WAR IS RAPE

Russia’s Embassy in Estonia claims Russia is the real victim of Russia’s sexual violence in Ukraine


15.04.2022

The Russian Embassy in Estonia has posted a shameful response to a group of women in Estonia who gathered outside their building on Wednesday to protest against sexual violence by the Russian Military in Ukraine.

The protesters sent a powerful visual message around the world by standing with their arms tied behind their backs, their heads covered, and their underwear daubed in fake blood to highlight the horror of sexual violence against women and children as part of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Photo: Rauno Volmar / Ekspress Meedia. Photo used with permission.

In a Tweet and Facebook post, the Russian Embassy in Estonia shared a photo of the protest with a short caption in Russian saying that “this is what the faces of local Russophobes look like.” Although few would have expected the Russian Embassy to accept accountability, their response only further highlights the cruelty being excused and the absurdity of using ‘Russophobia’ to deflect from serious criticism of real issues.

Why the women protested

The widespread use of sexual violence against women and children in Ukraine as a weapon of war by the Russian military has been widely documented over the past month, including by journalists and numerous human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

In a addition, a substantial number of intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families casually discuss the practise of rape during their occupation of Ukraine, such as this call this week in which the partner of a Russian soldier gives her approval of the sexual abuse.

And, in a recent shocking case highlighting the widespread perceived acceptability of sexual violence within the Russian military, a Russian solder filmed himself raping a baby and posted the footage to social media. He was detained by the Russian police, although it is telling that he was unable to foresee this consequence for such an open display of Russia’s secret weapon of war.

A senior UN official told the United Nations Security Council this week that the UN is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence by the Russian Military in Ukraine and that this is likely “just the tip of the iceberg”. In response, Ambassadors from numerous member states have urged an investigation.

First-hand testimony can be heard in this BBC report. In one reported case, about 25 women and girls aged 14 to 24 hiding in a basement in Bucha were systemically raped during the Russian occupation. According to Ukraine’s ombudsman for human rights Lyudmyla Denisova, “Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn’t want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children.”

In a speech this week to Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also mentioned the use of rape by the Russian Military in Ukraine among other war crimes, adding that Ukraine with support from international specialists would investigate all war crimes, identify all the culprits and find them “no matter how long it will take”.

Amnesty International says that rape, which it has documented by the Russian Military in Ukraine in addition to killings of civilians, torture, and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war are human rights violations and war crimes. “Those who directly commit war crimes should be held criminally responsible for them. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, hierarchal superiors – including commanders and civilian leaders, such as ministers and heads of state – who knew or had reason to know about war crimes committed by their forces, but did not attempt to stop them or punish those responsible, should also be held criminally responsible.”

Estonia is committed to supporting and welcoming Ukrainian refugees arriving in Estonia. If anyone has been a victim of sexual violence, specialist services are available, including from Victim Support, a free public social service that offers emotional support as well as information about support from the Estonian government. Their contact information can be found here.

Russia’s cynical use of “Russophobia”

As recently reported by Propastop (link in Estonian), the term ‘Russophobia’ was near non-existent until 2014 and rarely ever used by the Russian government nor Russian state media.

It’s first prominent use was in 2012 by both the Russian President and Foreign Ministry, although it still did not gain wide usage after that until 2014 when Russia began its war on Ukraine. That’s when ‘Russophobia’, supposedly encouraged by the Ukrainian government, was suddenly emphasised by the Kremlin as a pretext for the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for ‘separatist’ movements in Eastern Ukraine, as well as a way to criticise subsequent sanctions. Only then did it become more widely used in Kremlin propaganda, including by the Kremlin’s supporters and aligned media outlets.



Accusations of Russophobia in the Baltic states also increased after that as a way for the Kremlin to characterise the influence of the Baltic states within the EU and Nato, despite the fact that concerns raised by Baltic governments of the Kremlin have proved accurate – most notably by Russia launching its full scale war against Ukraine this year. Propastop has recently written here about the reality of Russian speakers’ rights and life quality in Estonia and the considerable progress made towards integration since the end of the Soviet occupation.

In preparation for Russia’s escalated war, accusations of Russophobia in Ukraine again formed a central part of the pre-text narrative used by the Russian President, most notably in a pseudohistorical article about the unity of Russians and Ukrainians, which further developed into an argument that ‘Russophobia in Ukraine’ was a genocide against Russians.

The United Nations defines genocide as ‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’, which includes examples that include the documented conduct of the Russian military in Ukraine, such as widespread sexual violence, as well as indiscriminately killing civilians, and conducting mass deportations in occupied areas. In contrast, there has been widespread and fierce opposition to the Russian occupation in predominantly Russian speaking parts of Ukraine, which do not recognise Putin’s accusations of genocide against them by Ukraine.

The Russian Embassy’s use of the term Russophobia to describe protestors against widely documented acts of widespread sexual violence by the Russian military – which even the Russian police felt compelled to act against in its most open form – further exposes the cynical way in which the Kremlin seeks to exploit the concept to deflect criticism from its own crimes.

More pictures of the powerful demonstration are available at ERR here and there’s a video below.

Just a quick note. We initially reached out to ERR to request the use of their photos for this article with a link and credit in order to help further spread the important message of the protesters. Unfortunately, ERR declined due to critical articles about previous ERR coverage in Propastop, including the amount of coverage dedicated to the Russian Embassy’s talking points for which Estonian media experts were invited to provide their own opinions (links in Estonian). We will, however, continue to link to ERR where it is useful for readers and also continue to provide critical analysis of ERR, like all media outlets, when it is deemed fair – but it is disappointing to use this as a reason to block further spread of the protest message. We recommend that activists with a powerful visual message consider if they can issue their own copyright free photos in order to ensure their message is spread as widely as possible.

Thank you for reading

Propastop is run by volunteers at the Estonian Defence League who monitor and fact check propaganda against the Republic of Estonia. For more English language content from Propastop, follow us @Propastop on Twitter here.

RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS NOW POLITICAL PRISONERS


Andrei Novashov, Isabella Evloyeva, Mikhail Afanasyev, Yana Yanovskaya, Sergei Mikhailov

ORGANISATION
RSF_en

The Russian authorities have begun using arrests, raids and fines to harass journalists accused of publishing “false information” about the Russian army’s actions in Ukraine. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this witchhunt and the growing climate of impunity for attacks on journalists, and calls for the withdrawal of laws establishing censorship.

After dispatching the national independent press, the Russian authorities are now targeting critical local media outlets by means of the new laws establishing war censorship. The victims include Listock, a small newspaper based in Gorno-Altaysk, in western Siberia’s Altai region, which was fined 300,000 roubles (3,300 euros) yesterday for articles “discrediting” the Russian army), while its editor, Olga Komarova, was fined an additional 100,000 roubles (1,100 euros). These are not insignificant sums for a small publication, and more fines could follow.

