‘My end game is to create a deeply poetic painting using the camera as the medium to achieve my goal’

Originally published on Global Voices

Maryam Eisler, ‘Tango dans l’Arene’ ( 2021) from ‘If Only These Walls Could Talk,’ shot in Arles, France. Image courtesy of the artist.

Maryam Eisler is an internationally acclaimed photographer and author whose work blends the poetic and the profound. Her photography navigates the intersections of personal identity, collective memory, and the sensorial sublime, often exploring the nuanced strength and beauty of femininity. 

Photo of Maryam Eisler. Diamond Beach, Iceland, 2018. Image courtesy of the artist.

Eisler’s artistic journey includes a series of celebrated books such as Voices: East London and Art Studio America: Contemporary Artist Spaces (co-editor), each capturing the layered aesthetics of cultural and spatial narratives. Her works have been showcased in renowned exhibitions, with series like If Only These Walls Could Talk and Imagining Tina: A Dialogue With Edvard Weston earning critical acclaim for their ability to evoke emotion while embodying conceptual depth.

Born in Iran and now based in London, Eisler’s educational path took her to Wellesley College and Columbia University for postgraduate studies, a foundation that has deeply influenced her intellectual and artistic pursuits. Her contributions to the art world extend beyond her photography, as she has held esteemed positions, including Trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery and Chair of the Middle East Acquisition Committee at the Tate Museum for 10 years.

Additionally, a chief contributor at LUX magazine, Esiler's editorial roles for prestigious art publications like Harper’s Bazaar Art and Vanity Fair have made her a leading voice in the discourse on contemporary art and culture.

Eisler’s work is distinguished by its profound celebration of femininity, exploring the themes of resilience, sensuality, and empowerment. Her lens captures women not as subjects but as forces of nature, weaving narratives that highlight their strength, beauty, and complexity. Through her photographs, she reclaims and redefines the gaze, offering a compelling commentary on the role of women in art and society.

In an interview with Global Voices, Maryam Eisler delves into her artistic philosophy, process, and the cultural reflections that shape her extraordinary body of work.

Excerpts from the interview follow: 

Maryam Eisler, from Age of Innocence series, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist.

Omid Memarian (OM): In your “Age of Innocence” statement, you describe life as “poetry in motion, a living, breathing canvas which twists and turns, never still or static.” How does this perspective influence your approach to capturing movement and emotion in your photography? 

Maryam Eisler (ME): Life as “poetry in motion” deeply informs my photography. I see every moment as fluid and constantly evolving, thus shaping the way I capture movement interlaced with emotion. Rather than focusing solely on stillness, I aim to evoke a sense of transformation within each frame. Whether it's the way light shifts, the movement of fabric, or the expression of a subject, I try to convey the energy that animates the world around us. Emotions are never static — they ebb and flow. By embracing this perspective on life, I strive to create images that resonate with deep emotional content, at times nostalgic, maybe even melancholic and sometimes romantic, inviting the viewer to feel the pulse of life in every shot. My end game is to create a deeply poetic painting using the camera as the medium to achieve my goal.

Maryam Eisler, ‘La Lionne’ from the‘ If Only These Walls Could Talk’ ( 2021) shot at the Nord Pinus hotel in Arles, France. Image courtesy of the artist.

OM: Reflecting on your “If Only These Walls Could Talk” series, you mention the joy of “meandering through corridors and spaces once trodden by the greats of art, culture, music, entertainment and literature.” How does the historical significance of a location inform the narratives you create within your photographs? 

ME: The historical significance of a location deeply informs the narratives I create in my photography, particularly when capturing spaces rich in cultural and personal histories. The Nord-Pinus Hotel in Arles is one such place where the past seems to echo through every corridor. Known for hosting iconic figures like Picasso, Van Gogh and Hemingway, it also has a strong connection to the world of bullfighting, a major part of Arles’ cultural identity. Suite 10 at the Nord-Pinus, for example, was frequented by the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin, who greeted the crowds from the suite’s balcony, imbuing the space with a raw, masculine energy. This contrasts sharply with the hotel’s connection to the world of fashion and photography, like Helmut Newton’s famous shot of Charlotte Rampling in 1972, where the sitter is presented in a sexy yet highly feminine and empowered manner.

The juxtaposition of these energies — the grace and vulnerability of Rampling’s powerful femininity with the raw, intense masculinity of bullfighters — adds layers of complexity to my visual approach. When I shot at the Nord-Pinus, I wasn’t just capturing a location, but I was also engaging with the tension between these contrasting forces. The hotel’s bullfighting history, combined with its artistic heritage, provides a unique backdrop that informs the mood and narrative of my images. I find that the interplay of light, texture, and space also becomes a way to visually explore these contrasting energies, creating a dialogue between the masculine and the feminine, the timeless and the contemporary, in each frame. Each image tells a story that is both personal and universal, shaped by the history of the location and its past occupants. 

Maryam Eisler, ‘Stillness in Motion’ (2021) from ‘The Now’ series, shot in Antiparos, Greece. Image courtesy of the artist.

OM: In your “The Now” series, you aim to capture “motion in stillness, anchored in ‘The Now’, consciously present amidst the glory of nature and light.” How do you balance the dynamic interplay between movement and stillness to convey a sense of presence in your work? 

ME: In The Now series, I have tried to capture the delicate balance between movement and stillness, allowing both elements to coexist in harmony. A key theme in this particular body of work is the meditative presence of a lone figure, photographed in the stillness of water, where the subject seems at one with nature, space, and place, as if suspended in the eternal flow of nature. By capturing motion within stillness — whether through the gentle ripple of water or shifting light — I have tried to create a visual dialogue between the fleeting and the permanent, inviting the viewer to experience a profound connection to the present, grounded in the glory of nature.

Maryam Eisler, ‘The Sublime Feminine’ (2017) shot in the Baux de Provence, France. Image courtesy of the artist.

 OM: You have expressed a consistent exploration into “sensuality and the female gaze.” How have your upbringing and personal experiences shaped your portrayal of femininity and sensuality in your photography? 

ME: They have all played significant roles in shaping how I approach the portrayal of femininity and sensuality in my photography. Attending Wellesley College, an all-women’s institution, was particularly transformative in reinforcing my sense of female identity and empowerment. Surrounded by strong, intellectual women, I gained a deeper understanding of the complexities of womanhood and the power of solidarity in shaping one’s voice.

Maryam Eisler, ‘Elle et Le Chandelier’ from the ‘If Only These Walls Could Talk’ series ( 2021), shot at the Nord Pinus hotel in Arles, France. Image courtesy of the artist.

Later, my professional journey in the beauty industry, working with companies like L'Oréal and Estée Lauder, also profoundly influenced my visual narrative. At the time, my focus was placed on women’s external beauty in developing ad campaigns that emphasized aesthetics. This gave me a refined understanding of how beauty can be presented to the world, but as I transitioned into photography, I sought to go deeper — capturing not just the surface but the essence of a woman's inner world, her soul, and her psyche.

Growing up in Paris in the 1980s, I was immersed in an environment where the fashion and advertising industries were heavily focused on female sexuality and sensuality. The ads and movies of that time, often daring and provocative, struck a fine balance between empowerment and objectification. This exposure shaped my approach to sensuality in my own work, where I aim to portray women in a way that is both empowering and authentic, respecting the fine line between self-expression and vulnerability. Through my photography, I seek to capture the essence of femininity as a multi-layered experience, not just as a surface image but as an exploration of strength, sensuality, and identity.

As an Iranian woman, I am especially proud of the brave women in Iran who are fighting against bigotry and oppression. Their courage and resilience inspire me profoundly and shape my commitment to portraying women in all their strength, resilience, and beauty.

Maryam Eisler, ‘The One and Only‘ ( 2021), shot in Greece. Image courtesy of the artist.

 OM: In your “The Now” series, you reference Laozi's concept that “true power is stillness within motion.” How do philosophical ideas inform your photographic practice, particularly in capturing the essence of a moment? 

ME: Philosophical ideas, especially those rooted in my own cultural heritage, as seen, for example, in Persian poetry’s timeless wisdom, have deeply informed my life and, therefore, photographic practice, particularly when it comes to capturing the essence of a moment. Laozi’s notion that “true power is stillness within motion” resonates with me profoundly as I strive to find that perfect balance between the fleeting and the eternal in my work. This idea aligns with the musings of Persian poet Omar Khayyam: “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life,” emphasizing, in my case, the capture of a single frame that speaks to the fullness of this present moment — its transient beauty, its truth.

Maryam Eisler, ‘Mindscape, Landscape’ (2024). Image courtesy of the artist.

Saadi’s wisdom also comes to mind: “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy,” – speaking to the art of patiently waiting for the right moment to unfold, just as Henri Cartier-Bresson famously described the “decisive moment’, when all elements of a scene align perfectly, and the essence of the moment is captured in a single click.

For me, this kind of philosophy is about embracing both stillness and motion, waiting for the universe to reveal the perfect moment, and then trusting my instinct to photograph it. The result translates into an instant where motion and stillness come together, intertwined. 

Maryam Eisler, ‘Motion in Stillness’ series. (2021). Image courtesy of the artist.

OM: You have been recognized as one of Artnet’s ‘100 most powerful women in art’ and have a focus on “the feminine sublime.” How do you see the role of women evolving in the field of photography, especially with advancements in technology and AI? 

ME: As a woman, and especially as a woman photographer, I believe that emotional intelligence and intuition are vital in creating imagery that connects deeply with my viewers. For me, photography is about conveying feeling, not technical precision. I’m more interested in evoking an emotional response than in capturing perfect compositions or sharp focus. My work is an exploration of transposing my own feelings onto the photographic paper, creating a visceral experience for the viewer that resonates on a deeply human level. While AI and technology can offer new tools, I believe they can never replace the human touch — the emotional depth and intuition that women bring to their craft. The physicality of the image, the human hand that captures a precise moment, and the eye that witnesses it all remain irreplaceable. Photography, for me, is about transcending the technical to communicate a deeply personal, emotional truth.

Maryam Eisler, ‘Positano, Portrait of a Lady‘ ( 2021), shot in Positano, Italy. Image courtesy of the artist.

OM:  In your “Age of Innocence” statement, you mention that life is “always marching forward, in an endless flow of time.” How do you address the concept of time and its passage in your photographic compositions? 

ME:  In my “Age of Innocence” series, I explore the passage of time as both a force and fleeting beauty. Much like Martin Scorsese’s film, where the past and present coexist in a delicate dance, my work reflects on the tension between innocence and life experience. In my manner of capturing movement, I have aimed to create images that feel both timeless and transient, inviting the viewer to pause and reflect on the profound beauty of time as it slips away, one moment at a time.

Maryam Eisler, ‘We Will Always Have Paris’ ( 2024). Image courtesy of the artist.

Whilst shooting the series back in January 2024 in Paris, on Place Furstenberg, a most charming and romantic corner of Saint Germain des Pres, I was reminded of the timeless quality of Chopin’s “Nocturnes” … particularly in the way that his genius mind blended longing and melancholy with fleeting beauty, like a delicate waltz between past and present. The movement in Chopin’s music often feels like a slow, elegant passage of time, evoking both nostalgia and the ephemeral nature of life. Similarly, in my photography, I aim to capture moments that are infused with that same sense of delicate interplay, where the innocence of youth and the wisdom of experience coexist in harmony.

As I move beyond my own “Age of Innocence,” I realize that time has granted me a new layer of wisdom and experience. This evolution allows me to approach my work with a deeper understanding and a more nuanced perspective. My current age, 56, and the life I've lived, I believe, add depth and richness to my photographic vision — transforming each image into a reflection not just of the moment captured but of the wisdom that comes from seeing life unfold over time. Photography, for me, is not just about what is seen but about infusing each moment with the knowledge and emotional depth that comes from living through many.

Maryam Eisler in the iconic Suite No.10 at the Nord Pinus Hotel, Arles, France, October 2021. Image courtesy of the artist.

Written by Omid Memarian

The Georgian saying goes: “a guest is a gift from God.”

Originally published on Global Voices

Old Soviet car in Tbilisi's historical center. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia regained an independence it had briefly enjoyed from 1918 to 1921, but also experienced civil and ethnic wars that, with support from Moscow, led to two of its territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to declare secession, under Russia's protection. Today the country remains a fragile society deeply divided with those who want closer ties to Europe and a more liberal country, and certain political and business elites aligned with conservative views and Russia.

