacket with the word “Press” emblazoned across it. He wore a helmet, too.
The clothes were supposed to protect him by identifying him as a
journalist and therefore non-combatant. Journalists are considered
civilians, and as such are protected persons under international law.
Amarneh’s injuries caused thousands of journalists and supporters to post photographs of themselves with their eye covered.
Palestinian journalists from the West Bank have covered their left eye
during television interviews and school students in the West Bank and
Gaza have photographed themselves with one of their eyes concealed, all
in support of Amarneh.
“Journalists are being targeted”
But this was not just about one individual. The campaign was about the
dangers posed to Palestinian journalists working in the field.
Amarneh’s shooting is not an unusual occurrence and Palestinian
journalists have tried their best to ram this message home since his
injury.
Journalists have held demonstrations in several cities across the West Bank and Gaza this month, wearing their press vests and symbolic eye patches.
Near the Israeli military checkpoint at Bethlehem’s northern edge,
Israeli soldiers dispersed a protest of hundreds of Palestinian
journalists with tear gas and stun grenades. At least three people were arrested.
In a statement provided to Israeli media, the Israeli forces denied targeting journalists.
At the time of the incident, the military said, officers were “facing
dozens of demonstrators – some of them with their faces covered who were
throwing stones at them and burning tires,” and the police “used means
for dispersing demonstrations in accordance with regulations and the
necessary approvals.”
But rights groups have long questioned the use of live fire to disperse
crowds, especially small crowds like the one in Beit Surik.
And Israeli forces commonly target Palestinian journalists.
Hind Khoudary, a Gaza-based freelance journalist, has been covering the
Great March of Return demonstrations in the Gaza Strip since they began
in March 2018. The protests are being held to demand the right of
Palestinian refugees to be allowed return to homes from which they were
uprooted in 1947 and 1948.
“Every Friday, at least one of my colleagues is injured – whether it is
from shrapnel, live ammunition, or rubber bullets,” Khourdary, 24,said.
“They [Israeli forces] are always targeting us. Israel doesn’t care if
you’re a Palestinian journalist, paramedic, citizen or a protester. If
you’re Palestinian, you will be targeted,” Khoudary said.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli sniper fire since
the protests began. Nearly 29,000 people have been injured – including
7,000 by live ammunition.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms documented 107 violations of media freedoms in the West Bank and Gaza during October alone.
The majority were violations by the Palestinian Authority, which has been blocking what it deems as hostile news sites. Facebook also ranked high by censoring Palestinian websites and accounts.
But the only physical assaults on journalists came from Israeli forces.
No mistakes
According to Omar Nazzal from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
(PJS), Israel has been guilty of 600 violations – from assault and
detention to damage to equipment – against Palestinian journalists since
the start of 2019. Sixty of those violations resulted in injuries.
Amarneh is the second Palestinian journalist this year to lose the use
of an eye from Israeli gunfire, according to the organization Reporters
Without Borders. The first was Al-Aqsa TV’s Sami Misran who was injured in July while filming a demonstration near a refugee camp in Gaza.
“These things aren’t just mistakes,” Nazzal told The Electronic
Intifada. “They wanted to hurt him [Amarneh]. It’s a clear message to
journalists: we will be in danger if we continue to cover what’s
happening on the ground.”
Covering demonstrations in occupied Palestinian territory has always
been a dangerous affair. In this March 2019 photo from near
Nablus, Israeli soldiers confront a photographer.
Ayman NobaniAPA images
Last year, Yaser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein,
both of whom were dressed in clothes marking them out as journalists,
were killed by Israeli snipers while covering the Great March of Return
protests in Gaza.
Sabrina Bennoui, a representative of Reporters Without Borders said the
organization has submitted the cases of Murtaja and Abu Hussein to the
International Criminal Court.
Reporters Without Borders has asked that their killings be investigated
as war crimes, as they were both “clearly identifiable as journalists,”
Bennoui said.
In some cases, “[Palestinian] journalists are clearly being targeted for their work,” Bennoui added.