Listock’s owner, Sergei Mikhailov, was jailed in Altai yesterday after being arrested the day before near Moscow, while his home and the newspaper’s premises were searched. He is now facing up to 15 years in prison on a charge of publishing “false information” about the Russian army in Ukraine in his newspaper. Listock has provided non-stop coverage of the war from the start – including an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, anti-war columns and reports about the Bucha massacre – and has repeatedly used the word “war” although it is banned by Roskomnadzor, the media regulator.

A similar sequence of events took place on 13 April in eastern Siberia’s Khakassia region. Police raided the apartment of Mikhail Afanasyev, the editor of the local online newspaper Novy Focus, and confiscated his equipment in reaction to a – now deleted – article about riot police refusing to go to Ukraine and about the activities in Ukraine of soldiers from Khakassia. Afanasyev is now being held in Abakan, the region’s capital, pending trial.

In the southern Siberian city of Prokopyevsk, Andrei Novashov, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s local offshoot, Sibir.Realii, has been under house arrest on a “false information” charge since 22 March for sharing a video on the Russian social media Vkontakte about Russian army attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

In Kudymkar, in the Urals region, Parma-Novosti editor Yana Yanovskaya was fined 50,000 roubles (550 euros) on 30 March for “discrediting” the armed forces in an anti-war editorial. Proceedings were initiated on 25 March against Isabella Evloyeva, the editor of Fortanga, the Caucasian Republic of Ingushetia’s only independent news website, for writing in a Telegram post that the letter Z used on Russian tanks in Ukraine was “synonymous with aggression, death, pain and barefaced manipulation.”

Other journalists have been sentenced in the southwestern city of Elista, in Kemerovo (in eastern Siberia) and in the Sverdlovsk region (in the Urals).

“The Russian authorities have embarked on a painstaking witchhunt designed to silence the few local journalists still daring to provide reporting or commentary that runs counter to the prevailing propaganda about the war launched by Russia in Ukraine,” said Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. “The terrible blow dealt to the national media was a signal authorising local authorities to eliminate the last critical regional newspapers. Trampling on press freedom and the related international obligations only further isolates Moscow on the world stage. RSF calls for the repeal of the laws establishing censorship.”


Under an amendment adopted on 4 March, any Russian or foreign person can be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for spreading “false information” about the Russian armed forces. Many independent media such as Novaya Gazeta, The Bell, Taiga.info, VPost and Prospekt Mira responded by announcing that they were terminating their coverage of the war in Ukraine and deleting previous stories about it in order to protect their journalists from criminal prosecution. Under another law passed on 22 March, “false information” about the activities of “Russian state bodies” operating abroad ­– including the presidency, executive, parliament, national guard and Federal Security Service (FSB) – is also punishable by up to 15 years in prison.


A bill due to have its first reading in parliament on 18 May aims to complete the control that the authorities exercise over news and information. It would allow the prosecutor-general to cancel the licence of any Russian or foreign media outlet and immediately block them – without warning and without reference to a court – in response to the dissemination of “false information” about the army, “lack of respect for the authorities,” calls for sanctions, and participation in “unauthorised events.” The licences of foreign media could also be rescinded “in retaliation” if they are from countries that have banned or restricted access to a Russian media outlet. The sanction will be final. There is no provision for any appeal procedure.

In a sign of the climate of impunity threatening journalists, Novaya Gazeta editor and Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov was attacked on the Moscow-Samara train on 7 April by a man who sprayed him with a mixture of red paint and acetone. After conducting their own investigation into the attack, the newspaper’s staff denounced the inaction of the police.

The environment of total censorship – in which most media have been blocked or forced to close and outspoken journalists are in danger – is prompting a massive exodus of Russian media personnel. Together with its partners, RSF is supporting Russian journalists by means of its Operation Collateral Freedom, which enables media outlets to circumvent censorship, and the JXFund, which helps them to continue working from abroad.


Russia is ranked 150th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Shanghai Stakes: Why COVID In China's "Bourgeois" Capital Is A High-Risk Affair

The port city is China's most international and cosmopolitan, which helps explain the ongoing culture clash between its residents and Chinese authorities aiming to enforce a strict Zero-Covid policy of restrictions on movement and freedom.

Walking in an empty Shanghai

Sherwin Ker/Unsplash

As Zongcheng, a Shanghai-based writer, puts it, "Being a mixture of socialism, state capitalism and market economy, Shanghai's dilemma creates a livelihood issue as well as a political issue."

Dan Wu
April 15, 2022
WORLDCRUNCH

Shanghai, a metropolis of 25 million inhabitants with a rich and colorful history, stands apart in China.

The southern port boasts the most international and cosmopolitan population on mainland China, where commercial wealth and relative personal freedom meet. The natives of Shanghai are often chided by other Chinese as the nation's "bourgeois" class.

Through the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had first spread around the world from Wuhan — another Chinese mega-city some 500 miles to the west — Shanghai had largely been spared from its effects, with local administrations being praised for “precise epidemic prevention.”

All that has changed over the past month. Both its special status and previous success in keeping the virus at bay help explain the crisis engulfing the city over the past month. With the sudden spread of the Omicron variant, a strict lockdown has been in force since March 28. And locals are pushing the limits in what is, despite local attitudes, an authoritarian regime in China.

For most Shanghai residents, the gravity of the current situation has been less about the alarming number of infections (as of Friday, there are a little more than 17,000 confirmed cases and seven deaths), and more focused on the frustration and rising acts of disobedience in the face of the harsh lockdowns of the government's Zero-COVID policy.

"Control your soul's desire for freedom"

In recent days, reports — though not yet confirmed by reliable sources — have circulated, echoing the tension at play in the city's COVID outbreak: On the Weibo social network, a video was posted that shows the light of a drone above a Shanghai neighborhood on April 5, broadcasting a female voice telling residents to "control your soul's desire for freedom."

This came after Shanghai’s citywide lockdown prompted residents in the neighborhood to shout from their windows that they were running out of food and basic necessities.

Indeed, the continuing Zero-COVID strategy has caused high levels of anxiety — and worse — for a bourgeois population used to living a comfortable urban life. It has also shown the frightening power of China's bureaucracy and its dreadful consequences: patients of other illnesses that could only be treated if in possession of negative PCR test results, leading to tragic and unnecessary deaths; COVID-positive children separated from their parents in isolation, with officials authorizing parents to accompany their children only if they, too, were infected; pets in COVID-hit households that got beaten to death, etc.
Residents shouted from their windows that they were running out of food and basic necessities.

