How songs became powerful weapons for protesters around the world

Hong Kong protests
From Glory to Hong Kong to Blowin’ in the Wind, songs taken up by civil movements have brought people together through a shared sense of purpose
Manami Okazaki Published: 29 Dec, 2019

On a crisp winter evening at Tai Po Waterfront Park, musicians are gathering, the auditorium stage is ready, instruments are being set down. It’s like any other pre-performance scene, only this evening, the sun having set, some performers are still wearing sunglasses. And those who are, also speak from behind face masks.

The musicians range from amateur to professional, and all initially met over the
social media app Telegram, the go-to method of communication during this summer and autumn of 

unrest, uprising and violence across Hong Kong. And just as they would conceal their identity during an anti-government protest march, so they will on stage, for tonight’s free orchestral performance of Les Miserables.

“Playing music is one of the most peaceful forms of protest,” says C.T., a soprano. “Lots of people don’t know how to contribute to the movement, so this is one way.”

The performance reaches a crescendo as those on stage segue from the trials of Jean Valjean to a rendition of the city’s new, de facto anthem, Glory to Hong Kong. All in the stadium are on their feet, swaying their smart­phone lights as they join in with the chorus.

Who wrote ‘Glory to Hong Kong’?

Tonight’s performance is a salve for six tense months of turmoil, but it is also part of the one constant theme of the unrest, a prevalent feature at and between protests; from the primordial rhythm of chants along Hennessy Road to hymns at Chater Garden rallies and lunchtime choral outbursts in malls, music has remained the connective tissue for Hong Kong’s leaderless movement now charging into the new year.

It is hardly a new phenomenon. Music has played an intrinsic role in strengthening protest movements world­wide, from apartheid era South Africa to “the singing revolution” that led Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to break the yoke of the Soviet Union.

Protest music has been integral to pop music’s greater lexicon as well, providing cultural record of historic struggles such as Billie Holiday’s 1939 rendition of Strange Fruit, a haunting ballad using fruit hanging from a poplar tree as a metaphor for lynched African-Americans. From the folk songs of leftist icon Woody Guthrie to rapper Kendrick Lamar being chanted at Black Lives Matter rallies and MILCK at the 2017 Women’s March.

Bob Dylan was one of the most prominent protest songwriters of the 20th century. HisA Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1963), Only a Pawn in Their Game (1964) and Blowin’ in the Wind (1963) fuelled rally morale from voter registration protests in Mississippi to the march on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963 and anti-Vietnam war rallies alike.

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Protesters’ latest theme song, ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, rings out in malls

“Voices joined together can have immense force, visually as well as sonically. Music is a way of claiming or inhabiting a public space,” says ethnomusicologist Caroline Bithell. “Mass singing allows people to stand up for a cause without engaging in violent or illegal activity.”

Bithell, a professor at Britain’s University of Manchester where she teaches political activism and identity through music-making, says, “Music in itself can be a powerful and intense experience often leading to a sense of euphoria. This effect is intensified further when music is allied with a cause about which people feel passionate.”

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform in Washington DC during a civil rights rally, in 1963. Photo: Getty Images

A Hong Kong musician and ex-lawyer, who uses the alias GoDareShe, says of this summer’s aural landscape, “Music is to do with vibrations and it travels deep into your physi­cal being. During protests, of course you don’t get sophisti­cated harmonies, but if you have 1,000 people singing the same song, your vibrations multiply 1,000 times.”

During Hong Kong’s 2014 “umbrella movement”, songs such as Do You Hear the People Sing, from Les Miserables, became the soundtrack on the streets, while this summer saw a performer playing the Korean protest song March for the Beloved, an anthem that commemorates those who were massacred by paratroopers and police in the May 1980 Gwangju democratic uprising. It was also prominent in the June Struggle of 1987, which ultimately led to democratic reforms.

“Those who sing these songs today might be reminded of all those who have sung them before,” Bithell says. “This creates an even stronger solidarity through a sense of shared history, as well as optimism, with the knowledge that music has made a difference in the past and can do so again.”

When examining what makes a successful pro­test song, Mark LeVine, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of California, in the United States, suggests there are several elements. “Like any other song, it needs to be catchy, it can’t be too complicated and it needs to have a pulse that is easy to follow. It can’t be too fast and can’t be too slow. It has to be an earworm; something that is repeatable and you can’t get out of your head. And it has to have a message; the more you say it, the more it becomes part of your political person­ality,” says LeVine, who was recently in Hong Kong and “saw how powerful the chants were”.

Hundreds gather in shopping malls to sing new protest anthem, Glory to Hong Kong

“Repetitive patterns in both lyrics and melody are common,” Bithell agrees. “This helps to make the song more memorable and easy to learn and at the same time it reinforces the message. A good example is Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, built around the rhetorical question, ‘How many … before/till … ?’ and culminating in hard-hitting lines such as ‘How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?’”

What Dylan changed was that through “the sound of his voice [it] became possible for popular music to cover the full range of emotions. [It was] no longer limited to sounding nice,” says Alex Lubet, a professor of music at the University of Minnesota, in the US. “He had a particular influence on African-American popular music, in part because of his anthemic contributions to the civil rights movements but also on individual artists.”

Global struggles often reflect local music traditions. Chile’s recent protests saw mass assemblies of guitar-wielding marchers, strumming activist and folk revivalist Víctor Jara’s exquisite ballads. While his music lives on in the streets of Chile’s protests, Jara himself was killed when dictator Augusto Pinochet’s soldiers tortured and shot him more than 30 times after the 1973 coup.

More Western protest artists are internationally known due to their commercial success; both Lamar and Dylan have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. MTV even has an awards category for the Best Video with a Social Message.

Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar. 

Photo: Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

While Lubet agrees that political songs are “part of the American identity” he also acknowledges that “the other great influence on rock was the Beatles who also wrote topical songs and were arguably more activist than Dylan, especially John Lennon in the anti-Vietnam war movement and Paul McCartney in animal rights. The UK has also produced the Clash, the Sex Pistols and Billy Bragg. Ireland is the home of U2”. All of these artists incorporate themes of activism, anti-establishmentarianism or solidarity with the disenfranchised in their music.

Digital technology has also fundamentally transformed the production and dissemination of protest music, enabling people to memorise songs before coming together in a physical space.

German band Atari Teenage Riot have been creating anti-Nazi and anti-fascist electronic music since the early 90s. The video for their 2011 track Black Flags, from the album Is This Hyperreal?, is a montage of clips taken during protest movements and features rapper Boots Riley, who was active in the Occupy Oakland protests.

“We came up with an idea where our fans could film themselves singing along to the song and then send clips and we would edit them together,” says vocalist Alec Empire. “Not a great idea in itself, though in 2011, these things were not yet that common. Suddenly things took an interesting turn.”

Occupy Wall Street supporters and groups fight­ing censorship and surveillance pushed the song online and Empire’s inbox filled up with footage shot by activists at protests globally. A third version of the video includes a contribution from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“The video morphed from a viral fan video to a music documentary that reflected what was happening with these protests on the streets and online,” Empire says by email from Berlin.

This digital crowdsourcing technique was also used by Belgian initiative Sing for the Climate in 2012. Recordings of 380,000 voices at gatherings in more than 180 cities were synthesised into one video. Likewise, Glory to Hong Kong was produced collaboratively by various independent musicians.

Numerous cover versions involving instruments as diverse as the piano, bagpipes and even a musical-calculator were uploaded to YouTube – allowing the song to extend its reach.