For more, read: In Georgia, a series of legal amendments are putting the country's EU aspirations on hold

Photo by Kiera Fyles, Palmer Photography, used with permission

Global Voices interviewed Leo Vardiashvili, a Georgian-British author who left his native Georgia when he was thirteen, studied English Literature and works in the financial sector. Vardiashvili just released his first English-language novel, “Hard by a Great Forest.” In the book, he explores the many scars of his first home through the tragic and adventurous life of Saba, who also left Georgia with his brother and father as a child, leaving his mother behind, and then returns from the UK years later to Tbilisi, to find his missing father and brother, who had each returned to Georgia and gone missing. The book celebrates Georgia's culture, nature, and generosity but also acknowledges its cruelty. It is a moving mediation on exile and family trauma.

Vardiashvili just opened the 9th Tbilisi International Festival of Literature and his novel brings a new voice from Georgia for anglophone readers. His book has been shortlisted for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. This interview was edited for brevity and style.

Filip Noubel (FN): Tbilisi is one of the main characters in your novel. Today, the city is a mix of crumbling old houses, repaired buildings catering to tourists and exiles from Iran or Russia, and ultra-modern towers. What is Tbilisi to you? 

Leo Vardiashvili (LV): Historically, Tbilisi has always been a cultural melting pot. This is a fact which is literally visible in the architecture of Tbilisi, audible in the various languages used around the city, and can be sampled within Georgian cuisine. To this day we’re proud to receive tourists and exiles alike and welcome them as one of our own kin. After all, as the Georgian saying goes — a guest is a gift from God.

Mother of Georgia Statue. From Wikipedia Creative Commons CC0

The Mother of Georgia statue is a physical embodiment of this. She stands on a hilltop overlooking Tbilisi. She is both our protector and our welcoming party. She holds a cup of wine to welcome those who come in peace. In her other hand she holds a sword — for those who mean us harm. This is another aspect of Tbilisi — its troubled history. It is a city that has been invaded and occupied close to 30 times over the centuries. Tbilisi bears these scars proudly and incorporates them into its charm.

Having said that, given that I have a form of a platform to reach more people than I can in person, I would like to voice a concern. Yes, the crumbling streets and buildings in some districts are very romantic, however there is a limit to how long they will remain standing. It hurts me to see my district of Sololaki (for example) in such a state — I wish more was done to care for Tbilisi. I do see very welcome signs of such care in places, and yet in other places I see a flagrant bulldozing of Georgian culture and countryside in the name of profit. To finally answer the question — Tbilisi is my home. It is as simple as that and I hope with all my heart that it will remain the beautiful city that it is.

The Sololaki neighborhood in Old Tbilisi. Image from Wikipedia Commons, license CC BY 2.0

FN: Exile is your personal story, the story of the main character of your novel, and of many Georgians, for both political and economic reasons since the 1990s. How can fiction tell the story of exile better than any non-fictional writing? 

LV: Non-fiction can provide facts, figures, politics and the events underpinning wars and conflicts. It is absolutely essential for us as humans, however non-fiction is often limited by its rightful adherence to fact. But facts can be cold. For example, casualty numbers reaching into thousands, already begin to lose the tangible, human meaning behind each of those deaths and what they mean on a personal, family level. Each death, or ‘casualty,’ has a knock-on effect on a chain of people, and the trauma is often carried from generation to generation.

Vardiashvili's debut book “Hard by a Great Forest.” Image via YouTube.

Fiction, by its nature, is not restricted by fact. This allows it the freedom to explore issues at whatever depth the author chooses. This freedom gives fiction the ability to delve into the human, emotional impact of events. When it comes to war, it can give voice to the personal and family-level impact of war and displacement which is often lost in non-fiction and news reports. This is why I chose to explore Georgia and its troubled past and present through fiction. It allowed me to shed some light on the Georgian character and its stubborn defiance in the face of all hardship. More importantly, it allowed me to focus on what war and exile can do to a single family. With the hope that people might take this understanding, and keep it mind when they hear and see news reports coldly providing them with headline news of territories changing hands and casualty numbers.

FN: We see the emergence of diasporic Georgian literature written in English or German (Nino Haratischwili). Are there major differences between Georgian literature written in Georgian and in Georgia?

LV: A large proportion of the Georgian population lives outside of Georgia, as first- or second-generation immigrants. However, I think there is a natural longing that all immigrants experience for their homeland. There is also a feeling of enthusiasm in wanting to introduce people to the wonderful country of Georgia and its people.

I believe this is the seed for the diasporic Georgian literature which is slowly emerging. From my own personal experience, such literature is welcomed with typical Georgian, big-hearted, open-minded enthusiasm by Georgians in Georgia as well as by the many Georgian immigrants. I hope to achieve what Nino Haratischwili has achieved in her career, with her award-winning writing. I also hope to one day meet her and ask her the question I am currently answering. Georgia has a long-standing relationship and culture of great literary heft, but Georgian writers are currently facing unrest and strife within their own country. I hope they overcome this with the help of organisations such as the Tbilisi International Festival of Literature, and PEN Georgia.

FN:  Since Georgia was invited as the guest country at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair, Georgian literature has been made more visible in Europe and North America. What is your assessment today? What authors do you recommend to read in English translations? 

LV: I’m happy to see Georgia mentioned more often in Europe and North America. We are not an anonymous, grey country to be overlooked on the map. We are not insular, we are talented, and want to be known for the right reasons. Therefore I am grateful for the efforts of the Frankfurt Book Fair and welcome more organisations to include Georgia — they won’t be disappointed.

My debut novel has allowed me access to the literary world where I was pleasantly surprised to see more and more people championing Georgian culture. Maya Jaggi is a perfect example of this: She is a British writer, literary critic, editor and cultural journalist, and I thank her for her efforts to bring the spotlight to this corner of the globe. There are not many translations of contemporary Georgian literature, but I would recommend the works of Dumbadze, Morchiladze, Orbeliani and Javakhishvili. My favourite amongst those not translated yet is Temur Babluani.

Written by Filip Noubel

A refugee from Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia spent her life documenting other refugees

Originally published on Global Voices

Liba Taylor at her home. Photo made by Elmira Lyapina. Used with permission.

Global Voices interviewed Liba Taylor, a Czech-born photographer, renowned for her extensive work documenting humanitarian efforts around the globe. Since fleeing Czechoslovakia in 1968 due to the Warsaw Pact invasion, she has specialized in capturing the lives of women and children in challenging conditions across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has worked with organizations such as UNICEF, UNHCR, and Save the Children Fund to highlight the resilience and strength of her subjects, aiming to raise awareness and generate support for humanitarian causes. Currently, she teaches a digital photography course at the University of New York in Prague.

Interviewed by Global Voices, she describes her journey as a photographer,  an as exile and a woman in her long career:

I expect the students to understand that pictures have stories. I'm a documentary photographer. I like the fact that you can tell stories with photography. My scene is to go somewhere, be with the people, and document their everyday lives, problems, and happiness.

Taylor was inspired by prominent photographers like Steve McCurry from the US, Brazilian Sebastião Salgado, and Czech–French Josef Koudelka for their unique approaches to documenting refugees and conflicts, as well as Czech documentary photographer Antonín Kratochvíl‘s artistic style. In comparison, she describes her photography style as straight and almost commercial.

What it takes to be a documentary photographer

Taylor used different approaches to making pictures for NGOs or UN agencies, both candid and announced, from a car or static, of individuals or groups. For the kids she photographed, it was fun, as “the blond devil with the machine” would bring something different into that boring routine of village life.

Children carrying water in Ghana. Photo by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

A reason why people in her pictures look kind, warm, friendly, and even positive despite their difficult circumstances is because Taylor emphasizes the importance of making them feel comfortable.

A girl amputee in Sierra Leone. Photo by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

When you can’t communicate with language, you mime. You become a pantomime artist. People are generally friendly, even in post-war situations, as in Zimbabwe, when they had terrorist attacks all the time, people were friendly, open, and smiling. Or Indigenous people in Mexico, in survival conditions, old women with huge bags walking somewhere high in the mountains, disappearing from the eye, still very friendly.

Sometimes, to make a good picture, it was enough to take just three to five shots, and sometimes the best one was done on the first shot. One of such lucky shots, taken in Kenya, is Taylor's favorite.

One from my first trip to Africa, in Samburu land. I took a picture of a kid standing in front of his house. It was amazing. But the film rewound after the last picture. Someone in London stole all my negatives, but I had one print, and this picture even won first prize.

One of Taylor's first pictures, and also her favorite, in her hands. Image taken on her first assignment in Africa for ActionAid UK in 1981. “The negatives were stolen, but luckily I had a few prints, and that one won me a prize in Face to the World competition in UK,” she said. Photo by Elmira Lyapina, used with permission.

Taylor describes her approach to taking photos for the UN and other NGOs.

I have this instinct, but you also must concentrate a lot. It’s not that you lift your camera and click. I used to go with a writer occasionally, but I preferred going off on my own to concentrate on taking pictures. Most of these people were very poor and couldn’t speak English, so someone local usually helped. Often, the best picture is a moment in between posing and doing whatever they were doing. It’s unpredictable, and I have no control over it. There have been situations when I was shooting for UNHCR: refugees, people on the run, people who have settled in another country, they were remaking their life all over again. I've been to the lakes after the Rwanda massacres. You stand there and think, what the hell is going on? This is really, it's almost biblical, the exodus from a country. People coming on boats, being carried because they are too weak, old people and kids crying, and everybody is dirty and hungry. And, the world needs to see what desperate state they are in, to help. Because it's money from donors. It is emotional and difficult.

Taylor noted that serving as a voice of those who need to be heard is important because people in the West often avoid confronting poverty. As for the eternal question of whether she intervened:

Aid workers come before us. It's their job; they know how to deal with it and speak the local language. If I saw someone collapsing, I’d call for help but wouldn’t move them myself because I'm not medically trained. I remember in Congo, after the Rwanda massacres, a photographer said he couldn't take pictures because he was so shocked. But we’re there to take pictures. Other people come to feed them and provide medical help.

At the same time, she believes that a photographer needs to have sympathy and sensitivity towards people while managing their emotional responses.

From exile to excellence 

Image by Liba Taylor, in Sierra Leone. Used with permission

In 1968, amidst rising political tensions and the arrival of Soviet forces, 18-year-old Liba Taylor decided to leave Czechoslovakia. With her father's support, she hitchhiked from the Austrian border to the UK, seeking freedom. Once there, despite her poor English, she attended university, traveled to Mexico, and discovered her passion for photography.

David Hurn from Magnum asked, at some opening exhibition in Bristol, whether all Czechs are photographers, as he was a great friend of Joseph Koudelka, and invited me to join his school of documentary photography in Newport in Wales that he just set up, and where were about 10 people overall… Five years of university education and I ended up being unemployed photographer, because I had to go freelance [laughing]. And, there was no interest in photographers, except for newspapers, but they used to have their own ones.

However, after she proved herself working for different UK NGOs, she was invited by UN agencies, including UNHCR and UNICEF, to capture compelling images for their campaigns. Remembering this journey, Liba mentions, that she herself, as a Czech in exile in England, was de facto a refugee, but with a different official status and better conditions than the ones she captured.

Liberian refugee in the Tobanda refugee camp, Kenema, Sierra Leone. Image by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

Asked how she was seen by the people she photographed, she said:

I was white because of the reactions. For kids, sometimes I was the first white person they ever saw. Older ones found it hilarious. Little kids would scream, thinking I was the white devil because they'd never seen anyone white.

Taylor observed humanity at its worst in crises, with unimaginable suffering and death. She emphasizes the need for sympathy and awareness of global issues, contrasting the UK's understanding of colonial history with the fear and xenophobia she encountered in post-communist societies. She believes it takes time for such societies to evolve and become more open and accepting.

Taylor explained that she returned to the Czech Republic due to the changes in the photographic industry with the advent of digital cameras, reaching an age where most of her friends had either passed away or retired, and for the love of her country. When she fully returned, she even experienced cultural shocks, as some Czechs didn't fully understand her work, having limited exposure to the world beyond holiday trips.

You realize that the kind of 40 years of communism here just created a certain type of person. It just takes a long time for society to change, develop, and go on into a different world.