Discontent and disillusion are growing in Shanghai. The current climate of fear in the metropolis lead a correspondent for The Initium to ask himself: “Will I be separated from my family tomorrow? Will I be able to buy groceries tomorrow? What will happen to my children and pets if I am sent to a COVID-only hospital? It's 2022, what kind of life is this?!”

Volunteers transport vegetable in an agricultural products distribution center in Shanghai
Yang Qing/Xinhua/ZUMA

Shanghai's Dilemma: A Political One

Despite the ongoing issues, China insists that its Zero-COVID strategy is the right approach, although voices of dissidents are growing louder even within the central government. On April 2, a recording of a conversation between a Shanghai citizen and a governmental pandemic control expert was widely circulated on social media. The expert expressed her frustrations that in the course of her work she had devised many contingency plans, recommending home isolation for patients with mild asymptomatic illnesses, but "no one is listening to what the professionals are saying. Now the pandemic has become a political one, and so many resources and money are being spent on a disease like the flu.”

The recording was released to the public with the expert’s consent, but superior administrations soon declared that “experts were not allowed to express their opinions in inquiries.”

Shanghai's dilemma creates a livelihood issue as well as a political issue.

Up to this point, some districts in Shanghai were allowed to lift restrictions once COVID cases dropped, although the Zero-COVID strategy remains as strict as ever. Complaints are shared on the internet — but many also get censored, while authorities still ask people to be "grateful". A special TV gala for those "combating the epidemic" was planned to be aired on April 13, but was canceled after an online call to boycott it.

As Zongcheng, a Shanghai-based writer, puts it, "Being a mixture of socialism, state capitalism and market economy, Shanghai's dilemma creates a livelihood issue as well as a political issue."

Gaza protests against Israeli raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Protesters chanted slogans calling for Arab and international support for Al-Aqsa Mosque worshippers and Palestinians attacked in the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of Palestinians joined a demonstration in central Gaza City on Friday to protest Israeli raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque

 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

By Maram Humaid
Published On 15 Apr 2022

Gaza City – Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets to protest Israeli forces breaking into the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday and in a show of support for people living in the occupied West Bank.

Protesters chanted slogans calling for Arab and international support for Al-Aqsa Mosque worshippers and those in the occupied territories facing intensified Israeli violence against Palestinians.

Earlier this week, Palestinian factions in Gaza met senior Hamas official Yahya Sinwar to discuss the accelerating developments in the occupied West Bank, where they affirmed their “unified position” against deadly Israeli raids.

Thousands gathered at the holy site for weekly Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan when clashes broke out leaving more than 150 Palestinians wounded.

In a speech at the Gaza demonstration, Khaled al-Batsh, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad movement, denounced Israeli attacks against worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday morning.

“Today we gather in Gaza to show our support to people in Jerusalem and the West Bank. We support our popular resistance and salute the souls of our martyrs,” he said.

Al-Batsh stressed Palestinian factions “won’t stay silent” if Israeli violations continue at the Al-Aqsa compound.

“We will not tolerate the Israeli provocation in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and we will not accept its continuation,” he said.

Omer Barlev, Israel’s public security minister, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the Al-Aqsa compound. He added Israeli forces were forced to confront “violent elements” who attacked them.

‘Pay the price’

Al-Batsh said Palestinian armed groups hold “the Israeli enemy” responsible for “the repercussions of these attacks”. Israel “will pay the price for these crimes”, he added.

“The resistance has taken upon itself the responsibility to protect our people and its sanctities, and will not stand idly in the face of these provocations,” he said.

Al-Batsh condemned Israeli attempts to impose a Jewish identity on occupied East Jerusalem.

The recent violence came as far-right Jewish groups called for raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish Passover holiday, and the offering of animal sacrifices in its courtyard, which has not occurred since ancient times.

Ayman al-Athamneh, 36, from Beit Hanoun, said he joined the protest in northern Gaza to show his strong rejection of what is happening at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“We assure all our people in the West Bank that the masses of Gaza are wholeheartedly with you and with the resistance. We in Gaza are ready for any sacrifices for the sake of Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.

Al-Aqsa ‘a red line’

Ashraf Awad, 43, expressed his anger at what happened on Friday morning at Al-Aqsa.

“Where are the Arab and Islamic countries of what is happening? Every day there are martyrs, people killed, wounded and there are raids and provocations,” he told Al Jazeera.

“What we saw today is very provocative and painful. The beating of women, girls and worshippers cannot be tolerated. We demand the resistance to respond. Israel knows nothing but the language of blood.”

Umm Raed Hajj Salem, 57, said she feels like there is “a fire burning in her chest from anger” after the Israeli raids.

“I wish the crossings were open and we could go from Gaza to Al-Aqsa Mosque to defend it,” she said angrily.

“Al-Aqsa is a red line – the land of an Islamic endowment – and any violation and aggression against it is an attack on all Muslims as a whole. We sacrifice our souls, our blood, and our children for the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We hope that God will strengthen us and liberate it soon.”

The holy site, sacred to Muslims and Jews, has repeatedly led to confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis. Last year violence there ignited an 11-day Israeli war on Gaza.

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip took part in protests against Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

 

Analysis-Jerusalem clashes raise fears of wider conflict



Palestinians shout slogans at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, following clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem's Old City

Palestinian man takes a police sign off a wall at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, following clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem's Old City


Fri, April 15, 2022

By Henriette Chacar, Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - One year after events in Jerusalem led to war in Gaza, clashes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan are raising fears of renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with leaders on both sides warning of possible escalation.

At least 152 Palestinians were wounded when Israeli riot police entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday to disperse Palestinians who threw firecrackers and stones at them and towards a Jewish prayer area.

The Al-Aqsa compound sits on a plateau in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, the area is the most sensitive in the generations-old conflict.

"Jerusalem is perhaps the number one issue that has the potential of triggering widescale violence," said Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. "We have seen that in the past."

Already strained by deadly attacks on Israelis by Palestinian assailants in the last two weeks and Israeli army killings of Palestinians in the West Bank, the atmosphere in the holy city has been heightened as Ramadan, Passover and Easter are all being marked this month.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described the Israeli riot police actions at Al-Aqsa as a "brutal assault on worshipers during the holy month" and a dangerous omen.

At a rally in Gaza, a spokesman for the armed Islamist group Hamas, which rules the enclave, said that Israeli use of force would not go unanswered.

"We will draw the line again in defence of Jerusalem and we will launch a new era; weapons for weapons, and force will only be met by force and we will defend Jerusalem by all our might," Fawzi Barhoum said.