One such YouTube video, which has garnered more than 700,000 views, shows busker Oliver Ma defiantly playing the English version of Glory to Hong Kong while being surrounded by police officers. At his Po Lam flat, Ma says, “Glory to Hong Kong is the song that makes people here the most emotional right now. People cried in front of me, or offered me a hug. It is touching because they relate to this song a lot.”

“Singing on the streets itself was a novel experience,” says GoDareShe. “In Britain, everyone sings every week at the football stadium, but we don’t have that – we got to experience that in protests.”

The song has a national anthem-like melody that con­nects with the desire to reinforce a Hong Kong identity. The military beat allows it to circulate easily, and the specificity of the lyrics made Hongkongers embrace it.

“A song is most relevant when it doesn’t just have that emotion of rebellion but directly addresses the phenomena that we have witnessed in the current political climate,” says GoDareShe. “In every political protest you have some wounds, resentment or complaints. You can sing an Olympics song about reaching for your goal and that is also empowering, but it doesn’t touch on the frustration or the fight against people in authority who are abusing their powers. If you can combine these two, it will move people the most.”

A street performer at Occupy Wall Street, in 2011. Photo: Manami Okazaki

Folk singer-songwriter Ryan Harvey, one of the many artists who gathered in New York’s Zuccotti Park during 2011’s Occupy Wall Street, was “not trying to write a vague anthem song. I write songs that are extremely specific. Back in the day, the reason a song existed was to sing together and share a common moment. I’m writing songs for people who might be listening to music rather than reading a book.”

Harvey launched Firebrand Records for “radical political artists” with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. Their line-up of international talent includes French-Chilean musician Ana Tijoux and Ramy Essam, who was a prominent musician at Tahrir Square during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Bithell says songs don’t necessarily have to have revolution­ary lyrics: just the act of hundreds or thousands of people singing together can be seen as an “empowering and emancipatory” political act.

This can be seen in the prevalence of Sing Hallelujah to the Lord over the summer, where pastor-led singing sessions permeated the streets of Hong Kong. The hymns were part “spiritual weapon” and part demonstration of the importance Hongkongers place on religious liberties. Christian Hongkonger K. says, “The song is a peaceful way for Christians to say that the Lord in Heaven is the actual ruler of our world. The Communist or Hong Kong govern­ment, or the police, are basically nothing in comparison.”

Protesters sing in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 14, 1989, during a march against the labour relations act. Photo: AFP

While many people were surprised by the singing of hymns at Hong Kong’s gargantuan protests, composer Byron Au Yong, who hosts protest-song workshops in the US, says, “Churches were organising spaces for the civil rights movement in the United States. Singing religious songs makes sense as they are constructed to bring people together in celebration, hope and prayers.”

In another use of orchestral activism, Au Yong’s work Occupy Orchestra 無量園 Infinity Garden uses “sonic tactics” inspired by the 2011 Occupy movement, such as the “People’s Microphone”, where people repeat what a speaker says to amplify the words acoustically throughout a crowd.

“We discussed how to address economic, environmental and societal inequities,” says Au Yong. “At the same time, orchestras around the United States were going bankrupt and closing. Occupy Orchestra provides a way to consider the role of a large musical ensemble [that has been] displaced and deemed no longer relevant by advanced global capitalism.”

The piece references the classic Chinese garden, a space with which Au Yong draws parallels with Occupy rallies in parks. “Historical Chinese scholars and political dissidents gathered in gardens,” Au Yong explains. “Unlike Japanese gardens, to be observed from afar, Chinese gardens were intentionally designed as chaotic to allow people to discuss political turmoil and easily disappear, if needed.”

A lunchtime anti-government sing-along protest in Mong Kok on October 18. Photo: Dickson Lee

Aware of the power of protest music, authorities often hold a particular disdain for songs that express political dissent.

Atari Teenage Riot have performed at numerous rallies and their performance at a Berlin May Day protest against the Nato bombings of Kosovo in 1999 descended into chaos when band members were arrested.

“We were asked to perform at the protest and we wanted to support it,” Empire says. “At one point, the police started attacking protesters with sticks and threw tear gas into the crowd – the strategy was to break it up. The video material that was later used in court against the police clearly shows that peaceful protesters were attacked. Some of them even held up their hands but they got beaten anyway.”

During Tunisia’s jasmine revolution of 2010-11, which led then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, folk and hip hop music helped galvanise support.

Tunisian rapper El Général’s scathing track Rais Lebled, which he describes as “a beautiful gift” to Ben Ali, became one such soundtrack to the uprisings that overthrew the government. In it, El Général addresses state corruption, waxing lyrical about police violence, starvation and the misery of citizens.

Hip hop was a weapon that I used to defend myself and the causes I care for, like the Tunisian cause, the revolutionEl Général, Tunisian rapper

“I knew that since the 70s rap has been revolutionary and that is the basis on which it was created,” El Général said of his use of hip hop, during an interview in his home­town of Sfax in 2011. “It became commercialised but the origin of the musical format was to defend people and to talk about their problems, such as racism.

“Hip hop was a weapon that I used to defend myself and the causes I care for, like the Tunisian cause, the revolution. I could have sung another style of music that was less political, but I wanted to have this socially engaged personality, fighting for real problems.”

With El Général’s release of Tunisia, Our Country the then 21-year-old was promptly arrested, handcuffed and interrogated. His much-publicised detention, however, made El Général a celebrity and his provoca­tive rapping gained him a spot on Time magazine’s most influential list for 2011.

Another “official” response to protest music can come in the form of a government releasing its own songs – often with embarrassing results. Recently during the Hong Kong protests, Chinese propaganda rappers CD Rev released a track titled Hong Kong’s Fall that describes “1.4 billion Chinese standing firmly behind Hong Kong police” and goes on to says the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is waiting to “wipe out terrorists”.

“They would likely be repeating themes that the state are trying to impress on the people, themes that are under threat,” LeVine says of the propaganda music.

“If it is in response to protests, they are being made in semi-desperation so it might be very blatant and obvious. Generally, you don’t have many of the best artists working with the state. In Egypt, for example, artists supporting [former president Hosni] Mubarak were ostracised when he left.

“When the state gets involved in music production for propagandistic purposes, they put a lot more resources into it than the protesters might have at their disposal. Rais Lebled was a cheap but powerful video, very lo-fi and DIY.”

While LeVine says “bubblegum” music might work in more normal times, during intense political moments, those kinds of songs “can’t hold a candle to even something as simple as [Tunisian] Emel Mathlouthi singing a cappella into a microphone on an iconic boulevard”.

Protest music can escalate a situation, turn a protest violent, calm it down or even turn it into a joke. When you hear music from people who fight for freedom, you can understand that within a few secondsAlec Empire, vocalist, Atari Teenage Riot

As Nigerian iconoclast and afrobeat founder Fela Kuti once said, “Music is the weapon of the future,” and Empire agrees: “Protest music can escalate a situation, turn a protest violent, calm it down or even turn it into a joke. When you hear music from people who fight for freedom, you can understand that within a few seconds.

“It’s part of analysing where the cultural zeitgeist is in that moment in time, and how you position yourself as an individual within that. Music only works this way when it expresses real truths.”

Before she steps on stage in Tai Po, C.T. wonders whether there is a “danger” of citizens enjoying the music but not engaging in “further steps”.

Yet as the protests roll into their seventh month – with many suffering from protest fatigue – for GoDareShe the answer is clear.

“Music provokes you into action, it feels like energy,” she says. “You might be uncertain and frightened but when you listen to music you feel like, ‘I might be able to do this!’”