“Any Palestinian who chooses this field has to realize that it’s going
to be dangerous,” said Issam Rimawe, a journalist based in the West Bank
city of Ramallah. “This job is a risk that could change your whole life
in seconds.”
Israeli forces have injured Rimawe numerous times – mostly with rubber
bullets – as he covered protests across the West Bank. He told The
Electronic Intifada that he has witnessed local journalists being shot
at before Israeli forces aim their weapons at the actual protesters.
“They attack us before they attack the protesters because they don’t
want us to show the reality of what is happening here. They only want
the Israeli side told,” he said.
According to Bennoui, the “two-two” bullets used by Israeli forces as a
crowd control weapon have caused scores of injuries in the West Bank.
The bullet is still a live round, but it causes less damage than regular
bullets.
However, the “two-two” bullet can be lethal.
“It clearly results in serious injuries and exposes journalists to unacceptable risks,” she said.
Injury or arrest
In the Gaza Strip, journalists – like all Palestinians in the besieged
territory – face great difficulty accessing medical treatment after
being injured. Sometimes the treatment is only available inside Israel
or abroad.
In December last year, Gaza-based photographer Atia Darwish, 31, was struck in the face under his left eye with an Israeli-fired tear gas projectile while covering the Great March of Return.
After a series of surgeries, he received a medical referral from the
Palestinian Authority’s health ministry to access specialist care in
Jerusalem. But when the date of his appointment came, he said, his
permit application to Israeli authorities was still under review and he
was prevented from leaving Gaza.
At the time, doctors in Gaza had told him he needed either a bone graft
or an artificial implant – neither of which are available in Gaza. He
then tried to exit Gaza via the Egypt-controlled Rafah crossing to
access treatment in Egypt. But the crossing was closed on the day of his
travel, he said.
He finally received treatment in Egypt earlier this year. However,
Darwish told The Electronic Intifada that he received only a filler
injection that could correct the aesthetic shape of the face.
He says he still needs additional restorative treatment for his injury, which has caused him vision and hearing loss.
“But I can’t afford the treatment and even if I could it’s not available
in the countries around Palestine,” he said. “It’s a year later and I’m
still suffering.”
“My work has been greatly affected by the injury,” Darwish added. “I
have vision problems and I get tired so quickly. It’s hard for me to
work for more than two hours.”
Nazzal says that the journalists’ syndicate has documented 18
journalists imprisoned by Israel, five of whom are administrative
detainees.
“Some of these cases are journalists who expressed or published their opinions on Facebook or the internet,” he said.
“My passion”
Administrative detention allows authorities to withhold evidence – even from a detainee’s lawyer.
“The problem is that no one is allowed to access the confidential files
[of the detainees],” Bennoui noted. “So the journalists know that their
detention is linked to their work but they have no right to know what
they are actually being accused of.”
Nazzal himself spent ten months in administrative detention in 2016.
Palestinian journalists are often arrested based on charges of
“incitement,” Bennoui said. “They use this charge to easily imprison
journalists. Not only this, but in order to close Palestinian news
outlets.”
On 20 November, Israeli forces raided and shut the
PA-funded Palestine TV, along with several other Palestinian
organizations, in Jerusalem – just days after the anchors appeared on
air with eye patches to show support for Amarneh. Israel has ordered the
TV station to close for six months.
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s public security minister, said at the time that Palestine TV has produced anti-Israel content, presenting Israel as “responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing.”
Despite these risks, Palestinian journalists continue with their work.
Tareq Amarneh, 31, has been by his cousin Moath Amarneh’s bedside since
he was injured. Just released from his hospital room, Moath has plans to
eventually get back out into the field, Tareq said.
“It’s going to be a hard life for him and it will take time to adjust to
this new reality,” Tareq, who runs an electronics store, said. “But he
has the intention to keep doing his job and he doesn’t want to leave his
work as a journalist.”
Hind Khoudary, meanwhile, says what keeps her going is the simple fact that journalism is her passion.
“My friends and family are always worried about me,” she said. “But my
passion is to raise the voice of the voiceless. I want to show the world
the truth about Israel’s violations.”
Jaclynn Ashly is a journalist based in the West Bank.