Last May, Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel after Hamas demanded Israeli police withdraw from Al-Aqsa and the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where a court threat to dispossess Palestinian residents had led to protests and confrontation.

In the 11-day war that followed, 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 people in Israel were killed.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities were working to restore calm in Jerusalem and across Israel, but were ready if the situation deteriorated.

"We are preparing for any scenario and the security forces are ready for any task," Bennett said in a statement.

WAVE OF KILLINGS

Last week, a Palestinian from a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin shot dead three Israelis and wounded several more at a Tel Aviv bar. The shooting was the latest in a string of Palestinian attacks in Israeli cities that killed 14 people.

Bennett called the attacks, which were the deadliest since 2016, "a new wave of terror".

The Israeli army has killed 40 Palestinians this year in a cycle which Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli public opinion expert and political analyst, said could be traced to early February when Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants in Hebron.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described that killing as "an ugly field execution".

Alongside what it considers as security measures, such as mending breaches in the barrier which separates it from the West Bank and conducting mass arrests, Israel has also relatively eased Palestinian movement from the West Bank and Gaza into Israel and Jerusalem.

"There are no restrictions on the use of force," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Thursday, echoing Bennett. He added that Israel would allow Palestinians who "maintain the quiet" to work and celebrate Ramadan without disruptions.

Until Friday's clashes at Al-Aqsa, those relief measures had appeared to ease some Palestinian frustrations, Shikaki said.

However, the pent-up anger and grievances over Israel’s 55-year military occupation of territories it captured in the 1967 war, and where Palestinians seek to establish a state, outweigh the current concessions, he added.

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 2021 marked the highest rate of Palestinian home demolitions since 2016, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

In the last five years, Israel has granted just 33 building permits to Palestinians and over 16,500 building permits to Jewish settlers in the 60% of the West Bank it directly controls, according to Itay Epshtain, a humanitarian law and policy consultant, citing data disclosed by Israel's Defence Ministry.

"The whole structure that is in place, of the occupation, is violent," said Diana Buttu, a former legal advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization. "It's been decades of this, decades of daily violence, and it gets to a point where eventually it just boomerangs back onto Israel."

(Reporting by Henriette Chacar in Jaffa, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Dominic Evans and Angus MacSwan)

Pakistan condemns Zionist aggression on Palestine, raid on Al-Aqsa

Tehran, IRNA – Islamic Republic of Pakistan expresses serious concern over the latest developments in various parts of the occupied Palestinian territories by the illegitimate Zionist regime especially the raid of occupying forces on Al-Aqsa mosque.

Foreign ministry of Pakistan in a statement on Friday said that the raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque is a highly condemnable assault on worshippers, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, and egregious violation of all humanitarian norms and human rights laws.

The statement further said that in recent weeks, Zionist forces have killed dozens and injured countless Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem and other areas. This escalation of violence by Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories is deplorable.

“We pray for the earliest recovery of those injured. Pakistan also calls upon the international community to take urgent steps to protect innocent Palestinian lives, and uphold international law and principles of the UN Charter,” it said.

It added Pakistan reaffirms its consistent and unstinted support for the Palestinian cause.

Al-Aqsa Mosque incidents indicate Zionists helplessness

TEHRAN, Apr. 15 (MNA) – Condemning desecration of the holy places by the Zionist regime, Iranian Foreign Minister said that what happened in Al-Aqsa Mosque indicated Palestinians’ resistance and the Zionists’ helplessness.

Speaking in a phone call with Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, Amir-Abdollahian slammed desecration of the holy places by the Zionist regime.

Undoubtedly, the Zionist regime has become too weak to tolerate the Palestinians’ movements and the Resistance that created "Saif al-Quds" (Sword of al-Quds') epic, he noted.

Today, the Resistance is in its best position, while the Zionist terrorist regime is in its weakest conditions, he added.

Iran supports formation of an integrated Palestinian government throughout the historic land with Holy Quds as its capital, he stated.

He stressed the importance of diplomatic consultations with foreign ministers of Islamic countries to condemn and stop the Zionist regime’s aggressive actions.

Amir-Abdollahian described the Zionist regime's aggression against worshipers and desecrating Al-Aqsa Mosque as inappropriate effects of normalizing relations with fake Israeli regime by some Arab-Islamic countries.

Meanwhile, Haniyeh elaborated on the recent crimes in Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying that Palestine is facing with two options: accepting the Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque or standing against the Zionist regime.

Palestinian people and the resistance groups have chosen the path of resistance with power, Haniyeh said during the conversation. 

He appreciated Iran’s support for the Palestinian cause of Palestine, Holy Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He also called for increasing diplomatic consultations at the level of Islamic countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the United Nations Security Council to condemn and stop the Zionist regime’s aggression.

In the wake of escalation of tension and aggression by the Zionist regime, dozens of Palestinians have been martyred and hundreds injured since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

MNA/

If Israel/Palestine become a true democracy– uh-oh, there goes the Jewish state — Moulton

Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton acknowledges the contradiction between democracy and a Jewish state.
BY PHILIP WEISS

APRIL 15, 2022

MONDOWEISS

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MASS) ON WEBINAR WITH J STREET ON MARCH 22, 2022, DISCUSSING HIS VISIT TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE WITH THE GROUP IN FEBRUARY 2022. SCREENSHOT FROM ZOOM.

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, says he rejects one state in Israel and Palestine, even if it’s a “democracy,” because Palestinians outnumber Jews and they will end the Jewish state.

In a webinar talk last month, Moulton said that he questions the “viability” of the two state solution, but he remains committed to that outcome because it is the only way to preserve a Jewish state:

One of the simplest ways that I found to look at is that if you actually had a true one state where Palestinians and Israelis had equal rights– a democracy, right?– then demographically the Palestinians are probably going to take over the Israelis in relatively short order, they would outvote them, and that means you would really lose the concept of a Jewish state. It would be some sort of coalition government, I’m sure, but for everybody who advocates for a Jewish state and the right for the Jewish people to have a Jewish state in the world, it’s hard to see how that works under a truly democratic single state as one would be necessarily constructed here. And that’s something that people don’t like to talk about frankly. I think that’s a hard truth for a lot of people to face. It’s something a lot of people especially in the Israeli government don’t like to admit.

As someone who believes in the right for the Jewish people to have a Jewish state in the world and also believes in democracy, in the primacy of democracy as a form of government, it’s hard to see how this works…A two state solution is hard to envision now, but a one state solution is even harder.

Moulton spoke on a webinar hosted by J Street after the liberal Zionist lobby group took him to Israel and Palestine in February, his fourth visit to the country.