WIKILEAKS EDITOR CALLS ASSANGE EXTRADITION ARGUMENTS 'HOLLOW WORDS' AS U.S. CLAIMS ITS SOURCES 'DISAPPEARED' AFTER LEAKS

BY JASON MURDOCK ON 2/24/20


VIDEO
Julian Assange - What Happens Next?

The editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks has blasted what he calls "hollow words" pushed by the U.S. during its opening arguments for the extradition hearing of Julian Assange today.

Speaking to the media at Woolwich Crown Court, at times drowned out by chanting supporters, Kristinn Hrafnsson suggested there was nothing new in the U.S. argument and teased "the real news" would come out later this week when the defense outlines its evidence.

WikiLeaks Editor Says Julian Assange Extradition Is About Politics Over Law
READ MORE

He said: "The words that are coming out from the United States about WikiLeaks revelations in 2010 and 2011 were hollow 10 years ago, and they don't increase in legitimacy as years go by. On the contrary, those are hollow words. There is nothing to back it up.

"What we are seeing here is simply journalism on trial. It is a shameful thing that we should be defending journalism in a court of law in this country."

In court, James Lewis QC, who is representing the U.S. government, reiterated the list of allegations previously made in the U.S. indictment, and referenced numerous legal arguments previously produced during the trial of Chelsea Manning in 2013.

According to reporter James Doleman, it was again noted WikiLeaks documents were found at Osama Bin Laden's property when it was raided by the U.S in 2011, while Lewis maintained the potential U.S. jail term of 175 years, as claimed by WikiLeaks, was "hyperbole."

"This is an extradition hearing, not a trial," Lewis said, the AP reported. "The guilt or innocence of Mr. Assange will be determined at trial in the United States, not in this court."

The hearing also heard the allegation that human sources who gave information to the U.S. had "disappeared" after the release of files by the website, The Guardian reported.

"The U.S. is aware of sources, whose unredacted names and other identifying information was contained in classified documents published by WikiLeaks, who subsequently disappeared, although the U.S. can't prove at this point that their disappearance was the result of being outed by WikiLeaks," Lewis said, claiming the leaked files put those people at risk.

Tristan Kirk, court reporter for the Evening Standard, reported Assange at one point said that he was "having difficulty concentrating" due to noise from protestors outside. "I'm very appreciative of public support, I understand they must be disgusted," Assange said.

In the lunch break, WikiLeaks' Hrafnsson rejected the claims by the U.S. government that its disclosures caused harm or put human sources at risk of identification.

"What we heard this morning was more of the same, the same thing we have been hearing for 10 years... [that] 'we are putting lives at risk.' And now, 10 years later, there is no evidence of such harm. To the contrary, Pentagon officials were forced to admit in the Manning trial in 2013 that nobody had been physically harmed because of these revelations," he said.

"Now, in 2020, they are in court not able to present a single [piece of] evidence of that harm. Still they go on...why aren't we discussing the harm that was revealed by the releases?"

After the short break, WikiLeaks' defense argued the extradition request is politically motivated and said claimed U.S. politician Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange a "full pardon in exchange for 'personal services,' on behalf of [president] Donald Trump," according to Doleman.

WikiLeaks was being represented by Edward Fitzgerald QC.

Breaking #Assange Defence counsel says a Republican congressman visited Assange and offered him a full pardon in exchange for "personal services," on behalf of Donald #Trump— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) February 24, 2020

Assange lawyer expanding on claims US Repub congressman offered Trump pardon in exchange for saying Russia not involved in leaking DNC emails
Dana Rohrabacher said to have described it as "win win" situation.. Assange could get out of Ecuadorian embassy and get on with life"— Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) February 24, 2020

The extradition proceedings are taking place across two separate hearings inside Woolwich Crown Court, and are expected to span several months. The first hearing started today and runs until February 28. The second is currently set to take place between May 18 and June 5.

Ultimately, a ruling is not expected for months after the last court date, and the British government would make the final decision if extradition is greenlit, The Associated Press reported. If it goes ahead, it has been estimated that Assange will be facing up to 175 years in prison.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019.DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/GETTY

In May, the WikiLeaks founder was named in an 18-count indictment linked to the release of documents obtained from former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Manning.

The filing alleges Assange "conspired" with Manning, and describes the fallout as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States."

Prosecutors have alleged the documents contained unredacted names of human sources and accused Assange of risking "serious harm to United States national security." They do not say Assange did any hacking, instead claiming he "solicited" classified information. They also do not reference disclosures made during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Instead, the allegations date to 2009, and specifically reference the leaking of activities reports linked to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, alongside 250,000 Department of State cables. The U.S. government rejected the assertion that Assange was acting as a journalist.

But that's exactly what his supporters argue, stressing that the ongoing extradition hearings are a grave threat to press freedoms around the world. Those with inside knowledge of WikiLeaks say the motivations behind the proceedings are political in nature, and not based in law.

Assange, 48, has been incarcerated at H.M. Prison Belmarsh since last April, after about seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy under political asylum. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blasted the U.S. extradition request as "unprecedented and unconstitutional."

Christine Assange, the leaker's mother, said on Twitter Sunday the case marked the "David and Goliath fight of our generation." She wrote: "Between the world's superpower & the journalist who dared publish proof of its war crimes. The outcome will decide his fate."

Protests in support of Assange popped up in London the weekend prior to the hearings, with speakers including Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and designer Vivienne Westwood.

Last week, two Australian politicians traveled to the city to speak out in support of the founder, as British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn renewed his extradition opposition. At the same time, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Hrafnsson said U.S. motives were murky.

"It is absolutely certain in my mind there is an overwhelming argument for the dismissal of this extradition request," he said at a Foreign Press Association (FPA) event.

"If it was simply a case which was decided upon with the merit of the laws, I wouldn't worry at all, but this is a political case," Hrafnsson added. "And what's at stake is not just the life of Julian Assange, who faces 175 years in prison if extradited, it is the future of journalism."

Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, and fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood, march together on February 22, 2020 in London, England.

Julian Assange was 'handcuffed 11 times and stripped naked'

WikiLeaks founder’s lawyers complain of interference 

after first day of extradition hearing


Ben Quinn Tue 25 Feb 2020
 

A Julian Assange supporter attaches a sign 

to a fence outside Woolwich crown court in 

London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters


Julian Assange was handcuffed 11 times, stripped naked twice and had his case files confiscated after the first day of his extradition hearing, according to his lawyers, who complained of interference in his ability to take part.

Their appeal to the judge overseeing the trial at Woolwich crown court in south-east London was also supported by legal counsel for the US government, who said it was essential that the WikiLeaks founder be given a fair trial.

Edward Fitzgerald QC, acting for Assange, said the case files, which the prisoner was reading in court on Monday, were confiscated by guards when he returned to prison later that night and that he was put in five cells.

Amid the din, Julian Assange struggles to hear case against him

He appealed to the judge to consider the treatment as it was harming his “right to a fair trial and his ability to participate in the proceedings”.

The judge, Vanessa Baraitser, replied that she did not have the legal power to comment or rule on Assange’s conditions but encouraged the defence team to formally raise the matter with the prison.

However, she said she would expect Assange to be treated in a way that protected his right to a fair trial. “I think everyone in the court supports a fair hearing,” she said.

James Lewis, for the prosecution, said they did not want Assange to be held in a condition or experience treatment that jeopardised his right to a fair hearing. It was open to the court to make “trenchant comments” to the British government.

The court heard on Monday that the Donald Trump administration was targeting Assange as “an enemy of the America who must be brought down” and his life could be at risk if he was sent to face trial in the US.