On the power of women

Sharing stories from her adventurous life, Taylor mentioned traveling by cargo plane to Somalia and Somaliland for UNICEF, witnessing the devastating effects of war, but even there finding powerful women.

Somalis are beautiful people with fantastic faces. After the war, I went back to Somaliland several times and met with amazing Edna Adan. She worked in Europe, with WHO, has fantastic English, with a perfect British accent. After the war she went back to Somaliland, which was destroyed, people had nothing to eat, and they were dying, so she decided to invest all her savings into a hospital. She built a huge maternity hospital, only for mothers with babies, and it served to help others in need. Edna traveled the world and she spent her life exchanging contacts, requesting sponsorships for this hospital. She is one of the most incredible people in the world, always active and eloquent, but never selling anything, just telling the stories of people. Very touching. She asked for medicines and received them, and they were hard to get, as anything else.

Newborn baby at Edna Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Photo by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

When asked if she sees a special power in women in post-war societies, since women and children are often the subjects of her photography, Taylor said:

The power of women, yes, since I worked [always freelance] for aid agencies and UN, they focused mainly on women. The women did most of the work while the men sat around drinking the local brew.

People often ask me about another powerful woman Angelina Jolie, whom I met in some of my missions. Angelina was amazing — young, modest, and genuinely interested in people. She would sit with locals for hours under the tree and ask questions. She raised a lot of charity support.

Angelina Jolie with young people from Sierra Leone. Photo by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

Taylor concludes:

Things have changed quite a lot, and now it seems more complicated, the visuals are often misused. I remember people claiming: “You come here, take pictures, and leave, and people who see these pictures think we live in a poor existence, but nobody comes and helps us.” It is a slogan “You help yourself; we help you to help yourselves.” And you should know, that these people are not just sitting and waiting for aid, but in some circumstances, when there’s no condition to survive, they don’t have another choice. They will die if they are not helped. We are the ones, who share responsibility, including for climate change.

Mother and child in Cheperoni, Ghana. Photo by Liba Taylor, used with permission.

Liba Taylor's photographs are more than just her work, tasks, her memory, or captures of lives, they are the history of people, landscapes, and even cities that have ceased to exist.

Written by Elmira Lyapina

Wikileaks founder’s release from prison brings mixed reactions down under

Originally published on Global Voices

Julian Assange home in Australia. Screenshot from video “How Julian Assange’s plea deal and release was negotiated | 7.30″ on the ABC News In-depth YouTube channel. Fair use.

Home free at last! This was the overwhelming sentiment of Australian and global supporters of Julian Assange, following news of his release from prison and return down under.

Assange's plea deal with the United States came after 1,601 days in the United Kingdom’s Belmarsh Prison and nearly seven years of political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy. He had been fighting extradition to the US.

The deal involved pleading guilty to one felony charge of espionage, namely conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents. In 2019 Greg Myer, a national security correspondent for NPR, weighed the allegations and their possible damage to national security:

…many in the national security community say the leaks were harmful to a broad range of people. However, they generally say the damage was limited and has faded since the first big WikiLeaks dump in 2010, which included hundreds of thousands of classified documents from the U.S. military and the State Department.

Guatemalan lawyer, advocate and campaigner for Assange, Renata Avila, tweeted with delight, showing characteristic optimism:

Julian #Assange is a free man. He and everyone behind @wikileaks worked tirelessly to defend our right to know. Now, it is time for gratitude, solidarity, and hope.

— Renata Avila (@avilarenata) June 26, 2024

Assange's conflict with the United States government has a long history, as Global Voices reported in 2022:

Assange drew the ire of the US government in 2010 when he published thousands of sensitive documents that he received from whistleblower and former US Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning. The documents contained information about The Baghdad Airstrikes, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and confidential cables between US officials and embassies around the world.

Most recently, WikiLeaks published emails showing the US Democratic National Committee favored then-candidate Hilary Clinton over her competitor Bernie Sanders, just weeks ahead of the 2016 election. And then, in 2017, WikiLeaks published more documents detailing the CIA's electronic surveillance and cyber warfare tactics.

Assange has been a controversial person, even in his home country, with many people regarding him as either a hero or a villain. Some have argued that his Wikileaks disclosures endangered lives and national security. Rape allegations in Sweden continue to damage his reputation. Swedish prosecutors closed the investigation in 2019. Alleged complicity with Trump and Putin before the 2016 American presidential elections still cast a shadow over his reputation as a fighter for truth. This exchange of views on X-Twitter captured some of the concerns:

Mainly, that Assange as unalloyed hero of the left is deeply problematic. As you say, he exposed war crimes. He also got a bunch of innocent people killed, assisted authoritarian dictatorships, helped Trump win the presidency, and oh yeah may be a rapist

— Snooty & Flouffy McSausage (@SnootySausage) June 27, 2024

Assange is a member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the Australian union representing journalists. MEAA President Karen Percy greeted his release but warned:

The stories published by WikiLeaks and other outlets more than a decade ago were clearly in the public interest. The charges by the US sought to curtail free speech, criminalise journalism and send a clear message to future whistleblowers and publishers that they too will be punished.

This was clearly in the public interest and it has always been an outrage that the US government sought to prosecute him for espionage for reporting that was published in collaboration with some of the world’s leading media organisations.

Max Blumenthal, editor at Grayzone News, dismissed these accusations, coming out strongly for Assange and those who worked for his freedom:

Many high-profile people deserve credit for mobilizing in Assange's defense, especially when the corporate press was destroying his reputation, smearing him as a Russian asset and rapist to cultivate support for his arrest. But his freedom is also a testament to the everyday… https://t.co/YcQPb59CST

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 26, 2024

Prominent among those people were current Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, former Prime Minster and current Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, and former Foreign Minister and current High Commissioner to the UK Stephen Smith. Albanese had joined calls for an end to Assange’s incarceration and worked behind the scenes to bring about the deal. Stella Assange expressed her thanks to Albanese, retweeting this message from Assange’s lawyer Jen Robinson:

Prime Minister @albomp called us the moment we landed in Australia – and Julian told the PM that he had saved his life.

An incredibly emotional and moving return home pic.twitter.com/ADUvfnbJ9K

— Jen Robinson (@suigenerisjen) June 26, 2024

The conservative opposition's shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, attacked Albanese for welcoming Assange home:

This call is neither necessary nor appropriate. Julian Assange was not wrongfully detained like Cheng Lei, Sean Turnell or Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

For 12 years Assange chose to avoid facing justice in countries with fair judicial systems. He is underserving of this treatment. https://t.co/I8zDNFZ66V

— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) June 26, 2024

He was echoed by former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Denis Richardson who criticized a homecoming phone call as political grandstanding.

Though Assange has been hailed as a fighter for free speech and the freedom of journalism, many media commentators have disputed his credentials as a journalist. SkyNews Australia hosted this debate between the Australian newspaper's Washington correspondent Adam Creighton and their Histories Editor Alan Howe, who have very different views. Howe strongly asserts that Assange “is neither an editor nor a journalist”:

Economist and former Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis is also a citizen of Australia. He clearly sees Assange as a journalist:

Exactly as Stella put it: By pleading guilty in federal court in Saipan “he was pleading guilty to committing journalism. This case criminalises journalism – journalistic activity, standard journalistic activity of news gathering, and publishing.” https://t.co/bOuGc77zKR

— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) June 27, 2024

John J. Mearsheimer, an American political scientist and academic, put the case for Assange in this video in February 2024:

My friend and distinguished @UChicago Prof. @MearsheimerJ on Julian Assange:

“Assange is a journalist and he did not break the law, as it is commonplace for journalists to publish classified information that is passed on to them by government insiders.” pic.twitter.com/p5NiVxDvj3

— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) June 28, 2024

Respected Australian journalist Margaret Simons canvassed the nature of modern journalism and Assange’s place in it:

It’s an arid debate, which overlooks the obvious truth: he and the technological revolutions of which he is part have changed journalism, forever.

Much of the media coverage has focused on high-profile personalities, political insiders and behind-closed-doors lobbying. However, the campaign to free Julian Assange has been a global movement involving tens of thousands of people. His brother Gabriel Shipton thanked all those who participated in the grassroots movement over many years:

“I have to give credit to everybody out there who has been advocating for this for so long… this wouldn't have been possible without them” – @GabrielShipton, #JulianAssange‘s brother

Thank you to everyone who has supported Julian! pic.twitter.com/q8sD7HDmM9

— Free Assange – #FreeAssange (@FreeAssangeNews) June 25, 2024

Peter Greste had his own experience of being imprisoned in Egypt for his journalism for Al Jazeera. He reflected on Assange’s ordeal:

I also understand the weird blend of elation, confusion and disorientation that sudden release brings.

Assange’s journey home will be much longer than his flight back to Australia.

…This case has undeniably had a serious chilling effect on public-interest journalism, and sends a terrifying message to any sources sitting on evidence of abuses by the government and its agencies.

Written by Kevin Rennie

Investigation follows outcry from villagers living near the mine

Originally published on Global Voices

Maloraneng village. Photo provided by The Colonist Report, used with permission.

For eight months, Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi, Sechaba Mokhethi, and Cindy Sipula investigated years of outcry from residents living near a UK diamond mining company. Their investigation report was originally published by The Colonist Report, and a shorter version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Gem Diamonds Limited, a diamond mining company based in the United Kingdom that has won awards for improving local communities’ access to clean water, has been accused of polluting drinking water in three villages in Lesotho, southern Africa.

On October 31, 2023, The Colonist Report visited three villages in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains — Maloraneng, Patising, and Lithakong. All of the community residents we interviewed blamed Letšeng Diamonds — a subsidiary of Gem Diamonds — for channelling wastewater into the river which is the major source of water for drinking, cooking, washing, and fishing.

The Indigenous people who we interviewed alleged that the polluted bodies of water have caused the deaths of animals, the extinction of fish, illnesses in locals, and the death of a child.

A satellite image shows what looks like a suspected pipe from the company’s facility linked to Feeane, the community river.

On January 24, we collected samples of the water flowing out of the Letšeng Diamonds wastewater pipe before it entered the community river. Additional water samples were taken from the Feeane stream (50 metres away from the company’s perimeter fence), as well as the Patising and Maloraneng streams.  

We sent the water samples to a laboratory in neighbouring South Africa for testing. The test results revealed the presence of high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli), 12 MPN/100mL, exceeding the limit of 1MPN/100mL, and nitrates of 30mg/L surpassing the acceptable upper limit of 11mg. Both levels of nitrate and E. coli are harmful to human health and animals. 

According to the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information, drinking water contaminated with E. coli can cause illnesses such as diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, nausea, and intestinal tract infection. Nitrates can also be harmful to pregnant women.  E.coli is a clear indicator of sewage or animal contamination.

Community struggles

Malineo Moahi’s nine-year-old granddaughter became ill and died in 2015 after drinking water from the river into which Gem Diamonds allegedly dumped its waste. 

Moahi told us that her granddaughter developed rashes and difficulty breathing and was suffering from stomach pain when she decided to rush her to a local clinic. With no hospital or public transportation in her village, she decided to walk three hours through the high mountains to the Mapholaneng clinic while carrying her granddaughter on her back. “I had to return halfway because the baby died on my back.”

Moahi added, “Even as we speak, local children are crying about stomach pain. It is even worse during droughts; the water becomes too salty, and children get sick from drinking it.”

According to her, bathing in river water causes a face rash, itchy skin, and stomach pain. “I have eight children, and all of them have had these symptoms, though not at the same time.”

According to Moahi, the company sometimes releases water in the dam, and when the water in the slime dams is released, it comes down salty and with a white substance.

Photo shows a whitish substance from the water running out from the Letšeng Diamonds mine. Photo by The Colonist Report, used with permission.

“When an animal falls sick and dies from drinking the mine-contaminated water, we see the whitish salt substances when the stomach of the animal is cut open,” Moahi said.

Matokelo Moahi, a 40-year-old woman, said her grandchild, a nine-month-old baby, usually has skin rashes whenever she bathes and washes the baby's nappies with water from the contaminated stream.

Matokelo Moahi in her village. Photo by The Colonist Report, used with permission.

Moahi’s only other option is to walk 30 minutes to a reliable water tap in a neighbouring village, but during the drought, “we resort to the river,” she said.

The road to the Patising stream is only accessible through the company, and on January 24, 2023, The Colonist Report's collaborative partner, the MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism, was able to reach the stream. On the road to the stream, water was seen coming out with high pressure, flowing from the company's wastewater pipe into the Feeane stream, which joins the Khubelu River from the mine.