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian teenager
near the border fence with the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian
officials said.
NOVEMBER 29, 2019
Israel’s military said soldiers had been fending off Palestinians who
had approached and tried to sabotage its security fence. The military
also said the demonstrators threw a number of explosive devices.
Residents in Gaza said a few dozen Palestinians had approached the
border fence, an area in which Israel’s military, citing security
concerns, enforces a “no go” zone. Some in the crowd hurled stones at
the barrier, residents said.
One 16-year-old was killed and four other people were wounded by live fire, Gaza’s health ministry said.
An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers had “identified a number of
attempts to approach the fence as well as a number of attempts to
sabotage it”.
“Troops responded with riot dispersal means and 0.22 caliber rounds,”
the spokesman said. “A report regarding the death of a Palestinian is
being looked into.”
Israeli soldiers have been confronted by frequent Palestinian protests
that often turn violent along the Gaza border. They have used tear gas,
rubber bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators who the
military said hurled rocks or petrol bombs at them.
The organisers of those protests said they had called off this week’s mass-demonstration, but a smaller crowd still gathered.
Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been working to keep the border calm.
Gaza officials say about 210 Palestinians have been killed since the
weekly protests began in March 2018. In that time an Israeli soldier was
shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the frontier and another was
killed during an undercover raid into Gaza.
The Basir family woke up in the early hours of Friday morning to the
sound of their neighbours shouting - there had been an attack on their
home in the Palestinian village of Taybeh.
A group of Israeli settlers had left hostile writing on the walls and
had burned the family's car. But the attackers were nowhere to be be
seen when Rollin Basir opened his front door at 2am and saw that his car
was on fire. It burned until 6am.
"Closed military zone," read one slogan in Hebrew.
Basir said that all of the village residents flocked to the house as
word of the attack spread, and stayed until late in the morning. The
villagers spoke of their fears that the settlers would repeat such
attacks or target people and their homes.
"All the data point to the settlers being behind this attack," said Basir, adding that the car had cost him over £33,000.
Taybeh is located east of Ramallah and is besieged by four
settlements: Rimonim - which is completely built on the lands of the
confiscated village (1 million square metres) - Ofra, Kawkab al-Sabah,
and the evacuated Amona outpost, where Israeli forces still
prevent Palestinians from accessing their lands there.
Basir - a father of three children aged between 15 days and seven years -
said the vehicle's alarm must have frightened the settlers and made
them get out of the place quickly.
"Today they burned the vehicle, but my fear is that tomorrow they might burn my house, while my children are inside."
'Closed military zone' read one slogan in Hebrew (Shatha Hammad/MEE)
'This land is Palestinian'
Father Johnny Abu Khalil told Middle East Eye that the villagers heard
the sound of an alarm, but it was the smoke that led them to Basir's
house.
Abu Khalil said that the settlers' attack represents a real danger to the people of Taybeh.
"We are surrounded by settlements. Today it was an attack by burning a
vehicle, but we fear that these attacks will escalate to include the
burning of trees, houses and churches in the village."
The Palestinian priest said that Taybeh has a dominant Christian
presence, but the attack on the village was not only an attack on
Christianity as a religion, but it was also an attack on the
"Palestinian Arab roots".
"The Israeli settler does not distinguish between one town and another,
nor between a Palestinian Muslim and a Palestinian Christian ... The
settler considers the land is his land, and we Palestinians have to get
out of here," he said.
"Our message today to the occupation and its settlers is that even if
they burned us humans, these stones will utter that this land is
Palestinian, the cradle of Christ and the prophets."
'This road will kill our land': New settler road threatens Palestinian village
Abu Khalil claimed that a group of settlers verbally assaulted a group
of French nuns while on a tour of Taybeh's mountains in April and held
them for hours before members of the monastery found them.
The priest also claimed that one of the settlers had taken off his clothes and stood naked in front of the nuns.
“The nuns were in a state of panic ... after this attack they decided to
leave Taybeh and go back to France. However, residents contacted the
French consulate and the nuns returned to Palestine," Abu Khalil said.