Lawyers for Assange intend to call as a witness a former employee of a Spanish security company, who says surveillance was carried out for the US on Assange while he was at Ecuador’s London embassy and that conversations had turned to potentially kidnapping or poisoning him.

Assange, 48, is wanted in the US to face 18 charges of attempted hacking and breaches of the Espionage Act. They relate to the publication a decade ago of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and files covering areas including US activities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Australian, who could face a 175-year prison sentence if found guilty, is accused of working with the former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak classified documents.

The hearing continues.

Academics refused permanent UK visas because of field trips abroad

Ebola volunteering in Guinea and gender research in Bangladesh fall foul of hostile environment laws

Anna Fazackerley  Tue 25 Feb 2020 
 

Dr Nazia Hussein, a Bangladeshi expert on gender, race and religion at Bristol University, has had her permanent visa declined after 10 years in Britain because she spent six months researching her subject abroad. Photograph: Sam Frost/The Guardian

When Dr Nazia Hussein spent six months researching class and gender identity in Bangladesh for her PhD at Warwick University in 2009, she had no idea that, a decade later, the Home Office would use this to refuse her application for permanent residency.

Hussein, a Bangladeshi expert on gender, race and religion, now a lecturer at the University of Bristol, was “absolutely shocked” when her application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) was rejected last year on the grounds that she had spent too many days out of the country during the 10-year application period. This was despite the fact she had submitted clear evidence that her PhD research constituted essential fieldwork and an unavoidable and legitimate absence.

Hussein’s husband had been granted a ILR visa, which had allowed their three-year-old daughter to get a British passport, so after a decade in UK universities it hadn’t occurred to Hussein she might be rejected.

“In their letter the Home Office said I am very qualified and could easily settle back in Bangladesh. They are right that I am very qualified, but I have chosen to be in this country,” she says. “My qualifications are from this country and I have spent the last 10 years teaching young people in this country.”

In January Boris Johnson announced a new global talent visa for top researchers and their teams, declaring post-Brexit Britain “open to the most talented minds in the world”. But academics are warning that the Home Office’s aggressive application of immigration rules will put off overseas researchers from coming to the UK.

Hussein’s experience is not an isolated one. In November, Dr Asiya Islam, a widely respected Indian sociologist at Cambridge University, learned that her ILR had been refused, again after a decade researching in the UK, and for the same reason. The Home Office told her she had spent too many days out of Britain, even though Cambridge had supported her claim that she needed to spend a year in Delhi for her PhD research.

Islam’s case has enraged fellow academics, who say the Home Office doesn’t understand how research works. Two thousand university staff, including 183 professors, signed a letter protesting at her treatment.

However, this is not a new trend. The Guardian has learned that in 2018 the Home Office refused an ILR to Dr Elsa Zekeng, a Liverpool University researcher from Cameroon, because of six weeks she had spent volunteering with Ebola patients in Guinea in 2015 – for which she was awarded a Queen’s medal – and time spent in South Africa collecting samples for her PhD on infectious diseases. She appealed and a judge overturned the decision.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, says: “It is ludicrous that legitimate research activity is causing migrant staff to be refused leave to remain in the UK. The restrictive rules around overseas travel are totally arbitrary.”

Hussein’s PhD supervisor, Prof Christina Hughes, interim deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Kent, said the fieldwork in Bangladesh was important. “Dr Hussein was finding new evidence that challenges the stereotypes of the Bangladeshi woman,” she says. “This sort of empirical investigation gives us a more highly developed understanding of women’s changing economic and social situations globally. And importantly, it provides evidence for challenging racism.”

Like other academics who know Hussein, Prof Hughes is angry about her treatment, and worried about its implications for research in the UK. “She is a phenomenal researcher with a tremendous commitment to making the world a better place.”

Prof Therese O’Toole, director of research in Bristol’s school of sociology, politics and international studies, says Hussein is leading a foundation course to bring more disadvantaged students into the school, as well as working closely with women’s groups to challenge negative representations of Muslim women.

“This government says we are globally open and receptive. But for really great researchers like Nazia to build their lives here and then find all these obstacles thrown in their way sends out entirely the wrong message,” she says.

Hussein says she decided against appealing the Home Office decision because her solicitor warned her that, even though she had a really strong case, the appeal could take so long she risked overstaying her visa and would be unable to work.

“Jobs in academia are not easy to get, and I didn’t want to lose my job,” she says. “And I was really scared. If the appeal went wrong would I have to leave the country? My daughter is here and when I got the letter she was only three.”

She has now been granted a two-year dependent visa, which she applied for on the back of her husband’s residency. In the last year alone the family has spent more than £11,000 in immigration fees.

“The amount of money we’ve spent on visas and the NHS surcharge while we have been here, we could have bought a house instead. That certainly seems a long way off for us now,” she says. “You can’t really plan for the future when you are living in a state of constant uncertainty.”

Meanwhile Zekeng, who now works in industry as well as running an app aimed at reducing unconscious bias in recruitment, says she, too, was horrified to discover her fieldwork had counted against her.

For her PhD she had been working on finding a protein marker to indicate whether a patient had flu, and in 2015 had been given a grant from the Society for General Microbiology to spend two months with experts at the University of Cape Town. She had also been to Senegal collecting patient samples to investigate how symptoms vary across countries.

“I remember sitting on the stairs after I read the letter saying my application had been denied, feeling absolutely shocked and devastated,” she recalls. “The emotional and mental impact was debilitating.”

Zekeng’s appeal was heard in Bradford in September 2018. “My PhD supervisor had written me a stellar letter detailing everything I had accomplished, explaining I was out of the country for my PhD and saying I’d been an outstanding member of the community. Within less than 30 minutes the judge apologised and said I shouldn’t be here. She said I was exactly the sort of person this country should be welcoming.”

Zekeng says she felt vindicated, and cried with the relief. “But I did wonder why I had to go through all that – and what happens to those who can’t appeal.”

The Home Office said: “We welcome international academics and recognise their contribution to the UK’s world-leading education sector. All immigration applications are considered on their individual merits and on the evidence available, in line with the immigration rules.”

Sydney baboon escape: police confirm three animals recaptured at Royal Prince Alfred hospital

NSW health minister says the baboons were being transported to RPA so one could have a vasectomy
Stephanie Convery Tue 25 Feb 2020

File image of a baboon. Police were called to the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney after reports of baboons on the loose. Photograph: Richard Jones/BBC/John Downer Productions

Three baboons being transported to a major Sydney hospital so one of them could have a vasectomy escaped from their truck on Tuesday afternoon, triggering sightings around the hospital, a police response and widespread interest online.

Callers to Sydney talkback radio station 2GB were first to report they’d seen primates running about the area of the Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) hospital, which is just outside the central business district and adjacent to the University of Sydney.

A caller told presenter Ben Fordham that he’d seen three baboons.

“Mate I’m deadset serious, I’m at RPA, I’m six floors up and I was just having a gaze out at the carpark … and there were three baboons in the carpark,” he said. “I’m deadset serious. They even had shiny red bottoms.”

Flying high, not getting high: the poppy-eating cockatoos of Tasmania are no opiate addicts

Another caller said her daughter and her daughter’s colleagues had been chasing the animals.

“My daughter is an occupational therapist at RPA and she said ‘yes mum, I’ve just helped wrangle them’,” the caller said.

The incident initially prompted mirth on social media, which increasingly gave way to concern for the welfare of the primates.

New South Wales police confirmed on Tuesday evening that they had recaptured three animals just over an hour after reports first emerged.