Moulton’s comment that the contradiction between a Jewish state and a democracy is a “hard truth” people don’t like to face is important, because activists on the left have long pushed this contradiction, and now it’s being discussed in the mainstream. Lara Friedman said last week that recent reports accusing Israel of apartheid have caused embarrassment to Democrats by “saying the quiet part out loud — we want Israel to be a state which gives supremacy to Jewish citizens at the cost of what is democracy and equality and anti-racism and anti-discrimination. We want that but we still want to be called a democratic state but if we have to pick we’ll pick the supremacist state… There’s a cognitive dissonance for a lot of progressives who have long believed .. if you wrap yourself in this cloak of I-support-negotiations, I-support-two-states, that somehow that inoculates you from being responsible for essentially being supportive of a regime that isn’t democratic in any real way except for Jewish citizens of Israel…Saying Israel is democratic for its Jewish citizens is not saying it’s a democracy in any serious way.”

Here are some other excerpts of Moulton’s webinar, which was attended by many in Massachusetts. (A friend shared the Zoom password link with me).

Moulton admitted that Congress is on Israel’s side, thanks to the Israel lobby.


As you might imagine, the conversation in the Congress tends to be fairly one sided. There is a remarkably effective p.r. effort from the Israeli government and from advocates here in the United States to present their side of the story, and the Palestinians don’t have that kind of effort. Ultimately I think this does impair the resolution of the conflict. Make no mistake, I am a very strong Israel supporter. I spent four years of my life fighting terrorism in the Middle East… I’m no softy here when it comes to being pro Israel but at the same time only seeing one side of a conflict makes it very difficult if not impossible to resolve.

Moulton, 43, a former Marine captain, said the world sees Palestinians as a “monolithic terrorist organization” and he has pushed Palestinian leaders since his first visit to change the script.

I asked leaders of the P.A., You have such a more compelling case to the world community if you just stop shooting the damn rockets. I asked the same question on this trip… When that’s what the world sees and that’s what Israeli families have to worry about with their kids, it’s very easy to paint the Palestinians as one big terrorist organization, and you don’t understand that there are a lot of… innocent Palestinians as well and that’s why just to get to the heart of this question, it gets hard to convince people that we should be so focused on protecting Palestinians, when there’s this view that it’s just a monolithic terrorist organization.

Moulton said that today even members of Congress are questioning the viability of the two-state solution.

One of the things that’s been floating around in the press and in discussions but in the halls of Congress [too]… is what is the actual viability of the two state solution. And even on the trip we heard people who really questioned whether that remains viable. Certainly it’s been tested a lot in the last couple of years particularly under Netanyahu’s leadership. There were people who said you know it’s just not going to work. There are other people who said it was essential.

The J Street delegation met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist, and Lapid said that the two-state solution was the best way to end “this horrible ongoing conflict,” but he couldn’t say so officially.

It was fascinating to hear him say that and then also explain that he cannot make that position a part of the platform because he wouldn’t be able to put together his coalition government if he took that position.

Moulton found that sad.

It’s very sad to be there, and having been there three times before, to feel like we’re further away from that than we have been in times past. But at the same time I think it’s the best solution that we have out there.

The Israeli government’s opposition to the two-state solution is influencing Congress against it. Moulton pointed out that Rep. Andy Levin is sponsoring a two-state bill in Congress that has the support of liberal Zionists, but only 46 Democratic Congresspeople– because it’s become “controversial.”

I understand that this bill has been painted by a lot of people to be controversial, and I think that’s in the context of a lot of people shifting away from advocating for a two-state solution including leaders in Israel like Netanyahu saying that’s not a viable way forward and ultimately they don’t think that is in the best interests of the Israeli people. I just don’t believe that to be true. I think there’s a reason why longstanding policy has been in favor of a two state solution…

Moulton said that the “tenuous” support for the two-state solution in Israel has made it unpopular in the Congress.

This position represented by Rep. Levin’s bill has become so tenuously popular, so tenuous in Israel that the governing coalition can’t even accept it as part of its platform. And I think fundamentally that’s why it’s controversial back here. But if you actually read the [Levin] legislation… there’s nothing that’s radical or revolutionary as far as what the U.S. position has been, for a number of years.

Moulton said that “things are moving in the wrong direction,” so he has decided to push for small actions that can “nudge” the discussion toward a two-state solution. For instance, after seeing ample documentation of settler violence against Palestinians, he pressed Yair Lapid over the “really strange” policy in which Israeli soldiers back the settlers. Lapid denied this.

We saw numerous examples, even saw video and met with some targets of settler violence and came to understand this really strange policy where the IDF is not allowed to intervene to prevent settler violence, they’re only allowed to protect the settlers. So I asked the prime minister [Lapid is actually alternate prime minister] about the position that this puts not just the country of Israel morally, but the position that it puts the troops in… That exchange was worthwhile because it could actually lead to a policy change as something that we can follow up with a letter to hold the prime minister accountable for what he pledged to us in a meeting, which is essentially that this is not the policy and it wouldn’t happen. Of course we saw something different out there on the ground.

The chat during Moulton’s talk was not very sympathetic to the congressman. Many called on him to do more for Palestinian rights or to support a one-state solution. Janette Hillis-Jaffe, a senior official at J Street who was a host of the discussion, said that these are the views of “folks from other organizations” who support a one state solution, and she asserted the J Street line: that given the acrimonious history of the conflict, a one-state solution “is more of a recipe for a civil war than anything else right now.” She said J Street believes in “a peaceful separation, maybe a confederation,” where the two states exist side by side, “E.U. style.”

A second J Street official, Adina Vogel-Ayalon, then seemed to correct Hillis-Jaffe, saying that “confederation is not an alternative to two states, it is a way to two states.”

‘You consider your own citizens as enemies’ TNPF leader slams Sri Lanka’s government

The Sri Lankan Crisis: Dilemmas Of The Protester – OpEd

Protesters in front of Sri Lanka's Presidential Secretariat. 

Photo Credit: Jayanidu Nilupul, Wikipedia Commons

April 16, 2022 
By Dr. S. I. Keethaponcalan

Sri Lanka slipped into an economic crisis with socio-political implications in March 2022. I have explained the crux of the issue in an essay titled “The Sri Lankan Crisis: A Sinhala Civil War?” published in Eurasiareview on April 3, 2022. The root cause of the issue was the dwindling of the foreign reserve, which led to severe scarcity of essential consumer products. The long queues frustrated the masses. They blamed the incumbent government, headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, for the crisis. The Rajapaksa family came under severe criticism. The family’s omnipresence in all sectors of the government and their control was one of the reasons for the focus on “the family.” Although the government policies immensely contributed to the crisis, the critics focused on the alleged corruption. They claimed that the family looted the country. In their view, the alleged robbery is the reason for the present predicament.