Settler attacks on Palestinians and their properties have been on the
rise lately. In October alone, 36 attacks took place, including the
cutting down of olive trees - which represent a source of livelihood to
countless Palestinian families - racist slogans and assaults on cars,
according to the Israeli news website Walla.
The escalation comes as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last
week that Washington no longer considered Israeli settlements in the
occupied Palestinian territories to be “inconsistent” with international
law.
Issa Zayed, deputy mayor of the Taybeh council, said that the village
witnessed attacks by settlers during the first intifada, or uprising
(1987-1993), but this latest attack was a very dangerous sign.
"We condemn and reject this attack by the settlers who are supported by
the Israeli government ... This attack is a result of continued American
support for Israel and legalising settlements in the West Bank," Zayed
told MEE.
Zayed said in regards to protective measures for the villagers, the
council advised the residents to remain vigilant, especially around the
entrances to the village.
"This [attack] will not stop our steadfastness in our historic village," he said.
Trump claims US-Taliban talks are back on but it is unclear if key disputes have been settled Ashraf
Ghani, the Afghan president, addresses Donald Trump at Bagram airfield
during a surprise visit on Thanksgiving. Photograph: AFP /Getty
The insurgent group responded to Trump by telling Agence France-Presse it was “way too early” to discuss resuming direct talks.
A recent hostage release,
of an American and an Australian who had been held for three years,
suggested the Taliban were still keen to find a negotiated end to the
war.
“I have the impression that the contacts were never fully cut off,” said Thomas Ruttig, the co-director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network.
“The message from the Americans was: the Taliban need
to give a few more concessions, and the prisoners/hostages swap … was
discussed in this context. So the release was a sign of the Taliban’s
interest to start talking again.”
In return for the hostages’ freedom, the Afghan government released
several senior Taliban members it was holding prisoner. That was widely
seen as an attempt by the Kabul government to move closer to the heart
of any attempts to reach a settlement.
The Taliban have long insisted they will speak only to the US because
they consider the Kabul government a “puppet regime”. Any peace deal
with Washington is expected to pave the ground for wider inter-Afghan
negotiations.
Talks with the US were “the only way Afghans can get to direct
Taliban-Kabul peace talks, as long as the Taliban reject talking with
Kabul before an agreement with the US”, Ruttig said.
But adding to uncertainty, Afghanistan is also in political limbo
awaiting the results of the presidential election on 28 September, in
which the incumbent, Ashraf Ghani, faced one main rival, Abdullah
Abdullah. Two months later the winner is yet to be announced as disputes
over the counting delay the release of results.
The brief tour to see troops serving in the US’s longest war was Trump’s
first time in the country, and second trip to forces in a war zone,
after a similar visit to Iraq.
In comments likely to please Ghani, the US president said the Taliban
needed to agree a temporary halt to fighting as a condition for
negotiations. That has long been a demand of the Kabul administration.
“We’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a ceasefire,”
Trump said. In a break with precedent, Trump also invited Ghani to
address the troops.
Demands for a halt in fighting has always been a sticking point for the
insurgents, as violence gives them leverage in a country where they do
not hold other levers of power.
Both sides are likely to have followed closely Trump’s abrupt decision to abandon key allies in northern Syria two months ago, declaring the war against Islamic State over and allowing Turkey to move in.
The move was widely criticised and has since been partially reversed but
was taken as a sign of Trump’s distaste for keeping US troops serving
abroad and his willingness to defy allies and advisers when he makes a
decision.
Be grateful for Greta Thunberg, Emmanuel Macron—and the fact that things aren’t as bad as they could be.
U.S.
President Donald Trump pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey during a
ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Nov.
26 SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
BYSTEPHEN M. WALT-
It’s the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, which means it’s
time for Americans to overeat, watch a lot of football, meet with
friends and family, and try, if at all possible, to avoid talking about politics.
More seriously, Thanksgiving is a day to reflect on the aspects of life
for which we are most grateful, however difficult that might be in
these disturbing times.
I’ve had as fortunate a life as anyone has any right to expect, and I
try to keep that in mind when disappointments occur. As I contemplate
Thanksgiving 2019, there are a number of people I’m especially thankful
for right now. Without further ado, here are my Top 10 Reasons to Give
Thanks This Thanksgiving.