“Just after 5.30pm officers from inner west police area command were called to a car park on Missenden Road and Lucas Street, Camperdown, after reports three baboons escaped while being transported,” a NSW police spokesperson said.

“They are currently contained and police are working with experts to safely return them to their facility.

“There is no immediate danger to the public but people are advised to avoid the area,” she said.

The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, told Guardian Australia on Tuesday that the baboons were on their way to the animal research facilities at RPA from their colony, and had escaped due to a faulty lock on the truck they were travelling in.

The baboon due to undergo the operation was a 15-year-old male, the leader of his troop. He was accompanied by two younger female baboons to keep him calm.

“He was having a vasectomy because there’s no desire for him to continue to breed for the troop, and the other option was to move him from the troop,” Hazzard said.

“This way, he can stay with his family through until old age.”

Hazzard said the baboons were part of a colony bred for research that had been around for about 20 years, but that these particular baboons were not being transported for research.

“I understand they’re extremely well cared for,” he said.

“They are quite placid and behaving themselves far better than one would expect.”

In 2016, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that there was a colony of baboons bred for medical research in western Sydney. The University of Sydney said at the time that research on primates was limited but that “a small number” were still being tested on.

A spokesperson from the University of Sydney told Guardian Australia that they were looking into Tuesday’s incident. NSW Health were contacted for comment.

The Greens senator and animal welfare spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi said on Twitter before the animals were recaptured that she wished them well in their “bid for freedom”.

Mehreen Faruqi(@MehreenFaruqi)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare has welcomed the Sydney Baboon's bid for freedom.

"I wish them well," she said.

ENDS. https://t.co/dDnu0LrB21

February 25, 2020

Two-Thirds of the World’s Most Polluted Cities Are in India

Iain Marlow and Hannah Dormido, Bloomberg•February 25, 2020 

RESULTING FROM THE PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL 

Two-Thirds of the World’s Most Polluted Cities Are in India

(Bloomberg) -- Several Chinese cities, including Beijing, have dramatically improved their air quality in recent years, while Indian metropolises remain some of the world’s worst polluted, according to a new report.

Beijing -- once infamous for its toxic haze -- has reduced smog levels and dropped down a list of the world’s most polluted cities, falling to 199 from 84 three years before, according to the 2019 World Air Quality Report published Tuesday by IQAir AirVisual. In contrast, India still dominated its list of the smoggiest urban areas, accounting for 14 of the top 20.

Despite new government policies meant to address the issue, New Delhi’s air quality has fallen from where it was five years ago, rising to the fifth-worst spot globally and making it by far the world’s most polluted major city, the report said. The worst-ranked city -- Ghaziabad -- is a Delhi suburb, as are a number of others ranked separately in the top 20.

India, China and other Asian countries remain disproportionately affected by toxic air as a result of factors ranging from crowded cities, vehicular exhaust, coal-fired power plants, agricultural burning and industrial emissions. The issue is hardly tangential. The World Health Organization estimates that dirty air kills around 7 million people each year, while the World Bank says it drains the global economy of $5 trillion annually.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak and trade war slowed China’s smog-producing industries, Chinese officials had mobilized the country’s top-down, authoritarian state to implement -- and enforce -- sweeping measures, as well as shifting production away from its biggest cities. A recent report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air separately found that Beijing and Shanghai had seen “major progress,” while levels of fine particular called PM 2.5 increased in other parts of the country.

India faces a starkly different situation. Across much of northern India, air quality remains catastrophic as politicians prioritize economic growth and spar over responsibility. Many citizens are still unaware of health concerns and resource-starved agencies struggle to carry out new -- or even existing -- measures designed to curb the smog.
Story continues

“In Beijing, it’s a priority -- in China, when they say something, they do it, they put the resources in,” said Yann Boquillod, AirVisual’s director of air quality monitoring. “In India, it’s just starting. People need to put more pressure on government.”

A spokesman for India’s environment ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Why Winter Brings Deadly Smog to India’s Capital: QuickTake

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has won praise for promoting solar power and improving emission standards. It has handed out millions of gas canisters to reduce the number of families using smoky household cooking fires. In January of last year, the government also launched the National Clean Air Programme.

But these measures haven’t had a serious impact on increased coal power plant usage, dust left by the thousands of under-regulated construction sites and exhaust from millions of new cars and motorcycles. Air quality experts have also criticized the national program for lacking strong enforcement and funding.

Indians Are Addicted to Cheap Coal Power and It’s Killing Them

Although many Indian cities saw progress between 2018 and 2019, “unfortunately these improvements are not representative of the very recent, but promising National Clean Air Programme” and cleaner fuel standards, according to the AirVisual report.

Instead, the authors said, they signal a lagging economy, which grew at about 5% -- the slowest expansion since 2009 -- compared with 8.3% in 2017. The deadly air also kills roughly 1.2 million Indians each year, according to a recent study in the Lancet.

India, however, was far from the only country that remained deeply challenged by smog. Although several Chinese cities -- including Shanghai -- saw improvement in air quality, Kashgar and Hotan in the restive, western Xinjiang region were among the world’s worst.

Cities across Asia -- including Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Jakarta and Seoul -- saw sharp increases in PM 2.5 levels. Since 2017, Jakarta saw pollution increase by 66%, making it the worst in Southeast Asia. In Thailand, Chiang Mai and Bangkok both saw a number of extremely smoggy days -- some of which led authorities in the capital to close schools -- resulting from construction, diesel fuel and crop fires in surrounding regions.

The problem is particularly challenging for South Asian countries. Using a weighted population average, Bangladesh was actually ranked the world’s most polluted country, while its capital Dhaka was the second worst after Delhi. Pakistan was the second-most-polluted country, while Afghanistan, India and Nepal were all in the top 10.

--With assistance from Bibhudatta Pradhan.
To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Hannah Dormido in Hong Kong at hdormido@bloomberg.net
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Farmers pile pressure on UK government over chlorinated chicken

Calls for food standards to be enshrined in law to avoid post-Brexit ‘betrayal’ of consumers

Fiona Harvey and Lisa O'Carroll Tue 25 Feb 2020 
 

Campaigners fear chlorine-washed chickens could enter the UK market under new post-Brexit rules. Photograph: Alamy

Farmers have hit back at suggestions the government will allow imports of chlorinated chicken and other low-standard farm produce in trade talks with the US, escalating the row over post-Brexit food standards.

Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union, will call for rules on minimum standards for imports to be enshrined in law, and insist that other countries must trade with the UK “on our terms”, rather than seek to water down food rules.

“We must not tie the hands of British farmers to the highest rung of the standards ladder while waving through food imports which may not even reach the bottom rung,” Batters will tell the NFU’s annual conference on Tuesday.


“If the government is serious about animal welfare and environmental protection, and doing more than any previous government, it must put legislation in the agriculture bill.”

Farmers were told last month by Theresa Villiers, the former secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, that chlorinated chicken – which the US wants to be allowed to export to the UK, where it is currently banned on health grounds – would be excluded from any trade talks.

Farmers fear they will face a flood of cheap imports undercutting high-standard British produce, and the potential for the EU to ban UK-produced food if standards were relaxed.


But the government refused to enshrine Villiers’ promises into the agricultural bill going through parliament, and she was sacked in the reshuffle. At the weekend, the new environment secretary, George Eustice, refused to repeat her assurances, reigniting the row and infuriating farmers.

Batters will present the dispute as an issue of public safety. “What is government waiting for?” she will ask. “What is more important to our economy, our health and our environment than the very food we eat?”