Meanwhile, since the slime dams were built, fishermen we spoke to said they could no longer get a catch. The villagers have sued the mine over this issue, and the case is pending in the High Court of Lesotho. 

Before Letšeng Diamonds came, the situation was different: “If I catch a small fish, I will just throw it back into the water so I can catch a bigger fish, but now, I have to take it because there is no fish,” said a fisher, Likei Lemantla, displaying the small size of the fish he had caught after spending more than 10 minutes fishing.

Likei Lematla fishing at the bank of the Khubelu River. Photo by The Colonist Report, used with permission.

The 42-year-old fisherman has been fishing for two decades. He has two young children and a wife who rely on him to survive. He says he used to sell some of the fish to nearby villagers while his family ate the rest. “But now I do not sell any because I do not catch enough fish in the river.”

Company’s response

Gem Diamonds denied that it had spoiled the community’s water but instead has helped the community by providing water.

In an email, Mark Antelme, Gem Diamond's media officer, stated that the company was very concerned about the environment in its communities and has taken steps to reduce the impact of its activities:

 “We are aware of higher levels of nitrates that leach off our waste rock dumps and, to a lesser extent, our coarse tailings dumps.” He said the company has put systems in place “to reduce nitrate levels before leaving the mine lease area and minimise the impact of this on the environment.”

Antelme mentioned that the measures include portable water retention dams and a wetland to trap and dilute the water leaching from these areas. Additionally, he noted that a bioremediation plant, which will significantly reduce the nitrate levels in the water leaching from the active waste rock dump, was recently completed.

A confidential report by MNN Lesotho has, however, shown that the company admitted to contaminating these water sources.

Gem Diamonds has profited from its activities in the countries where it operates, including Lesotho. The company’s full-year revenue for 2023 is USD 140.3 million, with a profit of USD 1.6 million, compared to revenue of USD 188.9 million in 2022, with a profit of USD 20.2 million.  

GEM Diamonds made most of its profits from Letšeng Diamonds, with revenue totalling USD 1.3 billion from 2017 to 2023 and profits after tax of USD 259 million.

The government of Lesotho owns 30 percent of the Letšeng Diamonds Mine, while Gem Diamonds Limited purchased the mine in July 2006 and now owns 70 percent of its shares. Gem Diamonds reportedly paid USD 118.5 million for the company after De Beers operated the mine from 1977 to 1982.

Letšeng mine produces high-quality gem diamonds, consistently achieving the highest price per carat of any kimberlite mine in the world, according to the company. Since 2006, Gem Diamonds has produced three of the 20 largest white diamonds ever recorded.

This story is produced with support from JournalismFund Europe.

Written by The Colonist Report

‘British colonial history is a big part of British history’

Originally published on Global Voices

Windrush Generation Arrived From 1948 — City of Westminster Green Plaque at Paddington Station. Photo by Spudgun67 via Wikimedia Commons(CC BY-SA 4.0).

June 22 is Windrush Day in the United Kingdom, and it marks the contributions of hundreds of Black Caribbean economic migrants who began arriving on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948.

Those contributions, however, were rife with struggle. West Indians who came to the “mother country” were met with less than a warm welcome, not simply from the weather, but from white Brits who opposed this budding multiracial society. Despite promises of economic opportunity, they found it difficult to get jobs and housing, and were often treated like social outcasts.

Adding insult to injury, 70 years after the first of the Windrush generation arrived in the UK, a political controversy dubbed the Windrush scandal saw this older generation of immigrants being harassed, deprived of benefits and even being deported as a result of the Home Office's hostile anti-migrant environment policy, first laid out in 2012 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

Changes in UK immigration rules — overseen by then Home Secretary and later Prime Minister Theresa May — placed the burden of proof on members of the Windrush generation to show they had the right to remain in Britain. However, the landing cards that had been issued upon their arrival, which could provide such evidence, were destroyed by the Home Office in 2010.

Despite homage being paid to this generation of immigrants through the unveiling of a GBP one million Windrush monument at Waterloo Station, the injustices that came to light in 2018's Windrush scandal, and the numerous ways in which the government has bungled its response to the revelations, was further exacerbated last June, the 75th anniversary of the Windrush's arrival. Previously classified documents revealed that hundreds of Windrush immigrants, ill with long-term physical or mental conditions, had been sent back to the Caribbean between the 1950s and the early '70s, even though their departure was supposed to be voluntary.

The ongoing fiasco has prompted calls for a public inquiry into the country's repatriation policy and this year, via the X (formerly Twitter) political activism account Led by Donkeys, Jamaica-born Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Sidney McFarlane recorded a message for the UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer:

RAF Squadron Leader Sidney McFarlane has a message to Sunak and Starmer. It’s Windrush Day tomorrow. The survivors deserve justice.

(Location: White Cliffs of Dover) pic.twitter.com/wmj0V4bXRi

— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) June 21, 2024

In it, he recounted his experiences as a Black immigrant in Britain from the 1950s onward, both within the Royal Air Force and beyond. “The Windrush scandal,” he says, “is about people like me who answered the call to come and help the mother country rebuild this place after the Second World War.”

He added that people fail to understand that the Windrush generation landed in the UK as British citizens, and “we are now treated as illegal immigrants.”

In his testimony, McFarlane revealed that he had recently given a talk about Windrush; surprisingly, not many people had heard about it and those that did mistakenly had the impression that the issue had been resolved. “It isn't done and dusted,” McFarlane explained, “and people still suffer.”

Drawing parallels with the 1999–2015 British Post Office scandal, in which thousands of innocent sub-postmasters were accused of — and served time for — financial impropriety that had actually been caused by a faulty accounting software system, Mc Farlane lamented, “It's as though the Home Office is waiting for people to die out, because it's been dragged out so much, we're losing people.”

Courts began overturning judgements relating to the post office scandal in 2021, but it was only in 2024 that the UK Parliament passed a law overturning the convictions — a period of 25 years from the start of the debacle. In the case of Windrush, it has been far longer if you consider that people were being sent back since the 1950s — and now, according to McFarlane, “[T]hey've made [the process] so complicated that the ordinary layperson has great difficulty accessing compensation.”

The eventual resolution, he believes, lies in the appointment of “an independent body to take [the issue] away from the Home Office and for the government to implement its own recommendations.”

With the UK's next general election scheduled for July 4, McFarlane ended his message by saying, “Whoever forms the next government, I'm just hopeful that […] I'll live long enough to see the compensation being paid.”

One commenter on the X thread, disgusted by how the Windrush generation has been treated, hoped that “a new government can find it in themselves to take some meaningful action.”

Another replied:

Very powerful@RishiSunak @Keir_Starmer
If you truly care about #veterans and you want to correct the wrongs of #windrush listen to Sidney
The survivors deserve justice

— Tony Goodger (@Carer26) June 21, 2024

McFarlane also felt that the school curriculum should be changed so as to allow younger generations to be better informed. After all, he argued, “British colonial history is a big part of British history.” A couple of educators responded that they would ensure their students learned about Windrush, with one adding, “They know [and] understand how wrong this was.”

Online responses to the video were mostly supportive, with some saying that the UK was strengthened by the arrival of the Windrush generation — though one commenter asked, “Who invited the Windrush here? Wasn’t the British people; we weren’t asked, we never are.”

X user Adam Bateman countered, “The Windrush generation answered the call when it came, every time it came. They all devoted themselves to the service of the UK, and in return we betrayed them. A stain against us all that allowed their sacrifices to be forgotten.”

One grandchild of a Windrush member added, “Their resilience and aspiration deserve respect.” Another X user confessed that Mc Farlane's “quiet dignity” and “life of service to this country that then betrayed him […] brought a tear to my eye. […] Let's hope he gets to see the conclusion of the process.”

As one commenter succinctly put it, “Windrush people are [British], it is that simple.”

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco

The rise of data-driven political campaigns

Originally published on Global Voices

‘Data trap,’ XKCD comics by Randall Munroe, (CC BY-NC 2.5).

Just as ancient rulers gathered information for strategic gains, modern campaigns use vast datasets to target voters and secure victories, emphasizing data’s crucial role. 

The age of data might seem like a modern concept, but the notion of using information for political advantage has a long history. In ancient India, between the 2nd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, the treatise “The Arthashastra” was composed, and is often regarded as a foundational work on statecraft. This text delves deep into the art of governance, political science, and military strategy. It mentions the importance of gathering as much information as possible, primarily through espionage at the time. However, the emphasis on data collection and analysis undoubtedly highlights its enduring power and foreshadows the central role information plays in contemporary political campaigns.

Rediscovered c. 16th-century ‘Arthashastra’ manuscript in Grantha script from the Oriental Research Institute (ORI), found in 1905. Photo by Wikipedia user MaplesyrupSushi, public domain.

The tradition and key principles of the Arthashastra share roots with the much later concept of realpolitik, a European term from the 19th century, as both philosophies prioritize pragmatism and understanding the realities of the political landscape over idealistic notions. In today’s digital age, the essence of the Arthashastra and realpolitik continues to resonate as data has become the lifeblood of many modern political campaigns. 

Beyond micro-targeting for macro-impact

Data-driven campaigning has continued to be widespread. It is often associated with the infamous 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved data manipulation to influence Trump’s presidency and foreign elections in over 200 countries around the world, showcasing how effectively data manipulation can impact people across various countries, age groups, and backgrounds. In recent years, political strategists worldwide have increasingly harnessed data and emerging technologies for their campaigns.

The growing recognition of these new campaign strategies can help us better understand the immense value of data, especially in the context of new communication channels. In public relations (PR), the importance of various social media platforms is particularly significant, as they have the power to drive social change. At the same time, these new channels also bring challenges, such as the rise of “spin tactics” or disinformation. Moreover, the World Economic Forum has identified disinformation as the world’s top risk in the next two years.

The success of campaigns largely depends on the level of trust citizens have in the messages they receive, as persuasive messages hold the power to shape public opinion and electoral outcomes. In that sense, to earn engagement and ultimately trust, particularly in the online sphere, effective government communications in PR are crucial. These strategic communications often mobilize citizens to support specific individuals or measures. In the long term, even the best PR strategy falls short without established trust, making it essential to consider the behavioral psychology of people, along with the various factors that contribute to the complexity of building trust. Simple political “advertising” is no longer sufficient. This is where data becomes an invaluable tool, often regarded as the world’s most valuable resource, and, unlike natural resources, data is  everywhere.

In the European Research Council interview, Rachel Gibson, a leading expert in party politics, says:

It’s a fascinating concept because a data-driven approach essentially involves maintaining an extensive database that offers profound insights into your voters. It goes beyond merely considering their demographic traits; it delves into their preferences, personalities, and even psychological profiles. This methodology creates a highly detailed and nuanced portrayal of your target audience. This data isn’t collected just for informational purposes; it serves as the foundation for making strategic decisions regarding your political campaign. It informs everything from the content of your messages and the intended recipients to the choice of communication channels.

While ethical concerns about privacy and potential voter manipulation frequently accompany data-driven campaigns, they have become increasingly prevalent around the world. Political parties worldwide demonstrate digital proficiency by employing strategies such as micro-targeted advertising, predictive modeling, or integrating AI into their campaigns. Utilizing social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, these parties show a strong willingness to adopt and exploit new technologies for strategic advantages.

In that sense, Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign in the United States is frequently highlighted as a prime example of data-driven politics, showcasing a significant shift towards data-centric campaign strategies. The campaign used a sophisticated digital strategy to micro-target voters, predict their behavior, and optimize fundraising, ultimately becoming the most successful campaign of all time with over one billion dollars in donations. According to Statsig, social media and online messaging played a central role in the success of Obama’s 2012 campaign.

The approach has gained appeal across different countries in the following years, such as India and Brazil. Narendra Modi’s 2014 and 2019 campaigns in India used data analytics and social media strategies, as noted by The Economic Times: “In the 2014 elections, he rode to power on Big Data and now seeks to transform the country through it.” In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018 presidential campaign utilized WhatsApp to spread targeted messages. AccessNow reported that, during a highly charged political debate, there were allegations of misuse of personal data for disinformation campaigns on the platform.