The Protest

Initially, small groups of people gathered in their localities against the government. On March 31, protesters turned up in front of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence and demanded his resignation. They chanted “go-home-gota.” The protest turned violent. The nationwide protest called for on April 3 could not be carried on because of the curfew and the emergency regulations the government introduced using the March 31 troubles as an excuse. The government lifted the emergency regulations on April 6, presumably due to the fear that it could not be approved in Parliament due to the recent defections.

Instead of reorganizing the nationwide demonstration, the protesters gathered in front of the presidential secretariat in Colombo near the famous Galle Face Green (GFG). Now, the GFG has turned into the center of the anti-government protest. They occupy the GFG in the style of the Occupy Wall Street protest undertaken in the United States several years back (2011). The site has been named the “Gota Go Gama.” (Gota Go Village).

What do the protesters want? The protest started with the slogan, go-home-gota, which means that the president should step down and perhaps return to the US. The protesters also want all members of the Rajapaksa clan out of the government. The protest slogan was recently expanded to recover the (allegedly) stolen money and resources by the Rajapaksa family. Some of them now demand that political figures of the family should go to jail. Evidently, the slogans are transforming and expanding constantly. However, it is safe to assume that the protesters want the present government, including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Rajapaksa, out immediately.

There are two additional significant aspects to the Occupy GFG movement or what some call the go-home-gota movement. One, it has brought different ethnic, racial, and social groups together against the Rajapaksa clan. As a result, Sri Lanka witnessed a rare moment of social solidarity. Sri Lankan politicians (with the help of the voters) have systematically fragmented the Sri Lankan social fabric for political objectives. This project has at least temporarily been defeated by the Occupy GFG movement. Two, the protesters are hurling savage insults at the Rajapaksa family. While addressing the nation on April 11, Prime Minister Rajapaksa acknowledged the abuses he and his family have absorbed. The insults hurt. Rajapaksa once believed that he would be loved by the Sinhala people forever. This is why he tried to add his name to the Mahavamsa.

Two options are available to the protesters if unseating the present government is the central goal. They are: (1) achieving the goal through legal and constitutional means, and (2) focusing on a moral argument. Both seem problematic at this point.

Legal Means

In terms of unseating the government legally, two main instruments are available: (1) bringing down the cabinet headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa through a no-confidence motion (NCM), and (2) impeaching the president. It is important to note that in Sri Lanka, the government has two main components: the president and the cabinet, both elected directly by the people in different elections. Therefore, from the vantage point of the protesters, both need to be targeted simultaneously.

Removing the cabinet through an NCM requires 113 votes in the 225-seat national legislature. Newspaper reports indicate that the opposition political parties are in the process of introducing the NCM, and Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has already signed the motion. Adopting the NCM in Parliament would be a daunting task because the government won a (near) two-thirds majority in the last (August 2020) parliamentary election. The nature of the electoral victory of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the previous election makes it extremely hard to bring the cabinet down through an NCM. Therefore, the protesters, most of whom voted for the SLPP, are partly responsible for the current stalemate. An “ordinary win” in 2020 would have already brought this cabinet down.

The current parliamentary arithmetic indicates that the opposition parties need to get the endorsement of about 40 SLPP members or allies to adopt the NCM successfully. The recent defection of, for example, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), and Jathika Nedahas Peramuna (JNP) could help. The defectors claim that they have taken 41 seats from the SLPP, a doubtful assertion. If this is true, the combined opposition in Parliament has about 113 seats, but it is too close for comfort. Moreover, Mahinda Rajapaksa is an expert defection dealer. He had effectively dealt with many defections in the past. Threats, intimidations, and financial inducements will be liberally used to defeat the possible NCM. Therefore, ousting the cabinet through an NCM would not be impossible but not easy.

Removing the president through an impeachment motion will be extremely difficult. One, the impeachment motion should be signed by at least 113 members (not less than one-half of the whole number of Members of Parliament). Two, it should be adopted by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Three, the Supreme Court should find that the president is “incapable of discharging the functions of his office.” Four, the Parliament should vote (again) with a two-thirds majority to “remove” the president from office. These are not easy steps. Therefore, I do not believe that legally removing the president will be feasible under the current circumstances. What this means is that legally, the protesters are in a bind.
Morality Argument

The second option available to the protesters is to base their struggle on morality, an extralegal method. They seem to be taking this route currently. They argue that since the present government is responsible for the crisis, it should step down. Although reasonable, this approach entails several problems. One, the protesters and the government have fundamentally different views about the causes of the crisis. For example, the government does not agree with the notion that it is responsible for the current mess. While addressing the nation on March 16, the president loudly declared that he did not construct this crisis. Mahinda Rajapaksa also failed to take responsibility in his (belated) address to the nation on April 11. Two, the approach depends on the values of the Rajapaksa family. To be successful, the family should voluntarily step down. Will they step down in the best interest of the country? Keen observers of the Rajapaksa family’s politics and governing philosophies know that they will not voluntarily (i.e., without adequate pressure) give up power. Three, voluntarily stepping down now could also mean the end of politics for the Rajapaksa clan members. Therefore, they will use all their power to remain in government until the next regular election. An electoral deaf would allow them to regroup and return. President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Rajapaksa have provided adequate indications that they intend to stay on and fight. The point here is that the government is unlikely to step down voluntarily. This means that the morality-based approach is unlikely to yield results.
Elitist Entertainment?

The Occupy GFG movement has narrowed the struggle rather than expanding it. On April 3, it had the potential to create a nationwide spectacle. Instead of reorganizing the nationwide campaign, the protesters focused on a highly narrow geographical area, the Gale Face Green. I am sure President Rajapaksa would have already moved his operations to somewhere else. The protesters are also ignoring some of the traditional and impactful direct-action strategies of Sri Lankans. For example, Sri Lankans are masters of using hunger strikes for social and political change. This strategy is ignored.

Moreover, the Occupy GFG movement is transforming into elitist entertainment. There are positives and negatives to making it elitist entrainment. The danger is that it could turn into another Occupy Wall Street Movement, which dissipated after the immediate euphoria. The protesters will not be able to keep up the momentum with the current long-term strategy. It will fizzle out, especially if/when the supply of essential commodities increases. I believe that there is a negative correlation between the supply of essential commodities and protest. I am also sure that the government depends on this reality.