She will call for ministers to “show global leadership, insist that UK farms standards are the benchmark for climate-friendly farming around the world, and that whoever wants to trade with us trades on our terms. We must not allow those standards to be undermined by imports of goods which would be illegal for our farmers to produce here.”

Chlorinated chicken has grabbed the headlines but other practices pose a greater potential threat to human health. Within the EU, the use of antibiotics on farm animals falls under strict guidelines, which many other countries lack. Profligate use of antibiotics for meat production is linked to the evolution of superbugs, raising the spectre of a health “apocalypse” that could mean even routine operations become life-threatening.

Batters will say: “In Japan, Australia, China, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia and India, the use of antibiotics is permitted for growth promotion. This isn’t just about chlorinated chicken. This is about a wider principle.”

Kath Dalmeny, the chief executive of the Sustain alliance for better food and farming, accused the government of betraying consumers. “Just last year George Eustice said US imports would have to conform to ‘British law and British standards’ or the US could ‘kiss goodbye to any trade deal and join the back of the queue’,” she said.

“Now, it seems he is prepared to bend over backwards to make the case for the US and their hormone-injected, acid-washed, antibiotic-intensive, low-welfare chicken. This is an outrageous betrayal of the British people and deeply worrying for our farmers. The government should be leading the way in high-quality, high-welfare food, not softening up the public to make low-grade food more palatable.”

A government spokesperson said: “We have repeatedly been clear that we will uphold our high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards outside the EU. The government will stand firm in trade negotiations to ensure our future trade deals live up to the values of farmers and consumers across the UK.”

Eustice is expected to use his speech to the conference on Wednesday morning to launch a consultation on the future of farm subsidies after the UK leaves the EU.


“We can all agree that we want British farming to be sustainable in the truest sense of the word, an industry which is profitable, competitive and productive while feeding the nation and taking care of our landscapes too,” he will say.

In the agriculture bill progressing through parliament, farmers have been promised a new system of environmental land management contracts, which will reward them for measures to protect public goods, such as water and air quality, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and preserving wildlife and nature.

However, campaigners are concerned it contains many loopholes, which will reduce the environmental protections currently in operation under EU regulations.

Farmers and land managers will have 10 weeks to respond to the government’s proposals.

SHIT HOLE COUNTRIES BAN
New Donald Trump immigration policy could ban thousands of African immigrants from US

Monsy Alvarado and Alan Gomez, USA TODAY, USA TODAY•February 24, 2020 

WOODLAND PARK, N.J. – In Kansas City, Kansas, the Baraza African Cultures Center has been fielding calls from Nigerians and other African immigrants "highly concerned" about how an expanded travel ban that went into effect last week will affect their families.

And in New Jersey, Steve Nwaaogu, 38, was hoping the travel ban would be temporary, and that a petition to bring his 13-year old daughter from Nigeria to join him, his wife, and son in the United States will be processed and approved this year.

A new Trump administration immigration policy that went into effect Friday has some immigrant communities across the country expressing fear and concern about what happens next for their family members, many of whom will no longer be able to move legally to the United States after waiting years for visas.

“Some are people that came to this country because they were fleeing harm and danger and were so grateful to end up in the United States, and others came for education to build a real future for their families,'' said Andrea Khan, chief operating officer for the Baraza African Cultures Center, which serves refugees and other immigrant communities in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. "And for the country to turn around and do something like this, they are very much in shock, because that is not the America they know.”

The Trump administration announced the expansion of its controversial travel ban late last month, saying it would add immigration restrictions on citizens from Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan who want to live or work in the U.S. permanently. It also bars citizens from Sudan and Tanzania from the U.S. diversity visa program, also known as the “green-card lottery," which aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States by selecting applicants from countries with lower rates of immigration.
Story continues

The federal government cited security as the reason for expanding the travel ban to those countries, saying they had deficiencies in sharing terrorist, criminal or identity information.

“It is logical and essential to thoroughly screen and vet everyone seeking to travel or immigrate to the United States,'' said Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement announcing the new restrictions. "However, there are some countries from whom the U.S. does not receive the necessary information about its travelers and, as a result, pose a national security or public safety risk that warrants tailored travel restrictions.”

Supporters of the Trump administration's tougher policies on both legal and illegal immigration applauded the travel ban.

“This is more directed at the governments than at the individual immigrants,’’ said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform or FAIR, a group that favors limiting immigration. “The individual immigrants are being put in this position by their own government’s refusal to cooperate and provide the necessary information, or their inability to do so.”

But Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the travel ban should end and not be expanded.

“President Trump is doubling down on his signature anti-Muslim policy – and using the ban as a way to put even more of his prejudices into practice by excluding more communities of color. Families, universities, and businesses in the United States are paying an ever-higher price for President Trump’s ignorance and racism," he said in a statement.

The ban does not affect citizens from those countries traveling on a tourist, student or foreign worker visas, but only those who seek immigrant visas to relocate to the United States and obtain legal permanent residency. Refugees, existing visa holders and those seeking special immigrant visas, which are granted to those who help the U.S. armed forces abroad, also won't be affected.

The Trump administration said the ban was limited to immigrant visas because it is more challenging to remove a person from the United States if they are admitted with an immigrant visa or green card approval if it's later discovered that they have terrorist connections, criminal ties or found to have misrepresented information.

Thousands of immigrants affected

The travel ban will prevent thousands of people from moving to the United States, and will likely have the most impact on Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa. In 2018, the United States approved nearly 14,000 green cards for citizens of Nigeria, compared to 8,182 for Burma, 2,428 for Eritrea, 908 for Kyrgyzstan, 3,658 for Sudan, and 3,186 for Tanzania, according to data from U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services.

The American Community Survey estimates for 2017 show that 344,979 U.S. residents were born in Nigeria, a huge jump from the 134,940 that reported being born in Nigeria in the 2000 census.

Many Nigerians have left their homeland to pursue education and more high-skilled job opportunities.

"We feel that we don’t belong in that list,'' said Jide Lawore, pastor of Agape House of Worship in Roselle, New Jersey, who was born in Nigeria and who leads a church where nearly 60% of parishioners are immigrants from Nigeria. "We have made a lot of positive contributions to the United States. We are educated, a lot of us are professional people in the United States, we are shocked by it."

The expanded travel ban has already led to criticism over its targeting of African countries, with advocates and others calling the move discriminatory, and the hashtag #Africanban circulating on social media.

Anthony Afolo, president of the Newark African Commission, called the new edict an "immigration ban."

"It's mostly affecting people here, not the people in Nigeria,'' said Afolo. "We are the ones here, we are the ones who have relatives, parents, spouses that are over there that may eventually want to live here."

Nwaaogu, of New Jersey, said he received asylum approval more than two years ago and soon after he was able to petition for his wife and two children. They moved to New Jersey seven months ago, but his 13-year old daughter's paperwork was held up because of an issue with the photograph on her passport, he explained. His daughter lives with her grandmother in Nigeria.

He said after the latest reiteration of the travel ban was announced he reached out to his immigration attorney, who told him that there could be a chance that the travel ban would be placed on hold by the courts, or that Nigeria will get off the list. He said he is still hopeful his daughter will join him soon.

"We will wait to see but we hope she will be here this year,'' he said.
Trump's travel ban has a long history

The expansion of the travel ban came three years after President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States," which became known as the travel ban. That measure prevented citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The initial ban was blocked by the courts after protesters gathered at airports across the country to denounce the policy. Months later, Trump revised the travel ban to include nationals from six Muslim majority countries, but that executive order, too, was halted by a federal judge.