In the current global electoral year, the German far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), provides a controversial example of data-driven campaigning. Despite its frequently criticized extreme views, it managed to become the second most popular party in Germany. This underscores the evolving nature of data-driven campaign tactics in the political landscape as they move away from strict micro-targeting practices and adopt a strategy where they propagate a “universal message.”

As published in a recent PartyParty article: “As newcomers to the political arena, they adopt a strategy that appears to eschew targeting a specific niche of voters. Instead, they propagate a universal message, albeit one tailored to address the segmented concerns of the electorate.” This approach aligns with the core ideas of realpolitik, which emphasizes practical considerations and achieving political power through effective strategies. The article further elaborates that data provides insights into the electorate’s interests and behaviors. 

Consequently, political parties tailor their ad content to offer a persuasive alternative to the established political narratives. Rather than targeting everyone, it is more effective to address a wide range of electoral segments. This strategy can either strengthen the loyalty of current supporters or attract new voters. Alternative for Germany (AfD) used targeted ads to appeal to diverse groups, including both gay and anti-LGBTQ+ voters, as well as some immigrants and those opposed to immigration; this tactic has even begun to draw support from immigrant, LGBTQ+ communities and younger voters who were typically considered as more progressive. 

A report in The Guardian analyzed how this anti-immigrant party managed to attract immigrant voters. The article explains how certain immigrants, seeking integration into German society, detached themselves from their ethnic enclaves, while the party propagated a narrative distinguishing between “good” and “bad” immigrants.

Data allows election campaigns to deliver micro-targeted messaging with the power to manipulate public opinion.

The #DPDIBill will make it easier for political parties to use our data and lowers accountability just as an election looms.

Read more https://t.co/rJ3puvNV6C

— Open Rights Group (@OpenRightsGroup) April 22, 2024

Although these cases mainly illustrate the perils of data-driven campaigning, Kate Dommett, a professor of digital politics and co-author of a new book entitled “Data-Driven Campaigning and Political Parties” argues that data-driven campaigning in political elections is not automatically problematic:

Data-Driven Campaigning is often viewed as a sinister threat to democracy, but data can be used in a range of different ways, which can be more or less problematic. Whilst there have been fears about fine-grained micro-targeting, in practice we’ve mainly seen UK parties target messages at broad groups. What is clear is that data is now a normal part of campaigning, and we should expect parties to use data, analytics, and technology to optimize their campaigns in 2024.

‘Flawed data,’ XKCD comics by Randall Munroe, (CC BY-NC 2.5).

Taking action

While the influence of information, from ancient governance principles to modern digital strategies, is undeniable, it also carries ethical responsibilities, as evidenced by past controversies and ongoing discussions surrounding data manipulation. Social media platforms should be held responsible, and new legislation is needed to compel major tech companies to ensure transparency in algorithms and political ad targeting. Moreover, fostering awareness of these issues, addressing echo chambers, developing critical thinking skills, and promoting media and digital literacy education are equally essential.

Written by Rafaela Landikusic

Lord Sumption: Hong Kong is slowly becoming a totalitarian state.

Originally published on Global Voices

Hong Kong government file image via HKFP.

Less than two weeks after a Hong Kong High Court convicted 14 pro-democracy politicians of “conspiracy to commit subversion” in the city’s landmark national security case involving 47 pro-democracy advocates, three overseas judges of the Court of Final Appeal handed in their resignations. 

As a former British colony, Hong Kong continued adopting the Common Law system after its handover to China in 1997. The appointment of non-permanent judges (NPJs) from other Common Law jurisdictions is a mechanism to ensure the independence of the city’s judiciary under China's “One Country Two Systems” policy, as explained by Melissa Pang, the then President of the Law Society of Hong Kong: 

NPJs are all eminent judicial officers highly respected in their own jurisdictions and committed to the fair administration of justice in accordance with the law. Their acceptance of the appointment as NPJs to sit on the city’s top court sends a clear message of their confidence in Hong Kong’s judicial system in upholding the rule of law and judicial independence.

Their resignations, hence, signify a pessimistic view of Hong Kong's judicial independence.

“Hong Kong is slowly becoming a totalitarian state”

The latest three resignees are two prominent British judges, Lord Lawrence Collins and Lord Jonathan Sumption, and Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin. Lord Collins told the Financial Times that his resignation was related to the “political situation” in Hong Kong. Lord Sumption later wrote a long statement in the Financial Times explaining that it is “no longer realistic” for overseas judges to help sustain the rule of law in Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state.”

Whoa. Big piece by former UK Supreme Court Judge and Hong Kong overseas judge Jonathan Sumption who resigned a few days ago. https://t.co/Afh11gNXZM

— Timothy McLaughlin (@TMclaughlin3) June 10, 2024

Lord Sumption later explained on a BBC radio program that the recent conviction of 14 pro-democracy activists was the “last straw” behind his resignation. The High Court judgement asserted that the 47 activists who had taken part in organizing unofficial primaries among pro-democracy candidates to run for Legislative Council (Legco) elections in 2020 were involved in a plan to force the Chief Executive into resignation as they signed a statement agreeing to press for universal suffrage and other concessions as a condition of approving the budget once they won the elections. However, Lord Sumption argued against the High Court ruling in his statement in Financial Times that the power to veto the budget is written in the Basic Law and, hence, should be institutionally protected:

…the High Court decided that rejecting the budget was not a permissible means of putting pressure on the chief executive to change his policies. […] That would interfere with the performance of his functions. The result is that Legco cannot exercise an express constitutional right for a purpose unwelcome to the government. Putting a plan to do this before the electorate was branded a criminal conspiracy. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment, the minimum 10 years.

While Lord Sumption is still hopeful that the appeal court may reverse the judgement, he highlighted three problems that created an “impossible political environment”.

The first is the legal framework of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law and the colonial law against sedition, which limits the judges’ freedom of action. Both sets of laws criminalize speeches. For example, political slogans, such as “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of the Times”, were interpreted as seditious, or acts that incited secession in various trials.

The second is the “interpretation” power of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing to reverse decisions made by the local top court, as shown in the deprivation of Jimmy Lai’s right to hire a UK counsel to represent him in court. The third problem points to the “paranoia of the authorities”:

An oppressive atmosphere is generated by the constant drumbeat from a compliant press, hardline lawmakers, government officers and China Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government. A chorus of outrage follows rate decisions to grant bail or acquit. There are continual calls for judicial ‘patriotism’. […] Intimidated or convinced by the darkening political mood, many judges have lost sight of their traditional role as defenders of the liberty of the subject, even when the law allows it. […] The least sign of dissent is treated as a call for revolution. Hefty jail sentences are dished out to people publishing ‘disloyal’ cartoon books for children, or singing pro-democracy songs, or organising silent vigils for the victims of Tiananmen Square.  

Reactions from Hong Kong and Beijing

In response to Lord Sumption’s criticism, the Hong Kong government expressed strong disagreement in a statement:

There is absolutely no truth that the HKSAR courts are under any political pressure from the Central Authorities or the HKSAR Government in the adjudication of national security cases or indeed any case of any nature; or that there is any decline in the rule of law in Hong Kong. Anyone who suggested otherwise, no matter what the reasons or motives may be, would be utterly wrong, totally baseless, and must be righteously refuted.

It blamed foreign interference instead:

Real threats to the independent exercise of judicial power currently faced by the HKSAR courts indeed come from foreign government officials, politicians and political organisations, including blatant attempts to interfere with ongoing legal proceedings, and the despicable threats to impose so-called “sanctions” against judges on account of their performance of judicial functions in cases where the outcomes are not to the liking of these external forces, which are plainly contrary to fundamental principles of international law and international relations.

Chief Justice Andrew Cheung of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal addressed the “problems” raised by Sumption as “a tension often exists between protection of fundamental rights and safeguarding national security” rather than political interferences. 

Beijing's reaction was more militant. A Hong Kong and Macau Liaison Office spokesperson slammed Sumption for smearing the national security law and  accused him of letting himself be “a tool of the UK’s political manoeuvring and a pawn of foreign interference trying to destroy Hong Kong’s stability.”

Loyalty conflicts

A number of non-permanent overseas judges have resigned after the enactment of Beijing-imposed national security law. In 2022, Lord Robert Reed and Lord Patrick Hodge resigned from their positions, citing concerns over the erosion of political freedom and freedom of expression. After the latest round of resignations, four NPJs remain in Hong Kong, and seven are based overseas. They sit in one of the seats among the five top judges in the Court of Final Appeal trial.

Human rights activists have been criticizing the NPJs for their complicit role in the political prosecution of dissidents. In May 2024, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) published a report, “Lending Prestige to Persecution: How Foreign Judges are Undermining Hong Kong’s Freedoms and Why They Should Quit”, which listed political prosecution cases involving the NPJs. For example, former Australian NPJ Anthony Gleeson was involved in the conviction of prominent activist Chow Hang-tung in a trial in January 2024 for inciting an unauthorized assembly (annual candlelight vigil) in 2021, even though she had won an appeal against the district court judgement in the High Court in 2022. Two months later, Gleeson expressed that he did not wish to renew his appointment and became a former judge. 

The report also pointed out that some of the British NPJs are members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom and have taken an oath of allegiance to the Crown. This has resulted in “irreconcilable conflicts” as NPJs are also expected to plead allegiance to the Hong Kong government. Among the remaining seven overseas NPJs, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers and Lord Hoffmann are in such conflicting positions. 

Meanwhile, a growing voice from the pro-establishment camp within Hong Kong calls for an end to the appointment of overseas NPJs. Ronny Tong, a top government advisor, wrote in the South China Morning Post:  

At the end of the day, one is forced to arrive at the logical conclusion that foreign judges sitting on our Court of Final Appeal is more for perception, or for show, if you like, rather than actually making a difference in the exercise of the judicial function. […] So do we still need British judges to shore up our reputation? Some would argue not. Few other places on Earth allow foreign judges to sit on their final appeal court, so should we continue this tradition, for want of a better word, forever?

As both pro-democracy and pro-establishment forces are not in favour of the presence of overseas NPJs in the judicial system, the legal practice may soon end, and Hong Kong's Common Law legal tradition may become more hybrid under a totalitarian system, as Lord Sumption foretold. 

Written by Oiwan Lam

Kensa will be managing the @EuroDigitalLang rotating X account

Originally published on Global Voices

Photo provided by Kensa Broadhurst and used with permission. Background image: digitized versions of a 16th century Cornish play called The Creation of the World. MS Bodl-219, 16v, lines 1525-150 (provided by Broadhurst).

Europe’s linguistic diversity is increasingly reflected in online spaces, where regional and minority language speakers and their communities leverage digital tools and media to preserve, promote, and revitalize their language heritage. In this spirit, Rising Voices’ online campaign @EuroDigitalLang has been curating a rotating X (formerly Twitter) account. Here, language activists and advocates narrate their personal stories in their own words, engaging directly with their audience and sharing ongoing challenges as well as successes.

In this email interview, Rising Voices spoke to upcoming host Kensa Broadhurst, who is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and also works with the Cornish language. You can follow Kensa on X at @kensabroadhurst. She will be managing the @EuroDigitalLang account the week of June 3–9, 2024. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Rising Voices (RV): Please tell us about yourself and your language-related work.

Kensa Broadhurst (KB): I teach Cornish at the University of Exeter and am the Cornish Language Lead for the Institute of Cornish Studies. I am on the committee of the Kesva an Taves Kernewek, the Cornish Language Board, where I have responsibility for teaching and am one of the examiners for the community language exams organized by the board. As part of this voluntary work, I organize training sessions for the Cornish language teachers who teach evening classes, both in-person and online, to students across Cornwall and worldwide, as well as doing some voluntary teaching too. I am one of a small team who write and read the news in Cornish for BBC Radio Cornwall — you can find our program on BBC Sounds too; search for “An Nowodhow.”

RV: What is the current state of your language both online and offline?

KB: Cornish was actually given a real boost by the COVID-19 pandemic.  As everything moved online, including all of the community-based lessons, suddenly it meant that Cornish lessons were available to anyone, not just people who could access an in-person evening class in Cornwall, London, or Bristol. The Cornish diaspora is mainly situated in Australia and the United States, and as a community, we were then able to reach people of Cornish heritage and teach them the language.

Currently, classes happen in-person all over Cornwall, but online too, and we have been careful to maintain this offering — both as traditional classes but also as language spaces including Yethow-an-Werin (get together) where the emphasis is on speaking the language. There are around 3,000–5,000 people worldwide with a reasonable knowledge of Cornish, and perhaps 500 fluent speakers.