1. Greta Thunberg. Unless you have been off the grid or confining your news intake to Fox, you’re probably aware that climate change is an even bigger problem than
we previously thought. The head-in-the-sand response of many U.S.
politicians (including the denier-in-chief in the White House) and the
fossil fuel industry’s active efforts to mislead the public have made
the problem worse. For this reason, I’m thankful that a teenage Swedish
activist found a way to rivet public attention on the problem and
has inspired more and more young people to take up this cause. You may
not feel thankful if you happen to own a coal mine—but future
generations will.
2. The Whistleblower. I don’t know the whistleblower’s name—despite some scurrilous efforts to expose it—and
I wouldn’t repeat it if I did. But Americans who still respect the
Constitution and the principle of civic duty should be thankful that
this brave individual took immediate, appropriate, and entirely legal
steps to bring a case of presidential malfeasance to light. They had
nothing to gain personally from this action—on the contrary, blowing the
whistle is usually professionally damaging—but they played it by the
book and followed established procedures to the letter. Unless you are a
Republican member of Congress or prefer to be willfully ignorant about
President Donald Trump’s shenanigans (two categories that are largely
synonymous), you should be thankful, too. The whistleblower deserves a
goddamn medal, plus an extra helping of pie.
3. Fiona Hill & Co. And while we’re on the subject,
here’s a Thanksgiving shout-out to Fiona Hill, Marie Yovanovitch,
George Kent, William Taylor, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, and all the
other foreign-policy professionals who have testified to the House
impeachment hearings. Despite my misgivings about some aspects of the foreign-policy “blob,”
these sober, nonpartisan, and patriotic professionals were a marked
contrast to the sleazy schemers they were reporting on (not to mention
the Republican fantasists on the Intelligence Committee who tried unsuccessfully to impugn their testimony).
4. Sacha Baron Cohen. I’ve never been a big fan of Baron Cohen’s comedy: Borat was
too crude for my tastes, and even his cleverest Ali G interviews relied
too heavily on contrived and awkward situations with various clueless
victims. But his recent address to
the Anti-Defamation League on the dangers that unregulated social media
pose to democracy is well worth watching. It’s direct, articulate,
forceful, and one of the best takedowns of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
that you’re likely to see. Who knew Borat could be so sensible? Kudos,
and thanks.
5. The Anonymous Chinese Official(s) Who Leaked to the New York Times.It
is not exactly a secret that China is currently engaged in a massive,
involuntary, and inhumane campaign to “reeducate” a million or more
ethnic Uighurs (a Muslim minority) in vast prison camps. Chinese
officials initially denied reports of these prisons, then tried to
describe them as “vocational reeducation” camps created to protect the
population from a small minority of “religious offenders or extremists.”
Official Chinese documents leaked to
the New York Times have confirmed the existence of the camps, along
with the responsibility of top Chinese officials, including President Xi
Jinping, as well as the far-reaching ambition of this indoctrination
campaign. Global opinion is divided on how to respond to these
revelations, but I’m grateful to have China’s conduct exposed for the
world to see.
6. The Squad. I don’t agree with every position that
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, or Rashida
Tlaib have taken, but I’m still glad they are in Congress. If nothing
else, they have brought energy and independent thinking—and in the case
of Ocasio-Cortez, a wicked sense of humor—to an institution that is
prone to egomania, posturing, windy pretentiousness, and overzealous
fealty to wealthy donors. Thus far, none of them has succumbed to the
various temptations that can turn promising reformers into venal
insiders. If you think Congress needed a breath of fresh air, you might
offer a word of thanks for these courageous women, too.