The third version of the travel ban, which applies to travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and North Korea, as well as some Venezuelan government officials and their families, was upheld by the Supreme Court. The court ruled that the president did have the executive power to broadly restrict immigration and that his anti-Muslim statements did not undermine his authority. The court concluded that the ban was legal because it allowed for case-by-case waivers.

Mehlman of FAIR said he didn’t expect the expanded travel ban to be challenged in court but said that countries in question could make improvements and get off the list.

“You have to trust people on the ground who are saying they are not getting the cooperation that they need,'' Mehlman said, referring to State Department employees. "And we have seen in the past that when cooperation is forthcoming, that these countries can get off these lists.”

The country of Chad was removed from the travel ban in 2018. The White House said at the time that the Central African country had improved its identity-management and information sharing practices sufficiently to meet the baseline security standard.



On the day the racist #MuslimBan & #AfricanBan go into effect, we are standing up in Newark to demand NO Ban and NO Militarization on our streets!#NoAfricanBan #NoMuslimBan #NoBanAct pic.twitter.com/6zJRvTHDhm

— Make the Road New Jersey 🦋 (@MaketheRoadNJ) February 20, 2020

But Badri Kuku, president of the Sudanese Community Center in Iowa City, Iowa, said the U.S. government is punishing Sudan for its past.

“We as Sudanese people have tied hands because of bad government that has happened, but I believe we have one of the best prime ministers who is now doing whatever it takes to bring Sudan back,’’ he said. “Sudan needs help from the whole world, and I don’t support this idea of putting a ban on Sudan.”

John Stauffer said he was pained to see Eritrea included on the list of countries affected by Trump’s latest travel ban. Stauffer worked in Eritrea during a stint in the Peace Corps in the 1960s and later created The America Team for Displaced Eritreans, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that assists Eritreans trying to reach the U.S.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has held on to power for nearly 30 years as the leader of the nation’s sole political party. Human Rights Watch says the government’s requirement that young Eritreans perform 18 months of national service, either in the military or civil service, continues to be abused by the government that forcibly extends those terms for years or decades. The United Nations maintains a full-time observer in Eritrea who last year lamented that the nation has not made any improvements to its dismal human rights record.

The situation has become so dire that more than 500,000 Eritreans have fled the nation, many dying on rickety boats trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, others scattered from Europe to Latin America in their quest to find a safe port.

Stauffer said he can understand the Trump administration’s argument that the government of Eritrea has not been a reliable partner and does not readily share information with the U.S. government. But Stauffer said including Eritrea on the travel ban is dangerously misguided, since the Eritrean government can now force more people to stay in the country under forced labor conditions.

“(The government) is just laughing it up over this,” Stauffer said.

Even more troubling, Stauffer said, is that no Eritrean has ever been involved in any terrorist plot targeting Americans. More than 21,000 have been accepted into the United States as refugees since 2000, and Stauffer said they have been leading productive lives in cities like New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle.

“It’s like a low-hanging fruit,” he said. “Eritrea is overall in no position to retaliate for anything the U.S. does.”

Monsy Alvarado is an immigration reporter for NorthJersey.com. Alan Gomez is the USA Today reporter focused on immigration and Latin America.

Email: alvarado@northjersey.com Twitter: @monsyalvarado

---30---

As Syrian forces advance on Idlib, families fear being trapped at Turkish border
By Khalil Ashawi, Reuters•February 24, 2020



1-3 / 10
As Syrian forces advance on Idlib, families fear being trapped at Turkish border
Internally displaced boys walk near the wall in Atmah IDP camp, located near the border with Turkey

By Khalil Ashawi

ATMEH, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian government forces are advancing closer to the displaced persons camp where Adnan Abdelkarim and his family have taken shelter along the Turkish border after being uprooted multiple times, and he fears there is nowhere left to go.

"Today the regime is advancing from everywhere and we are trapped along the border," said 30-year-old Abdelkarim.

At the Atmeh camp on the northern edge of Idlib province, uprooted families are arriving in droves as they flee bombardment from air strikes and artillery shelling.

They fear being trapped between the fighting and the closed-off Turkish border. About 50 meters from the camp an imposing gray concrete wall is crowned with barbed wire, blocking their entry to Turkey.

"In the event the regime advances..., either we will die storming the Turkish wall and fleeing with our families...or slaughter ourselves by turning ourselves over," said Abdelkarim.

Backed by heavy Russian air power, Syrian government forces have stepped up a campaign to retake the last rebel stronghold in the northwestern regions of Aleppo and Idlib, sparking an exodus of nearly a million people toward a shrinking pocket along the Turkish frontier.

On Monday, Russian and Syrian warplanes continued to pound eastern and southern areas of Idlib province, according to the Syrian Observatory, a war monitor, and witnesses.

The Observatory said on Monday that pro-Damascus forces had seized control of 10 more towns in southern areas of Idlib province in less than 24 hours. It said fighting continued meanwhile around the Idlib town of Neirab between government forces and rebels backed by Turkish artillery.

"People here have little hope and everyone has started to head toward the border, fearful of the (government) advance," said Ismail Shahine, 37, originally displaced six years earlier from the Hama countryside.

Shahine on Monday prepared a tent to accommodate the rest of his family, which he said would soon arrive from the western countryside of Aleppo, where government forces have retaken large swathes of land from rebels at a rapid clip in recent weeks.
Story continues

Fearing a fresh refugee crisis, Turkey has poured thousands of troops into Idlib in the last few weeks and President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to use military force to drive back Syrian forces unless they pull back by the end of the month.

Turkey hosts about 3.7 million Syrians and says it cannot absorb any more.

As Turkish military convoys continue to enter northern Syria, Shahine and others near the border have pinned their hopes on Erdogan's pledge to force Damascus to retreat.

"Everyone today is waiting for the start of the coming month, for the deadline that Erdogan gave the regime to withdraw," said Shahine. "I am expecting that they will make a move and not leave the Syrian people to fend for themselves."

(Reporting by Khalil Ashawi; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Nick Macfie)

How to save face in Syria: Erdogan's conundrum

Ezzedine SAID,AFP•February 24, 2020


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is battling not to be the biggest loser from the Idlib campaign (AFP Photo/Mustafa Kamaci)

Istanbul (AFP) - As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime presses ahead with a relentless campaign, his counterpart across the border in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is battling to avoid being the big loser in the battle for the last rebel bastion of Idlib.

Erdogan, who has been siding with the rebels opposing Assad, is not only facing a fierce military push by the Syrian forces. He is also having to watch a massive number of displaced people fleeing to the Turkish border while his erstwhile Russian ally, Vladimir Putin, appears to have turned his back.

This month, as many as 17 Turkish soldiers have been killed by Syrian regime forces in the northwest Idlib province and several Turkish military observation posts -- which Ankara thought were safe under deals with Russia, a key Damascus ally -- ended up being surrounded in areas retaken by the regime.

Desperate to prevent a victory by his sworn enemy Assad and a new influx of refugees swarming to Turkey's border gates, Erdogan has threatened an operation against Damascus forces unless they pull back by the end of February.

But at a time of tense relations with Putin over disagreements on Syria, a possible military campaign against the regime risks a confrontation with its guarantor Moscow -- which is for Erdogan akin to squaring the circle.

Erdogan and Putin -- the key international actors in the Syrian conflict -- signed an agreement in Sochi in 2018 establishing a "demilitarised zone" separating the regime forces from the armed opposition and jihadist groups in the Idlib province.

But the deal has been in tatters in recent weeks as Ankara and Moscow have pointed the finger of blame at each other over its failure.