RV: What are your motivations for seeing your language present in digital spaces?

KB: I've loved seeing how making use of digital spaces has allowed Cornish to reach new audiences and those who were unable to access their language previously. Those people for whom Cornish is part of their cultural heritage are able to feel part of the online community, and everyone can feel proud that Cornish has an online presence and importance. As a community, we're able to promote Cornish, but we also need to explore using digital spaces to help preserve our language too. We can use digital spaces to make Cornish accessible to everyone including those learners with additional needs — something I would definitely like to see us explore and expand. Finally, digital spaces and a digital presence allow us to promote our language, historic and present-day multilingualism within the United Kingdom, and the value of linguistic diversity.

RV: Describe some of the challenges that prevent your language from being fully utilized online.

KB:As we are such a small language community we lack the numbers of people with both the language and technological skills to create an adequate online presence for Cornish. Often, we rely on the same people to do everything.  We do have tools such as a Cornish digital keyboard and an online dictionary, which have come about from Cornish being included within larger projects covering several languages. Although we do have a standardized form of the language that is meant to be used in education and by public bodies, we do also have several spelling systems and it can be confusing for beginners, or those interested in Cornish, to differentiate between these where online resources exist in the various forms. As with many languages, the work to create online spaces and resources for Cornish is done by volunteers, rather than being funded, and this can impact what is possible for us to achieve.

RV: What concrete steps do you think can be taken to encourage younger people to begin learning their language or keep using their language?

KB: There are approximately 50 primary schools (out of around 240) in Cornwall which do offer some Cornish teaching. However, as Cornish is not taught at secondary level, there is currently no means of progression for these pupils. Cornish is taught by non-specialist teachers; we really need to implement a program of teaching Cornish to primary school teachers to give them the confidence to pass on the language. We need more resources which reflect current modern language teaching in order to engage young people.

However, for all of this to truly succeed, we need young people to see Cornish being used more widely outside the classroom, in community settings and in the worlds of education and work — if they cannot see why the language can be of further use, why should they learn it? This could also be achieved by linking Cornish to the region's wider intangible cultural heritage.

Written by Rising Voices

Is it just business and politics or more?

Originally published on Global Voices

Image by Arzu Geybullayeva

President Ilham Aliyev, the incumbent leader of Azerbaijan, has welcomed leaders of several countries known for their anti-Western sentiments and in some cases, questionable human rights and freedoms records in recent weeks. Among the leaders shaking hands and signing agreements with President Aliyev since April 2024 were Tajikistan's president Emomali Rahmon, the President of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Slovakia's Prime Minister, and the President of Bulgaria.

In April 2024, Slovakia elected a populist president who publicly sympathized with Russia. In the case of Hungary, the country has been consistently blocking aid to Ukraine, as recently as May 27, 2024. Hungary's President, Viktor Orban, also congratulated Russia's President Vladimir Putin on re-election in March 2024. Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia were also among the countries that blocked imports of Ukrainian grain in 2023, earning the nickname of “rogue states” within the European Union. Hungary and Slovakia also blocked the release of a statement on behalf of all 27 EU member states on Georgia's controversial foreign agent bill adopted on May 14, 2024.

Beyond these countries, the president also prides himself in having developed a “friendship” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and having a cozy relationship with Uzbekistan, which is ranked “not free” by Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World report. This is not at all an exhaustive list. 

As for the recent events, Azerbaijani experts have been mulling over these visits, with some claiming Azerbaijan has gained significant interest among international leaders looking to build ties with the country, while others have been critical, concerned that the government is headed toward an anti-Western coalition. 

Hikmet Babaoglu, Deputy Chairman of the Defense, Security, and Anti-Corruption Committee of the Milli Majlis [Azerbaijan's Parliament], viewed the interest in Azerbaijan especially among Eastern European countries as a logical step given Azerbaijan's already existing ties with Western Europe. “Our main trade partners are Western European countries. Therefore, we should consider the increase of interest of Eastern European countries in Azerbaijan as a process after the West,” Babaoglu told Meydan TV in an interview. Babaoglu added that statements claiming otherwise, or accusing Azerbaijan of fostering anti-Western sentiments are nothing but political blackmail aimed at tarnishing the country's international image.

The pro-government member of the parliament also accused some Azerbaijani media outlets of becoming tools in the hands of imperialist powers and spreading false narratives.

For political scientist Azer Gasimli, who heads the Institute of Political Management, Azerbaijan's growing ties with countries like Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, were more transactional than anything else. “Official Baku takes part in [these countries’] investment projects in exchange for their support of Azerbaijan,” noted Gasimli, in an interview with Meydan TV.

In April 2023, Azerbaijan signed the “Solidarity Ring,” a document outlining the expansion of the gas network with the countries in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. This initiative became more urgent after natural gas exports from Russia were closed off following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Following a visit from the Slovakian Prime Minister, the two countries also signed an agreement on the involvement of Slovak companies in reconstruction work in Karabakh, which has been left in disarray after violence erupted between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over the last five years.

Natig Jafarli, a member of the Political Committee of the REAL Party, said that countries like Slovakia and Hungary, who are EU and NATO members, act in their self-interest, especially when it comes to securing energy deals. “Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Slovakia was receiving 90 percent of its gas supply from Russia, while Hungary was receiving 80 percent of its oil supply from Russia,” explained Jafarli, as such, with some of these countries that were once heavily dependent on Russia for energy, looking at alternatives was normal added Jafarli in his interview with Meydan TV. “For [countries like] Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary, Azerbaijan's energy reserves can play a sufficient role in reducing [their over-reliance on Russia] and meeting their needs,” said Jafarli.

As such, even if Azerbaijan wanted to, it could not join any anti-western coalitions because of the country's high dependence on the West. “51 percent of [the country's] oil and 75 percent of [its] gas are sold to Western countries. Our biggest buyer is Italy. Given this reality, how can Azerbaijan pursue an anti-Western policy? If this becomes the case, then the country will have to face significant economic consequences,” explained Jafarli. 

Jafarli explained that from a political point of view, Azerbaijan's growing ties with other authoritarian regimes are meant to send a message to Brussels. The EU has leveled much criticism toward Azerbaijani officials over decreasing freedoms in the country and its dismal human rights record.

A different kind of diplomacy

Azerbaijan's approach to diplomacy differs greatly in Western Europe compared to Eastern Europe. This has been documented for years by various international organizations that have dubbed the energy-rich country's diplomatic efforts as “caviar diplomacy.” The latter was a term coined by a European think tank, the European Stability Initiative (ESI), in 2012, documenting how Azerbaijani officials were bribing European politicians at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). But its bribing efforts extended beyond just PACE.

In 2017 the Azerbaijani Laundromat put the UK under the spotlight when “confidential banking records were leaked to the Danish newspaper Berlingske and shared with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Guardian, and other media partners,” covering a 30-month period reported The Guardian at the time. The 2021 investigation by VICE revealed how through a wide network of politicians and lobbyists Azerbaijani influenced politics in Berlin. There is documentation of other forms of lobbying carried out by the government of Azerbaijan in recent years. In January 2024, at least three German politicians were charged with bribery and corruption in connection with Azerbaijan. The most recent scandal of Azerbaijani influence involves US lawmaker Representative Henry Cuellar who was charged with “taking at least USD 360,000 in bribes from companies controlled by the government of Azerbaijan.”

In all of these cases, the Azerbaijani government and its leadership got away with its dubious financial transactions and deals all the while, building new friendships and practicing the same old tactics of cracking down on free press and dissent. A January 2024 decision at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe not to renew the credentials of Azerbaijan's delegation on the grounds the country failed to meet “major commitments” as part of its membership to the Council of Europe made little difference. International calls on the government to release political prisoners including April 2024 resolution by the European Parliament have also made no impact. When President Aliyev signed the most recent pardon decree on the day of the country's national independence on May 25, 2024, not one political prisoner was on the list.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva

Protesters rebranded the office as ‘Hong Kong Espionage & Tracking Office’

Originally published on Global Voices

Protests outside London's HKETO. Screenshot from RFA Cantonese Channel on YouTube. Fair Use.

An employee from the London-based Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) has been accused by British police authority of engaging in the spying of overseas Hong Kong activists in the U.K. This has triggered a protest outside the HKETO office in London and a campaign urging Western democracies to shut down HKETOs in their countries. 

Three suspects, Chi-Leung Wai, Matthew Trickett, and Chung-Biu Yuen, were arrested last week on May 13. They were accused of assisting Hong Kong’s intelligence services and foreign interference, in violation of the UK’s National Security Act 2023. Both stood in court on May 13 and were now on bail pending for trial. 

Yuen, a former Hong Kong police officer, is the office manager of the HKETO in London. Later, it was revealed that Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and Yuen were both 2002 graduates of the Australian School of Policing, although Lee denied having a personal relationship with Yuen:  

Yuen obtained Graduate Certificate in Police Management with now chief executive John Lee the Australian School of Policing, Charles Sturt University in New South Wales in 2002 https://t.co/MVjNrIMKOj pic.twitter.com/2H8RR2BvDC

— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) May 13, 2024

In response to the arrest, the Chinese Embassy in the UK issued a statement accusing the UK government of “malicious fabrication and unwarranted accusation” against the Hong Kong government, while John Lee echoed the Chinese statement and called the UK police's allegation “unwarranted” and “unacceptable.”

Yet, the prosecution document exposed messaging records on Yuen’s phone showing that Yuen had been assigning surveillance tasks to Wai since 2021.

Trickett's notes on his mobile phone also indicated that he was a main contributor to Yuen and Wai’s task orders, which involved the surveillance of trade unionist Christopher Siu Tat Mung and exiled pro-democracy activists Nathan Law and Finn Lau. 

According to the prosecution document, Trickett's mobile phone also contained several detailed surveillance reports, including Nathan Law’s observation.

Wai’s security company, D5 Security Consultancy Limited, also received GBP 95,500 (USD 121,346) from HKETO’s bank account between June 5, 2023, and January 31, 2024. The money was then channeled to numerous individuals and companies, including Trickett’s personal and company (MTR Consultancy Limited) accounts.  

Many on social media, like independent journalist Tom Mitchell, were appalled by their indiscreet operations:

“WAI and TRICKETT have been paid for their activity directly from the HKETO bank account, and their invoices are sent to the London office of the HKETO” … Even dumber than the Watergate plumbers. https://t.co/RoA6BO8HmF

— Tom Mitchell (@TMitchBK) May 16, 2024

Since all three activists under surveillance are wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police with a HKD 1 million (approximately USD 128,000) bounty on their heads, and the city’s Chief Executive had stated that the wanted individuals “will be pursued for life,” stressing that “we want them to know that we will not sit and do nothing,” the prosecutor alleged that the trio were acting on behalf of the Hong Kong authorities. 

In reacting to Hong Kong’s extraterritorial operation in the UK, Hong Kong activists staged a protest outside HKETO in London and rebranded the office as “Hong Kong Espionage & Tracking Office”:

#HongKongers have rebranded HKETO the “Hong Kong Espionage & Tracking Office.” We won't stand for the authoritarian HK government harassing, intimidating & spying on the HK diaspora. We call on governments in countries where we reside to hold the CCP & HK government accountable. pic.twitter.com/HahsEkiX9W

— Hong Kong Democracy Council (@hkdc_us) May 15, 2024

Exiled Hong Kong political cartoonist Ah To echoed the activists and mocked the shift of HKETO's trade promotion function: 

阿塗’s cartoon today:
The names of Special Ops agencies of different places… pic.twitter.com/w5oiqLF9Vp

— Cindy Wan (@CindyWan19) May 16, 2024

Some activists also called for Western democracies to shut down HKETO in their countries. Hong Kong human rights activist Samuel Bickett is one of the most vocal voices:

3 new UK arrests of Hong Kong spies, one of whom is HKETO staff & an ex-HK cop. This is the first time a govt has referred to “Hong Kong intelligence services.” US/UK/EU must shut HKETOs. It’s also time to revisit barring visas/immigration for HK police. https://t.co/9lqB7DHQgH https://t.co/psdWOOIAw1 pic.twitter.com/C0na2rTj75

— Samuel Bickett (@SamuelBickett) May 13, 2024

In the US, a bill known as the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, which requires the President to remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions and immunities to HKETO, was introduced to Congress in February 2023 and passed in the House's Foreign Affairs Committee in December 2023.  If the law is passed in Congress, all three HKETO offices in the US will have to terminate its operation. 