7. Outstanding Authors. I read a lot of books over the
past year, and I got enormous pleasure (and some important insights)
from many of them. A partial list: Jon Meacham’s Destiny and Power, George Packer’s Our Man, Stephen Kotkin’s two-volumes-and-counting biography of Stalin, Bruce Cronin’s Bugsplat, Lindsey O’Rourke’s Covert Regime Change, William Burns’s The Back Channel, Patrick Porter’s Blunder, Daniel Ellsberg’s Secrets and The Doomsday Machine, and Stacie Goddard’s When Right Makes Might. On the lighter side, I finally found time for Bruce Springsteen’s outstanding autobiography (Born to Run), as well as the usual guilty pleasures from Lee Child (The Midnight Line) and Barry Eisler (The Killer Collective). So many books, so little time; but I’m lucky (and thankful) that more-or-less constant reading is part of my job.
8. Emmanuel Macron. It wasn’t his most diplomatic moment—and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was particularly ticked off—but I could not help but smile and nod when the French president told the Economist magazine
that NATO was experiencing “brain death.” A lot of smart people tried
to give NATO a compelling new mission after the Cold War, but their
efforts have failed, because the necessary conditions—a clear,
compelling, and common threat—no longer exist. Yes, Vladimir Putin’s
Russia is a vexing problem, but Europe has more than enough capacity to
address it if it can ever wean itself from supine dependence on the
United States. China’s rise is forcing Washington to pay a lot more
attention to Asia (assuming it can finally find a way to get out of the
Middle East), and that means NATO’s European members will need to decide
if they are going to: 1) side with the United States vis-à-vis China 2)
tacitly align with China, or 3) remain neutral. (Speaking just for
myself, I think No. 2 is unlikely, but No. 1 is not assured.) So I’m
thankful for Macron’s bluntness, because it might help convince NATO’s
members to stop living in the past and start planning for the future.
9. Loyal Readers, Audiences, and Generous Reviewers.The Hell of Good Intentions
came out about a year ago, and I’m thankful for the mostly positive
reviews and decent sales. I also appreciate the many opportunities I had
to talk about the book at universities, think tanks, and citizens’
groups, and on radio shows and podcasts. Sincere thanks to anyone who
invited me to speak, bought copies of the book, or asked a tough
question at one of my presentations. I’m especially grateful to all the
Kennedy School students who took my course on U.S. foreign policy in
recent years, and whose reactions to earlier drafts made the finished
product much better. If by some chance you haven’t read it yet, do
yourself a favor and buy. Also makes a great stocking stuffer or
Hanukkah gift.
10. Most Important of All: The Dogs That Didn’t Bark. There
are a lot of troubles in the world today: a steadily warming planet,
increasingly dysfunctional democracies, rising bigotry and xenophobia, a
rising tide of refugees that is likely to grow, and a growing political
assault on the idea of truth and the concept of honor. Even so, I’m
thankful another year has passed with no great-power conflict, that the
United States has not entered any new wars, that the world economy
didn’t crash (again), that levels of poverty and disease continue to
decline around the world, and that a majority of likely U.S. voters seem
to be aware that
they elected a charlatan in 2016. If the Democrats can get their own
act together—a possibility that should not be taken for granted—we might
have something to be really thankful for next year.
Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.
Santiago, Chile - For 28-year-old Cristina Paillal and many others from her generation in Chile, protesting has almost become the norm.
All Chileans under 30 years of age, including the vast majority of
students, were born after the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
ended in 1990.
During Pinochet's rule, state forces killed or forcibly disappeared
thousands of Chileans and tens of thousands were tortured or imprisoned
for political reasons. Students and youth dissidents were among the
victims.
"The dictatorship lasted a long time. Talking about politics could get
you killed. Our parents' and grandparents' generations lived with that
fear," Paillal, a Mapuche engineering student, said at a protest in
Santiago, where tear gas lingered in the air.
"We are the new generation," she said.
Paillal continues to be involved in student and indigenous movements.
But she said because secondary students represent all social classes and
are usually not yet affiliated with any political party, they tend to
be at the forefront.
"The secondary student movement is fundamental," she said.
Chilean Police stand next to students blocking the turnstile to the
subway protesting against the rising cost of subway and bus fare [File:
Esteban Felix/AP Photo]
Secondary students kicked off more than a month of non-stop nationwide
demonstrations when they organised mass fare evasion protests in
Santiago against a now-lifted subway fare rise. Protests almost
immediately broadened into demonstrations over long-simmering
grievances, including growing inequality and the dictatorship-era
constitution.