- 'Direct conflict'-

"If the Assad regime fails to retreat to the previous lines at the end of the month and if Turkey and Russia fail to reach an agreement, there is a great chance that we will witness a direct conflict between Turkey and the Assad regime," Ankara-based political analyst Ali Bakeer told AFP.

"The problem for Turkey will not be the Syrian regime but the Russians," he said.

Turkey has already taken in 3.6 million Syrian refugees and has said it is unwilling to open its borders to a new wave from Idlib.

With the growing resentment toward Syrians in Turkey, officials are planning to ease the burden by settling some of them in areas now controlled by the Turkish army following three previous offensives since 2016.

"The new wave of refugee arrivals would be the worst-case scenario for Turkey, not the direct clash with Assad regime," Bakeer said.

If Turkey and Russia fail to revive the Sochi agreement, Erdogan's options are limited.

"One possible scenario is for Turkey to establish a safe zone in what would be left of Idlib and that zone would not be tied to any sort of agreements with Russia or Assad regime," said Bakeer.

Such an area would allow Turkey to house internally displaced people who fled the fighting on the Syrian territory.

- 'Strong resentment'-

"Erdogan is aware of the strong resentment in Turkey against Syrian refugees," Haid Haid, researcher at Chatham House, told AFP.

"That's why it has been framing its military activities in Idlib as a means to prevent more refugees from crossing

"The (political) cost will likely be high for him if he loses many soldiers in Syria and still fails to stop refugees from crossing to Turkey. But he might be able to gain from the crisis if the outcome of his intervention is positive."

Haid also believes that a Turkish offensive against the Syrian regime forces "is still a possibility" if political negotiations between Ankara and Moscow prove fruitless.

"Allowing Assad to capture Idlib will not only hurt Erdogan domestically, it will likely damage Turkey's reputation and its ability to project power."

For Haid, such a confrontation would not necessarily spell the end of the Turkish-Russian alliance given the burgeoning ties between the two countries in recent years especially in the fields of energy and defence.

"The current alliance between Turkey and Russia is broader than Syria," he said.

"That is why neither of them is willing, at least for now, to destroy it. Idlib is important for Turkey but it is still not considered a deal breaker."

We have nothing left': displaced Syrians wait out war in Idlib

With the closed Turkish border behind them and Russian-backed forces at the horizon, Syrians have nowhere left to run
Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent Fri 21 Feb 2020 

Displaced Syrians walk on the road in Atmeh, in Idlib protectorate, the last area of Syria outside Assad’s authority. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty

Hemmed against a border wall in Somme-like mud and misery, more than 1 million Syrians are awaiting their fate. Nearby, Iranian-backed militias and what remains of the national army are advancing towards them, as Russian jets pick them off in the crowded fields and ruined towns that are all that is left of opposition-held Syria.

Convoys of the Turkish military, a protector of the displaced that have made it to the province over the last eight years, pass regularly along roads teeming with clapped out cars full of families and remnants of their belongings. Women and children beg them to stop, but they continue on to battlefronts miles from the panic and confusion, their attention diverted from helping the destitute to shaping the final months of the war in Ankara’s interests. Aid workers, who say things have never been worse in Syria, do what they can among scenes they describe as overwhelming and impossible.

Over eight years of slaughter and displacement, the Turks had been the protectors of many people in Idlib – the last part of the war-torn country to remain outside of central government authority – their sole insurance against a final onslaught long considered inevitable and which was launched in mid-January by a conglomerate of forces supporting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, all bent on retaking control.
A Syrian family ride in the back of a truck as up to 1 million civilians have been displaced by fighting in Idlib since December. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty

Even in a war that has known few boundaries, the last month of brutality has been almost without precedent. Up to 1 million people are again on the move in Idlib. With the Turkish frontier behind them and an ascendant, vengeful foe over the horizon, they have nowhere left to run or hide.

Across the sodden, chaotic plains of the northwestern province, in the newly energised Russian war rooms, and among European diplomats that have failed to steer the war towards a diplomatic end, a realisation is growing that, one way or another, the most devastating conflict of modern times is grinding to a close. Its cost will be enormous, and will likely be paid over many continents and several generations. But first the people of Idlib need help and aid agencies say it has never been harder to deliver.


Syria: the fight for Idlib

“It’s not just the mind-boggling number of people in need of critical help, but the fact they are constantly moving,” said the Syria director of Mercy Corps, Kieren Barnes. “It’s next to impossible to preposition the quantity of supplies needed. If the fighting doesn’t stop soon, we have to face the terrible reality that our teams may not be able to reach those most at risk.”

A Mercy Corps worker inside Idlib said: “There is panic, confusion and a sense of loss. Many feel like this is the end of the road. I have never seen anything like this.”

Ahmed Naddour, who is now living in a makeshift tent near the border with six family members after four years of the moves that included Damascus, west Aleppo and the far north of Idlib, said: “Everywhere we could have sheltered has been levelled by the Russians. This is it for us. We have nothing left, and I have not admitted that to myself at any point since 2011.”

Nearby are displaced people from all over Syria: Homs, where the uprising began in 2011; Ghouta, where it was crushed by poison gas in 2013; and Aleppo, whose fall in 2016 marked a change in Ankara’s broad support for the anti-Assad opposition and a turning point in the course of the war.

Through it all, Idlib has been a last redoubt, a place where all comers could seek refuge from pro-regime forces, but at the price of living among extremist groups that had been there before and taken instrumental roles in most aspects of civic life across large parts of the province.

The aegis of extremists, including global jihadists, has been an intractable problem for nationalist opposition groups in Idlib that had received Turkish and, until early 2018, western backing in their fight against Assad. Both sides had accommodated each other in earlier clashes and as the final battle drew nearer.

The presence of extremists had been central to the Syrian narrative that all those opposing it were terrorists from the outset. Large numbers of exiles had been sent to Idlib as part of surrender deals negotiated with vanquished opposition communities and forced to co-exist with extremists. The fear that this would dehumanise an entire population of at least 3.5 million people, 80% of which, according to UN estimates, is made up of women and children, has been borne out in the eyes of international observers.

“Yes, there is fatigue about Syria and war in the region in general,” said a regional diplomat. “But this is one of the gravest crises of our lifetimes. They have created a kill box in Idlib and no-one cares about that.”  

Children wait in queue to receive toys. Aid agencies say the continuous movement of people make it difficult to deliver humanitarian aid. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty

Syrians in Idlib have implored again for international help, but that is unlikely to be forthcoming in the form of any western-backed intervention to stop the Russian-backed push. Even as the US military spokesman for the anti-Isis campaign in Syria and Iraq, Colonel Myles Caggins, called for a stop to the pro-regime offensive on Thursday, he also described Idlib as a “magnet” for extremists who are a “nuisance, menace and a threat”. The words echoed Russia’s stated views and were condemned from inside the province as “an incomplete understanding” of events.

“We are victims of the regime before anyone else,” said Rasha al-Homsi, 26. “Our lives have been reduced to labels that suit others, but don’t reflect what we suffer.”

The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, made a new appeal on Thursday for those trapped in the province to be able to leave. “For these countries, already hosting 5.6 million refugees, of whom 3.6 million are in Turkey, international support must be sustained and stepped up.”

Ankara seems disinclined to open its borders again – a well-known fact to Russia, which is helping Syrian and Iranian forces on the ground. “This will all end in a deal between them both at some point,” the western diplomat said. “But I’m more worried than ever about the carnage this will leave behind and the chaos it will leave for the region and the world.”