The current HKETO-related spy case in the UK is likely to fuel the passage of the HKETO Certification Act in the US and the review of HKETO status in other countries. The China Commission of the US Congress wrote on X, formerly Twitter:

Arrest of #HKETO employee in UK accentuates concerns that these offices act as a conduit of transnational repression, which should spur Congress to quickly pass our HKETO Certification Act– to ensure efforts to surveil and harass HKers never happen in the US, say Chairs. https://t.co/qyPAqNzRWa

— China Commission (@CECCgov) May 15, 2024

Concerns over China’s transnational repression of activists and dissents have been growing. For example, Australian-based political cartoonist Badiucao has been constantly harassed and threatened by Chinese authorities since 2009. Reportedly, Beijing had attempted but failed to cancel the artist's shows in Rome and Poland. Recently, Teacher Li, a most popular social media outlet for breaking news in mainland China, also revealed how Chinese authorities attempted to silence him by threatening his family back home. 

Amnesty International's latest report also highlighted the fact that when Chinese and Hong Kong students act for human rights overseas, they become targets of surveillance and threats, and their families based in China also face harassment and intimidation:

One student whose family in China was targeted after she attended a protest overseas told Amnesty the Chinese authorities’ message was clear: “You are being watched, and though we are on the other side of the planet, we can still reach you.” 5/6

— amnestypress (@amnestypress) May 13, 2024

Most of the reported transnational repression incidents have been conducted by mainland Chinese agencies, targeting Uighurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, as well as Hong Kong and mainland Chinese political dissidents. The most known case was the deportation of about 100 Uighurs from Thailand to China in 2015 despite strong opposition from international society.

The current HKETO-related operation is the first time a Hong Kong authority has been involved and exposed.

Written by Oiwan Lam

‘The government should not be entering into any relationship with Richard Drax’

Originally published on Global Voices

Drax Hall sugar plantation, Barbados, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Barbados’ prime minister, Mia Mottley, is well regarded as a progressive world leader and strong champion of the Caribbean region, outspoken on issues ranging from climate justice to reparations. Her administration's recent expression of interest in a land purchase from a descendant of slave traders, therefore, struck a sour note, eventually prompting her to address the nation on April 23 and announce that the deal would be put on pause.

To many, the fact that the purchase was even on the table seemed out of step with some of the issues Mottley has taken action on. In late 2020, for instance, amid global Black Lives Matter protests, her government decommissioned a statue of British Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson from its place in Bridgetown's National Heroes Square because of the role he played in the transatlantic slave trade — a symbolic gesture that spoke volumes about the social temperature of the island — and announced its intentions for self-governance. A year later, Barbados became the world's newest republic, replacing then British monarch Queen Elizabeth II as the country's head of state.

Imagine the surprise, then, when the land in question was revealed to be Drax Hall plantation, described by the CARICOM Reparations Commission as a “killing field” for tens of thousands of enslaved Africans who died under horrible conditions between the mid-17th and 19th centuries. British Conservative MP Richard Drax, as the family's descendant, would stand to be paid GBP 3 million (just over USD 3.7 million) for approximately 50 acres of the estate's land, which the Barbadian government planned to use for low-income housing developments.

While attorney and political activist David Commisiong, who once headed Barbados’ Commission for Pan-African affairs, acknowledged that “numerous black working-class Barbadians – some of them being descendants of enslaved Africans who were oppressed and exploited on the Drax Hall plantation — [are] desperately in need of proper housing,” he also suggested this must be balanced by the fact that the property was “a central location of the genocidal oppression and exploitation of multiple generations of enslaved black Barbadians” and “the principal generator of wealth for the Drax family […] over a period of hundreds of years” — especially given the history and Drax's lacklustre response to calls for reparations.

Despite the high-profile efforts of the Trevelyans, a British aristocratic family, to make their own amends for their family's tainted past and to push for others to do the same, Drax has remained notoriously anti-reparations, calling his family's involvement in the slave trade “deeply regrettable,” but adding, “no one can be held responsible today for what happened many hundreds of years ago.”

Trevor Prescod, a parliamentary minister who is a member of Mottley's Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and chair of the Barbados National Taskforce on Reparations, called the decision “a bad example […] How do we explain this to the world?” The UK Guardian reports that Prescod went on to say that “The [Barbadian] government should not be entering into any relationship with Richard Drax, especially as we are negotiating with him regarding reparations.” He was also adamant that if no headway was made in resolving the issue, Barbados would not hesitate to “take legal action in the international courts.”

In speaking with The Guardian back in 2020, Sir Hilary Beckles, the Barbadian historian who chairs the CARICOM Reparations Commission and was instrumental in the signing of a historic agreement for slavery reparations between the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Glasgow — the first such contract since enslaved Africans were fully emancipated by the British in 1838 — did not mince words: “The Drax family has done more harm and violence to the Black people of Barbados than any other family. The Draxes built and designed and structured slavery.”

By late 2022, however, there appeared to be some progress in terms of reparations. Drax reportedly visited Barbados for a meeting with Prime Minister Mottley; there was talk of converting part of Drax Hall into a museum while other areas would be earmarked for low-income housing. Apart from handing over the property as a settlement, Drax may also have been asked to foot the bill for some of the work.

The potential land deal, therefore, threw many observers for a loop, both in Barbados and in Britain. On Facebook, the Sussex Labour Representation Committee wrote, “We agree with Barbados poet laureate Esther Phillips that multi-millionaire MP Richard Drax should be giving up ‘his’ land as reparations for his family's profiteering from slavery, not further enriching himself at the expense of Barbadians. As socialists and trades unionists, we speak out against this and stand with the people of Barbados.”

Phillips, who grew up next to Drax Hall, called the situation, which she viewed as a case of the descendants of victims compensating a descendant of enslavers, “an atrocity.”

Philip Dunn was of similar mind, saying, “[N]o one should be able to make vast profit today from something inhuman that happened many hundreds of years ago.”

Meanwhile, Barbadian Roland Clarke posted, “While it is intuitive to me that Mr. Drax shouldn't be legally liable for crimes committed by his ancestors, I cannot say the same for the going concern called Drax Plantation. My view is that Drax Plantation is a ‘corporate person’ under the law. Therefore, like any other ‘person’ who has committed a crime, Drax Planation must face the consequences of the law. [T]he Government of Barbados now seems set to purchase Drax Hall Plantation at market rates. Where are my glasses? Did I read that correctly?”

Many social media users commented on the fact that Drax is one of the richest MPs, to the tune of about GBP 150 million (USD 185,670,000). Cathy Thomas-Bryant added, “I can’t think of any of my friends who wouldn’t simply give the land back to those from whom it was stolen. What an opportunity this man has to do something good rather than something horrible. And no, it isn’t a simple land sale — not when it’s the sale of a plantation that was described as a killing ground, where so many slaves died.”

Caribbean-born Jason Jones, who resides in the UK, was livid: “British Member of Parliament still making money TODAY from his family’s ENSLAVEMENT, rape and murder of Afro-Caribbean people! Tell me again how slavery is in the past and we should ‘just move on'??”

During a 2015 visit to Jamaica, then British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would not entertain any talk of reparations, and advised Jamaicans to “get over slavery.”

Alison Kriel also weighed in with a poignant reminder: “The bank of slave ownership goes on giving. Always remember that the only people compensated post emancipation were the slave owners for loss of revenue.”

As for the position of the Barbados government, Housing Minister Dwight Sutherland, under whose constituency Drax Hall falls, initially explained: “This is an acquisition process at market value. We compensate the landowners. It so happens that this land is owned by Mr. Drax but this has nothing to do with reparations. It is a housing project.”

With Prime Minister Mottley having made calls for reparations as recently as December 2023 in London, however, leaving the issue out of such a sensitive discussion rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. In her subsequent video address, Mottley noted, “We get the concept of reparations both domestically, but also — as we have been doing — internationally,” saying that Barbados has been “at the forefront of making the call for reparations.” She also made a direct link between the climate crisis, a cause she has been very active in, and the “building out” of the Industrial Revolution, funded by profits from the slave trade, which has been the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

In response to comments suggesting that the government should simply seize the land, Mottley unequivocally stated, “Barbados is a country that is governed by the rule of law,” adding she is “not aware of any example where we have expropriated people's land — when people have land that is the subject of compulsory acquisition, by law we are due to pay for it.”

“At the same time,” she said, “that does not preclude us from going aggressively to be able to pursue [reparations], both through advocacy and [through] legal options.” Sharing that she is “not happy” with the pace at which the reparations discussion has proceeded with Drax, Mottley still cautioned that Barbadians should not “cut off our nose to spite our face,” meaning that citizens in need of housing should not be denied that opportunity.

The prime minister also cited the country's Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act, which she called “one of the most aggressive forms of land reform in the Americas” and “one of the most perfect forms of reparations,” although it was done “by the people who themselves were the descendants of slaves.” The Act, instituted 40 years ago, allows Barbadians living on plantation tenantries for more than five years to buy the land at affordable prices. The fact that such a measure has not yet been matched by enslavers “in spite of the compensation that they received from the British government — 20 million pounds in hard cash and another 27 million pounds with respect to the forced labour of people between 1834 and 1838 in the apprenticeship system,” Mottley said, “is a matter of grave regret for us.”

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco

AI-generated content will also have greater impact in our social life

Originally published on Global Voices

Image created using Dalle-3 by OpenArt.

Nowadays, almost anybody can create audio or video recordings of celebrities or regular people acting and talking in ways they never would have by using simple, widely accessible artificial intelligence (AI) software. The rights of the people whose voices and images are being appropriated will need to be more seriously protected. Big tech companies have teamed up in a historic attempt to stop the misuse of AI in the upcoming elections throughout the world.

Deepfakes continue to develop and each time with better quality, more convincing, and closer to reality. The large number of elections around the world during 2024 raises with it the concern about the inclusion of artificial intelligence in these electoral processes, which may compromise the integrity of the elections. Voter manipulation by deepfakes is one of the main discussions in many countries of the world that are preparing for elections. About 4 billion people will turn to the ballot boxes in over 50 different countries. Concerns have been expressed by academics, journalists, and politicians over the use of AI-generated content in political influence operations.

Nonetheless, AI-generated content will also have a greater impact on our social life. Recently, viral cases have been related to celebrities, but given how fast deepfakes are evolving, we will have deepfake videos of regular people who are not celebrities or politicians and do not arouse public interest in their jobs or activities. This will be a very serious threat to societies, and that is why it is very important to have collective initiatives against AI-generated trickeries.

Case studies of recent deepfakes

Deepfakes, or non-AI-based manipulations called “cheapfakes,” are not new and have been around for a while. However, with ChatGPT's impact on bringing AI to a wider audience, in the last year, billions of dollars have been invested in AI companies. The development of programs that facilitate their production, especially deepfakes, has multiplied the use of artificial intelligence to produce deepfakes that target the public. Even now, in addition to video manipulation, there have been cases where an audio deepfake is produced, which is even easier to create.

The case of audio deepfake of the US President, Joe Biden, that was distributed in New Hampshire, urging people not to vote in the state’s primary, reached more than 20,000 people. The person who was behind this manipulation and paid $150 to produce it, Steve Kramer, stated that he did it as an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to the risks associated with artificial intelligence in politics, and to draw attention to the necessity of AI regulations.

Another big example which showed how deepfakes could be a danger to democracy is the audio deepfake of Slovak politician, Michal Simecka. A recorded voice message was uploaded on Facebook 48 hours before Slovakia's election, appearing to be of Simecka discussing election fraud with journalist, Monika Todova. An example that could have serious political and societal implications is the audio deepfake of London mayor, Sadiq Khan. In early November of 2023, an audio deepfake of Khan went viral when he appeared to be insulting Armistice Day (a celebration to mark the moment when World War I ended) and demanding that pro-Palestine marches take precedence.

In addition to audio deepfakes with political protagonists, video deepfakes with celebrities continue to circulate on the internet. For example, there are video deepfakes of the famous Hollywood actor, Tom Hanks, in which an AI version of him promoted a dental plan, or the famous US YouTuber, MrBeast, who appeared to be hosting “the world's largest iPhone 15 giveaway.”