Ideally, what Sri Lanka needs today is fresh elections to both the president and parliament. New thinking and approaches are fundamental to the effective resolution of the crisis. Unfortunately, the present government is incapable of inducing anything new, a problem. In a fresh election, citizens will have an opportunity to vote for the best program presented to resolve the crisis. Demanding new elections is democratic, reasonable, and practical. Therefore, the Sri Lankan protesters need to rethink their slogan and strategies.

Dr. S. I. Keethaponcalan is Chair of the Conflict Resolution Department, Salisbury University, Maryland. Email: skeetha@yahoo.com

‘You consider your own citizens as enemies’ TNPF leader slams Sri Lanka’s government

 13 April 2022

Speaking in parliament, leader of the Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam called into question Sri Lanka’s exorbitant military spending of 10.35% of the annual budget

“10.35% in a situation where there is no war” he stated. “Who is your enemy?”

“No country has attacked Sri Lanka, no your enemy is within. You consider your own citizens as enemies. Why? Because you don't want to recognise their rights, you would rather kill them, you’d rather wage war than have them become productive citizens” he stated.

He added: “Your defence policy is based on making sure the Tamils don't get their rights. Your foreign policy is based on making sure the Tamils don't get their rights”.

Commenting on rampant Islamophobia in Sri Lanka, he stated: “This time you've picked another enemy, the Muslims. You need that bogeyman to continue your racist and corrupt policies where only you line your pockets, not the citizens”.

Ponnambalam continued:

“Now you continue to militarise, today you need to militarise to protect against the Sinhalese, the common man”.

“People cannot make ends meet and they will not forgive you. For 73 years you blamed war, and the Tamils and the Muslims. Now there is no more people to blame. This time you will pay a price”.

Ponnambalam concluded stress that:

“There is no point blaming just this government, you have to call into question 73 years of government policy”.

‘Protesting is not new to us… it’s new to them’ – A Tamil student reflects on the protest in Jaffna

 05 April 2022

As anti-government protests engulfed the south of Sri Lanka this week, Tamil students at the University of Jaffna have expressed their frustrations at how Sinhalese students had failed to join them at previous protests as they joined a rally through the Northern city on Monday.

“Until now, the community in question have been hibernating,” said one Jaffna University student, speaking on the growing number of Sinhala students at the campus. “Only now, when their people have been submerged in problems, have they woken up, taking strategic action by joining us on the streets.”

Though protests and rallies have flared across the south of the island, the North-East has been relatively subdued. The Daily Mirror claimed that protestors had surrounded the homes of almost every government-aligned parliamentarian in the country, but that was not true across the Tamil homeland.

A protest in 2021 outside the University of Jaffna after a monument dedicated to Tamil Genocide victims was destroyed.

In recent years, protests have regularly taken place across the North-East on issues ranging from international accountability for genocide to halting government land grabs and the devolution of powers to the Tamil provinces. Whilst dozens were held across the South calling for the resignation of Sri Lanka’s president, few have been held by Tamils in recent days.

In Batticaloa, Tamil parliamentarian R Shanakiyan led a march, whilst students at Eastern University held a demonstration on Monday.

Tamil and Sinhala students also marched in Jaffna on Monday, with placards in Tamil, English and Sinhalese. But some students criticized the lack of support from Sinhala students for Tamil rights and issues.

“During the five years I have studied here, we students have organised countless protests to improve the welfare of our community,” continued the Jaffna-based student. “They did not take part or even come to watch.”

A placard from the protest in Jaffna on Monday.

The student also criticised how some of the Sinhala students’ placards contained curse words or joked about sexual intercourse, particularly given the long history of sexual violence by Sri Lanka’s security forces. “To this day, many protests have taken place at Jaffna University and yet, even when faced with violence, there is no history of raising banners that use language that makes you wrinkle your face in disgust,” he added.

Others have expressed little faith that the protests would amount to any tangible change for Tamils. “Once they get fuel and bread, they will forget all about us,” said another Jaffna local.

“Today, their activism feels farcical in my heart,” continued the student. “Protesting is not new to us… it’s new to them.”

Related Articles: 

04 April 2022 : ‘Go Home Gota!’ – Jaffna students demand Sri Lanka’s president resign as crisis continues

03 April 2022 : Streets quiet in the Tamil homeland as protests flare in the South

3 months after volcanic eruption, Tonga slowly rebuilds

Published: 15 Apr 2022 - 



WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky. The world's biggest volcanic eruption in 30 years sent a tsunami around the globe, and the first waves washed across the road as Moala drove to safety at the airport with her terrified husband and two sons.

A volunteer with the Tonga Red Cross, Moala, 39, was soon attending to the cuts other people had suffered as they escaped, and giving them psychological support. She said about 50 of them stayed for two days at the airport until they got the all-clear to go back home.

"People were all shocked,” she said. "But I got to mingle with them, help them, get them to be confident. It's a small little island, and we got to know each other in two hours.”

Three months after the eruption, Tonga’s rebuilding is slowly progressing, and the impact of the disaster has come into clearer focus. Last week, the prime minister handed over the keys to the first rebuilt home of the 468 the government plans to reconstruct across three islands as part of its recovery program.

Some 3,000 people whose homes were destroyed or damaged initially sought shelter in community halls or evacuation centers. Eighty percent of Tonga's population was impacted in some way.

In the first few weeks after the eruption, Moala helped out by putting up tents and tarpaulins, and then by cooking food for other volunteers.

It took five long weeks for Tonga to restore its internet connection to the rest of the world after the tsunami severed a crucial fiber-optic cable. That delayed some families from abroad from being able to send financial help to their loved ones.

Three people in Tonga died from the tsunami and a fourth from what authorities described as related trauma. The sonic boom from the eruption was so loud it could be heard in Alaska and a mushroom plume of ash rocketed a record 58 kilometers (36 miles) into the sky.

The World Bank estimates the total bill for the damage is about $90 million. In the small island nation of 105,000 people, that’s equivalent to more than 18% of gross domestic product.

The bank noted that many coastal tourism businesses - which bring in vital foreign revenue for Tonga - were particularly hard hit, with tourist cabins and wharves destroyed. The agriculture industry also suffered, with crops lost and reef fisheries damaged.

The ANZ bank says Tonga's GDP will likely contract by 7.4% this year, after it had been expected to grow by 3.7% before the volcano erupted.

The international community has been helping out, with Tonga able to secure $8 million in funding from the World Bank and $10 million from the Asian Development Bank, as well as aid assistance from many places including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, the U.S. and China.

But progress has been hampered by the nation's first outbreak of COVID-19, which was likely brought in by foreign military crews who raced to drop off supplies as the ash cleared. The outbreak prompted a series of lockdowns, and the country remains in a state of emergency.