"It is not the subway. It is everything," Joaquin*, a 16-year-old
student, told Al Jazeera as he made his way from one protest to another.
'Little has changed'
Students have been at the heart of mass protests movements that have taken place since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.
Secondary students were the protagonists of the 2006 "Penguin Revolution" movement for education reform,
named after the appearance of school uniforms. A new education law was
passed in 2009, but it did not fundamentally resolve demands for state
control and funding of public education. Mass protests by secondary and
university students broke out again in 2011, and have occurred
sporadically since.
"Little has changed," said Joaquin. "People cannot afford good education."
A police water cannon disperses students protesting against the military dictatorship in 1983 [File: AP Photo]
Along with protests last month, there were spates of arson and looting,
with significant damage to many metro stations and supermarkets.
President Sebastian Pinera decreed
a state of emergency and sent the military into the streets. The
measures were lifted after nine days, but police crackdowns continue.
Prosecutors are investigating 26 people killed amid the turmoil,
including four young men in their 20s killed by military forces.
Thousands have been wounded and arrested. Of the 7,259 detainees visited
in custody by the National Human Rights Institute, 867 have been
minors.
In spite of the clampdown, daily marches, rallies, occupations, street
barricades, citizen assemblies and other actions continue. Police often
crack down with tear gas and force regardless of whether people are in
joyous mass rallies, small groups fighting back with rocks, or simply
bystanders in the area.
Anti-government demonstrators shout slogans against Chilean police, with
a banner representing an eye, in reference of the more than 200 people
who have been shot in the eyes [Esteban Felix/AP Photo]
Carla*, a 20-year-old psychology student, told Al Jazeera that
everything began with the secondary students but now even universities
without a history of social struggle have joined the protest movement.
"This is just the beginning," she said, as thousands of people gathered
at a roundabout in central Santiago that has been an epicentre for
protests in recent weeks.
'We opened our eyes because of the students'
One of the many unifying demands at protests has been a new constitution
written by citizens, and after nearly a month, the government reversed
its position on the matter. An April 2020 plebiscite will ask citizens
whether they want a new constitution and, if so, whether they want a
mixed legislator-citizen or all-citizen convention to write the
document, ruling and opposition politicians said in a joint announcement
in mid-November.
Citizen elections would take place in October 2020. The convention would
have at least nine months to write the constitution and pass it with a
two-thirds majority. It would require ratification by citizens in a
nationwide referendum.
But many gaps remain concerning key procedural details, including issues
of gender parity and indigenous representation. The youth who sparked
the movement would also be excluded due to age restrictions from voting
in the plebiscite and participating in the convention.
Yet, protesters say the students are the ones who have brought thousands of others to the streets.
"We opened our eyes because of the students," said Mario Hernandez, an
unemployed nurse technician. "They woke us up. Then, we all woke up."
A demonstrator holds a banner that reads 'Students teach us to be brave'
during the seventh day of protests against President Sebastian Pinera
[Claudio Santan/Getty Images]
Claudio Inostroza continued to joke with Hernandez and other friends but
winced slightly as a medical student washed the blood off his calf. He
was just relieved police had shot him in the leg, not the eye, with a
rubber-metal projectile.
"It bounced off me. I was lucky," he told Al Jazeera as police continued
to tear gas protesters along a nearby boulevard and adjacent park in
the Chilean capital.
Inostroza supports protesters' collective demands for a new
constitution, higher wages, and the right to health. But he said, above
all, he is in the streets for his children: a son in primary school and a
daughter with more than $50,000 of student debt just halfway through
her university degree in nursing.
"I want my children to have free and quality education," he said. "I am protesting for their future."
*Names have been changed to protect the individuals' identities.
29 November 2019
Ashraf
Ghani, the Afghan president, addresses Donald Trump at Bagram airfield
during a surprise visit on Thanksgiving. Photograph: AFP /Getty
![Students demonstrate during a protest against the government policies outside the Costanera Center in Santiago [Claudio Reyes/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/11/27/740d9f6cd7004d98b4aeede1cb3e1215_18.jpg)