Image deepfakes of the singer Taylor Swift that were published at the beginning of this year on several social media platforms — X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit — also became viral. Before it was taken down from X, an image deepfake of Swift was viewed over 45 million times in the roughly 17 hours that it was up on the platform.

A collective initiative against AI-generated trickery

The “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections,” which was announced at the Munich Security Conference, sees 20 major players, including Adobe, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Meta, committing to use cutting-edge technology to detect and counteract harmful AI-generated content that aims to mislead voters, and also to support efforts to foster public awareness, media literacy, and all-of-society resilience. It is the first time that 20 different companies are getting on board together against AI-generated trickery.

Participating companies agreed to eight specific commitments to mitigate risks related to deceptive AI election content. This initiative between the tech sector and AI aims to target pictures, videos, and audio created by AI that might mislead voters regarding candidates, election officials, and the voting process. However, it does not demand that such content be banned completely.

Written by Dren Gërguri

‘This repatriation [represents] the return of a valuable piece of Jamaican heritage’

Originally published on Global Voices

A specimen of the Celestus occiduus housed at the Natural History Museum, London. Photo by Simon J. Tonge via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 DEED. This is the same lizard species that is being repatriated to Jamaica, though not the specific specimen.

Culturally, many Jamaicans have a horror of lizards, shuddering at the mere thought of one. As such, many did not share the excitement of Jamaican and British scientists over a recent announcement by the University of the West Indies (UWI) that a specimen of the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp — presumed extinct — will be going home to Jamaica on April 24, having been in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow, Scotland since 1888.

An official handover ceremony will celebrate the Giant Galliwasp making the Natural History Museum of Jamaica in Kingston its new home, where it will be made accessible to the public. UWI announced the repatriation of this extraordinary creature, housed in a glass stoppered jar and preserved in ethanol, on social media:

𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: The University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow have announced the repatriation of a Jamaican Giant Galliwasp specimen from The Hunterian collection at UofG in Scotland, UK. Read More @ https://t.co/kzZpuYsgoY pic.twitter.com/eavKzGLBL4

— UWI Global Campus (@UWIGlobalCampus) April 19, 2024

The university also noted that the return of this impressive lizard has added significance for Jamaica and the region: “This repatriation exercise is momentous as it is the first repatriation of a natural history specimen in the Caribbean. It symbolises an important milestone for scientific research, cultural heritage preservation in the region, and repatriation as part of the reparatory justice for the Caribbean.”

UWI Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles, who chairs the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparations Commission, added, “By returning the galliwasp to its rightful place, we take a small but significant step towards laying the foundation for a regional and international discussion on repatriation.”

The Jamaican Giant Galliwasp (Celestus occiduus is — or was — no ordinary lizard. Suspected to be extinct, it was endemic to Jamaica and part of a family of anguid lizards known as diploglossines, which live in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Experts believe this particular specimen would have been collected in the 1850s. As explained by one Scottish scientist, its demise is related to the colonial sugarcane plantation system and the British colonisers’ introduction of the predatory mongoose from India to the island in 1872:

#mongoose #INNS responsible for extinction of 5 endemics: Giant Galliwasp; Black Racer; #Jamaican Rice Rat, Paruraque & Petrel #sad pic.twitter.com/eyMz3bJELt

— Susan Davies (@smdavies67) November 17, 2017

The large, glossy, forked tongue reptile, which lived in swamps and marshes as well as rocky areas and forests, might still perhaps be found in Jamaica's Negril Morass or Black River Morass, but none have yet been discovered. Its diet consisted of fruit, fish, worms, insects and small lizards. It was a burrower and produced live young.

Although not venomous, galliwasps, in general, are often feared. One well-known superstition is that if the reptile bites someone, he/she must reach water before it does: if the galliwasp reaches water first, the person dies; if the person reaches water first, the galliwasp dies.

As Jamaican biologist Damion Whyte explains, there are 11 species of galliwasps globally, 10 of which are endemic, living only in Jamaica. Another species, the endangered Giant Hispaniola Galliwasp, lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and faces similar challenges to its Jamaican counterpart.

A Jamaican biologist shared a story on the repatriation, urging Jamaicans to put aside their fear and prejudices:

Please read the article to understand, and stop taking pride in the stereotypical responses https://t.co/WU9FOV4bXb https://t.co/y7NM5l52Wg

— Bujsha (@bujsha) April 19, 2024

The return of this fascinating creature is not merely symbolic. In a WhatsApp conversation with Global Voices, biologist Damion Whyte welcomed the move, pointing out that the repatriation will encourage further much-needed research on galliwasps, helping to raise local awareness of the animal and the need to respect and protect wildlife.

It could also serve as an empowering boost for the scientific and museum community in developing countries like Jamaica. “I expect it would put some life in our museums that are underfunded,” Whyte said. “We have collections that are struggling to be preserved and need funding. There is this notion that third-world countries like Jamaica can't take care of their own natural heritage; hence, the developed countries should keep these valuable collections. I would love for us to prove them wrong.”

Adding that talk of the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp has now reached the international community, with many recognising that there are several artefacts in private collections and museums that people are unaware of, Whyte added, “It now starts the conversation on whether these artefacts should be returned to where they got them from.”

Apart from its scientific value, Whyte noted the cultural and historical significance of the repatriation, which the Repair Campaign, a social movement for reparatory justice guided by the CARICOM Reparations Commission, recognised in a tweet on X (formerly Twitter):

This might seem like an insignificant move, but it opens the door to the repatriation of other ‘big-ticket’ artefacts to the Caribbean. A welcome step towards reparatory justice.

— The Repair Campaign (@RepairCampaign) April 19, 2024

The University of the West Indies clarified that the repatriation is part of a much larger project “within the sphere of the execution of a 2019 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between The UWI and University of Glasgow (UofG), aimed at fostering collaboration in research and education and addressing the historical legacies of colonialism.”

UWI said one of the most tangible outcomes of the MOU is the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research (GCCDR), which “funds research projects that advance development goals in the Caribbean, facilitates academic partnerships, and raises global awareness about the ongoing impact of historical slavery.”

The university stressed that “this repatriation not only represents the return of a valuable piece of Jamaican heritage, but also signifies a commitment by the UofG to rectify past injustices and ensure Caribbean ownership of its scientific and cultural treasures.”

Taking it one step further, the University of Glasgow has been examining the Giant Galliwasp specimen and many other artefacts contained in its Hunterian Collection as part of its “Curating Discomfort” project launched two years ago. The project faces up to some difficult truths regarding many museum displays of items taken, collected, or stolen by colonial powers by helping us to understand that “museums have perpetuated ideologies of white supremacy.”

Explaining that the British Empire “used these ideologies to justify the enslavement and colonisation of peoples and lands around the world,” it added that museums developed within this context and “remain spaces that celebrate and memorialise colonial systems.” Collections, displays and labels, it said, are therefore, “a political act that [has] legacies rooted in colonialism.”

Meanwhile, Jamaica's Culture Minister Olivia Grange has once again called for reparations, which a June 2023 report estimated could amount to as much as GBP 18.6 trillion (about USD 23 trillion):

Jamaican government remains committed to getting reparations for slavery

The Jamaican minister Olivia Grange said African people around the world still endure the legacies of slavery#ReparationsNow https://t.co/3ZXfJuDcEI

— The Voice Newspaper (@TheVoiceNews) April 19, 2024

While monetary compensation is a critical aspect of the reparations movement in the Caribbean, the repatriation of artefacts — including, for the first time in the region, a Caribbean biological specimen — forms part of the complex and continuously evolving reparations process.

Although there is no update on Jamaica's request five years ago for the repatriation of Taino artefacts, it is believed to be in process. Hope also remains alive that the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp could be rediscovered, as was another famous lizard, the critically endangered Jamaican Iguana, back in the 1990s.

Written by Emma Lewis

L’Office du Jèrriais will be managing the @EuroDigitalLang rotating X account

Originally published on Global Voices

Photo provided by L’Office du Jèrriais and used with permission.

Europe’s linguistic diversity is increasingly reflected in online spaces, where regional and minority language speakers and their communities leverage digital tools and media to preserve, promote, and revitalize their language heritage. In this spirit, Rising Voices’ online campaign @EuroDigitalLang has been curating a rotating X (formerly Twitter) account. Here, language activists and advocates narrate their personal stories in their own words, engaging directly with their audience and sharing ongoing challenges as well as successes. In this email interview, Rising Voices spoke to upcoming host Geraint Jennings of L’Office du Jèrriais, a public body which promotes and teaches Jèrriais —  the native language of Jersey. More info can be found at their X account: @le_jerriais. Gerraint and his team will be managing the account the week of April 22–28, 2024. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Rising Voices (RV): Please tell us about yourself and your language-related work.

L’Office du Jèrriais (LDJ): L’Office du Jèrriais includes two teams: the Jèrriais Teaching Service consisting of six teachers (based at the education department of the Government of Jersey) and the Jèrriais Promotion Team consisting of three employees (at Jersey Heritage, the body responsible for museums, historic sites and intangible cultural heritage in Jersey).

Since the launch of a teaching program of Jèrriais in schools in 1999, we have developed teaching and learning materials, dictionaries, books, online resources and have offered language advice to organizations, business and individuals, including translations.

We now act as official translators for the Government of Jersey for signage and other public usage of Jèrriais, and providing support for all activities involving Jèrriais.

RV: What is the current state of your language both online and offline?

LDJ: Jèrriais is a critically endangered language. From being a majority language at the beginning of the 20th century, now only a small minority are fluent (although up to a quarter of the population understand some Jèrriais and may use words which have been borrowed into Jersey English.)

The States of Jersey voted to make Jèrriais an official language in 2019 (but this does not mean that use of Jèrriais is obligatory, only optional). With ministerial backing from the Government of Jersey, progress has been made towards ratifying the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

The status of Jèrriais has been increased along with interest in the language and awareness of it in offline media. Content includes the launch of the book “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince) at the end of 2023, Eisteddfod (Cultural Festival) entries with songs and poems performed in Jèrriais, a poem in Jèrriais winning the Jersey Literature Festival poetry competition, collaborative working with ArtHouse Jersey and musicians producing songs in the language.

The online presence is growing with Jèrriais language resources including:

Learn! – Here you will find resources created and used by the Jèrriais Teaching Service to support learners of all ages
Listen! – Office du Jèrriais Soundcloud account. Here you can listen to over 48,000 Jèrriais audio files – including pronunciation files from the dictionary, phrases, texts, conversations, teaching, poetry, songs
Look! – The Office du Jèrriais YouTube channel to watch and listen to over a thousand videos in and about Jèrriais
Lettre!  – La Lettre Jèrriaise. A weekly podcast in Jèrriais, broadcast every Saturday morning on BBC Radio Jersey
Live it! – Les Pages Jèrriaises. Thousands of pages of Jèrriais texts, articles, poems, songs, vocabulary, grammar, topics, trivia, quizzes and more

RV: What are your motivations for seeing your language present in digital spaces?

LDJ: Crapauds (people from Jersey) are renowned travellers and sometimes choose to settle overseas. A digital presence of their language helps them, and future generations, stayed rooted in their heritage.

Linking with the diaspora is important. It also allows people who are unable, or perhaps unlikely to attend language classes, to practice the language through visual and audio means. There is also the economic benefit of raising Jersey's profile as a different country to do business, to visit, to invest in, separate from the UK, and the identity of Jersey as a small island nation with its own unique, if connected, culture.

RV: Describe some of the challenges that prevent your language from being fully utilized online.

LDJ: In busy online spaces, promoting the language presence, can be difficult. Inclusion of some Jèrriais needs to become ‘the norm’ from official channels. People would like to see more online content on a wider range of platforms, but with a small team it is difficult to satisfy demand. It would be good if there was greater community engagement with online content — more reposting, more reaction — but if the audience just take it for granted that content is produced and expect that it will continue to be produced, it is difficult to develop the online base.

RV: What concrete steps do you think can be taken to encourage younger people to begin learning their language or keep using their language?

LDJ: Jèrriais teachers offer language classes to the younger generation and Jersey Heritage includes the language in its activities for youngsters, encouraging them to ‘have a go.’ The rolling out of visible bilingual signage helps to raise the status of Jèrriais, and this changing linguistic landscape helps give permission to people to use Jèrriais.

Overcoming the existing publication problem and making stories for the young more accessible in printed and media formats is a challenge. We would like to have more material like graphic novels/stories.

Written by Rising Voices