Moala is among the more than 8,500 Tongans who have caught the coronavirus since it began spreading through the islands. Eleven people so far have died. Moala said the outbreak had affected many businesses, including her husband's work.

But as the outbreak ebbs and the rebuilding progresses, the islands' familiar rhythms are returning for many people.

Among those who remain most affected are the 62 people who lived on Mango Island and about another 100 on Atata Island who may never be able to return home.

The islands are located very close to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano, and the villages were completed wiped out. Residents have now been offered land by Tonga's king to relocate onto one of Tonga's two main islands.

Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary-general of the Tonga Red Cross Society, said there is a lot of work to be done relocating the residents.

It's also been slow-going getting supplies to people on other far-flung islands, he said. Many of them remain without internet access after a domestic fiber-optic cable was also damaged and will likely not be repaired for months.

"Three months later, people are starting to get back to normal," Taumoefolau said. "But we can see they still need psychological and social support, those that were really impacted, especially those who have to relocate.”

TONGA #FEMICIDE 
Domestic violence cases rise in wake of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption, as women call for a power shift in humanitarian response

By Melissa Maykin, Inga Stünzner and Hilda Wayne for Sistas, Let's Talk

Ms Angilau says many Tongans are traumatised by the January 15 eruption and tsunami. 

(Supplied: Sia 'Uhila Angilau )

In an evacuation centre on Nukuʻalofa, Marian Kupu listened as a mother described the moment a tsunami forced her to flee with her daughter to the hills above Nomuka, in the Ha'apai region of Tonga.

Key points:
70 per cent of women and girls experience sexual or gender-based violence during crises

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption devastated the Kingdom of Tonga in January

Domestic and family violence callouts increased due to the eruption, tsunami and COVID-19

"Her 10-year-old daughter got up and ran towards higher ground. She had never seen her daughter show so much fear," Ms Kupu said.

"She was running in front of her mum, shouting 'mum, run for your life.'

"The way the mother explained it, it was devastating."

The pair were separated during their escape. But after a short search, Ms Kupu said the woman eventually found her daughter kneeling beside a fallen coconut tree.

PODCAST

How the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption impacted women
In the aftermath of Tonga's volcanic eruption, Hilda Wayne explores the disproportionate impact of natural disasters on women

"She was praying. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus," she said.

The young girl was so distressed by the experience that she stopped talking for several days.

"At that age, you couldn't imagine the feeling, [the thoughts] and the experience they had," she said.

While everyone suffers during natural disasters, women and girls experience unique risks.

According to the UN, about 70 per cent of women and girls have experienced sexual or gender-based violence during crises.

But despite this, women and girls are proving to be capable leaders, promoting women's needs in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
A one-in-1,000-year eruption

Ms Kupu, a journalist with more than a decade's experience in the region, was enjoying a quiet Saturday afternoon like many Tongans when loud bangs rang out across the South Pacific nation.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in the early hours of the evening, sending shockwaves around the world — the sounds so loud they were heard in Fiji, Vanuatu, Alaska and Canada.

The 1-in-1,000-year volcanic eruption propelled ash and rock into skies above Tonga's largest island, Tongatapu, before a tsunami inundated low-lying areas.

"The clouds, the noise, the ash was coming and there was a distinctive smell," she said.

"I knew it was the volcano erupting, but we didn't know what was going to happen."

Tongan writer and consultant Sia Uhila Angilau sensed the scale of the eruption — the mounting pressure in her ears felt as if they were "going to burst"

"It shook the whole house, and I was afraid that the glass was going to crack," she said.

First on-the-ground images emerge from Tonga after massive eruption and tsunami

Fear and panic

Ms Angilau said panicked locals spilled out onto the street, causing congestion and chaos.

"People were crying and running and calling out.

"I was in a car and I wished I was in a truck so I could take all the people on the road," she said.

"Most people didn't know where they were running to, they were just going away from the ocean."

Five people died, including two swimmers in Peru, and up to 600 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the tsunami, which wiped out some islands completely.

Ms Angilau said the events of January 15 were still raw for many people.

"The fear, the panic and everything, I think we're still reliving that reality now," she said.

"We've had thunder lately and many of us were scared, we just sat there and cried wondering if there was another eruption."

Eruption, tsunami, COVID-19 exacerbates violence against women

A full recovery is expected to take years. For women and girls, ongoing disruptions to family units, health systems and housing can be particularly distressing, and lead to violence.

Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki is the director of the Women and Children Crisis Centre (WCCC) in Tonga.

Ms Guttenbeil-Likiliki says domestic violence cases soared after the eruption and lockdown. 

(Supplied: Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki )

In the first 72 hours after the eruption and tsunami, the WCCC carried out needs assessments and worked to ensure women and children had shelter, food and water and emotional support.

"So, making sure they were in places with good lighting, access to bathrooms, and they weren't in positions of being abused or violated because of their vulnerabilities," she said.

"Then we rolled out psychosocial support to these affected areas, and in particular, the women who were displaced from outer islands.

Many women were already escaping violence which worsened during recent COVID-19 lockdowns.

The WCCC handles between 20 and 30 domestic and family violence cases each month, but after Tonga's 26-day lockdown in early February, Ms Guttenbeil-Likiliki said that rose by an additional 55 cases.


"We were prepared for this violence to going to keep climbing. The deputy police commissioner said whilst other crimes have decreased in Tonga, domestic violence is on the rise," she said.
An inclusive, local disaster response

While women bear the brunt of trauma during disasters, they are leaders in recovery and resilience.

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls is the Regional Manager of Shifting the Power Coalition, which draws upon the skills, cultural knowledge and lived experiences of Pacific Island women to respond to disasters.

Ms Bhagwan-Rolls says humanitarian responses to crises must be inclusive.

 (Supplied: Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls )

"We're progressing gender equality, disability and LGBT inclusion agenda, because as local women leaders, we are on the front lines, and we've been experiencing it," she said.

Ms Bhagwan-Rolls said it was often the case that the humanitarian response to natural disasters in the Pacific was led by people outside the region and failed to meet the needs of diverse groups.

"When you talk about building back better, you do need to ask: what wasn't working for women — for women with disabilities, the LGBT community, for young women — previously?"
Selling coconuts, loaning out boats

In the days and weeks after Tonga Hunga-Tonga Ha'apai erupted, Ms Angilau said women did "everything they could" to help their communities get back on their feet.

"A lady was telling me how she couldn't go to work during the lockdowns, so she went and collected coconuts, and sold them by the roadside just to make money," she said.

"I'm aware of another woman who went and took out a loan so her boat could be used by the divers to go fishing, just to earn money and have food available for us after the eruption.

"That's something wonderful."